The Shinra Headquarters building stood a shining sentinel over Midgar City. But today, it's towering monolith stood stunned, quiet. Broken glass lay scattered across the reception lawn as black suits swarmed the compound with looks of silent awe.
Reno and Rude reported to their superior officer, a man in a microcheck suit with hair pulled in a tight knot. His sharp eyes peered to stressed slits at the sight of the sheer wanton slaughter that had unfurled here.
"Tseng. No survivors," said Reno, while Tseng continued his cold sweep of the façade.
"Was it him?"
"Nah. Wasn't him. It was him."
Sharp eyes darted to Reno and after to Rude, who confirmed it with a slow nod underneath shade lenses. Reno ran a hand through crazed red hair.
"With old man Shinra dead, looks like we've got a new President…" Reno was cut off by the sound of an approaching Audi escort vehicle. "…and company."
Turks fell in line instantaneously with a pale pallor falling over their features. A man stepped out of the car like chiseled iron in custom tailor.
"Who is that?" asked the new girl, and Reno talked through his teeth in a foreboding whisper.
"…Reeve."
Reeve Vladimir Tuesti, Clandestine's commanding officer, Ambassador to Ivalice, Aribiter of Midgar's Urban Planning Division with half the strip malls in the city bearing his name, Emissary to President Shinra himself, and for the Turks, overlord of the goddamn free world. Rumor was he owned an Orca at Sea World and ate it when it refused to perform.
He strode in a solid gait before the lineup, his face like smashed steel. Tucking a pair of lattice-weave sunglasses into his suit coat pocket, he paced the line addressing everyone in nonchalant seriousness.
"Gentlemen…ladies…what has happened here is what I affectionately refer to as a lapse in intelligence."
He walked a straight line down the Turks, inspecting his personnel without looking at them, until he stopped with interest in front of the new girl next to Reno.
"New recruit. What is your primary position?"
"Sir. I've been recruited to fill slot Shuriken in the intel division."
"Cute. What's your name?"
"Sir. My name is Elena. I—"
He grabbed her by the knot of her hair, pulling her around to her knees as he drew his glock and shot her in the back of the head. The flash-echo jolted the Turks while blood splattered on Reno's face and collar that he didn't dare wipe off.
Reeve calmly replaced his glock in his holster and removed his glasses from his pocket.
"Gentlemen, a lapse in intelligence is idiocy, and I do not tolerate idiocy. Here in the Turks, everyone fights, nobody quits. I can assure you the deserter Shuriken has been dealt with. Fade back into the shadows. Find whatever ghosts are responsible for this madness…and get this cleaned up."
He waved his hand at the body and the whole of the grounds in general, indicating that the entire Shinra incident was to be somehow dealt with and sealed.
Nobody moved a muscle for long minutes after the car had departed completely out of sight.
.
[Received Eye Drops]