Chapter 37
Elena tried not to cry. She stared at the men standing by the foot of her hospital bed all watching her.
"Go over it again, Laney." Reno said, his voice carefully neutral. Elena looked at him, her eyes wide.
"I'm sorry, Reno…"
"Just…" he shook his head, "go over it again."
"I… I don't remember… Something changed in the crowd and I tried to get to them… Zena and Aura hid in this little lane. I'd just found them when something must have hit me…" her hand went to her head, "I kind of remember some guy with brown hair…"
"It's that Cadan prick." Reno muttered, turning to look at Tseng.
"You don't know that." Tseng replied softly, "Brown hair? That's about as generic a description as is possible to make."
"It's him. I know it." Reno turned instead to Rufus. "It's him. Let me go get them back."
Elena looked to Tseng who was frowning at the end of her bed. This was not what she had intended to prove to him that she wasn't a Rookie anymore. "Sir…" she murmured, and his dark eyes met hers quickly.
"Elena?"
"I'm sorry…"
"It's done, Elena." He replied, "The only thing to do is to decide on a course of action."
"The only course of action is to go and beat the fuck out of these arseholes and get Aura and Zena back." Reno's voice had taken on an odd note that Elena hadn't heard before, and he was holding himself in a way that suggested he was struggling to maintain his cool.
"Before they kill them." Rude put in and Elena's eyes closed in horror. She had allowed them to be taken by the people who had enjoyed killing ShinRa employees in the streets these last few months.
"Let me go with you." She said.
"No." Reno replied, his eyes still on Rufus. "It has to be now, Boss." She watched Reno stare at Rufus until the man nodded. Reno turned immediately, clapping Rude on the shoulder before the two of them strode out the door and disappeared from sight. Elena looked down at her hands in her lap. Tears burned her eyes and she fought to contain them. She wasn't about to cry in front of Rufus Shinra.
"Feel better, Elena." Rufus' voice was calm and then she heard him walk out the door. Elena kept her eyes on her hands for several moments before daring to look up at Tseng.
"What if they're dead by the time Reno finds them?" she asked, her voice shaky.
"Whoever took them had better hope that's not the case." Tseng replied, sitting in the chair by her bed. Elena swallowed.
"Reno would lose his shit." She muttered and Tseng nodded in agreement. "And he'd never forgive me."
"Elena," Tseng said gently.
"Will you train with me?" she asked, "I… I need to be better."
"Elena." He repeated her name, his hand coming to rest on the blanket draped over her. "It doesn't matter how good you are. There's not a lot you can do if you don't even see what's coming at you."
"I should have seen." She replied sharply, "They shouldn't have been able to get that close to me."
"That's difficult in a busy street…"
"Will you train with me?" she pressed and he nodded after a moment.
"Of course."
"This afternoon?" she asked.
Tseng's eyes looked her over critically. "Are you well enough?"
"It's just a headache." She replied, "It'll be gone in a few hours…"
"Very well."
"Why would you do that?" Aura crawled toward Zena on the floor, struggling with her wrists still bound. The blonde woman had been returned not long ago, and then Cadan had walked out of whatever dark room it was that they were being contained to. "Why would you offer yourself for me?"
Zena sat up, leaning back against the wall as she looked at Aura in the dim light. The woman shrugged. "It means less to me than it does to you."
Aura's eyes stung with tears. "Did he hurt you?"
Zena looked away. "He's not as tough as he thinks he is." She muttered.
"Zena, I'm sorry…"
"You have nothing to be sorry for." The woman replied, "If that creep comes back, you fight him." Aura nodded, knowing that she would.
"…. Where do you think we are?" she asked, running a hand over the wall. "Do you think we're in his pub?"
"Could be." Zena said, "Big room… high ceiling…"
"Reno will find us here." She gave a small gasp at the thought. "Do you think that's the point?" she asked, "They want to lure ShinRa in… we're bait?"
"I don't know." Zena said softly, "That Cadan guy… he's not… stable."
"He's not? He always seemed normal…"
"I suppose he would have… now he's under stress…" Zena let out a soft sigh. "If he's the one calling the shots… I don't know how logical anything he does might be."
"But if we are bait and Reno comes…" Aura tried not to panic. "Sweet Shiva…"
"He's hard to kill, that one." Zena muttered.
"I… I know…" Aura hooked her arms around her knees, shivering. "Do you think Elena is alright?"
"Yes."
"He hit her pretty hard…"
"Not hard enough." Zena said simply. "Trust me."
"How are you so calm?"
"I've worked for Rufus Shinra for a long time." The other woman said, "He's put me through a lot of shit."
"Did you work for his father?"
"No." Zena said, "I've always belonged to Rufus."
Aura looked at her, trying to fit that piece of information into her picture of Zena. "… Were you and he… lovers…?"
Zena snorted. "We used to fuck." Aura raised an eyebrow. "When we were young. Not in years." Aura just nodded slowly. "He's a good lay, Rufus." Zena stretched a little and leaned back against the wall again. Aura didn't know what to say, and so said nothing.
After a moment she eyed Zena sidelong, unable to stop thinking about Rufus' question in his office. She couldn't help herself. "Who's better? Reno or Rufus?"
Zena turned her head to look at her. "What a strange question from a little mouse like you."
Aura let out a huff. "Mouse. Slum Rat. Whatever."
"Hmm…" Zena shrugged and was clearly mulling over her answer. "Oh, I don't know… Both are intense… Reno fucks hard… Although I've had more experience of Rufus. I'd have to pick him."
Aura realised that Rufus was the answer she had been hoping for. If the blonde woman had have chosen Reno she would have been annoyed. And probably jealous. "I think we need to find our own way out of here." She said. "We need to get out before anyone gets killed trying to rescue us."
"You have a plan then?"
"…No." Aura murmured her response, squinting into the darkness. "No… I don't."
Elena growled out her frustration. Tseng had been outmanoeuvring her for over half an hour, and she hated looking useless in his eyes. "Ahh!" she hissed when he had somehow gotten behind her and swept her legs out from under her again. Her back hit the matt and she bit back the curse she wanted to spit at him.
"Elena…" he said evenly. "You need rest."
"I'm fine."
"You are not." He replied, rolling his shoulder, "You are slower than usual and you're frustrated so you're reading my movements wrong."
"I need to be better."
"You need to heal." He said flatly. "You cannot train effectively if you're not in top condition. You'll just injure yourself further."
"Aura and Zena have been taken by our enemy and it's my fault." She breathed, sitting up and pushing her hair from her face. "I can't just sit and wait." She looked up in surprise when his hand took one of hers and she let him pull her to her feet.
"You need to forgive yourself."
"When they're safe." She replied, "I… if they're hurt…" She broke off and watched as Tseng looked her over, his dark eyes thoughtful.
"This wasn't your fault, Elena."
"Then whose fault was it?" she asked.
"Mine, if anyone's." He replied, "For sending you alone into that part of the city. We knew that it was volatile."
"I should have been able to handle it." She insisted, "I'm not a rookie anymore."
"No…" he told her, "Any one of us would have fared the same…"
"Reno would never have gone down like that." She said bitterly, "Nor would you… Nobody can sneak up on you."
"That isn't so." His voice was low, and Elena watched wordlessly as his fingers ghosted across her wrist and up her arm to her elbow. "…It's been a long day." He said, stepping away, his eyes moving to the window and the orange sunset streaming through the glass. "We both need to go home."
"Oh…?"
"Get changed and I'll walk you home." He looked at her again. "I want to make sure you get there."
"Yes, sir."