Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 55: Back to the Grind

Kai sighed quietly as she waited for the coffee maker in the lounge to to finish brewing. She half wished she’d run across the street for some real coffee after her appointment… because right now, all she really wanted to do was lock herself away in her office until it was time for the morning briefing. The discussion she’d had with her therapist had left her feeling more raw than usual. So much so that she hadn’t even stopped to talk to Tseng like she normally would have.

And a large part of the reason for that was because she already knew what he was going to say. He still insisted she wasn’t to blame for what had happened to Reno. How he could not blame her, she had no idea… and it was made that much worse by the knowledge that, had their positions been reversed, she knew from experience that she wouldn’t have been so forgiving. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she deserved the guilt, even though everyone – her therapist included – kept informing her that she needed to let it go.

The coffeemaker gurgled loudly as the last of the water in its reservoir filtered through the grounds, and she poured some into a mug, adding sugar and – though she really didn’t much care for the powdered crap everyone else seemed to tolerate – creamer to the dark liquid, turning it a murky, muddy brown.

“Hope ya saved me some…” a familiar voice addressed her, and she very nearly dropped the mug in surprise.

“Reno?!” she gasped, spinning to face him, the creamer still upended over the mug. What in Hades’ name was he doing here now? Tseng had told them that he’d be back today, sure… but the redhead never came in this early. She wasn’t ready for this…

Some of the scaldingly hot coffee sloshed over the rim of the cup and made contact with her skin, and she flinched.

“Hey,” the redhead replied, grinning slightly. Seven weeks. Seven weeks he’d been out, recovering… healing from injuries that she’d personally had a hand in inflicting. And she’d been going over what she was going to say to him the whole time he’d been gone. In fact, that had been one of the primary topics of her counseling session this morning and half the reason she felt like she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide for the day… but now that he was here, standing in front of her… her mind had gone blank.

“Uh… Kai? I’m pretty sure you’re not s’posed to use that much…”

It took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about, but finally, she glanced down at the rapidly expanding island of powdered creamer in her coffee cup. It was starting to spill over onto her hand.

“Dammit…” Kai swore, turning back to the table to set the canister down, only to knock it against the edge and send it flying across the table top. It skidded along the entire length, leaving behind a white trail, and she futilely attempted to recapture it. That, of course, only resulted in the coffee mug falling from her hand, and hitting the floor with a sharp crack, its contents puddling on the tile at her feet.

She froze, and stood silently among the carnage for a moment… and everything suddenly seemed like it was just too much to deal with. She’d had weeks to prepare for this moment, and somehow she still wasn’t ready for it. Kai made a valiant effort to hold it back, but eventually a quiet sob escaped her lips. Tears quickly followed.

“Ah, crap…” she heard the redhead whisper. The next thing she knew she was locked tightly in his arms, her face burrowing into his chest. “H-hey… Come on. It’s just coffee…”

She couldn’t form any sort of coherent response, and the burning humiliation of the entire situation was only slightly offset by the knowledge that the office was still largely empty at this hour. There was so much she wanted to say to him. That she was happy beyond words that he was alive. That she was sorry for causing all of this. That she’d missed him and had spent the last seven weeks trying to work up the courage to go and see him.

Instead, all of the pent up frustration and horror and anger at herself came pouring out in an unintelligible deluge that seemed to go on and on, no matter how hard she tried to stop it. When it finally did cease, she could only stand there, numbly, in his arms, thinking how idiotic she must look.

“… ‘kay… Not quite the welcome back I was expectin’…” Reno said when it at last quieted, sounding a little shaken himself.

“I’m so sorry…” Kai said, breathlessly, her face still buried in the fabric of his jacket, “It was my fault. Everything was my fault…”

Her arms wrapped around him tighter as the irrational fear that, if she let go of him, he’d somehow disappear surged to the forefront of her mind.

“Quit it, okay? Nothin’ was your fault.”

She pulled back enough to look up at him and frowned. “How can you say that? Did Tseng even tell you what I did? Did he tell you how she got on board?”

“Tch… Ya know somethin’? You’re lucky I’m not as big as Rude. ‘Cause if I thought I could actually pull off carryin’ you over one shoulder all the way down to Thirty-two, I’d do the same thing to you he does to me when I say somethin’ that stupid…” Reno replied, “Me gettin’ shot wasn’t your fault. So quit sayin’ it was.”

“Reno…” Kai said, shaking her head. Obviously no one was keeping him up to date, “You don’t understand…”

The younger Turk rolled his eyes. “Bullshit. I’m not an idiot. Heh… most of the time, anyway. Rude told me all about what that Zenshou bitch pulled. She used you. Coulda happened to any of us. Ya know I wouldagone to bed with her if she targeted me instead. Hell, I’m such a manwhore I’d probably have been a way easier target than you… ya know… if I hadn’t been spendin’ all my free time hangin’ out with either Tseng or the rookies while we were there.”

“But it wasn’t you she decided to use. It was me. You’re the one who got caught in the crossfire.”

“Heh… actually, it was Rufus that got caught in the crossfire. I’m the idiot that thought it was a good idea to push him out of it,” Reno snickered.

“It’s just not that simple. I –” she began, only to be cut off.

“No… it kinda is that simple. You trusted someone you shouldn’t have. Then a lot of other shit happened, and in the end, I have terrible luck and took a couple bullets ’cause Rufus is pain in the ass who doesn’t know enough to run when someone points a gun at him ‘n tells him to walk away. It was not. Your. Fault.”

Kai dropped her gaze again. “I wish I could make myself believe that…”

“Yeah, well… I order you to believe it.”

Kai shook her head. “Who suddenly gave you command authority?”

“Boss did,” he replied, smirking slightly. “Uh… sorta. Okay, so, really he mostly just sacred the shit outta me ’bout five minutes ago tellin’ me he’s been trainin’ me to take over for him someday without lettin’ me in on the joke, but… ya know… Gotta to get in some practice bossin’ people around, right?”

Kai managed a soft laugh in spite of herself. “He finally told you, huh? You’re not Second yet, Baby Turkling…” she sniffed, wiping a hand across her eyes.

“Good thing… ’cause if I were, I’d totally ban ya from callin’ me that,” he replied, grinning widely at her before his grin slowly morphed to a more serious expression. “Look, Kai… I mean it. I don’t blame you for what happened. There was no way you coulda known who she was or what she was plannin’, and even if there had been ‘n we’d stopped her, they’d’ve found some other way in. So quit blamin’ yourself for it.”

“Easier said than done…”

“Yeah, I know,” said Reno, “Just… ya know… when you start thinkin’ about shit, try ‘n remember I’m not mad at ya? … ‘kay?”

“I’ll try,” Kai replied, taking a deep breath and clearing her throat as she tried to make herself a little more presentable. The younger Turk’s grin promptly returned.

“I am kinda pissed that you never came to visit me, though. You got any idea how fuckin’ boring it is when you can’t do jack shit ‘sides sittin’ around on your ass for weeks on end?”

“Uh… yeah?” she said, rolling her eyes. “Did you forget how long I spent at Midgar General after that Shiva-forsaken zenene attacked me?”

“… Oh. Right,” the redhead said, somewhat sheepishly. “Okay, yeah, now I feel like kind of an asshole for sayin’ that…”

“I’m sorry,” Kai sighed, “I wanted to see you. I just… couldn’t bring myself to face you. I was even dreading today because I knew my time was up. You were coming back, and I was all out of excuses…”

“No more excuses. You’re talkin’ to me right now, so the worst of it’s over… right? You’re not gonna like… drop of the face of the planet tryin’ to avoid me now that I’m back?”

“No,” Kai responded with a faint smile. Reno breathed a heavy sigh or relief.

“Okay, good. In that case… I’m not quite done freakin’ the hell out about this whole future Second in Command thing Tseng decided to throw at me soon as I walked into the office this mornin’, so… I’m gonna go back to doin’ that for awhile,” he replied, and paused for a moment, before teasingly adding, “… and maybe freak-out puke a few times for good measure…”

---

When Rude walked into the office, it was noticeably quiet. For a brief moment, he thought he was somehow the first to arrive, and had to take a moment to check his watch to confirm that he hadn’t mistakenly left early.

The reason for the empty hallways quickly became apparent, however. Everyone else seemed to be holed up in their offices. Tseng’s light was on, the door firmly closed… as was Kai’s and Veld’s. Remy seemed to be the only one not locking herself away this morning, but her office was still dark and empty. Eventually, he stumbled upon all three rookies closeted in their shared office space, huddled together in a hushed meeting. Despite the apparent secretive nature of the gathering, however, they’d failed to shut the door all the way. He smirked silently when he heard whispers of various cake flavors, along with the name of a certain redhead, make their way out into the hall.

He shook his head in amusement and continued on towards his own office… only to stop short and turn around before he’d even rounded the corner. He hovered for a moment outside of the rookies’ office before at last chuckling to himself and and peering inside.

“His favorite is chocolate,” he stated, knowingly, causing all three of the younger Turks to yelp in surprise.

“What cake?!” Liam blurted out, wide-eyed, and the outburst was met with groans from his two compatriots. Rude snorted in laughter but said nothing more, before resuming course to his own office and leaving them to their not-a-cake planning.

He stepped inside several moments later and raised an eyebrow when he spotted the aforementioned redhead himself, seated at his desk, scanning through, what he assumed, were the morning company announcements.

“You’re early,” Rude said, pausing in front of the desk. Reno looked up from the screen.

“Heh… you have no idea, pal. I almost beat Tseng in today.”

Rude snickered. “That eager to get out of the house, huh?”

“Waitin’ was pure torture. I couldn’t take it anymore. Been here almost an hour now,” he replied, and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. “… ‘course now I s’pose I gotta deal with you ‘n your smug-as-fuck I told you so’s for the rest of the day…”

The bald Turk grinned and took a seat on the edge of Reno’s desk. “Oh yeah? What was I right about?”

Reno sighed and rolled his eyes. “Tseng… kinda… told me what direction my training’s gonna start takin’ from now on…”

Rude’s grin widened. “And?”

“And you already know exactly what the fuck he told me, so quit playin’ dumb,” the redhead groused, “You were right, okay?”

“I told you so,” Rude stated.

“Shut up.”

The older Turk laughed softly and moved over to his own desk to take a look at the morning announcements, as well.

“So how’s it feel?” he asked, logging into his computer.

“Terrifying,” Reno replied, to which his friend gave a loud snort. “I’m serious! The Boss wants me to… be the Boss. I mean, yeah, not like tomorrow or anything, but… fuck, man. That’s some scary shit right there.”

Rude glanced over at him. “You could always turn it down, you know…”

Which, he knew, was so unlikely the odds of the redhead doing so were almost non-existent… but sometimes his friend needed a little nudge to think things through.

“Tch… no, I can’t. Even if I wanted to back out… which, full disclosure, I don’t think I do… Tseng’s countin’ on me. And… ya know… he believes in me. I wanna do it. I do. I’m just scared of lettin’ him down, that’s all. ‘Specially ’cause this time, if I let him down, I let everyone on the team down.”

“You’re cleared for training, right?” Rude asked, and Reno raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“Yeah… ‘long as I take it easy. Why?”

“Just wanted to check… In case we need to make a trip down to thirty-two later.”

“Tch… that’s your solution to everything,” Reno snickered, “Reno’s losin’ his mind again? Toss ‘im in the pool! That’ll fix ‘im!”

“Hey, whatever works,” Rude shrugged.

“Asshole,” the younger Turk laughed, “Anyway… if I start looking like I’m about to pass out from sheer terror at some point today, now ya know why. Don’t go callin’ Ward on me.”

“Hmph… I’ll keep that in mind. So what’s on your agenda? I’ve got a few reports that need typing if you get bored…”

“Gee… thanks,” Reno answered, dryly, “Boss said I’d probably be helpin’ out with interrogatin’ the Zenshou that tried to turn me into swiss cheese… but I don’t have a definite assignment yet. Figure they’ll give me specifics at the mornin’ briefing. But on Wednesday I get to go watch the final evals for the new rookies… so… that’ll be pretty cool. Assumin’ the whole second in command thing doesn’t put me back on medical leave after I have a nervous breakdown later today. You wanna do somethin’ for lunch? Much as I missed this place, one thing I did not miss was the crapateria.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not? Got somethin’ interesting goin’ on?” the redhead prodded.

“Nope,” Rude replied with a knowing grin. Reno narrowed his eyes at him.

“So what is it? You only start givin’ me one word answers when you’re keepin’ a secret,” he said, in an accusing tone. Rude chuckled and pointedly turned his attention back on his screen, and his friend rolled his eyes.

“Okay… who’s plannin’ the welcome back party?”

“Couldn’t say.” He wasn’t really spoiling the surprise. It was pretty standard, when a Turk was out for a significant amount of time due to injury, to welcome them back in some way. Usually with food. The redhead already would have been expecting something to have been planned. In this case, it was Tseng who was doing the planning… and, apparently, the rookies, who seemed to have taken it upon themselves to ensure that there’d be cake in addition to the pizza that was being delivered around noon.

“Oh, yeah… right. Can’t my ass. You totally can. You just won’t. Dick,” Reno laughed, “Whatever… ‘long as I’m not stuck eatin’ the shit that passes for food downstairs, I’m happy.”

“As long as there’s food involved, you’re happy,” Rude corrected him. “Had a chance to say hi to everyone yet?”

“Nah… Between Tseng dropping that bomb on me earlier, ‘n then havin’ to talk to Kai about… ya know… things… I only just had the chance to sit down right before you got here. Only other person I’ve even seen so far today’s Rufus.” He grinned widely and added, “Believe it or not, I think he mighta missed me.”

“I’ll opt for not,” Rude chuckled, only half-serious. Truth be told, he still didn’t quite know what Rufus’ actual opinion of the redhead was. Ninety percent of the time, he gave every appearance of positively hating the younger man’s guts… and yet Reno was the only Turk, aside from Tseng, the vice president specifically requested for his security details. It was a… weird… dynamic.

A sharp knock on the door brought the conversation to a halt a moment later.

“What?” Reno yelled at the door, grinning. It opened, and Remy stepped inside, a small box in one hand.

“Most people simply say ‘come in’…” she said, disapprovingly, but smiled slightly and shook her head. “Welcome back.” She strode over to Rude’s desk and handed him the package. “This was just sent upstairs from IT. It says it’s for you.”

“Thanks,” Rude replied, a little surprised… until he remember what it was, and a wide grin spread over his face.

“Uh oh… Rude’s got a new toy,” Reno snickered. The bald Turk merely continued to grin as he opened the box and tipped its contents out into one hand.

“No… Rude’s got a new phone,” he corrected him, happily. It was the same model Reno’d upgraded to several months back. The kind with the built-in camera, upgraded email client, and water-resistant casing. Top of the line, the latest in handset technology. And it was all his.

He had to admit, he’d been more than a little envious of the device when his friend had been issued one. But his old phone had been perfectly functional and not in need of replacement. He just couldn’t justify the request. That had changed late last week when it had slipped out of his pocket while chasing down a target in Sector Five. By the time he’d noticed it was missing, backtracking had proven useless. Either it had fallen into a pocket dimension and vanished from his reality… or, more likely, someone had picked it up before he could. Either way, it was gone. He’d immediately – and admittedly somewhat gleefully – submitted a request for a remote security wipe and a shiny new replacement PHS.

He flipped it open and pointed the camera towards the redhead.

“Smile.”

Reno obligingly flashed him a cheesy grin and he pressed the button to snap the photo.

“Heh… well, we know what Rude’s gonna be doin’ all day,” he laughed. Remy rolled her eyes, but Rude was fairly certain he caught a faint laugh from her, as well.

---

“Welcome back, Sir!” a chorus called out as he walked into the briefing room, and Reno paused, momentarily stunned by the – clearly rehearsed – greeting. He smirked, and glanced over at Rude.

“Oh, great… they’re startin’ to merge into one rookie now,” he joked, before making his way over to the trio. “I thought I told you guys to cut that shit out. It’s like… super creepy.”

“Yes, sir…” all three of them replied in unison… before dissolving in to unabashed snickering and dropping the ruse.

“Tch… Cute. Hope you guys didn’t get too used to slakin’ off while I was gone.”

“Particularly since, as he is confined to light duty for the time being, the three of you will be almost exclusively under Reno’s supervision for the next two weeks…” Tseng added, joining the conversation.

“Heh… what? Ya need a break or somethin’, Boss?”

“I have three new rookies to prepare for. It seems perfectly reasonable that, as you won’t be in the field, I leave the existing ones to you for the time being,” he replied, with a pointed look, before taking his seat near the front of the room. Perfectly reasonable. The “for a future second in command” was heavily implied, albeit unspoken. This really was going to take some getting used to. Before, he’d simply enjoyed training the rookies. Now training them was officially part of his own training, and he wasn’t sure how that was going to change things. Or if it even should. After all… Tseng had made no significant complaints about how he’d been handling things before he’d told him the truth. And no recommendations for changes to make after.

Kai arrived next, followed closely by Veld, who quickly quieted the group.

“As I’m sure you’ve all noticed by now…” he began, “Reno is back… so I expect that the nice, quiet days we’ve had in the office while he was recovering will soon be coming to an end.”

“I’ll make sure of it, sir,” the redhead replied, eliciting a number of hastily covered laughs from his compatriots.

“I’m sure you will,” Veld said with an overly dramatic sigh, before turning his attention to the others, “Remy… I’m pulling you off of interrogation for today. I’d like you to check out a lead on our Zenshou problem with Rude. He’ll fill you in on the specifics. Kai… you’ll be taking over, with Reno as backup.”

Reno glanced over at the senior Turk, watching her reaction to the orders, but if she had any misgivings about the reassignment, she didn’t let on. She simply nodded.

“Petra and Liam will be training with Tseng for the morning… and then Reno will take over in the afternoon while Tseng heads to Junon to prep for final recruit evals. Sykes, I have a minor escort assignment for you. One of the junior executives from Urban Development is being sent out to survey the reactor at Fort Condor. He has clearance only for the reactor itself. Keep him out of any of the other secure areas.”

“Yes, sir,” Sykes replied.

“And just to keep everyone in the loop… as you all know, we’re going through the last of the formalities for recruiting three additional rookies. Any who accept the position, and I have no reason to think any of them will turn it down, will be here two weeks from today,” the Turk leader continued, “It bears mentioning that these new additions will finally bring our numbers up to a level comparable with what we had prior to the end of the Meaningless War… which is good news all around.”

Reno nodded along with everyone else in the room. Veld was right… It was good news. But it was a little painful, too. The vacancies the newbies were meant to fill only existed because so many had been killed. Reno had lost a lot of good friends in his short tenure as a Turk. And part of him loathed the fact that the conflict between Shinra and Wutai had been designated the “Meaningless War” by the public at large. Their deaths hadn’t been meaningless.

“Now for the bad news,” Veld continued, and gestured to Rude, motioning for him to take his place at the front of the room. Reno cocked his head to one side, curious. Rude hadn’t mentioned that he had anything interesting to share this morning… but that wasn’t unusual. His friend didn’t like to repeat himself. And if it was information meant for the entire team, the morning briefing was the only logical place to tell them.

The bald Turk cleared his throat and awkwardly joined the Turk leader.

“We’ve received some… interesting… information from Reactor Maintenance,” he began. “They’ve been investigating the explosion at the Gongaga Reactor earlier this year. It wasn’t an accident.”

“Sabotage?” Remy queried, sitting up in her chair, but Rude shook his head.

“Theft,” Rude replied, “One of Scarlet’s projects. A prototype that uses a recently discovered form of super-dense materia from the Corel Reactor. They’re not sure if the explosion was meant to cover up the theft and failed to do so, or just to give the thieves a distraction and access to the area the prototype was stored in… but either way classified Shinra weapons technology is missing.”

“Tch… and we all know who’s got a hard-on for classified Shinra weapons tech lately…” Reno muttered.

“Which makes getting some usable information out of our Zenshou prisoner all the more important,” Tseng noted, grimly. Reno looked over at Kai again, but her only outward reaction to the discussion was a deepening frown.

“Indeed it does. That’s all I have for most you this morning. Tseng? A word in private before you head to the training hall?” Veld finally said.

“Yes, sir,” the Turk lieutenant replied. Veld nodded.

“Dismissed,” he said, and the sound of chairs being pushed back from the table as everyone got to their feet dragged him from his thoughts. Reno shook his head and followed suit, making his way over to Kai.

“You gonna be alright doin’ this?” he asked, as the others filtered out of the room.

“Of course,” Kai replied, just a little too enthusiastically. Reno had his doubts about her sincerity… but it wasn’t like they could just ignore the order, and Kai knew that just as well as he did.

As such, a few short minutes later, they were on board the elevator, heading for the basement level. It had actually been awhile since he’d been down there, and the slightly eerie quiet of the tiled hallways caught him off guard for a moment. Hell, most of the time they just interrogated people upstairs, in headquarters. They had a whole room devoted to it. And if not there, then in whatever holding cell – of which the Shinra Building had a rather surprising number for an electric power company – they happened to be in.

If you got yourself dragged down to the basement, though… it was for more than just answering a question or two. Reno generally didn’t like to think too hard about what went on down here… but at the same time, he knew that sometimes it was necessary. Sometimes information was desperately needed, and the person who had it wasn’t planning on giving it up easily.

Sometimes… Turks did things that would turn most people’s stomachs.

Kai was silent for entirety of the ride down, as well as the walk through the creepy as hell hallways that led to their little corner of the basement. When they finally stopped outside of the door, she hesitated, taking a deep breath to steady herself. Reno almost asked, again, if she was sure about this… but stopped himself before the words made it out. It didn’t matter if she was sure. They were doing this whether they wanted to or not.

“So… what’s the plan?” he asked, instead.

---

Tseng followed Veld back to his office, after sending Petra and Liam on ahead to the training hall. He reflexively closed the door behind him, and took a seat in front of Veld’s desk. Before he could inquire as the the reason for the meeting, his mentor shook his head.

“It’s nothing dire. I just wanted to catch you before you disappeared for the day. I have everything ready,” he said, and Tseng relaxed.

“Ah…” he nodded, “You need my signature, then.”

Veld, in response, handed him a pen and a sheet of paper. The younger Turk smiled slightly and accepted them, dutifully inscribing his name at the bottom.

“When do you plan to tell him?” Veld asked.

“Assuming I finish up in Junon at a reasonable hour, and make it back this afternoon, I’ll tell him then. If not… then first thing tomorrow morning, with the official announcement to follow during the morning briefing.”

“Always so eager to promote…” the Turk leader chuckled.

“No, sir… Just eager, once the decision had been made, to pass along the good news,” Tseng replied, “There’s… few things as satisfying as seeing a rookie promoted to full Turk status.”

And Sykes had earned it. Since Hell Week, he’d taken great strides in his training, with special attention paid to the problem areas the evaluation had revealed. Tseng was quite proud of the young man.

Veld nodded in understanding, and leaned back in his chair. “Mmm… The end result of a job well done always is. I think that may be the part I miss most about my old job.”

“I suspect I’ll miss it, as well, someday. Though I think Reno will likely come to enjoy it just as much as I do,” Tseng mused, “I… have finally informed him of my intentions.”

Veld’s eyebrows shot upwards at the pronouncement.

“How did he take it?” he asked, with a knowing smirk that drew a soft laugh from Tseng.

“Largely as one might expect,” Tseng snickered, “Abject horror, followed by disbelief, shock, and concerns that he wasn’t ready for something so important, followed by a proclamation that my jokes are terrible.”

“In all fairness, your jokes generally are terrible,” Veld said, teasingly.

“My humor is merely more… subtle… than most,” the Turk lieutenant replied, straight-faced. “I’m sure he still has many, many doubts. I know I did when you first told me. It will take him some time to truly get used to the idea, but I think he understands why I chose him over a more experienced Turk.” He grinned faintly and shook his head. “And eventually, I’m sure, he’ll stop wondering if I’ve completely lost my mind for doing so.”

~end chapter 55~