Hidden Identity (Book Two)-Complete

Year Five, Day Eighteen

Cress POV

The trio introduces themselves as Cloud-a young man with spiky blond hair and wielding a massive sword, Tifa-a young woman with long black hair and reddish-brown eyes, and Barret-a large man with dark skin and a gun-arm instead of a right hand. They're here to save their friend, Aerith. With nowhere to go, I guess I'll help them. Anything that hurts Hojo is a victory for me.

"We can use the elevator to chase after him," Barret says, heading over to the lift. Tifa and Cloud follow him.

I hang back, walking over to a large glass tank. Inside is a largish red wolf-dog creature with a little flame at the end of his tail. Honestly, I'm not quite sure what he is; he won't tell me. "I'll get you out, too, Red. Then, I'll help you get back home."

"You coming with us or not?" Barret calls to me, growing impatient.

I hurry to join them. "Time to kick that greasy bastard's ass."

"Damn right, it is."

When the elevator stops, we all rush out. Several infantrymen of different types are guarding a huge glass tank with a girl in a pink dress inside. She has long coppery brown hair held up by a pink ribbon. I think I remember the Turks bringing her in earlier.

"Aerith!" Cloud calls out, seeing the girl. 

She stands up from the stool she had been sitting on, looking relieved, but a little scared, to see them. Before we can attack the infantrymen, an all too familiar laugh comes over the intercom, "haha, I should've known you'd take this chance to get away. But your freedom won't last for long. These troops were specifically picked out to take you all to your graves."

"Then, you've underestimated us," Barret growls, leveling his gun at the troops. "We're not going down!"

Drawing my swords, I charge at the men, dodging fire from both sides. I slide under one man, cutting his legs. Swinging my swords in an arc, I cut the next man's gun in half. Then, sheathing my blades, I toss a few kunai to pin another to the wall. 

Soon, all the infantrymen are either dead or otherwise out of commission. Knowing Hojo could call reinforcements at anytime, I hurry over to the tank holding the girl, Aerith. Come on, what's the code? It can't be too hard...

"Step aside," Barret tells me. I jump out of the way as he shoots the lock on the door of the tank. Sparks fly everywhere until the lock explodes and the door swings open.

"Aerith, are you okay?" Tifa asks concernedly. 

"Yep, I'm fine!" she replies brightly.

"Looks like you underestimated us, Hojo," Cloud yells up at a glassed-in observation deck above us. Hojo is inside, looking disgruntled.

"Or an unforeseen variable," the scientist responds. "You are a SOLDIER...no, no...ah! I remember now. You, boy, were never a SOLD-"

Before he can finish, strange cloaked ghost things swarm around him and shove him back out of view. What was that all about? What were those things?

"We can't let him get away!" Barret shouts, running towards the stairs, but a large pipe had fallen across them during the fight. "Cloud!"

"Right," Cloud replies automatically, running to help him move it out of the way. 

Suddenly, something red jumps up from the floor below and lands a few feet away. It's Red XIII. My only friend here in the lab. He looks around at us before jumping and crashing through the glass and into the observation deck.

"Red!" I exclaim, leaping over the pipe Barret and Cloud are trying to move. "Wait!"

I reach the deck just in time to see him lunge at Hojo who's in another elevator. Unfortunately, the doors close before he can reach the bastard. Growling, he turns around and stalks down the hallway back towards me.