Chapter Two
He felt slightly better, maybe, following the group of lunatics around. He felt like some lost puppy, but it was true that he had nowhere else to go.
"Are we really going to climb that?" He asked, eyeing the vertical pipe. "Why is it there to start with?" Both very good questions, and both made the large man… um… Barrett look queasy. He couldn't blame him. It was a stick that travelled up and up and up.
"It leads up to the upper world."
Right. Like that made it so much better. "Uh huh." He sounded. Cause honestly, he didn't have that much else to say. He glanced over at Barrett, whose queasy expression slowly grew into determination. Woot. Hero time.
Way to mock his own dream.
"We don't know how far up it's supposed to go." Cloud, voice of reason. Tifa eyed the pipe warily.
"This girl we're looking for is up there, isn't she?" Barrett asked, and if Zack didn't already know the man was a blatant hypocrite, he would have been surprised.
"You looked like you were going to throw up a second ago." He pointed out, feeling vindictive, but really, Barrett deserved nothing from him. Barrett jerked over. "What? Do you really trust that," he gestured over, "that to… uh…" Carry their weight? Because kids were one thing and unless some fat kid came strolling by, then, well, he was not going after Barrett. "I'm going before you."
Cloud laughed. The short guy laughed. Huh. Didn't think that was possible. Zack felt his own grin fall onto his lips, before he remembered something. Hole in his side, and sword under sector seven. Oh… right.
"I'm, um, going to have to borrow something." He asked, or stated. He meant for it to come out as a question, but… well… it just didn't. Cloud and Tifa turned around, Barret looked torn between rebutting his previous statement of answering him.
"What for?" He settled for answering him.
"I'm not that much of a hand-to-hand fighter." Well, not true. "Well," he sputtered, "I guess I've done a little, but against Shinra?" His sighed, his teeth setting on edge before he looked away disdainfully. "My hands are too delicate."
"That's a load of bullshit!" Barrett called out, "You've got more calluses than Tifa does!"
"What an odd fetish," he said dryly, "Guess its good to know you eye-stalk my hand. I suppose it makes sense though." He lifted his hands tilting them just so, admiring them. "They are quite nice, aren't they?"
Tifa laughed. Good. It was meant to be funny. Cloud chuckled. YES! Woo. The guy had feelings. Barrett glared and started to stomp around slightly. Mental note: don't really piss off someone with a gun arm.
"Have a sword I could borrow?" He switched topics. Fast too, before Barrett decided to talk with his fists…fist and metal… gun… and have a personal conversation with his face. Cloud nodded, before reaching up on his back and grabbing the strange, spring sword. He held it out to Zack.
"Don't you need one?" He asked as he accepted. Cloud wordlessly reached up once again and pulled another sword off; this one wrapped in a colour very close to the purple that he wore.
"I have one." He unravelled it, and the blade gleamed in the dirty lights of the slums. Long and curved, its blade darker than the one he had just handed over to Zack. "I got it from…I got it as a gift in Wutai from an old weapon maker that used to work in Junon."
"Nice." That blade would have worked so much better, it was thicker, heavier, sturdier. Its blade was sharper and far more simple. The handle was black, simple, but wide and long enough for two hands and thick enough to not snap at a moment's notice. "I think I might be jealous."
Cloud smiled softly. "If we for some reason end up in Wutai, we'll see if he'll make you one."
"Awesome." There was nothing else to be said. Except for the fact that, while he may want Cloud's sword, he had barely the fundamentals of swordsmanship down, so it probably wouldn't be in good use.
"So we're climbing this thing." Might as well not ignore the elephant in the room. He had a sword. He had no reason to go back or stall, and he was the type to just grin and bear it… or was that not the right saying? He was tempted to ask, but it seemed just slightly uncalled for.
"So it seems." Cloud nodded, but even his face was distrustful. Zack grinned and slammed a arm around the blonde's shoulders and neck, pulling him down slightly so that when Zack pointed at him, he wasn't poking out an eye.
"See? Spike thinks it's a bad idea too."
"All you!" Barrett yelled out, shoving Zack off of Cloud lightly before pointing proudly at that wire. "What is it that you see there?"
"A creepy looking wire." Zack.
"A wire." Cloud.
"A… um… wire." Tifa.
"Well, I see something different!" Barrett yelled out. He was actually quite enthusiastic; even Zack was getting in the groove, and he had discovered he had a fear of the plate just recently. "I see a shiny golden wire of hope!"
He lost him. Possibly Cloud too. Definitely Tifa, because she placed a default smile on and tried to look understanding.
"Uh huh." Zack muttered. "'Shiny golden wire of hope.'" He looked off, thinking. "Nope, that doesn't convince me it won't snap."
"It is the only way to save Aerith, though." Tifa interjected. Zack felt like flicking her or something for saying something unnecessary.
"It's the fastest, not the 'only way,'" he couldn't help but point that out, because hey, she might have forgotten that fact.
"She's right." Cloud said. Before nodding himself. He looked slightly queasy, and then he walked up to it. He shook it slightly. It wiggled. Thank god it didn't shake. That was probably the only time that that would be a good thing. "Alright then. I'll go first, then Tifa, then Zack, then Barrett, you're last."
"Who made you the leader!" Barrett stepped forward.
"Isn't it a good idea?" Tifa asked kindly, though Zack knew she simply did not want to be behind Barrett in the case he fell on top of her or something. No, that was mean. Oh, right. He was allowed to be bitter for just a little while longer.
Barrett was silent for a moment, before nodding. "Alwight," he huffed. "We'll do it that way."
Cloud started to climb. Honestly. They were supposed to save someone right? That entire conversation took way too long when time was of the essence.
"This would be a terrible time to discover you had a fear of heights." He muttered to himself as he heaved his body upwards along the long wire…pipe…thing. It looked like a combination of both. However, once he passed the wall of angry graffiti and paint, he had to stop… much to Barrett's annoyance.
It was sector seven.
"Oh…fuck." He barely whispered it, and his hands unconsciously tightened.
"It's horrible isn't it?" Tifa called from above. She was more ahead of him now.
"It's all Shinra's fault!" Barrett tried to move forward, but Zack wouldn't give. Seeing all the…wreckage. Knowing the amount of blood that filled the streets, knowing the body count and then seeing only wreckage. It was as if nothing happened at all. Or rather, it looked like some sad construction zone. No one could really comprehend how everyone hushed for that one agonising moment before the screeching metal awoke him or her, before the buildings started to be flattened, before people started to get struck from flying debris.
"You can't place all the blame on them." It slipped. It really did. And when he noticed it did, he forced himself to continue to move. Up, just go up; to the top that he had only seen once. Barrett had not heard him, he had been cursing.
Tifa did.
"I know." She said, her voice barely loud enough for him to hear. Cloud had probably heard both comments, but thankfully he said nothing. "We need to make it right, but I don't even know where we can start."
There was no place to start.
That was the real problem she faced. She could do nothing to fix what had happened. Everyone in sector seven… they were all gone because they had decided to go off and save the planet. Barrett might not realise the implications, but at least Tifa did.
"There's no one left that can give us forgiveness."
Except him, but he couldn't give forgiveness for thousands of people. He didn't have the right. He made it out. He had lost everything, but he had made it out.
They continued to move. He felt sick. He wanted the carnage to be out of his sight. He didn't want to see what was left, didn't want to even comprehend it. Had the people above lived? Their plate had flattened those below, and surely they had casualties as well… but how many?
There were a lot of people to blame.
Except for those who were dead. He was to blame, in a sense, though he really couldn't see anything that he could have done differently. He hadn't known AVALANCHE before, didn't know anyone they knew. He was just a casualty.
Which was why he was with them now, to give Shinra a list of its own casualties. Liars, they were all liars, and regardless of the necessity of them, he hated lies. Hated lying himself, yet he found himself doing that so often now.
"Why a wire?" He asked, and he climbed the last stretch before the sector disappeared from view. "There are ways for people in the slums to buy a home on the plate. It's not like they're caged."
"It's the fastest!" Barrett. He sounded like he was struggling to climb up with only one hand and two feet. Huh. Actually, he was being very impressive right now.
"And what if we fall?"
"Don't be negative! If you're thinking of fallin' jus' jump! I don't want yer scrawny ass falling on me."
Zack laughed, forcing his body upwards. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Shut up!" He huffed, and Zack laughed again. He heard Tifa giggle slightly, but Cloud was far too up for him to hear if he reacted at all. Damn. How fast did Spike climb? Did he not feel the burn in his arms? Really? That was damn impressive. Which meant that if they really were to ever fight, Cloud really would wipe the floor with him.
Because he would be sweating so damn much and Cloud's breathing would have not even started to get erratic. Yup. That would be what would happen. Yes. Definitely.
"Are we close to the damn plate yet?" Zack heaved. Okay. So pure strength training via climbing a wire, then jumping and finding a few shitty batteries, and plugging them and in blah, blah god, he couldn't even remember what he had just done. Whatever it all was, it was way too much effort for what it was worth. Well, okay, so if this Aerith was a beauty, then it might be worth it. Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully.
Otherwise he was going to make the others… bake him a cake or something. With a thank you card. Because he was doing this for some person he did not know. Okay, Barrett and him, because Barrett was even more enthusiastic about saving this girl than he was, and he apparently had never met this Aerith either. Fun times.
"The Shinra building is just over there," Cloud nodded behind him, from where all four of them hid behind the support.
"We can't just storm though the front door," Tifa muttered, probably to herself as she peaked around the corner. "Shinra would have doubled its security if they knew we were still alive."
"I thought the whole point of dropping a plate on you was to kill you," Zack said dryly. "Shouldn't their security be lax because they think that you are dead?"
Cloud shook his head. "They wouldn't take chances. I think." He glanced over to where Barrett tried to catch his breath. "And regardless of whether or not they spread through the media that AVALANCHE dropped the plate, Shinra is still not paying for its reconstruction. There will probably be mobs if they keep their security level low."
"Spoken like a true military man," Zack sighed before glancing over to where Tifa was crouched down. "Do you see anybody?"
She shook her head, before standing and facing the group. "It looks deserted." She ran a hand through her dark hair, being careful to not pull the hair tie out that held it all back. "And Cloud's right. It's been a week or so, Shinra's doors should be crowded with a mob that demands Sector Seven to be rebuilt."
"Unless they already had a demonstration," Barrett heaved. "Be jus' like Shinra, to make an example of the first group of protestors by silencin' them."
"They wouldn't really expect that large of a mob though," Tifa reasoned, "if they cut all ties from the plate to the slums."
Zack didn't know what else to say. A deserted building that had just taken a huge political standpoint against a 'terrorist' faction seemed sketchy at the very least. Barrett shifted, crossing (or as close as he could) his arms. "Well, there's no point in jus' standing here. How are we goin' to get in?"
"We could do a diversion!" Zack suggested, slamming a fist into his open palm.
"The upper levels of the Shinra building are only accessible by key card," Cloud informed them, before he paused slightly. "A high profile criminal would probably be placed in one of those high level cells. They're in Hojo's lab."
"So what?" Barrett shifted uncomfortably. "One of us needs to get captured?"
Tifa nervously looked to Cloud, who merely nodded. Stoically.
"They'd probably put her on the same floor as Hojo's lab, so it's the fastest way to get to her before Hojo starts his experimentation. Much faster than trying to figure out where Shinra might have ended up putting new security measures."
"If you worked for Shinra, shouldn't you know of some sort of back entrance?" Zack asked, rocking on his heels slightly.
Cloud shook his head. "There was no point. When I still worked for them, I may have been watched the entire time, but that didn't mean I couldn't go wherever I wanted."
Oh. Well. That one was shot down.
"So," he started, glancing up at Cloud, "who exactly is going to get caught?"
"I don't understand why one of us needs teh get caught at all." Barrett grumbled. Tifa placed a hand on his shoulder.
"If we want to get to Aerith quickly, we need to have someone who can make sure she's safe." She explained, and Zack had a feeling that she was making up a plan as well, since 'getting caught' sure didn't sound like all that great of an idea. Ha. Ha-ha. He will laugh. "If one of us were to storm the building, and gather their attention, the rest of us can go and slip through so that we can come to the rescue."
"Exactly," Cloud approved, and Zack had to wonder if Tifa was able to read minds, because Cloud looked very satisfied, as if that were his plan all along. "However, we need to choose the decoy carefully."
"Why?" Barrett deadpanned. Granted, he didn't seem thrilled at the idea of sending one of them as a decoy.
"You would be executed, same with Tifa. Probably as a demonstration to the people that they exterminated the terrorists." Cloud glanced at Zack, and Zack couldn't help but feel very nervous. "They know who I am, and if Hojo were to get his hands on me then I would most likely be heavily sedated and then completely useless later on."
Great. He left it unsaid.
"So… Zack," Tifa worded, and suddenly all three of them were staring at him. He unconsciously took a step backward. No. Nuh uh. He waved his hands in front of him.
"And who exactly would I pretend to be that I'd be considered a high-profile criminal?" His voice was slightly high, but he had no intention of getting caught by Shinra. Okay. So he might still harbour a small dream of joining SOLDIER still, but that didn't have all that much to do with it.
Cloud glanced at him, before turning his head, his gaze turning scrutinizing. "You look like… Angeal… slightly."
Zack paused. Wait.
"Angeal?" That name… oh! So it was Angeal that those SOLDIERs were after when he fought that 3rd Class… "You know, someone else told me that too…"
"We'll pretend you're a copy, then," Cloud nodded definitely. "I haven't seen one personally, but I doubt that many of the Shinra foot soldiers have either."
Tifa looked almost pained. Barrett just stared in blank, sarcastic shock.
Cool. He was going to be some copy! What the hell was a copy anyway?
"Uh," he scratched the back of his head. "Okay?"
"Just go in and start hacking people up." Cloud suggested. "Don't say anything, and move fast. Someone might come up with that opinion on their own, and send you to Hojo's lab. Oh," Cloud started to slide the sword off his back. "Don't let Hojo anywhere near you. Don't give him any openings, because if you do, he might shove a needle into you that will never allow you to be the same again."
Um. Okay. He wanted to resign. Like right now. "Uh huh," was the only thing he could manage.
"We'll be there to rescue you shortly after!" Tifa tried. She really did. It didn't work.
Barrett merely clasped him on the shoulder. He didn't need to say it, and Zack might've punched him if he had, but the gesture practically screamed, 'it was good knowing you'.
Well, too bad. He wanted to punch him anyway.
"Isn't this a bit much to ask someone who doesn't even know this girl?" he couldn't help but ask. Tifa immediately looked like realisation dawned on her. Like she just remembered now that he had never actually met this girl that they were supposed to save. "Oh, right, I'm sorry Zack-"
"You're the best chance," Cloud said decisively. He looked up. The fact that this guy was looking up at him and yet still giving him orders… well.. Zack wasn't sure if it was inspiring or belittling, that he was about to-
"Ugh," he groaned. "Fine."
"Really?" Tifa smiled, leaning forward slightly.
"Knew I could count on you," Barrett laughed. Yes. He laughed.
"If I die," Zack continued, ignoring the other two, "um…" burymeinsectorseven. "Bury me outside of Midgar." That sounded better, and he… well… "I'd ask if you could bury me in Gongaga, but I doubt you'd want to carry a corpse for that long… or if you could."
"You won't die," Cloud assured, "not unless you're a moron."
"Ha!" Zack laughed hoarsely. "Right. We'll just see about that!" He wasn't sure if that was sarcasm or genuine. He didn't really want to know, either.
Was he really smart? Maybe Cloud's comment had been sarcasm, because going in just to get captured and cause a diversion seemed like a really, really stupid thing to do. As in, moronic. His back rested against the smooth concrete of the Shinra building. Next to him he could feel cool air-conditioning escaping the slight cracks of the glossy glass doors that lead to Shinra's lobby. If he went in, and noonecame… that would probably be the most awkward point in his entire life.
The others were off to the side, where Cloud said that there was an emergency exit. However, from their double-check to make sure Zack's part was necessary, they had listened in from the door. From inside they heard voices. Movement. People. There were guards that were stationed on the inside. Meaning that they were all hanging out just behind one tiny little door.
Meaning that Zack's role in this… was unfortunately necessary.
"If I had something explosive, I would be able to just throw it in and be done with it," He sighed, before tightening his grip on the sword, and, deciding to be flashy, he spun and swung his blade, forcing it to slash along the glass, with hopefully enough force to shatter it.
Okay, so maybe he really wanted to know what the hell the spring exactly did.
It gave way, like he expected, only half-way through the swing it struck out, the blade contracting and expanding. It sunk closer, then a spring shoved it back forward. Extra force. Nice. The glass shattered.
Zack had never been in the lobby of Shinra before, and being there now made him slightly sick. It also turned something deep in his gut, and made his hand twitch. He had the very understandable itch to completely trash the entire building, but the moment he heard a door slam open, he knew that time was more or less cut short.
Two double staircases, some crappy – nice – low couches and a sign. Basically. He'd go upstairs. Quickly, making sure that he was actually running away from the threat and not towards it, he searched out the source of the noise.
At least ten or so men stood in formation, all wearing helmets that covered their faces, stupid goggles included. Case in point why he didn't even consider joining the infantry even though it was free for submission. The front row raised their weapons.
Zack didn't move. He felt sort of stupid, but at the same time he felt sort of bloodthirsty. It was an awkward combination that didn't feel like him at all. He hated it, but he hated Shinra more. He tensed slightly, blade being drawn up. Think.
He needed to dodge. Fast.
He gave them a half-hearted smirk.
"State your business!" one of them called out, someone at the back, who wore a slightly different uniform.
"I just cut down the front door, what do you think my business is?" he hollered back, and then he bolted. There might be stories of SOLDIERS that could deflect bullets with their swords… but… um… he was not SOLDIER.
He ducked low as gunfire hailed on him, running up the steps two at a time in an effort to clear the stairs before the chasing infantrymen could manage to reach the bottom of the stairs and shoot up his ass. He really, really didn't want to die running away.
The dark blue disappeared from under his feet in a moment, and before he could fully register that he had made it to the second level, gunshots rang around his ears, coming from both in front of him and behind him. Shit. Bad idea, bad idea! He looked up before rolling off to the side, catching sight of a small army of more infantrymen who had been occupying the second level.
They were all so far away! If he were SOLDIER, it would have been easy, he could have even cut out the lights because his eyesight would have been so good – or at least, that was what he heard. Why didn't he ask for a gun? Really? Swords were useful against monsters and other sword-wielders. He was a soft, squishy person who-
Whose entire life ended down in Sector Seven.
Okay. So he wouldn't loose any sleep for killing anyone here. Maybe a receptionist, definitely office people, but infantrymen? Probably not. Maybe. It wasn't like he had never killed a person before… okay, so he might have… once. It was still pretty up in the air whether or not that SOLDIER 3rd was still alive.
He rushed, trying to move fast enough that they wouldn't be able to aim. Bringing up the sword – that he daren't say was his – he slashed across the closest man's chest, before kicking out, and launching him into someone else, taking them both down.
Alright – quick analysis.
There were three people to his right; the first had taken a step back at his quick approach. Zack nodded to himself, whether it was physically or in his head, he did not care, and he sidestepped along to where the first man stood, raising his gun. Leaning back slightly, setting himself off balance but putting him out of the range of the guard's weapon, Zack grabbed the gun, and lifted up with his free hand while with the other he slammed the handle of the sword into the guy's forearm.
He heard the guard cry out at he released his weapon, and Zack quickly loosened his grip on the gun in order to hold onto the trigger while at the same time ducking down so that his body was hidden behind the man whose arm he had probably just broken.
Question: was he actually good or was he just really, really lucky? He dropped the sword for a moment, before gripping the rifle in the same manner that the others were. More voices. Great. Just great. The other asses decided to join the party.
Question, how long exactly was he supposed to go on before he let himself get caught? How much time did the others need to use the emergency escape to infiltrate Shinra?
A bullet whizzed past and cut shallowly into his left shoulder. Zack gasped, his immediate reaction to hold down the wound squashed down as he lifted the gun and began to fire blindly, hoping to distract the twenty or so people left.
This is madness.
All of this to get to one girl – a girl he had not even met yet! Then again, this was acting as a good stress reliever against Shinra. He needed to go on.
They were people too.
He could have been one of those people.
Right. Okay. Fine. So he won't try to kill them. If they died that was their own fault. He heard a hitch in the gun. Cursing. He dropped it before he was more than fully aware that it was out of ammo. This was far too gun-ho. That, and the fact that he had just rushed in without a plan seemed really stupid at the moment.
Then again, what exactly was he supposed to have planned out? He didn't know the numbers, or the layout. His eyes caught on the elevators. Okay. There's a good escape route. Unless such low level guards had enough clearance to completely shut down the elevator system.
He grabbed the sword with his good arm, the other feeling as if ice had spread through his system. He didn't have enough time to use a materia to heal it, he needed to get cover first. That, and with the level it was at, he would need to get the bullet out first. Unless it wasn't there; he really could not tell.
The guards were shouting to one another, but he ignored them. He clanked up from where the person who cradled their arm lay on the ground… now dead. Zack paused a moment, before looking up and finally hearing the conversation going on around him.
"I…I shot him!" one person yelled hysterically, and Zack had a feeling the man wasn't talking about him, but rather the man that now lay dead beside him. "I… he's dead!"
"It's a casualty, Garrison!" Someone else yelled out. "Now capture the terrorist who did that!"
Zack, holding his sword tightly, leaped away from what little protection the corpse gave him, and tackled the closest guard, three feet away. They cared about their men, obviously. Faster than he thought his body could handle, Zack, dragged the guard up by the neck and kicked the gun away.
The blade glinted off the fluorescent lights above.
The others froze, their weapons uncertain, as Zack held his sword to the guard's throat. With a quick movement, he took the time to tear the helmet off. That way they could see his face, see a friend, and not decide to arbitrarily shoot them both.
"Stop!" The guard wearing the slightly different uniform called out. "What do you want?"
Zack paused, blinking. It had actually worked?
"I'd like for you to stop shooting at me," he said lightly. "And I would also like to see a friend of mine." This really was not a part of the plan that the others had come up with, but it most certainly hadn't been in his, either.
He'd just have to get 'caught' on some other level. After all, he honestly doubted that Shinra would allow for some guy to wander around after causing such a commotion in their own building. And bloodshed.
There were around twenty or so men, four were still on the ground with a pool of bright crimson spilling from them, probably dead, including the man whose arm he had hit to take his gun. Nine or so were also on the ground, but moving and putting pressure on limbs or their guts. The rest were uncertain, hanging around with their guns now loosely in their hands.
"Come on now," the man who he held as hostage gulped loudly. "You don't want to do this."
Zack tilted his head slightly. "Against Shinra, of course I do," he shrugged. "You did drop a plate on my home after all."
The man tensed, his head lowered slightly.
"That was AVALANCHE's doing," he said softly, and the others remained cautiously silent.
"Then why exactly were they running for their lives underneath Sector Seven as the plate came crashing down?" Zack asked lightly, glaring at the other soldiers.
The leader shifted uncomfortably. "Let him go."
"'Him,'" Zack mused. "Hey, what's your name, anyway?" He was probably scaring all of them, but it was an expected side effect of having to try to be 'positive' and yet at the same time try to not consider them Shinra even while they wore Shinra uniforms.
"Kunsel," the man introduced. "You?"
He opened his mouth to answer, before remembering who (or rather what) he was supposed to pretend to be. "Um… Angeal's copy." Damn, that sounded stupid. The others tensed, but Kunsel shifted, as if he knew he really wasn't.
"He does… sort of… look like him." One of the guards cautioned, shifting nervously.
Zack glanced questionably down at Kunsel, who seemed to have relaxed slightly at hearing it. Why? Didn't this Angeal betray Shinra along with a whole lot of other shit that branded the man a traitor?
The elevator dinged. It made all of them jump slightly, and from it stepped out a middle aged worker, uniform in hand and purse dangling from an arm. She froze in shock, staring at everyone and the scene in horror, and then Zack took his chance.
He rushed, Kunsel in hand, until both of them were in the elevator and, shoving the unarmed guard to the ground, he nervously pushed the button to close the doors with haste, before quickly hitting the number '38' on the long range of floors.
A pain flooded through his neck, and before he could even comprehend what was happening, his face was against the plush blue carpet of the elevator, a persistent force against his back.
"I used to be a SOLDIER 2nd you know." Kunsel began, pushing his boot into the space between Zack's shoulder blades.
Zack couldn't help but wince at the pain it brought. He had landed on the wounded shoulder too…
"Is that right?"
"Yes." Kunsel lifted the weight on his foot. "You may not look like Angeal, but he had the same opinion about Shinra."
Oh. Okay. Was that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?
"So," Zack breathed heavily into the carpet. "If you were in SOLDIER, why exactly are you a…" he took in a deep breath as Kunsel increased the pressure, "guard?"
"I got demoted due to a claim that I was an insider who worked with Angeal or Genesis. There was no merit to it, so the Director had demoted me until the suspicions cleared."
"My luck!" Zack winced as Kunsel dug his boot deeper into the middle of his back, and this time, Zack had to growl from the pain. In a moment, it was gone, the pain, the pressure, and the boot.
"Shinra is a myriad of conspiracies and politics," Kunsel explained, leaning against the smooth glass as the elevator rose. "It's like a web of lies."
What was he telling him for? Zack heaved himself up, twisting his body so that he sat, leaning against the opposite side of the elevator. For the first time, he was able to look at this 'Kunsel'. Light, tussled hair, much unlike both Zack's own and Cloud's. His face was unremarkable, so Zack couldn't even recall if he had seen him during the whole fiasco in Junon…
"Do you always wear a mask?" Zack asked, for the first time placing a hand and putting pressure on the bleeding bullet wound. So much for the shirt – he had really liked it too. "Helmet, I mean."
Kunsel looked nervous, his hand itched towards his face. When Zack mentioned the helmet, he licked his lips anxiously.
"Usually." The SOLDIER admitted. "I worked in infantry for four years before actually making it into the SOLDIER program. I suppose I just got used to it."
"Why are you helping me?" Better get straight to the point. There was no use in dawdling. Kunsel's gaze flickered out to the city of Midgar, so luminous at night.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Who said I am?"
"You haven't taken the sword."
"You're wounded," Kunsel shot back, but made no move to touch Zack's blade, where blood had slowly began to dry.
"You haven't changed the floor number," Zack gripped his shoulder more tightly, nodding over to the panel. "I doubt you have that good luck." Or that Zack had bad enough luck to end up pushing the button that coincidentally happened to be the floor that this Kunsel needed to get off on.
"I don't." He admitted. He fidgeted a bit before sighing and leaning over to the control panel, his finger firmly pressing on the button '51'. "You have until then to convince me to let you off at any other floor."
"What's on fifty-one?"
"The Director's Office," Kunsel explained, reaching down and grabbing the handle of the blade, before leaning back up, twisting the blade until it spun lightly on its point. "He'll want to know why you know about Angeal's copies. They aren't common knowledge. Infantrymen only know rumours."
"A guy named Cloud told me." He was honest, but then again, he sort of had to be. He needed to declare that he knew something, but he couldn't tell them everything… because that was stupid. Someone with information was alive; someone without information was dead.
"Colonel Strife?" Kunsel froze up. "Cloud Strife?"
"I don't know his last name," Zack held up his hands as Kunsel's face got just a tad too close. "He was the replacement for Sephiroth when he went AWOL or something."
"That's Colonel Strife."
Jeez, had he honestly wanted to get into SOLDIER? He didn't know if he could handle calling everyone colonel or lieutenant or brigadier or general. He'd get mixed up. Then fired. Then he'd get pissed off anyway.
"You mean he's still alive?"
Zack paused a moment. "Yup. Pretty damn sure." He winced as the nod he gave Kunsel shifted him unintentionally, and his shoulder flared in pain. He'd really have to get that bullet out and he really didn't want to do it with his fingers.
"Do you know why he left Shinra?"
No. Should he admit that though? Cautiously, he shook his head in the negative. "Nope."
Kunsel relaxed slightly. "Why are you here then?"
"To save a pretty girl." Might as well make it as retarded sounding as he could, considering he'd have to be very low in the IQ department to think that storming Shinra's building was a good thing… or that he'd succeed. Kunsel gave him a dry look. "No, honestly, some girl named Aerith was kidnapped by Shinra and I'm here to save her."
"Do you know why she was kidnapped?"
"Nope."
"So you just stormed Shinra without knowing anything?" He was incredulous. It was perfectly understandable. Zack felt pretty stupid for going through with it.
"I guess?"
"Why?"
Kunsel's face was hilarious. If laughing did not hurt, then he would have, but it did… so… right. He didn't. That was the point. Why were his thoughts getting muddled up?
"Do you even know this girl?"
"Nope."
He swore that if Kunsel had room, he would have fallen over. The man looked so disbelieving and so pale. Then, he laughed. It was an expected reaction. Only the completely ridiculous could make a person laugh like that, and he had reached it.
"I was asked to, okay?" Zack tried to unconsciously climb to his feet, however he found that it was far more comfortable on the floor. There were eleven more levels to go until 38, so he had time. Zack quickly glanced out at the night, shocked to be able to see the edges of Midgar. Strange. Living in the slums sure made the place seem massive, but now it seemed like a tightly contained prison.
"Do you have some sort of hero complex?" Kunsel lifted the sword, pointing its blade towards Zack's neck, but a foot or so off from actually touching skin. "Only someone suicidal would try that because they were asked to."
"I really don't think I care."
"Thinking is completely different than knowing." Kunsel dropped the weapon, and crossed his arms. "There's more to this plan of yours isn't there? If Colonel Strife is a part of this small little rescue team, then there had to be more to it than…" Kunsel's mouth twisted as he looked almost distastefully at the other occupant in the elevator. "You."
"Me," Zack repeated. "Jeez, you don't have to make it sound like that."
"You can't even move that arm of yours, can you?" Kunsel sighed, and Zack merely glared. He tried to twitch his fingers, but he couldn't feel if they moved or not.
"So?" Zack shot back. "I…" He what? Meant to get shot? Hardly. He thanked whoever there was to thank, that he was right-handed. That, and he was somewhat ambidextrous, since, well, he had simply gotten used to swinging a sword around with two hands.
"I can't let you go."
"I will take it as a compliment that you even considered it."
Kunsel laughed lightly.
"You will get that wound treated properly."
Try to make that 'situation treated properly'.
"You showed plenty of promise, who knows, Hojo might take an interest in you." The words were flat, dull, and highly sarcastic. Zack started to feel queasy as the numbers increased.
"So," the elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors opened. Kunsel calmly closed them, Zack's sword threateningly in hand in case Zack were to try something stupid. "I'm taking it that I better hope that they execute me, no questions asked?"
Kunsel nodded. "There was a rumour that spread along the upper levels that had many people 'fired,'" using his right hand, he air quoted the word, "and never heard from again."
"What was it? The rumour?"
"Experimentation clauses that Hojo had to abide by, and how apparently those lax codes were all broken and that the entire trio of 1st's were all monsters."
The elevator was getting closer, Zack couldn't keep his eyes off of it. He really did not want to die. He really did not want to get experimented on. He really wished he had not accepted this plan. But he had.
"Any chance of me making it out of this building alive?" Zack's grip on his shoulder tightened as the anxiety grew. Only a few floors left…
"Hope that whatever Colonel Strife has planned works."
Actually, Zack thought, it was a girl named Tifa, who is overbearing and motherly, and it was backed up by a man who at first worried so much over the state of his daughter and friends that even after a week he's still fretting, and then Cloud, who only stated some facts, and let the others come up with their own idea.
That was completely convincing.
"Yup," he nodded, his voice slightly higher than it should be. "I guess I couldn't get you to mutiny, huh?"
Kunsel laughed. "I wish I could, but even I have my secrets." The elevator arrived at its destination. "Most of them are integrated in Shinra's very walls."
Okay. Creepy. His face must have said more than his thoughts produced, because when Kunsel looked back, he laughed lightly.
"That's a new face," he bent down and gripped Zack's left arm tightly. "You know," he said conversationally. "You sure are talkative for a person who doesn't know that the audio in the video surveillance is cut off due to Turk and SOLDIER confidential cases…"
"Why do I," Barrett wheezed, "feel like the kid got the better end of the deal?" He couldn't do it, couldn't climb any longer. It was just too damn long. "This doesn't even take you right to the top!"
"Come on, Barrett! Move it!" Tifa's breathing was just as laboured, Cloud's footsteps had to pause at the top step.
"If we don't keep moving, it might be too late for Zack."
"I'm not like you!" Barrett's mouth was dry, and his voice was hoarse. "I'm not some ex-SOLDIER, yo!"
"Neither is Zack," Tifa reminded. "If he ends up dead because you couldn't climb some stairs-"
Barrett glared, before he resumed his climbing. "What are all ye doing? Move your asses!"
Tifa gave him a dry look, before she forced her numb body to continue to move up the seemingly endless flights of stairs. Cloud had told them to reach the top, and only when they reached the top would it be completely safe to use the doors. If they tried to move get through one of the departments, they would have to not only navigate the massive labyrinth of cubicles, but they would also have to make sure that none of the night-shift workers called security – in short, it was an impossible and time-consuming endeavour. Cloud's own feet hesitated a moment, before he too began to resume climbing the stairs once more. They should be close to the top. Even he was getting tired of seeing the exact same hallway each time he turned around. It felt like he was going nowhere.
