Elena: Can't Be Too Careful with Your Company
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
; –Chess, One Night in Bangkok
Elena, cleaning her gun in Reeve's office, looked up at the sound of heels clicking along the corridor outside. A few seconds later, the Secretary of Weapons Development walked into the office, eyes narrowing in visible displeasure when she saw Elena. Scarlet walked across the office turned to face the Turk, and leaned on Reeve's desk as if she owned it.
"And where," Scarlet asked, examining her perfectly manicured nails, "might the Secretary of Urban Development be?"
Elena reloaded her revolver and holstered it, deliberately not standing; the insult made Scarlet's eyes flash a darker shade of blue. "I expect his secretary would know, Scarlet." The file with her medical records was sitting, closed, on the floor behind her; she was rather glad she hadn't been trying to make sense of it when Scarlet arrived.
"And the Turks don't?" Scarlet raised an eyebrow, voice cool. Her left hand dropped to the desk, fingers tapping against the wood.
"When we want him, we'll find him." Reeve was meeting with his maintenance team about problems with the Sector Four reactor; it was Rude's turn to shadow him. She was not going to inflict Scarlet on either of them, and Reno was guarding Rufus.
"And if I need him?" Tiny frown lines appeared at the corner of Scarlet's angry eyes, and the faintest hint of a frown around her perfectly made-up lips.
Elena shrugged unintimidated; Scarlet might be vicious, but her usual methods of attack were of no use on the Turk. As I said, his secretary undoubtedly knows where he went. If it's particularly urgent, you can try his cell phone.
"Really, Scarlet said, in a disturbingly silky voice. And why might you be here, Elena? I would hardly think Reeve would be of interest to the Turks."
Elena, rather astonished, realized that Scarlet was jealous. No reason for it, but who would have thought she could care enough about anything to be jealous? She shrugged. You never know who will prove useful.
Scarlet laughed softly, not her usual brittle hard laugh at all, but there was a startling weight of bitterness behind the sound. To you ? I hardly think so. What use could the Turks possibly have for an engineer? She shrugged one elegant shoulder and stood. Or an engineer for the Turks?
Scarlet swept out of the office, pausing to tell Reeve's secretary to have him call her as soon as he returned. Elena shook her head, amazed at the idea of Scarlet being capable of jealousy (and over Reeve at that); she picked up her file, then hesitated for a moment, thinking that Scarlet was vindictive, persistent and devious, and one of the few people who could manipulate Rufus. And Rufus disliked her already.
It would be her turn to guard him when Reno's shift ended; she checked to make sure she had spare ammo. Guarding Rufus usually frayed her nerves to the point where she went down to the shooting gallery and stayed until she was almost asleep on her feet. Once or twice she had fallen asleep on her feet; Rude had found her and half-dragged her home. She had no idea why, really; it had been Reno's turn with Rufus, and Rude had been assigned to keep an eye on Reeve that day. Being Rude, he'd never said anything about it. She'd never asked.
She looked at the file and sighed. Tseng would have known what to do; he would have done something effective about whatever it was Hojo had been doing as soon as he'd heard about it. Tseng would never be there again, she told herself firmly, ignoring the sharp sting in her chest. She opened it again and began trying to make sense of the records.
Reeve returned an hour later, looking tired, Rude a few steps behind him. Rude looked over at her, a question just visible on his face, and she nodded; he gave her a faint quick smile and left her to keep an eye on Reeve. The engineer didn't seem to have enough energy to do anything, except go home to bed; but that wasn't an option for anyone except Rude, who'd been on constant duty (injuries and all) for forty-eight hours.
Reeve, bemused, said something polite to her, no doubt still wondering why the Turks had annexed his office, and dug in to the pile of work on his desk. He did not call Scarlet, though Elena had heard his secretary give him the message. Not, all things considered, that she blamed him. Instead, he went back to work on his blueprints, with which he could do incomprehensible things for hours on end. At least they were incomprehensible to Elena; she supposed they made sense to him. She shook her head and went back to the her records, which did not really make any more sense.
No luck, huh? he asked some time later, gesturing at the files. His secretary had left an hour ago, eyeing Elena warily. She didn't approve of her boss hanging around the Turks, or vice versa, but she had enough of a sense of self-preservation not to force the issue.
She shook her head. No. What are you doing? she asked, getting up to peer over his shoulder. The blueprints for one of the reactors rotated on his screen in a wireframe view, various parts of it highlighted with lengthy equations and short incomprehensible notations. She decided the medical records made more sense. Maybe not much more sense, though.
He shrugged, but tensed up in his chair, probably wondering if this was a trap. Trying to figure out why this particular reactor is acting up. I'll have to take it offline soon.
She frowned; the reactors Avalanche had blown were still offline, and the Sector 7 reactor was probably irreparable.
He tapped the keyboard and brought up a different screen. The problem with Mako reactors is that the energy constantly tries to ground itself, and failing that, to take any available path to more of itself, which is why we have to shield them so heavily. I think, he said, tapping part of the display, that when Avalanche blew the reactors, and when the Sector 7 reactor was destroyed in the crash, that the shocks damaged this reactor, and now the energy is trying to break loose to ground or join with the Mako in the remaining reactors.
What happens if it does? she asked, not quite understanding what he was talking about. She understood about having an electrical ground, but she suspected he was talking about something else.
He sighed. In the worst case, the reactors run completely out of control in a chain reaction and level Midgar. Probably rather quickly, and leave us a pool of Lifestream like what's left of Mideel. If that much.
How likely is that? she asked.
I don't know, he said with a sigh, starting to lean back in his chair then hurriedly leaning forward, remembering she was there; his head would have been about the level of her breasts. Mako is unpredictable. Maybe we'll be lucky, and it will only fry the rest of the reactors instead.
Elena did not like the idea either way.
he said with a sigh, is going to love this.
She nodded. she said. One of the remaining four reactors going offline would probably cause him to explode. God knew everything else made him blow up of late, from cold coffee to Reno smoking to her sneezing. At least he'd learned the hard way not to physically assault her.
She wondered if Reeve had ever learned to hit back, and went back to her research. She hadn't told Rude or Reno anything yet; she had nothing to tell, really, except that the nurse said Hojo had bribed her physician. And if they weren't careful (and this was Reno's problem, since subtlety wasn't usually his strongest point) Hojo would figure out she was on to him and destroy any records he had.
Reeve swivelled his chair around to look at her. It was not a pitying look, or she would have been angry; it was a sympathetic, rather friendly look. I haven't found anything for you either.
She looked up, realizing that he had been trying to get the information she needed. She'd half-thought he'd forgotten, or decided it was not profitable to him. Is incomprehensibility a required course in medical school?
That and bad handwriting. Though my secretary, I'm sure, would say it is at engineering school too.
Elena didn't need the secretary there to know she would have laughed, or at least smiled, and she thought that Reeve was one of the few Shinra executives with a sense of humor. Scarlet did, but it was cruel, and Heidegger had none at all. She found herself smiling a little at the attempt.
Can I ... give you a hand? he asked, gesturing at the files.
She nodded, and handed him a handwritten note that she'd puzzled out Hojo's name on. It's got something to do with Hojo, but I can't make it out. Can you?
He took it, sat down at his desk and took out a pair of reading glasses. He put them on and peered at the note, frowning as he tried to make out the writing. "Per ... per Hojo's request ... replaced standard implant with modified model XC45D2. ... This next bit's badly smudged. Something about tests and Hojo being pleased." He looked at her over the glasses, disturbed.
"My implant ? What the hell did it get replaced with?" Every female Shinra soldier was required to have a contraceptive implant for the duration of active service; the implant was put in during basic training, and lasted three years. Shinra loathed paying for parental leave for the military.
"Who makes them?" Reeve took off the reading glasses and turned back to his computer, bringing up a search screen.
"They're located in Junon, but I don't remember the name," she said, getting up to peer over his shoulder again. "What're you doing?" He smelled of some cool sharp faintly herbal cologne.
"Seeing if I can find something about that model," he said, checking the list of Junon companies Shinra did business with. Only one of them made contraceptive implants. He brought up the company screen and searched on the model number, putting his glasses back on to peer at the note. He hit print as soon as the information appeared, handing the sheets to Elena and reading off the screen.
Model XC45D2 is the top of our Enceinte line, designed to work in concert with the full program of infertility treatment designed by Dr. Margarethe Stallings. XC45D2 is a two-stage implant, switching stages by hormone detection. The first stage is intended to improve chances of contraception by altering the hormonal environment to ensure both ovulation and successful implantation of an embryo. Once implantation has been achieved, the implant switches to the second stage, intended to prevent spontaneous abortion. Side effects noted have not been severe: dry skin, lethargy, nausea. Contraindications: Heart disease, smoking.
"Infertility treatment?" Elena snapped, grabbing the folder and searching through it. Her stomach churned, the nausea from before returning in full strength.
"He was talking about breeding Aeris ," Reeve said, staring as an image of the implant rotated on his screen. It looked just the same as the standard implant, the one time Elena remembered seeing it on the day before it was first implanted.
He was what ?" she demanded, repulsed, and clamping her hand over her mouth as her stomach threatened to rebel. She did not like any of the possibilities that were running through her head.
"When Tseng finally caught Aeris ..." Reeve said, remembering that hideous meeting. "Right before Avalanche broke in to rescue her. Or maybe they'd already gotten in. But Hojo said ... his voice broke, and then he went on. Hojo said she wouldn't live long enough for the research he wanted to do, so he was thinking of breeding her. He glanced up at her reflection, pausing in his typing. Are you all right?
She swallowed hard, the nausea subsiding. Yes. Did he say anything else?
Reeve shook his head. About Aeris? No. But Avalanche got her out not long after that meeting, so I don't know what ... He began tapping keys, and a few heartbeats later, the Science Division's protected database appeared on the screen. Huh. That was too easy. He's probably taken everything useful offline.
"What are - you're not supposed to do that, you know, she said, peering at the screen, interested.
"I'm not supposed to be evacuating a certain orphanage, either," he retorted. He tapped out requests for Aeris, and then Elena, receiving a warning that the information was limited to Hojo only. He tried several things, and could not get past that warning screen; this database was apparently much better protected. Elena half-leaned on his chair, watching him work, the printouts with their medical jargon in one hand.
Why are you helping me? she asked finally. I can't do anything for you.
Reeve frowned, pausing in his typing. You asked, he said. And besides -
Whatever he had been about to say was cut off by Rude walking into the office. He frowned at Elena, and she stood upright hastily. Reeve spun his chair around to face Rude.
"Elena?" Rude looked tired, as if he'd been awakened suddenly, and sounded considerably less than happy.
"Problem," she said, and then shook her head when he looked at Reeve. "No, not Reeve. Hojo . "
Emergency meeting with him and Rufus in ten. What's the problem?
"Hojo bribed my doctor to replace my implant," Elena said, handing him the note and the printout. "I don't know what else he may have had done."
Rude read over the material, frowning, a tic starting at the corner of his mouth. I'll deal with him. He handed the papers back.
"Not until I find out what the hell he did to me," Elena replied, returning them to the file and stuffing the folder in her jacket. "Reeve. Can you hack into his computer from his office?"
"Probably," Reeve replied, thinking. "If not, I can search his office for any physical files. If he's going to be in a meeting with you ..."
Rude looked at him dubiously. ...Can you?
Reeve sighed. Yes, I can. Hojo's not as good at computer security as he likes to think, and I can dig through filing cabinets with the best of them. Just buy me time.
Rude said, in tones that suggested he was still not at all certain of the wisdom of this operation. Come on, Elena, he said. She frowned at the stubborn, angry look on his face, and the rapid pace he set, requiring her to almost run to keep up with his longer strides.
Slow down! she demanded. No matter how impatient Rufus is, the elevator's still slow!
That made him stop altogether; she nearly ran into him. He turned around and grabbed her by the shoulders, giving her a shake. Don't trust Reeve, he said harshly.
What? What are you talking about, Rude? His hands were clenched hard enough on her shoulders to leave bruises, and she tried to shrug free, but he only clenched them harder.
Don't trust him, Rude said angrily, shaking her again. We would have dealt with Hojo already. He can't do anything to help you.
Elena shook her head and folded her arms over her chest, thoroughly irritated. Rude, he's already helped. He is helping. I don't understand what you're talking about.
Rude dropped her shoulders and almost shoved her away, then turned and walked toward the elevator, almost faster than before. Elena stalked after him, wondering what had put him in such a lousy mood. He was the most even-tempered of them all under most circumstances. She shrugged to herself, wincing at sore shoulders, and followed him into the elevator; forty-eight hours on duty tried anyone's patience.