The Last of an Elite
Chapter Eleven: Avalanche Invade
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
Shin-Ra hospitals were suprisingly underdeveloped compared to the rest of its advances. The reason for this was fairly simple; what didn't kill a soldier could usually be cured with magic. However, on rare occasions someone gained a wound that didn't kill them but was beyond the curative abilities of materia. These people were unlucky enough to see the inside of the hospital wing of the Shin-Ra Headquarters.
"Taste this food Rude. Taste it and tell me it's not recycled Mako waste, seasoned with chocobo dung and with a side order of melted crayons!"
"......"
"Christ! I can't eat this muck!" Reno balanced the plate on the edge of the side-table next to the hospital bed. "You could have brought me something to eat"
"....... I did......" Rude pointed at the grapes he had given to his friend. Reno looked at them.
"They came off a bush. I don't eat things that come off bushes. Or trees. Or out of the ground. Or anything that's green. Unless it's a green jellybean."
".........."
"They won't let me drink Rude! They gave me water and orange juice!"
"A tragedy." Rude said solemnly.
"I can't help but get the impression you're not taking my justified anger seriously here." Reno slumped back into his pillow. "They can't even decide what's wrong with me. One doctor said it was a smashed rib. Another one said I'd torn some muscles. A third one said the broken rib had torn the muscles and punctured my lung to boot. Then they got into an argument and threw stethoscopes at each other."
"..........."
"You always say that." Reno turned his head. From his angle all he could see through the far window was a small square of green-grey sky. "Hey, what did ya do to that ditz who attacked the building the other day?"
"Her name's Elena." Rude hesitated, wondering how best to explain the new situation to Reno. "..... Tseng's decided to....... make her your ...... temporary ...... replacement."
"WHAT!?"
-~-~-~-
Elena wished desperately for a mirror. The changing rooms hadn't had one, and neither had the main office she had been brought too. Perched on the edge of one of the chairs she smoothed the creases in the dark blue trousers for the twentieth time.
"This whole situation is remarkably unorthodox." Tseng stood with his back to her, looking at the rubbled remains of Sector Seven. "Normally Turks are recruited, either from the ranks of SOLDIER or collected if they've proven themselves to have the needed skills. They don't just join if they feel like it."
"Yes sir"
"However." Tseng paused, still regarding the scene of devastation outside the window "We've had a trying time recently. Our resources have been stretched to the limits, and with Reno in the hospital we needed a new Turk – quickly."
"Yes sir" Elena found herself contemplating the span of his shoulders, the curve of his spine, her eyes drifting lower...
"You'll undergo a severe training program over the next few weeks. We'll start with hand-to-hand combat and then look briefly at basic weaponry, though your file says you're already an extremely skilled shot."
He complimented me! Elena felt a warm fuzzy feeling fill her mind, and she returned her eyes to the back of his head.
"I'm not sure how long Reno will be out for, but – " Tseng stopped abruptly. Elena blinked. Tseng stood silently for a second, then turned and indicated for her to come over to the window. She obeyed, confused.
"Look down there." Tseng pointed downwards. Looking down Elena saw the open area in front of the HQ, and a few jutting bits of metal that stuck out over the chasm that had been Sector Seven. There was movement, and Elena peered closer. They were a long way up, but she had good eyesight.
"What do you see?" Tseng asked calmly.
"Um.... I see some debris, and a person with blond hair. Wait, someone else has joined them – a big dark looking guy. He seems to have come from the ruins. Yes, here comes a third person, a woman I think, it's hard to tell at this height. Are they survivors or rescue workers or something? They seem to be coming towards the building...."
-~-~-~-
"That stupid bimbo has replaced me!? Rude she's hopeless! An idiot! She can't fight! And how can you trust her just because of what she says!? She – "
"Shut up Reno."
Reno glared at Rude. There was an uncomfortable silence, during which the long winded drone of a fly became audible. Then Rude's PHS beeped, breaking the mood. Reno turned his head away from Rude, although he listened carefully to everything that was said.
"We've got an emergency situation Rude."
"...."
"Three members of AVALANCHE are on their way into the building."
Rude felt something like hope fill him. With uncharacteristic eagerness he asked "Which three?"
"Difficult to tell, but it looks like Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace and Tifa Lockheart. I need you up here. Now."
"Sir." Rude snapped his PHS shut and stood up. Reno glanced at him, looking faintly puzzled.
"You sound happy. Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"........... Emergency. Bye." Rude hastened out the door of the hospital wing, leaving a very disgruntled Reno behind him.
-~-~-~-
The three Turks stood around the CCTV screens, watching the scene in front of them. The 61st floor, the employees lounge, filled the screen. Various people milled around, and amongst them moved the AVALANCHE members. Every now and then they paused and spoke to one of the people, and after a few minutes of this they got into an elevator. Tseng pressed a button and the 62nd floor appeared instead. As they watched the three terrorists disembarked from the elevator and started examining the libraries.
"......... rescue mission?" Rude looked towards his boss.
"Must be." Tseng frowned. "The Ancient seems to be important to them for some reason. I didn't think they'd known each other that long...."
"Our plan?"
"All the high executives will be attending the meeting that's due to start in a few minutes." Tseng drummed his fingers against a nearby table. "I don't want to disturb them until afterwards. It will take them a while to get to the lab, considering the diversions between them and it."
Um... excuse me sir?" Elena started to put her hand up like she had done in school, then realised what she was doing and hastily turned it into a quick sweep through her hair. "Wasn't it Avalanche who dropped the plate?"
There was silence in the room. Then Tseng looked back at the screens. On them he could see the Mayor handing a keycard over to the terrorists.
"This could be a very useful opportunity to discover the weak spots in our security." He said, silently deciding to ignore Elena's question for the moment. She didn't need to know what she had got into – yet. "We'll let them reach the Ancient, and then we'll intercept them as they flee the building. Understand Rude?"
Rude nodded. He wondered if Tseng's decision stemmed in part from wanting to protect Aerith from Hojo's experimentation for as long as possible. Rude was more astute than many people gave him credit for, and he had noticed Tseng's reluctance to capture or harm the flower girl. Perhaps he would understand how I feel about Tifa? No, I can't tell him. Rude wiped his mind clear of his thoughts and returned to watching the terrorists climb the building, floor by floor.
-~-~-~-
Reeve sat in the board room, feeling strangely claustrophobic. Glancing down at the papers in front of him he realised he had drawn a tiny picture of Cait Sith in the margin of his sums. He hastily scribbled it out, feeling somehow guilty even though he had accepted that Cait had to be turned into a spy.
The rest of the employees filed in. Seating themselves at the long table they shuffled and talked a little among themselves. Reeve kept his eyes firmly on his paper, refusing to look up for fear he should meet Scarlet's eyes.
"Reeve." The President's voice penetrated through to him, and he stood up reluctantly. He couldn't help but feel that all the damage assessment and cost calculating he had done would be in vain. The President never gave him the full budget he asked for, preferring to spend more on the Peace Preservation Department.
"We have the damage estimates for Sector 7. Considering those factories we already set up and all the investments, the damage is estimated at approximately 10 Billion Gil..."
Reeve paused and cleared his throat. Then he looked up, directly at President Shin-Ra. "The estimated cost to rebuild Sector 7 is..."
"We're not rebuilding." President Shin-Ra returned his gaze unfazed.
"What?"
"We're leaving Sector 7 as it is. And restarting the Neo-Midgar plan."
-~-~-~-
Reno studied the now congealed food thoughtfully. It had been disgusting before but now it was inedible and he was starving. He poked the "melted crayon" with the plastic knife. It didn't even dent. His stomach growled.
"Ah crap." he sighed. "Maybe I should have eaten it......"
-~-~-~-
"Sir, if you raise the rates, the people will lose confidence..." Reeve looked down at the table top again. The talk of Ancients and Promised Lands made the feelings of guilt worse. Nobody even knows what the Promised Land really is. It's fertile, and the Ancients went there when they died. Sounds like Heaven. And you can't tarmac Heaven or build a Mako Reactor there. Why do we have to be so ambitious?
The President smiled "It'll be all right. The ignorant citizens won't lose confidence, they'll trust Shinra, Inc. even more."
Heidegger laughed. "Gya-Ha-ha-ha! After all, we're the ones who saved Sector 7 from AVALANCHE!"
-~-~-~-
Elena read the file on Cloud Strife carefully, making sure she took in every word. His history fitted in with some of the things she remembered from the illegal file hacking she had done to find out about the Turks.
"Sir?"
"Yes Elena?" Tseng looked away from the CCTV. For some reason the terrorists had decided to spend a lengthy amount of time in the toilet together. Tseng wasn't sure he wanted to know what that was about.
"What does "misappropriation" mean?"
"There's a dictionary on the shelf." He turned back, wondering briefly if he had made a wise decision in recruiting the girl.
"Yes sir!" Elena hastened over to the shelf, examining the book spines. "Oh! There's two! Which one should I use?"
"I'm sure they're equally as accurate." Tseng said, somewhat irritated.
"Do you think so? One says it has 65 000 words in... the other one is a dictionary and a thesaurus."
"Elena......"
"I'll check it in both shall I? Let's see..... M....I...."
"........." Rude turned round and opened the dictionary at the right page and pointed at the word.
"Ooh, thanks! Hmmm... 'apply (usu. Another's money) to one's own use, or to a wrong use'.... that makes sense. Only... it wasn't talking about money." Elena walked back to the file and examined it. "No, it's talking about a sword."
"Just read the file Elena." Tseng said.
"oh, uh.. s.. sorry sir!" Elena hastily returned to her concentrated reading.
-~-~-~-
Rude studied the screens. He had watched Tifa fight, and his respect for her increased dramatically. Her lithe supple form seemed to posses a hidden strength, her fists able to smash down enemies twice the size of her.
As he watched, he saw them confront Hojo and help one of his lab animals to escape, along with the Ancient. They had a quick discussion and then split in half, the lab animal and the Ancient going with Cloud and Barret and Tifa in the other group.
I wonder if she has feelings for Barret? She never seemed to... seems strange that in the 5 years I knew her she never once seemed to have a boyfriend. So many men hit on her. But she never encouraged them. Not once.
"Rude? You meet Cloud. I'll get the other two and then join you." Tseng's voice interrupted his thoughts.
".... sir."
Rude left the office and headed for the 66th floor elevator. His thoughts were spinning, but he didn't let it affect his professional demeanour. With his expressionless face, eyes hidden by dark glasses, most people assumed he was as un-emphatic as he looked.
Rude knew this. He welcomed the silence and lack of social contact. He couldn't kill someone he had been friendly with. Found it difficult to kill someone he even knew. He suspected Tseng did too, considering the Turk leader also disliked the more social aspects of his job.
Reno is the only one who seems to be able to talk with people as easily as he always has. He'll be joking with them even as he pulls the trigger. I couldn't do that. A murder is still a murder, even if it's a necessary one. It feels wrong to laugh about it. I guess that's what makes him so good at spying. He's not intimidating.
Strange though... people think he's the nicest one of us, and yet he's probably the most ruthless. I couldn't have dropped the plate. I don't think Tseng could have. Yet he doesn't even appear phased by it. I wonder....
A sudden image of Reno's two facial scars came to his mind suddenly. He never did tell me where he got those from.
He went to Hojo's lab for the standard Mako infusion. Came back with powerful non-materia magic, two scars, and already as ruthless as any soldier.
Hmm...
Rude had reached the 66th floor elevator. The narrow clear tube already contained Cloud, the lab animal, and the Ancient. He walked in, touching Cloud on his shoulder to turn him round.
The blonde responded, spinning round with his bright blue eyes widening in suprise. The Ancient gasped, putting her hands up to her mouth. The lab animal – on closer inspection it appeared to be some kind of feline/canine cross – looked up calmly, flicking it's flame tipped tail back and forth.
"Would you press "up" please?" Rude watched all three.
"Turks? Must be a trap..." Cloud's hand twitched, opening slightly. He was clearly debating whether to fight.
"It must have been a real thrill for you... Did you enjoy it?" Tseng had joined him. The sight of the Wutaian seemed to decide Cloud. He made a peculiar choking noise, shaking his head and indicating to the Ancient to send the elevator up.
-~-~-~-
A/N: Another chapter done ~ reviews please! I have ideas for the next chapter planned, and I'll try and get it written sometime over the week. Sorry for the delay, I do try to keep this constantly updated but academics is coming first at the moment. I leave school on the 17th of May, so hopefully things will speed up then. Trouble is I have exams right after that ^^;;
Next chapter: The meeting with Pres. Shin-Ra, some Tseng character development (poor guy's been neglected recently) and hopefully some more from Elena. Plus everyone's favourite sword-wielding silver haired psycho will be turning up soon ^_^ Keep reading!