"Good shot", the message from Rufus read that Tseng received just after getting off the helicopter. He stopped for a moment, but could not figure out what the message meant and responded "I don't think we shot anyone today", before he proceeded on toward the infirmary to get his jaw checked up on, whose throbbing had gotten continuously worse ever since they took off from Wutai. That girl was not only a magic prodigy, but she packed a pretty punch, too. He would rather not deal with a brat like her, but it was still regrettable that they would not be able to recruit her for SOLDIER, at least not for the official division. He wondered if perhaps he should put her name on the list for potential special recruits if they were ever asked to bolster those ranks again.
While he was waiting for the doctor to arrive, his phone beeped again, and Rufus' message read: "Check out WC1". His heart dropped at reading this message. WC1 stood for "Wutai Channel One", the main TV channel broadcast over the Wutaian continent. It was not available to the average citizen of Midgar, but the Shinra Company was recording all of its broadcasts for the purpose of information gathering. Although secret information was obviously not spread over television, it was still sometimes useful to know what the Wutaian populace was being told by its government. He was certain that the Wutaians did the same with SNN, the Shinra News Network. There was no doubt that the bombing of the Avalanche base would be a hot topic to be reported on the news, and Rufus statement "good shot" made him dread what he was about see. With shaking hands, he accessed the recordings of WC1 through his phone and immediately found what Rufus was talking about. The video footage showed first the bombing and collapse of the Avalanche base, confirming that they had succeeded in completely destroying it, but then the perspective switched to the entrance of the building and showed him and Freyra barely escaping from the building, and the next cut showed Freyra pulling him up and them running off, with Yuffie being conveniently missing from the edited footage, although it was somewhat discernible that Tseng was holding a smaller person he was shielding from the blast when they first came out of the building. Then the perspective switched again to a few minutes before the blast, providing a clear view of him in the back alley as he was coordinating the operation. The image was grainy but he would be likely be recognizable to people who had met him before.
He sighed and lowered his phone. They had searched the area for cameras in advance and not found any. Wutai must have developed some new broadcasting technology that was not detectable for current Shinra devices. Before he could pull his thoughts together enough to respond to the vice president, the doctor walked in, a young woman with reddish-blonde hair, freckles and large, round glasses. Her eyes wandered immediately to his jaw as she sat down across and observed with a smile: "You look like you got kicked by a Levrikon". His jaw hurt too much to even make a grimace, so he merely responded drily: "Close enough". He would not tell this doctor that it had in fact been a little girl that smashed his face. She examined his jaw quickly, but thoroughly, observed that nothing was broken, but warned him that both the pain and the bruising would get worse before they got better. She finally suggested for him to prefer liquid foods for a day or two and gave him a cream to reduce the swelling before she sent him off.
As he walked out, blinking at the evening sun, he pulled out his phone again to send Rufus a short reply, which read: "I hope my parents don't see that". Immediately after he hit "send", he was hit by regret for telling something like that to the vice president. His family situation was none of his concern, but his parents had been on his mind for a moment when he watched the clip of himself on WC1. Although the average citizen of Midgar could not receive these broadcasts live, recordings and clips could very easily circulate throughout the Wutaian communities, and it could not be ruled out that this would eventually reach his parents, who would possibly recognize their son. Although it had been years since they last met, parents never forgot their childrens' faces and he could only imagine the shock they would experience when they saw someone on the news who resembled so strongly their son who they believed to have died in a work-related accident years ago.
He sighed and put away the phone, trying to push aside the thought of his parents as he crossed the court connecting the central buildings of the military base, which was pretty much the only sign of civilization at Miken island, and one of the more desolate places under Shinra rule. With the day coming to an end and nothing to do except report the events of the day to Chief Veld, he quickly checked in with Freyra and Rod, who were both unhurt and were calling it a day in the mass hall, purchased a packaged (non-liquid) dinner that appeared tolerable to him, and then returned to his assigned room. On the way back, his phone beeped, quite belated by Rufus' standards, because he never took a long time to respond.
He entered his room, closed the door, set down his meal on the small bedside table, took off his shoes and, leaning back against the wall with his legs crossed, pulled out his phone and read: "Have you ever thought about contacting them?" He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He had lost count of how many times he had thought about going to see his parents or call them in secret. He knew they had to be fine because the company was still paying them the generous alimony he had been able to negotiate upon him joining the Turks, but he had not seen them since he left. He avoided the area where they lived to avoid running into them by accident. And today's events had confirmed in his eyes that he was doing the right thing. His face had been broadcast all over the news. If his relations were leaked to the wrong people, his parents could be targeted in an extortion attempt. He did not want them to be targeted and he did not want to be blackmailed. He wanted them to live out the rest of their lives in peace and reap the benefit of his efforts. He opened his tired eyes again. No. He would not change his mind about contacting them. It was not up for discussion at all.
He picked up his phone again and suddenly felt that he wanted to hear a friendly voice. He sighed, bunched up his pillow and laid down, all of his clothes still on. He suppressed the urge to call Rufus and instead typed: "I can't do anything that would put them in danger. I just hope they won't see it." Tseng was completely aware that Rufus' relationship with his parents was a lot more difficult than his own and just talking about this topic probably caused him pain. He had not intended for this to happen and, looking for a way to change the topic before he sent the message, added: "Well, at least we managed to destroy the Avalanche base." The response came immediately: "I wonder. This whole thing seems like a setup." Tseng sighed again and lowered his phone. He had thought about that, too. It had all been too easy. And why did the Wutaians simply let them get away if they had known they were there the whole time?
He pulled out his hair tie, ran his fingers through his hair and took off his jacket to drop in on the floor. He had no nerve to hang it properly now. He would have to report to Veld, too, before he could go to sleep, although his jaw was aching and he knew that he could not speak well. He selected Veld's number from his contact list and made his report as quickly and accurately as possible, to add to the documents and photos that Freyra had acquired, which Veld had already received earlier. Veld thanked him for his service, wished for him to get better soon and assured him that he had his parents covered and hung up. Somehow, Veld seemed different today, preoccupied with something. No doubt he was already getting into the evidence. Tseng had not taken the strange ramblings he had seen flipping through the documents seriously, but he had only read a few snippets in the middle of the operation to get an idea of what these documents were. They were either complete nonsense or written in code, their true meaning carefully concealed. He would read them in detail during the ride back to Midgar on the next day, seeing as they did not seem to require, or even enable, immediate action. Or if they did, the chief would let them know.
"I'll be going to sleep now. Good night!", he texted to Rufus before he proceeded to undress, finally hang his suit jacket neatly over a chair, take a quick shower and brush his teeth and put on the cream the doctor had given him. When he came back from the bathroom, another message was waiting for him: "Sweet dreams! Can't wait for you to be back." With a light smile on his lips, he folded his phone, put it on the bedside table, wrapped himself in the blanket, and dozed off within minutes.