I Tried- Chapter 20
In too Deep
Reno hurt. His chest burned, his arm positively throbbed, and his legs ached from running. He couldn't have cared less about how he felt at the moment. If his leg had been broken and the arm gone, he'd still be running. How could he have been so stupid? Of course they knew all about him, which included Suzanna. Why hadn't he realized it before? If anything happened to her-
He stopped thinking, he couldn't think about that.
As Reno rounded the block he saw two sleek black Turk cars. He flattened his back against the alley wall and glanced around the corner. Reno could easily see the large Turk, towering over everyone else, his big arm against the door. Reno hadn't met this guy, but he didn't look like someone to mess with. Complicating matters further were Scarlet and Reeve, who had Padre standing outside the church next to the doors. Tseng was no where in sight at the moment, and that made Reno nervous. Was the Wutain waiting in hiding for Reno to show up?
He couldn't see the Turks' faces, but the look on Padre's was horrified. Reno couldn't make out what the priest was saying, though he could hear his voice and see his actions. Padre gestured angrily at Reeve, then turned to go back in the church. Reeve slid over in that moment, blocking the priest's way and shaking his head. Padre glared at Reeve, though he leaned back, obviously agitated. Reno was thankful that the priest wasn't putting up a fight, that wouldn't be good at all.
After another look around didn't reveal Tseng, Reno moved. He dove to hide behind one of the cars, slamming his arm too hard into the door in the process. Biting his lip to keep a grunt of pain in his mouth, Reno opened the car door. The noise from it swinging open echoed in his ears, making him freeze for a moment. Of course the sound had not been loud, but to Reno, it was as though a shotgun went off. Once he was sure that no one noticed him, Reno began to inspect the car.
He looked under the seats and managed to crawl up to open the glove box. Inside Reno finally found a death penalty. He checked the clip and then started to inch out of the car the way he had come in. Conflicting emotions argued in his head. Though he wasn't readily admitting it, Reno liked Reeve and Scarlet. He didn't want to hurt them. But Suzanna came first. Above anything else, and if it meant he had to kill Reeve and Scarlet to keep her safe, Reno would.
Backing out of the open door, Reno took a deep breath. He stood up quickly, cocking the hammer back on the weapon. The bald Turk started moving, but it would be too late, Reno had more then enough time to take the shot. Then in the doorway, what he saw stopped him.
Rufus ShinRa stood under the wooden archway. He was holding Suzanna. The little girl looked confused, though comfortable. Rufus and Reno shared similar facial features, and had the same sharp blue eyes, though Rufus' glowed brightly with mako light. The two major differences were that Rufus' face was clean of scars and his blond hair immaculate, save one stray bang. Those blue eyes turned up at Reno and a slight smile played on the man's lips. "Why don't you put the gun down so we can have a bit of a conversation?"
Tseng appeared from behind Rufus, the look on the Wutain's face was a mixture of anger and some reflection of guilt. All three of the other Turks stiffened with Reno. Rufus' own death penalty was already out, Suzanna, who had never seen a gun before giggled at it, grasping at her reflection in the black polished surface. Rufus looked down and let out a little laugh. "Well, aren't we curious?" He looked up at Reno while he spoke, poking the baby in the stomach with the weapon and making her laugh. "Let's see how much your daddy cares about you…"
Reno had the gun pointed at blond man's head. Rufus didn't seem to care at all about the situation; it was as if his own death was so far from his mind that it didn't warrant attention. They stood there with the minutes ticking by. Rufus pulled the hammer back on the gun. "I am running out of patience." Rufus' cold, hard eyes bored into Reno's.
The Turks fanned out on either side, none of them breathed too deeply. Reno didn't bother to look at them; the only thing that had his attention was Rufus holding his daughter. If one of them shot the other one would, it was a battle of nerves, one that Reno couldn't win. Not with his daughter at stake. The gun fell from his hand. Before he could hear it clang to the ground, Reno felt Tseng's hand strike the side of his neck. Reno lost consciousness, crumpling to the alleyway.
Reno awoke to a thumping sound beside him. It was a constant rhythm, perfectly timed. At first Reno thought it was the ticking of a clock. He managed to push himself up into a sitting position. His left arm still refused to work, and if anything the pain from his gunshot wound had been what woke him. He fell back, hitting his shoulders and head on something cold and solid. Reno tried to open his eyes, but the harsh light prompted them closed again. He blindly felt his neck, hissing and pulling his hand back. Not only had Tseng left a bruise, there had been a needle there, he'd been drugged. Once again, Reno worked on opening his eyes.
It took three tries fighting the halogen bulbs before Reno could open his eyes. Everything around him was shiny, polished, or glass. The thumping continued, Reno looked over and screamed. Next to him, in a tube of glowing liquid was a thing that appeared to almost be human. Human legs, torso, and arms; the shoulders and neck, however, were stretched. Even thought the tube that held this monstrosity was seven feet tall, its neck had to buckle in places for it to fit.
The head was even more disturbing. It had a human appearance, but was bald and lopsided. Its upper jaw jutted out almost a foot from its lower, causing the neck to bend even more in the narrow tube. The thumping sound was the creature banging its head on the wall of its prison. It blinked its one bulging eye at Reno and worked its mouth as if trying to speak.
Reno leapt to his feet and backwards, bashing his head and back against something. When Reno spun to see what he had hit, however, he saw nothing. Reaching around, Reno noticed he too, was closed in a glass tube. He smacked his palm against the thick glass. The quiet "tonk" he heard as a result did nothing to make him feel better. He reached along the top of the tube, around at the bottom, he had no idea how they even put him in there, let alone an idea on how he was going to get out.
Reno had never been locked into someplace. He was always able to get out of anywhere that he had been. Now he was stuck. A lump was forming in his throat. He found it hard to catch his breath. Reno realized he was more afraid of where he was then the monster. This was not the best time on the planet to learn that he was claustrophobic. Trying to forget that he was in a two by seven tube Reno looked outside.
He immediately regretted doing so. The floor was covered in blood, there were half a dozen other monsters encased around him, all in the green glowing tubes. He listened to a desperate scream. "Hello?" The voice cried out, Reno could hear a loud, broken sob. "God is someone there? Hello!"
Reno craned his neck to see a man on an operating table in the next room. He didn't look good. Reno could tell that there was something very wrong with his left arm, it was black and too thin for the rest of his body, the rest of the figure was hidden by a medical tent draped over his chest. He made an effort to lift his head, swallowed visibly and then yelled again. "Please, answer me!"
Reno's own voice was hoarse and strangled from the fear in his throat. "Yeah, I'm here, where are we!"
There was silence for a few moments, and then the voice answered. "I'm Tom."
Something in the man's voice made the little hairs on the back of Reno's neck stand up. Swallowing with no avail, Reno tried again. "Hey Tom, I'm Reno, where are we?"
"God, you're the first person who's talked to me in so long…" The voice continued. "Is it nice outside?"
Was it nice outside? Reno blinked, stretching his neck. "Ta be honest, I'm from sector five, I couldn't tell ya. Look, Tom, where are we? I have a kid I need to get home to."
"I'm sorry…" Tom responded.
Fear coiled further around Reno, he was shaking. "Why aren't you telling me where we are?"
Silence.
Reno could hear a door open, Tom's head darted from side to side. Suddenly, the thin tent was stained red. Tom screamed. Then Reno could see two doctors. At least they looked like doctors, what they were doing was anyone's guess, until they got to Tom's head. One forced his mouth closed, the other one hammered a spike into his jaw joint, breaking his jaw and forcing it shut.
Shock made him feel very cold. Reno's good arm dropped to his side, his mouth slacked open. The two doctors looked into the room he was in; both had thick glasses and dark eyes. Their faces were covered from the nose down. They looked at each other for a moment, talking too lowly for Reno to make out much of what they were saying. He caught "get the doctor" and "it's awake."
Reno slumped to the bottom of the tube. He tried to swallow again, but the lump remained lodged in his throat. Something about the way that they were talking was leading him to believe that he shouldn't have been awake yet. They looked disturbed. Reno watched blood leek out of the room, he didn't want to stand up again to see what had become of Tom. One disappeared again past Tom's room and the other walked out to Reno's tube.
He read monitors, noted things down in his clipboard and grumbled a bit. Then dark eyes swiveled over to look Reno over from behind thick rimmed glasses. Reno was too shocked to speak, he simply watched the man make more notes on his clipboard. Another door swinging open failed to take his attention from the first doctor.
"Awake? Already?" A new voice asked.
The first doctor with the thick glasses looked over his shoulder. "Yes, Doctor Hojo. I can't quite explain it though. It shouldn't have come around so quickly." It made Reno feel vaguely satisfied that the man was starting to sweat, he looked frightened. "We-we follo-"
"Enough, Sponson. I know it wasn't a miscalculation." The man that stood next to Sponson was enough to make anyone nervous; black eyes that hinted of a Wutain ancestor somewhere down his line were narrowed from under very oily, unkempt hair. He had the look of someone who would get so engrossed in something he would forget to eat, sleep, or shower. There was something obsessive about his face, and the smile that he turned on Reno was anything but welcoming. "Well, I'll be damned…" He muttered, then let out a decidedly insane giggle. He took a small notebook from his front pocket and mused some more, Reno couldn't even catch the words, he didn't think he wanted to. "And what specimen is this again?" He asked, tapping a pencil against his mouth.
"Ah- Turk, sir." Sponson commented.
The doctor immediately looked agitated. With a disgruntled sound he shoved the notebook and pencil into his pocket again. "Turk?"
"Yes sir, the Vice President himself has attached a note to the file." Sponson adjusted his glasses and tentatively held out the file.
Hojo snatched it from his subordinate, flipping to the final page. "What one bid it in?" The question was strained and angry.
"Ahh 47952, Sir."
The file snapped closed and was flung at Sponson in the next moment. Hojo cursed sharply, rounding on Reno's tube. He glared down at Reno as if he knew him and didn't like him. Reno blinked owlishly up from the tube, suddenly thankful for the thick glass. Where had he heard that name before? Hojo, he knew he'd heard of the man. Hojo smiled again, earning a shudder from Reno. "Did it now?"
Hojo crossed to a telephone, picking it up and dialing. "Sir?" There came a pause. "I'm aware sir, I think that this particular specimen wouldn't be well suited- no sir." He cast another angry glare in Reno's direction. "As you say, sir. Yes, it's awake. I advice against this." This time the pause was longer, a when Hojo spoke again he was much happier. "Does it? Well then, can I have it?" The happy moment was gone, he growled again. "Fine, yes sir. No." Hojo slammed the receiver down, glowering. "Mark its file number 47956 and prepare for a Turk infusion level five. I want three tube sets, we are going to do side transfusion with glacomine and tormine agents, pull S-Red's file for comparison. Get me when the Vice President leaves." Before his subordinate could comment, Hojo stalked into Tom's room and threw the doors shut.
Sponson never said a word to Reno, he busied himself with cleaning the blood up that had made its way into the room, putting tubes and vials on the table, and checking surgical tools. They were sharp, some stained a permanent shade of rust. Reno was afraid to talk, would they break his jaw too? Or would they gas him? Every horrible thing that he could think of flooded his mind while the man worked. Reno was almost relieved to see Rufus ShinRa walk into the room.
"Nice to see you're awake already, I'm impressed." He commented to Reno. "Now, let us continue our previous conversation without the weaponry? I need another Turk."
Finding his voice Reno managed to say bravely, "Fuck you. Where's my daughter?"
Rufus smiled. "Would you rather I get your daughter and bring her down here? Hojo was rather excited to hear about her."
Reno's jaw clamped shut.
"Much better." Rufus watched Reno's discomfort. "Claustrophobic?"
Reno nodded numbly.
"Right." Rufus looked around for a chair, giving up on finding something safe for his white suit turned back to Reno. "Look, I don't like being down here any more then you do. You just agree to behave and we can both leave this room, never to return."
Reno blinked at him. "What?" He managed to get out after working his jaw a bit. "What are you going to do with me? Where is my daughter?"
At the mention of Reno's daughter, Hojo peeked back into the room. His white lab coat was now stained with a crimson splash down the front. Reno and he locked eyes. For some reason, Reno couldn't look away; Hojo didn't ever seem to blink. Instead his mind appeared to be working furiously from behind those black eyes.
"Would you get the fuck back to work? I don't need him to have a nervous breakdown." The Vice President snapped.
The doctor snorted indignantly and returned to the back room.
Rufus sounded strained. "Why not just accept my offer? This company pays well; don't pretend you couldn't use the money."
Reno was silent. He had no idea what they were going to do with him. He didn't know what he was supposed to say or what would be better for him. If he said no would they go get Suzanna? If he said yes what would happen?
"Looks like you're going to stay here." The blond stated and began to leave and Hojo moved back into the room.
Reno leapt to his feet, palm flat against the glass. "I'll do it! I'll do it! Just let me out of here!" He didn't even want to look back over his shoulder at Hojo, he'd do anything at this point, just to get away.
Rufus turned and nodded crisply. Then he leveled a look at Hojo. "Begin immediately, no-" he stressed the word- "funny business."
Reno closed his eyes and sunk back to the bottom of the tube, he didn't want to think about "funny business". Hojo started giggling after a while, prompting Reno to open one eye. Hojo stood next to a panel on Reno's tube.
Gleefully, he laughed again. "What Rufus doesn't know…"
Reno jumped to his feet, gas started filling the chamber. Before he could compute what happened, he fell back to the bottom of the tube, totally unconscious.
It had been years since Reno had this dream…
…He couldn't remember much anymore. There was the stream that never flowed, the ground that never changed. No one looked normal. Some people- they weren't really people, more like monsters- were huge, others, like himself, were small.
He was short. For some reason it bothered him, he couldn't walk properly. And even though he'd had this dream a million times, something was wrong this time. Why was he having this dream again now?
It all went black, no, not really black, more like a deep jaded green. God it was confusing. He had fallen, now standing he walked forward. There was a hissing sound in front of him. A blue light was too bright to look at, Reno closed his eyes, when he opened them again he saw a real monster. Her head was wired, here eyes glowed the same color as the veins on her arms, she was terrible. He didn't need anything to remember its name.
Jenova.
Reno scrambled, trying in vain to get away. The ground was impossible to feel, it was like he was running on air with nothing to purchase. He fell back, and then he heard- was it Beth? No, it was his mother…
Something grabbed him, pulled him back and suddenly, he was alone. Sitting in a room with no walls, the only light was the one that shone down on him, Reno darted his head around, afraid to go past the small circle of light. Then, it flickered, plunging him into darkness.
"Never go near ShinRa, Baby. They have a monster in the basement, and an evil wizard, he'd love to get a hold of you, Baby. He knew your father and me; he'll hate you right away. Whatever you do Baby…
…never go near Hojo."
Reno snapped his eyes open, all he saw was green.
When he woke up, the green stuff started leaking from his tube. His feet hit the bottom, Reno tried to place them far enough apart so his legs wouldn't buckle. But they did, though he didn't feel as heavy as he was used to. It didn't make sense. Reno slumped against the side of the tube, choking as breathing tubes snaked out of his nose and throat. He hacked loudly, deep from his chest and spit out something the same color as the water that was draining.
Reno shuddered, he felt like he was covered from head to toe with spiders. When he opened his eyes he snarled. The light was bright, way too bright, it hurt.
Reeve's voice echoed in his head. "Kill the lights." There was a click and then he heard Reeve again. "Open your eyes Reno, come on."
Reno did as he was asked, blinking at the Turks from in the tube. The lights were out, he could tell that much, yet, somehow, he could make out every detail in the room. It all had a green glow to it, similar to the liquid that was now around his ankles. The lights clicked on again and Reno hissed, closing them.
The tube made a similar hiss, and opened up in the front, Reno fell out to his knees. He coughed more, getting sick again. All Reno wanted to do was lay down on the floor.
"Reno," it was Scarlet this time. "Reno, you have to get up. Please Reno, you have to stand up."
Reno muttered, he wanted to tell her to fuck off, but what came out of his mouth sounded more like "Funm ooph."
"Reno, if you don't get up now Hojo can say you weren't strong enough and keep you here." Reeve urged.
His eyes snapped open. He was staring at the Turks' boots. Reno grunted, pushing himself up with both arms. He didn't stop to think how strange it was that he didn't hurt more, that he just felt disoriented and stiff. He didn't care. Reno just wanted to get out of that lab and never see it again. He got to his feet at last, looking down at what was left of his jeans. Reno then straightened, shaking his head and almost loosing his balance.
They were silent for a while, Reno standing there, cold, in wet jeans, and panting. At last Reeve sighed, relieved. He handed Reno a Turk style jacket. "Good, let's get out of here." He turned on heel with Scarlet, Reno watched as Tseng and the big Turk held the door open for him.
Reno looked over his shoulder, Hojo growled from across the room.
"Better luck next time." Reno snapped before limping after the Turks.
Reno didn't make it far out of the lab before he slumped against the wall. The big Turk grabbed his shoulders and steadied him. Reno blinked up at the tall man, finally getting a good look at him. He was darker skinned then the rest of them, probably do to being a mix of races. Reno couldn't think very well. He muttered a weak "Thanks."
The group made it to an elevator. Reno felt very drunk, the motion didn't do well with his stomach. It lurched to a halt, then Tseng, Reeve and Scarlet got off the elevator. Reno started to follow, but the big man's hand remained on his shoulder.
"Rude's going to take you to your apartment, Reno. We have to some other things to take care of, just go up and get some sleep." Reeve then turned and lead Tseng and Scarlet down the hall.
Reno fell against the wall of the elevator, closing his eyes. Rude helped him down the next hallway and into an apartment. Reno was thankful the couch was soft; he didn't take notice of anything else. He watched as the big man got a blanket and tossed it over his shoulders.
They were silent for a while before Reno spoke up again. "'ey, Rude?"
Even though Rude didn't say anything, Reno continued. "Thanks fer doin' this. Ya don't even know me…" he trailed off into a yawn. Reno was asleep in the next minute.