"The operatives have captured the targets, sir. They are being transferred to the submersible as we speak." The TURK reported to the man leaning over his desk flipping through one of the many scantily clothed women magazines. "The other targets have already made contact with them. Agent A reported Targets Z and C have become a type of obsession for Specimen S. Specimen G seems to be involved in some kind of competition with Specimen S. All targets remain ignorant of the circumstances."
Looking up from his magazine, the rotund President of Shinra smiled at the man. "Agent Valentine, you are truly a remarkable man. I'm pleased I was able to liberate you from those horrid conditions the Professor kept you in. Report to Scarlett. She has your next assignment prepared."
Nodding, the TURK quickly departed the office as Shinra tipped his head towards the city. Shinra remembered the feel of cold steel sinking between his shoulders and the faint tang of his own blood on his tongue as Sephiroth had mocked him. He remembered the loss of finances funding Project Jenova and that thing's offspring. Rufus and the rest of his rabble had been dealt with. With the promise to Lazard in place he had secured a time frame in order to obtain some compensation from the coming disorder. Only this time he intended to be alive to take advantage of that. Fair had nearly escaped his plans, but with the lies he and Strife had used he had an advantage.
He didn't get to where he was by playing nice. It was time to stop playing around and get back to business. His hand pushed the filthy magazine from his desk surface and it landed in the trash can beside the massive piece of furniture. He'd only managed to destroy all the Jenova Cells due to sending Hojo on a wild goose chase to Cactuar Island.
His plans were falling carefully into place but several pieces of the final picture were missing.
(Break)
Zack bent his legs slightly as Lazard held up a hand. If he didn't cooperate with the Director, they'd die. Or at the least they'd try to kill them. At best, their physical strength was about equal to that of when they'd first escaped the Nibelheim Labs. Cloud and he were surrounded, they had no weapons besides a bat and an umbrella. Neither was going to do any good against automatic weapons and what looked like a combination of Turks and Soldiers.
Worse case scenarios were not Zack's specialty. Making the best out of any situation was, however. That meant that if he played their cards right, Cloud and he could escape long enough to come up with a solid plan. Regardless, Shinra wanted them and that meant someone higher up whether it was Sephiroth or someone else, knew about them.
It could be Heidegger, Scarlet, Hojo, or even the President. That only meant he'd have to play this cool. Lazard had managed the Soldiers for a long time. That meant he was capable of knowing at least some of the training signs commanding officers were expected to know. Cloud was formerly a member of the Infantry. So, it was going to be old fashioned winging it then.
"We know you're not going to let us go." Zack started off. "But giving up isn't exactly my style."
Cloud's fingers twitched as one of the Soldiers present hefted his weapon slightly higher. The chocobo lure shimmered at the edges of his thoughts as he considered it. The materia was an unexpected gift Tifa gave him just before he ran away from the village. He remembered opening his eyes to the smell of burning wax and staring hard at the sight of his mother clapping her hands. He had desperately wanted to hug her, however the urgency that he had to get to Zack was even more important than those few moments.
Cloud had more than enough of Zack in his head to be able to clue in on what the black haired warrior was thinking. At least, he hoped he knew what Zack had in mind?
"Boys will be boys." Lazard began, his fingers pushed his glasses up further on his nose. "Shinra has the most influence on this world."
"Shinra is killing the planet." Cloud growled at him. "They are responsible for half the things going wrong now and it's only going to get worse."
"Then why don't we come to an understanding, boy?" Lazard responded, eyes solely on Cloud as Zack blanked at the sudden voice speaking up from behind him.
Cloud had always been somewhat on the quiet side, eager to prove to the world that he was just as good as anyone else. Cloud personified what an underdog was capable of when he was given the chance to excel. The darker haired of the pair stepped slightly back as the enemy began to tighten its circle around them.
"What are you doing, Cloud?" Zack whispered.
"Getting things on track." He responded without taking his eyes off his enemies. The Lure tingled across his flesh as he finally caught the edge of a Chocobo's attention. Within a few seconds, the giant yellow bird sped into the field and trampled over a pair of hapless infantry as Cloud jumped forward. Catching a bunch of feathers in his fingers, the blond wheeled the wild bird around to Zack's side.
Scrambling up onto a seat behind Cloud, Zack ducked closer as suddenly the bird warked at the enemy and took off running as fast it could carry its passengers away.
A few things happened when the Chocobo took off with his passengers. Lazard shouted at the military escort to follow and seize the offending children, one of the Turks quietly radioed for assistance, and Zack whooped loudly as the bird turned out to be faster than one of the local varieties.
(Break)
"You've been assigned to Soldier as Third Class Kunsel." The blonde woman was saying as Vincent stared past her and at the outline of the Reactors on the horizon. "We'll be deploying you right away in pursuit of Targets Zack Fair and Cloud Strife for recruitment. You will be required to take them alive."
Orders and more orders, with a relish of compliments on the side. Vincent was unhappy in his so-called new found freedom and he could only play along so much before it became too much.
"I do not think this deception is a good idea." He responded.
"You're not paid to think, Valentine. You're paid to do what we need done." Scarlett drawled as she set aside the manila envelope. "If you find the undercover assignment to taxing, we can arrange something else. Regardless, the President wants those boys before Hojo can get them."
(Break)
"Hey, Cloud..." Zack began as soon as the Chocobo slowed to an ambling gait.
"Yeah?"
"If we don't join SOLDIER, how are we going to keep an eye on Sephiroth and Genesis?" Zack asked, the obvious answer lingering between them.
"You could die." Cloud whispered in response as he recalled those few memories on the cliff side facing Midgar.
"I dragged your butt halfway across Gaia, Cloud." Zack responded. "While you were a drooling mess, come to think of it."
Cloud scrunched his nose up at the mild insult. "I didn't drool." he drawled, the soft steel in his tone daring Zack to argue.
"Heh." The dark haired teen laughed. "So, we're going to Midgar?"
Cloud's face went blank and he said it without meaning a word of it. "Not interested."
Zack's face stilled and mirrored the expression on his friend's face before he dropped his shoulders. "Alright, Spike, so why not?"
"We need to get a few things and get them hidden away before Sephiroth decides to go looking for them. Some things like the Black Materia or Jenova are just too dangerous to leave to chance with him." He reminded him. "Of course, getting either one is going to be incredibly dangerous. Getting the Black Materia requires someone's death. Jenova is going to take a lot of willpower to stop us from influencing our thoughts."
Zack huffed. "How'd you get this black materia in the first place?"
"A friend used a doll he had poured his soul into in order to obtain the Materia." Cloud answered, remembering briefly the sacrifice Cait Sith had made for them.
Zack let out a breath. Perhaps, they wouldn't be able to lean on Cloud's friend, but there was someone else they might be able to trust. "Angeal."
"What?" Cloud lifted an eyebrow at Zack's whispered word.
"My mentor… I guess you could consider him the middle child of the Jenova Project. Angeal can replicate his cells onto other beings or take them into himself. He was rather strong willed too. In fact, if I remember correctly, he was the closest to being like Jenova." he responded. "Even Sephiroth succumbed to insanity in Jenova's presence. But Angeal was all too aware of his honor, his humanity, to give into the insanity of that alien creature."
"He forced me to fight and kill him before he could become a monster. Angeal underestimated his influence on his friends. He grounded them, kept them from going too far when the Firsts got bored." Zack continued to say. "If we can recruit him to our side we might be able to do something about those things you're talking about."
Cloud's eyes took on a new light as he looked sharply at his friend. He knew he would trust Zack with everything, yet to bring someone so close to Sephiroth into their field of work… Angeal sounded like someone who could turn on them.
"Do you trust him?" he wondered aloud.
Zack let a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "With my life. The same things I gave to you, I got from him. Angeal will always be the man that taught me everything I know about honor, dreams, and SOLDIER."
"No matter what life I wake up in." He finished.
Cloud swallowed. He thought about Vincent, Tifa, and the others. He considered his friendship with Zack and his failure to protect Aerith. He had once dreamed about being like Sephiroth and becoming a great hero. It was something he had stopped looking for during those years in a lab. Zack had never given up though and become some kind of beacon for Cloud.
"We have to decide what we're going to do. Cloud running from Shinra won't work. We're underage, outgunned, and the last time we fled…" He didn't need to finish as he saw Cloud flinch. "So, we can always ask Angeal and that friend of yours you mentioned for help. If we can't rely on them, we'll come up with something else."
Cloud swallowed hard. Zack had pointed out another way of getting around. Ask Vincent or Angeal or both of them for help. "Zack, you said Angeal forced you to kill him. Why did he do that?"
"Ouch. You certainly don't pull those questions do you, Spike?" Zack laughed, trying to hide the shame he felt over that fight. "Angeal thought he had become a monster when he found out. He believed that by dying he could stop himself from becoming like Genesis or becoming an even greater monster. When Sephiroth lost it, when I had to fight Genesis, I couldn't help remembering those days before he went mad. He'd said I needed to be prepared for the coming fight. It was not something that you should have dealt with alone."
"If we fail to stop Genesis from going mad or we end up having to face Sephiroth again we're going to need stronger fighters. Angeal is someone I know can take either of them on."
"Sephiroth is easy enough to beat." Cloud stated, as he remembered that damning fight before he'd ended up in the past once more.
"Genesis too." Zack drawled. "We'll go back to the director, sign on with SOLDIER as a pair, get to Angeal and this Vincent guy, and try to keep either the Commander or the General from going any further than they already have."
"So, we're going to Midgar after all?" Cloud sighed. "I'm not sure how well this is going to work out. Neither of us are really going to be frontline fighters for a while."
"I know how to forge Materia." Zack declared. "And I know you learned a few things on your trip around the world. We'll just have to deal with it. I'll miss the Buster, but SOLDIER produces some decent weapons at times."
"Or we can just hit up one of those bunkers I mentioned before." Cloud drawled.
"I'm kind of tired of running all over Gaia, Spike." Zack declared. "It's really not all that healthy."
Cloud blinked. "You've got something on your mind, don't you?"
"Yup." He responded, "Plus, we have company."
The Turks from earlier crept out of the surrounding trees, this time several of them had their weapons out and ready. "Have you decided?" Their leader asked.
"Sure thing. We'll go with you, but only if we stay together." Zack answered, ignoring the tensing of Cloud's shoulders. Glowing mako blue eyes bore a hole into the SOLDIER's shoulder blades as the older boy brought his hands up. "Spike and I stay together."
"Turks are the only ones with partners, kid." One of the blue suited men started.
"Then that decides it." Zack decided. "We'll just join the Turks."
"Wait, what?" Cloud hissed, fighting the urge to grab his friend and shake him.
The leader of the Turks blinked at the two boys before turning and looking behind him at the oncoming troopers. "So be it. Welcome to the division kids."
He stepped to the side as the clearing filled with army men and they were brought to the waiting vehicles. The leader of the Turks pulled the SOLDIER director to the side and spoke with him quietly for several minutes. After what seemed like a debate of the century, the two men split ways and settled into two different vehicles. Zack leaned to the side to get a long look at Cloud as the blond seethed in his seat. Their escort now consisted of primarily blue suited uniforms.
"Zack…"
"Yes, Cloud?"
"I'm going to kick your butt the first chance I get." he growled out.
"You can try." The elder of the two responded.