Infatuation
Rude would have never thought he'd be wearing the uniform of a lowly Shinra infantryman.
Yet here he was, fully dressed in royal blue with metal plates on his knees and shoulders, leather zipper boots on his feet, and an automatic rifle on the side of his belt. A bulky helmet was worn over his head—the one with red glowing lights right above the eyes—and the neck gaiter that obscured his visage smelled of cigarette breath and dirty gym socks. He had to silently remind himself that whatever he was wearing was borrowed and not actually his, and that he would never stoop to such standards again once he was finished with it.
Today's mission was no ordinary mission for Rude. In fact, it had nothing to do with the Turks at all, and nothing to do with the Shinra Army. This was his mission—a personal mission to thwart his own company under the disguise of a loyal infantryman. He could do whatever he wanted while off-duty, and today he chose to do something out of a "good heart", just as Reeve described it. Yes, Reeve. Rude wasn't the only one working against Shinra today, and thank god for the double agent because he definitely couldn't have done this alone.
He waited in a small dark room in Junon HQ, standing over a gas chamber. Scarlet was in the press room just outside the door, alongside her crew of cameramen and news reporters, and the two eco-terrorists who were about to be publicly executed. Rude had always been against capital punishment, and in the grand scheme of things, Shinra had committed far worse crimes than Avalanche. But was he really doing this out of a good heart? For Reeve? Or was he doing this out of infatuation for Tifa? Regardless, he was fully onboard with Reeve's plan to spare her and Barret from execution.
"Cameras, this way!" Rude heard Scarlet's voice from the press room. "Make sure you get this, the audience just eats up tearful goodbyes!"
His posture tensed as soon as the door opened, and sure enough, it was Tifa who came in first with her arms behind her back, held together by handcuffs and Scarlet's tight grip. She took a nervous glance around her surroundings before the older woman gave her a forceful shove, causing her to stumble forward. "What are you doing?!" she squeaked.
"This is my special gas chamber," Scarlet replied, making her way in front of Tifa. "Take your time, and enjoy a slow, painful death."
The executive officer pushed her again, this time into the mechanical chair of the gas chamber. Rude uncuffed her for just a moment, before reluctantly locking her wrists to the arms of the chair. The woman he liked was now one push of a button from being poisoned to death. Examining the chair's arms for the last time, he slid a hand into his pocket and felt the key Reeve had given him, the tiny metallic object that was going to save her life.
"Stuck up bitch!" Scarlet spat out before slapping her across the face, hard. And with a long, loud cackle, she turned to the false infantryman. "Let's go!"
As he followed her out the door, he dug out the key from his pocket... and without looking back at Tifa, dropped it right next to her feet. She should be able to free herself now. In the press room, Rude looked over to Cait Sith, the terribly disguised news reporter, and nodded at him with a little smile concealed behind his mask. Mission complete.