Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 79: Casualties

Veld sat up slowly, shaking his head in a somewhat futile attempt to clear the loud ringing from his ears. The air was filled with smoke and reeked of gunpowder, making his eyes burn as he peered out from behind his makeshift shelter.

The concussion from the grenade had been far worse than he’d expected. Probably some Shiva-be-damned modified mess that Sato had cobbled together in his spare time. But as he cautiously stood up, even the Turk leader had to admit… it had been effective.

One of their attackers had been thrown into the rear wall with enough force to snap his neck. Two more had died from the explosion itself, and another was bleeding badly, much of the left side of his body riddled with shrapnel. He likely wouldn’t last long even if they did call in medical assistance for him. Not that Veld was planning on doing so.

Of the remaining two, one was unconscious, and the other moaning loudly in pain several feet away.

“… bloody stupid… the hell… thinking…?” Saya’s voice said, oddly muffled beside him.

“What?”

The other Turk shook her head and smirked slightly. “I said, that bloody stupid arsehole! What in the hell was he thinkin’ givin’ me somethin’ like that?!” she repeated at a louder volume.

Veld snorted softly and put a bullet in the dying man, leaving only the last two alive. They wouldn’t be much of a threat for awhile. They’d take them back to headquarters for interrogation.

“For once, I think I’m grateful for your cousin’s tendency to go overboard. Even if I do end up slightly deaf for awhile because of it…”

---

No one was answering. Why was no one answering?! Sure, there was so much radio chatter it was hard to determine who was talking to who at the moment. And sure, the hand units they were using had been meant for building security’s use, not for long-range field work. But for Odin’s sake, was it asking too much for someone to respond to his repeated attempts to contact them?!

Rude sighed heavily and returned to listening to the military bands. The reality was, if the others were still deep inside the reactors, he couldn’t just will a message to them. He’d try raising them again in a few minutes. Meanwhile, though, reports of damage and injuries kept flying across the airwaves. He’d learned that the explosion that had so concerned the Shinra army had occurred in Sector 8. Cissnei and Luca had been sent up to the Number 8 reactor… but that was also where Sato was attempting to diffuse the unexploded bomb. The former, he could understand not answering their radios… They were likely either out of range entirely, or the signal was being blocked by the walls of the reactor.

Sato, though… he should have been able to hear him. Rude’s concern was rapidly growing. It had been awhile since the senior Turk had last checked in, and now all this?

As he was reaching for the radio yet again, he spotted movement on the security cameras and a wave of relief came over him as he recognized his mentor strolling through the front doors, Reno in tow. That was two Turks, at least, that he no longer had to worry about. He reached for his crutches and hobbled across the security office, all but flinging the door open just as they arrived.

“What happen?” Tres asked, noting the his rookie’s agitated expression.

“Explosion over in Sector 8,” Rude replied, “Not a lot of details on the military bands. And I haven’t been able to get ahold of anyone on the radio.”

“Ah, hell,” Tres groaned, and glanced down at his own radio handset, “Fuckin’ piece of crap. Alright… stay here ‘n keep tryin’. Make updatin’ Veld a priority. Let him know the Number 6 reactor’s clear, ‘n that me ‘n Reno are gonna go check things out in 8.”

Rude nodded and headed back into the little command center. Tres turned to Reno with a soft snort.

“Tch… Told ya tonight wasn’t over yet.”

---

Mako wells ran deep… though until tonight, Shay wasn’t quite sure he’d ever truly realized how deep. Of course, it helped that the city’s reactors themselves were several hundred feet up, perched on the edge of the plate, rather than down below, siphoning up mako at ground level… but still. They were damned deep.

Deep enough that chucking a bomb over the catwalk railing had been enough to save him from the blast several seconds later.

Reactor maintenance wasn’t going to be happy, of course. He could see scorch marks rising up the sides of the well, and Titan only knew how much damage it had done down were he couldn’t see. Hopefully the explosion hadn’t caused any major leaks. Even if it had… he was still alive and not currently drowning in raw mako. The reactor could be repaired. Given the choice, he’d prefer to save his own hide than save a bunch of machinery.

That had been much, much too close, though. He’d been in some dangerous situations before but literally watching the countdown to one’s imminent death was something new. The device had had only twenty-two seconds left on it when he’d spotted it. His first instinct had been to run… but he’d quickly realized that, if he did, he was almost certainly just as dead as he’d be if he stood there and waited for the end. The bomb was in the reactor core. An explosion there would trigger a chain reaction that would take out the facility itself. Not to mention flooding the surrounding sector with enough raw mako to poison everyone in a ten block radius.

So, he’d done the only thing he could think to do. He’d grabbed it, chucked it over the side, and ducked and covered while he prayed.

Apparently some deity or other had been listening, because the reactor was still standing, the core was still in one piece, he was still in one piece, and the immediate threat to the facility was under control. He almost couldn’t believe his luck.

Breathing a relieved sigh, he leaned back against the railing… but as much as he would have liked a few minutes to allow his heart to stop trying to hammer its way out of his ribcage, he knew he had to report in. This seemed far too simplistic for it to be the Wutaiians’ endgame. Sure… blowing up the reactors would have crippled the city for months if not years… but Shinra had other outposts it could run the company from. And more importantly, an army that was presently invading the island nation. Turning out the lights on Midgar wouldn’t save Wutai. There had to be more coming.

Right now, though… right now, all he really cared about was the fact that he was still alive.

---

The streets in Sector 8 were swarming with military. The closer they got to the sight of the first explosion of the night, the more security they had to wade through, and it soon became clear that wherever the second explosion had occurred, it wasn’t here. As chaotic as it was, it was an organized chaos. The injured were being tended to – in fact, it looked as though the vast majority had already been transported off to the hospital – the streets were locked down, and no one seemed to be running around in a panic. This was aftermath coming under control, not a fresh crisis.

Tres stopped his car as close to the destroyed power substation as he could get and he and Reno disembarked.

It didn’t take Reno long to spot Sato. He was lounging beneath the awning of a flower shop, smoking a cigarette and studying some sort of electronic device. As the redhead started towards him, he spotted another familiar figure making a beeline for the same destination.

Rodney.

The redhead snorted softly. “So that’s where he’s been all night…” he said, more to himself than to Tres. The senior Turk nodded.

“Not that surprising, to be honest. Pretty sure he lives somewhere around here. Probably heard the explosion and came here to help instead of goin’ straight to headquarters for orders when he found out communications were down. Not exactly protocol, but… I s’pose he did technically report to Sato.” He shook his head. “Either way… ignorin’ protocol is Tseng’s problem to deal with if Veld ends up pissed about it. Not mine.”

As they drew closer, Sato glanced up and gave them a dismissive wave.

“Not ta worry… She’s sleepin’ now,” he said, hefting the device in one hand. With the other, he stubbed out the cigarette against the wall of the flower shop.

“What about the second explosion the army’s freakin’ out about?” Tres asked, but Sato shook his head.

“Dunno. Heard it from here… but I was a wee bit preoccupied when it went off. Just finished up with this. ‘Twas a real bitch ta disarm, too. I dunno if I’m impressed by this Istev fucker, or gettin’ more ‘n more pissed at him fer blowing shite up,” he replied just as Rodney reached the little group, “Sent the rookie over to find out what’s goin’ on.”

“It was outside of the Number 8 reactor,” Rodney said with no further prompting, and Reno couldn’t help but notice that he looked slightly pale… unusual for the normally cocky son of a bitch. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this. “They said… there are casualties. And at least one of them is a Turk.”

Tres swore loudly. “Eight was Luca ‘n Cissnei’s assignment. What kinda ‘casualties’? Hurt or killed?”

“… The field commander I spoke to didn’t know for sure.”

“Goddammit…” Tres grumbled.

“Tch… Well, what the hell are we doin’ standin’ around here for?” Reno asked, “Bomb’s taken care of, right? Let’s go already!”

“Calm your tits, kid,” Tres replied, “If the army’s swarmin’ all over the scene, gettin’ anywhere near it’s gonna be a nightmare. Even for us.” He glanced over at Rodney. “They takin’ ’em to Midgar General?”

“Yes, sir,” the other rookie said, nodding.

“Then that’s where we’re goin’.”

---

Her world was dark and filled with pain. It radiated up her right arm, a burning, searing sensation, worse than anything she’d ever felt before. Her skin felt raw and unnaturally tight across her forearm. She’d been told she’d been burned. It felt as though the limb had been flayed.

Hesitantly, she finally opened her eyes and looked down at the dressings that hid the damage from her, swallowing harshly at the sight and wondering just how bad it really was. Even with painkillers, there was little relief. It had to have been bad for it to hurt so much.

Cissnei largely ignored the medical personnel that flitted in and out of her room. She’d only regained consciousness a short while ago, and she still wasn’t quite sure what had happened. The last thing she remembered was incoming fire and Luca pushing her down onto the street. She must have smacked her head on the curb or something, because the next thing she knew, she was waking up here.

Here being Midgar General Hospital, apparently.

The attack had come out of nowhere. She hadn’t even realized it was happening until Luca had yelled at her to get down. She’d been too focused on her prisoner. He’d almost certainly saved her life today. She wouldn’t have been able to move in time… she was absolutely positive of it… and the next time she saw him, she was going to thank him profusely for what he’d done.

She just hoped that Luca’s injuries weren’t too serious. There was no way he’d escaped unscathed, at any rate. He must have been right on top of her, shielding her from the blast. He was the reason she’d emerged with just a charbroiled arm, rather than a charbroiled face. And to be honest… she was getting a little worried. No one had told her anything about him or what sort of treatment he was getting or even what room he was in. Though, she supposed, they didn’t necessarily have a reason to do so. She was just a patient herself, and Luca wasn’t technically family, no matter how she thought of her fellow Turks. She’d just have to be patient.

But being patient wasn’t easy. She was desperate for information, and more than that… she was desperate for someone to come and tell her that everything was going to be alright. It was childish, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. She was alone and hurt and she just wanted someone there with her. Rodney… Saya… Rude… anyone.

“Hey, guys! I found her!” an anxious voice shouted from the doorway, and Cissnei jumped slightly in surprise, turning her gaze in the direction of the proclamation… and nearly fainted in relief, seeing a familiar mop of red hair. Reno was waving, apparently at someone farther down the hallway, beckoning them towards him. A moment later, he abandoned that task and slipped into the room. “Fuckin’ place is a goddamn maze,” he said, grinning at her, “How ya doin’, Cissnei?”

“A lot better now,” she replied, smiling back at him, grateful to see a friendly face. Rodney and Sato were the next to arrive.

“Would you keep your voice down already?” Rodney muttered, “It’s barely five in that morning and this is a hospital. Show a little courtesy to the other patients.”

Reno rolled his eyes and pointedly ignored the other rookie.

“Sorry ta say we can’t stay long,” Sato said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. “Communications’re still down, ‘n we’ll be expected ta report in at headquarters ‘fore long… but I fer one’ll be glad ta be reportin’ yer still in one piece.”

“Thanks to Luca,” said Cissnei, “Have you seen him yet? I think I was out for awhile, and they haven’t told me much of anything.”

Sato shook his head. “These two idiots saw yer name on the board by the front desk ‘n ran off ta go ‘n find yeh themselves… so I volunteered ta rookie-sit while Tres talked ta the docs. He’ll find his way back ta us eventually.”

“So what happened?” Rodney asked. “Our contact with the Shinra army said it was a second explosion.”

Cissnei leaned back against her pillows. “I… I’m not exactly sure, to be honest. One second, I’m taking our prisoner over to Luca’s car… the next he’s yelling at me to get down and there’s a huge fireball coming right at me. He pushed me out of the way, and that’s all I can remember. I must have been knocked out, because everything after that is a blank… until I woke up here.”

“Well… yeh just lay back ‘n rest up. Yeh look in pretty good shape fer someone who was just blown up,” Sato said, with a chuckle, “I’d wager yeh’ll be outta here in no time.”

“Docs agree with Sato,” a new voice reported from the door, “They’re gonna keep ya for a few hours in case you cracked your head harder than they thought ‘n so they can pump you full of antibiotics to keep that burn from gettin’ infected. Proabably ’til sometime this afternoon. Then you’re free to go.”

His tone was light, but something in his voice seemed off. And when Reno looked over at the senior Turk, she could tell that he could hear it, too. He seemed to stiffen slightly, as if preparing himself for bad news.

“What’s up, Tres? What’d they have to say about Luca?” the redhead asked. Tres didn’t say anything right away, letting his gaze drop to the floor for a moment before stealing himself. Sato got to his feet and looked over at him.

“It’s bad, innit?” the Mideelian Turk said quietly. Tres ran a hand through his hair and nodded.

“… Luca… didn’t make it.”

“No…” Cissnei whispered, feeling herself go numb with shock at the words. Tres turned toward her with a sad expression.

“Talked to one of the other casualties out in the hall. Reactor security guard. Saw the whole thing, and took a chunk of shrapnel in the leg for his trouble. It was a rocket launcher. Blew up Luca’s car from the roof of one of the nearby buildings,” he said, swallowing harshly, “Explosion killed him and your prisoner. He was still on top of you when help arrived.”

Cissnei shook her head in denial. Luca couldn’t be dead. He just… couldn’t be. She felt a hand take hold of hers and somewhat robotically glanced over to find Rodney looking down at her. She tried futilely to blink back tears, but they refused to be restrained, falling freely down her cheeks. For a moment, she felt as though she couldn’t breathe.

“Rodney… Stay here with Cissnei. Let us know when the docs are ready to discharge her,” Tres ordered, “The rest of us’ll head back to base. The others will be startin’ to regroup by now, and they’ll need to be told.”

“Y-yes, sir,” the rookie stammered.

---

Reno stared silently out the window of Tres’ car, as they made their way through largely abandoned streets towards the Shinra Building. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, it’s soft pink and yellow hue beginning to illuminate the city. The rookie wasn’t paying attention to that, however. All he could think about was Luca. And Cissnei.

He’d just stood there, useless, after Tres had broken the news to them. He didn’t know what to say… or what to do. And then Cissnei’d started to cry and all he could think was that he didn’t want to be there anymore. He wanted to leave. He wanted to be anywhere but that room just then.

It was the tears that had done it. He couldn’t stand seeing that. He’d seen it too many times before. His mother, when another one of her customers beat on her and left without paying… Lira, any time her dad got drunk and took his frustration with life in general out on her – before she’d finally had enough and told him to rot in hell on her way out the door, that is… Kel’s grandmother when she realized that there was something or someone she should know but couldn’t remember anymore…

It was excruciating for him, knowing that they were hurting, and there was nothing he could do about it. It made him want to run away so he didn’t have to see that pain… as if not being able to see it might make it somehow cease to exist. But of course, he knew that wasn’t the case, so he could never actually bring himself to run. All he could do was just stand there, frozen and fucking useless. Every time.

And then there was Luca. He certainly hadn’t forget about him… though he’d been trying his damnedest not to think about what had happened. Luca was a great guy. He’d always been friendly and quick to help the rookies out. He was good for a joke or even a serious conversation depending on what the situation called for. He was dedicated and just… a good friend.

Reno remembered the first time they’d met. He’d actually seemed rather impressed to learn that the rookie had given Rufus a taste of his own medicine on his first day at work. It had made him slightly less nervous about explaining that whole mess to anyone else who happened to ask, and Reno had liked him immediately.

And now he was gone.

“Hey… Ya still with us, rookie? You’ve been awfully quiet,” Tres gently prodded him as they exited the freeway. The redhead pulled his gaze away from the scenery just long enough to nod.

“Aw, leave the kid be, Tres,” Sato muttered from the back seat. “Ain’t none o’ us got much ta say right now.”

The other senior Turk gave a noncommittal grunt, but let the attempt at conversation drop. As they were nearing Sector Zero, the street lights began to turn on, one after another, adding to the meager light of dawn.

“Power’s comin’ back on. Tch… Took ’em fuckin’ long enough…” said Tres, “One of you check your PHS. See if service is back up, too.”

Reno reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone, flipping it open. Still no signal.

“No such luck,” he reported back.

“Give ‘er a minute or two,” Sato replied. “The towers dunnae come on immediately after a power outage. Takes ’em a wee bit ta get their computer’s ‘n shite goin’ again. … ‘least that’s what Luca always told me.”

The trio lapsed into silence for the duration of their trip back to headquarters.

---

Tseng was up early. Though to be honest, he really hadn’t slept much anyway. Viridia had delivered on her promised list of names, and he and the others had spent most of the night clandestinely observing the soldiers on it. Their duties shifts had been spread out from one end of the schedule to the other. Tseng had volunteered for the overnight watch., leaving Remy and Kai to get some rest.

They hadn’t yet determined a link between any of the names and the captain’s kidnapping and murder… but they had,at least, eliminated a fair few of their suspects. He’d be discussing the remaining names with Viridia. As soon as she was awake, that is. The woman was just as much an early riser as he himself was… but the hour was early even for him this morning. He doubted it would be long, however. The sun was up now and soon she would be, too.

He was beginning to think that perhaps he should have forced himself to get back to work much sooner. The distraction of duty helped immeasurably. Perhaps, had he not spent so long lost in his own thoughts, he would not have fallen into such deep dismay and regret after Mayu had died. He still keenly felt her loss, as well as the pain of essentially being disowned by his entire family, but the longer he was back in his normal routine, the more bearable that loss seemed. Or, at the very least, he found himself dwelling less upon it.

His PHS chimed, and the Wutaiian Turk raised an eyebrow in somewhat hesitant curiosity as he retrieved the phone from his jacket’s inner pocket. If Veld was contacting him this early, it almost certainly meant that something had happened back in Midgar.

To his surprise – and no small amount of concern – the message wasn’t from his mentor, however. It was from Reno. For the redhead to be contacting him at this hour… well, unless he was in jail again, and looking for bail money, whatever was going on must have been serious indeed.

His worry wasn’t exactly assuaged by the short, rather ominous text message currently displayed on his phone’s screen.

‘Call me. Please.’

---

The cell towers had come back online just as they’d pulled into the Shinra Building’s parking deck. Tres and Sato had summoned Rude back from the security office immediately, then made it their sole task to contact everyone still in the field, starting with Veld, and summon them back to headquarters. Reno, meanwhile, had been dispatched to procure coffee and breakfast for them upon their return. The task didn’t take him long… which had resulted in him slipping silently into his own little office while the others dealt with the events of the morning.

He probably should have gone straight to Tres and asked him what he should do now… and if they’d been mid-crisis, he certainly would have, but by then the immediate threat was contained and they could manage for awhile without him. He just needed a few minutes of not being ordered to do anything. Just to sort out everything rampaging through his head.

Reno wished that Rude wasn’t busy with his own tasks… He could really use a friend right about now. That in mind, and almost before he even realized he was doing it, he was composing a short message to Tseng. Just three little words. A plea.

The sun was barely up… his mentor probably wouldn’t even see it for another hour or two… but his fingers seemed to be on autopilot.

The rookie quietly shut the office door behind him and leaned back against it, sliding to the floor and landing on the cool tile with a soft thump. He pulled his knees against his chest, and let his head rest against the door, gazing up at the ceiling as he took a long, slow breath in, and just as slowly exhaled, trying to banish the lump in his throat.

He jumped violently a moment later when his PHS rang, and dropped the little device in his shock. It clattered onto the floor beside him. For a few seconds, he could only stare at it in a sort of dazed confusion… and than he reached for it, answering the incoming call. Or trying to, at any rate. At just that moment, his voice didn’t seem to work.

“Reno… ?” Tseng’s voice prodded, and the note of concern was readily apparent. “Are you there? What’s wrong?”

The redhead blinked several times, trying to stave off the tears that were threatening to break free of his tenuous hold on them… before finally deciding that he didn’t give a shit and let them fall.

“… He’s dead,” Reno finally managed, in something between a whisper and a sob, “Luca’s dead…”

~end chapter 79~