2. Fantasy

Reno's POV

"You're here early."

I yawn my displeasure from the couch in my office as Tseng steps in and makes for the coffee pot on my desk, tsking in annoyance when he realizes that the delightful scent of coffee is, as of right now, a cruel lie because the pot isn't brewed. I sit up, making room for him on the couch that he takes gullibly, and then I lay back down, resting my head on his leg. He doesn't comment on it and pulls out his tablet, a musical chime hitting my hangover like a slapping hand.

"Damn, that's loud." I wrinkle my nose, eyes closed as I settle into a more comfortable position on my couch, my arm thrown over my eyes and my legs dangling off the edge and kicking empty air.

"Hungover again?"

"Yup."

"Why here so early then? Usually you're late with those." Tseng's tablet makes a few more obnoxious noises and I groan audibly until he turns the sound off.

"Nightmare." It's a simple, honest answer. I've been getting better at those.

"You'll have more tonight, I'm sure." There is a deep sigh as he shifts, nearly displacing my head from his leg as he tries to get comfortably distant from me. I have this feeling that means I am not going to like what our morning meeting has in store.

Sitting up slowly, I ignore my spinning head and turn to face him. "Where am I going today, Tseng?"

A sigh is his initial answer and I feel my stomach clench. Shit.I know that look, and I know the answer. "Please, Gaia, tell me you're not seriously sending me to Midgar."

"It's the only place we haven't fully checked for Fantasy. I have to." He won't meet my eyes, intent on his tablet. I want to smack him.

My nails cut into my palms and I stand, throwing open my window and letting in a cool taintless breeze. There's no more Reactor fueled smog here, Midgar has been settled into ruins long enough that Edge's air is clear of that particular poison. A stench still greets me with the opening of the window and I chase it away with a cigarette, plopping myself into my office chair and refusing to look at Tseng, staring instead at the ruins I'm being forced to perform reconnaissance in again. "What the fuck do you expect me to find in that hell hole, Tseng?"

"Answers, Reno. If the others were here, you know I'd send them instead." His voice is curt now, he's on the defensive as my anger boils and bites along my tongue.

"Oh yeah, 'cause it makes it so much better to know that Rude or Laney or poor, pathetic, new little Lee would be sent into that shitstorm." I take a deep drag, forcing smoke into my lungs to ease the tremble that's trying to work it's way from my heartbeat into my hands. Tseng knows what going to Midgar does to me, to all of us, but he also knows we have few options left. Fantasy is a dangerous new concoction that we can't find a source for. We've nabbed a few dealers, but they couldn't get us the answers we wanted. We don't know who is making it or how; all we have is a street name and a list of effects. Its spreading from recreational pastime to more sinister use as a daterape drug and I'm getting sick of seeing women and men alike in WRO specialist care because a heavy handed opportunist shattered their psyche with a few tablets in an unwatched drink.

"You're taking Avery in with you today."

"No I ain't."

"You are." Tseng's voice is stern, daring me to try and defy a direct order again.

We glare at each other in silence, our wills warring silently before I direct my gaze out the window again. "She'll slow me down. She's not ready for somethin' like that yet."

"She went through it already when she fought against Deepground, Reno. Remember; I pulled her from the WRO for a reason, but that reason wasn't because she can't handle it. She's ready to be a Turk." There's a reassuring confidence in his voice and I know he's right; Avery wouldn't be a Turk if she hadn't proved herself capable in the WRO and she sure as hell wouldn't be under my tutelage if she hadn't scored high on our tests.

That doesn't mean I want to drag the poor girl into hell. "Tseng, what makes you think any answers will be in Midgar?"

"Because if I were to try doing something illegal, I would have my base in those ruins. I'd carve a niche for myself amongst the decayed corpses and twisted scrap-metal and I'd brew my poisons there. That's why." I shudder and he continues tapping away on his tablet, his voice light as if I had asked him the weather. "I already told Avery to come in early for the debriefing. I trust you to take care of her in Midgar, just like you take care of her everywhere else."

I don't answer, lighting another cigarette and chucking the first butt out the window.