Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 78: Attack on Midgar

Reno’s first thought had been to go straight to headquarters. Unfortunately, that was somewhat easier said than done at the moment. It wasn’t just his apartment building that was without power. Hell, it wasn’t even just his block. Everything as far as he could see was pitch black, illuminated only by the sliver of a moon that hung in the sky. So much for hopping the first train over to Sector 0.

He checked his phone again – still no signal – and sighed. He’d just have to do this the hard way. Tseng was gonna kill him if he ended up in jail again for this, but…

He stalked across the parking lot, pulling his gun from its holster. Rather than fire, however, he brought the grip down hard against the passenger side window of an old four door sedan and reached in to unlock the door. He climbed over the broken glass and slid behind the wheel, and then reached down, below the dash.

He’d watched Sato do this a couple of times on the rare occasions he and Saya had given him a ride home after work… The man had a habit of misplacing his keys, and Saya refused to carry a spare, hoping it would force her cousin to be more mindful. Reno had his doubts as to whether or not that would ever work, particularly when Sato could just start the damn thing any time he felt like it.

It didn’t really look that difficult.

The redhead yanked down hard on the panel below the steering wheel, popping it open and exposing the wiring in the steering column. It took a few tries – and several minutes of swearing profusely – but eventually he found the right ones, and with a spark, the engine started.

Moments later, he was on the freeway, making his way to headquarters.

---

Rude woke to the sound of loud knocking at his door, and groggily dragged himself from his bed, limping across the room. He flipped the light switch and paused in confusion when nothing happened. Was the power out? The knocking turned to pounding and he groped for his crutches before shuffling out of his bedroom, and peered through the peep hole into the darkened hallway. He couldn’t see much… but there was just enough light to recognize the silhouette that was standing outside his door. He snapped the deadbolt and opened the door.

“‘Bout goddamn time… I was ten seconds away from just pickin’ the damn lock,” Tres said, by way of greeting, “Get dressed.”

“What’s going on?” Rude asked, as he automatically obeyed his mentor’s order and redirected himself towards his closet.

“Fuck if I know… I was on my way to a late-night meeting with an informant over on this side of town and suddenly an alert comes across the radio. Then the power went out, and from what I could tell, it’s not just a sector or two. It’s the whole fuckin’ city. No way in hell it’s not related to the war. On top of that, I lost cell service around the same time as the power died. Hmph… hence the personal wake-up call. Figured since I was in the sector anyway, I’d save Veld the trouble of tryin’ to get in touch with ya and haul you into headquarters myself. Ready to go?”

By then, Rude had finished pulling on a uniform, and grabbed his gun. With a nod, he followed Tres out into the night, locking his apartment behind him.

---

He’d ditched the car on the street… not just because he’d technically stolen it, but also because it was just plain faster to hop out and go through the front door rather than trying to get through the parking deck gate – which probably wouldn’t even open with no power – and climb up three extra floors from the basement. Security had already taken up a position out front, and he had little trouble getting in there, flashing his ID card and heading for the stairs.

The lobby was bathed in an eerie orange glow from the emergency lights, so apparently the emergency generators down in the basement had kicked in. Unfortunately, that still meant that the elevators were offline. With the exception of the executive elevator – which, naturally, was reserved for executive use only and required a key card Reno didn’t possess – they only ran on main power.

And that meant a fifty-eight story climb. Biting back a resigned groan, he stepped towards stairwell.

“Reno!”

The redhead somehow miraculously managed not to immediately have a heart attack at the sudden shout, and turned around to find Veld striding purposefully towards him.

“This way,” the Turk leader declared, and motioned him towards the main security office in the first floor lobby. Reno hurried to fall into step beside him. “With the elevators out, I’ve commandeered Building Security’s facilities to use as a temporary base of operations.”

“Oh, thank Ifrit… I wasn’t lookin’ forward to makin’ that climb, sir.”

“Have you been in touch with any of the others?” he asked.

“No, sir. Tried callin’ in, but my PHS isn’t gettin’ service right now. Figured I’d be better off just comin’ straight here than wastin’ time tryin’ to get ahold of someone. What the hell’s goin’ on? I caught the tail end of an alert on TV before everything went dark… said somethin’ about an ‘unknown attack’.”

Veld escorted him into the security room, where he was a little surprised to see Tres and Rude both present, along with Saya, who was handing out radios.

“It seems the attack on the marketplace was meant to distract us from a much larger plan. According to military guardposts near the edge of the Plate, three of the reactors reported some kind of intrusion. That’s what prompted the alert you saw. A few minutes later, a series of small, targeted detonations were set off, damaging several of the city’s primary power junctions. They’re estimating that 75% of the city is without power, and the rest is extremely limited,” the Turk leader continued, before casting a glance over at Saya, “Has Sato checked in yet?”

Saya shook her head. “Radio’s bein’ a wee bit sketchy. But last transmission, he was only halfway ta the explosion site. I did hear from Luca, though… he’s on his way in. Pickin’ up Cissnei en route since she’s not far from his place. Hmph… and ta think, I always laughed at ‘im fer having that bloody CB in his car…”

Veld nodded in acknowledgment. “That still leaves Shay and Rodney unaccounted for. Alright… we’ll just have to make due. Rude, you’re on communications duty. I want you listening in on the military bands and keeping the rest of us up to date. Tres, take Reno and check on the intrusion at the Number 6 reactor.” He glanced over at Rude again. “Get Luca on the radio again and send him and Cissnei on to Number 8. Saya and I will investigate Number 4, and if Shay and Rodney ever deign to grace us with their presence before morning, have them secure Number 2… our mystery attackers seem to have a fondness for even numbers tonight.”

“Come on, kid. We ain’t got all night,” Tres said, guiding the redhead out of their temporary headquarters and out towards the street. They hopped into the senior Turk’s car, which Reno hadn’t noticed parked a short distance down the block when he’d arrived, and soon they were speeding off through the darkened city towards Sector 5.

“Tch… I was just over here a goddamn half hour ago,” Tres muttered. “I get my hands on the asshole who knocked out the cell towers, I’m makin’ the fucker pay for my gas.”

“What were you doin’ out here this time of night?” Reno asked, curious. Tres lived over in Sector 2. Sector 5 was a hell of a long ways out of his way.

“Meetin’ with an old friend from my days workin’ with Corneo. He’s… uh… found new employment topside, ya might say. But he’s just as nosy a bastard as ever. Said he had some info on where Fuhito might be operatin’ outta… for a price… so I went to talk to him.” Tres shook his head, “Then everything went to hell. Guess I’ll have to reschedule.” He paused a moment, and eyed the redhead. “How the fuck’d you get to the office so quick? Last I checked, you were still takin’ the trains.”

“… I… uh… kinda borrowed a car. Ya know… without askin’,” the redhead replied, somewhat sheepishly, “Do me a favor and don’t mention that to Tseng, huh?”

Tres snorted and shook his head in amusement. “Hell… long as you’re here ‘n ready to work…” he chuckled.

The Number 6 Reactor loomed in the distance, and Reno suddenly found himself staring over the railings of the Sector 5 freeway at the gaping maw that was once the Sector 6 Plate. Shinra hadn’t yet begun rebuilding it. All they’d done was reinforce the tiny sliver that had sheltered Wall Market from the worst of the collapse. It was as if someone had taken a slice out of a massive pizza.

The reactor, on the other hand, had been almost completely rebuilt in the year and change since the explosion. It was presently operating at about eighty percent capacity, with plans to bring it fully online by that summer, as if nothing had ever happened to it. The redhead frowned as they approached it. It had been the site of his first ‘real’ mission with Tseng… even if said mission had only been playing delivery boy. That mission had, coincidentally, also been the day he experienced his first loss as a Turk… and a tiny, nagging voice in the back of him mind kept reminding him of that. And hoping that history wouldn’t repeat itself.

---

Rude glanced up at some unexpected movement on one of the security monitors, and saw a rather frazzled looking Shay hurrying past the guards at the front door. With a soft grunt, he hauled himself out of his chair and grabbed his crutches, heading out into the lobby to cut his fellow Turk off before he reached the stairs.

“Rude!” Shay called out when he spotted him, and quickly altered course. He spared a brief glance at the door the rookie had emerged from. “Please tell me we’re working out of the security office…”

Rude nodded. “Lucky for me. I’d probably still be trying to crawl up the stairs if we weren’t. Some of the reactors have reported intruders. Veld wants you and Rodney to check out Number 2. Rodney hasn’t reported in yet, though.”

“I suppose that means I’m on my own, then,” the other Turk replied. “When he gets here, send him after me, would you?”

The rookie frowned. It wasn’t a good idea to walk into an unknown situation without backup. But then… Shay was a senior Turk. If he was okay with going it alone, who was Rude to stop him? Besides… he outranked the rookie. At best, all Rude could do was voice his concerns.

“… Sure you don’t want to wait?” he asked, but Shay shook his head.

“If we’ve got Wutaiian hostiles running loose in the reactors, best to deal with it quickly. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”

“Watch yourself,” Rude said, and tossed him one of the radio units from Security’s office. “We’re on channel six.”

---

“Authorized personnel only!” an angry voice greeted the pair of Turks, and Reno found himself looking down the barrels of a pair of rifles, their owners’ fingers dangerously tense on the trigger. He immediately froze.

“If we’re not authorized, I don’t know who the fuck would be…” Tres muttered, pulling out his employee ID card. The two security guards eyed it for a moment and then lowered their weapons.

“I, er… I’m sorry, sir. Headquarters didn’t inform us that we should expect the Turks,” one of them stammered. Tres snorted and pushed passed the man, Reno bring up the rare.

“Well, no shit, genius,” he muttered to himself as they made their way inside, “Communication’s out across the whole goddamn Plate, and Shinra’s priority is telling the fuckin’ rent-a-cops that the Turk’s are comin’ for a visit…”

Amber warning lights were flashing in the hallway, though if there had been an audible siren, it had apparently been silenced. The redhead looked over at his partner quizzically.

“Reactor’s on lockdown,” Tres explained, as they made their way deeper inside, “No one gets out without authorization, and incoming personnel are limited to those of us with high-level security clearance.”

“That mean these intruders of ours are stuck inside, too?”

“Yup. That’s the idea, anyway. There are ways to get out if you’re industrious enough. They’re not pleasant by any means, and you’re just as likely to die of mako poisoning as escape… but it’s technically possible. Most people wouldn’t be suicidal enough to try it. ‘Course that doesn’t mean our Wutaiian friends might not try ‘n rush us or reactor security forces, given the opportunity. If they’re here, we’re takin’ ’em out on sight. Veld wants to risk his neck tryin’ to bring one home alive for questioning, he can do it his own damn self.”

“… Shouldn’t we try, though?”

Tres snorted in contempt. “Tch… don’t be stupid, kid. You sat in on the interrogation yesterday personally. That asshole tell ya anything useful? This Fuhito bastard’s not gonna send out anyone with any decent intel to handle grunt work like sabotagin’ a reactor. Waste of our time tryin’ to catch the fuckers. End ’em ‘n be done with it.”

The senior Turk had a point… and hell, for that matter, Kai and Remy had basically said as much yesterday as well. He blamed the lack of sleep for not realizing that himself. It should have been obvious. Reno didn’t have much time to berate himself for it, however, as they rounded a corner and nearly walked headlong into a rather imposing figure. The rookie’s hand instinctively went to his gun.

“Easy, kid,” Tres said. The man in front of them snorted.

“Oh, great. Now I got a goddamn infestation of Turks running around my goddamn reactor,” he said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. He was a bearded man of about forty, dressed in coveralls and a white hard hat… and he looked none too pleased to be there at the moment. Reno relaxed. He hadn’t realized right away… but he knew the guy. He’d met him – very briefly – months ago when he’d been paired up with Shay to run security sweeps at the reactors. He was the foreman of this particular facility.

“Tch… Since when do you work the night shift?” Tres asked.

“Since my goddamn night shift lead calls me in a goddamn panic at two in the goddamn morning tellin’ me he thinks – doesn’t know mind you – thinks that there’s someone in the goddamn reactor that’s not supposed to be there. Bullshit like this is the reason my ex is an ex,” he ranted, “Then the idiot ignores protocol and waits ’til I get here to initiate the goddamn lockdown. I’d really love to know where the Company finds these idiotic kids they keep shovelin’ in here! And why they hell they think it’s a good idea to hire them in the first place!”

He turned his gaze on Reno for a moment, and the redhead got the distinct impression that the man was wondering if he still fell into that category.

“Hmph… Looks like you’ve got the same problem,” the man added, and Tres smirked and rested a hand on the rookie’s shoulder.

“Nah… This one’s mostly just a pain in the ass when you’re hungry. Eats every damn thing in sight. So where are these uninvited guests hidin’?”

“Well, how in the nine hells should I know? I just got here myself. I’m not even supposed to be awake right now,” the man grumbled, and waved the two of them towards the elevator at the end of the hall. He slid his access card through the slot and with a beep of confirmation, the doors opened, allowing them inside. He jabbed the button labeled “Reactor Control” with rather more force than necessary and the car jolted downward. He eyed Reno again. “Does the kid talk, or does he just stand their with that slightly glazed look on his face all the time?”

The redhead scowled and opened his mouth to reply, but Tres elbowed him and snickered.

“Ah, just ignore this cranky old son of a bitch. The more you visit the reactors, the more you learn Bastion here exists in a state of perpetual annoyance.”

“Hmph,” the man snorted.

“You two’ve probably crossed paths once or twice by now, but just in case… Bastion Meheara… Reno Donovan,” Tres said by way of introduction. “Bastion here’s been foreman of Number 6 since the explosion wiped her out awhile back. Hates incompetent employees, Turks that interrupt his workday, and gettin’ his ass dragged outta bed in the middle of the night.” He glanced up at the foreman and grinned. “Reno’s our youngest.”

“Tch… ya know, there are two other rookies that I got seniority on…” the redhead groused.

“And still you’re younger than both of ’em,” Tres smirked.

The elevator pinged and opened up into another long hallway. Most of the offices that lined it were dark, their doors firmly shut, but the room at the far end was brightly lit and bustled with frenzied activity. Reno followed Tres and the foreman towards it, pausing briefly as they passed what seemed to be a memorial about midway along the corridor. He was fairly sure it hadn’t been there on his last visit… but then, the reactor had still been under heavy reconstruction at the time. It took him a moment to realize that it was for the people that had been killed when Number 6 had exploded.

In the center was a photo of a man, probably around Bastion’s age, with short blond hair and honey colored eyes… and the redhead suddenly realized that he recognized him. He was the man he’d met the first time he’d been here. The former foreman. The one who’d signed over the delivery he and Tseng were picking up. He’d completely forgotten that he’d been among the casualties of the reactor accident.

That had been well over a year ago… but that whole day had been seared into his memory from start to finish. He was certain it was the same man. He stuck out to him… largely because the redhead distinctly recalled being offhandedly compared to the man’s daughter. It had irked him, because he’d been pretty sure that the girl he was talking about was even younger than he’d been back then.

Now, he found himself inexplicably wondering how the kid was doing. He knew what it was like to lose a parent completely out of nowhere, without any warning whatsoever. To just wake up one day and find out they were gone. He hoped she was okay.

“Move your ass, rookie!” Tres called back to him, and Reno hurriedly tore his gaze away from the memorial, quickening his pace to catch up.

---

When Shay arrived at the Number 2 reactor, things were… suspiciously quiet. As he entered, he quickly saw why. The guards assigned to the main entrance were both dead, one lying crumpled on the floor near the doors, the other slumped over the security station desk, fingers just inches from the switch that would have triggered a lockdown. Shay shoved him upright in his chair and noted the bullet hole in the center of his forehead. Well… that didn’t bode well.

He kept his gun ready as he started deeper into the reactor, wondering what their endgame was. Occupation? Hostages? Outright destruction of the facility? It could be any number of things, really. On top of that, he had no idea how many he might be dealing with. He hoped that Rodney was on his way there by now. He could, of course, handle himself in a fight… but it was always nice to have someone to watch your back.

The reactor was silent save for the low hum of machinery. Wherever the workers were, they didn’t seem to be on the main level… not that that was unusual. This time of night, only general maintenance technicians would be on duty. The reactors basically ran themselves… Human interaction was really only needed when something broke and for preventative maintenance to try and stop things from breaking ahead of time. The preventative stuff was largely conducted by the day shift. The night shift were mostly just there in case of emergency.

Still… there should be someone here. Assuming they didn’t meet the same fate as the security guards, the most likely place was probably the control room. By the looks of things, though, security had been taken by surprise. No alert had been sounded. Which seemed odd to him, as Rude had specifically told him that the reactors had reported intruders.

Then again… the rookie had only said some of the reactors. It was entirely possible that Number 2 hadn’t been one of the ones they’d heard from. The lack of communication was reason enough to investigate.

Shay made his way to the elevator that would take him downstairs… and groaned when he found that the panel had been thoroughly smashed. Whoever was here, they didn’t want to be easily followed. He didn’t know the reactor layout well… but he was fairly certain that most if not all of them came equipped with a service stairway off the main chamber that led down to the control room. He’d have to try that way.

---

“Oy! Any of yeh bastards payin’ attention out there?” a voice suddenly called out from the radio. Rude reached for it and clicked the button.

“Rude here,” he replied.

“Be glad yer there ‘n not here, rookie… ’tis not a pretty sight. Explosion took out an entire electric substation. And ’bout half ‘o each building sittin’ on either side. Civilian casualties are bad, but nothin’ Midgar General can’t handle.” Sato responded. “And just in case one bomb wasn’t enough… there’s another’un at the power junction across the street just itchin’ ta blow. Looks like the timer’s faulty but the bomb itself’s still armed. Workin’ on her now.”

“Anything I should let Veld know about immediately?”

“Aye. Let ‘im know I expect a hazard bonus in my next paycheck. And… eh… if somethin’ were ta go wrong ‘n I end up in several pieces splattered across the Sector… tell that cousin ‘o mine she’d best not toss out my still. I intend fer anything of me yeh can scrape off the pavement ta be buried with that!”

“Hmph… will do,” Rude replied with a faint chuckled… though amusing as the comment had been, he couldn’t help but worry. Back when he’d been doing demolition training with Sato, the senior Turk had told him that bombs that failed to explode were vastly more dangerous than the ones that went off as intended. They were unpredictable. Touchy. Potentially devastating at the worst possible moment.

Still… there wasn’t a more experienced Turk on the team when it came to explosives. Sato would be alright. Crazy as he was, he knew what he was doing.

---

Reno was studying the complicated status screen in the control room, trying to make sense of it. He didn’t pretend to have the first clue about how a mako reactor worked… but judging by the sheer amount of green indicators, nothing seemed to be wrong with it. At least not as far as the computer system could tell. Which told him that the reason power seemed to be out to most of the city was either due to issues at one or more of the other seven reactors… or due to some problem in the power grid that supplied the generated energy to the city.

Someone back at headquarters had mentioned Sato looking into an explosion… apparently not at one of the reactors. Maybe they’d blown up some critical piece of infrastructure that had cut the link between the reactors and the the rest of Midgar? He was tempted to ask Tres about it, because not having all the pieces was bugging him… but the senior Turk had more immediate issues in mind. He and Bastion, the foreman, were pouring over a series of maps of the various levels of the reactor structure, planning out a route for a thorough security sweep.

“You gotta lift the lockdown selectively. If anyone’s here, I don’t want ’em slippin’ past us into sections we’ve already searched. You open a door for us, and then you lock it behind us while we clear the area. Every time.”

Bastion nodded in agreement.

“Looks like we’ve got a crew of five down in the pump room for a repair. But other than them, everyone’s accounted for in either Control or Security. You find anybody else walkin’ around, they’re not supposed to be there.”

“Alright, rookie… time to do a little pest control,” Tres called over to him. The redhead pulled his gaze away from the screens. He joined the senior Turk as he headed for a door that lead deeper still into the reactor. As they left the safety of the secure control room, it slid shut behind them and locked with an audible click. “Stay close, keep your eyes open, and shoot anything that moves. Remember… we’re interested in corpses… not captives.”

---

Veld crouched lower to the floor as a spray of bullets struck the large console in the center of the room, and he swore under his breath. Saya was pinned down several feet away, unable to reach a more advantageous position without putting herself directly in the line of fire.

They’d been ambushed. The route to the reactor core had been clear the entire way down… but somehow when the two Turks had retraced their steps back into the antechamber, six Wutaiian mercenaries had been there to greet them. It was instinct alone that had saved him… At the first sign of movement, Veld had thrown Saya bodily behind the large pipe that was currently serving as her shield and dove behind the center console just as the shooting has started. He’d felt at least two bullets whiz past him, disturbingly close to his head.

Thus, the immediate crisis had been temporarily averted. They were both still alive. The question now was how in the nine hells were they going to stay that way?

He raised his gun and fired blindly over the top of his makeshift cover, and the shooting from across the room paused momentarily at the disruption. It all too soon resumed, however, and he glanced over at Saya.

“If you’ve got any ideas, now would be an excellent time to put them forward!” he called out to her over the deafening sound of their attackers’ guns. The other Turk smiled faintly.

“Aye, I’ve got one, sir,” she replied, producing a small, rounded object from her jacket’s inner pocket. He had little trouble recognizing it as a grenade. “Really more Sato’s idea than mine, though… Gave it ta me fer emergencies awhile back”

The antechamber outside of a reactor core was no place to be setting off explosives. Then again, it wasn’t exactly a suitable location for a firefight, either, and their position wasn’t a good one. It was only a matter of time before one of those bullets hit something important – a control valve, or a regulator panel – and Shiva only knew what might happen then.

They didn’t have much of a choice… and if he was destined to die in a reactor explosion, better to set it off himself than wait for some asshole mercenary to do it for him.

He nodded at Saya… and she pulled the pin.

---

Shay fired two shots. The first missed its target. The second struck the man in the neck. He collapsed to the floor, choking on his own blood, and the Turk ducked back behind the heavy door that led to the reactor core before his cohorts could return fire.

One of them shouted angrily in Wutaiian. He was pretty sure he caught the word for ‘bastard’ somewhere in there, but to be honest, he’d never really mastered the language. His Wutaiian was limited to the more touristy phrases he’d picked up vacationing with his parents in the island nation over the years. It was followed by several gun shots.

The Turk darted into view just long enough to squeeze off a few more rounds and managed to drop a second assailant, this one a woman. She fell to her knees with a shriek of pain and Shay grimaced. He’d done some damage, but he’d missed the kill shot. And he was really started to rethink his decision to go it alone at this point. But it was a little late to be waiting for Rodney to show up now…

He ducked back into hiding and fired blind around the corner, hoping to distract them long enough that he could take aim at one of the two remaining intruders… and as it turned out, luck was on his side tonight. There was a loud pop, followed by a hiss… followed by an agonized scream. When he dared to peer out from his hiding place he saw the remaining male shooter clawing at his face, as a plume of boiling hot steam erupted from a nearby pipe. The woman he’d wounded seemed to rally herself, taking aim at him again, but it was too late. He already had a bead on her, and put a bullet in her head without hesitation. She slumped over, propped up against the catwalk railing.

He similarly dispatched the third one, sending him over the railing and tumbling down into the depths of the well of the reactor core… and then breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well… that wasn’t so bad,” he said quietly to himself as he stepped more fully into the space and strode over to where the bodies had fallen. His relief, however, was short lived, as a soft, steady beeping met his ears. Shay felt his blood run cold in recognition even before he spotted the source.

“Of course there would be a bomb…” he breathed.

---

“I think that just about takes care of things,” said Luca. Cissnei roughly twisted the arm of her prisoner behind her back as she made a futile effort to break free. The Wutaiian girl yelped in pain and stilled, allowing the rookie Turk to handcuff her. Cissnei shook her head. The girl couldn’t have been any older than she was… if that. And for some reason, it ticked her off to no end to know that Wutai was recruiting kids to do their dirty work.

She supposed that was a little hypocritical, really. After all, if the opportunity had come along sooner for her to become a Turk, she’d have jumped at it, age be damned. And Reno was even younger than she was… he’d only been sixteen when he was recruited. Rude and Rodney weren’t really that much older, either, when it came right down to it.

Still, though… something about the level of rage and hatred she saw in this girl’s eyes made her feel slightly sick. What drove a person to hate like that? What had Shinra done that had made her that willing to kill? To die?

Her cohorts were dead. All five of them. Cissnei had the feeling that they hadn’t been the most experienced of soldiers or mercenaries or whatever they were… but you didn’t necessarily need experience if someone else was pulling the strings. And she knew that that was the mysterious Fuhito. He or she was sending in children… children, for Titan’s sake… to die. It was sick!

Luca helped her drag their prisoner over to his waiting car. Cissnei had heard that the last Wutaiian merc they’d captured hadn’t known anything of any substance. She doubted that this girl did, either. But they had her now, and whatever she did know she would tell them. And she would most likely be killed afterwards… perhaps even during the interrogation.

Cissnei wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that. She understood it, from a logical perspective, of course. Wutai was threatening not just Shinra Company, but all of Midgar. Thousands upon thousands of people were at risk. What was one life compared to all that? What were ten lives? Or even a hundred, if it saved thousands? And it wasn’t as if she were innocent by any stretch of the imagination. Five minutes ago, she’d been trying to kill the two Turks and help plant a bomb inside of the Number 8 reactor.

Luca opened up the back door of his car, but before Cissnei could get their prisoner inside, the still night air filled with a loud rushing sound.

“Get down!” the senior Turk suddenly shouted. The last thing Cissnei remembered was an explosion and a massive fireball coming straight at her.

---

Reno regarded the body that lay at his feet far more dispassionately than he would have expected himself capable of. They’d taken the three men completely by surprise. Shot two of them dead before they even knew the Turks were standing behind them. The third died a few seconds later, a look of utter shock on his face. It had been over almost before it had even begun.

The redhead felt like it should bother him more. After all, he’d just helped gun down three people in cold blood. Shot them from behind. They’d never even had a chance.

But then… he found that he didn’t want them to have a chance. These people were attacking his city. Trying to kill innocent civilians, as evidenced by the bag full of explosives sitting on the floor next to their corpses. If they’d had the opportunity, they would’ve killed him and Tres, too.

Fuck them. They deserved whatever the hell they got.

Tres picked up the bag and tossed it to the rookie… who very nearly dropped it, and then spent the next several seconds with his heart in his throat as he tried desperately to get a decent grip on it before it slammed into the floor and blew them both to kingdom come. Finally, his hands tightened around the strap in a white knuckled grip and he froze in place, hardly daring to breath. The senior Turk laughed.

“Are you outta your fuckin’ mind?!” Reno shouted.

“Oh, for Ifrit’s sake…” Tres snickered, “Relax, kid. That’s C-4. It’s not gonna explode if ya breath on it too hard. Hell, you could probably throw that shit around like a goddamn football and not have to worry too much.”

“Tch… well, how the hell would I know? Excuse me for not wanting to end up a smear on the wall,” Reno shot back. Tres just continued to smirk and turned to head back the way they’d come.

“Let’s get outta here, rookie. Been a long night. Don’t know about you, but I could use some coffee right about now. We’ll let reactor security clean up the mess down here.”

Reno, in spite of the other Turk’s reassurances, took great care as he looped the strap of the bag over his shoulder and fell into step behind him. The sooner he could ditch that shit, the happier he’d be.

“Well… at least we got the fuckers before they could do any real damage, I guess. S’pose the others had as easy a time as we did?” he asked.

“Hmph… Don’t start countin’ your chocobos before they hatch, kid. Night ain’t over yet,” Tres replied.

---

Back at Shinra Company headquarters, the radio in the security office suddenly blared to life, startling Rude. The military frequencies had been largely quiet over the last hour or so… just a few normal communications back and forth between units detailing movements and statuses. Nothing especially interesting, though he’d been keeping track of what they were up to in case Veld radioed in for an update. But now… it was very clear that something was happening. Another attack, most likely.

He sat up in his chair and turned the volume up slightly. He wasn’t entirely up on military lingo… but he got the gist of it. There’d been another explosion. He wasn’t sure where, though… he’d missed the location earlier in the transmission, and he started listening intently, hoping they’d repeat it. But by then, they’d started talking about casualties.

Multiple casualties. The words echoed in his ears and for a moment, they seemed to be stuck on repeat.

His thoughts immediately went to Sato first… seeing as he’d actively been attempting to diffuse a bomb shortly before the explosion had occured. But Sato had been on his own. Or at least he hadn’t been with any other Turks. There were plenty of soldiers there, though, keeping the area secure for him. He prayed something hadn’t gone wrong.

But he already knew that it had. Maybe or maybe not for Sato, but certainly for someone. He just hoped it wasn’t one of theirs…

~end chapter 78~