Disclaimer: I do not and never will own FFVII so please don't sue...

Chapter Two: Improbus Lacuna

I woke up with a big ass headache, on a cold floor, in a pool of my own blood. Freakin' peachy. The blood made me all sticky and I couldn't run my fingers through my hair to check my head. Darn it all, I had to take another bath. Then I realized that the shower was still running.

"Shit!"

I jumped up and hobbled over to turn off the water.

"Not only is the fucking water cold, but I bet my water bill is gonna fuck me over."

I just scowled. Looking around, I took in the dead bodies, the blood, and the shaving cream. Now I'm just plain pissed off. Although I had more than enough gil to pay all of my bills for the rest of my life, I still didn't act like it. Besides, why should I give the government my hard earned money?

Limping around I began to bemoan my predicament. I hate cleaning up with a passion, and here I was with a huge mess, a few injuries, and I couldn't even take a damn bath! All right, bodies first. I wrapped an old robe around my body, put a towel over my head and slipped on Rude's old slippers. Being the genius I am, I always kept some of Rude's stuff over in case he dragged me home in a drunken stupor and he needed to stay. Next, I checked the bodies for identification; not finding any, I took the armor off and shoved the bodies into their own personal trash bags. I'd probably end up taking the armor to Shinra to see if I could trace that to my attackers.

Dragging three trash bags full of a body each was not easy work since I had a fucking bullet in my shoulder, but I managed. Today was just not my day. As I was struggling to shove the third body into the all ready full dumpster, the idiot of a landlord decided to approach me.

"Mr. Stryker, thanks to you the entire building is out of hot water! What am I supposed to do about it now, mother fucker?!"

His eyes widened as I turned to glare at him with my blood-spattered face and he realized that my "trash" was large and was shaped like a human stuffed roughly in a bag.

"Am I supposed to care, yo? I don't fucking care what you do."

I gave my trash a final shove before slamming the lid of the dumpster. A sickening crunch was heard because part of a bag was still sticking out. Good thing the guy was dead or that would have hurt pretty bad.

"Have a good evening, sir," the landlord said politely before turning around and walking away briskly.

"Bastard," I grumbled as I limped back to my apartment.

My broken foot was killing me, but I couldn't just sit down and whine. I figured that Rude had to have checked up on Cloud already, so he probably left a message on my cell. Once I find out if Cloud's o.k., I'm gonna go to Shinra Tower. At least there was hot water and proper medical supplies. I checked the time on my cell before checking for any messages. Good, it was 1:30 AM; I could do my stuff without being grilled by anyone for my injuries. I didn't care to let all of Shinra know about the attempts on my life. Not yet at least.

I flipped open my phone and was actually quite shocked. "No new messages" shone mockingly against my black and gray background.

"What the fuck?" I whispered harshly.

Surely Rude did what I asked! He wouldn't let me down. Panic clutched at my heart and I felt like I was suffocating. What if Cloud is hurt and Rude doesn't want to tell me? What if Rude got attacked too? What if…

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. First things first; I needed to get cleaned up and patched up. I really can't do anything with my injuries. Afterwards, I would hunt for Rude and Cloud and I'm gonna find out what the hell's going on.

I grabbed one of my uniforms from my dresser, a towel and my E-mag, then tossed the towel that was wrapped around my bloody hair into a hamper. A taxi dropped me off a block away from the Tower and somehow, I managed to limp to it. There, I used my Security Card to unlock the door and let myself in, and went to the security office in the Lobby.

"Yo, Kyle, I'm gonna head up to the Turk floor."

The raven-haired security guard glanced at me. What the hell happened to you?"

I scowled at him. "It's none of your business; now let me through. I'm not in the mood to play dodge with the security system."

"All right, you know the drill."

"Yadda, yadda, I know this crap, let's move on, yo."

"Just doing my job."

I handed my card to Kyle and he swiped it in the Key reader. Once he got my ID in the system, Kyle gave me the go ahead.

With practiced ease I swiped my way to the third floor, the Turk headquarters. It was the best floor in the building; it had two dorm rooms with bunk beds, a small kitchen, a conference room, an armory, and the offices. Our armory wasn't as big as the main armory in the basement (don't ask why Shinra has weapons), but it was sufficient for small missions. I went to my dorm room and went to the shower. My crap was everywhere, the evidence that I frequented the dorms. I removed my make-shift bandages and let the warm water pour over my body.

The bullet wound in my shoulder burned like hell; I could feel each blood vessel pumping blood to the open wound and the water washing it down the drain. I knew I lost an ungodly amount of blood, but I could handle it. First things first. I closed my eyes and began to focus on all of my pain. The burning pain of my shoulder; the pounding at the back of my head; sting of re-broken ribs; the dull ache of numerous bruises; the screaming pain of my broken foot; I felt it all. I focused until all I could feel was pain. Then, as I predicted, all of it ebbed away. My body had temporarily numbed the soreness allowing me to focus on patching myself up and getting clean. It was a sweet trick I learned to do in the slums; this self-hypnosis has served me well as a Turk. But now that my pain was numbed, fear crept back in. It really made me uneasy that Rude hasn't called me. Seriously, what if he was hurt? And Cloud, had he been attacked?

"C'mon Reno!" I yelled at myself, "Pull yourself together!"

I hurriedly lathered my bloody hair, and soaped up my body. The blood had caked my tresses and tangled it all up. What a fucking pain. I began to grow impatient while I was working all the tangles out. I considered just chopping it all off, getting it all out of my damn way. I grabbed the scissors from the sink and placed it against my soapy hair. After a pause, I lowered the blades and trimmed the edge of it. I couldn't really do it, not even in a fit of rage.

After ripping out more than half my hair in my rush, I patched myself up as quickly as possible. Just good enough to go through the day. My nerves were starting to wake up, making it difficult to move around. My broken foot was the worst with my concussion coming at a close second. I grabbed one of Elena's crappy breakfast/yogurt-in-a-bottle drinks before I made my way back down to Kyle. I was going to need to get some energy, yet I gotta be sober.

"Yo, I'm outta here," I grumbled.

"Take care!" Kyle called out while taking my ID code from the security system.

I borrowed one of the Shinra motorcycles (mine was in the shop) and decided to head to Seventh Heaven. Tifa may be pissed off with me, but I needed to check on Cloud and I'll be damned if she was going to bother me now. Still, I was not going to be stupid. I parked a block away form Tifa's bar and made sure that my electorod was in working order. Then I made my way to the bar. I saw Rude's car parked in front of Seventh Heaven and my blood ran cold. So Rude did come.

'Then why didn't he fucking call me?' I wondered out loud.

I sprinted the rest of the way and kicked in the door. I didn't have time to fucking knock!

"Rude! Cloud!" I screamed hoping I was wrong.

Silence. The empty bar mocked me. A large lump settled in my throat and an iron fist clenched my heart threatening to crush all life from it. I pulled out my electrorod and began to silently make my way to the back. I began to notice the broken chairs, the shattered glasses, the cracked tables… By Odin, there was an attack. I caught movement from the corner of my eye and turned with my rod on "kill". I froze in shock and Tifa's large brown eyes stared back in surprise. She was holding a basket of bloody and wet rags.

"Hurry up, will you?" came a deep voice I knew all too well.

I ran past Tifa, knocking the basket form her hands, and skidded into the living room. Cloud was partially standing with his Ragnarok in hand and Rude was sprawled on the couch with a wet rag planted on his left eye.

"Reno!" they both gasped at the same time.

Relief flooded through my body loosening the grip on my heart. My eyes watered from the joy of seeing the both o.k.

They were o.k. THEY WERE FUCKING OK AND THEY COULDN'T CALL ME!

Suddenly, my relief turned sour. Now I was pissed off again.

"You fucking bastards!" I screeched. "Do you know how worried I was? Why didn't you answer my call, yo? What the heck happened to the bar? And your fucking eye! What the hell is-"

"Shut up!"

I was rudely interrupted by none other than boobs-a-lot.

"I'll shut up when I get some damn answers, bitch!"

The words barely left my lips before Cloud's sword was pressed against my throat.

"Don't you ever call Tifa by that name ever again," Cloud hissed angrily.

I couldn't help but be hurt. Why was he sticking up for her? He never told Tifa not to call me names and I was fucking him! I know I was being childish, but for cryin' out loud I deserved to be!

"Lay off, Strife, I'm not in the mood to take your crap!"

I shoved his sword away from my neck and I turned to Rude.

"Give me answers. Now."

Rude shifted a little nervously before he stared at me with his good eye.

"Ask away."

"Your eye."

Rude removed the wet rag form his left eye and I would've winced if I wasn't so pissed. There was a mean looking gash above his eyebrow and his eye was bruised and puffy.

"Tifa got me good."

I about jumped Tifa, but once again Cloud stopped me. His arms formed an iron restraint around me, and he sat down forcing me to sit between his legs. Under normal circumstances, I would've enjoyed the position, but right now I was furious. His stronger body was the only thing keeping me form ripping Tifa to bite-size pieces.

"Rude, tell Reno the whole story," Cloud hissed. "And you," he growled in my ear, "Stay put and hold off all questions until he's finished."

I didn't reply, or rather I couldn't reply. Cloud was squeezing my re-broken ribs painfully and had kicked my broken foot. I focused on listening to Rude and on willing any tears away. They would NOT see my pain.

"Once you called me, I got worried. You weren't sounding so hot, so I was going to check up on you. Then curiosity got the best of me and I headed up here instead. I walked in and sat at our usual table, but instead of getting my order taken, Tifa came over and told me to get out. She said, 'I don't give a damn what Reno told you to say to me or Cloud. He better not ever come back! And neither should you!' I stood up and told her that I needed to see Cloud. That's when she punched me in the eye; my glasses broke and cut into my brow."

I shot Tifa a dirty look and stuck out my tongue at her. I didn't fucking care how childish he gesture was, it's all I could do considering that Cloud was preventing me from doing worse. Tifa glared at me with unhidden anger. I forced my attention back to Rude as he continued.

"Just as I was about to force my way to Cloud, Cloud showed up. Through the wall. This guy in Rhino full-body had tackled Cloud right into the bar."

"Cloud, why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?" interrupted Tifa. "You were fighting right outside our home and I had no clue. Why?"

"Home?" I murmured. "Surely you mean 'hell hole', yo?"

If glares could kill, I would've been dead twice over.

"Enough," Cloud said. "Let Rude finish, then we can talk."

Tifa nodded, but she didn't look happy. Rude flipped his bloody rag over and applied pressure to his gash and then continued.

"Two more guys came in shooting at Cloud so Tifa and I put our fight on hold and decided to take care of the mother fuckers. The customers running out made it hard for us because those guys didn't care who they hurt, but once everything cleared, we took care of them."

"That still doesn't explain why you didn't call me, Rude."

He sighed heavily. "The police showed up and I wasn't able to call you. To be frank, I completely forgot about you, partner; too much was happening."

"We didn't hear you come in," Cloud added. "We just got a chance to rest."

Suddenly I felt exhausted. I had a rough night mentally and physically. "Yo, can we finish our heart-to-heart later?" I asked. "I need some down time."

Cloud released me, and as I stood up stiffly, Tifa spoke.

"I hope you're not planning to stay here, Reno."

I froze. She was kickin' me out?

"Tifa, please, not now," Cloud begged.

"No, no, I get it," I answered. "I'm just the pervert who took advantage of poor problemed Cloud, and who scarred poor sheltered Denzel."

Tifa bristled and Cloud looked taken aback, maybe even hurt. Too bad I didn't care at the moment.

"You son of a bitch!" Tifa screamed. "You really hurt Denzel! He's just a kid, but you don't care, do you?"

"What a fucking revelation. You're too smart, yo."

"That's enough!" yelled Cloud. "You," he said grabbing my injured arm, "come with me. Tifa, tend to Rude."

Just as Tifa opened her mouth he interrupted her. "End of discussion."

The pain in my arm as Cloud dragged me outside was enough to leave me temporarily speechless, but it didn't take long for my brain to catch up.

"Let go, bastard!" I yelled.

I tried to jerk my arm from his grip, but all I succeeded in doing was reopen the already sore wound. Real smart of me.

"I'm not letting go unless you promise to listen to what I have to say."

"You can't force me!"

Cloud's eyes narrowed sending a clear message. "Hell yes, I can."

"Fine, just let go."

It came out more of a whine than I wanted, but Cloud did let go.

"Hurry it up, Strife, I need some sleep an' I ain't getting it here."

Cloud avoided my gaze as he spoke. "We need to talk about yesterday."

"Didn't you have a good time?" I asked with a smirk.

Suddenly Cloud wasn't so shy. He was pissed. "Tifa's right you know! We really hurt Denzel! He's scared of getting anywhere near me! Now he's at Barret's place meeting with a counselor."

"He'll be fine, Cloud," I drawled keeping the hurt form my voice.

He was acting like Denzel and Tifa meant more than I did. I should have expected it. Besides, it not like I didn't already know where his priorities were. I was just a good fuck that he used to get rid of any horniness. It was my fault for making him a higher priority to me.

"What if he never gets fine?"

"You're treating him like a fucking pansy! I saw crap like that when I was a kid, and you don't see me in the mental ward!"

Although I was mad I saw a crack of a smile on Cloud's lips. "Maybe you should be," he teased.

"If you come with me, I'll be fine with that."

I was confused. Since when did we go from pissed off to flirting? Then Cloud's sad excuse for a smile vanished and he stared hard at me.

"What happened to your arm?"

I looked down and just noticed the blood soaking through my jacket. Crap.

"Uh, nothing. It's just a scratch."

I turned to walk away, but he stepped on my foot to keep me form going anywhere. Wrong foot.

Screaming in pain, I shut my eyes and let my reflexes took over. My electorod was out in a flash and I swung full force at Cloud. The sickening sound of a crack echoed down the street as my rod met Cloud's jaw. He crashed to the ground and I stumbled backwards into Rude's car. Cloud stared at me in disbelief and the pain threatened to overwhelm me.

"Just fuck off, Cloud," I chocked.

I limped away as fast as I could, holding back all the tears that threatened to fall, and he didn't move.

"Fuck you and your stupid mood swings!" I screamed in frustration.

Fifteen minutes later, I realized that I was limping in the opposite direction of where I parked my bike. Shit, this day just wasn't getting any better. I sat down on the curb and just rested.

"I'll just find a hotel and park it there for the rest of the day," I thought to myself. I was just so tired. Maybe it was all that blood loss.

A few seconds later, I felt a tingling sensation go through my body; my eyes snapped open and I could see a young woman standing across the street. She was wearing a tight blue dress and she had her hand in a matching handbag. Everything started spinning but the last thing I saw were her brown eyes staring coldly at me.

I was feeling cold. I could feel the straps on my arms and the hard, cold metal against my bare back. I struggled to open my eyes because the lights were just too damn bright.

"How are you feeling?" asked a soft voice to my right.

"Wfuhapinge," was what came out.

What the fuck? I was thinking quite clearly, but why wouldn't my mouth work?

"Don't worry," the voice said, "it's just one of the side effects."

My eyes finally adjusted and I lolled my head to the side to see the speaker. It was the same woman I saw across the street. The blond hair, brown eyes; yeah it was her. But she wasn't wearing that blue dress anymore. She was wearing a fucking lab coat. I was thinking clear enough to be scared shitless. I hate doctors; ninety nine percent of them were fucking crazy! I knew my luck enough to know that I wasn't in the presence of a sane one.

"Since we'll be seeing a lot of each other, why don't I introduce myself, Reno?"

"Debth."

That was supposed to be, "die, bitch." Of course, my damn mouth wasn't working with me.

"My name is Dr. Sheryl Franklin. My husband and I have become interested in the study of genetics and we have recently discovered how to make the perfect superhuman. Dr. Hojo was on the right track when he made Sephiroth, alas his few miscalculations cost Sephiroth his sanity. Don't worry, we've learned how to fix that."

Dr. Hojo's name made this entire situation clear. She was stark raving mad, just like he was. But what did all this shit have to do with me?

"I believe you're probably wondering what you have to do with all this. Let me explain. We need Cloud's DNA and his unique Mako enhanced body. He was not exposed to Mako like other SOLDIERS. Hojo's work on him makes him the perfect candidate for carrying this child."

I would've done a double take if I could have. She was psychic and psychotic.

"You seem surprised, Reno. You see, I tried to carry a superhuman child, but the experiment failed, leaving me infertile. Cloud's body is so strong that it can handle the child. Besides, we've already perfected the science of the artificial womb in a man."

I jerked my head to look down and was relieved to see my white, flawless stomach. But something caught my attention. My arm. There were numerous needle marks on my arm that were slightly swollen and an angry red color. What had she done to me?!

"Oh, those marks? Are they bothering you?" Her smile revealed how truly insane she was.

"Well, we couldn't get Cloud to come willingly of course, and force wasn't working well, so we are left with one choice. If he wishes to save his lover, he will do exactly what we want. I have been giving you large doses of a highly addictive experimental drug. If I stop giving it to you suddenly, the withdrawal will kill you."

By Bahamut, this had to be a fucking nightmare.

"By next week, you'll be needing a shot every other hour to stay alive. That's when I'll cut your supply off, and demand that Cloud obeys us. You better hope he cares enough to save you."

"Now, now, Sheryl, is it necessary to tell our hostage everything?"

I looked up to see a new face. A man with well groomed black hair and small brown eyes stood behind the crazy bitch.

"But darling, I want to know how he acts now that he knows everything."

He smiled at her lovingly. "Of course. In that case, my name is Dr. Damon Franklin, and I was Hojo's personal assistant during and after the Sephiroth experiments. Now, I'm his successor."

Damn Fate! Now I wished I was in a fight with Tifa. That seemed like a birthday party compared to this. Dr. Bitch pulled out a fucking nine inch needle from her pocket.

"It's time for your shot," she said cheerily.

Oh, shit.