Sometime in the future:
Tseng eyed himself in the scratched-up mirror of the gas station bathroom and unsheathed his bowie knife. The dim fluorescent light flickered along the whisper-sharp edge of the steel. He took a deep breath. Giving himself no time to back out, he began to saw through the straight black hair high above the band. It fell out in a sickening clump in his hand. He squeezed his fist tightly around the hacked-off ponytail, as if holding a piece of himself – more than just hair that covered his head, but who he was - then opened his fingers to let it fall into the garbage can. There was no point in keeping it as some sort of nostalgic keepsake. What was done was done and there was no going back. In more ways than one.
He ran his head under the sink and made a few dabs with gel for some semblance of order. The reflection that blinked back at him took him back to a time before the Turks, before the crisp suits, the subdued hair, and the calm mask. He'd come so far in his time with the organization. And it had all been wiped out in a single afternoon.
He zipped up his leather jacket and shoved his black suit in the garbage before heading out the door. He'd worry about regrets some other time. He had work to do.
--
Present Day
Reno slouched out of the passenger seat of the black company car and stretched, letting loose an unprofessional yawn. A pancake of dirt stretched out behind him, dotted by the occasional scrub weed. The cliff in front dropped off in a deadly first step.
"Man, it's freaky out here," he said. "Too big. Gimme the city any day. Booze. Broads." He floundered for another 'b' word. "And some ball-busting, crazy-ass, rip-roaring fights."
Rude got out of the driver's seat with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" Reno defended himself. "Ball-busting. It's got two b's."
Rude leaned against the hood of the sedan and pulled lightly on an earring. "I like it. It's relaxing."
"And you're not right in that big, bald head of yours. I can't believe Tseng sent us out here."
"Gongaga was nicer," Rude admitted. "It had… charm."
"It had a chick with bazongas that could put an eye out." Reno grinned. "You really liked her, didn't ya?" He added, under his breath, but still loud enough for Rude to hear, "You poor sap."
"Snake," Rude said abruptly, pointing at the ground.
Reno jumped a foot to the left and swiveled his head frantically. Only after carefully scouting the vicinity - and finding no trace of a slithery, shudder-inducing reptile - did he relax.
"Jerk," he said, straightening his jacket. "You know how I hate those things."
Rude just smiled, a satisfied smirk that left no doubt how little he cared.
"Asshole," Reno added, in case Rude missed the point. He deigned to be the bigger man and let it drop so they could get back to business. "Let's get this over with. I wanna get back into town and head for the loudest, wildest bar I can find."
He turned his attention to the back seat of the car and its occupant. Opening the door, he yanked out the bound and cuffed man who had been cowering inside. He gave little regard to the door sill or head clearance, and the resulting bang, followed by the man's yelp, was inevitable. Reno shrugged an 'oops', not looking very sorry.
He carefully scouted his victim. The old dude looked like the type who was all bluster when he was in charge. Well, he wasn't in charge now. The tips of his hair were gray and his glasses were sliding down his nose. Reno helpfully pushed them back up with the tip of his index finger. "You're kind of an old guy, aren't ya?" He looked over at Rude. "What's this guy's name again?"
"Harden."
"Harden, eh?" Reno poked him curiously. "Not really my speed but a job's a job. My turn this time, right partner?"
Rude tilted his head ever so slightly, Rude-speak for yes.
Reno tugged on the old dude's handcuffs and crooked his finger, a sign to follow. Having no other choice, Harden did as told. The sun beat down on Reno's black suit as he walked, creating his own fabric mini-sauna. He shook out the tails of his shirt and unbuttoned yet another button. But he kept his pace friendly as he meandered to the cliff. A little heat was no reason to be sloppy.
"See that out there?" Reno spread his arm out at the view as he walked, encompassing the whole of the city of Edge that dotted the land below them. It was a haphazard collection of hastily built homes and businesses - the kind that sprouted up out of necessity, unacquainted with such words as 'organization' or 'city planning' - in a jagged ring around the ruins of Midgar.
Harden nodded wide-eyed.
"We're gonna fix Midgar up again. Get it back to its glory days." Reno called back over his shoulder to his partner, "Ain't that right, Rude?"
"That's right." Rude hadn't moved an inch but a small gun now hung loosely in his hand, more for show's sakes than anything. Rude was more comfortable with hand-to-hand, though even that would be laughable overkill for the simple head of a construction company.
"The boss has big plans," Reno said. "He's gonna make it back on top, you'll see. It's just a matter of time." He stopped at the edge of the cliff and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, tapping it on the inside of his wrist.
"I 'nders'nd," the man said from behind the gag.
Reno helpfully leaned over to undo the gag. "You understand, eh?"
Harden nodded fervently.
"If you understand, then I gotta ask. Why'd you undercut us on the bid?" Reno said. He ran a zippo down his thigh to set it alight, and lit his cigarette with a slow inhale. "Everyone knew the tower reconstruction job was ours."
The nod switched seamlessly to a frantic shake. "It was a mistake."
"A mistake?"
"It was an addition mistake. A new employee. A computer glitch." The excuses tumbled over themselves like water dashing over a waterfall, helpless and unable to stop. He finally sputtered to a stop. "We didn't mean to bid low. It'll never happen again."
"I see." He seemed to ponder the assertion then circled behind to undo the cuffs. "Well that's different then."
"Thank you. Thank you so much. I promise—"
Reno cut him off as he tucked the cuffs in his waistband. "I'll just go back and tell our boss it was a mistake."
Harden took in the words, saw Rude's gun raise, and the hopeful light in his eyes died.
Reno dropped an arm around his shoulders. "Ah, not so dumb after all, are you? Then I assume you know what it means to 'make an example of someone'."
He popped a button off the front of the man's shirt, then leaned in to whisper in his ear. "We'll make sure they find your body." He pushed.
He walked back to the car, tossing the button in his hand. His boss would be back on top again. And Reno would do whatever it took to get him there.
"That's morbid," Rude said, interrupting his thoughts.
"This?" Reno held up the button. "I just pushed a man off a motherfuckin' cliff and you think a button is morbid? That's some skewed shit there, partner."
Rude folded himself back in the car. "It creeps me out."
Reno hopped in beside him. "Just drive, numbnuts." He tucked the button in his pocket and turned up the radio, battering out a drum solo on the dashboard.
--
Shinra's temporary offices in Edge were a far cry from their previous surroundings, no longer plush with a modern air of sophistication, instead blending in with the rubble and riff-raff of Edge that surrounded them on all sides. Tseng kept his expression neutral as he walked through the front doors and submitted to the pat-down security check. They'd gone from 70 floors of departments, bustling with eager young employees, to this stripped-down skeleton of their former glory. Electronic locks and key cards had been replaced by wooden doors and metal keys, speedy elevators by five stories of wooden stairs. The open space that greeted the newcomer, with a counter at the back wall and a stretch of beaten hard wood floor to cross to get there, was a wan imitation of their setup in the tower that only served to highlight the differences.
Still, Tseng would be glad to never hear the name Healin Lodge Geostigma Sanitorium again. His boss had been through hell and back and still survived. That dwarfed any physical inconveniences. Tseng climbed the stairs to the second floor, the nerve center for the Turks. Rufus' office occupied 2/3 of the length of the back wall; his own office was granted the last 1/3, with the open bullpen filling the rest of the floor. He passed between Rude and Elena's desk to enter Rufus' office and stood silent, legs spread and hands clasped in front of him.
Rufus finished scratching with his pen and looked up. "Sit," he ordered.
Tseng unlocked his legs to sit stiff-backed in the visitor's chair that fronted the low-budget desk. He hated the desk. He hated its cheap ply-board construction. He hated that Rufus was forced to sit behind it. It was an unwelcome symbol of how far they'd fallen since WEAPON had destroyed their headquarters and Meteor had rained down to finish the city.
He shut down the painful thoughts and found refuge in the precision of his job. "Rude and Reno are currently acquiring the bid for the Shinra tower reconstruction, sir. It was initially won by Harden Construction but the owner will soon be found deceased due to an unfortunate accident. The contract will fall to our subsidiary in second place."
Rufus nodded and made a note on the pad in front of him. "What's the status on the start date?"
"All the subcontractors are ready to start immediately, sir. They were persuaded that this project should take priority. Most were pleasantly cooperative."
"And the ones that weren't?"
"Elena was still feeling some… frustration from our unfortunate encounter in the crater, sir. While I normally wouldn't recommend her for this sort of mission, it seemed to have a therapeutic effect."
Though she looked the same on the outside - with no visible scars from their torture session at the hands of the Remnants - he couldn't say the same for the inside. She'd hardened. She had been one of the few Turks who held a touch of innocence. That was stamped out for good now. But that was the unfortunate reality of a Turk. Tseng was surprised she'd held on to it for as long as she had.
Rufus finally gave Tseng his full attention.
"Keep pushing on it. We need this tower."
It was a rare moment, and Tseng could feel the urgency behind it. It wasn't anything he didn't already know - one look around their meager offices would show it in the stoop of their workers' backs, the defeated glaze of their eyes. The pride was gone, the feeling of invincibility was long past. They weren't the Shinra they used to be. But for Rufus to admit it... It sent shivers down his back.
The moment quickly passed, however, and Rufus was back to his normal efficiency.
"And the military assessment I asked for?"
"Reno's typing it up as we speak." The raucous redhead had been the only one in the bullpen at the time and Tseng had had no other choice. He inwardly cringed. Keyboards tended to come out on the losing end of Reno's impatience and it wasn't gonna be pretty. But they were running on a shoestring and they all did the best with what he had.
"The gist?" Rufus prompted.
He hated to pile bad news on top of the already bad feeling in the room but Rufus already knew the score. This was just confirmation. "Not good," he answered. "With SOLDIER disbanded and the toll taken by Deepground, our Midgar forces have been decimated to 25% of our previous numbers. And we're stretching by with a skeletal force in Junon just to keep the base open."
He could see Rufus' mind spinning fast and straining to fix things, to turn the tide of their bad luck.
"Keep working on the Shadow Project," was his reply.
They were falling back on what they did best. Experiments. Mako. It wasn't the large scale use of mako that they'd used in fueling the reactors - Rufus wouldn't tempt the wrath of the Planet twice - but they were still delving into the more metaphysical properties of the lifeblood of the Planet.
"Check in on the research specimens this afternoon," Rufus commanded. "They could be the key to get us back on top." He tapped his pen against some of the pictures tucked in the file. "The hounds have been restless and we can't afford a breakout. Have Reno sleep by the cages tonight to keep an eye on them."
Tseng nodded. "Yes sir."
Rufus flipped the file shut and reached for the phone in dismissal.
Taking his cue to leave, Tseng stood, straightening his suit before heading to the door. He paused on the sill. "Sir?"
Rufus stopped mid-dial. "Yes?"
"We'll be back on top soon. Your desk is already ordered."
--
Reno pulled his rod and swung it wildly around the bullpen. Elena ducked under it, unruffled, as she crossed the room to grab another pile of folders.
"Goddammit, I gotta sleep with those smelly dogs again? What in the hell did I ever do to deserve this?"
"You dumped a half-eaten bowl of noodles on his jacket," Tseng replied.
"Accident," Reno shot back. "Accidents shouldn't count."
"You were fencing with Rude in the hallway."
"I was just protecting my lunch from his bottomless stomach," he muttered. He flipped off Rude with a glare.
Rude smirked from his kicked-back position in his office chair.
"It's a goddamn rookie job," Reno continued. "We need recruits." He shoved a pile of Rude's paperwork to the side and plopped his butt on his partner's desk. "Any word on getting help?"
Rude frowned at the intrusion to his meticulously ordered setup. While Reno's attention was focused on Tseng's reply, he ducked down and slipped the EMR from Reno's holster.
"You know we don't have the budget or the time to train someone new," Tseng was saying.
From his crouch beside the desk, Rude dialed down the voltage on the rod.
"You check out that guy, Razzer, I told you 'bout? He's already a pretty good fighter. I could train him up quick."
Tseng frowned. "Thanks for the offer but I'll pass."
"Hey, that third time in jail totally wasn't his fault."
"I might..." Tseng paused, then decided it was the right time for a heads-up. "I might ask Vincent Valentine to come back."
In the disbelieving silence that followed, Rude struck. The EMR buzzed against Reno's hip and sent him skittering across the room.
"My desk." Rude tapped the edge. "Your desk." He pointed across the room.
Reno snatched his rod back with wounded dignity. "Sheesh. Someone got an extra glass of cranky today." He plopped back in his own chair and tapped his rod against his shoulder as he eyed Tseng up. "Vincent, huh? Wasn't that long ago we were fighting against him." The note of disapproval was crystal clear.
Tseng just nodded and headed to his office, saying nothing. There wasn't much else he could say. They'd have to come to terms with it on their own.
--
The telephone call had Rufus on edge.
"Slow down, Enders. From the beginning, please."
A mousy little man with a bad comb-over, Enders always gave Rufus an overwhelming urge to gargle mouthwash whenever he was near, but he couldn't deny he was smart as a whip. In terms of replacing Hojo, he couldn't have asked for much better... though he could have asked for more hygienic.
On the other end of the line, Enders took a deep breath and Rufus was glad this conversation wasn't in person. "The hounds from Group B are all dead, sir."
"An outside job?"
"No, sir. They attacked each other. Oh man, it was horrible. Their teeth… The way they attacked… It was like they went insane. The cleanup-" He bit off the rest of his words.
Rufus kept his voice steady, no matter how hard he wanted to start flinging papers across the room. "Try it again."
"But sir—"
"Halve the dose this time. I'll send out Elena to get more specimens."
"Sir, I…. But what if they react—"
"Enders?"
"Yes sir?"
"Do you have a problem with my orders?"
"No sir."
He switched to the more important issue. "How did Alpha 4 respond?"
"He's dead, sir."
"Thank you, Enders."
Rufus dropped the phone back on the desk and allowed himself a few seconds of swearing before he composed his face again. The alpha dying was the worst possible outcome; they'd yet to have one make it past the first stage of testing. The moment they did, however...
He called in Tseng. "Have Rude round up the homeless again and find us an Alpha 5."
Hopefully, this one would live longer than the last. His plan depended on it.
--
The next morning, Tseng entered the Shinra building and bypassed his usual first stop in his office to instead head straight to a small nondescript door to the right of the counter. It unlocked to reveal a stairway into the basement, opening onto a room kept chilly by an air conditioner to pamper the state-of-the-art computers it housed. The high-tech equipment gleamed in stark contrast to the beaten-down building that squatted over the top of it.
"Enders," he nodded in greeting.
"Tseng, sir." The scientist jumped to his feet. "I wasn't expecting a visit today."
"It's okay. You can sit. I just wanted to see how the new specimens were working out."
"Good, good." His fingers flew over the keyboard and he pulled up a camera monitoring the pens. "Elena brought in four Crimson Hounds last night to replace Beta Group B. She's such a nice girl." He smiled with the obvious beginnings of a crush, then visibly shook himself free. "Oh, and Rude found us a wonderful Alpha 5."
A few more taps of his fingers brought up the camera view of a middle-aged man with a beard that hadn't been trimmed in years. The man was lying on his back in a small cell, talking to the ceiling.
"It's the hypers," Enders explained. "They get hooked and they start to experience delusions."
"Will he be suitable for the experiment?"
"Oh, yes. It's actually advantageous when they come in with the habit already developed. It allows us to use the hypers as a reward. They'll do anything we ask." He smiled broadly as if expecting to be petted.
Tseng hid his shudder. He never understood the minds of scientists. At least, not the ones that Rufus was always rounding up. They had a total disregard for the human lives they toyed with that seemed disrespectful. While he believed in the vision that prompted the need for the experiments, it seemed wrong to be so dismissive of the participants. He stepped a few steps away under the pretext of reading some notes. He paged through the report with the words Shadow Project covering the title sheet.
"You're testing again this morning, correct?"
"We are." He took back his notes from Tseng's grasp and cuddled them protectively to his chest. He squeezed out the next words reluctantly. "If you'd like to take a seat, you can watch."
"I will, thanks"
Enders first made a quick phone call for Rude who slid into the room quietly, comfortable with his role. "Let's begin then, shall we?" Enders' whole demeanor changed from that of a meek man who would dutifully eat cold food if served into someone who sent chills down Tseng's spine. He clicked a button on the screen and bars clanged down around the room while a glass partition descended from the ceiling. The wall behind it separated and opened onto the animal pens that had been shown on the screen earlier.
"This is Beta Group C," Enders narrated efficiently. "We've kept water from them since yesterday so they should be willing to drink from the solution we provided."
"And it contains the makocine?"
Enders shifted uncomfortably. "You heard about the problems? I can assure you the dose is less this time."
He'd only heard of the previous day's fiasco through his daily methodical poring through the logs. Despite given orders to Tseng to step up the research, Rufus was taking more and more oversight of the project away from the Department of Administrative Research. It left Tseng and his Turks to oversee the lesser experiments, and they were being sent them out more often to employ strong arm tactics in Rufus' bid to retake the city. Tseng felt like he was being nudged out and he didn't understand why.
His thoughts were interrupted when the animals sniffed their way into the new opening, drawn by the scent of the water. Their low-slung hips crouched lower to the ground and sharp ears twitched backwards as they whined at the smell. The neon stripe down their back was matted and colored gray with dirt from the cages.
"Who was in charge of these animals?" he asked sharply.
"Reno, sir. He said he wasn't too worried about cleaning since, as I believe he put it, 'They were just gonna bite it soon anyway'".
He added a talk with Reno to his schedule.
"Alpha 5," Enders spoke into the microphone. "Would you please take your seat?"
The man continued mumbling to the ceiling.
"If you do this, we'll provide you with a nice reward."
"Reward?" The man sat up with surprising grace. "You guys have quality stuff." He smiled, showing several missing teeth.
"Take your seat, please." Rude escorted the man through from his now-opened door to sit in a glassed-off room with a large chair surrounded by hospital equipment. Once Rude had his arms belted down, Enders busied with the preparations.
"We stayed late to prepare the specimen so the access hole has already been drilled," he lectured. That was one part Tseng was glad to have missed.
"We'll now stimulate the areas of the subthalamic nucleus in the basal ganglia system in hopes of generating action potentials which can then travel through the axon—
Tseng interrupted him. "In simpler terms, if you please.
"Of course." He looked lost without his jargon. "We'll um stick this needle," he held up a four-inch long instrument, "in through this hole in the skull to stimulate the brain. The makocine – in differing formulas – will be distributed to both the Alpha," he patted the man, "and the Betas." He pointed at the still-whining hounds.
"The increased brain activity will increase the Alpha's potential to manipulate the Lifestream. We're, as of yet, unsure how they do it. The test subjects have responded to it on an almost instinctive level." He showed his first level of uncomfortableness to that. The Lifestream and mako tended to skew scientific results with a scary unconcern for the normal roles of physics. "The animals will be heightened in those areas which make them susceptible to control. Results have been… limited so far."
"So I've heard," Tseng said dryly.
He flinched when Enders poked the needle into the man's brain. Alpha 5 didn't respond any differently, however, after the injection.
After a brief wait, the hounds finally overcame their fear to drink the water.
"And everything is in place," Enders said.
He stepped back to his computer and started up the EEG machine hooked to the alpha, then spoke into the microphone. "Alpha 5, do you remember what we discussed this morning?"
He nodded. "And then I get my cram?"
"That is correct. All the hypers you wish. Now, order the hounds to sit."
The man closed his eyes. He mumbled under his breath but did nothing physically viewable. At the sound of whining, Tseng zeroed in on the hounds. He watched with amazement as three of them hunkered down into a low crouch. The fourth started barking loudly and nosing at his pack mates.
Enders shouted. "Yes!" He performed a very unscientific dance and bounced over to Tseng. "It worked!"
Machines demanded his attention as beeping started from several corners of the room. A look through the glass room showed the man slumped in his chair while the heart machine spun a long flat beep. The three formerly-docile hounds jumped to their feet and repeatedly slammed themselves against the glass separating them from the Alpha.
Ender's face fell before he composed himself. "The first step is always a small one, isn't it?"
Tseng nodded, more than ready to go back to his office. He left the scientist and Rude to clean up the mess. Back in his office, he scratched a note at the bottom of his to-do list: Find new Alpha 6.
--
Rufus walked sedately into his office, and closed the door behind him. Finally out of meetings and alone for the first time in hours, he slid open the report from Enders. His eyes flew over the page, reading faster as he went, words popping out at him in order of importance. Hounds. Sit. Success. He zoomed in on final segment. Alpha 5. Dead.
He slammed the file shut, frustrated but keeping his wits to lock the file away. He could feel the city slipping away from him. The new mayor was taking back more and more of his duties and Rufus could feel his pudgy little elbows pushing him aside with every new law passed. The mayor had been ushered into office in a hastily cobbled together vote while Shinra was still reeling from the seemingly never-ending chain of problems that beset them.
Were they plotting against him? Would they take his company? What would he do if he lost everything? It could never happen. He slammed his hand on the desk, and the phone hopped a short distance. Never.
But as grating as it was, Rufus could only watch for now, as his army lay in shambles. The power of the animals was within arms reach, yet it laid locked up behind the mystery of the Alpha, who had yet to survive the testing.
He called Enders back.
"Speed up the experiments."
--
In a rare moment of downtime, Reno sprawled out on the concrete half-wall that butted up to their building. He tapped his hand on his stomach as he hummed a song under his breath. His eyes were squeezed shut in the face of the strong sun, muscles relaxed in the heat, as he watched sunspots dance behind closed eyes.
He felt a poke.
"Go away, Rude." He could tell his partner a mile away; blindfolded, dropped in a pitch black world, cut off from smell, touch, and sound, it still didn't matter. He could sense his partner like he could sense his own hand. And right now that hand was poking him.
Poke.
"Dammit, Rude. I just got out of those stinky pens downstairs. Let me breath fresh air, yo."
He could picture Rude adjusting his sunglasses. He counted down for the next step.
Two seconds before the push, he jumped to the roof of the next door building – far out of Rude's reach. Awake now, and resigned to nap-time being over, he took his time with a stretch then looked down.
"We got a mission?"
"Actually, I'm buying," Rude said.
"Beer?" Reno perked up and hit the sidewalk in short order. "Now that's a mission I can understand." He slung his arm over Rude's shoulder and started walking him towards the Skylark.
Two beers later, they had firmly staked out their corner in the crowded bar the Turks often called home, not too far from the office but far enough away to allow them to shed a few worries at the end of a long day.
Reno scoped the place out with a Turk's eye. Exits noted, suspicious customers categorized, and all brands of beer memorized. He winked to the waitress when she dropped his next drink off, giving her a extravagant, flirty thanks over the low buzz of the after-work crowd. He finally got to business.
"Okay, partner. Place looks clean. No bugs in range, all customers out of earshot, waitress… looking fine, but also sadly far away," he said with a dramatic flair, "so hit me."
"You know?" Rude asked.
"I know something's got you in a tizzy. It ain't that dark-haired girl – I saw her playing house over at her new bar – and you got as much family as I do, which is none, so it's gotta be work. It's those damn dogs, ain't it?"
Rude fiddled with his sunglasses before closing them up and setting them on the table.
"Alpha 5 died."
"So?"
"But not before the experiment worked."
Reno dropped his beer glass to the table. "No shit?"
He nodded. "Remember that meeting with Wado Han?"
"That creepy little dude from Wutai?"
"Story is he's a shopkeeper looking for merchandising possibilities here, but he's actually pretty far up the chain in their government. Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury of the country."
"Damn. You get all the good dirt."
Rude tossed him a look that said 'quit tossing around flame throwers and accidentally blowing up people's cars and they might let you guard inside occasionally'. Reno read the look just fine.
"Eh," he blew air out his lips. "Any fun stuff's gonna happen outside anyway."
Rude shrugged. "So you hear it from me." He lowered his voice. "They're planning a strike on Edge."
"Wait. They. As in, our boss Rufus?"
"And Wado, yeah."
Reno's eyes lit up. "He's planning a strike on his own city? Hot damn, I love my job." His eyes dimmed. "Wait. That doesn't make any sense."
"The people won't know we're in on it. They'll think it's Wutai."
"As cool as this all sounds, pardner, I'm still not following you."
"Shinra's losing power. We need to get that power back, right?"
Reno leaned forward. "So we stage the attack then... what? Ride in to save the day?"
Rude put his finger on his nose.
"But if we get in a bitch-fight with Wutai, won't they kick our asses? SOLDIER is gone and our army is a bunch of nose-picking mouth breathers who couldn't find their ass from a hole in the ground."
"Wutai's not much better." Rude put on the finishing touch: "And we've got Shadow Project."
Their eyes met. "People are still a little freaked in the head about the Wutain war," Reno worked it out as he talked. "So we've got easy odds against something that looks far more menacing than it actually is. People will worship the ground we walk on and we... are... golden." He grinned. "Have I mentioned how much I love our boss lately?"
He drained his glass and raised his hand for another. "Never a dull moment."
--
The days passed by and Tseng's worry increased. Rufus had been becoming more and more tense, uncharacteristically snapping at people and letting his usual calm, controlled mask slip. Then he went silent. And now, he wasn't even showing up for work. His office sat empty, as it had all morning.
Tseng paced his small office. Elena sat in the bullpen, darting glances in at him occasionally, and he forced himself to sit. The Shadow Report sat open on his desk, and the meeting with Rufus and Wado weighed heavy on his mind. He flicked at a piece of laminate broken away from the side of his desk and the wood sproinged under his touch. He finally yanked hard, pulling off a strip and leaving the plywood exposed below it. He needed to talk to Enders. Maybe he'd have some insight on what was happening with Rufus and his close involvement with this project.
He grabbed the report and strode down to the laboratory. He was dismayed to find his bull rush shut down in the face of one very locked door. The inside of the lab was shut down tight. It was the usual sign of an experiment in progress, but there were no experiments on the books for today. He checked the logs with a heightened sense of fear to see that neither Enders nor Rufus had used their keycard to leave the night before. His stomach clenched as he flew up the stairs to the bullpen.
People stopped mid-action at his abrupt entrance and he didn't mince words. "Rufus is missing."
Voices raised in shock, a burble of sound in the previously quiet room, and he held up his hand. "It's been since last night. Enders is missing also." He held up the Shadow Report. "And I think it has to do with this."
Rude and Reno met glances across the room.
"Have you checked the lab?" Elena asked.
"That's the next problem," Tseng said. "Follow."
They clambered back down the wooden steps in a group and gathered in front of the door. Tseng opened the small hatch to show the steel door clanged down to cover the entrance.
"This is what we're up against. Grab an axe, a chainsaw, anything." He took one last look at the steel door. "Reno, go home and grab your flame thrower."
A half hour later, they passed through the mangled security door into the lab. The EEG machine was tipped over and a long flat line beeped out at them. Test tubes lay smashed on the floor. The hounds were dead, apparently having attacked each other in a manner so vicious that even Reno looked away for a second.
"This place looks like a war zone," Reno said. Tseng had to agree. His heart constricted in his chest, and he was on the verge of losing his carefully cultivated cool. Thankfully, his subordinates went directly into investigative mode with no need for prompting. Reno stood in the middle of the room and swept the room for clues, taking mental snapshots with his eyes. Elena crouched down to investigate a patch of blood in the center of the scene. Rude made his way back into the pens. Tseng finally forced his fingers to let go of the report and placed it on the counter in an untouched part of the room. He then wound his way through the scene to check behind islands and in the aisles. As he rounded the last island, his legs quivered with relief.
"He's here." His breath escaped in a rush.
The rest of his crew ran over. Rufus was lying on the ground, blood seeping from the side of his mouth, dried spittle down his cheek. He lay curled on his side unmoving. They could all see the hole drilled into the back left side of his skull.
"Shit," Reno said for everyone.
Rude came out from the pens. "Enders is back there. Dogs got him."
Reno looked at their boss. "Or Rufus did."
Their eyes met as they realized the implications. The plan had already started without them. And with the wrong person as Alpha. Their biggest worry now was whether Rufus would actually live through it.
"Reno, get him to his office. Stabilize him best you can." Moving him was not ideal but there was no way they were letting a civilian into the laboratory. And, if Tseng was right in his assumption, Rufus' body was perfectly fine. The problem would be his mind. "Get Elena to sit with him, don't leave his side. Rude, clean up," he paused, "clean up Enders. And the dogs. I'll send out for the Doc."
People scattered.
Tseng covered his mouth with his hand. Rufus, what are you doing?
TBC
~ * ~
FFVII is the property of Square Enix. Thanks to guybrush007 for looking over the storyline.