Cid, Reno, Yuffie: Reno Spiegel
Cloud, Elena, Penderfaust, Tifa, Reeve: drakonlily
LIKE FATHER LIKE SON
Chapter 9
Cid Highwind was retired and loving every minute of it.
He wasn't retired in the literal sense, but there wasn't really any other way to put it. At his age -- despite being younger than Barret, he still felt old with the chain-smoking and flying taking their toll -- and having been through what he had with AVALANCHE, that was just the way he saw himself right now. Sitting up at two in the morning watching Wutain martial arts films and eating a TV dinner, screaming "Yes!!" every once in a while, Cid Highwind was fucking retired.
He had come back from his adventure with Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, and the rest as a new man. His first words inside the door had been a marriage proposal, and so it had been. One spring afternoon, with no one invited but the town's business owners, they'd been wed as Cid and Shera Highwind.
He was retired; he was married; he loved it.
What he didn't love was the phone ringing at two in the morning. Shera had left on business -- she taught flight schools all over the Planet now -- so it wasn't a problem of waking her up, but calling at this hour was just plain rude. He set his dinner on the TV tray, clicked on the lamp, and picked up the receiver. "'Ello? Who's this?"
"Good Evening there, Highwind." Came a voice that was unusually cheerful, if not a bit cold and clipped. "Perhaps you should turn on the Junon News channel?"
Cid knew that voice. He wasn't entirely sure where from or who it was, but he knew it was not a good voice to have come over his private telephone, let along have his phone number. Deciding nothing bad was going to happen if he followed the instruction, though, Cid did just that.
What he saw didn't exactly shock him...
...at first.
Emmerson Reeve, old leader of the Turks, in fact that man that had "encouraged" Cid to join ShinRa in the first place. Cid never really forgave the man for that, be it his fault or not. Regardless, he knew that once a Turk, always a Turk. It was evident that the group of them had banded together. Following Reeve was his wife, then Rude and the other blonde woman, Elena.
It was the next few moments that were the most telling. Reno, was next, clinging to his side was Yuffie. YUFFIE.
Cid's cigarette fell from his mouth, if that wasn't bad enough, the last person from the diner was Cloud Strife. The blond threw a set of keys at Reno, firing back into the building with a gun of his own.
The group piled into an SUV and sped away, he knew Cloud could drive, but being wheelman for Turks? And what the FUCK was Yuffie doing?
Good thing the woman was out on business. If she hadn't been, she would most certainly be awake by now.
His next words weren't exactly literal. If they had been, he wouldn't have sounded nearly as threatening; not like one could threaten the man on the other end of the line, though. "Look, asswipe, I dunno who you are an' how you know I know them, but you best keep yer fuckin' nose outta my life. I grew up; they ain't my problem anymore." He was lying through his teeth; he just hoped he didn't sound like it.
"So if I told you I know exactly where they are, you wouldn't care at all? I know you better then that Cid." There was a humorous laugh. "My ID project can do a great deal of damage with the right... ah, encouragement. Of course, you know about that right?"
"Who are you?" It was all he could say to that question before the name revealed it had to be one of two people. ID project. Any project with a codename like that was ShinRa science; either Hojo was alive, or. . .
"Maybe I should talk to Shera?" The voice continued. "She was so intelligent, not that she really needed to be so clever, is she still as pretty as she used to be?" Now the other man was taunting him. As if he wasn't pissed enough.
Cid's hand had found his spear. He didn't know what good that would do him, but it was reassuring to know he could reach down beside his chair and grip the Venus Gospel. "Listen, you sick fuck. I don't like you; I never did; I never fucking will. You have anything to do with Shera and I'll make sure yer projects all go up in a big goddamn ball, y'hear me?!"
"Tsk tsk, is that anyway to speak to someone who is simply trying to hold a conversation with you?" Penderfaust, how could he have forgotten? The man was nothing short of slime, enough to make even Sephiroth uncomfortable. "I just wanted to know if you would do me a favor. You see, my projects have gotten away from me, and under their own control, all that science goes to waste."
"Boo-hoo. What the hell does that have to do with me?" Cid knew this guy; conversations weren't things he had. No, he had malicious negotiations.
"Oh, now, relax Cid, you have nothing I want. I do however have some plans with Turk Model 547812. I know you don't have any love for 547805 or the rest of them. Also, you should know that tracking them is fairly easy. After the ONI project, they all have trackers implanted at the base of the neck." He took a drink of something. "I would like ONI, ID and model 547812 returned to me. That's all."
He didn't even bother playing along. Why would he? Panderfaust knew him; he would know it was all a ruse. So he really wasn't too sure why he had called in the first place. "So y'wanna tell me where they are so I can go get 'em for ya, right?" All these numbers and codenames were giving him a headache.
"I know you better then that. You're always so damn loyal to ideas. You find humanity in everything. It's pathetic. I know damn well you aren't physically capable of turning any of those projects over to me. However, you could at least get lovely Miss Lockheart and the Lady of Wutai out of the crossfire. Jasco has plans for the latter, and it would be a pain to hear the boy whine."
Boy. Plans. Yuffie. Cid had seen enough movies to know what was going on here; he either wanted Godo's wealth or he wanted a son with royal lineage. He'd get her out of the crossfire, all right. If there would ever be any fire to speak of. "Right, whatever. I suppose now yer gonna tell me where they are an' hang up alluva sudden?"
"We could chit chat all day as far as I am concerned. I have people on the way over to Miss Lockheart's. It makes no matter to me if you show up or not." He laughed, this time there was some sordid humor within it. "Have you ever seen ID let go? It's a sight it really is, almost as entertaining as ONI can be-"
He'd had enough. He knew where they were; he knew what he had to do. This conversation didn't hold much more importance for him. "Bite me," was all he said before slamming the phone down violently. He looked at his dinner, then down over the side of the chair at his spear, still in hand.
With a mutter about how retirement was supposed to be final, he took nothing but his weapon and left the house. He hoped to hell that plane in the back would still fly.
That much he was glad for. It wasn't the sturdiest bird in the air, but it would get him where he wanted to be. With a bit of his payoff from the city of Midgar for his services, he had rebuilt the Tiny Bronco down to the very bolt. He knew the innards of that plane like he knew the back of his hand; it had been his pride and joy. So he was flying to Tifa Lockheart's in the Tiny Bronco II, listening to the crackling of the radio. No one else was flying this airspace tonight. Cid had to admit, though it didn't fly like a bat out of hell, it sure made noises like one. Just as he'd remembered her.
He wondered about Yuffie. From what he'd seen on that news report, she was either scared out of her mind or something was going on between she and the Turks. Not just the Turks, really; just Reno in particular. Maybe she was just hanging on Cloud and he'd needed his space to shoot or something; hell, Cid didn't know. He was more confused tonight than he'd been since he'd been told the true story of whatever had gone down in the burning of Nibelheim. And he was pretty sure he didn't have that totally figured out yet.
No matter what was going on with the Turks, though, Cid wondered why they hadn't asked Barret for help. Everyone in AVALANCHE hated them about equally, and if they needed firepower for stuff like this, surely the black man would be the one to go to, right? Or maybe Vincent. Cid shook his head on that one, though. Vincent would have probably gone back into hiding or some shit like that. Mr. Valentine was a real downer anyway.
His mind wandered to the Reeves. He'd had a sore spot for Scarlet ever since the space program had been called off. He'd heard it through the grapevine that she had given the order to shut it down because she needed the funding for weapons. He didn't put it past the bitch; she was about as ruthless as they came. And Reeve. . .he didn't even want to get started on Reeve. Even aside from their early history in ShinRa, what with the goateed bastard threatening him into that wretched company, Reeve was a traitor through and through. Since that mess with the Keystone, he hadn't trusted Reeve one bit. He could say he was on their side all he wanted, but Cid was a military man, and traitors were worse than scum in his opinion.
Kalm was already in sight. The ride seemed to have gone fast, but his mind was still reeling, he decided as he began his descent. How the hell had Panderfaust gotten his number? Why would he tell him to join up with them, too, especially if it just meant one more person he would have to go through?
He thought about the pros and cons of sneaking in versus just breaking down the door. Each option had a good deal of both, he had to admit. He decided to peek in through the window and see just what he would be interrupting before he did anything.
What he saw put the weight of his decisions in a negative spot. There, on a fold-out couch, was Cloud Strife and a much smaller, female head of blonde hair that he couldn't place right off. It certainly wasn't Scarlet; she was married to Reeve, and he must have been there if Cloud was. Which meant it was... Cid spun and put all of his weight into his right foot, slamming the door wide open. So much for being cautious.
Elena sat bolt upright, hand going to the floor. Knowing Turks, she was going for a gun. When she noticed Cid she simply blinked. "Highwind?"
Cid paused for a moment. He was pretty sure his mind wasn't all there, and that was why he ran up the stairs that were in sight. At the landing, he looked inside the open room to see Tifa stirring, then turned to the closed door. He put his boot through that one, too.
He was given a strange view. On the side of the bed closest to the door, Reno Drannor was hung upside-down over half of it, eyed wide at this sudden intrusion. What sheets he had over the lower half of his body obviously chose this moment to leave the top half of Yuffie's as she sat up as quickly as Elena had. The old pilot was momentarily faced with a decision of what to do about this, but that lasted less than half a second.
On another crazy impulse, he twisted the Venus Gospel round and swung at Reno's forehead. The redhead yelped and sat up quickly, but not without losing more hair; he was definitely over his quota for nightly hair loss. Cid's brain caught up and his eyes narrowed. ". . .Yuffie?"
Suddenly Cid found himself flung backwards, the wall saved him from loosing his balance entirely. Standing in front of him, also shirtless, was none other then the man he wanted to avoid. Emmerson Reeve's hazel eyes narrowed. "Stay. Off. Him." The Turk in Reeve had evidently resurfaced.
Yuffie watched all of this through eyes that had seen way too much in the span of three seconds. Reno was swearing up and down, the mattress was collapsing on that side from the leftover momentum on Cid's spear, and Reeve was now in on it. She would have jumped up and separated them, but, she decided as she gathered up the sheets, she wasn't exactly fit for the situation.
Cid's eyes flared and his grip tightened. "I should gut you right here."
"Try it Highwind." Reeve hissed. "You weren't a match for me before and you damn well aren't now. Leave Reno out of this."
Reno, as opposed to the woman he was in bed with, had his pants on, and that was good enough. He rolled from the bed and stumbled over to the door, placing himself between Cid and Reeve. "Woah, woah, woah!" he yelled. Tifa was certainly up; they'd all catch hell for this. "Highwind, settle the fuck down. Reeve. . .what, you think I couldn't handle myself in a fight?"
"You're in my way Reno." Reeve warned. He looked over the younger man's head to Cid. "I don't like people barging in and swinging at my Turks."
The redhead wasn't going to be overridden. He grabbed Reeve's goatee and turned his head so they locked eyes. "He hasn't shoved his spear up my ass yet, so I think I can handle the shit. You hear me yet, Emmerson?"
There were times that Reno forgot entirely who had trained Tseng. Times he forgot who had led the Turks during the war in Wutai. Reeve wasted no time reminding him. The smaller man's grip was broken in a quick motion, Reno tried to sidestep, but it only helped Reeve toss the smaller man. Reno fell through the drywall, shirtless, and at the foot of Tifa's bed. "I heard you, Renald." Reeve snorted before realizing that Tifa was now totally roused.
Reno's head was swimming for a moment. He was pretty sure he'd sprained something going through that wall, but it was all forgotten when he realized Tifa was on the warpath again. Luckily, it seemed as though the path ran next to him this time.
"What is going ON!?" Tifa jumped out of bed, glaring down at Reno. She then turned to peer through the wall to Reeve and Cid. Convinced that Reno was not to blame this time, she walked through the hole without much effort, glaring at Reeve and Cid. Both of the men looked upset, however, whatever fight they were personally having was going to have to wait till she was done with them. She looked at Yuffie, then out of pity shut the door to let the other woman get dressed. "WHY is there a Turk on my floor?"
Cid blinked, this was not the Tifa Lockheart he remembered fighting next to. This was a woman who had been screwed over repeatedly by too many people to keep track of. "It prolly all started when I got a phone call, but the Turk ain't my fault."
She then turned to glare at Reeve. "You are-"
"Tifa! Reeve! For fuck's sake!" Cloud's voice thundered up the stairs. The hero of the planet himself followed his deep voice a moment later.
Tifa, to Cid's surprise (of course, he was so confused at this point, Vincent and Barret could have started singing "You are My Sunshine" in pink dresses and he wouldn't be any worse for mental wear) stiffened. She pinched her nose and muttered about getting dressed.
Reno scrambled out of the hole in the wall the moment Tifa walked into her door, he rubbed his ribs and threw a grin at Cloud. "Mornin'."
"Get dressed. Get downstairs. For the LOVE of holy, STOP hurting each other!" Cloud snapped, ending whatever war was going to restart between Cid and Reeve. Pissed off or not, neither of them wanted to make Cloud or Tifa any madder. Reeve retreated to his room to get dressed and Cid followed the disgruntled blond down the stairs.
Reno was left in the hallway, alone. He opened up the door to the room Yuffie was in to also get dressed. He had the sinking feeling that this trip was going to kill him. Or maybe just Highwind was going to.