They Live!!!

By: GQ & Zhak

Chapter Seven: Say "Bye-Bye" to the Don

Zack got out of the building and scanned the whole place. "Yuffie where are you?!" he thought in worry before he continued to search.

At the same moment that he was searching, Cloud, Aerith, Barret and Lucrecia were already on their way back to Sector 7. They just decided to walk because there was a massive blackout because of the explosions. A lot of people were on the streets wondering what has happened in ShinRa and what had caused the explosions.

The four were just quiet but pretending to be clueless as well.

Lucrecia carefully removed her mask but keeping her eyes on the ground. "I guess we won't be having electricity for around a week if ShinRa doesn't locate the back-up formula for temporary power." She said with a slight smile on her face.

"Why? What did you do in the laboratory anyway?" Aerith asked.

"Just deleted most of Hojo's files." Lucrecia told her with a smile on her face before patting the side of her dress. "But don't worry, I compressed everything and placed them in a disc as planned." She said reassuringly.

Barret felt pleased, "That's great! Does that mean we're in control?" he asked.

"Almost. Once you see the things I got, I think we can finally know what to do with them." Cloud told him with a serious look on his face.

They stopped in their tracks when they heard footsteps coming their way. All of them stared straight ahead. It was Zack running towards them.

"Izzat foo' again." Barret told his companions.

Lucrecia blinked. "Oh my… I thought he…" she trailed off when she sensed Aerith looking curiously at her, "Why?" the girl asked. Lucrecia swallowed hard.

Zack finally got to them and they stopped walking. He was panting hard and he had a very worried look on his face, "Have you seen Yuffie?" he asked.

"The last time I checked you were supposed to be her bodyguard." Cloud replied rather stiffly before moving ahead.

"Cloud, what's wrong with you?" Aerith asked before turning back to Zack with an apologetic smile on her face, "I'm sorry, but we haven't. Why? What's going on?" she asked.

Cloud stopped in his tracks and turned back to them.

Zack was trying to catch his breath before replying, "I think she's missing… Lord Godo heard her scream but… we don't really know where she is…" he bit his lower lip while scratching his head.

"Shit… what if something happened to her?" Barret asked in sudden confusion.

"Damn, I hope not! I'll be such a failure if that happens!" Zack told them before waving goodbye and then ran off again.

Aerith turned to Lucrecia, "What is going on? How come you all seem to act so distant from him?" she asked in confusion.

"Because he's the reason why we're all feeling so weak, that's why! If he didn't tag along with us, we'd all be in our best condition!" Lucrecia snapped impatiently as she threw her mask down to the ground in an annoyed manner.

"Wh…what?" Barret asked.

"It's true! He and President ShinRa… the two of them… plus the Don and Hojo… the four of them!!! It's only supposed to be us without those four… but Zack wouldn't let Aerith go!" she explained before walking away. Cloud felt so mortified, his mouth slightly open as a reaction. Aerith frowned and went after her. "Well it isn't my fault if he's still holding on! I already told him the truth but he would not listen; that's why I just told myself that he just needs some time to think about things! He kept on accusing Cloud of stealing his identity and I hate it!" she snapped.

"Hey, will you just save your arguments for later?" Barret demanded.

"No, I'd like to settle this now!" Aerith snapped at him before going after Lucrecia. "And please don't hide the fact that your son made him go away." She told her.

"Yes I am not hiding the fact that Sephiroth doesn't like Zack because the guy wants you back for himself; and you know how over-protective Sephiroth is to you because you've been like a younger sister to him while we were still spirits in the Lifestream…" Lucrecia told her before looking at Cloud. "Look at him now… that guy mourned for you." She said softly.

Aerith just bowed down her head.

"And the mere fact that Zack is also here is making him worried that you might not accept him anymore… because he is just… Cloud with Zack's memories, thanks to Hojo." Lucrecia continued.

Cloud just turned and walked away from them, leaving them with Barret. "I'll go ahead," he muttered.

Aerith and Lucrecia just stood still for several moments without saying anything until they noticed a black limo coming their way, its headlights flashed twice as a warning and the horn honking. The two instantly stepped aside from the pathway to give way to the limo.

The limo sped up and went on going to the direction of Sector 5.

"The elites are really panicking," Barret said as he went to Aerith. "Let's just go home, ya two." He told her and Lucrecia. Lucrecia looked back at the ShinRa HQ before agreeing to go with Aerith and Barret. While on their way to Sector 7, Aerith said, "Aren't we going to help Yuffie?"

Barret stopped in his tracks. "Oh yeah… forgot about that…" he muttered. "But Marlene doesn't have anyone with her at home!" he pointed out.

"Aerith and I are going to look for her. Just go home." Lucrecia offered before taking Aerith's hand and led the way towards the other direction.

Cloud rounded a corner and was surprised to see a speeding black limousine. He instantly stopped on his tracks before it could run over him just in case he continued to walk down the street. "Ass…" he thought silently before looking at the direction where the black limo had come from, and saw Zack running towards him. "What now?" Cloud was thinking quietly.

Zack finally approached him, "Cloud, I'm so glad to see you!" he told him.

Cloud just kept quiet as Zack tried to catch his breath and laughed weakly, "Silly of me to be chasing that black car… heheh. Can you help me?" he asked.

"What for?" Cloud asked.

"I think the Don might have something to do with Yuffie's disappearance. I think that's his limo that's why I'm following it." Zack explained.

Cloud thought for a while before shrugging, "Knowing that lecherous old geezer, he's heading for the Honeybee Inn." He said.

Zack's eyes widened. "Honeybee Inn?" he asked.

"C'mon," Cloud told him before leading the way to a shortcut.

The moment Vincent and Sephiroth stepped out of the ShinRa HQ, they instantly withdrew from one another. "Man… my right hand and arm got sweaty just holding on to your claw!" Sephiroth told him.

Tifa took a deep breath before turning to face the two, "I'm worried about Yuffie. Can't we go look for her first?" she asked.

"In this kind of attire? I don't think so." Vincent told her, feeling rather embarrassed about his gown. Tifa giggled. "Alright, we'll go home first and then we'll look for her. It's quite dangerous if we roam around wearing these… we might get busted." She told them.

"Where would Yuffie go anyway? Isn't it that Zack's her bodyguard?" Sephiroth asked as they went on their way back to Sector 7.

"Hey!!!" they heard someone yelling from behind them. The three of them stopped in their tracks and slowly turned around. There was Elena running towards them.

"Elena?" Tifa asked, wanting to be sure. It was really dark in the streets and the full moon was their only light.

Elena stopped running when she reached them. "Hi!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Why? Is there a problem?" Sephiroth asked.

"N…no. But Rufus wants me to give this to you guys. You left before he could even talk to you again." Elena said before pulling out a check from her pocket and handed it to Tifa. "Here you go! A check worth 2 million Gil." She said softly, careful not to let any other people hear her.

Tifa gasped as she got the check and stared unbelievably at it. It was signed by Rufus himself. "Oh my… this is too much!" she told her.

"Yeah, but that's how he really is… he could be generous if you get on his good side. Heehee! Oh yeah, and this one too…" Elena pulled out a small jewelry box from her other pocket and handed it secretly to Tifa while Vincent and Sephiroth were not looking. "It's a personal gift from him to you to show his gratitude. He says you're a very good actress and that he might drop by your bar one night when he's not doing anything and that he's looking forward to drinking your Final Heaven once more… whatever that is," she whispered to an overwhelmed Tifa.

Tifa clutched the jewel box with her hand and placed it inside her purse. "Th…thank you. Please tell him that." She told her with a weak smile on her face.

"What's that?" Sephiroth asked, moving closer to her. She handed the check to Sephiroth. "Here, keep this and give it to Barret once we reach home." She told him before stepping aside.

"By the way, Lord Godo was talking to President ShinRa; he reported that his daughter is missing!" Elena told them.

"So Yuffie's really missing," Sephiroth said plainly before shrugging and then turned to Tifa, "Got any guesses on who would kidnap her?" he asked.

"How'd you know she's been kidnapped?" Vincent asked.

"Just a hunch. The Don was missing when we left… and usually he'd hang out with the President after every party. The two are close… and I thought I overheard them discussing something about grabbing the daughter of Lord Godo…" he explained.

"WHAT?! So you knew all along?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Tifa demanded in shock.

"I didn't know that Lord Godo is Yuffie's dad!" he replied with a defensive tone.

"Oh no… and to think that that old geezer's had his eyes on Yuffie the first time he got us!" Elena said in shock.

"Damn… we'd better hurry!" Tifa said before leading the way to the slums.

"Wait! I'm coming with you!!!" Elena said, running after her.

"Let's go, Vinny," Sephiroth said before running after the girls. Vincent rolled his eyes and took off his high heels before proceeding to run after them. "Bloody brilliant… wait up!" he called out with an annoyed look on his face.

Rufus was just following after his father along with Scarlet and they were headed to the 70th floor. "Those AVALANCHE members… they're really going to pay big time!!!" President ShinRa snapped angrily as he continued to climb up the stairs. "Blasted! How are the generators? Don't tell me they busted those too?" he demanded.

"The back-up power supply's been damaged too, sir… Kyah…" Scarlet replied with a tired tone. She had been running around in circles trying to determine what happened to the power supply, and when Hojo had figured out what happened, the President had already lost his patience.

"Seriously, father, how can you locate AVALANCHE when in the past, you had such a hard time finishing them off?" Rufus asked with a sly smile on his face.

"I'll bombard the slums with deadly gas and biological weapons! That should do it!" the President replied.

"What gas? You'll fart at their faces?" Rufus asked mockingly.

"OH YOU KNOW?!!!" the President snapped impatiently. He stopped to catch his breath because he had been climbing up the stairs for the last 30 minutes from the 2nd floor. "What's the matter, father, are you getting too old to climb up these stairs?" Rufus asked. He was also tired but he simply enjoyed mocking his father.

"Shut up, son." President ShinRa replied angrily before he heard his mobile phone ringing. He got it from his pocket and answered the call, "Yeah? Corneo?"

The voice of the Don was very loud, and since the whole area was quiet, Rufus and Scarlet were also able to hear it. "Yeowza!!! Thanks for the help. I already paid your SOLDIERs who helped me get the girl. We're at the Honeybee Inn already."

President ShinRa smiled proudly, "Of course. You're always welcome, my good friend. And by the way, her father, Lord Godo, asked me about her. I said I don't know a thing and didn't notice anything. I told him I'd look for his daughter…" and he laughed.

Rufus's frown deepened upon hearing that.

Scarlet waited until the call was over and asked the President, "So you know something about Yuffie Kisaragi's disappearance?"

"Duh." The President said before proceeding up the stairs. Scarlet followed after him, but Rufus just remained on his place. "Rufus," he called out impatiently.

"Why do you need me up there? Just go check your office by yourself. I'm tired." Rufus snapped impatiently before proceeding down the stairs again going to the floor where his bedroom is located.

Once he reached his room, he locked the door and got his mobile phone, dialing Cloud's number.

Cloud's mobile phone began to vibrate inside his pocket, surprising him. He carefully got it and answered it with a whispery tone, careful not to get busted since he and Zack are passing through a dangerous alley near a gangsters' hideout being lit by torches. "Rufus?" he asked.

"Yuffie's with the Don. He asked some of Old Man's SOLDIERs to kidnap the girl. They're at the Honeybee Inn now." Rufus told him.

Cloud raised his eyebrows. "Gee, thanks. We're just about to go there now. How'd you know?" he asked.

"The Don called my Old Man informing him about it. Hurry up before it's too late," Rufus told him before hanging up.

Cloud placed his mobile phone again in his pocket and proceeded.

"Who was that?" Zack asked.

"Rufus. Yuffie's really at the Honeybee Inn with the Don." Cloud replied. Zack felt disgusted. "That's so gross!" was his initial reaction to what Cloud had mentioned.

"What's gross? Yuffie? Rufus? The Don? Or the Honeybee Inn?" Cloud asked mindlessly.

"Actually, the last two you mentioned." Zack muttered.

They stopped in their tracks when they heard some rustling coming from ahead of them… and to their surprise, the gangsters just popped out from the shadows.

"Got your Buster Sword with you?" Cloud asked him with a frown on his face as he eyed the gangsters. There were around 10 of them… and he knows that there are more.

"Of course," Zack told him before pulling out his weapon. "What about you?" he asked.

Cloud got his Ultima Weapon and prepared for combat. Zack was stunned to see Cloud with another weapon other than a Buster Sword.

"I don't have a Buster Sword." Cloud told him with a stiff tone before he proceeded to attack…

Yuffie woke up.

"OH MY GAWD!" she screeched as soon as she saw Don Corneo's horrible, fat, pudgy, old face leering over her.

"Hey hey hey, honey! You had a good dream?" the Don asked her while doing some sort of happy dance. Kind of like the jig.

Yuffie's mouth was still hanging open. She scooted as far away from the old man as she could. "Where-where-where am I?" she stammered, still kind of freaked out.

"Ah… we're in the best room in the Inn, girl!" he replied with a glint of malice in his eyes.

"Best… room?" She certainly didn't like the sound of that.

Don Corneo looked over to one of the SOLDIERs guarding the room. "You. Tell her what this room is."

"Sure. The #$% Room," the guard replied. The other guards laughed like a bunch of perverts.

Yuffie just kept quiet, eyeing each of them carefully. "Hmf. I can remember your faces easily. I can just report you to President ShinRa!" she snapped.

"Like he will fire us? He hired us for this," one of the guards told her with a mocking tone.

"WHAT?! But…" she trailed off. She growled. "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!!! Once a rat, always a rat! UGH! And to think my dad trusted that old geezer already?!" she thought angrily before turning to the Don. "As for you," she slowly got up and tried to get her shurikens quickly but discreetly from under her gown's skirts but she realized that they were not there anymore.

Don Corneo cleared his throat, catching her attention before showing to her the shuriken blades. She shrieked, "YOU!!! YOU LIFTED MY SKIRT AND GOT THOSE?!"

"Hyuk hyuk hyuk hyuk," he laughed gaily.

Her face was undeniably red already… and she was really steaming mad already. "I'm going to MURDER you!!!!!" Yuffie snapped angrily before grabbing a flower vase and smashed it against the wall. She grabbed one of the shards and held it like a dagger as she approached the Don, not caring if the SOLDIERs were already aiming at her.

The Don felt nervous. "Eh… I…" he began.

"How dare you! You have desecrated me!!! I'm supposed to give up my chastity to the man I love and I don't love you!!!" she snarled before she attempted to stab him, but heard the sound of the guns clicking. She froze.

The Don, upon seeing Yuffie recoiling from the sounds of the guns, regained his composure and smiled lustily. "Oh, don't worry… you're still chaste… well, at least for now… if you know what I mean," Don Corneo said, winking.

She frowned, but slowly dropped the hand that still clutched the flower vase shard. "Bastard," she muttered with contempt. Then, she stood up straighter. "Don't think I'll be that easy to get! I'm not some helpless, pansy princess who doesn't know how to fight!"

"Hahaha! That's a good one! Then why does Daddy have to get you a bodyguard, eh? And how come I managed to kidnap you not once, but twice? Too bad, though," Don Corneo said smugly, drumming his fingertips against each other, "No Turk's gonna come rescue now… And especially no more of those annoying AVALANCHE members… for all I know, those good-for-nothing terrorists are having a party right now since they managed to blow up all of those reactors… Sheesh, if they only knew that blowing up those things actually made kidnapping you a whoooole lot easier! Hyuk hyuk hyuk!!!" The Don's big round belly bounced as he guffawed boorishly. "Too bad, eh? The porcupinish bodyguard ain't here to protect the liddle pwincess! Boo hoo hoo!"

Yuffie wanted to strangle the Don, but she figured that she'd already be shot in the head by the time the pig suffocated. She chose instead to remain calm and unafraid.

"Speechless, huh? Well, if you'd just be a good girl, it would make things easier for the both of us… and Wutai, even, if I feel like it. Hyuk hyuk!" Don Corneo approached her slowly. She backed away, but the guards gave her a threatening look. Any more wrong moves and they won't hesitate to blow her brains out.

"So, what do you say, Yuffie? This isn't just about you or me… it's for the good of your country too! Well, mostly, it's about me, since you jerks kinda KILLED ME just because I thought you were saucy and a lot more attractive than that blondie…" the fat man said.

Yuffie's resolve diminished. "OH MY GAWD, WHY ME?!?!" she yelled desperately.

"Hyuk hyuk! That's more like it! C'mon! Show a bit more action! More drama!" The Don said, starting to hop over to her.

Her eyes widened in both horror and disgust. She jumped back a couple of feet away from him. "Get away from me, you pig! You probably smell like one, too! GROSSNESS!"

"Ha haa! C'mon! I like it when the girls play hard to get!" He hopped again towards her. The guards were beginning to snicker.

Yuffie felt like crying… but she knew she should be strong and never ever let the old geezer get his way. She just scratched her head annoyingly and sat down on the bed again, crossing her arms, but her "weapon" was still in her grasp. "Hmf… don't you dare come closer or else I'm really going to stab on your jugular vein!" she sneered warningly, keeping her eyes off him. She couldn't stand staring at his ugly face and his ugly features… they were enough to make her barf.

The Don wailed in disappointment, "Awww, come on?!" he approached her, but she got up again and moved away from him, showing to him the glass shard. He stepped away before going to one of the guards with a frustrated look on her face. She swallowed hard; she could tell that they're starting to device a plan to maybe deceive her or something… "Oh GAWD!!! I hope daddy or Zack notices that I'm gone…" she stopped when she realized what she had just thought of. She lowered her gaze to the floor with a sad look on her face, "What am I thinking? Zack's not going to rescue me… he's more concerned with Aerith. Hmf." She pounded frustratingly on the wall with the glass shard still in her right hand's grasp… and didn't realize that she had hurt herself, even when her palm began to bleed. "As if my Old Man could do something about it… President ShinRa's involved in this so I'm sure even if he asks help from that President, he wouldn't give a shit about it…" she thought miserably. "I guess it's all up to me… I just hope I'm fast enough so that those damn SOLDIERs will not be able to shoot my brains off," she thought as she slowly raised her right hand… and that's when she realized that she was already bleeding badly. "GAWDS!!!" was her initial reaction as she dropped the bloody glass shard on the floor and stared horribly at her bleeding balm. "Wha… what… what happened?" she asked out loud.

Don Corneo began to panic while the SOLDIERs stared unbelievably at her bleeding hand. "Oh no… shall I call an ambulance, my dear?" he asked as he attempted to go to her, but she slapped his face with her bleeding hand… and he just snapped. "I'm getting impatient, my dear!!!" and dove onto her. She screamed.

"Shit!" Zack cussed angrily as he increased his speed in running towards the Inn when he heard her scream. Cloud's frown just deepened. He reluctantly raced Zack towards the Inn.

"Oh no! What if… what if he's already started doing things to her?! Lord Godo will kill me!" Zack said in panic.

Cloud stopped running and just let Zack go ahead inside the Inn. "I'm coming, Yuffie!!!" he called out which made Cloud imagine that he's like a super hero who's going to rescue a damsel in distress. He just bit his lower lip to stop himself from laughing at Zack. "Super Zack. Heheh. Sounds cheesy." He thought as he finally neared the Inn. He just stood by the doorway of the main entrance, listening to the sounds of commotion. To his surprise and amusement, he heard Zack yelling, "Let the girl go!"

And Yuffie was like, "Zack?!" in a surprised manner.

"Yuffie, are you alright?" he heard Zack say.

"Yeah but…" Yuffie began.

"Don't worry, I'll save you!!!" Zack told her and the next thing Cloud heard were gunshots and screams of pain and agony from SOLDIERs, then some screeches (courtesy of Yuffie) and something like, "EW! GROSSNESS!" and "OH MY GAWD!!!" and then Zack saying, "ARGH! So unfair! Why'd you do that?" and the sound of hacking.

Cloud scratched his head before leaning against the doorway. "I guess my help isn't needed here anymore," he thought to himself before turning away, but he saw Tifa, Sephiroth, Vincent, Aerith, Lucrecia and Elena coming. He stared at them curiously, "Oh you guys are too late," he told them.

They stopped running. Aerith gasped. "You mean… Yuffie's…"

Sephiroth continued for her, "…dead?"

Silence.

"How could you say that?!" Lucrecia wailed, spanking his butt.

Sephiroth just stood still, trying not to mind the pain. "Ow… mom… why'd you have to spank me in front of my friends and random passersby?" he muttered to her.

She just ignored him and went over to the door and peeked inside. "What's going on?" she asked.

"No need to look, Lucrecia," Cloud told her.

"Why? What happened to Yuffie?" Tifa asked as she approached. Cloud noticed that they weren't in ball gowns and tuxedos anymore. "You all went home before going here?" he asked.

"Yeah, we thought you'd go home too." Aerith told him.

"Vincent wouldn't go here in a gown. It'd be too awkward… besides, if anybody saw me wearing a gown and then seeing me with you AVALANCHE members, they'll inform the President and then we're gonna be busted. Rufus is not going to like that." Tifa told him.

They all were silent as they stared at Tifa. She just raised her eyebrow at them. "What?" she asked.

"N…nothing." Sephiroth replied before he turned back to the doorway. "What's going on in there anyway?" he asked.

CRASH. BAM. POW. CLUNK.

"Ow! So unfair!" Zack yelled from inside.

Then silence.

"Are they alright?" Tifa asked.

"I guess so." Cloud said as he finally decided to step inside. The whole lobby was dark because of the blackout, but the #$% room was candle-lit inside, so he easily located it. He and the others went there and were not surprised to see the big mess.

"Whoa," Sephiroth reacted with an amazed look on his face.

Aerith cringed at the sight of dead SOLDIERs on the floor… and the blood on the walls, the door and basically all over the place.

Yuffie was seated in one place, looking so pale and hugging her knees. She was crying already. "Yuffie," Aerith began as she pushed Cloud aside who was blocking the doorway and rushed to Yuffie, but before she could get to her, Zack went ahead and knelt down before the injured girl. "Are you alright?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.

Cloud stepped inside the room and gazed around. "Quite a big mess you made, Zack. You did this by yourself?"

Yuffie sniffled as Zack knelt before her. "Is… is he dead yet?!" she shouted in between sobs.

Zack scratched his head. "W-ell… I'm sure I hit him on the head at least once. It was kind of hard fighting in the dark…" he answered uneasily. While he was talking, she slowly lifted her gaze at Aerith and eyed her rather… hurtfully. Aerith moved away, recognizing the dagger looks. Tifa had once given her that kind of look waaaay back, also at the same place, but she did not really mind it although it hurt her feelings… but at that moment, when Yuffie gave her the same look, it somewhat hurt more than Tifa's. Aerith just bowed down her head, looking away from her and then walking to Tifa, "Let's just go. I don't think we're still needed here. Zack can take care of Yuffie all by himself." She said simply, puzzling Tifa and the rest.

Sephiroth just eyed Zack with an apathetic look on his face before turning to the Don who was starting to move again and struggling to crawl towards one of the dead SOLDIERs on the floor to get a gun. "You… you…" he struggled to say. Sephiroth instantly went to the Don, unsheathed the Masamune and pointed it threateningly at his face. "Don't do anything stupid," he said.

The Don squeaked. "Wha… what are you gonna do to me?!"

Everyone in the room turned to them. Yuffie in particular gave the old man a very scathing look.

"Somebody kill him…" Zack muttered before he carried Yuffie in his arms and got up, going to the door. Sephiroth frowned at him and snapped, "Where do you think you're going, Soldier? You aren't leaving me with your dirty work."

Zack stopped in his tracks.

"Do it yourself, boy," Sephiroth said, striding towards the outside of the #$% Room. "Let's go, guys."

As he exited, the others looked warily at Yuffie and Zack, then to the Don, who seemingly lay shivering on the floor, all bloodied. They silently followed Sephiroth outside. "Well… all yours, Zack," Cloud muttered before completely leaving the room.

The door slammed. Yuffie, who was looking wide-eyed at her friends walk out one by one, shook her head in disbelief and hopped off of Zack's arms.

She opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, but she froze when she heard light, clicking sounds. "What the…" she trailed off. They both turned to the Don. There was a light glow from where he was lying…

Unbeknownst to them, Don Corneo, who had been lying on his side and trying his hardest not to move, managed to get a hold of a PHS. Help thye catght me send bacj-up quick… he desperately clicked the buttons in the phone, messily composing the SMS message.

"What are you doing?!" Zack ran to him.

In time, he pressed the "Send" button to President ShinRa. As Zack came from behind him, he dropped the phone. "Hah! Too late, porcupine boy!" he piped up. "They'll be here in no time! And boy, will you be in trouble! Hyuk hyuk!"

The ex-SOLDIER picked up the phone and read the messy text. $%… he thought to himself.

"Zack, what did he do?" Yuffie asked curiously.

He didn't answer; he just grabbed her hand and started running. "What?! What?!" Yuffie asked frantically.

"We're in trouble," he replied, zooming through the hallways of the HoneyBee Inn, occasionally bumping into old businessmen and a few young girls they picked. He finally saw the exit from the Inn. We have to get out of here before…

Too late. By the time they got outside, there were already many troops of SOLDIERs with their guns raised…

Fortunately, Cloud and the others were already battling them.

"Yah!" Yuffie exclaimed. A few SOLDIERs managed to break through the Cloud party and started to go after the two.

"Damn, they sure are fast!" Zack yelled. "Uh… maybe there's a backdoor… we could escape there…" he said before pulling Yuffie again by the hand.

"Slow down, you klutz! I'm in high heels, remember?!" Yuffie screeched as they zoomed through the hallways again, the two goonies hot on their heels.

A few bullets zoomed by Zack's ear. "They're shooting at us, dammit! We have to run!" he yelled back.

"But, my feet are killing me! I'll trip any second now!!!" she whined as she felt her feet experience, well, hell.

"ARGH! Fine!" Zack said, and in one swoop, he managed to carry Yuffie in his arms as they were running. The ninja in the gown yelped in surprise. "AH! CAREFUL!!!" she said, whacking him on the head.

"OW!" Zack said, flinching. He flinched even more when one of the SOLDIERs chasing them started laughing at him. "Hey?! Why the heck are you laughing at me, you…"

"SHIVA!"

A sudden blast of wind and ice shards from beyond the doorway knocked all of them off their feet, and of course, stopped Zack from finishing his statement. Apparently, somebody from the outside had summoned Shiva while the door was open…

"YAAAAAH!" Zack, Yuffie and the two SOLDIERs screamed in unison.

They landed unceremoniously in a heap on the floor. Zack must have taken in most of the ice shards ("SO UNFAIR!" screamed Zack), because one of the nameless SOLDIERs stood up and grabbed Yuffie while he was off-guard. "Hah-hah! Caught the girl! Now what are ya gonna do, Flaky?" the SOLDIER insulted.

Zack twitched. "Flaky?" he thought silently, remembering the red porcupine from The Happy Tree Friends. Annoyed, he got his buster sword… wrong move.

Another SOLDIER pointed a bayonet against Yuffie's head. "Nah-uh, Zack." The SOLDIER said. Zack was surprised. "How'd you know my name?" he asked, thinking that that SOLDIER could be one of his comrades from before.

"Are you stupid? You're wearing a nametag!"

Zack face-faulted and looked down the right part of his tux. Sure enough, he was wearing a nametag; he'd forgotten to take it off when he ran off from the party. It had little pictures of balloons and confetti for borders and it said, "Hi! My name is Zack! J"

Yuffie, together with the other SOLDIERs tried to stop herself from laughing. Zack stomped his foot impatiently. "It's not funny, you guys! How come I'm the only one who has a nametag and you don't?!" he demanded from her.

"I don't know… maybe they were making fun of you?" she asked.

Silence.

"IT'S SO UNFAIR!" Zack wailed.

Silence.

Yuffie face-faulted. "Uhm… Zack," she said, referring to the bayonet by looking at it.

Zack blinked. "Oh…" he said softly before regaining his super-hero-like composure and pointed his Buster Sword at the SOLDIERs. "Unhand her, you heartless fiends!" he said in a very manly tone.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow together with the other SOLDIERs. "Gah…" she reacted in disbelief.

"Hahah. As if you can do something now…" Don Corneo said as he hobbled going to Yuffie. Zack sneered at him, "You're still alive?"

"Well you weren't able to kill me while you had the chance. And now you're going to wish you did. Hyuk, hyuk…" From inside his jacket, he pulled out a handgun. He raised it and pointed it at Yuffie's head. "Move and she gets it." He clicked it for an added effect.

Oh no… Zack told himself as he desperately racked his brain for a way to get out of this one. If only I'm agile enough… I could stab him before he gets smart… he frustratingly thought to himself.

Yuffie was getting irritated by the minute. Not only were her heels killing her, she was, once again, the damsel in distress. Complete with the pretty gown and make-up, too. This is embarrassing…!! That's it, I'm taking action! She thought angrily to herself as she elbowed Don Corneo's gut. He yelped and fell on the floor, writhing.

Before the SOLDIERs or Zack could act, she had successfully kicked him in the nuts and was already kicking him everywhere else. "H-halt!" one of the SOLDIERs yelled at her, pointing his gun at her warningly. She didn't—she used the stilettos on her feet again to kick the bayonet out of the SOLDIER's grasp. She caught the weapon successfully in her hands, then shot the other SOLDIER's leg. He gasped and clutched his leg in pain.

"Anything else, weasel-face?!" she growled. The SOLDIER shrank back.

Whoa, Zack thought, his eyes wide with surprise. Impressive.

"H-hey?! We were just f-following orders! Don't kill us!" the guy answered, raising his hands in the air.

"Fine… I'll just… incapacitate you. HA!" Yuffie cried, gunning his leg. The SOLDIER fell next to his comrade, both of them whimpering in pain.

"MAN! That felt soooogood, shooting those annoying SOLDIERs…! I never used a gun this size before…" She rejoiced. "Who's the one in distress now? Not me, that's fer shore! Hahahah!"

Zack was still stunned by her sudden outburst. "Yuffie… that was…"

"No time for talk now, Zack! Finish him off," she snapped. "… or are you gonna let him get away again?"