Authors note: Woot! another update! It seems ( and it was pointed out to me by one kind person ) that I forgot to mention that this whole story is basically my complete re-write of the Final Fantasy VII story-line. I'm pretending that none of the events that really happened in the game/film didn't happen, this is of course referring to the whole Zack thing
Chapter 18 – Black-out

"Great. This is just great, remind me why I should have to do this?" Reno said moodily. He had just been given a huge wad of paperwork.

"Because I'm not letting Rude take all the work-load because of things you've done. It's paperwork about you, so you can fill it in."

He made his way towards the table, hitting Elena lightly on the head as he passed her.

"Reno! I wish you wouldn't do that. You really scared me." She said, frightened.

"Penny for them?" he sat next to her.

"I was just thinking…" she turned to Tseng, "What Zack said obviously means that Cloud is gonna try something, right?" Tsend nodded, "But doesn't that mean it's mainly Reno that's in trouble here? After all, he killed Claudia and her adoptive mother."

"Well, we're all in danger. But I guess… Reno would be in the most danger, yes."

"Oh, great. This day gets better." Reno said looking up from his papers.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you won't let anything happen to Reno like you did before, will you?" Rude looked at Tseng expectantly.

"…Of course not." Tseng turned to leave the room. "And I expect that finished by the time I get back Reno."

"C'mon, Rude man, gimme a hand with these." Reno pushed a few papers over to him. Rude sighed but did as he was told. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and Elena came running into the room.

"You guys here that?" She said urgently

"Nah, think I'm going deaf in my old age." Reno said sarcastically.

"Ha ha, very funny." She sat down next to Reno.

Then, they were plunged into darkness. Elena shrieked and grabbed Reno's arm.

"Elena, c'mon." he whined.

"We'd better get out of here; somebody's blown the main power supply." Tseng's voice came from the doorway.

"Give you three guesses…" Reno began. He looked over at Elena, smiling slightly. The only light source in the room was the small window behind him. It made his hair and his eyes glow brightly, it was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. Suddenly, some one far off in the building screamed.

"W-what was that?" Elena said nervously. Reno was looking across her, straining to see beyond. They saw Tseng's outline leaving the room.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Reno shouted at him. He ignored him.

"Reno? Rude? What's happening?" Elena was starting to get quite scared now.

"I don't know. I really don't, but something tells me it's Strife." He replied. Elena was shocked that there was no trace of fear in his voice or his face. She supposed he had been trained to handle situations like this. Reno moved forwards towards the door, only to be pulled back by Rude. He opened his mouth, but Rude cut him off.

"We need to stay here. All of us. The last thing we need is you going wondering off, you're in more danger than all of us."

Reno stopped trying to get away. "Yeah, I suppose." He looked up. They could all here movement above them.

"The air vents are above us?" Reno said, questioningly. Elena was petrified now.

"There's some-one in the air vents?!" she said urgently.

They heard the sound of something creaking open and someone dropping onto the floor only a few feet away from them. The light from the window was so dull; they couldn't see who it was.

"Who's there?" Reno said confidently. The person came forwards into the light. None of them knew who he was, but they were sure of one thing: he was there to kill them.

Before the man could do anything, someone opened the door and fired two shots, one after the other. The first hit the wall, dangerously close to Reno's head, and the second hit the un-known man, square in the chest.

"Nice shot, sir." Elena said, still slightly shook up.

"Come on, we've gotta get out of here. We've been invaded, there's fights going on everywhere." Tseng said, panting slightly. They all made for the door except Reno, who was still obviously shook up at his near-death experience, looking at the hole in the wall. Elena grabbed his hand and pulled him after her out of the door.