Cait Sith hopped his way to the main deck of the Highwind, but was nearly thrown off the walkway by an abrupt vibration rattling the ship. Reeve had trouble keeping his eyes focused on Cait Sith struggling to steady himself. His attention jerked back to Rufus' office as Heidegger's phone rang loudly.

Heidegger answered, about to berate whoever was interrupting important matters, but then his chiseled face went pale. "Y-You're sure?" he pressed. After a pause he barked into the phone, "Keep your eyes on it. Make damn sure you know it's headed here! Get your asses moving." He aggressively hung up his phone, then looked up at everyone in Rufus' office awaiting explanation with unease. "Mr…Mr. President, the Weapon designated Diamond is headed straight for Midgar."

Rufus was suddenly on his feet, and both Scarlet and Reeve gawked in dismay. Stepping from around his desk, he pointed at Scarlet and Reeve. "Sister Ray must be ready, and whatever amount of mako you feed that cannon had better take out both Diamond Weapon and the northern barrier simultaneously. We cannot allow that thing to interfere! Heidegger, get your men ready to lure Diamond Weapon into the line of fire. I will meet you all in the boardroom as soon as I can. We get one shot at this. Make it happen."

"Yes, Mr. President," all three affirmed.

Scarlet, Heidegger, and Reeve parted ways to reach their respective teams from their offices. As Reeve rushed in his and locked the door behind him, he took the moment to hop back to Cait Sith. The second he did, feedback screeched through his earpiece transceiver. Reeve doubled over in pain as he yanked it out. His vision through Cait Sith continued to cartwheel around, Reeve's knack currently pushing against some force interfering with the robot's controls. As Cait Sith shuddered and flailed as though suffering through extremely violent seizures, Reeve could catch the horrified expressions of the rebels and Highwind bridge crew as they flew by his vision.

Staggering from vertigo, Reeve stumbled against his desk and gripped it desperately. After a moment of panting heavily, Reeve finally steadied Cait Sith (and the contents of his stomach).

Cait Sith shook himself off as though nothing had happened. He then glanced around the bridge of the Highwind and the collective bewilderment of the room. "That was a surprise," Cait said sheepishly. "The controls went crazy—that's not good…Must be feedback from Diamond Weapon. The beastie's come out of the sea and it's directly between my signal and here. It's headed straight for Midgar."

Cloud moved to Cait's eye-level. "You said the mako cannon is there, right? Is it ready?"

Reeve's myriad worries of firing the monstrosity of a weapon weighed heavily on him. "Aye—Aye don't know if it's ready…"

The heavy steps of boots signaled Barret rushing up to Cait and Cloud. His face pale, he leaned closer to Cait Sith. "Where is Marlene? Is she safe? You have to tell me now!"

Holding up his hands in assurance, Cait quickly shook his head. "No, no, she's safe. She's still with Aerith's momma and they haven't been in Midgar fer ages now."

Barret's face immediately softened and he stood, letting out a relieved sigh. He rubbed his face and nodded silently.

…That was it? That was all the high-and-mighty AVALANCHE cell leader had to offer the people of Midgar? The ones he had so adamantly claimed he fought for? Hero of the slums? Not a word, just a nod and an "oh, well?"

Reeve felt his chest burning with each breath as the past several weeks' stress scorched away the remaining dregs of his civility. He was so sick of being civil. He had been civil to everyone, to every last, self-serving bastard who had left Midgar's people to fend for themselves again, and again, and again—year after year after decade. The earnest pleas and protests met with violence and subjugation, the priority of defense systems and military might over human life, the indifference and overt cruelty of leaders who held ultimate power over so many people…

…And he was sick of being last too. Reeve was dead-last every time, just like Midgar. The effort he was putting in to cover both his duties and his long-distance sabotage, the daily diet of caffeine, commissary food, and delivered takeout, the dwindling hours of sleep each night and the distinct ache in his shoulders from crashing on the couch; every last rejected city project, and every last indignity he had to suffer at the board's hands…The mockery and derision for having even the barest minimum human emotions and compassion, the daily insults to his competence and worth, and the stinging ache in his foot from the stab of a high heel…

Reeve Tuesti was so damn sick of being civil, and he was especially sick of Barret Wallace's self-righteous, holier-than-thou bullshit.

Cait Sith's cheerful exterior visibly shifted, his smile fading completely. In an alien tone of voice for the theatrical and playful wise-cracker, he laughed bitterly and said, "Oh. So…if Marlene's safe, then bugger anybody else, right?"

Those on the bridge exchanged shocked looks. Barret's face only grew hard and he turned away from Cait Sith.

"Don't try to ignore me, Wallace," Cait Sith snapped, thrusting a finger in his direction. "There's a few things Aye've been itchin' to say for a long time now."

Cloud stared between the two and gently gestured with his hands to quiet them. "And now's not the best time."

"Aye'm in Midgar!" Cait Sith hissed. "From th'looks of it, Aye might not get another chance and this absolute walloper wouldn't think twice. He's nice and cozy with watchin' folks dyin' for his causes, though. You look in me eyes and answer me straight, how many d'ya think died when ye blew up Reactor 1? Aye can pull up a list right now and read out names for ya—and we'd be here for a minute, too." While others tried to calm Cait, Barret's face remained stony and unmoving. The lack of reaction only caused Cait to hop closer and straighten on his mount to reach higher. "Huh? Shall Aye?"

Gritting his teeth, Barret glared down at Cait Sith with scalding eyes. "If Shinra hadn't been makin' all out war on the planet then there wouldn't have had to have been casualties. A few finally got Shinra to stop doin' nothin.'"

"Civilian casualties!" Cait cried, tensing his hands furiously. "Ya say 'a few' for the planet, but yer 'few' was their 'everythin'!' Sounds good to say yer protectin' the planet, does it? No one's got the right to call you out for yer shite so long as yer doin' it for the right reason? So, ya get to destroy whatever lives ya please?"

Lunging directly in Cait's face, Barret blasted, "You think I give a shit what you think while you still collectin' a paycheck?! You spend your whole life livin' on blood money."

While Reeve had unconsciously flinched at Barret's aggression, Cait had remained steadfast. Cait stared up at him, but then slowly turned his eyes down and his ears drooped slightly. "…Can't do nuthin' about the past…can Aye?" Reeve mumbled.

Cloud finally placed a hand on Barret's chest and eased him back. "Both of you, stop it. This is a waste of time."

"No, Cloud, it's not," Tifa said firmly.

Cait turned to face what remained of Midgar's AVALANCHE cell, taken aback by the shades of agony in her rusty-red eyes.

"It needed to be said," she continued, swallowing hard. "Cait Sith, Barret knows what he did. What I helped him do." Taking shaky steps toward them both, her eyes pleaded with Barret. "What we did in Midgar shouldn't be brushed aside. I know you haven't forgotten, Barret. I haven't either."

Barret's demeanor changed, and Reeve could see an all-too-familiar, soul-crushing regret as his face softened and his broad shoulders sagged. Reeve had seen that look in the mirror repeatedly since Sector 7's fall. Barret rubbed his eyes and let out a haggard sigh, but said nothing.

Tifa then eased up to Cait and rested a hand on the side of his furry face. "And I know you. I don't know your name or what you look like, but I know you. I know how hard you fight for others, how much you care. You're not just 'collecting a paycheck.' There's a reason you can't desert Shinra, and it's not just to spy for us. It's the people of Midgar, isn't it?"

Dumbstruck, Reeve gently nodded through Cait. The two of them might never meet face to face, she may never learn his name, but Tifa's effort to understand him made her…real. She was real in a way that so few people in Reeve's life were.

Tifa genuinely smiled. "Alright. That settles that." She then straightened and faced the group's leader. "…Cloud?"

A smirk came to Cloud's soft face, admiration in his mako-tinted eyes. "You don't have to ask. Of course we're going after Weapon. It won't have the chance to put a scratch on Midgar." He called out, "Cid?"

The captain scratched his nose and folded his arms over his chest. "You really think we got a chance against that thing alone?"

Visibly, Cloud shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. No guarantee of winning is no reason to let it go. We're going to Midgar and we're taking out Diamond Weapon. Let's go."

During the skirmish against Diamond Weapon, Cait Sith ran on autopilot and Reeve finally reached the boardroom. Scarlet and Heidegger glanced at him, and Reeve gave a quick sweep of his eyes over the room to make sure Rufus wasn't there. It was only the three of them and a handful of security escorts—likely at Heidegger's order.

"Oh, decided to join us?" Scarlet scoffed.

Reeve ignored her passive aggression. "The reactors are ready, and warning about the blackout was issued. Let the President know."

Nodding firmly, Heidegger connected to the President's office on the main screen, the new window making room for itself beside images of outside the Shinra tower, and the Diamond Weapon in the distance. While visuals of the office didn't appear, Rufus' voice acknowledged them. "Heidegger."

Laughing confidently, Heidegger clenched a meaty fist. "Mr. President, all preparations for Sister Ray are in order."

Giggling in excitement, Scarlet added, "On your command, sir. Anytime. And those insurrectionists managed to chase Diamond Weapon directly into the line of fire."

A heavy silence followed, a shared tenseness both in the boardroom and emanating from the screen. "…Fire."

Reeve readied himself by leaning against the table as Heidegger called in the command. The three executives looked to each other anxiously, then abruptly a prolonged rumble went through the tower and everything fell pitch black. Reeve had thought he was steady enough, but was immediately thrown to the floor as the shudder became a massive, concentrated blast—for a moment he feared the entire tower would collapse, despite everything he and Scarlet had done to ensure Sister Ray's force wouldn't demolish the building instantly.

In a heap on the floor, Reeve slapped his hands over his ears from a shrill ringing. His attentions swung between his eyes blinded by darkness, and Cait Sith's sight—currently on the deck of the Highwind and facing the last bits of sunset. He could hear Cloud and his companions realizing the shot hadn't been only for Diamond Weapon perfectly clearly—and only muffled speaking and shuffles through his actual ears. It was so disorienting that he couldn't pull himself back to his feet without risk of vomiting.

The lights sputtered back on, and Reeve's sensory settled by degrees. Shaking off the last of the ringing, he blinked up to see one of the soldiers reaching a hand to him.

"Director," she offered.

Nodding weakly, he took her hand and allowed her to help him upright. "Thank you," he said tiredly, running a hand through his hair to push it back in place. He looked to Scarlet and Heidegger, both of them in the midst of getting reports from their departments on the condition of Weapon and the northern continent. He pulled out his own phone, then flinched largely as Scarlet let out a shrill cackle.

"A direct hit!" she screeched. "The crater's barrier is down!"

Heidegger laughed as well, and clapped a hand on Reeve's shoulder firmly. "And the Weapon is dead! We did it. Do you hear that, Reeve? We did it," he said, his face lit in the most genuine joy Reeve had ever seen on him.

A shocked laugh tumbling from him as well, Reeve nodded in relief and sagged against the edge of the table. "We did it—We actually did it…" He then waved Heidegger on, pointing to his phone meaningfully. "Now to see what the damage is."

A brand new quake shook the tower, above them booms and crashes rang out. Those in the boardroom stared upwards, and each braced themselves for the worst. The three of them and their guards were nearly thrown off their feet again, but the shaking subsided just as suddenly as it had begun. The executives glanced between one another in shared dread. Echoing groans from the infrastructure far above reached them as only whispers through the ceiling.

"…What in the hell was that?" Scarlet muttered.

Immediately, they scrambled to get reports from their teams. Reeve's team lead on the Sister Ray, Jim Nowak, answered, "You're alive! Thank goodness…"

"What do you mean?" Reeve pressed. "What does the outside of the tower look like?"

"Just about every last window outside blew out during Sister Ray's shot," Jim informed Reeve. "But we guessed something like that would happen…Di-Did you not feel Weapon's attack? It looked like it hit the tower head-on!"

His stomach sinking, Reeve put a hand over his mouth. The Shinra tower had barely moments to react to an attack… "How badly? What do you see from there?"

"Hold on, sir…" A pause followed, Reeve could hear shouting and clanging, then Jim returned. "There's barely anything left of the top floors! Where were you that you missed it?!"

"…Those of us in the boardroom felt it," Reeve said numbly. "We just can't get any visuals back up yet."

"Reeve, was…the President wasn't in his office, was he?"

Uneasily, Reeve glanced at the others engaged in rushed conversations. Heidegger was trying to get confirmation of Rufus' safety. "…We…We don't know yet," Reeve admitted. "We'll handle that. Is the Sister Ray functioning as anticipated?"

"Everything is perfect on this end," Jim reported. "Cooldown is going smoothly, and zero issues cutting it off from the reactors. The firing was a complete success, sir."

Leaning his head back, Reeve briefly closed his eyes and let out a ragged sigh. "Good. All of you should be proud that Midgar is still standing. It was thanks to you."

"Thank you, Director. You got us here."

Over the receiver, screaming and running across metal was punctuated by sporadic, calculated weapon fire.

Reeve started and he stood straight. "Jim? Jim, what was that?"

"I-I don't know, sir," he murmured. "Hey, Sandy, what was that! You alright?"

"Those were gunshots!" Reeve said quickly, a bit self-conscious that he knew that sound so well by now. "What's happening? Do you need security?"

Jim was now busy shouting to his teammates in horror. "Get down! Everybody get down—He's got a gun!"

Another voice over the line shouted, "Somebody help—!"

A shot silenced the voice, and Jim cried out. "What-What is he doing he…Wait, no, please—!"

"Get out of there!" Reeve shouted.

Another blast, then the distinct sound of the phone and something heavy hitting the floor. Firm steps walked by the receiver.

"Jim?" Reeve blurted, a cold sweat over his entire body. "Answer me, Jim! James!"

Only ambient noise from across the scaffolding was Reeve's reply—that and wet, weak, fading sobs. Shaking his head in apprehension, he moved his view to Cait Sith enough to signal everyone they needed to notice him.

Barret snapped, "Yo, we see ya. Now what, cat?"

"Hold on!" Reeve blurted as both himself and Cait. He spun on the others in the boardroom, readying Cait Sith to share audio when the need arose. "Scarlet, Heidegger, something's gone wrong!"

His face sickly and his eyes miles away, Heidegger slowly lowered his phone from his ear. "The President isn't answering…he was in his office when the blasts hit…"

"Bugger the president," Reeve snapped, his accent slipping back in his panic. "It's Sister Ray!"

Scarlet let out a startled laugh and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, my, and here I thought I had imagined it. Just what gysahl farm did you crawl out of, Reeve? Everythi—"

"Shut yer harpy screechin' for five goddamn minutes, Scarlet!" Reeve shouted furiously. "Sister Ray's restarted charging, if ye haven't noticed."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "W-What? You're not serious…I didn't give that order! We still have three hours of cooldown time before another shot can be made."

Heidegger shook his head quickly. "Wasn't me."

"Reeve, shut it down!" Scarlet pressed.

Struggling with the manual controls linked to his phone, Reeve shook his head. "…It's no good. No response. My controls have been disconnected." Putting a hand to his forehead, his stomach turned in knots. "Someone's forcibly switched the whole system to the emergency, manual operation—they—they attacked my team. Who the hell would even…? Heidegger," he snapped, causing Heidegger to jump in surprise. "Get security to give us visuals on the manual controls!"

Nodding by rote, Heidegger brought his phone back to his ear, then paused. His lip curled and he stared at Reeve in confusion. "Wait. Since when the hell do you give me orders, Tuesti?"

"Are you ridiculous?!" Reeve barked. He snatched Heidgegger's phone from his hand and demanded for visual connection to the emergency control room—thankfully, security could obey an order, at least.

The boardroom screen lit up and Reeve's face fell in despondency. The bodies of Jim Nowak and several others were just barely in frame, motionless. Over the controls, another figure pulled switches and typed in commands with one hand, a pistol hung at his side in the other. Lights reflected off a pair of colored, round spectacles, and the night breeze rustled long, limp, peppered-black hair and a bloodstained lab coat. Sickening cackles came through the control panel intercom.

"Just be patient, Sephiroth," Hojo purred as he worked. "All the mako you could possibly need is yours."

Those in the boardroom stared dumbly at the feed. Heidegger gripped the edge of the table with white knuckles, Scarlet shook her head slowly and covered her mouth.

This was the right moment to share with the Highwind.

Reeve said, "Professor! Professor Hojo, listen. You can't do this. You'll put the cannon—You'll put the whole city in danger!"

Hojo's hand paused, and gradually his eyes swiveled to the camera. "Oh, dear. The whole city, you say?"

"The cannon will overload with the input you're forcing in it!" Reeve pressed. "You might get a shot off, or you'll just disintegrate Midgar entirely."

A savage grin curled across Hojo's face. "Oh? You know, for a mechanical engineer you're almost clever. Did you honestly think I came all the way up here without knowing what I was doing? What's a Midgar or two, ultimately?" Chuckling to himself, he returned to the control panel. "You're all only human, after all."

"Hojo!"

"Show me, Sephiroth," Hojo murmured in a dreamlike daze. "You must be close…Show me what it looks like for the biological to ascend to the celestial. My ultimate creation, go beyond science itself…I'll never forgive you for it, but I concede defeat." His eyes drifted toward the skies while Reeve and the rest of the board shouted to retake his attention. "Let me see it before this shell loses its usefulness…"

Reeve slammed his palm on the table at his powerlessness, then his face hardened. He held his phone back to his ear after miming the motions of dialing, then turned his back on Scarlet and Heidegger. Reeve moved his vision back to the Highwind.

"He's finally lost his mind completely. And it's so much worse than we could've imagined," Cait Sith said.

Barret clenched his fist. "So, yo, do something, ya damn cat! He's your problem, idn't he?"

"Didn't you listen to a damn thing I just let you hear?" Cait Sith pleaded. Reeve ignored a series of pops from Cait Sith's receiver as he continued, "Hojo's gone rogue, he's taken control of the Sister Ray controls on his own, and there's nothing we can do to stop the…uh…the…"

Every eye on the Highwind was fixed on Cait Sith in bewilderment. Nanaki tilted his head, Tifa curled her lip incredulously, and Vincent stared at him with half-closed eyes and a tight brow. Cloud was currently turning his head to concentrate on some sound, while several of the crew members whispered to each other and scratched their heads.

"W…Why is…everyone…staring at me like that?"

"Holy shit…is that…?" Cid said. He slowly removed his cigarette from his mouth, his eyes burning a hole through Cait Sith. "I know that voice…"

Reeve's terror at exploding along with Midgar was now replaced by a brand new terror. Had…Had Cait Sith's voice alteration dropped? Oh, no, the static…

"Oh…Oh, that's not good…"

"Yeah," Barret said in a low voice. "I know that voice too. I memorized every last board member's face and voice for the day I was gonna put this hand to their heads," he said icily, patting his replacement. "You're tellin' me this whole time we've had a Shinra executive director dancin' around and crackin' jokes through a goddamn stuffed cat?"

Vincent mused, "Hm. So, he is high-ranking. Much, much higher than I thought."

Tifa blinked at Barret in shock. "Who…?"

"Reeve Tuesti," Barret said, a grim smile curling his lips. "Director of Midgar Urban Development. So, that's why you got so many damn tears for Midgar. It ain't about a single person there, is it?" he added in a growl.

Cloud moved in between Cait and Barret. He cooly said, "Forget it. It doesn't matter now." He focused on Cait. "Can't you shut it off? You're in charge of reactor output, right?"

Pulled in so many directions mentally, Cait Sith shook his head. "We…We can't just stop it."

"You're the asshole with your finger on the valves!" Barret snapped. "The hell you mean, you can't stop it? More like you can't shut off your precious production? Huh?"

Reeve felt himself being laid bare and raw, like he had been forcibly stripped of his clothes and those he considered his friends could only humiliate him further…He had nothing to say they would believe. He should have been able to keep his focus on the matter at hand, but this exposure had stolen every bit of Reeve's resolve. They all mattered so much to him, Reeve couldn't face retribution from them…Only minutes before Tifa had spoken up for him, and now stared at Cait Sith with silent uncertainty. The group's about-face had happened instantaneously…

Grumbling loudly, Cid stormed up to Cait and grabbed his tiny shoulder. "You still in there? We dragged your ass across every continent and through hellfire and back and you're gonna run off now?"

"I'm not…I'm still here," Reeve said. "I've been by your side the whole time, but I can't—I still can't make you trust me…"

"Damn fool," Cid seethed. "You gonna make me spell it out for ya? Right now if you're loyal to Shinra or not doesn't mean shit. But I know you're supposed to be some kinda goddamn genius and you know every last inch of those reactors, Tuesti. You can't tell me you don't know how to shut them down. Act like some kinda human being and not a goddamn coward for once in your life. You say you care about those people trapped under your boardroom, how 'bout you prove it and do something about it?"

A light went off behind Reeve's eyes. He couldn't convince them all, but he could convince a fellow engineer. "Captain, listen. Scarlet dismantled all the safety protocols to speed up the installation. Just shutting off the mako flow won't redirect the energy back into the grid once the input into Sister Ray has started. I have to get manual control again to force it."

Cid's eyes thinned as he thought on this, then they abruptly widened and his eyebrows shot up in dismay. "Wait…and Shinra let her?"

"You know Scarlet!" Reeve blurted in aggravation, Cait waving his arms. "Try to stop her from doing anything!"

An eyebrow lowered, Cloud cut in: "Wait, what does that mean?"

"Without anything to automatically and safely reroute power back to the grid," Cid said, "then you're lookin' at a continuous build-up of mako wherever the flow stops."

"It can't stay in one place for long," Cait Sith added. "It'll just keep building energy until it finds a way to release outward."

At last Barret's expression grew slack in understanding. "You talkin' about an explosion…!"

"And with Midgar's level of production, not a small one," Cid pointed out.

"It'll make the explosion at Reactor 1 look like a sparkler," Cait Sith said.

"Hell," Cid scoffed. "With a chain reaction from the rest of the mako in Midgar, we might be lookin' at a new Northern Crater."

"Alright," Barret relented, shaking his head. "I get it, Ca…Tuesti…You're trying to help Midgar's people. I get it."

Cloud nodded. "We have to stop Hojo and get that cannon under control."

Reeve let out a long breath in relief, recomposing himself as his awareness slipped back to the board. Into the silent phone he said, "Wait? Are you sure? Fine. It might work to our advantage," he said to no one. Reeve then turned back to Scarlet and Heidegger, his hand over the cell's receiver. "Listen. The Highwind is on the move. Cloud and his cell are headed for Midgar. If we work this right then they'll be able to take care of Hojo for us. Let's just stay out of their way."

Growing a disquieting shade of purple, Heidegger leered at Reeve. "Oh, coming here, are they?"

Reeve said again, "Stay out of their way." He turned his head to figure out some good way to end his imaginary conversation, then flinched as Heidegger thrust a finger in his face.

"Know your place, Tuesti," Heidegger snarled. "You don't give me orders. And those usurpers are not setting one foot in Midgar. The Public Security Division will make sure order is kept in this city—no matter what!"

Scarlet glanced between the two of them, her eyes thinning as she mulled over the exchange.

"A man has his pride to honor," Heidegger said in a growl. "This is personal."

"Pride?" Reeve scoffed. "Yes, you're right, that is personal. And ridiculous! Every life in this city is on the line and you're more worried about some threat to your pride?"

"Rufus is dead!" Heidegger snapped. "Now I do things my way."

Suddenly, Scarlet worldessly stormed up to Reeve and gripped his wrist. She yanked his arm around to study the darkened and silent screen of his phone. "…Why were you staring off so long, Reeve?"

Reeve's face paled and he pulled his arm back from her. "Scarlet…are you accusing me of something? I hung u—"

"You're with them," Scarlet hissed.

Poorly-oiled gears turned behind Heidegger's eyes, and he stared at Scarlet dumbly. "What now?"

"Remember, Heidegger, Reeve can be in two places at once. How would he magically guess where Strife's faction is going?" she said. "The botched execution, the stolen Huge Materia, how conveniently Highwind knew every corner of Junon airport security—How long have you been feeding information to them, Tuesti?"

"You!" In rage, Heidegger slammed his hefty fist on the table. "How many of my men are dead because of you, you traitor?!"

"Both of you," Reeve blurted, a sweat breaking out on his face. "This is insane, you can't blame me for Cloud's rebellion—!"

Scarlet grabbed Reeve by his tie and shoved him back, forcing him backwards until he hit the wall. "How long…Maybe even longer than we thought…" Her eyes shifted from Reeve's face to the soldiers standing by. She smiled hungrily. "Who else would have known Reactors 1 and 5 so well?"

His eyes widening in horror and revulsion, Reeve pushed against her grip. "Scarlet, you know I had nothing to do—"

"You monster…! All those people in Sector 7…" she whispered in mock distress. "Only the man who knew the plates' designs would know how to drop it so easily. You built this city just to watch it burn, Tuesti?"

"Scarlet, you can't do this!" Reeve hissed back. "I would do anything for this city and you know it…!"

"You!" Scarlet snapped at the guards. "Make sure this bastard is put somewhere he can't do any more damage." Looking back to him, she shook her head sadly. "Once this whole debacle is settled we'll have no choice but to make you face justice."

"You've never once cared about justice."

Scarlet roughly let Reeve go and firmly walked to the doors. "Heidegger. If Tuesti's friends are on their way, I have the perfect weapon to welcome them with."

"Think, both of you," Reeve said, taking a step towards Scarlet. "The cannon has to be—" He was cut off rudely as one of the security members slammed him sideways into the table. "Wait!" He groaned loudly. "Wait, I won't resist—" He had little time for the shooting pain in his ribs to fully register before the butt of a rifle slammed against his temple. Reeve had spent a lifetime ensuring he would never be on the receiving end of Shinra's vengeance, and it was every bit as excruciating as he had imagined. Forced face-first into the carpet, he spat and coughed as stars filled his vision. "Scarlet—Heidegger—stop this! Please—!"

"Shut up," one of the security members snapped before roughly binding his wrists. "You deserve a hell of a lot worse than this, you sick son of a bitch."

Resigned, Reeve allowed the soldiers to drag him to his feet. He could feel that the transceiver had been knocked out of his ear. He leaned his head back and passed his words to Cait Sith in an audible voice, groaning out, "Cloud…everyone…I can't help as—me…I'm sorry…please, hurry."

As Reeve fought against the throbbing aches all over him, he could see Cloud's face on the other side of his awareness. His lips tightened and he nodded. "It's okay. Tell Midgar to hang in there. We're coming."

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