Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
In the aftermath of Meteor's destruction, Yuffie and Vincent Valentine are helping to evacuate injured civilians near the base of the Midgar cannon. Vincent asks Yuffie to do another scan on the cannon, and she reports that a life sign is being displayed above them. Vincent tells her to rendezvous with Cloud and the others, and goes to check on the signal.
Vincent climbs the cannon and sees Professor Hojo's corpse splayed out at the controls of the cannon. When Vincent pulls out his revolver to end Hojo, a lightning strike disorients him. He turns back to finds that the corpse is gone, and is forced to run when another explosion goes off near him.
Vincent is sitting in a hidden cave that was used by the woman he loved, Lucrecia, who was experimented with by Hojo and "gave birth" to Sephiroth. As Vincent mediates, Lucrecia appears to him and tells him that she wants to apologize to him...
Some time later, Vincent is watching a newscast in Kalm when he is called by Reeve Tuesti, who wants to meet with him. Afterwards, Vincent is shocked when he looks outside and sees a missile hit a nearby building. Civilians run away as black helicopters descend and begin opening fire on the crowd. Other helicopters arrive with cargo containers, and the civilians are being herded in while a mutant attacks the area. A trio of soldiers attempt to shoot down Vincent, but he guns them down without a second thought and begins making his way through the city, saving civilians and taking out enemies.
As he mows down enemies, a woman named Azul accosts him and orders him to hand over the "Protomateria". Before anything else can happen, other voices are heard and Azul flees. Reeve and a platoon of soldiers arrive and secure the area. Reeve tells Vincent that Azul is from a group called the "Tsviets", but they are suddenly shot at by enemy forces. Reeve is seemingly mortally wounded, but suddenly is revealed to be yet another Cait Sith clone. Speaking through radio, Reeve asks Vincent to drive the Tsviets out of Kalm for good with the help of the World Regenesis Organization (which was set up after "Meteorfall" to help heal the planet), and they go about cleaning up the various enemies.
Afterwards, the real Reeve arrives and briefs Vincent that the Tsviets are attacking another town. In Edge, WRO soldiers are massacred by a a woman with red hair who identifies herself as "Rosso the Crimson" and speaks about a place called "Deepground"...
Enroute to Edge, Reeve gives Vincent some background information about Deepground, which the Tsviets are part of. Reeve says that Deepground was established as the shadow arm of the Shinra Corporation, and may be responsible for more than a thousand people disappearing during an incident in Junon. They are interrupted by a rogue transmission being broadcast to their truck, and a concealed figure tells them that the "time has come to cleanse this world".
The truck is attacked by mutant creatures and swerves off-road. Reeve is mildly injured in the attack, while Vincent cuts down the enemies with a machine gun turret. Reeve orders the soldier to continue to Edge and keep investigating before heading back to headquarters.
Vincent infiltrates Edge and sees Rosso's massacre. A woman wearing a WRO tag and a labcoat, Shalua, confronts him and they have a standoff. Vincent tells her he was sent by Reeve and wants to know what happened. but she doesn't have any answers herself before leaving.
He continues on and eventually confronts Rosso. She accuses him of holding the "Protomateria", which can reportedly summon a being named "Omega". She attempts to kill him, but he easily dodges her attacks and assumes his Chaos beast form. Rosso is knocked away by Chaos' power before he reverts back into himself and igoes unconscious. He wakes up later to find Shalua standing over him.
Vincent has a flashback to his time working as a Turk, and remembers Lucrecia betraying him to Hojo, who shoots him and goes on to conduct experiments with his body. In the present, Vincent wakes up and learns that Shalua has brought him to the WRO headquarters. They meet with Reeve and discuss Rosso's statements. Using her knowledge of Vincent's history and Lucrecia's experiments, Shalua reasons that the latter was responsible for most of Vincent's mutations.
They are interrupted when Deepground attacks the headquarters, flanked by Azul. Shalua is shocked to see a young girl among the soldiers while Reeve orders Vincent to rescue the WRO commissioner. He arrives and clears out the room while Reeve commands another Cait Sith body to protect the commissioner.
Vincent continues on and reaches Shalua, who pulls out a gun and aims at the girl in the distance. The scientist identifies the girl as "Shelke" and then reveals that they are sisters. Shelke pulls out dual weapons and says that they haven't seen each other in a decade, and that she was taken by Deepground and modeled into a soldier. Reeve arrives and attempts to stop Shelke, but she goes to attack both him and Shalua. Vincent arrives and rescues the duo, then goes back to subdue Shelke himself, eventually knocking her unconscious.
As they go to flee the headquarters, the group is accosted by Azul, who tells Vincent that he's ignorant of his own destiny. Azul attacks Vincent, who soundly defeats him and leaves him where he is. Reeve, Vincent and the rest of the group escape the headquarters, and he tells Reeve that he is going back to Nibelheim to investigate the Shinra Mansion and find out more about Lucrecia's experiments.
Reeve commands another Sith body and heads to the underbelly of Midgar to see if Deepground has any hidden bases there. He eventually finds a hideout with their soldiers, along with monsters guarding cargo containers and a winged being who says that Omega is growing beneath Midgar. Reeve learns that the individual who talked is named Nero the Sable, and pledges to investigate further.
Vincent infiltrates the mansion and sees a hologram of Lucrecia, who tells him that Omega is a creature that was borne from the Lifestream and will destroy the planet. He begins collecting pieces of her various reports, and is eventually confronted by Rosso, who tells him that Deepground doesn't care what happens to the planet and everything they're doing is on behalf of their leader, Weiss. Rosso sends an attack robot after Vincent, and eventually corners him and extracts the Protomateria, rendering him unable to transform into his beast mode. Vincent is saved by the timely arrival of Yuffie, who attacks Rosso and disappears with the former.
Vincent thanks Yuffie for her help and they contact Reeve. He tells the duo that they have to stop Omega, but they have to return to WRO Headquarters first.
At the HQ, Shelke is in a containment tube and tells Shalua that she is a fool for letting her live. The though-dead Azul wakes up in the morgue and begins slaying soldiers, while Reeve orders containment protocols. Vincent and Yuffie arrive at the building and break through a large contingent of Deepground soldiers to get inside, as they realize it was a coordinated attack. Inside, they find Azul, who is suddenly incapacitated by Shelke when he tries to attack her. Azul tells Shelke that she is expendable, and as he attacks, Shalua seemingly sacrifices herself to ensure that her sister, Vincent and the others escape Azul's wrath.
Azul escapes and the WRO licks its wounds. The team finds Shalua's body and get her to a recovery tube, but aren't sure if she'll pull through. Shelke asks why her sister did something so stupid, and Vincent says that Shalua was looking for something to live her. He has more flashbacks of his time with Lucrecia, and later talks to Reeve about Omega's true potential.
Reeve dispatches Vincent to find the missing pieces of Lucrecia's Omega Report, and has Cid fly him, Yuffie and Shalua to Midgar to look for it. On the way there, Vincent catches up with Shelke and Reeve, who reveal that they have another team leading a ground assault to distract Deepground...
In the Wastelands, Cloud, Barrett and Tifa are leading a convoy of trucks to the abandoned city. Onboard Cid's airship, the Shera, Shelke reveals that Omega is the same type of lifeform as the WEAPONS the team fought three years ago, and Deepground is trying to wake it from its slumber. Yuffie also reveals that Deepground attacked Wutai but were driven back by her father and the local populace.
At Midgar, Azul, Rosso and Nero see the oncoming aerial and land attack. They claim it will have no bearing on their plans and walk off, while Shelke tells Vincent that she now understands what it means to fight for someone before the convoys attack the city. Deepground attempts to counterattack, but the WRO forces are too much and they begin breaking through the defenses. Cloud faces off against Rosso, while Azul attempts to shoot down the Shera.
Vincent infiltrates Midgar and breaks through Deepground's inner defenses, eventually making his to an inner complex and meeting Rosso again. He easily defeats her and leaves her to die as a platform collapses on her.
Moving on through the complex, Vincent begins experiencing involuntary rage as a result of his materia loss, and Shelke teaches him to control his impulses and harness it to destroy Omega. A fire breaks out aboard the Shera and Cid dispatches Shelke to the engine room to contain the situation. Once there, she finds Nero, who attacks her...
Vincent makes his way to the ruined Shinra Tower and receives a call from Tifa, who tells him that Deepground's base is underneath the building. He finds an elevator and takes it down, then confronts Azul at the entrance. A battle commences, and Vincent transforms into his Chaos Mode to defeat the latter. The beast-form shoves Azul out of the complex into an abyss and looks above to see Nero watching him and then disappearing.
Vincent continues on, carving through Deepground soldiers. Meanwhile, Shelke was shoved into the same abyss by Nero and is being protected by a Shield Materia. Vincent infiltrates Deepground's base, Mako Reactor 0, and finds Nero, who boasts about Omega's imminent awakening. Vincent takes Nero down, but the latter uses magic to force the former into the same abyss. Vincent rescues Shelke and they break out again.
Nero sees this happening and tries to force them back in, but he is interrupted by a surprise attack from Yuffie and flees. Shelke heads back to the airship while Yuffie and Vincent continue deeper into the reactor.
They find a dead Weiss sitting on a throne at the reactor core. Nero appears and tells the duo that Omega has possessed Weiss and will now destroy the world, and a boss battle ensures against him. Nero is fatally wounded and tells Weiss to finish the preparations, with the latter stabbing Nero in the chest.
Weiss reveals to the pair that he is a clone of Hojo, who distributed the data in his mind three years earlier at the Junon Cannon controls, and has now reformed himself for a "neo-Reunion". He goads Vincent about Lucrecia's experiments giving rise to his work to bring back Omega before laughing at them.
The final battle begins, and Vincent uses everything he has to take down Hojo/Weiss. It isn't enough, and he is soundly defeated. When it looks like Vincent will be executed, he activates his Chaos Mode and utilizes the Protomateria to deflect Hojo's attacks and control his form. Hojo is shocked, and another battle begins.
Vincent defeats Hojo/Weiss and sends him flying into a wall. The reformed scientist has a breakdown upon realizing his plans are ruined, and Weiss seemingly breaks free of Hojo's control and combines with Omega. The entity rises out of the Shinra Tower and Vincent goes up to attack it. Shelke uses her Materias to hold Omega in place and then appears to Vincent in Lucrecia's form, Vincent rescues her before Omega can break free and kill her, then goes to attack the entity himself.
In the city, Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Yuffie and Cid are still beating up Deepground soldiers and clearing resistance for Vincent to attack Omega. He reaches the entity in a hybrid Chaos/human form and charges it, slamming through its defenses and entering the creature itself. Inside, he finds Weiss cocooned within its centre and they engage in a fight. Vincent bests him and causes the leader to plummet back down to the ground, then makes one final blow at the entity's core before it can reach full power. Omega breaks apart and explodes in a shower of Lifestream energy while Cloud and the others watch below.
Afterwards, the team celebrates and Shelke calls Vincent from the ruined Seventh Heaven Bar in Sector 7. She says that her sister died from her injuries, but that she is starting to get back in touch with her humanity and will work to help the planet. She hangs up and Red XIII is seen hanging out with her.
Vincent goes back to Lucrecia's Cave later and she appears to him. She thanks him for for stopping Omega, and he tells her that she's the reason why he keeps fighting to protect the planet. He exits and finds Shelke waiting for him, who says that Cloud and the others are waiting for him. They head on out in an airship as the particles of the Lifestream float in the air...
In a cave in Midgar, the corpse of Weiss lies on the ground. Suddenly, a ball of energy appears in the air and hovers above the corpse. The entity, who identifies himself as "G", tells the corpse that they have work to do as a wing sprouts from his back and his eyes glow blue...
