Note : Some of you may have notice that the title to chapter one is 'Hard Day's Night'. It's an old Beatles song, which means it's owned by…Michael Jackson?!.… At least that's what someone told me, any ways. It's all covered in the Prologue, so read it before you sue.

Forced Evolution:

Inside The Plate

Enveloped in the too bright light of still burning flares, listening to the monotonous hissing that these light sources produced, Cloud winced as his eyes adjusted. Behind him, the sleep deprived Cid and Yuffie colorfully protested the abrupt change in lighting as they made their entrance.

Gray flooring and walls lent the interior of this building the air of a garage, or perhaps an empty warehouse. Whatever it may have once served as, there was no way to tell now; the crew that had cleaned out the building had been thorough. Only the large, lopsided pile of rubble in the northwest corner served as decoration.

It also had a definite echo, Cloud noticed, as Vincent's light footfalls reverberated around them. That wasn't very important at the moment, however, considering the fact that Vincent had just broken rank; an action that he was not in the habit of performing. "Vincent, what are you doing?"

Apparently ignoring Cloud and the others at the moment, Vincent continued, stopping a few feet to the left of the heap, before a dark, square shaped hole in the ground. He looked down and scuffed his boots across the floor in front of him. "Shinra."

"What?" Cloud asked, frowning as Nanaki also broke rank, padding to Vincent's side.

The former Turk did not reply. Instead he kneeled down, onto the dust covered floor, his clawed hand resting on his knee and his human hand brushing the ground before him.

" Shinra-04-012L." Nanaki read aloud for the benefit of the others as he stopped beside his kneeling comrade, watching him. "Do you know what this means, Vincent?"

Vincent was silent, looking back towards the others disinterestedly, which they had come to know as his way of signaling that it was safe to approach. Once surrounded by his companions, he began. "In my time, the plates of Midgar had yet to be built…. But they were planning them. Shinra needed space for some of their more… involved… experiments…."

"So they decided that they would put hidden labs inside the plates?" Cloud asked, surprised. After all, the morose man before them had not just given what amounted to a speech considering how quiet he was, but had also revealed a little something about himself, miniscule as it was. "So there's a lab down there?" He asked, fishing a flashlight out of one of his pockets.

Tifa was quicker than him however, and a cone of artificial light illuminated the darkness, revealing a long stairway that disappeared into shadow. "Where are the bodies that your men found, Red?"

Cloud turned, as though suddenly noticing the distinct lack of cadavers in the vicinity.

"Aw, who gives a flyin'-" Cid began, only to be cut off by Nanaki.

"Those easily reached have already been collected." The canine/feline-like creature supplied, flashing Cid a warning look as he did so. "By people with enough sense to feel compassion for the dead."

Cid scowled at the four legged creature before him, despite the fact that Nanaki's attention now seemed to be elsewhere. "Shit. Hey, I didn't-"

"Guys," Yuffie rubbed her eyes, whipping the sleep from them. "Shouldn't we be following Vinnie and Tifa?"

"Huh?" Cloud turned back from the now one-sided exchange, to find Nanaki standing on the steps, observing the happenings below. Further down, illuminated by the backsplash of her flashlight was Tifa, only the top of her head visible due to the stairway's sharp decline. He couldn't see Vincent. "Tifa, where is he?"

"He's down at the bottom," she called, looking up towards the rest of Avalanche briefly before turning back around. "I think it's safe; he hasn't told me to go back yet."

Cloud sighed and nodded his head, which Nanaki took as a signal to follow his wayward peers. Looking over his shoulder to find Cid and Yuffie both staring at him with sleepy disinterest, he frowned. "Alright, let's go."

-------

"Hey," Karae greeted, coming upon a lone teenage boy with sandy blond hair, "you're Jeremy, right?"

The kid jumped slightly, apparently not used to being singled out. "Uh, yeah."

"Do you recognize me?"

Jeremy thought for a moment. "Yeah, you that freak's partner, right?"

"No, I'm Vincent's co-leader," she corrected, suddenly remembering why she hated most teenagers with a fiery passion. "Name's Karae."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," she mimicked. "Look, does Nanaki have a bullhorn or something around here?"

He was looked at her strangely. "Why?"

'Goddamn little shit,' she thought. "Because I would like to use one, if there are any around." Karae explained, trying not to smack the boy upside the head.

"Nah, there aren't any 'round here," he answered, smiling. "Why would there be; Nanaki can't use 'em."

"Well," she said, beginning to lose her patience, "you could hold it for him."

A blank stare and an indifferent shrug was his reply.

"Okay…." Karae sighed, forcing herself to look away from the boy. "I need you to go around, tell everyone to go back to base, and inform first shift that they're off duty until further notice." She paused for a moment. "When they wake up, I mean."

He just stood there, staring at her profile.

"Now!" She yelled, face turning red in anger.

Startled, Jeremy ran off. Hopefully he would remember to complete his assignment. If he didn't, Karae mused, his ass might soon become decorated with the tread of her boots.

------

The artificial beams of light emanating from the flashlights carried by Tifa, Cloud, and Yuffie revealed little as they cut through the pervasive darkness inside the tunnel. It was too dark here for either Nanaki or Vincent to see on their own, forcing them to stay within speaking range of the rest of Avalanche, something Cloud was grateful for. Occasionally however, Nanaki would wander off, following his superior sense of smell, only to return with the news of a freshly discovered body.

"Let me guess, ya found another one." Cid predicted as Nanaki once again returned to the group, his claws ticking against the metal floor.

Nanaki shook his head, the beads braided into his mane clacking together softly. "This hall branches off shortly into three rooms further up. They have electricity."

"Uh-Uh. No way. We turned all the reactors off, remember?" Yuffie protested, the beam from the flashlight she held falling into the faces of Tifa and Vincent, causing them both to wince.

"Yuffie, be careful with that thing!" Tifa exclaimed, shielding her eyes with her free hand.

Cid snorted. "Ever hear of a backup generator, brat?"

Yuffie ignored him, still focused on Nanaki. "How can you tell, anyways. I mean, are there lights on or something?"

"No, there is…." Nanaki paused, wandering how to describe the sounds of flowing electricity to the teenager. "There is a buzzing sound emanating from the walls. It's rather hard to describe."

"Well, let's get moving," Cloud commanded. "The sooner this is over, the sooner you two can go back to bed." He directed at Cid and Yuffie, trying to cut off any further arguments.

"Promise?" Yuffie asked suspiciously.

Cloud sighed. "Yes, I promise."

"Really, truly, honestly--"

"Yuffie, leave the fuckin' man alone 'fore he changes his mind!" Cid hollered, already following the trio of Nanaki, Tifa, and Vincent further into the tunnel.

"Shut up, Ci--" Yuffie halted in mid-yell as she noticed the others walking away. "Hey, wait for us!"

"I should have stayed in bed," Cloud muttered, following the now sprinting Yuffie at a more sedate pace.

-------

"Are you Karae?"

She turned to look at the man who had so rudely interrupted the conversation she was having with yet another group of workers. A few inches taller than her, with a muscular build, a flat face, brown eyes, and balding, sandy blond hair. All in all, she had a fairly good idea who he was. "You're Jeremy's dad." A statement, not a question. The man had the same look on his face that her father wore whenever he felt that she had been unfairly treated.

"Yeah," he confirmed, and Karae suddenly realized where Jeremy had picked up his annoying habit. "Just wonderin' why you felt the need to embarrass my son like you did."

"Sir--"

"He's a sensitive boy."

"Let me fini--"

"You don't know him, and you're a kid yourself so--"

"Sir, please. Be quiet." She watched him for a moment, feeling the several members of the group behind her shift nervously. "Now, will you please let me finish my sentences before responding?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. First off, I had no idea that I had embarrassed you son. I had given him an order to which he failed to respond to, so yes, I snapped at him. I'll apologize later, if you feel I need to."

"Yeah, okay."

"Secondly, you're son isn't as sensitive to others as he himself is, considering that he insulted not only my co-leader-- but your own as well-- to my face."

Jeremy's father frowned darkly. "Yeah, he did that?"

"Yes, he did. My third point is that while I do admit to being young, I am at least eight years older than your son, who doesn't look to be a day over sixteen."

"Yeah, he's fifteen."

"Alright then, nine years. Final point: Even if I wasn't a legal adult, I am still his superior, and I along with the other team leaders expect to be treated with some measure of respect. Your son failed to give that respect to not one, but three of us; and all within the space of five minutes. Now, are we clear?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think I should apologize?"

"No, ma'am."

------

True to Nanaki's word, the hallway did divide into three separate corridors. Instead of splitting the group up into pairs of two like he normally would have, Cloud decided to keep everyone together, as he didn't think he could handle anymore of Yuffie's whining at the moment. In her current mood, Yuffie would have complained no matter who she was paired with. Going from left to right, they had found the first two doors were electronically locked. Now the six members of Avalanche stood before the third door; which was thankfully equipped with nothing more than an average doorknob.

Cid snorted. "Watch. It's gonna be a fuckin' maintenance closet. Just watch."

"If we have to bust these doors down, I'm gonna puke." Yuffie sulked, leaning against Tifa as she tried to stay awake.

Cloud smiled in relief as the door before him opened. Listening to Yuffie's perpetually whining voice and Cid's nonstop negativity as they echoing through the halls had given him a headache; and the noise that they would have made breaking the metal doors down would have upgraded it to a migraine. "Don't worry, Yuffie. It's open."

"It's a closet, isn't it?" Cid grumbled, unable to see the door from behind Vincent.

"When's the last time you saw a closet that opened inwards?" Cloud asked rhetorically. He entered the room with his flashlight in hand, finding the room to be lightly illuminated by the soft glow from several computers. "Now…if I were a light switch, where would I be?"

"Perhaps by the door." Vincent muttered softly, flicking the switch beside Cloud as he entered.

Cloud chuckled softly, turning off his flashlight. "Oh. Thanks, Vincent."

"So many computers," Tifa mused, inspecting each one individually. "I wonder what they were doing down he--" She stopped, staring at a particularly large computer monitor. "Cloud, come here."

"What is it, Tif?" He said, the rest of Avalanche following at a short distance behind.

"Do those…" she asked him as he drew near enough to view the screen before her, pointing at it for clarity. "Do those look like the containment units that where in the Mt. Nibel Reactor to you?"