A/N: Welcome, one and all, to the fourth chapter. This chapter is the first one where the overhaul/rewrite has really significantly altered the chapter. This chapter is now well behond its original size; there's been quite a bit more added into it. So, for those of you returning and re-reading, I hope you enjoy the changes and enhancements. For those of you reading this for the first time...I hope you enjoy it, in general. XD

Chapter 4

Valeria woke up before the sun rose the next day, in spite of her lingering exhaustion from the previous night and a strong need for just five more minutes of sleep. She even briefly considered burrowing back under the covers. She'd been conditioned too well, though, and was too used to functioning on little to no sleep; once she was up, she was up, and that was that.

So she rolled out of bed, took a quick but satisfying shower, and got dressed, pausing for a moment to yank a brush halfheartedly through her hair before tugging the still-damp mass back into a loose ponytail. Considering the fact that she was going to officially introduce herself to a formerly famous SOLDIER First Class in just a few hours, she probably should have opted for an outfit more impressive than her standard jeans-and-jacket fare, but screw it. The only clothing she had that would have fit the bill was her WRO dress uniform, and she could count on one hand the number of times she'd worn that...and she couldn't recall a single instance where she'd worn it voluntarily rather than under orders.

Oh well. At least her hair was brushed. Mostly.

She tugged on her boots and did up the laces with quick, practiced motions then went to roust her sister.

Her twin was, unsurprisingly, still slumbering peacefully under her patchwork quilt. Vanessa, unlike Val, slept deeply pretty much always, and absolutely loathed getting up any earlier than was necessary. IT was like she was trying to make up for all the sleep she'd missed out on while they were in captivity. Part of Valeria was a bit jealous of how soundly her sister always slept; Vanessa didn't seem to be plagued by the nightmares and flashbacks that always haunted her twin's sleep...but Val was glad for her sister, too. They'd been through so much shit, at least one of them deserved peaceful nights. And Valeria had to pick between the two of them, she would rather it be Vanessa, anyway.

But as much as she wanted to let her sister continue with her comfortable slumber, it was up and at 'em time. They'd be leaving for the wastelands in just over five hours and there was lots to do in the meantime.

So she took a deep breath, the yanked the thick quilt up and away from her sister, exposing her twin, dressed only in a thin nightgown, to the chilly morning air.

Vanessa bolted upright automatically, eyes wide, but then slumped back down onto her bed again when she saw that it was just Valeria. "Five more minutes," she mumbled, eyes drifting shut.

"Nice try," Valeria said, snatching her sister's pillow and tossing it across the room. "But we've got lots to do and not a ton of time." She clapped hr hands together. "So, let's go, chop chop."

Vanessa just groaned.

Valeria rolled her eyes. "If you don't get your ass in gear," she said warningly, "I'm going to leave you behind."

That got the response she'd been aiming for.

Vanessa vaulted out of bed so quickly that Valeria would have been knocked to the ground if she hadn't quickly sidestepped at the last second. "Don't you dare leave without me," her twin hollered as she darted into the bathroom to shower.

"Hurry the hell up," Val replied evenly, "and I won't."

A hairdryer came sailing out of the bathroom and towards Valeria's head with an alarming velocity. Amused, Val caught it before it smacked into her forehead. "Is this a suggestion or a threat?" she asked wryly.

Vanessa's retort was lost in the sound of the shower spray, which was, Valeria reasoned, maybe for the best. Her sister could have a pretty sharp tongue once she got in the right (or wrong) mood. Thankfully, her sister's spate of spitfire behavior would peter out soon enough; Val predicted that her sister would be bright-eyed and busy-tailed for maybe another twenty minutes tops before her drowsiness returned and crankiness set in.

Which was why it was so important for Val to make sure her twin got ready now, while she was still excited about the mission and before her mood soured from being woken up earlier than usual. Better to have a drowsy and irritable Vanessa who was dressed and on the move than an equally drowsy and irritable Vanessa who was still in bed and not inclined to join the land of the living until well after the sun had crested the horizon.

So she made sure to hover outside the bathroom door and badger her twin the second she stepped out, making her Vanessa got dressed in practical clothing rather than the long flowing skirts she seemed to prefer, and then ushered her out of the apartment and downstairs to where a WRO transport was waiting to pick them up, per Reeve's orders. Vanessa wanted to sit down and have breakfast first, but Valeria had made a pointed remark about the transport driver being up at an ungodly hour and that had seemed to guilt her twin in hurrying downstairs, although the prospect of breakfast at the WRO cafeteria wasn't particularly appealing to either of them.

They arrived at headquarters in what felt like good time, but Valeria couldn't be sure because she'd been too distracted by the fact her sister had somehow fallen asleep in her seat along the way, her head slumping down onto her chest as she gave the most ridiculous little snorting snores.

"I hope to the Goddess that I don't snore like that," she said at one point after a particularly intense snore, and their driver laughed. "And you better not mention this to anyone," she added teasingly, sending him a mock glare. "I'd hate to have to chop of your head or something in retaliation."

He only laughed harder. "Whatever you say, Captain," he said, still chuckling heartily as he returned his focus to the road before them.

In any case, they arrived at headquarters in good time, and Valeria turned her attention to poking and prodding her sister into hopping down out of the car and walking inside the building. Her sister gave a massive yawn that almost had Valeria yawning automatically in response as they stepped into one of the many elevators littering the hallway by the front entrance and rode it up to the cafeteria.

Once there, Vanessa plopped herself down at the closest available table and buried her head in her arms with another yawn. Rolling her eyes, Val went over to the all-hours buffet of hot foods and made up two trays of food. This early, with none of the cooks out of bed yet, there was only gloppy oatmeal and something that seemed to resemble some sort of meatloaf, albeit with a bizarre purplish tinge that had Valeria questioning its origins.

She got herself a heaping scoop of the oatmeal, added as much sugar and cream as she could, then grabbed an apple for her sister from the fruit bowl perched on the edge of the condiments counter. She wished there was something more to eat, but they'd come in so early it was gruel or bust. Never one to pass up a source of calories when she burned through energy so fast, she really had no choice but to eat whatever was available. Her sister, luckily, didn't have precisely the same metabolism and didn't use her powers in quite the same way Valeria did, so she didn't have a similar problem. Valeria also knew that her twin would only stare at the meatloaf in utter horror and regard the oatmeal in much the same way, so even attempting to get her sister to eat any of either would be in exercise in futility at best. She just hoped the apple would get a better reception.

Thankfully, her sister did seem to accept the apple as a suitable form of sustenance, although all she really did was take a large bite out of it, nibble at it a little more, then doze off with it held loosely in her hand as if she'd lost interest mid-bite and had decided that sleep would be a better option over eating.

Valeria just scooped oatmeal into her mouth as quickly as she could without burning her tongue, watching her sister with more than a little amusement as Vanessa sat napping at a cafeteria table. A morning person, her sister really was not.

In any case, she finished her oatmeal, nabbed her sister's apple and took a bite out of it for good measure, then threw all of the trash away before depositing their dirty trays in a bin set off to the side for specifically that purpose. Then she tugged her sister to her feet. "Come on, let's go."

Vanessa grumbled some more, but Valeria succeeded in shepherding her sister back out of the cafeteria and to the elevator, this time hitting the button for the floor where her office was. She'd gotten through most of her paperwork last night, but there were still a few forms that needed to be completed, forms that also required some input from Vanessa.

So she sat her sister down in the seat across from her desk that was normally occupied by Val's squad members whenever they came in to talk to her. Vanessa perked up a bit at finally seeing her sister's office, but let out another groan when her twin put a stack of papers in front of her. "You're joking, right?"

Valeria gave a half-smile. "Afraid not." She pulled a pen out of a desk drawer and passed it to her twin. "It's just the liability paperwork for your temporary enlistment with the WRO," she added in explanation.

"Liability paperwork?" Vanessa echoed, staring down at the forms in bewilderment.

"Relax," Valeria said easily. "It's no big deal. Just Reeve covering his ass legally should something go terribly, terribly wrong."

Her twin didn't look very reassured. "There's an awful lot here," she said dubiously, flipping through the top pamphlet.

Valeria snorted. "Oh, please. That's nothing. You should see the forms for requisitions. Those are a nightmare."

Vanessa heaved a sigh, but picked up the pen and went to work, pausing occasionally only to read portions of it aloud so Valeria could confirm the meaning and intent. Once she was done reading, and reasonably sure that she'd understood the majority of it, she signed in all the appropriate places before handing it back to Val, who in turn worked her way through the pages, double-checking everything before she added her own scrawling signature to the final page as the requisite WRO witness.

"I bet Cloud and Vincent don't have to bother with all this crap," Vanessa grumbled as Valeria folded up the papers and slipped them into an official-looking manila envelope.

"Technically," Valeria remarked, "they are supposed to. But Tifa handles all of Cloud's because Cloud just ignores it. Vincent, being immortal, likewise thinks it's a waste of time."

"And you don't think it's a waste of time?" Vanessa asked disbelievingly.

"Oo, no," Valeria replied immediately. "I think it's a complete waste of time. But it keeps Reeve from griping to me about following the proper protocols."

That Vanessa could believe. Her twin had limited patience for bureaucratic nonsense. But she had even less patience for being nagged about such things (Vanessa couldn't count the number of times her twin had come home form work complaining about her paperwork-obsessed assistant, Shun) so it made sense for Valeria to go along with Reeve's mandatory paper storms even if she'd rather not.

"Okay," Valeria was saying now as she stood up. "I'm going to go drop this off with Reeve and then we can head down to the armory to get you suited up."

Vanessa managed to look faintly alarmed even mid-yawn. "Suited up?" she asked, trepidation clear in her tone.

"Don't worry," Valeria said with a wink as she strode out the door. "I'll try to not go overboard when I smother you in protective bubble-wrap."

Vanessa tried to not feel guilty as she snooped around her sister's office. She was still drowsy and would rather have been taking a powernap on the little couch in the corner, but she'd never had a chance to really scope out her sister's office before and she didn't want to lose her chance.

At first glance, there didn't seem to be much to see; a desk with files and papers stacked according to some unique Valerian system of organization, a file cabinet similarly arranged, a bookcase against one wall that seemed to have an odd assortment of history books and military memoirs...it was like any other office for any other captain or officer.

Valeria began to worry about the seeming lack of personalization (surely that wasn't normal?), but then started to notice all the little things that proved her assumptions wrong.

Mixed in with war memoirs was a small collection of those silly comic books her twin had taken such a liking to. And over on top of her filing cabinet was the small bonsai tree Yuffie had given to Val for their last birthday. And, perhaps more tellingly than anything else, there were two framed photo's on her sister's desk. One was of Val with her WRO squad; the other was of Vanessa.

It took her a minute to recognize the photo and remember when it had been taken, but when she did, she smiled.

It had been not long after Vincent had dealt with Deepground and Omega, she recalled. She'd been helping with the wounded in the WRO infirmary even days later, and Val had been up to her ears in all varieties of rescue and recovery missions, ranging from hunting down escaped Deepground operatives to returning stolen children to their families. Eventually, they'd both hit a day where they'd both been ordered to take some time off to rest and regroup. They'd wasted no time in packing a picnic lunch and getting the hell out of town for the day.

Valeria had, unbeknownst to Vanessa at first, brought along an old camera. Her twin had then proceeded to snap photos of all sorts of things; Vanessa, the sky, a flock of birds overhead.

When Vanessa had asked her why, Val had given a slight shrug and crooked smile.

"So I"ll have something to remind me of the good times," she'd said, "for the next time things go bad."

Vanessa hadn't quite known what to say in response to her twin's statement, and even now looking back she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

Once thing she was certain of, though, was how absolutely ridiculous she looked in that photograph.

It was still sweet of Val to keep it on her desk, though.

Valeria returned to find her sister curled up on the small fold-out couch and, after a brief moment of consideration, grabbed a small bottle of water from the minifridge and dumped it on her sister's head. Vanessa woke up sputtering and Valeria wasted no time in bustling her out the door, taking advantage of her twin's indignant fury to get her moving at a fast clip towards the armory.

Once there, she made sure her sister equipped herself suitably; Vanessa had her own handguns, but Valeria wanted to make sure that she was adequately armed with back-up weapons just in case something went wrong with the guns. So she made her sister take two small daggers and a flash grenade, just as a precaution. Val wasn't planning to get into a situation where her twin was in any real danger that they couldn't handle, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

Vanessa, for her part, just yawned from time to time but otherwise let Valeria fuss over her until she was satisfied that her twin was outfitted sufficiently.

Then Val checked the time, realized that they were due in the infirmary to pick up Genesis, and hurried her twin back to the elevator.

They managed to make it to their final destination in relatively good time despite bumping into a variety of other WRO members who suddenly had a need to stop the twins and chat them up about nothing in particular even as they tried to hustle to where they were going. Why was it, Valeria wondered, that things like that only happened when you were trying to get somewhere in a hurry? It just wasn't fair.

Still, they were only a few minutes late, so Val counted it as a win. Her sister on the other hand, was alternating between grouchy and drowsy again, and didn't seem particularly thrilled at having been run all over the base when she would have preferred to be in bed.

"Now what are we doing?" Vanessa grumbled as they entered the infirmary.

"Checking up on Genesis," Valeria replied. "Reeve didn't give me the details, but supposedly he's ready to be released from the infirmary. Ah, there he is." Valeria saw the former SOLDIER sitting on an infirmary bed, with a nurse taking his blood pressure.

The nurse, a woman named Claire Yale with whom the twins were well-acquainted, nodded to her as they approached. " Ah, Captain Tyler," she said. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Valeria answered. "Do you have any coffee?"

"You seem awake enough to me," the nurse noted absently as she wrote down Genesis's blood pressure on her clipboard and set about deflating the band around his arm.

"It's not for me," she said with a laugh, pointing at her twin. "Nessa's not a happy early bird."

Chuckling, Claire set her clipboard aside. "Wait here," she said. "I'll be right back."

Valeria turned back to Genesis. "So," she said after a moment of looking at him intently. "How are you feeling?" He looked well enough; a little tired maybe, but without that about-to-collapse-and-die look he'd had the day before; it seemed like Valeria and Yuffie had gotten there just in the nick of time.

Although the jury was still out on whether or not finding Genesis and bringing him back here had really been a good idea; there hadn't been any real alternative, but it was still unpleasant, having such a big unknown sitting smack-dab in the middle of their base of operations.

The red-headed man looked at her, and frowned slightly. "Fine," he said after a moment. Then he looked at her more closely. "You're the one from yesterday. Your name was…"

"Valeria Tyler," she supplied, seeing no reason to withhold her identity. "This is my sister, Vanessa," she added, gesturing to her twin.

Genesis cast her sister what would have been a cursory glance, then gave a quick blink of surprise once he really saw her. "You two are…"

"Twins," she said, nodding. "Yeah, we are. Oh, there's the nurse," she observed as a familiar figure came back towards them.

Claire returned to them a few seconds later, with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand and a file folder in the other. "Here, Nessie," the nurse said, handing the coffee to the younger twin.

"Thanks," Vanessa said with a fervent murmur, sipping on the caffeinated beverage gratefully.

"And this, Valeria," Claire said, spinning to face the green-eyed twin, "is for you."

"Let me guess, more paperwork?" the older twin asked tiredly, taking the folder with an air of resignation.

"Nope," Claire replied. "Reeve dropped by not long ago and left that with me to give to you. I think he meant to give it to you himself earlier," she added, "but it must have slipped his mind."

"Well, he is pretty busy," Valeria conceded, not terribly troubled by the delay; she was hardly in any position to complain about tardy reports. "What is it?" she asked curiously.

"It's the information on the wasteland towns," Claire responded, "such as it is."

She flipped through the file. "This is it?" She made a sound of disgust. "Claire, this just overview maps and sketchy info."

Claire shrugged. "Reeve said it's the most recent information."

Valeria rolled her eyes. "I'll bet." The only information he could get last minute, more like. She closed the file. "How is he?" she asked, switching the topic and pointing at Genesis.

Claire didn't bat an eye at Valeria's abrupt change of subject. "Good to go, as far as I can tell. Blood pressure 's base-norm for a SOLDIER of his level, and there don't seem to be any cardiovascular or respiratory issues to speak of. The mako-concentration levels in his blood are higher than I would have expected, but it doesn't seem to be affecting him in any negative way. There are some signs of malnutrition and dehydration," she added, picking up her clipboard and tapping at some test results, "but nothing major. Physically, he seems to be in decent enough health. Just make sure he doesn't strain himself, or get injured in battle."

"I wasn't planning for there to be much battle at all," Valeria replied, frowning. "We're supposed to just do simple reconnaissance, with Genesis there in an advisory and probationary capacity." Bringing Genesis along was their best idea for how to gauge where he was at right now, both mentally and physically, and whether or not he could be trusted. Valeria had been fairly ambivalent to the idea at first, but now she wasn't so sure it was the right move. "Is Reeve expecting us to run into trouble?"

"I'm just a nurse, Val," Claire replied blandly. "How should I know?"

Valeria snorted. "Just a nurse, my ass." Claire had been one of the most talented WRO snipers before she'd decided to retire from fighting and pour her energies into saving lives instead of taking them.

Claire just rolled her eyes and turned back to her patient. "Well, Mr. Rhapsodos," she said, signing the sheet on her clipboard, " I officially give you a clean bill of health. Which is surprising, to be honest. Considering the state you were in when Val found you, I was xpecting to need to keep you here much longer than one night." She shook her head, a rueful smile tugging at her lips. "I'd be impressed that you recovered so quickly, but you SOLDIER types are always like that, I suppose."

Genesis just shrugged, not seeming to have anything to say.

Claire sighed. "Well, Val, he's all yours. Just remember what I said. Don't overdo it."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"Val," the nurse said sternly. "I'm serious."

"So I see," she remarked lightly.

"Valeria-"

Val put up a hand to ward off whatever tirade was building. "Relax, Commander Yale. I'll keep an eye on him, I swear."

Claire, seemingly mollified by Val's promise, discharged Genesis from her care and the ex-SOLDIER stood up and left with Valeria with no complaint.

He didn't seem to have much of an opinion about his situation either way, actually, judging from the faintly bored look on his face as they left the infirmary. Valeria wasn't sure what to make of the expression on his face; either he really didn't care about what was happening, or he was keeping his true feelings well-hidden under an inscrutable mask of indifference.

Well, whatever the case was, Valeria was going to keep an eye on him, just as she'd promised. What she hadn't told Claire, though, was that if Genesis turned out to be dangerous...if he posed a risk to her sister and the future she'd been fighting so hard for all this time...she wouldn't hesitate to do whatever was necessary to remove the threat he posed.

Shaking her head to dispel those dark thoughts, she decided to start off easy and see where things went from there. "Let's start from the beginning again," Valeria said as she led Genesis and her sister down to one of the parking garages. "I'm Captain Valeria Tyler. This is my twin sister Vanessa."

The ex-SOLDIER gave a faint smirk, as if he found her attempt at proper introductions amusing. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captain Tyler," he said. "My name is Genesis Rhapsodos. SOLDIER First Class," he added absently, as if out of habit.

"Great," Val said, deciding to not point out that defecting from Shinra made him very definitely not a member of SOLDIER anymore, even if SOLDIER had still been around; better to save that conversation for a later date. "What were you doing in the slums," she asked instead, "and why were those men after you?"

Genesis remained silent, his expression lapsing once again into that aggravating blankness. It was annoying to see, especially since from what Valeria had read in the files Shelke had given her Genesis was supposed to be very open with his thoughts and emotions; right now talking to him about anything significant was like trying to get expressive answers from a brick wall.

She sighed. "You do realize we're on the same side, right?"

He looked at her, and now the suspicion in his mako-bright eyes was clear. "How can I be sure of that?" he demanded.

She resisted the urge to sigh, but only just. This is going to be a long day. "World Regenesis Organization," she said by way of answer, pointing to the patch on her jacket sleeve. "WRO. Our goal is to help restore the planet. To fix the damage that was done to it."

"By Shinra," he said darkly, his voice so full of bitterness and anger that it made the air crackle with tension.

She nodded, not flustered by the venom in his tone. "Yeah." She tucked her hands into her pockets to quell her instinctive need to fidget. "I don't know if we'll even be able to undo most of what's been done," she admitted. "But we are trying."

"Val's one of the best the WRO has," Vanessa chirped from behind them, pitching in unexpectedly. "She has her own squad and everything."

Valeria cast her sister an amused look. ""Finally woken up, have you?"

"Coffee," her twin declared, "is magical."

Valeria snorted. "If you say so, sis." She turned back to Genesis. "My main point here is...we're on the same side. I am not trying to make you uncomfortable or ferret out your deep dark secrets," she went on seriously. "My assignment is to get to know you better and make an evaluation about whether or not we should keep you around. To do that," she continued carefully, "I need as much information as possible, so I can make an informed decision."

He looked at her intently for a long time, even stopping mid-step to narrow his eyes at her, as if trying to see clear through to her soul and determine whether she was being honest with him or not.

Valeria just arched an eyebrow, not saying anything. She was content to stand there all day and wait for him to make up his mind, if that was what it took. She and her sister understood better than most the need to be absolutely sure you could trust someone. And they also knew what could go wrong if that trust was misplaced.

So they waited, and after a while Genesis seemed to make up his mind, at least for the moment. "I woke up underneath Midgar a year ago," he began. "I found...someone else" he added hesitantly, "when I awoke. I took him with me, and we left the cavern where I had been sleeping."

Valeria frowned. "But there was no one else near the slums where we found you," she remarked. "Reeve sent in a team to look around after we brought you back here. They didn't find anything."

Genesis nodded, not seeming surprised by this at all. "We split up before I went to the slums. I don't know where he is now," he added, looking faintly worried.

"Where was he going?" Vanessa asked curiously.

Genesis shrugged. "We'd heard rumors of something going on to the west. He went to investigate."

"West, huh?" Valeria clicked her tongue and nodded. "The wastelands. We're going there for our mission," she added.

He now looked surprised. "To the wastelands?"

She nodded. "Yep."

Genesis's expression turned speculative. "Then maybe we'll find him there."

Valeria made a noncommittal sound. "Maybe," was all she said.

"How long has he been gone?" Vanessa asked, elbowing her sister in the side.

"Almost a month," Genesis responded. "He should have returned by now. Something must have happened."

"Well," Valeria said, opening the double doors that led to the underground garage, "hopefully he'll turn up during the course of our investigation and you can put your mind at ease. All I'm really hoping for is to get some answers about what's going on with all these stupid disappearances. It's like Deepground all over again," she muttered darkly, then shook herself, pulling out her car keys and going over to her car.

Vanessa groaned. "Oh no. You're not serious. Not the Atlas."

"What's wrong with my Atlas?" she asked, offended. A type of practical all-terrain vehicle, her Atlas Model 380 gave off the vibe of an outdated hunk of military hardware, but it was still sturdy and dependable. A little worse for wear, maybe, but what beloved vehicle wasn't?

Vanessa just heaved a long-suffering sigh. "You can pick any car you want from the whole garage, and you pick the same old Atlas."

"I love my Atlas," she said defensively. "Besides," she added reasonably, "it's the best choice for a trip out to the wastelands."

"I don't like it," Vanessa grumbled.

"No one is asking you to like it," Valeria said, rolling her eyes. "Now get in," she ordered as she jumped into the driver's seat. Genesis slid into the front passenger seat without comment while Vanessa climbed into the back, muttering darkly the entire time.

A/N: Okay, seriously, this chapter was only two pages long in the original version, and now that I've re-written it...it's ten pages long total, including the author's notes. The re-write has made this chapter over four/five times its original size! How crazy is that?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And in case anyone's wondering, for the purposes of this story, an Atlas is basically an old Jeep. Think of a WWII Jeep and that's basically what I picture as Val's Atlas 380. XD

The next chapter should be posted within a few days, depending on how long re-writing Chapter 5 takes me and how much progress I make into fixing up the remaining chapters from the original version of TWD. If you guys have got a second ro two to spare, I'd really appreciate some feedback. :D

See you next time!