Kei, you naughty! Eden even scared me with that thing she pulled with Charly! btw, happy new year! You're right, it's very maddening, but hey, men, you know?

Chapter 187

Reno wasn't as enthusiastic on the way home as he had been on the way to Healin'. My driving was a lot easier than before, because I simply lacked the energy to take him for a wild spin anymore. It seemed he didn't care about that either. Fortunately, it was only a five minute drive. When we arrived home, I noticed a large, black truck parked halfway up the hill, by the side of the path leading to my house. Who else had joined us? Once we reached my house, I shut off the engine and draped myself over the handlebars with a groan.

"I could just sleep like this right now..." I mumbled, unable to keep my eyes open, even though the headlight was poking into my cheekbone.

"No such luck." Reno commented and slapped me on the thigh, pulling me out of my stupor with a jolt.

A dark shape had appeared on the porch, making me groan even louder in complaint, not understanding what these people were doing up so early. The sun hadn't fully risen yet, and it was still completely dark on this end of the mountains. Still, morning seemed to have arrived in Whiterun. The lights in the kitchen were on and the sound of voices drifted from inside. "Ugh, have mercy," I pleaded to Tseng, once he had made his way over to us, looking immaculate as always.

"Nice of you to join us," He said calmly, and with a serene smile. "This really is your own fault. We are waiting for you. How is Hancock?"

Reno didn't say anything, telling me he would leave it up to me to decide how much detail I wanted to get into. "He's...having a hard time coping with the fact he'll never walk again. Other than that, he's great." There was no need for Tseng to know about Charly's exact mental state, even though they had worked together when Charly had still been a Turk. This was something private. I appreciated the fact that Reno hadn't spilled, something he was notorious for in my experience.

"I can only imagine." Tseng replied. "Whatever he may need from us, please tell him to let us know. Come, we have tactics to discuss. Reno,"

"Chief?"

"You had better be sharp enough for this."

"Yeah, sure, sharp as a razor, Sir." He grinned as he fumbled with my waist absentmindedly. "All I need is a gallon of black coffee and a shower."

"Make it fast." Tseng was already walking back up to the house, his silhouette a little more visible in the waking light.

"You're not using my shower," I said as we got off the bike. "I call dibs, obviously, since it's my shower." I stretched and yawned, getting more alert as the dark twilight slowly made way for morning rays of sun. "Gods, I'm getting too old for this."

"Or," He suggested cheekily as he observed my movements, his eyes pausing on all my best assets. "We could-"

"Don't even say it." I cut him off before he got the words out, knowing damn well what he had been about to say. I had meant for it to sound menacing, but he made me go all giddy inside. He chuckled softly at my response and followed me up the steps. "No more free samples." I added firmly.

"Would hardly call that last one 'free'." He scoffed boldly, and I felt no need to call him on that, already feeling the tips of my ears going red at the recollection. Inwardly, I could only admit that he knew how to show a girl a good time. In fact, I was the one who had gotten a free sample. Deciding I wasn't about to go there, and not have a shower with him -however tempting-, I yanked my front door open and came face to face with Ollie.

Ollie and almost a dozen other people, spread out over various parts of my kitchen and living room. "What the hell..." I breathed in bewilderment as we stood frozen in the doorway. There were the three other Turks, Ollie, Vincent, an unknown, dark haired man who was most likely Reeve in the flesh, Rufus and his nightmarish beast, Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Cid. The only ones I was missing, were Yuffie, who was no doubt hanging around somewhere trying to steal my stuff, and Nanaki. "Uh..." I started as I looked around. "I know that somewhere over the passed hours someone other than myself has made the decision to turn my house into a hotel, but I do not have room to accommodate fourteen people. And a pooch." I nodded at Rufus' companion, still not knowing what it was. He'd called it 'Dark Nation'. As far as pet names go.

"The pooch is the worst, man." Ollie commented as he stood flipping pancakes at the stove, wearing a white and red checkered apron. Where had he found an apron? I didn't even own an apron.

"I dunno," Reno grinned at me before walking inside. "I kinda like this party."

"You guys hungry?" Ollie asked us, holding out two plates for us and rolling his eyeball in the direction of a large stack of steaming, moist looking pancakes.

Reno had politely declined and gone upstairs first to take a shower -completely ignoring my earlier statement- while I sat down on my sofa to have some breakfast. He reappeared in the kitchen some ten-odd minutes later, his spiky red hair dripping with water, leaving droplets all over my wooden floor. While I ate, Tifa had come over to me and had taken care of my still bleeding hand. I never got around to getting any materia, as I knew I should.

"I'll see if maybe Cloud has some spare. If so, I'll get you some next time, all right? You keep getting hurt like this, and it never heals up properly. Do you really want scars all over your body?"

I'd missed her fussing, and I smiled to myself at her motherly behavior. "I have plenty anyway."

"Eden," Tseng addressed me from the kitchen table as Reno plopped down next to him and started shoveling food into his mouth. "If you need to go upstairs, do it now. We're already late. Hurry."

A shower had never felt so good in my life. Another groan escaped my lips at the rapture of it. As the hot fumes rose up around me, my nose faintly caught on Reno's scent, lingering on my skin. For a moment, I didn't want to wash it off, I wanted it to remain there so I could forever remember last night. Naturally, this wasn't an option, but I chose to lose myself in his enticing presence for a little while longer. Scalding water ran down my back, waking up my tired limbs. My body slowly awoke, ready for a new day. I sighed in content and eventually erased all traces of what had happened between us and replaced the scent with that of almond butter.

After washing my hair, I turned off the faucets and opened the fogged up glass cabin. There was more fog hanging around in the bathroom and on the large mirror in front of me, but when my eyes fell on it, I froze, despite the heat. Written on the mirror in sloppy letters, was a phrase.

Gladly paid the price tho'

There was absolutely no doubt about who had put those words there. I'd always known he was a cheeky bastard, but now he was being a down-right wretched flirt. Heat rose to my face and I felt like I was in need of another shower, a cold one this time. As I wiped the message off the glass, I tried hard to wipe the smile from my face at the same time. Needless to say, I failed.

I hopped down the stairs, wearing clean clothes, reloaded weapons, feeling refreshed and clean. As for Reno's message, I had no idea whether to completely ignore it, or respond to it, and if I did, how? It felt like something had shifted between us since our reunion yesterday. The last time I had seen him, which was nearly six months ago, we hadn't been on such good terms. Right now, it seemed he had gone back to being his old self, the way he had been in the very beginning, since my first encounter with Scarlet. In a way, this must be a good thing, meaning he was finally able to be himself around me again, but it also frightened me the way it did then. Frightened me and exhilarated me at the same time.

Tseng had spread out some papers on my living room table and was looking through them with Cloud on the sofa, discussing quietly. I caught a glimpse of Ollie through the window, talking on his phone outside. Vincent was standing alone in a corner, something he preferred that way. I made a mental note to reminded myself to ask him why Nanaki wasn't with us. He and the wise animal were closest, as I recalled. Rufus and his pooch were nowhere to be seen, and I secretly hoped he'd gone back to Healin'. Tifa was in the kitchen taking care of the dishes, with a heavily grumbling Cid and Barret, who complained drying off a plate with one hand wasn't possible. The three remaining Turks had posted themselves at my kitchen table the same way they used to do when they had been staying here. Their heads were close together, as if they were discussing company secrets. Which, come to think of it, they probably were. Reno's eyes flicked over to me for a brief moment, but he focused right back on the conversation at hand. The absence of his usual devilish smirk made me wonder whether the message he'd left me might have been a serious one. Up till now I had simply conceived it as a taunt, since he just loved to tick me off. But, what if it wasn't? Why did he have to go and do such things? As soon as he had acknowledged me, so did Elena, with the all the contempt she could muster. Though unlike last time, she refrained from having a public outburst. I had no doubt she'd already enlightened Tseng about the goings on of last night and by the look on her face, it hadn't worked out the way she'd hoped. So, that was my fault too, obviously. Rude nudged her in the shoulder when he saw what she was looking at, and she aborted her attempt to stare me to death.

At that moment, Rufus walked in, followed by his deadly looking pet and then Ollie, who closed the door behind them. "Let's get started," Rufus stated, as if the whole world had been waiting for him to arrive. The animal sat itself down neatly beside him and started to wash its face with a paw. It was almost cute. Almost.

"Uh..Tseng?" Ollie asked hesitantly, not quite sure how to address the Turk.

"Yes?" Tseng maneuvered his body to properly look at Ollie, offering him his full attention.

"I was wondering if maybe we could take Eva to the Healin' Lodge, to keep her safe. She's with a friend in Edge now, but since Edge ain't safe either..."

"Who is Eva?" Rufus asked coldly. "I was talking, you know."

Ollie grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes. He was more than familiar with my stories about Rufus and his cold demeanor. He wasn't so different from Sephiroth in my opinion, just more spoiled. "She's my girlfriend, dick." Ollie snapped.

Rufus sneered and whipped out his double barreled gun in threat. There were few things the former self-proclaimed leader of the world was sensitive to. One of those things was his pride being hurt.

I moved to stand before Ollie, shielding him with my body. One hand was perked on my gun, ready to act if necessary. "I dare you," I warned Rufus, who's blue eyes were now dancing with macabre amusement. "This is my house."

"Hmpf..." He chuckled darkly and replaced his weapon. "Take the girl to Healin', I don't care. Now, can we get started on important matters or are there more things to mope about before we do?"

I stepped back from him with a glare, but he only smiled at me, giving me shivers. As I did, I bumped into someone standing behind me.

"Sorry," A polite male voice said and he made room for me.

I looked him up and down for a second. "So, you're Reeve, huh?" I whispered to the dark haired man in a summer-sky blue suit who now stood beside me. "Can't say you look how I had imagined you to." I estimated him around Tseng's age, maybe a little older, somewhere halfway passed thirty, nearing forty. Dark eyes, black hair that reached between his shoulder blades, and a nicely trimmed beard and shadow above his lip. I'd always imagined Reeve to be...less stylish, for lack of a better word. I had expected someone like Ollie, actually.

"I'm pleased to finally meet you," He held out his hand for me to shake. It was strange to meet someone for the first time while they knew everything about you.

One by one, everyone joined us, filling up my kitchen, despite its size. Cloud and Tseng got up from the sofa, breaking up their conversation. Tseng took up position beside Rufus, his hands once more folded neatly before him. I saw him share a warm smile with Elena, who still sat at the kitchen table with Reno and Rude. They had made themselves right at home again, with Reno having thrown his feet up on the table like last time, balancing his chair on two legs.

"I'm gonna go call Eva." Ollie said moodily from beside me and pushed his way through the crowded room, and out the door.

Tifa took his place, smiling at me. "I'm so happy to see you again," She whispered. Cloud showed up on her other side, making me wonder if maybe her dating Jerry had suddenly stirred some feelings inside of him. "I feel like it's been forever since-"

Rufus cleared his throat and leaned back against the kitchen island, crossing his arms over his chest. "Here's how it is. Deepground is better equipped than we thought them to be. They have large numbers, and are in possession of advanced weaponry and battle aircrafts. They are smart and they are strong. We've already determined they're not human-."

"Cut the crap," Barret growled, voicing what most of us were probably thinking. Reno had told me as much last night. "We all know they're ex-SOLDIER bein' experimented on. Stop tryin' to cover shit up. Jus' tell it like it is. Damn Shinra..." He added as an afterthought, though more to himself than to Rufus.

Once he'd said this, it occurred to me that the same thing could have happened to me as a deserter. Max had been arrested and supposedly executed for treason and was one of the SOLDIER they had used for their experimentations. He was now a big part of Deepground. Shinra had wanted to execute me for the same reason, and if I hadn't escaped from the Shinra building twice, I might have been altered and experimented on too. I might also have been enemies with all the people in this house. My body shuddered at the thought.

"Very well," Rufus continued. "They were experimented on, enhanced in other ways than average SOLDIER members." His eyes danced over to me for a moment, daring me to say something about being called average. Knowing what those experiments could do to a person, I was perfectly content being average.

"In other ways how?" Cloud wanted to know. Apparently, he didn't want another Sephiroth either. He was even more involved in this, since he had been enhanced in one of those 'other ways' Rufus spoke of.

"They have...certain abilities due to certain cells," Tseng explained from the other end of my kitchen. His eyes met Rufus' for a moment, before deciding he didn't need permission. "Genesis cells."

"You've got to be kidding me..." I grumbled just as Cloud said, "Don't you people ever stop?" All heads turned in his direction, but Cloud focused his attention solely on Rufus. His blond brow furrowed in anger. "How many more times is history going to repeat itself? You never learn, do you?"

"This is from before Meteorfall, Cloud-" Rufus explained, though there was no sorrow in his eyes. I wondered if he was even capable of such emotions. Last year, when he had come to us for help, he seemed regretful over the things his company had done in the past, and he wanted to make it right. Looking at him now, I wasn't so sure. He was a very difficult person to read, full of secrets and hidden agenda.

The door opened and Ollie stepped back inside, seemingly a lot more cheerful than when he'd stepped out. I wondered if Eva had been mad at him for leaving and joining us like this. He dragged up a chair and sat himself down with the Turks.

"I don't care," Cloud shook his head, ignoring the 'Hey man' that Reno greeted Ollie with as he sat down beside him. "You keep turning to us to clean up after you. I want you to tell me right now, is there more we should know about? If you lie to me, this is the last time we'll be considered allies."

"You would just let them destroy the cities?" Rufus asked, pretending wonder.

"Of course not," Cloud said firmly. "But we'll be enemies, like we used to be."

Rufus seemed to be weighing his options in the sudden heavy silence that fell, telling me that yes, there were many more things he had been hiding from us, and from the world. When he was about to reply, a little ninja landed beside the stairs, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Got any food left?" Yuffie asked, either oblivious or uncaring to the fact we were in the middle of a meeting.

"No," Ollie replied. "Should've gotten here sooner then."

"Whatever," She snapped at him before looking at me. "Who wrote that on your mirror?"

I felt myself go red in the face when eyes turned to me at her curious question. I was fairly certain I had wiped those words away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Reno grinning into his hand. I decided to play it dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"There's words written on your mirror in the bathroom upstairs. It says: ad rice. Who did that?"

"I dunno," I shrugged, feeling relieved that at least she hadn't seen the entire message. "Hungry ghosts?"

"Uh, I'm pretty sure goats can't write, dummy." She shook her head as if not believing how naive someone could be and made for the door. "I'm gonna go check out these goats. This is boring."

I asked myself whether I had been this way when I had been her age, and the answer was probably yes. The door slammed shut behind her and silence fell once more.

"This organization seriously lacks discipline." Rufus stated dryly, clearly not appreciating the comings and goings.

"We're not an organization," Cloud corrected him. "Half of these people don't even want to be here, but they're forced to because you keep messing up. Now answer my question."

Rufus sighed deeply. "Many of the records we had were lost in the destruction of Shinra, Inc HQ. I don't know everything, Cloud. All I can tell you, is that we no longer indulge ourselves in human experimentations."

"But there's other things you're keeping from us." I made it sound like a statement, not a question, because I already knew the answer. I shared a look with Cloud, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me.

Rufus' gaze met mine. "If you're under the assumption that I'm going to spill every company secret there is to you, then you assume wrong."

"And yet you stick your nose in everyone else's business and think it's your right."

"We're not here to argue, Eden. Unfortunately, there will always be matters we disagree on. For now, let it be enough that we've bettered our ways."

"Consider yourself warned," Cloud said. "I guess we'll see what happens in the future. What is it these people want?"

It was Vincent who answered, the sound of his deep voice coming from the other side of the room, where he stood leaning against the wall by himself. "I met two of them in person, back in Kalm. A large man and a young girl." Ollie and I shared a knowing look. These were two of the people we had run into. I looked at my palm at the memory, but luckily, Tifa's healing skills had taken care of most of that. All that remained was a little white star-shaped scar. "They asked me about 'protomateria'. It means nothing to me."

"Azul the Cerulean and Shelke the Transparent," Tseng explained. "The fifth and sixth member of the Tsviets, as they have named themselves. They are the elite leaders of Deepground."

"Those two were in the woods tonight," I broke in before Rufus could continue. "They must have followed Vincent here from Kalm. Along with one of our former friends." The thought made me angry all over again. Cloud's eyes snapped to mine in surprise. "Max," I said to him. "He's one of them."

"Fourth member of the Tsviets," Tseng nodded in acknowledgment. "Max the Luminous."

"I remember Max from the academy," Cloud replied. "He wasn't in my squad, but I remember when he was promoted to SOLDIER. Is this true?" He demanded of Rufus.

"You can't possibly expect me to know all their names. I'm not a scientist. I just sign the papers." His arrogance did nothing to cool my anger over Max's treatment, and I wondered if Rufus was even capable of emotions. "If it is, then I regret it very much, but let's not forget, this was before my appointment. My father was the one who authorized all of the science projects. I know nothing about any of this."

"Don't act like a damn saint!" Barret suddenly cursed, pointing his finger at Rufus. "We all know Shinra's dirty, an' we all know that shit ain't gonna change, despite what ya might claim! Bettered our ways, my #&%!"

"Guys!" Tifa scolded with a huff, putting her hands on her hips in a way that was all Tifa. Incidentally, I noticed Rude throw her a glance, and I could have sworn there was a hint of appreciation on his features. It was difficult to say, with his shades and all. "Rufus is right, we're not here to fight!" She continued. "We're here to find a solution to a problem. It doesn't matter who started this. We've worked together before, we're not enemies anymore. Can we focus on the issue, please?"

Barret looked ashamed of himself at his sudden outburst, but it didn't really come as a surprise to anyone. He had always been the one with the biggest grudge against Shinra.

"What is this 'protomateria'?" Cloud asked Rufus. He seemed to be losing his patience and wanted answers. "And what does Vincent have to do with it?"

Rufus stared at him for a long while, making me wonder whether he was trying to find a way out of telling the truth. "I have no idea." He finally said, unblinking. Was he such a great liar, or did he really not have a clue?

"Yeah, right.." Barret mumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"We can look into it," Tseng offered. "It is what we do, retrieving information. If it is out there, we will find it."

"Let me get this straight," Cid opened his mouth for the first time. "We'll be out there on the front-line getting' out asses handed to us, and ya'll be sittin' around in some library reading magazines? That's how it's gonna be, huh?"

"No one said anythin' yet about front-lines, sport," Reno said to him, still rocking his chair back and forth. "Besides, each his own. We read, you roll in the dirt."

"Are ya tellin' me we won't be doin' any fightin'? Then what are we even here for?"

"An explanation," I said, folding my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes at Rufus. "I'm going to need more than 'Enhanced SOLDIER members'."

Rufus sighed. "Every bit of information we have...we got from Reeve. He's found Scarlet's old files when they reopened Shinra, Inc HQ. Beside Heidegger, Scarlet and Hojo, no one knew of the Project. But since you murdered them, we can't ask them, now can we? You want an explanation? I don't have one. This is all I know."

I looked at Reeve, who seemed less than pleased to be at the center of attention. "I was just head of Urban Development. I've told Vincent all I know, which isn't much."

"Hojo was Head of Project?" Cloud asked Vincent, who simply nodded in reply. "Damn it..." Cloud cursed softly.

"We received a very disturbing broadcast from who we assume is their leader. Weiss the Immaculate," Reeve added. "He was talking about cleansing the world, and...had very...colorful ways of describing what would happen to the unworthy. Things I do not wish to repeat. We were attacked right after."

"I want to see that file you were showing Cloud," I said to Tseng, who nodded politely and moved over to the table to get it for me. I sat myself down at the table opposite Ollie and opened the file.

"Thought you hated reading?" Reno landed his chair on all fours with a bang and propped an elbow up on the table, lazily resting his head in his palm.

"Nope, just files." I replied, my eyes resting on the picture of a young man with ghostly white hair. Weiss the Immaculate.

"So..." Reno's voice pulled me from my thoughts. "Not words in general?"

At his teasing tone, my gaze left the file to look up at him. A cunning, shrewd smile spread across his face, his eyes twinkling deviously. "You're a scoundrel," I said to him coldly, hoping to cool down my own heartbeat. This seemed to amuse him even more, and I was once again reminded of how much he liked to torment me with his taunting. "But don't worry," I then said in a dry tone. "I'll remember to add rice."

Ollie almost choked on his own tongue and only then did I realize he was listening in on the conversation.

"Little minx," Reno mused at me as he pounded him on the back a few times to help him out.

I didn't think he deserved any help. "Let him choke," I said while my eyes scanned over the first page of the file again. There were pictures of others. A dark haired, obscured young man. The picture wasn't very clear. Nero the Sable. According to the file, he was Weiss' brother. My eyes found Azul too, and the young girl, Shelke. And Max. Sweet Max...whatever happened to you? There was one more picture in the file. Rosso the Crimson. A female. Beneath the photo's was a description of some kind. Some words sprung out from the page, words like; teleportation, psychokinesis, pyrokinesis and transformation. Was this stuff for real?

"You all right?" Reno's voice dropped to a more serious tone and I assumed he wasn't asking Ollie, who had by now stopped coughing. I also assumed he was referring to the stressful situation back at Healin' Lodge. Was I? I hadn't given it much thought since leaving the place. Which by itself must mean I was doing just fine.

"Yeah...I think so," I replied. "You?"

"Considering you scared the crap outta me, I'm pretty good." He smiled and I returned my gaze to the file, feeling guilty that I'd done that to everyone.

I could only imagine how he had felt at the time. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay, babe," He whispered reassuringly, before he heaved a sigh and focused his attention back on the room and groaned in a low voice, "C'mon, enough with the yappin'..."

Meanwhile, the meeting continued as Cloud and Vincent discussed plans with Rufus and Tseng. I never cared much for plans, it was all about improvisation with me. If they wanted me to do this their way, then they could handle the details and simply tell me what to do.

"So they were gathering people?" I heard Cloud ask Vincent. "Why?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Well, I ain't waitin' on those punks to make a move," Barret suddenly growled, waving his metal arm around. "I say we unite and show them what we got!"

"It's not that simple," Rufus said, though exactly why not, he never got to say. At that moment, at least five phones received a message.

Alarm welled up inside me and my hand had never moved to my pocket so fast in my life. The messages were from Charly.

Edge under attack. Gettem asses over there!

Ollie had also received the message, and was on his feet before even I was, almost knocking Reno off his chair. "We need to go!" Ollie yelled and started running around the kitchen in his apron.

Rude snatched him by the cuff as he passed a second time and held him in place until he calmed down.

"Cloud, Reeve, Vincent," Rufus ordered. "Take your teams to Edge and hold them off. My Turks will see what they can dig up about Deepground and this protomateria they mentioned."

I wanted to argue with him, tell him that I didn't take orders from him, but the others were already halfway out the door, making for the large truck outside.