By the time everyone woke up the next morning, Chain was walking through the door with some breakfast. Stale doughnuts, but at least there was coffee. More like nasty black sludge. While Chain was taking a shower, the team decided to catch up on the local news. Of course, it was still them, but one could only hope.
“The terrorist that have eluded authorities struck again last night, killing several local youths, including 17 and 16 year olds Timothy Ramirez and Michael Gray. Their families have tearily demanded justice, calling them ‘ruthless thugs and murderers’. A survivor of the attack, Ronald Dorchester, has made a statement and given police detailed descriptions of several of the group’s unknown members. This escalating of the group’s activities has prompted the SRMP to increase the bounty to 100,000 gil”
They killed kids. Things just kept getting better and better.
While they were watching the news, several of the team noticed that the shower wasn’t running and hadn’t been running for some time, which was suspicious. Juvi didn’t understand what the problem was and told them the hygienic habits of her lady friend was none of their business, so they dropped the issue. When she was done, Chain gave them some fake train passes she acquired earlier this morning from a contact that “owed her one”. Once everyone was ready, they headed to the Sector 5 station.
For the most part, the team went unnoticed. People tended to keep to themselves, which worked in their favor. The station, however, was guarded by a couple of officers. Juvi and Chain distracted them while the rest of the group went through and the there train appeared moments later. They decided not to sit together, as not to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. A few minutes later, a couple of officers entered their car holding photos of Ichi and Aki. The girls started flirting with one of the officers, which was enough to distract the officers so they ignored Rag and Mal.
As they got near Aki and Ichi, the officers immediately recognized them. Ichi tried the lost tourist routine, but they weren’t biting. Just as the officers were about to grab them, a passenger bumped hard into him, knocking the officer down. Aki noticed the man earlier, who wore expensive glasses and a finely tailored black suit. At first she didn’t pay too much attention to him, as he looked like any other person doing their morning commute to work, but something was off about him—he wore black leather biker gloves. The pistol he had concealed was something as well.
The collision was enough of a distraction to allow the team to exit the train unhindered as they arrived at their stop. Just as Aki stepped out of the doors, the man called to her and warned her to be careful next time. It was clear now that he bumped into the cop on purpose, but as to who he was and why he would help them remained a mystery. It was a mystery that would have to wait for now. They exited the station and found themselves in Sector 6, more specifically, Wall Market.
Chain needed to make some preparations, so the team had time to look around for a bit. Aki went to the nearest salon to get a touch up and had a meal at the diner. After Rag finished his meal, he went to a gathering place called the “Men’s Hall”. It appeared to be a gym of some sort, complete with wrestling ring and exercise equipment. After a quick workout, Rag finally noticed that the patrons of this establishment were all either gay or cross-dressers. He discreetly made a beeline for the exit. Good thing he noticed before he hit the showers. He met up with Mal at the “Item Shop”.
While he was in the shop, Mal noticed what looked like a summon materia inside of a claw machine, and enlisted Rag’s help in trying to claim the price. After many tries between the two of them, Rag’s luck paid off and the materia, which was a Choco/Mog summon, was in their possession. This almost made up for the earlier misunderstanding at the hall, which he didn’t mention to Mal. Unfortunately, Mal could tell where Rag was by the smell. Soon enough, it was time for everyone to meet up with Chain.
She led them to Corneo Mansion, headquarters of the notorious mob boss Don Corneo, who runs Sector 6. Rag and Mal hadn’t been in the city in a long time, so they didn’t know that the Don had control over the area, which did not sit well with them at all. Last time he checked, Mal’s dad still lived in the area. There was nothing they could do about it, so they went along with Chain. According to her, the Don was going to help get them out of the city, which would come at a cost no doubt. At the door, they were stopped by some mooks, but let them in as soon as Chain reminded them who she was.
The Don had a thing for Wutai aesthetic, which was obvious by the décor. Too bad his style was gaudy and all over the place; Aki and Ichibu noticed Corneo didn’t quite understand Wutai language syntax. A mook directed the team to the Don’s “office”, which turned out to be his bedroom, and one look made it obvious this guy was a true creep. He sat in the middle of a round bed, cover with satin, and the door to his “playroom” was ajar. Some of those devices hadn’t been used by civilized people in centuries. The Don welcomed them to his “office”.
Of course, the Don’s assistance was going to cost them. More specifically, he was looking to have some “alone time” with Aki. When she refused, the Don decided he’d take the bounty instead and the team was surrounded. Just before things started to heat up, Chain pulled a gun on them. She was in on it the whole time and Juvi wanted an explanation, which Chain responded with an impassioned plea.
“Come on Juvi, think about it. You don’t own these guys anything. We could split my share of the money and get the hell out of this city, like we always talked about. Just you and me, like it’s always been; anything to survive. We wouldn’t have to live in this shithole, no more going through what I’ve been through—what we’ve been through—anymore.”
As tears welled up in her eyes, she made one finally plea.
“Juvi… I want to see the sky.”
Before Juvi could answer, the Don revealed his true intentions. His men disarmed Chain and shoved her into Juvi. He was going to claim the bounty for himself and it didn’t matter to him whether they were dead or alive. After some choice words from Chain, the floor was dropped from under them and the team fell into darkness. When they came to, the team realized they were in the sewers again. Most of them were fine, albeit a little beat up, but Aki noticed Chain wasn’t moving. Upon further inspection, she had a broken leg as well, but she would live. As the team was getting a bearing on their surroundings, Chain came to and was not happy. Once she realized where they were, she knew they had to leave immediately.
The team didn’t have time to argue and got set to get the hell out of there, but they weren’t fast enough. From the darkness came a large, hideous creature, Chain identified as Corneo’s pet, known as Aps. In their condition, the team knew they couldn’t defeat such a monstrosity, so they opted for a speedy escape, which was easier said than done. Chain’s leg didn’t help much either. After several massive attacks, including the beast’s sewer tsunami which left Aki unconscious, they managed to flee the creature’s grasp, thanks in part by the fact it was chained to the floor.
The exit to the surface led to the Train Graveyard, near the entrance to Sector 7. As Aki regained consciousness, Rag’s luck paid off once again as he discovered that attached to him was a Phoenix Down, something that would definitely come in handy. They made their way through the debris as quickly as they could and arrived in the sector only to find the area crawling with SRMP. While the team attempted to come up with a course of action, a door in the alley opened behind them and a woman offered them refuge. Without any other option, they accepted, entering the door which led to a kitchen, which in turn led to a small bar. The long, raven-haired woman, who was wearing a white tank top, black shorts, and suspenders was looking out the closed blinds of the front windows. As soon as she felt they were safe, the woman turned around and introduced herself as Tifa Lockhart.
Items
- 360 AP
- Phoenix Down
- Summon materia, Choco/Mog