Cid chewed on the end of his cigarette, eyes scanning the forest below. Renmaru hadn't been able to give an exact location of the camp, but tracing back what he did remember set them searching the southern part of Wutai. Personally, he wasn't so sure about this, why would Shinra have placed a research lab so close to their former enemies? On the other hand, this was Hojo they were talking about, who knows what that sick $&# was thinking? Yet on the other hand he couldn't imagine ol' pale-and-nutzo working anywhere without several tons of computer and equipment and this didn't look like a likely spot. However-wait a minute, he was up to three hands already!

They finally spotted what they were looking for on the tip closest to the other island. "OK, you &, lower down to land. We don't want to give the locals a head's up on our mission. But don't shut off the $#& engines; if you see the distress signal go off you come and strafe the place, got it?"

The crew exchanged glances. "Yo, boss, strafe with what? We haven't got any guns on this rig, remember?"

"Strafe'em with your wits, they're hard enough. Just be ready to swoop to the rescue, alright?"

"Got it boss."

Of all the #!& people to get stuck with, Cid just had to get stuck with the vampire. Not that Vince was a bad character, he was one of the few people who was actually old enough to get his jokes (not that he laughed, but at least they didn't have to be explained to him), but that meant he was in the group that sneaked in, instead of being part of the one that would be blasting the door down in about an hour. And frankly, if Cid had to go sneaking around, he'd rather have been with Tifa or Elena. Hey, he may be married, but he wasn't dead yet!

WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!

"Damn, someone must have set off the alarm." said Vincent. He straightened up out of his crouch and pulled the Death Penalty out of its holster. "Don't stop" was all the warning he gave Cid before rushing down the hall. Cid cursed and followed. Some guards actually showed up, but Vince dodged and shot them before Cid got close enough to use his spear. "No monsters."

"NO &(!"

"No, I mean, no monsters as maybe this wasn't Hojo's main-" Vincent cut himself off. Cid skidded to a halt beside him, tried to catch his breath and then looked up. "Oh, &#!" In front of them was a large, red mecha. Fortunately, Tifa and Barret got their at the same time.

Battle commenced. Cid started with his Dragon Dive, while Barret and Vincent shot at the mecha while trying to avoid its return shots. Tifa, unfortunately couldn't get close enough to use her martial arts, so instead she was relegated to distance attacks with Materia and healing. Finally a wild swing of its arm knocked Vincent off his feet, into the wall. He stood up, shook his head, then transformed into Chaos and ripped the mecha in half.

"Woah, you guys alright?" That's when Rude and Elena appeared.

"Most of us are fine. I'll stay here with Vincent, the rest of you get to the control center." Tifa knelt by the ex-Turk as the others started trying to open the large steel doors at the end of the corridor.

"I must thank you for rescuing us. Today was to be the final mass 'cleansing' of this camp. If you had come just a few hours later, there wouldn't have been anything here; they were going to raze the buildings as well." A grizzled old male of the same species as Nanaki was speaking to the members of AVALANCE.

"No thanks necessary. Anyone would be outraged at what Shinra was doing. I'm just sorry we didn't get here sooner, we might have been able to save more of you. Not to mention, prevent them from contacting Scarlet and erasing their hard drives." Cloud accepted gracefully.

"Yes, it's too bad that most of the scientists were off with that woman. I admit, I would have liked to see them pay for their crimes."

"I'd like to know where Scarlet's been hiding all this time." Reeve wasn't with them personally, but Cait Sith was.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions, er" Cloud hesitated.

"I'd be happy to answer anything that I can, Mr. Strife."

"Well, first your name . . . ?"

"Maquinna. I'm . . ." The graying male looked around at the 200 odd individuals of his species left in the camp. "I suppose you could say I'm the chief of those who are left. We used to devide ourselves into various tribes, but frankly we barely have a viable population right now. That's something for the future hopefully."

"Ah, yes." Cloud turned and pointed to Renmaru, who was helping a mother and her two cubs over to an aid station. All three looked like they had been starved, but were otherwise fine. In the course of liberating the camp, Cloud had seen many in much worse condition, bones broken, hooked up to machines, exposed to various poisons and illnesses. And the dead. The mass grave had been a hideous sight. "Tell, me do you recognize that man over there."

"Man? He looks more like a boy." Maquinna narrowed his eyes, then shook his head. "No. Should I?"

"He claims to be one of the Cetra from this camp." Now Maquinna grimaced. "It's certainly possible. The scientists here never allowed the prisoners to intermingle."

"So there really were Cetra here?"

"Oh yes. But they finished executing them before they started on us. I hate to say this, but I hope the boy didn't lose anyone in the last purges. If he was alone by the time he left . . . better to have nothing to hope for, than to realize you're too late."

"Thank you for anwering my questions." Cloud visibly slumped at Maquinna's anwer, and even Cait Sith seemed depressed. To think they had come so close to rescuing Aeris's people . . . "We'll start searching for the bodies immediately."