Thanks to anyone who's reading. Sorry the update took so long.

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Chapter 2

"Why are you doing this?" Vincent asked as he pressed Cerberus into the man's jugular. The soldier didn't reply. His shining camera lens stared back at Vincent, giving away nothing. Vincent's eyes narrowed angrily. He pulled the trigger and let the body slump to the ground.

"I think it's going to be a waste of time asking questions," Hudson advised as he wiped the blood from his dented wrench.

Vincent agreed. These people weren't likely to give anything away. They were hardened professionals. That much had become clear to the two of them as they'd made their way across Kalm.

Vincent studied the body at his feet. The pale, blue glow from the piping that lined the soldier's armor was the only significant source of light in the darkened alleyway. The armor itself was mostly a kind of grayish synthetic rubber with bits of steel plating covering a few vital areas. The soldier's headgear looked like a hybrid of a gasmask and an iron helmet. It completely encapsulated the head and had only a single camera to act as an eye. "You're sure you don't recognize any of this equipment?"

Hudson tossed a perfunctory glance in the corpse's direction. "The gun's a standard issue assault-rifle. You'd find W.R.O. troops carrying the same thing. Nothing else, though. I'd have to do some digging to identify it all."

"You think Shinra manufactured it, then?"

"Who else? Like I told you earlier: Shinra was the only party doing this kind of work until a few years ago. And now, noone's supposed to be doing this kind of work."

"'Supposed to be'," Vincent echoed.

Vincent tilted his head back and looked up into the sky. The smoke had started to spread and was now distorting the light of the full moon. The gunfire and explosions came at almost regular intervals. The screaming was getting quieter and quieter with each passing minute. No one's supposed to be doing this kind of work, either, Vincent thought.

"Are you ready?" he asked Hudson.

"Yeah," the burly man said. "Caught my breath."

Vincent moved on without another word. He jogged down the cobbled streets, trying not to go too terribly fast so that he wouldn't put too much distance between Hudson and himself. Even so, he was having a rough time keeping up. He was plodding along very slowly, wheezing desperately with each breath he took. Vincent had hoped that his friend's capabilities would match his enthusiasm, but it was painfully apparent that they didn't.

Vincent jerked out of his ruminations when he spied a faint blue glow off in the distance. He halted and motioned for Hudson to do the same.

"What is it?"

"I just saw something up ahead."

Hudson squinted. "I'm not seeing anything."

Vincent looked around and found a sturdy-looking drainpipe fastened to a nearby building. "Wait here." He bounded onto the pipe and climbed it with a deft swiftness. He moved along the roof of the building as stealthily as he could. He crouched down low so that his cape dragged along the tiles behind him. He stopped and peered over the edge. It wasn't soldier. There were none in sight, either. He stepped off of the roof and fell to the ground, landing squarely on his feet. He motioned Hudson forward with a wave.

Hudson jogged over. "Aw, hell. It's another one of those gates."

The thing that he was so upset about was a long, thin strip of metal lying on the ground that projected thin rays of blue light into the air. The rays were emitting an invisible field that barred anyone from passing. They had come across dozens of them in the past few hours.

"Do we have any cardkeys left?" Hudson asked.

"Yeah." Vincent produced one of the cardkeys from the folds of his cape. They had come across dozens of them, as well. They had started collecting them pretty early on.

Vincent waved the cardkey in front of the barricade. The rays faded and disappeared. He dropped the cardkey onto the ground knowing that it was now useless. They stepped over the strip and moved on.

"That barricade system must have been designed by some kind of moron," Hudson noted. "What possible good can it do to set up that many of them and operate them by disposable cardkeys? Either one of their soldiers is eventually going to run out of them and get stuck between gates...or an enemy will get their hands on one. Or several."

"They had to have had a reason for using them," Vincent argued.

"Right, but who's to say it was a good reason?"

"Well..."

A piercing scream suddenly drew their attention back to the matter at hand. Vincent made a sharp turn, sped down a narrow lane, and rushed headlong into a small courtyard. At first, he thought he'd come in the wrong direction; the courtyard looked empty. Then he heard a low, guttural growling coming from a tiny alcove off to the side. He had only taken one step toward it when a fast-moving blur jumped out of it. Vincent shot at it reflexively and hit it. The shape flew back and crashed into a garbage can, sprawling out on the ground. He pumped another trio of bullets into it's mid-section to be safe and advanced on the alcove once more.

There were three of them. They appeared to be wearing the same kind of armor that the other soldiers had on, but these were clearly some sort of beast. They each stood on four, spindly legs that ended in wicked-looking claws. They didn't seem to have lips or even skin on their faces so that their horrible, gnashing teeth were blatantly exposed.

They suddenly became aware of Vincent's presence. Two of the beast soldiers pounced on Vincent while the third grabbed something out of sight with its teeth and barreled past him. He fired at the first one, catching it under the jaw and blowing its head almost completely off. He didn't have time to fire on the second one, however. It crashed into him with a force that belayed its small size and knocked him down. It fell on top of him, forcing the wind out of Vincent's lungs. While he was momentarily dazed, the beast soldier reached with its claw/hand and pulled a knife from a sheath on its back. It drove the blade down, but Vincent jerked his head and avoided the attack. He reached up with his own claw and grabbed the creature's throat, holding it in place while he fired upward through its belly. A spray of grime rained down on him as the thing went limp.

He shunted it to one side and regained his footing. It was only then that he noticed the woman cringing in the corner. As they made eye contact, she reached out her hand to him. "It took her! My daughter! It took my Rio!"

Vincent didn't have to be told twice. He turned back to the courtyard in time to see the third and final beast soldier crawl into a large metal container with the girl hanging from its teeth. The door to the container slammed shut before he could even move. Vincent ran over to the box, pounded on the door, and tried to pry it open. It wouldn't budge. He could feel it rattling with the little girl's screams.

He aimed the Cerberus at the container's keypad, steadied his arm, and pulled the trigger.

"No!" Something hit his arm and the bullets ricocheted off of a corner of the box. Hudson shoved him forcefully out of the way. "That's a good way to break the thing." His face was incredibly red. Sweat was pouring off of him in sheets. He was panting thunderously. "I can get it open."

Vincent eyed him suspiciously. "How do you know the password?"

"Doesn't need a password," Hudson explained. "Just a command." He punched a few buttons and moved out of the way.

As soon as the door was open, the beast soldier inside exploded outwards. Vincent didn't fire directly at it for fear of hitting the girl. He allowed the creature to deliver a swipe of its claw as he pivoted out of the way. He shot the thing dead before it could even land.

Vincent kept a cautious lookout while Hudson coxed the girl to come out of the crate. As soon as she was within reach, Hudson scooped her up and hurried back to the tiny alcove to reunite her with her mother. Their words were unintelligible as they hugged and cried over one another, but their gratitude came through loud and clear.

The two men left after making sure the mother and daughter were tucked away in an inconspicuous corner with a number of boxes stacked to shelter them.

"Those things were altered," Vincent suddenly mumbled, half to himself. "Physically altered."

"Yeah, there was definitely something strange about them. They looked like they were part human and part...um...well, part human, anyway."

"This confirms it." Vincent's voice was deathly silent, barely more than a thought that had leaked out through his teeth. "Shinra has to be behind this attack. They're the only ones that would create anything like those beast soldiers."

"It's certainly shaping up that way," Hudson conceded. "And I bet we're both thinking the same name right now, too."

"Yeah," Vincent said. "I'm sure we are."

The eeriness followed them as they reached the center of town. Ribbons of shadow and harsh firelight danced across the buildings. Carts were overturned. Spilt food had been trampled over and mashed between the cobblestones, creating a colorful, slimy latticework on the ground. Coals still burned and churned out thick, lingering smoke.

Vincent knelt and picked up a discarded wreath of laurel. It was flecked with blood. "This place is too quiet. It's the hub of the entire town; anyone trying to leave would have to pass through here. The enemy would have established a base here. Or left some troops here to intercept anyone, at the very least."

Hudson looked around the area skeptically. "Well, Vince, normally I'd say you were right, but-"

WHOOSH!

A huge surge of wind swept across the town square, flinging debris in all directions. Vincent shielded his eyes from the squall and watched a colossal helicopter rise over the tops of the surrounding buildings. It climbed into the night sky and stopped in front of the moon; beams of silvery light were distorted by its rapidly rotating blades.

"Do you recognize this one?" Vincent shouted over the noise.

"Yeah," Hudson yelled back. "It's called a Dragonfly."

"How big of a threat is it?"

"Pretty big. I designed most of the weapons on it."

"Any advice?"

"Off the top of my head...run!"

They wheeled around and sprinted back the way they had come only to stop after a few strides. An electromagnetic barricade burst out of the ground, blocking the exit. They could see barricades flaring up all around the circle, cutting off access to each and every street.

"Alright," Hudson bellowed. "You keep circling around, dodging fire as best you can. Try to get a shot off on it when it comes close."

Vincent nodded. "Try to find some cover."

"Way ahead of you!" Hudson called over his shoulder as he dove behind a pile of wooden crates.

Vincent dashed off in the opposite direction, firing into the air. The Dragonfly took the bait, it swooped in and shot at him. The bullets chased after him, matching him stride for stride; they nearly overtook him. He kept on moving and dodging, blasting back, occasionally, but never hitting anything.

The enemy had apparently gotten tired of dogging him pointlessly and using up ammunition. It halted for a moment. Vincent got the Dragonfly in his sights, but it fired before he could. A missile rocketed out from under its wing and was heading straight for him. Vincent heaved himself forward and skittered across the ground. He came to a stop as the missile flew right past where he had been standing and crashed into a couple of barrels of lamp oil. It forged an intense explosion; Vincent was very nearly singed.

As the flames started to spread, he watched the Dragonfly soar out of view, but not before it dropped a handful of troops into the town center. Vincent reloaded and attacked.

He rushed forward and fired into the swarm of enemy soldiers. Bullets flew in every direction. Vincent was hit more than he would have liked, but not nearly enough to take him down.

He vaulted over a burning pile of cinders, firing from the cover of the smoke. He landed behind a startled soldier. The man cried out; Vincent silenced him with a quick slash of his claw. He shunted the man to one side and shot at another. The soldier caught the bullet in his stomach and fell to his knees in pain; Vincent ended his suffering with a shot to the head.

There were only two enemies left. Each of them opened fire on Vincent; one of them connected. He killed them both shortly thereafter. His main concern, however, was still hovering just out of range and hiding behind the spires of Kalm. Vincent took aim but thought better of shooting. He grunted despairingly.

"Problem?" Hudson asked as he emerged from hiding.

"That Dragonfly looks big enough to hold a lot of troops and a lot of ammunition. I have a feeling that it's just going to use the same tricks over and over again until it wears me down."

"You couldn't hit it?"

"No."

"Hmm..." Hudson scratched his beard thoughtfully for a moment until his eyes fell upon one of the downed soldiers. His eyes suddenly lit up. "I think we might have gotten a little help from that guy you shot in the face."

"Which one?"

"The one with the rifle," he said as he walked over to the still form. He pried the gun out of the man's hands, examined it for a second, and smiled triumphantly. He made several quick motions that, to Vincent, were incomprehensible and then let the gun fall back to the ground. Most of it. What he still held in his hand was a long barrel. "Let me see that gun of yours a minute." Vincent handed over the Cerberus. Hudson fiddled with the contraption and then handed it back with the long barrel now grafted on. "There. Give that a try."

Vincent took aim at the Dragonfly once again. The helicopter was still weaving around the various towers, but Vincent shot anyway. He hit it. The Dragonfly stopped moving for a moment, almost as if it were flabbergasted. Vincent was momentarily surprised himself, but quickly recovered and fired off a succession of rounds into the helicopter.

The damage was visible, even from far away. Smoke plumed out of various holes. Fire was peeking out from under one of the wings. The rotors whined painfully. The Dragonfly slowly turned away and flew off.

"Well," Hudson said smugly, "I'm sure glad I'm a genius engineer."

Vincent dropped the Cerberus back into his holster...and then collapsed onto the ground himself, the blood already beginning to pool around him.