Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 51: Paranoia

Reno spent much of his Sunday as far from the Shinra Building as he could get… which, for him, meant all the way down in Wall Market with Lira. He hadn’t mentioned anything about his… encounter… the previous night, but she had very quickly realized something was up. He’d told her about finding Savoy’s body instead and how stupid he’d felt for how he’d reacted to it… which, to be fair, was still weighing on him. He dragged out his visit as long as he possibly could.

But eventually, he had to return to his little room in Turk headquarters.

He’d made a point of switching rooms first thing that morning. No way in hell was he gonna be in the exact same place if Hojo decided to come back. He’d also barricaded the door this time… just in case. Even so, Reno had a feeling he was in for another sleepless night.

He’d thought about calling Tseng… and just as quickly dismissed the idea. He wasn’t a fucking child. At some point he needed to stop relying on his mentor for every little thing.

Even if he was scared out of his mind and didn’t entirely know why. It wasn’t as if Hojo was much of a physical threat, after all. But just seeing the odd scientist there, in the darkness… watching him sleep. What the hell had that even been about? And what might he have done to the rookie if he weren’t such a light sleeper? What the fuck did he even want from him?

Given the short conversation they’d had outside the lab, he could venture a guess… and he hoped it was just a guess, because the thought of Hojo coming into his room in the middle of the night to… harvest… him for some weird breeding experiment creeped him out beyond words.

Reno laid down in bed, fingers slipping beneath his pillow to check that his gun was still where he’d hidden it. He wasn’t taking any chances. He glanced at his EMR on the bedside table, and then shut off the light. The redhead laid awake for what felt like hours, but eventually, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

---

He awoke with a start as someone pounded loudly on the door of his room, and sat up, immediately going for his EMR.

“Reno?” a muffled voice called from outside, and the rookie relaxed, recognizing it.

“… Yeah, yeah… hang on. I’m comin’…” he groaned, crawling out of bed. He shoved the chair that was blocking the door out of the way and unlocked it, allowing Rude inside. The older rookie eyed him, strangely for a moment.

“… You… planning on coming to work today?” his friend asked. The redhead blinked.

“Huh?”

“It’s Monday.”

Reno rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“What fuckin’ time is it?” he asked. The adrenaline surge had apparently worn off, and sleepiness was rapidly creeping back in. It felt like the middle of the goddamn night. What the hell was Rude doing here?

“Almost time for the morning briefing…” he replied, “You might want to put some clothes on.”

“Wait… what?!” he sputtered, suddenly awake again. He fumbled for his PHS, looking at the clock, and realized, with a groan, that he’d been so preoccupied with making sure that Hojo wasn’t going to come barging in last night that he’d completely forgotten to set his alarm. “FUCK!”

The redhead scrambled to find a clean uniform amongst his haphazardly unpacked possessions. Rude merely stood in the doorway, watching his frantic companion in amusement. Reno grabbed a pair of pants from a pile of fabric on the floor and raised them to his face, sniffing the garment. He shrugged… He’d already worn them at least once, but they weren’t too bad.

Rude snickered and shook his head, watching him hop around on one foot as he pulled them on.

“Is this how you always get dressed in the morning?” he teased, and Reno paused just long enough to glower at him.

“Tch… if ya mean do I have some asshole standin’ in the door, watchin’ me flail around mostly naked… then, no. This isn’t how I usually get dressed.”

“What in Hades’ name is going on in here?” a new voice asked, and a moment later Kai peeked around Rude’s larger frame trying to see what all the commotion was. She laughed at the sight. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m tryin’ to get ready for work! You fuckers ever hear of somethin’ called privacy?”

“Oh, please,” Kai snorted, “As if dancing around naked in front of half the office was a problem for you.”

The redhead grabbed a pair of his underwear from the floor and slingshotted it at the senior Turk, hitting her in the face. Kai squealed in disgust and flung them back at him.

“Okay, that’s just gross, Reno…” she muttered, and retreated back into the hallway. A second later, he heard her storm off towards the conference room.

At last, he managed to make himself some semblance of presentable, and hurriedly rushed out of his room, following Rude to their meeting. He hid a yawn as he slid into his seat just as Veld and Tseng walked into the room.

“Just some quick updates, and then I’ll let you all get to work,” said Veld. “First and foremost, the bonds stolen by Mr. Savoy have been recovered, thanks to Luca’s interrogation of the suspect… who, of course, was tracked down by Tseng and Reno. Excellent work all around.”

He paused just long enough to allow brief congratulations to filter through the ranks, before continuing.

“Second… Remy reports that the implementation of the Junon branch is proceeding on schedule. And to that end, Tseng and I have narrowed our choices of new rookies down to four. Final evaluations will be taking place this week, and we will be welcoming our two new recruits next Monday.”

“Finally,” Kai said in a dramatic tone, “You two were taking forever to make a decision.”

“Ah, shut it, Kai,” Tres snickered, “You just want someone new to run through the gauntlet. What’s the matter? Bored with your ‘baby Turklings’ already?”

The diminutive Turk grinned. “They’re getting too good at it. Reno doesn’t even scream when he gets hit in the shooting gallery anymore.”

“I never ‘screamed’,” the redhead shot back, glaring. Okay… so maybe he’d screamed. Once or twice. Those stupid little rubber balls fucking hurt, though…

“At any rate,” Veld cut in, “New personnel incoming, next Monday. I suggest you prepare your training schedules accordingly. Shay, Tseng and I would like you to assist in materia training.”

The younger Turk blinked in surprise. “Me? You want me to help train? Not just… fill in for whoever’s in the field like I usually do.”

“We both agree it’s about time you did. And you are relatively comfortable with materia. The only Turk more familiar with it is Remy, and she will be busy in Junon for the foreseeable future. And as Reno and Rude are both somewhat overdue to start that particular training as well, it’s going to be difficult to handle on my own,” Tseng explained.

“O-oh… Yes, sir!” Shay replied, grinning.

“Four rookies using materia? Should I put in the maintenance requests preemptively?” Luca chuckled from the opposite side of the table.

“I would,” Tres said, “Might wanna alert Medical, too, while you’re at it. Remember the last time we handed a rookie a materia sphere?”

“What? My eyebrows did eventually grow back, Tres..,” Shay good-naturedly responded.

“Aaron’s didn’t,” Tres sniggered. That comment brought a round of laughter from the other senior Turks in the room, and Shay blushed slightly.

“Enough. You all have assignments to work on. Get to it,” Veld said, shaking his head and chuckling. There was a shuffling of chairs as those in the meeting got up to leave. Reno yawned slightly and stood up as well. “Reno… a moment, please?”

The redhead shrugged and gave Rude a wave as the other rookie followed Tres out the door. Veld and Tseng remained behind.

“Would you care to explain why you look like you rolled out of bed and directly into this meeting this morning?” the Turk leader asked once the others had filtered out. Reno internally groaned. He should have known they’d have noticed.

“‘Cause I kinda did…” he admitted. Veld frowned and glanced over at his second in command.

“Reno… Living at headquarters temporarily is not a free pass to be lazy. Just because you don’t have to be up in time to make the trip in from one of the outer sectors doesn’t mean rousing yourself nearly half an hour after you were supposed to have been on duty is acceptable,” Tseng said in a scolding tone.

“I know,” the redhead replied, defensively, “It wasn’t on purpose! I just… didn’t exactly get much sleep this weekend.” He sighed. “… Someone was here. Saturday night… It kinda freaked me out.”

Veld’s eyes narrowed. “There was a security breach? Who?” he demanded, “And why didn’t you report it?”

Reno swallowed somewhat nervously. He hadn’t even considered that… Crap.

“I-I… It was Professor Hojo,” he stammered, “I… He… He’s got executive level clearance… Right?”

Tseng and Veld looked at one another with a shared expression of confusion.

“I think you had better start from the beginning,” Tseng said, in a less antagonistic voice. The redhead took a somewhat calming breath before beginning to explain.

“So… I spent some time at Rude’s place on Saturday… and then I came back to the office, same as I’d been doin’ all week. Went to bed, everything was fine. Then about one or two in the mornin’ I woke up ‘n… I wasn’t alone. So I grabbed my EMR and took a swing at whoever the fuck was standin’ over me. They took off runnin’ for the elevators, but not before I got a halfway decent look at ’em in the light from the mag-rod’s pulse. It was definitely Hojo. I… didn’t sleep so great last night, wonderin’ if he was gonna make it a regular thing.”

“Have Tres review the security footage from early Sunday morning,” Veld said, looking over at Tseng. “Confirm that it was indeed Hojo and have him make me a copy. Clearance or not, I won’t have that slimy little bastard prowling around my offices, harassing my Turks after hours.”

“Yes, sir,” Tseng replied.

“And you…” he said, turning his attention back on the rookie, “The next time you or any other Turk is threatened in our own offices, I expect to hear about it immediately, clearance be damned.”

“Y-yes, sir…” the rookie managed. Veld gave them a curt nod and strode out.

“And I expect to hear about it even before Veld,” Tseng added when he was gone. “Why in Leviathan’s name didn’t you call me?”

The redhead let his gaze drop. “Well… ’cause. I shouldn’t have to come runnin’ to you for every little thing. I mean… I’ve been a Turk for almost a year now. I should be able to handle shit on my own. Remy said I’m way behind even the new rookies we’re gettin’… ‘n she’s right.”

“I will be the judge of that, not Remy,” Tseng replied, sternly, “But more importantly, regardless of your progress, you’re still a rookie. That makes you my responsibility. In more ways then one, given that you’re also still a minor. I appreciate that you want to take on more accountability for yourself, and I’m glad that you do… but you don’t have to do everything on your own. Nor would I want you to. Not now, and not when you’re a fully fledged Turk. We rely on one another. Always. Is that clear?”

“… Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now let’s go and see Tres about that camera footage.”

---

“Oh… this is goin’ in my archive,” Tres snickered loudly as he replayed the recording of Reno – completely naked and looking thoroughly deranged after having been so rudely awakened – chasing after Hojo in the darkened hallways of the Turks’ headquarters. The redhead scowled at him.

“Hey, you’d be running after the son of a bitch, too, if you’d been in my place,” he muttered.

“Yeah… but I wouldn’t be doin’ it with my dick hangin’ out. Seriously kid… it’s too fuckin’ cold this time of year to sleep nude.”

“Tres… please forgo the commentary and just make a copy for me,” Tseng sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah… Already doin’ it.” A moment later, the drive ejected a freshly burned disc. Tres handed it to the Turk lieutenant. “Tell Veld to keep that nutcase outta here, will ya? I definitelydon’t wanna wake up with the fucker standin’ over me some night.”

“Duly noted,” Tseng replied, and turned to leave. Reno moved to follow him, only to be held back by the senior Turk.

“Hey… If ya need a place to crash for awhile…”

The rookie shook his head. “Nah… I’ll manage.”

“Tch… That’s the point, kid,” Tres said with a roll of his eyes. “You don’t have to ‘manage’ anymore. This ain’t the slums, and you ain’t on your own. Trust me… I know it goes against just about every instinct you got after livin’ down in Two your whole damn life. Took me awhile to get used to the idea, too… but if ya need somethin’, ask for it. It’s what we’re here for.”

“Yeah. I will,” the redhead replied. Tres snorted a faint laugh.

“No you won’t. You’re a stubborn little shit,” he snickered. “If you weren’t, you’d’ve been sleepin’ at Tseng’s place last night instead of sittin’ up, starin’ at the door in case Hojo came back.”

“… You… uh… heard about that,too?” the redhead hesitantly queried. The fact that Hojo had been in the office was bound to spread through the ranks fairly quickly… but he’d kind of hoped that no one else would find out about his paranoia-filled night.

“Hearin’ things is my business, kid. Plus your pal Rude was eavsedroppin’ on you ‘n the boss. He was worried about ya. Said he’d’ve offered to let ya stay with him if he didn’t think it might get him kicked out, too, if the landlord found out,” Tres said with a grin, “Now get outta here… you got shit to do. And when Tseng offers you a room… which you know he’s gonna, ’cause he’s Tseng… take him the fuck up on it, already.”

“Yeah, okay… I’ll think about it,” Reno said, waving him off as he turned and walked through the door. He spotted Rude waiting for him just across the hall and smirked. “Rattin’ me out to your mentor, huh? I oughta tell Tseng about your little habit of listenin’ in on other people’s conversations.”

Rude shrugged. “He can’t really complain. That’s what I’m being trained for,” the bald rookie snickered. Reno laughed and fell into step next to him, heading for the elevators.

“Appreciate the concern,” he said, “but I’ll be fine. Hell, Tseng’ll probably order me back into his guest room after this.”

“Is that what it’d take?” Rude asked, seriously. Reno shook his head.

“… No,” he sighed. “Not really. I kinda wanted to do shit for myself, but… maybe there’s times I should just shut up and let people help me out. Plus I really don’t wanna spend another night here.”

Rude snorted in soft laughter and ushered his friend into the elevator.

---

The remainder of the day went by much too quickly. Reno had found himself paired up with Shay for much of the afternoon, making the rounds at the Mako reactor security offices. He’d gotten to meet several of the reactor foremen, and the senior Turk had explained that, while the Turks weren’t directly responsible for reactor security, Veld insisted that they maintain a good relationship with the staff… just in case they needed their help. The reactors were the lifeblood of Midgar… Having an in with the people who ran them was always a good thing.

They’d even very briefly stopped at the Sector Six reactor, though they had only lingered long enough to introduce themselves to the new foreman. Bastion Meheara was gruff, short-tempered, and seemed to exist in a state of constant irritation… but he had grudgingly showed the Turks around the construction site for a few minutes. Number Six was still in the process of being rebuilt after it’s catastrophic failure nearly a year ago. It would probably be at least another year before it was running at full capacity again, but apparently they had high hopes that it would be able to manage a partial output by the coming summer.

For Reno, it had brought back memories of his first real loss as a Turk. It was hard to believe that Aaron had been gone almost as long as the rookie had been a Turk. He’d hardly even gotten to know him, and one of his biggest regrets was that he’d missed out on that opportunity… because Aaron had seemed like a really great guy. He hoped he never had to go through something like that again… though he wasn’t naïve enough to believe it couldn’t happen a second time. Or a third.

By the time they made it back to headquarters, it was growing dark. As they pulled into the parking deck, Reno could see that most of the vehicles belonging to his fellow Turks had disappeared. Tres was still there… as was Tseng. That was it. Shay parked his car and stretched as he climbed out.

“Man, am I ever beat. Running all over town all day is a real pain,” he said.

“I dunno… I kinda enjoyed it,” Reno replied. “Got to see some shit I’ve never seen before.”

Shay grinned. “Well, to be fair, that’s most of the planet…”

“Tch… and I s’pose you’ve seen it all?”

“Not all… but a lot. My parents liked to travel when I was a kid, so I got dragged to all kinds of places. They still do, actually. I think they’re in Wutai at the moment.”

“You think they’re in Wutai? You don’t actually know?” the redhead queried, following the other Turk to the elevators and stepping aboard. Shay shrugged.

“Well… they tend to do a lot of things very spur of the moment. They’ll just decide they want to go somewhere, and then pack up and leave the next day. They left for Wutai right after New Years. As far as I know,they’re still there, but they could just as easily have decided to pay a visit to Mideel while they’re down south. Or they might’ve hopped a flight up to Cosmo Canyon, or a boat to Cactus Island. You never know with them. I’m sure I’ll get another postcard in a week or two. It’s just something my brother and I have gotten used to over the years. Of course, Estefan is just as bad as Mum and Dad. Can’t stand to stay in one place for more than two seconds. He’s skiing at Icicle Inn right now and then he’s heading off to some island in the northern sea.”

“Heh… I’m not sure if that’s awesome or completely nuts,” Reno chuckled. They elevator dropped them off on their floor and Shay headed off towards his office… but paused for a moment. He grinned again, wider this time.

“Personally… I think it’s completely nuts,” he laughed. “Don’t worry about the reactor reports. I’m on it. See ya tomorrow, Reno.”

The redhead waved and made his way back towards the sleeping quarters. To his surprise, Tseng hadn’t ordered him back into his guest room before he’d left with Shay. He actually hadn’t even offered, and the rookie wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. After all, he was the one who’d said he wanted to look after himself. Still… even though he knew he was welcome, it would have made him feel better to hear it again.

He sighed softly as he rounded the corner… and very nearly walked right into Tseng himself. Reno came to an abrupt halt and glared at his mentor.

“Goddammit, Tseng… I’m puttin’ a fuckin’ bell on you if you keep this shit up.”

The Turk lieutenant only chuckled and held out a large duffle bag to the redhead.

“Come on… it’s getting late. I’ve already packed up your things. Let’s go home.”

Reno snorted and grabbed the bag.

“Not givin’ me a choice?” he asked.

“Oh… you have a choice,” Tseng replied, starting off in the direction his rookie had just come from, “I’m merely betting on you being intelligent enough to come with me rather than spend another night here.”

“Tch… You ever get tired of bein’ right?” he muttered, shouldering the bag and falling into step beside the senior Turk.

“I haven’t yet,” Tseng said, smiling.

“So… you ‘n Veld find out what Hojo was actually doin’ here the other night?”

“He claimed to have been tracking an escaped specimen. Frankly, I have my doubts… but as we have no reliable way to disprove his story, there’s very little more we can do. Certainly, we have nothing to take to Heidegger for a formal complaint.”

They stepped back aboard the elevator and Tseng pressed the button for the parking deck. Reno leaned back against the wall of the car.

“So… nothin’ happens.”

Tseng smirked slightly. “Oh… I didn’t say that,” he intoned, “Neither Veld nor myself are overly pleased with the idea of Hojo – or anyone else, for that matter – being able to simply intrude upon Turks attempting to get some rest after a long day. To that end, we’re going to be making some security upgrades of our own. We can’t bar him from our offices, as he technically has clearance to enter… but the sleeping quarters are another matter entirely.”

“Good,” Reno replied, “‘Cause I don’t think I’d ever feel safe sleepin’ here again knowing he could. The fuck do you think he was really after, anyway?”

The Turk lieutenant shook his head. “Judging by the interest he showed in you last week, my guess would be a sample of some kind or another. If you weren’t willing to provide one, I suspect he intended to simply take it… though I doubt he expected you to be so easily roused. Veld has assured me that you will not be placed on any of his security details alone in the future… just in case he’s foolish enough to make another attempt. It’s likely something more interesting will cross his path eventually, anyway… but I prefer not to take the chance.”

“Tch… Me neither.”

The elevator dropped them off, and minutes later, they were bound for home.

~end chapter 51~