Disclaimer: If I owned Final Fantasy, any of it, I would be a far wealthier person than I am.

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update this. It's difficult to make a plot like this believable, but I'm doing my best. Feel free to leave constructive criticism and comments, they're all appreciated. And if you feel the desperate need to flame, I'll read those too. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed thus far.

-Genesis Rising-

Chapter Four

-Nero and the WRO-

An aura of pure and utter shock permeated the air in the break room so thickly you could almost hear Cid choke on it. "Hot damn, what are you doing Yuffie?" he demanded. If nothing else Avalanche was adaptable, accepting Yuffie's new changes and attempting to accept her back into the fold as if her role in their group hadn't changed, but they also realized they were failing at it. They hadn't had enough time yet and the changes were too new, too strange, and too different for them to accept it quickly."

Yuffie muttered something from where she had buried her face in Nero's dark hair. Nero, for his part, was frozen as if he expected to be mauled by some sort of wild animal. Nero's words replayed themselves in Yuffie's head. I see that even if your appearance has changed, you have not. It was the something that had been missing, that had left a ragged hole in her chest that made it difficult to draw breath. The assurance that no matter what she had become, she was still Yuffie. Vincent had tried, but he was too broken, too cautious to tell her so as easily as the words had tumbled Nero's mouth.

His body was hard against her trembling fingers, her talons tracing shallow paths in the damp and torn leather that was all that remained of his DeepGround uniform. She murmured again, bringing her mouth closer to his ear so that only he could hear. "Thank you." The words were heartfelt, shocking Nero, who grew even more rigid in her embrace than before. Yuffie finally noticed his discomfort and took pity on him, leaping to her feet and spinning around in a characteristically Yuffie movement. Placing her fisted hands on her slim hips, she declared with a toothy grin, "Nero is my new bestest friend! Sorry Vinny, you've been replaced."

Vincent's crimson eyes blinked once slowly as Avalanche's collective jaw dropped. "Yeah, that's Yuffie all right." Barrett said gruffly.

"I am sorry, but I am not some pet that you can just adopt you know." Nero declared, but rather than being intimidating, it made him sound like a petulant child.

Tifa smiled. "It's like looking at a pair of bookends. Aren't they cute, Vincent?"

Vincent raised a single eyebrow, feeling rather perplexed at why he was being included in such a conversation when he flinched as Cid threw a casual arm across his shoulders. "It's okay Vincent. Something like that is better lost anyway. We'll get you a new one." Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Cid and the group laughed, like it hadn't laughed since the day Yuffie and Shelke had been attacked.

Quarters were found for the bedraggled Nero, placing him what he considered unpleasantly near the resident spymaster. Clothes had been scavenged for him from some of the various residents who called the WRO Headquarters home. A shower later Nero was sitting quietly on the bed in the sparse, impersonal room that he had been assigned, when the youngest member of Avalanche bounded in, her mercurial eyes fairly glowing with excitement. Before she can say anything, he told her sullenly, "No. Whatever it is, no."

Her eyes didn't dim at all. Instead she waggled a finger at him. "Nope. You have to earn your keep, ya know. You said you knew where Shelke was being held. Now, Vincent hasn't killed you yet, but it's only a matter of time if you don't tell us. And Vinny isn't a patient vampire. So we're going to Meeting Room 1 and we're going to coordinate Shelke's retrieval." She walked forward, clasping a seemingly friendly hand on one shoulder.

But through the thinner cloth of his shirt, he noticed the significant coolness of her hand and felt the faint sensation of inhuman nails tracing patterns across his skin. But he had been a Tsviet and being threatened by a foolish young ninja who had once been trapped in his darkness, no matter how much she seemed to have been changed, was something he couldn't allow.

Allowing the atoms of his body to disintegrate into the shadow cloud that had earned him his name, he attempting to simply phase through the ninja on his way to the door. However, her body didn't accept his atoms, and he was forced to make his way around her, coalescing at point where he was standing with his back turned to her, facing the unremarkable crème surface of the standard sliding door that marked the entrance to his room. "We aren't friends." He said pointedly.

Even though she knew he couldn't see her, Yuffie rolled her eyes. "But Nero-kun", she protested, throwing her arms around his shoulders as she pivoted on the balls of her feet, "I want you to be my friend." He shot her a look that was comparable to that of a cornered animal before he filtered through her hold.

He made his way angrily into the corridor, his blue-black eyes stormy. Yuffie sprinted a few steps until she caught up to him. Lacing her fingers behind her back, she leaned forward until she was clearly invading his personal space. As if asking for a great secret, she whispered, "So, how do you get your clothes to go all shadowy with you?" Nero used all the discipline that had been pounded into him in DeepGround to resist the urge to bash his head against the nearer corridor wall. So it was the Yuffie made her way into Meeting Room 1 followed by a shadowy cloud in such turmoil that it resembled a roiling group of bees, minus the hum.

Reeve cleared his throat from where he set at one end of a long meeting table. All the other members of Avalanche had already assembled. Vincent was currently occupying the darkest corner of room he could find, a difficult feat in the well-lit room with white walls. Cid had pushed his wheeled chair so far back it touched one of the walls, putting him at perfect range to prop his muddy boots on the pristine wooden surface of the table. Barrett was slouching impatiently in his seat, using his gun arm as a prop to rest his head. Tifa was seated next to Cloud, and was occupied in rereading reports that had led only to dead ends. Only Cloud was sitting still, his fingers laced behind his head, his stance casual.

Reeve's eyebrow rose as he took in Nero's state, especially as the dark man's form appeared rather rumpled as he pulled his atom cloud back together. "She. Is. A. Menace." Nero hissed angrily through his teeth.

"What did you do to him?" Reeve asked curiously.

"Well, his shadow thing is composed of atoms, right? I wanted to know what would happen if they were mixed up. See, usually he can just phase through things, but apparently he can't phase through me or Vinnie. So, I tried walking through him a couple times to see what it would do." Yuffie bounced eagerly on the tips of her feet and Reeve had to smother the urge to laugh at the strange picture she made, what with her new fearsome appearance and disarming habits. The dark look that Nero shot his intelligence officer through mussed bangs was simply a bonus.

But he wasn't head of the WRO for nothing and he controlled the impulse. In a level tone, he managed, "I see." Then his countenance changed into a serious one. "Nero the Sable. Former member of the elite combat group the Tsviets, which was attached to the DeepGround project. You came to us this morning claiming that you had information on the location of one of our members, who was kidnapped some time ago. Now that we've assembled, perhaps you would care to share that information with us?"

A subtle shift overcame the ruffled individual that stood before them. His posture unconsciously seemed to straighten, like he was a serpent uncoiling and preparing to strike. His feet shifted until they were about shoulder width apart, his hands dropping to his sides. Even the mussed bangs seemed to give him a sinister air as he peered through them at Reeve. "Very well." Even his tone of voice had changed, the words coming out clipped and brusque. His blue-black eyes were piercing and intelligent again, rather than covered by the vague blue fog that had seemed to cloud them while he bantered with Yuffie.

"After the fall of DeepGround, I have not been staying in a single place. As you may know, there is a vast drainage system that exists under Midgar and extends into Edge. You may not know, however, that there also exists several bunkers and hidden labs beneath the surface. DeepGround was simply one of these. Most were created by Shinra. However, there were also independent researchers and minor companies who conducted their own research. It was at one of these facilities that I noticed activity at 1100 hours yesterday. It appeared they were moving testing equipment back in."

"And you decided to investigate?" Reeve prompted when Nero paused.

"Yes. Among the various paraphernalia, one thing caught my eye. There was a long, cylindrical chamber, of the type usually used to create a temporary stasis. I managed to get close enough to peer through the glass. It was then that I recognized Shelke. Knowing you might be interested, I came here." Nero finished.

Vincent's crimson eyes were searching, as if he were examining a fine vase for faults. "And why would you do that?"

Nero's laugh was bitter. "You won. There was nothing else I could do. It is part of my conditioning that I obey the victor." A sardonic smile crossed his pale lips. "Of course, this is a situation Shinra never imagined when they began that conditioning."

There hung a tense silence in the air as the members of Avalanche processed the information that Nero had provided. "So," the voice sounded so near Nero's ear that he flinched instinctively. The wide silver eyes of the ninja who had drawn near him blinking in bemused consternation. Once upon a time, he would have heard her approach a mile away. "Does your conditioning include doing anything the winners say?" There was a wide, wicked grin on her face that managed to look faintly ridiculous, despite the overemphasized canine teeth.

"No." Nero answered blankly, drawing as far from her as he could without actually moving.

"Yuffie, behave." With Reeve's admonishment, the young shinobi withdrew looking like a spoiled child who had just had their favorite toy taken away. The commissioner of the WRO sighed, lacing his fingers together and staring blankly at the reports assembled in front of him. From the corner of his he surveyed the others who had assembled in the hope of retrieving their friend.

Vincent was as he usually was, stoic and in control, his pale face a perfectly sculpted mask of diligent watchfulness. Yuffie was doodling on the papers in front of her, leaning on one hand, elbow propped on the table. But there was awareness in her mercurial eyes that let him know she was every bit as aware of the dangerous situation as Vincent was, if not more. As his chief intelligence officer, she might know more about the dangerous underworld that existed beneath the city.

Tifa was looking worried, but there was faint relief in her eyes, knowing that Shelke was still alive if they had bothered to put her into stasis. Cloud had pulled a mask of mercenary blankness of his features, and was employing his time in watching Reeve and waiting for orders to be issued.

Barrett had risen from the table and was digging through the cabinets on the left side of the room for the maps that were stored in each of the meeting rooms. Apparently whomever had them out last had left them in disarray, for he was cursing lightly under his breath as he pulled out an overhead street map that included both Midgar and Edge and found the incomplete surveys that existed of the underground. Cid had sullenly placed his feet on the floor and wiped the dust that had fallen from his boots off the desk, leaving faint brown streaks across the papers that had been laid in front of him.

Barrett unrolled the large maps, placing holders at all the corners. "All right, shadow boy, get your butt over here." His command was gruff and Nero moved unwillingly closer to the table from where he had been standing stiffly by the door. "Now, where'd you see them taking Shelke?"

There was a tense, anticipatory silence as Nero traced his fingers gently over the map's surface. Vincent leaned forward slightly, heightening his resemblance to a bird of prey with his piercing, hungry gaze. Yuffie's doodles took on a different shape, as her slightly crooked bunnies morphing into disturbing well drawn creatures that looked to have crawled out of the deepest pits of hell. Despite Reeve's 'No Smoking' rule, Cid lit up a cigarette, using his WRO insignia coffee mug to catch the ashes. Tifa was hovering without leaving her seat and only Reeve caught sight of Cloud laying a quick, comforting hand over Tifa's.

At last Nero's hand stilled. "Here." He said confidently. "This is where I emerged into the city. From there I should be able to lead you to her."

"Can't you just show us?" Cid inquired.

Nero flicked his eyes over to the incomplete survey that was the best the WRO owned of the underground. Mapping out the dangerous tunnels and waterways that flowed below their cities had been pushed back on the priority list, given all there was to do and the lack of willing personnel. In fact, most of the map had been made by Yuffie, with only a bare bones team of cartographers and other assistance personnel going with her. Nero smooth voice sounded again. "I am afraid that you don't have a map that corresponds to this area."

It was true. The area where he had pointed was close to the old industrial district, an area where most of the buildings were condemned anyway. At the time when the maps were made, Reeve had been most concerned about streets falling in or other civilian concerns. There had been no need at the time to send a team in there.

"So, who are you going to send?" Cloud asked, his blond spikes shifting as he moved to better examine the map himself.

Reeve looked to be deep in thought. "I can't risk sending anyone in blind. We'll send in intelligence first, then make plans from there."

"Yes!" Yuffie cheered, scattering her papers and her grotesque gargoyles across the floor of the room.

Nero looked like he could be ill. "The only reason they'd put you in intelligence is for the irony." He muttered. Yuffie heard him clearly, sending him a dirty look.

Reeve chuckled. "Even if that was the case, Yuffie is our head officer. She'll be accompanying you."

"Just Yuffie?" Vincent asked darkly. "Are you certain that is a wise idea?"

"Hey, Vince, I saved your butt remember." She pointed a finger in his direction, as if she could run him through with it. "And don't forget, I am the Great Ninja Extraordinaire, Yuffie Kisigari!" She spun around on her heel to emphasize her point, finger still pointing directly at Vincent as she stilled again. While she maintained her cheerful façade, there was a part of her that was hurt by Vincent's lack of confidence. The logical part of her knew he was worried about Shelke, and perhaps about her safety as well, but she had never found listening to that cool, logical voice easy. It had sounded irritatingly like too many of the Masters she had studied under while growing up in Wutai.

"Yeah, we can't just send the brat in with him. He could be a traitor." Cid said, smashing his coffee cup down on the table for emphasis. A spiderweb crack ran up the white surface, but the ashy liquid inside simply sloshed around a bit and Reeve breathed a sigh of relief. The cleaning staff would have a fit if any of that tarry liquid found its way onto the teal industrial carpet that lined the floor. Idly Reeve wondered whose idea it had been to carpet this room in the first place. It couldn't have been him, could it?

Turning his attention away from the state of his floors he said, in the voice he reserved for making important decisions and controlling Yuffie, "I have full confidence in Yuffie's skills. The more people we send in, the greater the chance is that they will be caught. If they are, we have no way of predicting our enemy's response and there is no guarantee we will be able to find them again if they decide to move their base. With Nero's ability to shift his form and Yuffie's stealth abilities, they should have no troubles."

Yuffie smirked in Cid's direction and mouthed, "Score one for ninja sneakiness!"

Reeve resisted the urge to roll his eyes and questioned again how this woman had ended up in such an important position within his organization. "However, I will allow one of our elite troops to accompany her to provide support."

"No." Vincent's voice was equally as hard as Reeve's had been, and his physical presence simply added more weight to it, until it was as if he had dropped a building on the conversation. "I will be the one to accompany Yuffie and Nero. With both Nero's and my support, after Yuffie infiltrates we can retrieve Shelke immediately. During that time, Yuffie can gather information on our enemy, so there will be no need for a second trip." There was a brief staring contest between the commissioner and the dark gunner, which the rest of the group watched with interest.

Reeve was the first to look away, returning his gaze to the papers before him. It was unusual for Vincent to be so vehement. He wondered what exactly it was about the blue eyed child-woman that inspired the man to such emotion. Reeve himself was fond of Shelke and he knew all the others shared his opinion, except perhaps Yuffie, who didn't get along well with the girl.

Vincent was indeed worried about Shelke's safety, but his analytical mind didn't allow that to be his only concern. He also worried about this new, unknown threat that had been powerful enough to take Shelke away and kill Yuffie. He hadn't mentioned the latter to the rest, but his own experiences had taught him the cost of such a dramatic physical transformation. Yuffie's demons had simply manifested on the outside.

There was also a nagging worry about Yuffie's safety, despite all the demonstrations he had received in their acquaintanceship of her competency, no matter what a silly klutz she acted in front of people. If nothing else Yuffie was an actor, with the whole world as her audience. Even Vincent himself had only seen through cracks in the mask, which tended to repair itself quickly and presented that same cheerful face at every turn.

Not to be dismissed either were his questions about Nero's motivations. There seemed to be no gain in this exchange for the dark haired man, and that made him cautious. So he would use his influence to make sure he accompanied Yuffie on her mission, despite the pang that it caused him to see that she thought he doubted her skills.

While the rest of Avalanche was caught up in asking themselves why Nero was doing this, Nero himself was asking the same thing. The only reason he could find was that these were the only familiar people in a world that was so open and strange after living so long in the darkness. To one such as him, a familiar enemy was more welcome than the strangers who populated this open world. They were different and strange from those who had made DeepGround their home. So when he had crawled to the surface after that fortuitous chance at finding purpose once again, he had made his way to the distinctive building that housed the hope for the world.

Yuffie's attention span hadn't improved with her transformation. She had often told her frustrated masters that she went through life like she did so all her patience could be saved for the battlefield. She wasn't sure they had believed her. While watching everyone be deeply contemplative was amusing for .05 seconds, she was getting eager, especially with the lure of a new mission.

While the others might have found her quick adaption and relative composure about her transformation strange, to Yuffie once she realized there was no way to change what had been done she simply decided to enjoy it. A psychologist might have said that this was because all her life Yuffie had dealt with life shattering events, ones that shifted and shaped the very world she lived on. Change, even unpleasant change, was nothing new to Yuffie. So after breaking down on Vincent and glomping Nero for recognizing it was still her in this shell, she felt that she was quite prepared to live out the rest of her life in this new form.

So, leaping out of her chair and clearing the table, she caught Nero by the back of his collar and pulled him toward the door. Ignoring the choking and spluttering noises originating from her captive, she called back, "I'll tell you what we find! We'll send you a postcard!" as she ducked out the door and slid it smoothly shut as the collective voice of Avalanche was raised in protest.

"Right." She said, clapping her hands together and releasing Nero, who coughed violently. "Next step. Gear. Equipment rooms are this way. We can see if we can find you something, 'cause those desk jockey clothes won't do anything once we get below street level." She took off briskly and Nero had no choice but to follow, like some cowed puppy.

Yuffie led the way to a door that had a numerical lock and hand scanner to one side. Within moments, Yuffie had typed in a string of codes without even looking at the keypad and was tapping her boots impatiently as the laser scanner compared her prints to the ones that were located in the WRO central database. As they entered the room Nero turned his head this way and that, curiously scanning the racks upon racks of generic WRO uniforms. There were different styles, colors, and cuts for the different units, though they used a system that Nero was unfamiliar with. Instead of stopping here however, his guide lead him straight through into a smaller room.

Here there existed more diversity, and there were several people who seemed to be working in the brightly lit stations. "'Kay, this is the research and development room. This is where we can get you an outfit like the one you had. We don't make the usual WRO units were them, 'cause it would be a waste, but the elite combat units are personally equipped here." As Yuffie was speaking, one of the technicians, a mousy looking woman with glasses in an oversized lab coat made her way over to them.

After shaking his hand aggressively, the woman pushed her glasses higher up on the bridge of her nose. "As you requested, Ms. Kisagari, certain changes and upgrades have been made to the gear you brought to us. I also received your memo about the need to equip this man here. We've prepared a selection for him to try on and we can do minor alterations here in the lab." She turned away.

"Ms. Kisagari, you'll find that Anita is prepared to retrieve your gear." Hearing this, a red-headed technician scrambled toward one of the vaults built into the walls. "Mr…Sable, is it? No matter, the changing rooms are this way. One of our male technicians will assist you." Nero allowed himself to be led away into the clean, well lit area that comprised the changing rooms. When he saw the assembled pile, he hoped that Vincent Valentine was prepared to wait a while.