"Next time someone say "fast and easy job", count me out."

"Stop weaning, Reno. And keep your head low!" Rude scolded him.

Elena was at the tail, she at least was silent.

Three of the Turks were sent to the slums where locals reported for odd activity. So far no odd and no activity were detected, only mud, garbage spread around, bringing unpleasant smell and silence. Suspicious silence.

A cat cried somewhere, a door slammed at the other side of the road. It looked like a cliché scene of an old horror movie.

"I have a bad feeling the boss sent us here because we ruined his meeting. There's nothing around." Elena said.

"Most likely."

She took a step forward, throwing her hands in frustration.
"Let's go back, my feet are numb…"

Reno's hand stopped her, she almost bumped into him.

He pulled out his gun, which was unusual, Reno always preferred his foldable rod instead of gun. Rude sneaked behind the corner, there was someone in the shadows of the building.

Street light was flickering; it's almost a dying light warning at the empty street. Or so the thought. There was definitely a human figure out there.

Reno's eyes narrowed, he tried to see anything, details, movemement… Suddenly the silhouette was gone, just like that.

"What the…"

He turned around, looked away, nothing. Three of them spread, searching at the street corner, lighting with their flashlights, checking even buildings facades, not a sign of presence.

Elena was spooked.

"This is not possible."

Reno had a very bad feeling about this.

Somewhere annoying dripping water was creating repetitive sound, wind, or maybe silent steps in the dark added more to the creepy picture. Something was off about all this.

As they checked the corner shadow attacked out of nowhere. Rude stood before Elena and took the strike, falling on the dirty ground.

"Rude!"

Reno rushed, checking around before supporting his partner, Elena was already holding his head.
Rude was pointing to his chest, choking, Elena opened his shirt, his chest started to turn purple, he had internal bleeding.

"Damn it. Damn it, damn it!" Reno swore.

He knew this feeling, when that traitor from the Soldier kicked him in the chest and broke his ribs. Pain was unbearable, lack of air to his lungs, now Rude was in the same condition.

"Hold him." Reno pulled out a syringe from his portable first aid kit and stabbed it directly at the other man's chest. Rude shook a bit, still gasping for air before she got some relief.

"Let's get out of here." Elena was looking around, expecting another attack.

"We can't leave empty handed." Red haired said, rising on his feet.

Just as he made a few steps, a shadow appeared again. He was too slow to react, despite his training and reflexes. Thing strike at him.

"Reno!" Elena yelled, leaving Rude and raising her gun, shooting at the dark.

Shadow missed its target and disappeared again.

"We are leaving, now." Elena said, her hands shaking.

Back at the base Rude got medicine for his injuries and some rest. Reno and Elena were sitting at the office, banging their heads to the wall.
"I swear, I saw it with my own eyes, I swear…" the young woman was repeating. The experience they had reminded her terribly of the appearance of those remnants at the Northern cave, she got shivers.

Reno was numb, his expression dark.

"Go to bed" he suddenly said. "You need some rest. I'll write the report for Rufus."

"Go to bed? After all that happened? You gotta be kidding me…"
"Sitting here solves nothing."

Reno passed hand through his tomato red hair; he could hardly be seen as serious.

Elena wasn't the most perceptive of them all, but you had to be a fool not to see something was going on. She got up on her feet, coming closer.

"What is it? Tell me. You know what this is, right?"

A momentary hint of fear on his face.

"No. But it looked like… It looked familiar." He changed the sentence in the middle.

His colleague was confused.

"Familiar, how?"

Reno didn't even want to recall the name. The shadow man.

"You can't be thinking…"

She looked at him. His usual cocky demeanor was gone.
"We need to tell the boss." Elena dragged a chair, sitting against him.

"Tell him what?" Reno frowned. "That we found no evidence of anything but a shadow that kicked Rude's ass? I haven't heard him laughing much, but I bet he would laugh hysterically at this statement."

Elena frowned too.

"There was something, Reno! We all saw it, felt it… There's no one else to do this job, it's us!"

He was silent.

"I'm going back tomorrow." Her hand slapped on the desk and she rose.

Reno stopped her.

"No. Go to bed, have a rest. I'm sending Soldier."

Her little face twisted with anger.

"You are washing your hands with a Soldier! If Tseng was here…"

She cut it. She dropped that involuntarily.

It was a secret for no one that Elena had feelings for Tseng since she came here. She never questioned his calls and always used to follow his orders when he was in charge. Now with Tseng gone she felt alone here, not that Reno was a bad leader. He just wasn't Tseng.

"I'm sorry, I… I shouldn't." she realized what she was doing.

"Tseng would do worse" Reno took a step forward, calmly talking to the affected girl. "He would think of our safety and go alone. You are not going anywhere, I am sending the troops."

She nodded.

"Plus, if Tsang learns I let some of you go fight that thing on your own, he would return and kick my ass himself."

Elena giggled. She felt good thinking Tseng would avenge her if she dies during the mission.

.

As Elena departed, Reno stayed late at the office, thinking. What was the possibility of something like this to happen? Akane killed that thing.

He frowned. They once thought Sephiroth was dead. And Genesis. It was like stupid cartoon, like the Supernatural series, nothing was staying dead for long.

Reno had to make a decision, but he liked none of the options. He would do as Tseng if he wasn't so afraid to face his own fears.

After all, he decided to tell Rufus and bear the consequences. President would probably stab or shoot him for being stupid. He decided to leave this for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, of course, was busy and full of meetings, but the president found a few minutes to listen to him. Reno brought him the report, Rufus threw it and made a gesture at him to speak, he had no time reading reports. After the Turk finished, Rufus was one idea less happy than before.

"And you saw nothing? Absolutely nothing?" the president asked with a sign of tension on his face.

"It disappeared when Elena shot at it, like it could be hurt. But if it's a shadow…"

"Send the troops. Then tell me what's happening…"

Rufus was interrupted by the phone, he gave a sign at Reno to wait and exchanged a few words with someone.

"Alright. I will."

"Reno" Rufus hung up and looked with serious expression at him. "I am not losing my Turks over some goddamn shadow. You heard me?"

Red haired nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Go."

As the Turk left his office, Rufus hand clenched in fist on the perfectly polished surface on his desk. He wouldn't show affection or care, he felt vulnerable, but hell if someone else tried to harm the only family he ever had.