Chapter 1. The suspicion.
… 2 months earlier ….
Tseng's POV.
Sighing, I closed my tired eyes, as I reclined in my comfortable chair. I was actually exhausted, the missions lately had been eating body and soul.
Being the head of the Turks was as consuming as gratifying - reason why I remained in my post, willingly.
Even if I was buried in paperwork, I repositioned myself swiftly, in order to start working. Reports and more reports. This was the boring part of our job.
A soft but firm knock on the door interrupted my line of thinking.
"Yes."
The door opened enough to allow a female form to appear.
"Sir."
The young Turk saluted me cordially, as her superior. I had taught them well, to be disciplined and serious while at work. After all we, the Turks, had a reputation to keep.
"At ease, Cissnei." I said, the young Turk relaxing immediately. She held a file on her hands. "And what is that?"
"A situation, Sir." She started, and I waited for her to continue."Local authority asked for your intervention."
I blinked a couple of times, surprised with her declaration. Odd.
"We don't cover civilian issues. They are aware of that."
Yes, they were, but instinct was telling me something was off with this particular issue. Cissnei's next words only confirmed my suspicions.
"The Local Authority Base representative is here, Sir. He asks for a word with you."
"Very well. Let him in." I declared, closing the report I had started with. It looked like it was going to have to wait there, unfinished.
Cissnei nodded and opened the door once more, allowing another person to enter my office. She put the file in my desk and exited at once, leaving me alone with the man.
"Tseng." The man complimented, with a cordial nod.
"Lieutenant." I complimented back, military style. And I went straight to business, as I read what the file cover showed. "So, I assume you want to inform me personally about the 509?"
"Yes." The man started, his stance serious. "About 5 months ago I had a report of a missing young woman. Usual stuff, nothing unusual as we proceeded with the investigation."
"Go on."
"Meantime the head of maintenance from Shinra Company also reported one of his workers missing."
I snorted at the suggestive logics.
"The same woman?"
"Apparently. Since the reactor had been shut down they had been off from work but a month ago all of the maintenance staff was re-located and the woman didn't show up. With two missing alerts, we had permission to check her place."
The man paused, and I sensed the uncomfortable part was coming.
"And?"
"It was closed on the inside. Doors, windows closed. And absolutely vacant."
"And what does that situation have to do with the Turks?"
The man sighed, now a little disturbed. Okay, there was something definitely going on with this 509. I was willing to bet they couldn't handle the case and needed specific help.
"We found a considerable, high Mako impregnation inside that apartment."
I had to admit I was expecting everything from the man, except this. Mako? What the hell?
"High? You mean how high?"
"See for yourself." The man suggested, pointing towards the file. "That's not random contamination, Tseng."
I paginated swiftly the stapled pages of that file, until I found that precise information. It was actually high… disturbingly high.
It can't be…
"All Mako levels are accurately defined, did you revise your detectors?"
"I've scanned the place twice, using several detectors." The man said, genuinely. "It's there, I assure you."
Okay, back to basics then.
"Who lived in that apartment?"
"It was rented to Sukiru, Sora. No background of interest, at least not in this region."
"Check the registration base for all her story, relatives and such, then direct all the information to me. I'll see into this."
It was my dismissal speech and the man realized that.
"Thank you."
The man nodded and left at once. I remained there, standing right behind my desk, reading the content inside that file with fierce eyes.
The man had resumed pretty well all the facts. Inside, only directions and places were of interest to me now. I reached for the phone and waited for someone to answer back.
"Sir?"
"Cissnei, gather the team and tell them to be ready in 5 minutes."
I had gathered Cissnei, Reno, Rude and Elena in this case. A case that involved Mako wasn't a soft issue to deal with. Mako energy was all around us, it was a fact, but thing was, I knew of SOLDIER and their… upbringing. Mako and SOLDIER were as close and as related as twin brothers. Few of us inside Shinra had knowledge of such but it was necessary to avoid inconveniences. The last thing the Company needed was internal gossip and conflict. We, the Turks, worked for peace in every level.
For now, it was time to investigate and make sure if this was only a random inconvenience… or if this was actually something we should worry about.
The five of us stood in the reunion room, discussing the case. I had told them what the head of Local Authority had informed of.
"Any questions?"
A hand rose immediately. Reno.
"Any inside suspicions in this, Sir?"
He meant, of course, our SOLDIER cooperatives.
"Not for now, but I don't cast that theory away." I admitted. "Let's bring our own equipment and solve this once and for all, shall we?"
-/-
Sora Sukiru's rented apartment was off city limits. Way off. It was actually close to Niebelheim, where she worked. The file mentioned she had worked in the reactor facility for some time.
"Okay people let's go." I said, and silently we walked towards her flat. It was nighttime already. Once inside the building, I gave strict orders.
"Reno, Cissnei, ask the neighbors about Miss Sukiru and her routine, please. Elena, Rude, come with me."
Nobody grunted and we rushed inside that apartment as ghosts.
The locks gave in easily, as if we were the owners of the place. The moment we got inside, something strange assaulted my senses. Instinct was screaming inside me. The lights were out and the environment was heavy. As the lieutenant had said, the place had been completely shut since their first evaluation of the scene.
Mako detectors were on, beeping frantically the whole time - and we were still resumed to the hall.
This shall be promising, I thought.
Each one of us scanned thoroughly each room, and finally Rude popped the lights to life. Standing right next to the flat's energy panel, we realized how strangely tidy the scenery seemed. The place had been cleaned, except for the lamp of the hall had been destroyed. Glasses were still on the floor.
The conclusion was unanimous.
"She was not alone." Elena whispered.
"No," Rude confirmed, eyeing the hall through his thick, dark glasses. "She had pro company. Look at the way the lamp glass was cut."
We all eyed the piece, our lanterns focused on it.
"Perfect hit." I confirmed, right beneath what was left of the lamp. "This wasn't made with a regular steel blade."
"No, " Rude said. "This is military weaponry, Sir. Most likely, a sword."
We all remained in silence for a second or two, eyes heavy on each other. Forbidden words crossed our minds, screaming all around us, but none of us dared to speak.
"The detectors are stable now." Elena affirmed, breaking the ice. "She wasn't definitely alone, Sir. What remains a mystery is why would a SOLDIER be in here with her."
Elena was very straightforward. And she had an amazing reasoning capacity. It almost seemed she was reading my mind and saying out loud. What a promising agent she could become.
"We don't know that for sure, Elena." I warned, my eyes hard on her, hoping she would refrain her eager mind a bit. "The woman worked at the reactor in Neibelheim. She might have a contaminant dose on her."
"I highly doubt it." Elena insisted. "Mako contaminant doses do not persist over months, Sir. These levels…" She paused, trying to choose the right words. "… are characteristically native."
Silence expanded for a while between us and it would continue like that of it wasn't for the rest of my team to finally appear.
"Anything?" I said, hoping Reno and Cissnei could tell me something new and appeasing.
"You bet Sir," Reno started, "Miss Sukiru was a very solitary woman. She didn't bring persons - either man or woman - home and she was a calm, quiet neighbor, but she had a recent visit."
"Who?"
"I have a description. Man, average appearance, on his thirties. There was screaming and thumping and apparently she kicked his ass pretty bad, the guy's face and body met first-hand all the stairs of this building, it seemed."
Reno's eyes were wide as he described the scene.
"She kicked his ass?" Elena frowned. "I was willing to bet she was the one being abused."
As always, very intuitive, Elena…, my eyes warned, silent on her. She caught the hint and didn't utter a word. Reno was the one speaking.
"The man left the building with an arm and a leg broken and-"
"Let's get back to the base. We'll confirm all our data there." I said, ending this conversation. I didn't want to debate on the case in here, at Sora Sukiru's apartment. It was simply not adequate.
Not to mention I had a terrible feeling about all this.
The worst feeling I had ever felt in years.
-/-
"Dan Miller."
Reno's voice echoed in our research room. We took our places, as always, gathering the information we had. In the first hours in the morning, we decided strategies, debated all the feasible theories on this. The Mako impregnation lingering inside that apartment was a key element that still bothered Elena. I could see the restlessness in her eyes.
"What do we have?" I asked.
"As I had said before, male on his thirties, clean file except… for a charge a couple of years ago."
A charge? How convenient.
"For?"
"Assault and aggression."
Elena snorted as Reno's information confirmed her theory. And mine, as well. After all, Sora Sukiry was a victim of abuse. Hence, her quietness; her stillness. Her silence.
"Who pressed the charge?" Elena asked.
"Uh… Sukiru, Sora." Reno informed, paginating all over the recent info pages.
"His address, please." I asked. "Let's get moving."
-/-
We all stood, and all and each one of us knew where we were heading to now.
"Mr. Miller." Reno shouted, knocking on the door for the fifth time. The doorbell was not working. "Mr. Miller, open the door, please."
Elena sighed, bored and angry.
"He's not home." She said, in a low voice. "So we may all-"
"I didn't come all this way for nothing." Reno interrupted, his stance annoyed.
"Breaking in is illegal, Reno. " Rude warned. "You know that."
"Yeah, I know that, but it doesn't mean that I-"
"Open it." I interrupted Reno, knowing this was definitely not the right thing to do. My voice came out rasp and low; I knew perfectly I was crossing the line here. But… something was telling me to move on. "Are you deaf? Open it."
Reno eyed me for a moment, hoping my stare would confirm the irregularity he was about to perform.
"Yes, sir."
Reno's tone was filled with excitement. His right hand searched for something inside his pocket and, in less than five seconds, the door was open.
We entered silently and closed swiftly the door behind us, as if we had the original keys of that place.
Rude immediately searched for the light panel, but the thing was completely down. I was willing to bet Mr. Miller didn't pay the latter energy bills.
Mr. Miller's place was bigger than Sukiru's. This was typically the place of a man that wanted to be alone. This was a small house in the suburbs, partially hidden by thick forest, discreet and mildly taken care of.
I had the feeling the man had rented this place as well, since there were few personal marks on it. All of it - furniture, decoration - were model-house-for-rent display.
Elena's voice came out of nowhere, muffled.
"Sir… You should see this."
She was downstairs. Basement. I looked up, realizing Reno, Rude and Cissnei had the whole house covered.
Silently, I went downstairs, engulfed by shadow and a typical mold aroma insulting my nostrils. When I finally reached solid ground and walked towards Elena, I couldn't help but to feel overwhelmed.
"It's been some time since I seen one of this." I whispered, as my brain accommodated to process the information the walls were rewarding me with.
A stalker. A true stalker profile.
There were walls of photos, categorically arranged chronologically. Photos of a girl where the main attraction. She had been photographed in every angle, years from now. I was willing to bet she was Sora Sukiru.
She had evolved to a rather debilitating figure. The first photos had been taken with her permission. Others - the majority - had been taken with her on runaway. Her face, her posture were the ones of a scared, petrified woman.
Different clothes, different hair styles, she had tried everything. But he had caught her every time.
I gulped, concluding Mr. Miller was pursuing her enthusiastically. And as a true stalker, he must be very jealous.
"This man wasn't very healthy." Elena commented. "Mentally, I mean."
"He is chasing her." I said, my eyes on the photos and the amazing digital definition. The man had to have a professional camera. "He has been watching her for… a long time. Like a predator."
"Sick bastard." Elena cursed, and my stare met hers, chastising her. That was no language for a Turk to use.
"He had her under tight surveillance." She said, now close to another corner where several devices were, on a table. "These are no amateur devices."
Still, my eyes were scanning the wall of photos. Something was telling me I would find something very valuable there. Clues.
And I wasn't wrong. My stare stopped in a particular photo, where a shadowy silhouette stood. Light had been casted in a way there was no chance to discern to whom that form might belong.
There were five photos of that lingering, strange shadow by the window, at Sora's apartment. My eyes scanned those photos several times. There was something familiar about that human frame. Something very familiar, I was almost sure I knew that posture from-
A shiver ran down my spine at the possibilities.
"I'll be damned." I whispered, gulping.
"What?" Elena asked, approaching me. Her eyes were on the photos I was analyzing as well. "What's that?"
"That's not Sora Sukiru, for sure." I said, pointing to that photographed shadow. I looked around, feeling a little lost. "Turn the Mako detectors on."
The devices were silent the whole time. Meantime, the rest of the team joined us in the basement. The place was spacey enough for all of us. Reno approached one of the devices in a corner and scanned the item. A smug smile was all over his face, as he caressed the item.
"Nice tracking device. This is pro stuff." Reno said, switching the item on. And, after some time of careful staring, he concluded: "He tracked her."
We all approached Reno, as he pointed towards the screen that displayed the last reading.
"And he went for her." Elena deduced.
"But he didn't come back, that's for sure." Rude added.
"Check the coordinates. See what the device retrieves." I ordered, and Reno got absorbed in the wall of buttons.
Sadly, Reno's face didn't lit up the way it usually did.
"Nothing." He said, obviously with dismay.
"What?" Elena asked, not believing his words.
"The tracker retrieves nothing." He clarified.
"What do you mean, nothing?" Rude asked, again.
"It's… the mountain." Reno explained. "The north? Most of the northern area is just impenetrable forest and thick, green landscape."
Reno's words made the little hairs in the back of my neck rise. Memories of events that had taken place up there in the northern continent were suddenly very vivid in my mind.
"Not all of it." I said, knowing where all this would lead us. Again. "Let's get back. We're done here."
I started walking out of that basement, headed towards the exit. My team followed me, silent and surprised.
"Tseng." Elena said, using my name. She rarely did that. "What is it? What do you suspect?"
And as I opened the car door, I whispered to her hears only.
"The worst."
-/-
"Strife Delivery Service."
That voice. How familiar, I didn't hear of Tifa for a while. Deep down inside I wondered if she was still attached to Cloud Strife in that insane, obsessed way of her. It was simply not healthy.
"Is Strife available?" I asked, knowing she would recognize my tone. It had become a habit: if I needed to make a phone call, I didn't have to say who I was. She already knew.
"Not at the moment." She said, her voice changing subtly. Clear as water, it was obvious she disliked Cloud being away. His nomad habits of late were destroying her on the inside… and worst of all, he didn't see it. Didn't see her.
And she forgave him no matter what.
"Can you tell him Tseng called?" I suggested. "It is a matter of urgency."
"Okay." She said, with a curious tone. But for Tifa's own sake, it was better if she didn't know any details.
"Thank you."
I hung up lazily, taking a deep breath.
I felt tired and excited at the same time. There was no way of verbalizing what was going through my mind.
I couldn't simply believe that, after all the effort to hide what had happened in Neibelheim, he was still alive. I couldn't believe it, but something inside me was telling me I would have to get used to that idea.
How, my mind plagued. How can it be possible?
My eyes scanned the file I had in front of me again. 509. New files accompanied this one, namely the ones from the Scientific Department. The native Mako levels of all SOLDIER manipulated with Mako were alphabetically ordered. I scanned for the letter "S" at once - the association was undeniable. The reading at Sora Sukiru's apartment was exactly the same. Every digit.
Then, my eyes landed again in those photographs I had borrowed from Miller's basement wall. That shadow, that form lingering by the window…
All around me screamed… Sephiroth.
A/N - I'm back guys! I didn't abandon this sequel, not in a million years! Sorry for taking so long, but life has been hard on me! And I've been working on several projects as well, if you want you can be in touch with all of it via my FB page! See my profile for the details :)
And welcome guys, let's start with this sequel and bring the reviews on!
Can't wait to hear from you guys! :)