Chapter 1
Progressive?
Six figures stood in the night, barely visible. If anyone had been watching them from many yards away, they would've seen absolutely nothing. All but one of them were dressed in blue tuxes and dark sunglasses.
"001, you see anything?"
"Nope, all clear."
"002?"
"Clear."
"003?"
"Fine out here."
"004?"
"Cool."
"005?"
Silence followed.
"005?"
"Aww shit, I think we lost him," Goard sighed, looking around. He lazily scratched his shaved, light brown haired head. "Damn… that guy's always drunk 'neways."
"His name's Reno."
Everyone turned to look at the only brown skinned man there. He was well… huge. He was a taciturn man of six feet some, could probably take down a football player, and spoke only when needed.
"Who the hell cares? He's just a goddamned drunk of all…" Goard began again, but was silenced immediately as their leader hit him gently on the shoulder.
The Asian man looked at Goard. He was the only one in a black suit. "I prefer, Goard, that you don't speak of your own colleague like that… he is one of the best men on this crew—"
"Hey guys! Didja miss me!"
In the faint light, a sudden figure with flaming red hair popped out from nowhere. Immediately, the air reeked of alcohol and cigarettes.
"AHH SHIT!"
Goard gave a cry as Reno jabbed him sharply in the behind with his electrified nightstick. Everyone was about to laugh, but managed to catch their giggles and muffled them into coughs.
"Goard, shut up," Tseng whirled around to face the man. In a softer and yet more deadly voice, he said to Reno, "Reno. I told you not to sneak off."
There was a sound of shaking in the quiet night. Reno had a pack of cigarettes but couldn't fish one out. When he finally managed to do so, from his back pocket, he retrieved a cigarette lighter. He managed to light it and it illuminated the place.
Suddenly, the fire went out. "Aww… Tseng…" Reno whined, as his lighter was snatched away. "A smoke never hurt anyone…"
Tseng sighed. "Damn it, Reno! Our enemies are everywhere! If we get caught now… without the support of ShinRa…"
"What the hell are we Turks anyways, Tseng? We just did the dirty jobs for ShinRa. We all need a new life now… now that they're gone. I mean we could all get a job…" Reno said.
Elena snorted loudly. "You of all people… get a job? Be serious for once, Reno…"
Reno crunched his pack of cigarettes and flung them into the night. "I do. I want to do something progressive… for once…"
Jaine shrugged, her long blone hair moving with her shoulders, though no one could see it. Her long pale white face screwed up into an expression that wasn't very appropriate. "Reno… Elena's right. Be real. You ran away at twelve, you began smoking at thirteen, you joined a gang two months later… you shoplifted about a million times, killed your first guy at fourteen… and raped a girl later that year… and the list goes on. Then you joined the Turks at sixteen… for god sakes Reno… you've been doing this for how long? Twelve years of your life. You call that progressive? Things aren't going to change in a few minutes, Reno."
The red haired man sighed and drooped. "There's always a time to start…"
Rude was glad that he had dark shades on so that no one could see the surprised look on his face. He had always seen Reno wear those convictions like a badge. Now he was ashamed of them? It wasn't like Reno to throw out the badge of "honor" to replace it with the badge of shame. Reno always took the easier path in life… to be lazy… do drugs… sex… have fun… do horrible things… and be proud of it. He'd never seen this new Reno. And what surprised him most was that he had thrown out a perfectly good pack of cigarettes.
"Damn… never thought I'd hear those words outta you, Reno…" Lorn chuckled softly.
He had perhaps the strangest hair color other than Reno… he had a bushel of green. He was an average man of about five-foot nine. His facial features revealed that he was of Hispanic origin. He looked normal… but he sure wasn't normal. He could dismantle a bomb with his eyes closed in a matter of seconds, could hack into any computer system (no matter how high the security was), and could do all sorts of amazing things. He was no ordinary criminal mastermind though… in his spare time he liked to write poetry and music… and went to admire the art at an art museum every chance he got.
"Shut up, Greeny." Reno said, calling Lorn by his nickname.
"No… I'm being serious," "Greeny" smirked. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we could do something progressive."
"Yeah… it's not to hard for you. I mean everyone would want to hire you. But what would we do? Janitorial work? It's all we're qualified for. We got like… seventh grade education." Goard had a dejected tone, for he had been an orphan all his life. His father had died of a drug overdose a few months before he was born, and his mother died shortly after childbirth. He couldn't help but being negative at times.
"Goard, stop being such a pessimistic ass and listen. We all know our letters and we're all intelligent. Plus, we still got connections other than ShinRa. And best of all, we're trained to kill," Reno grinned when he said this. "Hell, we can be hired killers, mercenaries, assassins, monster exterminators… I dunno… anything up for hire in that line of business. But I know we can do it… come on guys… we're the Turks for the Cetras' sakes. We're trained to be ready… right?"
Elena smiled in the dark. "Nice speech, Reno. Never thought you had it in you." She paused. "Why don't you become a speechmaker?" her smile became cynical.
Reno kicked the dirt underneath him. He grabbed the sunglasses that were on his forehead, and tugged them out. He stared at them for a long time. "You guys don't believe me… fine. Pssh… I'll show you all. Tseng… give it up. It's over… it's all just a dream… right from the start. Hell they wanted the best. They got criminals. There's no such thing as the Turks."
With that, he threw down his sunglasses and began walking away, leaving dust behind him.
Rude stared at Reno for a long time, then went to follow the red headed man. He wasn't going to let Reno just leave by himself. It was practically a rule… Rude and Reno… always together.
"Aww Rude… are you actually going with that loser?" Goard asked.
"Yeah," Rude replied in his deep voice. "All of you should come too. Reno's got the right idea this time… maybe he'll even go the right path. I'm followin' along 'cause it's right. You all can stay here and rot if you want. Tseng… Reno's right… the Turks are no more. Face it."
Everyone gawked at Rude, who turned away and began walking. That was probably the most words that he had ever said in a sitting.
Reno smiled in the darkness. He knew that he had made quite an impression on the others. He wasn't sure why he wanted to do something so badly… maybe it was just in his blood.
He snorted. In his blood? What had he inherited from his mother and father? The love of doing crack and drinking?
From his left pocket, he produced another cigarette pack. It was a little crunched up from lack of use, and he seized a cigarette, and took out a backup lighter from his other back pocket. He smirked.
It's never bad to have extras. He thought to himself as he lit the cigarette and promptly stuck it into his mouth.
He put the lighter away, then puffed out, the cigarette clenched tightly between his teeth.
"Reno, wait up."
His smile grew wide. "So you decided to come along with me, Rude?"
"Yeah."
Rude hid a grin when he saw Reno's cigarette light up as the red haired man inhaled deeply. Somethings never change. Rude thought, not surprised at all. "Now, Reno… why am I not surprised to see you smoking backups?"
Reno shrugged. "'Guess you know me too well, Rude."
"Hey! Wait up, guys!"
"Whoa! Elena, you decided to come along too?" the smoking man's eyes grew wide.
The blonde woman sighed and shrugged. "Well… I thought about what you said… and I guess you're right. I didn't want to sit on my ass waiting for something to come… anyways… we're a team right? During the time we fought AVALANCHE we always fought them together…"
Yeah… and you blurted to them all of our plans. Reno thought darkly. "Hey… you know what? I shouldn't have thrown out those cigarettes… they were perfectly good. Now I have to risk my butt to go back to civilization and buy some extra packs."
Elena rolled her eyes. "You're incorrigible, Reno."
And there it was… the trio was back in action.
Wow... the first chapter of the first fanfic about the Turks I've ever written. Cool. Thanks to everyone who read this and decided to review!
