εγλ 0010 March 18. ?:?. Somewhere in Junon.

Reno's head was spinning and pain throbbed in his temples as he finally came to. His breath shaking, he needed to focus his vision in order to make sense of his surroundings in the small, dimly-lit room. The ache in his shoulder and the tender skin on his wrists revealed that he was restrained to a wooden chair, his arms bound tightly behind him. Reno groaned from pain and irritation. This wasn't supposed to happen, he was supposed to have a good day with Rude. Instead he was drugged and kidnapped by some city thugs. This is fine. Nothing I can't handle, he assured himself, but a small twinge of fear arose in him. He wiggled his fingers ever so slightly, feeling the ties of the rope restraining him, studying intently to find a loose thread to free himself.

Reno winced as a splash of ice-cold water stung his face. He shook his head to get the water away from his eyes. "Good morning to you too, asshole."

A familiar young man stood in front of Reno, his eyes burning with anger as he overlooked his captive. "Finally, you're awake. Just in time for us." The man was quickly joined by others-the waitress with the purple hair and nose piercing, the girl who chatted him up at the cafe named Trisha, and three other people whom Reno didn't recognize. Mixed emotions were present in the crowd; mostly anger, but the purple-haired girl was smiling devilishly while Trisha's eyes were downcast, purposefully avoiding eye contact with Reno. "Do you know who we are, Reno?"

Six against one, huh? Might be tough, but I've been through worse. Reno resumed feeling the rope against his fingers as he answered his captors. "Yeah, I know you. You're the dumbass barista who gave me a large decaf even though I ordered a regular." Smack. The combination of the cold water and the hard slap from the blonde man stung Reno's face all the more, yet he was determined to keep his facial expression neutral. "Alright, you got me. I have no idea who you are or why you drugged me and tied me up here. Would ya mind enlightening me?"

"We're with AVALANCHE," said the purple-haired girl. "And we know you were the one who destroyed Sector 7 three years ago. It's time for you to pay for what you did."

Reno snorted and burst out a fit of laughter despite his predicament. "Ha! AVALANCHE, huh? That's fucking hilarious! You're just hiding out in that crappy little coffee shop and playing vigilante! How original. Which AVALANCHE group? You with Wallace or Fuhito? 'Cause I've got some bad news for you guys. While you're playing pretend hero, the rest of the former Avalanchies are either dead or they work with me at WRO."

"Shut up!" shouted the young man, holding a hammer threateningly to Reno's face. "We're in charge here, and you're gonna get what's coming to you."

"Oh? And what exactly do you plan on doing?" Reno stared into his eyes menacingly, recalling his years of training for psychologically intimidating his opponents in situations just like this. He resumed subtly picking at the rope at his right hand, looking for an opening. "In case you forgot, I'm a WRO agent now. You know, the organization you were singing praises to this morning? The ones who cleaned up your city so you can see your stupid little dolphins from your window? I'm a valuable asset to them, so if you kill me they're gonna notice. And they're gonna come looking around and they're gonna find you. Did you think that far ahead? Ah!"

Screams erupted from Reno's throat as the young man pounded his right hand with the hammer, shattering the bones within. The burning pain radiated through his arm and up his spine, eliciting involuntary screams that faded into sobs and whimpers. "What the fuck, man? Those were my bowling fingers!"

"Why the hell should we trust WRO anymore? Knowing they employ mass murderers in their ranks!"

One of the assailants roughly pulled a blindfold over Reno's eyes and tied it behind his head as tightly as they could. Then the heavy earmuffs, designed for shooting ranges and other loud equipment were snapped onto his head. Reno could barely hear their hushed voices, but couldn't understand any of their words. He was left alone in darkness and silence, with no escape from the agony from the broken bones in his hand. He could feel sobs threatening to escape his throat, but he was determined to not let this enemy know his fear or pain. This certainly wasn't the worst interrogation he had ever faced; the Turks were Shinra's toughest mercenaries after all. He had come across actual criminals with way more skill and menace than these pathetic wannabe vigilantes could ever possess.

But this was different. In those other episodes, he could always trust his partner to save him. Reno was able to count on Rude to know where he was and to come to his rescue at just the right time. Not today. Rude would have no idea where Reno was. Hell, he was probably sitting at the restaurant right now wondering where his former partner was. A pang of regret and sadness suddenly overwhelmed Reno at the thought of Rude sitting alone wondering if his friend had ditched him. Another wave of sadness and fear rushed through Reno at the crippling realization that there was no way out of this. Even if he could manage to free himself from this chair, he couldn't fight back. He didn't have his weapon or materia, and the drugs were still making him sluggish and nauseous. He had no chance at hand-to-hand combat against six other people in his condition.

After everything he had been through, his life as a Turk, the most feared individuals in Shinra, it was all going to end at the hands of some dumbass punks pretending to be heroes. Damn, wasn't that pathetic?

How much time had passed as he sat there deprived of senses save for the dulling pain? Too much, it was getting uncomfortable. Reno had to say something-anything to get them to at least take the blindfold off him.

"Hey!" He yelled trying to hear his own voice. "I gotta tell you something. You might wanna hear it. Get these stupid things off me and I'll tell ya."

A brief moment passed until Reno felt the earmuffs sliding off him and the sense of relief from the weight being lifted off his aching head.

"What is it?" he heard the girl ask.

"Get the blindfold off too and then I'll talk."

"I can't do that."

"Tch, fine." If this was the best he had to work with, Reno would make the most of it. "It's not just me you're after. You see, I got this friend. He's a real tough guy. Has been through some shit, but it's all made him stronger. Anyway he's a former soldier and he has seen and done everything that comes with the job. He survived mustard gas and has been pepper-sprayed. You could say he's a seasoned veteran."

Slap! Her rings and long fingernails cut Reno's cheeks and lip as she smacked him.

"Geez, tough crowd!" Reno howled in a mixture of pain and laughter as the earmuffs were tightened back onto his head. He took a moment to catch his breath before speaking again. "Hey, I got another one for you. You're gonna love this one. What has four letters, sometimes has nine, and never has five."

Reno counted as he smirked. Ten seconds, thirty, a minute, then suddenly the impact of someone's fist slammed into his face. Reno spat out the blood he drew from biting his tongue and dropped his jaw to catch a breath. The burning sensation indicated his nose might be broken.

"Damn, took you long enough to get that one." Reno said in between groans.

Finally, the earmuffs and the blindfold were removed. The sudden shift to noise and sight heightened his senses and further agitated the pain in his hand and face.

The purple-haired girl, her eyes exploding with rage, was inches away from Reno's face. "Are you ready to say it now?"

"Say what exactly? You already know who I am and what I did. This is seriously the most pathetic interrogation I have ever been through, even the Wutai Girl Scouts were more competent than this!"

"Say you're sorry! Acknowledge the pain and devastation you created! You took everything from us! Because of you, my mom, my little brother, my grandma, they were all crushed to death in Sector 7. Because of you, I don't have a family anymore! You ruined all our lives, Reno! It's like it was fate for you to walk into our store today. You, of all people, just happen to stop by our place unarmed. We have to take this opportunity to get our revenge!"

While the girl spoke, Reno made brief eye contact with Trisha whose eyes were filled with tears threatening to overflow before she blinked and looked to the floor. Reno sharply turned his head back to the young man, his breathing heavy with pain and heightened emotions.

"You talk about it like I had any say in my orders back then. We didn't have a choice, we had the threat of execution hanging above our heads. I knew how fucked up it was, but there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. If I hadn't done it, they would have gotten some other poor sap to drop the plate. It wouldn't have mattered if I sacrificed myself, all those people would still be dead." Reno looked around the room, focusing on no one in particular before hanging his head to blink back the tears that were starting to form. "You don't know what it's like. I would never, ever wish this pain and regret on anyone in this world. Not on my worst enemies, not even on you bastards. Every single fucking day I hear them: Their screams, the screeching of the plates, the crash as it all falls down."

"Shut up!" said the blonde man as he grabbed a fistful of Reno's hair and yanked his head back. "Are you seriously trying to get us to feel sorry for you? Your regrets and pain are nothing compared to the pain you inflicted on Sector 7!"

"I'm not looking for sympathy, you dumb fuck, I'm just telling you the truth. If you're trying to get me to repent, you're shit outta luck because there's no fucking way I can atone for that! I've already punched my ticket to Hell. Doesn't matter if you kill me today, the end will be the same for me with or without your help. All you'll be doing is depriving the WRO of one of their top agents. And they're gonna find you! What are you gonna tell the former director of the Turks when he finds out you killed his second in command?"

The boy quickly let go and stepped back. "Yeah, that's what I thought," said Reno as he scanned the worried faces of his captors. "You didn't think about that, did you? If ya let me go, I'll pretend this never happened. You can go about your lives selling shitty espresso and I won't tell the big wigs at WRO about your little vigilante operation. Sound like a deal to you?"

"That's enough!" The shriek came Trisha. Everything moved in slow motion. She pushed the other captor away and pressed a small revolver against Reno's forehead. Strange. He felt himself actually calm down, as if he suddenly felt the weight and weariness of years of constant fighting come crashing down on him. Let it end.

"Go ahead, Trisha." Reno spoke so softly it was nearly a whisper. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn't react or move at all. "Go ahead, put an end to me. The only one who will hurt is you. You wanna know something? I've been in your situation before. As soon as I became a Turk, I tracked down the man who murdered my father and beat him to death with my EMR. It didn't get better, I sunk deeper and deeper into sin and darkness until I couldn't find my way back to the light. So consider that before you shoot me. You'll free me of all the pain and guilt I feel but you'll be left with your own. So from one poor dad-less sap to another, I hope you can understand the choice you're about to make."

Nobody moved for what felt like an eternity as they anticipated the explosion of the gunshot. But it never came. Trisha lowered the gun and ran out of the room.

Reno had no time to process the situation as something heavy had slammed into his skull, knocking him back into unconsciousness.