I own none of the character portrayed herein. They are property of their respective owners. This is a Work of Fan fiction and is in no way meant to bring the author any monetary gain or imply the author owns this property.

Project: Hephaestus

Subject: 0133081406

Group: SOLDIER

Sub Group: Black Knight

Status: On line

Operation: Berserker

Equipment: Group 16 Reclaimer set with Materia sub set 7

Function: Operational

"What do you suppose that all means Vincent?" Yuffie asked as she studied the off green text as it flashed on the black screen. "Does it have anything to do with Cerberus, do you think? Vinnie are you listening to me?"

"Do not call me Vinnie." Vincent scolded his young ninja partner. "I'm not sure what this means." His ever present red shroud hardly fluttered as he crossed the room to look at another monitor. "But all of the other Subjects are off line and non functional. It seems only Hephaestus got out." The metallic gold claw of his left hand tapped a few commands into the monitor. Yuffie guessed from his even more sour then usual frown what ever he did hand not worked. "Lets get back to Midgar."

Red thirteen had found this lab in one of the more inaccessible valleys of Cosmo Canyon and alerted Cloud to its presence. Cloud had then asked Vincent and Yuffie to explore it since they were by far the best infiltrators the group had.

But it had turned out to be pointless. The lab was empty stripped bare of any equipment and data. Except in this one room. It seemed to be a set up very similar to that of the mako reactors. The beings in the seven tanks placed around the lab room appeared to power much of the facility. Or they would have if any were still alive to produce refined energy.

"This place is a tomb Yuffie. Nothing more." said as he turned away from the computer and make his way toward the door.

"Well Vinnie, who knows more about tombs then you?" Yuffie replied with a shrug.

They were an odd duo. Vincent was at least seventy years old but looked only a little older then Clouds twenty four. He was tall, quiet and brooding. He never smiled. Ever. He had been compared to a vampire but that description fit him about as well as a little bit of water described the ocean. He was not a vampire but because of things Hojo had done to him he was less the fully human (or was it more then human? Yuffie was not sure). Yuffie was an energetic nineteen year old who never shut up and had a bad habit of annoying others. She also tended to acquire the materia of others through questionable means.

Their personalities clashed but Vincent was far to professional and focused to let that stop him. And their complimenting skills certainly made up for it. The ninja and the Monster never failed when they had a mission.

Yuffie followed Vincent through the abandoned complex. She noted how his heavy metal covered boots neither kicked up the floor's thick dust nor made the slightest sound. It gave her the chills and the way that red cape of his never moved when he walked until he drew that rifle Death Penalty on you. That was just plain frightening.

Yuffie hated working alone with Vincent. He was creepy.

She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she failed to notice he had stopped and plowed right into him. "Ohpp… Sorry Vinnie… Er… What is it?"

"Time to call Cid." He said flatly ignoring her apology. "Tell him we are ready to go."

"Ok." The ninja girl said to her companion's back. She reached into her pocket and pulled her Cell phone free. She gave it a flip and said "CID" into mouth piece. She was quiet for a second then "Yo Cid. Vinnie says we're done here. Can you pick us up? Really? Ok. No that's fine. Yeah… I'll tell him. Later Cid."

She closed the phone and sighed. "Cid says we'll have to hike up the ridge. The Highwind blew a head and he's doing repairs up top."

Vincent nodded slightly but said nothing.

"Great…" Yuffie said to herself. "I'll be stuck with Mr. Smokey and red mute. Fun fun."

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"That's some damned weird news you got there you two." Barret told them as he looked from Vincent and Yuffie to Cloud and Tifa. "Make any sense to you Spiky?" When Cloud shook his head Barret slammed his metal fist down on the table. "Damn!" he growled "All we need is more of those underground SOLDIERs running loose. Vincent had a hell'va time stopping them before."

"I do not think these lab or its research was related to them Barret." Vincent said. His soft whispery voice carried over the noise of the bar around them. They had made Tifa's bar the 7th Heaven their unofficial HQ. It was popular and often packed. The noise of the gathered patrons often covered their conversations from unwanted listeners. "This facility seemed geared more for mako manipulation."

"I thought you said everything was stripped. How do you know what it was used for?" Barret asked.

"It was!" Yuffie assured her friend. "It was cleaned out except for the reactor room."

"Yes." Vincent conceded "It was bare and dusty. But the walls on most of the labs were coated a mako dampening material. The only place Shinra used it was in mako research heavy facilities."

Tifa chuckled "As always Vincent knows more then he tells us."

"Yeah." Cloud agreed. "Until we make fools of ourselves guessing."

Vincent shrugged and let the comments slid off of him. He looked the bar over examining each of the patrons. Most he noted were displaced Midgar citizens who had settled here in edge. But one table just far enough from the group to not draw attention to itself sat two men and a blond woman. Each one was dressed in an identical blue black suite. One man wore heavy shades while the other two had them stuffed in their outer jacket pocket.

They were Turks. A group Vincent knew very well as a former member. Usually It was Reno, Rude and Tsung who came to the 7th Heaven. Those three knew not to cause trouble and tended to behave themselves. But these three were trying to listen to the group's conversation without looking like they were listening.

"We have eavesdroppers at the table by the window." he said without stopping his scan of the room. "Three Turks I don't know."

Cloud turned to look at Barret so he could see the Turks without being obvious. "Simon and his crew." he said to Tifa who moved away from the group as if on an errand for the table. "Miyoko isn't any trouble but Simon and Hyden will pick fights."

"They gonna be any real trouble Spiky?" Barret asked as he poured himself another beer from the table's pitcher.

"Nothing Tifa can't handle." Cloud replied and casually passed his own mug over for a refill. "She'll keep an eye on them."

"Ah, too bad. I was hoping for a scrap. All this bad news really pisses me off." he pushed Cloud's mug away "Get your own brew Blondie! Besides you should be ashamed of yourself making Tifa do all the work."

"Hey now! You refilled Yuffie's mug. Anyway She made me promise not to fight in the bar."

"Quite ya whining Spiky. If she has something to drink she can't talk. Only way to shut her yappin'."

"HEY!" Yuffie squealed in protest. "That's not nice you big, jug headed buffoon!"

"See my point?"

"Good point." Cloud agreed and was rewarded with a full mug from a new pitcher Tifa had just brought to the table. "Thank you."

"Still best to change the subject until Turkish ears aren't around." Vincent interjected "Best to be safe."

"Right." Tifa poured Vincent a glass of the fresh cold beer and replaced his old, hot, untouched mug with it. She knew he never drank anything but it just seemed weird for someone at the table not to have a glass of something. It was bad luck. "Simon is here for a fight I heard him say as much. But Hyden and Miyoko are looking for something. Or somebody. Now I've got other patrons to see to."

As Tifa walked away Barret nudged Cloud with his elbow. "So Cloud. How are things homeward? Interesting?"

"Why do you ask?" Cloud answered in suspicious tones. "Those kind of questions from you always seem to go places they don't need to."

"Well!" Barret said with some indignation. "You'd think I asked if that high kick was useful someplace other then a fight!"

Cloud nearly choked on the mouthful of beer he was drinking. He sputtered and coughed and spilt the liquid down the front of his shirt. Half the bar turned to see what was going on. Through his wheezing his cheeks and ears turned bright red.

"I see it is." Barret chuckled into his own mug.

"That was mean Barret!" Yuffie scolded "I can't believe you asked him that with a mouth full of beer. You could have killed him!" Cloud nodded agreement with her until "But then again if he can survive that thigh press of hers around the e…What?"

Cloud was staring at her with an incredulous expression as Barret forced his own drink down before asking in a parental voice "What you know about these things?"

Yuffie shrugged and grinned at them both.

"She was on the Highwind as well if you will remember." Vincent said as he stood up. "I believe that was education enough for her. I will call you if I find anything out." And left.

"I'm going to go change shirts." Cloud said with embarrassed dejection. When Vincent ribbed you it was time to call it quits.

Barret and Yuffie howled with laughter as their friend when through the door that led to his and Tifa's home on the bar's other wing.

"What's so funny guys? And where'd Cloud and Vincent go?" Tifa stopped to inquire as she passed their table.

Yuffie shrugged innocently "Cloud went to change clothes. He spilt beer on himself."

"And you know how ol' Vincent is." Barret added. "Always cryptic and flighty."

"Yeah. I suppose so." Tifa said looking between the two of her friends "But why do I feel like I'm missing something important?"

"Idunnnoooo." Yuffie replied and picked up Vincent's forgotten glass. "We were only talking about the old days." she said with a far away expression. Barret nodded and down the last of his mug as Yuffie asked "Anyway, can you teach me that right high kick of yours?"

Barret chocked and coughed. He slapped his chest hard to get air as Tifa and Yuffie pounded on his back. When he could breathe, and Tifa had moved to another table, he whispered venomously to Yuffie "Girlly you did that on purpose! I'm gonna kick yo skinny $$ when I catch you!"

"Uh ho." Yuffie teased. And poured him another mug as a peace offering. "Now you know how Cloud felt."

"Yeah yeah. He's young and some ribbing will do him good. He's too uptight most of the time."

"Yes. But try not to bring up Tifa will you? He acts like a five year old caught doing something naughty when you bring up their relationship."

"But you just…!"

"You started it!" She snapped defensively "Besides it was different. I didn't nearly kill him."

"True." Barret nodded. "But it is good to see them together." He smiled and topped off Yuffie's glass with the last of the second Pitcher.