"How's the job going?", the message from Rufus read. Ever since returning from Wutai, they had started messaging a lot more than before. Tseng had not forgotten about their original arrangement, which prohibited Rufus from contacting Tseng when he was not in the office, but he had come to realize how much Rufus enjoyed even a little bit of attention and distraction from his jailed life style. "Bird in a cage" fit his situation relatively well, for he was given pretty much whatever he wanted, but he was not allowed to leave his cell unless it was on President Shinra's orders, or talk to anyone not authorized. And Tseng himself could not deny that he enjoyed the attention the vice president was giving him, at least in a certain way. Though, sadly enough for Tseng, he had not tried anything physical with him ever since then. Tseng did not exactly understand why Rufus had suddenly withdrawn the way he did and instead started messaging him several times a day.
Watching them, I could suddenly relate to Genesis' frustration about Sephiroth and me back when we were still tiptoeing around each other. Initially, I had thought that Tseng and Rufus fit each other just perfectly. Apparently, they liked the same things, although some of these things were horrifying to me, and if I was asked which one of them I found more attractive, I would have to say I would rather die a virgin. But I was under the impression that they were so attracted to each other that they would find a way to make it work, despite the situation. At some point, I realized they lacked a common ground to communicate on. And so, Rufus, after having been perhaps rejected or perhaps not, who knew, with the way Tseng was behaving, did not know what to do other than to take a few steps back until he reached a point where he did not feel rejected anymore. Since I have never been in that situation, I could only imagine how excruciating it must have been to keep taking the first step and the other person not being clear about what they wanted or did not want. Though, to be fair, Tseng had never asked for Rufus' attention or affection either.
After confirming orders with Freyra, he turned his attention back to Rufus for a brief moment and texted: "We're almost done. If everything goes well, I'll be back by tomorrow morning." Over his headset, he could only hear the light sound of Freyra's footsteps as she explored the three-story building in the heart of the Wutaian capital. He himself was hidden in a back alley close to the building they suspected to be one of Avalanche's hideouts in Wutai. He kept his eyes out for potential pursuers, but had yet to detect any signs of any. Although they had clearance to be here and conduct anti-Avalanche activities on Wutaian ground as result of the truce terms the vice president had chiefly dictated, there was no telling how far these official sanctions would go in practice. They were prepared for a quick getaway, with Rod, another one of the younger Turks members waiting nearby, keeping an inconspicuous vehicle ready.
His phone vibrated and a photo appeared on the screen, which showed what they had been looking for: mako tanks of the same type they had found back in the Avalanche base located near Icicle Inn. The same ones that had been used further modify SOLDIER members, people who had already been biologically enhanced, using Avalanche technology, to turn them into mindless combatants with abilities far superior to the average SOLDIER. Ravens, as they called them, possibly because of their black uniforms, which contrasted sharply with the usual camouflage style Avalanche used. He had seen enough. "Do it", he ordered decisively, and Freyra confirmed over the headset. His phone still in his hand, he moved on to the entrance of the alley, and, making certain that no one was watching him, he moved closer to the Avalanche hideout to cover Freyra's escape once she reappeared.
Their orders were to destroy the hideout and everything that was in it, after gathering as much information on Avalanche, their plans and their technology, as they could, and their plan was to plant several bombs inside the building to be detonated all at the same time, after Freyra had made her escape. They had the evidence to prove that this really was an Avalanche base. Now it was up to her to find something worthy of their time in there. His phone vibrated several more times as scans of documents came in almost in real time as she was taking them. "Good job", he whispered into his headset. "Pay attention to your surroundings." They could not afford to lose any Turks at all, but aside from that, Freyra, whose impeccable aim with her long-barreled gun had earned her the codename "Shotgun", was good at the job, despite her lack of experience. Losing her here would be regrettable.
Finally, the signal came. Because she had to be completely quiet while inside the hideout and texting took too long and was too distracting, the signal they had agreed on was a photo of the back of her hand. He put away his phone and drew his gun. Keeping it his hands, he kept eyes and ears on his surroundings, until a yell that came through the headset alarmed him. "Shotgun, what's going on?", he whispered. The voice had not been hers. Had she been discovered? Hasty footsteps. "Come back right now, you coward", he heard the stranger's voice over the headset. Strangely enough, it sounded like a young girl. The signal that she had finished sitting the bombs had not yet come, so she must still be in the process. Her having been discovered at this time made him nervous because it put both her and the success of the mission at risk. "Do you need support?", he asked a little louder, but her response, "Negative!", came immediately. "Judgement to Shinra!", the other voice yelled. Whether the girl was an Avalanche member or not would not matter if she alerted them by yelling the house down.
"Finish setting the bombs and then get out of there", he renewed the orders. He would not lose a Turk and fail a mission on the same day. She, too, knew what the priorities were. A few moments later, the second signal came in, notifying him that all the bombs were in position. He took a deep breath and pressed out: "Hurry up and get out of there!", before he activated the timed trigger. "Four minutes", he added. If she had not been uncovered, he would have waited for her to get out to trigger the bombs, but now he had no choice. "Get out of here", he heard Freyra call out over the headset. "Come again?", he requested, not understanding what she meant. "No! I hate Shinra! I will never do what you say! You'll never catch me!" After more hasty footsteps, he heard Freyra's breathless voice finally explain the situation: "Sir, there's a young girl here. I don't think she's with Avalanche. I'll try to get her out of the building." – "What?", Tseng exclaimed in disbelief. "You don't have time. Leave her and get out of there!" The response only was a "Get out of here quickly!"
He took another deep breath and before he knew it, his feet were taking him to the entrance of the building. "Where is she headed?", he asked into the headset. "Sir?" Darkness embraced him before his eyes got used to the dim light as he entered the building. "Where is she headed?", he repeated, more clearly. "Second floor. To the staircase." He rushed toward the back of the building and flew up the stairs as quickly as his legs could carry him. At the top of the staircase, he stopped and listened for a moment as two pairs of feet were running toward him. He positioned himself next to the door leading into the staircase, and when the girl ran past him, he tripped her up and she fell on the ground face first. A shriek gratified his twisting her harm behind her back before she could get back up. "I got her", he shouted into the headset. "Now hurry up and get out!". He pulled her up and Freyra caught up with him as he carried her down the stairs as quickly as he could, while the girl was struggling in vain to escape his grasp.
The blast of the explosion caught up with them just as they escaped from the wooden doorway and sent them to the ground. After splinters, debris and embers had stopped raining down on them, he pushed himself up, out of breath, when a foot struck him across the face. The girl had come to her senses more quickly than he did and obviously did not appreciate being so handled. From the brief glimpse he caught of her face just before she dashed off, he finally realized that this girl was Yuffie Kisaragi, the daughter of Lord Godo. But before he could follow this thought any further, he was pulled back into reality by Freyra dragging him up on his feet as he rubbed his jaw. "We have to get going!" Running after the tall, young woman, he turned around for a brief second for a last glance and photo evidence of the collapsed Avalanche headquarters.
The Avalanche splinter group that had been working with Rufus before his activities were uncovered had not only been operating from inside the Wutaian capital; from the information they had found so far, the Turks suspected that they had support from the Wutaian leadership. How else could they be conducting the kinds of experiments they had been doing out in the open in the middle of the capital? That Yuffie, Godo Kisaragi's daughter, was able to get in and out of their base and parroted the Avalanche parole "Judgement to Shinra" was even more suspicious. Perhaps they should have taken her captive again to question her. She was currently the only connection they could draw between Avalanche and the Wutaian leadership. But she was gone for now.
They turned around a few corners as commotion broke out among them. They tried to remain hidden, but their black uniforms were too unusual in Wutai, where most people wore colorful gowns, to go unnoticed. But the commoners in the street did not challenge them or try to stop them, until they reached the car where Rod, the tall man with the long face and spiky brown hair, sat waiting and tapped his fingers nervously on the steering wheel. Tseng and Freyra got into the car and Rod steered the car on the main road out of the city as quickly as he could, but calmly enough not to raise suspicion.
Tseng, in the back seat, looked around anxiously, searching for a sign of potential pursuit, but they remained unchallenged until they reached the edge of the city and left the valley where the Wutaian capital was situated. The throbbing pain in his jaw, where Yuffie had kicked him did not exactly make the situation more bearable for him, but he tried to push it to the back of his mind. When the tall pagodas and the Da-Chao statue finally faded out of sight, he relaxed a little and began to examine more closely the evidence they had uncovered. Most of the documents Freyra had scanned appeared to be either research notes about experiments conducted on humans and animals, or mad ramblings that told of a mythical creature born from the planet itself, whose sole purpose it was to reduce all life on it to nothingness to return all energy back to the planet. Tseng wondered if the texts had been written by the strange scientist, Fuhito, who was one of the leading figures of the Avalanche splinter group, or if he had actually found them somewhere. Based on what they knew about the violent group, he was the only one that appeared as a likely candidate to write something like this.
While he was reading the notes, they reached the vicinity of the site where their helicopter was carefully hidden and waiting for them. "Isn't this going way too smoothly?", Rod pondered as he steered the car into a narrow trail. Tseng looked around again, and still found no sign of pursuit, but Rod was correct. Finding the Avalanche hideout completely deserted and then being able to get away without any interference was suspicious, and one might argue that there were too many coincidences at once for them to be mere chance. The car entered the forest and after just a short while, they reached the small clearing where they had left the helicopter, which, much to Tseng's relief, was still where they had left it and appeared untouched. Covering each other's backs, they got out of the car and moved over to the helicopter. Again, without outside interference, they were able to get in and take off. Keeping away from settlements, they flew toward the sea and back toward Miken island.