Chapter 16:

Turks on the Loose

"When in danger or in doubt

Run in circles, scream and shout."

~Unknown

"Reno!" Elena grabbed at his arm in panic. "I hear something!"

"Something besides all those machines?"

"Yes!" she hissed. "Listen!"

She was right. A woman's voice, very soft. He couldn't quite make out the words, but it sounded like Shera. For a brief moment he wondered if she was coming to look for them, but then he heard another voice, no, two or more. Men.

Hunters.

"They're coming this way!" Elena said urgently, clinging to his arm with a death grip. Reno turned in the opposite direction of the voices.

"Let's go!"

Elena shrieked and pulled him back. "Reno, it's too dark. These rafters have gotta be fifty feet in the air!"

Reno glanced back. Flashlights were moving up the ladder to their level. He turned back to Elena. "No choice. I think if we get down and crawl along, we should be able to make it."

She obeyed immediately, dropping to her hands and knees, feeling her way along the catwalk. Reno let her get ahead of him, to be sure he was between her and the Hunters. If one of them was to be caught, better him than her.

What was Shera doing with a band of Darryn's men?

They were moving painfully slow. Reno knew Elena was going as fast as she could without being reckless, but right now he was tempted to be reckless. The flashlight beams were almost upon them.

Then the beams stopped moving and focused on one thing: The fusebox, with its telltale mess of tangled wires.

"Oh, shit," Reno breathed as he realized the situation. With Shera there as well, things were going to get complicated.

They rounded a corner suddenly, so that the lights were out of sight. Reno grabbed Elena's ankle to stop her from moving. He crept closer and whispered in her ear.

"They found the fusebox. They know we're here. If Shera's with them that means she's here to fix-"

"-Whatever it was that you did," Elena finished for him. "Yeah, I know. What do we do?"

He scowled, even though she couldn't see it. "That's the thing, Elena. There's not going to be a 'we'. I'll get back there, take them by surprise, and get Shera away from them. We'll figure out what to do after that."

"No!" she whispered furiously. "You need me, Reno-"

He gripped her shoulders. "Elena, if you've ever in your life listened to me, listen to me now. There won't be enough room for both of us back there. It will be a grapple in pitch blackness. You see what I'm saying? I'll be lucky if I don't accidentally kill Shera.

"I want you to stay here, where it's safe, so you can help us if need be."

She sighed. "All right," she muttered. "I hate it, but I'll do it." For a while, she added silently.

"Thanks, Elena. I know I can count on you." He began backing up, an even more tedious task than moving forward in the darkness.

Shera was working at the fusebox, holding a flashlight to illuminate her work. Reno counted four more flashlight beams besides hers. Not good odds.

Then he corrected himself. They were on a two-foot wide steel plank. The Hunters could not possibly come at him more than one at a time. Of course, it was a terrible place for a fight, but for now the advantage was his.

He crept closer, hoping they wouldn't be able to hear him breathing. They had to be looking for him. Elena had been right; he'd been stupid to think luring them down here would work! And yet…

He was almost upon the first flashlight-holder. The idiot was waving it around like a strobe light, goofing off. Well, he was about to find out why the Turks of Shinra were so feared…

Reno grabbed a thick leg and shoved it off the catwalk. The man gave a hoarse yell, but he couldn't keep his balance. Reno helped him fall by grabbing his other leg and pushing that over the edge, too. He felt hands grabbing at him, but he slid back, out of reach. The man yelled the whole way down until there was a sickening crack, then a groan.

Instantly flashlight beams swarmed over him. Reno didn't wait for them to react. He jumped to his feet and kicked the nearest in the side. The man fell back, but managed to catch himself before tumbling over the edge. Guns were drawn. One pulled a radio from his jacket.

"We need backup, now!" he shouted into it.

Damn. Reno hadn't counted on that. "Shera!" he yelled. "Get out of here!"

Shera hesitated, but there was nothing she could do without getting in the way. She tossed him her thin aluminum flashlight. "You'll need it!" she called, then turned and ran in Elena's direction.

One of the guys with guns began firing, but she had already disappeared into the darkness. That was when the shots turned on him.

Reno quickly realized the flashlight was giving away his position and switched it off. But he still needed to avoid their light. Deciding to do one thing they would never expect, he put the flashlight between his teeth, grabbed the edge of the gangplank with both hands and swung himself down, allowing all of his weight to dangle over empty space. He felt with his legs for something to stand on, but there was only air. He was too damn high!

Then he got an idea. Quickly he switched one arm to the opposite side of the gangplank, so that he was immediately underneath the steel grating, with both hands gripping opposite sides.

Very slowly, as the lights searched everywhere but his hiding place, he moved his hands along the catwalk, pulling himself along underneath the hunters. When he was far enough behind them, he pulled himself back onto the catwalk. The men were still searching with their lights; they had no idea he was behind them.

Well, that was about to change.

Silently Reno crept toward to nearest flashlight-holder. When he was right behind the man he took his own flashlight from his mouth and looped it around in front of where he knew the man's face was. He switched it on.

"Surprise," he whispered.

The man staggered away from the blinding light, backing right into Reno, which was exactly what the Turk wanted. Reno circled the arm with the flashlight around the man's throat tight, preventing him from making a sound. He switched the flashlight to the other hand and brought the hard metal down on the man's head. The Hunter went limp in his grasp.

Pleased that the first step had gone so smoothly, Reno shoved the unconscious man over the side of the scaffold.

That was when things began to go wrong.

A beam of light landed on him, quickly followed by another. Reno tried to dodge, but there was nowhere to go. The more trigger-happy of the two Hunters left started firing again, and one of the bullets found its mark. Reno felt it tear into his flesh, just above the elbow of his right arm. Warm blood oozed down his arm, dripping onto his fingers.

Reno dropped, trying desperately to avoid the rest of the shots. But he knew there was no hope. They had him.

Suddenly, the gun stopped firing. There was a scream from one of the Hunters that was choked off abruptly. Reno could hardly dare to hope.

Elena…?

He got to his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm. There was the sound of footsteps hurrying toward him.

There was nothing he could do. Reno waited in the circle of the flashlight until the dark form of the last Hunter loomed in front of him. Reno moved quickly, but not quickly enough. The hunter charged straight at him, like a bull. There was nothing he could do to avoid the collision.

The force of the man's blow knocked Reno off the catwalk. He almost fell, but was able to grab hold of the edge with his good arm.

"Reno!" It was Elena's voice. "Hang on! Don't-" She broke off with a cry of pain. There was a man's triumphant yell.

"Elena!" he screamed, but she didn't answer.

The Hunter who had knocked him off leered down at him. "Now it's your turn, Turk." He leaned forward and pressed the barrel of his gun against Reno's head. "I think Darryn will be pretty happy with your corpse, don't you?"

The thought of that man, victorious, was enough to make Reno do it. He looked the Hunter in the eyes, to let him be sure of his intention, then let go of the catwalk.

He had sworn to himself that he wouldn't make a sound as he fell, but Reno found himself breaking that promise right away. There were just some things that were impossible, and staying silent as you fell fifty feet through pitch blackness was one of them.

Reno felt himself hit the side of a metal gear. His head hit the steel alloy pretty hard, and he was fighting to stay conscious when he realized he was nearly tangled in the rope of a pulley. Quickly he reached out and grabbed hold of the rope with both hands, paying no attention to the pain in his right arm. The rope burned his hands, but it slowed his fall considerably. By the time he'd reached the end of the rope, he knew he was close to the bottom level. Deciding to place his fate once again in the hands of Lady Luck, he let go of the rope.

This time he fell only about seven feet before landing on the now-familiar feel of hard metal grating. He sat there, stunned, for several seconds before fully understanding: He'd made it. He was alive.

Suddenly not caring anymore about the Hunters, he began to laugh out loud. He'd made it. He'd kicked ass. He'd taken a chance and pulled it off frickin' beautifully!

He laughed until the adrenaline, weariness and blood-loss (not to mention the hit on the head) each took their toll, and darkness overtook him.

* * * * * * *

Elena struggled against the man holding her, but it did no good. His hand was clamped over her mouth, preventing her from making a sound.

Angrily she shoved her elbow into the man's stomach. He yelped and loosened his hold slightly. As she pushed him off, she saw, illuminated in the circle of light, Reno struggling to cling to the side of the scaffolding.

"Reno!" she screamed. "Hang on! Don't-"

The Hunter she had thrown off jumped her from behind, slamming her to the floor. A hand pressed down on the back of her neck, shoving her face into the cold grating.

She had to get to Reno. She tried to force the Hunter off her, but he grabbed her throat, pressing his thick fingers onto her windpipe.

"Elena!" she heard Reno yell. She couldn't answer him; the fingers on her throat prevented any sort of audible response.

Come on, Reno! she thought desperately. You have to make it…

Then she heard his terribly long scream, slowly fading as he fell.

When the scream ended she couldn't move. She couldn't even think. Reno was dead. They'd killed him.

In the grip of sudden rage, she writhed and twisted furiously in the man's grip, but he was so much stronger. She managed, however, to wrench away the arm around her throat.

"You killed him!" she screamed as soon as she could speak. "You bastards! You killed him!"

The man grunted when she elbowed him in the face. "Hold still!"

Yeah, like she'd really listen to him. Elena was rapidly losing control. "You wait'll I-"

Her head was slammed to the grating once more, cutting her off. She was too enraged to even cry out in pain.

Then, a voice. "Elena, look out!"

She heard the man yell when Shera grabbed hold of his hair and pulled. As he lurched away from her Elena slipped out from under him. She used the edge of the catwalk to help her to her feet.

She caught sight of the other Hunter, the one who'd killed Reno. He was waving his flashlight frantically in one hand and held his gun in the other, trying to get a clear shot.

She didn't even know what she was doing until she'd done it. Elena flew at the man, knocking him on his back with her on top of him. She struck him in the face over and over. This was the man who'd killed Reno. He deserved to die.

He tried to bring up the gun, but Elena grabbed his wrist and slammed it into the grating until he was forced to let go. She seized the gun and cocked it at the man's head.

He blinked up at her stupidly. "Please…" he whispered, blood dripping down his face. "Don't kill me. Don't-"

"Shut up," she whispered venomously. "Shut up! You killed him!"

"I-"

She didn't let him finish, pulling the trigger before she could even think of changing her mind. Dispite her hatred of these people, she was glad it was dark enough to hide the horrible sight of his head blown open.

"Elena!"

She whipped around, gun in hand. She didn't see the mechanic at first, then waved the flashlight she'd grabbed over to the side. Shera grappled furiously with the last Hunter. Even in the darkness Elena could see the glint of a long knife in his hand.

She shined the light on him to get a good shot with her gun. He noticed, swept Shera aside, and dove for Elena.

The attack was so unexpected Elena had no time to react. She felt her head hanging over the edge of the gangplank.

The gangplank Reno had fallen off of.

She tried to lift her gun, but he had her arm pinned under him. Just that one stroke of terrible luck, and she was about to die.

Elena was so full of dispair. This was what it had all come down to. They were all going to be killed. Not by Jenova, no big heroes' death, trying to save the world. Just by a band of men. Normal humans, their minds so contorted by hatred that they didn't even seem like humans anymore, but just mindless animals. Bloodthirsty, savage animals.

He smiled at her, bringing up the knife.

Shera brought her foot down on the man's spine, hard. When he turned to confront her Shera raked her fingers across his face and throat, her fingernails shredding skin. He screamed and leaped for her. She only dodged, and then the stupid Hunter found that he had leapt too far. He yelled obscene things as he fell, before he was suddenly cut short.

Shera helped Elena to her feet. "Are you all right?"

Elena didn't answer right away. She was staring at the spot where the Hunter had tumbled over the catwalk. Reno had fallen off just like that. Reno had died just like that.

"Elena," Shera said gently. "Look at me."

She couldn't. Her mind felt as if in a haze. Reno was dead. He hadn't even been killed by someone he knew the name of. Just some faceless, soulless person warped by hatred.

Shera grabbed her chin firmly in one hand, forcing the other to look at her. "Elena. Please snap out of it."

Elena looked at the other woman a long time before Shera's words actually clicked into her brain. A thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Oh, shit," she said blankly. "What am I going to tell Rude?"

It was then she started to cry, sinking to her knees to rock back on her heels. "What am I going to tell him?" she wailed. "That his best friend died because I couldn't get to him in time? Because I wasn't strong enough? What is he going to say to that?" Nothing, that was what. Rude wouldn't say a thing, for fear of hurting her. And it was that knowledge that somehow made it all the worse.

Shera hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face as well. "It wasn't your fault, Elena," she said urgently, feeling the other needed to understand that. "You couldn't have done anything."

"Then why does it hurt so bad?" she sniffed, remembering Reno's last words to her. I know I can count on you.

Shera didn't know the answer. Feeling she needed to provide at least some shred of hope, she asked, "Elena, are you sure…he's…"

"Yes!" The Turk cried, wrenching away and jumping to her feet. "I heard him scream, Shera! Reno doesn't scream like that unless he's terrified. And I think I'd be pretty damn terrified if I was thrown off a fifty foot beam."

Shera was silent for a moment, fingering her flashlight. At last she said, very quietly: "What now?"

Elena grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Shera was alarmed by the very dangerous look she saw in the blond woman's eyes. It was as if the cold fingers of dispair had wrapped themselves around her heart, squeezing all warmth from it. There was not a trace of compassion or mercy in her voice when she spoke.

"Now," Elena said coldly, "we kill every last one of Darryn's men."

* * * * * * * He opened his eyes to more darkness. It was exactly as though he hadn't woken at all, except now he was aware of the cold metal grating underneath him. Not to mention the burning pain in his arm.

Reno got to his feet, cursing himself for drifting off like that. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious- it could have been three minutes or three hours. He felt weak and lightheaded, probably from the blood loss in his arm. He couldn't even do anything about that without any materia, and he dared not try to tend the wound until he found some light.

That was first priority. He needed to find a way to fix his arm, then get some light and hopefully some kind of weapon. Sounded easy.

He snorted. He'd learned something since becoming a Turk- nothing was easy.

At least he wasn't on the catwalk anymore. He did not think he could handle crawling around on his hands and knees in this state. It was a good thing he wasn't right-handed.

With his good left hand stuck out in front for guidance, he was able to make some sort of progress for a while…until he tripped over something soft. He accidentally used his bad arm to break his fall, causing more pain than if he'd landed on his face. Reno shouted out an obscene curse, more to hear the sound of his own voice than because of the pain, really. Something about the heavy darkness and the silence made him very tense and rather nervous. It hadn't been bad when Elena was with him, but now…

Elena. He needed to find her. Angrily he tried to kick the soft thing out of the way. That was when he realized it was a body.

He fell back on his knees, running his hands over the body. He was relieved to discover it was a man, and therefore not Elena. If it had been her…he didn't want to think about that.

After searching the Hunter's body, Reno walked away with a gun and a flashlight. He didn't turn it on until he was some distance away from the Hunter, just in case the man was merely unconscious, not dead.

The bone had stopped the bullet, at least. It was a nasty wound, but it would heal with time. Unfortunately, the bullet had gone too deep for him to pry it out himself. He would need help with that.

Once Reno had wrapped a strip torn from his jacket around the injury tightly, he switched off the flashlight and tucked it in his belt. He wanted to conserve the batteries, and besides, he would rather have the gun out that the flashlight if he ran into Darryn's men. And he was sure he would. The guy with the radio hadn't been calling for an invitation for a tea party.

It wasn't long before the smothering darkness forced Reno to take out the flashlight again. Reluctantly he placed his gun in his jacket holster, reasoning he could always take it out if he heard noises or saw lights.

This area of the engine room looked similar to where he had been before, but the pathways were different. Reno decided to take it as a good sign- maybe he was close to finding the door back to the interior of the ship.

Then again, if he was near there, he'd surely run into Hunters,

Whenever the path split, he always took the descending one; he'd had enough of fifty-foot catwalks. As he walked, he started to plan.

He needed to find the others. If he couldn't meet up with Elena before very long, he would just have to make his way through the ship, find Cid, and figure out what to do from there. At least, that was what the reasonable part of his mind said. The unreasonable part insisted he find Darryn and make him suffer.

Lights. Coming his way.

Damn.

He ducked to the side, not in the mood to be shot a second time. The flashlight was replaced with the gun. He didn't need to give himself away by shining the light on the target. It was simple enough just to look at the angle of each flashlight to judge where the Hunters were. Reno cocked the gun.

There was a sudden ringing sound. Every single flashlight pointed in his direction. Reno ducked down, hoping he hadn't been seen. The lights were all on a level below his, but he wasn't about to take chances. The ringing didn't stop.

When he finally realized it was coming from his jacket pocket, he swore and grabbed the PHS. "This had better be good!" he hissed into the mouthpiece. "I'm in a shitload of trouble, here!"

"So're we," Barret said harshly. "We need help."

"Oh, good. Get in line." Reno risked taking a peek over his cover. The lights were starting up a staircase, toward him. Damn, damn, damn! "Barret, this is a really bad time to talk."

"The Sresla's in Rocket Town," Barret said abruptly. "An' they ain't letting us leave. Some shit 'bout contamination."

"Why don't you just blow their heads off?" Reno growled, raising the gun. He aimed for the lead flashlight. It was still almost forty feet away.

Barret spoke bluntly. "They threatened to kill my daughter."

"Well, threaten to kill their daughters! Or something!" Reno snapped impatiently. "I couldn't care less about you guys right now, and believe me, I'm trying."

Barret muttered a curse. "What the hell is going on over there, anyway?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Reno squeezed the trigger. There was a shout of pain. The lead flashlight clattered to the floor. "We've got guests."

Barret started to swear, but Reno went on.

"The Hunters arrived, overpowered us, and are in control of the ship. Elena and I escaped, had a fun near-death experience, got into the engine room, caused a power outage, and killed a few guys. Then I fell off a fifty-foot beam and am now running around with one gun and a flashlight, trying to snipe people in the dark while I'm talking to you!" By now Reno was yelling. He lowered his voice. "And that's frickin' sugar-coating it."

Barret was quiet for a second before speaking. "Jus' don't tell me you're flying now, cuz we still hafta get out of here."

Reno smiled mirthlessly as he shot down the next Hunter. "That's what I meant when I said I was sugar-coating it."

"Where d'you think you are?"

"How the hell should I know?" Reno tried to think of how the landscape had looked when he'd been outside the airship. "Um…mountains! Jagged gray ones."

"Nibel Mountains," Barret said instantly. "You're headin' southeast."

He fired a third time and missed. The flashlight moved faster, as if the third Hunter was running. Three more were close behind him. "Barret, I really don't give a damn what direction we're going. We need help. Now."

"Reno, the hell you expect us to do?"

"I don't know!" He fired again, hitting his mark this time. "Hah! Gotcha, you ugly bastard!" He tried to fire again, but there was only an empty click. "Damn!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Look, I can't talk anymore, okay? Don't call back." He clicked the PHS off and jumped to his feet. The three flashlights that were left were coming closer. Too close. He tucked the PHS in his pocket, being careful not to drop the gun. He would have to move fast, and he couldn't have Barret distract him anymore.

He carefully lowered himself to the floor, backing up a bit. When he had himself in the position he wanted, he put down the gun for a moment, took out the flashlight and switched it on. When he was sure the Hunters were close enough he threw the light in the air. The stupefied Hunter in the lead thought the Turk was coming straight at him. He dropped to the floor instinctively, prompting the others to crash into him.

Away from the shine of their flashlights, Reno grabbed his gun and took off, running up some metal stairs and around a corner. He heard angry shouts from behind, but didn't bother to look back- if they caught him, they caught him, and there was no need to slow himself down by looking behind.

Without the aid of light, Reno soon stumbled and fell. Swearing, he rolled away from the shaft of light that passed over him. The pain in his arm was almost unbearable, but Reno preferred it to being caught.

The light flashed over him again. Reno jumped to his feet and swung the empty gun. He felt the hard metal connect with something soft. The Hunter swore and lurched backward. Reno pressed the attack, swinging the gun again. This time, he hit something hard- probably the Hunter's face, judging by the way he was screaming. Reno grabbed the man's flashlight to illuminate his work while he finished the job.

He had wondered, briefly, why only one of the three Hunters had come after him, and why no one had come to help the man, but now he realized that the floor was simply too narrow for more than two people to stand side by side. The other Hunters might have been worried about getting in the way.

He snorted in derision, doubting it. More likely the cowardly bastards had panicked when they heard their friend's screams, not daring to challenge a desperate Turk.

Reno started to smile as he tossed his useless gun away and grabbed the unconscious- or dead- Hunter's. He picked up the guy's flashlight, too.

The last two Hunters waved their flashlights in his direction when he called from around the corner, pitching his voice low, like the Hunter's. "Got him!"

"He down, Will?" one said nervously.

Reno kicked the Hunter with the side of his shoe. "Yeah, but the crafty punk almost got me. Handsome devil, too."

If the Hunters thought his comments strange, their relief made them careless, for they came around the corner quickly. Reno let them shine their lights on the body of their fallen ally, allowing the shock to set in before he shot them down.

After adding two more guns to his collection, Reno smiled to himself and waltzed off. It was time to find Elena.

Okay, I'm sorry for dragging on this part forever, but I just love gunfights in the dark so much! Tell you what- if you forgive me, I'll reward you with some nice romantic scenes further on. Unless of course, you prefer the gunfights in the dark. *grin* Uh-oh, is this a hint to review and tell me what you think?

~Lila