Title: Technicolor

Author: Gatecrasher12

Publish Date: 08/09/08

Disclaimer: I already said I own nothing.

Word Count: 5,074

Author's Note: Let it be know that this fic is something of an AU as well as a crossover. Also, instead of starting this fic after the movie or games, as most are, I'm gonna start it after the anime, LAST ORDER. I haven't seen anyone start a fic based around the anime and if someone did, that's cool, I'd like to read it if it's out there. If nobody did then YAY! GO ME! Anyway, reviews are loved like puppies and kittens; flame monsters will have buckets of ice water thrown on them, constructive criticism will be poked, prodded, and dissected with scalpels and needles. Enjoy!

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"My green thumb came only as a result from the mistakes I made while learning to see the world from the plant's point of view." – H. Fred Ale

Chapter Two:

Greener Pastures

'Sometimes I have to ask myself if all the things I do for this company is worth so many pointless tragedies.' Tseng, Head of the Turks, thought somberly to himself as he sat within his semi-darkened but still lit enough office as he read and signed the last of the day's mission reports and statements. As he fetched out of his desk drawer a simple block of red wax, a lighter, and his seal, he continued to think, 'Seventy-two hours ago, we at the Executive Department Investigation Section, also known as the Turks received a mission to capture samples that are on the run from a Shinra facility.' The Turk leader calmly lit his lighter and held the small flame close the wax stick until a single drop of heated wax fell onto the piece of uniformed paperwork, next to his name, and quickly pressed his seal into the wax before it had a chance to cool. Tseng placed the sheet into a folder and the folder into the Out bin.

The dark haired, ponytailed man stood, picking up a cup of coffee that had been sitting patiently for him to drink as he went, and moved over to the large windows that overlooked the countless roofs of upper Midgar. The view was, as always, unimpressive to look at, and yet he stared out of through half hooded eyes none the less. 'The escaped samples, it seems, are two adult males. One of them is a combat expert who was formerly ranked a SOLDIER First Class.' Taking a sip and making a small grimace at its over sweetened taste and luke-warmth. He made a mental note to have a talk with his secretary about how he preferred his coffee. 'Because of what happened five years ago, the targets of this mission are related to me.' Tseng turned back to his desk and looked at a thick non-descriptive data pad folder with only one word labeled across it in simple print: NIBELHEIM. He placed his coffee cup down and opened folder without picking it up, idly flipping through it, not bothering to read any of the utter rubbish written inside it. 'If that incident hadn't happened five years ago their lives wouldn't have become so crazy now.' Bypassing the fake reports and stopping only to skim over the true ones, he stared down at one of two SOLDIER profiles, particularly at the picture that took up almost half the page. Tseng's eyes narrowed marginally in disdain. 'If it weren't for that man… the strongest SOLDIER… the one many went as far as worship and call hero. …Sephiroth.'

Kurrshhh!, came the sound of static.

"… Targets located, targets located! They're now at point 137! Repeat, they're now at point 137!" Tseng was brought out of his thoughts as a gruff and somewhat hurried voice filled his office.

On the dark haired Wutainese man let a small frown mar his otherwise blank face as his equally dark eyes looked at the radio transceiver sitting purposely on his desk.

Somehow or another, this particular mission didn't sit well with Tseng. Of course, many of his missions didn't. There wasn't a single mission he ever participated in or completed that he could honestly say he was proud of. The same could be said for failed missions, which were nearly non-existent on his track record. But out of all his assignments thus far, this one pulled at him most.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the two escaped targets just happens to be one Zachary Fair, the First Class, residential hyperactive, knuckleheaded 'puppy' SOLDIER, and one Cloud Strife, a simple Infantryman Tseng had met a few times that gave off this curiously odd yet powerful sense of innocence that you just couldn't help but want to protect. Or it may have something to do with his secret desire to disturb and anger Professor Hojo by denying him two of his prized experiments, if only to get back at him for his recklessness and resulting trouble he causes. Both these men were falsely stated to have been KIA five years ago during the Nibelheim incident when in fact they had been reduced to specimens for the immoral mad scientist who acted less human than all others in ShinRa combined.

Tseng had this nagging feeling that urged him to do something to help Zack and Cloud. The former was after all a precious person to one of the three people that were more important to Tseng than even the ShinRa Company. 'I still remember that look on Aeris's face when I had to lie about Zack. Such an expression doesn't belong on her. Not to mention the looks the other two gave me back when I decided to become a ShinRa Turk.'

Tseng's thoughts stopped immediately. He smirked almost ruefully at himself. 'Such traitorous thoughts I've been having lately. But, then again,' Tseng rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'If I did this, it wouldn't make Aeris sad again… and the other two… I'd finally have something to say that would make them at least a little proud of me. And the President did order Fair and Strife be brought in alive for Hojo. Nobody has to know I had ulterior motives.' Tseng flipped the data pad folder again, this time to look at a full body picture of Zack in his SOLDIER uniform with the fiercely intimidating Buster Sword's hilt held firmly in his hand. "SOLDIER First Class, Zack…" 'I wonder…what would happen if I let you escape? Will you become the hero you said was your dream to be… or, will you and Cloud be driven into becoming insane monsters like Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, and the others before you?' Tseng mentally asked.

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Zack Fair was a man who over the years he spent in the service of the ShinRa Company had accumulated many kinds of nicknames by other ShinRa workers; he had been called a brat, a dork, a puppy (only Angeal got to call him that!), kid, friend, and knucklehead were among his better names. More recently he had been dubbed Specimen Z, Sample Z, and traitor. They were not names that fit him, and he was not amused each time he'd been called them by a scientist or a trooper sent to recapture him.

It was funny whenever he thought back to how things used to be, when everything in his life was perfect. He was ShinRa's next rising star, got promoted to Lieutenant General with honors in the same year he became a 1st, had a budding relationship with the girl of his dreams, he had friends and admirers, Angeal and Genesis were there (even though they deserted and Genesis did some pretty bad things, but he was messed up in the head), Sephiroth was there (Zack had been getting through to Seph too), and then he met Cloud and became best buddies. Everything was going great! …That was… until Hollander and Hojo's constant messing around caused everything he worked so hard for to come tumbling down and then crumble into dust! Everything had hit the fan so quick and in the worst possible way. He had been forced to fight and kill both Angeal and Genesis (though he still wasn't sure if Genesis really did die, they never found his body after all). Seph had gone off the deep end, getting possessed and all, before massacring everyone in Nibelheim and burning the sleepy town to the ground. 'I lost a friend that day, but Spike, poor little guy, he lost his mom, his home, was force to kill his childhood hero, and both of us ended up being lab-rats for a nut job with a chemistry set and a God-complex.'

So that was how he got where he was now.

Luminescent eyes of blue-violet tinged with green looked around as the owner of those glowing eyes slowly backed up towards a slightly rusted but thick iron support beam that was to be or once was part of the foundation to a building but was nothing more than a bare skeleton. ShinRa troops had been following them for the past few days, trying to ambush them at every turn during the two week long hike through the Nibel and Coral Mountains and had now managed to corner him and an incapacitated Cloud in an abandon construction/destruction site. They were already half-way to Midgar, being only two days walk from the nearest port in Costa del Sol. All they needed to do was hop on the nearest boat for the port between Midgar and Junon, and then it's a strait four day hike to Midgar.

The spiky haired ex-SOLDIER raised his Buster Sword defensively, but still menacingly. A smirk stretched across his face. "Sheesh, isn't this a bit overkill for just two people?" he tried to make light of the heavy atmosphere around him.

They were restless with nerves and over confidence. Zack didn't have to see their faces; all fifty of them, to tell half the platoon surrounding him and Cloud looked ready to piss their pants and turn-tail. The other half, Zack knew these guys seemed to think that just because he had Cloud hanging haphazardly off one shoulder and held up the Buster in only one hand he would be handicapped. Woe to these fools once they get a taste of his SOLDIER strength.

'Oh well, might as well have a little fun before I reek havoc on them.' The porcupine haired man thought. "Hey, I got an idea! Why don't we all just skip the impending bloody fight, find a bar and a few nice ladies, throw back a couple of booze, and have a party?! Hehe, how about it? Any takers?" When an oppressive silence greeted him all Zack did was sigh and grin. "Tough crowd." He muttered to himself before his eyes traveled down to his blond best friend. Even though his face gave nothing away, if someone were to look Zack in the eyes closely, they would be able to see the overt concern and worry he had for the slight blond. But not only that, Zack himself was beginning to tire. The days and nights of continuous travel with little to no rest was beginning to show on him. For all his SOLDIER strength, he was still human, something he firmly believed in, and humans, enhanced or not, had limits.

"Well now, what should we do, Spike?"

Zack's attention immediately returned to the Infantrymen when the echo of multiple rifles cocking sounded in warning. The ex-SOLDIER's eyes did a sweep of the area, taking in all the ominous triad red lights of each trooper's helms, the glinting of standard Infantry swords, the dull blues and browns of uniforms, the sound of shuffling feet, and feel of killing intent and bloodlust some of his opponents gave off.

The twenty-three year old man smirked. These guys were armature fighters; he could see it in their body movements. They were probably only a year out of training. It was a shame too; most of these guys are probably no older than eighteen with maybe a few over twenty. In a way Zack counted himself lucky ShinRa was too cheap to send other experienced 1st after him and Cloud, but at the same time it almost felt like fighting ordinary people was like kicking a puppy. 'But hey, if they're idiot enough to be ShinRa's lackeys and old enough to point dangerous weapons, then who am I to keep them from an ass kicking.' That's when another thought crossed his mind. 'Hey, if these guys had been waiting on us, then that means they have a camp nearby, and a camp means supplies. With so many here there's a good chance security at their campsite is low. I might be able to get something useful there if I find it.'

With those thoughts firmly in mind, Zack gently sat a Mako dazed Cloud down against the iron support beam, arranging the small blond a certain way so that the jutting debris around him helped serve as added protection for Cloud's vulnerable body before he took his Buster Sword and forced it deeply and firmly into the ground as close and safely as possible between the boy's legs, effectively pinning Cloud tightly against the iron beam behind him. The Buster's seventeen inch wide blade was now a seventeen inch wide shield.

Zack grinned eagerly as he suddenly charged forward with the all the brute force of a raging Dual Horn and the speed of a Hellhound to his first victim in battle and delivered a powerful bone breaking kick to the head that shattered the unfortunate trooper's helmet, an instant K.O., or death. Zack didn't care; he was already moving on to his next opponents. The brigade of Infantrymen had opened fire a second after Zack began to fight. For all the good against the Gongagan that did. Zack was on fire, moving faster and more fiercely with each passing second as Mako-infused adrenaline pumped into his veins, making him high on battle lust as he was pulled off moves and fighting tricks that made it seem like he was dancing. His feet hardly stayed on the ground for more than a half a second. He was throwing seemingly wild punches, jabs, uppercuts, haymakers, backhanded fists, elbows, kicks, ax-kicks, scissor-kicks, round-houses, and knees into the closest guts, jaws, and backs. He was disarming troopers before knocking them out and sweeping legs out from under them before planting his foot into them. As he did all this, Zack never once forgot about the gunmen who were stationed up higher on the surrounding less than half finished buildings as he ducked, dodged, flipped, and rolled between flying bullets. Said bullets that were intended for Zack and missed eventually found marks in the bodies of other Infantrymen who were killed in bouts of accidental friendly fire.

Zack threw a quick glance over to Cloud just in time to see several bullets bounce away harmlessly. But the close proximity to what those bouncing bullets his sword couldn't protect had been too close for Zack's comfort. That worried the older man. Zack resolved to end the fight quickly.

The captain of the fighting platoon, marked different among the blues only by his red scarf, had been watching Zack beat his troops and unintentionally force a self inflicted massacre of his men. At first he had been yelling orders to keep up gun fire even if they hit other Infantry members, but when the tactic showed no progress and only served to lessen the numbers of his fighting force faster, as the gunner three feet in front of him was hit and killed by stray bullets, he called out a different order, "Engage him in close combat to take him down!"

Several troopers immediately jumped to action, tossing their rifles aside and unsheathing swords. They charged Zack from the front, behind, and off to the side, hoping to catch him in a three way pincer attack. Two were coming in for an overhead slash and one went with a forward thrust.

Zack vaulted over one of the incoming warriors and kicked him in the back, before maneuvering to land on his hands to perform a lightning fast double kick that nailed the other two swordsmen square in their chests. He elbowed another fighter in the face as he stood up again; more warriors came to take the place of the fallen. He ducked a random blade before picking up the wielder of that sword in a hip throw and sent the poor sod into the nearest iron beam. Nobody took the time to notice the slight impression his body made.

When someone rushed forward, in anger, screaming for his blood Zack gave an annoyed "Tsk!" If there was one thing any competent swordsmen knew it was that you don't try to gang up on someone with swords while screaming bloody murder as battle cries! 'Don't these fools realize battle cries only draw unneeded attention before they attack?' He dipped out of the way of another forward thrusting blade expertly since those kinds of attacks tended to be marginally faster than all other sword attacks. He grabbed the offender who held that sword by the wrist, and with a small twist, broke the man's said wrist while forcing him to drop the sword. However Zack didn't stop and rolled with the capture trooper, using his built up momentum to throw him into one of the other oncoming troopers, sending both of them sprawling on the ground, before side-stepping another swordsman. The man didn't know what hit him as he blacked out; his last conscious sight was that of an incoming black leather clad fist and the feeling of the bones in his jaw breaking with a sickening crunch.

Among the still standing Infantrymen, only a little more than half a dozen or so of them were left, Zack could make out whispers of fear. He could hear comments on his power as a SOLDIER such as '... He's too strong.' and '… This is the strength of SOLDIER…' fluttering about.

Zack had to grin to himself as he finished off four more of his would-be capturers.

The black haired Gongagan looked back over his shoulder at remaining troopers still standing. He gave them a contemplating look, wondering if he should take them down too or leave them to pick up the pieces of what was left of their platoon. Not a moment later the roar of motor engines sounded seconds before a pair of glaring white headlight could be seen coming. Zack gave a comatose Cloud an apologetic look, 'Don't worry Cloudy, I'll be right back. I just need to go get us a ride.' He thought before bolting away from the battleground.

"Go after him!" The captain barked at the pair of newly arrived members of the motorcycle unit. The duo sped off after the retreating ex-SOLDIER. The captain began to survey the battleground of fallen bodies, contemplating how to write the report on this obvious failure of a mission, until he noticed a shock of blond. He looked at the boy dressed in Infantry clothes and could see the glow of Mako Eyes from where he stood. He was such a little thing and that dazed, empty look in his eyes was a clear sign of Mako Poisoning. "To think he'd abandon his friend like this, that SOLDIER First Class."

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As he ran across a suspension bridge hovering over a wide river, Zack could easily hear the motorcycles behind him quickly gain on him, but that was okay, those motorcycles where after all what he'd been hoping to find when he decided to try and find the ShinRa troops' camp.

Silver and black chrome shot passed him on both sides and skidded to a halt a few yards ahead of him, cutting his path off. Zack looked behind him to see if anyone else was coming. The road behind him was dark and silent. The black clad warrior smirked. Either these guys were extremely cocky challenging him alone, or the troops were low on manpower. Zack blinked in surprise when there was the sudden sound of chopping air. A blinding light on his left side lit the area around him as Zack looked up at a sleek, black helicopter as it rose up in the air alongside the bridge. He frowned when he caught sight of the ShinRa insignia on the back rotor of the black flying machine. "The Turks, huh?" 'Damn, so now the Turks want to play with me. This ain't good.'

Within the helicopter sat a pair of Turks, one was the ever stoic Turk who wore a pair of sunglasses no matter if it was day or night named Rude. The other Turk was one of the few female members in the organization, a blond named Elena.

Rude opened a communication line to ShinRa HQ, Turk Division. "HQ, we've sighted one of the targets. Apprehend or terminate the target, over?"

"Kurrshhh!... Apprehend the targets. Do you best to bring them in alive, over."

"Roger." Rude nodded once in confirmation to Elena.

The female Turk switched on the megaphone and pressed her microphone closer to her mouth and said, "SOLDIER First Class, Zack Fair, surrender quietly. If you do you or your friend's lives will be assured safety."

While all this was going on, the two motorcycle troop units where seething at the Turks' interference. "Damn Turks," one groused. "Always showing up and doing whatever they please. This is our mission."

"It doesn't matter," The other trooper said as he reached for the rifle holster on the side of his bike. "We'll secure the sample ourselves and get all the credit." He gained an approving nod from his partner who unsheathed his sword.

"Man, these guys are persistent." Zack complained to himself. "I don't care about my safety. What I want is my FREEDOM!" Zack yelled as he turned and ran, strait for the two motorcyclists.

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Back on the construction site turned battleground, the two of the three infantrymen were working up a sweat as they tried in vain to remove the Buster Sword that was pinning Cloud, Sample C to them, from the ground that the SOLDIER sample had left there. They tried several different ways from trying to yank it upward out to wiggling it. If this didn't work they'd have to start digging it out. The captain wasn't doing them any favors by simply standing behind them not helping.

"Hurry up," The captain barked impatiently. "Haven't you gotten that thing out of the ground yet? We have to get this sample back to HQ before we go to collect the other escaped one."

The trio had been so absorbed by the current task at hand that they hadn't notice a motorbike roll silently up several yards behind them. Nor did they notice an annoyed looking Zack get off said bike and calmly stalk up to them.

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Riiiiinnnngggg!

Tseng's PHS got the chance to only ring once before the Wutainese pulled it out of his inner breast pocket and flipped it open. "What is it?" he said calmly. He'd been sitting at his desk waiting on a report from Rude and Elena for a while now and he wasn't disappointed.

Rude monotone voice spoke, "The target has acquired a motorbike. The escape radius the sample has just increased as of now."

Tseng nodded. And ordered, "Keep tabs on them and report anything that happens."

"Understood."

With that the call ended. The ShinRa issued PHS flipped close but was not returned to its place in Tseng's jacket. The man sat back in his chair and stared at the phone for a moment, as if to ask it what to do next. Not too long ago another order from the president was handed down to all persons involved with the current mission. When it became apparent where Zack and Cloud were heading the order passed down was that the Turks were to keep track of the escapees while the Infantry continue their pursuit of the samples until they could be ambushed either at the port or just outside the city where they would be captured or executed.

'It's not fair, but maybe this could set things right.' With a silently heaved sigh and a built resolve the PHS was open again. Speedy fingers deftly dialed a short series of numbers and a ringing began. Tseng waited through four more rings before a voice he hadn't heard in more than eight years answered. Tseng unconsciously tensed as his heart beat a little harder in his chest.

"… whoever this is better have a damn good reason for calling me at fking three-ten in the morning or so help me when I find you, you're dead."

The dark haired man took a breath and said as dryly as possible, "You're still so eloquent in the mornings I see."

"Hm? Who the hell is this?" The voice was groggy, thick with sleep, but otherwise quickly gaining more alertness by the second.

Tseng's large leather chair swiveled around until he faced the windows. "It's been a while… nii-sama."

There was a pensive silence on the other end for a moment before the newly dubbed 'ni-sama' spoke again in question, "…Tseng? …Is this you?"

"Yes."

There was a shuffling sound of moving cloth along with a second sleepy, more feminine, voice inquiring about the phone call in the background noise. 'Nee-sama is there too.'

"Well, this is interesting. It's been what? Nearly eight years since you left to join that Gaia forsaken company and you just now get the guts to call." 'Ni-sama's' voice wasn't critical but it did hold a slight edge to it, sounding somewhat hurt.

Tseng caught himself before he could flinch guiltily. It was still the same. No matter how much time had passed nii-sama's disappointment still stung. Nee-sama's was just as bad, but nii-sama's always seemed to leave a sense of failure behind. He felt thoroughly chastised without actually being so. It was almost like talking to his parents again. "I know, things have been hectic lately and I've been busy." A lame attempt at pacification and the disbelieving and annoyed snort he got told him the other man on the opposite end wasn't buying it.

"I'm sure that's the case." Nii-sama said sarcastically. "So, want to tell me the real reason behind this well overdue phone call? You must need something or you're in trouble because normal folk don't call people so suddenly out of the blue in the dead of night."

Tseng adjusted his tie before getting to the point of his surprise call. "You're right, I do need a favor." He was granted an encouraging sound from the other before continuing, "I have some …friends, who are in trouble with the company. I can't go into details, but something happened a while back and because my friends know too much about it they're now fugitives on the run and I, as leader of the Turks, was assigned to either apprehend or terminate them…"

"But you don't want to do either." Nii-sama provided with an amused chuckle. "Tell me, Tseng, why call us?"

"I have a few reasons. The first is because you and nee-sama are the only ones skilled enough to help without giving yourselves away. The second reason is because they aren't far from Costa del Sol. And lastly, I just don't want my friends to die or get hurt."

There was another moment of silence and Tseng was beginning the think nii-sama just might refuse him when a heavy sigh sounded through his PHS. "Tell me about these friends of yours and I'll go get them."

A small smile graced Tseng's features. "There are two of them. One is former SOLDIER First Class, Zack Fair, and the other is a former Infantryman named Cloud Strife…" The head Turk spent the next ten minutes describing the two former ShinRa employees and giving their estimated time of arrival to the beach port. Tseng also informed the man of what to watch out for before he wrapped things up. "…I trust they'll be safe with you?"

"Well, duh! Who do you think I am? I cared for a brat like you, didn't I? I can handle a few foolish, good for nothing ShinRa lapdogs."

Tseng nodded, an eyebrow twitched at the 'brat' comment. Few could actually get away with such a thing as calling him names like that, and nii-sama was one of them. "Good, tell nee-sama I said 'hello' for me."

"Will do. And Tseng …I'm happy you told me about this. You're being brave by risking your neck for friends like this to help. It's about time too."

"I know."

"Good, well, I've gotta go, but you better call often after this or else... hime-chan was worried about you for the longest time."

"Sorry about that. I will call again when things settle down. Good night, nii-sama."

"See ya later."

With that, Tseng's PHS closed again and the man sighed as he returned it to his pocket. 'I've sabotaged the assignment. My actions just now have all but assured this mission to be a failure, and yet…'

And yet, even though this will undoubtedly earn him a red mark on his record, he felt strangely unconcerned.

Oddly enough, he also felt lighter somehow. Like a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

The feeling was as good as it was dangerous. Tseng resolved not to indulge it again unless situations like this called for it.