I Tried- Chapter 15
Dance with the Devil.

Reno felt a lump rise up in his throat as he left his chair. The Midgar man had simply turned his back to walk away. He was so secure that he turned his back to three armed gang members. Reno had to restrain himself from wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on the sides of his jeans. His own eyes darted around, taking in the stares and the gaping faces of those around him. The man held the door open for him, with a steadying breath, Reno left the relative safety of the bar and started out into the night.

The Midgar man said nothing, walking across the street. Reno looked at the man's leg, trying to judge how bad the limp really was, if the man was dangerous. He then looked around the alleyways. "Where's yer partner?"

"Tseng isn't your concern right now." The man responded, leaning against the brick wall. He bent one knee, leaning in the relaxed position that was common for a Midgar kid, or a whore. Though this man lacked the haunted look Reno knew on most of his peers.

Agitation would be the best word for the way that Reno was feeling at the moment. Life hadn't been good lately, but it had been literally years since anyone dared treat him like some, some- it hit him with no little amount of anger that he was being treated like a child and that in fact, he was one. He felt the immediate need to intimidate the other person. "Look, buddy, I dunno what other kindsa people ya deal with, but I won't hesitate ta empty a clip in ya, so stop patronizing me."

The man's eyes were strange to look at. The natural color was obviously dark, but the mako light was a green shade impossible to miss. It was unnerving, something that drew attention. His smile never faltered, it was open, relaxed, if not for the hard look in his eyes, Reno could have called his face "friendly." The man lifted up a hand, and then patted the shocked Reno on the head. "There, there, feel better now, getting that out, kiddo?"

Reno wasted no more time with words. He was pissed off, threatening obviously didn't work. He grabbed up, intent on placing on of his hands on the man's wrist and using his other arm to snap the guy's elbow. It was confusing, then, when Reno realized that the man reversed his grip. Reno's hand was suddenly craning behind his body. With speed that someone with a limp shouldn't have, the man threw an elbow into Reno's back, casting him against the wall. Reno's left forearm scraped the wall in an effort to keep his head from colliding. He could feel the man's right leg braced against his hip, with one arm craned up, he was pinned.

In that soft, tenor lilt, the man spoke into his ear. "Let us get one thing totally clear right now, Renald Vickalor. I don't want to fight with you, but you are way out of your league. Now, I am going to let you go, you are going to listen to me and then we shall see what happens from there."

The moment Reno heard not only his real first name, but his middle name, he froze. Something cold ran up the back of his spine. "Wha- what did you just call me?"

With a fluid movement, the man spun Reno again, to face him. He pulled out his cigarette pack and with a flick of his wrist pulled out two. He placed one in his mouth, and offered the second to Reno. Both of them bowed their heads at once to light them, though unlike the Turk, Reno never let his eyes leave the other person. After exhaling a white cloud, the man continued. "I called you by your name."

Once again, Reno let the smoke filter out in two jets out his nose. "I know goddamn well what you called me. How the fuck do you know that?"

"That's how the birth certificate was made out." The man then moved on, not allowing Reno to ask any other questions. "I have a job I need you to do for me."

"The birth- wait, wait!"

The man stopped talking and smirked at him. Gods damnit, why did he go from threatening to seeming so likeable. "Yes Renald?"

"Reno, jus, fucks. How do you know that, no one, I mean not even the mother of my child knows that."

"Knew." The man corrected.

Reno staggered a bit. He looked down at a crack in the sidewalk for a moment. "Just answer the question. I've had about all I can take tonight." He almost flinched at his tone. All this time he had be purporting this image, and now, faced with someone, a total stranger that seemed to know him better then everyone else in his life, Reno sounded like a frightened boy.

He looked for a moment, like he felt sorry for Reno. "It should be obvious that I knew your parents."

"You said 'knew'. So their both dead?" Reno lit another cigarette with the butt of the one the Turk gave him.

The man nodded. "You and I wouldn't be having this conversation otherwise."

"How?" He started, trying to word himself right. Despite Reno's best efforts, the words all came out in a rush. "How did my father die then? What was his name? If you know so much, tell me!"

"Sorry, kid, classified." The man responded. "Not why I'm here anyway. I have a proposition for you, take it or leave it."

Reno swallowed; he fought the initial urge to tell the man to go fuck himself. If he did that, then he was walking away from someone that could answer his questions. No, more then that, he was walking away from the person who could tell him who Reno could blame for his entire life. Reno wasn't going to let that pass him by. "What do you need from me?"

"I need someone taken care of." Was the simple answer.

The laugh was unexpected from Reno, by both of them. "I got a kid at home man, I'm not getting roped into a murder charge. No way."

Then the man opened his coat. Reno's eyes were drawn first to the two gun-belts strapped across his chest. He could catch the glint of one death penalty at the Turks' hip; he knew the other one would be located under his arm. Before Reno could comment however, his eyes widened. The man started flipping out one thousand gill bills under Reno's nose. When he stopped flipping, there were twenty five thousand dollars in his hand. "And another twenty five after the job's done."

That money, would, without a doubt, cover the operation that Mariah needed. Without a doubt, it would ensure that the person he had come to care about as his mother wouldn't die. Reno's eyes darted up to the Turk's. "You know I can't afford to turn that down."

The man looked over to the side and nodded his head. A sleek black car pulled up. "I knew you wouldn't. Welcome aboard Reno."

Without anything else to do, Reno got in the car.

Reno sat silently in the car, looking over its other three occupants. The Wutain man was driving, he had on sunglasses despite the darkness of night under the plates. The man that had spoken with him was seated beside him looking out the window and rubbing his goatee thoughtfully.

Reno spent more time looking at the woman sitting in front of the goateed man then he needed to. But she was nice to stare at. Her hazel eyes shared the same intense light of her partners. Her hair was tossed up in a loose bun, simple, yet very flattering, drawing attention to high cheekbones. The blue suit was cut in a slightly different fashion then the men's suits. It did nothing to hide her ample curves. She looked over her shoulder at him, eyes flicking up and down mimicking the way he had been looking at her. "Well, hello there…" She smiled.

"Scarlet, stop that." The goateed man commented.

"Just try'n to have a bit of fun with the kid, sir. You all act like somebody died." She laughed a very annoying laugh. "We haven't even been to work yet, so who could have died?" She turned back to Reno. Again her eyes moved around him, but it was then that Reno realized it was more because he must have reminded her of someone then attraction.

They pulled into a parking lot mid-plate level. Without a word the Turks opened their doors in perfect sync. Reno jumped slightly, a bit upset with himself that he had allowed Scarlet- he wondered if that was the woman's real name- to distract him. He got out of the car, slamming the door shut before watching the Turks start away. The group walked to a Shinra office building that was closed for the evening.

Scarlet lost the flirty air and got down to business. "Tseng, call into headquarters let Heidegger know that we are going to be late. Make sure the dumbass tells the Vice President as well."

The Wutian sighed and made an irked face at the thought of talking to this Heidegger person.

She turned to Reno and the goateed man. "Shall we gentlemen?"

Gentlemen? Reno liked the sound of that, far more then he wanted to admit.

"Basic rundown: there is a business rival of our employer coming to a dinner in seven days. We need him eliminated, and all of our faces are known to him." Scarlet answered the unasked question. "We need a young man to do this job."

Reno blinked, not really expecting them to get right to work. However, wasn't this how assassins were supposed to act? They walked into the building and Tseng, still on his PHS shut the door behind them. The entire office went dark. Reno froze, listening as the Turks moved without question. All he could make out in the dark was the glow from their eyes. Again, the young man swallowed a nervous lump.

When the lights came on, Reno was looking down a small flight of stairs. Noting that Scarlet and the person whose name he hadn't caught yet were waiting on him he started down. He followed Scarlet's finger as she pointed to a set of blueprints. "You can follow here while I point on this larger map."

"'An, you know I read too I see?" Reno turned to look at the other man while he sat down.

Scarlet let that annoying laugh out again. "Reeve's got a gift for making you think he knows everything about you. Don't worry, we only know half of it."

Reno snorted, not sharing in the sense of amusement. "Why does it worry me that you say that you know so much?" Reno asked.

"Because you have sense." Reeve replied. Reno looked at him again, mostly to put the man's name with the face. He'd never head the name before, he knew that much. Reeve, Scarlet, and Tseng: Turks.

What the hell had he gotten himself into?