Business As Usual
Chapter #1: Welcome To Shinra Inc.
By Miyamashi
Miya's Long-as-Hell Note: For those of you new to BAU, welcome! For my returning fans, I'm really happy that I'm finally getting off my ass and doing this. This is the REVISED version of Chapter 1, which I'm submitting partly as inadequate compensation for not updating in FOREVER, as I've been doing (not doing?) a lot lately, and partly as a teaser for the fact that I'm actually actively working to make this better. I'll probably get a better version of the horrid Chapter 10 up, too, eventually, though the others won't be updated, because I'm planning on trying to harass poor Squenix until they give in and endorse it so I can publish, on the urges of a surprisingly large amount of people, including my…English Comp. 1302 teacher last year? (That really surprised me.) and I don't want to give all of it away if I succeed!
I reposted this chapter when I looked at the old one and realized that there were a lot of awkward moments. Plus, I'm going through all of the old chapters and adding in little monologues from Reno's POV as intros to better tie them in to White Flag.
If you haven't visited before, this is the prequel to my one-shot White Flag, which is meant to be read before this, as its prologue. It blatantly and purposely states how the story ends (not counting the sequel that will eventually be written, too), and is hinted at all the way through this one. Please read that, first, if you haven't yet.
And I still don't own FF7 or any of the things and places and characters originally in FF7, Squenix does. I do, however, own the flurry of twisted ideas and original characters who live in BAU and BAU alone, and will find and throttle anyone who attempts to steal them.
Fandom: FF7
Coupling: RenoXRufus
Rating: M for Mature, or R for language, violence, and…adult themes (like SEX!)
Genre: Listed as Romance/Tragedy, but has a bit of everything…just call it friggin' EPIC.
Warning: Has gay…well, sort of. You'll see what I mean. Does, however, have blatant man-on-man-ness, which most would consider gay, all things…considered.
I'll shut up now.
Shinra Electric Power Company is the biggest and most powerful corporation in Gaia, and I've worked for 'em for most of my life, or at least the parts of it I can remember. Since I got out of the shithole I used to call home, I've been a part of the Shinra army--yeah, the power company has a military--SOLDIER.
Don't ask me what it stands for. I forgot.
It paid a good fee, had nice, unstable hours, and let me get off some extra steam when we went on missions. But I was looking for something more. I needed a change from some of the shit I had to deal with in SOLDIER, and that's when I heard about the Turks.
That one I do know. Turks, or T.U.R.K.S. stand for Tactical Urban Reconnaissance and Killing Specialists. They use the nickname more casually, though.
They weren't an ordinary military. They were the special forces. It actually took brains to get into there, not just the ability to slash someone up or fire a bunch of machine gun rounds randomly into the air.
And they needed a new member. Long time ago, Turks lost their best member, Vincent Valentine to some scandal that had pissed the higher-ups off. Some say the science department got hold of him, and some say that the company president had him killed off. I don't really care either way. I didn't know the guy, so it doesn't matter to me.
All that I could tell was that things were finally heating up enough again after years without Valentine for them to need someone new who could actually take his place, instead of the incompetent rookies they'd been filling in with.
All of them croaked too, they say.
Oh, well. It sounded exciting to me. I would get in, even if I had to pull some strings to do it.
After all, pulling strings is my specialty.
"You," called the guard standing beside the door to a slim man leaning nonchalantly in front of him. "You're next."
The slim man shuffled forward with the casual air of someone who was doing something so simple as buying lunch at his favorite restaurant, and stepped through the door, pushing a stray lock of messy, blood-red hair out of his face. It flopped back, just as he'd known in the back of his mind that it would when he had moved it. He was wearing a SOLDIER uniform without the helmet, the blue cloth in between the armor rumpled.
"So, you think you have what it takes to be a Turk," stated, rather than asked, the man behind the desk, obviously very bored. The candidate took in his surroundings quickly, noting the nameplate on the black-haired man's desk. 'So, this is Tseng, leader of the Turks,' thought the slim man. 'Straight to the source.'
"Wouldn't be here if I didn't," replied the redhead, who looked remarkably taller than he actually was, with a confident grin as he leaned against the desk, unable to resist staring at the dot on his superior's head and chuckling inwardly. Tseng scowled.
"Name?"
"Reno."
"First name?"
"Reno's my first name. Kiribani's the last."
"Age?"
"Dunno. It's hard to keep track of the years when you've lived in the slums for most of your life. I think I might be in my early twenties."
"You are in SOLDIER, correct?"
"Yup."
"What is your rank?"
"I'm a grunt."
Tseng furrowed his brow. He had been interviewing what he had eventually deemed 'slick-sleeved know-nothings' all day, and he sunk into his desk chair, putting his head into his hand and letting out an audible sigh.
"If you want to know, it's because my tight-ass of an officer keeps demoting me," said Reno, though it was quite obvious that Tseng didn't want to know in the least. "Stupid stuff like me not wearing my uniform correctly and flickin' him off when he complains."
"I've heard enough. You. Out."
"Oh, no, sir. This isn't all. I'm not leaving until I convince you that I'm a Turk."
"That's not going to happen, so I guess you're going to be in here for the rest of your life."
"I don't think that's true."
"Oh? Really?"
"Well, you see, sir, I'm really stubborn and obnoxious, and I'll keep at it until you admit me."
"Get. Out."
"Plus," stated Reno, ignoring his superior completely, "I have some information that you might not want me to spread."
"Of course you do," Tseng remarked exasperatedly.
"You see," Reno said, pulling a disk out of his SOLDIER uniform, "this disc contains information on my aforementioned tight-ass officer, and on you and the other Turks. I thought that you might like to know that he--the officer, of course--has been allied with a resistance movement against Shinra for over a month now. I saved his outgoing messages. By the way, who is Aeris?"
Tseng stared at Reno, dumbfounded, before replying with a simple "She's a childhood friend."
"Been helping her lay low, eh? What's she wanted for? It's a bit creepy, you know, that the scientists are looking for this chick. Is she some kind of experiment or something? Sounds like you've got the hots for her, too. Is she bionically enhanced? That would be pretty sexy, in my opinion."
Tseng ignored the second half of Reno's blatherings, concentrating instead on the amazing fact that he knew anything about the woman named Aeris at all. "How do you…?"
"Told you. Outgoing messages. Hacked 'em. You shouldn't leave incriminating things like that on your computer."
"Give me the disk."
"Now, why would I do that? If I give you the disk, that blows my guarantee into the Turks."
"You're going to blackmail me into hiring you?"
"That's the idea."
Tseng paused.
"Blackmail. I like it. You're perfect for the job: Crafty and devoid of morals."
Reno grinned and tossed the disk to Tseng, who looked at it for a moment before he laughed.
"But, you're stupid. Tricky, but stupid. I haven't even hired you yet. I could just destroy the disk and leave you as a grunt."
"Open the files."
"What?"
"I said Open. The. Files."
Tseng leaned back in his chair and slipped the disk into his computer warily. Almost immediately, the screen flashed and blacked out.
"Shouldn't have trusted me. It's a virus. It's practically rearranging everything in your computer as we speak. The real disk is still in my pocket."
And, just to prove it, he pulled out a second disk.
"You're lying."
"Maybe."
Tseng grimaced and pulled the disk out of his computer and practically flung it at Reno. Reno grinned even more broadly.
"Just hire me already. You're breaking. I can see it."
Tseng didn't even hear, as he was staring at his computer screen in shock. A window had appeared, reading, "Transfer to disk complete. Thank you and have a nice day. -R"
Reno laughed at him.
"I hate computers," Tseng grumbled.
"So? Tell me what I want to hear before you get yourself into even deeper shit."
Tseng stared incredulously at the redhead before feebly mouthing "You're hired."
"Thanks, Boss." Reno began to leave. "Oh, and I think that you might want the contents of your computer. You might need them for something."
Tseng nearly missed catching the disk as he watched Reno's retreating back. "That's your first mission," Tseng hissed futilely at the air. "I will make you fix this if I have to throttle you to do it."
"I hear that he's positively dreamy, Malita."
"Well, I sure hope so, seeing as I've been roped into going on a date with the guy. At least he's rich."
"Rich is an understatement!"
Malita and her best friend, a slinky woman in a blue dress named Leiza, sat in the 61'st floor café of the Shinra building, gossiping as many of the women and men did when they were bored, which was quite often when one had one of the less appealing jobs. Malita was a barmaid, as well as the manager, and Leiza one of the waitresses in her café.
"If he looks anything like his father, I don't want anything to do with him."
"Like I said, Malita, he's supposed to be quite the sight."
"You know he's going to want me to sleep with him. That is the point, right? Carry on the Shinra legacy?"
"That's what the Pres. said."
"Well, it can't be too bad being in bed with that guy if he really is all that dreamy."
"Oh! Is that him?" asked Leiza suddenly as she pointed to a strawberry-blonde man in white who had just walked in from the elevator.
"I don't know, but I sure hope so…he is dreamy."
Rufus Shinra stepped into the dreary café to find it nearly empty, save for two tables. One had a lone janitor at it, who was eating a sandwich, while the other had two flaky-looking women who were gushing and pointing at him.
'She must be one of them. Leave it to Father to pick the bright ones,' Rufus thought to himself as he strode over, his facial expression failing to betray his annoyance.
"Is one of you Malita Cunningham?"
The girl in blue grinned and pushed the other, who Rufus had to admit was quite pretty, albeit a bit slutty, in her short black dress, toward him.
"I…I am, Mr. Shinra," said Malita nervously, but with a hungry glint in her eye, as she stood and took the strawberry blonde's extended hand.
"Please, call me Rufus," he stated dryly. "Shinra is my father, not me." Leiza caught a squeal halfway through. Malita bubbled excitedly.
The blonde smiled slightly, and the narrowing of his blue eyes, which reminded Malita of an iced drink, caught the girls quite off guard.
"Now, excuse me, ladies, and thank you for the lovely date, but I must be going," he said calmly. "Tell my father that you were a good fuck, alright? In fact, tell him that I screwed both of you. He'll like that."
And Rufus simply left, leaving behind a broken Malita and her shocked best friend.
"And do you know what he said to me?!" Reno heard the barmaid screech as he sipped his drink.
"What?" asked the man who was sitting beside Reno at the bar. With a chuckle, the novice Turk noticed that the man wasn't even listening as his eyes followed the barmaid's unnaturally large amount of cleavage.
"He told me to tell his father that I was a good fuck." Reno thought she looked as if she were about to explode, and she practically did, screaming loudly enough to catch the attention of the entire café. "A GOOD FUCK, damnit! He just walked in, introduced himself and told me that! Then he said to tell his bastard father that he'd slept with me AND Leiza, just for good measure!"
Reno scooted to a different barstool in a futile attempt to save his ears.
"Damn," he muttered to himself as he ordered another drink. "Who're you talking about?" Reno asked the barmaid.
"That Shinra brat, Rufus!" Malita yelled down the bar at him.
"Daaaaamn," Reno muttered again, before downing half of his drink in one gulp. "Burned by the V.P."
"You Reno?" came a voice from behind the redhead.
"Yeah, that's me," said Reno as he swiveled around to face the voice's owner. Judging by his uniform, the man was obviously a Turk, and he was tall and wore dark sunglasses that covered his eyes completely. Reno identified this as an intimidation method, as it made it impossible to tell what the larger Turk was thinking. In direct contrast to Reno, whose red hair stuck out in every which-way, this man was completely bald, save for the beginnings of a goatee. He looked remarkably like a thug.
"Training."
"Man of few words, huh?"
The bald man grunted and turned around, using his forefinger to indicate that Reno should follow.
"Well, you could at least introduce yourself. Isn't it a bit rude not to?"
"I'm Rude."
"Obviously."
The man stopped and turned.
"No. I'm Rude. Rude is my name."
"Weird name."
"Not as weird as the full version."
"Oh. What's it short for?"
"I can't tell you that. I would have to kill you."
And Rude turned and walked silently into the elevator. Reno followed.
"So, uh, what's this training involve?"
Silence.
"Is it tough?"
Still silence.
Reno frowned, suddenly getting the impression that he had been quite lucky to have gotten this Rude to have talked to him at all, and leaned against the elevator wall as he watched the world outside ascend quickly as he and his new co-worker dropped down steadily, story by story. The elevator passed the plates, then the ground, and then stopped abruptly. Reno stumbled. Rude stood solidly.
The doors opened, and Reno could hear shots echoing throughout the cavernous underground training area. The place distinctly reminded him of every parking garage that he'd ever been to, gunshots and all.
"Can you use a gun?" asked Tseng as he stopped his own shooting practice and strode over to Reno. The new Turk noticed that the sound of shots hadn't stopped.
"Never been too great with 'em, but I can shoot something down if I need to."
"Then shoot. The target is over there." Tseng tossed his gun to Reno and pointed to the range.
Reno strode over, aimed, and fired, effectively missing the target completely.
"And you're sure that he's Turk material?" Rude asked, lowering his sunglasses and sending an askew glance in Reno's direction.
"So he's a bad shot…there are other weapons."
"Hey, who's the other guy? Is he another Turk?" the redhead asked, pointing to a man down the line who was demolishing his target angrily with a sawed-off shotgun. "If he's not, he should be…the guy's firing a shotgun with one hand!"
At that instant, the man with the shotgun yelled and flung his empty weapon full-force at the target, finally breaking it off of its stand.
"I really don't want to ever get him angry at me…" Reno grumbled, staring at the man.
"You're right," Tseng stated, "because if you did, he'd fire you, shoot you down, and then throw you out of his office window."
Reno grimaced. "That bad, huh?"
Tseng walked over to the range, where the man was currently in the process of retrieving his gun, and called to him, albeit nervously.
"What the hell do you want, Tseng? Can't you see that I'm busy?" came the reply.
"Who is he?" Reno whispered to Rude at Tseng got thoroughly chewed out.
"Him? That's the Vice President. He comes down here when he needs to let off steam. Usually, this place is reserved for Turks, but there's not much that we can do about that, is there?"
"Daaaaaaaaaaammmn…" Reno grimaced as Vice President Rufus reloaded his shotgun, firing it off with a yell that echoed through the concrete-and-steel training area and set Tseng backing up slowly. "He has a temper, doesn't he?"
"Don't say that to his face. Unlike you, he's a good shot."
"Obviously."
Reno was sincerely glad that Tseng had been the one to interview him, and not Rufus, as the newest Turk had heard numerous horror stories about times when the Vice President would take over leadership positions within Turk ranks. From the rumors, people usually ended up getting hurt.
"Sir, I found the new member. I don't know yet if he'll match up to Valentine's standards, but I think he has potential," Tseng interjected as Rufus took a break to reload again.
"It has been years since your force has had anybody who has even come close to reaching Valentine's level. I hope that this man is different, for your sake more than mine. You know that I do not enjoy having to interfere in Turk affairs for menial reasons."
Rufus lowered his weapon and strode over to where the Turks were standing, flicking one stray shock of hair out from in front of his left eye. "So, is this him?" he asked, looking Reno over from head to foot, eventually settling on his hair with a slight frown.
"Yes, sir. This is Reno Kiribani."
"Reno, eh?" Rufus held out his hand and Reno shook it tentatively. "I am Rufus Shinra, in case you don't already know. 'Sir' or "Vice President Rufus' will do, but never call me 'Shinra'."
"Okay…Sir." Reno kept his eyes locked with Rufus' icy glare, which had become even more cold when the V.P. had mentioned his own last name.
"Rufus Shinra, please report to the President's office. Rufus Shinra, please report to the President's office. You are wanted immediately. Rufus Shinra, please…" came the voice over the intercom.
Rufus' head snapped upwards quickly to face the announcement's origin, his hair brushing over his shoulders in a fashion that screamed of wealthy elegance. "Yes, yes, I know, Janice," shouted Rufus to the intercom, in what seemed like an attempt to drown out the voice of the woman that was echoing through the training area.
Reno watched as the Vice President stormed into the elevator with an odd kind of graceful stride, heading for his father's office.
Reno murmured to himself as he watched the elevator doors shut. "That guy is…weird."
Tseng broke the short silence that followed. "Now, to figure out what to do with you."
"You did WHAT?" screamed President Shinra, as his son stood stony-faced before him.
"Whatever do you mean, Father?" Rufus asked, emotionless.
"I hear from some of the men that I have roaming the halls that you were being a smart-ass, Rufus. That bar-girl that I told you to meet was complaining that you told her to give me a little message, then left."
Rufus didn't flinch. Instead, he continued to stand in front of his father's desk, staring the man straight in the eyes.
"You insolent boy," hissed President Shinra. "You will take a wife, and you will bear a son. Is that clear?"
"Why instead do you not just get Scarlet pregnant and have a new son? I'm sure she would like that. Then, you can kill me off and save me from having to stare at your ugly face every day."
"It's getting to the point where I'm sincerely tempted to do so, boy, so you had better take the next woman that I give to you and continue the Shinra legacy."
"Then, I can be just like you, screwing a woman that I don't even know so that she can pop out a kid that I can scream at and train to be a heartless monster. Then, I can kill off my wife, too, just so that I can be like my dear old Pop."
"That's the way the world works, boy, so you had better get used to it."
"Whatever you say, Father," said Rufus, the sarcasm evident in his voice as he growled the last word.
"You insolent wretch!" President Shinra screamed, standing from his desk and storming up to his son. He brought his elbow hard across Rufus' head, his sheer bulk making the blow stronger than it should have been. Rufus was unable to stop himself as he fell to the ground, forcing himself to hang onto the edge of consciousness.
"Janice, call someone to clean this mess out of my office," stated President Shinra through the intercom on his desk.
The janitor who had been at the cafe when Malita and Leiza had eagerly awaited Rufus' arrival walked nervously into the President's office to find Rufus himself on the floor, his eyes glazed over and a small stream of blood running from his hairline.
"What the…?" asked the janitor to nobody in particular.
"I want that thing out of my office," stated Shinra impatiently, neglecting to look up from a pile of paperwork that he signed with an annoyed scritching of a pen. The janitor stood for a moment before picking Rufus up from the ground, the young V.P.'s arm over his shoulder.
Outside of the door, the janitor sat Rufus' now unconscious form on the ground, the blonde's back propped against a wall, as he went to find help.
"I'm not sure whether to feel sorry for the kid or not," he muttered to himself as he searched desperately for assistance.
Miya's Note: I hope you all enjoyed. For those of you who read the original, was it better:D
