Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Never Say Never ❯ Humbled by opportunity ( Chapter 6 )

When the elevator came to a halt once more, I felt my heart pounding against my chest uncomfortably. I was kind of hot, and my palms were sweaty, and I kept wiping them on my sweatpants. I hoped that my boss didn’t notice, but something deep inside of me reminded me that he noticed everything anyway. Raising a hand to brush my bangs out of my eyes, I followed him down a narrow hallway, at the end of which seemed to open into a fairly large room.   What the hell am I going to be doing now...?   “Alright, Reno,” he murmured, and I perked up, “we’ll be letting you choose your weapons now. Did you have any preference in the, ah,” he cleared his throat, “slums?”   I scowled. Yeah, choke on the word, you high-classed bastard. “No. I got to use a gun every once in a while, but I didn’t like them much. You guys have anything different?”   He chuckled, I guess at my ignorance, and with every passing moment, I felt a greater urge to slug this guy. What an odd combination... violence and lust. Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone with a little S&M. He clasped his hands behind his back, then, and strode forward gracefully. “Yes, we do, but it’s a very small selection.”   I didn’t have time to reply because we had reached the end of the hall, and the air in my lungs just rushed from me as I took in everything. There were potted plants everywhere sitting on plush carpet; bright lights reflecting off the polished glass cases the weapons were cased in. Guns of every size and caliber hung on the wall and lay in racks larger than my body. I stopped dead in my tracks out of pure shock and tried to keep myself from thinking about how I would loot the place.   He paused when he realized that I was no longer beside him and turned back to me with a raised brow. It took me a moment, but I stumbled forward, and he led me to the person slouching in front of a computer at the back of the room. He looked up to us as we approached, then smirked. “Fresh meat?”   Boss Man chuckled lightly. “Perhaps. He needs a standard.”   The guy behind the desk (I couldn’t read his nametag) nodded casually and bent below his desk, and I could hear the sound of keys opening something and a drawer being pulled. He removed something from a box filled with paper, then set the gun on the counter. It was simple and black and looked like it could be hidden easily, and as I tugged uncomfortably on my collar, I wondered where I, myself, might be hiding it. When I got it.   If I made it that far.   My attention was averted from the gun to my boss as he cleared his throat, and I looked up. He was motioning to the smallest case in the room, and I guess it was an invitation or something, so I sauntered over. Inside the case were various painful-looking weapons tucked neatly into velvet holding places, the soft red-violet color of the fabric giving them a deceptively gentle edge. There were a few whips, a short sword, some daggers, and something that looked kind of like a very large version of a car antenna. Elbowing Boss Man in the arm, I jerked my chin toward it. “Whassat?”   I did notice that he glared at me. And that his hair was kinda standing on end. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.   “That is an electromagnetic rod. It can be used as a puncturing or bludgeoning instrument and emits electricity for added effect.”   Whoa. Cool.   “I want that.”   He threw me a calculating look. “None of the Turks in the current force are currently specialized in that weapon, Reno.”   I knelt on the floor and looked at it from the side. It looked the same. “So? That’ll just make me look even better.”   “Reno—“   “Come on, you said I can pick, right? So I want that one.” I grinned at him, knowing that I was getting on his nerves. Serves ‘im right.   He ejected a long, suffering sigh, and relented. Reno, 1, Boss Man, 0. Well, really, Boss Man about 8 or 9 already, but who was counting? He snapped his fingers at the man who gave him my gun and nodded to the case. “He wants the EMR.”   “Brave kid.”   “Not brave, just brash. He’ll learn.”   Luckily, I had gotten into the habit of tuning out people when they talked about me like I wasn’t in the room. I probably would have let my mouth run away with that one, otherwise. The glass box was unlocked and the EMR was removed, and as it was handed to my boss, I eyed it with lust. I was going to own that thing. Bad. Ass.   “Where are we going now?”   He looked at me with irritation in his eyes. Maybe he was beginning to realize that he had his work cut out for him? I was genuinely curious, though, so I kept the smirk off my face. Kind of.   “I’m taking you to meet Vice President Rufus Shinra. He’ll be your main employer and will ultimately decide whether you stay with us or not.”   Wait...what? “So you’re saying that after all that, I still might not make it?”   “To be blunt, yes.”   “What happens if he doesn’t like me?” I’d never heard of this guy in my life. How was I gonna impress him?   He chuckled, then, and I wanted so badly to kiss the curve of his bottom lip. “The Vice President likes nobody, Reno.”   “Wonderful.”   “However, to answer your question, I’ll kill you.”   That stopped me dead in my tracks. I suppose looking back at it, I would have realized that at that moment, I thought three different things at the same time: One, he was gonna kill me, meaning that after all that effort, I still meant next to nothing to him. Two, at the same time, all that effort meant that he must have some sort of faith in me, else why would he bother? And Three, he looked really hot when he was being dangerous.   However, at that moment, I could only gape openly and say, rather charmingly, “What the hell?”   He turned and closed his eyes, looking perfectly at home in his pressed suit and tanned skin. “I’ll kill you. I told you, once you choose to come with us, there’s no looking back... And I tend to dislike leaving loose ends, Reno.”   Oh. So that explained it. I did mean something to him, but I was more like a fraying fabric. If my pattern turned out to be pleasing enough, he’d mend my tattered threads; if not, he’d just chuck me and start a new weave. Lovely. “Thanks.”   Raising a hand as he entered the elevator, he waved flippantly. “No problem.”   Sighing as we once more stepped into the glass tube, I leaned against the back wall and closed my eyes. The gentle humming of the electronics was foreign, but comforting, and as I opened my eyes halfway to stare at the floor, I realized that the air conditioning was blowing on the back of my neck. It sent shivers down my back.   The elevator paused in its ascent, allowing a very tall, broad-shouldered man to enter. Wow. Big fella. Taller than me, and that’s something. I scooted over to allow him to stand next to Boss Man, momentarily catching a whiff of his deodorant. He smelled good.   The guy was bald and wearing sunglasses, even though we were inside and the pollution outside prevented the sun shining too brightly. My, and presumably his (from the way he was dressed, anyway) boss purred a, “Rude,” and went back to watching the floors pass us by.   I was mildly excited at the prospect of finally learning Boss Man’s name, but when Rude merely nodded solemnly, I sighed quietly.   Lame.   The elevator stopped again, and I pushed away from the wall, expecting the doors to open. However, a pretty female voice came over the loudspeaker. Pretty, yet automated. “Attention all Shinra employees, this is the final floor permitted for you to access without proper certification. If departing, please press the flashing green button labeled, ‘Door Open’. If continuing to a higher floor, please insert your access card into the appropriate slot. Thank you and have a nice day here at Shinra Headquarters.”   Wow. So even the bigwigs aren’t allowed the full tinsel and glitter. Boss Man slipped a small plastic card from his wallet and inserted it into the bottommost slot, then stepped back and waited patiently.   “Thank you. You will receive your card upon arrival at your requested floor.”   The bell chimed once more and we began moving up. I’m not gonna lie... I was utterly and completely humbled by all this technology and stuff. I clutched my sweatpants into a tighter ball and waited until the elevator stopped a final time, spitting out Boss Man’s card and allowing us to exit.   What I saw when we exited will never leave me, no matter how long I live, and no matter what else I see.   Rude veered off to the left, set on a different task than our own. I, however, was too stunned by the foliage, the thick velvet carpet, the shining chrome accents on everything... My breath left me, and I suddenly felt as if I was supposed to be on the floor kneeling, laying, whatever, kissing the feet of whoever owned this surreal palace.   Boss Man waited quietly, as if having expected my momentary stunned silence, and for this I was grateful. Never in a thousand, a million years... Stumbling forward, I came back to reality as his strong hands clamped down on my forearms, steadying me. His face was chiseled and serious, and as he looked me in the eye, I bit my lip. “You’ll do best not to look like a deer in the headlights around the Vice President. Impress him with your humility, but don’t grovel. He likes to feel in control, not...mocked.”   I nodded dumbly and swallowed. He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip, releasing it from its prison of my teeth, and smiled reassuringly. I think he was trying to suffocate me from breathlessness alone. “Just be yourself, Reno. You’ve caught my attention...now all you need to do is gain his approval.”   “But—“   “No buts. Go on. And leave those here.” He motioned toward my pants, then the bench next to a very elaborate door.   Well, here goes nothing.   It felt as if I were leaving a security blanket in the trash when I dropped my pants onto the bench. Even the seat itself was polished cherry, shining crimson and chocolate in the fluorescent lighting. I took one last deep breath to compose myself, and nodded to Boss Man. He nodded back and stepped forward, then, and poked at a discreet button that was attached to an intercom.   I don’t believe, now, that the speaker did Rufus’ voice any justice.   Nonetheless, a voice, nearly falsetto, poured through the electronics, and I could feel my stomach tighten in anticipation. I could hear my boss murmuring into the speaker, and through their brief exchange of words, my heart began to hammer in my chest.   You know that saying where they say, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life?”   Yeah, well, for me, it could be the first and last. Goooo Reno.   I was motioned forward, and as I breached the doorway, it was if I had stepped through the gates of Heaven itself. The room was very, very long, and decorated to the nines—it must have taken thousands of dollars to cover the bare essentials. At the far end, a wide, polished desk was stacked solid with papers upon papers, a computer, two trays, and a cup of something...coffee, I guess. A very large, imposing leather chair was turned away from me, and I had to close my eyes for a moment to quell the intimidation. Then, I was addressed.
”Reno.”   “Yes, sir.”   The chair spun slowly, and it was kind of like one of those times where you swear that everything goes in slow motion, y’know? Who must have been Vice President Rufus became fully revealed to me, and for some odd reason, I felt the urge to cry. For what, I don’t know. Maybe it was the hopelessness of the situation... How could someone so beautiful want something like me working for them? Maybe it was the sheer humility. I resisted the compulsion to hang my head and avert my eyes. Now was the time to be brave, I guess.   “Come forward where I can see you.”   My feet, once again, moved of their own accord. I had no idea how to act, where to look, how far to approach, but when I finally got close enough for his satisfaction, he raised a palm to me. I squared my chin defensively, vowing not to humiliate myself further, but I couldn’t—could not—look him in the eye. I’d been a whore for far too long, and such a habit was not going to be broken so easily.   I could feel his eyes on me, raking my presence, and I hoped that Boss Man had made me presentable enough. Enough for what, though, I couldn’t tell you.   He got up from his chair, causing my heart to skip a few beats in its quickened rhythm, and I followed his chest with my eyes. He was something out of place in such a disgusting world, and I wanted to scream, to shout and warn him not to come too close, not to soil himself with the likes of me.   Oh, god, he had come right up to me, too.   I stared hard at the folds of his turtleneck sweater, determined to stand strong.   “You’re trembling.”   Was I? My hands were sweating rivulets, and I wiped them uncomfortably on my slacks before I could stop myself.   “Tseng tells me he took you from sector...” he paused, and I could sense a flippant forgetfulness.   I decided to speak for the second time. “Three, sir,” and I winced as my voice cracked.   “Yes, sector three.” His voice held a bit of dry amusement, and I wanted to hit him for finding entertainment at my expense. “You must be tough to have survived there for so long.”   I chose not to answer. I thought I was tough. I didn’t anymore.   “Tseng has been working under my command for a very long time, Reno. He is my closest associate.” He gave me a once-over and his lip curled a bit, and he began to pace in front of me, leather-clad hands clasped behind his back. “He has brought few Turks with him in the process, but they have all been excellent agents.” The bangs that hung in his eyes were shaken away irritably, and his eyes narrowed. “You understand, of course, the magnitude of responsibility you’ll be holding if you’re assigned this profession.” It wasn’t a question.   He paused, then, and turn toward me, calculating. All I could see, think, even smell was the smoke curling from the end of the gun I had shot, granting me access to this unworldly palace. My mind supplied thoughts of that same smoke floating from a hole in my head, my throat, my heart, my own dead eyes staring at me from my subconscious, Tseng shaking his head above me. His first failure.   God help me.   “I’m not quite sure what he sees in you, but I trust his judgment. I have no reason not to. I’m a logical man, unlike my father.” His voice was light, but chilly, the falsetto tone complimenting as opposed to hindering the effect he held. I pressed my palms hard against the sides of my thighs, feeling the heated moisture gathered against them through the thick fabric.   I was trembling.   “I’m going to give you a chance, Reno.”   And I couldn’t breathe.   “Don’t blow it.”