Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 30: Capture

“You sure you don’t need us to help out tonight?” Reno asked, spearing a piece of roasted asparagus and stuffing it into his mouth. Viridia shook her head.

“You found our missing shells and figured out how they went missing in the first place. Junon security can take it from here. Besides… we don’t even know that they’ll try and move them tonight. Like you said… they’re biding their time. We might catch them coming back for them tonight, or we might catch them a week from now. But we will catch them. You can count on that.”

The security officer had set up a rotating watch to inconspicuously keep an eye on the stolen ammunition’s former hiding place. The shells themselves had been secretly moved to secure storage and stripped of their camouflage. She’d then treated the two Turks to dinner at a small cafe down in lower Junon to thank them for, as she’d put it, pulling her ass out of the fire on this one. They were presently enjoying their meal in the cafe’s outdoor seating area. Rude, in particular, seemed relieved not to have to subject himself to the base’s usual mess hall fare. The redhead shrugged and swallowed the bite.

“Suit yourself… I sure as fuck don’t mind havin’ the night off,” Reno replied, and then grinned. “Just don’t go tellin’ Tseng that me ‘n Rude decided to take you up on the offer to slack off ‘n left everything to you guys.”

They planned to stay overnight at the very least. Maybe longer, depending on what orders they were given when they checked in tomorrow morning. If the boss wanted them to hang out in Junon until the Zenshou showed themselves, that’s what they’d do… but there were other assignments that would eventually need handling, and like the Lieutenant Commander had said… their thieves might not make their move right away. The pair couldn’t stay forever, and the length of their commitment to Junon was up to Tseng and Veld. Besides… it wasn’t as if Junon Security couldn’t handle things on their own.

“What’s in it for me?” she teased.

“My eternal gratitude?” the redhead joked back. Viridia sat back in her seat, blotting the corners of her mouth with her napkin.

“I believe you’ve already promised me that.”

Reno blinked. “I did?” he queried, searching his memory for any such declaration. Viridia snickered quietly.

“I’m sure you remember Commander Viddick… and how I saved you from his endless, one-sided conversation? Tseng passed along your, and I quote, ‘undying gratitude’ after you got back to the office,” she teased, smirking. The redhead groaned faintly at the memory. It had been is very first solo helicopter flight… and he almost hadn’t made it back to Midgar because a certain commander had refused to stop talking his ear off.

“Yeah… okay. I guess maybe I did say somethin’ along those lines…”

Rude snicked from behind his own napkin, but didn’t otherwise comment.

“How about you promise to stay out of the women’s barracks, for once, instead.”

That request drew a loud laugh from Rude, and a roll of the eyes from Reno.

“Man… You’re no fun at all, Vir. Ya give me the night off, ‘n then ya don’t even let me enjoy it.”

---

Reno grunted softly as he rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. Normally, he could sleep just about anywhere… but apparently he’d overdone it a little, hauling himself up and down that damn tunnel in the munitions building on all fours multiple times that day. His shoulder hurt. It wasn’t agonizingly painful or anything… it was just a constant ache that was making it utterly impossible to get comfortable. More an annoyance than anything else… but he wasn’t going to be falling asleep any time soon if this kept up.

“I knew I should have requested my own room…” a tired-sounding voice in the darkness huffed.

“… Sorry, man,” Reno sheepishly replied. “Shoulder’s buggin’ me.”

He heard Rude sit up, and moments later the sound of his friend padding barefoot across the room. Reno rolled over onto his side in the somewhat futile hopes of finding a decent position he hadn’t already tried, just as the other Turk emerged from the shadows, a pillow clutched in his hands.

“Uh… You’re not plannin’ on smotherin’ me, are ya, Rude?” the redhead chuckled. Rude snorted softly.

“Hmph… I’d probably get a better night’s sleep if I did…” he snickered and set the pillow down for a moment as he coaxed the younger Turk flat onto his back. He tucked the pillow underneath the redhead’s left arm, elevating the injury slightly. “Better?”

“… Actually… yeah, it kinda is.”

“Good. Go to sleep,” he said, turning on his heel and making his way back to his own bed.

“Careful, pal… one of these days, I might get a little too used to you waitin’ on me hand ‘n foot like this after I do somethin’ dumb. Ya know… like launch myself off a fuckin’ ice ramp.”

“Seriously… I’m tired. Go to sleep,” Rude snickered, teasingly. Reno laughed softly and pulled the covers up over himself, fully intending to oblige.

Even after more than three years, he was still a little astounded by the sheer good fortune he’d had in meeting Rude. He really was the best friend… the best brother… he ever could have asked for. Half-asleep and annoyed, Rude still went out of his way to make sure he was alright. Okay, so maybe in this instance a part of that was because he wanted to get some damn sleep himself… but Rude always had his back, no matter what. It was comforting, knowing how much he cared. Reno yawned and let his eyes drift shut, allowing sleep to claim him.

It, unfortunately, didn’t last long.

---

She realized her mistake a moment too late. She’d thought there had only been three of them… had been absolutely certain of it, in fact. As it turned out, she’d been wrong, and that error in judgment had cost her.

Viridia had insisted on taking the first overnight watch herself. She couldn’t help but feel personally responsible for the theft to begin with, and she damn well wanted to catch those responsible, even though the mako shells had been recovered. She and two of her subordinates had staked out the loading bay in the hopes that the thieves were getting antsy and would walk right into their hands that night.

And they had.

Unfortunately for the small surveillance team, the Zenshou were ready for that eventuality. One of their number had been quietly kept in reserve. When Viridia had raised the alarm, alerting her men to the presence of the intruders, retaliation was swift and brutal. A sharp, stabbing pain in her abdomen had sent her to her knees on the floor of the loading bay. She’d responded in kind with a well-aimed ice spell, forcing her assailant to take cover… but the knife currently embedded in her stomach made it very apparent that these people meant business. It hadn’t been a warning. It had been intended to kill her outright. A bit higher, and it very well might have.

As her vision grayed momentarily, she realized that that was still a very real possibility. She was losing blood fast, and the rest of the Zenshou were drawing closer to her. She let loose with a barrage of ice magic, catching at least one of her targets dead on and sending him careening into the far wall, where he crumpled to the floor, shivering violently. The other two turned to flee.

By then, however, her own men… as well as two additional friendly faces… were blocking their path. She smirked slightly as she saw that they weren’t going anywhere… and finally collapsed.

---

Rude’s fist sent the nearest Zenshou flying as he tried to make a break for it, and Reno, directly behind his partner, tripped up a second one as she tried to slip past the security officers responding to the alarm. A third emerged momentarily from the shadow of the loading bay door, only to very quickly assess the situation and duck back inside, taking cover.

When he’d been suddenly jolted awake just a few short minutes ago, for a brief moment, Rude hadn’t known what the hell was going on. It was Reno who caught on first, and with a hissed utterance of “The Zenshou…” had darted from bed, grabbing his weapons.

They’d actually been prepared for this possibility… though the redhead had been all but convinced that they wouldn’t make their move this quickly. Even so, they’d left weapons in easy reach. Reno had even opted not to crawl into bed nude for once, instead changing into light gray sweats at bedtime. A good thing, too… or the Zenshou might have gotten a better look at the Turk than they’d bargained for.

When the alarm had sounded, the pair had hightailed it the short distance over to the command center and found a fight already underway. They’d wasted no time in jumping in to lend a hand.

Reno shoved the female Zenshou into the waiting arms of Junon security and hurried towards the loading bay. Rude followed, leaving the man he’d just knocked out to them as well. On the way in, he caught site of yet another of their ranks on the ground, ice crystals coating his shivering form. He wouldn’t be much of a threat for awhile, so he ignored the man and darted into the room, eyes scanning for the one who’d fled back into the bay.

He didn’t seen the Zenshou… but what was waiting for them brought them both to a screeching halt.

“Vir!” Reno cried, dropping to one knee beside the fallen lieutenant commander. “Shit… She’s bleedin’ bad, Rude… Get some help in here, will ya?”

A loud bang echoed off the walls of the room, and the redhead’s gaze immediately shifted to the source… beyond the hatch that opened into the barrel of the cannon. His eyes narrowed.

“Take care of Vir… I’ll handle that last asshole,” he ground out, and before Rude could respond, the younger Turk was bolting through the opening after the remaining Zenshou thief. For a moment, Rude was torn between backing up his partner and dealing with the injured security officer… but he quickly realized that the lieutenant commander was in much moreimmediate danger. Reno could take care of things on his own. Viridia needed medical attention, now.

That thought in mind, he scooped the unconscious woman into his arms and headed back to where they’d left her security personnel to deal with their prisoners.

---

It was dark inside the cannon… which kind of made sense, given that it wasn’t exactly meant to have people to be running around inside the damn thing. He’d seen the massive weapon up close any number of times… He’d even walked out along the outside of the barrel once. But actually being inside of it gave him a whole new perspective of it’s scale. He couldn’t stand up straight… but he wasn’t exactly crawling along on his hands and knees, either.

Ahead of him, he could see the opening, illuminated softly by bright moonlight… and the silhouette of the remaining Zenshou. As the redhead covered the distance between them, he could see that the man was hurrying to pull on some kind of backpack.

“Where the fuck do ya think you’re goin’?!” he growled, launching himself towards the man, mag-rod poised to strike. The weapon crackled with electricity, the current briefly casting a pale light on the man’s face.

He was Wutaiian… no great surprise there, given that the Zenshou fucking operated out of Wutai… but far younger than Reno would have expected. Just a kid, really. And when the light revealed his face, the Turk would have almost sworn he looked absolutely terrified. A new recruit to the organization, most likely… and probably pissing himself as he figured out just how in over his head he really was right now.

“Give it up kid. You got nowhere left to go,” Reno said, as he approached. To his surprise, however, the young Wutaiian turned, and, taking a few long strides… jumped. Right out of the end of the cannon.

“Hey!” Reno called after him, shocked, rushing to the edge himself. He reached it just in time to see a parachute opening. The redhead swore and slammed his hand against the side of the cannon barrel. There was little light down below, but as he squinted into the darkness, he could just make out the outline of a small boat just offshore.

He glanced down at his feet and saw several more parachutes sitting nearby. Apparently that was how they’d been planning to get the shells out of Junon without them exploding on impact with a vessel or being lost underwater. For a very brief moment, he was strongly tempted to strap one on himself… but quickly came to the conclusion that that would likely be suicide. Assuming he actually managed to do it without the Ifrit-be-damned fall killing him – and he wasn’t fully convinced that he could, given that he didn’t really know how the damned things worked beyond pull the cord – he’d probably be outnumbered down there. And the Zenshou almost certainly would succeed where gravity failed. Reno swore loudly again and grabbed the remaining parachutes to show to security before making his way back inside the base.

As he clambered out of the cannon, he spotted more of Viridia’s men hauling the half-frozen Zenshou off and Rude waiting for him.

“How’s Vir?” the redhead asked.

“They took her to the med bay. She was already coming around by the time they got her loaded up on the stretcher. Think she’ll be alright,” he replied, “Where’s the one you went after?”

“Tch… the fucker jumped,” he replied, tossing the parachutes on the ground. “These guys have balls, I’ll give ’em that much. Had a boat down below. That asshole and whoever mighta been waitin’ for him are long gone by now.”

“Hmph… Well, we got three of them, at least. And the shells they were after are safe. Not a bad night’s work.”

“Yeah…” Reno replied, “‘Course now I gotta call Tseng ‘n tell him his girlfriend got stabbed. That’s gonna be fun… You sure she was doin’ okay?”

It wasn’t just the thought of having to tell Tseng she was hurt. Reno liked Vir… and even though he had a bad habit of breaking a lot of her more minor base rules, he was pretty sure she liked him a lot, too. They weren’t the closest of friends… and, honestly, she occasionally still scared him a little… but she was certainly more than a mere acquaintance.

Rude smirked. “Let me guess. You wanna go check on her before you call Tseng.”

“Well, ya know he’s gonna ask for a full report, after all…”

“Come on… Security can clean up the rest of this mess. Let’s go see what the doctors have to say.”

---

When Tseng arrived at the Junon medical bay, it was well after two in the morning. Reno had woken him from a sound sleep three hours prior and he’d spent the interim in a rushed attempt to find transportation to the military base in the middle of the night… not the easiest thing to do at that hour, given that the helicopter assigned to the Turks was presently already in Junon, but he’d at last managed to locate an available chocobo and had made his way south in the dark.

It had been a painfully long ride, particularly while he was passing through the mountains and couldn’t get a signal on his PHS for updates. The solitude had done little to put his mind at ease, even though his protege had assured him that Viridia’s injuries had been seen to, and she was no longer in any danger. Such information was comforting… but all he really wanted was to be there with her.

As he was riding the elevator up to the base, he wryly wondered if this was, perhaps, her revenge on him for having to endure such calls herself on more than one occasion over the years. It would serve him right, after all. He’d certainly had occasion to put the woman through her fair share of worry… and Viridia had always borne it admirably.

The medical bay was quiet when he entered, and he made it a point to avoid the staff as he searched for her. Visiting hours were rather strictly enforced on base, and he was well outside of them at the moment. Fortunately, locating her room wasn’t especially difficult, and he slipped inside silently. Most of the lights had been turned off, but one near the door had only been turned down low, and Viridia was clearly visible, sleeping peacefully in the bed… though as he made his way over to her, Tseng realized that she wasn’t the only occupant of the room.

Curled up in a chair in the corner, was a pile of fabric, that after a moment, the Turk lieutenant recognized as a blanket. It was concealing a somewhat familiar-looking lump that every once in awhile made a faint snoring sound. Tseng smiled slightly in spite of the reason for his late night visit. Reno didn’t usually sleep like that anymore. It was a habit he’d put behind him quite some time ago, and if he’d suddenly reverted to the old behavior, it was likely because he, too, was worried about Viridia.

Which also explained why he was here,in direct violation of the medical bay’s visiting hour rules, instead of in a bed in the administrative quarters. He hadn’t wanted to leave her on her own all night.

“He’s been there since lights out,” a voice whispered softly and Tseng turned, startled, towards the source. “Medical staff kicked both of them out hours ago, but your little redhead snuck back in when their backs were turned.”

Tseng chuckled softly and took a seat in the chair beside Viridia’s bed.

“He can be quite… stubborn. And protective.”

“Hmph… I can’t imagine who he gets that from,” she teased.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, reaching for her hand, and pulling it gently into his own.

“I’ve had worse injuries,” she replied, tiredly. “All things considered, I got off lucky, really. The blood loss was the worst of it. The knife was partially deflected by my armor and the actual damage is surprisingly minimal. You didn’t need to rush out in the middle of the night just to sit with me.”

“But I have, and I’m here,” Tseng replied, with a smile, “You’ll just have to put up with me.”

He leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss against her lips.

“Ugh… Gross. If you two are gonna start gettin’ all sappy ‘n sentimental ‘n makin’ out ‘n shit, I’m gonna go sleep in the hallway.”

Tseng snorted softly in laughter as he looked up and found Reno, having unearthed himself from his covers, sitting up and sleepily rubbing his eyes. He yawned widely and raised his arms over his head, stretching, and Tseng instinctively braced himself for the discomforting crack that act always made. To his surprise… it never came.

Reno, too, seemed a little confused.

“The fuck?” he murmured, and tried it again, with the same result… and his mentor couldn’t help but laugh quietly as he realized what had happened.

“I think your latest injury may have somehow managed to fix your previous one…” he chuckled. The redhead blinked, processing the idea.

“… Aw, man… How am I s’posed ta drive you nuts now?” he lamented. Viridia laughed, and then groaned, clutching at her own injured torso… and then laughed again.

“Ow… oh, that hurts like the nine hells…” she managed between snickers, “You know… I always knew that was the real reason why henever wanted to do anything about that shoulder of his…”

“I, for one, will not miss it in the least…” Tseng declared, smirking. He really had always hated that. Not only because the sound was utterly gruesome, but also because he still felt a just a bit guilty for his part in allowing it to happen in the first place. He’d made any number of mistakes when Reno was younger… but that particular one had left his protege – as well as Tseng himself – with a rather hard to ignore reminder of the error.

The redhead rolled his eyes and gathered up his blanket.

“Tch… ya know… if you guys are just gonna sit there givin’ me shit, I’m gonna go find an actual bed to collapse into,” he said getting to his feet. Tseng chuckled and followed him as far as the door.

“Thank you for staying with her,” the Turk lieutenant said quietly, and Reno shrugged in response.

“Just figured she might like the company. I know I hate bein’ stuck in the hospital on my own…”

“You hate anything even tangentially related to the hospital,” Tseng chuckled, and rested a hand on the younger man’s shoulder, squeezing gently, “Go and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Reno bit back another yawn and nodded. “Yeah… ‘Night.”

Tseng softly closed the door behind him before making his way back over to Viridia’s bedside and settling into the chair next to it. She looked over at him.

“I hope us teasing him didn’t upset him… I didn’t mean to make him feel unwelcome.”

The Wutaiian Turk laughed and shook his head.

“Reno is remarkably difficult to insult. I suspect he simply wanted to give us some privacy and took the first opportunity presented to him to do so.” He took hold of her hand again. “You, however, should be resting… It’s late. Or early, depending upon how you look at it.”

Viridia smiled and leaned back against her pillows. “Well, I probably would be… if I didn’t have such a handsome and distracting Turk sitting here beside me, lavishing me with attention.”

“I could always go and join Reno and Rude in the administrative quarters until visiting hours begin for the day…” he offered, teasingly.

“Don’t even think about it,” Viridia chuckled.

---

Rude poked at the lump beneath the covers on Reno’s bed. It responded with a groan and a mumbled “Go the fuck away.” The older Turk smirked and yanked the sheets away, revealing the redhead, curled up in the center of the mattress with a pillow over his head.

“I said go the fuck away…” he reiterated, not yet venturing out of his little self-constructed cave. Rude grabbed the pillow next and tugged, only to be met with resistance as his friend’s arms locked firmly around it and refused to let go. “Come on, Rude… Five more minutes.”

“Get up. Veld is expecting us to report in first thing,” Rude reminded him. He heard a muffled sigh from beneath the pillow and at last, the redhead grudgingly shoved it aside and glared at him.

“Fine. But the mess hall damn well better have coffee ready, or someone’s gonna die this mornin’… and I’m not rulin’ out it bein’ you,” he groused, dragging himself out of bed. Rude snickered and backed off, letting the younger man finish waking up. Instead of continuing to pester him, he opted to check his email messages on his PHS instead. There was little of immediate interest.

“So what time did they finally figure out you never actually left and kick you out of the med bay again?” he asked, conversationally.

“Tch… They didn’t. Tseng took over for me.” He grinned suddenly, and added. “And if they tried to kick the Boss out, I have a feelin’ that Vir’s not the only member of base security in the hospital this mornin’.”

“Tseng’s in Junon?” Rude asked, surprised. He knew that Reno had notified him of Lieutenant Commander Nacelle’s injury, but he hadn’t expected him to show up in the middle of the night.

“Yep. Got here at like… two, or so. Don’t look so shocked. You know how Tseng is when someone’s hurt.”

“Hmph… yeah. He’s almost as bad as you,” he snickered. Reno rolled his eyes as he shrugged into his uniform.

“Oh, shut up,” the redhead muttered, clipping his EMR to his belt. “Come on. I need coffee before I really do kill someone.”

Rude shook his head, chuckling quietly to himself. He’d never met anyone who was less of a morning person than Reno, and the redhead seemed to be especially cranky today. Fortunately, he’d spent more than enough time around the younger Turk to know not to take it personally.

A short while later, they were seated in Junon’s mess hall, enjoying what passed for breakfast on the base. It was better than the Shinra Building cafeteria… but that wasn’t really saying much. Rude wasn’t a fan. Reno, on the other hand, was two coffees into his morning routine and was now gleefully bolting down everything in front of him.

“How long until he’s tolerable?” a voice behind Rude asked, and the Turk cracked a smile as he turned and spotted Tseng standing just over his shoulder.

“He’s only on his second cup, sir. I’d wait until he gets at least one more in him. He threatened to kill me when I woke him up this morning.”

“Fuck you both,” Reno replied, not bothering to look up from his meal. Tseng snorted and took a seat at the table. “How’s Vir?”

“Recovering. The doctor seemed amenable to releasing her later today on bedrest in her quarters rather than the medical bay. Though I suspect that was largely because she threatened to put him in the brig if he didn’t agree to it.”

“Sounds like she enjoys the hospital almost as much as Reno does…” Rude commented.

“Viridia… prefers to do things for herself. She’s not fond of having people checking on her constantly. Nor do I think she was overly pleased when they insisted I leave the ward a short while ago.”

“Told ya to take a hike, huh? How many of ’em did ya maim on the way out?” Reno asked, snickering. Tseng snorted faintly in laughter.

“I can assure you, there were no casualties. I left peacefully. As much as I would have liked to have stayed, I’ve yet to hear a full report from the two of you, and Viridia informed me that we have prisoners to interrogate…”

“Tch… up half the night, this asshole wakes me up at some ungodly hour, ‘n now you want a full report? So much for an easy assignment…” Reno snickered, as he started in on his third coffee of the morning. He swallowed a mouthful and shook his head. “There’s not a lot I didn’t already tell ya on the phone last night, actually. There were four of ’em. Vir had her men on shift watchin’ the spot we found the shells hidden. By the time me ‘n Rude got there, it was mostly just a little cleanup work. Vir took one of ’em out herself before she got hurt… the other three tried to run. One of ’em ended up running straight into Rude’s fist, ‘n I nabbed another one… and the fourth one fucked off through the barrel of the canon ‘n jumped before I could take him down. Fuckers had parachutes stowed away inside the canon. They had shit planned out start to finish, Boss. If I weren’t so fuckin’ annoyed at missin’ one of ’em, I’d be impressed. We sent base security after the assholes and their boat once Vir was taken care of… but they were long gone by then. Far as I’ve heard, the search team didn’t turn up shit… but I haven’t had the chance to check in with ’em yet this mornin’.”

“The one that got away… Did you get a good look at him?” Tseng asked. The younger Turk shook his head.

“It was dark. I caught a glimpse of his face before he jumped… Male. Wutaiian. Looked real young… maybe sixteen or seventeen. Not sure I could pick him out of a lineup, though. I barely saw him for more than a second or two.”

The Turk lieutenant sighed. “Well, then… I supposed we’ll just have to be content with the three the two of you did manage to capture. I’ll speak with base security and arrange for an interrogation room. Finish your breakfast, call Veld and give him an update, and then meet me at the security office.”

“I’ll join you, now, sir,” said Rude, brushing a few stray crumbs off of his hands, “I need a secure comm terminal to check in and see if my network has heard anything about the Zenshou’s next target.”

Tseng nodded, and the pair got up, leaving the redhead to his meal. They started towards the large building that, among other things, housed Viridia’s security offices and the base’s detention center.

“Rude, I have a… personal request for you,” the Turk lieutenant said as they made their way down Junon’s main street, towards the tram car that would carry them to the upper level of the base.

“Sir?”

“I believe Reno has spoken to you regarding the incident at the Christmas party?”

“Yes, sir…”

“Has he mentioned anything to you about his more recent run-in with Scarlet?”

Rude frowned. “Not really, sir… but I don’t think he’s in any hurry to bring it up, and I didn’t want to ask. When he wants to talk to me about it, he will.”

“I… would appreciate it if you would ask. I’m concerned that he’s trying too hard to bury this and simply pretend it never happened. He won’t talk to me. I think he’s concerned that I will think less of him for allowing it to affect him to the extent I believe it is,” Tseng explained, adding, “I, of course, would not… but you know how he can be once he gets an idea like that in his head.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll… see if I can find a way to broach the subject with him.”

Tseng sighed and glanced upwards as a pair of cargo plane took off and rose into the morning sky.

“Were it up to me, that Leviathan-be-damned woman would never be allowed anywhere near him ever again,” the Wutaiian Turk said, a hint of anger seeping through his carefully constructed calm facade. “And… as pleasant as the fantasy can sometimes be… I don’t think throwing her over the edge of the Plate is a very realistic way to accomplish that.”

The younger Turk bit back a laugh at that mental image and nodded in understanding. He, too, would have liked nothing more than to protect Reno from Scarlet, but being an executive, there wasn’t much he could do. The pair continued on in relative silence for the tram ride, and remained so until they at last reached the security building. Tseng scanned his ID card, granting them access.

Rude had expected to be greeted by whomever was on duty. Security was never unmanned. But as they stepped inside, the reception area was suspiciously empty. Something wasn’t right. He glanced over at Tseng, who was frowning deeply, apparently thinking that same thing. As they peered around the corner, down the hallway that led to the brig, their suspicions only deepened.

A booted foot stuck out of an open door about halfway down the hallway. The Turk lieutenant drew his weapon, and Rude quickly followed suit, as they silently crept towards the appendage. Tseng swore softly in Wutaiian as they reached the doorway.

It was a member of security. A very obviously dead member of security. There was, surprisingly, no blood, but the man’s eyes were open wide, staring blankly up at the ceiling. His neck bore the unmistakable marks of strangulation.

“Check the detention cells!” Tseng hissed, and Rude nodded, rushing to the far end of the hall and guardedly rounding the corner. He grimaced at the sight that greeted him. Two more security officers lay dead on the floor. A third was locked inside one of the cells, a knife in his chest, blood pooling beneath him… but still clinging desperately to life.

“Sir! We need a medic!” Rude called back to Tseng.

~end chapter 30~