Better late than never, eh? Some of the chappies were being a pain in the rear. Anyways enjoy!

Lor

The air was frozen, and flowed over my skin as if hell bent on making an ice mask on it. The door to the back of the small military plane was wide open displaying the dying city beneath us. I held on to the overhang bar, feeling air streams rushing past my legs. My breath frosted into white clouds when I had enough in my lungs to breath. God, how had it gotten so cold so quickly? What had happened to Autumn?

"We're dropping you here," Leon said, yelling over the noise of the plane and rushing air. Even then I could hardly hear him.

"What?" I yelled back, looking between Leon and at the massive expanse of the roof below us.

"Use your communicator," Chris's dry voice broke in over the noise, dropping right into the center of my left ear.

"We're dropping you here," Leon repeated, his voice now crackling over the ear bud. The bud felt like a wet cotton wad had been shoved in my ear, but at least I could make out what they were saying.

"The Mall of America?" I asked. "Seriously?" Never been here before.

"We got several reports of survivors holed up at some the stores. Hunnigan has the last known locations plugged into your cell if you need a reference. Remember to tag the location of survivors you find on your GPS for extraction. Make sure they are secure before you move on," Leon said.

"Yeah I got all that the first time," I retorted. "How exactly do you expect me to get down there?" Leon looked over to me. Below, some zombies had somehow made their way onto the rooftop, and were slowly lurching their way towards the helicopter. The sound was drawing a lot of them. " Wait, oh hell no," I said catching his look.

"You did it in Hope," Leon replied flatly.

"That was then, this is now! We're like five stories up! Look, I don't really-" I felt a hand at my back. Oh crap…. "Vergil!" I shouted in warning, turning to face him. Too late. I was plunging backwards and then head first towards the roof of the mall of America. "Vergil you dick!" I shouted over the intercom. Over the whistling rush of wind I could hear his low rumbled of laughter underlying the slightly panicked chatter of Jill and Sheva.

Flipping through the air, I landed, crashing into a pudgy zombie. The big guy fell onto his back in a foot tall snow drift, his ribs snapping on impact as gravity dug my boot bottoms in hard. He chest crumpled inwards. His head was already cocked at an awkward angle but the force of my blow made an inky black fountain spew out from a massive bite wound on his neck. The resulting blood spatter looked like a Rorschach design. The pancaked dead head didn't move, but I still was. Lunging forward I tried to save my ankles from the breaking-sprained-bone-splinter feeling they would receive in the next mili-second or so. I rolled twice, wearing out the momentum of the plunge with my body before rising to my feet. After that I hit it the roof with everything I had.

Agni was unleashed first, hacking apart a lunging emo teen biter in a decapitating blow. Reeling, I let Rudra fly as another wayward shopper with blood soaking the front of his yellow hoodie staggered towards me. Rudra snapped to attention, the length of him becoming embedded completely in yellow hoodie's forehead. Hoodie flopped backwards, not even twitching.

Whirling, I took out the next nearest lurcher, lashing out with a foot. The thirty something oriental looking man probably would've put up a decent fight-had he still been human. As an infected, he went down pretty easy as my heel shattered his spinal column. Neck bulging at a weird angle, black seeping under his skin with internal bleeding, the thirty something crashed to the ground soundlessly. I resheathed Agni, taking a breath to cool the burning adrenalin in my veins. Four zombies serial killed and I haven't even found the front door to this place yet.

More zeds were coming, the plane was drawing them in like crazy. With its sound and searchlight, they were practically serving me up on a platter. Ignoring my sore ankles I crossed my kill zone and retrieved Rudra. There had to be at least thirty or forty undead on the roof. Geh…there was probably hundreds more inside the mall.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Chris's voice demanded, crackling over the ear bud. "How the hell did she do that? How did she survive you throwing her out of the transport?"

"Vergil, get your ass down here so I can kick it!" I snapped over the communicator, not bothering to answer Chris's question. In response Vergil landed heavily not more than three paces away. He was at my back. Not exactly where I want him to be. "You jackass," I snapped, turning to him. "What the hell was that for?"

"Ladies first, Lauren," Vergil retorted. I flipped him the bird.

"I thought it was age before beauty," I retorted, taking a moment to flop onto my butt. I readjusted my army issued boots, wiggling my toes into being as I relaced them. My ankles were sore, but the pain was quickly fading away, thank my lucky stars. The snow I'd gotten down the back of my shirt, that was actually more unpleasant the dull thud of my ankles.

"There are those who would debate your role in that."

"And they can kiss my ass," I snapped. "You know, if you pushed anyone else they would have been zombie food."

"But it wasn't anyone else," Vergil replied. He gave me an appraising glance with those sharp blue eyes of his. "You did well Lauren." In one hand he began to collect his aura, pulling something into existence judging by the feel of it.

"Fuck you," I growled. There was no way in hell Vergil was complimenting me. "Next time you use me as cannon fodder, you'll be eating my fists." I got to my feet, glaring at him. Vergil spared me a quick flitting glance before returning his attention to the gather darkness in his hand. A small wave of flames erupted into Vergil's open right palm. As he grasped it, the flame elongated stretching into the form of an oversized broadsword. The sword itself materialized, obviously a soul arm of some poor sap Vergil murdered. Still it was a breathtaking beauty of a weapon. It was an old sword, that much was obvious.

Vergil held the weapon out for observation when he caught my hard stare. Stepping up, I drooled over the sword, never touching it. It was a pretty blade, aligned with the element of fire. Red detail work ran up the blade's length, beginning in the pommel and hilt of the sword. The metal of it shone to a mirror gloss. Vergil always did take excellent care of his knives. The long edges running both sides of the blade had a notch in the middle of it. The notch was a point that not only sliced but could act as a mini-serrated edge if necessary. It was a very old sword by the look and feel it gave off. The only other blades that I had seen that were as worn and well made-and as well cared for-as this sword were Yamoto and Dante's hell blade of doomage, the Sparda Sword.

"It's called Enryuu," Vergil offered, drawing back the blade, "and before you ask, it belonged to a half demon."

"What?" I asked, surprised. There are other half-demon's other than the Sparda twin? Vergil gave me a feline grin, obviously reading the surprise in my face. He read my mind next, as he seemed to do from time to time, answering my questions before I ever voiced them.

"He was long dead before the sword came into my possession," Vergil turned away. "Shall we?" Rolling my eyes, I followed him. Sure the other half demon guy was dead before Vergil owned the sword, they usually were when he got done with them. Overhead it sounded like Chris was having a mid-life crisis.

"Him too?" Chris was demanding over the communicator. He started babbling after a few moments. "Who-no, what the hell are they? Where did that sword-that is a sword right-where the hell did it come from? Between that long haired woman and those two down there-"

"Remember, you guys have four hours to get your section taken care of before we sanitize the city," Leon interrupted Chris.

"Yeah, I hear you," I replied, falling into an offensive stance. The zombies were circling Vergil and I like vultures. I wondered where the necro master was…what were the odds we'd even find it in this city? Either way, it was time to kill make some heads roll.

"Don't forget, get to the extraction point on time," Leon said, "They'll proceed with sanitization with or without you."

"You sound like my mom," I snapped. "Shut up. I'm kinda busy killing zombies."

"Nice," Jill said dryly over the line.

"Bite me," I snapped, "Unless you can survive a five story drop sweat heart."

"Focus," Vergil growled, falling into a combative stance. He was at my back again, taking up the empty space there. Back to back we were ready to take on the world. Another feeling of déjà vu swept over my stomach, just as it had back in Hope. I did my best to ignore it, but the thoughts still creeped in through the back door. Vergil was liquid poetry with any number of weapons he could get his hands on...was there anyway I could ever be a match for him? Is there any way in this lifetime or the next I could drag him and his pride down onto his knees? I want to make Vergil feel as miserable as I did, to let him down so purposefully as he had me ten years ago. How do I do that? How do you hurt someone who doesn't feel? Who doesn't care about anyone or anything? I want revenge and I'll have it, by the pound of flesh and blood, or I'll die trying. He will be held accountable for what he did. I'm not strong enough yet, but today should give me more than a few opportunities to size up where I stand in the scheme of things.

"Right. Try not to kill each other. Leon out." Leon's voice drew me back into the game. The helicopter wheeled, turning away, taking its noise and light with it. Some of the lurchers followed the sound of the noise. Too many of them were still making their way towards Vergil and I though.

"I thought they'd never leave," I commented. Wordlessly Vergil gave me a minute glance, snaking it over his shoulder. "Wanna make a bet?" I asked. Vergil paused, half turning to me, offering the zombies an unimpressed, stoic look.

"A bet?"

"Kill count," I said. "The one with the highest score gets something."

"That's a vague wager," Vergil replied. "You know the nature of deals in hell. What you get for nothing-"

" 'Is nothing'," I finished for him, "Yeah but that's the beauty of it Lancelot. We're not in hell." I ignored the lurchers around us as well. They had at least fifteen feet of staggering to do yet. "You game?" The tip of Enryuu nearly brushed the snowdrift next to Vergil's boot. He considered for a moment, toying with the sword in his hand, tightening and untightening his grip on the pommel. Enryuu's blade tip danced up and down. The sword began to melt the snow as it came into contact with it.

"The winner 'gets something'?" Vergil repeated, tilting his head to the side. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards. The half grin was the closest Vergil ever got to an honest smile.

"Only one something and it has to be something the loser can give," I said. "No asking for the moon, the stars, or the other wide variety of nefarious BS your little devious mind wants torture me with. It's a friendly wager, m'kay?" Vergil chuckled.

"Why do you set yourself up for failure? Why is it that you love pain so much?" He raised an eyebrow. "Are you a masochist?" Seriously? He pegs me as the masochist?

"Oh I dunno Vergil. Why are you a prick on a daily basis?" I asked back. "Why am I ass deep in a snow bank killing zombies? Why did I just get pushed out of the vagina of a plane?" I shrugged, throwing my hands upwards. "Because it is what it is, Lancelot. Just something to pass the time." I paused, crossing my arms for warmth. "Besides, you like a challenge." Wincing, I reacted to a sudden screeching sound over the ear bud. That didn't sound so healthy for the Leon and the gang in the chopper. I peeled the bud out with a finger and glared at it for a moment. My ear was ringing. The ear bud continued to scream sounds, pinched in between my fingers.

"A challenge? From these cretins?" Vergil gestured with a sweeping hand to include the shambling bodies surrounding us at the speed of molasses.

"I'm the challenger, dipshit, remember?" I asked flatly. "Therefore my actions are the challenge, right?"

"As I said, what challenge?"

"Hey if you're too much of a pussy to screw around with us 'pathetic humans' here on earth, then as per usual, you can fuck yourself. I'll just have fun by myself."

"I didn't say no," Vergil replied smoothly, watching me carefully. That half grin was still lingering on his lips.

"You didn't say yes either," I said pointedly.

"A friendly wager then." Vergil took a deep breath. The word friendly rolled off his tongue with a derisive touch to it. "Winner may demand one something from the loser, provided it is something the loser can give." He paused, "You truly are a fool, Lauren."

"And you're a half human asshole," I said sweetly. I turned away, coming face to face with a drooling zombie. Reaching out I jerked on its chin and the back of its head, twisting both clockwise. The infected fell, its neck popping as I broke it. "That's five for me."

"You should close your eyes, Lauren," Vergil suggested, turning away. Enryuu was held loose in his hand as a cold winter wind blew past us. My breath frosted in the air. The tip of my nose was starting to drip..

"What?" I demanded, unsheathing Rudra and Agni once more. I fell into an offensive stance, readying myself for the slow wave of dead surrounding us. Vergil laughed, his voice colder than the winter around us.

"You might get nightmares watching this."