By a Fraction of a Degree

A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129

Rated T for Violence and Language.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spinoffs. That honor goes to Square-Enix.

Dr. Owen is an original character.

A special note of appreciation is in order for HCloudXIII over on Youtube and Dark Angel from the website, Gunshot Romance for their efforts to translate the Before Crisis game text and make the gameplay viewable.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Part I: Crossfire


Chapter 7, Troopers, Ravens, and Mad Scientists

October 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007, 6:00 PM

When it first happened, it had seemed like incredibly bad luck. Not even a couple of minutes after leaving their hiding place in Elena's training room, they happened upon a blind spot along the walls that a trooper had stepped into to search for suspicious persons near a dumpster. He had looked at them, and in their surprise they had looked back at him, and then Freya had promptly knocked him out with the butt of her shotgun. But once the guy was out and secure, Zack could see that Freya was beginning to rethink that assessment.

"You know, I think this guy looks like he might be about my size," she said, looking over the fellow's uniform appraisingly.

"Hmm…" Zack thought about it and saw that she was right. "You could probably pass for a trooper. It'd make things a lot easier for getting around. Although it'll be kind of hard for me, carrying this sword and all."

Freya folded her arms looking down at the unconscious trooper as she mulled over the problem. "Yeah, you're right, but how about this? I'll get dressed and then we can figure out what to do about it. Maybe I can find something once I can operate in the open."

"All right." Zack took up a defensive position at the edge of the alcove.

"And don't you dare peek," he heard Freya's voice behind him along with the rustling of fabric.

"I'll try not to, though it'll be hard. Opportunities like this don't show up every day," he teased.

"I'm sure," Freya deadpanned. He heard more rustling behind him for another minute or so before a somewhat muffled "All right, let's go." Looking down, he saw that Freya was holding the regulation standard machine gun and had tucked her hair up into the helmet she now wore. Her shotgun was slung over her shoulder however and was secure underneath a rucksack that obviously contained her own belongings. "I'll walk in the open and keep an eye out for anything that might get us a ride."

Zack nodded. "All right, I'll shadow you. If you need me to step in, just give a signal."

"Got it. In the meantime, I'll see what I can do about finding you a disguise." Freya walked off a bit and Zack pulled himself up onto the dumpster so he could climb to the roof of the building, thinking he could make use of the dark above the lamps that were humming to life over the street below. He didn't want to lose sight of Freya in case she got in any trouble. The Turk seemed to have settled into her disguise as a chameleon changed its skin. Zack wouldn't have been able to tell her from a regular infantryman if he didn't know who she was. He crept along, avoiding rotted shingles and any debris that might give away his position, as he observed her movements. She walked alone down the street with all the confidence of someone who was supposed to be there, even as a couple more Moth Slashers floated past.

It wasn't long to get to the west end of the sector. They did have to creep through an overpass at one point, forcing Zack to lose sight of the disguised Turk, but he found her soon enough once he made it to the other side. Shortly afterward, they saw the parking lot that Elena had mentioned, and as Zack settled into the shadows, Freya wandered into one of the nearby buildings. He watched the activity in the lot for a few minutes as a few of the other troopers wandered around, preparing a couple of the trucks for departure. They looked like they might be leaving soon. He guessed that they would probably sneak onto one and then commandeer it a safe distance past the check point before taking it to wherever Tseng wanted to meet them.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a trooper approaching his hiding place. His hand hovered by the grip of the Buster Sword until he recognized the shoulder strap of a shotgun as Freya moved out of the parking lot's line of sight, acting like she was checking the area for intruders. Once she reached him, she took off her rucksack and reached into it. "I know you don't usually wear these, but it should keep you from here to one of the trucks." Her hand came out with a standard SOLDIER helmet, like what Kunsel usually wore.

"That's fine, I just hope no one looks too close." Zack indicated his cross shaped scar before reaching for the headgear and putting it on. He then fiddled with the chin strap until it fit properly.

"It's a good thing its dark enough that black sweater could be confused for the 3rd class blue from a distance, otherwise, I'd worry about someone recognizing your uniform right off."

"Yeah." The two looked around the corner to determine which truck they would take.

"I think that one is the best choice," Freya said after a moment, pointing to a truck that was relatively close by to their right. "There don't seem to be too many people around it, and it looks like it's about ready to go."

Zack nodded in agreement. "All right." The two walked into the parking lot, attempting to look like they belonged there and were just inspecting the trucks. Nobody really seemed to notice them, and something about that struck Zack as odd, but then again, maybe all that time as a specimen and then being on the run had made him overly cautious. He decided to ask Freya if she got the same vibe once they were moving. After making sure no one was looking their way, Freya hopped into the back of the truck and Zack climbed in after her, pushing the Buster Sword slowly ahead of him so that no one in the driver's seat would notice the abrupt shift in weight bearing on the truck's axles. Once they were under the canvas tarp that covered the truck bed, Zack had enough time to make note of a large sack in the corner before the ignition cranked and they were underway.


October 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007, 6:30 PM

Warmth flowed through Cissnei's body. Her head throbbed. But the fog of unconsciousness was slowly starting to recede under the effects of what she realized had to be a Phoenix Down. It didn't chase the pain away, but at the very least she was awake again. She opened her eyes and found Mao, holding her gently, and watching her. On seeing her awaken, the bespectacled man's lips moved as he spoke her name in a question. Her real name.

"Mao… I tried…"

"It's all right. I know you did your best." She grabbed at the older man's shoulder as he helped her to a full sitting position.

After a moment, she reached into her pocket and uttered a curse as she confirmed the support materia wasn't there. "They got it." She balled her hand into a fist and hit the ground angrily.

"There's still two more." Mao was kneeling beside her and now he pulled her up. "Can you walk?"

"I think so." She took a step experimentally and once she saw that her legs held, she leaned against her partner, as she reached up a hand to her face. "My head feels like it's about to split open though."

"Let's get you back to the safe house then." Cissnei's partner put a comforting arm around her and the two started walking away from the manhole cover she'd dropped when the Raven had gotten her from behind. "I'll cast a Cure for you once we get there."

"Thanks. I still can't believe they got me."

"Well, it's just a temporary setback. After all everyone else is out there, and no mission is impossible for the Turks." Mao guided her along the alley they found themselves in as they headed back to safety.

"…Yeah."


Dr. Rayleigh realized as soon as the encounter with Hojo was over that her time was up. Even if she did do as the professor said, she would forever be marked a threat, and though she had never witnessed it personally, she had heard stories through the grape vine about what happened to those he considered threats. Not that she'd even considered giving him the information. One didn't become a consultant for the Turks by openly spilling secrets… well, at least the variety that couldn't be physically stolen. Even her boss had to admit the loss of that disk she'd been carrying on the mission with Freya and Cloud probably couldn't have been helped. How were they supposed to know that Raven would get back up again?

But to the point, just because she was an employee in the most ruthless company in the world didn't mean she was heartless or didn't have standards. The idea of betraying Zack and Cloud to Hojo; of forcing on them a repeat of the horrors that she had seen reflected in Zack's eyes, carved on both their bodies, and mingled in their blood, was not one she even considered entertaining. She was a doctor first, damn it.

With that option closed to her, she was left with few others. Unless she wanted to do so in a less willing and much more frightening fashion, she knew she would need to disappear of her own accord, and soon. Having come to that conclusion, she further posited that the best person to go to for help on that front was probably Tseng. Going back to the Shinra building to try and find her way into Turk Headquarters was out of the question. That would be suicide. The logical place to go then was the annex in Sector 2. If no one else, Owen would be there, and he should be able to get her in contact with Tseng as soon as possible. If he couldn't he would at least be able to help her.

She had finished making preparations since arriving home. She'd packed a small bag with her most important belongings as well as her doctor's kit. It incorporated enough equipment for procedures even up to rudimentary surgery if need be, and even held some basic Cure and Status materia, along with a few key medicines. It was mostly geared towards SOLDIERs since that was her specialty, but worked just as well for the unenhanced in a pinch. As an afterthought, she'd also stuffed one last tiny green crystal into her pocket. It probably wouldn't be much use. A prematurely harvested Fire materia wasn't going to do a lot besides surprise someone, but it had been good for lighting campfires when she'd been in the field a couple of times.

Finally, she secured all of her files and notes from her investigation for the Turks. The blood samples had long ago been disposed of due to being subjected to the various tests she'd run on them. But she had meticulously recorded her results and had dry-preserved each of her microscope slides while still at the lab she'd borrowed. If she had the need to make comparisons for any reason, a reference would be available to her. She also had a single vial containing what was left of the Jenova cells she'd used as a control sample. Having them as a base to work off of had proved invaluable, and she was not about to lose them. Important, since she was probably about to lose her security clearances if she hadn't already. Fortunately, they could be stored at room temperature. Everything else she needed should she want to continue the lower tech end of her research could be acquired… except for Sephiroth's medical records, she reflected with disappointment.

She would probably never get the chance to figure out the truth. She'd seen the state Zack had been in over her first visit, and from what Owen was telling her, Cloud wouldn't be any more trusting. Completely understandable, if a bit sad. She wanted to help, but if they were unwilling to let her investigate further, there wasn't much she could do.

Once she had what she needed, she took one last look around her apartment, cut the lights, and made her way down to the parking lot under the building. The car she went to was a small sedan, a nicer model than most. Being a doctor had its perks after all. Upon putting her belongings in the back, she took the driver's seat and cranked up the engine. It purred to life beneath her and soon she was pulling out onto the street as she tried to remember the best route for getting to Sector 2.

As the car pulled away, a hunched figure hailed a taxi, and instructed the driver to follow at a distance…


It was not long after Freya and Zack boarded the truck that the sack they had noticed started twitching… very violently. Then it started making muffled sounds, and Zack thought they sounded rather familiar. At that point, Freya crawled over to it and started fiddling with the pull string and the canvas fell away revealing a very put out girl in a school uniform.

"Elena? What are you doing in here?" Freya asked.

"What does it look like? I'm being kidnapped," Elena grumbled as she pulled herself the rest of the way out of the sack.

"By Shinra?" Zack asked.

"No." Elena gave him an annoyed look. "More like anti-Shinra."

"Why?" Freya shifted to a more comfortable position in the truck bed.

"I saw them trying to pull off the same trick you're using. They were trying to pass themselves off as Shinra soldiers. After you left, they grabbed me because I was a witness."

"Wait…" Zack suddenly put two and two together. Now he understood why no one had paid them any attention back at the lot. The soldiers around the truck didn't know whether or not they were supposed to be there. "That means… this truck is being driven by…"

Elena nodded. "AVALANCHE goons dressed up as Shinra lackies? Yup."

The Ex-SOLDIER and the Turk looked at each other though their helmet visors and both of them laughed. "Well, on the bright side, it means we don't have to worry about doing any more damage when we hijack it." Freya chuckled.

"I guess so," Zack agreed. "Don't worry, Elena, we'll have you outta this in no time, okay?"

Elena scowled at him and then curled up with her arms folded over her knees in a huff but said nothing more. The rest of the ride passed in silence, though it wasn't very long before the truck came to a halt and the two stowaways heard the sound of voices outside. Predictably those voices were continuing to giggle maniacally, and it made Zack's skin crawl. Freya moved first, preparing her shotgun as they crept out of the back of the truck bed and stepped lightly to the ground. Once they were both ready, Freya peeked around the corner and signaled to Zack that there were two Ravens in her field of vision. Zack drew the Buster Sword and sent her another signal to show he was ready, and then they hurried out to meet their, hopefully, surprised foes.

"Hey you!" Freya called out from under the helmet as she unloaded a shell at the two AVALANCHE SOLDIERs. The buckshot exploded across the target zone and both of them went down, still giggling madly. The furthest one might even be near death. He wasn't getting up. The other looked like he might try to come at them but before Zack could take a step, Freya fired again and the Raven lay still.

"Come on, save some for me!" Zack walked up to the one who had tried to crawl in their direction and poked it with his boot.

It was at that moment that they heard more sounds coming from a couple of other trucks further down the way and Zack counted the figures coming towards them in the dark. Five… six… eight… seriously? Ten? Crap.

He pulled the helmet off revealing a feral grin as he flexed his shoulders, preparing to enter the fray. "I guess I spoke too soon." He looked back at Freya. "You ready for this?"

Freya unloaded her spent shells with a resounding double click. "You know it."


October 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007, 6:45 PM

It had been relatively uneventful in the annex since Zack's departure. For the first half hour or so, Cloud had been more subdued than anything else, though from what Aerith had seen of him before, that wasn't terribly unusual. He'd talked to them when they asked questions, but for the most part seemed to prefer just listening. That wasn't a problem. Kunsel proved to be quite a story teller, and he passed a good bit of the time sharing anecdotes of some of the crazier things Zack had gotten up to during his days in SOLDIER. He even managed to pry out a soft laugh or two from the man.

However, as time rolled on, they'd both noticed his energy wane. It started slowly with a couple of yawns, before eventually, he'd fallen asleep in his chair. At that point, they relocated into the main part of the annex so he could have some rest, though on the way out, Aerith had pulled a blanket from his bed and placed it around his shoulders so he wouldn't get cold. He'd stirred, but otherwise, didn't budge.

The two had spent the last few minutes making small talk as Aerith had asked what Kunsel had been up to in the time since he'd first come to see her at the church five years prior. In all the excitement with Zack there hadn't been much time for catching up. Now however, the subject was becoming a little old.

That was when Owen came out of his office. "I was thinking it was about time to go get some dinner. Are the two of you hungry?"

Aerith looked to the SOLDIER sitting next to her and he answered "I could definitely go for something to eat."

"I'm going to get a couple of sandwiches at the shop in the lobby. I can bring something back for you if you'd like."

"Actually, I think I'll come with you," Aerith said. She turned to Kunsel. "That is, unless you'd rather I stayed here with Cloud."

"No, that's fine. You go ahead." Kunsel reached into his wallet for some gil and handed it to her. "Just a roast beef or a club will be fine for me." Aerith nodded, taking the money and pocketing it before standing to join the doctor at the exit to the annex.

"We shouldn't be more than a few minutes," Owen called after him.

Kunsel offered them a short wave and soon the pair of them were walking down the halls towards what seemed to be an elevator in the main corridor.

"Thank you, for what you've done for them," Aerith commented without preamble as they neared the lift.

"It's no trouble." Owen held the door for her as they passed through the double doors. "I treat whoever Tseng tells me to treat, though this has definitely been a challenge."

"Because they don't completely trust you…" Aerith was sure she had seen it written on both Cloud and Zack's faces when the man's name had been mentioned earlier.

As the elevator sank to the ground floor, the doctor sighed. "Given what Tseng and the others have told me, a little distrust is more than understandable, but it hasn't made things easy. It's to Zack's credit that he's kept his head on the matter incredibly well. Cloud on the other hand…" He paused for a moment before continuing. "He only tolerates me because of Zack, and then, only so far. The circumstances under which they came here didn't lend themselves well to a good start either."

"I suppose not," Aerith agreed. "But I'm sure they appreciate it, deep down. I certainly do. Without you, they might have been a lot worse off."

"Well, without Tseng, they might not have even made it to Midgar at all, from what I heard," Owen admitted, sounding somewhat gruff. "But I don't particularly care for might-have-beens." The doors opened and they found themselves on the ground floor in a bustling lobby. The doctor and the Cetra walked along a side corridor until they found the establishment they were looking for. It was a modest little place, but it looked like it had a nice variety.

"We should probably get something for Cloud too," She said as they got in line.

"Of course," The doctor agreed. As the line was short it didn't take them long to place their order and soon they were heading back towards the elevator with a bag containing their purchases.

They had reached the lobby again when suddenly, they heard someone call out. "Dr. Owen!" Upon hearing the entreaty, the two of them stopped and looked around for the voice's owner. Hurrying from the main entrance, was a woman with dark brown hair and glasses who was wearing a dress underneath her labcoat, though Aerith noted she carried the air of someone who was being hunted.

"Dr. Rayleigh, this is unexpected…" Owen looked like he was going to greet her with a smile, but it wilted when he saw the fearful look in her eyes and his brows knitted together in concern. "Is something the matter?"

"I need to speak to Tseng as soon as possible. I'll explain once we're upstairs."

The man regarded her for a moment before motioning that she follow them as they walked.


October 4th [ ν ] – εуλ 0007, 7:00 PM

When Hojo had threatened Rayleigh in the alley, he had not imagined in his wildest dreams that it would lead to such a fortuitous encounter! People who were frightened were so predictable. Initially, he'd only wanted her to lead him to his property. If he could locate it, retrieving it should be a simple matter, and then he'd teach that little bitch a thing or two about stealing research. His Jenova Reunion project was far too sensitive. He was not about to let his masterpiece be revealed to the world before he was ready, especially not by way of some failed specimen. However, he had not expected the other piece of good fortune the doctor from SOLDIER had practically dropped in his lap when she did exactly as he thought she would.

He had been very surprised when upon following the good doctor into the hospital and finding a discreet location from which to observe, he found her walking headlong into his wayward Ancient, of all things. She had grown somewhat in the years since he'd seen the girl, but her resemblance to her mother was impossible to miss. Oh! What luck! He turned away from the scene, walking outside as he reached for his PHS and dialed Heidegger. He'd called the man earlier when he'd told him he might need a specimen retrieval squad on standby and explained that there would be a second subject to add to the list of targets as he gave the hospital's location and the parameters. Afterwards, he hailed another taxi and rode back to the Shinra building to prep his laboratory for the expected increase in occupancy. It was his firm belief that within the next couple of hours, at least two of his wayward specimens would be back in his laboratory, and a certain Shinra doctor would be paying for her transgressions.


In spite of acting cocky and confident about the situation, Zack was concerned. Getting mobbed by ten gibbering lunatics with SOLDIER-class capabilities was not something he was particularly looking forward to. It had been bad enough fighting Turks who at least had some semblance of sanity and desire for self-preservation to temper their judgment. But remembering how Essai and Sebastian had completely gone nuts back at Icicle Inn after being given the same kind of Raven-making treatments, he knew that there would be no such expectations to be had here.

That was when Freya opened fire as the Raven's charged. One of them fell but the others managed to evade the blast and Zack raised his weapon, running to meet them. Freya dodged to the left, weaving behind the trucks so she could have some cover until she was ready with her next shell.

Zack leapt to the side of the oncoming wave of enemies, cutting down one of the stragglers in the back as the other Ravens watched him race past them. His victim fell to the ground, still laughing wildly as four of the remaining enemies advanced on his position, leaving the other half to try contending with the Turk. It would be trouble if he got mobbed he realized, so he whirled around and charged to his left. He was now on the opposite side of the highway from where the trucks were parked, and he saw that Freya was backing around the truck Elena occupied, after firing her gun once more. As the four remaining Ravens closed in on him, he found himself rather grateful that none of them were carrying swords.

With a battle cry, he rushed at the group when at the last second he saw one of them jumping up to try and get him from the air. He leapt up to meet him, with an upward swing, when a split second later he saw the Raven in the back about to try the same thing, just out of reach of the Buster Sword. At the apex of his swing, he let go of the sword with his right hand, using his left hand and its considerable momentum to cleave the first Raven in half. He then trained his right fist on the second Raven, using the weight of the Buster Sword to amplify his punch, pounding him into the ground. The second Raven collapsed next to him as he landed in a crouch, returning his right hand to the Buster's grip. With an artful twirl, he brought the blade around to cleave through another of his enemies but missed before briefly letting go of the sword again to back hand another of the Ravens at his throat. The Raven went down but as Zack raced back over the battle field, followed by the remaining Raven, he saw the man was getting back up.

He heard another blast behind him as he ran the length of the trucks, putting some distance between himself and his foes before whirling around again and charging at them. One of them died instantly as his sword connected with the man's neck, but then he barely got the Buster Sword up in time to prevent a direct attack from the side. It seemed one of the other Ravens had not been quite as down for the count as he expected. Zack brought the sword around again and this time, quickly ran it through the crazy SOLDIER before pulling out the blood-stained blade to ram the hilt against the ribs of one of the other Ravens who was still standing. The man was knocked back but he didn't go down. Zack dispatched him with a Firaga, and then moved over to where Freya had backed out away from the trucks to deal with the last of her adversaries.

She fired off one last shotgun blast and finally the last Raven that had been chasing her went still. The highway where they had been fighting went silent. Zack twirled the sword around in his hand before securing it to his back.

"All right. Now that that's over, let's get that truck," Freya said. "Elena? Are you okay in there?"

No answer.

"Elena?" Zack tried.

That was when they heard the sound of an engine cranking. Freya raced around the side to see who was in the driver's seat of the truck but before she could get there, someone gunned the engine. Zack quickly pulled ahead of Freya as both the truck Elena had been in and the second one up ahead of it hurtled off into the distance. However, even a SOLDIER couldn't run fast enough to catch up at the speeds they were going.

"We have to follow them!" Freya exclaimed.

"How?" Zack demanded.

"I slapped a tracking device on the side of the truck as they gunned it." Freya admitted as she fiddled with her PHS. "Come on!" With that, the two raced down the road, both thankful that it was deserted.


It was a about ten minutes after the others had left when Kunsel heard Cloud stirring in the other room and walked over to the doorway to check on him. When his shadow fell across the floor, he saw a pair of bleary glowing eyes looking back at him. "Zack?"

He shook his head and entered the room. "Sorry Cloud, he's not back yet. It's Kunsel."

"Oh…"

"I didn't wake you up did I?"

"No." Cloud looked down and noticed the blanket Aerith had pulled over him with some surprise.

"How about if I turn on a light?" Kunsel suggested.

"Yeah, sure…"

He reached for the light switch and the room became illuminated. Having been warned in time, Cloud let his eyes adjust and then, after pulling back the blanket, he pulled himself up so he was standing. He swayed a little but caught himself on the chair, leaving the blanket to rest on the seat. Well, Zack did say he'd been walking. He observed as the younger man carefully made his way toward the bathroom, using the furniture as support, more to keep his balance than anything else. As the door shut behind him, Kunsel walked to the window to take a look outside again, observing the people on the street below. There weren't many. Most folks would be home around this time.

There were still a couple though and he allowed his eyes to follow a man in a suit with a briefcase as he wandered down the sidewalk. Probably a businessman on his way home after dinner. People watching had always been something of a hobby for him. Back during his early days as a 3rd, when they still gave SOLDIERs guard duty as training assignments, it had just about been the only thing that had kept him sane. It had the added benefit of sharpening his observation skills too. As the man walked out of the window's line of site he heard the door to the bathroom opening again, and at about the same time, the doors to the annex creaked.

"Kunsel? Cloud? We're back," Aerith called out softly as though not sure if Cloud was still asleep.

"We're in here," he answered, walking to the door. Just before getting there, he saw Cloud had paused while leaning against the counter where the SOLDIER uniform was. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

As he watched Cloud make his way back to the chair he heard more sounds of movement outside and then Aerith entered the room, carrying a plastic bag.

"They had several kinds of sandwich down there. We didn't know which to get for you Cloud, so we picked a couple and decided you could choose which one you liked. Owen said not to worry about it, he'll just save the other for later," she said, returning the gil Kunsel had passed her.

Kunsel took the bag from Aerith and put it on the card table looking through the various food items and arranging them for perusal later. As he worked, he heard talking outside. It sounded like Owen and someone else. Wait… Dr. Rayleigh?

"Hojo did what? Are you all right?" He hadn't heard Owen say much but he didn't seem like the type to get worried very easily, so to hear the uptick in volume in his voice caught him by surprise.

"I'm fine now, but I'm concerned what he's going to do now that he knows," the woman answered.

Kunsel met them at the door. "What's going on?"

Owen gave him a worried look. "Hojo knows that Rayleigh's been investigating his experiments. He threatened her."

"Are you okay?"

She seemed surprised to see him there, but answered, "As best I can be. I really need to talk to Tseng."

Owen sighed. "Well that's a problem. Unfortunately, he's unreachable at the moment. Last I heard he was in the process of trying to locate Veld. But I'd be more than happy to let you wait here. After that I'm certainly not going to turn you away."

Kunsel walked back into the room and checked out the window. "We should be careful. Are you sure you weren't followed?"

She gave him a worried look as she brought a hand up to her face. "Oh… I really hope not. I didn't see anyone when I left my apartment," she answered, still standing at the door.

Owen frowned. "Well, there's no sense fretting about it unless we know for sure. I'll go check the security feeds my office just in case. If there's a risk of a breach, I'll know." The shorter man walked over to the table and selected one of the sandwiches before looking back at Rayleigh. "Don't worry, we'll get this sorted out."

Rayleigh stood in the doorway for a moment considering and then stepped inside, trying to relax though she was clearly stressed. "Thank you." She glanced around the room which had settled into a tense silence after Owen's departure. "So why are you here Kunsel? I would have expected the Turks to try keeping most Shinra personnel away."

Kunsel shrugged. "I was looking for Zack, and I found him."

"Zack did talk about you while I was here." She observed. "Where is he?"

"He's out with the Turks. He said he'd be back soon."

Rayleigh nodded then looked to Cloud, offering a friendly smile. "It's good to see you awake, Cloud."

Cloud eyed her with suspicion before softly replying "You're Dr. Rayleigh… right?"

She nodded again. "You remember me?"

"I think so… we were protecting you… with Freya… I think."

"That's right." She walked a little closer. "How do you feel? You were asleep the last time I was here."

After a long pause, Kunsel heard a very awkward and barely audible "Fine" before the group's attention was drawn by the sound of Owen calling him, Rayleigh, and Aerith, to his office.

Inside, Kunsel saw a computer with a program observing what could only be a set of security cameras situated at the hospital entrances. Further, at the main entrance, he saw that a squad of regular troopers was preparing to enter the building, though no one had come inside yet. "It seems she was followed. They're probably still receiving orders, though it doesn't look like they think anyone knows their coming. You'll have at least fifteen minutes before the parking garage is closed off, and there is a service exit from the back of this corridor that will take you directly there. There's also a number of our vehicles parked on the second level. I'm sure Tseng will understand if you'd rather make use of one of them."

"Thanks." Kunsel looked down at the doctor. "What about you?"

"This facility does nominally have an official capacity within the hospital, so nothing should appear out of the ordinary." Owen offered a sly smile. "There was a reason Veld hired me after all." That was enough of an explanation for Kunsel. It was time to go.

The three of them hurried back to the hospital room and Kunsel took stock of the situation. He looked down at Cloud. He was attired well enough to travel, as the T-shirt and sweat pants he was wearing were suitable enough. He spotted the combat boots that belonged to the SOLDIER uniform sitting neatly under the counter and picked them up, handing them to the former infantryman. "We need to go. Hurry and get those on." The former infantryman didn't question the order but quickly started undoing the zipper on one of the boots. He seemed like he was pretty alert right now, which was a good thing. Mako poisoned or not, if they were being pursued there would be no time to make allowances.

He then glanced around the room for any belongings Zack or Cloud had left here. Aside from the SOLDIER uniform, he noticed a box sitting on Zack's bed that had been sealed with yellow tape. Aside from that, and a pitcher with flowers in it, the room looked fairly clear of personal effects, at least of the variety anyone would miss. "Is there anything else here that Zack would want you to take with you?" he asked, finally.

"Aside from that box, and those clothes I don't know of anything else. I'm pretty sure we didn't have much when the Turks got us."

Kunsel hurriedly stuffed the SOLDIER uniform and the box of letters into his own bag and slung it over his shoulder before strapping on his helmet and reattaching his sword. "I know he said you were walking, but do you mind if I help you?"

"No." The former infantryman was worried. "We will let Zack know what's going on, right?"

"Of course. There's no way I'd let him just walk into a dragon's den." As Cloud pulled himself up, Kunsel offered his arm in support and they hurried as fast as they could go towards the door.

The four of them entered the main corridor to find Owen waiting for them. "The exit to the parking garage is to the rear of this corridor. I've already opened the service exit for you, it's at the back of this corridor to the right," he said. "And the keys to our vehicles will be hanging on a set of hooks just past there, should you decide to use them." He turned his attention to Cloud. "Cloud, I know I wasn't your favorite person while you were here, but I would appreciate it if you would do me this one favor."

"What's that?" Cloud asked, somewhat surprised.

"Take care of yourself. Zack went through a lot of trouble to get you here. I would be sorry to hear it if you didn't make it out safely."

"Thank you," Cloud mumbled, somewhat uncomfortably.

Owen laughed. "It was my job. I may not be a Turk in the traditional sense, but I would like to think even I can live up to their creed. Now go." With that, the four of them hurried down the corridor and through the door to the exit.

Kunsel only paused for a moment when he came to the line of keys before selecting one for a motorcycle according to the label on the key ring. Someone would need to cover their retreat, and given the circumstances, that would have to be him.