Unbetaed and written in the wee hours of the morning (why do I do this to myself?). Yaoi (not much), Swearing (plenty), Murder, mentions of past Rape, references to events from As Honor Burns.
This is almost entirely based on something that happens in Before Crisis plus a little As Honor Burns plot. A tiny sliver of Reno/Cloud flirting, but it's not going anywhere. I elaborate on that more in As Honor Burns.
In response to the questions in the review: As of right now, all canon characters will be appearing in this story and As Honor Burns. P.S. I can't pair Reno with anyone but Rufus because they fit so well together.
Reno was in a good mood today and everyone who saw him knew it. His mouth was stretched into vicious grin as he headed straight for Rufus' office with a sheet of crisp white paper and a video tape in his hand.
Everything was going right and Reno loved it when things went right. He may not be a guy fond of plans, but he certainly did have expectations, and hopes, for how things would turn out. Sometimes they did; mostly they didn't. But today, they most certainly were.
Rufus had ordered a paternity test on Strife's blood, and, like Reno knew it would, it came back a full match to the President. Rufus was more than a little intrigued at this point as he skimmed through Strife's file. The kid scored the highest of the new SOLDIERs on his exam, was the best performer in basic training, and looked to be well on his way to a career as a SOLDIER officer.
He'd been ordered to pull every string he could find to gather more knowledge on Strife, which meant someone was gonna be on their way to Nibelheim soon. In the mean time, he managed to round up a surveillance video of the ballsy little fuck standing up to the General himself. It'd been a few months since the incident, but Strife looked ready to kill on that grainy clip. Sephiroth didn't seem to be taking him lightly either, if the hand on his sword was anything to go by.
They had been discussing the other blond at length when Tseng had come into Rufus' office, breathing heavily, and eyes wild.
"Tseng. Shouldn't you be in the infirma—," Rufus started before Tseng cut him off.
"Sir! The President has ordered the destruction of Kalm! He's trying to put a stop to the leak of Shinra tech in the hands of that anti-Shinra group Veld and I have been investigating."
Rufus looked entirely unconcerned as he replied, "Hmm, so my father can make logical decisions."
Tseng turned sheet white for a moment before regaining composure and straightening his posture. Whatever he'd been hoping Rufus would say, he definitely hadn't said it.
"Orders, sir?"
Rufus waved his hand at the both of them. "Do your jobs. Make sure Veld keeps it under wraps."
"It's his hometown, sir..."
Reno turned around and smiled at Tseng dangerously. "Turks' don't have hometowns, boss."
Tseng gave him a disturbed look as Reno led the way out of Rufus' office. Veld had just entered the Turk floor as they rejoined the other members of their division. He looked like his nerves were frazzled, and Reno was delighted to see it. He had a sneaking suspicion he was getting a promotion today.
"Sir, what are our orders?" Tseng asked Veld as the older man moved to collect his weapons from the armory.
"I'm ordering a strike 50 kilometers north of Kalm. We'll use this distraction to get into Kalm, find the target, and get out. I've got a SOLDIER team waiting already."
"An' me, sir?" Reno inquired as he grabbed his own set of weapons. Fifty kilometers north of Kalm sure as fuck didn't sound like 'the destruction of Kalm' to Reno, but he supposed it didn't matter so long as the target died. Veld looked at him with a deep frown and Reno felt a twitch of annoyance bloom even before he said what Reno suddenly knew was coming.
"You're to remain here until after the strike. Your job will be to eliminate the SOLDIERs."
"That's a pretty fuckin' boring job, sir," he snarled angrily.
"And this is a stealth mission, Reno. We don't have time for your theatrics," Veld said firmly.
"Theatrics? Ya been runnin' any stealth missions with me lately? I can handle a get-in-get-out type affair, thank you very much," Reno insisted, still angry, before adding, "Sir," as an afterthought.
No amount of arguing would change things though, and Veld and Tseng departed without him.
Suddenly bored, Reno went to his old standby for entertainment: monitoring the bug he'd put on Veld's PHS. In his private office, he kicked up his feet on his desk and put in headphones to listen silently. It didn't take long to hit gold.
"This is A team," came an unknown voice over the tap.
"Start the operation. Target...," Veld's voice started before cutting off from static. He must have been leaving the range of Midgar's reception towers. Abruptly it cleared for a second to allow Veld to finish with the word, "Kalm."
"Kalm?! That's not," more static cut off the transmission and Reno felt a grin forming on his face. "Answer me!" the poor SOLDIER cried once more before the line went dead.
"Somethin' tells me, Veld's gonna have a nasty surprise waitin'," Reno said to himself with a chuckle. SOLDIERs like this kid were incredibly dull in the head. If he didn't assume there would be vital information lost in the static off the bat, then he'd probably never know about that '50 kilometers north' bull that Veld had mentioned here at HQ. So maybe Kalm would be getting blown up today.
Sure enough, barely twenty minutes later, he had a call coming in from Tseng.
"Reno. Get to Kalm ASAP. There's been a mistake. I'm on my way back to HQ to secure medical personnel."
"Gotcha, sir," Reno purred.
Reno had headed right down to the garage and hopped into a car. The ride to Kalm was made even more blissful as he watched the huge blaze on the horizon. He'd always been fond of fire.
The town was utterly destroyed from the look of it. Reno was watching from the sidelines as SOLDIERs, the ones who weren't bought out by the Turks, and infantrymen fought to kill the raging fire. He caught sight of Hewley carrying victims out as quickly as possible, and, wouldn't you know, his new blond friend was here too. The two young SOLDIERs, Cloud and the black haired wonder, were backing Hewley up.
He'd turned back to watching the town for a while as he smoked a cigarette when he felt Cloud finally notice him. He looked at the boy and raised an eyebrow while making a beckoning motion with his finger. The blond didn't look too happy to see him, but started walking over anyway.
When he was close enough, Reno greeted him with, "Fancy meetin' you here, Cloud."
"Yeah. Fancy that. What is this?" the kid asked furiously.
He smiled sweetly and responded, "What's what?"
"What is this?" Cloud demanded as he waved at the burning town behind him.
"An error in a scheduled military bomb test," Reno said with a careless shrug. Sounded like a good enough excuse to him.
The kid even had the nerve to ask, accusingly, "Is that what you're going to call it?"
"Does it matter?"
"There were hundreds of innocents killed in that town, Reno. Mothers and kids. I've been pulling bodies out for the last half an hour," the irate blond ranted.
"What a fuckin' shame, man. My sympathies. I can recommend some real nice therapists for shit like that," Reno said as though he was sorry. He even put on a matching sympathetic face. Apparently that pissed the kid off as he grabbed Reno by the collar and hauled him closer. Reno grinned wickedly at making the boy rise to the bait. He was almost as fun as Rufus to mess with.
"You kill innocent people and—"
"And what? Ya gonna kill me, Cloud? I'm already unravelin' ya, kid. Did ya know yer, technically, a Shinra?" Reno asked with delicious venom coating his words. Strife reared back as if he was the fire.
Fear, horror, confusion, and finally denial passed over Strife's face before it settled back into an angry mask.
"You're a liar," he said heatedly.
"Oh yeah, kid. Ran the blood tests and everything. Rufus has it in black an' white, if yer interested in seein' the proof. Wonder, what'ch'er ma is like? Suppose it ain't hard to find sluts who will bend over for a buck, but —" Reno would have kept going if Strife hadn't cocked a fist back and slammed it right into his jaw. He could feel the bones breaking under the power of the young SOLDIER's punch.
"Keep talking, and I'll kill you," Strife hissed while leaning in. Reno would have smiled again, but the bones were still healing. They creaked as the tension of his muscles pulled them back into alignment and the mako fused them.
"Calm the fuck down, kid. I've got a real soft spot fer Shinras. Well... The younger ones. Don'tcha wanna meet yer brother?" he asked with a distinct lustful purr. Shit like this was really a turn on.
Oddly enough, the kid nodded even though he looked like he might explode as he did so.
"If it makes ya feel any better, ol' Shinra was two-timing his own wife with yer ma. So it wasn't just her honor being stamped on by the fat bastard," he consoled sweetly.
"Somehow... That doesn't make anything better," the kid snarled with all the fury of a rabid wolf.
"Well, come to my place and I'll blow ya. Would that make things better?" Reno flirted shamelessly.
Strife smirked and replied, "I'd rather be castrated."
"That could be arranged, if that's what yer into, blondie," Reno half teased, half threatened.
"Tell Rufus... We'll talk. Soon. Other than that, stay the fuck away from me."
Reno raised an eyebrow as the blond turned away and started walking back to his pretty little friend.
"Aw, but you'll miss me!" he shouted as Strife kept walking.
"Not likely."
Reno grinned again as Cloud made it back to his buddy. This kid was really fun to fuck with.
It wasn't long after that the actual SOLDIERs took off and Reno was able to move in. They were loading everyone from Kalm into medical vehicles and Reno walked right up to the one holding Veld. The back of it was open and the man was laying flat on his back on the gurney, a distant look on his face.
"Yo, boss," he greeted with a two-fingered salute. Veld didn't even look at him. "Ya gonna make it?"
"I'll live...," his boss said quietly.
"What a shame," Reno said honestly. Veld didn't bite.
Tseng, having finally made it back to Kalm, approached from Reno's right and stared solemnly at Veld.
"Orders... sir?"
Veld opened his mouth to respond when his PHS rang. He answered and Reno watched as he conversed with whoever was on the other end. The answers were vague and Reno couldn't listen in on the tap here, so he could only speculate as Veld's face went from hopeful to horrified. He tried to argue with the person on the other end, but was clearly silenced forcibly. Reno figured that meant it was the President.
"Yes, sir...," Veld ended and hung up the PHS. He went back to staring up at the top of the vehicle as he said, "We're to take the survivors to the Nibelheim laboratory."
Reno felt his eyebrows climb at that. Nibelheim? Beyond this new development with Strife, nothing had come out of that town in years. It was a tiny little place where the first reactor had been built and Hojo had a lab there somewhere, but that was it. The lab hadn't even been used in years. Rumor had it, it was where Hojo carried out his more twisted shit.
"My wife... My daughter... Felicia... Are either of them alive?" Veld choked out and Reno's lip curled in disgust. How fucking pathetic.
"Both have severe burns, but are alive," Tseng said gently. Reno scoffed audibly this time. What was the world coming to when Turks were more concerned with their families than their missions.
"Good... Good," Veld breathed thankfully.
Reno turned around and started walking towards the Turk-controlled SOLDIERs who were waiting for further instruction. He dialed Rufus on the PHS as he approached them.
A few rings later, he answered with, "News? I've been told Kalm was razed."
"Yeah. Director hit a little static when issuing the orders. Dumbass SOLDIERs botched it," he said smoothly and watched as the SOLDIERs each flinched. Reno grinned viciously and walked a small circle around the lined up men.
"And those SOLDIERs...?"
"Are about to receive their next assignment," Reno said nonchalant as he stopped behind the line and unholstered his semi-automatic pistol.
"Excellent. Give it to them."
"Yes, sir," Reno said forebodingly. He raised the gun and put a bullet in the first one's head. The others started to move instantly, but Reno wasn't the 'fastest Turk' for nothing. He put another one between the eyes of the guy on his left and then one in the leg of the last guy who tried to run. The guy fell over with a shout and Reno walked slowly up to where he was trying to crawl along the ground. He pressed his boot into the wound on the SOLDIER's leg and relished in the scream.
"Please! Please I'll do anything," the poor bastard bawled as Reno aimed.
"Ya already have," he cackled as he fired.
"You truly are a prime example of what a Turk should be, Reno. I'm always impressed with your work," Rufus said over the PHS with lust coating his words.
"That's cause ya love the sight of blood, ya little sadist. So, sounds like your old man wants the survivors taken to Nibelheim. I'm gonna say Hojo stepped in and volunteered himself to treat them."
"Fine. Gather information on Strife while you're there."
"Don'tcha think it's a bit fishy that suddenly Hojo wants to return to a lab he abandoned years ago when he got his promotion to the head of the science department right after he gets a hold of Strife, who's from Nibelheim?"
"...Extremely, now that you mention it. Perhaps we should take Strife's... family into protective custody?"
"I'll look inta it. Send a few helicopters out to the east."
"Done. I'm trusting you to handle things as needed. I'll see you when you return."
"Sounds good, babe," Reno purred sweetly before hanging up. He whistled all the way back to his car and took off towards where he'd be meeting the helicopters.
It took about two hours to get everyone loaded up and have them on their way. The trip was long, but Reno never minded so long as it was in a helicopter. He'd been stuck with Tseng and the wounded Veld though, and that was depressing. He spent the whole trip serenading them to brighten the mood. Fuckers didn't even seem to appreciate it.
After a refueling stop in Costa Del Sol, they landed that evening just north of Nibelheim on what small space they could find in the mountainous region. The medical personnel, all Hojo's goons, unloaded the survivors and took them straight to the mansion. A few shouts rang out as they worked to subdue some crazy fucking monster holed up in the mansion. For some reason, they didn't bother killing it, but just locked it in a room upstairs. Reno figured it must be Hojo's pet or some shit.
Everyone from Kalm, including the director, was taken below to the labs and Reno stayed out of the process. He spent enough time in labs as it was; he didn't see any need to be down there if Veld was going. Reno clapped Tseng on the back and left to go explore the town before Hojo arrived.
It was a sleepy little village and most houses were dark even despite the early hour. Lighting a cigarette, Reno decided to use trial and error to hunt down information on Strife. He knocked on the door of the largest house and waited. A few minutes later, a tired man with brown hair answered.
"Can... I help you?" he asked as he looked at Reno's clothing with a startled expression.
"Lookin' for the Strife household," Reno said while taking a drag off his cigarette. He watched as the man's expression soured instantly.
"Next door. Now stay away from my house," the man growled and slammed the door, but not before Reno caught sight of a confused looking girl behind him.
Still, Reno moved next door and repeated the process. This time a very lovely older blond woman answered the door. Jackpot.
"Missus Strife, I'm assumin'?"
She frowned at him and looked at his uniform. "Is my son alright?"
"Just fine, ma'am. But I gotta ask ya a few questions," Reno said casually.
She moved aside and let him inside. It was a quaint little house. Knick knacks and lots of wooden furniture. Clearly the President wasn't paying her any hush money.
She sat down at the table and fixed him with a cold glare that reminded him instantly of her son. He couldn't help but grin in response.
"You're here to kill me," she said matter-of-factly and Reno raised an eyebrow.
"Nah. Just here to ask ya about how ya came to have the President of Shinra's kid. No killin' involved. Neither of them even know I'm here; the Pres or your son."
"He took what he wanted. I was too young to stop him. I simply chose to turn the misfortune around by loving my son dearly."
"And ya let him run off to join the same company owned by the man who raped ya?"
"My son will do great things one day," she said as though that explained everything.
"What kinda things?" Reno inquired.
"You'll just have to find out. I'd suggest siding with my son," she stated enigmatically. Reno was really getting annoyed with these 'all-knowing' Strifes.
"Your son has caught the interest of some really bad people in Shinra. Yer likely to become a target."
"I've always been a target, but my life isn't important. Cloud will be fine; he's not alone, and he's been through worse," she explained distantly. This was all getting too weird for Reno. What could be worse than losing your ma? It certainly did Rufus no favors. And who held their own life in such little regard? What did this woman know that she wasn't telling?
"You won't convince me to tell you anything. So you had best just leave or kill me now," she finally said with a pointed look at Reno.
"Told ya I wasn't gonna kill ya," Reno said with no small measure of annoyance.
"Perhaps, but you don't look like a man with much temper."
"I'm really not."
"Then stop wasting both of our time," she said with a sarcastic smile.
"Whatever," Reno growled and stood up quick enough to make the wooden chair screech on the floor. "Get yerself killed by Hojo, be my guest. Not gonna be my fuckin' fault."
"Have a nice night," she said as she let him out. Reno had to give the bitch props for being snarky with a guy openly carrying as many weapons as he was. He could see where Strife got it.
Unfortunately, Reno wasn't satisfied with the answers he got, which was almost none. All he had was confirmation that Strife's ma had been fucked by the President, which they already knew.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a kid sneaking up on him from the shadows of the first house he'd visited.
"Excuse me?" a small girlish voice asked.
Reno looked at the girl, no more than twelve or thirteen, who stepped out into the moonlight.
"What do ya want, kid?"
"You're looking for the Strifes? Do you know Cloud?"
Reno felt his face break out into a dark grin and the girl stepped back before Reno schooled his features back to normal.
"Yup. Cloud's a good buddy of mine. I was just sayin' hi to his ma for him. You a friend of his?"
"Yep! My name is Tifa Lockhart. Did he mention me?"
Reno smiled as nicely as he could and nodded, "Maybe once or twice, yeah. Pretty thing like you? Girlfriend maybe?" The girl just giggled and blushed.
"N—no. But... No. I wasn't. We're just friends."
"Aw well, don't give up hope. I'm sure he'll be knocked flat on his ass by how pretty ya are when he comes back here."
"Is... Is he a SOLDIER?"
"You betcha. Just inducted two days ago." She gasped in wonder and Reno took the opportunity to swoop in for the kill. "I wonder... He's one hell of a swordsman. Ya know where he learned it from?"
"He was training a lot before he left. Fighting monsters up in the mountains after his birthday. He... really changed when he turned sixteen. For the better, I think. He seemed so... in control," she said fondly. Reno thought back to the blond and had to agree. The kid, despite his outbursts, reminded him quite a bit of Sephiroth. "He saved me from a monster in the mansion."
"That ugly fuckin' two toned bastard?" She nodded. "Did he get hurt?" he asked curiously. That thing took multiple people to lock in that damn room.
"No... but I did. I feel so bad. My father hurt him after he saved me and brought me back to the town. I wasn't able to tell my father that I'd followed Cloud there, because I knew he'd be so angry... But if I had been able to talk to him before he hurt Cloud, I would have told him!"
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault."
She looked at the ground and guilt crossed her face as she said, "It was though... Cloud was doing fine against it... I think he would have run away if I hadn't gotten in the middle of things. Then no one would have been hurt."
"So... Cloud just got these fighting skills... out of nowhere?" Reno asked awkwardly.
"Yep! It was so weird and cool."
"That's pretty interestin'," Reno muttered mostly to himself. "Well, thanks kiddo. I'll tell Cloud hi for ya."
"Thank you!" she squealed happily. "Have a good night, mister!"
"Night, kid," Reno said with a little salute before walking back in the direction of the mansion. To think, a kid had more information than Strife's own mother. A sudden thought occurred to him and he pulled out his PHS and dialed.
"Yes, Reno?" Katana hissed in annoyance.
"Heya. Gotta pick your brain real quick. What do ya know about Cloud Strife?"
"That he's incredibly against joining our division for some reason and that he's got a lot of secrets that lead absolutely nowhere."
"Nowhere?" Reno asked curiously.
"I couldn't dig up a single suspicious thing about him beyond his skills and personality being abnormal for his background," Katana said with an air of frustration that Reno could completely understand. It wasn't usual for them not to be able to find something when it was clearly there.
"Ya tried to recruit him? What did he say?"
"Well no, obviously."
"Don't be a smart ass, Balto. The kid knew you by name."
"Yes I do generally introduce myself with my name, Reno. It's a common practice."
"He knew me by name too, before I ever got a chance to introduce myself. Did ya let it slip?" he demanded.
"Why would I discuss you with anyone I was trying to recruit? You manage to scare even the most seasoned Turks with your insanity and brutality. If he knew you by name, then he knew you by reputation. Last I checked, Hewley was mentoring him, and the other boy he was so fond of, perhaps that's where he learned of you."
"Maybe," Reno mused. Nothing was adding up. "Oh well, thanks for the cooperation."
"I'd say 'any time', but you'd take that literally."
"Yeah fuck you too," Reno snickered as he hung up.
Strife was turning out to be a huge fucking mystery that got weirder at every turn. He'd never met anyone with a cleaner looking background. He couldn't even find any past trouble with the law. Everything was coming up roses for Strife. Head of his class of this year's cadets, savior of pretty little girls, fighter of fires, and the only kid in the world with the balls big enough to stand right up to Sephiroth himself. But Reno was a Turk, and he was a damned good one at that. He'd uncover this eventually, and, when he did, he'd love to watch Strife's mask fall to pieces.