Dull thuds echoed down the ally, a shadowed beast, with blood red eyes rushed down it, a blue suited man -- or more like black, considering how dark it was -- chased after it.

The man reached into his jacket, pulling out his Handgun. When he got a clear shot, he fired a round after the beast, then another, the thing cried out in pain as one struck home, but carried on regardless.

Damn Hojo and his cursed Experiments... Rude thought as he ran down yet another dark, damp, ally, he'd lost count after the first twenty seven, and this game of Cat and Mouse was beginning to bore him. Run and shoot, run and shoot, so repetitive.

He noticed the light ahead of him and swore out loud, it was heading to a populated area, meaning possible Civilian casualties and Witnesses, it would be good Public Relation though. Tough Turk Takes down Foul beast. You just had to think it didn't you Rude? He thought as he reloaded his gun, he took hold of his lapel and spoke into the tiny radio. "Tseng. Target is heading into central Sector Three."

"Take it down Rude, Myself and Reno are too far, Elena's close though." The crystal clear voice of his leader spoke into his ear-piece.

"I can take it without the Rookie, Tseng." Rude replied, not wanting to work with the teams most inexperienced member.

"That maybe, but it will be good experience for her, no arguments." With that he released the lapel and looked ahead from behind his dark glasses, he rounded the corner to see bodies laid on the ground, various bite marks and scratches across them, the beast was up ahead, crouched over something, Rude approached cautiously, he looked at the shocked people that where scattered around, they seemed to be relieved that somebody was unaffected by it, weather they knew that he was a Turk or not could have been debated, perhaps it was just the gun that gave people hope, but there was one person in particular that caught his attention, it was a young, dark haired woman, barely in her late teens, she was crying out loud, an older man behind her was making an attempt to keep her quite, he stared for a second, and caught her frantic gaze.

"My Baby! Save my Baby!" She pleaded to him, he looked away and up to the beast, that was probably what the beast was examining, he gave a confident nod to her and reached into his jacket, putting the handgun away, he reached into the back of his jacket, pulling out a pair of semi-automatic Handguns.

Rude had never been one for speeches, being a guy that let his actions speak for him, he aimed at the creature and fired a couple shots into it's back, to get it's attention, it turned quickly, giving him a death glare, Rude moved his head to one side, a loud crack sounded out, he shifted his head to the other side and another one followed.

"Here boy." He challenged.

It was running before he realized, accepting the fight, the Taciturn Turk opened fire, the bullets causing little damage and only serving to piss it off more, he threw the guns as they clicked, telling him his bullets were all gone, and shifted into his bare-handed fighting stance and waited until it got close enough. The beast, now charging at full speed, took only seconds to get a few feet away from Rude, he threw his right fist into the ground with all his strength, it hurt like a bitch, but the result was enough, a shock wave bubbled under the pavement, cracking it in places as it rushed toward his opponent, at the speed that it moved, and the force of the concrete exploding under it's feet, it began to lose it's balance and a round house kick was enough to knock it to the floor in a crumpled heap.

As it crashed into the floor, Rude began sprinting toward where the beast was examining the child, as he got there he found the Baby unharmed, wrapped in a white towel, he picked it up gently and looked over to his now struggling-to-stand opponent.

Wheres Reno when you need him? Rude thought, he could use a distraction to get the child to safety, otherwise he'd have to hold it and fight, that would hamper his attacks, so that left him with Magic, much as he hated using Materia, it was his only choice, he held the Child in his tender right hand, held up his other hand to the beast, and clenched it shut on a small sphere.

"Firaga!" He called, a red glow surrounded Rude's body, and a bolt of fire shot out from his raised fist, the blast hit the Monster head on, knocking it back from the sheer force, but it was still left standing.

"Bolt!" A voice called from behind him, another blast hit the beast, and Rude glanced beside him, there stood the normally bumbling Rookie, looking like a stone cold killer, a true Turk, he felt proud at that and turned back to the beast, it was still standing, but obviously hurt, he kept watching, clenching the Firaga Materia tightly as he prepared to send another salvo, but was cut short, the skin all over it's body began to expand and spread, like a Hedgehog would when threatened.

"Elena! Get down!" Rude shouted with an unnaturally loud voice, at-least by Rude's standards. The blond watched as her bald companion, with the white package in his hands, dived behind a nearby car, she turned back to the beast, just in time to see it explode, thick needles flew in all directions... It was too late... She could have dived... Should have dived... But it was too late, the needles struck her body and she was knocked off her feet...

---

One Week Later...

---

"Hows she doing Tseng?" It was Reno that finally broke the silence. He'd only been here a few minutes, but the icy reception and the awkward silence was bothering him.

"They said that she'll be physically fine... She just won't wake up... The Specialists said that she's in some form of Coma..." His voice was dry, Tseng had taken the news of Elena's injury bad. He'd blamed himself for sending her to assist Rude. He'd blamed Rude for not protecting her. And He'd blamed Hojo for making the damn beast.

Rude had been suspended from duty, Elena had been in a Hospital bed for almost a week and Reno was trying to play the peacekeeping role.

"What's Hojo said about it all?" He was trying to change the subject now. It was probably a bad idea to bring up Elena in the first place.

"Apart from what he told us about that thing... Nothing... I've been told he's been trying to take Elena in as a test subject. We can't let that happen. Last time he used a Turk in his experiments... You've seen Valentine... I don't want that to happen to Elena... I'll fight tooth and nail if I have to..." Reno glanced to his boss. The Wutian had never shown this much emotion before. The red-head looked back to the bed in which Elena lay.

She was peaceful. Anybody would be with the amount of painkillers that they were pumping into her.

He remembered the look on her face when they found her. She was curled in the fetal position, some sort of spines hanging out of her body, that look of pain on her face... He grimaced at the thought of it... Tseng was right, she wasn't going to end up as another of Hojo's merciless experiments. She deserved better than that.

"Hnn... You like her don't you Tseng?" Reno asked, he knew the answer already. "More than you really should..."

"I should never have let her go on that mission." That confirmed it.

"She can handle herself... You playing adoring lover wouldn't stop her from being what she is... A Turk..." The red-headed man turned now, to face his friend. "I'm going to take a look around Hojo's lab, try and find out what he's not telling us..."

"Don't worry Tseng." Reno said as he reached the door. "She'll be fine."

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Author's Note's: Hey guy's, hoped you like the story so far, it's gonna get better, but I needed to start it somewhere, believe it or not I've had this chapter done for around about a year now, I didn't really think it was ready until recently though, thats why it's up now.

The idea came after playing the Resident Evil series, I couldn't help but be reminded of Hojo and his experiments, lol, it was one of those things I couldn't leave until I wrote about it, so here we are.

Comments, critics, praise, it's all good, so review no matter what you think! It helps me improve. ;-)

While I'm here aswell I could use a Proof-reader, email me if your interested, it'd be a big help!