Blood & Sympathy (FFVII: Vincent x OC)

Ch41 - The Last Mako Reactor

"How many more floors down should we go?" Yuffie asked yawning boringly as the team entered the elevator Cloud led them too.

They had arrived in Junon by the same night, and the people there had been in unease. Jocasta couldn't blame them, when half of Shinra's troops were possibly overseeing the retrieval of their Mako Reactor's Huge Materia.

"I've a feeling we're getting close," Cloud said.

"You sure you know where you're takin' us?!" Barret asked.

"It would've been wiser to ask the guy who built this place," Cait Sith commented.

"You're a goddamn spy. You could be leadin' us in a goddamn trap!" Cid cried out at the robotic cat who stood on Jocasta's shoulder.

"Oh, come on! I've been with you lads for so long! Haven't I proved meself yet!?" Cait cried out.

"We're just trying to be cautious. Don't take it personal, Cait," Tifa said.

The team stopped their little chat once they realized the elevator had just reached their destination and its doors opened. The team were all ready to attack any possible infantrymen that were supposed to be there, but the moment the door opened, the underground glassy hall, seemed empty. The glass was built around keeping the water out, and making a corridor that led towards the Mako Reactor that was built underseas. Just the mere thought of an Undersea Mako Reactor, sounded like lots of gil had been spent.

"Man, imagine the gil spent for this place," Cid commented as he slipped his gaze around them.

"As a matter of fact, 15 billion gil were spent on this place's construction," Cait Sith informed.

"Whoooaaaahhhh!" Yuffie's voice came from behind.

Barret chuckled bitterly "All that gil gained from draining the life of the Planet! Greedy bastards!"

Jocasta couldn't say she didn't agree. The consumption of Mako was indeed draining the Planet of life, and judging by the number of years Shinra has been doing that, Jocasta could only calculate that at least a couple hundreds of years of the Planet's life, were gone thus. But Shinra wouldn't care the least so long their pockets were full.

Jocasta sighed as she glanced over at Vincent who had been quietly following the team from the back. They hadn't talked ever since that little chat they had a few hours ago, and she just hoped that whatever had started building between them, wasn't ruined. She chuckled bitterly at the ridiculous thought. Hope. When did I start hoping so much? Thirty years in misery, hope was the last thing she had thought to do. But that's what love does to people. It feeds them with fake hopes.

After a long moment of walking, the team finally reached the Undersea Mako Reactor's entrance. Cloud entered first, the place seemed empty surprisingly and all Jocasta could think was if this was all a trap.

Cloud turned a lever opening a gate and proceeding further into the undersea building. They passed through a large platform that harbored two huge submarines that the team stared at them in wonder and Cid let out a couple of curses against Shinra. They proceeded further into the reactor till they reached Mako Storage. A large machinery was seen taking the Huge Materia from the depths of the Mako and carrying it towards the submarines.

"Ah shit! Missed it by a whisker!" Barret scratched his head.

"They're gonna transport it with the submarine!" Yuffie cried out as she pointed at the Huge Materia that was being carried away.

"Spiky, what do we do?!" Cid cried out.

"Back to the submarines!" Cloud said before he hastily turned around and started heading back to the hall they'd entered from before.