By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Seeing that Tifa was in fact heading up to the lab as ordered, Rude focused his attention on finding out where the gunshots that had rang out earlier had emanated from. His worst fear was that Rasta had found Porter and had killed him. All of the catwalks and stairways within the reactor were linked with a crisscrossed maze of scaffolds and he did his best to start making his way to where he thought the last shot had come from.

***

Reno continued to flee from Rasta as best he could. His legs were burning from the unfamiliar exertion of repeatedly scaling and descending stairs. Rasta was relentless in his pursuit, his cat like stealth allowing him to follow his prey fluidly through the metal jungle.

After some time, Reno found himself at the end of a long since broken bridge. He looked around in desperation for some means of escape, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before Rasta was in position to let off yet another round. Through the sick green glow of the Mako far below, Reno made out the silhouette of another catwalk some distance under him.

Rasta smiled to himself as he spotted Reno in his current situation. His quarry was cornered and he raised his gun to fire. Surely killing this traitorous ex-Turk would earn him a huge promotion and he hoped that the body wouldn’t fall down into the depths of the well.

Hearing the gun cocked behind him, Reno found himself faced with no other option but to jump. As he stepped out into open space, he heard the report of Rasta’s gun firing and it wasn’t until he hit the unforgiving steel of the catwalk that broke his fall that he felt the piercing sting in his left shoulder. He knew he had no time to examine his wound at the moment as undoubtedly Rasta would soon appear to finish him off and so he struggled to his feet and again began to run.

Rasta frowned and cursed to himself, sorely disappointed that Reno had escaped. He made his way to the end of the bridge and looked down, seeing that Reno was already running into the shadows. The Turk shook his head in dismay. Jumping in pursuit of Reno would be the best option but since he didn’t have a lot of faith in the structural integrity of the aging catwalks he decided to try and head Reno off by going another way.

***

Time seemed to stop as Tifa continued to run upwards. One stairwell melted into another as she went, making the climb seem like some cruel never-ending trap. Finally she crested the last of the stairs and found herself at the top of the reactor. There was another keypad lock on the door and she entered what Vincent had revealed to her. A corridor opened up before her leading to Hojo’s projects within.

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end when she heard someone coming up another flight. She assumed a defensive pose and readied herself for whatever threat was about to emerge.

Jaras came into her line of sight and gave little acknowledgement to her presence there. His pace did not slow until he was standing on the uppermost platform with her. "Where are the others?"

Tifa examined him for a moment, seeing that there was something very much different about him at the moment. "Hojo has Vincent… Please help him!"

"Then what are you doing up here alone?" Jaras was unnerved that she would leave his father for any reason.

"A Turk was taking me away and he let me go, telling me that I needed to get up here to finish what we came for." Having fought Hojo before, Tifa knew that she alone was no match for him. Jaras however was another story. He was clearly more Sephiroth now than he ever had been and maybe he would have what it would take to kill the madman. "Do you think that you can help Vincent?"

Jaras narrowed his eyes. If Tifa was able to get into the lab and destroy the experiment then that would leave him free to go after the scientist which was his main goal. "Destroy the lab, I will go take care of everything else."

"Thank you." Tifa clasped her hands together.

Jaras seemed slightly annoyed at her momentary display and turned to leave. "Go do it."

She was a little stunned by his coldness to her, but knew that time was of the essence and decided not to dwell on. Tifa started down the corridor not exactly certain of where she was supposed to go or what she was supposed to do. Finally she saw an eerie blue light coming from a door slightly left open and entered.

***

Hojo stared at Vincent in silence, the ever-present sneer upon his lips. Vincent was doing his best to suppress his trembling but knew that the madman could still see.

"My dear Mr. Valentine, why do you look so afraid?" Hojo took one step closer. "I am not going to hurt you, not yet anyway. Think about it, what can I do with this little gun when your entire body is now metal?"

Hojo’s words struck a chord and Vincent realized that he had been so terrified of the scientist that he hadn’t thought of this obvious fact. Unless Hojo were to actually hit him in the head with a bullet there was nothing for him to fear; and Vincent knew that the scientist’s aim wasn’t that good. He started to think of what he should do.

The fact that Vincent didn’t instantly lunge at him gave Hojo a false sense of security and he allowed his thoughts to wander. "I do have to say, Mr. Valentine, that I am impressed that your little friends were able to get your body up and running again. I suppose that it has something to do with that Quigley fellow but I guess that is no matter now."

Not knowing what was becoming of Tifa at the moment, Vincent still feared for her safety and he glanced up briefly into the darkness wondering where she was.

"Do not worry about her, she is in good hands at the moment." Hojo licked his lips. "I think she deserves to see her child before she dies, don’t you?"

Vincent managed to speak despite the dryness of his throat. "Child?"

"Yes, the Neo-Jenova project is well underway." Hojo smiled. "You will see soon enough for yourself. But first we have some things to discuss."

Vincent noticed the gleam of his own wedding ring as it flashed upon Hojo’s hand, sending a wave of rage through him.

"Why do you keep running away from me, Mr. Valentine?" Hojo cocked his head to the side. "After all I have done for you and all we have been through together, I should hope that you would be more grateful."

"Grateful for what?" Vincent hissed, his anger trying to get the better of him. "Destroying my body? Harming those I care for?"

"Ah now, you know as well as I do that I have improved you and as for those you care for, you know that they do not mean as much to you as I do." The way Hojo said this sent a chill down Vincent’s spine.

"The only thing I feel for you is an overwhelming desire to kill you as slowly and painfully as possible." Vincent regretted for a rare moment the loss of the monstrous demon within him.

"Watch your words." Hojo warned. "You forget that I am your master. If you want my love then you will be respectful."

Such a statement was more than Vincent could bear. Throwing all caution aside he charged the madman.

Hojo was so shocked by Vincent’s sudden movement that he dropped his tiny gun as he raised his hands in a defensive measure. Vincent hit the scientist with his full force knocking him to the ground. A startled screech escaped Hojo as he hit the catwalk, his glasses flying off and down into the well of the reactor.

Vincent wrapped both of his hands around Hojo’s neck and strangled him for all he was worth. "I am going to tear your head off!"

A redness crept into Hojo’s face as he found it hard to breathe but he smiled at Vincent nonetheless. "Give up, Mr. Valentine, you can’t hurt me."

There was an audible creak from Vincent’s synthetic hands as they were strained to their maximum in an attempt to kill Hojo. How the scientist could be smiling at him at the moment was beyond him.

Hojo almost laughed to himself, deciding that this little game needed to end. He grabbed hold of Vincent’s wrists and summoning up the strength that the Jenova within him provided; Hojo easily tore the hands away from his throat.

Vincent looked down with amazement as Hojo held him back as though it was nothing. Desperately he tried to wrench his hands free of the scientist’s grasp but couldn’t manage.

"I’m tired of playing." Hojo said as he pushed Vincent off of him.

Vincent found himself flung backwards, hitting the railing of the catwalk with such force that the whole thing swayed and threatened to give. His world spun for a second as his head smacked against steel. In an attempt to regain his footing, Vincent rose, only to stumble back and fall from his continued disorientation.

Hojo got up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, is it all out of your system?"

"Fuck you!" Vincent spat back, some blood trickling from his lips as he had bit his tongue in the fall. Finally able to regain his balance he got up, relying heavily on the railing for support.

"Mr. Valentine, you most certainly are testing my patience today." Hojo started toward him at a leisurely pace.

Gathering himself, Vincent charged again pushing Hojo violently against the railing on the other side of the catwalk. Again the whole structure wavered under the stress of the two grappling men and the railing behind Hojo couldn’t hold out anymore.

Vincent had little chance to react and with his left hand he grasped some of the remaining rail. Hojo managed to get a hold of the left strap of the pack Vincent had on putting such a strain on Vincent that he thought he was about to be pulled over the edge, casting them both into the Mako well below. With his right hand, Vincent gripped into the grated flooring of the catwalk.

Hojo hung there from him, smiling up seemingly unconcerned at the moment at the current situation. "Get me up from here Mr. Valentine. I will not let go so if I fall so will you."

Vincent was at a loss for what to do. There was no way that he was going to allow Hojo back onto the catwalk, no matter what the cost. "No…"

Hojo changed his position, bringing his left hand up to also hold onto Vincent’s pack strap. "Today if you don’t mind, Mr. Valentine."

"If I have to die in order to kill you, then so be it." Vincent glared down at Hojo.

Suddenly the gravity of the situation sunk in as Hojo realized that Vincent was going to let go of the railing. "How can you? I love you! You can’t do this!"

Vincent closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes, I can and I will."

Slowly he began to allow his hands to loosen from their holds and started to feel the weight of the man hanging from him pull him forward. Although before now he didn’t think much of the prospect of dying, realizing that he would never see Tifa again stung Vincent’s heart. Knowing that he had to do this before he backed out, Vincent let go.