The shrill beeping of the alarm ripped Elena from her sleep. The room was still dark and her bed cradled her life a soft cucoon. Sleep still lingered close, but the snooze option screeched it further away. With great reluctance, she finally sat up and let her duvet fall away from her top half. The coldness of the morning immediately wrapped around her and sank into her torso to rip the sleep away from her with its icy fingers.

A sigh left her lips and she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. It was rare that she found herself unable to wake up for work, and it was unheard of that she'd rather sleep in than go for training with Tseng. And it was Reno's fault.

The memories of the previous night came flooding back to her. The one thing that whirled round and round her head was the kiss. The way his skin set her on fire when they touched. The way his smell made her head spin. Most of all, the feeling of disapointment when she had broken the kiss. It concerned her. Not only was Reno her superior, he was a jerk. Known for sleeping with a different woman every night he went out, he'd earnt the title of Lothario. And he seemed quite proud.

She didn't want to be just another notch in his bed post. And that was another thing; just WHY did she consider Reno to be "boyfriend" material? He was more of a one night stand kind of guy. And Elena certainly wasn't a one night stand kind of girl.

Shaking her head in frustration, she switched on her bedroom light and quickly changed from her pyjama's into her Turk uniform. After quickly running a comb through her short blonde hair, she was interupted by the urgent tone her phone signaling she had a message.

"Training is off this morning. Report to my office as soon as possible."

A shudder ran down her spine. Tseng hadn't elaborated, but she knew him well enough to know that something was wrong.

Tseng, the leader of the Turks, wasn't known for giving anything away. Stoic and unreadable, he was a constant mask of professionalism. Everything Elena aspired to be. Only once had his mask cracked, and that had been under severe torture at the hands of the Remnants. Since then, he seemed to be even more determined to keep everything locked down under an unreadable mask.

Before leaving to head into "New" ShinRa, she quickly brewed a fresh cup of coffee and poured it into a travel mug to drink on the way in. The cold, crisp air of winter bit at her cheeks and nose, working its way into her suit. Her car was parked in the car park designated to the apartment complex. She always parked in the furthest corner and no other cars parked next to hers. People still didn't trust the Turks. Since it was early morning, the roads are all empty. The drive to work was quick and uneventful.

To her surprise, Reno was already in the office and sitting in front of Tseng's desk. Rude was the only one they were waiting for. Tseng was the perfect image of calm, giving her a nod when she entered. Reno's face split into a grin and she knew he was thinking about their kiss the night before.

She sat in one of the two spare seats in front of Tseng's desk. Choosing the one furthest from the lanky red head, she angled her body away from him and primly sipped her coffee from her travel mug. Reno simply chuckled and slouched back in his seat. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Rude entered.

"Good. Now we can begin." Tseng turned his computer screen around for the three of his colleagues to see. Upon the screen was a picture of a horrifically mutilated body. It was hard to make out the gender of the corpse. Blood covered every inch of the picture, the body and scene around it dripping in the stuff.

"Who is that?!" Reno broke the silence first but neither of her colleagues seemed even disturbed by the sight before them. Then again, they had caused worse. Sensitivity was lost to them the minute they were officially confirmed a Turk.

"Lesley Cruz."

"The secretary?!"

"Correct. She was found this morning by her daughter. Her body is currently in autopsy but the temperature suggests she was killed last night, around one o clock this morning. She wasn't the only one. Nine others were found in a similar state by friends or relatives this morning. I've sent SOLDIER Thirds to the scene's because I need you elsewhere."

Tseng turned his computer screen back around and handed each of them a file. The second Elena took hers, she flicked it open and read through. It was obvious that Tseng had quickly thrown it together but she was impressed at how Professional it was.

Inside was a photocopy of a note that had been left behind in Lesley's house. It was poorly written and filled with incoherent scibbles. One line of it was legible, and it was a bitter threat, highlighting that the ten deaths were the start of SinRa's fall.

Ten pictures followed, and all the other bodies were the same bloody mess as Lesley's. All of them had been killed at roughly the same time, which meant there was at least ten people put there who were determined.

"We have a situation. Ten of our most senior employee's have been brutally murdered and the same threat was written in blood at each crime scene. 'ShinRa will fall'. Strife and his comrades have been accounted for and all have alibi's that check out. Which means there is a new threat out there."

"I don't understand, though. ShinRa has changed; we're trying to rebuild ourselves for the better!" Elena protested. Since the Remnant's, Rufus had made a conscious effort to improve the image of his company. The Turks still dealt with shady goings on, but those goings on remained strictly private. The rest of the Company improved. The Scientific Department even dealt with finding solutions to help rebuild the Planet and clean up the mess they had caused.

"True. And while most people celebrate our change of heart and are willing to let bygones be bygones, but some can't let go of the past. It seems that this group is part of the latter."

"So.. what is our next move?" Reno asked, throwing his feet up on Tseng's desk. Without even looking, Tseng knocked them back off and sorted through the case file that sat on the desk in front of him.

"Well, so far, there is no evidence. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. Hopefully, the SOLDIER's will find something."

"We have absolutely nothing to go on?"

"So far, no. For now, we have to hope that something can be found. Otherwise, it's just a case of waiting."

Nothing solid had been found at any of the crime scenes or on the bodies. The Turks had continued their usual work and security had been raised. Elena had made a conscious effort to avoid Reno at all costs.

Their fist break came when a letter arrived addressed to Rufus. This one was much more coherent and was filled with alarming threats and seemed to single out certain employee's as targets.

Sure enough, those six emloyee's had been found dead in their homes, the same as the previous ten. The envelope the letter the envelope had been sent in the normal fashion, and bore a Nibelheim stamp. Tseng had wasted no time in having the letter and envelope meticulously examined, and sent Elena, Reno and Rude to the sleepy little village.

Elena glanced around at the rebuilt village, catching a few glares from the local residents. ShinRa had a bad reputation, especially in Nibelheim. The old SinRa mansion was situated of the outskirts, and all manor of horrific experiments and such had taken place in there. As well as housing a reactor which was teeming with the unfortunate souls of Hojo's experiments, the village had suffered at the hands of Sephiroth's initial descent into insanity. He had slaughtered a great number of the innocent residents and burnt their homes to the ground. Understandably, they had never forgiven ShinRa.

"It could be anyone here, yo." Reno muttered, "All of them hate us."

"We can't just go around asking questions."

"Relax, 'Lena. We'll start at the Post Office and see where that takes us." The Second-In-Command shot her his usual lazy smirk before sauntering off in the direction of the Post Office. It was impossible to tell what Rude was thinking, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses which just reflected her irritated face. She gave a huff and hurried after him, not catching Rude's smirk.

The Post Office was quiet, run by a single elderly woman behind the counter. She was knitting to pass the time, her glasses sitting on the end of her nose. Her wrinkled face broke into a smile when she heard the bell over the door chime to signal customers. One look at the trio in their suits was enough to tell her who was standing before her. Her jaw set and her eyes narrowed. She had lost her dear husband when Sephiroth had burned the village down, and she would never forgive them for it.

"We're closed." She snapped, turning her gaze to her knitting and refusing to even look at them.

"We just need to ask a few questions." Elena recognised the voice Reno used immediately. He used it to placate and soothe people, usually wrapping them around his finger.

"I'm not giving you lapdogs anything."

Reno smiled calmly and approached the counter. He plucked the envelope from inside his suit and held it up for the woman to see. Elena found herself admiring the way Reno's silky pony tail cascaded down his back and came to rest just above his-

She violently shook her head before the thoughts could go any further and clenched her hand into a fist. WHY had these "feelings" suddenly risen and where had they come from? And why, of all places, had they reared up and punched her in the gut now?

"Well... I suppose... His name is John Wilds. He lives just across, that little house you can see through the window. Such a sweet boy. He lost both his parents in the Incident. I used to cook dinner for him, you know. He loved my Toad In The Hole Special. See, I just put a dash of oregano in the batter and-"

"Thank you for your help, Ms. You may have just saved innocent lives." Elena interupted. Reno shot her a grateful look and the woman smiled, decidedly more friendly after Reno's smooth talking. The old woman offered them tea before they left, deciding to view them as three young people, strained and shoved into a dangerous job.

They politely declined and made a hasty exit, crossing the small circle of buildings to the house the old woman had pointed out to them. Elena knocked, stepping back to wait for the young man in question answered the door. After an extended silence and no answer, Rude slipped round the back to investigate.

"So... Laney. We gonna talk about last night?" Suddenly, Reno was pressed against her back, his lips right by herbear.

"Talk about what? You getting steaming drunk or sexually harassing me?"

"I mean the kiss. You enjoyed it." His hand bound around her, feathering backwards across her cheek and into her hair. She viciously jerked her elbow back into his stomach, the blow drawing a grunt from the red head. His hand slipped away and he stepped back, rubbing his stomach.

"In your dreams."

"I don't need to dream to read a woman."

Elena opened her mouth to snap back but before she could, the door suddenlynswung open. Rude beckoned them in, his face grim. The two Turks guessed what had happened from his face.

He lead them through to the living room where an adolescent male was slumped on the couch. His throat had been savagely slashed, his blood splattered across almost every surface of the room. His eyes were open into an expression of terror, his mouth opened into a silent scream. His hands rested upon his lifeless chest, as though he had desperately tried to stem the flow of blood.

"He never saw it coming." Elena's voice was soft, her chocolate eyes filled with sorrow and mourning for the orphan boy, "He was never a partbof this."

"They must've used him to deliver the letter, then killed him to tie up loose ends." Reno used a pen to pull on the boys pockets to see if anything was inside, "I'll call this in to Tseng. You two take a look around and see what you can find. Elena, try his room."

She nodded and turned herself away from the body, making her ascent up the stairs. With her back turned, she missed the lingering stare Reno sent in her direction.