Avenger

Elena woke up to the sound of her alarm clock beeping next to her right ear. She wearily opened her eyes to first see a blurry image of her room until her eyes focused to see the big red numbers next to her on the clock, 5:30 am. She rubbed one of her eyes and then slipped out of bed, her covers falling off her. Her feet were cold on the floor as she first stepped onto it. She tip-toed over to her coat hanger and grabbed her robe and put it on. She wrapped the material belt around it to keep it closed and then made her way to the small kitchen in her little apartment. Every morning she settled with a quick and easy breakfast so today she just chopped up some apple and banana and made a quick fruit salad. After finishing her breakfast she checked the clock to see it was 6 am.

After a quick shower and trip to the bathroom she put her Turks navy blue suit on and looked at herself in the mirror. Elena had lost a little bit of weight from the lack of nutrition she had gotten on the island but it wasn't anything dramatic. What really stood out to her was the absence of her smile on her face. These past few days had been depressing for her, not knowing whether her fellow colleagues were alive, where they were and whether they were safe or not. She had also been extremely stressed with the amount of work Rufus had given her. There was a lot of paper work that she had to catch up on and she also had forms and confidential business to update. Without the help of the other Turks a lot of work had been piled onto her until they returned; if they ever returned.

It felt like a dagger had skewered her heart at that last thought. Could she move on from Reno, Rude and Tseng and work with new Turks if her friends didn't return? It was a question she prayed to Gaia she didn't have to answer. After staring into her brown eyes that were filled with misery for another few minutes she glanced at the clock to see it was quarter to 7.

A heavy sigh left her mouth as she left her apartment and walked out into the fresh air. The cold gush of wind made her hair stand on end and make goose bumps appear on her skin. It was a chilly morning. Her blonde hair was pushed and pulled from the wind as she stood on the side of the busy street of Midgar waiting for the bus to come along. The white public bus pulled up quicker than Elena had imagined and she stepped onboard. After giving the bus seats a disgusted look she picked the front seat on the right.

She hated buses. She hated all public transport to begin with. The only reason she had been taking the bus was because Reno, Rude and Tseng were missing. Usually, Tseng would come pick her up and occasionally, Reno. Since they were missing she had no other choice but take the bus or walk there. But she was on such a tight schedule she didn't have time to walk.

After another few stops the bus was becoming more populated and every seat was eventually filled up, causing some people to stand. One stop before the Shinra Building and an elderly man had decided to take the seat next to Elena. She wouldn't lie to herself; she was highly disturbed by the looks he gave her.

Finally they had arrived at her stop and she pushed herself past the people and off the bus. She checked her PHS to see she was just on time. After a quick elevator trip and a spree up the few flights of stairs she found herself in front Rufus' office.

"Come in," She heard him say on the other side of the door. She opened the door to see him expectantly waiting at his desk.

"Goodmorning, Sir." She said.

"Goodmorning to you to, Elena." He said with a smile.

"Sir, I've finished the files," Elena said and stepped forward so she was in front of his desk.

"Brilliant, Elena." Rufus said as he took the papers from her hand. He looked up at her with a small smile, "I have an important job for you today. I need to you to see a Mr. Trenton and persuade him to give you a certain document."

"Persuade, sir?" Elena questioned. She definitely knew what he meant by 'persuade' but she had never been ordered to threaten someone all by herself. It was usually Reno and Rude's job. In fact this was her very first time going on an individual mission. She started to feel the pressure.

"Yes, Elena, persuade." Rufus said with a tone of knowledge.

And she nodded in response.

"Here is the address and task outline." He said and gave her a thin document, "If there are any concerns, let me know."

She took it with a shaky hand started to feel the nerves kick in. What if she wasn't threatening enough? What if this guy laughed at her instead of being afraid? How was she going to threaten him? She had nothing to blackmail him with, what was she meant to do?

She left Rufus' office with a nod and went to her own office. She read the paper and looked at the picture of the man. He seemed to look like an ordinary man but of course, never judge a book by its cover. After a moment of giving herself a prep talk she left the Shinra building and started to walk to where the man lived. He wasn't far so she dismissed the idea of taking transport.

"Oh jeez, Reno where are you when I need you?" She said to herself.

"Marlene! Come on, baby!" Barret's voiced boomed up the stairs as he waited for Marlene to come down.

"One minute, daddy!" Her high voice peeped.

He sighed and looked at the clock. He didn't want her to miss the bus, otherwise he'd have to take her to school and then he'd be late to work and then he would fall behind schedule and everything would be wrecked for the day. Now the pressure was hitting him. He had an important meeting today with some business men who were interested in Barret's business ideas. He had greatly improved Corel and rebuilt it back to the great community it once was.

"Marlene!" He said in impatience.

"Coming, daddy!" She shouted as he saw her start running down the stair steps. He helped her put her backpack on and then gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"You be a good girl today at school and keep outta trouble, aight?" Barret said into her eyes and she nodded and he gave her another quick kiss.

"Bye, daddy!" She said happily as she ran out the door and to the school bus. It was her first day back to school after nearly a week's recovery at home. Unlike other children, Marlene loved school. Barret didn't know what it was but she had been so eager to return after they had come back from the island. He had thought that she would be emotionally scarred from her experience but it turned out she was a lot stronger than Barret had thought and she basically brushed the experience off. He didn't know whether to be concerned in case she was bottling it all up or to be happy that she hasn't been stained from it. Barret himself had found the experience overwhelming and on the last few days he truly believed he was facing death, a familiar feeling for him.

He quickly gathered his belongings and hurried to work to get to his meeting as early as possible.

"Miss. Lockheart." A nurse said at the door as she peeked into Denzel's hospital room.

"Yes?" Tifa said as she turned around in the chair she was seated in. She had a magazine in her hand that she had been reading. Denzel was missing because he was at his therapy so it was just her in the room.

"We received a message this morning from Junon Hospital and they have a patient who is eager to talk to you. It's a Mr. Cloud Strife. Is the name familiar?" The nurse said.

Tifa smiled, "Very familiar." She said.

The nurse nodded and left.

Tifa shut the magazine she was reading and put it in the magazine rack that was next to Denzel's bed that held various comic books he had. She pulled her PHS out and dialled Cloud's number.

"Cloud speaking." Cloud said.

A smile appeared on her face. She could hear wind in the background so it sounded like he was outside. "Cloud, its Tifa."

"Oh hey Teef." His voice suddenly picked up.

"Cloud, it's still early, don't tell me you're going out into the field now." Tifa said.

"No," A soft chuckle escaped his mouth, "Actually, Vincent's with me."

"Vincent? Is he okay?" Tifa said.

"He's fine. He found Yuffie and Reno." Cloud said.

He heard Tifa gasp, "Their alive! That's brilliant!" She said happily.

"Yeah," Cloud said and Tifa could tell he was smiling, "We're coming to see you."

"Hmmm?" Tifa said.

"Vincent wants to speak to Denzel. So we're coming to see you. We should arrive around tomorrow, noon." Cloud said.

"Cloud, that's great!" She beamed, "Thing's are definitely looking up!"

"Yeah. It's definitely a turn around." Cloud said with little enthusiasm.

"Is everything okay?" Tifa asked with concern.

"Mmmmm." He hummed in thought.

"Cloud?" Tifa questioned.

"Huh? Oh sorry," He said as he snapped back to reality. "It's just…"

"Just?"

"Vincent found something interesting on the island. I'll explain tomorrow when I see you." Cloud said.

"Oh, um. Okay?" Tifa said confused.

"I'll see you later." Cloud said.

"Bye," Tifa said in a tune.

"Later." Cloud said and hung up.

Tifa pulled the phone away and gave it a strange look. Whatever Vincent had told Cloud, that he was to tell her tomorrow, must've been important to draw Cloud's attention away like that. She suddenly felt intrigued and was ready to hear it. Unfortunately she had to wait practically two more days. After her experiences on the island; her patience was running thin.

Her thoughts trailed away as she saw the door suddenly spring open and to see a happy Denzel run through the door.

"Tifa!" Denzel said with a wide smile, "I remember more! I remember!" He said in delight.

Tifa put the phone down on the bedside table and sat down on the bed and Denzel sat down next to her. "That's great, Denzel. What do you remember?" A smile appeared on her face.

"Tseng wanted to take us to this river." Denzel said. "And then… Tseng got angry after a while when we were walking there. He started shouting. He had been acting weird anyway."

Tifa frowned in puzzlement, "What?"

"I said Tseng wanted to take us to a-"

"No, I mean," She said cutting him off, "I mean, Why was he acting he weird?"

"I don't know?" Denzel said with a frown, "Red kept warning me about him though."

Tifa nodded as she stared at the wall in thought. "Vincent has found Yuffie and Reno." She said after a moment of quietness.

"Awesome! So their okay?" Denzel said brightly.

Tifa flashed a small smile at him, "Yeah, their fine." She said.

"Also, Cloud and Vincent are coming here tomorrow instead of going back out into the field." She added.

"Yes!" Denzel jumped. He was ecstatic, it had been a good day so far for him and it was only the morning. After he had calmed down he looked at Tifa with a smile, "When will they be here?"

"Around noon tomorrow." Tifa said as she watched him sit back down on the bed. He rested his head on the pillow and then put his feet on Tifa's lap.

"Why are they visiting? I thought Cloud wanted to go back to the island to find the rest?" Denzel said as he relaxed.

Tifa started undoing Denzel's laces on his shoes as he rested them on her lap. "Vincent says he wants to talk to you?"

"About what?" Denzel said casually as he let out a yawn.

Tifa undid the first shoe and took it off and then started untying the next one. "I guess he just wants to ask you a few questions to unravel the island mystery."

"What about Yuffie and Reno?" Denzel said as he wriggled his right foot out of its shoe as Tifa undid the lace.

Tifa put his shoes down on the floor and Denzel pulled his socks off. "They're really sick at the moment, Denzel. They need to recover." Tifa said with a hint of sadness in her words.

Denzel nodded, knowing the topic was a little sensitive for now. He rested his head on the hospital pillow and started to think about what he had remembered. They were approaching a river and Tseng had been quickly conversing with Rude. Denzel knew there was something important he was missing but no matter how much he tried to force himself to remember he couldn't. The same scene would play over and over again in his head. It was beginning to drive him crazy. He couldn't help but feel pressured to remember even if Tifa had told him it was okay to take his time, but for him it wasn't. As he lay on the hospital bed he thought about how Red, Rude, Tseng and Cait Sith were still on that island. How it had been just over two weeks now and they were still on there. He could barely remember himself being on that island but what he did remember had scarred him and Denzel didn't think he could have another frightening and animalistic survival event happen to him again.

But now he was safe. He looked over at Tifa who was staring at the floor in thought. If only he knew what she was thinking.

Bam! The metal door hit the wall next to it with incredible strength and power which left a dent in the wall, proving that the woman who was entering was one to fear. A confused and shocked man than appeared from around the corner. His face reminded her of a terrified mouse who had just escaped a chase from the eager cat. The woman walked closer to him and held out a gun to his forehead. Immediately he knew what was going on. He knew the day would come when someone would threaten him like this. He had been waiting for this. He was ready for this.

He stared back at the woman's brown eyes that bore into his. They stood still glaring at eachother for what felt like minutes but were truly seconds. Then out of the ordinary, and not part of the woman's plan, the man launched his fist forward and punched the gun out of her strong grip. Shocked, her eyes went wide and she looked down to see her trusty gun slide across the white tiled floor. As she turned her head to look again at the man she met his fist. His clenched hand collided with her jaw and immediate pain struck her. In anger she swung her leg and kicked him in the gut but only to be punched back in the check bone. Her face was in agony but her determination made the pain disappear for a few seconds as she pushed herself forward and slammed the man against the wall. She pinned both his arms to the wall and then head butted him and kneed him hard in the groin.

A groan of pain escaped the man's mouth. The woman let go of him and he fell to the floor, she took this opportunity to grab her gun. She pivoted on her foot and began to bolt to it but the man reached forward and grabbed her ankle causing her to fall. She fell forwards and hit her forehead incredibly hard on the bench that was only inches from her. She felt a cut appear on her face and could feel blood starting to seep out.

The man than crawled above her on the ground as she laid belly flat on the ground in pain. He grabbed her blonde hair and then brought her head up and then bashed it against the floor. He did it again. The woman was in extreme pain but somehow an animal took control of her and she managed to push the man off. In the action he hit his head hard on the floor. She reached for her gun and felt victory run through her veins ad she felt the trigger. The woman stood up and held the gun at the man who was lying on the floor.

He looked up at her and she saw a tear roll down his face. No, she wasn't going to give in.

"I know what you want!" He shouted with a wobbly voice.

She kept the gun aimed on him the whole time and then crouched beside him on the ground. She lifted her arm and put the gun against his temple, "Then give it to me." She said grimly.

He stayed silent and just stared at her. She quickly began losing patience, "We can do this the easy way," She said calmly, "Or the hard way!" She screamed into his ear.

In fear he nodded and she allowed him to stand up. He led her downstairs into a basement and she started to feel alert. She stood by the open door and kept the gun on him the whole time. She watched his every move. The man pulled out a metal box and turned to her. "Here." He said and held it to her.

She said, "Come closer to me." Since she had stayed by the door and he was on the other side of the room. He stood still in silence.

She decided to take the risk and went over to him. As soon as her hand touched the metal box the man launched forward and tried to grab her but in fear, she pulled the trigger and shot him.

It was an accident but as she watched him fall, lifelessly, to the ground, she realised she probably would have done it in the end anyway. She picked up the box from the ground and then walked to the door. But before closing it she turned back and looked at the dead man on the floor.

"Thank you, Mr. Trenton." Elena said and smirked.