A circular platform awaited Cloud and Tifa at the top. The floor consisted of a metal grill and in the middle of the platform was the central structure, its surface covered in computer interfaces and other technological machines flashing and beeping away incessantly.

Barret was shooting madly at a helicopter that was hovering above them, each one returning fire at the other. Upon sensing company, he whizzed around on the spot.

"Tifa! Cloud!" he yelled. "You came! Be careful! They're attacking from the helicopter."

"Better equip ourselves before they attack in full force," Tifa advised.

Cloud made sure that his sword and accessories were equipped with the right materia and readied himself into a battle-worthy fighting stance, his sword poised.

"Here they come!" she warned as she prepared her fists for the impending battle.

The helicopter ceased firing and lowered itself towards the platform. They watched as a scrawny man with wild auburn-coloured hair dressed in an ill-fitting navy business suit jumped from the helicopter door, landing on the platform in front of them.

Cloud recognised him as the man at the church who seemed to be overly interested in Aeris. He always knew something was off about him.

The man ran, quick as a flash, to the computer terminal that had been planted on the central structure.

"You're too late," he yelled. "Once I push this button…"

They had no time to react. The button beeped ominously as he pressed it.

"That's all, folks!" the smarmy suited man stated proudly. "Mission accomplished."

"We have to disarm it!" yelled Tifa. "Cloud! Barret! Please!"

"I can't have you do that," the man replied. "No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks…"

Cloud might have known he was one of them. They were a subdivision of Shinra and they were known to be brutal. He couldn't stop thinking about what a Turk would want with Aeris. Even though she had proved her worth in the battles back in the slums, he still worried about her and could sense a vulnerability within her.

Suddenly, Reno attacked. His attacks were serpent-like, quick as lightning. He wasn't a powerful fighter by any means but his agility was astounding, leaving them with very little time to counter his assaults.

Tifa was just about to cast a fire spell on him when he refuted her attack with an unusual spell of his own. A bright red ring floated towards her before expanding and morphing into a lucid, gold pyramid, completely encasing her.

"Try and break it if you can," he said.

Tifa tried punching her way out of it but it was no use. The pyramid didn't even quiver. Cloud began slashing at the walls of the strange force field and was relieved when it disappeared. If that was Reno's party trick then he needed to try a bit harder.

As if being able to hear his thoughts, Reno unleashed a powerful attack on Cloud, sending jolts of electricity through his body. His arms and legs shook and his head felt like it was about to explode, but he held his composure. Once his muscles stopped contracting Cloud countered the attack with his limit break, cutting into Reno's flesh like butter and tearing his skin to shreds. Reno let out a howl of pain before jumping back and unleashing a bolt spell on him.

Can't take… much… more thought Cloud as he braced his body for the jolt of lightning that tore through him. He heard a familiar barrage of gunfire and opened his eyes to see Reno being pummelled with bullets. The man backed away, knowing that messing with AVALANCHE was a mistake.

"It's time," he stated before running across the platform, almost knocking Tifa off her feet in the process and jumping over the ledge into the helicopter that was hovering just below them.

Brushing herself off, Tifa ran to the panel of computers and started jamming on the buttons erratically.

"Cloud!" she wailed. "I don't know how to stop this! You try it!"

She stepped aside so that Cloud could inspect it.

"It's not a normal time bomb," he stated, a defeated tone to his voice. He'd dealt with bombs of many a kind in his career in SOLDIER but this one would be almost impossible to disarm.

The helicopter that Reno had jumped into just seconds before hovered upwards so that Cloud, Tifa and Barret were level with its occupants. A man with long black hair and a pristine business suit was standing at the door of the helicopter.

"That's right. You'll have a hard time disarming that one," he declared. "It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it."

"Please, stop it!" Tifa pleaded.

The conceited man simply laughed at her as if she was nothing but a bug on the bottom of his shoe.

"Only a Shinra Executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System."

"Shut yer hole!" yelled Barret. He pointed his gun arm at the aircraft and began shooting at it. He'd shoot it down if he had to.

"I wouldn't try that…" the man said coolly. "You just might make me injure our special guest."

Cloud gasped. Aeris was kneeling in the doorway, her head turned downwards as if she was unconscious. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked up. Her face still emanated warmth even though she must have been scared out of her mind.

"Aeris!" Tifa cried.

"Oh, you know each other? How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me."

"What are you gonna do with Aeris!?" shouted Cloud, feeling some sort of powerful emotion well up inside his chest.

"I haven't decided," he replied. "Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It's taken us a long time but now I can finally report this to the President."

Aeris leaned forward with a smile on her face.

"Tifa, don't worry!" she said exuberantly. "She's all right!"

Her captor, evidently enraged by her positive attitude, slapped her hard across the face.

"Aeris!" Tifa wailed.

"Hurry and get out!" Aeris responded, the man's vicious act doing nothing to dampen the girl's spirits.

He simply laughed as though this was all just a big game. It didn't matter that people would be killed and lives would be ruined.

"Well, it should be starting right about now. Think you can escape in time?"

The helicopter rose into the air just as the plate began to collapse. Cloud's body shook as the platform began to shake under his feet. Loud booms and cracks reverberated through the air as explosions tore through the metal pillars that were holding the plate up.

Barret ran to the edge of the platform and grabbed a wire that was dangling just within reach.

"Yo, we can use this wire to get out!" he exclaimed.

With no time to lose, they latched themselves onto the wire and swung off the top of the platform just as the pillar they were standing on gave way. Explosions ripped through the air and heat pounded at his skin like flaming fists as they wove through the smoke and dust, hanging on to a thin piece of wire that could snap at any moment. They had to make a difficult choice if they wanted to live.

At least they had a choice…

Marvellous, thought President Shinra as he looked out over Midgar, towards the fireball sweeping through Sector 7. Were all those deaths worth it? Oh yes. Besides, it was because of AVALANCHE that so many lives were needlessly lost. He was merely a victim just like the people of the slums. This was his city and those were his people. He couldn't count on the Mayor to support his people, so he had no choice but to resort to drastic measures and set that up that petulant group. AVALANCHE had a lot to answer for, and now they had finally got their comeuppance.

To be continued…