Aftermath

Author’s Note: Main warning is language in this chapter. There's a bit of suspense running rampant...

Thank you to...
- Youkofox, for your beta read through.
- kamizuki, for your very awesome and detailed review. This chapter is all suspense, and lots of plot stuff is building up and being uncovered. Hopefully you enjoy this one as well.
- Squallfan, for your review. Indeed, the state of Tifa and Cloud's relationship is a sad story. It always seemed odd to me that in two years they couldn't work things out. Ah, well. More Cloud for Reno, yes?
- Iggy Lovechild, for your review and insightful stream of email. Nice job keeping Rufus... busy. He has left me alone for the better part of this week. ^^

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Chapter 7: Infiltrating

By the time Rude and Reno arrived in old Midgar, it was closely approaching six in the morning. Neither had said much on the chopper ride over. It was too fucking early for both of them, not to mention the fact that they’d stayed up entirely too late the night before playing poker. Reno had lost fifty gil which pretty much brought his extra spending money to an all time low. Payday was still a couple days away, but it didn’t matter. He’d just borrow what he needed from Rude until then. Rude was always walking around with a pocket full of his money anyway.

According to the official write up, they were supposed to be acting as covertly as possible. They had to fly in, hide the chopper somewhere close by, get into the old reactor without making a disturbance, and see if they could figure out what the hell was going on in there.

All of this sneaking around was supposed to be done during the dawn of the morning, when they didn’t have much cover. Not to mention that the chopper would stand out like a sore thumb no matter what time of day they were flying it around. Only Elena would have been able to convince Tseng that they should be doing something this ridiculous.

As promised, she’d been knocking on their doors at four in the morning, threatening to get Tseng involved if they didn’t get moving. Neither Rude nor Reno were in the mood to have Tseng breathing down their necks first thing in the morning.

Flying out hadn’t been any fun either. For as much as Reno normally loved piloting the company helicopter, the early morning hour had put a serious dampener on his enjoyment factor. He was the one who had to stay awake and make sure they got there in one piece, while his partner got to snooze for an extra half hour. Reno wondered exactly how it was that Rude could actually sleep with the loud swishing of the blade over top of them. Maybe it was the lulling repetitiveness of the sound. . .

Reno caught himself before he nodded off. He shook his head, wishing he had more coffee. Spying Rude’s cup, he grabbed it and drank what was left. His partner wouldn’t mind and if he did, too bad. Reno would just consider it payment for the half hour nap.

The sun was nearly up, lighting the eastern sky with a fiery orange that threatened to blind the red-headed Turk as he tried to land the chopper. He reluctantly pulled his sun goggles down over his eyes and maneuvered down to the ground. Once smoothly landed, he flipped several switches and started to power everything down. Reno fondly caressed the switch that turned the rotary blade entirely off, pushing it forward reluctantly. A low whine sounded overhead, causing Reno to pat the control board affectionately.

“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Reno smirked, noting the irony of his current situation. Now that he was awake enough to enjoy zooming around in the skies, he was back on the ground again. Well, there’d be plenty of time for fun later. Reno looked over at Rude, who was still dozing off. He grabbed his partner’s shoulder and shook him, dodging Rude’s flying fist as he woke up.

“Sleepy time over, yo.”

“Fuck me,” Rude said, reaching for his coffee cup. Upon seeing that all his coffee was gone, he shot Reno a suspicious glare. Reno just shrugged.

“Only if you ask nicely,” Reno said, responding to Rude’s groggy cursing with light-hearted amusement. The red-head chuckled at Rude’s lack of response to his joke; Rude never did appreciate a good pick up line. He removed his hearing protectors and pushed his goggles back up onto his forehead. Reno unbuckled himself from his chair, opened the door, and jumped down from the cockpit.

He adjusted the gun holster harness that was strapped across his chest, tightening it up a bit. Reno pulled his gun out, making sure that the silencer was properly attached and that it was loaded and ready to go. He’d already checked it four times since Tseng had placed it in his hands the night before, but one extra time wouldn’t hurt; especially because he knew he hadn’t been fully awake that morning when he’d done the other inspections.

Tseng must have thought this particular mission would be dangerous, because he’d issued the guns this time. Normally they were just let loose wielding whatever they wanted, but Tseng had insisted that they be more prepared than usual. In addition to his electromagnetic rod, Reno felt confident in having a gun as his primary weapon. He was skilled in using a pistol and always enjoyed himself when he got to use one. It was just a shame that they had to conserve bullets right now, otherwise he’d probably carry a gun around all the time.

Rude adjusted his tie and pulled on his black gloves. Reno could hear his partner shifting back and forth behind him, waiting for him to get his shit together.

Reno looked at Rude out of the corner of his eye. It was always like this before they made their first move. There was thick tension in the air and Reno’s pulse was elevated. Reno was wide awake and overly alert thanks to all the coffee he’d practically inhaled earlier that morning. An enjoyable variety of nervousness and excitement coursed through him: the kind that felt like an electric current running through his veins. Anything could happen at any time, and they’d need to be ready for it.

“You ready?”

Rude sighed, sounding very irritated and impatient. Reno turned around to see what his partner’s problem was. Before he could react, Rude had him cuffed around the neck and held firmly against the side of the chopper.

“You’re distracted, and I don’t fuckin’ like it.” Reno shifted under Rude’s strong grasp, struggling to speak. He cursed at himself silently for not noticing his partner’s volatile mood a bit sooner than he had. “You ain’t gettin’ us killed today.”

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Rude released him. The bald Turk stepped back and stood completely still; his face was emotionless and his expression was much more serious than it usually was. Reno fell forward, catching himself before he hit the ground. He crouched down and rubbed his aching throat.

“What the fuck was that for?” Reno said angrily, spitting a wad of excess saliva out of his mouth. His eyes were watering and his throat burned like he’d just downed a shot of grain liquor.

“If you don’t get serious, we might as well just go the hell back,” Rude said.

Reno stood up, feeling angry and wanting to punch his partner in the face. He had no idea what Rude was talking about; he always took his job seriously.

“I am serious,” Reno said, gritting his teeth.

“I’m just makin’ sure you ain’t thinkin’ about Cloud.”

Reno blinked and looked at Rude in disbelief. Rude was worried that he was thinking about Cloud? Reno closed his eyes and sighed deeply. This argument was totally pointless; he hadn’t thought about the blond all morning.

“I ain’t thinkin’ about him,” Reno said, his voice still sounding a bit scratchy. “Well, I wasn’t until now.”

“Every time somethin’ involves the little boy hero, you fuck up, Reno.”

“Don’t call him that,” Reno said, completely exasperated. “Besides, this assignment has nothin’ to do with him.

“Oh, yeah?” Rude put a hand on Reno’s shoulder and dragged him forward a few steps.

“Now what?” Reno said, protesting mildly. He tried to loosen Rude’s grip on him, but it was nearly impossible. The man had a grip like an iron vice. Once Rude’s hand clamped onto something, it wasn’t going anywhere until his partner said so.

Rude released him without warning and pointed at something in the distance. There, poorly hidden behind a rather large pile of scrap metal, was Cloud’s bike. Reno’s mouth fell open and he glanced back at Rude stuttering a few incomprehensible words before he could manage anything coherent. He felt slightly unnerved by the fact that he hadn’t been the one to notice it first.

“Why didn’t you just say somethin’, yo,” Reno said.

“I did,” Rude said, walking in the direction of the parked bike. Reno followed him, trying to smooth the new wrinkles out of his suit, left by Rude’s crushing hand. He watched as Rude hovered his hands near the bike’s engine. “Still warm. He ain’t been here long.”

Reno glanced around, looking around for any evidence of Cloud, but saw nothing of interest. He continued to survey the area, looking in the direction of the northern reactor. Reno elbowed his partner and slid his E.M.R. out of its harness.

“Over there. Looks like we got two guards to deal with.”

“Let’s get goin’ then. You take the one on the right,” Rude said.

The two Turks made a wide arc around the reactor, making sure to stay out of sight. They circled around the back of the crumbling building, intending to approach the guards from behind. Reno pressed his index finger against his middle finger and signaled for Rude to move forward. Rude nodded and positioned himself quietly in the remaining shadows of the building.

Reno’s side of the reactor had no shadows to hide in, so he kept his back pressed up against the wall. Setting his E.M.R. on a medium setting that usually worked well to stun those it touched, he smirked silently, waiting for Rude to get into his final position. His partner would move first, striking from the remaining shadows and then Reno would go in and make sure that both guards were rendered unconscious, just in case something didn’t go according to plan.

The two of them had done this sort of maneuver so many times, it was nearly impossible for them to fuck up. Instinctually Reno glanced over at Rude; his partner was ready to get this show on the road. Reno nodded and signaled for Rude to go ahead and then he waited.

Rude moved forward, grabbing the left guard by the back of his neck. The man let out a quick gasp, made a choking sound and then fell to the ground unconscious. The second guard, now alerted to the commotion, was staring at Rude with shock and surprise etched across her face.

“Turks!” Regaining her composure, she started to pull a weapon from her belt. Before she could quite do that, Reno stepped up behind her and touched his crackling rod to her exposed arm. She shook with a violent spasm and then joined her fellow guardsman on the ground at their feet.

“Amateurs,” Reno said, grinning smugly.

Reno helped Rude drag the guards around the side of the building and they both decided that it would be in their best interest if they at least tied their hands and feet. Always prepared, Rude had ample rope stashed under his blazer and they had the job done in no time. Reno took the guards’ guns, dropping the ammo clips out and into his outer blazer pocket. He cleared the chambers on both weapons and then hid them under an old burned out trash barrel a few feet away. He smirked silently; that should keep the guards out of their way for a bit.

“Alright, let’s get in there,” Reno said.

Once inside the reactor, they stood at the entrance and let their eyes adjust to the lack of light. It wasn’t pitch black inside, but all they had to light their way was some very dim runner lights on the floor. Reno wrinkled his nose at the horrible burnt smell that wafted through the place.

“What the fuck is that smell?”

“Dunno,” Rude said. “Don’t want to know.”

“Put your ear in,” Reno said, pulling out a small earpiece connected to a wire from his inside jacket pocket. The other end of the wire was connected to his phone and served as a speaker so that they could hear each other in the event that they had to separate. He flicked a small switch on his phone to activate the microphone on his phone. He watched Rude plug his earpiece in and ran a quick test by speaking in the general direction of his inside suit pocket “Testing. . .”

“I can hear you,” Rude said. “Testing.”

“Alright, yours is good, too.”

“What are we lookin’ for?”

“Just take pictures of whatever looks important,” Reno paused, considering if there might be something specific they should look for. “Oh, and if you see anything glowin’ green you might want to check that out.”

Rude grunted at him. Reno was fairly certain that his sarcasm hadn’t been lost on his partner, but apparently Rude just wasn’t in the mood to play around. Taking a deep breath, he gazed into the darkness of the corridor and forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

He waved his hand at the floor as if dribbling an invisible basketball at a fast rate of speed, indicating that they shouldn’t be talking anymore. Reno wanted to go first and Rude stepped off to the side, clearing the way for the red-head to proceed.

Reno removed his gun from his holster and held it solidly in both hands, alternating between keeping his back and sides against the wall. He could hear a low humming sound deep within the building, although he couldn’t quite tell what direction it was coming from. It sounded like it was. . . everywhere. The corridor sloped downward oddly; Reno was fairly certain that this was a new tunnel, not built by Shinra.

As they reached the end of the hallway, they came upon a closed door. Reno flattened himself out next to the door and nodded to Rude. His partner turned the rusty metal handle and forcefully pushed the door inward, moving off to the side. As faint green light flooded out into the corridor, both Turks looked at each other, their expressions sobering even further. The humming was now significantly louder; whatever was making the sound was probably inside this room. The two of them stood still for a few brief seconds, trying to listen for the tell-tale signs of movement from inside the room.

Once Reno was satisfied that the room felt empty, he nodded to Rude and stepped through the doorway, gun out in front of him. He turned right and then left, sweeping the room thoroughly before relaxing his posture. He signaled for Rude to come into the room; once both were inside, Reno pushed the door closed with his foot, leaving it just slightly ajar.

They were standing in what looked like a large computer room. Large machines filled the room and were humming in unison, creating a buzzing sound that was so intense, it was rattling Reno’s teeth and threatening to make him feel a little nauseous. Reno glanced around, amazed at how many red and green blinking lights were radiating their flashy colors at him.

Not wanting to make any sound, he motioned for Rude to head left and he headed to the right. They were on high alert, watching for anything unusual. Reno had his gun firmly gripped in his palm and was careful to keep Rude in his peripheral line of vision, so that he wouldn’t mistake him for anyone else.

A computer beeped next to him and he pointed his gun at it reflexively. He stared at the terminal wondering why it had made that sound. He watched the monitor for any activity, but it was just a blank screen with a flashing cursor. Figuring that it wasn’t doing anything interesting, he moved onto the next desk.

This machine looked newer and had more flashy lights than the others. The screen was busy processing lines of text when he first glanced at it. Then it stopped and made the same beeping sound that the other terminal had made. Reno looked at the computer warily. He really didn’t like messing with the things unless he had to. For a moment, he wished Elena was there: tech was her specialty. His eyes widened as he couldn’t believe he’d actually wished that the talkative rookie was here on the mission with them.

She ain’t no rookie, Reno thought to himself, shutting his eyes tightly for just a moment. Things are different now.

There was a chair in front of this terminal and Reno sat down in it. He fished around in his inside jacket pocket for the miniature hard drive Elena had given him. Reno quickly located the small device and plugged it into one of the computer’s front ports.

The terminal beeped at him and a password blank flashed up on the screen. He sighed, knowing that he had no way of knowing what password it could possibly be asking for. He looked around the desk the computer was sitting on, thinking how clean it looked compared to his own. Nothing was out of place; there were no sticky notes or random papers scattered about. But he wondered. . .

With a sudden stroke of genius, Reno lifted the keyboard and looked under it. He almost laughed aloud when he saw the little yellow piece of paper taped to the bottom with barely legible letters scrawled on it. Someone had taped their password to the bottom of the keyboard.

Reno typed the password in and hit enter. The computer beeped at him and loaded a different screen: one that would let him input a few commands. He holstered his weapon and began typing the commands that Elena had made him memorize. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing, but the way she had explained it to him, he understood that he was looking for their internal network and was supposed to be downloading as much as possible onto the memory stick. A message flashed up on the screen, stating that his download was starting.

Reno sighed and tapped the desk impatiently while he waited for the computer to finish offloading data. He glanced around and realized that he had lost sight of Rude. That thought caused a chill to travel up the back of his neck. Reno blinked, becoming instantly more alert. Something wasn’t quite right. He pulled his gun back out and stood up from the chair, scanning across the computer desk for anything amiss. Anytime his gut tried to tell him something, he knew that he better pay attention to whatever it was saying because his instinct was one of the most valuable skills he had. Sometimes he just knew things. . .

“Holy shit,” Rude said, his voice cutting in through Reno’s earpiece. “I can’t believe what I’m seein’ here.”

A heavy metal door slammed nearby and Reno paralleled his back against a nearby computer. Noticing that the computer was taller and wider than he was, he chuckled softly, glad he hadn’t be tasked with stealing it: the damn thing probably weighed more, too. He glanced around cautiously, as he tried to guess where the sudden noise had come from.

“You listenin’ to me, Reno?” Rude said. “They got people hooked up to shit down here. Like SOLDIER, but not.”

“What are you talkin’ about? Just get pictures,” Reno said in a hushed tone. He glanced around the side of the supercomputer that he was leaning against, straining to see the door they’d come in through. He wondered if that had been the door he’d heard close. “And hurry up. This place is startin’ to weird me out, yo.”

The desk terminal beeped and Reno turned his attention to it momentarily. The message on the screen said that the download was complete. He leaned over and yanked his memory stick out of the front slot of the machine, quickly putting it in his pocket. The monitor fell dark again, showing only a blinking cursor, just like the one next to it.

“What’s your position?” Reno said, still trying to keep his voice low. There was a long silence before Rude finally answered him.

“Not sure,” Rude said. “I can’t get back into the computer room. Some fuckin’ fancy lock is keepin’ me out.”

Reno swore under his breath. Getting separated from his partner wasn’t part of the plan.

“It ain’t all bad.” Rude said, clearly having heard Reno’s cursing through his microphone. “I got a clear shot to the surface from here.”

“Alright then, head back to the chopper and I’ll meet you there as soon as possible. I got what I needed.”

Reno heard a click somewhere to the right and suddenly more lights brightened his surroundings. He sensed motion and moved instinctually. Reno dove to the floor, his pony tail whipping through the air as he rolled onto his back with his gun pointed upward.

He’d dropped out of the way just in time; he had his dexterity and quick reaction time to thank for that. From the floor, he was staring up into the face of a spectacled woman, who had been aiming to tackle him. She held a filled syringe in her hand and appeared to be quite intent on sticking him with it. The red-headed Turk fired two shots into the air, just as she hovered directly over him. Reno watched both bullets enter her skull, opening up two gaping black holes in her forehead. Reno gritted his teeth as blood spatter mist dotted his face and clothing.

He rolled out of the way and the she fell to the floor in a crumpled heap right where he’d been a moment before. Reno stood up, feeling a droplet of blood drip from his nose. Not bothering to clean himself up, he kept his gun pointed at the woman for good measure. He saw the syringe laying next to her and decided to kick it away from her just to be on the safe side, although he probably hadn’t needed to worry about it. A thick stream of blood was bubbling out of the back of her head at an alarming rate and a dark crimson pool was growing beneath her. Reno watched her body twitch and convulse with emotional detachment. He took note of the fact that she was wearing a plain white lab coat; she must have been a scientist or technician of some sort.

Minutes passed slowly, as Reno waited for the body to disappear. The woman was hanging on longer than most did. He idly wondered what was motivating her to stay and hope for resuscitation, but he made sure not to let himself care too deeply about it. Finally, her body melted into green mist, leaving only the blood and gore that had been propelled out of her body shortly before death. Reno grimaced, realizing that he wouldn’t be able to clean this up and get the hell out of there at the same time. The silencer on his gun had muted the shots he’d fired, but hadn’t silenced them completely; if anyone else was nearby, they would have heard the noise. He needed to get moving.

“Did you just fire gunshots?” Rude said. Reno tapped his earphone to try and clear some static he was receiving in the transmission.

“Yeah, fuckin’ crazy scientist tried to stick me with—“

“Something’s goin’ on, Reno,” Rude said, interrupting him. “I’m seein’ some activity up here. Get the fuck out. Now.”

Reno didn’t have to be told twice. Breaking into a full-speed run, he bolted for the exit that he’d been straining to see earlier. Now that the lights were on, he had a clear view of the rusty door and could see that it was still cracked open, just like he’d left it. The humming in the room had suddenly become louder and many of the terminals were running data. The noise was almost unbearable.

He stopped and leaned against the door to listen for sound in the corridor, but heard nothing but the thud of his own adrenaline-charged heartbeat and the buzzing of the computer equipment nearby. Reno pushed the door open and cautiously crept into the darkness on the other side. He broke into a jog, running up the slight incline of the hallway. As he reached the final doorway, he cracked it open and scanned the area. No one was in sight.

“I’m clear,” Reno said to the microphone in his pocket, as he stepped outside. He breathed deeply, welcoming the fresh air into his lungs. He felt very satisfied with his clean escape from the reactor; he hadn’t had this much fun in ages. A broad smirk played up on his lips, as he kicked the door closed and began to make his way back to the helicopter.

“Don’t touch her before I get there,” Reno said, his mind on the chopper. “Shinra’s sweetest air ride don’t like your rough hand.”

“Hmm,” Rude grunted, his response filtering through Reno’s earpiece. “Just hurry the fuck up.”

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A/N: Please review, and be kind. ^_^ (Just in case anyone is wondering, those of you who are eagerly awaiting more Cloud/Reno interaction - there will be lots coming up in the next two installments.)