"Hey, I found something!" The man took a step back, almost tripping over some oversized shells. There was a small dark figurine in his hand.

His partner sauntered over to him, magnifying glass in hand. "Looks like some kind of doll," he exclaimed, taking the object from his coworker. "Gad, why do we work in this shithole, what is the point? A freaking doll!"

"Well first of all, we get paid," his friend replied, scrutinizing the designs carved into the black rock.

"Like jack shit we do," he retorted, dropping his gear and taking a seat within the rubble. "We've been working our butts off hacking away at these shells and man, I could've made this much money selling juice on the street corner in the shade where I'd have a decent bed to sleep on every night. Toss this piece of junk, man."

"No, Sable said to keep and record everything we find. I don't know what it is, but I'll take care of it. I know your fat ass doesn't want to walk across the entire camp."

"Screw you."

"Not today." He turned around and started to make his way to the entrance of the Forgotten City where most of the tents of the higher-ups were clustered. His partner returned to digging before someone were to notice his slacking.

He trudged on slowly, picking his way through the sharp rubble. This week they had been assigned to excavate the base of this particular house, in search of what? He didn't even know, and they wouldn't tell him, which made him dislike his job even more. He glanced around him. No one was in his immediate area, and it looked like a good time to take a rest... maybe even a nap.

He hadn't seen Sable snooping around everyone's business today, or the day before. How he hated that stuck up snob. Ever since she got her admin position, she had taken her power trip to an unbearably ridiculous level.

He sighed and sat down, wedging himself comfortably between two rocks. Taking off his gloves, he leaned back on the broken-down wall and closed his eyes for a moment. The sun beat hot on his face, and he sighed impatiently. There was just no getting comfortable here! What a dumb place to build a city! He leaned forward and looked at the weird carving in his hand. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a cloaked figure making its way up the hill from the mountain, and coming his way. Is this some prank?

"Damn Sable," he muttered, and covertly moved forward with his shovel in hand to make it look like he'd been working, glancing up every once in a while to check on the stranger's progress. The figure was taking its time walking up the path towards him, and he was getting impatient. It was impossible to see the person's face though because of the way the thick black cloth hooded over. Slow and ambiguous, the man cursed to himself.

Finally, the figure came near the man and stopped.

"Yes...?" The worker asked irritably, sweating and turning around. That figure was tall! Definitely wasn't Sable.

The figure held out his hand. "Give this to Sable."

"Sure, whatever, creep," the worker replied, his pride hurt that he had assumed wrong, and he went back to his work. Without his doing, his body moved and he found himself facing the figure again.

"What the...!" He tried to move but his body wouldn't function. His arm lifted without command.

"Give this to her." The figure dropped a small red orb into the man's hand.

"Wh-what is it?" He stuttered. Is that materia? But materia wasn't red!

"She'll know what to do with it."

Suddenly the worker fell backwards, his trance over. The orb was still in his hand as he raised it to shake his fist at the figure that was now retracing its steps.

He sighed. "Why are people always taking advantage of me?" He whined to himself. What a weirdo! He picked himself up and opened his hand to look at this red marble. It was swirling, like some kind of liquid blood inside. "Odd..." He could stare at it for hours. Like it was holding him in a trance...

"Give that to me!"

He blinked and looked up to see Sable standing above him on some rocks with her hands on her hips.

"I see that!" She screeched. "And that's not yours, give it to me!"

"Ah, listen-"

She bent down and snatched the red marble out of his hand before he could finish his sentence, and then stomped away.

He threw his shovel to the ground. "I hope it kills you!" He muttered, sitting back down on the rocks and slapping his gloves over his eyes. In a few minutes, he was snoring loudly.

"So where's this secrete passage take you out to?" She hoped it wasn't to the front of the Shinra Headquarters like in the game. She wasn't up to climbing a hundred plus flights of stairs like they did.

"The public affair's section," Theo replied.

"You take this route often or somethin'?" Ellie questioned.

"Actually, yes, it's much easier than taking the train back to Sector V then getting on the Shinra Express line and getting carded going on and then re-carded again when you get off and then signing into Shinra HQ, it's a pain in my butt and there's no way I'm going through that hassle every time I need to go there."

"You have access to the Shinra building?" Maya asked, amazed.

"But you're just a journalist!"

"And I do some science articles for the Shinra, so what?" He shrugged. "It's money."

"Oh-h, I see," Ellie replied.

"So you see Professor Tommy a lot?" Maya asked.

"Who?"

"Nevermind..." Maya trailed off.

"Don't tell me you still think he's the greatest!" Ellie scolded. "Look at the mess he's gotten you into now!"

"..."

"What? You guys lost me. Whoah, watch it ladies," Theo exclaimed as he quickly ducked to avoid a pipeline. They were more or less walking through a maze of catwalks intertwined between pipes, ducts, wiring and the like. They had encountered a few creatures residing in the dripping crevices, but most of the time it was pretty quiet. Theo had taken them through the "back route" to avoid the Shinra guards who they heard still searching for them from time to time. Maya still carried with her the platinum rod, and, to Ellie's surprise, Theo had expertly defended himself with a pair of small but deadly-looking daggers.

"See," Ellie explained as she maneuvered behind Theo. "Maya's still recovering from the Shinra brainwashing. They did manage to convince her to join Soldier, but a friend and I have been working on that-"

"Yeah, she's all over the five o'clock news," Theo interrupted.

"Well I'll be damned. Damn Shinra."

"Don't go blaming Shinra for everything now," Theo started, but was cut off by Ellie.

"What the hell, you sound like everyone else around here. This place would be so much better off without them killing the planet by stealing from the Lifestream around here. I'm pretty sure the Planet's back to dying like it was the last decade ago! You're either for the Shinra or against it, you can't be in the middle!"

"Geez, take it easy!" He raised his arms in defense. "We're here, by the way."

They all hushed and stopped immediately.

"Yeah," Theo began. "I'd be fine walking around in there... in the daytime. No one really floats around in HQ at this time of night though." He glanced at his watch. "Especially not at two in the morning. Either we make a big scene or -oh wait, they're looking for you, aren't they? I guess we have to make a scene then. Why did you guys want to come here, anyway?"

"To get a friend out of here."

"They're holding him here? Eyeah, that's like, seventy floors up from here."

"Is it on the top floor like last time?"

"Uh...how would you know?"

How would you know? Ellie thought to herself.

Theo continued. "But actually, they built HQ a little differently from the first one. It's about eighty stories high now. Everything's a little more advanced now."

"Security too, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"Shit."

"...Yeah."

"Well... let's go then!"

"Hold on a second," Theo exclaimed, grabbing Ellie's arm before she marched past him to the escape hatch. "How are you planning on getting out of here if you do get your friend?"

"Do we always have to figure out part two? I'll figure something out on the way up!" Ellie snapped.

Theo looked at Maya, but she just shrugged.

"..."

Ellie huffed and went to the hatch door. She looked back at Theo. "Are there cameras everywhere?"

"Cameras, yes. Guards, yes."

"Excellent!"

She opened the hatch and went through it, the other two behind her. She found herself in a janitor's closet and quickly made her way out into a hallway with steps leading up to a door. She went up the stairs and then opened it, peeking through. It looked quite familiar. Well they must've hired the same interior designer from the last time, that's for sure.

"Damn is it bright in here," Ellie said, squinting her eyes. She looked back at Theo. "Which way is up?" She whispered.

Theo pointed to the left and they found themselves following the directions on the wall for the Main Lobby. The large reception area loomed up on them soon enough, but they had yet to see any guards.

"Let's take the elevators," Ellie suggested.

"Okay," Theo said. "But I'm leaving all the talking to you."

"Oh hey, you're the one with the legal rights to be in here," Ellie frowned.

"Only when they want me here."

"Well what the hell do they know! We're your apprentices or something. You do the talking!"

And she started for the elevators and the three crammed inside. "Hey," she exclaimed when the glass doors closed. "This thing only goes to the seventieth floor!"

"It's for security purposes; they use a different system up there."

"Keycards and all?"

"Yep."

"Shit."

She pressed the up switch and they zoomed upwards and landed on the seventieth floor in less than a minute. Before the doors opened, Theo warned: "There's going to be guards, you know."

The doors swooshed open to reveal two guards standing beside the doors. One of them turned as the three stepped out.

"Excuse me, your purposes at this time of night are...?"

Theo flashed them his ID card and said: "A professor requested my expertise upstairs."

"There are no professors upstairs," the red guard threateningly put a hand on his gun.

"Ah, but that is where you are mistaken," Theo answered quickly, casually stomping on Ellie's foot to keep her from jumping forward.

"Oh yeah?" The guard rested his hand on his holster.

"Yeah. Professor Chrezzo requested for me. Has some important news he wants out in the journals tomorrow."

"Chrezzo... Alright. My partner will escort you." He looked suspiciously at Ellie and Maya. "And who are they?"

"My interns."

"Photo ID's?"

"We couldn't get any because no one's downstairs at the moment."

"...Right. Follow him." The guard still gave him a funny look, but his hand slowly moved away from the gun. The second guard started for the elevators across the room, and the three followed.

"See, it's much easier this way than bollixing a bunch of people! Besides, they're very competent up here," Theo whispered to Ellie.

"My ass, too much talking," Ellie whispered back. "They have keycards, to hell with them!"

"Ellie, don't."

"Watch me."

Ellie narrowed her eyes at the guard they were following, and they boarded the elevator. He punched in for the eighty-fourth floor, and they were there in moments. They stepped out, and no guards were in sight.

Theo looked at Ellie reproachfully, watching her make a one eighty spin. She tackled the guard, quickly removing his weapon and giving him a good choke.

Theo shook his head distastefully as he watched the guard writhing on the ground before completely going limp.

"You really shouldn't have done that."

"No harm done, I just made him pass out, that's all," Ellie said cheerfully, snatching the guard's keycards and studying his weapon before throwing it aside. "Now, where did you say the prison cells were?"

"Eighty-third floor."

"Great." She turned around and they stepped back inside the elevators.

The doors swished open again, this time on the eighty-third floor.

There weren't any guards here, either. "Shinra must be pretty cocky with their security systems up here," Ellie exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Theo commented. He turned to Maya. "You okay?"

"Yes," Maya replied. "Just admiring what Shinra keeps secret."

"Yeah, it's not everything they want you to think it is. It's mostly just classified information and conversations they don't want everyone to hear. No biggie."

He started when he noticed Ellie was already halfway down the corridor. He caught up to her when she suddenly stopped and put her back to the wall.

"Camera," she declared.

Theo signaled to Maya to do the same.

"Well," he turned to Ellie. "Either way, we're screwed because I'm pretty positive someone's going to notice that unconscious guy you left up there. If you're gonna do something, you better do it fast."

The second he finished his statement, a siren began and red lights began flashing.

'Intruder alert! Intruder alert!'

"Ah fuck!" Ellie shouted above the siren and sprinted down the hallway. She hastily swiped the access card at the lone door at the end of the hallway, and it opened to reveal a row of cell doors.

"Amos, you here?!" Is he drugged? Is he even here?!

She ran down the long line of cell doors. She didn't have time to peer into every small window they had into the cells. She ran looking left and right, then spied an access box at the end.

"Find him?" Theo stood at the entrance poking his head in. "Hurry!"

"He's not here-!" Ellie yelled back, then suddenly noticed a hand hovering out of the small window in the second to last cell. The hand motioned to her.

That doesn't look like Amos, Ellie gave it a second thought.

"I can help you," a deep voice came from behind the window.

Yes? No? Should I- "Oh what the hell!"

She heard gunshots from the hallway they'd come from.

"Here they come!" Theo shouted down to her. "I'll hold them off, you hurry up!"

Ellie scrambled to the access box and fumbled with the keycard - but it didn't work for the jail cells!"

"Shit!"

She looked around wildly for some sort of blunt object.

"Twenty-four zero nineteen."

"Huh...?" She looked at the shadow inside that small window.

"That's the code."

"Uh..." Ellie strained to see the person talking to her but couldn't see past the shadows, and she punched in the codes. "Who are you...?" She punched in the last of the digits and the box opened.

"Sixth switch."

She looked at the silhouette suspiciously.

"Ellie, hurry up, I need you out here!" Theo bellowed.

"Dammit!" She turned the switch and the door to his cell opened.

Before she could blink, the figure in the cell had flown out of his cage and was sprinting towards Theo and Maya.

Ellie followed and stood next to a slack jawed Theo and Maya who watched the prisoner take down all the guards in less than a minute. When he had finished, the man turned around and stared at them.

They didn't say anything until Ellie took a step forward. "Who and what are you?"

"...I am Ken Angel."

"And why... are you locked up in there?"

"..."

"Oh geez," Ellie turned to Theo. "We got a winner here."

He looked back at her. "Angel... He's the Black Rose."

"And who's that?" She didn't like the sound of that.

"Ah...eh, how do I explain it."

"Well it sounds bad," Ellie offered.

"Er... yes, very."

"Anyway," she looked back at Angel who remained observing them. "Have you seen some big guy around here with the name Amos? Just joined Soldier, long hair-"

"Follow me."

"Wha-? He knows?" She had to admit, she was surprised. Were prisoners few and far between up here? But she ran off after him anyway, the other two not-so-happily following behind.

He led them to a stairwell, and using her keycard, they went up to the eighty-fifth floor. They were halfway down a hall on that floor when Angel stopped.

"They're coming," he stated calmly, and crouched in expectation.

Sure enough, a group of five guard came sprinting down the hallway, guns firing.

Theo deflected the bullets as Maya and Ellie fell to the ground. They were helpless until the guards were nearer. Should've taken that guard's gun! Ellie yelled at herself. Then I could've stocked up on ammo from them!

Angel suddenly disappeared, then reappeared moments later overtaking the guard in the front.

"He- where'd he come from!" Ellie was exasperated watching the new guy

"He ran on the wall, you didn't see him?" Maya shuddered beside her. "I don't like him at all."

"On the wall...?" Ellie could barely make out Angel's movements, he moved so fast. Of course, Maya did have mako showering, maybe she could see better than the average person, too. Damn mako.

The remaining guards stopped in their tracks, going to their knees for better aim. That was their cue to rush forward and engage head-on, bashing and swinging. The fight was over as soon as it had begun, and Angel resumed his walking as if nothing had happened.

He led them into a large room, full with every type of medical equipment and machinery imaginable, plus a few more that Ellie couldn't recognize. She walked past everything in awe, being pulled along by Theo.

"He's going to the lab, come on!" He said impatiently, finally grabbing Ellie's arm and dragging her to the front of him. "I want to get out of here quick!"

"Damn man!" Ellie said, angrily jerking her arm out of his grasp. "I mean- shit!" She stopped in her tracks when she saw Angel open a door at the end of the rooms.

Amos sat inside, half-reclined and strapped to a seat, wires and tubes running in and out of him.

Suddenly, she felt bad laughing at him when Shelby called him special.

"What are they doing to him?" Maya breathed.

Angel was silent and he stared back at them.

"Uh..." After a few awkward seconds, Ellie warily approached Amos. What the hell did they do to you man? She looked at all the contraptions around him, the dim light making it hard to see clearly. Well... you're not wearing an oxygen mask, so this should be okay. She abruptly jerked out the tubes and stickies on him, hearing Maya eep out and Theo grunt in reprimand. Ellie ignored them and finished the job. Despite the weight he'd lost, she still couldn't carry this man out of here, and then she had an idea and thoughtfully turned to Angel.

He was looking at her, then without a word, he walked over and put Amos over his shoulder.

Wow, I didn't even have to say anything! ...Creepy!

"He's coming," Angel said in a monotone voice, turning back to the door where Theo and Maya stood.

"He? You mean they?" Ellie turned around too, just in time to watch Theo and Maya suddenly collapse to the floor unconscious.

"My, my, my," a voice sounded before the rest of him appeared in the doorway. "I welcome you, stranger."

She stared at the white-coated man. He looked quite young, his smooth complexion revealing an attractive face, if it weren't for the small steel emotionless grey eyes squinting at her. "Who are you?" She demanded.

He laughed to himself, then quickly regained his composure. "Incompetent fool. Ask you friend there behind you." He raised a tranquilizer gun and Ellie immediately fell flat on her face, hearing the needle whiz by her and clunk onto the metal floor. Angel merely leaned to the side.

"What are you doing, is this your experiment? you're sick in the head! You won't get away with this!" Ellie screeched. Was this the head professor/scientist, Chrezzo? He certainly reminded her of Hojo, except much younger.

"Who's to say? I believe you will be the ones that won't be getting away," he said calmly as he reloaded his weapon.

"Yeah, we'll see about that!" Ellie yelled back, dashing forward. She dove towards him, but stopped short and hit the floor as Chrezzo lowered his gun with a smile. He looked up and the smile immediately faded when he saw Angel's form disappearing behind him back to the elevator. "Number Twenty-six! I demand you to return!"

But everything was silent. "Humph." He distastefully stepped over the limp form of Ellie and went to a nearby screen to study the gauges and meters. His hand cupped his chin in though, and a grin slowly appeared on his face again. "That should be enough... oh my... this is perfect. Splendid!"

"Sir!"

Chrezzo spun towards the door, his temper returning.

Two guards stood huffing in place.

"Take them away! I have no use for them!" He waved at the three unconscious bodies on the floor. His hand returned to his face and he snaked his way around the bodies and vanished into the maze of equipment.

"Dammit all to hell!" Ellie screamed and shook the bars to no avail.

"Think you're gonna shake this place down to the ground or something?" Theo looked up at her. He was crouched in the corner of the cell, arms resting on his hunched up knees.

"Why me again! I don't belong here, I just want to go home!" Ellie shrieked and shook the bars some more before whimpering and slowly collapsing to the floor.

There's no headless Jenova to save me now. This can't be real! What the hell is going on!

"Maya, you okay?" Theo interrupted her thoughts.

"...not really."

"Well, try not to think about it," he said sadly.

"Yeah..." Ellie arranged herself in the corner between the bars and the wall. At least they'd put them all in the same big empty cell. There was that small window between the bars, but otherwise it was pretty pitch dark in here. "What're we gonna do? They're going to execute us, right?"

"I guess... You can't change what's done, so work with what you've got. That's what I say."

"Man, I'm sorry we dragged you into this," Ellie genuinely felt bad. Then a thought suddenly came in her head, she didn't know why. "I have a question for you."

"Yes?" Theo looked up at her.

"What is Eden?"

"Hm," Theo scratched his nose. "Eden is some mythical place. Professor Chrezzo - that's the guy that shot at us - found some ancient documents from the Ancient City that reference to it. It supposedly has something to do with the Cetra. Supposedly. And mythical."

"I see. Man, this sucks!"

"Yep..."

Ellie looked down at her watch, it read 2115... yeah right... She angrily unclipped it and threw it across the cell.

"?"

"Damn thing doesn't tell the right time," she muttered.

Theo shrugged, leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

She walked loudly down the hallway, each step of her stiletto heel echoing numerous times on the metal walls. Anyone coming from the opposite direction immediately stepped aside out of her way. She held her nose high.

Thank god she's not here, Kirin noted as she saw an 'Away on Business' sign on Sable's office door.

She stopped and brushed herself off before looking at the door that sported a brand new gold plate reading 'Nik Kramer, Chief Turk.' She stuck her tongue out at it before barging inside.

"I hope I'm not intruding," she said smugly, then halted and scowled when she saw Nik sitting at his desk filing his nails, feet resting on the desktop. He looked up nonchalantly.

"Yes, my dear colleague? I thought you're supposed to be running around the Seventh Sector doing some errands?" He looked back down to his nails.

"Actually, I was just about to get on that." She mustered up a sweet smile. "I uhm... was wondering what you're doing tonight."

Nik raised an eyebrow and looked up. "Yees?"

She forced a giggle that came out more like a gag. "There's a new hotspot I saw last night... it looked nice, I thought maybe we could go there together tonight and check it out."

He narrowed his eyes, analyzing every little inch on her. Then he grinned and set his nail file down. "Absolutely, Kirin. I wouldn't dare to turn down an offer like that, especially from you. I'm free whenever you are."

"Oh good!" She beamed back at him. "I'll come by here around six then!" She turned towards the door.

"Sounds great. By the way-"

Kirin turned around, the smile still pasted on her face.

"I need you to do one, just one tiny little favor for me. Don't worry, I'll have Helix cover for you. I need you to go get the three inmates up on eighty-three and bring them back down to the lobby. That would be great." He smiled back at her, all his pearly whites showing.

"Yes Nik, of course," Kirin turned on her heel and closed the door, her grin instantly turning into a pout. Fucking bastard thinks he can boss me around! But... he's chief now... officially... ugh! The mere word made her shudder. She went back to the elevators and pressed for the eighty-third floor.

"Don't ask questions!" Theo hissed at Ellie. Their hands weren't even tied, and the three followed the Turk into the elevator.

Employees stared, but when they saw the Turk escorting them, they shut their mouths and looked away.

"I didn't say jack!" Ellie couldn't help but reply. She crossed her arms and stared at the back of Kirin's head. And she didn't say anything at all until they got to the Main Lobby on the first floor.

"We are very much obliged," Theo made a small courteous bow.

"Shut up," Kirin growled at him and turning on her heel, click clacked her way towards the back of the lobby.

Ellie shook her fists after her.

"Let's just get outta here," Theo said quickly, and they made it to the front glass doors and practically ran outside.

The blast of pollution and smog nearly knocked them over. Since the Shinra Headquarters was located higher than the rest of the city, the haze was even thicker. They watched a man walk past them into the building, a handkerchief over his nose and mouth. He glanced at the three and nodded.

"Awful, isn't it? The fans that circulate the air up here aren't working today!"

They nodded in response and in the distance, they could see huge grills extruding from the ground farther down the walkway. Steam came out from a few of them. They could see the Express line farther up ahead, fully loaded with red guards and official-looking people mulling around.

"That looks like a way out," Theo exclaimed, pointing to the grates.

"Dude, stop, we need to find Amos!"

"Oh come on," Theo looked crossly at her. "We'll figure that out when we're at least out of Shinra's sight! I don't even know what the hell just happened back there! Especially you Maya, you're wanted."

"Yeah, but I was captured," she said quietly. "Maybe I'm off the list now."

He shook his head and they ran over to the vents. Making sure no one was paying attention, he lifted a grate and they slipped inside.

"Alright," Ellie declared, concealing herself in the shadows. The other two did likewise. They heard muffled walking from above, but after a minute, they breathed a little easier. "First, nevermind how we got out. Second, what was the name of that guy again, the one I let out of the cell?"

"Ken Angel."

The three jumped as the lone figure suddenly stepped out into a shaft of light.

"Wh-!" "!"

His face was calm as he looked at the three of them in the shadows. "Funny how things work out," Angel said. "I have your man." He gestured to the shadows he came from. "He needs a physician." He put a hand up to Theo. "Materia cannot help him."

"Uh, do you know how to get out of here?"

"Follow."

Ellie looked at the shadows, hopefully at her two friends, and shrugged.

Angel turned and appeared to pick something up from the ground, then began walking. The three followed in silence.