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Chapter 5
Something had gone wrong. One minute the Turks had had the captured members of the Wutan resistance group under control, then a shot had been fired. A sniper, on a roof somewhere. Then more shots, they’d been everywhere. Tseng and Rude had retorted by opening fire too; Reno’d cast a confuse spell on one of the Wutans who immediately shot one of his own. Barrett had yelled to them to get the hell out of there. Tifa and Jessie made their escape through the alleys, he wasn’t sure where Wedge was and Barrett had disappeared out of sight. When he ran from the scene the Turks were still there. These parts of Sector 1 were the worst. The slum of the slum. There was a saying; look where you’re going or you might trip over a corpse. It could only have sprung from a place like this. Biggs turned into another alley, he knew every twist and turn of this area. It was where he’d been born and raised.No wonder really that the Turks had needed someone to guide them through the maze of dark alleys and filthy back streets. One wrong turn and you might stumble right into the arms of your enemy. “Biggs.”He spun around, aiming the Shinra manufactured gun at whoever it was that had uttered his name. He found himself on the end of Reno’s peculiar nightstick. Tseng stod next to him. “Easy Biggs,” the ebony haired Turk said, “it’s just us.”Biggs just cocked his gun without blinking. Reno smirked and Tseng chuckled softly. “Are you going to shoot us? Come on, Biggs. You’ve got bigger problems than us right now. Like getting away from those crazy bombers.”“Anyway,” Reno filled in, “you’d be dead before you’d even squeezed the trigger.” “And how do I know you won’t kill me anyway, now when you’ve got what you wanted. We led you down here, you’ve got no use for us anymore.”Tseng studied him silently for a moment then a tiny smirk crept into his face. “We won’t kill you Biggs, you’ve got my word on that.” The smile grew a bit more pronounced. “And there’s still more I want, I’m sure you’ll be of some use.”A noise broke off their conversation and all three of them spun around. Tseng had his gun out within the fraction of a second but it was Reno who fired his weapon first and fell the wutan rebel that had crept up on them. “A bit unfocused, boss?” he said to Tseng, casting a quick glance over at Biggs before he walked off. “Let’s get the hell outta here before more of the scum catches up with us.”***** They were almost out of Sector 1 when a black car pulled up beside them.“That’s about time, man,” Reno said to the driver who appeared to be Rude. Rude reached into the glove compartment and handed a cellphone to Tseng. “Heidegger,” he said in that concise way of his.“Great,” Tseng muttered and took the phone. He took a few steps away from them to gain some privacy. For a fleeting moment Biggs peeked at him through his dark bangs, then he noticed Reno, leaning against the car, arms folded over his chest and with an unreadable smirk twisting his lips.“Cigarette?” Biggs asked and held out his pack to the Turk. Reno leaned forward a little, taking one of the offered cigarettes and lit it. “Thanks,” he said, smoke streaming out of his mouth.“...than expected,” Biggs caught the last of Tseng’s sentence. “They got away, sir.” A short pause. Tseng suddenly looked over at Biggs who flinched under the gaze of the Turk’s leader. “We lost them,” he said. “Sorry, sir... I see.” He flipped the phone shut and disposed it into the breastpocket of his jacket. “What’s up?” Reno asked, tossing what little was left of the cigarette away.“He put in SOLDIER,” Tseng replied and Reno swore. “What?” Biggs asked, not seeing what was the big deal.Tseng dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. “Nothing you need to worry about.” He turned to the two other Turks again.“They’ve taken care of the rebels, nothing more we can do here. We’re wanted back at the Tower.” “And him?” Reno nudged at Biggs.“I suggest you get out of here before this place is crawling with SOLDIERs, mr Biggs. As of now, there will be no more cooperation between Shinra and Avalanche.” Tseng opened the car door but turned to Biggs before he got in. “Get out of here. Now.”***** ”So Avalanche got out of it all safe and sound?” Heidegger studied the leader of the Turks intently.“Yes sir, we’d already split up from them when we got your orders, sir.” Reno glanced at Rude who sat on the other side of the table. The silent Turk who never wore his glasses in the Shinra Tower since it would seem disrespectful, met his friend’s gaze briefly.“Damn,” Heidegger muttered, “I was hoping we could have killed two birds with one stone.” Tseng remained silent. Heidegger’s eyes returned to him, a deep scowl bringing the wild brows together.“I had to put in SOLDIER, Tseng. You know damn well how I feel about that.” “Yes sir. I’m sorry, sir.”“You’d better be. The three of you are supposed to be the best of the best, that’s why you’re not in SOLDIER, that’s why Shinra only trusts you with the most important missions. And that’s why those extra zeros are at the end of your paychecks. Understood?” “Understood sir.” Tseng said in his monotone, proffesional voice.Heidegger muttered something as he left the conference room and Reno rolled his eyes. “Jeez, what’s up with him?”Tseng leaned back in his chair. “God knows. I’m too tired to even think about it.” “What’s that about letting Avalanche get away? I thought we were supposed to let them go anyways?” Reno was rolling a cigarette between his thumb and index finger.Tseng gave him a look; usually meant to silence the redhead. “C’mon Tseng. What are we supposed to tell them if they ask?”“You were there, you know what happened. The order to bring the members of Avalanche back in came in too late. They’d already escaped.” Reno shrugged. “If you say so, boss.”Rude silently agreed as Tseng looked over at him. He’d only been a Turk for a short while still he felt more connected to the two men at the table than he’d ever done with anyone before. If they wanted him to lie he would. *****Home sweet home, Biggs thought sarcastically as he pushed the door open to his place. His cell in the Shinra Tower had been bigger, and a lot more comfortable. He sighed and opened the refrigirator, which was pretty useless in reality since whatever you put in it always came out stale warm. He reached for a bottle of beer nevertheless and uncorked it.The old couch squeeked unnervingly as he slumped into it. Just another sign of the decay of what was his home. He was tired, he hadn’t gotten much sleep after Tseng’s little visit in his cell the night before.Did I actually cry? Shit, I did. Why? Biggs pressed two fingers into his temple, slowly massaging to ease the headache that had crept onto him.Why didn’t he say anything today? Why did he act so cold? He laid down on the couch, draping his arm over his eyes to block out the annoying light.He’s a hired assassin for god’s sake. Of course he’s cold. How could he possibly care about anything? Just forget about him. Biggs had a feeling he wouldn’t be seeing much of the Turks in the nearest future. And even though that feeling should have made him calm it didn’t. Instead it seemed to burn a big black hole inside of him.Forget about him. Forget about last night and forget about Tseng. But it didn’t matter how much Biggs tried to block Tseng out from his thoughts; the Turk kept invading them until he finally fell asleep. |
| The Floating City version.3 |