AWAKEN
Chapter 3– Clip-Clop…
*Pairing: Reno/Tifa, Reno/Elena, Tseng/Elena, Tseng/Rhodes,
Rude/Cyr
*Rating: T
*Disclaimer: I do not claim
to own any of the characters from all FFVII films, RPG's etc. I
claim no hold over characters and locations.
*Summery:
Meeting with the enemy, Reno gets himself and Tifa into a very
awkward postion.
* EDGE * SEVENTH HEAVEN * MAIN BAR *
*
31st July 1998 * 00:47 *
Reno was sat in his 'usual seat' at the opposite end of the bar to Jimmy, hidden in a corner. The day Reno arrived there he had been punched in the face by Tifa… twice.
"What the hell do you want?!" she asked
"A drink?!"
"You're
not welcome here! Get out!"
"C'mon can't a guy not get a
drink?!"
"A guy can. You can't" Tifa had moved around to
the front of the bar, brushing passed Jimmy and lowering her voice to
the old man to say "I've got it under control" looking at Reno
she levelled her gaze "Just leave Turk! I don't want any
trouble!"
"Then why don't you just get me a drink then?"
Reno asked, with a surprised look of contempt on Tifa's face she
swung out and hit him in his cheek, Reno's hand came up and grabbed
her other fist "Look sweetheart I'm not here to course
trouble!"
"And I'm meant to trust you why?! You destroyed my
bar. Killed friends of mine and you want to drink in my bar?!" Tifa
laughed pure venom. Reno knew the whole sector 7 thing was going to
bite him on the ass.
"What do you want me to say? Do you want
me to give you a meaningless apology for following orders?! How many
innocent Shinra workers were killed when AVALANCHE blew up the
reactors? I'm not justifying it…" Tifa's eyes were wide, she
pulled her fist free of Reno's grasp.
"Please… Just go!"
with that Reno nodded and left. Over the following couple of weeks
he'd come in tried to make idle chit-chat to no alas, so he stuck
to making sarcastic and flirtatious comments at Tifa's expense.
Tifa kept glancing over at Reno, trying to find away to thank him for what he did on Wednesday, although he'd trashed the bar he'd also given her an amazingly large tip, his way of paying for it
She was closing in a few minutes and the Turk hadn't yet drank up. She'd called last orders at quarter to one and most of the punters had left. The fact she didn't seem to be pushing him along made him suspicious. Elena and Rude had gain information from their location's about FIRE STORM, but Reno was still drawing a blank; The only information he'd been able to dig up was that Maia Hype had come in one day had a drink with a couple of unidentified people and left, she'd been spotted at Elena's gym and Rude's sector 5 bar, Maia Hype had noticed Reno at the beginning and them seemed to ignore ever having noticed the redhead. Reno was being pressured to spill information that he didn't know! Tseng knew that it would be difficult gaining information from this particular location, but Rufus didn't have the same understanding. In the past week there had been several terrorist demonstrations, an account of hacking into the Shinra HQ computer mainframe, a bombing at Junon and several other incidences. The pressure was building up.
"So…" Tifa said pulling Reno back to reality, he looked around at the empty bar "…You going to tell me why you've been in here for the last couple of weeks?" her face was hard and eyes bright and piercing.
"Sorry?" Reno asked, hating this part, the explanation, he hadn't expected to be here after closing though. He looked just above her eyes, giving the illusion he was looking straight at her.
"You heard me Reno. You Turk's have you regular hang out spots. You stick together. You don't come to a former AVALANCHE members bar just for a drink." Tifa lifted an eyebrow and Reno smiled, it was time to pull out his cheeky charm.
"And what doesn't a Turk come to an ex-AVALANCHE's bar for?!" he asked leaning in. Tifa didn't expect that but held her ground, she lent forward so her mouth was right next to his ear
"Information" She half whispered. Reno laughed and Tifa pulled back.
"You think if Shinra wanted information they'd be stupid enough to just send me to storm the castle? So obviously?" Reno threw his drink back and slammed down the glass hard against the bar.
"Uh-huh… so I'm wrong?... Hmm" Tifa didn't seem thrown off she just walked around the bar and started flipping chairs onto the table tops. Reno could see… she knew something. "… What's the name of your Pal's? Rude and Elena?..." Reno gave her a straight gaze, she wasn't looking at him
"Yea, why?" he asked keeping his voice steady and unfazed
"Oh nothing…" Tifa looked up at the clock and back down at Reno "… Its way passed closing, I think you'd better go" Reno nodded and stood up
"No problem Lockhart" He walked over to her with his jacket thrown over his shoulder "Sure you don't want some help?" he asked in very close proximity
"Help? I'm fine. I've closed up this bar all by myself fine before you got here" she said moving passed his towering lean body. Before she could turn back around to make a clever remark he'd gone, silently out into the cold night beyond the doors.
* UPPER MIDGAR * SHINRA HQ * FLOOR 66 * CONFERENCE ROOM
*
* 1st August 1998 *
08:47 *
Reno burst into the conference room, he was met by Rude, Elena, Cyr
and Rosalind pulling out their weapons and pointing them at him.
Tseng's back was facing Reno.
"Sit down Reno!" Tseng said
shaking his head, the others all placed their weapons away.
"Sorry I'm late guys…" he walked over to his seat and sat down
"As I was saying…" Tseng looked at Reno with a cold glare "… From the information Rude and Elena picked up it seems Miss Maia Hype is quiet a character, she seems to be the connection to AVALANCHE we were looking for, Seems her father was a founding member of AVALANCHE, and also that she in turn is a founding member of operation INCENDIA TEMPESTAS aka FIRE STORM."
"I thought that was Tara Rayne?" Elena piped up
"Tara is the noted leader, Maia seems to be a silent partner, not the face to the organisation. Her brief appearance at Seventh Heaven is not a surprise, From what Cyr has told me there have been many spotting's of her around the Edge." Tseng shifted his stance looking around at his team "Interception of conversations has presented that Tifa Lockhart is in someway connected to FIRE STORM-"
"How?" Reno asked looking interested and a little to surprised.
"A phone call on a scrambled line was intercepted by Rosalind, the information from the call was sketchy but she was given information from an unknown source."
"Arh… well that might explain the confrontation last night." Reno said scratching his head and looking up at Tseng "After hours Lockhart asked me why I'd been there, and asked about Rude and Lena." Reno looked at them both in turn.
*
EDGE * SEVENTH HEAVEN * MAIN BAR *
* 1st
August 1998 * 23:32 *"Usual?" Tifa asked Reno
with a dryness in her voice, Reno nodded in response keeping his head
down, Tifa poured his drink and placed it down in front of him.
"Didn't expect you in here today." Tifa said keeping her eyes
in a steady gaze. Reno was about to open her mouth when he saw a
familiar face out of the corner of his eye 'Tara Rayne' he
said in his head identifying the petit brunette from her profile mug
shot. Clip-Clop, Clip-Clop she stopped at the bar. Reno
realised that Tifa was still looking at him and he gulped snapping
back to fix her gaze.
"And why would that be Lockhart?" he said quickly shooting her a cheeky smile to divert her attention from his drawn out pause. "Did you miss me?" He could see Miss Rayne position herself within earshot of the conversation just down the bar. Tifa gave Reno a fake coy smile and turned away to greet the new customer.
"Whiskey sour on the rocks" the women told Tifa before she had any chance to ask any questions. Tifa just smiled and nodded mixing the drink to the lady's specifications. Reno looked the women up and down, as sleazy as he could make it, he knew she knew he was a Turk; That didn't mean she knew he knew she was the leader of a crazy terrorist faction. For all Rayne knew he was just cheeking her out, oblivious to any terrorist connection. She was wearing knee length red boots, black shorts and a red partially buttoned shirt. He could see a knife hidden in her boot and a gun in the back of her waist band. Her lips were painted ruby red. Tifa handed the women her drink. As she did Reno noticed there was no recognition in Tifa's eyes. Tifa turned and saw Reno looking at her. She leant into him again.
"You and your friends are up to something" she said very quietly down his ear, Reno mimicked her leaning stance and whispered back
"What makes you say that?"
"Don't take me for a fool Reno. I know something's going on… so why are you using my bar? You spying on me?" Tifa asked seriously. Reno just laughed heartily and run his hand over hers
"Maybe I just like the company sweetheart" Tifa didn't pull her hand away as quickly as he would have thought. Instead she placed her other hand on top of his and slid the other one out from under his own.
"Really?" she released his hand and walked away, Reno turn his gaze to follow her. Tara was looking at him, and she'd be joined, there were now two tall blonde men at either side of her.
* EDGE * SEVENTH HEAVEN * MAIN BAR *
*
1st August 1998 * 00:44 *Tifa
looked at her watch, holding her hand on the bell's rope, her
watched turned to quarter to one. Friday's and Saturday's were
always open later. She felt tired as she rang the bell. "C'mon
guys, nearly closing! Drink up!" It had been a quite night, most
people left before twelve. Jimmy, Reno and the brunette women with
the two blonde men were all still sat at the bar. Jimmy finished his
drink and slammed down his glass before lifting his tweed cap to
Tifa.
"Thank you darlin'" he said as he wheeled out
"See you later Jimmy!" she called after him noticing that Reno and the strange women with her cronies weren't drinking up; she felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. Was she being trapped? How could she escape? Was her bar going to get destroyed …again? The women at the end of the bar wasn't a Turk, neither of the men seemed like they were either, and Shinra didn't normally use external contractors. Tifa smiled at the four people around her bar and walked over to the register to look like she was just sorting things out. She knelt down and slipped her hand to the back of one of the shelves until she felt the leather against her skin, pulling her gloves onto her delicate hands she stood up and again smiled at the threat. She heard the door go as the last punter left leaving her alone.
* EDGE * SEVENTH HEAVEN * MAIN BAR *
*
1st August 1998 * 00:45 *
"C'mon guys, nearly closing! Drink up!" Tifa had yelled after ringing the bell behind the bar. Reno looked around at the sparse cliental dotted around the bar, checking for any unusual suspects.
The old one legged man slammed down his glass and yelled "Thank you darling"
"See you later Jimmy!" Tifa called after him. Darting his eyes around her figured he was safe from the drunks, but this woman in red was a threat. She wasn't discrete and he knew something was going down. The way Tifa kept looking at her addressed fear and uneasiness. Tifa didn't know these people. She didn't want them here. She addressed Reno with the same look. Tifa forced a smiled and bent down by her cash register, when she arose her hands were gloved, just then the last client left through the large double doors, 'Show time' Reno thought holding his hand on his EMR.
* EDGE *
SEVENTH HEAVEN * MAIN BAR *
* 1st
August 1998 * 00:58 *The door went as the last
civilian stumbled out. Tara exchanged a look between Jyko and Jako.
Before anyone had time to skip a beat Tara pulled her gun out from
her waist band in unison with J and J. The two guys held them
extended at Reno, Tara held her steady at Tifa.
Reno watched them pull out the guns and dived over the knocking Tifa to the floor, the sound of gun fire persuaded.
Tifa gasped, everything had just happened so fast. Had she been shot? What just happened? Before she could think Reno pointed his EMR into the air "Barrier!" he yelled there was a flash of bright light, the bullets slowed down as they past through the bubble now around them. He pulled Tifa behind him. She looked at the red headed Turk and saw bloody pouring through his shirt; he'd been hit, saving her. Tifa composed her self and reached back to one of the shelves, crawling over shattered glass she grabbed a potion and went to thrust it into Reno's hand.
Reno took the potion, Tifa was helping, and this was unexpected. The barrier was loosing its protection quickly. Reno looked Tifa in the eye "Stay here Lockhart!" he said sternly before diving over the bar the pointing his EMR directly into Tara's neck sending an electric current straight down her spine. She let out a piercing scream and the two side kicks swung around and pointed their guns at Reno and started shooting manically.
Tifa flipped up into the air, placing her hands on the bar and kicking her legs out knocking both of the guns from the two blonde men's hands. But the blonde man held out his other and yelled "Sleep!" Tifa's body suddenly felt heavy and her vision blurred, her body tumbled off the bar onto the hard wooden floor. Reno went to flip round when Tara hit him to the floor with another sleep spell. Everything went dark.
* THE EDGE* SHINRA HQ * FLOOR 66 * CONVERENCE ROOM
*
2nd August 1998 * 08:59 *
"… And then he tried to shoot me with me own gun! I mean C'mon!-" Elena was cut off as Tseng threw the double doors open and marched in, Rude, Rosalind and Cyr were all relieved of the abrupt interruption, but quiet un-nerved at the same time. Tseng had never been later for a meeting, and with no Reno present either they had started to worry. Reno was prone to late arrival but both of them?
"Reno's missing!" Tseng said slamming the palms of his hands down onto the table.
"What?!" Elena screeched, Tseng slumped down in his chair and looked at his comrades.
"Last night there was an incident at the Edge, Seventh Heaven. There was DNA at the scene…" Tseng paused and took a breath "Reno's blood" Tseng looked down and sighed "Both Reno and Miss Lockhart are missing; this seems to confirm our suspicions that Miss Lockhart was indeed a collaborator with FIRE STORM."
*UNKNOWN LOCATION*
* Date unknown * Time unknown
*
Reno's head pounded, that had been a mastered 'sleep' spell and god only knew how long he'd been out; he looked around the room trying to focus on anything. He quickly frisked himself to see if he still had his EMR, No luck, Wishful thinking.
The walls were dirty, this wasn't the Edge, and the building wasn't new enough. A small light flickered in the middle of the room making his head pound harder. There was no bed only a grubby toilet in the corner of the room. The floor was poured cement, rough, and no pleasantries.
Reno stood up; these were make shift cells, one door, no windows. The door had a small hole in it, bared, standard prison. Reno walked around the room, starting with the doored wall he tapped in gently. The wall was solid, only brickwork but thick. The wall to his left was denser, but not an ordinary outside wall, Reno had been in enough underground bunkers, this was most likely at the outskirts on Midgar. Reno was in an end cell, he tapped the opposite wall, and it was just the same as the doored wall that meant there was probably an adjacent cell. Reno got down onto his knees; he knocked on the wall hard, waited and tried again.
*UNKNOWN LOCATION*
* Date unknown * Time unknown
*
Tifa's eyes fluttered open, her head was pounding Bang Bang Bang… She held her head and tried to see past the haze on her vision. She led on the floor, unable to process any thoughts Bang Bang Bang… That wasn't her head imagining the repetitive tapping noise, it was someone next door. Tifa leaned against the wall and tapped back on the wall. "Hello?" she asked
"Lockhart? That you?" a familiar voice asked
"Reno?"
"Yeah. You hurt?" Tifa wrinkled her brow, surprised by his concern.
"N-no… just a bit dizzy, how about you?" she asked in reply holding her head and actually looking around the room, realising what a predicament they were actually in. "Reno?" she asked realising he had yet replied
"Yeah, I'm fine…" everything went quiet "… Lockhart, look I'm…" he paused, she could practically her him sigh though the sticky walls "… I'm sorry I've gotten you into this mess" Tifa rubbed her gloves, they hadn't taken them, probably didn't think anything of that; with equipped materia they just looked like jewel encrusted leather gloves, the shiny materia glinting around her wrists
"Reno, you saved my life"
"I was spying on you" Tifa half smiled and shook her head
"I know… I'm not an idiot" She cracked her knuckles and stretched out feeling her back crack and her muscles groan at the movement "You saved my life…"
"I ruined your bar… Again" Tifa frowned, he had ruined her bar… again, but he'd saved her life. It was strange knowing a Turk had done that.
"I know…" she said as some sort of reply
"You know?... that's all you have to say? You not gonna yell and scream?" Reno's back was pressed up against the wall in a mirror stance to Tifa's.
"And what good would that do?" she paused taking an inward breath "Reno?"
"Lockhart?" Reno replied questioningly, he was surprised how calm and collected she was being
"You know what's going on don't you…" her voice trailed off. Reno tapped his fingers against the floor; it was confidential information, delicate. Leaking information to the enemy was forbidden. Reno sighed; he owed her at least some sort of explanation.
"This is all I can tell you, and I shouldn't even be telling you this…" he took a breath "… terrorist group, the reason I was in your bar because there were suspicions of your involvement with this group an-"
"The bombings? Was that them…?" Tifa asked realising that she'd taken part in similar attacks only a year or so ago.
"I'm sorry Lockhart that's all I can tell you" Reno closed his eyes as the flickering light hurt his head, Tifa played with her gloves and turned her head to the wall pulling her legs toward her
"Reno?" her voice was lower than before, almost whispering
"Hmm?" he said turning his own face to the wall to hear her better
"They didn't take my gloves… meaning I have my materia…" Reno's eyes widened, Tifa continued "I have time all and gravity… "
"That's good!" Reno said excitedly "What levels of time to you have?" Reno asked hoping it was mastered; stop would be such a useful tool.
"Level 2, haste and slow…" Reno frowned, 'better than nothing' he thought. Just then he heard a door go from the end of what he assumed was the cell corridor. He could hear the Clip-Clop of heeled shoes accompanied by what sounded like another three sets of feet, it stopped outside his door and there was a brief ratterling of keys and a scratching against the door. He heard the lock bolt turn and the door swung open, before he had time to react he been hit by his own mastered time materia, he couldn't move.
