Enjoy.

fire mystic

Issuing Orders, Asking Favors

Nobody stood in Reno's way as he made his way through the halls of Shinra. Anybody with two eyes and half a wit of self-preservation could see that he was in a dangerous frame of mind, and the lazy, indifference he often projected was nowhere to be seen.

He was, however, stopped short in his personal mission just as he was about to achieve his destination.

"Reno." The name echoed down the hall, and Reno turned to the forceful summons to find none other than Rufus Shinra waiting expectantly down the hall.

"My office. Now."

Sighing deeply, Reno glanced briefly to the door he had been about to knock on before following Rufus' order. Not that he was in any mood to deal with Rufus, who was being exceptionally moody lately, but he didn't see as he had much choice.

He let the door of Rufus' office close behind him with a loud thud, not slamming it, but not much caring about it, either, and edged his way closer to Rufus' desk, not taking a seat in the leather chair opposite where Rufus had taken his seat. He didn't plan on staying long enough to get comfortable.

"I have an assignment for you, Reno," Rufus stated without preamble.

The wariness set in before Rufus had finished the sentence. Rufus just didn't give assignments to the Turks. He always channeled everything through Tseng. What the hell? In the suspicious corner of his mind, Reno wondered if Tseng even knew about this assignment of Rufus'. In the meantime, he saw little choice but to hear Rufus out.

"What you need, Boss?"

"Shinra is hosting a charity auction this weekend. It's part of our new corporate image. Many of Shinra's employees are attending the event, and I need you to be there."

"You need me for security?" Reno knew about the auction. He was pretty sure Bryn had mentioned it, that she might even be attending it, as some of the companies she worked with were involved. In all likelihood, she would ask him to attend with her, but she would also understand if Rufus needed him for security.

"Not as security, no."

"Then what you need, Boss?"

"You are to attend as Dara's escort."

What the fuck? Had he just heard that right? What kind of assignment was that? And…why?

And that's exactly what he wanted to know from Rufus.

"What the…"

"This is not up for debate, Reno. You've been given your orders. See yourself out."

If the words weren't clear enough, the chill tone of Rufus' voice certainly was. Reno snapped his mouth shut and retreated the way he had come; even he could tell arguing with Rufus would get him nowhere. Maybe Tseng would know what was going on.

"Oh, and Reno?" He turned back to what sounded like an afterthought on Rufus' part, and waited for the other shoe to drop.

"It would be in your best interest to treat this as a real date. I don't want to hear that Dara was disappointed in your companionship."

As he finished issuing his final directive to Reno, he picked up the phone and dialed, turning away, leaving Reno with nothing but the high back of his chair to stare at in disbelief.

Bryn stood outside Elena's door fidgeting and debating. She wanted to find out, after all of Elena's nervousness, how her first date with Tseng had turned out, but she also needed a favor, and she still wasn't sure whether it was a good idea or not to ask. She simply didn't know Elena well enough to anticipate what her reaction might be, but there didn't seem to be many others she could ask this of given her situation. Finally, she raised her hand to knock, figuring she could feel it out as she talked to Elena about her date.

Her knock was immediately answered by a vague "just a minute", but it seemed much longer before the door finally opened.

"Oh, hi Bryn. Come on in."

If her cheery disposition and brilliant smile were any indication, things must have gone very well.

"So? How did it go?" Bryn asked as she stepped into the apartment. It felt so odd, to be talking to Elena like this when there was no established friendship, but she almost felt compelled to find out after Elena had asked her for advice.

Elena turned to her as she closed the door with a dreamy expression on her face.

"It was incredible." She waved Bryn into the kitchen, pulling a chair for her much like she had done at their previous meeting, and sat down next to her, leaning over to talk conspiratorially.

"First, I have to thank you. The outfit you suggested was perfect! Even though I debated changing right up to the very last second." Bryn realized she was smiling goofily at Elena, who was gushing as if they had been best friends forever, a clear sign of the euphoria she was still afflicted with. Elena recounted their dinner, how nervous she was, and how understanding Tseng was.

"And he was such a gentleman!"

"Well we already knew that, didn't we?" Bryn asked. She didn't know much about Tseng at all, but it was one of the few things she could comment on with confidence.

"Well, of course, but he let me pick the movie we watched. He even asked me if he could put his arm around my shoulder, no cheap date theatrics or slick moves. And then, and this was the only embarrassing part, I fell asleep leaning against him." Her cheeks turned bright red to reflect her sentiments.

"Why are you embarrassed? It sounds very romantic."

"But he might think I was bored. I didn't mean to, but I was warm and comfortable, and wine always makes me a bit drowsy." She dropped her head, clearly troubled by what may have been the one dark cloud in her evening.

"Did he say anything to you to make you think that's how he felt?"

"He said I was adorable when I slept and kissed my hand."

"Then he didn't think you were bored, Elena. Did he ask you out again?"

"No." She sighed heavily.

"Give it time." Bryn had a good feeling about this. "In fact, I bet you'll hear from him before the day is out."

Elena perked up.

"You really think so?"

Bryn nodded, smiling encouragingly.

"I'm almost positive."

Responding with a hopeful smile herself, Elena brightened.

"I hope so. And thank you. I really don't have many people around here to talk to about this." This was a far cry from the Elena she had first met. Thank Gaia!

"Any time." She took a deep breath, clearing her throat. It was now or never.

"Elena, I was wondering if you would do me a favor."

Confusion lit in Elena's eyes, but she nodded.

"If I can. Sure. What do you need?"

"I want you to teach me how to use a gun."

"What the FUCK?"

Tseng startled. He wasn't often caught off guard, especially in his own office, but Reno slamming through the oak door in a fit of rage certainly did the trick.

Worse than that, Tseng had no idea why the Turk so angry, his face nearly as red as his hair and his fists clenched. If it were so important that it would stir such a reaction, Tseng should know about it, unless it was a personal matter, but Tseng didn't think so. Reno had never brought a personal matter to Tseng in such a manner.

Taking no chances, Tseng didn't let his body relax until he saw clearly that Reno didn't have a weapon in hand. Well thank Gaia for that; at least the Turk hadn't completely lost his mind.

"I'm afraid I'm at a loss, Reno. What seems to be the trouble?"

The expression on Reno's face was priceless, a combination of annoyance, shock, confusion, disbelief and rage. Obviously he had expected Tseng to know what he had burst in to discuss.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Not anything that would have you entering my office like that, no. Care to fill me in?"

Reno flustered for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what to say, or where to start. Or perhaps he was having a difficult time understanding how an order had come down without Tseng knowing about it.

"Rufus hasn't talked to you? He didn't tell you?"

Tseng spread his hands out in surrender. He wasn't going to bother offering Reno a seat. He knew it would be refused.

"Haven't heard a thing."

"He wants me to take Dara to that charity auction." Could he possibly need to say more? His distaste was not only well known, but couldn't have been clearer if it were printed across his face in permanent ink.

Tseng took his seat slowly, mulling this enlightening bit of news. It was certainly an interesting turn of events, on many levels. Rufus knew Reno was involved with someone. Was he trying to create tension? Tseng knew Rufus didn't particularly like Bryn, or rather the idea of Bryn, the steady girlfriend with the potential to distract his Turks and give them something to look forward to outside of the walls of Shinra. Still, Tseng would have thought such tactics beneath Rufus. Then there was Dara. Aggression and forwardness were two traits she seemed to have in spades. So why hadn't she asked Reno herself? And why would Rufus, who, if what he had witnessed in the elevator the night before was any proof, seemed to be having some type of relationship with Dara, ask Reno to take her to this event? Nothing added up.

Reno was pacing, pacing, pacing, and exuding a nervous energy that did nothing to help Tseng think.

"I don't know why he'd as you to do that, but I'm sure it's just a favor, Reno."

"Favor, my ass. It was an order. That's the word he used, along with the threat to make sure I rise to the occasion."

Tseng wasn't sure if Reno meant that literally or figuratively, or if Reno had even meant the double entendre and he wasn't going to ask. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to talk to Rufus about this and try to find out what was going on.

"I'm sorry, Reno. Rufus hasn't spoken to me about this, so I can't even hazard a guess as to what he's thinking."

"But you're going to find out, aren't you?"

Tseng kept the worry he was feeling from showing on his face. This was not the first incident recently that indicated Rufus was not being entirely forthcoming with information. It wasn't serious yet, but the signs were beginning to worry Tseng.

"I'm going to try, but in the meantime, an order is an order. You know how that works."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." He sank down into the chair opposite Tseng, letting his long body slouch into the contours of the leather as he leaned an elbow on the arm of the chair, his hand covering his face. "That's not even what I came here to talk to you about."

"Even more good news?"

Reno glanced up at him then, his lip quirking a bit, a good sign at least that he hadn't lost his sense of sarcasm.

"You give me a monster to kill and a few explosives to detonate and I'll bring you some good news." He leaned forward a bit in his chair, not wanting to miss Tseng's reaction to this.

"We've got someone impersonating a Turk."

The roles reversed, and now Tseng was the confused, disbelieving one.

"Who?"

"Don't know." Reno shrugged. "But that's not the worst part."

"Like that's not bad enough?"

"Not as bad as them getting into this building, past security, to do it."

Tseng was already reaching for the phone.