As they approached Junon in the aircraft Cloud could see that the WRO headquarters and surrounding buildings suffered the most damage. The WRO building had extensive damage to the outside and even had a huge hole blown through the third floor.
"As you can see, they targeted the headquarters," Reno informed Cloud knowing what he was thinking. "Some of them infiltrated the building and starting massacring people."
After landing, the three made their way to the WRO headquarters to meet up with the others. Barret, Vincent, Cid, Reeve, Elena, and Tseng were in the conference room trying to plan their next course of action when Cloud and the two Turks arrived. Everyone was happy to see Cloud was alive, but their joy was not long-lived after Cloud filled them in on Tifa and Miles.
After hearing Cloud's story, Reeve felt bad for allowing Miles to be part of WRO and the mission. "I did an extensive background check and there was no evidence that he ever worked under Hojo," the commissioner explained.
It was common practice for the WRO to hire former Shinra employees as many were not bad people. Most were just ordinary people trying to earn a living, but Reeve was cautious when hiring people associated with the science and SOLDIER departments since Shinra scientists were known for being a little crazy. Miles' employment record indicated that he had a science background but only ever worked in the materia room.
Cloud proceeded to fill the others in on his conversation with Genesis' and what Miles said to him. Based on the information they had, no one could tell how Genesis and Miles were even connected other than they were obviously working together.
Then Cloud remembered that Miles had an unknown male in one of the mako chambers in the mansion basement. He wondered if that other body was Weiss and Miles was helping Genesis revive him.
"They need access to a laboratory and mako to complete their plan," Cloud informed the group. He looked over at Reeve and then at Tseng. "Do you know of any reactors or laboratories they can access?" he asked the ex-Shinra executives.
"The only reactors I am aware of, that we haven't already destroyed, are the Corel, Junon, and Mt. Nible reactors," Reeve informed the blond. "But we searched them all when you and Tifa went missing."
Reeve looked towards the Turk leader to see if he had any information to add but he appeared deep in thought. Realizing everyone was looking at him, Tseng began to speak. "There was a mako excavation facility near Modehiem but it was shut down over a decade ago," he explained. "Last I heard, it was destroyed after an incident involving Genesis and Hollander."
Most of the people in the room had never heard of Modehiem because the small town was abandoned years ago and was in an isolated area up north.
"That's the thing about Shinra," Reeve explained. "You shouldn't trust anything you read or hear unless you've seen it with your own eyes."
Reeve had never heard of the town either. Had he known about the possibility of a mako excavation facility existing he would have sent a team up north to check it out and destroy it if it was still standing. He was surprised Rufus never said anything to him about it, but it was possible that Rufus was also unaware of its existence.
"Then go check," Cid directed the group, eager to finally do something to help his friends.
With that said, they all proceeded to gather supplies and board the Shera.
When Yuffie finally regained consciousness, she was cold, and her head was pounding. The last thing she remembered she was struggling with this flying man before being hit over the head with his gun. She tried to move but her hands were shackled to the wall in the dark and cold room. She had no idea where she was, but it felt like she was either in a freezer or somewhere up north. It didn't help she was wearing a tank top and shorts.
She looked around and could tell she was in a large room. She could just make out a faint glowing green light off in the distance. She struggled with her shackles to test their strength but was careful not to make too much noise; she did not want to alert anyone nearby. Luckily, being a stealthy ninja, her restraints were easy to slip out of.
Once she was able to free herself, she surveyed the room. She could see a door to her right which she assumed would lead to a way out. She was about to walk towards the door when she heard the echoes of voices coming from the other side of the large room. It sounded like it was coming from the direction of the glowing light.
Yuffie's curiosity got the best of her and she slowly walked towards the noise keeping an eye out for any trouble. As she walked towards the light, she could see row upon row of glass mako pods causing the eerie glow. The pods closest to her were dark and empty with the ones furthest from her full of mako, causing the eerie glow.
She used the dark empty pods as cover as she made her way towards the noise until she was able to make out what was being said. As soon as she was within earshot, she stood behind a pod and listened.
"It's been days since we brought him here and you haven't even started yet," she heard one male voice say.
"These things take time," she heard a familiar voice respond. "I wanted to make sure she was as strong as possible. If a blood transfusion won't help regenerate him, then we will use her body as a host as a last resort."
Curious, Yuffie peeked around the empty mako pod to see if she could make out who was talking. She peered out from the row of pods to see a bright white light shining down from the ceiling onto twin metal tables. On one table she could see a guy with long spiky hair and on the other table she could see Shelke.
There was a long plastic tube full of what looked like blood connecting the two lifeless bodies. She jumped back behind the pod when she noticed one of the men walk in front of the table, obstructing her view of Shelke.
"And what do you plan to do with her?" the unfamiliar voice asked.
Yuffie peeked around again to see a man facing her direction gazing into a pod in the front row. Yuffie jumped back behind her cover, hoping he didn't see her. The man looked exactly like the people who attacked Edge with the same face and one black wing.
"She is going to prove very useful," the familiar voice told the winged man. "Consider it payment for showing you how to make copies using monsters like Angeal."
"And just because we know how to make copies using monsters now doesn't mean you should go around trying to turn every monster you find," the winged man replied starting to sound a little annoyed. "And I though the materia we retrieved from Cosmo Canyon was your payment."
"And I secured you a sample of Cloud's blood," the other man snapped at the winged man. "Don't you need it to cure your degradation? Are we really going to start keeping score?"
"And you allowed him to live; that was not part of our deal," the winged man retorted and gestured to the pod he was looking into. "You know he's not going to stop until he finds her."
Listening to the freaky man, Yuffie covered her mouth making sure not to let out a noise. She wasn't certain, but she feared Tifa was in that pod.
"You'll agree with me once you see what I have planned for her," the man's voice responded, calming down a little. "I have already completed the first stage of my plan, now all we have to do is wait."
Yuffie peaked around the pod again to see if she could get a view of the man with the familiar voice. When she looked around the winged man was no longer obstructing her view. She could just make out the other figure now standing over Shelke's lifeless body. She tried focusing and could see the guy's clothes in the light, but he was looking down, so she was unable to see his face. He was wearing a white lab coat and had short brown hair. Then he looked up and she realized it was Miles' voice she recognized.
"That little creep," Yuffie whispered to herself, furious at Miles' betrayal.
She wondered if the others knew about Miles and his plan. The winged man was pacing in front of the tables with his hands clasped behind his back like he was anxious or nervous.
"If he shows up and jeopardizes my brother's recovery," the winged man threatened Miles. "You will live to regret it."
"Don't worry," Miles assured the man. "I activated it. I hope he shows up, I am curious to see the results."
"You're too confident," the winged man informed the scientist. "Where is the blood sample you took from Cloud anyways?" he asked.
"Don't worry, it's safely aboard the airship," Miles explained. "I will give it to you once you have finished your Junon assignment."
Yuffie figured she heard enough. She knew she would not be able to stop the winged man by herself since she did not have her weapon with her, but she could try to warn the others. She reached into her pocket to retrieve her cell phone but when she opened it there was no signal.
"Shit," Yuffie thought to herself. The only thing she could think of was to try to find a way out of here and hopefully her phone would have a signal outside.
Yuffie carefully made her way towards the exit she located earlier and into a long hallway. She kept an eye out for monsters or any other enemies, but so far, the corridors seemed to be empty. She made her way through the dark hallways with only a few ceiling lights lighting the way. She noticed that it was getting colder the further she travelled so she assumed she was heading towards the exit. By this point, she knew she was somewhere up north. The last time she felt this cold she was travelling with her friends trying to track down Sephiroth in the Northern Creator.
After wondering around for a few minutes, she was finally able to find a door at the end of a hallway with a sign marked 'exit' above it. She pushed on the door and opened it only to find herself in the middle of a freaking snow storm and up to her knees in snow.
"Well, this sucks," she said out loud while reaching for her phone. She looked only to discover that it still had no signal. "This is not my day," she complained to herself as she closed her PHS.
Then for some reason she noticed the shadow of something above her reflect off the blowing snow. She looked up to see dozens of those winged people flying above her, circling the structure she emerged from.
"I guess I spoke too soon," she told herself, gazing up at the creatures hoping none of them noticed her.
Suddenly, one of the creatures must have spotted her because she heard a loud sound come from above and the swarm began to fly in unison towards her. As soon as one dove down, the rest followed, prompting Yuffie to run as fast as she could through the deep snow. Luckily, she was a fast runner, but she knew she could not outrun them for very long since their flying gave them an advantage.
She looked back through the blowing snow and could see them quickly gaining on her. Then, off in the distance, she heard a helicopter. It seemed like they heard it too because half of them suddenly took off.
Yuffie looked back again to see the helicopter hovering next to the building she exited from. The chopper was now being bombarded by the flying people and only a few were still chasing her. They must have sensed that the helicopter was the biggest threat.
She spotted the Shinra logo on the chopper and knew it was her friends. She could see a few people jump from it while others held off the monsters with guns from the chopper.
Yuffie did not have much time to see her friends in action before they were surrounded and swarmed by the flying men. She looked around and realized she too was surrounded by four of them with no weapon to defend herself with.
One of the Genesis copies raised his gun to take aim at her, when suddenly, she heard a loud bang and one of her attackers dropped to the ground dead. Behind him stood Rude pointing a gun with Reno standing next to him holding his electro-mag rod.
Seeing their companion fall to the ground dead, two of the copies took off towards the two Turks while the remaining one rushed Yuffie with his sword held high. Yuffie was able to dodge the attack and deliver a swift kick to the face. Before her attacker had a chance to retaliate, Reno was behind him and delivered a blow to the back of its head with his rod, knocking him unconscious.
"Thanks," the young ninja said to the red-haired Turk. "Where's Cloud?" she asked them. After the conversation she heard inside, she knew she had to get to Cloud quickly before he reached Miles.
"We just dropped him off at the emergency exit in the back," Rude explained, walking up towards Yuffie and Reno. "We're the distraction while he sneaks in."
"No, it's a trap!" she warned the two. "They are expecting him!"
Hearing that, Reno looked around. "Well, we're not going in that way," he said, motioning to the chaos still going on near the exit Yuffie escaped from.
By this time the helicopter was hovering high in the sky with Elena and Reeve hanging out of opposite sides shooting at the flying Genesis copies with assault rifles. At the same time, Vincent, Barret, and Cid were on the ground fighting the rest of them.
"This way," Reno advised Rude and Yuffie before running towards their helicopter parked behind a hanger next to the main facility.
"How many of these things do you have?" Yuffie asked the redhead as they approached the helicopter.
Over the past few years she had seen these two Turks destroy their share of helicopters and they never seem to run out. She figured with the fall of Shinra, they would have a limited supply.
Reno smirked but decided not to answer her. The truth was that they have had a few disciplinary meetings with the director and Rufus over their bad luck with all the helicopters. Part of him was a little relieved that they were not involved in the most recent helicopter crash last week.
The three entered the chopper and took off towards the back of the main facility where they dropped Cloud off. Hopefully they could catch up with him before it was too late.