You could have heard a pin drop over how shallow Reno was breathing, how quietly he was grunting his affirmatives to Tseng. He'd nod now and then, toss in an 'mm' for good measure, and close his eyes and listen.

It wasn't a long phone call, really. And Reno forgot to thank Tseng before he hung up. And he was very quiet after the call ended, too.

"Tseng looked. Rude looked. There ain't no way those DNA samples were ever in Hojo's hands. Rede can't be out there. Kid don't exist, in this reality."

It all came out pretty numbly. He'd barely been aware that his lips were moving. And now he would like to maybe just close his eyes and go totally blank for a while.