Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix.
A/n: I can't believe how long it's been since I updated this story, I feel really awful about that. But anyway, I have the flu, so I'm not going much of anywhere. Lots of time to finish up this story now. Well, here's the newest chapter, sorry it's so late, and I really hope you like it. Please review!
Chapter Seven: Halfway.
Reno stood poised in the large window overlooking the ocean. A red light flashed about his head, and as the female voice came over the intercom to announce the state of emergency Junon was in he sighed. Time to get to work.
The door flew open and Elena stood there, breathless with her gun drawn.
"Reno! What are you doing? Avalanche is attacking! Get your ass out there!" She brushed her short hair from her face and fumed at him.
He gave her a playful smile and whipped out his nightstick. "A direct attack, huh? Any idea what they're hoping to accomplish?"
She seemed taken aback by his calm tone, but shook it off and glared at him. "I have no idea, but it's kind of an emergency. So anytime you decide to go ahead and do your job, that would be great."
He could tell she wanted to shoot him, but there was a deafening boom and several soldiers ran by the opened door. Elena eyed him once again before stepping back into the hall and dashing after them.
Reno hesitated for a moment, contemplating what to do. The attack seemed to be coming from the east side of the city, drawing attention away from the laboratories. Cloud didn't trust him, he was giving them an option to complete the mission without his help. And he was severely underestimating how well Yuffie would be guarded.
No one seemed to notice as he ran in the complete wrong direction. He shoved past groups of surprised soldiers and dashed down corridors. He threw open the door to the stairs, deciding that using the elevator could be a really bad idea.
He jogged up several floors until he found the door he was looking for, throwing it open and startling several confused scientists as they waited for the elevator. he paused for a moment, looking back over his shoulder at a frightened young woman. She yelped in surprise as he snatched the security pass from around her neck, snapping the thin chain and quickly turning to continue down the hall. The hallway branched out in several places, and he started jogging again trying to find the right door.
Reno turned a corner and up ahead he could see two soldiers guarding the entrance to one of the labs. He tightened his grip on the nightstick and slowed his pace as he approached them.
"We need to see some ID." The guard on the left stated cautiously, eyeing the weapon in his hand.
"You know who I am." Reno growled threateningly. He moved forward to swipe the card in the lock when the guard on the right grabbed his arm.
"We still need to see some ID, not even Turks have clearance into this lab." He said solidly. Reno scowled at the annoying setback, his foot shooting out to catch the soldier in the chest and send him reeling backwards.
The other soldier cried out in alarm and was quickly silenced when the nightstick connected with the side of his head. Reno quickly swiped the security card and the door slid open.
No one had noticed the attack on the guards yet, and he hurried down another long corridor, coming out at the top of a short stair case overlooking a vast lab. Several flustered assistants rushed back and forth, trying to finish up before evacuating the lab. They barely took notice of Reno as he walked across the room. There was a sealed door nearby with a security lock. A thin window at eye level revealed a short hallway on the other side, with four doors on each side.
He paused to see if anyone was going to try and stop him. A very nervous young woman bit her lip as she glanced over at him, but seemed to decide that evacuating the building was more important. Swiping the card he had taken earlier, the door beeped and clicked as the doorknob unlocked, letting him slowly push the door open and slide inside.
He hurried along the new hallway, checking the window in each door before finally stopping at the sixth one. Yuffie was inside, huddled up against the wall. She looked cold, the only protection from the harsh walls and floor of her cell a small white tunic. Another slide of the card and the door unlocked. He watched her carefully as he opened the door, but she didn't seem to know he was there.
Several steps into the small room and he kneeled down at her side, lifting up her chin in his hand an peering into her blank grey eyes. He called her name softly, but she didn't even blink.
Reno let out a loud curse and pulled her to her feet. She swayed slightly and dug her fingers into his shirt, resting her head on his chest miserably. He slid his coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders before hoisting her into his arms and walking back into the hall.
The lights were flickering when he reached the main hallway, and he glanced around at the scattered people rushing towards the emergency exit. Whatever Avalanche had attacked, apparently it was vital.
Kicking open the door to the stairs, he ran down them three at a time. Yuffie let out a choked groan and he tightened his grip on her thin shoulders, pausing to lean over the railing, only to see soldiers far below them rushing upwards. The faint sounds of shouting echoed up to them, and Reno cursed again and looked around for another exit. There was a door several floors down, and he dashed down the stairs and kicked it open.
From there it only took another ten minutes of weaving down hallways and staircases to reach a side door leading out into an alley cutting through the buildings. Wind whipped past them through the opening, and Reno pulled the young ninja closer as he checked up and down the alley to make sure no one was around.
"Reno…" Yuffie's weakened voice nearly started him and he quickly pulled her up to see her face.
"Yuffie! Can you hear me?" Her eyes weren't focusing, and she seemed to pass out moments later, going completely limp in his arms.
He didn't waste any time, running down the alley, he peered around the corner to see soldiers rushing down the street. Something exploded not far out of his sight and he ducked back around the corner, sliding down against the wall to rest Yuffie in his lap.
He waited several minutes to make sure the soldiers were occupied and stood up again, cradling the thin girl in his arms. No one was in sight when he stepped out from the shadow of the building and started walking away from all the commotion. There was another explosion and he winced, turning to see smoke begin billowing from one of the higher floors. The sound of engines reached his ears and he looked up to see the Highwind appear overhead.
Reno kneeled down, bracing Yuffie as he used one hand to find his phone. It only rang once before it was picked up.
"Reno?" Cloud sounded extremely stressed.
"I have Yuffie, we're right under you." He glanced down the street to see a swarm of soldiers emerge from the building, most of them collapsing on the pavement soon afterward.
"Can you get her up the ladder?" Cloud seemed a bit more interested now and Reno looked up to see the Highwind descending very carefully.
"Yea, just hurry up before someone picks a fight." He clicked his phone off and shoved it in his pocket, hoisting the ninja over his shoulder as the ladder hit the street in front of him.
There was shouting down the street and he knew someone had noticed. He dashed forward, jumping up onto the ladder and pulling himself up. Yuffie seemed quite a bit heavier with only one arm to climb with, and he strained to pull them up faster as the Highwind started to take off again.
Gunshots began echoing off the buildings around them and he turned to look down at the soldiers far below him. Someone shouted an order and another barrage of bullets barely missed him as he rushed to haul the ninja up to the ship.
He felt the ladder move and looked up to see Cloud and Barret pulling it up. There was a shout from below and he glanced back. Rude and Elena were standing there in disbelief, staring up at him. Elena called his name, and he paused to wave sweetly to her. She looked over at Rude for a moment and looked back up at him, breathing out a curse an aiming her gun.
There were three gunshots and Reno gritted his teeth in pain, pulling a knee up a step to help hold on to Yuffie as his arm gave out. They were almost to the ship, and as they reached the railing Cloud reached out and grabbed him, a look of concern crossing his face when he noticed the blood streaming down Reno's arm.
Barret took Yuffie and set her on the floor, leaning down to see if she was breathing as Cloud called for help.
"That fuckin' bitch shot me!" Reno yelled, puling his shirt off to see how bad it was.
"It's only grazed, you'll be fine." He looked up to see Cid looming over him with a first aid kit.
Reno sighed and accepted a wet cloth Cloud offered him, holding it against the wound. "Wasn't that distraction kind of overkill?" Cloud turned away from him and disappeared through the doorway.
"I believe Cloud was thinking more along the lines of revenge." Reno's gaze snapped over to see Vincent leaned over the unconscious ninja.
Reno scooted over to check on her. "I think she's just sedated, she should wake up in a few hours."
He watched as Barret kneeled down to pick her up, looking down at her sadly before turning to take her into the ship.
"Why did you do that?" Vincent asked suddenly. Reno looked over at him in slight confusion.
"What do you mean?" He asked blankly. "Shin-ra took it too far this time-"
"Risking your life to save Yuffie would have been irrelevant to exposing Shin-ra. All you needed to do was tell us where the files were in the Shin-ra headquarters. There is some underlying reason which you are not telling us." It was the most outspoken he had ever seen Vincent, and he crossed his arms almost threateningly as he stared down at the now ex Turk.
Reno wasn't sure what to say, he hadn't even considered leaving Yuffie there like that.
"Look, I don't want anything from you, it just didn't seem right to leave her there after she helped me out of the city. Maybe I just wanted an excuse to get away from Shin-ra, I don't know." He didn't like the way Vincent was staring at him, so he busied himself with wrapping bandages around his injured bicep.
"Turks are not trained to work for charity. I wasted many years being taught to depend on those I was to protect. Perhaps you are simply unsure of who you are supposed to be protecting." His cryptic tone was starting to make him nervous, and he pushed himself up to his feet.
"Maybe I was just really bad at being a Turk." he said bitterly, locking eyes with the vampiric man.
Vincent nodded knowingly. "For your sake, let us hope that is the case." He turned and walked smoothly into the ship, leaving Reno to think.
xXx
Yuffie slowly opened her eyes, staring around her in shock. The white walls of the small room were nearly blinding in the morning light, and she threw herself from the bed in panic. Her bare feet hit the cold metal floor and she shrieked, leaping back onto the bed and wrapping her arms around herself as she tried to calm down.
She looked around her again, finally realizing where she was and relaxing against the wall. Creeping forward, she found a small stack of clothing on the floor and sorted through it. It was mostly old clothing that she left on the airship just in case, complete with an old pair of boots that were more than slightly worn.
"Lovely, hand-me-downs to myself…" She muttered, settling on her old tan pair of shorts and a soft green shirt with sleeves to her elbows. She hurried to the door and tossed it open, already feeling queasy from the gentle movements of the floor beneath her feet.
She rushed down the hall and across the hold to the exit, not even hesitating as she threw open the door and burst out into the fresh morning air.
"You're awake."
She stared out across the deck in surprise, the red headed man looking over his shoulder at her as he leaned on the railing.
"Reno.. What are you doing here?" She stepped forward awkwardly, glancing around to see if anyone else was out there with him.
"Cloud let me join your little club, considering I got shot breaking you out of the Junon Shin-ra base." He pointed at his bandaged arm for emphasis as she eyed him carefully.
"You broke into the lab and whisked me away to safety?" She stared up at him seriously for a moment before bursting into laughter. "That's insane, you're joking, right?" She stopped laughing when she noticed the angry look on his face as he turned away from her.
"Oh Leviathan, you didn't really, did you?" She stepped closer to peer up into his face when he didn't answer.
He turned and gave her a grin, pulling the security pass from his pocket and flashing it in her face. "I've been kicked out of bars that were harder to get into." Yuffie paled for a moment.
"Why would you do that? I thought you hated me." She blurted out, stepping forward to grip the railing beside him.
"There's a lot of other people that I hate a lot more." He admitted, smiling as he stared out across the mountains below.
Yuffie felt herself blush, biting her lip for a moment as she thought about it. Leaning over his arm, she kissed his cheek and jumped back.
"Well, I gotta go, um.. talk to people." She said quickly, slipping through the door as he turned to look at her.
End of Chapter Seven
Sorry if it sucked, I've been in a writing slump lately…And I'm going to start working on the next chapter right now.