CHAPTER 8:
"Where is he, President Shinra?" Koeft asked, standing uncomfortably close to a very calm and collected Rufus Shinra, who was sitting in a dusty chair in front of his abductor.
"If I've said it once, I have said it a thousand times. Your brother is dead. He was killed when the plate fell on the Slums. Besides, what use would Kesht have been to me alive?"
"Information." Koeft replied, "It's obvious to us that you and your leeches want the KPS destroyed. You could have tortured information out of Kesht, and found our members one at a time, maybe get them to leak the whereabouts of our hideouts."
"Please, spare me. Your so-called 'organization' died with Kesht. From then on you became predictable and lazy. It was only a matter of time before my people would find yours. And find you they did. You're over."
"We're prepared to fight!" Koeft shouted, causing Rufus to draw away from him, shaking the yell out of his head before looking back up.
"Fight? What do you intend to fight with. Shinra has already handed your ass to you in a trash bag twice. You now have, what, seven or eight men left of the KPS? Including you? If you still find yourself a threat, then you are even stupider than I thought. Your reign ends tonight."
"Then I will take you out with me."
"That's laughable. You think that killing me is going to stop Shinra from rebuilding? No, you're mistaken. Shinra will continue far longer than you will ever know, with or without me." Rufus wasn't afraid. There was very rarely a time that he was. He had been faced with danger most of his life, and instead of being afraid, he had the power to instill fear even in his captives. This moment was no different. Koeft could not stare into his deep blue eyes without feeling uneasy. He was desperate to break any eye contact that Rufus in sighted.
-------------------------------
"Damn, what is with these freaks liking dirty, old shithouses, yo?" Reno asked as he and his four other colleagues made their way through a filthy alleyway, on their way to the abandoned soup kitchen that had not been torn down yet. A newer, cleaner one had been made on the other side of New Midgar, and this one now only served as a home for rats and bacteria.
"Can't say I know. Maybe because it's inconspicuous. Supposedly back when they were at their most powerful, they had a huge building for their headquarters." Rude replied, scooting a moldy box aside with his foot.
"They want it because nobody cares about it. Common society doesn't have their eyes peeled on all or even any sides of a place like this. The KPS feels that it's a safe haven." Vincent stated. He knew what he was talking about. "It's not that they like staying in places like this, but they feel that they need to."
The four Turks and Vincent made their way through the seemingly endless twists and turns of the alley maze. They kept an eye open on their surroundings, uncomfortably plunging deeper down the grimy path, only concerned with their boss's safe return. It truly smelled awful here, but the stench was starting to fade away as the sun disappeared behind the clouds. They were only a couple blocks away from the back door entry of the facility.
"Yo, Rude. I wonder if this is going to mean a raise for us." Reno joked. He really didn't care either way, but he felt that he needed to say something to break the tension amongst them, even just a little. He hated situations like that, where everyone was worried and the air was so thick that it was hard to breathe. "Maybe not, yo." He cracked a grin and scratched at is scalp for a moment before someone spoke.
"Wow Reno. If that's what you care about, maybe you should let Rufus plow you too. Maybe then he'd pay you better, you ignorant ass." Elena snapped, in her usual terrible mood. Everyone stopped and stared at her for a moment. It was obvious to everyone else that Reno was only kidding, but she seemed hell-bent on keeping the situation as serious as possible. But Reno was smooth, and he could very honestly give a shit less what Elena thought. She was just a bitch. He put up with her at work because he had to, but this was not work. Technically it was, but at the moment, Rufus was not there for her to go running to.
"You know Elena; you'd be able to at least give people the impression that you might actually be intelligent if you kept your mouth closed more often. Isn't that how you get paid so well? Shutting your mouth and opening up your legs? Did you give up on Tseng here and let the R man take a stroll in your private quarters with a flesh pipe as the access key?" Reno smiled, now, raising his brow deviously. He could be a real jerk if he wanted to, which he never usually did. Elena just seemed to bring that side of him out every time she spoke.
"You're a real bastard, Reno." Tseng stated sharply. He liked standing up to Reno, because it made him feel like a man. He never said anything toward Rude, because he felt that Reno was weaker and easier to demean.
"You're a Nancy little mama's boy, Tseng." Reno replied, sticking a cigarette into his mouth and lighting it. He had started to feel a little tense. They did have work to do, and the thought of meeting up with Koeft again was unnerving. He took a long drag and let the smoke billow out, before blowing a smoke heart at Rude.
"Speaking of mothers, looking at you, I'd say yours didn't do so hot."
Reno stopped in his tracks, hand halfway to his mouth and slowly turned his gaze toward Tseng again, a vicious look coming into his eyes.
"Um…what the fuck did you just say to me, yo?" Reno asked, through gritted teeth, staring daggers at his co-worker.
"I said that your mom failed you." Tseng said again, his arms crossed coolly over his chest. For a moment he seemed to feel invincible.
"Show some fucking respect, my momma is dead." Reno grunted.
"Hmm, better off I think. Now she doesn't have to hang her head in shame."
"You motherfucker!" Reno yelled as he rushed toward Tseng, fist drawn back. He wanted to just kill this guy, and he was going to hit him as many times as he could before somebody pulled him off. Only a fraction of a second before Reno could let a punch fly, another fist connected hard against Tseng's cheek. The sound could have probably been heard from the street. Tseng's eyes widened for a moment, staring at Reno in utter confusion. He stumbled a couple of steps, trying to gain his footing before spinning fully and falling onto the dirty cement, unconscious. Reno looked down at him, before looking toward the direction the fist flew from. A smile crossed his face as he saw Rude giving his hand a shake before massaging the bare knuckles.
"Got you covered." He said, "Now let's leave the mothers out of this. God that hurt." Rude said, sticking the skinned knuckle of his index finger into his mouth.
"Very amusing." Vincent stated.
"You're such a badass, Rude. Remind me to give you a BJ at your desk in the morning." Reno smiled.
"TSENG!" Elena yelled, lowering herself onto the ground. "Rude, what the hell did you do?" She shook her unconscious partner's shoulder, but he was nowhere near waking up.
"If you're so worried about it, perhaps you should stay here with him. Let the rest of us handle this matter." Vincent said, walking right past her, still heading in the right direction, followed by both Reno and Rude. They continued on for a few minutes silently before Rude spoke again.
"Wait, Reno. A BJ at work?"
"Yeah, why not? You never complained before, yo."
"That's because you never did it at work."
"I haven't? Well, you've been missing out."
"Let's stay focused." Vincent noted, interrupting the conversation by clearing his throat. They were getting very close to the building and needed to watch for traps.
--------------------------------------------
"Keep it down, Clanks" Reno warned quietly as they broke into the back door and Vincent's gauntlet happened to graze loudly across the frame. Inside this place was dank and dark. There were no lights on, and the only light they could see came from the sun, which shone through the cracks in the boarded up windows. This specific store room was covered in dust. It was hard to breathe in here, without feeling the urge to cough or sneeze. Once in, Rude pointed their path down the hallway.
"Reno, what do you think the chances are of President Shinra being alive at this point?" Vincent asked, wanting to at least feel reassured that they weren't heading into this mess without a hope. As he walked, he brushed a cobweb out of the hall before passing through it.
"Pretty good, I think. Rufus is calm and I don't think he would bring violence onto himself. It took them three days to totally fuck my shit up. It's been less than a day for Rufus in here." Reno believed his own words. He had really brought a lot of his pain on himself, because he refused to be taken down. Rufus had a way of talking to people, and he didn't have to physically fight them. His superior intellect was very little match for anyone that was against him.
After walking down the path for only a few minutes, they were caught by surprise when a chunk of the wall on the right side of them seemed to blow itself up, leaving a huge hole in its wake. Both Reno and Vincent ducked just in time to miss being hit by debris from the stucco wall.
"Jeez, lucky. I almost got my face blown off, yo." Reno yelled as he and Vincent struggled to their feet, slipping around on some of the smaller rocks that hit the floor. Neither of them noticed as a live grenade flew through the hole in the wall, and out into the hall they were stumbling in. Vincent gained his footing and jumped back, clear of the hole, while Reno skidded and fell back down face first onto the ground.
"Reno, you jackass! Move it!" Rude yelled, jumping forward and stooping down on the ground in one fluid motion. Luckily Reno's foot kicked the explosive over toward his partner's grasp. Though completely by accident, it was rewarded when Rude grabbed the grenade and threw it back through the hole, yelling for the group to duck just in time. The powerful blast sent not only fire but huge chunks of foundation flying through the air at hazardous speeds. The heat was intense for a moment, but quickly subsided to only small fires scattered throughout the hall.
"Everyone all right?" Rude asked, slowly sitting up. Vincent grunted in response, rising to his feet while Reno, still on his stomach propped himself up on his elbows. He sat up rather slow, in total amazement.
"Rude, that was badass. Where's you learn that?" He smiled, running the habitual hand through his hair. His graze stopped when his fingers touched over something solid. Picking it out he took a look at what appeared to be the bloody stump of a human finger.
"Gah! Jesus Christ!" he screamed, throwing it and squirming backward into Vincent's legs. "That was a fucking finger in my hair! Is there any more?!" He squeaked, dragging hands through his red locks searching for another intruder.
"Relax Reno. There's nothing else in there." Rude reassured.
"Relax? That's easy for you to say. You didn't just pull a severed limb out of your hair. Fucking Eww, it got on my skin and everything." Said a slowly calming Reno, pulling himself up to his feet. He stepped over to the hole in the wall and cautiously took a peek inside. It was a disaster in there, but he could make out body parts scattered amongst the debris.
"Looks like we took care of a couple of them, anyway." Rude stated, stepping over to stand beside Reno, feeling the need to view the destruction. It was disturbing, but certainly was not the worst thing he had ever seen. He felt no guilt at this. These people deserved what they got in Rude's mind.
"Let's go. President Shinra is waiting on us." Vincent uttered quietly, proceeding down the hall again. The two Turks followed a few steps behind him. If they hadn't been there at the time, they would have never guessed that Vincent had nearly gotten blown up. He continued his pace, looking normal as he could. He didn't care and he wasn't scared. It was eerie in a way, how he seemed to have no time for shock. Reno was still a little shaky from that moment, constantly wiping his hands on the leg of his slacks. He was growing more and more uneasy as the minutes ticked by. He wanted to just do this and get out, hopefully kill Koeft by catching him by surprise.
Vincent stopped short, holding up his hand to demand silence. He had heard something, a voice maybe coming from close by. Yes, there it was again. He stepped forward, listening as intently as he could before pinpointing the direction of the sound. Vincent had incredible hearing and was able to place the voices two doors ahead to the right. He stepped forward, pausing a moment before throwing the door open, gun already drawn and came upon the scene that he was looking for.
In the room stood Koeft, three other men, and Rufus Shinra, who was being guarded by yet another member of the KPS. This man was small but he had President Shinra restrained. He held no weapon, but Koeft had his trusty handgun, which he now had pointed at Vincent.
"Sir, you okay?" Reno asked, stepping into the room behind Vincent, followed closely by Rude.
"I'm fine. I must commend you for coming to my rescue so quickly. But Vincent, didn't I tell you not to allow Reno to come into this?"
"You did. But you know as well as I do that telling him that he couldn't come would be a waste of breath."
Reno looked at Rufus, then at Vincent, feeling betrayed. He was tired of being treated like a baby. Enough was enough.
"Take it easy, sir. I can handle it." Reno stated, "You're forgetting you hired me as a Turk. That means I'm here to protect you no matter what it takes." He got into a defensive stance, waiting for someone to make the first move.
"Reno? Oh, yes that is you. We meet again!" Koeft exclaimed, gun still pointed at Vincent but eyes now on the smallest of the men in the room. "Are you coming back for more? You gonna fucking fight me this time, or just scream your lungs out while I break you apart?"
Reno lunged forward, only to have Vincent grip his arm, pulling him to a halt.
"Let go!" Reno yelled.
"Wait. Reno, it seems this fight is not entirely fair." Vincent noted, raising and changing aim on his gun. Before anyone could say a word, Vincent's gun fired not one, not twice, but thrice. It was so quick that for a moment, nobody knew what he had even done, until three of Koeft's men fell to the floor simultaneously, dead.
"Vincent!" Rude cried out, but before he could finish his sentence, the situation quickly escalated to an out of control level. Reno rushed at Koeft with Vincent at his side, while Rude bartered with the man holding onto Rufus. The man let the President go so that he and Rude could fight. Fists and feet flew, before Koeft realized he still had a gun and started firing. Reno and Vincent darted around the room, trying to confuse his directions before they got the upper hand behind him. Koeft turned to shoot, only to have his gun kicked out of his hand. The weapon smashed against the floor and skidded into the wall before misfiring, ejecting a fire-hot bullet from the barrel, and sending it into the side of Reno's shoe.
This time, the sound of the gun firing froze everyone in the room, and they began looking around, trying to find the destination of the misfired bullet. After everyone seemed to be okay, the visual of blood in a puddle around Reno's foot made the realization and the rush of pain hit him like a ton of bricks. He gasped, looking down at the mess that was created before crying out.
"FUCK!" he slid down onto the floor, ripping his shoe of and screaming some more. "AGAIN?! Goddamn it! This hurts just as bad the second time! You'd think it doesn't but it does!" He yelled through gritted teeth, clutching his foot, wrapped now in a blood-drenched sock.
"That's twice I haven't killed you. But I plan on making a remedy of that, right NOW!" Koeft yelled, charging at the already injured man. As if reading each other's minds, Rude and Vincent switched places, pairing Rude with Koeft, and Vincent with the last surviving member of the KPS. As Rude blocked the mountain of a man, Rufus took it upon himself to drag his subordinate and friend, a thrashing and swearing Reno, into the corner of the large room where he couldn't get hurt any further.
"Now, let's see how tough you are when you're outnumbered." Rude growled, before lunging at the speed of light and landing a falcon punch in Koeft's solar plexus. The man doubled over for only a moment before fighting back, sending Rude smashing through the door with one powerful fist. He got back up and went after more, though, while Vincent tore into the other man. His fight was easy, and it was over in not a lot of time at all. He didn't even need to use his gun or his metal arm. This guy was easy to fight with only his feet and normal hand. But he didn't have time to toy around; Rude was not going to be able to hold up against Koeft by himself.
Leaping into the air, Vincent planted his foot into the side of the weaker man's face, adding enough force to where he knew he would hear a snap. When he did, the man fell, and Vincent landed as graceful as a cat beside him. Placing two fingers on the man's throat, he established that his opponent was dead. Rising swiftly, he hurried to Rude's aid, blocking one of the huge man's fists with his own. Without the slightest hesitation, he brought his foot hard against one of Koeft's open knees, pressing hard enough to break yet another bone.
Watching Koeft's eyes bulge as he crashed to the floor, Rude knew it was going to be easy from here on. He relaxed, watching the man thrash and scream for a moment before stooping down to pick up Reno's EMR. A smile crossed his face at that instant, as he stepped over to Koeft and slammed the rod down into the unbroken knee; rendering him immobile and filling the air with more of those precious screams Rude couldn't get enough of at the moment. He waited for Koeft to quiet down, waited until he lay on the floor, the only sound emitting from him was panting and soft whimpering before Rude spoke.
"My, my. It seems like the table has turned. How does it feel? Right now, tell me how it feels to be completely helpless."
He waited for a moment before flicking the switch of the EMR, letting it buzz in his hand for a moment before sticking it down into the side of Koeft's chest. A fresh burst of screams filled the room as the commander flailed upon the floor, partially in pain from being shocked, and partially in pain from thrashing broken limbs. After shocking for around five seconds, Rude pulled the rod back, freeing Koeft from the current.
"Answer me." He said calmly, dodging to the side as Koeft swiped at his leg with one of his huge arms. "Try that again, I dare you." Rude growled giving Koeft's arm a quick jolt. "This rod is nowhere near the wattage of the prods you use. There is no way it will ever burn you as thoroughly as you burned this guy over here. We use our EMRs to subdue, not to torture. But luckily, I think I can work past it. Now answer my question."
"F-fuck y-" Koeft started before being blasted with another shot at the electric rod. Rude held it there for a bit longer, his mind filled with mental images of this man and all of the pain that he inflicted upon Reno. Rude couldn't believe how brave his partner was, how he could even attempt to fight this man, despite being outsized and outnumbered. He was incredible, but he could have been killed. There was no chance of him coming out of that fight without being hurt. It wasn't a fight, it was abuse. Rude hated abuse.
"I had a feeling that you'd say that." Rude replied to him, pulling the rod away again, leaving Koeft panting and shaking. "I hate people like you…scum. You'd be a liar if you said you could call yourself a man. Where do you get off beating up on people so much smaller than you, people that have no chance? Makes you feel big and bad. But you're not so good when your people aren't around to back you up, are you?"
Rude dug the prod in again, not waiting for another word from Koeft. It didn't even matter what was said. He couldn't talk his way out of it. Rude was centered in a rush, and it was too perfect to drop. Watching the body below him convulse in pain was becoming an incredible high. He felt no guilt, and he didn't compare himself to Koeft. This was beyond him, it was karma. It was personal. He had no idea how long he had been electrocuting Koeft before he finally stopped again.
"No more!" Koeft screamed.
"No more? You've got to be kidding me; I have just barely got started."
Koeft panicked, feeling as if he were about to be shocked again. He had never had electricity course through him until this day. It was unbearable. He couldn't believe this was only a fraction of what he had done to the Turk he had tormented so cruelly. He had to escape; he had to get out of this. Turning over, he saw that he had fallen not too far from the gun he had been using. He scattered, reaching for it, closed his hand around the handle. It reassured him that he had a chance. He turned, aiming it at his attacker, only to hear a gunshot long before he pulled the trigger. The gun was again out of his hand. Looking at himself, he noticed his hand was no longer his hand, but a bloody stump. No fingers, no palm, a mess from the wrist up. He looked on in shock, with a glint of metal catching his eye. It was him, the dark, threatening looking man with the metal arm. He had used that cannon of a gun and blew Koeft's hand clean off, before he even was able to think of shooting.
Like a hawk, Rude was on him, forgetting for the moment that the EMR was electric at all. He used it as a club, hitting Koeft anywhere his arm could reach, over and over again, tearing the flesh and breaking the bones, before losing his own balance and falling to straddle Koeft's abdomen, still hitting as fast and as hard as he could. Arms went up to block his blows, but he smashed through them, breaking the limbs like those of a tree.
Reno watched this scene, fixated, unable to turn away. His eyes were wide and he trembled uncontrollably. This was it. This was his partner killing, and for the first time in his life, it had nothing to do with work. He was wild, and this was his payback. Rude couldn't stop, wouldn't stop now. He thrashed and beat like Reno had never seen. With each hit, blood splattered against his clothes, his perfectly tanned skin. It painted him, like a picture of something horrible and beautiful at the same time. It was perfection, and Reno could not deny that to himself, no matter what his brain tried to tell him. He's doing this because he loves me. It's revenge. Rude can't let Koeft live after what he did to me. He's a fucking god, and he's mine. This was sweeter than any concoction made, because it was nature, a territorial war waged between predator and prey. This was untamed murderous lust. It was pleasure and pain, so right and wrong.
"President Shinra, would you like me to put a stop to this?" Vincent asked, staring unaffected into the scene before him.
"No, this is Rude's fight. He can stop himself when he's finished. Let's not deprive him." Rufus replied coolly, one arm wrapped around his injured employee, bracing him as they looked on.
Rude had laid the rod into Koeft's body so many times that it was now slick and slippery with blood. Raising it into the air toward another blow, his hand lost grip of it and the EMR flew across the room, clanking into the wall before coming to a halt on the floor, too far away to reach for. The Turk looked down at his victim. A smile crossed the man's face when the beating suddenly stopped. He was too far gone to even know how bad he looked, and thought that he was going to be freed.
Instead, Rude grabbed a fist full of hair, pinning Koeft's head down before bringing a hard, bloody fist down against an already battered face and an already fractured skull. Each punch brought a grotesque squashing sound and the body under him began to spasm violently, yet he didn't stop. He brought his fist down again and again until he felt a few of the bones in his hand break against the cement floor. Looking down, he realized why. From the mandible bone up, there was scarcely a head to punch into anymore. His hand gripped only hair and he had fully bashed a man's skull in with his leather-clad fist. It was over. Koeft was dead, his remains lay still.
Rude paused for a moment, letting this feeling wash over him, the climatic finish.
End of Chapter 8.