Just A Job
Chapter Four:
Elena stood in the middle of her living room and stared down at the card in her hands. True to his word, the card the red haired Turk had given her contained a phone number, facsimile and an email address. "Baddudemdgr. she read out loud with a soft snicker. This Reno, despite being a dangerous professional, seemed like quite a character. If he had what it takes to be in the Turks, could she possibly…?
'Well, first things first,' she thought, placing the card on her kitchen bench. As an afterthought she placed her mostly empty coffee mug over one corner – wouldn't do for it to suddenly disappear. Holding the damp, now coffee scented front of her white singlet away from her body she shrugged out of it and tossed it towards the laundry basket. It missed, which was lucky as she darted after it less than a second later when a few urgent knocks sounded from her front door.
Fumbling with her shirt, Elena almost missed the soft call from the hallway, "Elly..?" But damp, stained singlet or not, she had no trouble hearing the second. "Elena!!" cried a frantic voice she recognised as Candice. When the blonde did not reply immediately, the desperate knocking became a loud jiggling with the door knob.
"Candy, calm down!" Elena called as she pulled the singlet down.
Candice was pulled inside, still holding onto the doorhandle, when Elena yanked the door open. Elena stared at her friend's frightened face expectantly, but before she had had a chance to ask where the fire was the blonde was nearly bowled over as Candice leapt forward and embraced her fervently. "Oh, Elly! You're okay!" the brunette sighed, squeezing even tighter.
"Yes," Elena squeaked, attempting, and failing, to push Candice away. "What's the matter, Candy?"
"Oh, I was so afraid!" the brunette gasped. "I saw somethin' last night, something I shouldn't have, and when I saw Reno again this mornin' I thought they was comin' for me… Oh, Elly! You only left a minute before, so when I heard voices down 'ere I thought you musta seen it too!"
"I didn't see anything…" Elena said slowly. Pointing at the pile of leather still sitting by her door, she explained: "They came to return something of mine."
Candice stared at the bag, confusion evident in every line of her face. Elena knew it was a bad excuse, but she was not quite ready to think about the Turks' proposition. Shaking her head, the brunette seemed to dismiss the improbable scenario of Turk charity and let her face light up with a smile. "'Kay, since we're both alive an' well, let's get some food into us, ay?"
Elena smiled. "Sure. But I need a shower before anything."
"Right," Candice agreed. "I'll meet ya back down 'ere in say… half an hour?"
……
The two women wandered aimlessly through the wall market, chatting happily and enjoying spending their evening's earnings. Elena had finally lashed out and bought the Cure materia she had been admiring for a while, while Candice treated herself to yet another set of shoes. Breakfast had been a while ago so they found themselves in search of a place to eat lunch.
"Ya know, I've heard o' this nice bar in Sector 7. Never been there, but the only bad review I've heard is 'pparently sometimes all customers get thrown out for no reason."
Elena raised a blonde eyebrow. "Yeah, sounds real friendly."
"Might as well check it out," Candice insisted. "S'not like we've got anywhere else to be."
Elena nodded and the pair casually made their way towards Sector 7. As they neared, however, the sounds of gunfire and shouting met their ears. The blonde looked around nervously.
"What's going on, Candy?"
"No idea," Candice replied, a frown of her own creasing her brow. "Maybe we should jus' find somewhere else to eat…"
Despite her friend's and her own uncertainty, Elena cautiously moved forward and peeked around one of the many large heaps of scrap metal. What she saw resembled some kind of war-zone: the fencing that kept intruders away from the Sector 7 pillar base had been breached; bodies of maintenance workers littered the ground around the stairs, but although there seemed to be a lot of blood most of them were moving. Three men who she assumed to be rebel troops stood guard. Raising her gaze, Elena could make out the tell-tale flashes of gunfire and magic at various points all the way to the top of the pillar.
Ducking back to where Candice was still standing frozen staring up at the pillar, Elena grabbed her arm and began to lead the brunette back in the direction they had come from. "I agree: let's get outta here. We don't need to be involv-"
A massive explosion cut off the rest of her words. Candice screamed and the pair clamped their hands over their ears. With her ears still ringing, Elena's eyes shot to the top of the pillar. Her blood turned to ice as she stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed at the huge chunks of crumbling concrete and metal that were plummeting to the ground.
Grabbing her friend's arm again, Elena all-but dragged Candice away from the pillar. The noise was enough to block out her shouted curses and the horrified screams of other people running with and around her. Just as the two women reached the edge of the sector the pair of them were blown forward, along with anything light enough to be forced off the ground from the impact. Tumbling painfully over scrap metal Elena finally came to a sudden halt when she slammed into a pipe.
Coughing violently from all the stray dust and dirt filling her lungs, Elena pushed herself into a sitting position and squinted around for her friend. She inhaled again but her shouts dissolved into another fit of coughing as dust ticked her throat. Using the pipe to lean on, the blonde pushed her way to her feet and found the settling dust easier to see through from her standing position.
"Candy?" she choked out, scanning the ground around her for any sign of movement. "Hello?"
Movement caught her eye to the right where a few people began to hobble away from the scene. Stumbling forward she called out Candice's name again, and cried out in relief when she was answered.
The relief was short lived, however, when she approached her friend and saw the blood and expression of pain on Candice's face. "Candy!" she exclaimed, kneeling down. Scanning over her body, Elena found the source of blood: a sharp piece of shrapnel had imbedded itself into the brunette's thigh. It was not bleeding badly, but the dirty bit of metal would have to come out before Elena could even consider using magic on it.
"Hey, Candy? Do you have your PHS on you?" Elena asked. Candice seemed to think for a moment, her expression still pained, before reaching down her top and pulling out the small communication device. Elena stared for a moment, then dismissing the brunette's choice of storage she grabbed the phone and flipped it open. Dialling up the emergency services, a voice answered her call after three rings.
"I need medical assistance down in Sector 8 immediately," Elena said into the mouthpiece.
'Thankyou for your call,' a calm, female voice answered. 'All emergency departments have sent units to assist both Sector 6/7 and Sector 7/8 intersections. Please remain calm until units arrive. Help will be along shortly."
The phone was then hung up. Elena sighed, "Sounds like we weren't the first to call. We're just gonna have to wait."
Candice nodded. Elena helped pull her into a sitting position and propped her up against a large piece of protruding metal. The blonde did not even know what half of the things in the surrounding piles were, or where they could have come from. The two sat in silence, the brunette's breath occasionally coming out in painful hisses, until the sounds of sirens were heard in the distance.
"I'll go and find somebody, okay?" Elena told her friend, who was shaking and sweating. "I swear I won't be long. I think you're going into shock, don't try to move."
Sprinting towards the sound, it did not take long for the blonde to meet up with the convoy of ambulances, fire trucks and police cars that had been sent to the site. Flagging down one of the ambulances, she made sure a stretcher was brought along as she led four paramedics back to her friend. Two disappeared to help others, while the two with the stretcher knelt down and observed Candice. They exchanged a few words and lifted her easily onto the stretcher. Elena followed them back to the ambulance but was stopped by a hand when she made a movement to board.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but there will not be enough space," a paramedic told her. "We are going to need you to return home. Your friend will be taken care of; you will be able to see her later on in the Upper Midgar Hospital."
Fighting her urge to object, Elena decided it would probably be for the best if she just co-operated. Giving a supportive wave and smile to Candice in the vehicle, she walked quickly to the train station, unwilling to get in anybody's way.
An hour later she was standing in her living room, staring at the business card the Turk had left behind. She needed to get out of the slums… and working at Steam was not going to provide her with that opportunity. Shinra paid well, their workers received benefits and they provided excellent training. What did she have to lose? Making up her mind, Elena picked up her phone and dialled the number.
……
Reno was in pain. Every part of his body hurt, from his broken toe to his concussed brain, and it sucked! Never again would he underestimate his enemy, especially when they fought with a sword almost as big as him.
'Definitely a SOLDIER,' the red head thought with a painful wince. Though how, he was not sure. Shinra had no record of such an individual ever being in their top forces, though there was a similarity between the suspicious blonde and an old, "unsolved" disappearance case.
Whatever! He was in far too much physical agony to contemplate Shinra's corrupt mysteries. A broken collar bone, two bullet wounds – left thigh and shoulder, assorted bruises and stitch-requiring cuts, sprained wrist, broken toe and a not-so-mild-feeling concussion were the consequences he was dealing with for carrying out the President's orders.
The shrill sound of his PHS ringing caused Reno to jump, which then caused him to groan as his entire body punished him for his movement. A soft sigh floated across the room and the red head froze automatically. His attempt to crack open his eyes as footsteps echoed around his hospital cot was given up when his retinas threatened to disintegrate from the brightness of the room. Reno let himself relax, however, when Tseng's calm voice answered his phone:
"Hello?"
While Tseng listened to whoever was on the other end, Reno had another try at opening his eyes. This much slower attempt was finally rewarded with a blurry view of the room. Seemed he had been transported directly to the medical centre in the Shinra HQ tower.
"Excellent!" The Turk leader's pleased voice dragged Reno's eyes to the door where he could se a blue-suited back. "I will send for you immediately. We will set up a trial first, if you complete this satisfactorily, you will begin proper training."
Even through the fogginess of his concussion, Reno was pretty sure he knew who Tseng was talking to. Sinking back into his pillow with a sigh, the red head closed his eyes and let his superior take care of business. It was not long before he sensed movement in the room again.
"So," the injured Turk ventured, not opening his eyes. "What's the trial gonna be?"
After a moment of silence in which the red head almost thought he had imagined the rustle of clothing to his left, Tseng answered in his usual quiet tone, "I've sent Rude down to collect her. He has taken everything she should need and he will drive her directly to the HoneyBee Inn."
Reno opened his eyes to grin widely at the dark haired Turk. If he had not been in so much pain he would have laughed out loud, and he did not miss the amused twitch Tseng's mouth made as the Turk leader strode out of the room."
……
Elena stared at her reflection in disbelief.
'He can't possibly be serious!' she thought, though knowing full well that the man standing in the room next to her did not seem to know how not to be serious.
The black and yellow body suit was a little stretched in some places, but it fit comfortably. However it was the ridiculous insect abdomen and feelers she disliked the most.
"This mission has already been failed twice before," Rude mentioned through the door. "The President would be most displeased should it be failed again."
Elena sighed and stepped out of her room to where the tall Turk was waiting. He looked her up and down with a nod and indicated for her to follow him as she pulled her coat on. He led her outside to where a sleek Shinra vehicle was waiting. Once strapped in, he handed her a manila folder with "#874" and two large, black X's written on the front.
"This is your mission brief," he explained as they pulled out from the curb. "Inside you will find everything you need to know."
Opening up the folder, the blonde sifted through the various bits of paper until she found an outline of what she was expected to carry out. It read:
'The Turk allocated mission #874 will:
Enter the Honey Bee Inn in the Midgar Wall Market [maps provided.
You must enter undetected [disguise provided.
You are to locate the suspect [photograph and profile provided.
You will retrieve the stolen object [picture provided.
Report back to the President.
This object is of great personal value to President Shinra. Any means necessary are to be performed in order to retrieve it.'
Elena looked down past the paper she had in her hands to find a photograph of a woman wearing the same costume she was. She did not look very happy; her face set into a defeated frown even though she was looking directly into the camera. Her make up was even thicker and cheaper than what Candice would usually wear. It was paper clipped to another document which appeared to have all the woman's personal details. It was incredibly specific, and seemed to include everything from her name, to her favourite flavour jellybean.
Flipping through the remaining pages, she found a map of Midgar and a detailed floor-plan of the Honey Bee Inn. The last page was an artist's perception of the stolen object she was going in to retrieve. Elena dropped the page and clamped her hand over her mouth, but still could not stop the snort of surprised laughter that exploded out of her.
Looking quickly over at Rude, who ignored her, Elena attempted to compose herself and took another glance at the drawing in front of her. It was a g-string. Black string studded with glitter and diamonds came together to a small black V of material where a golden 'S' was embroidered.
"What-", the blonde started, but had to stop and compose herself again. With determined seriousness, she tried again. "What is the point of this?"
Rude looked at her for a moment, and then looked back at the road. Elena thought perhaps he did not think her question deserved an answer and was about to try again, when:
"The object was stolen from President Shinra's private quarters on Lusty Lauren's last visit. Yes, she visits frequently," he added to Elena's questioning expression. "Something so personal to the President could be sold for a rather large sum of money, and we are aware she has already attempted to contact Dio, owner of the Gold Saucer. It could tarnish the President's reputation and influence the people's respect of him if something of that nature is released to the public. It cannot happen."
"Makes… sense…" Elena said slowly, though still doubting the urgency of the mission.
"Alright, we're almost there," Rude said, taking a left hand turn. "I am to escort you to the front door. Our back story is that I have been ordered to bring you back after your visit to someone in the Shinra HQ."
Elena nodded. Nerves began to crawl around in her stomach as Rude pulled the car to the curb directly opposite the Honey Bee. The street was still full of people, even though she knew the Markets had closed by now. The Inn appeared to be a very popular location during the evening, with a line of men waiting out the front.
After she had stepped out of the car and taken off her coat, Rude took hold of her upper arm and directed her across the road and towards the front door. The blonde kept her head down as men from the line, all ages, sizes and levels of intoxication, leered at her as she passed. At the top of the steps a security guard blocked their path. Rude stepped forward and spoke a few words to him, then turned around and strode back down the stairs without a second glance. The security guard stepped aside for her, and Elena walked through without raising her eyes from the ground.
The noise from outside disappeared the second the door slammed shut. Elena had time for a quick scan of the circular room she was in and the various doors leading off it, before the short, plump woman dressed as a bee standing in the middle shuffled over to her. Elena mentally named her Plumples.
"Finally," Plumples huffed moodily, and then wrinkled her nose at Elena's face. "Before I send you anywhere you'd better go and fix yourself up in the dressing room. I know the make-up's uncomfortable but the lighting in this place is terrible so you need more than that!" Before the blonde even had time to protest she was being poked in the direction of the door at the very back, and was promptly shoved through the curtain.
Elena glanced around the room she was now in. It was more brightly lit than the circular room she had just been shoved out of, with a long mirror stretched across one wall. Underneath the mirror an extended dressing table followed the wall almost to do the door. It was covered with various types of make-up and application utensils.
The blonde moved forward cautiously and tip-toed along the length of the dressing table, keeping half her senses on the curtain behind her while the other half inspected the stained surface beside her. The mirror was divided by bright bulbs of light and a nametag was tied to each chair. Elena moved along the table until she finally found the nametag she was looking for.
Lusty Lauren's section of the table looked no different to any of the others the blonde had passed: her designated piece of the enormous mirror had a few smudges from make-up-covered fingers, the chair was pushed in neatly and the three drawers to the side were closed. Elena could not see any locks on any of them so she pulled the top one open.
It was a small drawer, only just big enough to accommodate the sandwich, drink bottle and apple that resided inside of it. Pushing it shut, Elena reached for the second and pulled it open: a brush and as many scrunchies that could be crammed into the space filled the second drawer.
'Please, please, please, please, please,' Elena prayed hopefully as the yanked open the last drawer. 'Damn!'
It was almost empty, but for three bottles of nail polish, each one a brighter shade of red than the last.
"If I was President Shinra's g-string, where would I be?" Elena murmured to herself, thanking the Planet that she was, in fact, not the Shinra president's underwear.
"Alright, that's gonna have to do!" Elena jumped in surprise as the curtain at the other end of the room flapped open and a head appeared, quite low, from the other side. "The Group Room need another girl. Get in there pronto!" Then it disappeared.
The blonde looked around desperately. Creeping back toward the curtain she peeped out, the circular room was still empty except for the Plumples, who was waiting in the middle.
"I said 'now'!" She'd been caught peeking. Elena stepped out from behind the curtain slowly and followed the little woman's finger to a door on her right. With a nervous sigh she marched over to it and opened it up. Looking at the ground as she entered, Elena closed the door behind her and stood just inside the room.
"Well, hello there, pretty lady," a man's voice greeted her as she entered. The blonde looked up slightly to see two other women wearing bee suits feeding fruit to an enormous man, severely underdressed for his size, sitting on a mountain of pillows. He was revealing a lot more than Elena would really have like to have seen. One of the women she recognised instantly from the photo in the file Rude had given her. Lusty Lauren looked just as unhappy in person as she did in her photograph. Her nose screwed up with distain as she dropped another grape into the large man's mouth.
"Well," the large man said with a friendly smile once he had swallowed. "Now we're all here why don't you girls join me for a soak in the hot tub?"
Both Lusty Lauren and her companion cooed their approval, but Elena could only watch in horrified fascination as the big man struggled to his feet, every part of him wobbling in the process. He stepped slowly over to the hot tub and reached under his folds of fat to grab at the only bit of clothing he wore: a tiny, black g-string.
Elena had to squint in order to continue watching as he dragged it off his body, whirled it around his head with a booming laugh, and then flung it across the room. It landed in the middle of the floor between the blonde and the hot tub the enormous man was struggling to step into. She stared at it, hoping to avoid looking at the giant in the bath for a few moments longer.
Although it lay crumpled on the carpet, Elena could not help but notice how much of it glittered. Cocking her head slightly so as to see it from another angle, she noticed a golden shape embroidered on the front of it, half covered by itself. She felt her jaw threatening to drop and clenched her teeth in an attempt to discourage it. There was no mistaking that it was the very g-string she was looking for, but what in the Planet's name was Lusty Lauren doing lending it to another client?
The two other women had settled themselves down on the edges of the hot tub, and were looking at her expectantly. The blonde took an uncertain step forward, when the large man spoke again:
"You know, I could really go for some chocolate. Something a little sweeter than these grapes, if ya know what I mean." Chuckling to himself, he reached over the stone wall of the bath and grabbed the basket which was now almost empty of grapes. "Before you sit down," he said, looking over at Elena. "Would you mind filling this up with something nice?"
Elena had to jerk herself out of her stunned position in order to walk across the room and accept the basket being held out to her.
"Don't take too long, love," the man said with a quick wink.
Elena smiled, turned around, and walked out of the room, making sure as she passed over the spot the g-string lay to drag her boot on the carpet and hook the skimpy item over her foot. Luck finally seemed to have decided to give her a chance, as the circular room she walked into appeared empty. Reaching down the top of her costume – pockets not included – the Elena grabbed the plastic sample bag she had taken from the file. She put her hand inside, reached down and grabbed the g-string through the plastic and flipped the bag inside out. No fuss and no need to touch the contaminated material.
She had just enough time to slip it back inside her costume when Plumples came barging out from one of the doors opposite to where the blonde was standing. She had a young man by the hair and was dragging him to the front door. She had nearly reached it before Elena was able to distinguish any of the words being shouted from her mouth:
"We look after our employees here! We will not accept that kind of behaviour! If I catch you anywhere near here or any of my girls ever again then you're going to be incredibly sorry!" With that, she tossed him out the front door, which had been opened and was being held by the security guard outside.
Elena felt a new respect for the bossy little woman, but kept quiet until the angry mutterings had subsided.
"Um, excuse me?" she ventured.
"Huh?" Plumpes looked up in surprise. "Oh, I didn't notice you there. What're you doing just standing around? I thought I put you in the Group Room?"
"You did," Elena said quickly to the other woman's suspicious look. "I, um, need to get some chocolates… for my client." She held out the almost empty basket in explanation.
"Hmm… you should know where we keep all the food. But you'll find the sweets on the top shelf in the dressing room basement. Be quick now, time is money, girl!"
Elena hurried back to the curtain-covered door she had been in earlier. She had not taken note of the basement when she was in there last time, but there had been an emergency fire exit which she knew would lead out to the alleyway where Rude was waiting for her.
……
"So she was just letting some random wear it, huh?"
Reno was slouched down on the couch in the Turk's Headquarters, one arm in a sling and opposite leg propped up on the coffee table revealing his bandaged toe. His other injuries had been healed with materia, but the broken bones required more time.
"Probably discovered no one wanted to buy it…" Tseng murmured. "As interesting a collector's item it would have made."
"She would've been making more money hiring it out to every fat bastard who wanted to play King of the World, anyways." Reno sneered. He glanced over at the Elena. She was sitting politely distanced from him on the same lounge and had remained quiet since giving her report.
"Well," he directly at her loudly, "Welcome aboard!" He couldn't help but grin back as her face cracked into a pleased smile.
Tseng moved over and handed her some forms. "You'll have to fill out these. Make sure you include your payment details, and all your measurements. Once your uniform is made you'll be able to start. Congratulations."
The raven-haired Turk leader stretched out his hand. Elena's cheeks warmed slightly, but she shook his hand firmly. Reno leaned over offered his own hand, just as Rude crossed the room to do the same. After shaking each hand, Elena folded the papers Tseng had given her and put them in her handbag.
"Thankyou for this opportunity," she said formally, clearly attempting to hide her excitement behind a façade of professionalism. "I'll bring all these back first thing tomorrow. I'd like to go and visit a friend now."
'And so the Terrifying Trio becomes the Fearsome Foursome,' the red head though as he watched her close the office door behind her.
……
"Candy!" Elena squealed with excitement as she embraced her friend. Candice returned her hug with equal force, despite the crutches tucked under each of her arms.
The hospital waiting room they were in was packed with people, some with only minor bumps and others with some rather gruesome injuries. Candice had already been seen to, and was on her way out when the blonde had spotted her.
"Elly, I'm so glad ya showed up!" Candice said with exhausted smile. "I woulda had trouble gettin' home on me own. 'Parrently there's only enough materia for the people with life threatenin' injuries."
"Really?" Elena asked, surprised. "I thought they would have had loads of material stored here…" Reaching into her handbag, Elena pulled out the green orb she had purchased earlier that day. "I know it's only a really low level cure, but this should help a little bit."
Candice nodded appreciatively. "Yeah, but let's get home first. I don't wanna go takin' all me bandages off here. There's other people who need the space more than me. What've you been doing all this time?" she asked as they made their way out of the front doors.
Elena smiled broadly. "I've got myself a job."
……
End of Chapter Four
And an end to this story. So there we have it! Finished! I could have gone on, but it would have been rambling nothingness so I thought I should just quit while I'm ahead. Please let me know what you think )