As soon as the elevator doors began sliding open, countless bullets ripped the steel to shreds, almost severely injuring Claire and Zack. The two first class SOLDIER members flew out of the elevator at the very moment the bullets stopped slicing through the weak doors.

The two stood dumbfounded by the sight that rudely greeted their eyes. The entrance to the building was completely destroyed and Shinra sweepers were swarming the area, shooting at all the Shinra infantry men. Four squads of six infantry men had fallen to the rogue sweepers and the two elite fighters were the next target of the sweepers.

"Why are Shinra weapons attacking the Shinra building?" Zack shouted out of surprised realization.

"How the hell should I know?" Claire shouted back before charging towards the rogue machines. Just as Claire reached the first machine a Genesis copy leaped out of a door at her.

"Look out!" Zack shouted over the gunfire. Claire ducked low and shoved Blaze Edge at the gut of the copy, impaling it. Zack ran over quickly to help.

Zack pulled the attention of several sweepers towards him. He was tasked with dodging a rain of bullets from the sweepers while Claire short-circuited them with a burst of lightning magic. One by one the machines fell from fried circuits. Luckily, Zack had not taken any hits and still had his boundless energy.

The two ran down the lobby stairs to the front doors, where a huge gaping hole now took refuge. Genesis copies and sweepers were pouring in through the hole and would be more than enough to slaughter everyone in the building. That is if there were not any SOLDIER members on the premises. Bullets and thunder spells filled the lobby of the building as Claire and Zack destroyed the rogue sweepers and defeated the Genesis copies.

After the flood of enemies had been effectively ceased, the elevator that had not been shredded dinged. Shortly after, Zack and Claire turned to see Sephiroth approaching.

"Sephiroth!" Zack half shouted "The intruders are Genesis copies."

"Hollander must be behind this," Sephiroth said without responding to Zack.

"Hollander?" Claire asked.

"A former scientist that vanished after the cloning technology disappeared," Sephiroth answered swiftly.

"So Hollander and Genesis are working together?" Zack asked, looking between Claire and Sephiroth.

"Perhaps," Sephiroth replied.

Zack crossed his arms and dropped his head "What is it they're after?" The floor did not respond to the black haired warrior. However, Sephiroth did.

"Hollander lost his bid for the leadership of the Science Department. He has, most likely, been harboring a grudge against Shinra ever since. Revenge must be his objective."

"That's just petty," Claire said loudly.

"Are you saying Genesis is supporting that idiotic cause?" Zack said in an offended tone. Claire wanted to say it would not surprise her, but kept her thought where it belonged.

"I would prefer not to believe it, but ..." Sephiroth had turned away from the two and let his gaze fall to the floor.

"Then don't believe it," Zack and Claire almost said in unison.

"Very well," Sephiroth said flatly "Now, Zack. Genesis copies have been sighted in Sector Eight as well," The tall soldier began walking towards the door as he spoke "Let's go," Claire was about to follow "Claire, go back to Serah and Lazard. Zack and I will deal with the streets.

Claire followed Sephiroth's orders and sprinted back up to the shredded elevator and hit the button for the floor of the Directors Office. The elevator drifted upwards, the digital display above the door counting the floors. When the hole filled doors dinged open, Claire calmly walked out and found Lazard still at his desk, Serah sitting on one of the chairs, the alarm still screeching and the emergency lights still shining.

"Where is Zack and Sephiroth?" Lazard asked as if they had gone on break.

"They went into sector eight, to clear the streets," Claire replied. Lazard nodded

Time crawled as Claire stood and waited for Sephiroth and Zack to return, and the alarms to stop screeching. An hour slowly ticked by as Lazard, Claire and Sarah stood in the white office. Director Lazard kept an eye on the event through his terminal and promised to tell the girls when the building was safe.

Suddenly, Claire's SOLDIER issue phone rang loudly.

"Claire," Sephiroth said in a commanding tone "Tell Lazard another group of hostiles are inbound. I am returning from reactor five. Do not leave Lazard's office. Got it? Stay there, it is much safer than engaging these enemies," the call went silent before Claire could ask anything. She to Lazard to deliver Sephiroth's warning and a moment later Lazard was informing the entire building of the incoming attack.

Another hour crawled by as alarms sounded, the building trembled from many fights and Claire was beginning to lose her patience. She paced back around the office, closely studied the large bookshelves, stood guard at the elevator, and talked to Serah. Eventually, the elevator doors opened and in walked Sephiroth, looking no worse than when he left.

"I hope it was peaceful in here. A few of the other floors will take months to repair," Sephiroth said with a shrug. Lazard just nodded to Sephiroth and went back to his paperwork.

"Why did you tell me to stay with the Director?" Claire asked as the elevator slid towards the SOLDIER floor.

"Because we cannot allow any harm to come to him. Besides if you left who would've protected Serah?" Sephiroth asked with a slightly harsh tone. Claire knew it was because he was stressed out about the attack but was still hurt by the tone. When they reached the soldier floor, Sephiroth called for Serah's escort and proceeded to fill out his report.

A few weeks melded together into a long time of training. Claire tried with all her might to become stronger and faster so she could at least match Genesis' records in the simulator. She was also noticing something in Sephiroth. His temper seemed to be getting worse very slowly but he was on edge much more often. Several times Claire saw Sephiroth take his phone out of his pocket look at the display and hang up on whoever was calling. The young pink haired SOLDIER wished she could see what was going on in the legend's head. On the day she decided to ask Sephiroth about what was wrong, she heard he shut himself in the data room. Rumors said he was researching the history of the Shinra Science Department.

On a day of regular patrols, a helicopter landed near Claire. A young looking Turk with his black hair in a small ponytail, stepped out and walked up to Claire.

"Lightning," the Turk said with a nod.

"Who are you?" Claire asked sternly.

"Tseng, of the Turks. I came to get your assistance for a mission in Modeoheim."

"Well, I am not interested in helping you in Modeoheim," Claire retorted. After hearing stories of the Turks, Claire really did not want anything to do with them.

"I did not ask for your assistance, I am drafting it. Now get in," Tseng said in a commanding tone and with a neutral expression.

Claire complied and climbed into the helicopter. She was surprised to see Zack and two Shinra infantry men. The young pink haired SOLDIER sat next to Zack and Tseng sat next to the infantry. The helicopter flew out of the city and over to the Northern Continent. As they approached the outskirts of Modeoheim an explosion roughly shook the helicopter, making a loud beeping start and sending the transport into a spin. Each passenger was able to get clear of the chopper before it smashed into the snow, except the pilot.

Zack was the first to wake up from the crash. He made a noise to imply how annoyed he was.

"Well, that's a fine how-do-you-do!" the black haired SOLDIER said as he climbed to his feet. Claire was also starting to stand up "Okay, you are right there," Zack said to Claire, then glanced around the area in front of him "Tseng! Hey, guys!" he and Claire turned around and saw the other three passengers and the wrecked helicopter behind them. Tseng took out his phone and held it up to his ear.

"No signal out here," he stated as if the helicopter crash was an everyday occurance.

"At least we're all in one piece, except the pilot," Claire said to the group.

"Thankfully, we have someone used to this kind of terrain," Tseng stated.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a country boy..." Zack said with a shrug.

"All right, then. We would have reached Modeoheim by now if we hadn't crashed. So we're going to need to make up for lost time," Tseng said as he walked by the SOLDIER members. Zack took the lead and turned to talk.

"All right, follow me then!" Zack sounded a bit too happy for Claire's liking.

After following the mountain path for several minutes, Claire and Tseng fell behind Zack and one of the infantry men. The other Shinra soldier had fallen behind Tseng and Claire.

"Yo! Don't fall too far behind!" Zack shouted to the others.

"First time in this terrain?" Tseng asked Claire. He could see her shivering.

"Our missions usually don't take us this far north," Claire replied forcing the shiver out of her voice. She saw Zack talking and laughing with the Shinra soldier that had managed to pace him, while they waited for her, Tseng, and the other soldier.

"Good news, Tseng!" Zack shouted "Me and…" the soldier removed his helmet, but all Claire could see was his blond hair "Me and Cloud here are both backwater experts. Oh yeah!" Claire could not help but smile at Zack's immaturity.

"Good. Carry on then," Tseng said just as the two soldiers began walking again.

When Claire, Tseng and the other Shinra infantry man caught up to Zack and Cloud they saw the blond and raven haired soldiers crouched down and looking at the base they had come to investigate. Zack and Cloud stood at the sound of the other three and Claire quickly studied Cloud. The blond had spiky hair, was shorter than Zack but taller than her, and looked no older than Claire.

"That's a mako excavation test site," Tseng stated motioning to the base.

"We'll go check it out," Zack matched Tseng's official tone and motioned to himself and Claire.

"Just remember, Our primary objective is to investigate Modeoheim," Tseng reminded the SOLDIERs "We can't afford to lose any more people here. At the same time, we can't ignore the activities of the Genesis Army. Therefor-"

"Infiltrate while avoiding combat," Claire said in her classic flat tone "Think you can handle that?" Claire directed the comment towards Zack. The tall SOLDIER replied with a roll of his eyes and a smirk.

"The intel said there is an entrance at the back of the warehouse. Once you two are inside the facility, do as you wish but try to keep a low profile."

"All right," Zack said in his cheerful tone "Lightning, lets prove that SOLDIER isn't all about muscle and brawn."

"But that's all you are good for," Claire muttered under her breath.

"You watch carefully too, Cloud. Especially watch Lightning, she's Sephiroth student after all," Claire saw Cloud's eyes widen at what Zack said then the blond quickly nodded.

As Claire and Zack made their way down to the base, Zack asked Claire to take the lead. The pink haired SOLDIER took point not because of Zack's request but because she knew Zack had constantly failed the stealth training simultaions. She also knew, Zack knew, that she knew that. With Claire leading, they successfully infiltrated the facility undetected. After heading down a flight a stairs, the duo came face to face with an old lift. They opened the gate, stepped in, closed the gate and Zack pushed the button to make the lift descend. When the lift slid to a stop a strange sight met them.

Genesis was holding his sword so its point was at the throat of a large man in a lab coat, who she assumed to be Hollander. The sight of Genesis is what caught Claire off guard. Streaks of white through his hair, pale skin, and his coat was starting to turn white above his elbows.

"What's the meaning of this?" Hollander stuttered "You need me, Genesis, remember that. If you get rid of me, who's going to stop the degradation?"

"The Jenova cells," Genesis replied as Zack and Claire forced the gate on the lift open. Claire sprinted forward and slashed at Genesis' sword, knocking it away from Hollander.

"But … nobody knows where the Jenova cells are being kept!" Hollander nearly shouted in surprise as he stood behind Zack "Not even Hojo knows. You'll never find it!"

"Then I shall willingly accept my fate," Genesis stated in his poetic tone "But, I'll take the world with me!" Genesis charged, with a downward slash, at Zack who blocked the blow. Hollander took off running and Genesis pulled away from Zack.

"Zack, go after him," Claire commanded "I will keep Genesis off your back."

Zack looked between Claire and Genesis several times before placing his sword on his back and starting his pursuit of the scientist. Genesis watched Zack leave the area and slowly turned back to Claire, a look of amusement in his eyes.

"So I finally get to fight Sephiroth's student. I am going to enjoy ridding SOLDIER of you, slum rat."

Genesis charged forward with a horizontal slash aimed at Claire's neck. Claire brought Blaze Edge up to block the attack and slid three feet when Genesis' sword crashed into hers.

"Just tell me one thing then, you poetry quoting jackass," Claire growled through gritted teeth "Why do you despise me?"

All I can say is, I am so sorry for how long it took to update this story. I have no excuse for why this took so long to appear. Just every time I sat down to write this chapter I would write a sentence or two then lose all interest. But this story is being continued and the next chapter should not take anywhere near as long as this one did.

Again, I am truly sorry about the wait.

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