She crept down the corridor, unlocking each of the room doors and pushing them open.
"Hey!" Yuffie hissed from the last room. Barret swore loudly from another.
"Tifa?" Cloud poked his head out of the third room up the hall. She shushed him, pointing to the sleeping guard. He nodded and slipped back inside the room. She ran to the elevator, saw the key-card pad mounted on the wall beside the twin doors, and rushed back to the guard. She searched through his pockets and he slowly opened his eyes.
"What–" he tried, but Tifa punched him on the side of the jaw. His head slammed into the opposite wall and he was out again. She rolled her eyes, pulling out the master key card from his back pocket. Then she ran back to the elevator, activated the keypad, and slipped inside. Cloud, Barret, Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, and Cait Sith finally gathered in the hallway.
"Where's Tifa?" Cloud blinked.
"She's looking for Red XIII," Vincent told him.
"He's not here?" Yuffie asked.
"Apparently not," Cait Sith replied.
"We can't stand around waitin' for her," Barret sighed. "It's best we find our weapons."
"I know where mine is," Cloud growled, remembering the white-haired boy with Hojo.
"Well, first thing's first: where's the materia?" Yuffie glanced around.
"Is that all you think about?" Cid rolled his eyes.
"She's right; some of the materia we had was one-of-a-kind," Cait Sith nodded. Yuffie grinned triumphantly at him. They thought in silence for a moment, then Vincent spoke up.
"If this is a Shin-Ra building, the materia is usually stored in a lab in the lower basements."
"Are you positive?" Cloud asked.
He nodded.
"Yeah, Vincent!" the ninja girl squealed, latching onto his arm.
"Then we'll go down," Cloud stated. "Yuffie and Vincent will come with me."
"Why do I have to go!" she jumped, looking up from her hold on Vincent.
"So I can keep an eye on you," he responded. "Cid, Barret, and Cait Sith go in the second group. We'll split up on the next floor; one group will head down the stairs, the other will take the elevators."
"Release me," Vincent stared calmly down at Yuffie. She did, brushing her hair back into place and turning to the blond mercenary.
"I vote elevators!" she cried.
"You sure?" Cid raised an eyebrow.

"Positive," she nodded perpetually. Everyone else shrugged. Then they slunk past the unconscious guard, down the hall, and to the elevators where Cloud, Vincent, and Yuffie slipped through the metal doors. The other three headed for the emergency staircase.

Tifa peered inside the room. It was completely black except for a slight purplish glow coming from the center. On closer inspection, the faint light was coming from a glass pillar containing Red XIII. She darted forward and tapped on the glass. The creature looked up slowly at her. His one good eye was clouded and wet, the fur around it dampened to a darker shade of red. Tifa peered in sadly at him.
"Are you okay?"
He just looked at her mournfully. She felt around the base of the glass, found the keypad, and slid the card through. It beeped and she punched in the code printed on the back of the card. It beeped again, and the glass suddenly parted down the middle. It slid aside with a hiss, leaving a low metal platform before her. Tifa climbed up onto it and crawled over to Red XIII.
"Nanaki, are you all right? Please, answer me."
He suddenly snarled and leapt upon her. Tifa yelped, falling back and hitting the tiled floor hard. She saw stars for a moment, then realized Nanaki was biting her arm and digging his claws into her shoulders.
"Nanaki, stop! It's Tifa! Don't you recognize me!"
The creature stopped growling and released her. He backed away uncertainly.
"Tifa...?"
"Yes, it's me," she replied, wincing as she sat up slowly.
He studied her a bit longer, then leaned forward and licked the blood off of her arm.
"I'm sorry," he nipped her affectionately.
"You were scared, weren't you?" she whispered. He looked away again. Tifa stroked his head tenderly.
"I was all alone again," he murmured. "Trapped and all alone."
"You're never alone," Tifa smiled softly. He looked up at her as she stood.
"Thank you, Tifa."
"No problem. Now, to find the others..."
"Have you seen them?"
"Yeah. We were in separate rooms on the floor below. Did you hear anything any of the scientists said?"
"No."
"All right, it's a long story. Cloud said he'd explain all he knew when we're all together."
"Everyone's here?"
"Yes."
Red started to say something, but stopped and turned to look behind them. Tifa looked back too.
"Do you sense that?" he whispered. She shook her head.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's big...and evil," he turned around fully and let out a threatening growl. From the darkness at the other end of the room came and answering growl, and two glowing orange slits appeared.
"I think I let something else out..." Tifa stepped back. With a roar, a huge flourescent green dragon stormed into view. They took their stances, without their weapons, armor, or materia.
"This should prove to be interesting, don't you think?" Red tried to sound convincing.
Tifa shook her head, gulping audibly. In a corner of the room, behind the dragon, a pair of bright green eyes flared in the darkness as the monster reared to attack.

"You wanted to use the elevator, right!" Cloud shouted over the alarms. The three were huddled in the center of the elevator, the digital number display flashing wildly.
"Stop it!" Yuffie wailed. Vincent leaned over and slammed his fist down on the panel. The digits stopped scrolling and blinked the number 15. The doors flew open. Guards were racing at them from all sides.
"Just run!" Cloud yelled, and the three of them darted for the stairs. Gunshots rang out behind them–Yuffie screamed as a bullet caught her in the leg. Vincent stopped to help her, and a second-class SOLDIER dropped down behind him.

"Vince!" Yuffie cried. He spun back around to face the SOLDIER. Cloud kicked at him viciously and the warrior stumbled. Another round of shots echoed up the hall, but they hit the SOLDIER. The three looked toward the stairs. Cait Sith bounded forward, slamming his fists into the opponent's chest; the SOLDIER fell. Vincent helped Yuffie to her feet, and they all ran to the stairs. Barret waved at them from one floor below, his gun arm held out in front of him.
"Looks like he found some ammo," Cloud said.
"I'm thankful for it," Yuffie heaved a sigh.
"Would you like to take the stairs?" Vincent raised an eyebrow.
She groaned as she looked down at her injured leg: "Well, who said to take elevators in the first place!"
Cloud and Vincent rolled their eyes at one another.