Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 14: An Ounce of Cure

Tseng had been able to do little more than follow in silence as Reno was carried off of the submarine on a stretcher. He hadn’t been any more useful once they reached the medical bay on the base, or while the doctors there were evaluating him. And now that he was stable and sleeping, he found that there was still nothing he could do for his protege.

His moment of relief on board the sub had been a short one. Though Reno was breathing and conscious, his condition had quickly deteriorated. His breathing had become labored, and he’d begun complaining of pain in the areas where his skin was red and inflamed. That, combined with what was likely a mild case of hypothermia, had left him a shivering, wheezing mess the entire trip back to the docks.

Tseng had been able to do very little to comfort him, and nothing at all to actually help him.

The diagnosis upon their arrival back at the base had been equally as concerning. Some sort of unknown toxin. Tseng had immediately sent word to Veld, demanding to know exactly what Hojo’s team had been breeding in that lab. He hadn’t yet received a definitive answer from his mentor… only a reassurance that he’d find out.

Reno had been able to describe some sort of… blob-like creature before unconsciousness had claimed him. Tseng had never seen anything like that in Hojo’s labs back in Midgar… but admittedly, he seldom had cause to enter those spaces and some of the scientist’s research was so highly classified that even Veld wouldn’t have had the required clearance to know about it without a specific reason.

Meanwhile, the doctors in Junon could only treat the younger Turk’s symptoms as they appeared. He was presently on oxygen to help with his breathing, multiple IVs trickling fluids into his body in the hope of diluting the toxin, and salt water compresses… as that seemed to be the only thing that alleviated the painful burning sensation in the damaged skin. His young friend was so pale and still, laying in that bed, and Tseng could do nothing.

He was drawn from his feeling of utter uselessness as the door behind him opened. Tseng turned to see Viridia making her way into the room.

“I only just heard what happened, or I’d have been here sooner. How is he?”

“Stable, for the time being,” the Turk lieutenant replied, “There’s little more they can do until we know what in the Nine Hells poisoned him…”

“Where’d your other friend run off to?”

“Ashland has taken over communication duties with Midgar for me for a short while. I’m ostensibly supposed to be getting something to eat,” Tseng said, shaking his head, “For… obvious… reasons, I don’t have much of an appetite at the moment.”

Viridia slipped her hand into his, squeezing gently. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Not at present, I’m afraid. Though I wouldn’t mind some company, if you have some time to spare.”

The lieutenant commander gave him an understanding smile and pulled up a chair. “I’m due for a break anyway,” she replied.

Tseng sighed softly and let his shoulders slump. “I hate seeing him like this,” he said, eyes locked on the sleeping redhead, “The reason for it never seems to matter… Just knowing that he’s injured. It never gets any easier, particularly when he’s so completely unresponsive and out of it.” He finally shook his head, forcing himself to redirect his gaze back to the woman beside him. “Sometimes… I truly wonder if dragging him into this life was far crueler than leaving him where I found him.”

Viridia looked over at the redhead and smirked.

“You know… I don’t think he’s quite as out of it as you think. And judging by his expression, I’m pretty sure he’s got his own opinion on being left where you found him,” she snickered. Tseng looked up in surprise, only to find the young Turk unexpectedly awake and openly glaring at him. He managed a slight smile and reached over to stroke his hair.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Like shit,” the redhead replied, his voice weak, “… ‘n it’s still better than bein’ stuck in the goddamn slums.”

“Alright,” the senior Turk chuckled, “You’ve made your point…”

“They figure this shit out yet?”

“They’re working on it,” Tseng assured him, “Veld is in the process of demanding answers from the biologics department. Whatever it was that attacked you, we will, hopefully, soon have an antidote.”

Reno nodded slightly, and let his eyes slowly close. “Tch… wake me up for lunch, then…” he murmured before drifting off again.

Tseng’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. This all could have been avoided if that worthless excuse for a human being, Hojo, had simply disclosed that there could be something dangerous still alive in that lab! When he got his hands on that slimy excuse for a scientist…

“Uh oh… I know that look,” Viridia said, teasingly, “Just who are you plotting to kill?”

The Turk lieutenant gave a somewhat mirthless laugh. “It’s better I don’t tell you. Plausible deniability, and all…”

She leaned in, wrapping her arms tightly around her lover.

“He’s going to be alright.”

“You can’t know that…” Tseng replied. But he let her hold him anyway. Viridia somehow had a way of soothing him even when he was all but convinced he couldn’t be soothed… and right now, he needed that. The sat like that for several minutes, watching the redhead sleep. Eventually, though, the door to the room opened again, and Viridia was forced to release him.

“How’s the kid?” Ashland queried, striding into the room.

“No better than when you left,” Tseng said with a shake of his head.

“Well… I’ve got some good news, at least,” the retired Turk replied, closing the distance between them. “Veld says Biologics recognized the description of the specimen. They’ve got an anti-toxin in storage in the Midgar labs. Someone from company medical’s on their way here with it now.” He paused for a moment, hesitating. “That’s… the good news.”

“Dare I ask what the bad news is?”

“… Bad news is we’re under a time limit,” he answered, running a hand through his hair. “It starts damaging organs if you wait too long to do something about it. Permanently damaging them. It’s getting here as fast as humanly possible… but it sounds like we’re gonna be down to the wire on this.”

Tseng slowly exhaled as he sank back into his chair. That… was not what he had hoped to hear.

---

“Sir?” Remy queried, after knocking softly on the door frame of his open office. Veld glanced up, holding up a finger to tell her to wait, before turning his attention back to his phone.

“Keep me apprised. I want to know the second she lands in Junon.” He snapped the phone shut, and shook his head, finally glancing up at his subordinate. “Yes?”

“Sorry to interrupt, sir… but…”

“The job doesn’t get put on hold just because a Turk is injured,” Veld sighed, “What’s happened now?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure. Maybe nothing. I just… have a bad feeling. Rude left hours ago to meet with a new informant. He hasn’t checked in and I can’t get ahold of him.”

The Turk leader frowned. “Where was he going?”

“Wall Market…” Remy replied, a note of concern in her voice. And she was sure that Veld shared that concern. Wall Market was Don Corneo’s domain, and the Turks, generally, were not entirely welcome. Typically, it wasn’t a major problem for them… but if Rude had somehow run afoul of the sleazy son of a bitch…

“Take Cissnei and go look for him. Be discreet. No uniforms.”

“Yes, sir,” Remy said. She hesitated a moment. “Is… there any word on Reno?”

“Medical is flying out an antidote from biologics. We won’t know anything for awhile yet.”

“… Yes, sir,” she replied with a nod of understanding. She quickly slipped back into the hallway, and headed for the lounge. She’d seen Cissnei there not long ago. To be honest, she would have preferred to remain here and wait for news… but as Veld had said, their job couldn’t just be put on hold because one of their own had been hurt. Particularly when another Turk might very well be in trouble as well. She hoped she was just being overly cautious. It was entirely possible that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for Rude being out of contact. He might still be meeting with the informant and simply not answering… or he might be in a dead zone down below where his phone couldn’t get a decent signal. They were rarer these days than they used to be, but it happened on occasion.

And of course, she couldn’t not think about Reno, too. She couldn’t stop herself from worrying about him… even if he did occasionally drive her up the wall. And… well… she knew him on a rather more intimate level than the other members of the team, even if that knowledge had come about entirely by accident and probably never should have happened to begin with. She hated to admit it, but she had developed a bit of a soft spot for the little imp, and hated thinking about him being far from home and seriously injured.

She peered into the lounge, and as she’d expected, Cissnei was there, talking to Sykes and Petra. The two rookies looked rather upset… and Remy immediately suspected that the younger Turk had just finished informing them about what had happened to the absent redhead.

“Cissnei?” she interrupted, and the younger woman glanced up.

“Oh! Remy… Is… Is there any news yet?”

Remy shook her head. “Nothing as far as his condition… though they do seem to have found an antidote to the poison. It’s on its way to Junon now… But I’m afraid you and I have an assignment that needs handling. High priority.”

Cissnei quickly disengaged herself from the pair of rookies and hurried to follow the senior Turk. Remy led her down the hall.

“Veld wants us in street clothes,” she informed her, “We’re heading down to Wall Market.”

The young Turk can to an abrupt halt at the proclamation. “Wall Market? But that’s where –” she began, only to cut herself off, “Remy… did something happen to Rude, too?”

“That’s what we’re meant to find out…” Remy replied.

---

Reno had stayed motionless, feigning sleep, even as the conversation carried on around him. It wasn’t so much that he was trying to deceive anyone – he legitimately could barely keep his eyes open – but when Ashland had returned with news, he hadn’t wanted to interrupt. And he was glad he hadn’t, because he had a feeling that the former Turk might not have been so blunt if he’d known the redhead was still awake.

Permanent organ damage? A part of him wanted to know exactly what that might mean. Was he going to end up a fucking cripple, stuck in bed for the rest of his life? … Or was this shit just going to kill him outright? Was it gonna be quick? Or was he looking at a slow, painful death that dragged on for weeks? Or months?

That thought, he grudgingly admitted to himself, kind of terrified him. He didn’t want to waste away, getting worse and worse until his body finally just gave out on him. If this was it, he wanted it over fast. And he wondered… if it really came to that… was he just going to lay there and wait for it? There was always another option, after all. He could always end it himself.

The thought vaguely sickened him. He’d always been staunchly against a person taking matters into their own hands like that. His mother’s suicide had given him first hand experience with how indescribably painful that could be for the people who had to go on living. But if it were really hopeless…

For perhaps the first time in his life, he understood why there might be times when it could, at the very least, seem like the preferable alternative.

And then he mentally chastised himself for letting his mind drift so needlessly to such a dark place. He wasn’t fucking dead yet, and as far as he knew he wasn’t even dying. Nor was he in any particular hurry to do so.

By then, he suddenly realized, the conversation in the room had ceased… and he wasn’t sure if it was because the others had run out of things to say or if they’d simply left him to rest, still thinking he was asleep.

“Oh fer Titan’s sake…” a familiar voice grumbled from the other side of the room, and the redhead’s eyes snapped open. “Doesn’t this place have proper visiting restrictions? Out of my way, and keep out from under foot, the lot of yeh!”

He was greeted by the sight of Dr. Ward striding purposefully across the tile floor towards his bed, some sort of case in one hand, and the other occupants of the room darting out of her path towards him. After her initial admonishment, she seemed to ignore the others, save to send Tseng scurrying from his chair with an irritated glower, and focused her attention entirely on the redhead.

“Alright, yeh little troublemaker… Just how in Hades’ name did yeh manage ta go ‘n do this ta yerself, then?” she sighed and Reno very nearly laughed in sheer relief.

“Wasn’t on purpose, Doc…” he replied, tiredly.

“Hmph… Well, not ta worry. We’ll soon set yeh right.”

The entire time she was speaking to him, she was also pulling an IV bag filled with a pale blue, transparent liquid from the case she’d carried in and hanging it next to the plethora of similar containers suspended from a pole by his bed. A few short moments later and it had been been hooked up to one of the tubes running into his right arm, replacing whatever they’d been giving him before.

“There, now…” she said, starting the drip, “We’ll just let that infuse fer a wee bit.”

That done, she moved closer to him and lifted one of the salt-water soaked cloths from his neck, bending over to inspect the damage and clucking in disapproval.

“Yer a right mess, my little headache…”

“Believe me, I noticed,” Reno responded.

“Is he going to be alright?” Tseng finally asked from the corner the aged doctor had shooed him into.

“It’s going ta depend on how well he responds ta the anti-toxin… but assuming it’s as effective as Biologics led me ta believe, I think we’ve made it before any permanent damage was done,” the doctor said and then fixed her gaze on Ashland, “And just what are yeh doin’ here yeh old coot?”

Ashland rolled his eyes in response. “Who are you callin’ an old coot, ya decrepit harpy?”

“Decrepit am I?!” Dr. Ward all but growled. “Right… that’s it, then. Visiting hours are officially over. All of yeh, out ‘n leave me ta see ta my patient.”

Tseng, for a very brief moment, looked as though he was considering arguing with the cantankerous doctor… but quickly thought better of it.

“I’ll return to check on you later, Reno,” he said, before ushering Viridia and Ashland out of the room. Ward gave an annoyed sniff and then turned her attention back on the redhead. Reno managed a faint smirk.

“So… I guess ya know Ashland from back in the day, huh?”

“Yeh mind yer own business ‘n focus on getting better,” she commanded as she took a seat at his bedside. Her tone softened and she reached out a hand, lightly caressing his shoulder. “Are yeh in any pain?”

“Everything that shit touched is still kinda burnin’, but it’s not as bad as it was…” Reno replied, “Am I really gonna be okay?”

“Everything Biologics briefed me on says yes. And yer young ‘n healthy, besides… yeh’ll be in bed a few days, but I think yeh’ll fight it off. If yeh do as I say fer once.”

“Tch… When don’t I do what you tell me to?”

“Hmph… Yer nigh on a month overdue fer yer annual physical. Which I’ve reminded yeh about at least four times now.”

“… I’ve… ya know… been busy.”

“Yeh wouldn’t come down ta Medical fer the flu shot I recommended fer yeh before the holidays, either.”

“Didn’t have the flu,” Reno said, a teasing note in his voice.

“And yeh still haven’t gained that twenty pounds I’ve been telling yeh that yeh need since I met yeh.”

“I’m a freak of nature, remember?” he replied, finally grinning slightly. As much as he hated doctors in general… Ward had the uncanny ability to put him at ease, even when things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse. It was one of the reasons he liked her so much, in spite of her chosen profession. He was glad she was here.

Dr. Ward chuckled softly. “Hmm… Yer certainly something, anyway.”

---

Tseng pressed his palms against his face, in an effort to relieve the pain that was slowly building behind his eyes. He hated stress headaches. Thankfully, the primary source of said stress had been removed. Reno had the medicine he needed and would soon be back to normal.

“Hell of a morning, eh?” a voice addressed him, and the Turk lieutenant grudgingly released the pressure on his face and lowered his hands. Ashland held out one of the two mugs of coffee he was carrying to him. “They were outta tea in the mess hall. You’ll have to make do with this swill. Where’d that pretty security officer disappear to?”

“Lieutenant Commander Nacelle had to return to her duty shift,” he replied, accepting the hot beverage and taking a sip, grimacing slightly. The older Turk was right. It was swill… though somehow still better than the motor oil-like sludge that Veld preferred to drink and subsequently subjected their office to when no one managed to beat him to the coffeemaker in the morning.

Ashland chuckled, knowingly.

“Oh, we’re back to ‘Lieutenant Commander’, now, are we?”

“That is her current rank,” Tseng replied, and the former Turk snorted in laughter.

“Don’t play dumb, Tseng. It’s beneath you. I saw her sitting there with you when I walked in. Holding you. Comforting you. I have a sneaking suspicion you two don’t address one another by rank in private,” Ashland said, and then paused and grinned, “Good for you.”

The Wutaiian Turk rolled his eyes and didn’t dignify the comment with a response. He got more than enough comments like that from his protege. Ashland took a seat beside him. The chairs in the little waiting room were… surprisingly comfortable. Considering the overall utilitarian nature of the military base’s medical bay, it had been a rather pleasant discovery, seeing as Tseng would likely be spending quite a bit of time there for awhile.

“Gotta admit… that kid’s somethin’ else,” Ashland continued, “Injured… poisoned… damn near drowned… and he still managed to complete his mission. The science departments’ll be happy to have those data drives back.”

“Hmph… I hope they were worth the price. Reno will be recovering for a least a week, according to the good doctor. We’re extremely fortunate he will recover. Things could very easily have turned out differently.”

The retired Turk nodded in agreement.

“Yep. They sure as hell could’ve.” He shook his head and sighed. “And I got a nice reminder why I decided to try and forget about Shinra after I retired. There were a lot of good days. A lot of good friends. But there were a lot of painful losses, too. It got to the point that I just couldn’t take losing any more than I already had.” He turned his gaze on Tseng. “I’m glad the kid’s gonna be alright. And I’m glad I could help the team out one more time… but… please don’t come askin’ me to do it again. My Turk days are behind me. I’d… like them to stay there.”

“I understand,” Tseng replied. And, truly, he did. Ashland had been a Turk for years before Tseng had been recruited. He’d seen many of his compatriots come and go. Lost many close friends. Had nearly been killed several times over. Somehow he’d survived all of that long enough to get out of that life and live in peace with a family all his own. He couldn’t blame him for not wanting to be pulled back in again when he had so much to lose.

“Hmph… Doesn’t mean I’d turn down a purely social visit once in awhile, though,” Ashland added, with a slight smile. “You and the kid are both welcome the next time you’re in Cosmo Canyon.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” Tseng replied, with a faint smile of his own, “Thank you for everything you’ve done, Ashland.”

The older man nodded and got to his feet, leaving Tseng on his own for awhile.

---

He couldn’t be certain how long he’d been there. It felt like hours… but it was hard to mark the passing of time, just sitting there, alone, in a silent room with no windows. The throbbing in his head had dulled to a moderately painful ache by then. That, at least, make it a little easier to think.

Unfortunately, it didn’t do much to tell him why he was here, where here was, or who had brought him.

In all the time he’d been stuck here, chained to the wall, he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of his captors. They’d certainly been thorough about searching him, though. His weapon was gone. So was his PHS, his folding knife, his keys, his handcuffs, the lockpicks he kept in the hidden pocket inside his jacket, his tie and his shoelaces… Even his sunglasses were missing. Anything that might have been even remotely useful had been confiscated before he’d ever woken up.

He was on his own – trapped – with nothing to help him.

~end chapter 14~