Final Fantasy VII: Reflections - Book 1: Descent

THIRTY-FOUR

We all stared at Barret, our eyes wide at what he'd just said. While we knew the reactors were dangerous, they also provided power to the city. I'd thought that maybe we'd find some way to junk up the works a bit or at least slow them down long enough to get the message out and find a new source of energy that wouldn't hurt the planet. But... taking them out completely? That was something else.

Biggs spoke first. "Holy shit... you serious, boss?"

"Whoa..." Wedge breathed.

Barret nodded. "I am, guys. An' I know we can do this. Ain't gonna be somethin' we can do anytime soon, but we'll get there. Might needta find us some muscle to help get us past security, but we can figure that out later along with everythin' else."

I folded my arms in front of me. "How do you plan to take out the reactors? We can't exactly flip a switch."

"Glad you asked, Jessie," he said. "That's where you come in. Found somethin' a while back in that computer I gave ya—it used to belong to the guy who owned this place before us 'till he left. Didn't clear out the old machine as well as he thought, I guess."

"What'd you find?" I asked.

I hadn't had the chance to go through the computer myself yet, so I wasn't surprised that there were still some files left over. I'd intended to simply wipe the drive and install everything fresh since Barret had told me he'd never used it much, but that was gonna have to wait now until after I'd gone through the system myself, looked at everything that was still on there, and backed everything up.

Barret went on. "Looks like we wasn't the only ones fightin' Shinra. Others did before us, and what I found looks to be a project they never got 'round to pullin' off. A bomb."

"We're gonna blow up the reactors?" Wedge gaped.

"Tell me you're not serious!" Tifa added.

Barret swept his arm across, his gaze hard. "I am, an' we are. Them reactors are killin' the planet! An' we gotta stop 'em one way or another if we gonna save her. We can torch 'em after hours when nobody's there so no one gets hurt, but we gotta shut 'em down. An' for that, I need ya to build the bomb, Jessie. Can you do it?"

I looked down for a moment, closing my eyes and laying my hands on the table as a rush of memories suddenly swept over me. Designing weapons and bombs for Scarlet during my time at Shinra, not knowing then all the death and devastation she was causing with my work. And while I knew Barret wasn't at all like her, I couldn't help worrying that I might be making another terrible mistake if I went along with this. But he needed my help, and I owed him so much. With a long, deep breath, I made my choice, one I've regretted ever since.

Slowly, I looked over at him and nodded. "Yeah, Barret. I can build you a bomb. But I won't make one that'll blow up the whole reactor. I'll adjust it so it'll only take out the core and nothing else. That should be enough to shut the thing down without causing any collateral damage. I just don't wanna make anyone suffer..."

Although I'd created and developed dozens of weapons, explosives, and other sorts of combat gear in my Shinra days, I had never actually built a bomb myself. This would be my first one. The raspberries were a bit different since they were grenades, so I didn't count them. I knew I could do it, though, in spite of my misgivings.

"Fair enough," Barret said. "We'll plan out all the specifics later. We got a lotta work to do, people. Might take us a year to get there, but we will. So how 'bout it, guys? Y'all with me?"

Biggs gave him a thumbs up. "I'm in, boss."

Wedge swallowed. "Me too..."

"Jessie?" Barret asked, his eyes fixing on me.