A/N: Thanks for the reviews X3 There is no song in this chapter, but it's long as hell o_O Hope you like it *waves to reviewers and hands out donuts* It's. Long. You might want to eat those donuts, Don't expect an uber-long chappie like this for a while XD!
the lyrics are from Queen's song. Yes. It was a good idea at the time, don't kill me XD;;
x.X I dun watch X/19.. Daisaku got the last name from Shizuma, from Real Bout High School. And I dunno why Rude doesn't have a last name. XD He's just like. OUT THERE.
Disclaimer: No FF7... for now! MWHAHAHAHAHA *runs to Square* I'M HERE TO TAKE FF7-- ah, crap *is shot* o_o
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"Alright, this is it," Reno said, standing in front of a near-abandoned, pitiful looking warehouse with large block letters, chipped and fading atop reading "7". "Sector 2's warehouse number 7. Abandoned, once set on fire." He looked it up and down. "If you kicked it hard enough, it'd probably fall apart." His fellow Turks, Tifa, and Rufus were standing behind him. "Reeve put us on this mission weeks ago. Better late then never." The red-haired Turk smirked, pressing his ear to the paper-thin walls and listening to gruff voices within.
"There are guards standing by. They're not outside...pretty clever." Reno snorted, rolling his aquamarine eyes and tossing his hair nonchalantly. "Whatever. Me and Lockheart will go through the front. 'Lena can take the back door, and Shinra and Baldy take the ceiling. Panels are damn easy to break."
Elena, Rude, and Rufus each cocked a brow in unison. Reno and Rude usually paired up for team missions--they were like brothers, able to predict the others' moves without so much as a glance at one another.
Elena glanced up at Rude for support, but he simply shrugged in response.
Rufus's miffed appearance faded as quickly as it came, unnoticed by all as he nodded in a buisnesslike manner. It was so strange, taking orders from someone who used to be his hired assassin. Oh well. No use dwelling on a past long gone; he was another man, still cold, basically the same, but no longer one who dwelled on things like big-screen TVs and 4-story houses.
"Haha...alright, move out." The small group nodded and split, each heading in an ordered direction posthaste. Tifa put her hands in her pockets as Reno and Tifa made a short maneuver to the door, her gaze transfixed on the sky as they neared the door. There was a short silence as Reno listened quietly, but his crystalline gaze maneuvered to Tifa. "'Sup?" he greeted airily, as if he didn't notice her. "What're you looking at?"
"Not much." She turned her head back to the front in time to see Reno shrug, then press a few dials on his Rolex that looked as if they originally weren't there.
"Ready?" He turned his head to look at the brunette standing at his side, his prism-like eyes sparkling gleefully...or maybe the gleaming stars were just reflective off them. Tifa nodded, cracking her knuckles at her sides and looking rather excited, her brow knitted in determination above her crimson eyes. "Spunky, aren't we?" Before giving her time to protest or respond with a sarcastic comment, he kicked down the door violently and marched in, just as Rufus and Rude expertly crashed through large holes in the roof and an opposite door was beaten down at the other end of the room.
Two buff-looking men maneuvered over to them wielding sniper rifles--they were large, yes, but with beady eyes and large foreheads they looked rather on the dim side. Tifa followed uncertainly after Reno, who tapped his rod on his shoulder with a confident, arrogant smirk.
The guys, considerably taller then Reno, hovered over him, casting a shadow over his slim finger, their tiny eyes narrowed in dislike. Reno ducked low, becoming about the height of their stomach, and smoothly pushed his fist into their stomach--his gloved hand protruding what appeared to be rock-hard abs and sinking into the soft flesh. Saliva and blood splattered out of the man's mouth, eyes wide as compared to their once-miniscule state, and the enormous man with a figure rivalling that of Barret's fell backwards, clutching their stomach.
The other made a short dive for Reno, leaning in with shoulder and arm as if trying to grab him; easily, almost gracefully, Reno stepped out of the way, the rat's tail on his hair fluttering about; and with ease, he pushed his elbow down onto his spine, creating a large elbow-shaped indent on his back.
Tifa was...well, she was amazed, her cherry gaze glancing up to see Elena, still weakest of the three, the rookie, smashing down several with a confident face. They were having fun at this.
Two unconcious men, perhaps the other dead, lay at Reno's feet as there were signals of alarm; several more similar men ran down the steps, Rufus taking expert aim and taking them out as they ran in line; Rude, too, did this with a machine gun, picking away at them one by one as they jogged. Reno looked around, then walked towards a few boxes chained shut. Rolling his eyes, he gave the wood a firm kick, making a hole with frayed edges reveal bottles of a liquid with a bright glow...
"Found the mako." he called. "Take care of the rest."
"Don't--" Elena shot a random bouncer in the forehead. "--be a lazy ass, Reno, and do a little charity work!" Her hand with the gun retracted as she thrust out her leg, smashing her foot artfully into the face of another guy, then retracting it and in a flash was found flying into another in a speed to rival Tifa's own.
"There's more." Rude's baritone voice was made barely audible amongst the chaos and fighting, reloading his machine gun.
"Fuck, they're coming from other warehouses," Reno muttered, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket with two fingers. He dropped his rod onto the edge of his classy black shoe, where it balanced upwardly on the toe of his shoe without so much as a few shakes, then, balancing the rod on his shoe, pulled out a silver lighter and clicking it open with a thrust of his arm, cupping one hand around his mouth and lighting it. In another smooth motion, he shoved it in his pocket and gave the toe of his shoe a small kick/jolt, sending the rod flying upwards somewhat like a rocket, where he grabbed it. "Fine. Get your asses ready.
"Oh, and Elena..." He shot his blonde companion a look as she beated off three more with a floundering roundhouse kick. "It's 'Captain' Reno."
More thugs and bouncers swarmed into the warehouse, leaving little time for Tifa to crack her knuckles. As Rufus and Rude began picking off the swarm with guns, blood splattering on random crates, Tifa went into a rather relaxed fighting position--not holding her hands high and tense like she usually did, but more low and relaxed.
A storm of bullets rained down, loud gunshots ringing in ears as holes in crates, walls, and staircases formed one by one almost as if they appeared there magically.
"Damnit, Baldy, gimmie an estimate!" Reno yelled over the chaos, stepping over dead and/or unconcious bodies in order to dive in the swarm.
"Twenty, thirty per side. One or two from the stairs."
"Do you need an order for everything? Go help Elena, damnit!" Rude nodded, acknowledging his course of action and making an impressive jump off the high stack of crates upon which he stood and nearly headfirst into the swarm. Reno looked over his shoulder, rolling his sparkling eyes. "Not too brilliant."
Tifa chose a more efficient plan of action instead of crawling in and around the dead bodies; lightly tossing a few thick locks of chocolate brown over her shoulder, she shifted slightly backwards, then did an impressive front-hand spring onto a crate and simply leapt into the crowd from there.
"Nice moves, Lockheart." Reno smirked over his shoulder, his jewel-like eyes glimmering with amusement.
"Thanks." She grinned, tucking her hair behind her ear and cracking her knuckles as the thugs began to form a sort of distanced circle around Reno and Tifa, as was the case across the room with Elena and Rude. Reno looked highly amused as the circle formation became neater and neater, as if they were all going to charge simultaneously at one point, then slapped his own knee lightly with the rod.
The rod extended to...well, longer then usual--3, 4 feet tops. Aside from the leathery hilt, it crackled with blue-and-white electricity, as if it, too, like its owner, desired a battle. Fun and games.
There was a silence ringing through, as two pairs of two were surrounded in a couple feet's distance from an enormous group, each staring and blinking menacingly as if they're going to charge. It was almost as if fighter and thug alike was silently daring the opposing group through glares and smirks--to make a move.
Elena and Rude stood back-to-back, Rude palming the machine gun and Elena fingering her amulet nonchalantly, her deep brown eyes narrowed in dislike and arrogance. She felt his head turn slightly, and she nodded; he handed her the machine gun by twisting his palm backwards, and she held it in her own hand. A couple of thugs shifted slightly in anticipation as her eyes scanned her part of the circle--they rested, finally, upon a rather large (well, largER then the rest), bulky thug with a bandana tied around his head and on his forearms. She smirked, her eyes shifting to the bald man behind her, and he nodded as well.
She hurled the gun at the man, hitting him squarely in the forehead and knocking him cold.
And the rest charged.
Feeling rather energetic, hyper, and rather excited about being back in the heat of battle, she felt her limit bursting at the seams; this is where she belonged, she was never a sit-down person. Ignoring the rest of her skills, she decided to go with one--after all, she didn't have any Slash-All or anything...
As energy began to charge in the palm of her fists, Reno took the glimmer, then sparks that began to fly out of her clenched palm a bad sign, and did a sort of leap onto a crate--a second too late, as her fist already plummeted into the concrete ground.
There was an enormous crack, then a nuclear explosion, the shockwaves and eruptions about frying every person within the radius of that side of the room; the shockwaves, however, had begun to pry at Reno's back, and being flung into the air, he screamed "WWWAAAAAAHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!" at the top of his lungs before slamming face-first into a crate. The strong gusts stopped, and there was a short-lived silence as a pile of dead and/or unconcious bodies lay in heaps around the ground. Rude glanced at Tifa across, then smirked approvingly; Elena was looking around in astonishment, murmuring "woah" under her breath, then gave Tifa a thumbs-up.
"Damn, Lockheart," Reno grunted, pulling his head out of the hole in a crate, "a massa--"
Several gunshots and things resonated through a room at the top of a metal grate staircase, then crashes, and other violent-sounding things were heard. Tifa's eyebrows shot up, turning to look up at it, her arms limp at her sides, wondering what was going on--
"Shinra!" Reno suddenly yelped. "Fuck, I forgot--"
Tifa, panicked now, leapt on box after box, ignoring small cuts and a tiny rivulet of blood trickling down the side of her lips, and stared up at the metal floor; realizing it was too directly above her for her to stand on the edge of the crate, she stared desperately at the metal steps. They creaked and groaned as if in pain, bullet holes riddling the handles, and one of the poles looking almost shattered. Biting her lip, she leapt up, grasping the tiny rings with her finger and shimmying, despite the feeling her fingers would follow off, to the edge.
She hung from the edge of the platform, facing the same direction as the door; beginning to swing slowly back and forth, the Premium Heart gloves slightly soothing to the unbelievably aches in her fingers, she hurled herself onto the platform, almost losing her balance as her feet reached the grates. Swaying slightly, fingers pained and rather sliced, she shook her head, and turned to the door.
"Eep!" A bullet grazed her hair, flying through the glass window and hurtling in the opposite direction. Several more gunshots rang out, deafening to the ears--the sounds were almost rhythmic now, never ceasing--
Panicked, worried, frustrated, and unable to think, she rammed down the door with her shoulder, her eyes flickering over the scene before her.
Scarlet stood laughing that annoying laugh of hers, the cloth strap of a military gun slung over her shoulder; she was about as sallow as ever, her pale green eyes flecked with brown ("your eyes look like moldy crap, Scar" -Reno) and her lip curled upward in amusement. Her red dress was splattered with blood, and five renegade members of SOLDIER stood behind her in a perfect line, each holding guns in the exact same pose. Seven bodies of dead SOLDIER were strewn violently across the room.
Rufus stood across from them, several bullet holes riddling his body and blood trickling out of the side of his mouth, his eyes stony and his hair somewhat disheveled; he apparently had taken shelter behind the desk, as it was riddled with bullet holes. About a billion used bullets had fallen to the floor in the office-like room, and his once neat, perfect coat now dripped with red, as were some parts of the wall.
The side of his lip was curled upwards, however.
"...Oh, it's you." Scarlet sneered at Tifa, flipping a strand of bright blonde from the bun on her head over her shoulder. "Kyahahahaha...you're too late...that is, if you came to his aid." She cast a scornful look at Rufus, where blood dripped out of his wounds in tiny rivers and waterfalls, then smirked again, her lipstick thick and extremely red. Tifa's glance shifted wildly between hatred at Scarlet and extreme worry for Rufus.
"You bit--"
"Kyahahaha! Of course! You here on a trip?" Scarlet inquired sardonically, placing her hand on her hip. "Of course you are; who in their right mind would come to save HIM? Kyahahah..." She nodded towards a bleeding Rufus, who was standing as straight as he could--you probably wouldn't be able to tell he was bleeding to death with the proud look on his face.
"Once a bitch..." Rufus grunted, tossing his hair as he usually did and staring icily at Scarlet. "...always a bitch."
"Shut up!" She thrust her hand out to the side, and the SOLDIER members immediatly begin to open fire. Tifa's teeth gnashed together, her eyes wide and mortified as plenty more holes appeared in his coat, and even more mortified at the blood that soared out of the holes and onto the tile.
"No!"
Rufus bent backwards, his spin curved awkwardly, and his foot stepped backwards in an attempt to maintain his balance; losing the strength to stand, he sank into a deep crouch, then placed his hand on the desk and pushed himself back up, shaking slightly, and attempting to stand up straight. "Men are so stubborn...kyahaha..."
He let go of the desk, standing straight and stiff again, closing his eyes.
"Kyahahaha! Didn't they say Rufus Shinra was never seen bleeding or crying?" The blonde bitch of the year let out a horrible, horselike laugh, brushing long strands of bright yellow aside of her face. "Kyah...what a damn lie!" she chortled. "Only fifteen SOLDIERs and he goes down!...of course...they do have a slight advantage..." She smirked again, but stopped there, as if not about to let anything slip out. She thrust her hand to the side again, but made a small gesture with her hands.
They loaded their guns with different bullets--they looked rounder, and quite larger...
And they fired.
The bullets flew at top speed towards Rufus, and as they made contact with his neat coat, they flew straight at his skin neatly. Upon contact, the bullets in question didn't pierce, but actually exploded with enough force to send him flying--no, SOARING backwards at the wall, his body curved tremendously as he slammed backwards into the wall with a loud bang.
As his back made contact with the peach-colored paint, he slid down, limply, like a rag doll, onto the floor, his shotgun held at his hand. Blood smeared the wall where he landed, and it looked disgusting, as if a brush dipped, covered, and dripping with wet paint had struck across the wall and down.
His eyelids drooped slightly, as if willing themselves not to close, and he glanced up at Tifa. Looking away immediatly, his hand shifted to the floor. And he tried to push himself up, stumbling against the wall--but only sliding back down, more blood streaked across the wall. Her eyes softened, and her head tilted downward, her hands shaking at her sides. She could hear Scarlet laughing somewhere distant, but it didn't matter anymore...Her eyes, now empty and almost entranced, slowly moved to see Scarlet chortling heartily. How dare she... How dare she.
"BITCH!!!" she screamed, another surge of energy jolting through her legs and arms; she ran at Scarlet, who looked somewhat taken aback by this surge of rage, but didn't have time to think as Tifa's fist went flying into her face.
The blonde stumbled backwards, her face looking scrunched slightly and holding her nose and jaw. Blood splattered in waterfalls out of her nose, not enough for her hand and dripping over to the floor. But Tifa wasn't done. No, she maneuvered to Scarlet's side, energy pulsating through her veins, the sensation feeling familiar--the same energy she felt attacking the Jenova when Aeris died, the energy that made her stubborn enough to challenge Sephiroth as a child... As she did this movement, she shoved her elbow and into the side and front of Scarlet's neck. Hearing a small click in her throat gave her a savage sense of satisfaction...
One SOLDIER member ran up to Tifa and attempted to fend her off, whilst the others picked up the pained form of Scarlet and leapt to the window and out. Enraged by the loss of her target, she glared coldly into the empty mask of the SOLDIER, and promptly pushed her fist into his neck. Blood splattered onto her hair and shirt, and the SOLDIER fell over, his mouth bleeding waterfalls, dead.
Now aware of the tears of rage, sorrow, sympathy and pain splashing in rivulets down her cheeks, she didn't much care anymore as she raced to Rufus's side, cradling her head with one arm and placing the other on his torso.
Tifa rocked back and forth, his unconcious form in her arms; she felt her intense feelings of pain and concern increase as blood trickled from his wounds onto her arm.
//Don't die, don't die, don't die...// she thought over and over again, even the voice in her thoughts sounding pained and shaky. //Don't die, don't die, you can't leave me here...// Desperately, she traced her finger down his neck for a pulse. It was faint. Very faint.
"Holy shit!" Reno busted into the room, his rod raised and ready to fend off anyone--but his arm lowered, slowly, rather intimidated by the sight that lay before him. Walls, floors, everything was dotted and lined with bullets; capsules lay in piles at the ground, but much to his astonishment, Tifa holding a *bleeding* Rufus on the ground. "Holy shit," he repeated, dropping his rod and moving inside, Rude and Elena following close behind him. Elena almost tripped over the rod, but her brown eyes widened to a large extent.
"Oh. My. God." She ran over to Tifa, ducking down to look up and down his form. Rude followed, his eyebrow twitching but saying nothing.
"Lockheart, what the hell happened?" he asked, picking up a bullet and examining it. "These are bullets from the guns they issue at SOLDIER." he said, examining it with sharp eyes. "SOLDIER was here?"
Tifa looked up at him, nodding slowly. The red-haired Turk dropped the bullet, rather startled at the tears that stained her cheeks, dripping down in vast amounts and splattering on the floor. He blinked, then shrugged and looked among the mess--a certain set catching his eye, he kneeled down to pick it up.
"These aren't from SOLDIER." Reno looked at it some more, then bit it a little. "Was someone else here?" He glanced at Tifa for an answer, but she didn't look up.
"......Scarlet," she said hoarsely.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, swallowing the bullet by accident. "Oops. Did you fight her? She's a shitty close-ranger, but one hell of a shot."
Tifa nodded, and Reno bristled, looking impressed.
Reno watched Rude fidget uncomfortably; with a brotherly sense, he could tell that the bald one was heaving a pained sigh inwardly. There were a million of things Reno could've said right there, but shut up as Rude slowly maneuvered to Rufus's limp form, examining his deathly limp form. He raised a brow.
"It's a miracle he's still alive." Rude murmured. "...Take off his clothes."
"Baldy, I didn't know you swung that way!" Reno exclaimed, much to the chagrin of his fellow Turks; he clasped a hand over his mouth. "Shit, let something slip. Damn me."
"I need to check the damage, Reno." Rude said calmly, though it was clear he was annoyed.
"Yeah Reno, shut up!" Elena screamed at him, looking ready to hurl something heavy at him.
"Sorry, sorry." Reno turned a light shade of red, a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head.
-It's ironic that the first time you take the clothes off a man, he's dying, isn't it?-
Tifa wiped her tears with one hand's finger, then unbuttoned the single button on his short, outer coat, carefully unwrapping it from the other layers of his clothes and putting it aside. She began pulling apart the buttons on his longer coat, which, too, was stained with a deep red color, then having difficulty pushing him up to take it off his arms, Rude lifted up the blonde man's back, allowing her to unravel the pearly-white coat from his arms and back. Elena looked up at Rude, about to give him a small smile.
His eyebrow was twitching, as was the corner of his mouth; normally, this wouldn't bother anyone, but when you're a Turk, you begin to adjust and are able to interpret the feelings of one another, like a sixth sense. Elena stared up at him, concerned and somewhat worried--Rude was a monotonous man, rarely showing pain or extreme emotion. But he was hurting.
Reno seemed to sense this too, and walked over to Rude and clasped a hand on his shoulder. The corner of his lip twitched.
"Jesus Christ, you can only wear so many clothes."
Tifa grabbed hold of the thick, black turtleneck that he wore under his coats, grasping the cloth and pulling it over his head, gently lifting his arms and placing the heavy thing in the small pile next to her. The remaining piece was the white sleeveless muscle shirt she had seen him wear, on that day in Junon when they first got on "pleasant" speaking terms; there were slight indentations where bullets had pierced his flesh. She felt her face turn slightly pink, the tears having stopped falling; she frowned, the corner of her lip trembling slightly, and took the top and pulled it over his head.
Bullets and wounds ignored, Rufus had an impressive figure to rival Sephiroth's or Cloud's, making Tifa wonder if he was as strong. Then again, Cloud and Sephiroth were enhanced by Jenova and Mako...but who was to say he, the son of the former Shinra, wasn't introduced to the concept himself? She thought about this for a few moments, before her attention was drawn by Rude's report.
"...Holy crap..." he murmured, looking up the various bullet holes. "...it's a miracle he's still alive."
"Holy crap, nothing! HOLY SHIT!" Reno yelled, pointing at a rather gaping hole in Rufus Shinra's right flank--about the size of a CD or even a bowling ball.
"WOAH!" Elena stumbled backwards. "Jesus Christ, he's going to die!" Tifa's head swung in her direction rather disdainfully; Elena sweatdropped, knowing that she stole away some of Tifa's hope.
"No, he's not." Rude said calmly and much to Tifa's relief, examining the enormous hole carefully and pointing. "......It's not bleeding.......It has all the things it would have......except skin to hide it from view." he finished carefully, whatever astonishment he felt hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses. Puzzled, Elena, Reno, and Tifa peered over at the hole. He was right: there was a small network of veins, arteries, and the like, blood coursing through them hurriedly; even blood hovered in that area.
"So why the hell doesn't his guts spill out when he walks around?" Reno inquired incredulously. "Can I poke it?" Elena smacked him upside the head. "Ow, damnit all." He grunted as Rude slowly extended a finger, gingerly ready to poke it. But his finger seemed to crash against something nearly invisible.
"What...in the hell..." he murmured, Reno, Elena, and Tifa leaning in closer to get a better look. He tilted his head a little, and blinked behind his sunglasses. "...there's something there." He rapped on the invisible--whatever it was--with his knuckles, and it made a short ringing sound. "...it's likr crystal..." Reno tilted his head, the light reflecting and making the clear thing somewhat visible.
"No, that's genuine diamond." Rude and Tifa both raised a brow at him curiously. "I've blown my gil on some crap in my day..." He shrugged.
"Why the hell would someone put diamond instead of SKIN?!" Elena's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
"As far as I know, there are no current operations that do this." Rude mumbled, prodding it some more. "If a man is dying, they give him stitches.......they don't stick diamond sheets on people." He trailed off, and there was a short silence--Tifa looked...well, she looked creeped out, and rather surprised. How could he keep this from her? Then again, Rufus was never one to spill beans easily. ".....on another note.....a Restore Materia will cure the bullet holes."
Reno walked to the doorway and picked up his rod, then plucked out a greenish orb. "Got one!" he chirped, tossing it to Tifa. "Go nuts." He ran a hand through his unruly hair. Elena grinned at him; he scratched the back of his head. Palming the orb, Tifa's palm enclosed around it, murmuring slightly as the wounds closed and the blood faded. The prism-like coat over the hole did not fade.
Rufus's eyelids slowly lifted, looking as though he woke up from a long and heavy sleep; he glanced around, then at his coatless and shirtless state. He raised a brow, slowly taking this in.
"Who the hell took off my clothes?" he asked, looking rather disgruntled. A sharp intake of air was heard from Tifa, and she flung her arms around him.
"He's alive!" Tifa cried, burying her face in his neck and punching him in the rib with her right arm. "You idiot!" Rufus grabbed her hand to prevent damage to his ribcage, then raised a brow at Rude, Elena, and Reno, who each shrugged in turn; Tifa continued to sob. "Why did you have to go all macho and take on Scarlet and friends by yourself?! You almost died!" She banged her fist on his torso. "Almost--died--worried--sick--you--BASTARD!"
"I'm going to 'almost die' if you continue to mercilessly try and maim my ribcage," Rufus said sarcastically. Tifa ceased smashing his ribcage and crying, but rather just wrapped her arms around his neck. He purposefully avoided looking at the Turks, glancing to the side.
"She was damn worried about you, Shinra." Reno spoke up with a playful grin. Rufus sent an icy glare in his direction, and he shrugged nonchalantly, picking up the Materia and stuffing it back into his orb.
"Is that so?" the shirtless blonde replied, the side of his lip pulling up in a smirk nonchalantly.
"Yes, it IS. You better be nice to her, or you'll regret it!" Elena exclaimed, pointing at him with somewhat of an accusing finger. Rufus, obviously not expecting an answer to his question--and such a...erm, advisory one at that--averted his gaze again, staring out the window where Scarlet and her SOLDIER flunkies had leapt out. Reno gave Elena a thumbs-up; she smirked in a very Reno-ish way, prompting Reno to give her a stupid grin that said "I'm rubbing off on you, damnit". Rufus sighed loudly, looking flustered.
"...you, ah...have blood in your hair." Rufus stared at the blood splattered onto her shimmering brown hair, dripping down to the brown-red ribbon she used to tie it.
"I fought Scarlet," came the muffled, bitter reply from where Tifa's head was stationed neatly by his long neck.
"......." Rufus glanced up at the Turks--Reno and Elena were both staring at him, grinning in a sly way. He hated that. He glared back at them, achieving little effect; he sighed again, frowning slightly. It was awkward--damn awkward at that; Rufus was probably sweating bullets right now, and the Turks were probably noticing too. He leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes and avoiding their gaze.
"Well, let's get moving. The Scooby Squad are probably looking for you now, Lockheart. It's been a hunky-dory time." Reno looked at his fellow Turks, and each nodded at the same time (they had the startling ability to do gestures like waving, smirking, and nodding at the same time, and if they did it slowly it was pretty disturbing). They walked out of the room in line, walking to the steel banister and leaping off.
Tifa slowly unwrapped her arms and clambered off, standing up and turning around with her hands folded behind her head. He climbed to his feet as well, pulling on his white top, then his turtleneck. Wondering awkwardly about what he should do, he stared after her retreating form.
"Tifa, wait." Rufus began. //What should I do?...Fuck, I hate this.// He maintained a stony, monotonous face as Tifa spun around curiously at the sound of her name, walking towards Rufus cautiously.
"Yes?"
//Fuck, fuck, fuck. Nice going, Rufus. Too damn thick to think before you act.//
"...It's nothing. Forget it." He shook his head dismissively, making a start for the door.
"No, what was it?" she inquired further, trotting after him.
//It really was nothing.//
"Nothing."
"Rufus..." Tifa raced to him, pressing his shoulder and forcing him to turn around. Her crimson eyes bore into his own deep, but lightless eyes, desperately searching for some answer beyond the Poker face he usually had down pat. He stared back, an eyebrow raised and his lip curled downward. "Come on, what is it?" she pressed curiously. "I won't stop bugging you 'till you tell me." She grinned at him, her cheeks still somewhat stained by tears.
"..." He looked around in his mind for what he was intending to do when he first called her name. "Erm..." He ran a hand through his hair. ".......Thank you...." he half-stammered, his hand remaining behind his head. //Rufus Shinra, the walking emotional complex.// he thought, making a mental note to shoot something on the trip back to the Highwind.
Tifa grinned cheerily, pulling him down by the collar of his turtleneck. He was about to ask what the hell she was doing--at least, until she leaned up and forward to place her lips gently on his cheek, then pulled away and backed off towards the door with a playful grin, backing away from there. She gave a small wave and clambered down the banister.
Rufus blinked, raising his hand to prod the area Tifa had kissed and looking blank. Feeling a heating sensation creep onto his face, he slung his jackets over his shoulder.
He felt something, something he hadn't felt in a long time awaken in him. His heart felt a small squeezing sensation, a foreign thing--dazed, he maneuvered off the second floor of the warehouse and began following the Turks, and Tifa, out the door.
the lyrics are from Queen's song. Yes. It was a good idea at the time, don't kill me XD;;
x.X I dun watch X/19.. Daisaku got the last name from Shizuma, from Real Bout High School. And I dunno why Rude doesn't have a last name. XD He's just like. OUT THERE.
Disclaimer: No FF7... for now! MWHAHAHAHAHA *runs to Square* I'M HERE TO TAKE FF7-- ah, crap *is shot* o_o
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"Alright, this is it," Reno said, standing in front of a near-abandoned, pitiful looking warehouse with large block letters, chipped and fading atop reading "7". "Sector 2's warehouse number 7. Abandoned, once set on fire." He looked it up and down. "If you kicked it hard enough, it'd probably fall apart." His fellow Turks, Tifa, and Rufus were standing behind him. "Reeve put us on this mission weeks ago. Better late then never." The red-haired Turk smirked, pressing his ear to the paper-thin walls and listening to gruff voices within.
"There are guards standing by. They're not outside...pretty clever." Reno snorted, rolling his aquamarine eyes and tossing his hair nonchalantly. "Whatever. Me and Lockheart will go through the front. 'Lena can take the back door, and Shinra and Baldy take the ceiling. Panels are damn easy to break."
Elena, Rude, and Rufus each cocked a brow in unison. Reno and Rude usually paired up for team missions--they were like brothers, able to predict the others' moves without so much as a glance at one another.
Elena glanced up at Rude for support, but he simply shrugged in response.
Rufus's miffed appearance faded as quickly as it came, unnoticed by all as he nodded in a buisnesslike manner. It was so strange, taking orders from someone who used to be his hired assassin. Oh well. No use dwelling on a past long gone; he was another man, still cold, basically the same, but no longer one who dwelled on things like big-screen TVs and 4-story houses.
"Haha...alright, move out." The small group nodded and split, each heading in an ordered direction posthaste. Tifa put her hands in her pockets as Reno and Tifa made a short maneuver to the door, her gaze transfixed on the sky as they neared the door. There was a short silence as Reno listened quietly, but his crystalline gaze maneuvered to Tifa. "'Sup?" he greeted airily, as if he didn't notice her. "What're you looking at?"
"Not much." She turned her head back to the front in time to see Reno shrug, then press a few dials on his Rolex that looked as if they originally weren't there.
"Ready?" He turned his head to look at the brunette standing at his side, his prism-like eyes sparkling gleefully...or maybe the gleaming stars were just reflective off them. Tifa nodded, cracking her knuckles at her sides and looking rather excited, her brow knitted in determination above her crimson eyes. "Spunky, aren't we?" Before giving her time to protest or respond with a sarcastic comment, he kicked down the door violently and marched in, just as Rufus and Rude expertly crashed through large holes in the roof and an opposite door was beaten down at the other end of the room.
Two buff-looking men maneuvered over to them wielding sniper rifles--they were large, yes, but with beady eyes and large foreheads they looked rather on the dim side. Tifa followed uncertainly after Reno, who tapped his rod on his shoulder with a confident, arrogant smirk.
The guys, considerably taller then Reno, hovered over him, casting a shadow over his slim finger, their tiny eyes narrowed in dislike. Reno ducked low, becoming about the height of their stomach, and smoothly pushed his fist into their stomach--his gloved hand protruding what appeared to be rock-hard abs and sinking into the soft flesh. Saliva and blood splattered out of the man's mouth, eyes wide as compared to their once-miniscule state, and the enormous man with a figure rivalling that of Barret's fell backwards, clutching their stomach.
The other made a short dive for Reno, leaning in with shoulder and arm as if trying to grab him; easily, almost gracefully, Reno stepped out of the way, the rat's tail on his hair fluttering about; and with ease, he pushed his elbow down onto his spine, creating a large elbow-shaped indent on his back.
Tifa was...well, she was amazed, her cherry gaze glancing up to see Elena, still weakest of the three, the rookie, smashing down several with a confident face. They were having fun at this.
Two unconcious men, perhaps the other dead, lay at Reno's feet as there were signals of alarm; several more similar men ran down the steps, Rufus taking expert aim and taking them out as they ran in line; Rude, too, did this with a machine gun, picking away at them one by one as they jogged. Reno looked around, then walked towards a few boxes chained shut. Rolling his eyes, he gave the wood a firm kick, making a hole with frayed edges reveal bottles of a liquid with a bright glow...
"Found the mako." he called. "Take care of the rest."
"Don't--" Elena shot a random bouncer in the forehead. "--be a lazy ass, Reno, and do a little charity work!" Her hand with the gun retracted as she thrust out her leg, smashing her foot artfully into the face of another guy, then retracting it and in a flash was found flying into another in a speed to rival Tifa's own.
"There's more." Rude's baritone voice was made barely audible amongst the chaos and fighting, reloading his machine gun.
"Fuck, they're coming from other warehouses," Reno muttered, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket with two fingers. He dropped his rod onto the edge of his classy black shoe, where it balanced upwardly on the toe of his shoe without so much as a few shakes, then, balancing the rod on his shoe, pulled out a silver lighter and clicking it open with a thrust of his arm, cupping one hand around his mouth and lighting it. In another smooth motion, he shoved it in his pocket and gave the toe of his shoe a small kick/jolt, sending the rod flying upwards somewhat like a rocket, where he grabbed it. "Fine. Get your asses ready.
"Oh, and Elena..." He shot his blonde companion a look as she beated off three more with a floundering roundhouse kick. "It's 'Captain' Reno."
More thugs and bouncers swarmed into the warehouse, leaving little time for Tifa to crack her knuckles. As Rufus and Rude began picking off the swarm with guns, blood splattering on random crates, Tifa went into a rather relaxed fighting position--not holding her hands high and tense like she usually did, but more low and relaxed.
A storm of bullets rained down, loud gunshots ringing in ears as holes in crates, walls, and staircases formed one by one almost as if they appeared there magically.
"Damnit, Baldy, gimmie an estimate!" Reno yelled over the chaos, stepping over dead and/or unconcious bodies in order to dive in the swarm.
"Twenty, thirty per side. One or two from the stairs."
"Do you need an order for everything? Go help Elena, damnit!" Rude nodded, acknowledging his course of action and making an impressive jump off the high stack of crates upon which he stood and nearly headfirst into the swarm. Reno looked over his shoulder, rolling his sparkling eyes. "Not too brilliant."
Tifa chose a more efficient plan of action instead of crawling in and around the dead bodies; lightly tossing a few thick locks of chocolate brown over her shoulder, she shifted slightly backwards, then did an impressive front-hand spring onto a crate and simply leapt into the crowd from there.
"Nice moves, Lockheart." Reno smirked over his shoulder, his jewel-like eyes glimmering with amusement.
"Thanks." She grinned, tucking her hair behind her ear and cracking her knuckles as the thugs began to form a sort of distanced circle around Reno and Tifa, as was the case across the room with Elena and Rude. Reno looked highly amused as the circle formation became neater and neater, as if they were all going to charge simultaneously at one point, then slapped his own knee lightly with the rod.
The rod extended to...well, longer then usual--3, 4 feet tops. Aside from the leathery hilt, it crackled with blue-and-white electricity, as if it, too, like its owner, desired a battle. Fun and games.
There was a silence ringing through, as two pairs of two were surrounded in a couple feet's distance from an enormous group, each staring and blinking menacingly as if they're going to charge. It was almost as if fighter and thug alike was silently daring the opposing group through glares and smirks--to make a move.
Elena and Rude stood back-to-back, Rude palming the machine gun and Elena fingering her amulet nonchalantly, her deep brown eyes narrowed in dislike and arrogance. She felt his head turn slightly, and she nodded; he handed her the machine gun by twisting his palm backwards, and she held it in her own hand. A couple of thugs shifted slightly in anticipation as her eyes scanned her part of the circle--they rested, finally, upon a rather large (well, largER then the rest), bulky thug with a bandana tied around his head and on his forearms. She smirked, her eyes shifting to the bald man behind her, and he nodded as well.
She hurled the gun at the man, hitting him squarely in the forehead and knocking him cold.
And the rest charged.
Feeling rather energetic, hyper, and rather excited about being back in the heat of battle, she felt her limit bursting at the seams; this is where she belonged, she was never a sit-down person. Ignoring the rest of her skills, she decided to go with one--after all, she didn't have any Slash-All or anything...
As energy began to charge in the palm of her fists, Reno took the glimmer, then sparks that began to fly out of her clenched palm a bad sign, and did a sort of leap onto a crate--a second too late, as her fist already plummeted into the concrete ground.
There was an enormous crack, then a nuclear explosion, the shockwaves and eruptions about frying every person within the radius of that side of the room; the shockwaves, however, had begun to pry at Reno's back, and being flung into the air, he screamed "WWWAAAAAAHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!" at the top of his lungs before slamming face-first into a crate. The strong gusts stopped, and there was a short-lived silence as a pile of dead and/or unconcious bodies lay in heaps around the ground. Rude glanced at Tifa across, then smirked approvingly; Elena was looking around in astonishment, murmuring "woah" under her breath, then gave Tifa a thumbs-up.
"Damn, Lockheart," Reno grunted, pulling his head out of the hole in a crate, "a massa--"
Several gunshots and things resonated through a room at the top of a metal grate staircase, then crashes, and other violent-sounding things were heard. Tifa's eyebrows shot up, turning to look up at it, her arms limp at her sides, wondering what was going on--
"Shinra!" Reno suddenly yelped. "Fuck, I forgot--"
Tifa, panicked now, leapt on box after box, ignoring small cuts and a tiny rivulet of blood trickling down the side of her lips, and stared up at the metal floor; realizing it was too directly above her for her to stand on the edge of the crate, she stared desperately at the metal steps. They creaked and groaned as if in pain, bullet holes riddling the handles, and one of the poles looking almost shattered. Biting her lip, she leapt up, grasping the tiny rings with her finger and shimmying, despite the feeling her fingers would follow off, to the edge.
She hung from the edge of the platform, facing the same direction as the door; beginning to swing slowly back and forth, the Premium Heart gloves slightly soothing to the unbelievably aches in her fingers, she hurled herself onto the platform, almost losing her balance as her feet reached the grates. Swaying slightly, fingers pained and rather sliced, she shook her head, and turned to the door.
"Eep!" A bullet grazed her hair, flying through the glass window and hurtling in the opposite direction. Several more gunshots rang out, deafening to the ears--the sounds were almost rhythmic now, never ceasing--
Panicked, worried, frustrated, and unable to think, she rammed down the door with her shoulder, her eyes flickering over the scene before her.
Scarlet stood laughing that annoying laugh of hers, the cloth strap of a military gun slung over her shoulder; she was about as sallow as ever, her pale green eyes flecked with brown ("your eyes look like moldy crap, Scar" -Reno) and her lip curled upward in amusement. Her red dress was splattered with blood, and five renegade members of SOLDIER stood behind her in a perfect line, each holding guns in the exact same pose. Seven bodies of dead SOLDIER were strewn violently across the room.
Rufus stood across from them, several bullet holes riddling his body and blood trickling out of the side of his mouth, his eyes stony and his hair somewhat disheveled; he apparently had taken shelter behind the desk, as it was riddled with bullet holes. About a billion used bullets had fallen to the floor in the office-like room, and his once neat, perfect coat now dripped with red, as were some parts of the wall.
The side of his lip was curled upwards, however.
"...Oh, it's you." Scarlet sneered at Tifa, flipping a strand of bright blonde from the bun on her head over her shoulder. "Kyahahahaha...you're too late...that is, if you came to his aid." She cast a scornful look at Rufus, where blood dripped out of his wounds in tiny rivers and waterfalls, then smirked again, her lipstick thick and extremely red. Tifa's glance shifted wildly between hatred at Scarlet and extreme worry for Rufus.
"You bit--"
"Kyahahaha! Of course! You here on a trip?" Scarlet inquired sardonically, placing her hand on her hip. "Of course you are; who in their right mind would come to save HIM? Kyahahah..." She nodded towards a bleeding Rufus, who was standing as straight as he could--you probably wouldn't be able to tell he was bleeding to death with the proud look on his face.
"Once a bitch..." Rufus grunted, tossing his hair as he usually did and staring icily at Scarlet. "...always a bitch."
"Shut up!" She thrust her hand out to the side, and the SOLDIER members immediatly begin to open fire. Tifa's teeth gnashed together, her eyes wide and mortified as plenty more holes appeared in his coat, and even more mortified at the blood that soared out of the holes and onto the tile.
"No!"
Rufus bent backwards, his spin curved awkwardly, and his foot stepped backwards in an attempt to maintain his balance; losing the strength to stand, he sank into a deep crouch, then placed his hand on the desk and pushed himself back up, shaking slightly, and attempting to stand up straight. "Men are so stubborn...kyahaha..."
He let go of the desk, standing straight and stiff again, closing his eyes.
"Kyahahaha! Didn't they say Rufus Shinra was never seen bleeding or crying?" The blonde bitch of the year let out a horrible, horselike laugh, brushing long strands of bright yellow aside of her face. "Kyah...what a damn lie!" she chortled. "Only fifteen SOLDIERs and he goes down!...of course...they do have a slight advantage..." She smirked again, but stopped there, as if not about to let anything slip out. She thrust her hand to the side again, but made a small gesture with her hands.
They loaded their guns with different bullets--they looked rounder, and quite larger...
And they fired.
The bullets flew at top speed towards Rufus, and as they made contact with his neat coat, they flew straight at his skin neatly. Upon contact, the bullets in question didn't pierce, but actually exploded with enough force to send him flying--no, SOARING backwards at the wall, his body curved tremendously as he slammed backwards into the wall with a loud bang.
As his back made contact with the peach-colored paint, he slid down, limply, like a rag doll, onto the floor, his shotgun held at his hand. Blood smeared the wall where he landed, and it looked disgusting, as if a brush dipped, covered, and dripping with wet paint had struck across the wall and down.
His eyelids drooped slightly, as if willing themselves not to close, and he glanced up at Tifa. Looking away immediatly, his hand shifted to the floor. And he tried to push himself up, stumbling against the wall--but only sliding back down, more blood streaked across the wall. Her eyes softened, and her head tilted downward, her hands shaking at her sides. She could hear Scarlet laughing somewhere distant, but it didn't matter anymore...Her eyes, now empty and almost entranced, slowly moved to see Scarlet chortling heartily. How dare she... How dare she.
"BITCH!!!" she screamed, another surge of energy jolting through her legs and arms; she ran at Scarlet, who looked somewhat taken aback by this surge of rage, but didn't have time to think as Tifa's fist went flying into her face.
The blonde stumbled backwards, her face looking scrunched slightly and holding her nose and jaw. Blood splattered in waterfalls out of her nose, not enough for her hand and dripping over to the floor. But Tifa wasn't done. No, she maneuvered to Scarlet's side, energy pulsating through her veins, the sensation feeling familiar--the same energy she felt attacking the Jenova when Aeris died, the energy that made her stubborn enough to challenge Sephiroth as a child... As she did this movement, she shoved her elbow and into the side and front of Scarlet's neck. Hearing a small click in her throat gave her a savage sense of satisfaction...
One SOLDIER member ran up to Tifa and attempted to fend her off, whilst the others picked up the pained form of Scarlet and leapt to the window and out. Enraged by the loss of her target, she glared coldly into the empty mask of the SOLDIER, and promptly pushed her fist into his neck. Blood splattered onto her hair and shirt, and the SOLDIER fell over, his mouth bleeding waterfalls, dead.
Now aware of the tears of rage, sorrow, sympathy and pain splashing in rivulets down her cheeks, she didn't much care anymore as she raced to Rufus's side, cradling her head with one arm and placing the other on his torso.
Tifa rocked back and forth, his unconcious form in her arms; she felt her intense feelings of pain and concern increase as blood trickled from his wounds onto her arm.
//Don't die, don't die, don't die...// she thought over and over again, even the voice in her thoughts sounding pained and shaky. //Don't die, don't die, you can't leave me here...// Desperately, she traced her finger down his neck for a pulse. It was faint. Very faint.
"Holy shit!" Reno busted into the room, his rod raised and ready to fend off anyone--but his arm lowered, slowly, rather intimidated by the sight that lay before him. Walls, floors, everything was dotted and lined with bullets; capsules lay in piles at the ground, but much to his astonishment, Tifa holding a *bleeding* Rufus on the ground. "Holy shit," he repeated, dropping his rod and moving inside, Rude and Elena following close behind him. Elena almost tripped over the rod, but her brown eyes widened to a large extent.
"Oh. My. God." She ran over to Tifa, ducking down to look up and down his form. Rude followed, his eyebrow twitching but saying nothing.
"Lockheart, what the hell happened?" he asked, picking up a bullet and examining it. "These are bullets from the guns they issue at SOLDIER." he said, examining it with sharp eyes. "SOLDIER was here?"
Tifa looked up at him, nodding slowly. The red-haired Turk dropped the bullet, rather startled at the tears that stained her cheeks, dripping down in vast amounts and splattering on the floor. He blinked, then shrugged and looked among the mess--a certain set catching his eye, he kneeled down to pick it up.
"These aren't from SOLDIER." Reno looked at it some more, then bit it a little. "Was someone else here?" He glanced at Tifa for an answer, but she didn't look up.
"......Scarlet," she said hoarsely.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, swallowing the bullet by accident. "Oops. Did you fight her? She's a shitty close-ranger, but one hell of a shot."
Tifa nodded, and Reno bristled, looking impressed.
Reno watched Rude fidget uncomfortably; with a brotherly sense, he could tell that the bald one was heaving a pained sigh inwardly. There were a million of things Reno could've said right there, but shut up as Rude slowly maneuvered to Rufus's limp form, examining his deathly limp form. He raised a brow.
"It's a miracle he's still alive." Rude murmured. "...Take off his clothes."
"Baldy, I didn't know you swung that way!" Reno exclaimed, much to the chagrin of his fellow Turks; he clasped a hand over his mouth. "Shit, let something slip. Damn me."
"I need to check the damage, Reno." Rude said calmly, though it was clear he was annoyed.
"Yeah Reno, shut up!" Elena screamed at him, looking ready to hurl something heavy at him.
"Sorry, sorry." Reno turned a light shade of red, a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head.
-It's ironic that the first time you take the clothes off a man, he's dying, isn't it?-
Tifa wiped her tears with one hand's finger, then unbuttoned the single button on his short, outer coat, carefully unwrapping it from the other layers of his clothes and putting it aside. She began pulling apart the buttons on his longer coat, which, too, was stained with a deep red color, then having difficulty pushing him up to take it off his arms, Rude lifted up the blonde man's back, allowing her to unravel the pearly-white coat from his arms and back. Elena looked up at Rude, about to give him a small smile.
His eyebrow was twitching, as was the corner of his mouth; normally, this wouldn't bother anyone, but when you're a Turk, you begin to adjust and are able to interpret the feelings of one another, like a sixth sense. Elena stared up at him, concerned and somewhat worried--Rude was a monotonous man, rarely showing pain or extreme emotion. But he was hurting.
Reno seemed to sense this too, and walked over to Rude and clasped a hand on his shoulder. The corner of his lip twitched.
"Jesus Christ, you can only wear so many clothes."
Tifa grabbed hold of the thick, black turtleneck that he wore under his coats, grasping the cloth and pulling it over his head, gently lifting his arms and placing the heavy thing in the small pile next to her. The remaining piece was the white sleeveless muscle shirt she had seen him wear, on that day in Junon when they first got on "pleasant" speaking terms; there were slight indentations where bullets had pierced his flesh. She felt her face turn slightly pink, the tears having stopped falling; she frowned, the corner of her lip trembling slightly, and took the top and pulled it over his head.
Bullets and wounds ignored, Rufus had an impressive figure to rival Sephiroth's or Cloud's, making Tifa wonder if he was as strong. Then again, Cloud and Sephiroth were enhanced by Jenova and Mako...but who was to say he, the son of the former Shinra, wasn't introduced to the concept himself? She thought about this for a few moments, before her attention was drawn by Rude's report.
"...Holy crap..." he murmured, looking up the various bullet holes. "...it's a miracle he's still alive."
"Holy crap, nothing! HOLY SHIT!" Reno yelled, pointing at a rather gaping hole in Rufus Shinra's right flank--about the size of a CD or even a bowling ball.
"WOAH!" Elena stumbled backwards. "Jesus Christ, he's going to die!" Tifa's head swung in her direction rather disdainfully; Elena sweatdropped, knowing that she stole away some of Tifa's hope.
"No, he's not." Rude said calmly and much to Tifa's relief, examining the enormous hole carefully and pointing. "......It's not bleeding.......It has all the things it would have......except skin to hide it from view." he finished carefully, whatever astonishment he felt hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses. Puzzled, Elena, Reno, and Tifa peered over at the hole. He was right: there was a small network of veins, arteries, and the like, blood coursing through them hurriedly; even blood hovered in that area.
"So why the hell doesn't his guts spill out when he walks around?" Reno inquired incredulously. "Can I poke it?" Elena smacked him upside the head. "Ow, damnit all." He grunted as Rude slowly extended a finger, gingerly ready to poke it. But his finger seemed to crash against something nearly invisible.
"What...in the hell..." he murmured, Reno, Elena, and Tifa leaning in closer to get a better look. He tilted his head a little, and blinked behind his sunglasses. "...there's something there." He rapped on the invisible--whatever it was--with his knuckles, and it made a short ringing sound. "...it's likr crystal..." Reno tilted his head, the light reflecting and making the clear thing somewhat visible.
"No, that's genuine diamond." Rude and Tifa both raised a brow at him curiously. "I've blown my gil on some crap in my day..." He shrugged.
"Why the hell would someone put diamond instead of SKIN?!" Elena's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
"As far as I know, there are no current operations that do this." Rude mumbled, prodding it some more. "If a man is dying, they give him stitches.......they don't stick diamond sheets on people." He trailed off, and there was a short silence--Tifa looked...well, she looked creeped out, and rather surprised. How could he keep this from her? Then again, Rufus was never one to spill beans easily. ".....on another note.....a Restore Materia will cure the bullet holes."
Reno walked to the doorway and picked up his rod, then plucked out a greenish orb. "Got one!" he chirped, tossing it to Tifa. "Go nuts." He ran a hand through his unruly hair. Elena grinned at him; he scratched the back of his head. Palming the orb, Tifa's palm enclosed around it, murmuring slightly as the wounds closed and the blood faded. The prism-like coat over the hole did not fade.
Rufus's eyelids slowly lifted, looking as though he woke up from a long and heavy sleep; he glanced around, then at his coatless and shirtless state. He raised a brow, slowly taking this in.
"Who the hell took off my clothes?" he asked, looking rather disgruntled. A sharp intake of air was heard from Tifa, and she flung her arms around him.
"He's alive!" Tifa cried, burying her face in his neck and punching him in the rib with her right arm. "You idiot!" Rufus grabbed her hand to prevent damage to his ribcage, then raised a brow at Rude, Elena, and Reno, who each shrugged in turn; Tifa continued to sob. "Why did you have to go all macho and take on Scarlet and friends by yourself?! You almost died!" She banged her fist on his torso. "Almost--died--worried--sick--you--BASTARD!"
"I'm going to 'almost die' if you continue to mercilessly try and maim my ribcage," Rufus said sarcastically. Tifa ceased smashing his ribcage and crying, but rather just wrapped her arms around his neck. He purposefully avoided looking at the Turks, glancing to the side.
"She was damn worried about you, Shinra." Reno spoke up with a playful grin. Rufus sent an icy glare in his direction, and he shrugged nonchalantly, picking up the Materia and stuffing it back into his orb.
"Is that so?" the shirtless blonde replied, the side of his lip pulling up in a smirk nonchalantly.
"Yes, it IS. You better be nice to her, or you'll regret it!" Elena exclaimed, pointing at him with somewhat of an accusing finger. Rufus, obviously not expecting an answer to his question--and such a...erm, advisory one at that--averted his gaze again, staring out the window where Scarlet and her SOLDIER flunkies had leapt out. Reno gave Elena a thumbs-up; she smirked in a very Reno-ish way, prompting Reno to give her a stupid grin that said "I'm rubbing off on you, damnit". Rufus sighed loudly, looking flustered.
"...you, ah...have blood in your hair." Rufus stared at the blood splattered onto her shimmering brown hair, dripping down to the brown-red ribbon she used to tie it.
"I fought Scarlet," came the muffled, bitter reply from where Tifa's head was stationed neatly by his long neck.
"......." Rufus glanced up at the Turks--Reno and Elena were both staring at him, grinning in a sly way. He hated that. He glared back at them, achieving little effect; he sighed again, frowning slightly. It was awkward--damn awkward at that; Rufus was probably sweating bullets right now, and the Turks were probably noticing too. He leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes and avoiding their gaze.
"Well, let's get moving. The Scooby Squad are probably looking for you now, Lockheart. It's been a hunky-dory time." Reno looked at his fellow Turks, and each nodded at the same time (they had the startling ability to do gestures like waving, smirking, and nodding at the same time, and if they did it slowly it was pretty disturbing). They walked out of the room in line, walking to the steel banister and leaping off.
Tifa slowly unwrapped her arms and clambered off, standing up and turning around with her hands folded behind her head. He climbed to his feet as well, pulling on his white top, then his turtleneck. Wondering awkwardly about what he should do, he stared after her retreating form.
"Tifa, wait." Rufus began. //What should I do?...Fuck, I hate this.// He maintained a stony, monotonous face as Tifa spun around curiously at the sound of her name, walking towards Rufus cautiously.
"Yes?"
//Fuck, fuck, fuck. Nice going, Rufus. Too damn thick to think before you act.//
"...It's nothing. Forget it." He shook his head dismissively, making a start for the door.
"No, what was it?" she inquired further, trotting after him.
//It really was nothing.//
"Nothing."
"Rufus..." Tifa raced to him, pressing his shoulder and forcing him to turn around. Her crimson eyes bore into his own deep, but lightless eyes, desperately searching for some answer beyond the Poker face he usually had down pat. He stared back, an eyebrow raised and his lip curled downward. "Come on, what is it?" she pressed curiously. "I won't stop bugging you 'till you tell me." She grinned at him, her cheeks still somewhat stained by tears.
"..." He looked around in his mind for what he was intending to do when he first called her name. "Erm..." He ran a hand through his hair. ".......Thank you...." he half-stammered, his hand remaining behind his head. //Rufus Shinra, the walking emotional complex.// he thought, making a mental note to shoot something on the trip back to the Highwind.
Tifa grinned cheerily, pulling him down by the collar of his turtleneck. He was about to ask what the hell she was doing--at least, until she leaned up and forward to place her lips gently on his cheek, then pulled away and backed off towards the door with a playful grin, backing away from there. She gave a small wave and clambered down the banister.
Rufus blinked, raising his hand to prod the area Tifa had kissed and looking blank. Feeling a heating sensation creep onto his face, he slung his jackets over his shoulder.
He felt something, something he hadn't felt in a long time awaken in him. His heart felt a small squeezing sensation, a foreign thing--dazed, he maneuvered off the second floor of the warehouse and began following the Turks, and Tifa, out the door.