Guilt’s Cost: Part XCIV

Quitting Time

Porter eventually went back into his office and shut the door. He was actually done with all the paper work that the scientist had dumped on him and he found himself anxiously awaiting five o’clock. The minutes seemed to slowly tick by, but strangely with each passing hour Porter grew more nervous about time apparently passing so quickly. He took the Death Penalty out one more time and examined it. He would give it back to Vincent when the time came; assuming that Mr. Valentine was ever of the mind to use it again.

When it finally did get to be five, Rayna collected a few things from her desk and walked to the elevator. She knew that there would be nothing she’d miss here, and on some level she was glad to be leaving the Shin Ra building for the final time. After getting to the ground floor she made her way out onto the street and to the bus stop a short distance away. This was the way she had gotten to and from work before catching rides with Porter and she hoped that they hadn’t changed the bus schedules in that time. Soon enough the bus came, billowing its usual black cloud of exhaust and she boarded it for the long ride home.

Back in his office, Porter noticed the arrival of quitting time with mixed feelings. He was ready to help ASRIO get Vincent to safety, but he was apprehensious about what might happen if things didn’t go well. Being a Turk was all he had ever wanted, and now he was throwing it all away. No great loss, though he thought. He had always wanted to be a Turk, it was true, but he was little more than a whipping boy to the mad man, just as his friends had always said.

Porter rose from his desk and attached Vincent’s gun to his hip. He liked the way the heavier weapon felt against him, something about it just exuded power. Porter took the small picture of Rayna off his desk and slipped it into his pocket. He then stepped out of his office and locked its door for the last time.

Porter rode down in the elevator staring at his dog. D just looked back up at him with his usual hopefully doggy expression and Porter sighed. "I think I should leave you in the hotel with Tifa and Angel tonight. I hope you don’t mind."

D just continued to gaze up at him with his brown eyes. Porter wasn’t aware of exactly how well the animal actually understood him. His mind had been enhanced by Hojo’s experimentation, and the dog had developed a fairly decent understanding of his master’s words. He could sense Porter’s tension and whined up at him quietly. His master’s life was soon to be in danger, and the dog knew it.

Porter strolled through the lobby and out into the street. He walked to his car and got into it, allowing D to take up his normal place in the passenger seat. Porter drove the car around the block and into the parking garage under the hotel. At least this way it would look like he had truly left.

Up in the room, Reno was growing nervous about the mission. This wasn’t like him, he hadn’t stressed over a job in years, but after the last mission’s failure, he had lost some of his confidence. He sat staring out the window at the darkening street, wondering what would happen. Angel came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Reno turned slightly to look up at her, seeing her smiling. She knew what was on his mind and wanted only to comfort him.

Jaras was sitting propped up on one of the beds reading his book again. Tifa was curled up at his side having finally managed to fall into some much-needed sleep. Occasionally he would turn his eyes from the page to gaze down at her next to him wishing that it would always be like this, but knowing it wouldn’t. If everything went well tonight, Vincent would be returned to her and he would have to step aside to his father. For him this was all turning out to be bittersweet.

Ericson and Morris sat watching the television, absorbed in the evening news. They had spent the day napping and reviewing the plans of the building and were now feeling as prepared as they could get.

Reno got up when he heard a knock at the door. He went over seeing that it was Porter and let him and his dog in. "Glad to see you could make it."

Porter let the sarcastic comment slide and went to sit in one of the chairs in the corner. "Hojo let me off on time. He wants me back at eight to escort him to D-2."

"D-2? What the fuck is that?" Reno asked, falling back into the chair that he had occupied before.

"Department Two, the second Midgar lab." Porter said, somewhat surprised that ASRIO didn’t know this. "I think he’s going up there to work on the Neo-Jenova Project. That’s where he’s got his accelerators and everything waiting."

"Holy shit, I knew it!" Reno said, growing excited. "I knew there had to be another lab! Where is it?"

"On the plate, in Reactor Six." Porter felt suddenly very important.

Jaras cocked an eyebrow upon hearing this, but remained silent.

Reno nodded to himself. "Now that we know where he’s got everything we can wipe out the Project. This is great!"

"Certainly you don’t intend to do that tonight as well, do you?" Porter knew that they were terribly unprepared for such a mission.

"Hell no, that will come later, for now my only priority is to get Vincent out of the Shin Ra building. As for going after the secret lab that isn’t so secret anymore, that will be something we need to talk to Tseng for." Reno stood up and stretched. Porter was turning out to be far more useful than he thought.

"I was thinking we should go in for Vincent at seven." Porter said thoughtfully. "That’s when they change out the guards and it will be a lot easier to get away with this during the shift change."

Reno raised his eyebrows. "Sounds good." He looked over to see that Tifa was still asleep giving him a chance to ask what he needed to know. "How’s Vinny?"

"Vincent?" Porter confirmed.

"Yeah, Vinny, like I said. What did Hojo do to him?" Reno lowered his voice, not wanting to wake Tifa.

Porter downcast his gaze. "Hojo has really messed with him. He cut off his one good arm and took off his other one along with his legs. Today though, he seems to have put him back together, more or less. But I don’t think Mr. Valentine is all right, if you know what I mean. I had to check on him earlier today, and I don’t know what Hojo did, but Vincent was in some sort of daze. Didn’t seem to respond to anything at all."

Reno frowned. "Poor son of a bitch. I hope he’s gonna be all right once we get him out of there, for Tifa’s sake."

"Yeah, me too." Porter sighed, reaching down to pat his dog on the head.