Final Fantasy 7

Emerald Princess of Vernea

Chapter Eighteen


Cloud and the two AVALANCHE members stopped just outside the entrance to the Shinra Building and looked up at the tower looming above them. The building was very tall, and must have had at least 60 floors built into it. This was the central control for all of Midgar, where all the decisions relating to the city were made. This was where President Shinra would have given the order to destroy Sector 7 and take the lives of so many. The Shinra president would be in that building somewhere, being protected by his guards and followers. And, of course, Aeris would be in that building too, although they didn't know where.

"Hey, you oughta know this building well," Barret said suddenly to Cloud as they looked up at the Shinra Building together.

Cloud shook his head. "...Not really," he admitted. He folded his arms and thought silently for a moment. "Now that I think of it... This's the first time I've ever been to the Headquarters."

"I heard about this place before," Barret began to explain. He walked past Cloud and Tifa and looked straight up at the tall, looming tower. "Every floor above the 60th is special and not easy to get to even for employees. Must be where they took Aeris. Awright, let's go!" He ran forward towards the entrance of the building.

"Wait a second!" Tifa called out suddenly, and Barret came to a stop and looked back at her irritably. "You're not thinking of just going right through the main entrance, are you?"

"Well what does it look like!?" Barret asked, as though the answer was obvious. "I'm gonna kick some Shinra butt and......"

"That's not going to work!" Tifa protested, her voice anxious. "We've got to find another way..."

Barret's eyes twitched impatiently. "Ain't gonna be another way!" he roared irately at her, growing angry at Tifa's protests. "If we keep wastin' time like this, Aeris'll..."

"I know that!" said Tifa. "But if we get caught here..." She sighed heavily and shook her head. She was getting nowhere arguing with Barret, for he had a mind like a brick wall – very hard to change. She then had an idea and turned to Cloud. "Hey, Cloud. ...What should we do?"

Up until that point Cloud had been looking up at the Shinra Building whilst listening to Tifa and Barret argue over how they should break in. The tower was very, very tall, and even though he had never been inside the building before, he knew that it would be very well protected. It was probably the only place in Midgar that wasn't run down and rusty, since this was the most important place in Midgar. There might not have been any guards standing around the outside of the building, but he knew that inside there would probably be hundreds of guards waiting for them, as well as SOLDIER and anything else Shinra had ready in their defence. He looked at Tifa.

"Let's sneak in quietly," he answered. After all, they were on a rescue mission, and they didn't want to be caught before they even found out where Aeris was.

"See?" Tifa asked triumphantly, grinning at Barret. "Let's see if we can find a different route!"

Barret growled angrily and shook his fist at Cloud and Tifa as they turned and walked away from him, heading towards the long, wide alleyway that wound around the side of the Shinra Building. As much as Barret hated to admit it, Tifa was right. To just enter the building with guns blazing would just be a suicide mission, not a rescue mission. He looked at the double doors leading into the building, resisting the urge to just run in and shoot like crazy. Instead he was able to hold back his desire and followed Cloud and Tifa into the alley.

They had stopped just a little further ahead after finding a door that led into the Shinra Building, kind of like a back door. Tifa pulled on the door handle as Barret caught up with them, and was surprised to find the door was unlocked and opened easily. Cloud let Tifa go in first before he followed her, and lastly Barret walked through, and they were inside the Shinra Building.

As they walked through and saw what was beyond, the three stopped and stared, their heads slowly looking upwards. The door led to a long staircase – a very long staircase. The stairs wound round and round above them, going up each floor of the tower, which was at least 60 floors high. Barret blinked, gazing upon the stairs, amazed at how high they went. The tower looked high on its own, but to look at it from this perspective, made it seem even higher.

"Yo..." he said aloud, his voice filled with awe. "You really gonna take these stairs all the way up?"

Tifa gave him a sideways glance. "Well, we've got to get to Aeris to help her somehow," she replied.

"Talk about out of the way..."

"I don't have time to argue with you!" the young woman shouted, her fists clenched and shaking angrily. She stepped onto the stairs and frowned back at Barret, her brown eyes glaring. "I'm going!"

And with that she turned away from the two men and began to run up the stairs, regardless of how high she was going to have to go to reach the top. She reached the first floor after a couple of turns on the winding staircase and carried on, refusing to stop or wait for Cloud and Barret.

"Y-Yo, Tifa!" Barret called after her. "Don't go off alone."

He and Cloud began to run after her up the stairs, since there was no other way they could get up there other than this staircase. They caught up to Tifa fairly easily since they were both stronger and faster than the young woman, but after a while even they began to feel the strain of fatigue. Tifa's hair was flying around her face as she ran, and she had to keep pushing it out of the way. Barret was panting heavily, and was already beginning to complain again.

"Don't know... Why... the hell... we gotta... climb."

"...Because we don't wanna start a commotion until we've saved Aeris," Cloud replied simply. He was beginning to pant with fatigue as well. He looked down at the ground as he ran. "I doubt that's possible, though..."

Barret smiled to himself. "...Heh, heh, heh," he laughed quietly.

Cloud's head snapped round to look at Barret. "Knock it off," he ordered. "You're giving me the creeps."

They fell silent for a while as they ran up the next ten levels or so. As they reached the eighteenth floor or so, Barret looked up at Cloud.

"So even you will fight for someone else," he said. "I had you figured wrong I guess."

"Who cares what you figured!" Cloud snapped.

"I'm just sayin' mebbe I was wrong..."

"Heh, heh, heh..." Tifa laughed a little to herself.

Now Cloud snapped his head round to Tifa. "What's that suppose to mean, Tifa?" he demanded.

Tifa didn't answer him, but the knowing smile remained on her face as she ran on. As she ran she grabbed her hair and threw it back behind her and out of her face, which was hot and red from the running. She passed Barret as he stopped for a moment to catch his breath before he carried on running. She had no idea what floor they were on now – she'd lost track after maybe the twelfth floor or so, but it didn't really matter because they were still going up anyway.

"...How much farther do these stairs go on?" Barret asked suddenly, breaking the silence to complain again.

Tifa rolled her eyes. "Why don't you ask them?" she suggested to him sarcastically.

"It's not one of them endless stairways or somethin', d'ya think?"

"Of course not!!" Tifa replied, beginning to grow very annoyed at Barret's constant complaining.

"Right..." Barret said, slowly nodding his head. "Couldn't be that..."

He continued to run along after Tifa and Cloud. They were probably only halfway up the seemingly endless staircase now, but still seemed a long way to the top to them. By now weariness had truly set in. Their legs burned intensely as they ran, and their chests heaved with each breath they took. They were gradually slowing down in speed but refused to stop.

"Are we there yet?" Barret asked suddenly.

"Not yet," replied Tifa. There was a pause for a moment or two as they turned a couple of corners on the stairs, before Barret spoke again.

"...There yet?"

"I said not yet!" Tifa retorted. They fell silent once again.

"Yo..."

"Look, don't even ask!" Tifa snarled furiously, turning her head around and glaring at Barret with such an enraged look at both Barret and Cloud felt a little scared. "We're way, way, way, way far away from being there, okay!?"

She turned away from them and pushed herself harder, beginning to pull away from the two as her anger powered her on as extra energy. Barret didn't say anything else for a while and just ran on in silence, wishing inside his mind that this long trek was over with. Cloud stopped on the stairs for a moment to catch his breath, his sword feeling like a deadweight on his back. There was no time for him to adjust it now, so he began to run again, his legs also beginning to feel dead. He soon began to catch up to Tifa and Barret, and could already hear Barret's voice.

"Damn, man! I've had it! I'm going back!"

"And take just as long going down as you did coming up?"

"......"

Cloud turned a corner on the stairs and came to a stop again. Barret and Tifa had both stopped just ahead of him, with Barret keeling over and panting hard, his face red with lack of air in his lungs. Tifa was at the top of the stairs ahead of him, her face also red, but she managed to find enough energy to make a face at Barret as he stood panting like a weakling in front of her.

"C'mon, Barret! Pull it together!" she said, trying to encourage him.

Barret refused to look up at her. "Yeah, well all I know is I'm just flesh 'n' blood..." he replied. He looked down at his gun-arm that was supporting him on his knee and stopping him collapsing. "'Cept for this arm of mine. Don't treat me like I'm some ex-member of SOLDIER or somethin'..."

Cloud raised an eyebrow.

Tifa put her hands on her hips indignantly. "What about me!?" she demanded. "I'm human too! Oh, do what you want, I'm going on!"

She turned away and began to head up the stairs once more, as always leaving Barret and Cloud behind her. However, after a few steps she suddenly stopped and turned back to the two.

"......? Yaah!" she screamed mockingly. "Barret! You go first!"

"What're ya ignorant?" Barret asked her. "I didn't mean that..."

Tifa grinned as she ran over to him. "All right, all right!" she said, but still motioned for Barret to go on ahead of her. Barret did so, shaking his head as he took a few steps before he began to run again. Tifa looked at Cloud. "Cloud, you go on ahead, too!!" she added, and only waited until Cloud began to run ahead of her before she also began to run, a fairly smug smile on her face.

And so they continued their seemingly endless trek up the stairs of the Shinra Building. The ground floor was now a long way beneath them, and it was very nauseating to look down and see the drop, so no one dared to look. They only looked at the stairs as they passed by beneath them, step after step.

"Yo..." Barret said through each panting breath. "What floor is this?"

Tifa shrugged. "...I gave up counting," she admitted.

Barret narrowed his eyes and glared at each step he ran on. "Why they gotta build these buildings so damn tall?" he asked aloud. "That Shinra... They're just no damn good."

"......" was Tifa's only reply, and they continued to run.

They had to stop a couple of more times as they ran, trying to catch their breath and moving on again before the others would get too far ahead, although by the time they caught up that person would also have stopped for breath. Their legs were heavy and sore from the running, their lungs desperate for breath.

"Huff... Man, I'm beat..." Barret said, beginning to complain once again. This time Tifa didn't acknowledge the complaint – she'd just be wasting her breath. Barret raised his eyes to the ceiling far above them, although his mind was focused on something else. "Marlene," he whispered. "Daddy wants to see your face one more time..."

Now Tifa reacted. "Would you stop acting like a retard and climb!?" she raged, her temper rising once again. "It's just a bit more! ...Maybe," she added quietly to herself, for now even she was beginning to wonder if the stairs would ever end and they would reach the top.

Luckily they didn't have to go much father to reach the top. Just a couple of floors later the stairs finally came to a stop as they reached the top level of the Shinra Building – or at least as high as the stairs went up the building. A single door that was lying ajar lay at the top of the stairs leading the way into the building, which was a great sight to see after their long and arduous climb. The three were extremely relieved to finally stop and rest their legs, leaning over with their hands on their knees to hold them up as they panted hard, sweat pouring down their faces, their legs and chests aching.

"F..." Barret panted, breathing deeply as he tried to catch his breath. He tried to speak again. "Finally... M... made it... N... never wanna see... no more stairs for the rest of my life..." He pushed himself firmly upright and walked through the open door into the building.

"Huff... puff..." Tifa breathed, her throat dry. "This really takes it out of you... But this is it. We'd better get ready...!" She also stood up and walked through the door, leaving Cloud to follow last through the door and finally into the building.

They emerged onto Floor 59 of the Shinra Building, which was as far as the normal employees of Shinra were allowed to go. Two red-suited Shinra guards to prevent unauthorised entry guarded the lifts at the far end of the level, and no doubt there was some special security within the lift to prevent people going any higher than they were allowed to. At that time the guards were the only people on the floor, which was a relief as the guards spotted the group heading towards them, and in particular spotted their weapons ready for battle.

"Destroy the intruders!" one of the guards shouted, and the two soldiers ran towards the group.

Cloud and Barret were about to run forward with their weapons to attack the guards, but Tifa beat them to it as she ran forward to meet them. She was tired from all the running, but she was energised by the anger she felt when she remembered what Shinra did to the people of Sector 7, and didn't want anyone to get in her way.

She drew back her fist and punched the first guard as she met him in the middle of the floor. She punched so hard that her glove smashed through the glass visor of his helmet, sending glass flying through the air. The soldier fell back and cried out as sharp shards of glass fell into his eyes.

Tifa turned sharply as she heard the sound of a click behind her. Without a single hesitation she jumped up into the air, straightening her legs as she jumped in preparation for a kick. As she turned in the air she kicked sideways, knocking the rifle from the second guard's hands as he prepared to fire at her. The gun went clattering onto the floor next to Tifa and the guard, but Tifa wasn't finished with the guard just yet. As she landed she grabbed hold of the guard with her gloved hands and pulled him harshly towards her. At the same time she raised one knee and kneed him hard in the face, also smashing the visor that shielded him. Then she punched him in the chest, a punch so powerful that the soldier was thrown back and onto the floor, falling limp as the power of Tifa's fists overcame him.

By that point the first soldier had recovered and was running towards Tifa once again. Tifa was quicker however, and quickly crouched down and swept one leg around her as she soldier approached. The Shinra guard tripped up over her leg and began to fall down on top of her, but by that time Tifa had already let herself fall onto her back and was ready to catch him as he fell. She didn't hold him for long, for she put one leg underneath the guard's chest and pushed, throwing him up into the air and over her. He also went flying and crashed into a wall at the other end of the floor, and didn't get up again. As he flew something fell from his pocket and skidded across the floor, stopping by Cloud's boots.

Cloud and Barret could only stare in absolute amazement as Tifa climbed to her feet and began to brush herself off, her anger and rage now gone once she had let it out. She caught their surprised gazes looking at her, and merely looked at the two with an innocent expression.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Barret answered quickly. He knew that Tifa was an expert martial artist, but never before had he seen so much aggression and power within her. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

Cloud looked at Tifa before he looked at the ground and spotted the item that had fallen from one of the guard's pockets. He knelt down."

"What's this?" he muttered, and picked it up.

It looked like some kind of security card with the number '60' printed on it in large, bold letters. Cloud stared for a moment before he realised what it was. It was a Key Card, specially designed to unlock the secret floors of the Shinra building. This particular one was marked '60', which meant that with it they could use the lift and go on up to the 60th floor, the first of a few secret floors.

He walked past Barret and Tifa as they moved the two guards out of sight and up to one of the two lifts that the two soldiers had been guarding. Inside the lift was the control panel used to choose the designated floor, and a swipe slot. Cloud swiped the Key Card through the slot just as Barret and Tifa entered the lift beside him. The control panel beeped for a few seconds before a green light flashed, and the lift doors shut behind them. There was a shudder as the lift began to move upwards, and Cloud turned to Barret and Tifa.

"This is the real thing," Barret warned them all. "Don't let your guard down."

"I hope Aeris is all right," said Tifa.