Reno set his lunchbag on the table, getting ready to place it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator where he always put it when the phone rang with the shrill sound of an incoming text message. "That was Tseng. Old man wants me for something, I should probably go see what." Inside, he was deathly nervous, though he wasn't about to admit that to Rude. For once actually afraid of the consequences of his own actions. He didn't dare say anything else either, because if this was about what he was sure it was about he could dig himself an even deeper hole by saying it out loud.
Instead he shook his head and walked out of the break room, heading for the President's office. "I'll be back in a few minutes and tell ya what's up, Rude, I promise. I gotta go see to this before the President comes down here huntin' for ME though, 'cause if he has ta do that I know he is gonna be VERY unhappy, and I don't wanna deal with him when he's really unhappy if I can avoid it."
Jack merely smiled as Reno walked in, a scary sight in and of itself when coming from him, a sight that NO ONE wished to see. "Good, you DID come and I didn't have to track you down." He watched as Reno merely slouched inside the doorway, not moving to sit down, and certainly not showing him MUCH due respect. "You are likely wondering why I called you in--Take a seat, Reno, this will take me a while to get through."
He pulled out the ShinRa Code of Conduct novel booklet and slapped it down in front of the redhead, noting the look on his face already. "I believe you are starting to get a rough idea, aren't you?" He smirked, flipping the book open to one of the dogeared pages, pointing about halfway down the page. "Now, read that, and tell me what it says."
Chapter Fifteen, Section 4, subsection T, Paragraph 43.
In addition to the No-Fraternization Rule stated above--regarding inter-office relationships, and within the TURK organization-- team members-- in place is also a rule concerning associates and imported help.
It is noted that if you are caught consorting with an associate or such of ShinRa, the President reserves the right to decide punishment, depending on the level of indiscretion.
Also, it is still considered an indiscretion if said person is not currently being employed by ShinRa for their services, as it can be assumed that any future jobs and/or missions can/will be compromised.
Jack grinned widely, and flipped the pages again, pointing to another paragraph. "And there is a section about bandying with those associated and/or related to current fugitives. Perhaps this will also pertain to you? Reno, I may not be the world's smartest man, but I assure you, I am NOT stupid, and I know what goes on with my employees."
"I was drunk, dammit. It never would have happened if I had been sober. How the HELL did you find out anyway?" Reno was squirming in his seat at this point, nerves making his hands tremble, showing his true age of 16 for the first time in a good while. "It's not like I advertised to anyone that Dante fucked me, so I really would love ta know how th'Hell you found out." He'd been SO very careful to keep it quiet, so careful, and it had not done him a damn bit of good. "so what else is it you know, and what are ya gonna do about it?"
He was suddenly more than a little afraid that Jack knew about the baby too, and could already feel the STRONG recommendation for a termination coming his way. He felt almost like someone's teen daughter that had gotten caught with the school punk in his car during prom with her skirt above her head. Reno did NOT want to give up his baby all of the sudden, despite the responsibility which came with it. His gut was twisting on itself with nerves as he sat there and waited for Jack's answer.
"Tell me what punishment you're gonna give, sir, so I can get back ta work. . .I have a fucking fugitive to hunt down." His body was stiff, but he was prepared to deal with whatever punishment was doled out now. Een if he did feel like throwing up on the President's expensive Costan marble tile.
Jack grinned even wider, pointing to the doorway. "You have done well, Agent Tarshil. All of this came to light on a good day, which has left me with the urge to be kind. Yes, yes, I know, what a surprise, aye?" He stood, making sure to catch Reno's eye before he let the teenager walk out the door.
"Do not disappoint me, Tarshil, or else I may change my mind. I could very easily dole out a harsh punishment, one that would include the termination of the child that has resulted from your negligence, as well as that damnable half-devil. Consider yourself lucky, and go do as Tseng has told you."
Reno nodded, "Thank you sir, thank you, you have been very kind." and with that he turned and nearly FLED the office at a run. His legs were trembling as he fled down the hallway, thanking whatever divine force was in control of the universe that he had escaped the fate he had feared that day. Not realizing just how much more entangled the temporary stay of execution would make things down the road, not that he could have really, not then.
That stay had started the second portion of his own life, just as the insanity in the house the next town over had started another stage in the life of the father of his child. And lacking the wisdom of experience Reno could not even realize that, nor could he realize that in later years he might have chosen to take this choice back if he had known what it would cost. For now he was simply glad that his own life and the life of the child he harbored within had been spared.
"Rude, oh fuck, he KNOWS. Knows about Dante. . .about the baby. . about all of it, FUCK! He's not gonna make me abort, like I was afraid he would, but I know he's gonna be watchin' me closer even than he was before now." The words were spoken as he walked back into the break room, body trembling both from the close call and from the exertion of running pell mell back to the break room to clue his partner in
"HOW does he know, Reno, WE barely know!!" Rude seized Reno's arms as he came in, his face stern, shocked, horrified. "He's tapping the lines, all the lines, and that means--"
That means he knows Cloud Strife called and WARNED me--to warn Dante.
To go to Vergil, to save him--and --that's practically--TREASON--and it IS insubordination.
"Reno, I think--this isn't over yet, by a long fucking shot. Let's just leave it there, I --ain't gonna SAY anything else, motherfuck, he's probably got a wiretap up my fucking ASSHOLE. Reno, I --" FUCK, he couldn't even TALK in any privacy now--how the HELL were they supposed to have a LIFE?
And what had he SEEN--HEARD- at their place?!
"Reno, this is the SHITS."
"I bet that's exactly what he did." Reno sounded almost dull-voiced as he said it, shaking his head. "Bastard sure as fuck has OUR number, doesn't he?" He could almost FEEL the trouble to come in his bones, and it was going to be bad. ..damn bad, and he just knew it. He had no idea what it would mean for the future, how bad it was going to get over the years, but for now he was simply glad to have gotten out of there unpunished.
Of course if the old man had any idea what at least one of the two partners was thinking, they likely both would have been executed on the spot. He did not, and that was a fortunate thing for now. "We gotta figure out what to do from here, Rude. . .I don't know yet, fuck I don't know, and it's scaring the FUCK outta me. Old man's on our asses, and Vergil is still OUT there."
Groggy and dizzy, Vergil awakened to the smells of old dampness and mildew, the scampering of distant creatures in long abandoned places, and the sight of Dante sitting across from him, bare chested, looking somehow unusually dangerous.
Looking--
--why was he smiling--like that.
"Dante, what--" Trying to move his arm, Vergil felt the sharp bite of a shackle into his wrist--and he realized: he was bound, arms behind his back, sitting here in the midst of a cold, dimly lit--somewhere.
Dried blood was on his lip, and he licked it off absently. "Where are we? What the hell are you up to? Look, let's talk about this, brother, you always like to talk, so we can talk, alright? I don't think you really under--"
In the flash of a moment, Dante had impaled him with Yamato in the chest, all the way through, and Vergil choked on the sudden blood of the internal injury, now welling up inside him like a crimson fountain. Gasping, he groaned in the savage pain, and watched in shock as Dante yanked the blade free, and then--slashed across his belly with it--his voice was TORN from him in pain--and then Yamato was cast almost casually aside, in favor of Alastor, now driven into his midsection viciously. Howling in agony, Vergil struggled, now desperate to get free--and it was IMPOSSIBLE.
Dante was--
Dante was--no--couldn't be.
He was SMILING.
Keep holdin on, when my brain's tickin' like a bomb. Cuts the black, cocks the gun...up in to get me.
Sweet bitter words, unlike nothing I have heard. Sing along mocking bird, you don't effect me.
That's right, deliver it to my heart. Please try, and deliver it.
"Oh, oh NOW you want to talk?" Dante merely smiled as he walked in a half-circle around Vergil, eyeing him, disregarding the look of astonished pain on his twin's face. "Now you wanna talk? Huh? NOW I'm GOOD enough for you to talk to? No, I'm sorry, the time for TALKING was OVER six months ago when you LEFT me, when I BEGGED you not to leave me."
He shook his head, "There ain't much TO talk about now ANYWAY. You left me, high and dry, didn't tell me where you were goin', what you were doin', or WHY you were doin' any of it. I-- that fuckin' HURT, seeing you just WALK away from me like that, and here you are, wantin' to TALK about it? I should just leave you right where you are, let the creepy-crawlies come feast on your squirming, screaming body... I SHOULD, I really SHOULD, but I won't."
He stopped, angered-dark violet eyes locking onto the PAINED ones of this brother. "I'm so fuckin' PISSED at you right now, it ain't even funny...but you know what?" He laughed, shaking his head, "I can't HATE you. As much as I WANT to...I can't fuckin' hate you."
Nauseated from pain, Vergil fought it off, and glared at Dante, the old fire coming back, wisdom and coldness far past anything an eighteen year old should be feeling --or CAPABLE of.
"You bastard. How dare you DO this to me, and then claim to have some sort of justification--at what point have I TORTURED you, Dante? Have I ever stabbed you and smiled over it? What the fuck is going on inside that pinhead of yours, anyway? You see, THIS is why I say you can't HANDLE the power I seek--you CAN'T--you're like an angry child, willing to go berzerk if you don't get your way."
Dante was--
son of a bitch, he was making Vergil afraid.
VERY, very, very afraid.
"Let me loose, stop HURTING me, I don't think that will help our relationship, and I will talk with you NOW, we can try to figure things out. Alright? Spilling my blood, hearing me cry out in pain has probably made you feel like a big man, hasn't it? You have had your fun, little brother. Now let me loose, and we can talk this out."
He was shaking, and he did NOT want Dante to SEE that.