Meanwhile, in the Shinra Silence Labs, a few floors below from where the President was, Hojo was looking at a specimen in a cage, as if closely examining it.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly hid nearby behind some large wooden boxes, and watched him. A man wearing a white lab coat (not noticing Cloud or the others) walked up to Hojo, and Hojo turned around to face him.
"Is this today's specimen?" asked the lab assistant, curiously.
Hojo nodded in response, looking strangely excited and anxious about something.
"Yes, by the order of the President, we are starting this experiment right away. Raise the specimen over to the upper level. Turn on the elevator for the specimens, and use it to send this specimen up there," ordered Hojo, sternly.
The lab assistant nodded and quickly left to carry out Hojo's orders, while Hojo himself spun back around, and looked closely at the specimen in the cage.
The mysterious specimen just simply glared angrily at him with its good eye, growling and snarling at him, and baring its razor-sharp, vicious teeth at him.
Hojo simply just shook his head wearily, and sighed.
"My precious specimen. Although you may not see it, this is all for the benefit of science. Life would be nothing without science. I'm sure you could appreciate that much," said Hojo, and then he quickly left the room.
With no one else in the lab, Cloud, Barret and Tifa got up, walked over and looked closely at the specimen in the cage, which was now lying down with its eyes closed and it was yawning sleepily.
The specimen looked like a young adult lion with bright red fur and it had a tail, which was the colour of fire, so much so that it looked like a flame.
It had a scar right across its right eye, which meant that it could not see out of its right eye, and it stood on all fours and it appeared to be male.
It also had a black 'XIII' tattoo on its right leg, and had razor sharp teeth and even sharper claws.
Tifa stared at the red, lion-like creature with a mixture of anxiety and pity.
"Precious specimen? Did he just say this creature is a specimen? Poor thing…Is this going to be used for a biological experiment?" asked Tifa.
Cloud shrugged and turned away, wondering if he should free the specimen, wondering it if would simply tear him to bits for doing so, and then Cloud suddenly spotted a large, dome shaped cage in the far corner of the room.
Cloud couldn't see the specimen inside because the cage was made of solid metal and there were no bars.
There was only a small window on the front door of the cage. The window was lit up with a strange purple light inside the cage.
The specimen's name was written on the door and even its heartbeat could easily be heard like a hammer when Cloud stood near the cage.
Feeling a sudden mixture of fear and anxiety, Cloud read the name on the cage.
"(Jenova…)" thought Cloud, in horror.
He recognized that name from somewhere before…but where? He looked through the window and he saw something indescribable and horrifying.
It was a large, deformed monster unlike any monster ever imagined by anyone. It had no head, and it looked as though it had escaped from hell.
"Help me…free me…my child…" hissed Jenova.
This in itself was impossible, because the thing was headless so Cloud couldn't tell the voice was coming from, but somehow, the voice sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.
Then he realised with a shock it was the same voice that had spoken to his mind in the N0.1 Mako Reactor, and at Aeris's house in his sleep.
Cloud stepped back in fear and a loud, familiar beeping noise suddenly appeared in his head, giving him a pounding headache and making him stumble to the floor in agony.
Then the beeping suddenly stopped in an instant, and the headache vanished once again.
Tifa and Barret quickly ran over to Cloud in concern. Cloud tried to get back up, but he was still dizzy so he stumbled and crashed into some wooden boxes.
Cloud slowly back got up after a while though, and he was still looking terrified and thoroughly shocked.
"J-Jenova…S-Sephiroth's…so…t-they've brought it here," gasped Cloud.
"Cloud, be strong!" shouted Tifa, rushing to his side in concern and kneeling beside him.
"Did you see it!?" asked Cloud, frantically, shaking.
"See what?" asked Barret, bewildered.
"It's moving…it's still alive?" gasped Cloud, his face white.
Barret looked through the window in the metal cage, and then he jumped backwards in shock, and looked back at Cloud, in surprise, frowning.
"Shit! Where the hell is its goddamn head!? Just how the heck can this thing even be alive anyway!? Come on, the whole thing's getting weird and freaky, let's just keep going," said Barret, although he was still thoroughly shocked, as he helped Cloud to his feet.
"Thanks…anyway…let's just go after Hojo. Is he upstairs?" asked Cloud, curiously, steadily regaining his composure.
"Yeah, we can use the elevator to get up there. Its much quicker than taking the stairs," said Tifa.
Cloud nodded in agreement, and he immediately rushed over to the elevator, with Barret and Tifa quickly following him, each of them knowing that they were now very close to where Aeris was, and that the hardest part of the rescue mission was just about to begin.