When the three Turks arrived at the base of the Shinra building, they were shocked to see the damage it had sustained. The building itself looked more like a house of cards ready to collapse rather then the headquarters of a mega conglomerate. They made their way to Reno, who was talking with a rescue worker.

'Have you gone up to the President's office yet?' The worker shook his head no. 'What do you mean no? Fine, I'll go up there myself. Give me that radio, I'll let you know when I find him and how badly injured he is.'

'Sir, it's really not stable up there; it could collapse at any time. We're clearing the debris so that we can get a clear path up to where the President's body is. We will…'

Reno's icy glare stopped the worker in mid-sentence. 'What do you mean "the President's body?" No one even knows if he's dead or alive!'

'I understand sir, but what I mean is…'

'Never mind your explanations. Just give me the damn radio and I'll call when I find him.' The worker hesitantly handed Reno the radio, still convinced that it was the President's dead body that they were going to recover. Reno then tried to proceed to the tower but was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder.

'What the fuck? I'm going up that tower whether you so-called "rescue" workers want me to or not.'

'I'm not a rescue worker Reno.'

Reno turned towards the voice and looked down at his partner's hand still on his shoulder. 'What? Are you going to tell me not to go up there either?'

'No Reno, I'm not going to tell you that.' Rude removed his hand from Reno's shoulder, then removed his shades. 'I'm going up there with you and we're going to get Rufus out of there. I don't care what they say, we're going to rescue him and he's going to be ok.'

Reno didn't remember the last time he saw so much determination, hope and a small amount of fear in his partner's eyes.

'Alright partner, lets go get him out of there. Worst case, if we can't get him out ourselves, we'll just clear up a path to his office for them to get him out.'

Rude put his glasses back on and followed Reno into the now destroyed building. Making their way to the top of the building was slightly dangerous to say the least; shards of glass marred the floor, ruined furniture and other debris were scattered about, not to mention the electrical wires that were shorting out on practically every floor. They managed to clear a reasonably sized path to the President's door, in front of which they now stood.

'Hey Rude? Any idea how the hell this stupid wall is still up given that this floor was basically ground zero for that damn blast?'

Rude shrugged 'Beats me. I've given up trying to figure out anything that's been happening lately, it's all too weird. Ready to see what's behind the door?'

Reno nodded 'Yeah, now or never huh?' He turned the doorknob but the door wouldn't budge. Looking at Rude, he gestured for help. Both men leaning on the door eventually opened it and moved the debris from their path. Once the door was opened, black smoke filled their lungs.

Covering his mouth to block the smoke Reno spoke first. 'Split up, we'll cover more ground that way.' Rude nodded and started searching the left side of the office as Reno made his way to the right side. After a few minutes of searching, Rude noticed something white under what was left of the President's desk.

Running towards the desk, he called out to Reno 'I found him! He's stuck under something. Get over here and help me.'

Reno ran in the direction of Rude's voice and knelt down next to Rufus, feeling for a pulse.

Rude nervously watched Reno verify their boss' vital signs. 'Well?'

'He has a pulse. It's really faint, but it's there. He's still breathing too, but it seems like he's having a hard time. It must be from all the smoke he inhaled.'

Upon hearing that Rufus was still alive, although barely, Rude sighed in relief. 'Alright, I'll get this off his legs and you radio down to them to bring a stretcher. We can't just carry him out in the state he's in; he probably has a few broken bones at the very least.'

Reno got up and radioed down to the workers that he was alive but needed urgent attention. When Rude began lifting the desk off his boss' legs, a low groan came from Rufus' lips. Rude stopped moving the desk and Reno ran back to the President, who was slowly coming around.

'Sir? Rufus? Can you hear me?' Receiving no response other then another low groan, Reno gently shook him. 'C'mon Rufus, say something! Let us know you're going to be alright.'

'Reno?' His voice was very weak and raspy and he couldn't help but wince after speaking. The slight breeze coming from the now blown out wall made him shiver slightly, which in turn made him grimace again in pain.

Reno shot to attention after hearing his voice. Seeing that Rufus seemed cold, he started taking off his coat. 'That's me sir. Here to get you out.' He started while draping his coat over Rufus' injured frame. 'I didn't come alone of course. Rude is trying to get the desk off your legs. Don't try to move sir; we don't know what's broken.'

'I'm sorry in advance sir, but this will probably hurt, a lot.' Rude then put all his strength into lifting the desk off of his boss and tossed it to the side. There were other pieces of debris that fell on Rufus as well that Rude busied himself to remove. Rufus opened his eyes and gasped in pain. 'My leg.'

Reno's attention was drawn down to his boss' legs. 'Which one sir? This one?' He asked when he touched Rufus' left leg. 'Or this one?' Rufus gasped when he touched it his right leg. 'That's the one. How is the other one?'

Reno looked up at Rude, then back to Rufus. 'Sir, I checked that one already. It didn't seem like it was hurting you. It looks like it's broken in a couple of places though.'

Rufus chuckled lightly which erupted into a fit of coughs. 'No time for jokes Reno. Seriously, touch it; I want to feel how bad it is.'

Reno sighed and put his hand on his leg again, gently pressing where the leg appeared broken. 'Does that hurt sir?'

Rufus sighed, seemingly annoyed. 'I can't answer that until you touch it, Reno.'

Reno looked down at his hand, which was still on the President's leg. What the hell? I'm still touching it and he can't feel it? But how? Oh shit…

'Sir? Does your back hurt at all?'

'A bit. Why?'

'Because Reno hasn't moved his hand from your leg and you're saying that you can't feel it.' Concluded Rude, seemingly as shocked as Reno.

Rufus tried to raise his head to see if what he was told was true. 'What? That's not possible. Both of you are lying. Touch it damnit!'

Rude rushed up to his boss and attempted to calm him. 'Please sir, calm down. I'm sure it's only temporary and the doctors will be able to fix your legs and you'll be fine.'

Meanwhile Reno was checking Rufus for any signs of a back injury. He glided his hand under his boss and pulled out a rather blood stained hand.

'Ah shit.'

Rude looked up and noted the blood on his partner's hand. He glanced down at Rufus who was slipping in and out of consciousness. He's losing a lot of blood, we have to keep him awake or he won't make it. Rude was frantically trying to think of something, anything, that would make Rufus talk and keep him awake until the rescue team arrived.