-------------Should Have Been An Easy Job-------------

-------------Written By: Reality Obscured-------------

Part One

Reno dropped what was left of his cigarette and smashed it into the ground with his foot. This time it should be an easy job, capturing that Ancient and all. He never understood why Tseng always had such a hard time of it. Just walk in and grab her, right? There was no way she could put up a decent fight against him. Her materia was useless, too. Besides, he had three soldiers to back him up if necessary. If necessary. He probably wouldn't even need them. Just because that Ancient had always slipped out of the Turks grasp before didn't mean she was going to this time.

He walked into the church, the three soldiers waiting outside until he gave them the signal to come in. Reno stopped and stood just inside the door, watching two people when there was supposed to have been one. Who was this blond, spiky-haired guy? Reno listened in as the two people in front of him continued their conversation.

"Me...? I I do a little bit of everything." Cloud finished saying.

Aeris looked slightly up at the ceiling, looking as if she was thinking over his comment. "Oh...a jack of all trades."

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed." nodded Cloud. Aeris started to laugh lightly at something at a thought that had crossed her mind, but Cloud obviously didn't see it as that funny. He made a slicing motion with his arm through the air. "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?"

"Sorry...," Aeris apologized. "I just-"

That was when Reno realized that he had just been noticed. Finally. It took them long enough. Reno thought to himself. The two people just stared, watching him for a moment. He watched as Cloud turned to Aeris.

Aeris only said. "Sorry. Bad timing on my part." Unsure what she meant by that, Cloud started to walk towards the Turk. Before he had gotten halfway down the church aisle, he heard Aeris call after him. "Cloud! Don't let it get to you."

Cloud turned around and looked at her, wondering what Aeris was talking about. He shrugged at her comment and continued toward Reno. Reno only smirked as the spike-haired blond came closer, thinking that this guy wasn't anything but another boyfriend that Aeris had picked up somewhere. Then he saw Cloud's eyes. Cloud's eyes had a strange glow to them, a hue that didn't seem right. Reno knew he had seen those type of eyes somewhere else before.

Then that blond, that guy with those strange eyes, was standing next to him. Reno wasn't sure if Cloud had said anything to him or not, but it didn't really matter. He suddenly wasn't so sure if the job would go off without a hitch anymore.

The Turk shook his head and said calmly. "Don't worry about me."

Reno watched as Cloud turned around and walked back to Aeris. His mind raced. Those were Mako eyes... The Ancient and the spiky-haired guy had begun talking about something, but to Reno the conversation had now gone low enough that it was inaudible to him. Was he Mako infused? He has the body that someone in SOLDIER would have. That sword he carries... It's too big for a normal man to use.

Then Cloud turned away from Aeris and began walking down the aisle toward him again.

"I don't know who you are, but..." Cloud said to the Turk, but then he shook his head, as if something was loose inside there and he was trying to straighten it again. Then suddenly he asked. "You don't know me...?"

Reno just looked on. Should he know this guy? Cloud's eyes seemed to glaze over for a few seconds as he looked at the Turk. Even though he was a Turk, he knew he wouldn't be able to take on an Ex-SOLDIER, if indeed this guy was just that. He pressed a button on his watch, alerting the soldiers waiting outside to come in.

Another voice, a voice not his, was speaking inside Cloud's mind. I know you. A bright light flashed itself across his mind. "Oh yeah... I know you. That uniform..."

"...hey sis, this one's a little weird." Reno commented as he looked past Cloud at Aeris. The three soldiers that had been outside came through the door, soon standing beside the red-headed Turk, looking as though they were laughing internally at the Turk's comment.

"Shut up! You Shinra spy." Cloud exclaimed, emphasizing his words with a wave of his right arm.

The soldier directly to Reno's right spoke up. "Reno, want him taken out?"

Reno turned to the soldier. "I haven't decided yet."

Now it was Aeris's turn to speak up. "Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!"

We'll ruin a lot more than that. Reno smirked at the thought. He watched as Aeris turned and ran towards what looked like a back exit, motioning for Cloud to follow her as she did. Cloud looked at the four men one last time before turning around and running for the exit as well. Reno walked foward, looking down at the flowers growing up through the hole in the church's broken floor. He hated flowers. He probably always would. He made sure to step on them as he passed. Who cared if he killed something in the church or not?

"They were...Mako eyes." He said to himself as he watched the Ex-SOLDIER and the Ancient run through the exit. If he was worried any at all, he didn't let the soldiers behind him see it. The soldiers were expendable. He'd let them take care of the Ex-SOLDIER if a fight came up. He turned around to see that the soldiers were still laughing among themselves about something. "Yeah, all right. Back to work, back to work." He turned around, looking back at the ground for a second before walking toward the exit, crushing a particularly firm stemmed yellow flower into the ground as he did. Then he remembered something the Ancient had said. He ran back to the edge of the flower garden and motioned toward the soldiers. "Oh! And don't step on the flowers..." He turned and brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Hey Reno, you just stepped on them!"

"They're all ruined!"

"You're gonna catch holy hell!"

I caught that a long time ago. Won't make any difference what I do now. Reno thought to himself as he walked through the exit and into what looked like the churches back room. He caught sight of Cloud and Aeris running across a wooden walkway almost a floor up. Shit! They're gonna get away!

He pointed them out to the soldiers, who were looking pretty clueless as to where their targets had disappeared to. "There they are, over there!"

What looked like a large column had collasped over the walkway probably some time before, breaking the walkway in half and causing a large gap. Cloud easily crossed the gap with a single leap, but Aeris seemed hesitant. Reno knew that this was their chance. If that Ancient could be separated from her 'bodyguard' then it should be no problem nabbing her.

"The Ancient is getting away!" Reno ordered the soldiers behind him as he pulled his gun. They'd shook the Ancient down if they had to. No one had told him she had to be brought back to Shinra headquarters alive. "Attack! Attack! Attack!"

"Eaygh!" Aeris screamed as a volley of gun fire barely missed her. She lost her balance and fell, sliding down the fallen column to the floor, where she landed with an ungraceful and painful thud. For a moment it looked like she had been knocked unconscious by the impact.

"Aeris!" Cloud called after her.

"Think we killed 'em?" Reno smirked at Aeris's motionless figure. "Shouldn't have put up a fight, I say!"

It was then that Aeris stood up and brushed off her clothes. So she got lucky. Reno motioned for one of the soldiers to grab her. The soldier jumped down to the floor below and advanced toward her.

"Cloud, help!" Aeris called to the floor above her.

"Damn!" Cloud cursed. He looked around for something that could help him. So far he knew Aeris had two choices: to either run or to fight. Aeris didn't look like much of a fighter, but neither was he sure that she could run fast enough to get away from that soldier. Cloud looked around quickly for a third option...and found one right above his head. "Aeris! Hold on a minute!"

What does he think he's doing? Reno asked himself as he watched the blond run up the ladder and across the beams of the roof. Only when he saw a barrel fall down from the ceiling and squash the soldier below did he realize what was happening. Shit!

"What do you think you're doing? You two, get out there!" He commanded the remaining two soldiers. Then he ran back out the exit and into the main room of the church, looking up into the rafters as he did. The only way out of that room back there was through the rafters. He'd most likely see them come out through there. Reno readied his gun. When they showed their faces, he'd give them an unwelcome surprise.

He could hear two more thuds, each a minute or so after each other. Two more barrels crushing two more soldiers, he supposed. He heard gunshots shortly after the second barrel landed. That blond guy must have missed his mark.

"Aeris, this way!"

Reno heard a voice and looked up. Cloud and Aeris were running across the rafters, just as he had expected. He had known that the soldier he had sent after them didn't stand a chance. Now it was his turn.

Reno raised his gun, pointing it at the two running figures, and pulled the trigger. The anticipation of the moment was drowned out by disappointment. The gun clicked, but didn't fire the shot. Reno pulled the trigger again. The same clicking sound.

Out of bullets? He examined his weapon. There wasn't a single bullet left.

"SHIT!" He growled through clenched teeth. Before he was able to find another bullet clip and reload his gun, Cloud and Aeris had already disappeared through a hole in the roof. He threw the gun across the room, ricocheting it off of the wall and into some pews.

Damn, he knew he was going to get it this time when he got back to HQ. That's all he needed, another bad mark to foul up his report.

Tseng's just gonna have to live with it, the red-headed Turk decided as he walked down the aisle and out through the church doors. If Tseng, Hojo, or President Shinra had something to say about it, oh well. It didn't matter to him. The worst that could happen was that he would get terminated. No, not fired. Terminated, as in a bullet through the head.

Then again, he wouldn't even get that. Reno knew he was too valuable to the Turks to get that. If he went, not only would the Turks be short handed, but they'd be shorthanded one of the best gunmen that they've had in a while. Shinra couldn't afford to have him killed, not when he couldn't be replaced that easily.

He didn't live by excuses. He'd tell them the truth about what happened. Either way, he'd get another shot at that Mako-eyed guy. He'd get another shot and he'd make sure that the next time he didn't miss.

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