Disclaimer: All right, all right, I DON'T own FFVII OR its characters OR its places. Do you have to keep rubbing my face in it?

A/N: Thanks once again to Reno Spiegel, my one loyal reviewer. Brace yourselves, this chapter should contain my first attempt at an action sequence.

Chapter 6: Unstable Actions

Vincent's heart rate slowly returned to isn't normal, slow, inhuman pace. His heart always heightened to a regular human's rate when he was "hunting." He stood in front of the still warm lifeless body of a boy. He was no more than 19 or 20. His body sported two bullet holes, one through the neck, the other through the forehead. Vincent was too busy surveying his victim to notice Yuffie and Red emerge from behind him.

"Oh GAWD, Vinnie! What did you do?" Yuffie's eyes were wide and unblinking, staring at the lifeless corpse of a boy not much older than she. She couldn't imagine what threat a seemingly harmless teenager could pose to Vincent. She was about to go berserk on the clawed man until Red gave her a slight nudge from behind and directed her attention to something on the boy. It was a Shinra issue automatic rifle.

Before either Yuffie or Red could speak, Vincent was gone. He took off with determination in his step. From the confidence in the way he ran, Red picked up that the man knew where he was going. It took the quaruped a few moments to stir Yuffie from her staring contest with the corpse, but soon they were on the tracks of their mysterious friend.

Vincent's heart rate remained as slow as ever, but his feet moved at inhuman speed. He couldn't tell how far he had ran – maybe a mile, or only a few feet – but he found himself ducking behind some rubble for cover soon enough. He consciously raised his heart rate slightly, sending the extra blood to his ears. They were always more sensitive than normal when he did this. One, two, three… seven… Two more agitated than the rest… He detected seven discernible heartbeats, minus his own made six. Six men stood behind his small barrier. They might not be well trained, but they had powerful weapons. From his years as a Turk, Vincent knew that untrained, scared, inexperienced resistance with an automatic weapon was much more deadly than any SOLDIER. He assumed the two agitated heat rates meant that at least two knew he was there.

But, much to Vincent's relief, his assumption was incorrect. Yuffie and Red were brought to a dead stop when they met the end of the Quicksilver's barrel. The young ninja girl would've screamed from a mixture of fear and surprise, but she was silenced by the golden finger of a metallic claw that stretch across Vincent's lips making the international sign for "Shut up."

Red could tell by Vincent's position up against the makeshift barrier that the people the man had been after were right behind him. He led Yuffie to follow suit and crouch next to Vincent. Before he had a chance to ask Vincent what their plan of action was, the man was moving. With lightning quick speed, Vincent was seemingly flying through the air, head first, gun drawn, towards the group of armed men.

The single shot fired from the Quicksilver was answered by a ludicrous number of return fires from a set of four automatic rifles identical to the one strapped to the back of the boy Vincent had left lifeless on the ground so many feet back. Although his shots were well placed - his first de-arming the center figure, his second striking the same man dead – Vincent's crimson eyes were locked on another small barrier to the far right. Yuffie and Red came here because of him, but he wouldn't let himself become the reason they were shot.

Vincent considered himself very lucky that these three remaining men had no idea what they were doing. Anyone trained well enough with their weapon surely would've hit the target flying through the air. Vincent only received a few tears in his cloak as retribution for his risky move. Once safely hidden behind his new cover, the bullets didn't cease. They pounded unrelentingly upon his small shelter, sending sparks and pieces of brick flying everywhere.

Vincent knew he wouldn't fare so well if he emerged recklessly again. For a moment he pondered retiring his Quicksilver and pulling out the ever-powerful Death Penalty. The weapon packed enough punch to blow straight through the barrier and still be able to power its bullet long enough to strike down whoever stood behind it. No! He knew that option was too risky – debris would surely fly wildly through the air as a result and could possibly strike either Red or Yuffie. It was moments like these that reminded Vincent why he liked to work alone.

It was then, with his back pressed up against the pile of bricks and metal that had been protecting him, that Vincent's ears picked up a change in its surroundings. Now he only heard gunfire falling to his left. That meant that the man on the reverse side had stopped to reload his rifle. Now was his time to act.

With inhuman speed, he darted straight towards to man fumbling around for a new magazine. Though his gun was drawn, Vincent fired no bullet at the man. Instead, he let his human arm become intertwined with the right arm of the assailant while his metallic claw tightly gripped the man's left shoulder. Before the other two could respond and turn their fire towards the running man, a loud crack could be heard by all – Vincent had snapped the man's arm.

Ignoring the man's pain filled cries, Vincent re-holstered his Quicksilver and quickly wrapped his hand around the weapon dangling limply from the injured man's hand. By the time his two companions could begin firing upon Vincent's new position, the injured fighter had become a human shield for the retreating AVALANCHE member. As he fell back in the exact opposite direction of Red and Yuffie, Vincent relentlessly returned fire with the automatic rifle that he had skillfully reloaded. Though the man's now lifeless body provided adequate protection for Vincent, it didn't stop two bullets from finding their way into his flesh. One took a strip of skin off of his human hand, but he did not stop firing. The other sliced straight through his left calf, but he did not stop moving.

After taking more bullets than humanly possible, the man that injured Vincent's hand fell into a bloody mess on the floor. Vincent then took the risk of finally peaking his head out from behind his fleshy protection to send one well aimed shot through the final man's chest.

Vincent had already darted back to where Yuffie and Red laid confusedly behind a pile of rubble before the last man stopped coughing up blood. "Are you two OK?"

Yuffie shook the confusion from her head. She could barely comprehend what had just happened. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. No, she wasn't shocked by the display of carnage – she was used to that. What seemed like a ten-minute battle to Vincent had, in actuality, taken less than a full minute. To say that Vincent's moved with the speed of light would not be an exaggeration in this instance. "Of course, we're OK, Vinnie! Did you think we'd just up and die from being without you for a whole 30 seconds?"

Vincent ignored the sarcasm in Yuffie's voice. "Are you both OK to walk?" The blank look on Red's face and the Oh-Come-On-You-Big-Worry-Wart look on Yuffie's told him that they were quite all right to walk. "Good. Now leave."

"What?!" Yuffie shot to her feet at Vincent's silly request. "Leave?!? We just spend half an hour looking for you, and now you tell us to leave?!"

"Vincent, we have a job to do." Red's voice was unendingly calm in comparison to Yuffie's. "We are to look for any way Reeve's captors might have escaped. Now, Tell us what this was all about."

"…"

"C'mon, Vinnie! Stop holding out on us!"

"…"

"You're no fun!"

"…"

"Vincent, I am being very serious with you. I assumed you of all people would be responsible enough to see we have a man in need. We do not have time to be –"

Red's voice was silence when he left the cold, silver tip of the Peacemaker pressed against his nose. "I said leave." Although his body clearly spoke something different, Vincent's voice held no malice or anger. It was as calm and clear as it always was.

Red began to slowly back away with fear running rampant through his blood. He knew Vincent was a good ally. He had always protected them in battle and never seemed to try to harm any of them. But Red also knew that Vincent wouldn't hesitate to eliminate anyone who stood in his way.

"Put the gun down." Yuffie's voice was filled with something very foreign to her: courage. As much as Vincent's dark demeanor had always given her the "creeps," Yuffie was never really afraid of him. It was probably because she was too young and innocent to realize just how dangerous an ex-Turk could be.

The cold metal of Yuffie's Conformer sent a strange sensation through Vincent's body. It had been a long time since he let an enemy get close enough to him to feel their weapon on his pale skin. "Vinnie, I don't know what you're trying to do, but give it up and stop trying to shoot Red!"

Vincent's internal Turk smiled at Yuffie's display of fearlessness. He quickly spun on the girl and redirected his aim. As he did so, the sharp edge of the Conformer slit the skin of his neck open. That sick internal Turk smiled a demented internal smile again. In over thirty years, Vincent's skin hadn't been pierced by a blade. And to think, of all the battlers he'd come against in his years, she was the one.

Vincent let his heart rate return to normal before lowering his weapon. It wasn't until his arm once again hung at his side that Yuffie notice the cut that adorned Vincent's neck. "Oh Gawd, Vinnie! I'm so sorry!"

The trickle of blood that dripped down his pale skin sent a shiver of fear down Yuffie's spine. Oh Gawd! I hurt him! Now he's gonna kill me for sure!

Vincent was mad, but he wasn't exactly sure why. Was he mad at Yuffie for cutting him? Was he mad at himself for letting his guard down enough to let her cut him? Was he mad at himself for letting them follow him there? Then, it suddenly dawned on him that he wasn't mad after all. By all rights, he should be, but he honestly didn't care. Yuffie could cut him all she wanted. After all, it wasn't Yuffie's fault – she was simply defending her friend. He truly was a monster – he was no longer capable of even the simplest, most common emotion – anger.

Despite his realization, Vincent's crimson eyes remained fixated on Yuffie. They stared, devoid of all emotion. This emptiness scared Yuffie far more than any amount of rage could.

"Excuse me." Red's voice caught the attention of both figures that had previously been caught in an impromptu staring contest. He didn't know what to make of Vincent's, actions, but he didn't like them one bit. "I think perhaps we should be making our way back to the buggy. Today is not the day to find what we're looking for." As much as Red wanted to get this whole mess behind him, prolonging their mission by one more day would be much better than seeing Vincent snap.

When Vincent, Yuffie and Red had made their way back to the Buggy, they were pleasantly surprised to see their four comrades already waiting for them. Apparently, searching through the remnants of Midgar had been an easy job thanks to the efforts of Reeve. Nearly all the destruction from Meteor had been cleaned up, except for the two most damaged sectors – 2 and 7.

"All right, we'll talk more when we get back to Kalm." Cloud once again took control of his reunited group. "We'll piece together what little information we have, and hopefully the Turks won't be much longer. I hope they found something more interesting. Barret, take your chocobo back. They rest of you – get in the buggy."

All started to move to their directed destinations, save for Red. "Cloud, I think it would be best if Vincent took the Chocobo back."

Vincent quickly understood the hidden meaning in Red's words. Hmph. They finally have learned not to associate with monsters. Vincent silently turned his back to his AVALANCHE teammates and headed towards Maria. Barret didn't put up an argument. As much as he loved his Chocobo, it looked like it was going to rain again. He'd much rather be cramped in a dry car than soak on a wet Chocobo.

Once everyone was secured in the buggy, Cloud turned his attention to Red. "What was all that about?"

The canine let the vehicle move a ways towards the highway before responding. "Vincent was acting very… strange." The stuffy silence urged Red to further explain his statement. "There were some men with guns that we encountered in the Second Sector. He quickly disposed of them, but then turned his weapon on Yuffie and I, insisting that we leave at once. I don't know what was wrong, but he certainly seemed ready to shoot if we didn't comply."

Shock was painted across both Cloud and Tifa's faces as they sat silently in the front seats of the buggy. They had never heard of Vincent acting like this to any of them before without a reason. Barret didn't keep his concerns as quiet as they did. "Dat mothafucker! Da lil shit's finally snapped."

"Now wait just a damned minute there!" Strangely enough, it was Cid's voice that attempted to quiet the angry Barret. "I may not be all that close to Vince or nuthin' like that, by I know the kinda man he is. That boy don't do nuthin' without a reason for it! That fucker won't eat or sleep without it being carefully thought out 'n' shit. We should ask him what's up 'fore we go jumping to some crazy ass conclusions!"

"Cid's right." Tifa's concerned voice came floating from her front seat. "But we all can't just come out and ask him. He's a very closed-off man. If we do that, he'll feel crowded and think we're accusing him. If he knows something, we don't want to scare him off. If we do, he just might never come back."

Cloud was a bit suspicious. There was a strange softness in Tifa's tone when she spoke of Vincent – a softness that didn't please Cloud in the least. He shook the notion from his head. Maybe it was fear that he was just perceiving as softness. "I'll talk to him, by myself." The stress placed on his last word was obviously meant for Barret, who seemed far too eager to confront Vincent. "We have something to talk about anyway."

A/N: Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought. Writing action scenes go a lot quicker than all this drama mumbo jumbo. At this rate, I might have two new chapters up in one day. Yay! Forgive me if it wasn't up to action-scene par – it was my first shot. I needed some practice cause there'll be a lot of brawls and gun fights coming in the future chapters. Oh, and please, please review. Reno has kindly accepted taking on the whole reviewing load by himself, but that doesn't mean I can't still bug everyone else about it. And fear not, the Turks will return in the next chapter.