Taking Care of Reno: Nibelheim
Chapter 6: Picking Our Battles
He couldn’t stop shivering. The storm had raged all through the night, and his shelter had been meager… to put it mildly. Even now, the day was looking to be an ugly one, with overcast skies and the sun barely visible through the cloud layer. A drizzle had begun to fall shortly after Weston had set out for home again, preventing his wet clothes from even starting to dry out.
All he wanted right now was to be back in Nibelheim. He didn’t care what it took to get there… he just wanted to be safe and dry again.
With any luck, he’d make it by that afternoon… and if he was really lucky, the lab would have sent someone out to look for him by now, and he’d run into the search party as he made his way back. Hopefully, they were on chocobo-back rather than on foot. He was tired of the unending trudge over the uneven ground of the Nibel Moutains.
Thankfully, he hadn’t heard anything more from the creature that had attacked Ai. Hopefully, it had staked its territory closer to the reactor… a locale he was pointedly avoiding during the return trip, even if it would almost certainly mean adding some extra miles to the journey. He did not want to risk facing that… that thing… again. Why anyone in their right mind would ever breed something like that was beyond him. Surely it couldn’t be one of Professor Hojo’s creations. He just couldn’t imagine someone of the professor’s distinction being so careless, or even signing off on such an experiment. Perhaps one of the lab staff at Nibelheim had a side project they’d begun running without his permission.
To what end, he really couldn’t say. A living weapon, perhaps? SOLDIER, after all, was created from such experiments with mako energy… Maybe it was some non-human version of the SOLIDER project that had gotten out of control. After all, most people weren’t lining up to volunteer for genetic experiments these days. Animal specimens were far easier to procure.
He didn’t want to consider the other possibility. That the creature had been human at some point. If that were true, dear Hades, the ethics violations involved…
Weston shook his head. No… it was an animal. It had to be. No human subject would be rendered so mindlessly violent. That thing had literally ripped Ai’s head from her body! There was no way it had once been a person.
“So… you’re just s’posed to lay here?”
Tseng chuckled softly and lifted his head just enough to see his protege – presently submerged up to his neck in thick, gooey mud.
“Yes, Reno,” he replied, with a teasing note to his voice, “Much like the hot springs of Wutai, you’re just supposed to lay here.”
The redhead sighed and settled back in the muck, letting his head rest against the small pillow their attendant had placed behind it before leaving them in privacy. He was silent for a minute for two, but then he huffed in annoyance.
“I don’t get it.”
“It’s relaxing,” Tseng said, forcing down a laugh, “Or at least most people tend to think so.”
And the mud bathes at Healin Lodge were particularly relaxing, in his opinion. They seemed to be the perfect temperature and the perfect consistency. One felt almost weightless in the bathes, and the warmth that permeated the mud was just right to to relax a man. It was almost like wearing a sauna. And as tempting as it was to simply lay back and revel in it… Tseng had come here with a purpose.
“In any case,” he continued, “As it seems I have a relatively captive audience for the moment, there was something I wanted to speak to you about… and I would prefer it if you would allow me to fully explain myself before you… freak out, as you’re so fond of describing it.”
“… Uh… ‘kay?” the younger Turk replied, somewhat hesitantly. Tseng sighed slightly and resisted the urge to shake his head. It had taken all of one sentence to put his young protege on edge.
“It’s nothing bad,” he stated definitively, “I’ve simply come up with something of a solution to our current predicament. One that will allow you to learn what you need to learn without driving yourself to a near breakdown while doing so.”
Reno snorted softly. “What? You talk Hojo into clonin’ me or somethin’?” he snickered, and Tseng responded in kind.
“Not cloning,precisely… and I certainly didn’t involve Hojo… but the thought of there being two of you is not far off from what I have in mind.”
Reno lifted his head and tried to turn towards him, only to be held gently in place by the mud.
“I’m not sure I like where this is goin’, Boss…” he said, frowning.
“Just hear me out,” the senior Turk replied, “The fact of the matter is that I was far too aggressive in my initial timeline. It’s not fair to you… at all. But at the same time, we both have duties to perform that simply cannot wait for you to fully transition into your new role.” He paused for a moment, debating on how he wanted to phrase things. “That’s why I’ve decided on a two-fold approach to our problem. First and foremost, my utterly ludicrous timeline is officially scrapped. Ideally, I’dlike you up to speed before the end of the year, but I plan to be a bit less… rigid… about timing from here on out.”
“Wait… how the hell are we gonna –” the redhead began.
“The second part of my new approach,” Tseng said, neatly cutting him off, “Is to institute a new, temporary role on the team. One to take some of the burden off of you and give you the time you need.”
“… You’re… replacin’ me?” Reno asked, and the hurt in his voice was more than evident.
Tseng rolled his eyes and smiled slightly.
“That is quite literally the opposite of what I said, Reno…” he chuckled, “You’re not being replaced or demoted. You’re simply going to share the position of second in command. And I will stress, again… temporarily. Just until you can handle it on your own.”
The younger Turk was silent for almost a full minute, and Tseng simply remained so as well, giving him the time he needed to analyze this new plan and draw his own conclusions.
“It’s Remy, isn’t it?” he said at last, “You’re pulling her in to pick up the slack.”
“She does have some experience in the job, after all…” Tseng acknowledged. Reno gave a somewhat noncommittal grunt. “And she’s not ‘picking up the slack’. This is not a failure on your part. If anything, it’s the result of a failure on mine. I will not continued to watch you suffer so needlessly. Not when there is a very simple solution available.”
“… For how long?” Reno asked, not soundly especially happy.
“For as long as is necessary,” the Turk leader stated, “And keep in mind, this frees up my time, as well… which means I will have more time to dedicate to training you the way I intended to from the beginning.”
The redhead sighed. “I don’t have choice, do I?” he asked, resigned.
“Well… I suppose I could still discuss cloning options with Hojo, if you’re really so dead set against accepting help from a fellow Turk…”
Reno snorted a quiet laugh. “…’kay… ya know how I always tell ya your jokes suck?”
“Yes?” Tseng replied.
“Yeah… they still suck,” he snickered.
“Noted.” Tseng exhaled slowly, leaning his head back, and sinking deeper into the mud as he relaxed his body. “This rushed approach we find ourselves in would never have been the way I would have chosen to train you had Veld not been killed. It was supposed to be a learning experience for us both. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m somewhat bitter about having to miss out on so much of it. Having Remy fill in will be good for us both, I think.”
The redhead gave a groan of frustration and let his head rest against the pillow again, “… I guess it could be worse.”
“I’m glad you agree. Because in all honestly, while I’m not certain my backup plan would have been entirely feasible, I’m absolutely certain that I could never handle having both you and your clone to deal with. One of you is all I think anyone is capable of,” he joked.
“Tch… that one was even worse, Boss…”
“Also noted,” Tseng replied, chuckling, “Allow me to try and make up for it. I… have other news to share as well.”
“Tch… if it’s as good as the news about me gettin’ a babysitter, I’m not sure I wanna hear it.” the redhead groaned.
“Remy is not your ‘babysitter’… and I think you may actually respond somewhat positively to this news.”
“Somewhat positively?” Reno repeated, his eyebrow rising accusingly.
“Well… it’s admittedly not ideal, but I think it will ultimately be a net positive, regardless,” Tseng replied, “It seems we have a new rookie.”
“Wait… we’re gettin’ another rookie?!” the younger Turk said, forcing himself upright, “Sweet!”
Tseng shook his head. “No… we’re not getting a new rookie. We have one. As of yesterday afternoon.”
Reno looked at his mentor in utter confusion. “You… wanna run that one by me again, Boss?” he said, frowning, “How come this is the first I’m hearin’ about this? Why didn’t I get a say if there was a promotion bein’ considered.”
“Because the first I heard about it was yesterday afternoon when Heidegger informed me of it and introduced me to him,” he replied, “I was, to say the least, not especially happy.”
The redhead blinked.
“Can he do that?”
“He’s our department head. Technically, he can do whatever he likes, so long as it falls within the purview of the General Affairs department. I intend to speak to Rufus when he returns to Midgar on Monday… but I strongly suspect that Heidegger planned ahead and at the very least got the President’s blessing – if not that of the majority of the Board – on this matter before proceeding. He’s not one to make the same mistake twice, and that was where he slipped up the last time he tried something like this.”
“So… we’re just stuck with this guy? Who is he, anyway?” Reno asked.
“His name is Theo. Theo Martinez. From what I gather, his father called in a favor from his former commander, who, in turn, called in a favor from Heidegger, to fast track his recruitment and promotion.”
The redhead swore loudly under his breath.
“If it makes you feel better, I spoke to Theo… at great length… yesterday. He’s not especially pleased with the way in which he was promoted, either. He didn’t ask for favors, and was fully prepared to take his chances in the recruitment program with everyone else. It seems his father took it upon himself to make the request. But… once the deed was done, it likely would have been career suicide to turn it down and try to come by a promotion honestly,” said Tseng, “You know how vindictive Heidegger can be. If he felt his ‘generosity’ had gone unappreciated, he almost certainly would have ensured that Theo washed out of recruitment one way or another. To the boy’s credit, I think saw that coming. He seems very perceptive.”
“So we’re just gonna go along with this bullshit?”
Tseng smiled. “As I said… I think this may end up as a net positive. He’s quite green, but, in my opinion, he has potential. And he’s rather between a rock and a hard place, the same as we are. At the very least, I think we can give him a chance to show us what he can do.”
“Man, you’re a lot calmer about this than I’d be if that fat jackoff had cornered me with a new Turk he hand-picked himself…” the redhead muttered angrily.
The Turk commander snorted softly in derision. “Oh, make no mistake… I am supremely angry about this, and I do not appreciate being overruled in this fashion. At all. But sometimes we have to pick our battles.”
“… Yeah. Well, I’m not sure this is a battle I’d walk away from,” Reno ground out, “What do we even know about this guy? Can we trust him?”
Tseng glanced over at his protege. Those were the same questions he’d asked himself when he’d first learned of Theo’s promotion to the Turks, so he could hardly fault the redhead for asking them as well… but there seemed to be only one solution.
“I… think I would like you to decide that for yourself,” he said after a moment, and then smirked, “So I’m willing to grant you a temporary reprieve from your mandatory vacation. You’ll accompany back to Midgar on Monday and meet him for yourself.”
Reno snorted softly in laughter. “Ya know, Boss… most people don’t refer to bein’ told to go back to work in the middle of takin’ time off as a ‘temporary reprieve’.”
“Well, if you truly want to wait a week to meet him…”
“Tch… hell no,” Reno cut him off, pointedly rolling his eyes at the suggestion.
“Yes? Remy Byrne speaking…”
It was far too early for someone who wasn’t Tseng to be calling. In fact, that was exactly who she’d assumed it was when her PHS had rung at such an early hour on a weekend. But the caller ID displayed an unfamiliar number.
“It’s Justina Ward, from Medical,” a liltingly accented voice replied, and Remy quickly sat up in bed.
“Oh… yes, Doctor. How can I help you?” she asked, slightly confused. She wasn’t one of Ward’s regular patients, so she really had no idea why the woman would be contacting her at all, let alone at seven A.M. on a Saturday.
“Yer commander’s gone and left town fer the weekend, and told me ta contact yeh if there were any issues and I couldn’t reach him. A certain wee rookie by the name of Ryuunosuke Taiko has had bit of a nasty allergic reaction ta… well, something, from the labs, by the sound of it. He’s here with me at Midgar General,” the doctor said, “I don’t think it’s anything too serious… now that he’s being treated appropriately, at any rate… but I thought yeh might appreciate a heads up, as he’s probably going ta be sidelined fer Monday, at the very least. He’s a wee bit… ah… swollen… at the moment.”
Remy groaned faintly and swung her legs over the side of the bed, pulling herself upward and making her way towards the closet.
“I see… I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” she said.
“Entirely up to yeh… I certainly won’t stop yeh, but there’s really no need.”
The senior Turk bit back a yawn as she pulled a fresh uniform from her wardrobe.
“No, I think I should. Tseng would, were he available,” Remy replied, and then paused for a moment. “Doctor… Kai was bitten yesterday, as well. Should I be concerned about her, too?”
“I’ve already checked in on her. She wasn’t showing any signs of a reaction when I treated her yesterday, but better safe than sorry. She’s fine,” Dr. Ward assured her, “Young Ryuunoskue just seems ta be more sensitive ta whatever it was that bit him.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll see you shortly.” She ended the call and set her clothes on the bed before heading for the bathroom to do something with her hair before going out in public.
When she’d agreed to being put into a command role, it had somehow slipped her mind that command duties didn’t necessarily end when the work day did. Her unexpected wake up call had caught her entirely by surprise. It was something she was going to have to file away in her memory… because this almost certainly wouldn’t be the last time something like this came up.
As she brushed her bed-tangled hair into some semblance of her usual neat and orderly style, she wondered where Tseng had gone. Obviously leaving Midgar had been somewhat last minute, as he hadn’t mentioned anything to her at all… but had taken the time to inform the doctor. Though… she supposed that sort of made sense, given that he was aware that at least one of his Turks had been injured and treated by said doctor that very same day.
Junon was, perhaps, the most likely option. If Viridia had unexpectedly found some free time for him this weekend, the Turk commander wasn’t likely to ignore the opportunity. On the other hand… it was at least as likely that he’d gone to check on Reno up at Healin Lodge. Either way, it seemed that she was responsible for anything that came up here in Midgar over the weekend.
And she found that she was actually quite pleased by that.
Rufus was in no hurry to rouse himself from bed that morning. In fact, had it not been for the last minute trip he’d planned to Healin Lodge, he wouldn’t have bothered for at least another hour. But the sun was up, and so must he be… at least, if he wanted to reach his intended destination in time to partake of the resort’s cuisine at lunch time. He tried to roll over in bed and was suddenly reminded that he wasn’t alone as arms sleepily encircled him.
Ah… yes. Perhaps they’d gone just a bit too hard on the wine.
Not that he was inclined to complain, though sleeping with his alleged security escort hadn’t been entirely intentional when he’d started drinking last night. It had just seemed like… the natural progression of the evening. Up until then, they’d been holding off on taking things that far. But between the alcohol and seeing Petra looking so utterly ravishing in the moonlight, Rufus hadn’t been able to resist making the suggestion that they adjourn to his room in the town’s inn for the night. Petra had enthusiastically agreed, and… well, here they were.
On second thought… Mideel had perfectly serviceable restaurants. They could dine at Healin this evening.
“Honestly, Ryunosuuke…” Remy sighed folding her arms over her chest as she stood over the young Wutaiian’s hospital bed. “Why didn’t you go down to Medical right away?”
Dr. Ward was right. The rookie was certainly quite swollen. Most of his lower arm had ballooned to almost twice it’s normal size. The young man looked up at her rather sheepishly.
“I… didn’t think it was that serious at the time, ma’am,” he said, awkwardly. The senior Turk frowned and turned to the doctor.
“Will he need to be on medical restriction by Monday?” she asked.
“Ah, well… that’ll depend on how he responds ta the steroids they’ve given him,” the Mideelian physician answered. “The good new is that it doesn’t seem ta be getting any worse, at this point, now that he’s getting proper treatment. The bad news is that is doesn’t seem ta be getting any better yet, either. We’ll just have ta wait and see, I’m afraid. He could be perfectly fine and back ta normal by this evening… or he could still be out of sorts come Monday. I have no way ta say fer sure yet, and probably won’t until we start seeing some actual improvement.”
Remy nodded and turned her gaze back on Ryu.
“Would you like me to inform your family? They live in the city, correct?”
The young rookie shrank uncomfortably into the bed linens, frowning.
“… To be honest, I’d rather prefer you didn’t, ma’am,” he said, his face taking on a decidedly red hue. “They can be a bit… overprotective. If my mother finds out, I’ll almost certainly return home to find that she’s moved into my apartment to care for me for the foreseeable future. And Father will probably be trying to forcibly move me back in with them.”
The senior Turk had to quickly clamp down on a laugh, but somehow managed to keep a straight face.
“Alright,” she said, “If that’s what you want.”
Reno was well aware that he’d spend the last nearly forty minutes in abject silence. He was also well aware that Tseng was aware of it, too… though the Turk leader had yet to break in upon said silence. In all likelihood, he was waiting for his protege to take the first steps on his own, rather than forcing the issue.
He wasn’t ready to do so yet, however. Their conversation had tapered off back at the mud baths and the silence had continued through the rest of their scheduled time in said baths, and then through twenty minutes and counting of a deep tissue massage once they’d finished there. In spite of Tseng’s reassurances, the redhead couldn’t help but feel… inadequate.
Logically, he knew Tseng was doing the right thing, bringing Remy in to back him up. And he knew that he should be grateful that Remy was willing to step in to help. But having to admit defeat like this left him with a decidedly bitter taste in his mouth. He’d wanted to do this on his own… or… at least as much on his own as was possible, given that “this” was learning how to take over for Tseng from Tseng. Knowing that his mentor was, essentially, outfitting him with training wheels was not only demoralizing… it was embarrassing.
And yet, at the same time, he was pretty sure that, without some kind of help, he was royally fucked. A week long vacation, though welcome, was not going to fix the underlying issue. He just didn’t want to admit it. Not to himself, and definitely not to Tseng.
Though, as far as that went, he didn’t really have to admit anything. Tseng already knew. That was the whole reason this was happening, after all. He knew that Reno couldn’t do it. At least not the way they’d been blindly plodding along for the last couple of months. It wasn’t a matter of trying harder or doing better… the whole approach just wasn’t working. So… the only logical thing to do was to make a change.
Reno fucking hated change.
He closed his eyes as his masseuse finally managed to release the particularly tense knot that had formed in between his shoulder blades, and gave a faint whimper as he felt himself relax… physically, if not mentally.
He was just going to have to face facts. He was going to be sharing his new title with Remy. For awhile, at any rate.
And not all change was bad… After all, they were getting a new rookie. Or… had already gotten a new rookie, to be precise. That was always cool. Even if he did still have his doubts about this mysterious “Theo” that Heidegger had so unceremoniously dumped in their laps. Short of being a spy for their illustrious department head, or completely incompetent, having a new rookie to look after was definitely a good thing. Especially now that he’d actually get to look after the rookies again. With Remy taking on some of his workload, he’d have more time for them.
So… maybethis would work out alright in the end.
It was unusual that Rude made his way into the office on a weekend. Well… on his own, at any rate. It wasn’t at all uncommon for the team to be called in unexpectedly on their days off. But he’d found that he just couldn’t enjoy the down time today. The prospect of finally getting his hands on Istev was too much to just put on the back burner until Monday.
So it was that the intelligence specialist found himself sequestered in his office, reading through all of the information he’d collected on his target to date while he waited for her informant to get back to him. Istev’s file had grown thick over the past two and a half years. Every sighting, every mention… every rumor that Rude had heard had been meticulously documented. He was going to find him, even if it took him a lifetime.
With luck, however, the necessary timeline wouldn’t be anywhere near that long. If this panned out, he might well have his vengeance – and several fallen Turks would finally have their justice – in a matter of days.
Supposedly, he was in Gongaga. If not in the town itself, then at least in the general area. Possibly working a contract of some sort…
Since Fuhito’s death, his little mercenary group had gone their separate ways. The ones not eventually picked up by the Turks, at any rate. Those that remained free were all minor players, though. Guns for hire following orders, far from being the brains of the operation. No… Istev was the only real target still unaccounted for on their list.
But even Istev seemed to have largely gotten out of the business. Rude suspected that it was, at least in part, due to the fact that he knew he had a bullseye painted on his back thanks to the bombing at Junon. Sightings were few and far between. He’d gone to ground in the aftermath of the bombing, and only seemed to pop his head up when he ran low on funds. That there were rumblings of his movements now likely meant that he was desperate for cash and needed to take on a job or two. If he missed Istev again… it could be a year or more before he had another chance.
Rude didn’t want to miss him again.
~end chapter 6~
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