A Trap Is Sprung

Chapter 7: A Trap Is Sprung is the seventh chapter in Final Fantasy VII Remake. The chapter comprises events when Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, and Tifa Lockhart infiltrate Mako Reactor 5 to destroy it.
Completing the chapter unlocks the bronze trophy Trapped like Sewer Rats.
==Story==
Shinra soldiers and the Shinra news cast are getting ready for President Shinra's interview. Heidegger, the head of military affairs, tells them to be quick, as the president checks the security cameras showing Cloud, Barret, and Tifa climb out of a narrow chute inside Mako Reactor 5.
Barret can smell the mako and wonders if the layout is the same as Mako Reactor 1. Cloud says they are near the mako storage, as Barret tells the group to get going. They realize there is no path to the lower level, but Tifa shows they can slide down a big pipe. At the armory Barret spots a giant robot, and says that were it to active, they would be screwed. Cloud deems the best bet would be to run if that happened, with Barret hoping the robot will sleep when Mako Reactor 5 explodes.
After fighting off some enemies, the group sees the reactor core. Cloud experiences a headache and flashes back to a teenaged Tifa crying over her dead father. She declares that she is sick of Sephiroth, mako, Shinra Electric Power Company, and SOLDIER, grabs Sephiroth's sword, and walks away. Noting Cloud's vacant expression, Barret asks if he is fine, with Cloud calling Tifa's name, confusing her.
At the reactor core, Barret gives the Cloud the bomb. Cloud asks about the timer, but Barret says they don't need a timer this time, since Jessie fitted it with a remote. After setting the bomb, the group plans to withdraw to a safe distance and activate the bomb.
As the group is about to climb the ladder back up, it withdraws, leaving them stranded at the bottom. Tifa wonders if someone is watching them, as Shinra drones surround the group and project a hologram of Heidegger who introduces himself to Avalanche and welcomes them to the reactor. Barret realizes he is the "chief warmonger", as Heidegger explains the trio is the attention of everyone in Midgar, as they are being broadcast live on air as the culprits behind Midgar's recent terror attacks.
Heidegger introduces the giant robot they saw earlier, the Airbuster, saying it will kill them live on the news. A soldier reports to Heidegger that the Airbuster is only 60% operational, and Heidegger tells him that he is busy and cuts the feed. Heidegger commands his troops downstairs to seize Avalanche and bring them to him. Shock troopers appear and command Avalanche to come with them, but the group defeats them.
Tifa can't believe they played right into Shinra's hands. Barret decries the breaking news as propaganda, but is willing to give Shinra a spectacle while telling Tifa that they're not screwed. Barret tells the group that they will destroy the Airbuster in front of everyone on the news, a notion Cloud fully agrees with.
They take the route the Shinra forces used and find a room where they are attacked by Shinra security officers, who were preparing components for the Airbuster. Some components are still in transition, and they can use a console to eject the remaining components. They find a keycard and dispose an M Unit from the console. As they leave the room, Tifa wonders if the news is watching them, as Barret says that all they can do is smile at the camera.
In the next room they find two consoles and one keycard and choose to dispose either the AI Programming Core or a Big Bomber to weaken the Airbuster. Tifa wonders where the components that they dispose of go, with Cloud answering they will end up in a storeroom for defective equipment. Barret wants to seize them for themselves, if they can get there. Barret tries to tell the people watching the news that Shinra is broadcasting lies, adding that mako is the essence of the planet and that Shinra is bleeding the planet dry. Tifa asks whom he is talking to, with Cloud betting Shinra is not broadcasting the audio. On the way to the third room, Cloud picks up another keycard.
The group finds three consoles and one keycard. Cloud has a choice to dispose either an AI Programming Core, an M unit, or a Big Bomber. After choosing one of them, the group uses another console to leave the room. Barret is looking forward to battling the Airbuster and watching Shinra make a fool out of themselves while the whole city is watching, adding that these are the times they must savor. Tifa realizes Barret is asking her to dance, but she does not want to. Barret tells Tifa to not be shy and asks Cloud if he wants to dance, with Cloud replying, "I don't dance."
In the last room the group finds four consoles and two keycards with Cloud able to dispose two AI Programming Cores, a Big Bomber, or an M Unit. Once Cloud has made his choices, the group begins to leave, with Barret asking Tifa if the detonator for the bomb is still in range. Tifa confirms, with Barret telling her to hit the detonator when the time is right.
The group finds the route they used when they arrived at Mako Reactor 5. Barret believes they should've weakened the robot enough and begins to backtrack. They find Shinra officers preparing the Airbuster and attack them, but the Airbuster is ready for deployment. The group sees the components they disposed being transported to storage and defeats a cutter, who opened up a new path since they can't use the pipe to climb back up. Cloud, Barret and Tifa then use an elevator to go up. Barret says they will get home safe, with Tifa adding that they don't want to disappoint Marlene, and that Cloud must show up as well. Barret says that Cloud needs to give a smile to Marlene this time. Cloud responds he will do if the price is right.
The group finds themselves next to the storeroom, where they use a console to open up a door. Inside the control room, they realize there is another door that leads to the storage room where the components that they disposed of are held. The group uses another console to open the door and collect them before continuing on.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa head outside onto a bridge that leads to the entrance of Mako Reactor 5. A couple Shinra drones show up and project a hologram of President Shinra. The president sees Cloud has bathed in mako before and wonders if he is a SOLDIER. Cloud denies, saying he is an ex-SOLDIER. The president says that once a SOLDIER always a SOLDIER, and explains that those who bathed in mako are doomed for an early death due to cellular degeneration. Barret says the president has committed too many crimes, and that his company is sucking up the lifeblood of the planet for his own gain. The president replies that they intend to continue and wonders who would it benefit to deny people cheap electricity. Barret says the president has brainwashed the people, with the president calling Avalanche the allies of Wutai, Shinra's sworn enemy. He thanks them for stoking people's patriotic fervor and disappears.
A hologram of Heidegger appears to broadcast Shinra drones remove the bomb from the reactor core, saying Avalanche was never in control of the situation and that they are just pawns to help Shinra. Heidegger activates the bomb timer, which begins to count down from 25 minutes. Tifa realizes their own detonator doesn't work anymore. Heidegger introduces them to the Airbuster, who drops down and almost crushes them. Heidegger says that Avalanche are allies to Wutai, a crime punishable by death. Tifa is "sick of all of this" as Cloud recalls the flashback once more, thinking he had failed her. Barret tells Cloud to get his head back into the game as the group is counting on him.
As the group battles the Airbuster with the projection of Heidegger watching, the Airbuster ends up destroying a part of the bridge. As the robot is about to be defeated, Heidegger says goodbye to Avalanche and disappears. The Airbuster explodes and destroys more of the bridge, Barret and Tifa stranded to one end with Cloud hanging on at the other. Cloud tells Barret to grab Tifa and get out of here, with Barret admitting that he was wrong about Cloud. Cloud says that this isn't the end of the line. Tifa fruitlessly tries to reach out to Cloud, but Barret grabs her and runs. The bomb inside the reactor explodes and Cloud falls, using the grappling gun to grab onto the remains of the bridge. The rope snaps and he continues to fall.
==Quests==
===Main Scenario===
*Reach Mako Storage
*Down the Pipe
*Escape from the Reactor
*Sentenced to Death
*Monitor Data
*Status of the Airbuster
*Storm the Gates
*Disable the Emergency Lock
The first three quests involve little combat as the party make their way to the core at mako storage. "Sentenced to Death" is a combat quest as a variety of Shinra soldiers are fought while the party makes their way through the assembly plant facilities to dispose of components for Airbuster.
In "Storm the Gates", the party must leave the reactor, and then fight the Airbuster boss. A detour is taken in "Disable the Emergency Lock" in which a lever minigame must be completed to exit the reactor.
===Discovery===
*Waste Recovery
A single optional quest in which the lever minigame is completed again to obtain a variety of items, including a .
Category:Chapters in Final Fantasy VII Remake