Chapter Twenty

Rufus and Claire fell back, forced to abandon a clean kill on the downed Tyrant because the other Tyrant was certainly not down. And Claire discovered she was out of bullets. Rufus lent her his gun, but she quickly discovered that the featherlight bullets were useless against the Tyrant. "Vincent's got more ammo," she muttered. "And he's on the roof."

So the two raced up the closest stairs. At the top, was a typical, white hallway with doors here and there. Claire tried the first door, but it was locked. So she shot the handle – something she'd always been tempted to do – and kicked the door open. Inside was paydirt. Well, it was an armory full of swords Claire didn't have time to master, guns that looked as flimsy as Rufus's, and what looked like lovely grenades and a rocket launcher.

Claire launched herself at the weapons. She grabbed the rocket launcher as the Tyrant came through the door. But she didn't fire. "Stay close, Sir," she ordered Rufus. "I got this one."

"Sure," Rufus muttered under his breath.

Claire backed up until they were against the wall. The Tyrant stood in the doorway, silently watching.

"What's it waiting for?" Rufus asked.

"Not sure," Claire confessed. Then a second Tyrant stepped into view. The second one was worse for wear. It was, probably, the same one that Claire had downed in the hallway with the fallen soldiers. The wounds were already starting to heal. "Peachy," she muttered. That makes this harder."

She fired a rocket at the injured one, blasting it back through the doorway with a wash of flames. Simultaneously, the other one attacked. Claire waited until it was inches away, then dodged left, pushing Rufus away. The Tyrant hit the wall, causing it to crack and groan.

Without hesitation, Claire ran to the other side of the room, spun and aimed the rocket launcher at the Tyrant. It turned, roaring its rage. And Claire pulled the trigger, launching her second rocket straight at its weak spot. The blast smashed through the Tyrant blasting a hole in the wall, and causing it to stagger. Claire fired again, and by a freak coincidence, Rufus cast Graviga. The combination sent the Tyrant sailing outside into the sunlight. It hit the reinforced wall keeping intruders out, and left a nasty, blood and guts smear on the steel. Pieces of it fell to the ground, but nothing that would allow it to reassemble.

"Yes!" Claire shouted, pumping her fist in the air. She dropped the rocket launcher, and started loading up on weapons. "I feel like Leon," she confessed to Rufus as she strapped a second belt of grenades around her waist.

"I feel like you might have what it takes to be a Turk after all," Rufus said.

Claire grinned at him. "Thanks Sir." She tossed him his gun, and then handed him a stronger weapon. "Use this one on any Tyrants we come across."

Rufus rolled his blue eyes. "Because, of course, we're going after them."

"No," Claire said. "We're going to the roof."

"For Vincent?"

"Helicopter pad," Claire said. "You're leaving; it's not safe here."

Rufus laughed. "What did Tseng tell you to make you so protective?"

"You are my responsibility," she said. "And I don't want you injured."

"Fine," he said. "Let's go. But first . . ." He raised his hand and repeatedly Cast Cure on Claire until her injuries were fully healed. "Now let's see how to get to the helicopter pad."

On the way to the helicopter, Claire encountered the remains of a Tyrant that looked like it might have lost a fist fight. It's already normal head was beat to a pulp and it looked like someone had torn its still-beating heart from its chest and stomped on it repeatedly. A few feet later, she found Loz, unconscious from his Herculean efforts. He didn't look like he'd gotten infected, but she gave him a once over all the same.

"If I order you to leave him?" Rufus asked, as Claire slapped Loz awake.

"I couldn't, Sir," she said, eyes widening. "He's family."

At that second, Loz opened his eyes. "Sis," he muttered, sounding quite pleased. He caught her into a powerful, bone-crushing hug. And Claire remembered his bloody hands, and the globs of wet tyrant flesh on his chest. But it was too late, so she endured the hug and promised herself a long, long bath when all was said and done.

Loz helped her to her feet. "That thing was tough," he said. "But I got the best of it." He looked around, spotting Rufus and throwing him a casual salute. "So, where's everyone else?"

"Still fighting," Claire said. "We're going to the roof. You coming?"

He shook his head. "Naw, I gotta help Kadaj and Yazoo."

Claire nodded. "Watch yourself."

His lips twisted in a cocky grin. "Sure thing, sis." He took off down the hall.

Claire hesitated a second. "Think you could burn it a bit?" she asked Rufus, motioning toward the dead Tyrant.

Rufus responded by toasting it, and then they continued toward the roof.

There were three helicopters on the roof. "You can fly one of these, right?" Claire said to Rufus.

He bushed his hair away from his face. "Of course."

"All right . . . take that one," she said, pointing at the smallest one. "Take it to the Eastern Coast. Leon has a sub on the beach." She gave him a small smile. "Sorry I got distracted from protecting you in the beginning."

"Distracted?" Rufus said, raising an eyebrow. "It was more like Valentine kidnapped you to safety. Although judging by how you looked, he didn't get you to safety fast enough."

"Right," Claire said.

Rufus got into the helicopter, and fired it up. Before he took off, Claire remembered his phone. She pulled it out of her bra, tossing it to him. "Let Tseng know what's going on," she hollered, and then turned away. And found herself surrounded by zombies in lab coats. Apparently something had very recently gone wrong. She shot the zombies, hating the wasted shots, and then hurried back inside. She made it down the stairs and into the hallway where she'd encountered Loz, then heard Leon swearing loudly from the floor below. She hurried down the hall until she came to a hole. Apparently these were floor-and-ceiling destroying Tyrants. She peaked through, spotting Leon against the wall, blood staining his face. Rather than jump through another hole, she detached a belt of grenades and threw them toward him.

Leon grabbed them reflexively. "Claire?"

"In the flesh," she called back. "Do you need ammo?"

"Yeah . . ."

She unhooked some of her ammo and tossed it to him. "Where's your Tyrant?"

"I decapitated it after I ran out of ammo," he said, peering up at her. "Where's yours?"

"Rocket Launcher."

"Nice."

Claire shrugged. "I actually got two that way . . ."

"Very nice," Leon said. "But we seem to have an outbreak going on here."

"I noticed," Claire said. "I sent the President away, and I'm going to the main labs – if I can find them – to see if there's an antivirus. Just in case someone gets bitten."

Leon nodded. "Good idea."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to the dungeon level," Leon said. "I heard some of the guards talking about prisoners. I figure a rescue op is in order."

Claire nodded. "I guess we're going our separate ways then."

Leon blinked. "Separate?" His lips twisted into a small smile. "Yeah, I guess we're just not meant to be."

Claire tilted her head to the side, but Leon waived her off. "Be safe, Claire. I gotta run." He took off, disappearing from view. Claire pulled back from the hole, wondering at the expression on his face. It sounded like he was saying good-bye forever.

Or like he was giving up on her . . . but he'd never been invested in her, had he? And even if he had, why the change? She started to swing through the hole and then froze. Leon could handle himself. He had important work to do, and so did she. She stood up, shooting a zombie shuffling toward her in the forehead. She needed the anti-virus from the labs.

Vincent killed his Tyrant most efficiently. He transformed into Chaos, and hit the stupid-Claire-injuring thing so hard that it flew over the reinforced-steel wall and into the minefield outside. It landed and the resulting explosions finished it off. To be sure, Vincent flew to the wall, and shot the remains until they stopped twitching. Then he went back inside, searching for Claire.

Part of him was afraid it would be a very short search. He expected to go through the hole and find her, body lying at a disjointed angle, face expressionless. Instead he found a dead Tyrant in the adjoining room, a broken pair of sunglasses, and Cloud's buster sword in two pieces. There was no sign of Cloud.

There was also a hole in the floor, with a bit of red cloth from Claire's pants. Vincent dropped through the hole into a laboratory of some sort. He followed the signs of battle through the wall, and spotted several dead soldiers wandering around.

He dispatched of them with a series of headshots. Then followed Claire's bloody footprints until he heard sounds of an ongoing fight. He opened a door and spotted Yazoo, pinned to the wall by a Tyrant.

Vincent lifted his gun, face expressionless and shot the thing in the head. It spun, flinging the impaled Yazoo from its claws. Vincent sidestepped the Sephiroth clone and fired three shots (and nine bullets) into the Tyrants heart. It staggered, then started charging again. Vincent nimbly darted out of the way, flipping over the beast and then standing, waiting for it to turn. When it did, he unloaded the rest of the Cerberus's clip into the thing. It staggered again, and this time pitched forward. It hit the ground and twitched. Vincent turned away.

"It's not dead," Yazoo wheezed. He had pulled himself to a sitting position and was casting Cure on himself repeatedly.

Vincent glanced back at it without turning his head. "Not yet," he agreed. He calmly reloaded his gun. "Have you seen Claire?"

"Sis?"

"She's not your sister," Vincent said.

"Sure she is," Yazoo said. "Sephiroth said so, and that's that." He coughed, and dragged himself to his feet. "Besides, it'll be nice to have a female in the family. I'll bet she doesn't get upset if I cry."

"As a man you should get upset if you cry," Vincent said idly. The Tyrant rolled over and roared. Vincent pumped it full of lead once again, leaving a gaping hole where the majority of its vital organs were. "And you haven't told me if you know where Claire is."

Yazoo started casting Fire on the Tyrant. The smell of burned and rotten flesh permeated the air. "You took her through the roof. That's the last place I saw her."

The door opened, and Loz ambled through. "Hey, Yazoo, couldn't handle it on your own?" he teased. "Sis even took a couple down by herself."

"Alone?" Yazoo said. "She must be as strong as our older brothers."

Vincent personally didn't think Claire was as strong as Cloud and Sephiroth, but he did think she was tenacious. If she'd taken down two Tyrants it was because she was too stubborn to quit.

"Well," Loz said, rubbing his bloody face. "She did have the Shinra President with her. They were heading to the roof."

Vincent nodded and started through the door.

"Hey, it's not dead yet," Yazoo called after him.

"Finish it yourselves."

He rounded a corner – shot another zombie and spotted Kadaj. "Your brothers are just down the hall," he said.

"I'm looking for my sister," Kadaj said. "Hojo isn't quite as dead as we thought. Apparently the idiot cloned himself." He pulled a hand away from his side, revealing a gaping wound. "I don't suppose you have a potion I could borrow?"

Vincent reluctantly gave up one of his x-potions. "Are you sure it was Hojo?"

"Sure as a Touch Me's irritating," Kadaj muttered. "You say the boys are just down the hall?"

Vincent nodded, already walking past the clone.

"Right, well, maybe I'll get them first. Then we can find Sis together."

"Her name is Claire," Vincent said, fighting off irritation. And fear. Claire couldn't get touched by Hojo. If she did, Sephiroth would come back and he'd have to do something . . . he didn't know what. But he did know that Claire would protect Sephiroth forever if he was her child. Just the thought lent his feet wings and he hurried down the hallway. Rounding the corner, a gun was thrust into his face, then retracted.

"How's it going fang-face?" Leon asked. "You're lucky I recognized you."

Vincent untransformed from Chaos to his normal form. "How did you know that I wasn't just an Umbrella monster?"

"The look in your eyes," Leon said. He stepped into an elevator. "I'm going to the dungeon to rescue the princess, you coming?"

"Princess?"

"Prisoners," Leon said.

"No," Vincent said. "Unless Claire is down there."

Leon shook his head, stopping the doors. "We split up."

"You left her?"

Leon nodded. "Yeah, she's got to find the anti-virus. And I got to find the prisoners. So we separated."

"Where's the anti-virus?"

"Labs."

"And where are –"

"Don't know," Leon said. "If you find her . . ." Whatever he was going to say was cut off as the doors closed.