Chapter 3: Silent Edge (Dirge of Cerberus)

Rosso is sitting on a crate in the factory, laughing to herself.

Rosso

"Slashed, strangled, and slaughtered. Beaten, stabbed, and crushed. Garroted and impaled. Shot and executed without mercy. Nicely said, Weiss."

She looks up at the sky.

Rosso

"I wonder if this will be a little more amusing than last time."

The camera fades out, as we see she's surrounded by the corpses of WRO members.

Back to Vincent, who's peering around a corner. A woman in a labcoat and high heels approaches him from behind and pulls out a gun. Vincent turns around, also holding his gun. Both guns are pointed at each other's heads. The girl is wearing a bizarre outfit beneath the labcoat; her left eye is closed and she appears to have an artificial left arm. Vincent notices a WRO identification tag on her labcoat.

Vincent

"You're WRO?"

Girl

"Who's asking?"

Vincent puts his gun away.

Vincent

"Vincent Valentine. Reeve sent me."

The girl puts her gun away.

Shalua

"My apologies. Shalua Rui of the WRO."

Shalua

"The commissioner has told me much about you."

Vincent

"What happened here?"

Shalua

"That's what I'd like to know."

Shalua

"I'm here on other business, but something's not right. It's too quiet."

Shalua

"I've seen no trace of Deepground, or the squads that were sent in to fight them."

Shalua

"Also, where are the 500 people who are supposed to still be living here?"

Shalua

"Well, this is getting us nowhere. Like I said, I have business to attend to. I'll see you around. [she begins to walk away]"

Vincent

"Business?"

Shalua

"[stops, turns around] The commissioner keeps telling me I'm wasting my time searching."

Vincent

"Searching for what?"

Shalua

"For my reason to live. [walks away]"

Back to gameplay; Vincent makes his way through the town, eventually stumbling on a solitary dying WRO member.

WRO Member

"Ambushed... by... soldier... in red..."

WRO Member

"Squad... wiped out..."

WRO Member

"Warehouse... on the... edge of town..."

WRO Member

"They... were gathering... civilians..."

The gameplay continues. Vincent moves on to an area with snipers, and kills them all. Eventually he spots a lone kid running away from several Deepground soldiers; he kills them and saves the kid.

Kid

"Thanks."

Kid

"The warehouse. I know how to get there. It's through that gate."

A nearby gate is revealed, which requires a cardkey to get by.

Kid

"You have the cardkey?"

Vincent barely shakes his head to signal "no"

Kid

"Come on. [runs away] I know someone who does. Follow me."

Eventually Vincent gets the cardkey, and proceeds to the warehouse, where he's ambushed by a Heavy Armored Soldier and an array of Deepground soldiers, who (naturally) shout "Hail Weiss!" Boss fight vs. Heavy Armored Soldier.

Heavy Armored Soldier

"How could I...?"

The soldier falls down; Vincent walks to the door.

Scene change; outside, Rosso is staring upward, standing in the rain.

Rosso

"You know, this is the first time I've ever felt the rain on my skin."

Rosso

"But then again, I hadn't even seen the sky until a few days ago."

She stands there motionless for several seconds; the camera pulls back to reveal Vincent is standing there, looking at her.

Rosso

"So you're Vincent Valentine. Keeper of the Protomateria."

Vincent

"Protomateria?"

Rosso

"Yes. The key to controlling Omega. We know you have it."

Rosso

"Hand it over now, and I'll kill you quickly."

Vincent stares at her. He is unamused!

Rosso

"Not one to bargain, are we? Then I'll make sure you suffer."

Using her super-speed, she appears behind Vincent.

Rosso

"Time to die."

She unfurls her weapon and attempts to strike him; Vincent dodges her blows; the center of her weapon is revealed to be a hidden gun; he manages to dodge the gunfire. However, she gets close enough to punch him, sending him crashing through a wall. Crouched on one knee, Vincent begins to glow red... he steps out of the building, now sporting a pair of wings, grey skin, and a generally macabre appearance. He is... Chaos! He generates a spherical red barrier of energy around him, which sends Rosso flying away. We next see Vincent standing in the rain, and he falls down. As he loses consciousness, he sees Shalua approaching him.

Next scene: a flashback, or perhaps a hallucination, but he's in Lucrecia's Cave. The camera pans around Lucrecia, still in her crystal tomb, as we occasionally hear her disembodied voice.

Vincent

"Lucrecia."

Lucrecia

"...sorry..."

Vincent

"Why?"

Lucrecia

"Awake--"

Vincent

"Awake?"

Lucrecia

"I'm so sorry."

Another flashback; Vincent, as a Turk, is in the basement of Shinra Mansion, confronting Hojo, who's wielding a gun.

Vincent

"Talk! Why did you let this happen!?"

Hojo

"Silence."

Vincent

"You!"

Hojo

"Silence!!! [Hojo shoots him, Vincent falls down, staring at Hojo's boots]"

Hojo

"Why can't these people just keep quiet?"

As Vincent begins to lose consciousness, he hears portions of what Hojo is saying to himself.

Hojo

"I can... body... next experiment... a genius... I am... success here... justify... failures..."

Next scene; Vincent wakes up, his vision distorted. He stumbles around before the screen fades to black and he screams.

Another scene change; he's inside a regenerative tube of water, while Lucrecia is outside, looking at him. This will be a familiar scene in future flashbacks; but for the moment, this is all we see.