The Rise

Some sections of Midgar directly on plate didn't look all that much better than areas below plate. You had to go up a dozen floors or so, Reno guessed, before you got the decent living above platers were known for. The sections that weren't so great were the sections that had elevators in them, translating to looser immigration patterns then what above platers would normally allow.

So as Reno made his way towards the elevators, it was almost like he was back below plate already. Sure, the lighting was different, and it was cleaner, more sanitized, but you could see the same type of establishments and the same type of people mulling around.

Once he was within a block of the elevators he could see the crowd waiting to get on, which wasn't that much of a surprise at this time of night. It was still rush hour, after all. But there was a kind of restless, nervous energy reverberating through the crowd, and Reno pushed his way through as he tried to gather what was going on.

"Goddamned Shinra," some one was muttering, "do whatever they want."

There were more angry murmurs and curses as he made his way through the people, and eventually Reno tugged at some one's arm sleeve.

"Hey," he said, "what's going on?"

"Elevators are shut down."

Reno felt his heart drop down to his stomach. "Wait, what? What do you mean shut down?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, jackass. What do you think it means?"

Reno looked towards the huge structure that housed the elevators, suddenly aware that no one had been moving in or out of any of them since he had gotten there. Not as though they were quick or anything, but you'd usually see some kind of activity from at least one of them in twenty minutes. He made his way back out of the crowd. Maybe the other elevators were still working. Section 5 had them too, Reno knew.

But even as he thought it he knew it was hopeless. There was no way to get back below plate.

He sank down in a curb, head in his hands, wiling himself to think of a plan and getting nowhere. Futile attempts to storm the Shinra elevators or repel down the outer walls ran through his mind, plans he knew wouldn't work as soon as they formulated themselves in his head.

Reno was so consumed in thought that he didn't notice as two armed men made their way towards him. But then a hand was on his arm, pulling him up, and he was rounding back to punch whoever it was that had him in their grip. Flashes of blue suits, but his fist was missing, just around the same time one was embedding itself into his stomach. All the air rushed out of him as he slumped forward, but he wasn't down for the count yet, and he grabbed onto the man's shoulders as he slammed their heads together.

It made him dizzy, but it made the blue suit lose his grip. Just minutely, just enough for Reno to twist away. But then something was being slammed into the back of his neck, the end of something hard and stiff, and he felt electricity crackle out of it and through his body. The blow and the voltage sent him twitching on the floor, and when it was done he could lift himself up just enough to cough blood up on the pavement.

The two men had him now, were picking him up and putting handcuffs on him, and they pulled him over to the side of the elevators. There was a small, bare room there, looking like an interrogation room in one of those movies if it weren't for all the clutter along the edges. They tossed him into a wooden chair, so hard he almost fell off on the other side.

"Reno. How nice to see you again."

Reno looked up to see a familiar face smiling at him, calm and pristine from across the expanse of a small table.

"Tseng. You here to fetch me for Rufus? That your job, running errands for the spoiled brat?"

"I think we both know why I'm here, Reno," a touch of cold finality in his voice.

Reno could feel his mouth go dry.

"The USB drive, please."

"Fuck you," Reno said, and one of the other blue suits punched him viciously on the side of his mouth. It snapped his head to the side and sent blood welling up inside his mouth.

"Language, Reno."

Reno spit out onto the table, spraying blood onto the wood laminate. He was nervous, now, adrenaline leaving him and a certain kind of coldness settling in. When he spoke again it was spit out too, words mingled with the blood. "I can't."

To his surprise, the comment only brought a smile to Tseng's lips. Tseng leaned back in his chair, considering. "Ah, yes, your friends. Well, then, I suppose that leaves us with two options. One, I can kill you right now and just take what I want. That means, of course, that Gabe will kill your two friends."

Reno felt a chill go through his body. So this was it.

"Or, two, I can offer you a job."

"The fuck?" It was surprise that made him say it, but no one was throwing any punches at his mouth this time.

Tseng's lips twitched, and Reno could almost hear the chuckle that was stifled behind them. Sadistic fuckers, all of them, Rufus and Tseng and every one at Shinra.

"And why the fuck would you do that?" Reno asked, head swirling with thoughts of what a job offer even really meant.

"Reno," Tseng started, and it seemed as though he was cutting out that polite surname crap once and for all, "are you aware of what we do for Shinra?"

"Dirty laundry," Reno answered, because that's what all the rumors said and so far those rumors had been proven to be true.

"Officially, we're the The Investigative Division of General Affairs Department. Unofficially, we're called the Turks. Covert ops for Shinra Corp. Infiltration, assassination, information gathering, peacekeeping-"

Reno scoffed at that last pretty phrase in the bunch.

"-pretty much anything that needs to be done, plus recruiting for Shinra's military. Basically, we're in the business of making sure Shinra stays on top."

"So, what, I steal some data from your company and you give me a ticket to easy street? Seems too good to be true, yo."

"Yes, well, we've recruited worse."

"What about my friends?"

"You're lucky, Reno," Tseng replied. "Gabriel Mortimer is a problem Shinra would be more than happy to help you take care of."

* * *

Reno had never been in this room before. All his dealings with Gabe so far had been done in that tiny second-story office Gabe kept. But now he saw that the first floor of the house was, in effect, a small warehouse. The guard led him past mounds of crates, his borrowed dress shoes scraping on the concrete floor.

Gabe was seated at a large, ornate desk in a corner of the warehouse, near the large loading door. Crates were stacked haphazardly around the desk, almost like a fort about to come unglued. Yuta sat in another chair more towards the wall, more observer than participant in the transaction.

"Reno, my man." Gabe smiled, a mean little quirk of his lips. "I knew you would come through."

Reno held up a large, red envelope, passing it across the desk to Gabe. The label on the spine read "Wutai Exports," and Reno knew that inside were papers purporting to document the locations and quantities of weapons being sent into the continent.

"You wouldn't mind if we verify this information, would you, Reno?"

"And how long would that take?"

"Oh, a few days, maybe."

Two of Gabe's men were already walking towards him, and Reno made a mild protest as each one grabbed one of Reno's arms. "What the fuck, Mort? You told me you'd let my friends go!"

"Oh, we will," Gabe replied, "as soon as we make sure this data is correct."

Reno tried to pull his arms away from the guards' strong grip, but they easily lifted him off his feet. They half dragged him down a short flight of stairs and a hallway, tossing him into a small corner room.

"Reno! What the hell?" It was Hedge's voice, angry and frantic.

"What is this?" Dill chimed in, looking up from where he was sitting on a cot. "What are you mixed up in?"

"We can do the explanation thing some other time, yo," Reno replied, turning back to the door and listening to make sure the guards were leaving. "For now, I'm sorry, drinks on me later, and get back."

"What-"

Reno sprung back then, knocking Hedge to the ground as there was a small explosion from the door. A minute amount of explosives, courtesy of Shinra R&D, and Reno was pushing the door out.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" Reno said as he made his way to the door, turning around with a smirk on his lips. "Come on, I think I know the way out."

Reno led his friends back up the hallway, but instead of going back out through the warehouse he led them in the opposite direction. There was a small door there that opened up into a narrow alley, and Reno rushed his friends out first.

"Look, Shinra's outside, they're cool."

Hedge and Dill ran out first, and Reno was about to follow when he felt his jacket being pulled back and found himself being tossed into a nearby storeroom. He crashed through some cardboard boxes and landed hard on one shoulder. As soon as he could he pushed himself back up and into as good of a defensive stance as he could. The light from the hallway was suddenly blocked by a huge, human silhouette, the outline of thick muscles visible even in the dark.

"Reno, my man. You disappoint me."

Reno backed up as Gabe stepped forward, his movements slow, deliberate, intimidating. Patience, Reno thought, patience, just wait for an opening. . . but then a thickly-muscled arm was swinging towards him, surprisingly fast, and as it hit him in the face he was thrown off his feet and into a wooden crate.

Fuck, Reno thought, scrambling to his feet. He could taste blood in his mouth again, and thought, this was just not his night. Gabe was looming in front of him again, threw another punch, and this one Reno could dodge. Gabe's fist smashed into the wall, plaster and wood flying into the sky.

Reno crouched down, getting ready for Gabe to turn around. His hand reached behind him to a long rod he had begged off of Tseng earlier that night. As soon as Gabe had turned he pounced. Reno sprung up from the crouch with one hand wrapped around the rod, another pushed against the back of it. Run, jump, and then he was jamming the EMR into the soft hollow of Gabe's throat and turning the electricity on full blast.

Gabe fell like a steel statue, and Reno fell with him, landing on top of the prone body with a thud. Reno could hear blood boiling and could see it pour out in rivulets around the rod. He stood up and wiped his hands off before reaching down to retrieve his new toy. A foot on Gabe's face for leverage, he had to use both hands to pull the EMR out, and once he did blood splattered out to shoot on his clothing.

"You couldn't have been any cleaner about it?"

Reno looked up to see Tseng staring at him from the doorway, an amused expression on his face.

"You know," Reno said, twirling the EMR in his hand, "I think I really like this thing."

The two walked out of the room, and as they made their way through the warehouse Reno whistled when he saw Yuta's body. Throat slashed in a neat, tidy line.

"Your work?" he asked Tseng.

"Mmm." A little noise of satisfaction and pride.

"Who was that guy, anyway?"

"The ambassador from Wutai, actually," Tseng replied. "They'll use this incident to formally declare war, of course, but that's where we were headed anyway."

Tseng regarded Reno with a poignant expression. "Do you think you're up to it?"

Reno shrugged. "A job's a job, boss."

* * *

Reno leaned against the most comfortable couch he had ever had the privilege of sitting in, all plush leather and deep cushions. He was enjoying the feel of his new clothing on his skin. Cotton and wool, shiny new shoes, and that beautiful shade of blue. He had foregone the tie, of course, but Tseng and the big boss hadn't seemed to mind.

"So it's mine?" Reno had asked. "I've really got the job?"

The big man named Veld had shrugged. "Provided you make it through basic training, but I doubt it will be a big problem for you. I wouldn't recommend wearing the suit there, though. Maybe something in the way of sweats."

So here he was, waiting on this big comfy couch for a certain elevator door to chime. Reno adjusted his collar when it finally did, opening to reveal none other than Rufus Shinra. Rufus took three steps into his suite before he saw Reno, but when he finally did his face was an unadulterated kind of shock that Reno spent every second relishing.

"How do I look, yo?" Reno asked, stupid smile on his face.

The look of surprise faded into nothingness. Just glacier blue eyes, and under Rufus' frigid stare Reno started to regret coming up here.

"Did you steal that suit or did Veld actually give you a job?"

"Off to Junon for boot camp tomorrow."

Rufus nodded before going to pour himself a drink. Awkward silence stretched out between them, Reno fidgeting as Rufus sipped on his cognac. This was not, Reno thought, what he had been expecting when he came up here. He knew that they didn't have any kind of relationship, really, but the other man had always been up for a round of great sex before.

"Good luck," Rufus finally said, sitting down on his armchair. "Now get out of my suite."

Reno blinked. "Excuse me?"

Rufus' eyes met his then, vaguely irritated, maybe even a little bit angry. "I think you heard me."

Reno shifted, once, twice, the sound of fabric and leather uncomfortably loud in the space. He stood up, not knowing what else to do but leave. "So. . . what, I'm a Turk now, and you're all of a sudden not interested?"

"The Turks," Rufus said, the nickname spat with so much vitriol it made Reno flinch, "have never been anything but a thorn in my side."

It was a statement that would continue to confuse him for the next few years. But, at that moment, all Reno gathered was that he wasn't welcome. He made his way to the elevator, turning around once to look back at Rufus, who only continued to drink as he sat facing the window.