It was hot. Humid. And everything they wore felt heavier, covered in sweat, and burdensome.
"I'm just saying, I bet my left nut the Doom Squad found some premium tail!"
Ignore the moron.
It was the fifth day following the near dead trail.
"My uncle said the Doom Squad always found the hottest ass, even if it was foreign trash."
God damn it! No, focus.
Again, Squad 66 (Known to 'fans' as the Doom Squad) always went off network. Never followed patrol routes. Never submitted reports or made proper records.
Which infuriated people like Richard, because following procedure not only was the responsible thing to do, it was the RIGHT thing to do. Kept the chain of command tight, prevented accidents.
"Uncle said even if they only get the Brownies, any port in the storm, right?"
Richard was calm. "Steve, if you don't cut out that racist shit I WILL lose your corpse out here."
The bastard went quiet. For probably only ten minutes or so, but at least that was 10 minutes without Steve's bullshit.
The fact that the rest of Squad 322 didn't even bother to support or tolerate Steve's trash really showed how much of an ASSHOLE the guy was. But, apparently, the shit's uncle worked under Professor Hojo and that was enough to keep this waste of space from 'vanishing' while out here on tour duty.
Finally, they found the markings of a Shinra campsite. "Fan out, they haven't been responding to calls for over a month now."
Steve scoffed! "Of course they haven't! Doom Squad don't follow no one cept the head honchos! They keep the Wutai F…"
Richard held up a hand. "Awful good grave digging weather."
Steve slowed. "Uh. They keep the Wutai Locals from rising up?"
Meh, still an asshole statement but it was more publically tolerable bullshit at least. "Everyone spread out, stay in contact. It's likely they moved on and set up another of their 'oh so wonderful' ambush sites, but I won't risk our lives doing this shit."
"""
SIR YES SIR!"""
His men and women (And Steve) moved into the clearing… And everyone froze.
They had all experienced war, but this was a LOT of blood. Not many large flesh chunks in the area left either.
Steve looked sick and pale. "Fuck."
No one argued.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Yuffie twisted her hands. "Look Sarah, you should really just rest a bit till Dad can get back home and take us to the doctor."
She rolled her eyes. "No. That doctor overcharged you and treated both of you like shit."
Her younger friend waved it off. "But at least he will treat the Wutai people, even use healing Materia on us! Better than the untrained hedge witches we normally have to rely on."
Sarah sighed. "Look, I'm fine!"
Her arm absently reached out to a tree a few inches in diameter and, with a quick jerk, snapped the thing off the base trunk and tossed the awkwardly long thing aside. "See? Full health!"
The Wutai Ninja-In-Training froze, eyes flickering between the tall beautiful stranger that had been staying in her home and the massively tall tree she had just tossed away. "Ah."
Sarah flexed! "I'm back at 100%! No more horrible headaches, no more restricted abilities! Don't worry about me, alright?"
She winced. "Right, it's just… You really sounded in pain. And you wouldn't wake up! What if it happens again?"
Sarah pulled the younger woman into a hug. "I was in pain, and that was all due to me not being at my best yet." Plus whatever happened due to the drawback. Adam wasn't clear on it either, it happened during the Transfer process.
In the background, she heard voices. "Damn boss, look at dem titties!" "I WILL kill you Steve, just PRETEND to be professional for a few minutes."
Much closer now. "Excuse me, ladies?"
Sarah turned, Yuffie still in her arms, and saw two dozen men and women led by a tall man in military uniform with a very fine mustache. "Yes?"
The leader stood tall. "Yes, I'm Captain Richard Newcastle, leading Squad 322 into investigating the recent local situation. I've heard that Village Leader Kisaragi lives nearby?"
Yuffie pulled away. "Oh? Dad's still at work, won't be back till later."
One of the more slovenly men snorted at her, still googling at Sarah's breasts. "Like any you tree monkeys work."
Sarah blinked, ignoring the taller man's 'I swear to the Planet, Steve!' and paying attention to the uniforms. "Oh! OH! Are you all from Shinra Electric Power Company's military division?"
Captain Newcastle sighed. "Yes ma'am. We are investigating the recent… Situation… With Squad 66." "Since someone fucking annihilated Doom Squad." And he actually smacked the rude asshole without pausing. "They met a bad end and we need to ensure whatever local monster was responsible doesn't grow in power before more squads can be deployed."
Sarah paused. Memory flickered. "Did they all wear black suits? Not like your uniforms I mean."
The Captain hesitated. "Yes?"
Adam provided what little data 'Research' had extracted from her so called memories. "Around seventy or so people? All men?"
The soldiers tensed. "Yes."
Ah! "Right, those were where the memories came from!"
A pause, everyone else including Yuffie feeling confused. Her friend tugged her sleeve. "Memories?"
Sarah waved her off. "I showed up injured and covered in blood because I was really confused and they tried to rape me. Man, it messed up my head!"
The soldiers jerked back in horror!
Except Steve. "With tits like that, no damn! I'd tap that any {GACK}!" One of his 'comrades' yanked him back and covered his mouth.
She smiled! "I'm so glad you boys from Shinra are here! I have basically no local money or equipment, so this is great timing!"
Captain Newcastle frowned. "If they did such a thing, of course we would be willing to investigate. And offer compensation, although I'm glad you managed to escape them."
Yuffie on the other hand looked like she bypassed furious and had hit pure rage and icy determination. "I should have punched them! Those assholes always looked at the local girls with intentions. Even the young girls!"
Sarah waved it off. "There's no point, I killed them all." Turning back to the stunned soldiers, she smiled! "Again, I'm glad you boys are here! Please just pile all your equipment and weapons over to the side here and we can send you back to report being robbed later today."
And the stunned pause turned… very odd. "I'm… Sorry?"
She snorted. "No no, it's fine. I basically pureed everyone involved and absorbed fragments of their memories, they quite satisfied any annoyance I might have had over the issue. And you boys seem nice, mostly, so I won't be taking your clothing. Just all the equipment, thank you!"
Steve seemed to be the more impulsive person here. "You… You killed Doom Squad!? Why didn't you get raped like a good bitch!? Fuck this, I don't care HOW big your tits are! I ain't letting some race traitor get away killing Shinra boys! [[
FIRE2]]!"
Yuffie screamed and the nearest soldiers dived out of the way as a massive spike of fire smashed into Sarah… Who blinked.
Captain Newcastle paused mid shout as he and his men watched Sarah absently lift some of the cheerfully burning fire and take a bite of it. "Huh. You're pretty bad at casting, aren't you? These sparks couldn't even melt iron."
Steve was a racist moron and a generally terrible person, but he got put on Squad 322 due to his talent at quick casting and his high damage output. Apparently DELICIOUS high damage output.
Yeah, no, he wasn't getting HIS Squad pulped like the former (apparently rapist) Doom Squad.
The man theoretically in charge of the situation gulped. "Sorry ma'am, you said for us to leave our equipment over there?"
She waved him off, flames dripping from her mouth. "Except the moron, he just lost shirt and pants privileges. Make him keep his underwear though, no one needs to see that."
One of the more brave nearby women slumped. "Ma'am, he refuses to wear underclothing. Or bathe. Steve considers it 'unmanly'."
Sarah winced. "Then let him keep his pants."
Yuffie, at this point far less concerned now that her older friend was clearly not bothered by the fire she was absently chewing on, examined the opposing forces. "Do ALL of them have to keep their pants?"
Sarah smacked her head. "No flirting with the military arm of an evil company. And go get your dad, I don't want any of this hitting your family when they send the next waves of people after me."
A massive 'BANG!' had a more sneaky teammate at the far back of the group stunned as they watched the sniper round smush itself against Sarah's forehead. To no effect.
Sarah blinked. "Her too, she just lost outer clothing privileges. And for the record, if any of you try to target people who are NOT me, I will begin to take body parts instead of clothing, weapons, armor and Materia. I'm fine with an assassination attempt or two, but I get annoyed when people
try to target people around me."
The word 'Try' seemed very pointed in that statement.
Captain Newcastle carefully unstrapped his Shinra Beta armguards, leaving the Materia within. "Everyone stand down. I'll be the one to report this, I'll take full responsibility for it all." He noticed Steve had fainted from shock. Or from attempting to overpower his Materia in that earlier attack. How lovely.
Good job Steve, way to support the team. Planet damned moron.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Godo Kisaragi felt his headache grow. "Young Sarah."
She bowed in respect, as she had learned from young Yuffie. "Yes, Elder Godo."
He waved. "Why are there multiple undressed people and soldiers inside my home."
She shrugged. "They kept trying to kill me so I kept stealing their clothing."
Little Yuffie smiled! "I helped! With the stealing, I mean. Not the killing stuff, that's uh. A bit much for me."
He twitched. "I would appreciate more details. Or a more in depth explanation."
The tall white woman with silver eyes and hair nodded. "You know how I couldn't remember anything when I arrived?"
Covered in blood, snarling with a glowing bone spike in her clutches and only kept calm by being near his daughter. Who refused to get away from the death lady. Oh yes, it was memorable. "Indeed?"
She nodded. "I now know that I was detained by a large deployment of Shinra soldiers who attempted to rape me."
The multiple men and women flinched as his enraged gaze moved to their side of the room.
Sarah blinked. "Oh, not these ones! I'm talking about the group I mulched. These are the people who were sent to investigate the situation."
Oh. Yes, there was that headache again. "Mulched?"
She shrugged. "I'm not tolerant with rape at the best of times, and they attacked me when I was confused and mentally compromised. I am really grateful I didn't eradicate the entire area or decided to [[
H̹͇̬a̹̻͉̱r̖͕̜̫͖v̱͈̠̰̺e͎̱̝̬s̘̦̤̱̖̰t̰̜͍]] the whole Village. It could have been bad."
Little Yuffie winced with everyone else at the odd, unnatural and otherworldly sounds. "Don't worry Dad, we made sure that everyone who tried to kill Sarah had their privates covered! Even the mean guy with the bad language!"
His young girl pointed at a wriggling caterpillar of ropes tossed to one side. "He said lots of bad stuff, but wouldn't stop doing it even after we took everything he had except his pants because he is gross and we didn't want to see that. Sarah helped me tie him up!"
Why him? "Good job, my daughter." She lit up the room.
He turned back to his adopted 'oldest' responsibility. "Sarah, while I appreciate you keeping my youngest safe and I don't begrudge you defending yourself when attacked, why did you take the things of these others?"
She shrugged. "Shinra's going to be chasing me regardless, and I didn't want to kill them all."
A man with a tired voice spoke up from the captives. "Again, Ms. Kisaragi, we deeply appreciate the lack of lethal handling measures used against my team."
Sarah waved it off. "No problem, Captain Newcastle. I know it's your job to try and fight me, and that your boss will be sending more later on. I figure keeping the ones smart enough to surrender alive will lower the amount of blood I have to spill later."
Why him? "Young Sarah, I'm sure we can find some sort of repayment or settlement procedure or treaty to find peace here."
She shook her head. "Sorry Elder Godo. But even if I hadn't killed seventy soldiers, someone will report that I was stupidly powerful and try to grab me as an experimental subject. Shinra's known for this shit."
Yuffie nodded. "Plus you kept eating fire earlier. They noticed that."
Captain Newcastle held up a hand. "For the record, none of my people noticed anything but I. They were all temporarily blind, deaf, and mute. And in Steve's case, dumb, if not unable to speak."
The rope caterpillar wiggled HARDER.
Sarah shrugged. "Meh, won't matter. Especially since I stole and hacked into your electronic equipment and found your orders to find the suspected Cetra out here."
Planet Damn It, Sarah. This was why Godo spent ALL THAT GIL bribing that damned Doctor to keep his mouth shut!
Not that it mattered, since it was clear this followup Shinra squad (Now staring at the woman with bone white hair in stunned horror) was told by someone ANYWAY.
Yuffie raised a hand. "What's a Cetra?"
Sarah shrugged. "Magical hippies that love the Planet and mostly died out over time."
She nodded. "Alright. What's a hippie?"
Yes, his headache was reaching levels requiring 'Cure' at this point.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
<So uh… Aerith?>
=Good morning, Sarah!=
{Sunrise!}
<Yeah, morning. So uh. On a scale of one to like ten… How bad would it be if I kidnapped you and your mom?>
{Confusion?}
=Huh?=
<Yeah, so you know Shinra?>
=Sorta? They own Midgar City, and claim to own like the world and stuff.=
{Amusement, ant's claiming to own an island, seaweed claiming to own the ocean.}
<Right, uh. I might have started something like a war between myself and them? A bit?>
=I'm sorry?=
{Armies struggle, people in torment, the cycle of conflict.}
=Oh. That seems bad.=
{A burnt forest showing new growth, a volcano eruption spreading rich soil, destruction as part of life.}
<Well now that I'm fully healed and stuff, I'm mostly just robbing all the military people they are planning to send after me to get lots of stuff, but that isn't the issue. Or my biggest concern.>
=Stealing is bad!=
{Indifference. Life is part of Lifestream, death is part of Lifestream, a cycle.}
<Sorry Aerith.>
=Well, as long as you don't do it again! Alright?=
<Anyway! Back to my concern!>
{Amusement.}
=Sarah!=
<I'm worried that Shinra might go after you as the only other Cetra now that they have found out I actually exist. So uh. I'm going to kidnap you and your mom. Just to let you know.>
=Oh. You think they will? Mom said Dad's friends would keep us safe even though he never met me before he passed away.=
{Concern! Her children,
hunted, cold, hungry. Protection!}
<From what I found hacking into… Uh. From what I found out from my sources, they were mostly leaving you alone because they knew where you were and it was within the Capital of Midgar, the city they controlled. And because they decided to wait till you were older.>
{Concern.}
=Really?=
Sarah was NOT going to tell a little girl that an evil company was waiting until she reached 'Breeding Age' to kidnap her and possibly kill her mother. No, thank you.
<Like I said, I am going to kidnap you both. I just wanted to know if you had a lot of stuff to move or whatever.>
=Not really? I can just grow a new garden, as long as I have mom. And she mostly lives alone with me, no one comes to visit or anything. Is there anything really important here anyway?=
{A garden, a church, but most of all a little girl loved by Gaia.}
={Blush} I love you too, Gaia.=
A quick check… Elder Godo was still having tea with a more relaxed 'captured' Captain Newcastle, the others and that rope bound dude being watched. They had time.
<Anyway, can you send me an image of where you are?>
=What?=
{A little girl alone in an abandoned church, a tiny dirt patch with young flowers fighting against the dark hopelessness of the slums. A spark of hope in the darkest of cities, trapped and studied but still struggling to grow. Hidden watchers, hidden cameras, hidden motives, a mess of people struggling to survive and weary with life's journey.}
<That will do.>
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Aerith blinked. "What?"
Space twisted! Danced and hummed and shimmied and shammied and BAM! A tall woman in a bright blue business suit strode from nowhere with a huge smile! "Little Aerith!"
What? "Sarah?"
{Amusement! Interest? A step out of nowhere to return to somewhere.}
She blinked as her mental friend (She was REAL! She knew she was real! Mom and her whole 'imaginary friend' speech, take THIS!) walked over to the sunlight. "Yep! Nice place you got here, considering. And wow, did you grow this garden patch yourself?"
Aerith realised she was about to drown her tulips! "Oops!" Move the watering can away. "I mean, Gaia helped and stuff, but yeah?"
She carefully stood so she wouldn't fall into the dirt again. "How did you do that? The swirly swooshy appearing from nowhere thing?"
The tall and beautiful woman smirked. "Oh, I have certain special skills. For example!"
Sarah grinned, waving a hand at the fairly large pile of trash Aerith had spent weeks moving out of the way of her sunlight patch.
[[
Harvest.]]
And there was suddenly SO MUCH ROOM! "Wow! Is that a special Materia!? I've never seen anything like it before!"
{Interest!}
Sarah grinned. "Nah, I'm still learning about how Materia works and stuff. This is just some of the stranger skills I can do myself, even if I am relearning how to do the complicated junk."
Aerith blinked, glancing at the suddenly empty church.
Aside from the now cleared flower bed, there were no heavy wooden pews, no broken glass, no junk or dirt or needles or rocks or whatever.
She wasn't even sure her HOUSE was this clean! "This isn't complicated junk?"
Sarah shrugged. "Nah, I just dumped all that mess into my special storage place to be recycled. I'm still recovering the use of my real abilities, and haven't even begun learning about Materia yet."
Huh.
Aerith looked at the church in amazement… And sadness. "After all that work to fix this place, to grow my garden… I'm going to miss it if we need to be kidnapped away to keep mom safe."
Sarah blinked, looking around. "You really like this place?"
{A young one, brown hair and oh so green eyes, walking into a place of worship. So tiny. So innocent.}
She sighed. "I always felt safe here. Closer to Gaia."
But protecting her mother was more important than having to leave a home. Gaia would be with her regardless.
Sarah blinked. "Huh. Well, should we just take the church then?"
{Confusion?}
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Elmyra Gainsborough blinked as she heard bouncing feet heading toward the front door. It was barely after breakfast, why was Aerith back from her gardening already?
The door opened. Yep, that was her. "Aerith?"
Her little sunshine beamed! "Mom, guess what!? We're getting to keep the church!"
What?
Her girl paused. "Oh, and we are getting kidnapped by my distant relative and sent to a ninja village."
Huh. Was this another pretend game? Like that whole planet friend thing? "That's nice dear. Did you wipe your feet?"
She felt her blood freeze as an unknown voice spoke up. "No, but I did get rid of the dirt on her shoes before we entered."
Elmyra looked up and… Oh.
A woman that radiated power and ability was framed in the doorway like a painting. Her professional but bright blue suit couldn't conceal her amazing curves, while her bone white hair framed an artistically astounding face with bright silver eyes.
She was also smirking. "Good morning! My name is Sarah Kisaragi, I'm the same race as your daughter Aerith. Lovely to meet you."
Elmyra absently nodded, accepting the powerful handshake with confusion. "Ah… So you are the imaginary ninja alien my daughter was talking about yesterday?"
The woman that seemed so confident shrugged. "I suppose? More importantly, I'm kidnapping you today. Is there anything you want to take with us?"
What? "I'm sorry?"
Sarah waved at the room. "I believe Shinra is going to try and take away Aerith and possibly hurt you in the process, so I am stealing you both away first. Do you have stuff you want to bring along when we go? I can really speed up the packing process."
Her confusion was pushed back as one of her deeper concerns was put into words. "The Turks are going to make a move?" She had two unrelated people that were supposed to WARN her first in cases like that.
She shrugged. "The order is still being passed down, but probably? Might even send one of the more powerful SOLDIER fighters though. Not that any of it matters if we aren't here though."
Elmyra sighed. "I liquified everything I couldn't easily carry years ago, used the funds to bribe people to keep my little one safe. If it isn't in our home, it isn't important."
Priorities are what kept people in these slums moving onwards, and HER priority had always been her daughter, adopted or not.
Little Aerith came back down stairs with her favorite Chocobo stuffed animal, the yellow ostrich-like creature tucked under her arm. "I don't want to pack stuff, can't we just take the whole house?"
I'm sorry, what?
Sarah blinked. "Well, I guess that will save time at least?"
What?
Aerith grabbed her arm and dragged her outside the front door! "Come on, this is awesome to see!"
Ms. Kisaragi followed the confused mother and her hyperactive child. She tried again: "Can someone tell me what is going on, please?"
Sarah Kisaragi held out a hand toward her home.
"[[
Harvest: Collection.]]"
She felt astonishment as her home, the reminder of her husband long since gone, twisted and deflated and shrank. A small ball floated out of a massive hole in the ground, showing a tiny model of her former living space.
Ms. Kisaragi grinned! "Good idea, Aerith! We can just add it to your church capsule after we go [[Harvest]] some of the free trash down here. Seriously, all this great stuff is just lying around down here!"
Elmyra let Aerith tug her away towards the massive mountains of junk that had collected over time. "Are we kidnapping anyone else with us?"
What was going on? Ms. Kisaragi hummed. "I asked the Squad 322 members if they wanted me to pick up any family members, but it seems most people sent to patrol Wutai in general are protesting war objectionists that are too politically powerful to kill locally. So their families are safe even if they failed to kidnap or kill me."
That… Sounds disturbingly like what her husband's friends had told her. How suspicious it was that only certain individuals died in Wutai fighting the natives, but none of the people in Shinra's approved political camps got injured.
Aerith bounced with a grin! "Let's head over to the robotic trash areas! I once saw a massive house with a face that did all kinds of crazy stuff!"
Elmyra focused! "Young lady! You did NOT go searching for a HELL HOUSE! Because that would be breaking ALL our rules!"
The little girl eeped!
Ms. Kisaragi blinked. "Hell house?"
She sighed. "Some of the stranger military experiments were discarded down here, and Shinra's research department thought massive robots camouflaged as houses would help in maintaining order."
The stranger lady frowned. "Like someone would go, 'Oh! A new house from out of nowhere! That seems normal!' and then ignore it?"
Aerith's mom sighed. "Like I said, it was tossed down here with the rest of the trash."
The youngest one giggled. "Sahagin, those turtle people, they fight them a lot! One of the boys said they saw a whole group fighting a neighborhood of the things."
Elmyra groaned! "You know what? If being kidnapped will keep my little girl out of Sector 6 and the crazy monsters in there, just take us both."
Sarah Kisaragi hummed. "Let me capture a few of these houses first, I bet I can alter the robots enough to do SOMETHING with them."
Aerith grinned! "Yeah! Let's go house hunting!"
Her mom snagged the child before she could run off alone into danger. Again.
Being a mother was a challenging experience.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked as another tiny bubble was added to the Inventory System.
And grinned in bemusement. <<House received Sarah. I'll make sure to modify it to handle electricity, water, and sewage when you find out where to put it.>>
She continued… Fighting robot houses? Huh. <Thanks! I'll be sending a few of these monsters in too for [[Harvesting]] after testing how they fight a bit. They don't FEEL like just robots. Should be fun!>
He glanced back at the bubbled Church and Aerith's home.
Turns out, nuking Sarah's current mind of 'how to use her skills' was a brilliant idea! She should go for that drawback in the future too!
After all, those units were designed to pack away Sarah's Warehouse systems for Jump Transferences, not to be used in conjunction with the [[Harvesting]] process instead. Now it was a new feature!
They were going to steal ALL the buildings! Woo!
He hummed as he went back to work testing the new empowerment systems.
Adam had a plan, after all! Mostly.
Aside from hacking ALL the computers, which was an ongoing process that was being ignored/pushed into the background for now.
Well, ignored except for certain alerts like the one Sarah was following, when Shinra was suddenly debating about whether or not to collect their 'escaped specimen' from the slums.
And aside from the other alerts, those were all for later research!
Yes, all that stuff was shoved aside for his mostly designed plan!
Because he had bumped into a fundamental problem.
Psionic fields could not persist in this world.
Oh, he could combine 'Enhance Self' with some health serums easy enough, and dump in some energy serum to power it… But after an animal or person consumed it, the process would quickly degrade and destroy itself if the subject was outside in this Jump reality.
Thanks to 'Enhance Self', it would still be safe to use and make some changes (Fix issues, ensure healthy enhancement, yadda yadda), but everything was single dose only.
Also? Ooze freaked out here and basically killed itself trying to 'fix' the psionic field issue.
Therefore, the easy methods of free power were basically out. The nuclear generators and so forth could be used INSIDE the Warehouse, and then produce goods or batteries or electric current or charged capacitors for OUTSIDE use or sale… But yeah, Adam needed 'Research' to find a better local option.
Now Adam was using the hacked schematics and stolen Shinra engineering memories to work with the many Lifestream machines to make something new. Hopefully something better and cheap to produce if possible.
And well, He was in here taking stuff anyway… So Adam was also stealing anything design related in the process too, along with other random junk data because a full 'Research' was a happy 'Research'.
So! The basics!
Gaia, the planet, had liquid/gaseous mako flowing in Lifestreams all over her surface. Cetra, or druids, would guide that flow to the surface to spawn life/plants/monsters/etc. When mako crystalized, you got Materia. Humans and some creatures would mentally connect to Materia and activate the magical effects formed within them.
And Shinra found some of the rare natural mako springs, and wanted such valuable resources to be much easier to work with. The springs don't occur often without the extinct Cetra helping out, so it was an issue.
Hence: They made Mako Reactors, originally called Mako Plants.
These devices were massive extractors and processors of the Lifestream's liquidish mako into a more stable and easy to utilize energy source. The original schematics were designed by Reeve Tuesti, although much smaller production methods existed for over forty years even before that.
Adam, of course, stole those designs too. Yoink!
The whole resistance movement thing started because these reactors would drain the easiest to access mako first, the surface stuff. It ended up depriving the local wildlife fauna and flora, killing everything in the area.
Obviously, this had bad implications for everyone in the long run, and so conflict would arise. Protests, companies versus ideals, profits versus convenience, yadda yadda.
The simple answer to make (some) people calm down would be to shut down all these energy plants. Gaia would appreciate it. Planet saved, problem done, no?
No.
Because Adam was looking at the long term game here.
There were already social structures and massive facilities based around these existing structures. Society would crumble if the reactors were just shut down, and humanity would probably get eaten by stuff like these robotic houses or whatever the hell was going on with Sarah right now.
Shinra was so big, a failure or full shutdown of the Mako Reactors would cause millions to die, easily. Possibly more!
So the plan here was to improve the designs, get rid of waste, and hopefully build up a surplus of power! Transform all these Mako Reactors into Mako Generators!
Then Shinra can mistakenly believe they are 'draining the planet', the people can get their power and Materia, Sarah will have a personal supply of mako and an artificial Lifestream inside her Warehouse to help create and grow her own crystalized Materia… And Gaia would have a burden lifted.
Thankfully, from what Adam could tell after taking over Gaia's Network, it wasn't super urgent.
Sure, draining the surface like this was not great for the local area and potentially tragic if you died too close to one of the Mako Reactors before your memories and existence could properly sync with the Lifestream… But Gaia was big.
Like, damn girl! Big big big.
Humans were dust on the surface, and even the most costly Mako Reactors couldn't put a dent into a planet's life energy content. Not really. It was a noticeable amount being messed with, but easily recoverable at this point with no issue. A rounding error of a fraction at most.
No, the issue was some numb nuts deciding to take the tortured soul and hacked up corpse of Jenova and insert her INTO a Mako Reactor over on Mt. Nibel. Possibly to encourage her to stablize and maybe heal a tad to hopefully handle MORE torture.
Someone suggested taking this invader, known as the "calamity from the skies" in the legends, and insert her directly into a machine extracting mako from the damned Lifestream of Gaia herself. Because reasons.
God damn stupidly cartoonishly evil corporation.
So, Adam's long term goals?
First! Step one! Make a mako generator, duplicator, or purifier system. Like artificial blood for humans, basically.
Second! Have Sarah sneak into the various Mako Reactors and install them there, letting Adam control how much is being 'extracted' from Gaia at any one time. Also would let her hack them and ensure they couldn't be turned into bombs or whatever.
Third! Steal the tortured, planet-infecting alien invader goddess out of her planet lifeblood extracting mako crystallizing prison healing pod infection tube and uh.
Fix her and stuff.
Woo! Adam has a plan!
Then again? As Adam continued looking at the mass of terrible designs, horrible amounts of research and lacking TRUE scientific study?
As he searched for useful data (Not just 'why not torture some MORE!?' or 'Wonder what this does' crap, but real testing and results), as Adam filtered through this whole mess of 'Why not make it bigger and spew steam?' and 'Why not more torture?' and 'Add a gun, swords love guns' bullshit…
Well, Adam had a sneaking suspicion that 'Build something helpful!' was going to be tricky.
Or so easy that it will make him rant about it for a month.
Either/Or, really.
