Opacity

Zack was completely and utterly bored out of his skull. Yes, it was nice to take a break from the never-ending stream of high level missions that –as one of only eight First-class SOLDIERs left– he had been completing in the past months, not to mention his extra duties as the Department's new poster-boy and deputy commander, but he'd been at the beach for over a week now and the lack of activity was making him twitchy. The beach was owned by the Company and pretty much deserted, leaving him with no-one to talk to unless he called up a friend on his PHS. He hadn't even been allowed to bring his uniform and sword to practice new moves with. Zack had managed to while away a lot of time chatting to Cloud on his PHS and had even called Rosso once or twice; he missed his girlfriend and hadn't seen her since she recently fled Midgar after a run-in with AVALANCHE and the Turks. It was his ninth day at the beach and he had been reduced to doing squats to keep himself occupied, which said exactly how bored he was.

"Want some tanning oil?" came a semi-familiar voice from Zack's left. Glancing over the SOLDIER recognised the girl as being Cissinei, the Turk whose weapon of choice was a giant shuriken, who was currently unarmed and wearing a fairly modest bikini.

"I don't need that stuff," Zack replied shortly, not pausing in his exercise routine; as a native to tropical Gongaga his skin tanned quickly and SOLDIERs were more resistant to sunburn anyway. "What are you doing here?" he asked a few moments later as her presence registered, "have I been left out of something again?" he had too much energy to just stay still and if there was a mission he could blow off some steam.

"Isn't it nice to have a break like this once in a while?" Cissinei smiled as she descended the steps down onto the sand, ignoring Zack's question.

"I've had enough," the SOLDIER First said flatly, abandoning his squats. "I think I'll call someone." Maybe Kunsel would be up for a chat, or there might be a mission up for grabs.

"Sephiroth and Cloud are out of the office and all the other currently available missions have been taken," the Turk told him.

"What? Everything?" Zack whined. "Even those Shiva-damned sewer clearing ones?"

"Even those," Cissinei confirmed, amusement tingeing her voice.

"I do wonder what has got into everyone lately though," Zack added quietly after a moment's quiet, watching the waves lap against the sand. Things had been getting increasingly tense at Shin-Ra headquarters of late, SOLDIER was taking fewer missions from the Science Department and with his new duties as 'the face of SOLDIER' Zack saw Sephiroth at least once a day but barely ever for enough time to even exchange pleasantries. They'd been able to have a half-decent conversation at Cloud's birthday party but that had been a month ago and out of deference to the birthday boy work had been a taboo subject. The tension in Headquarters was ratcheting up daily and even Kunsel, who knew everything, couldn't quite articulate why. That the Second-class was worried and distracted due to his girlfriend's recent moodiness didn't help.

"Only the people involved could tell you that," Cissinei answered him, jerking Zack from his introspection, "but even if they did there's no way of guaranteeing that they are telling you the truth."

Zack snorted, staring out at the blue waves. "Cissinei? Mind going over there for a bit?" he asked. It had been a while since he's spoken to his girlfriend and he wanted her opinion.

"Calling Rosso?" Cissinei asked slyly.

"How did –am I being watched or something?" Zack demanded. Yes, Rosso was technically a fugitive or some such rot but it wasn't her fault.

"Or something," Cissinei agreed. "Your girlfriend involved herself with someone we were watching, so we looked into her background. Just to be on the safe side, of course."

"Of course," Zack muttered sarcastically. "Wonderful."

"We were letting things lie, but then they both vanished," Cissinei went on. "The girl we were watching is an Ancient, the last one on the Planet and Tseng is… concerned for her welfare."

Zack blinked. "Are you talking about Aerith? The flower girl?" Rosso had introduced her to him as 'my brother's girlfriend' which suggested Genesis might have taken a personal interest in the sweet teen's safety.

"If you know where she went we'd like to know," the Turk said lightly, eyes bright.

"Sorry," Zack told her, words honest if not entirely sincere, "but I have absolutely no idea where she might be." He stared out to sea again. Something wasn't quite right…

There was a commotion at the top of the steps and Zack turned to see Tseng running towards them, dressed in his usual suit.

"Look out! There are Dead Men in the water!" he shouted. Zack turned just as three men in wetsuits leapt out of the sea and produced weapons. The SOLDIER looked around for something vaguely weapon-like, but was forced to settle for a furled beach umbrella.

So much for peace and quiet at the beach, Zack thought as he settled into a stance and waited for the inevitable attack to come.


By sunset Zack was back in uniform, tired, irritable and very hungry. The ambush at the beach had been nothing more than a distraction while the Weapons Department warehouse down on the docks was being emptied right down to the shelving and forklift trucks; everything remotely portable had been removed. The three frogmen had dodged in and out of his range, baiting him as they prevented him from leaving the area until a radio buzzed and the trio instantly fled back into the sea. Tseng had then hurried Zack back to his hotel where another Turk –this one a tall redhead– was waiting with Zack's SOLDIER uniform and Buster sword.

Zack had then led a large force of infantrymen alongside Tseng and a dozen Turks onto a Gelnika and been flown to Junon, where a larger group of Genesis' forces were ransacking warehouses and sowing chaos all over town. Luckily there'd been food on the plane or else Zack would have been forced to resort to cannibalism to keep his Mako-boosted metabolism running, though MREs were not even remotely appetising. As it was he'd spent the entire afternoon herding infantrymen, fighting monsters, deserters –some of whom he recognised– and laboratory escapees, assisting Turks and reassuring civilians. However as the sun sank towards the horizon the Dead Men had scattered, vanishing into sewers, down the socks and up and away in hijacked aircraft, leaving Junon in shambles. Someone had even broken into the University and set the student records offices on fire!

Zack had to admit that the majority of their actions did make military sense for a guerrilla force living off the land, but breaking into the university had not been even remotely logical. Al least trashing the Sister Ray's power couplings and Mako pumps was rational, if incredibly irritating. The spiky-haired brunet SOLDIER slumped against the edge of the airship dock, brooding.

"Mission failed. That'll be a big minus on your service record," Sephiroth said trenchantly from behind him. Zack did not jump, even though the Silver General had badly startled him; the man moved like a cat.

"Seph! I heard you were on a mission somewhere," he replied with a smile as he turned around to face his superior officer.

"Leave the cleanup to the Turks;" the Silver General went on, striding forward to stare out over the seafront and the still smoking city below them. "I was investigating a series of thefts in Modeoheim when I heard what was going down here."

"Oh, I'm so happy for you," Zack snarked. Sephiroth had arrived too late to help.

"It seems the lull is over; Genesis' forces have shown up all over the Planet," the Silver General added. "Even in Midgar."

"I wonder what he's up to," Zack mused. There had to be a plan. He just could not see it.

"So do I," Sephiroth murmured, before turning around to face his current second-in-command. "So, Zackary, how have you been lately?"

Zack blinked, then grinned cheerfully. At last he was getting a chance to catch up and have a proper conversation with Sephiroth!


Zack isn't really out of the loop, it is just that Vincent had not been particularly forthcoming on the nature of her latest scheme. Genesis is restocking and shaking up the status quo.