fandomhigh | Unconventional Tactics, Tuesday, Period 2

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unconventional tactics

Unconventional Tactics, Tuesday, Period 2

"You ain't gonna win 'em all." Nope, there wasn't even a 'Yo, Rookies!' today as Reno made his way into the Danger Shop, only a couple of minutes late. There had been an important stop for coffee this morning, which he was now pausing to take a mouthful of as he settled in. Suck it up, kids. "You ain't. And, much as you all wanna think otherwise, you ain't all gonna be able to survive everything that life throws at you without a few bumps an' nicks along the way, yo."

This was Reno-ese for 'people get their idiot butts killed out there all the time.'

"I know, you all been spoiled by Fandom's practically nonexistent mortality rate. An' maybe you figure you're all invincible or some shit as a result, an' you can handle anything that you go up against. But news flash, kiddos: You ain't. And you can't. I don't care how strong you are. I don't care what superhuman abilities you got. Someday, you won't be able to out-run, out-think, or out-fight whatever it is that's comin' down on top of us. Someday, you will be thrust so friggin' hard on your ass that you will consider yourself lucky if someone shows up like a knight in shinin' armor to haul your sorry self outta there."

He smirked. He shrugged.

"So, we're gonna have a bit of a team-buildin' exercise, yo. Bit of a go against the Danger Shop, here. And I want you to all try an' tackle it without powers, to try an' keep things on an even playing field. You're each gonna break off into pairs. One of you's gonna play injured and pretty much useless, and you gotta get your ass rescued, yo. It's up to your partner to drag you outta harm's way." He nodded, and the Danger Shop flickered. And suddenly, everyone was standing on one end of a very shoddy looking suspension bridge. "Across this, zoto."

Really, he didn't even need to toss in enemy fire for this exercise. You guys would have an interesting enough time of this activity as it is.

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Reno wasn't about to launch off into a detailed explanation just yet. He was busy pacing back and forth, hissing obscenities under his breath.

"How many of 'em were there? This guy wasn't armed, was he? Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Just the one," she said quietly. "That I saw, that I sensed."

Which wasn't the same as there only being one, but Ino had been sure--

"If he was armed, I didn't see anything," Ino continued honestly. "Could've, probably was, hiding something in his clothes, but he didn't threaten me at all."

Reno stopped in his tracks, and frowned. He frowned a lot.

... A lot more.

"At least there's that, yo."

"What're you thinkin'?" she asked, frowning at him.

"I'm thinkin' about how much I friggin' hate AVALANCHE," Reno growled. And then he gave his coffee cup a kick into the river.

He didn't feel much better, no.

She didn't think he did.

Ino glanced sidelong at him. "He wandered off," she offered, "'cause he thought I was too dumb to understand it all."

"Makes shit easier on you," Reno sighed, cramming his hands into his pockets and proceeding to scowl at nothing in particular. "Don't get tangled up with them, yo. They're bad news."

Them and their nefarious recycling. The bastards.

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug.

"What ought I do if they look for me again?"

There wasn't even an ounce of anything but utmost seriousness in Reno's voice when he said, "Run."

That was a tone that Reno did not use often.

Ino blinked.

Then blinked again for good measure.

"For serious?"

"Do I look like I'm fuckin' with you? Next time they come after you, it won't be because of a paper cup," Reno replied. "They get... damn serious with their recruiting, zoto."

Granted, so did ShinRa. Reno didn't much miss the days where the Turks served as a press-gang for SOLDIER.

"You really think they might come after me again?" she asked, tilting her head. "I weren't real useful."

Putting it kindly.

"They might, to get to SOLDIER Boy," Reno noted. "If they ever had reason to think that they could get to a high-ranking ShinRa employee through you."

Oh yeah. Zack had friends all over!

She tugged sharply at her hair.

"Guess the weekend kinda got me enemies all 'round, huh?"

Which was less flippant and more of a sigh, really.

Reno's nasty scowl turned into a tired, wry little smile.

"Midgar's just crawlin' with nasties," he agreed.

"Lucky me I ain't defenceless," she said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Zack still thinks the Wutai'll stay 'way from me."

That was--her seeing what he said to that.

"What, after takin' 'em down?" Reno's deadpan look. He would show you it. "He get hit around the head a few times?"

... Reno meant that in the nicest way.

"I'm just goin' by what Zack said," she repeated.

When in doubt, shift the blame to the boyfriend who wasn't there to defend himself.

"Didn't much think so myself." Ino shrugged. "The ones I fought weren't that strong--I know there's stronger, but."

If they were just the basics, she figured she could handle herself.

"The Wutai are a bunch you wanna steer clear of, almost as much as AVALANCHE," Reno replied. "Shit, I feel like I should be writin' down a list, yo. 'If some jerkasses in red approach you, run. If some jerkasses who are chantin' about death to the ShinRa approach you, run. If some jerkasses gabblin' on in Wutaian approach you, run. Shit, just don't stop friggin' runnin', yo."

"I ain't goin' to manage to get much done if running is all I do," she said, a little softly.

... Point. Much as he hated to admit it.

"You program Tseng's number into that new phone of yours?"

He knew she had it. He also knew that she'd probably stolen it from Zack's phone. So.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Third number I put in," she replied, like that should've been obvious.

"Well, there you go. I probably can't show up if it comes to that. But Tseng's gonna wanna know about AVALANCHE's whereabouts anyhow, and if you're one of his informants..."

Shrug.

"Contact," she corrected, smoothing back a stray bit of hair. "Ain't an informant yet--you gotta trust those a smidgen, or have their measure."

"Contact," Reno echoed easily, waving a dismissive hand. "Either way, you got his attention, yo. Helps, too, that you're datin' Zack. Tseng's got a soft spot for Zack, yo."

Or a hard-on for him. Reno didn't judge.

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