"Okay okay I have a genius idea!"
Zara looked at Michael with an amused smirk on her face "What idea is that exactly?"
"We get him, blindfold him and then leave on the roof of the building and then push him off the edge!"
The reason for Michael's sudden turn to a violent nature was brought on by the fact that Reno thought it would be funny to delete the report that Michael had apparently put his "heart and soul into".
"No one spends that much time on a report Mikey you're being a little bit dramatic don't you think?"
Zara was given a look that apparently Michael thought she had gone insane "Me being dramatic?! That's the third time he's done this to me Zara!"
Rod couldn't contain his laughter anymore "HAHA! It's funny coz he's a midget!"
"And blonde."
Then Zara and Rod burst into whoops of laughter. "You are a bunch of fools!" Michael declared storming out of the office.
"I love pissin' him off!"
Zara nodded in agreement "Almost as good as annoying Hannah but not quite y'know?"
"Yeah it's coz she throws more of a hissy fit," Rod highlighted this by flailing his arms around and then putting his hand on his hips in a rather feminine way and then putting his voice to a much higher pitch "Rod! If you ever touch my things again I will shove my gun up your ass and fire it!"
Zara burst out laughing again at Rod's impression of Hannah, another blonde midget. Hannah was an expert shooter having trained at the Military Academy and was recruited as a Turk immediately once she graduated. She was also very serious, far too serious for Zara's liking which was why Reno, Rod and Zara often came into conflict with her due to their rather laidback approach towards things sometimes.
"Man oh man I'm bored," drawled Rod spinning around in his chair to alleviate some of his boredom "Where's Reno? I think it's been too long since the three of us came up with a grand scheme."
"Dunno, probably keeping out of Michaels way until the storm passes," Guessed Zara playing around with a pen "Seriously! Why are there hardly any missions to do?"
"I was thinkin' that myself, I betcha Veld's playing darts or something in his office to pass the time."
Suddenly a mental picture of the usually no nonsense Veld and Tseng playing darts popped into Zara's mind, to be honest neither of them seemed like the type who knew what a game was. So she doubted that either of them would playing darts.
"Hey Rod, do you wanna go to the pub?"
Rod smiled at her "You read my mind."
And with that the two young Turks headed off to the Wall Market slums and to their regular watering hole.
When Zara and Rod walked into the pub they spotted a very familiar shock of red hair. In one of the far off corners of the pub sat a rather bored and lonely Reno.
"Aww look at him," Zara nudged Rod "he's sitting there all on his own like a lost puppy."
"Aww should we go and scratch his tummy to make him feel better?"
"Ha-fuckin-ha" growled Reno as they sat on a couple of stools around the circular table in front of the red head.
"Hmm careful Rod, I think the puppy bites!" Zara warned in a stage whisper.
"Maybe we should get him neutered, y'know. Makes 'em calm down." Rod replied in the same tone.
Reno gave them a very dark look and then his middle finger "What is it rookie's?"
Zara shrugged "I'm hardly a rookie. Rod, be a dear and go get the drinks. And don't moan about you being the drinks bitch tonight."
Zara smiled at him until he got up muttering something about not being Zara's bitch. She then turned her gaze back to Reno. He looked a little more dishevelled than usual, if that was possible, his hair was messier and Zara noticed it was a bit longer. He also had dark circles under his eyes. Zara got up and sat on the bench beside Reno "Hey, what's up?"
"Nothin',"
Zara raised her eyebrows at him "Nothing? Really? Then why do you look like shit and you're in a bad mood, your almost never in a bad mood. You create sunshine, rainbows, unicorns and little fluffy kittens where ever you go!"
This earned a small chuckle from the male, he rested his head on Zara's shoulder "I'm just tired y'know? I've been doin' night shifts and then being called in during the day, cause Veld reckons Avalanche are on the move again and he wants all his senior operatives on call."
"Well maybe you should go home and try and get some rest in before night shift starts?"
"Ugh can't be assed." Reno murmured.
Thoughts were running through Zara's head. 'Veld reckons Avalanche are on the move again'. Well that wasn't good, Zara just hoped they could fight them off quickly and easily. Zara never wanted to see another Essai and Sebastian incident again.
The next few weeks moved by slowly for the Turks. With nothing better to do than patrol the sectors and the slums. Reno and Zara were tasked with patrolling sector 6 and the two were rather bored. Discussing plans of how to annoy Tseng further as they felt their pranking ways needed to be recognised again as it had been some months since they disrupted the daily working lives of their fellow Shinra employees.
"Y'know flour cannons are good." Reno said swinging his EMR around as they strolled around.
"No their not, we need something big like…like… like… oh I dunno but we need to something we haven't done before!"
"Yeah but what the hell can we…" Reno was then cut off by his PHS buzzing in his pocket "S'up Tseng?"
"You and Zara need to come back to Headquarters immediately." And with that the line went dead.
"Well that was a nice friendly chat," Reno said sarcasm dripping from his words as he looked at the phone in his hand "c'mon babe we gotta go back to HQ!"
"Stop calling me babe!"
Reno just burst out laughing, "Race ya back, babe!" and he then ran off hoping to not be hit by Zara who then gave chase.
The pair grabbed a lift when they finally made it to the Shinra building pressing the button to their floor then started to ascend.
"You got small tits d'you know that?" Reno asked as they ascended as if it was the most normal question to ask someone. Zara glared at him.
"You didn't seem to mind a couple of weeks ago," Zara answered coolly "You've got a small dick did you know that?"
"Do not!" retorted Reno with a smirk on his face. Zara punched him playfully on the arm, then the lift came to a halt and the silver doors slid open, into the Turks floor on the sixty-ninth floor "Heheh Sixty nine."
"Grow up Reno." Zara pushed Reno out of the lift and stepped out behind him and they then headed off to the offices, but when they got there nobody was in the office, which didn't happen very often. Therefore, they decided to head to Veld's large office, Reno walked in first then Zara.
"Zara, Reno thank you for finally joining us." Veld said tersely, well this wasn't good, "Now I can tell you what you all have been called here for."
Zara looked around the room everyone looked at Veld expectantly awaiting their orders, Tseng looked tense and slightly agitated , Zara's attention was returned to Veld as he started to speak again.
"AVALANCHE it seems have regrouped and have taken control of the Corel Mako reactor. We must do everything in our power to stop them as quickly as possible. We'll take the two largest choppers, Reno you will pilot one with Hannah as your co and Rude you shall pilot the second with Chaz as your co, all right get moving!"
All of the Turks readied themselves with their various choices of weapon and some Materia. Then raced to the roof of the building to the helipads. The Turks split, half going on Rude's helicopter the other half going on Reno's.
The blades then started to spin into life until they became a constant rhythmic whir of noise and then lifting into the sky and heading as fast as they could to Corel.
The choppers touched down on the outskirts of the mining village at the foot of the mountains, which rose high and formidable against the skyline.
Zara slid back the heavy door and jumped out happy to get out of the small space and stretch her legs. Rod landed beside her, soon all of the Turks were out of the two helicopters.
"Everyone split up and reach the reactor from different areas, we can secure the reactor more easily as AVALANCHE will have difficulty keeping tabs on us all that way." Ordered Tseng "Reno, Rude, Zara, Veld and myself will go up the mountain. Monique, Alex, Michael and Hannah you go in through the mine. Edward you take the North side, Chaz you go in by the south, Sam you go in by the West and Rod you take the East all right? Okay then everyone move out!"
"Good luck partner." Zara said nudging Rod.
"I'm heartbroken to not be working with you!" he said rolling his eyes
"Bitch don't be sarcastic with me, see ya!"
Zara then walked over to where her group was, Veld watching as his Turks disappeared in their respective directions "Zara you go up front keep an eye and ear out for any Ravens as you'll despatch of them quicker."
Zara nodded her affirmative leading them up the mountain, her Mako eyes scanning around. Veld watched her, she was a credit to both the Turks and SOLDIER. Being able to obey orders with little to no fuss, and her remarkable recovery from the Nibleheim Incident.
It would often gnaw at the commander that he did not manage to save her brother and the cadet. But Hojo was not interested in her saying that she was weak in comparison, only just surviving the Mako infusion. Angeal had instilled a sense of loyalty to Shinra that she didn't posses when she joined at the tender age of fifteen. Having the strong pride and loyalty towards her Clan, but of course the company tamed her, they had done it before and they would do it with others if needed.
It was always said those from Gongaga made the best warriors, and he had two Gonagan warriors at his disposal within the Turks.
Zara's hand brushed against the hilt of her sword, taking comfort from the weapon being at her side as strong and reliable as ever. Zara stopped suddenly, hearing voices up ahead, she didn't recognise any of them, they were coming closer and closer, then two males appeared coming round a corner previously concealed by the rock jutting out from the pathway. The others crouched out of view hiding in the shadows ready to fight.
"A Turk!" exclaimed one male.
"Shinra scum! Down with the Shinra!" the two readied their guns and fired their bullets. Zara dodged out of the way of the rain of bullets as they came closer, in her eyes they seemed to slow down so she could plan where to head next. It wasn't long until the AVALANCHE troops needed to refill their guns. Zara charged them her sword slicing through their clothes and the soft flesh hitting vital arteries and organs, crimson blood covering the silver of her blade. Their words were replaced with guttural noises as they bled lying on the ground.
"Pathetic." Muttered Zara to herself.
After that the group of Turks continued until they reached the entrance to the Reactor in the mountainside. Tseng had been keeping in contact with everyone else, almost everyone else was inside the reactor with Rod and Chaz still to make contact to say each had taken his or her place inside.
Veld's PHS then buzzed in his pocket, he took it out of his jacket pocket looking at the caller ID then flipped it open pressing the ear piece to his ear. "Yes Mr. President, sir?"
Tseng, Reno, Rude and Zara looked at him with slightly confused looks on their faces watching their leaders face. He did not look happy, and by the sounds of it neither was the President.
"Yes sir don't worry we'll catch him and make him learn a lesson." Veld snapped the phone closed looking at them all "Vice President Rufus has arrived in Corel and is somewhere in the reactor!"
"What the fuck's he doin' here?" asked Reno gobsmacked.
Veld growled "Apparently he's been feeding AVALANCHE information! We have to find him before he does anything stupid!"
"Oh yeah 'cause ratting us out to the enemy isn't stupid! The fuckin' traitor!" snarled Reno viciously.
They all raced into reactor, finding Rufus seemed to become the priority over stopping AVALANCHE. How could the stuck up little git do something so stupid? This was getting worse by every passing minute, a traitor was an almost foreign concept to the Turks and as such the rat was being searched for by a pack of wolves out for blood. And they would surely get it, not matter who it was.
A.N. Thank you to Chaotic-rouge for being my first Reviewer! I hope people are enjoying this and will go over Zara's past in future chapters and may write another fic about her set during most of Crisis Core. As always Reviews are appreciated! ^_^