Zack came to propped against a wall, legs out like he'd been dragged. The face of Cloud engulfed his view, resting his rifle on his knee and checking Zack's eyes for consciousness.

"You missed one," Cloud smirked.

Zack groaned, rubbing the back of his sore head. "Aw man, embarrassing!"

But Cloud's eyes lit up.

"I got him for you," and he pointed over to a guard on the ground next to the hulking indentation of Zack's body in the snow.

"Really? That's your confirm?"

The kid gave a shy shrug, and Zack broke out in a mad laughter cupping the side of Cloud's head.

"Forget Tseng, come with me, we'll have more fun!"

And Cloud lit up like a Christmas tree. He was actually getting to work with SOLDIER!

Cloud followed Zack down a loading ramp into the dim entrance tunnel to the facility.

"Get my flank," Zack ordered from up front, and sped up, flowing through the tunnel like running water. The whiz of air, shurikens flew at Zack from his right flank. Genesis clones.

Zack bat the darts away, rushing in a speed-slash to fell all three of them. Where the hell was his flank? He whirled back around on Cloud, who was still jogging up to him.

"Yo!" Zack threw his arms out, "I said get my flank!" He tapped his side, and something in Cloud seemed to click. They continued on.

God, had Zack misjudged him? Maybe he really was just a Security nitwit after all. He'd seemed so smart.

Zack flipped two fingers at the far wall, and Cloud ran over to run parallel with Zack against the other side.

Heh, he'd gotten it that time.

He slowed when Zack slowed, coming to a halt when Zack held up a closed fist at the bay-door entrance. Hm, Zack wanted to try something. He shot a complicated set of hand-motions at Cloud, indicating without words that he was to cover both flanks while Zack charged up the center. All set, Zack ran through the bay doors with Cloud ducking in low behind.

He dashed up the center of an empty hangar bay as a patrol of clones swooped in from all sides with a Judge-mech front-and-center. Zack wondered if he was going to have to take them all himself until a spray of bullets swept from left to right, taking out the copies on both his flanks!

Ohh,hand-signals! Cloud was a visual-cue guy! Man, the Security knuckleheads were probably yelling at him day and night for that one. They were the real idiots. Now he could see where the self-confidence issues came from.

Zack swept in with a flowing arc-slash, sending three clones flying at the back wall. The Judge-mech took three heavy steps forward to downbash a triton-lance straight at Zack's head. He darted back off a hand. Cloud knew better than to take a shot at the mech while Zack was on it, good man.

Frazzled, the Judge-mech swung a furiously wide lance-swipe, and Zack stabbed straight through its exposed torso without a second thought. It stared dumbfounded for a long moment before falling backward to the floor.

"Booyah!" Zack thrust his hips at the thing before jumping over it to sprint to the end of the hangar bay.

Zack flowed to the ground-level stairs and crouched down, while Cloud slipped over right next to him. Zack cocked a queer eyebrow.

"Did you play baseball or something?"

"Yeah. I was short-stop freshman year."

"Haha! You wore the tight pants!"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Lemme guess. Waterpolo?"

"Hey! League champion four years in a row! Don't knock it!"

Cloud snickered again.

Two more clones barreled up the stairs waving scimitars. Zack kicked off the railing launching himself at the clones in a flare-slash that took him all the way to the bottom. Cloud flew down behind him three steps at a time, but he didn't go all the way down, he dropped off onto a catwalk overlooking the lower level. Zack sprinted up the middle of the floor, whirling a finger like a lasso at Cloud that told him to shoot anything that moved!

Zack dashed in, followed by a rain of bullet-flashburn. Two clones ran at him in a downrain of slices. Zack cross-slashed in figure-eights, leaving a bloody X across their chests as they fell.

A line of four ran at him single-file. He took a wind-up step to power-slash all of them back thirty feet in one shot. A flying sweeping-arcslash that drove a clone up off the ground, an aerial overhead downbash to slam him back to the floor, and Zack looked around to find a couple handfuls of clones scattered to bloody hell all around him.

Then a bullet dinged off his blade.

"Dahh!" Zack whipped around with his sword up, about to wet his pants.

He looked up bug-eyed to see Cloud crouching with his rifle butt resting on his thigh, barrel pointed skyward, a snide smirk on his face.

You said shoot anything that moved.

Oh this little punk was showing off! Zack's mouth hung open like he couldn't believe it. Cloud was good with hand-signals, so Zack threw him one more—a huge middle finger.

Cloud made a slow stroking motion with his hand by his crotch in reply, making Zack break out in mad laughter before running on.

Zack hit the main passage as Cloud ran across the catwalk, dropping right in beside him mid-dash. They quick-scanned their lay running like kids through a junkyard, knowing that enemies could pop out of any dark corner or shadow. This must have been how Angeal felt fighting with Zack. When Zack slowed down, Cloud slowed down, cued into each other's body language.

The elevator loomed open in front of them, black feathers reaming its threshold.

"Wait out here. Watch my six." Zack ordered in a low tone, tapping his shoulder so Cloud would get the back-attack cue.

"Do you need a flank-man?"

"No. You're not Mako Infused. Too dangerous."

Cloud sighed, eyes falling to his boots. Whatever beaming energy he'd had going on a minute ago vanished in an instant.

Zack saw the kid slump and smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax man, you'll get your shot!" Cloud looked up to see Zack beaming at him. "SOLDIER is all about having dreams. If it's your dream to get there, you'll get there."

Zack winked at him, setting his light anew. Like a shadow, he flowed into the elevator and it descended into hell knew what evils.

The elevator rambled at the bottom, and Zack saw a grisly scene unfolding before him. Genesis stalked toward a shaking Hollander, his red Curtana poised at his fleshy throat. Zack rushed to the metal folding-doors aghast before even fully docking. If Genesis killed Hollander, who was going to cure Angeal?

Genesis leered at Hollander, grey locks of dust hair beginning to show on his alabaster vestige.

"The Jenova Cells," he demanded.

"But, nobody knows where the Jenova cells are being kept!" taunted Hollander. "Not even Hojo knows! You'll never find them!"

The elevator docked and Zack ripped the doors ajar. He lashed his sword out at the scene, but saw something that made him freeze, a calling-card red ring around Genesis' irises.

Dancer eyes.

Zack joked about it all the time, but this time, it was really Dancer. This guy was actually tripping balls off Dancer! He was probably seeing Zack in infrared right now. This doctor was his supplier and that's how he'd weaseled his way into all of their lives, through the weak spot of one introvert's dirty little secret…a very dirty habit.

"Then I shall willingly accept my fate." The mad seraph held his Curtana like a composer's wand. He brought the blade to his face so he could run a gloved hand up its smooth edge, gazing at it like a proclamation. "But, I'll take the world with me!"

He bash-slammed at Zack who upthrust into his blade, a one-two double-slash exchange that had Zack reeling back spinning his sword to recover. He dodged a straight-thrust and grabbed Genesis' sword arm, who grabbed Zack's in turn to lock up in fighter's tie-up. Zack shoved him away as Genesis stepped around him with a high downslash straight to his shoulder. Zack threw his blade overhead to block the bladecrash as they both spun away. Zack's sword flared out behind him, while Genesis stealth-held his backhanded, awaiting.

"Where's Aerith?" Zack demanded, bloodrage in his Mako eyes. But Genesis flipped a hand, whipping hair out of his Dancer eyes.

"I'm afraid your prose is lackluster for my understanding."

"Alright, WHERE'S MY GIRLFRIEND YOU GODDAMN TWEAKER! Where's Angeal?"

A grunt, and the peering of red eyes. "Angeal is in Modeoheim, at a bathhouse on the outskirts of town, having his way with your little flower."

Zack yelled in a rage raring for Genesis. They rush-slammed into each other's blades with the energy of charging bucks, sending sheering orange sparks flying over the grated floor. Genesis weaved his blade underneath Zack's in a sheerfractal upslash, knocking the sword skyward out of Zack's hand. Time slowed for the SOLDIER as he backstepped in tune with his own blade, catching it backhanded and slash-twirling around to sheer Genesis in a crescent-flash. A bash-parry deflected him, sweeping into a fulminating arcing upslice that Zack backstrafed away from like a slitting cobra. He handsprung away from the mad angel, landing legs spread and sword flared, ready to rush him again in a rage.

Genesis stalked toward Zack in prophetic doom, accepting his challenge. A yell from Zack and he rushed him again, catching his sword arm one more time. They tied up in fighter's stalemate, but this time Zack had a plan. He slammed his forehead into Genesis to knock him back, circling for a strike that came as a dinging downbash on Zack's blade. Zack up-parried, sweeping around in a spiraling arc-slash, but Genesis leapt to the sky.

He descended a one-winged fiend, floating down to the ground in prophetic resonance. His feet touched the ground for a split second, then rushed straight at Zack in a blurred flare.

Genesis hit him in a wave of dark energy, sending Zack flying against the far wall surrounded in specters of blacklight. They seeded bolts of energy from him, syphoning his strength so that his vision blurred. His muscles locked, going numb, catatonia setting in like darkness closing in on his line of sight, a window into the world becoming smaller and smaller. The image of someone with bleach-hair and blue eyes filled Zack's vision.

Cloud leapt in front of Zack, unscrewing the top off a Shinra Potion bottle as fast as he could. He dumped it on Zack right as a Firaga bolt hit him square in the side, sending him flying across the grating. Zack leapt up in a flash with renewed strength, bash-careening swipes at Genesis to get him away from Cloud. He seared electric energy off his blade, took a reeling wind-up step back, and swung a Hell-Thundaga into a power-slash that blasted the mad angel straight to the brink of unconsciousness.

The dark seraph shuddered on the ground, his wing fanned out like a shorn cloak. His wing struggled to flare out, like the dying breath of a great bird of prey. He struggled to his feet in a stumbling tirade like a marionette.

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises. Nothing shall forestall my return."

Slow, he stammered in backsteps toward the far ledge. His vision was blurry now, the world before him disappeared around the image of a young SOLDIER, a dark warrior standing silent with his sword. A rage flew threw his winged vestige, a howling despair resonating in a sweeping finality.

"If this world seeks my destruction…it goes with me."

Genesis took one more step over the ledge, falling down into darkness. Zack ran to the edge to see his body disappear into the abyss.

Something about the fall hit him, a SOLDIER 1st Class was dead.

Zack ran to Cloud, propping his unconscious body up against the wall. He cast Full Life to wake him up, checking his pulse as he came back in blinking fits. He gasped as his health returned to him like a cold liquid blood-transfusion.

"Hey, you okay?" Zack shook his shoulder a little. Cloud saw a blurry face engulf his view. When it cleared up to reveal Zack, Cloud threw him a slight smile.

He grabbed Cloud's hand and pulled him to his feet.

.

[Cloud is added to the DMW]