Reno stared at the note in
his hand. 'Oh no…this isn't what blew her cover...is it?' he silently prayed.
His mind went back to the night he had written the note, in hopes of telling
Elena why he acted the way he did, and that despite the things he said and did
to her, she really did mean a lot to him.
And
now, from the looks of things, his attempted confession had gotten two of his
best friends captured. Reno broke out in a cold
sweat, beginning to fear the worst. As he stood up, he heard a soft voice.
"R-Reno?"
Looking in the direction of the voice, Reno saw a small beaded
curtain and carefully peered through it. In the back of the small room was a
cot. It took him less than a second to recognize the figure sprawled on the
small bed.
Reno half-sprinted the short distance to the cot
and kneeled down beside Elena. Elena opened her eyes and smiled. "Reno! It is you!"
Reno looked at the weary smile on Elena's tired
face, and his eyes wandered down to her neck. It was grotesquely swollen and
had mean, dark bruises...it looked extremely painful. Pushing the feeling of
guilt to the back of his mind, Reno smiled weakly back at
her as he stood up and offered Elena his hand. "...Yeah, yeah, it's me...Are
you okay?"
Cringing as Reno pulled her to her
feet, she tried to nod, but the bruising on her neck quickly protested. "I'll
be alright."
He placed his hands on her shoulders, steadying her before they walked back
out, into the main room.
"Who's this guy?" he asked, kicking the dead body.
Elena glanced down, face grim. "That was the leader of AGP."
Reno grinned. "Hey, score two points for Reno! That should buy us some
time, at least. Do you know where Rene and Rude are?" As much as he knew Elena
needed –and deserved- more rest, Reno knew they had to get a
move on.
Elena thought. "I know where Rene should be there too. Let's just
hope I can still remember my way around this place."
They walked out, locking the door behind them. As they got further up the
tunnel to where it began to branch, Elena stopped in thought.
"I'm pretty sure it's this way..."
As they began to walk down one of the branches, a door opened and a man stepped
out. In a split second, Reno had his gun trained on
the man's head.
Elena recognized the man. It was Zing. She knew he was an excellent fighter,
and could put up a good struggle, even without a gun. Without taking his eyes
or his gun off the man, Reno reached into his
pocket and tossed the key ring to Elena. "Go get 'em,
Lena. I'll take care of
this."
Elena caught the keys in the air and jogged down the hall as fast as she could
without disturbing her neck too much. Seeing the door at the end, she
desperately hoped it was the jail cell door. Not quite sure what to do, she
knocked. No answer.
'That probably wasn't the smartest thing to do,' thought Elena as she began
trying keys. After the fourth key, she finally found the right one, and the
door clicked open.
Rude sighed as he uncrossed and crossed his legs for what seemed like the
billionth time. He was bored, and had just about given up on his plan to
escape. Just then, he heard a light knock at the door. Rene's head shot up and
she looked at Rude questioningly.
He
shook his head, motioning for her to remain quiet. He quietly stood up as he
heard keys being tried in the door.
"I think we're out of here," noted Rude.
"...What makes you think that?"
"How many guards knock before they come in? Or don't know which key to use?"
Just then, the door opened and Elena stepped in. "Ta-da!"
she triumphantly cried.
"Elena! How did you get the keys? Are the others here?" Rude suddenly noticed
the dark bruises on her neck. "...Are you okay?"
As Elena systematically tried the keys on the ring to open the cell door, she
answered him.
"Reno found the keys. They were Roth's. He's
dead..."
Rude just nodded in response as the jail cell was opened. As Rude exited the
cell, Elena tried to shut the door on Rene.
"Hey! What are you doing? I'm the one you're rescuing, remember??" Rene
loudly protested.
Elena looked at her. "I know, but you'll be safer in here until we're ready to
leave. Reno and I already ran into
one guard."
"No, no way. I am NOT staying here any longer!" cried Rene as she forced her
way out of the cell and ran out the door.
For a second, Rude and Elena were stunned. They quickly regained their
composure and ran out into the hall. It was empty.
Rude's
hands clenched in frustration. Elena looked at him. "The tunnel branches
out further down. Should we split up?"
Rude looked at Elena. "There's no way you could fight like that," he pointed to
her neck.
Elena held up the keys. "There's an armory somewhere down here..."
Rude thought for a second. The more time they spent not looking for Rene, they
further away she got. But then again, it wouldn't be any use if he and Elena
were dead.
"Alright, hurry though," Rude agreed.
Gene hummed as he walked to the interrogation room, carrying two dinners. It
was his 'day off' and he was looking forward to spending time with Roth. The
two had become good friends in the past few weeks. He stopped at the door and
knocked. After a few seconds, he knocked again. Still no
answer. Gene wouldn't just leave like this.
'Something's wrong...'
He dropped the bag of food he was carrying and went to grab his gun. He looked
down at the empty holster. He cursed, realizing he hadn't grabbed his gun this
morning.
He ran back down the hall towards the armory to equip himself.
Reno stared nails at the guard, almost daring him
to try anything. The guard didn't let him down. In the blink of an eye, he had
jumped and done an impressive roundhouse kick in attempt to knock the gun away.
But Reno was just as fast; he pulled his arm back and
stepped to the side, trying to line his target.
As good as the guard was, he was no match for a Turk with a gun. Reno pulled the trigger, and the fight was over. As he searched the body for anything useful, he heard the sound of bare feet slapping down the cement floor. He looked up just in time to see a girl round the corner.
She
stared briefly at the dead body on the floor and the gun in Reno's hand. Growing pale,
her reflexes kicked in. Before Reno could even say
anything to her, she screamed and kicked him in the groin and continued running
down the hall, leaving Reno to writhe in pain.
Tseng looked down the hall. It was littered with crates and boxes pushed aside
to the wall. Re-gripping the handle of his gun, he carefully continued walking.
Halfway down, he heard light footsteps running. Tseng dove behind a crate and
waited for the person to pass. As the footsteps got closer, he edged out to get
a better look. All of the sudden, a girl raced by.
'...A girl? It's got to be...'
Tseng leapt up and chased after the girl. He quickly caught up to her and
grabbed her by the wrist, twisting her around so he could have a better look.
"...Miss Shinra?" he questioned.
"Let me go!!" She struggled wildly in attempt to break free.
"How did you get out? Why are you alone?"
Rene silently glared at him.
Tseng sighed. "Alright, stay close to me, we'll be out
of here soon."
After a few wrong turns, Rude and Elena finally found the armory. Elena opened
the door and tossed a handgun and some ammo to Rude before arming herself.
"Alright, I'll take the north path, you take the other," instructed Rude.
Just as Elena was about to reply, Rude hushed her and pushed her behind him.
"Someone's coming," he said simply.
The footsteps stopped and the door opened. Rude squeezed the trigger, cringing
as he realized the gun was not equipped with a silencer. The shot rang out
loudly, and the man fell to the floor. Rude pulled the body into the room and
looked at Elena.
"...Ready?"
Elena gazed at Gene's fallen body for a second more before replying. "...Yeah,
let's get it over with."
