Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 75: Completing the Mission

“… But I don’t need to go back. I’m fine!”

“You’re as bad as your Shiva-be-damned mentor…” Veld sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. He shook his head, and placed a hand on the redhead’s shoulder, escorting him out onto the villa’s lanai before their conversation woke the others. The morning was only just getting started, and the breeze rolling in from the shore was still cool and refreshing.

“Sir… I can help!” the younger Turk continued to insist.

“Reno, you were shot in the chest,” Veld deadpanned.

“… Just a little.”

Veld rolled his eyes in response to the protest, and Reno quickly doubled down.

“It’s not like it hit anything important. And it doesn’t hurt that bad. Come on, sir… lemme stay.”

“No,” he replied, and before his protege’s protege could renew his protests, he added, “That’s final.”

Reno opened his mouth to respond, but almost as quickly snapped it shut again before falling into a disappointed looking sulk.

“Yes, sir…”

Veld shook his head and chuckled. “Stop that. You’re not going to guilt me into letting you stay, either. Besides… your attempts can’t even begin to hold a candle to Felicia’s puppy dog eyes when she wants something.” He quickly sobered and looked the younger man in the eye. “I know you want to make yourself useful. But the best way for you to do that is to take the helicopter and go back to Midgar. Remy has no business being anywhere but Midgar General, and I damn well don’t want Kai here in her current state of mind. It makes no sense to send an able-bodied Turk to escort them when you’re injured but still fully capable of doing so. You know that. Take them home.”

Reno sighed, and the Turk leader saw a look of acceptance creep across his face.

“And if that’s not enough reason for you, don’t forget that Tseng likely needs your help far more than I do right now…”

“Okay, okay…” the redhead groaned, “You’ve made your point, sir…”

“Good. I want you three in the air within the hour. Go and prep the copter.”

“Yes, sir,” Reno replied. The redhead turned and slipped back inside the villa, and Veld couldn’t help but chuckle softly to himself. On the surface at least, the young Turk seemed utterly diametrically opposed to his mentor… but the pair were far more alike than they were different. Tseng’s little one-time slum rat had definitely begun to inherit some of his mentor’s more… endearingly irritating… traits. He wasn’t quite the workaholic Tseng was… but he was making a valiant effort at becoming so.

And Veld found himself thoroughly pleased by that fact. Tseng had chosen well. He couldn’t have denied that even if he’d wanted to. Reno still needed work before he would be ready for the position he was being groomed for… but he was certainly enthusiastic about learning what he needed to know.

It was hard to believe that, just a few years ago, he’d been rather insistently arguing against recruiting the boy at all. He was far too young and far too much of a loner to fit in with the team. He’d had zero training of any kind – unless one counted bar-tending – and frankly, given that he was coming directly out of Sector Two, Veld hadn’t been entirely convinced that he wasn’t a closet junkie when Tseng had first brought up the idea of recruitment. Now he was watching as the redhead drew closer and closer to being worthy of succeeding Veld’s own protege.

That one-time slum rat was just full of surprises.

---

Rufus blinked in confusion as he walked into his office… and found it already occupied.

Well… that was a bit unexpected. The building was largely empty. It was the weekend, after all. He wouldn’t even be here himself, were it not for the fact that it seemed to be the only peace and quiet he got lately. He’d been in the habit, for several weeks now, of coming in on Saturday mornings, just for a few hours, to address the ongoing issues in Gongaga without having to worry about fielding phone calls from reporters and environmental groups, or being dragged into an impromptu board meeting on the subject.

Almost no one even knew he would be here today. The man who had taken up residence in one of his chairs, and was diligently scribbling something down in a notebook, was one of those few. For a moment, he could only stare questioningly at him.

“What are you doing here?” he finally asked, when Tseng looked up at him.

“Waiting for you, sir,” the Turk calmly replied, closing the notebook and setting it aside, “I require your assistance, and it’s rather urgent.”

Rufus tossed his jacket onto the sidetable near the door and obligingly took a seat at his desk, wondering just what had brought the Turk lieutenant into work first thing in the morning on a Saturday. Even Tseng, with his penchant for overwork, valued his weekends.

“What’s this about?” he asked, folding his hands in front of him.

“Silas Vasquez,” Tseng stated, and Rufus rolled his eyes. Him again.

“Ugh… Did Father contact you regarding that idiotic apology he wishes me to make? I’ve already told him that I will comply… if only to save my own sanity from his constant pestering. For Ramuh’s sake, doesn’t he realize that the Turks are otherwise engaged at the moment? I’m hardly making such a trip without –”

“Sir, forgive me, but that’s not why I’m here,” the Wutaiian Turk interjected, cutting him off. Rufus was so shocked at being interrupted that his mouth snapped shut and he could only stare at his friend curiously. It wasn’t like Tseng to be so impatient. He gestured for him to continue. “Our investigation in Costa del Sol didn’t go quite as planned… but we did identify the man paying the Zenshou to steal Shinra technology. It’s Vasquez. I need to know everything you know about him. Veld is holding off on moving in on him until we have a better understanding as to why a long-time investor would be actively sabotaging the Company, but we don’t want to wait too long and risk him getting suspicious and bolting.”

“Silas is behind this? That smarmy, self-important lapdog?” the vice president echoed, in shock. His expression suddenly twisted into one of anger. “… That vindictive, money-grubbing, worthless piece of behemoth dung…”

“… Sir?” Tseng queried. Rufus stood up and started to pace the room.

“I believe I mentioned to you that Silas is a very old friend of my father’s…” he began, pausing briefly to peer out at the city through one of the large windows that lined the far wall, before resuming his transit across the floor.

“Yes, sir,” the Turk lieutenant acknowledged.

“Hmph… Father wished to go into business with that idiot. Long before Shinra Company was what it is now, naturally,” he said, and snorted in contempt, “Silas turned him down. Said there was simply no money to be made in mako energy. That we would never refine the process enough to make it profitable. He felt that coal was the future and invested heavily in several mines.”

“And when mako power began to gain a foothold, he found his own investments not paying off as he’d hoped…” Tseng surmised. Rufus smirked widely.

“A number of his ventures eventually utterly collapsed, or so I’m told,” he replied, somewhat smugly. “Father was… charitable. Because he was an old friend, he allowed Silas to invest in a… limited… stake in the Company at a very generous price. But he barred him from purchasing further shares either personally or through intermediaries… because at heart, Father is a cold and calculating businessman, and he knew that if given half the chance his ‘old friend’ would attempt to buy his company right out from under him.” He snickered quietly, “All of this happened before I was ever born, of course – before most of Midgar even existed, in fact – but it’s always been one of Father’s favorite stories. Silas was… considerably… wealthier than our family at the time. He’s quite proud of the fact that he so thoroughly outdid him.”

Tseng frowned and leaned back in his chair. “That would certainly be reason to hold a grudge…”

“Silas has always been little more than an annoyance,” Rufus scoffed, rolling his eyes. “His stake accounts for less than one percent of the total public shares. A pittance, really, but even that pittance has lined his pockets quite nicely over the years. What would be the point in throwing that away for the sake of petty revenge? Revenge, I might add, for a situation entirely of his own making. Had he not been so short-sighted, he’d likely be sitting on the Board of Directors today, rather than taking up space in a pity-position on the investor’s board.”

“Anger and resentment do make people act irrationally,” Tseng sighed. And not just wealthy businessmen with overly-inflated egos. Turks, as recent events had demonstrated, were far from immune, “In any case, your Father should brought up to date before any action is taken against Vasquez. I would have discussed this with him directly, but…”

Rufus snickered quietly.

“But you knew I would be here this morning, and had no particular desire to interrupt my father’s weekend without someone there to prevent him from summarily firing you for doing so?” Rufus asked, suddenly looking quite enthusiastic.

“Much as I hate to admit it… the thought had crossed my mind, sir. If it’s not too much of an inconvenience to you.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss it,” replied in a blatantly smug tone, “I’m very much looking forward to seeing the look on Father’s face when you inform him that the idiot he demanded I beg forgiveness from is behind some of the worse corporate espionage Shinra Company has ever seen…”

---

The helicopter reached Midgar, without incident, well before noon. It had been a surprisingly long flight. Not so much in terms of actual air-time, but Remy had spent most of the trip dozing after swallowing several pills, and Kai was… not very Kai-like… for the duration. In fact, the senior Turk had hardly said one word to Reno all morning.

He wasn’t entirely sure if she was still ticked at him for cutting her out of the mission, or if she was ticked at herself for fucking things up so royally. Or both. Or, hell, maybe she was still recovering from Veld’s reprimand last night. Either way, the entire flight had been conducted in an uncomfortable and oppressive silence that the redhead would be glad to leave behind.

Though to be fair, he was still pretty mad at Kai, as well, so he hadn’t exactly made much of an effort at conversation either. That little stunt she’d pulled last night could have completely ruined any shot they might have had at finding the Zenshou’s client. Worse than that, though, she very easily could have gotten someone killed. Well… someone other than him. It had been his choice to jump in front of that shot, and he didn’t regret it for an instant… but it could have just as easily been aimed at Rude or Petra or Veld or some random bystander, rather than at her. Could have easily taken out someone he wasn’t close enough to shield. Not to mention the fact that she’d just abandoned poor Remy in a hotel room…

Veld had lit into Kai pretty hard once he’d secured the services of a doctor last night. They’d taken it down to the basement, but Reno and Petra had heard the furious shouting from the upper floor. Not the specifics of the ‘conversation’, but… certainly the tone had carried pretty clearly. Reno, himself, had been on the receiving end of a seriously pissed off Turk commander on more than one occasion… but something told him that nothing he’d ever done had triggered anything that would compare with the absolute fury with which the man had addressed Kai’s insubordination.

He certainly didn’t envy the diminutive Turk when Tseng got ahold of her, either… which, given that they were over the city now, wouldn’t be much longer.

In fact, as the copter was on its approach to the helipad atop Shinra Headquarters, he saw that she wasn’t going to have any delay at all. Tseng was already standing there, waiting. Reno cringed slightly. So were Dr. Ward and what looked to be a pair of orderlies from Midgar General holding a stretcher.

Hopefully, she was just there for Remy, and not for him. Veld hadn’t specifically said anything about notifying the Doc about his little run-in with a crossbow wielding maniac… but that didn’t mean he hadn’t ratted him out. And even if Veld hadn’t, Tseng probably had. Unless, by some miracle, his superior hadn’t mentioned his injury to Tseng, either…

The redhead sighed softly, and resigned himself to the inevitable trip down to Medical. Ward knew. She always knew. He was kidding himself hoping otherwise. Even if she somehow didn’t know, which wasn’t very likely, she was gonna take one look at him, notice that something was off, and demand to know what he’d done to himself this time.

He spared a subtle glance over at Kai, who seemed to have noticed their welcoming party, as well, and had gone slightly pale on account.

‘Serves her right’, he thought to himself.

The skids had barely even hit solid ground again, and the sliding door was being hauled open. Reno was still in the process of getting everything shut down, but even so, he could hear Tseng over the whine of the engines.

“Downstairs! Now!” he demanded of Kai, before turning towards Remy to check on the injured Turk. By the time Reno had finished the power-down and slipped free of his safety restraints, she was already being transferred to the stretcher and carted off towards the elevators.

“As for you,” Tseng continued, in a far less antagonistic – though far from calm – tone than he’d just addressed Kai, turning his attention on his protege, “Justinia would like a few minutes of your time. I… will likely still be occupied when she’s done. Get something to eat, and then take a moment to relax. I’ll take you home once I’ve dealt with Kai.”

“… ‘kay,” Reno replied, notably glad that he wasn’t the one who was about to incur his mentor’s wrath, and, for once, not willing to argue about a mandated medical exam, “I’m fine, though…”

“And that is why Kai has, thus far, managed to survive her arrival back at headquarters…” the senior Turk ground out angrily.

Oh, yeah… Kai was in some seriously deep shit. Reno simply nodded, and hurried over to where Ward was waiting for him, arms crossed over her chest, a frown firmly in place on her lips. He rolled his eyes…

“Yeah, yeah… I know,” he muttered, “You were hopin’ to go at least another week without seein’ me… S’pose I’m also gonna get it for draggin’ ya into work on a Saturday, huh?”

“Hmph,” Dr. Ward replied, a smile flickering over her features before she began marching him towards the elevator, “Well, my little headache, at least with yeh around, I suppose I’ll always have job security…”

---

Tseng found Kai waiting for him in his office, and it was all he could do to not immediately unload a tirade of fury upon her the moment he locked eyes with her. Instead, he clenched his fists and strode over to his desk, taking a seat and steepling his fingers before him.

“Would you mind explaining to me what in the NINE HELLS you thought you were doing?!” he growled, not the least bit successful in hiding his anger. Kai flinched and dropped her gaze, but didn’t answer. Tseng’s eyes narrowed and he forced himself to be calm. “You’ve taken your share of questionable actions over the years, Kai. We all have at some point. But this? This is inexcusable. You disobeyed a direct order. You damaged company property so that you had an excuse to continue disobeying said order. You abandoned an injured teammate left in your care. You very nearly derailed an important operation and put an entire field team in danger… and had Reno not acted as quickly as he did last night, you very well might have been killed in the process. He was exceedingly fortunate not to have been. I want an explanation.”

Kai didn’t make any effort to look at him, or to respond… and it infuriated the senior Turk.

“Answer me, goddammit!” he shouted, striking his palm on the top of his desk, and causing the younger woman to jump.

“I don’t have an answer for you,” she said, still staring down at her hands in her lap.

“Not good enough,” Tseng stated, flatly, and Kai looked up at him angrily.

“What the hell do you want me to say?!” she screamed, “That I fucked up? I know I fucked up! That I could have gotten someone killed? I know that!” An errant tear escaped the corner of her eye. “I didn’t mean for Reno to get hurt… I just… I wanted them to pay. They need to pay. Not just for what they did to me, but what they did to Reno… to Remy… to you… I… I can’t stand the thought of them just getting away with all of that! And they’re going to. Once we put an end to their client’s orders, they’re not going to be an issue for Shinra anymore. Veld’s not going to waste resources going after them if he doesn’t have a reason to. This was… my last chance.”

The Wutaiian Turk sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Kai… You can’t just go starting a one-woman war against an organization as dangerous as the Zenshou!”

“… I know,” she whispered, “I never meant for it to get so out of hand. It won’t happen again.”

Tseng pressed his hands against his face, trying to ease the building tension behind his eyes and groaned.

“Tseng… I know I screwed up,” Kai continued, “I do. Please… please talk to Veld for me. I can’t be suspended. I need to be here, with the team.”

“No.”

“W-what?” she stammered.

“I said… no,” the Turk lieutenant replied, lowering his hands and looking up at her, “Even if I thought you were fit for duty – which, frankly, I don’t – nothing I say is going to change the commander’s mind right now. You made this bed, Kai. You’re going to have to lie in it. Report to Medical first thing on Monday for a complete psychological evaluation. We’ll discuss your status further after Veld has seen the results.”

“Tseng…” she said, a shocked and hurt tone in her voice.

“I’m sorry. You took this too far, Kai. You are completely out of control, and there are going to be consequences.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Will that be all, sir?” she asked, coldly.

“Kai…”

“I thought we were friends, Tseng,” she spat, before getting to her feet and storming out of his office before he could respond. The senior Turk sighed heavily.

“We are. Even if you can’t see that right now.”

---

“Ow! Watch it, will ya? There’s a hole under those stitches, ya know…”

Dr. Ward snorted softly in amused laughter, but obligingly ceased her prodding of the injury site. She shook her head slightly.

“How in the wide world did yeh manage ta get yerself shot in the chest ‘n not do a lick ‘o damage besides a wee superficial puncture wound?” she asked in vague disbelief.

“PHS took the worst of it,” the redhead replied, with a shrug. “Damn bolt knocked me flat on my ass, but that’s about it. Ya know… other than it fuckin’ getting stuck there.”

“Language,” the doctor chided, and Reno rolled his eyes. “Well… I have ta admit, yer mostly fine. Yeh’ve no business being mostly fine considering where yeh were hit, but yeh are.”

“So… no medical restrictions?” he ventured, hopefully.

“Not taday, my little headache. Just try not ta pull those stitches out.” She reached into the pocket of her lab coat and withdrew a purple sucker. Reno grinned and eagerly snatched it, tearing off the wrapper and shoving it into his mouth. Ward sighed and shooed him off of her exam table.

“You gonna go check in on Remy now?” he asked, as he pulled his shirt back on. He hadn’t been surprised that the injured Turk had been shipped straight off to Midgar General… but he was mildly annoyed that the Doc was wasting her time with him rather than going with her. To his surprise, Ward shook her head.

“Remy isn’t one of my usual patients. She prefers Dr. Alsano… whom I’ve already dispatched ta meet her at the hospital, so there’s no need ta worry.”

Reno blinked in surprise. “Huh… ya know, for some reason, I always kind just thought you took care of all of us.”

“Do yeh think I keep a staff on hand just ta have them stand around all day, then?” Ward chuckled softly, “There aren’t enough hours in the day fer me ta see everyone who walks in here personally. Most Shinra personnel aren’t quite as picky as yeh are, yeh little troublemaker. Now… off with yeh. It’s the weekend. Yer supposed ta be home, relaxing.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Reno snorted, “Thanks, Doc.”

He made his way out of Medical and hurried to the elevator, pressing the button for the fifty-eighth floor and riding it back up the the Turks’ offices. Assuming that Tseng was likely still chewing out Kai for the crap she’d pulled, he wandered into the lounge and flopped down on the couch by the windows trying to decide what to do while he waited. He supposed he could head downstairs and see what the cafeteria had on offer. It was lunchtime, after all… and he was hungry. Shinra Company never really shut down… not even on the weekends. There was always someone in the building doing something… which meant that even on a Saturday afternoon, the planet’s shittiest cafeteria would be open for business.

The idea wasn’t particularly appealing, though. He really wasn’t in the mood to choke down the slop they called food down there. Delivery, then?

Of course… that required a phone, and his had just been brutally murdered. Again. He vaguely wondered how many he’d been through since becoming a Turk. He’d kind of stopped counting at this point, though he was pretty sure he was on at least his third just this year. Well… fourth, once he got his new replacement. He snickered softly to himself. The Requisitions Office had to hate him by now.

But… his temporary lack of a phone meant that he’d have to haul his ass off the couch and find a landline if he wanted food delivered. Not an especially difficult task… but most of the Turks didn’t bother with them these days – a PHS was far more convenient – which inevitably meant a trip to another floor. Veld had one in his office, but no way in hell was he going in there without permission just so he could eat.

He yawned widely and rolled his neck to one side, listening to the satisfying crack it made as he did so, and realizing just how tired he was. He’d gone to bed so late last night it was technically today… and he’d been woken up not real long after he’d gone to bed. Add to that four hours in the air, not to mention having gone from one assignment straight into another, and he’d about had it for one day. Screw it. He’d just ask Tseng to stop somewhere with a drive-thru on the way home. He was too comfortable on the couch to want to move if he didn’t have to.

A moment later, hawever, he heard a door slam somewhere in the office, and sat up, suddenly much more alert. Angry footsteps stormed past the lounge and continued on down the hallway. By the time Reno had gotten to his feet and crossed the room to peer out of the door, the sound had already faded, and shortly after that, he heard the elevator around the corner chime.

“She was less than happy with what I had to say to her,” Tseng’s voice commented, and the redhead jerked his gaze in the direction of the sound, startled. He huffed softly.

“Boss, seriously… do ya really gotta do that?”

Tseng gave him a small smile. “I’m sorry. I truly didn’t mean to sneak up on you this time. What did Justinia say regarding your injury?”

“Heh… Like I told ya when I got here, I’m fine. Just gotta watch the stitches. I’m cleared for full duty,” he replied, grinning. He quickly turned serious, “Um… Shouldn’t we go after her?”

Tseng gave him a resigned look and shook his head. “I think that may do more harm than good at the moment. She’s very angry right now. With me. With the Zenshou… and with herself. She needs time alone to think. It’s best we let her. Come on… I’ll take you home. You look exhausted.”

Reno cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. “When’d ya figure out how to drive stick with a cast on one leg?” he asked. Tseng snorted softly.

“I haven’t. Rufus has seen fit to lend me his car and driver for the day, as he suspected I might have a bit more need of them than he does.”

“Heh… free limo ride home, huh? Count me in,” the redhead snickered. “… Ya think that thing’d fit through the Happy Moogle drive-thru? I’m starved…”

---

Rude peered though a pair of binoculars, directly into one of the upstairs windows of the large beach house. His target was still inside. He’d left, briefly, a couple of hours earlier for a swim in the large pool behind the house, but beyond that, he seemed quite engrossed in his correspondence. A number of packages had been wrapped, addressed and sent out. Rude had quickly intercepted them all. Most of them were bits and pieces of Shinra weapons technology or other items stolen from their facilities. He’d made careful note of whom they were being sent to, as well. It was entirely possible that they were repeat customers, and more stolen goods could be recovered later.

His phone vibrated in his pocket.

“Rude here,” he said, answering it without ever taking his gaze off of his target.

“We’re a go. Breach the front entrance. Petra and I will enter from the back,” Veld’s voice replied, “I want him alive.”

“Yes, sir.” Rude ended the call and tucked the phone back into his pocket. It was about time. Since learning the man’s identity – and his connection to the Company – they’d been waiting most of the morning for permission from the President to take Vasquez. Rude had been growing very tired of waiting.

He left the safety of the shady copse of trees he’d been sequestered in and crept silently onto the property. Vasquez didn’t seem to employ many house servants… but there was cook and a maid they would have to either avoid or subdue before they alerted their employer that he had uninvited guests.

And then there was the girl.

Vasquez’s daughter was sunning herself poolside. They weren’t, strictly speaking, interested in her – they had no evidence she was involved in whatever foolishness her father had entered into – but they didn’t know for certain that she wasn’t involved, either. Besides which, if they left her to her own devices, there would be uncomfortable questions. Thus, the Turk leader had decided that she would be joining her father when he appeared before President Shinra to explain himself. The girl was Petra’s responsibility, though. Rude’s target was inside the house.

It was unusual to attempt this sort of operation in broad daylight… but the house was secluded enough that, unless things went very, very wrong, the odds of anyone outside of the household noticing that anything was off were slim. Still, the Turk felt decidedly exposed as he dashed across the open space in front of the beach house. He made it to the door and stood with his back pressed against the outer wall. One hand reached for the handle and silently swung the door inward.

---

“So what are you doin’ the rest of the day?” Reno asked, around a mouthful of cheeseburger. The Happy Moogle was your standard cheap as shit burger chain… there was practically one on every other corner of the city… but damned if it didn’t taste amazing on an empty stomach. Tseng snorted softly.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” he chided, somewhat teasingly as though, by now, he knew the effort was futile, and then leaned back in the plush seat of the presidential limousine. “And… after a short break for a lunch that doesn’t come microwaved and wrapped in paper, I will be working. By now, Veld and the others will have moved in on our target. Once Vasquez is in hand, they have instructions to bring him immediately to Midgar to answer for his crimes.”

The redhead blinked and forced down the mouthful of food. “Wait… what? They’re bringin’ ‘im in now?”

“Well… approximately four hours from now, yes. Once I have you safely settled at home, I’m heading back to the office to kill some time until they arrive.”

“Screw that… if you’re workin’, I’m workin’,” Reno replied, before stuffing the remainder of the burger into his mouth and chasing it with a swig of soda. Tseng shook his head.

“No… you are going home to rest and enjoy what’s left of your weekend. You’ve earned it.”

“But…”

“No buts,” Tseng insistently cut him off, “You’ve been on assignment for a week now, and while you may have clearance to return to work, that doesn’t mean doing so immediately is in your best interest. I want you rested and ready to go on Monday. Don’t forget… we still have five rookies in need of supervision and instruction, as well as the fact that we’re going to be two Turks down for the time being. And as I will be getting this Leviathan forsaken cast off on Monday even if I have to cut it off myself… Justinia’s opinion be damned… I’m going to need your help getting back on my feet. I’ve had enough of these crutches.”

Reno sighed and flashed his mentor an annoyed look.

“Ya know… half the reason Veld sent me back early was so I could help you. If you don’t even need me ’til Monday, what the hell was the point?”

Tseng smiled, and broke into a quiet laugh… which only served to annoy the redhead further.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm,” his mentor chuckled, “And while I’m sure you’re fully capable of continuing on without a break, I’d prefer you didn’t utterly burn yourself out… because I do need you. Very much.”

Reno rolled his eyes. “You do remember that you officially stopped bein’ my guardian like… almost three years ago… right?”

“Officially, perhaps…” the Turk lieutenant returned, “Unofficially is another matter altogether. You are my protege, my eventual successor… and my family. I will be looking out for you for quite some time yet.” He smirked, and added, “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”

~end chapter 75~