Chapter 6

Jessie's plan worked smoothly, at least in terms of getting them to Sector 0. Tifa didn't want to go jumping off of anything again for a long while.

Evening was falling as they approached the Shinra building from the abandoned train station. Any other place, they would have had hours of daylight left, but it was overcast on top of the smog, and the light seemed to fail early in Midgar.

The building loomed above them, lit windows glowing in the haze. Somewhere up there were the people responsible for the destruction of Sector 7. Tifa wondered how many of them were complicit. She didn't think most of the employees would know--she couldn't imagine this many people would knowingly work for a company that evil--but they had to have an inkling, didn't they? At some point, there were just too many atrocities for Shinra to cover up completely.

They ducked behind a truck parked on the opposite side of the street so they could case the entrance. Tifa had expected to see soldiers or even roboguards posted out front, but the steps were clear; she could only make out a few security guards stationed just past the glass doors. Maybe the Shinra figured that no one was crazy enough to take them head-on at their own headquarters.

"Looks like you were right about the security, Jess," said Barret. "Let's go."

He started to stand up, but Tifa caught his arm. "Hold on, Barret. We can't just go charging in."

"Tifa's right. It's a big building, and we don't know where they're holding Aeris. We need to do this quiet."

Barret ducked back down with a grimace. "Is quiet gonna be fast? She's been in there long enough."

Tifa understood how he felt. "I know, I know... But it won't do her any good if we get caught." She scanned the building again and pointed. "Look. That looks like a sign for a loading dock. There must be another entrance around that way."

She started to pull away, but Jessie tapped her shoulder. "Wait, look."

A man in a suit was just exiting the building, but Tifa didn't see the significance.

"What about him?"

"You need a keycard to access the top floors..."

"I see where you're goin,' Jess." Barret nodded to Tifa. "We'll take care of it."

They took note of which street the man went down, slipped back down the alley they'd come through, and made a block to intercept him. He gaped at them in disbelief as they stepped into his path, and Tifa could practically read his thoughts. Hooligans, in my part of the city?

They relieved him of his keycard but not his money and left him gagged and tied to a lamppost where someone would find him sooner or later. Meeting back up with Jessie, Tifa handed her the keycard.

"Pretty good," she said. "It looks like this'll at least get us to the 64th floor."

"Let's go then," said Barret.

Maybe it was getting late for deliveries, because they didn't find any crew at the loading dock, just a few trucks parked there for the night. All the garage doors were shut, and their stolen keycard was useless at this end of things. Barret smashed one of the locks open with his arm, and they ducked inside.

The sound attracted some attention, and they had to hide behind some shipping crates as a security guard investigated the area. They maneuvered themselves to keep out of her sight, and after some minutes she gave up her search with a shrug, and turned down the hall.

They found a freight elevator nearby and climbed on.

"What floor...?" Tifa wondered.

"Hey, this one only goes to 59," Barret noted. "Go for that. They've gotta be keepin' Aeris on one o' those floors with the restricted access."

Tifa pushed the button, the doors closed, and the elevator car began its ascent.

"I can't believe we're in the Shinra building," Jessie murmured. "Right in the heart of things..." Her hands clenched at her sides, and she was shaking a little.

"Jessie?"

"The thought just crossed my mind... that we should blow the whole thing up. They just destroyed a whole town! And they're probably all up here going around like nothing's happened."

"I know," Tifa said quietly, her jaw set. It was all too familiar an anger. "It's hard to wrap your mind around it."

"We'll get 'em back for it," said Barret. "Shinra's gonna pay for what they did. Might not be today, but as long as AVALANCHE's alive, then one day we're gonna take 'em down."

Jessie nodded. "For Biggs... For all of them, we have to keep fighting."

Barret laid a hand on her shoulder, and they passed the rest of the ride in silence.

The elevator let them out onto a wide open floor, and across the way was another set of elevators guarded by two Shinra soldiers. Tifa tensed for a fight.

"Hey," said one of the soldiers. "What are you doing up here?"

"M-maintenance crew," Jessie blurted.

"Right." Tifa went along with it, sidestepping to block their view of Barret's arm until he caught the hint and moved it behind his back. "They're having a problem with the air conditioning up on the 64th floor."

The soldiers exchanged glances, but they didn't seem alarmed, so the bluff must have been a plausible one. "You got ID?"

Jessie stepped forward to show them the keycard, which thankfully wasn't printed with the picture of the man they'd stolen it from, just his surname.

"All right, go on up. I don't wanna hear those suits pitching a fit because they got exposed to summer for a few hours."

They filed into the other elevator, Barret maneuvering to keep his arm out of sight, and Jessie swiped the keycard. Tifa pushed the button for the 64th floor to get it moving so the soldiers wouldn't see them hesitate.

"I'm not sure what's on the 64th floor," Jessie said.

"I don't know either," Tifa said. "I guess we'll find out."

"Hopefully there's a directory or a computer somewhere we can use... I don't know how many times that maintenance bluff is going to work."

"We gotta find Aeris fast," Barret agreed.

They got off the elevator, and Jessie cautiously poked her head into the first room down the hallway. She relaxed into confusion, and Barret and Tifa looked in over her head.

"They got a damn private gym up here?" Barret hissed.

"Let's... try going back down a floor," Jessie suggested. "I don't think this is going to have what we need."

They had better luck on the 63rd floor, quickly finding an empty room with a computer terminal. Jessie wheeled herself in front of it and fit the keycard into a slot.

"Okay, directory, directory... Here we go. Looks like this floor is all storage. Below us are the Midgar government offices--that's a joke--and research libraries, and the lounge."

"They gotta have a private lounge, too?"

"I guess so. I really hate rich people."

"None of those sound like a place where we'd find Aeris," Tifa said.

Jessie nodded. "We'll have to go higher up. The next couple floors are just offices and conference rooms for the different departments... And then there's the lab."

"The lab?"

"Shinra Science and Research Division," Jessie said, pointing to the screen. "I don't have access to any more details, but it takes up two whole floors by itself."

"That must be it," Tifa said grimly. "Elmyra said Aeris and her mother escaped from some kind of lab."

"Man," said Barret. "I know the Shinra're evil, but studyin' people like lab rats... Adds a whole new level to it."

"So how are we going to get to the 67th floor?" Tifa asked.

"Give me a few minutes," said Jessie. "Let me see if I can change the access level on Mr. Ackerman's file here."

They waited, watching Jessie's fingers fly across the keys. The computer made some unhappy beeps at her, but from the text prompts Tifa caught, she seemed to be making progress. At last she smiled, sat back, and handed the keycard triumphantly to Tifa.

"Okay. I've promoted him to lab technician, and our card should get us to the 67th floor now. I couldn't get it to give me permissions for 68--it looks like there's an even stricter security protocol for the second floor of the lab for some reason--but with any luck we won't need them."

"Nice work," said Barret. "You're makin' breakin' into Shinra headquarters look easy."

"I don't think that's going to last much longer," Jessie said, but she was smiling at the praise.

On the 67th floor, they were immediately conspicuous. A lab technician in the hall when they came off the elevator gave a start at their appearance and shied away from them as they passed her.

"Just maintenance, miss," Jessie said to her, trying to put her at ease, but Jessie exchanged glances with Tifa afterwards. There was a good chance the woman was going to notify security on them.

The hallway opened out into a large room packed with storage containers and several sealed glass chambers which appeared empty at the moment. Tifa read a few of the labels as she walked by--numbered specimens, no other indication of what was inside.

At the other end of the room was another freight elevator. Tifa tried the keycard on it, but as expected, the door wouldn't open.

"What the--" said Jessie from behind her. "Did you guys see this?"

Tifa spun around. Jessie was staring through the window of a large metal stasis chamber. Barret and Tifa joined her. It looked like something out of a nightmare--a woman's body covered over in veins and unnameable growths, eyes in places they shouldn't have been. Somehow it looked like it was breathing, even though--

"Where the fuck's its head?" said Barret.

Tifa shook her head. "I don't know, and I don't care. It's got nothing to do with Aeris, and this is a dead end."

"Right," Barret said, tearing himself away. "Fuckin' creepy-ass place though."

They turned to move on, but a group of Shinra soldiers blocked their path. Tifa counted three, four... They were still appearing from the hall that led to the elevators.

"You there, halt!"

Barret fired the first shot, and Tifa pulled Jessie down behind a stack of containers before the soldiers began to return fire.

"Barret!" Jessie shouted, and he ducked down with them as she hurled a grenade at the soldiers. Screams accompanied the blast.

Tifa lifted her head up over the containers, but gunshots forced her back down.

"How many left?" Barret asked.

"Just two, I think," she said. Across the way, she spotted a door into an office--judging by the placement, it could lead into the same room they'd passed in the hall on the way in here. Another way out. "Cover me."

Barret nodded, and she sprinted to the door as he laid down cover fire. It opened with the keycard and she ducked inside. Monitors, a lab tech hiding under a desk, and a second door on the far side. Tifa keyed it open and poked her head out. She was behind the two remaining soldiers, and they hadn't heard the door open over the gunfire.

Barret ceased fire the moment she stepped into the hallway, but the soldiers didn't notice her until her foot connected with the first one's head, slamming him into the other. She'd knocked the first unconscious, and she made sure the second one joined him.

"Guess that concludes the quiet part," Barret said as he and Jessie joined her.

"Guess so," Tifa agreed. "Come on."

They ran back down the hall to the part of the floor they hadn't searched yet. Past another observation room full of frightened lab assistants, they came to a short hall with a series of identical doors on either side. They hurried to check the windows into the rooms.

"Here! She's in here!" Barret waved them over.

Tifa could see Aeris inside, but the keycard wouldn't open the door. At the sight of Barret, Aeris had approached, and she was trying to say something, but her voice was almost completely muted.

"How do we get the door open?" Tifa said, looking to Jessie.

"Um..." Jessie was looking at the keypad, but she seemed unsure.

"Screw that," Barret announced. "Is this an intercom? Aeris, get back, all right?"

Aeris nodded and backed away from the door.

"Barret, I don't know if that's such a good--"

But before Jessie could finish speaking, he was already firing at the keypad. The bullets tore into the circuitry, exposing wires, but the door hadn't budged. Barret gave it a final kick, and it slid open, sounding an alarm.

"How's that for a passcode?"

Aeris ran out from the room and threw her arms around Tifa. "I'm so glad to see you! I never thought..."

"Are you all right?" Tifa asked her, pulling back to look her over.

She nodded. "I'm okay."

"Then we'd better get moving," said Jessie. "It won't be long before they send more men."

"Wait!" said Aeris. "There's someone else here, we were talking through the wall."

She looked to the cell next to hers, and Barret leaned in to peer through the window. "Uh... I don't wanna judge, Aeris, but..."

Aeris approached to look in, too, and a frown of confusion crossed her face. "Oh. Hm." Still, she pressed the intercom button and said, "Hey. Is that you?"

The speaker only seemed to go one way, but whoever was inside must have given a satisfactory answer, because Aeris nodded to Barret.

"You sure?" he said.

"Yes. Please get him out."

Barret motioned them back as he used the same foolproof method to get the door open. He kept his gun raised and trained on the large, red-furred creature which slowly stepped out into the hall. It looked like a cross between a wolf and a lion, with a ridged mane and a long tail that glowed at its end. Tifa looked at it in astonishment as it spoke.

"Hello," it said. "I assume you are friends of Aeris."

"It talks?" Jessie said incredulously.

"Yes, in fact, it does," the animal said dryly.

"I'm sorry," Aeris said. "Even I wasn't really expecting... Well! I guess it doesn't matter right now. We should hurry."

Barret shook his head, lowering his gun arm. "Fuck, if it'll bite some Shinra ass, I'll take a dog."

He led the way back towards the elevators, and the rest of them followed.

"You didn't tell me your name," Aeris said to the creature as they ran.

"'Red' is fine," he said. "It's what Hojo calls me."

Aeris frowned at that, but she said, "All right. Red it is."

They reached the elevators and Tifa swiped the keycard. Nothing happened.

"Shit," said Jessie. "They must've realized we were using it and disabled his access... Barret, don't shoot the elevator. That's not going to help here."

"There's no other way down..." Aeris said uneasily.

"Try one of the lab technicians," Red suggested.

Tifa ran back into the nearest observation room and pulled the cowering lab tech out from under the desk.

"P-please don't kill me!" he stammered.

"I just need your keycard," she said.

"Here! Here, take it!" He was wearing it on a lanyard beneath his lab coat, but it was like he'd forgotten how to pull things over his head. Tifa unclipped it from the cord.

"Thanks," she said, and dropped him.

His keycard still worked, and the five of them crammed into the elevator. Tifa smashed the button for the 1st floor, and they started down.

"Thanks for coming for me," Aeris said softly.

"We ain't out of it yet," Barret said.

"I know. But it means a lot to me that you would risk it. We barely know each other."

"You're one of us," said Jessie. "You're part of AVALANCHE."

Aeris smiled, but it faded again. "How is everyone?" she asked. "Marlene? Biggs and Wedge?"

There was a short silence; no one wanted to answer that question.

"Wedge'll be all right," Tifa said. "He and Marlene are with your mom. Biggs... didn't make it."

"I'm sorry," said Aeris, touching Tifa's arm. Tifa flashed her a small, appreciative smile, but she didn't want to dwell on it right now, and the sincerity in Aeris's voice made that hard.

The elevator jerked to a abrupt halt on the 60th floor, and the doors opened to reveal an arsenal waiting for them. Tifa counted four roboguards flanked by a platoon of soldiers. At their head stood a dark-haired man in a suit. Barret raised his gun arm and Red tensed as if to pounce, but they had no chance of fighting through this many men. Jessie tried to get the elevator moving again, but the power had gone dead.

"This is as far as you go," said the man in the suit.

Aeris stepped forward. "Tseng, why are you doing this?"

"This is my job," he replied with a frown.

"I dodged you for years and you let me," she said. "I know I'm not good enough to evade the Turks for that long on my own. You could just let us all go."

Tseng raised his eyebrows. "Allow two lab rats and the remaining members of AVALANCHE to escape? It would be career suicide." He took several steps towards them. "But if you come quietly, your friends won't have to die. At least, not right away."

Aeris looked to Tifa, but she could only shake her head.

"There's nothing we can do," Tifa said.

"We made it pretty far..." Jessie said ruefully.

Barret finally lowered his gun arm. "Hell," he said. "It ain't over 'til it's over, right?"

Red sat back on his haunches, and the rest of them put their hands up. Shinra soldiers surrounded them, and none-too-gently took them into custody.


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