Reno cursed as he ducked round the corner after his partner.
"Not looking too good is it?" he said to Rude. A grunt was his only reply.
Reno was beginning to wish he'd rejected the call from Tseng yesterday morning. He actually cut short his holiday for this mission. Unbelievable. This mission wasn't as easy as promised. It turned out that this 'harmless' disgruntled employee had found some materia.
"You got a plan then?" asked Rude.
"Oh, you know. Rush out and kick her ass. The usual" he replied with a grin.
"So, you rush her, get made a fool of, and I come and clean up your mess is what you mean"
"Oh come on. I'm a better person than that, and you know it" said Reno. "Now, I'll go out, attack her, and you back me up." Rude groaned; it was always the same with Reno. Reno would rush in blindly, get tangled up in himself, and Rude would be left to do the fighting alone. How Reno was a more trusted Turk was beyond him. He always preferred working with Tseng. He was more composed about his approach to a situation like this.
"Um, Reno how about if we-", he began.
"Don't interrupt Rude, it's rude" Reno cut in, and he laughed at his own little joke. Another groan.
Reno glanced around the corner at the target. Currently, she was creeping towards toward them, apparently unaware of where Rude and himself had gone.
"OK, new plan" he whispered. "I give her a good shock, KO her, and we take her in." He pulled out the Electro-mag Rod he always carried, and charged it up. Although he couldn't see it yet, Rude knew there must be a flaw to this plan, there always was. As he pondered this, Reno jumped around the corner and yelled a battle cry, which was then muffled. He waited a few minutes, and then decided he had to do something. He re-adjusted his sunglasses, and stepped around the corner. He couldn't believe what he saw; Rude had somehow had is Electro-mag Rod taken from him, and was now being held hostage by the woman. He groaned for the third time in recent minutes.
"How do you plan getting out of this?" he asked.
Reno let out a weak laugh, and said "Oh, you know me. I like a challenge"
"OK ma'am, put down the rod, let my sub-ordinate go, and we'll talk this over" he said to the woman. Reno made an undignified sound at being called Rude's sub-ordinate. She lowered the rod a little lower, and loosened her hold around Reno. "OK, now step backwards from him, and drop the materia."
She did as she was told, dropping the Fire materia, which rolled away. Reno stepped away and picked up his Electro-mag Rod. He began to walk toward the woman, but Rude pulled him back. "You've caused enough problems" he said. Reno grinned sheepishly.
Rude reached for the radio he carried. "Tseng, come in."
"Yes Rude. What's the situation?" came the reply.
"We have subdued the target, and will be bringing her in soon."
"Good work you two. Be back quick. Over and out."
Good work you two? How does Reno always get credit for missions, when he just complicates matters?
"OK miss, we're going to have to take you back to our HQ for questioning. Don't attempt to run or we will use force" Reno said, following procedure. "Do you understand?"
"I have a name you know" she said. "It's Elena, and I do understand."
"Come on the Elena" Reno said, extending a hand.
"Reno, no!" yelled Rude, but he was too late. As Reno glanced over at his partner, Elena grabbed Reno's hand and threw him into the wall. She tried to run, but Rude stepped in front of her. "I'll give you this last chance Elena; otherwise I will be forced to incapacitate you." She seemed to think about this for a moment, and aimed a kick at Rude's shins. He jumped backwards to avoid the sudden assault, and prepared for a fight. Elena tried a flying back kick, which would've hit Reno smack in the jaw, but he grabbed her foot, causing Elena to drop to the floor. It was now that Reno came, with his Electro-mag Rod charged, and shocked her until she was unconscious.
"That was a shame to do that" he said as he discharged his rod. "It looked as though she may have been a good match for you." Rude snorted at this idea. There was nobody in Midgar who was as good at the martial arts as he was.
"And since when was I your sub-ordinate?" Reno asked.
"Oh, you know me" he replied. Reno laughed.
"Yeah I do. But you'll never be my superior. You heard Tseng, he credited both of us, which means the only way you'll rise above me is if I leave."
"Let's just take her back to Tseng before she wakes up."
Reno hoisted the unconscious woman onto his shoulders and carried over to the lift.
"Man, Tseng's been in there for ages" sighed Reno. He was getting impatient. He wanted to know why his hard earned holiday needed to but cut short for this woman. After they had brought Elena to The Turks HQ, Tseng had taken her straight into one of the interrogation rooms, and hadn't been seen since. "You don't think she kicked his arse do you?" Rude stayed silent. He had an inkling to what Tseng was planning with Elena. "Hello? Am I talking to myself here?" Reno shouted.
"Yes" said Tseng, emerging from the interrogation room at last.
"Sir", said Reno. "What's up with her then?" Tseng ignored Reno, and walked over to Rude. He whispered something, and Rude hurried into the room. He came out a minute later with Elena. As they walked past, she winked at Reno. Then they disappeared round the corner.
"Sir, what was the reason I had to come home early for her?"
"We have been monitoring her for some time. We believe she has what it takes to be one of us."
"She's going to be a new recruit?" spat Reno. "I was called off my holiday to recruit her?" He couldn't believe it. There were plenty of other people who had the ability to recruit new members. And besides, two new people had just started their training. When he asked about this, Tseng merely waved the question away.
"Actually Reno, you were called home for an entirely different reason. Recruiting Elena was just for our convenience."
"A different reason?" Reno asked.
"Yes. We have received rumours that a rebel group is rising in Junon. We need you and Rude to go there and investigate this. You will be met at the airfield by our research expert. He will fill you in on your orders. You will leave once Rude returns. Is this clear?"
"Crystal sir. Is there anything else I need to know?"
"We currently don't know the name of the faction, but we do know that their leader is called Myerson. We know very little of Myerson, only that he came from Nibelheim. He was turned away from SOLDIER about 5 years ago for direct disobeying of orders. Since then, no one has seen him."
"And what are we to do?"
"The rest of your orders will be given to you when you arrive at Junon." Then Tseng walked away into his office. Reno knew better than to disturb his boss after a briefing, so he went to the main lobby, where he knew Rude would meet him.
Reno hurried off the airship. He never flew well. And he suspected that Cid had made it particularly rough because he was a ShinRa employee. Cid Highwind had always harboured a hate for the ShinRa ever since the Space Program had been terminated, and very few of their employees had complimented his flying ever since. Rude stepped off the ship behind him, and proceeded into the main building.
"Hey. Wait up!" Reno shouted after his partner. When he caught up, Rude was already conversing with a large, muscled man. He had no hair, and wore a smart suit, which didn't seem to suit him.
"Ah, you must be Reno" said the man, extending a hand. "I'm the research expert, Rityard." Reno shook Rityard's hand.
"So, what else can you tell us about this resistance faction?" Reno asked.
"Not much more than you already know" said Rityard. "They don't have an official name, so we have dubbed them 'Project A'. As you already know, their leader is an Ex-SOLDIER named Myerson. Well, now I can tell you that since he was kicked out of SOLDIER, he spent 5 years travelling. Most of this time was spent in Nibelheim and Cosmo Canyon."
"Do we know what he researched?" Rude asked.
"Unfortunately we don't. However, there were several reports of him spending time in the ShinRa Mansion."
"So we can assume that he knows about Gast's experiments?"
"Yes. In fact it seems it is more than an assumption. We know that he has been quoting some of Gast's research to recruit members."
"What's the location of their base?"
"The exact location is known only to members of Project A."
"So I guess we have to infiltrate the group, let ShinRa know the location of their base, and they will do the rest" said Reno.
"Basically. But we cannot let the public know that a rebel group has existed. Especially one that is lead by an Ex-SOLDIER. So you must bring down Project A from the inside" Rityard explained.
"And how exactly do we achieve this?"
"You will infiltrate their base, posing as someone who is interested in joining Project A. You will then report to Tseng, who will let you know when to destroy them. To join them, you will rendezvous with a man at The Blue Bar named Jaer. He is Myerson's second in command, and is usually in charge of recruiting new members now."
"How do we let him know of our 'interest' to join them?" asked Rude.
"You will turn the conversation round to Professor Gast. It is likely that Jaer will begin to make several quotes from Gast's work. You will then talk of your hatred for the ShinRa. Although, we are unsure, we expect Jaer will then invite you to his 'private room'. Accept this invitation, and Jaer will probably ask you to join Project A."
"I see. And when do we carry out this operation?"
"Jaer will probably be at the bar now, so no time like the present." And then Rityard left toward the main town.
The Blue Bar was in a back alley, but was by no means a usual 'back alley bar.' It was large, and had plenty of tables, each with several comfy looking chairs.
"The man in the corner alone is Jaer" Rityard mumbled in Reno's ear. "Go over there and get yourself into Project A." Then he was gone.
"What're you drinking Reno?" Rude asked.
"I don't care, surprise me" he replied, walking over to Jaer's table. When he got closer, Reno could see that Jaer would make a good soldier. Despite his height, Jaer has thick muscles, that weren't concealed well enough beneath the shirt he wore. He had wild hair, and there was a scar just concealed beneath his fringe running down to his left eye brow. He waited until Rude came over with their drinks, before approaching Jaer.
"Excuse me. Can we sit here?" he asked, indicating to two empty seats at Jaer's table. Jaer cast a wary eye around the bar, and shrugged.
"Thanks. I'm Reno, and this is Rude."
"I'm Jaer. So what brings you two out of town folk here?" he replied. His voice sounded scratchy, as though he had done a lot of shouting.
"We're tourists from Kalm" said Rude, before Reno could say anything.
"You've come to Junon for a holiday?" asked Jaer disbelievingly.
"Oh no, we're visiting relatives here, and then we're going on to Costa del Sol."
"I see. What do you guys do for a living?"
"We're both hoping to be scientists in the future, like Professor Gast" Reno said quickly, before Rude said anything.
"Ah, Professor Gast. A true inspiration to us all. I am a big fan of his work" said Jaer. Reno and Rude exchanged glances and leaned a little closer to him. They knew that a quote from Professor Gast was coming. They weren't disappointed. "Weapon. Monsters created by the planet. It appears when the planet is in danger, reducing everything to nothingness" Jaer quoted. "One of my more preferred quotes of his" he added. Reno forced himself to chuckle at this. Rude merely smiled.
"Yes, Professor Gast was a great man. It's such a shame that he was employed by the ShinRa though" said Rude.
"Ah, so you're against the ShinRa too?" asked Jaer.
"Oh yeah, we hate them don't we Rude" replied Reno.
"May I ask why?"
"Simply because their ideas are wrong. I don't believe that using Mako energy is the way for the future. It's harming the planet" Rude replied. Reno was surprised at how quickly he came up with this, and how convincing it was.
Then Jaer did something that Reno had not expected. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out what looked like a large stone. At a closer look, Reno realised that it was a device that the ShinRa repair team used to communicate when they were making repairs in tight places. It bore the ShinRa symbol on it too. Reno looked at Rude, and saw that he too was puzzled by what Jaer was showing them. Then Jaer pushed a small button on the side of the device, and a 3-D map hologram appeared. It was a map.
"By what we've just discussed, I'm sure that you're aware of who I am?" Jaer said in a low voice. Reno and Rude both nodded. "Good. Then come and meet me at my private room and we can discuss this in further detail." He manipulated the holographic map and pointed out a house. "It isn't far - you should be able to walk there within ten or so minutes. Just set off in about half an hour. Give me time to get things ready." Then he finished his drink, got up and left the bar.
"What do you think?" Reno asked Rude.
"I think we need to let Rityard know about what we know before we leave for his home" Rude replied.
"That's exactly what I was thinking. But where do you think we'll find him?"
"You don't need to bother looking for me. I'm here" said a voice behind them. Then Rityard sat down in the seat that Jaer had occupied. "So what have you learned?"
"Jaer has invited us back to his home, and we plan on visiting him soon" Rude reported.
"Good. What else?"
"It seems that Jaer has a modified communicator used by the repair team. Is it possible that he is also an ex-ShinRa employee?"
"No. We have checked his background, and he is most certainly not an ex-employee" replied Rityard. "It is most likely that Myerson gave it to him."
"I see. Should we contact Tseng yet or wait until we have infiltrated Project A?"
"I'm afraid that there has been a change. You are not to report to Tseng. He fears that there are spies afoot. Therefore you are to report to me instead. I will relay what you tell me to Tseng."
"What do you mean Tseng fears of spies?" Reno butted in. "Spying is our job. He would know if he were being watched, and what to do if he was."
"I don't doubt that Reno, but nonetheless, that is what he has instructed me to tell you" Rityard replied.
"But why doesn't Tseng want us reporting to him? He knows he can trust us, and he knows we can lose any spies that may be trying to follow us."
"I don't know why Reno, but that is what Tseng has told me. If you want to question it then by all means ask Tseng yourself, but you know how much he dislikes people questioning him" Rityard hissed. Reno quieted down after this. "As I was saying, you should go and meet Jaer and learn more about Project A, and then let me know once you have learned some more." Then Rityard got up and left without another word.
Half an hour later, Reno was knocking on the door of Jaer's private home. Jaer opened the door.
"Welcome, come on in" he said, opening the door wider so that his guests could get in. Reno and Rude entered Jaer's apartment. It was larger than they initially expected. The room in which they were standing was well lit thanks to a large window on the rear wall. It looked out to the sea, and Reno could just see The Junon Canon. In the middle of the room there was a large desk strewn with what looked like blueprints. On one wall, there were more papers pinned up of what looked like ShinRa employee details. There were several chairs set around the room. "I'm sorry for the mess, but I have an urgent meeting soon, so we must make things quick. As I'm sure you already know, I am a high ranking officer in a rebel group that the ShinRa have dubbed 'Project A'. They have given us this name because their spies have not yet managed to discover the name of our group. This is because we have not given our group a name. We do not want ShinRa discovering too much about us."
"So what is your main goal?" Reno asked.
"Well, as amateur and foolish as it may sound, we want to bring the ShinRa down. We intend to do this by force."
"Force?"
"Yes. We are very large in numbers. There are about three times more members of this than they think. So we plan to meet ShinRa in numbers, and battle this out."
"So by that, you mean that you are going to go to war with ShinRa corp.?" asked Rude.
"That is in essence what we are going to do. But war is such an ugly word. We are going to liberate the planet from ShinRa" Replied Jaer.
"And where will this battle be fought?"
"Well we were hoping to take Fort Condor first, but we learned just yesterday that SOLDIER has already moved in there."
"So what does that mean?" asked Rude.
"Well, it means that we will go to Fort Condor, and attempt to overthrow SOLDIER there. If we are successful, we will then depart for Midgar and attempt to take ShinRa HQ."
"I see. But if you do defeat SOLDIER at Fort Condor, won't the ShinRa know that you're coming before you even get to Midgar?"
"Look Rude. I've already answered more questions than enough about our plan. You know more information than you should. First I need to know if the pair of you are committed to our cause" Jaer growled. Both Reno and Rude were taken aback by Jare's sudden change of tone. They looked at each, both knowing what the other was going to say. The answer was always going to be yes. It was their mission to infiltrate Project A after all.
"Yeah. Of course we are" Reno said, as if nothing was ever more obvious.
"Good" said Jaer brightening. "I'm afraid that we can't continue this much further for now, as my meeting is due to start any minute" he continued, checking a clock on the wall. "Can you come back tomorrow?"
"Sure, that's no problem. What time?" Reno replied.
"Oh give to about midday. I'll probably be at The Blue Bar" Jaer replied with a wink. Reno got up to leave, but Rude remained in his seat.
"Hey. You comin'?" asked Reno loudly.
"Oh, sorry" said Rude, coming out of his thoughts. He rose and left behind Reno.
"Well, what do you think?" Reno asked Rude once they were a good distance from Jaer's apartment.
"I think we're being played" Rude said.
"What do you mean played? You mean you think that Jaer knows we're Turks?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I think."
"Oh come off it. How are we being played then?"
"Think about it. Why do you suppose Jaer chose to reveal so much of their plan? I really doubt that it was an accident, or that it is natural for them to tell potential recruits most of their plan before they can be certain who they are telling can be trusted."
"Rude, the ShinRa have the best spies in the entire world. I think we can trust Rityard."
"Even so, it just seems too strange."
"Just let it drop Rude. We're not in any trouble." As they stepped out of the lane that lead down to Jaer's home, a group of rough looking men went down it. One of them, a large coloured man with black hair and a black beard stopped to let them Reno and Rude by. As he passed by, Reno noticed that this man's right arm was not actually an arm at all. It seemed that he had had a Gatling Gun grafted onto the limb. He decided it was best not to stare at this man, and passed by without a word.
Rude woke up early the next morning. Despite what Reno had said the previous day, he still had a feeling that they were both being fooled. He dressed, and was about to leave their hotel room, when Reno woke.
"Wheryougoin?" he asked sleepily.
"Uh… just for some air" Rude replied quickly. "You want anything while I'm out?" But Reno had fallen asleep again. The sun was just rising, and the air was crisp. It looked like it was going to be a good day. Rude set off at a fast pace towards Jaer's home. He was hoping to get there early, to watch the building and judge the best way to enter it quietly. With any luck, he would have a chance to search through Project A's plans, and then let Rityard know them. They needed to keep SOLDIER one step ahead of Project A if they were to defeat them.
The curtains were all drawn at Jaer's apartment, but the windows were open. It seemed the perfect way to get in, but the apartment was on the third floor. Rude began looking about for some way that would enable him to reach the window. Nearby there was a builder's van, and strapped to the top of that was a ladder at least 30 feet long. He pulled out the pen knife he kept for emergencies in his pocket, and cut the straps as silently as possible. He was surprised at how silently he was able to lift the ladder down, and set it against the wall. He began to ascend, and came to a stop at the fourth floor window. Luckily the owners of this apartment had left their window open too. Rude slipped in through the open window. Fortune was with him again, because the occupants of this apartment weren't home. He set about setting up the microscopic equipment he had with him. He drilled a small hole in the floor, where he hoped the lampshade in the room below was. Then, he fed a microscopic camera through the hole. After checking his mobile phone for reception from the camera, he fed a tiny bomb – his speciality - through a separate hole in the floor. His task complete, he climbed back out of the window and returned to his and Reno's hotel room.
They were sitting in The Blue Bar at around 2 o'clock when Jaer appeared.
"Good afternoon gentlemen" he said, sitting down in one of the empty seats. "I've got some good news for you both."
"Really?" asked Reno, trying to sound as interested as his hangover allowed.
"Yes. We are now ready to move against SOLDIER. There'll be a final meeting this evening and then we head for Fort Condor in the morning." This caught Rude's attention. He looked up over his lunch at Jaer.
"So soon? How can you manage to move the whole group so quickly?" he asked.
"A large number of us set off to Fort Condor last night. We decided to move as soon as possible. With any look, they will be there before too many of SOLDIER get there. Then they will attempt to hold them off until the rest of our group can get there and finish off SOLDIER."
"But I thought you said that SOLDIER were already in control of Fort Condor?"
"Well, we actually had some poor intelligence on that" Jaer replied sheepishly. "There are some members of SOLDIER there. The rest are a little behind, but we don't know why."
"Do you have any idea on the numbers of the army's?"
"We think that there are about 150 already at Fort Condor, and another 200 behind them. We have dispatched around 100 members to Fort Condor already, and there was already about 50 there, so it should be a pretty even match."
"And how many other people are there in the group?"
"The total number to date is 750 all over the world, 600 of which are in Junon. The others are currently making their way to Kalm, and we will meet them there when we go to Midgar" said Jaer.
"I see. So when will the final meeting be?" asked Reno.
"Some time this evening, we haven't made a decision yet."
"Would it be possible for us to attend?"
"No, I'm afraid not. This was something I put forward last night but most people were against the idea, I'm sorry" said Jaer. Then Jaer's phone began to ring in his pocket. "I'm sorry, but I have to go" he said, checking the caller ID.
"I'll contact you tonight after the meeting to let you know about the plans for the morning."
"Damn, we need to hear what goes on in that meeting" Reno said once Jaer had left.
"Don't worry, I've bugged his apartment" Rude said with a smile.
"What? When did you do this?"
"This morning when I went out. You know I prefer to do a job like this alone."
"So, do you have anything from his place now?"
"I checked before, but there was nothing strange that I could see, but come this evening we'll be able to overhear everything they say. We should get Project A's whole battle plan for Fort Condor."
"Rude, you're a sly man for sure. You make my job a lot easier" Reno laughed.
For the rest of the day, Rude checked his mobile phone for reception from his microscopic camera. He finally picked up some activity at about 5:30.
"Hey Reno" he said. "We finally got something from Jaer's."
"Finally! Let me see" Reno said walking over. They were back in their hotel room. Rude wired his phone into the TV so they had a better screen to watch the meeting on.
"Welcome all of you" cam Jaer's voice through the TV. "We need to discuss our battle plans for Fort Condor tomorrow, and what to do after that." Rude manipulated the camera via his phone to have a better picture. They could see that all of the men who had passed them in the lane the night before were there, including the large man who had let Reno pass.
"Will Myerson be here tonight?" someone asked.
"I'm afraid he won't be again – he has some business to attend to" replied Jaer.
"So what is the plan for Fort Condor?" the large man asked.
"Well Barret, we have already dispatched about 100 members to Fort Condor to meet SOLDIER's first army. Hopefully they will defeat them, or hold them off at least until we can get there. If they have managed to defeat this army, we will have the high ground at Fort Condor, otherwise we will have to try and stop SOLDIER purely by our large numbers" Jaer said, sitting down. The other men followed suit. "And in that event, we will need a battle plan, so ideas anyone?"
"Snipers" said one of the men. "If we have snipers, we can set them around the terrain and can pick off SOLDIER from distance."
"That is a good idea Abe, but we have very few long range weapons. We'll be fighting this battle at close quarters mostly, so using snipers will be a danger to our own troops" Jaer told the man.
"How?" asked Abe.
"Well, most of the battle will be fought on the main slope of Fort Condor won't it?" another man said.
"Yeah, so what?" asked Abe.
"Well, how about we send half of the troops up to meet SOLDIER there, and the other half around the back, and we pin them." This seemed to go down well.
"That's an excellent idea, but doesn't the rear slope have terrible terrain?" another man questioned. "We'd need some experienced climbers for this to work."
"Hold up" said the man called Barret, standing up. "I've been to Fort Condor a few times before, and I think I have the plan that might just help us beat SOLDIER. All we have to do is enter Fort Condor via an access entrance at the bottom. From there we can go inside Fort Condor and attack SOLDIER from the back."
Everyone in the room enjoyed this idea. There was much individual discussion between the men.
"OK everyone, calm down" said Jaer over the sudden upturn in noise. "Barret this is an exceptionally good plan, and I think I'm safe in saying that this will be the plan we will carry through at Fort Condor." There were murmurs of the affirmative around the room. "But we are going to need some plans of Fort Condor showing this entrance so that we can plan our attack properly."
"No problem, I have 'em right here" said Barret, pulling out some blueprints from his jacket pocket. He laid them out on the table. "This is the entrance here" he said, pointing at something on the large sheet that Reno and Rude could not see. Each of the men in the room began to gather around the table to see what Barret was pointing at.
For the next hour or so, the elite members of Project A discussed various battle plans and forms of attack they could use against SOLDIER should they already have control of Fort Condor upon their arrival. It was all too boring for Reno, so he left to look about Junon while Rude stayed to listen in to what was being said. When he returned, it seemed that the meeting was over.
"So what's new?" Reno asked.
"Project A plan to send the majority of their troops up the front slope of Fort Condor. They hope that this will draw all of SOLDIER's forces to this attack. Then the rest of the troops will go through this access entrance, and destroy catch SOLDIER off guard from the back. Another of their jobs will be to destroy their communications systems before the rest of SOLDIER arrive. This way they can ambush the secondary SOLDIER force" Rude explained.
"Or so they think" Reno laughed. Rude grinned. "Have you contacted Rityard yet?"
"Not yet. I'm waiting for Jaer to call first" Rude replied. "I'm expecting that soon." No sooner had he finished speaking, the phone rang.
"Speak of the devil" said Reno, walking over to the phone. He picked it up. "Hello?"
While Reno was on the phone, Rude began to look through his mobile for Rityard's number. He dialled it, and waited a while. After Rityard picked up, Rude relayed what he had learned from the meeting.
"Good" he said once Rude had finished. "I'll let Tseng know straight away." Rude hung up and turned his attention to Reno. He was just finishing talking to Jaer.
"What'd he say?" Rude asked.
"Not much, he just pretty much confirmed what you told me" Reno said.
"I've told Rityard" Rude told him.
"Good. Now we just have to wait until the morning. You coming down to the bar?"
They woke up early the next morning and prepared to go to Fort Condor. While they were getting ready, Rude received a phone call. It was Jaer.
"Hello. What's the plan then?" said Rude, answering the phone.
"We're going to meet outside Junon. We'll head off to Fort Condor from there. Be prepared" Jaer told him. Then he hung up.
They headed to the outskirts of Junon where they met up with one of the largest army's either of them had ever seen. There were people as far as the eye could see. Reno started to have doubts that SOLDIER could win this battle; they were amazingly outnumbered.
"Doesn't look too good does it?" Reno said to Rude, who smiled grimly.
Everyone went silent as Jaer stood up on a rock so that he was visible.
"Everybody" he yelled. "Today is the day that we march. We march to liberate this planet from the ShinRa. We march for a new world!" There was a roar from the army at this short speech. It was short, but it got to the point. "Also, would Reno and Rude come up front to me; there is something we must discuss." They both began to move through the mass of people until they got to the front.
"Ah, good you're here" said Jaer shaking their hands. "There's someone I want you to meet." He led them a bit further to the head of the army, where a large man with muscles and no hair was standing.
"Reno, Rude how nice of you to join us" Rityard said. Two guards quickly stepped forward and pinned both Reno and Rude's arms behind their backs.
"Rityard?" asked Reno. "What are you doing here?" Rityard burst into peels of laughter. Rude groaned.
"You don't get it yet do you Reno? I'm not Rityard; I'm Myerson."
"What do you mean you're Myerson? Myerson was expelled from SOLDIER 5 years ago. He's the leader of – Oh my god"
"I see the penny finally drops Reno" Myerson chuckled. "Yes, I was a mole in the ShinRa, finding out my own intelligence first hand. You never can trust spies, as you two have demonstrated."
"So SOLDIER doesn't actually know anything of your plan of attack?" asked Rude.
"No, I'm afraid not Rude, they are totally oblivious" Myerson replied. "Now take them away" he said to the guards. "We have some planning to do."
"Some bind we've got ourselves into here eh?" said Reno. They were in the back of a truck with their hands tied. They had been travelling for about an hour, which meant they must be close to Fort Condor. "Hey you listening to me?"
"No" replied Rude. Reno laughed. "How close do you reckon we are?"
"Not sure" Reno said. "Can't be much further now."
"Any idea how we're going to get out of here?"
"Actually Rude, I do" said Reno, brightly. Rude looked up at Reno. He had been expecting to have to make is own plan to escape.
"So what's the plan then?" he asked. Reno drew his Electro-mag Rod and motioned for Rude to do the same. They crept to the front of the truck, where there was a grating between the cabin and the rear. The spacing between these grates was just sufficient for their Electro-mag Rods to fit through. Rude caught on to Reno's plan and charged up his Rod. He was amazed that they hadn't been searched for weapons. Perhaps this was more of an amateur group than he thought. Or was it another of Myerson's tricks? To let them think they had outsmarted him? He had no time to think about that though; Reno was already moving to attack the driver of the truck, and it was his job to attack the passenger. On the count of three, they both slid their Rods through a gap in the grating, and jabbed their victims in the back of the neck. They held their Rods there for a few seconds until the two men in the front became unconscious.
"Easy as that" said Reno with a smile, compacting his Rod again.
"So what do we do now?" Rude asked.
"You think I thought that far ahead? You don't know me do you?" Reno said. Rude groaned – he should've known that Reno's plan was flawed somewhere. It looked like it was up to him to get them out of a mess again. He sat and pondered their situation for a moment. He got up and checked their position. They were at the rear of the army and in the distance he could see Fort Condor. It wasn't far away. Rude began to make a plan in his mind.
"Right, I think I know what to do" he said. "Soon enough, they're going to notice that the truck isn't moving, and there can't be any evidence of us escaping when they do. We also need to warn SOLDIER of Project A's battle plan. So we have to somehow get this truck away from the main army, and get to Fort Condor before the army."
"So how do we do all that?" Reno asked.
"We'll have to drive the truck there, ahead of the army" Rude replied.
"That's suicide" Reno protested.
"But necessary" said Rude, firmly. Reno gave in.
"Fine" he said. "Go for it, but if this goes wrong you get all the blame."
"And if it goes right, you'll get all the praise" Rude muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"Nothing." Rude unscrewed the metal grating using his pen knife – another item that he thought he would've been stripped of when they were taken prisoner – and then climbed into the driver's seat. He passed the bodies of the unconscious guards through the back to Reno, who followed him through into the front. "Ready?" asked Rude.
"No" said Reno. Rude turned the key in the ignition and the engine kicked into life. Then he sped off, to left of the army, towards the mountains. Hopefully not too many people would notice them at a further distance. Unfortunately, the drivers of another truck spotted them and followed. "There's someone behind us" Reno said, looking into the rear view mirror. Rude looked, and saw a truck was coming up fast behind them. He looked ahead and saw they were much closer to Fort Condor than he had thought.
"We'll make it" he said to Reno.
"You think?" Rude didn't answer, but moved into a higher gear and they began to lose their follower.
When they got to Fort Condor, there was a squad of elite SOLDIERs waiting for them.
"Who are you?" asked the nearest, who seemed to be the Captain.
"I'm Reno, and this is Rude. We're Turks" said Reno.
"Can I trust you?" asked the Captain. Just then his phone rang. After a quick conversation with whoever was on the other end he put it back in his pocket. "OK, you can go up. Sorry for that" he said.
"No problem" Reno said, passing by the squad.
It appeared that the man who had phoned the Captain was none other than Tseng.
"Welcome to Fort Condor" he said brightly upon seeing Reno and Rude. "Where the battle for justice will be fought."
"Sir, why are you here?" Reno asked.
"Well, we Turks are fighters Reno, so I'm here to fight."
"We have something urgent to tell you sir" said Rude, loudly.
"What is it?" Tseng asked, turning serious. Rude then told Tseng everything that may be useful for the battle; how Myerson had been posing as Rityard to gather information and how Project A had come up with a battle plan to defeat SOLDIER. "Well, it seems that Myerson will be surprised. We knew that Rityard was in fact Myerson. We discovered this just after you left, and so we have been feeding him false information. He thinks there are 150 troops here, but our actual number is closer to 700. And there are another 300 on the other side of the mountains should we be defeated. And now we know their entire plan, they don't have a chance. This will end here. That is very good work you two" Tseng said. Again, Rude was amazed at how Reno got any credit for what he had done alone. "Now, if you'll both just follow me, I need some help in finding this hidden entrance."
The whole of Fort Condor was busy with soldiers milling about, preparing for the oncoming fight. Some were carrying large bits of wood that would be used as trebuchets, while others were organizing the distribution of weapons. The entrance that Project A were planning to use was quickly found, and booby trapped. Anyone who tried to enter would be activate an incendiary bomb around that whole area, preventing anyone from coming through.
"If what you have told me is true, Project A will probably try to attack us by scaling the rear of Fort Condor when this plan fails" Tseng said. "So we're going to need to find a way to halt an attack from there too. This battle must be fought on the front slope."
"I can take care of that" Rude said. "If I may say so myself, I'm something of an expert with explosive devices."
"Yes Rude, you are. I'll leave it to you then. Reno – you assist him." Rude groaned. Assistance from Reno? He was bound to mess this up somehow.
"So what've you got in mind Rude?" Reno asked.
"Mines" Rude replied. They were standing at the top of Fort Condor, overlooking the plains below. The rear slope of Fort Condor was directly beneath them. It was steep, and Rude didn't understand how Project A planned to scale it. But he had his orders to turn this into a danger for them, and that is what he was going to do. "We'll just bury a load of mines all over. It's simple and effective."
Just half an hour later, their job was finished, and they returned to Tseng.
"Excellent timing. Project A have just begun their attack" he said as they both walked up to him.
"So what are our orders for the battle?" Reno asked.
"I want you both to hold this position. However, when Project A break into Fort Condor, you will both lead the attack to remove them" Tseng instructed. "Now get out there and earn your pay!" Both Reno and Rude rushed out of the main building onto the slope of Fort Condor behind a squad of soldiers. They looked down and saw that the opposing army were making their way up the slope. The trebuchets that had been constructed were working, but their projectiles were landing too far away to damage the front of the army. Before they knew it, the army of Project A had broken upon the army of ShinRa.
The front line of Project A's soldiers fell surprisingly easy, and Reno began to think that this battle would be a lot easier, despite the numbers of their enemy. From his position high up on Fort Condor, he could tell that some of Project A's army were absent, which must mean that they were planning to back attack SOLDIER. Sure enough, just as another wave of troops were charging up the hill, they heard an explosion from the base of Fort Condor, followed by screams.
"Reno, Rude, that's your cue" Tseng shouted. "Don't let them in!" Reno and Rude both rushed away, picking up other soldiers on the way to prevent anyone entering Fort Condor. When they reached the entrance, there was fire everywhere. So far no one had entered. Either that or those foolish enough to attempt had been burned. They could hear voices on the other side of the hole that had been blown in the wall. From what they could tell, there were quite a few people waiting to come through. Then the flames began to freeze over. It appeared that Project A was in possession of materia. Reno drew his Electro-mag Rod ad charged it up. Rude pulled on his leather fighting gloves. Around them, other soldiers readied themselves. When the last of the flames had died down, a small army burst through the hole and clashed with the ShinRa troops. Reno was furiously swinging his Rod about, rendering as many people unconscious as possible, while Rude was literally taking people hands on. Luckily, the hole was only a small one, so the flow of enemies was stemmed easily. SOLDIER was easily winning this battle.
As the amount of bodies strewn about got too large, less and less enemies were coming through the hole. Reno and Rude decided that they could safely leave this in the hands of one of the 1st Class members of SOLDIER. They sprinted back to the main battlefield on the front slope to check how the battle was progressing there. Project A had moved a lot further up the hill than they had expected; they were nearly at the top.
"What happened here?" Rude asked a nearby soldier.
"They have materia – summon materia" the man panted.
"Where's Tseng?"
"He's further down where their spell casters are."
"Come on Reno, we're going down there" Rude said, running off. They jumped straight into the fight to help out their boss who was managing to hold off half a dozen fighters. After they managed to overcome these, they moved further down the hill to where the more powerful spell casters were. One of these was Jaer.
"Kill the traitors!" he yelled when he saw Reno and Rude. Some soldiers charged at them, but others stayed where they were and began to cast spells. The majority of them were weak, but a particularly strong Ultima spell just missed Reno. It had been cast by Jaer.
"We need to stop Jaer" Reno said to his companions.
"How?" asked Rude.
"We need to kill him"
"I'll do it" volunteered Tseng. "You two find Myerson so we can end this."
"Yes sir" Reno and Rude chorused. Myerson wasn't hard to find. He was near the base of Fort Condor, surrounded by his elite fighters. Just as they were both about to run down at him, Myerson summoned up a large beast that they weren't expecting. A large hole opened up in the ground, and it was Ifrit who appeared. Reno let out a small whimper. Everyone stopped and looked at the fire demon, and then they all ran.
"We need to do something" Reno shouted, stating the obvious. Rude cast about trying to find away to stop Ifrit. He noticed that Myerson was concentrating hard on keeping Ifrit under control. He could probably be distracted easily.
"What material do you have?" Rude asked Reno.
"Just Lightning" Reno said.
"OK, get ready with it" said Rude, pulling out his Electro-mag Rod. "As soon as I give the signal, charge my Rod." Then he sprinted off towards Myerson before he could do any damage. When he was about 6 feet away, Rude lifted up his Electro-mag Rod, signaling for Reno to hit it with his Lightning materia. When he was sure the Rod was properly charged, Rude thrust it into Myerson's chest. He instantly lost his concentration, and Ifrit faded away. Myerson knocked the Rod out of Rude's hand.
"Ah. Rude isn't it?" he said with a smile. "Where's Reno?" Rude didn't answer, but took a swing at Myerson instead. Then Reno jumped in, and joined the fight. Myerson was just as strong as they had anticipated. Being a former member of SOLDIER, he had been trained very well. It was almost as if he could read their every move. While they battled, the rest of the troops began to move against each other again, but without the aid of their leader's material, Project A's army was soon overcame, and Reno and Rude were helped out by some more members of SOLDIER. With this extra help, Myerson was soon defeated and taken prisoner.
Tseng had a big smile on his face as Reno and Rude walked into the main base at the top of Fort Condor.
"Congratulations you two" he said. "I knew I could entrust this mission to you."
"What will become of him?" Rude asked, as he handed over control of Myerson to several guards, who took him away to a temporary holding cell.
"He'll be taken back to HQ. We'll question him, and then he'll most likely be executed" Tseng replied.
"And what of the surviving generals in their army?"
"They too will be questioned; however I doubt that they face execution." The conversation began to grow boring to Reno, so he went outside to see the aftermath of the battle. There were bodies strewn about all over the mountain fort – from both armies. This was the second battle that Reno had been in, and just like the last one, the aftermath sickened him. He hoped that there would be no more battles like this again in his lifetime.