Chapter 57

Tseng pushed himself up as far as he could in the hospital bed, before pain flared from just about everywhere and he lowered himself back down carefully with a groan. He needed to get up and out of this bed. There were things that needed seeing to. He couldn't just lay around in here uselessly. When Elena returned, he would send her to bring him some paperwork from his desk. That way he could at least be productive.

As a shadow fell over him, Tseng looked up to see Rude standing by his bed. The big man had several dark bruises across his face, but Tseng was pleased that he was apparently able to function already. "Zena said you could get back to work?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." Satisfaction settled in the pit of Tseng's stomach. At least there were more of them functioning now than not. "She let Topher go this morning…"

"Think he got off better than we did." Rude replied, and Tseng noticed the stiff way the man was holding himself.

"You alright?" Tseng couldn't remember ever really seeing Rude display any kind of discomfort or admit to pain.

"Good enough to get out of here."

"Okay." He understood that. "You have a lot of paperwork to do, I think you should see to that before you move on to any other duties."

"Yes, sir."

Both men glanced to the door when Elena came though, carrying a stack of files. Wordlessly, Rude turned and strode away and Tseng tried again to sit up. Quickly, Elena set the files on the table beside the bed and readjusted Tseng's pillows to give him better support. "I thought you might get bored up here so I brought you some things from your desk…"

Tseng looked at her silently, trying not to smile. "Thank you. I was actually going to ask if you could bring me some work to do…" He noted the pleased look that crossed Elena's face. He glanced at the pile she had set on the table, "I don't suppose you brought the map…"

"Yes…" She lifted several files and passed him a folded bit of paper. Tseng opened it and spread the map of Edge over his bed, already locating the areas they had attempted to set up the Recruitment Centre. "I'll … let you focus."

"Thank you." Tseng looked at his map, a million things going through his mind. It wasn't until he looked up again several minutes later that he realised Elena was gone.

Bounding over to his partner, Reno came to a cautious stop, barely able to catch himself before he'd leaped onto the bigger mam. "Rude!"

"… Reno…?"

"You're up! You're out of bed!"

Rude gave him an amused look. "Indeed."

"Zena cleared you to go? You're alright?"

"Yes. Tseng has instructed I do paperwork."

Reno nodded, his eyes moving over his friend, quickly; assessing. "That's probably a good idea, yo." When he had determined that Rude was fit enough to meet his satisfaction, Reno smiled at him. "Glad to have you back, Partner."

"Just how I feel." Rude said, sinking into the chair at his desk. Reno took a step closer. Rude looked up at him and Reno slowly, hesitantly, inched forward again, before he flung an arm around the bigger man in a quick hug before straightening up and moving to his own desk. "Reno…?"

"Yeah?"

"You just hugged me."

"Yeah…" Reno gave him a half smirk, "Just glad you're okay. Might've thought for a minute that you wouldn't be…" He watched Rude think about that for a moment.

"No need to worry."

"I see that." Reno picked his suit jacket up from where he'd flung it across his chair earlier. "You get stick into that paperwork, yo. I've got some recon to do."

He left Rude sitting as his desk, and hurried into town. Heading first past the recruitment centre, Reno quickly figured out that there was nothing to find in the mess that had been left behind. He went over the entire place, but it appeared that when their assailants had taken their injured or dead, if, indeed, there had been any dead, they had also removed anything else that he may have used to identify them.

Looking at a large bloodstain on the new cream coloured carpet, Reno figured that one of them had to have been dead, because none of his people had been found where that stain was, and whoever had lain there had lost a significant amount of blood. He walked around the counter to where he'd found Rude and figured they'd have to get the whole place recarpeted again. Reno had been about to turn and leave when instinct told him to crouch down and have a closer look at the floor. He did so, and ran a hand along the carpet, not sure what he was looking for. Crawling along the floor beside the counter, Reno ran a hand along the skirting board, using his fingers to feel under the counter when he couldn't see. He paused when his fingers brushed against something small and cold. With satisfaction, he pulled it out and looked at the small silver key. "Gotcha."

He turned the key over a few times, looking at it, wondering what it might be for. Then, he slipped it into his jacket pocket and stuck his hand back under the counter as he continued to move along the carpet on his knees. Something small and round was by the wall and when he pulled it out, he found it was a button. Reno nearly tossed it aside, until he realised that it had to belong to someone who didn't work for ShinRa. It didn't come from any ShinRa uniform, and as the whole place had been recarpeted less than a week ago, before they'd started setting up, it wasn't old. Buttons came off all the time in fights, especially when someone like Rude got a hold of you and threw you around. He pocketed the button as well.

Reno looked around again, wondering if he'd checked it all. After a second of thought he jumped up onto the counter and looked down at the room. A different perspective often helped when you were literally looking at something from a new angle. Noticing a few recruitment placards leaning against the far wall, Reno leaped down from the counter and strode over to them. He shifted them enough to check to see if anything had fallen behind them, and then shrugged lightly when there was nothing to find. Alright then, he was pretty sure that the place was clean.

Straightening his jacket, Reno strode out the front door and down the street, ignoring the cautious looks he received from various people here and there. Just let them try and mess with him. He was fucking ready.

"Come at me."

Aura tilted her head, trying to control the apprehensive expression on her face as Elena gestured for her to attack. "Ah…"

"Come on!"

Aura moved closer, lifting her hands the way Reno had always taught her to. Elena moved and Aura mirrored, trying to remember to keep her weight centred. "Attack." Elena prompted and Aura swung. Elena blocked her attack seemingly effortlessly, shaking her head. Aura tried again, but was rebuffed.

"What…"

"You're attacking me like I'm twice your size…"

"I don't know how to fight women…"

Elena laughed and Aura frowned. Reno had taught her how to defend herself against men, and Elena moved far differently to anyone she had ever had the need to grapple with. "Yeah, I'll bet."

"Kay so…"

"Here," Elena moved closer and adjusted Aura's stance. "When I move like this… you come in here…" she guided Aura's movement, "See how it lets you get in this opening…" She pulled Aura's hand forward, "And you can do whatever… stab me… whatever you've got…"

"Right…"

"Has Tseng trained with you?" Elena asked her and Aura nodded.

"Yeah, a few times."

"How did that go?"

"He… talked a lot about building foundations… and mastering 'the basics'…" Aura grinned at her and Elena nodded.

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me."

"Most of what Reno taught me was how to finish a fight before it really began." She said, "It was always to avoid letting anyone get a hold of me, because then it was over… so… it was quick. He taught me how to break someone's hold… and … to get away? I dunno…" she looked at Elena, "Tseng wanted to see me do other stuff… so I could build more skills…"

"He's a good teacher." Elena nodded. "Reno fights dirty." She said, "Tseng is more by the book."

"They both seem to do what needs to be done." Aura said and Elena grinned at her.

"They're both Turks."

Aura raised an acknowledging eyebrow and refocused on the way she was standing. "Okay… I'm ready." She ducked instinctively when Elena suddenly swung at her and she stumbled backwards when the woman suddenly went for her feet. "What… I thought I was attacking…"

"You need to be prepared for the unexpected." Elena replied, flashing her a grin.

"Yeah yeah."

"Alright, so… if someone comes at you like this…" Elena suddenly darted forward with several fast paced moves that Aura had trouble keeping up with. Tripping over her own feet, Aura landed on the ground and looked up at her friend.

"I'll end up on my arse, yo."

"Nah, try it again."

Aura took Elena's offered hand and let the woman pull her to her feet. They then went through the same thing again, at a slower pace, and Aura grinned when she felt the moves Elena suggested becoming more instinctive.

By the time they decided to go shower and change, Aura could avoid most of the blows Elena swung at her and, while she wasn't really able to land any of her own on the other woman, she felt the progress nonetheless.

"Thanks for doing that with me." Aura said, buttoning her shirt up. "Especially while you're still…" she gestured at Elena's bruise, still evident across her forehead.

"Oh, it doesn't even hurt." Elena smiled at her.

"You know, I have something that will get rid of that?"

"You do, don't you…" Elena paused, pulling her pants up her legs. "I'd forgotten…"

"Are you going back up to the infirmary this afternoon?" Aura asked, figuring the other woman would want to check on Tseng again. Elena nodded and Aura smiled at her. "I'll bring you some up later."

"Thanks…"

Aura picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "No worries, yo."