Chapter 855 - 854: Escaping Midgar Was Never Going to Be Easy."

Listening to the ever-approaching deafening crash, Alex simply could not help complaining out loud that Rufus just could not sit still and kept stubbornly sending entire squads of grunts after them, and now had even set a giant robot on them. And then it suddenly dawned on Alex: another complete idiot who had the authority to give such orders was mixed up in this.

Tightly clenching his teeth from the boiling irritation, Alex began quietly muttering the most venomous curses under his breath in Heidegger's direction, sincerely regretting only that during their last meeting Claudia had simply smashed that bearded bastard in the nose instead of breaking his jaw in three places.

Hearing Alex's angry muttering through the deafening roar of the engine and the approaching crash of metallic clanging, Claudia was able to clearly make out exactly whom he was cursing right now and who had set this multi-ton hulk on them. Because of Alex's words Claudia also for a brief moment sincerely regretted that she had not broken Heidegger's jaw when she had such a wonderful opportunity.

But the steel monster was already chasing them full tilt right behind, and that fact could not be changed in any way—all that remained was either to escape or to finally turn the pursuing machine into a useless pile of scrap metal.

Having finished his juicy swearing, Alex glanced over his shoulder and with his own eyes saw how bright orange explosions flared on the upper overpass and huge chunks of concrete flew in different directions as the giant robot smashed through yet another massive barrier with its armored body.

Seeing this large-scale explosion through the side rear-view mirror, Dean stuck his hand out the window and for a second met Alex's gaze, silently asking: what the hell is a giant robot even doing in their chase and who is that complete idiot who decided this would be a great idea?

Alex in response only rolled his eyes in frustration and looked back again, noticing that the automaton pursuing them had already approached close enough to be examined in detail. And at that very same moment the giant robot at extreme speed flew off the upper overpass and with a deafening, monumental crash landed right behind Alex's motorcycle.

Slightly swaying the handlebars from the sudden powerful shaking of the asphalt, Alex glanced back, trying to get a better look at the pursuer. It was an enormous combat tunneling robot on six massive armored wheels, with rotating red-hot drills on flexible manipulators and gigantic blades along the sides.

The first thing Alex thought was that this monster had clearly been created not for classic combat but for laying mines and breaking through the most inaccessible thickets. Shaking his head in annoyance, Alex turned forward again while at the same time stretching his hand with the "Jackal" pistol back and began firing on the move without looking, aiming precisely at the robot's massive wheels. Having shot the entire ammunition load down to the last bullet, Alex with a sharp motion of his hand ejected the empty magazine onto the roadway and yanked the throttle all the way open, rapidly gaining speed.

"We need to somehow urgently get rid of this robot! It's too fast and agile; we simply won't be able to break away from it on a straightaway!" Claudia shouted, anxiously patting Alex on the shoulder and not taking her tense gaze from the machine that was not even thinking of falling behind.

"I know, I know! I'll quickly think of something right now… Give me literally a couple of seconds! Or if you have ideas, propose your plan," Alex answered in the most calm tone possible, slightly leaning toward the handlebars and rapidly calculating options for neutralizing the robot.

"Hey! Iron bastard, take this!" Barrett suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, rising to his full height out of the open hatch on the roof of the pickup with an already brightly humming and charging electric projectile on the muzzle of his gun-prosthesis.

"Barrett, damn it! Shoot strictly at the wheels or under them!" Alex managed to shout at the top of his voice before Barrett fired the electric projectile.

"I know what I'm doing, kid! Don't teach your father!" Barrett shouted back with excitement, slightly lowering the massive barrel of his gun downward, aiming exactly under the front wheels of the racing robot.

Having aimed precisely, Barrett fired a powerful electric clump right under the robot's body, sincerely wanting to blow up its undercarriage. And when the sparking charge touched the concrete, it immediately exploded loudly, turning into a hissing electric puddle that was guaranteed to block and short-circuit the pursuer's mechanisms.

But instead of helplessly driving onto the electric trap, the multi-ton robot easily jumped high into the air! Flying over the dangerous section, the automaton let out a deep humming sound, and long tongues of flame burst from its massive exhaust pipes as it again began rapidly gaining frantic speed.

Seeing how the steel monster had avoided the perfect trap without any particular problems, Barrett for a brief moment was completely taken aback and even raised his sunglasses onto his forehead in surprise in order to better examine what he had just seen with his own eyes.

Noticing Barrett's stunned face, Claudia immediately shouted at the top of her lungs, explaining on the move exactly what this tunneling robot had originally been created for and why such road obstacles were nothing more than empty sound to it. Hearing this clear explanation, Barrett swore loudly and juicily, after which he began firing electric projectiles even more furiously right at the robot's armored body.

However, all his shots spread out fruitlessly across the flaring force field—the machine was reliably protected by an energy shield. Seeing how his entire attack was completely absorbed by the shimmering barrier, Barrett out of pure stubbornness began firing even more furiously, thinking extremely simply and in a manly way: if you pound one point long enough, any protective field will sooner or later simply give out!

Listening to Barrett's choice curses and once again virtuously dodging the sharp, dangerous swings of the red-hot rotating drills, Alex lowered his gaze down to the roadway and came to a logical conclusion: it would be far simpler and more effective to destroy this entire supporting overpass at the root.

The moment this sound idea flashed through Alex's head, he quickly looked around in order to more accurately make sure exactly where they were driving right now, and with relief realized: the residential districts of the Sectors had been left far behind, and right beneath them stretched only abandoned factories and technical warehouse zones.

Mentally linking up with Dean and briefly explaining to him that he was right now going to completely destroy the concrete surface of the highway, Alex completely ignored the loud, panicked protests that rang out in response in his head and already raised a clenched fist high for a crushing blow.

And so, when Alex was already seriously about to smash his fist into the roadway, from the parallel expressway there suddenly rang out a deafening, bass roar of a multi-liter engine, instantly followed by a hurricane series of juicy shots—as if someone was firing a heavy large-caliber machine gun right on the move.

"You must be just messing with me?!" Alex muttered with sincere surprise and a nervous grin, turning his head toward the noise and immediately seeing exactly who had rushed to their rescue.

"Tell me, is that your little sister?" Claudia asked, tilting her head, having made out the daring girl with bright red hair standing at full height on the roof of the racing APC.

"Yeah… This little brat simply physically could not sit still calmly when such grandiose fun is happening in the city," Alex answered with a warm smile, nodding his head at the sight of such timely help.

Nodding understandingly, Claudia looked once more at Valerie, who was standing at full height on the roof of the heavy APC racing at full speed along the neighboring expressway and confidently holding a huge modified machine gun in her hands.

Having received a crushing, powerful volley of heavy lead right into its armored body, the six-wheeled robot slightly jerked aside and at full speed flew out onto the parallel lane, crushingly smashing absolutely all the concrete barriers in its path. Hearing the loud sounds of machine-gun shots, the remaining passengers riding in the pickup also saw the racing APC and Valerie with the huge machine gun in her hands.

Everyone instantly understood that this bright girl was Alex's little sister. But what none of them had exactly expected was exactly how she would look. For they had mentally imagined her at least a little similar to Alex himself, while Valerie turned out to be an incredibly cool tomboy girl who from the first glance made it clear: she could stand up for herself in any scrape.

Leaning closer to the open window, Tifa made out Jessie on the front seat of the APC, who was quickly crafting something right on her knee while animatedly talking to a girl who had stylish blond hair with dark roots.

"Barrett, just look over there! That's Jessie!" Tifa shouted emotionally, sharply tugging Barrett by the pant leg and forcing him to turn toward the APC.

"I'll be damned! Ha-ha-ha! AVALANCHE is in full force again! And where the hell are those two restless idiots Biggs and Wedge wandering off to this time?!" Barrett laughed loudly and rolling, actively waving his massive arm in the air in order to attract Jessie's attention.

"Wow-w-w! And Alex's sister is just incredibly cool! I can do that too, by the way! Come on, let me climb out onto the roof, I also want to show everyone right now how cool I am! Now these guys will personally see who the number-one kunoichi on this planet is!" Yuffie shouted enthusiastically, jumping up from her seat and preparing to climb out through the window right onto the roof of the pickup on the move.

"Yuffie! Don't you dare! Do you hear me, don't even think about climbing out the window at such frantic speed, it's deadly dangerous!" Aerith shouted in fright, instantly seizing Yuffie by her bare leg in a death grip and beginning to drag her back into the cabin with all her strength.

"It's not dangerous at all, I'm a real professional in my field, by the way!" Yuffie protested furiously, vainly trying to break free through the window and desperately jerking her leg in order to free herself from Aerith's death grip.

Aerith knew perfectly well that Yuffie was quite capable of such dangerous stunts, but that did not mean at all that she would allow her to risk and climb out onto the roof of the pickup at a moment when a huge robot had practically caught up to them. Hearing the desperate struggle and fuss in the cabin, Tifa turned around and saw how Aerith was trying with her last strength to hold Yuffie back from jumping outside.

Quickly understanding what was what, Tifa without extra words tightly grabbed Yuffie's second leg, and together the two of them amicably dragged the kicking kunoichi back into the cabin. Listening to these boiling arguments behind his back, Dean did not take his attentive gaze off the road for a second, simultaneously tracking the robot in the mirrors as it raced along the neighboring expressway.

The monster could not get up close only because it continued to be continuously riddled with heavy machine-gun fire. Sticking his hand out the window, Dean gave a clear signal to Alex, proposing that the latter either finally destroy the concrete roadway or operatively find some other way to get rid of the persistent pursuer.

Seeing Dean's gesture, Alex raised his hand in response, showing that he would think of everything right now. While Valerie continued to continuously pour lead onto the robot from her machine gun, Alex lowered his gaze a little lower and with amazement made out that Falco was sitting behind the wheel of the racing APC.

Seeing him, Alex felt sincere surprise—for he knew for certain that Falco had long ago completely stepped away from dangerous affairs, preferring the quiet life of a bartender in his own establishment. Turning his head toward the window for a second, Falco gave a warm greeting with a jerk of his chin, wordlessly making it clear that they were fully covering their retreat.

Sincerely smiling at such an unexpected meeting, Alex shifted his gaze to Valerie, and she expressively tapped a finger against her ear, pointing at the communicator microphone. Nodding understandingly, Alex pulled the headset out of his pocket and inserted it into his ear, instantly connecting to the needed shared frequency.

"Hey, bro! You don't even have to thank me for the rescue! But what you really have to do is let me take something interesting from your personal alcohol stocks!" Valerie's spirited and ringing laughter instantly rang out from the communicator speaker in Alex's ear when their gazes crossed again.

"I'll still think about your cheeky proposal, you little brat… And for now better shift your fire and finally start shooting at the damned wheels of this robot so it stops sitting on our tail! Or I'll blow up this entire overpass right now!" Alex answered with a smile, rolling his eyes and pointing an accusing finger toward the tunneling monster that with a crash had smashed through yet another concrete barrier and again gained speed.

"Excellent! At last my star hour has come! Big brother, watch carefully—right now I'll clearly show you how brightly my Flame of Youth can shine!" Nobukatsu's loud, delighted, and deafening laughter suddenly rang out, bursting into the shared communication channel.

Hearing this sudden, thunderous laughter of Nobukatsu right in his communicator earpiece, Alex for a brief moment literally froze in surprise. Even Claudia, sitting behind him on the motorcycle, clearly heard this delighted howl and only slightly raised an eyebrow, completely failing to understand what this strange type was. But all these momentary reflections instantly faded into the background when the six-wheeled robot made a sharp lunge, caught up to them, and with a whistle swung its red-hot-to-white drill.

Hearing the horrible whistle of the air being sliced right above her ear, Claudia lightning-fast spun around on the seat and with a sharp motion rose to her full height on the footrests of the "Fenrir."

Feeling that Claudia had risen, Alex did not lose his head and seized her leg in a death grip, securing her so that at such frantic speed the oncoming stream of wind would not throw her off the motorcycle. Feeling the reliable support in the form of Alex's strong hand, Claudia raised the heavy Buster Sword with both hands and swung with all her might, with a ringing metallic screech deflecting the blow of the red-hot manipulator aside.

While Claudia at frantic speed was waging a desperate close combat with the giant automaton, Nobukatsu confidently climbed out onto the roof of the APC with an insanely delighted smile on his face.

Straightening to his full height, Nobukatsu demonstratively ignored any possible protests from his comrades, sincerely being ready to shine in all his glory at this epic moment. The moment Alex cast a glance at exactly how Nobukatsu looked right now, his face instantly became completely empty and stony, radiating only a dull reluctance to see this.

He simply physically could not understand how Nobuna had even allowed her little brother to show up on the battlefield looking like that. But what worried Alex most at that second was the question: what exactly was this stupid show-off even supposed to mean? Having properly stretched his muscles right on the roof of the racing vehicle, Nobukatsu assumed a pompous combat stance—tightly pressed his arms to his sides, spread his legs shoulder-width apart, and slightly crouched, tensing his entire body.

"All right, let's go work at full power! The Seventh Gate… Gate of Miracle! Open!" Nobukatsu howled at the top of his lungs with a mad, shining smile, not taking his burning gaze from the stunned robot.

The moment this mad shout of Nobukatsu rang out, Alex immediately jerked and wanted to instantly stop this little idiot—for he understood better than anyone else that a young body would find it incredibly difficult to cope with the colossal load from opening the Seventh Gate.

And after such a dangerous technique Nobukatsu was guaranteed to spend several weeks helplessly confined to a hospital bed! And the cruel Nobuna would principally not allow anyone in their family to heal her idiotic little brother, letting him fully feel all the heavy consequences of his own stupidity.

Alex had already drawn a breath and was about to shout at the top of his lungs demanding that the technique be canceled when at that very same instant a shockwave that swept away everything in its path burst from Nobukatsu's body with a deafening roar. His skin in a second heated to red, and swollen veins clearly stood out on his forehead while a raging green energy blazed around his figure.

Letting out a wild, deafening cry, Nobukatsu tensed even harder, and the green aura around him flared with hurricane force, creating yet another powerful wave of compressed air. Covering her face with her palm from the blazing gust, Valerie already sincerely regretted that she had even decided to take this crazy guy with her on the outing.

Jerking from the unexpected push of air, Claudia seized Alex's back with her fingers in a death grip, casting a quick glance of unconcealed amazement at Nobukatsu. Smiling widely and excitedly, Nobukatsu suddenly literally evaporated from the roof of the APC—and with such monstrous speed that a clear deep imprint of his soles remained on the sturdy metal of the body, and the heavy vehicle itself was sharply jerked aside so that Falco only by some miracle barely kept control at frantic speed.

Claudia's eyes widened in shock when she saw how Nobukatsu had essentially teleported into the air, ending up exactly above the racing six-wheeled robot. Looking back, Alex saw Nobukatsu, who already in flight had folded the fingers of both hands into a recognizable, dangerous gesture in the form of a tiger's muzzle—and it instantly dawned on him exactly what this little idiot was about to pull.

"Dean! Floor it right now!" Alex shouted at the top of his lungs, instantly twisting the throttle of the "Fenrir" all the way open, desperately intending to leave the future epicenter of the explosion as soon as possible.

"Nobukatsu, you little, complete idiot! Falco, floor it, we're getting out of here!" Valerie roared at the top of her lungs, also instantly realizing exactly what catastrophe this idiot was about to unleash on the road.

"Midday… Tiger!" Nobukatsu shouted with the broadest, mad smile showing all his teeth, directing the gesture folded from his fingers exactly into the center of the robot's armored torso.

The moment Nobukatsu's thunderous cry died down, a dense, compressed clump of air burst from his tensed hands, its outlines frighteningly resembling the snarling muzzle of a white tiger. The air beast widely opened its jaws and instantly closed around the entire body of the giant robot.

In that same second a deafening, piercing clap rang out, followed by a colossal shockwave that rolled in all directions at the speed of sound. From this crushing blow the armored body of the automaton was literally crumpled into an accordion, slamming the machine into the road with such force that it provoked a secondary, destructive explosion that instantly undermined the supporting overpass.

Huge chunks of asphalt and reinforced concrete flew in all directions, and the expressway itself began rapidly folding inward. A network of deep cracks lightning-fast spread across the surface, collapsing the multi-ton road downward and causing a chain reaction of successive destructions.

As for Nobukatsu himself, at that moment he was flying downward with an absolutely victorious, shining smile on his face, while at the same time being completely deprived of any strength. He perfectly realized that after applying such a destructive technique not a single drop of energy would remain in his body, but he regretted nothing at that moment.

And when he was already inevitably about to crash into the abyss together with tons of debris, a soft white sphere of spatial displacement suddenly flared around him, and in the next instant the guy materialized right inside the cabin of the APC, where Valerie was staring at him with an unblinking, irritated gaze.

At the same time Alex twisted the throttle all the way open, desperately weaving and trying to escape from the wave of collapse catching up to them. Sitting behind the wheel of the pickup, Dean was swearing loudly and in three stories, squeezing the absolute maximum speed out of the vehicle's engine. The situation was rapidly heating up to the limit when a frantic, frightened howl of Yuffie reached them from the back seats, screaming that the edge of the collapse was already breathing down their backs.

"Dean, please, just floor that damned gas faster! The road right under us is about to finally collapse!" Yuffie wailed in panic, with a deathly frightened face seizing the back of Dean's seat and furiously shaking it.

"Just stop yanking my damned seat, you idiot! I'm already squeezing the absolute limit out of this metal junk!" Dean shouted back, straining his throat, furiously yanking the gearshift lever and wildly glancing in the side rear-view mirror at the collapsing asphalt.

"Oh, damn it… Don't tell me that the piece of road ahead hasn't even been finished yet! Those damned Shinra bastards, they did everything through the ass again!" Barrett roared in rage, pressing himself into the passenger seat in a death grip and not taking his eyes off the rapidly approaching abyss.

"Stop yelling right in my ear, Barrett! Everyone hold on tight to the handrails, we're about to fly a little… Alex, damn it, we urgently need a ramp!" Dean barked irritably, clicking his seatbelt tight and in despair sticking his head out the open window.

Hearing Dean's desperate shout, Alex made out ahead the sharply breaking unfinished overpass and irritably rolled his eyes, mentally cursing the late President Shinra who in his time simply had not thought to allocate a sufficient budget to Reeve in order to properly finish the construction of this highway.

Urging Claudia to hold on as tightly as possible, Alex with a habitual motion flipped the switch on the handlebars. And at that very same moment bright blue flame roared out of the exhaust pipes of the "Fenrir," and the motorcycle itself instantly gained frantic speed, easily overtaking the silver pickup in which the others were riding.

Holding the handlebars with one hand, Alex leaned strongly forward, lowering his second hand right to the asphalt and preparing to create an improvised ramp for Dean. Right at the very edge of the cliff Alex drove his fingers straight into the sturdy asphalt and with force yanked his hand back, tearing out a gigantic piece of the surface and instantly forming a steep ramp from it.

In that same instant Alex and Claudia on the roaring motorcycle soared high into the air, flying over the enormous unfinished abyss at extreme height. Landing with a dull crash on the opposite side, Alex and Claudia immediately glanced back synchronously.

Following them the silver pickup at extreme speed flew up onto the created ramp and leaped into the air, literally soaring above the gaping abyss. Tightly gripping the wheel in his hands, Dean was fully ready if necessary to apply his hidden power if they did not reach the edge.

But seeing that the vehicle was still confidently reaching the opposite surface, he relaxed a little and again shouted at the top of his lungs, warning the passengers of yet another hard collision. However, even without this shout of Dean's absolutely everyone in the cabin had with their last strength seized everything that could hold them in place.

And in the next instant the silver pickup with a deafening crash crashed onto the asphalt on the other side of the abyss, and Dean deftly twisted the wheel aside, instantly restoring control and taking the vehicle out of the skid after the fall.

Finally leveling the pickup, Dean exhaled with relief and heavily, and following him a whole series of amicable sighs sounded in the cabin—first from Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie, and then from Barrett, who all this time had been desperately pressing Red to himself, the latter having dug his sharp claws into the leather glove compartment for dear life.

"It seems… we survived after all," Aerith said with enormous relief in her voice, slightly laughing at the entire insane situation in which they had just found themselves.

"Do you really think so? Personally my heart almost stopped for good just now… This night was simply terrible," Tifa added with a quiet, tired laugh, feeling colossal moral exhaustion from everything that was happening.

"Next time I think I'll move exclusively on my own paws… Such wild car races are clearly not for me," Red muttered dully, with a crack pulling his sharp claws out of the instrument panel together with crumpled pieces of leather.

"The main thing is that we're all intact and no one is pursuing us anymore. So we can boldly consider this a quite successful escape from this damned city," Dean said with a satisfied grin, slightly reducing speed and enjoying the adrenaline that had hit his blood.

While the remaining passengers animatedly shared their stormy impressions of this crazy adrenaline chase through all of Midgar, Aerith barely noticeably pressed her lips together, knowing perfectly well: they would never simply be able to take and leave this city.

Looking at the road stretching into the distance, Aerith shifted her thoughtful gaze to Alex and Claudia riding on the roaring motorcycle, and then her gaze smoothly moved to the very horizon where at the foot of the outer wall the cherished exit from the megacity was located. She clearly felt with her entire soul that at the very end of this path something inevitable already awaited them—something they would have to overcome at any cost in order to finally break and rewrite the predestined Fate.

Slightly squeezing the fabric of her dress on her knees with her fingers, Aerith quietly sighed but continued to sincerely believe that they would definitely cope with absolutely any obstacle. Noticing Aerith's worried gaze through the rear-view mirror, Dean did not know exactly what thoughts were going on in her head, but just in case blinked the high beams several times, proposing that Alex slow down a little.

Looking back, Alex noticed this light signal and began gradually reducing speed. Understanding that this was an excellent opportunity to finally calmly light up, catch his breath, and relax, Alex turned to Claudia and proposed that they switch places, since there was no longer a direct chase after them.

Looking at Alex, Claudia nodded understandingly, agreeing to take the wheel. And so that it would be maximally convenient for her to control the bike, Alex opened the weapons compartment of the "Fenrir," proposing that Claudia put her massive Buster Sword there. Inserting the weapon into the designated slot, Claudia deftly switched places with Alex and tightly gripped the handlebars of the "Fenrir."

Sitting behind, Alex lazily stretched, turned on the seat with his back to the road, and casually leaned his back against Claudia's back. Feeling this relaxed bulk behind her, Claudia only slightly rolled her eyes but did not push Alex away.

Pulling a thin cigar from his breast pocket and lighting it, Alex with a broad smile waved his hand at Aerith sitting in the pickup when their gazes met in the semi-darkness. Continuing to smile warmly, Alex touched the communicator in his ear with his finger and linked up with Valerie, calmly telling her that further their help and fire support would no longer be needed.

While Alex was casually chatting with his sister over the radio, Claudia continued to confidently control the "Fenrir" and already clearly saw ahead the cherished checkpoint right at the exit from Midgar. But in the next instant her eyes sharply narrowed, and her fingers clenched the handlebars to white when she made out a familiar, horrible figure standing motionless right in the center of the empty road.

"Why… Why has she appeared here again? Hold on tighter!" Claudia whispered barely audibly to herself, and then sharply warned Alex sitting behind her.

"What? What are you even talking about right now?" Alex asked in an absolutely bewildered tone, having completely missed her quiet phrase because of the conversation over the communicator.

But instead of any answer Claudia only sharply yanked the handlebars aside, taking the "Fenrir" into a prolonged, dangerous skid. Not wanting to tumble onto the roadway—even if it would not cause his body any harm—Alex automatically seized Claudia with one hand in a death grip, completely by accident squeezing something quite soft with his fingers.

Seeing how the motorcycle racing ahead had sharply begun emergency braking, Dean instantly slammed the brake pedal into the floor, forcing the pickup to leave a long, smoking trail of burning rubber on the concrete. The motorcycle and the silver pickup simultaneously braked right in front of the very checkpoint, and absolutely no one except Claudia herself understood the true reason for this sudden stop before the cherished exit from the city.

Tense looking around in all directions, Claudia desperately tried to spot Sephira, who had once again dissolved into the air without a trace. And while she was scanning the space, Alex slightly squinted his eyes, peering at the very end of the road, and clicked his tongue discontentedly.

Right in front of himself he clearly saw a forming invisible portal into a parallel mirror dimension that right now was slowly weaving before his eyes with the help of the dark magic of the Black Whispers. Sitting behind the wheel of the pickup, Dean slightly frowned, quickly losing the remnants of his patience, and decided to personally get out and ask what the hell was going on.

Following Dean, Aerith was the first to jump out of the vehicle nimbly, and after her Yuffie and Tifa jumped out on her heels. Thoughtfully humming, Barrett unlocked the massive door, first letting Red out ahead and then climbing out himself. When Dean unhurriedly approached Alex and Claudia, weightless black feathers began quietly falling on them from the gloomy sky.

Raising a thoughtful gaze to the sky from which this strange dark snowfall was falling, Alex smiled slightly, unhurriedly climbing off the motorcycle seat. How could he not have understood right away: all of this was literally a direct invitation into the mirror Midgar where a prepared trap in the form of the giant Whispering Harbinger already awaited them!

But what sincerely interested him most of all was exactly what goals Sephira was pursuing and why she even needed to pretend that she herself had arranged all of this. For Alex understood perfectly well: any sane being in her place would not even think of crawling out after the kind of colossal spell he had just unleashed on the city. Smoothly bringing the thin cigar to his lips, Alex glanced back at the remaining friends when the entire team approached closer.

"Guys, what's even going on?" Tifa asked in an extremely wary tone, stepping closer to Alex and looking cautiously at the road gradually being covered with black feathers.

"Seems they simply don't want to let us leave this damned city so easily," Alex answered in an absolutely calm and casual tone, rising to his full height and slightly stretching his arms upward, sweetly cracking his joints.

"And what are we going to do now?" Yuffie asked in a thoughtful tone, deftly jumping right onto Alex's back and slightly squinting her eyes as she looked into the distance.

"What do you mean, what to do? Right now we'll calmly go and ask straight in the face: just what the hell are they not letting us leave the city for, exactly?! And if they don't answer normally—we'll simply beat the face of whoever it is with soul and calmly bail!" Dean spoke in a careless tone, taking a step forward together with Tonberry Steve perched on his shoulder and casually keeping his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"Sounds like simply an excellent plan!" Alex responded with a quiet laugh, with his free hand taking Aerith and Tifa by the palms and drawing them after him.

"Hmm… It's about time we finally put an end to all of this," Claudia said, nodding understandingly, climbing off the motorcycle and confidently following everyone.

"Hey, you haven't forgotten about us, have you?! Forward, Red! Whoever is waiting for us there—we'll simply thrash that bastard!" Barrett barked at the top of his lungs, urging Red to hurry after the rest of the team as soon as possible.

To be continued...

(Phew! Fortunately, we'll kick off the next chapter right as they enter a rather unpleasant place—setting the stage for a showdown with a certain "big-fart" of destiny. Well, maybe not *exactly* that moment—more like just before it—but close enough. And don't even think it's that easy to cram everything into a single chapter! I couldn't just write, "They started running from their pursuers, dashed across all of Midgar, managed to get away, but then got stopped right at the very end." For heaven's sake, that's just not how it works! Besides, yours truly still needs to decide *why* Sephira set all this in motion. Sure, "changing destiny for the worse" is an option—a grand, overarching one—but what exactly is she aiming for at this specific moment? That remains a mystery. So, I'm off to grab a bite to eat and cook up a few reasons. Peace, love and for God's sake let Alex out of this city, he's already tired.)

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