A/N: Well, I've never seen one of these before. Plenty for the original game, a sparse few for DoC, but none for Crisis Core, which, I think, is probably the coolest game ever. Mind you, as my family is crazy and prefers to be a strictly Nintendo household, I've never actually played any of the above and am working off of YouTube videos- I spent a grand total of about 47 hours on my computer watching walkthrough videos for FFVII, DoC, and CC, and an additional hour and 40 minutes watching Advent Children on DVD. So if I mess stuff up, let me know, mmkay?
Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Final Fantasy or any related stuff. I would like to own Zack, but we know how that would end up...
Chapter One: The Train Job
It had been just another day at the Shinra Electric Power Company. Granted, the daytime was never as exciting as the night for a SOLDIER. And today was no different.
An express train blew past a checkpoint, broke a barrier, and continued its way onward.
"Wutai troops have hijacked Shinra Express MK93 II," a crackly voice reported. "The train is currently headed to Midgar Sector 8, moving fast. A SOLDIER operative will be inserted to neutralize the situation."
Sure, he had been trained well. Sure, this would be a no-problem assignment.
But it still freaked him out a bit to jump out of a helicopter onto a moving train. The adrenaline would kick in and he wouldn't care, but for the moment, apprehension filled him.
"We are to proceed as scheduled. Commence mission in three..."
He took a deep breath.
"Two..."
Ran through a mental checklist. Sword, check. Calm face, check.
Angeal still reading him like an open book, check.
"One."
Adrenaline kicking in, check.
"Mark. Begin mission."
The bulkhead began to open.
"Operative is ready for insertion."
Zack Fair, SOLDIER 2nd class, leaned out the door to the helicopter looking down on the train. Nah, this wouldn't be that hard.
"The train has been overrun by Wutai troops," Angeal reiterated for the millionth time. Geez. You would think they'd realize he had understood when he'd been briefed earlier. "Eliminate them and regain control of the train."
"Oh, yeah," he called back excitedly.
"Get serious!" The mentor snapped as he jumped out onto the hijacked vehicle.
Two seconds of airtime, that's all he had. Enough to savor it. It was actually kind of fun. As the wind rushed up into his black bangs, he wondered why he was even a tiny bit scared in the first place.
He instantly fell into a crouch as the train breezed under a low bridge.
Oh. That.
Once they were past all the low beams and bridges, Zack looked up, his blue, mako-energy-infused eyes scanning the top of the train, looking for a possible entrance.
"Zack!" Angeal called from behind as he deftly landed on the train top. "Zack, focus!"
A glare was all the older operative got from him.
The normally mild-mannered SOLDIER 1st class stared right back. "There are no Shinra troops on this train. Understood?"
Zack gave a small nod and found his opening, sprinting over two cars before...
Tseww, tseww, tseww!
Bullets fired upwards at him from within the train. Lucky for him, he was a good dancer- so to speak. Dodging left and right, still moving forward, he fell onto his hands and knees.
"Hello to you, too," he muttered, resuming his run.
Four or five cars later- he lost count- he saw Wutai troops crawling up from inside the train, guns presented. Except... they weren't Wutai troops... They were wearing Shinra uniforms.
But Angeal had specifically told him that they were not Shinra troops, and that was good enough for him. At least until he could talk to his mentor again.
This should be fun, he thought. "Come and get it!" he yelled to his opponents, drawing his sword. Blocking bullets wasn't his specialty, but he was definitely good enough to take care of these wimps. Rushing towards them, knocking away any direct hits, he quickly shifted from defensive to offensive, throwing four of them off the train in one sweep.
There were at least twelve more that he counted. Possibly more coming onto the top. No big deal. He launched himself over the first set, swatting a few aside and running straight into an additional six he hadn't spotted from his previous position. So, they intended to make this a bit more fun.
Slash-jump-swirl, he quickly dispatched the team behind him. For those ahead... they definitely had the advantage, no question. But...
He launched himself upward through a tunnel framed by scaffolding and flipped through the air. "SOLDIER 2nd class Zack, on the job!" Landed in between the car the Wutai troops were standing on and the next, his sword piercing the connection, separating the two cars- and isolating the rear without an engine.
Zack heard the helicopter radioing in the success: "Train MK93 II re-routed to Sector 1 Station near Mako Reactor 1. Proceed to mission phase 2 and change surveillance rank."
The train came to a stop and Zack dramatically landed on the platform, reveling in his success.
All in a day's work, he thought, smirking as he walked toward the engine.
A ring and buzz. His cell was ringing...
He whipped it out with a flourish- as with most things he did. "Zack speaking."
Angeal's calm voice came through the other end. "Making progress, Zack?"
"What's going on, Angeal? Why are we fighting Shinra troops?"
Without missing a beat the older man replied, "They're Wutai troops in disguise." Seemed reasonable enough. "Now, head to the open area above."
"Towards Sector 8?"
"Yes. But first, you have to clear a path."
"Clear a path?" There weren't any troops in the area, Shinra or otherwise. He turned to look behind him. No one there, either.
"You'll see what I mean," Angeal explained. "Be careful."
A barrage of bullets shot out from behind him.
"So I can cut loose, right?"
"Use some discretion."
Angeal's way of saying, 'if you can get away with it.'
He heard a click and shut his phone. "It's showtime," he said with a smirk, brandishing his sword and swirling around toward the troops.
With a couple well-placed shots of electrical power from his materia, the soldiers were quickly dispatched.
Another call. What, was Angeal stalking him or something?
"Nice work," his cool voice praised.
"Piece of cake," Zack said dismissively. "I'll make first in no time!"
He could almost see Angeal's eyes rolling. "Go up the stairs at the end of the platform."
"You got it." He shut the phone and jogged up the stairs. Strange. A group of people- not even a group, just a bunch of separate people- were going down. Quickly.
He dodged the 'traffic' easily, and ran down the street, seeing the source of their fear- a large monster, muscular and blue-skinned with a red mane that quickly shifted into a fin-like structure on its back. A spiked tail. A behemoth if he ever saw one.
Zack drew his sword, and with a few quick slices the beast was pissed off. Luckily for Zack, the thing was too big to deal with a puny- well, comparatively speaking- little human well. It was just a matter of getting the sword to swing while dodging the beast's slow advances.
In a matter of minutes the beast was dead on the ground with Zack no worse for wear- although very messy.
Sigh. He turned around, half expecting his phone to ring again- but he wasn't that lucky.
A long, thin sword poised itself by his neck from behind. "Showing your back to the enemy... Overconfidence will destroy you."
He groaned, raising his arms into the air and slowly turning around to face the man who bested him.
A set of cold, calculating, mako blue eyes met his. The sword's wielder had long, silver hair and a heavily modified SOLDIER 1st class uniform. Any Midgar resident knew this man.
Sephiroth. The most powerful man in SOLDIER. Probably in all of Gaia.
"Wh-what is this?" Zack's eyes widened in shock.
Sephiroth offered a small smirk and began an assault. Zack was barely able to lift his sword to block in time. He barely blocked three more slashes and with great difficulty blocked what would have been a lethal slice to the head. "Damn it. You're not the only hero!"
"It's over," the man said coldly.
Zack pushed back the long sword and as a result...
CLINK! Clatter.
His sword was now in two pieces, and he was now defenseless. Flat on his back on the ground. He looked up into the cold eyes of the SOLDIER 1st class above him.
A flash of light. It was all over. He shut his eyes. Well, I made it this far. Good-bye, SOLDIER-boy...
It never came. He peered through one eyelid.
Angeal had half of the boy's sword, holding back the final slash from Sephiroth. The newcomer looked down at Zack, his face unreadable. Zack could surmise that his mentor wasn't too happy with him.
The two SOLDIERS 1st class separated their weapons and Zack slowly sat up. "Thanks, Angeal."
The older man gave no response, but flipped open his cell phone and shut off the program. "Training's over."
Sephiroth melted away with the rest of their surroundings.
"Wha... Why?" Zack stood up, taken aback. He had been doing so well, until that Sephiroth showed up... "You serious?"
Through the goggles he was wearing he could see the very serious Angeal's eyes bore into his. The SOLDIER 1st class held up the broken sword. Zack ripped off the headset. "I was just getting warmed up!"
With a sigh, Angeal flipped the sword around and offered the hilt to the boy. Zack took it and looked at the broken end. Not another one... argh.
"Zack," the older man began. He turned to walk out. "Embrace your dreams."
"Huh?"
"If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams... and honor."
"Huh." The boy shrugged.
His mentor walked out of the room, leaving Zack to think about whatever lesson Angeal had tried to teach him.