Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 5: A Hunting We Will Go

Reno sighed and smiled to himself as he leaned back into the plushy comfort of the the executive helicopter’s seats. He wouldn’t have turned down the chance to fly the aircraft – something he’d only recently been certified to do, in fact – but being a passenger on it definitely had its perks. Rufus glanced up from the folder of information he had open on his lap and rolled his eyes.

“Comfortable?” he asked, a sarcastic note in his voice.

“Very,” Reno grinned back.

“Hmph…” He went back to his papers. Reno snickered quietly. Apparently Christmas-Rufus had been put back into storage for another year, because the young executive seemed to have returned to his usual churlish self again.

“Incidentally, Tseng,” Rufus said conversationally, ignoring the younger Turk, “Have you heard anything about the rather interesting discovery the workers have made at the Corel reactor?”

“No… I don’t believe I have,” the Turk lieutenant replied, with a thoughtful frown. “Just what have they been up to?”

“Allegedly, it’s a new form of materia. I’ve arranged for a sample to be prepared to take back to Midgar at Father’s request. It should keep the R&D staff amply occupied for awhile.”

“Whaddya mean ‘a new form’?” Reno inquired, vaguely curious. He didn’t generally take an interest in the stuff, seeing as he had virtually no ability to use it… but even he recognized that a whole new type of materia no one had ever seen before was a pretty big deal.

“It’s highly condensed… more so than anything we’ve come across in any of our other reactors. The crystals are quite small, likely owing to the fact that the reactor itself has only been fully online for a few weeks, but they are apparently extremely powerful for their size.”

“Curious… I wonder what might result if they were allowed to continue to grow…” Tseng mused.

“Hmph… I can tell you that Scarlet certainly wants to find out. She thinks she can make a new weapon out of it. The head of medical research is quite interested as well. One of his pet projects is the use of mako energy in healing. Results thus far have been… mixed.”

“Tch… how’s mako gonna make you better? Ya get too close to that shit for too long, all you end up with is mako poisoning.”

Rufus rolled his eyes. “The exposure is minimal, of course, you insufferable cretin. A therapeutic dose, so to speak. As I said… results are mixed. The technology is still very much in the early stages.”

Reno cocked his head to one side. He had the distinct impression that he’d slightly underestimated Rufus’ interest in that research, and he had to admit he was surprised. Though certainly dedicated to his family’s company, Rufus had never shown any great passion for any of Shinra’s various scientific projects. Or at least not that Reno had ever noticed. He decided that, in this instance, just asking might prove more worthwhile than silently pondering the anomaly.

“Why the sudden interest in medical research, sir?” he queried… and to his surprise, Rufus’ face took on a noticeably pink hue.

“None of your business!” he snapped.

“Sir… it was merely a question,” Tseng pointed out. Rufus muttered something under his breath, but at last looked up at the redhead.

“Fine. If you must know, I…” he began, only to drop both his gaze and his volume, “… am trying to improve my reputation…”

Reno blinked. “You… uh… wanna run that one by me again?” he asked, slightly bemused.

“I hardly care what the masses think of me… however… it has come to my attention of late that… a great many people both within the company and without – more than I realized – find me… off-putting. I certainly don’t need their adoration… but… one day I may need their support.”

“I did try to warn you about that,” Tseng interjected. Rufus grumbled something unintelligible before continuing.

“It simply occurred to me that perhaps publicly backing some of Shinra Company’s more… altruistic… endeavors might win over a bit of good will from those around me.”

Reno smirked and opened his mouth to reply… but, at a look from Tseng, quickly clamped down on it. He eyed his mentor oddly for a moment before it clicked. Rufus seldom said what he really meant… and he’d been cultivating his cold and calculating persona for most of his life. In all likelihood, he wasn’t doing this just to get brownie points. Deep down, it seemed to legitimately bother him that a lot of people thought he was a stuck up little shit. But that was hardly something he could openly admit to.

“Sounds like a pretty decent way to get on people’s good sides,” he finally said with a shrug. “Heh… Ya really wanna get people to like ya, though, tell Transportation to quit dickin’ around ‘n finish the fuckin’ slum trains already. You got any idea how many people want that to finally happen?”

Now it was Rufus’ turn to look surprised. “I’ve heard no great demand for any such thing…” he said, somewhat skeptically.

“Tch… yeah, well, I’m guessin’ you don’t get down below real often, either, sir,” the redhead snickered. “Trust me… people in the slums would love to be able to get around even half as easy as people up top. Hard to get work that pays decent when all the good jobs are either Plate-side or on the other damn end of the Slums from where ya live. They only got one station down there, and it’s in fuckin’ Wall Market. You have any idea how long it takes to walk from Sector Two to Wall Market? Assumin’ ya don’t get jumped on the way there…”

“He makes a rather good point, sir,” Tseng added, nodding. “There’s far more to Midgar’s populace than just those of us fortunate enough to reside on the Plate. The Slums are… easy to forget about, unfortunately. Such projects tend to fall through the cracks even though they’re desperately needed.”

Rufus was silent for a moment, apparently considering the idea. Finally, he sneered in Reno’s general direction.

“Apparently even you can come up with a halfway intelligent suggestion once in awhile.”

Reno snorted a soft laugh. “Thank you, sir,” he snickered and slouched down in his seat, making himself comfortable for the long flight to Corel. Tseng shook his head.

“Sir… must you continue to speak to Reno like that?” he asked.

“Yes… I must,” Rufus replied, with a somewhat uncharacteristically amused smirk. “He might begin to believe I see something of value in him otherwise, and I certainly can’t have that.”

“Yep… totally worthless. Got it, sir,” the redhead responded, grinning widely as he flashed him a thumbs up.

“The two of you are utterly maddening sometimes,” Tseng sighed.

---

“That’s a zenene?” Cissnei said, eyes locked on the image on the computer monitor. The biologics lab had finally gotten around to forwarding the Turks the pertinent details regarding their escaped creations. Waiting on the information had delayed their departure considerably.

Rude sent the file to the printer.

“Hmph… Reno wasn’t kidding about them being ugly,” he commented. The photo on screen showed a notably cat-like animal… but certainly not one you’d ever want to have curl up on your lap after a long day at work. Wicked looking spikes protruded from its back from one end to the other. Its fur was wiry and colored a dark, mottled brown… perfect camouflage up in the rocky mountains they were hiding in. And the claws… hell, those things looked like they could disembowel a person with one swipe.

“Or dangerous,” she agreed, reading through the material, “It says they hunt in a pack and will attempt to surround their prey. Oh… and their bites are mildly venomous. That’s nice.”

“Not planning on asking Hojo if you can keep one as a pet?” Rude teased. She giggled softly.

“I think I’ll just stick with my fish, thanks. They’re less likely to eat me in my sleep.”

“Rude, Cissnei… we’re moving out,” Kai said, poking her head into Rude’s office. She let her freshly procured rifle rest against one shoulder. “You know… I know we’re supposed to try and take them alive, but odds are we’re going to end up shooting them. It seems kind of a shame to hunt them down and just waste perfectly good meat. I wonder if zenenes are good eating…”

“… I don’t think I’d want to eat anything that came out of one of Hojo’s labs,” Rude snickered in response.

Cissnei grinned. “What? No plans to serve us all a tasty zenene dinner when we get back?”

“Hey… if anyone could pull that off it’d be Rude…” Kai teased.

“I prefer to use only one hundred percent organic ingredients in my cooking…” he deadpanned, collecting the papers from the printer and handing a copy to Kai.

“Are you three ready yet?” Remy asked before the conversation could continue. “We’ve already been delayed most of the morning… I’d prefer to get out there before afternoon sets in and we start losing the light, as well.”

“Yeah, yeah… reign it in, Remy. We’re ready,” said Kai. Remy shot her a dirty look, but didn’t comment and moments later, the four of them were headed for the rooftop helipad.

---

Snow was, once again, falling steadily by the time they reached Mt. Corel. Tseng glanced outside as the helicopter was landing and suppressed a groan of dismay. He’d had no illusions that the weather would still be just as cold up in the mountains as it was in Midgar… but was there to be no end to the snow? Spring couldn’t come fast enough, as far as he was concerned.

Reno, meanwhile, looked almost gleeful. He would never understand his protege’s love for snowy weather. One would think that, after spending so many winters in the cold, dimly lit slums of Sector 2, he would be less than thrilled to see this time of year descend upon him once more… but the younger man was practically enthralled by the sight of softly falling snowflakes.

He smiled slightly to himself, recalling the first time the redhead had ever seen it. Not even his favorite breakfast had been enough to tempt him to stay inside.

Rufus, he mused, was much the same in that regard… though a bit more reserved when it came to expressing his fondness for it. The vice president had only once missed the winter festival in Kalm, that Tseng was aware of… and only because he’d fallen quite ill a few days beforehand, and had been ordered by his physician to stay in bed for the event’s duration that year. He’d been thirteen… and rather vocal about his disappointment. He’d even attempted to bribe Tseng into taking him anyway, without his father’s knowledge – an offer the Turk had refused as gently as he could manage.

Tseng, however, could do without the whole season, for the most part. Christmas was a nice diversion from his otherwise hectic life at work… but as for the rest of winter, he wouldn’t have missed it if it ever decided to take a year or two off.

The helicopter at last set down on a snow-covered ridge just outside of the mining town, and the Turk lieutenant braced himself for the onslaught of cold as Reno moved to open the door.

“The town’s representative will be meeting us at the reactor entrance,” Rufus informed them, and Tseng was quietly grateful that they wouldn’t have to make the long, icy slog from their landing site to the town to pick him up, and then from the town to the reactor. The vice president stood and moved towards the door.

“Hold it,” the Wutaiian Turk said, getting up from his seat and looking pointedly at the young man. “Phone?”

Rufus rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes… I have it right here,” he replied patting one of his pockets.” Tseng opened his mouth to make a second inquiry, but Rufus beat him to it. “And I am armed. There’s no need to nag me.”

Tseng chuckled softly. “Excellent. Shall we go, then?”

The Shinra heir had – mercifully – begun to take his personal security far more seriously following the events that had occurred in Junon at the end of the war… but Tseng still felt the need to double check on occasion for his own peace of mind. Rufus… tolerated it… but made sure to register his annoyance without fail.

Reno snickered. “Hey… how come ya never bother to make sure I’m carryin’ a weapon? Startin’ to think you care more about the VP than you do me…”

“Because, Reno… you are a Turk, and are trained to know better by now. Or so I’ve been led to believe…” he replied, returning the jest. The redhead smirked and heaved open the door on the side of the aircraft, flooding the interior with cold air. Tseng shuddered at the sudden chill. The younger Turk hopped out into the snow, Rufus just steps behind him. The Turk lieutenant followed them, bringing up the rear.

It wasn’t so long ago that he would have insisted on taking the lead. But Reno was far more experienced now… and he wanted his protege to get used to not always taking his cue from a superior. After all, he had, from the very start, planned on training him as a field commander…

… and besides that, he fully intended to make him his second in command one day. Best for him to start leading early.

He hadn’t yet informed Reno of that, of course. It was still much too soon for that discussion. With any luck, such promotions were still a very long ways off, as he himself was in no great hurry to have to replace Veld. But… it would happen one day… be it through his own mentor’s retirement or his death. Frankly, Tseng hoped it would be the former. Either way, though, when it happened, he would need a Second, and he very much wanted it to be the redhead… which meant that Reno needed to be ready for it when the time came.

The trio made their way down a narrow path towards a large opening in the side of the very mountain itself. Shinra had opted to build their newest reactor inside of small valley between two peaks… both for security and for protection from the elements. The area had, prior to their acquisition of the land, been one of the larger coal mines the residents of Corel worked. Which, Tseng mused, explained the old bridge and train tracks leading towards the reactor’s entrance. Makeshift stairs had been erected stretching from the ledge they were walking along up to the tracks and Reno headed for them.

“Not that way,” Rufus interjected, “Take the ones on the other side of the bridge. I’d like to take a look at the site from above before we go inside.”

Tseng easily spotted the stairs he was referring to. It was a long, steep flight cut directly into the rock. He couldn’t tell, from their current position, where they went. The redhead altered course and started the climb, and a few short minutes later, they were standing on a ledge overlooking the reactor.

“Holy fuck…” Reno breathed. “That thing’s huge.”

It was a rather impressive piece of machinery, Tseng had to admit. Much larger than any of the Midgar reactors, or even the ones in Nibelheim and Gongaga. The reactor itself, though, was dwarfed by the massive mako well it was suspended over. Cutting deep into the planet, the bottom of the well wasn’t visible… it simply faded into the faint familiar greenish glow of raw mako far below the surface. The reactor sat in the center of it all, held aloft by wide supports that extended out from the sides of the well like spokes on a wheel. The existing train tracks had been repaired and extended all the way to the entrance.

“The size is to accommodate a large scale materia production facility,” Rufus explained. “The Company intends this reactor to do more than just provide power. It will also be supplying new materia for the Junon Materia Corps, as well as for general sale. And now, with this abnormally powerful materia being produced in the reactor core… it may be even more valuable than we initially thought.”

That explained the tracks, then. If the reactor was going to be producing significant amounts of materia, they’d eventually need some way to transport it. A sharp gust of wind caught Tseng unprepared, and he couldn’t help the shiver that violently spread throughout his entire body. Reno snickered quietly and grinned.

“Heh… cool as this is, maybe we oughta get movin’, sir. Ya know… before we end up havin’ to de-ice Tseng.”

The Turk lieutenant shot his subordinate a withering glare, but didn’t go as far as to object to the suggestion. He’d be more than happy to get out of the weather, and the sooner the better.

---

Remy circled a small area of the foothills, while Kai leaned precariously out of the side of the helicopter, binoculars held to her eyes.

“Down there,” she said, her voice slightly distorted over the electronic headsets. “Looks like there might be a den of some sort.” She pulled herself back inside and turned to Rude and Cissnei. “Alright… Rude, you’re coming with me. We’ll see if we can track these things on the ground. Cissnei… you and Remy keep an eye on things from up here. You see anything moving down there, let us know. Last thing we need is one of them sneaking up on us from behind.”

“And remember… ideally, we want them incapacitated, not killed,” Remy added. “Use the tranquilizers first. Don’t resort to live ammunition unless absolutely necessary.”

“Hmph… if one of those things gets ahold of me, I’m not shooting it with a goddamn dart,” Kai replied.

“Kai… Our orders are –”

“Yeah, yeah… We won’t open fire on them if we don’t have to. But I’m not taking any unnecessary risks with a bunch pack hunters. First sign of things even looking like they’re going south, we’re putting them down.”

The helicopter dropped in altitude, until it was just barely hovering over the rocky terrain. Kai made the short jump to the ground, Rude not far behind, and the aircraft started upwards again, to resume its slow circle around the area.

Rude shielded himself from the helicopter’s downdraft as it departed. Save for the sound of rotor blades cutting through the air, which was gradually growing more distant, the foothills and the mountains beyond were quiet and still in the afternoon sunlight. A thick layer of snow covered the ground, and not too far from where they’d landed, he could see large paw prints. Kai grinned and made her way over to them.

“These haven’t been here long,” she noted. “Looks like we’re in the right place.”

“How do you want to do this?” Rude asked. He’d never really been hunting before… unless you counted his week-long survival training a couple of years ago with the diminutive senior Turk. Somehow, though, he had a feeling that trapping small animals in a snare hadn’t really prepared him for facing off against a large predator.

“Carefully,” Kai replied. “They’re here… and they most likely know that we’re here by now. We’ll follow these tracks, but I need you to be on alert. Do not let your guard down. Dossier says they’re territorial. Even if they haven’t figured out their being hunted yet, they’re not going to like having us so close to their new home.”

Rude nodded his understanding and checked that his gun had a dart properly chambered. He wasn’t a fan of rifles, generally speaking. He was more of an up close and personal fighter… and if he wasn’t just using his fists, he’d rather have handgun than a long gun. But something told him he wasn’t going to want to get that close to Hojo’s zenenes if he could help it.

Kai, too, had her gun readied, and started forward at a slow but deliberate pace. Rude fell into step behind her, eyes scanning the area ahead of them.

After a few minutes, something felt… off. He couldn’t quite place what it was that was bothering him at first, and then he realized… things were just a little too quiet. Sure… it was the middle of winter. There probably wasn’t a lot of wildlife roaming around out here right now. A lot of animals were probably hibernating. But there was just… nothing. Nothing but the tracks they were following. It was creepy.

Kai made her way up, closer to the mountains, and the hilly terrain gradually gave way to large boulders and steeper slopes. The tracks led into a narrow rift.

“… Do we keep going?” Rude asked, when she finally paused for a moment. Narrow space, limited maneuverability, only one exit? It didn’t appeal to him much, especially knowing that the creatures might very well be inside, waiting for them. The senior Turk seemed to be having the same thought.

“Yeah… not a chance. That’s an ambush waiting to happen,” she stated definitively. She glanced upwards. “Come on… let’s take the high ground and see if we can spot them from above. One at a time, though. I’ll cover you from here, then you watch my back while I’m climbing.”

Rude nodded and slung the strap of his weapon over a shoulder, starting the slow ascent up the cold stone. Free-climbing wasn’t his favorite thing to do – heights had always bothered him a little – but he’d spent enough time running Kai’s favorite obstacle course that he was proficient enough and the ridge wasn’t that high. He reached the top and waved down at the other Turk, signaling her to begin her own climb. As she did so, he checked his weapon again and aimed downward, scanning the terrain below for any sign of the escapees.

When Kai was about halfway up, it happened.

He hadn’t even seen the animal until it was almost too late. The damned thing blended in so well with the rock, it may as well have been invisible. It was only when the creature dislodged a small rock, sending it tumbling, that he spotted it. It crawled over the stone almost like a lizard, silent, and with a single objective in mind.

“Kai! On your right!” he shouted down to her, simultaneously taking aim at the zenene, and sending a dart flying towards it. It hit home, lodging itself between the animal’s shoulder blades. It scrabbled against the rock, but ultimately lost its footing, and Rude hurried to reload just in case the zenene had a friend lurking nearby. He’d just locked the dart into the chamber, when he heard a pained cry from below.

He gasped as he realized that there had been another one. It had been crouched in the shadows of a small overhang, not far from Kai. Not far, he belatedly realized, from where he’d been himself only minutes ago. Had it been there the entire time? Watching… waiting for the most opportune moment to strike? It hardly mattered now, either way. The zenene had hold of Kai’s arm. The senior Turk lashed out with her free hand, stabbing at its face with one of her throwing knives, and a moment later, it released her, retreating downward.

Rude took his second shot, and missed as it leapt away from the cliff face. It was then the he realized that the other one – the one he had hit – hadn’t exactly been disabled by the strong tranquilizers. It emitted a loud, screeching cry and lunged up the rock wall towards Kai, catching her by the ankle as she struggled to pull herself up the rock with her newly acquired injury, and yanking her downwards. She screamed as she fell, and Rude could only watch in horror as she clawed desperately at the stone, trying to stop her plunge.

Rude swore loudly, and tossed the rifle aside, pulling out his sidearm. Forget taking these things alive. If he didn’t do something now, they were going to be returning home with pieces of Kai. It took four bullets to drop the first of the zenenes… and in the time it had taken to put the creature down, the second was already on the senior Turk. He heard several shots fired from her own gun, and the lab specimen at last slumped over, dead. Rude fumbled for his radio, and hit the transmit button.

“Emergency extraction… Kai’s down!” he reported, all but ignoring the response from the copter. He grabbed his discarded tranquilizer rifle and half-climbed, half-slid his way down to the injured Turk. As he reached the ground, he was met with a low, angry growl from the opening to the canyon. A chill went down his spine as large, glowing yellow eyes appeared in the shadowy fissure.

He fired off two more shots on the run as he covered the short distance between himself and Kai. She was conscious… but badly injured. The flesh on her shoulder where it tapered upwards to meet her neck was torn open, and her arm had been mauled, even through the extra padding of her heavy winter coat, leaving much of it a bloody, mangled mess. The ankle one of the zenenes had seized her by was largely hidden by her boots, and Rude hoped that the thick footwear had provided some protection… otherwise it probably wouldn’t look much better than her arm did. She was bleeding heavily, eyes staring upward, slightly unfocused, into the sky. The woman looked frighteningly pale already, and the snow underneath her was stained a dark red.

The zenenes advanced on the pair of Turks, and Rude kept firing until his magazine was empty, but it didn’t seem to deter them. It was only when the sound of the helicopter’s engine filled the air and the downdraft from its rotors began to send snow flying that they even appeared to reconsider their attack. Several more gunshots echoed above the loud drone of the aircraft’s engines, and Rude looked upwards just in time to see Cissnei providing cover fire.

As soon as they were low enough, Rude hefted Kai into his arms and retreated to the safety of the helicopter. They were airborne again within seconds.

“Remy… Get us home fast. It’s bad,” Rude reported, throwing on a headset as he and Cissnei worked fervently to staunch the bleeding.

~end chapter 5~