When i first wrote this one it was a horrendously short chapter, like 2 ana half pages on word, i have since expanded it by writing a few extra passages and combining it with chapter 13 which was also incredibly small. I am now reasonably satisfied with this installment. I hope you will be too.

Chapter twelve

Power Down

"What are going to do now? Just wait until this Brother guy gets here?"

"Well Biggs is there anything that you think we should be doing?" replies Paine.

"I don't know man, but I hate just standing around with nothing to do when in this kind of situation. This place is flooded with things that want to kill us all and soon enough this place is going to be engulfed in a huge Ultima spell. With things like that hanging on your mind a guy needs to have distractions you know? Things to keep a person occupied, least that's the way I like it."

"Well then, let's talk," suggests Yuna.

"About what?"

"Well, I don't know, let's hear a little bit about you guys now that we have some time on our hands. I know we got off to a bad start back in Bevelle, but I want to patch up the past. So, tell me a bit about you Biggs, do you have any family waiting back home?"

"My parents and girlfriend are back in Bevelle. Man if I don't survive this they're gonna freak. If I do live through all this, I'm proposing to her," he smiles at the thought.

"Good for you, and what is the lucky lady's name?"

"Chanra."

"Nice name," she grins, "What about you Campbell?" the man had been quiet as a church mouse throughout most of the recent events and Yuna felt it was time for him to break his silence.

"Yeah I have a family back in Luca. A wife and three kids, my son, the eldest, will be turning sixteen soon. I don't want to miss his birthday."

"You won't."

He beams.

"Vasquez?"

The woman sighs and looks at the floor, "My horizon isn't as rosy as those two. Maddox was my lover ever since we got out of juvenile detention, we were eighteen back then. He was all I had. Now all I have are my instincts to wipe these brutes from the face of the planet. I don't know what I'm going to do after this."

"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss."

"No need, I've rolled with all the punches and hit back. I'll just have to roll a little more than usual this time."

"Ok. Well, I would tell you more about myself and Tidus but I guess you already know all there is know."

"Yeah, good job with Sin and Vegnagun you guys, Spira was really up the creek with those two," commends Biggs.

"Thank you, it's too bad Spira seems so unable to stay out of that creek. We seem to live in a world that has to go through crisis after crisis, and here we are in a new one. I wonder what's in store for us next."

Suddenly the lights in the building go out and a second later the emergency red lights turn on bathing them all in a red glow.

"They cut the power," whispers Paine.

"What do you mean 'they' cut the power? How can they cut the power man? They're animals!" panics Biggs.

Beclem raises his voice, "Vasquez, Biggs break out your trackers and watch those corridors, MOVE!"

He looks to Yuna, Paine and Tidus.

"Its game time… shit, Bishop!" he grabs his radio "Bishop, you copy?"

"Yeah I know I'm heading your way now, I should be there in a second," and true to his word, Bishop he marches through the door.

"Beclem I'm gonna need a weapon."

"Here, take my pistols."

"Thanks."

"No problem, Vasquez, you reading anything?"

"All clear so far."

"What about you Biggs?"

"There's nothing back here yet."

"Stay sharp and don't drift too far."

Beclem pulls Yuna over to one side and hands her a small device that resembles a watch but has no discernable face.

"This is a proximity transmitter. See this device here?" he takes another watch-like object out of his pocket that has several red numbers on its black face, "This is linked to that transmitter, with it I can see how far you are away from me with the digital readout that's on my receiver. I think you had better take it, just in case. Of all the people here you are the one we must not loose."

"Ok," she says, strapping the device to her wrist.

Outside the hospital, Rikku and the Predator walk around to the front, from the right wing of the building and stop in front of the main door. Rikku looks at its control panel by the side and presses a couple of buttons, but the door fails to open up.

"Damn it! They must have welded all the doors shut, all the others are the same, they must have decided to barricade themselves in or something, what are we gonna do?"

The predator says nothing but cocks his head to one side and then grabs Rikku's arm.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

He drags her to an abandoned truck a short distance from the building and they hide behind it.

"What the heck was that for, that really hurt you know."

She looks at him with a slight glare but that soon disappears when she hears the screeches and growls heading in their direction, and then the sound of dozens of feet pounding on the ground. Rikku and the predator peek over the top of the vehicle to see dozens of aliens running towards the hospital. The first ones to reach the building don't stop at the door; they start climbing the walls up onto the top of the building with the rest of them in hot pursuit and they stop once they are on the roof.

The aliens form a circle around one of their own, this central alien points its tail at one of the other aliens which promptly breaks off the end of its tail with its arms, the alien screeches in pain as acid spurts out of its tail. The rest of the aliens back away from it slightly as the alien touches the roof of the hospital with its shortened tail and traces a large circle into the roof. The powerful acid quickly eats through the metal surface and the alien in question falls through the opening and the others follow it.

Rikku turns to the predator, "They're inside they're gonna get to Yunie and the others! We've got to help them!"

The predator looks at the hospital then at Rikku and laughs with a very deep mischievous tone.

She looks at him quizzically, "What?"

The predator checks to see if there are any other aliens around and gets up seeing that all the aliens have now gone inside. He and Rikku move towards the front door. They stop a good 10 metres from the door and the predator holds her behind him.

"What are you gonna do?"

The predator opens up his wrist computer, presses a few buttons and his shoulder cannon springs to life and points in the direction of the main door. He holds down one of the red square buttons on his little computer and the cannon starts to make an electrical humming noise that starts off quietly and with a low pitch but slowly increases in both.

"Wait, you're not… uh oh."

The predator releases the button and a huge glowing ball of plasma fires out at the door. It impacts with a huge white flash and a loud explosion. The smoke clears and a hole can be seen in the doorway, big enough for the two of them to fit through one at a time.

"You know it would have been easier to have done that in the first place instead of walking round the building and wasting time, come on," pouts Rikku.

They dash for the door and Rikku clambers in first, followed by the predator. They see nothing ahead of them and decide to make a run for it.

"I hope we're there in time," prays the young Al Bhed.

Biggs eyes his motion tracker which suddenly starts beeping.

"Hey! I got a signal, two objects and they're closing in on me fast!"

"They can't have sent only two of them to attack us, even they must realize that they wouldn't stand a chance against all of us, are you sure you're reading it right?" questions Beclem.

"I know what I'm seeing! They're ten metres and closing."

He starts hearing footsteps coming from round a corner close to him and he levels his weapon.

"YUNIE!" calls out Rikku, to Biggs' surprise and he lowers his weapon.

"Rikku!" just as he says it Rikku runs around the corner and almost collides with the marine. The predator shortly appears behind Rikku to Biggs' horror.

"Rikku get down, there's one behind you!"

"No! Wait! Don't shoot him, he's not trying to kill me, he's spared me. Don't ask me why it's too complicated, but he is on our side, he helped me out, sort of. Look we have to group together those things are coming! They burned their way through the roof of the building; I don't know where they went from there but they're coming! Where is Yunie?"

"She's in the computer room with what's left of us," Rikku and the predator leave Biggs, who constantly keeps a close eye on it until they disappear from view.

He speaks into his radio, "Beclem! Rikku's here! She's still alive man; she's heading to your position now, oh, one more thing you should be prepared for another unexpected surprise."

"What do you mean by…? Holy shit! Rikku what in Spira's name is that thing doing here?"

"Rikku!" squeals Yuna, she runs and hugs Yuna.

"Hi guys, thought I was dead didn't you? Ha! No chance! Look I know this is not the best time but I would like you to meet a new, well, friend of mine, don't ask me why he isn't killing us, it's complicated and I will explain later but you will have to accept that he is on our side now. But more importantly those creatures are on their way here and there are quite a lot of them, they managed to burn their way through the roof!"

"Okay but first, Rikku I want you to have this," she says, strapping the proximity transmitter onto Rikku's arm.

"What is it?"

"Beclem says it's a proximity transmitter; we can use it to find out how far away from us you are."

"Oh Yunie I don't need that, really, I'm going anywhere."

"Please Rikku, I lost you once today and lost hope of finding you. I'm not going to loose you again, just wear it please, for me."

Rikku smiles and hugs Yuna.

"Okay Yunie, for you."

Biggs's voice suddenly sounds out in Beclem's radio, "Wait a second, I got a signal: Thirty metres and closing."

I decided to leave you on a slight cliffhanger :-D