Here we go folks after a long wait. :) I present to you the next mission. Enjoy.
Mission Ten - Operation Dancing Mad
The 'Doomsday Letter' as it would later be referred to, had arrived in his In-box at exactly 12:13 pm Shinra time.
Reeve, already furious with the fact that the AVALANCHE operative inhabiting the crawlspace behind the file cabinets had somehow ninjafied its way across the office and whisked away a pack of peanut butter crackers, was in no mood for the afternoon mail.
But when he saw the address scrawled in the upper left hand corner and the tiny dollop of wax with the image of the Shinra logo pressed oh so neatly in its center, he did three things.
He first set the letter upon his desk and slowly backed away, tripped over a chair,
and then he made a phone call he never thought he would have to make…
Somewhere in Sector Seven…
It was supposed to have been their day off. And yet, somehow, someway, Rufus Shinra had managed to weasel his way into their business and successfully take them hostage yet again.
Just another typical Saturday afternoon for the Turks.
"This is your fault," Cissnei stormed past with the address in hand, trying to figure out just how anyone kept an address in the slums and more importantly why she could not have one simple afternoon to go home and knit tiny sweaters for the charity she had been 'required' to adopt for her summer project by Tseng as punishment for not keeping Reno, Palmer, and Reeve under control at the company Christmas Party last year.
She began to wonder just how Rude's sponsorship of the orphaned, crippled, and blind chocobos was going.
"How is it my fault? All I was doing was watching LO-" the red head quickly rethought what he was about to say. "I mean I was watching the losing Midgarian Zoloms try to score that last goal. Yeah, that's what I was doing."
"We all know you went to see LOVELESS."
Vincent paled at Cissnei's accusation and began slinking towards a damp, dark crawlspace where he could try to get the image of Reno being sucked into the Genesis Vortex out of his head.
"Damn. How'd you know?"
Rude simply shook his head and continued dragging his feet along the cluttered street. "The Midgar Zoloms lost every game last year no matter how much we rigged it."
"How you lose to a bunch of people in comas is still one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time."
The only inhabitable building in the entire sector loomed before them, causing Vincent to raise an eyebrow and remain silent from his spot in the shadows.
"Looks like this is the place," Cissnei tried to read the paper once again, vowing that the first thing she suggested to Tseng on Monday morning would be to get handwriting and spelling lessons for Rufus. "You wanna do the honors, Reno?"
"Hell yeah!"
He rushed to the door and began knocking. A few seconds later, the door crept open to reveal a woman in a short skirt and tank top. "Holy chit. Look at those-"
"Miss Lockheart we presume?"
The auburn haired female Turk clutched the silence materia and sighed, embarrassed for all of them at Reno's outburst.
"Gods he really did send those bumbling idiots from Shinra."
Rude, too hypnotized by the same thing that had made Reno lose his focus, stood there like a confused camel. Even Vincent raised an eyebrow, but wisely chose to remain silent.
"With all due respect, we're not all idiots."
Tifa glared at the group. "Stupid blue suits, ties, not-so-cool theme music. Yep, you're the Turks all right."
"All right look you little witch," Cissnei growled. "Rufus sent us to 'escort' you to the prom as his 'date' and like it or not you're going whether we have to tie you up and carry you on a stick."
Reno smirked and draped an arm over Rude's shoulder.
"Oh yeah, this beats LOVELESS any day. Where's the popcorn and jello?"
It was a time like this that made poor Vincent wish he had placed a bet on what was about to happen next.
A.S.S.E.S. Prom 7:30pm, at the punch bowl…
"Pass me the ice would ya?"
Cissnei ignored her comrade and continued to watch for 'threats' to the president's son. "You had this coming."
"Holy, I didn't think she'd hit me that hard though." The red head pressed an ice cube to his forehead where the indentation of a silver high heel shoe remained hours after the incident.
"Again, not my fault."
"You could have stopped her from going all kung fu on me!"
"And given you something else to be all egotistical macho male about? I think you needed to be beaten up. By the way Reno, whatever happened to that cactus of yours?"
He smirked and draped an arm over her shoulder. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
She pried his fingers off of her blazer and cringed, scanning the area for Rude, who seemed to be in a very in-depth discussion with Vincent by the fake sparkly castle set up in the corner.
The Sparkly Castle, 8:00pm…
Vincent did not know what to think of the stunning woman strutting around like she owned the place in the stilettos and strapless neon pink dress. The way her hips swaggered with the beat of the mariachi music, the ever so graceful swish of her lengthy silver hair, and the way every male in the place continued to stare. It was mesmerizing. It was invigorating. It was down right disturbing. No woman was that perfect, nor could hold the Vincent Valentine's attention for so long.
He needed to get her number to justify this whole prom thing.
Rude watched his comrade saunter off to his doom and merely wrote something down on a small notepad.
The Dance Floor, minutes later…
Zack Fair was a simple man who enjoyed a good waltz just as much as he enjoyed the funky chicken. But with his beautiful date there with him, he could hardly imagine a more perfect, more romantic, more beautiful opportunity to show his love for the innocent flower girl.
And then he noticed the three men and one woman wearing those familiar blue suits. "Damn it."
"What's wrong, Zack?" Aerith asked innocently as he guided her out of sight, lest they try to blow up anything else remotely floral. Corsages were included under that, he thought.
A flick of silver glided nearby, grumpily trying to strangle Rufus Shinra every time his hand strayed too far downward. Zack blinked. Wasn't that Cloud's girl? By the way, where was the infamous infantryman anyway?
"Nothing my sweet little geranium. Just a few weeds trying to encroach upon everything."
"Oh. They're here."
"Yeah, let's get a little further away from that gloomy one walking this way."
Vincent struggled to avoid the mob of women seemingly materializing out of nowhere behind him, all hoping for a dance with the stunning Turk who really only wanted to get the number of the woman skirting further away from him with each second.
By the Punch Bowl…
Reno could not stand it any longer. No one out manned him. Not some overly emo creature that had crawled out of Hojo's lab at Tseng's request. No one. He took a swig of the fruit punch and slammed the paper cup against the table, fire in his eyes. And with the confidence of Palmer trying to score free lard at the supermarket, grabbed Cissnei by the shirtsleeve and began walking towards the dance floor in pursuit of their fellow Turk.
"What in the hell, Reno?"
"We're going to stop Vincent from out manning the rest of us."
She blinked and barely avoided being struck by one of the hundreds of dancers. "I don't think I have that problem."
He continued to walk faster, passing a mortified Zack and confused Aerith, as well as the oh so happy Shinra-Lockheart couple. "You do now."
By the Sparkly Castle…8:10 p.m.
Rude sighed and watched the red heads vanish into the collage of sparkling dresses, plotting his course of action. No doubt this would be entertaining to watch. He settled in, grabbed a danish from the table and watched the events unfold. This was better than pay-per-view any day. He moved towards the punch bowl for a better view.
The dance floor…8:12 p.m.
If he stepped on her feet one more time, or anyone else's feet for that matter, she was going to knock him flat on his back and allow him to be trampled by the stampede of high heeled women scampering around the dance floor. Why couldn't Cloud take her to the prom instead of this bozo who could not dance worth a chocobo's egg? She sighed and once again removed his hand from her thigh, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
And seeing two Turks wander by with an intended target in mind - another Turk, her Lockheart senses began to tingle. Any moment now she would get what she wanted. Any moment now…
"Reno, this is stupid." Cissnei sighed as they rounded the floor and approached the punch bowl once again.
"Just a little further."
"Just give it up already. Vincent's obviously got more experience than you do at this."
"Nuh uh. This is my turf, not his. I'm going to be top male here."
"More like top of the idiot scale."
He caught up to her by the table and with a quick leer that made most of the woman chasing him faint because he looked at them, he turned to meet his destiny. Vincent Valentine had arrived.
The Punch Bowl 8:15 p.m.
She had mako green eyes, muscles that could tear a Midgar Zolom in two, thighs of steel, and -
"I never knew you swung that way, Valentine."
The voice of one very familiar 1st Class SOLDIER legend.
"Oh Holy…" Vincent stared up in horror at the beautiful 'woman' in the neon pink dress and silken tights.
"Holy chit, Sephiroth!" Reno stumbled backwards, pulling Cissnei to the ground with him, bumped into Rude, who crashed into the table. The punch bowl soared through the air towards the four people waltzing on the dance floor.
Putting his mad SOLDIER reflexes to the test, Zack managed to swing Aerith out of the way, but as for Tifa and Rufus…
"Sir! Look out!"
It was the slap heard round the world.
Tseng's office, 10:30pm.
Tseng approached his office to find the door unlocked for the first time since he had inherited the miserable place, and immediately found it unusual.
The figure seated in his chair, swiveled around, hands folded against the pristine mahogany.
"We need to talk."
--
Coming up on One Hundred Tiny Missions:
Who has taken over Tseng's office? Who exactly did Reeve call? Where did that cactus go? What does the Doomsday Letter say?
Tune in next time folks. Ya know ya wanna. :)
Until Next time,
SageQuill