Forced Evolution:

Technical Difficulties

Cloud stared. It was all he was capable of doing at the moment. Eventually, he found himself nodding, eyes still held by the image on the computer monitor. If the containment units on the screen before Tifa weren't the exact same models as the ones in the Mt. Nibel Reactor, then….

Then he didn't know what they were.

"Maybe Shinra had the experiment moved." Tifa postulated, her voice filled with guarded hope.

"They wouldn't bother themselves with that," Cloud stated, acutely aware of the fact that he was playing the roll of devil's advocate. "Nibelheim was under their control, and no ordinary traveler would go off the main pathways. Then there was the Materia Keeper. It would have frightened off or killed anyone that came too close to the Reactor."

From his spot beside Tifa, Cid cleared his throat, studying the computer before her. " You want me to take a look at it?"

Cloud nodded again and motioned for Tifa to move out of Cid's way. After all, Cid was the most technically inclined person in the Avalanche-- if you didn't count Reeve, who was in Junon dismantling the remaining traces of Shinra at the moment.

"Eh, this one's just for security." Cid announced once he had sat down on a previously unnoticed stool. Once he had familiarized himself with the current program running on the computer, he set to work. The sound of clicking became omnipresent, and several view points of the previous room flashed upon the screen. " 'm not a computer geek, so if any type of password shit comes up here, we're screwed."

Cloud had known that was coming. "Just see if you can disengage the locks on the other doors outside."

Cid grunted in frustration as the screen changed, asking for a password. "Now what?"

"Leave it blank," Vincent ordered from behind him.

Cid cast a glance over his shoulder at Vincent before looking to Cloud for guidance.

Cloud, however, had turned his attention to Vincent, watching him from the corner of his eyes. "Why blank?"

"….Hojo was found of mind games."

Yuffie groaned. "Not this again…."

"While I do agree with that," Nanaki argued from his spot on the floor, "we do no know if this laboratory was under the departed scientist's care."

Shrugging, Cloud looked back to Cid. "Try it."

Cid scowled. "You sure, Spike?"

" It's all we have to go on."

"Fine." Cid mumbled. He cursed loudly in surprise when the password was accepted, and the computer began loading another menu.

"How did you know that?" Tifa asked, looking over at Vincent's half covered face.

"I didn't."

"Oh."

Leaning on Tifa once more, Yuffie frowned. "You didn't think he'd give you a straight answer, did you?"

Tifa shrugged slightly, apparently disappointed.

"Alright, I disabled the security system. Now what?" Cid asked, as a faint humming noise emitted from the computer.

Cloud thought for a moment. "Are the doors unlocked?"

Cid nodded.

"See if you can find anything about that room we saw on the monitor."

-------

"Yeah, but I told five of 'em!" Jeremy protested. "I did what you told me to do!"

Karae's left eye twitched. If there had ever been any doubt as to whether or not she was ever going to have children, Jeremy had come along and within the space of one hour, forced her to come to a conclusion: Never. As a matter of fact, as soon as all the bodies were collected from Midgar and identified, she was going to have her tubes tied. "Kid, you told your father's group then sicked him on me. Out of the one hundred people here, you told five."

"Yeah, but --"

"No buts. Go find your Dad and get back to base. You're lucky I haven't kicked you're ass from here to Junon and back."

------

Something was wrong with computer.

As soon as Cid had entered the main menu again, the images on the screen had begun morphing and folding in upon themselves, becoming impossible to decipher. Moments later the screen changed once more to the initial security feed, the same process beginning anew.

Tifa watched the strange happenings on the monitor before looking over at Cid. "What's happening?"

"Virus." Both Cid and Yuffie explained together, their voices overlapping.

Everyone turned to stare at Yuffie in surprise.

She straightened a bit and stopped leaning on Tifa, looking offended. "What? I'm a teenager, we're into this stuff."

Cid gave a derogatory snort.

"Bet I know more about computers than you, old man." Yuffie sulked, glaring at him with tired brown eyes.

Cid opened his mouth to reply, a dead cigarette butt hanging dangerously from his lips.

"Knock it off, both of you." Cloud ordered, already knowing where this was going. "Is there anything we can do about it?"

"Naw, not really," Cid replied. "I can turn it off and hope the other's aren't affected, but that's it." He threw the cigarette butt to the ground and lit another, turning to look at Cloud as he did so. "S' a long shot, though. They're prob'ly all connected an' running off a network of some sort."

Cloud looked out towards the hallway, noticing for the first time that it was now faintly illuminated. "Will the security come back online?"

"It shouldn't," Cid shook his head for emphasis.

"Alright," Cloud said as he studied the dim light beyond the door. "Turn it off." He turned back to the group, wondering if they had noticed change in the hallway also. "Has anyone else noticed that there are lights on in the hallway?"

"Yes," Nanaki blinked, surprised by the abrupt subject change. "They came on when the security system was shut down."

"Oh."

"Well," Cid began, the computer behind him finally shutting down, "now what?"

There wasn't much of a choice, as far as Cloud was concerned. He and the rest of the Avalanche members currently gathered could check the other computers to see if any of them were also infected with the virus, or they could explore the other two rooms now that they were unlocked.

It was such an easy decision.

Of course, his PHS would have to begin ringing just as he opened mouth to tell the others.

Cloud sighed and unhooked the communication device from his belt and answered. "Hello?"

"I'm done here."

It took a moment for him to realize that the voice on the other end was Karae, the static was so bad. "So there weren't any problems?"

"No," Karae's voice was tinged with momentary aggravation. "Not really. I told most of them to tell first shift that they're off duty until further notice."

"Why?" Cloud asked, then mouthed Karae's name to the others so they wouldn't ask him who he was talking too.

Cid rolled his eyes. It wasn't too hard to figure out who it was on the other end; especially when you considered the fact that Karae had told them that she would call once her assignment was complete.

"Cloud, it's more than half past six. Your men come in at seven, and you're still hanging out underground. What am I supposed to do; cover for both you and Tifa at the same time?"

He checked his watch and raised both of his eyebrows at the time. "Sorry. My fault."

"No problem." She was silent for a moment. "Look, I'm gonna head back, unless you want me to join the party you've got going down there."

Cloud thought for a moment, looking at Yuffie from the corner of his eye.

On one hand, Cloud knew next to nothing about Karae personally; only what he had learned by talking to Tifa, Vincent, and Nanaki, who all seemed to have a somewhat friendly working relationship with her. On the other hand, Yuffie still looked like she would fall asleep again at any moment, while Cid seemed to have finally woken up.

"Cloud, you there?"

"Yeah, come on down. Just follow the hallway past the steps, you'll see us."

She paused, as though surprised by his answer."…Okay, just give me a couple minutes."

"That's fi--" He halted mid sentence as he heard Karae's PHS disconnect. Blinking, he looked down at the red canine/feline creature beside him. "Does she always hang up on people like that?"

Nanaki grinned. "It's something of a habit of hers, actually."

"She told me one time that she doesn't like to talk to people on the PHS. Something about it makes her feel awkward," Tifa smiled, somewhat amused by the situation. "It had to do with not seeing the person's face, I think."

"Right." Cloud nodded, looking at Yuffie, who was once again leaning on Tifa. "You can go back to your tent if you want, Yuffie."

Still standing in front of the computers, Cid mumbled something to himself. Whatever it was, Cloud supposed that he should be glad that he couldn't make it out, especially considering the looks that both Nanaki and Vincent directed towards the gruff pilot.

"Really?" Yuffie asked, managing to sound even sleepier than before.

Cloud sighed, hoping that this wasn't going to be a repeat of what had happened in the hallway almost an hour ago. "Yes, really."

With surprisingly little noise, Yuffie straightened and headed for the door.

-----

It was dark inside the building that housed the entrance to the underground lab.

Standing just inside the threshold, Karae stood, flashlight in hand, examining the room carefully as if searching for a monster in the shadows. Several dead flares littered the corners of the large room, their colorful outer wrapping a stark contrast to the gray walls and floor. The large pile of rubble in the northwest corner shift suddenly, bits of cement clicking sharply against an equally hard floor. One particularly large piece found a resting spot beside her foot, and she kicked it, feeling like a character in one of those silly Armageddon movies.

She could have been one, too. Meteor had been hanging in the sky less than three months ago, after all.

"Shut up." She muttered to herself. "Just go, get over there, move it. The damn thing isn't going to collapse the second you walk in. Nobody's gonna die, everything's okay."

Forcing herself to move forward, she finally reached the opening to the stairwell, all the while repeating a song that her mother had sung to her in her childhood, trying to drown out her disturbing thoughts. For the most part, the stairs below her were equally as dark as the room below her, except for the bottom, which seemed strangely illuminated. 'Did they have flares with them? No, it's not bright enough….Can't be electricity down there, though….'

Careful not to misjudge her steps on the steeply declining stairs, Karae slowly made her way to the tunnel below.

A/N: Yes, yes, I know the tempo is a very slow right now. Sorry about that. This was originally written down in script format, so I'm largely working off of that; which is why these past two chapters have been so heavy in the conversation department. Expect the story to pick up a bit shortly, perhaps after the next two chapters or so. Remember, both Cid and Yuffie are functioning on roughly three hours of sleep, so if they(*cough* Yuffie *cough*) seem OOC it's largely due to that. You can berate me about the others if you want, however. Oh, and for those of you who read the A/N/N in chapter two and were a little disturbed by the Vincent/OC pairing discussed therein, don't worry, it's not going to happen. *listens to Mel crying in the background* Later!