Cloud kicked at a pile of pebbles unconciously as he walked up to the glass entrance doors, which were some what foggy from all the dust that had been kicked up in Midgar. A huge, computer printed banner was taped above the door that read "Reeve Developmental Industries." Cloud opened the door, held it for Tifa, then let Cid take over as the rest of AVALANCHE and their "additional members" entered.

A receptionist was by a desk in the main hall, picking up papers that had obviously fallen on the floor before they'd arrived. She looked up at the odd group of twelve visitors.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm Cloud," he said. "We're here to see Reeve."

"Right," the receptionist confirmed. "He's expecting you. The elevator is out of order, but you all wouldn't fit in it anyway. Take the stairway four flights up and you'll reach his office on your immediate right."

"Damn!" Barret cursed. "Stairs!"

"Hush," Tifa whispered.

Cloud thanked the receptionist and headed toward the stairway, gesturing his group to follow. Sephiroth brought up the rear with Tayeko beside him, an effort to keep his distance from Cloud, although most members of the group would have preferred he stand in plain view.

The stairway was narrow, but Zack and Aeris stood close together and held hands tightly. Aeris giggled at Barret's grunts and complaints, Zack smiling down at her and admiring her glowing, happy face.

"Cid, why are you so cheerful?"

Cid, who had been whistling the entire time they'd been walking, smiled at Red XIII and patted the fire red beast on head. "No fucking reason."

Red growled. "Don't pat me like that. I'm not a pet."

Cid shrugged and lit a cigarette, just as Cloud had reached the top floor.

"Let's go," he said.

The group went to Reeve's office, and Cloud swung open the door.

"Hey."

Reeve lifted his head from a file folder and smiled at the group of people crowded in his some what small office. He afforded a quick glance at Sephiroth, finding it still stunning that the man was alive and aiding the very people who'd killed him. He shook his head and smiled.

"Hello, Cloud, everyone. Please, come in, get comfortable - if you can. We'll talk about the files."

"First," Cloud began, taking a seat in one of the only two chairs in the room. "Someone tried to kill us. They planted a bomb in my Villa in Costa Del Sol, and it caught on fire. The whole damn house was set ablaze, Reeve. Its practically ruined."

Reeve put a hand to his chin. "I see. It was probably Rufus."

"Thats what I said," Striker spoke up. "Shin-Ra's been know to do stuff like that."

"We've got to be extra careful now," Cloud said dryly to his teammates. "Now, what about these files?"

Reeve leaned over the desk a bit. "The files are actually computerized. There's a main computer system in the Shin-Ra building that isn't destroyed. We saw it last time we were down there. We can all go down there again and copy the files onto a disk and bring them back here."

Cloud nodded. "Fine, we'll do that. When can we go?"

Reeve glanced at his watch. "It's not quite ten a.m. yet, so what say we start heading down after lunch? I just warn you, Its a bit unpleasant down there." Cloud glanced around the room. "Thats should be good, right?" he asked, earning lazy nods from most everyone in the room with the exception of a tall, angry gun armed man and a former silver haired enemy.

"Great," Reeve said, opening his file folder once again. "I guess we can have some free time for a few hours. Lunch will be served in the cafeteria in the basement at noon." Cloud nodded and shook Reeve's hand, then quietly left the room, Tifa following. The others began to disperse.

"Where's Yuffie?" Reeve suddenly asked.

Cid was holding the door for Aeris and Zack when he turned to answer. "That's a good fucking question, Reeve. We don't know."

Striker shook his head as he started to walk out. "Its not the same with out her constant complaining," he said.

"Or her constant puking on my goddamned deck," Cid muttered, closing the door behind him as he left the office. "Shit."

Striker shrugged. "We'll hear from her soon," he said, continuing down the hall in the opposite direction.

Cid waved good-bye to Striker as he too walked on, whistling once again. No matter how much trouble they ran into, he couldn't seem to shake this great mood.

And he knew why.

Elena, Reno, and Rude exchanged glances and nodded back at their boss.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Reno said.

"Good," Rufus answered, steepling his fingers. "Keep the Kisaragi girl out of this one. She'll have loyalty to Aeris."

Reno shrugged. "Whatever. Where will we find her?"

"AVALANCHE is in Midgar as we speak," Rufus said. "I have spies everywhere that have them located. Find them."

Reno nodded and stood, stretching unprofessionally. "Fine. Can I leave?"

Elena giggled and Rufus rolled his eyes and waved Reno off. "Whatever, just get out and do your jobs."

The three Turks left and Rufus spun around in his chair and looked out the window. Again, another seemingly unfoilable plot. Only this time, he would succeed.

Striker walked into a small fast food restaraunt, The Falisy, and ordered his favorite since he was a kid, a chicken sandwich and a soda. He took a seat near a window when he noticed a farmiliar looking person.

"Yuffie?"

Yuffie turned around, surprised to hear her name called. She saw Stiker sitting alone in a a booth near a window, a tray of food in front of him.

"Striker!"

Striker lept out of his seat and ran over to Yuffie. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "We were looking for you. And what are you wearing?"

Yuffie looked down at her clothes and blushed. "Oh... um..."

"That's a Turk uniform!" Striker annoucned. "What's going on, Yuffie? Everyone was worried about you. Godo was having fits."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "That man is always having fits," she said. "Don't worry about me. I'm working for the Turks now."

"What?!" Striker shouted.

"Shhh," Yuffie said, putting her hand over Striker's mouth and looking around the room. "Please, don't tell the others. I'm dating Reno, and he offered me a position with the Turks. It's really not a big deal, Striker. I mean, we're not up to anything bad, Reno even promised me that he'd-"

"How can you beileve anything they say?" Striker asked, grabbing Yuffie's wrist. "They're full of lies. Did you know they burned up Cloud's villa just a few days ago?"

Yuffie's eyes went wide for a moment. "No," she said. "You're wrong, Striker. The Turks didn't do that. I know every mission the Turks carry out and that was not one of them."

Striker dropped Yuffie's wrist. "You don't understand. It's probably a trap!"

"*You* don't understand, Striker," Yuffie spat back.

"Come back with me, Yuffie," Striker pleaded. "We're going to the Shin-Ra building in a couple hours to find the files Hojo supposedly left on us. We need you."

Yuffie turned her back on Striker. "No," she said flatly, looking over her shoulder. "I have work to do. Don't tell anyone, Striker."

Striker was about to respond when Yuffie ran out of the restaraunt and down the crowded street. He sighed angrily and stormed out as well, leaving his food forgotten.

The Shin-Ra building was just ahead, its top floors chopped off by Meteor and leaving a eerie graveyard of rubble around the remains of the building that stood. Most of his group was talking quietly, some complaining, about the apparent monster ridden mess they were getting themselves into after along walk of several hours.

"The computer is in the basement," Cait Sith said, giving instructions from Reeve who'd declined to come along. "We have to take the stairs in the main hall that leads down. I'll guide you once we get there."

Cid lit a cigarette despite the frowns he recieved from Aeris, and walked in sync with Barret and Striker, who both looked a bit down.

"What the hell's wrong with you two?"

Striker shrugged, but Barret waved his arms in the air angrilly. "What do you think?" he shouted. "I hate being here! I should be with Marlene, but here I am, about to read some damned old files and learn more bad news."

"Shh," Vincent whispered from the back where he was walking with Sephiroth and Tayeko, holding the Death Penalty ready. "You'll alert the monsters."

Barret sighed audibly and Cid chuckled, patting his friend on the back. "Don't worry, big guy. This shit will be over soon."

A loud crash was heard as Cloud kicked out the broken glass of the front doors to the building. He pushed open the frames and the group began to flood in.

Reeve's use of the word "unpleasant" had been an understatment. The lobby was a mess. There pools of blood, some dried and some still sticky, scattered on different places on the floor. There was broken glass and wood scattered everywhere, statues had been knocked over, and the huge, flat wall screen that had projected Shin-Ra welcome messages and ads for Shin-Ra products was shattered into a million peices on the floor beneathe it.

"Oh," Aeris whispered, shaking her head and resting it in her hands. "What happened...?"

Zack rubbed her shoulders and comforted her. "Its unfortunate..."

Red sniffed carefully at a pool of blood. "Human," he said quietly.

"Where are the bodies?" Tayeko asked.

"Most likely monsters devoured them," Sephiroth said bluntly. "In a time of crisis like this, monsters thrive and tend to attack innocent victims."

"A crisis *you* caused," Cloud remarked from the front.

"Cloud," Tifa warned.

Sephiroth put his hand on the hilt of the Masamune at his waist, then stared across the group into Cloud's glowing blue eyes. Its own seemed to glitter with a painfully intense mako glow, causing Cloud to look away.

"Let's continue," the leader said to his group. "Which way, Cait?"

Cait's mog hopped towards a metal door with a huge dent in it. "This stairway leads to the basement. C'mon!"

Cloud sighed and the group began to migrate down the dark stairway, the only light coming from Red's tail and the butt end of Cid's cigarette. The faint glow of Cloud, Sephiroth, Zack and Striker's eyes were also apparent.

At the end of the stairway, Cait lit a joke lighter and bounced down the hallway, leading the group to a large room with a sign that read "Mainframe." Once inside, he flipped a light switch and row after row of florecent lights flickered on.

Cloud located the computer and sat down in front of it. It was much bigger than an average PC, but the structure was the same. With help from Cait, he had turned on the computer, bypassed passwords, and made it to the file system. The rest of the group had gathered around, trying to catch a glimsp of the screen.

Cloud took a deep breath. "Alright.... who's file to read first?"

When no one volunteered, Cloud shrugged and began typing. "Cid Highwind."

"Hey!" Cid protested.

The screen flashed and Cid's name appeared at the top in bold, a long series of information below it.

"Where's the disk?" Cloud asked. "We've got to copy this."

Cait whisked the disk out from under his cape. "Ta-da!"

Cloud snatched the disk from Cait and slipped it in the disk drive. "Alright, here we go."

Shin-Ra Id #: 43350SD34235YYYX
DOB: Feburary 22
Birthplace: Mindensburg (Rocket Town)
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'9
Distinquishing marks: NONE
Title: Shin-Ra 1st Captain
- Graduated Shin-Ra flight school
Cid is the current head of our Airforce. He is responsible for the contruction of our multi-million dollar project, production fo the airship named after him, the Highwind.

Cid was discharged after reports of insubbordination following the cancellation of the Shin-Ra space program. Current location unknown.

"Cidharth?" Barret repeated with a laugh.

"Shut the fuck up," Cid spat, inhaling smoke. "Don't give a damn about none of that."

Cloud chuckled to himself and opened Barret's file.

Shin-Ra ID#: NONE
DOB: December 15
Birthplace: North Corel
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'4 Distinquishing marks: Tattoos
Barret Wallace is a highly dangerous terrorist that runs a rebel organization known as AVALANCHE. His hatred for the Shin-Ra Corpporation dates back to the Mako Reactor explosion in his hometown of North Corel several years prior. He is considered to armed and extremely dangerous. His current whereabouts are unknown, but he is wanted for a reward of five (5) million gil.

"Damn," Barret said, shaking his head. "5 million? Thassa lot."

"Read mine," Tifa said, leaning over Cloud and taking the mouse from him.

"Why is the damn reward higher for her?" Barret asked contemptuously.

"Tifa was a more immediate threat because of her connection to the Nibelhiem mission and Sephiroth," Vincent explained.

Barret waved the black haired man off and rolled his eyes.

"Let's read yours, Cloud," Tifa said.

Cloud winced. "I'm not sure I'm ready, Tifa," he said.

"We can read mine, then," Tayeko volunteered. "I'm actually quite anxious to find out about my past."

Cloud nodded and entered Tayeko's name, the file coming on the screen.

Shin-Ra ID#: 3342G32HTE5872VXZ32
DOB: Feburary 17
Birthplace: Wutai
Hair: Black
Eyes: Violet
Height: 5'3
Distinquishing Marks: NONE
THIS FILE HAS BEEN CLOSED.

Everyone looked at Tayeko, who simply shrugged.

"Reeve said Hojo had a personal file on here about you," Cloud said, shaking his head. "Let's see it."

Cloud opened the file.

READ ONLY
Personal Files of Professor Hojo
Subject Name: TAYEKO ESCOBAR KISATO (CODE NAME - C3)
Subject ID#: T3927y56hjen-34551
PROJECT LEADER: Professor Hojo, MD, PhD
Tayeko Kisato, a Cetra born of a Wutain father. Her mother is the sister of Ifalna, Gast's wife and former employee. Tayeko has been captured for study.

ENTRY ONE (1) Age 7: Testing on Subject begins. C3 has been given a hospitable and comfortable room, and allowed interaction with one child, Code 1 [Sephiroth]. I have plans to mate them in the future, but work shows that she will not be mature for some time. At this age subject does not show much signs of knowlege of the promised land.

ENTRY TWO (2) Age 8: Subject has shown positive interaction with Code 1. Refuses to give knowledge of the Promised Land. I attempted to give regular shots of Mako, but the subject reacted negatively. The body went into several convulsions and I was forced to induce vomitting. Subject seems weak, but I will work on creating a Mako substitute that will raise her biokinetics.

ENTRY THREE (3) Age 11: Its been a while since I've written in here. Today, C3 and Code 1 attempted an escape. Of course, they were unsuccessful, but it set me back. I've been forced to separate the children, and of course this angered Sephiroth. Tayeko spent hours in her room bawling, and I was forced to sedate her. Her behavior over the past years has become erratical and wild, and I am sure it has to do with years of interaction with a person as unstable as Sephiroth. As much as if may hurt my research, I will have to take the risk of mating them after a 3 year hiatus.

ENTRY FOUR (4) Age 14: Today has been absolutely devasting. I attempted mating C3 and Code 1 in a controlled enviroment, but Sephiroth flipped out and we were unable to contain him. After killing one of my Guards, he sliced off the hand of another, who had the subject at gunpoint. The guard accidently shot the subject with the hand that had not been sliced off, killing her. Sephiroth threw another fit of rage ad I finally got him under control, after I was forced to kill the remaining guards. Sephiroth has been locked down in maximum security, and Tayeko's body was just deposited in the morgue. I am extremely angry. Possibly my most rewarding experiment has been killed, literally. We have no Cetra mate for Sephiroth and President Shin-Ra has commanded me to shut down the Project. Sephiroth is going to return to Junon to continue training with SOLDIER. I have nothing else to write on this matter, so I'm closing the file.

- Professor Hojo , PhD, M.D., Shinra Lab Corporation

Tayeko had her hand over her mouth, shaking her head slowly. Sephiroth saw the tears well up in the corner of her eyes, and winced as they finally splashed on her cheek. Aeris reached up to touch her shoulder, but Tayeko fled from the room into the dark hallway.

Aeris sighed and shook her head, her own heart heavy. "I'll go after her."

"Alone?" Zack said, worry written across his face. "Let me come with you. Its dangerous."

"I'm perfectly cabable of taking care of myself," Aeris said stubbornly, heading towards the door. "I don't need a chaperone."

Zack frowned as Aeris jogged out the door. Cloud gave a worried glance at the door Aeris had just passed through, then turned back to the screen.

"Anybody else want to read their files?"

"Where've you been, dollface?"

Yuffie whriled around, seeing the face that matched the voice. "Hey Reno," she said. "I was walkin' around. I ran into someone from AVALANCHE."

Reno cocked an eyebrow, seeing an oppurtunity to gather information. "Really? Who?"

"Oh, just Striker," Yuffie answered, a half-smile crossing her lips. "I don't know him all that well, but it was nice to see him. Until he started bugging me to come back..."

Reno thought for a moment. "What are they doing in Midgar?" he asked.

"Oh, he said something about looking for files in the old Shin-Ra building," Yuffie blurted without thinking.

"Interesting," he mumbled. "Hey, why don't you go sort through the files in my office for the remainder of the day? After I take care of business, we'll go out to eat or something."

Yuffie beamed. "Sure," she said cheerfully, nearly skipping in the direction of his office. Reno grinned to himself and began to head down the opposite direction, prepared to give Rufus this new information.

"Tay?"

Tayeko turned her head slightly from where she was kneeling on the ground in an area ridden with rubble. The roof had caved in on this part of the building, and she saw Aeris' silouette in the setting sun of the late afternoon sky.

"I can't...." Tayeko mumbled, turning away from Aeris. The flower girl smiled and walked over to Tayeko, kneeling beside her.

She put her hand on the girl's trembling back. "Tayeko... don't worry. I know Hojo's words hurt, but remember Tayeko, he's dead. That man has left scars on probably all of our lives... especially you and I. But listen... something good came out of this."

Tayeko looked up at Aeris with wide, bright, wet eyes, full of an almost childlike curiousity.

"What?"

Aeris giggled. "Didn't you see? The opening paragraph said that your mother's sister was Ifalna."

Tayeko cocked an eyebrow and awaited further information from Aeris. When none came, she sighed.

"And?"

"Ifalna was my mother, Tayeko."

Tayeko blinked, old tears making their way down her porceline-like face. She smiled slightly, and Aeris wrapped her arms around her.

"We're cousins," Aeris whispered, laughing.

"Cousins..." Tayeko repeated, returning the embrace. "I love you, Aer-"

There was loud crash behind them, the sound of something landing on the rubble nearby. And that's exactly what it was.

Three figures were highlighted by faint light from the almost completely set sun.

"Aeris," a voice said, a hint of humor in his voice.

Aeris slowly stood, the figures becoming more identifiable as they traveled closer to her. Three dark suits...

"The Turks..." she whispered.

Tayeko slowly rose to her feet, bringing her hand to her gun where it rested cold against her thigh. She still hadn't had much practice with the weapon, but she'd be ready to use it if she needed to save her friend.

Reno became visible as he stepped foward towards Aeris, who stood still and grasped her rod, which she knew was powerless against the Turks. Rude and Elena were quite obviously the other two.

"You've got to come with us," Reno said. "Old Rufus wants ya."

"Over my dead body," Aeris said firmly.

"Normally that would be an option," Reno remarked, "But the Prez says he wants you alive."

Aeris rose her staff and prepared to strike, but Reno was much faster and managed to grab the weapon and toss it out of reach, all the while gaining control of her wrists.

"Let her go!" Tayeko shouted, raising her gun to aim. She fired for Reno's chest, the easiest target, but he saw it coming and fell to the ground, bringing him and Aeris out of the way. Rude immediatly rushed the unsuspecting Tayeko, who's attention was on whether she'd hit Reno, and brought her to the floor, knocking the wind out her. When she struggled to regain her breath, Rude whacked her across the side of her head with such force that she was rendered unconcious.

"Tayeko!" Aeris shouted.

Elena, who had moved to stand over Aeris as Reno regained his footing, kicked the poor Cetra in the mouth, causing her to spit blood. Aeris shook her head and looked up at Elena.

"Why-"

Reno yanked Aeris to her feet by her hair, causing her to scream out in pain.

"If you don't stop all that hollering and carrying on, you're going to end up like your friend over there," Reno threatened.

Aeris sobbed as she felt Elena snatch her wrists and bind them with wire. The blonde bombshell, a smirk on her face, ripped off a peice of duct tape from a roll and slapped it on Aeris' face.

"Let's go, broad," Elena said, Reno grabbing Aeris' arm roughly and forcing her to walk. Rude walked slowly behind them, giving Tayeko, who was laying on the ground a final look as they retreated back to the vehicle they'd parked near the former entrance to the old Shin-Ra building.