Chapter 1
Dazed and Confused
11:47.
Reno walked determined down the narrow hallway. He couldn't understand why the President had to completely turn Shinra upside-down. Glancing up, the tall redhead almost expected some twisted scene in a painting where the room was actually on the ceiling defying gravity. Original blue prints were still in the storage room, why couldn't Yokimoto just design "new Shinra" after "old Shinra." It had taken Reno nearly two years to know where everything was and now, thanks to more square feet and a bigger is better mentality, it would take the Turk another three years to navigate this jungle.
"Hey, doll," Reno asked flirtatiously, lifting sunglasses back to its original place on top of his head, "Would you happen to know where the conference room is at? You can't move around this place without passing the same room twice."
Sarah, the newest blonde haired, green eyed addition to Shinra, smiled at the lothario with a blush creeping across her pale cheeks, "It's on the second floor. Just take the elevator over there up to the second floor and walk down the hall. The conference room is right there. Can't miss it."
"Thanks...Sarah."
Reno blew his potential bunkmate a kiss after reading her name off the tag on her shirt. His gaze took in more than just her name.
"See you around, sweetheart."
"Hope so. Bye. Don't get yourself lost."
"I wouldn't mind, gives me the opportunity to see your pretty face again."
Sarah giggled, waving her hand seductively in an assertive manner, "Such a flirt. I bet you say that to all the girls."
Before harmones could answer back flatteringly, a voice was heard behind them, not sounding all too pleased, "No, he says it when he should be somewhere specific to girls who should be working."
The blonde blushed again and bowed her head embarrassed, "Forgive me, President Yokimoto, it won't happen again."
Yokimoto looked from the apologetic secretary to the his smug bodyguard, "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?"
"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing."
"Watch your mouth, you ballsy little shit."
Reno looked up and took a good glance at his boss. A small vein stuck out on his forehead in pure anger as a twitch became evident on his left eye. He had seen these symptoms before. Hell, it had been those same "symptoms" that resulted in the tantrum which left him with the two scars under his eyes.
"Sorry. I'll be on my way."
"One more strike, Perablo, and you're out on your ass, understood?"
"Like the English language."
"Get out of my sight and to where you're supposed to be. I'm up there before you and you'll be cleaning the lavatories for the next year."
The Turk said nothing more. Taking a glance back at his previous conversation set back and smirking, he turned the other way and whistled a tune to put a little bounce in his step and disdain in the president's heart.
"Sarah, I want to see you in my office when the meeting's done."
"Yes sir," the small beauty declared soft spoken.
"And bring whatever bit of information you have on file about Reno Perablo."
Green eyes watched the intimidating supervisor walk away with a heavy stride. Whatever President Yokimoto wanted to do with Reno's file wasn't good. Ever since she could remember, when those two crossed paths there was always a confrontation. Whether it was the president saying something utterly demeaning or it was Reno dealing out yet another cocky retort, the walls shook when these two got together. She wasn't surprised if Yokimoto thought of the Turk as a threat and, therefore, wished to remove him.
Sarah sighed, "Well, there goes my Friday night."
-
She sighed, looking at her childhood friend while sipping the hot tea daintily, careful not to burn her sensitive tongue. He had been on his PHS all morning trying to reach the missing members of their elite team. Barrett. Red XIII. Cid. It had been too long. Tifa had been especially close to Barrett, the brick wall built warrior filling in for her father who had tragically lost his life when she was just a teenager.
She remembered how they met. Some ill intentioned prick had had a little too much to drink and was trying to slip himself into her bed shamelessly. One look at Barrett's menacing demeanor and heavy artillery, the guy high tailed it out of the bar obviously not as drunk as everyone had assumed considering he had remembered enough never to come back again.
"Cid's in. He'll be here tonight. Red XIII can't make it until tomorrow. Now all that's left is Barrett. He shouldn't be so hard to convince. All I need to do is mention Shinra and he'll beat Cid to the finish line," Cloud declared relieved after hanging up the PHS.
"The way you're reacting, you don't think we'll all make it out alive do you?"
The ex-SOLDIER took sight of the brunette across from him and proceeded to look up at the ceiling pensively, "I don't know. There's a possibility that some may die fighting or even in the crossfire. That's why I'm leaving this mission optional. You don't need to do this, Teef."
Tifa was taken aback by her companion's nickname. Cloud hadn't called her Teef since they were kids. She never did bother to ask why he just suddenly quit using that affectionate name figuring it was a maturity thing.
"No, Cloud, I'm in. I want Shinra out of my life for good. If I don't do this, I know I'll regret it later. This is a cause I'm more than eager to fight and die for."
"I won't let you die," Cloud promised, cerulean eyes moving from the ceiling to something more active, "I won't let anyone in this team die."
Burgundy eyes shone in playful delight as a smile graced her lovely face, "Always the hero; I knew from the moment I saw you again in Seventh Heaven that you couldn't be anything but."
"No. I'm not a hero. At least not when it counted."
"Cloud, Aeris' death wasn't..."
"It's getting late, I better go to the market before it closes from lunch. I'll be back soon," the blonde sidetracked, placing his PHS securely in his pocket before getting up from his comfortable seat on the couch.
Taking a deep breath, Tifa watched as Cloud grabbed his jacket and walked right out the door with not so much as a good-bye or even a brief head nod. She took another sip of tea. He was never going to get over the flower girl or the guilt of her death. Why would he? Aeris was beautiful with the purest heart you would ever see in the real world. Cloud loved her. He denied it when Tifa asked about a year ago, before the whole Shinra madness came about, saying he didn't love her just cared about her deeply. There was always something lingering beneath the surface of his heart that breathed Aeris. If her memory was to suddenly disappear, so would everything that kept this planet's hero alive.
Tifa took one last drink from the teacup and proceeded to get up herself. She just hoped the others would get here as soon as possible. The feeling of being immersed in a group and keeping her mind occupied by battle tactics was the only way she could stop thinking about Cloud. She wanted Cloud out of her mind. No, more like deserved the peace she would receive with the spiky haired man out of her thoughts.
She only hoped it would happen sooner, when it actually counted, instead of later.
-
"Where were you?"
Elena stared as Reno slumped down into his seat and placed sunglasses over his tired eyes without saying as much as a single word of recognition. It angered the petite blonde severely when her partner acted this ignorant. So with curiously swift movements, the female Turk leaned forward and removed the sunglasses from his eyes before smacking him upside the head, hard.
"Ow, Elena! What the fuck!"
She glared at the red head when noticing the flush of his face and the more than normally disheveled "Reno hair," "You boned Scarlet, again!"
"No."
"No?"
"No. We made love," Reno sarcastically replied, rolling his eyes at the intrusion into his personal life.
"You know, you really have some nerve! Reeve did so much for all of us and you're screwing his girl. You really have a hell of a way of repaying kindness."
"He's doing exactly what I'm doing with her. No strings. No relationship."
"Idiot!" Elena hissed, smacking the Turk upside the head again, "The reason there's no relationship is because she's too busy fucking you."
"Damn! Stop smacking me. Look if the guy didn't claim her, she's free to do whoever she wants. It's not fault he's all dick and no balls."
The agitated firecracker packed up her jacket and binder only to be interrupted by, "Where are you going?"
"Away. I can't sit next to a farm animal."
"Elena..."
"Oink. Oink," she spat out before taking another seat around the large oval table.
"Chicks," Reno muttered, looking over at Rude who was being as quiet as ever but giving his friend a questioning look, which sufficed for him not opening his mouth, "PMS."
"Good afternoon, I'm sorry for my tardiness but I had business to attend to," President Yokimoto began immediately after entering to room without warning, catching a glimpse of Reno, "Guess cleaning toilets doesn't exactly throw you through a loop, does it Reno?"
The president smirked at the assassin's bitter silence, knowing full well that he had just gotten under his skin, "Don't worry, Perablo, there's always a toilet with your name on it if you change your mind. Back to business. I've called you all here today to briefly discuss our situation with AVALANCHE. For now, there are only four members regrouped as far as I was informed. Cloud Strife. Tifa Lockheart. Vincent Valentine. Yuffie Kisaragi."
He tossed down pictures of the four once he called out individual names, "Now, what's obvious about this little reunion is the fact that they assembled to dismember my company. Here's why you're here, I want them out of the picture without any association between you and the removing. There cannot be attachments or there will be scandal which we absolutely can't afford right now."
The pictures were passed around the table. Reno glanced at each photo with a skilled eye until his gaze fell upon one of a young woman with short brown hair and large onyx eyes. The ninja chick, Yuffie. Noticing his boss's eyes burning through his suspiciously he carelessly passed the pictures to Rude who then passed them over to Elena.
"You saw the targets first hand, seen them in action. Use the facts you know to your advantage. Do what you must to get rid of them but be prudent in your actions. Remember, no scandals! You have your mission lined up, get busy. You have two weeks to meet your deadline. Any questions?"
"I have one," Elena declared while raising her hand up in a small attention grabbing wave.
"This should be good," Reno chuckled, quirking an eyebrow up at the woman across from him, expecting a usual idiotic question to come out of her mouth.
"Shut up, asshole."
"Rookie."
"Whore."
"Blonde."
"Enough," Yokimoto shouted, the vein previously revealed to Reno now remerging itself like a freak show for all to watch hypnotically, "this is a professional place of business, not the third grade. I don't want your crap here, especially during a debriefing. Reno! Keep your shit up and watch where you end up. Any more comments, smart ass?"
The promiscuous Shinra employee blew Elena, who scowled viciously, a kiss before turning to the president and shaking his head with a smirk, moving his hand circularly in a motion which obliged him to continue.
"Now Elena, continue with your question," he growled, directing the comment at Elena but shooting Reno a venomous look as his eyes remained glued with purpose on the target.
"As I was saying before 'can't keep it in his pants' interrupted. The Turks' assassination methods are infamous. How are we supposed to not draw attention to ourselves when it comes to taking out AVALANCHE? All eyes are on them, a hit without attention just ain't happening."
Yokimoto smiled, surprisingly having it in him to take his eyes off the prize, "I'm not paying you ridiculous amounts of gil for nothing. Figure it out. You've got two weeks, with professionals such as yourselves, that should be more than sufficient. Any more questions? Good."
The tall businessman gathered his belongings and made his exit just as quick as the previous entrance. The door slammed shut leaving three bamboozled Turks behind. Elena blinked confused. Reno repeated placement of his sunglasses on his thin face, looking up at the ceiling. And Rude...was just being Rude. They all possessed different reactions yet the thought was practically identical to the other. How were they going to put AVALANCHE out of their misery in secrecy when all attention and possible security was focused on them?
"Stupid hero complex," Reno mummered before getting up and leaving, not bothering to share any confliction floating around in his boggled head plaguing him. Judging by the extremity of the confliction, it was only a matter of time before his comrades were in the know. Why push his execution when he had a few days of precious life before being completely eradicated?
-
"Cid, how have you been?" Tifa asked with a smile, giving the older pilot a quick hug.
"Can't complain."
The blonde had grown old through the two years of separation. There were various gray streaks through his short hair and carefully hidden fury beyond practically any of the members of AVALANCHE in his crystal blue eyes. He currently had a little girl back home with his wife, Shera. A lot has happen after Meteor including a yet in progress launch into space which was being put on hiatus due to his call back into the life of a superhero.
"So what's this all about?"
Cloud finished shaking his teammate's hand, beginning his vague explanation of the intrusion's reason, "Shinra. Highly evolved Mako drug. I'll explain the rest in detail when the others get here."
"Is it just us three now?" Cid asked, examining the small cozy looking house he would be spending his time away from Rocket town in. It was a two story vila with a Spanish looking undertone and a small garden populating the sides of the walkway.
"No," the AVALANCHE's leader began, leading the pilot into the house, "Vincent and Yuffie are here too. We're waiting on Barrett and Red XIII."
"That's just great, my materia will be gone before we get this whole Shinra thing done and over with," Cid muttered, placing a watching hand over his materia slot.
"Yuffie has matured a lot since you have been gone."
"Shit..." He placed a free hand over his pounding heart at seeing Vincent Valentine appear out of thin air, "You wanna give me a heart attack!"
"Yuffie did grow up a lot since Meteor and Sephiroth," Cloud began again, ignoring the under-appreciated very "Vincent" entrance into the scene, "Still wouldn't trust her with my materia though."
"Ha! You could say that again."
"I'll make us all some tea," Tifa offered, eager to break out of the pensive awkwardness of her friend's bad habit. She entered the kitchen only to poke her head back out into the awkwardness seconds later, "Speaking of Yuffie. Where is she?"
-
A figure climbed out of the two story house by the window and scaled down with ease. That had been incredibly easy...too incredibly easy. She had almost expected one of her temporary roommates to be at the bottom pointing up to the bedroom window for her to climb right back up into it. But, alas, there was nobody and she was free to explore the dark of night without conditions or unwanted company.
Yuffie walked through the streets of Kalm, looking around and taking in the sights before her. The town was quiet, many of the night owls who bothered to come out were currently in the bar having a good old fashioned time while various women were gathered around stereotypically gossiping. The ninja wasn't even supposed to be out alone. With Shinra on guard and suspicious of any onslaught, the streets were a dangerous place to be if you were a member of AVALANCHE.
She continued on her voyage, scouting out any worthwhile places to eat. Yuffie would rather take her chances running into an enemy than finding a decent meal in Tifa health conscience kitchen. Everything in that house was either fish or vegetables. No red meat. No soda. No chocolate. Taste bud suicide lingered in the cool depths of the refrigerator and Yuffie was in no mood to do battle with pure evil. A nice big burger with the works would do just nicely to satisfy her hunger.
Smiling at the twenty-four hour diner, Yuffie whistled a tune and proceeded to make herself a willing participant of their grease ingesting ways. She walked, foolish to let her stomach's needs distract her, and before she knew it felt herself being jerked back into the dark alley. The young heroine tried to scream but couldn't due to the rough calloused hands over her mouth. Without thinking, she jerked around, allowing her legs to run amuck and began kicking in desperation.
"Stop acting defected!"
Dark eyes widened at the familiarity of the deep voice, sarcasm commonly laced into his cold words. The feeling of his touch came back to her as she leaned her back up against a lean chest reminiscing. It had been a long time, a time she tried to make herself forget when a reunion between herself and a select number of her team occurred. Yuffie's motions ceased, continuing to remember back.
"Finally," the deep voice sighed, allowing his grip to loosen considerably. Hands moved enough for the much smaller girl to move slightly forward and replaster tine hairs, which were rising up from the contact of his breath on her neck, back to it's natural position. The alley was quiet for the longest moment in hourglass history before Yuffie Kisaragi turned around and faced her captor, proving her suspicions correct.
"Reno..."
