Okay so this was done a little while ago, it was supposed to come out on June 1st for my friend, Fantasy Fan Girl's birthday, sadly me being my usual genius self ended up failing math, causing my computer to get taken away from me. So i quickly snuck on to update this chapter, even if a little late, enjoy. And sorry FFG for missing it.


Squall's POV

December 8th

December fucking sucks. It's so damn cold. One of my favorite things to do is go on the roof and think about everything. Ponder about life and all its mysteries. Why people do the things they do. Why I do the things I do. What my next plans in life are going to be.

And it's a great place to smoke.

To bad I haven't had a cigarette in almost a fucking week. It's way to cold to stand outside. It isn't even enjoyable. I miss the old days where you could go into a bar and get drunk of your ass. Smoke 'till your lungs shriveled up and you couldn't breath anymore. But now it's illegal so everyone who just enjoys a simple smoke has to freeze their ass off in the winter. I bet that's why winter is the time of the year when most quit. Simply because they don't want to get frostbite.

Whatever, I manage to get by past winters; I'll get past this one. More importantly is what has been going on recently. After Zell had his little breakdown we put all our efforts into finding out who this James Reynolds was. He wasn't an easy man to find. He was very secretive about everything he did.

But of course Quistis came through in the end. She found out he has connections to the Capella family. Which now I believe has connections with Caraway. It all makes sense in the end when you think about it. Caraway has always been a leader in politics without a doubt. Yet he is almost never challenged. It's not exactly like he threatens anyone that challenges him in anyways. That's an extreme.

For example.

We have our theory on why he had this J.R took out Zell's family. Caraway was trying to get Zell to join his special forces. He mentioned it to us before a while ago but no one thought anything of it. He wanted Zell's skills for 'secret missions' or some shit. Wanted a young, upbeat, skillful and most importantly, controllable person.

Yet Zell continued to refuse him time and time again. He listened to his grandfather dearly and Zell never did anything his grandfather didn't give his blessing on. So Caraway probably ordered them to kill his grandfather and mother. Make it look like a break-in and act like he was left alive for unknown reasons. When in reality it was because Caraway wanted to use him.

This may all seem like a stretch, but it was confirmed when Caraway was also at the funnel and tried to play the sincere card acting like he really cared. Then he tried to play it into fighting for justice and the whatnot. Zell almost ripped his head off right there.

I remember because I was there. Seifer and I were standing back waiting for our time to approach. We thought it was weird Caraway was there at the time but we didn't care about him too much. So when we approached Zell I guess we had a lot more pleasing offer than the Special Forces. Whatever the fuck they are anyway.

So now we have now found significant reason to go after this J.R. See, we aren't going to just kill him. We are going to capture him. Something we've never done before. The reason we are taking him is simply because he will be able to lead us back to the Capella family. Which is something that would help us a lot. They were most likely behind the attacks on Rinoa before she joined us.

They have a house somewhere of course, but we aren't exactly sure where exactly. We have a few guesses of course. But we don't have any proof to act on them. Or maybe they are all his and if we break in one, he will be at another one. Then he'll know we are after him and lay low or something. So we need more data and that's where J.R. will come in.

There is good reason to believe that the Capella family is all of Caraways dirty workers. Take them out, and we have successfully relieved the world of any Caraway type influences. Something that would be a great accomplishment for us.

Now on to the most important matters. Rinoa Heartily has to start training. This job is too big to not use her. She is officially apart of the team and there isn't enough time to cover everything. But she has been down in the shooting range as much as possible. I guess according to Irvine her shot is improving. Far from perfect, but showing improvement is a definite plus. As long as she has time to concentrate and the target isn't moving. She might hit him. If he's running, she better just hope he gets scared and trips.

The other problem is that although her toes are healed. They are far from perfect. She shouldn't be doing crazy maneuvers but she can walk and I think if push comes to shove, she'll be able to run. So I want to see how good her close combat is. I'll train her a bit and then hopefully she'll be able to help in the job somewhat. Not a big part by any means…that is just death for all of us.

Now only if she didn't have an attitude.

"You gonna actually try," I sighed.

Rinoa glared at me from the floor. She slowly got back up, glaring at me the whole time. She pulled her fists back up in her fighting positions. Her black hair was tried back into a ponytail. She wore a white headgear as well to protect her head…just in case. As well as small padded gloves that also protected some of the wrist. She wore small shorts that hugged her tightly as exposed her long legs. For a shirt it was simply a blue tank top, revealing her midriff most of the time.

"Maybe you should teach me and not just beat me up." She growled at me.

"I said mind your feet."

I wasn't wearing any pads or anything. She wouldn't get an actual painful hit in, so I wasn't worried. And I wasn't throwing hard punches or anything either. Mostly just slapping her up and doing some takedown moves. She's gotta learn at some point.

"Just try again," I told her.

"Rinoa don't forget that every attack you are thinking about defense," Zell added wisely from the side.

"That doesn't make sense," Rinoa complained.

But she continued to try anyways. She threw one punch that I grabbed easily. I twisted her wrist and spinning on my feet I got behind her. I pushed her head forward with my other hand and held her twisted wrist outstretched in the air. It left her in an awkward position bending over not really able to do anything.

"Uncle." She whined.

"No uncle," I responded sternly, "Break it."

"How the fuck do I do that?" She hissed.

"Legs!" Zell yelled from the side.

She tried to sweep her legs back and get them tangled with mine. But that was way harder for her than she expected. She couldn't exactly get to my feet with a strong kick. And if she did I simply stepped back and she had to move her foot to balance.

"Anymore suggestions Zell?" Seifer smirked also standing and watching.

"Do something crazy?" He shrugged.

"Something crazy…"

Before I could even react she twisted her whole body and went heavy. I struggled to not topple over and while I was doing that I felt her arm untwist. I managed to let go and step back just as a foot came flying right in front of me, just tapping my chin. I hopped back surprised and watched as she fell on her back.

"Damn," She pounded the mat and then slowly got back up.

"Wooh! You go girl!" Selphie yelled.

"What was that?" I asked resisting the temptation to check my chin.

"I use to do dance before college." She explained as she took another fighting position. "I am fairly flexible and know how to do a couple of gymnastic moves."

"Impressive," Irvine noted.

"It was sloppy as hell but it was good for someone who never had training before." Zell announced to the room.

"Squall, you know what this means?" Seifer asked.

I nodded. Of course I knew what this meant. This meant she has a good jump-start to learning a new style that Seifer, Zell, and I have been developing. I thought it would take months but she has the hardest stuff down. It might only take a couple weeks of hard work now.

"What's it mean?" Rinoa asked.

"As you may know-"I started

"Just tell her," Seifer interrupted.

He ruins all my fun. I have been trying to seem like a leader to her still. I want her to think that she isn't in a complete relax environment. I know if everyone babied her then she wouldn't feel the need to improve quickly. She would just strut along and be happy everyone liked her. I know that is exactly what she is thinking.

Everyone else that came here had something pushing them towards revenge. We don't encourage revenge, but it was still a strong motivator for sure. Zell for his family, Selphie for her mother, Irvine for uh…well Irvine kinda just hated crime. Quistis to mainly prove she was useful because I know many times in her life she was thought as helpless. Seifer because he's seen so much shit it's unbelievable. Maybe also to try and prove he's not like his parents. Even I came here because of my parents.

We all have something, Rinoa might have her parents. Although she hated her father and we killed him. And her mother was killed by a drunk driver, which isn't a thing to condone, but we can't go around killing everyone drunk behind a wheel. So the only thing she has is pride and maybe a hatred for crime. Which everyone technically has a hatred for crime? I safely can say, she doesn't know what crime is.

So that is the reason I have been such a prick to her. Keeping my distance, not babying her in her room like others. I made sure they were friendly to keep her happy. She needed to know that everyone didn't hate her. I even made Seifer go in and visit, which was by no means easy. I owe the bastard one now and that I've learned is a huge mistake.

But she needs to have that authority in her life at the moment. Soon she'll learn that I am not a jackass and a prick. But if I was nice now she might not listen later and that could be the death of her, me or anyone else. She needs to learn to always listen to me, and when that is accomplished, I'll ease up a bit.

After glaring at Seifer I returned my gaze back to Rinoa. "Everyone on our team has unique skills."

Rinoa nodded. "Everyone is like an elite."

I nodded, "When you master your skills, which I must remind you is impossible, there is always room for improvement. But for the sake of this just agree with me."

"Agreed."

"So what we did is kind of started combining our skills where we can. Which really is all the hand-to-hand fighting we do."

"I thought only Zell did hand-to-hand?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"If that was the case why would we be practicing right now," I gave her a look.

She didn't reply.

"Right, okay." I continued. "Zell is obviously the best since he knows karate."

"Martial arts." He corrected slightly angered.

I smirked. "But Seifer and I both have our own styles."

"Oh really." She seemed impressed glancing over at Seifer for a second then back at me.

"Seifer is the strongest here, so his moves are usually takedowns. Get a hard punch or kick and end it."

"And you?"

"I was actually a boxer at one point in my life."

She laughed, "Yeah right."

I smirked, "Wanna go."

"I know you're better than me but I know you can't take professional boxers."

"Oh is that so," I crossed my arms and looked at Seifer. "She says I can't take professional boxers."

Seifer waved his hand in front of his face shaking his head. "Professionals are pussies. Squall did underground boxing. That's the tough shit. Bare knuckle fighting with no refs except the crowd cheering for blood."

"Oh Seifer you're too kind, I'm flattered."

"Not at all." He smiled back at me bowing.

She gaped at me, with her eyes traveling up and down not believing an average sized person would be able to do that.

"So the point is," I snapped my fingers breaking her stare. "We have created something we like to call Close-Quarters-Combat. Or CQC for short. It is a series of takedown moves and quick agility to simply take your opponent out. This is the best form for an average person in close rage fighting. Zell goes beyond this. So CQC beats fighting, and martial arts beats CQC."

"What beats martial arts then?"

"Man what an amazing question," I sarcastically drawled out for no reason other than to anger her slightly. Remember, being a jackass. "It's like I wasn't going to tell you in another couple seconds."

"Fine whatever, sorry, please continue." She scowled.

"We have been working on a type of CQC mixed with martial arts. Zell has been slightly testing it but he's more comfortable with his strict martial arts. And he's good enough in that, so there is no reason to make him try new things that might get him killed."

"Okay." I knew she was dieing to ask another question but she held back. A little funny to me honestly.

"So we were going to slowly, over months, try and teach you this new style. The problem was you had to be agile and quick. Which you tend to be clumsy, so we thought it might take longer than we wanted it to."

"But since I do have some skills with tumbling it will go faster."

"The fuck's tumbling?" Seifer snickered. "You rolling on the ground."

"It's flips basically," Quistis explained. "A little more difficult than simple rolling on the ground."

Seifer shrugged not caring too much.

"But yes, you should be a pretty good test for this new style," I continued to tell her. "We first have to teach you basic CQC. That will take some time because you need to perfect it before moving onto something more difficult."

"So that is what my training will be for a while?" She asked kind of turning her head and narrowing her eyes.

I chuckled. "Hell no. Rinoa I will be training you in everything for a long time."

"Everything?" She sighed.

"Everything, I will teach you how to live your life. How to jump, run, climb, speak, drive, shoot, maybe even eat."

"I know how to run and stuff," She retorted.

"Not properly I'm sure."

"Rinoa," This was Quistis being all motherly and kind to save her from big bad me. "Squall has a point. He will teach you how to breathe when you run, when you want to jump more vertically than horizontally. It is all stuff that is necessary for the job."

"Oh great," She looked gloomy as she turned to me. "I am gonna be with you for all this."

I smiled. "Yup. Right down to how to be a proper prostitute."

She pouted and hung her arms. "This totally blows."

What a good choice of words for that answer.

"Well we'll get started soon." I turned to everyone else. "You guys can stop watching now and go about your business. I know you have something else to do instead of watching us."

"But it's entertaining," Seifer jeered.

"I bet it is but you all have jobs," I reinforced.

"Fine, fine," Seifer walked out and the other followed him saying their good-byes and good-lucks to Rinoa as they did.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked.

"You're letting me decide?"

"Do you still want to keep trying to lean CQC?"

"Is that what this is right now?" She pointed to the mat beneath us.

I nodded. "A very simple form, I'm really just testing you but I can teach you a couple things."

"Like what?"

I thought for a second. "Okay, get down on your back."

She gave me a look and I just frowned. She slowly got on her back.

"Now don't freak out I'm going to basically sit on you." I told her as I put my knees on either side of her.

"You mean straddle me," I wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

I decided to ignore her, "look at your position right now. First can your legs get up to my head?"

She tried it and they could actually get over my head and around my neck. She kept her leg there while I talked, something she seemed to find a little funny. Especially since it caused me to struggle with talking clearly with her leg pressing against my neck.

"Now this is the first thing you try if you get in this position," I explained, "But a good fighter would never sit on you-"

"Straddle." She corrected quickly.

I growled slightly. "Straddle you like this. Put your leg back…please." She did and I readjusted myself further back so I wasn't on her stomach anymore. I was resting on her hips…yes this looks pretty bad for all perverts out there.

"Now you can't get the angle of your body to get your legs up," I told her and she tried but like I said it didn't happen. "Okay so now you just basically go crazy."

"What." She narrowed her eyes at me to see if I was joking.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious. Have a compulsion of some kind. Flail your arms, kick your legs, rock your hips."

"You sure we aren't having sex?" She smirked.

"Do you usually flail your arms and kick your legs," I challenged. "Hate to break it Rinoa, you aren't having sex you're being raped."

"Oh so that's what that was." She tapped her lips with a finger. "Thought something was wrong."

"Just listen," I growled not wanting to take the joke any further. She smiled content with the thought that she won.

"You are literally trying to buck the person off you. They will be trying to stay on you and hopefully this will take away their concentration of punching you."

"What if someone has a knife?" She asked serious.

"If they are using their body to press down you won't win pushing it back." I told her and she looked worried for a moment. "You just try and turn the knife. If the blade goes anywhere away from pointing at you, then you're set. Let it come down and just lay on you, then the man will be stuck, because he'll have to lift it up to push it back down again. Which with someone else messing with the blade is practically impossible."

"Noted."

"What else you wanna learn."

"Why do martial art fighters always put their legs around their opponents neck when on the ground?"

"Good question." I backed off her and knelt on the ground in front of her. "Put your legs around my neck."

"Oh kinky," She remarked as she did as instructed.

"Please I get enough of it from Seifer and Irvine…and Zell. I don't need you to."

She giggled slightly, "Wow didn't know you were funny."

I ignored the comment. "If you notice as I try and get on you to gain the advantage." I slowly did as I explained. "If you push with your legs you will slide back and I can't get on top of you." She did it and she slid back slightly. "But if I get above you then you still have the power to push me back possibly. And this is a pretty awkward spot for me to try and punch you."

"Pretty cool," she released her leg grip and I stood back up.

"Okay let's just continue sparring a little bit."

She nodded and stood up as well. We both took position and began once again.

I don't know how long we went at it but it was a while. We went over many moves. I just showed her things whenever they came up. Teaching her little techniques here and there. To be quite honest, she wasn't half bad. A couple more weeks and she could pose a serious threat. But for now she needed a rest. Well…we both needed a rest. She really started to tire me out towards the end.

We both entered into the living room to see it was completely empty. A little strange but it happened time to time. She plopped on the couch as I went to the fridge.

"Want something to drink?" I called out.

"What ya got?" She asked as she pulled off her gear.

"Beer." I replied.

"You're kidding," She flipped around on the couch and looked over. "You have two refrigerators I thought."

I chuckled. "Yeah we need a lot of food and drinks to keep everyone happy."

"One's for food and one's for drinks?" She seemed bemused. I thought she saw them on the tour we gave her before. Guess she only opened the one that has the food in it.

I faced her. "Well yeah, although drinks really just imply…beer."

"But not everyone's twenty-one right?" She questioned.

"Only me, Zell and Seifer are twenty-one. Irvine twenty along with Quistis. Then you and Selphie are nineteen. But Rinoa, I'm not naïve enough to think you haven't had a drink before."

"Well I don't want one after I work out," she said flipping back around on the couch, "just get me a water."

I smirked to myself. Kids, when will they learn beer is right for any occasion. I grabbed one and filled a glass of water. I walked back over to the couch and sat next to her. I handed her the glass, which she gracefully accepted it. She took a couple big gulps before setting it down.

"So what's your story?" she asked.

"Oh you think after a little training we are going to tell each other our life stories," I chuckled.

"Well you already know mine, it's a little unfair. Just tell me something about you."

She raised a fair point but one that I didn't care much about. "Still not saying anything."

"That isn't fair."

"Life ain't fair."

She let out a huge exaggerated sigh. "Don't give me that. Parents say that shit to like their kids."

"You are a kid."

"Am not," She huffed, "I'm a legal adult."

"Go buy a drink," I smirked looking at her.

"It isn't my fault our government is retarded."

"Ah something that I also agree with."

There was silence for a moment. I didn't care so much, I liked my quiet. But it seemed to bother her something fierce. Something fierce…when the fuck do I ever say that. Whatever, mental lapse. Well it didn't take long for her to break the silence.

"You really aren't going to tell me anything."

"No I'm really not," I was chuckled again. She was kind of entertaining.

"Meanie." She looked away exaggerating her anger.

I couldn't help but laugh a little again. She was very childish. I didn't realize that. Every time I spoke with her or anything, she was always in some situation. It was never relaxed like this. She played with her glass when the words stopped. She was like Zell, something always had to be going on. How come some people just can't sit and relax every once-in-a-while?

"So your sister was taken away," She asked suddenly not daring to look up at me.

How'd she know about that? Did someone else tell her?

"You told me that one night," She said after I didn't respond guessing my thoughts somehow.

I mumbled my annoyance.

"You wanna talk about it," She looked at me with a sincere caring face. "I know you think I'd be the last person to understand, and you've probably come to terms with it since you seem to be so smart according to everyone."

"Everyone?"

She drummed her glass with her fingers again looking down intently at it. "I'm sure you know that everyone seems to look to you as this amazing leader. I believe it of course, I just haven't seen it yet. No offense." She quickly glanced at me to see if I was offended. When I gave her no reaction she turned back.

I shrugged, "Don't think I'm a god or anything. I know the gang gets out of hand at times and can build stuff up. If you cut me, I'll bleed. I can drown and I can't fly. You don't get this image of me taking down all the wicked people in the world while holding a baby in my hand or something."

Rinoa giggled and rested her head against the couch. "That would be a sight, but I'm being serious. They all have told me how great a leader you are. Selphie even called you a savior for all of them."

I chuckled at that. "Savior huh? Girls on crack you know right."

She giggled and slapped me in the shoulder. She froze after she did the act however.

"Relax I'm not gonna kill you if you touch me," I sighed.

She covered her mouth as she laughed again. "Well I don't really know how you'd react to most things."

"Whatever."

"But like I was saying," She took another sip of her water. "You are the leader of this gang of people who have nothing left but each other. Like Peter Pan and the lost boys."

"If you just compared me to Peter Pan…"

She smiled and gave me playful eyes.

"I'll put you back in that room." I pointed to the room that has been designated the torture chamber by the raven-haired girl.

She outwardly shuttered to show she knew I was just joking and didn't really take offense. But then she turned back to me with a serious face. "Squall I hope you realize how important you are to them all."

"I know."

She looked at me quizzically.

I leaned my head back and stared at the ceiling. "I know that they all look up to me. I'm not that oblivious. It frightens me in some ways and in others it is reassuring."

"How so?"

I wasn't sure why I was telling her this exactly. Maybe because she still felt a little outside to me. She was apart of the group in a sense, but of course she wasn't as close to everyone as we all are. So it was good to talk to someone else about this. I haven't been bottling problems up inside me. I'm not afraid to talk to anyone in the house. Sometimes it is just better to talk to someone outside the house. That and although I was trying to be a jackass, I couldn't have her completely hate my guts. I needed her to know that I was a person she could come and talk to.

"It reassures me that I know they will always have my back. But it frightens me to how far that goes. Will they die for me? That is the last thing I want. I wonder if I do die, what will they do?"

"We'll probably go ape shit and just fuck the city up."

My head snapped forward to see Seifer smirking at me sinisterly with Quistis trying to keep her laugh down.

"I hate this place." I muttered

"Seifer! Me and Squall were bonding!" Rinoa whined.

"We were not," I stated.

"You were bonding with the whole house listening," Quistis pointed behind us.

I turned around to see Selphie and Irvine walk out.

"Didn't know you cared so much Squall," Irvine chuckled.

"Oh Squall!" Selphie cried and before I could react, charged me. She dove over the couch onto me wrapping me in a big hug.

"I hate this place."

"Should we all get ice-cream and walk the beach," Seifer snickered.

"I don't know if I can handle anymore confessions though," Zell laughed stepping out next to Seifer.

"I hate this fucking place," I hissed.

"Guys you ruined it," Rinoa complained again.

"Guys don't make fun of him," Selphie argued. I was so happy she had my back. "He was being serious and we should talk about it."

"I answered him serious," Seifer shrugged. "If Squall died, I know we wouldn't sit back and just take it."

"Aw Seifer," Selphie released me and made her way quickly over to Seifer.

He saw his doom to late. He only had enough time for his face to drop before Selphie tackled him to the ground. An impressive task with how small she was compared to Seifer.

"You do care!" She cheered rubbing her cheek against his chest.

"Quistis…" Seifer begged.

Quistis was trying to contain her laughter. "Oh no, I don't want to be the next target."

"Enough," I exclaimed sitting back down on the couch. It got everyone's attention. "I thought I told you to do your jobs."

Seifer finally wedged himself free from Selphie and stood up dusting himself off. "I don't know about the cowboy and hugs here, but we did do our work and we came to a problem."

My eyes narrowed. "Like what?"

"We know December twentieth he will be meeting at an apartment down in the city." Quistis told me.

"We do?" Rinoa turned to me.

"Long story, basically Quistis and Zell are amazing, just go with it." I answered his quickly trying to get back to the conversation at hand. Problems were never good, because problems meant something big. Difficulties could usually be ignored or just dealt with. But problems, that was another whole story.

"Well we've been doing research as you know," Quistis explained as she walked over and placed pictures and blue prints of the building. "There is too much commotion and levels. To many variables, to many risks."

"For what?" I rested my elbows on my knees and brought my folded hands to my lips.

"To do this type of job with this many people on our team." She sat down in the armchair to my left. "If we try to nab him when he gets out of his car, we are sure the guards around the building will see. We will be locked into a deadly car chase then. Even if we take them out and get away, it is way to noisy with too many chances for error and risk."

"That's why that isn't the plan," I told her.

"I know, but what you want to do is impossible with the people at hand." Quistis crossed one leg over the other and rested on it. "If we are putting him in a car we have to have Selphie drive it incase something happens. Then our usual rule is to have a copilot in the passenger seat. To help her if she needs anything. That will probably be Seifer correct?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"Then if there is a car chase we'll need another skilled drive, which would be Zell to be a decoy. Also he will have to help Seifer carry the body since Selphie won't be much help to move it fast."

"Then Irvine is on the roof giving cover," I finished for her. I leaned back and sighed. "Rinoa is supposed to be on the roof with Irvine. Safe and can see how we go, but what if we made her drive a car."

Quistis shook her head. "If everything goes according to plan then that would be perfect."

"But we can't do that," I agreed.

"Why not?" Rinoa asked.

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst," Seifer told me sitting down next to Rinoa.

Selphie sat on the floor with Zell while Irvine took the other armchair to the right of the couch.

"So you're saying…you can't leave anything to chance," She snapped at the end. I don't know why she does stuff like that but it fit her somehow.

"Exactly," Quistis answered before turning back to me. "So we need someone who has been trained and know the streets enough. Rinoa's original part was to just watch next to Irvine, she's too new to get involved."

I thought for a moment. It was true but this was our best chance. I glanced at Zell who was staring at the pictures of J.R. intently. I couldn't let this moment slip by. It was a perfect chance to get him and have Zell get some closure. It would also help us immensely with the Capella family.

"What if Rinoa comes with me," I suggested not looking forward to the response I would get.

"No!" Quistis replied sternly. "Squall you are doing the most dangerous part. I will not allow you to take her with you."

"I'll do it," Rinoa piped up.

"No! You won't," Quistis stressed again.

"Why I can handle it," Rinoa replied seriously.

"You don't understand what Squall does," Selphie meekly said. "He is doing everything in this job. We are just his backup. He is going into the building and getting J.R. That means if it goes bad, he will have to fight his way through levels of people. He will be getting his hands so bloody with this one. Rin…you can't go with him."

"She might though," Seifer agreed.

"Seifer," Quistis growled her warning.

"Is the extra car a necessity?" Rinoa asked.

"It would help a lot." I explained. "If there is a car chase, it would be enough confusion that we could get J.R to a place to keep him. Other wise they could just tail is everywhere and we'd have to lose them. Which is possible, but might hurt innocents, or get us killed. So two – at least – is a great help."

"Well I could drive the car," Rinoa suggested. "Teach me the road and stuff. Then you could have Zell inside which would be the best, right?"

We were all silent to her suggestion.

"Um no then?" She said.

"They think I'll lose my cool," Zell answered coolly. "They are probably right. If I start beating the shit out of the guy, then we might be caught. I'll get my time with him but when I'm in complete control and not on a mission."

"Okay and I assume Seifer is riding shotgun with Selphie then because he has a better shot than Zell?" Rinoa turned to me for approval.

Rinoa was pretty smart. She caught on quick when it came to things like this.

I nodded. "Exactly, so that leaves Irvine."

The cowboy shook his head. "I'm not one for close range and they might need my cover."

"You think you'll get a shot?" She asked.

He shrugged. "If I simply can delay them from getting to their cars then it will be worth it. Anything that gives us a advantage."

"Okay," She looked down at her hands. "Well that settles it doesn't it? I'm going with Squall."

"Rinoa you don't understand," Quistis told her softly.

Rinoa seemed a little flustered. "Maybe I don't, but I can make my own decisions. From what I know, this is the only way. Squall needs some backup and even if I don't do much I should be good enough, right?"

I looked at her seriously. "Do you really want to do this?"

She nodded bravely. "Of course, I didn't join this team to simply watch."

I smiled proudly. "Very well." I turned to everyone in the room. "Okay people while we're all here let's go over the plan."

Everyone cheered their agreement then got closer to the coffee table. I spread the stuff around to get it all in order.

I held up a picture of J.R. "This is our target. We are to capture him alive. This way we can question him about the Capella family."

"Which we believe have ties to my father?" Rinoa questioned.

I nodded. "Yes, that way we can possibly take out a whole mob family. Think about the news roaring about us taking out a whole mob. Criminals will really start to fear us."

"Anyways…" Selphie egged on.

I pulled over a blue print of the seventh floor. "We believe he will be here. It seems to be the meeting place for this building."

"Uh what?" Rinoa was puzzled.

"Every somewhat high-ranked person in a mob has to report to the boss." Irvine told her. "But to meet with them personally can be dangerous. So they usually go to a room with a phone and make a call. This is for special underlings only though, ones that rarely see the main man. So we know he has come to this building every two weeks exactly. It is obviously his reported check in. So December twentieth is his report day. That's when we'll catch him."

"Okay cool." Rinoa clapped her hands. "What's next?"

"Me and you-" I grabbed the top floor blue print."- will be roof hopping until we are on their roof."

"Some are spaced pretty far apart." Rinoa commented.

"We bring a light ladder with us," I told her. "Most likely there will be cameras on the roof. Hopefully Quistis can hack those but if she can't. Then we simply find the weak point and go from there."

"Do all roofs have a weak point?"

I shrugged, "Not really, but I imagine this one does. If you look at the picture of it outside." She grabbed a couple and rifled through them. "They don't want to stick out so they aren't going heavy on the security. They are going for a run down apartment building. Although most know it's a mob house."

"Okay so once we're in."

I pulled out the blueprints again. "We'll work our way down to the seventh floor. There shouldn't be much activity going on up there."

"If there is?"

I liked this, she checked to make sure. "We will be wearing maintenance uniforms. If anyone just sees us and we give them a nonchalant nod. We shouldn't be bothered. The people in the bottom floor are supposed to cover all the security checks. So once you're inside, it should be good."

"Well sounds good to me," Rinoa said putting the picture back. "How are we getting him out?

I looked at her questionably for a bit. "Have we not told you anything?"

She shook her head. "Nothing except I would be with Irvine. Which I'm not anymore, so no…nothing."

I turned back to the table satisfied with that answer. "You have the machine picture."

Quistis shuffled through all the stuff before pulling out a picture of a circular object that had a two-foot radius. It had a metallic luster and it had swirls like a twister driving into the center. There was a cable heading out of one end.

"Okay…this doesn't tell me much," Rinoa frowned looking at the contraption.

I smiled watching her turn the photo trying to figure it out. I took the picture from her and held it right side up. "This cable is steel, it won't break. You bolt the main body of the object to the floor. We'll then take the cable, which retracts out, and tie it around J.R. Then we simply toss him out the window."

"Uh huh…the joke comes in when?"

I smirked. "We call this The Toss. The machine should slowly give slack until he's at the bottom. When it is at the bottom, we simply slide down the cable after J.R.'s unconscious body."

"Wow," She was impressed to say the least. "This sounds great. I'm no expert, but this is really good right. I mean we shouldn't even have to fight anyone if it goes perfectly according to plan."

I nodded. "If it goes to plan. And to be frank, we don't see this going right."

She grimaced. "Why make a plan you don't see going right?"

I leaned back on the couch. "Well they might see him going down a window. They might not believe we are maintenance. There is just a lot that can go wrong. This is a weird one, if we were just trying to assassinate J.R. That would be easy. Window shot for Irvine. But we've never tried to kidnap someone. So it will be a little different and something we aren't use to."

"I see," She looked back at the table with all the pictures in thought. "Well I still like it and I want to go with Squall." She looked up encouragingly at everyone. "I mean if everything goes properly then there shouldn't be a problem."

"That's the spirit," Selphie cheered.

"Knew it was a good reason to have you here," Zell laughed.

"Well Rinoa looks like you got more training to do," I told her. "If you are coming with me I can't have any mistakes."

"I understand." She stood from the couch. "I know I mess around and can seem childish, but I always come through in the end."

"I know you do," As I stood from the couch. I gave her a sincere look. "Just remember that you are to come out of it alive. Not matter what happens. So to improve your odds, start your training immediately."

I started walking towards my room.

"Wait," her voice was quiet, "Aren't you training me."

I shook my head and kept walking. "I got to prepare myself. Irvine will help you with your shooting and Zell and Seifer with your CQC. If you have more questions ask Quistis. But no one bother me unless it is extremely important."

I got a murmur of agreements and with that I shut my door and began my twelve-day preparation.


Okay so not my favorite but a review would still be nice.