[FF7] Across Distant Shores - 4
FF7 - Rating: PG-13 - Part 4/? - Warnings: Fairly graphic violence
Pairings: Rufus/Reno - Status: In progress, incomplete.
Summary: "You're stuck on the shores of Hell, and the only way out... is through." Shinra moves against its own, the President against the Vice President, with the Turks caught in between. Rufus goes missing, Reno defies orders and goes after him, leaving Tseng and Rude to cover up his treason against the company.
Mini-chapter word count: 1865
Total: 7345
He dashes through the streets, EMR clutched tightly in one hand. People catch a glimpse of the look in his eyes and get out of the way as fast as they can. He barely registers their passing.
Find him. You know what to do.
Damn right he knows what to do. If they hurt Rufus, if they ... either way, the Turks are experts where it comes to inflicting pain, and he's prepared to try every trick in the book and then some.
Stealing time I don't have.
Stealing time...
Had Rufus known? The Turks hadn't, and the Turks are his eyes and ears. Still, Rufus is more sensitive to the undercurrents of Shinra politics than even Tseng is. And speaking of which, Tseng had better make sure that this doesn't turn political.
0915. He hijacks a junior Shinra exec's bike, pausing only long enough to flash his Turk ID at the man. Yells follow him as he takes off down the street against the flow of traffic. Those are rapidly overtaken by the blare of horns as drivers curse and swerve to avoid him. Reno spares a moment to give them all the finger.
It isn't all that far, but given the traffic, it takes far too long. He abandons the bike when the jam gets too bad, and runs the rest of the way. His feet pound across the sidewalk, thumping almost in tandem to the rapid beating of his heart. Although he's the farthest thing from unfit, he's still breathing hard when he pulls up in front of his destination. But his hands are steady as he draws a pistol and shoots the hinges off the door, and sends it crashing inwards with a kick. If all the noise alerts the target and he decides to bolt... well, Reno has never lost his quarry before and he isn't about to start now.
The newly created doorway leads into a typical Shinra junior executive flat. Living room and kitchen combined and a bedroom off to the side. This flat is special, though, and when a cursory look around turns up noithing, Reno wastes no time in heading out the back door.
Most back doors lead out into a back alley in this part of town. This particular back door leads sharply down a flight of steps, one which Reno's nearly fallen down several times before. Steps which leads to the Turks' underground secondary operations center in Junon.
He takes the stairs two at a time, dispensing stealth for speed. He's on the hunt and all his senses are alive. If there's danger headed for him he knows with the certainty of one who lives on the bleeding edge that he will sense it. And he's not going to let anything or any one stand in his way.
The door at the bottom is locked, and his usual access codes don't work. No surprise there. There's a wad of explosive tape in his inventory for this specific purpose, and he finds himself grinning as he slaps it across the surface of the door in the standard X configuration. Damn, but he loves blowing shit up.
When the smoke clears, he's down the stairs again and stepping through the gaping hole that was left. It's dark inside, and there isn't enough light from the stairwell to pierce the gloom. He knows this room from memory, though -- it's a relatively large facility, with consoles lining the walls. No other exits, besides the one he came in by.
He inches forward, stowing the pistol in its holster but keeping his hold on the EMR. His shoes -- soft-soled, custom designed for the Turks - make no noise as he steps away from the door.
He's barely taken two steps when a noise catches his attention. He freezes, trying to scan the surrounding darkness. It sounds again, and this time he realises what it is -- a rasp of breath, somewhere in front of him and close to the floor.
Instinct shoves conscious thought out of the way, his heart catching on while his brain still wallows in confusion. Instinct throws caution to the wind as his thumb finds and hits a button on the EMR, bringing a glow to the end that cuts through the darkness.
In the flood of light, the first thing he sees is the blood. It leaks from the figure curled up in the middle of the room, red spreading outwards in a pool to match the red of the Shinra logo emblazoned on the floor. There's someone lying in the center of that bloody diamond, a figure he almost doesn't recognise as-- no, a figure he can't bring himself to believe is--
"Shiva, no. No, no, no, damnit!" He's on his knees, blood soaking through his trousers as he fumbles for a restore materia. Rufus. His Rufus. He's never seen the other bleed before this, and never wants to again, not confronted with the sight of that white suit shredded by what looks like knife cuts and stained crimson. The blue eyes are closed, and the blood splashed across his cheek stands out in stark contrast to the terrible pallor of his face.
Oh shit, who the fuck did this to you... He wants to gather Rufus into his arms right now, but Turk training tells him don't move the wounded, don't do anything until you can assess the extent of the damage. But he needs to get Rufus out, scream for medical evacuation, get him to someplace safe... Restore materia can only do so much and 'so much' definitely dooes not fucking include renewing blood that has been so liberally spilt.
"Rufus," he finds himself whispering, as he tears the globe of materia from his bracer. Panic like he's never known before weels up as he casts his eyes over Rufus' form: panic and helplessness and sheer fury. He's too badly hurt, I don't even know where to start!
Shuttered eyelids flicker, barely parting, and Rufus' head moves ever so slightly. Lips move, and Reno has to bend forward to catch the whisper of breath that escapes, but the words are too slurred, too soft, and elude him. "Hang on," he says instead, mechnically attempting to treat some of the ... damage, fingers twisting through blood soaked fabric as he peels it away. "Hang on, alright? It'll be okay. Everything will be okay."
Even with half his brain whited out in distress, he can still hear a clinical recitation in the back of his mind: at least one fragmentation round to the upper right leg that has shattered the bone and turned the thigh into a bloody mess. Possibly another round to the shoulder, although it will be necessary to cut away the shirt to verify that. Blade wounds liberally inflicted to the upper back and sides, although none of them targetted at critical spots. The fingernails on at least one hand are gone. Shoes missing, possible lacerations on the soles of the feet under the coating of blood--
"Hang on, you hear me?!" he repeats, when Rufus hisses in pain and mumbles something that he can't hear. "And speak the hell up, I can't--"
"He's probably attempting to order you out of here before you get caught," a new voice says.
Reno spins, a growl rising in the back of his throat, ready to kill. The only thing that stops him from lunging at the newcomer straight off is the sudden blinding flash as all the lights come on at the same time. He blinks to clear his vision, and that gives him just enough time to register a suit as red as Rufus' is on its way to becoming... and a familiar visage.
The President. The President of fucking Shinra Company in fucking person, and a large SOLDIER escort around him.
"I thought so," President Shinra says thoughtfully. Reno snarls in reply, way too damn angry to even speak. The only thing truly holding him in check here is the knowledge that if he launches a suicidal attack on the President and dies, Rufus dies along with him.
"You Turks are his dogs," the President continues, shooting a contempous glance at the prone form of his son. A prone form, Reno realises belatedly, that was positioned precisely in the middle of the Company logo, his blood spilt all over its red surface...
...A trap. It had been a trap all along, from that first communication to that earlier attack, all designed to lead him here to this place and to set up this scene. This tableau. This fucking farce.
"You goddamn bastard!" The curse tears itself from his throat, career and future and all that be damned. "Your own fucking son--"
"It is sometimes necessary to--"
"Necessary? This kind of shit can't be--"
"--Enough!" the President roars. "This ends--"
"This does not fucking end!"
One of the SOLDIERs fires a warning shot into the air, and the explosion of sound drowns out Reno's rising voice. In the sudden that follows he finds himself exchanging furious glares with the President, jaw clenched so hard that he thinks his teeth might shatter.
The President breaks the deadlock first. "Turk," he says, voice low, "Put down the weapon and come quietly, or he will die. And believe me, I do not make idle threats."
Oh he knows that. He knows that full well, when he's nomally the one in charge of making good on those threats.
No other exits. Half of the SOLDIER escort have their guns trained on Rufus, and Reno knows that there's no way he can take them all down.
"Now, Turk," the President snaps.
Rufus, help me out here, he finds himself thinking desperately. Do something. Pull one of your miracles... He doesn't know when he turned, but suddenly he's not facing the Prez but casting his gaze back. Expecting, somehow, that even at this point, Rufus is going to stand up and fix this whole mess...
But Rufus' eyes are clenched shut, pain marring his features even in unconsciousness, his breathing ragged and shallow.
"This ends here," the President says from behind him. "And let this be an abject lesson as to price of casually tossing your loyalties around. I am the President. Not him. My word is law. Not his. And defying my word... is treason."
And Reno screams. He spins, EMR levelled at the President's throat, his foot coming down hard on the floor and the crunch of debris resounds all the way through the room. It's the last thing he hears, the last thing he feels, as bullets plough into him, and then he's flying backwards, EMR and materia falling from his nerveless grip. Somehow, it doesn't hurt at all, although he can see the arc of his blood spraying outwards. Somehow, there's nothing in his mind, no regret, no last words, no life flashing past his eyes, just an all consuming anger that burns hotter than the sun. Somehow, he can't bring himself to believe that he's just failed utterly, and that there are no second chances.
He collides with the far wall, and falls into darkness.
To be continued.
A/N: Man, I wasn't going to end this on a cliffhanger, but I toyed around with the next segment and decided that pacing wise, it really does make a lot more sense to end on a high note before starting on a quieter one in the next chapter. And contrary to the title of this chapter, it does not 'all end here'. XD
Pairings: Rufus/Reno - Status: In progress, incomplete.
Summary: "You're stuck on the shores of Hell, and the only way out... is through." Shinra moves against its own, the President against the Vice President, with the Turks caught in between. Rufus goes missing, Reno defies orders and goes after him, leaving Tseng and Rude to cover up his treason against the company.
Mini-chapter word count: 1865
Total: 7345
He dashes through the streets, EMR clutched tightly in one hand. People catch a glimpse of the look in his eyes and get out of the way as fast as they can. He barely registers their passing.
Find him. You know what to do.
Damn right he knows what to do. If they hurt Rufus, if they ... either way, the Turks are experts where it comes to inflicting pain, and he's prepared to try every trick in the book and then some.
Stealing time I don't have.
Stealing time...
Had Rufus known? The Turks hadn't, and the Turks are his eyes and ears. Still, Rufus is more sensitive to the undercurrents of Shinra politics than even Tseng is. And speaking of which, Tseng had better make sure that this doesn't turn political.
0915. He hijacks a junior Shinra exec's bike, pausing only long enough to flash his Turk ID at the man. Yells follow him as he takes off down the street against the flow of traffic. Those are rapidly overtaken by the blare of horns as drivers curse and swerve to avoid him. Reno spares a moment to give them all the finger.
It isn't all that far, but given the traffic, it takes far too long. He abandons the bike when the jam gets too bad, and runs the rest of the way. His feet pound across the sidewalk, thumping almost in tandem to the rapid beating of his heart. Although he's the farthest thing from unfit, he's still breathing hard when he pulls up in front of his destination. But his hands are steady as he draws a pistol and shoots the hinges off the door, and sends it crashing inwards with a kick. If all the noise alerts the target and he decides to bolt... well, Reno has never lost his quarry before and he isn't about to start now.
The newly created doorway leads into a typical Shinra junior executive flat. Living room and kitchen combined and a bedroom off to the side. This flat is special, though, and when a cursory look around turns up noithing, Reno wastes no time in heading out the back door.
Most back doors lead out into a back alley in this part of town. This particular back door leads sharply down a flight of steps, one which Reno's nearly fallen down several times before. Steps which leads to the Turks' underground secondary operations center in Junon.
He takes the stairs two at a time, dispensing stealth for speed. He's on the hunt and all his senses are alive. If there's danger headed for him he knows with the certainty of one who lives on the bleeding edge that he will sense it. And he's not going to let anything or any one stand in his way.
The door at the bottom is locked, and his usual access codes don't work. No surprise there. There's a wad of explosive tape in his inventory for this specific purpose, and he finds himself grinning as he slaps it across the surface of the door in the standard X configuration. Damn, but he loves blowing shit up.
When the smoke clears, he's down the stairs again and stepping through the gaping hole that was left. It's dark inside, and there isn't enough light from the stairwell to pierce the gloom. He knows this room from memory, though -- it's a relatively large facility, with consoles lining the walls. No other exits, besides the one he came in by.
He inches forward, stowing the pistol in its holster but keeping his hold on the EMR. His shoes -- soft-soled, custom designed for the Turks - make no noise as he steps away from the door.
He's barely taken two steps when a noise catches his attention. He freezes, trying to scan the surrounding darkness. It sounds again, and this time he realises what it is -- a rasp of breath, somewhere in front of him and close to the floor.
Instinct shoves conscious thought out of the way, his heart catching on while his brain still wallows in confusion. Instinct throws caution to the wind as his thumb finds and hits a button on the EMR, bringing a glow to the end that cuts through the darkness.
In the flood of light, the first thing he sees is the blood. It leaks from the figure curled up in the middle of the room, red spreading outwards in a pool to match the red of the Shinra logo emblazoned on the floor. There's someone lying in the center of that bloody diamond, a figure he almost doesn't recognise as-- no, a figure he can't bring himself to believe is--
"Shiva, no. No, no, no, damnit!" He's on his knees, blood soaking through his trousers as he fumbles for a restore materia. Rufus. His Rufus. He's never seen the other bleed before this, and never wants to again, not confronted with the sight of that white suit shredded by what looks like knife cuts and stained crimson. The blue eyes are closed, and the blood splashed across his cheek stands out in stark contrast to the terrible pallor of his face.
Oh shit, who the fuck did this to you... He wants to gather Rufus into his arms right now, but Turk training tells him don't move the wounded, don't do anything until you can assess the extent of the damage. But he needs to get Rufus out, scream for medical evacuation, get him to someplace safe... Restore materia can only do so much and 'so much' definitely dooes not fucking include renewing blood that has been so liberally spilt.
"Rufus," he finds himself whispering, as he tears the globe of materia from his bracer. Panic like he's never known before weels up as he casts his eyes over Rufus' form: panic and helplessness and sheer fury. He's too badly hurt, I don't even know where to start!
Shuttered eyelids flicker, barely parting, and Rufus' head moves ever so slightly. Lips move, and Reno has to bend forward to catch the whisper of breath that escapes, but the words are too slurred, too soft, and elude him. "Hang on," he says instead, mechnically attempting to treat some of the ... damage, fingers twisting through blood soaked fabric as he peels it away. "Hang on, alright? It'll be okay. Everything will be okay."
Even with half his brain whited out in distress, he can still hear a clinical recitation in the back of his mind: at least one fragmentation round to the upper right leg that has shattered the bone and turned the thigh into a bloody mess. Possibly another round to the shoulder, although it will be necessary to cut away the shirt to verify that. Blade wounds liberally inflicted to the upper back and sides, although none of them targetted at critical spots. The fingernails on at least one hand are gone. Shoes missing, possible lacerations on the soles of the feet under the coating of blood--
"Hang on, you hear me?!" he repeats, when Rufus hisses in pain and mumbles something that he can't hear. "And speak the hell up, I can't--"
"He's probably attempting to order you out of here before you get caught," a new voice says.
Reno spins, a growl rising in the back of his throat, ready to kill. The only thing that stops him from lunging at the newcomer straight off is the sudden blinding flash as all the lights come on at the same time. He blinks to clear his vision, and that gives him just enough time to register a suit as red as Rufus' is on its way to becoming... and a familiar visage.
The President. The President of fucking Shinra Company in fucking person, and a large SOLDIER escort around him.
"I thought so," President Shinra says thoughtfully. Reno snarls in reply, way too damn angry to even speak. The only thing truly holding him in check here is the knowledge that if he launches a suicidal attack on the President and dies, Rufus dies along with him.
"You Turks are his dogs," the President continues, shooting a contempous glance at the prone form of his son. A prone form, Reno realises belatedly, that was positioned precisely in the middle of the Company logo, his blood spilt all over its red surface...
...A trap. It had been a trap all along, from that first communication to that earlier attack, all designed to lead him here to this place and to set up this scene. This tableau. This fucking farce.
"You goddamn bastard!" The curse tears itself from his throat, career and future and all that be damned. "Your own fucking son--"
"It is sometimes necessary to--"
"Necessary? This kind of shit can't be--"
"--Enough!" the President roars. "This ends--"
"This does not fucking end!"
One of the SOLDIERs fires a warning shot into the air, and the explosion of sound drowns out Reno's rising voice. In the sudden that follows he finds himself exchanging furious glares with the President, jaw clenched so hard that he thinks his teeth might shatter.
The President breaks the deadlock first. "Turk," he says, voice low, "Put down the weapon and come quietly, or he will die. And believe me, I do not make idle threats."
Oh he knows that. He knows that full well, when he's nomally the one in charge of making good on those threats.
No other exits. Half of the SOLDIER escort have their guns trained on Rufus, and Reno knows that there's no way he can take them all down.
"Now, Turk," the President snaps.
Rufus, help me out here, he finds himself thinking desperately. Do something. Pull one of your miracles... He doesn't know when he turned, but suddenly he's not facing the Prez but casting his gaze back. Expecting, somehow, that even at this point, Rufus is going to stand up and fix this whole mess...
But Rufus' eyes are clenched shut, pain marring his features even in unconsciousness, his breathing ragged and shallow.
"This ends here," the President says from behind him. "And let this be an abject lesson as to price of casually tossing your loyalties around. I am the President. Not him. My word is law. Not his. And defying my word... is treason."
And Reno screams. He spins, EMR levelled at the President's throat, his foot coming down hard on the floor and the crunch of debris resounds all the way through the room. It's the last thing he hears, the last thing he feels, as bullets plough into him, and then he's flying backwards, EMR and materia falling from his nerveless grip. Somehow, it doesn't hurt at all, although he can see the arc of his blood spraying outwards. Somehow, there's nothing in his mind, no regret, no last words, no life flashing past his eyes, just an all consuming anger that burns hotter than the sun. Somehow, he can't bring himself to believe that he's just failed utterly, and that there are no second chances.
He collides with the far wall, and falls into darkness.
To be continued.
A/N: Man, I wasn't going to end this on a cliffhanger, but I toyed around with the next segment and decided that pacing wise, it really does make a lot more sense to end on a high note before starting on a quieter one in the next chapter. And contrary to the title of this chapter, it does not 'all end here'. XD