XII.
It was three days before the team found the lab, and everyone knew it was three days too long. Cloud had been missing now for almost a week, and from what the doctor in Mideel said, his condition wasn't good.
They waited until night, and until the lab was practically abandoned to try their rescue mission. Luckily, there were no guards stationed, and the side of the building they had to use to get in was very dark.
Cid found the door on the side of the building that the doctor said to use. He opened the door and led the other three inside.
He then found the door to where Cloud was held. He tried to keep the specifics of exactly where in the building Cloud was away from Tifa, as his first priority in this operation was not to have her freak out over Cloud when she saw his condition.
Cid gave the control panel a good smack, just like the doctor told him to, and the door opened. He peeked in the door. Sure enough, there Cloud was. He looked absolutely awful. It was enough to make Cid wince.
He turned back and whispered to to the rest of the team.
"OK, we need to split up here. Me and Barret's gonna check out this room for a clue. Tifa, you and Vincent look in Ridgeson's office down the hall for something useful. I'll get back to you if we find anything."
"OK." Said Tifa. Actually, Cid knew he sent Tifa on a wild goosechase, but it was necessary.
Cid and Barret entered the room. Cid approached the shield surrounding Cloud. Keeling down in front of the energy shield, he got a closer inspection at his condition. He tried to get Cloud to notice that he was there, but Cloud was too injured. Cloud's head lifted once in a while so he could get a labored, shallow breath of air through his clenched teeth. Cid noted that a couple bones on both sides of his ribcage seemed broken. That in itself made it hard to breathe, and the way he was forced to sit didn't help. He had no idea how the energy wall could be deactivated.
Tifa and Vincent picked the lock to the door easily. Vincent entered without a sound, but Tifa happened to run into a cart by the door. A small device that looked like a remote control fell from the cart with a crash.
"I'm such a klutz!" Tifa said to herself.
"Ssssssh...we need to concentrate on the matter at hand..." Vincent said to her.
Back in the storage closet, Cid was shocked when the shield surrounding Cloud zapped itself off.
"#%*+ good timing!" he cursed to himself under his breath. He found the key in the room to the mythril cuffs, also provided to the doctor through his friend and associate Triniman, and unlocked the attachments to the wall and floor.
Cid gently moved Cloud's back away from the wall, and he sank immediately the rest of the way to the floor in Cid's arms. Cloud was completely out of it. They would have to carry him out. Or rather, Barret would while Cid told Tifa and Vincent that they found what they came for.
"What 'chu MEAN I gotta carry him out? You ain't gonna give a helping hand?" Barret argued.
"Dammit, Barret! I gotta get back to the Dynamic Duo and tell them to get out!"
"Fine, Head Honcho. But my back better not be outta whack 'cuz of it! My Marlene's done enough to it!"
"Jeeziz. Just meet us out there! We'll have to carry him to the plain south of the forest. I told my pilot-in-training to meet us there with the Highwind."
Barret picked up Cloud's limp body and hauled himself over to the exit. Cid ran to the scientist's room to get to Tifa and Vincent.
After Tifa put the device back on the cart, Vincent whispered that he did find something that could be of value. Tifa stood next to him as they both looked at a file. Vincent read the contents.
"'...Day twelve. Initiator: Hojo. Mako infused. Subject not experiencing change. Subject described failure. Experiment disengaged.'"
"That must have been Cloud's file when Hojo was using him." Tifa commented.
"Yes", Vincent agreed. "But look at this. This was recently written. 'Restart experiment: Lifestream infusion... Initiator: Ridgeson. Waiting for results.' It seems now they want to inject pure Lifestream into humans and see what it does. Disgusting." Vincent remembered his own file that the mad scientist Hojo had for him.
Someone opened the door, and the hair on Tifa's and Vincent's necks raised. Tifa got her fists up. Vincent put a hand on his Winchester. They were caught!
No they weren't. It turned out to be Cid in the door. Phew!
"We got him. Barret has him outside. Let's bust outta here!"
When they returned to the outside, Tifa wasn't too happy about Cloud's state. She wanted to stop for a minute and look at his condition.
"Please, Cid? Please just let me use a flashlight and look for a moment!"
"We can't, Tifa. We gotta get safely to the Highwind first!"
Tifa didn't like it, but saw the sense in what Cid said. They carried Cloud throught the night to meet the Highwind in the early morning hours.