THE TRAIN RIDE HOME
The four AVALANCHE mercenaries relax tensely in the dark boxcar of the train they had smuggled themselves onto. Everyone is quiet because Cloud is not there. Although they had completed the mission they had lost a member, and the victory was bittersweet because the one who made it all possible was not to be seen or for that matter entirely trusted.
Wedge breaks the silence, "Cloud never came."
Biggs comments, "Cloud......Wonder if he was killed?"
"No way!!" Barret grunts.
Jessie sighs, "Cloud......"
They all hear a small scratching noise coming from outside the train car but dismiss it as nothing.
Biggs poses, "Say, do you think Cloud's......Going to fight to the end for AVALANCHE!?"
"The hell would I know!?" says Barret. "Do I look like a mind reader?" Barret pounds the crate near him. "Hmph! If y'all weren't such screw-ups..."
Wedge looks sternly at Barret, "Hey Barret! What about our money...?"
Barret pounds the crate harder this time and Wedge swallows his words saying, "Uh, nuthin'...sorry."
Jessie and Biggs turn and look at each other then say, "Ahhh..."
Again they hear the stratching and tapping coming from large panel door, then after a few seconds the door swings open and Cloud sommersaults in. In surprise they all, except Barret, proclaim, "Cloud!"
Cloud blows off thier relief to see him then does a "ta-da" and sarcastically says, "Looks like I'm a little late."
Barret snaps with a retort, "You damn right you're late! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!"
Cloud boasts, "Its no big deal. Just what I always do."
Barret replies wryly, "Shit!" (That is the first time I've ever seen that in a console video game) "Havin' everyone worried like that you don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!"
Cloud shrugs and puts his hands on his hips, "Hmm...You were worried about me!"
Barret becomes enraged with Cloud and retrains his fists from pummeling him. "Wha!?" he grinds. "I'm takin' it outta your money hot stuff!"
Barret turns to the rest of the group and grumbles, "Wake up! We're movin' out. Follow me!" Barret leaves the boxcar.
Despite what Barret feels Wedge says to him, "Hey Cloud!! You were great back there!" Wedge leaves then Biggs smerks at him and says, "Heh, heh......Cloud! We'll do even better next time." He leaves and only Jessie and Cloud remain.
Jessie walks over to the open boxcar door and says, "Be careful. I'll shut this." He then closes the door and turns to Cloud.
He says, "Oh, Cloud!! Your face is pitch black......" He then rubs Cloud's face with his hand. "There you go!" he comments. (Is it just me or is Jessie possibly gay)
Before he leaves the boxcar he says, "Say, thanks for helping me back there at the reactor!"
Cloud follows the others into a passenger car. A general call is announced over the loudspeaker, "Last train out of Sector 8 station. Last stop is sector 7 train graveyard. Expected time of arrival 12:23 AM, Midgar Standard time..."
When they enter all except two of the passengers leave and the attendant, putting his hands to his face in disappointment, says, "This is why I hate the last train. Hoo-boy..." He shakes his head and walks off.
Two men are resting and don't care about the new unkempt passengers that have entered their car. One man says to Cloud when he approaches him, "Huh...? This is my house, so make yourselves at home." The other bald man who also ignored the others says, "You see the headlines in the Shinra Times? The terrorists that bombed the No. 1reactor are based somewhere in the slums. Blowing up a reactor...They sure put some thought into that one. They must have a real calculating leader. I wonder what they'll do next." Cloud couldn't figure out if he was being sarcastic or supportive, but it didn't really matter to him anyway.
Barret is sitting with his legs crossed and an angry look when Cloud approaches him. He gripes, "Si' down an' Shu'up!"
Biggs gazing solemly at the ground, then turning to Cloud says, "It seems the train hasn't switched to security mode yet. I'm sure that will change by tomorrow."
An eerie calm resides resides within the train car as the sound of the wheels over the track thrums its perpetual rythym. The hand holds sway like pendulums, set into motion by the movement of the train.
Cloud approaches Wedge. He turns around and says, "Someday AVALANCHE's gonna be famous...and me too!" Cloud could see the almost childlike aspiration in his eyes.
Jessie, facing a computer monitor turns to Cloud and asks, "You want to look at this with me? It's a map of the Midgar Railway system. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you." Jessie smiles and explains, "I like this kind of stuff. Bombs and monitors...you know, flashy stuff."
Together, Cloud and Jessie examine the terminal monitor. Jessie says, "Okay, its about to start." The green outline diagram of the immense circular city, Midgar appears on the screen. Jessie describes, "This is a complete model of the city of Midgar. Its about a 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above the ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section..." Prompted by Cloud's detatched gaze Jessie whispers in his ear, "The No.1 reactor we blew up was in the northern section Then thererr No.2, No. 3 all the way up to the No.8 reactor." He continues, "The 8 reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is." Jessie sighs, "Phew..., this is next! Look. This is the route the train is on." Together they watch as the course of the train is projected on the screen. "The route spirils around the main support structure, " he adds. "We should be coming around the main center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central data bank at Shinra headquarters." Making sure on one hears his remark Jessie whispers to Cloud, "Anyone could tell that we look suspicious so we're using fake ID's."
As soon as the words left Jessie's mouth the sensor alarms activate and a pulsing red light permiates the passenger car. Jessie says, "Speak of the devil... That light means that we're in the security ID check area." Jessie quietly speaks to Cloud, "When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out...anyhow, we're almost back now. That's a relief." The lights return to normal.
Perhaps it was the hypnotic allure of the train's repetative vibration or the relier felt after completing the task they sought to accomplish, while Jessie and Cloud talked Biggs drifted off into a light sleep only broken when Cloud approached him. He saw Barret still gazing sternly into empty space and commented, "Don't act so darn big, Barret..., snooze..."
Cloud looked at Barret and while Barret peered out the window at the city passing by. "Look..." Barret grunted, "you can see the surface now. This city don't have no day or night. If that plate wern't there...we could see the sky," he said.
Cloud looked with him at the outside mechanized world created by the Shinra. Perhaps Barret was right to fight for the planet but right now there was little he could do about saving it. "A floating city...Pretty unsettling scenery," Cloud remarked.
Coming from Cloud these words shocked Barret, "Huh?" he posed, "Never expect to hear that outta someone like you...you jus' full of surprises."
Barret begins a monologue about Midgar, "The upper world...a city on a plate...It's cuz of that (fuckin') pizza; that people underneath are sufferin'! Barret turns toward Biggs and continues, "And the city below is full of polluted air." Seeing that Wedge and Jessie aren't paying attention he resumes his speech with Cloud. "On topa that, the Reactor keeps drainin' up all the energy."
"Then why doesn't everyone move onto the plate?" Cloud puts in.
Barret replies, "Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or maybe...cuz they love their land no matter how polluted it gets!"
Cloud turns to the window and reminds himself of how decrepid this place, Midgar, truly is. "I know..." he says, "no one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train," he adds, "it can't run anywhere except where it's rails take it."
Cloud gazes solemnly out the window until before he realizes it the train stops and everybody gets off. They had arrived at their destination, the train graveyard, a slum of forgotten boxcars and unused trains. Barret calls everybody together, "Yo!! get over here, all'ya!!" He takes on his role as leader and guides his band of mercenaries with a directive hand, "This mission was a success," he says. But don't be lazy now. The hard part's still to come! Don't y'all be scared of that explosion.
Go to Next Scene - Sector 7 Slums: AVALANCHE Hideout