Yellow Jello

     "Yo Seph," Barret said as we all continued to walk to the chocobo farms. "You think we should be walkin' in a big group like dis?"
     "Not at all," I said. "We need to split up as soon as we can."
     "Why don' you jus' go? You an' the guys going with you. The reactor teams will catch up later. You guys need to be in first, an' we're gonna have to just wait for Yuffie to call up her boys way out in Wutai, so go ahead without us."
     "You sure me and Reeve can't help?"
     Sephy! Who taught you to use grammar like that?
     Wonderful, I'd apparently wandered close enough to Midgar that Mother could talk freely to me again.
     "Nah Seph, I got dis," Barret said. "Trust me, I know how to blow up a reactor."
     "Yeah, I saw how good you are with that," I mumbled sarcastically.
     "What was that!?" Barret yelled at me.
     "I said 'good luck with that,'" I replied.
     Cloud, Tifa, Zack, Reeve, Aeris and I headed to Midgar on foot while the rest of the teams went to the chocobo farms to regroup and plan their attack. We needed to be inside of Midgar by the time they cut the power anyway since the doors in and out of the city are all electronic.
     "Hey Sephitola! Wait up!" a voice behind me yelled.
     We all stopped and turned to see all four Turks running for us at full speed. Reno stopped a bit short to take a breather, but eventually they all caught up to us.
     "Nice work with the breakout," Tseng said, giving me a thumbs up. "I'm still a bit unsure how you did it, but nice nonetheless."
     "You looking for a fight?" I asked, grabbing the hilt of my sword.
     "Actually yes, but not now," Tseng said. "See, we're still supposed to be on the lookout for you guys in case you're up to no good. We only just heard about the breakout thing. Anyway, long story short-"
     No! Tell them the long version! I love stories!
     "Not a problem voice from nowhere," Elena said. "It all started on this ship. We were on our way back to Wutai to pick up the rest of those rebels, when our ship suddenly sunk, and all four of us were dragged underwater by this giant- umm, whatchamacallit."
     "Thing?" the remaining Turks said in unison.
     "Yeah, thing. So this big green thing said it was some weapon with a capital w. And it was all, 'hey.' So I was like, 'hey.' And they were like-"
     "Hey," the Turks said.
     "So then he goes, 'I hear you guys are the guys who beat Sephiroth up, and we were like-"
     "Uh huh."
     "So he's all, 'well listen, I know it's your job and all, but we need you guys to help him rescue his mother.' So we were all, 'what if we don't?' And he said, 'well then I'll leave you under here for another twenty minutes or however long it takes you humans to drown.' And we were all-"
     "Gross. Prune fingers."
     "So we're here now to help you guys again. And we were threatened with death and prune fingers, so you can be assured we're on your side."
     "Yeah, that's assurance," I said. "And can you guys do me a favor and never tell me a story again? It's creepy and rehearsed."
     "Rehearsed? You've gotta be kidding," the Turks said, still in unison.
     Reeve motioned for me to come over to him, so I made my way over to him. He promptly put his arm around me and pulled me in for a one-on-one huddle, occasionally looking over his shoulder at the others.
     "Seph, you think we can trust them?" he asked me.
     "Definitely not," I said. "But I'll play along. After all, if they do me a favor to gain my confidence, that's one less thing I have to do. Don't worry, they caught me off guard last time. I can take 'em. Right now, I think what I need is for you and Aeris to begin the distraction part of the plan."
     "But weren't we supposed to distract, well, them?"
     "And you will. By leaving me, they'll be forced to either split up and follow you two, or they'll just continue to think you're up to something and maybe lose focus. Either way, you can't help me by being with me. Work on hacking into Shin-Ra surveillance or something, I dunno. Have Aeris try to hold a National Hooker Day in the Midgar streets or something. Anything to keep Shin-Ra busy."
     "Okay, you got it." Reeve broke the huddle after a couple slaps on my back, then turned to Aeris. "Come on Aeris. We need to do our thing."
     Aeris nodded, then both she and Reeve took off running to Midgar.
     "How come they're leaving?" Tseng asked.
     "Oh, no reason," I said, trying to sound as suspicious as possible. There actually was a very good reason for sending Reeve away. It couldn't be just coincidence that the Turks just happened to find us after our unknown breakout. That meant that someone had told them, and right now, Reeve was the biggest suspect as a well known double-agent.
     Oh no! Sephy! Has CTU been compromised?
     Yes, Mother. It has. So tell me Mother, have you happened to overhear anything recently concerning our attempt to break you out?
     Umm. Hojo made me some yellow Jello filled with marshmallows. It CAN'T be coincidence that all those words rhyme!
     You're right again, Mother. Follow up on that investigation, and don't let anybody know you're doing it.
     Right, good plan. In fact, I shouldn't have even told you! Forget everything I've told you.
     Sure. I forgot. Now I'd better return to reality. People are staring.
     "So Turks," I said, "what can you guys do to help the rescue?"
     "Hell, we can do the whole thing for you just about," Tseng said. "We'll get you into Midgar, we'll get you into Shin-Ra, we'll get you to the lab where they're keeping your mom, we'll get you an ice cream sandwich. You know, whatever you need."
     "Great, get me in there," I said.
     "Follow us dude," Reno said.
     The Turks started leading us to Midgar, so our little group followed. It didn't take long before we reached the area just outside of Midgar. Instead of taking us through one of the doors, they led us to a small door at the base of a large, stone pillar that supported the recently finished highway. Rude ran ahead and opened the door, holding it open for all of us.
     "Not many people know about this way yet," Reno explained. "If you go through the main gates, there's lots of security and whatnot, but the highway is still pretty new, so security is pretty thin. There's some like, cops driving the streets looking for suspicious people, and a tollbooth just before going into Midgar, but we can get you through that no problem I guess."
     "We fixed up the Ghetto Mobile, and it's parked up there, so you guys can just cram into the back of the van and keep low," Rude said.
     "Sounds good," I said. "Let's do it."
     "Seph?" Tifa said behind me. She beckoned for me, so I joined her in a huddle, similar to the one I had with Reeve, only this time I had my hand on her back.
     "What's up?" I asked.
     "Well, not your eyes for one thing," she said. "Eyes up Seph."
     I looked her in the eyes. "Sorry."
     "Thanks. Anyway, are you just stupid or what? You know this is a trap, right?"
     "I know, but I don't think they're gonna trick us with just a simple 'back of the van' thing. They'll lead us on for a while, and we'll just be sure to ditch them before that."
     "Oh. Okay. I'm just not that comfortable riding in the backs of vans as crappy as the Ghetto Mobile."
     I nodded then broke the huddle, looking to Cloud and Zack. "You don't have to worry Tifa," I said, mostly directed toward Cloud and Zack. "We three rode everywhere in the backs of vans, eh guys?"
     "That's right!" Zack said. "We could get pretty much everywhere in our van. Hell, I think we might've even crossed a few oceans in it!"
     The Turks led us up a flight of stairs and over to the Ghetto Mobile which was parked in the bike lane and had quite a few parking tickets under the windshield wiper. The Turks opened the doors and slid into the front while Cloud, Zack, Tifa, and I piled into the back, shutting the doors behind us. Tseng turned on the car, and after a whole lot of sputtering, it finally started up.
     After some cheering from the Turks, we started down the highway. Once we hit the Ghetto Mobile's top speed (which wasn't much), Tseng turned on the windshield wipers, sending all the parking tickets flying all over the road.
     "Oops!" Tseng said sarcastically. The Turks laughed hysterically for some reason.
     Sephy! It's Edwardo! He's working for the other side! He ate the yellow Jello with marshmallows! He's compromising the whole investigation. I think I'm gonna have to kill him.
     Please do.
     What a suspicious thing to say Sephy! Seems like you want Edwardo dead for a reason. Oh no! You want him dead because you're secretly double-crossing me and only Edwardo knows the truth so you want me to kill him so that I think there isn't a mole anymore and you get away clean with no investigation!
     Mother, just play with Special Agent Tiffany. I'm going umm, dark. Yeah, I'm going dark, so you won't be able to contact me.
     Sephy? Sephy? Shit! He's dark. I can't reach him. But he mentioned Special Agent Tiffany. What if SHE'S dirty TOO! I guess I can only trust myself from here on out. And we're only twenty minutes into the episode!