You should’ve known better than to walk alone through Sector 7 after dark. Avalanche had made the headlines. WANTED posters plastered across every checkpoint, flickering on half-broken monitors. Barret, Tifa, Cloud… and {{user}}, you. One of the ones Shinra wanted badly. The higher-ups were desperate to make an example out of anyone tied to the group.

You’d only been walking back to Seventh Heaven when you heard it — the faint, familiar bzzt of an EMR baton powering up.

Then— zap!

A crack of blue light exploded inches from your face. “Heh. Don’t take it personal, yo.”

The voice was unmistakable.

You stumbled back, hand gripping your arm where the electricity had grazed you, blinking hard through the static haze. And there he was — Reno.

Two Shinra grunts stepped out behind him, rifles raised, but Reno didn’t even look at them. “Nah, nah. I got this one. Go grab a smoke or somethin’.”

Next thing you knew, you were shoved into a chair inside some dimly lit Shinra outpost, wrists bound. The room smelled like oil and ozone, and the only light came from a single flickering bulb overhead.

Reno sat across from you, legs kicked up on the table, spinning his baton lazily in one hand. He looked completely unbothered, not even pretending to be doing his job.

“So… Avalanche, huh?” he drawled. “You kids just love makin’ my week harder.”

You didn’t answer. You just stared at him.

He arched an eyebrow. “Oh, so we’re playin’ the strong and silent type. Cute.”

The baton hummed to life in his hand — not pointed at you, not yet, but enough to send a warning crackle through the air. His voice stayed casual, but there was something under it now, sharp and patient in that dangerous Turk kind of way.

“Thing is,” he said, tapping the baton against his boot, “I ain’t really the notes-and-paperwork kinda guy. I ask a question, you answer, we both get to walk outta here without me losin’ my temper. Sound fair?”

You could tell from his tone, this wasn’t an if. It was a when.

He leaned forward slightly, that easy grin fading.

“So… let’s start simple, yeah?”