Tseng XXV: A fun field trip
When Tseng finished getting ready for the journey, he picked up his suitcase and made his way to the landing site close to his house in Sector 4. He was picked up there by a helicopter designated to take him and the vice president to the airport close to Midgar, where they would board a plane to the military base at Miken Island at the very edge of the coast between Rocket Town and Wutai. Sephiroth was assigned to meet Reeve Tuesti at the Shinra headquarters and take a helicopter to the airport from there. The four infanterists who would accompany them to Wutai would join them at the air base.
Sephiroth was apparently back in the game, as he was already on the way to the Shinra building as scheduled, before Tseng could even prompt him to do so. Although his interactions with Sephiroth were sometimes uncomfortable, Tseng was almost sad that he would not have an excuse to talk to Sephiroth anymore. Part of him had hoped that they would reconnect, but that was probably futile after everything that had happened.
Tseng got off at the Turks' HQ, leaving his suitcase in the helicopter and went straight to his office. He felt his heart beating hard in his chest as he entered. Today was a special day, in more than one way. This was the first time Rufus Shinra would be let out of his cell since he was locked in there two months ago. This was also the first time Tseng would be visiting Wutai out in the open. His family was from Wutai, but because they had been very poor in the past, they could not afford to travel. And with him being a Turk, he could not simply go to places outside of the Shinra company's realm of influence just because he wanted to, because his mere presence in those places could cause a political incident. He had been to Wutai on recon missions, but he had not even once been able to walk around in the city out in the open in broad daylight.
He calmed himself down for a minute before he unlocked both doors to Rufus's cell, this time without locking the first door before he opened the second one. Tseng found Rufus pacing around in the small open space when the second door slid open. A pair of icy blue eyes turned toward him and stared inquisitively. Tseng had attempted not to think too much about what had happened the night before, but as soon as he was in the presence of Rufus Shinra again, the memory of the touch of his lips on his neck came back in full force.
Tseng had no problems with getting physically intimate with complete strangers, as long as there were no strings attached, and he knew that he would never see the other person again. But when there were feelings or another connection involved, it was a very different story. And so, he had ultimately had to disappoint Rufus the night before. He was not good at explaining it either, and so he ended up leaving with too many things unsaid. This was what brought on the questioning look he received from his vice president at this very moment.
"Good morning, Mr. vice president", Tseng greeted him with a light bow. "Good morning", Rufus gave back hesitantly, his hands folded behind his back. "Are you ready?" He saw Rufus's suitcase sitting by the wall, but wanted to make certain that the was not stepping out of line. "Yes, I am", he said with a look of mild disappointment. Tseng hesitated for a moment before continuing, but the sad expression on Rufus's face convinced him that he was right in doing what he was about to do, and so he asked: "May I kiss you, sir?" The vice president blinked. "Sure, why not?" Tseng crossed the distance between them with a few steps, put one hand on Rufus' arm and the other on his chest, and tilted his head back with closed eyes to reach the tall man's lips with his. Their skin touched for just a brief moment very lightly before Tseng pulled back and whispered: "I really enjoyed myself last night."
"You're really sending mixed messages", Rufus objected. Unable to find the words to explain it, Tseng looked away and murmured: "I'm sorry. Please give me some time." Without awaiting an answer, Tseng turned away and picked up Rufus' suitcase and said without looking at him: "Let's get going." Rufus did not stir and instead asked: "No handcuffs?" The Turk shook his head. "The vice president of the Shinra Electric Power Company does not go out in handcuffs." He bowed lightly and waved his hand toward the open door.
Rufus' glance went back and forth between Tseng and the open door indecisively. When he still made no attempt to move, Tseng explained: "As your subordinate, I will walk behind you, Mr. Vice President." After a short pause, he added: "And we can discuss everything else when we come back from Wutai. Let's just focus on the mission for now." Rufus stared at him. "You could at least have kissed me properly", he said, but finally started moving and walked ahead through the open door into Tseng's office.
Tseng followed him at an appropriated distance as they crossed the hallway and the lounge toward the helipad, where their helicopter was waiting. When they approached the helicopter, Tseng passed Rufus with a few quick steps and held open the door for him. Rufus climbed in and sat on the bench facing forward. Tseng followed, closed the door and sat down diagonally from the vice president, who did not look at him, but out of the window. Tseng would have liked to talk to him, because he knew that he had disappointed him again after giving him hope. But for the sake of the mission, it was probably better for them to keep a professional and distanced air between them.
After a short flight to the airport near Midgar, they got off and the pilot helped them with the luggage. With Rufus not knowing the way, Tseng walked ahead in relative silence this time. Their Gelnika was ready and waiting beside the runway when they approached it on foot. Tseng expected Sephiroth and Reeve Tuesti to already be on board, but what he had not expected was the strange scene that he was facing. The Gelnika in its standard model was fitted with eight passenger seats arranged in a single row just in between the cockpit and the cargo hold. It was not the most comfortable mode of transport, but Shinra logistics commonly scheduled missions to coincide with cargo flights in order to minimize transportation expenses when only a small squad was deployed, regardless of how inconvenient it was for the travelers. This mode of transport was not up to par for the vice president of the Shinra Electric Power Company, but it was most definitely the least conspicuous one. Their mission to Wutai was a secret within the Shinra-dominated territories, and so they could not afford to alert the public or even independent news reporters to their activities by making out-of-the-ordinary flights in the presidential jet.
In that same row on the very right at the window sat Sephiroth, ignoring the newcomers. Reeve was sitting in the same block at the aisle with his laptop on his lap. He placed it on the empty seat next to him and stood up to greet them when they approached. Tuesti was a tall, black-haired man around 40 with an impressive, well-groomed beard and kind eyes. He wore his trademark dark grey pinstripe suit and a dark red tie. Tseng stepped aside to make way for Rufus, who nodded at Reeve Tuesti and exchanged a few polite words with him. All the while, Tseng was observing Sephiroth, who was looking out the window, his chin supported on his hand, the view of his face blocked by his hair.
Sephiroth had never been very social, or lost unnecessary words, but he usually still paid the due respect to his superiors. Tseng had great respect for Sephiroth's attempts to return to business as usual after the loss of his life partner, but it was obvious to anyone who knew him well enough that his mind was somewhere else entirely. He carefully passed Rufus and Tuesti, who were still exchanging platitudes, and slowly approached Sephiroth to sit down on the free seat next to him.
"Sephiroth?", he softly muttered toward the same. When he did not react, Tseng lightly touched his arm to get his attention. He pulled back his hand when Sephiroth jumped and his head jerked around, his green eyes wide open in surprise. Tseng froze, staring into the SOLDIER's eyes. Due to some trick of the light, his pupils looked strange, as if constricted to slits. "The vice president is here. We're taking off in a few minutes", Tseng notified him in a low voice after overcoming his own shock. Sephiroth looked up, past Tseng. "Sorry, I was lost in thought", he murmured and stood up to pay his respects to his newly arrived superior.
Their conversation was short and courteous, and finally, everyone took their seats, and the plane took off toward Miken Island. During the flight, about halfway to the air base, Tseng received sobering news from Reno. He moved a few seats over, where Rufus was sitting by the window to let him know what he had learned from the advance team. Rufus looked up when Tseng approached and sat down. "I have news from Wutai", Tseng began. Rufus glanced past him, presumably to see if Tuesti was listening in. Tseng followed his glance, but the Head of Urban Development was apparently focused on whatever he was doing on his laptop and paid no attention to them. Besides, he would not hear anything over the noise of the plane anyway.
"They found a promising lead on the Leviathan materia", Tseng continued, speaking in a low voice with his head close to Rufus'. "Can they recover it?", the vice president inquired. "They already went in, but it was gone by the time they got there. It has apparently been moved recently." Rufus' eyebrows moved up. "Moved?" He rubbed his forehead. "Smart bastards. They must have known what we were up to and moved it out of the city or moved it to a new hiding place." Tseng shook his head. "Now comes the weird part. Reno said that all the guards were dead when they arrived on the scene, no one was there and the materia was gone." Rufus stared at him in disbelief. "You mean someone else stole it?"
"There's more. Among the guards were apparently some of the most powerful of Wutai's bio weapons. Whoever took it must have been extremely powerful." Rufus leaned back in his seat. "Who else aside from Wutai and us has such powerful fighters?" He covered his face with both of his hands. "Don't tell me Avalanche did it." Tseng shook his head again, although Avalanche certainly had fighters strong enough to overtake those monsters. "We have no lead on anything at this point. It could have been a traitor from within Wutai or someone else entirely just as well." Rufus lowered his hands. "They're going to blame it on us, aren't they?" – "Most likely, yes."
Tseng moved a little closer and continued with an even lower voice: "I think we should absolutely keep this from Tuesti and let him do the talking. We had nothing to do with the materia being stolen and he knows nothing about the plan. If anyone can make us look completely innocent, it's him if he's convinced that we are." Rufus nodded. "But honestly, they should have been faster. What about the girl?" Tseng looked aside. "We'll do better, sir. But I think we still have better chances trying to find the thief and recover the materia from them than finding a girl that we know nothing about." Rufus sighed. "We might as well give up at this point."
Tseng lowered his eyes. "The Turks always complete the mission, one way or another. We may need some more time, but we'll find the materia or the girl. I have complete faith in Reno and Rude." Rufus lightly touched Tseng's knee. "I could hold you personally responsible if that helps." The unusual sensation sent shivers up Tseng's leg. "That's good to know", he responded as dryly as he could, while trying to suppress a smile.
He stood up again and as he turned away to return to his seat, his eyes met Sephiroth's for a moment, who was observing them from where he was seated. The SOLDIER appeared indifferent most of the time, but he had the eyes of a hawk whenever something caught his attention. Not knowing what he had actually seen, Tseng only gave him a curt nod and forced a smile. He himself had no idea where things with Rufus were going, or if they were even going anywhere and he was most definitely not ready for Sephiroth to find out.
Not sparing Sephiroth any further glance, he sat down and got in contact with Reno to relay to him what he had discussed with their superior. Them having found the location where the Leviathan materia had been kept was big progress after all the years they had been looking for it. Someone having beat them to it was unfortunate, but all was not lost because they had a track and all they had to do was follow it. The question was whether or not they would make it on time.
They proceeded as planned, switching to a large helicopter at the military base of Miken Island. Four infanterists joined them there, one of them a trained helicopter pilot. With the five soldiers who had gone with the main group, they would have the support of nine in total to take turns guarding them in three shifts. The infanterist took over as the main pilot, and Tseng took the co-pilot's seat, while the rest of the party distributed on the seats in the back. With twelve seats in total, the three infanterists sat in the back, Sephiroth and Reeve sat across from each other, and Rufus sat by himself.
The remainder of the trip to Wutai was comparably short, as Miken Island was quite close to the Wutaian coast. Immediately after takeoff, Tseng got in touch with the Wutaian flight control for the first time and announced their approach to the Wutaian air space and confirmed that they were permitted to enter. From Reno, he heard that they were ready to receive them at the airport, and so they continued on.
After getting everything on the way, all that was left for them until they were within view of the capital, was to fly. Tseng leaned back in his seat and looked into the mirror in front of him that gave him view into the passenger compartment of the helicopter. Astonished, he noticed that Reeve was not working and Sephiroth was not looking passively out the window, but Reeve was showing Sephiroth something on his phone enthusiastically. Sephiroth was too polite to turn him down, but Tseng could tell from his demeanor that he was not really interested in whatever it was that Reeve was showing him. Reeve was enthusiastic about a lot of things, but very few people ever shared his excitement. Neither did Sephiroth, but he did not have the social skills to turn down his higher-up confidently without offending him, and so he just let it happen.
His gaze wandered over to Rufus, who, as Tseng was not too surprised to find out, was looking at him through the mirror. Tseng froze when their eyes met, but managed to hold the gaze. After what seemed like an eternity, Rufus' lips twitched into a light smile, which Tseng returned in kind. Having half a mind to say something, anything, to him, Tseng opened his mouth, but ultimately did not know what to say, closed his mouth again and looked away. Rufus would not hear it over the noise of the helicopter anyway, and with the coast of the Wutai continent finally within view, they had more important things to worry about than whatever this was, although he would have liked to keep watching Rufus' face a little while longer.
His biggest fear was that they would be met with hostility upon landing, or even before that. There was nothing easier than shooting down a helicopter in mid-flight. For a man with superhuman skill and strength like Sephiroth, it would be easy to survive as long as they were over land. He would simply jump off before they hit the ground and land on his own two feet. He had done it before, and he could take one person with him. That would be Rufus. And everyone else on board would be doomed in case Wutai decided to shoot them down.
But nothing happened, and when they were within sight of the capital, Tseng contacted the Wutaian flight control one last time, and they gave them green light to approach the capital and directed them to the airport. During a short communication pause, Tseng turned around in his seat and informed the rest of the party about their status and procedure. Upon hearing this, Rufus reached into the collar of his jacket, pulled out the blue feather boa and wrapped it around his neck with a wink. This earned him a shocked stare from Sephiroth and a more positively curious look from Reeve. Rufus pretended not to notice either of them, and topped off his look with a pair of dark shades, which he pulled from his chest pocket.
Tseng had told Rufus the day before that he looked terrible, but the fact of the matter was that the vice president was so outrageously handsome that his attempt at trying to look like a flamboyant party boy did not do anything to change that at all. Rufus never wore colors other than white, black and grey, but colors suited him surprisingly very well. Rufus lifted his hand to give Tseng a small "ok" sign, and the Turk nodded to confirm.
With the vice president ready, Tseng turned toward Sephiroth, whose eyes wandered back and forth between him and Rufus indecisively. "Are you ready?", Tseng asked him loudly. Sephiroth's eyes finally locked on Tseng and, after a few seconds, nodded hesitantly. Tseng nodded in confirmation and gave the signal to the pilot to land the helicopter.