A/N: Hey folks! First off I want to thank you guys for all those lovely reviews…wow! I'm sorry for the wait –grumbles- My roster's changed, so I've been working odd hours for the past couple of weeks, got no time to go on the net. But I've got the day off so here we go again with a slightly longer chapter hehe.

Bustahead: Thank you! Your review means a lot to me! –grins- I'm sure you'll do a brilliant job with WW. Hurry and update already!

Veronica: I'm absolutely dee-ligh-ted you're liking this! As for demon ass kicking, Lady and Vergil need to vent that anger on something now don't they? –grins some more-

VergilSparda666 Verge's indeed yummy and all, but will he remain that way when Lady's finished with him? –grins and hugs- Thanks for the review Emily you rock! I promise I'll catch up on Survivor, sorry for the delay, I'm not neglecting one of my fav stories! -points to the author's note-

Sam Valentine: Yeah, they're a tad tense actually aren't they? Hmm, they'd better do something about it before they throttle each other! Thank you for reviewing!

Vampy Sparda: Thanks so much for reading and lovely comments! I do try to keep them in character, and I'm glad you like it. Oh yeah, no worries about Lady making hell for Vergil, he hasn't seen anything yet :0B

Chaos Sparda: Hey no worries! You always make my day with your constructive and positive reviews! –hugs- The muse is still there, but I'm not, unfortunately, work's been a bitch to me. But I promise I'll try and update regularly, say weekly at the very least!

Collective Thanks and Muffins also go to:

Sable , kiki0303 ,Cassandra, Goddess, Chronos, bhr33, breezy1028, Jaded Rose, Leoth, Hideto.

Whew!

Well, here goes…Enjoy!

Now what…Lady wondered, stepping out of the elevator into a dark hallway, eerily illuminated with green phosphorescent lights. She was feeling light-headed and rather uncomfortable around Dante's enigmatic dark twin, but she'd sooner die than show her distress.

She clenched her teeth hard to ignore the stinging pain in her thigh, and held her guns in front of her in a defensive mode as she slowly, carefully made her way through.

Vergil, who was as calm and indifferent as ever even in the most awkward situations that would shatter a lesser man, followed closely behind, although his fingers were loosely curled around the Yamato's hilt at his side.

The pair proceeded down the walkway, Lady glancing over the exquisitely detailed murals covering the either side of the walls, depicting blood-thirsty abominations, glorifying infernal supremacy. A look of sheer disgust crossed her face while Vergil focused his gaze on the huge, masterfully carved statues that decorated the walkway. Statues that resembled chess pieces…

"It's so quiet here…" Lady observed in a low voice.

Vergil retained his detached silence as he quickly scanned the statues, somewhat thoughtful as his demonic perception picked up no devil essence entrapped within the statues' still stone core.

Lady rounded a corner and moved onto the next room, and regretted her action almost immediately.

As soon as her red boot stepped through the threshold, an alarming survival instinct made her dive out of the way of a massive gate that slammed shut behind her, trapping her in the room and blocking the entrance as well. Then the slamming of iron bars resounded from the opposite direction.

Her eyes met Vergil's through the metal bars in mutual surprise, then the bi-coloured irises focused past him, her gun raised.

A slightly puzzled expression on Vergil's face quickly turned into dawning realization as the bullets whizzed past his ears and hammered into the looming statue of a horse-knight behind him that had just sprung to life, its horn poised to impale the half-devil.

Vergil spun with a flourish of his blue trench coat, watching the statue crack and split open, crumbling before his eyes.

Lady then swung around to face her new opponents in the form of damned chess pieces, leaving the half-devil to deal with the rest of the stone monsters in the corridor.

With a sickly greenish blue glow of light, the statues materialized before her; pawns, knights, the bishop, the queen…the full ensemble complete with a particularly freakish looking statue that towered the rest, which Lady assumed was the King.

The pawns' twin swords began to glow red, and the knights advanced, horned heads tilted, preparing to trample her.

Lady lifted her Uzi, her mouth twisting in anger as sheer adrenaline pumped through her aching muscles, finding strength once more. She braced her feet with experienced control, and pulled the trigger.

The powerful submachine gun began to spray across the room with thunderous bursts of fire rounds, devastating all the infernal sculptures that were caught in its range. The bishop, directly in the line of the spattering gunfire, shattered, and Lady emptied the entire cartridge into the dreadful statuary, dispatching the peons and knights which crumbled almost instantaneously at the relentless hail of bullets that tore through their ranks.

The queen started to glow red, hurling fireballs and shooting a laser beam in Lady's direction before the bullets smashed into its stone core, destroying it completely. With a graceful leap, Lady jumped away and dodged the hellfire, landing on all fours lithely before the metal gate.

Quickly, she emptied the Uzi's chamber and fed a fresh clip into the SMG. In the hallway beyond the iron bars Lady could hear the clashing sound of metal on rock followed by exploding rock.

With sweat coursing down her forehead, Lady realized the "King" was still "alive" and had opened its core, revealing a flaming ball of condensed demon energy, ready to blast and disintegrate the puny human.

But the monstrous statue blasted the empty air, crimson beam of laser shooting into the wall uselessly, as Lady propelled herself up and back flipped over the damned king, pointing the Uzi square at the massive statue, her eyes narrowing and her mouth curling into a grim smile.

"Check-mate, asshole!" She snarled, and pumped the full-auto into the King's unprotected core. The monster was forced back from the impact, and Lady smiled when she heard the unmistakable sound of rock smashing into bits and finally exploding, stone shards flying, followed by the sound of iron barricades lifting to reveal the passages once more, she noted with relief.

Rock-dust hung heavy in the air, cascading down Lady slowly and clinging to her dark ebony hair and pale face.

Lady holstered her still smoking guns and watched Vergil walk –no, saunter- into the room slowly, sheathing his katana with a dark elegance and looking at her with an unreadable, scrutinizing blue stare.

"Not bad, for a human. A remarkable performance, which was quite entertaining to say the least." Vergil observed in a bland voice that never failed to provoke her.

Lady felt an involuntary rush of pride at his appraisal, but at the same she was deeply annoyed as well by his supercilious tone.

"I'm glad you're entertained, though I'm sorry to have cut the fun short, but it appears I'm out of target practice. Maybe you'd like to fill in the role?" she said sardonically, in a surprisingly soft voice.

Vergil gave no answer for a moment as he studied her, reluctantly fascinated by her courage. She didn't cower like the others, and always looked at him straight in the face when he spoke to her, and that garnered his grudging respect.

"Well, it's a refreshing change to see you can actually talk like a Lady after all. As for being a target practice, I suggest you join the queue." Vergil said with slight mirth glittering in his eyes, enjoying the transparent, utter vexation on her face.

"You sound really desperate for another round of ass-kicking!" she said irritably, tapping her foot restlessly, her lips pressed in anger. To this; Vergil simply gave a blasé look.

"I think we've already established whose ass gets kicked all the time, as you so elegantly put it. Although I'm in no great rush to repeat our little dispute, I assure you I would never think of being so rude as to refuse a Lady's challenge." He said crisply, sternly, with no amusement this time.

Her vision blurred slightly as she glared, and she braced against a wall to steady herself, her hand travelling to her temple. She tried to shake off the sudden creeping drowsiness and pain that engulfed her leg.

Lady bitterly resented her moment of weakness, hoping it would pass soon, for she never showed emotion other than righteous fury since her mother died, and hardly ever in front of strangers, let alone a devil.

Vergil, on the other hand, simply watched her; he seemed unaffected by the gashing wound on his shoulder and arm, blood staining his blue trench coat to a dark shade of grape wine purple, his demonic blood already beginning the slow healing process.

He wasn't sure which was more irritating; her stubborn refusal to acknowledge and accept her vulnerability, or the fact that they were wasting valuable time. Fathomless blue eyes drifted toward her in an expressionless sideways glance.

Lady was clutching her bloody thigh, wincing from obvious pain, replacing the antiseptic cloth with a fresh one. Vergil noticed the yellow pus oozing with blood from the deep cut, the telltale sign of infection.

Lady frowned deeply, aware of the cruel blue eyes sharply fixed on her, and so she straightened immediately, feeling her head spin from the effort, focusing all her will to stay alert and dignified as possible.

"You don't need to act tough to impress me, so you may as well sit down." Vergil said, gesturing at a cold stone bench that suddenly looked so inviting.

Impress him? He must be out of his mind!

"Oh, thank you kindly. Last time I checked, I didn't require your permission to sit down." She said with bitter sarcasm, feeling her anger return with an immediate sense of despair, a hot flush of embarrassment suffusing her cheeks, her thin raven brows knitting in a frown.

Vergil shrugged airily.

"If you don't slow down, next time you will collapse in the middle of a fight. As far as I'm concerned, a true warrior would rather kill herself than suffer such indignity. But then, it's just me." He said in a toneless, coldly practical voice.

Lady seemed to consider his words for a moment, before mumbling in bitterness.

"Why do you even care…?"

The question echoed across Vergil's mind, quite hollowly…Why indeed? The question is, do I even care?

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…Wasn't it?

"Is that what you think? That I care…?" He asked with a faint hint of amusement.

Lady turned red. "A man who doesn't give a rat about his own family would shower a stranger with warm affection? Yeah, right…" She snorted, feeling a little unsettled about the awkward turn of the conversation.

Vergil felt himself stiffen, though the impenetrable mask of cold aloofness carefully concealed the hurt he felt inside. He didn't know why her words struck deep, but was only aware of a dull pain when she mentioned family…

Seeing the half-devil retain his brooding silence, Lady hastily added as an afterthought.

"Besides, we should separate now.I can find my own way from here…" Her firm voice softened somewhat.

Sure. Vergil thought, I'd like to see how far you get.

"By all means." He said darkly. You're more likely to end up in Hell.

Lady strode toward the opening, and then paused at the doorway as a sudden thought occurred to her. A thought that made her sick in the stomach... He was hiding something. How the hell did he know about the exit in the first room? Besides, if there was anybody who knew how to find his way around in this godforsaken tower, it was Vergil.

Furiously, she turned to face him, keeping her frustration tightly in check as she walked back over.

Taking out her desert eagle, she pointed it at him square in the chest, ignoring the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm her reason.

"What are you hiding, you bastard? You've played your sick game long enough. You'd better start explaining what the hell is going on here!"

Vergil's shadowed face remained perfectly rigid as he took a step forward.

"What game are you referring to exactly?" He asked crisply, approaching closer.

"You're not that dense, are you! You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"No, not really, but could you please clarify for me, so I'm certain not to assume or read between the lines that don't exist!" His hand shot toward her in a blur of motion, grabbing her wrist and wrenching the gun from her grip, frowning down at her sharply as he continued.

"You should be careful with your assumptions there. As far as I'm concerned, the only person who's in the constant habit of playing sick games is your treacherous, belly-crawling snake of a father. You're rather quick to forget he's the reason why we are stuck down here in the first place." Lighting blue eyes flashed, clashing with luminescent bi-coloured ones.

Lady struggled fiercely to free herself from the half-devil's tenacious grip, her eyes blazing right back into his and slanting in rage.

"Don't you EVER mention him to me again! He's not my father!"

Vergil's grasp did not loosen as he leaned closer, glaring down at her, yet his voice was calm and colder than an iceberg.

"Your useless, dramatic sentiments don't change the reality of the situation. I must say I'm somewhat disappointed to have discovered you've inherited more than your eyes from your father. Foolishness is a perfect example to begin with." He said tersely, accusation creeping into his voice.

Lady realized her body was tingling from his awful closeness, brilliant azure eyes penetrating deep, anger roiling in their depths.

"You have no right to judge me, you filthy demon scoundrel! You're the one who started all of this, and look where your stupid ambitions got you! Devil my ass! If this isn't foolishness, I don't know what is!" Lady shouted, unleashing her anger and pain with every word she hurled spitefully at him, snatching her hand from his grip.

Vergil shot her a dark look and flung the gun at her feet with contempt and disgust.

"I tire of your ceaseless insults. Initially I found your impudence mildly entertaining, but now you have overstepped your boundaries!" Vergil's finger twitched on the katana's hilt as he spoke in a voice was dangerously low and sharply edged.

Lady glared, barely refraining from spluttering, decided there was no point in antagonizing him right now, in a dire situation like this. She slowly lowered her gun.

"We're wasting time…" She said somewhat in a more amiable tone.

"I'm with you on that one." Vergil conceded finally, his face grim and glacial, and turned to leave the room.

If this is your idea of ceasefire…Please spare me. Lady thought, rolling her eyes and following the half devil out…

The Forbidden Land was abandoned, or so it seemed. Since the succubi-sorceress Nevan had been gone, lesser demons hardly ever prowled the Subterranean Gardens. Dispatching the few lurking Enigmas and Hell Prides was an easy task for Vergil, and Lady found no trouble keeping up with the half-devil. Her passionate zeal to eliminate the forces of Hell was enough motivation to keep her spirit going. Though Vergil had been right about taking a rest, for she could feel her strength draining and her body rapidly weakening. Worst of all, she was finding it hard to concentrate on the enemy.

When the last of the demons dissolved into a pile of dust with a pain filled screech, Lady put away her guns, sitting against a wall of the cavern, drawing her knees up to her chest, her head bowed as she allowed herself a moment's peace. The silvery trickle of water nearby and the cascading sound of the waterfall beyond the cavern nearly lulled her to sleep.

A quick exploration of the area had revealed no possible exit route, but that was likely to change according to Vergil. They simply had to wait for the tower to rotate again.

Even though he saved her life, Lady couldn't bring herself to trust the half-devil. There was something definitely dark about him, which eliminated the possibility that he had saved her out of the goodness of his heart.

At least, he was a fearless, valuable fighter companion to have around, despite their differences, and the fact that they bickered constantly. Most importantly, he wasn't trying to get into her pants like every other man she had met before. But then, he was not like other men, Lady reminded herself.

Through half-closed eyes, she saw him walking toward her with a languid pace. She couldn't bring herself to look at him this time, although she was sharply aware of him sitting next to her wordlessly.

"Why are you doing this, Vergil? Is all this bullshit really worth casting aside your brother? Your only family?" Before she could stop herself, Lady asked offhandedly, silently with a moment's fleeting expression of sorrow.

The half-devil's head snapped to the girl immediately, regarding her in what seemed like utter surprise…Not because of the uncharacteristic softness in her voice, or the sheer personal nature of the question…But because she actually called him by his name, Vergil noted with interest.

He was not in the mood for a philosophical debate on notions of good and evil, and if she thought he'd permit a moral discussion about his ambitions and his family, she was sadly mistaken.

"Forget I said anything." Lady murmured hastily, glimpsing the finely angled contours of his face twisting in a frown.

She slowly turned to look at him. Vergil was watching her intently, searchingly. He studied the heart-shaped face of hers, the slightly confused and quizzical look in the luminous bi coloured eyes that shimmered with gold and blue specks, the small scar across her delicate nose, the way her lips pursed in displeasure.

She is actually quite beautiful. There was a strange, subtle and mysterious feminine allure beneath that off-putting explosive fire she was possessed of. And the strangest thing was, she wasn't even aware of it, he mused, wondering if those boyish locks of glossy raven hair felt as soft as it looked…

Vergil abruptly broke the eye-contact and stood irritably, hand resting on his sword-hilt as he walked away from her. Lady shivered slightly when he rose, his arm brushing against hers and raising the hairs on the nape of her neck from the brief, fleeting physical contact, charged with something that continued to elude her…and she couldn't quite put her finger on it…

Before she closed her eyes again, Lady pondered why fate had thrown them together like this…

Whatever the reason was, Lady was determined not to let it deter her from her cause.

And she knew Vergil was thinking the same.

Uh oh ...I think Lady needs a green healing orb…like right now! What's going to happen next? Well, I promise you'll find out soon. Review before you go if you like, but you don't have to, but if you do, that'd be really great, I mean, gah review already. –grins-