Taking Care of Reno: Advent Children
Chapter 2: The Crater
It was surprisingly warm inside the Northern Crater. Warmer than she remembered, in fact. Elena very clearly recalled following Avalanche all the way up Gaia’s Cliff and down into the crater itself two years ago… and it wasn’t this warm.
Of course, at that time, she hadn’t gone especially deep into the massive opening in the planet’s surface. Now, though, she and Tseng were very nearly at the limit to which a person could safely travel. Much farther and they would encounter the pools of raw mako that seeped out of the rock and filled the bottom. Very little could survive in such a place. Certainly not two Turks.
“Reno? How are things looking up there?”
They were due for a storm… and the mist that shrouded the crater in thick veils largely cut them off from conditions outside. That’s why Reno and Rude were in the air, slowly circling the area where they’d dropped their fellow Turks off.
“Wind’s pickin’ up a little,” Reno’s voice replied over the radio. “And we’re startin’ to see a little bit of snow… but I don’t think we have to worry about it quite yet. The nasty stuff looks like its still a ways off.”
They’d been down there for hours, picking through the rubble, searching for anything that could possibly have once been part of the Jenova specimen, and thus far had come up empty handed.
“Another hour?” Tseng asked.
“… Might be pushin’ it a little. Half hour, maybe.”
“Understood.” He turned to Elena. “Keep looking down here. I’m going to climb up onto that ledge, and see if I can spot anything.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied. It hadn’t been entirely fruitless. They had a fair amount of video of the present state of the crater… something that would be of great interest to the new environmental science division in Junon. But it was looking more and more like they weren’t going to find anything of Jenova. At least not on this trip. She had little doubt that Rufus would send them back several more times, if need be, if they returned without their objective. And if he did, she was going to make sure Reno got to take a turn scurrying over the rocks while she laid back and relaxed in the pilot’s seat next time. She giggled softly to herself at that thought… but stopped when the smell hit her.
It had come out of nowhere when she’d hopped down into a small chasm, and the stench of death and decay almost immediately turned her stomach. Elena found herself gagging as she searched for its source, something that surprised her a little. She wasn’t usually so sensitive to odors like that, these days… She’d long since gotten over her squeamishness around dead bodies. In the back of her mind, she wondered if that might be yet another indicator that she was more than just a little late this month. Lira hadn’t been able to stand certain smells when she was pregnant.
She spotted it in the shadow of an overhang… Slimy and decomposed and putrid, it was almost unrecognizable. Almost. The more she looked at it, the more its features seemed to emerge.
All that was left was the head. Not even the entire head. The lower jaw was gone. Stray clumps of silvery hair still clung to the scalp. Its face stared back at her, lifelessly, and her stomach gave another unexpected heave. She swallowed sharply, just barely managing to hang onto her breakfast.
“Tseng! Come take a look at this…” the Turk called over the radio.
“On my way,” he answered and a minute later, she heard him drop into the slot between the rocks. He made his way to her, and paused behind her, looking over her shoulder.
“… Found it. Well done, Elena.”
“… Not much to look at, is it…” she commented, as the Turk leader knelt down beside the disembodied head and scooped it into a specimen container. “Could something that small really be the cause of Geostigma?”
“Who cares? Just get the damn thing… Let the eggheads back home worry about the details,” Reno’s voice, sounding bored over the radio, chastised them. Tseng finished collecting their prize and sealed the canister.
“Reno. We’re leaving,” Tseng said in reply.
“Heh… you got it, Boss.”
Elena followed the Wutaiian Turk out of the crevasse and back towards the landing zone to wait for their ride. Without warning, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet struck the stone not far to Tseng’s left.
“What in Leviathan’s name?!” Tseng breathed, as he dove for cover. Elena quickly followed his lead, taking shelter a short distance away.
“The fuck’s goin’ on down there?” the redhead asked.
“Reno! Hurry!” Elena responded, not having time for explanations. Several more shots peppered the spot where they’d been standing. Tseng peered over the top of his hiding place. There were three of them, but only one seemed to be doing the shooting. He hurriedly ducked down again.
“Who in the nine hells are they?” Tseng muttered, drawing his weapon. Given their disturbingly familiar appearance… he had at least an idea. Though where they could have come from was a mystery. Aside from the fact that the crater wasn’t the easiest place on the planet to access, they’d made damn sure the area was clear before sending the helicopter back up. Elena moved just enough into view to take aim, sending several shots back in retaliation. To her shock, the three men didn’t even react. She couldn’t possibly have missed…
She cried out as hot metal sent a burning pain lancing through her upper arm, and she dropped back behind the rock again.
“Elena!” Tseng called out in alarm.
“I… I’m alright, sir,” she replied, gritting her teeth against the pain. “It’s not bad.” The bullet seemed to have gone straight through her bicep. Painful, but not life-threatening. The helicopter broke through the cloud layer, landing a short distance away. The sudden appearance of the aircraft momentarily distracted their attackers.
“Run for it!” Tseng commanded. Elena nodded and darted towards their transport, Tseng close behind her. Elena reached it safely, relief flooding her as Rude hauled open the door and waved for her to hurry aboard.
A sharp cry told her that Tseng hadn’t been quite so fortunate. As she turned back, she saw the Turk leader was down, flat on his back and in obvious pain. One of the men was standing over him, a dangerous looking gauntlet poised to strike a second blow. Tseng heaved the specimen container at her. She caught it and turned to their escape.
“G-get out of here!” she shouted, shoving the canister into Rude’s hands. What was in that box might very well hold the key to saving countless lives. They couldn’t allow it to be lost. But she couldn’t just abandon Tseng, either. That thought in mind, Elena pulled the door shut and turned around, firing at their attackers as the helicopter lifted off.
“‘Lena?!” Reno shouted over the radio… but by then it had gone dead. He’d been able to see Tseng, but not her from his position in the cockpit. He hadn’t realized until they were nearly a hundred feet up that she hadn’t climbed aboard. Leaving one Turk behind would have been bad enough… but two? And worse… it was Elena. “We gotta go back.”
Rude hurried up front, taking his seat as copilot. “We have to get out of here.”
“Rude, I’m not leavin’ them down th–”
“Elena risked her life to make sure this made it aboard,” he said nodding to the specimen container in his hands. “You want to explain to her why you decided to say ‘fuck it’ and turn around? You know how important it is.”
Reno’s expression twisted into one of fury.
“… FUCK!” he shouted, hand clenching hard around the control stick. His partner was right. But that didn’t make it any easier. Tseng looked like he’d been hurt, and he and Elena had been outnumbered three to two.
“We’ll drop it off at Healin… and then we go back for them.”
Reno hesitated a few seconds, but ultimately pointed the craft towards home.
“Those bastards fuck with either of ’em, they’re gonna pay with their lives…” he growled.
Tseng hit the ground hard. He was bleeding badly, both from the blow to the head that had first taken him down, and from the gunshot wound to the leg that had stopped him from retreating enough to return fire.
“Sir!” Elena cried out in pain as one of their attackers gripped her by the hair, dragging her along. He’d been drifting in and out of consciousness… though he couldn’t say for how long. They weren’t in the crater any longer… he knew that much. But where the men had brought them, the Turk leader hadn’t the faintest idea. The trees were strange here, and the buildings looked ancient and abandoned.
He heard a laugh from the largest of the three, as he blocked Elena’s attempts at escape, toying with her cruelly.
“Now, now… Play nice with your new toy. You wouldn’t want to break it too quickly…”
“Let go of her!” Tseng growled, and lunged forward, only to be laid out again by a sharp kick to the chest, that left him coughing violently as he sought to refill his lungs.
“Where’s Mother?” The almost innocent sounding question came from the youngest-looking of the trio, his shoulder-length, silvery hair hanging forward as he leaned over the Turk, their faces uncomfortably close. Tseng narrowed his eyes and spat at him in reply. His reward was a sharp backhand to the face.
“Loz… Why don’t you see how your new toy can bend?” the third man suggested. Tseng glared. He was the one who’d shot him… and prevented him from coming to Elena’s aid when they’d turned on her.
The man holding Elena grinned evilly and gripped her hand, bending her fingers backwards and forcing her to her knees in front of him. The young woman did her best not to cry out, but failed when the first snap echoed among the trees. At the second snap, she screamed.
“Where’s Mother?” the youngest repeated. Tseng’s eyes narrowed angrily, but he refused to speak, and the long-haired gunman guarding him kicked him in the ribs again. He fell to the ground in a heap. The one they’d called Loz released Elena’s hand and returned his grasp to her hair, jerking her head back. He lifted his free hand, and a faint aura of energy danced across the surface of his weapon… a powerful gauntlet, capable, as Tseng had discovered first-hand not long ago, of stunning an opponent with even a glancing blow.
“Where’s Mother?” the apparent leader demanded once again. Tseng’s eyes met Elena’s, and she shook her head… minutely, given that it was being held in place by the short-haired captor… but enough to tell him not to speak just for her sake. She knew as well as he did the importance of their mission. They couldn’t allow themselves to be broken.
In response to Tseng’s silence, Loz drew his fist back, and let it fly.
“STOP!” their leader suddenly demanded, and the other young man froze, less than an inch from slamming the weapon into Elena’s abdomen, a confused look on his face. The leader stood silently, and calmly walked towards them, head cocked to one side with an expression of curiosity. He reached forward and placed a hand, almost tenderly, on Elena’s stomach, simply staring at her for several long moments.
“Don’t hurt this one… either of you,” he said, suddenly smiling coldly. “They have our Mother. Now we have theirs. Maybe… they’ll want to trade.”
Tseng’s eyes widened at the implication, and he looked at Elena in shock. It couldn’t be. Judging by the look in her eyes, though… it was true. He felt a sudden shame at putting her in danger, even having not known. He had to get her out of there. Before they could change their minds.
“Play with the other one all you like,” their captor added.
The round trip had taken nearly two hours… and Reno had seethed for every second of it. He’d never been so angry. Not just at the creeps who’d attacked Elena and Tseng, but at himself as well.
Where in Ifrit’s name had those fuckers come from, anyway? He was sure he would’ve seen another aircraft… and the place was virtually inaccessible anymore from the ground. Either they were already waiting below or they’d somehow slipped past him. He hadn’t really been giving his undivided attention to his flying, if he was honest about it. He’d wanted Elena’s assignment… but Tseng had insisted on him staying aboard the copter. If they needed a quick getaway – which, in the end, they had – the Turk leader had wanted his best pilot at the controls. Particularly with the weather going south.
The result had been a bored and moderately inattentive redhead, mostly relying on the auto-pilot to circle a giant hole in the ground. If his lack of attention had gotten them captured… or worse… he’d never forgive himself. He hadn’t done something like that since his rookie days. He knew better, dammit!
By the time they returned to the crater, the storm they’d previously been keeping an eye on from a safe distance was raging full force. The helicopter fought him the whole way down until they dropped below the clouds. Under normal circumstances, he’d have backed off and waited for an opening, rather than risk being slammed into unforgiving rock by an unexpected crosswind. But these were far from normal circumstances.
Finally, though, the ground was in sight again.
“Be ready for anything, partner…” he said to Rude, who nodded, his gun already in hand. They touched down, and jumped out, eyes scanning the area around them. All was quiet… and the expected attack never came.
“Split up and search?” Rude suggested, but Reno shook his head.
“Those assholes took down Tseng like he was nothin’. I’m not riskin’ one of us getting stuck in a three on one grudge match. Stay close and watch my back. I’ll watch yours.”
They crept through the rubble-strewn crater, looking everywhere… but the only evidence they found that anyone had been there recently at all was a small pool of mostly-dried blood where Tseng had fallen. After nearly three hours, it became clear that, wherever they were, they were no longer there.
The two men returned to the helicopter, defeated, and Reno sat down on the edge of the side door, letting his head drop into his hands.
“They took them…” he whispered, shaking his head. “They took her.”
Rude rested a hand on his partner’s shoulder, squeezing gently.
“We’ll find them. We’ll get them back,” he replied.
~end chapter 2~
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