Reno led them to the secret facility. They quickly looked over the chamber with the rounded walls but the real room they needed to find was the one above. "Up here." Reno struggled up the ladder. He thought his arm might be fractured, but that pain was distant compared to what he'd just endured. All he wanted to do was to get that serum and save his friends.
"It's an amazing feeling." Cole said behind him. Reno had gotten up the ladder but was having troubling standing again. Cole put his arms under him and pulled him up. "The power in Achilles. It doesn't just heal you, it makes you so alive, so strong. But then it fades, and all you can ever think of is getting that feeling back. You never feel strong again, never feel truly alive." He propped Reno up next to the key pad. "Put in the code. And don't get it wrong."
Reno's hand was shaking but he reached out and touched the dusty keys. He had only just heard the numbers, but they had seared into his brain the moment Rufus spoke them. He put them in without hesitation. There was a slow ticking sound, as if the door was considering whether or not to open, then with a loud hiss the metal panel slid back and a cloud of ancient air blew past them.
"Good work." Cole said, dragging Reno inside with him. Behind them, a number of guards and doctors filed in. It seemed they already knew what to do, and someone opened a large case of the golden substance and began pouring it into an opening.
"The tubes lead down to the room below?" Reno asked. "And that's where it is refined?"
"Yes." Cole answered. He let go of Reno and let him lean back on a pipe. This room was small and unfinished looking, but there was a blinking console and that was where Cole was headed. He flicked a switch and began scrolling through screens and punching buttons.
"I take it there were instructions in your building?" Reno continued.
"Yes. That and the substance."
"Where did all your people come from?"
"Some were already there, poor victims just like me, forgotten in cryogenic tanks. A terrible fate, but I liberated them and they were thankful."
"Thankful enough to let you experiment on them. Make clones of them."
"Yes, thankful enough even for that. And others joined me when they learned of a power that might rival Shinra. I have liberated more than just the people in those tanks, and now I will liberate everyone Shinra has enslaved."
"By shooting women, doctors? By torturing people day after day?"
"By whatever means." He stepped back from the console with a satisfied smiled. "There, it's done."
Reno let go of his anger for a moment. "Done? You just started."
"This was only the very last step in a long process. Short, but essential to bringing out the life giving properties of Achilles."
"What is a Achilles?" Cole turned around and grabbed Reno again, heading for the door.
"It fell to our planet years ago, just like the calamity did. And just like with Jenova, Shinra found it and exploited it."
Reno was shoved off the ladder and roughly caught by a soldier below. He coughed but continued moving forward as he was pushed toward the chamber. Someone had already opened it but no one wanted to walk inside.
"Go get it."
Reno looked between Cole and the chamber.
"Wait, why are you sending me in?"
"Not all the instructions could be found. The results of a mistake could be fatal, radioactive exposure could kill us instantly, or the substance might explode when you try to force it out of the tube. It may give life, but if it takes it away first, this has all been for nothing. So go in there and extract it. And if you die, I'll know I have to start again."
Reno glared at him, but he was just as desperate to get the Achilles as Cole now that everyone he cared about was dying. "Fine. Extract it into what?"
Someone opened another case and showed a series of vials. "Fill them all."
"We don't have time, they are dying out there." Cole grabbed the case and shoved it into Reno's arms.
"Do it."
Reno said nothing more and stepped into the chamber. They shut the door behind him but there was a small glass visor through which he could still be watched. He felt it immediately, a sharp burn in his lungs. Whether the Achilles was made right or not, this room was made to contain contamination. Reno looked up above him. Vents. They were probably supposed to air this room out before entering. He coughed hard and nearly dropped the case. This was not going to be easy. He made gesture back at Cole to the vents but the man didn't care, he just wanted what he wanted so Reno didn't waste any more time trying.
The room was sweltering hot, he wondered how much energy it had taken to refine it. He stared at the tube. It was full of the glowing gold liquid. It was almost beautiful.
"There should be hose. And a tray for the vials." Cole's voice came over an intercom, startling Reno. He decided to set the case down before he broke it. He found the hose attached to the tube. It narrowed into a needle that would easily puncture the rubber skin sealing each vial and make the transfer practically air tight. He arranged a set of vials and began. He placed the needle carefully in the first and pressed the trigger on the hose.
The room didn't explode, the liquid swirled into the vial so fast Reno had to stop almost the second he started. He was able to quickly move on to the next. He finished a set of four vials in less than a minute. But by then he was coughing worse. He had to stop to cover his mouth and he felt hot liquid spurt up his throat. He had to hurry, however, he really only needed one more for what he was planning. He filled the fifth vial and slid them into his pocket.
"What are you doing?"
Reno looked up at the small window and smiled. His teeth were stained red, and blood was trickling from his nostrils now, but he smiled wide at the man he had named Charles Cole.
"I am saving my friends and defying you."
Reno raised the needle away from the vials and pulled his sleeved down with his teeth.
"NO!"
The door was cranking open but he already pushed the needled into his skin.
The sensation was was like nothing he'd ever experienced in the world. The burn of Achilles entering his veins hurt worse than anything Cole had done to him in those four weeks, but the pleasure of it's power spreading through him was a hundred times greater than the happiest moment of his life. A mix of a scream and laughter ripped out of him. The needle snapped off in his arm and the Achilles began to escape onto the floor. Reno fell onto his hands and knees, his body still shuddering from the rush. The gold liquid surged out around him, soaking his hands, his pants. A pair of familiar legs splashed in front of him.
"You bastard. You've destroyed it. And now it's destroying you! Look at you! How much did you take? A vial could heal ten men you idiot!" Hands clamped around his neck and hauled him up. His body was still convulsing, tremors sending spasms through him.
But he felt it. He felt immortality.
He felt a heart that was near breaking stitch back together. He felt arteries that had died pump oxygen back through his body. He felt old breaks and sprains fade away as if they'd never happened. And each scar. All those marks Cole had laid on him. But not just those, everything, from when Rude hit too hard in training, from when he cut his leg open trying to jump a fence, from his first helicopter crash, his first car crash, even an old scar from when he fell down as a child. Everything washed away. History washed away.
Everything, except those memories.
Reno's eyes shot open in Cole's grasp and they shone gold and fury. He ripped Cole's fingers from his neck and shoved him into the puddle of Achilles. But he couldn't waste time getting his revenge now. If any of his friends died, then not even Achilles could help.
He ran. Not a soldier could slow him down as he tore out of that maintenance hallway, through the building and up stairs until he burst onto the roof.
"Where is the boss?" one of the soldiers demanded. There were only four guards besides the doctor, but their guns swung to Reno. He quickly checked the scene but it was too hard to tell if everyone was still alive. Rude had managed to get his arms around Nora again and the two of them still seemed conscious. He read the incredulity on their faces and it was slowly dawning on the soldiers as well.
"Get out of my way."
His eyes flashed brilliantly in the sunlight, and then he was moving. Reno could feel the overwhelming power that Cole had described, the strength that he could never have even imagined, the feeling of vitality he had never known in all his life. But even more powerful than the Achilles drug in his veins, was his desire to save his friends.
Once he downed the first man he took his gun and finished the other three. The struggle was over before it began and then Reno had Cole's doctor by his collar.
"How much Achilles did you take?" the man sputtered.
"I need a syringe."
"More than a drop has never been tested. Tell me, how much you took!"
"Shut up." Reno threw the doctor down and grabbed his bag, taking it to Nora and Rude. He found a syringe and pulled out the vials in his pocket.
"I thought it would take a vial each." Reno said to Nora in particular, hoping her mind could still process his words past the pain and blood loss. "But Cole and the doc here are saying just a little bit."
"Reno, you took it?" She whispered past pale lips.
"Yeah."
"And you think just a small amount?"
"I think so."
"Okay, give me that." She took the vial and the syringe and pulled back just enough to fill the tip.
"Try it on me," Rude held out his arm but Nora smiled.
"You can't take all the risks." Before he could protest she slid it into her arm and injected. They both watched on in anticipation. Her body seemed to go through the same stages as Reno but on a lesser scale. She jerked in Rude's grip, a faint scream escaped her and then she sighed. After a moment she sat up shakily, and pulled the blood soaked fabric from her shoulder to reveal smooth skin.
"Reno, I think you just put me out of a job."
Both men laughed in elation but Rude groaned out in pain and they remembered the urgency.
"Here," Nora took another syringe from the bag and the other vial. "Take care of Rude." She didn't need to explain, Elena and the Director were the most in danger of dying. Reno nodded and as carefully as he could, extracted the golden liquid.
"Reno, how much did you take?"
Reno gripped Rude's arm and slid the needle in place.
"I thought a vial would be a dose..."
"What does that mean?" Reno looked up at him, his eyes still on fire with the light of Achilles, "I don't know." He eased the injection into Rude and watched the colour return to him, the mixture of pain and relief pass over his features. Now all those months he spent recovering from the threes bullets seemed so long, but they too, were washed away, the atrophied muscles, the tenderness, the weakness. Rude was back to his strength.
"I feel amazing."
"Yeah." Reno glanced over and saw with relief Elena waking up. Nora was already injecting the Director.
"Rufus." The two Turks moved to his side. Reno refilled the tip of the needle. "And to think after everything, I'm giving you what you wanted all along, you Son of a Bitch." Reno gave him the injection and rose. Rufus's eyes blinked open, he looked around dazed. Above him, Reno's features were indistinguishable because of the sun directly behind him, but somehow he could see his eyes, as if they were truly ablaze.
"Welcome to Immortality, sir."
Rufus had nothing to say as he stared up at the figure above him. Of all his feats that day, notable among them was that Reno had managed to render silent Rufus Shinra.
"Reno!" Reno's gaze tore across the tarmac to the open door. Cole stood there, his whole body shimmering, that charcoal suit of his consumed by the pure brilliance of the Achilles liquid. Next to him Alder stumbled out into the light, coughing, beat up. He staggered and fell on his hands and knees, looking up at his boss.
"Stop, boss! There's something wrong with you."
"There is nothing wrong with me, son." Cole pulled his gun out of his jacket and aimed at his subordinate's head. "Because today I am going to kill Reno of the Turks." Alder jerked at the point blank impact and fell dead.
"Shit." Reno pulled the rest of the vials out of his pocket. "Rude, do not let him get these. That's the last of it, the rest I spilled all over that floor and I dropped him in it. I'm not sure what that means, but I am thinking it still worked."
"Wait, Reno, you can't take him on by yourself."
"I've got the juice, I'm going to use it."
"Reno," Rufus warned getting up, "you know you aren't really immortal, right? If he lands a killing blow, Achilles won't bring you back. And I don't know for how long it will keep healing you, but eventually, it's going to where off."
"Then let's hope this ends before eventually."
Reno began firing. His aim was true but Cole was fast and even when he grazed him the wound vanished in a matter of seconds. When they met it was like two bears fighting. Hand met hand and it was a contest of strength while each man tried to force the other to back up.
This close, Reno could feel the enormity of Cole's strength, even against his own. He stared down at his stained clothes and then back to his face and realized his first assumption had been wrong. Cole's bared teeth were stained yellow, brighter even than his eyes.
"You drank it didn't you? Lapped it up off the floor like a filthy dog."
"Come now, Reno," Cole smiled, "how many times did I make you lick your food off the floor?"
"Shut up!" Reno pushed away and reached for his gun again but Cole knocked it away.
"No place for guns in this fight Reno. Knives however..."
Reno reeled from the strike. Coles' cruel blade drug over his ribs, burning deep. The gash healed over almost before Reno could feel it but the pain was still very real and the blade came down again before he could react. He cried out when it landed in his stomach. Cole twisted it tortuously, and toppled Reno.
"Ah yes, this is more like old times." He pulled it out only to drive it in again. Wounds healed before nerve endings had finished firing the pain signals to Reno's brain. Every time the shock and pain of the blade paralysed him for a second, and Cole didn't stop long enough for him to move.
"Rude do something!" Nora pleaded. He looked around for another weapon but by the time he found one Elena and Tseng were already moving.
"Here," Rude handed the vials to Nora, "keep 'em safe." Then he looked to the President, but he didn't speak to him as such, he spoke to him as a man who owed each of the Turks a debt, "and you keep her safe."
And the he was chasing after his team.
"Isn't this great, Reno?" Cole said gleefully as he brought the knife down and and twisted it inside of him, "Now I can torture you as much as I like, as extreme as I like, and you won't die!"
He raised his knife again for another cruel strike but his body jerked. He jolted again and again and red dots of blood began to form on his chest. As the pain receded, Reno seemed able to hear properly again and heard the gunfire. Shot after shot after shot. The three Turks stood shoulder to shoulder shooting one after the other in a constant stream that drove Cole off of Reno.
"Don't stop!" Reno instructed, pushing himself back toward his team as he tried to recover from the shock of the pain. He had to look down to reassure himself he really had healed. His uniform was in rags, he tore the rest of his shirt off and looked up to Tseng. "Hit him in the head! Rufus thinks a killing blow is still a killing blow."
Tseng took aim and fired. Cole's head snapped back. They all held their breaths. He teetered forward, it seemed he would crash face first, but then a foot stepped forward to steady himself and he looked up at them smiling , a trail of blood over his eyebrow the only evidence of the shot. "Just missed."
"Crap!" The Turks resumed firing but their bullets ran out and Reno leaped up to intercept Cole before he could get them. Each man went for the neck. Reno's stature had him at a disadvantage. He couldn't quite exert the pressure he wanted whereas Cole had a firm grip.
"You can't win, Reno. You may have taken a massive dose back there, but that's not what really counts. Achilles builds on itself in your system. And this is my third dose. Those doctors pumped it in me back then, and I took it again the day I killed them and escaped. It doesn't matter that it was all those years ago, Achilles never really leaves you, never forgets you, and every time you take it you need less and less until you truly are immortal. You will lose this fight and I will still kill your friends. Question is, should I kill you Reno? Or should I make you immortal too, so we can play this game for eternity?"
"Fuck you!" Reno struck Cole's wrist and slid away. Cole swung and Reno dodged. He was faster than ever, his body moved smoother, acted quicker to his instincts. He almost felt graceful as he dodged and delivered blows. Cole was more powerful, it was true, but he was mad, he was blind, and he had no one to save but himself. Reno, however, had a whole rooftop of people he needed to protect.
"You don't really have a choice in all of this, you know." Cole taunted even as he absorbed a kick from Reno. "Even if you managed to beat me somehow, the withdrawal will kill you. You greedy little bastard pumped way too much in your veins."
"You fucking drank it!"
"But my body's had it before."
"Shut it." But Reno was caught in the throat and knocked over. He rolled clear of Cole's foot stomping down and grabbed his knee and twisted hard. Cole hollered in pain and fell as well. He elbowed Reno in nose and Reno reciprocated by grabbing his arm and jerking it out of the socket. Cole screamed again and Reno pounced on him. He grabbed his head and drove it back into the ground.
"What will it take to kill you huh?" he slammed his head back again. "Crush your skull? Open up that brain of yours on this rooftop? What won't Achilles heal fast enough, before your life that you love so much slips away?"
Cole sputtered but on the next strike down he came up unexpectedly and head butted Reno. In a second, their positions were reversed and Cole drove Reno's head back.
"Oh Reno, you sound bitter. But if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have this power. All those things I did to you are washed away, like it never happened, so really, you have no reason to hate me."
"GHAA!" Reno brought his knee up and shifted his weight, rolling them sideways. They became locked together, both trying to flip his opponent on his back. "WAHSED AWAY? Nothing can take away what you did to me! I'll never get rid of those memories!"
"But you never gave in Reno! Insanity drove you to defy me, and make me keep hurting you. If you'd only broken, I could have stopped."
"Insanity didn't drive me you Prick! You're greedy, Cole, you wanted immortality for you and you alone. You cling to the thought of life so much you missed out on living. I didn't give into you because I didn't need to live until I was eighty, I didn't need to live until I was thirty or even until the next day, because I had already lived for the years I was given. And if I died, people would remember me because they loved me. That is real immortality. But you don't have that, you don't have anyone, so when you die you really will be gone forever, Cole. No one even knows your real name. You didn't find immortality, you found loneliness and you will leave no legacy."
Reno let out a roar and used all his strength to force himself above Cole. But Cole struck out and knocked him back. They both got to their feet and ran for one another.
Cole's weight won out and Reno slammed into the ground hard. He felt the sudden emptiness to one side and realized they were on the edge of the tarmac. There was no siding, just a sheer drop off the building to the ground countless stories below.
"You contradicted yourself, Reno." Cole smiled down at him as he slowly forced him closer to the edge. His shoulder dropped off and his head was now dangling in space. "If you had won this fight you would carry my memory. You said you can never forget what I did to you, and neither can they, your friends. You, Reno, would have been my legacy."
Reno let out a frustrated, desperate cry when his whole torso was jerked over the ledge. Cole held him there in that precarious angle and smiled. "As for your memory, Reno, I'm afraid it won't live on more than a few minutes while I kill the rest of your friends."
Reno's eyes flared in anger, but unbeknownst to him they were his true eyes again, brilliant green stared back at Cole, "Like I said, Cole, I've already lived."
Cole realized his mistake and tried to pull back but Reno had a grip on him now and he pressed his feet firmly against the edge for leverage. "You are coming with me." Reno pushed off with his feet and pulled against Cole, dragging him over the edge with him.
He saw the realization in Cole, the final understanding of what Reno had been trying to tell him all this time, all those long weeks in that cell. Life is only worth living, not merely surviving. Reno didn't need to survive this to have lived. Cole would die, truly mortal. Reno smiled in satisfaction and gave his body over to gravity.
But either gravity worked alot faster than he thought or his plan had gone awry. He felt a stunning blow to the head and watched Cole fall past him, a look of pure hatred and horror on his face. It took him a long moment to realized he was no longer falling and that he was vertical, not to mention upside down. He looked down his body, and up at the desperate faces hanging over the ledge.
"Reno, you idiot!" Rude swore, his hands wrapped around one ankle, Tseng's around the other.
"Did you get him?" he heard Elena's voice behind them.
"Yeah, just don't let go of our legs!"
Tseng and Rude shuffled back, hauling Reno up after them. Once he was high enough they grabbed his arms and flipped back onto the roof. The four of them stayed on the ground just breathing for several seconds, then Rude was on him.
"You idiot! Just because we ran out of bullets doesn't me would couldn't help! There is such a thing as a clip you know! More ammo! You could have just held him still while we shot him in the head, not throw yourself off the frigging rooftop!"
Reno tried not to smile. "Yeah, what was I thinking?" He almost thought Rude was about to punch him but then he found himself in his partner's strong embrace.
"I hate you sometimes, you know."
"Don't we all." Elena said crawling next to them and draping her arms around the pair. Tseng was the only one who stood up and walked over to the edge of the building. Though the distance was great, he could still see the shape spread out over the ground at the foot of the building. Achilles could not put that back together.
Charles Cole was dead.
Still more to come dear readers, so stick with me if you are willing, Cole may be dead, but not those memories...
Riza.