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One Day
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It was August. August thirteenth to be precise. There was something special about this day that he couldn't put his finger on, but it might've had something to do with the manilla envelope under Elena's arm. They'd just walked out of Don Corneo's mansion with it, an air of cruelty following them, and got into the car without a word, the blonde placing the package on the armrests between them before putting the vehicle in gear.
Reno fiddled with the remote for the stereo in disgust. "Who the fuck does he think he is, trying to get us to deliver this?" He lit up a cigarette, cracking the window with his free hand. "Just who the fu --"
"Chill out, Reno," she sighed, pulling off her black gloves and throwing them in the back seat. On the front of the envelope was the name Scarlet, and on the back was a series of Confidential and Do Not Open stickers and stamps. Obviously some kind of handoff to a woman who they knew dabbled nothing in the world the black market. "What's done is done and she never has to know he was trying to set her up, okay? We'll give it to Rude and he'll get rid of it."
The redhead slouched. "It's the face he tried and thought we were stupid enough to fall for it," he said, brushing some pale flecks off of his tie. "Sure, we've never gotten along, but what the hell does that have to do with Scarlet? He basically works for ShinRa, and here he is, trying to set her up in some jackass drug scheme?!" He kicked the glovebox, which rattled open, exposing two years of unpaid parking tickets. "It's just -- he's -- fuck!" he yelled.
Elena tightened her hands on the wheel. She was getting used to Reno being defensive over Scarlet, but he still had moodswings like nobody's business and she couldn't adjust to that. Her father had been the same way, but he'd been taken away after putting his hands on her a few too many times. He'd been killed on the inside. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, it's over."
They hooked a turn toward the top of the plate, an employee road that ran next to the train tracks. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he grumbled, taking another drag and adjusting the tuner with the buttons. "Just goes to show 'em, Turks can't be tricked or trusted, right, Laney?" He was laughing now, and it was making her sick. How the hell could he laugh? How could he just shrug something like what they'd done off and laugh about it now?
"Can you please be quiet?" she asked, using the volume she wanted him to pick up on. "You know I hate driving as is, especially with you sputtering away next to me. Just this once, can I have some peace?" She turned the radio to Easy Listening and batted the controller out of his hand. This wasn't her kind of lifestyle, but she was tied to it now, kind of like an innocent's thumb is tied to a grenade after he pulls the pin. Let her go and she'd be killed. Even Tseng had seen it wasn't her life to live anymore. It was the suit's. Maybe if he'd lived, they would be somewhere out there right now. . .
The heavy metal station assaulted even her sense of smell and she suddenly hated him. Hated him for being so goddamn casual in the face of danger, hated him for being able to kill children without the blink of an eye, hated him for being himself, hated him for laughing about --
"Fuck, Laney, slow down! That's the exit!"
She gunned it and spun the wheel hard, squealing up the exit ramp to the ShinRa Building. She found her parking space untouched, turned the radio down, and got out of the car. She slumped against her closed door and bit back the urge to scream at the top of her lungs, "Reno, you piece of shit, I hate your fucking guts!!" Instead, she opened the door again, pulled out the envelope, and was about to make for the Turks' Entrance that led directly into their office when she saw someone walking toward them.
Scarlet Chassity.
Reno decided it was his time to shine and he called out to her, "Don't worry, babe, we took care of it for you. No old perv's gonna take advantage of you."
The woman in red looked confused as Elena handed her an envelope, working at a bloodstain on her breast pocket. So much for not telling Scarlet, she figured. She looked at Reno and decided they'd need to get out of these suits before anyone realized they'd just killed the Don of the Slums and some thug tried to --
She glanced at what Scarlet had just opened and how weak she looked.
Reno met her eyes on the way back, and he suddenly remembered why this was a different day than most. He circled the car quickly, catching Scarlet as she fell onto the nearest stable thing, but no one had a free hand to catch the box of chocolates and the birthday card before they hit the pavement.