RaspberryPolarBear - hahaha, my solitary reviewer for Chapter III! I really don't know what to say - I'm speechless for once. I dont know if that's good or bad...
Depending of reviewee's numbers, I might cut this story really short, because AP's are coming up and well... dunno. Depends. I will merit those who reviewed faithfully with the entire story, however, even if I do cut this short.
Short chapter, but it is leading to the plot.
Chapter III - Black Stains
The interior of the small house was clean, with light green ceramic tiles decorating the walls with its angular shape. Even though it was early in the morning, brilliant fluorescent lights illuminated the corridors; several women dressed in white and green uniforms were going in and out of the doors that lined the corridors.
"What is this place?" Reno asked, wrinkling his nose at the strong odor. It was the smell of medical herbs and disinfectants that permeated the air, but Reno never really had any relations within a medical facility except with some Shinra physicians, and that was inside a bed, not inside a hospital. He himself had never really been seriously ill. Sure, he was in the hospital for a couple of days after the mako treatment when he joined the Turks, but that was about it.
"It's an asylum," Arien replied. Striding to the front desk, she quietly said, "Reniel DeVir."
"Four doors down, to your right," the woman said without looking up. Arien resumed her gait. Their footsteps echoing, Reno followed. After a dozen steps or so, she stopped in front of a plain door. She placed a hand on the knob, then paused, her expression unsure.
"Look, Arie, you can't avoid this forever," he whispered over her shoulder.
"I know. It's just that…" she never clarified what made her stop; she opened the door in a slow motion. The door creaked, then opened.
Each bed was curtained off ensuring the patients' privacy, but a nurse was just exiting the room. She saw the two, and smiled. "Oh, visitors! Who are you here for?"
"Reniel DeVir," Reno replied, as Arien kept her silence.
"The middle bed to your left. Our patients love visitors. So glad you came." Smiling gently, the nurse nodded, picked up the clipboard on a stool nearby. "I'll be hanging around. If you need anything, just give us a holler, okay?"
"S…sure." Arien replied, her voice cracking and husky. Hand in hand, the two Turks walked over to the bed, and opened the curtains. A dark-haired, slender form was lying on the bed, unmoving.
"Reniel…" she whispered. The doppelganger turned glassy eyes to her sister; her mouth moved, but no coherent sound came out. Arien nearly broke in tears; her entire body shook, and she blinked couple of times to keep the tears out.
"Arie," Reno reminded. Pulling up a chair from nearby, he made her sit down first. She sat, oddly composed in her posture, not looking at what used to be her sister.
"Rennie," she started finally. She was nervous, the redhead could tell; she fidgeted, picked at her fingers with the other, clenched and unclenched her hands. Then, suddenly, she held her sister's limp hand. "I don't know if you understand me, but…" she struggled as she looked for words. "I'm here to… apologize."
No response. Reniel lay there like a limp doll.
"It was… my fault," Arien said softly, but fast. "It's all my fault. Please, forgive me."
Her eyes moved. Arien did not know whether it moved just because it was supposed to, or because she was responding.
The two sisters turned silent, Arien still holding Reniel's hand. The younger sibling had changed dramatically; her cheeks were hollow, and her raven hair was trimmed short, almost cropped to the scalp. There were dark smudges under the eyes.
Reno was sharply aware of the clock ticking, although he saw no clock around. The clicks that the clock made was annoying, like a small sonar gnat in his head. With that, he was suddenly aware of the time that was passing in silence. They had a flight to catch to get back to work on time.
Minutes passed in silence. Finally Reno pulled out his cell phone and checked the town. It read: 8:45 AM.
"Arie, we have to get go…"
"I know." She stood up. "Reno?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"Can you do another favor for me?" There was an odd expression on her face, like a mix of pain and joy. And relief. And forgiveness.
Reno frowned. "Yeah, sure."
"Can you hug my sister like you might hug me? After all… for wrong purposes or not, she did want to be with you." She looked down. "Please. For me."
Reno was a little taken aback by such request, but obliged. He leaned over, scooped up the limp body in his strong arms and embraced her tightly.
Arien watched, her eyes brooding.
The two left Wutai and caught the flight back to The Edge. Arien was silent throughout the entire flight back, but Reno said nothing. Finally, when they were out of the plane and was walking the ramp back to the airport, he asked, "You okay, yo?"
"No, but I will be." She shrugged as she flashed a Shinra card to the security monitor. Entering an airport armed could cause problems sometimes. "I can't exactly go sulk when I'm on an assignment, can I?"
"Okay, yo." Reno replied. Just then, the phone trilled out its tone shrilly amidst the silence. Everyone tensed.
"Whose phone was that?"
"That would be…" Reno fished out his cell phone from his pocket. "Mine." He flipped it open. "Reno speaking."
Tseng's voice was so loud that even Arien could hear it. "We have an emergency! Come to Healin this instant!" Tseng's voice was strained. "It's a personal assignment from Rufus. Get changed and come as soon as possible." Blip. The tone echoed hollowly in the speaker of the phone as the two hurried through the busy terminal.
"Sheesh, what a conversational dude, Tseng," Reno mouthed. "Almost wonder if he won Shinra's Most Obnoxious Man Award. Oh wait, there were whole bunch of more obnoxious people than Tseng." He looked at Arien. "Ya know, I'm amazed that I didn't commit any murder within the HQ when it was there."
"You haven't?" She looked at him in surprise. "Wow."
"You have?"
"Not by my choice. It was a rather delicate matter," she said loftily. "Come on. Let's not be late."
"Sure, whatever, Chickie." He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, stuck one in his mouth, and lit it. He then absently stuck out the hand grasping the pack in front of the woman. "Want one?"
"Another cleaning? Dude, Tseng, we ain't cleaning ladies!"
Tseng shrugged at his rebellious subordinate. "We're all going this time. It's a little tricky."
"Why?"
"You'll see."
Elena and Rude were sitting on chairs; Arien and Reno were sopping wet. They drove here, but the rain was beating down hard outside and by the time they came in they were soaked. Now Arien was leaning on the wall, one leg crossed over another, arms crossed, scowling. Reno was standing right in front of Tseng, looking annoyed.
"Why the fuck do we have to 'clean out'?" Reno demanded. "Rude, Arie and me just went out for a session few days ago! Hell, Rude got hurt, yo!"
Tseng noted his incorrect grammar, but then, it was wrong of anyone to expect any regard for proper language in Reno.
"Rufus' orders."
"Hell, Rufus can go shove it up his ass," Reno countered. Everyone winced. "I ain't goin'."
"You are. End of discussion." Tseng snapped. "Get ready in five minutes."
They filed out, Reno grumbling. "Rufus and Tseng. They probably suck on each other's balls. Who the fuck do they think they are? Fucking dipshit."
Elena opened the door to the weaponry. "Reno, can you tone down the language?" She asked politely, if strained. Rude snickered. Arien walked in after Elena and picked up a pistol lying on a table. Her hair was in strands matted on her face, moisture clumping each strand together. She shrugged her coat off and her jacket, then started to unbutton her shirt.
"Hey Rude," she called. "Toss me size three."
Rude tossed a clear vest toward her, and it landed by her foot. Bending over to pick it up, she shrugged off her white shirt as well. Sliding her head into the fiberglas mesh bulletproof vest, she started to secure the belts that shaped the vest to the shape of her body. Her white tank top was visible underneath.
"Reno, help," Arien said exasperatedly. The redheaded man, who was pulling off his shirt, wobbled over. "What?"
"Can you pull the straps?"
Arien was so skinny she was almost skin and bones; the size adjusted to her height was not her size, and thus she needed to pull on the straps very tightly to secure the vest. The straps were uncooperative, and it had fallen to the Second-in-Command to make sure that the vest was snug around her upper body. Of course, Reno did not object for one reason – he now had license to feel her up.
After making sure that it was snug (and touching her as a bonus), Reno patted her shoulder. "All done."
"Thanks," she muttered. Reno returned to his spot.
Elena looked around. Reno and Rude were topless, each struggling into the vests. She was in the corner changing. The two men created a stark contrast against each other, with Rude's muscular, dark frame and Reno's lanky, pale posture. The blonde woman noted interestedly that despite what she used to think, Reno's torso was lean and well-muscled. His arms, while it was slim, had a very defined muscular form. His collarbones were defined as well, and his abdomen had a definitive shape of a fighter.
He was not handsome, but he certainly was attractive, in an uncaring sort of manner. Very different from Tseng, but still good all the same. While Tseng was sedate, still, calm, he was wild, impetuous, and unpredictable. He emitted the aura of danger. Like a feline, a predator, looking around for a hunt. Graceful and lithe, he was everything that was defined as bad. And that appealed to the female part of Elena. Not the woman, but the female. She watched as he stretched like a cat.
Arien was moving around her arms, making sure that she could move with the fiberglas mesh. She was long-limbed, her slanted eyes darting with alert alacrity. Her legs, covered in the wool of her navy-blue slacks, were long. She was a Wutaian, which meant age came slow to her, along with wrinkles and white hair. For a moment, Elena envied her youthfulness – she was almost the same age as the young Wutaian but she already looked two years her senior.
"Hey, whatcha lookin' at, yo?" Reno asked as he pulled his shirt down. After the vest came the white shirt. On top of that came the holsters. And then the jacket. Arien was buttoning her shirt with one hand and was looking for clips with another.
"Uh…" how the hell was she supposed to reply? 'I was checking your abs to see if they had any muscles'?
"You were checkin' me out. Switching from Tsengie-kins to me?" Reno grinned mischievously. "Hey, if Arie says it's okay, we can go threesome. Add Tseng and it'll be one fuck you'll never forget."
"Reno, enough," Arien snapped from the corner of the room. She was pulling on her jacket. "Most likely you're going to lose both of us to Tseng."
"Ouch. Touché."
"All ready?" Rude asked gruffly.
"Wait." Arien was adjusting the clips on her thigh. "Okay."
"Alright." Reno opened the door. "Fucking rain."
Tseng was waiting outside, looking prim and proper. Reno rolled his eyes. "I'm going to lose you to that prude?" He hissed.
"Shush, he's looking at us," she replied.
"But…"
"Reno," she toned exasperatedly. "You aren't going to lose me to anyone. Can we please focus on the current mission? I'd rather see the sunlight tomorrow."
Reno grinned. Arien was still Arien, sarcastic and focused. "Sure," he said.
The difficulty was simple; the scientist had to be brought back alive and unhurt. That was definitely not Rude or Reno's expertise. Especially Reno's. His motto was kill and get done with.
The five separated at the fork, Rude and Tseng going one way, Reno, Arien and Elena going the other. They made sure that their phones were on silent. The last thing they needed was their phones going off and alerting everyone within the five mile radius that they were here.
"Holler when you guys are in trouble," Reno grinned. "Though I might be busy with these two ladies."
Elena kicked him.
"Be serious, Reno."
"I am!" he defended, sounding offended. Rude and Arien were already starting on their tracks.
"See ya."
They jogged through the streets, the suits making a weird contrast to the more casual attires that the people around them wore. Elena secretly wondered why they always went to a deserted, secluded place. It was lonely, and it was dirty. Her mind wandered to the couple running beside her, their breaths compliments of each other. Dark hair flashed beside the red, and legs pumped.
They jogged for couple of corners then turned to the third fork, and then to the right. Suddenly, Reno stopped. "Okay, I'm getting a little tired…"
Bang!
"Ambush!" Arien screamed as she whipped out her gunblade and shot twice in rapid succession. It did not fell anyone, but it diverted the attention. Reno dived into the shadows of a building, and Elena scrambled behind a car. She saw through a shattered window that Arien was sprinting, then rolled and disappeared.
Arien was breathing hard, then controlled her breathing. That shot was very poorly aimed. Hiding behind a deserted brick building and kneeling on one knee and another propping her body up, she bent her elbow so that her gunblade pointed up, beside her face. Her hair was still wet, and it clung onto her cheek. Her other hand supported her body from falling.
She heard footsteps, coming closer to her. Coming at her. She had to watch her timing. She would have no second chance.
Another step, then another. Then another. Then…
Now! The three Turks sprinted from their places. Reno swung his EMR as he turned, swatting the man's head aside with a swift drop-hand hit. Elena shot at another, while Arien shot double-handed with two gunblades. Reno pulled out an Uzi and shot all around, while the two women ducked out of the way.
There were a few men still standing, and Reno spun out of the way as bullets rained on him. Arien felt something tug on her ankles for a fleeting second, and then was sprawling on the floor – someone had lashed chains around her foot, and was now tugging. She pulled the trigger at the person as she was getting pulled away. The bullet hit home, and the chain became lax. She wriggled out of it. She was acutely aware of dull thuds and shots ringing through the air.
Blood racing, the three looked at each other. Bodies were littering around them.
None were standing. Reno rolled over one of the bodies with his foot, then raised his eyebrow. Elena leaned over to see what surprised him.
The dead man's chest had black stains, just like Rufus' hand.
