A policeman veered people away. He adjusted his hat ever so slightly. His frustration was starting to get to him. He glanced over as a young woman approached him. For a moment he quirked an eyebrow in slight interest, but this facial expressions turned sober quickly.

"It looks like you could use a break," the girl smiled kindly. "Chief said to let you have a small breather and let me watch things for about an hour."

"He did?" The policeman tilted head in slight confusion. It was unlike the chief to be so generous to the lower level policemen. Suspicion started to rise in this man. "And would you have some identification?"

"Oh yes!" The girl reached into her jacket's pocket. It was then the policeman noticed that it resembled that of a Turk. She then handed over her ID to him.

The policeman took it, she was indeed a Turk. He had to gulp ever so slightly. If the chief sent her here, then that most definitely meant that Shin-Ra didn't trust the local law enforcement. He couldn't blame them, though. They were mostly corrupt and only cared about money.

"So how about it?" The girl took her ID back from the man.

"Yes, sir," He nodded his head. Women who are Turks are supposed to be addressed as sir – the girl in front of him made a mental note of that as he said it. "Thank you, I suppose I'll go and grab a bite then."

"You go ahead and do that," The girl turned to face the pedestrians of Midgard. Her face was serious that hinted that no one should speak to her any further.

The policeman nodded towards the girl and hurried off. The idea of being around a Turk more than he had to spooked him to his very core.

Once the policeman was out of sight the girl smirked. Her eyes traveled over to the yellow tape that would forbid the public from crossing it. She glanced around. It seemed that the people of Midgard were avoiding this area. No doubt they were nervous about running into the same trouble that besieged Shin-Ra.

"Oh, what was that?" The girl questioned no one in particular. "Did I just hear some ruckus going on in the building? As a Turk I should go a check it out." Her voice dripped with faulty acting.

The girl lifted the tape and bent underneath it before walking into the building. She had an hour at the most before the policeman returned, so she had to make it fast. Quickly, she reached into her purse and took out her camera – on its strap read Verna Alm. Ms. Alm took pictures of the entrance way and then of the stairs and elevator.

"Let's see if this baby actually works," Ms. Alm fidgeted with the ID card that her fat boss seemed to have on hand. Rather particular, really, not to mention illegal. Her mind flashed back to when he gave it to her.

"Ms. Alm!" He called out to her as she past his office. "Come here before you leave!"

The girl entered his office and was immediately handed a piece of plastic. "What is this?"

She moved some strands of red hair out of her face as she glanced at the card. Her photo was on it and it was clearly a fake ID for a Turk. Though, her knowing she wasn't actually a Turk was the only reason why she knew it was a fake ID. In all honesty it didn't seem forged. How did her boss manage this?

"You need a way to get into the building, right?" Her boss put out his cigar in the ash tray. "I have some connections at Shin-Ra headquarters that made the card. It'll get you to any floor of the building. That way you don't have to worry about getting in trouble."

Ms. Alm shook her head, ridding herself of the memory. She had work to do, and she had to make it fast. She pressed the elevator's button. In an instant it opened; this suggested it was already on the first floor. Ms. Alm walked into the elevator, her heels clicking as she did so. It took her a second or two to find the ID insertion area to allow her to go to the highest level – the 66th floor – the number of which she pressed. She gave a silent thanks as it actually worked.

The elevator moved, as did some shattered glass. Ms. Alm gulped as the wind picked up. She hadn't noticed that the elevator was broken. This caused her to hug the door as much as possible. She wasn't terribly afraid of heights, but she knew that they could be dangerous. This caused her to blink. Quickly, she raised a camera and took pictures of glass on the floor and the elevator.

She looked up as she noticed she was nearing the neighboring elevator. She had her camera at the ready. Once it was at level she focused the camera and snapped the button. A slight gasp escaped from her lips. On the elevator resided remnant robots that no doubt worked for Shin-Ra. Why were they here?

Her vision followed the elevator as she past it. Quickly, she took another photo, but this time she zoomed in on it as much as possible. Her eyebrows knitted together. There were bullets there; as well as scorch marks that definitely came from Materia. This wasn't Sephiroth's doing, he was never known for using guns. No, it had to be someone else. AVALANCHE? That was a possibility.

She hadn't another moment to ponder upon anymore of the possibilities as the elevator arrived to the 66th floor. Immediately, after the door opened, a foul smell met her nose. Ms. Alm gagged at the horrid odor and hesitantly made her way onto the 66th floor. It was coming from the above floors. That was for sure.

Clenching her nose shut, Ms. Alm shuffled her way to another elevator and went up to the 67th floor. Once the doors opened she nearly fainted. Blood was everywhere. Hesitantly, she took pictures of the horrid scene. She followed the path of blood and noticed a large container, which seemed to have been brutally broken into. Though, it was mostly destroyed, she took a picture of a name plate that read, "JENOVA."

"Jenova?" Ms. Alm questioned. It must have been some lopsided experiment that Shin-Ra conducted.

Shaking her head she continued to follow the trail of blood, taking pictures every so often. Though, once she made her way to the 70th, the final floor, she stopped. Her hands released their grip on the camera. Had it not been for the strap around her neck the camera would have shattered.

"He is actually dead," Ms. Alm pursed her lips together as she walked toward to the late President's corpse. She wasn't exactly sure what she was thinking was going to happen.

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed a thin gash in his body. She moved some pieces of fabric away. It was definitely a wound from a sword – a thin sword. Her mind ran over the possibilities, but she could only think of one. There was no other possibility, the person who killed the president just the night before was most definitely…

"Sephiroth…" She bit her lip.

The girl quickly took a picture of the body and ran out of the room and towards the 67th floor. She got into the elevator and landed on the 66th floor. Her feet raced to the other elevator and she then waited impatiently as it made its way to the bottom floor.

Her eyes narrowed as she saw that the policeman was already back. She quickly put her camera back into her purse and made her way outside. The policeman saw her and narrowed his eyes in an accusing manner.

"Why aren't you keeping watch?!" He practically yelled at her.

"I had to use the restroom," Ms. Alm crossed her arms. "I wasn't gone for that long, and it seems like no one snuck in, happy?"

"No!" The policeman grumbled.

"Whatever," Ms. Alm walked away, "I'm out of here."

Suddenly, the girl's phone rang. She flipped it opened and spoke in a monotone voice, she hadn't the slightest idea who it was – it's not like she had any contacts in her phone to begin with.

"Ms. Alm!" It was her boss. "Are you done at Shin-Ra?"

"Just finished actually," The girl walked through the streets as she talked. "Have a lead for where I need to go next?"

"Get out of Midgard and head Northeast to a small town called Kalm. There have been reports of a man in a black cloak heading that way. There have also been reports of two small groups of some suspicious people and some sort of animal."

"Care to elaborate further?"

"There are rumors that the two groups are members of AVALANCHE!"

"AVALANCHE?" The girl whispered mostly to herself as she flashed back to the mechanical remnants on the elevator.

"They could be connected to Sephiroth, so I want you to investigate them as well, got it?"

"Got it," Ms. Alm nodded. "Now how exactly am I going to get out of Midgard?"

"Glad you asked!"

-A/N—

Oh my goodness gracious~! Not even 24 hours later and I have my very first review for this story~! Thank you very much ! I actually appreciate the lengthy comment, so no need to apologize for it. Those are the most helpful~! And to answer his/her question (never sure on the internet, haha), "BTW, is this taken during FF7? During the time Sephiroth is running amuck before Meteor? Or after?" This does take place during the same time Sephiroth is running amuck before Meteor. =) Hopefully the little things in this chapter helped to answer that question.

Anyways, I do want to say that I'm going to be playing the game the same time I am writing the story, so where I am in the game is where I'll hopefully be in the story. This will just help me keep everything straight…That being said I have to do everything at where I am…And pointless leveling up…If I don't' level up now, it's a pain in the butt to just wander around Gaia aimlessly trying to become strong enough to fight Sephiroth, let alone all of the Weapons…;_;

Please review~! I still want to hear what other people want as the love interest – I'm horrible at making decisions. _