Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 58: Final Evaluation

“Reno?”

“Mmph… go’way,” the redhead muttered. There was no way in hell it was time to get up yet. He felt like he’d just fallen sleep. He heard a quiet chuckle from somewhere near the foot of his bed, and without warning, his blanket was suddenly whisked away, exposing him to the painfully bright light of the overhead lamp.

“This seems somehow familiar…” Tseng snickered, folding the blanket over one arm and smirking at the younger Turk. Reno groaned and sat up in bed.

“Ugh… Tell me about it,” he groused, and glanced over at the window on the far side of the room. It was no longer dark outside, but the sun was still in the process of waking up itself. “Still gettin’ up at the fuckin’ ass-crack of dawn, huh, Boss?

“Our new recruits will be up just as early to catch their flight to Junon. I thought it only fair we do the same in solidarity,” he replied, and then smiled. “But yes, as it happens, I do still make a habit of getting up at the ‘ass-crack of dawn’. Come on. Breakfast is ready.”

Reno stretched and dragged himself to his feet. It had been a somewhat last minute decision to spend the night at Tseng’s place, but he was glad he’d done so. Like his mentor had said… the new recruits were leaving early. Hell, they were probably already on their way by now. And since he and Tseng would be traveling together anyway – they’d be catching a supply transport, along with Veld, departing from Sector 8 in a short while – it had just made sense to stick around after the party… instead of going home, only to have the senior Turk have to drive across town to pick him up six hours later.

Tseng tossed him his clothes… which, he noted, were still warm from the dryer.

“Tch… ya did my laundry, too?” he snickered.

“It seemed preferable to you showing up to the evaluations in the same uniform from yesterday. You know how I detest wrinkles…” his mentor teased, before withdrawing from the room to let him dress.

“You do know it’s still the same uniform… right, Boss?” he called after him, “Unless I’ve somehow been seriously misunderstandin’ how washing machines work all these years…”

The only response he received was a snort of laughter from the hallway. The redhead hurried into his newly clean clothes, and made his way out to the kitchen… and couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sight that greeted him.

Oatmeal. Toast. Fruit. Tea.

Getting Tseng to vary his morning routine would have been like pulling teeth. From a surly nibelwolf. His mentor was already happily eating while scanning the headlines in the morning paper. A virtually identical spread sat waiting for Reno, the only aberration being the cup of coffee and bowl of sugar in place of the tea. The redhead smiled slightly and took a seat, immediately reaching for said sugar and applying it liberally to the coffee.

He still kind of missed this sometimes. Breakfast with Tseng was familiar and comforting in a way that he couldn’t quite put into words. It was an old routine that he’d long since left by the wayside when he’d moved out of his mentor’s guest room, but he fell back into it so easily on the rare occasions he ended up here in the early morning that, in some ways, it was like he’d never left at all.

“So what are these evals gonna be like, anyway?” he asked, dousing his toast in blackberry preserves and taking a bite.

“Similar to what we observed at the recruit training facility… with a few extra surprises thrown in for good measure. There will be a course they’ll need to run. It will consist of physical obstacles as well as… a few more more subtle challenges,” Tseng said with a knowing smile.

“So why not just do it here in Midgar, then? Why haul everybody clear over to Junon for an obstacle course?” Reno queried, furrowing his brow.

“To keep them on their toes. They’re used to doing this sort of thing here in Midgar. Throwing them into an unfamiliar environment lets us see how quickly they can adapt. None of them were actually told where they were being taken this morning. They were merely given a time and place to report, and found themselves on a helicopter.”

Reno grinned and took a sip of his coffee. “Ya know… I always knew you were a sadist at heart, Tseng,” he teased. Tseng chuckled, but didn’t bother disagreeing. “I s’pose you’re not gonna tell me about any of these ‘surprises’ ahead of time, either?”

“Of course not. What would be the fun in that?” his mentor responded, not looking up from the paper… though Reno caught the hint of a smirk on his lips. The younger Turk shook his head.

“Man… it’s hard to believe we’re gonna have three newbies on the team… I don’t know how I’m gonna keep up!” he jokingly mused. Tseng gave a soft snort of a laugh and raised his eyes to meet the redhead’s.

“Somehow I very seriously doubt you,of all people, will have any great difficulty with that. Inherent hatred of mornings aside, you always seem to have energy to spare. It was all I could do to keep up with you as a rookie, at times. Particularly if someone made the mistake of feeding you sugar without my knowledge.”

“Oh… so that’s why donuts were special occasion only breakfasts while I was livin’ with you…” Reno snickered. “And here I just thought you didn’t want me gettin’ fat…”

“Hmph… Yet another problem I suspect will never be an issue for you…” Tseng returned. He folded the paper and set it aside before picking up his tea and calmly taking a sip. “Meanwhile, I will be working off that extra slice of banana cream pie I was coerced into enjoying last night for the rest of the week.”

“Ah, come on, Boss… Admit it. Rude’s desserts are worth a few extra laps around the track.”

“Just finish your breakfast. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes,” the Turk lieutenant ordered with a slight roll of his eyes. Reno was only too happy to comply.

---

The redhead inhaled deeply as he stepped out onto the tarmac in Junon, and was met with the surprisingly not entirely disagreeable scent of the ocean, jet fuel, and diesel exhaust – though its appeal may have been simply been due to the fact that it was the first time he’d been out of the city since his convalescence.

“Oh, great. You’re back. Now I have to double security on the female barracks…” a familiar voice greeted him, and the redhead turned just in time to see an equally familiar figure striding towards him. She paused in front of him, resting her hands on her hips and gave him a brief once over, before switching to a warmer, more friendly tone. “It’s good to see you back on your feet again, Reno.”

“Viridia?” Tseng queried in obvious confusion, as he, too, exited their transport. The security officer smiled and shook her head.

“We got halfway to Gongaga yesterday and Command ordered us to turn around. Something about a land dispute.”

“Ah,” Tseng said with a nod, “I see. Rufus did mention some legal issues regarding the site after I returned to Midgar. Apparently, the company only has usage rights to the area, not ownership. It would appear he was unable to reach a compromise…”

“Bet the execs are just thrilled about that,” the younger Turk commented.

“Do us all a favor, and don’t mention the the members of the Board today,” Veld groused as he followed his own protege out onto the tarmac. “I’d prefer not to think about just how much time I’ve wasted this week listening to Heidegger rant about what an abject failure the Turks are for not preventing the theft. Of a weapon we were unaware even existed and were told nothing about.”

“Heh… so… about those evaluations…” the redhead obligingly changed the subject.

“This way,” Tseng chuckled, leading the group off towards a far corner of the base. As they walked, he and Veld quickly became engrossed in their own discussion of the matter at hand, and Viridia dropped back to fall into step beside Reno.

“Feeling better?” she asked, with a warm smile.

“Now that I’m not stuck in bed anymore? A million times better.”

Viridia laughed softly. “Tseng said you were starting to climb the walls after being sidelined so long.”

“If I never gotta go through that again, it’ll be too soon…” the redhead agreed with a derisive snort.

“I think your poor mentor would agree. He was worried sick about you for awhile there. Anyway… I’m glad you’re okay. Tseng told me it was the Zenshou that were responsible for your injuries. And that they wanted the Highwind?”

Reno nodded. “Yeah… ‘n Rufus walked his ass right into the middle of ’em tryin’ to steal it,” he said, rolling his eyes,”So naturally I was the one who got stuck havin’ to save said ass…”

Viridia snickered quietly, shaking her head. “You should be proud of that. Not many people would have the courage to jump in front of a bullet for someone. Especially someone who openly can’t stand them.”

“Aw, Rufus doesn’t really hate me,” the redhead replied, and then grinned, “‘Least not until I start gettin’ on his nerves. Then, all bets are off.”

The Junon security officer raised a disbelieving eyebrow in response. “He regularly refers to you as ‘the Slum Rat’. Or at least he has every time I’ve seen you in his company. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever once heard him use your actual name.”

“Tch… yeah, and I call him the Brat most of the time. And not just behind his back,” Reno said, sniggering, “Look… we’re not exactly what you’d call friends, ‘n yeah, we get into it sometimes. But… Rufus isn’t all bad. I actually like the little shit, weird as it sounds.”

Viridia laughed. “You’re a real glutton for punishment, aren’t you?”

The redhead replied with a wide grin, but any further response had to be put on hold as the group arrived in front of a large hanger. Off-Limits signs had been placed at intervals around the perimeter of the building, and the windows embedded in the overhead doors had been blacked out.

“This an obstacle course or an interrogation unit?” Reno jokingly asked, as Tseng and Veld came to a halt in front of the smaller side door.

“A bit of both, actually,” the Turk leader responded. “We’ve been keeping our finalists waiting in here for quite some time now, to keep them on edge. It’s going to be a very challenging morning for them. Mentally and physically.”

Reno blinked in surprise. No one had ever told him that final evals were so hard… though he’d never really asked much about the whole recruitment process until recently. He’d gotten a basic run-down from Luca a very long time ago… but then had just pushed it to the back of his mind, and was more than a little shocked to find out that it was this intense.

And he had to admit, if only to himself… that he wasn’t sure he would’ve made the cut. He was who he was today largely because Tseng had come along and guided him and nurtured him every step of the way. Without that… would he still have had what it took to be a Turk?

Veld ushered them inside, and Reno’s surprise was compounded when Viridia accompanied them. He glanced back at her.

“Thinking ‘about joinin’ up or somethin’?” he teased. The security officer chuckled.

“Oh, no… as much as Veld would love to finally succeed in recruiting me, I’m just here as a representative of base security.”

“Hmph… and because she enjoys watching us torment our new rookies,” Tseng interjected, a somewhat playful note in his voice. Viridia flashed him a smile before accompanying Veld up a narrow flight of stairs that led… well, Reno wasn’t quite certain, as a series of metal panels had been erected along the entire width of the building, creating a small buffer zone between the entrance and the rest of the hanger. Tseng, too, turned to go up, only to be held up by his protege.

“Hey… Boss? Can I ask ya somethin’?”

Tseng paused in his bid for the stairs and cocked his head slightly to one side.

“Of course.”

“… How come you didn’t just… ya know… stick me in the recruitment program back when you found me?”

“Because, frankly, you were ill-suited for it,” he replied, and the redhead felt his stomach twist uncomfortably at the words. Tseng smiled slightly. “And by that, I certainly don’t mean anything against you. But you were very young, very stubborn, and very… shall we say… undisciplined? The program is excellent… but it simply can’t always provide the individual attention someone like you would have needed. Putting you there would have been too great a risk. You may have done exceptionally well. But you just as easily may have washed out. I knew that if I truly wanted you to succeed, I would have to take matters into my own hands. And I very much wanted you to succeed.”

“So in other words, you didn’t think I’d be able to make the cut without someone holdin’ my hand,” Reno said with a somewhat bitter sigh. Not that he could blame him. He was kind of thinking the same thing at the moment, after all. But Tseng shook his head.

“Reno… I never had any doubts as to your ability. The simple truth is that every Turk is different. Some learn best through intense study and rigid training. Others need a slightly more… understanding… instructor and thrive upon being thrown headlong into a situation and being expected to sink or swim. You’re very much of the latter variety, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I simply did what I felt was best for you rather than attempting to force you into a mold you wouldn’t fit,” Tseng replied.

Reno dropped his gaze slightly and gave a faint laugh.

“Ya know, Boss… I’m still not quite sure what it was you saw in me back then. But I’m never gonna stop bein’ grateful that you saw it.”

“I saw someone I was instinctively certain was destined to be one of us,” the senior Turk said, “Now… let’s not keep everyone waiting. Those recruits are likely getting rather anxious by now and I’d hate to be accused of sadism twice before lunchtime.”

The redhead snorted in soft laughter and hurried after his mentor as he started up the stairs. At the top, he found himself on a platform that spanned the building from wall to wall, and then turned at each corner forming a path around the entire interior like a wide catwalk. The other three sides were open to the area below, but where he was now standing, a mostly-transparent screen had been suspended from the ceiling, the bottom edge anchored to the platform so that it masked their presence from the space beneath them.

“The screen and the lighting largely block us from view,” Tseng said quietly, “At best, all they’ll be able to see is our silhouettes. They can,however, hear us if we’re loud enough, so I would advise keeping commentary at a fairly low volume. Sound tends to carry in here.”

Reno nodded, and and followed him over to a small table that had been set up for them. It reminded him a lot of the little observation deck at the recruitment center… and that, he realized, was almost certainly on purpose. It was the same principle. Observe while minimizing distraction.

Beyond the screen was… well, to be honest, it looked a little like a giant maze. Fenced off paths, leading to an open space, leading to yet more fenced off paths, leading to the next open space. Some walls were solid and blocked the recruits view of the corridors ahead of them… others were just tall chainlink fencing that could be clearly seen through. Some were fully enclosed while others remained open at the top.

He looked a little closer and noticed that the odd little open spaces were far from empty, as well. Some contained doors – which he suspected were locked – while others held obstacles clearly designed to slow the recruits down.

Reno took a seat beside his mentor and noted that Veld had spread out the three recruits’ personnel files in front of them. There were any number of notes that had been written in margins of the pages, and the redhead easily recognized Tseng’s neat, fluid script, as well as the Turk leader’s cramped and somewhat blocky printing among them.

“The object,” Tseng explained to him, noting his scrutiny of the space, “is to simply find their way through. It’s… possible… to complete the course individually, but far easier to do so as a group. Both approaches have their own merits. On one hand, we greatly value the ability to work and prevail with a team. On the other… there will inevitably times when a Turk has no other choice but to rely exclusively on their own skills. We’re not especially interested in who finishes first, but rather how they go about it.” He smirked slightly. “They, of course, were not explicitly told that. In fact, they were given no instructions at all, beyond ‘reach the goal by whatever means necessary’.”

“Heh… whatever means necessary, huh?” Reno mused, eyeing the course. He had a few ideas on how he’d do it already. Though to be fair, he had the distinct advantage of a bird’s eye view. From the ground, the thing was probably a hell of a lot more intimidating.

“Anything goes, provided it doesn’t injure another recruit,” Tseng confirmed. “Sato came rather dangerously close to violating that rule, as a matter of fact, though his solution was admittedly very effective… and resulted in a course record that has yet to be beaten.”

“As well as muchmore thorough contraband screening procedures for all Turk recruits coming onto base for evaluation purposes,” Viridia added with a grimace.

Reno snickered loudly at the mention of the late Turk. It didn’t take much effort to imagine how Sato would have gotten through to the goal.

“Well… are we ready?” Veld asked, glancing over at the rest of the group.

“Yes, sir, I believe we are,” Tseng answered and Reno leaned forward in his seat, eager to see how this was going to play out. The Turk leader reached for a microphone in the center of the table.

“Recruits. Take your marks.”

---

“Breathe… Breathe… Breathe…”

“You breathe any harder, you’re gonna to pass out, kiddo,” Victor snickered as his nervous compatriot paced by him yet again. She’d been walking their little waiting room in circles for at least twenty minutes now, growing gradually more and more tense with each circuit. Zephyr paused and wrung her hands.

“I can’t help it! I’m just so nervous! We’ve been here for hours…” she lamented.

“We’ve been here for an hour and fifty-two minutes,” Ryuunosuke corrected her, from his position on the floor. He’d been sitting calmly in the corner for just as long as Zephyr had been pacing. “And what were you expecting? Of course they’re making us wait. The longer we wait, the more the tension of the situation affects us. The more the tension affects us, the more it affects our performance. They’re clearly interested in seeing how we react under pressure.”

“Ah, lay off her, Ryu. She’s got reason to be nervous. We all do. Whether we’re in or out is riding on this… whatever the hell this ends up being.”

He may have had reason to be… but Victor Reese was not nervous. He didn’t really get nervous. Not after five years of handling explosives and munitions on board the Calypso, one of Shinra’s airships. Not after the war. And certainly not after over a year in the Turks’ recruitment program.

“My name is Ryuunosuke. Not Ryu.”

“You’re name is five goddamned syllables long. Nobody’s gonna actually call you that,” Victor teased the younger man. Ryu merely rolled his eyes and went back to his quiet contemplation of their current situation.

In truth, he was well aware of that. Virtually no one outside of his immediate family ever bothered to use his full name. But it was the principle of the thing, for Leviathan’s sake. They could at least refrain from nicknaming him until he granted them leave to do so… and thus far he had not. They still had to earn that privilege.

At the moment, however, it was inconsequential. He had more important things to focus on than social niceties. Specifically, reaching the goal… a task made that much more difficult by the fact that he had absolutely no idea where said goal was, or what lay between him and it. He suspected an obstacle course of some sort, naturally… but likely far more challenging than anything they’d faced thus far in training. Their instructions had been so minimal it was nearly laughable. “Reach the goal by any means necessary.” The only stipulation was that their methods could not harm their comrades… which, frankly, gave them quite considerably more leeway than they normally had during evaluations.

“How in the Nine Hells can you guys be so calm?!” Zephyr squeaked, and Victor couldn’t help but laugh softly. Her voice always seemed to get higher and higher the more worked up she got. Kid almost sounded like she was on helium at this point.

She still had no idea what she was even doing here. How she had somehow managed to eek out enough attention or goodwill to be granted access to a final evaluation. A real shot at making it into the Turks. If she screwed this up… there was no way she’d ever get another. Hell, after the whole flooding the training center thing, she’d half expected to be out on her ass. Instead, she was in… Junon? She still wasn’t quite sure where they’d been taken earlier that morning, but Victor had seemed absolutely convinced it was Junon, and, she supposed, if any of them would recognize the place, it’d be him. He’d spent a good four years at the military installation before coming to Midgar to take his chances joining the Turks. So yeah… instead, she was in Junon, on the verge of hyperventilating because in the very near future she’d be demonstrating her abilities to the head of the Turks… for a chance at becoming one herself.

“Ugggh… I never should’ve eaten breakfast this morning…” Zephyr groaned as her stomach did a nervous flip. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and resumed her pacing. Movement helped to distract her when she was nervous… which made her something of a chronic fidget these days, because she had a lot to be nervous about.

“And I, apparently, should have brought earplugs to drown out the constant whining,” Ryu said, growing vaguely annoyed by the youngest of their number’s distress. Victor stood up slightly from his slouched position against the wall.

“Seriously, man… Take it easy on the kid, will ya? She can’t help it if she’s a little freaked out. And I know this is just as big a deal to you as it is to the rest of us.” He smirked slightly. “Even if you are too cool to actually admit it. We’re all on the same team, here. Or at least we’re hoping to be.”

Ryu glared and folded his arms across his chest, irritated at being called out, but finally sighed and shook his head. “You’re right. I apologize, Zephyr.”

Zephyr managed an awkward smile in response. “That’s okay.”

Victor settled back against the wall, satisfied that peace had been restored. The peace, however, wasn’t to last.

“Recruits. Take your marks,” a voice boomed over the intercom speaker in the corner, and Zephyr squealed in fright, eyes going wide as they locked onto the source.

“Sounds like we’re on…” Victor commented, straightening up and heading for the door. Ryu and Zephyr quickly joined him.

---

The sharp shriek of terror that accompanied Veld’s command was clearly audible from the Turks’ vantage point.

“Sounds like Latchley’s a little jumpy this mornin’…” Reno snickered.

“It’s to be expected,” Tseng replied, though the younger Turk distinctly saw a smile briefly flit across his lips.

“Sadist…” Viridia said in a loud whisper, apparently having noticed it, too. The redhead grinned and was about to remark on Tseng being accused of such twice now in spite of his efforts to avoid it… but his attention was redirected to the floor where, at the far end, a section of the wall was sliding out of the way, revealing the three recruits at the entrance to the maze.

For a moment they simply stood there – whether in confusion, devastation, or denial, Reno wasn’t sure – but it didn’t take them long to orient themselves. There was a brief, muted discussion between the three of them, and then Reese and Latchley headed off together down the left path, the first of several that had solid walls and provided no view outside of the immediate vicinity. Taiko, meanwhile, headed right, into a forest of chainlink fencing, and Reno could tell that much of his focus was on what lay ahead of him, farther down the path.

He grinned slightly and leaned forward for a better view. That was going to cost him if he wasn’t careful. By the looks of things, Tseng had laid a trap not too far along that particular route. And indeed, mere seconds later, Taiko walked right into it. A hidden snare tightened around his ankle and dragged him upwards, leaving him dangling upside down a few feet above the floor. The recruit erupted into a plethora of Wutaiian swear words that the redhead was, by now, at least passingly familiar with.

“Should’ve been paying more attention,” Veld commented, shaking his head.

“Heh… he was, sir,” Reno snickered, “Just… ya know… not to the right part of the course.”

A moment later Latchley’s head popped up, peering over one of the walls. Reno turned towards the sudden movement, and saw that Reese had hoisted his smaller comrade onto his shoulders, apparently in an effort to find out what was going on with their fellow recruit. Latchley wasted no time in spotting the trapped Taiko and pointing out his general direction to her partner.

“Hold on, Ryu! We’re coming!” Latchley called out. Taiko, however had already pulled himself upright and was working on loosening the loop around his ankle.

“Ugh… No. I’m fine. Keep going… we have too much ground to cover to start backtracking already!” he shouted back.

“Ah… good. They seem to have resisted the temptation to compete against one another,” said Veld, “It sounds like they’ve split up in an effort to more efficiently find the correct path.”

“Hey, Boss? What would happen if they did try ‘n beat each other to the goal?” the redhead asked, curious. As far as he was aware, the final evaluation was mostly just a formality. They were already in… unless something went truly off the rails at the eval… so it wasn’t like there was going to be a “winner” or anything. But since it wasn’t a competition, making it one kind of went against the spirit of the exercise.

“Then their initial training would be directed heavily toward team-building,” Tseng explained, “Our training covers a large number of areas by necessity… far too much to make each recruit an expert in any given area before they’re promoted. The final evaluation, among other things, gives us a better grasp of the best starting point in that vast array of skills for a new Turk, just as Hell Week helps us locate weaknesses that need to be shorn up.”

“Makes sense…” Reno said, turning his attention back to the action below. By then, Taiko had managed to release himself from the snare… but Reese and Latchley had disappeared from view. Tseng must have noticed him scanning the area, and gently nudged him, pointing toward a large corner sector that had been completely walled in, including panels covering the top.

Reno raised an eyebrow wondering just what was inside…

---

“… Something tells me that this was bad idea,” Zephyr said quietly. She had no idea why she was practically whispering. Maybe it was the growing darkness as they moved farther from the entry point to this weird little box. Or maybe it was because it felt like the walls were closing in with every step she took. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it.

“Just keep going, kiddo,” Victor replied, urging her forward. “If there’s a way in, there’s a way out. Just gotta find it.”

It quickly became apparent, however, that the closeness of the walls wasn’t just her imagination… a realization that came to her with a loud thwack and a sharp stab of pain in her scalp as she smacked her head against the ceiling.

“Ow!” she grunted, rubbing the minor injury, “Victor… are you sure about this? It’s getting pretty tight. I mean… I’m okay, but if this gets much smaller, I don’t think you’re going to fit!”

By then, the walls were barely shoulder-width apart, and they’d taken several twists and turns. The whole thing was like a maze within a maze. One that was gradually shrinking. Their only light was what managed to seep through the cracks between the ceiling panels. Zephyr was having to feel her way along the path.

She stopped short, and Victor only just managed to avoid bumping into her.

“Ugh… it splits off again,” she groaned, “Left or straight?”

“Hmm…”

“Victor?”

“I’m thinking…” he replied. She wished he’d think a little faster. Small spaces had never been one of her favorite things. In fact, she kind of hated them.

“I really don’t like this…”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here. You go left, I’ll keep going straight. Like Ryu said at the start… we’ll find the way faster if we split up.”

“Great…” she breathed. Split up. Again. She have much rather stuck together. But Victor had a point. They could cover more ground if they separated, and the more ground they covered, the sooner they’d stumble across the right direction. She turned to her left and started down the narrow corridor.

“Hey, hang on…” Victor called out, and she jerked to a halt. A faint light suddenly flared from the direction of his voice, and when she looked back, Zephyr could see his face in the somewhat eerie glow of a tiny lightbulb. He grinned at her, holding up a keychain shaped like a tonberry. The light emanated from its lantern. “Won it at that little street fair awhile back. Thought it’d make a nice little good luck charm.”

He left the light on and set it on the ground at intersection where they’d parted ways.

“This way, we know where we split up. One of us finds a way out, give a yell. All the other has to do is make their way back here and take the other path.”

“Okay,” Zephyr nodded, “Let’s do this.”

---

“They get lost in there or somethin’?” Reno asked. Reese and Latchley had been out of sight for several minutes now. Taiko, meanwhile had made his way into one of the rooms, where he was struggling to pick the lock on the door that would let him continue on. Well… one of them. There were three to choose from.

“Quite possibly,” Veld chuckled. “That’s what we call the roach motel. Recruits check in… only the best check out.”

Tseng snorted softly. “I really don’t see the purpose in giving the obstacles such ridiculous names, sir…” he said, and then turned back to the redhead, “It’s a secondary maze. And the corridors get progressively smaller, allowing for unexpected twists and turns, resulting in a rather deceptively difficult challenge.”

“It was Tseng’s favorite as a recruit,” Veld added, “He has one of the best completion times on record.”

“I had the best completion time. Until Kai had to run it for her final evaluation,” the Wutaiian Turk grumbled.

“And he’s not still bitter about that at all,” Viridia teased, laughing softly.

“I’m not bitter. Merely… irritated,” the Turk lieutenant huffed.

“Mmmhmm… and remind me. How long have you been ‘irritated’ over it?” she countered, prompting a quiet laugh from the redhead as Tseng scoffed in response.

“Zephyr! It’s this way!” a voice from below called out, and Reno’s eyes were drawn once again to the obstacle course, where an arm poked out of a narrow slit in the side of the box, groping blindly as the recruit tried to extract himself.

“Oh, look… Reese has found the exit,” Tseng said dryly, pointedly ignoring the continued goading.

“Ahhh!” a shout erupted from the far side of the course.

“Taiko seems to still be having some trouble,” Veld chuckled. Reno snorted loudly as he redirected his attention… to the young man who was, once again, suspended by his ankle in a snare trap.

“How many of those things did you set, Boss?” he grinned, and his mentor smirked.

“Six. Some more well hidden than others.”

---

“Zephyr! It’s this way!” Victor’s voice called out from somewhere in the darkness, and Zephyr gave a relieved sigh.

“Thank Titan…” she breathed. She’d been having no luck at all on her end. In fact, she was half convinced she must have been going in circles. The only proof she had that she wasn’t was the fact that she was no longer able to walk upright in the corridor. The ceiling was now so low that she was practically bent over double to fit.

“I’m coming!” she called back. The recruit quickly reversed course, carefully following the mental map she’d been making of her route. Twelve steps, then turn left. Six steps, then a right. Eight steps and another left. Soon enough the faint glow of Victor’s keychain was visible at the end of the corridor. She grinned as she approached it, and snapped it up, before turning down in the direction her fellow recruit had taken.

“Ahhh!”

She paused momentarily. That had been Ryu’s voice.

“Victor? What’s going on? Can you see?” she asked, grunting as she had to turn sideways to slip around a corner. Apparently this route shrank in the opposite manner as the one she’d taken. Instead of the ceiling getting lower, the corridors got narrower.

“No… but if I had to guess, I’d say Ryu got caught by something again. Hurry up. I’m going to need your help getting out of here.”

Zephyr quickened her pace, and soon found herself having to sidestep her way along the space. She shuddered faintly. She definitely didn’t like this… but she had to keep going, even though it just kept getting narrower and narrower. It wasn’t long before she was quite literally sandwiched between the walls.

Just as she began to wonder how much tighter it could possibly get, she stumbled out into large void. Light poured in from a narrow slit in the wall, and she grinned as she spotted Victor waiting for her next to it.

“Oh, thank Titan… I thought we’d never get out of here…” she greeted him, with a nervous laugh.

“We’re not out yet. And I can’t get through here,” said Victor, “There’s a lever or something outside, but it’s just out of reach. I’m guessing it opens this up.”

“On it,” Zephyr replied, before wedging herself into the slot. It was a tight squeeze… and it took some effort to wriggle through… but a short time later, she popped loose and stumbled towards the large switch on the wall, pulling it downward. The slot widened, releasing her compatriot.

“Good job, kiddo,” Victor said, grinning back at her, “Now… Let’s see if we can catch up to Ryu.”

---

“So how do ya get outta there if you can’t fit through the hole ‘n no one’s around to throw the switch?” Reno asked, curious, “Thought you said you didn’t need to work together to reach the goal.”

“There’s more than one correct path through it if you’re creative enough,” Veld replied, somewhat vaguely, “And there’s certainly no rule against making one yourself.”

“Which it would appear Taiko is attempting to do…” Tseng added. The young man had, once again, extracted himself from the snare… and then used the trap to climb up onto the top of the fencing. He was presently perched atop one of the covered paths, surveying the area.

“A good approach,” Veld commented, “Having a view from above makes things considerably easier.” He smirked slightly. “And bypasses those doors that were giving him so much difficulty…”

The recruit seemed to have decided upon a new route by then, as he hurried off in the general direction of the large open area at the far end of the course. There was nothing in the space besides a large banner that read “GOAL”… but he wouldn’t be able to get in from above. There was only one entry point, and all around it, the tops of the paths were closed off. He might make some progress from his current vantage point, but not much.

Reese and Latchley, meanwhile had found themselves a whole new problem in the form of a thick forest of wires. A loud yelp from Latchely caused Reno to raise an eyebrow.

“They’re electrified,” Tseng stated, noting the questioning look.

“Geez, Boss… you really are a sadist,” he snickered. The senior Turk rolled his eyes and ignored the laughter from the far end of the table.

“It’s not strong enough to injure. It’s just a bit… unpleasant. If they’re careful and take their time, rather than rushing through, it’s entirely possible to avoid being shocked altogether.”

A second yelp from Latchely, followed by a loud grunt from Reese, echoed up from the floor.

“Sounds like they’re rushin’…” Reno noted.

---

Whomever had designed this course had thought of everything, Ryu mused as he made his way over the top of part of the maze. The goal was clearly inaccessible from above… but moreover, only limited progress could be made at all like this. In fact, his options were so limited, he was all but certain that this was expected behavior.

He could hear his comrades somewhat pained cries from the other side of the room, and glanced back over his shoulder briefly. They were still making their way through the wires. Ryu shook his head. He may have avoided that particular trap, but he was no better off than they were at the moment. In fact, the route they’d chosen, from what he could tell, anyway, seemed to lead directly to the goal, rather than branching off into Leviathan only knew how many deadends the way his did. The obstacles would certainly slow them down considerably, but they would largely avoid having to backtrack.

That thought in mind, he altered his own strategy. Initially, his plan had been to cover as much ground as possible and once the correct path was located, regroup. It now looked as though they were all on a path that would eventually lead to the goal. Thus, it only made sense to regroup now and work together the rest of the way on the more direct route. Ryu quickly made his way towards them, balancing carefully on the tops of the walls, and finally dropping down just on the other side of the wires.

“Ow!” Latchley winced as she slowly worked her way through. Ryu cautiously reached out and lightly touched one of the wires… receiving a faint electrical shock as he did so… and smirked.

Oh, yes… whomever had designed this course really had thought of everything. He settled back and patiently waited for the pair to reach him.

“Figures you’d take the easy way…” Victor grunted, ducking beneath one of the wires and finally stepping out of the electric minefield. Ryu smiled faintly.

“I prefer to work smarter. Not harder. Speaking of, we’re almost there. From what I could tell, there’s only one, or perhaps two, more obstacles between us and the goal.”

“For real?” Latchley asked, looking up at him as she, too, emerged from the wires. “Please tell me you’re not just saying that…”

Ryu nodded. “It’s just up ahead. This way.”

He started down the path to their left, followed closely by his fellow recruits. He hadn’t, however, taken into account that the obstacles he’s spotted from above might not have been the only things that lay between them and their ultimate destination.

A – by now all-too-familiar – click sounded near his feet, and the next thing he knew, he was being yanked violently upwards by his left ankle as his world inverted itself.

“Oh for Leviathan’s sake!” he shrieked in frustration. This was ridiculous…

---

Reno had to bite down hard on his lower lip to stop himself from laughing. Three in row. Taiko either had terrible luck, or he desperately needed to spend some time with Kai learning about snare traps and how to spot them.

“That has to be some sort of record,” Viridia chuckled as they watched him dangle, swinging from the rope.

“I have to admit… I’m a little shocked he’s managed to step in every one he’s come upon thus far…” Tseng noted.

“It’s ’cause he’s too focused on tryin’ to look ahead,” Reno replied, “He’s plannin’ out what he’s gonna do at the next obstacle, but he’s ignorin’ what’s right in front of him. Gotta remember to take both into account.”

“Mmm… that sounds like something you would be rather well-suited to instruct him in, considering that strategy is one of your specialties,” Veld opined. Tseng, meanwhile was making another note on Ryuunosuke Taiko’s personnel file.

Reno blinked in surprise, but said nothing. He was used to hearing that sort of thing from Tseng… but Veld seldom made such comments. At least not to him. To be honest, he’d never really felt like he’d earned the man’s full confidence. Sure… he wasn’t constantly on the Turk leader’s shitlist like he had been for most of his time as a rookie, but he’d always kind of assumed that, at least on some level, Veld still thought of him as a bit too immature and undisciplined. That he still had something to prove.

But then… maybe Reno had it wrong. After all, Tseng was training him as the future Second in Command. If the commander had any objections to that, he surely would have said so a long time ago. Veld was nothing if not blunt. Hell, one of the first things the man had ever said to Reno was that he didn’t have anywhere near the confidence in him that Tseng did…

That,at least,had certainly changed over the years.

---

Ryu silently fumed at his own stupidity as his teammates helped him out of the snare. Three times. Three times he’d fallen for the same Leviathan-be-damned trap. That couldn’t possibly reflect well on him. The Turk Commander had to be questioning why he was even here at this point.

“You okay?” Victor asked, once he was finally right-side up again.

“Nothing injured but my pride,” the younger man sighed, shaking his head.

“Um… maybe we should take things a little slower? There’s no time limit, after all,” Latchley somewhat hesitantly suggested.

“Kid’s got a point,” Victor agreed.

It was true. There was no established time frame in which to complete the course. But Ryu knew with absolute certainty that their time was being tracked. It had to be. It was an evaluation, after all, and speed was definitely something to be evaluated. Still, though… making idiotic errors in his rush to achieve an impressive time was at least as detrimental as being viewed as too slow.

“You may be right,” he acknowledged. Victor nodded and started down the corridor again, Ryu and Zephyr falling into step behind him. Several twists and turns led them into another open area. This one was surrounded by chainlink, with a still more fencing over the top… and Ryu groaned as he immediately realized that he’d made yet another mistake.

What had earlier looked, by all accounts, like an opening from up above was a fake. There were two upright posts, just as there were at every opening… but the center was closed off. They’d simply been inserted into the middle of the fence to look like an exit from a distance.

“Wonderful…” he muttered, looking around for another route. There had to be one, after all. Surely they wouldn’t have made an almost completely linear path this long that was ultimately just another dead end… would they? Had he been on the correct route all along and cut over only to wind up trapped?

“So… Now what?” Zephyr asked.

“Guess we backtrack and try again… There was another branch right before that maze box,” Victor said, glancing towards the field of electrified wires with distaste. Ryu shook his head.

“I think we should go up. We’ll cut back over to the path I was originally on. It’s not as straightforward, and will take some additional trial and error, but it’s better than backtracking nearly to the beginning of the course and hoping we stumble upon something we missed the first time through.”

Zephyr, meanwhile, was pacing the perimeter of the dead end “room”. She definitely didn’t want to go back through all of that. Especially not the dark, creepy, claustrophobia-inducing maze box. But what if Ryu was wrong about the other path? They’d be right back in the same mess the were in right now.

She groaned softly in defeat. This whole thing was a disaster! She was going to fail the eval. She was going to fail it and get dropkicked right out of the recruitment program, she just knew it. Zephyr sighed and paused in front of the faux-doorway snaking her fingers through the holes in the chainlink.

They were so close. She could literally see the goal from here. It was barely twenty feet away from them. Mocking them.

“Ugh… this sucks!” she lamented, turning her back to the fencing and letting her body sag against it… and nearly fell over as the fencing suddenly gave way with a loud rattle. She blinked and staggered upright. “Um… guys?”

The conversation the other two had been engaged in abruptly ceased as she gave the chainlink a hard shake. It moved easily in her grasp. None of the other walls they’d encountered had done that.

“… It’s not anchored,” Victor said, a distinct note of shock in his voice. A wide grin spread over his face. “Nice job, kiddo…”

He strode over to the suspect section of fencing and pulled, lifting it several inches off the floor.

“Can you get through?” he asked. Zephyr dropped to the floor, and crawled through the new opening. Ryu wasn’t far behind. Once they were safely on the other side, they took over for Victor, holding it up so that he could squeeze under as well.

The rest of the course was a cake walk. The goal was just steps away, and Ryu hurried to reach it. Around one corner, then another, and finally, there it was. He smiled victoriously as he moved to cover the last remaining distance… only to be abruptly pulled to a sudden halt by a strong pair of arms seizing him by the shoulders and Zephyr’s voice shouting “STOP!”

“What are you two doing? We’re here… we made it!” he demanded, irritated by their sudden intervention. Victor kept a tight grip on his while Zephyr rolled her eyes and stepped out in front of him… and triggered the snare he hadn’t noticed in his zeal to cross the finish line.

Ryu blinked in shock.

“… How many of those Leviathan-be-damned things are there in here?!”

Victor sniggered loudly and finally released him.

“I don’t know, but it can’t possibly look good if you manage to step in all of them…” he replied, grinning as he nudged him forward towards the goal.

The three of them stepped into the final room, and just as they did so, the back wall of the course itself opened up, revealing another small space beyond. Four people were standing there, waiting for them.

One, he recognized as the security officer that had initially met them upon arrival and escorted them from their transport earlier that morning. Two of the others, he realized, he also knew. Tseng, the Turks’ second in command, and the redhead they’d briefly met when the pair had come to the recruitment center to observe a few months ago. His name eluded Ryu at the moment, but he remembered that he’d been introduced as Tseng’s “personal protege”.

Which meant that the other man must be –

“Well done. My name is Veld Crimea, Commander of the Turks. I believe you will have already met my lieutenant, Tseng, as well as Reno and the ever helpful Lieutenant Commander Nacelle. You’ll be hearing from us by Friday with the results of your evaluation. For now, however, you have a transport home to catch.”

“If you’ll all just follow me,” the security officer said, gesturing towards another door. The three recruits glanced at one another, and silently did as they’d been told, each of them mentally groaning as they realized that it was going to be another two days before they found out whether or not they’d be promoted.

---

“You’re really gonna make ’em wait, huh?” Reno asked, once the recruits had been led away by Viridia. Veld smiled.

“Patience is a virtue,” he replied.

“And yet I’m the one who’s been accused a grand total of three times today of being the sadist…” Tseng chuckled. The redhead grinned.

“So… what now? We goin’ home right away? ‘Cause, I mean, it’s gettin’ close to lunch time, and there’s a pretty nice little cafe down in Lower Junon…”

Veld glanced over at his protege and gave a feigned sigh. “Doesn’t he ever think of anything besides food?”

“No, sir… Not in my experience,” Tseng teasingly replied.

“Tch… come on, Boss. You know that’s not true,” Reno snorted… and then smirked. “I also think about sex.”

“Ah, yes… how could I forget?” the senior Turk said dryly, rolling his eyes in response. “But now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind paying a brief visit to Lower Junon before we return to Midgar. I have a feeling I know exactly the cafe you’re referring to…”

“I agree… however…” Veld said, a somewhat mischievous look on his face as he not so subtly eyed the redhead. “You’re going to have to earn your lunch today.”

“… Sir?” Reno hesitantly queried, glancing curiously between the two men.

“I think we have time for one more person to give the course a try… don’t you, Tseng?”

Tseng smirked slightly, and Reno quickly realized that this had been planned. He groaned and folded his arms over his chest.

“Seriously?”

~end chapter 58~