CHAPTER TEN: SPECIAL EPISODE OF RENO
[in which Rude is perceptive, Reno gets more than he bargained for when he wishes for a little excitement, and Zack tries to be helpful]
You don't often take a good look at yourself, do you, Reno? You don't stand in front of the mirror counting the scars the way you used to when it was all brand new. Any cut that doesn't kill will eventually heal; that's what's written on your skin.
You'd have thought that discovering the truth about your feelings for Cissnei might have changed something, but like what? It's the same as Natalya's death; you go on as before because that's all there is to do. No big drama. You work, you play, you crack jokes and laugh and sometimes you even forget all about it. Your packet of twenty Bahamut filtertips doesn't last the whole day like it used to, and you go out playing cards with Rude and Mozo more than you used to, and lose more money, and you do more overtime than you used to, and you put up your hand for the really dirty jobs a bit more than you used to, because sometimes someone else's pain is just what you need. And when you go off work you prowl round the bars more than you used to, sometimes all night, until you end up at somebody's place or else back at the office, and a couple of times you fall asleep at your desk, and almost a week goes by before you realize you haven't been back to your apartment once. And quite a few times a day you think about her feet in those black stiletto heels, walking around above your head. But you know you'll get over it. It's just a temporary insanity.
This is the thing that scares you, though. The thought that she knew before you did. Saw into you. Knew you better than you knew yourself. Which means the reason she's avoiding you is because she's trying to be kind.
You think about this from time to time, and then you get back to work.
April 1st 2001. 11.37 am
"I've done some pretty boring shit in my time," said Reno, "But this beats all." He and Rude were in the archives of the science department, picking their way among the mess of papers and folders that covered the floor. "Why'd they have to trash the place?"
"To hide what they stole," said Rude. "Once we know that, we'll know who they are."
Reno groaned. "It's like the filing from hell. Why can't they get one of the secretaries to do this?"
"This stuff is classified. And the thief could come back."
"Well, I am not happy. Hey, partner, look what I made." Reno had folded a piece of paper into an origami airplane. The word CONFIDENTIAL was clearly visible along the wing. He launched it at Rude. Rude caught it and smoothed out the paper, saying, "Just get on with the job. We have to put all this stuff back so we can find out what's been stolen."
Reno picked up a ring binder and placed it randomly on one of the shelves. "That thief is long gone, man, trust me."
As if on cue, the intruder alert went off, red lights flashing, klaxon blaring. "So what triggered that?" said Rude as he continued to work. Several moments later a Red Saucer security robot trundled into the archive room. "We got a visitor," said Reno.
"It may have been activated by the thief."
"Rude, that's crazy. The thief came here looking for something, so he knows what we keep here, which means he knows enough about the building to know he had about three minutes to get out before these things targeted him. He is gone and he isn't coming back."
"Hmm," said Rude. "We should be careful. Don't take anything for granted."
As the last word was leaving his mouth, the Red Saucer made a whizzing sound and fired a bolt of electricity at them. Rude and Reno leapt backwards and the bolt struck the bookcase, burning a smoking hole through the wood and into the concrete of the wall behind.
"Looks like Security's been upped to S-level," said Reno.
His gun was already in his hand. He fired two shots in rapid succession. The impact of the bullets flipped the robot onto its back. It whirred, fizzed, and died.
"Metal tortoise," Reno laughed.
"Speed isn't everything," Rude observed.
"What are you saying? Was that remark aimed at me? You big lummox, you're just bitter because I'm faster than you and you know it. You couldn't catch me the day we met, and you can't keep up with me now. If I was to take you on against those Saucers, I would own you, man."
"Want to bet?"
"Betcha a pair of sunglasses."
Rude cracked his knuckles. "Bring it on."
Exchanging grins, they ran out into the corridor.
.
PHS Transcript 12.02 pm
Veld: Cissnei, give me a damage report on the security incident.
Cissnei: Nothing much to report from here, sir. We have a SOLDIER First Class dealing with the intruders.
Veld: Sephiroth?
Cissnei: It's Zack Fair, sir. Didn't you see the personnel announcement? Sephiroth is upstairs with the President.
Veld: Good. And Lazard?
Cissnei: He's here with me, sir.
Veld: The security robots are malfunctioning. Do you know anything about that?
Cissnei: Hold on a moment, sir. sounds of static and voices talking Apparently there's a problem with a number of the control systems in the building, sir, not just the robots.
Veld: I'll call you back.
Cissnei: Roger.
.
"Victory is mine!" crowed Reno. "Hand over the shades, loser."
Rude took off his sunglasses and gave them to Reno. Reno put them on.
"Bug-face," said Rude. It was true: the combination of goggles and glasses gave Reno the look of a four-eyed insect.
"This bug buggin' you?" Reno laughed.
Rude took another pair of sunglasses from his inside pocket. Reno's phone rang. "Chief? What's happening with the security alert? Yup. Check. Rude and I will get right on it – Stay here? Do we have to? He is? Uh-huh. Yes, all right, sir. Understood. Uh-huh. Priority. Roger."
"He wants us to keep filing, right?" said Rude
"Yeah." Reno shoved his phone in his pocket and bent down to pick up an armful of files.
All the joy had gone out of him, just like that, like a pricked balloon.
"You OK?" said Rude.
"Never better."
"So who's securing the building?"
"SOLDIER first class Zack Fair."
"Huh," said Rude. "I saw he got promoted."
They worked on for a few minutes without speaking. Then Rude thought to ask, "Who's re-aligning the security network?"
"She is. Cissnei."
"Hmm," said Rude.
Reno flung his armful of files to the floor. "Man, he's screwing her."
"Ah," said Rude.
"Huh! Hmm! Ah! Is that all you can say?"
"It is – her mission, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Mission. And she likes it."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Oh, fuck, no. We should all be so lucky to have so much fun at work."
"Reno – are you jealous?"
"Jealous? Of Cissnei?" Reno contrived a laugh. "Well – yeah. Yeah, you bet I am. She's always been the Chief's favourite, and now she's up there in the middle of all the action while we're stuck down here doing secretarial work."
Rude gave him a long look over the top of his sunglasses. "That's… not what I meant."
"Look behind you!" exclaimed Reno.
Rude whirled, and caught a glimpse of what Reno had seen: a shadowy figure breaking into a run. Footsteps rang through the empty corridors. The intruder was heading for the elevators.
"Cut him off," Reno shouted. "I'll follow him."
Reno's feet barely touched the floor, but the inruder had a good head start. He was already in the elevator, and the doors were closing. If Reno didn't act fast they would lose him. Levelling his EMR, he blew the doors apart with a single blast and leapt into shaft, landing square on the roof of the descending elevator. Knowing it would be suicidal to risk damaging the lift's mechanism with lightning, he took out his gun, and knelt beside the hatch to open it.
The password wouldn't work.
Fucking fucked-up security system!
A Red Saucer dropped beside him, its laser eye seeking warmth and motion. Reno kicked it hard against the walls of the shaft. It shattered. Another fell. "I'm on your side, you brainless machine!" he yelled. He shot the robot, and then, in sheer frustration, emptied his magazine into the elevator's roof. The bullets ricocheted, pinging in all directions: Reno covered his head and ducked.
The elevator jerked to a stop so suddenly that he was thrown onto his knees and banged his forehead against the hatch. Where were they? The letters whitewashed onto the shaft wall read 20th Floor. Why had they stopped halfway down?
There was a loud clunk that sounded seriously not good. The cogs shifted, the pulley squealed, and the elevator began to ascend.
Under his feet he could feel a thudding. Someone was punching the elevator's ceiling. Rude's voice came to him, faint and hollow, from inside: "Reno! I can't stop it! The controls are jammed!"
And the elevator was gathering speed.
The shaft's ceiling was fifty floors above him. That gave him less than two minutes to get the hatch open before he was squashed like a mosquito against a helicopter windscreen.
Don't panic. Breathe. Think.
Call Tseng.
.
PHS Transcript, 1.4.01 12.07 pm
Veld: Cissnei, status report.
Cissnei: The President is safe, sir. SOLDIER Zack Fair has secured the building. But some of the malfunctioning security robots have escaped into Sector 8 and are attacking civilians.
Veld: What's wrong with them?
Cissnei: I don't know, sir. We've got some of the systems back under control, but not all of them. We're re-setting the passwords now.
Veld: Public confidence in Shinra is our top priority. Go and deal with the situation in Sector 8.
Cissnei: Roger – sir, wait, I have Tseng on the other line. Let me put you on hold. Tseng?
Tseng: Cissnei, Reno's in trouble. He's trapped on the roof of elevator A108. It's rising and we can't stop it. The password to open the hatch won't work. I'm putting him on.
Cissnei: Reno? Reno?
Reno: Hey. Ciss. Nice of you to take my call.
Cissnei: Don't piss about, you fuckwit. Use this code: nineteen fifty-nine oh nine oh three.
static. Sound of rumbling cables and metal gears grinding
Cissnei: Reno? Reno, are you there?
Reno: It says I need an override code.
Cissnei: Shit, shit, the override code –
Reno: Ciss, help me.
Lazard's voice in the background: It's fifty-four.
Cissnei: Fifty-four
Reno: Fifty-four. Got it. Oh, no –
static
Cissnei: Reno!
.
He was coming up to the Presidential floor and his body heat had triggered a security attack: the President's elevator doors opened, and a huge Proto-Golem robot made of shining steel and bright enamel came thudding down onto the elevator roof so heavily that for one wild moment Reno was sure its weight would snap the cable, and instead of being crushed like a bad nut he was going to plummet seventy floors and be smashed like a rotten apple. But the cable held, and the elevator continued to rise, very slightly more slowly. Reno lashed out at the robot with his EMR, to little effect. Its arms swept back and forth. He was struck on the shoulder and sent sprawling.
Seconds later, the robot's head made contact with the ceiling. Still the lift continued to rise like a scrap compactor, scraping, screeching, crumpling, crushing. The air filled with the smell of hot stressed metal.
Buffered by the robot's body, the elevator stopped with a metre to spare.
The hatch swung open, and Rude's head and shoulders appeared. He had taken off his sunglasses. They were tucked into his front pocket, and his brown eyes were wide with relief.
"Hey, partner," said Reno shakily. "That was exciting, huh?"
"Yeah," said Rude. "Be careful what you wish for, next time." He wasn't smiling.
.
PHS Transcript 12.45
Veld: Reno, how are you?
Reno: Good to go, sir.
Veld: That's the spirit. What happened to the target?
Reno: Rude thinks he escaped by climbing down the shaft cable, sir.
Veld: Damn. All right, listen. We have a major problem on our hands. Some of the malfunctioning robots escaped the building and are running amok in Sector 8. We need to get the situation under control before any civilians are harmed. Get down there as fast as you can and rendezvous with Tseng at the fountain. He'll give you further instructions.
Reno: Roger. Reno out.
Clicking his phone shut, Reno turned to Rude and said, "I don't know about you, partner, but I'm taking the stairs."
* * * * * * * * * *
Tseng was not at the fountain when they arrived, but Cissnei was.
Dressed in her suit and steel-capped black boots, shuriken in hand, her cheeks spattered with blood and dirt, and with the light of battle in her eyes, she looked just as he remembered her: his old partner in crime.
When she saw him she shouted his name, dropped her weapon, and came running, like a bullet, straight into his arms.
"You're alive!" she cried. "You're alive."
She kissed him, hard, teeth to teeth.
He was so astonished he had no time to be delighted, barely had time to savour the moment or fully appreciate that not even in his wildest imaginings (and they had been pretty wild) had her mouth tasted so good – before Rude coughed, loudly, yet discretely. Cissnei immediately recollected herself, and tried to step back; and Reno, being as he so often was his own worst enemy, held on to her a second too long, so that she had to push him away. And suddenly it was all very awkward.
Nobody spoke.
Then Cissnei punched him in the arm, hard. "You bastard," she hissed. "You let me think you were dead. Why didn't you call me?"
Reno couldn't answer. All he could think was, You kissed me.
Rude – had he been casting about for something to distract Cissnei from Reno's sudden attack of dazed stupidity? – took her by the arm and pointed, asking, "What are those things?"
Beside the railings in the far corner of the square lay two bodies, human in form and identical in appearance. Both were dressed in rose-coloured leather greatcoats, with black shoulder guards and high buckled boots. "Genesis?" said Rude in disbelief.
"They have wings – well, a wing each," said Cissnei. "I don't know what they are. Come and see."
The creatures looked less like the awol SOLDIER when seen up close. They had Genesis' hair, but thin and lacklustre. They had his features, but somehow smudged. And each had one sooty, mangy wing.
"Monsters," said Rude in disgust.
"I don't know," said Cissnei. "Monsters are animals and animals are usually symmetrical. Two eyes. Four legs. Two wings. These things look like they weren't made right to start with. They can fly pretty well, though. You'd think they'd go round in circles."
"Did they give you much trouble?" Rude asked her.
"They may look like Genesis but they don't fight like Genesis. They're weak. I didn't have any trouble killing them. I think they're some kind of…. I don't know… unfinished copy?"
"They're not from our labs," said Rude. "Does the Chief know?"
"I told him. There's more than just these two, though – I've seen others flying around. Just what we need on top of the crazy robots."
She was talking an awful lot, Reno thought. Chatter chatter: a surge of words. Right now he didn't give a flying fart about copies or monsters or that self-absorbed git Genesis. He wanted to re-wind to the moment when she kissed him, and then pause – P-A-U-S-E - But these two, Rude and Cissnei, were rushing time forward with their flood of noise…
"So is Genesis here too?" asked Rude.
Cissnei shrugged. "Anything is possible. Listen, guys, we can't allow civilians to see these bodies. Can you dispose of them for me? I have to try and track the other ones down. Tseng should be here any minute. Wait for him. I'll see you later. And Reno, you fuckwit – you owe me big time for scaring me shitless like that. I won't forget."
Bending down to snatch up her shuriken, she pelted off in the direction of the theatre.
Rude said, "She's getting - kinda bossy, isn't she?"
Reno's single thought was flapping round and round inside his head as if it, too, had one wing. She kissed me. Why? What does it mean? Something? Nothing?
"Wake up," said Rude, snapping his fingers in front of Reno's eyes. "We have work to do."
The bodies of the Genesis duplicates were easily disposed of. Their skin was like tissue paper, their flesh rotten: one jolt from the EMR turned them into blackish vapour. Job done, Rude took out his phone to find out what was keeping Tseng. Reno, hearing footsteps, glanced round and saw Zack Fair, sword in hand, running towards them at the double with his head down: he was almost on top of them before he realized they were there.
"Turks!" he cried.
There was a note in his voice that Reno had sometimes heard before, the kind of tone a man might use when he lifted his shoe and saw a mess of dogshit and said "Ugh."
Most men who knew anything about Shinra would have been careful not to use that tone of voice within a Turk's earshot. Not Zack, though. A SOLDIER First Class wouldn't see the need to watch his mouth.
But he must know that Cissnei was a Turk. Didn't he?
As if it had a mind of its own, Reno's arm suddenly shot out, levelling the rod at Zack Fair's face.
"Get out of my way," said Zack.
Reno kept the rod steady. "Sector Eight is Turks' turf, slick."
He wanted so badly to tell him. Hey, guess what, SOLDIER? Your girlfriend just kissed me. Like she meant it.
Rude had come to stand at Reno's shoulder.
Tell him, then kill him. They could always pretend the robots had got him.
Zack said, "You gotta be kidding me. I'm here to help you."
"Rude. Reno." Tseng's dark voice came from behind them.
"Hey, Boss."
"Good to see you in one piece, Reno."
"Tseng," said Zack, "What's going on?"
Tseng ignored him. "Reno, report."
Without moving his eyes from Zack, or lowering his rod from Zack's face, Reno replied, "Midgar's just crawling with nasties."
"Heh," added Rude. "SOLDIER's having difficulties."
"Tseng, man," cried Zack, "Gimme a break here!"
"There's no need for concern," Tseng told him. "We have everything under control. Rude, Reno – the intruder from the elevator has been sighted in the vicinity of the train station. I want you to track him down. If possible, bring him in alive. But the first priority is recovery of the documents."
"Understood, Boss."
The two Turks wheeled away to the left and headed for the stairs that rose to the upper esplanade. The hands of the clock in the arch pointed to one-fifteen. It was lunch hour, and normally the pavements and plazas of Sector 8 would be thronged with hungry office workers. Today the place was deserted: the citizens of Midgar knew from experience that it was smart to dive for cover when there was trouble on the streets.
At the top of the stairs Reno paused and looked back down at the fountain. Cissnei had returned; she was talking with Tseng and Zack. But something wasn't right about the scene. She and Zack – they were standing so stiffly – as if – as if they barely knew each other. Why? For whose benefit? What was going on?
Who was telling the lie here, and who was being lied to?
"Come on," called Rude. "He's getting away."
"Yeah – just hang on -"
Rude came back. He looked at Reno, then looked down at the fountain, and saw Cissnei run off under the clock arch, twirling her weapon. A moment later Zack ran after her. Rude turned to Reno, chuckling. "Slick? Where the hell did that come from?"
He saw the look on Reno's face, and stopped laughing.
"Oh man," he said, "Don't go there."
"Already bought the ticket, boarded the train, and ridden it to the end of the line."
"Shit," said Rude with feeling. "That bad, huh?"
"Nah. I'll live." Both Cissnei and Zack were out of sight now, and Tseng was walking away at his usual measured pace in the opposite direction. Reno shook himself, waking from the daydream to address the business at hand. 'C'mon, tortoise, let's go get our man. To the train station! Race you!"
Author's note: Anyone familiar with both Crisis Core and Before Crisis will know that this Episode [the title is taken directly from BC] is one of the few nexus points between the two games.