Chapter 11
An uncomfortable silence drifted around them as Elena massaged her temples. Elena just didn't know what to say to Rude. She had spent hours with him at her apartment, searching through what was left of Hojo's notes and files. After staring at the computer screen so long a headache had happily nested itself in the sensitive areas behind her eyes and temples...which is why she had asked Rude to drive.
It had been easy to avoid the subject of the other night when she'd made a complete monster of herself. All she had to do was concentrate on the computer and keep their minute conversation on the task at hand. That proved easy since Rude was never much of a conversationalist.
For some reason the characteristic silence the bald man emitted was making her more uncomfortable than it ever had. Elena smoothed her thumb over the manila folder of printed results in her lap. The streetlights reflected off his sunglasses. She couldn't read his eyes through his shades and that made her even more fidgety.
He was probably mentally berating himself for telling her how he felt. It took a lot of courage to tell someone you cared deeply for them...even more so in Rude's case. And she rejected him...well, not quite. But he would probably see it that way. How she wanted to tell him it wasn't him, it was her. She was too shaken up after Tseng to engage in anything beyond simple friendship. She wanted to tell him to give her some time and she would be ready for him...not to give up on her. But she lacked the strength to do even that...
Rude kept his steady gaze on the road ahead of them. He could sense Elena trying to read him. But when he looked over at her, she just sat rigidly in her seat with her hands folded stiffly on top of the manila folders.
/I make her so uncomfortable... /
When he halted at a red light he tried to think of something that would ease the tension. The idea died before he made an attempt.
/I'll only make it worse... /
After finding nothing distracting enough outside, Elena made an attempt of her own.
"I hope we find Reno's mother. This has to be tearing him up right now."
She didn't really expect a response but he did reply.
"Yeah." He pressed the gas petal at the change of the light. "We'll find her..."
The silence claimed its throne among them once more as he puled into the company garage. Darkly angry tire tread marks caught his attention on the way in. Whoever created those had to have been out of there in quite a hurry. The company lot was kept spotless just like the rest of the company grounds. Every evening just after the main business closed, every oil spot and mark was sprayed away. These particular marks had to have been made recently...
Elena didn't notice them so he didn't bring it to her attention. They stepped out the car and clutching the folder of research, she followed him inside the building.
* * * * *
Reno tapped his nightstick against the side of his armchair rapidly. He was absorbed in worried thoughts and hadn't realized he was doing it. Across the office, Cloud and Reeve went through tape after tape of surveillance but nothing useful was turning up.
Tifa stole glances at Reno's distressed form. No doubt, he was mentally beating himself in the head over the whole thing.
Now why did that disturb her so much?
She tiredly rose from her seat and sauntered over to the wall dominating mirror behind Reeve's desk. It was past midnight. She couldn't see much past her feeble reflection in the tinted pane. Tifa really just wanted to be in bed...forget the sandwhich. But she couldn't leave the others here to work.
But what could she do to help?
"What about the nurse?"
Everyone snapped their heads around to look at the speaker: Reno.
"What nurse?" Reeve asked in response to Reno's quiet inquiry.
"That skinny, black-haired nurse who kept hanging around my mother."
Reeve looked to the others for an explanation. "I don't remember having a...black-haired nurse."
Cloud and Tifa's brows furrowed simultaneously.
"But there was one," Cloud confirmed, "I ran into her by Casca's room sometime before Reno left."
Reeve narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and slid over to his computer. He pulled up a list with pictures of his medical staff. There three nurses, none of which had black hair, and his chief doctor, Dr. Naid.
"We don't have a black-haired nurse, Reno," he repeated.
Reno suddenly stood and walked over to the computer to confirm it for himself. As Reeve had said, there was no such person.
"Cloud, you said you checked in on her and she was asleep?"
Cloud nodded in affirmation, taking surprised notice that Reno actually called him by his name.
"Reeve, why don't you show us footage from say...an hour before Cloud checked her."
They all had a vague feeling of what he was looking for. Reeve put in a tape and began fast forwarding through it. After minutes of seeing either Cloud or the doctor the woman in question made her appearance. Reeve played the tape at normal speed and they all gathered around the monitor.
A thin woman in the company nurse uniform looked around. Seeing that the hall was clear she slowly opened the door to Giovanna's room and slipped inside with a black briefcase.
Reno heard Tifa gasp quietly behind him.
As expected, Cloud then peeked into the room and continued on down the hall.
"I swear I didn't see anyone when I looked in!" Cloud stated defensively.
"It's alright, Cloud. This isn't your fault..."
"The hell it isn't!" Reno interrupted Tifa. "Maybe if you were a little more observant..."
"I...am...observant," Cloud retorted with restrained calm.
"Guys *please* ," Reeve began, gesturing towards the monitor. "If you pay attention, she might give us some clue as to where she took her."
They reluctantly turned their attention back to the screen and watched. The camera had been programmed to move back and forth between the two patient rooms. And after several rounds the nurse came out struggling under the weight of an unconscious woman...Giovanna.
She had probably been to distracted to avoid that particular security camera while carrying her victim. After the nurse continued off the monitor, Tifa released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Now how would they figure out where she was?
"Now that doesn't tell us a *damn* thing about where she went," Reno glared accusingly at Reeve.
"I never said that it would but it was worth a shot."
"Why not try tapes of the parking lot..." Rude startled everyone from the door.
"Why the parking lot?" Cloud asked softly, his blue eyes glowing tiredly in the dimly lit office.
"Just a hunch," Rude replied without offering anything else in the way of an explanation.
Reeve sighed, "Why not? This is the last one before we call it quits for tonight." He allowed Rude to fish among the bin of tapes while Elena sat her folder on his desk.
"Um, guys? While he's looking for that you might want to hear what Rude and I found out."
She opened the folder while they gathered around the desk.
"One thing we can be certain of is that it was definitely Hojo that started this whole thing," she began as Cloud rolled his eyes in scorn for the hated scientist. "He had a secret project planned before he got caught up in the whole Jenova Project. He randomly selected an snatched twenty women from around the slums for the project." Elena pulled out a list of names and corresponding tank numbers from the folder. Sure enough, Casca and Giovanna's names were there.
"He called the project the 'Cetra Procreation'. He planned to clone a Cetra's egg cells and implant them into different women along with a nutrient rich mako solution."
"Why mako?" Cloud interrupted.
"Well, he believed that the developing Cetra would be weaker growing inside an alien womb...a human's. So going by pretty much the same principle as mako infusions for SOLDIER, he developed a safer, or weaker rather, solution for the embryo. Not all women's bodies would except both a Cetra embryo and the mako so he tested several to find twenty women who could. Even so, the 'mother' was expected to die around the gestation period."
"So you mean even women whose bodies would except the embryo and mako would die anyway before the experiment was over?"
Elena nodded gravely to Cloud's question. She heard Reno mutter something like "the sick bastard" under his breath.
"That's horrible!" Tifa exclaimed.
"That's only half of it." She tucked some unruly blonde strands back behind her ears and continued. "He planned to keep snatching women for the project until he had enough Cetra to breed them amongst themselves. He also made designs for tanks that would speed up their growth. In a matter of time he could have had an entire army of Cetra at his disposal."
"How was he getting funds for this type of experimentation?" Tifa addressed Reeve.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the old president was overseeing it personally," Reeve answered bitterly. "All Hojo had to do was explain how beneficial the project would be to him and he would have money pumped right into the lab's funds. No one but Hojo and himself could prove it, though. "
Tifa noticed Reno suddenly go pale.
"Well it's a good thing he never got back to the project," Cloud said, speaking for everyone.
"Yeah..." Tifa agreed still eyeing Reno. "But what about Casca? Won't she be back to steal her too?"
"Most likely," Elena replied thoughtfully. "I doubt she'll try anything right away though."
"I'll make sure she's guarded tonight then," Reeve assured.
"Would *this* be who we're looking for?" Rude asked from where he'd been viewing a security tape of the lot.
He gestured to a dark-haired woman on the screen.
"That's the bitch, Rude," Reno confirmed through clenched teeth.
"But what about *him*?" Cloud asked pointing to a brawny light haired man following the 'nurse'. He had who looked like Giovanna easily slung over one muscular shoulder. He placed her in the back seat of a dark car before they sped out of the lot.
"...Hired help...?" Elena suggested meekly.
"One more bastard who'll learn the hard way not to screw with me or my mother," Reno answered threateningly. He turned to leave but Elena grabbed his shoulder.
"You can't go off to find her by yourself, Reno. We have nothing to go on yet," she reasoned.
"She'll be miles away by tomorrow, Elena."
"But what good will it do you to comb the entire city of Midgar with no info to start with?"
He looked to Rude and Reeve.
"She's right Reno," Reeve agreed. "We'll start first thing tomorrow. I know you're worried about her but there isn't much we can do at one in the morning with no leads."
His eyes narrowed at everyone. Once again, the familiar feeling that they were against him festered. His defensive frown curved into a mirthless smirk. He chuckled bitterly in his throat. "Oh, I'm not going tonight then. But tomorrow we start early...very early."
He left Reeve's office in two long strides, leaving the rest to sigh tiredly.
Reeve bade the rest of them 'good night' while he checked to make sure guards were posted at Casca's door as promised.
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