At that moment true chaos reigned in the Raspberry family home because the head of the household had suddenly woken up after lying in a deep coma for two long years following a severe Mako poisoning. Eleanor and Jessie were sincerely happy that Gilbert had managed to come to his senses, and at that minute they did not care in the least why such a sign had occurred or why it had touched their family in particular.
Seeing the warm smile of her husband and the way he was standing on his own feet, even if leaning a little on the doorframe, Eleanor felt how all the fatigue that had accumulated over the last two hard years immediately evaporated, as if it had never existed. Hugging her father with tears in her eyes, Jessie deep down understood perfectly well exactly whom she ought to thank for what had happened.
And she was fully aware of why Alex had told her father that he had been unconscious for only a couple of days rather than two long years. That was precisely why Jessie readily picked up that version, giving Gilbert time to adapt a little and not shocking him right after he had come out of the coma. Pressing close to her father, Jessie firmly decided that they would have to properly thank Alex for everything he had done.
And while the Raspberry family rejoiced at the incredible event in their home, Biggs and Wedge took it upon themselves to help with the cleanup. After all, if not for Biggs, Wedge in the heat of the moment would have rushed to join in the hugging with everyone, hopelessly ruining the personal moment of the family's reunion. Timely grabbing Wedge by the collar, Biggs strictly looked at the broken mugs and the tea stain spreading across the floor that needed to be cleaned up at once.
Having quickly eliminated all the mess, Biggs realized it was time for them to leave and leave Jessie alone with her loved ones. Heading for the doors, the partners tried to move as quietly as possible so as not to attract attention to themselves and not disturb such a wonderful moment. However, the moment they left the kitchen, Jessie immediately noticed that her friends were leaving.
"Guys, where are you going?" Jessie asked, hurrying after Biggs and Wedge.
"Jessie, we think we'll head home. You should spend time with your father right now," Biggs answered with a kind face, pointing toward the exit.
"You don't have to leave at all! You can stay. This isn't the first time you've been at my place. And you're part of my family too," Jessie said with a joyful smile, wiping away the tears that still kept flowing down her cheeks.
"We'll still go, Jessie. You and your parents are like family to us as well. But as Biggs rightly said, you need to be alone. And we really don't want to interfere at a moment like this," Wedge answered with a slightly foolish but very sincere smile, nodding wisely.
Not giving Jessie a chance to bring a single argument why they should stay, Biggs took Wedge by the elbow and dragged him outside. He himself would have gladly shared this happy moment with Jessie, but he understood perfectly well: now was not the time for outsiders, and the Raspberry family needed to be in their own narrow, cozy circle. Having pulled Wedge out onto the street and carefully closed the door behind them, Biggs sighed heavily and looked up at the dark starry sky.
Looking at the night sky, Biggs could no longer hold back his tears. He knew perfectly well that neither he nor Wedge would ever be able to get their own families back. But at least Jessie would now once again have a real, complete family. In that touching moment Biggs and Wedge thought the exact same thing at the same time: how wonderful it would be if Jessie returned to her long-standing dream of becoming an actress in the theater instead of constantly risking her life in the dangerous fight against Shinra.
The partners were one hundred percent sure that Tifa and Barret would definitely support her choice if she decided to leave Avalanche after everything that had happened. Wiping away the moisture that had risen, Biggs and Wedge laughed simultaneously, feeling deep, sincere joy for Jessie and her loved ones. Stopping laughing, they remembered that they still needed to find Alex, Claudia, and Yuffie in order to finish the business for which they had come here in the first place.
Having absolutely no idea where to look for such a trio, Biggs and Wedge suddenly heard strange, devilishly cheerful singing coming from the neighboring street. Exchanging glances, they climbed higher up the slope from Jessie's house and came upon a stunning sight. Right in the middle of the roadway Alex and Yuffie were going all out in a rhythmic dance, while nearby stood Claudia with the face of a person who right now dreamed of being anywhere else, just far away from this madness.
"Hey! Boogie woogie bang bang!" Alex sang cheerfully, deftly moving his arms and hips to the beat of the music.
"Bang Bang!" Yuffie shouted perkily, exactly repeating Alex's movements and rhythmically swaying her hips from side to side.
"Lets go body body boom boom!" Alex continued singing, with a smile lightly nudging Yuffie with his hip.
"Boom Boom!" Yuffie sang, laughing, and with pleasure pushed Alex back with her hip.
Watching how Alex and Yuffie danced in the middle of the road, Biggs had absolutely no idea what was even going on. He was well aware that it was precisely Alex who had helped Jessie's father come out of the multi-year coma. Until this moment Biggs had expected to see Alex lazily sitting on a fence with his usual cigarette or cigar that was almost always with him. But he clearly had not expected to catch something like this — an energetic dance in the middle of an empty street flooded with the soft light of the night lamps.
Biggs very much wanted to ask Alex how he had managed to pull off such a miracle. However, at the sight of the dancing Alex and Yuffie all serious questions immediately evaporated from his head because of the absolute absurdity unfolding ahead. And what made the situation even more comical was Wedge, who without any hesitation also joined this ridiculous fun and began perkily moving his hips in time with Alex and Yuffie.
Rubbing his forehead at this madness, Biggs could no longer restrain himself and burst out laughing loudly. He had known Alex for only a couple of days, yet for some reason he could already no longer be surprised by such antics. It seemed to him that Alex was in principle capable of absolutely anything, and to any meticulous question about how he had managed it he would answer with the usual: "Well, I just went and did it." Laughing at that thought, Biggs shook his head and looked again at this comedy show that the trio was performing with gusto.
"Choose ya choose ya buddy! And let's move ya move ya body! Let's enjoy and get closer day by day!" Alex continued singing cheerfully, lightly swaying his arms to the beat and smoothly stepping from foot to foot.
"La la la la la la la la!" Yuffie sang joyfully, dancing in time and absolutely synchronously repeating every one of Alex's movements.
Having finished singing, Alex sharply turned in place and froze in a victorious pose, dramatically raising a finger upward, straight toward the lamp burning above him. And in that same second the bulb in the street-lamp fixture cracked loudly and burst, plunging the street into darkness. Seeing what had happened, Yuffie considered it an incredibly cool way to end the dance and immediately began joyfully jumping around Alex, clapping her hands loudly.
Wedge, who had been dancing in time, also felt how the heaviness on his soul receded, giving way to a light and joyful mood. Still laughing, Biggs could not help applauding Alex, Yuffie, and Wedge for their cheerful improvised performance. The only one who was sincerely glad that this madness was over was Claudia, who dreamed of not seeing anything like it for at least the near future.
Looking at the burst lamp, Alex glanced at his outstretched finger and carelessly shrugged. He himself had not expected the bulb to explode at exactly that second, but he considered it an extremely pleasant coincidence. Casting his eyes over Biggs and Wedge, Alex understood perfectly well that these two had probably accumulated a whole mountain of questions about how he had managed to bring Jessie's father back to his senses. However, Alex knew — even if he told them the pure truth, no one would believe it anyway.
"Listen… Thank you. Well… for what you did for Jessie," Biggs said with a kind smile, coming closer and placing a hand on Alex's shoulder.
"I didn't do anything. It's just a coincidence," Alex answered with an innocent smile, spreading his arms to the sides.
"Maybe we're not as smart as you, Mister Genius. But even a dumbass would understand that coincidences like that simply don't happen in life," Biggs replied with a smirk, theatrically rolling his eyes in response to Alex's excuse.
"Yeah! Even the dumbest would understand!" Wedge agreed animatedly, nodding and folding his arms across his chest.
"I still don't understand what you're talking about. I have absolutely nothing to do with this," Alex repeated in a lazy tone, lightly waving his hand.
"How do you have nothing to do with it?! I saw myself how you put your fingers to his forehead and he immediately went: 'Ahem-ahem! Where am I? Who are you?' And then you told him with a smart look: 'I'm Doctor Who, you just hit your head hard!'" Yuffie unceremoniously intervened, acting out everything she had spied in Jessie's father's room.
Hearing Yuffie's words, who had perfectly parodied Alex's overly serious face at the moment of healing Jessie's father, Biggs and Wedge turned their gazes on him with mocking smiles. Sighing wearily, Alex rubbed his forehead, looking at Yuffie with annoyance as she had repeated everything he had done with the most sincere expression. He had specifically brushed off any gratitude just so that no one would feel indebted to him.
Stopping massaging his forehead, Alex grabbed Yuffie by the cheeks and began diligently rubbing them, expressing all his irritation at her tongue that had loosened at the wrong time. Feeling her cheeks turning into bright-red flatbreads, Yuffie began desperately resisting, trying to fight Alex off and bracing her feet right against his chest.
She had absolutely no idea why he had suddenly gotten angry, but that did not mean at all that she would allow him to pinch her cheeks like a little kid. Having barely broken free from Alex's tenacious hands, Yuffie jumped aside and hid behind Claudia's back. Looking at him warily and rubbing the burning skin, Yuffie met Alex's eyes, childishly stuck out her tongue, and threatened him with a finger, promising swift and very terrible retribution.
Shaking his head at her naive threats, Alex looked again at Biggs and Wedge, who were literally burning with the desire to hear exactly how he had helped Gilbert come to his senses. Even Claudia was sincerely interested in this, even if she restrained her emotions, keeping an impenetrable expression on her face.
"Fine, I did it. That's exactly what you wanted to hear, right? If so, then you've got what you wanted," Alex said with a sigh, lighting a thin cigar and exhaling bluish smoke toward Biggs and Wedge.
"And how did you manage it? Even the best Shinra doctors couldn't bring Gilbert back to life with such severe Mako poisoning. And at Shinra, for a second, the best minds and scientists in the world work!" Biggs asked with genuine interest, trying to figure out how Alex had managed to accomplish what had been beyond everyone else.
"Hmm… I think I should start with the events that happened to me and Dean about a year ago," Alex drawled, stroking his chin and looking at the starry sky, putting on a mysterious expression.
"Whoa! And what happened to you a year ago? Did you carry out some secret job and stumble on ancient ruins?" Wedge shouted with delight, already anticipating an exciting story about new adventures of Alex and Dean.
"I think it all started with how Dean and his younger brother Sam accidentally finished off Death… Well, people, of course, didn't stop dying, but the main boss himself was gone. And it just so happened that while Dean and I were doing a job in some little town where a nasty monster had appeared, a reaper came to me and said: 'Here's a ring for you, put it on and become our new boss…'" Alex began elaborating with an extremely serious face, lowering his gaze to the listeners.
"Stop-stop-stop! Killed Death?! How can you even kill Death? What's this reaper? And what kind of ring?! Can you really become Death just by putting on some ring?!" Biggs quickly started talking, interrupting Alex and clearly considering everything said complete nonsense.
"Well yeah, actually. Isn't that obvious? And don't interrupt me anyway! I only just started telling about how boring it is to work as Death part-time… It's just fucking boring!" Alex declared with theatrical drama in his voice, exaggeratedly waving the smoldering cigar right in front of his friends' faces.
"He-he-he… I'd also love to hear about how boring that job is, Mister Death," suddenly rang out Jessie's cheerful and familiar voice right behind the whole group.
Hearing Jessie's voice behind them, everyone immediately turned their heads toward her. A few meters from the group stood Jessie — with a bright smile on her face and eyes a little red from recent tears. Seeing that she had come out to them, Wedge and Biggs immediately began asking why she hadn't stayed home. But Jessie only laughed cheerfully and said that her parents had fallen asleep from exhaustion and she hadn't wanted to disturb them at all.
Hearing her answer, Biggs still continued to insist boringly that she needed to return to her relatives and simply spend time with them, and they would handle everything else perfectly well themselves. In response to this nervous tirade of Biggs's, Jessie only narrowed her eyes slightly and without extra words delivered a ringing precise kick to his shin, clearly reminding who exactly was the boss in their trio.
Having received yet another kick to the leg that day, Biggs hissed from the pain and began frantically rubbing the bruised spot. Snorting at Biggs, Jessie immediately looked at Alex with a tender gaze, trying to find the words that were spinning on her tongue. At that moment she wanted so much to tell him and thank him from the bottom of her heart for the miracle he had performed. Looking into Jessie's reddened eyes, Alex released a stream of smoke through his nose, perfectly understanding what was going on in her head right now. And he knew an excellent way to spare her the extra drama.
"Oh, don't look at me like that, as if you're a jilted bride, I ran off to the other end of the earth, and we accidentally met ten years later!" Alex said in an exaggeratedly dramatic tone and lazily waved his hand.
"Pfft… Ha-ha-ha-ha! You're such an idiot! You just went and ruined everything!" Jessie immediately burst out laughing, and all her tension vanished in an instant.
"I didn't ruin anything," Alex answered in a cheerful tone, slightly spreading his arms to the sides.
"And I was already seriously thinking that I should thank you with a passionate kiss, or maybe something more! Isn't this the perfect romantic moment?! A mysterious stranger saves the family of an ordinary theater actress. Then they meet again in the soft light of a night lamp, passionately kiss, and walk off together into the sunset where they'll live long and happily!" Jessie spoke in a theatrically enthusiastic tone, slightly spinning in place and gracefully extending a hand toward Alex.
"Um… Jessie… The lamp isn't working at all. It burst a couple of minutes ago," Wedge spoke up in an embarrassed tone, pointing a finger at the extinguished fixture.
"Shut up, Wedge! Don't ruin the moment… Ahem! So, where was I?" Jessie immediately snapped, casting a fierce look at Wedge, after which she demonstratively coughed into her fist with a sweet smile.
"Lived long and happily?" Yuffie prompted in an interested tone, raising her hand like an attentive student at the blackboard.
"Exactly! Lived long and happily. Then we'll have a little house on a meadow, our own garden where our kids will run around, and a chocobo pen… Yeah, that's exactly how it should all end!" Jessie continued with enthusiasm, describing her idea of an ideal romantic story.
Listening to Jessie's dramatic speech, Alex lightly scratched his cheek with a finger, thinking that he actually already had everything she had just described. Only, unlike a modest little house, he had an entire cozy mansion where his whole large family lived. And his five little gremlins quite often dragged home all sorts of exotic animals from other universes, for which he had even had to create a separate spatial dimension right in the estate.
And all his wives didn't sit idle either: they actively helped with the Guild, looked after the house, and even traveled in groups through different worlds, providing help wherever it was needed. Having listened to the finale of Jessie's romantic story, Alex decided not to spoil the sincere impulse of Claudia's friend and only cheerfully clapped his hands, paying tribute to her rich imagination and acting talent.
Claudia, standing next to Alex, sincerely thought about when this whole circus would finally end and they would get down to the reason they had come here in the first place. Sighing once again at the fact that those around constantly got distracted by nonsense, Claudia decided to rigidly remind them of the purpose for which they had gathered under this extinguished street lamp.
Hearing Claudia's dry words, everyone immediately turned their attention to her. Continuing to maintain the image of a cold and unyielding mercenary, Claudia with an exaggeratedly strict motion nodded toward the Shinra warehouse located at the very end of the residential sector street. Noticing that gesture, Jessie immediately remembered their main task and perked up.
"Right! Our plan to steal materials from the warehouse! So, the plan…" Jessie rattled on.
"The plan is simple. You and Yuffie will quietly sneak inside the complex and take everything necessary. While the four of us make as much noise as possible right under the noses of the Shinra grunts," Alex interrupted her in a calm tone, proposing the most obvious and effective option.
"I want to make noise too! That's so cool!" Yuffie complained and began actively tugging at Alex's sleeve, showing with her whole appearance that she desperately wanted to take part in the second open assault.
"What are you better at: fighting or stealing?" Alex asked with a smile, playfully poking a finger into Yuffie's cheek.
"Both!" Yuffie answered with a huge grin and proudly raised a thumb upward.
"And still you're going with Jessie. She only has two hands, and she can't carry everything alone. Besides, if you're lucky, you might find valuable materia in that storage," Alex added with a smile and nodded his head toward the building.
Hearing Alex's words, Yuffie thought for a short moment, staring at the huge warehouse at the end of the street. Inside her two opposite feelings immediately began to fight: take part in a noisy party right under the noses of the grunts or go with Jessie to steal materials from the warehouse in the hope of finding a couple of valuable materias for which she had come to Midgar in the first place.
And the answer appeared in Yuffie's head right away: she would take absolutely all the materia from Shinra, and if she couldn't carry it all in one go, she would definitely return and steal the rest! Smiling widely, Yuffie immediately tore from the spot and ran at full speed toward the complex. Watching the fleeing kunoichi, Alex slightly pursed his lips and turned to Jessie.
The moment he only sighed heavily, Jessie understood everything at once without extra words. Slightly laughing, she jumped up to Alex, tightly hugged him, and once more tenderly kissed him on the cheek. Slipping out of the embrace, Jessie immediately hurried after Yuffie to intercept this restless ninja before she broke into the storage and raised a ruckus trying to break down the locked doors.
As soon as Yuffie and Jessie disappeared from sight, Alex turned to the remaining companions and silently nodded. Walking along the quiet street, they covertly reached the Shinra barricades. Hiding behind empty containers, he carefully peeked around the corner and assessed the checkpoint: several ordinary grunts were on duty inside, patrolling the gates. Hiding back, Alex cast a glance over the stacked metal boxes, reasoning that Jessie and Yuffie had probably decided to move along the top. Stroking his chin, he squatted down and touched the concrete with his palm.
"What are you planning?" Claudia asked, squatting next to Alex while Biggs and Wedge carefully watched the situation.
"Now you'll see a little trick… Ninja Art: Technique of Drawn Beasts!" Alex answered with a smirk, beginning to draw patterns with his finger right on the road surface.
As soon as Alex finished speaking, his finger turned black, and a liquid resembling thick ink began to drip from the tip. With quick, precise movements Alex drew an ordinary rat on the concrete and immediately formed a hand seal in front of his face. At that same moment the drawn animal came to life and began rapidly multiplying, immediately filling the entire space around with a whole swarm of ink rats.
Watching Alex's manipulations, Claudia was sincerely surprised that he was capable of using even the secret ninja techniques from Wutai. Biggs and Wedge, who had been watching the situation, initially did not see what was happening behind their backs. Hearing suspicious rustling behind them, they synchronously turned their heads and froze at the sight of a whole horde of rodents.
From such a picture Wedge nearly screamed for the whole street, but Biggs managed in time to cover his mouth with his palm. Paying no attention to Biggs and Wedge, Alex with a light wave of his hand sent the drawn rats on reconnaissance toward the warehouse. Watching how a rustling swarm rushed right under his feet, Wedge nearly fainted from panic. Only when the rats had disappeared far enough did he sigh heavily, clutching his heart convulsively. Scratching his cheek, Alex lit another thin cigar and began calmly waiting.
Seeing how Alex carelessly released smoke, Claudia leaned her back against the container and also joined the wait. Already a minute later one of the drawn rats came running back. Looking down, Alex formed a hand seal, and the ink scout immediately turned into a puddle of ink that began writhing on the concrete, taking on the clear outlines of a detailed map of the warehouse, as well as the positions of all the grunts and Shinra equipment.
"Wait… Do you know all these Wutai things too?" Biggs asked in amazement, seeing what had just happened before his eyes.
"Yeah…" Alex drawled in a lazy tone, carefully examining the map together with Claudia.
"Is there anything at all you can't do?" Wedge asked, squatting next to Alex.
"I don't know. When I find out — I'll definitely tell you… Hmm, what do you think?" Alex answered carelessly, turning to Claudia and wanting to hear her assessment.
"There aren't many guards, but the equipment can cause serious problems. Especially these rocket launchers. They need to be disabled before they activate," Claudia said in a calm tone, pointing a finger at specific points on the map.
"We'll take care of that! While you two, like real SOLDIER, draw all the attention to yourselves, Wedge and I will disable the security system," Biggs answered with a nod and encouragingly patted Wedge on the shoulder.
"Yeah, completely rely on us! We just need to break the main terminal, and then they won't be able to launch their rockets," Wedge confirmed with a smirk, confidently punching himself in the chest.
"Then let's go touch the grunts where they definitely won't like it," Alex summarized with a smirk, rising from his squat and wiping the ink diagram with the sole of his shoe.
"And… where exactly should we touch them so they don't like it?" Wedge asked again in an embarrassed tone, having completely missed the irony.
"Anywhere you want you can touch them! Even on the ass! If some guy was groping my ass, I definitely wouldn't like it. Even if it was my best friend," Biggs answered with loud laughter, sincerely laughing at Wedge's naivety.
Chuckling at Biggs's last words, Alex together with Claudia came out from behind the container and calmly headed straight for the checkpoint. Approaching the guard booth, they both became witnesses to a rather amusing scene unfolding inside. Two Shinra grunts were heatedly discussing something, enthusiastically examining some publication.
Slightly rising on his toes, Alex made out that the guards right at their post were reading a porn magazine and arguing among themselves about which of the models was prettier. Seeing this, Alex lightly scratched his cheek, beginning to feel extremely uncomfortable about what he would now have to do. Looking at Claudia, he noticed that after what she had seen she retained an absolutely stone expression on her face.
Coughing awkwardly, Alex cast a glance toward Biggs and Wedge hiding nearby and began explaining to them with gestures what was happening at the checkpoint. Seeing the unclear hand waves, Biggs whispered, asking what he meant.
And when Alex once more as clearly as possible explained that the grunts were actively studying the spicy glossies, the faces of Biggs and Wedge stretched comically at such news. Quietly laughing at all this absurdity, Alex quickly pulled himself together, took the Jackal pistol from its holster, and lightly tapped his knuckles on the glass of the booth.
"This is private property! Leave it immediately or we will detain you," a grunt recited in a monotonous, memorized voice, not even thinking of tearing himself away from reading the porn magazine together with his colleague.
Rolling his eyes at such a memorized monologue, Alex tapped his knuckles on the glass once more to attract the attention of the two Shinra grunts and finally distract them from reading a magazine that clearly should not be studied at the workplace. Hearing the next knock, both grunts desperately boiled with irritation because they were being unceremoniously torn away from such an important occupation.
And the moment they turned to explain to the uninvited visitor in a more direct way that this was private property, both guards immediately froze in their chairs, staring at the gun barrel pointed at them. Stunned by the sight of the weapon, the grunts synchronously raised their heads and saw Alex in a black cap and mask, who with a short gesture ordered them to keep complete silence.
Trying not to move unnecessarily so as not to catch a bullet in the head, the grunts nodded fearfully. Smiling under the mask, Alex pointed a finger at the booth door, hinting that it should be opened immediately. Exchanging glances, one of the grunts carefully rose from his chair and, not taking his eyes off the pistol, began backing toward the exit. The moment he removed the lock, a dull impact sounded from the other side, and the door leaf immediately swung wide open.
The grunt standing on the threshold immediately received a powerful blow to the face and lost consciousness at once, crashing onto the floor on his back. Before the second grunt had time to even figure out what was happening, Claudia roughly grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed his face straight into the instrument panel.
Having knocked out both guards, Claudia briefly looked at Alex, after which she pressed the needed button on the console to open the massive warehouse gates. Raising a thumb in approval, Alex entered the booth and helped Claudia drag the two unconscious grunts under the wide table so that they would not be noticed ahead of time.
"Great job… And this I'll take for myself, I think," Biggs said with a smirk, entering the checkpoint booth and picking up the porn magazine lying on the floor.
"I don't even want to ask what you need it for," Alex answered, shaking his head as he walked past Biggs.
"And you don't ask. Every man has the full right to read magazines like this!" Biggs declared with a smirk, deftly tucking the trophy under his T-shirt.
"Just don't do it in front of everyone like these two. Or I won't mind slamming your face into the table a couple of times," Claudia said in a tone that promised nothing good, nodding her chin toward the knocked-out grunts.
"Yes, ma'am!" Biggs barked, quickly saluting and clearly not eager to earn a concussion.
Hearing Biggs's shout, Alex laughed slightly, not forgetting to remind his comrade that he should hide such a magazine as deeply as possible, or Jessie would definitely burn the thing — and him along with it. Hearing such convincing words, Biggs seriously thought: whether he should hide the trophy better at his place in the Slums or whether it would still be more reliable to get rid of the dangerous glossy right now.
Shaking his head, Alex together with Claudia headed toward the slightly opened gates, trying to make it by the time Jessie gave the signal that she and Yuffie had gotten into the needed place. Hiding behind the gate leaf, Alex noticed that Claudia was thoughtfully looking at the rotating fan blades. At that moment warm memories from the past flashed before Claudia's eyes that for once did not cause her the usual attack of headache.
She remembered herself and Tifa when they were still little children and sat in their favorite place on the water tower. In that same second the promise given to Tifa surfaced in her memory: to definitely come to her aid when she became strong enough and capable of protecting her. Immersing herself in these pleasant thoughts, Claudia suddenly felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Shaking her head to get rid of the light daze, Claudia looked at Alex and briefly waved her hand, letting him know that this was not another blackout.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Alex asked, removing his hand from Claudia's shoulder.
"Yes, I'm fine. I just remembered my old town and Tifa," Claudia explained in a calm tone, having absolutely no intention of hiding from Alex what had happened.
"Is that so. Hmm… I wonder what you were like as kids. I'm almost sure Tifa was a cutie, and you… Hmm… I think you were something like a tomboy," Alex drawled thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
"Do you want to discuss this right now?" Claudia asked gloomily, giving Alex an empty look.
"I'm just curious… Ah, too bad, I'd have liked to see what you were like as a kid," Alex muttered carelessly and slightly shrugged.
"You'll get over it… Enough talking, we're going in. We need to wait for the signal from Jessie and Yuffie," Claudia cut off dryly, pushing Alex's face away from herself with her palm and quietly running onto the warehouse territory the moment a bright searchlight beam slid past.
"How cold you are. So you definitely weren't a cutie," Alex said in an exaggeratedly offended tone, following Claudia.
"I'll hit you right now if you don't shut up. And help me climb onto the roof," Claudia threw coldly, hiding behind the nearest truck.
"Okay-okay, I'm silent. I'll just ask Tifa what you were like as a kid. She'll definitely tell me everything!" Alex answered with a smile, interlocking his hands to give Claudia a boost onto the truck bed.
"Idiot," Claudia muttered, deftly jumping onto the roof of the truck and bending down to give Alex a hand.
In response to Claudia's words Alex only quietly laughed and deftly climbed onto the roof of the truck. Squatting lower so they wouldn't be accidentally spotted, Alex turned to Biggs and Wedge, who were hiding behind a neighboring truck on the other side. Noticing Biggs's attention, Alex showed with gestures that he would turn off the lights one by one while they covertly made their way to the ladder.
Seeing Alex's signs, Biggs understood everything at once and quickly raised a thumb upward, letting him know they were ready. Noticing that gesture, Alex took the phone from his pocket and with a button press turned off the first lamp, giving Biggs and Wedge an excellent opportunity to run farther unnoticed. Having successfully reached the needed ladder, Biggs turned to Alex and Claudia, who were hiding on the truck bed, and showed two fingers, indicating exactly how many minutes they would need to reach the gun control post.
Showing an answering "OK" sign with his fingers, Alex turned to Claudia, letting her know it was time to prepare for battle. Nodding in response, Claudia leaned forward a little and with a habitual quick motion removed the Buster Sword from her back, gripping the hilt and preparing to raise a ruckus the moment Jessie gave the long-awaited signal.
To be continued...
(Well, here's another chapter. It's worth remembering that every moment brings the characters closer together so that their interactions don't feel forced. Yeah, yeah. So, plot-wise, there's a bit of a ruckus at the Shinra Warehouse, and a possible punch to another idiot. Or maybe not, I'm not sure. Hmm. What I'm sure of is that the plot continues to move as it should. Yeah. Hmm, and maybe I mixed up Jesse's father's name when I Googled his name. Of all the answers, I got either Jesse's mom and dad, or several names, one of which was Gilbert. And I just didn't have the time or inclination to turn on PS and turn on FF7 to double-check. Oh well, let it be Gilbert. And to those who notice and say he doesn't have that name, he has a different one... Well, I love you too, no need to say it, I already know. I'm going to go eat. Peace, love, and Hey! Boogie woogie bang bang!)
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