Okay. is being stupid and won't let me upload my document, so I copied and pasted, and the formatting became screwed up. So sorry!
RaspberryPolarBear - I'm glad you liked it! Most of the Reno stuff I read was "Reno was such a tragic child... living in the slums, making his way..." and that's fine and dandy, but I decided to give Reno a nice, sane family. Well, maybe not loving dad, but Leon Miller is not a domestically violent father or anything. The Turks... well, I guessed they woundn't be on the newspaper because I don't see much CIA agents in the newspapers. But thats just me.
Princess-Starr - I was going to kill Tseng off, but then he came back in the AC and so I couldn't. I was also going to kill Rufus off but that didn't work either. (Oh, and kudos and a guest appearance to those who could guess who the little kid was (the kid that made Reno think of his family). He's a male, by the way. ) Dunno, Tseng seemed too... uptight and annoying to just keel over and die. And Elena did say "Do in", not "Kill" at the Icicle Inn. So...
Chapter II: The Invisible Agents
"Clean up the perpetrators."
Reno's eyebrows crinkled in confusion. He was just not getting it.
"Just kill them, Reno."
Reno was not an idiot, despite what Arien thought. What he did not understand was why he had to work on his off day. Their off day. But then, they got called in so much during their off-days that it really did not matter anymore.
"That's it."
Reno turned on his heel and slammed the door shut so hard that the doorknob rattled. Tseng winced; the redhead could have a temper sometimes.
Reno slammed the door not because he was pissed. He was a little afraid that Arien would be pissed.
And that was going to be very scary.
"It's not an excursion?"
"Nope."
"Damn." Arien loaded the rounds into her gunblades, and clicked on the safety. Headset on her head, she looked as though as she was going on a regular patrol duty, back in the days when Shinra was still intact and thriving. "Great. This is just great. Off day, we get called in, you had to drive-"
"I rock at driving."
"-and we're on a clean-up job! Why me?"
Reno started to laugh. Arien looked purely miserable as she slid the guns into the holster under her arms. After the fight, the two did not speak for a full 24 hours, and then, all of a sudden, they started talking again. He was glad Arien had terminated the silent treatment. He hated those. It was worse than the girls screaming at him. It meant denial of apologies and the 'talks'. This time, it ended relatively early. That was a good sign.
The Turks were in perpetual darkness. Rufus, Reeve, and the others were public figures, who could openly go out in the light and be recognized. They could get on newspapers with no trouble whatsoever. The Turks were a little different. They were always behind the scenes, the masterminds of happenings both in Midgar and The Edge, but they were never public. They did Shinra's dirty work, and those "dirty" things usually entailed going around the law. They never made it into the newspaper; they never were on TV. It was no wonder that the Millers had no idea what Reno's actual profession was. Of course, the loving and the gentle Isabella Miller would have literally had a heart attack if she knew that her beloved son who had fled the home at age fifteen had turned into an assassin and a spy. His family standing was a little different from Arien's. Her father knew exactly what his daughter was doing, and while he did not approve, he was not too terrified by the thought either. His parents… well, different story.
Reno had actually debated telling his father what he was doing, just to rub it in old Leon's face that Reno's paycheck was – and still probably is – almost hundred times more than what Leon earned. But that would mean telling his actual profession, and Reno did not have the willpower to break his mother's heart. How would she react if he had casually told her that he killed innocents and the damned alike as his profession? He did not even want to imagine.
He slid a pistol into his belt and watched as Arien did a check of her belongings. He was not a good marksman, and his aim was terrible; that was why he tended to rely on close combat with his trust EMR. Arien, on the other hand, was originally trained in the military academy as a sniper, and so was good at shooting. She felt her belt and her pockets, making sure that she had enough spare rounds. Worst comes worst, she'll rely on EMR as well, but Arien hoped that would not happen. It was a little hard to reach into the pocket lining her thigh for the nightstick. Besides, beating someone to death – literally – was Reno's expertise, not hers.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
"Is Rude already out?"
"Yes."
"O-kaay, let's go," Reno sang. He pushed open the door; Arien followed. Trotting down the wooden stairs, they went behind, where a car sat quietly, waiting for a driver. Rude was already there, leaning on the car and holding a manila folder. He silently handed it to Arien, who thanked him.
"Step in."
Minutes later, they were speeding down the slope. Reno let go of the brakes and turned to Arien, who was reading a profile. "Brief us, will ya?"
"Target band named TDS… origin unknown… current base in The Edge." She read off. "Code three, top priority. Wow, what did they do?"
"Are you sure it's code three?"
"That's what it says." Arien shrugged as she shuffled through the papers in her lap. "Yep, code three. This group must have pissed Rufus off big-time."
"Well…" Arien was not in the Turks when almost the entire Turks squad was wiped out by this organization. Rude was, and from the expression on his face, Rude surely remembered the incident. Violent, aggressive and looking just to kill, Turks and the TDS were long-time enemies, longer than The Avalanche Reno still could not forget the night when they had launched an attack in each individual apartment of the Turks, nearly exterminating all of them. Reno had barely survived; he had literally clobbered the insurgent to death with a nightstand. The next morning when he had arrived to the office, Tseng had looked at him in horror as he realized that nearly two-thirds of the squad – including Veld himself – was assassinated. The battle was opened, and it was an ugly one. With the recent fiasco with Meteor and Sephiroth, Reno had completely forgotten about them. He wanted to beat himself on the head.
And now, with the entire debacle finished and the period dotted after the final sentence, they were off to wipe out twenty-some people. With three.
Was Tseng crazy?
He opened the window; the lapel on his jacket flapped as the wind attacked the two with stinging ferocity. Arien hunched over as the papers threatened to fly away. Rude adjusted his sunglasses on his nose and opened the other window.
It was an awful morning, like always. And Reno really did not want to be here. Like always. He could seriously use a nap.
Mornings just plain sucked.
He automatically slammed on the brakes and the car screeched to a halt. Arien, who was more than used to Reno's catastrophic driving, had already braced herself and was sticking to the seat like a newt. His buddy was unperturbed, sitting as if nothing had happened. Reno looked back. And laughed.
"It's not funny," she retorted, pressing the button as the door opened. "It's not funny at all."
"Uh huh."
Reno had parked in a dark alley where apparently all life-forms had taken aversion to. No one was there; nothing stirred, nothing moved. Reno bent down and pulled open a manhole. It creaked on the hinge that it was attached to; most manholes were secured to the grounds these days, or otherwise they'd get stolen. "Ladies first," he said cockily.
Arien pulled out her gun. "I'll pass."
"Whatever you say." He posed and jumped into the darkness in one quick flourish, his flaming red hair trailing after. Arien sighed. Reno just had to do everything with flourish. Tensing, she followed. She landed in a crouching position, one knee on the wet ground and another by her chest. It took several moments for her nightvision to kick in.
"Okay, yo?"
"Yep." She stood up, looking around. Rude landed next to her in a small ball, and he stood up and dusted himself. They were in a… a tunnel. That led down to apparently everywhere under the city. A sudden thought that the three can get lost and wander in here for days crossed her mind; Arien nearly laughed at the absurdity of it. The thought itself was ridiculous.
"We'll have to stick together," Reno observed. "I really don't fancy getting stuck here and buddying up with rats."
Uh, okay, so maybe the thought was not too ridiculous after all.
They started to proceed quietly through the tunnels, their visions enhanced by the nightvisions. After about ten yards of quiet march, they came across a door. Reno pressed his ear to it.
"There's definitely people in there, and I doubt they're having a Sunday school picnic," Reno reported. "Ready?"
Arien pulled out both the gunblades and clicked the safety off. She nodded. Rude just merely pulled on his gloves. Reno kicked the door open.
They were fast, but the three were a little faster, a little more prepared. In a flick of the wrist Reno sent his Golden Pyramid to the two to the side, immobilizing them. That left four. Arien dived and skidded all the way to the left of the room, and realized this was not a smart idea. She was getting barraged with bullets. Rude was engaged in the corner of the room with one another, but it looked like Rude was winning the boxing match. That meant nobody was in trouble except her.
And so she ran across the room. Cartwheeling and her hair flying, she pulled the triggers at once. A bullet grazed her leg but she barely felt it; instead she landed on her feet as two groaned and fell to the ground.
Two more to go.
Reno had already beaten one into a pulpy mess and he had finished shooting the other immobilized one through the head with such laziness that Arien found it a little appalling. This deliberate slowness was just asking for trouble.
And sure enough, another was raising his arms to shoot Reno. Sliding one gunblade through her belt, Arien pulled out a small knife from the belt and threw it. It went nowhere close to the shooter but it did enough to distract him; Reno turned and whacked the man in the face with a fully charged EMR. The man fell voicelessly to the ground, his face blackened and charred.
The last one threw the Uzi onto the floor. "I give up!" The man yelled.
Reno pulled the trigger of the pistol in his left hand. The bullet left a gaping hole in the man's forehead, and he keeled over voicelessly. Rude kicked the corpse away; the room was filled with the bloody stench. The two males looked through the bloody bodies for keys and other things they deemed important to proceed. Finally, Reno stood up.
"Next!"
They walked single file, Reno in the front, Arien in the middle, and Rude bringing up the rear. Reno had excellent hearing abilities; Arien's nightvision allowed her to see almost as clearly as if she was in broad daylight. They walked through the tunnel and came to a fork. The leader turned left without hesitation.
"Look, Reno," Arien whispered. "Are you sure this is the right direction?"
Reno turned and flashed a grin. "Nope," he replied cockily. "But I know what I'm hearing."
"Okay…" She looked a little unsure.
"Don't worry. I know where I'm going… I think."
"Because that is supposed to reassure me," Arien muttered darkly.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
They proceeded, their footsteps echoing in the tunnel. The ground was wet, and the puddles made splashing noises against the concrete. Reno's heavy shoes made noises; Arien's heeled loafers made small clicks. Rude, however, was silent. Finally, Reno stopped.
"Arie, see anything?"
"I see… a door." She looked at Reno. "To your left."
Reno felt the wall, and his hand came across a knob. He heard crowds talking, apparently entertaining their own amusements. He discerned dozen different voices, perhaps even more.
"Bingo, Arie," he whispered. "Good job."
"Biggest room?" Rude's voice rippled through the stagnant air. Reno nodded and replied, "Yep."
"Okay, listen up," Reno commanded softly. "We aren't gonna storm this place, that's called foolish suicide. Instead, we're gonna smash CT gas in there then bomb the shit outta the room. The fire should do the rest." He waited to hear assent, which he did. "Rude, stuff."
Rude produced a long can, about the length of an adult's arm, with a strange cap on it. Reno lay flat on the floor, received the can from Rude, and carefully laid the can by the door, a straw attached to the nozzle. He stuck a very short portion of the end of the straw into the door, then tied a string onto the pin that was in the nozzle.
Meanwhile, the other two were busy sticking white clay onto the doorframe. Tseng had explained that this was a new explosive, relatively small but causing large fires. It was moldable like clay, looked like clay, but with one command from a programmed cell phone it would ignite. Soon, the door and the doorframe were patchworked in white clay.
Reno stood up, still holding onto the string. "Ready?" he asked. The other two nodded.
The CT gas was commonly used among households as a fuel. It was highly compressed flammable gas in a can, and was often used for barbecue. However, Reno had thought up of a clever idea as using an extra-large can of CT gas in the room. The gas would be released in the air, unknown to the targets; the CT gas was odorless and colorless. When the flammable gas had filled the room, they would just click the explosives to on. The fires caused by the explosives were supposed to catch onto the gas in the air.
Reno jerked the string, and the pin was pulled out with a small ping. "It's gonna take about fifteen minutes for the can to empty," Reno muttered. "Arie, time it."
"Roger." She pulled her left sleeve back and looked at the time. "We better walk away."
"Yeah, good idea." He looked around. "Got the cell?"
"Yup."
"Okay. Let's leave."
The three trekked through the tunnels, Arien keeping the watch on time. When they went about fifteen yards down the tunnel, Reno stopped them. "This should be enough. We don't wanna be too close to the next checkpoint. Time?"
"Twelve to go."
"Ah shit, I hate waiting," Reno complained. "Got anything fun, Rude?"
"…" was Rude's reply.
"I'll take that as a no. Man, this is boring." Reno leaned onto the tunnel wall. "Our next checkpoint?"
"That's the last," Arien replied. "It's about a ten minute walk from here, I think."
""Eh, great." Reno flicked on the EMR, then turned it off. Then on, then off. Blue light flared in the darkness every time he turned it on.
Time passed in silence until Arien informed, "It's fifteen minutes."
A sly grin flashed across Reno's face. "Okay. Fire in the hole."
Arien pulled out a cell phone and keyed in the command. The three flattened themselves to the wall and braced themselves for the impact of the show.
There was a sudden phoom, and then fire was spewing out from the shattered doorframe. There were several explosions, as well as humanoid figures wreathed in flames came jumping out of the room, clutching their heads and shaking left and right. All of a sudden the tunnel was filled with orange light, and Arien groaned quietly as the light stabbed her eyes. Their screams were almost voiceless, but it was anguished and in agony. There were loud crashes and bangs from the room, and it was obvious that the room was an inferno.
Reno woke up from the entertainment first. "Well, that was entertaining," he commented. "Arie, take the lead. It's your turn."
"Fine." She left the wall. "Ready?"
The march was relatively short. There was one light hanging above the door like a forlorn candle left there to burn. However, no light escaped from the crack at the bottom of the door.
"Okay, Rude," she turned after stopping. "As I take down the door, blow the light."
"Gonna do some mad stunt?" Reno grinned. "I can shoot, you know."
"I don't trust you with a pistol farther than I can throw a truck, but that's not saying much." She pulled out her gunblades and clicked it to Automatic. She took a step back, then sprinted, delivering a double-foot kick squarely into the door. At that moment, a quiet "psh" sounded, and the light bulb shattered, raining the three with small glass shards. The door gave way and Arien slid in.
It took less than a second for Arien DeVir to recover; it took more than a second for those of the TDS, who had no idea what was coming. Arien jerked up and started to shoot everyone in sight; Reno and Rude entered, weapons in hands, and launched an assault. All the members of the TDS were dead within a minute.
"Done…" Reno started to say, when a shot sounded. Reno turned and saw Rude crumble to the floor.
"Shit!" Reno reached over and tried to support is friend, but stumbled under the big man's weight and both landed on the floor. A figure struggled in the corner, but Arien saw it and shot it through the head. While Reno was casting Fire to heal his friend – Rude was the only one who had the Cure materia – Arien flicked on the headset.
"Code two! Code two! Agent down! I repeat, agent down! Requesting immediate pick-up! I repeat, Code two! Code two!"
"I'm home."
Arien did not stop to look up. "How's Rude?" she asked, continuing her task. Currently, it was making the pie crust.
"He's perfectly fine. It was a bit of a scratch."
Arien stopped her hands from kneading the butter and the flour. " Reno, people don't keel over from scratches."
"I meant that it was a scratch in Turk level. Regular duds would be screaming, yo." He waltzed over to the kitchen. "What's for dinner?"
"That is yet to be discovered. Go get changed." She shooed him away with a hand covered in white flour. Now that he observed her, she had a smudge of flour on her nose as well. And on her forehead. And all over her jeans.
"Holy, Arie. What did you have in this kitchen? A flour bag roadkill?"
She shot a death glare. The redhead laughed and walked away, whistling.
Moments later he came back in a black T-shirt and black jeans, watching interestedly as Arien shook out some flour on the counter and started to roll out the crust with a rolling pin.
"That actually looks fun, yo."
"It's not." She fished out a circular cookie cutter from a drawer and started to punch out circles in the dough. Each one landed onto the cupcake baking pan as she picked each one up and flung them to the side. Reno slithered into the kitchen, plunked himself into a chair on the table, picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Meanwhile, Arien quickly washed her hands and grabbed the sauce pan that was on the stove. Tilting the pan over the each mold in the cupcake pan, she poured out white creamy sauce with orange carrots and peas swimming in the white into the each shell. It smelled good.
When each mold was filled with the white sauce, Arien sprinkled each shell with cheese. Grabbing the oven muffs, she opened the oven where something was sizzling, and slid in the cupcake pan into the oven. Shutting the oven with her foot, she took off the muff, sighed contentedly, and sat down across from the redhead, who was intently watching the Cartoon Network.
"You're so childish."
"We went through this conversation the first time we slept together. And as I said before, what the hell is wrong with Spongebob?"
Arien looked away, but Reno could see that she was choking down laughter. "Nothing," she finally forced out. "Nothing at all."
"You know, I've killed for less than that."
"Yes, but I make you dinner." She winked. "That merits for something."
The dinner was good as usual. The trout was baked in gooseberry sauce until it was golden brown, and the small tarts filled with white cream sauce were delicacies. But Rude was still injured, and that gave a dark air over the dinner table. The two Turks, no matter what kind of game faces they put up, were feeling guilty.
"Ah hell," Reno said between the mouthfuls. "Why can't I just lead a goddamn fucking quiet life as a Turk?"
Tseng was thinking. Despite his current situation as a bodyguard of the president of the fallen company, he was still immaculate, not a strand of hair out of its place. His hands were well taken care of, and his suit was immaculately clean. All in all, he was the antithesis of Reno. Hearing soft breaths as Rufus slept, he sat in the room, arms and legs crossed. The three had dealt a serious wound to the TDS by blowing up one of the main headquarters, but the ultimate boss, the brain of the organization, was still live and kicking. And he should not be. But who was to go? Rude was coming back in four days; Elena and he had to be with Rufus.
Tseng really did not want to see the two out on the street. Especially Reno. That kid had a slight tendency to go postal every chance he got, and Tseng could not be responsible for someone who thought it was mighty fun to just randomly waltz out into the street and shoot people when he was piss-ass drunk. But… did he really have any other choice? At least Reno had a pretty safe history stating that he would get his job done. True, he might have involved innocents in the process. Tseng sighed; maybe Reno wasn't really suited for this job. His motto was "dead don't talk", and he felt no remorse about killing innocent bystanders as far as his target was dead.
"I'm going to regret it," Tseng told himself as he picked up the phone and dialed. "Damn. Damn, damn…"
"Yo, whaddup, Tseng."
Tseng immediately regretted dialing the number, but it was too late. " Reno, I need to speak to Arien. Now."
"She's busy right now." She was in her room talking with Ivana Delassi. Zen and Ivana were not in Midgar when the Meteor fell on their heads; they were getting married in Nibelheim. Arien quickly contacted them when they recovered from the disaster and told them what had happened. They had lost contact for few months as the Turks disappeared to Healin Lodge, but now they were back in touch. Reno pressed the phone to his ear. "What happened, yo?"
"I need Arien to infiltrate the computer network under The Edge." Tseng sounded tense. "We're taking out the last of the TDS, and we need the coordinates, the entire scheme. Rufus' order."
"Uh, right. I'll tell her that." Reno paused, then asked, "How's the Prez?"
It had been discovered that Rufus Shinra was inflicted with some alien disease. No one had ever seen it before; depending on the severity, the disease could prove fatal. It came suddenly without warning, and the skin oozed black pus and it sent the patient in convulsing fits of pain. The Turks were fearful at first, but soon they discovered that Rufus' case was not so heavy. Still, they were living on the edge, caring for Rufus more than ever before. Without Rufus, they were without identity or the means to live.
"He's doing fine," Tseng replied to Reno's question. "No fits or anything."
"mm, kay." Reno hang up and stood there, hand still on the receiver. His red hair fell over his eyes, but his hair was the least of his problems.
Arien DeVir was in a moral crisis. Her mind was like a dam; it stocked up on feelings, frustration, anger, sadness, all the things that she never showed to anyone, even to those who were closer to her than anyone else. But sometimes her dam broke, and all those feelings came gushing out in a jumbled stream.
Ever since she had discovered (from Reno's confession, of course; at least she could be thankful for his honesty) that Reno could not keep check of his desires, her mind had a small corner that was seething and burning in fury. She had given up being angry or sad when the Meteor was approaching, and when the Lifestream washed over the land, she felt everything had ended. But not everything did. Life still went on, and as she went back on track, setting up routine patrolling the streets, visiting Healin Lodge, talking with Tseng and carrying out assignments, her old burning fury returned, intensified to such an extent that it broke her emotional dam almost ten times faster than it usually did. And finally, after sporadically lashing out at him and nearly getting in a shooting match, the two begged Ivana to come for help.
And so now the two were sitting in her temporary office as she told the story quietly, without much tone in her voice. She was unemotional and cold as she retold the story from the beginning, on that fateful day, when she had seen Reno randomly copulate with a secretary in the copy room, before the Meteor fiasco even existed. How he sporadically asked her out. How she said yes. And so on.
Ivana listened to her story in amazement, not by its romantic nature (it really was not), but rather by Arien's controlled voice. Was this how she sounded before she killed? Arien DeVir sounded almost like she was reading out of a department report in Urban Development, also known as "Reeve's land of boredom".
"… and that is my story."
"Do you love him?"
Arien looked at her curiously. "Love who?" She asked stupidly.
"Well…" Ivana twirled her hands in a fluid motion. " Reno, I guess."
"I don't think so." Arien shrugged as if that was her final answer. "But…"
Silence. Ivana waited for the next phrase to come out.
"He's like… salt to me. I don't think salt is especially good or savory, you know, but you need it, or otherwise food tastes bad." She closed her eyes and cocked her head. "I don't know, Ivy. I don't know."
"Arien."
She turned; she looked tired and gaunt in the orange light of the sunset. The light caught her hair, played with it, turned it into amber strands. "Look outside," she said. "Life's out there. I never knew that there were so many people, so many lives, so many steps in this world…"
"Arie, that's nice and romantic, but Tseng just gave us a call."
She straightened in her chair by the window. Ivana had gone home; she and Zen Flescher seemed to be more in love with each other than ever. Arien envied them; she wished she could immerse herself into making a home and whatnot, but it looked like she and Reno were going to lead a perpetual love-hate relationship. They could never be like the "sweet couple", as they were known in the Former Shinra. For the two Turks, love was another hole in their armors; love was not sugar, but rather a battlefield. Sometimes she wondered why she had to lead such a relationship. But was something bound to change?
No.
"What did Tseng say?" she asked. Her voice was breathy as usual, and low-toned, but if Reno was careful enough he would have heard a melancholy tone. Sure enough, he did.
"Something's bothering?"
"Mm, no." She played with her hair. "What did Tseng say?"
"He needs you to infiltrate the computer network in The Edge."
"There's a network?" Arien sounded skeptic. "Since when?"
"Don't ask me, I don't have a fuc…"
Arien was not listening. She leapt out of the chair and grabbed the handset of the cordless phone that was sitting on the dresser. "DeVir."
Reno watched Arien talk, and watched her pale dramatically under the light of the setting sun. She started shaking visibly; he stood up and wrapped his arms around her shoulder as she continued to shake. Dropping the phone onto the carpeted floor with a dull thud, she buried her face in his shoulders.
"No… no!" she moaned. "Ah shit, tell me this is a dream…"
