Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 40: Gone to Gongaga

It was about five minutes before the morning briefing, and Rude was skimming through the last of the recent intelligence reports, having already flagged several of them for a closer look later. A couple of them seemed promising… and a few more might at least fill out his file on the Zenshou a bit. They were a secretive bunch, after all. He knew plenty about how, where, and through whom they sold their merchandise, but next to nothing about their internal structure, their leadership, or where they procured their inventory… besides the obvious thefts, of course. He didn’t even really know for certain where they were based out of these days. Some said Wutai… others, claimed it was somewhere on the western content. One contact absolutely insisted that they had an old, decommissioned Shinra airship, and simply moved from place to place at will… a theory that was almost as absurd as it was hard to dismiss, because frankly, the bastards really were a bit ghost-like.

His research was interrupted, however, by a quiet knock on the doorframe. Rude looked up and saw Sykes peering through the open door.

“Er… Do you know where Reno is, sir?” he asked.

“Got tapped for an emergency assignment by the vice president about ten minutes ago,” the senior Turk replied, “… Need something?”

“Um… n-no. Just… I was hoping he might… give me a heads up? About today’s exercises, I mean…”

Rude snorted a quiet laugh. “Good luck with that. He wouldn’t even tell me.”

The rookie sighed, shoulders sagging.

“I really hate not knowing when it’s coming.”

That had been the worst part of his Hell Week, too. The waiting. The morbid expectation. The sheer terror as you realized that it was starting and you didn’t feel ready for it. He vividly remembered wishing desperately that his fellow rookie had been around, because Reno would have told him everything was going to be fine… or at least made him laugh for a little while. It occurred to him that Sykes was in the same predicament: the first of his group of rookies to go through Hell Week, which meant that those still waiting for their turn had to be kept in the dark throughout the process. Sometimes, seniority wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

“… Yeah. I know what you mean,” Rude hastily replied. He smirked slightly. “Don’t worry. You can’t possibly do anything to top Reno’s Hell Week. I had to grab him, and lock us both in the archives room just to keep Heidegger from strangling him.”

“… No offense, sir… but the more I hear about whatever the heck it was Reno did, the less sure I am I even want to know,” Sykes said, eyes widening. Rude snorted in laughter.

“That’s probably for the best. He was naked at the time,” he snickered, which drew an incredulous, and very confused look, and then a quiet laugh, from the rookie, as well. “I’m not sure when he’ll be back, but if it’s before your next evaluation, I’ll let him know you were looking for him.”

“Thanks, sir.” Sykes backed out into the hallway and started off in the direction of the conference room… only to turn back a moment later and poke his head into the office again. “Sir, did you really used to throw Reno into the company pool when he got too worried about things?”

A wide grin spread over the senior Turk’s face. “Fully clothed, and whether he liked it or not,” he proudly confirmed. “And I’d do it again, if I ever had to.”

---

Reno had seated himself as physically far away from Scarlet as he could manage… but that wasn’t saying much. The executive copter was roomy, but it wasn’t that roomy. He was still much closer to the woman than he would have liked. Worse, she kept leering at him, with an expression that he could only realistically describe as predatory. Rufus was either too focused on his notes to comment, or he just didn’t particularly care… though to be fair, Reno suspected it was more likely the former, given that the vice president had proceeded to pointedly ignore the woman starting from the moment she’d taken her seat on the aircraft.

This was going to be a real fun trip.

He silently prayed that they wouldn’t be there overnight. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in some tiny, backwater inn with the bitch. He wouldn’t have put it past her to “accidentally” walk into the wrong room, or some other bullshit.

As the flight wore on, the redhead found himself inexplicably wishing that Rufus would say something to him. He didn’t even care what. Insults against his parentage, his manners, his intelligence… anything. As long as it gave him something other than Scarlet to focus on. He could practically feel her eyes roving over him, and it made his skin crawl. At the same time, though, he didn’t want to interrupt, because although the young executive was mostly avoiding having to give Scarlet the time of day, he was also legitimately preparing for a public appearance to address a pretty serious matter.

Reno clamped down on a sigh and turned his gaze out on of the side windows, watching the ocean slip past beneath them. He could still feel her watching him.

Tseng had promised that he wouldn’t be assigned to a detail with Scarlet. Not on his own, at any rate. Which likely meant that the weapons researcher hadn’t bothered to clear the trip with anyone but President Shinra, nor had she notified the Turks of her travel plans. Rufus had certainly been surprised by her presence. In retrospect, it was a situation that they probably should have planned for, given that Scarlet only ever bothered with security when there was a known threat… but somehow it hadn’t occurred to either him or his mentor.

He glanced at his watch and belatedly wondered if Tseng was even aware he was gone. The morning briefing would likely be in full swing – had possibly even concluded, by now – but the Turk lieutenant had been notably absent from said meeting all week, since he had exercises to conduct. Unless Rufus had gone to Tseng first and been informed that he was unavailable, it was entirely possible that the redhead hadn’t even been missed yet… at least not by his mentor. Rude would almost certainly have filled the others in for him at the first available opportunity.

A moment later, he drew his PHS from his jacket, and typed out a short message to Tseng, just in case he came looking for him before someone had time to let him know. He debated telling him about his current situation, as well… but ultimately decided not to bother. After all, what could he do from Midgar? No sense in giving him something like that to worry about when he already had his hands full with Sykes. He’d just have to tough it out on his own and hope Scarlet didn’t manage to get him alone at some point.

He could do this. He’d just… avoid her as much as possible, and stick to Rufus like glue. That’s what he was here for anyway, and the little game of grab-ass earlier aside, surely Scarlet wouldn’t pull anything too obvious in front of someone who actually did outrank her. He could do this. A little extra vigilance. That’s all it would take. And then they’d head home and he could get the hell away from her again. Simple.

… Right?

---

“Hey! Sykes!” a voice called out as the rookie was lingering in the hallway. He had been about to knock on the door of Remy’s office, as he was due for a sparring session with her shortly. Just because it was Hell Week didn’t mean that training got put on hold. But he’d spotted Tseng heading in that direction and quickly ducked into a nearby supply closet. Now, he was waiting for the Turk lieutenant to finish whatever conversation he was having with his instructor for the morning, and hoping that he hadn’t been seen.

He grinned widely as he turned back and saw Liam waving at him. A moment later, Petra rounded the corner as well.

“Am I ever glad to see you guys…” he laughed.

“How’s Hell Week?” Liam asked, and Sykes shook his head.

“Pretty much just like the name implies,” he groaned. “You guys heading out?”

“We’re just waiting on Kai,” Petra answered, finally catching up to the youngest of their number. “You look exhausted.”

“I… didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night,” Sykes grudgingly admitted, “I’ll be glad when –”

“Ah, ah, ah… Naughty little Turklings,” a voice cut him off, and a moment later, the aforementioned senior Turk joined them. “No spoilers for the little ones!”

Sykes resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the minuscule Turk’s continued insistence to refer to them as though they were children. He’d be nineteen next month… and Petra was a year older than he was. Even Liam was closer to his nineteenth birthday than his eighteenth. But age didn’t seem to matter much to Kai. Neither, for that matter, did rank. She still called at least one of her fellow senior Turks”Baby Turkling”.

“We were just catching up, ma’am,” Liam piped up, “Petra and I have been so busy, we’ve hardly even seen Sykes all week…”

“That’s the point, kiddo,” Kai snickered, flashing him a grin. “Come on, you two… march. You heard Veld. We’re in charge of precautionary reactor sweeps today! Fun, fun, fun!” When all three of the rookies stared at her incredulously in response, she burst into laughter. “Oh, come on… they’re not that boring. Now, move it. The sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll finish.”

Liam and Petra audibly groaned, but resumed their journey towards the elevator.

“See you later, Sykes,” Liam called back over his shoulder, as Petra waved.

---

Tseng frowned deeply as he entered Veld’s office the moment he’d been granted access, and took a seat in front of his desk.

“Something on your mind?” his mentor asked, and Tseng snorted softly.

“Remy informs me that there’s been an explosion of some sort at the Gongaga reactor…”

Veld nodded. “The vice president is en route now. Apparently the President wants him to be the public face of the company for this. He took Reno with him as security, before I was even aware of it. I’m sorry if that interferes with your Hell Week plans, but…”

Tseng waved dismissively. “I’m not surprised. I informed him ahead of time that I would be otherwise engaged this week. In any case, you know full well that I’d rather have Reno looking out for him than one of the others, anyway. He actually listens to Reno. I can manage. Do we know what happened?”

“Not for certain, no. If the board has more information, they haven’t passed it along to us yet. It sounds like there may be quite a few casualties, however… not surprising, given the reactor’s proximity to the town.”

“Are we considering this an accident, or an act of sabotage?” Tseng asked.

“For the time being, I’m considering it an incident… because, frankly, I don’t know either way. I’ve instructed everyone at the briefing to be ready for a possible trip to the western continent if it turns out to be anything other than accidental, but… until we have further word from higher up, we have nothing to act on. For now, we continue with current assignments.”

The Turk lieutenant nodded in understanding. “I suppose, then, Hell Week continues as planned, as well.”

“I think that goes without saying,” Veld chuckled, “How’s our latest victim doing?”

“In terms of the evaluations? Quite well. I’ve identified a few areas that need some improvement, but his hand to hand skills are coming along nicely. Today will be the modesty exercise.” He paused a moment in consideration and then continued, “In terms of how he’s handling things outside of the evaluations, however… I believe he’s letting the stress get to him. And Remy’s comments to him yesterday certainly didn’t help. I’ve already had a quick word with her about that.”

Veld cocked an eyebrow, curious. “What did she say to him?” he asked.

“Nothing… malicious,” Tseng sighed, shaking his head, “She certainly didn’t intend to upset him. Quite the opposite, in fact. I had the distinct impression that it was actually an attempt at a joke to lighten his mood. It simply fell rather flat without her realizing it. She made some off-handed comments regarding Reno’s Hell Week and his run-in with Heidegger that were somewhat… misinterpreted.”

Before he could continue, his PHS pinged with a notification of a new text message. He extracted the device from his pocket and gave it a cursory glance.

“Anything important?”

Tseng shook his head. “No, sir. Just a courtesy text from Reno informing me that he’s been commandeered by Rufus for the day,” he said, tucking it back into his jacket. Veld nodded.

“Well, if you happen to need someone to fill in for your protege today… it has been quite some time since I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy Hell Week from the front row. I’m sure I can spare some time…” the Turk leader said with a small smirk.

“I may just take you up on that, sir…” Tseng chuckled.

---

As Rufus disembarked from the helicopter, he took the opportunity to stretch out a bit. His efforts to pretend that Scarlet was anywhere but the passenger section for the duration of the flight had been relatively successful… but it had come at the cost of his comfort. He’d spent the last two hours hunched over his notes regarding the Gongaga reactor, pointedly not even glancing in her direction. It had left him rather stiff.

And thoroughly annoyed. He’d been hoping to have a calm, relaxing flight before he was forced to throw himself to the wolves. Rufus had no illusions that the reporters, who would almost certainly have beaten them there, would go easy on him. Especially if the death toll was as high as predicted. He could have used a little small-talk to keep his mind off of the thought of having to deal with them. He’d never been fond of public speaking. It was a necessary evil, and he pushed through it when he absolutely had to, but in general, he was not fond of speeches the way his father was.

It was half the reason he’d gone straight to the Slum Rat’s office to begin with… the other half being that he was well aware that Tseng was unavailable this week. As irritating as he was, Tseng’s obnoxious little pet was still preferable to most of the others. At least he was willing to converse… even if said conversation was generally of either the plebeian or idiotic variety… or both at once. The redhead had about as much culture as a petri dish and the class to match. But the rest of them tended to only speak when spoken to, and seldom about anything other than their job. They were boring, and he’d wanted to be entertained.

And… perhaps for his own peace of mind, as well. The damned Turk was a idiot, but… a reliable one. He could be trusted to do whatever was required of him with discretion and professionalism. Tseng had, at least, trained him well in that regard, even if there were plenty of other facets of the Slum Rat’s personality Rufus was of the opinion ought to have been quashed a long time ago. It was likely too late now. He’d just have to take the little pest as he was.

And then Scarlet had shown up and ruined his entire flight.

Scarlet was, without a doubt, the worst mistake his father had ever made. Oh, she was competent enough when it came to her precious weaponry… talented, even. But the woman knew nothing about running a department, let alone a company. She didn’t belong on the Ramuh-forsaken board, by any stretch of the imagination, and the only reason she was there was because she was a whore who’d let his father get under her skirt. And even though the elder Shinra had long since grown bored of her, she’d managed to sink her claws in deep. Try as he might, Rufus had been thoroughly unable to dislodge them. He’d wanted her kicked out from the moment she was given the position. His father continuously refused any time the subject came up… and the woman took a sadistic sort of pleasure in rubbing that in Rufus’ face at every opportunity.

She’d pay for that, eventually, though. He could be patient. The moment his father saw fit to retire and named him president of the company, she’d be out on her ass so fast her head would spin. He might even replace the executive board, wholesale. It wasn’t as if Heidegger and Palmer were any more useful than she was.

He was shaken from his thoughts as the aforementioned whore followed him out into the bright Costa del Sol sun with a laugh. He turned in time to see the redhead hastily scurrying past her to join him on the landing pad.

“We have a fair amount of time before we’re refueled,” Rufus said, “… and I don’t intend to spend it either inside of that flying tin can or sweltering in the sun on the helipad. I’m going into town.” He glared pointedly at Scarlet, “You can do whatever you wish, so long as it is far away from me.”

With that, he turned on his heel and strode off towards the main street of the resort community, the Slum Rat quickly falling into step beside him.

“Ugh… I’m sorely tempted to simply let that moron wander into the contamination site to check on her ‘project’…” he muttered once they were a good ways out of earshot. He’d expected a biting comment. He didn’t even get so much as a grunt from his security detail. “I want it on record that you are my security for this trip. Not hers. She will inevitably try to hijack your services for some task or other. You are officially under orders not to leave my side for the duration. If she wanted a manservant, she should have brought her own.”

That would annoy her, most definitely. Rufus was fairly certain that, should the chance to get a look at whatever remained of her project present itself, she would try to take advantage of it. But only if she could make someone else take on the risk. He wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction.

“Yes, sir,” the redhead replied, in a somewhat strange tone of voice. Curious, Rufus stole a glance over at the Slum Rat… who was looking nothing short of profoundly relieved as they made the short walk into the town proper.

Odd…

“Rufus?” a voice called out before he could give it any further consideration. He turned in the direction of the sound and smiled slightly. She was clearly dressed for the beach, but the informal attire did little to disguise an upbringing that oozed of class and aristocracy.

“Ah… Miss Vasquez.”

The woman laughed quietly, and shook her head. “Serena. Please. After the favor you did me, I think it only proper we be on a first name basis with one another.” Her gaze slid over to the redhead. “Your new bodyguard?”

“The alternate when my preferred choice is unavailable,” he said, rolling his eyes, “And far more irritating to be around than his superior. This one talks. Incessantly.”

“I hadn’t expected to see you here again so soon… Was your father angry about the… deal… falling through?” she asked, teasingly. Rufus snorted a quiet laugh.

“Furious, as a matter of fact,” he said with a wry smirk, “Though I’m not sure who he was more angry with. Me, for failing to do as instructed, or your father for not disclosing your engagement during the initial negotiations. Though it seems to have put him off the idea of matchmaking for the time being, so I consider the meeting a rousing success.”

“… Do I even wanna know what you two are talkin’ about?” the redhead piped up.

“It’s no concern of yours,” Rufus replied, waving a hand dismissively.

“Well, then perhaps you’d like to join my fiance and I for lunch to celebrate that… ‘successful’ meeting?”

“I’m afraid I can’t. I assume, by now, you’ve at the very least heard the rumors of what’s happening in Gongaga. We’re en route to deal with the fallout and are only here to refuel. I simply thought I’d take the opportunity to stretch my legs a bit in the interim.”

Serena smiled understandingly. “A quick drink, then. It sounds like you’re going to need it, and the pub on the main street serves an excellent margarita.”

“Hmm… I suppose I do have time for that,” he agreed. After all… it would take a good twenty minutes or so for the crew to finish up, and the young woman was pleasant company. The Slum Rat groaned faintly next to him.

“Just don’t start any bar fights this time, sir…” the redhead sighed. Rufus shot him a glare.

“Silence.”

The irritating pain in the ass smirked in response… but obligingly shut his mouth, as Serena laughed.

---

Reno’s reprieve from having to be sequestered in a confined space with Scarlet was over entirely too soon for his liking. He’d enjoyed it while he was able. That Serena chick was pretty okay… even if she was friends with Rufus. He’d made a mental note to ask Tseng what the story was with those two. They didn’t seem like old friends, by any means… and there had been a bizarre mention of flying pies, upon which Rufus had refused to elaborate on the way back to the helicopter.

For the time being, however, he tried to focus on his assignment. Rufus had abandoned his earlier intense study of his notes, but was still going out of his way to ignore Scarlet… which had led to a rather… interesting… discussion regarding a theoretical situation in which one might drop a person off the edge of the Plate. It had taken some effort to keep a straight face when Rufus had proclaimed that clearly “some people would fall faster than others, as they’re weighed down by their own ego”. Scarlet had scowled at him, but otherwise hadn’t attempted to contribute to the conversation.

Thankfully, the trip from Costa del Sol to Gongaga wasn’t a terribly long one by air. The plume of smoke, however, was visible long before the little village itself was.

“Holy shit…” Reno breathed as they drew nearer. The pilot kept his distance, but the redhead could very clearly see the reactor. Or, more accurately, what used to bethe reactor. It had been decimated. All that was left was a smoking crater surrounded by twisted debris. But the truly disturbing site was the town. The explosion had very obviously leveled a number of buildings, and done at least some damage to several of the ones that remained standing. A faint, greenish haze lingered over the place, leaving it looking like something out of a horror movie. Reno had never seen raw mako just floating in the air like that, but the glow was unmistakable. Rufus moved to get a better look a moment later, frowning deeply as he looked down at the sight.

“It’s worse that the initial reports implied,” he noted. In the distance, Reno spotted a small tent city set up in a clearing, where the survivors had been evacuated to after the destruction. He wondered just how many had made it out alive. And of those, how many would still be alive tomorrow. They were practically at ground zero, even in town. Even if they weren’t badly injured, there had to be a lot of people afflicted with mako poisoning down there.

He felt a hand brush not-so-subtly against his thigh, and stiffened in response as Scarlet joined them.

“My project!” she lamented.

“For Ramuh’s sake, at least pretend you have a little common decency, you useless witch. There are going to be cameras down there, you know,” Rufus sneered at her. “In fact, just stay the hell away from the reporters altogether. I have enough of a mess to clean up as it is. Shinra Company doesn’t need you adding to it.”

“Hmph… Fine. Then give me the Turk. We’ll go and see if anything can be salvaged while you’re… cleaning.”

Reno was almost certain he paled slightly at the suggestion. Particularly when the woman turned and leered at him once again. This time her hand did far more than brush his thigh. Rufus, however, glowered at her.

“He is here as my security, and given just how many people down there are likely more than a little angry with Shinra at the moment, he certainly won’t be sent off on some futile little scavenger hunt for the Weapons Department. You weren’t even supposed to be on this trip. If you’re too inept to do it yourself, then wait in the Ramuh-forsaken helicopter!” he roared.

Scarlet… seemed to be shocked into silence for the moment, capable only of opening and closing her mouth like a land-bound fish. Before she could manage a response, the aircraft set down a short distance from the refugees’ tents, and Rufus turned his back on her, addressing the Turk instead.

“Let’s go. I’m sure those vultures have been practically climbing over one another since they spotted us in the air.”

“Yes, sir,” the redhead acknowledged, greatly relieved to be leaving Scarlet’s company once more… even if it did mean dealing with a lot of angry and distraught townsfolk.

---

It felt like rain. The air had that familiar muggy, sticky feel to it that often preceded a summer storm, and Sykes could already see dark clouds gathering in the distance. Midgar was in for some weather.

He was kind of glad, actually. Since moving south, he’d discovered he liked it when it rained… whether it was a light drizzle or a raging thunderstorm. The Great Glacier didn’treally get rain. Just lots of snow and the occasional ice storm. The rookie liked the smell of it. The feel of it. The way it left the air feeling somehow fresher when it was over. Back home, you didn’t get any of that… not that the Glacier didn’t have a beauty of its own, but such drastic changes in season were a little bit of a novelty for someone who’d grown up in the snowy landscape. Up north, they had the light season – when things warmed up moderately and the winds stopped whipping the snowdrifts into a frenzy throughout the day – and the dark season, when daylight hours dwindled to next to nothing and the entire village hunkered down for weeks at a time.

It was definitely going to rain.

And he was sorely tempted to just stay up here until it did. But he really couldn’t. He had to meet Remy for sparring. The rookie stepped aboard the elevator, leaving the rooftop behind, and pressed the button for the thirty-third floor. A few moments later, the doors opened, and he stepped out into the hallway before making his way into the training hall.

“Um… Sykes?” a voice prodded in surprise.

“Don’t ask…” he sighed.

“… I think I have to…” Remy said, blinking as she took in his appearance. “Why in Leviathan’s name are you… orange?”

“It was the less embarrassing option.”

The senior Turk raised an eyebrow, but didn’t further question the explanation… for which Sykes was grateful. He really didn’t want to relive that evaluation just yet. He’d walked right into the trap, and was still kicking himself for it. He never should have followed Veld into that room.

Once inside, the lights had gone out. When they’d come back on, the Turk leader had vanished and he’d found himself locked in, with two options of exit. One door would only be opened if he stripped down to nothing. The other… well… the result of choosing that door was fairly obvious at the moment. Both led out onto the first floor concourse… and the multitudes of people heading to and from their lunch breaks. He damn sure wasn’t walking out there naked…

“Ah. Right. Hell Week. Well… go and clean up, and then we’ll get started,” Remy said, shaking her head slightly.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, and hurried off to the locker room to shower and change into something less… fluorescent. When he emerged again, Remy was waiting for him on the practice mats. To his consternation, however, his instructor didn’t motion for him to prepare to defend himself.

“It… seems I owe you an apology,” she began, instead.

“… Ma’am?” he queried, uncertainly.

“For the other day. I’m sorry if my… admittedly under-detailed… recounting of Reno’s Hell Week caused you unnecessary concern. That wasn’t my intent. I was only trying to convey that… we’ve all been through this. Even the things that seem terrifying at the time can be… if not entirely pleasant memories, then at least far less awful in hindsight,” she said, somewhat stiltedly, and Sykes got the distinct impression that Remy wasn’t the type of person who liked to admit when she was wrong, “I… suppose I didn’t do a very good job of that.”

“That’s okay, ma’am,” Sykes said, feeling surprisingly bolstered by the knowledge that even the more experienced Turks occasionally made a mistake or two. Remy nodded in acknowledgment.

“Then, if you’re ready…” she said, taking up an offensive stance, and smiling slightly as Sykes hurried to prepare himself for the incoming attack.

---

“No, we’re not certain yet what caused the explosion. We’ll have more information after the mako levels have dissipated enough to send in an investigation team,” Rufus said… for what had to have been the third time by now. He wasn’t sure how many different way he’d have to come up with to say “we don’t know” before it finally got through to them, but by Ramuh, he was getting annoyed with this.

They wanted someone to blame, of course. And as it was Shinra’s reactor, naturally, the blame was leaning heavily towards the company, no matter how much Rufus tried to steer it away… or at least towards a general neutrality. But until they had some concrete answers, no one was going to be satisfied. “We don’t know”, unfortunately, was the best he could do right now.

“After the explosion in Midgar Number Six, didn’t Shinra do anything to ensure this wouldn’t happen at any more reactors?” one woman piped up from the crowd of gathered reporters, which set off something of a frenzy amongst her cohorts as they all began demanding an answer.

Fortunately, this was a question Rufus had been expecting.

“The Number Six Reactor was an isolated incident resulting from a defective regulatory unit in the main core. Once the cause of the explosion was determined, all active reactors were examined for similar flaws. None were found, but even so Shinra Company has spent the last three years installing redundant failsafes on the regulators on every reactor.”

“When will you know what caused the Gongaga explosion?” someone else demanded, and Rufus resisted the urge to sigh. How in Ramuh’s name should he know?

“It will be at least a week before teams can safely enter the reactor site, and likely several more weeks to determine a cause, given the extent of the damage,” he said instead, to much angry muttering from the group of reporters, “… at which time, we will release our findings.”

“What about all the people you killed?!” an angry voice shouted from somewhere to his left, and the next thing he knew, he was being pushed down, behind the small podium that had been erected for the press conference, by the Slum Rat. Something wet splattered against the minuscule shelter, sending a spray of red across the front. A second one followed a moment later, and the Turk grimaced slightly as it struck him in the back, as he shielded the executive. He brushed the remains of what looked like a tomato off of his jacket.

“Uh, sir? Think you might wanna wrap this up. Crowd’s gettin’ a little unruly.”

Rufus’ eyes flickered towards the numerous cameras pointed in his general direction, and cringed upon realizing how the image of him cowering behind a podium from the threat of over-ripe fruit was going to look on the evening news. It certainly wasn’t an image he wanted to be known for… and he doubted his father would be overly pleased by it, either.

With a resigned sigh, he stood up again, waving the Turk off for the moment… and was immediately pegged in the shoulder by a third over-ripe projectile.

“In the mean time, Shinra Company will be arranging for food, shelter, and medical care for those displaced by the explosion,” he continued, as if nothing had happened. “We will release additional information as it becomes available.”

He nodded to the redhead, who quickly guided him back towards the small clearing where they’d left the helicopter, leaving the small contingent of Shinra army personnel that had arrived ahead of them to oversee crowd control. The vice president scowled faintly to himself. That certainly could have gone better. Between the moronic questions he had no answers to, and the unexpected deluge of produce, he suspected that he had looked like an utter moron up there.

“Tch… waste of good food…” the slum rat suddenly commented, and Rufus felt him swipe a finger across his tomato-coated shoulder. He turned just as the Turk was sticking said finger in his mouth.

“Ugh… Surly you can’t be that hungry…” he said, rolling his eyes in disgust. Reno shrugged indifferently. Rufus turned and strode towards the helicopter, climbing aboard and tossing his soiled jacket onto the floor.

“Don’t take it personally, sir… They’re just pissed ‘n lookin’ for someone to be pissed at.”

“Hmph… Yes, well, I would have preferred my father pick someone else to be the target. We have a whole Ramuh-be-damned PR department for this sort of thing!” he muttered, settling himself in a seat. The redhead flashed him a grin.

“Yeah… but who wants to throw tomatoes at some random PR guy? I’d pay good money to chuck one at you sometimes ‘n not get fired for it…”

Rufus narrowed his eyes at the Turk.

“No one asked your opinion,” he growled, folding his arms over his chest. Reno took a seat across from him and stretched out.

“It’s a shit situation, sir. Nothin’s gonna make ’em stop bein’ ticked about their friends ‘n families gettin’ killed ‘n their town gettin’ half wiped off the map. You did what you could.”

He was right, of course. All he was offering was assistance after the fact. That wouldn’t bring back the dead. Hell, it wouldn’t even restore what had been destroyed for quite some time. The mako contamination would take weeks to fully dissipate, and that was assuming there were no leaks from the mako pool beneath the ruined reactor. They couldn’t even start to rebuild the town until the area was clear, and the reactor would take at least a year before it was up and running again. That meant a lot of the people who hadn’t been directly in the path of the destruction would be out of a job for the foreseeable future.

And there was always the possibility that Shinra was at fault. Gongaga was one of their earliest reactors. The equipment was older, more worn. It’s design had been improved upon numerous times by now, which meant it was largely outdated. There had been no sign of a problem… but Rufus knew all too well that sometimes the problem itself was the first sign.

He honestly wasn’t sure if he should hope it was merely an accident… or pray that someone had sabotaged the damned thing. Either way… he hoped that he wasn’t going to be the one stuck passing that information along to the press when it came. And not just because of the dry cleaning bills that apparently would be involved…

At last, he shook his head and sat up, intending to inform the pilot that they were ready to leave… only to remember at the last moment that they were still a passenger short.

“Where is that woman?” he muttered, more to himself than to his present companion, looking around the otherwise empty passenger section, before finally reaching for his PHS and dialing. It took several rings before she answered. Rufus didn’t even allow her to speak before thundering, “I swear to Hades, if you’re not on board this helicopter in the next five minutes I’m leaving without you, Scarlet!”

That done, he angrily ended to call and shoved the phone back into his pocket. When he looked up again, the Slum Rat was staring at him in shock.

“What?” he snapped. He hadn’t been in the best of moods to begin with… and Scarlet’s perpetual efforts to annoy him weren’t helping. To his surprise, the redhead merely shook his head.

“Ya know, sir… there are times when I’d give just about anything to be able to do that…” he replied, earnestly.

~end chapter 40~