At first, darkness.
Aerith crawled to the farthest corner of the completely dark room, hugging her knees, the picture of a totally defenseless and vulnerable girl. The events the past hour or so had been so sudden that she hadn't had the time to properly digest everything yet. One moment she was within Zack's comforting and safe embrace, and the next, she was roughly shoved into this room by two Shinra guards, inside the building where she and her mother had escaped ten years ago. Everything happened so quickly; it was all so surreal. It was as if someone flicked the light switch which twisted Fate into its opposite side. Of Zack's current predicament or location now, she had no idea.
Upon thinking of Zack, she buried her face on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Zack, why? Of all the people in this world...why? There was no answer, of course. Only the pervading darkness.
The pain she felt dug deep more than the physical. It went past the emotional and then stayed there, beyond the barriers of normal pains and hurts people usually feel. A betrayal of a trust given so freely and hopefully was, by nature, one of the most painful, most killing hurt. And for Aerith, who, in her life, had never even thought about giving her attention to a boy, much less her heart, that pain was right up there with having your soul wrenched out of you physically.
It was love, however, that made her doubt the events; for everything that had happened, she still clung on to the hope that maybe, just maybe, there had been a mistake. Zack did not mean to bring her here. In her mind right now, she was replaying possibilities; answering various questions her hurt heart had been asking. There was conflict raging inside her right now between her heart, which had been hurt by the truth she saw in Zack's eyes, and her mind which had been trying to come up with alternate answers to the questions asked by her heart. And the battlefield had been her soul.
Why, Zack? Why? ---he had no choice. Maybe he didn't know?
You said you love me. I gave you my heart. I gave you my trust! ---didn't you see the look in his eyes? I think it was pain.
Was everything a lie? ---he must have a reason. It's not wise to jump to conclusions.
Zack...where are you?
But for this, there was no answer, except for the dark and the silence.
I am numb.
"Congratulations, Mr. Halcyon," Professor Hojo said gleefully. His face was vibrant, suffused with the joy akin to that of a child who was bought his most desired toy. Zack would have found it comical if the whole situation wasn't so sickening. "I know you can do it. Didn't I say so myself? You are the best!"
Behind them, standing just beside the electronic door, Tseng was silently looking at the sullen SOLDIER, secretly amused.
What have I done?
"You have done Shinra a great service, Mr. Halcyon," Professor Hojo continued. "President Shinra would undoubtedly be pleased. He had long been wanting to find this Promised Land of the Ancients, and this girl you have found for us will be the key!"
What must Aerith think of me now?
"While I understand that its your job, I'm sure there's an extra bonus on it for you." The professor's voice seemed to be just a distant murmur in Zack's mind. In fact, everything around him seemed to be just a blanket of haze.
A betrayer of trust?
Professor Hojo's voice was now inaudible. All he could hear was his own heart beating rapidly; in every beat, the pain he was feeling began to intensify. His mind probed out of the room, trying in vain to try and seek out Aerith. Where would they be keeping her? How tight is the security?
Will he survive if he attempted a full breach?
"...and a month's vacation, with pay, of course," Professor Hojo's voice droned. "What do you think of that, Mr. Halcyon?"
I am numb.
When Zack came out of the building, it was already past midnight. He looked up and saw that it was a full moon. The stars shone brightly; the dark sky a virtual ebony blanket dotted with millions upon millions of night-diamonds. Tonight, if it would've been any night, he would've been outside Aerith's house, throwing pebbles at her window. A night like this, they would've already snuck out of her house without Elmyra's knowledge and perhaps just sit there in the old playground just outside the Wall Market whispering loving sentiments and just enjoying each other's warmth, marveling at the little miracle of happiness when one's skin touched the other's. But tonight wasn't just like any other night.
Where would he go now? What would he do? Zack wasn't really sure. If he would gave in to his immediate impulse right now, he would've already gone back inside Shinra Building and hacked his way into the "Classified Access Only" top floors where, he knew, Hojo's laboratory was (it would be hard, he knew, since not even first-class SOLDIERS were allowed there unless they were given access in advance). He would've already wasted what he had built up with blood, sweat, and tears for the past four years, all for the sake of the one woman he had truly, really loved. And then, he would've already ravaged his way in the laboratory itself, taken Aerith's hand, and fought their way out.
Unless, of course, if the guards and the top level's security defenses don't kill him first while he fumble his way into Hojo's laboratory security locks. He knew all too well that the scientist's laboratory was one of Shinra's most secure place. If it would've been just a simple full frontal breach, he might've gotten away with getting Aerith out. But with the locks and access codes to compound problems, he might as well be committing suicide for nothing.
You sit there in your heavenly throne, Zack said silently to the moon. Please tell me what I'm supposed to do now? But deep inside, he already knew what he had to do. And it scared him more than any monster in the Planet's existence could ever do. With diffident, scared steps, he slowly walked, one foot in front of the other, to the direction of the Sector 5 slums.
When the first knock sounded, Elmyra was already opening the door, concern and fear all mingled with that ever-present hope that it might be...
"Aerith! Wh-...!" and then, seeing that it was not her foster daughter but her SOLDIER boyfriend in front of the door instead, all hope flew away from her face. "Z-zack. Where's Aerith? Where's my daughter?" There was no invitation for the young man to come in.
"Mrs. Gainsborough...I'm sorry..." Zack started. His jaws trembled, and his eyes shifted away from the older woman's gaze. Elmyra's eyes didn't show any hint of animosity or anger. On the contrary, it showed only worry. In a way, it made it even more difficult to look at her.
"I don't need apologies right now, Zack," Elmyra said. "It's already past midnight. Where's my daughter? Just earlier tonight, you came here looking all flustered and worried. For Aerith. And now, you come here alone. Where is my Aerith?!"
At first, it came out hesitatingly, uncertainly. The first few words came out in carefully chosen patterns, conscious as to how to make it that much less incriminating. But as the story went on, and Zack's voice trembled in a mixture of pain, sadness, betrayal, and apology, the words came out more freely, as freely as the tears that came out of his eyes right now. Amid sobs and interjected words of sincere apology, Zack recounted his mission; how it all came out to be hard at first, and then, as the weeks went by, how Fate turned it into a sadistic twist of events which ultimately led to Aerith being carted out to the Shinra Building while he, Zack, betrayer of trust and love, was heaped accolades by a demented professor. In that train of thought, it seemed like it was a kind of a sick, cosmic joke.
Elmyra, all this time, had been listening in disbelief and horror.
"...I...I'm really sorry, Mrs. Gainsborough," Zack ended, looking down. "I'll get her out. I'll get your daughter out. Even if it kills me. I love her, and-"
The resounding slap echoed throughout the whole area in the midst of the night's silence. Elmyra's voice was trembling, as if on the verge of going insane. She found out that she couldn't stop her hand from trembling. "H-how dare you...!" Tears were running down her cheek unfettered.
For some reason, Zack didn't imagine the slap to be this painful. He slowly turned his head to look down again. The stinging warmness on his cheek could only make Zack wonder how red it must be. The wetness of his tears exacerbated the sting.
"You have the vilest guts to come here and tell me that, after what you did," Elmyra said. The way her voice came out that much controlled betrayed the pain she was feeling right at this moment. "Damn you! I told Aerith...I told her not to go out with someone from Shinra! I told her...I told her that its dangerous! But she told me that you're different! That you loved her! And now...this? This?!" She clenched her hands so tight her knuckles turned white.
"I'm sorry...!" Zack started. It seemed that the only things he could say right now were apologies. Not that it would've done any good.
"Get her out!" Elmyra said, her voice barely a whisper. "You fucking get her out! I don't care if it kills you. Just bring my daughter back to me, damn you..." And she sobbed uncontrollably.
Zack swallowed hard, his heart an aching mess of pain and emptiness. He so wanted to hug Aerith's mother right now. Comfort her and tell her that he will get Aerith out. Instead, he stepped back. "I will. I promise."
He walked away, not looking back, closing his eyes in a vain and futile attempt to stop the tears from flowing. The hug would've eased his heart somewhat, he knew. But he chose to bear the pain inside instead, thinking that it would be a small penance.
Aerith opened her eyes, mumbling about the terrible nightmare that she had. Drowsy as she was, she couldn't help but wonder at how much the sun seemed to shine brighter today and yet, how unnaturally cold the morning was. She started to grasp around for her blanket but instead, she felt the cold cotton mattress of the not-so-soft bunk bed instead of her satin sheets.
She got up, gasping, suddenly remembering where she was, and what had happened the evening before. Her cheeks felt sticky from so many dried tears. She hurriedly got up and went to the thick steel door, and tiptoed to watch out from the small rectangular window. She started screaming, banging her clenched hands on the door.
"Let me out! Someone let me out!"
That was when she saw, outside, another door opening into the laboratory, and in stepped a bespectacled man in white laboratory gown. Behind him followed a man in a dark suit, his hair slicked back and a mole on his forehead. The duo was approaching her room.
"Shinra!" She gasped almost to herself and she backed away until her back touched the cold, gray tiles of the small room.
After a few moments, the door hissed open, and Professor Hojo and Tseng walked in. The old man was not at all pleasant to look at, especially with the plastered smile on his face.
"Ah, so you've awakened," Hojo said. "Good. Very good! How are you feeling, my dear?"
"Get me out of here!" Aerith said, her voice wavering. "Please."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that," Hojo said. He took a step forward. "You see, you, my dear, will soon bring me great glory and fame. Even more than that idiot Gast could ever hope to accomplish!" He slowly reached out and cupped Aerith's face with his left hand, his face leaning in as if to have a closer look. Aerith turned away, closing her eyes. He turned to look at Tseng. "She is so very like her mother, don't you think, Tseng? Very pretty."
Tseng did not reply; instead, he merely looked at Aerith in silence.
Hojo let go and started to turn around to walk towards the door. "I hope that you'll be more resilient than your mother, young Cetra. Otherwise, I'd be forced to make more, rather 'drastic', measures." He chuckled at this, as if he made a private joke that he found terribly amusing. He turned to Tseng. "I'm going to start my experimentation on her tomorrow. You and your Turks better do a better job of guarding her than finding her, Tseng." With that, the professor walked out of the room.
Tseng and Aerith watched the door close. After a few moments, Tseng turned to Aerith. "I'm sorry for that. I hope he didn't scare you that much? Professor Hojo can be quite...intimidating, at first."
He took a few steps closer to Aerith and halted when he noticed the flower girl shirking back. Aerith was shaking her head, visibly afraid. "You...!"
"Listen, there's no need to fear," Tseng said, trying to make his voice sound as gentle as possible. "I won't hurt you. It's the last thing I'd be thinking of doing. Please." He reached out his hand at her.
Aerith just looked at the outstretched hand, not making any sign of accepting it. Then, she looked up at the Turk. "W-where's Zack...?"
Upon hearing the young SOLDIER's name, Tseng's eyes narrowed and his jaw stiffened. His outstretched hand clenched and he lowered it. Even after all that had happened, how ingeniously he had set it all up, she was still looking for Zack? "Zack betrayed you, Aerith!" His voice came out a lot more forcefully then he had expected.
At this, Aerith's eyes flashed. "No! Zack would never betray me! He must have an explanation!"
"Professor Hojo had ordered him to look for you!" Tseng said. "And when he did, he tried to gain your trust! So he can get you here! Inside this cell! He never loved you, Aerith!"
"You're a liar!" Aerith shouted back at him, suddenly finding strength inside her she never knew existed. "Zack will come for me! I don't know why he did what he did, but I know he has a good reason for doing so! I love him, and he loves me! Don't you ever say anything bad about Zack again! I hate you! I hate this place! Let me go!"
It seemed as if some cosmic blow hit Tseng's chest. He took a step back, his eyes flickering at what Aerith said. The pain he felt when she said those words was more than any physical blow from the young girl could do. "You...you called me a liar..."
"Zack will come for me," Aerith said, a little more softly than before.
"You...you said you hate me..." Tseng seemed to be in a daze.
"Get me out of here," Aerith continued. And she was sobbing softly. "Please. I want to go back to my mom. I...I want to see Zack..."
"You really love him..." Tseng said, swallowing hard. He turned around, pressed the button to open the door, and stepped out of the room without ever looking back. The door closed behind him with a hiss. A resounding click followed, signaling that the door has been electronically locked.
Outside, Tseng was breathing hard, his hand leaning on the wall for support. The pain in his heart did not subside one bit. It was one thing watching the girl he had obsessed with for ten years kiss another guy from far away, and it was quite another to actually hear her say that she loves him, in front of his face. That was when reality really broke through his own world, shattering all those carefully crafted fantasies and delusions he had created all these years. That was when he realized that Aerith could never really be his.
He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, and he started to amble away. He made up his decision, now. He walked away. Away from the laboratory. Away from Aerith's cell. Away from Aerith.
In the building's cafeteria, on the corner table, Zack was going over a few rough sketches. Whenever someone passed by, he would quickly cover the plans up and then wait until the person has gone out of range. Then, he would go back to poring over his plans. All this was done in complete and professional silence, as though the slightest noise from him would be a betrayal of the plan he was coming up with.
Early that morning, he was already in front of Claire the receptionist's desk, with his charm turned fully on. He asked, in a voice as pleasant as humanly possible, about whether he could have access to the 65th floor; more specifically, the "Building Structural Schematics" room where, he knew, the layout of the different parts of Shinra Building were located; from the electrical wirings, security schematics, and floor diagrams to the pipes and drainage system. It was important for his current new mission, she must understand, and by doing this, she would be helping him save an awful lot of trouble. So could she be a dear and grant him temporary access? At first, she showed resistance, pointing out that unless he, Zack, could show her, Claire the receptionist, a written letter from his current taskmaster authorizing him of such privileged access, she must abide by the rules and withhold giving pass keycards to just about anyone. He must understand, she said, that rules are rules and she would be without a job if they'd find out she was breaking one.
Zack, then, feigned disappointment, leaning on the desk, his head bowed low. He looked up at Claire the receptionist, his eyes showing pleading, as if he was pleading for his life. And he asked her, in a mournful voice as he could muster, that the cursed taskmaster had forgotten to give him a writ authority and that he couldn't be troubled to go back to him and ask for it again, could he? The pretty redhead showed confusion as to what she should do, biting her red-rouged lips, her pale blue eyes shifting away for one brief moment of hesitation. Then, Zack leaned in closer and, in a voice barely above a whisper, pleaded that he would make it up to her as best as he could when it is all over; his nosed brushed almost imperceptibly on her ear (his warm breath tickling her skin) and his hand made tantalizing circles on her arm, running slowly until it reached the base of her white neck, and on the soft spot of her exposed breasts. Claire took a breath, her face visibly flushed, and she hurriedly took a magnetized keycard, passed it over an authorization machine, and gave it to Zack. Zack smiled sweetly at the young woman, gave her a wink, and assured her that no one will find out about it. Then, without so much as another glance, Zack turned around and walked away.
All this happened in less than five minutes.
The remainder of the morning was then spent dredging up old, almost faded-out building diagrams and structural plans from rows and rows of fiber-plastic shelves. Within hours, Zack had photocopied dozens of layouts of the building's security and ventilation system as well as cross-sections of the top floors, all in the vain attempt of trying to find a way to get past the restricted access of the building's laboratory. Although Zack was no architect or engineer, he had been trying to translate the engineering jargons from the layouts and diagrams, mostly purely on the basis of guesswork and common sense. It had been a tiring task, but Zack was far from complaining. The next time he looked at the digital watch in the room, it was already noon, and time for lunch. Suddenly cautious that somebody might come in the room and find him, he decided to go to the building's cafeteria and resume the studying of his photocopied diagrams there.
That had been an hour ago, and after exhaustively going through all his notes, Zack finally came upon two realizations: one, that President Shinra must've spent a shitload of money developing the whole place, and two, there was absolutely no way for him to get past the top levels of the building, short of directly drilling a large hole on the ceiling of the 65th floor. The connecting pipes of the exhaust vents on each floor, he found out, were too small to crawl through, and the elevator normally stops on the 64th floor, unless a magnetized keycard is inserted through the reader found on each of the elevators. And while the stairs do go up until the top levels, another set of keycards was needed to access the magnetized electronic door on the higher levels. Oh, he could hack his way into Aerith's containment cell, but there's no bloody way he could open the electronically sealed double-titanium alloy door. Sighing dejectedly, Zack closed his eyes, massaging his temples. Mentally, he was wondering if maybe, he got the wrong floor plans. Or maybe, he just didn't look hard enough. Then, he suddenly held Aerith's image in his mind, and it seemed to suffuse him with renewed strength and resolve.
He opened his eyes and saw Tseng sitting on the chair across the table. Instinctively, his hand clenched into a fist.
"Good morning, Mr. Halcyon." Zack did not reply.
Tseng glanced at the diagrams on the table. "Let me get straight to the point, Mr. Halcyon. And I would advise you to listen well. I don't want to have to repeat myself."
Zack's face didn't show any untoward change at all.
"By tomorrow, Professor Hojo would be starting the experiments on Aerith," Tseng said.
"And all because of you, you fucking bastard," Zack said, under his breath. His eyes flashed in unmasked fury.
"Now now," Tseng said. "Let's stop pointing fingers, shall we? I was doing a perfectly good job of keeping Aerith's whereabouts a secret until you came along."
With a growl, Zack suddenly reached across the table and clutched Tseng's collar with his right hand. The adrenaline actually made him heft Tseng a few inches off the ground. The other people at the tables around them gasped. Zack leaned over; his furious face a few inches away from the Turk leader's unusually calm visage. "We're 60 floors from the ground. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hurl you through that large glass window and see if Turks can fly."
"Right now Mr. Halcyon, I'm the only one who can help you get Aerith out," Tseng replied calmly.
Zack stared at him, dumbfounded and speechless. Was he hearing things?
"Put me down, Mr. Halcyon," Tseng said.
Zack obliged, his face still showing disbelief. Maybe he was hearing things. Then, he slowly sat back to his chair. Tseng also sat down, casually readjusting his collar, ever the calm and collected Turks leader.
"Now, let's talk," Tseng said. "I want you to get Aerith out. Tonight."
"What the hell do you think I've been trying to do?" Zack growled. "I've stolen plans from the restricted access room, pored over them. I've been trying to find a way to sneak in--"
"I don't want you to sneak in," Tseng said flatly. "I want you to storm in, full guns, err swords, or whatever it is you're proficient at, blazing. I want you to hack your way into Aerith's containment cell. The cell itself, and the door, unfortunately, is double-titanium and adamantite alloy. Virtually indestructible by any but the most powerful of weapons and magic. Here's the keycard to open it." Tseng threw a red plastic keycard on the table.
Zack just stared at it, and then at the Turks leader. "What are you planning, Tseng?"
Tseng ignored his question. He continued. "Hojo has assigned the Turks to guard Aerith. Reno and Rude will be there, as well as I. There will also be a squad of Second-class SOLDIERS, as well as a couple of X-AT3s." He got the laboratory layout that Zack had photocopied. "Sentry guns are located here, here, and here, but they aren't fortified much. A bolt of Lightning2 should take care of them."
"Why are you doing this?"
"The SOLDIERS you can kill, as well as the machines. But I warn you, Mr. Halcyon. Don't try and hurt my Turks. Of course, we will be doing our best to stop you. Make no mistake, Mr. Halcyon. We are going to go at you with everything that we got. But don't get killed. Get Aerith out."
"Why the hell are you blabbing your mouth at me freely like this, Tseng? What's in it for you? Tell me, damn you!"
"I thought I've already made it clear, Mr. Halcyon?" Tseng sighed, as if he was a teacher tired at explaining things to a child who still didn't quite understand. "I don't want to see Aerith hurt. I love her. But she..." At this, his voice trailed off, as if suddenly lost in thought. Then, he shook his head. "Regardless, I just don't want her to suffer the way Ifalna suffered."
"Why not get her out yourself, and save us the trouble of having to make this attempt?" Zack asked. Then, he paused, thinking. "And it couldn't be that you would want me dead in the attempt. You specifically want me and her to get out of the building alive."
"She already escaped, together with her mother, ten years ago, Mr. Halcyon," Tseng said. "One successful escape is luck. Two, however, would already cause eyebrows to raise suspicions. You get me, Mr. Halcyon?"
"I thought so," Zack said dryly. "I would be your scapegoat."
Tseng shrugged. "If you want to think it that way."
"But I'd still be with Aerith," Zack said, still doubting. Somewhere on the back of his mind, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was still something more to this. He looked at Tseng, waiting for the second shoe to drop.
Tseng grinned. "You are, indeed, perceptive, Mr. Halcyon. I'm impressed. Hahah. Yes. When you get Aerith out, hide her somewhere where you know she can't be found. I will, of course, order a pursuing team. Don't draw attention to Sector 5. Go somewhere else. Make them think that she lives in another sector. I don't care where. Stay with her. Guard her. Then, by morning tomorrow, you will go to that old abandoned factory in the south-end of Sector 3, where I will be waiting. I will kick the living shit out of you and then bring you back here. Aerith will be free, the Turks will have at least the honor of finding the traitor, and you won't be with Aerith. Everyone will be happy."
All this Tseng said in a casual, matter-of-fact tone, as if he already expected it to be carried out already. Inspite of the grim turn of events yesterday, Zack couldn't help but let out a bitter, but amused, laugh. He wondered, for one brief moment, if the man across him had really gone off the edge this time. It was all so absurd.
"Boy, you must really think I'm that fucking stupid, don't you?" Zack said. "Tell me, Tseng, what in Hades makes you think I will ever come back here? I will be with Aerith. I will bring her and her mother out of Midgar. Out of this place. I'll find a place where you and Shinra doesn't have a filthy grip of."
Tseng let out a soft chuckle, as if humoring a child who thought he got the better deal out of the devil himself. "I really hope you've found a way to transport yourself instantaneously to Gongaga, then, Mr. Halcyon. Because right at this moment, a team of assassin mercenaries are already poised hidden at a certain house in that backwater place. All they need is one green light from me and the whole place would be mourning two very dead, very old people."
"You fucking bastard!!!" Zack shouted. The people around them looked at the duo in surprise. "I swear you hurt a hair on their head and I'd make you wish your father never screwed your mother. I'd make you feel pain so bad you'd be begging for death before I'm halfway through! And then I'd cast a Phoenix Down on you and start all over again!"
Tseng just laughed. "Temper, temper. Of course nothing will happen to them if you'll cooperate."
"What would stop me from gutting you right now?" Zack threatened. "I already have the keycard."
"Oh please don't insult my intelligence. If those mercs don't receive a set word from me every four hours, they'll go ahead with their killing spree," Tseng said.
Zack's jaw tightened so much it felt as if his teeth would break. "You fucking--"
"Yeah yeah," Tseng said casually. "You've already said that to me so many times it's not even significant anymore. So, are you willing to go through with the plan, Mr. Halcyon?"
"As if I have a choice," Zack muttered.
"Oh, you do," Tseng said. "On the one hand, you can choose to stay with Aerith and live a life that's far away from Shinra, and mourn your dead parents later. Or, you can have both your parents alive and well, and forever be apart from Aerith. Personally, I'd prefer if you'd choose the latter. But then again, the decision is exclusively up to you, isn't it?"
Zack was silent. After a few monets, he asked, solemnly, "What will happen to me, then, after you bring me here?"
Tseng feigned a mock surprise. "Thinking about yourself, for once? My, my, now that is surprising, indeed. Anyway, in all probability, Professor Hojo would probably have you tortured in a futile attempt to make you tell him where you hid Aerith. Of course, you won't. Not that I needed to tell you that. Your love for her is that strong, no?" And then, as if he was sharing a secret to an old friend, he leaned over and whispered. "'Why is he doing this?' You might be asking. I promised to myself one time, nights ago, that I will destroy you, Mr. Halcyon. I will destroy your relationship with Aerith. You're right. I can never have her. When I talked to her this morning, I saw it in her eyes. You're one goddamned lucky sonofabitch, you know that? But I can rip you two apart. That's why I'm doing this. Nothing professional, Mr. Halcyon. Just merely personal."
Zack just stared at him, breaking the Turk leader apart limb by limb in his mind. "Tell me, how can you bloody sleep well at night?"
Tseng just shrugged, starting to get up. "Oh, with the air conditioner set at a normal level, and with one of the Shinra female employees freshly and fully fucked lying beside me, usually. Have you ever noticed that pretty redhead in the reception desk? She's a good one. A screamer. You should try her, before you go out on your little expedition tonight."
Zack did not respond.
"And oh, by the way," Tseng said, buttoning the lower part of his dark suit. "Don't even think of telling Professor Hojo, or anyone else, for that matter, about this little chat we had. Remember. Just one call, and you can say byebye to good ol' pa and ma." With that, he winked conspiratorially at him before turning around and walking out of the cafeteria.
Zack was left in his table, on the far corner of the room, papers and plans and layouts strewn all over the table. His face was buried in his hands. Tseng had him like a puppet on a string now, and there was nothing he could do but dance to his tune.