Drunken Missions

by Ealinesse

You ever wondered why the Turks couldn't defeat Avalanche? They can't even infiltrate their own headquarters for one lousy video tape without the world crumbling down around them. Literally.

2. Dominoes

Drunken Missions,

By Ealinesse.

__________

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of the Final Fantasy series - characters, items, ideas, nothing. I do not claim to. I bet when it all comes down to it, I don't even own that lousy video tape…

Summary: You ever wondered why the Turks couldn't defeat Avalanche? They can't even infiltrate their own headquarters for one lousy video tape without the world crumbling down around them. Literally.

Warnings: Language, Attempted Humour, Periodic OOC, Random Points of Absolute Madness... (did I mention attempted humour?)

* * * * * * * * * *

Chapter Two (of three).

* * * * * * * * * *

Elena moaned as she crawled her way back to consciousness and made an attempt to grab at her aching head, only to find her movements hindered by thousands of tiny rectangular objects. Doubling her meagre efforts, the blonde finally managed to reach her destination, but only after more of the small objects had been pushed off her head. Finding now that it was possible to see without a pile of endless clutter, Elena opted for a look around to sate her confusion.

"What the hell… " she whispered as she sat up, pushing back a wave of dizziness, finding herself faced with something much resembling the present state of Reno's apartment. Except Reno's apartment wasn't filled with little black squares, but empty beer bottles. And even Reno didn't have the stupidity to arrange shelves horizontally instead of vertically – that would mean he'd have to bend over to pick up the objects on them, and Leviathan forbid Reno doing anything that required effort…

Elena felt her eyes unconsciously narrow at her wandering thoughts, and dragged herself back to the issue at hand. Perhaps she'd been hit on the head harder than she'd thought. After all, it wasn't everyday one woke up amongst of a pile of squares. Then again, the fact that she was dreaming was always a possibility…

Biting back her confusion for a moment longer, Elena picked up one of the small items and inspected it more closely in the dim lighting. Her eyes narrowed further to that of a squint. Cassette tapes. Thick ones used for heavy recording and multiple playbacks. Now just why did something so random sound so familiar? And what was she doing lying in a room full of them? She tried hard to grasp onto the memory, but felt it dance just out of her reach. She tried harder. She still failed.

In a last ditch effort to figure out why she was suddenly alone in amongst a pile of video cassettes, Elena started tapping her head with the tape in hand in an effort to jump start her memory. Almost unconsciously her spare hand began rubbing at her temples to rid herself of the headache forming in the base of her skull.

It was then that the voice came out of the silence. "Elena… "

"I'm busy," she replied tersely, not giving the speaker so much as a second thought.

There came a loud snort from somewhere in the room. "Telekinesis doesn't work on video tapes, you know, 'Laney. I know you're as desperate to find the bloody thing as I am, but trust me, it's not going to talk. It's like interrogating Scarlett, only smarter. Quieter. And did I mention better looking."

Elena blinked at the familiar arrogance in the voice, and the way it seemed to echo around the room. Though were it was coming from was a mystery. Were the walls speaking to her? "Where are you?" she asked belatedly.

There was a pause followed by a low chuckle. "Uh, behind you?"

Ever so slowly, Elena twisted herself in the rubble only to be met with a distinctly familiar face. Instantly memory slammed back into her, her mind finding purchase on sanity, and she groaned not so much from the pain in her head, but at the mortification of the situation she now found herself in. "Oh… "

"Don't sound so happy to see me," Reno said as he picked his way over the pile of rubble to the blonde beyond. "You sound as if you wished that I'd been hurt in that mess."

"Do I?" she countered absently, wondering why her mind suddenly couldn't form more than two words at a time. "Oh."

"Come on, get up."

Elena took the offered hand and stood up on wobbly legs, Reno keeping her steady until they made it to the other side of the room, where, it seemed, there was blank space. Seemingly satisfied that Elena could now stand on her own two feet, Reno let go of her elbow and glanced around the room.

Elena followed his gaze. They were closest to the door they'd entered from, and only the aisle where the main computer control panel was located was uncovered by the mess. It seemed that when Reno had kicked the first shelf and it had tipped, it had knocked over the next one, and the next one, right until all in its path had been bowled over, their contents strewn all over the floor, the entire way across the room. Consequently, since they'd been back toward the start of the room when Reno had kicked the shelves, all had fallen, and if not so by the kick, then by the quake it had inadvertently created. From behind her the redhead let out a low whistle of admiration at the unintentional catastrophe he'd created, and Elena herself felt an odd sense of appreciation. The accidental job of destruction had certainly not been a half-assed one.

All was silent for a moment until Reno's expression darkened. "We'll never find the bloody tape now!"

"Nope," Elena muttered a little too happily, her voice feeling oddly distant in her own ears, her head pounding. "That means no more looking. It all fell just like dominoes. Home we go."

Reno, who usually wouldn't pay any attention to such a remark, seemed to notice the airy way in which his partner was speaking. Without thought he turned to face Elena, wincing as he saw the bump beginning to form on her forehead.

"Elena?" he asked, taking a wary step toward the blonde. When she didn't answer, he waved a hand in front of her face, which was swatted at rather ineffectually with a rather uncoordinated attempt at retaliation.

"'Laney?"

This time Elena looked up at Reno, her movements appearing to almost be in slow motion. Noticing the glazed look in her eyes for what it was, he mouthed the word 'concussion' to his partner, complete with 'cuckoo' gesture and a roll of the eyes. He then turned his attention back to the woman in front of him.

"Elena?"

Elena merely stared back at him.

"… Rookie?"

"… What?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

There was a moment's silence. Then, "That depends on what hand you're talking about, Reno. Be fair."

Reno sighed and proceeded to wave his hand in front of the blonde's face, but he stopped short when her expression changed swiftly from one of confusion to one of helpless laughter.

"What is it now, Elena?"

"Y-your face!"

"What about my face."

"It's square!"

Reno couldn't stop himself. He blinked. The woman was making absolutely no sense, and he was beginning to regret dragging her along. If he ended up carrying her out of here because she passed out, he wasn't going to be a very happy man.

However to Elena, her most recent words made perfect sense. A mark on Reno's face, which was wavering in and out of her vision due to the three hands that Reno was ridiculously waving in front of her, was beginning to appear. She couldn't quite make it all out, but it even appeared there was the beginning of some text there, too. Now she knew she definitely wasn't hallucinating. She would never have imagined that Reno would have a stamp on his face. A room of squares after being hit on the head, maybe, but never a Reno with a square face…

Or perhaps she just had the idea of squares stuck in her head. Leviathan only knew she was going to be dreaming about them for weeks, not to mention have them burnt onto her retinas for the next few days like the spots you got when you looked directly at the sun…

"My face is not square, Elena," Reno muttered tiredly, suddenly feeling way too sober.

"Half of it is."

This time Reno refused to answer, and turned his gaze back to the mess he'd made, unconsciously rubbing the side of his aching face where he'd been flattened and bombarded by falling cassette tapes. There was definitely going to be a bruise there tomorrow, especially if the tape he had landed on had anything to say about it.

Reno jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder. Unable to ignore the firm grip on already pinched nerves, Reno turned on his heel to question the contact. Expecting to turn around and glance into the dark glasses of his partner, he was surprised to instead come face to face with his own reflection. Reno, feeling like he was blinking too much in confusion at the moment, did so again, wondering just where in the hell his partner had found a mirror.

Reno pushed Rude's hand away and looked up, trying to gauge an expression through the mirrored lenses. "Jeez, Rude, never knew you were so vain."

The mirror was thrust in front of his face again, and the redhead sighed. Why couldn't Rude just talk? Reno decided to humour the bald Turk, and looked into the pocket-sized mirror. Adjusting it just right, he was not prepared for what he saw. He took a wary step back, his face paling so that the marking on his face became even more distinct.

Seeing the reaction, Rude removed the mirror, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"My face…"

"Is square," Elena finished for him, giggling.

"It's not square! It's just-"

"Got a bruise on it that's going to be square - or slightly rectangular - whichever one you prefer. Either way, it's going to be a beauty."

"Rude," Reno growled at the remark.

"And if you look closer you can even see the small circles where the reel is," Elena cut in again, swaying faintly as she stepped up beside Rude on wavering legs. "Very stylish the way it circles your eye. Kind of like a panda… only square."

Reno, still horrified at the bruise forming on his face, scowled. "Shut up! Both of you!"

"Why?"

"Rude, this is not the best time to develop linguistic skills…"

"Why?" Elena piped up as Rude's mouth snapped close.

"Elena…"

"…Sorry." However the look on the blonde's face told him she was everything but.

With a growl of annoyance Reno again swept his eyes over the room. Well, there was certainly no covering that mess, he decided. Though they certainly didn't have to be here when everyone else found out about it. If no one knew, then they couldn't blame him. Although the very coincidental bruise forming on his face could be very tricky indeed. Perhaps if he just swept some hair over it, and wore his glasses for a change…

Suddenly this mission wasn't so fun after all. It wasn't often that prospective evidence against you for a crime literally jumped up and smacked you in the face. Absently, he ran his hand over his rapidly bruising face. He sighed ruefully. This trip was supposed to be fun, not bloody-well life threatening!

"Well, put it this way," came a high-pitched voice from behind him, and Reno realised Elena must have heard his frustrated expulsion of breath. "We don't have to search for that stupid tape anymore!"

Reno's eyes widened. In all the chaos that had just ensued, he'd forgotten about their main reason for being here. He felt a sudden cold rage fill him as he looked over the room, and a great urge to throw - or kick - something very hard struck him. Before he had the chance, though, there was an amused snort from behind him. Reno turned to face Rude, only to find that the bald Turk had shifted from his previous spot, and was now standing stoically beside a point at the rather extensive control panel. The corners of his mouth were quirked slightly upward.

Reno scowled. "What is so funny?"

"I think Elena may be wrong, after all."

With those words, the bald Turk suddenly had Reno's undivided attention. Reno watched as he pointed to a spot amidst the cluttered control panel laden with buttons. "You're kidding me," he muttered. "We searched through all of that junk, and it was right here all along."

"Want me to read the label to prove it?"

Elena stepped up to stand beside Rude. Leaning over slightly, Reno watched as she peered at what must have been the tape's label. "Interesting," the blonde mused out loud. "Never knew he had it in him."

"What's interesting?" Reno asked wearily, sick of being the last one in the loop of knowledge to know anything, despite this whole venture being his idea.

"You'll never guess what it's called."

"What?"

"Advertising Scheme, zero-zero-two: Sunshine and lollypops."

For the second time that minute, Reno allowed his eyes to widen. Though this time it wasn't so much in surprise, as in bafflement at the contorted expression that had suddenly dominated Elena's face. As Elena menacingly began to advance on him, he took a step backward. "Elena?" he asked warily. Something was definitely not right with the rookie right now.

"You," the blonde spat. "It was you who designed the new scheme, wasn't it! Sunshine and lollypops, ay, wasn't that what you said before about Rufus?"

Reno frowned in confusion, his happiness at finding the tape hindered by the rather frightening look on Elena's face. "What the fuck are you on about, 'Laney? Why would I be here trying to destroy it if I did?"

Elena's visibly glazed eyes narrowed to the extent that the hazel orbs were barely able to be seen in the dim lighting. "Don't lie to me, Reno, and don't play stupid." Her hands came up threateningly, and it looked like she were tossing up whether to give him another black eye, or strangle him.

"What are you on about? I think that hit to the head took you a little way beyond sane, Elena." Reno took another step backward, ready to dart to the side just in case Elena made a dive for him, but overestimated the distance from his raised foot to the ground. Normally, such a thing wouldn't have been a problem. But as of late, things had been far from normal, and as Tseng had told him earlier as he'd been debriefed as to his replacement in the Turks, he didn't currently possess all of his 'faculties'.

As he placed his foot on the 'floor', something slipped out from underneath him, and suddenly he was reeling backwards. All-too soon he felt his already sore backside hit the ground, and he let out and audible hiss of pain, quite content to allow himself to wallow in his own misery for a while. That was, of course, until something landed heavily across his legs.

Reno opened eyes he hadn't realised he'd closed, and stared blankly at the blonde figure strewn bonelessly over his ankles. Slightly confused, he raised his eyes and met Rude's steady gaze with a questioning expression. When he received no answer, Reno merely sighed. "Thanks," he muttered. "Remind me to never let her get concussed again. What the fuck was that all about?"

"You said it yourself. She's concussed." A hand was placed in his direct line of vision, and Reno pushed the body of the limp blonde off of his legs and took the offered help, ignoring the dull throbbing of his healing injuries as they protested even that small movement. When he was safely on his feet, he looked down at Elena. "You didn't hit her too hard, did you?"

"Not on the head; struck a nerve. She won't be out for long."

Reno moved over to the control panel at the answer, and inspected the tape which he could now see was sitting in what looked like an editing device on the bench. He frowned, and leaned forward to inspect the label, finding Rude and Elena's earlier readings to be correct. With a whole knew kind of puzzlement, he plonked himself down on a swivel-chair resting beside the table. Yet another twinge of pain ran through him as his backside connected with the usually soft, not to mention comfortable, seating. He groaned and placed a hand on his lower back.

"I hope the bruise on my ass isn't going to be as big as the one on my face."

Rude snorted. "You sat on a tape?"

"I fell on a tape," Reno uttered indignantly. "Just like those stupid tapes fell on my head."

There was no answer, and truthfully Reno had not expected one. Instead of mulling over his partner's seemingly developing social skills, Reno focussed on the tape, and began looking around from an eject button. When he found none, he scowled. All the buttons seemed to be colour-coded somehow. There were no labels - a pretty stupid thing as far as he was concerned - and therefore no conceivable way to remove the tape.

He was beginning to hate the very idea of sunshine and lollypops.

"Shit."

Rude stepped up beside him. "What."

"No labels."

"No instruction manuals?"

"Since when would I care even if there was one?"

"… "

The two sat there for a moment, before Reno grew tired of staring at what was nothing but an attempt to confuse the hell out of him. Colour-coding meant secrets, and secrets meant questions, and questions without answers meant authority. And Reno hated authority more than that damned advert. Closing his eyes and biting his lip, Reno lifted his arm and twirled it around dramatically in the air for a moment, before reaching down with lightening speed and punching a random button. He opened his eyes expectantly, suddenly not caring that he'd accidentally pushed more than one button in his attempt to remove the tape, as with a small beep and a flicker of small display lights on the panel, the tape popped out.

Reno snorted. So much for secrets. "Mission accomplished!"

"How did you know what button to push?"

Reno grinned. "I didn't."

"… I should have known. So what do we do with it now? Destroy it here?"

"I'm not sure," he said, looking at the tape in his hand thoughtfully. "It probably wouldn't be very smart to destroy it here. If we were caught and someone found out, it would be too easy for them to guess what was missing. It was in the editing box, after all. I think we should just take it home and torture the living hell out of it. No one would think to search my apartment if we can get out of here without being seen."

"No one would even want to search your apartment with the state it's in."

Reno's grin only widened, and he placed the small recording tape in his jacket pocket. He turned to face Elena, who was still dead to the world. He smirked. "You know, I'm beginning to understand why Tseng hired her now."

"Why?"

"Because she is one scary-looking rookie when she is mad!"

Rude raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. "It's not like she would have been able to hurt you," he replied. "She would never have known which one of the three of you to strangle."

Reno blinked. "Did you just make a joke?" he asked incredulously. "A verbal one?"

Rude shrugged.

Reno blinked again. "You know what?" He watched as Rude raised an expectant eyebrow. "Given the situation, I'm going to let that one pass."

Rude's only answer was to shrug again, and he was saved from having to speak when a soft groan filtered through the silence. The two turned to face the figure on the ground, and watched as hazy chocolate eyes opened to stare dully at them.

"Wha…"

Reno watched as Rude stepped over to the blonde and helped her up. Elena seemed to teeter on her feet for a moment before righting herself and stumbling over to the control panel, where she turned around and leaned heavily on it, rubbing confusedly at the back of her neck. "What hit me?" she muttered.

Reno snorted before Rude had the chance to answer. "Take your pick," he answered, and pointed at the same time to Rude, who was looking vaguely contrite, and to the room full of video tapes. He took great delight in the expression on the blonde's face, as it went from slight bafflement to all-out mystification. That'll teach her for trying to strangle me, he thought.

"Reno, what are you talking about?" she asked slowly, surveying the damage she had somehow missed. "Where are we?"

"You don't remember?"

Elena frowned in concentration. "The last thing I remember… is you sitting on the pavement looking around for something, laughing. No, wait! I remember Scarlett walking away with her dress tucked into her undies… And Hojo letting you into his labs." Her frown deepened and she shook her head. "No, wait. Nevermind. I guess that was all a dream. But-"

Even Rude seemed amused at this. "It wasn't a dream, Elena," he said simply.

The blonde looked up at them both in turn with wide eyes. "But we're supposed to be at your apartment!"

"Were," said Reno.

"So… are we at HQ now? I don't think I've ever seen this place before… "

"We're in the Shinra Broadcasting Studio. Just beyond Hojo's lab. That sound familiar?"

"Uh… what if I said no?"

"Then I'd say you've missed out on a lot of strange things."

Elena shook her head again, but stopped when a loud ringing in her ears made the mere movement unbearable. She shifted her hand to the top of her head and found a large bump. "If seeing you dance around on the pavement like a chicken isn't strange, Reno, then I don't know what is."

"What about if I told you we just played the largest game of dominoes in Shinra history?"

"Then this time I would believe you," she muttered, her expression no less puzzled. "But why are we even here?"

Reno glanced at Rude, then patted his pocket where the tape was concealed. "Sunshine and lollypops, babe."

"… Sunshine and lollypops? I have the feeling you aren't going to tell me, are you, Reno?"

Reno grinned. "Later. First we get out of here and destroy this tape."

"… We're on a mission?"

"You could say that. But first of all, let me say this. We are going to have a long talk later about trying to strangle your Superior Officers, not to mention about buying you a helmet."

"Huh?"

This time it was Rude's turn to answer, and even he couldn't keep the tiny smirk off his face at Elena's distant expression. She was obviously still dazed, and Reno's tiny mind game had only made things worse. "Come on, Elena," he said, grabbing her elbow as Reno began to walk away. "We'll explain things later."

* * * * *

"… And we're here to destroy this tape? We infiltrated our own base just for an ad?" Elena asked, her expression one of puzzlement. "Why?"

"Because it's evil."

"How can sunshine and lollypops be evil?"

"Because the Shinra designed these ones, and you know that everything Shinra creates is evil."

"But-"

"Enough, Elena! I said I'd explain it later!" Reno glanced back at Rude over his shoulder. "See? You've taken all the fun out of it! Now we'll never get her to shut the hell up!"

"That's not true," muttered Elena indignantly, pouting. "If you'd answer my questions then maybe I wouldn't have to keep asking…"

"And I said I'd answer your questions later, and-"

"Well, well, well. I see you're finally back. Do I really want to know what that crashing noise was all about fifteen minutes ago, or should I not bother to ask, either?"

The trio turned around to face the new voice as Hojo stepped out from behind a panel of test tubes full of Reno-didn't-want-to-know-what. Reno smirked. "That 'crashing noise' was us being thorough." He patted his jacket pocket with a smug expression. "We found it, by the way."

"So I see. What are you going to do with it now?"

"Told you before. Destroy it."

"Now?"

"Perhaps."

"You're very cryptic for a narrow minded Turk, aren't you?"

"Perhaps."

"Ha. All right, Turk. Just make sure you remember our deal. I won't tell if you won't."

"Agreed."

And with that the crazy scientist melted back into the confines of his experiments. Reno heard a gasp from behind him and looked back at Elena, who was looking cautiously around at their surroundings for what looked like the first time.

"We're… in Hojo's lab!"

"Yep. It's connected directly to the Broadcasting Studio."

"B-but-"

Reno laughed as they made their way out of the lab's door. "Calm down, Elena. The crazy old coot won't hurt you."

They reached the corridor without mishap, and as they left the final vicinity of the labs Reno felt himself looking unconsciously around for the two men they'd knocked out earlier. The chair that had been right beside them was still there, but the bodies were gone. Reno frowned. It was beginning to look like the duo of guards had gone to tell tales. He shrugged, realising they couldn't have gotten far. He didn't know about Rude, but he'd hit the poor bastard he'd taken on pretty hard.

When they reached the next bend in the hallway, however, he was saved from having to worry about tying up loose ends as he spotted who he recognised as the two guards they'd dealt with earlier talking to another two a short ways down the hall. He ducked back around the corner with a wince, and leaned against the wall, knowing that he was lucky to not have been spotted.

"Shit," he whispered, watching as Rude took a quick glance around the corner as well.

"What do you want to do?"

"Hit 'em again?" And this time he couldn't keep the unconscious eagerness out of his voice.

Rude fixed Reno with an appraising stare. "You really are missing work."

Reno muttered something unintelligible under his breath before reaching for his nightstick at his side. "Ready?" he finally asked.

"Ready."

"Ready."

Reno looked over to Elena dubiously.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"You are not coming with us. You are going to stay behind this wall and not get hurt."

"But-"

"No buts!" Reno hissed quietly, a reminder for them all to keep their voices down. "You're already bloody-well concussed, and we don't want you to get yourself hurt again. Tseng will have our hides if you get hurt so soon - again. And besides, I am not going to end up carrying you home. I remember how heavy you were from the last time we went to the pub."

Elena's eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms across her chest. The glower she aimed at Reno would have been perfect, but for the sudden wave of dizziness that knocked her off her feet. She ended up being helped with a strong arm to her elbow as she sunk to the floor, along with the remains of her dignity.

"Crap," she muttered as Reno looked down at her, mildy amused.

"See?"

"Bah humbug," she replied hastily through the filmy confines of her splitting headache. Her arms remained crossed against her chest. "You're just selfish."

"Selfish?" Reno sputtered. "How the hell do you get that?"

"Simple. Rude's right. You've been off work for longer than you can bear, and you're just itching to knock somebody off."

Reno was about to say something, but a rare event chose that moment to occur; Rude cut him to the chase.

"She's right."

Reno scowled. "Will you stop siding with the concussed psychopath? She is not going out there!"

Elena, feeling suddenly very put-out, poked out her tongue. "So you're just going to leave me here with nothing to do?"

Reno rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said simply. He shrugged off his jacket and handed it to her, watching as the blonde stared at it strangely. "Guard this. That should give you something to do."

"Guard your jacket," she stated bluntly. "Why?"

"It has the tape in it, you dolt. Happy now?"

"No. You're still injured, and you get to fight."

"It's not my head that's injured."

"… That's debatable."

"None of this is helping you, you know," Reno replied, turning to Rude. "You ready?"

"What did I say last time?"

"All right, all right." Reno glanced back at Elena. "Don't do anything stupid while we're gone."

"Like what?" she retorted bluntly, but by the time she had the words out they had already left, leaving her alone to wonder what madness had left her sitting alone in a Shinra hallway after midnight, protecting a video tape that's name sounded like a preschooler's favourite programme.

* * * * *

Reno ducked the punch aimed for his head, silently marvelling at the uncoordination of the common Shinra guard. Even injured as he was, the first man have proven easy to dispose of, and this guy was only slightly harder. He grinned as the man tipped forward slightly, overcompensating the distribution of his weight for the punch as he stumbled forward onto the balls of his feet. The split-second delay it took him to regain his balance was all the time Reno needed to aim a quick punch to his rather protruding gut. The man reeled back, winded, but far from out to the count. Realising that the amount of padding the guard had in said area was no doubt compensating for his stubbornness in remaining upright, Reno feinted to the left, then aimed a quick strike to the man's head.

The move, though somewhat obvious to the trained eye, proved to be too much for the stalwart heavyweight. Satisfied, Reno took a step backward as, eyes wide, the blue-clad guard slumped to the ground, out cold. With a final nod he summoned one last spell over all four of the unconscious men, and stepped back. Sleep spells, after all, as well as keeping someone unconscious for longer, were notoriously convenient for erasing short term memories.

"About time," came a dull voice from beside him.

Reno looked up, ignoring the twinge of his recently materia-healed arm as it throbbed slightly from that last shot. Rude was leaning casually against a wall, the other two guards slumped at his feet. From the way they were lying, it looked as if the bald Turk had simply knocked their head together and left it at that.

"Not quite up to par yet, Reno?"

"I was toying with them," Reno replied somewhat defensively, though he was grinning from ear to ear.

Rude's look was one of vague amusement, though he held any comments to himself. Reno was far from fully healed. Instead, he shrugged, and looked back in the direction where they'd left Elena. It was then he noticed the thick black smoke coiling in the air beyond around the corner.

"What the fuck is going on?" Reno snapped as he followed Rude's gaze. "If I get around that corner and find she's spontaneously combusted or something, then she's in deep shit. How the hell could she get into trouble in under five minutes!"

"… You always seem to be able to do it."

Reno ignored the glib comment.

Unable to do anything where they currently stood, they bolted around the corner, dreading what they would find.

* * * * *

Elena had no idea how much time had gone by, but she was very quickly growing bored. Practically forbidden by Reno to fight, she was far from happy, and sulking right now seemed like a very appropriate thing to do. Her arms still crossed over her chest, she had stayed true to her word and not moved so much as an inch. However, curiosity was quickly getting the better of her.

Elena eyed Reno's crumpled jacket on her lap with puzzlement. Whatever had motivated them to sneak into the Shinra Headquarters after hours and steal a stupid ad - which she frankly couldn't see what all the fuss was over - was completely beyond her. While explaining things to her, Rude had mentioned something about destroying it. Why, again, she didn't know, but the more she thought about it, the words 'sunshine and lollypops' seemed to bring her a deep-down feeling of apprehension, although she remembered nothing of the earlier events.

Another thing that confused her was why, if Reno and Rude said they were going to destroy it, they hadn't done so yet. Surely it made more sense to simply smash the cassette and chuck it onto the pile of trash where she'd woken up? Or, simply burn it? If copies were what Reno was so worried about, then that was easily enough remedied. Hell, she made a habit of carrying a Fire Materia with her wherever she went, in case she was ever overwhelmed and in need of some quick self-defence.

After all, with all that had apparently occurred, what would happen if they were caught leaving with the tape? Tseng, she imagined, would be far from happy. So wasn't it simply better to destroy it sooner, rather than later?

Elena cocked her head to the side as she uncrossed her arms and examined the jacket more closely, pulling out the tape when she located it in one of the inside pockets. Mulling quietly over the label again, she bit her lip. She had her Fire Materia on her right now. She could destroy the tape by the time Reno and Rude were done. That was easy enough, wasn't it? And it didn't waste any time; summoning a spell was simple enough.

Invalid, my ass, she thought. Reaching into her own jacket pocket, Elena pulled out the small orb of materia and placed it in her palm thoughtfully. The idea had merit, and this way she wouldn't get caught so easily for whatever crazy ideas Reno had decided to drag her along for this time.

Her mind made up, Elena placed the cassette on the linoleum floor and stood well back somewhat shakily, and summoned the Fire spell.

Later, she would blame the dumb idea on her concussion, not to mention her rather frayed nerves. It was the concussion, after all, that made her forget about the rancid smell of burning plastic, and the amount of excess soot it produced. It was the concussion that made her forget that most corporate buildings were installed with smoke alarms. And, it was the concussion that, consequently, made her forget about the sprinklers…

Yeah, that was it.

* * * * *

Okay, another chapter up, and the ending just as random as the first. Feel free to tell me what you think! Only one more chapter to go… ^_^