I still wasn't able to get a job working for Square- Enix. Darn! Well, they can't keep turning down my job application!
Anyways, on to the story!
The Present:
An alert sounded suddenly on Tseng's cell, snapping him out of his memories of the incident. Covered with static, the messengers, Rude and another Turk, reported on the escaped samples.
"Target located, target located." Tseng flipped the next page in the case album while listening intently. "They're now at point 137. Repeat, they're now at point 137."
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Zack brought out his sword once again with a grin upon his face. Cloud was still hanging on his friend's shoulder with one arm. The First Class SOLDIER placed the blade between him and Cloud and their enemies in a defensive position.
"Geez, come on," he laughed. "This is over- kill for chasing just the two of us." Hidden within the metal beams of a city that lie in ruin, was a large group of ordinary military soldiers. The city had been dead long ago; its beams were all that remained in its emptiness. The metal had rusted ages ago and the rubble below the beams along with it. Broken and cracked concrete supported their feet below them, and the night sky had turned black.
The two were surrounded by over eight men on all sides, the red lights on their helmets now making Zack increasingly aware of their situation. The darkness of the night only heightened their fear by smidgen, but that was all that was required to give Zack the rush he needed for combat. There wasn't a single star out in the night sky and the pale glow of the moon seemed to have disappeared all together.
An over- whelming majority of the soldiers were armed with guns yet a small few carried swords as well. Their weapons were pointed straight at Zack and Cloud in the center. The raven- haired man back up a few inches, still supporting Cloud with his one arm while the other grasped the blonde's waist.
Keeping his steady gaze on their pursuers, Zack nudged his companion lightly. "Well then, what should we do now?" He asked. There came no response from Cloud, only the feeling of dead weight and lead in his arms. The soldiers too were on their guard as they slightly moved in closer.
Zack looked up at a disheveled building of only metal frames and then glanced at his pursuers, his mako- eyes laughing and jaunty. He looked at Cloud and considered his options, he could fight carrying Cloud or he could fight on his own, but he already knew the answer. He set Cloud on the ground, slipping the blonde's arm from his shoulder. Cloud sat there like a rock or a stump, resting his feet beneath him. He bared no emotion at all, only impassiveness.
Lifting his blade, Zack thrust it in the hard ground beside Cloud, whose body lingered against it. The military soldier's guns clicked at the sight of their target making to pounce. The minute they took aim to fire, Zack as fast as the speed of light, or so it looked to be. He ran towards the nearest soldier and turned backwards performing a round- house kick at the guy, while all of the other men opened fire. Flashes of light came from both the bullets leaving their compartments and from hitting the cement ground where they had thought Zack was… but that was what they thought.
He did back- flips and front- flips, dodging bullets in a test of agility and calculations. He moved to the side and jumped high to avoid the onslaught of bullets. He was breath- taking and spectacular in the way he moved, graceful and with calculated swiftness. Agile and lithe without a single scratch on his body, he leapt in front of a soldier and when Zack moved, that soldier was shot by his own comrades.
"He's in firing range. Even if we hit our allies, we have to…" yelled what Zack presumed to be the captain of the squad. On of the men in front of the captain was shot and fell dead on the ground. Enraged, the captain barked a new set of commands. "Use close combat to take him down!"
Behind Zack came charging a soldier armed with a sword much like his own. He chuckled and dodged the attack of the swordsman, jumping in the air and back down on top of him. Zack grinned triumphantly while dodging another set of swordsman by doing a back- flip. He elbowed one in the stomach, listening to the man howl in pain before he was assured that the man had been defeated. Zack grabbed the other by the arm and flung him into the hard awaiting ground below. The remaining soldiers backed away, fear obviously over- taking tem.
"He's way too strong," said one, continuing to back away.
"So… This is the power of a SOLDIER." Said another. Zack threw punches and kicks, even breaking one of the men's visors off his glowing red helmet. The visor shattered and its pieces scattered in a million different directions. Zack hadn't even felt like he had begun by the time it was over. His breathing was slightly ragged, but other than that there wasn't a scratch on him. Suddenly there were bright light and roaring motorbikes. The First Class SOLDIER looked up and then took off, the riders following in hot pursuit.
"After him!" Cried the captain. From above he could see his fallen men while still in the center was the other fugitive shrunken behind a risen blade. "To think he'd leave his companion behind…" he said with repugnance. Yet Zack continued running, his lung on fire now, trying to think of an easier way to escape…
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"First Class SOLDIER, Zack." Tseng muttered to himself. He turned the next page in the album and was greeted with a cheery faced SOLDIER with shaggy black hair down to his shoulders. He was clad in the usual attire of the SOLDIER uniform, baggy blue pants, armor, shoulder straps, and a striped blue vest. He held what was called a Buster Sword in his right hand and seemed to be looking in a direction other than the camera. He looked just the type who would goof off but was very friendly.
But the Turks didn't judge on appearance alone, he had heard of Zack who was in second command next to Sephiroth and came from a town known as Gongaga. How such a person could end up in a situation as messy as this, Tseng didn't know, nor did he let on that he cared. He felt pity for the fugitives, first Sephiroth, then Hojo, and now the Turks. They just needed the President Shin- Ra on their tails in which that would be the icing on the cake.
But as Reno would say, "There are certain things about this life that you just have to take as they come. You can take 'em however you want, but you've gotta take 'em, yo."
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I love Zack (Zax)! He's the best and such a good friend by saving Cloud!