Hunted (Serah/Penello)

[Snow Villiers]

-15 miles south of North Corel, 1:00pm-

He had to hurry.

Over the roar of his motorcycle engine and the occasional clap of thunder that echoed across the grassy plains, That was the one fact that was constantly present in Snow's racing mind. He knew he was close, as the report had come in no more then two hours ago.

It almost seemed surreal, the reason why snow found himself racing across the desert on a WRO issued motorcycle. Some might have even found the reasoning behind it rather foolish, but Snow didn't: nothing was foolish when it came to protecting Serah.

And that reason was a single phone call.

Snow had been on his way to the city of Nibelheim when the call had come in, searching for any evidence regarding his wayward fiance. The call had come from A man by the name of Reeve Tuesti, an acquaintance of Snow's, and had contained only a small section of words that ultimately mattered to the wayward hero:

"We may have a lead on Serah Farron. DEEPGROUND was aparently responsible for her initial abduction, and intel just reported that they sent a squad to retrieve her."

The rest of the conversation, to Snow, was little more then smalltalk: as nice of a guy as Tuesti was, He had been screwing around with the former NORA leader for far too long. His patience with the WRO at his limit, Snow decided that rather then let them handle the situation and screw it up, Villiers would find his fiance himself.

He owed Serah at least that much, if not more. Everything that had happened was his own fault. He had not been strong enough to protect Serah, and therefore, he lost her. He had not been strong enough to chase that dark man, and so she was further thrown away from her home.

Everything had taken place because Snow had been too weak.

But that was not the case anymore: His powers as a L'cie mysteriously returned to him, Snow Villiers had managed to break through the doorway to another world that separated him from Serah. He had taken down countless foes who had stood in his way, and survived seemingly impossible odds against abominations that his friends would likely never see.

All for the sake of Serah.

She was the reason he was here, the reason Snow had come so far in life. It was Snow's memories of her that kept him alive throughout the orphan war. It was Serah that prevented Snow from becoming ragnarok, the weapon of mankind's destruction. Serah's love had done all of that for him.

Now it was Snow's turn. As far as he was concerned, everything up until now had been easy, as he had mostly been fighting monsters for the past few days. Now, however, he was going up against DEEPGROUND, an organization that Tuesti claimed was worse then psycom by quite a wide margin. As Snow sped over grassy hills, he was already prepared to take down an entire battalion if he had to.

Nothing was getting in Snow Villier's way as long as he had a single breath left in his body.

-------------------------------------

-10 miles west of north coral, 1:05pm-

The whir of a helicopter motor.

Such an irritating sound, to be sure. Fuhito had heard so much of it in his life that the scientist swore he could hear it in his sleep (when he did sleep). The scientific genius would not have even set foot near a damn helicopter unless the reason was quite good.

Which, today, it was.

Yes, DEEPGROUND had actually managed to get the legendary Fuhito, their top scientist, on one of those god-forsaken troop helicopters. Apparently, after days of fruitless (and inefficient) searching, the bumbling fools of the DEEPGROUND intelligence division finally managed to find the renegade subject #13. To many of the pointless and worthless insects in DEEPGROUND, it seemed like another small victory. Fuhito, however, knew better. He knew just how important this discovery was, not just for himself. Subject #13 was not like the others: hand picked by the harbinger himself, #13 was very special. She had so much untapped potential, unseen by even the mysterious beings known as the "Fal'cie", simply waiting to be unlocked and utilized.

And so much could be learned from her given time.

The universe still had so many secrets, so many things that, even though mankind used, they knew so little about. It was infuriating for Fuhito to even think about. How could such a selfish and ignorant race be allowed to live without understanding? How could they possibly be happy knowing that their world was entirely hinged on forces they chose not to understand? Simply another reason why they had to go. Preferably sooner rather then later.

Fuhito's train of thought was interrupted as he gazed across the deck of the large helicopter. Across from him sat another assigned to this task: A gigantic, blue-haired man, clad in varying huhes of blue.

Apparently, he was one of the "tsviets", though his name currently escaped the genius Fuhito, who had more pressing things on his mind. Despite knowing better then to judge a book by its cover, Fuhito needed to make sure that the gigantic man knew just what was going on so he didn't accidentally kill subject #13.

"You, Tsviet." Fuhito called out across the aircraft's deck. The large blue-clad man gazed back at the scientist with his glowing, yellow irises, apparently unperturbed by the title he had been given.

"they filled you in on the mission breifing, correct? You know why we're here?" Fuhito inquired.

"Yes."

"Then your completely familiar with the plan, and know that I am in charge here?"

"Yes."

"Good. You better not screw this up and kill the subject then. Otherwise, Ill have you gutted and will be using your insides for bacterial smears."

The blue-garbed man initially did not respond to Fuhito's obvious threat. Rather, he simply stared at the man for a few seconds before smiling a sharp-toothed and rather nasty-looking smile back at Fuhito. Clearly the tsviet was not intimidated, and instead simply looked rather amused.

"You may try." The man responded, his voice still rather flat and monotonous. This was the last time the two DEEPGROUND elites would speak to each other throughout their entire flight, as They really didn't have anything else to say to each other.

And Fuhito was simply going further and further into his own little world of madness. He couldn't wait to get his hands on #13, especially after his last experiment with Subject #12 proved to be so successful (Despite the fact that #12 turned into a monster as a side effect).

To think, that the results #13 produced had the possibility of being even better? Oh, the thought sent chills of excitement throughout Fuhito's body. He would, naturally, have to find a way to increase subject #13's physiological capabilities in order to survive the experiments, and such a modification would indeed take a great deal of time, But once Fuhito got his hands on her, he would have plenty of time. In fact, he would have all the time in the world to make Subject #13 his "Magnum Opus".

----------------------------

-North Coral, 1:15pm-

It seemed like a normal day in the small, former mining town of North Coral. The figure of the gold saucer looming in the distance, the loud sounds, smells, and sights of construction permeating the area, and the general smalltown appearance were all trademarks of this place.

Being the only place that had easy access to the gold saucer via gondola, the town was largely a highway area: a place where people, rich and poor, good and evil, smart or dumb, would meet. Some considered it one of gaia's greater activity hubs. In turn, North Coral was a place where growth and change was the norm, and things were always happening.

Yet despite this, the town also had a bit of an odd curse: no matter how good things got, it was still a pretty dirty looking place. despite being a place of growth, most of the town had a slightly more run-down and rustic look to it. While a good portion of the dwellings, shops, and other buildings looked normal, there were quite a few that were in disrepair and could have used serious renovations. Surprisingly, this did not seem to detract from the towns charm, which drew many from all over the world to it.

And this was apparent today, just like any other day, as the hustle and bustle continued. Yet the population was oblivious to what was about to happen. They were oblivious to the war that was about to be brought to their town, and just how deadly it was going to be.

At first, people thought the sound was just the rumble of thunder on a stormy day. A natural conclusion, all things considered. It was not until the people of the town saw the numerous unmarked helicopters that they realized something was terribly wrong.

And by then, it was already too late.

The town, minutes before the choppers had arrived, had its entrance blocked by several APCs (Armored personel Carriers), trapping the inhabitants inside. Clearly, whoever was preparing to attack north corel had no intention of letting anyone escape. Soon after, troops began to slowly pour out of their vehicles, and the town's worst fears would be realized.

DEEPGROUND had come.

The same army that had attempted to destroy the world through the power of the OMEGA weapon was now trying to invade the small town. People ran into their houses or whereever else they could (even the sewers) to try and escape, for those that remembered the dreadful army knew what it was capable of.

And that it had no mercy for anyone who got in its way.

As the troops organized into their squads, the deepground footsoldiers readied their weapons, magic and armor, preparing for what seemed like all out war. However, to the few deepground commanders that operated among the many footsoldiers, their orders had already been very clearly announced over their radios by Professor Fuhito:

"Detain, sort, and search all locals in the area. Following that, start a sector by sector search. Find and bring me Subject #13. If anyone resists but subject #13, kill them. Be sure to bring me #13 unharmed."

-----------IMAGE REFERENCE------------

NPCs:

Fuhito:
finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Fuhito (Fuhito's wiki page)

Note: Because there is not an image of Fuhito in any kind of garb, assume he is wearing what most scientists would wear: a white lab coat and some cheap brand-name clothes =P

Azul ("the blue man"):
finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Azul (Azul's wiki page)

Deepground Soldiers:
finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:DeepgroundSoldiers.jpg (link to pic from wiki page. this is just the basic footsoldiers. ill add more images for reference if needed)

[Serah Farron]

A pink haired girl made her way down from the Gold Saucer, having said to her new friend she would meet her at the bottom. What had started out as being lost and worried, had turned into something nice. She got to see the chocobo races and meet a girl from a world different from hers named Penelo, they then got to have lunch. So where was she headed from here, well as soon as Penelo was done at the amusement attraction. They would head out and try to get her ship fixed, hopefully it wouldn't be too long. She still had alot of questions that were unanswered to her, such as why she was brought here and just who was behind it. As she arrived at the bottom and walked down the little rope thing, Serah walked through the settlement.

As she saw the state of the place, she felt sorry for these people. How come in this world, people were living in these sort of conditions. But as seeing how she wasn't from this world, Serah had no real idea behind the reason why. She could see the dwellings went in and out, and had the color of rust to them. It was dirty and filthy as well, so continuing on she decided to wait outside the little settlement for Penelo. Of course she hadn't gotten very far, when she heard what sounded like helicopters up above. And before she could act, soon all entrances were sealed off. People seemed to scream and started to scatter, going inside the dwellings or others places they could. Now she was really confused, what was going on and who were these people who came from the helicopters. Deciding to follow the people, she quickly went and hid since she had just been standing in the open.

She only hoped Penelo didn't come down anytime soon, but now she really wanted to get out of here. As she saw some soldiers nearby, Serah kept low. She then heard a voice come over the radios, when it was done she saw them start going through the dwellings and even into the sewers beneath this place. They were looking for someone, experiment #13 whomever that was. This had nothing to do with her, so she needed get out of here and meet up with Penelo somewhere else. But where would she go, Serah had no idea about the locations of the world. She couldn't even remember how she got here in the first place, everything was a muddle and fuzzy in her mind.

Grasping her pendant around her neck, she prayed Snow was alright and would find her. As well as her sister, who she had no idea where she was. While the soldiers spread out through the small settlement, Serah took this oppertunity to make a run for it. The entrances were all blocked off, but there was always holes in blockades wasn't there. Heading out of one of the dirty dwellings she quickly headed to find a way out, hiding in odd areas trying to avoid the soldiers. Since she had no weapons, and couldn't fight she would need to be sneaky.

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[Penelo]

The food was absolutely delicious, and while she was impossibly stuffed, she still wanted to eat more chicken. It was so good. She'd have to remember that this world had it (just she had to find those 'Dumbapples'). Her and Serah had to agree to go seperate ways, but only for a short amount of time. Penelo wanted to see a bit more of the amusing attractions, and also see if she couldn't wrangle a map from anyone. They had decided to meet at the bottom, which was perfect for Penelo. It gave her a chance to digest the food before the real work of finding someone to fix their ship.

She moved through the lanes quickly, just looking left and right. She saw a kiosk that had what looked like maps, so she was drawn over to it. She leaned in to get a look at it. Gaia the map said. She picked it up and started to flip it open. She let out a squeal of delight as it turned out it was a map. Journey completed, she decided to head to her and Serah's predetermined meeting place. She paid the kiosk owner the gil required for the map and she read it slowly, and haltingly as she moved through the lanes back to the tubes, and rode it down beneath the place. So they were in Gold Saucer, the map said, and there were some cities nearby with interesting names. She couldn't stop to really look at the map, though, because she was going to meet Penelo.

Penelo was eager to get her reunited with her fiancee, because from what Serah told her, Snow would be pulling up every rock in front of him, looking for Serah...just like she imagined Vaan was doing to find her. Something told her he would never be that dramatic, and maybe he hadn't even noticed she was gone, but she had been away from Spira nearing an entire month now. She hoped she got back soon--after she helped Serah, though. She found the right tube to take her to the base of the mountain, and on the way down she could have sworn she heard airships, and their loud engines.

When she reached the bottom and came up to the settlement, she stepped into pure bedlam. Odd soldiers in blue uniforms were marching around dragging people, kicking and screaming, towards the center of the settlement. Before anyone had taken notice of her she started to skirt around the edges, thought once she spotted the barricades, Penelo's heart started to beat repeatedly. This was like the war, all over again. Soldiers invaded Rabanastre, they pulled people from their homes, and threw them beneath the city, into Lowtown. Penelo's parents had been killed in the initial attack from them, and her brothers died at Nalbina. It had been just Penelo and Vaan (whose brother had been also killed at Nalbina), alone and young. It was so frightening, but with the two of them they had made it through.

But now, Vaan wasn't holding her hand, keeping her calm. She was all alone, crouched next to the road. Then she spotted the back of a pink head of hair and her heart dropped. She had to get Serah out of here. She darted off, doing her best to keep her pigtailed head out of sight of the soldiers. She was lucky to have even gotten this far without being caught. She spotted a house that was inbetween the blockade, the door was slightly ajar. She ran up to Serah. and grabbed her hand. "I'm so glad I found you! We can get out over there." She nodded with her head over to the house. Once inside, she could cast Vanish to render them both invisible so that when they ran, they wouldn't be seen on the other side of the barricade, they had to get inside the house, though. "We have to get out of here, now." Penelo knew what soldiers did when their commander wasn't breathing down their necks. Little did she know about these soldiers and their nefarious history. She kept a firm grip on Serah's hand as she ran towards the house and inside of it.

She was glad to find that it was empty. She turned to Serah immediately. "Don't be afraid. I am going to get you out of here." the sword on her back was a heavy reminder, and she would use it if it was necessary. She began to cast Vanish however, and as she sent the magic through both of them, they faded from visibility. It was also at that moment that the door thundered open and two of the blue soldiers came in. She kept her hand on the invisible girl that she couldn't see and prayed that the soldiers didn't catch them. But just in case, she lifted her hand to her sword, and took a firm hold of the hilt.

[Snow Villiers]

Fuhito Perspective

Well, one thing was for certain, DEEPGROUND was pretty efficient.

While Fuhito did not believe them to be on the same level as his own elite squad, the RAVENS, they certainly knew how to secure one small dustball in the middle of nowhere. Within ten minutes of landing, they had managed to round up much of the drifters that were wandering the street. Rather impressive.

That only left the houses and shops that the people had fled into, which complicated matters even more. Now the troops would have to go from house to house, knocking down every door and rounding up every person...

it was truly irritating. If it were not for the fact that subject #13 was still somewhere in the village, Fuhito would have simply ordered the houses cleared with grenades and bullets. Why waste time, the most valuable thing of all? granted, it tended to look pretty bad on mission reports, but who cared? They were just people, after all. They could be very easily replaced.

Watching over the streets from the command post on a three story shop in the middle of town, Fuhito was making careful notes of everything (in particular, the occasional scream and gunshot that happened to grace his ears) and making many, many calculations.

He had to be a prepared man, after all. For even though he knew subject #13 was not directly dangerous at the moment, Fuhito preferred to not assume his prize was an idiot: she was likely hiding in one of these houses somewhere, hoping that the fury of DEEPGROUND would simply pass over her.

How mistaken she was if she thought that.

On that note, Turning to face the blue tsviet (whose name was "Azul", as the scientist discovered), Fuhito nonchalantly spoke a single order:

"Get to work, and don't fuck it up."

-----------------

While Fuhito sat calmly at the command post that had been set up, It was clear to anyone on the streets that the town of north coral was anything but calm: if anything, it was the exact opposite. It was total chaos. Chaos filled with destruction, gunshots and death.

People who were simply unfortunate enough to be standing next to someone who was fighting back were simply shot, the DEEPGROUND troops not bothering to differentiate targets. It was not that they could not aim more accurately, they simply chose not to out of convenience.

The safety of civilians was not DEEPGROUND's primary concern. they were too busy focused on finding subject #13: the young, pink haired woman whose image was almost burned into the minds of the footsoldiers. They would kill anyone who resisted but her. That was their mission, and that was all that mattered. This was perhaps most apparent in the house where Penello and Serah were currently located.

For although those two were invisible, the other occupants of the house were not. Two men, looking something like a father and his son, came downstairs carrying firearms, in an attempt to protect their home from the DEEPGROUND attackers.

Almost like a horrific reaction, the two soldiers in the room turned and leveled their guns on the civilian men, and proceeded to fire off numerous rounds. The two men never stood a chance against the hardened DEEPGROUND troops. Their bodies hit the floor about two feet away from Penello and Serah with a deathly thud.

The two soldiers, adopting a clearer and more aggressive posture, Looked at the stairs, waiting to see if anyone else would come down the stairs. Several tense seconds passed, with no more individuals comming down the stairs.

"CLEAR!"

"Secure second floor, GO!" the second DEEPGROUND soldier barked. Seconds later, three more Soldiers came through the front door and, while four of the men ran upstairs, one remained on the first floor, staying to secure it.

And, horrifically, he seemed to get very suspicious.

"Radar blip! two targets! Investigating!" he commanded over the radio. Then, looking straight in the general direction of the invisible Penello and Serah, he started taking several steps twoard them.

and stopped no more then six inches away form the two.

"...What the hell...?" the lone soldier said, sounding rather confused. While the soldier could not see them, and was not entirely aware that there was something wrong, he certainly was starting to get slightly suspicious.

And that was bad news for the cloaked duo.

[Serah Farron]

Confusion that's what was running through Serah's mind right now, she had just come down the gondola ahead of Penelo. Planning to meet up with her after she finished what she was going to do, expecting to just be on her way. That was until these helicopters showed up, standing inside one of the dwellings the pink haired girl just watched as they landed. This kind of felt like deja vu abit, like back home. Except that time she had Snow by her side, quickly ducking into a hiding spot she pressed her self up against the wall of a one of the homes. Hearing the footsteps of the soldiers making their way through the streets, and shouting orders. She had overheard one of them mention something about a experiment #13, and whatever that was she didn't want to stick around here to find out. How was she going to get out of the town though, all the exits were blocked off.

Serah felt like her heart was about to stop, as she heard gunshots ringing out. People were screaming, all this to find someone. Maybe she should have stayed up at the Gold Saucer, at least she would have been safe. So what should she do, peeking out from the dwelling her eye widened in shock as she saw people who were not so lucky to get into their homes were being shot. How horrible, all this death. Serah knew she had to get out of here, so keeping low she used sneaky skills to manuver her way in the shadows towards the road. Hearing more screams and gunshots she kept out of sight, and just covered her ears wanting it all to go away. It was just so terrible. The pink haired girl then felt someone grab her hand, as she was about to fight them off she heard Penelo's voice. "Penelo what's going on here, the people.......". Serah was scared, frightened and wanted to go home.

Seeing Penelo nod towards a house, she nodded back and let the blond lead the way. Serah wasn't arguing with Penelo's statement, they needed to get out of here and far away. As they came into the house, Serah was shaking lightly. But hearing Penelo's words she calmed down abit, then felt a spell. Magic flow through her as they seemed to vanish from view, and into the house to a certain spot. The door opening made the pink haired girl jump in fright, and she stayed right beside Penelo keeping quiet. Although she couldn't see her, she felt her hand. Serah glanced to the two soldiers, watching as they glanced around the house to see if they were here.

Hearing footsteps, she then glanced to the stairs seeing a father and son come down the stairs. Trying to protect the home she and Penelo were hiding in, a gasp escaped from Serah as numerous shots were fired and both fell to the ground dead. Everything inside her wanted to just scream, wanted to close her eyes and wish this wasn't happening. So much death, so much killing.....why.....why. The sound of the soldiers voices made her come out of the shock, one ran upstairs while one stayed down. She was almost never scared of anything, but after that incident.....she was shaking all over. And when the soldier mentioned the radar blip, and two targets she could feel her heart race fast.

The soldier was looking in their direction, but to him she and Penelo were invisible. How long did this spell last, she prayed it didn't wear off too quickly. Seeing him move towards their position she kept quiet, the soldier then stopped six inches away from them. Slowly she raised her head and looked up at the soldier, this really was a bad situation.

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[Penelo]

Penelo had already been through a lifetime of turmoil when Archadia and Rozarria were at war with each other, and the battleground just happened to be where Penelo lived. She had seen all different types of soilders; honorable soldiers like her brothers, seasoned soldiers like Balthier, crazy soldiers like his brother Gabranth, extremely mean soldiers like every one of them that got stationed in Rabanastre after Dalmasca surrendered, and even crazy ones like the Judge that tried to kill them all by testing the Dawn Shard on them. Penelo, however, hadn't seen soldiers like that. They treated the townspeople worse than a farmer treated their cattle. And if anyone of them fought them...they were shot. It turned Penelo's stomach and she thought she might puke, but she didn't have time to puke! She had to help Serah get out of this crazy and awful place. Even if she couldn't figure out how to fly to Bodum, she'd at least take her away from here until the ship was fixed or they managed to just get a new one. Penelo had a small feeling that someone just might loot the ship in this world. Unlike the mountain she landed on before, people actually went to this one.

All that aside, Penelo couldn't make any plans of the future until were safe from this threat before them. Once they were in the house, Penelo felt safe, but it wasn't a minute later that two soldiers came in. She held her breath, to remain silent, as she pulled her sword from around her soldiers. She held her sword to her back with just a little bit of magic, so it didn't make noise to bring it around in front of her. She had to be careful how she held it though, since it was completely invisible, she didn't want to accidentally knock anything over and give them away.

Two people ran down the stairs with guns, to defend their home. Penelo felt a sob working up in her chest and she had to turn away. The gunshots that then filled the room rung in her ears and she squeezed her eyes shut together tightly so she didn't scream or sob, or make any other noise. She bit her lip as she turned back to look at the soldiers. How could they do that?! How could they?! She relaxed only marginally as the man ran up stairs, but then she was hit with the thought that maybe there were more people up there. She let out a breath as slow as possible and drew in back in just as slowly. She needed to keep her head clear otherwise she was never getting out of here.

When the soldier spoke about seeing them, her heart stopped for a moment, she was momentarily sure that they were both going to die right then. But then he walked up so close the blue light from his armor started to hurt her eyes. She was still holding Serah's hand, and with that hand she slowly pulled it back towards the kitchen, and the back door, she was urging Serah to take off running with a head start. After that she slowly let go of the girl's hand and took hold of the sword with both hands. She lifted the sword up and with all her might, swung it horizontally into the man's neck. Even if it didn't behead him, he surely would have crippled him, anyway. She pulled her sword from the meat of his neck and bent down to pick up his gun that he dropped, in case the guy came thundering back down the stairs.

She put her sword back on her back and took off running, she had no idea if Serah had left the house or not, so when she was at the door, she whisper screamed. "Serah, we have to get out of here!" And then she took off running outside. She could feel the magic begin to wear of, and she could see her hands moving beside her, as she tried to gain speed. She had no doubt that the magic was also wearing off for Serah as well. It wasn't that strong of a spell, after all.

[Snow Villiers]

The DEEPGROUND soldier never saw the attack comming.

As Penello's blade hit home in the trooper's neck, He let out a single scream of agony before falling to the floor. While the injury was not likely fatal, it was grave, and had definitely incapacitated the man. His body falling to the floor with a loud THUD, the house Penello and Serah were in suddenly was filled with an eerie and deep silence.

But not for long.

The sound of rushing footsteps echoed through the house as only seconds after their comrade hit the floor, the other deepground soldiers rushed to his aid. when the viewed the scene, one of the soldiers immediately spoke over the radio.

"Unknown contact, zone 5! unit 45 has injured man, request backup!"

"Negative, unit 45, all other units are currently engaged. find the target on your own"

"Understood!" The soldier responded "you four, check outside!" The commanding officer ordered. His men responded, running out the front door. Meanwhile, the commanding officer slowly made his way to his wounded man.

He had become a liability. Deepground didn't need liabilities. So, in an unbelievably horrific act, the officer emptied several shots into the injured DEEPGROUND trooper to kill him, and then proceeded to follow his soldiers out of the house in pursuit of their attacker.

Once outside, the commanding officer, along with several of his troops, spotted the waning invisibility spell that had been cast upon two individuals. One of which was not only the correct physical description, but had what appeared to be pink hair. Immediately, upon seeing this, the commander radioed in again almost as if it was some kind of reflex.

"CODE 6, CODE 6! TARGET ACQUIRED IN ZONE R-9!"

As the commander yelled this into the radio, another soldier fired a single, red flare from his weapon high into the air. Second later, the six soldiers began charging after the women in hot pursuit, several of them changing some kind of setting on their firearm (switching to non-lethal rounds) while the rest pulled small, metal stun-rods off their belt.

Even though they had lost sight of their target, the soldiers had now switched from a passive search to a more active one, their focus now entirely upon a single objective:

Locating and Capturing Serah Farron.

---------------------------------

Fuhito perspective

As he saw the signal flare and heard the declaration of "Code 6" over the radio, the great DEEPGROUND scientist Fuhito did one thing Before anything else:

He smiled a sinister and almost inhuman smile.

Locating subject #13 had taken much less time then he had anticipated. That was very good news to hear for Fuhito, for it meant that he would have to spend less time in this god awful and dirty little town cleaning up the corrupted human populace and more time unlocking the secrets of the universe.

But first he had to catch her, and although Fuhito considered that a formality, it was one that was still very important. Especially considering how imperative it was that #13 was brought in alive. Seeing as how DEEPGROUND had proven themselves fairly effective so far, Fuhito figured it was about time to put them to the real test.

going over to the primary radio unit of the command center, he quickly pushed its operator aside and spoke his orders to the entire deepground unit.

"Attention, all units within the immediate area of subject #13: divert all resources to the primary objective of capturing the target. If you are currently securing civilians, eliminate them and then focus priorities on the primary objective. You are authorized to use any and all means necessary to this end."

Fuhito's orders spoken, seconds later a crecendo of gunshots began to ring out across town, which seemed like music to the mad scientist's ears. A few seconds later, he approached the acting officer of the command post and had yet another request.

"Get me an APC. I want to personally ensure that you idiots don't screw this up."

[Serah Farron]

Serah had seen her share of soldiers back home, when the Pulse fal'Cie had woken up. Everything had fallen apart after that, with the purge and Cocoon. She could remember all the soldiers, the ones which had followed her to the chamber and got turned into those horrible monsters. But this, this was different......it was a massacre. Although Serah couldn't see Penelo, she could feel her hand in hers as the soldiers burst in through the doors. But she went into complete shock after that son and father had been murdered in front of her eyes. She wanted to scream, but no sound would come to her throat and she didn't want to be noticed. But as one soldier headed upstairs, and one was left. He somehow figured out they were there, and his footsteps got closer and closer Serah felt her heart race like a scared mouse.

She had to shield her eyes from the man's armor, and felt Penelo pulling her hand to move. Doing so she saw they were headed into the kitchen, and then felt the other's hand slip from hers. No wait where did she go, what was she suppose to do. Looking at the door she slowly began to run towards it, but stopped mid-way hearing the thud of the soldier from before. It was then she glanced down to see her hands becoming visible, flickering in and out. Oh no the spell was wearing off, turning towards Penelo's voice and quickly ran outside to join her. Ahead of her she could see the spell was wearing off of the blond as well, soon Serah was visible for all to see but kept running. She then heard them yelling into the radio, about the target aquired.

*Wait.....what, am I the target. Then experiment #13 is me, but why?* So all this killing, was because of her. But she didn't even know these soldiers, how come they were coming after her. Was it because she had the brand of a l'Cie on her, gripping onto her pendant around her neck she continued to run. *Snow......Snow please find me, where are you when I need you* She didn't want to be a experiment, she didn't want to be captured. Looking in front of her she could see Penelo who was now visible completely, stopping Serah frowned lightly. If she surrendered would they stop all this, would they leave the rest of these people alone.

She also didn't want to see her new friend hurt either, oh what should she do. Even if she escaped from this settlement, and she and her friend went to a different town. These soldiers would just follow them, more innocent lives would be cut down. Serah didn't want to see anymore people getting hurt, so standing where she was she waited to be captured. Call it a foolish move but if it could stop these soldiers from hurting anymore people, she would gladly just give herself up. Serah had no weapons to defend herself with, she had no summons either....she was just....herself.

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[Penelo]

Penelo's stomach dropped when she heard the soldiers come into the house. It dropped even further when she heard the gunshot. It told her a lot about the soldiers. The main thing she understood from that was that even though they were all working for the same purpose--whatever that was she didn't know--but that each one of the men was expendable. That shed some light on why they had killed the homeowners. They didn't care. These people were ruthless and horrid. And dangerous. Penelo had to get Serah away from them.

As they were running, she heard the men as well, her eyes flew over to Serah. What did that mean? Why were they after her?! It didn't make any sense. As they disappeared from their sight, Penelo slowed down a little, but only because she didn't want to tire herself out. "We have to hide somewhere. That man's computer saw us when we were invisible. It worked once, but I don't think it will work again. We need help! I can't fight them all of."[/color] Penelo didn't like the idea of that at all. She was completely outnumbered and Serah didn't have a weapon. Penelo didn't have anymore of those 'grenades' either. She had used them all when she fought Lord Onzozo with Genesis a while ago. She closed her eyes and in her mind she saw Ultima's kind face. She looked at Serah and wave her hand off in what looked like a random direction.

"Keep going! They are after you! I'll hold them off, just keep running. I'll meet you in the next town." she took out the map and threw it at the girl, she didn't mean to be rude about it, but this was an emergency. She then closed her eyes, whispering nonsensical magic. Beneath her feet a large rune lit up on the ground. She continued to chant softly and the run continued to glow. She drew in a deep breath and time seemed to stop for Penelo as she summoned Ultima. She drew in more deep breath's as the ex-angel started to materialize in the center of the rune. Penelo moved out of the way, and soon the huge woman was floating next to her. She could already sense the danger, Penelo could tell. She had been with Ultima ever since they had fought her in the Great Crystal in Giruvegan.

The giant woman floated in the air, much larger than Penelo, and definitely bigger than the soldiers. She had six golden wings, a pearly white dress, that she held up a little because she had a large cannon beneath her. She was intimidating to look at, mostly because of the wings, and the cannon, but also because she had an air of...otherwordlyness. Penelo knew her history, and how she was once the head of the angels, and how she had been cast down and became an Esper. It was tragic, almost. But nevertheless, Penelo was sure that Ultima could help her defeat the soldiers.

"I'll fight with you as long as I can, Ultima." Penelo said up to her. "These men are after my friend. They are completely relentless. They have guns. Help me." She looked into Ultima's eyes as she spoke. Most people probably don't treat their Esper's that way, but Penelo looks to Ultima like a grandmother. She respects the hell out of her, isn't afraid to ask for help, and gets out of the way once she starts working. Never once has Ultima uttered a peep, but Penelo has come to learn how to read her, and knows what attacks to expect from her.

(Ultima)

[Snow Villiers]

The soldiers, upon rushing forward and finding themselves face-to-face with a summon, were really at a loss for words.

DEEPGROUND soldiers, although very rutheless and efficient, were often trained to deal with very specific situations: most of the footsoldiers were trained and created, by design, to deal with footsoldiers and vehicles. The basic units were NOT trained to deal with heavy summon combat.

Because of this, the entire seven man squad, Immediately upon encountering the summon, seemed to fall back and duck behind cover. Some of them even yelling panicked profanities in light of the fact that, essentially, a massive angel of destruction had appeared right before them.

However, while these soldiers were retreating, others had begun to advance into the area. It had not taken long for the two young women to become completely surrounded by roughly a hundred soldiers, all of which taking up secure positions around their two targets.

Yet rather then firing at the two young women, they instead chose the summon as their target, Taking aim at the creature and waiting for an opportune moment to strike...

But that moment never came.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" a voice yelled, booming through the air as it was yelled over some kind of megaphone. As it did, all the soldiers seemed to come to a dead stop, hiding behind cover.

It was, at this point, through, that a single man slowly began to step through the dust kicked up by the movement of the DEEPGROUND soldiers. His dress was, surprisingly, very modest: A simple white scientist coat, some brown slacks, and a rather normal looking green sweater. On the outside, it really might have seemed like this man was little to no threat at all.

Nothing, however, could have been further from the truth.

Stepping forward, a grimace on his face, the brown-haired scientist adjusted his glasses as he turned back to face the deepground soldiers, who still hid behind cover as the man spoke.

"Haven't you killed enough people already?! Hasn't enough blood been spilled in this town?" The scientist scolded. It seemed evident that the man was someone who the deepground soldiers had no intention of harming. turning back to the two young women, the scientist stepped forward.

"I-I'm so sorry this happened. I never wanted any of this madness, this meaningless killing...M-my name is Fuhito. Let me make this clear: I'm not happy about this...this INSANITY that these soldiers have commited. That's why I've come: I'm here to negotiate on their behalf. I am unarmed, may I come closer?" The scientist explained, raising his hands up and inverting his pockets to show that he was indeed very unarmed.

[Serah Farron]

How come she was the one being chased, Serah didn't even know any of these men. And how come she had been called Experiment #13, they were treating her like a object that needed to be caught quickly or something. As she quickly followed Penelo out of the house, she still couldn't believe that the father and son were killed in cold blood. It was cruel, and so heartless. The spell that had kept her invisable was wearing off, but she continued to run no matter what. And when she heard the men yell that they had found their target, Serah stopped to look back and saw they were pointing to her. Quickly she turned and followed back after the blond, going out of the men's sight. Catching up she stood a little ways from Penelo, agreeing with her. It was odd how that computer picked them up, but the man had been clearly confused on not seeing them. They needed to hide, needed to get away.....far away.

Serah felt bad for not having a weapon or anything to help, but she never got far in her l'Cie process to obtain a summon. Serah just looked at the blond, wondering what she was doing. And then all of a sudden she had a map thrown at her, and was told to keep going. "Wait Penelo, I just can't leave you!". But it was her they were after, so maybe it would be wise to take her new friends advice. Giving a sad look to Penelo, Serah quicky took off running and only glanced back to see that she had summoned a eidilon. But which one was it, unlike the ones her sister and Snow had she was drawing a blank at the size of this huge woman in white. Instead of leaving the town, Serah ducked behind some rusted planks and peeked out listening.

She wouldn't linger long, and with all the men's attention on that summon. Serah opened up the map and looked over it, trying to figure out which town was closest where she could meet Penelo. None of these names were familiar to her at all, and even if she was to leave here just which way would she go. She had no transportation, and running was only going to get her so far before they catch up to her. And how far did the roads stretch in this world, were there monsters she should worry about also. Finally pointing with her finger to the closest town, then folded the map back up.

As she snuck out from behind the planks, ready to run. Serah heard someone yell, they seemed stern and serious about this order. Glancing over she heard that the voice was coming over some sort of sound system or megaphone. She moved out of her hiding spot, and moved back down to Penelo. Deciding not to run and just leave her friend, yes she knew it was her they were after. But what good would it do if she continued to run, the image of a man can through the kicked up dust and was dressed in a lab coat. For some reason she didn't trust him, and when he turned his back to them she frowned lightly.

She listened as he explained that he never wanted any of this to happen, saying his name and blaming everything on the soldiers. "Your sorry, innocent people died because of these soldiers. How can you negotiate with them, they' re nothing but heartless and ruthless murderers". Something about this man didn't sit right with her, but one thing was for sure she wasn't going anywhere without Penelo.

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[Penelo]

Penelo didn't like this situation a single bit. Adrenaline was pumping through her so fast she couldn't think as clearly as she would like. She needed to be careful here. Ultima was more than strong enough to handle all of these soldiers, but if Penelo were to die, she would fade back into nothing and then the men could get Serah, or as they called her 'Experiment 13.' Penelo would not let those men get anywhere near her. She was an innocent girl who wouldn't hurt anyone. Penelo wasn't going to let those monsters get anywhere near her.

Any trained idiot out there could see that Penelo was scared, though she refused to give up. She was crouched, ready to dart in any direction, her sword was still on her back, but she had the gun in her hands she had picked up from the fallen soldier. She closed her eyes as she drew in a deep breath as Serah rejoined her. The girl should have taken her escape when she had the chance! She wasn't armed and now Penelo had to worry about keeping her protected. There was a man in a lab coat walking towards them. Her run in with Draklor Laboratories had her instinctively flinch away from them. Scientists were the most cold-hearted people there were. Or at least the worst she had ever met. As the scientist began to yell at the soldiers, she straightened up, not because she believed what he was saying. He looked like the man in charge, and soldiers didn't act like that without orders. At least not on missions like this. She aimed the gun at him, even though he made the others hold their fire. They were aiming at Ultima, even though with just one well aimed shot, Penelo would be dead and so Ultima would die.

When he asked permission to come closer, because he was unarmed, she raised the gun, and looked down the barrel at him, an obvious sign she was hostile. "That's close enough!" she yelled at him, seeing the setting of the gun wasn't lethal, with a flip of her hand she changed that. If she was going to die, she would take as many with her as she could, starting with this doctor. "What is your purpose, your rank, and the name of your superior?" Penelo demanded with her most serious voice. This little blond girl was not going to play around.

"And we have nothing to 'negotiate' about! Your men attacked an innocent civilian town, and killed innocent people. I don't know your intentions, but I am pretty sure I know what they are. If you come another step closer I will kill you, and the High Seraph will then destroy your men." As if Penelo had given her permission, Ultima lifted a few more feet from the ground, her wings flapped once and spread out, as if she was about to cast the kill-all spell Penelo almost wished she had. Though she was sure a few castings of Eschaton would finish them off....Penelo though was never very good at getting Ultima to do exactly what she wanted.

That, however, was besides the point, the men didn't know that. From Ultima's little show they might believe that Penelo had absolute control over her. Penelo liked the idea, because if there was even a small bit of doubt in those men, then Penelo could take them. If they weren't afraid, or intimidated by Ultima, then Penelo was screwed and needed some help from a more intimidated person. It was at this moment it occurred to her that this man...might be...related to Lord Onzozo. A terribly monster she had run into on Spira, and she only fought it because Genesis asked her to. What they had discovered there scared Penelo very much. If she even got a tiny hint that this man was somehow involved, she'd kill him first and then find out why later. She didn't like such a dark thought in her mind, but she was not going to let history repeat itself. She wasn't.

[Snow Villiers]

Fuhito had to admit, these girls were either really sharp or really paranoid. Neither of them trusted him, and considering the circumstances, one could not entirely blame them: He had essentially just walked onto the scene and told them he was here to negotiate. They had no reason to actually believe him in the first place: they were trapped like rats.

Fuhito was simply giving them a way to surrender with their beliefs (and, in the case of Penello, limbs) still intact. They would lose anyway, and the citizens of the town would still be slaughtered.

Fuhito's plan, although off to a shaky start, was still redeemable. They didn't trust him yet, so he needed to do something to convince them that he was being honest. Or was it Dishonest? oh well, whatever you called it, Fuhito needed them to believe it.

"You think...You think I wanted this?!?! You think I wouldn't have stopped this If I could have?! I would give my life If I thought for a single second that it would change any of this!" Fuhito responded, holding out his arms to indicate the carnage and the chaos around him.

"But I...I can't change any of it. I'm just a scientist. A scientist who cant even keep his family out of the hands of these monsters." Fuhito explained. His head and shoulders sinking with apparent guilt.

"All I can do is what I'm told, and hope for the best." Fuhito finished, shaking his head with distaste.

Fuhito's expressions did not indicate it in any measurable way, but deep in the recesses of his psychotic mind had an idea of just how effective this tactic was: They were two young women who, although afraid, did have a deep sense of compassion. Compassion that, if utilized correctly, would put them straight into Fuhito's hands.

And as he prepared for the next step of the psychological trap (should this one have failed) the DEEPGROUND scientist realized that sometimes his own genius gave himself pause.

[Serah Farron]

Foolish perhaps, stupid maybe. Yes she should have ran away and gone to the town on the map, Serah knew Penelo could probably take care of herself. But even when faced in the heat of a battle, no matter if you have a summon you could still get hurt. That was probably one of the reasons she wanted to stay with her new friend, Serah couldn't bare it if she died protecting her. Besides she wanted to know why these men were after her, why did they want to capture her. Serah at least had a right to know that. The pink haired girl knew that the blond was probably disappointed with her for not running, but there was alot about this eighteen year old that Penelo still had to know about. If someone she cared about was in the risk of being in danger, she would stand by them no matter the cost. After all these men were after her, not Penelo. These men had caused enough grief and suffering, enough bloodshed.

Glancing to Penelo, Serah saw she held a gun in her hand. Also had a sword on her back, turning back to the man in the white coat she could tell he was trying to get close to them. But the blond would have none of it, saying to stay where he was gun aimed. Her tone was a yell, ordering the man to stay where he was and not come any closer. And almost like a officer she asked for the man's rank, purpose and superior. Well Serah already knew the purpose, it was to capture her. Rank she could see the man was a scientist, and most scientists were bad. And who knows if he had a superior. Penelo was starting to scare her abit, so Serah just stayed back and let her friend handle this. She was right though, there was nothing to negociate. Innocent people had been slaughtered, killed for what........for her.

Serah still didn't trust this man, even when he spoke for some reason she felt like it was forced speech. "I don't believe you, YOUR LYING". She glared at the scientist, and the men that surrounded him. Why were these soldiers not attacking Fuhito, how did she know this was not some kind of mind game he was playing. Or a trap he was waiting to spring, if there was one thing she learned from her time at home and with the soldiers back on Cocoon you couldn't trust them. There was always a higher up controlling them like puppets on a string, and she just had a gut feeling that Fuhito was the pupper master. Of course she couldn't prove this, at least not yet.

Stepping foreward, she gripped the map tightly in her hand. There was one thing she wanted to get to the bottom of, and she wanted answers. "Why do you want me, is it because I am a l'Cie. Because I carry the mark on my arm, I know none of you. What do you hope to gain from capturing me, and I am not just some object you can give a name like Experiment #13 to. My name is Serah Farron, and I want you to leave the rest of these people alone and leave. That was too bold of her part, but Serah liked to stand up for herself. She was not some tool, or a mere object to be poked at. She was a human being, just like the innocent here.

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[Penelo]

Penelo wasn't good under this sort of pressure. She had seen what these soldiers were capable of, and she knew that if Fuhito, or even a squad leader told them to shoot, they would light Serah and herself up without any hesitation whatsoever. It was because of that, that Penelo had to act without hesitation as well. If she did, if she thought any of these soldiers were worth their life, then she would hesitate. She wouldn't want to kill them. And that would give them the chance to kill her. She knew that. But taking a life--a human life--was something that Penelo...couldn't do. It was just too hard. That was someone's brother. That was someone's son. If someone like Penelo had been there when any of her brother's fought then maybe they would still be alive. If she could save someone's little sister from ever having to go through like that then---

No. She couldn't think like that. She couldn't. They didn't think of her as something as equal, and Penelo couldn't owe it to them to be worth anything either. She needed to go into that survival mode, so she could save both Serah and herself. She glanced around to see that she had been surrounded. If she could cast any sort of magic spell without setting them off, then she would, but she knew as soon as she started, they would get trigger happy. She couldn't ward them from harm until after they started shooting and then it would be too late. Crap. She needed to stall for time to think of a plan.

She looked at Serah as she began to speak to Fuhito, saying something about being L'Cie or something. Penelo had never heard anything like it, and didn't know what the girl was talking about, or the mark. She hadn't seen anything. Though most people out there would get suspicious of a small girl with pink hair if a bunch of soldiers were after her, but Penelo wasn't like those people. She had seen more evil in the government than not and didn't trust them, at all. And she especially didn't trust these people because of what they did to the town.

If Fuhito thought she would even give him the shadow of a doubt, she would probably benefit more if she killed him and let Ultima have her way with all the soldiers. If he didn't believe Penelo had any sort of brain in her head, no one would get anywhere. She wished she had Ashe's knowledge of diplomatic talk, the right words to say, or how Ashe can keep her voice level and calm even when everything isn't calm or any sort of normal. She wished Ashe was here, at the moment, because then Ashe would know what to do. Or Balthier and Fran. Actually she wished all the old faces were here. With everyone, she wouldn't have a doubt in her mind that they would all get out. Like when they went up against Vayne on the Bahamut.

But they weren't here and it was up to Penelo to save the both of them, and maybe get some answers. "Your words are poison. If you don't have anything useful to say, I am going to shoot you in the head." Penelo hated the words as they came out of her mouth, but she was trying to be more like Ashe, though she knew she strayed off the mark. Gah, she didn't like this! She managed to hold the gun with strong hands, to keep it from shaking, and to keep her voice level (she thought). Fuhito needed to know that he was a moment away from death.

"Give me a single, logical, reason why Serah has to go with you." Serah please don't believe me, I just want some answers! I'm not being serious! Please understand. Please Penelo begged after the words left her mouth. She was just trying to get answers out of Fuhito, and if he believed she was willing to negotiate, well then maybe she could learn something. Even if she had just said there was nothing to negotiate about--crap! He probably wouldn't believe her. She needed help! She was no good at this!