Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 62: A Little Convincing

Friday morning, Reno walked into the office he shared with Rude, and found that it was still empty. He groaned quietly, and assumed that his friend was still in Wutai with Remy. Which made sense. Veld had essentially said they’d be there for “however long it takes” to get some concrete information on who the Zenshou were working for.

He understood the necessity… but he really would have been glad to have walked in today and seen Rude sitting at his desk.

He and Tseng had continued their discussion about the difficulties that came along with being second in command after work – and Reno did feel a bit better about what had gone down in Costa del Sol afterwards – but sometimes a guy just needed his best friend.

On the bright side, though, it was almost the weekend. That meant a nice little break, and then, on Monday, the new rookies would arrive. That was something he was looking forward to. And it wasn’t just that they were getting new personnel… they’d be the first rookies that joined the team since Tseng had told him. The first ones he’d be training, knowing that this was his future.

He was nervous and excited… and nervous… and intent on making a good first impression. Did he mention that he was nervous?

And he kind of had a good reason to be. Since Tseng was injured, he was going to be taking over for his mentor on a lot of the orientation stuff on Monday, the building tour being the big item on his to-do list. The Shinra Building was a fucking cool place to work. He had to admit, he was pretty jazzed about showing it off to the newbies. At the same time, though, he was a little worried. He’d never had to play tour guide before. What if he sucked at it and somehow made it so boring his audience lost interest halfway through? There were seventy goddamned floors, after all. It was a long tour. To that end, he’d been doing a little research off and on since Tuesday or so…

A knock on his door pulled him from his thoughts, however.

“Yeah?” he called out, without glancing up from the morning bulletins that were currently displayed on his computer’s screen.

“Sir?” a voice timidly inquired, and the redhead turned his gaze on the door, where Petra was now hovering indecisively. He snorted softly, realizing he hadn’t actually given the rookie permission to enter.

“Tch… Come on in ‘n sit down,” he snickered. Petra glanced over her shoulder and hurried inside, quietly shutting the door behind her and then paused, looking around the room.

“Er… where, sir?”

Reno blinked and remembered that he’d shoved most of the unnecessary furniture over to the far wall earlier in the week to give him more space for working out the aforementioned building tour, and most other surfaces were piled with pamphlets and brochures from the various departments they’d be visiting.

“Oh… right. I’m a total slob,” he said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, “Uhhh… hang on a sec.”

He stood up and slipped behind Rude’s desk, commandeering his friend’s chair and wheeling it over to his side of their shared space.

“There ya go!” he said, grinning at the rookie as he leaned back against the corner of his desk, and then sighed as he glanced around at the state of the office, “Oh, man… Rude isgonna kill me when he sees this mess…”

“… What is all this?” Petra asked, curious.

“Eh… I’m gonna be givin’ the new guys the building tour on Monday. I wanted to be prepared.” He blinked, taking in a few of the piles. “In retrospect, I mighta gone a little overboard with that. Um… anyway. What’s up?”

“Liam,” the rookie replied in a somewhat hushed tone. She shook her head. “He’s… pretty upset.”

The redhead sighed and sank back more against the desk, shifting his weight to the palms of his hands.

“The Costa del Sol mission?” he queried.

“Yes, sir…” Petra confirmed. “I… don’t think he slept last night. He looks awful this morning. Not that I can blame him. I remember what it was like for me. But he seems to be having a really hard time letting it go. I was kind of hoping… you could talk to him?”

The redhead blinked in surprise. “Sure…” he replied, “But why me ‘n not… like… Tseng? I mean, I’m the guy who made him pull the trigger. Not sure I’m the person he’s gonna want to spill his guts to right now.”

Petra considered the suggestion for a moment and then calmly shook her head. “No. I think it has to be you.”

Reno cocked an eyebrow at the statement. “Has to be?” he repeated with a soft chuckle. Petra flashed him a faint smile.

“Liam looks up to you, sir. It wouldn’t be the same if it were someone else.”

---

The rest of the morning was, by and large, a blur of activity for the redhead. First, there had been the morning briefing. Then… since Kai was on escort duty and Remy was still out of the city on assignment with Rude – Reno found himself unexpectedly supervising the rookies for not only their morning exercise routine, range practice, and stealth work, but also hand to hand practice and two gauntlet runs. By the time they were finished, it was nearly lunch time, and he hadn’t sat down in hours. Nor had he found a spare moment to speak to Liam privately.

Tseng looked up at him as the redhead finally made his way into his mentor’s office and dropped into a chair with a loud grunt.

“Ya know… I’d almost managed to finally repress the memory of the special kinda hell training was like as a rookie… ‘n then you had to go ‘n fuck up your ankle right as half the team leaves town,” he said jokingly. Tseng chuckled and set aside the stack of reports he’d been reading through.

“If it helps any… your efforts are very much appreciated.”

“Tch… yeah, tell that to the giant bruise on my thigh. Kai fuckin’ left the gaunlet set on Stupid Hard again, ‘n my dumb ass forgot to check before startin’ the first run. Had to rescue Petra from the damn shooting gallery before she got pulverized.” He smirked and sat up slightly. “Enjoyin’ takin’ it easy?”

“No, as a matter of fact. My leg still itches constantly… and I’d somehow completely forgotten just how cumbersome using crutches to get around can be. Though on the bright side, Rufus has invited me to lunch this afternoon at the Silver Swan, so at least I won’t have to endure the cafeteria.”

Reno sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Guess I gotta suffer alone, then,” he stated with obvious distaste.

“Is something wrong?” Tseng asked, “You normally seem quite willing to tolerate what passes for food downstairs.”

“… I think I need a little advice, Boss,” the redhead hesitantly acknowledged. His mentor smiled slightly nodded for him to continue. “It’s Liam.”

“Ah,” Tseng said, with a note of understanding.

“Kid’s takin’ shit hard. Petra even came to me earlier askin’ me to talk to him… and I wanna… but…” He trailed off with a shrug.

“But you don’t know what to say,” the Turk lieutenant finished for him.

“That… and I still feel like a world-class asshole for makin’ him take that shot in the first place,” he muttered.

“Perhaps start with that,” Tseng said, gently, and chuckled softly when the redhead rolled his eyes. “You’ve been where he is, Reno. You hardly even spoke to me for most of the trip back to Midgar after Gongaga. In fact, you barely said two words regarding the mission itself until we were on the transport from Junon nearly three days later. You asked my advice, so here it is. Don’t force the issue with him. Give him time to process it and let him know that you’ll be there when he needs you.”

Reno took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, in an effort to center himself.

“Is it too late to reconsider the whole future second in command thing?” he jokingly asked with a soft laugh. Tseng snorted softly in amusement.

“Much too late,” he responded, “You can do this, Reno.”

“Wish I had half the confidence in me you do, Boss,” he snickered, shaking his head, and smiling faintly, “Heh… and this time next week, I’ll be dealin’ with three more rookies.”

Tseng suddenly frowned. “I… fear it may only be two new rookies,” he said, and the smile slowly faded from Reno’s face.

“What? Why? What happened?”

“I’m not entirely certain,” his mentor replied, “Latchley still has yet to accept the promotion. If she doesn’t do so by the end of the day… the offer expires.”

“But… she hasn’t actually said no yet, right? I mean… she just hasn’t given ya an answer one way or the other…”

“Yes, but she’s rapidly running out of time. She only has until five o’clock tonight to accept. If she doesn’t, her silence will be formally taken as a no.”

“Well… have ya even talked to her? Maybe she’s got a good reason for cuttin’ it so close…” he asked, furrowing his brow. Zephyr Latchley was, by all accounts enthusiastic, motivated, and dedicated. It just didn’t make sense that she’d turn this down without even giving a formal answer.

“I did try to contact her. It would seem she doesn’t presently have a PHS. The recruitment center is holding a message for her, but she hasn’t returned my call. In fact, the instructor I spoke to a short while ago when I checked in – for the third time today, I might add – said she left the dormitory early this morning and hasn’t come back yet.” He sighed softly. “It appears she’s avoiding us.”

“I don’t get it…” Reno said, shaking his head.

“Reno… not every recruit is prepared to make the commitment required of a Turk. And sometimes they don’t realize it until the very last moment. It’s… unfortunate. But if she’s really that unsure, it may be for the best. There are other candidates. We’ll just have to make another selection, if she opts to turn us down.”

“… I guess,” the redhead replied. He couldn’t deny that he was disappointed. Especially after he’d kinda put himself out there for her, convincing Tseng that she could do the job.

“Don’t feel bad,” Tseng added, “She was a solid choice, and for what it’s worth, I’m confident that you were right about her. She would have made a good Turk. But… all we can do is offer her a place on the team. We can’t make the decision for her.”

“Yeah,” Reno sighed, “I know. I just… can’t believe she’d turn it down.”

“Well… she has a few hours left. Perhaps she’ll still call,” said Tseng.

“Here’s hopin’,” the redhead replied, getting to his feet. “Anyway… I’m gonna go grab somethin’ to eat before my next round of torture starts. Liam’s got piloting lessons scheduled for this afternoon and his take-offs still need a lot of work. And I gotta… ya know… talk to him before that, too. Have fun with the Brat.”

Tseng rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Is the constant name calling really still necessary?”

Reno grinned widely and headed for the door. “Hey, when he quits callin’ me a slum rat, I’ll quit callin’ him a brat. Heh… Maybe. Tell the Brat I said hi,” he replied, smirking teasingly.

His mentor apparently didn’t have a reply for that, so, with a soft laugh, Reno slipped out into the hallway. Only two rookies. He sighed and shook his head. Well… it was better than none. And who knew? Maybe Latchley would come around before her time ran out.

“Oh, hey! Reno!” a voice called out to him as he started to head back to his own office. The redhead paused and turned back, only to see Sykes striding towards him, the gauntlet-tenderized rookies in tow. The trio quickly caught up to him. “The cafeteria is serving mystery meat today. Leftover mystery meat. So we’re going out for lunch. Want to come?”

The senior Turk shrugged. “Sure. The Boss is abandoning me for a fancy lunch with his royal brattiness, the vice president, today anyway.”

“I heard that, Reno…” Tseng’s voice interjected from the direction of his office, and the redhead grinned.

“Don’t care if ya did,sir…” he jokingly shot back, drawing snickers from one of the pair of rookies and their recently promoted friend. This third of their number merely managed a forced smile. “So what are we waitin’ for? I’m starvin’. Let’s eat.”

The four of them made their way to the elevator, stepping inside and Petra pressed the button for the first floor concourse.

“Sir? Could I ask you something?” Sykes queried. Reno smirked.

“If it’s about the mystery meat in the crapateria… I have no idea what they put in that shit.”

Sykes snorted in laughter, but shook his head. “No, sir. I’m just curious. Why don’t you ever get in any real trouble with Tseng for talking about Rufus like that? We’re constantly reminded to be respectful and deferential to the members of the executive board, but the worst he ever does when you do it is… sound slightly annoyed.”

“It’s… complicated,” Reno snickered. “Me ‘n Rufus… we kinda get along best when we’re bein’ dicks to each other. Tseng gets that… so he cuts me a little slack. Most of the time. Ya know… long as I don’t take it too far. And I’d never pull that shit with the other execs. Learned my lesson on that once already, ‘n once was more than enough.”

“Sir, is it really true that Tseng used to wash your mouth out with soap every time you said something you shouldn’t?” Petra suddenly inquired, “Or did Sato just make that up?”

The redhead groaned faintly. “Tch… why does it not surprise me that Sato woulda told you guys about that? Yeah… It’s true. You think I got no filter now? I was really bad as a rookie,” he said, snickering, just as the elevator reached its destination.

---

Liam only picked at his food. He didn’t have much of an appetite at the moment. He didn’t really feel much like being social at the moment, either, but his friends had insisted he join them. And then they’d run into Reno on the way to lunch, making it that much more difficult to come up with some sort of excuse to back out.

He knew they were just trying to help, but to be honest, he sort of wished they’d just leave him alone for awhile. He didn’t want to talk about what was bothering him. Petra had tried three times now. Sykes had made two attempts. Liam had a sneaking suspicion that half the reason for inviting the senior Turk along was to give him the opportunity to try and make the rookie “feel better” about murdering a man.

Not an innocent man, by any stretch of the imagination, but a man all the same. Someone was dead, and he’d been the cause of it. He… still wasn’t quite sure how he should feel about that.

Or maybe it would have been more accurate to say that he wasn’t quite sure how he was allowed to feel about that. The Turks did Shinra’s dirty work. He’d always known that. Part of that work was dealing with the Company’s enemies, sometimes brutally. He’d always known that, too. But knowing it, and living it were two very different things.

He didn’t want to talk about it. Not until he figured a few things out on his own, at least. And though he appreciated the concern of his friends… he was tired of them constantly pushing him to discuss it. It hadn’t even been two days yet,for Shiva’s sake. Couldn’t he just have a little time to himself?

“Oooh… Look, Sykes! They just brought out more pork! Let’s get some!” Petra suddenly said, interrupting the younger rookie’s silent musings. Sykes blinked, clearly caught off guard, and the young woman shot him a pointed look.

“Oh, um… yeah. Okay,” he stammered, hesitantly abandoning his mostly full plate and following her off towards the buffet. Liam mentally groaned… and the redhead snickered loudly.

“Gee… it’s almost like they wanted to leave the two of us alone together to talk about somethin’…” he laughed, shaking his head, “They, uh… don’t exactly do subtle, do they?”

“No, sir…” the rookie sighed. Reno snorted in amusement.

“Relax. I’m not gonna drag ya into an impromptu counseling session.”

“… You’re not?” he asked, looking up at the senior Turk in surprise.

“Tch… no. I’m guessing the last thing you wanna talk about right now’s what went down in Costa del Sol. Hell, I practically gave Tseng the silent treatment for three days straight after my first kill. Didn’t even realize it at the time. I was just… too busy thinkin’ to talk.”

Liam sighed in relief.

“Finally… someone who gets it,” he breathed. Reno glanced over at the other two thirds of the trio… who were doing their best to pretend the were thoroughly engrossed in filling their plates rather then watching their friend out of the corners of their eyes. He snorted softly and shook his head.

“Want me to ask ’em to back off a little?”

“Could you?” Liam replied, a hopeful note in his voice.

“Sure… I –” he replied… only to have his attention unexpectedly captured by something outside of the nearby window. “… You’re fuckin’ kidding me…”

“Sir?” Liam questioned, redirecting his own gaze out onto the street. He didn’t see anything unusual… and he wasn’t sure what had caught the redhead’s eye. Reno flashed him an apologetic look.

“… Um… I really hate to do this, and I don’t have time to explain, but I’m gonna have to eat ‘n run,” he said, cringing slightly.

“… Can I help?” the rookie suddenly found himself asking. Reno paused for a moment, and then pulled a fifty gil note out of his wallet, tossing it on the table and getting to his feet.

“Ya know what? I think maybe ya can, rookie… Come on. We’re gonna lose her if we don’t hurry.”

Liam wordlessly abandoned his meal, and scurried after the senior Turk.

---

Zephyr shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and stared down at the sidewalk as she made her way along the street. She was missing her afternoon sparring session with Sergeant Davies and the other recruits… but what did it even matter, now?

She was coward. She couldn’t even bring herself to tell them that they’d made a mistake. Instead, she was hiding out… biding her time until her time ran out. And once it did, that was it. She wouldn’t get a second chance at the Turks. There wouldn’t even be any point in sticking around the recruitment program after today. She wasn’t cut out for SOLDIER… and she sure as hell would never make it into the Materia Corps. Not the way she handled materia.

No. She’d come to Midgar to join the Turks… and now she was turning it down.

Zephyr sighed and kicked weakly at a plastic bottle littering the sidewalk, sending it rolling beneath the bench of a nearby bus stop. Why did they have to pick herfor a final evaluation now? She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t like Victor or Ryu. She didn’t have their confidence… their maturity… their experience… She’d basically let them carry her through the eval. No way she’d have made it on her own merit. For Hades’ sake, her big contribution to their success had been… leaning against the right section of the fence. And even that had been pure dumb luck. How could she, realistically, accept a promotion she’d done nothing to earn? Why couldn’t they have given her more time to train?

She might as well go back to her village. Zephyr cringed at the very thought. Not that home was really so terrible a place. Summerset was actually a very nice little town, in its own rustic sort of way, nestled away in a far corner of the Nibel mountains. But… she’d wanted more.

She sighed again and turned down a quiet side street.

She should have listened to her grandparents. They’d told her to wait until she was older. Sure… they’d grudgingly granted her permission to go. But neither of them had been pleased by her decision to rush things. Her grandmother had all but begged her to wait just one more year. Just until she was eighteen… but Zephyr had been too impatient to wait.

And now it was going to bite her in the ass.

She just had a few more hours to kill. Then she could head back to her dorm and start packing without worrying about anyone trying to talk her out of her decision. She knew that Victor, at least, would try. Maybe Ryu, too… though he was usually too self-involved to care unless he was forced to. Just a few more hours. After that, anything they said would be too late, anyway.

She’d been wandering the city since early that morning. Hell, at the moment, she wasn’t even entirely sure what sector she was in. Somewhere between Three and Four, she thought… but she supposed that she could have meandered as far as Five by now. You couldn’t really get lost in Midgar, of course. Even if you thought you were lost, all you ever had to do was find the nearest station and hop the first train to a more familiar part of the city. It certainly wasn’t like being lost in the Nibel mountains where you could be wandering for days if you didn’t know the area.

Without warning, the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end with an unpleasant prickling sensation.

Zephyr’s eyes widened slightly as she picked out the sound of quiet footsteps directly behind her, and had to forcibly resist the urge to turn around. Instead, she quickened her pace slightly, and frowned when her mysterious shadow’s footsteps increased in speed to match. She looked up slightly, scanning the area and found that the street she was on was largely deserted, and groaned quietly under her breath.

Great. She’d wandered into one of the warehouse districts while she hadn’t been paying attention. But is couldn’t have been too long ago that she did so… She distinctly remembered being on a much busier street not five minutes ago. She’d just… circle around the block until she was heading back in the direction she’d come from, and get out of this isolated environment. Preferably before whoever the hell was following her figured out that she’d noticed them.

She quickly took the first right, which, to her chagrin, turned out to be a wide alley between two large buildings, and hoped to Hades it wasn’t a dead end. Hades, it seemed wasn’t answering silent pleas today, however. As she rounded the corner at the far end of the alley, she found herself standing in front of a warehouse loading dock, the doors of which were securely shut.

“Oh, brilliant move, Zephyr…” she muttered under her breath. The footsteps were quickly catching up to her now, and she looked around, slightly panicked, before spotting a large stack of pallets off to one side. She darted behind them just as her stalked reached the corner.

He was kind of a shrimp. Close to her age, probably. Jet black hair with a few streaks of bright purple woven throughout, and numerous piercings. He paused in confusion as he reached the apparently empty dead end, and glanced back over his shoulder, as if debating whether or not he’d somehow passed her by without noticing.

She grinned slightly. Zephyr might not have been the best recruit when it came to unarmed combat, but she could totally take some little street punk mugger wannabe. Especially if she did it before he figured out where she was hiding.

She steeled herself, preparing to attack.

“Hey. Do me a favor ‘n don’t jump my rookie, huh? The Boss’ll kill me if I don’t bring him back in one piece.”

Zephyr shrieked, the sound echoing painfully off of the walls of the building, and spun around to face the source of the unexpected voice that had somehow materialized right behind her, eyes widening as she backed up against the wall. This one was tall… with bright red hair, and a notably more dangerous look to him. Where in the Nine freaking Hells had he come from?!

The redhead flinched slightly at the sound of her scream.

“Fuck, kid… Ya tryin’ to blow out my eardrums or what?” he asked. Given the band over the bridge of his nose and some faded bruising surrounding it, he looked like he’d been in a fight recently.

“What do you want?” she demanded, her hand curling around a piece of a broken board from one of the pallets. It… wasn’t exactly much of a weapon. The redhead snickered softly.

“Tch… put that down. If I was gonna try ‘n hurt ya, I’da done it before I let ya know I was standin’ right behind you.”

Zephyr blinked in surprise and obediently dropped her improvised weapon… as she noticed that the man seemed… familiar, somehow.

“W-wait. I know you…” she said, eyes narrowing, as she tried to match his face to the memory that was dancing just out of reach.

“Ya didn’t think we’d let ya off without givin’ us an actual answer, did ya, Latchley?” he asked, almost teasingly. Zephyr’s eyes widened as she finally realized who he was.

“You’re… you’re one of the Turks we met in Junon…” she breathed. “You’re… Reno. Right?”

The redhead grinned.

---

He’d seen the literal instant that Zephyr had realized she’d acquired a tail… and was admittedly kind of impressed. He’d have been more impressed if she’d noticed them before she’d headed off into an industrial district with no foot traffic and not much in the way of vehicular traffic, either… but hell, she was just a rookie after all. He couldn’t expect her to do everything right.

That was when he’d instructed Liam to stay on her while he flanked her. Now that they’d been made, he didn’t want to risk her taking off running. From what he’d seen of her while he’d been observing the recruits, she was quick on her feet. Maybe even fast enough to outrun him if she got too far ahead. He needed to talk to her… and since she was actively avoiding talking to the Turks, he was just going to have to corner her somewhere. It was sheer coincidence that he’d crossed her path at all, and when he’d spotted her on the street through the restaurant window he’d had been half-convinced he was imagining things. He doubted he’d be so lucky a second time if she got away from him.

Up a fire escape, across the roof, and down a drainage pipe on the other side of the building had put him squarely behind her position in the alley she’d turned down, while Liam had kept her distracted, and her reaction to his unexpected materialization gave him a new appreciation of why Tseng so loved doing that to people.

“You’re… you’re one of the Turks we met in Junon…” she breathed. “You’re… Reno. Right?”

Reno grinned widely, not all that shocked at having been recognized. People tended to remember him. He stood out. He was,however, a little surprised she remembered his name as well as his appearance. Their meeting at the end of the eval had been a brief one, to say the least.

“Sir?” Liam piped up, somewhat hesitantly, as he joined the pair.

“Heh… Liam, meet Zephyr Latchley. She’s one of the three we’re bringin’ in… if she ever actually accepts the promotion,” he said by way of introduction. The rookie smiled.

“We’ve met. Er… sort of,” he said, somewhat awkwardly, “We were in recruitment training together for a little while before I was promoted.”

Zephyr blinked in surprise. “We were?”

Liam blushed faintly. “You’d just arrived a few weeks before I left. And I… kind of kept to myself a lot back then. You probably never even noticed me.”

Reno smirked and shook his head. By the sound of things, Zephyr might not have noticed Liam, but he sure as hell had noticed her.

“Anyway…” the redhead cut in, “What’s the deal, Latchley? You plannin’ on just leavin’ us hangin’? The Boss has been tryin’ to get ahold of ya all day.”

Zephyr ducked her head, dropping her gaze to the pavement at her feet.

“I’m sorry. I just… I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time. I shouldn’t have passed that evaluation. I didn’t do anything to pass. I don’t even understand why I did… but I shouldn’t have. I… I’m not… good enough yet. I don’t deserve it.”

The redhead snorted softly in laughter. “Hey, Liam. How ‘ready’ were you when you got promoted?”

“Umm… I think I thought I was a lot more ready than I really was…”

“See? Even when ya think you’re ready, you’re not,” Reno said, turning back to the young recruit. “Hell… you wanna talk about not bein’ ready? I didn’t even go through recruitment. Tseng yanked me outta the Slums at sixteen ‘n trained me in the field.”

Zephyr looked up at him, shock plainly written on her face.

“He… he did?” she stammered.

“Yep. And trust me… I sucked. For awhile, anyway. I was just a slum rat kid workin’ in a bar to keep myself fed. There’s literally no way in hell I’da made it through a final eval on my own.”

“But… then why did they pick you?” she asked in confusion.

Liam snickered quietly at the question… and then quickly attempted to badly disguise the reaction with a feigned cough.

“‘Cause Tseng decided I was worth the hassle of doing shit ass-backwards,” Reno replied with a grin, shrugging. “Look… I’m not sure I’m actually s’posed to tell ya this, but… that final eval? It wasn’t what got you promoted. You were already in before you even showed up in Junon. You all were. Eval’s just meant to give us an idea of where to start your next round of training.”

“It is?!” both Zephyr and Liam chorused.

“… I spent a week agonizing over that evaluation!” Liam lamented, with a groan. Reno snickered loudly and sat himself down on top of the pile of pallets the recruit had been hiding behind.

“Sorry to have ta be the one to tell ya, kid,” he teased, and then turned back to Zephyr. “My point is… no one comes into the job the perfect Turk. Hell, some of us don’t even come in passingly competent. We want you, Zephyr. Up to you to decide, but… don’t blow us off just ’cause ya think you don’t measure up yet.”

“… You should listen to him,” Liam hesitantly interjected, “He’s… almost always right.”

The redhead cocked an eyebrow at the unexpected praise, but didn’t comment. Apparently, Petra hadn’t been exaggerating earlier when she’d said that the younger Turk looked up to him. Zephyr was silent for a long moment, until she finally looked at him again, decision made.

“I’d… like to formally accept that promotion, sir,” she said. Reno grinned, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his PHS. He dialed Tseng’s number and waited as it rang.

“Yes?” his mentor answered, moments later.

“Heh… Got good news for ya, Boss…”

~end chapter 62~