This is an AU Final Fantasy VII story.
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Natch.
A shadow disengaged itself from the dark hallway and stealthily made its way to the door at the end. In the dim light of the bare, fluorescent light above the metal door its form turned out to be male, in black clothes, dull black gauntlets on his bare arms, a dark baseball cap sitting backwards on his head.
"I'm here," the shadow said softly into the headset connected to the right side of his face.
"OK," a slightly tinny, female voice softly replied through the earpiece. "Just hook up the password decripter to the keypad and I'll do the rest."
"A-OK," the shadow replied as he pulled the small device from one of the pouches on his belt and connected the device as he had been shown. "Go for it."
A few moments later, the door whooshed open. "Piece of cake."
The man calmly moved into the nearly pitch dark room and gave a small whistle.
"What?" his partner asked over the earpiece.
"I knew this place had to be trashed, considering how quick everyone got out, but… damn," the man said, pulling his cap off to run his hand through his hair. "This may take awhile, Kitten." Instead of putting the cap back on, he tucked the brim into the back of his pants.
"Well, we don't have awhile. Even though this is no longer a running Shinra lab, they still have security. I can only reroute the security protocols for so long," 'Kitten' replied through his headset. "And, don't call me Kitten."
"I know we don't have much time, I'll work as fast as I can. And, I'll be calling you Kitten because we never know when our comm conversations will be intercepted."
"Fine, fine… Red," Kitten replied, a smile evident in her voice.
"That works for me," Red replied as he started searching through the tipped over file cabinets.
A few minutes later, his headset gave a small crackle. "We've just reached the end of my rerouting capabilities. Shinra security will be there soon. Get out."
"Damn it. I haven't found the files yet."
"According to the comm channel I hacked, they'll be here within five minutes," Kitten stated. "We have to leave."
"If we go without the files, we won't get another chance."
"If you're there when security gets here, we'll have more trouble than we can possibly handle," Kitten pointed out. "Since this place was part of a reactor, it's saturated with mako. They won't send in the normal soldiers. Whoever shows up, they'll have either high-mako tolerance, or worse, full of mako themselves."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Red said distractedly. "Ah hah! Found them!"
"Good," Kitten replied. "The security is only blocks away. Book it!"
Not bothering to reply, the man pulled the empty backpack off his back and stuffed the files they had come for in. Slinging the pack into place and securing it, he jogged out of the room and down the corridor.
"Security arrived," Kitten said, slightly distracted. "Oh, shit! It's a Turk!"
"Fuck," Red muttered, but didn't stop his jogging down the empty corridors, nimbly jumping over any rubble in his way.
"I have him in my sights."
"What does he look like?"
"What does it matter? I have him in my sights."
"Description, now!" Red ordered as he slowed to a stop at the main doors to the defunct reactor.
"Tall, dark skinned, bald, sunglasses, usual Turk suit," Kitten replied. "Do I take the shot?"
"No, we don't kill Turks."
Kitten sighed, "Yeah, I know. But, I don't see any other way out of this. He's blocking the exit ramp."
"Don't worry about, it… I got it," Red said. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of the doorway and onto the ramp. The glow of the spotlights highlighted his form, not showing his features too well.
"You're under arrest," the Turk ground out, his gun calmly pointed at Red's torso, standing in a classic firing stance with his feet braced apart.
"Man, Rude, I never thought I'd hear those words from you," Red said, a grin plastered on his face. Even though it wasn't visible due to being backlit, it was evident in his voice.
"Re… Reno!" the Turk exclaimed, his gun faltering.
Sauntering closer, Red nodded. "In the flesh."
"But… but…" Rude was obviously bewildered. "You're dead."
Having come up to his former partner, Reno nodded, a wide grin on his face. "Funny thing about that. Hojo is well known for bringing back the dead, as it were."
Staring in shock at his best friend suddenly standing next to him, Rude stayed silent.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but people to kill, places to destroy. You know how it is," Reno said, as he sauntered past the disconcerted Turk.
"Wait a minute! How the hell did you survive in there!" Rude finally got his brain working. "They didn't start augmenting Turks with mako until after the 7th Sector Plate incident, when you died!"
"Yeah, to give you guys an edge. I know," Reno said with a nod. By now, he was on the other side of Rude, who had spun around. Reno started walking backwards. "Of course, Hojo never could stop fiddling… See you around, buddy." With that, he broke into a run and sprinted away from the Turk.
"Come back here!" Rude exclaimed, giving chase. But, Reno was a blur, and within moments, out of sight.
"Mission Accomplished," Reno said into his headset. "Lets go home, Kitten."
"Roger that," came through the earpiece. "And, I do like how you handled him. Very nice."
"Thank you, dear lady," Reno replied with a grin as he slowed to a jog half a mile from the reactor.
"I'm four blocks from your location. Get your ass in the van so we can go through the information you got."
Basically, I came up with this idea a few weeks ago, and it's been percolating in my head since then. This universe goes slightly off the main Final Fantasy VII timeline after Reno gets hurt in Sector 7. After all, Hojo isn't that nice and I couldn't resist this. This will also incorporate parts of Advent Children as well…
Kitten is a semi-minor character and my creation. Yes, there is a few reasons for her 'codename' of Kitten, and no, she isn't a love interest for anyone.
There will probably be more fics in this series, including the one currently wandering my mind about reactions to Rude's report.
Comments definitely appreciated!
