Author's Note: Friday is update day! Hurray! Here is an update, fairly long, and a tad random because I wasn't entirely sure what I should be doing with this. I believe I have it figured out though, and I hope you guys like long stories because this could easily by twice the size of my usual ones. To those of you who don't like long stories and may be turned off by that statement, it's not that long. =) *blatant contradictions* =D Just keep reading, that's all you need to know. Oh, and review! xD I love getting reviews, even the "negative" ones. There is actually sometimes very good pointers hidden under the rough and crusty exterior of someone who maybe is not skilled in the social arena, or maybe someone with a superiority complex, or I don't know what. The point is, review. xD LOVE YOU GUYS! I'm going to shut up and let you read now. =)
"Tseng," Reno whined, collapsing on the man's desk so all the paperwork and the keyboard was successfully blocked. "I'm bored." He dragged the word out as long as he could for maximum effect. Tseng pushed the redhead off his desk irritably.
"I don't care. Stop complaining and go find something to do," Tseng reached out and snatched the pen holder that Reno had subtly been trying to slip into Rude's pocket.
Reno had suggested they go see what progress Tseng had made. The other two should have known Reno would never have such a productive end in mind.
"Fine I'll go work at my desk then," Reno grumbled, leaving the room with a huff. Tseng looked up and blinked.
"Did he go?" He looked from Rude to Elena.
"It…looks like it," Elena responded, a little surprised, as the others were, that Reno had given up that easily.
"Hmm," Tseng frowned at the empty doorway for a moment, and then a small smile appeared on his face. "Well I knew he'd grow up someday and realize he has a responsibility towards his paperwork as well as field work. I should get back to my work so why don't you take Elena and go over her paperwork with her. She has just completed her first mission." Tseng handed them two files, marked with their names.
Elena sat in Rude's office for the next thirty minutes, doing her assigned paperwork mostly on her own, receiving slight direction every now and then. Finally signing her name on the last dotted line, Elena put down her pen with a triumphant flourish.
"Let's go find Reno and figure out something to do," Rude suggested, finishing shortly after her. He carefully placed their papers back in the files, leaving them in a neat stack on the edge of his desk.
Elena rose from the chair, cracking her knuckles before leaving the room ahead of Rude. They walked the short distance to Reno's office in silence. The redhead's door was partly open, so Rude pushed it the rest of the way, but they both stopped short before walking in. Not only was Reno not in his office, but his desk and chair weren't there either. Excepting the junk that had been on top of the desk, everything else was were it normally was, basically, complete disarray.
"Um, what's happening?" Elena turned to Rude, hoping he would have an answer.
"What's happening," Rude repeated, seeming a bit at a loss, "Reno is happening. He's probably doing something stupid that he thinks is funny. Let's go find him before he gets himself fired or worse." Rude turned abruptly into the hall, only to stop and look both ways. He scratched his bald head, appearing to struggle with which direction they should pursue.
"Ok, we're going to do what Reno would do," Rude headed for the elevators, several feet down the plain beige hallway, "We're going to go watch the security camera feeds until we can find him."
"Smart," Elena was relieved. She was looking for something to do, but she in no way wanted her afternoon to involve searching the entire Shinra headquarters building by hand for an extremely elusive redhead. At least he'd stand out. She smirked as Rude pressed the down button on the wall. Plus I assume he is with or near his desk. That would help. As she laughed inside, picturing the ridiculous scene that would be, the doors slid open and her laughs died off as the two of them remained frozen where they were.
"Hey," Reno smiled at them from his desk, which had been maneuvered into the large, but not huge, elevator. It must have taken quite some skill to maneuver the piece of furniture in. There was now hardly any standing room, most of the floor being taken up by Reno's desk and chair.
"What are you doing?" Elena blurted out, completely stunned by this latest stunt of his. She had no idea what she'd been expecting to find him doing, but this certainly hadn't been it.
"I am workin' darlin'," Reno replied, slipping into his lazy drawl as he kicked his feet up on the wall, "So if you guys are headin' somewhere, get in and let's go. If not stop blockin' the door." Reno twirled a pen absently between long fingers, grinning at their startled faces.
"Just get out," Rude spoke firmly, but you could hear the amusement in his voice.
"Why?" Reno demanded, settling down comfortably in his chair as if to display how much he was going to stay put. "I'm doin' my work. I'm just never good enough, huh?" Reno mocked hurt, putting his pen down with a bang and crossing his arms. "If I do nothin', I'm supposed to be workin', when I start workin' ya start bitchin'. I just can't win can I? 'Laney, take pity on me!" He turned pleading aqua eyes on her, which might actually have pulled sympathy from her, except for the use of the nickname she loathed.
"No, Reno, stop being ridiculous and get out of the elevator," Elena was surprised seconds later as she looked back on what she'd said. She was surprised she had spoken to a superior so belligerently. It's hard to remember though. She comforted herself while watching Reno and Rude try and stare each other down. Elena was betting on Rude. Reno doesn't behave like a superior.
"What's going on here?" An oddly familiar voice broke into Elena's thoughts and Reno and Rude's staring contest.
"Oh hey, Rufus," Reno didn't seem phased in the least by the appearance of his boss while he was occupying the elevator with his desk. The tall blonde man had just stepped off one of the other elevators in the group and was standing by observing their gathering with a sort of amused smirk.
"Nothin' much, just workin'," Reno replied, saving the other two who were attempting to figure out how to answer that seemingly simple question. "What brings you down from your super posh office?" Reno appeared to have no struggle with talking to anyone, no matter how much above his position they were.
"Well funny you should ask, Reno," Rufus strolled closer, leaning against the open door of the elevator, "You see one of my mako reactors had pieces blown to bits last night and I was just wondering how that was allowed to happen." The man looked pleasant enough, but there was a hard tone in his voice that Elena picked up on. She would never have answered Rufus Shinra as Reno did.
"Oh, I'll tell you how it happened," Reno grinned, acting as if he didn't pick up on the subtle insult against them, "Some people broke in and put explosives on stuff and then blew it up. That's how it happened."
"Never was one for the details," Rufus commented, "Well not accurate details, that is." A smirk, rivaling Reno's in Elena's opinion, made it's way onto Rufus' face. "But never mind. I'll hear all about it from Tseng now."
"Yeah, I was askin' Tseng just this morning how he could've been so irresponsible as to let that happen. Hopefully he can clear things up for ya," Reno smirked after the man as Rufus headed towards Tseng's office, not commenting on Reno's parting statement. Seeing the redhead's smirk, Elena had to change her opinion and mentally mark Reno's smirk as untouchable once again. Rufus didn't even come close.
"Get out of the elevator, or I'll make you get out," Rude said in a voice so quiet, it was almost a whisper. He sounded very serious.
"I'd like to see you try," Reno cracked his knuckles and grinned like the maniac he was.
Without a word, Rude stepped into the small space there was left in the elevator and, grabbing Reno's collar with both hands, tossed the redhead over his shoulder. The swiftness with which Rude had moved surprised Elena and Reno, who was not prepared for the move his co-worker had made. It didn't take Reno long to recover from the shock though, and he was flailing in an instant, hitting his head on the top of the elevator doorway as Rude stepped back into the hall.
"Put me down right now!" Reno elbowed the back of Rude's neck, while rubbing his head where it had hit. He was clearly enraged. Rude, laughing hard, dropped Reno roughly. Before his feet touched the ground, the redhead had hooked a leg around, knocking Rude in the back of the knees. With a small yelp of surprise, Rude stumbled, swinging a punch at Reno. Reno ducked, missing getting his face smashed, but getting an arm around his throat instead. This successfully dragged both men to the ground where both seemed determined to get up before the other, resulting in a swiftly pulling, punching, and kicking heap on the ground. Elena watched the comical scene, not sure if she should laugh or make them stop. She decided to go for a little of both, calling at them to quit between fits of laughter. Of course they completely ignored her, if they could even hear her above Reno's colorful and frequent curses. When she heard the familiar ding of the elevator doors sliding shut behind her, Elena only started laughing harder, making her gasp for breaths. She couldn't stop it in time, and the elevator, along with Reno's desk and chair, disappeared behind silver doors for destinations unknown.
Collapsing against the doors in a fit of laughter, Elena caught sight of something down the hall, which made her struggle desperately to quit laughing. Rufus Shinra, having just exited Tseng's office, was in the process of closing the door behind him when he heard and caught sight of the commotion not too far away from him in the hallway.
"Excuse me," Rufus poked his head back into Tseng's office, "But now your Turks appear to be having a wrestling match in the hallway here." The man's voice was completely smooth and even, portraying not an ounce of anger or annoyance. Elena wanted so hard to laugh at the alarmed look on Tseng's face when he rushed out of his office. Only the slightly scornful look on Rufus' face kept her from bursting into a new fit of hilarity.
"What the hell are you doing?" Tseng hissed, reaching out and grabbing Reno's collar, ripping him off the floor and tossing him against the wall. Rude picked himself up, carefully straightening his suit and brushing the dust off. It was clear he was trying to compose himself as quickly as possible.
"Why the hell do people keep tossing me around like a bag of potato chips?" Reno huffed, annoyance obvious on his face and in his tone as he roughly pulled his already messy suit back into some semblance of order.
"Because you weigh about the same," Rude said, grinning at the anger that quickly appeared on Reno's face.
"I do not!" Reno would have lashed out at Rude against, except Tseng pushed him back.
"You are an extremely lightly built person, Reno," Tseng pointed out, explaining calmly although there was a slight twitch to his face, "Accept it and move on."
"Fine, but not anywhere near being light enough to compare me to a bag of chips!" Reno crossed his arms and settled for glaring at everyone, including Rufus who still watched the proceedings, now with an amused look. Apparently Reno was touchy as far as his weight was concerned.
"You are the one who compared yourself to the chips in the first place," Elena pointed out, having gotten off the floor now that her laughter had been checked, "But you're right, a bag of chips is a ridiculous thing to compare you to. Potato chips actually taste good." She couldn't resist the slight jab, and was rewarded by seeing Reno bristle up again. Her triumph lasted all of five seconds until a deadly smirk appeared on his face.
"Oh really?" All the anger had disappeared from his voice, like footsteps smoothed off the sand by a wave, "That's not what you said when I kissed you."
Elena's eyes went wide. A wave of red hit her cheeks as she remembered the day in the hospital when Reno had taken the liberty of making-out with her. She tried to ignore the fact that she really hadn't tried to stop him either.
"I didn't say anything," Elena said quickly, removing the possibility of someone there thinking she had made a comment involving Reno and taste…
"Wait, that actually happened?" Rude asked, taking his sunglasses off, a rare occurrence, to polish them on his shirt. His chocolate brown eyes expressed deep surprise. Reno leaned back against the wall, a satisfied smirk on his face. Elena stammered, blushing furiously as she realized that she had unwittingly confirmed that this kiss had actually taken place.
"Well don't torture the poor girl," Rufus intervened, reaching over to push the elevator button, "You all know Reno and his habits. Are you really surprised? Tseng, keep your Turks in line." He stepped into his elevator, leaving them all in an extremely awkward silence. At least Elena found it incredibly awkward, she was pretty sure Reno didn't care by the look on his face and his relaxed attitude.
"So not only does Rufus Shinra come to see me personally about an incident, but he informs me when he arrives that my Turks have moved their offices to the elevators, and then points out when he leaves that you are attacking each other in the halls!" Tseng didn't seem awkward or relaxed. He was very angry.
"Damn, you really make him sound like a bitch," Reno commented with a grin.
"It's not his fault, Reno!" Tseng turned on the redhead instantly, "It's yours!"
"What? You can't go blaming everything wrong with the world on me," the redhead complained, still seeming very unconcerned with what was going on, "Although I do probably have a role in everything wrong with the world."
"Well I don't know what happened here, though believe me I will have every last detail before long, but I can be certain that anything about offices and elevators is another stupid prank of yours," Tseng fumed on, getting closer and closer to the offending redhead with every step, "And as far as fighting in the halls, I highly doubt Rude started that, or that Elena here jumped you, or some other such nonsense. I let you get away with too much, Reno. You have to be a professional!" Tseng had grabbed Reno's collar and pulled him away from the wall, making him stand up straight for once. In the blink of an eye, Reno's hand had latched on to Tseng's wrist with the iron grip Elena knew he possessed.
"Don't you dare throw me again," Reno said, his voice low but laced with dangerous tones. There was a tense silence for a moment before Tseng replied in an equally low voice.
"Let go of me."
Nothing happened for a second, and Elena felt she could feel the tension crackling in the air until Reno roughly removed his grip on Tseng's wrist, and Tseng let go of Reno's collar. The still-present tension was interrupted by the now-infamous elevator doors opening to reveal a very perplexed secretary type, slipping out past Reno's desk. She looked startled to see them all there, but quickly moved past without a word.
"Oh my…" Tseng rubbed the bridge of his nose with a sigh, staring in disbelief at the desk taking up most of the room in the elevator, "Reno, put that back where it belongs. Rude, come with me. I've got to get some stuff together for you guys to do. Elena, go prep for a mission. I assume you remember the items you will need."
Elena nodded, although Tseng wasn't even watching her. As she went toward her office at a clipped pace, the other others went about their various tasks without another word spoken.
Elena snapped the last piece of her pistol back in place, having just taken it apart and gone over the whole thing in preparation for their next mission. She'd gone weeks without going on a mission and without seeing any of them go on missions, and now she was involved in two in one day! Guess this job's like that. Fairly unpredictable.
"Yo, stop daydreamin' and come on," Reno leaned into the room briefly, "Tseng's dug up some retarded mission for us." Elena followed quickly, stowing the last of her stuff in their respective places. Tseng's office door was open and Rude was already there, seated comfortably in one of the big plush chairs. Elena took a seat hastily, not wanting to risk annoying Tseng any more today.
"So what's it this time?" Reno demanded, choosing to lean lazily on the back of a chair instead of sitting down.
"Where's your tie, Reno?" Tseng ignored Reno's question, posing one of his own instead, "You know it's part of the uniform." Apparently Tseng hadn't been joking when he'd told Reno to be more professional.
"Aw, come on!" Reno complained, putting his head down on the back of the chair for a moment before looking up again, "Seriously? I haven't worn that piece of crap in forever and you never cared before."
"Well I do now," Tseng said, opening a drawer in his desk and producing a plain black tie, "And I know you haven't worn it in forever since it's right here, where you left it last time you tried to 'lose' it."
"I told you I should have thrown it out the window," Reno glared at Rude, who just shrugged in reply.
"Put it on, Reno, and then I will tell all of you what your mission is since you can't seem to control yourselves well enough to be left without something productive to do," Tseng gave them all a berating glance while handing the tie to Reno who reluctantly accepted it.
"This tie is trying to choke me!" Reno whined, pulling at the messily tied piece of clothing which was more lose than was normal anyway.
"I can understand the urge," Tseng commented dryly.
"Very funny," Reno sat down in the chair roughly, bouncing slightly for a second. He kept tugging at the offending tie, but didn't say anything else. Elena didn't imagine he would hang onto it for long. Pity. He looks pretty good with it. Well he looks pretty good without it too, Elena couldn't help but think.
"Anyway," Tseng, now satisfied that Reno's uniform was as close to standard as it was going to get, opened up a folder on his desk, "One of Shinra's corporate employees has been suspected lately of diverting funds. Recently, a good deal of evidence has been discovered confirming this suspicion. Now Shinra could fire him of course, but he seems to be fairly knowledgeable in the workings of the place and they don't want to risk an information leak. He's also fairly useful, so instead of simply getting rid of him, we're to frighten him so that he quits stealing. Not complicated. Here's all the info." Tseng handed Reno the file.
"Easy enough," Reno flipped through it quickly as they all stood, ready to depart.
"I'm driving," Rude said quietly as they waited in the elevator to arrive at their floor.
"Fine, whatever," Reno frowned down at his tie as he continued pulling at it. Elena was surprised he agreed to it, but she wasn't about to complain. She couldn't spar any more time taken off her life span by those harrowing rides.
Rude's driving was much more conservative than Reno's, and actually legal to begin with. Their destination turned out to be an apartment suite covering the entire top floor of one of the nicest buildings Midgar had to offer. The elevator in this building was just as nice as the Shinra headquarter elevators. This one however had more of a comfort feel instead of the sleek, corporate feel that pervaded all things Shinra.
"So how are we going to do this?" Rude asked calmly, apparently not too concerned that they were almost on the floor of their criminal and still had no game plan.
"Well, I'm thinkin' we sit down and have a little chat, tell him how it is," Reno shrugged, tapping his leg restlessly with his fingers, "He'll understand and what he decides to do about it is his problem."
"A bit gentle," Rude commented, his tone reflecting neither positively or negatively towards this observation.
"Oh," Reno rolled his head around to grin at Rude, "We'll definitely make sure he understands the gravity of the situation. Just follow my lead for now." Strolling casually out of the elevator, Reno approached one of the two doors in the small entrance chamber. One was labeled as the stairs, and the other had a number engraved on a gold plaque. This was the door Reno approached, with as much ease as if he was paying a call on an old friend. Reno firmly pushed the buzzer with one long finger. Almost instantly, a middle-aged woman dressed neatly in a crisp white blouse and dark navy skirt answered. She looked a bit startled, but spoke politely anyway.
"How may I help you?" She looked curiously at all three of them, but focused most of her attention on Reno since he was standing at the front of their group.
"We've got business with Mr. uh…." Reno struggled to come up with the name, "Just the guy who lives here, you know who I'm talking about. The point is, you're going to kindly show us in and go grab your boss or whatever and bring him to us. Got it?"
"Can I have the name of who is visiting?" the woman hardened at Reno's rough delivery, but seemed extremely wary.
"Turks," Reno smirked, amused by the fear that appeared on her face, "But you won't tell him that if you know what's good for you. Tell him there are visitors, that's really all we are." The woman didn't say another word, instead she stood aside, opening the door fully to allow them inside. Closing the door behind them with an almost silent click, she led them to a sort of parlor, elegantly decorated.
"I'll go tell him at once," she said meekly, closing the double doors to the room behind her. Reno at once made himself at home, ambling into the beautiful room. The place wasn't very large, but had high ceilings and a wall of windows which opened it up considerably. Being on top of the plate, and fairly high up, the room actually caught all the sunlight there was to catch in Midgar. There was a shiny chandelier hanging from the ceiling, supplementing the weak sunlight. The floors were polished wood, covered mostly by a thick and soft oriental rug. There were several pieces of furniture in the room, including a deep, white sofa and several matching chairs. In a corner of the room, a shiny black grand piano stood, commanding the attention of the whole area with it's subtle grandeur.
"So what now?" Elena asked, standing awkwardly near the entrance. She couldn't exactly make herself at home like Reno appeared to have done. He was now slouching in one of the pristine white chairs, looking a bit out of place in the orderly and classy room.
"How about you and Rude sort of stand out of his sight, over there by the doors," Reno gestured to the wall on either side of the double doors, "For starters ya can keep him from running if he feels the urge." Reno glanced around the whole room quickly. "There aren't any phones in here, so I doubt we're gonna have to keep him away from anything. He's not gonna jump out a window from this height either, so just watch the door for now. You'll know if ya need to step in later."
Rude and Elena nodded, taking their positions with no time to answer before one of the doors opened, revealing an older man dressed neatly in a black suit. He got halfway in the door before stopping suddenly, seeing his guest for the first time. In his surprise, he didn't have time to back out before Rude calmly shut the door behind him, standing firmly in front of them, forcing the man into the room. Elena was nervous, afraid something would go wrong, but the others seemed completely calm and in complete control.
"Hey," Reno smiled, still sitting casually in the huge chair, "Nice place ya got here. Job pays well, I take it?" He laughed at his own joke.
"What are you doing here?" the man tried his best to sound angry, but the deep underlying fear was unmistakable in his voice.
"So you know who we are?" Reno asked, flicking a few stray strands of blood red hair out of his face.
"You're Turks," the man swallowed loudly, glancing behind him at Rude and Elena, strategically standing between him and the only exit.
"Great job," Reno grinned, and gestured towards the big couch across from his chair, "Feel free to sit down. You might as well be comfortable."
"Thank you, I'll stand," the man said dryly, not taking kindly to being made to feel the guest in his own home.
"Suit yourself," Reno stretched out his long, lanky, legs, letting his eyes roam lazily across the ceiling. After an awkward minute of silence, the man shifted uncomfortably.
"Why are you here?" the man demanded, once again attempting to regain control of the situation. Reno was not about to be phased by a bit of a harsh tone however, and finished his detailed examination of the ceiling before replying.
"Why do you think we're here?" Reno's piercing aquamarine eyes locked on the man, only making him more nervous.
"Well, I…I can't imagine why."
"Really?" Reno picked himself out of the chair and paced over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, taking a minute to look over the view of the grey city, "Did ya think it could be about your nasty little habit of giving yourself bonuses?" Reno looked over his shoulder to observe the effect this statement had on the man. He looked startled and took a long moment to reply.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," the man was clearly extremely nervous, his fingers fidgeting furiously at his sides.
"Hmm, let me make it clear for you," Reno turned around and strolled across the room, ending up by the large piano, "You've got your hand in the cookie jar. You're supplementing your salary. There are endless ways I can say this." Reno slid onto the cushioned black bench accompanying the piano, and gently let his fingers fly over the keys, producing a delightfully light and merry sound. "We could say stealing. Oh, that's a harsh one," Reno struck a particularly deep chord to accent 'stealing'. A playfully random tune slowly appeared through the seemingly pointless collection of pleasant notes. "Get it?" Reno glanced lazily at the man, who collapsed roughly in one of the plush white chairs, his head in his hands.
"Damn," he muttered, shaking his head.
"Ah, you remember now," Reno continued playing random snatches of tunes, all very different but flowing one to another effortlessly, "So I'm sure you understand how serious this is. We can't let you get away with it obviously." The man started to clearly panic now, evidently scared witless by his seemingly impending death. "We could kill you in any number of ways. Like this tie, for example. We could hang you with this tie, and it would give me an excuse to be rid of it. But that would be so predictable, don't you think? I prefer to mix it up a bit every now and then." Elena watched Reno coolly break the man down with fascination. It also helped that she had no idea he could play the piano. Reno hadn't struck her as the kind of person to know something like that. Then again, he'd been surprising her since she started working for Shinra.
With a complicated flourish of sorts, Reno left the piano and came to stand directly in front of their man. "You have four hours to write a check for every last penny you helped yourself to. I suggest you take it personally over to the desk of Rufus Shinra and have them handle it right then and you'd better pray it doesn't bounce, because by the time four hours is up all it takes is a nod for me to put a bullet between your eyes. Or we could break your nose in such a fashion that the bone burrows into your brain. Whatever I feel like at the time. I'm done here. Hopefully I won't have to see you later. Three hours and fifty-eight minutes." Reno left the man frantically checking his watch. With a nod from the redhead, Rude opened the doors and they all left, passing the distressed maid who had let them in. Elena had strange sort of adrenaline surge. She felt once again as if she was in an action movie. Unbidden, certain words Reno had spoken to her days ago came into her head. "It may seem like fun. Like being a super secret spy or somethin'. But wait until they tell ya to do somethin' you don't want any part of. Then it's kill or be killed." She had a moment of strangely frightened curiosity. She wondered if and when she'd ever be faced with such a situation. Maybe soon. The thought dampened her mood, and she drew her attention back to the present.
Walking right out of the apartment, not even bothering to close the door behind them, they entered the posh elevator, apparently not interested in waiting for a goodbye.
Author's Note: Yay! Update! =) Hope you guys enjoyed! If you're interested in reading more right now, and you've already read all my junk =P go ahead and check out "Lithium" and "Slither" by renoxxxXXXxxx. Something like that. Also "Bloodied Needles" and "Bloodied Soul" by Naril! All four of those are rather dark, but whatever. I enjoy them. So YOU AMAZING PEOPLE! Feel free to review also. xD LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!