Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 63: New Personnel

Rude massaged the back of his neck and shifted position in the chair by the window. He hoped Remy would be back soon. He was getting tired. And hungry.

Though on the bright side, he was fairly certain that the Zenshou had no idea they were being watched.

It had taken them the better part of the week and change they’d been here to track them down, and when they finally had, what they had found was a small safehouse on the northern coast. It wasn’t the group’s headquarters, by any stretch of the imagination, but there was enough traffic to the place to justify keeping it under twenty-four hour surveillance until they found something more useful.

Still… even though they’d found the Zenshou – or at least a small contingent of them – he didn’t feel as if he were any closer to accomplishing what he’d set out to do… that being finding the person or persons that had been pulling the strings.

To be fair, they didn’t have a whole hell of a lot to go on in that department. Based on the trip he’d taken to Mideel with Reno, they knew that their target was likely Costan. They knew he was interested in weapons, and Shinra weapons technology in particular. They knew there was a significant amount of money involved, on both the buying and selling ends.

Unfortunately… that told them very little about the man’s identity. Hell, Rude didn’t even know for certain if the man who’d tried to sell the Kingsword back to Mideel was the person they were actually after, or just another of his agents.

The door to the room opened quietly, and his hand went to the weapon sitting on the table beside him… only to relax again when he saw that it was Remy.

“Anything new?” she asked, and Rude shook his head.

“No. Just the same two I’ve been watching for the past three days. And the kid’s been in and out a couple of times. Seems to be a messenger of some sort. See anything on your end?”

“Maybe. One of them made a stop at the post office after he left the safehouse this morning. He picked up a small parcel and took it to the docks, where he passed it on to another pair in a boat. Same as the day before yesterday.”

“A regularly scheduled delivery? Or a payment, maybe?” Rude speculated. Either way, it was something to look into. If this was a regular occurrence, it wouldn’t be too hard to prepare for the next meeting, and hopefully follow the Zenshou in the boat.

“If they stick to their schedule, we’ll find out day after tomorrow,” Remy noted. She set a small bag down on the bed, and then crossed the room. “I’ll take over for awhile. I stopped at the marketplace on my way back. Eat something and get some rest.”

The bald Turk grunted softly as he gratefully dragged himself out of his seat. He made his way over to the bed and dug through the bag, finding some fresh fruit and a number of packaged foodstuffs from the local vendors. They’d only been in Wutai a little over a week, but he was already growing a bit tired of the cuisine. It wasn’t that he disliked it… Just that for the last nine days his diet had consisted almost exclusively of cold rice, fried or grilled fish, and whatever type of fruit happened to be available that day. After all, they had to keep a very low profile. They couldn’t exactly head out to the nearest restaurant for every meal.

Hell, Rude didn’t head out much at all, unless it was under cover of darkness. The town was a small one… and he most definitely wouldn’t have passed for a local, even at a distance.

“Think anything interesting is happening back home?” he asked, selecting a riceball filled with shredded pork – a decidedly nice change of pace from fish – from what was on offer. They’d been keeping largely silent as far as communications went, only reporting in every three days, and said reports were being delivered by Remy, who tended not to care as much about the social minutia Rude was interested in. It meant that the usual gossip was in short supply, and Rude was half starting to think he was beginning to suffer from withdrawal because of it.

“Veld indicated that they have things well in hand,” Remy replied. “Unless we find evidence that the Zenshou are planning to try for another theft, they’re probably more focused on getting our new personnel situated than anything else.”

Rude chuckled quietly to himself. That was probably true. And Reno would likely be bouncing off the walls in excitement tomorrow morning when they were due to arrive for their first day. For all of his friend’s uncertainty about his future as second in command, he’d had very little difficultly falling into at least one role. Reno loved the rookies, and he was a natural when it came to wrangling them. Three new ones were bound to be the highlight of his year. Rude was a little disappointed he wasn’t going to be there for their first day… if only because it meant missing out on the redhead’s somewhat contagious enthusiasm.

“Gonna be interesting to come back to a team with three new people on it,” Rude mused, settling in with his dinner.

---

First thing Monday morning, Zephyr sat perched on the edge of the hard plastic bench that ran the length of the train car, drumming her fingers on her knee as she nervously watched the the various stops pass by. A part of her still couldn’t believe she was going through with this… that she’d let him talk her out of declining. Though to be fair, it hadn’t really taken much on his part. She wanted this. Badly. She just… wasn’t entirely convinced she’d earned it.

But, then again… he’d come looking for her. He’d said they wanted her. She’d tried to disappear, and he’d sought her out. Who was she to argue?

And it wasn’t as if he was just some random Turk sent to find her… Reno was the personal protege of the Turks’ second in command. She wasn’t quite sure exactly what that entailed, but surely it held some significance.

It had been a decidedly odd experience. She’d heard that the Turks were a lot more informal than, for example, SOLDIER or even the training personnel at the recruitment facility… but Reno had immediately struck her as being incredibly laid back, and she’d found herself wondering if he was the exception rather than the norm, or if everyone on the team was like him.

Zephyr snickered quietly to herself in spite of her nervousness. He and the other Turk had left her to her own devices long before she’d run into Ryu and Victor later that evening… and when she’d described the encounter, Ryu had looked positively scandalized when she had posited that question to him. He seemed convinced that the Turks were the epitome of professionalism. Somehow… she had a feeling he was in for a bit of a surprise.

Or maybe she was the one who’d be surprised.

She frowned slightly at the thought. What if they weren’t all as laid back as Reno? Tseng, the handful of times he’d made his presence known in the training hall, certainly hadn’t been. He was all business. And a little scary.

She sighed and got to her feet, hand reaching for one of the rings hanging from the train car’s roof. How much farther was it to Sector 0, anyway?

“For Leviathan’s sake… can’t you sit still for five seconds?” Ryu’s voice suddenly snapped at her, breaking in on her admittedly somewhat jumbled train of thought.

“Huh?” she managed, blinking in confusion. Ryu shook his head.

“Stand or sit. Stop alternating between the two. You’ve been doing it for the entire ride,” he clarified, rolling his eyes.

“… Sorry,” she replied, embarrassed. “I just –”

“Fidget when you’re nervous. I’m aware,” he muttered. “I think everyone on the train is aware of that by now.”

Victor snorted softly. “She fidgets… and you turn into a grade-A asshole.”

“I do not,” Ryu retorted, affronted. Victor grinned.

“Yeah. Ya do,” he snickered, “And the more nervous you are, the worse you get. Relax, will you? Before you two give each other a nervous breakdown.”

Zephyr groaned and slid back into her seat, shaking her head.

“How can you be so calm, Victor?” she lamented, “It’s our first day. As Turks. What if… something goes horribly wrong?”

Victor shrugged. “You’re blowing this way out of proportion. Like you said. It’s our first day. That means reception… and it’s anything like it was when I first reported to reception in Junon, it’s going to be a long, boring day of filling out forms for everything from payroll to credentials, medical exams, issuing equipment, and general orientation.” He grinned widely. “Trust me… I don’t think they’re going to be sending us out on missions for awhile yet.”

Zephyr wrung her hands. “Yeah… but we have to meet everyone! What if I do something stupid? Like… walk into a door. Or trip over my feet and fall down the stairs. Or… I don’t know! Forget my own name, or something.”

Ryu cocked and eyebrow and stared at her. “You’re worried about forgetting your own name?” he repeated, incredulously.

“… It could happen,” Zephyr responded, lamely. Ryu merely rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

“You’re not going to forget your name,” Victor snickered, “And you’re not going to do anything so stupid they’ll toss you out on your ass. We’re rookies. They’re expecting us to make mistakes.” He suddenly grinned and nodded at Ryu, adding, “Even Mr. I Think I’m So Perfect over there…”

“I’ve never claimed to be ‘perfect’,” the Wutaiian rookie scoffed.

“Yeah, but you’ve definitely thought it once or twice,” Victor teased. Ryu turned towards him, a faint scowl on his face, and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the train ground to a stop at the Sector 0 station. The older rookie smirked, “Oh, hey, look… we’re here.”

He hurried to his feet without giving his fellow rookie the opportunity to make his retort and headed for the door that had just slid open. Zephyr scurried to catch up, falling into step behind him and leaving Ryu to bring up the rear. A few moments later, they stepped out into the station proper, and found themselves swept along in the rush of Shinra employees heading into the building above them.

“Where are we supposed to go?” Zephyr asked, suddenly realizing that she had absolutely no idea where the Turks’ headquarters was located in the massive sky scraper. Their instructions had merely been to report to the Shinra Building by eight a.m. Victor shrugged.

“Just follow everyone else, for now,” he said.

A wide flight of stairs led them upwards into a large open space… which Zephyr belatedly realized was the first floor of the building itself. Tall windows looked out over the street outside. The concourse was flanked on either side by still more stairs, leading up to a mezzanine level, and she could see a bank of elevators directly across from where they’d entered. Most of the crowd seemed to be heading in that direction. Victor slipped out of the flow of foot traffic and off to one side, and his fellow rookies quickly joined him.

“Now where?” Ryu asked from her left, as he drew up even with the other two.

“Now ya come with us!” a voice piped up, and the Wutiian rookie quite literally jumped, emitting a soft squeak of surprise. All three of them turned in unison, and found themselves suddenly face to face with two now-familiar figures.

Tseng smirked slightly at the younger Turk’s reaction, but quickly schooled his expression. Reno, however, continued to grin.

“You’ll have to forgive him. He’s begun to make a bit of a habit of sneaking up on people of late,” the Turk lieutenant stated. Zephyr eyed the crutches propping the senior Turk up and found herself musing that the redhead probably wasn’t the only one with that habit. It hadn’t escaped her notice that Tseng, too, had come up on them silently… even with the encumbrance of crutches.

“Sir. Victor Reese, reporting for duty, sir,” the older rookie replied, snapping to attention. Tseng smiled slightly but shook his head.

“There’s no need for strict military formality, Victor,” he replied, “We’re… considerably less rigid than the army, here.”

By then, the floor had largely cleared out, most of the arriving employees having been whisked away by the elevators. A few had made their way up the stairs and settled in at the tables and benches on the mezzanine, and others were milling around on the periphery, chatting with colleagues.

“This way, please,” Tseng continued, as he started towards the elevator. They boarded an empty car and the redhead pressed the button for the fifty-eighth floor, and in seconds, they were shooting upwards. “As you might imagine, it’s going to be a rather full day,” the senior Turk continued, “We’ve done our best to streamline things, but I’m afraid there’s still a fair amount of paperwork to deal with. We’ll begin with introductions and getting some of the more tedious administrative tasks out of the way… and then, after lunch, as I’ve rather inconveniently managed to injure myself, Reno will take over for the building tour.”

As the elevator came to a stop, they stepped out into an unassuming hallway… occupied by a very short woman with a slightly maniacal grin on her lips. She was toying with a throwing knife in one hand.

“For fuck’s sake, Kai,” Reno groaned, “Why the hell are you just standin’ there lookin’ like some kinda psycho killer?”

“Oh, Baby Turkling… I just wanted to get a good look at the fresh meat…” she replied, in a chipper tone. She flipped the knife into the air, catching it by the blade, before hurling it at the redhead. It struck the wall behind him with a loud thump and stuck in the drywall… and Zephyr’s eyes widened as she realized that Reno hadn’t even flinched.

The red-haired Turk rolled his eyes as he glanced over at Tseng. “Will you please tell her to quit callin’ me that already?”

“Kai… kindly refrain from damaging company property,” the Turk lieutenant replied, with a somewhat teasing smile, pointedly disregarding the request. He turned to the woman and gestured to the new arrivals. “Allow me to introduce you to Victor, Ryuunosuke, and Zephyr. Everyone… this is Kai McNamera.”

“Our resident lunatic,” Reno added as he yanked the blade out of the wall and held it out to its owner… only to pull it away at the last second and hold it above her head, well out of her reach.

“If you think I’m going to jump for it, you’re going to be waiting a very long time, Baby Turkling,” Kai replied, folding her arms over her chest, “I’ve got eleven more where that came from.”

“Heh… Like I said. Our resident lunatic,” the redhead snickered, and finally returned the weapon before shooting the rookies a quick wink. Kai tucked the knife into her sleeve and returned her attention to the rookies.

“So…” she said, rubbing her hands together, “Which one do I get first?”

Zephyr instinctively took a small step backwards as the woman’s gaze fell on her… and immediately regretted it. Kai reminded her a little of a predatory animal… like the nibelwolves that stalked the mountains back home. The last thing you wanted to do with a predator was let them know you were afraid of them.

“That’s enough,” Tseng interrupted with a soft laugh. “They only just got here. Don’t scare them off before we’ve even had time to show them around.”

“Spoilsport,” Kai chirped, sticking her tongue out at the Turk lieutenant.

“Has anyone else arrived yet?” the senior Turk queried, ignoring the comment.

“Sykes is here. He said something about making coffee before Veld could do it again, so… he’s probably in the lounge. Haven’t seen the others yet this morning, but I just got in, myself.”

“Then I suppose we will start in the lounge,” Tseng said with a nod, and set off down the hallway. The three rookies hurried to follow and Reno fell into step behind them.

“I’ll just go and get the Gauntlet ready!” Kai cheerfully called after the group, giggling softly. Ryu glanced back at the redhead.

“… The Gauntlet, sir?” he inquired, brows furrowed. Reno snickered.

“Oh, you’ll find out all about that soon enough…” he said, grinning. “Hope ya don’t bruise easy…”

---

Liam sighed in content as he sank back into the cushions of the couch, mug of freshly brewed coffee in hand. He’d never really bothered with it before the Turks… but ever since Reno had introduced him to it after his first overnight stakeout, he’d found that he truly enjoyed the subtle yet complex blend of flavors.

Except when Veld made it. The Turk leader’s idea of coffee was… repulsive. It looked like motor oil… and kind of tasted like it, too.

Sykes seemed to agree, and for the past several Mondays, when Veld most frequently “graced” them with his sludge, he had made it a point to beat their commander to the coffee maker just to prevent him from using it. Liam certainly wasn’t going to complain.

“So when are you going to tell us what they’re like?” Petra asked, landing on the cushion beside him with a soft bounce and a wide grin. The younger rookie snorted softly in laughter.

“Petra… I only met one of them. And we didn’t exactly sit around getting to know one another. We were too busy trying to convince her to accept.”

By the time he and Reno had returned to the office on Friday, Sykes had already left on assignment, and Petra was sparring with Kai. He,meanwhile, had gone straight to the roof for his scheduled flight training and hadn’t returned to headquarters until it was nearly time to leave… so he hadn’t really had the opportunity to explain where he and the redhead had disappeared to at lunch.

“Okay… so what’s she like?” Petra giggled. Liam blushed slightly and hurriedly hid it behind taking a long sip of coffee.

“She… seems nice.”

He hadn’t mentioned to his friends that he’d already sort of known Zephyr… albeit just in passing. And his description of her probably would have earned him more than a little teasing if he had. Truth be told, he’d found her fascinating from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. And… very pretty, too. Of course, back then, he hadn’t had the courage to even attempt to talk to her… and after his promotion, he’d just assumed that, unless she somehow wasn’t snapped up by one of the other divisions, he’d probably never even see her again. Finding out that she was one of the three new rookies had honestly thrown him for a bit of a loop.

“Must’ve made one hell of a first impression on you…” Sykes teased, grinning as he noticed the pink hue coloring the younger Turk’s cheeks. Thankfully, Liam was saved from having to answer by the sound of voice approaching out in the hallway…

The door opened and Tseng made his way inside, a small group of unfamiliar individuals – and one very familiar one – trailing him. Reno followed them in a moment later.

“Ah… good. All three of you are here. That makes things easy,” the Turk lieutenant stated, glancing back at the three newcomers. “Victor Reese… Ryuunosuke Taiko… and Zephyr Latchley,” he said, gesturing to each of them in turn. “Our newest additions. This is Petra and Liam, our other two rookies, and, the just recently promoted, Sykes.”

Liam grinned, his eyes immediately drifting to Zephyr first, before taking stock of the rest of the group.

Victor looked to be quite a bit older than the other two, with dark, ebony skin and the bearing of someone who’d spent time in the military – something the younger rookie was always quick to recognize, almost on instinct, after a childhood spent on and around military bases. He was tall and muscular… definitely someone who’d done more than a little manual labor over the years. Ryuunosuke, on the other hand, was lithe and keenly staring right back at the Turks he’d just been introduced to. Wutaiian, with short black hair, trimmed neatly into a very business-like style. And then there was Zephyr. Average height, slender and tone, her light brown hair hanging in a neat braid down her back, reaching almost to her waist.

“Good to meet you,” Sykes replied, being the first to speak up, “There’s coffee if you want some.”

“Heh… Dunno about the newbies, but I definitely want some,” Reno snickered, making a beeline for the coffeemaker.

“I’m afraid Remy and Rude are presently out of the city on assignment,” Tseng continued as both Victor and Zephyr joined the redhead in helping themselves to the proffered beverages. “And as said assignment may be a long one, you won’t be meeting them for awhile yet. Veld, however, should be in shortly and will almost certainly wish to greet you. In the meantime, I’ll show you to your office, and we can start in on the necessary paperwork.”

---

Reno was on his third cup of coffee by the time Tseng returned to the lounge to reclaim him. Their newest rookies had been successfully installed in Sato and Saya’s old office – now their office – and handed a pile of forms to fill out. The more senior rookies and Sykes had all drifted off to see to their morning tasks, as well, leaving him on his own for the time being.

“Well… everything has gone quite smoothly thus far,” the Turk lieutenant opined, as he let himself drop somewhat gracelessly onto the couch and set his crutches aside for the time being. The redhead smirked.

“You tryin’ to jinx it or somethin’, Boss?” he joked. Tseng snorted a quiet laugh.

“I’m just relieved. The first time I joined Veld to welcome a group of new rookies for their first day… I ended up losing one of them, and spent three hours frantically searching half the building for him before I finally had to admit defeat and ask Veld for help.”

Reno choked on the sip he’d just taken, and spent the next several seconds alternating between sputtering, coughing, and laughing. When he finally managed to get ahold of himself again, he looked over at his mentor, grinning widely.

“How come I’m only findin’ out about this now?” he snickered.

“Because before, you were merely my protege, and I had the option to hide my more foolish and shameful mistakes from you,” Tseng chuckled, good-naturedly, “Now, however, you’re my successor. And… as occasionally embarrassing as it may be… I’d prefer you learn from my errors rather than repeat them.” He sighed softly. “Please try not to lose any of them during the tour. I will almost certainly never hear the end of it from my own mentor if you do.”

The redhead snorted softly and returned his attention to his coffee.

“Ya know… ever since you completely lost your mind and decided I’d make a good second in command, I feel like I’m seein’ a whole new side of you,” he said, teasingly. Tseng smiled and shook his head.

“It’s… really less that your career has taken a new turn, and more that you’ve simply grown up. You’re an adult. You deserve to be treated like one… especially by me. I, admittedly, have a tendency to forget that at times,” he said, and then smirked slightly, “And I do occasionally still selectively ignore it.”

“Ya mind if I ask ya somethin’?” Reno inquired, gazing down into the dark depths of his mug.

“I have never ‘minded’ curiosity. Particularly not from you,” Tseng chuckled.

“… How long have you been thinkin’ about the whole makin’ me your successor thing, anyway? I mean… it’s not like ya just woke up one day a couple months ago ‘n said, ya know what? I’m gonna stick my asshole protege in charge of shit.”

The senior Turk snorted softly in amusement and shook his head, smiling.

“I have been considering my… ‘asshole protege’… for quite some time now. In fact, in my mind, it’s been a strong possibility since before you were even promoted to full Turk status and I’ve only become more certain of the idea as time has passed. But, I suppose if you mean officially… I made my wishes known to Veld shortly before last Christmas.”

The redhead looked up in surprise. “… You’ve known that long?”

“Reno… I think I have always known. I was simply waiting for you to grow into the responsibility to say so.” He smirked slightly, adding in a teasing tone, “And once you finally do grow into it,I’ll let you know. Hopefully, that will be before Veld opts for retirement, because frankly, I haven’t got a backup.”

The younger Turk snickered quietly. “Yeah, okay, Boss…” he laughed, “I get it. I still got a lot to learn.”

“Mmm… yes. You do. Fortunately, you’ve always been a fast learner. I’m not especially worried. There’s plenty of time.” He glanced at his watch and reached for his crutches, hoisting himself back to his feet. “Speaking of time… the morning briefing is starting soon. Go and round up our new teammates and escort them to the meeting room. They can finish their intake paperwork afterwards. And then you can continue your education by taking them on the tour…”

“Heh… yes, sir,” Reno replied, grinning.

---

The Shinra Building was huge.

… and Zephyr was beginning to wish she’d worn slightly more sensible shoes than the half-inch pumps with the pointy toes she’d squeezed her poor feet into that morning. But nooooo… she’d wanted to look professional and make a good impression. She had a feeling that arriving back at headquarters with blistered, bleeding heels wasn’t going to accomplish that.

They were only on the eighth floor. The building had seventy!

“Just take ’em off already,” a voice suddenly interjected, startling her slightly as she sat on a small bench, one shoe already off, trying to massage some feeling back into her toes. She turned to find their tour guide standing over her, a faint smirk on his lips. She flushed bright pint in embarrassment.

“… Sorry, sir. I… guess I didn’t think my wardrobe choices through very well.”

Reno grinned. “Heh… yeah. I wouldn’t suggest wearin’ those again. You’re a Turk, not a secretary. Feels like it sometimes when your reports start pilin’ up on ya, but you’re almost never gonna be sittin’ at a desk all day. Just ditch ’em for now. Better walkin’ around barefoot for awhile than cripplin’ yourself.”

She heard Ryu sigh in exasperation and glanced over to see him shaking his head. Zephyr cringed. This was not the first impression she’d been hoping for… but she did take Reno’s advice and slip her other foot out of its confines, as well.

“Sorry…” she apologized again. To her surprise, though, the redhead snickered.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I ended up havin’ to meet Veld in borrowed workout clothes instead of my uniform on my first day, ’cause someone shoved me in the company pool during the tour,” he replied, with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. Before Zephyr could respond to that pronouncement, however, he’d already switched back into tour guide mode, “Anyway… like I was sayin’ there’s not really a whole lot to see on Eight. The whole floor’s just temporary sleeping quarters for staff. Legal ‘n the PR departments’ve been makin’ use of it a lot lately from what I hear… ya know… with the whole Gongaga reactor blowin’ up thing ‘n info about the weapons theft leakin’ to the public. Apparently it’s a real clusterfuck for ’em right now.”

“Do we have use of this floor as well, sir?” Ryu asked.

“Technically,” Reno replied. “I mean… no one would stop us from grabbin’ a room. But we got our own little private sleeping space upstairs. Don’t really need to come all the way down here if we’re stuck at the office overnight.”

“Does that happen often?” Victor chimed in.

“Depends,” the redhead said, shrugging, “We can’t really predict where we’re gonna have some kinda crisis on our hands that keeps us on the job for days at a time. Last time I used ’em, personally was… I guess last spring when we were dealin’ with the flooding down in the Slums.”

“I remember that…” said Ryu. “I heard that the Turks lost someone during the evacuation.”

Reno blinked, seemingly caught off guard, before finally responding to the not-exactly-a-question. “… Yeah. We did.” He was quiet for a moment, before finally shaking himself out of it and forcing a grin. “So… yeah. That’s the eighth floor. Now we get to go on to my least favorite part of the building… the ninth floor.”

He shuddered dramatically as they made their way back to the elevator and pressed the call button, and Zephyr caught sight of Victor sharply elbowing Ryu the moment the redhead’s back was turned. She snorted softly and shook her head. Ryu was an okay guy in general… but something he seriously lacked sometimes was tact.

It might have been mere curiosity on Ryu’s part… but for the senior Turk, it was personal. Whomever they’d lost had been someone he knew. Someone he’d worked with. Maybe for a long time. You didn’t just… bring something like that up out of nowhere like that.

The elevator quickly delivered them to the ninth floor. Zephyr wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting when Reno had said it was his “least favorite”… but it certainly wasn’t the cozy little atrium they stepped out into. The space was decorated in cool, inviting blues and grays, and the carpet they stepped out on was plush.

“So… Ninth floor is Medical,” Reno explained, guiding them out. “This side of the floor’s where we keep the psych assholes.” He smirked slightly, “That’s why it looks so nice ‘n friendly over here. To lull ya into a false sense of security ‘n make ya let your guard down. ‘Least that’s my theory…”

Zephyr couldn’t help but giggle slightly, though she wasn’t one hundred percent certain he was completely joking about that.

“This is where they send ya for annual psych evals ‘n counseling ‘n shit like that… so… ya probably won’t see a ton of this part of the floor. Well… not as rookies, anyway,” he continued, as he led them out of the atrium and down a hallway to their right. As they passed through a set of double doors at the end, the whole environment changed, and suddenly they were back in the standard tile hallways with the overhead fluorescent lighting that seemed to be ubiquitous around the building. They approached yet another set of doors and Reno heaved a sigh before pushing them open.

“And this is my own personal hell,” he muttered. Zephyr glanced around at what was clearly just a private medical suite. There were several exam rooms along one wall, and a small bank of offices and supply rooms along the other.

“Language!” a voice snapped from the direction of one of the offices, and to her surprise, even the senior Turk jumped, startled.

“Tch… and Ifrit help ya if you have a habit of swearin’…” the redhead added, as an older woman in a long white coat emerged from the room, “… ’cause the Doc does not like it when ya do that.”

“Well? What’s all this, then?” the woman asked, in a lilting Mideelian accent.

“New rookies,” Reno replied, “I’m showin’ ’em around today since the Boss is still laid up.”

“Ah… I see,” the woman – doctor, Zephyr mentally amended – replied, folding her arms over her chest. “Pleased ta make yer acquaintances. My name is Dr. Ward. I’m lead medical staff fer Shinra Company, so… when yeh inevitably end up injured, I’m the one yeh’ll most likely be dealing with.”

“Inevitably?” Ryu scoffed, “We’ve all been training for nearly a year in recruitment. I hardly think we’ll be needing your services that often…”

“Oh?” Dr. Ward replied, arching an eyebrow. She drew out a small notepad. “What’s yer name, then?”

“… Ryuunosuke. Ryuunosuke Taiko. Why?” he asked, suddenly not quite so sure of himself.

Ward chuckled softly, as she scribbled the information down. “Because the over-confident ones are always the ones who end up in my exam room first. I want ta be sure ta have yer file handy. Something tells me it’s going ta be needing a fair few updates before long.”

Zephyr laughed, and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth… though she couldn’t quite stifle the snickering that leaked out around her fingers. Victor, meanwhile, didn’t even attempt to hide his laughter… and neither did the redhead.

“Heh… and on that note, let’s get the hell outta here before the Doc decides we all need a round of tetanus shots or somethin’…” Reno said, grinning as he motioned them towards the door.

“Which reminds me…” Dr. Ward intoned as they started to file out, and the senior Turk froze for a brief moment, before softly groaning and turning around to face her again. “Flu shots. Three weeks from taday. Yeh will be there, yeh little troublemaker, or I’ll have yeh dragged in kicking ‘n screaming. Yer not skipping it again this year. Not after what yeh managed ta come down with first thing last flu season.”

“Yeah, yeah… I know…” Reno grumbled, before beating a hasty retreat through the door.

“Can she just demand we submit ourselves for whatever medical treatment she decides we need like that?” Ryu asked as they made their way back towards the elevator. Judging by his tone of voice, Zephyr was pretty sure he was none too keen on the idea.

“Ya know, I’m actually not entirely sure on that,” he replied, snickering quietly. “But I’m sure as fuck not gonna argue with her. You don’t wanna piss off the Doc. Under any circumstances.”

---

Tseng looked up from his computer screen at the sound of a knock on his door, and rubbed his eyes for a moment before responding.

“Come in,” he called out, and a few seconds later, Veld slipped into his office, shutting the door behind him. He calmly took a seat in on of the chairs in front of Tseng’s desk.

“How goes the orientation?” he asked.

“I think I may have intentionally repressed the memory of just how many forms must be submitted for a new hire since the last time I had to do this,” the Wutaiian Turk replied, with a gentle laugh. “But I’m nearly finished with the paperwork, IT delivered their new PHSs shortly after lunch, and by now, the tour will have made it through Building Administration on six, so they should have their credentials in hand. I told Reno to take care of it while they were down there.”

“Excellent,” Veld said, in a pleased tone. His lips suddenly shifted into a smirk. “Now… so long as your protege manages to return to headquarters in possession of all of the rookies he left with…”

Tseng rolled his eyes.

“You are never going to let that go, are you, sir?” he sighed, shaking his head. The Turk leader laughed.

“No, I’m not. Because I find it entirely too amusing. I may even tell Reno how you once lost track of a rookie on their first day…”

Now it was Tseng’s turn to smirk. “I’m afraid I’ve already taken the liberty of relating that story to him… as I had a sneaking suspicion the idea might just occur to you.”

Veld looked slightly taken aback for a moment, but at last just chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

“Careful, Tseng… If you tell him too many of those sorts of stories, your little acolyte might start to think you’re less than perfect,” he said, teasingly.

“And well he should,” Tseng snickered, “Because I’m far from it.”

“And… you’re alright with with that?”

Tseng smiled faintly and closed his email. “I’ve been on that pedestal long enough, I think. And as much as I’ve enjoyed the adoration, I’m enjoying having him start to see me as an equal far more.”

“Good. Let me know when they return. I’d like to speak to them each one on one, since I didn’t have the chance this morning,” Veld said, getting to his feet.

“Yes, sir.”

The Turk leader headed disappeared through the door and out into the hallway again, and Tseng returned his attention to the incoming memos and security bulletins residing in his inbox… only to be interrupted once more as Veld poked his head back into the office.

“And let me know if I need to assemble a search party at some point this afternoon, as well…” he snarked.

“I’ll be sure to do so, sir,” Tseng said, dryly, rolling his eyes at the teasing jab.

~end chapter 63~