Author's Note: This chapter was written by all three of us - Naku, myself, and Xin, in that order... so PLEASE give us reviews, or we will be sad.

Chapter 2

"three...two...one..."

Clang

A small steel grate fell from the ceiling and crashed on the floor. Nakumine winced as it banged onto the marble floor... However at the same time the guard was supposed to have just turned into the guard station.

Nakumine hoped that the guards stayed as regular as they had been the past few weeks he had been observing them. He silently dropped down onto the marble floor, clothed in a tight-fitting spandex-like material, swathed in all black from head to toe. Nakumine silently crept down into the hall, passing dozens of valuable Cetra artifacts... however none of these interested him. He crossed a wide bay window, with the full moon shining through the glass, making a pale square on the polished black marble floor.

Then he came into the hall in which his target lay. He looked at his watch as he stood at the entrance of the Hall of Ancient Blades. He had three minutes to grab his target and get out of the hall before the guard came around. He switched his multi-tasking goggles into infrared vision. There were three main lasers moving along the floor, good enough to trip up thieves without knowledge of them, but a cakewalk to practiced thieves who could see them.

He agilely danced around the beams; narrowly dodging the red beams of light coming from somewhere nears the base of the walls. He reached a safe-spot, where the lasers never crossed, and stood in front of his object of admiration.

It was a very old blade, said to be forged in the time of the Cetra. The plaque beneath it read:

"This ancient blade was created in the Cetra forges, and even though it is hundreds of years old, it is still just as strong as when it was forged. The Cetra have a certain affinity for dropping in not just materia orbs, but large fragments of what appeared to be Mako crystals. The materia in this blade is of Thunder. No other blade of this type is known to exist."

Nakumine grinned. Now it was going to be his... He brought out a thin metallic pen-shaped object that he pressed against the glass. According to his 'research' (he actually just hacked into museum mainframes to learn about their security systems) there weren't any pressure switches, or Smart Glass. He set the tip of the metallic rod against the glass and pressed the back of it. The glass shattered and made a quiet tinkling on the floor as the sharp tip of the metallic rod rammed into the glass.
Nakumine glanced at his watch... one and a half minute's left... he better get going. He grabbed up the blade, Khazid'hea, it said inscribed on the old, old sheath, clipped it onto a loop going around his back and his chest and dropped a plain dagger with a black hilt onto the velvet Khazid'hea had just rested on. Then he made his intricate dance through the laser web and stood once more at the entrance to the Ancient Weaponry hall.

Then he heard something that horrified him... footfalls. He looked at his watch… The guard was thirty seconds early. Nakumine dashed down the black marble floor and turned the corner, just as the guard turned into the hallway Naku had just left. Nakumine stood under the grate he had fallen from and grabbed onto the rope he had left. As he was climbing up it, the guard, quicker than Nakumine had expected, turned the corner, and stood stock still, staring at Naku. Naku stared back, his head working at a blinding speed, going through what he needed to do. The guard ran for a nearby alarm switch.

But Nakumine pulled another dagger out of his belt and threw it with deadly accuracy. It hit the guard in the neck, landing so solidly that no blood seeped out. The guard collapsed. Naku leapt off of his rope and picked up the guard, dragging him to a nearby closet. He set him in a respectable position leaning against the wall in the closet, with the door open, so he might be found sooner, but no sooner than it took him to leave. Nakumine hated to have to kill guards, or anyone for that matter, and made a mental note of the guard's name.

He got out of the museum and a safe distance away from it with no further deviations to his plan, though he had to make a couple more stops then he expected. He stopped at a florist shop that he was surprised was still open at this hour, and bought thirteen black roses. Then he looked in a phone book on a payphone and found the guard's address.

It took him only a half an hour to find the address and as he pulled up to the drive in his sleek black muscle car, he saw a minivan in the driveway, and the house dark.

"Damn... kids."

Nakumine was sincerely sorry that he had taken away the kids father. He hung his head as he stepped out of his car. He walked up to the porch, and was about to set the roses on the doormat when the door opened. Nakumine looked in and saw no one, then looked down. There was a little girl there, so young, that when you were that young, you wouldn't wonder why a stranger dressed in all black was standing on your porch; you would just be innocently curious. Nakumine knelt down and embraced the child.

"Here... These are for you... I'm sorry."

Nakumine hugged the child for what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes. The girl never said anything, but merely took the roses and hugged Nakumine back.

Finally Nakumine let go and stepped back... Then he turned around, got into his car and drove off, with the girl still standing in the doorway.

A little while later his phone chirped in the cup holder. He picked it up, cursing explosively as he saw the caller tag.

"Hello"

"You have deviated from your task Nakumine."

Nakumine instinctively frowned as he heard that hated voice. Just the calm drawl of it infuriated him.

"No I haven't. I just took a side trip. I have your stupid diamond Glaedari."

"Take care. It is not just a diamond… At least it won't be."

Nakumine held the rather large gem in his hand. It was the biggest diamond he had ever seen, and had been a pain in the ass to steal.

"Whatever. I got it right here. I am returning now." Nakumine muttered over the speaker.

"You would take care to show your respect in the future, Nakumine." Glaedari's voice said. It sounded like it was straining to remain calm.

The line went dead and Naku scowled at it. He never respected Glaedari. He hated him. But here he was, stealing huge ass diamonds among other things for him. All because he had played the dirtiest trick in the book...

Fifteen minutes later, Nakumine walked into a building in the middle of nowhere and opened the door to Glaedari's office. Glaedari was waiting at his desk with his hands steeped together. Nakumine walked in front of it and dropped the diamond in front of him.

" Ah… Excellent work Little Naku…" Glaedari said, taking up the large gem and admiring it.

Nakumine grinded his teeth, he fingered the sword he had just acquired. Soon…

Glaedari stood up and stared at Nakumine with a seemingly knowing look in his eye. The tension built in the room. It grew as the silence lengthened. Then, with the speed of a Shinobi, Nakumine took out Khazid'hea and slashed at Glaedari.

Glaedari had been expecting it though. He took out the saber at his side and easily parried the blow to the side. Then he stabbed forward. Nakumine leaped back to avoid the stab as Glaedari leaped around the desk and pressed forward. Nakumine soon found himself pressed against the wall, deflecting blow after blow. Then he stuck his foot out and kicked Glaedari hard in the shin. Glaedari cursed and backed off, until Nakumine charged forward.

But the advance was useless. Glaedari ducked low to the ground and tackled Nakumine's legs. Naku fell to the floor, Khazid'hea flying out of his hand. Glaedari stood up and kicked Nakumine's head. Stars erupted behind Naku's vision as he felt himself losing consciousness.

"You will learn your place soon enough Little Naku." Glaedari said just before he blacked out.

Nakumine awoke in his room with a horrible lump on his skull, and a powerful headache to go with it. He did not stir, but the other person inside the room knew he had awakened.

"You should know better… You can't beat him."

Nakumine stirred then and shifted his position.

"Come on Kinden… Do you expect me to submit to him? I have to get out of here…" Nakumine replied. He could hear Kinden sigh then before he opened the door.

"You are a braver man than I Nakumine Kaizer." Kinden left Naku to rest and he walked down the hall to Glaedari's office.

"Glaedari… Surely you put too much stress on Nakumine."

Glaedari looked up from the diamond at Kinden. He smirked.

"Of course not. He will learn his place. Or die." Glaedari said turning his attention back to the huge gem in his hand.

Kinden sighed and left the room. He was the closest thing Nakumine had to a friend here, and there was nothing he could do to help him. Kinden was just not brave or strong enough to do anything.

He was also bored. Glaedari had nothing for him to do, and Justari and Tonari, the other members of the Black Hand, were currently running from Shin-Ra with their precious submarine. That turned Kinden's thoughts to another subject. The Rose Gem.

Glaedari did not know much about it. Nobody did. But Kinden knew enough about it to want to leave it alone. But Glaedari's mad search for power would not leave it be… He would find it and unleash whatever power it had to its fullest extent, no matter how many people got in his way. Kinden decided to return to his room and rest. Things were going to come to a head pretty soon, and Kinden did not like how many people were in danger.

"Tell us damnit!" Justari roared at the hostages he had inside the stolen Shin-Ra submarine.

The MP inside quivered under Justari's furious temper.

"I... I don't know! I was just hired security here!" He screeched out finally.

Justari cocked his six-shooter and pointed to his head.

"Leave him be Justari. Your temper has already killed three, and probably lead Shin-Ra onto our trail." Tonari calmly commented.

Tonari, clad in a simple white robe with a slim katana strapped to the belt, was leaning against the sub's wall. It was on auto-pilot headed towards where Shin-Ra had already set it to go, in hopes that they would find what they were looking for there. However, so far the results were not rewarding.

Justari who had a brown Stetson on his head, as well as a long seemingly always dirty brown trench coat, lowered his six-shooter and crossed his arms.

"How else are we going to get the information if you don't let me torture 'em?" Justari retorted.

"They don't know anything. We will just follow the autopilot until we get to the Rose Gem." Tonari said.

Justari scowled and glared at the prisoners once more before climbing back up the ladder to the bridge. Tonari pushed away from the wall and followed him. The sub was small and cramped. Tonari didn't like it… But he dealt with it. Justari did not handle bad situations with as much patience as Tonari did… The first thing he did upon crawling into the crowded sub was to shoot three of the members to 'make some space'. Tonari had begun to believe he was claustrophobic.

They both seated themselves in the bridge and looked to where the autopilot was sending them. They had it recorded and already sent back to base, so even if something happened to them, they would still be able to pick up where they left off.

The sonar bonged and Justari tilted his hat over his eyes, intending to take a small nap. Tonari stayed awake to watch the sonar. Shin-Ra would be pursuing them…

General Menendez ran a hand down his face as he watched the radar.

"Can't we move this bitch any faster?"

A third class Navy SOLDIER turned to him. "We're already going forty knots, sir. The submarine has appeared on our radar. If we continue at this rate, we will be upon them in less than fifteen minutes.

Menendez frowned, the features on his olive face darkening, frown lines that had years of conditioning forming on his brow. They were making good time, but it wasn't good enough for him. Heidegger was on his ass, the President had been very pissed about this sub hijacking.

He watched the radar, saw the dot which was the stolen Shin-Ra submarine, moving towards the northern continent.

They would have to stop them, and fast. Whatever this Rose Gem was, it was obviously very important to the President that Ironclad did not get their hands on it.

Menendez was going to see to it that didn't happen. His ass was on the line. He'd only been in his position a few months and he'd had yet to oversee a mission as important as this. Expectations were high; after all, he'd taken Sephiroth's position. Menendez was going to do his best, but damnit, he didn't have superhuman powers.

He chuckled. He suspected the Great Sephiroth would have just flown onto the hijacked sub, slaughtered the offending hijackers and returned home to glory.

Menendez' frown deepened and he eyed the radar again.

"We're getting closer, General," the SOLDIER said. "They are above water."

"Pull up immediately," Menendez ordered. "And warm up the torpedoes."

Tonari looked up as the sonar bleeped loudly. He saw a tiny green dot indicating that another craft was closing in.

He nudged Justari roughly. "Justari, wake up, now."

Justari gave a snort and looked at him. "What? We found it?"

"No," Tonari said, and indicated the sonar. "We've got company."

"Shit," Justari cursed, leaping to his feet. "That's those goddamn Shin-Ra bastards."

"Apparently," Tonari said. "And they are sure to attack."

"Call the headquarters," Justari said. He was highly pissed off. How did they get here so fast? "Get us a chopper out of here."

Rude was navigating the helicopter with ease, Tseng and Elena watching the waters down below.

"I see something!" Elena exclaimed.

Tseng leaned over, looked out the window. Two submarines, less then four hundred feet apart, where heading north in the Western Ocean. They were both Shin-Ra subs.

"Rude, that is them," Tseng said. "Pull down on them. Elena, arm yourself, and quickly. We may be able to get a clear shot if Rude stays steady."

"Shoot them?"

"Yes, Elena. If they are not wearing a Shin-Ra uniform, shoot."

Elena nodded. Killing was one of the duties she enjoyed least about this job… it always left her slightly nauseated and a tad bit guilty.

But Turk's work was Turk's work, and there was no way in hell she was going to let Tseng down. She removed her seat belt and went to load her rifle.

"Give us the word, General."

"Fire the torpedo… I am going above deck."

"But sir, the MP's might still be on board… they will be killed."

Menendez shook his head. "Unfortunately I don't have the time to rescue them… Fire the torpedo."

Menendez turned and went to go above. He hated the thought of it, but what was he to do? He couldn't be sure if the MP's were still alive anyway… it was just a risk he was going to have to take.

But he hoped to god they were not still on board.

Tonari had put through a call to Ironclad's headquarters.

"A chopper is on its way for us now."

Justari nodded, just as the sonar began bleeping wildly. He turned to it.

"Shit… they're firing a torpedo at us."

Tonari leapt up. "We've got to get to the surface."

Justari didn't waste a moment. He grabbed his six shooter and was moving towards the ladder.

"Wait a minute!" Tonari yelled. "What about them?" He pointed to the two MP's, who were practically shaking.

"Screw 'em,"

Tonari shook his head. "Let's go… Shin-Ra won't slaughter us if we've got some of their own."

Justari shrugged and kept going.

Tonari gestured to the two MP's to get up and move. They hesitated, but slowly stood and followed Justari and Tonari to the surface.

Menendez watched, waiting to see the torpedo project itself over the waters and into the sub. It would bring victory to him and seal his position as the General of SOLDIER.

His face sank in horror when he saw two MP's follow a white robed man and a cowboy onto the deck.

"Abort!" He suddenly yelled. He couldn't be responsible for the death of his own men. "Abort!"

Elena spotted Justari's huge Stetson as soon as he popped out of the top of the submarine.

"That's one of them!" She cried, aiming her weapon. Rude hovered the helicopter closer to the waters, giving her a clear shot.

"Elena, wait!" Tseng called out, grabbing her shoulder. "There are two MP's down there!"

Elena froze. She had totally missed that…. She blushed and sat back.

"Hold your fire… we need to rescue them. Shin-Ra doesn't let their own die."

Elena nodded and watched as Tseng worked about and lowered the ladder. Rude pulled the helicopter dangerously close to the sub and Elena could almost make out the shocked expression on the cowboy's face.

"Closer, Rude!" Tseng was yelling. "Elena, I trust your aim. When you feel you've got a good shot, take those two out and we'll get the MP's."

Elena nodded. She was shaking, her hands were sweating. The rifle felt like it might slip out of her hand and plummet straight into the ocean below.

Relax, Elena… just don't screw up…

"Fucking Turks," Justari was saying, his mouth practically hanging open.

Tonari looked up at the helicopter; he could see the woman's blonde head bobbing as she tried to steady herself in the doorway. He turned and faced the other submarine, saw the Shin-Ra General standing on the platform. What a predicament this was.

"They're going to shoot us."

"Where the hell is Kinden?" Justari roared.

As if to answer his question, the sudden roar of an engine was heard in the western sky. Justari and Tonari both looked up to see another helicopter approach.

"There he is."

Justari began waving his arms wildly to grab Kinden's attention. Frightened, both MP's backed away from the pair.

A SOLDIER climbed the ladder wildly to meet Menendez on the deck.

"General! It is too late to abort the torpedo! She will launch in thirty seconds!"

"Christ," Menendez said. Now blood was going to be on his back. "Fuck!"

The SOLDIER stood there, stupidly, as Menendez cursed and paced.

Rude had long since been aware of the Ironclad chopper approaching on his radar, and promptly notified Tseng.

"Now, Elena… take them out now!"

The chopper was hovering, bouncing wildly, and Elena was having a difficult time keeping her aim steady. She let off a shot at the man in the Stetson, but it missed, slamming into the side of the submarine.

"Elena!" Tseng yelled, and moved toward her. She shook her head.

"I've got it!" She wasn't giving up. She could see the Ironclad chopper lowering its ladder for the two men; the MP's nervously crouched in the back. The man in the white robe had already begun climbing the ladder when Elena finally readied herself for another shot.

Turbulence rocked the chopper then, sending Elena reeling back, smacking into Tseng, her rifle flying from her grip and throttling itself into the air and then down into the depths of the ocean below. She felt her shoulder ram into something hard, and white-hot pain ripped through her, spots blackening her vision.

She heard Tseng growl an angry curse beside her, then struggle to climb over her body. She blinked, but felt she couldn't move… the pain was absolutely staggering. She closed her eyes, trying to breathe deeply so that she could clear her vision as well as her head.

Tonari was agley climbing the ladder, Justari close behind him. He hurdled himself into the chopper and Justari followed behind him, crashing on top of him. Tonari let out a yelp of surprise and quickly pushed Justari off of him.

Tonari pulled himself together, slamming the door shut and dropping himself into a seat. Justari rose as well and tried to seat himself.

"Justari…" Tonari looked at him curiously. "Your hat…"

Justari felt his head. His Stetson was gone… it had dropped off into the water whilst he was climbing.

"Goddamnit!"

Kinden, who was piloting, turned from the cockpit and looked at them both rather coolly. "How did Shin-Ra get your tails so fast? You managed to get SOLDIER as well as the Turks after you."

Tonari shrugged, dusting off his shoulders. "I really do not know…. They just all appeared out of no where."

"Bastards," Justari added with a snarl.

Kinden turned back to navigate the chopper away from the scene. He smirked to himself… it would have been nice to see Justari shot by that woman Turk.

"Glaedari will not be pleased," was all he said.

Tseng pushed Elena forcefully out of the way, and Rude reared the helicopter close to the submarine. The targets escaped, but they still needed to save the MP's.

The MP's recognized the Shin-Ra chopper and eagerly made for the ladder. When they had boarded to safety, Tseng slammed the door and ordered Rude to depart.

"You are lucky to be alive," Tseng said to the MP's, who were falling over themselves, thanking him.

He ignored them and turned to Elena, who was lifting her head, gripping her shoulder, wincing. He put his arm beneath her and tried to help her sit up. He touched her shoulder gently, and he felt it loose.

"You've dislocated it... I'll have to pop it back it in."

Elena started to question him, but Tseng didn't give her a chance. He placed one hand against the back of her shoulder, and used the other to force her arm back into place.

Elena yelped in searing pain, her eyes going wide as hot tears exploded into their corners. She felt the pain numb and she looked at Tseng.

"Oh… god…"

"You'll be fine," he said coolly, and helped her to stand to sit in one of the seats.

"What happened?" She asked him, still wincing.

"You missed the shot, but we got the MP's," Tseng told her.

Elena withered. "I… I failed?"

Tseng gave her an unreadable look. He opened his mouth to speak, just when an explosion rocked the area and sent the chopper into wild turbulence.

"Ten seconds, sir!"

Menendez shook his head in a mix of aggravation and sorrow. The damned hijackers had escaped and he was about to kill his own… this wasn't going to look good at all when they returned.

He watched then, in amazement and gratitude when the Turk's chopper dipped down, the escape ladder swinging wildly, the MP's climbing it. He felt his chest swell when they made it safely on board, and the chopper pulled away into the sky.

He turned to the SOLDIER. "Get us out of here," he said. He couldn't keep the triumph out of his voice.

The SOLDIER had been watching the display as well. "Right away, sir," and with a salute, turned and went back below.

Menendez watched then as, a few seconds later, the torpedo launched itself and slammed into the submarine, blowing it to hell.

Well, at least the only loss was of the craft.

An hour after lunch, XinShi had returned to work in the laboratories in Shin-Ra. She entered the large room alone. Rufus had taken Dark Nation home so XinShi didn't have to worry about watching the dog while trying to work.

"Ma'am, I got the samples analyzed for you."

Daniel walked to her after seeing her enter, holding a folder, with paper work in it.

"Thank you, Daniel."

XinShi took the files and walked to her desk, over in the far corner of the room. Taking a seat behind her desk, she opened the files, canning them over, looking for keywords that would grab her attention, and as she ran her right index finger down the page, she ran across the words "Positive For" and she stopped.

"Bird Flu," she sighed.

Luckily, it wasn't a new strain, and was easily treated when caught in the early stages.

"Daniel, please takes these files and have Carson see them. He'll be best to take care of this. I have an appointment coming, in about five minutes."

"Yes Professor."

Daniel retrieved the files from her and quickly took off to the other labs next door.

After Daniel left, XinShi made her way to the file cabinet and pulled out a sheet for vaccine recording.

She sat back at her desk and began filling it out. But her mind was on the Rose Gem, that Rufus had mentioned. She had been budded with the responsibilities of finding out what its properties were, and what it could do.

She didn't know that much about minerals, but she was the only one Rufus could entrust with something so, secret.

XinShi was almost done filling out the paper work when there was a knock at the lab door.

"Come in."

The door clicked open, echoing in the quiet room and almost seemed to slam loudly also. XinShi seemed to wince at the sound in the room and looked up to see Tayeko walking to her desk.

"How are you doing Professor?"

"Ah, don't call me that when we are alone, Tay. Were good friends, and that's too business like for you to be referring to me as all the time."

Tayeko gave a soft chuckle, "Right."

XinShi sat the pen down and pointed over to the examination table.

"Take a seat and I will get you vaccine ready."

"Alright."

Tayeko walked to the table and with a small jump, she placed herself on top of the table, hands resting at her sides, palm down.

XinShi walked to a refrigerator and opened it, pulling out a tray loaded with veils filled with an off white liquid. Closing the door, she also made her way to get a syringe from a drawer. Then finally, after gathering those two items, she walked to the table that Tayeko was sitting on.

"How's work going for you Tay?"

XinShi sat the tray down, the name "Tayeko" written on the front of it.

Tayeko shrugged some, "It's alright, but Tseng wants me to keep talking about Sephiroth, but I'm just not ready."

XinShi picked up the syringe and removed the cap to it, "It takes time to get over people. Though, I never lost a friend, I did lose my parents back in the Meteor Crisis." Then she picked up one of the veils.

"Yea, that's tough."

XinShi stuck the needle into the rubbery part of the veils cap and began drawing out some of the liquid, filling it to ten CC's worth.

Tayeko had an unstable immune system due to the cryogenic freezing. She has been under XinShi's care since day one of her recovery. XinShi hoped that the injection therapy wouldn't have to last for the rest of her life, and was working on trying to fix that problem for her.

"Could you take off your jacket and roll up your sleeve, please?"

Tayeko replied by removing her suit jacket and rolling up the white long sleeve to just above the elbow, "The only part I hate about this, is the extreme cold sensation at first."

XinShi laughed some, "Yeah, that does feel a bit weird."

XinShi then stuck the syringes cap between her teeth as she held the syringe itself in her left hand, while flicking at Tayeko's main blood vessel in her right arm. Once it showed well, she slid the needle into her skin and into the vessel. Then she squeezed it.

Tayeko growled with annoyance.

XinShi pulled the needle out and grabbed a cotton ball, and taped it to her arm. After that, she capped the used syringe and threw it into a biohazard trash can.

"So you have any work for today?"

"Rufus called a meeting at three in the afternoon for a briefing. So I don't know what is in store for us today."

"Sounds like more fun than I had at lunch."

XinShi was busy returning the tray back into its proper place.

"Lunch didn't go that well with Rufus?"

"Ah, you know me, too concerned about the public eye than us."

"Oh."

XinShi turned around and looked at Tayeko, "Yup, had to open my mouth about it again. But I will learn from it this time."

Xin laughed, mostly at herself.

"Well, I am off."

Tayeko grabbed her jacket, and was shaking out the rolled up sleeve.

"Have a good day."

"You too, Xin."

Tayeko was putting on her jacket as she was stepping out of the office.