Reno woke up to his phone ringing angrily somewhere in the apartment. He swore and crawled out of bed, searching blindly for his phone before he finally remembered that it was in another room with his pants. He grumbled slurred curses as he followed the ringing to his clothes, opening it with a swear, "The fuck ya want?"

"Get dressed and get to the hospital. We have an issue." Tseng ordered curtly and hung up.

Reno stared at the phone confused before he realized what Tseng had said. He swore again and began the arduous task of finding his clothes. He looked in Gareth's room to find that he wasn't there, something he should have noticed when he woke up. He swore again, he must already be there. He left the apartment, his suit in disarray and missing a few pieces. Namely his tie and socks.

When Reno walked into the hospital he found most of the Turks sitting stony faced and looking as tired as he felt. Nasira was crying her eyes out on Tseng's shoulder and everyone else was looking away, trying to let her keep some shred of dignity. Reno didn't think she cared about dignity at the moment. "What's goin' on yo?"

"Gareth, inform him." Tseng ordered brusquely, his eyes not leaving Nasira as he tried to calm her.

"Come 'ere red." Gareth beckoned him close with one hand, the other wiping tears from his face.

Reno sat down next to his distraught lover and prepared himself for bad news, "Who died?" He joked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Matt." Gareth choked out, pulling Reno into a tight embrace.

Reno was shocked and his face showed it, he numbly wrapped his arms around Gareth and stared blankly around the room. Rude was sitting on the other side of the room, head in his hands and sunglasses dangling from his fingertips. Ellie and Jareth were sitting side by side and hand in hand on the other side of the room, Ellie crying on Jareth's shoulder and Jareth glaring at Rude for all he was worth, tears streaming down his face. He held Gareth closer, burying his face in soft black locks, unable to face the sad sight of Nasira, strong youthful Nasira, sobbing with sadness and rage on Tseng's shoulder.

"He's not dead!" Nasira screamed, pushing herself off of Tseng's shoulder and glaring at him, "I saw him yesterday! Sure he was beat up but he was fine! He was happy! He was alive! He can't be dead!" She grabbed Tseng by the front of his shirt and shook him, anger and sadness mixing on her face, "He's not dead! He's just not!"

Tseng pulled her hands from his shirt and held her at arms length, "He's gone Nasira."

"Then why can't I see the body?" Nasira choked, tears pouring down her face, "Why won't they let me have one last look at my lover huh?" Tseng didn't answer, instead looking at the floor. Nasira's tears flowed faster and her voice became more frantic, "He didn't die did he!? They took him to Hojo!" Tseng didn't answer and Nasira yelled louder, "Answer me Tseng!"

"He's as good as dead!" Tseng snapped, "There's not a damn thing we can do! Not a damn thing any of us can do! Hojo's experiments will kill him! Even Veld can't do anything! I already tried!"

Reno shuddered at the mention of Hojo and his horrid experiments. He had never met the wretched scientist but he had seen him wandering the halls, looking at everyone he passed like they were rats and he was a slimy bespectacled vulture searching for prey. He briefly imagined Matt strapped helplessly to one of Hojo's lab tables, tubes and needles coating him from head to toe as Hojo performed acts of ungodly horror on his unwilling body. He shivered and pulled Gareth closer.

Nasira gulped hard, trying to control her tears, "He's not going to die by Hojo's hand."

"It's a suicide mission Nasira." Tseng shook his head, "Even if you do get him out, Shinra will send us after you. We'll have to kill you."

"I don't care." Nasira shook her head, ripping her hands from Tseng's grasp, "I'm getting him out of there. You give chase and I'll take you all down with us!"

"Is that a threat Nasira?" Tseng's voice was calm and dangerous.

"It's a promise!" Nasira yelled, stomping and sobbing from the hospital room.

"I hope to god we don't find them." Tseng shook his head and wiped his eyes on the back of his hand.

Gareth looked up, "We're not really going to go after them are we? Can't we let them get away?"

"We'll give them a head-start." Tseng sat down, "We'll let them run until Veld forces us to move on them."

Author's Note: OMG CLIFFHANGER!!!