Chapter 9
Reno was absolutely covered in dust. No amount of patting his clothes down would change that fact. Every single time he moved, it sent up a small cloud that would catch in his throat and send him into a coughing fit. It was during his six hundredth dust induced coughing fit that he decided it was time to call it a day. It was late afternoon now, and he and Rude had been sifting through the rubble that was all that was left of the WRO'S tunnel, searching for some evidence that those freaks were dead, since morning.
Was it too much to ask for a severed arm… or better yet, a head?
Sitting on one of the larger pieces of concrete, he looked over at Rude, who, aside from a thin coating at the bottom of his trousers and his cuffs, had managed to avoid the dust. By comparison, Rude looked pristine, straight out of the Turk box.
Hey Rude!" he called, rubbing the sleeve of his short across his face in a vain attempt to clean the dust off. "What's say we blow this joint, yo?"
"Hmm?" Rude rumbled in what Reno was going to take as agreement.
"Yo, let's go get us some alcohol!" he cheered.
"We're still on duty." Rude reminded him, but in that way that Reno knew meant he was only saying it for appearances sake.
Reno shrugged easily, grinning. "What Tseng doesn't know, can't come back to bite our asses." He said easily. "Now come on, we have some drinking to do and some helpers to pick up. And I know just the place!" he sprang to his feet.
Rude shook his head in amusement as he made his way to stand beside him. "Don't you always." He said, brushing at his cuffs, and Reno could only watch jealously as the dust just fell off.
The walk through the streets of Edge was quiet. It always was as the light began to fade. When Edge had first been established, the people of Midgar who had moved there had had a huge shock when on the first night the small encampment had drawn in all the wild animals. Even now it wasn't uncommon to see wild animals prowling the streets after nightfall. Children were always inside before dark, and only a small number of adults bothered risking the admittedly small chance of meeting something dangerous on the streets.
The WRO was working to build some sort of safety net to protect the town, but Reno had no idea how close they were to finishing it. For him it was still strange not to be constantly surrounded by hundreds of people be it day or night. When he had been growing up he had often snuck into the sections of Midgar that were under the plate, down there had been even more packed than above the plate, and it was so easy to get completely lost. After all, no one looked twice at some skinny little kid down there so long as they didn't look rich.
It wasn't like his mother had ever cared to check up on him.
Thinking of Midgar brought him, as most thoughts inevitably did, back to the problem at hand. The problem that was driving him to seek aid outside of the Turks. Reno couldn't explain it, but his gut was telling him to go to Avalanche; that they knew something. He had no evidence to back it up, but his intuition had never steered him wrong before.
There was something about this whole thing that just didn't sit right with him, and one memory kept pushing itself to the forefront of his mind whenever he tried to work out why the situation felt off. It was of his fight with clone 92966, and though there didn't seem to be anything strange in and of the memory itself, there was just something nagging him. He didn't have nearly enough pieces yet.
"Just what exactly are you intending to say to Cloud?" Rude asked him, distracting him from his thoughts.
Reno didn't bother wondering how it was that Rude knew who they were going to see, just shrugged and said. "Don't know yet. Something."
Rude made a sound that could have been anything from acknowledgement to derision.
"Something doesn't fit." He said suddenly.
"Like?" Rude asked, and Reno was glad his friend knew him well enough to take his changes in conversation in his stride.
"I don't know yet, just something. I mean, first off, why contact us? Why not the WRO? Everyone knows that Reeve is the one with the big company now, and everyone knows he probably do anything to stop something happening. He also has a hell of a lot more people working for him. So if the guy sending the threat wanted to make sure that this clone of his was found, then setting the WRO on the case would just make more sense."
Rude made a considering noise and was silent for a long moment. Reno frowned at the road ahead, waiting for a reply. "Maybe he doesn't want the clone found."
"But why? I mean, it might be a hoax, but I don't know, it just doesn't feel like one."
It didn't take long to reach the bar, and Reno frowned, a sharp furrow between his brows when he saw that people who he knew to be regulars there were walking away towards the other bars in the area. "What th' hell's this?" he asked, quickening his pace, arriving at the locked door a number of strides ahead of Rude. "Closed?" he scoffed, trying the handle anyway, scowling when the door remained stubbornly locked.
He banged hard on the door.
Speaking with Avalanche could probably wait until tomorrow, but he wanted this done now.
There was no answer, so he banged again. "Open up Tifa! We need to talk to you and Cloud!" he yelled, knowing he would be heard if there was anyone in the building. He waited, staring intently at the door, willing someone to answer it.
The door swung open. "Reno, what a surprise." Tifa said dryly. "What brings you here?"
Reno smiled his most charming, endearing smile. "Need to talk with you and Cloud. Can we come in for a tick?"
Tifa glanced behind her, and whatever silent communication went on with whoever was behind her ended in his favour, which was really all that mattered, so Reno widened his smile to his winning grin and strode past her when he moved aside. He gave a whistle when he saw the state of the interior. "No wonder your closed." He said.
"We're remodelling." Tifa said easily, true, but Reno could see the lie there. He ignored it for the moment.
"What do you want Reno?" Cloud asked.
Reno flicked his gaze over Avalanche reunited. "Need your help." He said, doing away with all preamble, it would be wasted anyway.
"No." came Cloud's predicable answer.
Reno swallowed his sigh but ploughed on. "We need to find those Sephiroth freaks, or at least their bodies."
"ShinRa doesn't asked for help." Cloud pointed out evenly.
"Actually Cloud." Reeve cut in smoothly. "they have this time. That was what I was coming to tell you. Rufus called me today to request I have a biological Containment team on standby."
"How do you know they're alive." Tifa asked.
Reno's eyes darted around the room, reading faces as easily as words and seeing a lot of something he didn't like. "We don't, but we've been searching all day at the tunnel and come up with nothing. Tseng won't be happy I'm here, but we're going to need a lot more than just a containment crew."
There was a long silence, and Reno watched the silent battle of wills between Cloud and Barret Wallace, and the nervous energy in the air around the group. The only ones who seemed unaffected were Vincent (which was to be expected of a former Turk) and Red XIII. Finally Cloud returned his attention to Reno and said.
"We'll see what we can do."
Reno smiled as if he hadn't just seen everything he had. "Thanks." He said cheerily. "Let me know if you hear or find anything." He turned on his heel and gave Tifa a cheeky wink before leaving, Rude a silent shadow.
"They're hiding something." He said finally once they had travelled a few streets.
"Yes." Rude said.
"But what?" Reno snapped his fingers a few times as he thought, a hundred things already flitting through his brain as he considered and disregarded each on in an instant. "We need to keep a watch on them. Forget the tunnel, this is where we need to be."
"You'd have to tell Tseng about it." Rude reminded him.
Reno winched, he hated being caught doing something he shouldn't. "I know, I know. But if they know something then we need to set up a watch. If we get put off the scent by Avalanche and this weapon actually ends up existing then it's us who are going to get the blame." Reno heaved a bitter sigh.
Rude would understand. The Turks had been Reno's life from he was a child, barely even five, if that. They had been his family his whole life, they meant everything to him. He was determined not to let anything happen that would destroy them.
*x*
Elena's fingers tapped slowly on the keys of the computer, using them to navigate her way through the files and systems left intact after the fall of ShinRa, she had always found it easier to forgo using the mouse. Reno always made fun of the problems she had when she did use one. So far her search had only turned up reports on the Genisis Clones, nothing on Sephiroth clones.
Nothing was available on a Dr. Jameson either.
Blowing out a sigh she clicked another few keys and eyed the system folders on the screen, fourteen uncorrupted folders, each one with a wealth of information on some of the very secret ShinRa projects, dating back as far as '62 when the systems had been introduced. There were a few she had marked for further investigation once this situation was solved. However, it was the five corrupted folders that held her interest; it was possible that she might just crash her computer and infect all the current systems in the Lodge, but if she was right…
Without stopping to consider she typed in a command and the first of the corrupted files opened, she caught her lip with her teeth and waited, hoping she was right. The file didn't load, and the computers security settings just managed to catch the virus before it infected the computer.
Elena frowned, but refused to be deterred, she tried the next file with the same result, but the third yielded a hidden system of files, and she could not hold back a smug smile. Filing away the usefulness of marking an uncorrupted file as corrupted to protect the contents she started to sift through the files inside.
[ 12/04/83
Dr. Henderson
The funding you requested for Project TSC has been approved. Your work has been validated and approved by Dr Hojo, and we look forward to receiving positive word on your work soon.
Priesident ShinRa ]
Elena clicked on the next few files, revealing similar letters.
[ 23/06/1983
Dr. Henderson
Dr. Gray
Dr. Jameson
The shipment of Jenova and Sephiroth cells will arrive on the 31/06/83. There are limited samples at this time so use them wisely. If there are any problems do contact me.
Dr. Hojo ]
[ 31.06.83
Shinra Inc Suppliers
Shipment Details
1x Case of Blood samples (Frozen)
1x Case of Jenova Cells (cloned) (frozen)
4x Cases of Sephiroth blood samples (cloned) (frozen)
3x DNA Analysis Apparatus
12x Cases of 0.02mm needles ]
[ 19/08/1985
Dr. Gray
The company was pleased to hear of your success in creating the Soldier Clone's. I myself would appreciate an analysis of your work, I am intrigued by the outlines you provided in our last correspondence.
How do you intend to factor in your slower aging process? Will your next batch age more quickly? I have a number of small genetic experiments I could offer up to help you. Though I must admit, it would be ingenious to send an army of small children at the enemy, imagine their surprise at being beaten.
Ingenious!
Dr. Hojo ]
None of the files were labelled, so she could not discern their contents unless she clicked on them, and she did, reading through them quickly before printing them off, searching for something more on Dr. Jameson. Finally she found two.
[ 18/09/1992
Dr. Jameson
Unless we begin to see results in regards to your PO division of project TSC within the next three months we shall be redistributing your funding to the other divisions of this project. We are quickly losing patience in your work Jameson! ]
[ 20/12/1992
Dr. Jameson
As we have received no positive results from your division we are cutting all funding for your project. You may remain on at the institute to continue working on TSC project as a whole.
If at some future point your work becomes valid we may look into funding you again.]
Elena gathered up the printed sheets, and quickly divided them into separate piles, one for Jameson, one for Gray and one for Henderson. Then she went to find Tseng. She found him in Rufus's study, looking over some old files, making a comment or two to Rufus, who shook his head. Usually she would take the time to admire the man she was in love with, and lament on the fact that he had never taken their relationship past that initial asking for a date. But today she had a mission.
She gave a knock and stepped into the room. "Sir." She said, nodding her head in respect towards Rufus.
"What have you found Elena?" Tseng asked.
Elena made her way to the desk and set down the information she had found. "Dr Jameson was a scientist working on a project known as TSC, with Dr. Henderson and Dr. Grey. He ran a division known as PO, I'm afraid I haven't been able to find out what it stands for, the files are limited and none go into great depths to explain anything about the project." She looked apologetic.
"It's fine Elena, go on." Tseng said, already reading through the files. "His funding was cut for his division when he didn't produce results. My working theory is that one of the clones is his, and might be the only proof of his work."
"It's a good theory." Rufus agreed. "But which Clone was his?"
"Well, Dr. Henderson and Dr. Grey were working on solider clones and infiltration/spy clones, looking back at what we know about the three, I would have to surmise that it was 92966."
"On what basis?" Tseng asked her, setting the sheets down and looking at her intently. It wasn't as difficult as it felt to stop the blush from spreading, she was professional.
"From what I can remember of them from our capture." She began, "and what Reno and Rude and the President reported afterwards, I think we can safely say that 569 is the soldier clone, he's clearly built for fighting, and he also followed orders. 52325," she shuddered a little when he remembered him, he had been the one to do must of the questioning. "It's clear that he was the leader, so obviously he was built for operations where he would need to think for himself, and he was well versed in ways to extract information; so it's safe to assume that he is the infiltration clone, which leaves the third one, 92966. If Dr. Jameson is looking for any of them, I think it's most likely to be that one."
Tseng nodded, and she felt a quick swell of pride. Rufus leaned back into his chair and sighed.
"Recall Reno and Rude. Elena, if you could have another look through the old systems, see if you can find out anything involving the TSC project, anything which might give us a clue to what we're dealing with."
Elena nodded and went back to her computer, Tseng already on the phone.
