Chapter 4: Prison Break

"D-do you see anything?"

The ninja narrowed her eyes and tried to catch a glimpse between the bars. "Hnnn…nope, can't see a thing."

The teen underneath her groaned and the last of the strength in his thin legs gave out. Kaitzer's knees buckled and with a shriek, Yuffie came crashing down upon him. Red glanced sympathetically at the tangle of arms and legs in front of him before dodging neatly to the side as the bars separating them from the air vent fell down with a clang.

Red opened his mouth to ask if the two teens were alright when a familiar green blob phased through the walls. His jaw immediately snapped shut and lowered his head, preparing to leap at the specter if necessary. The being in question, was hovering motionless in front of them and can only be assumed to be staring at them with its faceless head. Yuffie lifted her head up and glared at it before pushing the Gypsy boy roughly off of her.

"The heck you lookin' at, ya big pile of floating pudding?" Yuffie snarled, getting up on her feet, holding out her fists.

The specter said nothing and proceeded to phase through the opposite wall from which it came from.

"Ow crap, it isn't on to us is it?" Kaitzer rubbed the back of his head and glanced at the other two. He peered at his hand to see if there was any blood before absentmindedly wiping it against the side of his thigh.

Yuffie snorted. "It doesn't have a face, what makes you think it has a brain?"

"Nonetheless, we have to hurry and get out of her before it comes back." The lion picked up the fallen bar with his sharp fangs and tossed it to the side with a flick of his head. "I will go in first."

"Why?"

Red looked at the ninja before tweaking his nose.

"Oh."

Red pulled back his lips and displayed his set of white teeth in a lion's grin before leaping up into the vent. His one good eye took in his surroundings before he carefully made his way forward. Back in the cell, the other two teens can hear the muffled steps of his paws growing distant before they were left with silence. Yuffie held her breath the moment he was out of hearing range.

"Red?" She called out tentatively. When nothing responded to her, she traded a frightened look with Kaitzer before she quickly scrambled onto the boy's offered shoulders and clambered into the green light tinted vent herself. The ninja's first thought was that while the cell itself was humid to the point the moisture in the air was soaking her clothes and causing sweat to gather under her green turtle-neck, the vent was cold. She suppressed a shiver and squinted her eyes to try and get a better look down the vent before venturing in any further. "Red!" She hissed.

"Can you see him?" Kaitzer's voice called; it sounded so far away.

"No I can't see a thing!" Yuffie bit her lips when her whispered reply continued to bounce down the vent. "C'mon, something mighta happened to Red." The girl scrambled her lithe form into the vent and crawled on hands and knees not two feet when she stopped.

Kaitzer, who had heaved himself into the vent after her with much difficulty, turned around and was given a full view of her rear, scrunched his nose and tried to pull his head back into his body like a turtle. "What're you stoppin' fer?"

The ninja looked over her shoulder, her gray eyes locking with his amber orbs. She had her tongue hanging out of her open mouth in the universal gag expression before indicating with her eyes to look down at her right hand. With a pale ash blue eyebrow raised in inquiry, the boy looked down and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"The heck…"

It was the biggest rat he had ever seen – in his life. The little black smudge of fur and Gaia-knows-what-else was the size of a bunny and his long, thick worm-like tale had wrapped itself around Yuffie's wrist. Tightly. The rat's large pointed nose twitched once twitched twice and then skittered up the length of Yuffie's thin arm and came to a rest on her shoulder right next to her face.

Both teens remained silent for a moment before Kaitzer stifled a laugh. "Aw rats. Looks like the little guy as a thing for you, eh princess?"

"Sh…shut up!"

"Hey don't throw that at me!"

The pain wasn't much but it was all she could do to hold the scream in. He drove the small knife completely into her arm and blood was pooling underneath it, threatening to stain the right side of her white tank top. He gave it a sadistic twist before pulling it back it back out with a rough jerk. Not being able to hold it in any longer, Tifa gave a shrill gasp of pain. Some of the blood flecked onto the front of her shirt and onto her face. She winced and was repulsed. Idiot, it's your own blood, her brain reminded her. Using the breathing exercises that Master Zangan taught her, she slowly closed her eyes and put her mind in a tranquil state. There wasn't a knife-wielding crazy standing over her. She wasn't chained to a surgery table where Gaia-knows how many other girls before her met their doom. She wasn't about to get another extreme acupuncture from knife-wielding crazy. She felt no pain. With each inhale and exhale, the pain receded and all that was left was a numb throb on her arm in between her shoulder and elbow.

"Stop!"

Tifa's eyes snapped open when she heard Cloud roar at German. It took her a moment to refocus her eyes from the blinding surgery light to German's wide-eyed gaze. She lifted her head slightly to see Cloud half hanging on the wall opposite her. He was panting wildly and she felt a cold wave rush down her spine. His mako blue eyes looked like they wanted blood spilt.

"Get. Away. From. Her." He gritted out. With his free hand, he wrenched the chain off the one binding his left. He dropped down onto the floor in a feral crouching position now that the only chains holding him up were unbound.

German, despite his wide-eyed surprised look, took a step forward. He twirled the knife with his thumb and middle finger, successfully adding the blood on the blade to the collection on his lab coat.

"Ah, Ami Cloud, why are you so angry? Tis only a flesh wound; nothing that can't be healed within days," He replied, opening out his arms and cocked his head to the side.

To Cloud, German could have belted out 'Ave Maria' for all he cared. The little movie clip of German sinking the blade into Tifa's arm and twisting it cruelly all the while with a broad happy smile on his face replayed repeatedly in Cloud's mind. It was sickening to see how anyone could find doing that pleasurable.

"Ami Cloud? Is something the matter? You do not look so well." German didn't look or sound sympathetic.

Cloud took a step forward. His heavy mercenary boots creating a loud sound that echoed around the two adjoined rooms.

German took a half step back, most of his weight upon the back foot's heel. He was prepared to wheel around and flee if he needed to. Not that he was a coward or anything but the look in Cloud's eyes could only mean that he might not make it out of this room with all four limbs in tack if he stayed to duke it out. No. He had to leave and re-plan. This Cloud Strife in front of him was nothing like the scrawny boy he befriended six years prior.

Silence reigned on for a few minutes with the exception of Tifa's heavy breathing and the clinking of her chains as she struggled against them. There was a muffled thump overhead that caused Tifa to stop and glanced at the ceiling. Cloud did the same and it was at that precise moment when both the ex-SOLDIER and martial artist had their eyes on the growing noise in the ceiling overhead that German struck. Leaning forward and using his back foot as leverage, he launched himself at the unwary Cloud, the knife held firmly in front of him.

Tifa heard the sudden noise next to her and a warning threatened to rip her throat. "Cl-…"

A rusty metal plate with a large gush down the length of the middle gave away underneath her small hand. Yuffie's mouth changed into the shape of a big 'O' and Kaitzer, with his knees sore with all the crawling in the duct, sighed in exasperation.

"What is it now, princess? Another rat? Because I swear this time if you fling it at me I will-.."

He never had the chance to finish his sentence because at that precise moment, the plate that she had her hand on, which he is also inconveniently on, dropped with a loud clang in the room underneath the vent. What was worse was that Yuffie and Kaitzer followed the plate's example and dropped seven feet onto a rusty unforgiving metal plate and… something fleshy.

Cloud barely had the time to move. His sudden burst of rage towards German was momentarily distracted by the scratching, thumping sounds overhead and by Tifa's would-be warning as well as the sound of somebody moving behind him. With his attention caught on three different things, it was no wonder he never saw the plate dropping on top of him followed by two other heavy things.

It was a wonder that German wasn't prepared for it either. The madman dove right over the two falling teens and rolled to his feet in the other room. He glanced over at his shoulder with a seething look before his eyes fell onto one of the three forms lying in a heap behind him. It picked itself up gingerly, rubbing his head. No doubt the fall was painful. The boy had his back to the man and his amber orbs could clearly take in the image of a large silver cross printed on the back of the coat, as well as a ridiculous bordering of black chocobos. He slid his eyebrow-raising hood back and German's lips twisted into a half maniacal grin and a… hard to identify expression when he caught sight of the messy assortment of ash blue hair.

"Klein Brud," he said simply.

The boy froze. He stood to his feet and turned around, his eyes widening.

Behind him, Cloud knocked the plate off his form, subsequently knocking Yuffie off as well. He caught Tifa's worried expression and spun around to see the two. The two with matching wide, maniacal amber eyes.

Kaitzer opened his mouth, and then closed it thinking that he had nothing to say.

Yuffie groaned in pain and rubbed her bruised backside before she caught whiff of the spiked tension in the room. The young ninja staggered onto her feet when her gray eyes fell onto German's prone form. "Wha? Who the heck is that?"

Little surprise nobody heard her.

German's knife hand twitched before it dropped with a clank on the floor. His younger brother eyed the object on the floor and glanced over his shoulder to catch sight of Tifa's injured arm. His eyes widened further. It was fortunate that Cloud, Yuffie and Tifa couldn't see his entire face: he looked exactly like the madman in front of him.

Then the boy laughed. It was guttural and rising in volume. His shoulder's shook and he tilted his head back. German looked startled, like someone who didn't quite understand the situation.

"Kaitzer?" Yuffie asked questioningly. She didn't understand why her new companion was acting like this. The Wutai princess turned to Cloud for answers but he shushed her with a glance.

They needn't intervene in this. This bitter reunion among brothers.

Kaitzer wiped away at his eyes, a few laughs escaping his lips now and then. "I… I can't believe it. I spent….f-fours in hell and now… now…" He doubled over, his hands clutching at his sides. "Gaia! This is too funny!"

"Kaitzer," Tifa breathed. Her concern and sympathy grew more and more for the boy as he laughed. Her chains clinked together and her brown eyes shot up to see Cloud fiddling with her bonds. He shook his head at her, keeping his face a stoic mask. Soon he had her free and she sat up to see Yuffie unlocking the manacle keeping her legs together with a… bobby pin.

Had they been in a gentler situation Yuffie would've made some smart ass remark but as soon as Tifa was free and Cloud helped her to her feet, being mindful of her injured arm, the ninja only turned around and watched on in silence at the conversation between the two brothers.

"Funny? Klein Brud, perhaps you are not in your right mind." German spoke in the same coldly detached yet polite manner that he used on Tifa.

Kaitzer snorted. "You would know all about it wouldn't you?" When German merely shrugged, Kaitzer took a menacing step forward. "Considering you've lost yours years ago, right German?"

The man's thin, pale lips pulled back into a smirk. "Perhaps."

In a motion all too quick for normal human eyes to see, German brought up his right hand which the others only now noticed had a materia bracelet. Aiming up at the weak ceiling plates above Cloud, Yuffie and Tifa, he fired two quick jet bursts of Blizzard2 spells. It successfully brought down the plates along with a shower of frost. His smirk grew bigger in satisfaction; he quickly made his escape up the spiral staircase. He laughed the deranged laughter of a sadist.

"Catch me if you can, Klein Brud!"

"Kaitzer, no!" Cloud called all the while choking on the sudden gas attack, most probably from a destroyed pipe in the vent. He was too late. The Gypsy boy was already after his older brother.

Coughing and hacking, the three AVALANCHE members managed to stumble out of the gas, breathing deeply at the clean air as soon as they were free. Cloud cursed and was about to take off after the two when he remembered that he still had Yuffie and Tifa to take care of.

"Damn it," he muttered, holding Tifa up. Yuffie stumbled onto her hands and knees next to him.

"Jesus Christ! My eyes hurt!" the ninja bawled, rubbing at it irritably with her finger and only succeeding in agitating it more.

Tifa grabbed Cloud by the front of his shirt. She looked up at him frantically. "Kaitzer ran after German; you have to go after them, Cloud."

The blonde man looked her over worriedly. "But what about you guys? I can't leave you here."

"Don't worry. My arm stopped bleeding. Yuffie and I will be just fine." She glanced at Yuffie who gave a shaky thumb up.

Cloud was silent for a few seconds. Contemplating whether or not he should leave before he realized the more time he wasted thinking about it the more likely that Kaitzer could get injured. Hurriedly, he grabbed Murasame as well as a few materia sitting on the table. With a final nod towards the girls, he ran up the stairs.

"Vincent!"

Tifa spun around at the ninja's cry to see the girl's face and hands pressed to the glass. That's right, she thought, we still have to get Vincent out. But how do they do that? The glass must be inches thick despite its deceptively thin appearance. Her chocolate eyes scanned the room quickly. There had to be something they could use in here… A smile graced her features in triumph when she spotted the table where they're weapons were laid out. Sure that bastard took her gloves but she's still got a few materia. Picking up two glowing warm fire materias, she tossed one to the ninja.

"On the count of three. Ready?"

Yuffie quickly backed away towards the martial artist who had removed the rest of their arsenal and materia off the table and pushed it onto its side, creating a crude blockade to shield the girls from the force of the explosion about to take place. With hand held high, Yuffie squeezed her gray orbs shut and stuck a thin finger in an ear.

"Ready."

Tifa nodded, more to herself than Yuffie as the girl had her eyes shut. She took a breath to calm herself down and without really aiming, held her material up. "One, two… three!"

Red was considering going back to the cell as he navigated the frigid air vents when the plate underneath his paws suddenly started getting really hot. Confused he glanced around him. The entire vent was getting hotter and hotter by the second. He had to get out of here. The red lion forgot all about which way he was going and ran like hell towards a drop three feet in front of him. A bright red flame flashed further down the vent in front of him before he realized it was traveling towards him. Mustering up all the energy in him, the lion leapt into the drop. With his weight and momentum, he easily knocked the vent cover right off and landed on top of a cold, hard surgery table.

Coughing the dust out of his lungs, he pushed himself up and found himself staring at two soot covered figures with their eyes as wide as saucers.

"Tifa?"

"Yes, Yuffie?"

"I think we overdid it a little."

"I think you're right, Yuffie."

Tifa and Yuffie? Red opened his mouth to call out to them when something in the far corner of the room caught his eye. With an aura of pure darkness and malice surrounding him, the Hell Masker stumbled out of its prison. Despite the mask upon its face, one could almost see a hideous smirk from its evil, glowing eyes. The chainsaw was revved and ready; the massacre was about to begin.

With the others gone off to save Tifa, what is our favorite gun-armed rebel, potty-mouthed pilot and zany toy fortuneteller up to?

"Four."

"Hah! Goldfish!"

"Damn it, ya lyin' sonuva gun, I know ya got a four! Hand it over before I stick my spear in that shit hole ya call yer face!"

"Just try! Don' choke on yer death stick now, Highwind. Wouldn' want that stuffed toy ta give ya mouth-ta-mouth, would ya?"

Cait Sith sighed and threw his cards down. "We should've just stuck with Candyland."

End Chapter.

A/N: I am incredibly sorry for the late update. Part of it was school and part of it was me not liking some parts and changing it. I'm still not completely satisfied but I don't want to keep anyone waiting for too long so I might edit some things later. Much thanks to the person who sent me a reminder. You know who you are. :-) Anyways, this is the next to last chapter and I'm hoping I'll be able to finish the next chapter sooner. Until next time comrades!