Professional Conduct – Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I don't own Final Fantasy, the characters, etc. Some of the script from the AC movie was used, so that doesn't belong to me either. ^_^

The sky darkened as the helicopter sped towards the Northern Crater. Four Turks sat silently inside as Reno pulled the chopper close to its gaping maw. Dark gray clouds obscured their vision, but Reno pulled in as close as he could to the bottom of the crater. The hum of the helicopter became a roar as Tseng pushed the door open and unfurled the ladder. From here, he and Elena would climb to the base while Reno and Rude waited at a higher altitude.

"Do you think it's actually down here, sir?" asked Elena as they reached the ground. When the president had briefed them on the mission, he tried his best to describe what they were to look for, but he had expressed his doubts as to whether or not they would actually find anything. Sephiroth had been killed at the hands of Cloud Strife, but whether or not he was completely gone was still up for debate. There was also the issue of Jenova and whether it had disappeared. The president had insisted that they investigate in any case, as penance to the planet and its people .

"I'm not sure," replied Tseng. "We'll know when – if – we see it." The two began searching the ground for the remains of Sephiroth, still unsure of what exactly they would uncover. They were silent for quite some time, concentrating on any detail of the ground that seemed out of place, the crunch of shoes on gravel the only noise. Suddenly, something caught Elena's eye, and she stepped towards it.

"Tseng! Look at this," she said, pointing to a large dark puddle on the ground. It would have been identical to water, except it had the faint green glow of mako.

He smiled grimly. "Pay dirt."

"Not a pretty sight, is it?" she commented, looking down at it with disgust. Tseng took out a small black box and a pair of heavy gloves and knelt next to the puddle. The box was designed by the science department at Shinra to hold whatever volatile thing they might encounter here, including the head of a thousand year old alien. Tseng knelt down next to the puddle, pulling on the gloves and trying to ignore the fact that he was likely holding onto a part of either Sephiroth or Jenova and shoving it into a box.

"Who cares? Just get the damn thing," Reno muttered into the radio.

"Reno, the chopper," said Tseng, ignoring the redhead's comment.

"You got it." The helicopter lowered itself to where the two were. Without warning, he was nearly deafened by the sound of gunfire coming through his headset. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he shouted.

"Reno, hurry!" came Elena's desperate voice. "Reno!"

It had gotten even darker and more oppressive near the bottom of the crater, if that was even possible. Rude had jumped out of his seat and stood at the door, gun cocked and ready. He was met with a box narrowly missing his face. It slid to the other side of the helicopter unharmed. The gunfire continued, but the mission was accomplished. There weren't supposed to be any casualties on this mission, but Rude and Reno knew that it could change at any second. Whoever – or whatever- was down there could easily take them down. And they knew that they had to leave immediately, or the mission would fail.

Elena bit back a grunt as her head met the rocks, her gun flying from her hand. She held her head up, looking over at the three men who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Elena!" Tseng shouted, running over to her side.

"Go! Get out of here!" she shouted into the two-way radio. Tseng felt himself knocked backwards. A young man with silver hair pulled him back up by his collar.

"Mother was here. Where is she?" he hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tseng said, with a hint of defiance in his voice.

"She was here!" he shouted, and threw Tseng down with unexpected strength. He hit the ground with a sickening crack.

"Stop it!" cried Elena, looking somewhere between furious and heartbroken. The three men looked over at her. She stood up, using the wall of the crater for support.

"Quiet." The younger man glared at Elena.

"You know, Kadaj, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she has feelings for this man," said the long haired man.

A twisted smile curled onto the younger man's – Kadaj's – lips. "Yeah, maybe you're right, Yazoo." Kadaj nodded to the oldest looking man. "Loz?"

The man with short hair stepped towards her in large strides. Elena took a step back, preparing to defend herself against Loz. Before he could get too close, she threw her leg out in a low kick. But Loz was faster, grabbing Elena's foot and throwing her to the ground. Sharp pain shot through her body, a soft moan escaping her lips. While the pain was still fresh, Loz grabbed her by her jacket and pulled her up, shoving her against him. He smelled of leather and mako, a potent combination. He needed only one arm around her waist to hold her.

She saw Kadaj and Yazoo circling Tseng like Nibel wolves circling their prey. She turned away, only to have Loz jerk her head back forward. She wanted to close her eyes, but her body wouldn't listen.

"What did you find here?" asked Yazoo, tilting his head, a smirk on his lips, as though he already knew.

"Not a thing," Tseng growled.

"Ah ah ah, wrong answer," said Kadaj. He unsheathed a double bladed sword from his back and moved it along Tseng's jaw in an almost loving caress, leaving a thin line of blood.

Elena tried to elbow Loz, but her arm was pinned too tightly. She was already helpless, but watching her superior tortured was more than she could bear.

"We know you have something," said Yazoo. Tseng said nothing. Kadaj moved the sword from Tseng's jaw and pressed the tip of it into his stomach. Tseng let out an involuntary cry of pain as the sword pierced through the first layer of muscle. Kadaj smiled.

Taking a deep breath, a sudden surge of adrenaline ran through her, she heaved herself away from Loz, her mind bent on getting her gun and putting a bullet in each of these monsters' heads. Loz didn't expect it, and in the confusion, she managed to escape his grasp. She made a move forwards to where her gun had fallen.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and Elena felt white hot pain burst through her right shoulder. She fell to the ground. In the split second it took for her to instinctively grab her shoulder, Loz yanked her back up.

"Try anything like that again, girlie, and playtime's over," Loz growled into her ear. Her vision went dark as Loz grabbed the injured shoulder. Her body sagged; she was getting dizzy. Loz roughly forced her upright, his arm pushing against her ribs. Blood ran down her front. The bullet had been lodged inside.

I'm going to die, she thought. She looked at Tseng, his face shiny with sweat. We both are.

"I'll ask you this one more time," Kadaj snarled, his smile morphing into a scowl. "Where is Mother?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," gasped Tseng. He was out of breath, but there was determination in his voice.

"Liar." Kadaj's voice was flat as he lifted up the sword and jammed it into Tseng's shoulder. When Tseng screamed, Elena gritted her teeth and shut her eyes. Tseng didn't move. Kadaj and Yazoo looked down at him without any emotion. She began to shake with rage. She flexed her hands, waiting for the moment when she could rip the men in front of her from limb to limb.

"Think the girl will talk?" asked Yazoo. The two turned to her.

"Go to hell," she hissed.

"Guess not," he said, with indifference. He raised his gun.

"Watch it, Yazoo," said Loz warningly. She took advantage of the distraction to elbow him in the gut and run towards Tseng, but Yazoo's gun was faster. She crashed to the ground, landing hard on her side, clenching her leg where the bullet hit.

A rough hand forced her onto her back. She looked up and saw Loz standing above her, no longer smiling sadistically. He pushed her coat open.

Please no. I'm already going to-, she thought, before realizing that Loz had just taken her Shinra ID and took Tseng's as well.

"Let's go," said Kadaj.

"Should we finish them off?" asked Yazoo.

"Nah, they're gonna die here anyway. Even if that helicopter comes back, they'll be too late," he said, waving his hand dismissively. They left, disappearing into the thick fog. All was silent.

The pain in Elena's leg had dulled to a deep throb. She gasped in pain as she dragged herself towards Tseng, trying hard to avoid getting gravel in the wound.

Did he hit my artery? she wondered. …No, I'd be dead by now.

"Sir, wake up," she said, surprised at how weak her voice was. She took a look at where he'd been stabbed. She took off her coat and ripped the arm off easily due to the bullet hole. She bit her lip; the motion causing a jolt of pain in her shoulder. I have to stop that bleeding. His face was ghostly pale.

She lifted his shoulder up so she could get the cloth around his shoulder and he hissed, though his eyes didn't open.

"Sorry sir, but otherwise you're going to bleed to death," she said. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes, but she concentrated on tightening the cloth around his shoulder. The holes in his stomach were going to be harder to cover.

"Elena, stop."

"Sir?"

"Don't bother," he said, his voice gravelly.

"I'm not going to let you bleed to death," she said, tying the last knot in the makeshift bandage. The action caused a throb of pain in her shoulder and she looked down, only to find a bright red splotch. She groaned as a wave of fatigue hit her. She did not want to fall asleep here, but her body was shutting down and she her eyelids got heavy.

No! Elena thought as she distracted herself by tearing a long piece of cloth from the bottom of her shirt. She undid the last two buttons of Tseng's shirt and pushed the fabric away from the two holes where Kadaj's sword had cut. She had to look away momentarily at the sight of the ugly purple wounds.

"Elena…"

"Don't try to talk sir," she said, trying to sound as professional as possible.

"It looks like this is where it ends for us," he said, letting out a pained chuckle. "Our own sins…coming full circle."

"I don't intend to die, sir, and I'm not letting you either." She wasn't sure where the confident words had come from, but they both needed to hear it, and she wanted it to be true. She realized she needed to attend to her own injuries, but she was running out of fabric, and the brief surge of adrenaline she felt moments ago was dissipating.

The throbbing in her shoulder intensified as she pulled the cloth tight around his middle, watching with despair as deep red blossomed on the cloth. She lay down next to Tseng, fatigue finally winning out.

"Don't go to sleep," she told Tseng. He didn't respond, but he was still breathing, soft and shallow. She yawned and tried to force herself to stay awake, though sleep promised a release from the pain. Her grip on consciousness was fading fast, and she could no longer fight the lure of sleep.

A/N – Phew. BIG huge thanks to chibipinkbunny, who read this through not once but twice and really whipped it into shape. I could not have done this without her help. And yeah, I know the whole torture scene has been done before, but hey, now there's one more interpretation of what happened down there.