Set in post-Meteorfall Midgar, the Turks who were exiled after Zirconaide are recalled to duty status to help clean up the city after much of it is destroyed. Legend takes matters into his own hands when he hears what may have befallen Rufus Shinra.
"Boss – I've looked everywhere, it's just – " Reno was wide-eyed, face caked in soot and dust, the crimson marks on his cheeks partially obscured by the muck. "It's gone." He swallowed hard, pointed upward through a thick cloud of dust at the pile of metal framework, of bent beams and dusty rubble. Shinra Headquarters, or what had once been the tallest building in Midgar.
Tseng looked ashen but held steady, set his jaw and glared at Reno. "Look again. Rude, have you contacted the others?"
Rude nodded. "Yeah…I've gotten in touch with nearly everyone. Shotgun, Nunchaku, Rod, Maur – they just phone, they're almost here. Kat and Two Guns are on their way too."
"Uh - who is that?" Elena interrupted, brushed her bangs out of her eyes and pointed toward what remained of the Shinra building. A tall figure was scrambling over the piles of ash and rubble, disappearing behind a metal beam.
"That was Legend," Tseng muttered, a frown crossing his face. "Damn it, can't he ever wait until I give the order?"
Reno laughed dryly. "Ah. No? It's Legend, sir. You know what he's like. Or did you forget? S'been a while…."
Tseng made a face at Reno. It had indeed been a while since all of the Turks, both active duty and inactive had been all together; every one of them had been recalled into service following the disaster of Meteorfall, to assist with the cleanup. Tseng had already been forcing himself to mentally reconcile the hard truth that Rufus Shinra was, in all probability, dead. The top of the Shinra Building had been obliterated, while Rufus was in the presidential office suite; there was no way he could have survived.
Rufus was tenacious, strong, but he was not superhuman. Not like Sephiroth, Tseng thought darkly. He'd all but given up hope; Tseng hadn't abandoned the search for Rufus, but at this point he felt the only thing they'd find was a dead body. And that wasn't something Tseng was prepared to deal with just yet.
"Everyone fan out," Tseng began giving the orders to his reactivated Turks. He'd deal with Legend later. "There are plenty of injured to be tended to, here."
He stood there and just shook his head at the tall and lanky figure who was now quickly disappearing behind a large pile of rubble. "Legend! Damn it - " Tseng sighed, holstered his gun, and took off after him.
The whispers and rumors has started trickling in, of course, right after each one of the exiled Turks had been recalled. Rod phoned Maur, Maur phoned Knives and Nunchaku, and Nunchaku phoned Legend, excitedly speculating on why they were being called back now. All of them had relocated far from Midgar, which turned out to be a good thing, since much of the floating city was now buried in rubble.
"They must want us to do search and rescue?" Nunchaku had theorized, waiting for Legend's reply.
"Mm hmm. Maybe." Legend had been in the middle of enjoying a fine Mideelian cigar, he was, for all intents and purposes, retired. Sure, he knew Midgar was in crisis, but as far as he was concerned, it wasn't his problem.
He thought back to Costa, when Tseng had pleaded – on behalf of Veld – for Legend to come back. History sure has a strange way of repeating itself.
He took another drag on his cigar, half-listening to Nunchaku's excited barrage of chatter over the telephone.
"…..and they're also saying that Rufus Shinra is missing. Probably dead! He was in his office on the top floor, you know – "
"Wait. Wait a minute. What?" Legend sat up, actually paying attention now, let the ash-ring on his cigar smolder.
"Kid. What did you just say? Rufus…is dead?" No way, no fucking way –
"No – well, they can't find the body yet, but nobody really knows anything, until they do, right? Zed...don't you even watch tv?"
"No," Legend replied brusquely. "And he's not dead." He can't be.
"How do you know? Does that mean you're coming?"
"I just know. And hell yeah, I'm coming." He wasn't, not until he'd heard about Rufus. Legend wasn't all that altruistic; as a Turk he'd been a demolitions expert, an assassin – sometimes a weapons negotiator – but all in all he was a killer. Not a nice guy, and certainly not one who'd be interested in cleaning up a half-destroyed city. Let them subcontract that out, he'd told Shotgun. Why the hell do they need us?
Things were slightly different now with this new bit of news. He stubbed out his cigar, disconnected the call from Nunchaku, and began packing a bag, ready to hop the next ferry from Costa to Junon.