Paper Tiger Burning

I respectfully credit all Original Creators, namely Squaresoft, which became SquareEnix,for these characters. In this way, I pay homage to my Fandom's Original Creator, and illustrate my Community's belief that Fan Fiction is "fair use". I do not claim to own these characters. I do not make money or gil from using these protected characters, nor do I wish to make money or gil from them. In other words, I am borrowing these characters to entertain the adult fanfiction community, but I am doing so with the highest degree of respect to the engineers, game designers, music makers, and voice actors.



“She dead?” Reno bent over Sheila’s prone form even as he asked. “No,” he answered his own question. “What happened here?”

Tseng picked up Sheila’s purse, his eyes going to mine. He found the little dart gun. I held the used dart out for his investigation.

“She came in here, demanded my cock and shot me when I wouldn’t give it to her,” I said.

Reno grinned. “Finally found someone who wouldn’t say yes,” he chuckled. “Good for you.” He touched the large bruise on Sheila’s right temple. “Looks like you managed to whack her a good one.”

“My drugged flailing,” I offered. “I had a total loss of coordination, thanks to the mystery compound in her little pistol.”

Tseng held the dart to his nose. He sniffed the chamber of the gun too. “Modified flunitrazepam,” he grunted. “I smell raw opiates. This would have killed someone who hadn’t gone through SOLDIER.” He paused. “No work for you on Monday, General. I’m surprised you’re awake and talking.”

“My system is strong.” I got up and put a shirt on, noticed how Reno watched me closely. “Reno,” I said. “Will you drive me to the labs?”

“Sure.” Reno pulled his car keys out with a flourish, making them jingle. “Going to get a blood test?”

“Urinalysis and blood analysis,” I clarified. “Flunitrazepam stays in the system a short time. I need to have it on record if I want to press charges.”

Reno grinned. “Oh, boy, fun times in Shin-Ra again,” he crowed. “Rufus will hit the roof.”

Tseng frowned. “You’re pressing charges?”

“I don’t know, possibly,” I answered, putting on my boots. “I can’t have the crazy bitch attacking me at her leisure. If not for an autonomic spasm of my arm she’d have raped me. Why should I contract a disease because she’s hot for my cock?”

Reno sobered. “Who knows what she has?” he agreed.

Tseng nodded. “It is a point,” he concurred. “Also, she is undermining her brother’s campaign to improve the company’s image.” He bent over and slapped Sheila lightly on her cheek. “Miss Shinra?”

Sheila groaned. “What?” she mumbled. “I’ll get to you in a minute, Sephiroth; don’t fight the drug.”

“As a confession that seems fairly complete,” Reno said, beginning to grin again.

Sheila rolled to a sitting position. “What?” she said again, this time coherently. Her eyes traveled the room, resting on Tseng. “What are you doing here, Turk?”

“Answering a clean-up call,” Tseng said. “You administered an illegal drug to General Sephiroth in the attempt to rape him, did you not?” The sallow Wutainian frowned down at her. “It’s a serious offense, Miss Shinra.”

Sheila couldn’t pare down her arrogance enough to even save her own skin. She fluffed up, putting her hands on her hips. “This isn’t any of your business, Tseng,” she spat, snatching her purse out of his hands. She dug around inside, searching fruitlessly for her gun. Tseng held it out in front of her nose.

“Looking for this?”

Sheila made a grab for it but Tseng dodged her hand easily.

“You give that back,” she demanded.

“I can’t, evidence.” Tseng slapped a restraint bracelet on Sheila’s left wrist. It would track her if she got away from him. “We’re going to see your brother first,” he informed her. “Then we’ll see what happens to you.”

He hauled Sheila off, who scratched and fought him for a few feet. He clamped down on her neck and forced her in front of him, keeping her moving without any way to get at him. Reno grinned like an idiot as he watched them disappear out the door and down the hall. “You certainly keep things lively in Shin-Ra, Sephiroth,” he commented as I grabbed my phone and apartment key. “Even when you aren’t going psychotic.”

“I hardly see this as my fault.” I picked up my wool coat and slung it over my arm. “I’ll need you to go into the labs with me, Reno. I want a witness to Hojo’s findings.”

“No problem.” Reno tossed his crimson ponytail. “I need a word with Hojo myself. It doesn’t escape me that Sheila had to have gotten her drug from our favorite mad scientist. She’s too high-profile to go out in the street and get a roofie.”

“I imagine you’re correct, especially since she told me Hojo had provided it,” I replied.

We walked out. I staggered against the bright light. Reno seemed to hesitate a moment before grabbing my shoulder. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “You looked like you could use the help.” He righted me and let go.

“I did,” I admitted, hating the weakness. The drug had left me shaky. The flower girl hadn’t completely cured me. Leaning on a lamppost, I ignored the various stares from passers-by. “Where’s your car?”

“Down the block. I was at the bar when Tseng collected me in the strike van.” Reno hovered close, apparently torn between being solicitous and protecting his own hide. I was an unpredictable bastard to everyone, but the Turks respected that sort of behavior. “Shall I go get it and come back for you or do you want to take the slow walk?”

“The walk,” I insisted quickly. “It might help.”

“If you say.” Reno shrugged. “I’ve never been able to walk off a roofie.”

“You take these for fun?” I said, feeling appalled at his tastes.

“Sometimes to sleep,” he corrected. “Most of us Turks are heavy drug users, Sephiroth. We need to be alert at a moment’s notice and to crash when we have the guaranteed time.” He steered me around a garbage can that seemed to swerve into my path. “Shiva,” he swore. “It doesn’t effect me this badly, but then I don’t mix it with other downers either. Bad combination.”

“Yes, take notes,” I said dryly, stumbling into him. If Aerith hadn’t prompted my system I shuddered to imagine the consequences.

“Hey buddy, spare some gil?” A man reeking of gin accosted me, a knife glinting in his hand. Before Reno could react I’d broken the mugger’s neck and tossed him aside.

“Shit, what do you need me for?” Reno complained, but he helped me step over the body. “Here, put that coat on so your arms will be free.” He played valet, threading me into the coat. “Where’s that famous sword of yours?”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “It comes when I want it.” I felt like I would vomit. Whatever Aerith had done for me had worn off. To my horror I felt my hard-on coming back.

Reno made a sympathetic sound. “See why I insisted on the coat?”

“Yes.” I groaned as a fresh wave of pain and nausea flooded me.

Reno guided me the rest of the way to his car, carefully putting me inside it. I sat there staring out the windshield, feeling sweat gathering on my forehead. Reno got in and reached over me, buckling my seatbelt. “I know you’re as tough as they come, but traffic is crazy this time of day and I don’t want Tseng flaying my ass for making you worse.”

We tore out of the illegal parking area. Reno shifted with his left hand, steered with his knees while lighting a cigarette. “You got anybody to call for an extra witness? Hojo might try something slick.”

“He’d better not,” I said darkly, feeling my gorge rise alarmingly at Reno’s tight weave between two convoy vehicles and a subcompact. “But no. I would call Eldon but he’s indisposed.”

“Eldon Garchae, your secretary?” Reno blew a plume of smoke. “Roll your window down and let the air hit you; you won’t puke maybe.”

I hit the automatic button, letting a blast of polluted fall air wash over me. “Eldon is my secretary, yes,” I confirmed.

“Saw him and his little girl out last week while Tseng and Rude were helping me look for the Cetra,” Reno said. “Cute kid. She’s taken to hanging out in that old rotten church the Cetra loved so much. Would swear the girl had mako in her system, by the look of her eyes, but Garchae said she wasn’t involved in the SOLDIER youth program.” He steered us out of the way of a fender-bender, taking the car up onto the sidewalk and over a temporary law enforcement barricade. “Personally, I think Rufus and Sheila are doing Garchae dirty.”

“Oh?” The promise of new information and the sensation of cool wind cleared my head away from my misery.

“Yeah.” Reno stuck his hand out the window and flipped a man off as he cut across traffic in a squeal of tires. “His wife was a resistance fighter. When she got killed and Shin-Ra identified her body, they yanked him out of the SOLDIER program. They claimed he’d failed the mako suitability tests, but that’s bullshit. Garchae was an up and coming star SOLDIER. I don’t think he knew his wife was part of the resistance.”

“Interesting,” I commented neutrally, hoping the red headed man would keep talking.

“Yeah, more sad than anything else. Garchae intended to transfer to the Turks once he made it in far enough. We were all ready to welcome him. I still see him at the bar sometimes, but he only buys one drink and he nurses it like it’s made of gil. I guess with his paycheck it might as well be gold.”

“I got him a raise,” I said.

“You’re kidding.” Reno laughed. “Old Rufus must really want your cooperation. He hates Garchae.”

“I suppose,” I answered noncommittally. “Pull over so I can vomit.”

Reno swerved to the side, knocking into a row of garbage cans outside an apartment complex. I shoved the door open and emptied my stomach.

“Here.” Reno grabbed my arm, hauling me upright. He dug around in his pocket and produced a black pill. “Activated charcoal,” he said. “It won’t keep you from testing positive for the flunitrazepam but it’ll neutralize some of those toxins. You can’t take it unless you’ve already puked or I’d have given it to you at once.”

I noted I felt bad enough to take a pill Reno offered. Swallowing it down, I gagged at the sensation of sticky gel dragging against my abraded throat.

“You did good,” Reno remarked. “You didn’t even puke in your hair, and that’s saying something for you.”

“Talent,” I rasped.

*************************************************************************************

By the time we made it to the labs I felt slightly more myself, enough that I didn’t need Reno to hover directly at my side anymore. “You sure are a quick healer, even for a super SOLDIER,” Reno remarked, bypassing the admittance secretary and taking me directly to the elevators. He picked a car and aided me inside, pressing a blue button beside the directory. “Reno of the Turks, voice authority,” he said. “Take the car to sub-level four.”

“Granted,” a mechanized voice answered.

“How are you enjoying your return to the company?” Reno went on.

“I hate it,” I answered promptly, horrified that I seemed to have no filter between my thoughts and my words.

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad these days.” Reno didn’t seem at all perturbed by my honest answer. “I’m glad the Cetra got away. Tseng’s always had a soft spot for her, you know. He used to be the one trying to hunt her down back in the old days. Never caught her. I don’t think he wanted to.”

“Why not?” Reno seemed a font of information. I needed to glean his trust if I wanted to continue playing the corporate predator.

“Ah, he just felt sorry for her, you know,” Reno replied. “He’s not all that keen on what Hojo does. Not many of us Turks are. I’ll deny that if you tell anyone else.” He grinned at me.

“I see.” I leaned my head against the cool metal of the elevator wall. “I won’t mention it, Reno. Who am I going to influence?”

“You’re really trying to play it straight,” Reno said, shooting me a rare serious look. “But you don’t have to. Why? You’re powerful enough to never really follow the rules.”

I leveled my eyes on the Turk. “Reno,” I said, my tone just as serious. “Honor is what you have when others are looking. Integrity is what you have while alone. Neither one means anything outside your efforts.”

The elevator stopped. Reno and I stood there, unmoving. Slowly, Reno cocked his hip to one side, his head tilting the opposite way. “I feel like I’ve admired you my whole life,” he said lowly but firmly. “I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to you this long, though. It’s nice to know my instincts were right.” He straightened and punched the button for the doors. “Let’s go terrorize the lab rat.”

I expected to find Hojo busy, like always, but Reno and I ferreted him out at the darkened far corner of the employee lounge. He sat with his head down, his gaze directed toward a thick, old book. A glass of seltzer water sat at his right hand, along with a half empty bottle of liquor. I looked at the healing patches of bare scalp without a single emotion, which surprised me then unsettled me; I thought my emotions firmly in place about Hojo.

He heard us approach. I saw his hands trembling as he shut the book, setting it aside. “What can I do for you gentlemen?” he asked, sounding unusually subdued and coherent.

Reno sat across from him but I sat beside him. Hojo immediately tensed. But he didn’t flinch away. I approved of his backbone.

“The General here got attacked in his apartment a little over an hour ago,” Reno said.

Hojo’s eyes darted to me.

“Sheila Shinra,” Reno went on. “She administered a Schedule Three drug to the General with a dart gun. Know anything about it?”

Hojo sighed. He reached into his lab coat and drew out a syringe. “Hold still, Sephiroth,” he said. He swabbed my arm with an alcohol pad.

Reno leaned forward but I stayed his hand. “It’s fine,” I said. “Professor Hojo has only my best interest at heart, I’m sure.”

Hojo winced. He administered the needle with a touch gentler than I’d ever received from his hand. A coldness surge through me. Quite abruptly I felt mostly recovered from the flunitrazepam.

“Sheila Shinra came to me nearly two weeks ago wanting a roofie to slow Sephiroth down enough for sexual relations. I refused on the grounds it would interfere with his system. A day later I found a small quantity of flunitrazepam and morphine missing. I filed a report on it.” Hojo capped his needle. “You feel better now?”

“Much better, thank you,” I said smoothly.

“I’m glad you filed a report.” Reno motioned to Hojo’s bottle. “Mind if I?”

“Go ahead.” Hojo handed him the bottle. “Yes, I filed it with building security, who should have filed with administration thereafter,” he said.

“Building security shouldn’t have dropped the ball,” Reno mused, taking a large swig from Hojo’s bottle.

Hojo glanced at the clock. “I’m off duty. What’s your excuse?”

“I am too.” Reno took another drink. “I just responded to the call because I respect the General. I’d have made Tseng piss off otherwise.” Yet another large quantity of liquor passed into Reno’s stomach. He gave Hojo his much depleted bottle back with a little belch of satisfaction. “So, you’ll give your testimony to Rufus?”

“I’ll talk to baby Shinra,” Hojo said, grimacing. “Fat lot of good it will do; this is his sister we’re discussing. The little slut has sucked and fucked her way across the base already and he hasn’t curtailed her yet.” He looked at the level of his liquor and gave a little sigh. “Your psych evaluation came back today, Sephiroth,” he said, changing the subject and turning to me. “We should discuss it.”

“Not while you’re off duty and into your cups,” I said. I kept trying to see what Hojo’s reading material could be but he had his hand over the cover. “I’ll come back on Tuesday. Tseng has written me off work for Monday.”

“I have Tuesday off, but you can visit me at my apartment,” Hojo said quietly. “382 Good Macy Block.” He downed a goodly portion of the remaining liquor, almost matching one of Reno’s bottomless chugs. Shuddering, he made a grab for his seltzer and missed. I caught it before it slid off the table, not spilling a drop.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, taking the glass.

“Well, that’s all I came for,” Reno said, standing. “I’ll check the reports and get back to you, professor.”

Hojo nodded absently. I caught Reno’s eyes, signaling I meant to stay awhile. The Turk walked back toward the elevators, whistling jauntily.

“Follow my hand,” Hojo said, waving his fingers before my eyes. I kept track of his movement easily. “Good,” he said, sounding satisfied. “Stupid bitch. She could have seriously put you out of commission.”

“She told me you gave her the drug,” I said.

“I didn’t.” Hojo drank again. “I wouldn’t have ever agreed to give you flunitrazepam. It’s toxic in your system.”

“So is mako,” I pointed out.

“You’re here and you’re ideal, Sephiroth, I’m not defending my judgment,” Hojo shot back sourly. “You were getting mako in the womb, boy, along with other things that made you what you are.” He leaned against the back of the chair, his dark eyes clouding. “How could it all have gone so wrong when I did everything right?” he asked, but I knew he wasn’t speaking to me. He looked despondent, the way men did when they had only a slight possibility of returning home during war.

Perhaps because I recognized that hopeless air, I felt sorry for him.

Suddenly angry I’d let his weakness stir my pity, I stood up. I’d sworn the man’s death countless times. How could I feel sympathy for him?

“He was so perfect,” Hojo continued, barely audible. “I thought he belonged to Valentine. I didn’t see her then, but I see her now.”

Hojo passed out.

I stood over him, so furious and disgusted it made my head swim. How dare he rob me of my revenge just by being pathetic? Tormenting a wretched old drunk wouldn’t satisfy me in the least.

I picked him up. He hugged the book to himself tightly. I ignored that for the time being and carried him to his office, noting how light he felt. Placing him on the stained, ratty couch therein, I found a blanket and tossed it over him. He wouldn’t relinquish the book to my hands. Eventually I gave up and stood back to look at him.

I could see why Eldon doubted my lineage. Hojo was a small, skinny man with black hair, black eyes, and sallow skin. He looked nothing like me. I was powerful and he looked…fragile.

I retrieved the remainder of his libation and put it on his desk before leaving.

I had so much to think about I didn’t know where to begin.