Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 96: Preparations

Reno woke to the sound of an alarm blaring in his ear. He groaned loudly – though the sound seemed to be drowned out by the noise – and forced himself upright in bed as he groped blindly for the source of his rude awakening. Finally, his fingers encountered the rigid plastic box next to the bed. He swatted the button on top in supreme irritation, silencing the damned thing.

“Ugh…” he muttered, rubbing his eyes for a moment before finally deigning to actually open them. “Too fuckin’ early…”

But he didn’t have the luxury of sleeping in today. He yawned and swung his legs over the side of the bed, dragging himself to his feet, and stretched in the limited space of his tiny room. He dressed quickly and headed out into the hallway where he came dangerously close to walking directly into Veld.

“I can’t tell if you’re awake or merely sleepwalking,” the Turk leader chuckled, eyeing the sleepy Turk.

“Yeah well… I can’t either, yet. Please tell me there’s coffee.”

“Made it myself,” Veld replied, and Reno almost cringed. Veld’s idea of coffee bordered on undrinkable. Even by his standards. But he’d always managed to get it down before. He could do it again, if he had to. He needed the caffeine. The redhead nodded and left him behind as he meandered his way into the lounge, where he found the pot of coffee and poured himself a cup. As he was trying his best to cover the bitter flavor with a metric ton of sugar, the door opened behind him.

“Don’t,” a voice said. Bewildered, he turned, and in his still-not-fully-awake state was decidedly confused when the mug was removed from his grasp and replaced with a large styrofoam cup bearing the logo of one of the city’s more popular coffee chains.

“… I think I’m in love with you, Remy,” he said as realization dawned, grinning widely at her. The senior Turk snickered and pointedly set aside the purloined mug before setting a cardboard tray containing three additional cups next to the coffee maker.

“I never realized just how easily bought your affection really is,” she said teasingly.

“Really?” he asked, eyebrows rising in mock surprise, “‘Cause you got me into bed with ya not all that long ago and it only cost ya a few drinks…”

“Reno!” she hissed in hushed whisper.

“What? Not like anyone’s around to overhear me,” he laughed. “Veld was headin’ for his office when I saw him a minute ago ‘n everyone else is already in Junon.”

It was true. The others had all been dispatched to the military base sporadically over the course of yesterday, with Tseng leaving last, quite late. Only Veld and the presidential and vice presidential security details remained in Midgar. They’d be tying up whatever loose ends remained at headquarters, and then escorting President Shinra and Rufus to Junon that evening.

“Reno…” she intoned, warningly.

“Yeah, yeah… I know. I promised ya I’d keep my mouth shut, ‘n I will. But I’m not gonna pretend it didn’t happen,” he replied, and then smirked. “Uh… ya know, just for the record, I am eighteen now and I’m not a rookie anymore. So… just throwin’ that out there.”

Remy rolled her eyes. “Keep it up and I’m dumping all of this coffee down the nearest drain. You can go right back to drinking Veld’s caffeinated mud.”

“Heh… and people accuse me of not bein’ a mornin’ person,” he joked before taking a long sip of his drink. He glanced up at her, and smiled warmly. “Serious ’bout that, though. I mean… it wouldn’t have ta be like a relationship kinda thing. Not really into all that commitment bullshit, anyway. But… if you’re ever in the mood ‘n want someone ta keep ya warm… I’m available. And legal now.”

“Look, Reno, you’re very sweet, but…”

“Hey, ya don’t have to let me down gently or anything,” the redhead snickered, cutting her off. “You’re not gonna hurt my feelin’s if you say no. Just… ya know… keep me in mind, huh? I had a good time with you. So… yeah. Free, no strings attached sex, if ya ever want it. Just ask.”

Remy reached out and trailed her fingers along his cheek, and the younger Turk leaned into the gentle caress, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Stop it. I haven’t had nearly enough sleep or enough coffee to properly ignore that level of temptation yet this morning…” she said, teasingly.

Reno grinned widely back at her.

“That didn’t exactly sound like a ‘no’…” he replied.

“Drink your coffee. We have long day ahead of us,” the senior Turk sighed before beating a hasty retreat out of the lounge.

“Still didn’t sound like a ‘no’!” he called after her. He received no further reply, so he finished off the first cup of coffee and moved on to the second.

It wasn’t exactly a ‘yes’, either… and he wouldn’t keep bugging her about it, since he was pretty sure Remy was still more than a little embarrassed by the whole drunken one night stand thing. But he definitelywasn’t gonna turn her down if she ever decided to take him up on the offer. They’d had a hell of a lot of fun drunk. He could only imagine what it would be like if they were both sober next time.

---

Tseng woke to the not at all unpleasant sensation of fingers gently toying with his hair. He smiled and opened his eyes.

“What would I have to do to convince you to come and wake me like this every morning?” he queried. Viridia leaned over and kissed him.

“Oh… just tender your resignation, move to Junon, and give up everything you’ve worked so hard for in Midgar,” she giggled. “Come on… Time to get up. Your Turks are waiting for you.”

“Most of my Turks are likely still in the process of dragging themselves out of bed at this hour. And at least one of them is almost certainly in severe caffeine withdrawal. Hopefully, Veld remembers to make coffee, or Reno will be dead on his feet all morning back in Midgar,” he replied, chuckling.

“Well… get up anyway,” Viridia prodded. “We’ve both got a long day ahead of us, and as much as I enjoy having you in my bed, the sooner we get started, the better.”

---

“Mmm…”

Tres leaned back against the wall, taking a long, drawn-out drag off his cigarette, before flicking the ashes into the morning breeze and slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke. He smiled slightly. Nothing like the first cig of the morning.

“You do know that’s against base regulations, don’t you?” a voice to his right queried.

“Hmph… You lecturin’ me on the rules, now, Mr. Former-Rookie?” he snickered, taking another drag and turning to face his protege.

“… Lieutenant Commander Nacelle isn’t going to like that,” Rude replied, as he stepped out onto the balcony alongside his mentor. Tres rolled his eyes.

“Only if the she-demon of Junon finds out about it. You gonna rat me out?”

Rude shrugged. “Don’t have to,” he said, nodding to the ground below. As if on cue, a shrill voice shouted back at him.

“Tres Descartes! Smoking is prohibited in the administrative building! Put that out immediately!”

“Ah, hell…” the older man groaned, as he zeroed in on not only the lieutenant commander, but her favorite Turk as well. He hurriedly stubbed the cigarette out against the wall, and turned to Rude. “Ya coulda warned me, ya know…”

“I did,” Rude smirked, “Not my fault you ignored me.”

“… What’d I tell ya the other day ’bout bein’ a smartass?” Tres grumbled, “Come on… get your ass movin’. If Tseng ‘n Viridia are up and headin’ to work, we damn well better be, too.”

The pair slipped back inside, and hurried off to the elevators. Tres had hoped for a quick exit before they crossed paths a second time, but it wasn’t to be. The elevator arrived on the first floor, and he was greeted by an annoyed scowl. Viridia stood in front of the doors as they opened, arms crossed, glaring at the Turk.

“For Ifrit’s sake, woman… I put it out, alright?”

“Hmph,” she snorted in reply. “How many times do I have to remind you of the smoking ban in administrative quarters? People have to sleep here, and no one wants to wake up to that smell.”

“I wasn’t in the administrative quarters. I was out on the balcony,” Tres countered. Viridia narrowed her eyes. “Tch… Fine. Message received.”

“Mmhmm… The next time I catch you, you’ll be spending the afternoon in the brig, presidential visit or no.” With that, she slid past him, stepping aboard the elevator herself, as Tseng trailed along behind her. Tres elbowed the Turk lieutenant as he passed.

“Just who’s side’re you on here?” he asked, only half serious. Tseng raised an eyebrow, stepping into the elevator car.

“At the moment? Hers. You’re well aware of the rules.” The doors closed before Tres could reply, so instead he settled for swearing under his breath.

“Pussy-whipped… that’s what he is,” he muttered, and then quickly remembered that he wasn’t alone. He turned to Rude. “And don’t you go repeatin’ that. Pussy-whipped or not, he’d still kick my ass for sayin’ so.”

Rude laughed and shook his head. “Maybe we should go finish those upgrades before you get yourself into real trouble.”

Tres flipped him off and started towards the base cafeteria. “Fuck that. I’m not doin’ shit on an empty stomach ‘n neither are you. Breakfast first, then we’ll finish up.”

Rude quickly fell into step beside him, and the two Turks made their way towards the crowded mess hall. Tres groaned when he saw the line, but grabbed a tray and joined the queue anyway. Fuckin’ day always started too goddamn early on the military base. At least they were efficient. There were easily fifty people ahead of them, but Junon had food service down to an art form. It was too bad they weren’t quite as diligent when it came to food quality… though even there, they were still better than the Shinra Building’s crapateria. A short wait later, his tray had been filled with scrambled eggs, a biscuit dripping with some sort of sausage gravy, fried potatoes, and what looked like orange slices that had been haphazardly peeled and left sitting out overnight.

“Heh… nothin’ like a gourmet breakfast, eh, Rude?” he chuckled, seeing the expression on his protege’s face.

“And this is nothing like a gourmet breakfast,” the younger Turk deadpanned. Tres laughed and led him over to a quiet table in the back corner of the hall.

“Your spoiled as all hell, ya know that, right?” he said, grinning. “All that fancy cookin’ you do, you’ve forgotten how us commoners are s’posed ta eat.”

Rude cracked a smile and sat down. Tres took a seat across from him, and picked up his fork.

“Don’t get me wrong… you can cook,” he added, snickering. “Ya just forget what normal food tastes like when you’re living off high-end shit like that.”

“Missing the days of boiled cripshay?” Rude teased. The senior Turk nearly choked, before laughing out loud.

“Oh, hell no… I was never quite that bad off, even before I took up with Corneo,” he finally managed. “You gotta be desperate to eat those little garbage sniffers. Hear they don’t taste so terrible, but you ever smelled the damn things? ‘Bout makes ya sick if you’re not expectin’ it. And don’t even get me started on what they eat.”

“… Reno said he ate them.”

“Mmm… wouldn’t surprise me. Two’s always been a real shithole. Ya eat what’s available… and if cripshays are what’s available, cripshays are what’s on the menu. Don’t mean they’re anyone’s first choice for a meal, kid.”

“… Can I ask you something about the slums?”

“Nothin’ stoppin’ ya…” Tres shrugged.

“I was talking to Reno they other day while we were down below. Asked him if things had always been so bad down there. He said it was actually better now than it was when he was a kid… at least in some ways.”

“There a question in there?” the other Turk prodded. He had a feeling he knew what the kid was getting at, but he wasn’t gonna give him a free pass on this on. If he wanted to know, he was damn well gonna ask.

“How did things end up so awful?” Rude finally replied, “I can’t even picture things being worse than they are now…”

Tres sighed. “That’s what happens when ya let hopelessness run rampant. But… well, look, I’m not gonna say livin’ down in the slums has ever been a cakewalk, but the redhead’s got kind of a skewed view of things. Not his fault, by any means. He grew up in the absolute worst of it, and hasn’t really been out all that long. Hell, I’m goddamn impressed he turned out as stable ‘n well-adjusted as he is, all things considered. When Tseng told us where he found ‘im, I thought for sure trainin’ that kid was gonna be a lost cause. At best, I was expectin’ a thug who wouldn’t like takin’ orders… at worst, a junkie we’d have ta get clean before we could even start workin’ on him,” he replied, and then laughed again, “Definitely didn’t have ‘im pegged as the little ball of sunshine he is. Which just goes ta show ya… not even those of us who grew up down below know everything ’bout that place.”

He snuck another cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, inhaling deeply.

“But to answer your question… it got that bad ’cause we fuckin’ let it. Fucked up as it sounds, it’s to Shinra’s benefit to have a lower class. They’ll work for shit wages, they’re too poor to constitute any real threat to the company, and they’re grateful for whatever we decide to give ’em… ‘n of course no one wants to live down there if they got a choice in the matter. Give’s ’em somethin’ to strive for. Fact is, the Slums are just what’s left after decades of poverty, hunger, and no goddamn sunlight, courtesy of the Plate.”

“But… why do so many people stay there? It’s not as if they’re being held prisoner.”

Tres snorted softly. “Ya think so, huh, kid? Where the hell would they go? Plate’s too expensive for all but a lucky few, ‘n Kalm sure as hell ain’t got room for ’em all. Think they’re just gonna head on out into the plains ‘n build a new city for themselves? Might not be actual prisoners… but they’re plenty trapped down there. Ask the redhead. Kid like him, I bet gettin’ outta that shithole was his lifelong goddamn dream.”

“… It was,” Rude acknowledged. Tres nodded in understanding.

“Probably never really thought he’d actually manage to do it, either. Somethin’ like that… it’s just a dream for most people down there. Hell… I actually had it pretty good by slum standards, and even I didn’t hesitate when Veld turned up lookin’ to recruit me. I knew exactly what movin’ to the Plate meant for me,” he replied, “Heh… well… and I was fuckin’ sick ‘n tired of takin’ orders from Corneo. Don’t care how much that asshole paid. Wasn’t worth it.”

“What did you do for Corneo, anyway?” the younger Turk queried. “You’ve never actually told me.”

“Tch… whatever the hell he told me to. Roughed up jackasses lookin’ to rip him off, spied on the competition, shook down people who owed him money ‘n blackmailed more than a few of ’em, coerced the shopkeeps to do business exclusively with his network… kept people scared of him. Mostly went around makin’ a lot of people miserable so Corneo ‘n his goons could keep livin’ the high life, me included. Just didn’t sit right with me after awhile. Granted, us Turks get into some pretty shady shit, too… but Corneo ‘n his ilk are just plain scum. No loyalty, no honor.”

It had been a girl that had been the last straw for him, though. She’d wanted out of her contract. Demanded it. Tried a couple times to run off, but always got caught and dragged back to Wall Market. Corneo wasn’t about to lose one of his most popular pieces of meat without taking his pound of flesh first. On her last attempt at flight, he’d sent Tres after her… ordered him to bring her back to his mansion. To the basement. Tres hadn’t stuck around to watch, but he could hear her screams echoing through the whole house for hours. Eventually they’d stopped. Corneo had ordered him to clean up the mess and toss her into the gutter where she belonged. He’d never seen someone so simultaneously terrified and grateful as he had when he’d thrown her out of the place. She was a mess and in obvious pain… but she was free of her contract.

Suffice it to say, when Veld had turned up and made him an offer a couple weeks later, he hadn’t even had to think about it. It had been worth taking the pay cut to be able to look at himself in the mirror every morning without feeling disgusted.

“Anyway… we got a lot of shit left to do today,” he continued, shaking himself from the memory. “If we’re gonna have any hope of gettin’ it done on time, we’re gonna have to split up. I’ll pick up where we left off with the cameras last night. You go down to the far end of the parade route ‘n start workin’ your way back towards me. Hopefully, we’ll have ’em all connected by lunch ‘n runnin’ by dinner.”

Rude grinned. “Bet I can finish my end before you’re even halfway done.”

“Heh… Yeah? You’re on, smartass. Loser buys dinner tonight. Down in lower Junon… no more of this mess hall shit.”

---

Reno knocked on Veld’s door some time later. The coffee had done its job, and he and Remy had already made some decent progress on their remaining tasks… but there was something he still had to take care of.

“Come in,” the Turk leader called out. The redhead stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

“Hey… ya got a minute, sir?” he asked, as Veld looked up at him.

“A minute is about all I have a the moment. What is it?”

Reno frowned and took a seat in front of the Turk leader’s desk.

“I was gonna talk to Tseng about it yesterday… but he left for Junon before I got the chance. I think somethin’s up with Rodney.”

Veld shuffled several papers aside and leaned forward, elbows resting onto of the desk as he steepled his fingers in front of him.

“Go on…”

Reno rubbed the back of his head, trying to decide where to start. “Maybe I’m way off base here… but… some of the shit he was talkin’ about yesterday… It was weird. He spent almost the whole time we were in the air goin’ back ‘n forth from Junon sayin’ how Shinra shouldn’t be signin’ a treaty with Wutai. We should be destroyin’ their troops and takin’ over the country.”

“… I can understand how that might be a bit of an uncomfortable conversation.”

“Yeah… but it was more than that. I kinda got the feeling that maybe those weren’t entirely his ideas. Like it was somethin’ he heard somewhere else ‘n was… I dunno. Maybe tryin’ to get me to validate it by agreein’ with him or some shit. Or maybe by not agreein’ with it, since he seems to think everything I do or say is wrong. Like I said. It was weird. I mean, no secret him ‘n me don’t get along so great, but I’m kinda worried about him. He’s been a little… ya know… off lately.”

“I see…” Veld replied, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Anyway… after that whole thing with Hojo, you said I damn well better tell ya if I was ever threatened again immediately. Guess it wasn’t technically a threat against me this time… but… I’m tellin’ ya.”

Veld nodded. “Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I’ll speak with Rodney when we arrive in Junon this evening. Have you and Remy finished with the presidential itinerary yet?”

“Presidential… yeah. Vice presidential, not so much. Rufus just put in a request… by which I’m pretty sure he meant demand. He wants a tour of some new airship they’re buildin’, so we gotta shoehorn that shit in now…” he replied, supremely annoyed by the new addition to the schedule. They’d had everything planned down to the minute… It had been perfect. And then Rufus had thrown a wrench into the works.

“Ah… the Highwind,” Veld chuckled. “Yes, Tseng did mention the vice president was a bit… eager… to get a first hand look at it, even though it’s still in the very early stages of construction. Can you make it work with the rest of his day?”

“We’re gonna have to shift some other stuff around ‘n maybe skip the reactor tour, but yeah, I think so.”

“Do your best. I doubt you’ll get any sort of expression of appreciation, but it’s always a good idea to try and accommodate the executives.”

Reno snickered at the comment. “Yes, sir.”

---

By mid-afternoon, the chaos had finally begun to fall in line, and Tseng was grateful for the break. It had been a very long couple of days, and they weren’t out of the woods quite yet… but he could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tres and Rude had completed their additions to the base’s camera system. From their command center in the secure hanger, the Turks now had eyes all over upper Junon, from the parade route, to the main entry points, to the more obscure areas like the barracks and the tram. It was, perhaps, a bit overkill… but given everything that had happened recently, Tseng wasn’t about to tell Tres he was being paranoid.

Particularly not with Fuhito and Istev still out there somewhere. Wutai may have surrendered, but those two were freelancers. What they might do was up for debate. With their paycheck cut off by the end of the war, it was likely that they would simply move on the their next client… but with both the president and the vice president in attendance tomorrow, no one wanted to risk making that assumption.

Sato, with some help from his cousin and some of Viridia’s security guards, had swept the city for explosives. Twice.

Kai was overseeing parade security and crowd control, and Shay was overseeing the rookies as they put the finishing touches on their command center. In another few hours, they would be as ready as they possibly could be… which was fortunate, because in another few hours, The remaining Turks would be arriving with President Shinra and Rufus. It was, as Kai would say, about to get real.

---

“Oof! Rodney, give me a hand with this, will you?” Cissnei called down to her fellow rookie from her perch halfway up a tall set of scaffolding. They’d been working all morning, and needed another power run for Tres’ monitors, but the cables were bulky and less than cooperative. She’d initially thought she could manage on her own but it had quickly become a two person job… and Shay had gone off in search of more tables.

The other rookie set aside the what he was working on and crossed the hanger, hoisting himself up to just below her position and taking some of the weight.

“You know you could just drop the damn thing,” he replied, “It’s only cabling.”

Cissnei sighed. “Would you stop being such a grump and just help me get it down? I’m hungry. I want to get this finished and go get some lunch.”

“Fine…” Rodney muttered, helping her ease the bundle of cable off of the platform and down to the hanger floor. Cissnei hurriedly climbed down to assist with the last leg of the descent. “You know… this whole treaty signing is just one big dog and pony show. We trounced Wutai. Why the hell are we letting them save face like this? It would be so easy to just occupy the country and take what we want. They have it coming after what they pulled.”

Cissnei finally wrangled the cabling down and breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced back up at Rodney.

“Ugh… you’ve been talking to your dad again, haven’t you?” she said, shaking her head.

“Well, he’s right, you know. Wutai is nothing compared to the Shinra army. Why are we letting them dictate peace terms?”

“We’re not,” Cissnei replied, hoisting the cable over her shoulder. “We negotiated terms that suit the interests of both parties. Shinra isn’t interested in occupation. There’s no profit in having to run – and defend – an entire country. They just want Wutai to stop fighting them on the reactor construction.”

“They killed Luca, Cissy!” Rodney growled. “And in case it’s slipped your mind, they almost killed you, too. More than once. Tseng’s sister is dead because of them, and Tseng himself is still kind of a mess. Not to mention all the people hurt and killed in their attacks on Midgar. When do they get retribution?!”

Cissnei sighed. “Rod… It has to end somewhere. If we take retribution for what they did, they’ll come after us again for it. And then we’ll go looking for revenge over their revenge. At some point, someone has to say ‘no more’… or the fighting and killing will just go on and on forever. Is that really what you want? Do you think that’s what Luca would want? Or Mayu?”

Rodney was silent for several seconds, and for a moment, she thought he was finally starting to see things her way, rather than, she could only assume, through his father’s logic. But then he scowled.

“And when the bastards decide that the treaty isn’t enough and double cross us, what then?” he said, coldly, shoving the rest of the cabling into her hands. With that, he stormed off, leaving the hanger, and Cissnei, behind.

“Rod!” she called after him, but received no reply.

---

Reno stretched his arms up over his head until his shoulder gave its familiar crack. The executive helicopter – the new one, fresh off the assembly line in Junon – sat ready and waiting in the cool evening air… all they needed now were some executives to put in it.

Rufus arrived first… No surprise there, really. The redhead had gotten the impression that the brat was actually looking forward to this. Apparently, he had a thing for parades. At least, that’s what Sato had told him yesterday. Truth be told, Reno was kind of excited himself. He’d never seen one in person… much less ridden in one, and as Rufus’ security detail for the trip, that’s exactly what he would be doing.

“I trust everything is ready to go?” Rufus inquired as he approached the helicopter.

“All set. We’re leavin’ soon as the President gets here.”

The Shinra heir snorted softly. “Leave it to my father to keep me waiting when he’s aware I actually want to go for a change. You’ve seen to my tour of the Highwind’s construction site?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied. Rufus nodded.

“Excellent.”

He slipped aboard the aircraft without any further conversation, leaving Reno slightly bewildered. Not a single insult? Hell, that parting “Excellent” had almost been a compliment. Rufus really must have been looking forward to this trip. This may have been the best mood the Turk had ever seen the young executive in.

He had little time to ponder it, however, as shortly after Rufus was aboard, Remy and Veld stepped out onto the roof of company headquarters with his father. They made their way over to the helipad. Veld was the first of the trio to reach him.

“Is Rufus here?”

“Got here right before you did,” he replied, “Think he’s more than ready to be airborne, sir.”

“Good… Let’s get going, then,” the Turk leader replied. A moment later, he was showing the President onto the copter. The three Turks then hurried in behind him, taking their seats inside the plush, luxury aircraft, and Veld gave the pilot the order to take off.

Reno watched the roof drop away as the helicopter lifted into the sky. The sun was setting quickly, and it would almost certainly be dark by the time they reached Junon. Too bad, really… the city was goddamned impressive from the air. Not on the scale of Midgar, but still…

But there would be other chances to see it. Right now, his job was to keep Rufus from getting into any kind of trouble while they were there. Hopefully, that wouldn’t prove too difficult.

~end chapter 96~