Sorry for the long update time, I've been away for a while. But the story must go on!

Chapter 3

'Where is everyone?' Alex thought 'We usually stick behind after work...' but her thoughts were interrupted as a man in a black suit walked in. He wore a pair of black sunglasses that concealed his eyes. He pulled them down slightly to reveal creepy black eyes.
"Alex Winters? Shouldn't you have left? All the other employees have"
"I guess you've never heard of the night shift have you?" she said with confidence and narrowed her eyes. The man met her gaze and shivered.
"Night shift, eh? I thought you'd be doing it with someone else,"
"I can handle myself," she said coolly, and walked over to the corner of the room to pour out a cup of coffee. As she filled it, she became aware the man was following her over.
"Why are you following me?" she asked without turning around. The man gasped. How did she know he was there?
"I'm not. I just..." he didn't even finish his sentence before Alex interrupted.
"If you're not following me..." she opened the door and shoved him outside "Then go home!" and with that she locked the door to prepare for the night shift.

The man sat on the table, kept by the cords holding him down. He'd given up all hope of ever freeing himself. Just then a man came tumbling from the vent in the ceiling.
"Man I'm good!" the man said, smiling over at the struggling man.
'Who's this?' the man thought to himself. He paused and then continued to struggle free.
"Need... help..." he managed to say as he tried to desperately wriggle free of the cords.

"Well hello there," he said looking at the man strapped onto the table. "Help, huh? Well, you aren't really who I'm looking for. I'm kinda busy…" He began distractedly glancing around the room looking under trays and playing with various sharp implements. "Hm... I wonder what this is for…" he said holding up a long jagged tool with randomly positioned needles all over it. It glinted in the bright light as Luke smirked and dropped it onto the tray to continue looking around. "So sorry to disappoint you but I just don't have time to waste on saving random people." He began to walk towards the door. Then he turned. "Just kidding! Hahaha....ha?" The smile dropped off his face. "Okay so maybe that wasn't so funny. Here. Maybe this will make it up to you." he pulled a small pocketknife from his pocket and cut the cords restraining the man. He offered him his hand to help him up. "Well then. There you are. My name is Luke Migale. And you?"

'Awfully jolly aren't you?' thought the man as he clambered off the table. It was sweet relief from those nasty cords.
"Thanks for helping me. My name? Oh it's ah... oh... it's no use. I've forgotten. How long have I been here? 1 year, 2? Oh, I'm so confused! What year is it?" the man asked trying desperately to think of his own details.
'I guess I must have been here a long time.' he thought, 'I'm so confused...'

"Haha. Can't remember your name, eh? That's all right; I'll just call you Bob. Always wanted a friend named Bob. Haha."

Luke was walking around the room spinning a syringe on his finger. "And I'd say you probably haven't been here long. At the most a day or two. Oh, you're wondering how I know this right. Of course. Well I happen to know based on the fact that they haven't poked you full of holes and cut you up all over the place. The only little thing it looks like they did was inject you with some kind of serum right here," Luke indicated a small red puncture wound in the man's neck with the syringe he held. "I'd say whatever it was they pumped into that little hole made you release some information they've been after and by doing it in such a manner you temporarily lost your most recent memories. Of course that little bit of knowledge is just a guess, it's quite likely that you've lost all of your memory and that it's not just temporary. But hey, look on the bright side; at least you don't know what you're missing out on, eh. Haha.... Oh sorry. That probably wasn't really funny either."

Luke stopped moving and looked over at the man who looked rather clammy and worried. "Okay Bob. I've got some work to finish up here. Either you can come with me or you can show yourself to the door. I gotta warn you though the door isn't quite so easy to find." Luke winked and turned to go.

"Wait! I'll come with you!" Bob called trying to remember how to run because he needed to at this point. Instead he tripped over and fell flat of his face.
"Ouch..." he mumbled and walked carefully over to Luke, trying to not fall over again. "Lead the way"

Alex unlocked the door and walked out down the corridor holding a cup of lukewarm coffee in her hands.
'Must remind them to buy better coffee...' she mentally told herself and wandered through the corridors, listening out for any type of noise. Her long walk ended outside one of the more secure chambers where they held people when they needed information. Alex checked out the details of the person who was in there by looking at the bio on the paper pinned to the door.
Name: Joshua Ferrow
Age: 28
Reason for captivity: Classified
"All the interesting stuff is always classified..." Alex mumbled and slid her key card through the card reader next to the door. She opened the door to find the subject and another man about to leave the room.
"Stop!" she yelled at the two and came running over. It then hit her that the subject had been locked to the table with very special cords to prevent his escape. "How did you get free?" Alex asked the subject, whose real name was Joshua.

Luke froze with one hand on the double door handle. 'Oh darn! I thought this was getting too easy. Oh well, I was almost getting bored.' He turned just his head sideways to look back at the women and smirked at her.

"Well um... if you must know, I cut him free with this here knife I have in my pocket, commonly known as a pocket knife, and now...we're leavin! Hahahaha." He leaned over and nudged 'Bob' in the side and said, "You sure you don't wanna stay? If that's your nurse I might reconsider. Haha." He was still looking at the women, who looked rather annoyed. "Well I really would like to be going now. I've got some business to attend to. Nice to meet you miss," he acted as if he was tipping a hat. Then he opened the door and started to walk through. "You coming Bob?" Luke asked as he smiled back at the women.

"Not so fast!" Alex called, as the other man was about to exit the room. She was still rather puzzled at how a puny pocketknife could cut some of the most powerful ropes around. They were top of the line.
She was about to wrestle both men to the ground but decided against the idea.
"Before you leave.... here..." she said handing a bio to Joshua.
'What the hell did I do that for?' she thought but didn't show this thought in her expression. In fact she was smiling.
"You'd better get out of here quickly, before anyone else catches you. They probably won't be as merciful as me," she said.

'Bob' looked at the bio before leaving. Then he turned back to the woman.
"My name is Joshua Ferrow. Why was I brought here?" he asked her.
"I don't know," replied the woman. "That information is classified. Not even a top professional like me knows that. That's for the big shots to know and the ones down low to find out," then she smirked. "Both of you get out of here or get hidden. I'll pretend I didn't see you,"
'If she's one of the professionals, why is she letting me go?' thought Joshua, but pushed that thought out of his head and walked out the door, trailing behind Luke.

Luke had started walking off, purposefully not looking back so that he maintained his tuff man persona. However, when Bob came running up beside him he looked over at him then over his shoulder.

"She calling for reinforcements?" Bob shook his head as he studied the file in his hand. "No? Well that's odd. I thought we were going to have to deal with her. Hehe. I guess she knew she was no match for us, eh?"

He stopped and turned towards his companion. "Hey! Do you know her or something? You two lovebirds?" He looked from the man's face down to the folder in his hands.

"What's that?"

Before the other man had a chance to react Luke had snatched the file from his hand and turned to read it. The other man desperately tried to get it from him, but Luke held it up over his head and continued reading. "Hm... That's interesting." He handed the papers back to the man and began walking again.

"I've had enough." Kai sighed, turning back to face his companion. "This was supposed to be a covert operation. He's probably fraternising with every female he finds"

The other man stood motionless. "What are you going to do?" he asked meekly, his voice barley audible above the ticking of the clock.

"I'm going to do what you're paying me to do. I'm going to go in there. I'm going to find Luke. I'm going to kick his butt. Then I'm going to get the research."

"Are you sure that's wise? After all, one man inside is... more...than..."

Kai's sarcastic look cut the man off. He turned to go and began walking towards the large oak door.

"Oh just one thing. If I find the operation has been compromised in any way, do I plug the leak?" he asked, not pausing to wait for an answer as he exited onto the dusty street

"Ya know, it sucks that all the other info is classified. The classified stuff is always the best." He looked out of the corner of his eye to see Joshua's expression, to his disappointment it didn't change. The man was still blankly staring at the paper work. "There really isn't anything of much interest in there...your name, which I would consider changing to 'Bob' anyway. Then there is your date of birth; you're about 36, getting on up there aren't we? Haha. It also says your a male, you have no idea how good that is to know. I was actually beginning to wonder. HAHA...Naw I'm just messin' wish ya, budd."

Luke looked over and saw his companion wasn't enjoying his light-hearted jokes. "Hm....well..." he glanced down at his watch, and very deliberately changed the subject. "I really gotta finish what I came for. Wouldn't wanna leave here empty handed. Sorry if you don't count for much of a prize for me. HAHAHAHA!" He slapped Joshua on the back and continued to laugh rambunctiously.

'Why did I let him go? Am I going soft? I'm supposed to be STOPPING people escape not letting them! I wonder... what would happen if I pursued him? Just to see how he handles being out? Wait... does this mean I actually want to HELP him? That's not my job! I'm supposed to be on the night shift! Locking people away! Oh... I guess I'm gonna have to keep up with him. Just to make sure they don't pull any... funny stuff...'Alex thought and followed the two men, keeping in the shadows.

'She let me go... but why? Are they still monitoring me? Are they following me? I think someone is... Nah. My mind's just playing tricks on...'
Joshua jerked his head around to see the woman from before, tripping over a cable.
"Heh heh...?" she laughed nervously and brushed off the dust from the floor off her. She got back onto her feet.
"Heh heh...?" she repeated, feeling foolish she had been spotted so easily.
'Must be a real klutz...' thought Joshua and walked over to her.
"I didn't catch your name before..." Joshua hinted.
"It's... erm... Alex..." the woman said, feeling rather embarrassed.

Luke's fluently rhythmic walk was interrupted when he heard a stumbling figure make an odd noise. 'Well, well, well, so she tried to be a little tricky, eh. Lettin us go just so she can spy on us. Would have been clever had she been a little quieter. Hehe.' He crossed his arms and slowly turned to see Joshua helping the woman - Alex, was it? - Up with a shaky hand.

"You two love birds ready to move it out yet? Enough chitchat! I've got a job to do, and honestly, miss, I'll feel a little safer knowing your here with me rather than watchin me on some video screen or something. At least this way I can just shoot you if you rub me the wrong way," he made a gun out of his forefinger and thumbs and pointed it at her, winked and made a little 'bang' noise. "Now chop chop. You two have slowed me down enough already. SHEESH! Haha."

'Who does this guy think he is? Trying to boss me around! He's got some nerve...' Alex thought and indicated they should keep walking.
"So... what do you do around here?" Joshua asked Alex.
"Not much. Mostly just monitoring stuff and tonight I decided to take the night shift to make sure no one got away. Guess I really messed up on that one," she said and grinned. "So what are you doing here Mr..?" she asked the other man, hinting she wanted to know his name.

Joshua saw Alex struggling to work out Luke's name and filled in the gaps.
"His name is Luke," he announced "He got me out of that place,"

"I see..." replied Alex. "So what are you doing here Luke?" she repeated.
'I hope she isn't going to try giving us the slip and reporting I've escaped to the 'big-shots'...' Joshua thought and followed, keeping up with the other two.

Kai stood in the shadows of the menacing ShinRa building. He quickly spotted the ventilation shaft that was Luke's point of entrance, and quickly realised his larger frame wouldn't fit.

"Hmm, a problem..." he mused walking towards the main doors. As he approached, the small entry panel beeped, and emitted an order in its electronic voice.

"PLEASE ENTER SECURITY CODE"

Kai smiled. "Open sez me" he muttered. The panel corresponded, the lights changing from red to green, and the door slid silently open

Luke darted a look at Joshua with slanted eyes when he released his name to their new travelling companion. 'Just wonderful, bubb! Now if she ever needs to track me down for say, braking and entering, she'll know how to find me!'

"Oh me...well I'm here on a little mission. One that calls for me entering the file room. I don't suppose you'd know where that is would you?" He slapped his palm against his forehead and said, "Silly me! Of course you know where it is. But would you tell me is the real question? I'm not very good at directions, as Joshua's accompaniment with me proves. I just happened to stumble upon him while trying to find the file room." He was elaborating his words with hand motions as he swaggered along beside the other two people. They came to a 'T' in the hall.

"Hm... Here's where your wealth of knowledge would be very useful, my dear."

He looked down at her with pleading eyes and a sheepish smirk. 'If I'm lucky this girl will be a sucker for puppy dog eyes. Fat chance of that, though, I suppose. I've never been lucky in my whole life! Hehe. And I don't recon I can charm my way with this gal either. She looks a little smarter than I prefer. Certainly not charmable'.

He continued to look at her for a moment more, then sighed and looked at the two halls he had to pick from. "Would you tell me if I guess right?" he asked hopefully. "No, eh.... darn. Well.... I guess it's back to enie-minie-miny-moe!" He reached into his shirt and began stroking his lucky rabbit foot looking from one hall to the other.

"It's to the right..." Alex told him and walked to the right. She turned back and noticed Joshua wasn't following.
"Erm... hello? It's this way," Alex told him.
'Why doesn't he believe me? Why isn't he following... ah. Now I know. Reason 1) I work for ShinRa. Reason 2) I'm supposed to stop them getting away and Reason 3) probably because he thinks I'll tell the ShinRa he escaped. Right... now how do I explain that I'm NOT trying to get them captured? That I'm NOT trying to lead them somewhere to get caught? Hmm...' Alex thought and then said quietly:
"You two have to believe me. I'm not going to lead you somewhere to get caught. I'm TRYING to get you to get out of here. I have a reason. It's that... I'm actually trying to get out of here myself..."

'Get out of here herself? Why? Why can't she leave?'
"Um... do you mind me asking why you need to get out of here?" Joshua asked.
"Well..." Alex began "The ShinRa are keeping me here for whatever they want to do with me. They captured me ages ago for information. They made me a proposition: I didn't have to tell them anything, if I joined up with the ShinRa. Strange proposal, I know. But I agreed, so I would be safe. A year after, they got what they needed from me and... They killed the people I was working with on a mission to put down the ShinRa. They didn't kill me. After a year they'd realised I was good at keeping people locked up. So they made sure I couldn't leave. There's something stuck to my arm that won't come off. If it stays there, the second I exit the building an alarm will go off. I need you two to do me a favour. Get this thing off of me!"
Joshua was stunned. ShinRa's had kept her as a hostage for at least a year.
"I'll help," he announced and followed her. "What about you Luke?" he asked.

Luke's eyes had widened when the women had told him which direction to go. He was rather sceptical. 'Now I certainly didn't expect that. I suppose under that circumstance that since she said right I should go left just because she's technically a bad guy? Darn has she screwed things up! I was perfectly happy with just guessing.' Then she began with her story. He listened while leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and picking dirt from beneath his nails. "Haven't I helped enough random people for one night?" he said while rolling his eyes up to the ceiling. "Fine, fine, I'll help. Though, I have absolutely no idea how. One thing though, I have to take care of my business first. Then we'll get that...whatever it is off your arm, aright doll face?" He smiled at her and winked. "Well then, this way is it?" He strode off down the hall whistling.

Kai slowed his pace, the studs in his boots sending echoes down the empty faceless corridors. Suddenly, he stopped, his eyes darting about. Voices. Muffled voices and horse whispers came floating down the corridor towards him.

He grinned to himself, and drew his sword, the sound of the blades on the scabbard almost inaudible. He held it down to his side, and cast Wall on himself.

For a moment or two, he stood in silence, contemplating in which direction his prospective attackers were coming from, before setting off at a steady jog, his footsteps almost silent.

The voices grew louder as he entered another corridor, indication that he was gaining on the enemy. Suddenly, a shrill whistle rang out, and Kai slowed to a walk.

Luke. 'How stupid was he?' Kai pressed himself into a doorway close to the voices. 'Luke, and two guards. This should be easy' he thought, stepping from the doorway and proceeding to the junction, his sword trailing behind him slightly, his finger on the trigger, ready to be brought up in a fatal arc.