Meanwhile Aeris, Red XIII and Barret had reached the 1st floor on the elevator.
"I'll go on ahead!" shouted Barret.
Barret jumped out of the elevator as the doors slid open and headed for the exit. As soon as he burst out of the doors, he was met by a hail of gunfire from a several dozen Shinra soldiers with several guns, and barely managed to avoid them.
Cursing, he scrambled back inside and slammed the doors shut. Barret turned towards the door, as the guards rushed towards him. Thinking fast, Barret noticed a large fuel tower outside. Firing a few bullets at the tower, a large flood of fuel quickly covered the floor outside.
Pulling a pin from a grenade, Barret hurled it into the fuel and the grenade exploded. Flames erupted from the explosion and the fatal fusion had occurred. Guards cowered and ducked away desperate to avoid the fire, while the soldiers close to it were killed instantly.
"That's brought us a little more time, but goddamn it! We're still surrounded, huh? If I was alone, this wouldn't be a problem, but I've got a reputation to protect," said Barret.
Aeris shook her head and stepped forwards.
"You all get out while you can. It's not you they're after. It's me. I'm sorry about all of this. This is all my fault. You guys don't need to be captured, so just go on and leave without me," said Aeris, her head bowed. Barret shook his head firmly.
"Yeah, well, that ain't happening. You got caught up in this over Marlene. You saved her life, and I owe you big-time for that. Now it's my turn to watch out for you. I promised to save you in return, no matter what, and a promise is a promise," said Barret.
Barret glanced back at the guards and soldiers outside.
"Okay, playtime's over for you, jackasses," said Barret.
"Thank you, Mr Wallace," said Aeris, gratefully, smiling.
"Who are you calling Mr Wallace? That don't sound right. My friends just call me Barret," said Barret.
Aeris nodded, but she still looked grateful all the same.
Red XIII frowned at them, and he looked very impatient.
"This is all very nice and all, but if you are both through talking, might I suggest that we think of a way to get out of this building, and find a way out of here, right now?" said Red XIII, sharply, looking from Aeris to Barret with his good eye.
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure. You're a real damn cold animal, though. Just like someone else around here I know," said Barret, sarcastically.
"Did you say something?" asked Red XIII, deciding to pretend to not notice what Barret had just said. Barret didn't notice this.
"Not a damn thing. So what do we do now?" asked Barret.
As if on cue, Tifa suddenly arrived, ran down the stairs and she ran up to them.
"Tifa, where's Cloud?" asked Barret.
"Everyone over here! Come on, we've got to hurry!" shouted Tifa, urgently.
"Hey, what's up? And just where the hell is Cloud?" asked Barret, bewildered.
"There's no time! I'll tell you later! Please just follow me! Just hurry! He's coming! Come on!" shouted Tifa.
Tifa quickly led the others past the Shinra sign on the first floor and into the back lobby, where a flight of stairs led up to the third floor.
There, Tifa saw exactly what she had been looking for. Shinra's new pickup truck only had two wheels (one at each side), but had good mileage, and was fast for a truck with the small amount of weight used up.
Tifa jumped straight into the driver's seat, while Aeris scrambled into the passenger's seat, while Barret and Red XIII piled into the back of the pickup.
Suddenly, the sound of hot metal grinding against gears ripped through the air, and the sound of tires squealing came from the second floor.
Tifa started the motor of the pickup and shot down the stairway just in time to see Cloud on a huge motorcycle quickly barrel down the stairs.
The bike's sizzling pistons slammed hard against the stairs as he dropped down to the first floor, but he paid no attention to it whatsoever.
Tifa tried her best to avoid the bright blue Shinra sign in front of the lobby, but instead the pickup truck ploughed straight through it, followed closely by Cloud. Cloud sped forwards, glanced at Tifa as he passed, and sent the bike flying straight out the window.
The motorcycle sailed in the air, hanging there for a moment before dropping down to the highway below, and the pickup followed, dropping down the highway with a crash, and Tifa was barely able to steady the pickup truck.
Cloud smiled grimly as he flew past the startled soldiers and commanders, then let up on the brakes and twitched his foot to pour on the gas. The motorcycle shot off like a hot chrome rocket, blazing around the first turn with the pickup truck following behind. Even with all the noise, Cloud could faintly hear Barret's taunting and shouting at the Shinra soldiers that they had left behind them.
Eventually, the truck pulled up level with Cloud, and Aeris waved from the passenger's seat, while Tifa was driving. Cloud nodded back at her.
When Cloud looked back at Barret, though, he saw the big, black man stand up on the back of the pickup, and suddenly started to shoot behind him with his gun-arm.
Looking back, Cloud saw several Shinra troopers behind them on bikes similar to his with rifles tucked under their arms, chasing after them.
Barret already killed about six of them with his bullets, but the others were gaining on them fast. Pulling on the brakes, Cloud grabbed his sword with one hand, and dropped back to meet the troopers.
With one broad stroke of his sword, Cloud cleaved the front tire of one bike in half, sending both ride and rider sailing into the air, then crashing back to the ground, causing the bike to explode, killing the trooper instantly.
Cloud rammed his bike into the trooper on his left, followed by a few hard kicks. Screaming, the trooper hit a concrete column and the bike exploded in a brilliant flash of fire, killing the trooper instantly.
Cloud spotted another trooper, and surprised him by slashing his sword straight through the bike, slicing it in half and causing it to explode, killing the trooper instantly.
When Cloud looked back to see how many other bikers there were, he saw a black mass of spikes skid up against his rear tire. Smoke and sparks flew as a huge robot sped up behind him and nearly forced Cloud right off the road.
Fire and steam pumped from the top of the huge machine as it raced forward, and Cloud was forced to put everything he had into pushing the motorcycle forward to meet up with the truck.
Cloud and the truck managed to pull ahead of the big robot but they suddenly reached the end of the highway. There was no more road to go on, just a huge drop at the end of it.
Cloud quickly got off his bike, and Tifa and Barret got out of the truck, just as the big robot stopped in front of them. The huge robot was a robot on six big, spiky wheels. It had some swords grafted on its robotic arms and some hot pipes.
It was called Motorball.
Motorball attacked Tifa with its sword, slashing down at her. Tifa just managed to move aside and dodge it though, so she wasn't injured.
Green light suddenly burst from the ground at Tifa's feet as icicles appeared out of nowhere and struck Motorball, piercing some of its armour.
Cloud ran up to Motorball, raised his sword, and swung it at Motorball, but it managed to deflect his sword with its own, so it wasn't affected.
Green light burst from the ground at Barret's feet as a bolt of lightning appeared from the sky and struck Motorball, hitting part of its armour and badly damaging it, as it penetrated a hole through it.
Motorball used slashed its sword at Tifa once again, but Tifa easily dodged it and was able to move aside just in time to avoid it.
Green light burst from the ground at Tifa's feet as several flames appeared out of nowhere and struck Motorball, but the flames didn't seem to have any effect at all on Motorball's tough armour.
Red light burst from the ground at Barret's feet as he charged up his gun for a moment and then fired an orange ball of energy straight at Motorball, hitting it hard in the middle of its armour and exploding, blasting some parts of Motorball's armour off and badly damaging it.
Cloud ran up to Motorball, raised his sword, and swung it at Motorball, but Motorball was still able to deflect his sword with its own sword.
Motorball suddenly fired many flames of fire from its pipes at Cloud, Barret and Tifa, and struck each of them, giving them burns and scorch marks, but, although injured and aching from their burns, they still continued to attack.
Green light burst from the ground at Tifa's feet as several icicles appeared out of nowhere and struck Motorball, damaging more of its armour and leaving some holes in it too.
Green light burst from the ground at Barret's feet as a bolt of lightning appeared from the sky and struck Motorball, damaging and ruining some of the circuitry inside it.
Red light burst from the ground at Tifa's feet as she ran very quickly up to Motorball and punched it hard several times with powerful blows, knocking it about and causing some dents in its armour.
Tifa suddenly did a somersault, her legs hitting Motorball hard in the middle of her somersault, and knocking it backwards and damaging more of its armour.
Cloud ran up to Motorball, raised his sword, and swung it at Motorball, slashing through one of Motorball's wheels and destroying that wheel.
Motorball fell slightly as it lost its wheel.
Green light burst from the ground at Tifa's feet as some icicles appeared out of nowhere and struck Motorball, slightly piercing some of its armour, but otherwise not doing much.
Motorball suddenly drove towards them, and rammed Cloud, Barret and Tifa hard with its remaining wheels, and knocked them back hard onto the ground. They quickly got up, but they were injured from burns and bruises inflicted by Motorball.
Green light burst from the ground at Barret's feet as a bolt of lightning appeared from the sky, and struck Motorball, causing a hole in a part of its armour, and damaging even more of its circuitry.
Green light burst from the ground at Cloud's feet as he used a Cure technique. Some magical energy appeared out of nowhere and healed himself, Barret, and Tifa, and all their burns and bruises.
Green light burst from the ground at Tifa's feet as some flames appeared out of nowhere and struck Motorball, but they didn't seem to have any affect on Motorball with its tough armour, even though Motorball was already fairly damaged.
Green light burst from the ground at Barret's feet as a bolt of lightning appeared from the sky and struck Motorball, causing another hole in a part of its armour and damaging even more of its circuitry.
Cloud ran up to Motorball, raised his sword, and swung it at Motorball, slashing through one of its other tires and destroying that tire. Motorball fell a little more slightly as it lost its wheel.
Green light burst from the ground at Tifa's feet as some icicles appeared out of nowhere, and struck Motorball, piercing even more of its armour, and left many marks and scratches across it.
Motorball suddenly fired many flames of fire from its pipes at Cloud, Barret and Tifa, and struck each of them, giving them burns and scorch marks, and they were injured and aching from their burns.
Green light burst from the ground at Barret's feet as a bolt of lightning appeared from the sky and struck Motorball, causing a bigger hole in a part of its armour and damaging and exposing even more of its inner circuitry.
Cloud ran up to Motorball, raised his sword, and swung it at Motorball, slashing through another one of its wheels and destroying that wheel.
Motorball fell slightly again, from its destroyed tyres.
Red light burst from the ground at Barret's feet as he charged up his gun for a moment, and then fired an orange ball of energy straight at Motorball, hitting it hard in the middle of its armour, and exploding, blasting its pipes, sword-arms, and wheels to pieces.
Motorball crashed in a heap to the ground, now with no weapons and was unable to even move, seeming badly damaged and about to explode.
Red light burst from the ground at Cloud's feet as he quickly ran up to Motorball, raised his sword, and swung it at Motorball and slashed at it with three blows with his sword.
The three blows all slashed straight through the middle parts of Motorball and slashed it to pieces, reducing it to a pile of scrap metal.
The remains of Motorball suddenly exploded in a great flash of light and fire, but luckily enough, it left no major damage to the area around it.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly healed their burns with potions, and then walked up to the exit of Midgar along with Aeris and Red XIII.