Middle of Nowhere, Gaia, Saturday Night Fandom Time

[raspberryturk]

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!]

Comments

[intraspective]

"This tour's no fun," Ino said quietly, pouting a little. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were perfectly in your rights, darling."

All we have to do now is wait for showtime.

[raspberryturk]

Think we'll survive the time between now and when that happens?

Reno had his doubts. But then, knowing Tseng, things were about to get a whole hell of a lot more interesting as they made their way back downstairs anyway.

[intraspective]

We're playing rich idiots who love to gamble. I think we'll survive just fine in a casino.

What? It was true.

As the tour wound down, and they re-entered the main floor, Ino caught a glimpse of the back of Tseng's head.

Assuming we're not caught by him first.

She... didn't sound too worried about it. What was he going to do? Break his own cover?

[raspberryturk]

We'll be fine here, but we're sure as hell gonna hear about this later.

Reno didn't sound too terribly concerned. After all, Tseng was a damn good shot, but he wasn't ever going to be quick enough to catch him.

I'm thinkin' we hit the tables while we wait for the show. Been a long time since I cheated some rich assholes outta their Gil, yo.

[intraspective]

Think you've still got what it takes, old man?

She knew he did but Ino was nothing if not a brat.

As the tour broke up--the guide looking relieved to be done with the lot of them--Ino fluttered, "Did you want to go outside for a smoke now, darling?"

[raspberryturk]

Hey, watch that mouth, there, Rookie.

Reno chose to pretend that 'nearly thirty' wasn't actually ancient, for a Turk.

"I have half a mind to light up right here," he groused aloud. "Thoughtfulness be damned. What utterly horrid service."

[intraspective]

Can’t. My nose is in the way.

Yeah, she was going with that.

“Oh, I know,” Ino said, “I’m honestly shocked—you were treated so badly! And for no reason!”

Except the whole ‘fireworks’ and ‘open flame’ bit.

“Should we just leave? I’m sure there are other establishments here that would treat us better.”

[raspberryturk]

Reno made a little groan of protest, looking around longingly at the card tables.

"I don't know, my love. If nothing else, I would like to at least make our money ba--"

That was about the moment somebody across the room screamed.

[intraspective]

And that scream was echoed around the room, by high-strung, high-class ladies who had no idea what was going on but who were terribly, terribly shocked.

Then came the cry of, “Someone’s dead!”

Ino clapped a hand to her mouth, looking horrified and still going up on her tiptoes to see (she couldn’t see anything), clutching at Reno’s arm.

“Darling!”

I wonder how he killed him?

[raspberryturk]

Reno was tall enough he could more or less see Tseng across the room, acting just as shocked and scandalized as the rest. He looked around, and saw a shock of crimson streaked across the floor as the inevitable stampede began.

Cut his throat, it looks like. Not Tseng's style, but... He squinted as the area cleared out. Definitely done in a traditional Wutai-ninja kind of way. Nice.

"Should we be running? Everybody is running! Is that blood? Gods!"

[intraspective]

"We'll never get out the front doors!" she cried, pointing at the crowd of panicking, pushing and shoving, people. "But what should we do? Should we hide?"

Very nice. I'm sorry I can't see it.

[raspberryturk]

It's friggin' masterful, yo. I'm sure someone's got pictures online already.

"Hide! Yes! We should hide!" He grabbed her arm and took off at a... slow jog, really... toward a nearby supply closet.

[intraspective]

As soon as I get the chance, I'm lookin' for them, dammit. I want to see.

A slow jog was… honestly rather hilarious to Ino, but it was about all either Fleur or Rubedo would be able to manage.

"Oh thank goodness," she said, a bit breathlessly, as she pulled the door open and ducked inside, dragging Reno with her. "We'll be safe from the killer in here!"

Except, huh, there was already someone else in here.

[raspberryturk]

"As safe as can be," Reno agreed, settling in and then pulling the door shut behind himself. And then glancing at the other person hiding in the supply closet in the dark.

[ponytailedturk]

"You're both fired."

[raspberryturk]

Wrong closet.

[intraspective]

Ah. Yes. Er.

Very wrong closet.

"Well," Ino said, still in Fleur's voice, but low enough that only the two men in the small broom closet would be able to hear her. "I guess we found the killer after all.


And then she dissolved into not-quite silent giggles.

Ino wasn't really worried about being fired, see.

[raspberryturk]

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.

[intraspective]

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.”

[ponytailedturk]

"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.

[intraspective]

"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."

[raspberryturk]

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."

[intraspective]

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.”

[ponytailedturk]

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.

[intraspective]

“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?”