Chapter 5: Veritas: part 1

For the next four weeks I slaved away with my Turk duties and with my own little investigation. Shinra and I were both trying to find Mr. and Mrs. Franklin, but for two different reasons. Shinra wanted to squeeze every bit of information from their brains probably to do such god forbidden experiments for themselves, but I had a more personal agenda. I wanted to hear them scream for mercy while I peeled the skin from their flesh before moving on to disembowel them. I wanted to see the life leave their worthless bodies and I wanted the last words they hear to be, "Go to hell, mother fuckers." I wanted cruel revenge and I wouldn't be satisfied until I got it.

On top of that, all of us were investigating into some weird thing regarding a top secret organization called Deepground, or something like that. Since I was still getting my wrist slapped by Rufus, I didn't know a hell of a lot about the stuff we were looking into, but I did know that it was related to the incident a few weeks ago where some people went missing. Obviously, it was a lot worse than the news reported, or we wouldn't have bothered getting involved. I also knew that it was pretty bad after I found out that Reeve's WRO was sticking its nose into the incident as well.

Anyways, work nowadays was shit; since I lost my classified authority, I've been stuck with writing a crapload of reports and doing menial labor just like the good old days. I was doing the grunt work of beating up drug lords who owed us money (don't ask why), and getting rid of the ones that the Boss didn't want to deal with. Since the Deepground thing was top-secret, I didn't even get to do any of those assignments with Rude.

All of my assignments now were an insult to my skills; I haven't done shit like this since my first year as an official Turk. I was freakin' high profile, the second-in-command of the fucking Turks! And the worst part was that Rude and I didn't really work together any more. He had confidential work while I got the "janitor duty"– cleaning the crap at the bottom of the pile. It was the ultimate humiliation, but there was no way in hell that the Shinra prince would find the "good" doctors before I did. I just wasn't gonna let that happen.

As a matter of fact, at this very moment, I was checking files in Rude's computer which he "accidentally" left logged in. There were some confidential files which he didn't completely delete. Rufus would have been pissed if he knew that Rude was helping me out, but then again, that bastard of a boss probably expected that.

"Damn, nothing on Argos," I mumbled to myself. "And only crap for the other two. Nothin' I don't already know."

Finding nothing useful, I decided to pay and old "friend" a visit. I brought the Rhino armor I took from my would-have-been assassins and headed deep into the slums. Ever since Midgar had been destroyed and Edge was built, the slums were moved to a place known as Purgatory. It was the area that lay between uninhabitable and dangerous Midgar and the sanctuary of Edge. Not everyone could make it in Edge, so the rest were left to rot in the new slums.

As I walked down the filthy streets, the sounds of moaning seemed to float on the wind blowing from the Midgar ruins. It sent shivers down my spine, but I just convinced myself that it was only the wind making noise. No one would be stupid enough to get near Midgar nowadays.

Shaking my head, I walked into an old shack of a building with a crudely painted crystal ball on the side. "Psychic readings" was written underneath the ball. As soon as I entered, my nose crinkled up at the disgusting smell of incense burning. A cloaked figure came out of the back holding a crystal ball in one hand and tarot cards in the other. The person's face was covered by black wrappings and shiny bangles hung from both skinny arms.

"Ah, come for your fort-," began the outrageous high pitch voice.

"Long time no see, yo," I drawled as a smirk formed on my lips.

"Oh shit!" the fortune teller dropped everything and began to run, but I was way too fast. With my "friend" against the wall, I took out a cigarette and began our conversation.

"Logan, baby, aren't you glad to see me?"

"Fuck off," Logan replied with a considerably more masculine voice.

"Tch, is this anyway to treat your savior?"

"You mean me slave driver, don' ya!" he spat. "Me gettin' saved by you was de worst decision I've ever made in me life!"

"You don't think that doing whatever I ask you to do for the rest of your life is a fair trade for saving you from Shinra?"

"No!"

"Oh well, you're stuck. Now let's do business, yo."

Logan whimpered as I released him to get the armor. I lit up my cigarette and sat in front of him with my wares.

"What does you want, Reno?" he sighed.

"Besides you to quit wearing drag?" I tossed the armor towards him. "I want you to tell me where this came from."

Logan handled the armor gingerly and scrutinized it. I quietly smoked and grinned to myself. There was never a man known who could identify armor as well as Logan, an ex-Shinra employee. He had been trained to be able to identify any kind of weapon or armor based on barely visible markings, stamp marks, and the feel of the material. Born with a keen sense of touch, Logan was the best. But after I dropped the plate on his family's home in Sector 7, he decided to leave Shinra and all their wicked ways. I was sent to get rid of him, but I didn't want to waste such talent. So in exchange for his life, he became my eternal slave, and he had served me well.

"All right, man, dis stuff is high quality. Ya, me guess would be up in da Nibel Mountains. There are definitely Nibel dragon scales in dis armor."

"Ugh, why is it always Nibelheim?" I groaned.

The only area in the Nibel Mountains suitable for a production plant would be the old Mako reactor.

"So, ya don' need me help no more?" Logan asked hopefully.

"Well, if you're wrong, I'll be back to carve out some of your flesh as payment for wasting my time. If you're right, yo, I won't be back until the next time I need you."

Logan visibly gulped. He knew I wasn't kidding.

"C'mon, man, has me ever been wrong before?"

I blew a puff of smoke right into his face.

"No. That's what I'm counting on, yo."

With a goal in mind, I headed home to my junkie apartment. I walked in and saw my answering machine blinking with "1 new message" on the screen. That's odd, usually, if someone wants to get a hold of me, they just call my cell phone. I walked over and pressed the "play" button while setting down my keys.

"Hello, Mr. Stryker," came the chilling voice of Mrs. Franklin. I froze and listened cautiously. "You were helpful to us before, and we're hoping you'll be of use again. You are the only person who knows where June Argos is and we need her to return what she stole from us."

"Bah, those shitheads are crazy if they think I'll help them."

The message continued undisturbed. "Meet me and my husband at the Bentley's Meat Packing Plant at 1:00 a.m. and give us her location. If not, your mother and your little brother will be dismembered alive before being throwing into the grinder. Don't be late."

Silence filled the apartment.

"My Ma?" I thought. "She's still alive?"

Not that I really cared; I mean, she never raised me; the streets did. She was a disposable whore and I was her disposable son. After I ran away, she never went to look for me. She never cared, so why the hell should I? I scowled and decided to put all thoughts of her out of my mind; and I don't give a damn if anyone thinks I am being harsh. Cloud picked this moment to give me a call on my cell.

"What!" I snapped. Why was I so upset?

"Is this a bad time?" he asked quietly.

"No, no, it's ok. Is everything all right?"

I could hear a smile in his voice. "Yeah, everything is great. Actually, I wanted to thank you for getting Denzel to speak to me again. He told me that you explained everything to him."

"Hey, no problem, kitten. I just told him the truth. Mostly."

"Well, he doesn't seem traumatized, so I have to conclude that you did a great job."

"Thanks, kitten. How did Tifa take it?"

"She's kind of bewildered that he's doing fine, but that's because we didn't tell her about you helping." I laughed. "Um, hey, Reno, Tifa's going bar hopping with Yuffie tonight and Barret's got the kids. Do you want to come over?"

My loins stirred at the suggestive tone in his voice. "It depends. What'cha making for dinner, yo?"

"Stuffed chicken breast."

My mouth watered. Cloud cooked way too good to be a man, but my stomach and cock are devoted fans. Especially when he offers to cook my favorite dish in that deliciously sexy apron.

"Baby, I never say no to you," I replied. "Be there in ten minutes!"

"See you."

I hung up and grabbed my keys by the answering machine. I paused for a minute, but decided to put the message in the back of my mind. Besides it was probably a bluff. How would they find my mother? It just didn't make sense.

Fifteen minutes later I arrived at Seventh Heaven and Cloud took me straight to the kitchen. Since the chicken needed a few more minutes, I decided to let my mouth warm up a little. I sat on the counter and winked at Cloud suggestively. Being the irresistible shithead that I am, he couldn't stay away from me long. The moment he got within the vicinity of my hands, I pulled him between my legs and assaulted his mouth. I nipped his lips and sucked his tongue trying to drive him insane while I tried to keep my mind off of that message.

Did they really find Ma? And what made them think that I would care about her enough to save her? And Franklin said they had Ma's son too. Surely a little kid shouldn't be put into a grinder because of his mother's other son not caring about her. He was innocent! Then again, when did I get a little brother? Wasn't I enough for that whore?

Cloud pulled away from me, and looked straight into my troubled eyes.

"Reno, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" I snapped.

He turned his back to me, clearly pissed. What? Now I had to tell him everything? Since when did he become my fucking mother? The last thing I needed right now was a damn nanny and that's exactly what he was trying to be.

"Chicken's done. Let's just eat," he snapped back.

"Fine, yo."

He pulled the chicken out of the oven, put them on plates, and then set the plates on the table with a little more force than necessary. Fuck, we always find a way to mess up a perfectly good moment, and to be honest, it was usually my fault.

"Eat," he commanded.

I glared at him while I took my seat. Then I turned my focus to the only good thing in this house–the chicken. That's when something weird happened. I stared at the chicken and the sight of it started to make me sick; the smell wasn't helping much either. I forced myself to cut a piece and shoved it in my mouth; this was my favorite food, for Bahamut's sake! As soon as the chicken touched my tongue, my throat tightened and I gagged, spitting it out. Cloud had his fork poised near his mouth and his mouth hung open while he stared at me with an incredulous look. I stared back at him.

"What the fuck, Reno! Now you don't like my food?"

"What the hell did you do to this food?! How could you possibly ruin my favorite freakin' food?!" He looked so hurt, but I couldn't stop myself. I'd been so stressed out and holding it all in that now all of it came out in one big rush. "Did you poison the food? Ya know that wouldn't be the first attempt on my life, yo! I've lived through it before, and I'll do it again!"

"Reno-"

"And I'm going to save my Ma and her son, and I don't care what anyone thinks, and I don't even care that I hate her guts!"

Without giving Cloud a chance to respond I got up and stormed out. I headed straight to the meat factory in a blind rage. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I needed to save them. I would save them.

Thirty minutes later, I was standing in front of the dark building. A look at my watch revealed that it was 12:45 a.m.; well, they never said I couldn't be early. I began checking the surrounding areas and I plotted several different escape routes once I got outside the building. Once I was confident that I could escape once out here, I decided to sneak in the meat packing building and learn my way around there. After ten minutes of wandering, I came to the only lighted room in the building. And in the middle of it was my Ma sitting next to a small kid. He couldn't have been more than four; he was nervously sucking his thumb while Ma fidgeted with the ropes tying her to the chair. There were over thirty guys in that stupid Rhino armor, some Lite some Heavy.

"Shit!" I whispered.

This was going to be one hell of a night. Even if I could escape, I had to get a full grown woman and a toddler in the midst of an army to kidnap. If I could pull this off, me and Rude were going drinking tomorrow. As I glanced around trying to come up with an idea, I realized that I only had two minutes to come up with a plan. I rocked on my heels while trying to get my mind to work, but it wasn't fucking happening! With nothing coming to mind and less than a minute before I would be late, I made the best decision that I could. I was gonna wing it. I would do whatever came to mind whenever I felt like it; that was just the way I operated. It was no use trying to do my job any other way. I stepped out from the shadows and instantly all thirty five guns were pointed in my direction. I just lit my last cigarette and gave them all a smirk.

"What up, dogs? Here I am, but I don't see any crazy bitches besides my Ma. Where's the Frankenstein family?"

The gag kept my mother from cursing me out but her eyes were more than enough to send her contempt for me. Well, I guess I did deserve that one. A monitor sitting on a table not far from the huge grinder (what the hell did they grind with that, whales?) suddenly came to life showing the face of Mrs. Franklin.

"Thank you for coming, Reno, we knew that we could count on you. As you can see, you are outnumbered and you would only be killed if you tried anything stupid, so let's get down to business. You know where June Argos is, and I want to find her. Give me what I want and your family is returned to you without a scratch."

I stared at the monitor calmly while taking a drag. Once she finished, I continued to smoke, looking thoughtful.

"Just so you know, bitch, I really don't give a damn if you kill these people, I just had nothing better to do tonight so I came to have some fun."

"Is that so?" she asked with an amused smile. "Shall we test that statement?"

"Sure," I shrugged. "Actually, I'm lookin' forward to seeing that sorry excuse of an egg donor getting turned into confetti."

"All right."

My Ma looked at me in shock and terror, but I didn't even flinch. Her son grabbed the edge of her short dress and rested his head on her lap completely unaware of what was being discussed. His innocence stabbed at my heart, reminding me that I was just like that many years ago.

"Justin, take the child. Amputate his limbs and throw him in the grinder."

The armored man nearest to them nodded. Only a slight twitch of my lips broke through my mask of indifference.

"Yo, I thought that the whore goes first."

"No, no, Reno, but she will go soon."

At this, my mother began thrashing around trying to scream and stop us, which only succeeded at scaring her son. He looked terrified and began to cry. The meathead named Justin approached the kid and picked him up effortlessly. He headed toward the grinder and the assortment of chopping instruments. It took every ounce of control I had to not just run towards the kid and try to stop it. That would be sure suicide, but I had to buy more time! I had to come up with something!

"Mama!" the kid screamed tearing at my concentration and control. "Mama!"

My Ma helplessly struggled to do something, to try to stop the cruel act. In that moment, I saw her standing over me with the metal chair she had used to kill my rapist. She had been brutally beaten, yet she saved me. And here she was doing the very best that she could to save her other son. Suddenly, I didn't give a damn if what I was doing was suicide; I was going to help them.

As the man dropped the kid on the metal table, time seemed to slow down. I broke into a run towards the boy while pulling out my EMR. The men reacted so slowly, that it was almost funny; I made it to the guys surrounding Ma and I swung my e-mag as hard as I could, sending all of them flying. Even the motion of them falling away seemed to be agonizingly slow. My eyes focused and I could see what each person was planning to do; some were going to shoot at me, some were going to try to manhandle me, and all the while I could see the shocked expression on the doctor's face.

I almost reached the little kid, whose eyes had grown quite wide, when I heard a shot go off. I looked and was shocked to actually see the bullet heading towards me. I saw it slice through the air towards me and I did the craziest thing–I sidestepped it. The bullet went past without even a nick. Several more shots rang out and I could see every single one of them coming for me. I easily avoided getting hit by any of them, then I decided to quit fooling around with dodging bullets and save the little guy. As even more bullets tried to bury themselves in my flesh I ran to Justin and before he could do anything, I jabbed my e-mag straight through his helmet. The blood spewed out profusely and I was nearly distracted with the way that it caught the light in such a beautiful way. Instead, I gave myself a mental kick in the ass, and proceeded to grab the little kid, who looked like he was going to faint. I needed to get him and my mother out of danger, so I turned on my heel and headed towards her.

I saw that I was no longer the target; the soldiers were now training their guns on my mother before letting out a rain of bullets. I forced my legs to go faster, yet I was nearly too late. I managed to grab the back of her chair and pull her out of the bullets' paths. My senses picked up and I snatched out on reflex and caught a stray bullet that nearly got me in the back of the head.

Although, I was way faster than they were, there were still twenty seven more guys than me. I needed to kill all of them if I had any chance of surviving; and that is what I was going to fucking do. In my mind's eye I could see the easiest way to get to each guy, I could see the frailty of their armor. I could see how to kill every one of them efficiently and quickly. I could see….

I opened my eyes and stared at the room full of dead bodies. I gazed downward and saw all of the blood that covered me, and I felt weak. Did I kill all of them? Already? I realized that my mother and her son were staring at me in utter fear and I could barely control my breathing or my heart rate. I could feel the hammering against my ribs and I just wanted to puke.

"Good Shiva."

The voice of Mrs. Franklin shook me out of my horrified state. I saw that she was staring at me with fear, awe, and even worse, with the look of a pleasant surprise.

"It's you," she continued. "I thought that you died. But you're alive! And you've been given the Mako treatment! Ah ha ha ha!"

Her terrible laugh echoed throughout the building and I felt numb. What was she talking about?

"It's too perfect! And you don't even have a clue, do you? You are the Argos child! Ah ha ha ha!"

Argos child? Me? What the hell did this have to do with June Argos? I looked at my mother and she looked utterly horrified.

"You will soon come back to me, Reno. Back where you belong."

"Shut the hell up!" I screeched. "You're fucking wrong! You don't know shit!"

I grabbed one of the soldiers' helmet and threw it as hard as I could, shattering the monitor. I gasped for the breath that seemed to have left me. I needed to get out; I needed to take these guys out of here. I quickly untied Ma, then I grabbed her kid and dragged them both out. I kept going and going, completely unaware of my surroundings. It never seemed to be far enough. My mother couldn't handle my pace and stamina, so I picked her up as I had her child and kept going. Suddenly, my feet just stopped. I looked around and noticed that I was in Purgatory, and in Logan's neighborhood. I looked at my reflection in the broken glass of an abandoned shop and almost cringed at my appearance. But it wasn't my torn clothes or the blood that I noticed; it was my eyes. They were blood red and glowed just like a SOLDIER's eyes. What the hell happened to me?

I braced myself mentally and headed towards Logan's place. I could trust him to give my Ma and her son a shelter. I shook my mother awake and set her down so that I could knock on the door. When no one answered I resorted to kicking the door down.

"Logan, get your ass over here now!" I yelled.

I heard the bustling noise and he came down in a pink bath robe. The color seemed to clash with his black skin and the dreadlocks he kept back in a ponytail.

"What be this craziness," he groaned when he saw us.

"Logan, I want you to take care of my mother and her son. They need a place to stay."

He just looked at me and nodded. It seemed that his ability to speak was not working at the moment. I looked at my mother.

"Ma, what the hell was that bitch talking about?!"

She shook as she answered. "I d-don't have a clue, y-yo."

"Liar! You always fucking lie to me!" She seemed to shrink even further. "Ya know what, just shut up and stay under cover. Logan here is a good man and he'll take good care of you. Stay put and I'll make sure you and your kid ain't in any more danger. Then, we'll talk. And by then you had better tell me the truth, or I'll take you back to that packing plant an I'll personally put you in that grinder. Got it!"

She could only cower as a response. I turned around and rubbed my temples.

"Logan, please, I need you to take care of them. They need protection."

"Well, man, I wasn't in Shinra for nothin'." He gave me a firm nod.

"Here, as payment."

I tossed down three thousand gil from my pocket on his table. His eyes widened at the sight of so much money. Besides, I had never paid him for anything.

"Thanks, Reno," he mumbled in awe.

"I'm outta here, yo, but I'll be back soon. Stay out of trouble."

With that I left and headed for my house. I needed to clean up before I was going to give Rude a visit. I needed his confidential access to find more information. What the hell was an "Argos child"? And why did I get the feeling that it probably wasn't any good?

The sky seemed to grow lighter as I made my way up to my apartment. I was so tired, I just wanted nothing more than to sleep the day away then go drink a few beers with Rude. Maybe even play a game of poker. But of course, life would never be fair and I just didn't have the time to waste. I needed answers.

I stumbled into my apartment and locked the door behind me. I dropped my bloody EMR on the floor near the door and began to take off my clothes on the way to the bathroom. When I reached my bedroom everything got fuzzy and I stumbled to the floor.

"Reno!"

Huh, I know that voice. It's nice and deep, has a rich tone and it's a shame that it's hardly used. Wait a minute, what the hell? I sat up quickly and I saw Rude standing over me looking worried.

"Rude? When'd you show up?" I asked. "Did I oversleep?"

"Reno, you ass, you just fell down. I was waiting for you but I didn't hear you come in."

"Is that so?"

"Partner," he began, his voice grave, "you've got to come with me now."

"Really? I was about to go get you myself."

"This is serious, Reno! I need to take you to the Shinra hospital now!"

"What?" I looked down, but other than blood, I was fine. A bit tired, but fine. "Yo, I'm fine. Besides, there is some more important shit that I got to take care of."

"Reno! Just listen to me this once!"

"Why should I?" I challenged.

Rude pinched the bridge of his nose before he replied.

"Rufus had the doctors analyze and re-analyze the results until there was not much doubt. Reno, your body is having a strange reaction to the Mako you received. The doctors don't know what's going on! Your body is going crazy! You may die!"

Rude's face was pale as he finished speaking. I was dumfounded, but I knew he was right. Especially after tonight's events.

"Listen, I won't die, and I'll go with you to the doctors. But promise me something."

"Anything."

"No matter what happens, I want you to take me out to drink as soon as I get out."

He smiled softly.

"It's a promise."