Chapter Ten: Sidelined

My shirt was unbuttoned when I woke up. Reno was in my bed. His body was pressed against mine, one hand snaked across my stomach, cupping my breast. His breath tickled against my skin. I lay perfectly still, listening to my heart beat against Reno's hand. This was okay. I was content to be cocooned in his arms. He was awake, listening to me listen to him. Neither of us said anything.

The main door to my apartment opened. I could hear the hinges sigh quietly. I didn't hear the intruder. I assumed it was Rude, but I retrieved my gun from the bedside table. Reno had cleaned it last night and reloaded it for me. I could feel the tingle of magic as he powered up a Fire spell.

The intruder rapped on the bedroom door, bare knuckles on hard wood. The knock was so familiar it made my chest tighten. Tseng. He opened the door, dark brown eyes sweeping the corners automatically. He offered us a tight smile as he crossed the room. He pulled the chair away from the desk and sat facing us, a manila folder in one hand.

"Mornin' boss," Reno murmured. He traced his fingers down my stomach, catching the waistband of my panties.

I put the gun back on the bedside table, then firmly pulled his hand up, resting it just under my breasts. "Good morning, sir."

Tseng wasn't surprised to see us in bed together because this wasn't the first time he'd found us tucked in. It was a Reno-thing. And as sexual as Reno was, there was nothing sexual about this. This was comfort, pure and simple. Some people ate food for comfort, Reno spooned himself against me or Rude. He'd told me once that he felt safest when he was close to the people he could trust unconditionally.

Tseng flipped open the file. "Elena tracked Vincent down last night in Junon Harbor. He's been watching for Genesis and his people. Apparently no one has come from Costa Del Sol with mako tinged eyes that he's noticed. But Kunsel caught a boat heading there midevening yesterday."

"Okay," I said. "Did Reno tell you what happened last night?"

"I got most of the details," Tseng said. "I'll need you to fill in some pieces." He flipped a page. "Vincent believes Genesis is in the Cosmo Canyon area. I'll need you and Reno -"

"Hold please," Reno said. "Talking to Vincent was Cissnei's assignment, yo," he said. "What the hell is up with 'Laney? Who snitches an assignment?"

"Cissnei was apparently passed out from exhaustion. She made a poor choice to meet up with you and Rude and drink herself into a near coma before reporting for work. Then she fought a SOLDIER Second Class." His tone oozed displeasure, but it was directed at me, not Reno. He locked eyes with me. "Tell me, Cissnei, how did the fight go?"

I cleared my throat. Reno started making small circles on my belly, trying to tell me that he had my back, I guess. I quickly filled Tseng in on the fight. I didn't tell him about my clear shot to kill Kunsel. In my story I lost consciousness before I could pull the trigger.

Maybe, in retrospect, telling it that way didn't help me much. But telling Tseng that I failed to take out a target would have been worse. After I finished, Tseng nodded. "Reno, get out of her bed," he said. "You're going to Cosmo Canyon with Rude. Low profile. Scout out their location and report back to me. Avoid bars. Kunsel knows that you two are alcoholics from his time with Cissnei."

Reno grunted. He let go of me immediately, swinging out of bed. He was fully clothed. He grinned at me. "Guess this is goodbye, babe." He pulled a pack of cigarettes from an inside pocket, popping one out and offering it to me. I accepted, placing the cigarette between my lips while he lighted it. He kept steady eye contact the whole time, and after I took a drag, he turned away. As he disappeared through the door, I heard his PHS snap open. "Hey Rude, guess you and me get to go get sand in our hair." He paused, no doubt listening to Rude's response, then said "Well, you're not bald everywhere, are you, yo?" Then he was gone.

I sat up and started buttoning my blouse only to realize that one sleeve was still missing. I tugged it off instead. "What about me?"

"Well," Tseng said. "I was going to send you to Cosmo Canyon since you're not as readily recognizable as Reno, Rude, Elena, or myself. However, in light of your account of the fight . . ." He shook his head. "I didn't realize – and really I should have – but you have not had a proper assignment in over seven years. I want to run you through training and make sure you can still handle yourself in the field."

"I can –"

Tseng stood up, cutting off anything else I might have said. "There was a time when a cocky SOLDIER second wouldn't have walked away from a fight with you. You . . ." He glanced at me. "You need your training refreshed. I'm not sending you back into the field until I know you're 100% capable."

"One hundred percent?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. "What is that supposed to mean?" I hopped out of bed and yanked open the closest. A neat row of two white blouses and two blue suit jackets stared back at me. I started getting dressed, but stopped cold when Tseng spoke.

"I want you to run the entire training course from start to finish. When you can do it with a score of 90% or better on every aspect, you'll get a field assignment."

"Ninety percent?" I asked, spinning to gawk at him. "That's ridiculous. No one gets 90% or higher in everything."

"I got 96% percent overall," Tseng said. "And not lower than 90% in any category."

"Yeah, but you're not a mere mortal, Tseng. You're like super-Turk. Settle for 80%. That's still above average."

He adjusted his tie, smoothing it against his dress shirt. "Cissnei, I am not losing you again."

"That's because I'm not going anywhere," I said. "I'm here to stay." I started strapping on my gun holster.

Tseng stepped forward and started buttoning up my blouse. I hadn't realized that it was still unbuttoned. "You could have died," he said. "That used to be acceptable, but now it isn't. I should have had you evaluated the second you walked into my office." He finished the last button and tapped the tip of my nose. "Don't argue with me."

"I'm not arguing – I'm negotiating. Please, how about 85% overall? I think my original scores were in the 70s, so that'll be better than I ever was. And you need me in the field. Don't set the bar so high that I can't jump it."

He shook his head, bemused. "Fine." He left.

Just as he was out of sight, I said, "Tseng . . . one thing."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Cissnei," Tseng said. "I shouldn't have let you come back to this." Then he was gone, footfall moving at a steady pace to the stairs.

..

Veld once told me that Shinra had two types of elite: the shiny, bright-eyed SOLDIERs and the gritty, born-in-darkness Turks. The idealists went to SOLDIER. The realists went to the Turks. I'd told him I was an idealist. He'd laughed at me. You're full of darkness, girl, he'd said. So much hatred for such a young girl. No. SOLDIER wouldn't know what to do with you. You would burn so hot and so bright – like a falling star. A meteorite. He ruffled my copper curls. Maybe that'll be your name.

He was right. Veld was always right.

Back then the training had been so easy. First the easy stuff, following the training robot with my eyes. Chasing it on foot. The simple patterns gave away to the complex. Then the shooting exercises. All Turks are trained to use a gun. First stationary targets. Then moving targets. If you could shoot them fast enough and accurately enough your score would be higher. Eventually we moved to simulated people. Then real people, but that was in the field after training was over.

Simulated targets didn't smell like fear and death and shit after you shot them.

The routines Tseng put me through were familiar. Shooting the sims was so easy. It took me a couple of weeks, but I hit 85% quickly. Tseng wasn't pleased. He hid it well, but I could see an intense desire to protect me in the way he held himself. When I reached the designated score, he stared at the printout, then sent me home. "I'll have a mission for you in the morning," he said.

In the morning he set me up with surveillance on a gang operating out of the Midgar ruins. The gang was full of teenage boys operating out of what used to be Sector 6. They each had a tattoo of Meteor plunging from the sky. They had multiple piercings and they slicked their hair with colored flan gel. They also screamed and ran if a monster cropped up in their vicinity. In other words, Tseng had sidelined me. Eighty-five wasn't good enough for him.

Did I care?

A little. But not much. Tseng knew what he was doing. If he thought this was the best place for me, I could accept that. Besides it wasn't like I wanted to have a rematch with Kunsel. It wasn't like I wanted to see Genesis again. I would have liked to work with Reno and Rude, but there would be time for that later. What I really wanted, I had again. A place to belong.

My third night of surveillance was interrupted by the power turning on in the city. It light up like a ghost town in reverse, street lights flickering to life. Billboards glowing in mako enhanced light. Worst of all was the Shinra Building. All the lights came on, lighting it up like a beacon of hope against the night sky. The teenage gang split with an audible whimper.

I called Tseng. His PHS went straight to voicemail. "Hey boss, someone turned the power on in Midgar. It looks like the Number 6 reactor. I'm going to check it out."