Tifa screamed as the dragon raked its claws across her chest. She fell to the ground, moaning in pain. Red XIII lunged at the dragon–which was four times larger than himself.
"I'll kill you!" he snarled. Their attacks clashed and canceled one another out. The dragon roared again, closing its jaws on Red XIII. With a toss of its head it sent the animal flying across the room. He slammed into the wall, slid down to the floor and didn't move.
"Nanaki!" Tifa screamed. Her wounds opened wider, and she groaned, tears leaking from her eyes. The dragon squealed, storming forward, ducking its head to Tifa's level. She tried to pull away but it advanced, opening its mouth to swallow her.
Suddenly, the figure that had been watching from the darkness lunged forward with a huge sword. It raised the crystal-lined weapon above its head and sliced the dragon's neck open. With a cry, it fell over dead. Tifa blinked dazedly, staring up at the person clipping the sword onto their back.
"Cloud...?" she whispered. The person knelt beside her, sitting her up and placing something to her lips.
"Drink this," they whispered.
"Who...?" Tifa tried, but they shushed her and held up the bottle to her lips again.
"Just drink."
Tifa started to drink what turned out to be an X- potion, but pulled her lips away from the bottle and looked up at him.
"Wutai..." she croaked.
"You remember?" his green eyes widened. She nodded.
"Materia..."
He shook his head. "Drink this, then I'll explain everything."
Tifa hesitated, then gulped down the rest of the potion. Her wounds quickly disappeared and her strength returned.
He helped her sit up. "My name's–"
"Zeo," Tifa completed. The man blinked at her.
"You remember that much!"
"I remember enough."
Zeo nodded then handed her something. "These yours?"
He was holding out her Premium Heart gloves. She took them.
"Where's my companion?"
"I was going to help him now," Zeo stood, helping Tifa to her feet. She slipped her gloves on, glaring at him.
"I should kill you for bringing us here."
"I just saved you; that doesn't win your trust?"
"Not entirely."
Zeo grinned at her, then went to help Red XIII.
"I suppose it's logical for you to be mad at me after that episode," he said, pulling a phoenix down out of a pouch on his belt. He rubbed the dark red feather over Nanaki's forehead and the creature opened his unscarred eye.
"What...?"
"Drink this," Zeo held another X-potion out to him. He sniffed at it, glanced at Tifa–who nodded–and he lapped it up. Panting heavily, the orange-red animal got shakily to his feet.
"Who are you?" he growled weakly.
The white-haired youth bowed, "Zeo, first-class SOLDIER at your service."
"This is the one that kidnaped us," Tifa motioned to him.
"You!" Red snarled, his muscles suddenly bulging as his strength rushed back into him.
"He's going to help us," Tifa continued, then glanced at Zeo. "Right?"
"I don't justify the killing of innocent people," he shrugged, "so, yeah. I might as well."

"Why do you have Cloud's sword, if you don't mind my asking?" Red continued to growl.
"Who's sword?" Zeo blinked. "Hojo gave this to me as a reward for your capture."
"That sword belongs to Cloud; the blond one with the mako eyes," Tifa explained.
"Oh," he blinked again. "I'll give it to him when I see him. By the way, who's is this?"
Zeo held up a silver ninja star, its center wrapped with brown leather, the four sickle blades glinting in the faded purple light.
"Yuffie's Conformer," Red XIII answered. Zeo tucked the weapon into his belt and walked to the door.
"If I'm correct, your friends went down to the basement to find their materias and armors. Hojo wanted to clone all of your materias, seeing you guys had some really rare ones."
"I need my clip back," Nanaki snarled.
"They equipped all of your weapons onto other monsters," Zeo told him. The door whooshed open, and he glanced up and down the hallway.
"Wonderful," Tifa replied dryly.
"Follow me," Zeo stepped out into the dark hall. She glared at his back, but followed. Red slipped out of the room behind her, and the three of them tip toed down the hall, toward the elevator. Zeo pulled a key card out from his pouch and slid it through the lock on the elevator. The doors slid open and the three of them went inside.
"What floor are we on?" Red blinked.
"Sixty-seventh," Zeo replied.
"And we have to get to the basement!"
Zeo nodded. Red XIII rolled his one yellow eye.
"Won't other Shin-Ra employees be getting on and off this elevator?" Tifa looked at the white-haired boy. He thought about this for a moment, then nodded.
"You two have to act as my prisoners."
"I hate this," Red XIII growled.
"He's right though," Tifa shrugged. Red grumbled some more, but stepped behind Zeo and lay down. Tifa put her hands together behind her back and stood closer to him.

"Here they are!" Yuffie chirped. Cloud looked down the hallway at her as she peered into the barred window. Cid glanced in over her shoulder.
"They're in here," he confirmed.
"Get away from the door," Cloud walked over to them.
"Why?" Yuffie wailed.
"Because this is our materia, not yours."
"Aw, phooey," she pouted. Barret joined Cloud at the door, and Cait Sith, Cid, and Vincent held Yuffie back by the arms as she thrashed and complained. Barret shot the lock off the metal door and Cloud shoved it inward with his shoulder. The room opened up into a dark laboratory, lined with almost two hundred small mako-compacting incubators. Tubes and wires littered the cold marble floor, running back and forth in between the materia producers. Up at the back of the room were three large test tubes, displaying a red materia, a green materia, and a yellow materia: the three Master Materias.
The team went around, gathering the orbs and putting them in their pockets–most of their armors and weapons were still missing. Two sets were left over: Tifa and Nanaki's. Yuffie was released on the bargain that she wouldn't take every single materia for herself...yet. Cloud gathered the two extra sets and put them in his pouch. As he did this, a creaking sound started coming from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and was flung backward. He slammed into the wall, crying out in surprise and pain. Everyone turned to look at what had attacked him, and a large metal shape clunked into view.
It had eight spindly wire legs and a round body lined with crystal. Atop its back was Vincent's Death Penalty, and on its underside, Cid's Venus Gospel.
"Holy shit!" Cid blinked.
"Lucretia..." Vincent hissed and took a battle stance.
"Whoa...!" Yuffie leaned back to get a good look at it.
"You alright?" Cait Sith helped Cloud to his feet. He nodded and blinked to adjust his vision. When he saw the spider-thing, he turned to Cid, Vincent, and Yuffie.
"Can you guys handle this alone?"
"Our materia will be enough," Vincent replied sharply.

"You go on ahead and find your girl," Cid winked at Cloud, then charged up for a summon.
"Cait Sith, Barret, you two search for anymore weapons or armors," Cloud ordered. "I'll look for Tifa...then Hojo."
The three of them ran out of the room. Yuffie blinked, looking puzzled.
"Um, what am I supposed to do?"
"Shut up and help us!" Cid snarled and disappeared; an aged man in white and gold robes appeared before the metal monster. He raised his mage staff high into the air, and a thunderbolt came from the sky, striking the creature. It shrieked and let loose a barrage of bullets from the Death Penalty. They all rolled out of the way, Cid readying to attack again.
"Hey! I already got shot once today!" Yuffie shouted angrily, lunging forward. She threw a flying kick that dazed the creature and Cid hit it with the Ramuh summon again. Vincent closed his eyes and struck the metal spider with a Bolt3 spell. It jumped forward, jabbed the Venus Gospel, and grabbed the dark-haired man in one huge metal claw. Cid stumbled from the lance's strike and Vincent cried out as he was thrown into the air.
"Vince!" Yuffie hollered, throwing a shield spell at him. It caught him just before he slammed into the ground and reduced the blow. However, he still shook his head dazedly as he struggled to his feet. His eyes suddenly flared, a yellow energy surrounding him.
"I am not beat yet!" he howled, using his Limit Break to transform into the black Chaos monster.
Cid winced next to him. "Yeesh, he's pissed."
"Go Vincent, go!" Yuffie whooped. The black demon roared, storming forward to meet the metal contraption head-on. Cid summoned Ramuh once more, and Yuffie charged up for her All-Creation strike.
"If it's not down after this..." Cid shook his head as he came back from the summon.
"It'd better die!" Yuffie yelled and threw her energy blast from the planet. Vincent roared, swinging wildly at the spider-thing. Its metal frame began to shudder, and the Death Penalty clattered off the body and hit the floor, going off with one loud report.