Alan had thought that this trip was fairly boring. Although they had fought some Kalm Fang's, nothing else had happened. Their journey into the depths of this building had passed rather uneventfully.

However, Alan's adrenaline started coursing through his veins when he heard Aeris' scream. He quickly moved to the side of the girl that had taken a step back.

He moved to the elevator's doorway, expecting some sort of grotesque monster. But he didn't see much of anything. Taking another quick look around, he noticed a small furry creature that was scurrying across the floor.

Alan frowned and looked at Aeris. "Sorry," she offered with a sheepish/embarrassed smile on her face. "It startled me."

"Startled you? How could you get 'startled' by a little mouse?"

"Well, it ran across my foot ~literally~ and I did not expect anything like that to try and bite my ankle."

Alan just stared at Aeris. He let some annoyance show on his face. He was about to say something, when Nanaki interrupted. "It's good that you're safe, but please try thinking before you just yell out like that, again. If you can, I'm sure we would all appreciate it."

Aeris nodded and stepped outside. Everyone held their breath in anticipation. Aeris stuck her head back inside the elevator. "All clear, guy's. It's safe to come out now."

Alan rolled his eyes and followed the smirking Aeris out of the elevator. The corridor was empty. Even the rodent had disappeared.

"This place looks too neat," Jet said.

Ash smiled. "I think this place couldn't be any neater. But what's the problem with that?"

"I meant that everything is tidy. This building had been lying in ruin's for about 17 years, so where's all the rubble. You'd think that the walls would be falling apart by now, but there isn't even dust on the floors."

Everybody looked around after the observation was made, and noticed that Jet was right. This place didn't look like it had been abandoned. It looked like it was lived in.

"Wait a minute," Ash called out, drawing everyone's attention to a spot in the wall. Alan looked at the spot Ash was pointing out. The wall had been torn.

"Ash, that's not damage from age, that a claw mark," Alan exclaimed. He touched it. "Whatever made this was strong enough to claw through these steel walls as if they were melted butter."

Nanaki peered at the small 'rip' in the wall. "This appears fairly new. Chances is that whatever made this are still alive. We should be careful not do disturb that creature."

"What makes you so sure that it's dome sort of monster," Victor asked, speaking for the first time since the elevator ride.

"I highly doubt that a person make this. And any animal I know of couldn't do this. Only a monster could." Nanaki looked at the boy whose attention had somehow been diverted from the group. "Are you alright?"

Victor didn't respond. He began walking down the corridor. The others followed silently. Although nobody said anything, Alan saw that the group seemed worried about Victor.

Finally the long corridor, which was lined with very few doors, ended. Victor pressed a small red button to the side, and the large doors slid open.

Everybody looked in. It was a large room. They stepped in, after Victor, and were astonished by that they saw.

It was a large laboratory. It contained a lot of equipment and, suprisingly, weapons. Alan approached one of the large rifles that hung on the wall. "What would they need these for?" he asked. But he received no answer.

Alan turned and saw that everybody was watching Victor. The boy was walking to the centre of the room, towards some sort of giant test tube. The boy touched the glass, and suddenly withdrew his hand.

He had cut it on a piece of broken glass. The 'test tube' was broken. The hole in its side suggested that something had forced its way out from the inside. The electrodes that still hung suggested that the contents of this container had been alive.

"What happened here?" Nanaki asked to nobody inparticular. But Ash was moving to a small computer console on the far side of the room. "Over here," he called to the others. They all followed, except Victor. He remained by the glass tube.

Ash sat down at the console and turned it on. He selected 'records' and 'view'. A tiny screen came up showing a scrawny scientist with greasy blue hair. ~The experiments are proceeding nicely~ the man began. ~Specimen 0 is showing suprising intellect and strength. If strength continues to grow, specimen will become able to escape restraint. Suppressants will be given to decrease growth rate. ~ The screen then went to another record. There were many, and were mostly observations at the growing strength, intellect and growth. ~The blood taken from the specimen successfully reached Nibelhime. Specimen 1 has been prepared by professor Ghast to receive the treatment. Results will follow. ~ The man appeared again, this time with a gash on his face. ~The procedure on specimen 1 was successful. With this success, we shouldn't need the original specimen any longer. It's viciousness it growing to an extensive extent. It has proven it's power, and killed my partner. It is undecided weather the specimen will be disposed of. ~

"Is that the last record?" Alan jumped. He hadn't seen Victor join them. Ash shook his head, and pressed a button. "Here it is," he said.

~There has been an evacuation order for Midgar, but I have remained behind to make sure the specimen will not be revived. There is no telling if the impact will awaken it from suspended animation. All precautions are being taken to ensure that it does not escape. ~ The camera shook violently and blacked out for a brief second ~I couldn't stop it. The specimen has been released. The impact of Meteor allowed it to break out of containment. It will be fully awake in a moment. My only hope is that if somebody sees this, to run. It kills with enjoyment, and in turn is very hard to kill. To the watcher of this, just get away and attempt to seal this lab, with this monster in it. ~ Then the screen went black as something flew at the scientist.

Everyone stared at the screen. "Where is he?" Ash asked. "Where is who?" Aeris asked in turn.

"If he was killed by this monster, shouldn't there be some remains? Maybe a skeleton?"

Nanaki glanced around. "Perhaps what we're looking for is not here. We should leave." And the group began to move out of the lab, Victor in the rear.

However, they didn't make it to the door before a large shadow blocked the doorway. The bright light from the hall, behind it obscured its shape.

"What is that? The specimen?" Alan asked.

Jet shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I think that were about to find out . . ." Jet said as he took out his weapon. The others likewise did.

But Victor just stood there staring at the form. He wasn't sure why, but something felt very familiar about it.

The figure, that had remained motionless until then, began moving towards the group with a slow and lethal purpose. As it approached, the group could recognise the figure and they let out gasps of shock.

The figure walking towards them was a female. Not just a female monster, but it actually appeared human.

Alan noted that she had long blonde hair. She moved like an animal moving in for the kill. Although she was a fair distance away, her figure was rather striking. Not overly feminine, but seemingly subdued. It was almost as if she wasn't entirely female. Or human.

Chapter 10