Chapter 854 - 853: The Never-Ending Chase Through Midgar."

Gradually the blinding light of the "Fairy Law" began to recede, growing smaller and smaller with every passing moment until it finally closed into a tiny point right in the very center of Midgar—there where the Shinra headquarters proudly towered.

When the very last ray of light that had illuminated the entire gigantic city slowly dissolved into the night, the people around began gradually coming to their senses, still continuing to feel the pleasant residual sensation of warmth and complete calm. Despite the fact that it was already deep, dead night outside, the residents of Midgar stood enchanted right on the roadways and peered in surprise out of the windows of their homes together with their relatives and loved ones.

None of them fully understood what that light pouring from the heavens had even been or why it had brought them such deep, warming peace. And without realizing it themselves, all the townspeople clearly sensed a strange feeling hanging in the air—as if everything around them had just now radically changed.

Only none of the ordinary folk understood what exactly had changed. For none of these simple people had seen that billion-strong swarm of Black Whispers that had surrounded Shinra Tower and all of Midgar in a dense, impenetrable dome, desperately trying to return the world to the original path of Fate. That was precisely why the townspeople remembered only the shining golden circle high above and the gigantic pillar of light.

And those who actually knew perfectly well what was happening in Midgar were at that very moment standing on the expressway of Sector Three of the Plate. Standing right in the middle of the empty overpass, Alex slowly lowered his palms when the effect of the "Fairy Law" finally came to an end. On his face played a broad, sincerely delighted smile—exactly like that of a child who had at last received those very coveted sweets he had dreamed of for so long.

Raising his gaze to the clear night sky where not a single dark cloud remained, Alex simply could not help acknowledging to himself: what he had just pulled off had brought him far more pure pleasure than even the explosion of a distant Galaxy for the long-awaited victory over the Avatar of Nyan-Nyan.

And even that insane incident when he had completely erased the very concept of color in order to scare the Lunar Presence half to death could not compare in any way to the triumph of this moment. Closing his eyes for a brief instant, Alex decided to quickly check whether he had messed up somewhere in his calculations.

For he categorically did not want to completely exterminate absolutely all the Whispers on the planet—they were still vitally necessary to him for the realization of his own far-sighted plans, and their total disappearance would have disrupted the natural flow of the Lifestream far too strongly.

Probing the very fabric of reality that the Whispers had severely thinned in their attempt to restore the original Fate, Alex half-opened his eyes—which at that moment flared with a mysterious violet light—and slowly turned his head back, intently peering far beyond the limits of Midgar.

"Interesting… A most unexpected turn indeed," Alex said with an intriguing and enigmatic smile, not taking his violet gaze from the night horizon beyond the walls of the megacity.

"Did you… accidentally blow something up somewhere again?!" Aerith suddenly asked with suspicion, having heard his thoughtful whisper and clearly noticing exactly where he was looking right now.

"What am I, some muscle-bound idiot who always needs to blow something up and then deliver a fiery speech in front of a crowd with a pompous look?" Alex answered, demonstratively rolling his eyes, and lowered his violet eyes onto Aerith, casting a short amused glance at Barrett standing nearby.

"Hey, kid, who the hell did you just call an idiot, huh?! You think just because you put on a whole light show for us you instantly became the coolest guy in Midgar?! Get over here, I'll kick your ass real quick! I'll show you right now how to respect your leader!" the enraged Barrett roared at the top of his lungs across the entire expressway, furiously threatening Alex with his massive fist.

Listening to Barrett's angry shout, Alex slightly pressed his lips together, trying with all his might not to burst out laughing at the top of his voice, and very slowly raised a tightly clenched fist in front of himself. Seeing that fist, Barrett immediately thought that Alex was seriously offering to measure strength, and with a dull thud slammed his own fist against the broad palm, showing with his entire demeanor that he was ready right now to check who among them was actually the true leader of AVALANCHE. Thinking that a serious fight was brewing out of nowhere, Tifa immediately decided to intervene and quickly stepped right between Alex and Barrett.

She began emotionally saying that right now was absolutely not the time for swinging fists—after all, they were all still in an extremely delicate and dangerous situation. But Tifa's reasonable voice was instantly drowned out by the loud, excited shouts of Yuffie, who, on the contrary, was egging the guys on to fight with all her might, wanting to watch the spectacle. Observing how this sudden comical farce had flared up out of nowhere, Claudia only heavily rubbed her forehead with her fingers, once again wondering why absolutely all the people surrounding her were so insane.

Red was completely lost, sincerely failing to understand how the grandiose destruction of the Harbingers of Fate had instantly flowed into a banal clarification of who would be the boss in their squad. Dean, of course, had no intention of intervening whatsoever—being true to himself, he had already anticipatorily pulled out his smartphone and was busily recording everything on video so he could later use these frames as a magnificent pretext for endless jokes.

Aerith, on the contrary, worriedly stepped right in front of Alex, loudly urging him not to start a stupid fight with Barrett—even if all of this was merely a harmless joke meant to somehow defuse the tense atmosphere.

Having finally listened to Tifa's correct words, who habitually played the role of the main peacemaker in the group, Barrett first decided to brush it off, perfectly understanding that this entire situation had been a joke from the beginning. But when he turned to Alex in order to throw one last caustic barb and proudly leave the last word for himself, he saw with his own eyes how the latter, with the broadest, brazen smile on his face, was slowly and demonstratively raising his middle finger.

Staring at this maximally frank gesture, Barrett nervously jerked his neck and took a deep breath, trying with all his strength to calm down. But looking at Alex's extremely snide and satisfied mug, all of Barrett's restraining barriers collapsed, and his irritation flared up with new, hurricane force.

"That's it, kid, you just asked for it yourself! Now I'm definitely going to kick your ass! I don't give a damn how much power you've got, what kind of Ancient you are, or what other tricks you can pull! Get ready, my boot is about to land right in your ass!" Barrett snarled furiously, threateningly pointing a finger straight at Alex.

"Alex! Barrett! Will you both finally stop?! We simply don't have time for this whole kindergarten!" Tifa said with a deep, tired groan, desperately trying to push Barrett's massive bulk back.

"How about… a categorical 'no'?" Alex answered in the most cheerful and spirited tone possible, tightly hugging Aerith from behind and peacefully resting his chin right on top of her head.

"That's it, kid, now you've definitely asked for a good thrashing!" Barrett roared at the top of his lungs and, slightly shoving Tifa aside, charged straight at Alex head-on.

Seeing the enraged Barrett rushing straight at him, Alex quietly laughed, scooped Aerith up into his arms with a light motion, and took off running away, laughing merrily and loudly across the entire overpass. Seeing that Alex was basely making a run for it, Barrett instantly unleashed another portion of juicy, choice insults, shouting on the run about exactly what he would do to the guy when he caught him. Alex in response only poured oil on the fire and carelessly laughed, suggesting that Barrett pick up his feet a little faster—otherwise at such turtle paces he would never catch him at all.

At these caustic words Barrett fell into genuine frenzy and ran even faster, heavily swinging his massive arms and roaring at the top of his lungs about how deeply he would shove his heavy army boot into Alex.

Observing this surreal chase, Tifa heavily covered her face with both palms and quietly groaned, thinking with melancholy only about why she alone in their entire large company was trying to behave like an adult and adequate person. Aerith, comfortably settled in the arms of the racing Alex, could not hold back, looked him straight in the eyes, and playfully poked a finger right into his nose.

"Why did you even provoke Barrett out of nowhere?" Aerith asked with sincere curiosity, slightly tilting her head to the side and looking into Alex's eyes.

When her question rang out, Alex only smiled understandingly and answered that he had pulled that simply like that, for absolutely no reason at all. Slightly rolling her eyes, Aerith made it clear with her entire demeanor that she did not believe a single one of his words. And she was completely right, but Alex had no intention of explaining anything out loud.

For the true reasons for his insane act were extremely simple. First of all, he wanted to quickly divert general attention from the grandiose sorcery he had just performed—so that none of his friends would fixate on what they had seen.

Alex understood all too well: the pillar of divine light that had poured down could make the others look at him completely differently, as at an unattainable monster or an alien god, and he categorically did not want that.

That was precisely why Alex acted as he always did: he pulled another absurd stupidity in order to clearly show that, despite all his monstrous power, he was still the same familiar guy. But there was also the most important, hidden reason: Alex was subconsciously shaking up the group so that absolutely everyone would be maximally alert and ready for the inevitable meeting with the Whispering Harbinger.

Alex was completely certain: this colossal embodiment of Fate would inevitably crawl out from the depths of reality in order to try to forcibly stop the catastrophic deviations. And the reason for its appearance would be not only the total destruction of the billion-strong swarm of Whispers, but also the fact that two parallel timelines had touched so closely that the golden light of the "Fairy Law" had managed to save Zack Fair—a man who by all the laws of existence was destined to die under any circumstances.

And now, in order to finally bring his grandiose plan for creating a new current of history to life, Alex needed to eliminate the Harbinger itself once and for all, not allowing it to destroy the distorted reality and fate. Contemplating this detailed plan and at the same time running with Aerith in his arms from the enraged Barrett, who was still continuing to screech threats behind his back, Alex nodded to himself with satisfaction, having arrived at a final decision.

"Stop, kid! Damn you, I've almost caught you already!" Barrett shouted in a winded and intermittent tone, already covered in sweat through and through from this endless running in heavy gear.

"You stop! I never forced you to run after me in the first place!" Alex shouted back merrily, glancing for a second at the wheezing giant behind him.

"Guys!" Tifa called out to them loudly, unsuccessfully trying to intervene in this childish squabble.

"I'm telling you, stop, you little bastard!" Barrett barked again, in the heat of emotion not hearing Tifa's warning tone at all.

"Guys, will you both finally stop!" Tifa shouted even louder and more strictly, making a sharp jump forward, physically blocking the path of the charging Barrett and at the same time seizing Alex by the shoulder in a death grip.

"What's going on?" Alex asked with sincere bewilderment, feeling how Tifa with unexpected strength pulled him back and stopped him.

"We have guests… And your extremely untimely chase for the title of leader should be immediately postponed until better times," Red spoke in a deep, warning voice, expressively pointing a fluffy paw at the empty expressway behind them.

Hearing Red's warning words, everyone instantly turned first to him and then synchronously looked in the direction where he was expressively pointing with his furry paw. And literally a second later a growing, deafening roar of an approaching landing force of combat motorcycles reached their ears.

Gradually the roaring sound became louder and closer, and already a moment later from around a sharp turn on the horizon of the overpass an entire squad of grunts on assault bikes flew out. Seeing this gang of racing idiots, Alex groaned heavily and wearily, carefully lowering Aerith from his arms onto the asphalt—he had sincerely hoped that at least this banal nonsense could be avoided today.

And he simply could not hold back from casting a gaze filled with rage at the majestic Shinra building, clearly seeing on the sixty-ninth floor the figure of Rufus standing motionless by the panoramic window with his hands clasped behind his back.

Seeing that brazen, self-confident mug, Alex was barely holding himself back from a wild roar. For he understood with extreme clarity the entire train of thought of this freshly minted President of Shinra: Rufus had naively decided that after the use of such a colossal spell Alex would simply have no strength left for full resistance.

Already preparing to curse Rufus with the juiciest, most venomous, and choicest swear words, Alex suddenly felt how he was insistently being pulled by the hand. Turning around, Alex met the gaze of Claudia, who with an expressive gesture suggested that he hurry up instead of wasting precious seconds on meaningless insults toward someone who could not even hear them right now.

Nodding understandingly, Alex instantly leaped onto his motorcycle "Fenrir" and started the powerful engine with a bass growl. Casting a quick glance at the silver pickup where Dean was already sitting anticipatorily behind the wheel, Alex made sure that absolutely all the passengers had taken their seats and were ready for the escape.

Waving a finger at Dean, Alex gave a clear signal to floor it and tear off at full speed in order to break away from the pursuit. At this excited gesture Dean spread into an even broader grin and slammed the gas pedal into the floor with all his might, starting from a standstill with a deafening screech of burning rubber. Sharply yanking the throttle, Alex briefly patted Claudia on the thigh, checking how securely she had fixed herself.

When Claudia confidently patted him on the shoulder in response, Alex shot off from the spot like an arrow, not waiting for the grunts' combat motorcycles to get right up close. Racing forward along the night expressway, Alex cast an anxious glance over his shoulder, desperately trying to spot among the advancing group of bikers the most important, loudest, and most unbalanced idiot.

"I really hope that that crazy bastard doesn't show up today after all…" Alex muttered in an extremely tired tone, shifting his attentive gaze back to the road ahead of him.

"Who are you talking about right now?" Claudia asked, looking away from the grunts pursuing them, and slightly tilted her head to the side in order to look at Alex.

"About that speed maniac—Roche! Last time that maniac only backed off after you smashed his favorite motorcycle to pieces," Alex answered, twisting his face at the mere memory, slightly shuddering at the single thought that Roche might jump out right now.

"Hmm… I sincerely hope he doesn't show up after all. He really always causes too many problems," Claudia answered with a heavy sigh, slightly nodding her head at the memory of that insane and unpleasant ride in Sector 7.

Letting out a long, tired sigh, Alex decided to fully concentrate on the escape itself and the road to the final point instead of spending mental strength on extraneous thoughts. In reality he had nothing against Roche as such—it was just that the guy was too noisy, always appeared at the most unsuitable moment, left solid destruction behind him, and staged a full-fledged circus performance on his bike.

Hearing Alex's next heavy sigh, Claudia carefully patted him on the shoulder, nonverbally suggesting that he not get distracted from driving. Confidently raising a thumb upward, Alex shouted to Claudia to prepare for the inevitable moment when the pursuers would try to pin them down.

More tightly gripping the massive Buster Sword in her right hand, Claudia cast a quick glance over her shoulder at the grunts on combat motorcycles who were rapidly closing the distance. Seeing that they had sat right on their tail, Claudia loudly warned Alex to stay alert.

Giving a short honk to Dean riding ahead, Alex gave the command to keep distance and be ready for a maneuver. The moment the grunts approached within confident throwing distance, they immediately pulled their submachine guns from their holsters and opened withering fire on Alex's motorcycle and the silver pickup in which the remaining members of the squad were located.

Hearing the crackle of shots, Claudia lightning-fast raised the Buster Sword behind her back with the broad flat side, reliably blocking the leaden hail of bullets. Casting a quick glance in the side rear-view mirror, Dean sharply twisted the wheel aside, masterfully taking the heavy pickup off the trajectory of the flying bullets.

Maximally concentrating on the road, Alex heard how the enemy shots suddenly cut off, and instantly yanked the handlebars toward himself, performing a sharp, almost circus-like circular turn. Right during this dashing maneuver Alex with his free hand yanked his "Jackal" pistol from the holster and opened rapid fire for effect, aiming exclusively at the wheels of the assault motorcycles.

Every bullet fired hit the target precisely, toppling the front ranks of bikes and forcing the grunts to crash onto the roadway with a roar. The remaining fighters managed to dodge only because the magazine in Alex's pistol had simply run out of rounds. Completing the turn and returning to the previous course, Alex sharply shook his hand, ejecting the empty magazine onto the asphalt, and tightly clamped the receiver of the "Jackal" between his teeth while simultaneously trying with his free hand to feel for the needed pistol magazine in the weapons compartment of the "Fenrir." The moment Alex began the frantic reloading, the surviving grunts immediately gunned it, activating crackling electric batons on the move.

"That was five! And I sincerely hope their second backup arrives not soon…" Alex muttered, clamping the cold metal of the "Jackal's" barrel between his teeth, desperately groping with his hand in search of a spare magazine with rounds.

"Already minus two! And you can stop hoping—their fresh reinforcements are already right here," Claudia said in an extremely composed voice, knocking two pressing grunts off their bikes with a powerful circular swing of the Buster Sword.

"Damn it… Where the hell is that damned magazine?!" Alex hissed through his teeth, continuing to reach unsuccessfully for the needed compartment on the move.

"Here. And stop talking, better watch the road. I'll cover you myself," Claudia said confidently, deftly catching the dropped magazine for the "Jackal" and in a single instant inserting it into the pistol with a click.

Grabbing the handle of the "Jackal" with his hand, Alex deftly racked the slide against his thigh the moment Claudia inserted the new magazine with a click. At that very moment from both sides of the "Fenrir" two grunts leaped up at extreme speed, raising high their electric batons crackling with high voltage.

Noticing the double threat, Alex virtuously spun the pistol right on his palm and tightly gripped the red-hot barrel with his fingers. When the first grunt was already fully raising his arm for a sweeping baton strike, Alex with a quick elbow motion hard blocked his forearm, redirecting the deadly discharge in the opposite direction.

Not giving the opponent a single chance to recover, Alex delivered a crushing blow with his entire shoulder, driving the heavy steel handle of the "Jackal" straight into the crown of the enemy's helmet. Alex's blow landed with such monstrous force that the sturdy armored helmet cracked into two even halves, and the grunt himself flew out of the saddle with a whistle straight onto the roadway.

Kicking the swaying empty motorcycle aside with his foot, Alex saw how Claudia with one whistling swing of the Buster Sword literally cleaved the second bike into two neat parts, forcing the deathly terrified grunt to desperately clutch at the torn-off seat so as not to fall onto the frantic asphalt.

"Excellent work, ma chère!" Alex said loudly over the roar of the engine, extending a clenched fist toward Claudia.

"Hmm… You did well today too," Claudia answered with a barely noticeable sincere smile and lightly tapped her fist against Alex's fist.

"Oh, has the old spark between us flared up again?" Alex asked in the most cheerful and spirited tone possible, casting a coquettish glance over his shoulder at Claudia.

"Nothing flared up between us, you idiot! Better floor it all the way—the others are getting completely pinned down back there!" Claudia answered, rolling her eyes, and unceremoniously grabbed Alex's face with her palm, forcing him to look exclusively forward at the road again.

Quietly laughing, Alex twisted the throttle all the way open, sharply gaining frantic speed in order to catch up with the rest of the squad as soon as possible. For while he and Claudia had been busy dealing with the first batch of grunts on combat motorcycles, the second group of pursuers had rushed straight after the pickup in which the remaining friends were located. Quickly catching up to the silver pickup, Alex and Claudia first of all saw a large armored Shinra truck and a dense, aggressive formation of bikers from whom Barrett was busily firing, half-leaning out of the hatch on the roof of the vehicle.

Instantly assessing the entire unpleasant situation in which the team had found itself, Alex gave a short honk, signaling his approach, and immediately fired from the "Jackal" straight at the rear right wheel of the armored vehicle. Sitting behind the wheel of the pickup, Dean, who at that moment was closely bumping sides with the armored truck, heard the familiar signal, cast a quick glance in the rear-view mirror, and with relief noticed the approaching Alex and Claudia. Noticing how the enemy truck sharply swerved on the road after the shot, Dean chuckled contentedly with a broad grin on his face and sharply twisted the wheel to the right.

Pushing off with the body of the pickup from the armored vehicle, Dean roared at the top of his lungs, warning all passengers to hold on as tightly as possible. The moment that shout rang out, Red instantly sank his sharp teeth into the edge of Barrett's T-shirt and forcibly dragged him inside the cabin, while Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie pressed themselves into the seatbelts in a death grip. Making sure everyone was secured, Dean sharply yanked the wheel to the left while simultaneously slamming the brake pedal into the floor. In that same second the silver pickup at full speed smashed into the rear wheel of the enemy armored vehicle, forcing the heavy machine to completely lose control and go into a deep skid.

The moment the truck spun on the wet asphalt, Dean once again sharply floored the gas and slammed with all his might into the side door of the truck. From the crushing impact the multi-ton vehicle flipped over its roof right above the silver pickup! Crashing onto the roadway with a roar, the overturned armored vehicle continued to spin wildly by inertia, scattering sparks and smashing the concrete barriers. The ordinary grunts riding behind, panicking in fear of being crushed by the uncontrollable truck, sharply turned their handlebars in different directions and at full speed flew over the bridge railings onto the streets below.

Noticing the tumbling armored vehicle flying toward them, Alex slightly nudged Claudia's knee, urging her to hold on with all her strength, and instantly laid the motorcycle on its side, almost scraping sparks from the asphalt. Virtuously slipping right under the truck flying over them, Alex straightened the "Fenrir" and sharply twisted the throttle, returning to the previous speed. Having finished with the truck and drawing level with Dean's window, Alex waved his hand, suggesting that the latter slow down and open the glass a little.

"Hey! Did anyone get hurt by any chance?" Alex asked loudly, slightly stretching out of the saddle, worriedly examining the cabin of the pickup through the window in order to make sure of the friends' integrity.

"Well… If you don't count the fact that someone present is guaranteed to throw up into the nearest bushes, then overall everything's just great!" Dean answered cheerfully, casting a quick glance back at Yuffie who had turned green from carsickness, turning his head toward Alex.

"Nice to hear that! Then let's floor it further—our final point is right at the end of this highway. Let's get the hell out of Midgar!" Alex nodded with a broad smile, pointing a finger forward at the gigantic outer wall surrounding the megacity.

"I sincerely hope that now they'll finally let us calmly reach the exit without any additional surprises…" Dean drawled with a snide grin, leaning his body forward in order to better see the approaching city wall.

"Attention, terrorists! Immediately shut off your engines and surrender to the authorities, otherwise we will be forced to open fire for effect!" a deafening male voice amplified by speakers suddenly rang out from a loudspeaker installation behind them.

The moment this harsh male voice rang out, a blinding beam of a powerful searchlight instantly struck from above and the deafening roar of helicopter blades cut into their ears. Leaning out of the window up to his waist, Dean looked at the assault helicopter of Shinra hovering above them and loudly swore, complaining from the heart that even when he had been mistakenly accused of robbing a federal bank, they had not chased him with such insane persistence.

Listening to Dean's rather colorful and emotional complaints, Alex shouted at the top of his voice over the roar of the engine, warning him that right ahead a fairly long tunnel awaited them in which they would finally be able to reliably break away from the persistent aerial pursuit.

Stopping his grumbling, Dean for a finale showed the helicopter a threatening middle finger, after which he tightly grabbed the wheel with both hands and slammed the gas pedal into the floor. Deciding for now not to bother with the helicopter, Alex sharply twisted the throttle, rapidly gaining speed. From the loudspeaker installed on the helicopter another warning rang out, which Alex and Dean demonstratively ignored. Barrett, for his part, leaned out for the third time through the open hatch on the roof and opened furious fire on the assault helicopter from his gun.

The moment Barrett began shooting, the helicopter pilot no longer stood on ceremony and opened dense return fire for effect. Deftly weaving and dodging the hail of whistling bullets, Alex and Dean finally saw the saving opening of the tunnel ahead. Flying at full speed under the roof of the concrete tunnel, Alex glanced back for a second and chuckled contentedly, seeing how the large Shinra helicopter was forced to hover sharply right in front of the entrance, not risking poking into the narrow space. Turning back to the road, Alex shifted gears and again twisted the throttle, squeezing maximum speed out of the "Fenrir."

Racing through the long tunnel, Alex managed to carve out a couple of seconds in order to pull out his smartphone and open the map so as to check how much farther they still had to go to the cherished boundary. Running his eyes over the screen, he realized with annoyance that they had covered barely half the way to a full exit from Midgar. At that moment Claudia leaned over Alex's shoulder, intending to look at the navigator herself.

"If no more successive obstacles appear on the road, we'll reach the very end of the city very quickly," Claudia said loudly over the roar of the wind and the rumble of the wheels, leaning over Alex's shoulder and looking at the illuminated phone screen.

"What are you saying?! I didn't hear a thing!" Dean shouted, gunning it and drawing level with them, sticking his head out of the side window of the pickup.

"She's saying we're already halfway there! And if we keep flooring it in the same spirit, we'll be able to get out of this cursed city!" Alex shouted in response, tightly holding onto the door frame of the pickup with his hand, indicating with a nod of his chin the road of the tunnel stretching ahead.

"I'd like to believe that Shinra won't send anyone new after us…" Aerith said, leaning out of the slightly open window with hope in her voice, greedily gulping streams of cool air.

"Who the hell can they even send against us? We've already kicked the asses of absolutely everyone we could!" Barrett barked with a victorious grin, loudly slapping his palm against the roof of the pickup.

"Yeah, sure, keep checking… Just wait for some giant killer robot now. Or another whole army of new idiots on motorcycles," Dean said with a fair share of sarcasm, playfully sticking his hand out the window and tapping his fingers on the roof.

Almost rolling his eyes at these jinxed words, Alex sincerely wanted to ask Dean to shut up so that the latter would not accidentally put the evil eye on them. For he really wanted least of all in the world for some huge combat robot to crawl out right now that would tirelessly pursue them along the entire highway.

Mentally cursing Dean in the juiciest way so that the latter would definitely hear his mental message, Alex again turned his head to the road and finally saw the long-awaited light at the end of the long tunnel. Slightly squinting his eyes, he immediately made out a dense barrier of grunts that they had managed in a hurry to set up right at the very exit from the tunnel.

Alex was not the least bit surprised by the appearance of this blocking detachment—for predicting their only escape route had been the simplest thing in the world when all they had been doing was simply racing straight ahead full tilt. Not intending to reduce the frantic pace and meaning to ram the set-up checkpoint at full speed, Alex again squinted hard when right above the barricades that very same assault helicopter hovered from above, turning its multi-barreled gun exactly in their direction.

Irritably swearing through his teeth, Alex on the move quickly outlined his insane plan to Claudia so that she would be fully ready. Carefully listening to his ideas, Claudia nodded understandingly and even more tightly clenched the massive hilt of the Buster Sword with her fingers.

The moment they approached close enough, the helicopter pilot opened hurricane fire from the large-caliber machine gun. Masterfully weaving between the dense barrier of whistling bullets, Alex with his free hand yanked the Muramasa katana from the built-in weapons compartment of the "Fenrir." Deflecting the bullets flying straight at them with the shining blade on the move, Alex shouted at the top of his voice for Claudia to get ready.

More tightly squeezing Alex's shoulder, Claudia gave a clear signal that she was fully ready. Right at the approach to the enemy barrier Alex sharply yanked the handlebars toward himself, forcing the heavy motorcycle to rise onto the rear wheel. Seeing that the roaring bike was not even thinking of braking, the grunts in panicked fear jumped aside in different directions, which Alex immediately took advantage of.

Using the concrete barrier as a ramp, the "Fenrir" soared high into the air, flying over the hovering helicopter at extreme height. Finding herself exactly above the body of the assault machine, Claudia with one crushing swing of the Buster Sword whistlingly sliced through the helicopter's rotor blades.

Having lost its blades, the downed helicopter went down like a stone, crashing right onto the abandoned barrier of grunts. But before the helicopter exploded with a roar on the roadway, Dean's silver pickup slipped through the formed gap at the very last moment before the collision.

Having overcome yet another obstacle and bursting out onto the open highway, Alex sighed heavily and deeply, sincerely wanting to pull out and light a thin cigar in order to get rid of at least a little of the accumulated irritation. But the moment he only reached with his fingers toward his breast pocket, a dull, deafening crash of something gigantic rang out behind them.

"Ma chère, be so kind as to tell me absolutely honestly: that's not some giant robot that surfaced behind our backs, but just something that accidentally exploded, right?" Alex asked with a long, drawn-out sigh, listening to the rapidly approaching metallic crash.

"Why are you even asking me about that if you yourself know the correct answer perfectly well?" Claudia answered in a completely calm and even tone, slightly glancing back over her shoulder.

"Well, damn it…" Alex exhaled with a dull groan, clearly feeling how his left eyelid was beginning to twitch nervously from the growing irritation.

To be continued...

(Heh, I could have written out the chase with the robot, but I changed my mind—decided to save it for another time. Actually, I'm just going to skip it entirely, and we'll move straight to the fight against that big, nasty moron. It's high time to leave Midgar and head off elsewhere. Oh, yeah. As for Sephiroth, I've cooked up a rather strange plan that I've decided to put into action. Since I've already committed to messing around with the timelines, I'm going to dial it up a notch and pull a little trick out of my pants. What kind of trick, you ask? Well, I'm not telling just yet—think I'll go grab a bite to eat instead. Peace, love, and beep-beep, kiddos.)

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