The Last of an Elite
Chapter Twenty Five: Enjoy Your Walk
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
Scarlet sat in the front seat of the helicopter, near the pilot, carefully repainting her long nails. Even with the rocking motion caused by air turbulence she was able to keep the surface sheer and smooth.
Seemingly absorbed in her task, she was nether the less fully aware of both the pilot's movements, and the conversation coming from the back.
"Report please Reno".
"Um yeah. Well, we met up at Junon..." Her mind drifted as Reno reported. She already knew the Turks had found no trace of Avalanche or Sephiroth. "... And then Joanna Gramercy was taken back to Midgar by a division of Shinra guards, where she'll be kept until she's put on trial for being a stowaway." He paused, and then added "Sir" as an afterthought.
"Very good. Anything to add Rude?"
Silence. Which meant Rude was 'talking'. Both Tseng and Reno seemed to pick out huge amounts of information from Rude's blank silences. Scarlet blew gently on her right hand to dry the polish.
"Elena?"
"No sir." The girl sounded doleful.
"Good. In brief we're heading to Gongaga, where I have received information Avalanche are headed. Your job is to kill them. Quickly. Any questions?"
"Nope" Reno again. Silence from the other two. Tseng joined Scarlet at the front, standing behind her until she got annoyed and gestured at the seat beside her. Tseng sat reluctantly.
They continued in silence, until Scarlet became aware of the stifled noises from the back of the helicopter.
"Shut up Reno! He'll hear you!" Elena hissed, voice mingled rage and horror.
Reno sniggered. "He knows honey, he found your photo album."
"What!?"
"Shush! You want them back here?" Reno laughed again. "Elena and Tseng, sitting in a tree, K-I – "
"Stop it!" The sound of a thump, a scuffle, and then Elena yelped in pain. "Ow!"
"Don't hit me next time 'k? Where was I..."
"Let go! Ow! You're hurting me you jerk!"
Scarlet turned her eyes to Tseng, one blond eyebrow raised in a questioning expression. Tseng started to stand up, but she indicated for him to sit back down again.
"Bet you wouldn't mind if Tseng did, say, this – "
Elena gave a sudden scream. "Jerk! Don't you dare!"
"Shut up or they'll hear! Don't tell me a good little Turk like you can't cope with a little unwanted attention..."
Scarlet addressed herself to the pilot. "Set the chopper down." The pilot glanced at her, nodded, and started circling, looking for a square of flat land. Scarlet stood and moved into the back.
Slap!
Reno's turn to give a sudden yell of suprise and pain. Tseng restrained a smile as he heard the first slap followed up by three others, all equally as hard. The pilot landed the helicopter expertly.
"Great Shiva Scarlet! What was that for?" Reno complained.
".......We've landed....." Rude rumbled, speaking for the first time on the trip.
"We're at Gongaga already?" Reno sounded confused.
"Hope you enjoy your walk Reno! Kya-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Scarlet shrieked with laughter, clearly enjoying the expression on Reno's face.
"What!? Why? What'd I do!?"
"Never question a superior officer! Now out you get. Kya-ha-ha-ha!"
"........Whatever. Rude, you're coming too!"
-~-~-~-
The monsters that dotted the plains and woods between Gold Saucer and Gongaga were not having a good week. First a tall, black clad, silver haired man had passed through, making mincemeat out of anything that dared attack him.
He had been followed by a steady stream of strange figures in black cloaks, all of whom were so single minded they barely even registered the monsters presence, walking straight past the scariest without even a sigh. It did tend to damage the self-esteem when every person you tried to kill treated you as little less annoying than a fly.
Then a raging red-head and a bald man wearing blue suits had come past, the red-head going out of his way to find things to blow up. Monsters who tried to attack found themselves spread in sparking pieces about the landscape.
And now, desperate for prey, the monsters tried attacking a peculiar looking vehicle, only to discover it contained several warriors who performed victory dances every time they pounded some poor mutant into dust.
No, the monsters really weren't having a good week.
-~-~-~-
Reno marched angrily down the road that curved round Gongaga. When they had reached the intersection that led into the main city he stopped. Rude, trailing him patiently, also stopped.
"We're here" Reno announced.
"..........." Rude decided against observing that was patently obvious.
Reno tapped his foot for a few moments, and then, solely to annoy Rude and spread his bad mood around, asked in a sing-song voice.
"Hey, Rude. Who do you like?"
Rude turned away. Reno scowled. He wasn't going to let his silent friend get away with not answering this time.
"What are you getting so embarrassed about? Come on. Who do you like?"
"...........Tifa."
The unexpected confession stopped Reno cold for a minute. He hadn't wanted Rude to admit to having anything resembling affection for anyone. The whole point of Rude, he had long ago decided, was to be completely silent and unchanging so that Reno could use him as an emotional sponge.
"Hmmmm....... That's a tough one."
Unable to think of anything else to add to that, he took refuge in sarcasm against his favourite target.
"But, poor Elena. She.... you......"
"No, she likes Tseng." Rude said patiently, who had long since given up on understanding the meta-messages Reno buried below his every other sentence.
"I never knew that!" Reno said with mock suprise. Then more seriously he added. "But Tseng likes that Ancient..."
He considered the complexities of this arrangement for a moment, wondering at the stupidity of love. It appeared to serve no purpose whatsoever except make people's lives difficult.
Rude sighed, and was about to ask him the obvious return question when he heard a sudden yell.
"They're here! They're really here!"
Looking up, Reno and Rude saw Elena come tearing up to them. Behind her, standing in a row across the pathway, stood three figures.
On the right stood Tifa, looking at Rude with an expression of blank shock. With her firm lithe muscles, long legs, straight dark hair falling in clumps that framed her face and waterfalled down her back, she was strikingly beautiful. Rude cringed.
In the centre, regarding the Turks with a sardonic expression, stood Cloud. His spiky blond hair and pale skin glowed in the bright sunshine, and he held his massive sword with an easy grace that belied the weight of the weapon. The blade glittered. Reno frowned.
On the left, head cocked on one side and a slight smile curving her mouth, stood the Ancient, Aeris. Soft brown hair stuck up at a haphazard angle from her forehead and fell in thick strands past rosy cheeks. Three thin sheets of silver hung from a tie around her slender neck, and she threw her wooden staff from hand to hand. Elena smiled tentatively and then remembered she was the enemy and blushed.
"Hmm... Then it's time..." Reno brandished his own weapon, the electro-mag rod giving off eager sparks. "Rude... Don't go easy on them even though they're girls."
Cloud ignored the implied insult.
"...Don't worry, I'll do my job." Rude wondered if the warning was a result of his confession. He was glad of the sunglasses that covered his eyes and hid his embarrassment at seeing Tifa. He wondered how much of the conversation she had overheard.
"Then, we're counting on you. I'll report to Tseng!" Elena said smartly, more than glad to escape the fight. She didn't think she could attack people she didn't even know.
Reno waited for her to leave, and then addressed himself to Cloud.
"It's been a while." He paused, and then added "Payback time for what you did in Sector 7."
"Out of our way" Cloud spoke evenly.
"I don't like being taken for a fool." Reno retorted.
"That's as far as you go." Rude added.
Cloud shrugged, and attacked, swinging the sword in an upstroke that caught Rude directly in the chest. The weight caused nearly as much damage as the edge, it was like being clubbed and cut in one blow. Rude grunted and retaliated by casting fire 2. The flames spiralled across the path and crashed into the spiky haired man, furious heat blazing around him.
He smiled, and held up his index finger. The Fire Ring gleamed.
Tifa shot past in a whirlwind of punching fists and kicking feet and slammed into Reno. Finishing by punching him in the jaw and then in the stomach she skipped back to her place, making way for Aeris to step forward, stick unsupported in the air in front of her, eyes wide and innocent and sparkling.
The air turned cold, and both Turks breath became visible, smoky clouds curling in the sudden wind. Ice splinters formed along the ground and Reno found his metal electro-mag rod suddenly freezing in his hand.
The three figures in front of them vanished in a blaze of blue and white light. Sparkles formed ice shards formed jagged spears of frozen water, light gleaming off a thousand surfaces. In the centre of the ice a smoky figure formed, solidified, became a woman with taut blue skin and glittering eyes. She loomed over the two stunned Turks, nearly seven times taller than a human.
Great Shiva it's Shiva! Reno could feel his very blood turning to ice under that diamond hard, pitiless gaze.
She pulled back one graceful arm, Her back arched and then She swept forward, a blaze of air and magic streaming from Her outstretched hand and solidifying into a great glacier around the two men. For a second trapped by the hard sharp cold block, Reno nearly panicked, and then it shattered into a million fragments of razor sharp edges, that spiralled in furious patterns around them, slicing into flesh and bone.
Then She was gone, and the three terrorists were back, the Ancient smiling perkily. Reno shook his head. I didn't know they had summons dammit!
Recovering himself, he sent Neo-Turk light toward the pink-dressed girl. She yelped as the electricity struck, snakes of lightning shooting around her and burying into her body.
And then Cloud was on him, sword nearly throwing him backwards as he slammed the edge into his chest. The edge of the sword burned deep, and Reno felt blood start to flow.
Green light flickered round him as Rude cast cure. The wound across his chest healed, the blood dissolving into the air. Reno mentally thanked his friend. This battle was turning out be harder than anticipated.
Tifa lent forward and the glow of magic surrounded her before a sudden crackle of ice snapped around Rude. Rude said nothing, but instead of attacking her in return he directed his attack on Cloud, punching each fist in turn into the mans face. Cloud staggered a couple of steps back, and then slid one foot back and slashed his sword three times across Rude, criss-crossing the sweep of the blade in swift economical movements. Reno dived forward and caught the end of his rod on the blade, before a fourth cut could be made, succeeding in sending a jolt of energy down the metal and into the terrorist.
In quick succession Tifa too dived forward, catching her left foot into a hook that slammed into Reno's side. He slid sideways, the rod jerking from the blade and breaking the current. On the other side of Cloud the Ancient was casting cure, and green lights shone briefly around each figure.
Rude caught hold of the end of the Ancient's staff as she went to reclaim it, using it's leverage to send her flying sideways into Cloud, who steadied her, and then sent a fiery stream towards Reno.
Cursing as he was caught by the flames, Reno dodged Tifa's follow up blow and used his rod to send her crashing backwards. She slid on the path and then somersaulted back to her feet, landing him with three kicks in quick succession. Reno cast his spell of lightning towards her, and she shielded herself as best she could with her arms and then brought her knee up into his stomach and her elbow into his face.
Reno yelped, and caught hold of her arm, twisting it backwards away from him and slamming his left fist into her face and stomach. Rude cast fire at the two battling figures, hoping it wouldn't hit anybody, and then brought his arm up in defence of Cloud's next attack, the metal meeting flesh with searing pain for Rude.
Reno, defending himself against Tifa's enraged blows, thought, for Odin's sake... this is insane! They're way more powerful than last time... Time to cut my losses I think. The hell with Tseng, if he wants them so bad he can kill 'em himself!
Twisting suddenly away from the battle Reno took to his heels, vanishing in seconds.
Rude grunted as he absorbed yet another blow from the blonde haired warrior. Realising his partner had disappeared he landed a last few blows that sent Cloud reeling back and then he too turned on his heel and ran for it.
The three Avalanche members blinked in confusion as they suddenly realised their opponents had gone, and Aeris nearly fell over as she attempted to land a blow on someone who wasn't there.
Elena, watching from the bushes and vegetation nearby, scratched her head.
"Well Reno... that wasn't very impressive." She muttered.
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A/N: Keep going!