Chapter 17: Lost & Found
Tseng stepped off the train and onto the Wall Market station platform, Sato mere steps behind him. Neither Turk was in uniform at the moment… but Tseng, at least, was well known enough to a few of Don Corneo’s minions that he might be recognized anyway. At the moment, however, that was the least of his concerns.
Rude had been missing for hours. And with each passing minute, the odds of finding him alive dropped lower and lower. Worst of all, they didn’t even know for certain who was responsible. Remy, when last he spoke to her, was leaning heavily towards it being Corneo himself. The Don and the Turks weren’t on the best of terms at the moment, owing to an operation about a month ago that had stopped a cache of weapons from reaching the sector – later discovered to have been stolen from Fort Condor. Corneo had, of course, denied all involvement… but had closed ranks, and now, any time one of the Turks happened to be spotted venturing into Wall Market, they were met with a rather frosty reception, at best.
Tseng had his doubts, however. For one… Corneo wasn’t stupid. He knew that crossing Shinra would result in serious consequences. Hell, Shinra Company, for all intents and purposes, was in business with the bastard. There was a reason Sector Six had been the first of the Slums to be connected to the Plate via the train system, and it had nothing to do with luck. And while Shinra certainly took their cut from Corneo’s dealings down below, they also provided him with any number of financial opportunities he benefited from. There was no question about that. If the Company really wanted to, it could make life very hard for the Don.
But even if he were foolish enough to pull something like this… what in Leviathan’s name did he have to gain from it? Even Reno had seemed somewhat perplexed when that question had arisen during their admittedly brief conversation prior to Tseng’s departure from Junon, and the redhead could usually come up with a reasonable scenario for just about anything…
Sato, meanwhile, was convinced that Corneo’s men were staging a coup. Take down a Turk, and frame Corneo… then move in and take over after the Turks retaliated. It was, Tseng reluctantly had to admit, an idea that he couldn’t dismiss out of hand as, for once, one of the Mideelian Turk’s conspiracy theories had some merit. He was fairly familiar with the Don’s assortment of henchmen, however. The majority of them weren’t exactly inclined towards subterfuge. True, Tres – perhaps the finest intelligence specialist the Turks had ever had – had once worked for the crimelord as well, but the late Turk had very much been the exception, rather than the rule. And the ones who might have the brains to bring such a plan to fruition were excruciatingly loyal.
Still… he supposed it was at least possible.
As he and Sato made their way out into the sector proper, the Turk lieutenant’s gaze fell on a pair of familiar figures. Cissnei and Petra quickly spotted them as well, and calmly crossed the street, joining them. Cissnei held out a PHS before Tseng could even say anything.
“It’s Rude’s,” she said, without preamble, “Sykes found a little boy playing with it. He said a ‘nice man’ gave it to him about an hour ago.”
Tseng frowned. Rude had disappeared quite some time ago. So either this mysterious person had stumbled upon the phone and decided to gift it to a random child… or they’d taken it from it’s owner and had been holding onto it for most of the day, only now deciding to dispose of the evidence.
“Was he able to describe this man?” he asked, trying to turn the device on, only to receive no response from it. He flipped it over and noted that the battery had been removed… probably to prevent anyone from answering it. They’d been calling it regularly since Rude had gone missing.
“Sort of…” Cissnei replied, “He’s only six years old… He called him the ‘picture man’.”
Tseng raised an eyebrow.
“Sir… I think he meant he had tattoos. Possibly several of them, if it made that much of an impression,” Petra interjected, and Tseng nodded. It did, after all, make sense from a child’s point of view.
“A reasonable assumption… though it doesn’t narrow our search much, I fear. There are multitudes of individuals sporting body art in this sector. Where are Remy and Sykes now?”
“Staking out Corneo’s compound,” Cissnei replied, “He’s been sending his people out all over the sector for the last hour or so. We’re not sure why. Remy thinks that if he’s the one behind this, someone is eventually going to slip up, and she wants to –”
The younger Turk was unceremoniously interrupted by her phone. It took her a moment to recover, but she hurriedly reached into her pocket and pulled it out.
“Speaking of Remy…” she said, answering the call. “Cissnei here… Yes, Tseng and Sato just arrived.” She paused a moment, listening to the reply. “Alright, we’re on our way.”
“I take it something’s happened?” Tseng queried as the woman tucked her PHS away.
“Yes, sir. Someof Corneo’s men returned to the mansion about five minutes ago… and a much larger group just left. In a hurry.”
“… Then we had better go and see where they’re rushing off to,” Tseng said.
Reno growled low in his throat and tried to ignore the enormous needle that had been stabbed into his left arm just minutes ago. Apparently they had to start a whole new Ifrit-be-damned IV for his next dose of medication. Now he had fucking needles in both arms! The same pale blue liquid from the last time slowly dripped from one of the bags on the pole next to his bed, feeding into his veins.
He heard Kai giggle softly from her bed on the opposite side of the room.
“What?” he snapped, annoyed, and the rookie in the chair beside him jumped in fright, having been startled from his quiet reading of the book he’d brought with him. Kai laughed.
“You are just such an absolute delight when you’re sick, you know that?” she teased, grinning. The redhead rolled his eyes.
“Fuck off, Kai.”
“Hmph… yer one ta talk, Kai McNamera…” Dr. Ward commented, as she stepped into the room. She paused beside Reno, studying the IV for a moment, before nodding. “I’d say another fifteen minute or so, and then yeh’ll be done. How are those welts feeling at this point?”
“Itchy,” Reno grumbled, rubbing at his cheek with the back of one hand… and then immediately wishing that he hadn’t, as it only made it worse. It had started shortly after they’d hooked him up to the medicine, and seemed to be slowly growing in intensity. His eye twitched in response.
He supposed it was better then the constant burning sensation, but still…
“Hmm… Interesting…” a new voice commented from the doorway. Reno blinked and had to shift slightly to his left to peer around the doctor. He immediately cringed upon seeing his newest “visitor”.
“… P-professor Hojo?” Dr. Ward stammered, blinking in confusion at the new arrival.
“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m merely here to observe the specimen,” Hojo said, dismissively, “My staff didn’t have the opportunity to conduct human trials before the lab was evacuated, you see… This is quite the opportunity. Quite the opportunity, indeed.”
Reno glowered in response to being deemed a “specimen”… and a part of him wondered if the son of a bitch conveniently “forgetting” to mention the existence of the slimy creature that had put him in this state had been a little more intentional than anyone had realized. He sure as hell wouldn’t have put it past him, anyway.
Dr. Ward frowned and turned fully to face the man, arms folded over her chest.
“My patient is in need of peace and quiet… not being stared at like a Titan-forsaken lab rat. I’m going to have to respectfully ask yeh ta leave.”
“Hmm? Oh, no, no, no! I can’t do that… I simply must see the reaction to the second dose first hand,” Hojo protested, and the doctor suddenly went very still.
“What reaction?” she demanded, her irritated tone turning decidedly icy. Reno felt a chill settle over him. What the fuck had Hojo done to him now?
“Well it’s quite difficult to say, really,” the bespectacled scientist replied, clasping his hands behind his back. “As I told you, no human tests were ever conducted… but the live animal tests… Oh, now those were quite remarkable.”
Reno blinked in an attempt to clear the sudden blurriness from his vision, but it didn’t seem help. Instead, everything around him took on a slightly grayish hue. He sat up slightly, and the room suddenly tilted violently.
“… Doc? I don’t… feel so good…” he managed, weakly, before sagging back against his pillows. He was only dimly aware of Dr. Ward’s renewed focus on him rather than Hojo…
There were only two of them… easy odds, under normal circumstances. But at the moment, Rude had only one free hand and was essentially on a rather short leash. Still… he might still be able to pull it off. Odds were pretty good that their weapons consisted of blunt objects, or, at best, a blade or two. Firearms weren’t especially common down here, owing to their hefty purchase price. If they were your everyday, average slum rats, they might be armed with something more deadly than a baseball bat or a switchblade… but it was relatively unlikely.
Though… if they were Corneo’s men, that logic went right out the window. The Don was well funded, and not shy about outfitting his goons with guns.
He’d decided, however, that he’d have to risk it. He had a sneaking suspicion that the next time they came to see him, it would be to get rid of him. They’d made it pretty clear that he was never meant to walk out of here alive. And given that the only real advantage he had right now was that he wasn’t as disabled as they believed him to be, the prudent thing to do would be to kick their teeth in and run.
There was still the little matter of being chained to the damn wall, though. If he was going to get out of this alive, he needed to take them down, hard. Hard enough that they wouldn’t be getting up until he got loose and was on his way back topside.
With his current limitations, he could only reach to about the middle of the room. He’d have to let them get close. They likely still thought he was half brain-dead, anyway, so that, at least, should be easy. The difficulty came in the actual takedown. He needed to get them both in range at the same time. If one of them hung back by the door, he was fucked. He might be able to take the keys to his chains off the first guy, but knocking him out, finding the keys, and setting himself free… all before his partner had time to react… was going to be tricky, even under the best of circumstances, if it came down to that.
Still… it was a plan at least. And it if didn’t work, at least he could say he went down fighting.
He heard the distinctive sound of footsteps coming toward his little prison again, and hurried to lay down in the same position they’d last seen him in. He couldn’t rush this. He had to be patient and wait for them to get close.
Before he had the chance, however, a loud bang echoed in the small space, and Rude’s eyes snapped open instinctively. At first, he’d thought it was a gunshot… but the sound of shouting and the stomping of feet from beyond the door didn’t exactly seem reminiscent of a firefight. A moment later, he found out exactly what the sound had been… as the door to the room was violently kicked in, slamming hard into the wall beside it with a near identical bang.
“Reno?! Reno… can yeh hear me?!” Ward demanded, peering into the redhead’s eyes with a small penlight. Liam had jumped to his feet in response to the senior Turk’s sudden… well, he wasn’t sure what,exactly had happened. One moment, he’d seemed perfectly fine. The next, he’d gone white as a sheet and his eyes had rolled back in his head as he slumped over.
Kai, too, was out of bed and rushing to Reno’s bedside, in spite of the doctor’s halfhearted protests. But where Kai was inclined to lend whatever help she could, Liam seemed to be… frozen.
He could only watch in silence as additional medical staff flooded the room… and it wasn’t long before he was shoved bodily out of the way to make room for more equipment and personnel. His stomach twisted unpleasantly, as he wondered if this was it… if this was going to be the first time he had to watch someone die. Liam had known from the start that death was part of the Turks’ repertoire. He’d known that he would be expected to kill for Shinra Company… possibly even die for them. Death was to be as much a part of his life as living was. Somehow, though, he felt woefully unprepared for the reality.
He shook his head violently, trying to banish the thought. Midgar had the best medical facilities on the Planet. Reno wasn’t going to die.
Liam’s gaze, however, shifted away from the frenzied spectacle in front of him, unwilling to risk being wrong about that and having to watch. It fell, instead, upon a lone figure hovering at the foot of the redhead’s bed.
Hojo certainly didn’t seem to have any problems watching. He was, Liam realized with a sudden chill, watching with a disturbing intensity. And the faintly maniacal grin on his face didn’t exactly help to assuage the young rookie’s fears…
Rude was on his feet in an instant, fists poised to fight, even though his odds suddenly seemed to have been significantly reduced. He could still hear shouting from down the hall, and now he was faced with two rather angry-looking men… both of whom had guns aimed at him.
And one of whom he recognized.
“… Kotch.”
The mohawked slum rat smirked at him, and lowered his weapon. Kotch snickered loudly as he strolled calmly over to the Turk.
“You?!” he asked with an incredulous laugh, “Of all the asshole Turks it coulda been, it’s you?! Oh, man… that’s fuckin’ hilarious…”
Rude’s eyes narrowed. Kotch was a relatively new addition to Corneo’s inner circle… but Rude was entirely too familiar with him, all the same. He was a pain in the ass… but unfortunately a smart and very resourceful one. His older brother worked security at the Honeybee.
“What’s Corneo want with me?” he asked, ignoring the taunts. Kotch laughed again and stuck his weapon into the waistband of his pants. He walked up to the imprisoned Turk and patted him condescendingly on the cheek.
“Ya got it all wrong, Rudy-boy…” he replied, grinning from ear to ear. “The Don didn’t order this. In fact, it’s your lucky day. We’re here ta save your sorry ass.”
Rude snorted in disbelief, which only seemed to amuse Kotch further.
“Hey, I’m serious,” the henchman said, still grinning. A moment later he tossed something at the Turk. Rude’s hand instinctively shot out to catch it… and he blinked in surprise as he saw that it was a key. He eyed the other man with deep suspicion as he slipped it into the lock that held the chain tight around his wrist, and turned it. It was something of a shock when said lock actually opened, freeing him.
“What’s the catch?” Rude queried, still not convinced.
“Heh… there’s always gotta be a catch with you, don’t there, Rudy-boy…” Kotch sniggered. “Chalk this one up to Don Corneo’s… generosity. The Don don’t want dead Turks stinkin’ up the place. And he definitely don’t like it when certain individuals think they can dump one in his backyard so he ends up takin’ the fall for it.”
“…”
“No need ta go thankin’ me or nothin’…” Kotch smugly cackled, as he turned and headed back through the door, “Knowin’ that I had to come rescue your sorry ass from a bunch of pathetic wannabes is reward enough.”
Rude rolled his eyes and somewhat hesitantly followed the man out into the hallway. The second of Corneo’s goons took up the rear. They made their way out into a small living room, its front window overlooking a deserted street. Several more of Corneo’s men were standing over the pair of would-be kidnappers, who were kneeling, their hands behind their heads, next to a third individual. The Turk’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He recognized him, as well. Kotch smacked the third man hard on the back of the head as he walked past him.
“This fuckin’ dumbass is the one that had the bright idea ta grab ya…” he sneered, “Know ‘im?”
“Hmph… yeah. I know him,” Rude replied. He was one of the gang leaders over in Sector 4… with his own little burgeoning “empire” built in much the same mold as Corneo’s. He was ruthless and determined and not at all shy about how much he coveted the Don’s territory. Kotch smirked and drew his gun, pointing it at the man’s head.
“Don Corneo sends his regards,” he said, and pulled the trigger.
“Fuck!” one of the gangster’s cohorts shouted, as his boss’ blood sprayed over him before he could scurry out of its path. The other man simply stared, mouth slightly agape, as their employer’s body fell over onto its side on the floor with a dull thud. Kotch chuckled sadistically. The blood-spattered man looked up at him. “D-don’t kill me… I was just followin’ orders…”
“Tch… So am I, dickweed,” Kotch noted, before turning his gun on him as well. “Heh… Asshole picked the wrong moron to take orders from, ya ask me.”
He turned, at last, to the final man… Rude’s potential informant. Kotch sighed and tapped his gun against his cheek.
“Ivan, Ivan, Ivan… What the fuck were ya thinkin’ tryin’ to fuck over the Don and double-cross the Turks at the same damn time? You really think somethin’ this dumb was acutally gonna work? How fuckin’ stupid are ya?”
The would-be informant dropped his gaze to the floor.
“No answer, huh? Well… suit yourself…” Kotch continued, and pulled the trigger a third time. Ivan fell onto his side, dead. Kotch snapped his fingers and headed for the exit. “Come on, boys. We’re done here,” he said, before turning back to Rude. “The Don says to let your boss know he wasn’t in on this shit. He ain’t lookin’ for a fight with the Turks.”
“… Noted,” Rude grudgingly replied. He took one final look down at the three dead men before shaking his head and stepping over one of the bodies on his way out. As he walked out onto the street, he was met by the rather welcome sight of most of his own team arriving… guns trained on Corneo’s men, and looking very ready to start shooting.
“I’m fine,” the bald Turk hurried said, “Wasn’t Corneo. Some idiots from Four tried to set him up. These… fine gentlemen… were just escorting me out.”
“Hmph… We’ll just be goin’ now,” Kotch said, brushing past the heavily armed Turks. Remy looked as though she might move to stop him, but Tseng motioned for her to stay put.
“Let’s go,” the Turk lieutenant said, frowning in annoyance as he holstered his own weapon. “Preferably before we end up owing Don Corneo any more favors today.”
Kotch snorted in amusement and disappeared into the shadows of a nearby alleyway with the rest of his men. When they were gone, Tseng rounded on the younger Turk.
“We’ll be discussing your proclivity for going into the slums without backup later,” Tseng informed him, in a decidedly displeased tone… though it quickly softened, “For now, however… are you injured at all?”
“… Just a splitting headache from almost having my skull knocked in,” he replied, pausing for a moment before muttering softly, “And I think I may have broken my thumb trying your handcuff escape trick…”
The Turk lieutenant forced down a somewhat amused smirk, before quickly regaining his composure.
“Then I think a brief stop at Midgar General is in order,” Tseng said, “There is a very anxious redhead who was quite concerned about you when I left him. By now, he’s probably driving himself, along with most of the medical staff, up the wall… Remy, you and Sato see to, what I’m sure, is quite the mess inside.”
Rude blinked and, for the first time, realized that Reno wasn’t there amongst the other Turks backing Tseng up.
“What happened to Reno?” he asked, somewhat concerned himself. Tseng shook his head, and guided the younger man off towards the train station.
“… I’ll let him tell you. I’m not entirely sure you’d believe me… I’m not entirely sure I’d believe me. As our resident B-movie connoisseur himself noted, it sounds like the plot of a particularly bad horror movie.”
Rude snickered softly. “Sir… If Reno’s involved, I’d believe just about anything.”
Liam had been trying, for almost twenty minutes now, to reach Veld, but the Turk leader was apparently still in his meeting with the executive board. He finally gave in and sent a text message instead, hoping that he might have at least some suggestion of what he should be doing.
He’d been rather unceremoniously shooed out of the hospital room, and though he could easily have stayed just beyond the doorway, and listened to what was going on, he’d quickly found that he simply… couldn’t. Instead, he’d retreated to a small lounge down the hall and started his attempts to contact Veld. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Realistically, it was Tseng he should be calling. A part of him was, however, dreading that conversation.
Aside from the fact that the Turk lieutenant was mid-mission… Reno was his personal protege. Hell, if Sato was to be believed, the redhead was destined to be the next second in command eventually. How in the Nine Hells was he supposed to tell his superior that he’d taken a turn for the worse? He was just a rookie! He wasn’t supposed to have this level of responsibility yet!
Liam shook his head and groaned. It had to be done. He was supposed to be “babysitting” the senior Turk, after all. The whole point of him being here was to keep an eye on things while Tseng was busy elsewhere. He at last dialed Tseng’s number…
And then jumped with a faint shriek as a phone began to ring directly behind him.
He heard an undisguised snicker as he turned and found not only the Turk lieutenant, but Rude, as well, walking towards him.
“Hmph… One of these days you’re going to permanently traumatize a rookie, sir…” Rude commented.
“Sir,” Liam breathed, not entirely sure if he was relieved to see him, or terrified of having to deliver the bad news in person rather than over the phone. Tseng frowned slightly.
“Why were you calling me? What’s happened?” he asked, ignoring Rude’s teasing. Liam shook his head.
“They kicked me out, so… I’m not really sure what’s going on at this point. Reno passed out after they started giving him the second dose of anti-toxin, and Hojo said he was here to… see the reaction?”
“Hojo is here?” Tseng all but hissed, eyes narrowing in anger. He didn’t wait for confirmation from the rookie. He simply stormed off, fists clenched, towards the redhead’s room. Rude said nothing, but hurried after him, and after a moment’s hesitation, so did Liam.
“What have you done to him?!” he heard Tseng demand from inside just before he reached the doorway himself, and he cautiously peered around the corner. The Wutaiian Turk was staring Hojo down, an expression of utter rage on his face. Liam swallowed harshly. He’d never seen anyone look quite so ticked off.
Hojo, meanwhile, seemed almost absurdly calm by comparison, looking the imposing Turk over with a sneer.
“Merely what I was asked to do,” the scientist replied. “I have supplied an antidote to Project 472’s poison. Nothing more. I am here to observe whether or not a human test subject’s response to treatment is in line with previously conducted live animal testing. It has proven quite… enlightening.”
“Get out,” Tseng growled.
“I am still collecting data on this specimen,” Hojo replied, annoyed. “I will leave when I am finished.”
Tseng suddenly lunged at the bespectacled man, and only the fact that Rude was quick enough to restrain him prevented what Liam suspected very well might have been Hojo’s untimely demise.
“Tseng!” Rude shouted, holding his superior firmly in place as he struggled against his captor.
“Enough!” Dr. Ward demanded, at last tearing herself away from her patient long enough to turn her displeasure on the newcomers. “I frankly don’t care right now if yeh beat one another senseless, but take it inta the hallway or I’ll call security ta toss all three of yeh out!”
“Hmph… Fine. I’ll leave,” Hojo replied, unperturbed. “I do,however, expect a full report on the specimen’s prognosis and outcome. And its lab results!” He paused and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, eyeing Tseng with disdain. “And I will be lodging a formal complaint with your commanding officer.” With that, he brushed past the two Turks and into the hallway, ignoring Liam entirely as he made his way towards the elevators. Rude refused to release Tseng until he was certain the oddball scientist was well out of his range. By then, Kai had made her way over to the group.
“Do not tell me to calm down,” Tseng ground out, before she could even open her mouth. Kai smirked.
“Wasn’t going to. I kind of like seeing you make a complete ass of yourself once in awhile,” she teased. “But before you have an aneurysm… or kill someone… you can relax. He’s alright.”
Tseng eyes immediately went to Reno, and Liam suddenly realized that there was far fewer staff present than when he’d left. It was now only Dr. Ward, and a single nurse.
“What happened?” the Turk lieutenant queried, as Liam finally slipped back into the room. As he did so, he could see that Reno was awake… though looking more than a little out of it.
“Just had a bit of a scare, is all,” Ward replied. “His blood pressure dropped unexpectedly and he lost consciousness fer a wee bit. He’s a might disoriented still, but he seems ta be fine. We’ll keep him on fluids and oxygen until I’m certain he’s not going ta give us a repeat performance.” She turned suddenly towards Kai. “And I thought I told yeh ta get back inta bed!”
The diminutive Turk rolled her eyes, but wordlessly complied with the doctor’s order. Dr. Ward shook her head.
“Not a one of yeh follows medical advice. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother ta give it in the first place…” she muttered, and turned back to her other patient. “Are yeh with us yet, my little headache?”
The redhead groaned softly.
“I say yes, can I get outta here already?” he asked, somewhat woozily. Ward snorted an unimpressed laugh.
“Yer not going anywhere.”
Tseng made his way over to his protege’s bedside, Rude trailing behind him, and the younger Turk perked up slightly.
“Heh… You still in one piece, Rude?”
“… More or less,” the bald Turk chuckled. Ward’s eyes narrowed and she studied him for a moment.
“He will likely need an x-ray of his hand,” Tseng supplied, before she could ask. “And you may want to rule out a concussion, as well. He took a rather hard hit earlier.”
The doctor clucked her tongue disapprovingly and circled around the bed, seizing Rude by one arm.
“Hmph… at least this one usually does as he’s told. Come on, then. Yeh can visit later. Let’s see ta yeh,” she said, leading him out of the room. Rude grudgingly went with her.
Reno leaned back against his pillows as Tseng took a seat at his bedside.
“Hey, boss?” he asked, still sounding a bit groggy, “You know how you said you’d get me some extra vacation days for this shit?”
Tseng smiled faintly. “Unfortunately, yes… I do recall saying something along those lines.”
“Can I take ’em soon as the Doc clears me? After today, I could really use a nice long weekend in Costa del Sol… or… ya know… maybe a week or three?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” the senior Turk chuckled.
“Hey!” Kai interjected from the other side of the room, “Now wait just one Shiva-forsaken minute. I’m stuck in bed ’cause of one of Hojo’s experiments, too, ya know… I almost lost an arm! He just got a little poisoned. How come he’s the one who gets a trip to the beach?”
Tseng turned towards her. “He asked first.” And then he smirked. “And frankly, I like him more,” he teased.
“Have I ever told you you’re an asshole, Tseng?” Kai snickered, rolling her eyes.
~end chapter 17~