Chapter 2: Retribution

From their position on a catwalk, the Turks see Hojo working on a control terminal below. Reno studies a map on Elena's portable computer. "Elena, how long will it take you to get to this back-up terminal?" he asks while pointing at the one in question.

"Two minutes," she replies after looking the route over. "From there I can lock down Hojo's terminal and start the reactor shutdown sequence. There's just one problem. Hojo's using the primary terminal, so he can block anything I try from the back-up unit. I'll need a distraction."

"...we can handle that..." Rude confidently states.

Elena glances at the map again. "I should be able to get from there to the terminal Hojo's using in less than thirty seconds, so try not to kill him before I get back."

Reno grins. "Don't worry, we'll save some for you. Now let's synchronize." They check their watches, then split up.

2:00

Elena darts away silently, headed for a small access hatch to one side. Her partners keep an eye on Hojo.

1:30

Reno and Rude check their weapons, then check them again. Rude checks the time while Reno runs a whetstone across the edge of an already razor-sharp dagger.

1:00

Elena runs through the tunnels, circling around Hojo's position. She uses all her skill at stealth to evade the creatures that live in the tunnels, knowing that she can't afford to be slowed down.

0:45

"Time for the diversion. Let's get moving," Reno says while starting down the ladder.

"I'll let you do the talking," Rude replies while following.

0:25

Elena comes to a halt in front of the auxiliary terminal and checks her watch. /Still some time/ She thinks. Elena doesn't even touch the terminal yet, knowing that a warning will pop up on one of the screens on the primary terminal when any of the back-up terminals activate. She waits, watching the seconds tick by while her hand hovers over the power switch.

0:20

"Hojo."

The greasy scientist turns at the sound of his name. "Well, this is certainly a surprise. The Turks. I suppose Rufus sent you?"

"Nah, he's a little pre-occupied with being dead right now."

"So, Heidegger or Scarlet probably seized control. Still, it changes nothing. My son needs my help, needs energy..."

"They're dead too." Reno smiles sarcastically. "So, how's blowing up Midgar supposed to help Sephiroth?"

"What? How did you know he was my son? Not even president Shinra knew that!"

"We always know more than people suspect. You should've put better encryption on your personal files."

0:00

Elena flips on the power switch and immediately enters the command to lock down the main terminal. She then checks the reactors' status. /Too much pressure to just shut them down. I'll have to use the emergency venting system./ She then types in the necessary commands. /Interesting how the timing on this works out.../ She takes of at a dead run, a slight smile on her face.

"...science has failed me, but Sephiroth will show me how much he has surpas..." Hojo's rant is cut off as the lights flicker and die. He turns back to his terminal just in time to see green fire explode into the sky as the excess pressure in the reactors is vented above the wasteland that surrounds the city. More importantly, he sees Elena. Silhouetted by the flames, she stands on top of the terminal with a pistol aimed at Hojo's face. He flinches, startled, as Reno and Rude nod their silent approval of Elena's timing.

"You didn't think we were just going to let you destroy the city, did you?" Elena asks sarcastically. "It may be a hell-hole, but it's the hell-hole where we all grew up. Sentimental value, I guess." She jumps down from the terminal as the reactors continue to vent. "More importantly, thirty years ago you took one of us, a Turk named Vincent Valentine, and used him as a human guinea pig!" Reno and Rude simultaneously draw pistols and fire. Their bullets strike Hojo in the backs of his knees, forcing him to kneel as Elena presses the muzzle of her .45 automatic against Hojo's forehead.

"That wasn't very smart of you, Hojo," Reno taunts him from behind. "You should've known we'd find out eventually."

"No one uses a Turk like that and lives," Rude adds.

Hojo, strangely enough, begins laughing. "I've injected Jenova's cells into my own body. Would you like to see my results?"

"Not really," Elena says as she pulls her trigger. The bullet passes cleanly through Hojo's head, removing a large portion of the back of his skull.

"Pretty slick," Reno compliments Elena as the Turks turn and begin to walk off. They suddenly freeze as Hojo resumes laughing. "It will take more than that to kill me." Before their shocked eyes, Hojo's body writhes and shifts, transforming into a vaguely humanoid abomination with two large tentacles and no other limbs.

"Shit." Rude's statement sums up the situation pretty well.

"Let's get some defenses up while it's still changing," Reno commands as he calls on the latent energies of the tiny materia orbs embedded in the mako shield strapped to his forearm.

Reno casts a haste spell on his team as Rude and Elena conjure up shields against physical and magical damage. Finished with their casting, the Turks spread out while reaching under their coats. Elena hurls a fragmentation grenade at Hojo while Reno extracts an extremely short sawed-off pump shotgun from it's holster and unloads the magazine into his adversary. As Hojo staggers under the assault and Reno reloads, Rude draws a compact 10mm submachinegun and begins raking Hojo with short, controlled bursts. Meanwhile, Elena opens fire with her .45 while pulling out an identical pistol with her other hand.

The Turks continue to move and keep their distance while pouring a large volume of lead and an occasional grenade or burst of magical energy into Hojo, easily dodging his clumsy attempts at striking them with his tentacles. After firing his last shell, Reno drops the shotgun and charges forward with his electro-mag rod. Easily leaping over a swinging tentacle, Reno uses both hands and all his momentum to ram the blunt rod deep into Hojo's left eye socket. He then triggers what he calls the "oh shit switch" which discharges the rod's mako power cell's entire charge.

"Stay down this time," Reno says while casually lighting a cigarette as Hojo falls and spasms from the massive burst of energy ripping through his body.

"He's changing again Reno," Elena warns.

Looking down, Reno sees Hojo's body contracting into yet another form. Shrugging, he plants a foot on Hojo's face and reaches down to retrieve his rod, only to find it locked in place by Hojo's face regenerating around it. "You're really starting to piss me off," he growls while drawing his pistol, a custom piece that uses the obscure and powerful 9x25 round. Calling on one of the materia orbs embedded in his pistol's grip, Reno drops a massive lightning bolt on Hojo as he rises again. The Turks resume their merciless assault on the scientist whose body had become nearly as twisted and repulsive as his mind.

Seconds later Rude drops his SMG, having burnt through the last magazine. He then draws his pistol that, like his SMG, was heavily customized and modified to accept both types of magazine. Elena hurls her last grenade and follows it up with a huge burst of fire from her materia. Hojo makes a few more attempts to strike back, but is unable to land anything more than an occasional grazing hit on the agile Turks. Firing the last round from his pistol Rude drops it and reaches behind his neck, pulling a pair of long throwing knives from their hiding place in his jacket's lining. He hurls the first one with his typical deadly accuracy, burying the blade deep in Hojo's right eye. Hojo rears back from the pain and panic of being suddenly blinded. As the second blade flies through the air towards Hojo, Rude withdraws a shorter pair from behind his lapels.

Blinded, Hojo's attacks become even more futile. Deciding to keep what little ammo he has left in reserve, Reno holsters his pistol, then reaches up his right sleeve and draws a long, narrow dagger that was battered and stained from over a decade of hard use. As he nears Hojo, Reno pulls an old switchblade from his pocket with his off hand and flicks it open. Following his lead, Elena and Rude also close in. Elena holsters her pistols and draws a pair of nasty looking push daggers from their sheaths hanging in front of the pistols on her belt. After hurling a third pair of blades into Hojo, Rude opts to simply use his reinforced gloves to beat Hojo to death.

Hojo begins to wither under the furious onslaught, receiving powerful punches to the kidneys and spine and multiple deep stab wounds from both flanks. As Hojo slumps, Rude pulls a piano wire garrote from a pocket and slips it around Hojo's neck, pulling him upright and immobile. After a few moments of being simultaneously stabbed and strangled, Hojo gives a final shudder and falls still. Rude releases one of the Garrote's handles, letting the body fall to the floor. "Think he's dead this time?" Elena asks.

In response, Reno kicks Hojo in the head. "Looks dead to me." After pocketing the switchblade, he kneels and begins to carve at Hojo's face with his dagger, loosening the embedded electro-mag rod. Rude picks up and holsters his dropped firearms then kneels next to his partner and begins retrieving his knives. After a considerable amount of cutting, Reno frees his rod. After wiping it off on his suit he collapses it and replaces the spent mako cell, then places the rod on his belt.

"Here you go, boss," Elena says, handing Reno his dropped shotgun.

"Thanks," Reno replies. He then stands and surprises his partners by picking up Hojo's body.

"What're you doing?" Elena asks.

"Making sure he stays dead this time. Remember that fuel depot we passed on the way up?" With that said, he turns and leads the way. In a few minutes, Hojo's corpse is on the floor and thoroughly soaked in high-octane fuel. "Burn in hell you sick --," Reno says as he flicks a cigarette onto Hojo, igniting him.

"Now what?" Rude asks.

"We need more info on Sephiroth and Meteor. Time to track down those Avalanche guys again, see what they know..."

Author's Note: I can't believe I let that sit for four years without working on it. Things came up and my writing kinda went on permanent hiatus, but the full story outline was still sitting there in the back of my mind. To those who read it back then, sorry for the wait and thanks for the encouraging reviews. The hardest part was choosing how to kill Hojo. It's a good thing he had multiple forms, because it'd be hard to pick just one way to kill him. The spell-check was kinda amusing this chapter, since it kept suggesting to have the Turks kill a hobo instead of Hojo.

Edited again because some site update deleted all the '--' lines I used to use to denote scene changes. So time to slap horizontal rulers into all my fics.