Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 82: Afterwards

Reno sat quietly, head in his hands, largely ignoring the busy doctors and nurses who passed by him in the hallway. One benefit to being the son of the head of Shinra Company… when you were sick or hurt, you received top of the line medical treatment, the best doctors, private accommodations… the works. So, being in a private wing of Midgar General, rather than the emergency department, at the very least, the redhead had the opportunity to silently berate himself in relative peace.

That was going to change shortly, however. Veld was on his way. With the President, who apparently was not happy to hear that his only son had been shot during a robbery, and that not only had the criminals gotten away, but that Reno had been halfway across the store when it happened. Veld hadn’t sounded real happy about that last part, either… though his anger had cooled a bit when the younger Turk had explained that he’d been dealing with a separate problem at the time, on Rufus’ own orders.

Still… he was expecting to be reamed out for it, regardless. If not by Veld, then certainly by President Shinra, because no matter what his excuse may have been, it didn’t change the fact that Rufus had been hurt on his watch.

He was having a hard time not berating himself for that fact, too, though, as far as that went. He’d gotten complacent. They were in a high-end store, full of wealthy, upper-class shoppers, with its own security. What could happen?

Apparently, a fucking armed robbery is what could happen.

Plain and simple, he’d failed. He’d considered a VIP escort assignment to be routine, let himself get distracted by a pain in the ass photographer, and missed any opportunity he might have had to put a stop to the bigger threat before it had happened. That was on him.

“Where is my son?!” a voice bellowed from down the hall, snapping the redhead from his thoughts. He jerked upright, scrambling to his feet mere seconds before he was spotted by the threesome now making its way towards him, and cringed. President Shinra, Veld… and Heidegger. Great. This wasn’t going to end well. Reno sighed and mentally braced himself for the coming onslaught.

“Reno, where is –” Veld began, only to be forcibly shoved aside as Heidegger stepped out in front of him and got directly into the redhead’s face. Veld stumbled slightly, but quickly recovered, looking at his direct superior with a less than amused expression.

“You. I should have known,” he said, jabbing a finger into Reno’s chest, “You’ve really done it this time.”

It took everything Reno had not to recoil at the man’s breath and the amount of spittle flying from his gaping maw as he berated the younger Turk.

“You’ve been worthless since day one!” Heidegger growled, “I hope you’ve enjoyed your time at Shinra… because when I’m done with you, you’ll be out on your ass so fast you’ll –”

“What in Ramuh’s name are you bellowing about now?” an exasperated voice demanded from over Reno’s shoulder, and all three of the new arrivals momentarily froze in surprise as Rufus emerged from the room just to the Turk’s right.

“Rufus!” President Shinra stammered, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “I… I was informed you’d been shot…”

The Shinra heir snorted loudly. “Grazed would be more accurate,” he replied, rolling his eyes, before turning to his bodyguard for the day, “Why in the Nine Hells did you inform half the Company of this? Get the car and let’s go. I want lunch, and I don’t intend to dine on hospital fare… Then I have one other stop to make before I head back to the office.”

The redhead blinked in surprise at the abrupt dismissal, and glanced over at Veld for confirmation that he wasn’t supposed to stay and have a new asshole ripped for him.

“What are you looking at me for? You heard the vice president,” Veld said, simply, and Reno was almost certain he saw the faintest hint of a smirk cross his face.

“Yes, sir,” he answered and hurried off in the direction of the the VIP entrance. It didn’t take him long to spot where their driver had parked and have him pull around to the doors. That done, he climbed inside and waited.

When he’d found Rufus, he’d half thought he was dead at first. His shoulder was bloodied, and he was lying motionless, facedown on the floor. When he reached out and grabbed him in an effort to roll him over, the young executive had jumped in fright, scurrying back with a look a sheer terror on his face… until recognition had dawned.

The injury wasn’t a bad one. As the Shinra heir had said in the hallway, he’d only been grazed by one of the stray bullets that had been fired into the crowd of shoppers. He was far more scared than injured… but Reno had wasted no time in evacuating him from the area and taking him straight to the hospital. Rufus hadn’t said a word the entire ride. In fact, he’d been so borderline catatonic, Reno had been in the process of reassessing his initial thought that the injury wasn’t that bad by the time they’d reached their destination.

The young man who’d emerged from that room just a few minutes ago was almost a different person from the one who’d gone in. Utterly dismissive of the entire incident, as well as his injury.

Reno didn’t have long to think on it, because as soon as he looked up to see whether or not Rufus was on his way out yet, the Shinra heir was striding through the doors, though apparently not having ditched his visitors. His father accompanied him, closely followed by Heidegger. Veld, too, was following, though at a respectable distance. The driver opened the door for the vice president.

“Enough,” Rufus said, holding up a hand. “I’m perfectly fine. And I have quite a lot to do today. If you’ll excuse me, Father…” He turned to his driver and added, “The Juniper Well, if you would.”

He then slipped into the back of the limo, and the door was shut firmly behind him… at which point the facade dropped and he exhaled in a shuttering breath.

“You okay, sir?” Reno hesitantly asked.

“No,” he replied, with none of his usual snark. “I am most assuredly not ‘okay’.”

“Should I –” he began, only to be cut off.

“Just sit there, silently, and give me a moment to recompose myself,” Rufus snapped, as the car began to pull forward. The redhead obligingly shut up. That his charge was still rattled was obvious… and it suddenly occurred to Reno just how exceptional an actor Rufus could be at times. It wasn’t the first time he’d noticed it… but having seen the drastic change that had come over him the moment he was out of view, it had registered in a way it somehow never had before. Rufus Shinra did not show weakness to anyone. He did not show fear to anyone… even if he was terrified. The exceptions to that rule were few and far between.

After several minutes of heavy, uncomfortable silences, the executive began to relax a bit.

“Was is really necessary to notify Father?” he groused.

“Technically, I only notified Veld, sir. Hewas the one who told the President what was up,” he replied, with a shrug, “Sorry… It’s protocol.” He paused a moment. “How’s the arm?”

Rufus snorted softly.

“I understand now why you were so annoyed with me when I gave you a similar injury a few years back. It’s not very pleasant, and the fact that it hurts with every little movement is going to be extraordinarily inconvenient.”

“… That was more ’cause ya coulda killed me, but… yeah, gettin’ shot’s generally kind of a pain in the ass no matter what,” he replied, eyeing the older boy a little strangely. At this point, he wasn’t sure if Rufus was really as calm as he seemed or if he’d simply put the facade back up. He honestly couldn’t tell the difference right now.

“Hmph… Knowing Father, I’ll now require an escort even in my own home until it’s fully healed,” he muttered, clearly irritated by the idea.

“Heh… well, on the bright side, you won’t have to put up with me for awhile,” the redhead snickered, trying to lighten the mood a bit, “… ’cause I’m pretty sure Heidegger’s gonna skin me alive soon as I’m back in the office. Ya know… assumin’ your dad doesn’t get his hands on me first.”

He said it jokingly… but Reno wasn’t entirely convinced it wasn’t exactly what was going to happen. Heidegger still held a bit of a grudge against him, after all. And if ever there was a reason to punish a Turk… well, letting the V.P. take a bullet certainly qualified. He was trying very hard not to think about what it might mean for him… and his career. Really, the only thing keeping his own panic in check right now was the fact that Rufus had seemed even more upset than the redhead was.

“Heidegger can go straight the Nine Hells if he thinks he’s going to enact some idiotic vendetta over this,” Rufus replied, scowling angrily, “And my father can join him.”

Reno blinked in surprise… and the younger Shinra pointedly rolled his eyes when he noticed the expression.

“The number of people I am comfortable entrusting my life to can be counted on one hand,” he continued, “I’ve made it clear to that fat sack of hot air that if anyone so much as attempts some sort of retaliation, my response will be swift and merciless.”

“Which fat sack of hot air?”

It had just slipped out. He hadn’t meant to actually say that… but his filter, which was often tenuous to begin with, had selected that particular moment to utterly abandon him. As soon as the words were out, he knew he’d fucked up. Rufus wasn’t a fellow Turk. He wasn’t even a fellow employee. He was the second highest ranked executive in the Company, and the son of one of the men Reno had just so casually insulted. Teasing the Brat himself was one thing. Going off on his dad to his face was crossing a whole other line. For a moment Rufus merely stared at him, mouth slightly agape. And then he did something that surprised the redhead for a second time.

He started to laugh.

It was a nearly a full minute before he finally sobered… and not a moment too soon, because Reno was beginning to think the vice president had completely lost it. Rufus fixed him with a sharp gaze.

“You do realize I could have you summarily dismissed for that comment alone if I truly wished it…” he said, almost off-handedly, “Nevermind today’s little fiasco.”

“Yes, sir…” Reno somewhat cautiously replied, raising an eyebrow, and somehow he just knew. He smirked. “But you won’t.”

The car pulled up in front of a tiny, hole-in-the-wall cafe on a little side street in Sector 2. Reno recognized it immediately… Tseng had brought him here not all that long ago.

“Hmph… No. I won’t,” he confirmed, as the driver opened the door. “Come on, Slum Rat. You’re paying for lunch this time.”

The redhead snickered softly to himself. He’d very nearly forgotten that he’d made the stuck up executive buy him lunch after that little incident on the firing range back when he was a rookie. As he hauled himself out of the car, following Rufus inside, he vaguely wondered if Tseng had ever found out about that… He’dnever said anything, if he had.

“Hey… wait a minute,” Reno said, as he remembered something else. “Why am I buyin’? Don’t you own this place?”

---

It was late afternoon by the time the protest in Kalm had finally disbanded, and Tseng and Sykes were able to trudge back into the office. The crowd had been larger than anticipated… but fortunately there had only been a handful of toublemakers among them. At one point, a fight had broken out between a few of the townsfolk and some protesters from elsewhere, but it had been easily contained, and the instigators ejected from the area. Really, the worst part of the assignment had been the fact that he’d been stuck outdoors in the frigid winter weather all day.

Still… easy assignment or not, it had been a very long day, and all Tseng really wanted right now was to spend the two hours or so that remained in the workday writing up his incident report and sipping a cup of strong tea while he thawed out a bit in his nice, climate-controlled office. With any luck – and a lot of tea – he’d be able to fend off his inevitable start-of-winter cold awhile longer this year.

“Ah… Tseng. Good, you’re back,” Veld’s voice called out to him, just as he was about to reach for his office door. The Turk lieutenant mentally sighed and turned around. His mentor chuckled quietly.

“Long day?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” Tseng replied.

“Well… I don’t want to keep you from you tea,” Veld replied, and Tseng couldn’t help but notice a slightly mischievous look on his face. “I just thought I ought to let you know that Rufus managed to get himself shot this afternoon.”

With that, he turned and strode back into his office, leaving Tseng, at first, very confused and not certain of what he’d just heard.

“… What?!” he cried, after a brief delay for his brain to fully catch up. He hurriedly followed the senior Turk into the other man’s office, closing the door behind him. “What in Leviathan’s name do you mean, he’s been shot? What happened? Where is he now? And where’s Reno?”

“There’s no need for concern,” Veld replied, smiling slightly, “He was grazed by a stray bullet. It was barely more than a scratch. Frankly, I think he was more annoyed than in pain. He took Reno and left for lunch directly from Midgar General after getting patched up.”

Tseng glared at his mentor. “That wasn’t funny. What happened?”

Veld gestured to the chairs in front of his desk, and Tseng obligingly took a seat, as did the Turk leader. He leaned forward resting his elbows on the desk and pressing his fingertips together.

“A robbery while he was out Christmas shopping,” he replied, “It seems they were after a large amount of cash donated to the store’s charity of choice for the season. Apparently one of them decided to fire into the crowd to cover their escape. There were several people injured, but rather miraculously, the only death was a security guard who had attempted to stop them.”

“Where is Rufus now?” Tseng asked, still rather anxious.

“When he left, he said he was going to go have lunch. Reno checked in shortly afterward, and confirmed the location, and said that he had an additional errand to run. They’re presently on their way back to the office.”

“Was Reno injured, as well?”

“No. He’s fine. He was dealing with a member of the local paparazzi when the shooting started. When he realized what was happening, he signaled Rufus to take cover. Either the vice president didn’t listen, or he left said cover too quickly. I’m not entirely clear on that point,” Veld explained, “I’ve already dispatched Petra and Rude to deal with the thieves. The President wasn’t feeling especially generous towards them, for obvious reasons, and has ordered their immediate termination.”

Veld leaned back in his chair, still smirking slightly at his protege.

“And just what is that look?” Tseng asked, suspicious. Veld chuckled again, and sighed quietly.

“Your protege has picked up yet another other your less endearing traits…” he said, sounding decidedly amused. The younger Turk raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?” he responded.

“Yes… he’s befriended an executive,” Veld replied, somewhat teasingly. Tseng pointedly rolled his eyes. His mentor had never fully approved of his close relationship with the younger Shinra… though he had never specifically dissuaded him from it, either. Even Tseng had to admit that it was a bit of a double edged sword at times, and there was a line that he had to walk to maintain a balance between duty and friendship.

“I don’t think I’d call them friends, per se…” Tseng said, “Allies, certainly.”

“No? Well… call them what you will, Rufus was remarkably protective of Reno when Heidegger started his usual blustering. He seemed to think the vice president’s injury was going to give him a chance to make good on an old grudge.” He laughed softly. “I… don’t think Reno will have any further issues with him in the future on that matter. Our young vice president is shockingly intimidating when he wants to be.”

“Rufus has begun to realize that he can’t run this company on his own. He needs people he can trust… and he trusts Reno with his life.”

Veld nodded. “The same true for you, you know. You can’t run this team without a second who has your full confidence. It’s too much for one person.” He pressed his fingertips together again. “I have to admit… when you first told me you wanted to recruit him, I never expected Reno to survive the rigors of Turk training. Not in the field. Maybe not even in the recruitment program. I honestly thought you were setting yourself up for failure, and wanted more than anything to intervene and nix the whole idea… but ultimately, it was your mistake to make.” He paused a moment, thoughtfully. “He’s… not who I thought he was when I first met him. He’s more than proven that. You will never in a million years find a second in command more suitable for you, Tseng. He’s become an extension of yourself before he’s even had to learn that that is exactly what he must be in order to do the job you’re training him for. After what I witnessed today, I think Rufus sees that, too.”

Tseng smiled slightly. “Well… that’s one less thing for me to worry about teaching him, I suppose. If only the rest of the list was going to be that easy…”

“I think you’re managing just fine,” Veld laughed.

“Yes, sir. I… I-I –” he began. His response, however, was abruptly curtailed by a violent sneeze, followed by a loudly groaned Wutaiian invective.

“Oh, wonderful…” Tseng muttered. Veld shook his head, and stood up, guiding his protege to his feet.

“Every year, like clockwork…” he chuckled, understandingly. “Let’s get you some tea.”

---

Following their lunch, Rufus had ordered the driver to take them to the very heart Sector 4… but hadn’t told the redhead where they were going. Somehow, though… Reno wasn’t shocked when the car rolled through the elaborate gates of a small cemetery. The undisturbed snow crunched underfoot as the executive got out and made his way towards one of the larger monuments. The Turk, however, stayed with the car, watching over the young executive from a distance. He really didn’t have to wonder whose grave it was.

He knew the story. Rufus had been nine. Out shopping with his mother, in a fancy, high end store, where no one, including their security escort, would have expected anything out of the ordinary to happen to them. He’d come home that day without a mother, and Tseng had very nearly not come home at all. The similarities between that day and this afternoon weren’t lost on the Turk. Rufus had probably been thinking about that incident from the first moment he heard the gunshot.

… and Reno couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness for the younger Shinra. He knew the pain of unexpected reminders… of some random instance that unforgivingly triggered memories you tried desperately not to think about. Hell, as bad as his own childhood trauma was, at least he hadn’t had to watch his mother die. He couldn’t imagine what that must have been like… though to be fair, Reno didn’t think he was brave enough to even try.

Rufus didn’t stay long. He returned, wordlessly, to the car after only a minute or two, in fact, and said nothing until he had climbed inside and ordered the driver to take them back to the office. Reno had inconspicuously sent Veld a notification that they were on their way back and then leaned back and kept his mouth shut.

“Aren’t you going to ask?” Rufus, after several city blocks had gone by, queried, breaking the silence. His tone wasn’t snarky or condescending. If anything, he sounded… resigned.

“No,” Reno replied, and the executive glanced up at him, surprise replacing the slightly haunted look that had been on his face. Reno shook his head. “There are some things ya just don’t talk about.”

He didn’t talk about his mom’s death, either. Not if he could at all avoid it, anyway. Over the last few months he’d built himself up to the point that just about any other topic related to her was okay. He could manage a conversation about her now. Even start one, unprompted. But that was off limits. For now, at least. Maybe one day he’d come to terms with that, too, but… not yet. And he wasn’t about to ask someone else to do something he wasn’t willing to do himself.

Rufus turned his gaze out the window and fell silent again. The sun had nearly gone down and snow was beginning to fall again, adding to the not insignificant amount already on the ground from early that morning. Normally, Reno loved the snow, and especially the first snow of the season. Right now, though, it was just… cold.

Somewhat inexplicably, his thoughts turned to Kai, and he wondered if she was out in this weather. After today, more than anything, he wanted his little family to be whole again…

---

The first think Reno heard as he stepped off of the elevator and into Turk headquarters was… someone sneezing their head off. He heard Rufus scoff from just behind him.

“Well… If I wasn’t already aware that it had snowed, I would certainly know it now…”

Reno snickered softly in response, as he turned just in time to spot Tseng making his way towards them, a mug of tea clutched in his hands. The redhead rolled his eyes.

“Seriously? Again?” he asked, though he was admittedly somewhat perversely amused by his mentor’s present state. It was almost like the man had an allergy to snow. Rufus had been joking, but he wasn’t wrong by any means. As soon as it snowed, Tseng got sick. Every. Single. Winter.

“Don’t start with me… Either of you. This began barely an hour ago and I already feel terrible,” the Wutaiian Turk muttered in a decidedly congested voice. He looked over at Rufus, “I heard what happened. Are you alright?”

“Hmph… I really don’t know why the Slum Rat required so much time off after he was shot. I barely even felt it…”

The redhead snorted in laughter at the utterly straight-faced delivery of that statement. Say what you would about the Brat… his sense of humor was as dry as the Corel Desert. Tseng merely shook his head.

“Reno… Veld has preemptively ordered me to remain home tomorrow if I’m still running a fever in the morning. I’d like you to write up your incident report now… as you will likely be covering for me all day,” the senior Turk said.

“Why didn’t he order you to go home already?” the redhead asked.

“Technically, he did,” he replied, coughing harshly, “I negotiated permission to wait until you two returned.”

“And now they have returned,” a voice cut in, “Go home, Tseng. Or I’ll make good on my promise to call Dr. Ward and you can deal with her.”

Reno grinned as Veld came striding down the hall towards them.

“I can drive him home…” he volunteered, and Tseng shot him a look.

“You will not,” his mentor stated, “Because the Nine Hells will freeze over before I allow you to drive my car in snow, and I know perfectly well that’s what you’re angling for.”

“And besides which, you have an incident report to write,” Veld added, “I want it on my desk by the end of the day, because I already have your assignment for tomorrow, and you’ll be leaving first thing in the morning. Well cover the details at the afternoon briefing. Go. Write.”

“Yes, sir,” Reno said, biting back a groan. He hurried off towards his office.

“And it had better be legible this time!” Veld called after him, and he was pretty sure he heard Tseng laughing before the sound quickly turned into a fit of coughing. As the redhead rounded the corner, he was greeted by the sound of unabashed snickering.

“Shut up,” he said, rolling his eyes at Rude. The older Turk smirked and followed him into his office, shutting the door behind him.

“Heard Rufus took a bullet,” he said.

“Tch… barely,” Reno replied, but then dropped his gaze. “But… yeah. I fucked up. Lucky for me, he wasn’t seriously hurt, but it still never shoulda happened.”

“Hmph… You can’t be perfect one hundred percent of the time,” Rude replied, patting him on the shoulder, to which the younger man snorted derisively. “By the way… Heidegger was down here for awhile, fuming about Rufus to Veld. What’d the V.P. say to him to piss him off like that?”

Reno cocked his head to one side. “I actually don’t know. The son of a bitch was in my face, all set to chew me out, ‘n then the Brat sent me to go get the car. I didn’t hear any of it.”

Rude groaned loudly. “I’ve been waiting all afternoon to get the inside story on this, and you didn’t hear any of it?” he lamented.

“Sorry,” Reno shrugged. He couldn’t help but laugh softly. His friend absolutely lived for gossip. Rude sighed and sat down in one of the chairs in front of Reno’s desk. “Heh… yeah, sure. Just make yourself right at home. Not like I got a report I’m s’posed to be writin’ up or anything…”

“I’ll try not to be too loud,” he chuckled, “Actually… I just wanted to give you a heads up. Veld’s sending you out to the southern plains tomorrow.”

“What… like to Fort Condor?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, but Rude shook his head.

“Farther south. You’re gonna want to pack warm. It’s kind of off the beaten trail. Hmph… just the kind of place to go to get away from it all.”

“… He’s sending me to look for Kai, isn’t he…?” Reno said, not having much difficulty seeing that statement for what it was.

“You didn’t hear it from me.”

“Tch… You been eavesdroppin’ again, partner?”

“Maybe,” Rude replied, with a smirk. “But I’m also the who picked up the lead in the first place. Someone matching Kai’s description stopped for supplies at Fort Condor a day ago, and then headed south towards the shore.”

“Man… you do quick work. Me ‘n Tseng were just discussing startin’ to search for her this morning! He hadn’t even run it by Veld yet by the time I left with Rufus…”

Rude chuckled. “I’ve had feelers out for a few weeks now. Figured it was only a matter of time. Just happened to get lucky this afternoon. I’ll let Veld give you the details, though. Don’t wanna step on any toes.” He took on a more serious expression. “Bring her back, will ya?”

“Heh… Will do. Ya know… assuming I actually find that little maniac. She’s probably built herself some kinda hidden sand bunker on the beach or somethin’…”

“And try not to kill yourself on the chocobo,” Rude added. Reno froze in his bid to reach for a pen and a report form from the little stack on his desk. He looked up at his friend with something akin to dread in his eyes.

“… What chocobo?” the redhead asked, suddenly not really wanting to know the answer.

~end chapter 82~