Rufus Shinra rubbed his temples gently as he re-entered his office. It had been a nerve-wracking day, and it had grown more
stressful as evening had settled in. Hojo had been ranting and raving all day about the "wonderful progress" that was to be made in the next few weeks to Rufus, and practically demanding full-access to Shinra's bank account.

With an exasperrated sigh, he threw himself down into the soft leather chair behind his desk, laying his head on the desk and
closing his eyes. If Hojo didn't intimidate him so damn much, he would have had his creepy ass out of there a long time ago.

"Sir?" The intercom beside his head crackled to life, causing him to jump, and scaring half of his life away.

"Yes, Cassandra?" He answered back, once his heart settled back to a normal pace.

"Are you all right? You seem a little tired. Anything I can do?"

"No, that's all right. I'm fine. Oh, Cassandra?"

"Yes sir?"

"Did anyone call while I was out in the building?"

"No sir, no one."

"Oh...ok. Thank you Cassandra."

***

"Sir, you wished to see us?"

"Yes, Elena, Rude. Have a seat," Tseng motioned to his fellow Turks to sit in the chairs in front of his desk. Once they had done so, he continued. "I suppose you're both aware of the fact that a short while ago a group of Junonian soldiers were able to capture and safely hand over the leader of Wutai's daughter as well as an Ancient?"

"Yes sir," Elena asnswered for the both of them. "What about it?"

"Well, it appears that someone managed to break them out. As well as the other Ancient that was in our custody."

The two Turks sat there, staring at their commander, Elena's eyes were opened wide in surprise. "Do you have any clues as to
who it might have been?"

Tseng's eyebrows merely raised in a questioning stance, as if to ask, And you don't?

"You don't think it was Reeve do you?" When her commanding officer nodded, Elena continued. "But Reno cleared his- oh. No! I don't believe it! Reno wouldn't do that!"

"It's the only solution that makes sense. In order to gain access to the two cells, the person or persons, would have to be high up in ranking. Also, no one has seen either Reeve or Reno since around the time of the escape."

"Well...maybe they took Reno with them! Reeve could have conned him into trusting him! Maybe Reno's being held captive!"

"I highly doubt that. Now then, the President has yet to be informed of this, and we want to see if we can find them first."

"How are we going to do that if we don't know exactly who all 'we' is?"

"Don't we?"

"...you don't Avalanche had something to do with this do you?"

"I do. And I believe that it is a very good lead. I want you two to go out and see if you can track them down. We know their in
Midgar at least. And most likely in the slums."

"Sir, with all due respect, its still a needle in a hay stack! There's no way-"

"Elena! This is the best lead we've had, and I'm not going to let it slip through our fingers like sand! It's final! You and Rude are
going to go and search for them!"

"Fine, but what makes you think just Rude and myself will be able to find them?"

"Oh I never expected just the two of you to find them, which is why at eleven you two will be meeting General Cloud Strife at this address," he reached over and handed Rude a slip of paper with an address written on it. "I expect you both to be on your best behavior."

"Gawd, you treat us like we're babies. We know how to act around high-ranking officers. C'mon Rude," the female Turk stood. "Let's go."

***

"Well, I don't have enough room for everyone I'm afraid."

"That's alright, I don't mind sleeping on the floor!"

"Oh no! You're not going to be sleeping on the floor, James. Wedge and Biggs are perfectly cabale of doing that!"

"Tifa!"

"Hey!"

"No complaining! They've had a rough day!"

"What about Reeve and Reno? Do they have to sleep on the floor?"

"Of course not!"

"Ha ha! Reeve and I rule!"

"They get to share the sofa bed."

"What?"

"Uh-uh! I'm sharing a bed with him! I mean Reeve's my friend and all, but I don't like ya that way buddy!"

"Like-wise!"

"Sorry, its the only way to fit everyone!"

"Oh, if its any trouble, I can sleep on the floor, I don't mind! I'm used to it!"

"No Aeris! You're going to be in Biggs room!"

Yuffie sat at the bar, watching the others bicker in amusement. James and Aeris both looked very uncomfortable. And why not? The two, as well as Yuffie, had been thrown into the middle of a group of people that they knew absolutely nothing about. And to top that off they had been arguing for about the past half-an-hour.

"And just where are you going to sleep, Princess Tifa? You're room?"

"Actually, Biggs, no. I'm going to sleeping on the floor same as you. I'm letting James have my room. Yuffie, you can have
Wedge's. Now c'mon guys. I'm sure everyone's tired."

No one could argue with that, and with a sigh, Tifa turned and lead them through a door on the left wall that revealed a short a
hallway with four doors.

Passing by one she opened the door. "Here you go James, this is mine."

With a short nod of his head, and a look a to Aeris and Yuffie, the young man shuffled into the small room, and others moved on.

"Aeris, Yuffie. These are Bigg's and Wedge's rooms," she motioned to rooms opposite each other in the hallway. The two girls
said short good nights and thank you's, and then moved to their rooms for the night.

***

"God damnit! I can't sleep like this! Reno! Move over!" Reeve, thrashing under the sheets of the sofa-bed, kicked the other man's leg, streching quite a ways to do so.

"I'm moved over as far as I can go! Any farther and I'll fall on Tifa!" The redheaded man, just to please Reeve, scooched over
about an eighth of an inch, flailing momentarily, then steadying himself with his new position.

"Will you two quit bickering so some of us can get some sleep?" Wedge asked in an annoyed toned, his voice carrying from the
right side of the room. If one looked from the bed, they could see his head poking out of a blanket near Tifa's feet.

"Some of us are getting sleep," Reno yawned, pointing down to the the female Avalanche member.

"Yeah well," Reeve comented from the left side of the bed, "Tifa can sleep through anything, I swear."

"Hey, shut up," Wedge growled lightly.

"You forgot, Reeve, you can't say anything slightly mean to Tifa in the presence of Wedge."

"Oh shut up before I come over there and kick your ass, Biggs."

Biggs snickered under his breath. "You wouldn't. You couldn't. Now shut yer trap and let's get some sleep."

***

General Cloud Strife waited patiently on the stoop of the abandoned apartment building for the two Turks that were supposed to be accompanying him.

Turks...what good can they be? They're merely lap dogs for President Shinra. Worthless bodyguards. That's all they are.
Not worth the money it took to make those fancy suits there always-

"General Strife, sir?" A woman's voice beckoned up to him from the street. Turning, he saw a blonde, obviously the one that had spoken, standing next to a tall, blad man that was wearing sun glasses, despite the darkness of the Midgaran Slum's nights.

One couldn't fully appreciate a night in the slums, until one had experienced it for themself. The plate above head blocked any
potential light offered by the moon that hung overhead in a silvery pool against the star studded sky. The only source of light were the lamp posts that decorated the street sides if they hadn't been taken out by hoodlums.

If the darkness didn't scare you off, the noises most certainly would. At any given second one could hear the groaning creaks of
the plate above, or the shots of the nightly gang-fights, and the screams that soon followed. The distant barks of beasts that lurked in the shadows sent an icy breath up the spine of anyone that dared walk the streets at night. Many times a face ghostly face lurking in the corners of eyes accompanied the barks.

Obviously, none of these factors frightened either of the two Turks, as the stood at street, gazing at the legendary General Strife.

"Yes. I take it you are the two who shall be accompanying me tonight, am I right?"

"Yes sir, I'm Elena of the Turks, and this is Rude, also of the Turks."

"Very good. Let's get going, I have few ideas as to where our Avalanche friends may be." With an acknowledging nod of his
head, the young general stepped off of the stoop to meet the other two. "Let's go this way, over to sector seven."

***

Biggs tossed and turned, listening to the sounds of the others sleeping, while he himself tried to join them in slumber. Flipping
himself on to his back, he willed his eyes opened and stared at the ceiling. My body wants to stay awake, fine. I'll stay awake,
but nothing else is getting any sleep either!

He gave that up after about fifteen seconds, and decided to go grab a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

Yawning the entire, yet short, trip, he shuffled into the large kitchen, immediatly heading for the pantry. Picking over the shelves,
he come up empty-handed.

"Damnit!" He cursed softly into the crisp air of the empty kitchen. "No one ever bothers to tell me when we're out of coffee."
Dejectedly, he snapped the pantry door shut and moved out into the main part of the structure, the bar.

"Might as well go out for some," he concluded, grabbing his shoes from their spot behind the bar, and his coat from the rack near the door.

"Yeow! Its cold out here!" The man muttered as he stepped outside the door, taking care to lock it behind him. Taking in a deep breath of the brisk air, he began to walk down the nearly empty street.

There something in the air of a night in the slums that almost calmed his nerves. There was an almost musty smell that made him
forget the nightmares and horrors that hid behind in the alleys and closed doors. At night, there was only him and the scenes,
however horrid they may be.

He walked along the streets that he knew so well, until he reached a well-lit intersection. Along the intersection was his destination; Cyrano's Coffee House.

A small smile highlighted his facial features as he entered the business, opened all night. Something new awaited him everytime he came here, somthing or someone.

As he walked up to the counter, he realized that tonight it would be a someone. Maybe not exactly someone new, but pretty
close.

"Well, well. Hello Alli."

The young girl turned away from her seat at the counter, where she sat sipping a drink and reading the newspaper. "Hey! Biggs!
What're you doing out this late?"

"I could ask you the same thing, young lady," he commented, sitting on the stool next to her.

"Eh, I got nothing better to do."

"Ever try sleeping? Its a pretty nice thing to do, especially this time of night."

She let out a small laugh. "Then why aren't you sleeping right now?"

"Couldn't. So I decided to come grab a cup of coffee."

"Oh...sorry if I got you in trouble with your boss earlier," she turned to him, her blue eyes flashed with emotion.

"Huh? Oh! Nah she was just joking around, Tifa really doesn't care as long its not in excess. She's cool about things like that," he gave the a girl a small smile, a bit of his hair falling in his eyes. "So kid, ever gonna go back to school? Or are you planning on getting a job waitressing for the rest of your life?"

Alli coughed gently before answering, an almost nostalgic look on her face. "Neither. Doubt I'm around much longer."

"Umm...why do you say that? You seem pretty healthy to me."

"I didn't mean it that way, I meant I'll probably be skipping town here pretty soon." She saw the older man give her a questioning glance, so she continued. "I'm not well liked by family here, so I think I'll be heading somewhere else until they...cool off."

"If you don't mind me asking, what'd you do to piss them off?" Biggs had an eyebrow raised in a questioning stance.

"I just...sorta...drug their reputation through the mud, you could say."

***

Dreams danced through James's head that night, as he slept soundlessly. He was well accustomed to sleeping in strange or
unknown places, so the sounds that passed through the walls from the outside did not bother him. He didn't stir once when a car passed by, or when the occasional gun shot rang through out the area. No for him it was just a peaceful night of rest.

A peaceful night of rest, that is, until someone burst through his door and practically leapt form the doorway to his bed, shattering his tranquil sleep.

"Ahhh!!!"

"Ahhh!!!"

His heart pounding violently, he shot up from under the sheets and stared at the figure that was now staring back at him. "Yuffie!
What do you want?!"

"I can't sleep!!!" She tugged at the edge of the blankets covering the bed and pulled them over her. "It's too different from Wutai!"

"Yuffie, have you ever spent the night outside of Wutai?"

"No."

"Never?" His eyes opened wide in disbelievment.

"Well, yeah. When I was little I used to spend summers in our summer house."

"Where was that?"

"A little outside of Wutai."

"Oh..."

"I know, I know. I'm deprieved, aren't I?" She rolled her eyes.

"No. How can you say that?" His voice grew harder, yet still managing to stay kind.

"Well, for one my father never lets me do anything, for another thing, I've never been anywhere, and-"

"Yuffie, you have a father that loves you very much. He's just trying to protect you from anything that may bring you harm. I never had anyone. Neither did many others, and look at the home you live in! Plus a summer house! I was lucky to find a stoop to sleep on when I was making my way through life! You should consider yourself lucky."

"..." Yuffie didn't know what to say to that, she'd never thought about things that way. "I'm sorry...I'll go back to my room I
guess..." With a dejected sigh, she crawled off the bed and silently left the room.

"Argh! Stupid!" James slapped his forhead, falling back down into the covers. "Why did you do that?!"

***

Elena's feet screamed in agony for a break as she followed loyaly behind Strife. If we walk any farther, my feet are going rip
themselves off and stop. "How you holding up, Rude?"

She turned her head to the side to take a side-ways glance to her partner. "I'm ok," he answered softly. Rude didn't talk much, he really didn't think he needed to. Most people only heard what they wanted hear, so what was the point in talking?

"Think we're almost where he wants to go?"

"Maybe."

"Think we're lost?"

"Maybe."

"Think he knows what he's doing?"

"Maybe."

"Do you keep saying that to annoy me?"

He turned and gave Elena the closet thing to a smile that anyone was ever going to get out of him. "Maybe."

***

Morning came quickly, and before long, everyone (minus Biggs) had congregated in the main room of the bar.

"Where's Biggs?!" Tifa cried, after running back in from searching all of the room for their missing comrade.

"Maybe he...went out for coffee?" Reno suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

"Why would he go out for coffee? There's a whole can sitting on the counter in there," Tifa pointed out, hands on her hips.

"Tifa, Biggs isn't what you would call the sharpest knife of the set," Wedge started, dragging his voice out. "Maybe he passed right by it and-"

He was interrupted by the opening of the door, whereupon Biggs stepped in, looking like Death had drug to the depths of Hell
and back.

"Hey guys...what's up?"

"Biggs? Where have you been?!"

Yawning, the man moved from the doorway to a stool, answering Tifa's question while he laid his head down. "I went out for
coffee."

He never understood why this made everyone else laugh so hard...but he didn't think he wanted to.

***

"Ugh...my feet are going to hate me for the rest of my life," Elena muttered, sinking down into her favorite amrchair. It had been a rough night, and they were no closer to finding Avalanche than they had been at the start of the night. All night, it had seemed, they had merely walked the slums, searching for them. They had had no luck, unless General Strife had found something and not bothered to tell the others, which was every likely. He hadn't struck Elena as...very social. Of course, she was by no means high in rank on the social scale, but Strife...well, Strife had almost seemed like a hermit.

At least she had had Rude with her for company. Good old Rude, just the thought of him brought a smile to the Turk's face.

For as long as Elena had been a Turk, so had the other three. Tseng, Reno, and Rude. Tseng had always had a business-like
manor about him, never once letting a a genuine smile grace his mysterious features. And Reno, well Reno was the exact oppositeof  Tseng. Very extreme, very loud, very...Reno. He didn't need the flame-red hair to stand out in a crowd, his demeanor was plenty enough. His favorite past time, as far as Elena knew, was drinking at the bar, which Rude enjoyed as well.

Rude...he was an odd one, that Rude. His name didn't fit him whatsoever. He was very polite...except for the fact that his job was to kill people and such. He didn't talk much, but he was always there to lend a listening ear, and put in a kind word where he felt it was needed.

Elena was very glad that it had been Rude that had gone along with her last night on the long trip. She was also glad that it finally over, that she could get some some sleep. With this in mind, she felt her eyes drooping down, felt the world slowly melting away into nothingness...

...just as the phone rang.

"Argh!" Not bothering to sit up, she reached angrily for the phone, jerking it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Elena, this is Tseng. Strife think's he found something last night. I want you two meet me in front of the building in a half an hour. Be prepared." Click.

"Great."

***

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE GONE?!"

"Sir, please, just let-"

"HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?! I THOUGHT YOU HAD TAKEN ALL THE NECESAARY PRECAUTIONS!"

"Please, sir, I just-"

"I-I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY I INVESTED IN THAT?" Rufus slammed his hand down on to the desk, knocking off several items, and startling the wirey Professor Hojo who stood before him.

"I don't know what happened, they escaped is all I know."

"I ought to have your head for this, Hojo. Get out," The President waved his hand absently towards the door.

"Sir-"

"Get. Out." He closed his eyes tightly and didn't open them again until he heard the door click shut. Once it had done so, he let out a sigh. "What am I going to do? Everything is just going wrong; one after another, things are falling apart."

***

Jessie listened impatiently as General Briggs listed off a number of things that she had done wrong. Jessie honestly believed that if he thought long enough, this man could find something wrong with Heaven.

"...and don't forget that I'm expecting a call from General Strife anytime now, so take a message if anyone but him should call."

"Yes sir."

"Thank you Grace, that'll be all for the moment."

"Yes sir," she switched her intercom off, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Tough day?" A voice asked her out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Her head whipped up, startled at the voice. She hadn't heard anyone come in, so it was a surprise when she looked up
and saw a soldier in the room. "Oh..uh...uh..."

He cocked an eyebrow as she began to stutter. "Anything wrong?"

"No!" Oh my...who is that?

"Ok then, my name's Caleb Hatcher, by the way. I'm here to see General Briggs," he extended his hand to her, shrugging when
she did nothing.

Say something Jessie...the best-looking guy ever just waltzed in here and introduced himself. "Hi."

"Hello. Do you have a name?" His lips had a smart-alek smile placed on them, his green eyes flashing.

"Yeah." Could he be any cuter? Well, maybe. Wait- no.

Flipping some of his brown hair out of his eyes, he asked her, "Am I supposed to guess your name, or are you going to tell me?"

"I'll tell you." Caleb Hatcher...what a perfect name.

"...were you waiting for a special time?"

"Je-Grace! My name is Grace!" Argh! I'm such a dope!

"Well now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" He flashed her another grin. "So then, I don't supposed I could get in there to talk to
Briggs, noe could I?"

"Nope," she shrugged. "Sorry, he's very busy and isn't accepting any visitors or phone calls. You could leave him a message if you like, though."

"Hmm...all right. Tell him that General Strife couldn't get through on his life and called into the main station and left this message-" Caleb paused to clear his throat. "General Briggs, I have been detained longer than I previously assumed I would be. I believe I have pin-pointed the location of Avalanche and will spend the next few days searching for them."

Jessie's mouth hung open in shock. It couldn't be true..."He thinks he knows where Avalanche is? Really?"

Caleb gave a proud grin, then nodded. "Yup, that's my boss. Say, wanna know where he thinks they are?" He leaned in, propping his elbows on her desk.

"Ok!" She leaned in as well, most likely for a different reason than the soldier.

"Well, there's this little bar and grill that the locals in Sector Seven, and some from Six and Eight, like to go hang out at. Tifa's
Seventh Heaven I think is what its called."

"..."

"Is anything wrong, Grace?"

"No... nothing, um, listen I have... a lot of work to do so, would you excuse me?"

"Sure thing, beautiful! Don't forget to give your boss that message, and stop by Barrack 4b sometime. I'm in room 457. See ya
doll," with a wink, the soldier hopped out of the room.

"...wow. Argh! Stop thinking about him! Call Tifa!"

***

Yuffie giggled as Reno performed a magic trick for her, an easy magic trick, but it was still a magic trick.

"Nothing up this sleeve," he motioned up his right sleeve. "Nothing up this sleeve," again, only with his left sleeve. "So where did
this," he reached behind her head and pulled out a quarter, "come from?"

"That is so not impressive!" Yuffie managed to squeak out between giggles. She looked over at everyone else, Aeris and James
were sitting at the table right next to theres, Reeve was at the bar talking with Biggs, and Wedge and Tifa were in the kitchen,
along with a man that everyone called Barret. She had to admit, she was frightened when she first met Barret, what with that huge gun on his arm, and that grim look that seemed to be plastered on his face.

"Ah, you're just jealous because you can't do that."

"Yeah, that's it." Her attention turned back to the bar as she heard the telephone ring.

"Hello? Tifa's Seventh Heaven, Biggs speaking......Jessie? What? What? Are you sure? Damn... all right. Yeah, ok. Bye." He
didn't seem to notice everyone's eyes on him while he hung the phone back, his entire face stark white, then heading back to the
kitchen door.

"TIFA! WEDGE! BARRET! GET OUT HERE NOW! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!"

To Chapter 5