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ShinRa Building, Executives Lounge, 1305 hours. March 6th
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Reno had a goal less than two floors away – it felt so close... But he had to be cautious about it. He knew how Hojo was when it came to security, there'd probably be something else in place as well as the Buildings Security Systems.
He sighed loudly; he hated the little fruit bag with a passion.
Reno couldn't take chances on this. He'd have to pay Reeve Tuesti a visit – the man that built Midgar was sure to know what Reno was in store for.
A quick walk up the fire escape to the Executive's Lounge and he was outside of Reeve's office.
"Reeve. You got a moment?" Knocking was not one of the Turks strong-points, and the way Reno's head was poking through the slightly open doorway reflected this point exactly, Reeve thought as he looked up from his latest piece of mechanical work.
"Reno of the Turks, to what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked sincerely, it was rare that one of the Turks other than Tseng came to see him in person.
Reno had been going over what to say to the Head of Urban Development on his way over. He hadn't thought of anything that could get him the lab's security blueprints without raising suspicion, so he'd decided on the truth, at least as close as he could go to it without mentioning Tseng.
"You remember the incident in Sector Three, right?" He started, the Executives eyes looked bewildered for a moment as they went over the possibilities of what Reno may be referring to.
"You mean the one that President ShinRa ordered me to deal with?" Reeve asked, deciding on the most recent event.
"Yeah, that's the one."
"What about it?"
"I've done a little digging and I found that Hojo's little pet was carrying something in its needles, some sort of toxin..." Reno explained, he looked to the floor for a second, thinking on how to word his next sentence, then settled his eyes on the other man. "Reeve, Elena got hit by it."
"Is that so? How do you know this?" Reeve's voice sounded skeptical for a moment, but he'd learned that the Turk's didn't tend to joke around with stuff like this.
"I stole her medical chart..." The Redhead pulled the file from his jacket again, flashing it at the Executive as proof. "Her condition's deteriorating by the hour, the only thing holding it back is the Mako in her blood and if that fails... She'll be a goner Reeve, and I can't sit back and take that. I need to get into Hojo's lab, find a cure... Or at least a way to slow it down..."
"And you're here for a way in, right? He said you would come... What you need is in this." Reeve said as he pulled a folder from his desk and placed it in-front of the Turk.
It was Reno's turn to look bewildered as he stared at the brown folder. "Who's he?" he asked with uncertainness.
"We all have our little secrets Reno. Believe me when I say, it's better if they stay a mystery to you."
He hated it when people kept him in the dark, but he guessed this was one of those times when he shouldn't argue. "Why would you help me?"
"Why would you come to me? You believe that I care about the citizens of Midgar, and you would be right, its in everyone's interest that this thing is stopped before it can start. You're my way of making sure that happens."
"That so? Hmm, alright then... I owe you one Reeve." And with that Reno grabbed the folder and walked out of the Executive's office.
Reeve counted to sixty before he lifted the handset of his desk phone and pressed speed-dial number two.
"It's me; he's got the file... No, I can't see it taking too long for him to find it, Reno is very resourceful... Okay, I'll keep an eye on him..." The handset was placed down with a steady hand and its owner looked to one of the office's dark corners, placed neatly there was an over stuffed toy Moogle with a small black cat placed neatly on-top.
"I was wondering when I'd get to use you." Reeve spoke lightly to the lifeless object.
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ShinRa Building, Turks Lounge, 1315 hours, March 6th
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Reno was practically running as he made his way to the Turks lounge and, more specifically, his office.
The file's contents resembled one of the numerous mission briefs he'd received over the years. It was uncanny, really, how similar it was.
Going over the contents revealed some information that the Turk considered almost too good to be true. Apparently, Hojo was scheduled to be performing an experiment on the second floor of his lab. The first floor would be totally absent, with the Doctor's Assistants providing help on the second floor.
And with Hojo present in the labs, the security protocols would be disabled.
Meaning Reno could just stroll in and take what he needed without worry.
Hnn, nothing was ever this easy and if he was honest, the Turk felt a little disappointed at the thought, he'd been looking forward to doing some sort of infiltration.
There wasn't time for all that though, and this file was like a godsend for the Turk.
Reno glanced at the clock on his wall, quarter past one.
The file said Hojo was going to perform the autopsy at one o' clock; he'd be finished within an hour.
"No time like the present..." Reno muttered to himself as he pulled his memory stick out of the computer on his desk, stood up, and walked out of his door.
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ShinRa Building, Hojo's Lab, 1322, March 6th
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The elevator Reno was in stopped with a suddenness that would have made the Turk jerk had he not been used to it. The door's slid open with a 'ping' and he stepped out.
The redhead replayed the blueprint for this floor over in his head as the elevator doors slid shut again. He looked around the small room he was in. Four doors lined one of the walls, and if he remembered right, the doctor's records were kept behind the third door.
Reno walked up to it, the number pad on the wall flashed to life, and the Turk keyed in three, seven, four, six, six, and six. The doors parted and Reno smiled to himself, amused at the fact that the mad scientist had such a knack for forgetting his passwords that the Doctor had changed them all to 'drhojo'.
The next room was simply designed; it was made for efficiency and not for looks. Cabinets lined the walls and the centre of the room and placed on a gap in the far corner was a computer. Reno couldn't help but wonder how many poor souls the doctor had experimented on over the years to ever need this amount of storage for the records.
It didn't matter though; he was here for Elena and nothing else. He walked to the computer and pressed the return key. The screen flashed to life.
'A directory system,' the file had said. It stored the location of each of the files as well as a computerized version of them, for quick and easy use.
Reno pushed his memory stick into a slot on the keyboard and waited for a confirmation message, and then began his search.
The system was overly simple. You basically typed in an experiment's code and the file would appear on-screen as well as the location of the hard copy.
Reno wasn't sure on the name or number of the Creature.
"Shit." He muttered to himself. He began typing anyway, deciding to use keywords from Elena's chart, hopefully something would come up.
"Predicted... Deterioration... Rate..." Reno sounded out as he typed, his finger tapping return as the results began to appear on-screen.
Seventy... One hundred... Three Hundred... There was more than he expected. A lot more. The counter had hit a thousand and it was still rising.
They were appearing in chronological order, newest ones first.
"Hmm..." He muttered. The thing had escaped a week ago now, so if he looked close to that date...
"Bingo." The file he opened was an email addressed to the president. Reno smiled, exactly what I-... The Turk stopped himself as he scanned Hojo's notes.
No, that couldn't be right...
"Irreversible," He spoke, the word sounded like a death sentence for Elena. "Damn it." Reno cursed, he read over the file again.
"... Once a Human is infected by the T.a.S.R.s protein, the subject will become volatile and delusional."
"Flesh and internal organs will begin to deteriorate at a varying rate, the uniqueness of this virus and the lack of a cure means that the subject will die within a few hours of infection."
"Once the subject is deceased things start to get interesting. In my tests, I have found that the virus somehow keeps the body stable, although the internal organs will be badly damaged and the lack of oxygen will have killed most of the brains higher functions…"
"It is still able to move."
"The lack of these higher functions controlling it means that the subject will succumb to its basic needs, the things normal humans need to survive."
"Hunger would seem to be the main motivation, my tests have shown that the subject will literally do whatever it takes to obtain its next meal, attacking anything it might consider food. Much like the Ancients stories of flesh eating monsters."
"Zombies, I believe they are now referred to. Whatever you may like to call them though, whether this is the actual subject yearning to feed or whether it is a way of the virus to spread to other's is yet to be determined and for now the lack of a anti-virus means that this condition is irreversible." Reno breathed heavily again, he'd read it right the first time. And now a strange urge to find out more compelled the Redhead to continue.
"My initial findings indicate that the infected subject carries the virus in their saliva, urine, and blood. Contact with any of these contaminated substances carries with it a chance of becoming infected, and although the virus cannot pass through skin, contact with broken or damaged skin means that the possibility of catching it is almost assured. " The Turk couldn't help but think of the possibility of this thing spreading easily through the slums, or for that matter the City, after all, they were all boxed in five hundred or so feet in the air with only a few exits to the slums and fewer to the world outside.
"I've lost one of my assistants to a bite he received from a subject... I'm using him as a test subject now and my hopes that I might be able to change this virus into a way of keeping our SOLDIERS alive after death grows closer day by day, however. I have yet to test it on a subject with the power of Mako running threw their veins, I'm not sure what this might achieve, but Mr. President, I do wish you would reconsider this choice... Signed: Dr. Hojo..."
Reno slammed his hand down on the wall. "Fuck!"
"Yes indeed." A voice came from behind the Turk. Reno reacted, spinning to face the speaker and brandishing a handgun pointed in their direction.
"How do I stop it Hojo?!" Reno demanded, a feral look had made its way to the Turk's face as he stared into the face of Doctor Hojo.
"You Turks like interfering in my plans, don't you? I guess it must be part of the job..."
"Answer my question!" Reno pulled the hammer of the gun back. "I won't tell you again."
"My dear boy, as you've just read out, there is no cure, there is no way to stop it. There just isn't."
"You're lying!"
"I can assure you, I'm not."
"Why then?! Why would you do this?"
"It's all in the interest of science. Imagine it, an army of indestructible SOLDIERS at my disposal, I'd rule this godforsaken world, and if the destruction of the Turks comes with it… then so be it!"
"And you think the president's just gonna sit back and let you take over? Think again, there's no way he'd let that stand!"
"You really think he could stop me? No... ShinRa's a pathetic old man, and with the death of the Turks, there'll be nothing standing in my way!" Hojo was almost foaming at the mouth by this point, his shoulders were shaking and a small laugh escaped his lips. "As soon as your friend succumbs to the virus, she'll take care of that good-for-nothing boss of yours and then there'll just be that partner of yours left after I take care of you, of course. My experiments at the morgue will deal with him..." Hojo seemed to be in a full out chuckle by this point. "The Turks will die an eternal death and the president will approve my research. When it's all set in motion and I have no further use for that bubbling oaf, I'll feed him to the dogs! Two birds with one stone I believe they say." the giggling had turned into a flat out laugh now.
A wave of fear ran over Reno's body and his finger itched at the trigger. "What's to stop me from killing you right now?!"
"My boy, you think a man of science wouldn't use his own experiments to further himself? You could try, I suppose, it would be interesting to find out what-" Hojo's voice was cut off as a bullet slammed into his chest, another one hit his ankle, and, as the doctor fell, a final one blew a hole in his skull.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that for." Reno spat. He walked to the door and emptied the rest of the clip into the dead body before he stepped over it. He wasn't thinking at this point, his body was on autopilot and all he knew was that he needed to warn Rude and Tseng.
He smacked the call button when he reached the elevator and that's when he felt it, something grabbed his leg and pulled him off his feet. Gravity took its effect and he slammed into the floor with a dull thud.
"Never turn your back on your enemy, Turk!!" Hojo's voice hissed with hatred and the tentacle that had replaced the madman's right arm began to retract, dragging the Turk toward him, the Doctors other arm had mutated into something resembling a claw like pincer. "I'll rip you limb from limb!"
Reno panicked for a moment, his hands fumbled at his belt as he was pulled closer... There! Got it.
He was less than a foot away now, suspended effortlessly in the air by Hojo's unsightly appendage.
"Any last words, Turk?" The Doctor asked with a smile, spitting the word 'Turk' like a curse as his other arm rose up, getting ready to snap the redhead in half.
"Smile." Reno said simply, his eyes were covered by the goggles he always wore on his forehead, as a bright flash of light shone through the room.
Hojo screamed in pain as he was blinded. He dropped the Turk and covered his eyes.
Reno seized the moment, gripping his EMR as hard as he could and sending it with a masterful swing into Hojo. Within a moment the doctor was on the floor again, crying out in pain as bolts of electricity ran through his body and Reno was running, he threw himself into the now open elevator and hit the first floor button.
The doors shut silently and the loud banging of a tentacle outside reminded the Turk to how close it had been.
Reno was thankful for once that the elevator moved as quickly as it did and he was halfway to the ground floor before he realized how tight he was holding his electro-mag-rod, he released his grip slightly and pulled out his PHS. He needed to warn the other Turks...
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Author's Note's: And another one bites the dust as they say, hope you guys are enjoying it so far, and the Zombies... Next chapter, promise.
Next chapter will hopefully be Friday, or possibly Monday, one of the two.
Adios till then and feel free to let me know what you think so far.