Taking Care of Reno: Meteorfall
Chapter 9: I’m On a Boat!
Tseng pressed the button to call the elevator, and stood, unusually impatient, waiting for it to arrive. He’d left Viridia’s quarters much sooner than he would have liked, but later than he’d intended. Fortunately for him, Reno wasn’t an early riser himself. If he was very, very quiet, he could slip into bed before anyone realized that he’d been gone all night.
Not that his relationship with the security chief had ever been even remotely secret… but they had a six to eight hour boat ride ahead of them, and he really didn’t want to spend the entire time listening to Reno’s less-than-subtle commentary on the subject. And there would be plenty of it, he was sure. For some reason, the redhead had always been intensely amused by the fact that his mentor was neither a virgin nor a monk. The elevator chimed and he sagged in relief as the doors opened.
It was a short-lived relief.
“Mornin’ boss! You’re up early…” Reno commented from inside the elevator car. He wasn’t alone. Elena was with him. Tseng sighed in defeat.
“If this is going to be a team effort, can I at least have breakfast before you start?”
“Start what?” the redhead asked, his face the mask of perfect innocence. He didn’t dignify that with an answer, instead opting to simply brush past his protege and into the elevator, hitting the button for the floor for their assigned quarters.
“So… how was dinner?”
Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his lieutenant was still watching him with that obnoxiously innocent expression.
“Don’t you ever grow bored of this?”
Reno’s only reply was a wide grin. Tseng cast a pleading glance at Elena, who obligingly elbowed her boyfriend sharply in the ribs. “What?” he responded.
“You promised.”
“Aw, come on, ‘Lena…”
“Reno…” she said in a warning tone.
His shoulder’s sank, and he leaned back against the wall. “Fine…” he muttered, and Tseng’s eyebrows rose in surprise. It wasn’t like the redhead to give in so easily, and he wondered what sort of concession she’d had to agree to in order to get him to make such a promise. Whatever it had been, he was grateful. It was much too early to put up with Reno’s sense of humor. Though before he could really relax, he noticed that his youngest Turk was biting down firmly on her lower lip in an attempt to keep a straight face.
“So… how was dinner?” Elena asked, perfectly echoing Reno’s earlier inflection, and doing her best to mirror the expression that belied the innuendo… before failing spectacularly and breaking down into a fit of nervous giggles. His lieutenant, meanwhile, simply looked on with pride.
Tseng groaned. It was going to be a long boat ride.
Rude yawned and rolled over in bed. He’d never much liked the administrative guest quarters… though that was more because it usually meant sharing space with Reno, than anything else. The redhead was a night owl. And not exactly a sound sleeper when he did finally go to bed. He knew his friend didn’t mean to do it, but it wasn’t unusual for him to be jarred awake by Reno’s nighttime restlessness.
Though this time, he mused, he’d slept like a log. Reno had abandoned his own bed and curled up with Elena… and it seemed to calm him rather drastically.
He yawned again and glanced at the clock, noting the time… It was still pretty early. His gaze drifted towards Tseng’s bed, and he wasn’t exactly surprised to see it empty. He really hadn’t thought the Wutaiian Turk would be back from his ‘dinner’ with Lieutenant Commander Nacelle until closer to sunrise anyway. Reno’s bed was likewise empty… not that he’d actually believed the redhead would have left his girlfriend’s embrace last night for much of anything that wasn’t a matter of life or death.
When his eyes drifted toward Elena’s bed, however, he suddenly found himself confused, and sat up, staring. It, too was empty… though obviously slept in. Where the hell had those two taken off to now?
His first thought was that Reno had managed to talk Elena into a brief rendezvous somewhere with a little more privacy.
His second, and slightly more upsetting, thought was that Reno’s nightmares had gotten the better of him and he’d made himself scarce to avoid disturbing everyone else. It wouldn’t have been the first time. If Elena had woken up and found him missing, she almost certainly would have gone off in search of him.
Rude sighed and clambered out of bed, stretching stiff muscles as he did so. He wasn’t getting back to sleep now… no matter how blissfully quiet and peaceful the room was without his temporary roommates.
The truth was that he’d been worried sick about the redhead ever since Elena had told him how badly he was handling things. Reno was his best friend and his brother. Seeing him in any kind of pain hurt… but in the past, that had been tempered by the simple fact that when Reno really needed someone to talk to, he’d always come to him first. It eased some of Rude’s worry, hearing what was on the man’s mind from him directly. Now, though, Reno turned to Elena… and as much as he hated to admit it, Rude couldn’t help feeling just a little jealous.
And that just made him feel like a giant hypocrite, because Elena made Reno so very happy. Rude had wanted that for him from the moment he’d first started to notice what was growing between the two of them. He still did. It was just a lot harder than he’d expected to let go of that part of his relationship with his friend and allow someone else to take over.
Logically, he knew Elena wasn’t trying to shoulder him out of the redhead’s life. And he knew that Reno wasn’t intentionally spending less and less time with him lately in favor of her. But he was also well aware… from personal experience… that new relationships tended to put blinders on a person. On top of that, Reno was currently dealing with some things that left him feeling very raw and vulnerable at times. Now wasn’t exactly the best time for a heart to heart with his friend about his own insecurities. Besides which, they were in the middle of a mission…
Though if he didn’t say something soon, he worried that those minor pangs of jealousy that had been gnawing at him might grow into something harder to ignore. And he didn’t want that to happen.
Rude crossed the room, with a brief glance out onto the balcony just in case they were closer than he thought, and peered out into the hallway. All was quiet… though the narrow slot of light at the bottom of the door to Rufus’ quarters told him that the President was likely awake as well. Apparently everyone had decided to get up before him today.
He dithered for a moment, trying to decide on a course of action. If Reno were really that upset, he’d likely seek out somewhere quiet and secluded for a little while… though, unfortunately, the same was true if he’d lured Elena off for a little tryst before the entire base was up and running. His dilemma was solved for him, however, by the unexpected chime of the elevator at the far end of the hall.
“Come on, boss, we just wanna hear how your evening went… Not like we don’t know what you’ve been up to.” His eyebrows rose suggestively, and placed an arm around the Wutaiian’s shoulders.
“Reno… It’s far too early for this,” Tseng replied, pointedly removing the other Turk from his personal space and increasing his pace. “And why do you even care how Viridia and I choose to spend our time together? It’s hardly a new concept for you. I don’t question youand Elena about your off-duty activities.”
The redhead grinned, and circled him, walking backwards in front of the other man. “Only ’cause you know I’d tell ya more than you’d ever wanna hear…”
Rude rolled his eyes. He should have known… Reno seldom passed up an opportunity to call the Turk leader out on the rare occasion he actually managed to catch him doing the walk of shame the next morning. Rude stepped out of the shadows as they approached, and captured his miscreant of a partner before he could turn back around, lifting him off the ground and slinging him over his shoulder.
“H-hey!” he cried, squirming in his fellow-Turks’ iron-clad grasp. Elena snickered loudly, and Tseng gave him a grateful smile.
“Good morning, Rude. I hope our return didn’t wake you.”
“No. I’ve been up for a few minutes. Was just starting to wonder where everyone disappeared to.”
“Ah. Good. Well, since we’re all awake, perhaps now is as good a time as any to go over the details for today… as opposed to the details of last night.”
“Tch… Before breakfast?” the redhead muttered from his suspended position. Rude turned and strode back into their quarters, giving his prisoner a better view of the rest of the team for a few moments.
“You weren’t willing to afford me the luxury of eating first…” Tseng replied, with a faint smirk, drawing a loud groan from his lieutenant. He and Elena followed, closing the door behind them. “But perhaps you’re right. I certainly wouldn’t mind at least some tea before delving into things… Though if I recall correctly, the mess hall won’t be staffed for another hour or so.”
“Not like we couldn’t just pick the lock and raid the fridge…” Reno pointed out, “And will you fuckin’ put me down already!? I’m not a goddamn fashion accessory.”
Rude laughed quietly. “Think I’ll keep you out of trouble a little longer,” he replied, before glancing over at Tseng with a faint smirk. “He does have a point, though. We’re not exactly talking about breaking into Viridia’s quarters here…”
“Don’t encourage him,” Tseng said, before looking back briefly at Elena and amending, “… Them. Yes. I had sex last night. Are we all satisfied now?”
“Sounds like at least one of us is…” Reno shot back, his lewd grin mostly hidden from view by Rude’s shoulders. Rude snickered, but at the sight of Tseng’s unamused glare, quickly sobered.
“So… Who wants pancakes?” he asked, before the redhead could take things too far.
“Would you prefer to have your syrup served to you in a bowl? Perhaps with a straw? Why even bother pouring it over anything?” Rufus asked, haughtily, as the redhead was pointedly drowning a stack of pancakes in the sticky liquid. He’d caught the four of them on their way downstairs… and insisted on joining them. Reno looked up, grinning.
“Texture.”
The young president snorted softly. “What texture? They’ll disintegrate in that much liquid.”
“Not if you eat ’em fast enough…” he replied, spearing one with a fork, folding it over and shoving it into his mouth whole. Rufus turned away in disgust.
“If I’m very lucky, maybe he’ll choke to death…” the executive muttered, setting his sights on Tseng instead. “Is everything arranged for our departure?”
“Yes, sir,” the Turk leader answered, reaching for what little remained of the syrup. “The ship will be leaving the dock at seven. The crossing will take six hours at a minimum. Longer if we hit rough weather… which is a distinct possibility. They were predicting storms when I checked in with the weather station last night. I’ll request an update before we leave, but it’s unlikely much has changed.”
Elena groaned and pushed her plate away from her. “Maybe I really should skip breakfast. After the last time, just thinking about all that rocking back and forth for hours on end makes me queasy…”
“I wasn’t aware you had such a weak stomach…” Rufus commented, with an amused smirk. “Seems odd for a Turk…”
“Aw, she’ll be fine,” said Reno. “Made it through last time, no problem…” He grinned and stabbed one of the abandoned pancakes on her plate, transferring it to the puddle of syrup on his own. “‘Course she was lookin’ a little green by the end of it…”
“And you weren’t?” she shot back. The redhead just shrugged and downed his appropriated second helping.
“Hmph… Must’ve been bad if it was starting to get to Reno… Nothing makes him sick,” said Rude, who was finally sitting down to enjoy his own breakfast. He’d spent half the conversation finishing up in the kitchen and serving the rest of them.
“We should arrive in Costa del Sol early this afternoon,” Tseng continued, ignoring the commentary, “I’ve requested that the helicopter be fueled and waiting for us. From there we’ll go straight on to the Gold Saucer. You’ve arranged to meet with Dio already, I take it?”
“Yes. He’ll be expecting me this evening. Once we’ve heard what he has to say, we’ll determine our next steps.”
“You got it worked out how we’re gettin’ to the temple, too?” Reno asked, and the President nodded.
“Shinra owns a small sea plane in Rocket Town… it’s in the care of one of Palmer’s old lackeys. Not ideal, but it will get us there and back… though hopefully by the time we’re ready to leave the temple, the airship will be ready to meet us. It does have rather… limited capacity, however. Two of you will have to stay behind… Or one, if one of you is qualified to fly the damned thing.”
“Heh… Don’t look at me,” said Reno. “I’m only trained on helicopters. So’s ‘Lena… unless she’s been keepin’ secrets from me.”
Elena snickered and shook her head. “Sorry, but no.”
“Rude?” Tseng queried. “I believe I recall you having some experience in that department…”
The bald Turk shrugged. “Been awhile since I flew anything besides a copter… but yeah. I’d have to see what we’re dealing with first, but I think I could probably manage.”
Elena blinked in surprise. “I didn’t know you knew how to fly a plane…”
“Sure,” Reno cut in, swiping a second pancake from Elena’s plate, “Rude’s from Rocket Town originally… Half the damn population’s a pilot of one kind or another. Grew up flyin’ all kinds of shit.”
Rude rolled his eyes and chuckled. “I flew deliveries with my dad for a year or two until I was seventeen. This idiot’d have you believe I was one of Shinra’s test pilots before I joined the Turks…”
“So long as you can get us there, I really don’t care if you were trained on a hot air balloon,” Rufus replied.
“Alright… so assumin’ we get what we need from Dio and then assumin’ we make it to this temple in one piece… What the fuck do we do there? Sit around waitin’ for Sephiroth to show? I mean… let’s face facts here. Even four on one, the goddamned Legendary Soldier’s gonna serve us our asses on a silver platter… and probably make us eat ’em while he watches.”
“I’ve considered that,” Rufus replied, “Though I did so in significantly less uncouth terms…” He calmly wiped his mouth with his napkin. “If we manage to procure this… ‘Keystone’… we will enter the temple and attempt to obtain whatever it is Sephiroth is interested in. In all likelihood, it’s some artifact that he believes will grant him access to the Promised Land. Once it’s in our possession, we can use it to lure him into a trap that evens the odds a bit. I’ve already placed Soldier on alert. He may be legendary, but he’s hardly invincible. I’d like to see him take on the combined forces of Soldier and the Shinra army…”
“And then, sir?” Tseng asked, “Assuming that we’re successful… Do you intend to continue searching for the Promised Land?”
“I… suppose that depends largely on what we actually find at the temple,” Rufus conceded. “I’m still not entirely convinced it exists… And I’m not willing to commit resources to a wild goose chase. However… should we uncover evidence to the contrary, I may yet entertain the possibility.”
“Sir?”
“Yes, Elena?” Tseng responded.
“Just what does Sephiroth want with the Promised Land, anyway?”
“Tch… Who knows?” Reno replied for him, “Guy wasn’t exactly what ya might call ‘sane’ the last time anyone saw him… Probably nothin’ good.”
“Which raises another point,” said Tseng, “Sephiroth does have a rather… bloody… history. Secondary to killing him, I strongly recommend doing whatever we can to prevent him from reaching his goal. As Reno said… it’s unlikely anything good can come of it.”
Rufus frowned. “You’re saying we should sacrifice… destroy… the Promised Land, if it looks like Sephiroth might beat us to it.”
“If it comes to that. It’s something to consider, at least.”
“Ohhh…”
Rude placed a hand gently between the shoulder blades of the figure hunched over the bucket. The moaning didn’t seem the least bit exaggerated… and he felt decidedly sorry for his poor teammate. Tseng had been right about the weather. Things had quickly deteriorated once they’d hit the open ocean. The sky had darkened and the formerly-calm seas had become a roiling mass of waves in the blink of an eye. By now, the wind and rain were pelting the deck above them and the ship itself was rolling from side to side relentlessly.
“What an utter disgrace…” the President muttered. “I can not listen to that for the next five hours…” Another pained moan cut him off at the mention of the remaining time left on their journey, and Rufus scowled. “If you need me, I’ll be on the bridge. With Heidegger and Scarlet. At the moment, even their company seems preferable.”
“I’ll accompany you, sir. I’d rather you not be unattended…” Tseng replied from his position on one of the small cots. Rufus nodded, and strode towards the door. The Turk leader turned to Rude. “Is there anything you need before I leave?”
Rude shook his head, and tried to soothe the distressed Turk who was, by now, nearly curled into a ball beside him, retching again. “I don’t think there’s much we can do to help. Just have to wait for things to stop moving so much.”
“Now, Tseng… Before this starts to make me ill as well…” Rufus demanded. He pushed open the door and very nearly walked directly into Elena.
“E-excuse me, sir…” she stammered in surprise, as she hurried to steady the glass of water she was holding. He strode past her, wordlessly, Tseng in tow.
“We’ll be on the bridge. Try and make him comfortable…” he said, as he followed the executive.
Elena nodded and stepped back into their room, latching the door behind her. “Is it any better?”
Reno groaned again and dared to look up at her briefly. “Does it look any better?!”
“… Told you that you should’ve stopped after the fourth stack…” Rude commented, lightly rubbing his back. Elena made her way over, and swapped places with him.
“I brought you some water… You’re going to dehydrate yourself if this keeps up.”
“‘Lena… I think I may have just puked up everything I ever ate and I’ve been dry heaving for the last ten minutes because this Ifrit-forsaken boat keeps tryin’ to flip itself over. What in Ifrit’s name makes you think water’s gonna stay down right now?” he asked, panting softly for a moment, before a fresh string of violent contractions squeezed his stomach and he lurched over the bucket again. “Oh, god,” he gasped when it finally ended, “Please just make it stop…”
Elena looked over at Rude, pleadingly. “There has to be something we can do…”
“… I’ve never seen him get motion sick before… but I guess that’s what happens when you eat half your body weight in pancakes and then get on a boat. I think he’s just going to have to ride it out.”
“I’m never eatin’ again as long as I live…” Reno ground out. Rude frowned and gently pried the bucket out of his grip, replacing it with an empty one and disappearing to dispose of the other.
“Oh, Reno… It’s going to be okay. It can’t last forever.”
He whimpered softly, and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Here… try just a little sip and see what happens.” She held out the glass, and the redhead somewhat hesitantly uncurled himself, allowing her to tip a small amount of the cool liquid into his mouth. He swallowed roughly and waited for the inevitable. Much to his surprise, his body didn’t immediately reject it.
“I’m s-sorry I made fun of you for worryin’ about endin’ up like this earlier… This is fuckin’ horrible. I’ve never felt this sick in my life…” He felt his gut clench again but somehow forced the tiny bit of water to stay put, teeth gritted so hard they were beginning to ache.
“Shh… It’s alright.”
He was breathing heavily by now, very nearly hyperventilating. He suddenly shook his head. “Nope… Not stayin’ down…” he managed before retching violently again. Rude returned just as it was ending.
“Still not getting any better, I take it…”
“He’s just too far gone right now. Even water makes him sick.” Elena shook her head in dismay, and Rude sighed.
“One of the crew gave me some Dramamine… but somehow I don’t think pills will fare any better than the water. Won’t do him much good if it just comes right back up.”
“I’ll fuckin’ try it…” Reno panted, “I’ll fuckin’ try anything that might make this stop.”
“Let’s give it a few minutes. Guy that gave ’em to me said there’s a short break in the storm coming. Might have better luck when things get a little calmer.”
The next several minutes were spent futily trying to comfort the unfortunate redhead. Elena and Rude could do little more than watch. Finally, though, the rocking settled some, and so did Reno’s stomach. He gave a soft sob of relief at the temporary reprieve and let himself sink down against the cool pillow on his cot.
“Now or never,” Rude said with a shrug, and pulled the medicine pack from his pocket, popping two of the little pills out of their blister pack. Reno sat up shakily and swallowed them, before letting Elena lower him back onto the cot. He lay on his back, motionless, his energy spent. Elena rubbed his stomach, hoping it might encourage it to stay calm while the medication took effect.
She hated seeing him like this. She’d seen Reno in much worse shape before… injured, in pain… nearly dying. Even then, he’d pushed himself to keep going until he couldn’t go another inch. This, though… this had floored him completely. It was like when he’d had the chocobo pox and could barely stand without help… but much worse.
“How is it?” Rude asked, and the redhead weakly opened his eyes.
“Stayin’ down. For now. Don’t know what’s gonna happen when that storm picks up again, though.”
The bald Turk reached out and brushed the sweat-damp hair off of his forehead, and smiled slightly. “Want me to call Ward?”
“Tch… What’s she gonna do? Jump in a helicopter and fly out here to watch me puke my guts out some more?”
“Thought she might be able to threaten you into feeling better. Stop that right now, yeh little troublemaker, or no treat for yeh!” he replied, adopting a terrible imitation of the good doctor’s accent.
Reno laughed, and then immediately groaned. “I know they say laughter’s the best medicine, but… not so sure that’s helpin’ right now, pal. ‘Sides… last thing I want is more food. She can keep her damn treats.”
“Wait a moment.”
Tseng dutifully paused just before the stairwell that would lead them up to the ship’s bridge, turning to look back at Rufus.
“Sir?”
Rufus lowered his gaze, looking off to the side for a moment, and Tseng’s eyebrow rose in curiosity. The younger man looked almost… contrite… as he cleared his throat nervously.
“I… believe owe you an apology.”
The Turk leader blinked in surprise. In all the years he’d worked for Shinra… in all the years he’d known Rufus… he’d never actually heard those words from him.
“For what?”
Rufus slowly exhaled and looked up at him, though he didn’t seem able to quite meet his eyes. “For my… rather disgusting behavior yesterday. I threatened you. I shouldn’t have. And… I’m sorry for it. I know what they mean to you. You had every right to be angry.”
Tseng was silent for a moment. In all honesty, that was the last thing he’d expected from the young executive. Though he certainly wouldn’t deny that he had been furious with him at the time. He was not a man who took threats against his family lightly. Had it been anyone but Rufus…
“You’re fortunate that I know you as well as I do. Few others would have walked away after saying that to me.”
“Yes… I know.” He swallowed somewhat nervously. “… Am I forgiven?”
Tseng allowed a faint smile. “You were forgiven well before you apologized. But I do appreciate the effort.”
“You… may return to the slum rat if you would prefer. I doubt I can get myself into any trouble in the twenty or so feet between here and the bridge.”
Tseng shook his head, and ushered his charge up the staircase. In truth, he very much would have liked to have been looking after Reno. It was rare to see him in such a state, and after everything else he’d been through recently, it was killing him to have to leave him. But the redhead was in good hands… and he was needed elsewhere.
“Elena and Rude will care for him. I don’t intend to leave you on your own.”
Rufus snorted softly. “I’m quite certain I can handle Heidegger and that cow, Scarlet, on my own.”
Tseng continued prodding him up the stairs. “You seem to be forgetting, sir… it’s not only my Turks I care about.”
“H-how much longer?” Reno asked, weakly. The boat was starting to roll again, but the Dramamine seemed to have had enough time to take effect. He was no longer violently ill… but he was still decidedly queasy. Elena placed a cool, wet cloth over his eyes.
“At least three more hours…” she replied, frowning. The redhead groaned. Three more hours of this. He was never going to make it. He hadn’t been exaggerating earlier… he really couldn’t remember ever having felt so sick in his entire life. Not even the time he’d had a particularly nasty flu for nearly a week… at least that had given him a break every once in awhile. Once his stomach was empty – and so long as it stayed empty – the nausea had been more or less kept at bay. But this… this was endless torment. He may not have still been projectile vomiting, but his stomach was far from settled and it tortured him with every rock of the ship, threatening to resume his earlier misery. It was like the worst hangover he’d ever had… only without the pleasure of having been drinking heavily beforehand.
What was worse… he’d done this to himself. He couldn’t even blame it on someone or something else. Stupidity and gluttony had collided in a spectacular display of near-instant karma. He didn’t have much time to dwell on his own self-pity, however…
An alarm sounded, wrenching him from the slightly dazed stupor he’d fallen into, and he yanked the cloth away from his eyes, instinctively scanning the room. Rude and Elena looked as surprised as he was. Moments later, an announcement came over the PA system.
“Emergency alert! Reports of a suspicious character found! Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found! I repeat. Suspicious character found on board! Those not on detail, search the ship. Report when found!”
“Suspicious character?” Elena repeated.
“Avalanche maybe…” Rude offered, though he didn’t sound convinced. Reno wasn’t either.
“Or worse… maybe Sephiroth managed to slip past everyone lookin’ for him in Junon…” he said, sitting up… and immediately regretting it. He had to all but fling himself over the edge of the bed, groping for the bucket.
“Reno!” Elena grabbed him before he could hit the floor as he retched.
“Go… check it out… I’ll be… fine..” he managed between heaves. “Be careful…”
He felt a hand tenderly caress his back before the pair of them hurried into the corridor, leaving him to fend for himself.
“Do not leave the bridge, sir,” Tseng said, sternly. His gun was already drawn, and he was headed for the door, Rufus on his heels. The President halted at the command, and glared angrily, but finally nodded. Tseng couldn’t entirely blame him… he knew how much he wanted justice for his father. But putting himself in harm’s way wouldn’t help him get it. And if, as the ensign who’d reported the stowaway claimed, it was Sephiroth who’d been spotted below deck, Rufus would definitely be in harm’s way if he followed.
The Turk leader hurried down the metal staircase. The storm had picked up again and he quickly found himself growing damp before he reached the entrance the the lower deck. He flung it open and slipped inside, taking the next set of stairs two at a time.
“Sir!” a voice called out to him as he reached the bottom, and he turned, spotting Elena and Rude racing toward him.
“Have you seen anyone?” he asked. Rude shook his head in the negative.
“Just some crew members. But we haven’t covered much ground yet. Someone mentioned the engine room.”
“Then let’s –” He was suddenly slammed hard from behind, sending him to the floor. Tseng instinctively lashed out, the butt of his gun colliding with his attacker’s body. A hooded figure, dressed all in black. It yelped and landed on its back several feet away.
“Re-un-ion…” came a voice from behind them, and Tseng discovered that his assailant wasn’t alone. Several of his friends had decided to join him, each of them murmuring the same thing… almost trance-like. One of them went for Elena.
The younger Turk turned and fired, dropping her attacker to the ground… It seemed to send them into a frenzy, and before he knew it, Tseng found himself surrounded.
“Who are these guys?” Rude asked, aiming a punch at one of the figures’ throats and sending him flying into a bulkhead. He crumpled to the floor, unmoving.
“Worry about that later!” Tseng replied. He flung one man into the hostile behind him, and they landed at his feet in a tangle of robes and limbs. A sharp kick to the throat finished off one, and a bullet to the head took care of the other. And still they kept coming.
Elena cried out as one of them swung at her, leaving a row of ugly claw marks down one side of her neck. She retaliated in kind, forcing back his hood and breaking the man’s nose. A rush of blood coated her hand from the injury and he went down. Two more fell to her gun.
Rude, meanwhile, had pounded three more into submission, and had his hands on a fourth, holding him by the collar at arms-length as the man furiously tried to overpower him. Though he doubted he’d have much luck using such tactics against Rude, Tseng fired off a shot, taking him out. The body dropped with a loud thud.
“Is that all of them?” Elena asked, eyes scanning the possible points of attack, just in case there was another wave.
“I believe so…” The Wutaiian Turk knelt down beside one of them, dragging back the hood of the robe. Pale green eyes stared up at him, lifelessly… but the tell-tale glow of mako still lingered. He seized the man’s arm, roughly pushing up his sleeve. Tattooed on his wrist was the number 34.
“Sir…”
“I think we’ve just encountered a few of Hojo’s Sephiroth clones…” he said, grimly. He looked up at her, and slowly stood. “You’re injured.”
Elena shook her head. “It’s just a scratch. I’m fine.”
He nodded. “Good. Let’s make sure we’ve dealt with all them.”
The three Turks moved silently deeper into the ship, towards the engine room. What they found didn’t exactly put them at ease.
Several bodies… members of the ships crew… were scattered around the room. They spread out, checking for survivors.
“Sir!” Elena called out, “This one’s still alive!”
Tseng and Rude rushed over. The man was badly injured, and barely conscious.
“No… there’s no way… that… Not human… That thing’s not human…” he mumbled, quickly slipping into incoherency before passing out entirely. The engine room doors stood open.
“Be careful…” Tseng said, cautiously approaching the door. Without warning a figure appeared in the doorway, and the Turk leader had to physically stop Elena from firing, pulling her back with him out of sight. Rude instinctively followed suit, ducking into the shadows of some machinery.
“We need to hide. Shinra will be all over this place soon.”
Cloud Strife. So, Tseng mused, Sephiroth’s clones weren’t the only stowaways on board. The ex-Solider waved his friends forward, toward the stairs. Elena glanced back at her superior questioningly, but he shook his head. Besides being outnumbered at the moment, he was still of the opinion that Avalanche would come in handy later.
“What about Sephiroth?” asked Tifa, pausing at the bottom of the stairway.
“He’s gone… I’m not sure how I know. I can just feel it. He’s left the ship.”
Tseng’s eyes narrowed. So the real Sephiroth really had been here… How was that possible? For that matter, how had all of those clones gotten on board? The ship had supposedly been thoroughly swept before they’d left.
“Worry about that asshole later!” Barret thundered, “We gotta hide before those Turk bastards show up again.”
With that, the group hurried back to the upper decks… Midway, Aerith paused and turned back, looking towards him, and for a moment, Tseng was certain he’d been spotted. If she had seen him, however, she chose to ignore his presence, and hurried after her new friends. When they were gone, the Turks emerged from hiding.
“Search the engine room,” said Tseng, walking towards the room their former targets had so recently vacated. Rude and Elena followed… though they didn’t get far. It didn’t take a Turk to realize that a fight had recently taken place here. And in the middle of it all, was a writhing lump of flesh.
“What… is that…?” Elena asked, obvious disgust in her voice. Rude moved toward it, eying it warily.
“… It’s an arm.”
“I suppose we’ll have to have the biologics department confirm… but I certainly don’t know what else it could be…” Rufus eyed the the Turks’ prize. It sat in the center of the table in the captain’s quarters… which the president had commandeered for his own use. Every once in awhile, the severed limb would twitch. “And you’re certain Sephiroth has vanished again?”
“Tseng and Rude are still searching the ship… but Strife seemed pretty convinced.”
“That worthless bastard of a Turk,” Heidegger muttered angrily, “When we reach Costa del Sol, I’m going to have some choice words for Tseng. This is all his fault! Sephiroth… Avalanche… those fanatics Hojo calls clones… How does a security breach of that magnitude even happen?”
Elena’s eyes narrowed, but she bit her tongue. Rufus, on the other hand, had no such compulsion.
“When we reach Costa del Sol, you will do nothing more than wait for my airship!” the President said in no uncertain terms. “From this point forward and until I say otherwise, the Turks are under my direct command. If you have need of their services, you will make that request to me. Is that clear?”
“Y-yes, sir…” the large executive stammered in surprise.
“Good. Now get out.”
Heidegger backed slowly towards the door, before turning with an annoyed glare at the youngest of the Turks and removing himself from the room. Elena moved to follow.
“Not you.”
“Sir?”
Rufus shook his head, and took a seat a the small table, staring at the gory mess. “Why would Sephiroth have left behind a piece of the Jenova specimen when he went to such lengths to obtain it in the first place?”
Elena slipped into the chair opposite him, brow furrowed in thought.
“A calling card? Or a warning? Maybe it’s his way of telling us to back off. Avalanche might have just interrupted him as he was leaving it.” The limb twitched again, the fingers of the hand opening and closing in a grasping motion, and she shuddered. It was almost as if it were trying to grab her.
“Perhaps… But something about this isn’t adding up.” He scowled at the thing, and looked away from it. “No matter… Whether he knows we’re following him or not, it doesn’t change our plans. We’ll leave the arm with your fool of a department head. When the airship arrives, the science personnel on board can take a look and see if they can determine anything farther.”
“Yes, sir. Er… Is that all?” she asked, somewhat hesitantly. Rufus snorted in contempt.
“Let me guess… the slum rat is still emptying the contents of his stomach below deck and you would like to go and coddle him some more…”
“Tseng ordered me to check in on him one I gave you an update,” she replied “… If you don’t have any other assignments for me… then yes, sir. I’d like to go coddle him some more.”
When she’d gotten so comfortable around Rufus, she wasn’t quite sure… but she seemed to be picking up Reno’s habit of being far more familiar with him than protocol generally dictated. The young executive merely rolled his eyes at her response and leaned back in the chair.
“Fine. Go,” he replied, waving her off.
She nodded turned, heading towards the door.
“Wait,” Rufus called after her, and Elena glanced back. A small object sailed through the air towards her, and she reflexively caught it. She opened her hand to find a small key, and looked up, confused.
“It’s the key to the my family villa in Costa del Sol. It’s in the process of being sold, so you’ll probably have to eject a realtor or two. Your little boyfriend is utterly useless to me as he is right now. Take him there and let him sleep off the consequences of his gluttony. You can join Heidegger on the airship when it finally arrives. Perhaps between the two of you, you can prevent that idiot from doing anything stupid in my absence.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, smiling. “Thank you…”
As she stepped out into the corridor, a voice came over the intercom. “Dock workers – We will be docking in Costa del Sol in five minutes. Prepare for docking.”
Elena hurried back to where she’d left Reno.
Tseng helped one of the crewmen carry another body into the empty cargo bay that had unexpectedly become a makeshift morgue. Nine crew members dead, and two more gravely injured… along with the twelve ‘clones’ he and the other Turks had dispatched. That was a lot of bodies for so short a boat ride.
No further trace of the real Sephiroth had been found. He’d disappeared as easily as he’d come on board… and they still didn’t know how he managed that. All that marked his presence on the ship was the pile of dead, and the severed arm of the Jenova specimen. Avalanche had, likewise, made themselves relatively scarce… though Rude was subtly keeping an eye on them in case they had any interesting information to offer.
He left the cargo bay, and headed back upstairs, somewhat lost in his own thoughts. None of this should have happened. Junon security had swept the ship before it had departed… and he knew Viridia well enough to be absolutely certain that her people had been just as thorough as he would have been himself. The woman took great pride in her security being the best… She wasn’t going to be happy when word got back to her about the breach.
Beyond that, though… he had to wonder just what Sephiroth was up to. It was becoming clear that he knew they were following him, but he wasn’t going out of his way to do anything about it. And frankly, that concerned him… Were they being lured? And if so, to what purpose? Avalanche seemed to be in a similar situation. If they had really faced off against Sephiroth down in that engine room, every last one of them ought to have been lying amongst the bodies in the cargo bay. Why had he let them live?
He didn’t like the implications of any of it. It felt like he and all the rest of them were being used as pawns in whatever Sephiroth’s grand scheme was.
Though, until they knew what he proposed to use them for,there was little they could do about it.
It might, he thought, be helpful to know exactly what information Avalanche was in possession of. Rude could continue spying on them… but that wasn’t the most reliable method. What they really needed was someone who could infiltrate the group. But they’d tried that before… Several of Rude’s informants, in fact, had tried to ingratiate themselves with the group’s leaders over the past year or so, but none of them had ever gained their trust to such an extent that they could provide any useful intelligence. The group’s paranoia was what had made them so irritatingly difficult to keep tabs on.
He sighed and pushed his way out onto the deck. It might well be impossible… but he should at least mention the idea to Rufus.
“I can walk, ya know…”
“Stagger, is more like it,” Rude replied, as he carried the redhead out into the bright afternoon sunshine of the resort town. Reno was exhausted. And dehydrated. And probably more than a little hungry, even if his appetite likely wouldn’t return for awhile.
“This is stupid… I don’t need to be carried around like a fuckin’ baby…”
Rude chuckled softly at the petulant reply. “Just relax.”
Elena hurried to catch up to them. “Shouldn’t you be getting on the helicopter with Tseng? Rufus is pretty impatient to leave.”
He shook his head. “I’m not going with them. Boss wants me to tail Avalanche for awhile and see where they’re headed.”
“But… if you’re following them, who’s flying the plane to the Temple?”
“Rocket Town’s full of pilots. Won’t be hard to find someone else to do it. Tseng’s worried Sephiroth is stringing us… and Avalanche… along intentionally. Wants to know why.”
They climbed a tall flight of stone steps and Rude nodded to the door. Elena fished the key Rufus had given her out of her pocket and unlocked it.
“Wow…” Elena breathed, as they stepped inside. Warm wood paneling lined the walls, and bright sunshine shone though a large window. The room was richly decorated in an elegant, but still faintly tropical motif. “Rufus is selling this place?”
“Heh… Whatdya got in savings, ‘Lena? I’m thinkin’ the Turks need to go in together on their own vacation home…” Reno teased, some semblance of his normal sense of humor returning.
Rude shouldered open another door on the other side of the room, and carried his friend into the bedroom.
“You make one fuckin’ joke about carryin’ me into the bridal suite, I’ll kill ya…” Reno said, his fatigue apparently not great enough to dull his instincts too much. Rude had just opened his mouth to make that very comment. Instead, he smirked, and set him down on the bed.
“Get some rest,” he said, simply, turning to go. As much as he would have liked to have stayed with his friend awhile longer, he had his orders. And Reno had Elena.
“Be careful following those guys,” said Elena as he slid past her. Rude nodded.
“See you when I see you.”
With that, he left. Elena sat down on the edge of the bed, and lightly petted the redhead’s hair. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I spent the last six hours in an industrial washing machine on spin cycle,” he replied, smirking. “Ya think you could grab me somethin’ to drink? I’m dyin’ of thirst here… and I think it’ll finally stay down.”
She laughed softly and stood up. “Sure. Be right back.” Elena hurried off in search of the kitchen. Reno, meanwhile, reached for his PHS, pulling up his contacts and dialing. He frowned, listing to it ring… and ring. Finally it went through to voice mail. He sighed, defeated, and ended the call without leaving a message.
“Lira?” a gentle voice queried. Elena returned to him, a glass of water in hand. He sat up a little, and took it gratefully, downing about a quarter of it before forcing himself to slow down before his stomach decided to rebel again.
“Yeah. She… uh… didn’t pick up.” He hadn’t really expected her to. It had only been a couple of days… but he’d had to at least try. Elena leaned over and kissed him, her hand caressing his cheek as she pulled away.
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Not your fault she hates me.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you,” she replied. She smiled, a little teasingly. “How could she? You’re impossible to hate.”
“‘Lena…”
“She’s angry. And sometimes it takes time to get past anger like that… even when you love someone.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am. So for now, let’s not think about that, okay? You should finish drinking that, and then try and get a little bit of sleep before dinner.”
Reno groaned. “Fuck, ‘Lena… after what I just went through, I’m givin’ serious consideration to permanent fasting…”
Elena snickered, and shifted position so she could unlace his boots and tug them off his feet. “I give you six hours max before you’re begging for a pizza… Come on. Let’s get you comfortable.”
The redhead scoffed, but didn’t resist as she stripped him and tucked him in. She was right, anyway. As soon as he was feeling more himself, he’d be starving… even if, at this particular moment, just the thought of solid food was enough to turn his stomach. Besides… this whole being waited on hand and foot thing was something he’d really never experienced before she’d come along… and he sort of liked it. Sure, he’d had other people look after him when he was sick or injured – Tseng usually, when he was much younger, and then later, Rude – but Elena didn’t just check in on him, and make sure he had what he needed. She seemed to devote her entire being to the task of making him better.
In fact, now that he thought about it… him being sick was one of the things that had really started the process of bringing them together. He laughed quietly to himself.
“What so funny?” Elena asked, eying him. Reno grinned and shook his head dismissively.
“Nothin’ really… I was just thinkin’ about the first time you took care of me, for some reason.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh… you mean when you spent half the day faking almost being on your deathbed and ran me ragged until I got sick?”
“Heh… yeah. That.” He laughed again and laid back, hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. “I can still picture the look on your face when Tseng called me on it. I think if you hadn’t been feelin’ like crap you probably woulda legit kicked my ass. And I’da deserved it, too.” The redhead thought a moment, silent. “Ya know… I don’t think I ever actually apologized for pullin’ that shit on you.”
“I think I more than paid you back for it, though.”
“Yeah… well… I’m sorry anyway.”
He heard her giggle, and turned to see her rummaging through his travel bag. A moment later, she was tucking a familiar toy into bed with him.
“I knew you must have brought her…” she said, grinning as he hugged the little bunny. Of course he had… Mr. Foo-foo had almost always gone with him on missions. El was no different.
“Quit makin’ fun of me…”
She played with his hair for a moment, before placing a kiss on his forehead.
“I’m not. I think it’s sweet. Now get some sleep and feel better.”
It took Rude a little time to track down the members of Avalanche after dropping off Reno and Elena… but by the time he did, what he found was rather surprising. Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith had run into a familiar face on the beach.
Hojo.
Rufus had mentioned that the scientist had quit his job and disappeared right before they’d left for Junon and that they should be on the lookout for him… but Rude certainly hadn’t expected locating the man to be this easy. He pulled his PHS from his pocket and dialed Tseng.
“Problems already?” the Turk leader answered, a little hard to hear over the sound of rotor blades.
“Just that there’s only one of me. Guess who I found while I was following Avalanche.”
“I’m a little preoccupied with keeping us airborne at the moment, Rude. Perhaps you could just tell me.”
He chuckled softly at the response. “Hojo’s here working on his tan. Which target should I make a priority?”
“Does he appear to be in a hurry to leave?”
Rude smirked as he took in the sight of several scantily dressed women who seemed to have taken an interest in the man… and who quickly surrounded him again as the other group took their leave. “I’d say… no.”
“… Follow Avalanche, then. I’ll alert Reno and Elena to Hojo’s presence. Reno should be recovered enough to travel in a few hours. They can deal with finding out what Hojo is up to.”
“Understood,” Rude replied, and ended the call. He tucked his phone back into his jacket and left the scientist to his harem, heading off in the direction Avalanche had gone.
“As soon as we arrive, you are going to…”
“Oh, will you just stop talking for once in you Rumah-forsaken life,” Rufus cut in, interrupting the decidedly one-sided conversation that had been going on over the helicopter’s headsets between Tseng and Scarlet. She’d elbowed her way onto the aircraft at the last minute… In retrospect, he should have ordered Tseng to physically remove her, but he was anxious to find out what Dio knew about the Keystone… so he’d let her stay. That was proving to be a mistake. The woman had not shut up the entire hour they’d been in the air.
Thankfully, his command seemed to do the trick.
“Now… Let’s get one thing straight. You do not command my Turks. In fact, as of this afternoon, Heidegger does not command my Turks, either, so don’t bother running to him. My Turks answer to me and no one else. Is that understood?”
“Y-yes, sir,” the woman replied, clearly not having expected to be shut down so thoroughly.
“That being said, Tseng will escort you to the reactor in Gongaga. When I tell him to. This evening, however, he will be accompanying me to my meeting with Dio.”
Scarlet didn’t look overly pleased, but she nodded and settled back in her seat. If her idea hadn’t actually had some merit, he’d have told her exactly where she could shove her demands… but in point of fact, he really couldn’t argue against the idea of creating a weapon powerful enough to defeat Sephiroth. Scarlet’s research labs were looking into using a highly condensed, exceptionally powerful form of materia only recently discovered deep in the cores of a handful of reactors. She had christened the discovery with the – rather uninspired and boring, in his opinion – name, ‘Huge Materia’.
Gongaga’s reactor was… roughly… on their way to Rocket Town. She wanted to check the ruins and see if any had survived.
The reactor in Gongaga was the site of one of Shinra Company’s more spectacular failures. It was a very early reactor. Only the second one they’d ever built, in fact. And as such, the technology hadn’t been perfected quite yet… which was unfortunate for the people who’d lived nearby. The reactor had exploded… and taken a rather hefty chunk of the village – and the villagers – with it.
It was somewhat morbidly lucky for the company that Gongaga was such an unknown, backwater little hole, really. Most people had never even heard of it… which meant that mostpeople really didn’t care that half of it had been wiped out. If it had been one of their more prominent reactors, such a disaster would have collapsed any number of negotiations with other towns where Shinra had wanted to build back then. Shinra had paid the town off, but the handful of residents that remained were still openly hostile toward any Shinra personnel that paid them a visit… which was probably why Scarlet wasn’t willing to go on her own.
Rufus gazed out at the sight of the amusement park that loomed over the massive desert and frowned. When he’d been a child… eleven or twelve years old… he had begged his father to take him to the Gold Saucer. The man hadn’t even tried to find the time to do it himself. He’d sent him off with Tseng instead. It hadn’t quite been the outing he’d envisioned, though the Turk had very kindly done his best to show him a good time. Truthfully… the disappointment had ruined the trip for him entirely before they’d even left Midgar. He’d never asked again.
The helicopter began to descend toward a small landing pad and in a matter of minutes, they were standing in front of the entrance to the Gold Saucer. Scarlet stormed off, leaving the pair of them behind. He didn’t bother asking where she was going… as long as she stayed out of his hair, he couldn’t care less.
Tseng shook his head, and glanced up at the speakers that blared an obnoxiously cheerful tune across the park, a long-suffering expression on his face.
“Not a fan of the ambiance?” Rufus asked as they made their way inside.
“No, sir,” he replied, “Not especially, I’m afraid.”
“Nor am I. Let’s hope, then, that this meeting goes quickly.”
“Sir… have you given any further consideration to my concerns about Avalanche?” Tseng asked. They entered the terminal and chose the tunnel to the hotel. At the very least, they’d be spending the night. They might as well get themselves checked in.
“Ah… yes. You think we should try to place an informant in that little terrorist group.” Tseng nodded, and pushed open the door to the hotel lobby, holding it for him. “I’m not opposed. In fact… I may have a suggestion in that regard.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Once we’re settled, contact Reeve Tuesti back at headquarters. He’s been working on something of a… pet project, you could say. It might be just what you need.”
~fin~
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