TWELVE

A man was waiting for us as soon as we got off the elevator. He was older, with his short, graying hair pulled back from his face and a wide, matching beard covering his jaw styled into three points over his chin. He wore a crisp, cream-colored suit jacket, a dark blue buttoned vest, a white collared shirt, and a deep red tie. On his legs were a pair of olive green pants and brown leather boots.

"Greetings and welcome," he said, bowing as he spoke. "Avalanche, I presume? We've been expecting you. My name is Hart, Deputy Mayor of Midgar, and it's a pleasure to meet you. I've come here to escort you to Mayor Domino himself, per his request."

I exchanged a surprised glance with Cloud and Barret, then looked back at Hart. "The mayor? He's Marissa's contact?"

"Yes, that's correct," Hart said.

"That empty suit?" Barret scowled. "He's jus' a mouthpiece spewin' Shinra's bullshit. You sayin' he's really with us?"

Then it hit me. "Mr. D! That's him! From the note!"

"D for Domino," Cloud realized.

"Indeed," Hart said. "Your instincts are sound. He's a friend, after a fashion. And the mayor of our dear Midgar, the most magnificent city ever built. He is also your only means of rescuing the Ancient. But he'll want to discuss that with you himself."

Cloud nodded. "Lead on."

We went left and followed Hart down a long hallway past a pair of doors on our right, then turned at an intersection and went up another corridor. It looked like there were several different rooms on this floor, but unlike the lower levels, the walls were made of polished wood, and the floor was covered in soft, dark red carpet. It was so quiet here that I could easily believe this was a library.

The halls were lined with shelves and shelves of books, and I knew there had to be even more in the rooms themselves. As we passed a few more intersections, I glanced at some of the titles and saw they covered a wide variety of subjects, everything from history and science to mako energy and even space travel.

Barret scratched his head. "Look at this place! So the mayor's some kinda crazy bookworm or somethin'?"

"Seems that way," I agreed.

Hart led us through a small alcove on our left tucked away toward the back and then to another door just inside. The words "Office of the Mayor" were imprinted on the dark metal in stark, black letters. As we approached it, Hart tapped a few buttons on a panel mounted onto the wall, and the door slid open with a soft hiss.

He gestured to us. "Please enter. The mayor is waiting."

We did, and as soon as we were inside, the door closed behind us. I looked around, surprised at how small the place was. I'd thought that a mayor's office would've been much bigger, but this was practically tiny. A bit high-tech for a library, too. The walls here were metal, and above a thicket of computer monitors and blinking control panels, the Shinra logo frowned down at us. There was also a desk nearby covered with a stack of papers and a fountain pen.

Domino turned away from his assorted computer screens when he heard us come in. He wore a light brown business suit, a white collared shirt, a black tie, a red vest with two rows of round gold buttons, and a pair of polished black shoes. In his right hand, he held an elegant cane, a black shaft with a silver top and bottom.

He was totally bald, and the only hair I could see on his head came from his pointed gray beard and wide, sweeping moustache, which he stroked thoughtfully as he looked at us with his dark eyes. Not exactly what I'd expected. He seemed… a little odd.

"So you finally made it," he greeted us. "Wonderful! I am Cornelius Domino, mayor of Midgar, the great mako metropolis, at your service. I must say, however, that the three of you haven't exactly been discreet on your way here. That's where I come in."

Cloud frowned. "You've been watching us?"

Domino nodded. "Indeed. You're lucky no one else has. You nearly got caught a few times, and not just on the way to the escalator. Walked right in front of half the security cameras in this place, too. But do you hear the alarm? No? You're welcome. So just think of me as your ace in the hole. Avalanche's man on the inside."

"Say what?" Barret blinked.

"Oh, come on," Domino sighed. "Is it really such a surprise? You've seen where they've put me and what they've reduced me to. The mayor of the greatest city in the world tucked away in a secret broom closet in the damned archives! The nerve!"

Barret grinned. "Well, this oughta make things easier."

"Mr. Mayor," I said. "When we were on the 60th floor, we did have a couple of close calls. But someone or something helped us out. It kept the guards distracted so we could sneak past them to the escalators. Do you know who or what that was?"

Domino chuckled. "Indeed I do, young lady. Unfortunately, I can't tell you. It's not for me to reveal that information. Let's just say that I'm not your only source of inside help."

I wasn't surprised. "I understand. Would you thank him for us? We really appreciate it, whoever he is."

"That I can do," he agreed. "But now let's direct our attention to the matter at hand. You need to break into Hojo's lab to free the Ancient. I can get you as far as the 65th floor."

"What? That's the best you can do?" Barret scowled.

Cloud stared. "But you're the mayor."

"Does this look like a mayor's office!?" Domino growled. "I'm just a glorified librarian, nothing more! I don't even get invited to their board meetings! Sorting records and reports—that's all I do! My fingers have more paper cuts than skin! No one knows my pain, my daily torment! I endure it all, though, for the sake of Midgar."

"Jus' calm down man, awright? Deep breaths," Barret said.

I folded my arms in front of me. "They've hurt you just like they've hurt us. We get that, Mr. Mayor. And we'll make it right. But we have a friend in need. Two of them, actually."

Domino took a breath and composed himself. "Yes, I know. While you were busy climbing the stairs, Marissa called me and explained the situation. Shinra may think they own me, but they don't. I just play the part of the doddering old fool to keep them off guard. I've seen to your escape route, and your transportation is ready."

"The Hardy?" Cloud asked.

"It's safely in place, along with another vehicle that I've secured for you," he said. "A light blue pickup. Mint condition, full tank of gas, and hardly any miles on it. You'll find it on the first floor lobby behind that large glass sign with the Shinra logo on it."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks. You have the keys?"

"I do," Domino answered. "However, you'll have to earn them and your ticket upstairs. Like I said in my letter, it's nothing difficult, just a small test. It'll take more than brawn to pull this mission off, so I want to see how clever you Avalanche folks really are."

"What is it?" Cloud wondered.

Domino went on. "It's quite simple, really. Just guess the password. Get it on the first try and I'll throw in something extra as well. A little item I swiped from the Weapons Development Division a while back. I suspect you can make more use of it than me."

Barret scowled. "How the hell we s'posedta do that?"

"There are four main libraries in the archives," Domino explained. "And my password is four letters long. I've had Hart take four volumes and mix them up, putting them in the wrong libraries. Your job will be to find them. Each contains a letter of the password in its title, and the shelf number will tell you which one."

Cloud nodded. "So, if the shelf number's 4, check the fourth letter in the title. And so on. That about right?"

"Exactly," Domino said.

"Must be dozensa books up here!" Barret muttered. "It's gonna take forever to track down the ones we need."

I didn't think so. "No, they'll stand out somehow. The mayor wants us to find them. We can do this. And I've got a feeling our little friend's going to help us out, too. It'll be alright."

"Indeed," Domino said. "He's probably already out there."

Cloud turned to us. "Then let's go. The faster we get this done, the faster we can get to Aerith and save her."

Barret and I followed him back out into the hall, and we made our way to the closest of the libraries. The plaque next to the door showed it was a research archive for Shinra's Weapons Development and Peace Preservation Divisions. Inside stood rows and rows of wooden shelves full of books along each side of the room, with a number imprinted on the end of each one up near the top.

"Spread out," Cloud said. "Gotta find that book."

I moved to the first row. "Right. It'll be about something other than weapons and military operations."

Barret sighed. "Least we know where to start."

It didn't take as long as he'd thought. We slowly looked over each of the shelves, Cloud and I taking one side while Barret did the other. The books all looked pretty much the same—thick volumes bound in hard, red leather covers with the titles on the spines.

But then, a few rows down, I suddenly stopped when I came across a book that clearly didn't belong here. Unlike the rest that I'd seen, this one's cover was yellow, not red. I pulled it out and looked at the title. It was about the mako reactors. Nothing to do with what this library was intended for. We'd found our first clue!

"Guys!" I called to Cloud and Barret. "Over here!"

Barret's face lit up. "Found it, did ya?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Take a look."

"Reactor Construction Charts," Cloud read the title. "Nice job, Tif. Shelf number's 5, so that would be…"

"T!" I finished for him.

Barret scratched his head. "Well, that's one so far."

I put the book back on the shelf. "Then let's go find the rest. We're done in here now. Only three left."

We hurried back into the hall, went left, and made our way over to the next library. This one covered the Space Exploration Division. Like the first archive, it had rows of shelves on either side of the room along with a few reading tables. The books here looked just like the rest we'd seen so far except that their covers were a bright lime green. We moved to start our search, splitting up like last time.

I was just walking down the second row when I heard a soft thump from the next one. Letting out a little gasp of surprise, I hurried around the corner just in time to see one of the books fall off the shelf as a long black tail sped out of sight. I went after it, ignoring the book, but it was just too fast, and all I caught was a glimpse of an air vent in the ceiling toward the back of the room closing behind it.

"So that's how you're getting around…" I murmured.

"Tifa?" Cloud asked, catching up to me.

I pointed at the air vent. "Our little friend showed up again. Didn't see who he was, but he pushed a book off the shelf."

"I got it here," Barret said, joining us.

The cover was red. "Special Peacekeeping Laws. Hmm… looks like it belongs back in the other room."

He nodded. "Yeah. Lil' guy gave us a hand."

"Sure did," I agreed. "Let's see, it was in the third row, so that would be… E. So we've got T and E so far."

"Not necessarily in that order," Cloud pointed out.

That was true. "Right. Could be the other way around. Maybe even a letter in between them. Wait a minute…"

He blinked. "What is it?"

"I think…" On a hunch, I took out Domino's letter and looked at it again. Then my eyes widened. "Guys, I got it!"

"Got what?" Barret wondered.

I showed them the note. "The password! It was right in front of us the whole time! Domino gave it to us!"

Cloud read where I pointed. "Your BEST friend…"

"Do you see it?" I asked.

"Yeah," he answered. "BEST. Now I know why he wrote it like that. It was there all along, Tif. That's gotta be it."

Barret frowned. "You sure? We still two letters short."

"Positive," I said. "Trust me!"

Cloud smiled a little. "I do. Let's go with it."

With a grin and knowing I was right, I led us out of the library. We hurried past Hart and back into Domino's office, where he was waiting for us. He turned around from watching his monitors as we entered, an expectant smirk on his face, and took a few steps toward us, the foot of his cane tapping on the floor as he moved.

"Well, young lady," he chuckled, "you look quite like the proverbial cat that just swallowed the equally proverbial canary. I can only assume you've got the password. What might it be?"

I didn't hesitate. "BEST. It was on the note."

Domino nodded. "Very good. I was wondering if you'd see it. That was the real test, of course. Not that I'd have withheld your items if you had figured it out the long way. I'd still have given them to you. But you all are much more clever than I thought. I suppose it just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover."

"The hell's that s'posedta mean?" Barret growled.

"Oh, don't take it personally," Domino assured him. "But you don't exactly look like brain surgeons, you know. In any event, BEST is quite correct. I just love the sound of it! BEST! I am the best! Me! No matter what anyone else says, you'd better believe it!"

Cloud sighed. "Whatever."

Domino shrugged, lowering his arms from where he'd spread them out wide. "Well, alright. Hand me your keycard."

"Here," Cloud gave it to him.

"This will only take a moment," Domino said, scanning it with one of those small devices, the same kind Jamison had used. "There we are. Now you can go as high as the 65th floor. And I do believe I owe you a bonus for guessing the password on the first try."

Cloud took the keycard back. "That's right. What is it?"

Domino took a small, glowing blue orb from the pocket of his suit. "Elemental materia. Quite a handy little thing."

"Yeah," Cloud agreed, taking it. "Use it in a linked slot and it'll add the connected materia's element to your attacks or defense, depending on where you've got it equipped. Thanks."

"My pleasure. And I have something else for you."

I blinked. "Another reward?"

Domino opened a drawer in his desk and took out a small band of polished red steel decorated with a skillfully shaped flame. "Yes, I think you deserve it for catching onto the truth of my little game, young lady. So here you are—a blaze ring. It's an artifact of the Ancients. As long as you wear it, you'll be completely protected from any and all manner of fire, no matter how hot or intense."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed. "Where did you get it?"

It shimmered in the light as I took off my right glove for a moment and slipped it on my ring finger. Warmth radiated from the metal band and slightly heated my skin, but it didn't bother me. I gazed at the ring for a moment, then put my glove back on.

Domino smiled. "Well, like I told you before, I have a little habit of sneaking up into the Science Division and making off with interesting baubles like that. It's quite fun, actually. At least, I did until my keycard access was reduced. Now I'm shut out."

"How do we get past the 65th floor?" Cloud wondered.

"The Shinra museum is located up there," Domino answered. "And it's full of holograms and displays. There's even a complete scale model of Midgar. So make your way through the exhibit, and when you get to the end, insert your keycard into the replica of the Shinra Building and it'll be updated to let you access the 66th floor."

Cloud nodded. "Understood."

Domino gave him the keys. "And these are for your transportation. You might be interested to know that there's a board meeting tonight. I hear the Ancient will be discussed, so you might want to be a fly on the wall for that. Should be interesting. I don't get included in these things anymore, but I've still got ears in this place."

"Upstairs, I take it?" Cloud asked.

"66th floor, main conference room," Domino confirmed. "In about half an hour. You won't be able to just walk in the doors, of course, but I'm sure there's a way for you to eavesdrop. I've heard it smells in there for some reason. Couldn't tell you why, though."

I pumped my fist. "We'll be there."

Domino nodded. "Very good. Go make those Shinra pricks suffer! Except for Reeve Tuesti, Director of the Urban Development Division. He's a friend, and also the only one of Shinra's top level executives who spoke out against dropping the Sector 7 plate. Unfortunately, however, he was overruled. President Shinra and General Heidegger went ahead with it anyway, as you no doubt know."

"Yeah, we saw what went down," Barret muttered. "Sure as shit. An' I mean to explain it to 'em, if ya catch my drift."

I glared at him. "Barret…"

Fortunately, Cloud intervened before Barret could really get going with his tirade. Not that it wasn't justified, but we had more important things to worry about right now than payback. I wasn't going to forget what they'd done, though. And we were definitely going to make them answer for it when the time was right.

"We will, but not tonight," Cloud said, his eyes on Mayor Domino. "Marissa told you why we're here. We have two friends to save, and one of them's dying. We'll deal with Shinra later."

Domino sighed. "Ah, yes. You'd better get going, then. Best of luck, my friends. As long as you cause Shinra some pain during your rescue, I can live with that. Did you know, I met this Jessica of yours once. Not when she was still here, ironically, but after she left."

"You did?" I stared at him.

"Indeed," he answered. "Opening night at LOVELESS. Magnificent performance, I must say. Reeve and I personally congratulated her and the rest of the cast backstage after the show."

Cloud folded his arms in front of him. "Did you realize it was her? Heidegger's daughter, I mean."

Domino shook his head. "No, not then. Jessica had done a fine job disguising herself. I never even suspected she was the same quiet office girl I'd seen here in passing from time to time but had never spoken to. I figured it out on my own eventually, but I never said a word about it. She must've had her reasons for leaving, and I knew the kind of terrible man her father was. So I kept it to myself."

"Thank you," I told him.

"My pleasure, young lady," Domino smiled. "Now I think you need to go. I'm well aware of Jessica's condition, and it would be a shame for such a lovely and talented young girl to die. And for another to be held in a cage like an animal. So go and save them. Of course, it can't hurt to give Shinra some grief while you're at it!"

Cloud handed me the keys to the truck as we left. "Here, hold onto these, Tif. We'll need to be ready."

"Right," I agreed, putting them in my pocket.

"Next stop, 63rd floor," he went on.

I understood. "Jessie's pendant. Marissa told us she hid it inside an air duct in the control room, remember?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "We'll find it. Now let's mosey."

I hurried with him and Barret back to the elevator. Worry for Jessie lingered in my mind, and I knew that she'd only be able to hold out for so long before it was too late. I wasn't giving up, though. Not a chance. The best thing I could do for her now was to help rescue Aerith, so that was exactly what I intended to do.

The 63rd floor was quiet as walked out of the elevator, a lot like the libraries downstairs. We were in a long hallway with sealed doors and a number of branching passages. It didn't take us long to find the control room, though. It was just across the hall and a little ways down. One of the only unlocked doors I'd seen here.

I led Tifa and Barret inside and wondered what it must've been like for Jessie when she was here. Difficult, to say the least. The console was on the far wall, with a dispenser unit standing alongside it. And on the left, tucked away in the corner on the other side of the console, was the air duct Marissa had told us about. I figured it must've been some sort of maintenance entry because it was bigger than the others we'd seen so far and stretched up to the ceiling.

"Looks like this is the place," Tifa said.

I took off the cover. "Yeah. It's big enough to stand inside. Just wait a moment, I'm gonna check it out."

Not waiting for her to answer, I leaned Buster against the wall and crawled into the air duct. It was a little cramped, but I got inside easily enough. Then I reached up and started feeling around for the pendant. The duct bent at a right angle just above my head and went off through the building's interior like a tunnel. At first I didn't find anything, but a moment or two later, my fingers brushed lightly across something thin and metal. Felt like a small chain of some kind.

I carefully grabbed hold of it and stepped out of the air duct to get a better look, feeling the weight of the pendant settling in my hand as I did. It was made of mythril and had been skillfully shaped like a small, five-pointed star with a fine silver chain hanging in a loop from the top point. The whole thing was light, almost weightless, and glittered softly in my hand as I held it and thought of Jessie.

"It's beautiful," Tifa marveled.

I couldn't deny that. "It is. So who's gonna wear it?"

Her answer was immediate. "It should be you, Cloud. Jessie would want you to have it. You've made her so happy."

"Girl's got a point," Barret agreed.

Tifa was right, of course. I closed my fingers over the pendant for a moment, thinking of Jessie as I remembered all of the experiences we'd shared together. The night we first met, when I had saved her from the Vice goons who had ambushed her. Going with her on her trips across the slums and taking out a nest of eaters. Helping her in Reactor 1. Our quiet talk on the train. Watching the monitor together. Parachuting off the plate and sharing a passionate kiss. Learning how to do a fist bump. Desperately flying to her rescue in the pillar.

As I opened my eyes and slowly hung the star pendant around my neck, I felt as if Jessie was with me. A part of her, at least. I gazed at her glittering gift, my resolve to save her deepening as I did. Then I tucked it carefully inside my shirt so it lay against my skin. Like last night back in the slums, I could almost hear her calling out to me in my mind. She and Aerith both, calling out for help.

And I was sure as hell going to answer.

"Alright, we've got what we came for," I said. "Be sure to keep your antidotes handy. We're getting close."

Barret patted his pocket. "We ready, Cloud."

I nodded. "Good. Then let's—"

A soft rustling in the air duct cut me off, and I whirled around just in time to see two thick strips of paper tumble to the floor in front of it as part of what looked like a small white glove darted back inside. Our unseen helper was still with us. I quickly looked inside the duct, but he or she or it was already long gone.

"Anything?" Tifa asked.

I sighed and came back out. "No. It's pretty fast, whatever it is. Any idea what it left for us this time?"

She picked up the papers and looked at them. "Hmm… these look like exchange coupons. But what for?"

"Hey, guys!" Barret said. "Over here! Check it out!"

He was at the console, and as Tifa and I joined him, we saw that it was active. The title across the top identified it as the Materials Storage Access Program. Not only had it been left on, but whoever had done it had also logged in already, conveniently giving us access to whatever it was that we could do on here.

I looked at the screen. "Looks like you're right, Tifa. Those slips are used to check out items from storage. Apparently, they get changed on a regular basis depending on what's needed. Let's see… looks like we're in luck. We can get a Magnify materia and a magician's bracelet. Pretty good haul, actually. Little guy's been busy."

"Score!" Tifa cheered.

Inserting the coupons into the slot below the monitor, we managed to get both items. They dropped into the dispenser unit by the console a moment later, a glowing blue orb and a thick silver bracelet with four single materia slots. Since I'd already placed the Elemental materia that we'd gotten from Domino into Buster's other slot and had connected it to my Lightning materia, I handed Barret the second Magnify materia. Tifa still had the one Wedge had given me back in the underplate early yesterday on our way to Reactor 5.

I saw Barret had a mythril bangle, too. "Nice upgrade."

"Picked it up offa one'a them Shinra goons we fought when we was climbin' the plate," he answered as he put the Magnify materia in place and linked it to his Fire materia. "Pretty shiny, ain't it?"

"Sure is!" Tifa chuckled, holding up her own.

I tucked the magician's bracelet into my pocket. "Since Aerith's got the strongest magic out of all of us, I figure we should save this for her. She'll fight too once we break her loose."

Tifa nodded. "Right. It'll be good to have her back."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Let's go get her."

We left the control room and headed back to the elevators, having found not only Jessie's gift but also an unexpected bonus from our little friend. Those tickets must've been somewhere else on this floor, and he had gone and saved us the legwork of finding them ourselves as well as precious time. We weren't going to waste it.

There was nothing we needed on the 64th floor—that was Shinra's recreation facility, according to the directory listing posted next to the elevator doors, so I hit the button for the 65th floor once we got inside. That was where we'd find the museum, and it wouldn't take long to get through it and get our keycard updated. As we rode upstairs, though, I couldn't help wondering how Aerith was doing. I knew she would hold out, though. No matter what it took.