Chapter 6: Plots and Preparations
As the Turks step into the elevator, they briefly hear the tinny strains of some annoying elevator music emenating from a small speaker mounted in a corner of the elevator. Briefly, because as soon as he steps into the elevator, Reno flicks out his electro mag rod and smashes the speaker. "I've been wanting to do that ever since I moved in here," he says while replacing his EMR on his belt with one hand and pressing a button on the elevator with the other. "God, I hate easy-listening..."
"Why're we going up?" Elena asks.
"I've got a short-range chopper on the roof. If it's still there it'll be a lot easier to get around town." When the doors open, the three see one of the small choppers commonly used by Shin-Ra sitting near the center of the roof. "Hey Lena, wanna fly?" Reno asks, holding out a key in her direction.
Her eyes light up at the suggestion. Reno and Rude have been teaching her to fly whenever they have the time while chasing their targets around the world, and Elena relishes every chance she gets to pilot aircraft. Tseng had disapproved due to neither Turk being a certified instructor, but had turned a blind eye since there wasn't enough time for proper training. She loves the feeling she gets when flying, so Elena snatches the key from Reno's hand without hesitating and nearly runs to the chopper. Reno's voice stops her as she's reaching for the door handle.
"Forget something?" he asks. Elena blushes, embarrassed that she was so eager to fly that she forgot about the pre-flight inspection. Pocketing the key, she begins to slowly make her way around the chopper, carefully inspecting the turbines, rotors, hydraulics, and other important parts with Reno watching over her shoulder the whole time. "That everything?" Reno asks when she comes to a halt.
Elena takes a moment to think on her previous brief lessons before answering. "Everything's ready to go." She nervously waits to see if he'll point out that she missed something.
"Doing damned good so far, Lena," he says, to her relief. "What's next?"
"Checking the instruments," she answers. At Reno's nod Elena climbs into the cockpit and straps herself into the pilot's seat while Reno settles into the co-pilot seat and Rude takes a seat in the back. "Ready for takeoff," she announces with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"Relax, you're doing great," Reno says with a lopsided grin. "Fly us to the office, the lower hanger. It didn't get hit too bad, should be something useful in there." Elena fires up the turbines and pushes the throttle forward, causing the chopper to roughly leap into the air. "Come on, relax," Reno says. "You'll never fly half as good as you could if ya stay all tensed up like that. Don't worry about screwing up, I'll cover for you if it happens. Just loosen up and enjoy the flight." Elena tries to follow his advice, but worry over messing up again keep her from fully relaxing. After a short, uneventful flight they approach the lower hanger, an opening in the side of the 48th floor of the Shin-Ra building. "Alright, take it slow," Reno coaches her. "Just slide right in there, nice and easy..." Elena notices that Reno has one hand hovering over the button that switches control to the co-pilot and the other on his control stick. Determined to impress her friends and not mess up, Elena carefully guides the chopper through the opening. Inside, the hanger's nearly empty, as most of the vehicles have already been looted. "I thought so. Set us down by those planes in the corner," Reno orders with a satisfied look on his face.
The planes in question were very unusual looking, with wings that appeared to have been twisted until the prop-driven engines pointed up and were also folded back along the plane's sides. Otherwise, they resembled slimmer Gelnikas with rotors twice the size of those on a Gelnika and engines mounted near the ends of the wings. "They look broken," Elena observes as she sets the chopper down and shuts it off.
"Nah, that's normal. Those're called VSTOLs. I figured even if all the other shit was gone they'd still be here."
"Why's that? What's so bad about it that people wouldn't take it?" Elena asks as she climbs out of the chopper.
"It's because these never caught on. They're expensive to build and it's hard to learn to fly them. See, they take off and land like choppers and fly like planes. Switching's tricky, plus they can't do an auto-rotation landing. There's maybe three dozen people on the planet that got trained on these before they cut the budget, mosta them're posted in Junon or Rocket Town. They, so we keep a few around here," Reno explains. "Hey Rude, see if you can dig up some drop tanks. Come'er Lena, I'll show you how to pre-flight one of these bad boys." Reno leads Elena over to the nearest plane and opens the engine access hatch. "Look familiar?"
"It kinda looks like a Gelnika's engine."
"Right. These things use modded Gelnika engines. Cheaper that way." He points into the engine. "This thingy changes the prop angle so you can fly it like a chopper." Reno casually points out a few other, more minor, differences. "This one's good. Lena, take a look at the other engine, tell me what you think." As the impromptu lesson that was typical of Elena's hurried training since her promotion continues, Rude returns pushing a wide, flat cart with four large, teardrop-shaped aluminum tanks on it. "Extra fuel tanks," Reno explains. He points at a protrusion on the bottom of a wing near an engine. "These things're called hardpoints. See the little valves on the ones next to the engine? Hooks into the fuel system." The lesson continues as Reno attaches a tank and Rude walks to the other side of the plane. Under Reno's guidance, Elena attaches the other tank to it's hardpoint on the other side of the engine while Rude installs the two on the other wing. Rude then walks to the nearest fueling station and returns pulling a fuel hose behind him. "With these on, we got enough range we could fly to Rocket Town from here and still have fuel left. More'n enough to get our asses to Junon. Hey Rude, come here," Reno orders when he sees that Rude has the fuel hose connected and the pump started. "Way I hear it, even if this Holy thing works there's a good chance some sorta fallout or something'll mess up Midgar. It's why Reeve's evacuating it. Anyways, we've got plenty of time before we need to be in Junon. So when this thing finishes filling up, go ahead and take it by your places and pack up. It probably won't be needed, but we might as well get ready for that possibility since we've time. Meet me back at my place when you're done. Also, see if you can dig up some useful gear for the VSTOL. If things work out right, we oughta get some good use outa it when we go freelance."
"What'll you be doing?" Elena asks.
"Plotting," he replies with a smirk before turning and walking to the chopper they arrived on.
"Can I fly it?" Elena asks as Reno flies off.
"Sorry," Rude replies, "you're not ready yet. You need to be an expert at piloting normal planes and helicopters before training on VSTOLS." Seeing her crestfallen expression, he continues. "As fast as you learn, it won't be long before you're flying one of these." Rude silently congratulates himself when he sees his friend's face light up at the honest compliment. A man of few words, the few he speaks are generally carefully chosen.
"Hey Rude, you have any luggage I can borrow? I kinda don't have anything to move out with."
"Neither do I. This pump'll shut itself off when the tanks are full. Let's see if the mall downstairs has anything left." The two walk towards the nearest elevator, hoping it still works.
"Hey, good idea Rude. But I thought the building's been evacuated. Guess we'll just help ourselves to what we need, huh?" Rude nods at this. "But what if it's already been cleaned out by looters?" He shrugs as the elevator door opens. She presses the button for the lobby as they enter the elevator. "What'll we use if the luggage's all gone?"
"...looters'll mainly go after expensive things like electronics. I doubt much luggage's been taken."
Walking back into his apartment, Reno picks up the almost overflowing catch bin sitting in front of his fax machine and grabs a fresh mug of coffee before settling down on one of his couches. Like most slum orphans, he'd been illiterate when recruited, which had made administering an accurate intelligence test difficult for the recruiters. He had been taught to read during basic training, and Tseng had taught him speed-reading after the war. Tseng's lessons come in handy now as he quickly works his way through the large pile of faxes, absorbing any useful information he can find.
"Hey, look what I found!" At the sound of Elena's voice, Rude turns from his task of mounting an electronic countermeasures module to a hardpoint and sees her exit the elevator pushing a loaded shopping cart with one hand and pulling another behind her. After their successful expedition to the Shin-Ra mall, He'd ordered her to go to the weapons development and armaments departments and take anything that looked useful or would be valuable and easy to sell. Shin-Ra has taken much from the Turks over the years, so Rude feels it's only fair to take a little back as the company shatters. Elena holds up a compact rifle with what appears to be an oversized pump shotgun mounted under the rifle barrel. From the sleek look of the weapon it's obvious it was designed this way rather than modified. "It's one of those new mini-grenade launchers. They had a half-dozen up in weapons development, so I grabbed them all." She tosses it to Rude, who looks impressed as he checks it out. "I grabbed all the mini-grenades they had too."
"Reno's gonna be pissed," Rude announces, "it's designed for right-handed shooters only."
"Guess he'll have to settle for this." Elena holds up what looks like a long pistol with a canister mounted under the barrel. "Miniaturized flamethrower. Should work fine for a lefty. I also grabbed a few cases of some different types of experimental grenades. And check this out," she says while pointing to the rear cart, "a whole garbage bag full of materia."
"There wasn't anything else to put it in? Well, don't worry about it. I'm almost done here, go ahead and load it up. Take the carts too, they'll make packing easier."
Reno paces his living room, deep in thought. In one hand he holds the projected map of the northern crater that had been drawn up by Shin-Ra intelligence and in the other he holds a list of vehicles and equipment available at the Junon military base. /Too many damned unknowns. Too bad he's in so deep, if he wasn't I could just send bombers to take him out.../ As he continues to pace, he scans down the list of equipment again and inspiration strikes, fueled by memories of the war. /Yeah, it'll be just like old times./ A smile slowly spreads across his face as he pulls out his PHS and selects the number for Junon command. "This is Reno of the Turks again. You've got some equipment in your boneyard you need to re-commission and have ready for me in forty-eight hours. Here's what I need..."
"Hey, nice place," Elena says after walking into Rude's front room. It was equipped similarly to Reno's but laid out and decorated differently with the most noticeable difference being light-colored walnut paneling on the walls. Rude leads the way to his bedroom, pushing a shopping cart with several empty suitcases in it.
"It'll be quickest if I sort through things and pass you what's worth taking and you pack," Rude states. He then walks over to his large closet while Elena opens up a suitcase and a garment bag and sets them on Rude's king-sized bed.
"Why've you got so much clothes when you're always wearing these suits?" Elena asks when she sees the large variety of clothing in Rude's closet.
"Sometimes we have to be incognito on missions. And sometimes we want to hang out in a bar without everyone staring at us when we're off. With a good variety of clothes we can do either almost anywhere," he explains as he begins to hand Elena clothes.
"That makes sense," she replies. Over the next few moments several Turk uniforms, a variety of normal business suits, a black trench coat, a brown leather bomber jacket, a black leather blazer, and a classic black tuxedo make their way into the garment bag and a second garment bag that Elena retrieves from the shopping cart. "So Reno's got one of these?" she asks while pointing to the tux.
"Yeah," Rude replies while handing her a rack of ties. "That's all that needs to go in those bags."
"Wow, I can't imagine Reno in a tux," Elena says while zipping the garment bags.
"If you're that curious, maybe you can talk him into trying his on for you when we get back. You might have to twist his arm a little..." Rude suggests as he begins handing over button-down shirts.
"This I've gotta see. Somehow, I just can't imagine him wearing one unless maybe it's wrinkled and half-unbuttoned," Elena says while swiftly finishing the shirts and starting on a small pile of polo shirts.
"Believe it or not, Reno can dress formal when he needs to. But usually only when he can't avoid it..." He places several pairs of slacks on the bed, then moves to his dresser.
"Sounds like a real challenge," Elena states while folding a shirt.
"Let's make it interesting," Rude says while carrying a drawer over to the bed, "five hundred gil says you can't get Reno to model his tux for you."
"You're on," she says. The two Turks shake hands, sealing the deal, then resume packing. A few minutes later they exit the bedroom and take the other cart into Rude's storage room. Like Reno's the storage room is large and well stocked. Several cases of hard to find types of ammo are quickly loaded in the cart followed by Rude's old rifle from the war and a few other favorites. Next are several boxes of spare parts for Rude's preferred weapons, then he pulls an old cardboard box full of holsters from a shelf and begins sorting through them. "Why've you got so many holsters, Rude?" Elena asks.
"...they add up over the years from trying different designs," he answers, tossing a few in the cart, then replacing the box on a shelf.
"I guess that makes sense," she says as they walk back into the living room. Rude steps into the bathroom and quickly packs some toiletries, then exits and grabs a large CD wallet and a worn binder from a shelf in his living room. He then leads the way back into the lobby. "What's in there?" Elena asks, pointing at the binder.
"Old pictures..." he answers, "mostly duplicates of the ones Reno has." He presses the call buttons for both elevators. "Go ahead and take these up and start loading them. There's something downstairs I need to get."
Several minutes later, while strapping luggage down in the cargo bay, Elena looks back when she hears a rumbling growl and sees Rude ride up the rear ramp on a large black Midgar Motors V-6 with lots of chrome on it. "Nice bike," she states. Rude grins and finds a place to strap the bike down.
"Finally done." Seated in front of his PC, Reno clicks on save, then clicks print twice. Mission plans finished, he leans back and enjoys a smoke. /Guess I should let my temporary teammates know what's going on./ After deciding that, Reno pulls out his PHS and selects a number from the list saved on it.
"Hello?"
"Damn, man, you sound like shit. No offense."
A tired laugh comes from the other end of the line. "Hi, Reno. Diplomatic as always, I see."
"Yeah, that's me, Mr. diplomacy. Seriously though, you sound like shit. You been going without sleep again, Reeve?"
"I'm too busy to get enough sleep. There's still lots of people in Midgar that need evacuated."
"You won't do them any good if you burn yourself out. You're the president now, delegate that stuff to someone under you and get some damned sleep."
"I've already delegated everything I can, otherwise I wouldn't get any sleep. I can't sleep any more if I want to get my job done."
"Hell of a situation you're in, Reeve. So, how's your piece of Shin-Ra holding together?"
"What's left's holding steady. I still have a solid hold on the Midgar area and the eastern half of the continent as far south as the Mythril Mines. Officially I still have Junon too, but they're going to splinter off as soon as the Junon general staff's finished cowering in the underground shelters. So, what about the Turks? Can I count on your help after this's over?"
"Sorta. We're going freelance if we make it through this mission and that Holy thing works, but if you send some work our way we'll take care of it."
"I'm not surprised, you've been wanting to slip your leash ever since the old man made you drop the plate."
"...yeah. This way I'll make sure Rude and Lena never havta face a choice like that..."
"You're still blaming yourself for that? Damn, sorry I brought it up. Reno, you know you didn't have any real choice."
"Sure I did. Instead of pressing that button and snuffing half a million people I coulda taken the long shot..."
"And made it worse," Reeve interrupts. "Old man Shin-Ra would've found someone else to press the button, plus he would've had you and everyone you care about killed. He'd have to spend a lot of troops' lives to pull down the Turks, but he wouldn't hesitate. You know how thorough he was in dealing with his enemies, he would've even had everyone you've dated for the last six months killed."
"That's exactly what I told myself on the way to the plate support. Afterwards, I wasn't so sure. But I'm damned sure I'm gonna protect Lena and Rude from having to deal with anything like that. Anyways, you've got enough problems of your own, you don't need to waste time worrying about mine. I'll deal with it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Long as I have Lena and Rude with me, I can deal with damn-near anything."
"That's good to hear. Well, I'll definitely have some work for you as soon as Meteor's dealt with."
"We won't be taking jobs right away. See, we never had time to, you know... pay our respects to Tseng. So once this mission's taken care of, we're gonna go somewhere private and well... let loose. After that, I'm not sure how long it's gonna take for us to get our heads back on straight."
"I understand. Take as long as you need, I'll find something for you to do when you're ready to start working again."
"Thanks. Hey, I didn't just call to chat. So before I get sidetracked again, you got a fax machine where you're at?"
"Yeah. Hold on a second. I'm at 545-8642."
"Moved your office to Kalm, huh? I'm sending you my mission plans and an estimated map of the crater Intelligence came up with. I don't want to add to your work or anything, but you think you can pass that map onto Avalanche, get them to memorize it?"
"I would If I could, but they've all split up for a while. They're taking a few days off to examine their motives. The ones who still want to fight are supposed meet up the day before they're supposed to meet you in Junon."
"Examine their motives? If they're not sure of their motives, then what the hell've they been fighting for all this time? Damn crazy terrorists... You know where any of them're at?"
"No, they don't trust me. Ever since the keystone incident, they've kept information from me whenever they could."
"Even after you saved their asses in Junon? Damn..."
After fishing the key out of her pocket, Elena unlocks the door to her apartment. "Well, here it is," she announces, leading Rude inside. "It's not much compared to where you guys live..."
"It's not bad for your old salary," Rude calmly states. "Besides, after we go freelance we'll probably all have apartments smaller than this."
"You won't keep your safehouses?" she asks while walking into her bedroom with a cart full of empty luggage.
"Without the company to pay the rent we won't be able to keep them long..."
"I hadn't thought of that. Hey, I'm gonna pack the stuff in these drawers, could you pack the stuff hanging in the closet?"
"Sure," he answers as they get to work.
"Thanks, Rude. So, where do you think we'll be living after this's over?" Rude shrugs. "Can't you guess?" He shrugs again. "Well, what sort of work do you think we'll be doing when we go freelance?" Yet another shrug. "Hey, don't try to pull the mute act on me. I know you can be talkative."
"Why? You talk enough for both of us," he says with a smirk, a rare expression for Rude.
"You ass," Elena laughs while throwing a balled-up pair of jeans at his head. He ducks with a smile and throws them back. "Looks like I'm not the only one Reno's being a bad influence on."
Rude chuckles at this while placing a handful of dresses into a garment bag. "Yeah, he has that effect on people. That's everything in the closet."
"Alright, I'm almost done here. I've got a shoebox under the bed, could you grab it and toss it in the cart?"
Kneeling down next to the bed Rude is surprised to discover that the 'shoebox' is a large, clear plastic container, full of shoes, that takes up much of the space under the bed. He raises an eyebrow as he pulls the box out from under the bed. "Have enough?" he asks.
"Not yet," she answers with a smile as she finishes packing the contents of her dresser. "Only thing left's to pack my CDs and stuff from my bathroom and I'll be ready to go."
"I'll give Reno a call, let him know we'll be back in a few minutes."
The first thing Elena and Rude see upon entering Reno's apartment is a sleek sportsbike sitting on it's kickstand. It's painted a blinding, glossy candy apple red, except for the wheels, handlebars, and cover for the two-cylinder boxer engine, which are painted flat black, and the exhaust pipes, which are chromed. A black full-face helmet with red flames painted on it hangs from the handlebars. Sitting to the side of the eye catching bike are several boxes of ammunition, boxes of spare parts, a small stack of cases of liquor, boxes filled with assorted other gear, a few weapons including the four rifles from the war and the anti-tank missile, Reno's photo album, a large CD wallet, and a large trash bag. A medium length black leather jacket and an old tan trenchcoat with several bulletholes in it were tossed on top of the pile. "I'm packed," Reno announces when they walk through the door. "Let's grab a quick lunch and get going."
"You didn't..." Opening the trash bag and sorting through the mass of wadded-up clothes inside confirms Rude's suspicions. "You can't just pack uniforms, t-shirts, and jeans. What if we need to dress formal for a mission? Hey, you shouldn't pack shampoo with your clothes, it'll leak on everything. And why'd you stuff it all in a trash bag? We brought luggage..." He pulls a pair of suitcases from a cart and opens one. "May as well pack properly..."
"I'll make sure he brings something nice," Elena volunteers, grabbing the cart with one hand and Reno's left arm with the other.
"Hey, Lena, what're you doing? Well, can I at least leave my ties behind?" he protests, not resisting as Elena drags him into his bedroom.
"Sorry, Reno, it's for your own good," she says with a smirk. Neither notices Rude behind them, smiling at the sight as he begins transferring the contents of the trash bag into suitcases. "Alright, stand there," Elena says, placing Reno next to his closet. She begins to sort through his business suits, pulling them out one at a time and holding them up against Reno before either putting them back in the closet or packing them in a garment bag. "No good, it clashes with your hair," she says before replacing one. "Ohhh, I like the way this one sets off your eyes," she announces before packing another. Reno stands there with a look on his face halfway between amusement and confusion as Elena continues to sort through his suits with similar comments. From her expression, Elena's obviously enjoying herself. "Hey, take your jacket off, I wanna see how this one looks on you," she says while holding up another suit.
"What? Why?"
"Come on, take it off." Reno laughs at this comment. "That's not what I meant, you perv. Your jacket."
"Eh, why not?" Reno shrugs, then obliges Elena's request.
"You're definitely taking that one, you look cute in it."
"Cute?" Reno asks while slipping out of the jacket and handing it back. "Lena, Turks look dangerous and professional. They don't look 'cute'."
"Sure you do," she asserts while holding another suit against him. "That one's no good. Try this one on." she says, holding another up. Reno complies with a bemused expression still on his face. This process goes on for several more minutes before Elena finds what she's looking for, Reno's tuxedo, which had a white jacket and shirt and a black tie and pants. "Oooh, try this on. I wanna see what you look like in it." Shrugging, Reno slips the jacket on. "No, I mean the whole thing."
"Hey, come on, this's taking too long. We need to get moving."
"It's the last one I'll make you try on, I promise."
Reno hesitates for a moment while Elena looks at him with a hopeful expression on her face. "All right. You gonna give me some privacy, or are you expecting a striptease?" Elena answers by turning back to the closet and beginning to pack button-down shirts into a suitcase while Reno changes. "Damn bowties, how'd this go again?" She finishes packing the button-down shirts that would match the suits she'd packed and was well into the slacks by the time Reno remembers how to tie a bowtie. "You can turn around now."
"Wow, that looks great on you. Hey, hold on. You can't wear that with your normal shoes. Don't you have some that go with it?"
"They'd be under the bed if I still have them." he answers with a shrug. Sitting down next to the bed, Elena reaches under it and the first thing she finds is a heavily customized automatic shotgun with a bayonet. "So that's where I left my trench broom. Thanks, Lena, I was gonna pack that but couldn't find it." Continuing her search, Elena finds half a box of condoms which Reno surreptitiously stuffs into the suitcase, a box of shotgun shells, an old pair of combat boots that Reno also packs, lots of cobwebs, and a pair of reinforced black leather boots with red stripes running up the sides. "Can't believe I forgot to pack my riding leathers." Reno comments when he sees the boots.
"Riding leathers?" Elena asks. In response, Reno searches through his closet and pulls out a heavy waist-length black leather jacket with stylized red flames decorating the arms and tosses it to her. "This thing's pretty heavy. And stiff." she comments.
"That's from all the kevlar, titanium, and stuff reinforcing it." he responds. "Keeps me from having my skin peeled off and my bones snapped if I wreck at full speed. I've hit two-fifty on that bike in there. Also, good riding leathers'll stop a knife or most handguns. Plus, most importantly, they look good on me." he says, breaking into a goofy grin while saying the last part. Turning back to the closet, he pulls out matching reinforced leather pants and gloves. Resuming her search, Elena lays down on her stomach and partially crawls under the bed to reach farther. Reno enjoys the view while packing his leathers into a suitcase. After a few moments of wriggling around under the bed, Elena crawls out with a look of triumph on her face, a small flashlight in her mouth, and a dusty pair of dress shoes in hand. Reno laughs at the sight.
"What's so funny?" she demands while pocketing the flashlight.
"This." Reno responds with a smirk as he takes a step forward and quickly runs a hand through Elena's hair. Pulling his hand back, he shows her a handful of cobwebs.
Elena suddenly looks less triumphant. "Ewww... So, there enough time for me to grab another shower before we take off?"
"Don't worry, I got most of it out. You oughta be able to just comb the rest out." he reassures her.
"That's a relief. Hey, don't wipe that on your pants!" After narrowly preventing Reno from ruining his tuxedo pants, Elena hands him one of the shirts she'd decided to leave behind. "Wipe it on that." While he does that, she uses another one to quickly wipe the dust from the dress shoes, which she than tosses to Reno. "Looking good," she says after he puts the shoes on. Elena then does a wolf whistle, causing Reno to laugh. "You just made me some cash, too," she says with a mischievous smile. "Hey Rude, get in here!" she says in a louder tone of voice. "Pay up," she commands when he walks in the door. Reno begins to laugh even harder when he sees this. Rude hands the money over and leaves the room.
"You know, you didn't have to go through all that work, Lena," Reno says once he stops laughing. "All you had to do was offer to split the winnings."
"But that wouldn't be as much fun," she says with a grin. "Besides, I get more cash this way. That was my plan b though."
"Pretty smooth," he says while giving her a mock bow. "So, how much'd I make for you?"
"Five hundred gil."
"Not a bad score for a few minutes' work," Reno remarks while removing his bowtie. "Hey, that reminds me. You mind settling a bet between me and Rude?"
"That depends on the bet."
"We made it back when you first got promoted. Rude thinks blonde hair and brown eyes're a rare enough combo that it's probably not natural. I think dying your eyebrows and roots'd be a pain in the ass and it's probably natural. So who won?"
"Normally I'd just leave you in suspense. But you did just make me a nice pile of cash. It's natural."
"Hell, yeah! Hey Rude, get back in here!" When Rude enters the room, Reno holds out a hand, palm up. "I told you, she's a natural blond."
"...getting cleaned out today," Rude complains while handing over the gil. "I'm almost done with your mess out there, I'm going to start loading the VSTOL," he says before exiting the room.
"How much'd you win?" Elena asks.
"Two hundred," he answers while slipping off his jacket. "Now, as much fun as it's been dressing up for your amusement, we need to get moving."
"Alright. Thanks again, you really did look great in that tux," she says while turning around and getting back to packing the clothes in the closet.
"What, you mean I don't look great without it? That really hurts, Lena," Reno says, the tone of his voice clearly announcing that he's joking.
"Heh, you know what I meant, smartass. Well, that's everything in the closet that's worth taking."
"That's quick. It's safe to turn around now." When she turns, Elena sees that Reno's fully dressed again and packing the tux in the garment bag. After loading the filled luggage into their cart, they push it into Reno's living room, finding that Rude and most of the pile next to the door are missing. "There's only one elevator, so I guess we'll have to wait."
Elena pulls a comb from a pocket and runs it through her hair. "Did I get all the cobwebs out?"
"Almost. Hold still," he says before snatching the comb. With a few deft movements, he gently runs the comb through her hair in the spots she'd missed. "That's the last of it," Reno says while handing the comb back. "You've got a bunch on your back too."
"Thanks, Reno." Elena then slips off her jacket and uses a handtowel from the sink built into the minibar to wipe off the back of her jacket.
Reno glances at his watch. "It's late, but we might as well grab a light lunch before we take off." He then leads her into his kitchen. "All I've got that's edible's quick pockets." Digging through his freezer, he pulls out three boxes. "Alright, you've got three choices: philly steak, deluxe pizza, or ham and cheese."
"Philly steak sounds good," Elena declares, pulling one out of that box and starting it in the microwave.
"You got good taste," Reno remarks, slipping the other philly steak pocket out of the box. "Guess Rude only gets two choices."
"Too bad there aren't any restaurants or anything open," Elena says as she removes her lunch from the microwave. "These're the best type, but they don't compare that well to the real thing." Rude returns to the apartment, pushing an empty cart, while Reno's lunch is inserted into the microwave. Following the sound of the humming microwave, Rude walks into the kitchen where he silently helps himself to a ham and cheese and places it in the microwave as soon as Reno's finished. The trio of Turks quickly devour their lunches and return to the living room where the remainder of what Reno's taking is loaded into the empty cart.
Reno then hands both of his companions a large envelope. "Mission plans, equipment specs, and maps. We've still got about two and a half days before the mission, make sure you read it before then." He then leads the way out of the apartment. The elevator ride to the roof was somewhat uncomfortable due to two loaded shopping carts, a motorcycle, and three people being crowded into a small elevator. "Damn, Rude. You planning on taking on a tank battalion or something?" Reno asks when he sees all the equipment Rude mounted on the VSTOL. Rude chuckles at the exaggeration as the three make their way up the rear ramp. The luggage and equipment from Reno's apartment is quickly secured in the cargo bay and the ramp closed. "Nice, full ECM and surveillance suites." Reno observes, looking at the two large consoles each mounted on one of the walls directly behind the cockpit. Both these consoles extend four feet back from the cockpit and each has two rotating chairs mounted in the deck in front of it.
Walking past them, Reno climbs into the pilot's seat and starts the engines. Rude takes the co-pilot seat, leaving Elena with a swivel seat. Pushing the throttles forward, Reno allows the VSTOL to gain altitude before easing forward the lever that controls wing angle. Turning towards Junon, he eases the yoke back and begins the climb to cruising altitude. "To be honest, I didn't expect to come up with a plan so quickly. We're gonna have some time to burn when we get to Junon." Having reached cruising altitude, he levels the plane out and engages the autopilot. "Good thing the whole damn city's in denial. They think the shelters'll protect them from anything, so about everything's open. Business as usual, I guess."
"Good, I'm gonna go find a shoe store when we get there," Elena announces.
Looking over his shoulder, Reno sees Elena rubbing one of her calves with a stressed expression on her face. "You alright, Lena?" he asks, concern evident in his voice.
"Just a little sore from all that running around and climbing in heels," she answers. "I need to buy some flats, I'm sore enough I don't really care anymore if they'll make me look short."
Reno stands up and walks over to Elena, sitting down in the seat next to her. "Just relax and let Doctor Reno and his magic fingers take care of you," he says with a gentle smile. Leaning over, he takes hold of her right foot, then leans back and sets it on his left knee. "Trust me, I'm really good at this. By time we're ready to land, I'll have you feeling ready to run a marathon," he says while quickly untying her shoe. After removing it and her sock, he raises an eyebrow. "Running you raw's supposed to just be a figure of speech, you know."
"Is it really that bad?" Elena asks, looking worried.
"Well, you don't have any blisters yet, but it looks pretty damned sore," Reno says as he begins to firmly but gently massage the sole of her foot with his thumbs. "Remember what I told you about not sacrificing yourself for your job? Next time, let us know so it gets dealt with early. Kinda makes it hard to get your job done if you get too sore to walk. Hey, Rude. There should be a pack of moleskin in the medkit I packed. Mind running back and grabbing it for me?" Rude nods and heads back into the cargo area.
"If I knew you were this good at it, I'd have definitely told you earliere" Elena says while placing her other foot on Reno's other knee. Watching Reno work as he removes her other shoe and sock, Elena can hardly believe his scarred hands can be so gentle. "I'm surprised, I didn't think you were the gentle type."
"I used to be a thief, Lena, and I was trained as a sniper. You need a delicate touch for that sort of work," Reno says, knowing that it wouldn't be smart to mention how he'd perfected his massage techniques practicing on Angela in their downtime during the war or how he'd further honed those skills during 'soft interrogations', missions where he'd been sent to seduce women who had information Shin-Ra wanted.
"Makes sense..." she murmurs. Looking up, Reno grins when he sees the blissfully relaxed expression on Elena's face that confirms that his skills are working as intended. He pushes up the legs of her slacks and begins to work on easing the soreness out of her calf muscles as Rude returns and hands the pack of moleskin and a small pair of scissors to Reno. Carefully cutting small patches off the piece of moleskin, he gently applies it to the sore spots on Elena's feet before returning to massaging her calves.
"We're almost there." Rude announces twenty minutes later as he turns off the autopilot and begins the descent.
"Hear that, Lena?" When he doesn't get a response, Reno looks up and sees Elena's head leaning to the side, eyes closed. "Hey, Rude, two hundred gil says you can't set this down on the safehouse roof without waking her up." /Why the hell'd I say that? He's gonna get his gil back for sure now.../ runs through his head moments later.
"Deal," Rude agrees. Reno reaches forward and fastens the lap belt on Elena's seat then leans back and fastens his before proceeding to finish the massage. Not surprisingly, Rude touches down perfectly on the rooftop.
Reno leans forward and gently shakes Elena's shoulder. "Hey Lena, wake up."
"How long was I out?" she asks after her eyes open.
"We're in Junon, on the safehouse. I told you I was good at massages," he says with a grin. Rude cuts the engines and turns off the plane. "I'm even better when I've got massage oil to work with. So, feel better?"
"Yeah. Best flight I've ever been on. Thanks."
"No problem. Anytime you need the magic fingers, just ask. I'm kick ass at backs too."
"I might take you up on that later," she says while stretching her shoulders.
"So, since Junon's in denial, what do you two say to taking advantage of my business expenses card while we can and having a real dinner?"
"Sounds good to me," Elena says.
"Same here," Rude adds.
"Let's go incognito. Nothing too fancy," Reno adds. Grabbing some luggage, the trio exit the plane through the side door and take the elevator down from the roof. Entering an apartment down the hall, they find a safehouse that's much smaller than the ones Reno and Rude lived in. "There's the bathroom, bedroom, and storage room," Reno points out as they enter a small living room that's set up as a conference room. Elena walks into the bathroom, leaving the guys to change in the small bedroom. After a few short minutes they walk out and sit down at the conference table to wait for Elena. Reno wears a black t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and his old tan trenchcoat. Rude wears black slacks, a slate gray polo shirt, and his black leather blazer. Both wear the same shoes they normally wore with their uniforms and a variety of weapons. While waiting, Reno pays the money he lost to Rude. A few minutes later Elena exits the bathroom wearing a black sleeveless dress that came down to a few inches above her knees, a short waist-length black jacket, and a pair of light blue flip-flop sandals.
"You packed all those shoes and you didn't have anything that matched?" Reno teases.
"It's the only thing I had without heels. Hey, what's that say on your shirt?" Leaning close, she reads the line of small-print text that's written across Reno's waistline. "If you're already this close, why don't you just suck..." she stops reading it out loud at that point and straightens back up, an amused expression on her face. "Heh, real cute, Reno. You're actually gonna wear that in public?"
Reno grins. "Hey, you know me. Ready?" They both nod and Reno leads the way back to the elevator and takes it down to the ground floor. "If we walk, we can cut through the alley behind this place and be there in about a block. Driving'd take a hell of a lot longer."
That said, they exit the building and walk into the alley behind it, silent except for the slapping sound of Elena's sandals that accompany her every step. About halfway through the alley, six ragged figures appear from the darkness. "Lost? Give us the woman and your money and we'll let you live."
Reno smirks. "I could use a little exercise before dinner. Try not to bleed on us too much, we're going to a nice restaurant."
The thug's leader, standing right in front of Reno, pulls a small, cheap-looking pistol and points it at his face. "You son of-"
Reno cuts him off by simultaneously dropping into a low stance, resulting in the pistol being pointed above his head, and shooting both hands up to intercept and twist the thug's wrists, sending the cheap pistol flying. Reno then smashes a forward elbow strike to the thug's shoulder, turning him, then spins behind him and plants a spine-shattering side kick right above his kidneys.
Rude immediately steps toward the nearest thug and uses a hammerfist to knock his lead pipe out of the way. Stepping into the gap he'd created, Rude brings his fist back up in a tremendous uppercut while stepping on one of the thug's feet, preventing him from rolling with the punch. The force is enough to snap his neck, resulting in him collapsing in a heap.
Half a heartbeat later, while the first two thugs are still falling, Elena approaches the nearest thug. Easily ducking under the clumsy swing of his pipe, she lands a quick punch to his solar plexus. Stepping behind her stunned enemy, she reaches out and grabs his chin with one hand and the back of his head with another. With a quick twist, another target is eliminated.
Meanwhile, Reno easily parries a knife thrust with one hand then puts the magic fingers to another use, crushing a thug's trachea with a spearhand strike. This is followed by a swift crescent kick to the jaw that finishes him.
At he same time, Rude slips under his adversary's attack and counters with a powerful right cross that actually causes his target to bounce off the wall behind him, accompanied by the sound of cracking bone from his skull.
The last thug makes a feeble attempt to stab Elena, who easily side-steps. Hooking a hand over his, she spins behind him so they're back-to-back and delivers an elbow to his skull. She then wraps that arm around his neck and shoots her hand upwards, snapping his neck.
"Well that's disappointing, my pulse's barely up," Reno jokes. "I was expecting some better exercise from those odds." Leaving the small gang where they lay, the trio continues on their way along the alley, exiting near a expensive looking restaurant. Reno leads the way inside and is quickly intercepted by the maitre de.
"You can't come in here dressed like that. This is a black tie estab..." Reno cuts him off by holding up a plastic card that's instantly recognized as an executive-level Shin-Ra business expenses card. "I'm terribly sorry sir, if you'll just wait one minute..." The maitre de's eyes widen when he spots the words 'Administrative Research' on the card. "I mean please follow me. Madam, sirs, I'll seat you immediately."
"I love doing that," Reno whispers to Elena as they follow the maitre de to a table. "Walking into a five-star joint in jeans and making these snobby bastards jump when they find out who I am. It's one of my favorite perks of the job." The three are quickly seated and given menus and the wine list. The dim lighting causes the Mako glow from the Turks' eyes to be more obvious, adding to the maitre de's nervousness. Even Rude's are noticeable, a faint blue glow escaping around the rims of his custom sunglasses. "Bring us a bottle of Del Sol Sauvignon Blanc," Reno orders, ignoring the wine list. "Make sure it's at least twenty years old. And bring us a plate of crab cakes and some shrimp scampi for appetizers." The maitre de quickly rushes off and passes the orders on to the nearest waiter before resuming his post at the front door.
"What's good here?" Elena asks, opening her menu.
"Everything," Reno answers. "Especially the fish. Ever had fresh Junon lobster?"
"No, I've never had any lobster. I can't believe how expensive this place is," she says, eyes widening at the prices.
"I figure as long as the company's paying, we might as well eat at the most expensive place in town. Try the lobster platter."
"That looks like it has an awful lot of calories," Elena states after reading the list of what's included in the lobster platter.
"Yeah, but've you got any idea how many calories you burn saving the world?" Reno jokes. "Seriously, you should splurge a little. You'll burn it off easy. Besides, it tastes really damned good."
A waiter then arrives with the wine and after pouring it asks if they're ready to order. At their nods, he turns to Elena. "I'll take the lobster platter," she orders, deciding to trust Reno's advice.
"I'll take one too," Reno orders.
"Same here," Rude adds. "...gonna go hit the restroom, I'll be right back," he announces after the waiter leaves. He then stands and silently walks off.
"I like this wine," Elena announces after taking a sip. "Nice choice."
"Thanks. It's one of my favorites. Might as well enjoy it while we can still afford it."
Leaning against a bathroom stall, Rude lights a cigarette. Glancing at his watch, he debates how long to give his friends alone before returning to the table. He smiles at the thought that two and a half days of downtime should give him plenty of opportunities to push the two together. /Shame they're not more perceptive, it'd save me a lot of work.../
"These awkward silences suck, don't they?" Reno observes after a few minutes of both sitting silently, fidgeting with their wine glasses.
"Yeah..." Elena agrees.
/What the hell was that? You're supposed to be the Casanova of Shin-Ra and that's the best you could come up with? Damnit, man, your not supposed to get nervous sitting at a candle-lit table with a beautiful woman, she's supposed to be the nervous one. And you call yourself a ladies' man. You're slipping./
"You alright, Reno?"
Reno blinks and notices he's looking at Elena, who's lightly blushing. /And now you're staring like some dumb kid who doesn't know his way around ladies.../ "Guess I kinda spaced out for a while there. Sorry, Lena. Lot on my mind lately..."
"A gil for your thoughts," she says with a smile.
"Heh, they don't come that cheap," he responds with a lopsided grin. /Holy shit, Rude was right./ Reno realizes while looking into Elena's eyes. He takes a sip of his wine. /That's why I'm getting all nervous./ "Just thinking about the past, an old promise I never could fulfill." /Now that I think about it, I've been falling for her for a while now. But I buried it down deep where I wouldn't think about it, cause she's only interested in Tseng./
"You've got me curious now. What promise?"
"It's kinda personal." /She's still pining over Tseng, isn't she? Calm down and think, man. You know how to figure out if she'd be receptive and be subtle about it. You gotta focus./
"Now I'm even more curious. What's more personal than those stories you told me over the last couple days?"
/Damn, I can't focus. Calm down and relax, Reno./ "Maybe I'll tell you someday." Unbidden, Rude's words from the previous day leap to mind, 'You could help her get over it.' /How can I help her do anything when I'm nervous like this? At least I've got a good poker face.../
Author's Note: Thanks for the great reviews Cathy7, The Tiramisu of Impending Doom, Bruna Aquino, and TheDonutMistress. Sorry I took so long. It seems like I spent more time revising than I spent writing on this chapter. And when I wasn't being anal-retentive about my fic, I was burning time reading and reviewing other people's fics when I should've been working on mine. I guess that makes me a lazy perfectionist. /Reno-esque smirk/ As promised, I worked in some action this time around. It's a short sequence, but that's because I was going for realistic hand-to-hand. Since Reno's shirts got such a good reception, I gave them a mini-encore. And in case it's not obvious, the unfulfilled promise Reno was talking about's the same promise he was talking about with Rude in the last chapter. So, no one recognized Elly, AKA Elhaym? Ah well, guess I'm the only Xenogears fan here. Also, in case anyone's curious about what the Turk's new ride looks like, the VSTOL's loosely modeled on the V-22 Osprey.
New Note: Edited to add '--'s to make scene changes more clear. I also broke up a few paragraphs that were too large.
Edited again because some site update deleted all the '--' lines I used to use to denote scene changes. So time to slap horizontal rulers into all my fics.