Chapter 28 – The Mission
Reno rolled over on the bed and looked at the sleeping woman lying next to him. Her red hair spilled over the pillow they lay on and she snored lightly. He sighed and raised himself to his elbows, squinting in the early morning light streaming in through the window in front of the bed. His mouth tasted like dried, sticky mud and he was sure his breath smelled pretty much the same. The woman next to him stirred a little and he looked back down at her. What the hell was her name again? Lisa . . Linda . . , something like that. He couldn't remember and he really didn't care. She was just another floozy he had picked up at the casino last night. Another gold digger, interested in only one thing; his bank account. He chuckled to himself. He got more ass like that. Well, she wasn't going to get very far, was she? If Reno was anything, he was tightfisted when it came to his gil, especially with casino trash like this.
He slapped the woman on the backside to wake her. She snorted and rolled over, eyes half closed. "Time to leave, honey," he said in a gruff voice.
"What? What time is it?" she asked.
"It's time to leave, now get out!"
The woman was fully awake now. She couldn't believe that she had let herself be suckered into another one-night-stand. "Fuck you," she said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to retrieve her clothes scattered over the floor.
"No, that was last night. Now hurry up. I need to take a shower," he answered, watching her dress. He had to admit, she was a nice piece of ass. He flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. There was something he had to do today. He searched his fried brain . . . what was it? Oh yea, he had to meet Rude and go talk to the President. He looked at the watch on his wrist and swore under his breath. He jumped out of bed and waved to the redhead as she flashed the finger at him and slammed the hotel room door shut behind her.
A couple of hours later, Reno met up with Rude outside the ShinRa corporate offices. Rude looked . . . pressed, as always; his suit immaculate and his bald head shining in the sun. Reno, on the other hand, still looked like he just got out of bed with his red spiky hair and long pony tail. He only kept the thing that long because he knew it pissed off Rude, who was not bald by choice. Reno walked up to his partner with a smirk on his face.
"Man, you need to get laid more often. You look like you've got a poker up your ass."
"Shut up and behave yourself," replied the big man. "Lets go, you've made us late again."
They walked into the lobby of the gleaming glass building and pressed the elevator button. ShinRa employees and visitors milled around them, giving them both a wide berth. They didn't look like the average Midgar citizen. In fact, they were guaranteed to get an elevator all to themselves whenever they came here, and today was no different. Rude pressed the button for the 45th floor and stood back as the elevator silently rose up the tower, taking them to their appointment.
Rufus looked up from his reading as the two Turks walked through his office door on the top floor of his building. Behind him, floor to ceiling glass windows ran the entire length of the wall, giving him a commanding view of his city. The other walls were mahogany and teak, the most expensive woods left on the planet. He liked to surround himself with the trappings of his wealth. It almost made up for the wheelchair he was confined to and the shroud he covered himself with to hide the Geostigma.
Rude and Reno walked into the room and sat in the chairs opposite Rufus. They had worked for him for about five years now, and knew him well enough to know not to cross him. Lately, however, since becoming infected with Geostigma, they had noted a change in their boss. He seemed to be less concerned about accumulating wealth as in finding a cure for his disease. The same disease that afflicted many others in the city.
"The young woman you found in the church, what is her name?" he asked.
Rude and Rufus looked at each other. This is what he wanted to talk to them about?
"Tifa," Rude answered, shifting uneasily in his seat. "Why do you ask, Mr. President?"
Rufus sat in silence, thinking for a few moments. Reno's brow furrowed as he watched his boss. "What's going on here?" he thought.
"You said she was taken from the bar?"
"Yea, there was nothing we could do. There were four of them and they were all on mako," answered Reno. He glanced sideways at his partner who just rolled his eyes.
Rufus smiled to himself. Reno's macho posturing had always been a source of amusement. "Do you know why she was taken?"
"Cloud didn't say, but if you ask me, it's because he knocked her up," Reno said. "He was pretty pissed off about it," he said, remembering Cloud's rage at finding Tifa gone.
"And why would Tifa being pregnant by Cloud matter to anyone, do you think?" asked Rufus, leaning over the desk towards them. Reno and Rude looked at each other in confusion. They hadn't understood that at the time and still didn't.
Rufus picked up a piece of paper lying on his desk and read it again. It was a report from his company scientists. He had asked for Cloud's files upon hearing of Tifa's abduction and found it buried deep, next to innocuous information about the former mercenary.
"This is a report from Dr. Hiro. It details the attempt to infuse Cloud with the Jenova serum when he first applied to SOLDIER. It was unsuccessful, but only because the treatments were interrupted."
Reno looked at Rude again. They had both heard the stories before. Why was this so important to bring up now? Rufus saw the question on Reno's face and continued.
"This report also details the events that transpired after Cloud left ShinRa. Apparently he met up with a former employee, someone with the knowledge of Jenova and the means to complete Cloud's treatment. Unfortunately, the man had an over inflated opinion of his own skills and gave Cloud a final treatment that contained the wrong mixture of the serum."
"I'm sorry, Mr. President, but I still don't understand the significance of this. We all know the story about Cloud. Why does this have anything to do with the girl?" asked Rude.
Rufus looked up at the two before him. He leaned back in his chair and winced as the pain from the Geostigma stain on his hand ran up his arm and across the back of his neck. The other two in the room watched as he struggled to control the pain. Reno was very glad he had been spared this affliction, although he couldn't bring himself to feel any empathy for those who had been. "It's their own fault," he thought to himself smugly. "They must be of inferior breeding to have been infected in the first place."
Rufus sighed. They didn't have the benefit of the knowledge the piece of paper in his hands had given him. He continued, "because, the final treatment was a dose that contained more than just Jenova. This fool also added stem cells saved from Lucretia's umbilical chord. Remember Lucretia was Sephiroth's mother. She was the first . . . subject to receive Jenova. The dose given to her was much more concentrated than those subsequently given to SOLDIER recruits," he said. "We didn't know as much then," he added in a soft voice.
Rufus moved his chair away from behind the desk and approached the huge windows overlooking the city. "The city's air is much cleaner since Meteor," he mused, as much to himself as to the other two in the room. "You would think people would be happier to have blue sky to look at."
He sighed and turned to face the two Turks. "I believe that stem cells given to Cloud have been passed on to his child and to the girl. Stem cells are unique in that they can be used to create anything the growing fetus needs. Brain, bone, heart, anything. This girl, Tifa, did not have the benefit of our program of incremental doses and training to control Jenova." Rufus paused to gauge the reaction of the two sitting opposite him. "Did they understand? Do they get it yet?" he asked himself.
He continued. "To make matters worse, I have learned that the last remaining dose of Lucretia's original stem cells has gone missing. I believe that Kadj has it and he will use it on the girl, if he hasn't already. Under Jenova's influence, that genetic material could be used to create another Sephiroth!"
Rude and Reno looked at each other in shock. Now they understood.
"Shit," Rude said under his breath.
"Yes, you might well say that," replied Rufus. "If this child is born under Kadj's influence, we will have another war on our hands the likes of which this planet has never seen."
"And Cloud?" Rude asked.
Rufus sat in silence for a few moments. "Cloud is driven by his feelings for the girl and the knowledge that she is carrying his child . . . and perhaps by guilt over what he has done to her. He has no idea how to control this child. I, on the other hand, have the benefit of experience."
He looked over at the two Turks, sitting in stunned silence before him and said "I need you to find Tifa before she gives birth and bring her here to me. Cloud will not let her go easily, and neither will Kadj, so you will need to kill them both, I would think."
"Oh, is that all," thought Rude as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"What will happen to the girl after she has the kid?" asked Reno. Rude looked over at his partner in amazement. "What the hell does he care?" he asked himself.
Rufus was also surprised by the question. Perhaps he had misjudged Reno. He appeared to understand more than his partner did. He smiled and replied, "Both the mother and the child are important, Reno. If what I suspect has happened, then the girl probably has abilities that will make her a very valuable tool in our efforts to control the child and fight Jenova. But that's a two-edged sword. All depends on her strength of will and if she's able to hold on to her sanity. If I can get to her fast enough, I believe I can help her with that."
"How? How will you be able to help her from loosing her mind?" he asked.
Rude looked incredulously at Reno. He knew the man had a smart mouth, but he had never heard him question the President so directly. "What the hell is he thinking? He's going to get us both killed," he thought. He glanced quickly at Rufus's face to gauge his reaction and saw what he expected.
Rufus gunned his chair towards Reno and pulled up short directly in front of him, causing Reno to stand quickly and the chair under him to fall back on the floor. "Don't mistake this chair for weakness, Reno," he growled. He stood and swept the shroud off his shoulders and grabbed Reno by the throat. Reno clutched at the other man's fingers, trying to pry them free before he blacked out.
"Mr. President!" Rude's voice next to him broke through Rufus's rage and he loosened his grip on Reno's throat. Surprised by his own actions, he stumbled back and sat down hard on his wheelchair.
"You have your orders, now go," he snarled at the two men. Reno, rubbing his throat, said nothing. He followed Rude out the door and back to the elevator lobby.