Despite my discouragement of failing with on-going fics that actually have a plot, I am giving it another shot. This idea has been floating around in my head for a while, and I'm going to try and work it into a story.

This is a fanfic in Reno's POV, and gets pretty dark in future chapters. This first chapter is pretty light, and very simple, because I have to get a bunch of things like characterizations, time (in the origonal FFVII) and all that good stuff out of the way. This does go along with the plot (sort of) with the game itself, but you wont see much of the events in this fic. This is about Reno, and the darker side of Shinra, with a few appearances from Avalanche. Thisstory may seem a little unrealistic, but hey, it's a fanfic, I'll do what I want XD

Oh, and if there'sany stories like this one out there, you have a million apologies from me, because I haven't seen one. It seems likea simple idea, I don't want to seem like I'm ripping someone off.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Square-Enix

Strife and I started circling each other like dogs for a good minute, eyes fixed on each other. We both were breathing heavily from the struggle that had just took place. His huge sword swung at me, and I had to duck to avoid getting sliced in two. I then took the opportunity to lunge, my Electro-Mag Rod sparking. It contacted with the side of his head and sent waves of harsh electricity through his body. The swordsman winced and stumbled backwards, cursing at me. I let a smirk wipe across my face.

"Aren't you having fun?" I asked him smugly, straightening up and waiting for him to stand. He use his sword to push himself up, growling at me. I expected another attack with his sword, but as a green glow floated about him, my defence plans were shattered. I tried to dodge the magic, but I suffered from an electric shock, similar to what I gave him. Once he ceased the attack, I slumped to me knees, having to hold myself up with my arms.

I heard Rude behind me call my name, but he soon suffered a hit upside the head from Wallace's metal gun-arm. My fellow Turk stumbled a bit, but managed not to fall. I forced myself to my feet and went after Cloud again, my weapon sparking wildly. I took a swing at him and our weapons connected. The edge of his blade was inches from my face, and I had to push hard to keep from loosing my nose. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I smirked and sent electricity into the metal sword, and my opponent dropped it to avoid further shock. I stepped back and looked over to see Rude fighting off Barret and the Ancient. He was outnumbered, and struggling to hold his ground. I realised that if we were to get out of this jungle in one piece, we had to leave now.

"I think that's enough." I announced after sending a lunging Strife back with a crack of my electro-mag rod. The struggle carrying on ceased and Rude looked at me as if to ask what the hell I was doing. I just smirked, stepping towards a well-worn path with my weapon over my shoulder. I had to keep a sense of pride about me, I was a Turk, after all. "C'mon Rude, Tseng is waiting." I shifted my eyes to the spiky haired blonde. He was glaring at me, sword ready.

"You coward." he breathed. I just kept my smug look.

"It may look like we are retreating, but we're still victorious." I told them before nodding at Rude. We jogged down the path as best we could with our injuries. The second we were out if sight of AVALANCHE, Rude turned to me.

"What the hell are you on?" he hissed as we slowed our pace. "Why did you do that?"

I raised a hand to silence him as I flicked my EMR off and attached it to my belt. "Face it, man, we were going to get schooled. I'd rather make it back to Midgar in one piece. Besides," I looked over at him. "It wasn't fair you had two of them attacking you at once." I flipped a loose bit of fiery red hair from my face.

"I was fine." Rude growled, taking off one black glove. With his bare hand, he checked the side of his head for blood. He looked at his now bloody hand and sighed.

"Uh huh, sure." I smiled a little, despite my own internally broken pride. "Next time, buddy, we'll give them hell."

Luckily for us, Tseng was always understanding under his professional, serious exterior. He let us off easy, knowing that we were outnumbered and pretty injured by the end of the battle. Even Elena was quiet, for once. Scarlett, however, was different. She started accusing us of being cowards, which Rude and I dismissed and ignored. She wasn't our boss, we didn't have to take hell from her. If my head wasn't throbbing in a painful headache, I would have found it amusing.

We trudged back into the office and sat down at our desks, both in foul moods. Not wanting to push my luck with Tseng, I immediately started working on the report. I scribbled away at the paper for a few minutes before pausing.

"Hey, Rude?" I looked across the room at my partner, who was also working on paperwork. He glanced up for a moment.

"Yeah?"

I leaned back at little in my chair. "What's a better way to phrase 'ran away like scared little girls'?" I asked, rewarded with the smile I had been aiming for.

"How about 'forced to retreat due to severe injury'?" he offered, bringing a hand to his face and lowering his sunglasses. "Or, maybe it's better to be honest." he added with a shrug. I snorted, and managed to resist laughing.

"Honesty? In this company? Maybe you got clocked on the head a bit too hard." I sighed, straightening up again. He looked at me with his sunglasses still lowered, bright blue eyes filled with amusement, but tinted with a bit of shame. I could tell his pride was hurt from retreating, as was mine, but we both knew our lives were more important than our egos.

As I scribbled Rude's suggested excuse for running from the fight down on the report, I wished I could just go have a nap. We had both taken a beating, and my headache was nearly killing me. I rubbed my throbbing temples for a moment before something small bounced off my forehead and landed on my paper in front of me. I looked down to see a pill laying there, and glanced over at Rude. His shades were back at the top of his nose, and another light smile had pulled at his lips.

"Advil. You looked like you were suffering." he told me before turning back to his work. I thanked him and dry swallowed the pill. After a couple of hours of scribbling away at paperwork, my headache had dulled down and my mood had lightened slightly. After finishing the report, I glanced up at the clock above the door. It read 7:48, much to my surprise. The time had passed rather quickly.

"Hey, Rude."

"Yeah?"

I stood up, stretching my stiff and sore muscles. "Let's go get a few drinks." I suggested, looking at him. He raised an eyebrow as he set down his pen.

"A few?"

I laughed lightly. "Hell no, not a few." I corrected myself. "Let's go get royally smashed. My treat."

As we locked up the office and walked toward the elevators, all the bad events of the day melted from my mind. Being a Turk was hard work, difficult, and at times emotionally draining. However, at that moment, as Rude and I walked out of the building and onto the streets, heading for the nearest bar, I knew I wouldn't change it for the world.

I hope that wasn't too painful. Trust me, it will get more interesting. This chapter, I just had to highlight the relatonships Reno had with his co-workers, enemies, and some stuff about when the story takes place. In the future, it shall be better. However, Please review and tell me how I'm doing. All feeback is good! Thank you!