By Ktrenal
Chapter Three - Manipulation
This time it wasn't the wash of waves against a stony beach that hit his senses, but something else entirely. Dark, empty streets surrounded him, reminding him powerfully of the Slums of Midgar, eerily familiar and yet somewhat unreal. The air felt thick and heavy, the stench of the pollution seeming intense enough to dull out all his other senses, and he could barely discern even the slightest sound. This, more than anything, threw him a little off balance. Cities were never quiet, especially ones like Midgar.
Reno took several steps forward, talking along the street and keeping his eyes alert for the slightest movements. Everything was cloaked in shadows, the street stretching away before him in shades of grey and black, while the alleyways to each side were of a black far too deep and pure to be entirely natural. He noticed with each step he took that his feet made no sound against the concrete of the street, not so much as an echo in the incredibly invasive silence, so dense and all-consuming that his imagination began to create sounds, noises in the deep shadows.
He whirled around as he heard something nearby, perhaps only a few feet to his left. It was something that sounded disturbingly like a large, serpentine monster moving in the shadows, although when he glared into the darkness, there was nothing. There were no detectible movements, not glimmer of light on eyes or fangs, and no further sounds. But even so, the red-head couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.
Moving away from the shadowed alley to the left, Reno loped into the centre of the street, his gaze traveling upwards to what could perhaps have been the sky, although there were no stars or clouds. Under the Plates then perhaps? This truly was Midgar then, although it still didn't feel right. It was too silent, and it didn't feel quite real to him. The shades of grey around him only enhanced that sensation. Everything was grey but himself, a few bangs of fiery red hair falling into his eyes confirming that, and a hint of purple in the corner of his eye.
Purple? He whipped around, again to the left, searching the shadows there for whatever this bluish-purple thing had been. It had been moving. Whatever was stalking him was purple. That was completely and utterly of no use whatsoever, although he remembered vaguely that some of the demonic houses that stalked Midgar's alleys had been purple.
But no, this wasn't a house. His instincts told him it was something quieter, and more organic in nature, and he almost went as far as to think of the word reptilian. What the hell?
Now there was simply darkness, but no longer silence. There were voices above him, two of them. They didn't seem to be aware of the fact that he could hear them. They couldn't see him, he guessed. His back was pressed firmly against a smooth, clean feeling surface; an internal wall perhaps? Too warm to be glass, and too sleek to be stone or concrete. He was in a room with these two perhaps, observing them from the shadows. But it was too dark to see.
He took in a slow breath, trying to keep it silent, as he didn't want his presence to be detected. It was a deeper breath than he'd have liked however, and audible. The air smelled sweet, almost herby, yet with a more pungent undertone to it that was almost drowned out by the herbs. That perhaps was the intent, to hide the unpleasant scent that hung in the air, in favour of a more tolerable one. Reno resisted the urge to sneeze.
The conversation paused for a few moments, perhaps suspicious of him, but soon continued. They weren't too concerned about being spied on it would seem.
"You did the right thing. He could be dangerous," one voice said, the tone filled with authority, yet a sense of kindness too, as if some respect was held for the other speaker.
"He seemed strange. And his eyes... I've never seen anything like them. It can't be normal," the second voice responded. "I couldn't have him just running around."
"Definitely not. He's small, but from the scars on him, he knows how to fight," the first voice spoke again.
Reno reflected that it almost sounded like they were talking about him; he was fully aware of how he appeared to others after all. A scrawny guy, albeit a tall one, and covered from head to toe in various scars, most of which had been inflicted by Strife and his pals. And the Mako eyes, of course. Maybe these people did know he was there, listening to them?
After a moment or two, as his mind forced itself more in the direction of full consciousness, he became aware of an uncomfortable sensation around his ankles and wrists. He was tied, he realised without much surprise, and quickly realised that the smooth surface he was pressed against was the sheets of a bed. He'd been drugged, he remembered. That explained a lot, both his current situation, and the strange images that had been swirling through his mind just a few moments ago. Why dream of Midgar though?
No time to worry about it now, he had to work out what was going on. Reno shifted position, pulling experimentally at the bonds around his wrists, letting out a mildly irritated grunt as he did so, and opening his eyes. His gaze flicked around the room quickly, taking in his scenery in a few moments, before coming to rest on the two people staring at him. One of them was the woman that had insisted on giving him coffee. Drugged coffee no less. The other was an older man with the air of authority; evidently a leader of some description.
"Ah, it seems our guest is awake. And yes, I see what you mean about the eyes. Rather disturbing, I must say," the man said, his own dark brown eyes fixing onto Reno's softly glowing ice blue ones.
"It's not disturbing. Just Mako..." Reno responded, almost cursing himself at the way his words slurred awkwardly over his tongue. He hated being drugged, he really did. Despite being awake now, he didn't feel fully with it, and knew that even if he weren't bound, his reactions would be slowed. Even so, they wouldn't be expecting much from him, if they'd only tied his hands and feet with mere rope, and left him on the bed. Even still partially drugged he could take them without problem. But no, not now. Strategy, Tseng had always said.
"And what exactly is Mako?" the woman asked, looking skeptically at him.
"It's this stuff that your soul's made of, and you can burn it to make electricity, and it makes your eyes glow if you get exposed to it. Am I a prisoner?" he asked, struggling a little until he managed to work himself up into a seated position, if only so he was able to study his captors more closely.
"Yes, you are. At least for the time being. There will be a police officer arriving in a few days, and you'll be turned over to him," the man said, his tone of voice clipped and professional.
"I haven't done anything wrong," Reno protested. "Come on, what do you think I'm gonna do? Do I look like a criminal?"
This, evidently, was something of a pointless question, because the man nodded calmly. "As a matter of fact, you do. Your appearance alone suggests you're on the run, and you were injured."
"I got hit on the head with a can of beans!" Again the objections, and he was beginning to feel distinctly misunderstood. So what if he was scruffy looking? He'd always been casual in the way he dressed, and not having any money now hadn't helped that any. It hardly made him a criminal, although admittedly there was a kind of irony in this. The Turks had always been the ones to do Shinra's dirty work, all the illegal stuff. Here was the first time he was genuinely innocent, at least of any crimes these people thought he'd committed, and yet here they were treating him like a criminal. There was no way they could possibly know who he was, no way.
"And the injury to your arm? The weapons you were carrying?" The village leader seemed very distrusting of his word, even more so after the Turk's remark about being hit with a can of beans, which did seem unlikely in the face of things.
"I got attacked. I was working like my boss told me, and some guys tried to steal the money. Good thing I had those weapons else they would've sliced me to bits," he explained, trying to avoid talking about just what his job had entailed, simply because it was so degrading and humiliating.
"You know that sounds like criminal activity right there," the woman pointed out. "Argus, I think you're doing the right thing. We don't want his kind here."
"I quite agree, Maggie," the Junon leader, Argus, responded with a nod, before turning his gaze back to his captive. "Now then young man, how about you give us your name?"
"Why?" Reno asked suspiciously, wary of Argus' intent.
"Firstly, you'll fare better if you're seen to be cooperating, and secondly, if you do cooperate, Maggie here will keep you fed until Officer Radford arrives in two days time."
The red-head contemplated this, and then shook his head. "Not good odds, from where I am. See, Maggie here's already given me drugged coffee, so how do I know anything I eat won't be poisoned or something? And I don't think me behaving nicely is going to make any difference, so I think I'll just keep my name to myself."
"Maggie only drugged you because it was necessary to do so. You have my word that you'll be treated fairly from now on, although naturally you can't be permitted to leave this room. Any attempt to harm Maggie, and you will... regret such actions. We're not by nature cruel people, but we protect our own," Argus said, and the threat in his voice was easy enough to detect, especially to one like Reno, who'd been trained to recognise meanings within words. It was clear Argus wasn't bluffing, and would carry out his threat.
"Don't worry. I'm harmless, really," Reno replied, suspecting that like him, Argus would be able to detect the underlying meaning in his tone of voice. Just looking at the red-head was enough to show he was far from harmless, but his words were as much of a promise to behave as his captors would get from him. He had full intent of escaping at the earliest opportunity. There was no way he intended to still be here when the police officer arrived in Junon.
Not that he was afraid, because he knew that in a one on one battle, he was capable of far more than merely holding his own. If he'd had the opportunity to take out Strife on a personal basis, rather than encountering him in a three to one situation, things might have turned out very differently. So there was no doubt that this officer could be of any threat to him, but Reno didn't fancy actually killing the man. Far too much hassle to deal with, on the whole.
"Indeed," Argus replied with a slight tone of contempt to his voice. "How about you give us your name now?" he suggested after a moment.
Reno shook his head. "I don't think so. Unless we make a deal?"
"And what deal's that?" the village leader asked him, a glimmer of optimism appearing on his face, as if he genuinely thought that the red haired captive was going to cooperate. His hopes were soon dashed across the proverbial windscreen however.
"How about I tell you my name if you let me go?" Reno said, his features breaking into an amused grin. "Oh, and give me back my weapons too. And my materia."
"What is this 'materia'?" Argus asked, his objection to Reno's idea of a deal being forgotten for a moment or two as he questioned the apparently unfamiliar word.
"The pretty coloured stones."
"Oh, yes. I'm sure Maggie can give those back to you, if they mean so much to you."
Reno couldn't believe his luck; they didn't know what materia was, and so were willing to return the handful of orbs to him. This would certainly assist with his escape. "Yeah, if you could... they were a present from..." he trailed off, deliberately letting his voice take a sad and dejected tone. He dropped his gaze away from the man and woman watching him, gazing forlornly at his hands.
Argus stared at him, expression softening slightly at the sound of his captives tone. "I'm sorry... do you want to talk about it? Maggie, go and get his stones."
The woman turned to leave the room, leaving the two males alone. Reno looked up at Argus, and shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about it... painful memories... those stones are all I have left of her..."
"It's alright, I understand. My wife was killed in a storm last year, so I know how you feel. Loss is a very difficult thing to bear, I know," the man told him, his expression now slightly pained himself, yet still appearing sympathetic towards Reno.
The former Turk merely nodded silently, more through the need not to sound too cheerful than from grief. The last thing he needed was to give away the fact that actually the materia was just materia to him, with the exclusion of the nearly mastered Fire, but that was another matter entirely. It certainly wasn't as much of a sob story as he was making out. For the sake of impending escape, Reno was perfectly capable of behaving like everyone he'd ever known had been brutally murdered by a deranged psychopath. It was where a naturally emotive voice was such an advantage.
After a few moments, Maggie returned, depositing the orbs of materia on Reno's lap. He counted them quickly, making sure they were all present, and they were. It seemed true that the people of Junon had absolutely no idea how much power was stored in these softly glowing spheres, and his two captors were utterly clueless that they were handing him the means with which to escape. It was too easy, it really was.
"Thank you..." Reno murmured quietly, moving his bound hands so he could pick up a materia, one of the summons and roll it around between his fingers in a thoughtful manner. His pensive expression must have looked like he was thinking of the one who'd given him the orbs, although in fact his thoughts lay more with how he was going to use these to escape.
"They're really quite beautiful," Maggie commented, drawing Reno away from his thoughts. "I've never seen colours like those before."
"They're common where I come from. Not very valuable at all, but... they have sentimental value for me..." He spoke slowly, really laying it on thick; maybe they would feel sympathetic enough to untie his hands too. But, easy as getting his materia had been, the red-head couldn't have everything his way.
"I think we shall be leaving. I have work to do, but Maggie will keep an eye on you. If you behave, there'll be dinner in a few hours," Argus said, and with a curt nod to the woman, he strode quickly from the room. Maggie hesitated for a moment or two, attention still held on the spheres in Reno's lap, before also moving from the room.
Left on his own, Reno began scanning the room thoroughly, starting to piece together the plan for his escape. He'd stay for dinner of course, since it felt like a while since he'd eaten, and then he'd leave. The middle of the night seemed like the best option for him, since the village would be at its quietest then, and he had no intention of being seen leaving. He didn't want to risk recapture, since these people evidently knew nothing about what had happened to the world. Reno needed to be somewhere else, hopefully somewhere he could find out what was going on.
Disclaimer - Reno, materia, Junon and Final Fantasy VII don't belong to me; they are property of Square. Argus and Maggie are mine though, for what little that means.
Author's Notes - No cliffhanger this time. Aren't I nice? Seriously though, I can be nice to Reno sometimes. At least he's conscious at the end of this chapter. Alright, I wasn't intending for the materia thing to happen, but the opportunity opened itself up, and I couldn't resist. All in all, this chapter was a lot of fun to write.
This was an update almost entirely free of poking too, at least from Phoenix. Everyone else did more than enough to make up for it though. Is poking hazardous to my health at all?
Tijuana Pirate: I posted more see? I feel most productive with all these quick updates actually. And yes, I'll admit to being inherently evil. You'll notice as this story continues that I'll be inflicting cliffhangers on you all as often as possible. Eh, that's gonna put you off now, isn't it? However, in the course of the Beta-reading of this chapter, Phoenix has informed me that cliffhangers won't be permitted to hang for long, because she'll poke me.
PBeM Addy: Thanks for the reviews, and feel free to continue guessing at my plot. I will reveal nothing however. I reserve the right to be cryptic and vague when it comes to my scheming; you should know that about me by now dude.
Sabriel41: Looking up the Ouroboros mythology probably won't help you a lot, at least I don't think so. I'm being pretty obscure with this, but it'll all make sense. Maybe only when I reach the last chapter, though. Ouroboros is something that appears in a lot of mythology, all around the world, although my first contact with it was through Norse mythology.
WrexSoul: This story wasn't intended to be funny, not really, but I guess it is in a few places. Not intentional though. And although things may seem random at the moment, there is a definite aim in mind. Although I'll admit the cans of beans weren't actually part of the plot as such.
Viki: Thanks for the review, and I'm glad you like the story.
And... these were much longer Author's Notes than I intended, but... I need a break from writing for a few moments before I go on to Chapter Four. I have plans, but need to collect my thoughts. I'm sure I'll get poked anyway, even though I'm probably actually writing the next update as you read this.