Yeah! Second chapter. Hope you all like it. No Rude in this one. Nope, you T/Ru fans will just have to wait.
Disclaimer: Don't own it, never did, never will. Unless…
Chapter 2: Enter Reno!
The feelings of contempt felt towards the old uniform was nothing compared to the hatred that was seething in Tifa as she pulled on the blue suit that was donned by the Turks. With a snort she smoothed out the last wrinkle of the suit in front of the full-length mirror in her new apartment bedroom. Even if she despised the corporation, she'd need to make a good first impression. It made her job a lot easier. And though she didn't want to admit it, the suit did look good on her. It fit her curves pretty well and while it was snug, it was still loose enough for her to be able to move properly.
'I hate doing this,' she thought. 'I just wish I was in Nibelheim with Papa.'
She checked her watch. She had been informed by Tseng that she was going to be picked up today at 9 a.m. by someone named Reno from the Turks. And right on time the doorbell rang and she walked out of her room to answer it.
A man with red hair and a lopsided grin was leaning against the doorframe. Green eyes glowed with mischief and two scars rested underneath of them. Both the disarray of his clothes and hair gave Tifa the impression he had gotten ready in the dark. She kept her mouth shut but inwardly she felt like a moron for putting so much effort into making sure her uniform was so well prepared in order to impress him.
'Somehow I doubt he cares about a damn wrinkle.'
"Lockheart, right?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. She nodded. "Name's Reno Finnegan. Tseng told me to collect you."
"I see," she said without any emotion. "Let's go then."
"What, no 'Nice to meet you,'? I'm disappointed." He chuckled and moved out of the way so that Tifa could shut and lock her door. She rolled her eyes and followed him as he led the way to the elevator.
"So, what made you want to join the Turks?" he asked her.
"Ask Tseng if you're so interested."
"Ouch. Harsh, aren't you Tif?"
"It's Tifa, and I'm not in the mood to talk about it."
"From what I heard about Lt. Drikon, I expected you to be a little more lively," he commented. He pushed the button to the elevator and got on with her in tow.
"You know about that?" she asked, taken a little off guard. No one had ever found out about her little 'disagreement' with her previous commanding officer. It had just been put down in the official records that she had failed to take an order. "How?"
He smirked at her. "I'm a Turk. It's my job to know. You think we were just waiting two days for you move into the apartment complex before getting you into work? All that little info can be important."
"So you know everything about me?" she asked with eyebrows raised.
"Well, almost everything. I'm sure you'll be glad to know that the color of your underwear is still in the strictest of confidence."
Tifa stared at him. And stared. And stared a bit more for good measure. She felt she should slap him but the corners of her lips were tugging upward instead and before she could stop herself she was smiling. There was just something that was impossible not to like about this man… kind of like a five year old.
"Well," she said after she straightened her expression. "That's comforting."
"Your bra size however-"
Tifa changed her mind and as the elevator opened up with a ding, Reno stepped out with a very badly stinging cheek.
---------
"Tif, we've really got to work on your gun skills."
Reno's comment on her ability with guns really didn't need to be stated. Tifa knew perfectly well that the best she could do was keep shooting until it made contact. When she had been a lowly soldier they had given her a machine gun and told her it was good enough. It was about the level most people in her former rank had had.
But the Peacemaker she had been handed by Reno only had 6 bullets and she was fairly sure that she hadn't hit the target at all.
Setting the gun back on the steel table, she didn't look at the target as Reno pushed the button to pull it closer. Instead she inspected the room she had been brought into more closely. It was a collection of drab gray walls with different sort of training equipment lined along the walls. Dozens of cases of guns, ammunition, and grenades were close to the practice area but she paid them no mind. Instead she walked over to the mats along the floor laid out near several different types of exercise equipment that she assumed were for fitness. There were a few weapons like daggers and staffs nearby and she silently thanked whatever deity that was listening that Reno wouldn't only be checking out her gun skills.
She was a martial artist; she didn't use weapons. At least, not when she could help it. She had some proficiency with some older ones like the halberd she was now inspecting but only because her former master Zangan had insisted upon variety. Her fists were probably not as fast or as lethal as a quick bullet through the skull but they were still effective. She could still take down several opponents by herself without strain even if more advanced ways of kicking somebody's ass didn't seem to agree with her.
"Well, you hit the target if that makes you feel any better," Reno said, suddenly breaking through her thoughts. She turned to see he was right behind her and realized angrily that he had successfully tried to sneak up on her. He grinned and handed her the full sized target she had shot at. There were four bullet holes in the sheet, but none of them were where she had aimed them. Two in either hip, one in the left hand, and one had hit the white of the paper near the head and really didn't even count as a hit. Truth be told, it had been better than she had expected.
"We'll work on that. I don't have a big specialty in guns either but I've learned to shoot well enough to keep me alive in emergency situations. But if firearms aren't your forte than what is?"
"Hand-to-hand," she told him. She readied herself in a defensive position. "Testing me on this now?"
Reno reached behind his jacket and pulled out what looked to be thin iron bar. With a push of a button it began to crackle with electricity. She eyed it warily but didn't mention she didn't have a weapon too. She felt more confident this way and it'd be a great way to prove herself if she did well even if he had the advantage.
"Ready?" he asked and she nodded silently.
He lunged forward, thrusting the eletro-mag rod towards her chest. Ducking down, she twisted slightly so it wouldn't hit her face and swept her leg out under his legs as he swung at her again. He fell but not before the tip grazed her face. She reeled back from the burn she had received and as she straightened she clutched her cheek with her hand.
It felt like fire against her skin and the shocking sensation only increased the pain. She saw through watering eyes that Reno had climbed back up onto his feet and was slowly advancing on her. There was no way that she was going to be able to get a hit in without risking injury herself. But she didn't have much of a choice.
Tifa rushed forward and pulled her right fist back to punch. Reno, seeing his opportunity, stabbed at Tifa again. Instead of dodging she wrapped her left arm around the rod. Electricity exploded through her side and she had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming aloud. But it had the effect she had wanted. His weapon was trapped and he was close enough to get a decent hit on him.
The force of the impact threw Reno onto his back. He had lost his rod, it still trapped in Tifa's enclosed arm, and as he stood up he winced. His weapon clattered noisily to the floor while she did her best not to crumple to the floor.
"Ballsy move," he said as he rubbed his cheek. "I never expected you to intentionally take a hit just to get to me. If this was more than just sparing you probably would've snapped my neck."
Tifa didn't even acknowledge the praise he gave her. Her side was burning even worse than her face was and it took every bit of common sense not to touch it. Her clothing had a hole in it and her skin was slightly singed.
"Let me see," he ordered as he moved the arm blocking her ribs from view. "Don't worry, that just needs some aloe and it'll be fine. Trust me, it feels worse than it is. I would have been an idiot if I had used full power on a rookie in training."
She nodded solemnly. "This suit was new."
Reno laughed. "Yeah, you're fine. Don't worry. Big man Heidegger's department pays for stuff like that. He'll get pissed as hell if you ruin too many but we're enough of an asset for him to get over it pretty quickly. Come on, we'll go to the infirmary and get some medicine for you. Pain killers help too if you want 'em."
"Yes sir," she said.
"Hey. Don't call me sir, all right? I work for a living."
She would have laughed but just wasn't in the mood. Her side still stung and it didn't seem to want to tame down. She almost wished that she hadn't held back when punching and really had fatally injured him but the thought of getting hunted down and executed before she could take down this trashy company stilled that thought. Instead she followed him to the door.
"You're a tad bit under trained for a recruitment as a Turk but not disappointing. You've got initiative to work hard and you're more promising than most low class soldiers that I've seen. Give it a while and you should be good enough to actually do some important missions."
As he talked they got on the elevator and descended to level 30. She leaned on the glass and looked out into the city. It was nearing noon and the summer sun was glaring down on the Plate. The reactors glared in the light and she squinted as she looked at them. It was hard to get use to the sun in Midgar. Even on the Plate the weather was usually dim and kinda gloomy. It always seemed as if the light was sucked away along with the Mako. Hell, for all she knew it might have been.
'Just like Nibleheim Mountains,' she thought. 'Once ShinRa's done with the land it's just a barren waste. Nothing left but broken people not even powerful enough to complain.'
They reached the infirmary a few minutes latter. The head doctor was a balding old man who Tifa was pretty sure was in his fifties at least and went by the name of Dr. Jones. He tsked when he saw her.
"Reno, you already gone and injured another patient for me in only a week. You really need to stop running around with that weapon of yours. I know you like sparing but this is getting ridiculous. You're going to kill somebody some day." His voice was wheezy but stern and Tifa almost apologized for being so careless as to get herself hurt on purpose.
Reno seemed more preoccupied with winking at a well-figured nurse.
"Just trying to keep you employed old man. Besides, it didn't do nothing more than burn her. We just came for some pain killers," he replied while still eyeing the nurse.
"Not without an examination. You always need to be sure." He turned to Tifa. "Take off your jacket. I'll need to be able to access your wound better."
She did as she was told. He bent over slightly and prodded her side gently. She hissed in pain and he pulled back muttering and scribbling something on a clipboard.
"Small burns but they're in a sensitive area. I'll get you some medicine that will help which you're to apply ever four hours and bandage yourself immediately afterwards. And I'll want you back in two days to make sure it's healing properly."
He left and a couple of minutes latter he came back with a white medical bag. Reno took it and said goodbye to the doctor.
"Let's go Tif."
Once again they were in the elevator and Reno pushed the button for floor 49.
"Who's the doctor?" she asked.
"Oh, he's a man I knew in the slums. He use to be a regular street dweller like everyone else down there but he self taught himself in medicine and got employed by ShinRa. He's been working here for nearly thirty years now," he explained to her.
"I… I didn't know that something like that was possible," Tifa said softly.
"What, for ShinRa to hire someone from the slums to be something other than a professional killer? Yeah, it doesn't happen often, at least, not on the important jobs. It's not unheard of to find a lowly executive who use to live in the slums but worked his ass off for his entire life for ShinRa in order to escape the place but they're pretty rare all the same." He shook his head slowly. "There might be some anti-government people against ShinRa going on and on about ShinRa being corrupt but they got me out of a leaky trailer with nearly no food and into a job with a steady pay so I'm not complaining."
Tifa had never wanted the elevator to open up and let her out so badly.
---------
Finished! Things are still sluggish but it's speeding up. I never have been one of those 'jump straight into the storyline' kind of writers. I like a little build up first.
Please review to feed the review bunnies. Unlike evil plot bunnies that stifle writing creativity, review bunnies are good. They need love… and reviews.
