Lucka had read all the terms on the paper for the second time. Thus far, they were okay and reasonable. There was no nasty infliction or any detrimental clause that threatened her well-being. It's just a standard working agreement under normal circumstances.

They provided free housing and an apartment with the other Turks on the upper plate. Which was secluded from any civilians nearby. It was located to the west of Shinra Headquarters. The opposite place from the SOLDIER residence at the Eastside.

The salary was big. But Lucka wondered if the money would be worth enough for the shady job she should accomplish. No, it'd never be. Lucka was expected to handle covers, investigation, and all. But for the darker side? Manipulating, threatening, covering Shinra's dark secrets. And the worst was killing people just for a living? They filled their bank accounts by taking advantage of other people's affliction. The Turks' jobs were far more horrible than SOLDIER's. And soon, she'd become one of them.

Lucka pondered. Throughout her whole life, she learned to defend herself by any means. Fighting was her forefront of existence. Although, killing would never be her preference. While there was a considerable divergence, she killed because she needed to, not under anyone's order. Now she was in another world, with new occurrences, yet she still had unsolved problems left behind on Earth.

"After you finish signing everything, I need you to give me some background for your new identity to establish a life in the city. It's better to put the facts and some tweaks if needed. I'll give you your card wallet along with the new one later. The administration should pass Mayor Domino. So it will take several hours to finish." Tseng's voice broke her reverie.

Lucka nodded and signed all the papers, then she placed them in front of him. Tseng put his own sign and Shinra stamps on the documents. He stored them inside a brown envelope and shoved them into his table drawer. After that, he moved his laptop position closer to him and said, "Let's begin. Do you have any educational background?"

"I was homeschooled. And I'm currently attending a private college, majoring in Fine Art in my first year."

Tseng nodded. He typed fastly on the keyboard. "What's your parent's name?"

"Laszclo Circe and Crataeis Circe."

"And their occupation?" he continued.

Lucka didn't answer right away. "They were entrepreneurs, but they both died anyway. So you can fill whatever you want. It doesn't really matter, right?" she said dully, though a hint of bitterness tainted her tone.

Tseng stopped at his work. He looked a bit surprised, but he didn't show any empathy on his face. "I'm sorry for your loss."

She just waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, it'd been a long time ago. Let's move to the next question, please."

Tseng nodded and asked, "Do you have any siblings? Or representative perhaps."

"I have no siblings, but my cousin takes me as his ward. It's Ryuu Hara."

Zeus. Ryuu, how is he doing now that I suddenly vanished? Did he finally manage to meet her? He must be confused and worried about my disappearance, she thought. Once she finished all this stuff, she must request the General to unsummoned her.

"What's his occupation?"

"He is an Internist," she said and paused. "Would you also fake his death?"

Tseng glanced from his monitor. "Yes. When people check on you, at least they have a bit of information. If we leave too many blank pages, it'll only raise suspicion."

"Understood," she said.

Tseng nodded. "Very well, That's for now. We'll meet our Director, Veld, to have some interviews. And tomorrow, we'll head to the Church. Is there anything you want to know?"

Lucka shifted her eyes as she let her brain work. She was okay with the regulation and all. The work hour was also acceptable. Then she studied him for another second. It wasn't a big deal but asking would never hurt. "For the uniform. Could I wear a skirt instead of pants? It'll make my flow movement easier."

Tseng quirked his eyebrows. His silence only lasted a second. Perhaps he noticed her fighting outfit today and said, "Sure, if that's your preference, I'll provide it for you. Is there anything else?"

"What should I say to Veld?" she murmured as her thumb was folding the hem of her skirt back and forth relentlessly.

"The things you should say." He only smirked and escorted Lucka to the Director's office.

Turk's Theme

The day kept rolling, the sky turned into a shade of burnt orangey color, and Lucka sat with her back straight on her seat like she never did. Face to face with Veld was a new level of hazardous engagement than dealing with Tseng's deception. His still and crisp demeanor made a distinguished kind of intimidation. If the General had to be seen wanting to spare people, but the truth, he tried to straightly kill them, then Veld seemed to frighten them first. Yet, he actually only toyed with them around. Once they messed up, then it was game over. Not many people could turn the table, especially against the Turks. Lucka was proven to have a poor chance with Tseng. Would she still be in one piece by the time she left the Director's office?

However, despite how stuffy the air around them was, Lucka should keep her mask stable. It was moderately helping to maintain her front in retaining her composure longer. So, she blinked there, pulled out her nerve, and waited for him to throw the knives.

"Miss Circe, I've heard from Tseng," he said and emphasized his words as his cold gaze locked into her, "and about your special circumstances." Lucka nodded, then glanced up at Tseng, who stood by the window. Veld continued, "Under this rare case, the company will provide your requirements. As long as you cooperate well," he said, moving his prosthetic hand to intertwine loosely with his normal hand on the table.

"Sir. For sure, I don't have any imposition against the company. Despite my specific intelligence will both help the organization or otherwise," she said with an almost robotic tone. Was she more anxious than she thought?

Veld chuckled as some fascination sparked his dark eyes. "I believe. In other means, we'll maintain secrecy. You should be aware you won't have any liberty as much as you desire. We'll notice any scam, and presumably, you won't like to hear the penalty."

Her lips twitched, and her forehead crumpled to bring a serious face. "Transparency isn't a natural disposition for the Turks. Yet, I don't have any luxuries to afford to confront the operative. So yeah, we should have an agreement. I'll behave nicely as long as the Materia and I stay safe under the Turk's supervision." She eyed him intensely, her voice lowered an octave when she continued, "No one will lay a hand on us except General Sephiroth. Especially the Science Department." By the end of her sentence, she let out a breath she unconsciously held.

Veld rested his back on the chair. His stoic face didn't cross any hesitancy. "Very well. We assure you it won't happen. Besides, you'll make a good addition to our Department." He paused, eyeing her with a pensive look. He said, "There will be probation, and before you can jump into any real mission, we want to know what you're capable of."

Lucka's mask slightly fell. She hadn't had any idea what he was referring to, but she knew she wouldn't like it as her grip on her crumpled skirt tightened. "Which means?"

Tseng said, "I've seen you bring the weapon, but we don't know how good you're in real combat. At least, we want to have a grasp of your ability level. More so, it'll make us easier to put you on the most suitable mission in the future." He clarified with a dull tone and casually stared at her as if he'd just explained how to mix color from primary color as her teacher did. Rather than describe a secret agent mission that had the possibility of killing innocent people.

"In other words, a skill test in combat, and basic stealth such as cover identity," Veld said.

Lucka's eyebrows creased deep. She glanced up at Tseng, who still stood like a rock. Her voice cracked when she said, "It's reasonable, but you never mentioned this before. And I didn't find it in the papers."

"I didn't, but it's clearly written in the regulations. Haven't you read all of them?" Tseng's tone was neutral.

His statement made her torn. Did Tseng tell the truth? Was it her who didn't read carefully? Or did he just deliberately mess with her brain? As far as she remembers, none of the mentions above were written on the paper. She'd read them twice. She thought, Ah, I should read them more.

"Why didn't you tell me first?!" she said with a frail voice, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

Tseng's eyes glimmered. He said, "It's already hard persuading you to join us. I just made things easier."

"God, you trapped me completely." Lucka narrowed her eyes and raised her chin in a challenging manner. "And if I want to skip the test?"

"Then we should have a better judgment to visit the Church. The skill test is a precondition to introduce you officially to the General Affairs Department," Tseng said with unblinking eyes, his composure as perfect as ever.

Lucka was nearly on edge. She once again couldn't stand a chance to win this game of mind. Lucka clenched her fingers into a ball. She drew a deep breath while a fraction of anger coiled inside her chest again. She didn't have the power to oppose, yet she couldn't unsummoned herself. That was the problem that led to all of this mess. If she was stubborn enough, she could wait until the bond wore off by itself, but it'd waste too much time. She needed to know the answer soon. So she said between her tightened jaw, "Fine. I'll take the test."

Veld smiled and inclined his head in contentment. "Excellent. Tseng will arrange the place and time. I wish you success on the test. Now you may leave."

Lucka gave a stiff nod, then Tseng escorted her to exit the Director's office. They were back in the auditing room. She exaggeratedly let out a weary sigh and scanned the area while walking to the entrance door. From the first time she stepped her feet on the floor until now, there were no other Turks around the space. Probably they're off for a mission. Even so, she didn't want to ask Tseng and wasn't too eager to meet them anytime soon.

She pushed aside the thought and stared at Tseng with lingering vexation. "Well, will you tell me any clues about the test?"

"It's a surprise, my welcoming present for you," he said with a smirk.

She almost snapped, protesting in awe. "God, just don't kill me too soon!"

Tseng snorted and was about to turn the doorknob when it burst open by itself. Luka nearly yelped. She was too surprised by the sudden movement, but she wasn't the only one who looked startled. The red spikey hair stood still on the threshold, staring at her with wide eyes beside his bald friend.

"Reno," Tseng said with a firm scolding note. His dark eyebrows bend in an annoyed frown.

Reno quickly recovered from his shock. His eyes shamelessly slid up and down on her. "Who is this Boss? She looked like from the north, her hair covered in snow," he said with a sly smirk, tilting his head in curiosity.

Tseng sighed and shook his head. "Reno, Rude, this is Lucka. Lucka, this is Reno and Rude."

Lucka put on a stiff smile and offered her hand to Reno. "Lucka."

Reno shook her hand and inclined at her hand then to her face. "Whoa, guessin' it'll be cold, but you're pretty hot."

Lucka frowned and released his hands, a half-smile curled in the corner of her lips. The guy is an asshole like in the game. "Watch out, dude, don't let me burn ya' ." Lucka shifted her eyes from him and offered a nod to Rude.

Reno opened his mouth. But Tseng quickly cut him before he could utter any retorts. "You can give an impression of yourself later. We still have a business to do." Tseng shifted to push Reno out of the way and said, "Lucka." He motioned for her to follow him to the elevator.

"Catch you next time Lucky, don't melt too soon." Reno smirked and raised his hand, pointing at her playfully.

She looked over her shoulder while they passed them, her eyes waded in glee, and a smirk spread on her lips. "Nah, I'm the ice queen."

The dusk had fallen. All the administration was done at the time the office hours ended. Tseng had given Lucka a PHS with her card wallet, the new ID, and stuff plus prepaid salary. Tseng drove to where they'd live together (that sounds so wrong, but it was the fact anyway). They went through the main road of the apartment building. And at the point she stepped out of the car, she almost gaped at the view. It was so much more magnificent. Though the construction wasn't too high compared to where the General resided.

She was told the apartment was built exclusively for the Turks, and the two Bosses lived on the peak. The feeling of being watched and sleeping on the same roof with them somehow made her ill. Although she didn't have options, she'd already signed the contract as a Turk. And she was not the General's captive anymore. Even if he allowed her, sleeping over at his house wouldn't make sense.

They entered the lobby, and it was splendid. The yellow spotlight made the whole space look warm and intimate. The walls were deep grey, and the dark brown mahogany furniture flattered the entire interior. Some empty space was filled with a vast indoor plant, and a Bauhaus-kinda painting hung by the end of the hall. She nodded her admiration and followed Tseng while making her way to the elevator.

They'd arrived on the eleventh floor, which seemed to be her house. The hallway was wide, with only two large double doors with the numbers 111 and 112. They walked past the first door. She guessed it must be resided by her neighbor—or the future comrades.

Tseng tapped the keycard on the reader by the door until it made a clicking sound. He led her in and placed it on the wall's electrical reader. In a second, the darkroom became blindingly bright. The interior was luxurious in a modern minimalist style. But since Lucka was an acute baroque-rococo geek, it looked too modest for her liking. Perhaps she'd do some decoration project, partly about the wall's paint color and indoor plants, if she was really about to live here, for no one knew how long.

"This is where you will live from now on. If you need something or any urgent needs, you can call me through the intercom," Tseng said and smirked, "or you can visit my room upstairs in 202."

If she didn't know any better about his feelings for Aerith, she must have thought he was flirting with her. He knew she didn't want to deal with him anytime soon. Still, he teased her like that. She was still mad at him for fooling her and wanted to retort, but instead, she said, "Thanks, Sir. I'll let you know."

"Goodnight, have a good sleep. Tomorrow will be a special day,"—he still wore his smirk, if only it widened and made her face twitch with resentment—"I'll pick you up at eight."

"Good night Tseng." And by that, he left her alone in the foreign room.

It started again. The sleep-deprived ruined her new nice sleeping circle after Lucka built it up with bloody effort.

She hated anything unpredictable, but unfortunately, her whole joking life always shoved her to the opposite side. Meanwhile, today, if Tseng would throw anything at her, she must be well prepared. She did some stretching and began a pilates warm-up.

Lucka had spent a whole hour having a simple breakfast from instant food provided by the Turks and did her hygiene afterward. She was about to finish combing her hair when a shrill doorbell made her halt. Hurriedly wearing her boots, she rushed to the door.

"Shall we?" Tseng greeted her with a fresh-looking face, despite the vicious glister in his eyes that made her want to smack his shoulder hard.

"Yes, sir." With that, they went to the Headquarters.

Turk's Theme

"Do you want to warm up first?" Tseng said while they entered the training room on the B4 below ground, which was under the General Affairs Auditing office. Lucka swept her gaze. The space was extensive, with high sturdy steel panel walls surrounding the area and a concrete floor supporting the foot. Her eyes stopped beside the operative controls desk. Ad found all the weapons laid in a neat line.

"No need, I'm good," she said.

"Okay. We'll start with the shooting test first." Tseng pushed a button. The target appeared at the end of the room with a creaking sound.

Lucka moved to take her standard black Glock handgun. She checked their magazine, all set. She walked to the shooting line, guns in both of her hands. But she didn't move. Instead, she glanced over her shoulder, staring at him.

He arched one of his eyebrows in question. "You can start."

"Give me the moving one. I can't waste your time." She smirked.

Tseng returned the smirk. "I like your confidence." He hit another button and the target moved.

Lucka raised her hands. She concentrated on rhythmically turning her right and left hands.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ashes came from the muzzle's mouth by the heated gun. When she finished shooting, Tseng moved closer to the target, taking a better look. Lucka had shot each of them with two bullets, and they pierced the target's heart and lung precisely.

Tseng turned and gave her a satisfied look. "Very well." He walked to stand in front of her two feet away and said with a glimmering eye, "I presume your main weapon is the katana, correct?" he said and inclined his head to the swords. "I will call your sparring partner."

Lucka vaguely nodded while he fished out his PHS from his trouser pocket. He dialed a number and talked to the person on the other line. "You can go down now…..yes….I'd appreciate that."

Lucka moved to the table, replacing her guns with her swords. She unveiled them one by one from their sheath. She held them both by the hilt, feeling the familiar, reassuring weight in her experienced hands. The katanas. She named them the Ophelia sister has become her most trusted friend ever. They were made specifically for her with a Katana's regular length. But the blade was lighter and thinner, just like Wakizashi.

She swung them, testing the flexibility of her wrist. Then, a slam from the training room door made her body turn to the entrance. And by that, she nearly stumbled to find out who was entering the room.

It was the very flesh of Zack Fair.

"You must be bloody insane, Tseng!" She was too shocked until she slipped and yelled out a swearing against her Boss. Her mouth gaped, and she shot an evil glare at him.

"I believe you like the surprise."

"Hi, Lucka." Zack gave her a stiff smile, scratching the back of his neck, looking a bit awkward.

"No, I'm not doing this." Luck twisted her body in a sharp turn, stomped her feet in a fast and forceful thud against the floor, and put down her katanas with a loud clang. How cruel did Tseng make Zack her opponent? The idea of her slashing the Katana against his swords just made her sick. I can't. I'll take everyone but Zack.

"In every mission, unpredictable things happen, whether you like it or not. You should face it and make the best out of it, right?" Tseng walked calmly to her side. His words stung to her very bones.

She snapped her head at him. Damn you, Tseng.

Lucka turned to face Zack again. She stared at him with her eyeballs wavered in fear and anger.

"I just followed the order," said Zack as he apologetically raised his shoulders, his lips lifted into a nervous half-smile.

"Another free Turks mostly using guns with their long-range combat ability. It's just fair to have Zack in short-range combat. Besides, he is a 2nd class SOLDIER. He's not as deadly as the 1st, yet he's stronger than the 3rd," said Tseng calmly.

Lucka was about to object again, but the training room door blasted for the second time.

"We aren't late for the show, are we?" The owner of the sound was Genesis. He admitted to the room, followed by Angeal and the General tailing behind.

What Lucka wanted to do was just smash her head to the table. Hard. But instead, she snapped and turned her head pointedly at him. The motion made her hair spray on her cheeks. She growled, "Why the hell all of you here?"

"Angeal said Tseng asked for any free 2nd SOLDIERS for a duel test. And the puppy has a loose schedule. So he was expected to fulfill it. And I assume it must be thrilling," Genesis said with no guilt in his voice. It just made her vexation grow deeper.

"Sorry about that. Didn't intend to spill anything," Angeal said with an uneasy smile.

"Hey, you know, Sephiroth is more than excited to watch. We are here to cheer on you!" Genesis swung his hand towards the General with a broad smile stuck on his lips. She was pretty sure he was the one who provoked them.

"Sure," General replied flatly, though his eyes sparkled with joy when they were met with hers.

"Shall we start? We don't have all day." Tseng picked up one of her Katanas and pointed the hilt towards her.

She clenched her teeth. She glanced at the Katana and met Tseng's sharp and firm gaze. He let her read the unspoken words he passed; It is an order. She wasn't a free spirit fighter anymore. They'd made her one of Shinra's lapdogs. She inhaled a long deep breath and took a steady grip on the hilt.

"'Course, sir." She joined Zack in the middle of the room with Ophelia in her hands. If she should do this, then she would. And she better make it fast. Her grip tightened when she lunged forward, and her ear welcomed the clanging sound of a clashing blade.