"Don't look at this as a demotion," Tseng looked across the spacious room at the dark-suited figure opposite him, "Look at it as another chance to prove yourself." Despite the hard way he was looking down at his fellow Turk, he understood exactly what was going through the mind of his subordinate, because it wasn't that long ago that he had been in the exact same position. One one hand, he fully understood the decision to compromise the mission to protect her comrades, but as her boss, Tseng couldn't condone her actions either.

Not taking that shot when she had had the chance, Larette had effectively let a known Shinra spy slip through her grasp, but if she had taken that shot with her malfunctioning weapon, the lives of her allies would have been put to rest, as well as the lives of many innocent bystanders. It had been a tough choice to make in the moment, but she didn't regret making it; if by some miracle she could go back and relive the moment, the outcome would have been very much the same, but instead of wasting time thinking about it, she would have made due with a surrounding item instead. At least then she could have honestly said that she had tried her hardest...

It haunted her, recalling how she hadn't even attempted to use her environment to her advantage, but all the same, the only regret she had about the entire ordeal was disobeying orders. Law and order was crucial to life - she had learned that as a child - but at the same time, she had lost too much already to just stand by and let her friends get harmed. "I stand by what I did." Taking carefully measured steps, the young woman passed by a handsome desk crafted from the wood of a banora tree, fingers brushing the smooth surface as she leaned in to address her boss in a serious and confidential manner. "Tseng, I made a promise to myself that no matter what, I won't disobey orders again."

At least she understood her error and showed remorse for it, as well as possessing an attitude of not wanting to repeat the mistake. That went a long way on the road to recovering from this incident, but it also helped her cause that Reno had apprehended the criminal shortly after she had lost him. "Keeping the company's secrets is our top priority as Turks-"

"That's why it means so much to me that everyone was willing to give me this second chance." Larette didn't have her new orders just yet, having only been informed that she was to be placed on this job as a kind of probationary period, so she surmised that it would be something simple, like guarding some mid-high ranking Shin-Ra employee. She was half right...

The burden in question was a very important individual, but he wasn't just some employee of replaceable use, which naturally meant a rather pressing kind of job between the hours and the potential threats alone. Having worked under the man directly for a brief stint of time that wasn't short enough, Tseng knew that the job ended up being more like employment as a personal assistant with a gun and special license. "I would save my gratitude if I were you."

Larette looked at her supervisor quizzically, wondering exactly what he meant by that. "...?"

Tseng shoved the manila folder atop a meticulously neat stack at Larette, expression grim. Well, grimmer than usual. Suddenly very afraid of what she might see in the docket, the young female Turk gulped on the inside as she took the papers in her hand and began to scan the encased printings. Well she had been right in that it was a glorified babysitting job, so that was something of a relief, but her coffee-brown eyes grew so wide when she saw her charge that they looked in danger of rolling out of her skull in protest.

"No, not him. ANYONE but him!" Larette recognized the snooty blonde in the photograph not from her job, but from a rather bad encounter that had taken place only that morning...

Disciplinary action had never suited Larette well, if only for the opportunity it had presented, all that free-time allowing her slacker side to rise; what was even more irksome than that streak of flub was the time it took for it to set in and take hold. All of fives days in without having to report in for insanely early mornings, and she was already at the point where having an alarm was practically pointless - in other words, the purple-haired fighter had overslept and was running late for only the second or third time since joining the company. Not the best way to start out a disciplinary hearing. Well, technically her hearing wasn't until later that afternoon, but Larette had said that she would come in before that and help out with some of the ever-mounting paperwork.

"Well, technically I only promised to help Reno..." Muttering consolingly to herself in what she thought was an empty hallway, the Turk sped on, hand deep in her pocket as she reached for her ID card.

A voice sounded behind her, chilling and aloof, but more than that, it was commanding; she had never heard such a voice before, the tone itself both grating and alluring, cocky and oozing a cold sort of power. "A Turk late to work?" A man. He sounded partially amused by that paradox, although there was an obvious layer of disappointment and contempt for the notion. "You won't last long in a world like this if you won't even bother to show up on time."

Knowing all of her bosses, or at least assuming that she did, Larette knew right away that this fellow behind her was not above her on the company ladder, and as such, he had no right to lecture her about being tardy. Rolling her head to the side, she had a better sense of the guy, but she wasn't quite looking at him just yet. "I don't know who you think you are pal, but you can't just go around berating people. Besides, you're late too."

It wasn't very often that he had heard someone talk to him like that, let alone without even bothering to face him - this woman had serious gumption to talk to him like that. He kind of liked it, in an annoying sort of way. "Heh, more people could use your spirit." A number of Board Members flashed before his eyes at the words. "But on the other hand, people might start getting dangerous ideas listening to rabble like you..."

Words failing, all she could do was flap her jaw in outrage and sputter incoherent things at hearing that trigger word. "Rabble...?!" Finally turning all the way around, Larette finally came face-to-face with the man that had insulted her. "Wha? You...!" Her first instinct was to slap him for that, but being a Turk, she had to be above such petty things, so instead she applied techniques acquired in one of her management classes. "Obviously we have very different opinions about what constitutes as 'rabble', but since you're obviously the kind of guy that I typically avoid, I'll just save us both the trouble and end the conversation now."

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" A snide smirk played across the man's dispassionate face then, lighting the glint in his eyes that looked so dead before. He had been gone from Midgar a long time, but for an employee to have no idea, and a Turk no less...

Honestly, she couldn't have cared less about his identity if she had tried. "Some #$*&%^? Now," she turned her back from the mesmeric blonde, fully intending to leave. "I'm late enough as it is."

"Here, you dropped this when you jumped." Inclining at the waist, he handed her the ID card he picked up from the floor, taking only a second to see the name imprinted upon it. "I hope you made fond memories as Turk, because something tells me you won't be around for very much longer..."

Slamming the file closed as if that ego-maniac's picture would turn her to stone if it was uncovered long enough, she pleaded with her boss, almost willing to fall on her hands and knees to beg for this to be some kind of a sick joke. This man, he was the worst kind of scum, the kind that she would probably just stand back and watch being murdered in a brutal fashion, the sort that would quickly get canned for his lousy attitude towards others...

Sensing the distress in the woman and misreading it, Tseng thought that it had only sprung up from what she might have heard rumors of, because this latest mission had been away for the past three years, so since she couldn't possibly know him yet, all that remained was the garbled memories of others. True, failure might have been the outcome of her previous mission, but he knew her better than to think that she had any apprehension whatsoever when it came to protecting such an important asset to the company. Aside from the mental and emotional toll this could take on her - probably the reason she had been requested for the job specifically by name - he had faith that there was little else that could be thrown her way on this mission that she couldn't handle. "This job should be no problem for the girl I recruited in Gongaga, am I right?"

The events that had transpired in her native Gongaga still left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she couldn't let the director down, not again. That selfish beast was... Well, Tseng had faith in her and her abilities, so there was absolutely no backing away from this job, not when he purposely recalled the day that had changed her life forever... Groaning softly as she tried to mask the disdain in her heart, Larette nodded resolutely, "I won't let you down again, sir."

If she did... Well thinking about it wasn't really a pretty image, and she really liked where everything was at on her person, so failure really wasn't an option here.

But requested by who, I wonder? Anyways, firing Larette is probably way too simple and humane for the likes of this particular individual... Also, as a final note, this the remake of my little mini-series, 'The Shinra Affair'.

[Edit - 5/31/14: At the incredibly wise advise of a reader, I have made a slight alteration to the chapter... It's shorter now, but I think better for it, so thanks again!]

Please review.

I do not own FFvii or any of its characters. I do own Larette.