Smoke and Shattered Mirrors,

By Ealinesse

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final Fantasy, just the plot to this story, and a couple of painfully annoying original characters. And a rusty truck that, apparently, Reno and Yuffie don't want any more… Woohoo.

Summary: A stakeout doesn't go as planned, and the two people least happy about it are the same two who have to drop everything and work together to keep themselves alive… and sane.

Warnings: Language, (Kiwi Spelling), More Language, a little Violence.

Category: Action/Adventure, Bad Humour, Angst, Reno and Yuffie being prats… Reno and Yuffie being prats… Reno and Yuffie Arguing… Nothing too unusual, really.

Chapter Eight... On The Road Again…

In the darkness a car and a flat-deck ute sped down a long shingle road, kicking up small pebbles and choking dust as they progressed. Every now and then the front-most one would swerve slightly, whether by design or by fault of the driver within, and the other would gradually inch closer, nearly bumper to bumper with the obviously ailing vehicle ahead. Within the first vehicle two passengers sat, both with equal expressions of displeasure as they found themselves torn between the limited, hopeless view in front of them, and the troubling one behind them.

Yuffie sucked in a sharp breath as the ute slid out yet again on the loose gravel, then again as the car behind them chose that same opportunity to nudge them so as to throw them even further off track. Not even sparing herself the chance to curse in aggravation, Yuffie threw a quick glance over her shoulder to try and see if anything else was happening. There seemed little point in that though, as only the indistinct blur of two headlights directly behind them shone clearly through the dust they were kicking up. She couldn't even see the car's shape, let alone the activity of the people inside. She turned back in her seat, and ducked lower.

As if reading her thoughts, a loud, piercing echo rung out over the sound of their protesting engine, and the solid thud of something small and agile hitting Reno's side mirror was the only warning they got before it shattered and fell back in a shower of glass behind them.

"Asshole," Reno muttered, casting a brief glance in his rear-view mirror.

Yuffie huffed, her eyes scouting the car for something she could hopefully use to help them. Sitting in the seat like this, with nothing to assist either herself or Reno was really getting to her. It would be nice to be able to contribute to saving her own life… "Doesn't he realise if they hit us and we spin out, they'll crash into us and be equally screwed?"

Reno sneered. "He won't be thinking about that. All that's running through his head is tying up some loose ends, and if he has to injure himself and kill whoever else is in the car with him, then that's what he'll do."

"He likes to take risks?"

"You don't know the half of it."

There was another jolt, and again the car fishtailed a little before Reno managed to get it under control. Yuffie watched him glare into the back mirror again before jamming his foot down further on the accelerator – but to no avail. It seemed the underpowered truck was already going as fast as it was going to go. Yuffie screwed up her face, Reno's earlier information running through her head. From what he'd said, and by what was happening now, it was becoming imminently clear that escaping like this wasn't an option. Hell… how about escaping at all!

But there had to be something to do… She wasn't just going to sit there.

Yuffie let her eyes frantically roam the seats in front of her. Nothing. With hands that she tried to stop shaking by focusing on keeping them busy, she scavenged through the glovebox. Again, nothing but a few papers and a pen. She growled, contemplated tearing out her hair, then bent over and took a peek under the seat. Zip, zilch, zero, nada. "Goddamn it!" she hissed, raking her hazel eyes over everything she saw, and for a moment she was tempted to merely rip out the radio and cassette deck and throw it at the windscreen of the car behind them, until it occurred to her that she had no idea how. Car thieving was one aspect of the profession she had never really aspired to get into, and she had no desire to start now.

Oh, the irony.

"The backseat. Try it."

Yuffie nodded, twisting herself awkwardly in her seat in order to both stay low and get a good view of whatever was in the back. Upon first glance she saw nothing, but after leaning a little further around a small box appeared in her line of vision amongst various sheets of paper and plastic. She squinted her eyes, trying to read the label, and fairly crowed in delight when she did. She stretched out to reach the item, not bothering to puzzle over why something like that would be on the floor of a car like this, but found her arm stopped just short of the object. "Damn it," she muttered, reaching around to try and undo her seatbelt in order to snag the box. "I can't reach!"

"What's back there?"

But Yuffie didn't have the breath to respond as she found her chest growing shorter of air the more she stayed in this unwieldy position. With a grunt of effort she stretched her arm out as far as she could, feeling the muscles in her shoulder and forearm begin to groan in protest. "Come on, just a little further… please…"

The car swerved, and they were again jolted by Donovan's vehicle. Yuffie found what remaining breath she'd had left knocked out of her chest as she was thrown first against the side of the driver's seat, and then again against her own one. She winced, closing her eyes for a brief moment as she began to slide forward, and she was suddenly glad that she hadn't quite managed to remove her belt – otherwise it could have been a lot more painful. When she opened her eyes again, a brief grin flitted onto her face, and she finally managed to grip the box that had been knocked closer to them in the previous events.

She ducked back up into her seat as quickly as she could, hiding behind the headrest, though the little good that was going to do her if they were shot at more accurately again. With a quick second glance at the box, Yuffie snapped it open and looked inside. She would have smiled in pleasure as her expectations were again exceeded, but the current situation allowed no time for that.

"Anything useful?" Reno asked again, not taking his eyes off the road.

"You betcha," Yuffie responded. "Bullets!"

"Bullets? What caliber? Size?"

"Uh…" Yuffie fumbled the box in her grip, unable to decipher whatever was written on the small cube. "I'm not sure. I can fire a gun if need be, and load one if I'm given the correct bullets, but I have no idea… "

"I need to know if they're going to fit my gun. Here," Reno said, removing a hand from the wheel in order to pull his gun from his jacket. "Take a look for me."

But she still had no idea, and when she voiced that to Reno he growled in frustration. "Take one out and show me."

Yuffie slipped one of the small metal-tipped objects from the half-full packet and held it just by the steering wheel. "Any use?"

Reno cursed and shook his head. "They're for a shotgun."

"I take that as a no. What the hell do we do now?" she asked sourly. "Throw them at them!"

"Don't waste them yet," was the quick reply as Reno replaced both hands on the wheel again and cast another glance into the mirror. "Is there anything else in the back seat? If there's bullets there might be a gun."

"But with our luck… " Yuffie retorted, her voice trailing off as she bent around to take a second look. After being banged around twice more as they were rear-ended by Donovan's seemingly infallible car, she had nearly given up, when she caught sight of a small side tray tucked away into the back corner of the truck on the driver's side. With a snide comment about how good ol' Murphy was no doubt getting a kick from this, Yuffie successfully flicked her belt undone and crawled into the backseat, as she did so snaking a hand over and into the deep opening in the side.

She wasn't disappointed.

"You were right. It's back here."

"All right," Reno replied after a second. "Come back up here and load it up."

She did so awkwardly but with haste, the weapon trailing after her as she crawled back into her seat. Retrieving the cartridges she'd momentarily placed into the glovebox, she snapped the weapon open at the barrel and placed it at her side, face down on the floor. "What now?"

"We shoot the shit out of him, like he's been doing to us."

"How? In case you hadn't noticed, he just shot our side mirror out. If one of use leans out the window to shoot he'll return the favour and blast our arm off!"

Reno seemed to accept this statement, but it certainly didn't deter him in the slightest. Yuffie watched as a calculating gleam entered his eyes, before he flicked his eyes toward her in a sidelong glance. "Okay," he said after a moment. "How good are you with a gun?"

"I can shoot, if that's what you're asking."

"Can you hit what you're shooting at?"

"If I'm at a standstill. I'm trained more in the traditional arts than gunfighting. Shurikens, throwing stars, darts – handheld projectiles, mainly. I'm not sure if I could hit them."

"That doesn't help us in the least."

Yuffie scowled and focused her gaze ahead. "Would a clear shot be easy enough? How long does this road continue straight?"

"No fucking clue."

"What do you mean you're not sure! I thought the plan was to get to Junon!"

"It still is. But I took a back road in order to see if he'd notice. Quite obviously, he did."

"Your sarcasm is duly noted."

"Thank you. I try."

Yuffie screwed up her hands into fists. What the hell were they supposed to do! The one who was driving was the only one who could apparently shoot with supposed accuracy, and here was her, in the passenger seat, unable to drive either. She felt helpless, and was frustrated at herself for being so. She continued to berate herself for a moment, the adrenaline allowing her thoughts to run faster – however more jumbled – but she was saved from having to let them run any deeper when Reno spoke up.

"You up for a drive?"

Yuffie stared coldly at the Turk for a second after realizing his expression was dead serious. It then became apparent what he was suggesting. She balked. "Have you lost your mind? You know I have no idea how to drive!"

"A manual, at least."

"What d'you mean by that?"

Reno shook his head and waved his hand in a cut-off gesture. "I don't have time to explain, except to say that this truck is significantly easier to drive than the one we were in earlier."

"You want me to drive," she stated bluntly, unable to get past the fact that he was willing to sign a death wish in order to try something.

Reno must have caught the look on her face as he shrugged, sneering. "We don't have much choice. I'm the only one who's trained with a gun here, and I know I can shoot out Donovan's tyres if I'm given the chance. We need to trade places."

"How!" Yuffie fairly yelled. "We'll crash if we switch! And what about the accelerator? Someone has to keep their foot on it, don't they? Come on, Reno! I know at least that much!"

"Not necessarily," Reno replied, pointing at two small buttons in the middle of the steering wheel. "This truck may be an underpowered piece of shit, but it's a modern piece of shit. It has Cruise Control."

"Cruise Control? What the hell's that?"

"It's where you keep the car at a constant speed without using the accelerator. All you need to do is accelerate to the speed you want, and then push that button. As long as you don't put your foot on the accelerator or the brake, it will remain at that speed until it runs out of petrol. Or hits something sold."

"But… don't' cars have gears?" Yuffie said slowly, feeling her neck crack painfully as they were rammed into yet again.

"No. That's a manual where you have to manually change the gears. This is automatic, Yuff, and all it has is an accelerator and a brake. Basically, if I set this," Reno pushed one of the buttons," and take my foot off the accelerator, it will stay at the same speed. You got it?"

The cordial way in which the Turk was explaining this all to her was expressive of his expectation of her to take the wheel. It seemed he just didn't get it. She had never driven before. Ever! "Reno, I can't-"

"Look, brat," Reno said sourly, cutting her off. "We don't have time to argue. We either do this, and stand a chance of getting out of this relatively unharmed, or we try and outrace him – which both you and I know isn't going to happen. Don't argue. Do you want to live or not?"

"That's my question to you," she retorted sarcastically, staring with growing horror at the steering wheel. She shook her head. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Dead serious."

Yuffie closed her eyes tightly for a second, trying to think of something else to say in order to change his mind – some other, more plausible idea, perhaps. But all that came out of her mouth was a squeaked, "okay," that would perhaps seal their uncertain fate even more than Donovan's apparent aim with his gun.

"Okay," Reno mirrored with a sudden smirk of amusement, and Yuffie felt like saying that he had no reason to be amused. If something happened, she could at least maintain that it was his idea. If they even got that far…

"The car's already on Cruise," Reno said, eyeing the shotgun on the floor, then catching her own eyes. "You don't need to worry about anything except steering. The two pedals – the one on the right is the accelerator. Don't touch that; we don't have enough grunt to make it go faster, and this ute is handling the straight shingle bad enough as it is. The left one is the brake. Use that only if you think we need it."

"The steering?" she asked meekly. "How-"

"It's Power Steering, by the looks. Don't jerk the wheel around – we'll crash. Try and keep the car as straight as you can. If Donovan tries to overtake us, get in front of him; things can be handled a lot easier that way. You got it?"

"Nope?" she asked with a smile that was more nervousness than a parallel to Reno's own apparent amusement.

"Good," he smirked. "Now, we'll do this now and get it over and done with quickly. I'm going to swerve the car, kick up more dust so Donovan can see us even less than he already can, and you're going to take control of the wheel then, when he's concentrating on being able to see. I'll get into the backseat right after I've done this, and that way you can crawl across… "

"… And drive," she finished off reluctantly.

"Exactly. At that point I can snatch up the gun and get to business."

Yuffie shook her head in bewilderment, sure it was just the adrenaline coursing through her that was allowing her to go through with this foolishness. "Each to their own," she whispered.

"You ready? Remember not to jerk the steering wheel – we have enough problems with Donovan tailgating us. Brake only if you have to, and-"

"Don't bother accelerating. Yeah, yeah." Yuffie met Reno's eyes again, noting the cold amusement swarming in the glowing depths. She watched as he looked away briefly – to the back deck of the truck through the small window of the back cab – and then back to her. She frowned, catching a change in the look in his eyes, and realization slowly dawned on her. "Reno," she began, "why are you explaining all this to me like you're not going to be inside the truck while I'm driving?"

Reno's smirk widened into that of a grin, and it was then she knew. Eyes wide with fright, not only for herself, but for what she was sure Reno was going to do next, she cast her own eyes out to the back of the ute. "You're kidding me."

"Not in the least. How the fuck else do you expect me to hit his tyres – or his windscreen – clearly, for that matter?"

"You're not just going to shoot from the back? From in here?"

"I can barely see through the window, let alone through the dust. Chances are they won't even notice I'm out there until I've fired a couple of shots off."

This was a lie, and they both knew it. "You'll get shot! Or thrown off! You're already injured, in case you haven't been reminded of that enough in the past few days! They'll have a clear shot of you if you just get out onto the back!"

"Not if I can help it."

"And what if you can't? You're speaking as if this is going to work!"

"Oh for Chrissake, Yuff, lighten up! It's our only bloody chance to shake him off that's actually an option!"

"You can't just-"

"Couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't, brat," Reno retorted with a shrug, clicking off his safety belt which Yuffie took as a sign of final decision. "I've done a lot worse in my life, as you're well aware. Now, you ready?" he asked finally. When she said nothing, he shot her a warning glance. "Put your hands on the wheel, Yuff."

"No."

"Do it."

"No."

"You're wasting time. Do it!"

And with those last words Reno offered her a brief smirk, fishtailing the car even more than it was already doing for a few twists, before lifting first one, then both hands off the wheel entirely, not willing to give her even an option. Yuffie blinked, eyes widening, and before she had even thought about what she was doing she had lunged forward in her seat with a startled yell of protest, and taken hold of the wheel even as the mule-headed Turk began to crawl into the back seat.

Too shocked to even send the idiot anything more than a brief glare of anger and frustration, Yuffie found herself clambering awkwardly into the driver's seat in order to gain a better angle with which to control the shingle-pulled steering wheel. "Fuck you, Reno," she hissed as she practically glued her eyes to the road, her brain oozing concentration even as her heart pounded in apprehension and fear. They only had one shot, she realized soberly, and it had to be done right. Attacking him right now, or pinning him to the truck's upholstery with her Conformer, no matter the satisfaction, was not going to help the situation.

"You happy now, Turkey?" she snapped to the Turk getting organized in the backseat.

"Deliriously," he retorted, even more amusement in his voice. There followed a brief click – the safety on the shotgun, she realized - before Reno was suddenly leaning around the seat beside her, gun slung over his shoulder, smirking in obvious enjoyment. She shook her head in frustration. Why was it always the things concerning her own misfortune that he found so funny?

"How are you enjoying your first driving lesson?" he asked snidely, white teeth flashing as his grin widened.

"Obviously nowhere near as much as you," Yuffie ground out, taking one shaking hand off the wheel for a brief moment to smack the arrogant ass upside the head.

Reno ducked, then leaned back around the seat again. "Oh, shove it, brat. You're not doing near as bad as I thought you would."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!"

"Well face it, there's a lot of trees on the side of the road and we haven't hit any of them yet."

"Asshole. I bet you're just jealous because you crashed the first car you bought straight away, aren't you?"

Reno snorted. "Close. Actually, the first car I stole I crashed."

How the hell is that supposed to make me feel better, she thought bitterly, but didn't say it out loud. "Nice," she merely muttered distractedly.

"I thought so."

And then there was an earsplitting shattering noise where everything grew louder, and it took a moment before she realized that Reno had just smashed the back window of the truck with the butt of the shotgun in order to make his way easily through it. Suddenly she could hear even the agonizing crunching of the tyres on the gravel, as well as the pained moaning of their engine. She kept her eyes on the road though, and made sure to keep herself focused. If Reno was going to go through with this dumb idea, then she was just going to have to make it as easy as possible for him as she could, despite how her instincts were screaming at her not to.

"Just drive," she whispered to herself over the increased noise, deciding with annoyed realization that the situation was only slightly different to the one they'd been in when they'd been on the skycab to Wutai - only it was a rabid human after them and not an enraged dragon. "Don't get distracted, just keep your eyes straight ahead, and drive."

"Good advice," Reno muttered from his position by the window. "Make sure you follow it."

Yuffie spared herself the briefest glances out of the rearview mirror, watching as Reno continued to clear the remaining glass from the jagged frame. When it appeared he was done, Yuffie frowned. "Be careful," she said. "Get yourself killed, and I'll leave you here. I'm not dragging your sorry carcass around anymore."

"You said that last time," was the smart reply.

And before she could even say something in return, Reno was gone through the window, gun and ammunition with him. Suddenly she felt very alone. With nothing more than a mirror to try and see through the limitless dust they were kicking up behind them, Yuffie could do no more than grip the wheel and try to stay on the road. But at least she was doing something now, a part of her mind told her, which was a hell of a lot better than sitting there. Though she couldn't help but think that the situation she was in now was just another form of hopelessness.

Reno crept out onto the flat deck of the truck, thankful that the countless stone chips their vehicle had to be kicking up would hide the fact that he'd just smashed a window in Donovan's direction. Lying carefully on his stomach, ignoring the resulting twinge in his side, he tried to peer past all the dust and the intense glare of the headlights to see what was going on inside. It was hard going. Every time their truck skidded a little, it appeared Donovan had enough foresight to bumper their car and throw them a little further off course. But Yuffie, it seemed, wasn't doing so badly as he'd initially thought, and he'd been in enough car chases in his life to be able to figure out the smaller details…

Like the fact that Donovan wasn't driving; not anymore, at least. If that had been the case, they would have been tree mulch a long time ago. He hadn't bothered to elaborate to Yuffie, but the reason that he'd crashed that first car he'd stolen had been because of Donovan's influence. His ex-partner had told him to test their 'new' vehicle out for durability and knock off the car ahead of them by ramming the back corner diagonal to them, as opposed to front on. Apparently, that was the most effective way of knocking someone off the road; and at that time, it had been.

Reno frowned as another jolt hit him, and he shot his hands out to grip a small rail on the side so he wouldn't slide around again. No, he decided, recovering his gun. This definitely wasn't Donovan driving. Which meant that the other man had to be planning something – it wasn't like him to sit idle. If there was one thing he was sure of in all this, it was that Donovan never changed.

Taking another few seconds to peer through the haze, he lifted the gun and shimmied further down the back of the ute, grateful that the fold-down tray on the end edge of the vehicle was up and locked in place. Securing himself as much as he could – snagging the toe-end of one of his boots under the rails, and keeping one hand on the locked tray – he lifted the gun up onto the edge and began the difficult process of sighting a weapon from on top of a shuddering, rattling wreck of a deck on the back of a moving ute.

It was unclear how long he was lying there in that position, finger held poised and ready just above the trigger, but when they hit a slightly less dusty patch of road he took his chance and shot where he pictured the driver to be. Over the distinct rattling of their screeching truck Reno heard the sound of shattering glass, and he heard more than saw truck swerve as the driver found himself dead before he knew it. Not even allowing himself a moment to breath – even that was near impossible with all the muck swarming in the air – he struggled with the pack of ammunition, eventually managing to load another two into the dual barrel. Donovan would never go down that easy, and it was better to be prepared, in that case.

By the time he'd managed to lift the shotgun back onto the tray's support, a couple of shots rang out from a little further back than before, and Reno gathered that his ex-partner must have taken the wheel somehow. Why else would he miss unless he were distracted? Reno thought.

He waited again, keeping low behind the decking as the other car began to catch up. This shotgun, powerful as it was, couldn't get off rounds as fast as his own firearm, and could only hold two bullets. Shots had to be accurate, and well calculated – something Donovan was no doubt commenting on even now. Not to mention his failing patience.

The opportunity eventually came again, and Reno quickly sat up and took a shot at the tyre. This time, though, his aim failed to produce any results as he found himself thrown backward momentarily. He cursed as he struggled to recover. Donovan could see what he was trying to do, and was literally throwing him off track.

And this time Reno didn't fail to notice that they swerved a little more than the other times, struggling to recover – and he knew exactly why. His asshole of a friend was aiming for the back corner. There was no stuffing around anymore. This was it.

Yuffie swore, her knuckles white as she gripped the wheel with as much fervency as she could. It was past the time for distractions now, and though she was seriously trying her best to keep the small ute under her control, the car behind them was doing wonders to stop her, and this time was no different.

Gritting her teeth, Yuffie kept her gaze on the road ahead, when she noticed a slight variation in it. Was that… ? She leaned in over the wheel, trying to see what was growing closer. There was something different, of that she was sure, but she couldn't tell until they were nearly there… A solid jolt and a slight dip later and Yuffie blinked, wondering why the sound of crunching gravel had changed to a more solid, higher-pitched tone, and the car's rev count had dropped some.

"What the…" Yuffie examined the road more carefully, finally recognizing that it was suddenly significantly smoother, and that the difference had merely been a change in surface. She nearly affected a smile in relief, but it stopped when they were rammed again, and she forced herself to concentrate harder as the car spun out more than it previously had. She balanced the wheel like she had been doing, sure that she could control it if she tried hard enough, but instead found herself fishtailing even more. "Damn it!" she cursed, poking out her tongue and curling it upward in an expression of extreme focus. "Get it together you sorry excuse for a truck!"

Eventually the truck balanced out, and she sighed in slight relief. The feeling soon faded, however, as she realized that the road, before but a thin strip of unmarked seal, was widening into something more modern and manageable… At least for the person behind her, she thought, as the words Reno had told her before he'd left came back.

… If Donovan tries to overtake us, get in front of him; things can be handled a lot easier that way. You got it?

Yuffie shook her head wildly. "No!" she hissed in annoyed frustration. "I'm having enough fucking trouble as it is!"

But she did as she thought was best, pulling the car away from the side and into the middle of the road, grateful that there was no oncoming traffic that she could see. She looked cautiously into her rearview mirror, mentally taking note that she could see the car behind them a lot clearer now that the loose dust and gravel was behind them. It didn't serve to make her feel any better though, as she could now see Reno leaning over the back ledge of the truck, aiming up the shotgun in order to get a clear target.

"Idiot," she muttered, her eyes returning to the road before she could concentrate any more on the car following her.

That proved to be a big mistake.

The car behind her moved forward without her knowing as she turned away, and a more solid and infrequent nudge than all the others caused her to jerk the wheel and snap her neck forward with the impact. The jerk of their truck in response caused her teeth to snap together, and her jaw and neck muscles to ache with the involuntary movement. With a shout of startlement Yuffie realized what the driver was trying to do, and it was exactly what Reno had warned her against. Pulling the wheel to the left, she returned to the middle of the road in order to correct the mistake…

But too late. Even as she yanked the wheel toward the centre of the road the obviously faster car began to pull up beside them, and the two collided, the ailing truck caught at a bad angle. The car, lower to the ground and obviously of better make recovered quickly, pulling forward even more, while the truck swerved wildly at high speed.

And even as she forced the vehicle to recover, Yuffie realized it was too late to try and rectify it as she began to see the car more clearly still – though not from the rearview mirror or rapidly clearing dust, but from right beside her.

"Don't you fucking dare," Reno growled in frustration as their truck was nudged a second time in a row, and pushed even further to the side of the road. He could only watch in annoyance as the car previously behind them defied his remark and gradually pulled up alongside them. He scowled, eyeing the eerily silhouetted face peering out with contempt. "Asshole," he mouthed to the sole occupant of the vehicle, and was rewarded with a shrug and an equally bitter smirk, before a familiar weapon was raised and aimed.

Reno ducked and rolled as best as he could in the awkward tray of the truck, hearing the bullet that had just been shot deflect off the metal of the frame. Scrambling for the box of pellets that he'd dropped the last time they'd been nudged, Reno pulled out two and proceeded to load them into the weapon when the sound of metal screeching on metal alerted him to the fact that Donovan was going to try and push them even further off the road. Sliding away from the more direct side of the truck, Reno shimmied along the floor and was just clicking the barrel closed again when the force of the impact became more localized. Reno found himself thrown across the other side of the tray, and could only grunt in pain as his armed hand slammed full-on into the metal railing attached. That was sure to leave a mark.

"Shit!" he cursed, refusing to drop the shotgun he'd just loaded. But even as he said that, he realized the box of bullets he'd been holding in his other hand had been lost in the confusion. Staying low, Reno looked around hastily in the darkness in order to try and recover them, but found nothing. With aggravation he realized that it must have been thrown over the side. His scowl deepened. Things were just going from bad to worse.

And he had one shot. One.

"Asshole," he yelled louder this time from his concealed position, deciding to wait for a moment so he could ready himself better.

Yuffie was fretting. She knew it, and she no longer cared. Because of the less traction and grip they had on the road due to the slippery seal, it was becoming harder and harder to keep the vehicle under control the more they were hit. She had no idea whether anything back there had been damaged because of this, and was affecting her manipulation of the vehicle, but there was little she could do about it now.

Yuffie flicked her gaze to the rearview mirror for what must have been the thousandth time, not to eye the other car – no, that was now practically beside her – but to check on Reno, who had in the last smash been thrown against the side. A pang of worry flooded through her, and she tore her eyes away, casting her gaze instead to the callous-looking man driving along beside them. That made her no less worried, however, and so she looked back at the Turk again, willing him to move. She couldn't be sure – the lack of lights behind them was affecting her judgement – but it looked like he hadn't moved since that last jarring impact had subsided.

"Come on, you idiot," she muttered. "Move." Unable to tear her eyes away from the sight, and not wanting to be left alone to face this man by herself, Yuffie practically glared at the mirror. Her efforts were not in vain. As she watched, an arm lifted slightly, and then a whole body of its own volition. She couldn't help herself; she grinned and looked back to the road. She would never admit it, but all those gunshots had left her wondering what would happen if the arrogant Turk happened to die back there, leaving her hopeless to help defend them. For some reason, though she didn't particularly like aspects of his personality, it was a frightening thought to realise that she was trusting him with this.

She shook her head fervently and shook off the deepening thoughts she had no time for, tightening her grip on the wheel and squaring her jaw in determination. Sooner or later this would all be over, and for reasons she couldn't comprehend it was just a whole lot more comforting having someone else around.

Yeah. That was it.

Reno rolled over, taking aim as a strange kind of silence fell, interrupted only by the engines of the two cars, and the eerie wind that had risen some time earlier. He frowned. He had one chance to get this right, and one chance only, otherwise this would just never end. Peering into the car with narrowed eyes, Reno aimed the shotgun with a steady hand that was counteracted by the serious vibrations the truck was making as it progressed over the road. He watched as Donovan realized what he was doing, and put a stop to reloading his gun, instead pulling ahead more so he could be seen – not to mention shot - less easily.

Reno grinned, but concealed the look as he squared his eyes off with the top of the closest back tyre and placed his finger over the trigger, concentrating fiercely in order to make sure the pellets would hit their targets.

Yuffie looked through the mirror, watching as Reno aimed up the gun and Donovan pulled even further forward, pretty much parallel to her. She cocked her head to the side as she watched Reno lean further over the side. Was he aiming for a tyre? She looked closer, squinting. Was he grinning? She smirked, and checked the road before looking at Donovan out of the corner of her eye, unable to ignore the fact that he was watching her.

Sure she knew what Reno was trying to do, she covered her lips with a hand and turned away from the man in order to hide her expression… and so she wouldn't have to look at his cold, spooky gaze.

Whether he had noticed or not, though, Yuffie didn't know. But for some reason he'd stopped loading up his gun, and was concentrating seemingly on pulling in closer to them. She frowned. What was he doing? Was he going to—

Yuffie cursed as they were smashed into yet again, though from a different angle. She strengthened her hold on the wheel and tried to keep the truck straight for a few seconds – long enough to free them from the force. But something was different this time. Through the dark haze, Yuffie looked over to the other vehicle, only to find that the impact had been enough to keep them locked momentarily together. She jerked the wheel, trying to shake the car free from them, droplets of cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.

And that was when she noticed the other problem: Donovan was gone.

So he had noticed.

"What!" Yuffie hissed, torn between trying to keep the two vehicles on the road, and trying to find out where Reno's ex-partner had gone. She was saved from having to do the latter, when a sudden thud alerted her to the fact that something had just landed on the bonnet and Yuffie found herself not needing to even guess what it was. No sir… the hopeful soon-to-be roadkill was crouching low on the hood looking straight at her, gun raised and grinning coldly.

Yuffie's eyes widened and she yelped in surprise, jerking the wheel in order to try and throw him off. But it seemed that he'd sensed that too, and before she could jerk the wheel again he was gone.

Yuffie scowled, knowing it was probably too much to hope for that he'd misjudged the jump, and had gone flying way over the back and onto the road instead of landing squarely on the deck behind her. Another thud told her that her assumption was true, and she looked on, once again unable to do anything but drive and try and free them from the second death warrant that was the other car.

Reno took care aiming, gritting his teeth and keeping a firm grip on the shotgun. He'd just tightened his finger a little on the trigger when a jolt from the car next to them caused him to slide a little. Reno's teeth clamped together of their own accord as the sound of screeching metal pierced the air. He cast a brief look up, seeing that the car had hit them hard enough to catch on something in the frame, and that the two vehicles were now linked.

Reno frowned and turned back to his target, concentrating harder. That fact only made it more imperative that he be accurate. With a last intake of breath and the knowledge that he couldn't fuck this up, he pushed all sound and other sights out of his mind and squeezed the trigger.

A grin slipped easily onto his face as the tyre he'd been aiming for exploded under the dual pressure of the two pellets, and the car previously connected to them was dislodged from the impact, breaking away from them and spinning out down the road behind them in a smog of burning rubber. He was just about to turn away, satisfied that he'd thrown Donovan off and possibly injured him, when he caught sight of the interior of the car. Reno let his Mako eyes narrow, forcing them to look past the darkness. He couldn't be certain, but he was sure that there was nothing to be seen in there – no movement. As was that sunroof on the top… open?

Reno shook his head, willing away his imagination. What a load of shit. He was tricking himself into the belief that it wasn't possible that it could be that easy. With a shrug, he turned around, not sorry to see the man go.

It was safe enough to assume, then, that when he spotted the man that was suddenly crouching before him on the tray of the truck, who was theoretically supposed to be now about a kilometer behind them in a wrecked vehicle, he was caught off guard.

"Looking for me?" Donovan asked, standing carefully and aiming his gun at him in the darkness, teeth glinting under an icy smirk.

Reno scowled, realizing that he should have trusted his instincts - they were usually right. He offered a brief, bitter smile. "Not particularly," he remarked, and took up a defensive stance. "You just don't ever seem to go away."

Author's notes: Hey everyone! Just thought I'd post the next chapter since I'd done it already. This time I've played around with my formatting a little more – it seems that ffnet doesn't like my paragraph breaks or something, and it keeps screwing it up. I don't know about you guys, but it annoys the hell out of me, so hopefully using something other than a star or two will work. Cross fingers.

Thank you all for your reviews… it's great to see this is still being read, despite my slackness! Hopefully I'll be able to make up for it by getting these last chapters out a lot sooner.

Eternal Wanderer: Thanks for your comments on Reno's backstory. I was kind of wondering how it was going to be received, as I know that there are a lot of fics out there with so many ideas, so I was hoping to come up with something original. Oh yeah… and cocky, normal Reno… I'm getting there. This chapter has him a little more up to par, so tell me what you think okay? And no worries… I'm still writing…

The Burning Misery: Hrm. Yuffie already poisoned by the drug? Perhaps… we'll have to see, huh? And thank you for your compliments on Reno's background. I tried to make it plausible as I could. And yes, there are still things to clear up, of course. But we aren't quite at the end of the story yet… Hope I'm not annoying you too much!

Tijuana Pirate: Lol! Catch a breath, and yes, complete sentences. I was wondering what you were going to say when you found out that Ashley was a boy. I remember in your review that you had said something along the lines of assuming that Ashley was a girl… so I'm happy that I'm not all-too predictable. Hope you liked this chapter!

See you next update!

Ealinesse.