The noise at the house was starting to get to Dante's ears: it was a mixture of an incessant buzzing and a sensation similar to having a vibrating PHS in his inner ear. As he and Balto climbed the stairs, the music faded to a distant bass that still made everything in the house tremble.

"OK. What now?" Dante asked.

There were long corridors on either side of the stairs and people were walking around in pairs or groups.

"You take that side; I'll go this way. If you find him let me know so that we can tag him while the others arrive."

"Roger." The Turks began walking in opposite directions.

Left turn. Right turn. Dante saw the main gate from the windows in the corridor. Right. Right again. Now he could see the pool in the back and their helicopter in the distance. With that information he made a quick map of the upper level, assuming the side Balto was scanning was a mirror of his side. As Dante had reached a dead end, he began opening doors a few centimeters and listening. Empty bedroom. Bathroom. Bedroom with two guys making out. A closet. Was there no end to that place? Billiards room. Bedroom with a group of people playing spin the bottle. He was reaching for the following door when it swung open and a girl walked out of a bathroom. Right at that moment, a beam of light from one of the searchlights outside passed through the windows and illuminated their faces. Dante half-suppressed a gasp.

"Dan?"

He gulped noisily and after a few more seconds of awkward silence he finally stuttered: "long time no see, Fran."

Elena and Rude were hiding inside one of the companies' SUV's. The polarized windows, in addition to the darkness of the parking lot meant that they could see outside without being seen.

"We've been hiding here for hours. What makes you think he'll come?" Rude asked.

"A hunch. You know, like when you fill in a word in a puzzle, not even knowing if it exists."

Rude had never filled one of the crosswords Elena was so fond of, but for what he had seen, she rarely, if ever, had to erase a wrong answer.

"So… What are we going to do once we capture him?" Rude inquired.

"That's easy! We take him to a secure place and begin interrogation." Elena sipped from her third coffee can. How she had managed to keep herself from going to the bathroom was a mystery.

"You seem awfully sure that he is not just a bored vandal."

"We won't know until we-what was that?"

A faint metallic sound came from the other side of their hideout. To no one's surprise, it was a ventilation shaft being opened from the inside. Elena and Rude watched a young man drop a backpack and then lower himself from the secret entrance a few feet from the ground. He surveyed the area and began walking cautiously.

"What do you reckon he's looking for?" Elena asked while following the intruder across the parking lot with her gaze. Finally, he stopped next to a parked motorcycle, pulled a few tools from his backpack and started loosening some bolts and screws.

"Well, that solves that, he is just a car piece's thief. Let's take care of him," Rude said decisively, making his knuckles crack.

"Rude. Wait…"

"What is it?"

"I mean… Look at him." Elena was examining their target from behind: his unkempt auburn hair, thin frame and, noticeable even through tinted glass, faded shirt and dirty jeans. "He's just some guy from the slums trying to make meets end."

"So?"

"So, I say we just scare him away! No need to bag him up for…"

"Elena. Youreceived the order to..."

"I know I did but-" she gestured hard with her arms, so hard indeed that the SUV rocked just enough to activate its alarm, the echo amplifying the sound in the enclosed space. The thief stood up and began a dash to his entry point.

"No you don't!" Elena yelled dramatically as she jumped from the back of the van. Immediately after landing she tripped and fell to the ground. "Ugh! Crap! Rude, don't let him get away!"

Her partner dashed to the escape route to block the intruder while Elena ran the other way around to trap him from behind. Just as the redhead was about to crash against Rude, he dropped and slid past him right between his legs.

"Damn! He is fast!"

Their target was just a few meters from the ventilation shaft when Elena cast an Ice spell straight at the wall, covering it -along with the intended escape route- with a thick glacier.

"Oh shit!" their target exclaimed as he turned around and began running towards the car entrance. This time, Rude tackled and pinned him to the ground, where he struggled furiously, even with his arm bent against his back at a point where even SOLDIERs would be whining in pain.

"All right kiddo, we have some questions for you!" Elena said as she walked with a cocky smile meant to cover the fact that, given her poor aiming skills, she probably wouldn't be able to shoot him at point-blank.

"Alright, alright! I'll let you know what you-ARRG! Easy back there!"

"No." Rude answered holding his arm from behind. He was stunned at the guy's flexibility and high pain threshold.

"Let's take him to the interrogation room," Elena said as her partner stood up with their arrestee.

"About that…" Rude began.

Clik clik clik.

A small, flat, round object fell from the thief's free hand. A red LED blinked a few moments and then, the device beeped.

"T/S Bomb! Take cov-" Elena yelled to no avail. The device created a gravity sphere that pulled all of them, the light fixtures and even the nearest cars towards it.

"No! Two out of three! There was a draft!" a guy yelled from one side of the table.

"No can do, pal! We beat ya straight and fair, yo!"

"Ya heard m'pal. Now cough da dough!" Ruluf threatened.

Emma, her blazer and tie missing and blouse unbuttoned low, approached the table and stated: "sorry amigo, you agreed to it."

"But-!"

"Are you opposing my judgement? Mine!? The mistress of all party games!?"

The guy reluctantly handed out roll of Gil to Reno. After that, Emma climbed on top of the table and proclaimed: "will anyone dare challenge the masters of beer pong!?"

"I will!" a blond girl yelled from among the public.

"Ah! A brave young woman comes forward! Take your place and place your bets!" Emma announced with the zeal and charisma of a cult leader.

After resetting the cups, the match began. The girl landed a few shots, but as the game progressed, she failed more and more, the ball curving in its trajectory away from the table. The stuffy air and general drunkenness of the audience kept them from noticing Emma's casting of small puffs of wind from the Aero materia on her bracer.

"What are we going to do if we find Felicia?" Judet asked.

"First of all, separate her from those terrorists and determine if she is with them willingly or if she is being manipulated."

"And then…?"

"I have not planned that far ahead. It will depend on her mental state. First we need to find the remnants of AVALANCHE and get rid of Fuhito." Tseng said as they scanned the enormous garden.

The bushes and trees in the back and front yards created all sorts of nooks and crannies to look in. Mostly they hand found couples in the middle of making-out sessions and in various stages of undress, but for the sake of thoroughness they examined everything.

"Even if she is being manipulated via materia, she may not even remember Veld at this point."

"I know. However, we cannot simply walk away from this. As you said, it may be our only chance of helping Veld."

"Have you considered that maybe, even while having his daughter back, he is too far gone?"

"It is something the medical staff told me repeatedly. By itself, the mako exposure on the reactor explosion should have been enough to send him into an addiction-like state."

"Kyaa!"

"Dude! What the fuck!?"

"Never mind us, go on." Tseng said to the interrupted couple as he closed the tool shed door.

"Alright, chief. This means the Turks will have to do all the work. Involving SOLDIER or the army may complicate things. They usually have 'shoot-on-sight' orders."

"That is precisely what I'm concerned about. And that is why we need to find AVALANCHE before hey doo."

"Rufus-"

"-he may know nothing, but I want everyone to follow the plan so that-" Tseng interrupted.

"No! Look! It's Rufus!" Judet pointed at the blonde young man, dressed as usual in white and walking (drunk-stumbling) towards the house, a girl in each arm.

"Send a message to the rest, tell them to move to phase two and meet us in the main hall."

As Judet began typing in her PHS, Tseng walked towards the group.

"Still undefeated!" Emma yelled, spilling some of her drink in the audience below. The onlookers clapped and howled enthusiastically.

"I'm the fucking master here, yo!" Reno yelled. The redhead desperately needed to rake a few more hundred Gil to pay Shinra the damages they had been causing: he had already forgotten the last time he received a full paycheck.

"Ya know t'bet! Take it'off!" Ruluf (now bare-chested) yelled at their latest rival.

"Well, a deal is a deal!" the blonde opponent said and without any more ado, removed her bra in front of everyone. The audience erupted in wolf-whistling and cat-calls.

Emma felt her PHS vibrating, so she pulled it out and read the instructions received. She called Ruluf's attention and then walked to Reno, now busy taking a new dare from a couple of girls. "We'll be back," she whispered in the redhead's ear and then shuffled away from the party. As they left putting theirs suits back on and adopting a professional semblance, the Turks opened each small canvas bags filled with electronic pieces.

"Dan! Where the hell have you been!?"

"Umh, look Fran. This is not the best time," Dante began side-stepping away from his friend, partly to go on with his mission, but mostly, to avoid talking to her.

"Then when? You rarely call and when you do you are all cryptic about what you do!"

Dante was now actively walking away from her. She started following

"Your parents are worried too. They told me you didn't make it into SOLDIER, and you clearly are not a member of the infantry. What have you been-I'm talking to you!" the dark-skinned girl reached up and grabbed a hold of her friend's arm.

Dante stood still, not daring face her.

"I don't care if you can't tell me what it is you do. But at least I want to know that you are OK," she said with a tremble in her voice almost hidden by her demanding tone. The Turk took a deep breath and then turned around to face her.

"Yo are right. I really can't tell you what I do. I'm a security agent of sorts, but that's as far as I can say."

"Like… A bodyguard? I mean, you are here in the Shinra Estate."

"How did you get here anyways?"

"Friend knows a friend who got invited. You know the drill."

"Given how this place is packed with people, I'd reckon he knows everyone in the city."

"More or less, but don't change the subject!"

"Heh. You could always read me like a book."

"Of course Dan. I'm your friend. And I'll always be."

Dante looked at Fran in the eyes and smiled.

"So. Is this a stepping stone towards your objective of becoming a SOLDIER?"

"Ah. Had to scrap that. I cannot make it into SOLDIER. Allergic to the treatment. So I ended up in a secondary… Security division."

"Ah, I see. So?"

"So what?"

"Was it that hard? To tell me what had happened?"

"No. I guess not." Then, without a warning, Fran smacked the back of Dante's head.

"Then what the hell took you so long!?"

"Agh! What was that for?" Dante's PHS began buzzing.

"You had me worried sick! For all we knew you could have joined a gang in the slums or began working as a stripper!"

"Ha! Like I have the nerve to get naked in front of people!" Dante snorted as he opened his PHS and read the message. "I gotta run now."

"I see. Will you stay some time here?"

"I don't think I will."

She then stepped forward and embraced him tightly. "Don't be a stranger then."

"I won't. Promise." Dante returned the hug. "I never thanked you for the materia. Got me out of a pinch a couple times."

"I'm glad it did... … … Hey, Dan?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you carrying a gun?" Fran asked as she rubbed her arm right under his concealed holster.

"Er... Gotta go!" Dante set himself loose and started walking to the entrance. "You should leave soon, though. This place may get messy soon," he told his friend after recalling that Reno and Ruluf had been left unsupervised.

"Shit! Get back here!" Elena yelled as she fired another round from the borrowed shotgun. The window of a car two meters away from her target shattered completely.

Rude found himself again in front of the thief: he managed to block him and deliver a punch that was easily dodged. Rude conceded that the guy was fast. Several more car windows shattered by Elena's poor aiming skills until the shotgun clicked empty.

"Alright! I'm sick of this!" Elena yelled as she dropped the weapon and began casting from her bracer: a strong, cold wind preceded the materialization of a demonic, two-faced purple creature in the middle of the parking lot.

"What the-!" the thief managed to yell before he was tossed like a rag doll across the parking lot and against the wind shied of an undamaged car. Lightning bolts, balls of fire, ground-shattering tremors and explosions later, and the Turk's target lay unconscious on the middle of parking lot.

"Well. We got him." Rude said as he adjusted his glasses. He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his suit and apprehended the thief. As he incorporated, he noticed the complete wreck of cars they were in.

"I think I'll say goodbye to my box." Rude sighted.

"Come on! I didn't hit every car, look! That one is OK!" Elena said, pointing at an elegant limousine with tinted windows that had the Shinra logo painted on the doors.

CLANK

CRASH

A steel pipe landed squarely across the hood of the card.

"Fuck!" Elena yelled "Bring that son of a bitch in! I have questions!"

As Dante waked away he found himself noticing an important fact: Except for Elena and Emma, he knew next to nothing about the rest of the Turks. Did they have families? Friends outside of work? Acquaintances of any kind? He had slowly put together that Cissnei was an orphan and that Freyra had a family near Mideel. But that was as far as he knew. Where did Reno, Rude and the rest came from? His inner questions were stopped as he almost ran into Balto.

"Tseng found Rufus. We have to meet them on the main hall."

"Yeah, got the message. Let's go."

As they descended, they crossed Emma and Ruluf climbing up.

"We'll see ya inna minut'" Ruluf said, giving them a complicit grin.

Back in the main hall, Dante and Balto found themselves in front of a shocking scene:

"What the hell!?"

"At this point, I'm not even surprised," Balto said.

Reno was dancing on top of one table: he had stripped down to his underwear and was pouring shots straight to the onlooker's mouths. Several crumpled bills stuck out of the elastics of his trunks. With a sight, Dante and Balto pushed people out of the way until they reached the table with their exhibitionist partner. Balto punched the back of Reno's leg to call his attention. When the redhead turned around, Dante showed him Judet's message on the PHS.

"Oh, shit!" Reno exclaimed. He jumped down from the table, hastily grabbed his clothes and ran away from the scene just as the Chief and Judet, who was escorting a visibly drunk Rufus, entered the main hall.

"Alright, time to end this party," Tseng said. He tried calling for attention by raising his voice above the noise of the people and music to no avail. He looked at Judet for a moment, as if requesting her help, but she only shrugged, clearly unable to give any reasonable suggestion.

"Fine! Screw this!" Tseng then reached for Dante and in a swift motion, inserted his hand into the rookie's suit, pulled his handgun out of the holster and fired at the speakers on the other side of the room. The guests screamed and ran away from the Turks, leaving them in the middle of a circle clear of people. After the partygoers calmed down and finally went silent, Tseng announced at the top of his lungs: "you have ten minutes to leave this place!"

"Dude, chill!" some guy on the front of everyone said. Tseng answered by firing at the floor, right between his feet. Everyone was out of the property in four minutes.

"Just to be clear chief, your method to empty the house was the same I had in mind, but I scrapped it as to not go overboard," Judet said.

"I swear my patience grows thinner every day," Tseng said as he returned Dante his gun.

After Reno retuned with all of his clothes on, Tseng and the rest of the Turks walked to the living room, where Judet tossed Rufus on to a sofa.

"Ok, ok. I know I may have gone overboard, but there's no need to tell my dad about this incident," Rufus said apologetically.

"That is the least of your troubles now. You evaded your security under false pretenses and exposed yourself recklessly!" Tseng chastised.

"Tseng, calm down! Nobody was hurt! And it was not that big of a p-" he gagged for a moment "-party."

"Rufus, there were like 200 people in here!" Balto said.

"He's right, yo. I mean, I'm popular and my PHS only has like 30 contacts!"

"Yeah, but half of those are girls you never call back!" Dante said.

"We are getting sidetracked here!" Judet interrupted. "Vice-president, we have some questions for you!"

Burp "Say what?" Rufus said.

"Cut the games Rufus, you must already have an idea of why we are here."

Rufus sighted. "Ok, you win. Left door in the other side of the… Bar… Thing over there," the blonde said, pointing to a piece of furniture.

"Dante." Tseng commanded.

"Sir!"

The rookie walked to the elegant wooden bar and opened the indicated door.

"Anything there?" Judet inquired.

"Yeah. But I'm sure it's not what we are looking for."

"What do you mean?"

Dante stood up and showed them a small plastic bag filled with small, multi-colored pills that had smiley faces printed on them. The Turks stood in dumbfound silence.

"Nice," Reno said, finally.

"No! Not nice!" Tseng yelled at his agent with the same tone one uses to scold a puppy that peed on the living room. "Flush those!" He commanded Dante. Not daring to make Tseng angrier and face his ire or worse, loose his desk, the rookie complied with the order.

He returned minutes later just in time to see Judet deliver a soul-splitting slap across the vice-president's face. Reno and Balto stepped forward to restrain their partner.

"I told you I don't know! I was just sending funds!"

"That is bullshit! How did you make the money reach them if you didn't know where to send it to?" Balto asked, glasses askew from holding down Judet.

"I told you! I just transferred funds to some account, I gave that info already! There was no need for me to visit any base or anything!"

"What do you know about the girl!?" Tseng asked.

"Girl? What girl?"

"The girl with Fuhito. The one with the sword!"

"Just one of his followers. I dunno where she came from... Why?" Rufus asked at the end with a curious gaze.

"We are asking the questions, yo."

At that moment, Emma and Ruluf returned from one of the doors on the back. "There was nothing of interest here," she announced. Although Rufus missed it, Dante clearly saw the black-haired Turk give Tseng an almost imperceptible thumb-up. He didn't even raise his forearm.

Tseng snorted. "This is not over Rufus. Until further notice, you will remain in here," Tseng said solemnly.

Rufus sighted. "Well Balto, I guess it's back to you and me."

"Like hell you are. I'm taking my agent back and changing your guard to Infantrymen 24/7. You are not to communicate with anyone outside," Tseng finished.

"What!? That's just-BLUAAAAARRGGG," Rufus threw up on the middle of the living room. He dropped to his knees and went on heaving on the floor.

"Gross," Dante and Judet said in unison.

"We are leaving now. Balto will keep you company until the new guard arrives, then he'll leave for Midgar." Tseng made a quick gesture to his agents and started walking to the backyard. "Another thing. Get your shit together. You are the Vice-President of the company. You father-"

"He isn't even here!" Rufus said from the ground, his usually pristine hair a mess over his forehead. "He never has been and I doubt anything I ever do will make him come or be enough for him!"

"Whatever," Tseng said coldly. The Turks walked away to the helicopter.

Once airborne and heading back to Junon, Dante couldn't help but notice some similarities between himself and Rufus: they both had their lives solved for them to some extent, and where expected to take over the family business eventually. If he had not left to join SOLDIER and eventually, the Turks, would he be a miserable shell of a person like Rufus seemed to be? Then, a small doubt crept to his mind, so he asked Tseng:

"Was leaving the Vice-president without supervision the correct choice?"

"Yes. The Infantrymen know nothing of this, so they will not intervene if he tries to contact Fuhito or AVALANCHE."

"Um… Exactly! Wait, what am I missing here?"

"We want Rufus to contact Fuhito, yo" Reno said from the pilot's seat.

"And he will. Our conversation was directed at bringing his attention towards Felicia. He noticed our interest in finding her," Judet pointed out.

"That's why we bugg'd 'n' wiretapp'd ev'rything in th'house!" Ruluf revealed.

"As soon as he activates any appliance, we'll receive the info on the office. It's only a matter of time now," Emma said proudly while counting bills from a thick wad of Gil on her seat.

"Woa… That's… Really clever…"

"Ya still have much to learn, yo. Hey Emma, you done?"

"You made 7645 Gil, minus my and Ruluf's cut, that is" she answered. She then placed the money under her nose and inhaled deeply. "Ah, the sweet smell of money and for some reason, coconut body oil."

Dante could not bring himself to reveal some of those bills had probably been in contact with Reno's junk.

The stop at Junon only lasted enough to refuel and have a quick meal. It was nearly noon when they arrived at Midgar the following day.

"You know the drill, keep this under wraps for now. I don't want anyone in here finding Felicia is out there. Specially Veld." Tseng said as they walked to the office.

"Understood," Dante said absentmindedly along with his partners. He wanted nothing more than to check the SOLDIER's logs to see if Erick had been dispatched already.

"Well, let's just report our return and then you are all dismissed for the day. I had enough madness to last me a week."

"Yes!" Dante though. He would be able to at least say good-bye to Erick. That hope went overboard as soon as Tseng pushed open the office doors and yelled at the top of his lungs:

"WHAT-THE-FUCK!?"

The usually poker-faced Judet gasped noisily with her mouth wide open.

The floor, walls and desks were covered in clear plastic drop cloth. In the middle of the office a young man in underwear was tied to a metal chair, his mouth covered with duct tape. Elena stood frozen next to him, caught red-handed with half a lemon about to drop some juice on the poor guy's irritated chest. Rude was on the other side, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, holding a shaving razor and a wet cloth on his hands.

"Ah! Chief. Funny story…" the blonde began.

"Good Gaia Elena! What are you doing!?" Tseng asked as he pushed everyone into the office and closed the door.

"Conducting an interrogation, of course!"

"I can see that! But why in the office!?"

The redhead on the chair looked incredulous at Tseng, who was obviously more alarmed by the place the event was taking place in, instead of by the event itself.

"The keys to the interrogation room were in my desk," Rude said.

"What th'hell are ya doing t'him!?" Ruluf asked.

"He was stealing parts from the cars in the parking lot and was carrying a gravity bomb! You don't get those easily! We wanted to know who he's working for!" Elena explained.

"That does NOT explain why you are shaving him, yo!"

"Chest hair is reserved for men that obey the rules. Misbehaving kids will have it removed until they earn it," Rude said with a completely straight face.

"That argument sounds pulled out of one of those telenovelas you watch," Dante stated.

"No shit! That happened last week in 'Pasión bajo las palmeras'!" Emma said.

"People! Focus!" Tseng yelled above the discussion. They all turned to see their chief. They all stood in silence for a few seconds, until the boss finally spoke again: "you know what... I don't want to deal with his right now. Take him to a cell or something, we'll figure something tomorrow morning." After that, Tseng walked out of the office.

The Turks stood in silence for a moment, processing Tseng's sudden abandonment of duties.

"Wow… We are not in trouble…" Elena said.

"That's a first, yo."

"Well, you heard the man. Take him to a cell. And get rid of all this plastic!" Judet said as she ripped one of the plastic sheets from the wall. The rest of the agents followed suit and began cleaning the office nonchalantly, ignoring the muffled pleas of their unwilling guest.

You know how the Turks conduct all sorts of shady businesses?

This is one of them!

Some of you may already know who the "unwilling guest" is, I'll introduce him formally in the following chapter. When I started writing this I never imagined I would end up using almost every Turk in the book! Then again, when I started writing this, I had no idea where the story was going…

Also, the challenge posted in chapter 20 about finding a continuity error in chapter 19 is still on! Has nobody found the error yet?

Thanks to all the followers of this story!

Leave your reviews and comments!

See ya later!