"Alright, this seems safe to climb." Cloud said, testing one of the vines inside the mines.

"I'll go first."

He then grabbed the vine with both hands and began ascending upwards.

Gordon and the rest of the party were watching from below as Cloud climbed up, Gordon turned to face the rest of the party.

"Uhhhh so, I know her-" He said, pointing to Tifa, "But I don't know you three yet."

"Ah where are my manners? I'm Barret, Barret Wallace." He said

"Aerith Gainsborough, nice to meet you!" She said

"Call me Red XIII, good to make your acquaintance." The red wolf said.

"Nice to meet you all! Let's get along well and stop those two bastards." Gordon said.

He turned to look up at Cloud, who was almost at the top.

"So uh Gordon-" said Barret, "What can you tell us about this Benrey guy?"

"Oh hell where do I start?" said Gordon, turning back to face Barret.

"I can't stand the guy at all, ever since I started work that day he's been on my ass since." Gordon ranted,

"He keeps asking me for my passport even though I showed it to him back at Bla- back at work." Gordon breathed a sigh of relief inside his head catching himself like that, he had no idea what would happen if he mentioned anything relating to Half-Life, but it was best to keep things about him and where he was from as vague as possible.

"Your passport?" Red XIII asked, "Are you an immigrant from another country?"

"I'm not, but since that day he keeps harassing me about." replied Gordon.

"And I already told you he's the reason I have this." He pointed at his gatling gun.

"Yeah, you said you lost it to soldiers." Barret said, "Shinra do that to you?"

"Uh yeah, they left me for dead too. I'm lucky I didn't die from the blood loss." said Gordon.

"I know how you fell, I lost my arm to Shinra too." Barret said, he then held up his gatling gun.

"Let's take those bastards down together!"

"Uh yeah, let's!" He took this as a sign to bump guns together so he complied, but he was careful to make sure that it didn't send Barret flying in the other direction, that was the last thing he needed.

"What type of power does Benrey possess?" asked Aerith, "Is he just as strong as Sephiroth?"

"Probably." Gordon said, "I've tried killing him multiple times and I've seen him die multiple times but he keeps coming back. The best I've been able to do is get distance from him, but it's always been temporary."

"You keep mentioning 'that day,' what happened on that day?" Tifa asked

"Oh well uh-"

"Hey are you guys coming or not?" Cloud shouted from on top of the cliff.

"Yeah we're heading up now!" Gordon shouted from below, relieved to be saved by the bell, "I'll go first."

Gordon then grabbed onto the vine and began his ascent.

"Weird guy." Barret said, "Wonder where he's from?"

"Mhm." Tifa mumbled, she may not have been able to pry Gordon with any info regarding himself but she'll just have to wait until the time is right.


"Careful, try not to fall." Cloud said, as him and the rest of the party were shimmying on the side of a cliff.

"Don't need to tell me twice." Gordon replied.

If only Coomer was here, he thought. His extendo-arms always came in the clutch.

After the party managed to make it to a wider surface they pressed onwards.

They encountered a few monsters along the way but nothing they couldn't already handle. Barret noticed how Gordon was handling himself in combat

"You seem to be pretty capable in a fight Gordon." Barret said.

"Trust me when I say I've had my fair share of battles." Gordon replied.

"I'm curious about something though, where'd you get that armor?" Barret asked, "Doesn't seem like something Shinra would have, especially with that symbol." He said, pointing at the Lambda symbol on Gordon's chest.

"Oh uh, it's work provided. Oh hey there seems to be an exit this way!" Gordon said, pointing to a nearby cavern.

"Right, let's go." said Cloud.

The party then made their way through the passage that Gordon pointed out.

What greeted them on the other side was unfortunately the Turks, in front of them was a bald one with sunglasses on, he was wearing a black suit that was the trademark of the Turks. Standing on a cliff above them was one with blonde hair, female, and a suit similar to the one standing in front of them.

"Damn!" Cloud said, drawing his sword. The rest of the party got into battle mode ready for a fight.

"I assume you know who we are." The bald one with sunglasses.

"That's right." Cloud said, "You're the bastards that dropped the plate on Sector 7!"

"That was just business." The bald one, known as Rude, replied.

"We're here for another reason though……………"

The awkward silence continued, until Rude had to look up at the blonde haired one, as if telling her to say something.

"Oh uh, we're here to make sure that you don't continue your pursuit of Sephiroth and his friend!" The blonde Turk said.

"Elena!" Rude shouted, "They don't need to know about that."

"Oh uh sorry!" She said, putting a hand on the back of her head.

"This friend you mentioned-" Gordon said, "Does he look like a security guard of any sort?"

"We're not telling you th-"

"Yes!" Elena replied, cutting off Rude.

She quickly realized her mistake and frantically apologized to Rude, who even though was trying to keep his poker face on, was clearly visibly annoyed.

Another Turk appeared on the cliff opposite of where Elena was, it was Tseng.

"You talk way too much Elena." He said, "Now, go and file your report."

"Yes sir!" She replied, "After that me and Rude will continue our pursuit of Sephiroth and his accomplice at Junon Harbor!"

"Elena…" Tseng said, putting his index finger and thumb on his nose, clearly annoyed, "Just go now and stop them."

"Y-Yes sir!" She stammered, exiting the area.

"Go with her Rude." Tseng ordered.

Rude silently nodded and climbed up to where Tseng was, he then turned to face the party.

"Before I go, Reno said he wants to see you all after his injuries heal up. Said he wants to thank you with a new weapon."

And with that, Rude departed the area.

Tseng then stepped forward to get a better look at the party, he focused his attention on Aerith.

"We meet again, Aerith." He said, "You vanish from Shinra's view and then Sephiroth reappears."

"Are you saying I should be grateful towards him?" She replied, upset at what Tseng just said.

"No but, let's just say that you won't be seeing much of me, so take care." Tseng said.

He was about to leave before Gordon spoke up.

"You probably don't have any info on the person he's with." Gordon said, "Unknown factor in the whole situation am I right?"

Tseng didn't reply, but simply walked away. This made Gordon chuckle.

"Well we now know where Sephiroth and Benrey are heading." Gordon said, "Come on let's get going!"

"Wait, hang on Gordon." Barret said, "A security guard, really? You telling me Sephiroth teamed up with a security guard?"

"He's more than just a security guard." Gordon replied.

Tifa put her hand on her chin, pondering at what she just heard.

'A security guard? This sounds familiar' She thought.