Chapter 4: A Ghastly Sight
Zack, Cloud, Tifa and Barret continued to walk down the corridor on the 60th floor, they were all constantly alert as they knew that Shinra Headquarters was a dangerous place, but they had to navigate through it in order to save Aerith. Fortunately, Zack knew Shinra Headquarters relatively well and he was able to guide them as best he could. When they reached the end of the corridor Zack suddenly stopped, Tifa and Cloud saw this and they also stopped.
Why are we stopping?" Tifa asked as she stared intently at Zack.
"Sssshhhhhh…" Zack said as he placed a finger on his lips, Barret however carried on walking but Zack reached out and stopped him. "Don't go any further," he whispered to Barret.
"Why not?" Barret demanded as he glared Zack, "I thought you wanted to save Aerith."
"I also don't want to get caught," Zack replied, "look over there," he pointed straight ahead of him and they all saw guards pacing round. "That's why I stopped, Shinra are big on security even when it seems light."
"So how do we get passed them?" Tifa asked.
Zack and Cloud began to look at their surroundings, "Looks like there's a room over there," Zack said and the four of them crept towards the room next to where the guards were.
"Phew," Cloud heaved a huge sigh of relief, "that was close, if we'd have been caught now who knows what could've happened."
Barret was looking out of a small window next to a door on the other side of the room. "He, he…" he snickered to himself, "just look at em, running around like jackasses, Cloud why don't you go first, and then signal us when it's safe."
Cloud cracked his knuckles, "not a problem, you guys wait here," he opened the door and he crept out of the room. He crept passed the guards hiding behind the busts of pallas so that he wouldn't get caught. Once he was safely on the other side he motioned with his hands to the others and Tifa, followed by Barret, followed by Zack crept passed the guards, eventually they all reached the other side and they ran into the next room where they saw a flight of stairs.
"Alright, we're gonna rock!" Barret yelled enthusiastically.
"Just remember we're here to save Aerith," Tifa reminded him.
"Hell I know that!" Barret snapped at Tifa.
"And knowing the Shinra," Zack cut in, trying to remember where the Shinra took any of their captives, "they'll have taken Aerith to the upper floors, something tells me this is gonna be far from easy, we still have a long way to go."
"Way to put a dampener on things Lizard boy!" Barret snapped at Zack, Zack glared at Barret.
"Don't call me that…" Zack retorted through gritted teeth, "the name is Zack."
"Let's just get going," Cloud quickly cut in, "the sooner we get up there the sooner we can rescue Aerith." Cloud started to walk up the stairs and everyone else followed him. After climbing the stairs they eventually reached the door to the 61st floor, Cloud placed the card key into the card key reader but it just bleeped. "Huh…" Cloud muttered and he took the card key out and put it in again, the same thing happened, "hmmm…"
Zack sighed as he watched Cloud's futile attempts to open the door, "this is getting us know where!" He said to himself, "Errr…Cloud, what floor is this?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"The 61st floor," Cloud answered as he turned round to look at Zack, "why?" He asked.
"And the card key is for the 60th floor, right?" Zack continued to ask, still with a hint of sarcasm.
"What's your point Zack?!" Cloud demanded starting to get annoyed at Zack's cryptic remarks.
"Well if the card key only works up to floor 60 then it's not gonna work on the 61st first floor," Zack answered just as frustrated.
"So where is the card key for the 61st floor?" Tifa asked Zack.
"Well I don't know," Zack answered mockingly, "why don't we ask the invisible man, or Dorian Grey!" He pointed at a picture of President Shinra on the wall.
Tifa scowled at Zack, "I was only asking there's no need to be sarcastic!"
"Alright then smart ass!" Cloud snapped as he stepped away from the door, "you find a way to get through the door!"
Zack cracked his knuckles, "piece of cake," his claws sprang out from the slits in his gloves, "just leave it to me." He walked up to the door and he dug his claws into it. A loud screeching sound could be heard as Zack's claws cut through door as though it was butter. Once Zack had cut through it he removed his claws from the door and he kicked it, the door fell to the floor and the group looked into the room to see that everyone within said room was staring at the massive hole where the door used to be.
Zack looked behind him to see Cloud, Barret and Tifa staring at him, their eyes were wide with shock. "How…the hell…did you do that!?" Barret yelled as he looked at the hole where the door used to be, to Zack and back at the hole again.
Zack ignored Barret and he walked through the hole he had made in the door, Cloud, Tifa and Barret stood there staring at him for a few seconds before they too walked through the hole. Zack stomped up to the guy who was nearest to him, he grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and he pinned him to the wall. "Where's Aerith?!" Zack demanded as he slammed the man's back into the wall.
"Please don't hurt me…" The man whimpered in fear as he stared right into Zack's yellow, Mako enhanced eyes. "I'll do whatever you want…"
"Zack! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Cloud yelled as he, Barret and Tifa walked over to him, Zack ignored them and he kept pumping the guy he was holding for information.
"I…I'm just a low level employee…" The man explained nervously, "I don't know anything about this Aerith…"
"Not good enough…" Zack hissed menacingly in the man's ears, the man's whimpers grew louder and it took the combined efforts of Cloud, Barret and Tifa to pull Zack off him. The man slumped to the floor and Tifa helped him up.
"Sorry, about our friend," Tifa apologised on Zack's behalf, she quickly glared at the drag human before she turned to face the man again. "He's new to the whole negotiation thing, he's more of a...maul first, ask questions later kind of guy."
"Yeah," Cloud added, "we're the Shinra Inc Repair Division," Cloud said, hoping the man would fall for it.
The man suddenly smiled, "I was wondering where you'd gotten to," he said, "when your friend was attacking me and asking me where Aerith was I was scared."
"Like we said before," Barret told the man, "Our friend is very impatient."
"And who is this Aerith anyway?" The man asked curiously.
"She's a good friend of ours," Tifa answered telling a half truth, "she's a receptionist that works here, she told us to meet her here after work but I guess she must've gone home."
"Yeah, hey the door over there was suddenly cut open, do you think you could fix it right away?" The man asked staring at the foursome hopefully.
"We'll get right on it," Cloud told the man and he grinned again.
"Oh, and take a look on the other floors while you're at it," the man said cheerfully to the group, "you can even have my Keycard if you want." He gave Cloud his Keycard, Cloud looked at the card and he saw the number 62 on it.
"Thanks," Cloud replied gratefully as Tifa grabbed Zack by the ear and dragged him back to where the stair case was, Barret and Cloud shook their heads trying hard not to laugh as they followed Tifa and Zack.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Zack cried out in pain as Tifa continued to drag him, as soon as they were at the stairs again, Tifa released his ear. "What was that for?!" He demanded as he glared at Tifa.
"So much for not making a scene!" Tifa yelled at Zack as she jabbed at Zack's chest with her index finger. "What were you thinking?!" Zack merely shrugged in response.
"Hey, I'm an ex SOLDIER, I don't think, I act!" Zack argued back, "sometimes you have to be impulsive to get what you want in life!"
"Well now's not the time to be impulsive!" Tifa retorted, "you could've gotten caught!"
"Well I didn't ok!" Zack snapped back, "besides, don't tell me you were worried about me…" Zack said, a little more flirtatious than he had hoped, but he thought that like all women, Tifa was cute when she was angry.
Tifa gave Zack a hard dig in the stomach, "Don't flattered yourself!" She yelled at Zack, "why should I be worried about you?!"
Zack was about to respond but Cloud stopped him, "Can you two please stop arguing?!" He demanded as he looked from Zack to Tifa, fortunately Cloud didn't pick up Zack's flirtatious comment towards Tifa. "We need to rescue Aerith!"
Zack and Tifa put their differences aside and the group continued to walk up the stairs. As soon as they reached the 62nd floor Cloud placed the cardkey into the cardkey reader, there was a loud ding sound and the door opened. Cloud, Zack, Barret and Tifa stepped out on to the 62nd floor and looked around.
"Now I remember what this floor is," Zack stated as they walked passed the nearest room.
"What is this floor?" Tifa asked him completely forgetting the argument they had moments ago.
"Well," Zack answered as he remembered the layout of the 62nd floor, "the room we just passed was one of the four libraries and the mayor's office is further up."
"The mayor…" Barret and Tifa asked staring at Zack in disbelief.
Zack nodded, "yeah, we should be approaching his office right about now," they approached a door with a plaque next to it with the words "Mayor's Office" carved into it. Cloud pushed the door open and the group entered the office, the mayor was busy placing some files into his filing cabinet, but when he saw Cloud and the others the files fell out of his hands. Zack's quick reflexes kicked in and he caught every single file before they fell to the floor, he then handed them back to the mayor.
"Thank you young…" The mayor started to thank Zack but when he saw him close up he hesitated.
"It's ok," Cloud told the mayor, "he's a friend of ours, he won't hurt you."
"I see…" the mayor stated as he gave Zack another sceptical stare, "and who might you all be?" He asked looking from Zack, to Cloud, to Tifa and then Barret.
"I'm Cloud," Cloud introduced himself, "And this is Tifa," he pointed to Tifa, "Barret," he pointed to Barret who merely nodded in response, "and Zack," Cloud pointed to Zack who merely grunted in reply.
"I'm mayor Domino," the mayor told the group his name, "I'm the mayor of Midgar."
"Well duh…" Zack muttered under his breath, Cloud heard this and he scowled at Zack.
Fortunately the mayor didn't hear Zack's sarcastic comment so he continued, "actually," he stated more truthfully and modestly, "I'm just mayor by name only, the city and everything in it is really run by the Shinra."
"Is there anything they don't control?" Zack asked as he looked round the room hoping for an answer.
"The fucking Shinra control the whole damn planet," Barret answered as he stroked his gun arm.
"Barret…" Tifa scolded Barret, the man merely shrugged at her, "watch your language!"
"Anyway…" mayor Domino continued, "as you can see my only real job is to watch and sort out all of Shinra's documents, me…the mayor…a librarian!" The mayor shouted this last part as though it was a ridiculous notion.
"So what's in those files?" Zack asked curiously as Mayor Domino placed them into the filing cabinet and quickly closed it.
"Errr…" mayor Domino stuttered trying to come up with a response, "it's private," he finally answered. "You want to go upstairs right?" He asked as he quickly changed the subject.
Cloud nodded, "yeah that's right," he replied and Mayor Domino suddenly smiled.
"Well you've come to the right place!" He stated importantly, "it just so happens that I have a spare cardkey on me, if you can guess my secret word, I'll give it to you, free of charge."
"Oh joy…" Zack muttered as he rolled his eyes, "we're supposed to be saving Aerith from a grizzly fate and we get to play a guessing game…"
"Come on Zack," Cloud replied as he stared at Zack, "it's not like we have any other choice," he then turned to the mayor, "is the word Best?"
"Best!" The mayor repeated loudly and a smile crept on to his face, "I love the sound of that word! "I am the best…ME! No matter what anyone else says!" He then shook Cloud warmly by the hand, "I never thought anyone would guess the word on the first try."
"So what do we get for playing your little guessing game?" Zack asked sarcastically causing everyone in the room to glare at him.
"We got the Keycard!" Tifa snapped at him growing increasingly annoyed at his sarcasm, "that's enough isn't it?"
"Right…" Mayor Domino said, unsure of what to say, then he remembered, "why would I do this?" He asked, "why to get back at them of course!" He exclaimed excitedly, "now get up there and give them hell for me!"
"Now that's a promise we intend to keep!" Barret yelled happily as he stroked his gun arm, Tifa flexed her fists, Zack flexed his claws and Cloud reached for the handle of his sword. They left the mayor's office and they made their way back to the staircase again.
"I think we can miss the next three floors," Zack stated as they walked passed the 63rd floor and before anyone else could say anything.
"Why?" Tifa asked curiously as she, Cloud and Barret stared at Zack.
"Because," Zack answered as the group continued to walk up the stairs, "the 63rd floor has this annoying computer which only allows you to open three doors at anyone time, and it hasn't been repaired for over six years last time I checked."
"And why's that fool?" Barret asked, he too was curious about why Zack wanted to skip the next three floors.
"Because one time I got so pissed off with the damn thing that I hacked it to bits with my oh my god what the fuck sword!" Zack explained, Cloud, Barret and Tifa were trying hard not to laugh.
"And what's on the 64th floor?" Tifa continued to ask Zack.
"Well," Zack began to explain as they passed the 64th floor, "the 64th floor is a gym and unless you want to work out your…" He looked at Tifa's chest area as he tried to think of the right words, "…upper body area then there's not really much in there."
Tifa realised that Zack was looking at her chest area and she scowled at him, she was tempted to punch him in the jaw but she resisted it, "and what's that supposed to mean?!" She demanded as she glared at Zack.
"Errr…nothing…" Zack stammered, "Anyway…" He quickly changed the subject, "the 65th floor contains an incomplete model of Midgar that you need to complete to get the cardkey to the 66th floor."
"So why don't we just complete the puzzle and get the cardkey?" Cloud asked but Zack shook his head.
"Why bother?" Zack questioned, "when we have our very own picklock right here," Zack's claws sprang out as he said this.
"Yeah," Cloud stated with a grin, "if that's what you call breaking the door down…"
Zack glared at Cloud, "Ha, ha!" He laughed sarcastically, "funny…" the group carried on walking as they passed the 65th floor and they eventually reached the 66th floor. "Ok guys, stand back," Zack warned as he walked towards the door and dug his claws into it. A loud screeching noise could be heard as Zack cut through the door with his claws, after a minute the door fell to the floor and the group stepped through it. They walked down the corridor until they passed a large door, they could hear muffled voices on the other side of it.
"Sounds like they're starting a meeting," Zack stated as they carried on walking down the corridor.
"I wonder what the meeting's about," Tifa whispered half to herself, they eventually arrived at a door which said "bathroom" on the door. Tifa pushed the door open and she, Cloud, Barret and Zack entered the room.
"Errr Tifa…" Zack began awkwardly, "you do know this is the men's bathroom…right?"
"Yeah I know," Tifa answered, "And at this moment in time I don't really care." They all peeped into one of the cubicles and they saw a small vent above the toilet.
"Up there?" Zack questioned as he stared at the small hole above them, "there's no way I can fit in that thing, I'd get stuck half way through."
"I can't fit in there either," Cloud also stated.
"Nor me," Barret cut in, all three men looked hopefully at Tifa who sighed.
"Fine…" she said in an exasperated tone, "I'll go, but no peaking!" She yelled as she glared at Zack in particular, she climbed on to the toilet seat and she climbed into the vent, Tifa had a hard time crawling through the vent because of her large upper chest area which pressed her back against the top of the vent. Tifa didn't realise that because she was wearing a miniskirt her underwear was showing until she could hear wolf whistling coming from the bathroom.
"Looking good Tifa!" Zack called up to her, "especially from this angle!" Tifa grumbled to herself as she continued to crawl through the vent.
"Yeah Tifa," Cloud agreed, "you do look great!"
Tifa shook her head as she finally reached the end of the vent and she listened in on the meeting in the room below her. Ten minutes later she crawled back through the vents and she carefully dropped down on the toilet seat and she stood back on the floor again. She walked over to Zack and before he could react she punched him hard in the face. Zack smirked at her but a trail of blood trickled out of his left nostril causing him to cry out in pain and grab hold of his nose.
"Ow!" Zack cried out in a muffled voice, "what was that for?"
"You know very well what that was for!" Tifa snapped at Zack who was still holding his nose and blood seeped through his fingers.
"I think you broke my nose…" He complained in that same muffled voice.
"Oh believe me a broken nose will be the least of your worries if you whistle at me again dragon boy!" Tifa threatened as she waved her fist at him.
"Ok…now you're just splitting hairs," Zack said in an offended tone.
Cloud sighed as he took his armlet off and put a piece of cure materia into it before attaching it back to his arm, "cure," Cloud said as a green light appeared on Zack's nose, after it disappeared his nose had stopped bleeding and was completely healed.
"That's better," Zack replied gratefully as he let go of his nose.
"What did you see?" Cloud asked Tifa quickly changing the subject.
"Well all the executives were talking about the destruction of Sector Seven," Tifa explained as she began to tell Cloud, Barret and Zack everything she had seen and heard. "They said that they weren't gonna rebuild it and that they were gonna build Neo Midgar."
"Neo Midgar…" Zack said as he gave Tifa a questioning stare.
"I'm not sure what it is exactly," Tifa answered truthfully, "but it can't be good, they said that they were going to raise the Mako rate in each area."
"Damn Shinra!" Barret yelled as he punched the nearby wall, "they won't stop until they've trampled over honest, hard working people."
"Then this guy in a white coat showed up," Tifa continued to tell them everything, "then everything became scientific, I think his name was Hojo."
"Hojo…" Cloud and Zack exclaimed in perfect unison, Tifa nodded and Barret turned to face the two ex SOLDIERS.
"You guys know him?" Barret asked curiously.
"He's the Head of the Science Department," Zack answered, "what was he saying in the meeting?"
"He said something about the subject being inferior to an earlier subject," Tifa answered she was still confused by what she had heard. "He said that he was planning on breeding her to create a specimen that could withstand many years of research."
"Was he talking about Aerith?" Cloud questioned.
"If he was then she's in grave danger," Zack replied, "we have to get to the next floor and get her out of there before Hojo gets his filthy paws on her." With no more time to waste the group left the bathroom and they ran passed the now empty meeting room. However when they were nearly at the stairs they stopped and hid round the corner as they saw someone open the door which led to the stairs.
"There he is," Tifa whispered so that the man wouldn't hear her, "that's the man that was in the meeting."
"Hojo…" Zack muttered under his breath as he gritted his teeth and flexed his claws. Cloud, Barret and Tifa looked at him.
"Are you ok Zack?" Tifa asked her voice was filled with concern.
"I'm fine," Zack replied a little more gruffly than he intended and he immediately regretted it, "sorry," he apologised, "it's just that…"
"You're not a big fan of Hojo," Barret finished his sentence for him.
Zack looked at Barret, "I guess you can say that," Zack replied vaguely.
"And what about you?" Barret turned to Cloud, "do you know him?"
"I only know him by name," Cloud answered, "this is the first time I've actually seen him, so that's what he looks like."
"Come on, let's follow him and see what he's up to," Tifa suggested and the four of them followed Hojo up the stairs, when they reached the 67th floor they were relieved to find that the door opened automatically. They continued to follow Hojo down the corridor until they entered a lab, Hojo stopped when he came to a large glass tube containing a red lion like creature which was just lying in the centre of the tube fast asleep. Cloud, Zack, Barret and Tifa hid behind some boxes as another man in a white lab coat entered the lab and stood behind Hojo.
"Is that today's specimen?" The man asked as he gazed into the tube nervously.
Hojo turned round to face the man, "yes," he answered, "we'll be starting right away, raise the specimen to the upper level," Hojo ordered.
"Yes professor," the man said and he quickly left the lab.
Hojo turned his attention back to the creature within the tube and he pressed his face against the glass. "My precious specimen…" Hojo stated pompously as he gently tapped the glass before he turned round and left the room. As soon as the coast was clear, Cloud, Zack, Barret and Tifa came out of their hiding place. Tifa walked up to the glass tube where the creature was imprisoned and she gently tapped on the glass with her finger.
"Precious specimen…" she repeated Hojo's last words, she then turned to face the others, "is it going to be used in an experiment?" She asked feeling sorry for the beast.
Zack and Barret walked over to the glass and looked at the poor creature, "it looks like it," Barret stated.
"It doesn't matter if it's human or animal," Zack stated a little sadly, "Hojo will experiment on it."
Cloud however wasn't listening a giant metal dome shaped container with a single door caught his eye and he felt himself being drawn to it. A bright blue-purple light shone through the small round window in the door. "Jenova…" Cloud whispered the name and he looked through the window to see the headless body of what looked like a woman with blue skin. Cloud stepped away from the container in both fear and shock, his body was shaking violently, he held his head as a high pitched screeching sound pierced his ears causing him to collapse to his knees. Tifa, Barret and Zack turned round to see Cloud lying on the floor and they ran over to him.
"Cloud!" Tifa shouted in a worried tone as she grabbed hold of Cloud's shoulders, Cloud opened his eyes and he slowly sat up, "are you ok?" She asked him as she continued to support him.
"Jenova…" Cloud stuttered in a panicky tone, "Sephiroth's…so they brought it here…"
"Cloud, be strong…take deep breaths ok," Tifa replied reassuringly.
Cloud looked up at Zack and Barret who were giving Cloud a mixture of confused and concerned looks, "did you see it?" He asked them both.
"See what?" Barret asked as he shrugged his shoulders.
"It's moving…" Cloud muttered still scared, "still alive…"
"Let me see," Zack replied as he walked over to the glass and looked through it, his eyes grew wide in shock as he saw the same headless blue skinned woman. "No…" Zack mumbled half to himself.
(Flashback)
Zack entered a room at the far end of a reactor to see a man with long silver hair wearing a black uniform standing in front of a giant glass tube which contained a strange looking blue skinned woman with long sliver hair, red eyes and wearing a helmet with the name J.E.N.O.V.A. engraved in it.
"Sephiroth!" Zack yelled at his former commander, "what the hell did you think you were playing at?
"Humph," Sephiroth uttered without even turning round, "they've come again mother…" And he started laughing manically.
Zack glared at Sephiroth, "how could you do this Sephiroth?! I trusted you!"
Sephiroth stopped laughing, "pitiful fool!" Sephiroth yelled at Zack as he finally turned to face him, "don't you see, I've been granted unlimited power by my mother, I finally have a purpose in life, to take back what's rightfully mother's…WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY MINE!"
"That thing is your mother?!" Zack asked as he stared at the thing in disgust, "Don't you see what you're doing?! You've become mad with power! The Sephiroth I know would never give in to such corruption, and I once respected you!" Zack grabbed his sword off his back and he pointed it at Sephiroth.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Sephiroth laughed at Zack, "you, a mere kid challenge me!"
"I hoped it wouldn't have to come to this," Zack stated sadly as he continued to stare at Sephiroth, "but if this is the only way to stop you, then so be it." Sephiroth withdrew his massively long sword and with a cry the two men charged forwards and their swords met with an almighty clang…
"Jenova's cells will make humans and animals stronger, faster and smarter…"
"Jenova specimens are puppets and Jenova's the puppet master…"
"Even if Jenova's body is dismembered, its cells are still slaves to its will…
(End flashback)
Zack turned away from Jenova in disgust, "that thing has ruined so many lives," Zack thought to himself, "even now after five years it's still here causing trouble." Barret pushed passed Zack and he took a look for himself.
"What the…" Barret yelled as he came away from the window and stared at the others, "where's its fucking head?! If you ask me this whole thing is stupid, let's get moving!"
Cloud staggered to his feet and the group walked to the other side of the room until they came across an elevator. "You think that'll take us to the next floor?" Tifa asked as she looked at the three men.
"Yeah," Cloud replied as he pushed the button to open the elevator doors, the group stepped into the elevator and the door closed, Cloud pressed the button and the elevator went up. As soon as it got to the next floor the doors opened and the group stepped out of it to find themselves in another area of the lab, they saw Hojo stood next to another glass tube similar to the one on the floor below them and in the glass tube was none other than…
"Aerith!" Zack and Cloud yelled at the same time causing Hojo to turn round and spot them.
"Aerith…" Hojo repeated the name then he grinned at the group, "is that her name? What do you want?"
"We're gonna take Aerith back!" Cloud yelled at Hojo as Zack sprang forwards and grabbed Hojo by the throat, he then pinned the scientist to the wall.
"Remember me Hojo?" Zack asked as he whispered menacingly in Hojo's ear.
"Hmmm…" Hojo mused, apparently unfazed by Zack's assault on him, "you do look familiar to me…" Zack slammed Hojo's back against the wall.
"Shut up!" Zack yelled at Hojo, "Now release Aerith, or I'll rip your lungs out!" As Zack made his threat Cloud and Barret stepped forwards with their weapons drawn.
"Are you going to kill me?" Hojo asked Zack, Cloud and Barret, "I don't think you should, this equipment is extremely delicate who would operate it without me hmmm…"
"Grrrrrr…" Zack growled angrily but he knew that Hojo was right so he released him and stepped back as Hojo slid down the wall, he slowly stood up and adjusted his lab coat.
"That's right," Hojo said triumphantly, "I suggest you think things through before you make any rash moves. "Now bring in the specimen!" The group could hear the sound of an elevator as the same red creature that they saw earlier appeared in the tube near Aerith. It was now fully awake and it was staring at Aerith poised as if ready to pounce. Aerith ran to the edge of the tube as the beast started to run after her, Cloud, Barret, Tifa and Zack ran up to the tube as they saw Aerith running round the tube and banging frantically on the glass whenever she was close to it.
"Guys help!" Aerith yelled desperately as the beast continued to chase her.
Cloud, Barret, Zack and Tifa turned round to glare at Hojo, "what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Cloud demanded as Hojo walked up to them with an evil grin on his face.
"Why helping out endangered species of course," Hojo said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "without me these creatures would disappear."
"Creatures!" Tifa yelled angrily at Hojo, "that's a terrible thing to say, Aerith is a human being!"
"If anyone's the animal Hojo, it's you!" Zack yelled at the scientist.
"You're gonna pay fool!" Barret shouted in agreement.
"Can't you guys do something?" Cloud pleaded with Zack and Barret.
"Just leave it to us Cloud," Barret stated as he ran to one side of the tube and Zack ran to the other.
"Stop!" Hojo yelled at them, Barret and Zack attacked the tube at the same time, Barret pumped it with bullets and Zack slashed at it repeatedly with his claws. An alarm sounded and the tube glowed as it started to malfunction, Hojo ran to the tube staring at it frantically trying to see if his specimens were still alive. "My precious specimens!" Hojo yelled, the light dimmed as the door opened and the red beast jumped on to Hojo and started attacking him throwing him completely off guard.
"Cloud!" Zack yelled to Cloud, "grab Aerith while we have the chance!"
"Ok!" Cloud yelled back as he ran into the tube, he ran up to Aerith and he knelt down beside her, "are you ok?" He asked her.
Aerith sat up and she nodded, "I'm fine," she answered and she smiled at Cloud, "somehow I knew you'd come for me," and she ran out of the tube. Cloud was about to follow her when he heard the sound of the elevator.
"What the…" Cloud stated as he stepped back out of the tube, "there's something coming."
"This is no ordinary specimen!" Hojo yelled in a panicked tone, "it's a very vicious specimen."
"It's quite tough so I'll help out," A voice suddenly spoke up, the group looked around and they were surprised to discover that the voice was coming from the red beast.
"It…talked…" Tifa replied in shock as she voiced what everyone was thinking.
"I'll talk as much as you want later miss," the red beast replied as a giant monster smashed through the glass tube and stared hungrily at the group. "Right now we've got a monster to take care of."
"What's your name?" Cloud asked the beast.
"Hojo called me Red XIII," Red XIII answered, "it has no meaning what so ever, call me whatever you please."
"How about we call you Red for short?" Cloud suggested, Red nodded to show that he was ok with the suggestion. Cloud turned to Aerith and Tifa, "Tifa, get Aerith out of here, we'll take care of that monster!" Tifa nodded, she grabbed Aerith by the hand and took her to safety as Cloud, Barret, Zack and Red stood side by side as the monster charged at them.
Cloud, Zack and Red charged at the beast while Barret stayed in the rear and pumped it with bullets and to heal everyone should they need it. The monster tried to perform its shady breath on everyone but Barret was wearing an amulet that protected against poison and Cloud, Zack and Red were too quick for the attack. Cloud leapt into the air, dragging his sword behind him and slammed his sword down on the beast with a Braver attack, it caused a bit of damage but the beast was still going strong and it managed to knock Cloud out of the way. Red ran at the beast at top speed and sped right through it with his Sled Fang attack he came out the other side and he quickly leapt to the side as it tried to crush him with its large tail. Barret focused some energy into his gun arm and he sent out a large beam of energy at the monster, it roared in pain and it stomped towards Barret but something was holding it back. It turned behind it to see Zack holding on to its tail, the beast tried to attack him with its claws but Zack leapt out of the way, he took a deep breath and a bright orange ball formed in his mouth, he opened his mouth and shot out a jet of fire at the beast completely engulfing it in flames.
The beast turned its attention to Cloud but by then he had come to his senses and dodged the beast's shady breath attack. He leapt right over the beast and landed next to Zack and Red all three of them grinned they looked over at Barret who was also grinning. Cloud, Zack and Red all charged forwards at the same time as Barret focused another ball of energy in his gun arm. Zack grabbed Cloud's arm and threw him into the air, Barret released the energy from his gun arm to cause more damage to the beast while Zack and Red swept its feet out from underneath it, Cloud then performed an overhead strike right in the beast's chest killing it. Cloud landed safely on both feet, he, Zack, Red and Barret were panting as Aerith and Tifa came running back. Fortunately Zack saw them coming from a mile off and he quickly retreated to a shadowy spot before Aerith and Tifa stopped next to the group.
"Aerith are you alright?" Cloud asked as he walked up to her.
"She seems to be fine in many ways," Tifa replied.
"I have a right to decide too," Red cut in, "I don't like two legged things."
"What the hell are you?" Barret asked as he stared at Red still in shock that he could talk.
"An informed question," Red answered vaguely, "I am what you see."
"So because you look like a lion," Barret replied, "does that mean you're a lion?"
"If that's what you see me as," Red stated, "I'm sure you all have many questions, but first let's get out of here."
"Thanks for saving me," Aerith replied gratefully as she kissed Cloud on the cheek, little did she know was that Zack watched her from the shadows.
Red walked passed them and he looked at Aerith as he headed for the exit, "I apologise for what happened back there," Red apologised to Aerith, "I was merely acting to throw Hojo off guard."
Aerith smiled at Red, "that's ok," she accepted his apology and she stroked him behind the ears, Red closed his eyes and growled softly under his breath, he appeared to enjoy the attention, Aerith was then aware of someone watching her in the shadows. She looked up to see a pair of yellow eyes. "Are you ok?" She asked, Zack didn't answer, he merely nodded in response, he didn't want to face Aerith, not yet, not until he was sure she still had feelings for him.
"Red's right," Barret agreed with the beast, "now that we've rescued Aerith there's no point in staying here any longer, let's head back to the 66th floor elevator." The group walked out of the lab, Zack was careful to walk a short distance behind the rest of the group and he stayed in the shadows whenever he could. The group had eventually reached the 66th floor elevator.
"Hold it right there!" A voice yelled, the group turned round to see a bald man wearing a blue suit and sunglasses walking up to them, he was flanked with Shinra guards.
"Shit!" Cloud cursed, "it's the Turks."
"Grab them!" The man in the suit yelled as the guards walked up and began to handcuff everyone. Zack was a few feet behind the group and he looked at his hands to find them disappearing.
"What the…" Zack thought to himself a little frightened at what was happening to him, "what's going on?" He looked down to see that the rest of his body was disappearing and by the time the guards had reached him he had completely disappeared.
"Hey!" One of the guards yelled as they searched everywhere for Zack. "Where did the other guy go?!"
"Leave him for now!" A different voice spoke, everyone turned round to see another man with long black hair and wearing a blue suit, "we've got the others."
"Yes Mr Tseng," The guards said in perfect unison, Tseng smiled at the group.
"It must've been a real thrill for you, did you enjoy it?" He asked cheerfully.
"Grrrrrr…" Cloud growled at Tseng, but the Turk merely smiled again.
"Take them to the president," Tseng ordered, "I'm sure he'd be very interested to speak to you." Tseng walked off and the guards dragged their captives away, but what they didn't know was that Zack who was now invisible watched the whole thing.
"No…" Zack whispered to himself from his hiding place, "Aerith…I've gotta save them," After making sure the coast was definitely clear he crept out of his hiding place and he walked in the direction that the guards had taken Cloud and the others to.
Chapter 4 is finally complete, phew it took me forever to write. Good thing Zack turned invisible when he did otherwise he would've been captured as well. I guess being a drag human has its perks even though it was the result of a twisted experiment. Will Zack be able to save his friends? Find out in chapter 5, just a reminder that I don't own Final Fantasy VII and its characters and content, they belong to Square Enix.