Taking Care of Reno: Advent Children
Chapter 13: The Summoning
“We sure we wanna do this?” Rude asked. “Only took one of them to drop us both yesterday.”
“Tch… We’re not lookin’ for trouble. We’re just asking some questions.”
“Hmph… And I’m sure they won’t start anything…”
Reno knew he was right. This was most likely going to end in a fight. But they were clearly running out of time. Whatever these guys were up to, it was coming to a head. They wouldn’t be acting so publicly if it weren’t… and that meant he and Rude had to get Rufus back before Rufus became expendable.
As the two Turks approached the monument, Reno slipped his EMR out of the holster on his belt, and clipped it into the leather strap attached to his wrist. He’d never particularly liked fighting while tethered to his weapon… but damned if he was going to let one of these Sephiroth-wannabes disarm him a second time.
Before they could get close, though, several of the concerned parents grabbed for their children, intent on carrying them away. At that same moment, the same dog-like creatures Reno had only seen at a distance before, when they’d attacked Cloud on the plains, materialized and set upon the crowd.
A sharp flick of the wrist extended the electrified baton to its full length, and he let it rest on his shoulder as he and Rude made their way forward, ignoring the beasts. They seemed far more concerned with causing general chaos than with attacking them… for the moment.
“And what are we up to?” he queried once they were just feet away from the base of the structure.
High above the city, Rufus had been watching the commotion below… and things had suddenly taken a rather interesting turn. He smirked slightly. If there was one thing Reno was not good at… it was blending into a crowd. The President would have noticed him down there even if the gathering hadn’t been suddenly darting away from his general direction to escape the creatures. And once he had a fix on the redhead, spotting his partner didn’t take much effort, either.
“Say, Kadaj… I’ve got a question for you,” Rufus said. The silver-haired remnant didn’t look at him. Instead, he placed his fingers against his forearm and drew a glassy sphere from within his own body. Rufus’ eyes widened slightly. He’d known these creatures weren’t human… but he’d had no idea how truly strange – and powerful – they really were. Before the Crisis – before he was even born, for that matter – Shinra Company had spent several years attempting to develop the technology to implant someone with materia. They’d poured millions into the project before discovering that it wasn’t quite as easy as it sounded… In the end, it had led to the Soldier program. An important advancement in its own right, but a far cry from what they’d hoped to achieve.
“I’ve got an answer,” Kadaj replied, holding the sphere up to the mid-morning sun. It glinted with a faint hint of red in the sunlight.
“You told me you needed Jenova’s cells in order to be whole again… What did you really mean by that?”
He was very much afraid that he already knew the answer to that question. Kadaj certainly hadn’t been subtle. Nor did he seem to care what Rufus learned of his plans.
Kadaj’s gaze was still on the city. “Him. He’s coming back.”
“Sephiroth,” Rufus said, “The nightmare.”
“So they say,” Kadaj said with a quiet laugh. “I’ve never known him, of course. I only… sense him.” He looked down at the girder beneath his feet. “Always there. It pisses me off sometimes. I wonder which of us Mother prefers… Sephiroth, or me?”
“Poor little remnant,” Rufus chided in mock sympathy. Kadaj turned, scowling angrily and stalked towards him.
“It doesn’t matter who she picks! You’ll all meet the same fate. Mother came to this planet after a long journey. Her task was to rid the cosmos of idiots like you!” He held the materia up, close to the President’s face, and Rufus could actually feel the energy humming inside it even without touching it. Whatever it summoned… it was powerful. “But you don’t understand, do you? Nothing’s changed since her arrival. I have to change it… to maker her happy. If Mother willed it, I’d do anything for her!”
“Hmph… the nightmare all over again, huh?”
“As long as your kind exist, the nightmares will come again and again,” he replied, turning back to the city and calmly tossing the materia sphere into the air.
Rufus shook his head. “And as death begets life, so too will the past be bound to live again; for while life courses through the world, it flows upon the very edge edge of death,” he quoted. An admittedly rough translation from the original Wutaiian that lost some of the more subtle nuances, but it would do. “Go on, then. Bring your Jenovas and your Sephiroths. Cause trouble to your heart’s content. As always, we’ll do as we must. We’ll try to stop you.”
“Is that you excuse for hiding Mother away, Mr. President? You’ll be sorry for it. In the end,” Kadaj responded. He pressed the materia to his forearm, and it was quickly reabsorbed.
“Sorry? You misunderstand. I’m quite enjoying myself.” That was, perhaps, the biggest lie Rufus had ever told. The truth was, he was terrified… for himself more than anything, really, but for everyone else as well.
Even concealed from view by the younger man’s flesh, the flare from the materia was unmistakable. Kadaj rounded on him him again, with a cold smile.
“Good,” he said, “Then let’s put an end to all this.” He slowly raised his arm, and his eyes took on a faint glow to match that of the materia. His smile never wavered, not even as the rapidly building energy was released into the sky.
Rufus watched as the clouds began to part, and wondered just what he’d doomed them all to this time.
“We figured it out. Mother is here.”
“Yeah?” Rude queried, an eyebrow rising in challenge behind dark lenses, calm in spite of the mayhem that surrounded them. Loz smirked.
“Hmph. Yeah. This thing… Shinra made it.”
Reno grinned widely. They were way off… which meant that Rufus was probably still confident enough in his hiding place to keep sending them on wild goose chases. And that meant he was safe… for now at least. Of course, as soon as they discovered that Jenova wasn’t in the monument… who knew what might happen? Kadaj might simply decide he was fed up with Rufus’ games, and take him out. Which, somewhat ironically, would result in him finding what he was looking for.
And that meant he and Rude needed to keep those two fuckers out of that statue.
“So… ya think we hid her here, huh?” he said, taunting them.
Yazoo cocked his head to one side. “Did you?”
“Why ask us?” Rude replied.
“Heh… Yeah. Where we hid her is classified,” the redhead added. He turned back to his partner, sniggering, and shot him a look that said ‘Follow my lead’. Rude smirked and quickly joined in on the condescending laughter.
“Oh?” Yazoo said, smugly, “… Seems you do have something to hide.”
The redhead repressed the urge to grin – the bastard had taken the bait… hook, line, and sinker – and instead adopted an expression of shock and dismay.
“Rude! You and your big mouth!” he lamented as he readied himself to attack. Seconds later, he charged.
“Sir!”
“I saw it!” Tseng replied, and turned the helicopter towards the center of the city… towards the flash of light that had emanated from one of several partially constructed towers. “Which building… ?” he muttered as he circled high.
“S-sir? Elena stammered slightly, “You… might want to take us lower! Now!”
The Turk leader shifted his attention back to the airspace ahead of him, and his eyes widened. He pushed sharply forward on the stick, sending them into a fast descent… and only narrowly avoided the massive wing that nearly clipped them. He had little choice but to back off to a safer distance, as the rest of the creature’s body swiftly followed.
“What in Bahamut’s name is that?!” Elena breathed.
“… Bahamut. Unless I’m very much mistaken.”
“It’s… it’s huge…”
Tseng nodded vaguely in agreement. Few people had ever witnessed one of the legendary creatures being summoned. He certainly never had before. To many, they were only a step or two down from deities themselves… great guardian spirits that few had the power to summon and even fewer to control.
He’d never seen one in person, but Tseng had heard stories of the summoning of Leviathan during the Meaningless War. The mighty sea serpent had been called forth to save the capital city from Shinra’s forces… only to fall to Sephiroth’s Masamune, banished back to the nether from whence it came.
Without warning, the King of Dragon’s mammoth tail swung towards them… thankfully missing an actual strike against the comparatively diminutive aircraft, but creating enough of a vortex to send them spinning out of control for a few moments.
“… I think, Elena, that now might be an appropriate time to land,” Tseng said, somewhat breathlessly once the helicopter stabilized, noting the other Turk’s white-knuckled grip on the co-pilot’s controls.
“Yes, sir. I think that now would be an excellent time to land.”
The new surge of panic in the crowd didn’t register until something huge landed on the roadway with a loud roar. The creature leapt upwards, onto the statue, crushing part of it and sending those brave enough to still be in its range scattering. Reno tried to backpedal, staring up at the unexpected addition to the fight, weapon still swinging backwards for the intended strike. Rude, behind him, stopped a moment too late. Reno felt the impact as his partner collided with the mag-rod.
His attention, for the moment, however, was locked firmly on the enormous dragon now looming over him.
“Oooh, boy… H-hello…” he managed. That was one big, angry motherfucker.
“… Hell no,” Rude stated. The redhead wholeheartedly concurred. Picking a fight with those two weirdos was one thing… Voluntarily going after a fucking summoned beast was another matter altogether. The two Turks turned as one and fled.
“Uh… When we tell ‘Lena about this later… let’s not mention the part about us runnin’ away like a couple of panicked chocobos, huh?” Reno called over to his partner.
“I won’t say anything if you don’t!” Rude replied.
Reno ran past a young boy… one of the many children who’d been shielding Yazoo and Loz… and ground to a halt when he realized the kid wasn’t even trying to get out of the way.
“Fuck!” he swore, grabbing him by the arm and trying to pulling him along with him. “Fuckin’ move your ass, kid!”
When he didn’t budge, Reno gave an exasperated growl and simply picked him up, just before Loz narrowly missed landing an attack on the Turk. To his surprise, the child made a somewhat feeble attempt at breaking free from his grasp, trying to shove him away, swatting at his face. At one point the boy’s fingers jabbed into his nose, and Reno jerked his head up, away from the sudden pain at having his sinuses gouged.
“Tch… And Lira thinks I need one of these damn things?” he groused, annoyed. By then, Rude had swept past him, a small child under each arm, and the redhead hurried to catch up. “Is it after us?!”
“I’m not looking!” Rude shot back, eyes remaining firmly locked on his destination. There was an earsplitting explosion somewhere behind them, and the next thing Reno knew, he was airborne, tumbling head over heels along with the shockwave from the blast. He instinctively shielded the boy in his arms, hitting the ground hard moments later and skidding along the cement.
Reno groaned loudly as he collected himself, slowly raising himself up on his arms and watched as the little boy he’d rescued got to his feet, apparently unharmed, and wandered off, dazed. Rude, too, was picking himself up by then.
A somewhat cruel laugh met his ears.
“Are we having fun yet?” Yazoo asked. Reno glanced over at his partner, Rude gave him a subtle nod. The redhead smirked.
“Time of my life!” he shouted, as the pair of Turks leapt to their feet, simultaneously lashing out with a staggering kick at their opponents, hoping to catch them off guard.
~end chapter 13~
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