Tseng
walked, holding onto Rene's arm tightly. He quickly realized that if he wasn't,
she would be gone in a heartbeat. Tseng prided himself on his ability to not be
easily annoyed or disturbed, but, eventually, Rene began to grate on his
nerves.
"You don't know where we are, do you?" asked Rene icily.
"I'm looking for my other three Turks."
"Can you guys do anything without screwing up? Some of the stories Rufus tells me...I don't know why my uncle still pays you."
Tseng stopped and pulled hard on Rene's arm, turning her to face him.
"We found you, didn't we?"
Rene scoffed and looked away as they continued. The hall they were in was
shaped like a 'T'. Tseng debated whether to continue straight, or turn down the
intersecting hallway. As he thought, his keen ears detected noise.
Just
as he clamped a hand over Rene's mouth and pulled her and himself close to the
wall, he heard a single gunshot.
"Hey! We know you're down out...now!" warned a voice.
Tseng carefully peeked around the corner as much as he dared. There were five
guards, all armed with machine guns no more than fifteen feet away. He quickly
pulled back as another bullet whizzed by his head.
He dropped to his knee and equipped his own gun. Rene suddenly realized he was
going to take on whoever was out there by himself.
"Are you nuts? You can't –"
Without thinking, Tseng whipped around and pointed the gun in Rene's face, his
eyes flashing silent rage. "Stay there, and shut up," he commanded in a quiet
and even voice.
Rene, for once was speechless, as she mutely nodded in reply.
Tseng went back to the problem at hand, his mind rapidly trying to determine
what the best course of action would be.
Muffled cursing escaped Reno's lips as he stood up
in pain. "I cannot believe that just happened..."
Fortunately for Reno, his cat-like reflexes
had kicked in, just as Rene's had. When he realized she was going to kick him,
he had swiveled slightly, so that his thigh would take most of the blow. But
even then, he still hurt like heck.
Reno looked around and saw the dead body still
laying there. There was no acceptable hiding place for it, so he left it where
it was. He sprinted down the hall, wondering where everyone else was. In the
back of his mind, he questioned letting Elena go on ahead of him. He was still
guilt ridden and angry with himself, but he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
'Emotions
are what cause you screw up missions,' he repeated to himself. That was one
thing Tseng taught every Turk: Never to side with emotion over training and
instinct.
As he snaked and turned though the maze of tunnels, he heard a loud shot. He stopped
dead in his tracks and looked around, weapon drawn and ready. There was no one
in sight. Then he heard a voice yell. "Hey! We know you're down
out...now!"
He peered around the corner and down a long hallway. Halfway down, he saw the
crouched figure of Tseng. He raced noiselessly down the hall to the other side
of the intersection, receiving a grateful look from the Turk leader.
"Five," mouthed Tseng.
Reno nodded, eyes wide, as if to
silently if Tseng had a plan.
Tseng answered by cocking his gun and casting a stern look in Reno's direction.
'Let's do it,' thought Reno.
Tseng held up his hand and began to count on his finger. One...two...three.
Simultaneously, Tseng and Reno pressed against the
corner and began to pick off the guards while avoiding the machine gun fire.
Rene squeezed her eyes shut as she placed her hands over her ears, trying to
shut off her surroundings. She couldn't take much more of this. She dared to
steal a peek and glanced up.
'There's
no way they can be serious, they're going to get me killed! I'm better off on
my own...' she thought.
Before she could stop to think, she stood up and bolted past the bullet laden
intersection, much to the dismay of Tseng.
"Reno! Get her!" he yelled in between shots.
Reno looked up and tried to grab the girl by the
ankle, but he was a hair too late and just missed. He knew he should have gone
after her, but he growled and continued shooting instead.
Rude softly walked up to a corner and glanced around, making sure the path was
clear. He had no idea where he was, or where he was trying to get to. Right
now, he was just trying to find the girl and any one of his coworkers.
'I'd rather be doing just about anything other than this,' he thought, creeping
down the hall. 'If I just had my suit, it wouldn't be so bad...'
As he wallowed in self pity, he heard footsteps in the distance. He quickly
leapt back into the first hallway and readied his gun. As the steps got closer,
he realized whoever was running was barefoot and crying...and just a few feet
away. 'Why me?' he asked.
He
stuck his arm out and caught the fleeing girl by the waist. She screamed, and
soon had a large hand pressed on her face.
"Do you want them to find us?" Rude asked in a rare display of sarcasm.
The girl shook her head under Rude's hand.
"...Do you know where any of the others are?" he pressed.
Rene pointed to her mouth. Rude moved his hand away slightly, ready to silence
her again if need be.
"They're down that way, but there were a bunch of people shooting at us and-"
"Who were you with?"
"A guy with black hair and then a guy with red hair," she replied.
Rude relaxed a little. Tseng was an amazing shot, and even with the odds
against him, he almost always came out on top. Add to the fact Reno was with him, and they
were certainly a force to be reckoned with. Knowing they were okay, his concern
turned to Elena.
"Have you seen a blonde woman, bout this high?" he placed his hand to a height
that looked about right.
Rene shook her head. "No, just the two..."
He released the girl and started to say, "Don't run off again," but before he
got the words out, Rene had darted down the hall.
Rude resisted the urge to growl as he ran after her, again.
