Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. These ditties are mine, as are McCallister and Jake. Took a lot of creative license with this one. Enjoy!

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004 – Hiding in Plain Sight

(For WishingDreamer5; Prompt: 'sneaky/games/both')

The heavy bass of the music seemed to thunder through every surface of the dance club. It rumbled through Aerith's high heels and was off-beat with her heart. The whole scene around her was a cacophony of noise and flashing lights. And even though Leon was standing less than three feet away from her, she still had to ask when she saw his mouth moving.

"What?" She asked, cupping one hand around her nearer ear.

He took a moment to frown before moving closer, "Are the others ready?"

Aerith inclined her head to show that she understood and casually reached up, discretely activating the small listening device in her ear. There was a small crackle of static. She pretended to be fiddling with her earring. Her hair had been carefully curled around that ear to cover up the radio, maintaining her undercover disguise.

"Everybody in position?" She spoke into the micro-speaker that was wired into her blouse.

Another short crackle.

"I'm at the bar." Tifa replied.

"At the window." Was Yuffie's response.

"The pawns are all prettied up and ready to go." Cid snorted over the line.

"Aw, thanks, Cid." Came Jake Alms' voice.

"Mark one?" At least Private McCallister was sticking to the code language.

Aerith gave Leon a thumb up. He glanced down, and she followed his gaze. The dance club was two levels, with the second level open in the middle, allowing those above to look down on the dance floor on the first level. The club owner, who went by the name Oscar, had been running black market weapons out of Radiant Garden through his little business here.

From where she and Leon were near the edge of the second level, she could see Tifa loitering near the bar in her low-cut red halter top and short denim skirt. Scanning across the way, she spotted Yuffie in an even more low-cut green top and even shorter black skirt, along with strappy gold heels that laced up to the knee.

…honestly…Was she trying to upstage Tifa over there? Tifa? The older woman had at least two whole cup sizes on Yuffie. Aerith shook her head and shifted her gaze toward the back of the first level. The dark wooden door in the corner led to Oscar's VIP room. It would be McCallister and Jake's mission to get into that room, through stealth and subtlety, and then Tifa and Yuffie would close in. Leon, Cid, and Aerith were just there for back up.

Oscar had never given any indication that he was anything more than a simple urchin making fast money on the black market, there was no telling if his buyers were there with him. And the buyers on the black market were considerably more dangerous than the sellers, in Aerith's opinion. Beside her, Leon dismissed another pesky waiter in exasperation.

Aerith chuckled, "Leon, you can't keep swatting them away. People are going to get suspicious if you don't order something."

When Leon gave a noncommittal grunt, she sighed and waved a hand to get a passing waitress's attention.

"I'll have a screwdriver, neat." She said over the din.

The woman nodded and Leon ignored her inquiring look. Aerith looked at him in amusement for a moment before looking back down to the first level, speaking into her microphone.

"Go get your groove on, you two."

"Roger that!" Alms replied.

"…" responded McCallister.

Let the game begin, Aerith mused thoughtfully.

Yuffie had been adamant about being involved in this mission; however, her face was too well known to expect to fly under Oscar's radar. The same went for Tifa and Aerith. They were fine if they were merely paying customers in the bar, but they couldn't get anywhere near the VIP room without raising some suspicion. Luckily, they had Jake and Private McCallister. Jake, Radiant Garden's self-declared ladies' man, was a frequenter of this particular club, so his presence wasn't conspicuous. Tabaeus McCallister had never set foot in the place—it was hard to imagine the soldier going to any such place for fun—so she would be just another face in the crowd.

"Oh for the love of…" Leon groaned.

Aerith glanced at him, and then back down to the first floor. She quickly covered her mouth to hold back the sudden laugh that threatened to burst out of her. Jake Alms was unmistakable as he entered the club. Flashy purple shirt, black leather pants, gelled hair in a failed attempt at the 'bed-head' look: so much for subtlety.

"What in Kingdom Hearts?" She snorted into her fist, watching Alms saunter his way into the club like he owned the place.

Cid's voice crackled over the radio in Aerith's ear. "He said he always dresses like this when he 'goes clubbin'. A handful of disgruntled women backed him up."

Leon closed his eyes briefly and Aerith snickered.

Private McCallister—for once not in her military fatigues—made a less dramatic entrance on Jake's arm, though not less shocking. The stocky soldier had dawned a teal strapless dress that ended even shorter than Tifa or Yuffie's skirts. It made her legs look long and the tall silver heels showed off her muscled calves and lower thighs. Even from here, Aerith could tell that she had had to apply a spray tan to cover up pale legs and upper arms. Her tawny brown hair, usually up in a tight knot on the back of her head, was spilling down to her shoulders now in curly waves, and it looked like she'd added some blond highlights.

At least Jake's outlandish outfit matched his outlandish personality. It was bizarre to see the straight-laced McCallister unleashing her inner…slut.

Tifa's low whistle of approval came over Aerith's microphone. Beside her, Leon shifted, leaning his hands on the railing of the second level. Getting over her giggles, Aerith focused again on the mission at hand. None of the other gyrating bodies on the dance floor paid the newcomers any heed.

The waitress returned and set the orange drink on the table in front of Aerith. She smiled and thanked the woman absently, lifting the glass and taking a sip. Jake led the way out into the fray on the dance floor, tugging a gun-shy McCallister behind him. The private moved slightly awkwardly in the unfamiliar heels, and clearly was leaning toward the edge of the dancing crowd, whereas Jake was intent to drag her out into the middle of it.

"This was just too perfect of an opportunity for Alms." Yuffie snickered over the radio.

Tifa's laughter agreed, and Aerith smirked.

McCallister was clearly getting her way, slowly but firmly carrying their little show toward the edge of the dance floor, where she was required less to actually dance than to just bob back and forth toward the VIP room. Aerith paused.

"She looks a little stiff out there." She mused aloud. When Leon glanced at her, she went on. "She doesn't look like she's enjoying herself."

"Jake is trying to grind on her; that's explanation enough." Leon muttered.

"But a girl who agreed to be his date for the night—her cover—should at least look like she's enjoying herself." Aerith reasoned.

Tifa appeared to agree, because voice came over the radio. "McCallister, relax."

"I'm trying." McCallister muttered back over the radio.

"Toss your hair and tilt your head back." Tifa advised.

Down below, McCallister tossed her hair—albeit with a rigid neck—and precariously leaned back against Jake, who appeared to be amused at how awkward she was being.

"Yeah, c'mon, Tabby, get with the beat." He chuckled.

"I will cut off your penis." McCallister fired back.

Apparently having enough of that, Leon leaned over to speak into Aerith's microphone. "All right. Start making it toward the VIP door."

Jake looked disheartened, but McCallister couldn't scramble away fast enough. The two made their way—bobbing this way and that—toward the dark door in the back corner of the club. In their respective positions, Tifa and Yuffie kept a wary eye on them. Aerith took another drink from her screwdriver. It was strong and she cleared her throat after swallowing it.

"Tell Alms to watch his hand or I'll break it off." Leon grumbled.

Aerith noted that Jake's hand, originally around McCallister's waist as they moved, had migrated south toward the soldier's backside.

"Jake, Leon just gave you strike one." Aerith relayed.

"Ah, I'm just getting into character!" Jake whined.

"Yeah, the character of Jake Alms." Yuffie quipped.

"Haters gonna hate."

"Stop touching me." McCallister snarled.

Jake's hand reluctantly moved back up around her hip as they reached the door.

Okay, by some miracle, no one had raised any eyebrows toward the unlikely pair. Now they just had to bank on Jake's charisma and McCallister's best attempt at being a hottie to sneak back into Oscar's private room.

The big muscle in front of the door looked stoic.

"Who're you?" His voice was low and slow over the microphone.

"Who are we?" Jake guffawed. "Jake Alms. I'm a regular here. Oscar's one of my boys. He asked me to swing by and…make a down payment." He dropped his voice just a tone, but enough to impress Aerith with his acting skills.

"Hmph." The muscle grunted, looking unconvinced. "Down payment, huh?" He glanced from Jake, to McCallister, to Jake.

Jake cleared his throat, "This is Veronica. She's—"

"—the down payment." McCallister's voice had changed too, from her normal plucky, serious tone, down to a low, sultry rasp. "A thousand munny an hour…all night."

Leon and Aerith both straightened. THAT hadn't been in the script.

The muscle head looked McCallister up and down. "A thousand? S'a little expensive."

"Dude, totally worth it." Jake assured.

One of McCallister's hips popped out, giving her a more flirtatious posture. "It's an extra 200 if you want to watch."

Yuffie squawked in surprise and Aerith's eyes widened.

"Atta girl." Tifa said calmly over the radio. "Just like we talked about."

The muscle straightened, muttered something, and then retreated into the VIP room. Jake leaned toward McCallister.

"The Hell was that?"

"Improv."

Leon nudged Aerith's elbow. "Tell them to start moving in, just in case."

Aerith relayed the message with a dumb grin on her face. Yuffie and Tifa nodded and started shifting toward the VIP room, but not close enough to raise any red flags to Oscar's staff. After a beat, the door opened again and the muscle head nodded the two in.

Jake all but skipped into the room, tugging McCallister after him. The private stumbled slightly after him, then let out a giggle that was probably supposed to sound light hearted but came out slightly strangled. The door closed after them and Leon shifted uncomfortably. Aerith finished off her drink and ran a hand through her hair.

"Hello, hello, what have we here?" came a drawling voice over McCallister's microphone.

"Oscar, my man!" Jake greeted exuberantly through his own wire.

"Mr. Alms." Oscar said curtly. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey now, is that any way to greet a customer?" Jake sounded like he was grinning.

"Customer?" Oscar chuckled. "As I recall, you've refused all of my offers to become a new customer…and a seller…and a hustler." There was a pause. "And who is this?"

"She's the new customer." Jake changed tact like lightning.

"Oho?" Oscar sounded intrigued. "You're interested in weapons, love?"

Aerith practically HEARD McCallister bristle at being referred to as 'love.' She literally SAW Leon bristle at it.

"I used to date a mercenary." McCallister lied swiftly. "Figured I could try my hand at dealing them, make some extra cash."

"Women and weapons rarely mix well." Oscar said smugly, and Aerith heard movement, like someone getting up from a couch. "The only time I've found that they do is when they're in my hands." His voice sounded very close to the microphone in the chest of McCallister's dress.

Suddenly there was the sound of a scuffle, followed by solid punch noises. The muscle head outside the door hurriedly moved inside, giving Aerith and everyone else in the bar the image of McCallister beating the snot out of Oscar, his handprint red on her thigh from where he'd tried to cop a feel.

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A/N: I normally don't like to focus on my original characters, but I feel like Jake and McCallister have earned a little spot in the limelight. I hope it wasn't too forced. Besides, writing Leon and everyone else's reactions was quite entertaining. And for readers who are familiar with these two, I hope it was entertaining for you guys to read as well!

Thanks for the prompts! Keep 'em coming! XD