"Well look at you!" Dante said at his handiwork.
"Um, question: why is it so tight in the butt?" Cissnei asked.
"The butt? These pants are tighter than yoga pants!" Alvis exclaimed, shuffling his hands inside his pockets in a poor attempt of re-arranging his uncomfortably crumpled underwear.
"We had to improvise. We didn't have anything like this in the disguise closet," Dante said, straightening Chuck's bow tie.
"Still better than the Shinra fatigues I had to wear," the blond said through a hardly-concealed smile, courtesy of this newest assignment.
"Speaking of, you still owe me 500 Gil for the missing helmet," Cissnei remarked.
"Ok, but why did you choose us for this part of the mission in particular?" Alvis cut in.
"Because you three are the only ones with weapons small enough to be concealed. Plus, we'll be up close and personal with the targets. If need arises, we'll be ready to get everyone to safety or do damage control."
"Reno also has a concealable weapon and I don't see him in the monkey suits with us," Alvis scoffed.
"Do you see Reno handling one of these?" Dante pointed at the cargo on their hands. "Besides, he is manning the outside with Emma and given their post, they are probably having a blast," Dante said. "Now, are you ready?"
A collective nod ensued while his partners lift the silver plates with entrées.
"Then let's go!"
The Turks began their duties, this time, posing as waiters for an elegant upper-plate restaurant.
Four days earlier
"You're kidding," Balto stated.
"No, I'm not. And unless Heidegger and President Shinra were kidding too, we have a LOT of work to do," Veld stated matter-of-factly.
"Why would they…? How did they…? This whole situation is just bonkers!" Judet said.
"And highly suspicious if you ask me!" Elena said from behind her usual post at the monitoring station, now labeled the 'dirty voyeur desk'.
"Exactly. That is why we are charged with the security of the whole event," Tseng said.
"So, are you gonna… You know…?" Chuck began timidly.
"Odin's spear, no!" Veld exclaimed. "We are, for once, just gonna make sure things flow smoothly, and if someone tries anything fishy, we intervene."
"And we'll be doing it how exactly?" Freyra asked.
"Posing as anything not directly involved in our mission," Veld said.
A few of the agents made puzzled faces, trying to piece together the meaning behind that statement.
"In short: simply ensure Shinra and Wutai sign a peace treaty."
"World peace," Dante said drily. "You are asking us to help achieve world peace."
"Is that too much to ask?" Tseng asked without expression. Whether he was being sarcastic or dead serious was anyone's guess.
It appeared that after the months-long Fort Condor battle, were Genesis had reduced several Wutaian units to minced-meat, President Shinra had suddenly decided to try broker a peace treaty. Not only was the Wutaian ruler traveling to Midgar with a small entourage to meet Shinra's top executives and the President himself, but was also tentatively agreeing to surrender a small disputed territory as a sign of good faith.
The logistics, security detail and overall planning for the event were beyond anything the Turks had planned so far, and Veld wasted no time in pulling all hands to deck, including Chuck and Elena, to help.
Within the hour of announcing the mission, the Turks began an assembly line of sorts for their plan: a team began printing layouts of the restaurant, another team went scouting the area in person, another started opening drawers in the disguise closet and Chuck was tasked with something even more important: keep fresh coffee flowing for everyone.
It soon became apparent that they could not cover all possible posts without arising suspicion nor cover none without achieving the same: while Veld was expected to be at the table along with the Shinra group and Tseng to stand by next to him, it would be impossible to have all the other twelve Turks posing as staff. Most didn't fit the typical looks of a waiter: and Reno and Ruluf's wild hair styles would call unnecessary attention to themselves; Rude's poor acting skills meant he could not play anyone in a speaking role and Judet's rather ungraceful manners would immediately place her in the spotlight. It was then where Dante suggested to assign the waiter gig to those that looked inconspicuous enough to be near the main table without arising suspicion. Tseng accepted the suggestion immediately and put him in charge of choosing a small team to pose as waiters while having the rest populate the restaurant in other roles.
Reno and Emma were designated as bartenders, while in a strange turn of events, Elena and Ruluf were to play ambient musicians. Finally, to red-herring the Wutaians away from the fact that they would be surrounded by undercover agents, Freyra, Balto, Rude and Judet would be playing themselves, if anything, because it would be unthinkable (not to mention suspicious) that the Shinra bigwigs would be out of their steel tower without the famous Turks as bodyguards.
Dante began the simple, yet arduous task of teaching his waiter team the many intricacies of table-serving and general customer attention. His background at the family's inn lacked experience in serving five-star restaurants, but the overall principles were mostly the same. Soon, Cissnei, Chuck and Alvis were walking around the cafeteria, balancing John's coffee cups and water-filled glasses.
"No! Alvis, you look like you are afraid of dropping the tray!"
"Duh! I am!"
"I know, but even if you are, you gotta look confident in your work."
A crash interrupted the instruction, and Dante turned to see a pool of water among broken glass.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Chuck said timidly, making great effort to carefully balance the remaining glasses on his tray.
"I got it!" John said, before walking around his post and starting to clean the mess. "So, who's gonna pay for these?" He whispered nervously at Dante, resisting the urge to bite his nails at the sight of Alvis' dangerous stumbles.
"Just add it to our tab."
Later that night, Dante went to his room to try get some sleep, as Veld had ordered their presence early the next day to continue working on their plan.
Much to his surprise, Dante found Erick already in his apartment, barely putting down a bag of takeout food.
"Hey. I was just returning with these. I assumed you'd be busy with security planning."
"How did you…? Kunsel, right?"
"Not this time," he said with a smile. "We were informed of the situation. SOLDIER will be handling perimeter security," he said while opening the bags and taking out the food containers.
"So we'll be locked in?" Dante said.
"Yup. A two-block radius. I thought you knew."
"Actually no. I guess Heidegger is hiding info from us again. But thanks for the heads up!" Dante said while taking a first bite. "At least I know you'll be nearby if I need help."
"You bet I will," Erick said with a hopeful smile.
A horrible screeching stopped everyone dead in their tracks at the office.
"Sorry, sorry," Elena said dismissively, turning off the feedback-causing microphone. "All right. From the top: one, two…"
"Elena, why are you rehearsing in here?" Freyra asked from behind a table filled with red-marker-scrawled floor plans.
"We need to practice! We are supposed to be pros!"
"Nobody gonna believ'we-" Ruluf began.
"I get that! But did you really need to bring in the piano!?" Judet yelled, walking sideways between the large instrument and a desk to reach the other side of the office.
"How did you do it anyway?" Rude asked, noting the door was nowhere large enough for the ordeal.
"Oh, that's easy! I shrunk it with a Mini spell!"
"What on Gaia!" Dante exclaimed as he walked in with the waiter team.
"Ugh, seriously Elena?" Cissnei sighed from behind her partner.
"What? We need to practice!" The blonde said accidentally over the microphone, her voice magnified several times in the enclosed office. With a sigh, Dante crawled under the piano towards Veld's office to inform of his recent finding regarding the SOLDIER security perimeter.
"Cool! Wait… How did you get it in?" Chuck asked.
"We're wasting valuable time'n explanations!" Ruluf
"You are wasting time, period!"Tseng yelled from his office as soon as Dante opened the frosted glass door. "Take that thing out of here and go use a training room. Or better, the basement maze!"
"Fine!" Elena said before casting a Mini spell on the piano, which shrunk to the size of a watermelon. "But the acoustics down there is shit!"
Dante entered the office and began reporting his new findings on the extended security detail.
"That fat bastard!" Veld exclaimed, shuffling some papers. "He purposely left that out!"
"Yup. Luckily, I have my sources." Dante said, delivering a group of folded papers. Those were photocopies of SOLDIER's security plan, secretly made by Erick.
"Excellent!" Tseng said, skimming over the papers. "Good work." Tseng said as he walked past Dante to the door, probably to order someone add the information to the Turk's plan. "What are you doing!?"
"Well chief, we gotta practice! We are supposed to be pros!" Reno said unabashedly.
Everyone had a glass with a different cocktail, courtesy of the bartending team, that had a myriad of bottles, shakers and ever a cooler filled with ice in the office. Reno's old 'totally not booze'-labeled box now doubled as a mixing table.
"Nah. Something's amiss in this one," Balto said, sipping from an orange-colored concoction.
"Stop drinking during your shift! Or at the very least try to hide it!"
"Calm down mister goody-two-shoes," Veld said his second in command. "Vesper Martini. Stirred, extra lime," he instructed Emma.
"Classy!" the blonde said before starting to mix the cocktail.
"Chief!" Tseng exclaimed, half chastising, half scandalized.
"Loosen up. We still got a long shift ahead of us!" He concluded, drink in hand, while walking back to his office.
The following day was spent on tracing escape routes and evacuation points based on Dante's new findings. While they couldn't be sure the SOLDIER plans were not going to be changed last minute, it was decided it was better than working blind. As usual, Dante got the strange feeling that a mission going too well on the planning stage would inevitably end in disaster, but decided to ignore it in favor of actively trying to find any weak points in their plan. Then again, he was also afraid that, like two missions ago, he'd lose the edge on a critical moment. Constantly rejecting Alexander Holies from a teasing Reno didn't help calm his nerves, either.
Later that night, Dante walked into his apartment to find Erick sitting on the couch, elbows on top of his knees and his head low.
"Hi," the Turk said tentatively. Something about his boyfriend's semblance seemed off.
"Hi. I didn't hear you come in," Erick began, a forced smile on his face.
An awkward silence followed.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah. I was just… Removed from the security detail."
"Oh. I'm-I'm sorry." Dante said. He knew how important it was for Erick to regain his good standing in SOLDIER after the Fort Condor mishap. "What happened?" the Turk asked while sitting next to him. "Wait… They didn't find about you leaking us the secury-"
"No, no… Don't worry. It... It was Genesis."
Dante made a puzzled face. "He's not in charge of that is he? I thought Angeal was taking care of it."
"He is. It's just…" Erick took a long, deep breath. "We were in formation today. Angeal was reading a dossier, Genesis walked by and saw me and then my name in charge of one of the units." He fisted his hands so hard the leather of his gloves creaked. "Then and there he remembered how I seem to have a knack at interacting with civilians, so he transferred me to patrol duty in the commercial district." His jaw was trembling slightly.
"Shit. That asshole," Dante said, slumping on the couch.
"How the fuck am I supposed to be taken seriously again if all I do is being relegated to guard duty!?"
"Maybe it's not the right time now." Dante began, trying to reassure Erick. "Genesis' more experienced, so maybe he just wants to give you time to cool down before-"
"Oh, come on!" Erick exclaimed, standing up and pacing around the room. "He did that on purpose! I'm this close of being thrown into the central pillar with that weirdo Roche!"
"You don't know that! And you have nothing to prove to anyone!"
"I do!" Erick yelled, bashing his fist against the drywall, which unsurprisingly, cracked. He took slow, deliberate breaths to calm himself down. "I'm sorry. It's just... I gave up a lot to come here." Dante reached from behind and held him tightly. "This is all I wanted and besides you… It's all I have right now…"
"Hey, hey," Dante said, reaching from behind. "Nothing's lost just yet. I'm sure you'll get a new chance soon. But until then, being angry and snappy at others will just harm any progress you make."
Erick calmed down, and after some long, deliberate breaths, finally said: "you are right. No point in crying over spilled mako now. I'm just getting tired of being on standby."
"That what you are bored about? Lack of exercise?"
"Why are we here?" Erick asked as Dante turned on the lights.
"You said you needed exercise," Dante said, pushing him to the center of the deserted training room.
"I get exercise, what I meant is that I have not been able to actually use my-woah!" he exclaimed, barely dodging a roundhouse kick to the head. "What are you doing?"
"Come on! We haven't sparred in months now!" Dante threw an easily-blocked elbow strike.
"Y-yeah… But now?" Another dodge.
"Why not?" A kick to the abdomen.
"Oomphf-because…!"
Erick lunged forward and maneuvered Dante towards the floor.
"You are gonna get too good at fighting and outclass the other Turks!"
"Ha! Fat chance!" Dante turned his legs and twisted his lower body to pin Erick to the floor. "Practically half of them can easily kick my ass without breaking a sweat."
Effortlessly, Erick sat up, Dante's bodyweight and arms doing nothing against the SOLDIER's strength.
"You make me break a sweat."
"Yeah…" Dante leaned to give a kiss. "But never from sparring," he added with a sly grin.
The sparring session went on for about thirty minutes. As expected, Dante was sweating and completely out of breath, while Erick's respiration was barely above usual.
"See. That's all you needed!" Dante said, lying on the floor. After recovering a bit, he sat up and told Erick. "Go for it when it arrives."
"When what arrives?"
"The opportunity! To regain a good standing in SOLDIER. Until then. Just be as you always were."
"Heh. I guess I'll be," he said with a tentative smile.
"-n't fucking care what that fat bastard says!" a voice said from outside the training room.
"That's why I'm telling you to seek assistance from Hojo."
"Is that-!?" Dante barely managed to say before the training room doors opened.
"Are you actually suggesting me to grovel in front of that wacko for-what are you doing here!?" Genesis interrupted himself at the sight of Dante and Erick, the latter, standing in attention.
"At ease, SOLDIER," Genesis' companion, none other than Sephiroth, said.
"Don't you undermine me! You two! What are you doing here?"
"Sir! We were just-"
"You know what? I don't care! Report to the brig for detention!"
"Sir?" Erick asked.
"Wait what?" Dante intervened.
"Genesis, calm down," Sephiroth said in his usual monotone. "You two, leave now!"
Dante and Erick used the higher-ranked man's command to escape before Genesis had time to snap back at them.
"Don't tell me to calm down! Just because you are perfect doesn't mean that-"
Genesis' rant was cut as Dante closed the door behind. They did not speak until they were safely inside the elevators.
"See. That guy has a grudge on me," Erick said, dishearten.
"I think he was having a bad day. Why Hojo, though?"
"SOLDIERs have to go see Hojo once in a while for a quick medical check-up. Even Sephiroth. Not Genesis, though. He and Angeal go see this Hollander guy."
"Genesis' sick?"
"Who knows. I heard they were in some sort of accident a few weeks ago."
Finally, the day of the mission came. Much pomp and grandeur was spent on the Wutaian dignitaries, who were received with an astoundingly large astroturfing crowd paid by none other than Shinra. All that fake joy had the simple purpose of pressuring the visitors into accepting the treaty, which, Dante heard en route to their mission, was rather biased in favor of Shinra.
"The house always wins," Freyra had said with a sneer.
Preparations at the site began just past noon, when all the staff from the restaurant was removed and replaced by Shinra employees. The Turks then began the arduous labor of scanning every nook and cranny in the place to search for previously concealed weapons, video cameras, microphones, wire traps and even for powder poison smeared on the menus.
Finally, hours into their mission, the representatives and Shinra executives entered the restaurant. Pretending not to know their partners or chiefs, the Turks already in disguise went on with their duties.
"Then let's go!" Dante said before walking in with their silver plates.
Then, the unexpected happened: everything went well.
Dante and their team were serving the third course, already on edge that everything was going so smoothly and developing in such an anticlimactic way they missed a young person wandering around the place, her gaze fixed on the large aquarium at the back of the restaurant and occasionally running around the place, as children usually did in these boring events.
Dante was pouring wine in director Tuesti's glass when President Shinra decided to ask:
"So, Mr. Godo. About the territory surrounding Fort Tamblin…?" It was said in a tone between tired and condescending towards the Wutaian ruler, no subtleties at all.
Dante could hear Tuesti take a muted, sharp breath and hold it, no doubt dreading the many possible outcomes of such a tactless discussion. Dante walked to the next person and began carefully pouring wine.
"Mr. Shinra always to the chase," Godo said, bemused.
"Well, this is a business meeting after all," Heidegger said. "No point leaving the main course out."
"I think our Leader Godo would prefer to discuss the important issues in a more professional setting," a Wutaian war general said, care in his tone.
After a few tense seconds, President Shinra smiled and concluded: "Very well. We don't want to rush this, do we?"
A couple of people in both Shinra and Wutai's sides of the table went on breathing normally. Regular chatter resumed some time later, and everyone had joined in amicable conversation by the time Dante began walking away.
"Oomph!"
"Sorry mister!" The little girl running about said after running face-first into the Turk's side.
No other event of importance unfolded until dessert, when finally, things began going awry. It began with Freyra moving away from her position behind the Shinra executives to the other side of the table to make one of the Turk's subtle-yet-urgent facial gestures to Tseng. They both left the room discretely and entered the kitchen so that Freyra could relieve the ever-so-pressing message.
Dante returned to the kitchen with and empty tray just in time to not hear much about what was going on and yet, enough to know shit was about to hit the fan:
"What do you mean you lost your shotgun!?"
"I didn't lose it, it was stolen!"
"That is even worse! How on Gaia does one pickpocket a dammed shotgun!?"
"Steal materia!" Elena announced from the door, her glittery dress shuffling softly as she moved.
"Wait what?" Cissnei began. "That's impossible, we Sense'd the entire room and all Wutaians to make sure there were no weapons, materia, firearms, explosives or poisons! Hell, I even removed one of those mail-order CD subscriptions! You name it! The place is safe!"
"Not quite," Elena began: "Sense can only detect certain materia until they are cast."
"Enough fanwanking! We don't even know if the shotgun was stolen via magic or-"
"Oh but it was! I Sense'd when it was cast!"
"What!? And you didn't tell us!?"
"Duh! Have you not listened to me singing 'Glendale train' in a loop for fifteen minutes straight?"
"That was your idea of warning!?" Dante asked.
"That could've been you not knowing any other song!" Tseng chastised.
Elena gasped in shock, offended.
"Guys! The shotgun is still missing!" Freyra pressured.
"Oh not only that! Whosoever is casting Steal has already pickpocketed multiple people!" Elena announced proudly.
At the revelation, Dante reached to the back of his blazer, only to find the holster of his handgun empty and Erick's Wutaian knife gift missing.
"Shit shit shit!" Alvis exclaimed, revealing his weapon was missing too.
"Dammit! How did it even-!?" Cissnei said.
"Are you telling me half my team has been pickpocketed without anyone noticing!?" Tseng said in a shouting-whisper.
"Um, we need to collect dirty dishes," Chuck said timidly, peeking through the window of the kitchen's door.
"Just-ugh! Go on! I'll think of something!" Tseng ordered.
Making their best effort at keeping the façade of normalcy, the waiter team diligently collected dishes and poured coffee. When they all returned to the kitchen, Tseng informed.
"All right, Elena will give Emma the Sense materia so that she can discretely scan the whole room from behind the bar. As soon as we identify the culprit, we'll figure something out as to not cause a ruckus that may endanger the mission."
"Yes, sir!"
Tseng turned around and walked out of the kitchen. Just as he stepped outside, the Turks saw him come to a halt and then heard a familiar "woops! Sorry sir!" from outside.
"Ah! There! Steal was just cast!" Emma said.
"What? Who?" Dante asked, peeking through the window.
"The girl! Just as she ran into Tseng she cast and stole something from him!"
"What? No! That's impossible!" Cissnei said, peeking through the other window. "Someone that young cannot be experienced enough to cast that discretely!"
"Oh shit! Cissnei, look at Rude!" Dante exclaimed. Their partner's glasses were already missing.
"Part of the magic: it delays the reaction time, especially if it is something you take for granted," Elena explained.
"Well, now what? We know she's behind all this, but we can't just walk out and arrest her!" Dante said.
"I'll text Tseng for him to be careful with-oh Gaia she's going for Reno!" Cissnei stopped typing mid-sentence.
Just as the girl walked next to Reno, the Turk raised a Champagne bottle, preparing to open it. The Steal spell apparently changed targets and in a split second, Reno was standing confused and empty-handed and the bottle had fallen right next to the girl. As it hit the floor, the bottle expelled the cork with a loud pop straight to the back of one of the Wutaian generals.
Inmediately, another one of the generals had jumped over Godo and pushed him to the floor, screaming something about a trap. Maybe in panic, maybe to look as loyal as the Wutaian, Heidegger had thrown his massive body over president Shinra in an attempt to protect him.
Horrified at the unfolding scene, Dante and the other Turks ran out of the kitchen, if anything, to keep appearances.
Once everyone had regained some semblance of composure, president Shinra exploded:
"Can someone explain what is the meaning of this!?"
"Well, your men assaulted my general and-"
"What!? We most certainly did not!" Scarlet interjected, complete with a pearl-clutching gesture, which speaking of…
"What-Oh, Minerva! Help! I've been robbed!"
"What are you talking about?" Veld asked. The very idea someone might have robbed her as he sat right next seemed too farfetched.
"My jeweled necklace! The one that matches the bracelet!" She said, raising her arm to show the bracelet lined with yellow stones. "I was wearing it and now it's gone!" Scarlet yelled, standing up and rotating on the spot, looking around the floor as to maybe find the missing item lying about.
"This is outrageous!" President Shinra exclaimed. "We invite you over. Break bread with you! And this is how you repay us!"
"I beg your pardon!" Godo said, standing up at the accusation. "My men have done nothing but show respect to you and your-"
"People, people! We need to calm ourselves and find a reasonable explanation that-"
"Shut up Reeve!" The Shinra party, sans Veld, yelled at the man.
"We had nothing but good intentions towards you, and now it seems we can't even trust you!" Heidegger yelled.
"He is lying!" The little girl said.
"Come to think of it, you've been running around the whole evening!" Scarlett accused, complete with a long-lasting finger-point.
"Scarlet! Do not-!" Veld began, but was quickly interrupted by Godo:
"Madam! One thing is to accuse me or my men! But my daughter would never-!"
Then and there, a fabric-ripping sound echoed in the dense atmosphere of the room, and from the confines of the little girl's sleeves a series of diverse items poured out.
Dante managed to identify not only Freyra's shotgun, Cissnei's shuriken, Alvis' EMR and his own handgun and knife, but also Rude's glasses, what appeared to be Tseng's PHS, a gray-and-white plush cat and, most damming of all, an elegant necklace set with yellow jewels.
"Yuffie!" Godo exclaimed.
"What? No! This is not right!" The little girl said.
"You are damn right it's not right!" Scarlet said.
"Good Gaia! She was armed!" Heidegger yelled, pointing at Dante's Wutaian knife.
"It appears we are beyond any kind of compromise!" President Shinra said, deep contempt in his voice. "Consider any opportunity for peace lost!"
"Mr. President!" Veld and Tuesti exclaimed in unison, both standing up.
"No, Veld. This is beyond you now!" Heidegger said and he walked out of the room with Shinra and Scarlet, who briefly stopped to pick up her necklace from the pile of stolen items.
The rest of the guests and the Turks were left dumbstruck at the way the night unfolded. Finally, Tuesti gave a stuttering apology before walking out too. Veld ordered Cissnei and Dante to secure the stolen items and to Rude, Freyra, Balto and Judet, to escort the Wutaian group out of the premises and to their hotel.
After recovering their lost equipment and changing back into their uniforms, the Turks gathered back around the table and prepared for what was bound to be the scold of their lives. Veld was casually stirring a block of ice inside a whiskey-filled glass when the escorting team returned.
"The Wutaian leader and accompanying officials have decided to leave the city. They refused we guarded them at least to the edge of Midgar," Judet announced.
"Thanks," Veld sighed.
Silence loomed over them for long minutes. Finally, Balto decided to step forward:
"Chief Veld: we are sorry!" the senior Turk apologized with a lowered gaze.
"Huh? What for?"
"Well, the mission failed," Rude said cautiously.
"Yes. Yes, it did." Veld drank from his glass. "But then again, this time it really wasn't your fault, was it?" He was bemused.
Everyone looked at each other through subtle gazes and discrete eyebrow movements, as if to actually confirm no one had messed up.
"I trust you all did your part accordingly. From the professional restaurant staff to security." Veld drained his glass in a gulp. "No, our mission didn't fail. It was sabotaged." Shock crossed everyone's faces.
"Chief… What are you saying?" Cissnei asked.
"I'm saying our mission was never meant to succeed. This whole event was a charade to ensure Shinra and Wutai continue at war."
"But how?" Reno asked.
"Why?" Dante went on.
"That I intent to find out. Be sure of this, though: Wutai wanted to reach an agreement. They had no interest in sabotaging this meeting."
Before Veld could continue, his PHS ringed.
"Veld here. Yes. Yes. Understood." He hanged up. "Well. It appears Heidegger has already ordered SOLDIER units dispatched to recover the disputed territory." He stood up. "We'll have a long day tomorrow. Prepare your reports by noon. You are all dismissed for today."
Veld left without another word spoken to his agents, who, little by little started to walk out too.
Later, as Dante walked to his apartment, pondering the many possible ramifications of that night's events he ran into Erick.
"Oh thank Gaia! I thought I wouldn't be able to see you before I left!" He said, embracing Dante.
"Left? Why? Where are you-?" Then it dawned on him. The one ramification he hadn't thought of yet.
"The brass is sending Genesis back to Wutai. I was among the chosen to go with him!" He said a bit too brightly for someone being deployed to an active combat zone.
"What?" Dante asked again, dumbstruck. "I-I'm sorry, this is too fast… Genesis wanted you to go?"
"Yeah! Well, me and most of SOLDIER. He threw a tantrum about being sent away so soon so the brass gave him carte blanche as to the number of units he could deploy. I received orders to leave at 600 today."
"Woa. That's…" Dante tried to finish processing the information.
"Come on! It's good! I finally have a chance to prove my worth to Genesis!"
"I know, I know! I just wasn't expecting the moment to come this soon."
"Hey, hey. Calm down. It's all gonna be fine. I'll be back in a while and we'll be together again. OK?"
Dante reached back and held the SOLDIER tightly.
"You told me to 'go for it' when the chance presented itself. Well, now is the time. I'm sorry it's so soon, but if I don't go now I may not get another chance."
Dante took a deep breath. "I know. It's all right. Just… Be careful." Dante finally said.
"Gya-ha-ha!"
"Do it again, do it again!" Heidegger said.
Scarlet began taking in a mocking, high-pitched voice "Noo this isn't right! Daddy I didn't steal anything! Boo-hoo-hoo!"
The president's office erupted with laughter yet again.
"I gotta be honest here. I though this plan of yours was gonna fail miserably!" Heidegger said, refiling everyone's Champagne glasses.
"Well surprise!" Scarlet said smugly and proceeded to rotate her arm in front of her companions. "An experimental, mako-infused and overgrown Steal material that will not only rob people silently, but is also able to transfer items both ways! Framing that little brat was a piece of cake!" She explained triumphantly.
"My dear Scarlet, this evening went just as planned thanks to your plan. Now it's up to you to finish everything up, Heidegger."
"SOLDIER units are preparing to leave as we speak. Fort Tamblin will be ours in no time and after that, the fall of Wutai will surely follow! Gya-ha-ha!"
"Indeed. And to that, a toast!" Shinra said while raising his glass.
Moments after draining their glasses, Heidegger continued: "So, Mr. President. What about the Turks?"
"What about them? Veld suspected nothing," Scarlet said dismissively.
"Exactly my point!" Heidegger cut in. "They were robbed blind in a critical moment! What if one of the Wutaians had been armed? Their performance since Veld's return has left much to be desired!"
The President meditated for a moment.
"I'm still not sure if giving you control of the Turks is the best move. Being outside the regular chain of command helps their work greatly."
Of course, Shinra thought, being privy of many, if not all secrets of the company made them dangerous to sudden discontent.
"But I'll look more closely at these latter mishaps," he finally promised.
Dammit! Months without an update! Again!
I was stuck for weeks with this chapter, not knowing how to continue from the first to the second half. And yet, when inspiration struck, it was completed in three days! Inspiration, you fickle muse! But hey! This is now the longest chapter in the series!
Thanks to everyone for their patience, comments and DM's!
Also, sorry if I can't directly answer anonymous comments: if you are not registered and logged in I cannot respond! But I've read all suggestions and comments!
Again, sorry for the wait and I hope to see you soon!