Kohaku ch.2

Reno hadn’t realized that he’d fallen asleep until he was awakened when they reached Cyrule.
He groaned and wiped his eyes, but his hangover was gone and he remembered why they were there.
At first glance, the town looked like a peaceful place, with no indication that a psychotic terrorist could be hiding within its limits.
Elena commented such over the walky-talkies.
“They always do,” Tseng replied over the same system.
“Where do we touch down?” Reno asked.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Rufus joked.  “Look for a flat roof or plateau; there’s plenty of at least the latter around here.”
The chopper holding Elena and Tseng was nowhere in sight, so Reno decided that they were on the other side of town.
Reno looked over the town.  There were plateaus and cliffs surrounding the city; most of which had to be at least a half-mile from the farthest buildings.  People mostly walked the streets, though there was the occasional truck, car, or even motorcycle.
Motorcycles, there were few, were mostly parked in front of houses.  Cars were mostly either in front of buildings, visible in open garages, taken apart in lawns, or sitting in the road, where the driver and passengers were conversing with pedestrians.  One house in particular, a small, single-story bungalow, had three stylish black motorcycles parked in front and a sleek, classic-looking black car in the driveway.
“Must be a lot of people living in that small place,” Reno remarked.
“Must be,” Rude replied.
They flew by the bungalow and landed in an empty space on the ground in front of a sheer cliff face.  With no special gear needed other than their phones, though they grabbed walkie-talkies, they left the chopper and entered the town.

There wasn’t really anything special to see, other than the occasional street vendor or shop; people mostly stayed to themselves or their groups, and the shops were sparsely crowded.
Patrolling the streets was mundane, without even getting stares or glares from the residents of Cyrule for Reno and Rude’s being Turks, which should have been obvious because of their suits.
“These people even influenced by Shinra?” Reno asked.
Rude shrugged.  “That or maybe they don’t care.”
Reno shrugged in agreement.  “Could be.”
They passed by a pair of men arguing, and ignored the arguing pair, like everyone else, but this time, the man had a different reaction.  He yelled at his opponent again and stormed off.
“Watch out for him,” Reno muttered.  Rude nodded.
They continued down the road for some time, neither seeing nor hearing any sign of the ax-wielding terrorist.
As they rounded a corner, the dark-haired man appeared again, and pointed a gun at them.
Reno and Rude raised their hands in alarm.
“You know anything about decency, Pal!?” the man shouted.
Reno opened his mouth, and found the gunman in his face, and Reno was staring down the barrel.  Reno swallowed.
The assailant was breathing heavily.  “Don’t even bother to talk!”  He started going into a rant about how much he hated motorists, pedestrians, other people in general.  His gun hand slipped as he raved.
“Listen-” Reno began, but the gun was again raised to his face, and the gunman pulled the trigger, but he had been knocked off balance, and the bullet rushed past Reno’s ear.
“You don’t need to shoot people!” they heard shouted, and looked down to see a boy, possibly no older than his early teens.  Bright red hair billowed in the wind, and he was just over half Reno’s height.
“Stay out of this, Brat!” the man with the gun roared, and fired another round at the boy.
Reno snatched the boy away just in time to save him from the bullet.  At the same time, Rude attacked the man with the gun, and wrestled with him for the gun.
Reno joined in the fight, and together they wrestled the weapon away from their assailant.
The man swore, then managed to kick Reno in the face, causing him to drop the weapon.  The man managed to escape Rude, grabbed the weapon, swore, and fled.
Reno, snarling, turned to the boy.
“What the hell is wrong with you, kid?!” Reno barked at the boy.  “You trying to get yourself killed?!”
“I just wanted to see what you guys could do ” the boy responded, not intimidated in the least by Reno yelling in his face.
“What, you didn’t think we could do our job?”
“No, I knew you could," the boy smirked.  "I just wanted to see what it was you do ”
“Well, now you know!” Reno snapped.  “Now go home!”
“Like I have a place to go,” the boy mumbled.
“Then FIND a place!”
The boy started saying something.
“Get LOST!” he snarled, and the boy took off, and disappeared into an alley.
“Damn kids,” Reno muttered.
“Bit harsh, aren’t you?” Rude asked.
“Kid’s meddling in things he has no need to,” Reno said, and they left to find the chopper.
They had almost reached it when Reno looked over his shoulder to see the boy following them.
“I thought I told you to get lost?” Reno snarled at him.
The boy smirked.  “I can use bombs!” he said.
Reno scoffed.  “A kid like you?  Ha ”
“We have no use for children,” Rude said, and the two Turks began to board the helicopter.
Before they could, however, the boy reached into a coat pocket and flung an object at the ground.  He was the only one that didn’t leap as the object exploded, scorching the ground near feet.
“I guess he can,” Reno said.
“That’s one of the nicest things in my arsenal,” the boy warned.  “I make them myself!”
“How old are you?”  Reno asked.
“Twelve,” the boy replied.  “Been making my own bombs for six years!”
“I’ve been messing with them for longer than that,” Reno muttered.
“Might as well see what the kid’s got,” Rude suggested.
Reno sighed.  He didn’t like the kid, but he didn’t hate him, as he had just a moment ago.  “Fine, but he better not get in the way.”  He turned to the boy.  “What’s your name?”
“Kohaku,” the boy said.  “You must be Reno?”
Reno sighed.  The boy’s cocky attitude conflicted with his own.  “Yeah, that’s me.  And this is my buddy, Rude.  Now shut up and get in the chopper.”