Vagaries of Fate

Zack's Return

Chapter 9

It was only her second day of taking care of things, and Clarissa wanted to pull her hair out. Things were tense between the two branches of the military now that they had been merged, and she had already had to deal with one group that refused to work with each other. She had conflicting stories from each side, so she was thankful that they at least had some witnesses. The trainees had been drilling nearby. Although most of them wanted to go for Soldier, they were a little less biased. It was only because they knew if they didn't make it, they didn't want to be in the infantry and treated the way they saw the group assigned to that particular Soldier had been.

Unfortunately, that meant that she was now down by two teams. She had two Soldiers on probation and unable to perform their usual duties. She was ecstatic when Kunsel returned. They had left a unit behind to continue searching for anything that might have been hidden, but mostly it was to secure the facility from further trespass. That meant that two Soldiers were returning, which really helped. She had Kunsel in her office earlier and had already debriefed him on what was needed. She really had wanted to have him help her directly, as his uncanny ability to get information would have been useful, but she knew that might hamper him. Instead, she assigned him to one of the teams that currently didn't have a commander and asked that he update her regularly on anything he might find, even if it seemed irrelevant.

She had already worked through lunch and was thankful when one of the two that were assisting her brought her something. She had barely had time to think of it until she smelled the food. She didn't even complain that it was from the cafeteria.

Several times already, she had to remind herself that not even Sephiroth had done this alone. At least not after he took over both branches of the military. It made her feel like less of a failure when she had to rely on the Soldiers helping her to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks.

She had just settled in to eat when she heard a message ding on her computer. She thought about ignoring it until she was done eating, but she had glanced over to see who it was from. When she realized it was from Zack, she stopped and pulled it up. He had been scheduled to reach the second facility a couple of hours earlier, and they were all waiting to see if that one would be as empty as the first one had been. When she opened his brief report, she lost her appetite. She should have known Avalanche would be all over the facilities too, but it didn't make hearing it easier to deal with.

As soon as she finished reading his report, she picked up her phone. Unless he was busy hunting monsters, she had several things to discuss with him. She was glad when he picked it up on the second ring, although the fatigue she could hear in his voice made her cringe. She didn't let him hear it, though. "Zack, I'm glad you picked up. Do you have a moment to talk, or is the facility still unsecure?"

She heard him sigh slightly, but his voice was edging closer to his usual cheer when he spoke. "Lissa, I'm glad you called. This place gives me the creeps. We have secured the main hallways, but it's pretty big. We will be systematically checking the rest. The things we found- I never thought anyone could be so cruel." His voice had started to trail off, and she knew the mission was likely to scar him for some time. She was just glad that his nature wouldn't allow him to stay that way for long.

She tried to help him as much as was possible, given the circumstances. "Just remember that you are helping. I know it probably doesn't feel like it right now. I have a good idea of what you are dealing with, but I promise it's for the best. We won't let this continue, and we certainly won't let it ever happen again."

She was glad to hear a hint of a smile when he spoke again. "Yeah, I know I'll do all I can to help with that. For now, let me get back to it."

She stopped him before he could hang up. "One moment. I have one more question for you. From what your initial report says, we should assume that Avalanche knows about all the labs and is making an effort to clean them out before we can. Also, if the man you fought was named Shears and seemed to be subordinate to the one that left, then it would be safe to assume that was Fuhito. With Elfe no longer with them, then Shears would be second in command. Would it be possible for you to send over a detailed description of both men? I can forward it out to everyone, so they know what, or rather who, to be on the lookout for."