Chapter 84

He watched from the shadows. With a hand braced against the cold grey concrete, Tseng followed Elena's movements up the street toward the seemingly innocuous establishment that his source had claimed would be the place for the meeting this evening. His eyes traced her steady unhurried step as she headed for the door, following a group of chattering women as they went inside. It was a bar popular with the young crowd and, though Tseng hated to admit it, Elena would blend in better than any of the rest of them would have.

He had instructed her to listen to whatever she could, doing her best to avoid any kind of interaction with those involved in anything. He did not want a repeat of what had happened the night she'd been drugged. With luck, Elena would be able to find a place in a dark corner and just observe. Once she had what she was after, Tseng had instructed her to meet him down the street. He hoped that she wouldn't be followed and, if he could have been sure of that, he would have just met her at home. He didn't want any of those scumbags finding out where she lived, however. Not understanding how Reno dealt with knowing that Cadan knew exactly where to find Aura, Tseng wished that the Redhead had allowed them to install some form of surveillance in Aura's house. Reno had been quite against it, claiming that Aura would have been more uncomfortable knowing that people could see what she was up to whenever they so chose.

Trying to convince himself that he didn't need to march across the street and into the bar, Tseng forced himself away from the wall before turning and heading to a spot he could keep a better eye on the place while waiting for Elena.

Elena's eyes scanned the bar the moment she was through the door. She noted the one exit in the back and the bathrooms to the right. There were several windows that looked out onto the street with heavy curtains pulled closed in front of them. At first glance she thought there might have been sixty to seventy people in the room, and most of them were seated at various tables around the place. Moving slowly forward, Elena shifted her eyes to the tables by the wall, hoping to find somewhere out of the way where she could sit and take in everything that was happening. All the tables appeared to be occupied, however, so she bit her lip as she tried to work out what to do.

Reno had once told her that in order to blend in she needed to act as if she was there for the same reason that everyone else was, and not just to watch. Turning toward the bar, Elena smiled She needed a drink. Other people were here to drink and have a good time, so that is what she would aim to look as if her goal was also.

Picking up the drink that the bartender set in front of her, Elena turned on her heel, resting back against the bar as she set the straw between her lips to take a sip. She looked again for an empty table by the wall, frowning a little when she saw that they were still all occupied. Maybe she would be able to just stand by the wall?

"Are you by yourself?"

Turning her head, Elena's eyes moved over the girl standing beside her. She had shoulder length black hair and looked to be about Elena's own age. "Uh… Yeah…" Elena wasn't sure if hse should have admitted to that. Was it dangerous? Did people come to these things alone?

"Do you want to come sit with me and my friends?"

Surprised, Elena nodded. "Yeah, sure…" She smiled "Thanks…"

"I'm Dee."

"Hi…" Elena sought quickly for a name, "I'm Nara."

Dee took Elena's hand and led her across the room to a table by the wall. Elena kept a friendly smile on her face, hoping that this would get her right where she needed to be and help her to avoid any suspicion. "Guys, this is Nara." Dee waved a hand at the table with two more girls sitting at it, "And this is Teeg and Lira."

"Hi." Elena took a seat beside Dee.

"So why were you by yourself?" Dee asked Elena, who tried to work out a reasonable excuse. Dee continued before she'd decided on a reason however. "Your friends working?"

"Ah, yeah…"

"And your boyfriend?" Lira asked, a sympathetic look on her face.

Elena tilted her head, "Yeah… work…"

"Sucks." Dee put in. "But it's awesome that you didn't let that stop you. Coming out alone is hard, but it's good you met us!"

"Do you guys come here a lot?"

"Yeah, every week." Teeg nodded. "Haven't seen you before, though."

"No… I haven't been. Thought I'd give it a go." Elena swept her eyes around the bar, hoping that she was giving the impression of looking at it appraisingly, while she was actually scanning the room for any faces that she might recognise. She had studied Cadan's face enough to know that he wasn't present, though there were a couple of guys at a table in the corner who seemed familiar enough that she figured she'd want to keep an eye on them.

"It's a pretty chill place." Teeg told her, "It's got a bit of everything. Drinks, space to actually sit and hang out, and music that isn't too loud that you can't have a conversation."

"Ugh, I hate it when you can't hear each other in those places where they just blast music." Lira added. "Does that mean we're getting old?"

"I think it means that you're just interesting enough to have something to say to one another." Elena replied, pleased when the girls smiled.

"Yeah, I like that." Lira grinned.

"So… tell me about this place." Elena said, "Who comes here? What kind of people?" She hoped she sounded curious, and like she wasn't trying to case the joint. Teeg raised an eyebrow and looked from Elena to Lira and then to Dee.

"All kinds of people." Dee said softly. "People looking to chill after work, people wanting to just hang with friends, mostly local people who live and work around here…"

"Were you after anything … particular?" Lira asked, and Elena tried to look innocent.

"I… had just heard… maybe this was a good place to… meet…" she gave what she hoped was a generalised shrug, "people with ideas on how to … make things better…"

"Ah…" Dee gave a nod. "Sometimes people get a bit excited and have a bit of a rant…"

"A rant?" Elena asked, and Dee nodded again.

"Yeah, some people go on about how ShinRa isn't to be trusted even though they say they're trying to help the world rebuild. They say they're to blame for the Geostigma and that they're releasing a cure that actually kills infected people…" the girl gave a laugh, "They get pretty into it."

"Do you know them?"

"Nah, and they never dance or anything… They're only here to talk."

"And they're here now…" Lira gestured to the nearby corner and Elena turned to see a young blond man stand up on a table and call for everyone's attention.