Wedge had not yet recovered from his panic. After Aiden pulled him onto the stairs, he finally saw clearly who had saved him. He quickly climbed up from the ground, grabbed Aiden's shoulder, and shouted, "Quick, come up with me to help Biggs, he's being attacked by Shinra's people!"
"Don't worry, I'm going up right now." Aiden nodded, then looked at Wedge's thigh, which was bleeding heavily, and asked, "Can you still walk?"
"Of course I can." Wedge nodded. Just as he was about to try climbing up, he lost his footing and rolled down again. If Aiden hadn't stopped him, with that round body of his, he probably would've rolled all the way to the bottom.
"You better rest here."
Aiden dragged Wedge up to a small platform at the turn of the stairs. Then he picked up a gun from a Shinra soldier's corpse and tossed it to Wedge. After giving a brief instruction, he continued climbing upward.
After climbing several more flights of stairs, Aiden arrived at a large platform. A fierce firefight was happening there. Over a dozen Shinra soldiers were besieging several Avalanche members.
Among them was Biggs. He was using a structure on the platform as cover to protect a heavily injured Avalanche member behind him.
But he had only one gun, and his original companion Wedge had been shot off the platform. So very quickly, he was suppressed and couldn't even lift his head.
Seeing the Shinra soldiers getting closer, Biggs despairingly threw away his empty rifle, then stood up from behind cover, drew a short knife, and prepared to fight the Shinra soldiers to the death.
But just at that moment, gunfire sounded at the stairway entrance of the platform, it was Aiden coming up. After taking down those dozen Shinra soldiers, Aiden used the tip of his foot to flick up a rifle, caught it, and threw it to the somewhat dazed Biggs.
"I'll handle things here. You take them and get down first," Aiden said, then turned to continue climbing.
"Wait, I'll go with you," Biggs snapped out of it and quickly called out.
"You're just going to leave them behind?" Aiden pointed at the wounded behind Biggs. "If they don't get treatment soon, they're dead."
"But… if the Sector Seven pillar collapses, even more people will die. And Avalanche will become the scapegoat in the mouths of the slum people," Biggs gritted his teeth and said.
"I'm going now to stop them from destroying the Sector Seven pillar," Aiden completely understood Biggs' feelings, and continued, "With just your abilities, you won't be able to stop them. No matter how many of you die, it'll be useless. So while they're still alive, take them down."
Biggs was still hesitant, but when he heard the painful moans of the wounded behind him, he could only nod, "Then I'll leave it to you, Aiden. You must stop them from destroying the Sector Seven pillar."
Aiden didn't reply, only waved his hand with his back turned, and continued quickly climbing the stairs.
After that, he encountered very few Shinra soldiers, so after expending some effort, the platform at the top of the pillar appeared before his eyes.
And on top of this platform, there was a control console that could operate the pillar. As long as the emergency code was entered, it could separate the pillar from the plate, easily causing the Sector Seven plate to fall.
However, because Scarlet had informed Tifa in advance, and only a small portion of the plate's residents had been evacuated, Shinra didn't send many people here at first. It wasn't until Avalanche recklessly rushed the platform that Shinra began airlifting soldiers with helicopters to compete for control of the console.
At this moment, the top platform had become the fiercest battlefield on the pillar. Led by Barret and supported by Cloud, Avalanche members were exchanging fire with soldiers constantly coming down from helicopters, fighting for control of the central console. Almost every second someone fell, and the next second someone else filled the gap.
Seeing the prolonged failure to take control, Shinra grew anxious and immediately ordered more armed helicopters to reinforce.
With a large number of helicopters arriving, the number of Avalanche members on the platform decreased. By the time Aiden arrived, only Barret, Jessie, and Cloud remained.
Although claiming to be a 1st-class SOLDIER, Cloud's actual strength still fell far short. Under attack from multiple helicopters, he could only dodge helplessly across the top platform. Only after a long time could he release a threatening sword wave to force back an incoming transport helicopter, then he'd be chased around again by dense gunfire.
Just as Cloud was cornered by several armed helicopters and could only swing his giant sword defensively, that transport helicopter finally landed on the platform. Several members of the Turks came down, including Reno and Rude, who had previously been scared off by Aiden.
"Hurry, enter the emergency code before that guy gets up here!" Seeing Barret and Jessie charging out and shooting at them, Rude urged Reno.
"I know, I'm doing it!" Reno was also nervous, rushing to the console and frantically entering the code. But the more nervous he was, the easier it was to make mistakes. Reno entered several times, but every time he pressed confirm, the system told him the code was wrong.
Just as he took a deep breath to try again, he suddenly felt a familiar energy wave. Without thinking, he leapt to the side, and an energy orb struck the console.
Boom!
The console exploded into a heap of scrap.
Seeing the console blown to bits, Reno instantly broke out in cold sweat. He knew exactly how strong the console was, being the core of the entire pillar, regular explosives could hardly damage it. After all, the pillar supported the stability and safety of the plate.
He couldn't believe what would've happened if that energy orb hit him. At the same time, he was thankful, thankful that the enemy's target was the console, not him.
"Hey! Reno! Don't just stand there, run!"
Seeing Aiden appear on the platform, sweat poured down Rude's bald head. He shouted to the still-prone Reno, then quickly used a communicator to call for the helicopter to pick them up.
Soon, the transport helicopter came down. But it exploded in mid-air and crashed in flames. Rude grabbed Reno and ran, dodging the falling debris above.
Aiden glanced at them but didn't give chase, there were too many helicopters overhead. He had to deal with them first.
Aiden kept firing, launching over ten waves of psychic energy. Several helicopters exploded in mid-air.
Seeing this, the remaining pilots all climbed higher, not daring to get close to the top platform again.
"Aiden."
Now, with a moment to breathe, Barret and Jessie ran over. Jessie, overwhelmed with emotion, hugged Aiden. In front of Barret, Cloud, and dozens of helicopters (and a live-streaming chopper), she kissed him.
Fortunately, Jessie knew this wasn't the right time or place, so she quickly let go after the kiss.
But even so, the scene of them kissing was broadcast live. Although many viewers didn't mind, three women simultaneously frowned.
Aerith and Tifa, who were protecting Marlene, looked at each other. Their eyes were filled with not only dissatisfaction, but confusion, confusion about when Jessie and Aiden got together, and why they knew nothing about it.
The other frowning woman was Scarlet. She had been watching the stream the entire time. Seeing this scene, aside from her displeasure, she also felt jealous. She, too, wanted to embrace and kiss Aiden in front of everyone.
But all she could do was think about it, right now, she had more important things to handle.
"Are you done yet?" Scarlet picked up a communicator and shouted to the person on the other end.
"Almost done!" Yuffie shouted back, then gave a signal to Sonon. She herself waited behind the door of the Shinra broadcast control room.
Sonon immediately pointed a stick as thick as a wrist at the Shinra staff managing the broadcast and said, "Play this recording, or I'll smash your skull."
The Shinra staff member fearfully glanced at the stick above his head. Though his superior had told him to give everything for Shinra and never yield to violence, to uphold the fearless spirit of Shinra, that superior was now lying on the control room floor with a bowl-sized hole in his head.
'Thank you, company, for my job, but I want to live.' The Shinra worker thought silently. Even though he knew playing the recording would hurt Shinra, he didn't want to die.
He connected the recorder Sonon handed over. The audio file was quickly uploaded, but then he hesitated, not pressing the play button.
As Sonon was growing impatient, the worker took a deep breath, and pressed it.
The screen broadcasting to all of Midgar went black, and the voices of Shinra executives in a meeting began playing…
———
"What's going on?!" In the operations room, Heidegger roared when he saw the broadcast cut off. He grabbed the nearest soldier and yelled.
"I… I'm not sure, Minister Heidegger. Maybe it's the signal, or a problem in the control room…" The poor soldier was sprayed with saliva but dared not wipe it. He stammered out guesses.
"Then take people to check the control room! And send someone to—" Heidegger was still speaking when he heard a familiar voice from the black screen.
"...Informant reports… Most Avalanche members are hiding in Sector Seven…"
"Sector Seven is large. We can't pinpoint their exact location…"
"…What to do…"
"Simple. No need to know where they are, just kill everyone in Sector Seven. Just like we did in Wutai…"
At this point, Heidegger was stunned. Their meeting was recorded?
But there was no time to think who did it. He roared again, "Cut power to the control room, no matter what it takes!"
"It's no use, sir, the control room has an independent power supply…" the soldier said in panic.
"We're done!" Heidegger's vision went black. Then, the voice of the Shinra President sounded, "...Take down the Sector Seven pillar… Let the plate fall… Then we'll blame Avalanche…"
———
As the Shinra President's voice was broadcast all over Midgar, every viewer was stunned.
"It was… it was the President's order… To wipe out Avalanche, they're sacrificing an entire slum's people…"
"We've been lied to. Avalanche wasn't trying to destroy the pillar, they were trying to protect it."
Among all who watched, similar murmurs spread. More people joined in, and those voices merged into a wave like a tidal roar.
In Sector Seven, the controlled slum residents were enraged. They began charging the Shinra blockade without hesitation. Though Shinra soldiers fired to suppress them, as the crowd grew, the soldiers, now outnumbered, could no longer hold the line.
"I didn't expect Scarlet would go this far for Aiden."
"She really threw everything aside to help him."
Not far from the erupting conflict, Aerith and Tifa, holding Marlene, watched the angry crowd and sighed.
Though no one told them who did it, both women thought of Scarlet, after all, only a Shinra executive like her could have accessed the meeting recording.
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