Cloud's eyes fluttered open, a headache throbbing in his temples. Bright, flickering lights stabbed his eyes with their rays. He went to lift an arm to grab his head, but his arm wouldn't move from where it was at his side. Tensing up, he looked down. No trace of sleep remained as he saw what was holding him in place.

Shackles.

Shackles attached to the stiff metal of an operating table, currently impeding his ability to move his arms. His legs as well, he confirmed, glancing down at his bare feet. Straining, Cloud tried to force his way out. Maybe the metal would crack or snap off the chair; he just knew had to break free. The metal of the table dug into his shoulder blades, and he gritted his teeth.

The restraints didn't budge.

He frowned, stopping his struggles. No point in wasting energy in a useless endeavor; better to save it for later. The material of the chair and restraints must have been extremely high grade. Strong enough to hold back a SOLDIER.

He inspected the room he was in and frowned harder as he recognized it. Filthy floors, more matching operating tables—empty—in a sloppy row across from him. Dull blue curtains separated the tables from each other, and small, metal, surgery carts throughout the room were dotted with broken syringes, bottles, and dried blood. He was in one of Hojo's testing rooms, where he tore apart and enhanced whatever caught his fancy. The man never cared to keep the rooms hygienic. If the test subjects caught infections, that was their problem.

Question was, how did Cloud get here?

The last thing he remembered was seeing...him...and then falling to the bottom of the Drum. Shouldn't he have still been there? Shouldn't he have woken up relatively soon after the fall? He knew that Hojo had to be somewhere within the Drum, but he hadn't expected him to be so close to just snatch Cloud up before he could wake. Or to be quick enough to get down that whole structure in the first place.

And what happened to the others?

Had he gotten to them? Had Hojo for that matter? They had just gotten Aerith back and now she could be gone again along with some of the others.

He gritted his teeth. If Hojo had laid a hand on any of them, there would be hell to pay. He would never admit it, but the members of Avalanche had become as close to family as they could get. He didn't even care about getting paid anymore. He just wanted them safe, even if it meant sacrificing himself.

Unable to do anything else, Cloud started coming up with the many ways he would be able to kill Hojo at the first chance he had. Unfortunately, that chance wouldn't be for awhile, most likely. Couldn't exactly kill the guy with his arms and legs restrained.

Cloud glared at the floor. He felt so useless like this. He didn't even know where his sword was, his one constant, and his pockets had been looted for materia and items. He felt...naked. Exposed. He couldn't defend himself, let alone try and get out to defend his friends.

"Oh. You're awake..!"

Cloud's head snapped towards the sound. Hojo, arms filled with various tools and objects, a grin spreading from ear to ear as he walked towards the SOLDIER.

"This is perfect timing!" he said. "I just finished getting all the preparations done."

Cloud shot a glare towards the scientist, pulling at his restraints once more. He knew what this man could do; he knew the pleasure Hojo derived from it. But he was strong; he wouldn't give Hojo the satisfaction of breaking him like another one of his experiments. He was a SOLDIER.

"Now, now, don't make such an angry face. You're going to get unimaginable strength soon, aren't you excited? I know I certainly am~."

"What are you talking about?" Cloud growled.

"I've never had access to a specimen such as you! Of course I'm going to try and make you last. Can't have that human fragility come in and ruin things. And giving you strength is how I'll keep that from happening."

"I'm not fragile!" He wasn't. He'd slain many monsters through the last few years. Helped many people. Defied countless odds.

"Of course you are, boy," Hojo said, setting down his armful of tools on a nearby cart. "I could bring in a few of my pets and they would rip through your skeletal structure with ease and you wouldn't be able to stop them."

Hojo...had a point. Without his sword, without his limbs, Cloud was a sitting duck, perfect prey for any bloodthirsty creature to come and take its fill. But he would never admit it. "I'm strong enough as is. I don't need your enhancements."

"Not strong enough to fight Sephiroth—"

Static filled Cloud's brain at that name, drowning out whatever else Hojo had said. Hot white, electric pain shot through his skull and his arms tugged against the restraints, needing to pull at his hair, to punch Hojo, to curl up, to do anything to make it stop. But it didn't. It kept going, wave after wave, the typhoon of static never stopping until—

"Cloud."

That voice in his ear, paired with that hair brushing against his neck had shivers rolling down his spine. The immediate pain had faded, but with that single word, daggers ripped through his brain. And he

Just.

Kept.

Talking.

"Let us see how you fare, hm?"

So much pain. With every word it intensified. Someone was screaming. Was it Cloud? This had to have been the most painful headache he'd ever had. And he hated it. He wanted to turn around and rip out Sephiroth's throat. He wanted to run Sephiroth through with his sword. He wanted him gone.

And then...

He was.

A pain in his neck, small and meaningless compared to the explosions going off in his head, and then fading.

Sephiroth's hair and breath ceased to be on his skin, the pain in his head almost entirely gone. The static had vanished.

"Stop with that infernal screeching!" Hojo yelled.

Oh, so Cloud was the one screaming. Cutting off the noise, he lay slumped on his operating table, panting. A small part of him was glad the rest of the group hadn't been here to see this. His strong reputation would have been down the drain in a matter of seconds.

"Thank God." Hojo sighed.

Catching his breath, Cloud peered through his eyelashes at the scientist, seeing the man place an empty syringe on the cart.

"What was that?" Cloud asked, wheezing.

"Drugs, my boy, to get you to quiet down. I couldn't handle any more of that damned screaming."

"Oh..." His tongue was heavy in his mouth, his body was limp, and yet his conscience was aware, only the slightest of haziness around the edges.

"You really should just give up now. I would make my job so much easier, albeit a bit boring."

"Fuck you."

Hojo clucked his tongue. "Time to begin phase one, then." Turning back to his assortment of tools, he picked up a pair of pliers from the pile. "Let's turn that attitude around, shall we~?"

—

Tifa paced back and forth through the sealed off room. She and Aerith had seen Barret and Red XIII on their way down before getting stuck in the room. Now normally, that wouldn't be that bad. But no one had come across Cloud yet...Tifa knew that he could handle himself, had been handling himself for the last handful of years, but...what happened back there...She shuddered at the memory of Mako green cat eyes.

Maybe Barret and Red had seen him in the few minutes since the girls saw them. It wouldn't be the first time Cloud had been held up until the last minute. Tifa pointedly reminded herself of the secret Shinra lab beneath Sector 7. She could only think that Cloud had gotten lost, which since the place was huge, she couldn't blame him for. But it still would've been nice if she and Barret could have gotten help from him while fighting all those failed experiments. Well, they'd still made it through them. Just like the last time Cloud had gotten separated, Cloud probably just got lost this time too. That was it for sure. And the boys would definitely know where he was.

She ignored the fact that Barret and Red were only a couple dozen feet away, and that it would've been almost impossible for Cloud to appear with her unable to see him.

Her chances of convincing herself of the simple theory were slim. Even if Cloud being lost was the most logical answer, Tifa couldn't help but feel worried. There was a nagging feeling in her gut that something bad had happened to him and she couldn't shake it.

Snapping her out of her thoughts, Aerith took Tifa's hand in hers, saying calmly, "I'm sure he's alright. This is Cloud we're talking about after all!"

"Mm..."

Barret and Red were almost at the room now and Aerith took notice, quickly waving them over before turning back to her friend.

"He'll be alright, I promise," she said, holding Tifa's hand in both of hers now. "Even if he's a little banged up, I can heal him lickity split!"

Tifa nodded. It was times like these where she was ever so grateful of Aerith's presence. Not having her around was stressful; Tifa was always worrying. And now she had Aerith back but was worried for Cloud instead. She just wanted a few days without having to be scared for other people's lives.

"Thank you," Tifa said, simply.

Aerith smiled one of her signature warm smiles in reply. "You're welcome~. Now, let's help these boys out, shall we?"

The boys in question were yelling at the barrier around the room. Or well, Barret was yelling at the barrier. Red was yelling at Barret to shut up. And none of their words were coming through. The room must've been soundproof.

Tifa let out a soft chuckle, before exaggeratedly pointing towards the communication device on the other side of the room. Thankfully, they took the hint and headed over. After a bit of trial and error, the two pairs got the machines up and working.

"Cloud?" both parties said simultaneously.

"Well, I guess that answers that question..." Red mumbled.

"What should we do?" Tifa shifted her weight from one foot to the other, back and forth.

"Find him, of course!" Barret said. "There ain't much else we can do. But I swear if that creepy Hojo guy touched a single hair on his head..." A few weeks ago, it would've been surprising to hear that coming out of Barret's mouth, but recently he and Cloud had started growing closer and Avalanche's leader had adopted his protectiveness towards Cloud as well. And, even though he would deny it if asked, he missed the kid now that he had vanished.

But to Tifa...she had put the possibility of Hojo having Cloud completely out of her mind and now that it was brought up, the heaviness of dread in her stomach increased almost painfully. She didn't know exactly what Hojo was capable of, but she had seen the rest of his lab, and thinking of Cloud in a test tube alongside all those monsters made her feel sick.

And then, with perfect timing, the loudspeakers hidden throughout the Drum kicked to life, broadcasting the mad scientist's voice loud and clear. "Ahem. Can you all hear me?"

"Hojo..."

"So tell me. How are you finding the Drum? You know it's filled with the most advanced technology in Midgar, if not the entire world. You should be honored to see it firsthand!" The group glared at the closest speaker they could find. "You'll also have the opportunity to take part in a rather ambitious experiment of mine."

"What?!" Barret yelled. He didn't want to be this crazy man's lab rat! But Hojo just kept going as if he hadn't heard him.

"When all the pieces are in place, I will open the door to the 3rd ward. Perhaps you can help me with the necessary preparations? Given that you're already in the perfect position to do so." A laugh. "I look forward to data both invaluable and instrumental."

The pairs shared a look, neither liking the idea of participating in whatever experiment Hojo had lined up. Their attitude changed, however, when Hojo said his next words with sadistic glee.

"And maybe at the end of it all, you'll find something you've lost~."

"Wait, Cloud?! You know where Cloud is, don't you, bastard!" Barret looked ready to shoot anything that could breathe, and Tifa looked the same. The worst case scenario was indeed true it seemed. Tifa hated that her gut instinct had been right. But they would get Cloud back. Hojo had messed with the wrong terrorist group.

But the speakers were dead and no answer came through. The four were left in painful silence with their minds weaving different, horrible scenarios with no possible end.

Barret punched the communication console. "Damn it!"

"Oh Cloud..." Aerith whispered, brow furrowed.

"We should start looking for him as soon as possible," Red said. "Hojo is very good at his line of work. Even under a time limit." It made sense that Red would be the most sensible in this situation. He had only known them all for a mere couple hours, but even if he didn't have any emotional connection to the group, let alone Cloud, he knew what it was like to be experimented on. He didn't want anyone to have to go through that.

Tifa clenched her hands into fists, nails digging into her gloved palms. "Yeah. Let's get our Cloud back."

"Hell yeah!" Barret threw his gun arm in the air, a wild grin on his face. "Let's give Hojo a taste of his own medicine!"

Their first stop: the 3rd ward.

A/N: Start of a new multichap fic! Hope I can finish it this time haha. Stay safe and have a good day/night!