Reno smiled to himself faintly as he left the room. A quick glance around saw nothing but the cameras mounted to the walls at either end of the corridor. The flame haired Turk began walking toward the stairs and once past the door's he released the breath he didn't realize he was holding. That was a... strange... conversation to say the least. Tseng wasn't acting himself and he was trying to hide it behind a mask of caring. Even so, Reno couldn't tell whether his Boss was being sincere or not...

Damn it...

This whole mission stank worse than the Midgar swamps on a sunny day. Tseng wasn't telling him something, either because he didn't know, or he had orders.

He sighed. It was a bad day in hell when your own boss didn't trust you, no, that wasn't quite right; Tseng was more like a brother after everything that had happened over the years.

"Two can play that game, yo." Reno muttered, pulling a thin file from his jackets sleeve. If he was going to get to the bottom of this, then he needed some idea on where to start.

----

Carol's Scrum and Grub, Suburbs of Sector Eight, 1230 hours, March 6th

----

"Rude, cut the shit ok? I need your help, yo." Reno warned his long time coworker who was sat across from him.

"And I've told you Reno, I can't. If Tseng saw me anywhere near Hojo's labs he'd have my head. I'm suspended remember?" The Bald man countered, taking a bite of the pancakes he'd been trying to eat before the redhead had come along.

"Rude, damn man, you can be so dense sometimes... Tseng's in on it, he's gotta be. I don't know why, but he's turning a blind eye to it." Rude paused with another fork full of dripping pancakes halfway to his mouth. Reno's eyes briefly met Rude's favorite shades.

"You have proof?" The tone was serious when the baritone voice spoke, and even the chocolate brown eyes had a no-joking look to them as the bald Turk removed his shades.

"What do you take me for pal, a rookie?" With that Reno removed a file from his blazer and held it out for Rude to inspect. He took it gingerly and flipped it open, glancing over the pages within.

"Reno, how is Elena's medical chart proof?" Rude glanced up at the redhead, waiting for a reply.

"I went to see Elena this morning, checking how she was doing and everything. Tseng was there. He told me that they couldn't find out what was wrong with her and that she was in a coma... It didn't seem right, Tseng wasn't acting himself and her chart was right there, so I took it."

"What's this part? Predicted Deterioration Rate?"

"I'm not sure, but my rule of thumb says that if something seems overly simple, then it generally is... They're not pumping her full of painkillers and antibiotics... It's Corvine, I looked it up... It's a coma-inducing drug and the amount they're giving her is enough to knock out a SOLDIER first class. They've found something in her blood as well, a kind of toxin, something that's making her change, it's too technical for me, but whatever it is, she got it off that thing you killed, more specifically, those spines that it fired... That means –"

"That chances are, whoever else got hit will have it too."

"Exactly. Maybe you're not so dense after all, yo." Reno was grinning as he spoke, but it quickly died as he went on. "Anyway, my point is: Tseng lied to me... And he'd only do that to keep something important from me, and that's why I think he's in on it. He was playing the adoring lover too; my guess is that it's a cover... He's protecting her, but not from Hojo. From us, I think."

"You may be right... But... Hnn, something's wrong with all this... Tseng would never sell us out..."

"That's what I thought too, but people change, Rude. I don't know his intentions, so let's consider him neutral for now."

"Ok."

"Now anyway, I'm going to check out Hojo's labs, see what I can find on this thing and maybe get some kind of antidote."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Well, I was going to ask you to carry on if I died, but I think I could take anything Hojo might have up there... So I want you to contact this man." Reno advised, as he pulled a photo from one of his pockets. "Carlos Mikhail, a SOLDIER first class, he was first on scene and handled the first aid and clean up crew."

"You want to find out who was there and how they're doing, right...?"

"Hole in one, yo. We need to know if anybody else has been infected by this thing and if it's done anything to them... We need to know what's going to happen to Elena when this things done fighting her Mako."

Reno sat backward slowly before speaking again. "Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this... I'll see you later pal, I gotta go see the doc."

Rude nodded to his longtime friend. "Good luck Reno." The bald man spoke as Reno walked out of the small cafe. After finishing his pancakes, the bald man did the same.

----

ShinRa Headquarters, SOLDIER Barracks, 1345 hours, March 6th

----

"A Turk, huh? Last time I saw one of your types, I was being recruited. I've learned a lot about you people over the years... So I can't help but wonder: What's a shady bastard like you doing in a place like this?" The speaker was a gruff looking SOLDIER, Scars littered his face, a particularly nasty one began at the corner of his mouth and up into his pitch black hair, from the shape of it, Rude could have sworn that it resembled a smile of sorts.

"I'm looking for a Private Mikhail." Rude stated in the voice he normally reserved for ordering people about, it was gonna be needed here if he was one to judge.

"Carlos? What d'you want with him?"

"Turk business..."

"Hn, good riddance I say... He'll be in the training room." Rude nodded at the SOLDIER and started to make his way to the room in question.

It wasn't long before he found it, he'd been through the barracks enough times to know the general layout, and it was a lot like the Turks floor, but sparser and more cramped up. And sure enough, the training room was no different, it was plain except for the various objects and tools the SOLDIERS used to train. One thing in particular caught his eye, a training mat towards the middle of the room, on it stood one Carlos Mikhail, he was dressed in a full suit of Bio-tec armor, it looked relatively new – Rude guessed this from the lack of damage it carried – it's blue scales were reflecting the light almost perfectly; it was a shame Scarlet never considered the fact that sunglasses cancelled out the effect...

"Carlos Mikhail?" Rude asked as he walked closer to the SOLDIER.

"Who wants to know?" The trooper asked in an accent that sounded something like he came from the Costa del sol, but with a Midgarian twist.

"You were first on the scene of the... incident, in Sector Three, right?" The bald man asked.

"Yeah, that's right. Wait a second... I recognize you... You're that Turk I found, well one of them... You come to thank me or something?" Carlos asked as he looked the Turk over.

Rude blinked slowly behind his shades. "I need you to come with me..." He said, although the word order wouldn't be too far off, he was deciding to ignore that comment for the moment.

"Why? Am I getting a medal?"

"No. I need your help..." Rude trailed off.

----

ShinRa Headquarters, Turks Lounge. 1402 hours, March 6th

----

The two ShinRa employees walked through the building in an uncomfortable silence. Carlos had heard of the sort of things that the Turk's were involved with and he wanted no part of it. However, the Turk beside him had come to get him personally i and /i technically speaking. Even a rookie Turk had authority over any SOLDIER, so Carlos couldn't very well say no.

Not long after they had left the barracks they'd entered an elevator, and the Turk had scanned his keycard. From there, they'd gotten off at a floor that the SOLDIER was sure didn't exist.

Floor fifty four B was apparently between fifty four and fifty five, and the Turk's had taken it over as their base of operations. Carlos had seen the building's blueprints, just out of general interest when he learned he was going to be stationed in Midgar. This floor wasn't on it.

After they'd departed the elevator, the Turk had led him though what looked like a relaxation area and into one of the office's that lined the wall. Once inside the bald Turk sat behind a desk and motioned for him to do the same.

"Before we begin, I'd like you to know that I don't like being called sir, so don't call me that, Ok?"

"So what should I call you then?"

"Rude."

"Ok then Rude, what's this all about?" Carlos asked as he took the pre-offered seat.

"I need you to know first that anything said in this office, stay's in this office, is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"The damage in Sector Three, do you know what caused it?"

"Only what I heard on TV, that creature I found, some sort of hairless dog thing, it mysteriously got into Midgar from the plains, somehow got onto the plate and into Central Sector Three, before the Turks stopped it... Seems a little over the top really."

"Really? I'll ask the spin doctors to tone it down next time..." Rude joked.

"What was that thing, really?"

"I'm not at liberty to disclose any information on the creature to people without clearance."

"Hnn."

"An autopsy on the creature has revealed it was carrying a disease in the spines that it used to attack. Anybody who has come into contact with these spines may now be carrying the disease. It's important that we find anybody who may have been injured at the scene and give them a vaccine." The Turk was leaning forward; his hands were positioned together, in a sort of temple shape as he spoke.

"And that's were I come in, right?" Carlos asked – he didn't like where this was going. "You want to know where all of the injured live so you can pay them a visit and give them this 'vaccine', right?" The sarcasm was evident in his voice and Rude had a hard time thinking of what to say to it.

"That's right."

"Hnn, my brother used to tell me ghost stories about you guys, and from the thing's I've heard, it wouldn't surprise me if they were right..."

"The Turk's job is not a subject we're allowed to discuss. Now tell me, do you know where they are or not?"

"I didn't take their addresses... But I did send them to the hospital, they would have had to have signed in, I'm sure you have your own way's of obtaining that sort of thing."

"Yes..."

"Is it Ok if I go now?" Mikhail couldn't wait to get out of this floor and back to the barracks.

"One second..." Rude said, as he fished his ringing PHS from his jacket. "Rude... the morgue? ... Why, what's happened? ... Understood, on my way..." The phone snapped shut and Rude was on his feet in the blink of an eye. "To answer your question. No, you can't go."

"Why, what's up?"

"I'm being sent to Sector Three's Maple street morgue... There's a situation, your going to be my backup, understood?" Rude asked, looking to the SOLDIER as he walked over to a cabinet, opened it, and retrieved a pair of what Carlos recognized as KReE 9mm semi-automatic handguns.

"Yes, sir." Carlos replied, and a sharp look from Rude made him remember not to call him sir. "Expecting hostiles?"

"I always expect hostility when somebody tells me the dead are walking."

----

Author's Note's: Hello again everybody, hoped you liked this update, the Zombies will be along soon I promise, within the next chapter or two, so just hold on 'till then lol.

Not really much to say about this one, it's abit of a plot filler really, but it was fun to write.

A little bit of news: I now have a Beta-Reader, congrats Mysterious Reviewer and thanks for all your help so far!

Next chapter should be up for maybe Monday or Tuesday, feel free to review in the mean time though, reviewers get a batch of Reno's Famous Cookies!