The Forgotten

Chapter 20: Escape and Lost.

Just as General Talenus was about to order them to drop their weapons a loud bang rang through the room. One of his soldiers dropped to his knees, blood pouring from his chest. He turned quickly to notice Vincent run into the room, followed by Yuffie.

With this distraction, Stratus jumped and brought his foot into a guard's hand, knocking his gun into a nearby wall. With a swift kick to the chest the guard flew into the wall. Everyone saw Stratus attack and did the same.

Red didn't waste time in attacking Talenus, leaping onto his body and clawing at his chest. The General screamed in pain as Red claws cut through his armour and tore at his flesh. A kick by one of his guards sent Red to the floor, skidding to a halt near Vincent.

Yuffie ran to Gale and the two began to take care of the stray guards. Lance joined them shortly. He began placing well-aimed shots into the heads of the remaining guards as Yuffie and Gale used their Boomerangs to unarm the soldiers.

The Buster sword swung through the air, slicing a guard in half as it went. He brought it down through another and as he went for the third it came to a sudden stop, refusing to go further. Stratus looked at6 his blade to see purple energy wrapped around it. Jenna!

"Release it!" he bellowed, turning his gaze to hers.

"What? You can't fight without it?" she mocked, laughing towards the end.

"I can fight just as good without it!" he argued.

"Prove it!" With that she yanked hard, the sword slipping from his fingers and impaling on a nearby wall.

"Fine!" He yelled, running forward. He leapt into the air, coming down behind her and swung his foot. He got nothing but air as she jumped high into the room, grabbing a beam that ran across the room from left to right. Stratus followed, grabbing the beam and flipping onto it. He kept his balance perfectly, as did Jenna.

"Not bad, but you'll have to do better if you wish to beat me!" She flipped back as he lunged forward, keeping his balance. He swung his leg at her, she blocked with her left arm but found he used the momentum she gave him to swung round completely and catch her jaw. She found herself losing balance and falling fast towards the ground, landing with a thud.

Red had chased Talenus to the far end of room, cornering him. He found himself baring his teeth and growling like never before. Talenus just smiled as he brought out a gun and began firing at the feline. Red dodged impeccably, the shots not even coming close. After a quick spring to the left he flew forward, clawing at Talenus's face, scratching his skin clean. The brute growled at this and ran forward trying to flee from the beast. He failed as Red came down on his back, smashing his face into the floor.

"What did you do with our equipment!" growled red, not letting the man up. Just as Talenus began to speak, he heard Vincent yell duck; he did, finding a bullet pass over his head. This would have to wait. He bound of the general and tackled a nearby soldier.

Jenna stared up at the ceiling, seeing Stratus leap down and land beside her. He grabbed her by her neck and dragged her to her feet. She found herself flying backwards, hitting a wall and slumping down. She had to fight back; this punk wasn't going to beat her. She still had her whip after all.

"Not so tough now are we Jenna!" boasted Stratus. "Your nothing. I hope you learnt your lesson." As he began to walk away he felt a stinging at his wrists, purple energy? Her whip! The whip burned at his skin, causing him to scream. The whip suddenly swung round his neck, choking him. He fell to his knees.

"What's wrong? Can't handle it?" mocked Jenna. She stumbled to her feet and yanked at the whip, pulling Stratus to his back. Hitting his head on the floor. She loured over him, and then began stomping on stomach. He only had one hand free, his legs tucked behind his back and his other hand still wrapped in the whip and pulled up close to neck.

He began tugging on his arm, trying to pry the whip from his hand but found he only tightened the leash around his neck. His neck burnt, cutting of his air supply little by little.

Gale, Yuffie and Lance hid behind a turned on its side table, being bombarded with gunfire. Lance occasionally shot over, hoping to get lucky.

"What should we do?" asked Gale.

"We can't win, we must retreat." Answered Yuffie. Lance was still busy firing away at the attacking soldiers to pay any attention to the conversation.

Red jumped over the table, joining them. He looked at Yuffie, seemingly asking her a silent question.

"We have to retreat." She repeated to the furry beast. He nodded in agreement and then looked out onto the battlefield. Blain was having no trouble, using his Uzi to take out the soldiers and his katana to deflect oncoming bullets. But he still needed to get to some safety, instead of staying in the battlefield. Vincent had hidden behind a pillar and was picking of some soldiers to his left. He then noticed Stratus, being strangled.

"No! Lance, can you shoot Jenna." He asked. Lance looked up to see the witch with her whip wrapped around Stratus's neck. He heard Gale gasp, assuming she must have looked as well. Giving a nod to Red, he aimed but as he felt himself pull the trigger a huge pain shot through his arm and he dropped the gun. He had been shot.

"Lance!" yelled Gale, grabbing him as he fell back. Blood oozed out of his shoulder, where the bullet had hit him. She looked over the table to see his shooter, Talenus. A huge smirk plastered on his face. What she would do for a chance to kill that bastard!

"Gale, you must help Stratus. We can take care of Lance. Get Stratus back here quick!" She nodded at Reds command and leapt over the table, running through the field of bullets. She dodged perfect, her ninja grace working to her advantage. On the way she noticed Blain's men dotted her and their. Poor souls never had a chance.

Jenna smirked down at her accomplishment, the cocky boy she hated as soon as she saw was at her mercy. As she began to laugh she found a foot connect with her face, sending her stumbling backwards and loosing her grip on the whip. She stared up at her attacker, the girl named Gale. His Girlfriend had come to his rescue, how sweet!

Stratus felt a sigh of relief wash over him as the whip loosened and he got to his feet, throwing the damn weapon to the floor. Gale stood next to him.

"Thanks."

"No problem, come on! We gotta get outa here!" she yelled over the gunfire. She took his hand and turned to run but found herself going nowhere. He wasn't coming, just standing, staring at Jenna.

"Come on! Stratus!" she yelled. He turned his head and motioned for her to go alone.

"I'll be right there, just have to take care of the whipped bitch here!" he joked seriously. If that was possible. He gave her a smile and she felt herself release his hand.

Stratus turned back to his foe and smirked. His neck still throbbed but it was nothing he couldn't handle. She didn't have her whip anymore, and was probably in a world of pain. This wouldn't be hard at all.

"Come on then Jenna, what ya waiting for? An invite? Well you got one!" he yelled. He saw her face flush and then she lunged forward, swinging her fist at his face. He grabbed her hand with his, stopping her attack. She swung her other, only to be caught by his again. She yelled in his face tried to push him back. He stood stoic, not moving an inch. With a single flip, he brought his foot to her chin, sending her flying backwards into a desk of computers, electricity sparking around her, sizzling her face slightly. He landed on his feet; he had to finish it now. Calling on the power of his Contain Materia, he thrust his hand forward, releasing the wave of Red flame like energy at the girl. She couldn't move and was soon engulfed in his attack. He could hear her screams as his attack tore at her body, ripping her to shreds. In the aftermath all that was left was her mangled, torn up body slumped on the desk of computers.

Vincent watched the battle unfold from his post, amazed at the boy's skill. He certainly rivals his father in abilities. Perhaps he has the edge, with his martial arts. Noticing Stratus walk to his sword, he saw a Soldier aim his gun towards the boy. With his quick reflexes he spun, pulling out his Death Penalty as he went and shot the soldier clean in the head. Stratus turned, hearing the shot and gave a thankful smile whilst picking up his sword.

Stratus joined the group behind the desk; Blain had also joined them in the time Gale was away. Gale wrapped her arms around Stratus upon his arrival; he complied and wrapped his arms around her.

"We must escape, there is too many of them, they just keep coming. Our best bet is to steal an Airship." Red explained.

"How exactly do we do that?" asked Stratus, Gale finally releasing him.

"I think me and Vincent saw some stairs we could use to get to the roof. Shinra used to keep the small crafts up their right?" asked Yuffie.

"Yes." Came a voice from behind the group. Vincent. "We should be able to escape that way." Finished Vincent, crouching besides the injured Lance.

"Great, can we get the hell out of here then!" whispered Lance, his face showing how much pain he was in. The group nodded in agreement.

"Here, use this as a distraction." Continued Lance, handing them a smoke grenade.

Without further delay the group threw the grenade over the table, hearing the explosion they ran from the position behind the table and towards the door. Racing down the narrow corridors, Lance clutching his arm. They soon found the stairs Yuffie had mentioned and wasted no time in climbing them; Talenus and his men weren't far behind. They reached the roof in no time, Yuffie motioned towards one of the craft and the group complied.

Gunfire erupted from their former position, obviously the soldiers couldn't see well in the dark and missed completely. That would change however when a spot light shone on their location. They reached the craft and began pilling in, Yuffie first, followed by Gale, Red and Blain. Blain took the controls as Stratus jumped on board and held his hand out to Lance as Blain began to take of. Not wasting time. Time seemed to slow down as Lance reached forward, trying to grab Stratus's hand.

The group heard the all too familiar sound of gunfire once again, this one louder and more threatening than the others. Lance fell, his hand just inches from Stratus's. The craft was now in mid air, Lance had been shot, falling to the floor before Stratus could grab him. Gale tried to jump out but Stratus held her back. The group became silent as Talenus walked up to the Lance's motionless figure on the roof of the command center. The figure got smaller and smaller and the further away they got the more they realised what had happened. They had lost Lance.

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