Taking Care of Reno: Advent Children
Chapter 16: The Reunion
It was a much longer drop than he’d initially thought… but somehow he managed to hit the roof, roll to a halt, and still have time to wonder how the fuck he was still in one piece before a deafening explosion rocked the city. Reno stared up at the sky for a moment, and slowly released a shaky breath before sitting up.
He glanced down at his left hand, which was still clutching the severed control stick and started laughing.
“You’re insane.”
“Yeah… I think maybe I am,” he replied, glancing over at his partner with a wide grin.
“We could’ve been killed, jumping like that.”
“Yep.”
“… I need a vacation.”
“Heh… You ‘n me both,” Reno agreed.
The sound of helicopter blades and a sudden rush of air pulled his attention skyward again.
“Guys!” Elena shouted, waving at them from the side door of a second copter. The redhead tossed his little souvenir aside and stood up as a ladder tumbled out, landing a few feet away.
“Guess the vacation’s gonna have to wait,” he noted, and started climbing. The moment he was safely aboard, Elena’s arms wrapped around him.
“That’s it! When this is over, I’m not letting you out of my sight again for a month!” she shouted over the noise of the engines. Reno smirked, and reached for a spare headset, pulling it on.
“Funny… I was about to say the same thing.”
The pair of them helped Rude off of the ladder, and Elena hauled the door shut.
“Are you two alright?” Tseng’s voice asked from the cockpit.
“Never better! Thinkin’ about doin’ it again, Boss…”
“Hmph… Speak for yourself,” Rude replied, taking a seat in back. Elena joined him a moment later, as Reno slipped into the copilot’s seat, next to Tseng.
“Don’t s’pose we actually managed to stop either of those fuckers…”
Tseng shook his head. “You only slowed them down. I’m afraid they’re back on Cloud’s tail, and catching up fast.” He pointed toward the highway, and Reno saw the unmistakeable silhouettes of the two men… and farther ahead, that of Cloud as well, racing toward a tunnel.
“Where’s Kadaj?” he asked.
“He’s nearly reached the ruins at this point,” the Turk leader replied, and Reno silently followed his gaze towards the looming remains of Midgar in the distance. It took him a moment to find him, but he soon spotted Kadaj’s bike, traveling along a road on the outskirts of Edge.
“Assumin’ Strife makes it outta that tunnel alive… we could collapse the thing once he’s clear. Seal those assholes inside.”
“With what?” Elena asked from the back. “This is just a supply transport. It doesn’t have any weapons.”
Rude, meanwhile, was already rummaging through the small weapons locker in the back.
The crash itself hadn’t been visible from Reeve’s office… but the explosion certainly had been. Rufus had had no trouble at all picking out the plume of smoke and flames in the distance, and he wondered just what it was that had blown up now. Edge was rapidly turning into a warzone… Shinra and the WRO were going to have their work cut out for them, cleaning up the mess.
“It was a Shinra helicopter. Reno and Rude’s,” Reeve suddenly said, and the President froze for a moment before slowly turning to face him. “They’re fine. They made it out in time,” the former executive quickly added.
He relaxed slightly, and adopted his usual cool demeanor with a sneer. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Those two have cost my company upwards of three hundred million gil over the years in damages alone. If I thought there was any hope of them ever paying it off, I’d have started docking their pay ages ago.”
Reeve chuckled softly. “If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think you didn’t like them.”
“I could certainly do without the slum rat on occasion, at the very least,” he spat back.
“You know… Two years ago, I might have believed you.”
Rufus snorted in contempt. “Were you still officially in my employ, I’d be tempted to demote you for that comment.”
“Ah… But I’m not, now am I? And we’ve been working together too long now for me to be afraid of you, Rufus. You may as well drop the act. You’re worried about them. We both know it.”
The President turned back to the window without acknowledging the accusation, and wondered when he had become so transparent. He was silent for several moments, watching the smoke rise into the sky.
“I have only two things of any particular value to me these days, Reeve. My company… and my Turks. I don’t wish to lose either of them.”
“A-are you sure about this… ?” Elena asked. Reno shrugged.
“Relax, ‘Lena… we’ll be outta the way long before those two come flyin’ through. Just gotta stick around long enough for Cloud to get clear.”
The helicopter touched down just as Rude finished wiring up the second of two devices he’d crafted from the contents of the weapons locker. It wasn’t much to look at. A couple of demolition charges, some det cord… and just for good measure, a handful of road flares, strapped on with duct tape. It wasn’t pretty, but it would certainly cause a ruckus.
“Just… try not to blow yourselves up, okay?” she replied, shaking her head.
Reno and Rude hopped to the ground, and the helicopter lifted off again, retreating to a safe distance. The redhead looked down at the device in his hand, studying it.
“Hey, partner… This thing got any bite to it?” he asked. Frankly, it looked a bit like something an old colleague of theirs would have whipped up… which, given that the guy had unintentionally blown himself to kingdom come, didn’t exactly fill him with optimism. With that guy, you never knew if the thing was going to fizzle, or demolish half a city block. What he was currently holding in his hand didn’t look much better.
“Shinra technology at its finest,” Rude replied with a smirk.
“Gettin’ into bomb making now, are ya?”
“If nothing else, it’s flashy.”
Reno grinned. “Oh, good,” he chuckled, “I was worried I might get bored.”
“You love it. I know,” his partner smirked. Reno sighed and turned his gaze on the tunnel exit. The sound of motors could be heard from inside, by then… their targets were approaching.
“Looks like today we’re clockin’ out early…”
Seconds later, Strife sailed past them, sparing the two Turks the barest nod of acknowledgment before continuing on in his attempt to catch up to Kadaj. Reno and Rude simultaneously pressed the buttons on the explosives, starting the make-shift timers’ countdown, and set them in the middle of the roadway.
“Let’s get the fuck outta here,” said Reno, and his partner nodded. The pair sprinted across the highway, hopping the divider and hunkering down behind several concrete barriers. It wasn’t long before the whine of another engine could be heard exiting the tunnel, and a heartbeat later, the bombs went off. The entire overpass shook with the explosion, and Reno instinctively ducked lower behind his shelter as debris and burning road flares blasted past.
“Fuck, Rude… The hell’d you put in those things!?”
“… Might’ve gone a little overboard with the det cord,” the bald Turk replied with a shrug. Reno eyed him appraisingly.
“Remind me to keep you away from the explosives from now on.”
Once he deemed it safe, Reno peered over the barricades. Part of the tunnel had,in fact, collapsed, though not enough to seal it shut. One motorcycle lay on its side, several yards from the blast zone. The other was nowhere in sight.
“Did we get ’em?” the redhead asked, somewhat disbelievingly. After the fight those two had put up back in town, the idea that something as minor as a hastily-scraped-together bomb could take them out seemed a little… well… ludicrous.
“Guess again,” an all-too-familiar voice said behind him. Reno didn’t even have time to turn. The next thing he knew, someone had seized him by the back of the collar, and hoisted him to his feet. A sharp kick to the center of his back sent him face first into the concrete wall in front of him.
“Oh, that’s it!” he shouted angrily, and only just managed to dodge the boot aimed at his head, rolling to one side and brandishing his EMR. He didn’t even pay much attention to where it made contact with Yazoo… The Turk simply cranked it up to full power and let it rip. The silver-haired man’s eyes widened in surprise as the jolt sent him flying backwards. A faint wisp of smoke rose from the tip of the weapon, and Reno smirked. “Tch… suck on that, asshole.”
Loz stopped in the middle of his attack against Rude and stared at the motionless figure of his comrade. A few seconds of indecision at last gave way to a quick retreat, as he scooped his brother from the pavement, and jumped from the edge of the overpass. The two Turks watched, somewhat shocked by the sudden disappearing act.
“You kill him?” Rude finally asked.
“Any normal person, that woulda roasted ’em alive and then some. These guys… who the fuck knows?” Reno shrugged and glanced down at the still-smoking mag-rod. “Fried the electronics, though. Hope they take the hint and run, ’cause this thing’s not much better than a club at this point.”
“… So why didn’t you just do that to begin with?” Rude asked, teasingly. “Would’ve saved us a lot of trouble.”
“Ah, shut up.”
The helicopter reappeared overhead moments later.
The supply transport was too large for the Shinra Office’s rooftop helipad. But with a very noticeable lack of traffic, there was plenty of room, at the moment, in the middle of the street. Tseng set them down directly in front of the building.
“Shall we go and reclaim our President now?” he asked. Reno glanced up from where Elena was trying to stem the bloody nose he’d acquired in his most recent fight.
“What about Kadaj?” he asked.
“I suspect that we will only be in the way,” the Turk leader replied, nodding towards the airship in the distance.
“Tch… Once again, the planet get saved by those motherfuckers, while we’re stuck sweepin’ up the mess…” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Hold still,” Elena gently chastised him. “You’re a mess.”
Rude snorted softly. “He’s always a mess,” he interjected, and Elena giggled, wiping the last of the blood away.
“There… I think it’s stopped.”
Tseng stood and made his way into the back of the aircraft, and pulled open the side door.
“Even if I were inclined to interfere in the battle, I believe our presence is wanted here at the moment,” he said. Reno looked up to see Rufus making his way, unaccompanied, down the front steps of the building.
“Knew I shoulda locked the little shit in a closet,” the redhead groused, petulantly. “I fuckin’ told him to stay put, inside, where it’s safe… ish. Son of a bitch never listens to me.”
Tseng and Rude were already disembarking, in spite of Reno’s complaints. Elena offered him her hand and pulled him to his feet.
“One little bloody nose, and you’re in a terrible mood.” She grinned, shaking her head.
“Tch… one little broken nose, is more like it,” he returned, but smiled as she leaned in to place a kiss on his lips. “More of that should fix it, through…”
“After we check on the President,” Elena whispered, teasingly. He followed her out to the street, moving to stand beside the Turk leader and his partner, and couldn’t help but notice just how relieved Rufus actually looked. Before anyone could say anything, however, the clouds above them opened up, and a torrent poured down on the streets of Edge. Reno swore, and looked upward.
“Oh, that’s just fuckin’ great. Now I’m soaked and in pain.”
When no one commented after a few seconds, however, his pulled his gaze away from the storm clouds and redirected it at the rest of his team… who now all seemed to be looking directly at Rufus with expressions of varying degrees of shock. Reno blinked as he realized what had captured their attention.
Rufus pulled back his sleeve, giving them a better look at the pale green glow that had enveloped the lesions on his arm left by his Geostigma infection. It grew in intensity for a moment or two, and then faded away… leaving behind nothing but pale, unblemished skin.
“Sir…” Elena gasped. Rufus could only stared at the former site of the infection, mouth slightly agape.
“Sir?” Tseng ventured, reaching a hand out to prod his charge back to reality. The President swallowed sharply, and looked up at him.
“It’s… gone.”
The rain ceased just as quickly as it had begun, and the sun suddenly broke through the clouds.
“Oh, sir! It’s gone!” Elena cried, with a laugh, as she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly for a moment, before suddenly realizing the extraordinarily unprofessional nature of what she was doing. And in public no less. The youngest Turk awkwardly pulled away, blushing furiously. “I-I… I’m sorry, sir,” she stammered. “I don’t know what came over me.”
Reno snickered and draped his arm over her shoulders. “I think ‘Lena’s glad you’re better, sir.”
“As are we all,” Tseng added, smiling widely.
“I suppose I can forgive the lapse in decorum just this once…” Rufus replied, though the faint upward quirk of the corners of his mouth belied his serious tone.
By then, other people were making their way out onto the streets, and Reno could hear the sound of phones beginning to ring as, he suspected at any rate, the news spread. Tseng quickly herded them back towards the safety of the office. Reeve was waiting for them in the lobby. As they approached, he removed the earpiece that kept him in contact with the Cait Sith robot and smiled.
“There are reports coming in from all over the city… People saying the rain washed away their Geostigma.”
“And Kadaj?” Rufus asked.
“Defeated. Gone. Just moments ago.”
Tseng chuckled softly. “In that case… Elena. Now you may tell him.”
Elena laughed excitedly and turned to Reno, who looked over at Tseng in curiosity, and then back to his wife.
“Tell me what?” he asked, confused. Her grin widened, and she reached for his hand.
“Reno, I’m…” she began, pausing somewhat nervously before pushing forward. “I’m… pregnant.”
The redhead blinked, and for a moment, he could only stare blankly. It took him several attempts to find his voice.
“… S-say that again?”
“I’m pregnant,” Elena repeated, “We’re… going to have a baby.”
“… That’s… what I thought you said,” he managed… and promptly passed out at her feet.
~end chapter 16~
Comments