~ Watch Me ~
Lights
Rose pulled, tugged, and grumbled, her Third Class SOLDIER uniform taking a fair bit of getting used to. The clothing and armour were one thing – they were heavy, but at least she was protected – but the helmet.
God, my head is so itchy! How they hell do they wear these things?
She blinked several times, trying to force her eyes to adjust the infrared camera attached to her head-wear. It was so distracting. Every time she moved, characters appeared in the corner of her eye to analyse what was in front of her. Apparently her room was only fifteen degrees. Figures. Rose remembered it had been like walking back into an icebox, when she'd returned from Wall Market the night before.
Oh Wall Market. That hadn't ended well either. After Reno and Rude had left, Rose and Zack made to follow suit. However when they had gone to retrieve Kunsel, they were surprised to be told by the barman, that he had already left with Michael the Manager. Well, they weren't really surprised, but it did dampen Zack's already less than usual peppy mood. This meant that Rose had to sit the entire train ride back to Shinra, listening to him worrying about tonight's assignment, and whether they had made the right decision to help the Turks out – he didn't seem to think so.
Honestly, Rose didn't know if she was committing professional suicide, but she did know, her conscience was never going to allow her to arrest a child, especially when doing so could put his life at risk. SOLDIER or no, she had her own mind, she wasn't going to follow orders her morals didn't agree with.
Besides, the mission objective is to protect and secure the Materia. There's nothing about neutralising, or capturing those attempting to take over the warehouse. And Rose was determined to use that small loophole to her advantage.
She just hoped the boy didn't make it impossible to let him run.
A knock at the door told her it was time to go.
Zack.
"Hey, you ready?" His face was alive with the same childish delight Rose had seen, when he was checking out the motorbikes.
She took in his uniform. "You're not wearing the helmet?"
He pulled a face.
"Jeez, no!" He moaned, looking at her like she had a bomb on her head. "That thing drove me nuts! Was weeks before they told me it was optional."
"Optional?!" Grinning, she yanked it off, tossing it onto her bedside as if it were on fire. "Thank god for that! I thought I was going to spend the rest of the night walking into walls! You can't see properly in that thing."
Zack nodded. "They're really distracting. I have no idea how the others use them."
"Exactly!" Rose was happy they were on the same page.
Grabbing her sword, she headed out the door.
"Hey, cool blade!" Zack said, checking it out appreciatively. "What is that, an heirloom or something?"
"No. Why?" She blanched, shifting uncomfortably.
He shrugged. "Looks old. Never seen signs like that." He nodded to the ruins she knew inscribed the handle. "Good condition though. Where'd you get it from?"
"Err, it was a gift from a friend." She said, figuring the truth was too fanciful to explain now. Zack seemed to buy it.
"Nice gift."
She smiled nervously, bringing her hair up into a ponytail, and quickly changed the subject. "So, where are we heading, boss?"
"We're meeting the rest of the support two blocks away from the warehouse. We'll touch base with them there, and confirm how we mean to continue. We've got two hours before the marked group attempt to infiltrate the building, so that should give us more than enough time to set up."
Rose nodded, cautious. "And the other? The boy?"
Zack sighed. Clearly, he still wasn't entirely sold on the idea. "If you're still intent on getting the kid out, we need to work out a way to separate him from the group. I figured, if we can do that, then while all our focus is on the main individuals, he can slip away unnoticed."
Rose inclined her head. "Sounds foolproof."
"It's really not." Looking concerned, he stopped suddenly. " Look, are you sure you want to do this? It's not that I overly like the idea of arresting a kid, but this is the Turk's mess. I'm worried about you, this could really go against your marks. If they realise you purposely went against orders, it could end up being even more serious – for both of us."
Rose could see the worry etching itself further and further into his skull, and she sighed.
Zack and his hero dream.
"Look, I've thought about this. You were never good to go with it all. It's not fair to drag you in when I was the one that agreed. You've done enough. I'll figure out how to get the boy away from the others, and if it all goes pear-shaped, none of it has to lead back to you, okay?"
Zack didn't look happy with that either. "That's not – "
"I know that's not what you meant." Rose smiled softly. "But it's what I mean. Let me do this – it'll be fine."
He looked at her and sighed resignedly. "Lets just say 'we'll see', and leave it at that for now. Anything can happen in the moment." He set off towards the stairs. "Come on, lets go save the world."
Rose giggled. "Tad dramatic."
"A guy can dream, can't he?"
XXXXX
They took a truck, and caught up with the troop support in a side alley not far from the mission site. There were only four, and when Zack stepped out of the vehicle they saluted, forcing Rose to hide a smirk as she dutifully followed suit.
She'd never seen Zack as the salute-able type.
"Right guys." He began, sounding every bit the SOLDIER he was. "Our orders are as follows: protect the Materia. If we manage to round up any of the insurgents, great, but they are not the primary objective. The goal is to ensure that none of Shinra's supplies are stolen. We clear?"
"Yes, Sir!"
Zack glanced at Rose. "You clear?"
She nodded. "Crystal."
"Then lets move."
They made it in good time across the sector, using the back alleys as cover whilst they made their way across town. It didn't take long for their group to arrive at their destination, the warehouse standing proudly against the night sky. Zack motioned for them to stop.
"Great, the alarm hasn't been triggered. We've made good time."
"Unless they've found away around it?" Rose offered, the thought out in the open before she could stop herself. She caught Zack's look. "Or, you know, yeah – we've made good time."
"That's the positive response I was looking for!" He gave her a playful thumbs up. "We'll head in 'round the back and position ourselves up in the rafters, that way we'll have a clear eyeline on everything." He motioned everyone to follow. "Keep it stealthy, guys, and no one moves without my say-so."
They ran behind him in a low line, their feet light upon the ground. Once inside it was harder, the warehouse a pit of darkness, and without their helmets, Zack and Rose were ironically at a disadvantage. Somehow they made it up to the overseeing platform, the troops splitting up and taking either side of the building, while Rose and Zack sat up front. Crouching behind a loose set of crates, they trained their eyes keenly on the room below.
"Remember, Rose, this is a grading mission. Lazard will have eyes on you." Zack murmured, giving her a meaningful look.
Don't make saving the kid obvious.
"I know." She whispered, narrowing her eyes across the scene. She tilted her head thoughtfully. "There's a lot of crates here. They can't all be Materia, can they?"
Zack shrugged. "Wouldn't surprise me. Shinra are known for being well stocked. I guess there could be some weaponry too?"
Rose made a face, but reasoned it wasn't impossible. "Just seems so slap-dash of the guys stealing it, though. You can't even tell what's in them."
Zack hesitated, following her eyes around the room. "Mm, you're right." He agreed softly, giving her a shrug. "Maybe they're just trying their luck. Anything of Shinra's, sells for a bomb down on the black market."
Rose nodded her head, deep in thought. "Maybe..."
A loud clang from below was enough to distract her, followed by a flurry of hushed voices.
Careful not to make any noise, Rose and Zack leant forward, not quite believing what they were seeing. The insurgents, or whoever they were, were coming up through a manhole below.
Clever.
"C'mon, quickly!" One of them hissed, helping four others up the ladder. "Looks as though your informant was right, Ben. None of the alarms have tripped."
Zack and Rose made eye contact. Informant?
"Yeah, well, he should know." Came a light voice, Ben, Rose presumed. She watched as he plucked himself from the manhole. "I told you he was the real deal."
Studying intently, she was struck by the uneven tone of his voice, and then suddenly, even more so by his size. He was a great deal smaller than the other four around him, and then Rose realised why.
That's got to be the kid.
Another meaningful look shared with Zack.
"C'mon." One of them said again, breaking her train of thought. "Fill up your bags with what you can, Fred and I will get the weapons and ammo. We've got ten minutes tops."
They made to disperse, but it was then, that Zack chose to withdraw a small square remote from his pocket. On it he flipped a switch, and the room was suddenly flooded with light. Rose instinctively shielded her eyes with her arm.
A warning would have been nice.
The group below them froze, the change of scene stunning them like animals caught in the headlights of a car. Shinra Troops rose dutifully from their positions at Zack's signal, aiming their guns at their would-be burglars. Zack stood, and Rose followed suit, hand on the hilt of her sword as she stared pointedly down below.
Her confusion deepened. They were wearing Troop uniform, and the weapons they were toting, they looked Shinra made.
"Right guys." Zack was in his element, any academic questions could wait for later. "We obviously do not want this to turn messy – I can see you have a kid with you. If you could all, just put your guns down, I'm sure we can sort this all out with only a few slapped wrists. What ya say?"
"Go to hell, Shinra scum!"
And then the shooting began.
Rose had never realised how loud guns were. Her ears rang with every stolen shot that was fired. Taking cover, their group made their way smoothly down to the lower floor, Zack ahead of them, after throwing himself keenly over the barrier. By the time Rose and the others had made it down, Zack had already knocked out one of the trigger happy insurgents, his proud smile stretching from ear to ear.
In the chaos she tried to spot the boy, but Rose had barely made a move, when she was suddenly lunged at from the side. She side-stepped her attacker in a panicked flurry, but her elbow found it's target at the soft point of his throat, her foot rising heroically to his groin, as she brought the hilt of her sword down hard on the back of his head.
"Sweet dreams." She mumbled, jumping as several bullets flew pointedly over her.
The attack was answered by more Troop fire from their side, this time their bullets hitting one of the trespassers clean in the shoulder, and inciting an ear splitting cry.
"Fall back!" He yelled painfully, knocking through the Troop that had shot him, and fearlessly throwing himself head first into the manhole.
"Ben, go!" Another screamed.
The boy. Rose clocked eyes on him, as he made to follow after his fallen comrade. Unfortunately for him, a Shinra gun was already pointed at his head. If he moved, he was dead, and Rose could tell – he was going to move.
No...
Rose raised her hand in panic, her heart shooting into her throat, as to her amazement, a green pulse-like light shot cleanly from her palm, sending the gun wielding Troop flying effortlessly into a stack of nearby crates.
The boy seemed stunned by what had happened. Then, he met Rose's eye for the briefest of moments, before flinging himself to safety in the dark depths below.
Rose looked down at her hand, shock stunning her into silence.
Well that's another trick to add to the list.
Swallowing hard, she looked up, catching the confused look on Zack's face as he subdued the last of the insurgents.
He met her gaze.
She was going to have a lot of explaining to do.
R&R!
Thank you guys for reading! Hope you're still enjoying. Thanks to all those who have, fav'd, followed, and reviewed!
Hopefully you like this chapter? What do you think so far?
Lemme know!
Take care! xx