It was dark.

Garrison turned off the lights before he and Erin left the basement, leaving them in a pitch blackness that somehow tumbled around her, as though she'd drunk too much liquor and passed out on the floor. Tifa knew the feeling all too well, the fire in her veins taking her back to long nights travelling by foot and the dangers they posed. Poison was something she'd experienced before.

A Ringmaw attack came to mind as she floated in the darkness. She was ill-prepared when it caught her; the venom spewed from its gory jaws and boiled through her body like acid. With her friends caught up in the fray, she writhed on the ground for precious minutes as the poison took hold. The antidote brought instant relief when it finally came, Cloud administering the medication with concern clear in his eyes.

This time there was no antidote, and no Cloud to stroke her hair and hold her hand. This time she was on her own.

She blinked slowly and fought against the bile in her throat. This poison wasn't so bad, she reasoned, trying to find the energy to move. Its effects came in waves, making her head spin and her limbs weak. She suspected the bullet that grazed her arm when they abducted her was the source.

She put on a show of weakness, mewling and crying for the camera whilst Erin stood over her and gloated. Her plan worked. They didn't bind her wrists or feet, believing she wasn't a threat. Her eyes slipped shut, and the landscape spun again.

Though not completely incapacitated, she'd be hard-pressed to fight anybody in her current condition. They were right, Tifa wasn't a threat, but she knew somebody who was.

The spinning feeling subsided, and she took full advantage, dragging herself onto her hands and knees. Pain raged through her left arm as some sense of clarity returned. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, her surroundings filtered through and forced her to focus.

"Tifa?"

"Hold on," she said, waiting for nausea to subside.

Elena's voice was hoarse, punctuated by her erratic breathing. "You okay?"

Tifa crawled across the floor, the movement painfully slow. She was losing blood, she could feel the liquid chill on her bicep and putting weight on her arm was impossible. She held it to her chest and awkwardly made her way to Elena's side.

"You had me worried for a minute there," Elena said.

Tifa could just about see her silhouette in the gloom.

"We need light," she said.

"There's a switch to the left of the door. Ten metres… dead ahead. Think you can make it?"

"Yeah…"

"Grab the lights and see if you can find something to cut these ropes. I can't feel my hands."

Tifa tried to imagine the layout of the room. The darkness shuddered and tipped around her. She didn't know which direction the door was in.

"It's okay," said Elena, correctly interpreting her hesitation. "I'm facing the door."

Head spinning, Tifa braced her hands against Elena's thighs, too disoriented to feel awkward about the contact. She repositioned herself, her bearings a little easier to find with Elena to guide her.

"That's it… it should be straight ahead of you."

Tifa crawled forwards. The concrete felt gritty beneath her hands. Something rolled away from her in the dark, rattling across the floor. She could see the faint outline of the door where light from the corridor beyond spilt through. Squinting at it made her head hurt. She reached for it, pressing her palms against the smooth surface and leaning heavily against it as she tried to stand. The darkness lurched violently, almost taking her with it.

Holding the handle for support, she searched desperately for the light switch. Her fingers caught and she flipped it, flooding the room with light. Her pupils screamed. She threw her hands up instinctively; the poison sent her senses into overdrive and everything hurt.

She watched Elena blinking slowly as her eyes adjusted to the light. Bruises stood out sharply against her pallid skin, blood congealing around a split in her lip and the whites of her eyes bloodshot and watery. There was blood in her hair too, staining the blonde strands red. Tifa might've suspected tears, but the grim set of her mouth told a different story. Anger radiated from her.

"I don't know how much time we have," said Elena. "Check the crates… there's got to be something we can use."

There were tall shelves against the walls, filled with wooden boxes and years of detritus. The boxes were mostly broken and looked empty. Using the shelves to support her, Tifa searched through the debris, looking for anything that might help them get out of the room.

The first few boxes she checked turned up nothing, lids prised open and cast aside, contents stripped long ago. Large tins on another shelf had rusted bottoms and were surrounded by cracked and peeling puddles of orange paint.

Behind one tin was a rusty screwdriver, glued to the shelf by a pool of paint. Tifa tugged at it, shimmying it back and forth until it peeled away from the shelf. Clutching the tool in her hand, she carried on checking the crates. The rest of her search yielded nothing.

She was about to make her way back to Elena when she noticed a bottle upended on the floor. That must've been what she knocked away when she crawled to the door. Stooping to pick it up, she lost her balance and landed heavily on her knees. The screwdriver rolled away from her hand.

"You okay?" said Elena.

"Yeah," she gritted out, flexing her joints gingerly.

It took a few moments for the world to stop spinning. Tifa retrieved the screwdriver and the bottle, crawling back to Elena's chair. Her hands were filthy, and the shredded skin on her palms stung. She hefted the bottle in her hand and smashed it against the concrete.

"That should do it," said Elena, smiling weakly.

Tifa picked up one of the larger shards and dug it under the rope that bound Elena's arm to the chair. The cord cut into her wrist, and Tifa struggled at first to get the jagged piece of glass beneath it. It took a lot of sawing to snap through. Elena wiggled her fingers when it finally broke.

She winced. "Goddamn pins and needles."

Tifa turned to the other wrist, her eyes fixing on the gory stump where Elena was missing her ring finger. Blood oozed from the wound.

This time it wasn't the poison that sent her head spinning.

"Be careful," Elena gritted out. "I think the tie's acting like a tourniquet. When you cut it, it's gonna bleed like a bitch."

"Elena…"

"It's fine." Her voice suggested otherwise.

"I need something to use as a bandage."

Tifa's eyes landed on Elena's tie, and she reached for the knot

"Don't worry, I've got it."

Elena pulled it loose with her good hand and tugged it free from her collar. Her forehead was clammy and the tension in her jaw was a stark contrast to her somewhat breezy demeanour. She was determinedly holding herself together; Tifa suspected she was in shock. She took the tie from her unresisting hand and wrapped it across the stump, pressing the length into Elena's palm.

"Hold this… I'll tie it properly as soon as I've cut the rope."

Elena curled her remaining fingers around the silk, gritting her teeth. Tifa felt another wave of dizziness roil through her and swallowed hard, her grasp on reality blurring a little at the edges. She swayed slightly, grasping the arm of the chair to steady herself.

"You okay?"

She twisted her body, showing Elena the bloody wound on her arm. It glistened wetly.

"Got caught by a bullet. I think it was poisoned. I'll be okay."

"Good." Elena's expression was giddy now, her grin a little too manic. "You can't die. Reno would fucking kill me."

Tifa smiled weakly. "You're not dying on me either."

"Deal."

Tifa sawed at the ties, careful not to move Elena's injured hand too much or catch her skin with the glass. It took a lot of effort, and in such close quarters, she could hear every painful inhalation.

"Sorry," she said, as Elena hissed and grit her teeth again.

"Don't worry about it. I've had way worse injuries than this."

Privately, Tifa didn't agree. This wasn't an injury. It was torture, designed to bring the others running into danger. Tseng would come for Elena, Tifa knew he would. Tensions were already running high, and these people were dangerous. A rescue attempt would play straight into their hands, and Tifa already knew how it would play out.

A part of her cried out for Reno, but she knew the desire was futile. She wouldn't let him run headfirst into danger.

"You're a lot calmer than I would be," Tifa admitted, as the ropes finally fell apart.

"I fell through a glass roof once. Landed on some kind of metal railing or something." Elena grunted, her fingers twitching. "It went straight through my thigh."

Tifa tugged the ends of the tie from Elena's palm, holding it in place with one hand whilst she busied the other wrapping it around her fingers and wrist. It wasn't a sophisticated bandage but would have to do. She pulled it as tight as she dared.

"That's kind of horrible," she said.

"You should see the scar."

Tifa smiled. "You can show me when we get out of here."

"Oh yeah? We'll go out. I'll put on a tiny skirt and get horrendously drunk. It'll be awesome."

"That sounds like a plan."

"That was a pretty convincing performance," said Elena, referring back to Tifa's prior theatrics. "Even I thought you were a goner."

The sweat on Tifa's skin made her shiver. She began work on the ties around Elena's ankles, fighting against the rising dizziness. Maybe it was a performance, but the poison wasn't going anywhere and its draining effects were making themselves felt.

"I can't believe it worked," she said.

"You're smart." Elena stood up unsteadily as the last of the ties fell away. "You don't look great though. No offence."

"I don't feel great."

"I guess I should check the door. You never know, right?"

Elena headed to the door and tried the handle. Muttering to herself, she turned her attention to shelves instead. Tifa leaned on the chair, watching as she methodically made her way around the room, rooting through crates and casting the rubbish aside.

"I think we could be in the old Shinra building," said Elena, brushing dust off a pile of smashed up crates in the corner. "See? This is all ours. Looks like a storage room or something."

She pointed at the black logo branded into the wood. Tifa recognised them from her visits to Shinra's base in the past, when Avalanche and the Turks weren't so friendly with each other.

"Elena… the video..."

They'd see it and come running.

"I know." She swung the beam of light upwards, scanning the ceiling.

Tifa couldn't stop the worry biting at her, as the room spun again and her hands started shaking.

"They're walking straight into a trap."

"All the more reason for us to get out of here, right?" Elena stared at the ceiling. "Bingo."

Tifa stared at the hatch. It was high above them, but she knew from personal experience that the air-ducts could easily accommodate a person. Elena grinned. There was a shelving unit against the wall and she pushed it experimentally.

"I'm gonna need your help."

Tifa nodded and forced herself into a crouch. The weakness in her limbs was overwhelming. She braced against the chair and dragged herself to her feet. The blood rush threw her. She swayed, the room slanting sharply sideways, and an arm slipped around her torso, steadying her.

"I've got you."

"I'm fine," Tifa protested, leaning heavily on Elena.

"Hand me that screwdriver… Did I mention I've been poisoned before too?"

Tifa shook her head as Elena helped her over to the wall.

"Yup… I know exactly how shit you're feeling," said Elena. "Rude got poisoned once. Laid him out for a week. So less of that 'I'm fine' bullshit. You don't need to put a brave face on for me."

"So we've established we're both fine." Tifa raised her eyebrows, highlighting the sarcasm in her voice.

"You've been spending way too much time with Reno."

Tifa stumbled at that, unable to find a suitable response. Elena grinned back at her.

"Come on," said Elena. "This thing won't move on its own."

Tifa braced her hands against the metal, and Elena took up position beside her. The Turk was favouring her good hand, the tie still firmly in place, and Tifa noted her gasp of pain when she pushed against the unit. With a tortured screech, the shelves moved inch by inch, until they were positioned below the hatch in the ceiling.

The exertion cost her, and Tifa leaned back against them, sweat trickling down her neck.

"Do you think anybody heard that?" she asked, struggling to catch her breath.

"Probably." Elena's eyes narrowed. "Let them come. We're overdue a little catch-up."

Tifa peered up at the hatch. "I don't think I'm going to make it up there."

Standing was hard enough without having to climb. She watched Elena jam the screwdriver into the waistband of her trousers.

"No sweat." Elena planted her foot firmly on the first shelf, testing its strength. "You wait here. This won't take long."

The shelving shivered slightly as she made her way up it, climbing nimbly to the top. Tifa held on to it, trying to keep it steady. Dust floated down around her, making her eyes and throat itch. Elena stood on her tip-toes on the top shelf and got her fingers to the hatch, unhooking it and casting it aside.

It clattered to the ground. Fingers clutching tightly to the sides of the opening, she pulled herself up into the air vent. Her pained cry set Tifa's nerves on edge. She managed it though, hooking her elbows through the opening and scrabbling to get the rest of her body through the hatch.

"I'll be right back," she called down to Tifa, as her foot disappeared into the darkness above. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Reassured that Elena made it into the vent in one piece, Tifa allowed herself to slide down the shelves and crumple on the floor. Moving them took it out of her, and she reluctantly accepted that maybe the poison wasn't as dismissible as she originally thought. Her vision swam, her body burning up as she pressed her cheek to the cold metal at her back.

She carefully slipped her shirt over her head, feeling the chill of the air against her clammy skin. Using her teeth and fingers, she tore a strip of the material off and awkwardly tied it around her arm, pulling it as tight as she could to stem the steady trickle of blood that ran down her bicep and pooled in the crook of her elbow.

Satisfied that the bleeding at least was under control, she closed her eyes and willed the room to stop spinning. She could hear Elena's careful movements in the vent overhead, slowly getting quieter as she made her way further into the ducts.

Tifa pulled her ripped shirt back on.

The urge to cry was overwhelming, a sudden tremble in her eyes that made her cheeks hot. She tried to fight it, as the tears spilt down her face and clung to her eyelashes. Emotions tumbled through her head, sending her into a panic. Hurt, anger, confusion, fear...

She lay in Reno's arms, content to listen to his heartbeat beneath her ear and let his warmth seep into her skin. The afternoon's events were a whirlwind in her head, feeling as though they happened days ago, not hours. Though their initial conversation was stilted, she realised early on that he wouldn't open up to her without a fight. She changed tack, approaching the situation from a less emotionally fraught angle, appealing to the side of him that made her heart race and her toes curl.

He rose to her coy suggestions with gusto, more than happy to oblige. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of it. Her body sang for him and she couldn't stop it; she didn't want to. When he finally admitted to the turmoil in his head it only made her fall harder, fuel for the feelings she realised she didn't want to run from anymore.

The journey back to the bar should've been easy, and she spent much of it trying to plan excuses for her dishevelled appearance and the smile that was a permanent fixture on her face. Distracted, she failed to notice the man following her until it was too late. He attacked, and she fought him off, thoughts of returning to the bar quickly morphing towards a retreat to Reno's place. He'd know what to do.

Then the gun went off, pain scorching through her arm. Unarmed, she couldn't protect herself. They bundled her roughly into the back of the van where Elena was waiting, bound and gagged, and drove them both here.

Tifa balled her fists, rubbing angrily at her eyes. Tears wouldn't help anybody. She planted her hands on the floor and got her feet back underneath her, managing to force herself shakily back into a standing position.

The door rattled for a long moment and opened with a click. Elena stood in the doorway.

"I was right, this is the old Shinra building." She crossed the room quickly, throwing her bad arm back under Tifa's shoulders. "Come on. We can't hang around."

"What's the plan?"

"There's a locker room not too far from here. We stashed supplies there. There might still be some left. Think you can make it?"

Elena had the screwdriver in her hand. The rusty metal glinted. There was blood all over it.

Tifa nodded. "Yeah."

Elena looked at the bloody shank and bared her teeth. "There was a guard outside. I took care of him. Somebody'll notice he's missing, eventually."

Tifa didn't ask what taking care of him meant. The gore on the tool suggested the solution might be permanent. Whatever happened, Elena didn't seem phased by it in the slightest.

"We need to get a message to the others," Tifa said, as they slowly headed from the room.

"We can worry about that later. We need to find you an antidote. I wouldn't say no to a potion either."

"They're planning something. Why else would they bring us here?"

"They don't know who they're messing with," Elena replied confidently. "Trust me."

With Elena's arm slung around her torso, they made their way into the corridor. Tifa fought against the dizziness as the landscape pitched south at an alarming rate. She closed her eyes, leaning against Elena's shoulder, struggling to keep her feet from dragging on the ground.

"Stay with me, okay?" Elena's voice was worried. "It's not far."

The lighting was erratic, half of the fluorescent bulbs missing or smashed overhead. Tifa could feel the grit of broken glass beneath her heels as they headed further out. The walls here were mostly whole, although she could see long cracks in places and there were piles of debris dotted around, dislodged from the ceiling above them. She held her hand out, trailing her fingers across the orange accent on the walls.

She remembered this. The oppressiveness of the walls bore down on her just as it did the first time, her footsteps echoing on the tiled floor. Now the building smelt of mould and stale air, split water pipes and dusty rubble. How different the circumstances were.

"Where are we heading?"

"This is B1… We need B3. Two floors down."

Tifa nodded. Elena flexed her wounded hand carefully and grimaced.

"Aches like a bitch," she complained, repositioning her arm around Tifa slightly. "There's a stairwell at the end of this corridor. Don't want to risk the lifts. It'll draw too much attention. I doubt they're working. They were pretty dodgy when we came back after… well… after everything."

They made it another couple of metres along the corridor. Tifa swallowed back the bile in her throat. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably now, and she could feel the sweat clinging to the small of her back and crawling across her chest.

A door clattered shut in the distance. They stumbled to a halt.

"Okay…" Elena murmured. "That's not what I wanted to hear."

"Is that where we need to be?"

"Yeah." She glanced back along the corridor. "There're other stairwells, but… it's a long way to walk."

On her own, Elena would have no problem. Tifa was getting in the way.

"Oh no," Elena said before she argued. "Don't even think about it."

"You'd get there quicker by yourself."

"We're sticking together." She grinned. "If I rescue you, I've got leverage."

"Leverage against who?"

"Reno." She slipped her arm out from under Tifa's. "You don't understand how many bets I've lost. This'll get me out of paperwork for months."

Footsteps were approaching now. Elena glanced around, eyes snagging on a door a few paces ahead of them. She tried the handle, and it swung open.

"We need a distraction. If I had to guess, I'd say we're more use to them alive," she said, looking back along the corridor. "So I'm pretty sure they won't shoot on sight."

"Right…" Tifa didn't like where this was going.

"Can you fight?"

Tifa shook her head. The room was spinning again, the weakness in her knees already threatening to take her down.

"Wait here."

"What?"

"Trust me." Elena's smirk suddenly looked a lot less friendly. "I'm a professional."

Elena disappeared through the open door, pulling it closed behind her. Tifa could see the sliver of darkness where it didn't quite click shut.

She staggered as her knees gave way, her injured arm colliding with the wall. Pain surged through her, zinging through her nerves and making her fingers curl into her palm. She was still leaning on the wall and trying to get her bearings when two men walked around the corner ahead of her. Their casual pace increased the second they laid eyes on her, and she watched them approach through watering eyes.

"Hey! Stay where you are!"

Tifa tried to run. Her legs felt like lead, anchored to the ground.

"I said, stay where you are!"

Great, she thought, turning to face them. They were both taller than her and one held a rifle in his hands. Swaying, Tifa balled her hands into fists and tried to keep her guard up.

The world spun slowly. She teetered on the balls of her feet.

"How the hell did you get out?" The man without the gun lunged, hands outstretched.

Tifa lashed out, the heel of her hand catching him under the chin whilst her foot connected with his stomach. He spluttered and groaned. Tifa staggered.

"Fucking bitch!"

The man with the gun swung it at her. She ducked, misjudging the distance as the floor came hurtling up to meet her. She rolled out of the way just as the butt of the rifle smashed into the floor. As the darkness encroached on the edge of her version, she braced herself, curling into a ball, and waited for the inevitable pain.

It didn't come. A strangled cry turned into a wet gurgle and the man hit the ground. Rough hands grabbed her arms and pain screamed through her bicep. She kicked out blindly and her boot connected with something soft.

His howl was cut off by a sharp crack. Tifa rolled onto all fours and tried not to be sick. There was blood everywhere. She jerked her hand out of the way of the rapidly spreading puddle.

"Thought you said you couldn't fight?" Elena dragged her back onto her feet.

Tifa's eyes widened as she surveyed the carnage. Blood ran down one of the prone men's faces, his eyes closed as though he was asleep, a graze at his temple the source of the bleeding. The other's mouth was twisted open, a jagged wound in his throat spilling more blood across the floor.

Elena cleaned the screwdriver off on her trousers and slipped it back into her waistband. She hefted the stolen rifle in her hands and offered Tifa her arm again.

"Best not to think too hard about it," Elena said, as they carried on along the corridor. "It's just a job."

Tifa didn't reply. She didn't know what to say.

"I mean… it's not…" Elena continued, filling in the silence. "It's actually kinda crappy when you really think about it all. But it's us or them, you know?"

"Yeah…"

"Some things are more important than keeping your moral compass ticking over."

They carried on in silence after that. Tifa tried not to picture the gory scene they left behind. She wasn't naïve; the Turks reputation preceded them for a reason. It was just witnessing it first-hand that she wasn't prepared for.

She knew Reno killed people. Not just the plate, although that shadow would always be there. The victims of Sector Seven were nameless… There would always be others though. Individuals. Faces he remembered... bad things he did.

It's just a job…

The side she saw of him surprised her, gentler than she gave him credit. The vulnerability she witnessed through the cracks made him more human. It melted her heart until all she could see was the man before her, losing herself in warm arms and blue eyes.

Barret would call her a fool, and maybe she was. Suddenly, she didn't care.

"I really like Reno," she said, as they struggled down the first set of stairs.

Elena stopped walking for a moment, tilting her head with resignation clear in her expression. "You're gonna do this now, huh?"

"No. I just…"

"Getting it off your chest?"

"Yeah."

"I guess he has his moments," she said, as they turned the corner. "What happened to ''I made a mistake'?"

Tifa could feel the heat rising in her face, and this time it was nothing to do with the poison.

"I might've made it again," she mumbled.

Elena smirked. "Yeah, I bet you did."

"He'll come after me, won't he?"

"You bet he will."

Tifa steadied herself against the handrail. "I can't… He'll get hurt."

Elena's expression softened.

"Two things I know about Reno… One, he's hard to catch." She kicked a chunk of rubble aside and it clattered down the stairs. "And two, he'll probably enjoy it."

Tifa smiled despite the situation. They continued in companionable silence.

They headed out of the stairwell. There was a lot more rubble now, and it was tough going. The corridor was partially blocked where the ceiling collapsed, and Elena had to slip out from Tifa's side to navigate the gap. Slipping the strap of the rifle around her neck, she held both hands out and helped Tifa through. Her boots scuffed against the fallen masonry, sending clouds of dust and grit floating through the air.

"We never made it this far," said Elena, once Tifa scrabbled through the debris. "We didn't think you could still get down here."

"Is it safe?"

"Safer than waiting around back there, I guess."

Elena stopped to examine a metal plaque on the wall, tracing her fingers over the letters on the rusted surface. B3: ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH.

"Is this it?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah," she replied slowly, still staring at the plaque. "It's just down this corridor."

When they reached their destination, the door was open. Elena frowned.

"That's not good..."

Inside the room the lockers were hanging open, the dented doors suggesting crow-bars were used to gain access. The dusty shelves were empty. Tifa stared around the room, heart sinking, taking in the sparse offerings. A black suit jacket hung on a coat rack, coated in grime, and scuffed footsteps littered the floor.

"Looks like all the good stuff's gone," said Elena, dragging her finger through the filth on an empty shelf. "That's okay though. That's not what we're here for."

"It's not?"

"Nope. Come on."

They headed further into the room, past row after row of coat hooks and lockers. The facilities were large enough to support a much larger workforce than the four Turks, and Tifa remembered Reno's previous admission. They used to be a much larger department before they were forced to disband.

"We kept most of the good stuff upstairs," Elena explained, as they reached the back of the room. "But Tseng always insisted we keep a little something down here in case of emergencies."

They were standing in front of a large safe. There was a keypad on the heavy door next to some kind of scanner. Red lights flashed away, suggesting an active power connection. Scratches on the metal showed looters attempted to gain access but were out of luck.

"Can you open it?"

"Hope so."

Elena pressed the index finger of her wounded hand to the scanner. The lights turned green. She tapped in a sequence of numbers on the keypad and a heavy click sounded. With relief etched on her face, she pulled the handle. Rust made it squeal, and it took a lot of manoeuvring before it finally came free. The door swung open slowly, revealing neat rows of supplies inside.

"Jackpot," said Elena, beginning to rifle through them. "Fingers crossed some of this stuff's still in-date."

Potions and healing items degraded over time, becoming toxic once they surpassed their shelf-life. Elena studied each packet and sachet, cursing under her breath, throwing the useless ones on the floor behind her. The pile rapidly grew as she got further into the safe.

"Got one!"

She held her hand up, grinning triumphantly. In her hand was a green sachet Tifa recognised. Elena ripped the top off it with her teeth and handed it to her.

"Looks like a lot of this stuff is about to expire. We got lucky."

Tifa squeezed contents of the sachet into her mouth. The gel was sickly sweet and coated her throat when she swallowed. She felt its icy effects instantly as it took effect. The fire in her veins calmed and the room slowly stopped spinning.

"We'll take a few of these," Elena continued, grabbing handfuls of potions and another couple of antidotes from the shelves. "Take a potion now… it'll help with your arm."

Tifa did, watching Elena do the same. Some colour returned to her cheeks, although the bruises still looked painful. Tifa felt her skin tingling as the potion entered her bloodstream, the stimulants and painkillers it contained already starting to take the edge off the burning ache in her arm.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah," Tifa replied, as Elena handed more sachets. "Is there anything else we can use?"

"Some of these Hypers are still good, but I don't like using them…" She tossed the packets aside. "The Phoenix Downs only just expired so they might still work."

"Are you sure we should risk it?"

Elena smiled thinly. "Expiry dates will be the least of your problems if you need one of those."

"Fair point."

"Oh!" She reached further into the safe. "Tseng… you son of a bitch…"

Elena pulled four slim tubes from the recess beneath the shelves, her grin taking on a feral edge. Tifa vaguely recognised the shape of them. Their gold shells bore warning signs in bold black print.

"We call these Swift Bolts," Elena explained, balancing the tubes in her palm. "They don't look like much, but they pack a punch. It's like a grenade but with raw bolt materia inside of it. They fucking hurt if you get caught with one."

"They still work?"

"We'll have to wait and see. I'll keep hold of these. Reckon you can fit some of this gear in your pockets?"

Tifa took the offered sachets and packets and stuffed as many as she could into her skirt. Elena did the same, her blazer giving her an advantage where pockets were concerned.

"Actually, you should take one of these." Elena held out one of the Swift Bolts. "Just in case."

Tifa accepted the tube. "Thanks."

"Things are looking up." She closed the safe and locked the handle back in place. "Now we just need to find a way out of here."

They left the locker room, heading back along the corridor. Elena led her through a set of double doors and into an open-plan room full of cubicles. Tifa took in the scene, surprised at the normality of it all. Computers sat unused at every desk, and filing cabinets lined the walls. A water cooler had long been emptied, tipped on its side and the plastic bottle missing. Elena slowed, her eyes wistful.

"This is so weird. Being back here…"

Tifa followed her down the central walkway. At the back of the room, there were three cubicles that looked a lot less pristine than the others. Pens and balled up paper were scattered on the desks. A pair of sunglasses lay next to a keyboard, surrounded by empty mugs and a discarded plate. One of the cubicles looked neater than the other two, and that was where Elena headed. She sat down on the swivel-chair and checked the power supply to the computer.

"Is this your office?"

"We had to leave pretty quickly once the orders came down… I wonder if this still works." She flipped a switch behind the monitor and the machine booted up. "Huh… Would you look at that?"

Tifa sat down in the cubicle next door. The partition was pulled apart slightly, allowing her to see Elena through the gap. A trail of elastic bands ran between them, the majority piled on Elena's desk. She was staring at the computer screen, fingers a blur as they tapped across the keys.

"That was Reno's great idea," she said, not looking up. "He was so proud of himself when he thought of it."

Tifa picked up an elastic band, stretching it out in her hands. "What are you looking for?"

Elena tapped a key triumphantly and her screen split into sixteen squares, showing various camera feeds. Most of the rectangles were filled with white static.

"Security cameras," she said, pointing at a snowflake-filled box in the top corner. "That would've been the President's suite. Makes sense that the camera there doesn't work. There's hardly any walls…"

"Wait… there're people there." Tifa pointed at a screen in the middle, where movement caught her eye.

"It looks like they've made their base on the fifty-ninth floor. That makes sense… the facilities up there are pretty sweet and there's not much standing above that."

"That's a long way up from here."

"Yeah… Helps us out a bit…" She squinted at one of the feeds. "I think we're about to have company…"

Elena ducked below her desk, fingers tight around the rifle in her hands. Tifa followed suit, barely daring to breathe. She could hear muffled voices in the corridor outside, followed by heavy footsteps. They drew closer. Tifa pressed her body against the cubicle wall.

"This is ridiculous. They could be fucking anywhere," came a man's voice at the other end of the room.

"They're both injured. They can't have gone far."

"You saw what they did to Bell and Wagner."

Tifa thought of the men they left in the corridor. One of them was definitely dead. Nobody could lose that much blood and still be alive.

"I told you this would happen. The blonde's a fucking Turk!"

"I don't like this, man."

Tifa could see Elena through the gap in the partition. She was listening keenly to the conversation.

"I don't see what the point of searching is. Where they gonna go?"

"You heard what Garrison said."

"Yeah but… it's not like they were gonna hand her over anyway… why do we need to find her?"

"You're real dumb, you know that? The boss has got a plan. We're sticking to it."

"But if they turn up to the drop-"

"It's not about the fucking drop. I don't give a shit what happens to Doofus fucking Shinra. We're doing this for Garrison, right? So I don't want to hear any more shit from you. We find them... just like he told us to."

"Whatever man. I just think if the Turks are gonna show up anyway what's the fucking point?"

Silence formed for a moment, broken only by their heavy footsteps. Tifa could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

"Look... Garrison lost everything the day he lost Jenny. He's gonna make them fucking pay. That's why he needs the girls. An eye for an eye. Our buddy deserves that."

"Yeah well… buddy or not, I don't like it."

"Nobody's paying you to like it." The footsteps stopped midway through the room, as did the conversation. "Yeah, I got it… Come on, Jax thinks he's found something upstairs."

Tifa couldn't make sense of what she heard; it sounded as though Garrison and Erin were no longer working towards the same goal. Elena caught her eye, her confused frown suggesting she was thinking the same thing.

When they were sure they were alone, they clambered out from their hiding places. Tifa's fingers brushed against something hard and she picked it up. On further inspection, it turned out to be a yo-yo, lost beneath the desk. She turned the toy over in her hands, curling the yellowing string around her finger.

"That was Reno's," said Elena, the explanation unnecessary. "We need to get going."

Tifa stared at the yo-yo. "An eye for an eye? Reno and Tseng-"

"They can't use us if they can't find us."

Whatever Reno did in the past, it looked as though it was about to catch up with him.