Taking Care of Reno: Advent Children
Chapter 14: The Battle
The moment the skids hit the ground, Tseng was on his feet, Elena close behind. The pair hurried into the back of the aircraft. It had been a rather sudden landing… he’d been forced to simply choose the closest available open area. Which had turned out to be the middle of an unfinished on-ramp leading to the highway. All around them, they could hear screams and cries of fear.
“We need to get the civilians cleared out of there. Now!” Tseng said. “That thing is under Kadaj’s control… I’m sure of it. It will tear them apart.”
He wrenched open the small weapons locker and frowned. There wasn’t really anything in the way of heavy ordnance. Some flares, and some small demolition charges… nothing that would even put a dent in something as powerful as one of the incarnations of Bahamut.
“If we happen to survive this, remind me to have a word with Viridia about the sorry state of her aircraft’s munition stores,” he said, digging a little deeper into the locker. Finally, he came up with a pair of net shooters. Not exactly destructive… but Bahamut was a winged creature. Perhaps grounding it would give them an advantage. He passed one over to Elena. “Aim for its wings… or barring that, its feet. If we can immobilize it, even temporarily, it will give those people more time to escape.”
The younger Turk nodded, and the pair of them disembarked, racing down the roadway towards the disturbance.
“Tseng! Elena!”
The Turk leader turned at the sound of his name, and caught sight of a flash of deep crimson.
“Vincent…”
The former Turk reached them in a few long strides, and shook his head. “Assistance is en route. We’ll handle that thing. I saw Reno and Rude from a distance a moment ago… They’re keeping two of our three opponents busy, but Kadaj is still loose somewhere.”
“I believe we have a rough idea where. We’ll find him.”
Vincent nodded and hurried off to join the fray.
“Good luck,” Tseng called after him, and glanced toward the rampaging Bahamut. “I suspect you’re going to need it.”
Reno found himself sliding painfully across unrelenting pavement for the second time that day. He growled and forced himself upright again.
“When are you gonna call it a day?!” he yelled, with a soft grunt as he swung hard at Yazoo, and missed. The faux-Sephiroth smirked and jumped… higher than any normal person could ever have done… and landed on the roof of a nearby building.
“Just as soon as you return Mother!” he called back down to the Turk. “That will be the end of everything.”
The redhead scowled, and ran for the building, scaling the the tangle of pipes that ran alone the wall, easily hoisting himself up to the other man’s level. This was insane. Neither he nor Rude stood a chance against these guys! Reno had sparred with members of Soldier before… and even they had nothing on his current opponent’s speed and strength. Worse yet… this Yazoo character seemed to cancel out Reno’s own strong points a little too perfectly. Like the Turk, he had a body built for speed and agility. He was quick to spot an incoming attack… and quick to avoid it. Most of the blows Reno had landed were glancing at best, and he was almost certain that he’d been allowed to land them.
The thin smile on Yazoo’s face only confirmed it to him. This was a game to them. He doubted they regarded either himself or Rude as a legitimate threat. Merely something to play with. Reno took another swing at Yazoo, now having to not only keep an eye on his target, but also maintain his balance on the narrow ledge they were standing on.
Reno’s gaze was momentarily redirected to the ground, as Rude sailed by, landing some distance down the block, after being thrown by Loz. His eyes narrowed angrily.
“Tch… Fuck your little family reunion!”
“All we want is to be with Mother,” Yazoo replied, and the next thing the redhead knew, a boot slammed into his chest, and sent him flying from the rooftop.
He crashed hard into a billboard for some play called Loveless, and for some reason he couldn’t begin to fathom, wondered why that sounded so familiar before remembering Rufus having spoken about wanting to see the upcoming production. His fingers closed around the metalwork supporting the large sign, and he barely managed to catch himself before he fell… but an ominous creak directly above him removed any sense of relief that might have given him.
“… Oh, fuck…” he breathed. Reno braced himself for the worst as the supports cracked from the force of his impact, and the sign toppled forward.
Somehow… it missed him. But it seemed the giant advertisement wasn’t quite finished yet.
“Rude! Heads up!” he shouted, looking down at the street. He wasn’t sure if his partner heard him or not. Possibly not, given that he looked slightly dazed by his own unexpected flight and rough landing. The sign crashed to the ground directly behind him, missing him by inches, and Rude froze for a moment, warily looking back.
A moment later, Reno let out a surprised yelp as his tenuous handhold gave way under the strain of the damage and his own meager weight, and he found himself plummeting. He landed with a loud oof on top of his partner, and heard his own name cried out in surprise. The redhead blinked… nothing short of astounded that he didn’t seem to be hurt, and quickly picked himself up, nonchalantly brushing himself off when he found himself face to face with Yazoo and Loz.
He took a step forward… and heard a distinctive crunch underfoot followed by a soft sound of dismay from his partner. Reno internally cringed, somehow knowing full well what he’d just done. And that Rude was gonna be pissed if they lived through this.
“Now, where’s Mother?” Loz asked.
“Mother, shmother. It’s just Jenova’s fuckin’ head!” he said, ignoring the accusing glare Rude cast him as he, too, stood up. The bald Turk reached into his breast pocket and withdrew a second pair of sunglasses… and Reno would have laughed, had the situation not presently been – literally – a matter of life or death. He hadn’t realized he’d unintentionally broken so many of his friend’s precious shades over the years that Rude had resorted carrying spares with him now.
“Hey!” Loz growled angrily.
“I will not have you refer to Mother that way!” Yazoo added.
“Hmph…” Rude slipped his new glasses on. “Our apologies.”
“Yeah, yeah… Your ma’s cool…” he sighed, entirely out of habit. It was something that had gotten him out of many a bar fight when he’d said something he shouldn’t have. Which, given that his mouth tended to run several miles per hour faster than his brain when he was buzzed tended to be quite often. He blinked, suddenly remembering where he was and what he was doing. “The fuck am I sayin’… ?”
Enough fucking around… they needed to find a way to end this. Reno charged again, Rude bringing up the rear. He put everything he had into the jump and managed a surprise aerial attack that sent Yazoo careening backwards. Rude followed up with a swift punch to Loz’s face while the man was distracted by his compatriot’s sudden departure. Reno hit the ground and grinned. That one wasn’t a gimme. The fucker definitely hadn’t just let it through his defenses for fun.
… And apparently Loz didn’t like seeing his partner take a punch anymore than Reno did. The redhead’s eyes widened as, suddenly, the other man was directly in front of him. A moment later, his fist collided with Reno’s face, and the Turk was thrown back into Rude’s chest. Both men went down.
Reno groaned and stood, staggering slightly. He was back to back with Rude, both Turks breathing harshly from the exertion of the fight. Yazoo laughed quietly as the redhead wiped away some of the blood that was dripping from his nose.
“… If you’ve got a plan,” Rude said, subtly elbowing him in the back, “… now would be a terrific time to share.”
“Don’t die?” he offered, and his partner groaned. “Yeah, yeah… I’m workin’ on it.”
Rufus’ hand furiously gripped the armrest of his wheelchair as he watched two of his Turks thrown around like rag dolls, and he looked down at the barely visible outline of the box concealed beneath the blanket. He had thought that, with it, he could save the world from what his company had wrought. But all he’d really done was put the only people who actually gave a damn about him in danger.
Even from this distance, he could tell that the Reno and Rude were tiring quickly against Kadaj’s ‘brothers’. If this kept up much longer, they would fall. Beyond his Turks, Bahamut was facing off against the combined might of Avalanche. Kadaj had largely ignored the arrival of the airship, Sierra… but Rufus hadn’t. He got the distinct impression that the remnant truly believed that Cloud Strife was the only opponent he really had to worry about. And maybe… he was.
Well… if Rufus couldn’t personally save the world, then perhaps he could at least save those he cared about by providing a little distraction.
“This is too fun, Mr. President! Any requests for the next act?” Kadaj asked, gleefully. He turned towards the young executive, just as Rufus tossed the blanket aside, and stood, the specimen container in hand. It took the younger man a moment to register what he was seeing, and Rufus had no trouble pinpointing the exact moment that realization set in.
“Mother!” he gasped. It was the President’s turn to smirk now. His gaze locked with Kadaj’s.
“A good son would have known,” he taunted, and, never taking his eyes off of the other man, calmly threw the box off of the building. Kadaj gave an incoherent cry of fury, and without any farther warning sent a wave of magic flying straight towards him. Rufus’ eyes widened, and he dodged, narrowly missing being hit by it head on. The energy coming off of the spell, however, was harder to avoid… and he suddenly found himself falling.
If the enraged shout hadn’t gotten their attention, the sudden explosion of flames high in one of the unfinished buildings certainly would have. Reno and Rude looked upwards nearly in unison at the sound – which was followed by several shots being fired off in rapid succession – as did their opponents, and the redhead felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of Rufus plummeting.
“No!” the pair of Turks chorused, the fight suddenly forgotten. A half moment later, a second figure took the same leap. It was only when Rufus refocused his aim downward that Reno realized what was going on. The sunlight glinted off the black plastic casing of a familiar specimen container as it fell. That was what Rufus was aiming at, now… and it appeared that Kadaj was intent on stopping him.
“Oh, fuck… Rude! Move your ass!”
Even as he said it, he knew it was hopeless. Rufus was falling too fast. He had to have been close to fifteen stories up when he fell… or, more likely, was pushed. Even if they did manage to break his fall in time, none of them were walking away from this uninjured.
Nevermind that in order to break his fall, they’d have to run straight into the line of fire. Most of the President’s shots were wide, missing the miniscule target, but that didn’t seem to phase him. He was still firing.
“Goddammit, you idiot, stop shootin’!” he yelled, though he doubted Rufus heard him.
Kadaj, in a more streamlined drop, inched past the blonde executive, his arms outstretched, reaching for Jenova. Just before his fingers touched it, one of Rufus’ shots finally hit home. It didn’t stop the younger man from capturing his prize, however.
“Oh, we are so fucked…” Reno breathed, as Yazoo and Loz advanced on them again.
They hadn’t even reached the building yet when they saw him fall. And Tseng knew they weren’t going to.
“Elena! The nets!” he shouted, waving her to the opposite side of the road. It was going to be close… and if they missed, Rufus was a dead man. Fortunately, his fellow Turk didn’t seem to need any further explanation, veering away from the Turk leader to get into a better position. She scaled a small scaffold, and took aim, just as Tseng did the same. Her shot anchored into the wall of the building opposite a fraction of a second before Tseng fired, stretching a net out below the plummeting executive.
Tseng aimed slightly lower. Elena’s net would catch him… his would act as a backup if the first gave way.
Rufus slammed into the waiting nets, ending up tangled, but unharmed, and the Turk leader breathed a welcome sigh of relief. Kadaj, meanwhile, dropped to the street a moment later, catlike, clutching the container with Jenova’s remains.
Tseng watched as the two already on the street paused in their attack on his Turks, uncertain what to make of this new development. The decision was made for them, however, as the roar of a motorcycle cut through the air, and Kadaj fled to his own waiting bike. Yazoo and Loz followed, racing off after him, with Cloud Strife in hot pursuit.
The Turk leader glanced back in surprise, just in time to see the last of Bahamut fading into nothingness, and an enormous airship hovering nearby. He chuckled quietly. When Vincent promised to handle something, he certainly was efficient about it.
Reno and Rude waited anxiously at street level as Rufus was carefully lowered down to them by their fellow Turks. The redhead’s fingers at last wrapped around the netting, guiding him to the ground, and untangling the man before helping him to his feet.
“You alright, sir?” Rude asked.
“… I’ve decided something,” Rufus replied, somewhat shaken.
“Heh… Yeah? What’s that?” Reno asked.
“I strongly dislike falling off of buildings. Should such a situation arise in the future, one of you will be standing in for me.”
Reno glanced over at Rude and grinned. “I think the President actually made a joke that was almost funny for once, partner…”
“Sir…” a somewhat breathless Tseng called out, having at last made his way to the small group. “Are you injured?”
Rufus shook his head, but didn’t have time to respond further before the conversation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps racing across the pavement.
“Reno!”
The Turk lieutenant suddenly found himself having to stagger backwards a few steps to keep his balance as his wife launched herself into his arms.
“Mmph!” was all he managed as her lips found his. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her in tightly against his chest as he returned the kiss. He never wanted to let go of her again.
~end chapter 14~
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