Crisis Core: The Novel

Chapter 40 - Deployment

Zack walked out of the church that morning while Aerith was still asleep. He couldn't wake her, he'd never be able to leave her. If he had to say goodbye he'd choose her over his duty to SOLDIER in a heartbeat...he had to let her go.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, a ricocheting bullet at his feet rocked him awake. He flashed his sword to block a hail of leadspray. What the hell was going on?

A robotic dozer-drone equipped with a riot shield and tread-wheels zeroed in on Zack, opening fire, but Zack was already sprinting toward it on impulse. A one-two spiral-slash knocked it back thirty feet, but the treads braked, targeting Zack all over again. From behind him, another bullet whizzed, pelting the armor of the drone. A second one hit the red eyelet, exploding the robot into pieces. He whipped around to see Tseng running up beside him with his Colt pistol drawn.

He knew Zack hated when the Turks spied on Aerith. He'd broken surveillance rank anyway and shown himself...to help Zack. The SOLDIER noted and followed him to the wreckage of the robot.

"What are these things?" he asked.

"ARMA's new automated mobile weapon. These robots are programed with Search-and-Destroy protocols to target Genesis."

"Then why'd it attack ME? I'm not a monster!"

"I have no idea, but I'll be bringing this up with Director Scarlet personally. This is dangerous."

Zack's eyes flew wide at hearing one name.

"Fwew, you're pretty brave."

"We're paid to be."

"Tsh, yeah, you guys are actually paid a livable wage."

"More like a comfortable wage." Tseng saw the SOLDIER purse his lips, his whole body seeming to slump in his 1st Class uniform. The two men stood in silence as the obvious weighed on Zack's high-ranking shoulders, that there was nowhere up from where he was, that even though SOLDIER was the most elite and prestigious unit in the world, after all that hooah wore off there was only the gritty truth of what his job actually was—a dead end. Tseng holstered his weapon and spoke in an off-handed tone to Zack.

"Speaking of which, SOLDIER is not the only department short on man-power. It looks like we're going to start hiring soon. Any Turk can screen potential applicants."

He met Zack's gaze side-long, and all that rivalry and big-brother griping seemed to dissipate like steam. It had been a long time since they'd met in Lazard's office and refused to shake hands, a burning repulsion welling in a young kid's fiery eyes. Now a young man stood next to Tseng with a look of subtle absolution, a million possibilities running across his mind.

"...What if an applicant already has prior commitments, people he's waiting for and has promised to help out?"

"We hire a little differently than most companies. We don't go looking for the perfect applicant, we wait for the perfect applicant to come to us...whenever he's ready."

Now Zack turned to Tseng, looking at him dead-on with hidden fear and awe. He wasn't quite sure what was going on here, if and what Tseng was offering him, the man never showed any emotion. He felt the answer staring him down like the barrel of a Colt pistol in Tseng's dagger-sharp eyes.

A life.

A look back at the church, a comfortable life for both of them.

"Don't worry about Aerith," Tseng assured. "Protecting the subject is part of surveillance duty...and Reno's been taken off the case." Zack smirked at that. "You just worry about protecting yourself, and staying safe on this deployment."