Broken Chances
By: Phoenix Dayze and S.J. Kohl
Disclaimer: We do not own FFVII or its characters. This is a nonprofit fic, except for the joy we derive from torturing Reno…
Part Eleven: Challenge
Rufus Shinra hung up the phone with a small smile. He hoped that it had been enough. He hadn't told the SOLDIER much, but maybe…just maybe the guilt, coupled with the need for vengeance would send the man on his way. It was, after all, the least he could do. It had been his father who had issued the order to kill the young blond, following the advice given to him by his head scientist, Hojo, but Rufus still hadn't managed to figure out why. What was so important—so dangerous—about a kid his age that made so many people wish him dead? Rufus didn't know, but he was determined to find out, and he was going to do his damnedest to help the dead boy's friend find what he was looking for. But he had to be careful. There were spies all over his father's company, and he was constantly watched by someone, usually the Turks.
The Turks. Now that was someone who might help him. Reno had been one of the few people he'd trusted around here, and too his benefit, his father had trusted him too, which meant that Reno might know something. But the man had disappeared after the accident that had nearly killed him, costing him his eyes and his legs. Hojo and his team had worked with the doctors on his father's payroll to do everything possible to restore the Turk to his former glory, but in the end, they hadn't been able to alter his condition. The damage was too extensive to repair.
But even though Reno could no longer work in the field, he was still a Turk, and a damn good one. The question was, where would he have gone? He'd left the hospital in the middle of the night a little over a week ago and hadn't been seen since. His father had sent out a search team, thinking that they would pick him up in mere hours. After all, how far could blind cripple get on his own? Rufus smiled. They should know better than to underestimate a Turk. Especially Reno.
Rufus sprawled back in his chair in a very undignified manner. Now, if he were Reno, and he was busted to hell and back, pissed off to the point of suicide, and trying to hide from his father, where would he go? The natural answer that came to mind was, "the last place they would look." But where was that exactly?
He rubbed a tired hand over his eyes and sighed. Where are you, Reno? I need your help with something. Surely you left some clue… Reno was…Reno. He was harsh and annoying. He was dedicated, and threw himself into things completely, even if he did come off as lazy and nonchalant. He had a round-about way of looking at things that tended to throw others for a loop, and he had an uncanny way of oversimplifying things…
Rufus frowned. That was it! To find the last place Reno would expect anyone to look for him you simply had to go back a step, to the first place you would look for him, because Reno would know that the obvious place was too obvious for SOLDIERs, Turks, and Shinra to find him.
Reno was still in Midgar. But where?
tbc...