Meanwhile, Cloud, Barret, and Tifa stood just outside the front doors of the Shinra headquarters, ready and prepared to go in. Barret turned to face Cloud.
"Hey Cloud, you ought to know this building pretty well, so you should be useful to us here, right?" said Barret.
Cloud shook his head.
"Not really. Now that I think about it, this is only the third time I've ever been to the headquarters. I have only ever been here twice, and both of them were years ago. Once to be informed of the results of the SOLDIER exam, and once more when I quit," replied Cloud.
"Well, its lucky for us then that Jessie had been fishing around about this place a month ago," said Barret.
"She did?" asked Cloud, curiously.
"Yeah, Jessie was an expert hacker. Thanks to her, we beat all the locks in the Reactors," explained Barret.
"Hey, I thought Biggs did all that," said Cloud.
Barret shook his head.
"Nah, Jessie merely gave him the codes while she helped us lower down within the Reactor. Anyway, getting back to my point, Jessie and her other hacker friends within the network had been looking to embarrass the President with some sensitive files. Instead though, they had figured out the security of the place. After all, eventually I'm sure that we all would have attacked this place anyway, even if the plate hadn't crushed all of Sector 7 and…killed them…" explained Barret, with a sad tone at that last part, bowing his head.
"Interesting, so just what did her underground hackers find out, anyway?" asked Cloud. Barret raised an eyebrow.
"You just mentioned underground. How the hell do you know about that?" asked Barret, suspiciously.
"I am a mercenary, you know. Once, I was paid to infiltrate a cargo ship and I had a hacker help me around the security," explained Cloud.
"You're definitely full of surprises. Anyway, I've learned plenty about this place from Jessie. Every floor above the 60th floor is special and not easy to get to. That must be where they took Aeris. The security's pretty light now, so let's go," said Barret, running towards the front doors, but Tifa quickly stopped him, shaking her head.
"Wait a second! You're not going to just go right through the main entrance, are you?" asked Tifa.
"What else does it look like? I'm gonna kick some Shinra butt and…" began Barret, but Tifa interrupted him.
"That's not going to work! We have to find some other way," said Tifa, sharply.
"If we keep wasting time, Aeris will…" began Barret, irritably, but Tifa interrupted him again.
"I know that! But if we're caught here…hey Cloud, what do you think we should do? This is Shinra headquarters, so there's a great chance that they're going to be heavily guarding the place, so we need a quiet method to get inside. The first thing they're going to suspect is that people are going to attack from the front," said Tifa.
Cloud had to disagree with her on this one.
"Actually Tifa, it's the LAST thing that they would expect. As you well know, we are the most wanted terrorists in the history of Midgar and the most likely chance is that Shinra are leaving us lots of nice quiet ways in and preparing ambushes for us. By charging in through the front they have no ground to surprise us, as we are surprising them, so let's bust in through the front," said Cloud. Barret clearly agreed.
"Yeah! That's more like it! Come on, let's get going!" shouted Barret.
Cloud and Barret ran into the Shinra building, and with a weary sigh, seeing Cloud's point but uncertain all the same, Tifa followed them. There was a reception at the front door.
"Excuse me! If you don't have an appointment, you'll just have to…" began the receptionist, but Barret interrupted her.
"Shut the hell up! We don't need an appointment! This is an emergency! Anyone who don't wanna get their faces smashed in had better get out of the way!" shouted Barret.
People nearby stared at them.
"Who do they think they are?" asked one man.
"Y-You…you don't think that's…AVALANCHE?" asked another man, nervous and terrified. At that realisation, all the employers ran away, screaming in terror.
"Intruders! Seize them!" shouted a Shinra Soldier.
Two Shinra Soldiers attacked Cloud, Tifa and Barret. Cloud raised his sword and slashed it through one of them, killing him in one blow.
The other soldier quickly attacked and fired his machine gun at Cloud and at Barret, but both of them quickly managed to block the bullets using their own weapons to shield themselves from attack.
Barret attacked and fired his own gun at the soldier, many of his bullets flying through the air and shot the soldier, killing him instantly.
Five more Shinra soldiers came running down the stairs towards them, but before they could do anything to attack, Barret quickly aimed his gun-arm at them and fired, many bullets hit all five of the soldiers and killed them all instantly.
Cloud quickly ran up the stairwell, where three Shinra soldiers stood waiting, their guns aimed at him. Without waiting for them to say a word of arrest, Cloud quickly jumped past one of the soldiers and slashed his sword through him, killing him instantly.
The other soldier fired his gun at Cloud, but Cloud blocked the bullets with his sword, shielding himself from attack. Before the soldier could react or move aside, Cloud quickly slashed his sword through him, killing him instantly. Cloud turned towards the last soldier, who was shaking in horrified fear.
"P-Please d-don't kill me," said the soldier.
Cloud could tell from the soldier's tone that he was really planning to fool Cloud into letting his guard down, so that he could shoot him. Well, Cloud wasn't buying it. The soldier was certainly not a convincing actor.
"No mercy for those who abuse the Planet and attempt to corrupt it for their own twisted means," snarled Cloud, and slashed his sword through the soldier, killing him instantly.
Tifa, meanwhile, had advanced along the ground floor after noticing the elevators moving. Hitting the button she ducked to the side of the elevator and waited.
As expected the doors opened and two Shinra soldiers dived out with their guns cocked and loaded. Jumping onto the back of one man, Tifa used her whole body weight as a weapon and pushed the man's face deep into the floor, crushing his skull and killing him instantly.
The shocked second guard pressed his gun forward and prepared to cuff Tifa, but she had other ideas. Jumping upwards she slammed the heel of her foot into the man's face as blood exploded all over it, and then Tifa jumped up and kicked him hard in the hard, smashing his skull and killing him instantly.
"Let's go to the top!" shouted Barret.
They ran up some stairs and they entered an elevator. Cloud selected the 59th floor in the elevator and it started moving to that floor.
"What's wrong?" asked Tifa, concerned, seeing the regrettable expression on Cloud's face. Cloud sighed.
"I didn't want to start a ruckus until we saved Aeris. I should have known that it was impossible though. I guess we just aren't that lucky," said Cloud. At this, Barret suddenly laughed out loud, making Cloud jump.
"What is it? Knock it off. You're giving me the creeps. What are you laughing at anyway?" asked Cloud, surprised. Barret merely grinned.
"So there are times when even you fight for other people, huh? I'm impressed. I guess I was wrong about you all along," said Barret.
"Who cares if you're impressed?" snorted Cloud, coldly, turning away.
"I'm just saying that maybe I was wrong to distrust ya. Well…I'm not too good at saying this, but…I'm sorry. For a lot of things…" said Barret, holding out his hand in apology.
Slowly, Cloud nodded, turning back to face him, accepting his apology and was just about to shake his hand, when without warning, the elevator suddenly rocked.
Suddenly an alarm went off in the elevator, a red light was flashing and the elevator suddenly went up and down. Cloud, Barret and Tifa found it hard to keep their balance, but they only just managed it.
"What the!? Damn it! I don't care where, Cloud! Just stop the elevator!" shouted Barret.
Cloud quickly pressed a button and the elevator stopped at the 15th floor. A robot called the Mighty Grunt suddenly attacked them. It was a human sized red robot. Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly jumped out of the elevator and ran towards it.
Tifa quickly ran forward and attacked it, kicking and punching it hard with her fists and legs, knocking the Mighty Grunt to the floor.
Barret fired his gun-arm at the Mighty Grunt, and his all of his bullets hit the Mighty Grunt and completely destroyed its robotic shell, causing it to fall off in pieces.
Cloud attacked the Mighty Grunt with his sword, slashing through it and almost chopping it in half. The Mighty Grunt seemed very badly damaged and was about to explode, but it was still not quite destroyed.
Tifa suddenly charged at the Mighty Grunt, and kicked it extremely hard, sending it flying into a wall at the opposite end of the room and destroyed it. The Mighty Grunt exploded on impact, leaving a big hole in the wall.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa then got quickly back on the elevator, and Cloud then pressed the elevator button. The elevator stopped at the 22nd floor.
A Moth Slasher – a robot on a spiky wheel, attacked them. Cloud, Barret and Tifa got out the elevator towards it. Cloud raised his sword, and slashed the Moth Slasher with it, leaving a big mark in the Moth Slasher's armour and damaging it severely.
Barret then raised his gun-arm, and fired many bullets at the Moth Slasher, damaging it and weakening it severely with many holes in its armour. The Moth Slasher suddenly charged at Cloud and rammed hard into him, knocking him to the floor, but otherwise, not doing much.
Tifa then charged and attacked the Moth Slasher and hit it several times with her fists and legs, smashing the Moth Slasher to pieces and destroying it.
They quickly got back in the elevator and Cloud pressed the button. The elevator stopped at the 44th floor.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa were attacked by another robot. This one was called the Hammer Blaster. It was a robot with no legs and it had a circle in place instead.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly got out of the elevator. The Hammer Blaster charged and rammed hard into Tifa, knocking her to the floor, but not doing much otherwise.
Red light suddenly burst from the ground at Cloud's feet as he ran up to the Hammer Blaster before it could even react, raised his sword, and quickly slashed the Hammer Blaster three times with very powerful blows from his sword, and in seconds, the Hammer Blaster was reduced to nothing more than a small pile of sliced nuts and bolts.
They went back to the elevator and Cloud pressed the button. It stopped on the 51st floor.
A long eel-like creature called the Sword Dance attacked them. Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly got out of the elevator. The Sword Dance quickly attacked Tifa, slapping her across her face with its tail, but Tifa took the blow with barely any injury.
Barret fired at the Sword Dance, many of his bullets hitting it and shooting holes through it and causing it to bleed badly. The Sword Dance shrieked and slapped Cloud with its tail, but Cloud also took the blow with barely any injury.
Tifa then attacked the Sword Dance and she kicked it hard with her fists and legs, killing it. Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly got back in the elevator and they finally came to the 59th floor.
They got out the elevator and went to another elevator, which could take them to the 60th floor, as the other one could not. Three guards nearby suddenly spotted them.
"Kill the intruders!" shouted the guards, and they quickly attacked them.
One of the guards fired at Barret, twice. Barret managed to shield himself and block the bullets with his gun-arm, and fired at the soldier, killing him in one blow with many bullets.
Another guard fired his gun at Tifa, but she just managed to run aside behind a small pillar, so the bullets didn't hit her. Barret then fired his gun-arm at the guard and killed him in one blow with his bullets.
The last guard charged up to Cloud and hit him hard in the face, knocking Cloud to the floor but not doing much otherwise, but the soldier now had his gun aimed straight at Cloud's head, his hand about to pull the trigger.
The soldier was about to fire his gun at Cloud, when Tifa suddenly charged at the soldier and sent him flying hard into a wall with one kick.
Barret then fired at the soldier and killed him easily with his bullets, every one of them hitting the guard and killing him.
On the floor, Cloud found and picked up the key card to the 60th floor, which the soldier must have dropped. He got back up, and they went in the elevator. Cloud quickly pushed the button to the 60th floor using the key card to operate it.
"I hope Aeris is alright," said Tifa, worried.
"This is the real thing. So don't let your guard down," warned Barret, very seriously.
"Yeah, we had better watch out, these guys could throw anything in our path to prevent us from reaching and freeing Aeris," said Cloud.
They soon came to the 60th floor and they walked out of the elevator. There were four guards behind some statues nearby so Cloud, Tifa and Barret quickly walked in an empty room without being noticed, and hid from them.
"Goddamn it, look at that! All those guards are running around! Damn it! Those bastards are gonna be a problem!" cursed Barret, angrily.
"Actually, I don't think that they will, look at the way they walk. Always in the same line and always watching exactly the same places before them," said Cloud.
"Exactly genius, which is why they will be a damn problem!" snapped Barret.
"Calm down, Barret. Look at what lies in front of them. Those statues must be at least seven feet in height and they must be about two feet wide. We can use them as cover and silently make our way past onto the stairwell on the east side of the room to the stairs," explained Cloud.
Barret thought about it for a moment.
"Yeah…you know, that sounds like it could actually work! Alright then, you go first since you seem so confident about this plan," ordered Barret.
Cloud nodded, and pushed the door in front of him aside, carefully scanning the left side of his vision, he waited before the guards started moving.
Watching the shadows of their movement, he walked on, making sure that his eyes were firmly on them all the time, as soon as one motioned to look at him, Cloud ducked behind a statue and patiently waited.
Hearing footsteps, he once more advanced onto the central part of the room where a massive statue of President Shinra stood gleaming.
Standing behind this wide base he signalled to one of the cameras and he watched as Barret ran from the office and out into the open. Barret was going to be a problem.
His muscular, bulky frame of a body meant that his movement could be quite slow, patiently Cloud signalled him forth when the movement began and quietly ordered him to stop at the next statue.
They waited for a long five seconds, before Cloud signalled Barret on once more, evidently they had succeeded in crossing the room without being noticed.
Until suddenly, Barret tripped on a loose part of the carpet and tumbled into a statue. A loud noise echoed through the room, and Barret swiftly ducked behind the large statue of President Shinra with Cloud.
Suddenly, they heard a guard shouting around the room.
"Halt! Whoever you are, come out now at once! You are under arrest by the order of President Shinra! Go get the Turks!" ordered a guard.
Another guard saluted before rushing off down the corridor and returning thirty seconds later with Tseng standing behind him. Tseng wasn't amused at this, and he seemed impatient and annoyed, his voice icy.
"What is the meaning of this? I was discussing an important guard deployment in Junon with Heidegger, before you clowns interrupted. Now what is the problem here, and it better be important, or else," asked Tseng, coldly.
"Sir, there was a loud noise on the other side of these statues, I believe that we have an intruder," informed the guard.
Tseng looked through the gap in the statues, and saw nothing, but air as Cloud and Barret quickly moved out of his sight, so they were not seen.
Annoyed, Tseng took out his shotgun and shot the guard straight in the head, killing him instantly. The dead guard fell with a thud onto the floor, while the other guards trembled in fear. Tseng stared hard at them.
"What do you idiots get up to during your training? You hear a noise and suddenly, there are intruders? This is the 60th floor of the Shinra Tower. Our sensors would have detected intruders an age ago, so if you can't see an unfamiliar person, then don't believe that they are there. Disturb me again without having someone in custody and I will have you all executed," said Tseng, his voice icy and hard.
The men all shook violently with fear and clumsily saluted, Tseng, and then they returned to their posts, as Tseng walked back up the stairs to the floors above.
"Ha, these Shinra losers really don't know how to train their own guards, do they?" said Barret.
Cloud quietly chuckled.
"You're right there, Barret, still it makes things much easier for us," said Cloud, signalling to the camera.
Tifa ran from the room and swiftly made her own way to the centre without any help. The group repeated their movements before entering the stairway to the next floor.
"Alright, we're gonna rock!" exclaimed Barret.
Tifa shook her head.
"Just remember, Barret, we're here to rescue Aeris, not to attack every Shinra people we can find," said Tifa.
Barret shook his fist angrily.
"Shit, Tifa! You think I don't know that? Now come on, let's investigate the upper levels," said Barret.
The group walked up the stairs, and when they arrived on floor 61, they found to their amazement that the stairs to the next floor are missing.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa entered the 61st floor, and examined the area. The place seemed to be some kind of Shinra bar, yet the group gave a sigh of relief when they found no evidence of Turk activity.
There weren't even any guards. Walking around, they knew it was best to avoid contact with anyone and quietly they made their way around.
Without warning though, Cloud accidentally bumped into one of the Shinra employees. The man stared at them suspiciously, and with a chill in his stomach, Cloud felt certain that they had just blown it.
"What are you doing around here?" asked the man.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa didn't answer him, preparing to run if there was any trouble.
"Oh, I see. So you all must be…what was it? Shinra Incorporated Repair Division!" said the man.
Cloud and Barret almost gaped in shock at this response, but restrained themselves just in time, while Tifa restrained herself from sighing in relief. The employee continued to speak.
"Man, am I sure glad that you guys arrived here at last, this door was simply pushed open and it fell right from its hinges. You know, it looks like this whole building is starting to fall apart these days, I think. You ought to fix it right away and take a look at the other floors too," said the man, and he gave them the key card to the 62nd floor.
Hardly daring to believe their luck, Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly went into an elevator, and they used it to go to the 62nd floor. As they arrived, they found themselves outside four large rooms that were contained types of books.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly made their way towards a smaller room and noticed a man standing by the door. The man, whose name was Hart, saw them and addressed them.
"Please, do not just stand there, very few people visit the mayor in his quarters these days, he would be most glad to see you," said Hart.
Cloud shrugged, and walked into the room, with Barret and Tifa following him. Cloud figured that if any non-Shinra executive had a key card to the higher floor, it would be the mayor.
Domino (the mayor of Midgar) was standing in the room. He was an elderly man, and he wore a light brown suit. He was rather short, even for his age. Noticing them, Domino turned around and faced them.
"And who might you all be? Ah yes…you all must be that terrorist group. I'm Domino, the mayor of Midgar, but Shinra runs everything in this city. All I do is just look at documents. You see, my only real purpose now is to keep a watchful eye on these documents. Me, the mayor, now no more than a librarian! But that is a matter that you lot do not need to concern yourselves with. As terrorists, I am guessing that you three wish to reach the upper levels. You want to get upstairs?" asked Domino.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa silently nodded.
"Then I will help you. I have a key card here that gives access to any level up to floor 65. I'll let you have it if you can guess my password, get it on the first try, and I may even throw in an item as well," explained Domino.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa nodded, and went outside the room, however, they were far less confident of their task.
"Guess his damn password! That could be any damn word within about two million!" roared Barret, angrily.
"I know the task, Barret, and I agree it's certainly not easy, however the chances are that the answer is something Midgar or even Shinra related, so that narrows the list down rapidly," explained Cloud.
"How much so?" asked Tifa, curiously.
"I can't say for sure, Tifa, but I would estimate about as far as one in 100,000. Still a long shot, though," said Cloud.
Suddenly, Hart, standing by the door, slapped his forehead.
"Ah damn it, is that guy playing that stupid game with you now?" asked Hart, sounding as though he was used to this sort of thing. Barret was fuming with rage.
"Game!? You think we got in here for the sake of a goddamn game!?" snapped Barret, angrily.
"Yes, I thought as much. It seems like you need an answer from excessively long odds. What would you say if I could inform you people of a way of finding out the exact answer you need with ease?" said Hart.
Cloud raised an eyebrow.
"I'm listening," said Cloud.
"Good, but first of all though, I am going to have to accept some money for this help. After all, this is a terrorist action, is it not?" asked Hart.
Cloud shrugged and handed Hart four hundred Gil.
"Perfect, that is equal to a weekly salary. Okay, do you see these libraries? Well each one contains a certain category of documents that the Shinra occasionally use. The Mayor, as he has no doubt told you, has been instructed to keep a watchful eye over them, however he is quite sympathetic to a cause like yours and therefore secretly commits subversive actions against Shinra. Inside each library there is a document that is out of place, now every document has a number marked on them. Find the letter that matches this number and note it down. Repeat this method in all of the libraries, and you shall have yourselves the password. Figure all this out, and you shall receive your key card," explained Hart.
Cloud nodded, and he, Barret and Tifa walked off to the libraries. They entered the first library, entitled 'Shinra Urban Development Library'.
Inside, they began to look at the files, when Barret suddenly smashed his fist into a shelf and Cloud and Tifa walked to where he had shattered the wooden frame.
"Barret, just what the heck is the matter with you?" asked Cloud, bewildered.
"What's the matter with me!? Just look at this damn document!" snarled Barret, furiously.
Cloud picked up the thin sheet of paper on the floor, and saw that it was a map of the plate construction within sectors 5 to 8. Upon examining it, Cloud noticed many red crosses marked on the plate pillar of Sector 7.
Cloud threw it to the ground in disgust.
"Appalling to think the entire thing was so thoroughly thought out, but that's even more reason to fight against them. Come on, let's find the letter," said Cloud.
The group split up again across the libraries, and it was only a minute later that Tifa returned with the letter. There were four letters written on it.
"Well, the letters we have are 'N' 'I' 'K' and 'G'" said Tifa.
"NIKG? Somehow, I doubt that is his password, but it could be his hidden codeword. We'll have to figure out from these four letters what the answer is," said Cloud.
For minutes afterwards, Cloud, Barret and Tifa tried desperately to think of what the word might be, but they couldn't think of a single one.
Barret slammed his fist on the floor in anger.
"Damn it! Just who the heck does this old geezer think he is, anyway!? We ain't his damn servants and I certainly ain't some stinking jester!" yelled Barret, angrily.
Suddenly, at Barret's words, Cloud suddenly figured out the answer. Evidently, so did Tifa, as they grinned at each other. Cloud turned to face Barret.
"You know, Barret, sometimes you don't even know your own intellect," said Cloud.
"What?" said Barret, now clearly puzzled and confused.
"You just said you're not a jester, and they were entertainers centuries ago for a KING!" exclaimed Cloud.
Barret slapped his forehead.
"Of course! It makes perfect sense, now let's go and get that damn key card!" said Barret.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa walked out of the library and entered the tiny office where Mayor Domino was still waiting, and he turned to face them once again.
"So, have you figured it out? Then tell me," said Domino. Cloud breathed slowly and replied.
"We think it's king," guessed Cloud, shrugging.
"King! Oh god, I love the sound of that! President Shinra sucks! I should be the king of Midgar! And you even got it right first time around, just goes to show that you cannot judge a book by its cover. Alright then, take this," said Domino.
Cloud caught the key card and the blue Materia that Domino flung towards him. As he examined the blue Materia, he noticed the word 'Elemental' engraved on it, and this intrigued him.
"Now, I bet you are curious, are you not? Curious as to why I decided to do all this for you," said Domino.
"You bet, we have no idea why you would help us," said Cloud, puzzled.
"And why should you? I publicly denounced you, did I not? The reason is because of Shinra, those bastards upstairs have been torturing me forever, so this should make us even!" declared Domino, with a laugh.
Barret stepped forward.
"If you are being tortured by them, and you wanted us to sort them out for you, why did you publicly denounce us?" asked Barret, puzzled.
"You have no reason to believe this, but it is because I was forced to. I may be the Mayor, but who do people think of when asked who rules the city…no…who rules the entire world? President Shinra! Had I appeared and justified your actions, the people, and Shinra, would have denied me as a traitor and would have had me executed," explained Domino.
Barret nodded, understanding.
"You're right. I have no reason to believe you, but for some reason I do. Probably because of the way you've been treated, or the way you helped us. Either way, you can't let them know that it was you who helped us ascend the levels of this building, otherwise Shinra truly will execute you, slowly and painfully," warned Barret, seriously.
The warning caused Domino to gulp nervously, and the group left him alone to his devices, and ran out of the room.
Heading into the elevator, Cloud slid the key card through the elevator reader and sure enough, the panels lit up as far as level 65. Hitting the panel, the elevator ascended and Cloud, Barret and Tifa used it to reach floor 65.
Stepping off the elevator, the group found themselves on a floor that appeared to be a main floor used by the many clerics of the Shinra organisation.
Ignoring the small rooms, the three of them noticed the large oval room that was in the centre of the 65th floor.
Sat behind a small desk in the centre was another Shinra guard and like many of the others, this guard had neglected his duty in order to snatch some sleep without permission.
Tifa slipped through the door on silent feet and crawled up behind the guard. Her hands clasped around his throat and her knee slammed into his chest, smashing his ribs while she crushed his throat. The guard gasped with pain and collapsed on the floor in a heap, dead.
Tifa signalled the all clear, and then she, Cloud and Barret examined the large room.
Besides the desk, there was only one other thing in this room, and that was the huge scale model of Midgar.
Cloud noticed how well it had been crafted and he cursed at the thought of how much blood money these corrupt executives had spent in order for this thing to be constructed.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa, however, were clueless as to what they should do next to get the next key card.
"Well, this model is great and all, but what the hell do we do now?" asked Barret, sharply.
"I guess we had just better find the next key card," replied Cloud, shrugging.
"Yeah, but where do we start?" asked Tifa.
"That's a good question. There must be something about this floor though. If we investigate thoroughly enough perhaps we shall find some clues," said Cloud.
The group split up and headed to the numerous doors that were on this level. Each room contained chests, however many were locked.
Frustration was the only emotion they felt, to get here and have Shinra toy with them by leaving these chests locked was unbelievable.
Soon though, the frustration lifted when Cloud got lucky and found a chest that was unlocked. Inside though, he found to his disappointment, just a few tiny metal pieces. He almost chucked them away, when Tifa stopped him.
"Cloud, these things could have some purpose to the key card. There's a way somehow, and we have to find it," said Tifa, determined.
Cloud nodded, and the group inspected the rooms once more before shaking their heads. However, they soon forgot about any frustrated thoughts when they saw the elevator light stop on floor 65.
Diving through the nearest door they found themselves in the room with the Midgar model once again, carefully they ducked out of sight and listened as four guards stepped out of the elevator and onto the floor.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa were preparing themselves to fight, just in case the guards checked this room, and judging by the size of it, the chances of that happening were rather high.
The guards were cocky and over-confident that there were no intruders, and enjoyed talking against their shift.
"Shit, why are we sent here to do jobs like this?" said one guard, irritably.
"How the hell should I know? But the President takes security way too seriously. I mean you'd have to be stupid to believe that there was anything of potential value on this floor," said the second guard.
"Amen to that! Word is that these intruders are AVALANCHE!" said the third guard.
All the four guards erupted into cruel, mocking laughter. Clearly, they believed that all the members of AVALANCHE had been killed and crushed by the Sector 7 plate.
Biggs, Wedge, Jessie and thousands of innocent citizens had died because of it, but these guards were laughing with no remorse, but with amusement.
"Yes, perhaps we'll fight them with spatulas, and flip them over, and arrest them!" laughed a fourth guard, and they all laughed even louder.
Shaking in pure rage, Barret couldn't take it anymore, and erupted into all out fury, and before Cloud or Tifa could stop him, he rushed from the room.
"Don't you bastards DARE talk about all the dead civilians and my dead friends like that! I'll make all you Shinra assholes pay for their deaths!" roared Barret, furiously.
The guards were clearly shocked by Barret's sudden arrival, and tried desperately to fire their weapons, but Barret's gun-arm was spitting out bullets before they could get near the triggers of their guns.
All four guards collapsed to the floor, dead, and Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly dragged the bodies clear of where any cameras may catch sight of them by chance. Cloud was still angry by the guards' attitudes, but calmed himself down as best as he could.
"That may leave us with a problem, unless we can solve a way of gaining a card for ourselves we could soon find ourselves in jail," said Cloud. Tifa shook her head as she checked the dead guard's pockets.
"They don't have any key cards on them, looks like we'll have to go elsewhere," said Tifa.
As Cloud gazed upon the Midgar model in rage, he suddenly saw that every sector of the model had parts missing.
Sector 5, he could understand as construction had never quite been finished there, but the other sectors? If this were accurate they would be filled in.
Cloud suddenly had an idea. Removing the pieces of metal that he had found in the chest, Cloud dropped them into the Sector 1 part of the model, and smiled as they snugly fit the gap. Suddenly the group heard the sound of something unlocking.
"Right, now let's go find the other pieces," said Cloud.
The group ran into all the offices and found the missing pieces in sequence.
After they placed the final Midgar part into the model, they heard the sound of yet another lock opening and this puzzled Cloud, Barret and Tifa.
"I thought we unlocked all of the chests, Cloud?" asked Tifa, curiously.
"I agree Tifa, I truly don't understand it myself. But we had best look there must be another locked chest or something nearby," said Cloud.
The group ran out of the room with the Midgar model and made their way around the back of it. Cloud noticed that another chest nearby, he opened it and was surprised to find a key card inside it. Retrieving it quickly, Cloud examined it and saw it gave access as far as level 66.
"Alright, we now have access to level 66. Let's go," said Cloud. Barret and Tifa nodded, and they all went into the elevator.
Using the key card, they were able to get up to the 66th floor, and they stepped out of the elevator onto the floor. All about them were offices where busy clerks gathered files for Shinra. There were far too many people around for the group to simply steal a key card.
Heading forward slowly, Cloud peered around a corner and to his surprise, saw what appeared to be President Shinra, leading some of his upper-level executives inside a big room.
"Did you see that, Cloud?" asked Tifa, surprised.
"Yes Tifa, I did. I recognised President Shinra and Heidegger," said Cloud.
Barret slammed his fists together.
"We have gotta find out what they're talking about," said Barret, determined.
"We are going to need somewhere to safely eavesdrop to manage that, but where?" wondered Cloud.
"Come on guys, we'd better think fast!" said Barret.
The group puzzled over the problem, obviously they couldn't get inside the room and standing around outside would attract attention.
Focusing his vision above the room Cloud noticed a large pipe that served as ventilation.
He smiled as he saw it pass over the toilets.
"Guys, follow me. I think I have an idea," said Cloud.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly ran down the corridor towards the toilets. Cloud, Barret and Tifa arrived at the toilets. Hearing voices in the other room, they climbed up them and climbed into the ventilation pipe just above them.
They went to the next ventilation hole, and they looked down into the room below.
It was a meeting room.
President Shinra was in the room with Heidegger, Reeve, Scarlet, and an old, rather fat man from Shinra who was also an upper class executive.
The old man was very short; as he was the shortest of the Shinra upper executives, but he was so fat that he still outweighed them, and was easily wider than he was tall.
He wore a light brown suit and he had some grey hair on his mostly baldhead. His name was Palmer and he was the head of the Space Department, which was odd, because Shinra hadn't paid any attention to space travel for about ten years.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa watched in the vent.
"Wow! Now that's a lot of suits!" exclaimed Barret, quietly, so that the Shinra upper executives couldn't hear him.
The meeting of the Shinra upper executives begun.
Reeve held a calculator in his hand, and kept removing the pencil he had from behind one ear to jot notes down on a pad of paper. It seemed that if he wasn't twirling his pencil, he was scratching at his goatee and muttering to himself.
Finally, he dropped his notepad onto the table, and spoke.
"I have the damage estimates for Sector 7. According to the figures, considering all the factories we set up and all the other investments, the damage cost is around ten billion Gil. And might I add, sir, that doesn't include urban planning, investments, insurance costs, possible lawsuits, compensation and employee benefits. The estimated cost to rebuild Sector 7 is…" began Reeve, but President Shinra interrupted him.
"We're not rebuilding," said President Shinra, sharply and flatly. Reeve stared at him in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe what he just had just heard.
"What?" said Reeve, stunned, dropping his calculator on the floor in surprise and disbelief.
"We're leaving Sector 7 as it is. And we're restarting the neo-Midgar project," said President Shinra.
Reeve quickly picked up his calculator from the floor, and he looked numbly back at President Shinra, still stunned and in clear disbelief.
"Then…what about the Ancients? Won't they affect the plan?" asked Reeve.
"They're no longer a problem. Not if the Science Department pull through. I have personally assigned Hojo to construct a specialist team of scientists to investigate this very matter. He assures me that success will not depend on the research, but on other factors. The Promised Land will soon be ours. I have already briefed Heidegger on what to do, however, we are going to need funds. I want you to raise the Mako rates by 15% in every area," said President Shinra.
Palmer suddenly jumped about excitedly.
"Rate hike! Rate hike! And please include our space program in the budget! Don't forget to include it, and give it a raise, sir!" said Palmer, jumping up and down in excitement.
"Reeve and Scarlet will divide the extra income from the rate increase between them, and any other extra funds will be diverted to other areas," said President Shinra, sharply.
Palmer almost shrieked in disappointment.
"Oh, man!" moaned Palmer, and he sat back down again.
"Sir, are you really sure that this is such a good idea? If you raise the rates, the people will lose confidence in us. I mean, with the Sector 7 plate coming down and all, the people might grow to hate Shinra Incorporated," said Reeve.
"Oh, quite the opposite, Reeve. It will be perfectly alright. At any rate, those ignorant citizens won't lose confidence in us; they'll trust Shinra Incorporated even more. Those ignorant slobs won't hate us," said President Shinra.
"After all, don't forget that we're the ones who provided them and Sector 7 salvation from AVALANCHE!!" laughed Heidegger, ruthlessly.
When Barret heard this, he almost jumped from the vent in a murderous rage, ready to kill them all, but Cloud and Tifa quickly stopped him and held him back.
"That dirty bastard," growled Barret, angrily, but quietly, so the Shinra upper executives couldn't hear him.
Just then, Hojo came into the room, having done some experiments on Aeris, and he faced President Shinra on the other end of the table.
"Hojo, how's the girl? How's our little Ancient?" asked President Shinra, curiously.
"As a specimen, she is far inferior to her mother, Ifalna, but for now, I've calculated that the difference is only 18%. Better than I had hoped," replied Hojo.
Every single word that Hojo had ever said always sounded flat and forced, as though he was simply bored with everything around him.
"How long will the research take?" asked President Shinra, his expression and tone of voice showing no emotion.
"About 120 years. Perhaps even longer. It's probably impossible to finish in our lifetime, or the lifetime of the specimen too, for that matter. That's why we're thinking of breeding her with one of our long lasting specimens, then we could create a new life form that could withstand our research for a very, very long time," explained Hojo.
Everyone at the meeting stared at Hojo in disbelief, and they could not believe that the research would be that long.
President Shinra finally broke the shocked silence.
"What about the Promised Land? Won't this hinder our plans? You had best be sure that this research will not affect the plan, Hojo!" snapped President Shinra.
"That's exactly what I need to plan. I cannot be sure if the plan will be affected or not. The mother is strong and yet, has her weakness," said Hojo, and he laughed like mad and insanely.
Then Hojo stopped laughing. The president threw a binder straight across the table at the professor. Hojo grabbed the binder just before it could slide off the table and began to flip through it.
Nodding, satisfied, he walked out of the room.
"That concludes our meeting. Scarlet, I will need a report by midnight about what new weaponry is required this month. Heidegger, prepare to inform the Turks and the soldiers about the plan. Reeve, design a plan of Neo-Midgar by tomorrow. Palmer, pull your men off the new space shuttle project," said President Shinra, standing up from his chair.
"But sir, this could be of major importance!" protested Palmer. President Shinra slammed his fist on the table.
"I have given you a direct command, now abide by it! Your team of experts can use their resources with the team working on new aircraft for the military alongside Heidegger's men," said President Shinra.
"Yes, sir," replied Palmer, saluting, but he was clearly disappointed.
They all got up and left the room.
But Scarlet suddenly stopped, looked at the vent, and she almost spotted Cloud, Barret and Tifa in the vent, but they had moved out of sight just in time.
"Something stinks," muttered Scarlet, and she walked out of the room.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa, luckily, were not even noticed.
"They were all talking about Aeris, back there, right?" asked Cloud, curiously.
"I don't know for sure. But I think we should follow them," replied Barret.
"I guess they probably had been talking about Aeris though," replied Tifa, with a shrug.
"Alright then, let's follow them," said Cloud.
"Or at least that screwball of a professor. I'll bet that he knows where Aeris is," said Tifa.
Cloud and Barret nodded in agreement.
They went out the vent in the toilets and walked out of the toilet room and they went along the 66th floor. As they walked past the meeting room, they spotted Hojo.
They saw him go up the stairs to the next floor. They quickly followed him to the 67th floor, and they watched him walk along the 67th floor. Cloud, Barret and Tifa stood near the stairs, all deep in thought.
"I remember him. That Hojo guy. He's in charge of Shinra's Science Department. He must be the one working on Aeris. Cloud, do you know him?" asked Barret.
"I don't know, this is the first time I've ever really seen him," replied Cloud, slowly, suddenly plagued by doubt.
"Cloud? Hey, what is it? We've got to keep moving, remember?" said Tifa, softly.
Cloud slowly nodded. Barret looked troubled and grim.
"If Hojo really is working on Aeris, then she's in grave danger. From what I've heard about him, Hojo's a real sick psychopath," said Barret.
"So just what have you heard about him?" asked Tifa, curiously. Cloud listened intently too.
"He conducts all sorts of these strange damn experiments, mostly on humans. I've heard numerous stories about thieves and other Shinra prisoners disappearing without a trace after Hojo took them in," explained Barret.
"So? What's that got to do with Aeris?" asked Cloud.
"Well, Jessie and her hackers discovered that he turns them into soul-less, savage monsters, after torturing them mercilessly with his experiments," explained Barret.
Cloud shook with rage, and his great desperation to save Aeris increased dramatically.
"Then we'd better find Aeris, right now!" said Cloud.
Cloud, Tifa and Barret quietly followed Hojo into the Science Department, hoping to find Aeris there.
****************************************************************
Meanwhile, President Shinra was back in his room on his chair behind his huge desk on the 70th (and top) floor. Tseng silently walked into the room, and stood in front of President Shinra's desk.
"Yes, Tseng?" said President Shinra.
"Sir, Cloud Strife and the remaining members of AVALANCHE are in this building," informed Tseng.
President Shinra stood up in surprise, but he simply remained calm as always, and did not doubt what Tseng had said. After all, Tseng was very loyal and rarely lied about these sort of things.
"How far have they gone up?" asked President Shinra, curiously. Tseng shrugged.
"We're not sure. They came in through the entrance and killed the guards there. They've managed to get some key cards and we've lost them," explained Tseng.
"Set guards on the first floor and by all the entrances to the lifts. They are the only ways off floor 60 and I don't want AVALANCHE to go down any further," ordered President Shinra.
"Understood, sir," replied Tseng, saluting.
"Oh, and Tseng…" began President Shinra.
"Yes, sir?" asked Tseng, curiously.
"I want them brought straight to me, alive, at all costs," said President Shinra.
"Yes, sir," said Tseng, saluting, and he walked out of the room, while President Shinra sat back down on his chair and smiled cruelly to himself.