The ground thundered under black boots. Zara raced down the dark alleyway. She crouched behind a large bin waiting: loading a small handgun as quietly as she could. The familiar feel of adrenalin coursing through her body, the mission was just a simple assassination. The person had apparently had enough of working in Shinra. The thing was though if you are quite high up in the hierarchy of Shinra you do not just simply quit. You are either followed for the rest of your life or leave in a black body bag.

Zara's particular target was a young scientist who was working under Hojo. It was no secret that Hojo had some nasty creepy things in his laboratories. Even a strong-stomached Turk like Tseng would try to put off having to go do something for Hojo. The labs were just somewhere you did not want to be. Zara put a silencer on the gun, waiting for the target.

A cat slunk down the alleyway shifting it's lamp like eyes to look at her. It was very quiet here, usually the slums were still buzzing with life at this time of night. She had been there twenty minutes or so and was growing tired of waiting, just when she was about to flip open her phone to ask Tseng where the target was she heard footsteps.

They were heavy, obviously male. He walked past Zara's hiding place, he matched the description she had been given, average height, brown hair, skinny. Zara took aim to the back of the head it would be an instant and hopefully painless kill. She pulled the trigger; the man fell forwards onto the ground, blood gushing from his wound. Standing up from her crouching position, she walked over to the target. Zara would never intentionally prolong the infliction of pain on anybody unlike Reno,( unless it was Corneo, Zara held a special dislike towards him) she had witnessed the bloodlust he held sometimes. It was something that seemed so at odds with his usually laid-back personality. The man's mouth was agape blood spilling from it, his eyes holding a vacant glassy stare.

As Zara stood over the scientist, she wondered what his plans for the future were. Maybe he had a girlfriend, maybe they were serious, and maybe they wanted to start a family. Zara looked around, not a soul in the place.

She took out her phone pressing the number two, the screen then displayed Private Number 02.

"Yes?" came Tsengs voice.

"I've done it, what do you want me to do with the body?" Zara questioned giving said body a slight nudge with her boot.

"…Dump it wherever you see fit." Sighed the Director.

"Hey boss, you okay?"

"Our position without Veld is doing us any good favours. I'll speak to you when I can."

Zara flicked her eyes down to the body as she put her phone in her pocket. Her best bet of getting rid of the body was to dump it into the bin, as they would be emptied in the morning at some point. Before Zara did this she crouched by the scientists face and gently pulled his eyelids down over his eyes, she grimaced at the blood seeping out of his mouth. Then she did as Tseng instructed by getting rid of the body. Disposing of things was one of Zara's first lessons when she became a Turk, at first she found it was incredibly disrespectful to just throw someone away as if they were just a piece of rubbish. When she voiced her opinion, Veld had said to her 'Would you rather it be you? Because if circumstances were different it could be that, we were ordered to kill you.'

That made Zara keep her opinions to herself. It was strange without the almost paternal leadership of Veld. Of course he could be gruff and impatient but he just seemed to have a certain quality about him; he treated them all as if they were his own. If a mission was failed, it was not just President Shinra or the company you let down, almost more importantly it was Veld you disappointed-

BANG!

A bullet whistled past Zara's head missing her by inches. She spun around, gun poised for the attack, but no one was there. She pushed herself up forcefully from the ground landing lithely on the roof of one of the surrounding buildings. Zara stared around looking for her attacker but no one was in sight. Then simultaneously two bullets went off. A sickening pain exploded in Zara's right thigh.

"Fuck!" she gasped the adrenalin finding a renewed strength, her heartbeat hammering in her ears. She could not believe she was not able to find her attackers, another bullet ripped through her arm she then heard footsteps running away, but they seemed a long way away. Snipers Zara realized suddenly an idea of Scarlett's. A new type of gun that meant the shooter could reach a target from further than before with a special tracking system built in. So it seemed Scarlett's latest toy was effective, Zara would have to congratulate her at some point.

Zara managed to find her way down to the ground limping her way to the nearest train station. She earned some nervous and fearful looks from the other passengers in her carriage, Zara was willing the train to go faster she hated to think how much she was bleeding but made herself not look at her wounds as it would more than likely make her throw up. Finally the train was up on the surface she staggered towards the Shinra Building cursing how it seemed to take an age to get to. The steps to the door were a bit of a challenge but Zara was proud that she had managed them, she now had a new insult for Reno. She managed to get up the steps with a bullet in her leg but he couldn't if he was a little drunk.

The receptionist looked up from her computer as Zara hobbled through the door. She gasped and ran round her desk to Zara.

"Miss Fair!" she exclaimed, "I'll call a medic team immediately!"

"No I've gotta see Tseng first!" growled Zara through gritted teeth "The meds can wait." Zara limped off towards the nearest elevator typing in the Turks code as quickly as she could, supporting herself against the cool glass. She took a deep breath waiting for the elevator to stop, 'Why do things seem to go slow when you need them to go fast?' she mused to herself.

The elevator bell dinged Zara hobbled out heading to Teng's office. "Oh look who's ba- whoa Zara!" came a voice behind her.

Legend pulled her left arm across his shoulders and wrapped his other arm around her waist giving her the support she needed "What happened to you girly? I thought you were doing the assassination, looks more like they got you!"

"What's it look like?" she snarled finding it a rather stupid question as she had two bullets in her body.

"Look at me a sec Zara," she did as he asked, "Yup you're in deep shock, your pupils are tiny. Right we better get you to the lounge."

"No I gotta see Tseng!"

"I'm afraid he's gone, something to do with the big man going to Wutai for a couple of days."

"Bloody hell!"

"What you gotta tell him so bad anyway?" queried Legend he had never known her to be so insistent on seeing Tseng before for as long as he had known her.

"It's Scarlett. She must've gotten the go ahead with killing us off, and it seems she's not fucking about either."