Hi guys.
Glad to see you back for another chapter of Take a Deep Breath, not a lot of warnings in this one.
WARNING: Bad language, violence, Yuri, Sex Scenes…that's about it this time.
Again; if violence of any sort bothers you then don't read any further, this IS a violent Fic and not meant for the eyes of the easily offended or minors.
Irene Sharda: I'm glad you like the new additions and yes Rufus is quite a bastard. Hmmmm…I might be able to make your wishes come true with Reno becoming one of the triplets toys, I rather like the sound of that myself.
: Thank you sweets, happy you like it so far.
Psycho Steph: I think of you whenever I'm writing Reno, I know how much you love the redheaded rouge. Yes, poor Loz is clueless to romance I'm afraid, but something about him is endearing nonetheless.
Silver Mercy: Hahaha…Mispussyfantastic is awesome, she will have a few more run-ins with Kadaj but I'm yet to decide who will win, angry cats can be nasty.
Natzilla: (snicker) Oh…yeah…sure Nat, I won't hurt the cat! pfttttt.
AlexJ69: Oh sweety, that was just an awesome review, thank you so much. I kinda wonder when I'm writing Rufus…*how would Alex write him?* I know you're the one who's knows his character well and I remember what you said about him so I hope he's coming off like he should. Reno is a blast to write, I could get really carried away when I'm writing him he's just so much fun. And I agree, I don't have any sympathy for the kids what-so-ever. B & D is hot when under the Rems hands. And don't pick on poor Daj for getting his ass kicked by a cat…that is one angry ass cat! Lmao.
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Reno stood uncharacteristically stoic for a change. Hands stuffed firmly down inside his pockets while beside him his partner Rude fidgeted uncomfortably in the stark white sterile lab beneath Healin. Vigilantly his brilliant blue eyes watched as the rookie Turks gently lowered the strange devices to the floor. Excited scientists appeared from nowhere hovering over the artefacts, asking the team questions, they were ridiculous questions as far as the redhead was concerned.
Where exactly did they find them, how were they positioned, were they doing anything, were they connected to anything?blah, blah, blah, were there any others?
Reno rolled his Caribbean blue eyes in agitation and thought to himself, 'like yeah, there was heaps of other unusual shit Doc, but we decided to just leave it all there for someone else to find,'….fucking scientist. If they were so interested in what the things were doing, why didn't they damn well come along and see for themselves? His opinions of these four-eyed freaks wavered from a fucking bunch of dip-shits, to scary evil geniuses. They might be masters of quantum physics but the so-called wonderfucks were retarded as far as common sense goes.
He sent a glance to Rude and noticed the big guy staring at the whiteboard the lab-rats drew their complex bullshit on. He removed a hand from the pockets of his jacket and flicked is fingers across Rude's back, drawing his attention to the matter at hand. His red mane dipped in the direction of the door, a clear sign that they should get the hell out while the younger recruits answered all the annoying questions.
He swung round, took a step and ran smack into the most troublesome woman in his life right now, Rufus' secretary.
"Trudy," he feigned a sweet smile at her, "how they hanging sweetheart?"
The perfectly groomed woman drilled him with a hateful hazel glare and ignored his crude remark. "Rufus wants to see you and Rude in his office right away," she bluntly said to him. Reno knew Trudy's dislike was basically directed his way and he couldn't remember the reason for it or exactly when it stared, the two of them just riled one another.
Reno raised his scarlet winged brows in surprise at the order, "Hey, I just pulled an all-nighter and I'm dead on my feet princess," protested the redhead.
The woman looked at him with confusion plastered across her prim face before it changed to one of anger, "I really don't give a damn Reno, I've been here for nearly 24 hours," she now yelled, causing all the scientists and rookie Turks to turn their way and blissfully watch Reno get a mouthful, and the woman seemed to be on a roll.
"I've been on my damn feet nearly the whole entire time and their killing me, I'm tired and I wanna go home to bed," she virtually screamed in his face.
Reno raised his hands in supplication, "Whoa, whoa, whoa Trudy," he yelled back, his own fatigue rising to the surface as he let her have a glare of his own. Those wonderfully straight brows of his cinched down towards the bridge of his nose which brought up the outer edges in an almost V shape. An intimidating scowl that sent Rookies running most of the time. "Keep your panties on and don't get so excited," Reno was NOT about to loose face and let her get one over on him, especially in front of the rookies he'd been chewing out for the last 24 hours.
"I know you want to go to bed but, you're really not my type doll-face," he mocked her, adjusting the collar of his jacket he side stepped around the woman heading for the door.
Trudy looked from his retreating form, back to the people all watching her and tried to save what little dignity she could.
"You know," she yelled out to the red-mop-head, "one day, someone is going to kick your ass and I really want to be there when it happens."
Reno always had to have the last say, turning around to face the irate woman he held his hands up as if warding her off and yelled back.
"Trudy….I'm not sleeping with you so stop begging me, it's getting a little embarrassing now," he smirked as her jaw dropped slightly open. "Besides," he gently gripped the plentiful package of his groin, "I don't dip this in overbearing-ball-breaking-bitches that have their teeth located between their legs, I like normal woman," and he disappeared through the door.
Trudy seethed and everyone around her did his best not to laugh, giggle, smirk or breathe in her direction right now.
The redhead sauntered through the hallway with Rude beside him, "Yo Rude, do you think she likes me?" he grinned at the bald Turk.
Rude raised his brows in thought, "yeah, I was positive she was going to launch herself at you any moment there Reno," he sarcastically replied to his narcissistic partner. Both strutted in their own style down the corridor. Rude, broad shouldered with a strong frame was tall and straight seemingly glided effortlessly as he walked, but the redhead had a bounce to his swagger. Confidence mixed with sexuality all wrapped up in a tight body and perched on top was a blemish-free attractive face, sky blue eyes with a fiery mane and matching red tribal tattoo's slanting down from his temples to his cheeks. The effect sent most women into a spin but there was the odd one that resisted his temptation….like Trudy for instance.
The cocky Turk laughed and proffered his hands up to his partner, "I'm irresistible Rude, I keep telling you but you don't believe me." and he shook his head baffled that the big guy couldn't see his overwhelming sexiness.
Rude pondered that idea for a while before dismissing it completely, "did you see the board in the lab?" he gladly changed the subject.
Reno scowled, "Yo, what board, what are you talking about buddy?" he absently queried.
The bald Turk wondered how Reno ever got out of bed sometimes, "the board the scientists were working on, they had this diagram of two different DNA strands on it."
The redhead sent a patronising glance out of the corners of his eyes wondering if Rude even had a clue on what the hell he had just said. "And I should give a shit because…..?" queried Reno.
"Because aren't they suppose to be studying the sample of Jenova we brought back?" Rude thought it should have been obvious.
Reno frowned in utter confusion and gave the Turk a direct glare as he continued to strut, "Rude, if you're trying to get to the point buddy, stop taking the fucking scenic route will ya!"
Rude huffed, "You can't have two different DNA sequences in the one specimen."
Reno sighed in boredom, "That is sooooo, not fascinating," he mumbled and brightened as they turned the corner and saw Elena ready to enter Rufus' office.
"Yo Elena, boss called you to hey?" The brash redhead gave her a slight, lopsided grin and dipped his head to the side. Whether he knew it or not, the sight of those baby blue eyes open wide and the tilt of his head, it was always quite irresistible to most females, Elena guessed he knew perfectly well how it affected those around him, he loved to hit all the girls with that look.
The small woman laid her petite hand on Reno's arm, "Glad to see you two back and in one piece," she warmly said, "Did you run into trouble?"
The Turks knew of what she was referring to, the bastards that had hurt her and Tseng. Reno's ruby coloured mane shook in denial, "No Elle, no one there. Either they had moved on or they kept themselves hidden while we were there, maybe our firepower scared them off," he assured her and watched as she seemed to mull this over.
"I somehow don't think they are the type to back down from a fight Reno," she said at last and Reno noticed he brief look of fear as he turned to knock on their boss' door.
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Rufus was going over the final details of his plan with Tseng when he heard the mumblings of his Turks at the door, a soft knock followed and he quickly finished his discussion. "I want this situation under our control; I don't like not knowing where we stand." He sighed as he sat back in the automated chair, weighing up all the odds of his chances of success. "Just make sure you stay in the shadows when you're around our lot, don't show any connections just yet."
He reached for the switch to the right of his desk and pressed it, a soft buzz sounded and the door clicked open revealing the tussled red mane of Reno as he swayed in followed by his partner Rude, the petite form of Elena came in last. Her surprise at the sight of the dark haired Wutain quickly subsided to an unemotional mask, Elena gave him a nod of acknowledgement, which he returned, and she wheeled around shutting the door behind her.
'This will be an interesting,' thought Rufus, while he had been well aware of the two girls involvement from the start it never bothered him, not until they made it obvious to everyone around them. Then for some reason it bothered him, but he never made it known, he would save that for a rainy day.
The four stood before him and Rufus eyed them over judgmentally before going ahead with his speech. He knew Reno and Rude would be tired but this couldn't wait till his men had had their beauty sleep.
"We have an emergency situation here people, someone that is very valued to me has been taken, most likely for ransom but nether the less, I want her found and I want it done yesterday! Do I make myself clear on that?" he looked up to the three Turks and held their gaze briefly.
Elena's eyes searched the presidents. The words 'valued to me' followed by 'her' caught the girls attention quickly. No one was of value to him unless he could use them to his advantage. However, the blond Turk had an uneasy feeling stir in the pit of her stomach.
"Any ransom demands yet sir?" she queried trying to push him for further information.
"No not yet." said Rufus, "we're not exactly sure it is a ransom but with the wealth behind this girl we really can't see it as anything else at the moment," he added.
All this information swirled around inside Elena's head and made a small vortex appear in her stomach. Girl, wealth, someone of value to Rufus, all seemed to churn in the spiralling black hole.
"Who is it sir?" asked Reno
Rufus sighed, and laced his fingers together in his lap, "It's Tegan Hamilton," and he watched intently at all the reactions across the table from him.
Rufus noticed Elena's hand immediately go to her chest and a look of panic briefly touch the blonds face before she quickly regained her composer. He knew she would hurt from this; all of them knew the pretentious bitch and what she was destined for, Rufus.
Reno raised his brows in surprise, "Holyshit!" He exclaimed. He remembered the girl only too well, her unpredictable involvement with his boss for a start. Both strayed on a regular basis and their involvement seemed congenial on the surface but Reno had glimpsed behind the scenes a few times and their loving façade was marred with vicious words and sadistic games. But, their combined wealth would never be challenged and both were too ambitious to let the other fall into somebody else's hands.
She was too much trouble for the likes of Reno, *High maintenance.* Her tastes were also out of his league, her arguments with Rufus would turn ugly and violence soon followed but she seemed to like it that way, so did Rufus for his part.
Reno cringed slightly, he wasn't one for getting rough with women and that bitch had unnerved him more then Trudy.
Rufus continued, "Her father has his own investigators on this but I'm sure we will do better." His no mistakes attitude was rolling off him in waves. "So I suggest you don't get in their way and try to refrain from even letting them know of our involvement for now."
"You know the rules, it's imperative that Tseng's connection to us is kept concealed above all else. I have a list of her closest friends, start there as to where she was last night."
Rufus knew most of the people she knew, he just didn't socialise with any of them. They were mostly rich kids that liked to party hard with no consequences of their future from lack of living brain cells from over exposure to drugs and alcohol.
He handed the appropriate paperwork back to Tseng; "report back to me as soon as you know anything and I mean ANYTHING." he glared.
"Oh and one more thing…..I have an immeasurable amount to loose if you don't find her… so if your ever going to fail me…..now had better not be the time!"
He gave each of them a hard look to accentuate the seriousness of his statement.
Rufus nodded to Tseng then waved them away. "Go-go-go." The intimidated employee's turned and headed for the door, this was not a mission to mess about on, Tegan was always important to the President and he wouldn't take any fuckups. Though each of the four had their own views on why she was important to their boss.
As they walked towards the elevator, Tseng handed Reno a copy of the paperwork. "Her closest friend is Juliette Payne, we haven't been able to get in contact with her as yet so go to her apartment and see if you can find her. Do it as quickly as possible, Max's investigators are chomping at the bit and I can only divert them for so long."
"Got it." said Reno and not one to wait for elevators, he signalled to Rude and the two headed off down the stairway.
The lift chimed its arrival and the doors opened for the two Turks who entered and turned.
"Ok Elena, you're going to Carmel Mitchells house, you can handle this on your own."
"Yes, I'll find out what happened to her, one way or another." Her reply was cold and threatening and Tseng wasn't shocked by her reaction. He expected it, he knew they were lovers after all, he was the one who discovered their affair.
Inside, Elena was fretting, the girl she had loved was missing and Goddess knows what was happening to her. If she came to harm….NO! It couldn't happen…..not to her lover, or more like, ex-lover. Even though they were not an item any more, Elena was still attached emotionally, no one forgets their first.
The blond Turk often thought about the evening they met; it had been a perfect night and they were captivated with each other. Tegan was Elena's first and only female lover, after that no one interested her. Remembering their nights together was the only thing that got her through the torturous days at the sadistic silvers hands.
Being held gently by the pretty brunette instead of the silver demons rough hands holding her down while they tortured her. Being kissed softly, not bitten to a state that left ugly purple teeth marks etched all over her skin. Would she ever escape them? Physically she had been rescued, but, mentally Elena knew she was still trapped. Anyone with silver hair caused her to panic momentarily now and they haunted her dreams. Frequently she woke up screaming for them to stop, covered in sweat and positive she was back in that dark cell until the realization set in of soft sheets beneath her, assuring the panicked girl that she was back in her own apartment.
Elena searched for any comfort she could find these days, even if that comfort was a distant memory. One in which she replayed certain scenes over in her mind, one in particular, the night they left Rufus and all his scheming behind and spent it lost to one another.
The drive back to Tegan's place was overflowing with seductive glances and smiles to one another, accompanied by a substantial amount of teasing small talk. This was new territory to the timid blond girl but she wanted it more then anything right now.
Tegan's penthouse was astounding compared to Elena's modest one bedroom apartment; she entered a little overawed at the whole situation that was unfolding before her. The exotic brunette slowly walked straight towards the bedroom, glancing back to Elena and smiling. Inch by inch the seductress slowly lowered her skirt and stepped out of it, resuming her path into the luxurious boudoir.
"Coming Cutie?" the brunette cooed over her shoulder with a sultry grin spread across her luscious red lips and Elena didn't hesitate to follow.
Tegan's gold speckled light brown eyes never left the blonds uncertain ones as the vixen lay back on the bed, curling her hair around a delicate finger, the sight making the young Turks breath catch in her throat. Elena did a quick scan of the room, wondering at the nights Rufus would spend here and how he would fuck his dark haired lover. For the first time she thought sexually about her boss, would he screw slow and soft?…or fuck hard and fast?
The prim blond moved slowly, unsure and hesitant, to lie beside the seductive brunette and reached up to touch that pretty face, marvelling at the softness. She traced her slender finger down the side then across Tegan's lips. Elena's eyes took in the sight of the temptress, from the beautiful black hair, down….. To the low cut top, down….to her lace under pants, down….to the black ankle strapped stilettos.
Elena suddenly felt apprehensive, "Tegan I…"
"Shhhhhhh pretty girl, it's alright." whispered the vision, "you don't have to do anything you don't want to, OK."
Elena nodded, she was definitely turned on by the girl but had no idea what would be expected of her, "I've never been with a girl," she anxiously stated.
Her plea seemed so childlike to Tegan, making her intoxicated by the innocent predicament the young girl was faced with, "would you like me to show you how fucking fantastic it is." replied Tegan.
Elena smiled and seemed to relax a bit, Tegan would take charge, "I trust you," she shyly replied.
Tegan moved in on the young Turk, she took a hold of Elena's hand, bringing it up to her mouth, and kissed the soft small palm. Taking hold of the blonds' middle finger, she sucked it into her warm cavern, softly twirling her tongue around the digit then teasing it in and out, blowing off the Turks finger. Tegan looked into Elena's eyes and saw the look of excitement mixed with trepidation, she released her finger and lent in so her lips barely touched the blonds, testing…teasing…exploring, then claimed the girl's young delicious lips.
Elena responded with equal force, Tegan opened her mouth and let her tongue lightly skim across the Turks bottom lip, the blonde brought forward her tongue to lightly tickle the tip of Tegan's then sucked the brunette's wet muscle deep into her wanting mouth..
"Mmmmm Elena, could you be more fucking fantastic." moaned Tegan.
"I'm sure I could try…" purred the blond. "Just for you and those irresistible cheery lips."
Tegan smiled and drew her in close again, "you're so sweet."
She stretched the petite blond out on the bed, and kissed her silky smooth chest, down to the rise of her breast, "Oh Wow." moaned Elena.
"Do you want me to stop?" queried Tegan.
"No!….. No, I love the feel of your mouth….please, don't stop, don't ever stop," she sighed in contentment.
The sultry brunette almost ripped Elena's top off, exposing her naked breasts before her and immediately sucked the pale pink nipple into her mouth, suckling the tender nub with a hunger she had not felt for a long time.
Elena arched up into her mouth with abandon, "Ohhhhhhh." she moaned.
The temptress smiled, "do you like that baby, huh… do you want more?"
"YES! YES! I want more." groaned Elena.
Tegan's mouth moved lower, gently licking and kissing on it's decent to her naval where she flicked her tongue in and out of the small hole before again moving lower to the waistband of Elena's suit pants. The skilled brunette deftly undid the catches and slid them off Elena's trim hips, tossing them haphazardly on the floor.
The brunette moved in between the Turks legs and gently bit at the skin under white cotton panties that covered the slight mound of Elena, causing the girl to buck in nervous reaction.
Her breathing became rapid short pants as her outer folds were nipped and sucked, the cotton underpants were fast becoming a huge drawback for the aroused blond.
Elena watched on as Tegan teased her into a state of ecstasy, her heart fluttered when nimble fingers moved the crutch of her cotton briefs to the side and without any hesitation, Tegan's tongue dived straight into the blonds' hot wet hole.
Elena suddenly snapped back to the present, remembering where she was and the dire situation at hand. Tegan was taken, and the motherfucker who did it had better have a real good escape plan in play, because he was as good as dead in her eyes.
She'd had enough of men to last a lifetime, the evil smile on that long haired boys face was impregnated into her mind, she replayed the violence again and again, hoping to find a way that she could have avoided capture and killed the bastards. But, each time she ended up raped, battered and bruised.
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Reno slouched back in the passenger side seat of the black sedan, his arm dangling out the window as they drove to the girl's apartment. Rude said nothing as usual just concentrating on the road ahead of him.
Bored with the scenery, Reno struck up a conversation. "So…Tseng is back with us hey, I bet Elena is just ecstatic to be his partner again." He gave a cheeky smirk to the bald Turk.
"Especially after there last mission together ended so bad." he scoffed, tapping his fingers and waiting for the burly man to acknowledge him.
"You know….the whole torture thing…she's still got the bruises, I know the Doc's healed her worst wounds but she wouldn't let em heal the bruises, she tries to hide em from us but I noticed. Why do you think she wouldn't let em heal her completely? I reckon she wants a reminder of her failure, you know, like punishment for it so to speak." That was his conclusion anyway, Elena wanted punishment for her failure, so she wouldn't let it happen again.
One-sided conversations with Rude was something the redhead was use to, it didn't mean the big guy wasn't listening though, Reno would prove it.
"Did you ever meet her?" the redhead suddenly enquired.
Rude sighed and briefly diverted his attention from the road ahead, "Elena…Yeah….I see her nearly every day." Rude smirked out of the other side of his mouth.
Reno quickly turned towards his partner scowling in irritation.
"Not Elena you Nit….the girl….Tegan….Mrs future fucking Shinra." he spat.
Rude just grinned at his riled partner's outburst. "Yeah."
"So, what did you think?" queried Reno.
"About what?" the bald Turk loved to rile up his partner by answering his questions with questions, Reno was a lot of fun to bait.
"About the girl." Reno gave him a 'you know what I'm talking about glare.'
Rude shrugged and pouted his thick lips. "She had a hot ass."
Reno laughed at his simplistic reply, life for Rude was centred waist high and as long as that bounced and jiggled just right, then the rest of the package was an after thought. "That's right, you're an ass guy," chuckled the redhead.
Rude shrugged again and quickly gave the redhead a questioning look. "So!" he blurted out defensively.
Reno shook his head, "I don't know Rude, it seems really superficial of you to rate a person on how hot their ass is." he smiled; the little prankster just loved stirring Rude about his fetish.
"Rude ass-man!" the redhead chuckled. "Got a certain…ring…to it now don't it?" amused at his pun.
Rude didn't agree, "no, I like your nickname better." He adjusted his glasses and made a sharp right hand turn without slowing down, grinning as the tyres squealed in protest at the speed they were forced to endure.
Reno's ruby coloured brows rose in surprise and he swung round to glare at his partner, after all this time, he was now oblivious to the bald Turks fondness for driving round corners at extreme speed.
"My nickname, Yo I don't have a nickname!" then he laughed. "Unless you mean, *Reno…Sexgod…Extraordinaire.*"
Rude pondered that nickname as he straightened the car out almost over correcting the vehicle and sending it swerving in the other direction. "No, I actually have never heard…your name and Sex-god in the same sentence…ever," teased the bald Turk. "I've heard your name and *sex-addict* in the same sentence, I've heard your name and *god-awful* to. And many times I've heard, *Reno you two timing bastard I'm going to cut your dick off,*" he cackled with delight.
Reno looked out the window. "Man….you must be thinking of someone else," grinned the redheaded rogue. And I don't think I even want to hear what my nickname is after all."
He sat there waiting for Rude to go on, and waited and waited. Finally, he impatiently turned back to his partner shaking his head and glaring, "WELL!" he yelled.
"Well what?" said Rude calmly as his concentration was solely on the road ahead and where the next corner was.
"What's my fucking nickname then?" said the exasperated Turk.
"OH.. Um…. Passion fingers," said Rude in a matter of fact like voice, he really enjoyed the game of riling Reno, he got so touchy about the subject of his male prowess.
Reno screwed up his face. "Passion fingers! I don't get it!" he said in confusion and wondered how his awesome passion skilled reputation was designated to his fingers only.
Rude smirked. "Everything you touch….you fuck."
Reno sat dumbfounded, staring towards Rude and his failed attempt at humour.
"That's not fucking even…. remotely funny Rude!" blurted Reno, shaking his head in disgust. Rude's shoulders shook as he silently laughed at the shocked look on his partners face; he thought it was funny as hell.
"So, who do you think would have the balls to kidnap the hot ass?" enquired Reno trying to change the subject away from his promiscuous interludes.
Rude shook his head. "Dunno! But I bet he'll be real sorry when the boss gets a hold of him. I'm sure Deakin has a few new things to try out." If Rude dared to say it out loud, Dr Deakin was a scary son-of-a-bitch. His skills were not restricted to science alone, there was human behaviour adjustment, truth attainment by means of body modification and experimentation and interspercies DNA splicing just to name a few,(these were all metaphors of Deakin's descriptions to his methods mind you.) Rude wasn't one for fearing any man, but the less he came into contact with that freakazoid, the better he liked it.
A couple of sharp corners and satisfied grins from the bald Turk and they arrived at the executive style apartments, ignoring the valet completely and parking in the circular driveway. Rude took in the building, tipped his glasses down and let out a long whistle.
"So, who is this girl anyway?"
Reno looked at the paperwork in his hands, "Um…. Juliette Payne…..age, 26.…occupation, blah blah blah. Oh! Her dad is one of the Directors for Max Hamilton, there you go, she's in the money. You never know Rude, if you play your cards right, we might get you a rich girlfriend."
The bald Turk slowly turned towards his grinning partner and sighed, every girl was a prelude to sex with Reno, "any girlfriend would do right now," he grumbled.
As the duo walked into the lobby they were quickly appraised by a middle aged rather round desk clerk. His beady little eyes travelled over two men and he liked what he saw despite the fact that he would soon gleefully kick them out of building. While the tall bald man held himself well and looked impressive, the redhead was rather impish looking. A sexy little rogue in the clerks opinion, but, as much as he was tempted to explore the possibilities of the impressive big guy, they were out of their league in this unit complex. "Yes! May I help you?"
"No, we're fine thanks." said Reno, as he and Rude kept walking towards the clear glass elevator.
The prissy clerk continued with his well-practiced, polite insult.
"I'm sorry but you just can't walk in here off the street young man!" really, why did the common folk think they could just walk into his extravagant complex?
"Oh...I'm not from the street buddy, we drove here." Reno grinned, he just couldn't help himself, it was in his nature to bait prople. By this time the clerk had come around from behind his desk to confront the two.
The redheaded Turk caught the look of disdain on the snooty fat fucker and his hackles rose.
"I'm sorry but you will have to leave, this is an executive's building." he gave Reno a contemptuous look up and down.
'Cocky…little…prick,' thought the Turk. He went to give him another smartass comment but Rude held his hand up in front of the redhead silencing him instantly. This would get them nowhere and they were on a time limit.
"We are here to see Miss Payne!" replied the burley man.
The chubby clerk scoffed, "I'm sorry, but we don't allow visitors without prior notification."
Reno fumed, deciding this little atrocity needed an attitude adjustment; he broke out into a tirade.
"Yo, are you fucking serious! Man that's just fucked…I mean, that's more then fucked, that's just fucking fucked…I mean, fuck me…no fucking visitors." He blurted out loudly and without pause.
The clerks mortified face was a deeper shade of red then Reno's hair as the Turk stood there in front of him smiling. He looked nervously around to see if anyone might have heard, trying to remain composed.
"Please leave before I call security."
Reno was finished playing with the guy. He reached into his pocket and swiftly brought out his Turk ID and shoved it up to the clerks face.
"Yo, I am your fucking security you pudgy little bastard, and this is my …*I can do whatever the fuck I want badge*….so shut your mouth….call her up…and tell her we're on our way."
The clerks face had a look of complete shock as he eyed the Turks in front of him.
"Y…Yes Sir." he stammered and retreated to his desk grabbing for the phone. A moment later, he returned.
"It appears that Miss Payne is not at home right now, but if you care to leave a message…"
"Keys!" said Reno and he held out his hand for them.
The man gave a short derisive chuckle. "I'm sorry I can't just give you…"
"KEYS! NOW." Reno yelled and stuck his ID back in the clerks face. The flustered man went off, retrieved the spare set of keys to the girl's apartment, and handed them over without a word.
These were the times Reno just loved being a Turk, and they resumed their way towards the elevator and entered. As the glass doors closed Reno watched as the desk clerk gave them a sour look, and being Reno, he shoved his ID up against the glass so the fat man had a clear view, pointed at it and gave the clerk the biggest smile and the thumbs up sign.
"Suck on a long brown log ya baldy fat bastard." he growled out though his smiling teeth. Rude turned towards him scowling and Reno blundered…"Yo I meant him buddy, not you," he pointed to the clerk, coughing in embarrassment as he stuck his ID back in his pocket. "You're all muscle, no fat on you, bald yes but not fat, you're in the prime of your life, one hunk of a guy…"
"Shut-up Reno," sighed the bald Turk.
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Elena walked slowly back to the car as she jotted a few more notes down on her pad. The talk she had with Carmel Mitchell left her with more questions then answers. She hadn't heard of this girl in her involvement with Tegan but the brunette never really introduced Elena to any of her friends, she knew of Juliette but that's as far as it went.
Now that Elena thought about it, Tegan had kept the young Turk away from all her friends, not that she minded, her affair was of the heart. However, towards the end Elena wasn't sure what she had, the young socialite seemed to easily throw her away along with Rufus and his proposal.
As she climbed into the car, she pulled out her phone calling Tseng and informed him of her findings.
"Yeah Elena here…..she apparently went out with Juliette last night and some boy named Andrew Walker." The blond Turk wondered if she had been there, would Tegan be safe and sound right now? Tseng queried her further, "They went to Reactor 1 Sir. No, I'm heading to young Mr Walkers now; I've got his address from the Carmel girl. I'll call you as soon as I know anything else," she hung up and mumbled, "OK off to Mr Walkers place, please be there Tegan."
X
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X
Reno and Rude had searched the girl's apartment and came up empty handed.
"No girl and no clues, that's just great." grumbled Reno
"Maybe she's at work!" speculated the bulky Turk.
Reno turned towards his partner cocking his head to the side with his mouth agape. "I think Tseng would have covered that option Rude, and besides…..it's Saturday….young socialites don't work on a Saturday."
"Yeah well, I have to work on a Saturday." moped the bald man.
The scarlet imp chuckled, "Yeah well you don't have a life now do you? What ya need to do is go out more, go clubbing, you know…perve on more asses or something," he jeered.
He walked over to a pile of clothes on the floor, started rummaging through them, Rude looking on indifferently at his partner's actions before noticing a stack of mail, and strolled over inspecting the addresses.
"Hey Rude." taunted the redhead.
Rude looked up to see Reno holding a pair of red lace panties.
"You want these? You know for all those nights your going to spend at home…..alone….just thinking about ass." he smirked.
Rude shook his head at the immature antics of his partner, "talking of asses Reno." jeered the bald Turk. His partner had to be the biggest ass of all times.
Reno's phone rang and he dropped the frilly knickers and Rude listened intently to the one sided conversation trying to gauge the current situation.
"Yo!
"Yeah Tseng."
"Yeah well there's no sign of her here and by the looks of it she never came home last night either."
"What, her too."
"Yeah maybe."
"Andrew Walker? Never herd of him and he's not on the A-friend list here."
"Well if he's not into money why'd he take him as well?"
"Yeah well he'll probably turn up dead somewhere then."
"Gotch-ya."
Reno flipped his phone closed.
"Looks like he might have got this girl, as well as some kid called Andrew Walker, none of them came home last night and that Carmel chick said they all went out together," sighed the redhead.
"What! Taken three in the one hit?" queried Rude, his brow creasing in confusion.
Reno absently nodding his head as he thought about the implications. "Yep, which means that he's one tough, determined bastard or." Reno paused mulling it further over in his head.
"Or there's more then one guy." finished Rude. "Could be gang related or something, she's worth a lot ya know."
Reno rubbed his temples with both hands trying to fight his fatigue, this was playing out differently then expected.
"No ones got the balls….come on; Tseng wants to meet up with us."
X
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Reno and Rude sat in the car awaiting the arrival of Tseng and Elena in some dingy back ally that their leader had specified.
"So, I wonder how pissed off the boss will be?" sighed Rude. He wasn't really asking Reno, just thinking aloud, but he knew the smart-ass would only confirm his own assumptions.
"What, you really need me to answer that," scoffed Reno. "If I were you, I'd get my ass ready for his size eleven boot real soon."
The bald Turk's face remained an unchanging mask as he turned towards his partner.
"Don't forget kid, your ass failed to find anything either," smirked Rude.
Reno gave his partner what he hoped was his best *fuck-you-too-buddy* smile, closely following with an inconspicuous middle finger scratching his cheek.
The redheaded Turk fidgeted in apprehension as they waited for Tseng and Elena, not wanting to go to Healin just yet and face Rufus with nothing substantial.
Reno had a sense of foreboding with this mission, a feeling that something just wasn't right. However, when he finally noticed a car pull up behind them he bailed out to confront the head Turk.
"What did you two find out?" the flame-haired one queried as the two approached.
"It seems that our first assumptions were correct, all three of them have been taken...," said Tseng stoically.
"So what? Where do we go from here? No one seems to know anything and I'm not facing the boss without something solid to go by," blurted Reno. "You know what finding her means to him. If we don't...we're fucked!"
Tseng stared at the unusually tense redhead. He knew Rufus would probably rip them a new asshole over how little information they had so far but it was the only thing they had to work with at this time.
"I'm well aware of that fact, Reno," Tseng replied. His two younger Turks were anxious and restless; asking them to do what he wanted next would be a waste of time. Reno was running on overdrive, he was no doubt extremely tired after his trip to the Northern Crater and Elena was emotionally involved in this case.
"OK, Reno, Elena, go to the club and see what you can find. Rude, you come with me; we're going to look through all the video surveillance of the night in question. You two let me know if you find anything, you got it?"
The petite blond Turk nodded her head, "yes, Boss," she said.
Tseng could sense the tension coming off his Turks in waves. If only they knew just how much was at stake here. Asking Reno or Elena to sit in a dark room and scroll through the many hours of boring surveillance tapes was not something he wanted to do to them. Especially not to Elena, he knew she wouldn't rest until Tegan was back, dead or alive, and pinning her up would only serve to drive the short blond woman to the brink of madness.
The smallest Turk left in a hurry, dragging a flustered redhead behind her.
As they climbed into the car, Reno sat motionless in the passenger's seat staring out the window.
Elena noticed his apprehension as she started the car.
"What is your problem!" she said.
"Nothing, It's just…you and me…on a mission together," he shifted in his seat like a kid preparing for a tantrum.
"Yeah well, get over it Reno," hissed the small blond as they pulled away.
Reno screwed up his nose and faced the woman, this was not the Elena he knew, something was really off.
"What's up your ass?" grizzled the redhead.
Elena glared daggers. "Barb wire to keep you out." she growled.
Reno snickered, shaking his head in earnest. "Wouldn't dip my wick there sweetheart."
"You dip your wick in anything that has a pulse!" she yelled back at him. Reno sat in silence for a few seconds.
"Hey, have you been talking to Rude?" he asked in alarm, maybe they all knew of his little nickname that he'd only just learned himself. 'SHIT! Was this crap being sniggered at by everyone in the office?'
"Reno, we have to find her!" she choked out.
The redheaded Turk instantly noticed the 'find her'…not the 'find them'. He could see the worried look in her eyes, this was a vulnerable side of Elena that he had never seen before, and he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to see it again. She seemed almost desperate, lost, not something a Turk should put on display.
"Elle, I want to find her as much as you….." he started but was cut off by the short-fused blond.
"NO YOU DON'T RENO!" she yelled. "Please don't pretend that you do because you don't." she sighed and turned her focus back to the road.
It finally dawned on Reno. "We're, you two friends?"
Elena almost broke down. "We were more than friends Reno, she was someone I loved."
The blond Turk turned and watched as the realization struck Reno. "Holy crap Elle! Were you muff diving on the boss's fiancé?" he blurted out.
Elena was mortified, "RENO! You're such a pig," she yelled.
And as the little Turk's emotions snapped under Reno's crude comment, with one hand staying on the wheel, she let loose a flurry of bitch slaps to that mop of red.
The pummelled young man would have found it hysterical if he had watched this from an outsider's point of view, however, Elena's hits actually stung like fuck. His arms came up to try and ward off the rapid succession of blows raining down on him.
"FUCK...OUCH...STOP...OWWWW...ELLE...STOP...HITTING...MEEEEEEEEEEE," shrieked the cringing form. What else was a man to do? He couldn't hit a girl, that would be despicable, even if it were Elena.
She gave him a hard punch to the forearm as a final hit, just to get her point across.
"JERK!" she screamed. "It's only because I might need you that you're not sitting there with a bullet in your kneecap, you disgusting little shit."
Reno stayed cowered against the door, arms covering his head and one knee brought up to try and fill the gaps not covered by his flailing hands. He peaked out to see if his humiliating flogging was over and with a sense of great relief, noticed her staring out the windshield.
"Reno, help me find her!"
The redhead straightened himself up, hell, as if he would tell her 'no' after that outburst.
"Elena…I'm sitting here, in the fucking car, doing my best to try and find them."
He emphasized the last word hoping to pull the woman back from her single mindedness.
He felt like his manhood had been completely stripped away, damn women with high levels of testosterone. He had always said Elena had a set of balls down there somewhere. Next time he would just have to show her he could kick her ass if she wailed on him again, 'yeah…next time Elle'.
"Let's just get to the club to see what we can find," she sounded resigned.
"Reno, you tell anyone about us and I swear, I will shoot out your kneecaps!"
"Don't worry Elle, your secrets safe with me."…'NOT.' he thought with a smirk.
The doors to Reactor 1 were locked tight so Reno bashed on it for a second time hoping someone would be inside.
"Do you want to try around the back?" he asked.
"Might as well," his partner agreed.
Suddenly they herd a sound from inside and the heavy locks that were in place creaked and the door slowly opened.
"What can I do for you folks?" said a tall, bulky, stern-looking guy. He had obviously just woken up and looked like shit.
"We would like to ask you some questions about a group of people that were at your bar last night," Reno did his best to sound official.
"Maybe you or one of your staff saw them," said Elena.
"And you would be?" queried the owner.
Reno held up his ID, walking past the guy and into the entryway of the club, enough said.
The shocked man grunted, "Turks hey, must be something important then, come this way and I'll see who was on shift last night."
The two looked around as they headed further into the club, it had a particular smell of spilt alcohol and sweat. Elena's nose twitched in revulsion at the smell and she wondered what would have interested Tegan to come to a place like this.
The blond watched as the owner went behind the bar and fixed himself a drink as she and Reno pulled up stools and seated themselves on the other side. The weary redhead intently watched the actions of the large man as he poured the wonderful golden coloured alcohol. The scruffy owner recognised the wanting look in the Turks eyes, grinning before offering.
"You want one of these?" as he waved the rum bottle in there direction.
"No thanks, just the information." Elena said.
Reno perked up, "Yo yeah, I'll have one of those thanks buddy," the redheaded Turk saw the death glare from his partner out of the corner of his eye and held his hand up, palm out, blocking it from view. Elena slapped it down and gave him another vicious scary glower. The redhead brought his hand in close to his temple, and completely blocked off the left side of sight, (like blinkers on a horse) and continued to ignore the Turk to his left.
"You're so unprofessional you ass." she growled.
Reno didn't give a shit, he was with a love-struck-psycho-female, he was exhausted and needed a drink desperately.
The owner chuckled and poured Reno a double, he guessed the guy needed this bad from the stuck up little Missy's attitude. He handed it over and checked his log shift book.
"OK, Jasper was in the bar last night, he's out back getting things ready for tonight."
"Can we talk to him?" queried Elena.
Without a word to her, the big man turned away, making her jolt slightly in fright as he yelled out at the top of his lungs. "JASPER, GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE!"
He turned back to her and gave Elena a slight smile, "He's coming so I guess I'll leave you two then," and without a backward glance, he shuffled away.
Reno swivelled in his chair; back facing the glare he knew was being drilled into the back of his head and downed the entire contents of his glass. He felt better already. He turned back and smiled at the blond Turk, she just shook her head in disgust.
"I'm so glad I work with Tseng, he's professional and serious, and….."
"And last time you worked with him you got caught…" sneered Reno. He cringed when he didn't have time to catch those hurtful words. 'Oh shit…did I just blurt that out? Okay, so the drink was a bad idea.' He regretfully thought. Nevertheless, Reno didn't like being compared to the imposing figure of Tseng, not when his self-image was so high & mighty anyway.
The hurt look on Elena's face was worse then the scowls she had sent him earlier, and he instantly regretted throwing that past failure in her face.
He was saved from making an apology by a young, well-dressed man coming toward the bar, looking at them curiously. "May I help you?" he said.
"Yeah I really hope so," said Elena, all business again. "We need to find out what happened to a group of young people that came to this bar last night."
The man screwed up his face and shook his head. "Lady, do you know how many people were in this club last night?"
Reno held his empty glass up to the boy and sweetly said, "filler-up handsome," giving the kid his endearing blue-eyed look. The change in subject and demeanour halted the guy for a second before Reno's gaze sent him automatically reaching for the bottle; he was very generous in his portion size, filling the glass halfway.
"There were three of them, two girls and one boy," Elena went on, unfazed by the young mans question or the fact that Reno was flirting to get free drinks.
"Yeah well that narrows it down to about half the people that came in here then," the well-dressed bartender said, voice dripping with sarcasm as he watched the attractive redhead gulp down the liquor.
Elena huffed, drawing the idiots attention back to her, "one of the girls had jet black hair, straight, very pretty," Elena went on to describe Tegan.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah I remember seeing someone like that," the man said.
Elena looked hard at him. "You do? Tell me what you remember!"
"There was another girl with brown hair, and a guy as well, I think it was a guy, hard to tell," the bartender nodded as his memory returned.
Elena perked up, "That' right. Why do you remember them?"
"Because they were sitting in the same seats you're in now," he replied.
Elena felt a chill run down her spine; she looked to Reno unsure of what to say next. Thankfully, Reno spoke up.
"Can you tell us if anything happened while they were here, did they perhaps get into a fight, or did someone have a go at them, did they leave with anyone?"
The bartender thought for a second trying to recall any altercations. "No, no fights, they were quiet enough," Then the man shook his head, "Oh wait, some guy said something and it obviously scared the black haired girl quite a bit because she looked really nervous afterward.
"Really?" Reno arched a brow, "This other guy, what did he look like?"
"Kinda weird. Tall...with long silver or white hair, oh and he had his brother with him, I guess it was his brother anyway because they looked alike but he was shorter, and they were both dressed in these black leather suits. Hey are you alright, Miss?"
Reno turned to see Elena almost collapse off the chair. He grabbed hold of her before she hit the floor, not knowing what had just happened.
"Elena what's wrong?"
"It's them Reno! Those bastards from the crater, it's them I'm sure of it!"
Reno scowled, "Oh that's just fucking great then," he snidely replied
X
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Tseng sat silently in the car as they made their way back to Healin. The bald Turk beside him remained just as quiet the entire trip. The dark haired Wutain was grateful for this small period of silence. It gave him time to gather his thoughts.
They had found nothing useful in any of the surveillance tapes, but he had expected nothing to begin with. The girl's disappearance couldn't have come at a better time for Rufus, this was perfect.
Maybe now after this situation was monopolised, Tseng would be in a better position to take back what should have been his.
This was why he joined Shinra in the first place; it was why he devoted himself totally to Rufus' cause. Every victory over Wutai and her so-called ruler was another step closer to bringing them down. It was a fitting punishment, one that Tseng had played repeatedly in his mind every night.
The Turk leader arrived at the Lodge and made a hasty departure without the slightest acknowledgment to Rude, briskly walking to his boss's office. The late evening was casting a shadow over Healin and the three missing kids had been gone for nearly 24 hours now, and still no demand for ransom. The longer time went by, the more desperate their situation was. So much could go wrong in that 24 hours, kidnappers could realise the mistake they had made and kill the hostages, they could figure it wasn't worth the risk and again kill the hostages.
Or the prisoners might prove too much to handle and death was certain.
Usually contact was within a few hours and demands were made, either these kidnappers were very cool customers, or, they were not after a ransom at all, only seeking to ruin Hamilton and with it, Rufus' future claim on the company.
There was much to discuss, much to plan and much to put into action. He knocked and waited for permission to enter.
"It's unlocked Tseng," came the voice from the other side. The tall man entered, turned, and hit the lock button, he wanted no interruptions.
"Sir," he began without any prompting from Rufus. "We have discovered that Tegan went out with two others last night, none of them have been seen since."
Rufus sat back in his chair and listened to his subordinates report, fingers interlacing together in his lap.
"It is safe to assume all have been taken, but by whom, we do not yet know. This abduction could have been planned from a smaller faction trying to gain a foothold into power, or it's a ransom, but that seems more unlikely with each passing hour."
The Blond man let out a frustrated groan. Angrily he yanked the hood off his head and pulled the eye patch down off face to reveal another perfect blue orb.
"If this is a ransom Tseng, they should have called by now!" he sighed. This could ruin his plans. "Fuck her; I want to shoot her myself." The president growled. "Although..." He got up from his chair and walked round to his next in charge, clicking his tongue in thought. "This would be the ultimate time to start plane C." he mused… And I think it's time to start administrating dear Max Hamilton with the toxins that will, sadly, bring about his demise. We can attribute his daughter's disappearance to the sickness, it will fit in perfectly."
The young head of Shinra let his eyes wander as he thought in depth, "this strange machine they found at the crater Tseng, have you had any more thoughts on it?"
Tseng ran a hand through his ponytail, "I haven't stopped thinking about it sir, I can't tie it into Jenova in any way but I have no other explanation for it other then it's got to be something to do with her. It's a complete mystery."
Rufus absently nodded, "do you think we should destroy it?" queried the young blond.
Tseng pursed his lips and shook his head, "Why would you want to, if we do that we'll never know what it is, or who's it is, or exactly what it does. I think we should try to find out it's power source and fire it up."
Rufus turned to his trusted subordinate, "but, if it is Jenova's, nothing good will surely come of it. If it is good for Jenova, then it will be bad for us, this you can guarantee."
Just then the head Turk's phone rang. He bowed an apology to his boss for forgetting to turn it off when he entered and went to hit the reject call button but noticed it was Reno. Maybe they had found something?
Rufus stood just listening to the one-way conversation.
"Yes Tseng here. Calm down, Reno, start again, you idiot, how could I forget those bastards. Are you certain, SHIT! Get back here A.S.A.P." the Turk slammed his phone closed.
Rufus calmly waited to see what was coming at him.
"Sir, I think we have a serious situation. It seems as if the same three – things – that ambushed us at the crater may have been the ones that took the kids."
Rufus felt his stomach turn, but he held still. "You know what that means then," he said to the head Turk. "They are still after the remains of Jenova, they will use them to try and trade. We have no choice now Tseng, get moving, I won't loose what we have worked so hard to achieve, we have gained so much and I'm not going to part with it. Find them!"
X
TBC