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12. Reno – Spectator

"You're sure?" Tseng's voice didn't change. Anyone else might have climbed an octave, or at least injected a little surprise. Not Tsengy-boy. His po-face didn't slip a notch.

Cissnei nodded. "Absolutely."

Reno tilted his head at her. He'd always sort of fancied her, but Cissnei was one of those look-but-don't-touch women. It wasn't anything she did, since she wasn't a badass in the traditional sense. She was dangerous – hell yeah – but she coupled that with a weird mildness totally at odds with her ability to throw a shuriken the size of Don Corneo's ego. It was just a vibe she gave off; even when she smiled, or brushed aside her hair, or you heard her talk and realised being a Turk hadn't roughened her voice. Cissnei was a badass, but a sexy badass. Nobody got away with anything around her unless they wanted broken fingers – something he knew after a badly-timed grope when she was young and he was younger. Veld had refused him a Cure Spell for an entire duty shift, during which he had been in three fights and had his ass kicked in all three. The humiliation was devastating. He had never tried to touch her fun-bags again.

Tseng stared at the report on his desk. Reno didn't bother to hide his sigh. Nobody expected him to. They didn't even acknowledge his theatrics, which was galling. What did a guy have to do to get a little attention around here?

Die, apparently. Or go crazy. Or both. But that was another story.

"Do Juu and Tama know?" Tseng asked.

"I did their observations myself," Cissnei replied.

"Do they know?"

"No."

"Good."

She stared at him. Reno raised an eyebrow. Rude, as ever, was unreadable.

"What next?" Cissnei said at last. Her eyes flickered to Reno and Rude, as if wary about them listening when this mission wasn't even their brief.

Reno was also surprised to be called in. True, the two butterballs Cissnei had been partnered with were lacking experience, but it wasn't Tseng's style to interfere with the line-up once he had chosen it. Reno and Rude weren't exactly at a loose end, either. After the desertions by First Class Rhapsodos and First Class Hewley, plus this whole Nibelheim fiasco, there were officially no First Class SOLDIERs left. Tseng had briefed them to dispel the growing panic in Midgar before it exploded and made the higher-ups do something stupid. Preventative medicine was sometimes better than curative, even if looking for potential amongst the trainees who could be fast-tracked to assuage the tension was tedious in the extreme. Those kids were so intense. Reno felt like telling them they'd be selected for SOLDIER if they passed one final test, then taking them below-Plate, to the Honeybee or someplace, just to see their faces and laugh.

Then Tseng told them what he wanted them to do, and it struck Reno that sometimes reality echoed fantasy in weird ways.

"Been a while since we worked together, huh, sugar-lips?"

She rolled her eyes. "Your patter hasn't improved."

"Aw, don't be that way, Ciss. At least you're on point."

"I'm jumping up and down inside. Really. Head of a team with a slacker and a slab of granite in sunglasses."

"You gonna take that from her, Rude?"

"She's in charge," Rude deadpanned. "And you are a slacker."

Cissnei smothered a snigger. She did it delicately, but it was still there. Reno wondered how much she'd laughed with her previous partners. He was so used to being one of a pair with Rude, it felt odd deferring to a third person. Cissnei, on the other hand, seemed grateful to be away from the newbies; which was odd, given she was the one who usually showed most concern over fresh meat not becoming dead meat. Either Juu and Tama were irritating as hell (a distinct possibility, since they'd managed to lose their target so easily and let it stay lost this long), or Cissnei had stuff on her mind.

Ah, well, at least they'd located the missing girl. And to tell the truth, their destination now was so much more preferable to another jaunt amongst the SOLDIER wannabes.

"C'mon, admit it." He slung an arm around Cissnei's shoulders. "You missed me."

"True," Cissnei replied sweetly, "but my aim has improved."