Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Epilogue

 

“… Why did we get stuck with this job?” Weston asked. He paused, grumbling, and planted himself on a convenient boulder before taking off his shoe and shaking a large pebble out of it. “I didn’t put in four years of undergraduate study, two years for my Masters, another three years so far towards an eventual PhD in biochemistry, and an internship in the middle of flipping nowhere, just to end up as a glorified electrician dragging my butt up a Titan-be-cursed mountain.”

Ai laughed and turned back to face her colleague. “I’m not sure we’d even qualify as electricians on this one. All we’re going up there to do is replace some batteries.”

Weston groaned. “That doesn’t make me feel better,” he deadpanned, “I was at the top of my graduating class and this is what I’m relegated to? I went to college so I wouldn’t have to make a living doing manual labor, you know…”

“Wes, we’re interns. We get the shitwork. You know that, I know that, and Dr. Monroe definitely knows that,” she said. She grinned at him, “So suck it up, Buttercup, and get your ass up the mountain.”

He sighed heavily at the mention of their supervisor’s name, and grudgingly pulled his shoe back on, before readjusting the straps on his backpack. That was another thing. Why was he stuck carrying the stupid batteries? Ai Himura was all about breaking the glass ceiling and female empowerment and gender equality any other time… but the second there’s heavy lifting to be done? She foists it off on the guy.

Though… to be fair, she was the one who actually knew where the heck they were going. He’d never been to the reactor himself. In fact, he’d only come onboard with the program at the end of last fall. Ai, even though she’d only just finished her Masters degree a year ago, had been interning at the Shinra Lab in Nibelheim for almost twice as long as he had. She’d wanted “real world experience” before applying to Midgar University’s doctoral program.

And because she did have more experience, at least as far as Dr. Monroe was concerned, Ai was the one who went up the mountain trail every week since the snow had melted to check the mako levels in the incubation tanks. The trip probably would have taken twice as long without her leading the way. And okay… the batteries weren’t really that heavy. He just hated hiking. And nature. And getting stuck with shitwork.

When he’d signed onto this internship, he’d expected to be making breakthroughs and working with Shinra Company’s top minds. Instead, most of his time was spent cleaning lab equipment and making dinner runs. Ai certainly didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she actually embraced being a go-for. She said you had to pay your dues, just like any other career. You had to get your foot in that door somehow.

And really, she was undoubtedly right. An internship, especially one with a lab under the direct oversight of Shinra’s own Professor Hojo, would look amazing on his résumé… and given that his ultimate goal was to go to work for the Advanced Medical Research unit at Shinra Headquarters in Midgar, he needed a good recommendation.

So… honorary mountainside electrician it was.

“Are you sure the nibelwolves aren’t still hanging around up here?” Wes asked as they made their way across an anxiety-inducing rope bridge. Ai shook her head.

“I’ve never once seen a nibelwolf up at the reactor,” she said, firmly. “Not even so much as a paw print. Besides… as soon as things thawed out, they stopped scavenging in town. Why would they still be around here now, when all their prey is down in the valley?”

He supposed she would know. After all, while her primary interest was genetics, Ai also held degrees in veterinary biology and animal behavior. Her research centered around genetic manipulation of behavioral traits… which, though, admittedly interesting at times, wasn’t really Weston’s cup of tea. His interests lay in the potential uses of mako as a biochemical agent. Most people thought that mako exposure was too dangerous to be beneficial… but the Shinra Company medical research labs had released several peer reviewed papers on the healing properties of raw mako over the past few years… a subject that he’d found absolutely fascinating from the moment he’d read the initial published findings.

At last, after much climbing – and griping on his part – the Nibelheim Mako Reactor loomed before them. They made their way up to the entrance, and Ai swiped her access card. The door slid open with a loud, mechanical hum.

“So… where are these cameras we’re supposed to be fixing?” Wes asked.

“There’s supposed to be one right outside the door we just came in, four in here, and another four in the pod chamber,” Ai replied. She looked around. “Umm… I’ve noticed a couple of them before, but we may have to hunt the rest down. I guess… start in here, then do the pod chamber?”

Wes shrugged, and started looking for the cameras. They found the first one midway up the wall, tethered to a pipe.

“Any idea why they want them powered up again, all of a sudden?” he inquired, pulling the device down. “These things look like they haven’t been touched in years. The batteries can’t possibly last that long.”

“Nope. Dr. Monroe only said it was a special request from the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department. Whatever that is.”

Weston paused, mid-stride.

“W-wait… the Turks?” he stammered, and Ai looked at him, puzzled.

“Turks?” she repeated, and Wes briefly wondered how in Hades’ name she’d never heard of the Turks. Everyone in Midgar knew about them. And then it dawned on him that Ai had never actually been to Midgar. She’d gone to school in her home country of Wutai, and had transitioned to the internship program right after. Wes shook his head.

“They’re Shinra elite. Covert ops, security, internal investigations… that sort of thing,” he explained, “Basically… people you never want to tick off.”

“Huh… Well, if they’re security, I guess that might explain why they want their cameras back up and running,” she shrugged.

“Yeah… I guess…” Wes said, unconvinced. The Turks weren’t just security. He’d grown up in Midgar. Born and raised. The Turks were the city’s boogeymen… and he really couldn’t imagine what interest they’d have in an experimental mako reactor.

Of course… he also wasn’t about to not do what was asked of him, knowing that it was a special request from the Turks, either. The sooner they finished and got out of here, the better, as far as he was concerned.

As he was prying the battery compartment on the camera open, a hiss, like gas escaping, echoed from the direction of the pod chamber. The noise was followed by a loud clang. Both interns looked up from what they were doing, searching out the source of the sounds.

“What was that?” Wes asked.

“… I… don’t know. It sounded liked a seal releasing,” Ai said, setting the camera she’d been working on aside. “Um… I’ll be right back. I’m going to go check the equipment. There might have been a malfunction or a lock failure or something. One of the pods was having some technical issues last week. Dr. Monroe said she’d send a tech up to take a look, but I guess she hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”

Wes nodded as Ai got to her feet and hurried off. A moment later, he finally got the camera open. He pulled out the old battery and replaced it with one of the new ones. He wiped the dust off of the lens and then put it back where he’d found it, pressing the button on the front to activate it. The device latched itself onto the pipe again, and a red light blinked for a moment before glowing steadily… which he assumed meant it was working again.

“Well… that’s one,” he said to himself. He turned to grab the next camera, but before he had the chance, a terrified shriek broke the relative silence of the room, and the next thing he knew, Ai was fleeing the pod chamber at a dead sprint, her face pale with fear.

“RUN!” she screamed.

~fin~