The Last of an Elite
Chapter Twenty Eight: Gratitude
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
Rude was puzzled by Reno's behaviour. They had met at a bar in sector four, and Rude had expected the usual pattern, him drinking and watching Reno chat up every woman in sight. Instead Reno seemed distracted and touchy, slouching at the bar and consuming even more hard liquor than usual.
"........" Rude studied his friend, wondering what was up. He remembered their strange conversation in Costa del Sol and frowned. Was he feeling guilty? That would be a first.
"What?" Reno turned and glared at his companion.
".......nothing." Rude turned his head away and drank his vodka reflectively. He was worried. Most Turks investigated the fate of those that had gone before them, and most were not too happy with the results.
Few Turks retired. The majority were killed, some went crazy, a few committed suicide and one or two had simply disappeared. You couldn't quit, or be fired. If you messed up you were shot, Shinra had no time for failures.
That was the downside, the part they didn't tell you before you joined.
And Rude knew that it was more than likely to happen to him, or any of his co-workers. The odds were against you, that was why you had to escape your own thoughts, through drink or something else. You couldn't think, you just had to act. Otherwise you'd find yourself thinking of the consequences of the act and then you'd be lost.
He also knew that he didn't want it to happen. To him, or to his co-workers. He liked and appreciated Reno, and respected Tseng. They had been through too much together for him to feel any other way.
He didn't want Reno to go crazy. He was worried about him, and wanted to help, but how could he? Rude never knew the right words to say to comfort someone or defuse a situation. He had been taught the lesson many times; keep your mouth shut or you'll make things worse.
So he sat and worried, drinking vodka and trying to ignore the sullen and miserable friend beside him.
-~-~-~-
Tseng stood in the helicopter, watching the great golden mushrooms of the Gold Saucer come into view ahead of him. It was approaching one in the morning, and he hoped Reeve had succeeded in getting the entertainment centre closed for the night.
Fireworks dotted the sky, multicoloured sparks showering around the structure, lighting up the sky time after time. Cascades of balloons floated up, presumably to never return. Tseng shook his head, thinking about the amount of corruption that lay beneath the shiny outer-shell.
"Sir?" The pilot spoke questioningly, eyeing the fireworks that were exploding around the sky.
"The Chocobo Square" Tseng said firmly. "But don't land. There should be someone waiting for us there"
"Yes sir!" The pilot swept the helicopter inwards, searching for the pink neon "chocobo racing" sign.
-~-~-~-
Reeve was sweating. Even though it was Cait Sith running, not him, he felt such a strong connection to the robot at that moment that his breath was coming short and his legs were aching. Marlene was sat on the floor, watching him.
On the tiny screen that showed him what Cait saw appeared the Chocobo Square. He cursed softly, Tseng wasn't there yet! Sending the robot bounding up the stairs he risked a hasty look back and saw Cloud and Aeris tearing after him. Reeve moaned softly and prayed to any God that was listening to please let Tseng come quickly.
He ran Cait Sith round the lobby and shot back out the door and down the steps. A helicopter was in sight, Tseng leaning out of the door. Reeve didn't wait, making a clumsy throw and tossing the keystone up towards the waiting man.
"Here! The Keystone!"
Tseng caught it expertly, and noted the two Avalanche members who had stopped, frozen and gaping at the scene.
"Well done," he called down to the robot, knowing it would be relayed back to Reeve. He indicated to the pilot, and the helicopter lifted up and away from the Gold Saucer.
-~-~-~-
"Hey!" Clouds voice came through the speaker, the fury nearly tangible. Reeve winced and looked over at Marlene, who was still staring up at him with wide-eyes.
"W, wait a second. I won't run or hide. Yes, I was a spy. I was hired by Shinra." Reeve spoke into the microphone, deciding against letting the auto-pilot take over again. He wanted them to understand the reasons why, though he wasn't entirely sure of them himself.
-~-~-~-
Three hours later the helicopter landed back at Midgar. The pilot glanced curiously towards the strange stone Tseng held, but knew not to question the Turk.
Tseng didn't waste time. The computer quickly tracked down the most likely whereabouts of the temple Reeve had spoken of, and a few phone-calls to the nearby town Mideel confirmed it. The Turk leader considered reporting what he was doing to Heidegger, but decided against it. The last thing he wanted was to have to report failure again if it did come to nothing.
He did stop off at Reeve's office however, where he found the Head of Urban Development showing Marlene a schematic of a reactor and trying to explain the benefits of Mako, whilst Marlene contradicted him at every word. The second they saw Tseng both fell silent, and Marlene shot across the room and hid behind Reeve.
"..." Tseng frowned briefly. He had put the little girl out of his mind for the moment, but he would have to decide what do with her before he left. He couldn't expect Reeve to look after her, and he didn't like the idea of putting her in the jail cells.
"Tseng," Reeve said. "It went okay....?"
"Yes. Good work." Tseng said shortly. Reeve heard a small voice inside his head say; you know, you're actually his superior, not the other way round...
"Marlene, come here." Tseng decided he had no choice, it would have to be the cells. Marlene made too good a weapon against Avalanche to risk her escaping.
"No!" She clutched Reeve's leg, "Don't let the evil man take me!"
A girl, clutching onto a man's leg. Drekanov pulling out his gun without a flicker of an expression. A gunshot, a scream, and blood up the walls.
Tseng blinked. The scene was one that had plagued his sleep for the last five years, but it was unusual for him to see it in such detail. He looked at Marlene, the unsuspecting trigger of the flashback, who hid her face in Reeve's trouser leg.
"..."
He changed his mind suddenly and without hesitation.
-~-~-~-
Elmyra sat on the bed and stared into the distance. It was quarter past five and she hadn't slept all night. She felt completely alone, and visions of Shinra experimenting on the child kept sliding across her mind.
There was a sudden knocking. She jumped up, a mixture of hope and fear rushing through her. Pulling on her dressing gown she ran down the stairs and opened the door.
"I've brought her back." The Wutaian said simply, and pushed the six year old into the kitchen. Elmyra dropped to her knees and clutched Marlene, the sudden relief temporarily disarmed her and tears ran down her face and into Marlene's hair.
"Listen to me." The Wutaian sounded exasperated. "This isn't over and you're not safe. I'm not the only person who knows where Marlene is right now, and it won't take long for someone else to realise they can hold this against Avalanche. Do you understand?"
Elmyra nodded and looked up at him. "But where can we go? I can't get out of Midg – "
The key dropped in front of her, clattering onto the floor. She picked it up slowly. The key to the city gates was the biggest symbol of wealth and power there was. If one got into the wrong hands it could mean freedom for the entire slums. They were given only to Shinra employees who could be trusted beyond all else.
"I'll take you to Kalm, there's a lot of monsters outside Midgar," he said. "You should be safe there as long as you keep your heads down."
-~-~-~-
Elena looked up as Reno staggered into the office, she barely noticed his hungover appearance she was in such a hurry to get her information out.
"Tseng gone to the Temple of the Ancients!" worry sent her voice up several octaves.
"Good." Reno promptly headed for the washroom.
Rude came in a few seconds later, and Elena immediately relayed the same message to him.
"......." he sat down at his desk and turned on the computer, ready to type up his reports.
"Aren't you worried? Don't you know what the Temple of the Ancients is!?" Elena wailed.
"......No...." Rude said, somewhat reluctantly. "But Tseng will take care of it."
"He could be in trouble!" Elena hesitated, then suddenly jumped to her feet. "I'm going to help him! He's been working all night and now he's gone to a place crawling with monsters and Cetra stuff!"
Reno stuck his head round the washroom door. "How the hell do you know all this?" he demanded.
".... I looked it up when I got in." Elena said, somewhat defensively. "Anyway, I'm going!"
Reno shook his head as he watched the blonde hasten out of the room.
"Man she's got it bad," he muttered, disappearing back into the washroom to stick his head under the cold water tap.
-~-~-~-
Elmyra looked round the room and turned back to the door, already trying to put into words a gratitude that was inexpressible. But the Wutaian had gone, and her thanks disappeared into empty air.
-~-~-~-
The Temple of the Ancients was a stepped pyramid structure at the centre of thick forestry. The yellow-brown stone glowed slightly in the sunshine, soft flickering motes twisting slowly through the air around it. Tseng looked up at it, memories of his childhood he didn't want tumbling through his head in quick succession.
"Religious crap," he muttered under his breath, shoving the thoughts away. He had a job, he was going to do it and that was all that mattered.
He entered the temple.
-~-~-~-
A/N: If you don't remember from the game dialogue, Cait Sith plays Marlene's voice through to Cloud and his date, and that's why they agree to let him stay with them. I didn't put it in because I assumed you remembered and I didn't want to waste space on that whole conversation when I didn't have anything to add to it ^^;;
Next up: Tseng meets Sephiroth's sword, Reno meets some rather annoyed Shinra Guards.