Evolution of a Turk

Some of the scenes are really short this time around. Hope it all reads okay. MPREG and cursing and bears, oh my. Actually, only two of those things. And bears isn't one of them. :)

Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII characters, locations, etc. are all property of Square-Enix. I own nothing, I just do this for fun.

*************

Elena looked down, dejectedly, tucking away her PHS. "Heidegger wants my report in person."

Reno and Rude exchanged a glance, before looking at Elena.

She sighed, and continued, "He wants to know exactly what went on at the Temple of the Ancients."

"Understandable," Rude said.

"Yeah. It isn't every day a Turk gets-" Reno mused, but was cut off by a stern look from Rude. "Yeah, it's understandable."

"Do you think he'll fire me? Or demote me? Or maybe there'll be a hearing."

"Nah, no way," Reno assured her.

"You're just saying that. But he could..."

"He won't," Rude insisted. "He's kept Reno around all these years."

"Hey!"

Rude rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Don't even pretend, Reno."

Reno scoffed, but made no real move to contradict Rude.

"I wish I was going back to Mideel with you two. I guess I'll see you there after my meeting with Heidegger."

"What are you talking about?" Reno asked. "We're going to Midgar with you."

Elena's shock was written all over her face. "What?"

"We're going to Midgar with you," Reno repeated.

Elena smiled, sadly. "That's sweet, but you don't have to."

"You're a Turk," Rude told her, stoically. A second later, he added, "We're coming with you."

*************

On the morning of her meeting with Heidegger, Rude showed up to Elena's apartment building at about 7:30AM, with a sleepy, scowling and "fucking starving" Reno in tote. If the redhead's constant complaining about how hungry he was wasn't bad enough, he'd thrown a pretty good fit in his own apartment, tossing clothing left and right, shouting about how none of it fit him right anymore. Rude was only sympathetic to a point. He'd just had enough of his partner's ranting for one morning.

Reno started to open his mouth, but Rude cut him off, stating, "We'll hit the damn drive-thru on the way to work, damn it. And you can go shopping for some new pants. Shut up already," as he knocked on Elena's door.

"Geez, you don't have to be so mean about it," Reno said, with a pout. He looked so genuinely sad that Rude did a double take.

"I'm not being- it's just, you've been bugging me about it the whole way over. I'm sick of hearing it."

"I'm sick of being hungry. Sick of my clothes not fucking fitting me. Sick of..." Reno got a positively nasty look on his face, and hissed, "all of this."

Rude knocked again, louder, faster, and with a bit more urgency.

The door finally opened, and Reno and Rude were greeted by the sight of Elena wrapped in a towel.

Reno, his mood doing a complete 180, whistled at his colleague and winked.

"Oh, stop," she said, already sounding frazzled. "I'm running a little behind. Come on in. Make yourselves at home. I just have to-"

"Put some clothes on?" Reno asked, as he squeezed his way between Elena and Rude, headed for the kitchen.

Elena frowned. "Yes. I said I was running a little behind."

"Take your time," Rude assured her, sitting down on her couch, and reaching for the remote control.

"Hey! Elena! What've you got to eat around here?" Reno shouted, aimlessly. "Rude's trying to fucking starve me."

"Take whatever you want, Reno!" was the reply shouted back.

Reno began digging through Elena's cupboards. He tossed several food items onto the counter. He looked back at Rude. "Look at this shit. Low fat potato chips, rice cakes, fat free peanut butter..." Reno exaggerated a gag. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Rude chuckled, but was quick to turn serious again. "Don't be a jerk, man. Can't you tell she's nervous about meeting with Heidegger?"

"Skirt or pants?" Elena asked, somewhat frantically, as she stumbled through the living room and into the kitchen still wrapped in her towel.

"Skirt," Reno and Rude both assured her, simultaneously.

Reno ripped open the bag of rice cakes and bit into one. He grimaced, as he stood up and headed for the refrigerator.

"Heels or flats?"

"Heels," was the unanimous answer.

With his head inside Elena's refrigerator, Reno asked, "Why do you hate real food?"

"I don't hate real food!" Elena insisted.

"Nonfat this, multi-grain that, you've got fucking tofu in here. You hear that, Rude? Tofu. That's so wrong. Hey, hot sauce!"

Rude and Elena both smiled over Reno's actions, but neither said anything. They just exchanged a knowing look.

"Well, I should-" Elena began.

"Why do you hate real food?" Rude asked.

Elena let out a little gasp. "I don't!" she insisted. Before she could elaborate, something had caught her attention. "Reno, what are you making?"

"Sandwich," Reno replied, casually.

"You call that a sandwich?" Rude asked, eyeing the counter space Reno had taken over.

Reno just nodded. He'd decided to use two rice cakes as "bread," had applied a thick layer of peanut butter to one of them, smashed a handful of Elena's low fat chips into the peanut butter, and put hot sauce on top of it. He slapped it all together and took a bite. Seeing the disgusted, but curious looks Rude and Elena gave him, he muttered, "Not a fucking word."

Elena tried to shake the image from her head, turning sharply and moving toward her bedroom to finish getting dressed.

Rude pretended to be interested in something on TV. He purposely turned the volume up, nearly blasting Good Morning, Midgar throughout Elena's apartment just to drown out Reno's crunching.

It was going to be one of those days for all of them.

*************

Despite the way their morning had begun, the three Turks were the image of professionalism, making their way through the lobby of the Shin-Ra tower and to the elevators. Elena hit the call button, and was first inside the lift when it arrived. It wasn't long before the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"Good morning," a nervous, mousy looking girl in a lab coat said, shyly stepping inside. She squeezed between Reno and Rude. "Sixty seven, please."

Elena looked nervous, as the elevator made its ascent. She seemed to be whispering to herself, and nodding, not-so-silently practicing what she was going to say to Heidegger and whoever else he'd invited to the Conference Room to watch her give her report. Rude was stoic as ever. Reno's eye was twitching, and he looked almost sick with anger. The mousy girl just wanted to be out of the elevator and away from the scary and seemingly mentally unstable Turks.

When the lift reached the 67th floor, she very quickly stepped out. Reno leaned his head out the elevator door, curiously. Rude and Elena both looked confused. He wasn't checking her out, was he? She seemed a little...homely to be his type. Popping his head back inside the lift, Reno ran both hands along the panel, pressing nearly every button. Without a second's hesitation, he slipped between the doors just before they closed, leaving Rude and Elena in a state of confusion once again.

"Reno!" Elena shouted. She looked to Rude. "What is he thinking? What does he think he needs in the lab?"

Rude cursed himself, for not figuring it out sooner. "The lab. Hojo."

"He wouldn't..." Elena said, meekly.

"The hell he wouldn't. Damn him," Rude muttered, then punched the elevator door.

When the elevator stopped somewhat randomly on the 51st floor, Rude was quick to step out. He looked back at Elena and when she tried to follow him, he told her, "No."

"But-"

"Go give your report. I'll get Reno. We'll meet you in the lobby."

Elena nodded, though her heart wasn't in it, watching the elevator doors close.

*************

Three Shin-Ra privates saluted Reno as he made his way past them, that much closer to Hojo's lab. They recognized the suit, and knew better than to question what a Turk was doing visiting Professor Hojo.

"You," Hojo said simply, looking Reno up and down.

"Recognize your handiwork, eh?" Reno asked, his tone bordering on psychotic.

"You mean, you're still...I figured it was all over once you got away. I never would have left Shin-Ra if I'd known. Well then, now I can pick up where I left off." Hojo clicked his tongue. "Shame I've missed so much. I suppose I could always try again, with someone else, someone less resourceful, who won't resist. Then I can compare notes and..."

"You fucking-" Before Reno could get another word out, he saw Hojo raise a hand and he was surrounded by the soldiers he'd passed entering the lab. "What the-"

"Gentlemen, I'm sure you all know Reno," Hojo began, pleasantly. His eyes flashed, making him look every bit the insane torturer he was, and in a flat tone, he instructed the soldiers, "Now restrain him."

"You keep your fucking hands off me, I'm a fucking Turk."

The men hesitated for a moment. They were new to Shin-Ra, but not so new that they didn't know what kind of trouble you got into if you messed with a Turk.

"Like that's ever stopped me before," Hojo said, with an almost reminiscent laugh. “Ignore him. He’s one of my specimens. An escaped experiment. Restrain him. But be careful with him. I can't have him hurt...”

The leader of the Shin-Ra soldiers gave Reno a slight nod and regretfully said, “Sorry. Orders.”

Reno snorted. The kid was just doing his job. And so he’d get a broken nose for it. Reno had done worse on many occasions. As the man reached for Reno’s arms, his face was met with a swift elbow, and in the commotion Reno was able to grab his weapon.
The soldiers had spread out, and Reno was constantly turning on his heels, sure not to let any one of them stay out of his field of vision for too long. Three-on-one. It wasn’t the first time Reno had been outnumbered in a fight, and it probably wouldn’t be the last time. The last time...well, that had been...

*************

Rude found it odd that there weren't any guards posted by the elevator on the 67th floor. Security had been upped everywhere since the night Jenova was stolen, especially near the lab. He continued on toward the lab, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Reno was about the only person who could make him nervous.

Reno...Rude saw the backside of a blue suit, a white shirttail peeking out, a long, flame red ponytail swishing back and forth, cool metal in his left hand. It was Reno alright, and he was surrounded by three men in Shin-Ra uniforms, very much playing cat-and-mouse with them. Hojo stood off to the side. The bastard seemed to be taking notes.

The soldiers fought tentatively. They were going up against a Turk after all, and one with an electro-mag-rod. It was worse than a knife or a gun in so many ways. One of them had a badly broken, and very freely bleeding nose, another must've taken a good shot to the ribs, and the third didn't seem to want to make a move on Reno, sure he'd have a similar fate.

They were all trying to fight him one-on-one, Rude noted. If they worked together they had a better chance of taking him down...Rude was glad the trio wasn't as strategic as he was. He made a point of adjusting his gloves as he approached Reno.

Without so much as thinking of the repercussions, he asked his partner, "Need a hand?"

*************

Elena sighed, as she hastily made her way out of the Conference Room. At least Heidegger hadn't fired her. He didn't seem at all upset about Tseng, but he was none too pleased that she hadn't been able to tell him a thing about the Promised Land. She'd be getting another assignment shortly. A solo assignment. All in all, Elena told herself, it could've gone much worse.

Elena approached the elevator and hit the call button. She was going to give Reno a piece of her mind for what he'd pulled. She hoped Rude already had. She stepped into the elevator, and once the doors had closed, hit ‘L.’

*************

"Always startin' shit, Reno," Rude remarked, and smirked at Reno as they both hovered over the three defeated grunts.

The red-haired Turk said nothing, just stood perfectly still, taking shallow, forced breaths, and sporting a strange expression. Rude quickly recognized the look on his partner's face; it was the look Reno got when he knew something was terribly wrong, but couldn't pinpoint what, nor how to fix it. It was a subtle, nearly unnoticeable expression, and not one Rude had seen often; rather, just enough to be familiar with it and what it always meant: trouble. It always meant trouble.

Without another word, Rude grabbed Reno by the arm, prepared to escort him away.

Hojo scoffed, looking upon Reno disgustedly. "Well, if you're going to lose it, then I have no use for you. Even so..." He looked to Rude and said, "Are you going to bring him back here or not?"

Rude's jaw clenched. He stepped in front of Reno. If Hojo wanted Reno, he'd have to get past him first.

Understanding the big man's meaning, Hojo leered at him, then laughed, suddenly. "Fine. Have it your way. If he's...he could very well die. You need me. He needs me."

Rude simply crossed his arms.

Knowing he wasn't getting anywhere with Rude and that he wouldn't, no matter what he said or did, Hojo then addressed the guards, telling them, "Back to your posts." Then he walked away.

Reno stood stiffly a step behind Rude and slightly to his side, glaring daggers at Hojo's retreating form; there really was no understanding that man. His knuckles were white, he was gripping his weapon so tightly.

"Come on," Rude said, as close to coaxingly as he was capable of, as he slid the electro-mag-rod out of Reno's clenched fist and hooked it on his belt loop. "Can you walk?"

The redhead's breathing was still ragged, as he allowed himself to be turned around and led away.

*************

The elevator doors opened in the lobby and Reno and Rude stepped out. Elena's heels could be heard clicking on the floor, and her hips switched as she moved to meet her colleagues halfway. "I'll have you know, Reno, my meeting was a disaster, because I spent the whole time worrying about you and what kind of trouble you might've gotten yourself into," she informed the redhead. She noticed the odd expression on Reno's face, and the fact that Rude had an arm around him and was very gingerly escorting him along. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into, Reno...?"

Reno offered no reply.

"Reno?" Elena called out. Once she realized she wasn't going to get any kind of response out of Reno, Elena looked to Rude. "What's wrong with him?"

"Don't know," Rude answered, flatly, still very slowly leading Reno on.

"Is it bad?"

"Don't know."

"What happened?"

"We fought."

"You and Reno?"

Rude shook his head. "No. Well, yeah, but not like that. I don't know what happened. He was going at it with three guards when I showed up."

"Three? All by himself?"

Rude nodded.

"What are we going to do?" Elena asked, putting a hand to Reno's cheek. "He's burning up."

"We're taking him to Mideel."

"But it's so far-"

"You got a better idea?"

"I-"

Before Elena and Rude could further what was shaping up to be their first real argument, Reno collapsed.

*************
A/N: I'm sorry about the (really, really poorly characterized) Hojo cameo, I really am. I'd have warned against that up top, but I didn't want to give too much away.