Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 6: Out of Commission

“This… is fuckin’… cool…” Reno said, looking downward over the edge as they made their way across the railway bridge that led into the reactor. “How deep’s it go, anyway?”

“Nearly a quarter of a mile,” Rufus replied, nonchalantly, “Or at least that’s how far we bored into the mountain. The reactor was constructed over an existing coal mine that already ran quite deep. It was abandoned when the miners started coming down with mako poisoning after striking a vein. They opted to move their operation elsewhere rather than risk further injury. We simply widened the entry and continued down.” He smirked slightly. “Their loss is Shinra’s gain. The fact that they’d already tunneled so far made construction much faster than it would have been had we been starting from scratch.”

“Tch… Their loss? Sounds more like a win-win situation to me,” Reno commented, “We get a new reactor, ‘n Corel makes money offa land they can’t keep workin’ anyway.”

“True enough… though I like to think Shinra got the better end of the deal. This reactor will be active and generating profit for decades. Perhaps even longer.”

Tseng chuckled softly, still bringing up the rear. “Sir… can’t you simply be satisfied with a well-negotiated business deal? Is it always necessary to get the better end of it?”

Rufus paused and glanced back at the Wutaiian Turk.

“Necessary? No. Preferred? Absolutely.”

They finally reached the reactor entrance, only to be met by a man in worn coveralls. He smiled politely as they approached, and extended a hand, which Rufus shook.

“Vice President Shinra,” he greeted him, “Welcome to Corel. The name’s Dyne.”

---

The flight back to Midgar seemed to take hours, and by the time they were setting down on the rooftop helipad of Midgar Geneal Hospital, Kai was in a bad way. Rude and Cissnei had managed to slow the bleeding… but it hadn’t stopped. Hell, for all Rude knew, it may have only slowed down because the senior Turk was running out of blood altogether… not because any of their first aid attempts were successful. She’d lost consciousness before they were even over the city.

Remy, of course, had radioed ahead, and the moment they were down, the door to the aircraft was hauled open and the space was invaded by medical personnel. Rude and Cissnei gratefully relinquished their comrade to more expert care than their own.

“Rude,” Remy’s voice called out over his headset, snapping him out of the daze he’d fallen into moments after they’d taken Kai away. “Stay here and wait for any updates on Kai’s condition. Cissnei and I will report in at headquarters.”

The bald Turk nodded, and climbed out onto the rooftop. The winds were strong up here, and he found himself almost instantly chilled. As soon as he was clear, the helicopter lifted off again. He watched it as it grew smaller and smaller as it rose into the sky before streaking off towards the center of the city. Once they were gone, he turned and walked through the same door the doctors had taken Kai just moments ago.

---

“Now… when yer disarmin’ somethin’ like this wee girl, yeh need ta be mindful ‘o hidden triggers,” Sato lectured, pointing out a little glass tube secreted away beneath the timer. In its center was a shiny silver liquid. Bare wires entered from the left, sitting exposed at the end of the tube. “Any ‘o yeh have a guess as ta what that might be?”

“… Mercury tilt switch,” Liam stated, and Sato looked up, mildly impressed. Usually they didn’t have a clue. The newbie was a bright one, alright.

“Aye… That’s exactly what she is, lad.” He looked over at the other two rookies. “Liquid metal. Any bit ‘o a jostle, ‘n that wee blob’ll move ‘n complete the circuit, settin’ her off. Means a bomb like this ‘un ain’t goin’ anywhere. ‘Least not until yeh can disable that trigger. So… that’s yer assignment.” He flipped a switch on the side, arming his creation and a little clock glowed an ominous red and began counting down. “Yeh’ve got ten minutes ‘fore the timer reaches zero ‘n yeh can use anything in the room. How d’yeh make her safe ta move ta the containment unit ‘fore she blows?”

“Oh! I know this!” Sykes said, grinning triumphantly. He looked around the room and quickly spotted what he was searching for. “Saw it on TV…”

Sato smirked as the young man hustled over to the door and retrieved the fire extinguisher from it’s holder on the wall. It didn’t matter if his group was made up of rookie Turks, Shinra military, or even SOLDIER… there was always one who tried that. He noted that Liam quickly took several steps back as Sykes aimed the extinguisher at the device and squeezed the trigger. Petra, meanwhile, leaned in closer for a better look.

Sato’s demonstration “bomb” obediently exploded with a loud pop and a large puff of dark, black smoke.

“Yeh shouldnae believe everything yeh see on TV, rookie…” the senior Turk snickered, “Vibration knocked it right inta the contacts. And cold as they get, a fire extinguisher’s not goin’ ta get down ta the minus thirty plus degrees yeh need ta freeze mercury ta begin with.”

“… You couldn’t have maybe mentioned that before he set it off?” Petra coughed, fanning the fumes away from herself.

“Where’d be the fun in that?” Sato replied, grinning. “But more ta the point freezin’ it wouldnae be a guarantee, even if yeh managed ta keep it offa the wires while yeh were freezin’ it. Might be solid after, but it can still move ’round in there… and it doesnae lose it’s conductivity.”

“So… what’s the right way to disarm it?” Sykes queried, setting aside the fire extinguisher.

Sato laughed and lifted an identical device out of a nearby box, setting it on the table. He armed it, and the countdown started again… from nine this time.

“Yeh’ve got nine more minutes ta figure that out.”

---

“What happened?” Veld demanded, the moment Remy and Cissenei stepped out of the elevator. His eyes immediately went to the younger of his Turks, noting the copious amounts of fresh blood staining her clothing.

“Kai and Rude were ambushed by Hojo’s Leviathan-be-damned zenenes!” Remy spat, angrily before composing herself. “They had to kill two just trying to escape from them, and Cissnei took down a third during the extraction. The rest of the pack got away. Rude is fine… but Kai…” She swallowed sharply. “I left Rude at the hospital to wait for updates. I don’t know how bad her injuries are, sir. I believe they took her straight to surgery.”

Veld roughly pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me know the moment you hear from him. I’ll… report to Hojo that half of his specimens are still on the loose.”

Remy nodded and sent Cissnei off to change into clean clothes, before retreating to her office to wait for word from Rude.

This wasn’t good. Aside from the failed mission – which, in the grand scheme of things was more of an inconvenience than an actual problem – one of his Turks was seriously hurt. That was never a minor issue… but at the moment, it was not only something new to worry himself sick about, it was also about as inopportune as it could get. He had intended to assign Kai to a somewhat time-sensitive mission in Junon tomorrow… in part because it was her hometown, and she knew it better than anyone on the team, and in part because it would likely involve significant underwater work… for which she was the only member of the team presently qualified. But perhaps most importantly… her small stature meant that Kai was the most physically suited for what needed to be done.

He’d just have to worry about it later. It was, after all, entirely possible that the mission would only have to be briefly delayed. They did have a small window of time they could play with, at least. And as Remy had said, they didn’t know the extent of her injuries yet. Kai might be back to work in a a few days for all Veld knew right now.

Still… judging by the state of Cissnei’s uniform, there had been a lot of blood. A contingency plan might not be a terrible idea. Just in case.

And if, by then, he hadn’t yet received word of Kai’s condition from Rude, he’d see about sending one of the physicians from the company medical suite over to investigate. When an injured Turk came in, the doctors at Midgar General often had their hands full just keeping them alive. He’d found that sending one of their own medical staff to make inquires yielded better results than having one of his Turks do it. Dr. Ward was usually agreeable to helping them out. Hopefully she was free.

---

Rude settled himself on one of the long, padded benches that lined the waiting room, and ran his hands along the back of his neck, trying to relieve some of the tension that had built up there over the last hour and a half. There was still no word on Kai… but he’d seen staff rushing towards the operating rooms with containers labeled “Human Blood”. Four times now, in fact. His requests for an update had been met with being sternly told to be patient and wait.

He sighed and stared down at his hands. He’d tried to clean himself up a little – after likely scaring the ever-living shit out of two young women who’d walked into the waiting room, he assumed, to await word on another patient and seen him there covered in blood – but his success had been limited. It had been everywhere. He could still see some, dried and caked under his nails, and there had been nothing he could do about his clothes.

It had been bad. He’d seen injuries before, of course… but he had a feeling this was going to stick with him for awhile. He’d quite literally been watching the life drain out of her. It had been far too much like it had been watching Tres’ last moments… a memory that was still somewhat raw, despite the time that had passed… though that was in part because he still hadn’t fulfilled the promise he’d made to himself to avenge his fallen mentor. Istev was still out there… somewhere.

“Hmph… I knew I’d find at least one of yeh here waiting…” a voice announced from the doorway, and Rude looked up, only to find himself face to face with Dr. Justinia Ward. He didn’t actually know the woman that well, personally – he’d never had much of a preference when it came to doctors… he saw whoever happened to be available down in Medical when he needed them – but he was well aware of Reno’s opinion of her. Despite his constant complaining any time he had cause to visit her domain, she was pretty much the only doctor on staff his friend would willingly – though Rude used that term fairly loosely – go to see. As much as the redhead pretended otherwise, Rude was relatively sure he liked her on some level.

She clucked her tongue at him and offered up a pile of fabric, which he belatedly recognized as medical scrubs and a pale gray sweatshirt.

“Go and change… Yer a right mess.”

“… Is there any news?”

“Veld only told me what happened about fifteen minutes ago. I just got here myself. Yeh go ‘n clean up, while I see what I can find out.”

Rude nodded in acknowledgment, taking the small bundle from the doctor and disappearing into a nearby restroom.

Kai had been the one to come and get him that day… just before he’d lost his mentor. When she’d walked in, he’d known exactly why she was there… even if he hadn’t wanted to admit it. She’d been their after, too, waiting for him outside of the door to Tres’ room. Now he was the one doing the waiting, and he didn’t really know what to do with himself. All he knew was that he didn’t want today to turn out the same way that day in Junon had.

A few minutes later, he returned to the waiting room, having scrubbed away as much of the remaining blood as he could and tucked his soiled clothes into one of the plastic bags he’d found in a cabinet. He took a seat, impatiently tapping his foot as he waited for Ward to return. The tapping soon turned to a staccato rhythm that seemed to have taken possession of his entire leg. It was something he’d always done when he was worried. He couldn’t help it. It was as though anxiety generated so much pent up energy that it had to find some form of release or it would tear him apart.

Rude looked up several minutes later when the door opened again, and was immediately on his feet. Dr. Ward sighed faintly, but only gestured for him to sit back down, and crossed the room, joining him.

“They have the bleeding under control,” she said, right off the bat. “Whatever yeh lot were attacked by, it seems their saliva has some sort of anti-clotting agent. Poor thing’s had four transfusions already, and will probably need another one before it’s all said and done… but they seem ta have stabilized her.”

Rude slowly exhaled in relief.

“Now that’s not ta say she’s out of the woods quite yet, mind,” Ward continued, “They’re still working on the worst of the damage and there’s always the chance something unexpected could happen. I’d say cautiously optimistic would be an accurate prognosis at this point.”

“… Any idea how much longer she’ll be in surgery?” he asked. ‘Cautiously optimistic’ was a little too vague to report back to Veld and the others. He needed some details.

“I’d guess at least another hour… maybe two, depending on how things go. There’s a lot of vascular damage ta the neck and shoulder region, ‘n repairing that sort o’ injury can get dicey. It’s not something yeh want ta be rushing.”

If there was one thing he could say about Dr. Ward, it was that she certainly didn’t sugar coat things. Her bluntness was oddly reassuring, in a way, though. At least from his perspective. He’d rather hear the truth of any given situation, no matter what it was… That was the only way to make an informed decision.

“I’d suggest giving yer superiors an update and then getting yerself some food ‘n some coffee if yer planning on sticking around. It’s going ta be quite a wait before they’ll let yeh in ta see her.”

Rude nodded in understanding. The same thought had crossed his own mind… though he didn’t know if Veld would want him to stay put or report back to headquarters, now that they had some details on Kai’s condition.

“… Thanks,” he finally said.

“I’ll be around if yeh need anything,” Ward replied, gently patting his shoulder before standing and taking her leave. Rude, meanwhile, retrieved his PHS and dialed Veld’s number.

---

The tour had taken quite some time… and much of that time had been spent inspecting the materia production facility. Dyne’s presence made delving into the more classified areas of the reactor an impossibility, but there was still plenty to see. To be honest, Reno was a little confused as to why the guy was even there. The town hadn’t had anything to do with the site’s construction… and while a few locals might be employed there eventually, from what he understood, the Mt. Corel reactor was the most automated mako reactor Shinra had ever built. It practically ran itself.

He supposed it was just a courtesy. After all… the thing was built practically in their backyard. He knew he’d have been more than a little curious back in his slum days if Shinra had turned up in Sector 2 to plop some big ass piece of machinery in the middle of the place. Maybe curious enough to do a little investigating. If letting a representative take a look around kept the rest of them out of Company business, Reno figured it couldn’t hurt.

And anyway… the guy seemed alright. Maybe a little put off by the presence of the reactor, but not outright against it, as far as he could tell. Though he did give Reno the impression that he’d had to be talked into it… either by Rufus, or by his fellow miners when things were being negotiated. The redhead didn’t remember him being present at the one – and only – contract negotiation Reno had attended in Kalm awhile back, but to be fair, he’d had other things on his mind that day… like making sure Rufus didn’t get his ass kidnapped, and avoiding being trampled by chocobos. And… you know… the whole crashing the helicopter, being attacked by levicrons, and getting trapped in a cave thing. If he’d met Dyne before, he hadn’t made enough of an impression on the young Turk to actually remember him after everything else that had been going on.

And he vaguely wondered if maybe he should have been paying more attention. Come to think of it, he really couldn’t say that he would recognized anyone from Corel who’d been there that day, now. And it also occurred to him that, if they were going to be running a reactor out here in the ass end of nowhere, then eventually the Turks would more likely than not end up with an actual mission in the area. Knowing who was who and who might be trouble was bound to be beneficial. It always had been back in the Slums.

But that was something he could discuss with Tseng later. Preferably after a nice relaxing evening sipping fruity drinks on the beach in Costa del Sol, given that they were about ten minutes from leaving. Reno grinned slightly to himself. He loved it when an easy mission actually WAS easy, went according to plan, and nothing unexpected went horrendously wrong.

Of course… the very second he consciously acknowledged that thought, Tseng’s PHS chimed with the sound of an incoming text message. His mentor glanced down at the screen and frowned before slipping off to a corner to place a call.

Reno wondered what had happened… but kept close to Rufus for the time being. The vice president was his primary responsibility. Whatever else was going on, if he needed to know about it, Tseng would fill him in later. It didn’t escape his notice, however, that the frown the Turk lieutenant wore deepened considerably after a few short moments on the phone.

Finally, Rufus wrapped things up with Dyne and the reactor foreman who’d been showing them around. He walked past the redhead, snapping his fingers. Reno resisted the urge to roll his eyes and followed. He hated it when the brat did that. It was beyond condescending. The only reason he never voiced a complaint was because he knew that Rufus specifically did it to annoy him… and he wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of getting under his skin. The vice president would have to try a lot harder than that if he wanted to win at this little game of his.

Tseng joined them as they exited the reactor, shuddering as the icy wind hit them.

“Somethin’ up, boss?” Reno asked.

“We’ll discuss it on the helicopter,” he replied. The redhead didn’t much like the sound of that. There were any number of reasons the senior Turk might not want to tell him what that phone call was about out here, where anyone – assuming anyone was nuts enough to be out here hiding behind a snowdrift or something – could overhear… and very few of them were boded well for their mini-vacation. It was entirely possible that they were being recalled to Midgar immediately due to an emergency. Or that one of them was being sent off to deal with an unexpected matter nearby while the other babysat Rufus. Or… hell… maybe the president had been assassinated and Rufus was in charge of the entire company now.

Okay… that last one was admittedly pretty unlikely. But Tseng had a noticeably dark look on his face as they made their way through the snow… and that almost certainly meant bad news of some sort. They boarded the copter, and a few short minutes later, they were airborne once more. Rufus leaned back in his seat and sighed.

“Well… now that that’s finally over, I believe I’ll phone ahead and make reservations for dinner. Someplace directly on the beach, I think…” he said, reaching for his PHS. The two Turks largely ignored him, though it seemed he was far too interested in his own planning to notice.

“… ‘kay, so we’re on the helicopter. What’s goin’ on?” Reno queried. Tseng folded his arms over his chest.

“Nothing we can do anything about, I’m afraid,” he replied. “Kai is in the hospital. A mishap on her mission today. She is, apparently, stable at this point, but her injuries are extensive.”

“Fuck… anyone else get hurt?” he asked, alarmed. Remy, Cissnei, and Rude had all been given that assignment, as well. Tseng shook his head.

“Thankfully, no. But it sounds as though Kai may be out of commission for awhile. Veld will be calling later with further updates… and… depending on what those updates entail, we may need to make a slight detour before we return home tomorrow.”

Reno’s eyebrow rose in curiosity. A detour, huh? That sounded like maybe they were getting sent off on another assignment after all. Probably wherever Veld had been planning to send Kai tomorrow. Well… more like he was getting sent on another assignment. Because they sure as fuck couldn’t just leave Rufus on his own in Costa del Sol… and the brat would probably throw a fit if he got stuck with the redhead while Tseng took off for parts unknown without him. That in mind, he wondered where he’d be going.

“A detour to where?” he asked. Tseng gave him a slight smile in spite of the news they’d received.

“To see an old friend in Cosmo Canyon.”

~end chapter 6~