I HOLD NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL FINAL FANTASY 7 CHARACTERS! NOTHING! :(
Chapter Four
Headquarters Under Siege
A cold hand ran over her face. Claire didn't move, knowing who it was. It had been a couple of days since the events in Edge and Vincent had yet to wake up. Until now, anyway. Claire had taken a beating herself but the only really bad wound she had was the gash across her chest. She was fine though, just sleeping until Vincent placed his hand on her cheek.
"She's all right," Shalua's voice said. "She was awake before you. We bandaged her up but she refused to leave until you were awake and fine as well. She fell asleep a while ago though. I was just about to join her, too."
"Where are we?" Vincent asked as he turned away. For some reason, Claire couldn't find the will to move. She just laid there and listened.
"Safe inside the WRO Headquarters. I, surprisingly, carried you both back here from Edge after you collapsed from your fight with Deepground. If it hadn't been for a young boy named Barry coming to help, I never would have succeeded. The car didn't hurt, either."
Claire had already thanked Barry for his help. He was normally all over her.
"Barry?" Vincent asked. "Where is he now?"
"I sent him to get something to eat while Claire was sleeping. He's still worried about her. About both of you." Shalua paused for a moment. "It seems like the beast inside of you went a little wild back there. I'm surprised that you didn't hurt Claire back there? Does this happen often?"
"'Went wild'?" Vincent asked. "Do you mean Chaos?" Claire could see him hanging his head. "No…Chaos would never raise a hand against Claire. She's the only one he…"
"Chaos!" Shalua cried out in extreme shock. "Your body harbors the Chaos gene?" Claire could hear her start to pace. "Oh. So that explains your relationship with Dr. Lucrecia Crescent. Were you the product of one of her experiments?"
That woman again! Couldn't Claire ever get away from that horrible witch?
~What experiment is Shalua talking about?~
"Lucrecia's experiments?" It seemed that Vincent didn't know either.
"I apologize," The woman replied. "That wasn't what I meant." She began to pace again.
"Wait. Lucrecia was researching Chaos?" Vincent asked her.
"Don't tell me you didn't know." There was a click. "Crescent, ShinRa Class A scientist specializing in biotechnology. In her research thesis 'The Planet's Pulse', she refers to Chaos as one of the sentient xenoforms residing among us. However," Shalua began to pace again. "The theories that she presented in her work were so abstract and complex…" Claire found herself furious. The very thought of that woman just using Vincent as a research experiment like Hojo had Sienna and Sephiroth…
"Can I…see that thesis?" Vincent asked.
"Unfortunately, no." Shalua admitted. "On top of being obscure, it was never even submitted to the ShinRa database. All I know is what I saw while going through the company's archives."
Claire's mind went to Jeanne. She had a bunch of files and books from Sienna. Maybe…just maybe Jeanne had Crescent's files.
Claire's thoughts were cut off by a phone righting. It wasn't here's though.
"Hello?" Vincent answered. "Cloud." Her brother was calling Vincent? Where was her phone? "What makes you think she isn't?"….Yes, Cloud. Claire's fine. I would let you talk to her but-"
Vincent was cut off by the door opening and the sounds of footsteps.
"I heard about Claire and came as fast as I could," Reeve Tuesti's voice joined the room. "Is she still alive? Did you get it out?"
Vincent wanted to slap a hand to his face, but what Reeve had said caught his attention. ~Get it out? Get what out.?~ A recognizable laughter made Vincent remember that he still had Cloud on the phone.
"Ho! Can you say busted?" Zeke's voice cried out before he started laughing again.
"Vincent-" Cloud began, his voice full of rage.
"I'll call you back." Vincent pulled the phone from his ear.
"VINCE-" Cloud's enraged yell was cut off.
"Ah, Vincent! Have you recovered all ready?"
Claire was caught off guard and closed her eyes again as Barry sat at her feet on the couch that she was laying on. Reeve had said that they had to remove something from her skin. What in the hell was that? What had happened?
"I'm fine," Vincent told the other man. "But what were you talking about? What did you have to 'take out' of Claire?"
Shalua sighed and walked back to her desk. She brought back a vial and handed it to Vincent. He held it up against the light and gazed at it. In the vial was a small, rectangular chip.
"We found this in her wound." Shalua began. "The one across her chest. We don't know what it's for but we weren't just going to leave it there. That Deepground member that you were fighting had to have been the one to place it there. It was a hassle to remove."
"But why? Why was it there?"
Reeve shook his head. "We don't know. But while you're out there together," He glanced at the woman and the child on the cough. "I would greatly appreciate it if you kept a closer eye on her. I would like it better if she stayed away from Deepground but after what's already happened I doubt that she will. So keep her close, okay?"
Claire gave a soundless sigh. Reeve was such a worry wart. But…what did Deepground plan to do with her? That woman said that Weiss was looking for her, but why? Was this another thing that had to do with Jeanne and Cloud or Sienna and Sephiroth? Or was this a totally different subject this time? The next time she saw one of them, she was going to beat some answers out of them.
Believing that now was the time to wake up, Claire pushed herself into a sitting position and stretched her arms, being careful not to open the large wound across her chest again.
"Claire!" Barry cried. "Are you all right?"
"Of course I'm okay," She told the child as she placed her feet on the ground. Barry gave a sigh of relief before a large smile spread across he his face. "That two-bit redhead didn't have anything on me. She just got lucky because I was distracted." Barry laughed and gave her a hug. Claire smiled. "It's good to see you too, Barry. She stood up and Barry grabbed her hand. She knew how he was feeling. His parents were dead now because of Deepground. He didn't have anyone to turn to. Claire made a promise to herself that she was going to take care of him, just like they were doing for Denzel and Marlene. "So, Reeve,:" Claire smiled at the other man. "What did I miss?"
"So," Reeve rubbed his chin after Vincent finished the story. "Rosso the Crimson told you that Protomateria is the 'key to controlling Omega'?"
"So, her name's Rosso, is it? Good. Now I know what name to put on her tombstone when I get done with her." Claire growled.
"Yeah," Vincent nodded in return to Reeve's question.
"Any ideas?" The man asked Shalua.
She glanced at Vincent for a moment before looking away. "Soul wrought of terra corrupt, quelling impurity, purging the stream to beckon forth an ultimate fate. Behold mighty Chaos, Omega's squire to the lofty heavens."
"Where did you-" Reeve looked at the woman in shock.
"Something tells me that this has something to do with Crescent, right?" Claire sighed, avoiding Vincent's look. "She seems to be involved with a bunch of what's happened over the last ten years."
"Yes," Shalua nodded. "It's a passage from her thesis. But that's all I know. Unfortunately, I only saw a fragment of the document. However, Chaos…Omega…and…" She glanced at Vincent and they all got what she was trying to say. "All seem to be connected to Dr. Crescent in some way. There's no other explanation. So was Sienna."
"Sienna?" Claire raised a brow. "What does she have to do with this?"
"I'm not sure but if I were to see her thesis I'm sure that everything would be explained." Shalua shook her head. "We need to gather more data on her to get anywhere."
~I need to call Jeanne later and see if she has those papers.~ Claire told herself with a frown.
"So, say we found her thesis. What would-" Claire was cut off by an alarm going off. "Well that's not good."
"What now?" Reeve growled.
"What do you think?" Claire let go of Barry's hand. "Your Headquarters have been found, Reeve."
"She's right," Shalua sighed. "Damn!" She pulled up a camera on her computer and they watched as Deepground members flew through the halls. She slammed doors shut on them but a few had gotten through and she was sure that it wouldn't take too long for more to break in.
"Reeve," Claire looked at the man. "Can I trust you to keep an eye on Barry while Vincent and I go out there and handle this?"
Reeve nodded. "Not a problem."
"Be careful!" The child called after them as they exited the doors.
"Are you all right?" Vincent asked as they moved down the hall.
"Never better!" Claire smiled, reaching behind her back and grabbing Jeanne's sword. "Don't worry, Vince. I'll be fine."
"Try not to reopen your wound." The man told her as he grabbed Cerberus.
"You don't have to tell me that twice," She sighed.
They hurried through the halls until they came upon the ground floor of the Headquarters where all the fighting was taking place. With a yell, Claire ran out onto the ground, slicing through the Deepground as the WRO members and Vincent fired from behind.
~Damn, Jeanne's training sure does come in handy often!~
They made their way up the floors after clearing all of the Deepground off of the others and on the sixth floor moved through a door to find a short hall with a woman hiding behind the corner as shots were fired at her.
"Mr. Valentine! Miss. Strife!" The WRO woman looked relieved as the bullets continued to come through at them. "A sizeable enemy unit is heading straight for the command center. Please, you have to help the commissioner!"
Vincent moved forward quickly and took care of the men shooting before Claire followed after him after assuring the woman they would save Reeve. There were a group of the Deepground members splattered through the hall but they took care of them and reached Reeve's office quickly.
"Take that!" Claire jumped at the high voice and stared in shock as a Deepground man was tossed outside of the room. She sighed and shook her head with a smile at the sight of Cait Sith walking out of the office, hands on his hips, Reeve and Barry right behind him.
"You little stinker," Claire gave the small cat a boot.
Reeve chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll be fine here. But just so you know, The Tvviets…Azul is still on the loose?"
"That big guy?" Claire shuddered. "I don't even want to think about what he's going to do."
"Don't worry, you'll get him!" Barry smiled, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Aww, your faith in us is amazing." Claire ruffled the boy's hair. "Just stay here with Reeve. I'm going to have someone come and get the moment they return to Edge and take you home, okay?"
Barry liked that and Reeve escorted him back to the office and the two of them left the hall again and got to the stairs.
"Vince," Claire waved the man over and pointed down to the first floor. Azul was standing below before heading off to a door to the left. "Well, we found big-man."
They hurried back down to the first floor and followed Azul through the door and the halls that were behind the door, saving a few WRO members that they came across but Azul was nowhere to be seen as they reached the large room at the end.
"Now how in the hell can that big-ass monkey disappear into thin air?" Claire asked as she paused in her steps, tapping her foot as she glanced around. She then spotted Shalua. "Hey, if you're here then he didn't come-"
The Doctor whipped out a gun and pointed at Vincent. "Don't move." The man froze. Claire was about to open her mouth to speak again when a second voice replied.
"Very perceptive of you."
Claire watched as a child walked out from behind Vincent. "Hey! You're the brat that was with Azul last time!" She then took notice of how she and Shalua looked very similar as Vincent pushed her behind the doctor.
"I knew it." Shalua sounded breathless. She lowered her gun. "Shelke."
The child stared back in silence for a moment. "I have no acquaintances in the WRO."
"We…we've both changed so much." Shalua looked like she was about to cry. "No…you haven't changed at all. Not in ten years."
Claire and Vincent seemed to put it together and exchanged a look. This was who Shalua had been looking for. But who was she?
"Shelke, it's me. Shalua!" The child turned away as the woman hung her head. "I've been searching for you for so long." She moved towards her but the child pulled out one of her sabers, it glowing orange in electricity.
"Don't take another step."
"Shelke?"
"It doesn't matter who I am or who you are." The child began as she pulled out her other saber. "My current mission as a Deepground soldier is all that is relevant."
"No," Shalua shook her head. "It does matter! Even though ten years have passed, you're still Shelke, my only sister!"
~that explains why they look so much alike~ Claire silently commented.
Shelke stared at her for a moment before lowering her sabers and hanging her head. "Ten years. Has it been that long?" She paused for a moment. "The day they came to take me away, I was told I had potential. But those words were nothing but a precursor to a decade of suffering. They manipulated my mind until I was a shadow of my original self. The pain. The fear. For ten years I lived in a hell far deeper than any you could imagine. But look at me. I should be 19 this year. If I don't receive my daily dose of Mako, this body wouldn't last a day. Except, I don't consider myself the least bit unfortunate." Shelke continued. "Except that for so long I held on to a foolish thread of hope that someday someone would come to save me."
Shalua hung her head, her voice trembling as she fell to her knees. "I'm sorry, Shelke. I'm so sorry."
"It's time to put the past behind us." Shelke replied.
"Dear lord," Claire shook her head and glanced at Vincent. "Does this brat think she's the only one that's suffered?" She turned back to Shelke as she glared at the older woman. "Complain all you want about what you've been through but do it to someone who cares. I know people who have gone through WAY more stuff WAY worse than you and yet they're not trying to kill people like you and your little posse is. Take your pity party somewhere else.
"Stop this!" Reeve ran forward. Barry wasn't with him this time so he had to be hidden or with other WRO members.
"Reeve Tuesti," Shelke glanced at the man.
"So, you are Shalua's younger sister." Reeve took a step forward.
"Excellent," The child ignored him. "Now I can terminate both of you at once."
"Look at her." Reeve tried to reason. "That's the prince Shalua has paid fighting ShinRa for the past ten years. She has given more than her arm, more than her eye. She has put her life on the line time and time again. All to find her lost sister. More than half her organs have been reconstructed. Not a day goes by when Shalua doesn't suffer the pain of a hundred souls. But still, she…"
Claire found herself slipping back to Jeanne. That woman had been hurt time and time again as well. Would Jeanne be like Shalua if she didn't have Mako inside of her? If all those tests that Hojo had performed on them hadn't of been done? Would Jeanne, would any of them, still be alive today if that were the case?
"Enough." Shelke sighed. "I've…I've heard enough." She lifted her sabers again and Vincent pulled out Cerberus but Reeve shot a sprinkler above them, raining water down on them all. Shelke still went to hit her sister but the electricity faltered on her sabers.
"Vincent, Reeve, get her out of here," Claire told the others. "I'll take care of her." Nodding, Vincent picked Shalua up and led her away with Reeve as they made for the large doors as the water stopped falling.
"All right, brat." The blonde reached up and pulled out her sword. "Let me show you what a real blade can do." Shelke was fast, there was no doubt about that, but Claire had practice on Yuffie; she was the fastest of the entire group with all her flips and twirls in the air. Shelke's orange sabers didn't touch Claire once but Claire's blade landed all she needed; One good, hard whack to the back of her head.
"And that's why I'm the best," Claire grinned, shooting a peace sign as the child fell to the ground.
"Shelke!" Shalua ran forward to her sister.
"Are you all right?" Vincent asked as they moved away to give Shalua some time alone.
"Yeah, you know that I am." She told him with a small smile as they moved through the hall. Reeve was ahead of them, thinking in silence until there was a huge crash.
"HOLY SWEET MOTHER!" Claire cried. They turned to see that Azul had decided to fall from the ceiling behind them. Claire glanced at the hole. "How in the hell did your big ass fit in that?"
"We meet again," Azul grinned at Vincent, ignoring the woman's comment. "Answer me this. Do you know why you even exist?" Vincent just stood there and stared at him. "Hmph. Just as I thought. Ignorant to you own destiny. Very well. I'll show you what you really are. And then I'll take the woman back with me." Azul walked forward and Vincent shot at him, sending off a huge cloud of dust. Azul wasn't harmed, though because of his Mako shield. "Hmph. You think that they can penetrate my armor? Enough of the games, Vincent. Give me the Protomateria and the woman."
"What in the hell do you want with me?" Claire demanded. "Why me? What did I do?"
Azul grinned. "Only Weiss and Nero can answer that question for you."
~Nero?~ something hit Claire's head. ~No…it, it couldn't be…~
"Nero?" Her voice gave a small shake.
Vincent gave the woman beside him a look. "Claire,-"
"Guys! Over here!" Reeve called and they took off, Azul right behind them. For a big guy, the man could run; Vincent was just faster. He grabbed a rocket launcher and fired it. Reeve and Claire dodged out of the way and let the rocket hit Azul as Vincent was thrown off his feet.
"You shouldn't leave those things lying around." Vincent told Reeve. He chuckled.
"Uh, guys," Claire grabbed her sword. "It's not over yet." Azul was still standing as he laughed but his shield was gone. Claire's eyes grew at the sight of his gun. "Now how is that fair?"
"Well done. You have broken through my barrier."
"This ends here. Leave him to me." Vincent told the other two.
"Are you sure?" She asked him. Vincent gave her a nod and pulled Cerberus out. "You got it. Kick his ass for me." She turned and moved after Reeve.
"Don't run too far now, little flower." Azul chuckled after her.
"Don't call me that!" Claire growled.
Vincent looked at the large man with a frown. "I want you to tell me everything about why they want Claire."
"I told you before, it's Nero and Weiss that know, not me. You can ask them when you meet them. If you meet them." He grinned, pulling the nose of his cannon up and firing.
~Pour some sugar on me
Ooh, In the name of love
Pour some sugar on me
C'mon fire me up~
"And where are we going?" Claire smiled. She and Reeve found Vincent walking towards the front door. Azul was in containment and Shelke was still knocked out; Claire had apparently hit harder than she had thought. Everything was going all right for now as the WRO put everything back into order and cleaned up after the invasion.
The man paused for a moment, deciding whether or not to reply. "Nibelheim."
Claire looked surprised. "Why?"
"ShinRa Manor?" Reeve asked. "But that's where…" He shot a look at the woman with them before sighing. "Understood. However, be on your guard. We have reports of Deepground units deployed in that area."
"Then it would be a good idea for us to use the sewer system that extends from the Mako Reactor." Claire told him.
"Sewer?" Vincent repeated. "How appropriate is that?" He turned to leave but stopped when Claire followed him. "You're not coming." He told her.
Claire placed a hand on her hip. "Says who?"
"I do."
"You can't tell me what to do, Vincent." Claire growled with an angry look. "I can go where I want and I say that I'm going to Nibelheim with you. You won't be able to find your way through that little place without me and you know it! You'll be lost in that damn sewer for days."
"And you know how to get through them?" He asked her.
"Yes, I do. Cloud and I both. That's one of the places we played. Don't get me wrong, the smell was bad but when we didn't wanted to be found no one would even dare look for us there. Just face it; I'm coming and you can't stop me."
"She's got you there, Vincent." Reeve chuckled. "Her mind's set. Just take her."
Vincent sighed and turned to the door again, giving up in the argument. Claire gave Reeve a quick farewell and followed after the other, a large smile on her face hiding the worry in her head.
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