Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 26: Silence is Seldom Golden

When Tseng arrived at the police station the following morning, he was taken to a small cell in the back of the station. Inside was a very unhappy redhead, who, if his expression was anything to go by, was not at all pleased with having to spend the night in jail. The Wutaiian smiled coolly as an officer unlocked the door.

“That wasn’t funny,” Reno grumbled as they made their way out of the building and over to Tseng’s waiting car.

“It wasn’t meant to be. Get in.”

Reno grudgingly did as he was told, angrily slamming the door and fastening his seatbelt. He folded his arms over his chest and stared straight ahead, glaring at nothing in particular. Were it not for the serious nature of the conversation he wanted to have with the teenager, Tseng would have laughed. He’d never actually seen Reno pout before.

“Would you care to explain yourself?” he ventured, as he started the engine and headed for home. They had just enough time for the rookie to shower, change, and get something to eat. They would have to skip their morning run, of course… but he could make that up in the training hall. Reno remained motionless and stubbornly silent. Tseng shook his head and turned the corner. “The silent treatment doesn’t work on me, Reno. I grew up with six siblings. I am a master of the art of vindictive silence.”

The younger Turk still didn’t answer.

“Have it your way.” Two could play at that game, and the redhead was going to learn firsthand why his elder brothers had never bullied him as a child. Neither of them spoke for the remainder of the drive home.

Neither of them spoke the entire ride to the office, either.

---

“Hey…” Reno said, somewhat awkwardly once he found Rude in the lounge a short while later. Tseng had spent the entire drive ignoring the fact that the redhead was ignoring him and they’d unceremoniously parted ways in the hallway. He wasn’t quite sure what the senior Turk was playing at, but he didn’t really care. By the end of the day, Tseng would be driving himself nuts trying to get Reno to talk to him. Suitable punishment for forcing him to spend the night in jail.

“Morning,” Rude replied.

“So, uh… ’bout last night. Sorry for ditchin’ ya like that,” he offered, sheepishly. “I kinda hooked up with this girl, and…”

“I know. It turns out I was talking to the friend she came with. We… went looking for you guys.” Rude smirked. “Found you, too… Didn’t want to interrupt. I gave Margaret a ride home.”

Reno grinned lewdly. “Oh, yeah?” he pressed, “Your home, or hers?”

“Hers. I dropped her off.”

The redhead’s eyes widened, and he groaned. “Wait… seriously? You come to her rescue and still somehow manage to not get laid?”

“…” Rude flushed slightly and shook his head. Reno sighed and planted himself next to his friend on the couch.

“Well, did you at least get her number?” he asked, hopefully.

“… We’re… going to a movie this weekend,” he said, quietly, “… and I said I’d make her dinner after.”

Reno broke into a wide grin. “Now that’s more like it! Let me know how it goes, man…”

“…” Rude smiled somewhat shyly.

“Heh… Wish my night had ended so well. I kinda didn’t get home ’til about one. Tseng was pissed.”

“… How pissed?”

“Uh… Pissed enough to pretend he didn’t know me and let a cop haul me off for breakin’ and enterin’ when I tried to sneak in without him knowin’?” he snickered. “Spent the whole fuckin’ night in a jail cell, so… that was fun.”

Rude snickered and shook his head.

“Gonna get him back, though. I’m not speakin’ to him. We’ll just see how long it takes him to crack.”

The other rookie’s eyebrow arched skeptically. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“Tch… What? Why not?”

“Because…” Rude replied with a snort, “Tseng’s been a Turk for years. And he’s been dealing with Sato for at least four of them. You really think the silent treatment’s gonna phase him?”

Reno gave him a confident smirk and stood up.

“Don’t underestimate my ability to drive someone nuts, pal,” he laughed, “Bet he won’t even make it to lunchtime. Anyway… mornin’ meeting starts in five. Ready?”

---

By lunchtime, it was Reno who was driving himself nuts… not Tseng. Definitely not Tseng. The Turk lieutenant had apparently spread the word, and now no one was speaking to the redhead… except for Rude, who had remained stubbornly loyal to his friend. It had been torture.

“Okay… how ’bout this. Shay’s s’posed to run us both through the gauntlet again this afternoon. I’m complete shit at it anyway, so you know I’m gonna take a few hits. I’ll just exaggerate how bad it hurts, get myself carted off to medical, and Tseng’ll have to break down and say somethin’ when he comes to check on me… Right?”

Rude looked at him skeptically.

“… You usually see Dr. Ward, don’t you?” he asked.

“Yeah. So?”

The other rookie shrugged. “I sure as hell wouldn’t want her to catch me faking an injury.”

Reno groaned and his shoulders sank in defeat.

“Ya got a point there. Not sure what she’d do to me, but it’d probably be a lot worst than Tseng not talkin’ to me all day,” he said with a sigh, “Okay… so I won’t fake an injury.”

“Are you really going to intentionally hurt yourself for attention?” Rude snickered.

“… Yeah, okay. When you put it that way, it does sound a little extreme. Ugh… This sucks. Ya know, that smug bastard actually told me I couldn’t beat him? Ya know… before he stopped tellin’ me anything…”

Rude laughed and shook his head.

“Do yourself a favor. Call it off, swallow your pride, and apologize. All things considered, Tseng went pretty easy on you for breaking curfew. And then trying to trick him into thinking you didn’t.”

The redhead sighed and leaned back in his chair, poking at the remains of his lunch.

“… I know.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I just… He’s always a step ahead of me, ya know? It makes me feel like a kid.”

Rude raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, shut up,” Reno added. “I know… up here, I am still a kid. Does he really have to rub it in, though?! I’ve been takin’ care of myself for years. Hell, I’ll be seventeen in a month. I don’t fuckin’ need a… a guardian… to tell me when I screw up! It’s… frustratin’ sometimes, ya know?”

“Hmph.”

“And just what’s that s’posed to mean?”

“Ever wonder how frustrating it is for Tseng?” Rude asked. “No one forced himto recruit you, you know. He wanted you. And from what I hear, it took a lot to convince Veld to let him have you. He knows how different things are up here, compared to how your life used to be… and I think he probably cuts you a lot more slack than you realize because of it… but there have to be limits to that, too. He can’t just let you run wild.” He smirked slightly, chuckling to himself. “And you know you would if he did let you.”

Reno glared at him.

“… Quit makin’ me feel bad. You’re ruinin’ my lunch.” He picked up a pork chop by the bone and bit into it angrily. A moment later he deflated. “I’ve already lost, haven’t I?”

Rude nodded in agreement.

“… And I’m only prolongin’ my misery if I keep tryin’ to beat him, aren’t I?”

“Yep.”

“I’m gonna end up apologizin’, too, huh?”

“Most likely,” his fellow Turk agreed. The redhead rolled his eyes.

“Aw, stop lookin’ all smug ‘n shit about it.”

The other rookie chuckled, but said nothing farther, and both of the turned their attention back on their food. A moment later Rude glanced up at him again.

“So… ready for your evaluation this afternoon.”

Reno’s hand froze midway to his mouth. An evaluation? No one had mentioned an evaluation to him.

“… What evaluation?” he asked, cautiously. Rude grinned.

“The one Tseng asked me to tell you about once we were about halfway through lunch,” he chuckled. The rookie’s eyes narrowed.

“You fuckin’ traitor…”

Rude only laughed.

---

At one fifteen in the afternoon, Reno reported to the forty-eighth floor. The familiar bustle of the General Affairs department greeted him, as did a familiar face.

“Reno! Hi!” Izzy called out from across the foyer. He grinned as she made her way over to him, carefully balancing a stack of files in her hands. It had been awhile since he’d run into her. She smiled seductively. “I don’t suppose you’re here for a late lunch by any chance.”

The redhead’s grin widened, but he shook his head.

“Sorry. I’m s’posed to be meetin’ Tseng here for some kinda eval. But… uh… if you’re free tonight I wouldn’t turn down a little company…”

Izzy giggled and nodded. “Call me later,” she said, eagerly, and turned back to the sea of clerical workers to deliver her files to whatever destination she’d had in mind before her unexpected detour.

“And just what makes you think you’re going to be in any condition to go out tonight?” a voice behind him asked, causing him to jump, startled.

“God-fucking-dammit, Tseng! Don’t do that!” he swore, spinning to face him. The Turk lieutenant smirked.

“I take it, then, that you’ve decided to give up this immature attempt at punishing me for punishing you and resume speaking to me?”

The redhead glowered for a moment, but at last sighed. “Yes…”

Tseng calmly raised an eyebrow.

“… And I’m sorry I missed curfew,” Reno replied at the silent demand.

“And?” Tseng queried, waiting patiently.

“And I’m sorry I tried to sneak back in after I missed curfew.”

“… And?”

Reno rolled his eyes. “And I’m sorry for actin’ like a spoiled brat, okay?”

“You’re forgiven,” Tseng stated, with a faint smile. “Now, that that’s settled… I hope you’re prepared for your evaluation.”

The redhead looked at his mentor incredulously. “How the fuck am I s’posed to be prepared? Rude just told me about the damn thing twenty minutes ago. I don’t even know what’s bein’ evaluated!”

Tseng chuckled and motioned for him to follow. He lead Reno down a hallway, away from the busy secretarial pool, to a much quieter area. The two Turks stepped into a room at the end of the hall. Veld was waiting for them.

“Welcome to the strategy eval,” the Turk leader stated calmly, “Get in the closet.”

“… Huh?”

“Your goal is twofold,” Tseng explained. “First… to extricate yourself from a locked room. In this case, that closet over there.”

“… ‘kay,” the redhead replied, shrugging. He wasn’t quite sure what that had to do with ‘strategy’… but it didn’t exactly sound hard. He’d been working on lockpicking skills for weeks now. Kai said he was a natural. Tseng seemed to pick up on his complacence and smirked.

“Above this floor is the Soldier training center… which, as I’m sure you’ve surmised is rather high security, as it is also storage for any number of weapons, materia spheres, and classified technology. The second part of your goal is to reach Room 4922. Undetected. It, incidentally, will also be locked, and Soldier’s security patrols know you’re coming.”

Reno glanced around the room for a moment. There wasn’t much too it. It seemed to be nothing more than an unoccupied office. Not a whole lot to work with… but then, not much to impede him, either.

“Tch… That all? I thought this was gonna be somethin’ hard,” the rookie replied with a grin.

“Failure will result in immediate dismissal from the Turks,” Veld added, and the smug look immediately fell from the redhead’s face. It was quickly replaced by an expression of utter horror. The Turk leader laughed and turned to Tseng. “Is he always this gullible?”

Tseng seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh at his rookie’s expense. The redhead glared.

“For Shiva’s sake, sir… don’t fuck with me like that!”

“You have forty minutes. Get in the closet,” Veld replied, ignoring the complaint. The rookie obligingly slipped past the two men and stepped through the door… which was rather firmly shut behind him. A loud click announced that he was locked in.

“Good luck, Reno,” Tseng called from beyond Reno’s little prison.

Their footsteps retreated from the room, and he could hear muffled conversation as they departed.

Just before they were gone, he heard Veld’s voice say softly, “A hundred gil says he doesn’t make it past the elevators.”

Reno couldn’t hear whether or not Tseng accepted the bet. He smirked to himself. If he hadn’t he was going to wish he had… because the redhead planned on not only making it into that room, but doing so well before time was up. And the best part was, he already knew exactly how he was going to do it.

He shoved a large box of computer paper up against the back wall of the closet and climbed on top of it. It gave him just enough extra height that he could reach the small air vent on the wall. It was going to be a tight squeeze… but he was practically built for shit like this. Within moments, he had the cover unlatched and was hoisting himself into the narrow space. Hinged at the top, the vent slammed shut behind him. Unless someone actually thought to check it, they wouldn’t even know how he’d gotten free.

The rookie inched his way along the air shaft. It was slow going at first, but he soon fell into a rhythm, and started making better progress. Eventually, he reached a junction that fed into a vertical shaft.

“… Oh, this is gonna suck,” he sighed, peering downwards into darkness. If he fucked up, that was gonna be one long fall. Steeling himself, he slid into the shaft, bracing himself with his knees and shoulders until he was certain he was secure. And then he started to climb.

It was slow and painful, and by the time he reached the forty-ninth floor his muscles were burning from the effort. He hauled himself into the next horizontal tunnel, and simply lay there, panting harshly, for a few moments, trying to catch his breath. And then, he started forward again… inch by inch, foot by foot… until he reached a vent.

Reno looked out through the narrow slots in the cover, watching as two men walked by. One of Soldier’s patrols, he assumed. He stayed perfectly still, hardly daring to breathe, lest they hear him. When they were gone, he moved on to the next vent. Across the hall, he spotted Room 4918… then 4920… and at long last, 4922. He sighed in relief. He was almost there.

It took him a few minutes, and a wrong turn or two in the maze-like ventilation system, but soon, he was sliding out into another closet. He cautiously opened the door and looked around the room.

This was no office. This was a secure storage locker. It had to be. Weapons of all sorts were locked in large, imposing-looking cages. Guns, tasers, swords… you name it. And not just your average, generic military issue weapons, either. One of the blades was so massively broad, he never would have thought anyone was strong enough to wield the damned thing. It had to weight a ton.

And then he spotted something else. Something that just about every kid, whether they were from the Slums or the Plate would have recognized.

It was even bigger in person than it looked on TV. Longer than he was tall, with a simple hilt that belied the strength and skill it must have taken to use.

The Masamune.

The sword that belonged to Shinra’s legendary Soldier, Sephiroth. What was it doing here? Did that mean that Sephiroth was here, somewhere in the Shinra Building, too? He supposed it did… After all, this was Soldier’s headquarters. For some reason, it had never once occurred to him that Sephiroth trained alongside all of the other Soldiers, just a few floors below the Turks’ own offices. He had to admit… he was slightly awed by the revelation.

Reno shook his head, and forced himself to tear his gain away from the impressive blade. He was under a time limit. Though… now that he was here, he wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do. Obviously, Veld and Tseng were somewhere nearby, though where, he had no idea. Finally, he shrugged and opened the door leading into the hallway, and leaned lazily up against the doorframe, waiting for them to show up. It didn’t take long.

“That’s not possible,” Veld stated, as he and Tseng rounded a corner, marching straight up to the redhead. He shook his head in disbelief. “Twenty-three minutes is not possible. The record is thirty-two!”

Reno grinned widely. “Guess there’s a new record.”

Veld shook his head.

“You’re going to do it again. Tseng, reset for another attempt. And tell Soldier to step up their patrols.”

“Hey! Come on… Why do I gotta do it again?!”

“Sir… just because he achieved an exceptionally high score doesn’t mean the initial results were invalid.”

Reno frowned as he read between the lines on that statement. Veld thought he’d cheated somehow.

“Tch… Fine. I’m no cheat. You want me to do it again? I’ll do it again. And I’ll do it even faster this time,” the redhead growled, storming off toward the elevator.

---

Fifteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, the rookie calmly emerged from the secure room on the forty-ninth floor for the second time. It hadn’t been easy… and he’d given himself a pretty nasty cut on his right arm when he’d run into a sharp edge he hadn’t noticed the first time around… but he’d done it.

Veld just stared at him in thinly veiled shock when he and Tseng came out of hiding. He shook his head.

“If I hadn’t seen it myself, I never would have believed it.”

“So’s that mean I pass?” Reno asked, still slightly miffed at being accused of cheating earlier. Veld chuckled.

“Given that you just turned the old record on its head… I’d say so. Well done, Reno…” He shook his head again and started back toward the elevators, only to be blocked by a slightly irritated Wutaiian.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, sir?”

The Turk leader paused, and a moment later turned back to the rookie.

“I’m sincerely sorry for implying that you didn’t come by your score honestly,” Veld said, and then sighed. “No one is ever going to beat your record. Not by a long shot…”

With that, he started towards the elevator again.

“Ahem… ?” Tseng interrupted again. He smirked and held out a hand, palm up, in expectation. Veld grumbled as he thrust a hand into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He forked over two fifty gil notes, and left the two men behind. Reno grinned widely.

“Heh… So’s this mean dinner’s on you tonight?”

Tseng raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Reno… Barring the times when you head off on your own, dinner is always on me.” He laughed softly, and tucked his winnings into a pocket. “Besides which… I thought you were planning on seeing that young lady from downstairs tonight.”

“… Pay for my date?” the redhead teased. “Only seems fair. I did all the work, after all.”

Tseng chuckled and guided his rookie back towards the elevators.

“Alright… Fair enough,” he replied. “But for now, let’s head downstairs and have Justinia take a look at that cut on your arm, shall we? And then you can explain to me how in Leviathan’s name you managed to pull that off.”

~end chapter 26~