Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. I depend on my daughter, Angeal Valentine, and on Bjanik for all my information on the subject.

A/N—I have found I'm not terribly good at writing fight scenes, so Angeal Valentine has stepped in and helped me. Since you readers were suddenly only two chapters behind me, I needed all the help I could get! With her help, I think I can maintain my chapter a week pace… We're still "real time" in New Banora.

(10 pm, Mideel; 8 pm, Midgar; 4 pm, Gongaga; 12 noon, Wutai)

Tseng could see his night-suit-clad Turks move forward silently through a swamp south of the Banora orchards. Only a sliver of a moon could be seen through the overcast. All the Turks' faces were blackened, all bright hair was hidden, and all carried small machines guns with silenced pistols on their hips and extra ammunition in addition to their own personal, favorite weapons—all but a few. Rufus Shinra, still in his "Redson" disguise, was carrying a sawed-off shotgun—nasty thing. Vincent Valentine carried his overlong, three-barreled handgun, Cerberus, and any number of other, smaller guns about his person, Tseng suspected. Interestingly, Verdot's daughter, Kamui, carried two dark-swathed swords on her back and was no longer wearing her red hat. Instead she had pulled her black jacket's hood over her head. For some reason, she still wore her extremely dark sunglasses. Tseng shook his head. How could she see with those things? Tseng had given his instructions to his people then moved them out—there was a half mile through the swamp for them to cover before they reached the orchards.

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"You're too late. They were spotted entering the swamps. Lynette's people have been expecting an attack of some kind for days, ever since you two showed up." Hollander snorted. "Have to give her credit for brains after all, I suppose." Rude smashed Hollander over the head with his prosthetic arm and silenced him again.

Reno called Tseng. On the monitor, Reno could see Tseng, a puzzled expression on his face, tap the communicator on the side of his head. "Yo, Bossman, you look good on camera!"

Reno heard strangling noises over his PHS and could see faces turn toward Tseng at his reaction. Reno smirked—Tseng had to have been extremely surprised to have made any sound in this situation. Tseng paused just an instant, then rose slightly and gave the hand sign for "take cover." Tseng watched his people move then signed "request location"—that one was for Reno.

"Rude and I are underground, inside New Banora, in a control center, and we are watching you. We're all right, yo. Turn more to your left, so I can see you better." Reno enjoyed the startled expression on Tseng's face at his stage directions, then enjoyed even more Tseng's look of chagrin as he turned. "You've got lots of company coming, boss—they've been waiting for you—seem to have been expecting follow-ups ever since we were captured."

Tseng gave the signs for "direction of attack."

Reno replied, "Unsure, but possibly from the north."

Tseng signed, "how many."

"Again, unsure, but maybe hundreds, even thousands, of clones. You got lots and lots of ammunition, boss? Oh, and there's a huge pool of mako underground here—be careful of explosions. Don't want to set it off and sink the island. Genesis Rhapsodos is here too, along with at least one clone of Angeal Hewley, and some babe called 'Argento.'"

Tseng raised his head slightly considering the information then signed "join us."

Reno shook his head even though Tseng couldn't see it. "We haven't found a way to the surface yet—don't know where we'll come out… Tempting to just stay here and watch you guys, but…" Tseng gave an exaggerated frown so that Reno would be sure to see the expression. "Yeah, okay. We'll head for the surface. We'll be crawling out through an air vent, so don't let anybody shoot us, okay? Oh, and by the way, we've got Tessa Romera!"

Tseng's eyebrows went up (what was that now, six surprises in twenty-four hours?), then he smiled in a relieved fashion and signed, "condition."

"She seems to be okay now. She was in pain when we found her, but we've got her in a flex-tube with new solution… We have enough mako for about another hour, but we're trying to wake her up. We're pulling her through the vents with us. Oh, and Hollander gave her 'growth factor' to speed up her pregnancy?!"

Tseng signed "baby" and "condition," his face full of concern.

"Uncertain, but it seems to be okay as far as we can tell."

Tseng's face went thunderous, then he jerked his head in a nod and waved to someone off screen. Valentine and Verdot (!) joined him. "Whoa. Old Bossman." Reno could see Tseng sign, "captives free," "safe," "coming soon," a pause then "pass word," "be on lookout," "captives," "coming," and "attack imminent." Reno thought he caught a slight note of relief on Valentine's face, then his body went absolutely still for a few seconds. Reno could see Verdot and Tseng both searching Valentine's face. Valentine nodded and moved out of range of the camera to send out the word, Verdot following him shortly. Tseng's head suddenly jerked over his shoulder as if he heard something. Tseng signed, "gunfire," "get here," and "out."

Reno closed his PHS and turned to his partner. "Seems we'd better go, yo. Think we can take Hollander with us? Might make a comfortable bed for Tess…"

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The babies ceased to struggle, and Tessa tried to hug them to her. Lucy and Angel both smiled happily at her and began to spin about one another, almost dancing, then dissolving and spiraling into sparks. The sparks flitted around Tessa then pressed in on her skin. Rather than feeling like insects crawling on her, Tessa felt warmth and tingling sensations where the sparks settled. Gradually the sparks dimmed and went out.

"Must be time to wake up," Tessa thought. "Soon our family will be together, Sephiroth."

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Where are you? How do you feel? Vincent thought to his son, miles away.

Landing… The knifing pain in my guts is gone, but the headache is still there… The burning and fever felt almost like the pain Hojo used inflict on me when he was experimenting. Maddening…

At the moment Vincent could see through Sephiroth's eyes, and he knew that Sephiroth could see Vincent's surroundings as well. They weren't always able to do that, but if either man's adrenaline levels were high, then the connection between them seemed to grow stronger. Usually both men wanted their privacy and respected the other's, but now Vincent wanted to check out Sephiroth's condition for himself. Vincent could tell Sephiroth was lying on his back on a bench in an airship with Zack close by. Zack's face, filled with concern, hovered near Sephiroth's. Vincent could see other Soldiers nearby studiously avoiding looking at their general. Not faraway a man's voice was quietly muttering curses about an engine—he seemed to be flying the airship.

Reno just reported to Tseng. He and Rude have got Tessa with them! She and the baby seem to be all right, and they are trying to wake her. They're working their way toward Tseng's people, but they've also reported that an attack on us is imminent. Genesis Rhapsodos and an Angeal Hewley clone are here in what they've called 'New Banora.'

Relief swamped the connection followed swiftly by a tightening of Sephiroth's muscles as if for action. Vincent even felt a note of sorrow from his son regarding the presence of his former friends. Vincent, keep her safe for me. If anything were to happen to the baby… to her…

I know—only too well. Who better than me? Vincent pulled back out of Sephiroth's mind.

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Vanessa-7 tweaked a knob on the side of the flex-tube and wondered again why they were hauling this woman around when they could have left her in the tube. Well, if Mr. Lowell wanted the woman to wake up, that was fine by her, just as long as Dr. Hollander didn't yell at her later.

The woman's arm jerked. Vanessa-7 could see her extremities beginning to twitch. "Right on schedule," Vanessa-7 thought. Without her earlier continuous supply of anesthetic, the woman was beginning to wake up.

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Reno climbed up into the vent, and Rude tossed Hollander up to him, one-handed. Rude turned away from the vent to his next task.

Vanessa-7 crawled forward to see what the Turks were doing. "Dr. Hollander! What are you doing with him? And what's breaking?"

"Yo, Seven. Help me unload Tess off the cart. We're gonna put Hollander on the bottom and then Tess on top. Think you can help steady them and give directions?"

"Why?" Vanessa-7 looked very confused.

"Because we're all going to the surface. Can you lead us through the vents to ground level, Seven? I'm sure Lowell will kiss you again." Reno raised his eyebrows in one of his "hopeful" expressions. Rude certainly wouldn't mind Reno's committing him to "rewarding" Vanessa-7. Rude was currently smashing monitors in Lynette Hiland's office.

Vanessa-7 still looked confused, but her response was her normal, high-wattage smile and, "OK!"

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Lynette Hiland stood at Genesis Rhapsodos' door and knocked. She had tried using her PHS, but he probably had his phone off and that woman in his bed. She wasn't fond of Genesis' playmate, but then that was just the way some men were—even her precious Londo. When he didn't answer, she pounded the door and called, "Genesis! Genesis, the complex is under attack! Genesis!!" Finally she heard some stirring beyond the door.

"Lynette?" Rhapsodos, bare-chested and wearing only a pair of shorts, opened the door about the width of his face, and squinted at her.

"The complex is under attack from the south swamps. Reports say there are about fifty men and women armed with machine guns. Our people are near the west lab exits. Are you coming?!"

"Men and women, you say? Turks probably, looking for your captives." Rhapsodos nodded. "You head for your office and keep me informed about what's going on via the monitors. Send fifty G-clones to meet me and Argento at the east training room exit. We'll be there in a few minutes…"

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Tseng flinched from the sound of a ricochet but continued to move toward the sound of the gunfire to the west. He had ordered Verdot and Valentine to remain behind with ten Turks to keep an eye on their eastern "rear" while he took charge of the western "front." Ten other Turks were to guard the south, while the roughly thirty remaining Turks were split into "shooters," giving suppressing fire, and "crawlers," working their way forward to make kills. So far none of Tseng's people had been hurt, but the attackers didn't seem to be very numerous. From what Reno had said, that would change, and shortly. Tseng wanted to secure the west end before more Apple Townians, or as Reno called them, 'New Banorans,' showed up.

Tseng found Jayna, Richard and, Tseng stumbled over a tree root, Elena holding the north end of the west line. The low bush the three crouched behind was scant cover, but it was better than the widely spaced apple trees to the north. The trees were still quite young and only a few inches wide. They wouldn't make good cover, for either side.

Elena glanced up from her gun sight to see her boss approaching. Tseng felt his heart in his throat at her gaze. Get her out of here! Tseng signed for Elena to carry a message to Verdot and Valentine to take their ten Turks, and spread out to cover the east and north sides of their party. He could have used his communicator to give the order, but he wanted her away from the current firing. Elena gave him the sharp Turk nod, then staying low, moved away toward the east. Better. Tseng signed for Richard to follow him and for Jayna to provide covering fire while they moved. The two men headed west and a bit north toward one of those cement wells to the sound of Jayna's machine gun's suppressing fire.

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"All right. Time for truth, Vince." Verdot had taken the magazine out of one of his back-up pistols and was examining it. Vincent was certain there was absolutely nothing wrong with the weapon, but Verdot was trying to be casual. So far no enemies had appeared on their front. Off to their left, Verdot's daughter was staying close to her assignment, "Redson." Both men had laughed softly at the assignment—her first executive protection detail—in the middle of a potential battlefield. Verdot had been unconcerned with the assignment, however. Clearly he thought she could handle Rufus Shinra, so Vincent had raised no objections.

Vincent sighed and didn't answer Verdot immediately. Both men continued to scan their surroundings for approaching enemies. Finally, Vincent extended his hand in an old Turk handshake—with the first two fingers extended. Verdot looked at his friend in surprise but immediately clasped Vincent's hand in the same manner—a "bloodline handshake" with both hands' first two fingers lying along the arteries of the other's wrist. The bloodline handshake required the recipient to not repeat the secret about to be imparted without the originator's permission—the equivalent of taking a blood oath. "Do you remember my father? Do you remember his assistant?"

Verdot started. He hadn't expected the explanation he'd been promised to begin at this point. "Your father, of course. Madame Elizabeth had assigned you to executive protection for lab personnel in Nibelheim. That was where Grimoire had been working. His assistant, though? No, I didn't know he had one..."

Vincent's voice wavered and whispered. "Her name was Lucrecia. Lucrecia Crescent." Vincent's voice shook with emotion, and he fought for control. "She and I were briefly 'involved,' but I left. When I returned, she had married that damn Hojo and was pregnant. Hojo was experimenting on her and the baby. When I tried to intervene, Hojo shot me—nearly killed me—then used my dying body for his experiments. At that point, Lucrecia saved my life, though she died soon after the baby was born." Vincent paused, his head drooping, then whispered. "Hojo may have killed her. There was nothing I could do to save her. Eventually Hojo stuck me in a box and expected me to die, a failed project."

Verdot looked at his friend's young face closely. "That's why you haven't aged? Hojo's treatments? And the baby… Was it yours?"

"…Yes…"

"I'm sorry, my friend." Verdot shook his head. "You said you were in a box? For how long?"

"Twenty-five years."

"When did you get out?"

Vincent's words had been slow and drawn out, but now Verdot noticed they became more animated. "About six months ago, a woman pounded on my box and demanded I get out. She claimed to be the wife of my son and soon-to-be the mother of my grandchild!" Vincent glanced at Verdot and smiled slightly. "There was a monster attack going on at the Nibelheim reactor, and she was running off to fight the monsters and demanded I help her. I nearly didn't go, but, no matter whether she was my daughter-in-law or not, I couldn't let a pregnant woman fight monsters. I got out of the box and helped her."

"And is she your daughter-in-law? Did she tell you the truth?"

"…Yes…"

"And what of your son?" Verdot's question went unanswered with the arrival of Elena.

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Tseng and Richard put their machine guns on their backs and crawled on their elbows through tall grass to approach their opponents. One-by-one the roughly twenty Apple Townians' throats were slit, and the gunfire ceased.

As Tseng paused to consider his situation, gunfire and the sounds of hand-to-hand fighting broke out far to the east. Giving Richard orders to hold their current position with ten Turks, Tseng ran for the east.

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Genesis Rhapsodos glanced around the battlefield curiously. He watched the Turks mow down another clone, then tilted his head to Argento. "Take some troops down to the south side, I'll take some up to the north, and we'll meet in the middle."

Argento nodded. "Be careful. I sense some strong ones mixed in with the riff raff."

"Always." Rhapsodos cautioned back, "you be careful too, baby." He kissed Argento gently and then signaled some clones to join him.

Rhapsodos led his group north around the thin defenses of the Turks. He noticed that most of the Turks in the area were just humans who had bit off more than they could chew. He smirked. This would be easier than he'd thought. He flagged over his shoulder for the clones to move, but several moments passed after his signal, and he saw no movement from his group. Pivoting his head, Rhapsodos found his unit on the ground, covered in blood. A hooded figure in black leather and sunglasses stood behind him and held two katanas, one white in its right hand and the other pitch black in its left. Both swords dripped blood.

"Don't worry, they're not dead. I don't kill people who aren't worth the effort," the hooded figure's voice was feminine.

"I'm impressed. Not only did you sense us coming, but you wiped out my group behind my back." Rhapsodos drew his rapier. "You're no ordinary Turk. Who are you?"

"My name is Kamui. Nice to meet ya." Rhapsodos lost sight of her for a moment then he felt her fist drive into his stomach. "Time to beat ya." He flew back, flipped in the air, and landed on his feet.

Rhapsodos smirked. Spit was trickling down his chin. He flicked it away with his thumb. "If I hadn't moved when I did, I would have had much worse." He raised his rapier, right hand by his heart, tip aimed at Kamui. He charged forward with the unnatural speed common to Soldiers and thrust at her heart. She sidestepped his attack and slashed at his ribs. He sensed the slash, pivoted, and blocked. "Good reaction time—too good for a Turk." He ground his feet into the soil and pushed her sword down in an effort to set up a slice to her neck. This was in vain as she ducked his attack, crouched, and laid down her katanas. She propelled herself around with her hands, stuck her leg out, and swept his feet. He leaped into the air to dodge her attack, collected fire in his left hand, and rained fireballs down at her.

Kamui dove out of the way while retrieving her katanas, then turned her attention to Rhapsodos. He no longer hovered in the air. She spun around, jerked her right elbow up, and dropped the tip of her white katana toward the ground. Sparks flew as Rhapsodos' rapier connected with hers. "Far too good for a Turk. Only a Soldier with precog would be able to sense that," he commented as she flipped over his head. Her right foot connected with his shoulder. He winced slightly as he felt his collar bone snap. Rhapsodos swept his sword up and met the resistance of her black katana. The force propelled Kamui higher into the air. Rhapsodos leaped after her, summoned another round of fire, and shot it off. She dodged the first few fireballs, but this time he used his trademark, the Homing Fire3 spell. He redirected his attack—each individual fireball split into three more. He clenched his fist, and the attack overwhelmed Kamui.

Rhapsodos smirked and waited for the woman's charred body to fall from the sky. "Arcana Breaker!" He heard a shout from inside the flaming prison and suddenly faced the woman flying right for him—her white katana ringed in gold energy and aimed for his head. Rhapsodos easily avoided the attack, spun in midair, and countered with an overhead slash for her back. Kamui rolled and met the attack with her black katana. The force behind the attack sent her crashing toward the ground.

"Impressive," Rhapsodos muttered. Something about the move she used to escape from his Homing Fire3 jogged his memory. Only one other person had managed that feat… Rhapsodos, still hanging in mid-air, used the time to watch the woman crash into a supple apple tree. Kamui put the white katana in her mouth and switched her hold on the black one to an ice-pick grip. She placed her free hand on the tree, kicked her legs around, and vaulted back into the air. Rhapsodos spun out of the way of her redirected attack and slashed at her rapidly, repeatedly. She countered every one of his strikes. Rhapsodos smirked as she blocked his most recent attack to her leg. He reached, grabbed her by the face, and launched a Fire3 spell point blank. Kamui convulsed, and Rhapsodos watched her crash to the ground and followed her down. Rhapsodos casually landed next to the woman; he smirked as she struggled to her feet. "What's your rank in Soldier? With moves like those, I'd say you're First Class. Funny, I thought women couldn't join Soldier."

"What are you talking about?!" Kamui snarled. From her position on the ground, she pulled the white katana in a slice up his chest. She cut Rhapsodos' First Class Soldier turtleneck and his kisori's crossed straps exposed by his red coat. A thin line of blood appeared from Rhapsodos' stomach to his chest along with a split in his chin.

"Why you…" he snarled and dragged his sword across her clavicle all the way to her hip. She gasped at the pain. The cut was shallow, but nevertheless the pain was like fire. Rhapsodos pointed his rapier at the injured Kamui; he stooped forward and ripped back the leather hood. A sheet of silver bangs brushed each side of the woman's chin, separated into two groups by her perfectly pointy part. His fist clenched the hood and ripped it from her jacket. A long sheet of silver hair hung suspended between the hood and her head. In a swift cut from his rapier he removed a serious portion of her hair leaving an uneven mess to hang limply on her neck. Rhapsodos dropped the hood and mane, removed her sunglasses, crushed them, and let the remains drip from his fingers. Rhapsodos' azure eyes met a pair of jade green ones, each slashed by a cat-slit pupil, while the vibrant green glow of mako slowly receded. Surprisingly then, he leaned down, took a handful of the woman's hair from the ground and stuffed it in a pocket. Kamui raised an eyebrow at Rhapsodos' action.

"It all makes sense." Rhapsodos smirked. He brought his rapier up to her heart, the blade pressed against the leather. "Now then, I wonder where it is on you." He stepped forward poised to strike, but the woman brought up the black katana and deflected the sword. Instead of her heart, however, Rhapsodos' sword tip sliced open the upper left sleeve of her black-leather shirt. Kamui's legs flexed and propelled her back, away from Rhapsodos. She clutched the leather and ripped it free to reveal an alabaster arm. Thin muscles flexed under her skin. "Hmm… Must be on the other arm…" Rhapsodos muttered.

Rhapsodos charged again. Kamui rolled out of the way, then ran for the ex-Soldier and slashed. "Whacha talking 'bout, you sonuvabitch?!"

"Why, your serial number, of course. Hojo always labeled his clones by batch, row, and pod in the row." Rhapsodos replied as he snaked his sword past Kamui's faltering defense. The other sleeve ripped and revealed a tattoo, KM-1. "Ah… So you're KM-1, and a lucky one at that. Given Hojo's cloning techniques, it's a wonder you're alive at all." He commented while blocking an overhead slash from Kamui's black katana. He deflected the attack and drove the butt end of his sword into her head. She moved enough to avoid serious head trauma, but blood slowly ran from the wound on her forehead into her right eye.

"What do you keep going on about?" She panted.

"Why, my dear, you're a clone! A Sephiroth clone to be precise."

Kamui's eyes narrowed. "You're lying! I'm me!" She charged at Rhapsodos, drew her two katanas together in a scissoring motion, and shouted, "I am not a clone!"

Rhapsodos blocked her scissors by holding his sword vertically, then leapt into the air, tilted forward, and cut deeply into Kamui's left shoulder. He dragged the blade out as she collapsed to the ground and dropped her swords. Her shaking right hand clutched the wounded shoulder. "Tell me. Did you ever dream about places you've never seen, or people you've never met?" Kamui bit her lip and clenched her fist. "Did you ever know your parents? And I don't mean just any parents. Do you know who gave birth to you? What were your parents' names?" Rhapsodos smirked then shrugged. "But then, I can assure you, Seph doesn't know either."

She swallowed, and secondary eyelids flickered over her eyes. "I don't know," she whispered hoarsely.

"There you are. You are a clone," he chided. "Clones aren't real. They're merely tools to be used and thrown away when they've served their purpose. Disposable… Now, for cleanup—I assume you won't mind. After all, clones have no free will. Besides, we can't have more than one Sephiroth in the world, now can we?" He smiled slightly. "Soon enough, there won't be any." He approached her slowly and flicked his wrist to clear his sword of blood. Slowly Rhapsodos raised the rapier over his head and prepared to finish the woman off.

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Malik, the yellow-eyed, Soldier First Class commander of the Mideel base, stood on a darkened airstrip looking up at the night sky, his face grim and set, his hair and clothes blown violently about. He watched a civilian Shinra airship attempting to land without lights close above him. His hand-picked troops and fellow Soldiers stood at his back. They were ready…

A/N—Sorry. I know it's a cliffhanger. Wonder if I can move before Bjanik can find me? But as she herself once wrote, "the chapter breaks where it breaks."