Edited on 6 Oct 2010 for errors and goofs. And…I don't have an A/N on this chapter saved on my computer so I have no idea what the hell I talked about…it's like shooting blind. Goofs are about to be horribly mutilated since this is where I started fucking up the timeline. Lawls.
Two words: Dark Nation. At first I thought it was a pathetic name for some terrorist organization―beating AVALANCHE by far. But, no. I was only half right. Dark Nation definitely caused fear in the hearts of man (or in this case a woman), but it had nothing to do with an organization of any kind.
Dark Nation was the name of Rufus' cat. Dog. Panther. I didn't know what the hell kind of creature it was. Whatever its species, it gave me more trouble than the Vice President could have ever dreamed of doing. And that was saying something.
The animal prevented me from ever getting near the Vice President when his back was turned and, when it wasn't, I was always forced to do every mediocre task imaginable that would keep me away from him. Every mediocre task except get his coffee.
Rufus had learned his lesson pretty quick when I returned to him with a coffee cup full of coffee and expired milk instead of good-ol'-not-expired milk. If you don't understand the significance of that, expired milk causes one to frequent the bathroom. It had been amusing discovering what strange things they had in the fridge downstairs. However, I did get screamed at by Rufus and Verdot―Tseng even took the time to frown at me―but it had been well worth it.
As for Dark Nation and I, our relationship had started rough the first day I met the cat. It began with simple staring. From staring we moved onto glaring, to making guttural noises at one another, to Dark Nation trying to chew my arm off while I tried to gouge out its eyes with my free hand.
This relationship continued for the week I spent watching after Rufus. Only once had the kid walked in on one of our little 'love spats'. Instead of save me from his evil pet, he settled with quirking a brow at my expense, walked to his desk, and told me, "I think she likes you." The sarcasm had not escaped me; I sabotaged his paper shredder in retaliation. It made interesting noises trying to digest that CD...
Other than babysitting Rufus and being his pet's personal chew toy, I continued my training with Serafina. As I did, I got substantially better in whatever style martial arts she knew (it focused more on kicking); but, there were also times when I got my bum handed to me on a silver platter.
Speaking of bums. The object I had accidentally crushed when I fought Serafina the first time...
Well, I had to tell Ronnie of its fate. He wasn't all too happy with me. It seemed that he hadn't found it in the garbage bins after all, and, in fact, had made it from scratch. Boy, did that make me feel bad; and yet, curious at the same time.
Ronnie was good at arts and crafts—always had been. However, I didn't think that would make him good at making weapons. But, somehow, the little cracker started creating them in his spare time―which was often, given his desk job―and all of them were based on the ring he had found.
Also, all of them were relatively tiny. The biggest he had ever managed to go was the size of a bracelet. It didn't do anything because he hadn't quite figured out what made the metal expand and contract, but at least he was getting somewhere. When I asked him where he was getting said mysterious metal, he gave me that grin of his and refused to answer. Trash cans immediately came to mind.
In the time period when I wasn't getting pummeled by my 'Master,' or getting nibbled on by Dark Nation, I spent my time at the house practicing my martial arts and firing away with my Thunder Materia. Ronnie and the neighbors both learned to hate me very quickly.
Ronnie always wound up being the victim of circumstance. In other words, I used him as a punching bag. The first day I tried that, I met Ronnie at the bottom of the stairs.
"What?" He asked innocently. I kept grinning.
He gave me a look before shrugging and tried to walk past me. I didn't let him.
"Losersayswhat!"
"Huh? Waaah!" Thud!
In the blink of an eye, I had grabbed him around the waist and flipped him over my shoulder. It was harder than it looked considering Ronnie weighed a lot more than I did. He wasn't too pleased with my actions and screamed at me, calling me all sorts of names that had to do with my intelligence level. Finally, when I told him why I had spontaneously thrown him to the ground, he responded with:
"Well, why didn't you say something?"
"I did, I said 'loser says what'."
Blank stare.
No, it didn't make much sense. But nothing did that day. I bought a coffee pot the day before and drank three cups of coffee that morning to make up for all the days I had missed―which was way more than three, I might add. To say I was buzzed was an understatement.
As for the Thunder training... The only place to practice any kind of magic is outdoors, or in a big ass room where you're sure you won't hit anything. Our house was tiny, so outside was immediately where I went. Bad move on my part. Sure, outside was roomy...but most of the buildings around me were also made of metal.
On the plus side, when I accidentally shocked the rod on the top of our building, I fixed the TV. On the negative, the electricity arced and shocked all the other rods on the buildings beside us, effectively frying all their TVs. Shin-Ra got a lot of complaints that day, and I got a major deduction out of my paycheck. Also, Reno wouldn't let me live it down and I went from Stairmaster to Shocky.
Aside from nearly frying every electrical appliance on our block, another strange thing happened with my Thunder experiments. The Materia 'grew.' That's how Ronnie explained it when I ran into the kitchen freaking out about how I must have overloaded the tiny rock. He said that, when Materia reach a certain level brought on by continuous use in battle, they leveled up. So, in essence, instead of Thunder, I now had Thundara.
I asked him why it was called 'Thundara' and he told me he had no clue. Why not just call it 'Thunder2'? That made a lot more sense than using some obscure suffix. Luckily, even though it was called a different name, the rock still answered to 'Thunder'. Sometimes it didn't even answer to that. That made me happy; it meant I was getting better at using magic.
Zack had mysteriously disappeared from the Shin-Ra building. Everyone I asked said that he always had to do missions since some of the SOLDIERs had defected. That was a major bummer. I had wanted to ask him to fight me since I was becoming better at both magic and martial arts, but it must not have been meant to be. Some part of me was a little relieved. I was pretty sure that he would kick my ass, regardless.
But, enough of the past. Time moves on, and so must I. Just like Zack had his missions to do, so did I; and, my next big mission was about to take place. That day. With Rufus. Yay...
"Do we have everything?" Ronnie gasped as he threw his bags onto the floor.
I stared at the heavy suitcases before glancing up at him. By some odd twist of fate, Ronnie had also been assigned on the coming-up mission. Perhaps they needed a 'desk job' type person to handle the paperwork in Junon? Tseng and, unfortunately, Dark Nation were also to be attending our little outing.
Junon, to the best of my knowledge, was another city that was heavily operated by Shin-Ra and was located by the sea. It was also where Rufus was stationed. After I found that out, I asked why he was spending so much time in Midgar. He never answered me. Then again, he never really told me anything to begin with. Why I thought he would tell me that, I didn't know.
"I don't think you need all that," I mumbled. I, myself, had settled for only my cell phone, wallet, and pistol―unloaded, as usual.
"Of course I will!" Ronnie replied, "There's shampoo, and conditioner, and a swim suit-"
"I don't think it's that kind of—"
'—and an extra change of clothes—"
"You only need you're—"
"—and that bracelet I've been working on—"
"Ronnie!" I shouted.
He finally stopped talking and looked at me, his finger poised over another as he was about to tick it off his list.
"Ya don't need it," I reiterated. Ronnie gave me a long, hard look before finally sighing.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right. I'm always right," I paused as Ronnie gave me a doubtful look, "Mostly, always right. Anyways, come on. We don't wanna be late."
Ronnie groaned in response before he started digging into his suitcase once again; this time searching for his essential essentials. I waited for him by the door, leaning and banging my head against it. Seriously, could he have been any slower?
"How do you figure we're going to be late," Ronnie asked as he removed the bracelet, about to pocket it.
"You don't need that," I snapped.
He frowned, but put it off to the side anyway, "We're thirty minutes early."
"You've never been around Rufus before, have ya?" I asked rhetorically. I already knew the answer to that question. Nobody ever got near Rufus unless Rufus wanted them to. And that was pretty much never.
"No, I've never been around your boyfriend."
Narrowing my eyes at Ronnie, I growled, "I. Will. Stab. You."
Ronnie smirked and stood up. The only things accompanying him were his phone and pistol. His face became serious as he started for the door. I moved aside to let him through.
"Seriously, though," He began, "You need to settle down and—"
"Stab-buh," I warned, shutting the front door behind me. Ronnie dropped the subject.
When we arrived at the Shin-Ra building Tseng was standing outside conversing with one of the army guys. I had learned that Shin-Ra not only had SOLDIER―the elite group of fighters―but also an army―the little weaklings that couldn't get up into the big leagues. If you asked me, what with the Turks, SOLDIER, and army, Shin-Ra was trying to overcompensate for something. That, or rule the world. Both were extremely plausible.
Tseng noticed us approaching, nodded to the soldier he was talking to, and walked over to us.
"Rufus is waiting for us at the heliport," noticing Ronnie's and my blank expressions, he quickly added, "on floor seventy."
"You mean...We're going to have to go all the way to the top of that thing?" I mumbled quietly, leaning my head back to once again peer at the top of the imposing skyscraper.
Ronnie's question drowned out mine, "So soon? But, I didn't think we had to leave until ten!"
I lowered my eyes to Tseng. I smirked. The look he was giving Ronnie was priceless. It was a cross between pity and doubt. Pity because Ronnie had no idea what awaited him, and doubt that he worked with someone so clueless.
"We leave when the Vice President says we leave, Mr. Roberts, and he says we leave immediately," Tseng turned on his heels and strode off towards the building. "And, Saan, I thought you were a pilot. Why do you seem so hesitant with heights?"
I frowned as Ronnie snickered and walked passed me towards the glass doors. It was a damn good thing I knew Tseng was teasing me, or I would have been very angry. Jogging, I caught up to them and squeezed through the doors―Ronnie and I were wider than I thought.
"Wait a minute," Ronnie whispered. "Since when did he start calling you by your first name?"
I blinked, "You know... I don't know."
"Good morning, sir!"
Ronnie and I both cringed as Ledi's chipper voice greeted Tseng. He gave a brief nod to the secretary and continued on without a falter in his step. Ledi smiled the whole time she watched him pass, but as soon as she looked at us, her expression changed...drastically.
"Turks," She growled.
"Ledi," we replied, with just as more scorn as she.
The elevator ride to the fifty-ninth floor seemed shorter than it had all the other hundreds of times I had taken it. It wasn't because I was jumping with anticipation for a decent assignment, or a chance to get out of Midgar. No, it was because after that short elevator ride came another, way shorter elevator ride...On an elevator made of glass...That was located on the outside of the building. I hated the man who came up with the Shin-Ra Building's bloody design.
Up until that day I had managed to avoid the glass elevators by using the card key Rufus had given me. He hadn't been joking when he said I could go anywhere between floor fifty-nine and sixty-nine. Granted, I couldn't open a few doors here and there, and I barely ventured far from the staircases, but still. He had put a lot of faith in me by giving me that card key. Then again, he had threatened to kill me. Maybe he just thought I wouldn't do something stupid enough to get myself killed.
Out of one set of elevators and into another. Once again, I refused to look down at the ground below. Tseng could joke all he wanted to about my fear of heights when I flew planes for a living; I was not looking down. However, it proved difficult. Since the elevator was somewhat small, Ronnie was on the glass, me in the middle, and Tseng was up against the doors.
Ronnie started moving about not long into the ride. Slowly, I tore my eyes off the doors and focused on Tseng. He was looking at Ronnie with a frown on his face. A thoughtful frown, but a frown nonetheless. I turned my head just enough to see Ronnie out of the corner of my eye. He was whiter than a hotel's brand new bed sheets.
"Dude," I said, "don't look down."
"Hard not to," Ronnie stuttered. "Can't I just jump out?"
"You'd die," Tseng replied nonchalantly.
I yelped as Ronnie pushed into me, trying to back away from the glass. Luckily, before I could go bumping into Tseng, the doors slid open at the next floor. From then on, it was a combination of stairs and the glass elevator until we reached the top floor. The top floor was the office of President Shin-Ra himself. I had only seen him in passing a couple of times while babysitting Rufus. He was a fat man with blond hair. It was obvious where Rufus got his looks from.
The old man wasn't in his office as Tseng, Ronnie, and I passed through. In fact, there was no one in his office. I frowned. More than likely, that was Rufus' doing. The Vice President was a sneaky little bastard, I gave him that. Though, I had to admit, it would be a little difficult hiding a helicopter take-off. I was pretty sure it couldn't be done. Not literally, anyway. Paper work, on the other hand...
Waiting outside on the heliport were Rufus, Dark Nation, Reno and Rude. I snorted. It seemed like those two never got a break, either. Everyone's attention immediately turned towards the approaching Turks: Us. Rufus was frowning.
"You're late," he said.
"Sorry, sir. We got held up at the front," Tseng replied as we continued towards the waiting helicopter.
Reno and Rude took their places in the cockpit. That scared me a little. I hadn't figured Reno was the type to fly.
As Ronnie and I approached the cabin, Dark Nation bounded its way into the aircraft. We paused, the creature practically glaring at us from its perch in one of the seats. There was a brief staring contest between Ronnie, Dark Nation, and me—me with one foot in the cabin—while Tseng and Rufus discussed something.
"What are you waiting for?" Rufus finally snapped.
"Your damn cat's in our way!" I snapped back.
Uncomfortable silence. I took the chance to look at everybody. Reno and Rude were turned around in the cockpit, both giving me surprised expressions; Ronnie's eyes were wide in that 'oh, shit' kind of way; and Tseng was standing behind me with a similar expression, but he was probably thinking in a not-so-explicit way. Slowly, I turned my head even more to see Rufus.
He was glaring at me. Rarely had I ever seen that expression on his face. For a second, I was actually worried he would do something to me. For a second...
"Sir?" I added, trying to save my ass. When in doubt, use formalities!
"Get. In. The. Helicopter," he growled in response. Of course, Rufus didn't really growl. That was not appropriate for someone like him. But, it was close enough.
I didn't have to think twice about that order because Ronnie practically shoved me in and I almost collided with Dark Nation. The animal gave me short snarl. I ignored it as I shoved my way into the seat on the farthest side of the cabin—Dark Nation pressed uncomfortably into my side—and buckled up. Ronnie took the seat beside me; Rufus the seat across from me.
He and I shared a look as Tseng slid the door shut and sat beside the Vice President.
I mused at the silent conversation we were having.
"You almost made me look like a fool in front of mah people!" Rufus' look screamed.
"Well, maybe your cat shouldn't have been in the way! Who the hell takes a pet to a meeting?"
Rufus' eyes narrowed as the helicopter began to rise from the heliport. I couldn't quite determine what that look meant, but figured it was not a happy one. So, my response was:
"Don't take that tone with me, young man!"
The eyes stayed narrowed.
"...Sir."
I looked away at that point and decided that the scenery outside was a lot more interesting than Rufus' face. That and I knew I was already pressing my luck. As my dad always said, 'Stop poking the bear.'
—FFVII—
The helicopter ride to Junon was uncannily quiet, in my opinion. Reno and Rude shared a brief conversation with Tseng about some previous mission. Ronnie tried to make small talk with Rufus, but when the young man gave him that stare of his, Ronnie quickly shut up. Dark Nation growled at me a couple of times when I tried to move around in my seat—my butt was getting numb—but, after the third or fourth time, we both came to the consensus that there just wasn't enough room to be pissed off at one another.
For whatever reason, Rufus decided to open one of the small windows in our cabin about ten minutes from Junon. That took care of the silence problem, what with the wind blowing everywhere, but it caused another one. Rufus' hair hardly moved unless he wanted it to; kind of like his pawns, actually. Mine, on the other hand... Mine became airborne with only the smallest amount of wind.
So, there I sat, glaring at the smirking Rufus as I held my hair back with my right hand. If only I had not forgotten my ponytail holder at Bill's farm way back when. On more than one occasion, I flashed Tseng a sympathy look. He didn't catch the hint. His hair was shorter than mine. It did not need that damn ponytail holder. Mine did.
The sound of the wind was momentarily drowned out when Ronnie suddenly yelped. All eyes turned towards him as he fidgeted around in his seat, digging for something in his pocket. The next thing I knew, Ronnie's cell phone had leapt from his left hand and made a bee-line for the floor.
Tseng's reaction time was faster than mine, and yet, that still didn't stop me from trying to grab the mobile device after I had already seen him make a move for it. Tseng and I jerked back from one another as our heads nearly collided with one another. He had somehow managed to get his hand on the phone, and it spun in the air while traveling back for the floor. Ronnie dived for it next, accidently shoving me into Dark Nation. Dark Nation growled, nipping at my elbow to get me off. Afraid to lose an arm, I bounced back into Ronnie to avoid the animal and Ronnie's phone went into the air again—straight towards Rufus.
It was amazing the way the kid snatched the phone out of the air and, in one fluid motion, chucked it out the window. Ronnie, Tseng, and I all froze momentarily as we stared out the window. Tseng and I slowly turned our heads to face Rufus.
"Uh..." Tseng began. He didn't continue. I don't think he knew exactly what to say.
"Was that really necessary?" I asked.
"My new phone..." Ronnie's whimpering voice interrupted. "My baby..."
Rufus was frowning, "Next time, he'll be going out the window."
"Who'll be going out the window?" Ronnie shouted.
I twitched and quickly slammed my foot down on top of Ronnie's causing him to yelp. One must never yell at one's superiors, lest bad things happen. I mean, sure, I did it sometimes; but, I was a girl. Some part of my brain said that Rufus was gentlemanly enough not to harm someone of the fairer sex. Sure, that was complete bullshit, but Ronnie still was not a woman and therefore probably would get thrown out of the helicopter while we were still in the air.
Ronnie shut up once more, pouted, and stared longingly out the window. I could tell he was probably wondering about how many pieces his phone was in. I hadn't even known he had bought a new phone, let alone given anyone its number. I obviously didn't know the number. I frowned and then started thinking just who Ronnie was giving his number to.
"How much longer until we get there?" I called out to the cockpit. Anything to make Rufus stop staring.
"We still have enough time left to throw Ronnie out of the helicopter," Reno shouted back. It was obvious he was joking.
"Oh, well in that case," Rufus smirked and let the threat hang.
"No. You're not," I frowned.
Rufus gave me a look before turning his attention towards the window again.
When we made touchdown in Junon, to say I was impressed was an understatement. The view was spectacular. On one side of the heliport, the ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see. Behind it, buildings stretched out and up the cliff. Both of those sights were vastly greater than what was attached to the cliff wall.
A giant, and I mean giant, canon stood anchored to the wall and pointed out across the ocean. Seriously, what was up with that? It was beyond ridiculous.
"Oh, they are definitely overcompensating for something," I mumbled to myself.
Ronnie and Tseng had already gotten out of the helicopter. Rufus and Dark Nation were bringing up the rear.
"Did you say something?" Tseng asked. Luckily for me, the backdraft caused by the helicopter blades drowned out my previous statement.
"Yeah," I said a little louder, "what the hell is up with the canon?"
"The Mako Canon was put here to keep any attack from sea almost an impossibility."
I scoffed, "That doesn't keep them from attacking."
"Would you attack Junon if you knew you risked an attack by a weapon of that size?" Tseng asked.
"No," I replied, cocking my head back to look at him. "But that's if I think that thing can hit me. A canon that big would take a long time to power up, and it's obvious it has a limited targeting area. All it would take was—"
"I wanna name it!" Ronnie suddenly shouted.
Tseng and I both turned and looked at Ronnie. He was almost bouncing on the balls of his feet as he stared up at the giant canon that loomed nearby. Ronnie had an odd habit of wanting to name inanimate objects. His old phone, for instance, was named Rebecca. Don't ask me; I don't know. He'd also named his Playstation 3, PSP, DS, laptop and car. What was worse: He expected me to remember their names.
After a second or two of silence I replied, "No."
"Oh, come on! It could be—"
"It doesn't need a name," Tseng interrupted. He probably didn't want to know what strange thing Ronnie could come up with, either. I knew I didn't.
"Do I pay you to stand around and chit-chat all day?" Rufus shouted.
Somehow, the little devil and his cat had made their way passed all us Turks and were standing near the door into the main building. One would think that Rufus' suit would be just blindingly white enough in the sun that we couldn't have missed him. Then again, perhaps if we had been paying attention to the Vice President instead of gawking at an over-sized canon...
"I thought your old man paid us," I snickered as I shouted back, walking toward the blond boy.
Rufus barked out a laugh, ignored my comment, and stepped through the door.
"I don't think he likes his father that much," Ronnie mumbled from somewhere behind Tseng.
"I don't think he much likes anybody," I replied.
—FFVII—
And I thought traveling around the Shin-Ra building with Rufus was hell. Traveling around Junon with him was worse. We weren't allowed to go anywhere. Tseng, Ronnie, and I spent hours walking with him to and from different offices in the 'giant canon building'—as Ronnie and I had so lovingly deemed it—and when we weren't doing that, we were sitting outside some other kind of building waiting for Rufus to get out. The boy had given us express orders not to bother him while he 'worked.'
While we waited outside a small, two-story building, Ronnie and I tried to find ways to entertain ourselves. After I-spy, a failed attempt at a game of tic-tac-toe, and a failed attempt to get Tseng to play truth-or-dare, the older Turk finally had had enough.
"Why don't you two go explore Junon," Tseng said. It wasn't a question.
"Hey, that's a good idea!" Ronnie grinned.
"Because Rufus will have our heads if we leave," I grumbled as I prodded the ground with my pistol. I had drawn it out with the hope of getting some Thunder blasts in but Tseng had stared me down. He must have known about the incident with the houses on my block.
"You'll be fine," Tseng replied. "Go have fun."
I paused, the pistol centimeters away from poking the ground again, "You're willing to sacrifice yourself just so we can have a little break?"
"Wow, Tseng. I didn't know you cared so much," Ronnie said, not a trace of sarcasm in his voice.
The older Turk sighed, "Truthfully? You're doing more harm than good by being here."
Ronnie and I stared at him, waiting for him to explain.
"Rufus has been in an uncharacteristically bad mood today," Tseng said as he looked at me.
I blinked. Then it dawned on me.
"You're saying that's my fault?"
"Not entirely."
"Oh, come on!" I couldn't help but shout. "It's not my fault he's such a stuck-up little brat that doesn't know how to have fun."
Tseng's expression didn't change. He was giving me that sage-like look of his. That one he gives to somebody when he knows that they know that he's right. Sometimes I hated that look. It made me feel like a child.
Ronnie's eyes darted between me and Tseng and back. When none of us said anything for a while, he took it upon himself to speak.
"So," he bounced, "are we going?"
I opened my mouth to respond.
Pow!
I scrunched my face in confusion as Ronnie, Tseng, and I looked at one another.
Pow! Pow!
The last two 'pow's finally registered: gunshots. And they were coming from inside the building Rufus was in. That was not a good thing. What bodyguards were we if the person we were supposed to be guarding wound up in a body bag? Even if said person was the one who didn't want any of us near him in the first place.
Tseng was standing near the door, so naturally he was the first one in the building. I was right on his tail. One second I was running forward and the next I was flying backward—Tseng right with me. Both of us hit the ground with an 'oof.' As I tried to remove myself from Tseng, I saw Ronnie bolt into the room gun a-blazin'.
It took me a second or two, but eventually I untangled myself. It was then that I noticed what had thrown Tseng back. A large hole was in the center of his suit; the flesh under that slightly burnt. A Fire Materia. I cringed. I knew that had to hurt. Despite his injury, Tseng was already to his knees and trying to get into the building.
"Whoa, wait, do you think—" I cautioned.
"Call Reno!" Tseng shouted as he got to his feet.
"Wait! Why?" I managed to get out before he disappeared inside the building.
I stared through the open door for a moment and then it dawned on me. Reno was the one flying the chopper. He was the only one that could fly Rufus' sorry ass out of this place; along with Tseng's, Ronnie's, and mine. With that quick deduction, I whipped my phone out of my pocket and pressed '3'.
While I waited for the phone to ring I realized...I still had my pistol out. If my gun was loaded I would have shot myself for being so stupid.
"What the hell am I waiting around here for?"
I probably looked hilarious, running into a gun fight with a phone to my left ear and a gun drawn in my right; but, I didn't give a damn. Whatever worked, worked. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the lighting in the room the first thing they fell to was the door across the hallway and the staircase. The door was slid open into another part of the building. Staircase or door? Dammit!
Reno finally picked up when my foot hit the second stair.
"Yo?" He answered calmly.
"Where the hell have you been?" I shrieked as I reached the top step. Waiting for me at the top were a few dead bodies and a whole helluva lot of doors. Aye caramba.
Reno immediately knew something was up, "What's wrong?"
"We're being ambushed! I think. Hell, I don't know," I replied as I looked through the first door. Nothing.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Reno asked, slightly annoyed, "Weren't you watching Rufus?"
"He kicked us out," I managed to growl as I checked the fourth room. Still nothing.
Reno sighed, "Where is he now?"
"I don't kn-ooo!" I screamed.
The last room definitely was not empty. I barely managed to duck out of the way as gunfire erupted from the far corner of the room. Before I dived behind a nearby table, I had just managed to see the man that was hiding there. He continued to shoot from his position, slumped against the far wall, while I hid behind the desk. I could hear Reno shouting at me as I threw my phone down. Taking a deep breath, I gripped my gun in both hands and popped up from behind the table. I could only hope that my bluff would work.
"Stop!" I shouted at the man, "or I'll shoot!"
I was pretty sure I heard Reno say, 'Shoot anyway!' but I wasn't completely sure. I didn't have to worry, though. The man had already disposed of his rifle. It must have been out of bullets. Instead, in his hand was a glowing, blue Materia. If memory served me right, it was probably Blizzard.
"I. Will. Shoot. You," I growled out.
The man hesitated for a moment, glaring at me the whole while, but eventually dropped the Materia. It rolled harmlessly away. Phew. I'd lied my way outta that one.
"Where is Rufus?" I snapped.
The man kept glaring.
"Where is he?" I shouted.
"Hmph. Why should I tell you?" He asked smugly. I pulled the hammer back on the gun. He fell for it.
"Downstairs. Just missed him. Him and that damn animal of his were gone faster than we thought possible. Then that damn Turk had to come and finish us off. He has guts. Going around with a wound like that—"
I snatched my phone off the ground and bolted for the stairs. A dial tone was playing when I put it up to my ear. Reno must have hung up. I hoped that meant he was on his way. Slamming my phone into my pocket, I kept going.
According to that man upstairs, Tseng was the one who had taken out the people I'd passed. If Tseng went up, then Ronnie probably went out the door chasing after Rufus. Good. At least that way Ronnie was out of danger. Oh, and Rufus was guarded, of course.
The open door at the back of the building led to a janitor's room. Inside were not only a lot of mops and brooms but also another door. I pushed my way through it and stumbled into the alleyway behind the main building. The sunlight outside was harsh and it momentarily blinded me. When my vision finally returned to normal, I noticed that a few startled citizens were giving me odd looks. I loved that. A woman comes bursting out of a building, gun in hand, and all they could do was stare?
"Which way did they go?" I gasped. None of them said anything and instead chose to look around at one another.
"Which way?" I screamed.
A few of them jumped at my sudden outburst. A man pointed down the road to my left and I was off again.
Junon was as bad as Midgar. The entire city was made up of nothing but concrete and a maze of paved roads. I had no idea where I was going. Even though we had traveled everywhere with Rufus, the damn kid had taken so many twist and turns that I was sure that, even if I had known where I was before, I'd still have been lost.
The road I was traveling down came to a stop. Branching off on either side of it was another road. I screamed in frustration. Never in my life had so many damn decisions been based on 'left or right?' I was getting nowhere. Running around aimlessly was not only stupid but it was also wasting precious time. I still had my cell phone on me. Maybe I could have reached Ronnie or Tseng and see which way they went.
I decided to try Tseng first. As I took out my phone and pressed the number for Tseng on my speed dial, I looked around for the canon. If I could spot the canon, then I could probably fumble my way towards it. Unfortunately, the buildings were too tall and tightly compacted around me that I couldn't see anything. Gritting my teeth, I waited for Tseng to answer. He never did.
Fed up with waiting on Tseng, I hung up and tried Ronnie. I looked behind me and noticed that some of the people from before were still hanging around. Must be enjoying the spectacle before them, I thought bitterly. Before I could snap at the not-so-innocent bystanders, Ronnie picked up.
"Hello?" His voice came ragged from breathing heavily. Running, most likely.
"Where are you?" I asked quickly.
"I don't know!" He shouted. "Somewhere in Junon?"
"You're not helping any," I growled.
"Well, sorry! I've just been following Rufus."
"You caught him?"
"If by catch you mean, do I have him within my sight? Then yes. If by catch you mean, did I tackle him to the ground? Then no."
I rubbed my eyebrows in annoyance, "Just tell me which way you went after getting out of the building."
"Uh... I think it was a right, a left, and then another right."
"You think?" I asked.
"Yeah... I think. All these buildings look the same to me, okay? Hey! There's a blimp plane thing just over my right shoulder!"
"A what?" I asked looking up towards the sky. Maybe if I could just see what he was talking about, I could steer myself in the right direction.
"Oh, no, nevermind. That's just a helicopter."
My palm hit my forehead with a smack loud enough that I was sure Ronnie could hear, "You idiot! Listen. Tackle Rufus and drag his sorry ass to that helicopter."
I took off running down the right path. That helicopter had to be Reno. Not many helicopters flew around Gaia and nearly if not all of them were owned by Shin-Ra. I was just going to have to trust that the 'directions' Ronnie had given me were right.
After about five great strides, it occured to me that Ronnie failed to mention which section of road I was supposed to turn at. The dial tone entering my left ear was not a comforting sound. Fuck it, I thought as I pocketed my cell phone again. I'd get there when I got there. Surely Shin-Ra wouldn't leave me in Junon... Ok, surely they would come back for me... Maybe I should have picked up the pace.
I turned down the first street on my left and kept going. It was a long sucker, with lots of pedestrians dotting the way to the end. Most of them simply refused to get out of my way, making the road an obstacle course, while others overreacted and dived for the sides of the building. If they weren't in my way; I ignored them. If they were in my way; I swerved at the last second, making sure to call them a name that would be censored by national television.
It took me a while to get to the end, but when I did, I saw someone I hadn't been expecting to see. Tseng was sitting on the ground leaning against a wall. That wasn't good. It seemed even Tseng had his limits.
"You alright?" I called out to him as I walked toward him.
Slowly he turned his head to face me, "I've had better."
I snorted, "I think we've all had better."
Crouching down I noticed just how severe his burns were. His flesh might not have been peeling off like you see in horror movies or Trauma, but it was definitely red. First degree burns might not be the severest, but they did hurt like hell. And, considering the size of the burn on Tseng's chest...and the fact that he had been running and shooting not too long ago... I was surprised the bastard wasn't curled up in fetal position and crying like a baby. But, then again, that just wasn't Tseng.
"I'm guessing walking's out of the question," I mumbled.
Tseng gave me a defiant look, "It's not as bad as it looks."
"No," I agreed, "It's worse. Don't tell me that don't hurt, I know it does. And you can't tell me you just decided to sit down and lean against a wall just for shits and giggles while Rufus is out there with only measly little Ronnie and Dark Nation to protect him."
Tseng remained silent at that, staring at me intently, before commenting, "You have the strangest sayings I have ever heard."
"And working with Reno, I guess that's saying something," I smirked, "But seriously, let's get you up and to that chopper before they leave us."
To my surprise, Tseng actually allowed me to put his arm around my shoulders and lift him off the ground. Ok, he had to push off the wall a little bit because he's heavier than he looks, but the fact that he put aside his 'Mr. Suit' personality to listen to reason was more than shocking. It took us a minute or two to get our steps in sync with one another—Tseng's strides were longer and I walked too fast—but eventually we managed.
We walked in silence. I spent most of the journey trying to keep Tseng from slipping and watching Reno circle the area over, and over, and over. I hoped that they had refueled the damn thing, or we might have been stuck here for longer than was planned.
Luckily for Tseng and me, we were only a street away from the Shin-Ra building where the canon was at. Unluckily for me, Tseng's energy reserves were pretty much on empty at that point. He stumbled a bit, and since he's the heavier, we both almost went tumbling to the pavement. The wall was gracious enough to catch us. After a few mumbled words of apology on both our ends, and a quick shove off the wall, we were on our way again. For a whole three steps.
A blinding white flash followed quickly by the sound of a small explosion stopped me and Tseng in our tracks. I stopped because I was partially blind, but I think Tseng stopped because he knew something was wrong.
"Rufus," he muttered.
And naturally it had to be the idiotic Vice President that was the cause.
"Why do you say that?" I asked, using my free hand to rub my eyes. I blinked a few times before looking in the direction the Thunder spell had come from.
"Dark Nation knows a few magic spells," Tseng explained as he tried to drag me towards the Shin-Ra building.
I hurried my pace to keep him from injuring himself further, "But what if it's one of those guys from earlier?" I thought about that for a second, "And they'd only be after Rufus... Makes sense now."
Tseng cast me a sideways look but we kept going. As we drew closer, the sounds of gunfire and a spell or two could be made out. Apparently, there was more than one baddie after Rufus' ass—and Ronnie's. When I made that realization, I started to pick up the pace; but once I remembered that Tseng couldn't go very fast (though that's not saying he didn't try) I refrained from taking off.
Coming to the end of the street, Tseng and I hobbled beside the corner of a wall, and I took a chance to peer around it. Sure enough, Rufus, Ronnie, and Dark Nation had all run into a little bit of a problem. And by little, I mean big.
"What do you see?" Tseng asked.
I snorted, "Well... Rufus is in the front leading the battalion—" Tseng groaned, "—and Ronnie's kinda in the back shooting and missing horribly."
Just as I finished that sentence, Ronnie must have subconsciously heard me and decided to prove me wrong. With a loud bomf, Fire erupted from the barrel of his gun and slammed into one of the AVALANCHE members that were lined up in front of them. The man didn't even scream as he was knocked off his feet, along with two others that had been standing beside him.
"Ok, I take that back," I said. "He got about three. Dark Nation is just kind of sitting by Rufus as Rufus..."
I trailed off as I actually paid attention to the boy. In his hand was what looked like a shot gun. I wasn't sure if it was or not, but it was long-barreled regardless; and he was wielding it with the ease of an expert. Whenever he shot, he always hit.
"...kicks ass," I finished.
Tseng almost chuckled. "Not what you were expecting?"
"No, not—"
I stopped immediately as I noticed the group of AVALANCHE members running towards Ronnie and the others. The tricky thing about street fights is that streets are open on both ends. If you don't have someone watching your tail, chances are it's going to get blown off. Not wasting any time, I took off running in the direction of the new arrivals. Within seconds my pistol was out of my holster and aimed at the furthest AVALANCHE member.
I could feel the Materia resting in my pistol. That had happened before. The Thunder Materia was responding to me without me having to say its name. That was good. It meant that, if I was lucky, the idiots I was going to fire at wouldn't see me. They hadn't yet.
"There's another one!"
They saw me... Or, more specifically, the ones behind me saw me. And when they called out, the ones in front of me saw me. My day just couldn't have gotten any better.
Having been formally introduced, I decided not to waste any time handing out my gifts. One thought was all it took to release the magic stored within the tiny rock in my gun. With a loud crackle, the electricity that exploded from the barrel of my gun raced towards the AVALANCHE members. As it flew towards the man farthest from me, the lightning bolt arced and hit whoever else was in the way. In less than a second, five of the seven AVALANCE members were down. Of course, that left two more.
"Ru-fuuus!" I exclaimed, sounding like the guy from Lucy, as I took my place behind him and the others.
"A little busy, Saan," He replied as he fired at another person.
I tried to shoot another Thunder spell at the two remaining members, but nothing happened. My eyes widened as the two men took aim at me. Before they could shoot, a bolt of electricity flew past me and hit them, causing a small explosion on each of their chests and sending them flying.
I turned and faced whoever it was that had just saved me. It was Dark Nation. The feline only stared at me before turning and resuming its attack on the other AVALANCHE members. Weird moment past, I turned and walked up behind Rufus. Only three enemies remained; I didn't feel the need to rush.
"Something not go according to plan?" I hissed.
Rufus lowered his gun (which was indeed a shot gun) and faced me, frowning. The sound of Ronnie's Fire spell exploding on the remaining AVALANCHE members prevented Rufus from answering my question. I turned and stared at the smoldering, bloody corpses that lined the road in front of me. I shuddered.
"Hey!" Ronnie exclaimed. He looked down at his pistol, then turned towards Rufus and me, a giant grin plastered on his face, "I leveled up!"
The Vice President and I stared at him for a moment before looking at one another.
"What happened here today had nothing to do with me, do you understand?" Rufus asked.
I stared hard into Rufus' eyes as Ronnie looked uneasily between the both of us. He must have gotten anxious with the uncomfortable silence because he walked off and went to help Tseng—who was hobbling towards us. Potential eavesdropper gone, I folded my arms.
"They ambushed you, didn't they?" I asked.
"Drop it," Rufus replied.
"You were going to have a meeting with them for whatever reason, and they decided that having the Vice President alone with them would be too much of an opportunity to pass up. Am I right?" I asked. Rufus' eyes narrowed so I continued, "Tell me something. How long do you think a kid like you's going to be able to keep an organization like that under his thumb?"
The next thing I knew, I had a shotgun barrel pointed straight between my eyes. I chose to ignore it and kept my gaze focused on Rufus. I wasn't trying to taunt him. If anything, I was trying to warn him. It was obvious to me that his dealings with AVALANCHE were only going to end up getting worse. Next time they decided to turn on him, he might just end up dead. Something in me wouldn't allow that to happen. He was too young. Too young and too stupid to die.
"Rufus!" Tseng's voice called out.
"What the!" Ronnie's voice followed shortly after.
I cast a quick look in their direction. My eyes widened. Ronnie's arm was raised, and in it he held his pistol. He was aiming at Rufus.
"Fire!" Was the next word out of Ronnie's mouth.
I held my breath. Everything slowed down. Ronnie practically dropped Tseng as he took off running towards Rufus and me. Rufus turned, eyes wide, as the Fira spell hurtled towards him. I rushed forward, side-stepping the shotgun, and shoved Rufus hard in the chest. I managed to duck just in time for the fireball to go sailing over my head; the heat was unnerving. Rufus hit the ground hard on his ass and dropped the gun. Time seemed to catch up with itself and Ronnie was instantly by my side.
"What was that for?" Ronnie screeched at me.
"You tried to kill him!" I shouted back.
Ronnie opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, a black streak was racing towards him. Dark Nation. We had forgotten about Rufus' deadly pet. Ronnie, however, turned and faced the animal, and like a pro fired off another fireball.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed Rufus reaching for his gun. He had just laid his hand on it when I dived at him. We both grunted as I landed on top of him, my elbow digging its way into his chest as I reached for the gun. I quickly found Rufus' free hand in a vice grip around my ribs. Holy-fuckin'-ow. I gritted my teeth together, tried to ignore the pain, and slipped my arm down to his neck—my futile attempt to suffocate him. My finger barely touched the butt of the gun.
"STOP!"
For a second, I seriously thought I had just heard the voice of God...but, then it registered as Tseng's. I let up off Rufus' neck a little bit and, much to my amazement, found Rufus releasing his hold on my ribs—barely. Rufus and I shot Tseng an uncertain look. Ronnie, I noticed, had also stopped. He was glaring at Dark Nation as if he was trying to catch the cat on fire without using his Materia.
"What are you doing?" Tseng shouted at us from the ground. He had either given up on standing, or his legs had given up on him, as he was on his hands and knees.
"Get off me," Rufus muttered.
"He tried to kill Saan!" Ronnie shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Rufus.
I stared at Ronnie, "You tried to kill him!"
"And you tried to kill me," Rufus added, barely audible, but given my position on top of him...
"I tried to hurt you," I growled.
"Get off me," he growled back.
I glared at the teen under me, but gladly obliged. The distant whir of helicopter blades alerted me to the coming arrival of Reno and Rude. Thank god they hadn't come earlier. I could only imagine what comments Reno would have made about Rufus' and my position. I huffed grumpily as I threw glares at everybody present, except Tseng. And then, realizing that Tseng was still injured, I went over to help him.
"Honestly," Tseng began, "what were you thinking? We're meant to guard the Vice President, not kill him!"
I resisted the urge to sigh as I hoisted Tseng off the ground, resuming the carrying position we had earlier before. Rufus was smirking now that Tseng was reprimanding us. The helicopter's whir had gained in volume, but it still wasn't loud enough to drown out Tseng as he continued his lecture. It seemed Rufus wasn't going to get away without a scolding, either.
"And I don't think your father would be very pleased with you trying to kill his Turks, do you?"
Rufus' smirk quickly turned into a glare, "Watch it, Turk."
"Rufus," Tseng warned.
"Boys," I mimicked, watching as the helicopter started to descend onto the road.
The draft caused by the machine was whipping my hair around like something fierce, and I really felt bad for Tseng. It just happened to be blowing in his direction. I cast the helicopter a sideways glance and then looked warily at Rufus.
"We're at a crossroads, here," I began. "Rufus, I know it would probably please you greatly to tattle-tale on your pathetic bodyguards for trying to kill you, but then you'd have to let your dear old pop in on just what you were doing today. I don't think you want him to know that."
I ignored the look Tseng and Ronnie were giving me, and turned to Ronnie.
"And I know it would please you nothing more than to tell Verdot that Rufus nearly blew my brains out—"
"He did!"
"No, he didn't. And he wouldn't have."
"But!"
"But that's not the point. If you tell Verdot, then you also have to tell him you nearly killed your charge. Do you really want that on your record? And, if Verdot finds out, then he's gotta tell the President. Then the President's going to ask Rufus just what the hell happened, and Rufus is stuck in deep shit," I finished.
"Boy don't you have a very dirty mouth," Rufus sneered.
"Thank you," I replied, looking at him. "The point remains that you're fucked either way you go about it, and we're fucked in only one way. So, what's it going to be?"
"What's what going to be?" Reno asked as he walked towards us. He and Rude had landed the chopper somewhere in the middle of my rant, and seeing that we weren't in any hurry to board, Reno must have come to check on us.
"Nothing," Ronnie, Rufus, Tseng and I all chorused. Reno frowned.
"You're saying we should keep our mouth shut about this whole thing?" Ronnie asked. He looked extremely pissed, but he was going to have to deal.
"Heh," Rufus chuckled. I knew what he was thinking, and I knew it had something to do with my friends' and my demise.
"I'll kill you before you have the chance," I shot at him. Rufus gave me a doubtful look. "While you're alseep."
"Is that a threat?"
"It's a wish," I replied.
His face scrunched up in confusion. He was probably thinking I had my sayings wrong, but I didn't. It wasn't a threat, and it wasn't a warning. I would never kill him. If I had my way, I wouldn't kill anyone. But, it was a nice mental image...Shooting him in the head while he slept...Taking Dark Nation out alongside him. Passive-aggressive, anyone?
Reno looked uncomfortably between all of us—Dark Nation not included as the cat was prancing around Rufus' legs.
"Riiight," Reno said, "look, I have no idea what happened here," he swished at us with his finger, "and I don't think I wanna know, but we should get going before someone gets worried. Since ya'll seem to want to keep it a big secret. Or something... Hell, I don't even know what I'm talking about."
Reno shook his head and walked away from us, back towards the chopper. We all passed each other looks. Ronnie would keep quiet; at least, to everyone but me and maybe an inanimate object. Rufus I knew would. He knew the odds were against him. Tseng. I had no idea what Tseng would do, but I didn't really care. The only thing I was worried about with him was his wounds.
Without another word, all of us turned and started heading for the helicopter—its blades starting to whir once again. We were going to have a very interesting debriefing that was for sure. My step faltered as I remembered: Tseng had wounds. They, meaning the powers that be, would ask what had happened to him. I clenched my teeth in aggravation. He'd have to come up with something on his own. I was out of ideas.
Edit: Changed the amount of time spent with Rufus from three weeks to one. Makes the timeline more believable.