raspberryturk | Middle of Nowhere, Gaia, Saturday Night Fandom Time

Reno stared at the little sphere in his hand, squinting hard at it. It had almost killed him to get this damn thing, this stupid fucking piece of doomsday that AVALANCHE - the real AVALANCHE - had been so hell-bent on getting their mitts on. And he hadn't told Tseng yet. Hadn't really told anybody but the Rookie.

He had a little piece of the end of the world, the beginning of the end of the Turks, right there in his hand. Shit, he was still bleeding on the damn thing. Or maybe that blood belonged to the Ravens he'd taken down to get it.

AVALANCHE would notice it was missing before long. They'd send someone to investigate and they'd find blood and footprints and the telltale smoke and ozone smell of thundaga in the air. And he'd be long gone by the time that happened. He looked down at the corpse of the Raven on the ground. He spat on it as the body began to fade.

And then he picked up his phone and placed two calls. One to Portalocity, telling them to send a portal to a location that was a good ten minutes away on foot, if he ran like hell. And, as he was running like hell, he placed a second call.

Now the mission was out of his hands and over to Iris.

[OOC: For one!]

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And Reno had another Tseng somewhere else to answer to if this one kicked him out. He broke into a lazy grin, making himself comfortable on a bucket of industrial cleaner.

Outside, the patrons of the casino started to scream anew as overhead, the fireworks show began, the people setting them off unaware of the chaos downstairs, and the people downstairs mistaking the explosions for something far more serious.

"Fancy meetin' you here, yo."

Yeah, today was great. Was so, so great.

Today was fantastic.

Ino didn’t bother with finding a place to sit, just stood in the middle of the closet, still grinning as her giggles died away.

“I’d just like to remind you that you ain’t never said this Reno and I couldn’t do missions together. Just me and tiny Reno.”

"I don't know why you're both here," Tseng noted, "but I'm going to extend that rule to include this Reno as well, now."

Because he didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know, and if they blew his cover he was going to murder them both.

"I get that you ain't fond of us workin' together," Ino said, a little more seriously, "but Reno and I, either version have always got the job done. And this Reno and I--we ain't fuckin' 'round for the sake of it."

So... no, she weren't going to listen to that rule.

"Yeah, we used your mission as a distraction to ours, but we ain't done a thing to interfere with yours and--we're done. All that's left for us is to get out."

Tseng's mouth pulled into an even more terse frown at that. He was about to open his mouth to speak when Reno interjected.

"I didn't come to this fuckin' reality for my own health," he said, voice low, quiet enough that it couldn't be heard through the door. "I'm here to save you idiots from the same mistakes we idiots made. You saw the pictures of Edge, boss. Rude an' I, we told you what we got left. You let us do our job, and we will. I need Iris for that, yo."

Ino’s voice was a little more conciliatory than Reno’s, but not by much.

“We know we ain’t the most serious on roster, boss, and we like to have fun on the job while doing the job… but when it comes to this—we ain’t playin’. We’re as serious as can be ‘bout what we’re doing.”

Tseng regarded the two of them coolly for a long moment.

"Then you'll have to get better at telling me what you're doing."

He was a consummate professional, and he didn't think for a second that he'd break cover because of surprise Turks, but if he was running into people while on the job, he wanted to at least be prepared for it. He needed that much from them.

“This was sort of last minute,” Ino said, which was an extremely vague apology.

Also she’d picked here because it’d be funny to crash his mission. Heh.

“But, hey, this way you get to admire as all blinged out. We clean up well, don’t we?”

"Well... you clean up."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?"

Tseng just smirked at Reno's acceptably quiet outburst.

"Is your mission complete?"

“Yes, sir,” Ino said, a bit dryly. Fine, be that way Tseng. “Might stick around the Saucer for a bit to amuse myself, but the job’s done and no one the wiser.”

"Excellent. Then you'll stay out of my way while I finish my job."

It wasn't really a suggestion, no.

"If you get held for questioning, you couldn't see anything from your side of the room. I've already taken care of the evidence."

“All work and no play, huh?” Ino asked, smiling a bit wryly. “Well, if you insist, I guess we can do that. And don’t be ridiculous, we’re such idiots even if we saw something there’d be no sense to it.”

Obviously.

Fleur and Rubedo were not the brightest bulbs.

“You got anything you want to add, Reno?”

Reno had taken to sitting back and eyeing Tseng with a critical expression on his face. He glanced at Ino when she addressed him, and then stood up again and shook his head.

"Not a word," he replied. "The boss here has spoken."

He didn't sound terribly impressed. His own Tseng at least knew where he stood with his Turks. This one... this one was still learning.

Ino glanced uncertainly between the two of them, not sure of the vibe she was getting but... not quite liking it either. This was the only Tseng she really knew--Reno's Tseng she'd only spoken to once? Twice?

He'd been sad.

Maybe it was that which spurred her next action. Or maybe it was just a random whim. "Ah!" she said brightly, but quietly. "One more thing! Before I forget!"

And then, with the speed that only Reno could best her in, she made her way over to Tseng and, with the spirit of mischief in her eyes, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before pulling away.

"We can go now," Ino said to Reno.

I knew it, she told both men. Kissing Tseng is way better than kissing you, Reno.

Tseng...

Tseng blinked. And stared, his mouth slightly agape.

This time last year, he was convinced she would have killed him in a heartbeat if he'd so much as breathed wrong.

"I'll ask what that was all about later. Try to stay out of trouble."

Oh, just wait until the next time they spoke.

Middle of Nowhere, Gaia, Saturday Night Fandom Time

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