Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 42: A Night Out

“It’s over…” Sykes groaned as he stepped into the lounge on Friday afternoon. Liam and Petra both immediately broke into giggles as their friend dropped bonelessly onto the couch. They’d spent most of the day at Fort Condor with Remy. He, meanwhile, had spent most of the day looking over his shoulder every few seconds.

His last evaluation had been right after lunch… and compared to some of the others, it really wasn’t so bad. Actually, it had played to some of his biggest strengths, so he was pretty confident that his performance had been more than acceptable. It was a combination of strategy and stealth. He’d had to break into a room on the SOLDIER floor. Without being detected. Under a strict time limit.

Which would have been difficult even on a normal day. Today, though, SOLDIER knew ahead of time that he was coming, and their sole purpose in life for the half hour or so it had taken him was to make sure he didn’t succeed. Sykes, however, though fairly average in the strategy department, excelled when it came to stealth, and he knew it. He’d taken his time, and slipped past every last patrol without being spotted.

He’d heard Tseng mention a record of some sort as he and Reno were returning to their offices… but hadn’t had time to ask about it… and he vaguely wondered what said record was, and whether or not he’d managed to break it.

“Come on, Sykes… Was it really that bad?” Liam snickered, glancing up from the book he was holding in one hand.

“Hmph… Just you wait. You’ll find out first hand just how terrible Hell Week is sooner or later…” he replied, winging one of the couch’s throw pillows at his fellow rookie with a wide grin. It smacked him squarely in the face. “You’ve both got it to look forward to. Me? I never have to worry about it ever again.”

Petra laughed at the somewhat stunned expression the sudden impact had left on the youngest rookie’s face, and picked up the pillow from the floor, chucking it back at Sykes.

“Rub it in why don’t you?” she grinned. “Anyway… now that it’s over, I think you need to decompress and release all of that negative energy you’ve been storing up all week. Over dinner. How does Wutaiian sound? I found the best little hot pot place in Sector Four last week and I’ve been dying to go there with you two!”

“Tch… Don’t you three have… ya know… actual work to do?” a teasing voice queried from the doorway. Sykes turned his gaze on the entrance and found Reno leaning languidly against the doorframe, grinning.

“Not anymore, sir,” Liam piped up, nodding to the clock on the wall. “It’s five.”

“It is?” the senior Turk gasped, feigning shock. “Heh… yeah, alright. Get the hell outta here then,” he snickered, and glanced at Sykes. “‘Specially, you. Hell Week’s over. Go enjoy yourself.”

“Would… you like to join us, sir? We’re going out for dinner to celebrate…” Sykes offered.

“Tempting… but I already got plans tonight,” Reno replied, with a smirk, “The kind that don’t involve me keepin’ my clothes on after dinner. And if I’m really lucky, during dinner.”

“Way too much information, sir,” Liam snickered as he gathered up his book and his jacket and made his way over towards the door. Reno merely shrugged and stepped aside so that the rookie could pass.

“Goodnight, sir. See you Monday!” Petra said, cheerfully, as she followed his lead.

“‘Night,” Reno replied. He turned his attention back on Sykes. “So… glad to be done with it?”

“You have no idea, sir…” the rookie breathed as he got to his feet. The redhead cocked an eyebrow.

“I got no idea?” he parroted, grinning. “Uh… lemme just remind ya that I damn near got shit-canned during my Hell Week. You think you had it rough? I still had three more days of exercises to go after that little incident… ‘n Tseng did not go easy on me on account.”

Sykes laughed softly, as he moved to follow his friends. “Yes, sir. Have a good weekend.”

“Oh, I plan to,” the redhead replied, with a slightly lecherous grin. Sykes shook his head and hurried to catch up to the others, brushing past Remy with a quick wave on his way out.

---

The moment Sykes was gone, Reno turned around and found himself face to face with a very annoyed-looking Remy, eyeing him from the doorway with her arms folded over her chest.

“You will be keeping your clothes on during dinner, if you know what’s good for you. I happen to like this restaurant, and I don’t want to end up banned for life,” she said, pointedly. The redhead’s grin only widened at the comment, and Remy rolled her eyes and quietly laughed. “Just come on. We have reservations for five thirty.”

“Ooooh… reservations, huh? Takin’ me someplace fancy tonight?”

“Not fancy… just popular. It can be a little bit of a gamble if you just show up and ask for a table, especially on a Friday night. I wanted to make sure we’d actually get something to eat.”

“Lead the way,” Reno replied. He was glad Remy had wanted to get together tonight. After the week he’d had – and especially after his trip to Gongaga – he was in desperate need of company that wasn’t either losing their mind from stress or actively trying to force themselves on him. As much as he loved looking out for the rookies, Sykes had been kind of a handful the last couple days. Reno had spent so much time as an unofficial counselor, he’d hardly gotten any other work done since his return. In fact, he wasn’t sure who was happier to see Hell Week end… him, or Sykes.

Still… it had been worth it. Sykes had made it through, and now they could both relax a little. He grinned silently to himself as he wondered if Tseng had ever been as overwhelmed by how needy Reno’d been as a rookie. And he knew he had been needy. There had been more than a few times that the only thing that made Reno feel like he wasn’t a complete failure was Tseng. Sykes was stressed, sure, but the redheadbeen borderline neurotic at times back then. And sometimes more than just borderline. He’d calmed down quite a bit since he was sixteen.

The office was empty by now, save for a light in Veld’s office. Even Tseng had already left for the evening. Actually… he’d left almost a whole five minutes early today, as he’d arranged to fly out to Junon on a SOLDIER personnel carrier that was leaving at the end of the day. The redhead didn’t really have to wonder what he was planning on doing while he was there.

“What are you grinning about?” Remy asked, as they stepped aboard the elevator. Reno hit the button for the parking deck, and smirked as the doors closed.

“Just picturin’ you naked… same as I’ve been doin’ all afternoon…”

“I will smack you…” Remy deadpanned.

“Promise?” he teased, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. She couldn’t keep a straight face after that.

“Dear Leviathan, you are such a pervert…” she declared between laughs.

“Thank you,” he replied, proudly. The elevator dropped them off at the parking level, and they headed for their respective cars. A few short minutes later, Reno was following her down a street in Sector 4, and not long after that, he was standing with her near the hostess stand of a little Wutaiian restaurant he’d never been in before. They were quickly shown to their table.

“So… what’s good here?” the redhead asked, picking up the menu, and blinking momentarily in confusion. It wasn’t quite what he was expecting. Instead of actual dishes, it just listed… ingredients. He caught on a moment later when he finally realized what the large hotplate in the center of the table was for.

“Everything is good here. The difficulty is choosing between them all and deciding what you want in the pot.”

“Oh… I’m gonna like this…” he grinned.

---

Rude was running late, and he hated to be late for an appointment. True, this wasn’t one of his usual informants… but it was important none the less. Actually, it wasn’t an informant at all, but getting the woman to agree to meet with him had been almost as difficult. As he made his way through rush hour traffic towards the furthest reaches of the residential section of Sector 5, he found himself hoping that she didn’t back out.

He couldn’t say for certain why she was so hesitant, though given the rather lengthy tangent she’d gone off on during their phone call earlier in the week regarding space alien experiments and clones walking among us… he could venture a guess. The woman was definitely not quite all there.

He pulled up in front of the building and approached the door. The curtains in the window shifted slightly. At least she was home. But then… she’d been home last time, too, and hadn’t let him in. He reached the door and knocked. At first, he was certain he was going to be turned away a second time, but after a few long moments, he heard the sound of the deadbolt clicking open. Followed by another. And another. And then what he was pretty sure was a security chain sliding out of its slot. And one final deadbolt. The door finally opened, just a crack, and a woman peered out at him.

“You the Turk?”

“Yes,” Rude nodded.

“Let’s see some ID.”

He reached into his jacket and slowly extracted his Shinra ID card. The woman’s eyes narrowed as she studied it, long and hard. Finally, she shut the door and removed the last of the security chains, before opening it just enough to let him inside.

“Can’t be too careful. Never know when a clone might turn up. They could be anyone, you know,” she explained, re-locking every last one of the locks before shuffling off towards the living room. “So… You want to know about Aria, eh?”

Penny. Penny Trask. Stage name, Penny DeVille. She was a singer and dancer who’d made a bit of a name for herself almost twenty-five years ago, before getting married and disappearing from the spotlight almost entirely. When her husband had died, she’d tried to reclaim her career, but it hadn’t really gone anywhere. Since then, as far as Rude had been able to determine, she’d been living off of the money she’d received in recompense for her husband’s accident at work… in one of Shinra’s biologics labs. The details were sealed and highly classified.

He wasn’t interested in any of that, at the moment… though he had made a note of the file’s location to possibly look into later. It was unlikely to be relevant to anything now, but Tres had taught him to never dismiss anything out of hand. He was more interested in what she’d been doing just after her husband’s death.

She’d taken up working at the same little nightclub as Reno’s mother.

“What do you remember about her?” he asked, following her into the next room and taking a seat in one of the bedraggled armchairs. Penny sat down across from him on the couch. The little condo was… interesting. Cluttered, but not hoarder-level cluttered. Curtains drawn tightly across each and every window. He could see through to the kitchen and the back door… which seemed to be nailed shut. The woman was definitely paranoid… and likely delusional as well. As far as he could tell, she virtually never left her home. Anything she needed, she had delivered. Any appointments were conducted right there, in person. She refused to speak at length on the phone for fear of someone listening in.

“Oh, plenty. Aria’s hard to forget. She was a sweet girl. Naive in some ways, but sweet,” Penny said, the ghost of a smile flitting over her aged features. “Beautiful voice. At least as good as mine used to be. Desperate for a life on stage. She thought she’d make it big. Get out, see the world. Find love. Learned the hard way that it’s not all glitz and glamour. That slimy bastard that owned the club liked to charge a premium for… what ya might call a meet ‘n greet with the more popular girls.” She reached into a side table and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. “You smoke?” she asked, offering him the pack.

“… No. Thank you.”

Penny shrugged and pulled one out, placing it between her lips and lighting it. She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment, before exhaling the smoke with a raspy cough. She shook her head and flicked some ash into a nearby ashtray.

“Good. Terrible, terrible habit. Well… you know how it goes. Started out as just drinking with the customers, chatting them up, pretending you were interested in their life story… whatever it took to get ’em to spend a few more gil at the bar. Didn’t take long for one of ’em to make an offer for something a little more intimate, and once that happened… we might as well have been working a corner down in Wall Market. I got myself outta there pretty quick after that started. At my age? It just wasn’t worth it. Gave up on restarting my career and decided to retire once and for all. But Aria… she was still dreaming of being a star. She was gonna make it big one day or die trying. Everything she had to do to get there was just… paying her dues.”

She took another drag off the cigarette and sighed.

“And to be fair, she could’ve made it if things had gone her way. Definitely had what it took as far as talent went. Anyway… I lost track of her for awhile after I left. Then one day, I heard the place burned to the ground, and that the asshole that owned it shot himself. Don’t know what he was into by then… but I’m sure eating a bullet looked a lot more pleasant than whatever else he was facing. Son of a bitch didn’t care who he had to hurt to get what he wanted. Not surprised it finally caught up to him.”

“What about Aria?” Rude prodded, before she got off track.

“Like I said… lost track of her. ‘Til about a week after the fire. She turned up at my door. I hadn’t seen her in almost a year by then… but, of course, I wasn’t hard to find. It’s not like I went anywhere. This little place of mine is home and always will be. And there she was… just hustling herself up the front walk one night, looking terrified. Wouldn’t tell me what was wrong… just that she needed somewhere to stay for a bit because she couldn’t go home. In hindsight, figure she mighta had something to do with that fire… but she didn’t want to talk about it, and seeing how scared she was, I thought maybe it was best I didn’t know. I knew enough things that could’ve landed me in trouble, as it was.”

“You let her stay here?”

“For the night. Would’ve been glad to have let her stay longer. It’s been just me in this old empty house for ages now… I had plenty of room. But next day, she was gone before I was even awake. Took about a hundred gil outta my emergency cookie jar stash and disappeared. Didn’t even say goodbye. The last I ever heard from her was when I opened my mail about a month later and found a note and that hundred gil she took tucked inside a little white envelope. All it said was ‘Thank you for being my friend’. Wasn’t signed or anything, but… I knew the handwriting well enough.”

“And you never spoke to her again?” Rude asked. Penny shrugged.

“I didn’t know where she went. She never contacted me after that, and I wouldn’t have known where to even begin to look for her.”

Rude sighed. He’d learned quite a bit, but not nearly as much as he’d hoped.

“… You… don’t happen to have a picture of her anywhere, do you?”

Penny raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “Now why would you want something like that? Just what is your interest in Aria, anyway? Because if you’re looking for her, I’m not going to help you find her. Seemed plain enough to me that she didn’t want to be found.”

“…” Rude paused for a moment and then shook his head. “I already know where she is. Aria… died about fifteen years ago. She’s buried in the Sector 2 slums.”

Penny looked shocked for a moment by the new information, but quickly finished off her cigarette, and stubbed out the butt in the ashtray, before hastily pulling another out of the pack. “Then why not just let the dead rest in peace?”

“Her son is… my friend. I’m doing this for him. He was only five when she died. He just… wants something to remember her by. I’ve been trying to help, but I can’t find anyone who even knew her besides you.”

“Aria has a little boy?” Penny questioned, looking up from her attempt at lighting her cigarette, a smile spreading over her face. Rude chuckled.

“He’s twenty now… so not so little,” he replied, and reached into his pocket, pulling out the photo he’d brought along just in case she was curious. She reached out for it, studying it for a moment.

“Shiva’s nipples, he looks just like her…” she breathed, and looked up at Rude. “What’s his name?”

“Reno.”

“He looks so happy…” she said, gently running a finger along the edge of the photo. “Aria’d be glad to know that.” She handed the picture back to Rude and sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t have a photo… or anything else of hers. But, I suppose if he wanted to come visit a washed up old lounge singer… I could tell him a story or two.”

“I… think he’d like that,” Rude replied, smiling widely.

---

Reno had, many times, heard the phrase ‘melt in your mouth’. He’d even experienced it more than a few times. He had never, however, thought that it could apply to meat. He grinned as he fished another strip of beef out of the hot pot and popped it into his mouth. It was so tender that it practically disintegrated.

“I gotta start comin’ here for lunch…” the redhead sighed contentedly. Remy snorted softly in amusement and helped herself to some of the vegetables that were floating in the simmering liquid that sat between them.

“I was thinking… maybe after dinner we could go for a quick walk though the Sector 4 Botanical Gardens before we head back to my place. It’s lovely at night…”

“Sure… I’m up for just about anything,” Reno replied, musing over which meaty morsel he wanted to try next. It was really just a big pot of soup that cooked right at your table… but all the stuff in it… It was fucking delicious. He grinned teasingly. “But, uh… I thought when we started all this you said you just wanted to fuck me, not date me. This is startin’ to sound an awful lot like a date…”

Remy went red and immediately protested. “We are not dating. We’re two friends out having a nice evening together.”

“Heh… Two friends that are gonna go back to you place and spend the rest of the night bangin’ the ever-livin’ crap outta each other…” he pointed out, smirking.

“Reno!” she hissed, and the redhead laughed.

“Relax, Remy… I’m just fuckin’ with ya,” he snickered. “Well… I mean, I guess I’m not fuckin’ with ya yet…”

“Will you please be serious?” she groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Do I have to?” he snickered. At the sight of her glare, he held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright…” he laughed, “I’ll quit with the jokes. For now.” His attention suddenly snapped to a familiar face that had appeared over her shoulder, near the door. It was quickly joined by two additional, and equally familiar, faces. “Uh oh…” he breathed.

“Reno?” Remy asked, brow furrowing.

“Um… How set are you on keepin’ this whole thing on the down low still?” he asked.

“What? Why?”

“Heh… ’cause, uh… we got company. And they know exactly what I was plannin’ on doin’ tonight, minus names ‘n locations,” he said, nodding to the trio of rookies that had just walked in. Remy’s eyes widened, and she twisted around in her seat just as the three younger Turks were stepping up to the hostess’ stand.

“Oh, no…” she groaned.

“I’m gonna assume that means you’d kinda rather they not find out you’re doin’ me…” the redhead snickered. The hostess was already gesturing for them to follow her. They’d walk right past the pair of senior Turks in mere moments. Reno grabbed one last bite and slid out of his chair, dropping to the floor and disappearing beneath the tablecloth.

“Remy?” Petra’s voice called out seconds later.

“O-oh… Petra! Liam… Sykes… Good evening,” she stammered, and Reno smothered a laughed before it could escape. That hadn’t sounded suspicious at all…

“We’re celebrating Sykes’ Hell Week,” the rookie proclaimed.

“Specifically the end of Syke’s Hell Week…” Liam snickered.

“Well, you’ve certainly picked the perfect place to do so,” Remy replied.

“Would you like to join us, ma’am?” Sykes asked, and Reno had to bite down on his lip this time, to avoid giving himself away. He could just picture the look on Remy’s face right now.

“I… oh, that’s… very kind, but I’m afraid I’m meeting someone at the botanical gardens soon. I was just finishing up here, actually.”

By then, the redhead was dying. They’d only just started eating, really. And while they’d certainly made a dent in the meal, the thought that – in the first place – Remy was almost done eating, and – in the second – the entire thing had been solely for her, was beyond laughable. He must have made some sort of sound because a moment after he’d thought it, she kicked him hard under the table. In retaliation, he gently trailed his fingers along her thigh, teasingly stopping just short of where it might cause her to give him away.

She grabbed his hand under the tablecloth and held it firmly in place before he could try that again.

“Oh… well, we won’t keep you, then,” Petra replied, “Have a nice night!”

“You, as well,” Remy called after them, and once they were out of earshot, she hissed, “What in Leviathan’s name did you think you were doing?”

Reno sniggered and poked his head out from beneath the table, between her legs, and grinned up at her.

“Nothin’…” he said, innocently. “Get the rest of that to go, will ya? I’ll sneak out the back ‘n meet ya in the parking lot.”

She shot him a warning look, but didn’t comment… simply glanced over at the three rookies, and back down at the redhead, before waving him off towards the restaurant’s staff exit. Reno ducked back beneath the table, and then crept through the crowded space, keeping low as he went, and quickly darted around the corner. Once out of sight, he made a dash for the kitchen, and was out the door before anyone could figure out he wasn’t supposed to be there. Down an alley and around another corner, placed him directly in front of his car. He leaned back against the side and waited.

It was several more minutes before Remy appeared, to-go container in hand. She held it out to him, and he grinned.

“That was not funny,” Remy said with a glare, “We almost got caught.”

Reno set the container on top of the car, before turning back to his lover. “Yeah… but we didn’t,” he replied, leaning forward and capturing her lips. He half-expected her to slap him for that… Instead, she pressed him back against the side of his car, her body flush against his, deepening the kiss. When she finally pulled away, he smirked.

“Still wanna go for a walk?” he asked.

“No… I want you to get in your car, drive to my apartment, and don’t bother stopping for red lights. I’ll be right behind you,” she whispered, with a low groan.

“That mean I do get to have dinner with my clothes off?” he teased.

---

“You know… if I didn’t know you as well as I do, I’d be very insulted that you’re sitting there, ignoring me and my delicious dinner…”

Tseng pulled his gaze away from the night sky outside of the window, turning to the woman beside him and chuckled softly.

“I’m sorry. It’s been quite a week. I think I’m still half in work mode.”

“Well, get out of work mode and eat something,” Viridia chastised him, and smirked, “I don’t like to cook, so when I go to all the trouble of doing it for you, you’re damn well going to eat it while it’s hot.”

Tseng laughed and reached for his fork, digging in to the fresh lasagna in front of him.

“I don’t know why you’re so opposed to it. You’re good at it. Far better than I am, at any rate.”

“Tseng… I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there aren’t many things on the planet that aren’t better at cooking than you are. A rock is better at cooking than you are,” Viridia teased, giggling. “How you’ve survived this long without starving is a mystery.”

“During my rookie days, at least, it was entirely the result of take-out and the pity of others…” the Turk lieutenant replied, smiling, as Viridia laughed and choked on the sip of wine she’d just taken.

“You’re horrible,” she snickered, “So… speaking of rookie days, how was Hell Week?”

“Enlightening. I think I have a very good handle on what direction to take Sykes’ training in.” Viridia eyed him knowingly and he smirked. “And… quite entertaining at times.”

“I always knew you had a sadistic streak.”

“You wouldn’t be the first to accuse me of that…” he chuckled, helping himself to his own glass of wine.

“And what about Reno? How did he do?”

“Exceptionally well,” Tseng replied, smiling. “Even though I didlose him for a couple of days to higher priority assignments. But… I’m quite pleased with his performance, as well.”

“Does he even know he was being evaluated, too?” the security officer queried. Tseng shook his head.

“No. He doesn’t even know I intend for him to succeed me, yet. And besides which… Reno is at his best when he doesn’t realize he’s being evaluated. His true nature comes through far better when he’s not actively trying to impress me. Incidentally, he’ll be in and out of Junon for a day or two next week… as punishment.”

Viridia raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” she snickered, “What’d he do to warrant that?”

“Neglected to keep Veld and I in the loop about a matter of… not catastrophic importance, but certainly one that we would have liked to have known about. He’ll be escorting your building supplies.”

“Can I tease him about it?” she asked, grinning slightly.

“I… would actually prefer you didn’t. It’s a rather long story, and one that he’s quite embarrassed by. It was only recently resolved. Or at least as resolved as I suspect it ever will be… I doubt he’ll want to go into the details.”

“Reno is capable of being embarrassed?” Viridia joked, and frowned slightly when her lover didn’t laugh.

“Yes, he is.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was that serious. Keep in mind, we’re talking about someone who was completely unperturbed when I walked in on him having sex with a young, blond private in the bathroom of the female barracks… That kid doesn’t embarrass easily.”

“Not easily, no… which is why I would ask that you respect his privacy in this. There are some things that even Reno can’t simply laugh off.”

“Message received,” Viridia said, smiling slightly, and taking another sip of wine. “And the other Turklings? How are they?”

Tseng rolled his eyes, and laughed softly. “That really is such an infantile term for individuals being trained as assassins, kidnappers, and spies… I honestly don’t understand why everyone is so fond of it. The rookies, I’m sure, wouldn’t mind not hearing it used constantly by Kai… and I know Reno would much rather not be called that.”

Viridia choked on her drink for a second time, sputtering for a moment before finally composing herself.

“Is she still calling him a Turkling?” she snickered. Tseng sighed and shook his head.

“Worse. She still refers to him as Baby Turkling. He hates it. She claims it’s because he looks so young, even compared to our rookies. I… suspect it has more to do with the soft spot for him she’s developed.” He snorted a faint laugh, “Well… soft by Kai’s definition of the word, at any rate,” he amended, “She’s not quite ready to see him grow up. I believe she sees a lot of herself in him. They both lost their parents as children. They both had to grow up largely alone and extremely self-reliant. And they both would do anything for their adoptive family.”

Viridia smiled and took another bite of her dinner. “As if you wouldn’t…” she teased. “Well… She’d better knock it off. Pretty soon, he’s going to be the one giving the orders.”

“I wouldn’t say soon,” Tseng chuckled, “Veld isn’t in any hurry to step down just yet, and exceptional as he is, my protege is far from ready to fully take on my role on the team.”

“Well… maybe he’s not ready, but are you sure about Veld?” she giggled, “I thought maybe he’d be smart enough to bow out before that Titan-be-damned reactor opening in Wutai…”

The Turk lieutenant audibly groaned. “Don’t remind me… I truly am dreading that. It’s going to be a logistical nightmare… especially since the President is still insisting on a Leviathan-forsaken parade through the capitol.”

“I’m just glad I won’t be helping to coordinate this one. Better you than me…” Viridia said, grinning. Tseng eyed her for a moment and then picked up the salt shaker, passing it over to her. She cocked her head to one side, slightly confused. “What’s this for?”

“Just in case you’d care to rub a little more salt into the wound,” Tseng replied with a smirk.

“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be…” she snickered in reply. “Just for that… you’re on dish duty after dinner.”

The Turk lieutenant merely smiled and went back to his meal.

~end chapter 42~