Chapter 4

Da Chao was normally a bustling city. Ever since the day that Meteor fell, the land of Wutai, which sat almost half a world away from the city of Midgar, had become more and more vital to international trade. After their all-too-recent defeat in the war with Shin-ra (a company which no longer existed), things were looking up for the island nation.

That is, unless the ex-SOLDIER and the two Turks now brawling their way through the central marketplace didn't destroy the place first.

Rude went flying into the air as Rosso gave him an expertly placed roundhouse kick to the stomach. Only the big man's physical conditioning as a Turk saved him from being instantly incapacitated as he struck the front of a now-abandoned tea house, but he could still see spots in front of his eyes. Rosso grinned savagely, apparently pleased with her handiwork.

Unfortunately for her, there were two enemies to deal with. As soon as Rude hit the ground, his partner was in motion; charging in with his trademark Shin-ra Electromag at the ready, Reno bellowed a loud war cry as he jabbed the metal rod at the ex-SOLDIER. The yell betrayed him, however, and Rosso had just enough time to duck aside...as he followed up with a blow aimed at the side of her head, however, she brought her double-bladed crimson sword up to block it. Reno grinned. She didn't even have the time to realize the mistake she had made before he depressed the trigger.

The smell of ozone and the crack of electricity were all the warning she got before two hundred thousand volts coursed up through Reno's Electromag, into her sword, and then into her body. The pain was excruciating, and Reno couldn't help but grin as he pressed his weapon harder against hers. He had half-expected someone in SOLDIER to be a little tougher, but watching her body twitch and jerk as tendrils of lightning played up and down her skin was kind of...disheartening. At least she hadn't bit her own tongue off. "Come on," he chided, "Chocobo-head would never have taken it like this. You're the best SOLDIER can do, yo?"

That taunt seemed to give Rosso new energy. With a herculean effort she placed both hands on the grip and shoved, sending Reno stumbling backward through sheer force as she struggled to her feet. For a moment the two simply stood facing each other, the electricity finally relinquishing its hold on Rosso's nervous system.

Then the SOLDIER charged, raising her double blade overhead. Reno had barely enough time to bring his Electromag up to block as she stabbed downward, knocking the weapon from his hand and sending it clattering to the concrete. However, his response confused Rosso; she was expecting him to cower in terror as she disarmed him. Instead, he took a step back and grinned at her, flicking his wrist. A small dark object flew out of his coat sleeve and into his waiting palm. Her brain immediately screamed a warning at her: Holdout pistol!

The first shot from the Derringer missed her head by inches, forcing her to duck to one side and bring her sword up defensively. The second shot rebounded off of her blade, the bullet splitting into two pieces. One half missed her entirely, but the other scored a deep line into her cheek and blew out a piece of her ear before passing on. She screamed in pain.

Reno pumped his fist into the air. "Boo-ya! Nobody dodges my Reno Special, yo!"

"You got that trick from Gun," a voice intoned solemnly. Sometime in the confusion Rude had managed to come back to his senses, and now stood slightly behind his partner. Reno immediately turned his head just enough to glare at him.

"Christ, did you have to bring her up? Three years since the sky fell, and the doctors are still sayin' she won't be able to breathe on her own."

Rude lowered his head; Reno couldn't tell because of his omnipresent sunglasses, but he suspected the bald man was looking at his feet. "...sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Let's just get this over with." Reno then returned his full attention to Rosso, who was staring at them incredulously.

She was really a pitiful sight; her breathing labored, blood oozing down the side of her head, but still glaring hatefully at the Turks. "You guys...aren't taking me seriously, are you?" she rasped, before doing her best to straighten herself. "This isn't a game, you know. I'll kill you."

The Turks looked nonplussed. Rude gave no indication that he had even heard her, but Reno raised an eyebrow. "Life's a game, babe. If you can't have a little fun, well..." The crimson-haired Turk tossed the empty holdout pistol aside, reached into his jacket, and produced a second Electromag. "...guess that's too bad for you!"

Rosso considered her response carefully.

She was tiring. Her opponents were good, better than she could have ever expected from people who didn't have the special blend of Jenova cells and G-Substance that made the Deep Ground SOLDIERS who they were.

The Jenova cells had lost much of their effect after Meteor fell, however. But the G-Substance...it practically howled in her veins. The legacy of the prototype SOLDIER, G, was something she was intimately familiar with. It was the source of her power, after all, the tainted mako that had something to do with Omega WEAPON. She had never been briefed on the specifics.

But, even though it went against every instinct she had, and the seductive whisper of her altered physiology, Rosso knew she had to retreat. The Turks didn't press their assault because they perceived strength in her. Perhaps they wanted her to surrender. But she knew that if she tried to press the attack, she would fail. And then SOLDIER would die with her, as they did whatever it is they planned to do with her. Dissect her, maybe. She didn't know, and frankly didn't care.

So, she did about the only thing she could do under the circumstances: she drew upon the power of the materia she kept hidden in her sword for special occasions, and a comforting memory rose to the surface of her mind...

I hate you! I...hate...you! Why can't you all just BURN and disappear!

The ground between her and the Turks suddenly erupted into flames, sending a gout of angry orange-red fire at least twenty feet into the air and forcing them to take a step back to protect themselves from the heat.

By the time the Fire2 spell dissipated, she was long gone.

Reno cursed his luck. They had the frikkin' psycho, and then she had to go and pull a spell out of nowhere and run away. "Damn that bitch, I'm going to kill her. Screw the orders, I'm going to kill her."

Rude said nothing. That was expected, Rude hardly said anything unless it served a worthwhile purpose. And soothing Reno's ruffled feathers didn't count as a worthwhile purpose in his mind.

Reno was just about to call for backup, not to mention check on Katana and Shotgun, when he heard a sudden commotion behind him. Whirling around, Reno found himself practically staring into the eyes of the shiniest damn chocobo he had ever seen. And riding on the back of it, astride a well-maintained saddle, was a man in loose-fitting black clothes with a shiny brass gauntlet and a blood red cloak whose high collar kept his lower face out of sight. His hair was long and wild, black as night, and his eyes were a shade of red just slightly darker than his cloak's. Around his forehead was a red bandanna of some kind, perhaps intended to keep his bangs out of his eyes, as they were rather on the long side.

The woman prompted a lecherous wolf-whistle from the Turk. She was definitely a stone cold fox, sitting side-saddle behind the rider to preserve her modesty, as she was wearing a scandalously short miniskirt. Her hair was even longer than her companion's, a light brown color reminiscent of oak, and done up in a high ponytail. Other than the miniskirt and a matching top, her most memorable item of clothing was a labcoat; that struck Reno as rather odd, since most scientists he knew didn't dress like they were going out on a date. His expression darkened a little as he noticed her left arm, which was clearly a prosthesis, and that one of the eyes behind a rather nice pair of glasses had been permanently shut. Ewww...

Of course Reno, as well as Rude, recognized the man in black and red. They knew Vincent Valentine from his time in AVALANCHE, when he and the rest of the group had nearly killed them. Several times. So to say they were a little apprehensive when he showed up practically out of nowhere was a bit of an understatement.

Oddly enough, Vincent was the one to make the first move. "I thought you were handling this." It was more of a statement than a question, and it apparently was enough to break the ice. Reno took a step forward and grinned.

"Heeey, I didn't know they let vampires out during the day." No response. The grin disappeared from Reno's face. "...okay, fine, be that way. We had her pretty well in hand until she decided to blast Fire2 in our faces and book it." Reno couldn't see Vincent's mouth, but he suspected the former AVALANCHE member was frowning at him. The woman was doing her best to ignore him; he found that rather strange, but decided not to comment.

"In hand," the man in the red cloak repeated, almost sounding incredulous, before abruptly dismounting his chocobo with a clank of metal-shod boots on stone. He reached up to give the bird a reassuring pat on the head with his non-gauntleted hand, then brought it back down to his waist. Reno would swear for the rest of his life when recounting the incident that the huge triple-barrel revolver Vincent retrieved wasn't there when he leapt from the chocobo.

"Where'd you get a weapon like that anyway?" Reno asked with barely-disguised interest; he saw Rude tending to the fallen Katana and Shotgun, who were just now waking up.

Vincent ignored him, turning to Shalua. "Stay here with her. I'm sorry, but your gun was a total loss...you'll have to trust me with this one." And then, as soon as the words left his pallid lips, his body seemed to dissolve into his cloak. The tattered red garment flew off into the air as if it had a mind of its own, quickly disappearing from sight.

Reno decided that he was going to need a lot of alcohol to forget this incident. Abruptly, he turned to the woman in the labcoat. "So, what's the deal? You two on a date or something?"

"..."

"Was that a yes?" Reno grinned. He did so love needling people.

"..."

Sigh. Reno decided to drop it. "You're as bad as that guy. You two are made for each other."