Tifa and Red XIII looked up at the sound of the single gunshot. Something roared, and the entire elevator shuddered violently.
"We're going to fall!" Tifa yelped.
"Calm down!" Zeo grabbed her arm. Shrill alarms started to ring through the sound system. A black device on Zeo's belt crackled to life.
"Suspects heading down toward the basement area! Close off all stairwells, elevators, and hallways–"
The elevator shuddered again and Nanaki leapt to his feet.
"It is going to fall!"
"Stop moving around!" the white-haired boy commanded. With a groan and a loud snap, the car dropped rapidly down the shaft. The velocity of their descent made them rise into the air. Tifa shrieked, Red XIII howled, and Zeo cursed.

Cloud whirled around as a loud alarm bell started ringing through the intercom speakers mounted on the walls. Then he heard the alert and cursed under his breath. Barret and Cait Sith jumped, then ran for the stairs. At that moment, an explosion came from the elevator doors to Cloud's right. He ran over and felt the silver metal, which was hot to the touch. He pulled away quickly and looked up at the number display above them. Twenty-nine. Faintly, he heard a girl scream.
"Tifa!" he hollered through the metal. There was no answer. With a frustrated cry, Cloud slammed his fists against the doors and wriggled his fingers through the crack in between them, slowly prying them apart. A rush of flame licked at him and he flinched. The elevator car sat at the bottom of the chute, mangled and spewing fire. He scanned the wreckage wildly, searching for some sign of her.
She screamed again. He looked up through the smoke and darkness and saw three figures hanging from a snapped elevator cable. It was the white-haired kid, gripping Red XIII by one hind leg, Tifa hanging onto the animal's neck.
"Are you all right!" Nanaki whimpered.
"I...hate...Shin-Ra..." Tifa gasped.
"You're fine; calm down," the boy called down to her.
"Tifa!" Cloud shouted. He saw her look down at him; she squinted.
"Who's that?" the boy asked.

"Cloud!" Tifa cried back, overjoyed.
"Are you okay!" Cloud hollered up at her.
"Yeah! What about you! Are the others all right!"
"Yes! We found the materias!"
"Cloud, I hate to be a pest, but...get us down!" Red howled.
"I've got you, I said," the boy stated with a little impatience.
"Cloud!" Tifa continued. "Can you find out what floor we're on!"
"Twenty-nine!" he replied.
"Get up here and help us, then!" Red snarled.
"I can't very well hold on forever, you know," the boy grunted.
"Okay, you guys hang tight; I'll get you!"
Cloud dashed from the mouth of the elevator and entered the emergency staircase. Barret and Cait Sith were several floors up already. He looked around hurriedly; he had to get to the twenty-ninth floor somehow. From above, he heard Cait Sith meowing and Barret cursing. Gunshots rang down the dark halls and echoed off the metal walls. There was another jolting explosion from below, and the walls, floor, and ceiling began to shake violently. Cloud paused on the ninth story, looking around warily. Something burst up through the cement floor from below. Yuffie shrieked as she shot up toward him on the back of a huge red, four-winged dragon. Vincent lay unconscious in her arms and Cid sat behind her, gripping her waist tightly. They bulldozed their way up the stairwell, past Barret and Cait Sith battling on the twentieth floor, and up toward the roof.
"Was that the others!" Barret yelled down at Cloud.
"Yeah!" he shouted back. "You guys get up there too! I'll get Tifa and Red!"
"'Kay!"
Cait Sith hissed, and his voice sounding far away and hollow. A red light filled the stairs and a scream almost deafened Cloud as the black Bahamut dragon appeared in the air above him. He saw Cait Sith and Barret leap on; the dragon roared, and they took off after Neo Bahamut. Cloud closed his eyes and concentrated. The air around him grew hot and started to glimmer red. Something within him shrieked, and it strained against his conscious body. Wings burst forth, fire encircled him, talons stretched out and grasped the iron railing.

Zeo grunted, and they slipped a few more inches. Tifa began to pray under her breath. Red XIII whimpered, bowing his head and licking Tifa's arm. The white-haired boy twitched as his fingers began to lose their grip on the thick metal cable. The jagged end wires ripped at the flesh of his palm, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"I can't...hold on much...longer!" he grunted, losing more of his grip.
"Cloud!" Tifa shrieked.
The wall on their left suddenly exploded outward and fire reached up to brush at their legs. A huge red, gold, and orange swanlike head poked through the hole and stared up at them with intense amber eyes. It entered the shaft and rose up to meet the people hanging from the cable. Cloud reached over and slipped an arm around Tifa. She blinked up at him in amazement.
"You came!" Nanaki leapt onto the Phoenix's back behind Cloud. He put both arms around Tifa and smiled.
"Told you I would," he replied. Zeo dropped down behind Red XIII and looked at the blond ex-SOLDIER.
"Thanks."
"I didn't do it for you," he replied coldly.
"Cloud," Tifa shook her head, "he saved our lives."
"She's telling the truth," Red nodded to him. Cloud glanced at him critically.
"Then I guess I owe you my thanks, but I'll just take my sword back instead," he growled. Zeo wordlessly handed the Ultima Sword back. Cloud hefted it, then strapped it to his back.
"Where's everyone else?" Tifa blinked.
"Upstairs," Zeo answered before Cloud could open his mouth. The boys exchanged heated glares again.
"Calm down, both of you," Nanaki snarled. "This isn't the way to behave right now."
"Believe it or not," Tifa added, "you two are on the same side. So, put whatever grudge you developed to the side, and let's work together."
"Just don't get in my way," Cloud turned away from the other boy's piercing green-eyed gaze. The Phoenix flapped its flaming wings hard and they shot up toward the seventieth floor of the Shin-Ra building.
"By the way," Red XIII called back, "what's this I'm hearing about clones?"

"I heard that too," Cloud glanced back at Zeo, who shook his head and looked away from Tifa's inquiring stare.
"I'll explain as soon as we catch up to the others."

Yuffie hugged her Conformer when Zeo handed it to her.
"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, how I've missed my beautiful shurinkan!" she gave one of the blades a big kiss. Vincent leaned against the wall at the farthest corner of the room, twirling his Death Penalty nonchalantly. Barret fished the Limited Moon clip from his back pocket and tossed it to his orange-red companion. Cid lit a cigarette he had found in his back pocket while waiting around for Cloud and the others. He inhaled the cancer stick deeply, then hacked and slammed a fist against his chest.
"Six months without a smoke–I can barely take it!"
Tifa and Red XIII slid off the Phoenix's back and watched as Cloud dispelled his summon. He sighed, then looked around at everyone.
"All accounted for?" he called.
"Yeah," Cid waved.
"Let's get to it!" Barret stomped his foot.
"Present!" Yuffie called.
"Here!" Cait Sith bounced up and down.
"I agree with Barret's proposal to move," Vincent said.
"Still here," Tifa blinked at him.
"Can we get going?" Nanaki growled.
Cloud put a hand on his Ultima Sword and looked at Zeo.
"If you're going to be in danger, don't follow."
"Bull," Zeo sneered. "You couldn't find your way to Hojo's lab if there were signs pointing the way there."
Cloud spat angrily at him. Tifa put a hand on Cloud's arm to calm him down, and Zeo lost his hard glare.
"If you two keep fighting like this, we'll just go on alone," she said. Cloud turned to Zeo again. They glared at each other for a moment, then Cloud stepped back to let him stand at the head of the group. The white-haired boy motioned for everyone to follow and they headed into the darkness of the hallway.