She had been in the sample containment chamber—as the lab technicians called it—for hours now. Escorted there from her holding cell not long after she had finally found the most comfortable position to lie down in, she passed the time watching the white-coated technicians flit about the room. She didn't protest when the lab workers came by for blood samples and throat cultures, and avoided looking at the clock. The Planet's voices were present, as always, but she wasn't in the mood to hear them and did her best to block them out. What she sought now was a clear, calm mind; all the better to face whatever horrors Hojo would have in store for her.
           "Aeris!"
           Her head bolted upward. Looking in the direction from which the voice had come, she saw Cloud, Tifa, and a large muscular man she didn't recognize at one end of the room. They were armed to the teeth and facing down Hojo, who cooly replied, "So that's her name, eh? What do you want?"
           "We're here to take her home."
           Hojo frowned. "I don't know who you are, but I'm surprised you managed to get past this building's security."
           "Just shut up and let her go!" the large man shouted as he raised his right arm, which had some sort of machine gun attachment where his hand would've been.
           "Do you mean to kill me? I don't think that would be wise. The equipment here is quite sensitive, and without me here to operate it, what would you do then, hmm?" Hojo glanced back at a small room overlooking the lab. "Let's get this experiment underway—bring in the specimen!"
           Huh? Aeris thought. But aren't I the specimen?
           All of a sudden, the floor beneath her slid open, and she quickly backed away to the edge of the containment chamber. Coming up from below was that large orange beast she had seen earlier. It lay still, its flaming tail swaying idly. Aeris' eyes widened. Up close, it was bigger than she had thought, and more fearsome as well. What kind of experiment was Hojo planning?
           The beast opened its left eye and growled at her as it slowly stood to its feet. "Cloud, get me out of here!" she cried, banging her fists against the thick glass.
           "What's going on here?" Cloud demanded.
           "I am merely seeing to the preservation of two nearly extinct species," Hojo replied. "By breeding these two animals—"
           "'Breeding'? 'Animals'?" Tifa exclaimed. "But Aeris is a human being!"
           "I've heard enough," said the gun-armed man. "Stand back! You too, Aeris!"
           He fired upon the chamber, and soon Aeris found herself surrounded by a bright light. When the light had passed, she found that the door had slid open and the beast had Hojo pinned to the floor outside of the enclosure. Cloud rushed up to her. "You okay?"
           "Yeah, but—" All of a sudden, she heard the whirring of machinery again. Something else was being brought up into the containment chamber.
           Hojo said, "I hope you're prepared—this is a particularly ferocious specimen."
           The orange beast roared at Hojo and shoved him across the room before turning to face the group. "If it's the one I recall seeing earlier, he's not kidding. I will lend you my assistance."
           "It talks?" Tifa exclaimed.
           "Yes I do," said the beast, "but I can talk all you want later. Right now we have a specimen to deal with."
           "Barret, can you take Aeris somewhere safe?" Cloud asked as he drew his sword.
           The gun-armed man, Barret, nodded and took Aeris' hand. Together they ran to the opposite side of the room and watched as Cloud, Tifa, and the talking beast took on the grotesque monster that had emerged.
           "God damn that thing is ugly," said Barret. "Oh, and I don't think we've met before. I'm Barret."
           "Aeris," she replied, shaking his hand. "Thanks for coming to my rescue."
           "When I heard that you went along with the Shinra for my little girl's sake, there was no choice. We had to save you. Just hope that the rest of us're okay."
           "What do you mean by 'the rest'?"
           "We came in two groups—us in one, and our friends Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie in the other. We were all supposed to rendezvous on the 65th Floor, but they never showed. Hope they weren't caught."
           Aeris nodded. Soon, Hojo's monster was dead, and Barret and Aeris rejoined the others. Barret approached the beast and asked, "So what are you, anyway?"
           "Your question, though appropriate, is a difficult one to answer. I am merely what you see. You must have much to ask of me, but first—" The beast froze and stared in the direction of the freight elevator. Standing there were Tseng and Rude, along with about a half-dozen members of SOLDIER.
           "What superb fighters you all are," said Tseng. "However, I must ask you to exercise some restraint as we send you to join your friends in the cells."
           "So they were caught," Aeris heard Barret mutter under his breath. "Damn Turks."
           "Indeed," said the beast. Oddly enough, Aeris could've sworn that at that moment, he saw the creature smile.

*****

           Tifa sighed and leaned back against the wall. So much for the rescue mission; now they were all prisoners of the Shinra. She shared a cell with Cloud and the reddish-orange creature from the lab. Aeris and Wedge were in the cell to her left, and Barret and Jessie in the one to her right. Earlier, they had been brought before President Shinra, who informed them of his plans to find the Promised Land and commence with the Neo-Midgar project, reiterating the very same points he had made during the executive meeting that she, Cloud, and Barret had happened to spy in on shortly before they found Aeris. They were then escorted back to these tiny, dimly-lit cells by Tseng and Rude, who returned a half-hour later to drag Biggs away for questioning, saying that she would be next. An hour had since passed, and Biggs had not yet come back.
           "Hey Barret," she said, edging over to the right wall. "Think he's all right?"
           "Who, you mean Biggs?"
           "Yeah."
           "Don't sweat it. He won't talk."
           "I know, and that's what worries me."
           Barret paused, then replied, "Goddamnit, Tifa, why'd you have to put it like that?"
           She bit her bottom lip and promptly changed the subject. "How're you guys doing?"
           "As well as we could be, I guess," Jessie said, her voice weary. "You?"
           "Same here," she said, glancing at her cellmates. Cloud lay on the bunk with his eyes closed, while the talking creature had curled up in a corner. The latter seemed to have noticed Tifa's glance, as he suddenly raised his head and looked up at her. She asked, "You're okay, right?"
           "I am as your friend said, and as you yourself feel. Our present situation permits nothing better."
           "Thanks again for helping us out back there."
           The beast nodded and lowered its head again.
           "By the way, what's your name?"
           "Pardon?"
           "Your name. You do have one, right?"
           "Hojo has labeled me 'Red XGT-6453227', a rather unwieldy moniker. Call me what you wish."
           "How about just 'Red'?"
           "Mmm, I suppose that'll do." He sat up and glanced around the cell. "I wonder what time it is. Are any of you wearing a watch, by chance?"
           "I'm not, and I'm sure Cloud isn't."
           "Sure ain't," Cloud replied, not moving from the bunk. From the right cell, Barret and Jessie confirmed that they, too, were watchless.
           "Hey, Aeris? Wedge?" asked Tifa, gently knocking on the left wall. "Do either of you know what time it is?"
           Wedge replied affirmatively and told them, and Red immediately bolted to his feet. Tifa was taken aback by this motion, and it seemed Cloud had been as well, as he now sat up.
           "What is it?" Cloud asked.
           Using his teeth, Red tugged at something just beneath the gold armlet on his right forepaw, which was soon revealed to be a thin paper card with a magnetic strip. "We're going to be late if we don't hurry," he said after dropping the card on the floor. "Use this on the doors so we can leave."
           "But the locks are on the outside! How can we get to them from here?"
           "Very easily," Red replied, strolling over to the cell's door. It slid open.
           Tifa gasped. "You mean our cell was unlocked this whole time?"
           "But that's impossible!" Cloud protested. "We saw them lock us in, and the light on the door changed when it did, but it was still red when you opened it!"
           Red chuckled. "Nothing's impossible. And the unlocking of the door was carefully timed for this very moment. Hurry and free your friends with that temporary keycard, then enter the cell directly across from this one. Your equipment is being kept there, along with a message. Don't be too long."
           Although she wasn't sure what was going on, Tifa did as the beast requested while Red crept ahead a ways to make sure the coast was clear. Inside the opposite cell were her gloves, Cloud's sword, and all their other tools, weapons, and materia, as promised, but there was also a bundled-up lab coat, on top of which was a white business card printed with the same logo that was on the one Biggs discovered at the Sector Seven gate.
           "It's them again," Jessie murmured. She picked up the card and turned it over while the others peered over her shoulder. It read:

The eyes must be blinded when the hand strikes nine.

           "A hand?" Barret asked. "Like a clock hand? Is that why Red wanted to know the time? What time is it, anyway?"
           "Eleven fifty-five," Tifa replied. "No way a clock hand is going to reach the 'nine' mark anytime soon." She unwrapped the bundle. Inside were four silver pistols.
           Wedge rubbed his chin. "So, we have to 'blind' four 'eyes' when we're given a signal that resembles a hand on a clock reaching nine."
           "Okay, I think I get it, but what are these 'eyes' this damn card is talkin' about?" asked Barret.
           "Security cameras."
           Tifa and the others turned to look at Cloud, who was standing in the hallway staring into the lens of a camera mounted on the wall. The camera had clearly malfunctioned and was no longer working.
           "Did you do that?" Wedge asked.
           Cloud shook his head.
           "Are you all ready to go?" Red called from down the hall.
           "Yeah, just a moment," Barret called back. He turned to the others. "Listen, I don't know what the hell's goin' on either, but I say we trust that Red. He seems to know more than us, and is obviously on our side. Tifa, Wedge, Jessie, and Cloud, I want each of you to take one of them pistols and keep them hidden on you. When the time is right and we get that signal, we do what the card says."
           "I'm not sure about this…" said Cloud.
           "Well too bad. You ain't the leader, so it ain't your decision to make." Barret strode up to Red and asked, "We're ready. So how we gettin' out of here?"
           "We're not—at least, not yet."
           "What? Then where the hell you want us to go?"
           "All the way to the top, and if your hatred of the Shinra truly runs deep, you will follow me."

           The place Red had led them all to was one of the last Tifa had wanted to see again: President Shinra's office on the 70th Floor. Although it was late at night, the President himself was still working, and seemed not to notice of the intruders. However, once they had come within a few yards in front of his desk, President Shinra raised his head.
           "Wh-what is the meaning of this? What are you doing here? I've a good mind to call the Turks and—"
           "That won't be necessary, sir."
           This voice had come from behind them; it was one Tifa hadn't heard in five years. She hesitated at first, but curiosity being the strong force that it was, she finally looked behind her, where her suspicions were confirmed.
           "Sephiroth," she heard Cloud hiss under his breath.
           Dressed in a black suit and wine-red shirt with no tie, his long grey hair bound in a flowing ponytail and his hands shoved in his trouser pockets, the stately Sephiroth strode toward the gathering, though his focus remained on President Shinra. "Hello, Mr. President."
           "Where have you been all this time? We thought you had died during that Nibelheim mission."
           "Rumors and misconceptions, sir," said Sephiroth. Tifa and her friends parted as he continued his walk toward the president's desk. "I merely wished to evade the world's prying eyes for awhile. Such is the heavy burden of fame, you understand."
           Eyes… Tifa thought. She stole quick glances around the office; there were four cameras scattered around, all equally spaced from each other. She whispered over to Jessie, "Do you see them?"
           "The 'eyes'?"
           "Yeah."
           Jessie nodded, then glanced over at Wedge and Cloud. They seemed to know what was going on as well, though Cloud was clearly a little apprehensive. As they silently verified their plans and spread out a little ways from each other in order to get into position, he stared at Sephiroth. Tifa followed his line of sight, and that's when she saw it: as Sephiroth chatted with the President, he removed a gloved left hand from his pocket and raised it in a gesture that was parallel to the floor.
           "Now!" Tifa shouted, and she whipped out her pistol and aimed at the camera closest to her. Four gunshots went off in quick succession, and as the remains of the cameras clattered to the floor, a fifth rang out. Tifa turned to see Sephiroth standing still, a smoking gun now in his left hand, pointing at the now-dead President Shinra. She was stunned, as were the rest of her fellow AVALANCHE members.
           Sephiroth lowered the pistol. "Number XIII," he said.
           Red strode up to him. "Yes, sir?"
           "It's time to commence with the final phase, as we had discussed earlier."
           "Right."
           Tifa stepped forward. "Sephiroth, what's going on? Why did you—"
           "Everything will be explained in time, Tifa," he replied, cutting her off mid-sentence. He strode up to her and handed her the pistol. She turned it over in her hands, finding that he had also given her a white business card. The odd logo from before was on one side, while the other contained nothing more than what appeared to be the roman numeral IX. "You and your friends are just going to have to trust us for the time being. Number XIII will help you escape. Now get out of here, before it's too late."
           "Let's do as the man says," said Barret, and began running for the stairs. Jessie, Aeris, Wedge, and Red all followed. Tifa tugged on Cloud's arm, but he remained in place and continued to stare at Sephiroth.
           "C'mon, Cloud, I'm not too crazy about this situation either, but we have to trust him. Just this once."
           "Tch, very well," Cloud said, and together they left the 70th floor.

           "What the hell's going on in this place?" Biggs exclaimed upon running into Tifa and the others in the Shinra Building's massive main lobby.
           "Hey man, you managed to escape!" said Barret.
           "Yeah. The Turks were still interrogating me when an alarm went off. I managed to slip out in the confusion. You guys know what happened?"
           "We can discuss that later," said Red. "Right now, let's worry about getting out of here."
           "How about we grab some of these vehicles on display?" Jessie suggested.
           At that moment, the roar of an engine sounded. Tifa looked up to see Cloud barreling down a set of long, wide stairs on a motorcycle. "Way ahead of you, Jessie," Cloud replied. "There's a highway not too far from here. If we're lucky, we may be able to make a clean getaway."
           While Cloud idled on his bike, the others split up and secured vehicles of their own. Tifa wound up behind the wheel of a small pickup truck, with Aeris in the passenger seat and Barret and Red in the back. Cloud backed up, then burst through the building's entrance, sending a shower of glass everywhere as the others followed close behind. He then led them onto the highway and, along with Barret, proceeded to fight off several waves of Shinra troops on motorbikes. As the edge of the city neared, and a giant mechanical monster bared down on them from behind, Cloud swerved sideways, which is when Tifa saw the unfinished end of the highway just a little ways ahead of them. She slammed on the brakes, and the truck came to a stop not far from Cloud's bike. Behind her, the car Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were sharing screeched to a halt, as did the mecha that had been chasing them for this final stretch. The group dove into battle against this monstrosity, and by the time they had succeeded in destroying it, little else could be heard besides the stillness of night. Dozens of stars shone above the barren lands that stretched out beyond the highway, many times more than Tifa had ever seen in Midgar's skies.

           Using a construction crane they found at the highway's edge, the group lowered themselves to the ground, one by one. Just north was Midgar's perimeter gate, including a locked checkpoint that led into the Sector Five slums.
           "So we've escaped like that Sephiroth wanted us to," an irritated Barret said. "Just wish I knew what the hell's going on."
           Red nodded. "Understandable. I was asked to bring you all to the inn in Kalm, where everything will be explained."
           "Kalm's just north of here; shouldn't be too hard to get to. Still, we should split up in case the Shinra come after us. We all got PHSes, right?"
           Everyone nodded an affirmative, save for Cloud. Barret loaned him a spare he happened to have on him.
           "Looks like this is the start of a new adventure for AVALANCHE," said Wedge.
           "Yeah," Jessie agreed. "Who knows what awaits us now?"
           As Tifa listened to their conversation, she stared out at the vast open land before them. She had a feeling that from this point on, her life would never be the same again.

---

Completed May 2009 | Copyright 2009, Reeve Kasahara.

< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter >