Chapter 2- Back to the good old days

Cloud was standing at the bar, his eyes fixed anxiously at the door. Every now and then he'd give the clock at the wall a quick glance, but each time he did he realised that time had only increased by a couple of minutes. He looked at his companions, who were all sitting boredly, Barret on his fifth round. Nobody was taking this seriously, he thought. Nobody understands how important this is; this is a matter of life and death- not alcohol and fun. Felt a nudge in his elbow. He turned to face Tifa, who was smiling at him hopefully.

"You okay?" she asked helpfully. "You look nervous,"

"Vincent and Yuffie- they aren't here yet," he replied.

"I'm sure they're fine," She said reassuredly. "You know Vincent- he'll be okay, and Yuffie- well, er…" she trailed away and stopped. "Why? Could anything happen to them?"

"No, I'm just worried, that's all. It's not like Vincent to be late- especially for something as important as this." He looked at the clock, and yet again it told him that only three minutes had passed since he had looked at it last. Tifa had known Cloud to be like this at times, and knew that it was best for him to be left alone. Just at the right time, the door opened, and in walked Vincent and Yuffie- whom were both covering their ears- the music was significantly louder inside than it was outside.

"You're late," cloud said sternly to Vincent, who could barely make out what he had just said.

"The train, it was running late," he said, although he darted his eyes towards Yuffie as a motion of 'she was slowing me down'. Cloud took the hint and nodded, a small smirk appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Where's the room?" Cloud asked Barret, who held up a finger in recognition, and beckoned to them to follow him. He led them to a room, where there were about five teenagers playing pool at the table. "I thought you said that you'd booked us a room," Cloud said angrily.

"Watch," Barret walked over to the teens, who had been giving him disrespectful gazes before now. Cloud nor anybody else couldn't tell what he was saying, but Barret seemed to be making a lot of hand gestures and at one particular word all the youths stared at the gun on his arm with fear. They left quickly, saying goodbye politely to everybody, and rushing out so quickly that one of them stumbled and dropped their things on the way out.

Barret stood for a moment, feeling Triumphant, before Cloud, Vincent, Yuffie, Tifa, Red and Cid joined him. As though it was a routine, Tifa and Yuffie shut the doors whilst Vincent and Cid pushed the snooker table against them. When they were certain that there was no way they could be interrupted, they all pulled up a chair and sat down, apart from Cloud and Red. Red sat on the floor, his flame-tipped tail swaying from side to side, scorching the carpet. Cloud stood infront of them all, waiting to tell them his plan.

"I assume you all got here without any 'complications'," he said. Tifa laughed.

"You try riding a Chocobo whilst trying to teach Cid to ride one at the same time," Cloud said nothing, and continued.

"I'll get straight to the point," he said, causing everybody to realise the importance of this mission. "As you all know, Shinra, the major company that has made our lives a misery- the very company we defeated only two months ago, has come back. Once again will it continue to drain Mako from our planet, and corrupt the lives of the people here," he began to pace up and down. "But not for long. I've-" he stopped when Red narrowed his eyes at him. "We've come up with a way to shut this damn place down for good," he unrolled a map, which he had pulled from his pocket. "We'll be split into three groups. Tifa and I will be together, Yuffie- you're with Cid" (Cid cursed under his breath at this) "which leaves Barret and Red. Vincent- I know you can cope by yourself, so you'll be going in alone." Vincent wasn't really bothered; he was used to this kind of thing now.

"Okay then. I've assigned each team jobs to do. These smaller jobs will contribute to the larger target to shut Shinra down. Any questions?" Yuffie stuck her hand high in the air and jangled it about, but Cloud overlooked her and continued. "First- Tifa and I will target the reactors, placing an explosive on each one of them. These bombs will all explode at the same time- so we need everybody out by 24:00, Understood?" everybody nodded. "Yuffie and Cid- You're going to be finding as many people as possible to evacuate the area… make it up; tell them there's roadworks going on or something,"

"Roger!" Yuffie cried.

"Barret and Red; It's your job to go to the main centre and take charge of the control centre. The usual- threaten them with guns, but I want them all out by 24:00, agreed?" Barret and Red nodded.

"Vincent- Because your alone, I gave you the easiest job, though not easy by far. I want you to go to Hojo's lab, and see what you can dig up. After you've seen everything you want to, I want you to kill everything in there,"

"Kill…Everything?" Vincent said, shocked.

"Yup, every living thing you can find. Not only are the creatures that piece of scum makes dangerous, but I'm sure they're living an unhealthy, and unhappy and would be far happier dead. I know that part is probably the hardest, but you'll be doing them a favour. You sure you're okay with this?" Vincent nodded. "Red said he wouldn't mind swapping if you aren't,"

"I understand how they feel," Red said soothingly. Red himself had also been one of Hojo's test subjects, and therefore knew how it felt to be stuck in that lab.

"No I'm okay. Like you said- I'd be doing them a favour," Cloud continued to explain the plan in more detail, talking about how they'd get there, how they'd get in, routes to take, ventilation ducts and the positions of guards, and so much that they were all becoming drowsy. Cloud finished with the line

"But first- I think we'd better get some sleep," Yawning, he helped a sleepy Cid drag the pool table from the doorway. They opened the door to reveal a shocked bartender.

"I wondered when you guys were going to come out- I was real worried when I couldn't unlock the doors," he peered behind them as if they'd left him a dead body or buried treasure in there. "Your room's upstairs, the one on the right," he handed Barret the keys.

The room was rather small, but all of them were used to sharing one hotel room by now. Tifa and Yuffie shared the bed, sleeping opposite ways. Barret slept on the floor, as did Cloud and Red. Vincent normally went to sleep in the chair, or sitting up somewhere, and Cid (who would normally be the last to go to sleep) would end up where ever he could find to sleep. Everybody seemed to be sleeping soundly- even Cid's alcohol must have put him to sleep- everybody except Vincent, that is. He wondered whether he was the only one nervous about this mission, and then he wondered why. He had taken plenty of missions before now, heck! He was a Turk! His job involved the evil deeds of Shinra. Eventually, the room began to blur, and edges soften, and complete darkness surrounded him.