Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 61: Following a Lead

“We were already leaning toward the idea that they’ve infiltrated the city. Between my informants, and Shay and Reno’s investigation yesterday, we’re all but certain now.”

The screen at the far end of the conference room displayed a series of photos that Reno easily recognized as the ones he and Shay had been forced to swim through a river of filth to obtain. He shuddered slightly at the memory.

“The arrows mark a path leading from the Sector 3 station all the way to the Sector 7 reactor. We believe that’s one of their targets, if not their primary target. Intel says the group is small… six to eight people max. They probably don’t have the manpower to hit more than one or two targets at once if they’re haulin’ explosives through the sewers. I think the the Number 7 Reactor is what they’re aiming at… and I think that Number 3 may be a backup in case they’re cut off from it. Possibly even a secondary target once they’ve successfully destroyed the first.”

“Why Number 3?” Luca asked.

“Gotta admit it’s just an educated guess. But unless they hit ’em at the same time as seven, six and eight are out. There’ll be too much mako contamination in the area to get anywhere near ’em and hope to get out of it alive. Plus, three is on the opposite side of the city… Every resource we’ve got will be focused on seven, and then Number 3 blows? It’d be a nightmare,” Tres answered.

“Are you any closer to locating them?” Veld asked, grimly, from the head of the conference table, and Tres shook his head.

“No. Wherever they’ve gone to ground, they haven’t made so much as a peep since they got here.”

“What about identities?” Tseng pressed the other Turk.

“Fuhito is the only name we’ve identified in connection… and even there, we still don’t know who he is. Can’t even confirm he’s in the city. He might be… or he might be callin’ the shots from somewhere else. Only thing I do know is that he is the one callin’ the shots, ‘least in the field.”

“Alright,” Veld said. “From here on out, we’re working around the clock. Plan on being either here or on the streets until this situation is dealt with.”

---

Working around the clock, as it turned out, was a whole lot less interesting than it sounded, at least for the rookies. All except for Reno, who was informed, as he was making his way out of the briefing room, that he had a ‘special’ assignment. Tseng had dutifully walked him up to the training hall… and left him with Rufus with instructions to continue his self-defense lessons.

“Heh… What? You missed me so much ya had to go ‘n beg Tseng for more trainin’?” Reno asked, as he sauntered up to the young executive. Rufus snorted in contempt, arms folded over his chest.

“Though, I’m sure, coming from that cesspool down below, you’re intimately acquainted with such techniques, I do not beg for anything,” he retorted.

“Tch… Lose the attitude already, will ya, sir?” Reno shot back, “You asked Tseng for me, remember?”

Rufus glowered at him, but after a moment, his posture relaxed slightly.

“… Fine. Shall we begin?”

The redhead snickered quietly. “Man… if I’da known it was that easy to get you to stop being such an asshole I’da said somethin’ a long time ago.”

The vice president sniffed haughtily, but instead of the expected comeback, or admonishment for Reno to ‘remember his place’, he strode towards the younger man.

“I… appreciate… you not mentioning the incident that occurred earlier in my training to Tseng,” he said somewhat awkwardly.

Reno smirked. “You mean shootin’ me? That ‘incident’?”

“Yes… that incident,” the Shinra heir responded through his teeth, “I suspect others would not have quite been so amenable to silence. And quite possibly far more inclined towards blackmail. I’m… grateful.”

“You’re welcome,” the redhead said, in as smug a tone as he dared use, given Rufus’ rank. That seemed to be as close to a thank you as he was going to get. He could live with that. “So… the boss kinda sprung this on me outta nowhere this mornin’, so I didn’t exactly have have time to plan anything. You got any particular place you wanna start today?”

“A return to the firing range, I think,” Rufus replied. “I took the liberty of commissioning a slightly more appropriate weapon for myself since the last time. Now would be an excellent opportunity to see if it meets expectations.”

“Long as you’re not plannin’ on pointin’ it at me again, sir…”

---

Friday morning dragged into the afternoon and afternoon dragged into evening. Normally, by now, Tseng would have been at home, sitting comfortably in his favorite chair with a cup of tea, watching the evening news before dinner. Tonight, he should have been doing so with Mayu… but his duties came first. She had been disappointed when he’d called to let her know… but understanding. At least he’d had some quality time with her, even if he was missing out on her last few days in the city.

Plus, he still had her starting school at the university next fall to look forward to. He’d missed her greatly since becoming a Turk, and Wutai seemed very far away at times. It would be… nice.

A knock on his office door pulled him from his musings.

“Yes?” he called out. The door swung inward and Reno poked his head inside.

“Hey… just wanted to let you know I’m done with Rufus for the day ‘n we both survived it,” he said, “I’m heading downstairs to get somethin’ to eat. You wanna come?”

Tseng raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You’ve been with Rufus all day?” he queried. The redhead shrugged.

“Eh… we got into a rhythm. Think he was actually enjoyin’ it by the end.”

“And you’re certain he’s still alive?” the Wutaiian Turk teased gently. Reno snorted softly in laughter.

“Yeah… he’s still alive. I swear…”

Tseng shook his head slightly and got to his feet. Dinner did sound good right about now. Even dinner from the Shinra Cafeteria. He hadn’t realized it until the interruption, but he was famished. And upon noticing that,he also realized that he’d somehow managed to forget to eat lunch. Which certainly explained the hunger. Reno grinned as he followed him to the elevator.

“Why in Leviathan’s name are you in such a good mood?” Tseng asked, somewhat suspiciously. They were essentially trapped here, forbidden to return to their personal lives, until the present situation was resolved, one way or another. No one was overly thrilled by the idea. It was merely something they accepted as necessary. Reno, though, seemed downright giddy at the moment.

“No reason…” he replied, just a little too innocently.

“Hmm…”

“What?” the rookie asked.

“You’re up to something.”

“Who… me?” he snickered, still grinning.

The elevator delivered them to the thirty-fifth floor, and the pair stepped out into the hallway, making their way towards the cafeteria. Tseng froze momentarily as a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“For the love of Da Chou, please tell me that you and Rufus haven’t teamed up to inflict some Leviathan-forsaken prank war upon the rest of the company…”

“Tch… would you just relax?” Reno laughed. He, too, paused for a moment, however, obviously thinking it over. “Might have ta maybe bring that up to him some time, though…”

“Reno…”

The rookie rolled his eyes as he resumed his path towards their destination. “Seriously. Relax. You’ll like this.”

The Turk lieutenant was still wary, though, as his ward led him through the doors to the cafeteria. He was half expecting Sato to leap out at him with one of his dubious homemade bombs. Probably to ‘relieve the tension of a stressful day’, as he occasionally put it. Sato’s idea of relaxation had a tendency to veer toward unhinged.

“Tseng!” a familiar voice called out to him, and it took him less than a second to locate its source… especially as Mayu was waving enthusiastically at him from one of the tables. He glanced over at the redhead, questioningly, who simply shrugged again.

“What? Figured since she doesn’t have the security clearance for headquarters, I’d just have ta drag your ass down here instead.”

By then, Mayu was gleefully bounding toward the pair, and Tseng soon found himself caught up in a tight hug.

“Hurry up… I brought take-out,” she said as she pulled away, smiling. “I’ve heard enough stories about this place from you over the years to know not to eat anything they serve… and Reno confirmed them all.”

“Hmph… not that the slum rat minds eating the garbage they churn out of that sad excuse for a kitchen.” Tseng turned to find that Rufus had, at some point, walked in behind them. The vice president regarded him for a moment and then shook his head. “Well? I expect a proper introduction, Tseng.”

Tseng chuckled faintly.

“Of course, sir,” he replied. “Mayu, allow me to introduce you to Rufus Shinra, vice president of the company. I’m afraid he was out of the city during your previous visit. Otherwise, you would have met sooner. Sir… my younger sister, Mayu.”

Rufus gave a somewhat formal smile and nodded towards her. “A pleasure.”

“Oh, so you’re Rufus…” Mayu giggled. “I’ve heard all about you…”

Tseng sharply cleared his throat and shot his sister a look that very plainly screamed ‘shut up’ in the most polite manner possible. She only laughed, and took Rufus by the elbow, guiding him over to the table.

“You’ll join us, of course, won’t you? There’s plenty. I just assumed everyone would be down here at some point, so there’s enough to feed every Turk in the building.”

The Shinra heir seemed slightly taken aback by the young woman’s forwardness, but obligingly let her lead him off. Reno turned to Tseng.

“Heh… Mayu heard any stories about Rufus I haven’t?”

“Only the most benign of encounters that wouldn’t compromise him in any way. And even were that not the case, just what makes you think I’d repeat them for your benefit?”

“I didn’t… Figured if she had somethin’ juicy, I’d ask her, not you,” the redhead replied with a smirk, before hurrying off to join the impromptu party. Tseng snorted quietly in laughter and shook his head. Given the chance, Reno and Mayu would probably end up being very good friends. The two of them shared the same rather adventurous spirit. Which, he mused, likely meant that he’d have to keep an eye on them once Mayu moved to Midgar on a more permanent basis. Otherwise, Leviathan only knew what sort of mischief the redhead would get her into… or vice versa. Mayu wasn’t afraid of anything… and Reno was willing to try anything. At last he made his way across the room and took a seat beside his sister.

---

The following morning, Reno was awakened by insistent knocking at the door of his temporary quarters in the Turk offices.

“Whaddya want?” he muttered in bleary irriation, yawning as he opened the door to his room in response.

“Tch… Wake the hell up, rookie,” Tres replied, “We got work to do. You’re with me this mornin’.”

“… Huh?” the redhead managed, blinking in surprise. It was barely six. He wasn’t even on duty yet.

“Get up, get dressed, get your ass in gear,” the senior Turk said. “I need ya.”

“Y-yeah, ‘kay… gimme a sec,” Reno managed through another yawn. He rubbed his eyes, and slipped back into his room, groping in the shadows for his clothes and weapon as he tried to force himself into some semblance of wakefulness. The entire team had crammed themselves into headquarters’ sleeping quarters for the night. As he dressed, he wondered what the hell was going on. Had something happened overnight? It must have if he was being dragged out of bed so early.

A minute or two later, he was standing in the hallway, hoping that someone had the coffee going already.

“Come on, kid… I wanna get down there early. We’ll find ya some caffeine on the way.”

The next thing he knew, he was following Tres towards the elevators. It took him until they hit the sub-basement before he realized that it was just Tres. No one else seemed to be joining them.

“… Where is everybody?” he asked.

“Hmph… Still asleep, for the most part. Tseng and Veld are on the track in the gym. Saw Remy in her office.”

Reno blinked. “So why the hell are we awake?”

“You’re really not worth a damn thing ’til you get some coffee in you, are ya?” he snorted with an undisguised chuckle. “I got a tip from one of my watchers. I’m checkin’ it out, ‘n you’re comin’ with me.”

“Uh… not that I’m objectin’ or anything, but why me?” the rookie asked, surprised, “You usually take Rude with ya for stuff like that.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened in the sub basement. It took the redhead far longer than it should have to figure out where they were headed, but he finally did when Tres marched him towards the doors that lead out into the Sector 0 train station.

“For one… Tseng’s been complainin’ to me that it’s somethin’ you should be doin’ more of. For another, I take Rude with me when I know he’ll be more of an asset than a liability, or when I’m teachin’ him somethin’,” Tres replied. “Today, though, I need someone who knows the slums as well as I do, and that’s you. And it also doesn’t hurt that you don’t turn six shades of red whenever someone so much as mentions the Honeybee.”

“So we’re hittin’ up Wall Market, then?”

Tres grunted in the affirmative. “Word is one of our targets couldn’t keep it in his pants last night ‘n paid the rent girls a visit. We’re gonna go see if any of ’em remember him sayin’ anything useful.”

There weren’t many people in the underground station so early in the morning, but it was far from empty. The two Turks made their way through the small crowd disembarking from a recently arrived train and took a seat inside. Tres sprawled out on one of the long benches, his hands behind his neck propping up his head as he regarded the rookie.

“So…” he began as their transport started to move, “Speakin’ of Rude… while I got your full ‘n undivided attention, I assume you heard about him gettin’ dumped.”

“… Uh… yeah. You could definitely say I heard. I… was kinda the whole reason it happened, apparently,” the redhead confessed. He still felt awful about that, even though his friend didn’t seem to harbor any ill-will towards him for it. Tres’ eyebrows rose in interest.

“How the fuck’d you manage that?”

Reno shook his head. “She didn’t like me,” he replied. “Like really didn’t like me. Rude said that when I called him to… uh… get me out of some trouble one night –”

Tres snorted in amusement. “You got picked up by the cops again, didn’t ya?”

“– she basically told him that if he went to get me, he could go right ahead ‘n lose her number,” the rookie continued, ignoring the inquiry.

“Tch… Goddamn kids,” Tres muttered. “So Rude picked you over his girl, huh?”

“Yeah… the idiot,” Reno replied, smiling faintly.

“Hmph… Ya ask me, that was the smartest move he coulda made,” Tres retorted. “You’re gonna be worth a lot more to him in the long run than some controllin’ little piece of ass. Assumin’ I don’t strangle him before he finally gets the hell over her. Son of a bitch can’t tell if he’s comin’ or goin’ half the time.”

“There a reason you’re tellin’ me this?” Reno asked, somewhat suspiciously. Tres wasn’t usually quite so… forthcoming… when it came to gossip. He collected it like there was no tomorrow, and hoarded it away like gold until it was at its most valuable. If he was giving it up this freely, there was either something in it for him, or he wanted a favor.

“He’s too distracted lately. The kid needs to quit wallowin’ and remember there’s more than one place he could be gettin’ his dick wet.”

“Heh… Hope you’re not askin’ me to volunteer. I’m not into guys, and I’m pretty sure Rude ain’t either…” Reno snickered.

Tres rolled his eyes and sat up. “Just do us all a favor ‘n get the guy laid, will ya? I know you got plenty of hookups. Hook him the hell up with one of ’em.”

“Yeah, sure, I could probably find someone for him, but… what if he’s not interested?”

He had a feeling Rude wouldn’t be. He wasn’t really the kind of guy that did shit like that… plus, as much trouble as he had talking to women?

“‘Least give him the opportunity,” said Tres, “Desperate times ‘n shit, ya know? Kid can’t be thinkin’ about his ex all the time when we’re sittin’ on the brink of war. It’s gonna get him killed, and I want that shit nipped in the bud before it gets to be an issue.” Reno barked a laugh, causing Tres to raise an eyebrow. “You think I’m fuckin’ around?”

“Nah… it’s just bizarre as fuck that you’re basically tellin’ me that Rude livin’ through this war is dependent on me gettin’ him a date.”

Tres sniggered and shook his head. “Alright… maybe I’m bein’ a little over dramatic. But don’t try ‘n tell me you haven’t noticed how withdrawn he’s been since she dumped his ass. He needs this.”

“Yeah, okay… I’ll see what I can do,” Reno replied as the train glided into the next station. Tres did have a point. Rude may have been shy, but he wasn’t a goddamn monk. Maybe getting with someone new would help him put Margaret behind him. It was worth a shot, anyway… and if he wasn’t into it, he could always turn the offer down. Besides which… it was kind of the least he could do after being the one who fucked things up between them in the first place.

Two more stops and they’d be in Sector 5. From there, they’d hop the train to Wall Market… which left the redhead with about thirty minutes or so to spend considering who to try and set his best friend up with, before he had to switch over to work mode.

~end chapter 61~