A/N – Still no reviews, but the number of hits went up; that'll do for now, I suppose.

Disclaimer: You guys should know the drill by now: I don't own Final Fantasy 7...but I do own Cyphus and it's inhabitants.

Chapter 2

The wind was causing Rollin's jet-black hair to flail in all directions, though he didn't mind: he always drove without a helmet, ever since he knew how to drive. That's one advantage of being in the military…driving damn near any and every vehicle becomes almost second nature, which only left room for fighting at the top of the list. If it wasn't for the military's bright idea to pay their soldiers during times of peace, Megan and he would probably be scraping the bottom of their personal bank accounts just to survive.

That and he wouldn't have his bike.

As he neared the checkpoint for the Haven Planetary Defenses Headquarters (HPD for short), he wondered whether this was just a social call or a job, and why Michael wanted him to come here in the first place. Was he the only one that was going to be there? And if not, then who else would be?

He came to a stop at the booth, pulling out his key card. The bored security guard took the card and swiped it over the bar code scanner. Seeing who it was via the computer screen, she immediately perked up and snapped a crisp salute.

"Good to see you back, Sir!" she said, opening the gates with the press of a button, "Lieutenant Lochs is waiting for you." Rollin nodded, pulling into the military base. The only reason she was so exuberant was because of his rank. He never really understood how exactly he became a sergeant 2nd class so quickly; now that he thought about it, the time it took to get there was only a few battles that had gone badly but still in their favor. 'If I was a corporal, that would make more sense to me, but a sergeant?' He pondered, hoping for his mind to have an answer, but drawing up a blank, 'Forget it…I'm already at the hangar.'

Parking his trusty motorcycle, he walked over to where a lone man stood. He wore the standard issue army fatigues, though his bore the shoulder patch of a lieutenant. His long dark gray hair was tied into a ponytail to keep all of it out of his face (save for the few strands that he could never seem to get), allowing the normal use of the icy green eyes he was born with. Aside from battle experience, those eyes were a major reason he got to where he was now, since most of the people that promoted him were women.

The stereotypical ladies' man.

"Long time no see, Michael." Rollin stated, watching a small grin appear on his face.

"So, did my favorite soldier get his beauty sleep?" Michael joked. Whenever he joked, you could speak freely (an odd little quirk in his personality, but useful to know). He opened the door that led inside, "Hurry up…everyone else is here." Rollin followed him inside, and saw four other people inside.

The first was a man with brown hair – almost auburn – who was busy making the final adjustments to his C-32 semiautomatic canister rifle with a small screwdriver. Another man – an albino, to be specific – was laying down on one of the tables while reading through some papers he had picked up at the labs, with two fairly simplistic daggers strapped to his sides. The third man had chocolate brown hair that stopped just below his eyes, and was leaning against the wall on the left with his arms crossed while holding a sheathed katana firmly in his grip. Finally, the only woman in the group was sitting in one of the chairs at the nearest table, her long dishwater blonde hair covering her eyes as she broke the C-29t01 sniper rifle down and put it back together fluidly.

Drammer, Lloyd, Jack, and Angela...in that order.

'So everyone else is here.' He thought to himself. Angela was the first to look up and smiled brightly. Running to where he stood, she hugged him tightly.

"Hey Angie." He remarked, caught a bit off guard by this – he normally wouldn't have been, since they did try out dating at one time. Of course, the matter of long distance didn't really help at all; nonetheless, it was fun while it lasted. She ruffled his hair, as a sort of greeting.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Angela whispered into his ear, causing a shiver to make its way down his spine.

'Yeah…it has.' He pondered, not realizing that he had said the same thing out loud. She laughed softly. God, he missed that. Naturally, that broke his original train of thought regarding what this meeting was all about. Michael snapped his fingers in front of Rollin's face, bringing him back to the situation at hand.

"I'm guessing that you all want to know why you're here. Am I right?" he asked his former squad, receiving nods from each person. Lloyd tilted his head in query.

"Don't tell me that we're going to work for the government again." He groaned, and Michael shook his head. Lloyd always had something against the government in question, whether it was secret experimentation, or large-scale disinformation, or whatever his next big worry was about.

"Nothing of the sort; this one is about my own suspicions." He took out the blueprints to an underground facility, laying it out on the table in front of him, "We have to find this place – basic infiltration, as we have all dealt with in the past. However…" he stopped and Drammer spoke up.

"However…what?" he questioned, getting straight to the point as he did on any normal day.

"It's on Gaia. Don't worry," Michael commented, holding his hand up as Lloyd started to say something about lack of transportation, "I've made arrangements for a transport to where we need to go."

"How so?" Rollin asked, getting a chuckle in return from his superior.

"It's quite simple, really: we 'liberate' one of the ships here for our use. It'll probably be seen as treason, I know, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem…" reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a white orb, "especially with this." Everyone gazed at the globe in awe; it was materia – an extremely rare yet natural occurrence, created when the contents from under Cyphus' crust break through and form a pool. It takes thousands of years for something like materia to form, but the result is both beautiful and, at the same time, can be very destructive – mainly because of the knowledge inside of it.

"Materia?" Angela wondered, pulling her gaze away from the object, "You're planning on bargaining with them?" Michael grinned mischievously.

"Not just any materia, mind you." He retorted, holding it up like a trophy, "This little gem is one of a kind; Rollin knows exactly what I mean." Rollin's eyes widened at the realization of what he meant.

This was the only white materia in existence: Holy.

'It makes sense that he would treat it like he is right now.' He contemplated, 'After all, it did help save Gaia before…but that was ages ago.' Finally, he voiced his idea.

"You'll use Holy to get us a safe return." He concluded, a nod of approval coming from the lieutenant.

"So let me get this straight:" Jack started, "We steal a spaceship from one of these hangars, head for a planet-wide wasteland in search of an underground facility that might not even be there anymore, and with absolutely no clue as to what is inside, on top of that. And after this is all over with – if we even survive it – we use that glowing marble to get us a safe trip home and some R&R. Did I get it all?" yet again, another nod from Michael.

"That's the gist of it, yes." Jack rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"I like these odds; let's get to work!"

A/N – Reviews are gold! Tell me what you guys think: too short, too long, not enough detail...anything helps. :)

Until the next chapter,

Lloyd Redgrave