Back to Reno and his dad! Thank you for the reviews. Next update might be a while - this is as far as I've written - but I am going to finish this story - and for all those who asked, yes, Reno and Rufus will meet properly quite soon! Rufus may even play the piano again one day...
Chapter warnings: Everyone swears. Sorry!
Reno, Fifteen
Joe stared at Reno through wild, blood-shot eyes. "C'mon Reno," he slurred. "I'm still your fucking dad. You must have money." Reno looked down at the man huddled in a dirty blanket, leaning against the wall of a derelict building in Sector Six. He looked like all Hype addicts – shaking and skeletal. His face was still Joe, but a Joe aged twenty years.
"Not for Hype. It's killing you. I'm only here because I heard you were dead, and I wanted to check…"
"Scored some pure shit. Touch and go. But I'm still here. Sorry to disappoint you."
"That's not what…" Reno gave up. "Anyway. See you around."
"Wait!"
"What?"
"I heard about the guy – Landers was it? You killed him?"
"Lauder. Yes, I killed him." Reno's eyes were hard, but he felt weird so close to his dad. Part of him was still the scared kid he'd been when Joe still had power – when he could hurt mom. Now he was a mess and Reno wasn't afraid of him any more, but he was afraid of what Joe represented. He saw his own face in the hollow angles of his father's – the high cheekbones and slanted eyes exaggerated by Joe's gaunt frame. Reno's pale complexion had come from Marnie, but the drugs had left Joe corpse-white. Now Reno felt sick as he heard Joe's laughter. "That's…my boy. You're as much of a screw-up as I am now."
"Not now, not ever. I'm doing fine."
"Yeah – fine, kid. On the streets and wanted for murder. Even I never killed anyone."
"You! You killed mom, fucking smoking all the time in the apartment! You hurt her – you left her too weak to fight. And you left me to look after myself, and ran away to this shit! Whole life you just ran away. If you were really any kind of dad, you'd've been there when Lauder – I wouldn't've had to kill…" Reno spat on the dusty street. "I'm done." For a second the old fury blazed in Joe's tired eyes. "Don't you fucking talk to me like that, you little shit, or -" Reno looked at him, his green eyes blank. "Or what, dad? Or fucking what?" He turned to walk away, and as he did so, he noticed a flash of green light in his peripheral vision. Quick as thought, Reno grabbed his father's hand and pulled it free of the blankets. He was holding a phone! But that made no sense – he'd have sold a phone instantly for a fix. Reno looked at the automatic message his father had just sent. His heart lurched. "Who's Tseng?"
Joe shrugged. "Some guy."
"Guy who's after me?"
"Seems."
"How much did he offer you?" Joe laughed again, shrugged again. "Enough."
"Right. More than fifty?"
"Bit more. Why?"
"Was he security? A police bounty hunter?" This time Joe's laughter had a manic edge. "No such luck Reno. Fucking Shin-Ra Turk. Looks like you'll be dead before me!" Reno glanced around the alley, breathing hard. Lauder must've been important. Without a last glance at his father, Reno set off back down the alley, his heart pounding. Turks had cars – probably even helicopters. They could be here any minute. Behind him, he heard Joe's mocking laughter. "Who's running now Reno? Who's fucking running now?"
Once he was out of sight of Joe, Reno found a building with a fire escape and ran up it quickly. At the top, he climbed over an iron gate onto the roof, then doubled back until he thought he was in roughly the right place. Peering cautiously over the parapet, Reno grinned. He could see Joe three floors down and almost directly below him, talking into the phone. Reno hoped this Tseng would show – he wanted to get a look at the Turk who was following him. Reno glanced up at the metal underbelly of the plate not much more than a couple of storeys above him. No-one was coming down from there.
He ducked back down behind the parapet as he heard a car engine – a rare enough sound in the slums. The slamming of doors, and two sets of footsteps. Reno edged forward, peeped over the edge. Two men stood in front of his father – a handsome, dark haired, guy – quite young – Wutaian – and Veld! Reno recognised Veld instantly – he hadn't changed at all in the four years since the night the Turks had helped his mom. For a moment Reno was seized with the longing to call out – remind Veld about his offer – change his life. But that offer had been made to a promising student, not a killer on the run. Reno kept quiet, and listened. Veld's voice was angry: "You told us he was here!"
"He was – five minutes ago max. He saw the phone, and ran."
"Really?" The Wutaian man – Tseng, Reno supposed, spoke more softly, but there was something in his voice that made the boy shiver. "He just saw the phone? He didn't ask you about it?"
"He asked."
"And you said...?"
"Nothing, really. Only that someone was after him. Not who. Look, I've done what I said. You said a hundred gil." Tseng shook his head. "I said a hundred gil if we caught him."
"Next time, I'll keep him talking. Please, just give me the money." High on the building above Reno shook his head at his father's desperate stupidity. He wasn't really surprised when Tseng drew a gun and aimed it casually at Joe. "He got a look at the screen, didn't he?"
"Oh shit – please don't – yeah – he might've seen – please…" Reno's blood turned icy when he heard his father plead for his life. He hated Joe – but… Tseng suddenly looked up. Reno ducked down, biting back a curse. Tseng's voice was clear in the still air. "Reno? I don't know if you care or not, but I'm going to shoot him if you don't show yourself. You have until five," - the bastard didn't even pause for breath – "One, two, three, four –"
"Okay!" Reno heard himself call out. Not really believing what he was doing, he got to his feet, shakily. "Okay. Don't - don't kill him. Let him go, and I'll come down."
Veld chuckled – a weirdly warm and human sound. "Doesn't work that way, Reno. Come down, and we'll let him go."
"I…can't." Reno's fear was real, but that didn't stop him using it. "Legs…kinda gone all shaky…Don't think I can c – climb back over that g-gate…" Veld said something quiet to Tseng who shook his head. Veld gestured to Joe. "Get out of here," he said. Joe didn't need telling twice. He snatched up his blanket and limped away as fast as he could. Reno watched him go, then scanned the nearby roof tops. He needed to buy a little time to make sure Joe was safely away. Veld stood watching him. "Okay, kid. Your pa's safe. Come down."
"No, no," Reno cried, faint hysteria in his voice. "I really can't – can't move…"
"If you're fucking with us…"
"No shit…for real…"
Veld sighed. "Okay," he told Tseng, "You'll have to go up and get him. I'll watch him from here."
As soon as Reno saw the younger Turk move around to the side of the building he smiled to himself. Now he knew there was a way out. Once he was sure Tseng was too far up the fire escape to jump down quickly, Reno made his move, running for the far side of the building, away from the alley where Veld waited. Reno swung himself over the parapet, and climbed down the brick wall one storey, landing on the flat roof of a lower adjoining building. From there it was a tricky leap up to a balcony, and then an easy climb to another roof. Jumping from roof to roof, scaling walls, climbing up and down fire escapes and balconies, Reno put distance between himself and the Turks. Descending quickly, using ledges and rough brickwork, Reno dropped into a street three blocks away from the alley where Veld had been. He heard Veld shouting to Tseng, but didn't stop to listen.
Reno ran for his life. He didn't pause until he had climbed onto the roof of the security check-point linking Sector Six to Sector Five, and slipped down into familiar streets. There was an old church in Sector Five, out beyond the market, where no-one ever went. Reno made his way to it, and curled up in the stolen sleeping bag he had hidden under one of the rotting pews. Safe again, for now.
Tseng shook his head. "I knew he was bluffing."
"You did. I was wrong, I admit. But killing the father won't help anything. We want willing recruits, if possible. We'll catch Reno, in time. He's good isn't he? Fast. Clever."
"Yes. An accomplished liar too, it seems."
Veld smiled. "Perfect Turk material, then."
Thanks for reading.
