Give
Me a Hand
Chapter
Nine: Is That a Turk I See Before Me?
I'd almost forgotten how much Cid hates chocobos. He seems to think that the poor things don't all fly with the single goal of fucking with his head. Come to think of it, that would be a pretty good reason if I were a chocobo.
It gave me something to laugh at, and at that moment, I needed all the jollies I could get. Hojo. Why for the love of all that was right, good and holy in this planet did someone have to make MORE of him?
What's worse, they made YOUNG, ABLE BODIED, ones of him. I shuddered again, feeling the blood cake the palm of my hand. Sometimes I forgot how useful fingerless gloves were. What? Did you think that we honestly worried about fingerprints? Clenched fists were far more tolerable when your fingernails didn't bite into your skin.
Hojo was enough to make me want to vomit, and Reno just fought off three of him. I was glad he'd shown up when he did, Cid and I were wholly unprepared for this. I'd still been hell bent on a revenge kick and Cid looked precariously close to a mental breakdown.
It was best that Cid and I kept all thoughts to ourselves; we were riding with an urgency that made most every other thought impossible to hold onto. Reno kicked his already sweating bird into a faster gallop; we must have been getting closer. I felt a bit of apprehension at meeting up with the Turks again. Tseng was dead, Reno was mutilated, Elena was still too new and Rude never wanted to be a leader.
That meant that it was back on my shoulders. I was going to have to get my act together and be a Turk again. It was something I didn't know that I could handle. Had I lost my edge? Was I the right person for this? Years ago I knew that answer, but years ago was too long in the past.
Cid was out of the question as a leader. He'd be the first to admit it, and no one would argue the point. There was no other option. Reno'd had enough faith in me to pass the torch, I wasn't going to let them down. We didn't have a choice in the matter. Whoever did that to Reno knew very well what they were doing and they wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
I knew that both Rude and Elena would know this too. I also knew that Rude would be distinctly pissed off about the matter. He'd always treated Reno like a little brother despite the fact that Reno was supposed to be in charge. Elena as well, was not to be underestimated; I could only hope that they were still where Reno thought they were.
He pulled the bird to a halt and jumped off of it. Leaving it to run back to its stable, the red head darted into the woods, and Cid and I had no choice but to follow him. I could hear Cid complaining more about running, though I didn't care. Reno stopped by what looked like an abandoned logging mine, he pushed the front door open and lead us to the basement.
Once at the door he tapped the code for "three" on the door. Turk code wasn't exactly Morse; it was funny how much of it all I realized I remembered. You're a Turk, you always were a Turk, Emmerson, I told myself. The doors opened quickly, and there weren't lights on in the room. Reno and I didn't need them; the mako was plenty to light the room with night vision. We both yanked Cid into the room and no sooner had we done that then I felt the door slam shut, something large was being placed to hold it closed.
"RENO!" Elena, I could see running from the light switch to hug him. She bailed him into the door, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Reno, you're alive! Oh gods, Re…"
"Can't someone put on a gods damned LIGHT!" Cid shouted, for it had only been, oh, a minute since we'd arrived. Damn fool doesn't know when to shut up. I turned to say something to him, but I noticed that Rude had already opened his mouth.
"Do you need me to take care of the garbage, Reno?" he asked, eyes watching Cid. I saw the pilot's mouth drop, and then close as he gritted his teeth.
"Fucking hell, he can't even talk!" Cid exclaimed, and I could see the utter confusion and that meltdown was even more promising. This was not good at all.
Rude clenched his jaw, a very subtle gesture. He walked slowly over to Cid, where he could stand over him. I saw the pilot swallow and couldn't help a little snigger at that. "Do we have a problem?" Rude spoke, tone low and dangerous. And Cid smirked back, proving that he had, in fact, totally lost his mind.
"Yes," Cid replied, attempting to make himself taller, "I woke up with a hand in my bed, got into a bar fight with ole Emmerfuck here, almost got snipered, almost got shot by Reno the Muted Wonder, got chased around by three Hojos, and just rode a FUCKING CHOCOBO. If there's no fucking PROBLEM there, then just shoot me now and get it over with!"
I pinched my nose. You can't just ask RUDE to shoot you and not expect him to... try. Or scare you worse. Or break you into little parts and make some sort of Salvador-esque artscape from your twisted remains.
Rude lunged forward and Cid must have felt the air move, he jumped back, slamming up against the wall he couldn't see with a curse. Before Rude could bend Cid's neck so far back he licked is own ass, Reno, Elena and I reached out and grabbed him.
Rude must have been as out of sorts as I was, he halted without much effort on our parts. With a low snarl, Rude turned away from Cid and looked down at Reno who rolled his eyes and made an obscene gesture with his hand at the front of his pants before motioning to Cid again. Rude cracked a half smile and I felt relived that at least, for them, all they needed was accounted for.
Elena didn't take as kindly as they did. "You should have fucking killed him." She snapped, making both Reno and I flinch. I'd known Elena had a mean streak. I knew she wasn't just picked to be a Turk because she was a pretty blonde and could fill Scarlet's shoes. This, however, was a new side of her to me.
I always had wondered how such a sweet little girl had ended up in prison for murder. I suppose this was a good tip off. She stalked up in between Reno and Rude who took the moment to glare at Cid. Part of me wanted to turn the light on, staring at four pairs of glowing eyes and couldn't have helped Cid's mood or weak grip on sanity.
When Elena continued, however, I realized exactly why Reno had wanted to kill Cid. "His fucking bitch had Reno's TONGUE cut out because he wouldn't talk. I'd like some proof he's not in on it."
Shera wasn't dead. Hell, if I hadn't seen Cid with my own eyes hours before, I'd want proof too. For right now, I'd let Elena handle this.
