"He's crashing again!" Monitors beeped, more people entered the room. Someone tore away the rest of the patient's jacket and dropped it to the floor.

"I thought he was a Turk, what uniform is this?"

"He is a Turk," the chief surgeon barked, "and he's just been through Hell so we're not going to let him go now"

"Yes ma'am." the attendant threw the coat in the corner. A nurse rubbed gelatin over the patient's chest and someone else raised two paddles, the hum of electricity growing.

"CLEAR!"

The patient jolted on the table.

"Nothing."

"Administer the epinephrine."

"Yes ma'am."

"Charging...clear!"

Another jolt. The monitors remained the same.

"Charging!"

"Ma'am, don't you think-"

"Just one more try. Come on you bald bastard, CLEAR!"

"Rude pulled through." The doctor announced.

Elena exhaled and gripped the Director's arm. He shifted off balance and she ended up catching him.

"Sorry sir, I was just so worried."

He straightened and moved back to his chair where he was a little more stable, "I know. So what is the prognosis?"

"Serious. The first two shots were in his back, one on either side of his spine. The last was directly through his chest. It pierced one lung and lodged very near his spine."

"Oh no-"

"Don't go there. The chances of paralysis are very slim as long as we keep him under."

"What do you mean?"

"His spine was not directly hit, it was the tissue and nerves surrounding it that were damaged. We have repaired everything to the best of our abilities, but he simply cannot move until the tissue stitches back together naturally. We have him in a medically induced coma."

"For how long?"

"We'll have to wait and see, but even if we could wake him up, he won't be mobile for a few weeks. Honestly, I believe keeping him in the coma for a prolonged period will be the most comfortable for Rude and give him the best chances of a full recovery. Honestly, we couldn't wish for better results than these. He was clinically dead when we got there."

"Thank you, Nora." Elena breathed.

"You kidding," The doctor swept her long dark hair back over her shoulder and flashed Elena a tired smile, "I was not going to let him die. You know how long it took him to ask me out on a date?" Elena laughed and hugged her.

"Thank you Dr. Jones." Tseng shook her hand and she returned to her comatose boyfriend. Tseng turned back to Elena. "Well, there you have it. Two miracles in one day."

"Yeah. We better go tell Reno the news."

"Elena. Just let me talk to him, okay? It's been a month. We haven't yet assessed his mental state."

"What do you mean?"

"Just let me do the talking. I want to keep things as calm as possible for him."

"Yes sir."

"Talk to him? You have to be kidding me. He's still in surgery."

"Surgery?" Elena exclaimed. Reno had passed out on the way back home. Rufus had met them and followed after Reno and they'd stuck with Rude.

"He had shrapnel lodged in one eye." The attending nurse explained. "If he ever wants to see from that side again, he needed immediate surgery."

Elena covered her mouth. The nurse returned inside the operating room. Tseng looked around until he spotted who he was looking for.

"Sir."

"Tseng, you really shouldn't be standing on that leg."

"I'll be fine." He moved next to Rufus and stared through the glass into the operating room. "How long have they been at it?"

"An hour or so. He had some other wounds they were examining at first. It was difficult to tell what was worst. What is the news on Rude?"

"He's going to make it. Long recovery."

Rufus just nodded. "Well then, keep me updated. And take care of that leg."

"Yes sir." Rufus strode away down the hall. Elena took his spot at the window.

"I think he was actually worried about Reno."

"The President may not show his affections, but it does not mean he does not have them."

"Yes sir."

Four weeks earlier.

"It's a set-up." Tseng breathed, when he pushed open the door of the warehouse. Reno pulled his gun and turned just in time. He felt the bullet hit just inches from him, but he stood calmly and fired. There must have been a sniper though, because a shot seemed to come out of no where and Tseng hit the floor.

"Boss!" Reno heard Rude cry but he knew his partner would take care of Tseng.

"Get him back, Rude." Reno ordered, he was now in charge. He couldn't see where Tseng had been hit but it looked bad. "Elena, you and I will give them cover."

"Reno, we're pinned down." She hissed back. "The only place to go is in that warehouse and who knows what is waiting in there?"

"Shit." He swore, "then where the Hell is that sniper?" they crouched behind the door. Rude held onto to Tseng and covered their backs. Elena was right, there had to be an ambush inside. But outside was certain death unless they got that sniper.

"How is Tseng?"

"Bad, they got his leg."

"Is he conscious?"

"No."

"Sh-"

Splinters flew everywhere as a bullet blew threw the door. Elena screamed and collapsed next to him. Reno didn't turn to help though, it was his only chance: he traced the line of sight back and caught the slightest movement in a distant building. He fired. Far away a body fell off it's perch several stories up.

"It's clear, let's go." He grabbed Elena, unable to be gentle. She was still conscious and ran as well as she could next to him. Rude was carrying Tseng. The car was close.

"Okay, get in." Reno threw the door open wide and started to push Elena inside.

"Reno." Rude heard it first. It started off slow but built rapidly: a high-pitched beeping, just barely audible. At once he started pulling Elena back out.

"Run!"

The explosion of the car sent them flat. Reno rolled onto Elena to cover her from the shrapnel. Something hit his leg. It burned deep, he pulled it out without even looking and hauled Elena up. The world was spinning. He felt the hot rush of blood on his forehead and coming from his ears. They'd been close to the blast- the shock wave of it still felt like it was reverberating through his skull and the world seemed oddly silent. He scanned around for Rude and Tseng but didn't see them.

Then he caught the glimpse of movement from the warehouse and he was moving. Elena was barely conscious now, she was covered in blood, all coming from her arm. The bullet hole was huge, it must have shattered her bone as well. But she kept moving despite the agony it must have been causing.

He felt, more than heard, the gun fire erupting. Bullets bounced off the broken pavement all around them and it occurred to Reno that the shooters were aiming low, trying to catch their legs. And this made him speed up even more. They were not shooting to kill, they were trying to capture. And a captured Turk only ever meant one thing.

"Come on, Elena." he pulled them inside the first building he found. Slum apartments, but they seemed to be abandoned. They made it up a few stories before she began to collapse. He pulled her into a bedroom and eased her onto the mattress on the floor. He pulled his jacket off and tied it tightly around her arm. He realized just how much blood she had lost. Her lips were deathly pale and her head lolled to the side. Reno glanced around the room. They'd already left too much evidence of their presence here. He picked her up and held her in his arms. He kneed past the door and continued up the stairs a few more flights. He ran down the hall until he found an open door and pushed inside. In a quick sweep of the room, he spotted what he was looking for.

"I'm sorry Elena, but this is our best chance." He lay her in the corner of the room next to a pile of blankets. "Don't move or make a sound until you know it's clear. Then call HQ for help." He began layering the blankets over her.

"Reno don't..."

"I have to try to draw them away, it's our only shot."

"Then you run and don't stop."

"Of course. They won't catch me, I promise." he winked at her and covered her face. And then he was running. He had to move before they found his location.

He started to run back down the stairs. He was on the other side of the building now but they'd expected that so he was forced to run back into one of the floors when he heard them thundering up the stairs below him.

"There he is!" he heard a voice and ran straight into the next room. He could hear them behind him, there was little choice, he saw the window, covered his face, and jumped.

Glass rained down around him and he struck the ground hard. He must have been up four or five flights. For a moment Reno wasn't sure he could get up, but when he heard shouting again, he found his strength and pushed himself up. Sharp pain ran through his chest, he must have cracked a few ribs and his knee screamed at him, but he ran. Even like this, he was faster than most.

He had gone several blocks before he ducked behind a dumpster to catch his breath and strategize. It was strange, he hadn't seen another soul, it was like this whole district was abandoned.

"Who are these guys?" he asked himself as he reached for his mobile. The screen was cracked from his fall but the buttons still lit up and he punched in Rude's number.

"Come on, buddy, be alive." He got no answer. "Shit." He punched in Shinra. Someone answered immediately.

"Reno."

"Rufus?"

"Rude just called for extraction. Where are you?"

"Three blocks south of the meeting place, but Elena is back in an apartment building thirty feet from the site. She was too hurt to keep moving, I'm trying to draw them off her position."

"Rude went the opposite way. He thinks they're clear, they must have followed you."

"Good."

"Reno, keep moving south, I'm sending SOLDIER now."

"Thanks, boss."

He stood up and groaned in pain.

"You're hurt."

"Fell out of a building, I'll be fine"

"Move, now Reno, you need to keep the distance between you and these people."

Reno obeyed, keeping his cell up to one ear as he moved. "Who are they?"

"We don't know, but from what Rude described they are smart and well equipped. Do not get caught."

"I won't"

"Good, stay on the line and don't stop running."

Reno didn't turn off his phone but he shoved it in his pocket so he was more mobile. He vaulted over a fence and felt his knee give. He hit the ground, heaving, but got back up and kept going. Ahead he could hear people, the busy busting underground world he was used to, not this strange abandoned section void of life. If he could get there, he could blend into the crowds, disappear.

He dashed into a side alley for more cover. It was very narrow. He heard shouting behind and decided to scale the wall. Planting one foot on each brick wall, he shimmied up rather easily and slid in the first window. This building had been lived in more recently, the smell of human excrement and spoilt food was strong. Man, these people had it rough.

He heard the startled cry when the ally was found empty. They were closer to him than he thought.

"How's that exit looking?" Reno asked when he put the phone back to his ear. He found a ladder to another floor and moved up.

"Reinforcements are on the ground near central Midgar. Your cell signal is weak, but it looks like you're about a mile away from them. Can you make it?"

"I'm in a building. They're outside the alley. If I get to the roof I can probably hop buildings until I find a clear street."

"Go."

He didn't need Rufus to tell him. He could hear them inside the building now. It was so run-down- stairs were rotted away and some places only had ladders. He felt his ribs groaning inside him as he clambered higher and higher but he couldn't stop. His white shirt was soaked through with sweat and streaked crimson from Elena's blood. He prayed no one had stayed behind in that building to search for her. At least Shinra knew where to find her now.

He came to a boarded up door and threw his shoulder into it. He ended up on the floor, the boards were thicker than he'd thought. He rubbed his shoulder and stood again but a fit of coughing stopped him. He leaned against the wall gagging, tasting the copper in the back of his throat.

"What's wrong, Reno?" He heard the voice in his pocket but he couldn't answer right away. He needed a way out of here. He pulled out his gun and once the coughing fit passed, he moved back down a level, careful not to make much noise.

"Reno!"

"Shh," he whispered to his pocket, hoping the president could hear. It seemed he did, and Reno was lucky. He could hear the quick breaths of someone just around the corner, someone taking each step with care just in case Reno was doing exactly what he was doing right now.

The first one rounded the corner. They were so close their blood sprayed back in his face when Reno fired. He recoiled from the mess but there was another right behind. This one got a shot off but Reno was still quicker. He knocked the man's gun away and shot him point blank. He had no time for mercy.

The others would hear the gunfire, he had to get out and he found himself running straight at another window. This time, however, there was a much easier place to land. The roof of the next building was nearly on level with this floor. He threw the window open and launched himself onto the ledge. He only stumbled slightly and then he was running.

"Rufus," He panted into the phone when he pulled it back up to his ear. "I'm on the roof tops. It looks like I'm clear for at least a dozen. That should give me a good lead."

"Okay. SOLDIER is closing in on your position."

"Good." Reno sailed over another gap with ease. He thanked whoever had made these buildings because it was as if they were for him. He jumped another one and another. He was at least eight buildings down now and he couldn't even see the people chasing.

"Rufus, how close are the-"

He had been moving so fast, he jumped over the next gap, and it wasn't until he was in the air that he saw the figure move out from behind a chimney.

They had gotten ahead of him, they were waiting.

He saw only one man. He had a night stick and he just waited for Reno to get in range. The impact was brutally harsh. The man swung hard to meet Reno's momentum. He couldn't do much, he tried to grab the stick, soften the impact, but it did no good. The stick slammed past his fingers, breaking his thumb, and drove into his stomach. The pain was so unreal and all he saw was black. He slammed onto his back and couldn't breath. Somewhere distant he could here Rufus's voice. He felt the presence above him, but he could not move. When he could finally breath again his body lurched and the air seemed to have to fight it's way in and past the blood he was trying to cough out. Between his ribs and his stomach he could neither cough what needed to get out or breath what needed to come in. He thought he was going to die.

"Geeze, what did you do to him?" Reno tried to take in who was there, but the blackness on the edge of his vision kept creeping in further. "I think you killed him, and he was the last one."

"Well do something then."

The other guy grunted and Reno felt himself rolled to one side. Some of the blood that had pooled at the back of his throat spilled out, an alarming amount it seemed because the man bracing his body swore. Reno heard more feet on the roof. He was getting more and more outnumbered but the pain wasn't going away and his breathing was getting worse.

"What's the situation?" This voice was firm, commanding. Reno couldn't see the speaker but he was clearly the leader.

"Adler got him, but maybe a little too good." Someone answered.

"Roll him over." Reno was rolled to his back again. He still could barely see but a face loomed over him.

"You've collapsed his lung." The speaker looked Reno over. "This is the second in command of the Turks." There was a slight reaction to this; Reno heard someone mutter he was too young. "He'll be valuable if he survives. Get the doc up here right now."

Someone braced his head back to try to open up his air way a little more and he felt other hands pull his shirt open. They were going to save him just so they could torture him. He knew the drill, even if these people were a mystery themselves. Surely Rufus must have heard what happened, surely SOLDIER were nearly here by now.

"Hold him down," a new voice spoke, Reno glimpsed a figure with a bag kneel next to him. Something cold ran across his chest, hands tightened around his shoulders and hips and the doctor pressed down firmly on his chest. "1-2-3-"

Reno's whole body went rigid in the men's grasp— he'd just been stabbed. Whatever it was drove deep down inside him. Why had they brought a doctor just to kill him? He wondered before a sudden rush of oxygen hit him and a painful yet relieving sensation spread through his chest. A scream finally escaped him but then he just let his body go limp and concentrated on breathing.

"Don't move him yet, I need to stabilize the shunt but his lung re-inflated. He should be fine until I can get him to the facility."

The doctor began wrapping around the shunt in his chest. Finally Reno could see a bit more clearly. He was ringed by men in black combat uniforms. Above him was the doctor and hovering over him was a man in a sharp clean, charcoal grey suit. His hair was perfectly coiffed, a neat and closely kept beard adorned his face. He could give Rufus Shinra a run for him money in terms of style, but he had a hard edge to him, military-like. He was not some prince- this man had fought his way through blood and bone to get to the top. His eyes were hard, a deep grey, cold. A long scar ran through one cheek. He watched Reno like a predator his prey. Reno was afraid.

"Incoming!" The rooftop shook. Red flakes of brick and chunks of mortar flew everywhere. Something big had struck them.

"Shinra." Reno whispered out in desperate hope. Another strike, the chimney was shattered. SOLDIER. They were trying to clear their way in with heavy artillery. Gone were the days of the swordsmen who could have swept this roof clear in mere seconds with their deadly blades.

Gunfire erupted in every direction. The doctor flattened beside him. The men around them were crouching, running, ducking for cover. SOLDIER had the roof ahead of them, and these people had the one behind. And here, in the centre of it all, Reno lay in no man's land, unable to stand in case he got caught in the crossfire.

But he only had these seconds before someone remembered him, before the bossman grabbed him or the doctor dragged him away. He looked at the thing protruding from his chest. He couldn't jostle that. It seemed secure but if he hit that, he was sure he'd be dead. He rolled onto his side and dug his feet into the ground and pushed forward. He was half crawling, half dragging himself but it was as high as he dared go with bullets flying everywhere. He knew his destination. There was a stairwell entrance, where the men had come from. If he could get there, he'd be safe from the gunfire and he could get down to street level where SOLDIER must have had cover. In his journey his hand struck something and he realized it was his phone but in this position he couldn't hold it to his ear so he just grabbed it and kept going.

It seemed to take forever, but eventually he got to the door and drug himself into the landing.

"Good, saves me going out there to get you."

Reno stared up at the man above him. It was the same one who had struck him with the nightstick—Alder, the other man had called him. He grabbed Reno's collar and hauled him the rest of the way in and then he pointed his gun out the door. It was only a few seconds before the first SOLDIER appeared.

Reno took his opportunity. Alder fired. He couldn't see the soldier anymore, but the man above him was not looking his way so he raised his foot and kicked out at the back of his knee. Alder's second shot went wild and then he jolted back onto the floor, grasping his shoulder.

"Dammit!" He cried and saw Reno struggling to his feet. "You little asshole." Reno looked back to the roof. The SOLDIER was down, even his enhancements couldn't predict all those bullets. So Reno ran. He just barely escaped the reach of the enraged man on the floor and stumbled down the steps. He was in so much pain, it must have been a rib that punctured his lung and for all he knew he would kill himself by moving like this but he wasn't going to wait and see who won upstairs. He collapsed to his knees on a landing. He took a second to breath and pulled his phone out.

"Ru..fus.."

"RENO!" He shut his eyes in relief at hearing the President's voice. He didn't feel quite so alone in all of this knowing Rufus was at the other end of the phone. "Are you with SOLDIER?"

"Almost. Just gotta get down stairs." He pulled himself up again but his body was less willing to move. He leaned against the railing and let his shoulder slide against the wall while his feet propelled his body forward. "They want to take me away, Rufus. To a facility or something. They know who I am."

"Just get yourself out of there, Reno."

"So hard to breath.."

"RENO snap out of it. Keep moving."

He nodded, even though Rufus couldn't see him nod.

"Faster." his boss commanded as if he could see him. He must have been able to hear the slow stomp of his feet. He picked up his pace again, reminding himself what awaited if he got caught.

"Okay, I'm going."

"Not good enough, move, Turk."

"Yes sir." Reno was just about jogging now. But he was only managing to get air about every second breath. Each step became a little more precarious, he was starting to lose his balance. But then he saw the exit.

"Nearly there."

The sound of the shot shocked him more than the pain at first. His phone cracked against the rough boarded floor and he fell back against the wall. He looked down at his arm. It was clean though on the outside of his bicep, pretty minor on a normal day for a Turk, but with all his other injuries it was the straw to break the camel's back. He collapsed, blood coursing down his arm, his vision spotting. The man in the charcoal suit took each step calmly, watching Reno trembling in utter exhaustion and pain. He bent and picked up the phone.

"Mr. Shinra."

"Who is this?"

"I have your Turk."

Reno could hear Rufus speaking but Charcoal lowered the mobile and looked at Reno.

"I saved your life up there. Now, it is mine." His hand closed over his ankle and he began walking down the stairs. Reno braced himself and couldn't help cry out as his back scrapped over the steps and his head hit each one on the way down. When they were at the bottom and he was blinking back tears to try and see, the hand clamped around his bullet wound. He understood, it was all for Rufus's benefit. He tried to hold back but cruel hands wouldn't let up until he cried out. His breathing was becoming ragged now, desperate. He was beat to hell, things were starting to shut down. But if he lost consciousness, who knew where he would wake up. Charcoal got one more scream out of him before raising the phone again.

"I'll be in touch."

He snapped the phone shut and dropped it on the ground. The door to the outside opened again, someone was helping the doctor in, it seemed he hadn't gotten off the roof unscathed.

"Put him to sleep." The boss ordered. "And make sure he survives the trip home. He's picked up a couple of new injuries." Charcoal turned and left. A needle slid under Reno's skin and as much as he fought it, the darkness came. They had him.

Wow, thanks for the positive response to this story! I've been hanging on to it for a while along with one of my Bleach stories because I thought both of them were pretty dark but you have to take risks as an author so why not give it a try on ? Anyway, I am pretty satisfied with this story and it is without a doubt my favourite of the three FFVII fics I have posted so I hope it does the trick for you too! I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing at the beginning where you find out Rude is still alive, Nora is an OC of mine, Rude's girlfriend, a random inspiration but I love her so I hope you will too as she appears throughout this fic.

Thank you SOOO MUCH for reading and reviewing,

Sincerely,

Riza. A. Winters