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Healen Lodge was supposed to be safe. That was why Rufus and his Turks had agreed to stay there. It was far enough away from Edge that they went unnoticed, but close enough that it was no trouble for the Turks to go to Edge when needed. The Turks were strict with security to the point of driving Rufus close to madness. None of it had been enough.
“Pick who dies,” the leader’s name was Evertt, he was broadly built and smelt of pungent body odour.
Rufus did not look at the Turks, he kept his eyes on Evertt. “There is no need for this,” Rufus kept his voice calm, “We are all adults here and can discuss your demands without bloodshed.” Their captors had not even bothered to tell Rufus what they wanted, instead, after overwhelming the Turks with a surprise attack and numbers, their leader had introduced himself and with little preamble had demanded that Rufus pick a Turk to die.
There was scuffling and Rufus was forced to glance over at where Reno was once again fighting. The redheaded Turk was grazed and his face was rapidly swelling and bruising, but still, Reno had fight left in him. Beside Reno was Rude, barely conscious. It had taken a lot to bring Rude down, but their captors had managed this. Elena was being restrained with ease now that they had subdued her, the blonde had shown her fellow Turks exactly why she was among them. And finally, there was Tseng, kneeling up, dark eyes fixed on Rufus. Somehow, Tseng still managed to look almost perfect, oh his hair was not sitting straight as it usually did and the sleeve of his jacket was torn, but somehow he did not look nearly as messy as his fellow Turks even though he had fought hard.
Rufus was pulled from his thoughts by a vicious backhand by Evertt. “I said, pick who dies!”
Rufus’ vision sawm and his head pounded, but he would not give his captor satisfaction. Stubbornly, Rufus straightened up and cleared his throat.
“I refuse to make any decisions until you tell me what this is all about,” Rufus said firmly, perhaps his words would lead to all of them being killed, but perhaps not. If these men wanted Rufus dead they would have killed him already, no, they came here because they wanted something. Funny that, even with most of his wealth gone, his company in shambles and his name in the mud, people still wanted things from Rufus Shinra.
“If you don’t choose, I will,” Evertt said, brandishing his gun and pointing it indiscriminately in the direction of not only the Turks, but also his own men.
Rufus smirked, “With aim like that, you are more likely to hit one of your own then one of mine.”
Everett growled in annoyance, Rufus could see him losing control, the shake in his arms as he struggled to keep control of himself. With that in mind Rufus pushed forward.
“Now, let’s discuss this matter like gentlemen. Tell me what I and my Turks can do for you.”
“You are meant to choose which one dies!” Everett shouted, “Pick one!”
Rufus shifted in his seat, his eyes flickered over the Turks once again. “No. First we talk about what it is you want.”
“You’re from Sector Six,” Reno’s voice was course as if he was having trouble breathing, Rufus thought that the redhead likely had broken ribs after the beating he had taken. “I know you, seen you ‘round Wall Market… Who was in Sector Seven?”
“My little brother,” Everett’s attention was off of Rufus now and intensely focused on Reno. He walked slowly towards the redheaded Turk. “You fuckers said that AVALANCHE did it, but I’ve met them, I’ve met AVALANCHE and now I know the truth.”
Reno gave a little laugh, “So, you’re here for revenge.” He stuck his chin on in defiance towards Everett. “Get in line. Lots o’ people want to kill us, take revenge on Shinra. But ya wanna know what? It won’t bring ‘em back n’ it won’t fill that emptiness that’s inside ya.”
Everett stood over Reno. “What the hell do you think you know about it?” He clenched his fists.
“More than you think, but this ain’t about me, it’s about you.”
Rufus had to admit that he was surprised, after all these years he had never seen Reno keeping such cool, talking so rationally. He glanced at Tseng but there was no surprise in Tseng’s eyes, to a stranger Tseng would appear neutral, but Rufus could see he looked confident and proud.
Everett took a gun from his belt and pressed the barrel between Reno’s eyes. The Turk did not flinch, he kept his gaze steady. “I lost people too,” Reno said, “See, Rufus wasn’t even president when Sector Seven happened, so you can’t blame ‘im.”
“I don’t blame the idiot president,” Everett said, “I blame the Turks. Apparently some of you lot were up there when the plate. So, which Turk is going to take the fall? Who is going to take responsibility?”
“I’ll take responsibility,” Reno said, “But it ain’t gonna bring him back, it ain’t gonna fix anythin’. Just make a mess on my boss’ floor.”
Everett turned off the safety. “I don’t care about your boss’ floor.”
“Yeah, well, neither do I,” Reno snorted, “ain’t like I’m gonna have to clean it up. But revenge breeds revenge man.”
“I’ll just have to kill you all then.”
Reno kept his gaze steady, staring right into Everett’s eyes, “Yeah, you probably could,” Reno said, “but why?”
“What do you mean why? Revenge.” Everett pressed the barrel of his gun harder agianst Reno’s forehead.
“You kill them and I won’t be paying for anymore of Edge, no more quietly funding the schools, no more building essential infrusructure,” Rufus said, keeping his voice calm. “We may not be the heroes one reads about in storybooks-”
“You’re not heroes at all,” Everett withdrew his gun and turned to Rufus.
“No, we’re not,” Rufus agreed, “But we are playing our part in repairing this world. We can’t do that if we’re dead. You’re brother is gone and revenge won’t bring him back, it will just make you a murderer and prevent me from repairing the damage done by my father.” Keeping his gaze on Everett, Rufus very slowly stood up. “I cannot bring back what you’ve lost, but I can continue to work on the betterment of the planet.”
Rufus was surprised by how willing Everett was willing to talk. It seemed whatever wounds Reno had opened had made the leader feel vulnerable and his openness led to his followers being more open. Lucky really, the last thing Rufus and his Turks needed was there to be a power struggle amongst their captors. If that happened, it was guaranteed that they would end up dead.
When asked later, Rufus would be unable to remember exactly what he said, but a lot of it was lies, some of it wasn’t. But through all his words, Rufus convinced their attackers to leave.
“We should move,” Tseng said, “It’s not safe here.”
“No,” Rufus said firmly, “this is our home now and I am not going to be chased away by angry children looking for someone to blame for their pain and suffering.”
The front door of the lodge opened and Reno stepped out. He was cleaned up and had taken a potion to ward off his injuries, on his heels was Rude.
“Where are you two going?” Tseng asked quirking an eyebrow.
“I don’t much like being made to remember that day. We’re off to find a drink, n’ if the bastards are lucky I’ll be too drunk and they’ll be too far away for me to chase em’ down in the chopper.”
Rufus watched the two men walk into the night, heading down the town at the bottom of the cliffs. “Well, no need to worry about Reno going soft.”
“He did well,” Tseng said, “kept his cool and said what he had to.”
“He’s turning into you,Tseng.”
Tseng laughed. “That will never happen.”