Hello everyone! So after a 6 (ish) year absence, I have decided to come back and finish my stories. I never intended to leave them unfinished! For now I am focusing on completing this story with regular updates (hopefully). Let me know how my writing is because I'm pretty sure in all these years it must have changed.

Reno didn't bother rebuttoning his shirt all the way to the top, it was way too much work for him right now. He had had enough with the tests and the poking and the prodding that the senior doctor kept insisting he go through. For Gaia's sake, he had only some scratches, bruises and some minor burns, practically nothing. He had been through worse, much worse! The amount of cure materia Shinra always had on hand also greatly helped in these medical situations. The doctor, however, kept mumbling about neurological problems blah, blah, blah. Reno scoffed, as if he didn't have those already. What he really needed to do was find Elena. She would probably be enjoying the same rigorous ordeal as he was. So the second the doctor was busy looking over some medical results that had just come in, Reno quietly slipped out the door unseen. It was just that easy when you were this good.

Running his hand through his messy red mane, he casually walked towards the room he knew Elena was in. This whole situation with Acta 3 was getting out of control. Mere hours ago he would have still called them a minor annoyance on a Turk scale. Now he had no choice but to change that rating to armed, dangerous and very crazy. The fact that they weren't deterred in attempting to kill 2 Turks said a lot as to what they were prepared to do. They hadn't just infiltrated Shinra right under everyone's noses, they were easily eliminating people in their way. It's a good thing they hadn't connected Elena to all this... yet.

Now in front of the door, Reno was too tired to even attempt the formality of knocking and barged right in. The lone doctor in the room practically jumped from his desk at the sight but the petite blonde was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Reno turned to the smaller man who was staring at him wide-eyed.

"Where is she?" Reno barked. "There is no way you finished with her before me! She was injured way more than me!" Hell, he had had to sneak out to put an end to the damned medical assessment.

"S...Sorr-y sir," the young doctor stammered, evidently unnerved by the senior Turk standing in the middle of the room like he owned the place. "But Miss Elena left half an hour ago. I tried to get her to stay but -..." He was rudely interrupted by a clamped hand around his neck as he was brought up, against his will, from his seat and close to Reno's very unhappy face.

"What do you mean she left?" asked Reno coldly, his narrowed eyes a testament to the tight control he had on his anger right now. "She had a concussion!"

"I know sir and do believe me I told her," here Reno's hand squeezed a little tighter. "Ack... I highly, highly suggested for her to stay under observation but she wouldn't listen!" A gulp and a labored breath interrupted his fast blubbering momentarily. "She only took the pain medication I prescribed and said she would rest at home," the doctor finished with a lame whine.

"Well, that's just freaking great," Reno muttered to himself, letting go of the terrified doctor. Exasperated and a little jealous that Elena was already home, he decided to do the same. They could butt heads tomorrow over whose fault it was that they missed such a blatant trap. Putting his hands in his pockets, he whistled as he exited the office as if nothing had happened.

Reno let out a loud yawn, realizing just how tired he was. He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost midnight. He continued walking in the deserted hallways and just as he was about to round the corner that would take him to the elevator, Reno heard a voice, "She's not here, already left." Silence as the man listened to whoever was on the other end of the call. "No, only a head injury. We'll take care of it tonight, at her place".

Reno stopped dead in his tracks and stayed out of view behind the corner just in time. He seethed upon hearing such a blatant threat towards Elena But here was finally an actual Acta agent that they could interrogate. The tall Turk waited until he heard the doors of the elevator swish open and then for the sound of the man going in. Reno took in a deep breath and casually strode in between the elevators doors as they closed, effectively trapping the man inside with him. His hands were absolutely itching to get around the man's throat but he forced a smile that conveyed a casual what a long night sort of vibe. Unbeknownst to the agent, his night was going to get a lot longer. The man just smiled tightly in return and stared out in front of him, completely oblivious to the twisted machinations going on in Reno's head right now. With his usual nonchalance, Reno strode towards the elevator buttons and pressed stop. The elevator lurched to a halt which forced the Acta agent to use one of his hands to steady himself against the unexpected stop. That momentary distraction was more than Reno needed.

Without hesitation, Reno rotated himself and kicked the man vigorously into the stomach, effectively sending him against the wall with a startled and winded oof. The Turk didn't stop his attack as he bent down and swiveled a round kick, knocking his opponent off his feet and forcing him to land heavily on his back. Reno intended to use the small space to its full advantage. The agent tried to recover but Reno was already on him, punching him like a stuffed dummy, each successful hit connecting with a sickening sound. Reno didn't bother with his usual showing off fighting style. Instead, he kept all his hits efficient and to the point, or skull rather. He just wasn't in the mood to play cat and mouse with his opponent. Once he was satisfied there was no fight left in him, Reno got up and pulled his phone out and dialed.

"Rude, yo! I need you to go to Elena's place now. She's going to have company soon," Reno informed his partner only slightly out of breath. He was still kicking the downed man in the stomach so that he would finally stop twitching. Rude, ever so efficient, merely grunted his response and hung up.

The elevator finally reached the main floor with a ding. There were people waiting to get on but at the sight of the two men, they quickly opted for the stairs knowing they did not want to get involved with whatever was happening. Reno ignored all this and grabbed the now unconscious man, easily carrying him over his shoulder to the four security guards standing at the grand lobby's desk. They were staring wide-eyed at the red-head and the very injured man with a mix between terror and caution featured plainly on their faces. One even backed up when he saw it was the crazy one from the Turks that was approaching them.

"Take this guy into one of the maximum security holding cells," Reno ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument as he dropped the man carelessly onto the ground. One guard audibly gulped, but they all nodded silently. Just as Reno was about to sprint into a run, he turned back towards them and added as an afterthought, "Oh and one more thing, if he somehow manages to escape, I'll kill you all."

The look in his eyes sent absolute fear into the men as Reno looked upon them like an apex predator, the red of his twin marks adding to the general threatening look. Not bothering to witness any of their stammering, Reno was already running towards his parked car, hoping they wouldn't be too late.

Tires screeched angrily as the black SUV stopped way too suddenly in front of Elena's apartment building. Reno jumped out and didn't even bother with the elevator, instead he went straight for the stairs, easily taking 3 at a time. When he finally got to Elena's floor, he slowed down and silently walked over to the desired door, not knowing what was waiting behind it. He took out his electro-mag, in case Acta 3 had beaten them to it. With practiced ease, Reno opened the unlocked door quietly, not wanting to alert anyone of his entrance. The apartment was brightly lit and for a moment, Reno took that as a good sign but then he saw the utter chaos that was inside. Broken furniture lay strewn about, there were bullet holes lodged in the majority of the walls along with plenty of blood and worse, three bodies lying among all the mess. He quickly took in the dead, one woman and two men. Thankfully, not one of them had a blonde bob. Rude was standing in the middle of this, observing the scene passively, his broad arms crossed around his broader chest.

Reno walked over two of the bodies and came to a stop next to Rude asking tensely, "Where is she?"

"She wasn't here when I came in, Reno. And I don't think she went out willingly either," Rude said, pointedly looking at the fallen bodies. He exhaled deeply through his nose. Reno could tell that meant Rude was worried. "I've already called it in. One of our teams should be here shortly to go through all this."

Showing his hand roughly in his hair, Reno said, his jaw clenching, "We didn't make it in time."

His azure blue eyes analyzed the scene, taking in as much detail as he could all the while ignoring the rising fear and rage. There must have been more than these three agents to overpower Elena, even with her concussion. She might have been the rookie of the group but she was still a Turk. But as much as he believed in Elena's skills as a fighter, he knew she did not win this round, hell the evidence pointed loudly to the contrary.

Rude interrupted his inner musings when he mentioned, almost casually, "Elena used the kitchen island for cover. She ran out of bullets."

Reno went over to the place in question and sure enough, the side facing the front door was riddled with bullets but not from the other end. He counted the number of shells on the floor and surmised that she had emptied her entire clip in this area. They had had the upper hand in terms of numbers and bullets from the very beginning. Damn, she hadn't stood a chance in this fight and the worse part was they hadn't had the time to help her. At least there was no blood on this side of the kitchen which meant she hadn't been hit by the onslaught of bullets. At least some good news. Right now though, he was trying his hardest not to think about where Elena was and what they wanted with her. Those dark thoughts had to wait until later. They needed answers and fast. If he was going to be of any help to Elena, he had to remain in control and professional right now. But Planet did he want to punch a wall so bad right now.

He knew deep down, that this was his entire fault. He should have just told her everything from the beginning instead of being his usual stupid self and toying with her. Maybe all of this could have been avoided. Who was he kidding? It definitely would have been avoided.

But then he remembered he had a chew toy ready for him in one of Shinra's holding cells just waiting to be interrogated. If those guards knew what was good for them, they had used all the necessary precautions and more to lock that agent tight because otherwise there would be more bloodshed before the night was out.

"Let's get out of here Rude, we have someone to torture," Reno said coldly as he exited Elena's apartment not glancing backwards if the bigger Turk was following him or not.

A small and sinister smile appeared briefly on Rude's face. Nodding once to himself, Rude followed Reno out. Now that was something he needed to hear right now.