Authors note: Yay, I managed to update before Christmas. Quite an information packed chapter as well. Not really much to say about this chapter, except enjoy it, and please leave me a review! Tis the season :)

Enjoy, and Happy Christmas everybody! Much love!

Chapter 14

One by one the students attempted to fight Rude, and the bald Turk had to admit, it was quite an interesting and rewarding experience. All of these young people had certain quirks, even if they weren't all particularly steady on their feet. Some were fast, some were strong, and some had a very unique fighting style that Rude hadn't seen ever before. It was surprising; Rude knew he was strong, but he expected not to find it that easy against people that were only a few months behind him. However, he managed to get most of the students to the floor without much effort on his part.

One student caught Rude's eye particularly though. He was fairly small and un-extraordinary looking, but he had an unnatural speed about him. His black hair fell over his face each time he avoided one of Rude's punches, and he glared up at him with those glittering eyes that were exactly the same shade of aquamarine that Reno's were, except the odd speckle of brown that flecked the iris. He had no emotion about his features, and on more than one occasion the odds of winning the fight seemed very heavy on the mysterious strangers side. Eventually however, Rude managed to land a punch that knocked him back and threw him off balance.

"Not bad, not bad." Reno said loudly, talking more to himself than anyone else. "You-" he pointed at the youth Rude had just knocked down and motioned him to approach. The stranger did so, his expression unchanging. "What's ya name?"

"Jack." he replied, not looking at the redhead. "Jack Williams."

"Well, Jack," Reno stood up lazily from the bleachers and walked over. "Good job, you've definitely got skill with your fists."

"Thank you, sir." Jack said humbly, bowing his head slightly.

"Eh?" Reno looked confused momentarily. "Oh! Yeah, sorry, I'm not used to people callin' me 'sir'. Well ya welcome."

The redhead glanced over all of the potential recruits with scrutiny. Most the them were a little worse for wear, but they all looked fairly happy. All except Jack Williams, whom had the exact same morbid expression as Elena had done when Reno and Rude had first entered the classroom. He was certainly an odd character, with an air of sadness about him. Rude didn't have an immediate dislike for him like he had done with Tammy, but he knew there was definitely something suspicious about him. Reno obviously knew as well; Jack and Tammy had been the only people he asked their names. There was a suspicion forming in his complex mind.

"Righty then… I'm a little less unimpressed now. Ya don't make bad fist fighters. But I think you're all a bit battered and bruised now, so we'll stop for now." Reno stretched his arms out, causing his shoulders to crack. "Ya can go back to your classroom or whatever if ya want, or ya can stay here and do a little more practisin' with each other. I ain't teachin' ya no more though today, so just get on with it."

The quiet mutter of excited chatter gradually filled the room as the students milled off in their own little groups. The only person to actually leave the training area was Jack, who left without another word. A few students stayed in the sparring area, and a few wandered over to the firing range. Reno and Rude walked slowly over to the sidelines.

"What'd'ya think then?" Reno asked him, looking up. Rude was slightly taken aback, but answered him anyway.

"Tammy… and Jack."

"Yeah? You only say that 'cause their the only two I talked to." Reno said, laughing. Rude smirked. "And here I am, supposedly teachin' ya the way of the Turks. Ah well… go on then rookie, gimme a bit more info."

The two of them leaned against a railing and looked out across the busy students. Rude breathed deeply, and gave his assumed suspicion of the two.

"Tammy is too bitter, even for a teenager-" Rude began. This first comment caused Reno to smirk slightly. "And she stuttered on her second name. 'Hayling' sounds a hell of a lot too much like 'Hayler' to be a coincidence."

"Very good…" Reno nodded. "Plus, she's terrible at everything. But that's just my own little observation there. And as for Jack-"

"Too quiet, too civil." Rude finished for him, but Reno laughed.

"I'm afraid if I was gonna sum you up in four words, those'd be 'em, my friend. No, what bothers me is his eyes."

"His eyes?" Rude puzzled over this. He noticed that Jack's eyes were an odd color, but then so were Reno's.

"Yep. Nobody has eyes that color." The redhead explained, his own curious eyes flicking back and forth across the room. "Do you not know what sends someone's eyes that color?"

"…mako?" Rude suggested. He had been told about the effects of mako, but it had been a very long time ago.

"Got it in one. That dude's been usin' mako. Which means, he must have somethin' to do with this heist." Reno looked satisfied with his explanation, but it only put a lot of doubt in Rude's mind.

"Why does that mean he has something to with the heist?" the bald Turk asked. He was wondering whether or not to bring up Reno's eye color being incredibly similar to Jack's.

"'Cause… since the start of this heist, mako's been really carefully monitored. People enterin' the Academy are tested for mako, and if they test positive, they're held for questioning. The only way to get hold of mako now is to steal it. Plus… that mako must've gotten into his system sometime after he entered the Academy." For some reason, as the redhead spoke, his voice became more and more bitter, until he was practically spitting the words. Something was bothering him.

"Right…" That explanation made a little more sense to Rude, except one thing… "but, Reno? Your eyes are the same color as Jack's. I don't understand that."

"No, they ain't." Reno snapped, suddenly looking very quickly in the opposite direction. "His eyes were brown. That's why ya could see bits of brown in 'em. Mine, however, are not brown. They're bluish-green. Ya hear of blue-ish green eyes, but not blue-ish brown."

"Right… I see your point." Rude nodded, and the redhead looked over at Rude again, his eyes curiously dark. The bald Turk did not completely buy that, but it was quite clearly Reno was getting touchy about it, so he didn't want to push it. "So, you think he's a bad guy?"

"Nah…" He looked distant for a moment. "I just got this feelin'. We need to keep a tab on him though. He could help us anyway."

"And Tammy?"

"Heh… she's a whole different story. She is a problem, because she's obviously related to this Ria Hayler person we're s'posed to be findin'. We gotta just play it by ear." Silence fell over the two Turks as they watched the class. Somebody had managed to hit a girl in the face and cause a nosebleed, and now the rest of them were making a fuss over it. Reno just ignored it. "Can't wait to rub this in Carrie's face… this weren't such a waste of time as she thought it was."

At those words, the doors to the training area opened forcefully, and Rude felt momentarily sure that it was Jack returning. Unexpectedly however, Tammy stalked into the room, her head held high and her dark eyes glaring straight at Reno. The redhead did not looked phased by her return.

"Oi, Tammy!" he called. "Here." He pointed to his feet much like the way one might when talking to a dog, much to Tammy's dislike. She wasn't stupid however, and knew that Reno had a lot of authority over her, and did as she was told.

"What?" she said scathingly.

"See that blonde girl over there?" he pointed over at Elena, who was currently standing on her own at the firing range, concentrating hard. "Tell her I wanna talk to her."

"Yes, sir." Tammy said, her eyes narrowing. she walked over in Elena's direction, and Rude couldn't help but notice how intently he was staring at her. "Hey, Elena!" Tammy flicked her brown her over her shoulder and smiled bitterly at the blonde. The latter just lowered her weapon and stared. "Mr. Superiority over there wants to see you."

"Okay." Elena said simply. She set her gun down and approached the two Turks with slight caution. "Hi…" she looked from Rude to Reno, a slightly worried expression on her face.

"What's your name?" Reno asked loudly, his eyes still fixed on Tammy, who was now using the firing range herself. What a strange question to ask someone he was so well acquainted to, Rude thought. But then, as he looked over at Tammy himself, he figured out why he'd asked. If any of the students figured out that Reno and Elena knew each other, it would probably get Elena in more hot water. Nobody could make the connection between them.

"Um… Elena…" she replied unsurely. "Tammy said you wanted something."

"Good…" the redhead instantly lowered his voice. "Sorry about that. I can't let anyone think I know you… especially not her." he motioned over to Tammy.

"Why not?" Elena asked.

"Don't ask too many questions. That's the first rule of the Turks." Reno said, his tone suddenly changing. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Training to be a Turk." Elena the first hint of bitterness in her tone that Rude had heard. "What else could I be doing?"

"Ya got yaself in deep here, ain't ya?" Reno rested a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't want ya to get involved."

"Yeah?" Elena looked at the hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Well, I'm involved. And I want to know why you're here."

"Yeah, whatever." the redhead shrugged off the harsh tone effortlessly. "Now, I wanted to ask ya something. What'd'ya know 'bout Jack Williams?"

"Not a whole lot. He was here before me." Elena explained, slightly put out by the redheads sudden uncaring attitude.

"Understandably. Have his eyes always been that color?"

"Umm… yeah…" Elena frowned at that seeming randomness of this question, but then seemed to have a second thought. "Oh, I did notice actually… they used to be just bright blue, but then they started getting little brown bits in them."

"Ah-hah!" Reno exclaimed. "That proves it then. Thanks 'Laney. You can go now."

"O-okay, then." Elena looked at Rude with an expression demanding an explanation, but the bald Turk just shrugged. "You're welcome."

Rude understood what the redhead was trying to find out from that little interrogation, and it seemed that he had succeeded. Whoever this Jack person was, his exposure to mako had been before he had joined the Academy, and the substance had been wearing off since then. This only strengthened Reno's suspicions.

What Rude didn't understand though, was why Reno couldn't tell Elena why he didn't want anyone to make a connection between the two of them. Rude assumed that he trusted Elena, otherwise why would he be trying to help her? But still, the redhead seemed to be talking to her like she was a complete stranger, and Elena wasn't impressed with that. What was going on in the redhead's mind?

"I can't wait until things are a bit more normal…" Reno sighed suddenly, fixated on Elena's retreating form. "I hate having to pretty much tell her to shut her mouth… even if it was in a more polite way."

"Why couldn't you have just told her?" Rude asked. It was odd how many times recently the redhead had made comments that made him convinced he was reading his mind.

"I don't want her to know why we're here." Reno was still staring over at his blonde friend, but his voice became more distant and sad.

"Why?"

"Because…" the redhead seemed to snap out of his daydream and turned and looked up at Rude. "… if she knows, the minute something goes wrong, she'll blame herself, and pretty much tear her own heart out."