In a Quiet Town
Chapter 7: To Tell the Truth
Reno did his best to ignore the mournful expression on Yuffie’s face as he hurried her out of the vault, forcing her to pass up all of the materia that surrounded them.
‘Must be torture for the little brat,’ he thought, am amused smile crossing his lips. Of course her lust for materia had saved their lives not too long ago. If she hadn’t had that Earth materia…
On the other hand, it was because of the irritating young thief’s never-ending quest for those magical stones that they’d been caught in the first place. ‘Immature little…’ He didn’t have time to finish the thought before they were standing at the base of the stairs that would lead them up into the rest of the house.
“Careful… They’ll be waiting for us,” he warned.
“Well, duh,” Yuffie snorted as Reno began to ascend the stairs. His grip tightened on his weapon, his body tense and ready to fight despite the protesting injuries. He pushed open the door at the top of the stairs, expecting an ambush… and finding an empty room. The silence in the parlor was thick enough to cut, and Reno nearly jumped out of his skin when Yuffie gasped in delight and rushed past him, seizing her Conformer from where it had been discarded beside a chair.
“Yuffie!” he hissed, “What are you trying to do? Get yourself killed?! We don’t know where Curtis and his flunkies are hiding and you go running out into the open like that? Are you crazy?”
It was all he could do to force himself not to grab her and shake some sense into her. How could she be so careless?
“Just stay behind me,” he ordered before she could make any response at all to his slew of questions. She was going to drive him insane. How was he supposed to watch out for her when she kept running headlong into trouble? And it certainly didn’t help that she never did a damn thing he told her to… He couldn’t protect her if she kept running off. He briefly wondered if he could just put her on a leash or something…
Reno halted in midstride, trying to figure out when the hell he’d decided to assume responsibility for her safety. He shook the thought away quickly, knowing that this was neither the time nor the place to try to sort out such concerns. He needed to keep his mind focused on the situation at hand, or neither one of them were going to make it home in one piece.
Down the hallway, past the doors and windows, and they saw no one… The house was as silent as the first room they’d entered after emerging from the vault, and it seemed that not a soul had remained behind to guard the store of materia in the basement. Reno cautiously peered out one of the front windows… Even the guards who’d been dutifully patrolling the grounds behind the border of hedges had disappeared.
“What the hell is going on?” Reno asked, more to himself than to Yuffie, “This doesn’t make any sense…”
“I don’t know, but I say we run for it… If they’re somewhere out there, waiting for us, sitting around here won’t do us any good,” said Yuffie, and as much as he hated to admit it, Reno knew she was right. Their only other option would be to barricade themselves in one of the rooms and wait for Curtis and his men to get tired of this little mind game and come in after them. Either option seemed to involve about the same chance of he and Yuffie escaping… and Reno had never been a particularly patient person.
“Come on… We’ll go out the back…” said Reno.
“Yeah, but what if that’s what they’re expecting?” Yuffie asked.
‘Damn,’ thought Reno, ‘She’s got a point.’
But before he could agree or disagree, Yuffie had already bolted for the front door and was preparing to open it. Reno hurried after her, weapon ready. Yuffie made one final check of the materia in her armor, and turned the doorknob. There was no one in the yard as they made their way to the gate, each watching the other’s back, but Reno knew better than to get complacent. There was still that wall of hedges that bordered the yard. He couldn’t see over them, but he had a feeling that someone… or rather several someones… lurked behind the greenery, just waiting for he and Yuffie to get close enough. Heart pounding in anticipation of an attack, he quickened his pace, placing himself between Yuffie and the hedges.
Just as he’d suspected, the guards were lying in wait. They sprang from the tall bushes, emerging mere feet from where Reno stood. He fell back a step, ready for the attack, and brought his electro-rod down hard on the arm of the nearest guard. The loud crack of breaking bones sounded with the impact, and the man released the gun he’d been holding, clutching the injured arm to his chest in surprise.
“Say goodnight, kiddo,” Reno said, falling the young guard with a jolt from the electro-rod. ‘One down,’ he thought, sparing a glance at Yuffie long enough to see her deliver a roundhouse kick to one of the men closing in on her, sending him careening into a second.
But the hedges concealed more than just a few guards, and soon the yard had become a battleground, with Reno and Yuffie fighting for their lives. What Curtis’ flunkies lacked in experience, they made up for in volume, grossly outnumbering their targets. Reno was quick to realize that with odds like the ones he and Yuffie were facing, what they really needed was an opening… a chance to run. If they could put some distance between themselves and Curtis’ security force, they’d at least have a chance.
A man grabbed Reno from behind, pulling his arms behind his back while a second attacker aimed a punch at the restrained Turk’s gut. Reno pulled his knees to his chest, using the man behind him for leverage, and kicked the one attacking, throwing the first off-balance and sending the second staggering back. He broke away from the man who held him just in time to see the opening he’d been waiting for.
“Yuffie! Run!” he called, turning to see her send a man to the ground with an Ice spell. They ran for the hedges, slipping past guards still on their feet, and running out onto the street. The sight that greeted them brought them to a dead stop.
“Reno!” Yuffie’s voice cried, tinged with alarm. Reno spun away from the crowd of people he suddenly had found himself facing, and turned to look at her. She’d only been a few steps behind him… but Curtis now held her at gunpoint, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, the barrel of the gun pressed underneath Yuffie’s chin. The guards they’d just been fighting were amassed behind the man and his hostage.
“It seems you were right… I have been watching too many late night spy movies,” said Curtis, “So this time, I’m just going to shoot you both.”
Angry murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd.
“What’d you do? Call out the entire town to help you?” Reno replied, narrowing his eyes at Curtis.
“You can’t steal our materia and get away with it!” yelled someone in the crowd.
“Thieves!”
“Planet killers!”
To say the air was tense would have been an understatement. The people surrounding them looked ready to lynch the two interlopers… and Reno doubted that any amount of sarcasm would stall Curtis this time.
“You see?” Curtis said, raising his voice to be heard by the crowd, “The people of Duraman have worked long and hard at collecting this materia, all for the good of the planet… They’re working to repair at least some of the damage that’s been done… And they’re not going to let the likes of you ruin this!”
A cheer went up from the crowd.
“Yeah… Why don’t you tell ’em what you’re really planning to do with all that materia,” Reno hissed through clenched teeth, “See if they cheer for you then…”
A sadistic sort of smile crossed Curtis’ face… but Reno was more interested in what Yuffie was doing. She was perfectly still except for one hand, flexing her fingers ever so slowly as if anticipating something… waiting for just the right moment. And then, apparently that moment arrived. Her hand moved upwards, fingers curling around Curtis’ hand, and in one deft movement, those fingers, that could pluck a piece of materia right out of a person’s armor without anyone noticing, slid the Reflect ring off the man’s hand. Reno glanced subtly down at the fire materia he’d taken from the vault.
“Is that that the best you can do?” hissed Curtis, somehow catching the thief in the act… but not before Yuffie had a chance to toss the ring off into the crowd of townspeople. He tightened his grip on her waist. At the same time, Reno tightened his grip on the electro-rod.
“Let her go,” said Reno, threat made clear in his tone.
“You’re hardly in a position to make demands,” Curtis replied, the gun still pointed at Yuffie, “But go ahead… Try to attack me. Think you can take me down before I shoot you’re girlfriend here?”
“Eww! I am so not his girlfriend!” Yuffie cried.
“Well good… Then you won’t mind me shooting him first. He has, after all, caused me far more trouble than you have…” Curtis replied, redirecting his aim at the seething Turk. Everything… Reno’s instincts, his training, past experience… all of it told him to cut his losses and run for it. He could hit Curtis with a Fire spell and hope it caused enough confusion and blind rage amongst the crowd that he could escape. It was a longshot at best, but standing around waiting to be shot wasn’t exactly a pleasant alternative.
But Yuffie… He couldn’t attack Curtis without her getting hurt, either by his spell or by Curtis himself. ‘The little brat is going to be the death of me yet…’ he thought. If it hadn’t been for her, he’d have been out of town and on his way back to Midgar by now. But no… He had to start worrying about her. He desperately tried to fend off the acceptance of the fact that he genuinely cared what happened to her. She continuously drove him nuts – caused him nothing but trouble – and here he was, hesitating in covering his own ass all because he didn’t want to do something that might end up getting her killed.
Reno didn’t have time to reflect on his inner turmoil for long, however, the barrel of the gun now pointed at him, Curtis’ finger tense on the trigger as Reno readied himself to move before the man shot, hoping he was agile enough to get out of the way. His eyes locked with Curtis’, and he wondered if he was only prolonging his own death… Be that as it may, his body was fueled by a rush of adrenaline, ready to move at a moment’s notice even though he had nowhere to run, surrounded as he was… but damned if he was going down without a fight.
And then he heard Yuffie’s voice, though he didn’t pay any attention to what she said. He expected the shot to come a moment later, but it didn’t. Instead, he watched as Curtis’ eyes glazed over, taking on a distinctive glow.
“Alright, ya creep… Why don’t you just point that gun at yourself?” said Yuffie. Reno watched in confused silence – as did the crowd of townspeople – as Curtis complied.
“If anyone tries to attack us, you’re gonna pull the trigger,” Yuffie stated. Curtis nodded. The guards and townspeople didn’t seem to know what to do given this new development, shuffling and muttering indecisively. Reno gave Yuffie a questioning look… In reply, smiled knowingly and pointed to a yellow materia in her armor.
‘Manipulate,’ Reno thought, and he could have kicked himself for not having figured it out on his own. He relaxed a bit, but was far from letting his guard down entirely.
“Now tell all these people what your real plans are,” she said to Curtis.
“Hey… Ya know something, Yuffie?” Reno said quietly as Curtis robotically explained his scheme, “You’re smarter than you look…”
“I… Hey! Gawd… You’re such a creep…” the ninja replied. Reno grinned at her, and wrapped an arm around her waist.
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