Wutai Town

[Amnesty Lazuli]

A streak of... something... popped out of the bushes and vaulted over Sin's head. "HYAHHH!"

It, or he, or she, or whatever, landed on the pavement behind him, startling Amnesty. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

The unidentified... person... straightened up and pointed an enormous ninja star at the demon/boy. "Beware, unknwon destructor! For I, the white rose of Wutai, shall not abide your random acts of violence against the innocent!"

Ami was taken aback by this bizarre display. Vincent, however, merely approached this new character calmly.

The thing continued to rave, flourishing its shuriken to add dramatic emphasis. "For I have taken it upon my person to destroy evil, protect the pure, and rain vengeance up--"

Vincent tapped the figure on the shoulder, who swiped him off irritably. "Not now, Vincent, can't you see I'm busy striking terror into evildoers here?" Suddenly the figure froze in shock and whirled around. "Vincent!!!"

The sackcloth-wearing apparition danced over and hugged him.

Ami's jaw dropped.

Vincent merely stood motionlessly. "It's good to see you, too, Yuffie."

[Sin]

"Unkown destructor... She has no idea..."

Sin walked over and stood next to Vincent. He looked at Yuffie, his face still hidden so for the moment he wasn't going to get harrassed, yet.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"Geez, how have you BEEN? I saw you on the news... how's your arm? Don't tell me that's the only reason you're here! Did you miss me? How's Cloud doing? Is he here too?" She never even paused once for breath.

"Going once, going twice, sold," Ami muttered sarcastically.

Yuffie looked around Vincent to spot the somewhat incredulous girl. "Who's this?"

Ami stuck out a hand. "Amnesty Lazuli, pleased to meet you."

The girl shook enthusiastically. "Yuffie Kirasagi, Wutai's ninja princess!"

Ami raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Yuffie took a second to ponder that. "Well, nobody else has stepped up to the title, so why get my panties in a knot?" She laughed and did a random twirl, shuffling to a stop to look at the bike. "Wow, is this yours? Man, what would I give for a hog of my own? Lucky!" She turned back to Vincent, bouncing slightly like a hyperactive puppy. "So who IS this friend of yours, exactly? Where'd she come from? Wait, don't tell me, let me guess. Yet another loser in it to save the world? I guessed right, didn't I? I can tell by the look on your face!"

Vincent had the same impassive look as always. Ami might have pointed this out, had he not spoken up first (there is a first time for everything). "Is Shelke available?"

"Shelke? Sure! She's just doing some contract work down in the shop. Did she know you were coming? SHe never told me! I'm the last to hear about anything around here..."

Vincent merely began to walk. He knew too well there would be no shutting her up.

****

They entered the house-like building, walking past arrays of mechanical appendages and apparatus. Some looked simple, while others were fantastically elaborate, incorporating fine mechanics and extra appliances which served purposes Ami could only guess at.

They went through a door marked "Employees Only", from whence came the grinding and whining they'd heard earlier. Ami covered her ears as the door opened. Harsh noises poured out.

A petite form stood hunched over a workbench, wearing worn clothes, a heavy leather apron, and an enormous safety helmet connected to the ceiling by various cables and wires. Bulky, thick gloves held what looked to be a half-formed robotic limb and a pen-laser, respectively. The laser fritzed and fizzled as it welded circuit boards and appendages into place.

The welding stopped as the door closed, though how the figure could have heard the door closing over the laser's whining Ami could only guess.

A mouth, the only uncovered part of the figure's face, opened. "Vincent Valentine."

"Shelke."

The gloved hands pulled off the enormous helmet, showing clear blue eyes and cropped red hair. "It's good to see you again."

She glanced at the persons beside him. Her eyes locked on Ami's. "Series Fifteen Prime."

Ami jerked in shock. "You... how did you... you know...?"

"My mind was once ether-linked to the entirety of the Shinra database. Your profile is unmistakeable." She turned to Sin. "Monolith Project, C/V configuration 1.0. Reconfigured when available genetic material was compromised. Confirm?"

[Sin]

"Denied Version 3.5 experimental success Valentine Ressurection"

Sin stared at her, and stepped out of the shadows, Yuffie finally able to get a good look at his face. If she was close to what she was cracked up to be, should would recognize him. It was a bad move, but it helped define the Valentine project.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"No..." Shelke blinked and tilted her head, almost as if curious. "Monolith Project, C/V configuration 3.5-- Experimental increase of Chaos. Test results positive. Experiment is thriving, and health is improving beyond all expectations."

Yuffie looked totally nonplussed. "Say what?"

Shelke continued unfazed. "Your final report, filed six months proceeding your birth. If any records were kept following this period, they were either corrupted beyond salvage or deliberately destroyed. I might have recognized you earlier, but your face was hidden. Given the volatile nature of your genome, I can easily guess your motivations for doing so." She turned to Yuffie. "So this is the strange destructor you have been railing against for the past week?"

Yuffie simply shrugged. "Search me. This is completely going over my head."

Ami couldn't help the incredulous look on her face. Is this a ditz or what? She couldn't help realizing Shelke was eyeing her strangely. "What?"

"I sense you possess... accumulated data," she replied vaguely. "We should explore this further when we are less pressed for time." She turned to Vincent. "You referenced being unsure of how long you could remain here."

He nodded. "I did."

"Assuming conditions have not changed, we should process your injury quickly. A prosthetic of this extent takes much time to fully heal." She moved to the farthest wall of her workshop and removed a mechanical arm, sheathed with black gunmetal. "I prepared this in anticipation of your arrival. The initial process only takes two hours. However, recovery--"

"Wait, wait, wait," Ami interrupted. "You're here to be fitted with a mechanical arm?"

"Automail," Vincent and Shelke corrected in near unison.

Ami sighed and rolled her eyes. "Then say so already! Why all the mystery?"

"Shelke and I go way back," he explained. "You might even call us friends."

"Yeah..." Ami offered no comment.

[Sin]

"Yuffie, can you show me whjere I might find a swordsmith?"

Sin walked over to her, and held up his broken sword, as well as what appeared to be Cloud's old sword.

[Kidd Strife]

Kidd left the room silently shakign his head in disgust at what had all just happened. He opened the hatched and jumped out walking over to the front of the ship. The young warrior sighed and sat down legs crossed, gazing upon the ruins in the distance. "Heh, and to think... we caused all this just not to recently." He layed back uncrossign his legs and starign at the sky.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Cloud approached Kidd, looking slightly confused. "Have you seen my sword?" As he last remembered, he'd put it in its sheath, but since Sin left it had disappeared. "I was going to take it to the swordsmith... and see about putting Tifa and the kids up somewhere, until this mess is done with."

****

Yuffie looked the blades over. "Whoa! That's some serious damage, man!" She looked closer. "Hey, this one kinda looks like Cloud's!"

Ami rolled her eyes and shook her head, signalling Sin to not explain. "You guys can go ahead and have those hunks of tin replaced. Meanwhile..." She glanced at Shelke, adjusting some of the fittings on Vincent's intended limb replacement. "I'm going to stay here and have a look around."

"Whoa! Hey, I'm not going out all by myself with the random destructor!" Yuffie protested.

"Trust me, Yuffie," Vincent interceded. "He's with us. You'll be safe with him."

She eyed the boy doubtfully. "Well, OK... but we better get you some kinda disguise or something! You like hats?" She headed him off towards the pagoda out back.

[Sin]

Sin followed her. They got to the Pagoda, and Sin shok his head at the many costumes in the oom she lead him to.

"NO hats. How about this?"

He pulled out something along the lines of the turk uniforms, a black suit, but this had a long flowing coat with it, and there was a set of red glasses to go with it.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Yuffie shook her head and laughed. "You're not getting it. We need something to cover your face."

She went over to a display rack full of ninja masks. "Hmm... I think these might be a bit much. But it's a thought..."

****

Shelke took a large, long syringe from a silver instrument tray. "Unfortunately, for the procedure to be carried out properly, you must be fully conscious."

Ami suppressed a gasp as Shelke continued. "However, while your nerve endings must remain active, this agent will retard your responses. That is, the neural signal for pain will be delayed until such time as you can be placed under sedation. Nevertheless... this may sting a little."

"I'd deserve it," Vincent deadpanned. "I told you I might be away for seven days. I was gone for seven months."

Shelke began wrapping the end of his arm in anticipation of the imminent blood flow. "I didn't worry. I know more than anyone you are capable of taking care of yourself."

Ami bit her lip. Something about this girl was painfully familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

[Sin]

Hmm... I have an idea. I can do acrobatics pretty good.. how about.. this? I could say I am a passing entertainer or something."

Sin selected a mask and some other costumes, resulting in what looked like the grim reaper in a martial arts uniform.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"Hmmm..." Yuffie looked it over with obvious skepticism... and finally broke into a grin. "Hey, that's actually pretty cool! Yeah, let's do that! And just in case things get hairy, you're gonna need some kinda weapon. Now, normally I wouldn't just go lending out weapons to random destructors, but what the heck! Any friend of Vincent's is a friend of mine!" She stopped to tap her cheek thoughtfully. "We can go one of two routes... We could either borrow something from my antiques collection-- which isn't really exactly mine, but I had the spare room for it-- or we could go the modern way and snag something outta Shelke's supply room! How about it, kid?"

[Sin]

"I prefer the former of the two. Shelke is probably going to have a lot of guns and stuff. I prefer to use swords and staves, maybe even nun-chuks."

Sin tested and stretched, doing some flips and running up the walls. The costume would work fine, and it had a decent grip to the gloves and boots.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"Right!" Yuffie led the way up to the pagoda's second tier. The walls and floor were lined with display cases full of ancient weaponry dating back to the primitive era. A few of the more impressive swords and spears were mounted on the walls. "OK, go on ahead and take your pick, Mr... uh... what was the name again?" She scratched her head.

****

Shelke replaced her helmet and strapped it on snugly. She took a long, ferocious-looking chrome instrument from the tray and brought it to Vincent's arm. "I regret being forced to inflict pain on you, Vincent Valentine."

"I've had worse."

She looked up at him darkly. "I know."

Ami turned away. She couldn't watch. Not when she'd seen it all before... Her stomach turned as the memories flooded her...

Shelke twitched and lowered the instrument. Vincent gave her a peculiar look. "Something wrong."

After a moment, she resumed. "No. Merely... data interference."

Vincent nodded and watched her silently. As promised, he felt no pain... yet. He felt something in his hand...

He didn't have to turn his head to know what it was. "Amnesty, if this bothers you, I have no objections to you going outside for a moment."

She only held his hand tighter. "No. I'll be fine." Her jaw was set stubbornly.

[Kidd Strife]

"I'm pretty sure Sin took it to Shelke to get it modified and reaparied to its best. But yeah..." Kidd stood up and stretched before continung. "We need a place to put them... just don't say the name Strife in that town... long story."