Chapter 825 - 824: Exploring the Underground Complex and Another Problem Because of the Idiot."

Walking along the brightly lit corridor of the abandoned underground complex, Tifa could not restrain herself and commented on the strange fact that no one had clearly been in this place for a very long time, yet the electricity and lights were still working properly. Hearing her logical remark, Alex raised his gaze to the ceiling, looked at the evenly burning lamps, and slightly nodded his head. The presence of current in the network really simplified their task—it remained only to hope that the local system of terminals still retained access to the internal network of the complex.

Turning his head toward Tifa walking nearby, Alex proposed looking for at least one working terminal in order to orient themselves and understand where exactly they were right now. Agreeing, Tifa proposed hurrying a little in order to find the remaining part of the team as soon as possible. After these words Alex and Tifa quickened their pace and ran along the long echoing corridor in the hope of finding at least one door capable of leading them out of here.

Having spent a little time running, they ran up against massive, tightly locked metal doors. Stopping at the barrier, Alex began searching with his gaze for the nearest console terminal in order to unlock the path further. However, around them there were only continuous bare concrete walls without the slightest hint of control panels or at least manual levers for emergency opening.

Slightly frowning, Tifa suddenly recalled how Alex in a similar manner had opened locked mechanical doors in the fifth Mako reactor when, through Barret's fault, the fire-suppression system had activated and the entire block had gone into full lockdown. Approaching right up to the wall by the metal doors, Tifa began carefully tapping the concrete surface with the back of her fist.

Already seriously thinking of knocking the doors off their hinges by force, Alex suddenly heard next to himself a dull, rhythmic tapping. Turning his head, he noticed how Tifa pressed her ear to the wall and focusedly tapped the monolith with the knuckles of her fist. Tapping once more a little to the left, Tifa caught a distinct hollow sound of an empty niche and immediately stopped.

Taking a step back, Tifa instantly assumed a combat stance and with a sharp whipping yank delivered a lightning-fast punch with her fist right in front of herself. From her first blow a deep dent formed on the monolith, from which cracks cracked and crawled in all directions. Quickly realizing that one fist would not be enough here, Tifa sharply spun in place and delivered a most powerful spinning kick with her leg.

From this crushing kick a sufficiently large hole instantly formed in the wall, into which it was now possible to freely thrust both hands. Seeing with what ease Tifa had dealt with the concrete, Alex involuntarily whistled admiringly and loudly clapped his hands.

"Look at that, seems I just found the ideal way to go further! Hooray!" Tifa said with a warming smile, turning to Alex and holding out her palm to give a high-five.

"Simply excellent work… I sincerely hope you won't accidentally hit me like that one day. Just warn me in advance so I can manage to prepare myself morally," Alex answered with a warm smile, ringingly clapping his palm against Tifa's palm.

"Only if you do something completely too extreme! And until then you have absolutely nothing to fear," Tifa answered with a light, coquettish chuckle, slightly leaning her torso forward toward Alex and amusingly poking him with a finger in the chest.

"And this is said to me completely seriously by a girl who literally just hugged me… Eh, what a pity," Alex said in a joking tone, thrusting his hand into the hole in the wall and trying blindly to feel for the needed bundles of wires in the internal wiring of the wall.

"You know, one doesn't interfere with the other at all! And in general, I still owe you several full hugs," Tifa continued to smile warmly, carelessly leaning her back against the locked metal door and observing Alex's manipulations with interest.

"Then we have even more weighty reasons to get out of this place as soon as possible. Or else arranging hugs in such ruins is not the best idea," Alex answered, nodding his head, continuing to diligently fuss with the electrical wiring of the wall in order to short the contacts and start the door drive.

"And why is that?" Tifa inquired with curiosity, sincerely shifting her gaze to Alex.

"Because in such situations something always happens at the most responsible moment! And that's it—the atmosphere is spoiled, the moment is hopelessly lost, and instead of pleasant hugs one has to urgently fend off a bunch of monsters. Nope, I definitely won't allow such a setup," Alex declared with an extremely serious and businesslike face, looking right into Tifa's eyes.

Looking at Alex's incredibly serious expression, Tifa could not restrain herself and quietly, sincerely laughed. She simply could not figure out how ordinary hugs in such an abandoned place could suddenly force a bunch of monsters to appear out of nowhere with whom one would then have to fight. Considering his words nothing more than a successful joke, Tifa continued to observe Alex with interest, who was still trying to unlock the locked metal doors.

Alex himself finally felt the needed contacts with his fingers and sharply yanked a bundle of wiring right out of the wall. Fussing a little with the bare strands, Alex shorted the wires together—and the doors immediately emitted a light mechanical click, slightly parting to the sides.

Realizing that the lock had yielded, Tifa took a step back, approached the formed gap, and tightly grabbed the edge of the door with her fingers. Standing right behind Tifa, Alex also intercepted the edge of the door and sharply pulled the heavy metal toward himself. From such a sudden and powerful yank Tifa almost lost her balance, but in time managed with a death grip to cling to Alex's strong arm.

Practically hanging on Alex's arm, Tifa bestowed upon him the most reproachful gaze she was capable of—for the fact that he simply had not warned her before the yank. Guiltily smiling, Alex carefully pulled his arm back, helping Tifa stand steadily on her feet again. Softly shaking her head, Tifa with a smile slightly patted Alex on the chest and proposed to move further.

Having passed through the flung-open metal doors, they found themselves in a spacious dark hangar filled with broken glass containers, inside which phosphorescent remnants of liquid Mako were still glowing.

Looking around, Alex immediately understood that they had ended up in a kind of classified laboratory where frightening medical experiments had been conducted—too many details around directly pointed to this. Just as carefully looking around, Tifa cautiously touched the bars of the empty iron cages with the tips of her fingers, of which there were suspiciously many in this place.

"What were they even doing here?.. And for what or for whom were all these cages intended?" Tifa asked with sincere doubt and growing anxiety in her voice, removing her hand from the broken glass container and turning her head to Alex.

"Exactly what Shinra so carefully hides from the eyes of ordinary people. Everything here was built for the creation of weapons," Alex answered absently, squatting on his haunches in front of an old terminal in order to try to put it into working mode.

"Weapons?.. So they synthesized combat Materia right here?" Tifa asked, slightly frowning, approaching closer to Alex.

"The weapons I meant have a completely different name. Namely—biological weapons. The full consequences of such terrible experiments you have already seen with your own eyes in the dormitory… Do you remember that guy who lived next to Claudia?" Alex said, with a scrape tearing off the protective panel from the terminal's casing.

"Marco?.. But I was sure that he had simply been subjected to strong Mako poisoning somewhere at the production, and his mind had become clouded from that…" Tifa muttered with growing horror in her voice, fearfully covering her mouth with her palm.

"In terms of poisoning you are absolutely right. Only they pumped him with a high concentration of Mako not by accident, but absolutely forcibly. And that very place where all this happened is located right behind your back," Alex summarized with a sigh, pointing a finger at the empty, cracked glass container right behind Tifa.

Turning her head back, Tifa again looked at the glass containers, at the bottom of which remnants of liquid Mako still phosphoresced. And before her eyes a terrible picture immediately flashed of how screaming people were forcibly dragged into these narrow glass capsules, after which they were immersed right into the Mako.

From these horrifying thoughts Tifa clenched her fists even more tightly, feeling how a dull, all-consuming rage directed at Shinra was boiling up inside. And together with this in her head the heavy memories of five years ago from Mount Nibel instantly flashed, where she had already seen something similar…

Then she had acted as a guide for two SOLDIERS, one of whom was a young guy with black hair and with the huge Buster Sword that Claudia now carries. On that day her task had been to help them pass through the familiar trails, lead them deep into the mountain, and find the source from which so many aggressive monsters had appeared in the surroundings.

When they together with the two SOLDIERS had deepened into the abandoned complex hidden in the mountains, Tifa had had to remain outside the premises with similar capsules in order not to expose herself to extra danger. And then she had accidentally overheard their restrained conversation in which it was said that because of the ultra-high concentration of Mako living creatures inevitably mutate into monsters.

Barely hearing this dialogue, she had long tried to convince herself that she had simply misheard when the female SOLDIER had said in a calm tone that Shinra purposefully pumps ordinary people with Mako in order to turn them into controllable monsters. Immersing herself in these unpleasant, pressing memories that like a puzzle were assembling a single picture in her head, Tifa herself did not notice how she had almost approached the broken container at point-blank range.

Before her eyes painful pictures of the past flashed, causing physical, sharp pain in her chest. After so many years she still asked herself the question: at what exact moment had everything gone wrong? When the SOLDIERS had arrived in Nibelheim, or when one of these SOLDIERS had suddenly gone mad?..

Already extending her hand in order to touch the mutilated edge of the broken glass, Tifa suddenly heard a loud, dry sound of a shot right behind her back. Instantly coming to from the bitter memories, Tifa shook her head and sharply turned back. She saw Alex, who with a completely imperturbable, empty expression on his face was holding in his hand the large-caliber pistol "Jackal," aimed right at the smoking, broken terminal.

"Why… why did you shoot the terminal?!" Tifa asked in astonishment, quickly approaching closer to Alex.

"Because I tried so sincerely to turn it on, and in the end it turned out completely empty. No map of the complex, no data… Nothing at all. And that, honestly speaking, slightly upset me," Alex answered with a light smile, smoothly putting the "Jackal" back into the holster behind his back.

"It upset you so strongly that you decided to simply take and shoot the terminal?" Tifa asked again with a tired smile, looking Alex right in the eyes.

"It wounded me right in the little heart… Better tell me, how are you yourself?" Alex answered, spreading his arms to the sides, approaching closer to Tifa.

"I… I don't even know. Simply too much of everything surfaced from the past…" Tifa answered quietly, shaking her head, and raised a sad gaze to Alex.

"If you need to sincerely talk it out—I'm gladly ready to listen to you. The only problem: there's no alcohol at hand, so we'll have to conduct this sad dialogue absolutely dry," Alex said with a smile, straining with all his might to raise her spirits.

"He-he. What an idiot you are… But still thank you for the fact that you're ready to listen to me," Tifa said with a light chuckle, trustingly patting Alex on the chest and continuing to look him warmly in the eyes.

"Well, of course, after all I'm a famous good guy with us!" Alex answered, amusingly propping his cheeks with his palms, trying to concoct as cute and funny a physiognomy as possible.

Looking at Alex's funny and cute face, Tifa could not restrain herself and quietly, sincerely laughed, slightly covering her mouth with her palm. At that moment she was deeply and immensely grateful to Alex for the fact that he with such ease had helped her get rid of the pressing, sad thoughts about the past. Noticing that in Tifa's eyes there remained not even a trace of the former sadness, Alex slightly smiled and proposed to move further.

For before them still stood the main task—to find the remaining members of the squad, and they still had not properly figured out how gigantic this underground complex of Shinra could turn out to be. Nodding her head with a warming smile on her face, Tifa resolutely clenched her fists in front of herself, clearly demonstrating her full combat readiness.

Pointing at the massive doors located on the metal balcony of the second tier, Alex led Tifa after himself. Quickly climbing the echoing metal steps onto the balcony, Alex and Tifa approached the doors and noticed that they were slightly ajar. Pulling the heavy metal door toward himself in order to clear the passage further, Alex carefully peeked into yet another brightly lit corridor in order to personally make sure that around the corner no unexpected meeting with the local aggressive inhabitants or guards awaited them.

Having made sure that everything was absolutely clean and safe, Alex turned to Tifa and with a gesture proposed to go further. Walking forward and running along the long, endless corridor in attempts to find at least some path upward, Alex and Tifa one after another peeked into absolutely all the doors that came their way. However, all the premises they stumbled upon turned out to be merely yet another abandoned laboratories or dusty warehouses where written-off research equipment had been stored for years.

"Well finally! Honestly speaking, I already seriously thought that now I myself would start breaking the concrete walls with my fists, just to find this damn staircase!" Alex exclaimed with feigned irritation and relief when the cherished flight leading to the upper tier finally appeared before them.

"You know, I don't even want to admit this… But I myself would not have been against it at all if you had really punched us a wall! I couldn't even imagine that everything here would turn out so tangled," Tifa said with a tired smile, greedily catching her breath after the continuous running along the endless corridors.

"Now we can only sincerely hope that this staircase will lead us exactly to the level we need," Alex said with a sigh, carefully stroking Tifa on the back in order to help her come to more quickly and restore her breathing.

"I'm already not sure of anything myself in this place… Phew! That's it, I'm fully ready. We can climb," Tifa said, finally catching her breath, and gratefully patted Alex on the arm.

Looking at Tifa and finally making sure that she had rested enough, Alex satisfiedly nodded and first began quickly climbing the steps upward. At that moment he was not at all concerned about what exact "insanely expensive thing" that idiot Johnny had calculated to scrape together in these ruins. All that Alex sincerely wanted right now was to find the others as quickly as possible and finally leave this gloomy place.

Easily running several flights of stairs and reaching the very top, Alex and Tifa stopped before yet another heavy metal door. With a powerful push sending the door forward, Alex saw before himself yet another spacious, illuminated premises most of all resembling a strictly guarded containment zone. Forward, on both sides of the wide passage, stretched endless rows of isolation chambers with thick glass walls through which one could observe in the finest details everything that happened inside.

Slowing the pace, Alex and Tifa began slowly walking forward, warily looking around. Stopping near one of such transparent chambers, Tifa saw a multitude of deep, terrible traces from huge claws that had riddled the concrete walls, the floor, and even the high ceiling. Frowning at this spectacle, Tifa tugged Alex by the sleeve of his coat, attracting his attention.

Feeling how he was pulled back, Alex turned around and stood next to Tifa. Carefully examining the torn cage, he immediately recalled those terrible creatures that Professor Hojo so enthusiastically grew within the walls of Shinra's secret laboratories. And looking at the density of these fresh deep scratches, Alex could not help thinking about why they still had not met a single one of these creatures face to face.

"What kind of monsters did they even keep in this terrible place?" Tifa could not restrain herself from asking, squatting on her haunches right by the glass in order to better examine the deep claw mark on the concrete floor.

"Well, judging by all these cute scratches on the walls… They kept something extremely unpleasant here," Alex answered, habitually lighting a thin cigar and slightly leaning his shoulder against the glass partition next to Tifa.

"So it was here that they grew that very bio-weapon you spoke about? They really tried to breed fully controllable monsters?" Tifa inquired with anxiety, rising from her haunches and shifting a serious gaze to Alex.

"Yeah. You can safely consider this place a nursery for such 'pocket little monsters'… Which, however, did not particularly want to carefully eat from the hand, but preferred to immediately bite off that very hand that tried to feed them," Alex answered with a light smirk, rhythmically tapping a finger on the thick glass.

Looking at Alex, Tifa merely wearily sighed from how lightheartedly he called the terrible creatures that Shinra grew within these walls. Patting him on the arm, Tifa proposed to move further more quickly in order not to linger any longer in this gloomy place and not to guess whose exactly traces remained on the walls. Running along the endless containment chambers, Alex and Tifa no longer paid attention to the claw scratches.

Continuing to make their way forward in search of the squad, they unexpectedly heard a strange growing noise carrying from somewhere in the depths of the corridor. Slowing for a second in order to listen, both clearly caught the rolling sounds of a burst of heavyweight shots. Exchanging glances, Alex and Tifa without extra words understood: the only one who could arrange such a cannonade rumble in such a place was Barret.

Finally realizing who exactly had gotten into trouble, Alex with one deft motion scooped Tifa up into his arms in order to develop maximum speed. Tightly wrapping her arms around Alex's neck, Tifa cheerfully patted him on the shoulder, making it clear that she was fully ready for the yank.

Exhaling a dense cloud of white steam, Alex tore off from the spot, leaving a distinct burning trail behind himself on the floor. Racing at rapid speed with Tifa in his arms toward the thundering shots, they gradually began to distinguish Barret's angry, rolling shout.

Barret himself at that moment was in a spacious multi-tiered premises, and on his face was frozen a fierce mixture of anger and extreme irritation from the situation in which he found himself. From all sides a dense, itching swarm of huge flying insects had stuck to him, which seemed not even to think of ending. With every moment around him dozens of shot-down insect carcasses fell dead, practically instantly disintegrating into bright green particles.

But the situation did not improve when from the gigantic hives hanging from the ceiling and walls more and more aggressive creatures flew out. Trying to gain at least a second in order to change the type of ammunition on his cyber-arm, Barret clenched his teeth until they cracked from anger while right above his ear without interruption rang Johnny's frantic, panicked howls.

"Bro, they've almost reached us! Shoot them faster already! I don't want to be eaten alive by these giant flies!" Johnny howled frantically, clinging to Barret's back like a frightened koala.

"I'm not your damn bro! I've told you ten times in human language: don't touch that fucking hive! What the hell did you even climb to it for?!" Barret barked irritably, straining with all his might to restrain the urge to throw Johnny right into the center of the swarming swarm.

"I didn't know that someone lived inside there! I thought they were old and empty!.. Bro, careful, behind you!" Johnny began squealing justifications, nervously looking around and drumming a palm on Barret's shoulder.

"I said, I'm not your Bro… Fuck, where the hell is everyone else when they're so needed?!" Barret spat out irritably, instantly spinning one hundred eighty degrees and with a deft click switching the firing mode of the cyber-arm to explosive shotgun.

Sharply spinning in place, Barret fired the red-hot shot right into the dense mass of insects behind himself. From the direct hit of the red-hot shrapnel several specimens instantly ignited and began disorderly and briskly rushing in different directions, chaotically touching the others.

Very quickly the bright flame began rapidly transferring from one beetle to another, consuming with fire an already tangible part of the swarm. Some of the flame-engulfed insects at full speed crashed into the dry, rotten hives, immediately forcing them too to flare up like dry straw.

Hanging on Barret's back, Johnny had already managed with relief to think that everything had finally ended when around them the carcasses of the burning-out insects began falling like rain. However, Barret himself felt in his gut: this was still far from the end. And he turned out to be absolutely right when because of the raging fire the rampaging swarm began behaving even more aggressively and insistently.

Noticing that the matter was beginning to smell of frying in all possible senses of this word, Barret sharply spun around and ran as far as possible from the blazing flock. And the moment he tore off from the spot, all the still-burning insects in a single cloud rapidly flew in pursuit. Not ceasing to curse the situation for all he was worth, Barret raced with all his might up the echoing metal steps, trying to get out onto the upper platform and along the way on the go shooting back at the pursuing burning insects.

Having run up onto the upper tier, Barret rushed toward the saving doors, intending to leave this cursed premises once and for all. But before he could cover even a couple of meters, yet another dense swarm of insects solidly blocked his path. Irritably and juicily swearing, Barret quickly spun on his heels and raced toward the edge of the platform, straight to the railing.

Seeing exactly what Barret intended to do, Johnny squeezed his eyes shut and began frantically howling at the top of his lungs, digging his fingers into Barret's back with all his might. Paying absolutely no attention to these hysterical cries, Barret on the go jumped onto the railings and powerfully pushed off with his legs forward.

Softly landing on the lower platform, Barret deftly rolled on the flooring in order to fully cushion the force of the fall. From this sharp maneuver Johnny fell off his back like a sack and flat, with a dull thud crashed onto the metal floor.

Having won a couple of seconds and briefly broken away from the pursuing flock, Barret, finding himself again on the former platform, irritably clenched his teeth. He began frantically and quickly running a finger over the sensor panel on his cyber-arm, trying to find that very mode that would help cover and destroy this entire fucking swarm with a single volley.

"Bro, faster! Start shooting already! They're coming back! Why aren't you shooting?!" Johnny howled frantically, convulsively tugging Barret by the pant leg and pointing a trembling finger at the approaching cloud of insects.

"Shut up, damn you! Can you not interfere with me for even a second?!" Barret barked with fierce ferocity, still trying in the sensor menu to find the needed command for reloading.

"FASTER ALREADY!!!" falling into final hysteria, Johnny squealed frantically and even more tightly clung with both hands to Barret's leg when he saw that the scorched swarm was literally a couple of meters from them.

Continuing to frantically search for the needed mode that could with a single volley deal with the aggressive swarm of insects, Barret simply could not properly concentrate—because of Johnny's frantic howls who without interruption stubbornly tugged him by the pant leg. Having managed to notice out of the corner of his eye that the fiery clouds had already approached close, Barret abandoned attempts to press on the sensor panel of his cyber-arm.

He sharply raised the barrel of the machine gun, aiming it right into the center of the approaching cloud. With anger and a roar Barret began blindly showering the swarm with explosive bullets, trying to destroy as many of these creatures as possible. And when both of them already began thinking that it would not be possible to get out of this crap, in the echoing hall a heavy, vibrational sound suddenly rang out, painfully resembling a chainsaw working at the limit.

From this sharp metallic rumble the swarm of insects in panic began chaotically flying in different directions. Noticing the unexpected reaction of the creatures to this sound, Barret and Johnny synchronously turned their heads toward the source of the noise.

They stared at the massive locked mechanical doors on the upper tier that they themselves had never managed to reach. And already a moment later the heavy metal doors with a crash flung open—on the threshold stood Tifa and Alex. Seeing the long-awaited friends, Barret exhaled with relief, but on his face the habitual stern irritation immediately returned.

On Johnny's eyes, for their part, tears of relief instantly appeared, as if he had just found true salvation. Alex and Tifa quickly noticed Barret with Johnny and began rapidly looking over the premises, evaluating the situation. They instantly noted the blazing hives under the ceiling and the huge swarm of insects chaotically circling over the platform. Quickly figuring out what was what, Alex more tightly squeezed the hilt of his Chainsword—the blade immediately emitted a threatening humming sound, and the steel teeth spun with deafening speed.

"What the hell are you standing there for?! Help already! These damn flies don't end at all!" Barret loudly barked, with renewed force opening continuous fire on the scattered swarm at the sight of reinforcements.

"Barret, we're coming now! Hold on a little longer!" Tifa cried out, on the run approaching the metal railings of the platform.

"Do I look to you like someone who can simply take and run away?!" Barret cried out in an exaggeratedly indignant tone, for a second turning his head toward Tifa.

Seeing that Barret even in such a crazy situation continued to remain himself, Tifa turned to Alex and understandingly nodded her head to him. Quickly looking around, Alex raised his gaze to the high ceiling, and Tifa without extra words instantly guessed exactly what he intended. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Tifa pointed a finger at the massive hive hanging under the very ceiling and briefly made it clear that she would take it upon herself.

Smiling, Alex stepped several steps back in order to take a good run-up. Tifa exactly repeated his movement and stood shoulder to shoulder. Waving a finger so that Tifa would fix the moment of the start, Alex tore off from the spot and first raced toward the railings of the platform.

Jumping onto the railing and powerfully pushing off from it with his legs, Alex spun in the air and extended his arm toward Tifa who had jumped after him. Grabbing Alex by the arm, Tifa felt how she was forcefully and with high precision thrown upward. Flying up under the very ceiling, Tifa spun in flight and with a swing crashed with both legs right into the hanging hive.

From this most powerful blow the hive instantly covered itself with a network of deep cracks and with a crack began tearing away from the ceiling. Before the nest finally collapsed, Tifa deftly pushed off from it with her legs and rushed downward. Spinning in the air during the long fall, Tifa gracefully landed right on the palm of Alex extended above his head.

Catching and smoothly lowering Tifa onto the flooring, Alex with his other hand pressed the switch on the hilt of the Chainsword, changing the configuration of the weapon. The blade of the Chainsword immediately emitted a loud mechanical click and with a scrape divided into flexible movable sections. Switching the sword into whip mode, Alex squeezed the hilt—and the steel teeth on the connected links spun with even greater, deafening speed.

Beginning to widely swing the Chainsword in whip mode, Alex backhanded knocked down the approaching insects and smashed the huge hives into splinters. Seeing what a bloody meat grinder was unfolding around, Johnny in horror pressed himself dead to the metal floor, convulsively covering his head with both hands. Swinging the flexible blade once more, Alex with a death grip wrapped the red-hot teeth around the largest hive and with force pulled the weapon toward himself.

The sharp teeth of the Chainsword instantly dug into the walls of the nest, with a crunch tearing it into pieces until they reached the queen hiding in the depths. Only when from the torn hive a fountain of thick green blood gushed, Alex with a sharp yank jerked his arm back, ripping the hive out of the wall right together with a crumbled piece of concrete.

"Come on, kid! Another couple of such hives—and all this fucking shit will finally come to an end!" Barret cried out with a wide, excited smirk, continuing to pour lead on the swarm and seeing how the hives on the walls quickly melted one after another.

"Barret, you'd better talk less and shoot more actively!" Tifa cried out in response, with a precise spinning kick of her leg knocking down several insects at once and forcing their carcasses to knock down their kin.

"That's all I'm doing, if you suddenly haven't noticed, Tifa! I've already wiped a hundred of these creatures into powder here!" Barret cried out with a light, proud snort, not for a second ceasing to conduct continuous fire from his machine gun.

"But apparently that was still clearly insufficient… Since Tifa and I had to personally come to your aid," Alex noted with an ironic smirk, performing yet another widest swing of the Chainsword whip and cutting down at once an entire slab of the humming swarm.

In response to these words Barret merely loudly snorted—now, when he finally had the opportunity without interference to change firing modes, he was ready to use the functionality of his cyber-arm to the full. Jerking his steel wrist, Barret with one short motion of a finger switched the module and immediately fired a humming electric ball right into the center of the largest accumulation of insects.

As soon as the electric clot collided with the first beetle, a branching lightning wave with a scrape spread in all directions, which instantly incinerated dozens of creatures in one go. Tifa, meanwhile, continued to deliver one precise kick after another, knocking down insects in the air and forcing their carcasses to knock down their kin. Sharply jumping back, Tifa gracefully dodged the attacking flock and instantly assumed a classic combat stance, extending an open palm forward and drawing a clenched fist back.

Narrowing her eyes, Tifa made a rapid rush forward and focusedly punched with her fist right into the thick of the swarm. From her concentrated blow a dense shockwave instantly formed, with a rumble scattering the remaining insects in all directions. One of the flying beetles with a dull thud fell right onto Johnny's back.

Still convulsively pressing himself to the metal floor and covering his head with his hands, Johnny instantly felt how something warm and pawed crashed onto him from above. Quickly figuring out exactly what had fallen onto him, Johnny emitted a frantic, squealing howl and began wildly rolling on the ground, trying with all his might to throw the enemy off himself.

While Johnny was going into howls, Alex, Tifa, and Barret with combined blows finally finished off the remnants of the swarm. Noticing in what panic Johnny was thrashing, Tifa was already preparing to take a step forward in order to help him, but Barret in time extended a hand, stopping her. He simply could not allow this idiot, because of whose stupidity all this shit had begun, to get off so easily.

Having waited a couple of seconds and with unconcealed pleasure observed the howling on the floor Johnny, Barret unhurriedly raised his machine gun and with a single shot smashed the last beetle on his back. Feeling the long-awaited salvation, Johnny went limp, fell onto his back, and stared at the ceiling with an absolutely dead, empty gaze—as if all his soul had just been completely sucked out of him.

"Barret, how the hell did you even manage to get into this mess?" Tifa inquired, with a habitual motion shaking the sticky remnants of green blood from her leather gloves.

"And how do you yourself think?! Only one finished idiot in this world is incapable of understanding the elementary word 'don't touch that damn hive'!" Barret answered with irritation, spitting on the floor, and slightly moved the fingers of his cyber-arm when it with a click returned to standard mode.

"And why am I not surprised even once?" Alex said, lighting yet another thin cigar, rhythmically tapping the Chainsword on his shoulder and casting a condescending glance at the pale Johnny.

"If it weren't for my incredible kindness, I would have long ago thrown this idiot to hell right into one of these fucking hives! He's the one to blame, damn it, and then I have to come and clean up all this shit," Barret expressed, rolling his eyes, reluctantly approaching Johnny in order to finally lift him to his feet.

"Barret, be a little softer with him at least… You yourself know perfectly well what he's like with us," Tifa asked in a soft tone, trying to cool Barret's ardor a little.

"I'm already extremely soft with him as it is! In any other situation my boot would now be sticking incredibly deep in his ass… Did you hear me, idiot?!" Barret barked in an exaggeratedly stern tone, with a death grip grabbing Johnny by the scruff of the neck and with a yank lifting him to his feet.

"W-we… we're alive!.. Ha-ha-ha! We're really alive! Thank you enormously, Tifa, baby!" Johnny immediately transformed, cried out, instantly assuming a pompous pose and victoriously pointing a finger toward Tifa.

"Fuck…" Alex merely shook his head, quietly muttering, exhaling a dense stream of gray smoke through his nose and looking with sympathy at Johnny.

To be continued...

(Well, another chapter is done, and we're moving right along. I did consider wrapping up the exploration of the underground complex in a single chapter, but that would have made things feel rushed and confusing. I played the plot over in my mind a few times—wondering whether to just breeze through it—*boom*, and it's over—or to actually show a bit of what Shinra was really doing there. After all, Shinra conducts experiments and creates monsters in most of their facilities, and that's something worth knowing. I think that covers it. Now I can go rest and get something to eat—or rather, eat first, then rest. Peace, love, and the question of the century: how is Johnny still alive?)

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