Tseng didn't even look up from his report when the office door was slammed open and Reno came running in, white faced with fear and howling like a banshee before diving straight under his boss' desk. Tseng did sigh a little as the Turk by his feet was trembling so bad it made his signature slightly wobbly when he signed the paper.
Only a few seconds later Elena came running flat out through the corridor, tears crowding her blue eyes and chest heaving as she to screamed high-pitched enough to break glass and threw herself head-first under the desk, clutching onto Reno who clutched just as desperately back. Tseng raised an eyebrow. Reno running away from a prank gone wrong was one thing. But Elena? Turks had the well-developed survival instinct of rats, but like rats their first instinct was always to fight, not hide. And Elena had enough Elemental materia at her disposal to take on Avalanche, never mind Reno and his dirty underhanded fighting and EMR.
A raw, primal roar of fear was what really made Tseng put down his pen and paper and look up. Rude seldom talked at all. And now he *screamed*? Tseng blinked a few times as the bald Turk sped through the office floor like an Olympic sprinter and took a dive for the desk. It was a big desk, but it was not designed for three shivering Turks to hide under. It should have been impossible, but somehow they managed to squeeze in there, although by now the trembling were so bad that Tseng removed his glass paperweight as a precaution. He was fond of that paperweight; it had been a Golden saucer price and you had to be pretty sneaky to outsmart those rigged games.
Feeling a little like a mother hen hovering over his chicks, he gently cleared his throat.
"Sephiroth went insane?"
"No!" Reno squeaked.
"Rufus found out he didn't win Midgard Magazine's 'Gaia's most eligible bachelor' this year?"
"No, how could he not? We totally own that magazine!" Elena shivered.
"The labs are cloning humans and they escaped, infected with the T virus and will now eat us all, thus spreading the zombie plague?"
"No…wait, what?" Rude frowned, clutching his fellow Turks.
"Never mind. What happened?"
"It's….it's…it's..." Reno swallowed, trying to speak. "Thethethe Soldiers…."
Tseng nodded. Now that he was paying attention he could feel the way the ShinRa building was swaying gently, as if caught in a quake. Occasionally there was a louder crash. Only the Soldiers could make that happen.
"Look out the window!" Elena hissed.
Rather reluctantly Tseng moved over and looked out. If he hadn't been prepared for the worse he would have dropped his jaw.
Behind one of the four huge pillars surrounding the ShinRa tower was an unmistakable pale figure, crouching behind it. *Hiding*behind it. The Silver Hero, the Demon of Wutai and the greatest warrior the world had ever seen, was hiding. Sephiroth was also bleeding from a number of wounds - not very deep ones - his hair was singed and black at the edges and he was clutching what appeared to be a broken nose. His pupils were so dilated they were almost round. When he felt Tseng's eyes on him, he jerked, glanced up and then quickly sprouted a wing and flew away in something that was almost fast enough to be called fleeing.
"And the other window." Rude added.
Feeling numb, Tseng obeyed. Out here, Angeal was just picking himself up, looking dazed as if he'd been knocked out. His clothes too were burned and crisped and he looked like he'd got a concussion. He was just trying to get his feet beneath him when a dark projectile came flying out the window and hit him straight in the chest. Zack managed to roll with the force but not before knocking his mentor over again. With his metaphorical tail between his legs, the puppy crawled behind Angeal who was sitting and swaying and obviously not going anywhere for a while.
And still the tremors inside the ShinRa tower grew more violent.
Tseng came to the logical assumption.
"Get your weapons, we're going into the labs. Once we get close to the target, Elena created a fire storm to draw his attention. Reno try your Turk light. Rude try to get in close. Beware of the tentacles, and the bite is poisonous. I have anti-Jenova serum and a sniper rifle, but I will need a clean shot…."
"It ain't Hojo who's infected himself with Jenova cells." Reno rasped. "It's Genesis!"
"Genesis is infected with Jenova cells?" Tseng could imagine the red-head Turk going nuts if he started to grow tentacles. At least if they ripped his robe.
"No! Genesis lost…." Reno gasped for air.
"…his mind?"
"Loveless!" Rude finally managed to say it. "Some kind of prank Sephiroth, Angeal and Zack pulled on him went wrong. The book is destroyed!"
If you looked carefully - and the three cowering Turks did - you could almost see the small spasm of fear that went through Tseng, making him shiver with profound dread for less than a second.
"Right." Tseng cleared his throat. "Does Genesis know the book is destroyed?"
"He just knows it's missing. He's on a rampage looking for it and ain't letting noone get in his way." Reno was staring at the floor, looking like he wondered if he could dig through it with his nails to escape.
Tseng's OCS jolted at the horribly constructed sentence, but he repressed it. Instead he walked over to a wall-to-wall bookshelf covered in neatly organized reports. He touched something on the side, there was an electronic beep and the bookshelves swung away. Behind it was a safe.
Fear for their lives and curiosity warred within the other three Turks, but curiosity won out. They'd all known Tseng had stuff hidden in his office, but this was the first time they'd actually seen it. Normally they all stayed as far away from the archives as possibly. They poked their heads out from underneath the desk.
As the tremors grew closer - Genesis had apparently turned his volatile wraths towards the Turks' floor - Tseng did…something…to the safe. Something that seemed to include a retina scan, a password and quite possibly a urinal sample. The heavy door swung open and the other three Turks gaped.
Inside it was Loveless. Not just any Loveless, but Genesis' personal copy, slightly dog-eared, a small burn on the lower edge, one or two drops of spilled coffee on the cover, and of course, the signatures of all the original actors on the inside.
But there wasn't just the one Loveless. There were five of them, all identical.
There were also three Buster Swords, carefully maintained, but with worn-down leather grips stained with sweat, two Masamunes sharp enough to cut though a falling leaf, several Solider uniforms which even *smelled* correctly. And that was not all. Four Cait Siths sat in the safe, their doll heads lolling since they were turned off, two white business suits with matching guns, seven pairs of sunglasses - each one scratched on the side, just as the ones Rude were wearing - five EMRs with that special leather grip that Reno favoured and worn down by use, eight of Elena's special make-up boxes that she always brought on missions.
"Holy fucking shit." Reno gaped at the treasure trove as Tseng handed him a Loveless copy. It didn't smell of new book; it smelled of an old and loved copy that had been through war with its owner.
"Put this were Genesis will find it. Or hand it to him saying you found it if you have the guts and a good enough cover story." Tseng glared at his Turks who were all eyeing his carefully collected and maintained treasures. "I like to be prepared for all occasions."
"You got it all here." Elena was in awe. "Everyone's favourite things in the world."
"Who does this belong to?" Rude reached out for something in the far back, the only one that was a single item. It looked like a very scruffy, very old toy rabbit.
"I will let you know if the need ever arises." Tseng glared at them. "Now go!"
He watched them all scramble from his office, tripping over themselves to get Loveless delivered. Hesitating for a second, Tseng then turned the security cameras into a loop of him working and turned back to his safe. Gently he took out the rabbit that had once been dressed up in traditional wutai clothes, but now only a faint colour memory of those remained. Much of the fluffy fur had also been lost in vicous child play, but it felt just the same when he held it up for a quick hug, smelled just the same, and looked the same. He put it back in the safe, the only original amongst the many carefully constructed replicas in there.
Some things could never be replaced.