A Day At The Office

[ShinraStuey]

Valene stood in the conference room of the Shinra building, casting her gaze over the Midgar slums far below. The animated landscape below her brought rise to a feeling she'd been having for days now - for some reason, Valene could not think of anything else except for the friends and family she abandoned all those years ago.

'Why am I feeling like this?' Valene questioned herself quietly under her breath, gently curling a loose strand of her golden hair between her fingers.

After a moment of contemplation, Valene snapped out of her daydream and turned to seat herself at the conference table. Before her were several office files, in brown paper folders adorned with a "TOP SECRET" stamp. Without further hesitation, she flipped open the folder, took out the first sheet of paper, and began her day's work.

[ShinraStuey]

Having barely escaped unscathed from sector 7, Valene arrived back in her office at the Shinra Headquarters.

'That's my job done,' she thought to herself, desperately seeking self-justification for her actions. 'I'm not involved in... what's gonna happen.'

"Miss Valene!" Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by her personal assistant, Gary, rushing into her office.
"What's wrong?" Valene rarely saw her assitant in such an agitated state.
"I just got a report from security! Unidentified persons have been seen scaling the building from the top - you gotta get out of here, fast..."

Valene stood to contemplate her actions for a moment. Uneasy silence, disbanded only by Gary's nervous shuffling, followed.

"No." Valene's resolve was settled.
"No? Miss Valene, please-"
"Oh, Gaaary... Save yourself while you still can. It's me they're after, not you."
"I - can't just leave you."
"Go!" Valene knew she could handle the situation herself, but if other people got involved... She didn't know what would happen.
"Well... I'll be waiting for you on the ground floor. Please, hurry down and let's get out of here hm?"

Gary left the room quickly, and Val listened to his footsteps becoming more and more distant. Then, as if on cue, Val noticed a strange noise coming from the direction of her office window - this was it. 'They're here,' she thought, preparing her weapon.

[Matrium]

Stopping when his comlink crackled he heard the operator say. "Your target is in the window below you. Engage without hesistation. Beware she is an adept fighter and will not go down easily." "Roger that confirmed. Engaging target. Stand by." "Affirmative, good luck." Crawling carefully down he planted his feet and firmly kicked the window open to shatter it before winding up again and throwing himself into the room to find the said person waiting for him. Pictures hadnt prepared him for the reality of the person standing there. ~Christ... I hate killing women....~ He thought to himself drawing off his long gloves leaving him in his fingerless gloves that had been covered by them throwing them to the ground quickly he drew both his katana's. "Sorry, I've got a job to do." He said entering a middle stance ready to switch between offensive or defensive.

[ShinraStuey]

Valene stood, unprepared for the violent entrance of her would-be assailant. She watched as he prepared his weapons and his stance, replicating his movements, unsure as to his intentions.

"I have a job to do, too," Valene said calmly. "My job- even if it costs me my life- is to protect the honour of the Shinra."

She paused for a moment, before commencing her first protective spell of their inevitable fight.

"WALL!" Valene screamed her command at the top of her lungs, and instantly a bright, rainbow coloured shield formed in front of her. Valene hoped it would give her the strength to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Courageously, she awaited her opponent's first move in an outwardly provocative stance.

[Matrium]

Frowning at her defensive action his right lip curled slightly in a smile. ~This should be fun.~ Shrugging outwardly he said, "Have it your way." Switching to an offensive stance he rushed forward with blinding speed smashing his right weapon against her shield using the momentum to send him into a quick spin with his leg outstretched to catch her feet. ~Wish I had brough more Materia other than those two black magics and a bunch of command ones....~ He thought mid spin hoping this would knock her and her shield down along with her conciousness.

[ShinraStuey]

((Sorry i haven't had time to post. I think it would be better if i left the roleplay and you went to join the other guys. I'll end my character in this post, and leave it open for you to move on.))

Valene's wall spell shattered, and she suddenly found herself face down on the floor. Her head had hit the concrete flooring hard, and she was being to loose consciencness quickly.
Struggling to her feet, she slipped her hand into the folds of her dress, and pulled out a silver revolver, aiming it with un-trained hands at the agent that had attacked her.
"Protect... the... Shin...ra...." Her mind was beginning to cloud over, like a perfect blue sky in the eye of a storm, gradually getting smaller, as she began to loose sense of what was happening. She pulled the trigger, and the revolver jumped in her hand, but she knew before she fired that she had missed.
Unable to think clearly, she staggered back, further down the corridor, until her back was pressed against the glass sheet that made up the east side wall of the Shinra building. Suddenly, her mind became clear, or at least, the fog had subsided, and she was left feeling calm and collected. She looked at the mercenary, squarely in the eye and spoke, her voice her own, as though it had been hiding beneath the sound of betrayal all these years.
"The plate is due to fall on Sector Seven in just over 30 minutes. Go there, and you shall find a member of AVALANCHE trying to stop the time bomb we placed there from disconnecting the pillars. Tell him... tell him... i am sorry." She dropped the gun to the ground, and threw the keys to her locker on the ground at the man's feet. "Take the materia you find in there and give it to him..." She nodded her final request, and fell back through the glass window.

[Gary... i'm sorry]

[Matrium]

Frowning at her incohesivness he started forward when she shot at him. The shot missed him barely knicking his helmet fragmenting the glasses. Pulling off the helmet gratefully, the ends of his blindfold falling out still damp from the water materia he had used to land, he tossed it to the ground looking at the women as she pulled out keys and tossed them at him giving him some information about the Plate, it's drop time and resistance fighters, along with materia. Nodding slowly he turned away from her as she fell honoring her privacy activating his com link. "Objective one is complete.... I have news about a resistance going on should I assist?" He asked picking up the keys fitting them into the locker before finding the right one. ~Wow.... That's alot of Materia~ He thought putting them into his pack and equipping a few others in slots he wasn't using. "Affirmative, contact the resistance and assist them, they are your employers after all." "Roger that, I'll find them you have anything for me to go off of?" He asked glancing around searchign the room for any further clues and finding none. "Negative they're very secretive about identities so anything we have is off. Good luck." "Thanks.... Over and out." Turnign the mic to listen only he poked his head out the door before starting down the stairs to the right. ~This is going to be a long climb....~ He thought as he started his trek downwards.