New chapter again... whooo... after this weekend though, they are going to slow down for awhile... I'm getting a permotion, so I'll be a bit busy. I'll still update, don't worry LOL. Characters are copyright Square-Enix... hope you enjoy!

Vincent followed the doctor down the white, bare corridor, until they got to a small room with a bed and various machines strewn about. It was obvious that they'd been busy, they past a few rooms with multiple patients. He saw one man crying, the woman he was next to had her face covered and the monitors off… it was obvious that she hadn't made it. The gunman's face softened just a bit, guilt washing over him.

"It's not your fault or that of your friends…" Black hair whipped around to look at the young doctor, "They are attacking because of us."

"You guys saved the planet, and now Shinra sees their error and is trying to help. This hospital would have closed along time ago, if it wasn't for Rufus Shinra. Sure some things happened in Midgar that I'm sure some of you aren't proud of, but no one but that terrorist group blames you."

"First Gold Saucer, now Edge…" Vincent walked back across the hall and into the room, lying down on the bed. "They won't bother anyone again."

The doctor blinked, "How do you know?"

"The leader is the one that did that to Yuffie, half their number were in Gold Saucer while we were there…"

"You killed him?"

Vincent only nodded, "What do I have to do?" The doctor had him pull his shirt off, so he could figure out the best place to take the blood, when he saw horrible bruising along his left shoulder. "What happened here?"

"A dislocated shoulder, its fine… just sore." The doctor looked at him, amazed the man was able to be so cool and collected with this type of injury. Obviously someone had set it back in place, but he shouldn't have been using it anyway. Vincent just gave him a look like he should be hurrying, so the other man went to work…

"Can I see her when we're finished here?" Lincemen looked to him and nodded, "is she your girlfriend?"

"No," Vincent said softly, "More then that…" She's my reason to live…I really would do anything for her…Just like she would for me.

16 hours earlier…

Yuffie and Vincent had managed to maneuver themselves through the employee tunnels and stairways. They only needed to get past the support structures for Speed Square, and then they would be home free. The tiny shinobi was scared, she didn't really want to find out whether their friends were alive or dead, and she was really worried about the man next to her. Vincent wasn't looking very good, the pressure on his dislocated shoulder was getting worse, even with the makeshift sling she was able to fashion for him. Every time he had to jar himself, jump or bump into anything, he grimaced in pain. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the pain, and he knew that something had to be done soon, or he wouldn't be much good in a fight. He stopped a few moments later, looking over to Yuffie, and a pained look on his face. If the expression hadn't been so heart wrenching, she would have been ecstatic to see so much emotion on his face. "I need you to help me Yuffie…"

The ninja was over in an instant, her face full of concern for him. "Anything, just tell he what to do."

"We need to get my arm back in the socket… I tried running myself into a wall, but the angle is wrong…"

"I understand, I'll hold it tight and you do what you need too." She took a hold of his battered appendage and clutched it to her chest. She closed her eyes, knowing she was hurting him, even if it was to get the pain to stop. She felt Vincent yanked hard against her, and then there was a pained gasp as the arm popped back into the socket. Yuffie moved to support him, and after a few moments he righted himself gingerly moving his arm and shoulder. It still hurt, and would no doubt be bruised, but his claw was usable again. He looked down to his beloved and nodded a bit, telling her she'd done a good job, even if she seemed like she was about to cry. "That must have hurt…"

"It did," he wasn't going to lie when it was so obvious, "but that pain was the only way to fix it… you did well." Yuffie let out the breath she'd been holding, and nodded, grabbing her shuriken off her back and starting forward again. They moved steadily upward, until they hit a fork in the road. The shinobi was about to move toward the next staircase when Vincent grabbed her arm gently and brought his gun up. There was movement down the other corridor, toward the support beams holding Speed Square to the "trunk" of the golden tree. The gunman motioned for her to follow him, so she did, staying close with her shuriken ready. They crossed over a walkway, the exposed internal structure of the platform above them was laid out, and there was a person out on the thickest support beam.

Shattered let out a sharp click as the hammer was drawn back. There was a man crouched, with the same, glowing mako eyes as Kieran, and the man who'd nearly raped Yuffie. What… are all these terrorists ex- SOLDIERS? It would make sense, why they would hate Shinra, and how they can be so efficient… Vincent's new rifle let out a deafening blast, ricocheting off a beam near the man's head. It looks like they are trying to blow all the beams! "Step away from the device, believe me, I will not miss." The man ignored him, pressing a button as the second shot ran out, blowing a hole in the man's head before he fell off the support beam. Vincent jumped off the walkway and onto the beam with Yuffie hurrying after. "What was he doing?"

Vincent frowned, "I think he planted a bomb."

"What?!" Yuffie screeched and stopped, not able to go on further. The gunman however, did not stop, kneeling down next to the bomb. It looked Shinra issue even, and Vincent was starting to get a very disturbing picture in his head. "They probably have bombs throughout the whole place," Yuffie whispered, hurrying over to where the gunslinger was kneeling. "How much time is on it?"

"Five minutes… if they are all synched, there is no way we can stop them all."

"The other one blew two hours ago, there must not be many bad guys here, so they're using the panic to cover their actions. Can you disable it?"

"I could easily if I had a knife," He started examining the hardware, "This is old… we used to use these when I was a Turk." For some reason, his mind drifted to Kieran again, they'd both glimpsed him for a moment… could he be sending some sort of message?

The ninja saw him start to space out and she shook him a bit, "Vince, come on, we've got a lot of people counting on us… and we have to find the other terrorists before they can plant more bombs… can you disarm it?"

He held his claw up, it was shaky, his extended healing was mending the damage, but not fast enough. He could cut the wire with a golden digit, easily if his arm hadn't been injured. "My arm isn't steady, one false move and I could cut the wrong wire."

Yuffie frowned and nodded, looking to her own hand. "Give me your claw… I'll do it. Just show me which wire."

Vincent's eyes widened a bit and he looked down to the heavy weapon. "It's big, I don't know if you'll even have enough control."

"It's the only way… you trust me, don't you." The shinobi had that determined look on her face, and he nodded. He managed to slip his battered limb out of the gauntlet, handing it over to Yuffie. She slipped her smaller hand into it, fitting her fingers into the leather and moved into position. "Ok, which one?"

The gunman knelt behind her and brought his arms around, his malformed arm purposely not touching her without the claw, and he pointed to a red and green wire. He used his other hand to gently pick it up; holding it out and taught so she could easily cut it. They were down to 2 minutes, and the ninja took a deep breath, moving her finger into position.

"Ok," Vincent whispered to her, his voice soothing, "On the count of three… One… Two… Three!"

Yuffie brought the razor sharp tip up, managing to just miss the detonation trip and cutting through the proper wire. The count down stopped and the ninja let out the breath she'd been holding. The gunman let his head fall forward to rest against her shoulder, "Good work Yuf…" he whispered to her and she giggled. "Vinny, did you just give me a nickname?"

"I guess I did." He helped her up and took his claw back, fitting it back on his hand. "It seems they are going down, probably meaning to try and escape through the prison."

"How would they do that, unless they have a buggy parked in the desert?"

"I don't know, but we should head back to Chocobo Square. That's probably the next target." Yuffie frowned a bit, "What about Barret?"

"Try the phone now that it's quiet in here…"

"Oh! Duh, I can't believe I didn't think of that…" She reached into the pocket of her robe and drew out her cell phone. She dialed Barret's number and waited for him to pick up. Much to her relief, after the third ring, a deep baritone answered. "Yuffie?"

"Thank the planet, are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, we'd jus' left Wonder Square when th' bomb blew. 'Myra got a bit of a burn, but we're alright. Whatta 'bout you two?"

"Vince dislocated his shoulder; I only have a small cut. We just caught another terrorist trying to blow up the rest of Speed Square! We think they are heading down, trying to blow them all…"

"Fuck, we're on the platform, I'm tryin' to ge' Myra and Marlene outta here. They're gonna be on the next tram. Some o' the chutes are workin' agin, I'll meet cha' at Chocobo Square. I called Cid, he's on 'is way, wit people to help out."

"Alright, be careful, there isn't a pattern to when the bombs seem to be set, we're using the employee access stairs… once we meet up, and then we can figure out how to go about this. Hopefully Cid will be here."

"Right, be careful you two…" The line went dead and she looked over to Vincent. "He's getting Elmyra and Marlene back to Corel; he's going to meet us at Chocobo Square." The silent gunman nodded and started back towards the walk way. They had another long trek; luckily it was going down this time. He took Yuffie's hand in his, wanting to keep her close. It was sensible and thoughtful, he didn't want to admit he was getting nervous… more scared by the minute. This was bigger then just some random event… those soldiers were out to get them, and they were going to do whatever was necessary. The ninja's phone rang again and she pulled it back out of her pocket, managing to keep hold of his hand, and walk at the same time. "Yuffie Kisaragi!"

"Yuffie?" The voice on the other end was a soft and masculine tenor, laced with worry as it usually was. "Cloud? What's wrong?"

"There was a terrorist attack here… they are saying two hundred people are dead, at least, and many more injured. We've been trying to help out… be careful."

Yuffie frowned and stopped for a moment, looking up at Vince. "There too huh?"

"What do you mean, 'there too?' Is something going on?"

"Turn on the News; we're under attack in Gold Saucer too… Wonder Square is in the desert right now… along with half of Speed Square. They are blowing the support beams and dropping the platforms."

"My god… are you all alright?"

"Yeah, Vince was the worse, but he's alright now. Cid is on his way, we're going to try and stop them before anymore people are hurt."

"Keep me updated, Nanaki, Reeve and Tifa are still in the market, I came back to the bar to check on Denzel. Just call my cell; I'm going back out in a minute."

"Alright… and Cloud… I'm really sorry this had to happen on the day you were supposed to get married."

Yuffie heard him blow out a sad sigh, "I know, I am too… but it doesn't change anything. When you guys get here, there should still be plenty of time to get ready. Just… stay safe, alright?"

The ninja smiled a bit, "We will, you guys do the same." She hung up and rubbed her face, "This is all so wrong… what are we going to do?" The gunman came over and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He kissed her forehead softly, "The best we can… that's all we can give." There was a nod and the shinobi pulled away, taking his hand again. "Then let's mosey," she said, in her best Cloud impression, and pulled him forward. She was silly, crazy… and the most perfect woman in Vincent's eyes. She looked back with an irritated look when he didn't move, and he gave her a tiny smile. "Right… mosey…"