Mission 57: Piano Sword
"Why do I always get stuck working with Strife?" Reno's complaints were a bad way for Cloud to start his delivery and an even worse way for Reno to start his mission. They were both currently in Shinra's main lobby in the first floor.
"I should be the one complaining," Cloud grumbled under his breath, but he knew he had no room to complain. Planet friendly or not, Shinra was still Shinra, and Shinra was a monopoly. Planet Power, right... it was just a name to hide the reputation of the past of Shinra Electric Power. Even so, they supplied oil based electric power and they had plenty of customers to consume it, since the production of coal was decreasing and mako was forbidden.
Regardless of the past that occurred or the future that awaited; the fact still stood that in the present, Tifa Lockhart carried the debt of overdue electrical bills. For that, Cloud Strife felt guilty because he had certainly been consuming electricity, water and food at Tifa's home, but he had not been contributing as much as he should. Tifa had been kind enough not to kick him out, but she did request his help. If Cloud could deliver Rufus' piano to the top floor of the new Shinra headquarters, then the president would forgive Tifa's debt.
"Where are the Turks?" Cloud inquired, hoping with all his might that the other Turks were simply late, and that the harsh task of carrying a piano up the stairs did not end up falling upon just the two of them, because the piano didn't fit in the regular elevator and there was no cargo elevator.
"They can't come, they had to go out on last minute missions," Reno pouted and crossed his arms. "Now I'm stuck helping you with the piano all by myself. You're the delivery boy; you should be doing this on your own!"
Cloud felt his eye twitch and resisted the urge to try out his sword on Reno; after all, he had recently polished the large blade and did not wish to get it dirty. Besides, there was a certain amount of truth to Reno's words. Cloud was the delivery boy and Rufus was paying more than Cloud would normally charge for one of his deliveries even if it wasn't in gil, but in erasing Tifa's debt which was partly his own. Then again, Cloud wouldn't be crazy enough to accept this kind of delivery in a normal situation.
The spiky haired blond shook his head and unsheathed his sword causing the redhead Turk to jump into a defensive position holding his electrorod in front of him, as if to shield himself from the blow of the giant blade. "Relax, I'm not going to kill you, because then I'll have to carry the piano to the top floor on my own." Cloud glanced over at the receptionist who was curiously watching the scene from the front desk. "I'm going to leave this here for a while, okay?" She nodded while hiding a giggle and he placed his sword against the wall behind her desk.
"Let's get this over with, I'll go first since I'm probably better at walking backwards," Reno offered, and Cloud agreed without giving it much thought. The Turk was just looking to take the easy way out, since the one at the bottom would have to support most of the weight of the piano while going up the stairs, while the one at the top's main duty would be to navigate.
However, on the inside Reno was grinning victoriously. His mission: to separate Cloud from his sword, was accomplished and he didn't even have to do anything. Where there is Shinra, there is plotting and where there is a Turk, nothing is what it appears to be.
End of Mission 57
The stories "Missions" and "Deliveries" are connected but can be generally understood as separate collections. Mission 57 is the continuation of Delivery 25. The piano delivery was requested by kikofreako and somehow it evolved into a little saga in the Missions and Deliveries collections. The piano chaos will continue on Mission 58. Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.