Chapter 5

Rude had been tempted to tell Tseng to fuck off when he had called him with a job. Just standard guard-Rufus-with-your-life-and-look-scary kind of detail. But apparently everyone else was doing something important and they were short one man without Reno…..

Rude gave a mental sigh at the mention of Reno. His second day out of the hospital, the one where he was supposed to be in bed no matter what the circumstances, he had gotten up while Rude was in the shower to go and raid the kitchen. Or try to, dizziness and nausea had other plans and Reno had fallen and cracked his head a good one on the counter. Rude had found him sitting up against the cabinets looking sheepish. Next Reno had found the bottle of whisky that Tifa had given Rude. Despite the fact that several of his pain medications strongly advised against mixing with alcohol Reno had gotten sauced. Rude had to admit that he hadn't done much to stop it in hopes that Reno would just fall asleep quickly. The few hours that Rude had managed to keep Reno in bed had resulted in loud proclamations of a miraculous recovery and the most idiotic questions Rude had ever heard.

"Hey, Rude! If you were stuck on a desert island who would you want with you?"

"If you were the last man on the Planet who would you want to be the last woman to be?"

"Would you prefer it to be a guy?"

Rude told Tseng that he would be there. Maybe he could just tie Reno to the bed and gag him. Rude went to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water when his eyes landed on the almost empty bottle of whisky that Tifa had given him. She had said that she would look in on Reno…….

Reno would be furious when he found out but Rude wasn't worried about Reno being furious. He would get over it. Right now Rude wanted Reno to be healed so that he didn't have to put up with babysitting him and they could both get back to work. Tifa can definitely take care of herself if Reno is in a really pissy mood and she DID offer.

Rude sighed as he heard a loud crash from Reno's room.


Tifa had been surprised when Rude had come by and asked her to check on Reno. He had stopped by the bar instead of calling, thinking it would be more polite as he wasn't really in the position to be asking favors. She agreed quickly enough though and Rude felt a little better about leaving his partner alone. He had snuck a light sedative into his partners drink before carrying him to the couch so he could listen to the radio or watch TV. Reno's eyes had been drifting shut when he had left.

The drive to Healin Lodge was long but relaxing. He tried to take his mind off of the fact that he would be spending the day being bored to death with all the endless negotiating and persuading that Rufus was doing to get Shinra back to a 'thriving business' again. Rude thought it was all a bunch of bullshit but he was a Turk and he had his orders.

He reached the lodge and took the flight of stairs to Rufus's suite. Tseng gave him a grateful nod when he entered. He was relieving him.

"Ahh Rude, good to see you. Tseng would you mind staying a minute? I have an assignment for the Turks and want to know what you think." Rufus was sitting behind a desk with neatly stacked papers and a telephone that was usually glued to his ear.

Tseng just nodded and stood beside Rude. Rufus leaned onto his desk and folded his hands. "I am aware that one of Kadaj's gang survived the fighting. As you know Shinra is, in the publics eye, responsible for their presence and the havoc the caused in Midgar. It has occurred to me that it would be very beneficial to the reputation of Shinra if he were disposed of, and publicly."

Rude's expression didn't change, indeed these were not orders that would have been out of the ordinary in the old days of Shinra. A picture of Yazoo fixing Clouds motorcycle and Tifa's easy smile at his requestcame to mind and he felt unsettled. Tseng interrupted his thoughts.

"Orders are orders President. But may I suggest that we wait until Reno is able to help with this mission? Otherwise we may have a fight with Cloud and his friends, which would be seen in an unfavorable light by the public. Reno has a chance of getting the target alone without arousing suspicion."

Rude raised an eyebrow at that. True, Reno was on better terms with AVALANCHE than any of the other Turks but so far he and Yazoo had a very tense interaction with each other.

Rufus nodded. "Yes, you are right. We will wait then. How is Reno come to think of it?" Rufus's eyes landed on Rude who merely shrugged.

"I see" said Rufus. He paused for a second, then seeing that he would not be getting any more of a report waved a hand dismissively at Tseng who departed gratefully. Rude took up his position behind Rufus and facing the door. He tried to clear his mind and relax but he kept seeing Reno looking pale and sick and Yazoo in 7th Heaven taking orders ands serving drinks.

Shinra would get rid of Yazoo to make themselves look good. Reno had just been hospitalized because of peoples opinions of the Turks and the 'work' they did for Shinra. Would there come a time when the Turks needed to be 'disposed of' to feed Shinra's new shiny boy scouts honor finish? Rude didn't like the thought and the feeling that it was an all too real possibility. He cursed mentally. These weren't the best thoughts to start a shift on.

A/N -TY to everyone who has reviewed so far. It really helps to know what you guys all think. Next chapter...poor sick and beaten up Reno and Yazoo! whispers a quick prayer to the muses to be able to pull it off