Locality Principle
After fighting his way through berserk robots in order to get out of the ShinRa building Zack ran into a few Turks fighting Dead Men; Tseng was one of them. One of the other Turks was a cute little redhead with a really big shuriken, but the newly-promoted first-class didn't think she was as pretty as Rosso.
Once that fight was over Tseng sent the other two Turks −Reno with the crimson facial tattoos and Rude with the sunglasses− off somewhere else. Zack wondered where they were going, considering that the invading forces were coming from the opposite direction.
"So, even the Turks are out and about, huh?" he commented idly, hands clasped behind his head.
"SOLDIER's been deployed, too," the little redhead said.
"Yeah, although we're pretty short-handed at the moment," Zack agreed. "Are you new?" The spiky-haired brunet had got in the habit of noticing Turks now that the blue-suits were stalking Cloud and he hadn't seen this girl before.
"I'm Cissinei," she told him with a sweet smile.
"I'm SOLDIER Zack," the first-class responded, holding out a hand to shake.
"Zack, aren't you in the middle of a mission?" Tseng pointed out politely. Cissinei covered a smile with her hand as Zack pulled back and rubbed his elbow.
"Well, our goals are the same so can't I join in with you guys here?" the SOLDIER asked.
"Thanks but no-" Tseng started to say, but was interrupted by Cissinei:
"Oh, how brave of you to offer!" she giggled. "Tseng, Zack, I'll see you both later." That said, she ran off. The tilak-marked Turk frowned at the SOLDIER, sighed then shrugged.
"Why not? Just try not to attack people in blue suits."
"Would I do something like that?" Zack protested, not entirely seriously. There were one or two Turks he wanted a shot at; they were the ones who were usually stalking his friend. Tseng however did not get a chance to reply as the first-class spotted a trio of Dead Men down a side road and sped off in pursuit.
The last person Zack had expected to find fighting off a Grand Horn on the edge of Sector Seven was Rosso. Then again, since Genesis was the person nominally in charge of the army of Dead Men, maybe her presence shouldn't have been such a surprise after all. Not one to ignore a damsel in distress, the SOLDIER leapt into the fray. In the fight that followed Zack learnt that Rosso was indeed extremely good with her double-bladed glaive and that she favoured Ice and Demi spells in contrast to the Crimson General's preferred Fire and Flare.
The monster defeated, Zack offered Rosso a potion. "Are you all right?"
The redheaded teen shrugged and swallowed down the offered liquid. "Good enough. You?"
"I'm fine!" Zack promised, grinning happily. Here he was, having just rescued his crush from a dangerous monster, and her brother was nowhere to be seen. "What brings you here, Rosso?"
The girl batted her eyelashes at him. "I'm being distracting. Is it working?"
Zack had to admit −if only to himself− that he was currently very distracted. Rosso's new outfit included a top with a plunging neckline and tight sleeves in very bright red with a matching miniskirt that ended less than an inch above the tops of her thigh-high, skin-tight black leather boots with three-inch heels. His thoughts must have shown on his face because the redhead looked him in the eye for a moment then smirked wickedly:
"It's working, isn't it." It wasn't a question. Zack was spared the need to answer as his PHS picked that moment to ring loudly.
"Hello, Zack speaking?"
"After you've finished cleaning up in Sector Eight come to the Sector Five Mako reactor," came Sephiroth's deep voice through the phone. It was fortunate that the Silver General had such a recognisable voice, because his telephone manner was abysmal. He never introduced himself, never said goodbye and was just as cryptic as he was in person. It was one of the elite SOLDIER's more glaring flaws, so Zack never commented on it; it made Seph more human somehow.
"Did you find something?" he asked.
"I received information of Angeal being sighted," came the reply.
"Are you going to kill him when you find him?" Zack inquired warily, very aware of the girl listening in from opposite him. He didn't really believe that Seph would do it −Vincent would kill him if he even tried− but he had to be sure.
"The army is on the move but we still have some time. We will have to find him before they do," Sephiroth continued, apparently ignoring the question.
"What are you going to do?" Zack shouted at the phone, finally losing patience with the cryptic-speak. The Silver General's word games were never his favourite thing and today had been stressful. There was an irritated hiss from the phone, followed by a short pause.
"... Fail to kill him," came the rather long-suffering tones of the elite SOLDIER.
"Really?" Zack brightened.
"Yes, really." That was Seph's 'humour the idiot puppy' voice. The first-class had never been so relieved to hear it in his life.
"You are seriously the best ever!" Zack gushed, but was cut off by the dial tone before he could add anything else. Seph really was bad with phones.
"So?" Rosso inquired curiously, reminding Zack again that he had an audience.
"I'm going," the brunet said firmly. "You just-"
"I'll follow you," the redhead interrupted. "If Angeal is there, so is Hollander. That means Genesis will likely turn up too and I have to find him anyway."
"Why would Hollander be there? You guys aren't working with him are you?"
Rosso snorted. "Of course we aren't. He's just a handy scapegoat. But it's Angeal's turn to babysit the scientist, which he hasn't been doing properly if the Silver General received a sighting report."
"Ah." Zack let the conversation drop and lead the way across Midgar towards Sector Five at a run, Rosso loping behind him.
The duo were ambushed by a very strong Dead Man with a sword just inside the Sector Five Reactor. Zack engaged the man at close range while Rosso fired spells long range; it didn't take them long to put the chillingly determined SOLDIER down.
"Why in Shiva's frozen hells did he attack you?" Zack asked Rosso. "Don't those guys work for Genesis?"
"The sane ones do; the rest cannot distinguish enemy from ally without the aid of a centralised and colour-coded computer filter," Rosso replied sadly as Sephiroth approached them. "It was a choice between put them down and let their deaths mean something; no right answer, just a set of equally hard decisions. Hello General."
"You must be Rosso; Cloud mentioned you," the Silver General said politely with a slight bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last."
"Sephiroth," Rosso responded with a demure smile. "Cousin Vincent speaks highly of you. As does my eldest brother, oddly enough."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Genesis speaks highly of me?"
"Well, what he actually said was 'he's the only person I'm resigned to losing to' but I think he meant it as a compliment," the redhead responded with a wider grin. "He certainly whinges terribly whenever Vincent thrashes him."
Zack, abruptly reminded of the incident in the Silver General's office the previous year when Cloud had referred to Genesis as 'the ginger whinger', snorted in amusement and had to muffle a chuckle with a fist.
"Unfortunately, regardless of our personal preferences Zack and I have orders," Sephiroth said gravely, a twitch of the lips the only indication of his amusement at the Crimson General's predicament. "Will you be accompanying us Rosso?"
The redhead shook her head, hair floating loose. "I have business elsewhere. See you next time, General. You too, cute boy," she added laughingly as she sashayed past Zack and around the corner.
"Zackary?" Sephiroth inquired, raising an eyebrow. The brunet SOLDIER first reddened. The General sighed. "Try not to get yourself killed, Fair. There are few enough competent SOLDIERs as it is."
Zack meets Rosso while out and about and gets to admire her new outfit, which is a slightly more decent version of her Dirge of Cerberus gear since it includes an actual skirt. Oh, and a short explanation of why Seph won't be killing Angeal any time soon.
There will be a chapter from Veld's point of view, I promise, but it won't fit into the plot just yet. For now we'll be sticking to the people on the ground.
