Debra led a very regimented life. A place for everything and everything in it's place could have been her motto. She did the same things, on the same day, at the same time, pretty much every day, and though in fact the particular events themselves had changed over the years, she had always been like that and expected to continue doing so until she was in her grave. She was not fond of change or anything out of the ordinary. She was very comfortable with her life the way it was. She liked to think of herself as a very organized person. Some of her friends had another word for her. They called her boring.
She was aware of this point of view and it didn't bother her in the least. She was very happy to be boring, very happy to go shopping every Monday, bingo on Wednesday, and meeting the girls down at the club on Friday to have drinks and talk about any girl who happened to not be there, to go to the fitness center on Tuesday and Thursday and the spa afterwards. It left her very content to hang out by the glass encased pool off the back of her and her husbands estate every afternoon reading magazines and acquiring a tan to die for. And she loved old movies.
Which was why she was sitting on the couch in her rather expansive living room at exactly eleven p.m. on Thursday night in front of the home theater sized television set. For Thursday night was classic movie night on one of her favorite stations, and it just so happened that the movie they were playing tonight at exactly eleven was one of her favorites, and, naturally, she didn't want to miss a moment.
Which made it doubly annoying when the opening credits were interrupted by the jangle of the phone on the nearby end table. Annoying because it interrupted her movie, in spite of the fact that it was only the opening credits and she really wasn't all that much interested in who the executive producer or assistant to the assistant director were, and also annoying because it was well after ten o'clock at night and she had made it clear numerous times to all her friends and in fact anyone who would listen that calling after ten was just not acceptable behavior, especially, most especially, on Thursday night when everyone knew she would be watching her old movies.
Ordinarily, she would have let the machine pick it up. In this case however, that was not an option, for she had turned the machine off at precisely ten o'clock because, well, no one ever called after that time, now did they?
She paused for a moment, looking at the phone distastefully, as if to convey her displeasure to the person without even having to pick it up, or hoping perhaps the other person would realize they had a wrong number and hang up, but after the third ring the phone's call became impossible to resist and she lifted the receiver.
"Hello?" she said. A not particularly friendly hello, at that.
"Mrs. Singh?"
"Who is this?"
"My name is Dick Cheney. I'm the Assistant Director of Operations for the North Central District of Psi Co. I'm afraid there has been an accident."
"An accident?" she repeated, and suddenly her old movie didn't seem so important after all. "Oh God, is Chan all right?"
Even her husband thought Chandenben was much too long a name to pronounce. She had called him Chan since the day she had met him.
"He's hurt. It's pretty serious. He's been taken to Midgar General Hospital. I thought you would want to know so you could go down there. I'm sorry..."
She didn't bother to listen anymore. She wasn't really one for pleasantries with people she didn't know, and the news of her husband left her in even less of a mood to be sociable. She hung up the phone without another word and ran to get her coat. She was in her car in minutes, starting it up as the garage door opened behind her. Before she could put the car in gear, however, something caught her eye. A movement in her peripheral vision, and then there was a man suddenly standing beside her car door, a gun in his hand. She stared at him for a moment, not really fearful yet, for some reason, probably because what was happening had yet to sink in. He was tall and bald, and his gun looked very very big. He motioned for her to roll down the window. She paused for a moment, running through her options, but she soon realized they were quite limited. She couldn't put the car in gear without him noticing, and the motion would give him plenty of time to shoot her. She had a cell phone in her purse, but again, that didn't seem like it would do her much good. She couldn't run.
Eventually she rolled down the window, realizing he could shoot her with it closed just as easily as open.
The man reached in with his free hand and unlocked the door.
"Move over," he asked, not unpleasantly, as he opened the door.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"That's not important," the man replied.
"What do you want?" she questioned.
He leaned forward, just a bit.
"We don't have much time. Cooperate or you will get hurt."
Again, his voice was quite pleasant, yet there was a palpable air of menace behind those words. She did as she was told. He got in the car, sitting down on the drivers seat. He held the wheel with his right hand, keeping the gun in his left, though to her relief he rested it in his lap, not pointing it at her.
He guided the car out of the garage and onto the street.
"Where are we going?" Debra worked up the courage to ask. "My husband has been hurt."
"No, that was just a ruse to get you outside," Rude replied. "We're going to see him right now. He is unhurt and both you and he will remain that way. As long as you cooperate."
Tifa took a deep breath, fiddling idly with the fittings on her leather jacket. She was wearing a black sleeveless blouse beneath and black loose legged jeans. Her kicking ass outfit, she called it. With her fighting gloves on, she was ready for battle. She stood in front of the door to Reno's apartment, somewhat reluctant to enter. After what had happened last night, she wasn't sure how she was going to react to Reno's presence, or him to hers. It was definitely going to be awkward, at least for her, but there was no avoiding it. She couldn't let her feelings about Reno interfere with what they had to do tonight. They were going to get the cure for Karisa. That was more important than anything.
Still she paused, her hand coming up to her stomach, trying to quiet the queasiness there. She didn't feel good. No, scratch that. She felt like shit. Despite her intentions to stay up all night drinking she had eventually fallen asleep, and woken up with a raging hangover. She had spent the day in bed, lamenting her stupidity, her stupidity about everything, including the fact that she could do that to herself right before they were going to attempt this. Of course it was too late to do anything about that now. If she felt sick it was her own fault, but she wasn't going to let that or anything else get in the way of what she had to do. She wasn't exactly at full strength. She felt ill, and she hadn't even been able to look at any food all day long. She just hoped that the way she felt didn't compromise her ability to fight tonight. If that happened, she'd never forgive herself.
It was too late for any of that anyway. Her list of regrets might have doubled after last night but she had to put that behind her for now.
She lifted her hand and knocked on the door.
It opened a moment later and Reno let her in. For a second their eyes met, then she turned her face away and walked past him.
She walked over to the small table in his living room, the one that had held the print outs about Meteor Fever the last time she had been here. It was strewn with papers this time too, but she looked down to see that most of them pertained to Psi Co. A large map lay on top.
"This is the layout of Psi Co headquarters?" she asked.
He stood there for a moment, then walked over to her. It was obvious from her posture and the way she was avoiding looking at him that she was indeed unhappy with him.
"Yes," he said slowly. He walked over beside her, surreptitiously looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked good. Better than good. The chocolate hair that fell to her waist behind her back, the curve of her hips, the faint scent of her perfume he had caught as she had walked past him, all reminded him of last night, of the feel of her lips, her flesh against his own.
He shook his head to ban those thoughts from it. There wasn't time for that now.
All business, he pointed to the map.
"This is north," he said. "There's a service entrance around the back. Right here. Once I get in, that's the door I'll be opening. There's no guard there, and I'll have turned off the camera. You have to find your way around back to that door on your own. Look, it's just to the left of this truck unloading area. And there are two dumpsters just to the right of the door. Think you can find it?"
"Yeah," she said after a moment. She wasn't all that great with maps, but he had given her a pretty good description.
"We won't have much time," Reno continued. "Once I disable the security system in that area, it's only a matter of time before someone notices. We've got to get up to the sixth floor, get the cure and get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. I don't know how much time we have, it depends on how alert the security guards are there, and on luck too. They may notice after only a few minutes, or it could take them up to a half hour or so. I don't think we can expect more time than that."
"That should be plenty, right?" she commented.
"I would think so," he replied. "But it's quite likely we'll have less time than that. Maybe a lot less."
Tifa nodded. She understood. Just get in and get out as fast as they could. That's the best they could do.
"Where's Rude?" she asked.
"He'll meet us there," Reno replied. "He went to get us a little... insurance."
Tifa looked at him for a moment, but when he said nothing further she didn't question it, figuring she'd find out exactly what he meant soon enough.
"I guess that's about it," he stated. "It's not a complicated plan. Are you ready to do this?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied. Not the truth, but she wasn't going to wait any longer. She wasn't going to tell him how bad she felt. There was no time to put this off. She wanted to get the cure, she wanted to save Karisa. She couldn't stand to wait another minute.
Reno just stood there looking at her. She was facing him now, and he could get a good look at her face. He stared at her for a moment.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
She hesitated. Again she had this strange feeling like he could read her mind somehow.
"Yeah, sure, why do you ask?" she replied.
"You look a little pale," he commented. He had succeeded in getting fall down drunk last night. He had also managed to make his way home before passing out. He hadn't felt all that well today either, but his body was much more acclimated to consuming large quantities of alcohol and had rebounded somewhat better than she. He had had a headache this morning, but it was pretty much gone now.
Tifa looked away again, embarrassed that he had noticed anything was wrong and determined not to tell him what she had done.
"I'm fine," she said. "Let's just get on with this."
He could tell there was more to it than that, but he could also tell she was in no mood to discuss it.
"All right, let's go. We've got to get to the donut shop before the guy leaves."
They set off on their way. The night was cold and clear. They walked quickly and silently down the street. Now that they were on their way, Reno felt his adrenaline level begin to rise. He didn't look at what they were about to do as being dangerous, even though he knew it was. He had absolute confidence in his own abilities and the concept of failure never even entered his mind. He looked at it not as a dangerous mission but instead as a challenge. It was an adventure, and like any adventure, the anticipation of it was half the fun. The adrenaline rush that came from this was the reason he had been in a gang as a youth, why he had joined the Turks. The feeling of danger was the only thing that really made him feel alive. He was in his element.
It took about a half hour to walk to the donut shop, which made it just after eleven at night when they arrived. Reno knew from observation that the donut guy left the shop right around quarter to twelve, so they had a bit of time.
"C'mon," he muttered, then walked up to the entrance of the shop.
"What are you doing?" Tifa asked as he went to pull open the door. She didn't think they'd just blatantly walk right in the front door.
"Getting a cup of coffee," he responded.
She didn't think walking right into the place before you were going to do what they had in mind was really a good idea, but he was already through the door now and there didn't seem much point in arguing. With a shrug she followed him in.
The shop was a small mom and pop place, not one of the big chains. It only contained a few tables. They could smell fresh brewed coffee. A man stood behind the counter looking bored. There were no other customers. Reno ordered two cups of coffee. Tifa sat down at the table closest to the door, as if ready to make a fast getaway, and hoped she didn't look as nervous as she felt. Unlike Reno, Tifa was filled with doubts. She had no firm conviction that they would succeed. On the contrary, she was fairly certain that somewhere along the line disaster would strike. She had done things like this too many times to believe that it would go without a hitch. She just hoped that whatever happened that went wrong, they'd be up to getting past it.
Reno brought their coffee over and put them down on the table, sitting down himself. Tifa took a sip from hers. It was hot, almost burning her lips, and black. She didn't really like coffee all that much, and certainly didn't like it black, but he hadn't asked her what she wanted and she hadn't volunteered that information. She didn't really want it at all but she felt she needed something to keep her alert. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, nor during the day, even though she had spent most of it home in bed.
She glanced over at the proprietor, worried that he might be suspicious of people wanting donuts this late at night, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention to them now that they had been served, instead was reading a paper that lay on the counter in front of him. In fact, he was used to people coming in at all odd hours.
Cradling the cup in both hands Tifa looked out the window. There was frost growing like a fungus along the bottom of the pane. It was dark outside, the bright lights inside turning the window into a mirror of sorts and she could see the reflection of the shop in front of her. At the same time she could see outside as well, especially where there was any kind of light. She could see the glow of the streetlights, and the headlights and dark shapes of the cars as they went by. A few pedestrians walked by as she looked, but not many. This late at night and it being this cold out, not too many people were anxious to walk the streets.
That made her feel a bit better, for some reason. She didn't want to be seen. They were about to break into Psi Co headquarters. Everyone who saw them was a potential witness, someone who could identify them, and here they were, sitting in a well lit donut shop right by the front window, for all to see.
She turned her head and looked at Reno, but he seemed perfectly at ease, sitting back in his chair with one leg propped up on one of the empty chairs at their table. He obviously didn't share her concerns.
She took another sip from her drink, then put it down.
"Are we ready to go?" she asked.
"We just got here," Reno replied.
"Yeah, well, we have our coffee. There's no reason to stay any longer, is there?"
He leaned back in his chair, just looking at her for a moment. It was obvious she was uncomfortable sitting here. Too obvious. She was nervous, hell, he was too, but she looked nervous and that would not do.
He glanced over at the store owner, but the man seemed engrossed in his paper. Even so, Reno leaned forward and spoke softly to be certain the man wouldn't hear.
"Why don't you go on?" he suggested.
"Go on?" she repeated. "You want me to leave?"
"You obviously want to," he replied. "I can handle things here. They're only expecting one person, you know. Go on ahead and I'll meet you at the rendezvous point. You can find it on your own, right?"
She gave him an chagrined look. Of course she could find it. She wasn't incompetent, she could follow directions.
"Yes I can find it," she replied a bit abruptly.
"All right then," he replied evenly, and she couldn't tell whether he was ignoring her pique, or just hadn't noticed it. "Get going. I'll meet you in..." he glanced at his watch, "...about a half hour."
She looked at her watch as well, then stood up and without another word walked out of the shop. She glanced behind her once as she made her way down the street. Reno still sat in his chair, drinking his coffee, as if he hadn't a care in the world. She had to admit he was one cool customer, though she had to wonder if he really was as calm as he looked.
It was icy cold out. Her breath left a trail of little white puffs behind her as she walked. She shivered. Her leather jacket wasn't really designed for this kind of weather. A bulky coat would have been much warmer, but she couldn't wear that and fight. She needed something that wouldn't restrict her movements. She supposed she would just have to suffer.
Telling herself that cold was just a state of mind, she walked on. It wasn't far to Psi Co headquarters, just down the block, in fact. Apparently Dr. Singh hadn't traveled far to find his donut shop. The rendezvous point was somewhere around the back. The building wasn't tall, but it took up most of the block. It also had an asymmetrical design that made it look downright weird, at least, in Tifa's opinion. She had never been here before, she didn't know which way the front of the building faced, but she assumed she'd be able to recognize it once she saw it. She reached the corner without seeing anything that looked like a main entrance, or the loading dock and dumpsters that she was looking for in the back. It would be just her luck to have to go around all four sides to find what she was looking for.
Still, if that was the worst thing that happened tonight, she'd consider herself lucky.
As it turned out, she didn't have to do that. As soon as she started down the street she saw an open area which was obviously a loading dock. Obvious, because there was in fact a truck unloading right in front of her. It took her a moment to spot the dumpsters Reno had told her about as a landmark, as they were hidden in the shadows under an overhang just to the left of the loading area. The door Reno had told her to meet him at had to be right beside that, though she couldn't see it from this distance.
And it was going to be trickier than she had thought to get closer. The area was well lit. The men working on unloading the truck were right next to where she had to go. She wasn't sure she could get by them without being seen.
She glanced at her watch. She still had a little more than fifteen minutes. She turned toward the truckers. She couldn't see the inside of the truck, she couldn't tell how much more they had to unload. Reno obviously hadn't anticipated anyone being here. She supposed that was a reasonable assumption. After all, who the hell would be unloading a truck at midnight? Yet there it was. She would have to walk past them to reach the door. They looked like just ordinary workers, three or four of them. She couldn't see anyone in a uniform, no one who looked like a security guard. Would they question her if she walked past them? Would they even notice her?
Could she take the chance? If she got caught here, it would all be over before it even began.
Maybe they would be finished soon.
She waited impatiently as the minutes ticked by. It wasn't easy. Normally she considered herself a reasonably patient person, but not tonight. Logically she knew ten minutes wasn't going to make any difference to her daughter, but that didn't stop her from feeling like it would. She wanted the cure, and she wanted it now. She had waited long enough. Karisa had waited long enough.
Not only that, but she was freezing to death. She kept telling herself that cold was just a state of mind, but her mind obviously didn't want to believe her. It was bad enough when she had been walking down the road, at least she had been moving then, had been engaged in some physical activity. Now, just standing here, she could feel the cold seeping right into her bones, could feel herself starting to shiver uncontrollably, no matter how much she hugged herself or rubbed her hands together.
She kept glancing at her watch, but the time stubbornly refused to pass at more than a snails pace. It did pass, however, and after what seemed like hours though it was only minutes and she knew that because she was staring at her watch practically the entire time, the time to meet Reno approached and instead of worrying about the time and the cold a new problem came to the fore, for looking up she saw that the workers were still unloading the truck and seemed no closer to finishing than they had been when she first arrived.
The plan depended on proper timing. Reno was inside right now sabotaging the security system. They would only have a small window of opportunity before that was discovered. If Reno came outside and saw she was not there, what would he do? She assumed he would just continue without her and she had no idea whether or how much that would screw up their plan. In any case, she didn't want that to happen. She wanted to be there if he needed help. She wasn't about to be left behind.
There were a few cars parked at the front of the docking bay. She used them for cover, then slipped into a small alcove in one of the docking bays that wasn't being used, using the wall as cover. She peered around the wall and she could see the doorway she was supposed to meet Reno at now, but there was no more cover between her and her objective. She was close to the workers now, could hear them talking to each other. She would have to go right past them to get any closer. She couldn't proceed without being seen.
She wondered if she could signal Reno once he opened the door. At least he would know she was nearby and maybe he could come up with some way to get her past them. She glanced at her watch again and saw that time was up. Reno would be at the door any second now.
Feeling a bit desperate she looked around, but there was no way to get at the door and remain concealed. The loading dock was well lit, and she was only a few meters away from the men now. She could hear their voices quite clearly, even when not looking at them, fading in and out as they walked inside with their burden and then out again.
Inside and out again. She looked up, observing the men more closely. There were three of them, and when they walked into the building with their goods, they were temporarily out of sight. If she could get to the door in that time, they wouldn't see her.
Of course, if she timed it wrong and they walked out while she was making for the door, there would be no way they could miss her.
She watched them for a short time, hoping to divine some sort of pattern and eventually she did. Two of the men were working at about the same pace while the third lagged behind. In out, in out, in... out. Sometimes he came out with the other two, sometimes before, sometimes after, but it was a slow and apparently predictable progression, or at least it seemed like that to her. Every once in a while, there was a time when the fast two went in and there was a distinct lag before the third one came out. Long enough, or so she hoped, for her to get to the door.
She edged out as far as she dared, waiting for the right moment, hoping that nothing would happen to upset their pattern, that she was correct in her observations. When the time was right, she darted out and ran as fast as she could for the door.
It only took her seconds to cross the distance. She reached the door without incident. She heard no shouts, no alarms blaring. The side of the building once again blocked her from view. She was safe, for the moment.
In spite of the fact that she knew Reno was going to open the door she still jumped when he did just a few moments later.
"Problems?" he asked, seeing the look on her face.
She stopped for a moment admiring the red and white striped donut shop uniform Reno was wearing. He just glared at her, as if daring her to make a comment.
"No, not at all," she replied, quickly walking past him into the building.
The hallway inside was well lit, empty and, thankfully, warm. She heard the door close with a click, then Reno strode past her.
"This way," he said.
She followed him down the corridor, looking around slowly. She had never been here before. The walls and ceiling were painted a neutral off white color. The tiles on the floor were white as well, with a mottled black and gray pattern on them. Fluorescent lights ran along the ceiling, giving the hallway an antiseptic look. There was nothing on the walls except closed doors every few meters.
"When's Rude supposed to get here?" she asked.
"He'll be here," Reno replied, not answering her question at all.
"Is he coming in the same way I did?" she questioned. If the truckers were still there when he showed up, he'd have the same problem she did.
"Be quiet," Reno admonished. "It's late but that doesn't mean the place is deserted. Who knows who might be working late? We can't afford to draw attention to ourselves. Rude can take care of himself."
Tifa shut her mouth, even though she was not at all pleased with that kind of treatment.
Reno led her around a few twists and turns until they came to a nondescript elevator in the middle of one hallway. He pressed the button and it opened immediately. They stepped in, Reno selecting the button for the sixth floor once inside. Bland music played in the background as they ascended.
The door opened onto a corridor quite similar to the one they had just been in. Reno stuck his head out into the hallway, then walked out into it, waving her to follow. Again they threaded their way through the corridors. Some of the doors were open on this floor, and Tifa could see that the rooms were full or machinery and lab equipment, and passing one room she caught the faint odor of formaldehyde.
They reached the end of the hallway. Reno stopped, then peeked his head around the corner. He turned to look at her and held his finger to his lips, as if she needed to be reminded, then led her forward once again.
They were already in silent mode, their feet treading lightly on the tiled floor, making no sound. Tifa hadn't uttered a word since Reno had told her to be quiet. On the way here, all she had heard was a faint hum from what she assumed was the heating system. She had to wonder why he had reminded her to keep quiet now, that was, until she heard the sound of voices coming from somewhere ahead of them.
They reached yet another turn in what Tifa was beginning to think of as an endless maze of corridors. Again Reno looked around the corner first before proceeding. The voices were much closer now, two voices, both male, and as they came around the turn Tifa saw a door up on the left that was open. That room appeared to be the source of the sound.
Reno stopped when he was a few paces from the door and turned to look at her.
"You ready?" he said softly.
Tifa nodded.
Reno turned toward the door once more. Pulling out his nightstick he entered, with Tifa right on his heels.
The room was a typical laboratory room with the typical lab accoutrements. Long countertops, microscopes, glass beakers, refrigerators, machinery used of who knew what purpose and two somewhat startled men in white lab coats.
Seeing the uniform Reno was wearing one of the men began to speak, but then frowned when he saw the nightstick in Reno's hand and his female companion instead of a box of donuts.
His expression quickly turned from surprise to indignity.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he demanded.
"We're here for the cure for Meteor Fever," Reno spoke up. No sense in beating around the bush. He knew they didn't have a lot of time. He had bypassed the door alarms and reprogrammed the security cameras to work only intermittently, and not at all along the route they were taking. If anyone noticed, he was hoping they would just think it was some kind of glitch, or maintenance problem, at least for a while. It was the best he could do from a remote location. Even if that worked, they still had to hurry. The guard at the main entrance had let him in, and, if he was on the ball at all, would start to wonder why the donut guy didn't come back. They didn't have time to dawdle.
"Meteor Fever? I don't know what you're talking about."
Reno had dug deep to find all the information he could on Dr. Singh. The man was dedicated to his work, and Psi Co. He was rumored to be a real company man. Fair to his subordinates but a monster if you crossed him. Not the ideal subject for them to drag information out of.
Instead of replying Reno lifted his nightstick and thumbed the activation button. With a sharp crackling sound the streak of light shot through the air. For a moment Dr. Singh stood caught in it's grasp, his body shaking uncontrollably as the voltage tore through his body. A moment only, then the man collapsed to the floor as Reno deactivated his weapon.
The ex Turk walked nonchalantly over to where Dr. Singh lay.
"I don't have time to play games. I know you have a cure for Meteor Fever. I want it." He tapped the nightstick in his hand. "If you don't want another taste of this, I suggest you give it to me."
Dr. Sing managed to struggle up to a sitting position. He turned and looked Reno right in the eye.
"I told you," he said very deliberately. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The nightstick flared again, this time for considerably longer. When it went out this time, Dr. Singh took much longer to recover, but when he did, he just looked at Reno without saying anything.
Not able to contain herself, Tifa stepped forward.
"Please Doctor, my daughter is dying."
The man was still on the ground, propping himself up with his hands. He looked Tifa up and down for a moment.
"I'm very sorry," he told her, "but there's nothing I can do."
"Go look in that room back there," Reno barked at her, pointing to an open doorway at the back of the room. "Make sure there's no one else here."
For a moment Tifa just stood there. She was certain he was just saying that because she had spoken up, had interfered in what he was doing and he was just trying to get rid of her. If he had thought someone might actually be there, he'd have said something sooner.
Biting back her rejection of his request she did as she was told. There was no sense in arguing with him. They had no time for that, nor had she forgotten that she had agreed to let him lead this little escapade. If he wanted to handle this himself that was fine with her, as long as he got results. Persuasion was, after all, his forte.
She heard Reno's nightstick discharge again as she walked into the room, the thought of what it was doing to Dr. Singh making her teeth clench. Maybe it was better if she did come in here. She just wasn't cut out for torturing people.
She looked around and saw she was in a storage room, filled with shelves of supplies. Lots of them. She slowly strolled around the room, trying to ignore the sounds coming from the other one. She really didn't expect to find anything, anymore than she thought Reno expected her to, which made her even more surprised when she heard a furtive sound coming from the back of the room.
She slowly walked back to where she thought it had come from, looking around, balanced lightly on her feet so she could strike in any direction in an instant. She reached the back of the room without incident, and looking around, saw nothing out of the ordinary.
There wasn't any place for someone to hide...
A small metal cabinet stood beneath one of the counters. It looked too small to conceal anyone.
This is where I open it up and a cat pops out, she thought.
She opened it up, then stepped back, her fists coming up. Someone was in there, crammed in that little space. A face was looking out at her.
"Damn. You're one of them?"
A voice to go with it.
It was a young man. A teenager. Obviously slight of frame or he never would have managed to squeeze himself into such a small space.
"Them? Them who?" she asked, getting over her surprise.
"Whoever it is that's out there, that broke in."
"Yeah, I guess I am."
He stared at her for a moment before saying anything more.
"You're a girl."
"You're very observant."
Silence. He still hadn't moved.
"It looks very uncomfortable in there," she commented. "Don't you think it might be better if you came out now?"
He didn't reply for a moment, then nodded. It took him a few moments and more than one contortion to pull himself out. Eventually managing it he stood up in front of her, the both of them looking each other over. He wore a lab coat, just like the other two. He had green eyes and short brown hair, and he looked at her as if not sure what to make of her.
"You don't even have a weapon," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but my friend in the other room does, and he's big and mean and not afraid to use it."
The boy had no comment to this.
"Why don't we go out and join them?" Tifa suggested.
He hesitated a moment, then nodded. She turned and led him back toward the door, but as they were passing one counter his hand suddenly shot out, grabbing a brand new scalpel from an open box on the shelf, still in it's plastic wrap, then grabbed hold of her, holding it to her neck.
"Don't move!" he commanded.
She didn't. She just looked down at what he was holding, as best she could.
"Put that down before someone gets hurt."
"You bet someone's going to get hurt! Let me out of here!"
"There's no where to go," she replied. "The only way out is through that door past my very mean friend and he's not going to let you just walk by."
"He will if I've got a knife at your throat!"
She looked down at the scalpel.
"Aren't you even going to take it out of the package?" she asked.
"It's fine just the way it is," he replied. "Now move."
And she did. Her hand came up, grabbing his arm and twisting it around and suddenly, he wasn't quite sure how, the scalpel flew across the room and he found himself sprawled on the floor.
"Oww, that hurt!" he exclaimed, sitting up and rubbing his arm.
Tifa bent down to look at him.
"That's what you get for playing with pointy objects. Now c'mon."
She grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him to his feet, then set off again. This time he followed without giving her any trouble. When they walked back into the main room Dr. Singh and Reno was facing each other. The other man was lying on the floor now, and it was obvious that the doctor had not been monopolizing the ex Turk's attention.
"Hang in there Hudson," Dr. Singh was saying. "Help will be here shortly and I'm sure they'll be more than happy to put these hooligans in their place."
Reno was indeed surprised to see Tifa come out of the room followed by someone else. The doctor hadn't told him anything. On top of that, what he was telling his partner was true. Guards could show up at any minute, Rude was late, and so far he hadn't even gotten the doctor to admit there was a cure here at all. Things were not going well, things were not going well at all and Reno was starting to get irked.
"Who the hell are you?" he questioned, directing his attention to the young man.
"His name is Trevor, he's my lab assistant," Dr. Singh spoke up. "He doesn't know anything, I assure you."
"We'll see about that," Reno growled. "Come over here!"
The young man just stood there, hesitating. The girl had told him her partner was big and mean. He didn't look all that big, but the mean part seemed to fit.
"My daughter is dying," Tifa said, looking at Trevor, and she didn't care whether Reno approved or not. "She has Meteor Fever. Psi Co has a cure for it. That's what we're here for. That's all we're here for. If you know anything, please tell me."
Trevor just stood there for a moment.
"I... I don't know anything about it," he said finally.
"I'm beginning to get tired of hearing that," Reno snapped. He strode forward, lifting up his nightstick.
"Reno... don't," Tifa said.
"You stay out of this!" he snapped.
Trevor took a step back. He hadn't seen Reno use the nightstick. Tifa figured he didn't know what was going to happen but it seemed likely it would be bad. Tifa didn't want Reno to use it on him. He seemed harmless enough, in spite of the little scalpel incident. He obviously hadn't any idea what he was doing and she had an inclination to believe him when he said he knew nothing. He was only the lab assistant after all. She didn't think Psi Co would trust him with that kind of information.
On the other hand, she had agreed to let Reno run the show, and they had already wasted precious time.
She hesitated, her mind torn between intervening and staying out of it, but before Reno could press the activation button their actions were interrupted by the sound of footsteps from outside the door.
Reno spun around, nightstick raised, but a moment later it was Rude that walked into the room, followed closely by a woman he was dragging by the hand.
Reno lowered his nightstick.
"Finally," he muttered. "Now maybe we can get down to business."
"Debra..."
It was Doctor Singh, staring at the woman, and for the first time, Tifa could see the determined look in his eyes falter.
"Chan, what's going on? What are they doing?" the woman asked, looking around wildly, fear plain on her face.
Reno turned to look at the doctor. He too saw the look on the man's face.
"Perhaps now you'll be a bit more cooperative," he stated. "Where is the cure?"
Dr. Singh hesitated.
"Do you know what they will do to me if I give it to you?"
Reno lifted his nightstick and pointed it at the woman.
"Do you know what I'll do to her if you don't?"
For a moment there was silence as the two men stood there, just looking at one another. The silence was broken, finally, but not by anyone in the room. The sound came from another source, suddenly filling the air around them. A sound both Reno and Tifa had been dreading. The sound of alarms echoing through the halls.