~The Awakening~

The man's long red hair blew in the bitter cold wind as he jumped from the sewage pipe, landing on the rotten and dead ground below. He looked up, and extended his arms for the woman with short blonde haired that accompanied him. He looked up at the pipe squinting his eyes to the bitter cold that blew into them, his untidy suit being thrown into the wind. "Elena, jump, I'll catch you.", Reno yelled up to Elena over the roar of the overheating mako reactors.

Elena simply nodded and jumped, Reno let out a hard sigh as Elena's weight hit his arms. The tall bald man looked down at them both, before jumping out himself and landing on the ground. "Nice landing Rude, I give it about a 9.0." said Reno smugly.

"Now is not a time for jokes Reno, we've got to get away from here, who knows if even Cloud can stop Hojo now", said Rude quite seriously.

"Cloud will handle him Rude, I'm sure of it, but just in case, we'll find a place to go.", said Reno as he put Elena down softly on her feet.

"So where do we go from here" asked Elena questioningly.

"No where to go, but up I suppose Elena we were the lowest of low anything is better than working for the Shinra now", said Reno as he put his electromag rod over his shoulder.

Elena brushed herself off and put a hand on her gun. "This area is dangerous, especially since Hojo started the damn mako reactors to full output" said Elena in a morbid tone.

"We should head for Kalm, I have a couple of friends there" Rude said, breaking his usual silence.

"Great then, we'll decide from there.", Reno said excitedly.

Reno began to walk, as the ground shook violently, in a sudden uproar of mechanical whirs and buzzes. A wall of the mechanical city of Midgar suddenly exploded, throwing shrapnel all over. Rude jumped on Elena,

getting shards of metal lodged into his back. The giant hand that emerged was soon followed by a body, that of a very damaged robot. "What in the Hell!?". Reno exclaimed.

As the robot emerged it was obviously recognized as the "Anti-WEAPON weapon: Proud Clod", though it was burned and had sword slashes

tearing deep into the heart of it's machinery. Reno spied Heidegger’s

figure sitting in the cockpit. "Hey Heidegger, down here!", Reno exclaimed.

He was met by no response, as the huge mechanical monster took a step in the direction of Kalm. "Heidegger! What in the Hell are you doing!?", Reno exclaimed in surprise.

Still no response, as the booming thunder of it's foot hitting the ground again sounded. "Shit, it's heading into town no choice but to stop it Turks..", said Reno worriedly.

He heard no response from Rude and Elena, and sighed bowing his head. "It looks like I'm on my own."

"Not quite.", a silent voice said, yet it reflected a will of iron, and a great intellect.

A gunshot rang out making a dent on the almost invincible Proud Clod as the man shrouded in black and red leapt from the air, shotgun in hand. "Vincent!? Why aren't you with Cloud?", asked Reno worriedly.

"Because, if I was with Cloud, you'd have no one here to help you. And he told me to keep an eye on this thing probably just to keep me away from Hojo.", said Vincent with no emotion in his voice.

Reno stared at the ex-Turk, wondering if the two were really all that different. "Well are we going to stand around all day or take care of this thing?", Reno said, snapping out of his daze.

Vincent pulled his shotgun up to chest level, steadying it's handle on his shoulder as the smell of gunpowder filled the air the shot hitting the robot dead in the chest. Reno aimed for an exposed circuit on it's leg, and fired a small electromagnetic spark, causing it to slightly stumble off balance. A robot whine sounded out as clanging metal moved inside the Proud Clod, suddenly a cold robotic voice broke the silence.

"Proud Clod auto defense program 81 now active."

"Oh shit, now we are in trouble..", Reno said, looking at Vincent.

Vincent leapt backward as the large mechanical arm tore into the

dirt beneath his feet. Reno conceded, putting his electromag rod away, and pulling the hidden Desert Eagle 50 cal. Special Edition from the

holster hidden in the depths of his disarranged and untidy suit coat. Reno took aim with the glittering silver gun, and let a shot ring out, clanging on the surface of the robot's beaten armor. The robot instinctively swung for Reno, as if trying to preserve its very mechanical life. Vincent smirked beneath the collar that covered his mouth, taking the opportunity and leaping onto one of the huge robot's legs, tearing his claw into it's armor and slowly scaling the huge beast. The beast made Vincent's journey uneasy, as it made desperate attempts, flailing it's huge body to try to throw Vincent to the floor, but to no avail, Vincent still hung by his iron claw. Reno looked at the huge beast. "Shit, if I can't get it's attention, Vincent's done for.."

Reno said as he fired another round from the high caliber gun. Reno let a smile cross his face, as the robot responded as he wanted, focusing its attention to Reno. Vincent stared intently on the burned and broken

armor as he climbed up the hulking giant, as if entering another world since the fight started. He studied every groove, as if looking for a means to understand the cold mechanical contraption. "It's like me nothing but a tool of the company made to be manipulated and used" thought Vincent as he reached the cockpit.

"Don't worry, I'll purge you of the disease that festers deep within your heart.", thought Vincent as he tore away the charred remains of the cockpit armor.

He gasped slightly, at the form of Heideggar's body, laying lifeless against the control, blood covering them like a blanket. Vincent stared emotionlessly for a minute, before picking Heideggar up by his neck and lifting him into the air, not showing any effort in lifting the heavy man. Vincent stared deeply into the dead man's eyes, seeing only the user the disease that lingered and festered deep within him and the mechanical slave.

He saw only the pale green features of professor Hojo. Vincent growled in disgust, and tossed Heidegger to the ground below. "Okay my friend he's gone now to finish the process."

Vincent quickly sat at the controls, inputting the self destruct codes that were posted on the blood covered control panel. Vincent sighed as electrical cracks went off, sparks of power, indicating that the controls no longer functioned. Vincent stared up at the ceiling of the monster. "Like me, you cannot be destroyed from your heart, nor are you brave enough to end yourself you need someone to help don't worry I'll oblige this time I'll help you, as if you were my own brother, you will no longer be able to be manipulated.", Vincent stammered out of the cockpit, and began to climb higher.

Reno looked up at Vincent hanging just about at the robot's head level. "What the Hell is that fool doing?", Reno said, dodging another footstep and delivering the last bullet from his gun.

Reno looked at the robot, immediately realizing his mistake in rolling back as the robot bent its knees. The knee machine guns fired before Reno could think. The hot lead tore through Reno's chest, the hot sensation and dulling pain tossing him backward, unable to think of anything but the pain, Reno closed his eyes as the world around him grew dark. Vincent made his way to the laser cannon attached firmly to the robot's back. He pulled the small override lever on the laser with his claw. Mechanical buzzes sounded as safety protocols were override and the sensor beam cannon began charging. Vincent looked at the robot thinking "One last step."

Vincent closed his eyes, flooding his tortured soul with images of the pale green man, of the fare young brown haired woman in the lab coat. Vincent let out an inhuman scream as wings tore from his back, throwing his cape back. His eyes turned an even deeper shade of red, fangs protruding from his mouth. Vincent's clothes surrounded his figure, and consumed him, changing his skin tone to that of a rather dark shade, somewhere in between black and purple. His once calm expression changed into that of a cackling demon. He screamed and arched his back as he made the final stage of his transformation into the beast known only as "Chaos".

He grabbed the large cylinder on the robots back, and ripped it upward, tearing it at such an angle, it aimed at the robot's own head. A computer voice sounded out the robot's last words "5..4..3..2..1.."

The large white beam fired, tearing the mechanical Frankenstein's head off, throwing it's robot body violently to the ground. Chaos took his landing and perched on the robot's body, this was the first time Chaos did not smile..