Chapter 24

Project: Resurrection

"As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious."

When the video was off and the device was turned off, Tifa removed her mask and went to untie Brooke when Cloud called her over to where he was. Elena was sitting on the computer, which was how she'd recorded the other side of the conversation, using the small device in the President's office to also record Jamison and Rufus. This would enable AVALANCHE to note anything strange about Jamison's or Rufus's reactions. "Tifa," Cloud called, and Tifa held up a hand.

"Reno, untie her, would you?" she said as she went across into the second half of the warehouse, where the rest of AVALANCHE was crowded around the computer.

Reno smirked and gave the fist fighter a salute. He wore a mask himself because though only Brooke, Cloud, Tifa and Reeve had been recorded, had anything been needed the others were in masks and prepared to run on themselves. Reno walked up to her in his white mask, and she glared up at him. Both gagged and tied, Reno stood right in front of them, their legs touching.

"Well this is interesting," he said from behind his mask.

Brooke said nothing, but looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You look a little, uh, tied up," he said. She could almost see his grin.

He pushed up his mask so she could see his face smirking down at her. She was glistening with sweat and the shiny oil Tifa had put on her face to make her seem sweatier than she was. Brooke - or Bee, as everyone who ever met her called her - was wearing a white button down with a blue camisole underneath, jeans and comfortable brown moccasins. He took care to look her down and up carefully, to earn her steady gaze. With some fumbling and working of the jaw, she caused the not-so-careful gag to fall out and fall around her neck.

"If you've had enough fun," she said steadily, staring him in the eyes, "you could untie me."

Reno smirked at her and pulled her gag back into her mouth, before jamming his hands into his pockets and strolling in the room. When he got there, Elena had a freeze frame of the screen and was using a line like a laser beam that came from the eyes of Jamison and Rufus.

"Jamison's focus is fixed at the appropriate place on the screen - following the central focus," Elena was explaining. She had a freeze frame up of their own recording, both at the same moment in time. "But Rufus…he isn't watching Reeve, and he isn't watching Brooke. His focus is below and if I use this eye line…" Elena said and used a paintbrush on the application to circle a spot on the freeze frame of their recording. "Then his focus is just around here," she said as she circled the chair legs and the area around it. The only thing other than the chair-legs and the floor in the picture was Yuffie's briefcase, which they had used to prop a chair up.

"Reno," Cloud said, not looking away from the screen. "Where did you get that briefcase?"

Reno shrugged. "Not mine. Yuffie had it when she met up with me. Tried to pick it."

Cloud looked at Reno and back at the screen, where Rufus stared at it. "Wherever she got it, Rufus recognizes it. He wants what's in the briefcase, more than he wants his sister."

"We have to open it," Nanaki said.

Reno laughed. "They'll be no picking that lock. I'm guessing Kisaragi was the best lock-pick of the bunch, and she couldn't get it open and not for lack of trying."

But Cid picked it up and looked at it. "I know this briefcase. Halliburton ZERO, used it for top secret documents when at ShinRa." He looked at the lock. "It's an older model, still nearly un-pickable, but something beens wearing away at this lock too."

Cloud nodded. "Are you saying you can get it open?"

Cid's mouth formed a grim line. "With the proper application of force…perhaps impact velocity would be enough," he trailed off.

"There he goes, talking like a damn engineer physicist man, like he's got a damn brain in his head," Barret grumbled.

Cid glared at him. "Are you going to get this damn thing open?"

Barret said nothing.

"Didn't think so. Okay, I'm going to need a way to get to the loft in this warehouse."

Tifa looked around and saw Reno join the group, and furrowed her brow. "Reno, where's Brooke?"

Reno raised his eyebrows. "I don't know," he shrugged.

"Didn't you untie her?" Tifa asked and Reno shook his head.

"Thought you did," he said uncaringly. Tifa sent him a cold look and walked to see Brooke tied and gagged. Tifa jogged over to her and untied her and took out her gag. Brooke flexed her wrists and Reno walked by, pretending neither girl stood there. Tifa glared over at him and Brooke shook her head.

"Did you say something?" Tifa said, brow furrowing. "Something to offend him? Reno never acts like this; he flirts with anything with a chest and usually doesn't let words get to him."

Brooke shook her head and rubbed chafed wrists. "Not exactly," Brooke murmured.

Tifa shook her head, "Well, Brooke-"

"It's Bee," she interrupted, and laughed. "Everyone calls me Bee. No one calls me Brooke."

Tifa nodded and helped her up and out of the chair.

"Well, if I'm going to be traded to my brother, could I get some things from my apartment?" Bee asked, but Cloud apparently heard.

"No," he said, and Tifa and Bee turned to him. "If someone notices stuff is missing from your apartment - like the police - they'll know the operation isn't legit. And if someone sees you come back here," he trailed off in his explanation. Bee nodded in understanding, but her lips were pressed together and she had an odd look on her face.

"Do you work?" he asked.

"Well," Bee paused, her eyes squinting as she looked up at the ceiling, "I'm taking a bit of time off."

"Besides," a new voice cut in. "I'm sure she has plenty of money from Daddy-dearest's will."

Everyone looked at Reno, lounging on a makeshift chair made from crates. He was twirling his nightstick in his hand, and pulled the mask down. "Of course," he said from behind the mask, and tilted his head, "if you didn't claim ShinRa maybe you didn't claim that."

Bee ignored him. "But I don't have any weapons," she said bluntly.

Cloud shook his head. "You won't need any. If you have a weapon, Rufus will question if you were a captive."

Bee nodded and her pale blue eyes slid over to the masked Reno, who nodded at her. "Well," she said, looking back at Tifa. "I guess I'm stuck."

Reno just stared from behind his mask.

Shera blinked bleary eyes open, blinking the confusion and cloudiness out. She smiled.

It had been two weeks. Two weeks from the day her baby had been born. She'd gone into labor, she remembered. She remembered being carted to that bed, and she remembered the doctor saying the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck, and they had to do a C-Section.

And she remembered she'd always wanted to be awake for her child's birth, but as it had been an emergency she hadn't the option. She sat up, feeling nauseous at her attempt at sudden movement (the anesthesia had that effect for weeks after) when a woman ran over and gently pushed her down. "Would you liked to see your baby?" she asked, smiling.

"Yes," Shera breathed.

During her pregnancy, having to hide her pregnancy meant that she didn't get to have check-ups or sonograms. Anything that would make sure the baby was okay, anything to tell her the gender of her baby. Therefore, every time she woke she wanted to see her baby. The nurse came in with a bundle in her arms and Shera's breath caught. The nurse leaned over and handed her the baby.

"Here he is," the nurse said softly, smiling.

Shera's eyes flooded with love and joy at the sight of her baby boy. The baby looked up at her and he had Cid's eyes, Cid's color eyes that were so blue they seemed plucked straight from the sky above. The nurse watched as Shera held her bundle tight to her. After all they'd been through, after it all, she had a baby.

A baby Cid didn't even know about

Still, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the baby's face, where it blinked at her and wriggled his nose. "Would you like to name him yet?" the nurse said warmly, and Shera looked up surprised, forgetting she'd been there.

For two weeks, Shera had been thinking of a name. She wished Cid and she could have decided together, but Cid wasn't here and she knew some of the types of names Cid preferred ("Solid man names - no nancy names for a boy.") "Yes, I want to name him."

The nurse smiled at her, but Shera only looked up for a moment. "Cole," she said, looking at the boy's eyes. Cid would like it, she knew he would. "Cole Lucas Highwind."

The nurse smiled and left the room, but only after another man had entered. He hung by the door as Shera cradled her baby, smiling down at her adorable miracle. It took her several moments to realize there was even someone else in the room, and she looked up in surprise.

"He's beautiful," the brown-haired man said, and Shera smiled.

"Isn't he?" she sighed.

Parker looked at the child. He was two weeks old now, and Shera had asked for him every time she woke up. Now they were housing three out of four known family members of Avalanche, and something told him they'd have to stock up all four soon. Auhncore was moving in on Wutai, and if they didn't act soon, there might be a move to kidnap the Ruler.

RESCUE had taken Marlene Wallace into custody, and rescued Shera when she'd been in the tunnel, running from the SP. RESCUE - the Restorative Embassy for Social and Cultural Understanding and Edification - was the organization formed and lead by Parker first after ShinRa fell. Their intention was to rebuild society and make a social order that wasn't led by lies and wouldn't succumb to an empire. Their cause, however, had barely gotten off the ground when Auhncore was formed.

RESCUE had then done all they can to peel back the layers on Auhncore, putting spies into the building and corporation and having members all over. Often members had to go into hiding, as now a-days, open support of AVALANCHE or anti-Auhncorianism would get you captured or killed. They lived in a messy world.

So RESCUE continued their cause, trying to make Auhncore fall while battling the lies they sent out. They were often confused as a pro-AVALANCHE group or group designed to help AVALANCHE, but this was false. AVALANCHE was in the right, however, and on the same side of Auhncore as RESCUE, so they were not only a beacon and a symbol for RESCUE, but a cause for hope. So they would help the Heroes and anyone against Auhncore, and that meant keeping the family safe.

Now, intelligence was out that he needed to share with Shera. "Shera," he said, and she looked up at him, smiling. "Shera we've received news from our spies in Auhncore."

Shera sat up straight. Even Shera didn't know everything about RESCUE, and she looked at him sharply. "Is it Cid?" she asked too quickly for the calm impression she was trying to give. But her eyes were filled with worry and her shoulders slumped with fear. Fear was etched into every part of her being.

"In a manner," Parker said. Shera started to shake. "Our intelligence has confirmed that as of one week ago, Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine infiltrated Auhncore and freed AVALANCHE."

Shera gasped and clutched her baby to her chest, and the baby began to make pre-cry breaths, feeling his mother's shakes and shift in mood. She soothed it before looking up at Parker in shock. "H-How?"

"Well, long story short, by freeing their team members, they got themselves captured. Your husband isn't in jail anymore Shera."

Shera seemed not to be able to process all this information, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them as she looked down, her baby's blue eyes meeting hers. Eyes like Cid's. Parker walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Listen to me Shera," he said softly, and she looked up at him.

He looked down at her with those intense eyes, filled with righteousness and determination. His brown hair brushed across his forehead and his jaw was set in decisiveness. "We're going to look for them, and there is coming unconfirmed intelligence that will help us. We're going to try to find them and keep them away from Auhncore, keep them from taking him away again.

Shera's eyes filled with tears and she nodded, trying to believe him. He gripped her shoulder and she looked up again, meeting his eyes.

"Shera," he said, "we're going to find your husband."

She nodded.

Cid had spent the last hour or so drawing up plans and doodles and even some equations for getting the briefcase to open. Looking around and figuring out the dimensions of the warehouse and the right way for the briefcase to hit had been the easy part - now he had to put it into motion. Wincing as he moved, he stood. He straightened and held his ribs, cussing about feeling like an old man.

"Looks like you got beat up pretty good there," Bee said as she smiled.

Cid shot her a glare. "No kidding," he growled.

She walked over and patted the crate. "Sit," she ordered. He looked at her disbelievingly and she smiled and shimmied her shoulders as though she was trying to captivate him. He shook his head and sat.

"I don't see what you're going to-" he was interrupted with a grunt as she gently touched the area around his head. She opened her purse and she went around to his front and crouched down.

"How have you been feeling?" she asked as she dug in her purse. "And don't bullshit me."

"Dizzy," he muttered as she looked at him. He was pale and looked hollowed out. "Kinda nauseous."

"Any extreme thirst?" she asked as she held his eyes open and looked at them each in turn.

He nodded gruffly. "Yeah," he muttered. "So what are you doing?"

She looked him over, ignoring his question. "They cut you up bad," she commented. "Is this the worst they've ever done?"

Cid nodded.

"Alright," she muttered as she inspected his split lip and his nose. Two bits of tissue were stuck up there and dotted with red. "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt."

His brows furrowed and he would have jumped up if it didn't hurt. "What the %&#$? Why in the hell would I do that?"

"Listen-" Bee started.

"I ain't strippin' down for some weird ass reason, Shinra," he spat.

She frowned slightly. His face showed that he was not over her family, but there was nothing she could do about that. Bee was a Shinra no matter what, and Cid wasn't going to accept that anytime soon. "Listen, Cid, you've been severely injured. You guys don't have any materia and they didn't give you medical attention. Right now, your skin is pale which may be showing signs of perfusion. Give me your hand," she said.

"What? Why-" he started, but she already grabbed it.

He'd been tortured by shoving bamboo rods or other such things under his fingernails, which is unbelievable painful. He'd already washed his hands under water, but there was still some dried blood. So she took a finger that hadn't been tortured and pushed down on it until it was white. Then she counted as his finger went to normal color. "See? Your capillary refill time is slow. Normal time is two seconds and you are well over that." She raised her eyebrows. "These signs are not good, and pointing towards hypovolemia. Now, take off your shirt," she softly ordered.

He met her eyes sharply, and they paused for a moment before begrudgingly taking off his shirt. He winced as he did and she hissed in sympathy. His ribs were mottled with purple and there were a welt or two on his back. She shook her head and went to work. She was looking at his cuts and she took an arm gently. First she put two fingers to his wrist and looked at a stopwatch, and then put the fingers on his neck. Out of her purse she took a device with a hand pump and she strapped a black thing around his bicep. It measured blood pressure, Cid remembered, and she pumped on it until it was snug on his arm. She frowned, and he didn't like that. "What?" he asked grumpily.

"Your pulse is elevated, your blood pressure is low and there is a lack of perfusion. You have hypovolemia."

"What?" he asked.

"In normal people terms, you have blood loss. Right now its minor, and you're just beginning to show clinical signs. But I have to check your ribs and try to make sure you don't have internal bleeding."

Cid frowned but let her carefully touch his chest. She would touch a spot and ask if it hurt. When she got to the right side, halfway down his torso he yelped as she softly touched a spot. The bruising was worst here and she asked him if it hurt when she touched in a spot near it. He cussed and told her that yes, it did. She looked at his cuts on his ribs and arms. Then she inspected his nose and head wound. Returning to his chest, she touched the rest of the chest to make sure there was no other severe pain.

"What're you two doing there?" a drawl came, and Cid looked up to see Reno standing there, looking down at the two blondes. Then he smirked. "Can't keep your hands off him Blondie?"

Bee bit her lip. "I'm making sure that Cid isn't going to die because no one here could take a moment to look at how badly he's hurt," she said though a smile spread on her face as she looked up at the redhead. "So, for just one moment, back up and just let me check out Cid."

Reno smirked. "I'm sure you'd like to check out Cid."

Bee grinned and flipped her blonde hair over a shoulder. Then she turned back to Cid and sighed. "Alright Cid, here's the diagnosis. You have minor hypovolemia. By fixing all these cuts and with some rest and I'm going to give you some sugars and electrolytes, that will be fine. You have a broken nose, which is going to hurt, but if I move it back into place it will heal well on its own. You have a minor head laceration that is going to need stitches, as well as some of the worse cuts on you, but that will be fine too. Luckily you don't have a concussion, but you do have a fractured rib. I can take care of all this, if you trust me to take care of it."

Cid frowned at her. "And why should I?" he growled. "Who are you to take care of all this shit?"

"I'm a doctor Cid," she informed him, and patted his arm. "Now let me fix you up."

Reno walked off as Bee took out a stitching kit. He clenched his teeth and grunted as she stitched up the wound on his head, making sure to cleanse it and sterilize all instruments. The other room heard a yelp, a grunt and a smash and Bee came out with blood on her hands. "Hey," she said cooly, "Cid passed out. Anyone got water?"

She continued in her fixing of him until all the cuts were cured with cure materia and the ones too big for cure alone were stitched up. She used adhesive tape to restrict movement to help it heal, since it was a minor fracture. She used a sheet she found in a crate to put the arm on the same side of the fractured rib into a sling. Then she gave him some ibuprofen and smiled. "All better," she grinned.

Cid frowned and shifted. "So you're a doctor?" he grunted.

"Yeah," she smiled. "Weird career history too."

There was silence as she stood and put the things she carried (she explained to him she carried some basic things with her at all times) back in her purse. "Every day come to me two times - morning and afternoon - and I'll give you ibuprofen and a dose of Cure."

He nodded and went to go open the briefcase.

A day had passed. It was time for the Presidents to tune in and give them their answer. Tifa was crossing her fingers as she put on her mask, and Reno had his mask on and was lounging by the camera. Cloud took his station by the chair, where Bee was sitting. Her arms were tied behind the chair and her mouth gagged. They'd prerecorded a clip of her struggling, then static and then Cloud hitting her with the base of the gun. Now she was posed with her head dropped to her chest and a nasty looking wound on the right side of her forehead. Tifa took her position, and Reeve took his as well. Cloud had the gun at his side, which - Reno noted - as actually Reno's gun.

Six o'clock hit, and Elena sent through the clip of Cloud knocking out the struggling Brooke, before flipping to the live footage. They received the image of Rufus and Jamison sitting in chairs in front of their video, smiling in a way no one liked. But the masks made them remain expressionless. Reeve strolled onto screen. "I trust you have our answer?" Reeve said smoothly, looking at the camera from behind his mask.

Rufus nodded smugly, and Jamison gave a curt one. "Yes," Jamison answered shortly.

Reeve looked at the camera, "So now it's about terms," he said.

Rufus shook his head, "Not so fast, sailor." He smiled and settled comfortably in his chair, looking at the screen with ice blue eyes. "Yes, we will trade Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine-"

"-unharmed-" Reeve interrupted.

"-yes, unharmed, to you, in exchange for Brooke Shinra. But that seems a bit unfair, doesn't it? Two for one doesn't seem a fair trade. So perhaps we will trade Brooke Shinra for one of these 'Heroes.'"

Cloud wanted to shake his head, but Reeve was already on it. "Our terms, or your secret leaks."

Jamison laughed cruelly. "And who would believe you? You're either a fugitive, if you are who we think you are, or a nobody."

Reeve frowned, but his mask showed nothing.

"We want the briefcase that is currently propping up your chair," Rufus said smoothly. "This is all we ask for. A briefcase, for a person."

Reeve stared blankly, and walked back to Cloud. He bowed his head for a moment, and there was a hushed argument. Cloud shook his head but Reeve nodded, and whispered, and Cloud nodded reluctantly. Reeve walked to the screen. "We want Yuffie and Vincent unharmed and whole, and AVALANCHE's weapons."

Rufus nodded.

"It is a deal. We will meet you at midnight tonight on the roof of the Auhncore building. No guards, or they will be taken out. If you try anything, you will not get your sister or the briefcase."

Jamison nodded. "The terms are fair."

Reeve nodded. "Tonight, midnight."

Jamison and Rufus nodded; the last image before the screen went to static, and then went blank.

Now that the conversation was over, Elena unplugged the connection to assure there would be no chance of them seeing through. Only then were the masks removed, and Bee untied. Tifa shoved smelling salts under the blonde's nose and she sat up with a start, coughing through her gag. Gag removed, she stood and brushed herself off. She smirked good-naturedly. "Now, lets open up this up," she said enthusiastically and got the briefcase out.

Indeed, though it had taken the better part of the night and day, Cid had broken the lock on the Halliburton - only to have to set it up for the video. Bee handed off the briefcase to Cloud, who placed it on a crate while everyone gathered around. Without hesitation or ceremony, he opened the briefcase.

The circle tightened and everyone leaned in for a look. Inside the briefcase was a binder with a clear plastic cover, and a stack of papers inside. The cover of the paper only bore two words: Project Resurrection. The ShinRa symbol was emblazoned below, and everyone exchanged nervous looks. Also in the briefcase was a small wooden box that, when opened, housed and cushioned two short, corked test tubes. One was filled with a glowing yellow liquid, and the other with a glowing red liquid.

Cloud sat down and pulled back the plastic cover, and then flipped past the cover page. Everyone sat in a rough circle, and she placed the binder flat so that everyone could see. The heading of the page he read from read Project History. "Project Resurrection," he read out loud, "is devoted to finding away to bring previously deceased peoples back to a living state."

Bee looked up with her eyes wide, exposing their ice blue color. Tifa looked apprehensive, eyes narrowing and her lips pressing together. Cloud looked at them and looked back down. "Project Resurrection was started by Professor Hojo after the last Ancient was killed. The Project's purpose is devoted not only to bringing back the deceased, but furthering the understanding of death and its boundaries."

Cid scoffed. "All fancy shit for Hojo's sick &%$ing mind," he growled.

Cloud continued as most of the faces surrounding him turned into shocked or disgusted expressions. "Project Resurrection was abandoned facing the other direction of Professor Hojo's studies and, later, his death. Apprentice Bradley brought the project to the attention of Auhncore's Science Department. It was then, upon permission and request of Mr. Jamison Auhn, picked up by the Science Department's own Head, Professor Rollup. Project Resurrection is now underway and in progress."

Only nervous shuffling and shifting broke the silence that settled over them. Cloud turned to the next page, as it described the process Professor Hojo had formed, with diagrams included. Apparently, if a body was preserved or newly deceased, as long as there were no major wounds (or any such wounds were fixed), an injection of the yellow substance was injected into the brain, and immediately after (there was a limited window for it to work) the red substance had to be injected straight to the heart. The yellow substance protected the brain from brain damage, since the brain was the most difficult part to revive. In the following Project Summary, they learned that in early experiments, the subject's body would come back but would be in an unresponsive coma due to being brain-dead. Continuing, apparently the subjects would suffer from amnesia, or lose skills such as speaking or control over basic bodily functions, and would be basically mentally retarded. Finally the substance was formed from a outlining of Dr. Hojo's that revived the brain to its full capacity. The details of the substance were lost on the group members, except maybe Reeve and Bee who were listening intently before Cloud gave up. Finally subjects were brought back that were fully revived. The exception was that on all the subjects, only those who had been exposed to mako or Jenova cells could be revived.

"Once there was certainty on the revival, the Project Leader/Manager procured the body of Dr. Hojo, preserved in a freezer and all wounds taken care of in the best fashion possible for a corpse. At this point, Professor Hojo was revived and successfully brought back to life."

At this, everyone in the room started talking. Tifa gasped while Barret and Cid loudly cussed. Reeve clapped a hand to his forehead while Red's brow furrowed as he turned to read the exact words of the report. Bee sat silently, finally letting out mumbles in the form of short breaths. Reno's eyebrows were raised and Rude showed no emotion. Elena, on the other hand, was scowling. The Turks, Elena especially, had always had a particular dislike for the resident mad scientist.

Cloud spoke up over them all, reading, "We have further hopes for the Project, hoping to be able to obtain and revive Specimen JP1."

At this the summary ended, and the briefcase was apparently lost, though they of course no one knew how or where. Cloud, however, would ask once more. "Are you certain Yuffie never mentioned where she got the briefcase?" The leader said, turning to the Turks.

"Just said she found it," Reno said, as the other two shook their head. "Never asked more."

Cloud frowned, and looked down, his face showing anger. "Hojo's back," he said quietly, looking up with only his eyes at the group. The silence was chilling, and their expressions were grim. "He's back and probably going to go right back to Auhncore and lead the Science Department, and is going to keep on going."

"I think," Tifa said softly, "that before we do anything, we need to keep reading."

Reeve and Nanaki nodded in agreement, and all eyes turned to Cloud. He sighed, though he knew Tifa was right. He turned the page. The following pages were all reports on specific experiments and the first ones of people of all different ages. The ones that were unsuccessful had a stamped 'FAILED' under the picture. Every time Cloud saw it (which was a lot at first, before they figured out mako had to be involved) he flinched. Finally, they got to the report on Hojo. The scientist, ironically, had a number, a label. He was PR41, and he was success. The report detailed nothing new, only that the man had come back with more strength and vitality than some others, despite his long time dead. He also had mild amnesia. That was the last case report, however, that was done before the briefcase was sent to wherever it was going. But the next page Cloud turned to was chilling.

The title was Specimen JP1, and under it sat a picture and the usual information graph. The picture, however, was so familiar that it chilled Cloud's blood. Staring up with green eyes from the picture was the face of the famed General Sephiroth.

Cloud dropped the report in shock, and everyone looked at him in concern. Tifa was immediately asking what was wrong, and the others started talking, but they were all a buzz in his ears. They were all white noise as he stared down at the smug picture of the General who'd he'd defeated already, the General who'd, even in death, managed to ruin Cloud's life. Tifa was asking him what was wrong, but Bee was leaning in with Reeve, and they looked up with shock.

"Sephiroth," Reeve breathed, and everyone turned to him. Even Tifa slowly looked over, only Cloud staring down at the picture still. "They're going to try and revive Sephiroth," he said, and everyone was lost in a sea of noise.

Bee took the report into her lap, looking at the pictures and diagrams and reading over certain things as everyone else panicked. At the report's moving, Cloud looked up with a snapping of the head, his eyes blank. Tifa was afraid for him and unsure of what to do. "Cloud?" the brunette asked apprehensively.

"They're going to bring him back," he said blankly. "Not again."

Cid and Barret exchanged a look and even Reeve was frowning.

"So we have to stop them before they do," Tifa said with a nod, and Cloud nodded faintly.

"They can't get that briefcase," Nanaki said to the group.

A smile slid onto Bee's face. "Oh they can get the briefcase," she said, and Elena nodded, picking up the direction she was going.

"They just can't get what's inside the briefcase," Elena said, continuously nodding.

"We have to fool them," Bee said with a grin.

Cloud nodded his agreement, echoing her. "We have to fool them."

A/N: So after an insanely long wait heres another chapter...very sorry I'm much ahead of this now but with starting college and everything I barely have time for this. So I'm uploading multiple chapters now!

Anyway, lots going on! The baby is born, the meeting is set, and Project: Resurrection is revealed. Hojo is alive, Sephiroth is getting brought back and everything is a hot mess. Gotta love it.

Thanks to all the reviewers, we've broken 400 reviews now whoo! Thanks for sticking with the story after all this time, hope I don't disappoint.