"You sure this is where we're supposed to meet them 'Ria?" questioned Reno as he tapped his nightstick against his shoe while he swung his sunglasses around in his hand.
"Yes Reno, for the sixth time, yes!" answered Karia with annoyance, her hair and coat blowing back behind her slightly from the light wind. "And before you ask what's taking so long, it's because we're early, now shut up before I run you through with a katana."
"Geeeeez... wrong time of the month or something?" said Reno who stopped tapping his nightstick and looked up. Thinking for a second he took a couple steps away from Karia then went back to his tapping.
"Smart move Turkey, and no, just WAIT until pms kicks in," she smirked, then walked over to Reno and gave him a push causing him to stagger a bit.
"What the! HEY!" he shouted as he claimed his balance back, "damn woman, just can't keep your hands off me can you?"
"Yes, you're just so to die for," replied Karia sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Ah ha, here's the cavalry, time to go Turkey."
A black sports car pulled up just as Karia turned around to inspect the noise. "Hmm.. right on time," she stated as Tseng made his way over to her.
"Karia I'm assuming? I'm Tseng," explained the Wutaian as the brunette before him nodded in affirmation. "Nice to finally meet you, and our many thanks for bringing Reno back in one piece."
"Drop the formalities Tseng, you know I did this for you guys just as much as I did it for me," she patted Tseng on the shoulder as she walked by him and towards the car. "Turkey, Tseng, let's go."
"Turkey..?" questioned Tseng as Reno came up to stand by him.
"Don't ask me.." the red head said then smirked. "Hey Tseng, where'd you guys ever find her any way? She's a frisky one."
"That can wait for later, " answered Tseng as he started towards the car, "actually... before you ask another question, Don't even think about it Reno, she'd kill you."
Raising his hands in innocence he shook his head, "hey hey I never implied a single thing, don't jump to conclusions Tseng!" The Wutaian didn't even look back.
"Pay up dear!" laughed Elena as she collected her winnings from Rude, "I told you Reno would come back in one piece."
"...Evil woman..." Rude replied while messing up the blonde woman's hair. Looking over to Reno, he questioned, "how did you manage that any way...?"
"Haha, you know me Rude!" beamed Reno, "I can always take care of myself. Hey wait a second.. You were betting against me Rude!?"
Rude just shrugged.
"So in other words, Karia saved your ass and threatened you to be good or she'd dismember you?" stated Tseng as he and Karia walked into the room.
"Erh... yeah.." mumbled Reno as he brushed a hand through his flaming red hair.
"Aww it's ok Turkey, " chuckled Karia as she walked up, emerald eyes brighter than ever and took the empty seat next to Reno, " so any way, what's the plan for getting Ruffy boy outta The Wolves bite?"
"...Do you have nicknames for everyone?" questioned Rude as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Nah!" replied Karia while playing with a button on her shirt, "just
for the special ones."
"I like her already!" beamed Elena as she lifted her leg up onto the base of her chair, resting her chin on her knee. Reno decided to shoot her a not so impressed glare, but she just stuck her tongue out at him.
Tseng cleared his throat as he stepped forward, although there was no set leader, the Wutaian seemed to have claimed the job and no one seemed to have disagreed with such.
"Alright," announced Tseng, "as you all know Rufus has been abducted by a group calling themselves 'The Wolves'. The Wolves are Anti-Shinra as well as Anti-AVALANCHE. Their motives are to get revenge on both company's, per say."
"I can understand Shinra to an extent, hell I'm sure even you guys as well as Rufus now, hate Shinra, but why is AVALANCHE hated by them? Weren't they responsible for saving the planet from Sephiroth and meteor?" questioned Karia with a puzzled look.
"Yeah that's what I said too 'Ria, though these wackos have this whole idea that AVALANCHE is just as guilty as Shinra because they killed people when they blew up one of the reactors in Midgar, also because meteor wiped Midgar off the face of the planet," explained Reno, in a serious tone for once. "Doesn't makes much sense to me, then again they're the wacked ones."
Karia nodded in understanding, while making a mental note at how everyone, including herself went from joking around, to serious within 2.5 seconds. "So that explains why you guys are sort of in hiding?"
"Pretty much," answered Elena, "we don't want to hurt anyone we don't need to ya see. The days of Shinra are long gone, phew! I never want to return to that again! And I guess we're trying to wipe some of the red from our hands. We went into hiding right after meteor, with Tseng badly wounded from the attack by Sephiroth in the Temple of Ancients, and Rufus.. well.. No one, not even he, knows how he survived the weapon attack. With both of them with serious injury we couldn't afford to defend ourselves, not without full protection any way."
"It's not that we couldn't have protected them of course," voiced Reno, "but rather, we just didn't want to kill anymore. It sounds odd coming from a Turk, but we had to do what we were told, that's what people never saw about Shinra. The ones like us, we couldn't just up and quit, well.. unless we wanted our body in various pieces spread around the world," smirked Reno.
"I was surprised myself when I met Rufus," Karia explained as she once again played with a button on her shirt, "his power hungry attitude seemed to have died when he came so close to such himself, can't say it's a bad thing however." Looking over to Tseng she questioned, "how did you make it out of the Temple of Ancients alive any way?"
"You can thank Rude and I for that!" piped up Reno, "we'd been stationed close by any way, first to pick up Elena then Tseng soon after. He was late for the pick up time, so we checked it out. Found him half gutted pulling himself out of the temple, and that's when we brought him back."
"We just kept his survival to ourselves, under cover, we can only imagine what the company would have done to him if they'd known he was alive," mumbled Elena who self consciously leaned back against Rude who sat behind her.
Karia nodded in contentment, "alright, that's all I need for background info. Now, what's your plan for getting Rufus back?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Tseng grinned, "thought you'd never ask. Rufus isn't being kept at the Wolves main base, like they wanted us to believe. Elena hacked into their main system and got us some information. Seems he's being kept a couple miles from here in an old Shinra storage base, ironic no? A day after tomorrow the leaders of the base are taking a trip back to the main hideout, so that's our chance to strike."
"Hmm.. seems easy enough, good planning so far, "Karia agreed, "so who's doing what?"
"Elena will be hacking into their main system and will over ride any locked doors and such we need open and shut down any weapons she possibly can, then come in from the rear for any healing that's needed," started Tseng, his hands clasped behind his back. "I'll be stationed up above on one of the platforms as a sniper, mainly as defense for the fronts who'll run the show."
"And I'm assuming that's where the rest of us come in?" Karia smirked, seemingly happy with the position.
"Indeed. You, Reno and Rude will penetrate their forces head on, get Rufus, then get the hell out." Tseng finished, with a bit of a smirk on his face.
"Is that a grin I see on your face Tseng? Sounds like you guys are just as desperate for some action as I am," joked Karia as she rose.
"Hey that's not all ya know! Along with our regular weapons, we also have the top picks for materia," Reno added as he pulled the elastic from his hair, letting it go free down his back.
Rude coughed and then turned to the brunette, ".. Uh.. why are you helping us any way? You have no reason to.."
"Actually.. I do. I want to get Rufus back, because as hard as it may be to believe, he is a friend of mine," she was looking down a the ground now. "As for you.. I know all about you, you just don't know anything about me. I'm well.. let's just say I know how you guys feel."
"Hey guys.." Elena interrupted, "Um, sorry to ruin the whole get to know each other moment, but.. did you just hear footsteps? Because I sure did!"
click... clink... clink..
Seconds later a cloaked figure walked through the door and came into view. "I need your help," he bluntly stated..
"Are you who... I think you are..?" Karia asked, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open.
"Vincent Valentine..." whispered Tseng.