Can Barely Hide

Cloud was curled up sound asleep in their bed. Reno could make out the tousled hair and relaxed features from where he stood in the doorway. For the moment he was content to just look, a happy, warm, peaceful feeling filling him. After waiting and hoping for so long the Turk finally had the man he had loved and wanted for years. No need to wait anymore. Reno wanted to snuggle with his love and hear the sleepy purr that Cloud uttered when he was awakened by pleasurable touches.

He started walking towards the bed with the intent of provoking those noises. Reno frowned when he couldn't seem to get any closer. He was moving; that he could see, but no matter how he stepped up his pace he couldn't get any nearer to Cloud.

"Cloud, wake up!" Reno shouted. He saw the blond roll over and blink in confusion. "Cloud!"

Reno forced his legs to go faster until he was running. He was giving it everything he had and it was like just spinning in space. He saw Cloud reach for him with a pained look. The blond opened his mouth to speak and blood flowed in a choking river from his lips to spatter and stain the bedding. Naked fear shone in his lover's eyes.

"Cloud!" Reno cried desperately. If he could just reach him...

"Reno."

Reno fought the hands holding him down. He had to get to Cloud. He couldn't let anyone stop him.

"Reno."

With a shuddering breath Reno's eyes opened to see Rude's concerned face. He flicked his gaze wildly and recognized the offices in HQ. Memory of recent events slammed into him like a sledgehammer.

"You prick," Reno rasped. "You used a Sleep on me."

"You were about to pass out all on your own. You know you can't wield that much power without taking the time to rest."

"No time. I have to find Cloud."

"Elena's working on it. Give her some more time."

"I can't just sit here!"

"What are you going to do? You going to charge around all of Edge without a damn clue where you're going?" Rude clasped his hands in front of himself.

Reno's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. Elena's triumphant whoop made his head whip towards her.

"I got it! Systems normal. Searching."

Reno made his way to the bank of computers, grasping at the little bit of hope.


-


Where there had been love he could feel hate seeping in, slowly and strongly forcing away Reno's embrace. Where there had been comfort was now fear. Where warmth had cradled him it was slowly turning into frozen steel. And pain. Growing pain.

He could hear a low keening sound as he fought to stay with Reno. When he realized he was dreaming and the crying was his own he snapped awake. Cold. Dark. Pain. Everything slammed onto his senses as the exact opposite of where his mind had taken him.

The panic in his eyes showed clearly as he turned his head. Needle. Blood on the tip. His own blood. His arm ached and pain flooded from that tiny pin prick all over his body. He couldn't even arch his back but he tried. He hurt himself more trying to move.

"Good. You're awake. That worked fast."

Cloud slammed his head against the table. Over and over. This wasn't happening. It was just another flash back! He was home, and safe, and that was Reno's voice.

The doctor watched as his subject struggled for a nice, entertaining half an hour. That the bonds held was oh so pleasing. The subject's war cries and courageous attempts to break the bonds eventually became a low moaning and feeble, weak movements that served utterly no purpose by now.

"You've tired yourself out. Don't you know better than that?" The doctor chuckled. He could see his subject was no longer with him. The blue eyes looked at, but didn't see, the doctor.

"Well," he trailed off. Motioning for the more competent of his creations to join him he selected a tray and rolled it closer to his subject. On one end was a sharp, serrated blade. This was used to cut off what clothing the bonds wouldn't let them get to. Whatever clothes got trapped under the subject was left alone.

On the other half of the tray was an assortment of blades and small saws meant for something else entirely.

He really should put his subject under for this... but in the end would it matter? The doctor had already debated it to death and came to the conclusion he needed to see how a mako enhanced body healed under the most realistic conditions possible, given the circumstances... and so drugs were out of the question.


-


"Grid Four, Parallel Seventeen. Reno, what's there..." Rude turned to ask his partner, the man who was nothing more than the trailing whip of red hair darting out the door. "Damn, Reno! Elena, let Tseng know we need some back up!" Rude shouted his orders as he gave chase.

Reno burst through the doors to the garage. He had coordinates. His bike was still where he left it. Tires squealed and horns blared as he sped from the garage and careened into traffic. He never saw the hulking form watching from the shadows of a nearby building with a small smile of satisfaction on its altered face.

"As you predicted, sir. He's coming."


-


He was tired and weak but that didn't matter when the first blade pierced his flesh; just a little tease at first above his sternum. It made him grit his teeth and wince. Then it went lower and, suddenly, much deeper. Cloud wailed, his flesh and muscles bitten by the bonds as he strained.

The blade pulled out, blood dripping and Cloud heaving. His eyes had turned a vicious green and the slits were so thin they were barely visible. He saw his captors now, and he gnashed his teeth in pain and frustration and torture.

The doctor touched his ear, smiling gratefully at the message delivered. "Get ready," he ordered the shadows and they scrambled. The figure by his side walked to the other side of the table, whining for permission to touch this magnificent subject. Its four arms and 20 fingers trembled with barely checked eagerness.

"Please," it grumbled. "May I help you, master?"


-


Reno stashed his bike a couple of blocks from his objective and approached the rest of the way on foot. He was a Turk, and as such, stealthy and able to blend into the shadows. However, there was that itchy feeling between his shoulder blades that told him he was being watched. Reno tucked the disturbing information into a corner of his mind. He'd deal with it later. His first priority was discovering if he had actually come to the right place.

Grid Four was deep in Sector Seven. Reno knew the place well. After all, he had, however unwillingly, been the one to destroy it. The few survivors hadn't returned to the area, preferring to make their homes in a place less fraught with destruction and grief. Reno had been down here several times before, slowly making his way through the rubble, and imagining he could feel the sad phantoms watching him with silent accusation.

Where? Where could there possibly be a place big enough, stable enough to hide any kind of operation? Hell, there still wasn't even any electricity here. His eyes were drawn to still standing pylons that had once been not only support but had housed maintenance tunnels to the infrastructure. There. Not visible unless you were standing directly in front of it, but definitely a tiny green light obscured by dust and dirt next to an access door.

Reno decided to take the chance that the access codes hadn't been changed extensively and input the sequence for the emergency Turk override. He huffed a quiet breath of surprise when the code was accepted and the door slid open silently. Gripping his EMR tightly in his left hand and his gun in his right, he stepped into the shadowy recesses. As soon as he was a few feet inside, the door swished shut and the tiny light flashed red. Ah, fuck. No where to go but forward. The prickling quickly became a definite skin crawling.

Unheard by Reno, a hissing voice mumbled to itself. "Master wants this one. Bait, he said. Leash, collar, control of the other one." The subordinate creature tilted its head, seemingly curious and captivated by the Turk's red hair and slinking grace. "Pretty," it murmured. "Too bad. Won't be so pretty later."


-


Cloud's cries with the third blade were a mixture of terror and anger. This fascinated the creature. It didn't understand Cloud's contorted face and odd noises, but they excited it because its food did a similar thing. Was Cloud food? No. Master wouldn't like that. Was Cloud the master's food? Yes. Maybe that was it.

The thing looked pleadingly at its master.

"You can't kill him, pet," the doctor smiled. "But you may help me now." Reno had to be getting close enough. Soon he would hear these cries of pain and fear and forget to be careful. "I'm pleased this one's still awake."

Cloud was given a moment's reprieve before he saw the looming face of something not human, but something not completely animal. Then he felt its claws. Felt them push into his side, move, and snap a rib under his flesh with almost precise care...


-


Sounds started to filter to Reno's ears. Harsh, spine grating, desperate howls of rage and terrible fear. It didn't sound human, but Reno knew in the pit of his stomach that it was Cloud making those horrible shrieks. Primal instinct overrode all his Turk training and Reno raced towards the noise. At least he still had his weapons.

He skidded around a corner and bounced off the far wall to open a set of metal double doors with a front kick powerful enough to have busted locks. Unfortunately, it wasn't locked, a small detail he would remember later. Reno's momentum carried him into the room. It was cold enough that his breath was visible and cold enough that the puddle of blood he slipped and sprawled in was slowly congealing.

Reno got his feet under him to find the blood coming from his lover, his lover who was fastened to the table like a pinned frog awaiting dissection. Shock made him drop the EMR to dangle from its wrist strap, and Reno lifted his shaking hand to touch the blonde’s face.

"Cloud?!"

Cloud's slitted pupils struggled to focus on the figure touching his face. The voice sounded so familiar and the torture had stopped, though the damage was done.

"Reno?" A new kind of panic bolted through him. "No," he hissed. "You have to go!" He gasped for breath. Everything hurt. "GO! PLEASE!"

A purring noise rose up on its digitigrade back legs behind Reno. It was so happy. Extending its four frontal arms it touched the pretty hair and the loose clothing. "You come..."

Reno spun and stood between Cloud and the monstrosity. His service pistol was aimed between the eyes. He had seen archive pictures of some of Hojo's creations, but this thing was a whole new level of horror.

"Back the fuck off!" Reno yelled. He kept his gaze locked on the creature. "Cloud, can you move at all?" His feet slipped a little in the bloody slush. "Did this thing hurt you?"

The thing grinned, a bit of drool dripping from its bared lips as it stared down the gun barrel.

"Can't move," Cloud grunted. Reno had to go. He could be responsible for another death. Everyone he loved seemed to die. "Please," he begged. "Go. Before you can't." His words were sprinkled with painful breaths.

"You come stay," the thing chuckled as more of its comrades came out of the cold shadows, blocking any retreat. It stayed staring down at Reno while two approached Cloud's helpless form.

"No... no..." Cloud cried and tried to wiggle. "Please no." But the things did.

"No way in hell am I leaving you here!"

Reno heard the slight noise behind him. He kept his pistol trained on the thing in front of him and turned his head just enough that he could see the others from the corner of his eye. No. No! Reno fired the weapon and leaped over Cloud's form without the time to check if he had done any damage. He blurred into motion, the EMR striking blow after blow, each strike jarring his arm and rattling his teeth. It felt like trying to stop an avalanche with a piece of straw.

In a movement too fast for his eyes to follow a single fist caught the Turk right under the chin and he crashed against the metal table. Reno gasped from the pain when the edge of it caught him right in the middle of his back. Still he fought. His vision blurred alarmingly after a blow to the face that had to have cracked his cheekbone. Then thick, inhumanly strong fingers had him by the throat. Couldn't breathe! Cloud. They were going to hurt Cloud.

"M'sorry, Clou'," Reno slurred and went limp.

No, please not Reno... Cloud's vision went red and he strained harder than ever. He heard and felt something give but it wasn't any of his restraints. The thing had another rib and was laughing down at Cloud even as blood ran from an open bullet wound on its cheek.

Cloud twisted his head, trying to see Reno and what they were doing to him.

"Now be good?"

Cloud stared as they took Reno.

"He be back. Be good?"

Cloud cried openly. The thing inside him that turned his eyes green and made in insides rage still battled, but he nodded. He wouldn't let them hurt Reno; he'd do whatever they wanted.