I'm moving, and my room's a mess, so the update's not going to be as regular as it had been for the next few weeks. Not that it had been that regular... but writing to the scenario's not really my thing anymore, evidently.

Bloodwitch Raven - I get really distracted writing Reno fighting, because he's too fast to follow. I had to slow down the animation quite a bit to get a blow-by-blow sequence. For someone not enhanced with JENOVA, Reno is really, really fast, something I didn't appreciate until well, now. I now firmly believe that he's not really normal human.

Echo the Ethereal Swordmaster - I kind of wish we got more montage with Reno and Rude in it, or at least Tseng and Elena, because we don't know what was going on behind the scenes (who was piloting the chopper? When did Rude make the bombs? When did he attach the fireworks?). It's a lot of guesswork. One thing I noticed while pausing the film was that Reno can look damn scary sometimes.

A week late... again. This is NOT my best chapter.

Chapter 53: Falling and Chasing


Dodge, dodge, dodge. Reno was vaguely aware of a bunch of people - some with familiar faces - fighting above his head, in the sky, hopping this way and that, but he couldn't really pay attention to it with Sissy-pants coming after him like a jealous girlfriend. Actually, Sissy kind of looked like a girl, especially with the black coat that looked like a dress. Rude was apparently having a handful behind him with the Gorilla boy trying to pummel him into wine or something.

"God-damn it," he shouted. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Mother," said Sissy-pants.

"Yeah, well, I sure as hell don't have it!" Reno yelped, then ducked just in time for Sissy's foot to swing harmlessly above him. "What the-"

It was an animal instinct, rather than anything else, that had allowed Reno to hastily make a getaway as a huge body came raining down from the sky, turning into a huge glob of blue energy along the way. The energy began to dissipate, but still managed to do plenty of harm to the structures being constructed, and there was a deafening clang after clang as beams fell onto the ground. Reno threw himself onto the ground, then rolled away as a metal beam came crashing down. Everyone stopped for a moment as they watched the structures under construction fall.

Then something sparked above Reno's head.

Reno looked up. Rude looked up, and so did Sissy and Gorilla and everyone else in the street. The top of the building caught fire, as if it was sprouting orange hair, tufts of orange flame dancing in the wind. And falling from what appeared to be the building like an errant tear or a drop of snot, was-

"Prez!" Reno and Rude shouted together.

Rufus somehow maintained a smile. A victorious smile, as it were, as if he was sure of his win. Well, Rufus did have many aces to fire into the hole, so to speak, and usually an exit plan or two. The question was whether Rufus had an exit plan for someone else. That was unlikely. He shot the double barrel shotgun with one hand as the black box that Rufus had kept JENOVA in fell. Turd three came falling after him, in an odd display of obedience to gravity.

Rufus pulled the trigger again, then again, the sharp percussive sounds slicing into the whistling winds about his ears. There was an odd-sounding clang, and Reno knew that something had hit the box. Why was Rufus trying to destroy the box now? He had no idea, and apparently, neither did Rude. Everyone just watched as the box, the president, and the silver-haired kid fell from fifteen floors above. Rufus' white coat billowed in the wind, and then the kid went ahead of the president, his hand reaching for the box.

Rufus' exit strategy turned out to be Elena and Tseng - where the hell did they come from? - running along the ledges and the roofs of the buildings. They had what appeared to be grappling hooks attached to pistol nozzles, and they shot in unison, Elena in in a double grip, Tseng with one hand. The bandage around Tseng's head was stark, but it appeared that the bleeding had stopped long ago.

Rufus fell through the air, wind rushing about him, and then the two nets shot by Elena and Tseng crossed, catching Rufus in the middle with a soft thump. The silver-haired kid, on the other hand, had managed to grab hold of the box and land on his feet.

Reno backed into Rude in alert, who stumbled. Sissy-pants and Gorilla stood by, ready to move and watching. And the snub-nosed kid, on the other hand…

Ran to the motorcycle parked nearby, hopped onto it, and sped away. The other two scrambled, following suit. Reno called to Rufus, who was trying to get down from his hummock. The three motorcycles fled the scene, with Cloud hot on their heels. People were jumping out of the way in alarm and surprise. Rufus managed to cut the net, grabbing hold of one side of it as it dangled from its grappling hook. He managed to land on his feet, just in time for the four Turks to converge to him.

He jerked his chin. The four nodded, Reno chuckling along the way.

It was showtime.


The phone rang, and Arien sat up, reaching for the vibrating gadget. She flicked the screen, waking it up from its dark stupor, and saw the name. "Yes?" she said.

"It's me," came Reno's voice. "We need the chopper."

"ETA?"

She heard him confer with someone else - Rude, probably - and then he came back. "Five minutes," he said. "We're probably gonna need to fuck stuff up, so need firearm."

"Roger that." Before she even finished the sentence, he was gone.

The warehouse was equipped with various tools, mostly things such as drills, hammer, and various glues that came in handy with the various things that the Turks did. Arien went through the toolbox, grabbed a power drill, and went upstairs, her shoes clanging against the metal staircase that led to the roof of the warehouse. The helicopters sat, complacent, like a gigantic insect, its propellers still.

"Let's hope Reno won't crash you," she told one of them, then flung open the door and climbed in, opening the back seat and getting the large mountable machine gun out. It took a few minutes to mount the thing, the large gun being unwieldy and decidedly uncooperative. She was just drilling in the last screw when Reno came up and called her name.

She finished drilling, then put the power tool down and stood up. "Hi," she said.

Reno put on a dry smile. "Hey." He noticed her looking around. "Rude's downstairs. Getting stuff together." And giving us some time, Reno thought, but didn't say it. Arien, who must have noticed something amiss, did not move.

"You okay?" he asked, after a moment of silence.

"I had another attack." She sighed. "That's all."

Reno was all too aware of their time running out. He was all too aware of the possibility that he might not come back tonight. He knew what that would do to her. He knew what would happen to her, if he was gone. He was all too aware of the fact that Arien's time was quickly running out, and that she may not have even few days to live. She never said anything, but Reno knew, from how wan she looked, how frequent her attacks were.

But he had to go. Because he also knew that Arien would not want him to shy away from his calling because of her. He could go down the path that Zen had, become a family man… but Arien had never wanted that, and he knew it. She loved him for who he was, not what he could do for her.

"I have to go," he said.

She nodded. He took her into his arms, and she inhaled, burying her face into his clean jacket. He touched her hair, soft and silky against his fingers, smelled her soft, powdery fragrance, savouring it.

"I-"

Reno placed a slender finger on her lips. "Don't say it," he said. He removed the finger, grinned, and winked.

Then he turned and climbed into the helicopter. Rude came up behind her, a large case in his hand, then climbed into the other side. The door slid closed.

Arien watched as the helicopter took to the air. She wasn't sure if Reno was ever coming back, but this was not the time to cry. He was going into battle, and the least she could do was monitor and give him support. When the helicopter flew out of sight, Arien sighed, and went back downstairs.


It didn't take long to catch up to the chase.

The expressway had been closed off, the long winding road that led to the ruins of Midgar. But it was a logical choice, and so Reno flew parallel to the expressway, looking for four motorcycles.

And there they were, one silver head riding down the higher ramp, the other three twirling and fighting and doing what no driver's education taught. Gorilla did some weird air-flip and had managed to land on the motorcycle that had managed to stay upright without anyone on it. It was as if gravity and laws of physics went out the window around them.

"Man, that's totally unfair," Reno groused."Ready, Rude?"

"Ready," came the answer, and he heard the door being thrown open. It was showtime. Just then, Sissy-pants opened fire on the Chocobo Head - motorcycles had machine guns? Since when, and where could he get one? Reno wondered - and completely ignored the chopper making a beeline for them. It was as if the Turks weren't worth noticing.

Which pissed Reno off.

"Don't fuckin' mistake who you're supposed to be fightin', man," the redhead said with a grin, then squeezed the trigger.

That got their least, it got Gorilla's attention, since the douche decided to do a wheelie, turn the motorcycle around, and start shooting at the Turks. How Gorilla's motorcycle managed to go backward was an engineering mystery, but Reno wasn't going to become a target practice, so he swerved away and out of view from the two nuisances. He swerved again, and then dived, firing as he came under the higher expressway. He intercepted the two, opening fire. He saw Rude lean out from the open entry, and hastily beat retreat as Rude fired.

The rocket launcher wasn't powerful enough to destroy a town, but it was enough to destroy the part of expressway like a giant hand slapping around the surface. Reno heard cries and as he flew away, he grinned.

He really should have known not to relax his guard until he made a complete getaway. A rookie mistake, something even Elena won't do, but he was tired and he was pissed at these two boneheads. And if Sissy-head lacked something, it was called common sense.

Sissy launched himself and the motorcycle from the crumbling expressway, and straight into the aircraft, right at Rude.

Reno had not heard anything when Rude fell out. He did, however, feel the sharp ping! of a bullet hit the joystick, the shock of it reverberating through his hand. He instantly let go of it, heard Rude's shout, then yanked onto the joystick.

It snapped off in his hand.

Unable to comprehend what was going on for a second, he stared at the plastic and metal part in his hand for a moment, but then the reality began to whack him in the face.

Fact 1: the helicopter was definitely out of control.

Fact 2: there were beeping and booping everywhere.

Fact 3: it was definitely May Day time.

"Shit, shit shit!" he hissed, launching himself from the seat and to the back, seeking an exit. No such thing. The aircraft was spinning in the air, and the wind was a torrent about his ears, but then he saw Rude clinging onto the side of the chopper for his life.

"Oh, hey, Rude!" said the redhead cheerfully. "You were fine!"

The bald man's response was a little grimmer than his partner's. "No," said Rude, "not really."

The helicopter continued to spin like a top, finally crashing into a half-built spire of a building. Reno and Rude let go, making a rough landing for the second time in a week or two. Reno silently swore an oath not to get near a chopper anytime soon.


Elena had made it back to the warehouse and was staring at the screen when Arien's phone rang again. The Wutaian woman yielded her rolley chair to the younger woman, then stood up, answering the phone. "DeVir," she said. "Oh, yes sir."

Elena perked up. If it had been Rude or Reno, she would have responded with a simple "yes?" or "what". The addition of the honorific told Elena that it was either Tseng or Rufus. But Arien gave no further indication as to who was on the phone, just a string of 'yes', and then apparently the caller had ended the conversation, since Arien managed half a farewell before she slid the phone away into her pocket. She looked at Elena. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

Arien twirled her Glock. "The boys are in trouble," she said shortly. "Apparently the helicopters have suddenly become disposable. Or something. We need to go pick them up."

It didn't take long to find them, thanks to Reno's head that looked as if it was on fire in the setting sun. Arien had Elena open the back door and throw down the ropes; she heard her cry "Guys!" down at the two. Arien steadied the helicopter as two more bodies came up. The door slammed, and then Reno climbed into the other seat in the front.

"What just happened?" Arien asked as Reno massaged the bruises. "The entire section of the highway's gone."

"We, ah, shot it up," came Reno's amused reply.

"Why is it that everywhere you go, you destroy civilisations?" Arien complained. "Where are we headed to, anyway?"

"The warehouse," came the gruff reply from the back. "Need to pick a few things up."

"Warehouse it is," she said, turning the helicopter. Reno snapped on the headset and began to give updates to Tseng.

As soon as they got to the warehouse, Rude rushed down to the workshop area after telling Arien to join him. Arien jumped out and rushed after him as before the propellers stopped whirring. Ten minutes later, Rude came back onto the roof, carrying two boxes about the size of a tablet. "Elena," he said gruffly, "get us in the air."

"Wait, what? But DeVir-"

Rude just stared at her.

"Right, sir. Take-off. Right."

The aircraft took off again, leaving a woman unconscious on the concrete floor down below.