Self indulgent author's note:


Scarlet makes an appearance in this chapter. I was always of the mind that she and Heidegger lived at the end of the game. I realize that she seems harsh and that she also seems trashy in this chapter, but there is more of her to come later on. For now, please trust me, if you can, with her characterization, because I do make an effort to clear up her mystery and round her out a few chapters down. (I know it's easy to say "please trust me with these established characters, trust that I won't make them unrecognizable!" and hard for the reader to actually trust that. It's one of the challenges of fanfiction, isn't it? Because these characters are yours to read more than they are mine to write. Same goes, I think, with every reader and writer of fanfic. But I digress.)

Rated R, I think, for the EFFWORD! ;D And for sexual innuendo.

A word on the name I saddled Reno with: Way back when I started writing this (over four years ago, bear in mind,) I had noticed a trend in Turks fanfiction to give Reno a very short last name, or to make Reno his last name and give him a very short first name. I don't know why, but I found the idea of Reno having about a billion names, none of which were actually "Reno", amusing enough to include it in this fic. Consider it the self-indulgent quirk of a fanfic writer, kick me in the shin for it, and read on. ;)

Reno's head hurt, and damnit, it hurt bad. Aside from that, he was, for some reason, frigging uncomfortable and his hands were numb. God almighty, what in the bowels of the Planet had happened to him this time?

He was a Turk, that was certain. One who no longer worked for ShinRa. Tseng was dead.

No, but... he had seen Tseng, recently.

No. Tseng was dead. Clones. The mission.

Reno groaned. The mission.

Midgar.

He became aware of someone's hands on both of his knees. What the hell was this? Usually a good sign in itself but...all evidence to the contrary, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like whatever the hands did next. Whoa! Whoever it was had just pulled his legs apart, very roughly, thank you very much. What the hell were they doing, making a goddamned wish?

"A very good morning to you, Copper," a woman said.

"Aww, fuck me dead," Reno muttered, letting his head fall back. That was disorienting. If he was letting his head fall back he wouldn't be lying down, and he'd thought he was. But his perception of space righted itself, and he realized that was upright. At least his head was. The feeling of finding that his position in space was not what he'd thought it was made him want to spew. That, and the headache. It felt like a wicked concussion.

And worst of all, Scarlet seemed to be feeling up his legs. It had to be Scarlet. Who else had ever dared to call him "Copper?"

What the hell was Scarlet doing in his life all of a sudden? In a moment of clarity, Reno realized that he didn't exactly care. He was simply dismayed to know she was there. He was in the deepest circle of hell for his crimes, and being with her was his eternal torment.

"Go away," he muttered.

"Oh, Copper," she said silkily, "you don't mean that."

"Ugh," he groaned again, as he realized that she wasn't copping a feel as he'd thought, but tying or strapping his legs securely to something. What the hell kind of sick game was the witch playing this time around? He opened his bleary eyes and saw that her shiny blond head was too close to being between his legs, which was exactly where he least liked her shiny blond head to be in this day and age. And she was strapping him into a chair.

"Get off me!" he said, and made a noise of disgust. He tried to kick her away, but both his legs were fastened securely to the chair, as were both of his arms.

"Look around, Copper," she said, "I think I patched it up very nicely."

He had no idea what she was talking about. He needed to get his bearings and be aware of his surroundings, as she was going to play head games with him and make him guess what was going on. She existed to give him a worse headache.

Her cool blue eyes finally looked up at him. She smiled sweetly. "You look terrible," she cooed.

"Time hasn't exactly been kind to you either, Scarlet," he said. And he meant it too. From what he could see, she had aged considerably, though he knew she wasn't that much older than he was. Her fine features had begun to sag just a little, and it made her eyes look smaller. No, Reno thought, as he looked at her longer: It wasn't time that had taken its toll on her. She had taken her toll on her own looks. She still had delicate features, but her attitude had twisted them into something unattractive. Reno supposed, though, that it took knowing her to see it. Probably anyone else would think she was a real dish.

"Oh, Reno," she said, and tsked at him, shaking her head. "You still don't know where you are, do you?"

"I guess I was too dismayed by the fact that you were here with me to give it much thought," he retorted.

"Well then, Copper," she said, standing up and smoothing her dress, "open your eyes and look around."

Reno stared at her through half lidded, tired eyes for a full moment, before truly opening his eyes and taking in his surroundings.

"That's right," she whispered softly, "open up those big, poison - bright eyes, you miserable, abject failure."

Reno ignored her words as he glanced briefly around the cell. "Nice," he said. "The gas chamber. So I assume we're in Junon. So are you going to kill me, or are you going to just stand there and vamp at me all day?"

"Don't you want to know why you're here?" she asked in mock disappointment.

"Not particularly. If you're going to pull the switch and kill me, it doesn't make too much of a difference, now does it?"

"You know," she said casually, walking around the room and surveying the walls absently, "you were a pretty good Turk at one time. Until you went all noble. Then you became weak."

"Look, whatever, Scarlet. Are you going to keep wasting time and annoying me? Or are you just going to pull that stupid switch so that at least I don't have to listen to your moronic babbling all goddamn day?"

"You're no fun," she said, and walked back over to him. She straddled his legs and sat down across his lap. "And I'm not going to personally pull the lever, anyway."

Reno looked away from her. "Get your nasty thighs off me," he said through gritted teeth.

"You didn't used to mind."

Ahh, Reno thought, this is the part where I say, "That's ancient history," and she makes some comment about history repeating itself...

"Bite me," Reno said. What the hell. Either he was going to find a way out of this or he was going to die, and in either case, he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of letting her think she'd gotten to him.

"I'm planning on doing a lot worse than biting you, Reno. They say that the villain always makes the mistake of explaining too much before killing their victims, but since you're obviously the villain here, I feel safe in explaining a few things to you." She slid off of his legs and began to circle the chair smoothly.

"I'm the villain?" Reno asked, trying not to follow her with his eyes. "How do you figure that one?"

"Kya haha... ha... haha... ha..." The familiar sound of her laughter made Reno want to puke all over her silky dress. "Because destroying Midgar once wasn't enough for you."

"Now wait a minute, Scarlet," Reno said, finally looking at her.

"Oh, can it," she said. "You're such an idiot, Reno. I know that you didn't know it was Midgar, you flakey whore. But I knew you'd never do it if you knew. Sure, you were hot for some gil and some excitement, but you would've thought yourself too noble to blow that lab if it was under a city, especially poor beaten up Midgar, right? I'll bet you even asked if there were any civilians, didn't you? And Reeve... Kya hahaha! Naive Reeve! I love it. I could stand here and try to make you think that Reeve was in on it as well, but I'd rather that you knew the truth, because it's so much funnier. Reeve was just too dense to realize that he was being set up, too.

"Don't just sit there all slackjawed, Reno. Don't you want to know why I sent you...I'm sorry, why 'Hunters' sent you Turks on this mission?"

Reno was curious, but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. And when she mentioned the other Turks, he wondered where they were. Had she caught them? How long had he been unconscious, anyway?

"Well, I'll tell you, and it really is a good reason, too. As I'm sure you noticed, there really was a cloning facility under there. Some of the scientists from there came running to me when things got out of hand down there. They got scared and they tattled. Why did I care? I'll tell you why: Because they have all of our DNA. They can clone me, you...Most importantly they could clone old man ShinRa."

"They could also clone Rufus," Reno shot back to her. Rufus had always seemed to be her one soft spot. Well, perhaps not soft, just slightly less unbelievably cruel.

"Sure they could, but there was nothing that could make it seem worth it to me. I could either have Heidegger and all his men and women, who are easily controlled...by me," she smiled seductively and secretly, "and I can get things done the way I want to, or I could have silly old Rufus back, who liked the pretty toys I made. So tell me, Reno of the Turks," she said, and leaned down with both her hands on his knees, "which do you expect I would choose?"

Reno looked her in the eyes, trying to convey the cool disdain that he was always so good at. "You're such a dirty old slut," he said.

SMACK! her hand came down across his face with all the force she could muster.

"Go to hell, Scarlet."

SMACK!

He looked at her with hate in his eyes, ignoring the blood in his mouth.

SMACK!

"You're too old for this, Scarlet."

SMACK!

"Scarlet,"

SMACK!

"You're enjoying this way too much."

She raised her hand again, but didn't slap him this time. "Reno," she said, with false tenderness, "you're one of those useless men who thinks I'm a slut just because I like sex."

"That's not true," he answered honestly. "You don't like it. You just need it because you're such an empty person. You use it. And other people's pain makes you feel so good, doesn't it?"

"Then why did you sleep with me, huh?" she asked in a cheerful, victorious tone, and sat on his lap again.

Reno turned his head away; the scent of her perfume was sweet and cloying. "Because training got boring and you were there. The older woman kinda thing."

SMACK!

The word "old," Reno realized, seemed to be the one that set her off. But he had faced a lot worse than a few open-handed slaps, and he was on a verbal roll and enjoying it. "Then I realized that you're just one of those people who was tired of sex before you were even old enough to start having it. Then you got boring, so I left you."

He waited for her to slap him again. She didn't.

"That's okay, Reno," she said soothingly. "You never really did much for me either. You were a stupid, clumsy, arrogant kid. In fact, you still are. Rude was a lot better."

Reno actually found himself laughing. It was a low blow, but he didn't mind. Rude was better than him at a lot of things.

"Not a surprise, huh?" she asked.

Reno laughed harder. "No, I guess not," he said, not sure if his eyes were watering from his laughter, or from her slapping him silly.

"Kya haha haha!" Scarlet laughed with him.

"So," Reno said, still halfway laughing and slightly giddy, "basically you didn't want clones of ShinRa to take over this weird power you think you have, you couldn't blow the facility yourself, no pun intended since I'm sure in that respect you could..."

He was surprised to see that she almost laughed at that.

"And you got the desperate Turks to do it for you. And now you're framing me for destroying Midgar."

"Maybe you're not entirely stupid," Scarlet said. "Of course, I need for people to witness your execution, you know." She slid her fingers over his face, and very gently ran her fingernail down the scar on his left cheek, then the one on the right. "I can't televise it live since it's such short notice. You really know how to make an exit, you know. But there is a small crew out there waiting to tape it, once I remove the shield over that window. You know, Copper, I have to say that I'm almost sorry to see you go. Almost. Not entirely. Kya haha..."

"What makes you think the gas chamber will work this time?"

"When that stuck up little Lockhart slut escaped, it was because the guard had dropped the key. She probably gave him a quick peek down her shirt to get him to do that. There's no guard in here that's going to drop a key for you, Copper."

"Well," Reno sighed, "since that's the way it has to be..."

She slid off of his lap again, then reached down to stroke his face once more. Reno tilted his head toward her hand as if he was going to lean into the caress, and when her hand reached his jaw, he turned his head quickly and sank his teeth into the fleshy part of her hand, below the thumb.

Scarlet, who had apparently forgotten what it meant to corner this particular Turk and then let your guard down, wailed. There was no other word for it.

Reno bit down harder, trying not to gag on the blood that was seeping between his teeth. He held on fiercely.

With her free hand, she grabbed his hair and attempted to pull him away. The result was that his teeth tore into her hand and ripped the skin back a little, and she screamed again.

He gave a little tug and the color drained out of her face, leaving two red blotches on her cheeks where her makeup was. She whimpered. "Let go."

Reno shook his head with a sort of growl that meant, "uh uh."

Her eyes darted around the room furiously, and Reno knew then that she was unarmed. If she'd had a weapon, she would have used it. He followed her eyes until she looked into his once more. He twisted his right hand in the strap until his palm was facing up, and gestured with his fingers that he wanted her to drop something into it. He wanted the key.

With her free hand, she began to dig in her pocket for it. Unfortunately, the chamber had never been soundproof, and one of her guards came running in. He put a pistol to Reno's head.

Reno thought about it for a split second. The gas chamber gave him a slight chance of escape, perhaps only one percent. But a bullet in his brain was instant death.

He let go, and was momentarily sickened by the feeling of his teeth sliding out of her hand.

The guard drew back the gun and prepared to pistol whip him.

"Don't!" Scarlet screamed.

The guard stopped with his hand in the air. "Ma'am?"

"I want him to be awake," she hissed in a hoarse voice. "I have a surprise for him that he's going to love. Well what are you waiting for! Cast Cure!"

The guard looked startled that he hadn't thought of it right away, and cast Cure on her, partially healing her hand. Reno could still see the bloody holes in her hand where his teeth had been.

"You're a savage," she hissed at Reno.

"What does that make you?" he asked her, spitting blood as he spoke.

"Me! There's nothing savage about my fine creations! Two words for you, Reno: Sister Ray! Proud Clod! Those exquisite bombs that you and Rude personally set under Midgar! Those were beautiful. Those were art. You didn't think that those delicate, gorgeous little things could destroy so much, did you?"

"That's more than two words."

Scarlet trembled for a moment, then she rounded on her guard. "GET OUT!" she screamed at him. "Open that screen! I want Reno to see who showed up for his execution. We're not waiting for the others, we're doing it right now! The other two Turks can come and see him after he's dead."

The guard pushed a green button by the door and the metallic screening over the heavily layered glass slid upwards. Reno looked out into the observation room and saw only three or four people, one of whom was holding a video camera.

Scarlet had mentioned the two other Turks. Reno was certain that Rude and Elena were still alive.

"ROLL TAPE!" Scarlet barked, and the camera man nervously began to record.

Scarlet got her breathing under control and clasped her hands behind her back to hide the blood that was still on her hands. Then she stepped in front of the camera.

"You are about to witness," she said, "the execution of the man who is responsible for the destruction of not only a large portion of NeoMidgar, but of Sector Seven of the original Midgar as well. As you all are aware, two days ago a section of NeoMidgar was brought to its knees by a group of terrorists formerly known as the Turks of ShinRa. Many people died in the explosions, which seemed at first to be naturally occurring earthquakes. And many of those who weren't destroyed by the blasts were poisoned by the Mako that lay beneath the surface."

Reno listened to all of this, his insides turning over. He knew that part was true, and there was no way around that truth. He thought briefly of the cat who'd come to his window every night, and suddenly had visions of Scarlet being ripped to bits by wild beasts. The image soothed him. He sighed and let his head fall back as he concentrated on that lovely vision.

"I'd like to warn the viewers that due to the graphic nature of this execution, discretion is advised." She took a moment to pretend to check her emotions. "We'll now proceed with the execution of Delreno Damek Sarrino Edan Callaghan, better known as Reno of the Turks." She turned away from the camera and snickered at him.

Reno jerked his head in her direction and stared at her, stunned. He could barely even remember his entire name, and he wondered how she could. And for that matter, how she had found out in the first place, since supposedly his files were gone anyway.

Reno wasn't mindful of the camera that was on him or the people who were watching. He had to find a way out, and if they wanted to stop him, they'd have to come in and do it. The protective metal wristbands in which he'd kept defensive materia were gone; they'd made sure he couldn't cast Cure or any restorative materia on himself, of course. And obviously his weapons were gone; he remained in his wrinkled navy pants and wrinkled white shirt.

Scarlet had secured him very tightly in the chair. What the hell, she was great at securing people to things.

"The executioner has arrived," he heard Scarlet say, trying to control her glee so the viewers wouldn't pick it up. "Let's begin."

Reno glanced at the man who had come to stand by the switch that meant his death. Then he glanced again. Then he stared, dumbfounded.

There had been terribly few people in Reno's life that he had idolized. Perhaps his mother had been one of them. He had loved people, and even been in love with a girlfriend or two. He certainly loved Rude, probably his best friend ever; he had come to love Elena, with her dumb little quirkiness, and he even got a kick out of Reeve, though he found it difficult to take him seriously (in all likelihood because Reeve never seemed to take himself seriously.) Maybe he had slightly idolized a girlfriend at some point as well, but never to the extent that he'd idolized the man who stood in front of the lever that would open the grating below his chair and send quick acting nerve gas misting all around him.

He was the one person whom Reno had willingly and sincerely acknowledged as his superior in every aspect of life.

The joy he felt at seeing him once more was overridden by the fact that the man's hand was poised on the lever, and he didn't seem to recognize him.

"Tseng," he said, softly and weakly at first, tears forming in his eyes. "Tseng!" He leaned forward against the restraints, trying to catch the man's attention.

It was Tseng. Not a young clone, not even a clone who had aged to the point where Tseng would have been. Even with the vacantly malicious, predatory look in his glazed greenish black eyes, it was Tseng through and through. Reno could feel it as surely as he could feel his own pulse. Not for long, boyo, he told himself. Unless you find a way...

"Tseng! Tseng, dammit!"

Off camera, Scarlet was laughing.

Tseng finally looked his way. There was a flicker in his eyes that disappeared too quickly.

"Tseng! TSENG!"
-

Elena heard the door to her cell clink open as she lay curled up on the floor. There was a searing road rash burn on her thigh where she'd hit the ground so hard that it had torn her pants to shreds on that side. She was sure her shoulder had been dislocated as well, for she could vaguely remember landing on it as the blast from the chopper threw her a pretty good distance.

Worst of all, the thirty thousand gil was gone. They had set those bombs under NeoMidgar, and they had done so for free. Elena was so angry that she felt her entire head grow hot.

She wondered how Reno and Rude had fared. She'd seen Reno out of the corner of her bloodied eye as they lay on the hard dirt outside of NeoMidgar. He'd been very, very still. And she hadn't seen Rude.

But that was when the other helicopter had landed and taken them away. At first she had been relieved, thinking that help had come. Then, as someone roughly picked her up, she'd heard Scarlet's distant laughter. She knew she hadn't imagined it, and it was the last thing she remembered before waking up in the cell, only hours earlier.

There was one day's worth of uneaten food on a tray. Well, not so much food as watery mush, from what she could see, and a glass of murky looking water.

She saw a pair of black boot-clad legs approaching, but didn't dare look up to see to whom they were attached. At least not yet. She guessed that whoever it was, he was coming in once again to either feed her, question her, or kill her.

"You awake?" said the man's voice.

Elena whimpered. She sobbed. "Broken," she said hoarsely. "My arm, I think...it's broken." She looked up at him, giving him her best wounded look. She had a bit of hope that, if nothing else, her eyes would soften him. They were the only feature in her otherwise plain face that had ever served her well.

The guard had a hard, deeply lined face that betrayed no emotion. Damn. Later, she might let a very small part of herself feel insulted that she wasn't even a woman to this man; but that was, of course, if there was a later. Right now she had to be a Turk, and there was no room for anything else.

"You ain't gonna die, Blondie," he said. "Get up. You're gonna watch an execution in a coupla minutes but Miss Scarlet wants you questioned first."

An execution; it had to be Rude or Reno, she was sure. Who else could it be? She held her hand up shakily, appealing to the guard for help in getting up.

His face was set; he was determined to refuse. Then he came to realize that she was not going to do it on her own, and seemed to decide that the faster he got her out, the better. He held out his hand, and she took it.

There was no time for fancy acrobatic combat skills, and Elena used his own weight as leverage as she pulled herself up, and simultaneously pulled him downward, wedging her knee squarely into his crotch. Tseng had always told her that, should she ever find herself weaponless and in danger, (not that she should ever willingly give up her weapon,) the one thing that might save her was to put any available hard places of her body into any available soft places on her opponent's, with all the force she could muster. If she followed through, it would work every time.

And work it did, as her guard doubled up wordlessly and she pushed him to the floor. She grabbed his weapons. He carried a standard issue pistol like all ShinRa goons had carried (herself included, she gently reminded herself,) and a staff, not unlike the one the Ancient had carried, with materia in it. It had high level Bolt, high level Restore, and a nice little summoning materia that she had never seen before, and which, apparently, hadn't been used. She cast Bolt on him and then rifled under his sleeves for his armor, and took that, too. He had Fire and Ice materia in it. Taking into consideration all of the materia he had, she also took two ethers from his pockets and downed one then and there. Just for good measure, she took all 500 of his gil as well, and stuffed it in the one pocket she had left on her pants.

Down the hall, she saw another ShinRa goon opening another cell- presumably Rude's or Reno's. She didn't have time to waste, and cast Bolt on him as well, before running to the cell.

Rude sat up on the floor, rubbing his head gingerly. He looked to be in better shape than she was.

"Rude!" she said, making him jump. "I think they're going to kill Reno; we have to hurry. Grab that guard's materia and as many supplies as you can get from him, quick as you can."

Rude was already going through the man's pockets before she finished telling him to do so. He slipped the armor under his sleeve and fastened it with a soft click, then took an ether and a high potion. He was about to drink the potion himself, but then offered it to Elena.

She took it gratefully, but didn't drink it just yet. "One more thing, Rude, before we go." She gestured to the other arm, which hung lifelessly at her side. "Can you help?" She had seen Rude impassively set Reno's broken arm once, and he had easily cracked her neck a few times in the past. He had a way with bones.

"Sure," he said, and quickly helped her take her jacket off. "Look away," he said, as he took hold of her arm.

"'Kay," she said, trying to swallow against the tightness in her throat. She knew this was going to hurt, but she also knew that if she screamed, it would alert other guards. She stuffed the sleeve of her jacket into her mouth, and just in time, as she felt him yank hard on her arm, then push against the shoulder with the palm of his other hand. A wave of nausea and dizziness almost knocked her off her feet as the pain flared in her shoulder and she heard the terrible POP of the bone going back into the socket. Rude was casting Cure on her before she even caught her breath.

She thanked him breathlessly and took a sip of the high potion, then decided to save the rest. You never knew what was around the corner. But the Restore felt wonderful, and the throbbing, grinding ache in her shoulder eased up.

Rude took a swig of his ether and she offered him the rest of the high potion. He waved it away. "Just a few bumps and scratches," he said as they left the cell.

They fought four more guards on their way down the dank, dim hall, taking their gil and potions, before they came to the execution observation room.

The first thing Elena saw was Scarlet, trying her damndest to look serious and tragic in front of a camera. Then her eyes were drawn to the struggling figure strapped in the chair behind the layered glass.

"Shit," Rude whispered behind her, as they crouched behind the doorway, peering around it.

"Take Scarlet out when I give the word," Elena whispered. "Don't want to alert the others immediately, but she has to go first." She wondered if Scarlet was going to pull the lever and kill Reno herself. Given her history with him, she wouldn't be surprised in the least. Scarlet and Reno despised each other. "She's bullet-proofed, but I don't see any defensive materia armor."

"She wears it under her dress on her thigh," Rude said. "She used to use Ice and Fire protection. Probably still does. I'll use Bolt."

Elena raised an eyebrow. So apparently Reno hadn't been the only Turk to see what Scarlet kept under her dress.

Reno began struggling in earnest all of a sudden and it didn't escape Elena's attention. He was screaming something. She could hear his voice but couldn't make out the words from where she was. She looked to where his eyes were focused with such intensity.

The executioner's hand was on the lever that would kill Reno very quickly. She remembered briefly that the executioner also used Ice and Fire defensively and was usually susceptible to Lightning materia, just as easily and smoothly as she remembered his soft eyes that had always shone with intelligence and passion.

Rude hadn't seen him yet, and there was no time to wait for him to. If Tseng pulled that switch and they had to fight their way to Reno before they could use Phoenix Down on him, it might be too late. If they could even find a Phoenix Down. He must not have the chance to open that grating beneath the chair. She was keenly aware of her own anguish at making the split second decision, but she didn't hesitate to make it, and didn't hesitate to carry it out.

"Now," she said steadily, and Rude leapt out behind her, casting Bolt on Scarlet, just as Elena ran to a better vantage point and did the same to Tseng.

She turned her eyes away as soon as she saw him fall. Tseng was out of commission and there was still work to be done.

With Tseng and Scarlet out of the way, they were besieged by the guards. Elena remembered the summon materia, and held the staff out in front of her as she accessed the power in the shining orb.

The room grew stiflingly hot, and she knew it would be a fire based attack. If the guards were wearing armor with fire protective materia, which she assumed they were, it wouldn't do as much damaged as she had hoped, but it would definitely get them out of the way. She could tell by the amount of power it took from her to do the summoning.

The summoned creature seemed to be a female type figure rising out of a mountain, and it reminded her of the Ramuh summoning she had seen once or twice, except that fire and lava flowed from this mountain. The woman-type figure's hair was made up of fire. It was too bright, and Elena had to look away.

By the time the summon was done and had disappeared again, lava covered the guards and cooled quickly on them, leaving vaguely human shaped lumps around the room.

She knew it wouldn't last forever, and they had to get out.

"Wow," Rude said in the suddenly deathly quiet room. "Nice summon."

"Yeah," Elena said, smearing the hot dust out of her eyes. She saw that Reno was still strapped to the chair, his mouth hanging open in shock. He'd been far enough away from Elena at the time of the summoning that it hadn't done any damage to him, but it had melted the glass in the window to the gas chamber.

Reno didn't seem to know where to look first, and Rude went to him quickly and began to undo the straps the held him in the chair. Reno was pulling against the bonds before Rude even had them undone.

"Tseng," Reno whispered as he finally stood up. Rude looked back over his shoulder.

Elena registered the fact that they had to get out quickly, even as she stared at Tseng, who lay unmoving on the floor below the lever he had been about to pull. Rude and Reno were soon beside her.

Rude knelt down and turned Tseng onto his back.

"He's alive," he said.

"I see that," Elena said. "I used Bolt."

Reno stared at her incredulously. "YOU did it?" he finally said.

"Of course!" Elena said, suddenly angry. "Of course I did it, you stupid idiot! He was going to kill you; would you rather if I had just let him kill you!"

"No, Elena, I'm just saying that...I don't know, I never expected..."

"You didn't think I could," she finished in a bitter tone. "You thought I'd be the first one to wimp out and save precious, dear Tseng at everyone else's expense. Let me guess, Reno, you thought I'd hesitate, right?"

"Elena," he said softly, and she could perceive a very rarely heard earnestness in his voice, "I would have hesitated. I'm not saying it to judge you."

"We can't stand here and argue about it," Rude snapped, taking his hand away from Tseng's wrist where he had been feeling for a pulse. "We have to get out of here, and get Tseng out too."

Elena snapped her head in Rude's direction.

"We are taking him, right, Elena?" Reno asked.

Right. She was field commander, and it was up to her. "We don't have a choice," she found herself saying, much to her own relief. "If we leave him, ShinRa still has him on their side. So we take him, even if it is as a prisoner."

Rude, easily the biggest and physically strongest person in the group, snaked his arm under Tseng's back, lifted him, then threw him over both shoulders.

"He's not light, might have to switch..." he began, but was cut off as a bullet flew past his head.

Elena turned to see Scarlet sitting up and taking aim again. Reno pulled her out of the way as another bullet whistled past her ear.

She realized that the effects of her summoning were wearing off as well, as the dried lava began to flake and crack.

"Let's go!" she ordered. There was no time to stay and fight, not now that they had Tseng. And Reno was completely unarmed and without materia.

They ran past Scarlet as she aimed a spray of bullets at them. None of them were bullet-proofed; they'd had their vests taken away from them as well. One of the bullets sailed right over Tseng's head, and with her enhanced vision, Elena could see a few of his hairs fly off, severed by the bullet. Much too close.

Rude went through the door first, followed by Elena, and Reno had to dive out of the door as she fired after them. Elena heard a man's voice and knew that the guards were beginning to come back.

"The airport!" Reno shouted.

Junon airport was right above them, and there were always choppers and airplanes taking off. Wouldn't be too much of a challenge to grab one and get rid of the pilot, had they not had Tseng to worry about.

But Elena was worried. She was very worried. Not so much for her own life or her friends' lives, as they had all been trained for survival under these same conditions. She worried more about what was going to happen when Tseng woke up.

In fact, she hadn't yet dealt with the fact that Tseng was with them. She supposed she would later, and then she was afraid she might have to go to pieces. She suspected she might not be the only one.

As long as no one saw her, she thought as they burst through the doorway to the Junon airport, it would be okay.