[.A Common Enemy.] (SHINRA ONLY)

[Sephiroth]

((Only those asociated with SHINRA; such as Turks, SOLDIERS, scientists and the president himself. Vincent is the only NONE-SHINRA character who can join this.))


"You're useless if you can't do that!" shouted a voice, ringing throughout the deep reaches of Sephiroth's mind.

"Forget everyone else! Play it solo, just like Strife is doing! If you can't take Kadaj head-on by yourself, you really are useless!" the voice mocked, laughing harshly as the general made his way to the front doors of the ShinRa building.
Gaurds where everywhere, and lucky for Sephiroth they hadn't seen him yet. Sure he's this 'weapon of mass destruction' who could kill anyone with a single wave of his hand, but he didn't really want to end up in shambles like he did in the past. The voice in Sephiroth's head was trying to lure him back down that path of evil, but like the general promised himself...'the demon will remain in its cage until I choose to fight it myself.'

"You going through the front door or what!?" the voice rasped, hissing over Sephiroth's left shoulder.
If physical entities that represent good and evil existed, Sephiroth's 'little demon' would be lounging all over him right now...whilst his 'little angel' would be going crazy...trying to do multiple things at once AND save time to breath. Basicly, one half of him was being put to the back and left lounging whilst the other did all the footwork. Usually a person would have an even balance for their entities, but Sephiroth shifted one way before already and was trying to balance himself. But once again, he's shifted too far in one direction.
It seemed he'd never find 'peace', with how badly he managed himself mentally.

The one-winged-angel approached the front doors, with the guards taking notice of him instantly, but delaying their reactions. One of them was aiming their rifle, but was trembling so obviously that Sephiroth knew he wouldn't fire...and the others where just gawking, rifles sagging in their hands. Once again, Sephiroth knew they wouldn't fire their weapons either. So he simply walked right through the front doors without anyone daring to confront him. They observed, followed his movements and even backed away as he approached them; and once he was through the doors they sprung into a panic and ran from their posts screaming 'Sephiroths come back to kill us!'.
But inside was a different story; the guards there where well armoured and heavily armed, and that was just a starter. Some of the guards where actually SOLDIERS, from the upper rankings of the '2nd Class' unit. Some of them recognised the general in an instant and looked like they wanted to blast Sephiroth dead-centre without hesitation...where as the majority (most likely new recruits) looked uncertain of what to do.

"Stand down, surrender or prepair to be annihalated! This is your only warning!!" shouted one of the SOLDIERS, who was already aiming their 'upgraded rifle' weapon directly at the one-wingled-angel.
Sephiroth gave of a simple smirk and took a step forward, causing a majority of the guards to gasp in shock or run away screaming. Even the ones aiming their weapons where showing signs of fear, with them either shaking or loosing grasp of their weapons entirely.
The general took more steps forward, the same smirk planted on his face. At this moment around 80% of the guards had fled, dropping their weapons and abandoning their armoured 'bot-suits'. The few which remained did nothing but gawk and tremble at the sight of Sephiroth as he casually strolled by them, stopping alongside the gaurd who was obviously the captain, and quickly 'yoinking' his keycard from his tag with little effort.
The 'captain' backed away, and Sephiroth (enjoying this moment as a repreive of his stressful day already) allowed a playful, yet spooky 'boo' escape his slightly smiling mouth. And the very moment he uttered that single word, the guards along with their captain fled in a panic, stumbling over one another as they ran.
Sephiroth chuckled lightly as he swiped the keycard through the slot, allowing the elevator doors to open and grant him access to the second-to-top floor of the building. From there he could just go up the stairs and find Rufus, who he was hoping wouldn't want to shoot him the the face for what he did in the past to him.
----

Shortly after entering the second-to-top floor, an alarm was sounded. A sign that security had been breached.
No suprise though, considering the method the one-winged-angel took to get this far. Harassing, scaring and mocking the employee's wasn't something he usally did, but who was to say he never wanted to do it before?
Still it was a bad move on his part; ShinRa would have most likely built machines that would prove a problem to Sephiroth, or enhanced their security so that reaching Rufus would be difficult. One thing Sephiroth was wishing for though out of anything was that ShinRa didn't have those damn 'Mako-stabalisers' around anymore, he was always given one when he was 'too hyperactive' or 'out of control' as a youth. If they still had those blasted things around then Sephiroth could very well just collapse. But getting past the guards and robots who where 'below his level' wasn't any issue...scaring the guards with a taunt just sent them running, and the robots where so weak that Sephiroth just had to kick them in the 'face' to disable them.
It was when he reached the top floor...the door was heavily gaurded. More than ten SOLDIERS in 'mech-suits' where present, as where 5 or so of the giant security drone-bots...plus many other guards who looked more confident now they had the powerful security devices.
And...oh no...2 SOLDIERS where armed with 'Mako-Stabalisers'...if they set them both off at the same time...

"...best not to think about...that..." Sephiroth thought as he examined the current barracade of guards.
The president MUST be inside if security has been upped this much, and no doubt, the Turks would be planning some method of getting the President somewhere safe...even though in truth Sephiroth just needed a breif word with him.

"Stand aside, I have to issue something to the President." Sephiroth said coldly, narrowing his eyes into a death-glare.
This matter was serious.

[Frieden]

(Despite having the time to type in the c-box, Rufus cannot post tonight. Looks like a great place for my revival though....)

A typical day around the workplace. Though footsteps, ringing phones and hushed chatter could be heard outside the room, its interior remained serene and relatively empty. Frieden sat alone, filling out a report concerning a recently completed mission. Had anyone waltzed into the room at the time, he would have looked quite awkward in his solitary state. You see, the sword-wielding Turk worked not in his personal office, but in the room normally reserved for meetings. As a result, he was one man filling the colossal meeting table. He personally had no problem with things the way they were, but it would have looked odd from an outside perspective.

Then, marking the end of this pristine period, an alarm sounded.

In conjunction with the noise, Frieden could make out the ringing of his phone. Setting his pen aside with annoyance, the Turk reached into his coat pocket and removed the cellular device. He unconsciously slouched to one side in his chair as he flipped it open and put the earpiece to his head.

“Frieden here.”

He listened momentarily, hearing what he considered to be the important part, and then simply snapped the device shut. From what he could make of the frantic shouting on the other end, none other than Sephiroth had waltzed through the front door and was now on his way up the building. Wonderful. He climbed to his feet at his own pace; not running but refusing to slack as well. Frieden had only to reach to the side as he left, grabbing Tenrai from where he had left it propped against the wall.

A scarce few minutes gone and Frieden was on the floor that had been indicated as a planned stopping point. He failed to spot any signs of battle or strew pieces of security hardware scattered about, and so assumed that no such conflict had broken out yet. This became increasingly clearer when the Turk rounded the corner, finding the standoff in progress. Sure enough, beyond the assembly of defenders stood the ex-SOLDIER. Frieden adjusted his glasses with two fingers while gripping Tenrai’s hilt with the opposite hand. While the other Turks would undoubtedly aid the president in his escape, Frieden would aid in the defensive measures. Did he stand a chance of taking Sephiroth? Unlikely. But he would be one more obstacle, even if it only hindered his advance by a several seconds.

[Tseng]

((For some reason my Tseng posts always end up stupidly long. ' ))


There was no such tranquillity as Frieden was enjoying for the leader of the Turks. There was far too much to be done. Since Cloud had broken out of ShinRa Headquarters, killing a number of staff in the process, he had been attempting to hold together a desperate search for the blonde, with the limited number of units available to him. The Turks assigned to find Zack and Aerith had been pulled back to search the east continent. All transports, by air or sea, to and from the east continent had been heavily restricted to the point of being almost entirely prohibited, to ensure the blonde could not flee too far. But Cloud had still not been found.

The brief struggle in Hojo’s laboratory at the top of the ShinRa Headquarters – as bizarre as that situation had been, when he had reviewed the CCTV footage, with Miss Lockhart appearing to take Sephiroth’s side – had resulted in Cloud losing a single shard of the Black Materia. That shard had been immediately moved to a maximum security vault in the ShinRa building, but even in spite of this, Tseng was by no means confident of its safety. There were too many people after those shards. But where in the entire world could it be moved to that would be safer than here?

Seated at his desk, fingers pressed to his temples, and eyes closed, Tseng ran all the orders he had given through his head once more. Mapping out the locations of all members of the Turks in his mind, he explored every possible movement that Cloud might make. That Kadaj and his brothers might make. That the strange woman they had encountered in Junon might make. That Sephiroth might make. It was impossible to cover all eventualities. Had he even covered half of those he considered likely?

“I’m finally beginning to understand you, Veld. How were you ever sure that you were doing the right thing?”

What would the consequences of a single wrong move be? How many lives would be lost in the event of a direct attack on ShinRa? How much would be destroyed if the shards of the Black Materia fell into the wrong hands?

“But they are already in the wrong hands.”

An explosion of sound. Tseng’s eyes snapped open, but for a moment, he was frozen in disbelief. A security breach? Was it an attack on Headquarters, already? And by who?

As if in answer, his cellphone rang. Listening to the frantic voice that issued from the handset, his expression grew ever more burdened. It took conscious effort at times like this to replace such an expression with the collected levelness he was known for. Events such as this did not allow for worrying or wondering. Decisions had to be made immediately, and they had to be right. There was no room for error. The potential consequences were far too great.

“Very well,” he interrupted the voice. “Thank you.”

Ending the call, Tseng rose, and strode from his office. No time to wait for the elevator. He took the stairs.

He was not in charge of the SOLDIER units, or of personnel. There would be others ordering ShinRa’s super-engineered fighters to their posts, and making sure that all staff were evacuated from the levels at-risk from their uninvited guest. His concern was the Turks, and above all, ensuring the safety of the President. He had been careful to lay out plans for such an event as this. All of the Turks had been given their orders well before time, and they should all know exactly what was expected of them in the event of an attack on Headquarters.

The first priority was to evacuate the President safely. Hopefully, the intruder would not know that Rufus was no longer using the office on the top floor, as Tseng had advised. The barricade set up on the second-to-top floor should make it appear that the President was in his office at the top of the building, and efficiently distract the intruder long enough for him to safely escape from the building.

The shard was the second priority. No barricade would be set up to guard the vault – that would only draw unwanted attention. Instead, it would be retrieved and removed from Headquarters by a small party, in a separate helicopter to that of the President. If the worst came to the worst, the shard would be the most likely first target, and would at least serve to divert attention away from the President.

Every plan had been painstaking. And Tseng would remain in Headquarters to ensure that everything ran smoothly.

Tseng was not unfit, but hurrying up countless flights of stairs was never an easy task. Even so, he could not waste time to stop for breath. Finally reaching the designated floor for the barricade, he paused briefly, gathering himself once more, straightening his tie, and drawing his handgun, before striding out to join the SOLDIERs, guards, and Turks assigned to the blockade. Just in time to hear the intruder’s demand.

“If you have something that requires the attention of the President, I will be happy to pass on a message for you,” the leader of the Turks stated coolly as he approached. “Sephiroth.”

[Sephiroth]

The events where mounting against him...first the annoyance of that blasted alarm rining in his ears, then this blockage...and now, a Turk shows up? At least the security isn't all THAT pathetic if a blockage was set up this quickly. He sensed that further reenforcements where already on the way, and chose to just keep silent and deliver his death-stare some few minutes longer. Just long enough to see if someone will snap and cause a panic.
But as expected, the events continued to get worse. So close to his target, yet so far from reaching it. Sephiroth was becomming increasingly annoyed by the constant acts of attempting to keep him down; being backed into a corner or hiding in the shadows was never something he enjoyed, especially with the reputation of 'that General who went Psycho and killed everyone' being slapped on him. He use to prefere just being called 'the general' rather than 'the psycho' or any of those other reputations he was given...but back to this situation...

"Crush that Turk scum! He's nothing to you!" rasped the imaginative 'devil' on Sephiroth's shoulder. The angel on the otherside was too busy muttering to itself, working out multiple tasks on its fingers and slamming its head onto Sephiroth's shoulder.
Such a chaotic scene (though only Sephiroth can see and hear it) would easily display the one-winged-angels current psychological state. He was multi-tasking in his head, and even though his devil was doing very little and was supplying Sephiroth with input, the general never took notice of him...thereby ensuring he stayed sane. Or sane enough, anyway.
Tseng's arrival caused his 'conscience' to dissipate, almost as if bringing Sephiroth from his little daydream-of-a-death-stare to the reality of the conflict once again.
He needed to learn to stop spacing out like that.

"This information requires me to speak to him, in person." Sephiroth began, shifting his cold stare towards Tseng.

"And I for one, don't trust the Turks to deliver the full story."

((UBER SUCKY! And he has noticed Frieden, he just hasn't come to pick a fight.))

[Cissnei]

It had been awhile since the incident in Reno's office, and a lot had happened in that amount of time: Cissnei had been sent off on a wild goose-chase for someone who's name she had never thought would be brought up again... A certain someone that she had been friends with back in the day. Zack Fair, 1st Class SOLDIER. Also, some Cetra as well, but that part had caught her attention less than searching for the former member of Shin-Ra. How long had it been since then?

Anyway, sent off and then called back again. These Black Shards where most defiantly becoming troublesome, more so than Reno's forced sobriety. But no matter what the case, the flame Turk would serve dutifully. This excitement and danger was her life, and she loved it--had been raised to do this sort of thing.

The young woman was currently guarding the President, who at Tseng's persuasion with much underlying tones of insistence, had moved his office to the lower part of the building. There where more escape routes this way, whether by car, underground, or something else. Until the Alarms sounded though, the flame-haired woman seated in a chair on the opposite side of the room as the man, working on some sort of paperwork that might or might not of had something to do with her job.

Cissnei lifted her head, golden eyes leaving her work as she put her pen down. From here, the noises of the alarms were slightly muffled, but still loud enough to be an earful. The woman stood from her cushy seat, retriving her Rekka Shurkin from it's spot propped up nearby. She felt more at ease with it in her hand than any gun, even though she was trained in both. She was more at ease with this weapon, almost like it came natrually to her... Quiet a silly thought.

"Mr. President?" She questioned. They did not always evacuate when the intruder alarm went off. No, then no work would ever get done that way. It was costomary to sit tight for a few minutes, and if the intruder was not taken care of by then, move out.
Of course, if the woman had been informed of who exactly this intruder happened to be, they would of been out of there faster than a chocobo out of the starting gate at the Golden Saucer.

[Rufus Shinra]

(Sorry for that ridiculous delay. There’s really no excuse for that kind of wait.)

The silence of the room resounded within itself, crafting an impenetrable aura of stillness that might unnerve certain individuals. However, compounded with the gravity about the president at the time, this aura almost became one of urgency or hostility. For such a large impression, Rufus Shinra managed to maintain a façade of absolute calm. Steel was his body, ice was his blood. As a near-global leader the least he could do was maintain an exterior calm; even of he felt ready to burst from the inside.

Rufus sat at his desk, a pen in hand and a document in its confirmation stage. With two strokes of the pen he had authorized the use of additional hands in the manhunt for Cloud (what madman would not?) From the peripherals of his vision he could make out the form of Cissnei, still where she had been for a good deal of time. Was she feeling the same as him at this moment? Filled with the apprehension that could only come from being cradled in death’s arms? Though Rufus thought he had rid himself of the sensation, recent events had proven him mistaken by flushing it right back to the surface.

The president reached across his desk for the next paper in line, only to find his hand paused mere inches from it. The dull cacophony that was the complex’s emergency alarm had reaches his ears, prompting him to glance up in startled interest. Cissnei, naturally, had reacted in a similar manner. He paused a moment longer, considering his options. It was not the first time that siren had serenaded his domain. Intruders rarely made it far. However, there were new hazards to consider. New possibilities.

“One minute.” Rufus gave this simple reply as he finally grasped the document, pulling it closer. “If the alert is not called off in one minute, we leave.” Arguably, this was a rather short period of time. However, if this particular opponent is of Cloud-level ability, it would be advantageous to ensure that corners were not cut.

[Yue]

Violet eyes tracked the movements of all in the lobby of ShinRa Headquarters. For some, this job might have been boring. But Yue was a natural people-watcher, as much has his interpersonal skills were somewhat below average. An excuse to observe and analyze the employees of ShinRa, and escaping paperwork at the same time. Nothing could be better.

The level of security had been greatly boosted since the events in Junon. And, also since then, Tseng had been preparing the Turks for the eventuality of an attack against ShinRa. That didn’t make it any less alarming when it actually did happen, though.

Yue didn’t move a muscle as none other than Sephiroth marched straight through the front doors. The recently-drafted SOLDIER units showed exactly how useless fighters with no real battle experience actually were. For ShinRa’s elite battle corps, they sure sucked at fighting. Whatever happened to “kill or be killed”? It shouldn’t matter who it was who had just walked through those doors. In fact, the more dangerous, the more desperate their attempts to kill should have been.

“If those cosseted cowards were forced to live in the Midgar slums, they’d be dead already.”

The Turk made a short noise of disgust as Sephiroth waltzed right through without the slightest bit of difficulty.

“But… he didn’t kill anyone. I wonder why not?”

He strode briskly across the entrance hall, ignoring the small group of SOLDIER he passed on the way, who were babbling inanely amongst themselves about the “legendary general”. They were none of his concern. They might be of a more respectable background than he was, but at least he could do his damned job. Drawing the twin katar from the sheaths at his hips, he ignored the main elevators, heading instead for the tiny service elevator in one corner of the lobby. His orders were to avoid engaging an intruder, but he felt safer with his weapons in his hands.

The service elevator did not go all the way to the top of the building. He would not wait for the higher-level elevators. He would take the stairs. As he hurried across to the stairwell, he slammed on elbow – rather more aggressively than was absolutely necessary – into the trigger for the intruder alarm. The sound which blared out into the almost-silence was painfully shrill.

At first, he took the stairs two at a time, racing up them top speed. After five flights, he was slowing considerably.

“I hate stairs.”

How many more flights to go? Pausing mid-way between two floors, he returned one katar to its sheath, and drew instead his cellphone from his pocket. A call would be just a little more sensible.

It rang once; twice. Someone picked up.

“Sir? Reporting. No casualties on the lower floors. The mark made no effort to attack, though this is possibly due to utter lack of resistance from SOLDIER units.” He listened a moment. “Currently tailing the target, sir— I see. Understood.”

Ending the call, he dialled again. This call was to another Turk – Cissnei.

“Reporting. Intruder is high-risk. Follow protocol to ensure the absolute safety of the President.”

Hanging up without waiting for an answer, he took a deep breath. He hated having to talk to his colleagues, even in a professional manner. An noise of irritation issued from him as he continued on his way to the upper levels of the building.

He hated stairs more.

[Tseng]

Dark eyes met eyes of Mako-green as evenly as ever. Oh, Tseng feared Sephiroth. He had nearly lost his life to the legendary SOLDIER once before, in the Temple of the Ancients, after all. But professionalism demanded such feelings be kept buried deep where they would not impair judgement, or distract from the task at hand. And that task was currently to maintain the illusion of Rufus ShinRa being in his office. If making Sephiroth believe that it was true took fighting, and dying, in a blockade which stood between the One-Winged Angel and nothing but an empty room, then so be it.

“I’m afraid the President has ordered that you are to go no further, under any circumstance. He has no interest in dealing with you at present. We all have more important matters to attend to.”

What the leader of the Turk’s intention might be, saying something that could so easily be interpreted as an insult, was unclear. It may have been that he hoped to boost the morale of those who stood against Sephiroth here; for that would no doubt be the result for the elite fighters of SOLDIER in particular; seeing a man – just a “normal” man, who did not possess the Mako-enhanced abilities that they themselves did – stand before the legendary First-Class with apparently no fear whatsoever… Or perhaps he was simply stalling, desperately blurting out the first thing that came to mind, and hiding that desperation with the same cool efficiency that he hid everything… With Tseng, it would be impossible to tell either way.

“However, if you are so determined to converse with him, you will have to take my word that I will pass on your message—”

His cellphone was ringing.

“…Please excuse me.”

The voice on the other end of the line was not frantic with panic and fear as the previous caller had been. The concise, efficient report – though the tone was laced with what seemed to be impatience or irritation – could only belong to one of his Turks.

“No casualties?”

“Your current location? …That need not be your concern now, the target has been intercepted. Please ensure first through third priorities are seen to as soon as possible— in fact, contact Cissnei immediately, if you would.”

Returning the cellphone to his pocket, Tseng’s mind was buzzing frantically as he considered Yue’s report. This new level of concern and uncertainty was the last thing he needed, but his expression gave nothing away, as his gaze remained locked on the One-Winged Angel. The most likely explanation fitted Yue’s own theory – that Sephiroth had simply not bothered to kill anyone because no one had made themselves any real obstacle. But he could not jump to conclusions. After all, the intruder’s progress had been impeded now, and he had still not lifted his sword against them.

“My colleague tells me,” Tseng said slowly, after a short, pensive, silence, “that you made no effort to harm anyone, SOLDIER or otherwise, on your way to this floor. If you have no intention of fighting, Sephiroth, may I ask why, exactly, you are here?”

[Sephiroth]

Sephiroth gave off a light chuckle as Tseng told him the Turks had 'more important things' to deal with. Obviously he wasn't seen as the main threat right now, or the main target. Kadaj and Cloud had huge bullseyes on their backs at the moment, carrying all that Black Materia, so it was no suprise that ShinRa had no need to persue Sephiroth at the moment. He had nothing they wanted. Or at least, nothing they didn't know he had....Such as this very important information.
Just as the Turk was about to finish his sentence, Tseng's cellphone started ringing...and once Sephiroth knew Tseng was no longer paying attention to him, he chose to fold his arms and mutter to himself in a bitter tone. The one-winged-angel hated it when people's phones rang whilst he was in a slightly...unsettling...situation.

"Moron! This is your chance!! Cut him down like you did before and take those weak-minded fools out too!" rasped the little demon on Sephiroth's shoulder. The angel appeared on the opposite shoulder and finally gave up searching through whatever it was searching through. Throwing the paper at the demon angrily before pouting.

"Just give it a rest! You don't do any thinking, it's all impulsive violence with you! Where is your logic!?" the angel snapped.

"Oh, I suppose in a battle the one who thinks the most wins!?" the devil growled.

"On several occasions, they do!! Without strategy, a warrior stands no chance in besting their enemy---" the angel hissed. That was when Sephiroth started spacing out; the little representations of his good and evil side where irritating him, and vary rarely did anyone see the one-winged-angel look like he was daydreaming. But at this moment he was busy staring at his feet, muttering to himself about something that he didn't even understand.
Blocking out the noise from his inner demons was a must. If he listened to either of them his life would become unbalanced again. He needed to ignore the voices. Find his own voice again.
Even though that Black materia was gone, its whispers remained...along with the pain he felt from where it use to be embedded.

"My colleague tells me that you made no effort to harm anyone, SOLDIER or otherwise, on your way to this floor. If you have no intention of fighting, Sephiroth, may I ask why, exactly, you are here?”

Tsengs words caused Sephiroth to 'awaken' from his daydream with a look of unawareness, as if he'd just awakened in an unfamiliar place and didn't know what to do.
Tseng's question was also slightly unsettling, Sephiroth tried to remain blank and emotionless, but because of the insecurity he felt it was difficult to keep his 'ego barrier' up to hide what he felt. If his trainers saw him now, they'd be dissapointed in him.
Which reminded the one-winged angel of why he was here...under the important matters regarding Cloud and the Black Materia. Slowly Sephiroth brought up his tough exterior again, hiding the innder child who didn't know what to say or do, and finally decided to make physical threats by cracking his knuckles and giving Tseng his typical cold death-stare.

"...the reason I'm here is to pass information to the President." Sephiroth answered coldly.

"Information regarding the Black Materia and its effects on the human body."

(UBER BAD!)

[Reno]

So much for the detox making Reno 'safer' and more respectable...if anything the detox was having reverse effects on the red-head.
An hour or so ago, Reno was in the broom closet just outside of Rude and his office...nobody knew why he was in there or what he was doing, but when the cleaner finally came and unlocked the door the red-head fell out face first and slammed onto the floor. It was at that moment the alarms sirened, and the Turk's lack of alcohol in his system meant his nerves were not how they usually were meant to be. Instead of hunting for his EMR and standing by for orders, Reno sprung into a panic and fled to the stairs. Whoever it was that caused the security alarm to go off was the one person Reno never wnated to meet at the moment.
Very few people took the stairs, so the red-head didn't mind running down them quickly and without looking where he was going. On several occasions he nearly tripped, but as he got closer to the ground floor he began to panic...what if the source of the noise was at the base of the HQ!?
Maybe he should turn around now, before he---

WHACK!

Reno felt his body collide with another, and the momentum of how stupidly fast he was running down the stairs meant he toppled forwards and crashed into the floor. Whoever he crashed into probably felt the knock worst, with Reno comming downstairs so quickly and the other seeming to be comming upstairs. And anyone who knew about gravity and basic physics would know the one going up couldn't go as fast as the one going down.

"YEOWWW!" Reno whined, jolting from the pain as he got onto his hands and knees, rubbing his forehead as he tried to get up again.

"Awww man! Who'd I hit!?" Reno whined, finally getting up to see who he knocked in to.
Yue.
Damn.

"Um...sorry kid. I guess I didn't look where I was---!" Reno began his apology, but then remembered why he was running. There was an intruder, and he didn't want to end up confronting them.

"Kid, don't go up there! Something bads gonna happen!! Go back home now while ya still can!"
Such disrespect.

[Yue]

Yue frowned at his cellphone. He’d notified Cissnei of the situation (well, in his own way), as instructed. Priority two was the shard. He knew who had been assigned to the priority two party, but which of them were on-duty at the present time? Flicking through the numbers of his colleagues which were stored in the device’s memory did not help him to remember.

What floor was he on? Glancing at the number on the wall, he made an irritated sound through his teeth. It would be quicker to go to the vaults himself and make sure the shard had been moved, or that someone was at least in the process of moving it. Planning ahead was all very well and good, he thought to himself as he started on his way up the stairs once more, but nothing ever went as planned, because no amount of planning could ever account for all the variables; things going wrong or just not turning out quite the way you had expected.

For example, he had not expected, at that moment, to be hit full-force by some idiot who was racing full tilt down the stairs without looking where he was going. Yue was certainly not heavily-built or even very physically strong, but even someone built like a Behemoth would probably have been thrown backwards down the stairs by such a collision. As it was, Yue was practically knocked flying.

Wincing a little as he found himself lying at the bottom of the flight of stairs which had had, moments before, been approaching the top of, Yue pushed himself upright. The collision, and the fall, had knocked the air out of his lungs, and left him a little dazed, and very bruised, but all in all he was in one piece. He didn’t even need to look to know who it was who had ran into him— the voice, busy complaining at a volume far louder than was entirely necessary, told him all he needed to know.

“Shi—”

Yue tended to feel intimidated by those more refined or respectful than himself, mainly because he wasn’t used to dealing with people like that. But he was perfectly used to dealing with drunken morons (or in cases such as this, just plain morons) like Reno. And he knew exactly what to do. If Reno was being disrespectful, that was nothing compared to Yue; the slum-brat had never had much respect for his superiors.

Brushing himself off, he strode up to the red-head, expression dark, and saying nothing. And then, with surprising swiftness and a good deal of force… he punched Reno in the face. Hard.

“Next time,” he hissed through his teeth, “watch where the hell you’re going. Asshole.”

Reno was lucky that the younger Turk had chosen to punch him with the hand that held his cellphone, rather than the katar, or else he would have had a blade through his skull, and that wouldn’t have been pretty.

He was also lucky that Yue chose not to hit him a second time for calling him “kid”.

Glancing down at the cellphone in his hand, Yue made an irritated sound once more. The damned thing was broken— though whether that was a result of the fall, or the collision with Reno’s face, was debatable. Tossing the device to the floor, Yue glared at Reno.

“An’ you’re damned right somethin’ bad’s going to happen,” he muttered. “Tseng’s going to kick your ass for runnin’ off like a damned coward. Don’t you have somethin’ you’re s’posed to be doing? Like, I dunno, somethin’ useful?”

[Tseng]

“Incidentally, how is Miss Lockhart? Well, I hope.”

A question asked not only to buy time while he considered the situation, but out of genuine concern and curiosity. Tseng’s expression had remained level in reaction to Sephiroth’s threatening gestures, in exactly the same way he had reacted to what he could only interpret as mild diffidence just moments before— the last thing he had expected to see in the man who had once been one of ShinRa’s ultimate SOLDIERs. What was wrong with Sephiroth to make him display behavioural traits one would be more likely to associate with someone like, say, Cloud Strife?

That being, he realised suddenly, a query which linked with rather worrying symmetry to the question of why Cloud Strife was displaying behavioural traits so recognizable in Sephiroth himself when the legendary SOLDIER had first fallen into insanity.

Naturally, the two things had to be linked, just as Cloud and Sephiroth themselves were linked. The question was how, and why?

Tseng was not sure which issue troubled him more. The aforementioned, or the One-Winged Angel’s claims that he was here to pass on “information” regarding, of all things, the Black Materia. Sephiroth was not so weak that he would have to pretend to have information in order to get at the President— if he really wanted to kill Rufus, he would easily cut through those impeding his progress and do so. Was he, perhaps, attempting to draw out information pertaining to the location of the Black Materia shards? It was possible.

But what if he really had information? What if that information was vitally important to finding Cloud Strife? What if it was the only information that would give them any chance of remedying Cloud’s current mental state, or that would present them with some idea of how to prevent Kadaj from using the shards?

What if Sephiroth would simply refuse flat-out to speak to anyone but the President?

Whether the information turned out to be important or not, Tseng could not justify making no attempt to persuade Sephiroth to divulge it. Which in theory should not be too hard, if that was, as the One-Winged Angel claimed, the true reason for his being here. But Sephiroth was unpredictable. If he was repeatedly refused an audience with Rufus ShinRa, while Tseng tried to coerce him into revealing his information, would the son of Jenova finally raise his sword against them?

“Forgive my discourtesy,” Tseng spoke finally, “but allowing you to meet with the President goes against my better judgement. I’m sure you can understand the reasons for my caution. However, I am interested to hear this information. You can be certain that I will pass it on, in its entirety, to the President. It is, after all, my job to do so.”

One last try. If Sephiroth remained adamant about meeting with Rufus, Tseng would call the President and ask his opinion of the matter. If Rufus agreed that a meeting was unacceptable, there was nothing that could be done. If he chose to risk it… Tseng could do nothing but fulfil his duty as a Turk. What that duty was should, by now, be perfectly obvious: To ensure the safety of the President, or to die trying.

[Cissnei]

One minuet, sixty seconds. Plenty of time to neutralize any common threat. The flame haired woman nodded lightly, her golden eyes flickering in the direction of the ShinRa President. "Yessir." She replied dutifully, lowering her Shurikun back down to her side. She took a deep breath, and automatically looked at the clock on the other side of the room to check the seconds hand of the clock. She could keep time in her head just fine, but she wanted a starting point to go off of.

Fifty Seconds—The Turk fiddled with the Materia in her Shurikun, removing it and allowing the crystallized ball of mako to roll around in her palm. This one was her’s, truly… She had mastered it through hard work and long fights. A fire that burned brightly… it suited her, somehow.
Halfway through her musings, the young woman realized that while Rekka was her preferred weapon, it wasn’t the best to use in the hallways of the Shin-Ra building. Even though she wasn’t expecting the alarm to go off much longer, she still had the job of protecting Mr. ShinRa . . . And a life wasn’t something worth fooling around with. It was her job to protect, even lay her life down if she had to, in the end.

She absently switched out her weapon for her handgun, making sure everything was ready for a firefight. Locked and loaded, as they say. She slid the mastered fire Materia into the correct slot, and then with her free hand, reached to count how many extra rounds she had. Cissnei didn’t carry as many as some did, but even so, she was still a pretty good shot. All of the Turks were.

Moments later, her phone rang. Thirty One seconds and counting down. The Female Turk pulled it out and flipped the phone open, putting it up to her ear. “Yes?” There was a pause, and the flame haired woman continued to look at the floor until she made sense of Yue’s words. It wasn’t that hard. “I Understa-“ She stopped, he was already gone. She closed the phone with a snap, then turned to face Rufus. She was calm, always prepared for such an incident. This was all part of everything she had learned. The time had not yet passed, but she was confident that he would listen to her. After all, her best interest was his health, and had been senice she became a Turk at the tender age of Sixteen. If Cissnei said that they needed to leave now, then staying in the building was most likely not the best thing to do.

“Sir, we need to leave.” She stated, Gold eyes meeting blue. Her grip on the handgun tightened just slightly, but she made no move to flick off the safety. Yet.

[Sephiroth]

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed the instant Tseng spoke about Tifa; why was the Turk so concerned about her? In fact...how did he know Sephiroth had been in contact with her?
Obviously the main source of this knowlege was through CCTV images, if not direct reports from security guards who simply let Tifa haul him out of the building injured.

"She's..." Sephiroth muttered, before rubbing his head.
A mental flash broke his track of thought, as he recalled the injuries she had sustained...and how she was mentally struggling to accept Cloud was 'gone'.

"..." he remained silent, and glanced at Tseng for a moment as if unsure of how to answer...a very weak glance Cloud use to give his 'allies' when he didn't know what to say or do, usually out of fear of causing harm to them.
That was when the information he remembered he had to pass onto the President resurfaced within his mind, the child-like nature melting swiftly into the typical SOLDIER nature he was well known for giving. Stern, militant and cold.
Tseng was testing his patience. There was only so much the one-winged angel could take before having to take matters into his own hands; who knew when Cloud might come back for that last shard? Or when Kadaj might appear to take it himself? Sure Sephiroth had some control over Kadaj...but with Jenova's influence being so weak if not faded entirely (which supports the idea of him being 'discarded' by her) he could only do so much to stop Kadaj from getting what he wanted. But if the youth got hold of say...one more shard...Sephiroth would be able to do nothing to stop him.
The Black Materia's whispers where powerful...more so than Jenova's...or so it seemed when Sephiroth possessed the shards himself.
But Cloud...even when he had 2 shards himself he seemed fully under Jenova's influence...what concerned the general most though was how much the blonde reminded him of himself back when he was Jenova's puppet. One might think that a single action caused their conciousness to switch...with Cloud absorbing Sephiroth's madness when he took the Black Materia, and Sephiroth being left mentally broken and weak much like Cloud use to be.
This knwlege of weakness within himself made the one-winged angel angry, he hated the idea of being weaker than he should be...he was known as the ruthless General, who showed no weakness. But times have changed...the peices on the chessboard have moved against him, much like how he use to be the King on that board and had many pawns to throw at his enemy...but now, he seemed like the useless pawn himself.
The anger was churning violently, if the Black Materia was still within him he would have felt the pain reach out and almost suffocate him...but without it, he felt the anger escalate and his power return. But the child within knew better than to cause a fight now, especially in such a dire time. So Sephiroth clenched his fists, turned away and lowered his head, before slamming one of his fists into the nearby wall. The surface cracking under the force he used.

"Enough!" Sephiroth growled, turning to face Tseng again with his burning with the rage he felt.

"You're stalling! Right this minute, Kadaj or Cloud...or worse, both of them...could waltz right in here and hunt us down!" he continued, before relaxing his posture after he became quite shocked by his own actions...he couldn't remember the last time he threw a tantrum like that, he possibly never did...or maybe he was taut to repress it. But still, acting angry was not going to resolve this issue one bit.
He eased his ofeensive stance and sighed, rubbing his head tiredly before shifting his cold stare back to Tseng.

"If you won't allow me to pass the information directly, I won't pass it at all."

(WOAH, Sephy threw a tantrum! XD )

[Reno]

Reno felt the impact of Yue's fist connecting with his face, and being entirely sober the sting was incredibly painful. He was just glad the fellow Turk didn't use his weapon.
Which reminded him, where was his?

"Look, I just don't wanna get in the way! And I haven't got any orders yet, so I'm hightailin' it somewhere safe till I get some, yo!" Reno whined, getting off the floor after that punch he received.

"If I was gonna do somethin' useful, KID, then I'd stay outta the way!"

(UBER short and ubder bad! D= )