A/N: Heh Sorry for the long wait. Believe it or not, it really didn't take me that long to write this. I wrote it today and yesterday. SORRY I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Technically, I don't even own the clothes on my back. I bought them on credit.

Chapter 3: Risk

When Zack reached the door to his office he knew there was someone standing behind the door. His senses always gave everybody away. Not once had he been surprised by anything after escaping Hojo's labs. He knew that someone was sneaking up on him before the person had gotten within three yards of him. He knew someone was following him within seconds of them picking up his trail. Not only did he knew who that person was, he also knew how much they weighed, what shampoo and conditioner they used, and whether their boots were pleather or the real stuff. His enhanced senses of smell, sight, hearing, taste and touch combined into an almost otherworldly sense of what was going on around him. Of course, there were times when his senses failed him. Right now, it felt like there wasn't a single life form on the 40th floor of the Shinra building but himself. Which was how he knew Tseng was standing behind his office door. Tseng had a near magical ability to hide his presence. Back when Zack was a regular 1st Class he'd joked about it all the time. "You need to wear a bell, Tseng. It'd help me out!" Of course, Zack was fairly certain not even a bell would give away his friend.

Nowadays, Zack was always able to tell if Tseng was in the room. When he was alone with Tseng he had to constantly look at the main and double check to make sure he wasn't alone. The air around the Wutaian Turk was so devoid of life that Zack couldn't really help but notice. Normal people wouldn't, but normal people didn't feel the mako running beneath the earth, didn't sense the creepy crawlies climbing up the walls, didn't notice the little microscopic signs of life that were everywhere around them. Zack did. Which meant he also noticed when those signs of life were absent. The otherworldly sense of non-being that followed Tseng around was so noticeable to Zack that he knew if the man was on the floor directly above him or directly below him. There was no way for Tseng to hide his presence from Zack. It was impossible. Zack had once considered asking his friend about it, but decided that it would be better to keep his ability to pinpoint the Turk on the down-low. He even feigned surprise when the man showed up out of the blue, or came up in a situation that would surprise the living fuck out of an ordinary person. Zack wanted to keep the depth to his perception to himself, and would prefer if Tseng didn't know about every odd ability he'd gained from his time with Hojo.

Not that Zack wasn't one hundred percent certain that Tseng already knew the true depth to Zack's understanding of everything. He continued to pretend anyways, because even if he wasn't fooling anybody the banter that followed his 'attention-deficit' moments was usually at least a little amusing.

Zack put his hand on the gray green luminescence of the door knob and turned it slowly. He continued whistling a happy tune, as he'd been doing ever since the elevator had reached his floor. He put a bounce in his step, a slight smile on his face, opened the door, and walked in.

He turned the light switch only to find a Wutaian man staring right at him just a few feet away. He feigned surprise jumped a little and backed up a step or two.

He spluttered a few curse words and glared at the long haired Wutaian before him, "Jesus Tseng, you need to wear a fucking bell, tell the secretary you're in here, or adopt some other method to warn me of your presence." His tone of voice was convincingly annoyed, he thought, but he could tell by the expression on the Wutaian's face that Tseng wasn't buying it.

Tseng didn't respond for a few moments and Zack straightened himself up and gave him a funny look. That line was usually Tseng's cue to say something about puppies lacking sensory recall, Shinra's General being a pathetic excuse for a Soldier, or simply give him a glare that would make a lesser man than Zack piss his pants. Tseng just stared at him blankly.

Zack sighed. Bad news was coming, and it obviously wasn't the kind of bad news Zack loved. No, whatever Tseng had to say would either send Zack into a rage or make him cry. Things like this had happened before. Tseng had walked up to Zack, pulled him aside, and informed him something that he never really wanted to know. Then he'd watched silently as Zack reacted the way the "Old-Zack" would have, waiting for the General to surface and solve whatever problem had surfaced. Zack hoped that this time, whatever problem Tseng was going to inform him of didn't end up with Zack slaughtering half a town in order to set an example of a slight rebellion as Shinra demanded he do.

"Alright, I'm serious now, what's going on?" Zack said, he dropped the fake happy expression and let a more truthful, apathetic expression take over his face. He wasn't happy, he didn't like pretending, and at the moment apathy was better than the slight panic he was feeling. He really didn't want a repeat of the slaughter of Bone Village following their tiny, insignificant, not really gonna go anywhere uprising.

"Avalanche isn't just blowing up one reactor, they're blowing up three, they then plan to infiltrate Shinra tower."Tseng dead panned, and Zack sent him a shrewd look.

"Seriously? Are they psychotic?"

"Most likely, but as I know you've realized they've chosen the perfect time to attack, and we're left with quite a few options. Most of them distasteful."

"Of course." Zack let out a drawn out sigh.

Avalanche was smarter than he thought. They'd chosen the perfect time to run a major offensive against Shinra.

Zack had been faced with the same dilemmas for most of the war with Wutai: low numbers of 1st class soldiers, poor instruction in the lower ranks because of the lack of 1st class, and a general lack of military talent among his ranks. He had been doing the best he could with what he had, but he needed some good soldiers, and fast. Recruit posters were placed all around the world, he revamped the structure of the training programs, and he was patiently waiting for veteran fighters and a good supply of men to show up.

His restructure of the training programs worked, a little. He now had a grand total of twelve 1st class Soldiers, 56 2nds, and 150 3rds, which was pretty good considering the fact that three years ago there had been NO 1sts, three 2nds, and only about 40 3rds. Soldier had gone downhill without Sephiroth, and while the numbers of infantry, 6th, 5th, and 4th class Soldiers had remained roughly the same as it had always been, the upper ranks started to disappear right before the president's eyes. Three mass desertions, twenty suicides, and quite a few 'mysterious disappearances' (most likely Hojo's doing), had meant that Zack had to build a new Soldier Program from the ground up.

Zack had sent two of his 1sts, Archer and Charr, brand new, just out of 2nd class, on a string of missions destined to be four months long to Wutai just last week. He would have sent them out sooner, and would have had them relieve the three vets that had been in Wutai for a rigorous seven months, if it weren't for the fact that they were so brand new they would have fucked everything up.

4th Lieutenants Carver and Strain, who had been First Class Soldiers for four months, and were just a little bit more experienced in battle than the other two, had set out for the center of Wutai, the jungle thought to be holding the main leaders of the Wutaian army in a hidden fort, only two hours ago. Zack had sent them, with his fifty best infantrymen and the only three seconds he'd ever given important command posts, off on his way to his office this morning. He'd given his usual speech about honor, added in a few lines about possibly ending the war, and sent them on their way with a smile and a few pats on the back. He really liked those three second class soldiers and as usual hoped they'd come back free of injury, the three of them were destined to be firsts within the next two months, and Zack was desperate. He needed 1st Class soldiers, and good ones at that. That group of men, he had a feeling they would soon be his best, were officially out of contact for the next week and a half. They were only reporting in prior to that halfway mark if there were an emergency, which Gaia bless, there wouldn't be.

When the war with Wutai had started Zack was the only Veteran commander in the SOLDIER program. The other three 1st class soldiers with him at the time were completely green. While Zack was spending his time starting off the vicious second war with Wutai, two more had cropped up. However, that didn't change the fact there were only three 1sts with sufficient command experience for Zack to trust major operations and major command posts to. Those three 1sts had run things with Zack for more than a year of warfare and had been trained by him personally during the four years Zack had been general before the war started. They were really the only ones Zack trusted to run things in Wutai, and he had no shame in making it obvious. The three of them: 1st Lieutenant Shelke, 1st Lieutenant Nero, and Lieutenant General Weiss, ran the three main centers of battle together, switching out occasionally with Zack and with each other. When Zack was originally forced to return to the tower he had the two new 1st class soldiers, 2nd Lieutenant Rossa, and 2nd Lieutenant Azul, apprentice the older ones. They had served well, and while serving under those three veterans they had become seasoned warriors. At the moment, Rossa and Azul were the only 1st class soldiers Zack had on hand.

Zack was supposed to dispatch them to replace Weiss and Nero immediately, and then go to Mount Leviathan and take over for Shelke the day after. In the meantime, 3rd Lieutenant Sear and 3rd Lieutenant Core, the Firsts from the batch of Soldiers that had followed Rossa and Azul, were going to transfer to Utai and start a battle with Fort Tamblin, distracting from the change of hands in Mount Leviathan while the newbies, Charr and Archer, got to experience a day in command over a potentially active, major center of battle. The plan as it had originally been set up was risky, but it was hoped that the friends he'd been forced to give one of the longest string of missions Zack had ever given his subordinates were finally going to be able to come home and get the promotions he'd been meaning to give them for the last three months. He desperately needed Weiss, and Nero home, the two of them had been in Wutai for far too long, so long that Zack feared they would forget that there was any other state than war. Shelke and Zack had switched out during her post at Utai when she had called Zack and had admitted to him that she needed a break, a moment to see that there was a life beyond fighting. The other two firsts had needed a break too, but they were too stubborn to admit to their mentor that they needed a break, which meant that they had a weakness, which they believed they shouldn't have.

After Zack got Shelke's severely encoded, extremely secret message, he immediately dropped everything and set up an operation giving him a month and a half in the field running operations in Utai, and granting Shelke a very much needed month and a half break. After that five week shift he was forced to return to Midgar, but not before he took a moment to beat up Nero and Weiss and set up operations (he originally planned them three months apart but Shinra had been impatient and claimed that he couldn't have his general on the field for a five month long period, which was ridiculous, common sense said a dangerous situation involved keeping the general off the field for five months) that gave each of them a month off. Both operations were forced upon Weiss and Nero three months after he beat the living shit out of them, and neither of them had taken the time to do what Zack wanted them to do. According to Tseng, they'd spent the entire time training in the VR rooms and sparring with each other in front of the cadets, which made Zack greatly regret that he had to give the brothers a month off together, instead of separately like he'd planned. They spent the time engaging in their brotherly competition instead of relaxing as they should have.

Conveniently, Zack being forced to go to the President and tell him that he HAD to go to Wutai and switch out with his commanding officers and fulfill the role of General on the field because there were too few 1st class soldiers had convinced the man to further improve the training facilities. This led to Rossa and Azul reaching the level of ability Zack looked for in 1st classes, but Zack still insisted on going to Wutai for at least a week every other month, more often than not he manipulated his way into very important two to three week missions. He was the general, and there was a war, a war which had lasted three and a half years and was scheduled to last at least another year and a half, if Zack didn't end it within the next six months as was planned. He was supposed to be on the battlefield. He wasn't doing his job if he was stuck in Midgar.

It looked like, with the latest development regarding Avalanche, the war might end up being over sooner than Zack planned.

As it was, Zack was screwed before Avalanche decided to ruin things for him. He was destined to have a disaster at one point or another, with his limited number of capable commanding officers. He'd already been forced to have 2nds take up positions that had previously been delegated only to first classes. It was really no wonder that something like this was going to happen. Zack had been as cautious as possible. The switching out of commanding officers had been put off for as long as it could be. There'd finally been a lull in battle in Wutai that Zack thought trustworthy enough to hazard the change, but given this recent information, Zack realized that this lull in battle may have been an attempt by Wutai to catch him unawares.

He'd managed to switch out C.O.s subtly once or twice. He'd been able to pull the wool over Wutai's eyes by switching out Weiss, Nero, and Shelke during a major battle. He took over and caused so much havoc in Wutai that his previous nickname "Mad Dog of Wutai" had been changed to "Mad Dog of Chaos." They hadn't even realized that the three other "Fearsome Firsts", Weiss the Immaculate, Nero the Sable, and Shelke the Transparent were gone. Zack had switched back out and forced them to work tirelessly for another seven months without anyone realizing they'd had a break at all. The Wutaians had been waiting for him to switch them out, they'd obviously been planning something, but Zack had foiled their plans easily, so much so that he was fairly certain that they had completely forgotten them. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to pull such a feat again.

So far, Zack had been able to run this war by doing the unexpected. His moves were so manipulative, so confusing, so seemingly unconnected that if he summed up his tactics in one sentence it would probably be: "Attack three different places, in three different ways, with three different goals." And that was what he'd been doing so far. However, it seemed that Zack would have to change that up a little with this new bounty of information. He was going to have to attack four different places, in seven different ways, with only two different goals, if there were any way for him to keep this turn of events from screwing everything up. He just had to figure out how the hell he was going to manage it. He was fairly certain he'd manage it easily, but there were so many particulars to deal with that there were a few uncertainties in his plans.

After all, Avalanche and Wutai had managed to choose the perfect time to screw over all of his plans regarding taking down Shinra peacefully.

While the general infantry, Midgar police, and pretty much any available soldier evacuated the sectors featuring the soon to be blown up reactors, the tower would be in shambles. Avalanche would take this opportunity to attack the tower. Zack would be the only First Class Soldier in Midgar for a total of eight hours today. Somewhere in that window Avalanche was going to turn Midgar into a city of chaos. Really, it was the perfect opportunity to destroy Shinra. Wutai and Avalanche were very obviously in it together. Wutai would ambush the switch off of firsts, and then be able to destroy the main centers of occupation in Wutai. Avalanche would take the tower. Shinra would fall, that is if it weren't for Zack being there.

He couldn't let it happen. As much as he wanted Shinra down, he wanted it to be done bloodlessly. This option would lead to slaughter on both sides in Wutai, mass hysteria and great loss of life in Midgar, and many innocent people dead. The large majority of people within the ranks of Shinra were like Zack had been. The average age of Shinra workers was 17 years old, the youngest of the norm was 12 the oldest of the norm was 23. The vast majority of them were fools just like Zack, people stupid enough to believe that Shinra was actually a force for good. He couldn't let all of those people die, he couldn't let the innocents on the streets of Midgar die, and he couldn't let the loyal men fighting for him in Wutai die.

He had many options. A lot of them only solved half the problem. Most of them were so ridiculous that he threw them out of his mind before they could garner enough attention to waste his time.

He gave Tseng a serious look, the man had been standing there patiently while Zack had gone into a state of thought that looked like he'd been transported out of his body. Every little bit of information he knew about the current situation filled his mind. Tseng had nine higher level Turks Zack trusted enough to ask for help: Reno, Rude, Cissnei, Kid, Veld, Verdot, Legend, Rod, and Elena. There were Twenty-three 2nds in Midgar who were functioning members of his faction, considering the fact that there were only thirty-seven 2nds currently in Midgar that was good. Especially if Zack had personally trained twelve of the remaining 2nds and those men weren't a part of the faction purely because Zack hadn't asked them yet. Zack had roughly seventy third class soldiers in Midgar at the moment, five hundred infantry as well. Of those five hundred and seventy lower class soldiers a grand total of three hundred supported him. There were many ways Zack could deal with this situation.

Zack began to pace as he considered his options and Tseng sighed.

"Any way for you to tell me what you're thinking?" the Wutaian asked clamly. His voice was smooth and sultry as usual. There was a hint of amusement in his voice, Zack looked up and saw the touch of a smile in the man's eyes and gave him a grim smile in return. He saw the flash of annoyance in the man's eyes and chuckled as Tseng took a step forward.

Zack had realized Tseng's attraction to him back when he was a brand new First class, before things had gone to shit. At the time, he'd been straight, and had told him so. That didn't stop him from being Tseng's friend, though, and he was almost certain that Tseng was very grateful for that friendship. He realized the man's love for him, and how gentle, kind, and mystical the man was seven years ago, about six months after he'd gotten out of the slave kennels. The man was his friend, nothing more, and Zack didn't purposefully use the man's love for him, although he was often tempted to, in order to make the man join his side and become a valuable leader within his faction. Tseng had approached him. He claimed that as a Turk he was supposed to turn a blind eye to the sin of the company, and that he had done well in that for a long time. However, he had reached the point where, as a human, he no longer could watch the corruption, the evil that graced the walls of Shinra. He said that this opinion had been grounded in his mind after seeing the demented cruelty of Hojo's labs and the madness of Sephiroth, a man he'd known as a boy, a man he'd always thought was an angel in a devil's disguise. Zack believed him, despite the fact that it was a Turk's job to lie, and specifically Tseng's job to root out sedition within the ranks. He saw the truth in the other man's eyes.

"Hey, Tseng? You know I'd tell you what I was thinking if I actually knew, right? Just give me a minute." Zack smiled as Tseng nodded and backed off.

"I always prefer it when you swear immediately after hearing bad news. This long, overdrawn process of thinking always gets to me. It normally leads to a mass network of maneuvers that nearly gets my head blown off, or the entire faction, our previous maneuvers, whatever actions we currently have in place, and any common goal we share caught out." Tseng sighed and moved over to Zack's desk, taking a seat in Zack's chair.

Zack raised an eyebrow, "Who said you could take my chair?"

"The fact that you are most likely going to spend the next five minutes pacing and going through plans of action in your head that would take a normal, less manipulative, less cunning man than yourself a few days to formulate and review."

"1 for Tseng. 3 for me." Zack said out loud as he began to do exactly what Tseng had described.

"When did you get three points? And what are these points for?" Tseng asked, Zack could practically hear the man's raised eyebrow.

"Well, baby, that's for me to know….. and you to never find out!" Zack exclaimed in a falsely chipper voice. He gave Tseng a sly look and stopped his pacing. He turned his back to the man, bent over and took off his boots. He felt the other man's eyes on him and grinned as he stood back up and placed his boots in front of him.

"Why did you just do that?" Tseng asked, there was a little bit of huskiness in his voice.

Zack turned over his shoulder and winked.

"6 for me and 1 for Tseng." Zack said.

"This isn't the time for your games." Tseng sighed irritably and Zack gave the Wutaian an exasperated look.

"You're the one talking over my pacing-thought-process- time." Zack said.

Tseng sighed yet again. "Understood."

Zack gave Tseng a playful look and set about pacing again, this time refreshingly barefoot. He hated shoes of any kind, would rather go about the world barefoot, if it weren't for the fact that being a barefoot Soldier would probably result in bloodied, bruised, and blistered feet.

Zack frowned, he really hated his options.

OPTION ONE: Not switch out the 1sts in Wutai, cancel all deployments, and all retraction of soldiers. Yeah, that would probably keep the centers in Wutai lasting just a little bit longer, foiling the ambush soon to occur in Wutai. However that option was unacceptable to Zack as a general. Never, never, never had he done that to his Soldiers. He knew how it felt. Shinra used to tell Soldiers they had to stay deployed for another month or so after the end of their original deployment during the first war in Wutai all the time. He'd seen what it did. He would not allow that to happen, primarily because he didn't know how to deal with the repercussions of such an action. Loyalty was key to Zack, a large number of the returning soldiers were a part of his faction within the empire. They wouldn't understand why he stopped the attempt to destroy Shinra. While they would give him a chance to explain, and trust his actions even if he didn't, he didn't want any doubts planted within their minds. Also, it really was imperative that Weiss, Shelke, and Nero come home while Rossa and Azul were deployed. The latter were becoming stir crazy being stuck in Midgar while the war was still un-won and the men they had trained, fought with, and been friends with were dying. Every First Class Soldier was a part of his faction, but that didn't mean they couldn't get angry with him and make his life difficult.

The order of deploy, and the order of retraction could be changed up last minute as long as he informed his men that they had been compromised, and it was likely that Wutai would make a potentially lethal move.

OPTION TWO: Not evacuate the city of civilians. The President and all of the other heartless officials on the top floor would go for this option. However, Zack refused to let this happen. Zack would not allow the people in Midgar to die because Shinra was stupid enough to ignore the planet and some people were actually willing to do something about it.

OPTION THREE: Find out which three reactors were going to be blown up and stop it.

Zack stopped for a moment in his thinking.

"Do you know which three reactors yet?" Zack asked. Tseng looked kind of surprised. He was obviously expecting a long stream of curses. Regardless, he shook his head no.

"Damn. Have y'all been doing anything?" Zack spat out a curse and began pacing around the room yet again.

"Yes, I have. We've captured three more Avalanche members. One is low-level, a need to know guy. Two are higher up, hopefully enough to know at least a little about one of the Reactors. The other two higher up Avalanche, the ones we captured last night, the ones you asked me to keep cold for you. As you expected, I tortured them anyways. Three spies have been compromised. "

Zack turned to him and glared for a moment. Then shook his head, he'd known that Tseng wouldn't do as he asked, and actually, he'd been hoping that the other man would tire them out for him, make them scared, lonely, tired, as he approached.

"Fine."

It was good that they now knew the location of three spies. He was planning to leak false information immediately.

He went back to pacing, keeping the new information fresh in his mind.

OPTION FOUR: Evacuate the entire city of Midgar. It would probably stop the loss of life caused by the blowing up of the Reactors, but Shinra would be pissed because the reactors were still going to be blown up and a large majority of the workers within the tower would flat out refuse to leave. Money, Money, Money, it all came back to that. Shinra would not be happy with their General if he didn't manage to stop the reactors from being blown up at all. Zack was going to have to turn into a raving lunatic and intimidate his soldiers into doing everything they could during this situation. The evacuation... there really was no way for Zack to evacuate the entire city, there were no emergency evacuation procedures in place. Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea to simply evacuate the top floor of Shinra executives, pin point which reactors would serve a better strategic advantage to Avalanche to blow up and evacuate those sectors.

OPTION FIVE: Allow the attack on the tower, but stop it before the motherfuckers got further in than the lobby. Sitting back and doing nothing, letting things play out, wasn't exactly an option considering the fact that Zack didn't really know how they were going to attack and a frontal assault most likely wasn't what they were going to do. He couldn't risk it, and there was little chance of him succeeding in this situation if he took it all on himself.

All options Zack could think of at the moment weren't plausible. He needed more information, which meant he should stop pacing, and Tseng should stop staring at him and tell him every single bit of information he knew, and Zack should probably let out a stream of curses in order for himself to have a clear head when he went into the holding cell of those mother fucking terrorists they had captured and get every single bit of information they had to offer.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fucking HELL!" Zack exclaimed. He then let out a stream of the dirtiest Gongagan he knew, the extent of his Wutaian vocabulary (all of it consisted of swear words), and any curse in any language he knew.

Tseng just watched.

Zack punched the air, kicked a leg up and let out a few vicious snarls.

Tseng continued to stare.

Zack turned on the Wutaian and grabbed his shirt snarling something about the mother fucker not telling him sooner.

Tseng continued to stare.

Zack relaxed, backed up, smoothed out the Turk's rumpled suit and gave the man a dangerous smile.

The Wutaian shivered imperceptibly, it was so slight that anyone other than Zack wouldn't have seen it.

"So, any other pertinent information you need to add? Or should I just start heading to those fuckers' holding cells, start giving orders to Wutai, start cancelling all training missions, and start deploying more infantry, police, etc. to the reactors?"

"The president has ordered that the mako be drained out of the sector three, six, and five Mako reactors. Tuesti suggested that this strategy would limit the number of reactors they are likely to blow up and allow us to consecrate our forces. I approved the action and said that you would have agreed that it was wise. It will be done-" Tseng looked at the watch on his wrist, "The removal of mako from the sector three Mako reactor is complete. The Sector six reactor will be empty within the next hour, and the sector five reactor within the following two."

"You know? That is exactly what I told the motherfucker last night!" Zack didn't hide his annoyance. Shit-heads never listen. It's not like I hold a position of extreme power, now, is it? It's not like I know what I'm doing! "But of course, don't listen to the pretty boy soldier! It's not like the guy has been rebuilding your fucked up military for the last seven years." Zack wasn't ashamed to admit that he was growling in frustration.

"I'm way too under-appreciated!" Zack exclaimed, ending his rant.

"Five-" Of course, Tseng would call him out on his counting. Zack had been General seven years. He'd been actively rebuilding the fucked up shit-hole for five, only because the ass-hat President and the fat-ass Heidegger, wouldn't let him do his job for two years. Stupid fucking idiots!

Zack didn't want to consider how illogical it was that he actually cared about the state of Shinra's military. Logic said that he wouldn't give a damn and would have left it to rot. However, Zack did care. He wanted the Soldier program to remain intact. It was too close to his heart, despite the evil that surrounded it's creation. Once a Soldier, always a Soldier.

"Oh big fucking deal, you know he owes a large majority of his power to me, this fucking military was a sinking rock when I got here."

Tseng let a small smile grace his features.

"Yes, Zack, it was." Zack looked at Tseng closely, trying to detect any sign of mocking in the man's face.

Instead he found a deep well of fondness in the Wutaian man's grey eyes and a smile Zack knew was reserved only for himself on his lips. This caused Zack to smile back wickedly. He took a few steps towards the chair the Wutaian was currently relaxing in, letting a playful light enter his eyes.

"Is that a compliment?"He said in a sultry voice. He began to lean down into the other man's personal space.

"Now is not the time for flirtation."

"Well, I don't know, I mean it seems like a perfect time for a last fuck. The world is coming to an end." He leaned ever closer, put his hands on either armrest and began to bend his knees a little. He didn't know why he was hitting on the other man. Perhaps Tseng's attraction to him had caused him to feel a little something too? Or maybe he simply wanted to be touched by somebody he cared for, that actually cared for him?

Or maybe Zack was finally going off the deep end. Yep. That was it.

"You're over-exaggerating. The situation is being dealt with as we speak." Tseng's voice had no inflection, as always, but the man was starting to lean up a little into Zack and his eyes hadn't left the other man's.

Zack's smile widened and he gracefully fell to his knees so that he was now looking up at Tseng instead of down. He saw a flash of fire enter the other man's eyes, even as his face remained impassive.

"Really, now? I don't think it is. I still have to order about six movements in Wutai in order to counteract the movements I know they're about to make."

Tseng raised an eyebrow. Zack grinned. "Come on, don't tell me you haven't realized that Avalanche and Wutai are currently in item? Really? Baby, you're kind of slow on the uptake."

Tseng's eyes widened and he spat out a Wutaian curse. Zack actually knew this one and choked back a small laugh. He gracefully pulled his hands back from the armrest and rested one elbow beside Tseng's left leg. He leaned his chin on it and smiled at his companion, waiting for the questions he knew would come.

"How?"

"Good question. They've been watching us closely, and they probably have some inside information. Don't worry doll-face. It's actually no surprise you didn't realize the connection with Wutai. I'm the only one who knows every movement of troops on both sides, and I'm the only one who knows about the little situation we have regarding capable Commanding officers."

"What are you going to tell them to do?"

"Weiss, Shelke, and Nero are coming home. No ifs, ands, or buts. However, instead of having the ever so lovely Rossa and Azul replace them, as was the original plan, I'm having Archer, who's been Weiss's second for about a month take over the command in Utai. The squad of 2nds, 3rds and 4ths, who are running Fort Tier are going to retreat to Serayu where Azul is going to be shipped out about nine hours sooner than planned. Nero is going to leave Serayu five hours later than planned and there will be no phone calls there telling them of these changes. Send Reno to Utai and Cissnei to Serayu to inform them of their orders."

Tseng raised an eyebrow. "Last I heard I was the director of the Turks, not you."

"Well, you swore your loyalty to me, which means that you are going to be a great buddy and help me deal with this situation." Zack turned his body a little so that he was facing the wall to his left and leaned his right side against Tseng's blue-clad legs. The contact relaxed him further. He knew what to do, and he knew how to deal with the current large stinking shit bag he'd been handed.

"Reno and Cissnei will go, but what about Shelke in Mount Leviathon? She is running the only active site of battle and while there is a lull at the moment, she cannot leave." Tseng spoke softly, there was no lack of faith in his voice, he felt that Zack knew what to do and how to do it. He trusted him, and this made Zack smile and turn towards him. He turned to face Tseng fully and moved his arms in the man's lap. The other man didn't move and watched cautiously as Zack put his head on the arms he had crossed over Tseng's thighs. Zack liked this contact, as of yet it wasn't sexual. Purely platonic. He knew that some not so innocent thoughts were running through Tseng's mind, but he also knew that Tseng wasn't making any moves any time soon. The man was cautious in everything.

"We're gonna pull a maneuver similar to what we did during Utai when Shelke was close to a break down." Zack sighed. Tseng's presence was always soothing.

"How are we going to do that when you have to be here to deal with the Reactor situation?" Tseng asked leaning back into his seat and staring at the ceiling. Apparently, he was relaxed by Zack's touch just as much as Zack was by his.

"Heh. You see, I was kind of hoping you'd help me out with that." Zack gave Tseng a hopeful look.

"You want me to take over for you? Zack, I-" the other man had quickly sat up straight and given him a startled look.

"No, NO, no! I want you to sneak Rossa in and Shelke out! I also want you to have Veld get there as fast as possible carrying my orders to attack within an hour of his arrival."

"Do you want me to send Turks to aid in the attack?"

Zack gave a thoughtful look. "Yeah, sure. I want y'all to make it as much chaos over there for Wutai as Avalanche is trying to cause around here."

"Speaking of…."Tseng gave Zack a cautious look, leaned forward, lowered his voice and put his lips a hair's breath away from Zack's left ear. "Isn't this the best opportunity for us to make our move?"

"No. After we've evacuated the top floor of Shinra officials, foiled Avalanche's attempts to blow up the reactors and stopped all chances of Shinra defeat in Wutai, we're going to take over. You, me, and Tuesti."

"Really, now? I think we still haven't asked Tuesti to join us, and that there are a lot of particulars to that plan that have not been dealt with yet."

"Oh, but baby, surprise is what's going to do us wonders!"

"Explain."

Zack grinned.

"Baby, what did I just say about surprise?"

"I'm not doing anything unless you tell me exactly how everything's going to work out."

Zack sighed impatiently and leaned away from his friend. He reached his arms behind his head, crossing them, and stretching out his back, before responding again.

"Well, the stuff regarding Wutai is pretty straight forward. I don't want this military defeated. I've spent too much time rebuilding it. You know that my goal isn't only to destroy Shinra but make it into a governing power that protects the planet, right?"

"Yes. I believe that was what the plan was."

"Well, the Soldier program has to be intact for that to happen. So does the science department, hateful as it is. It runs all medical research and supplies every hospital on the continent. The engineering department is already on our side, Tuesti is their unofficial head and has them searching for new energy resources. Although I'm sure Highwind has ties with terrorists as well as us, the space program, mechanical engineering, nautical, aerial and etc. are on our side if he is. Which he is, as dubious as his loyalties are he prefers as few deaths as possible."

"Tuesti? Since when is he our man?"

"Heh. Sorry about that. He doesn't know Turks are involved, he can be a little… Chicken-shit? He's been our man ever since I've been sending 2nds and 3rds on unofficial UD missions. Remember Heidegger? The ass has been stopping all requests from the Department of Urban Development ever since that little tiff he and Reeve had during that higher up 'staff meeting', which are really just boring little lectures from each department head. It started about six months ago."

"Really? How many technicians has Reeve lost because of that?"

"None, as soon as I saw that there were no missions from UD, which was as soon as Heidegger stopped them, I started sending faction Soldiers to Reeve. It took one conversation for that man to figure out something was funky and the promise of unlimited faction escort to get him to join our cause, although I'm fairly certain he would have joined even if I'd refused the escort service."

"Hmmm."

"Will you take me to interrogate those Avalanchers now?"

"After I give Reno, Rude, Cissnei, Veld, Kid, Legend, Rod, Elena, and Verdot their orders."

Heh, I knew it.

Tseng stood up and Zack got a nice view of the man's thighs before squawking loudly and standing up himself.

"Not cool!" Zack exclaimed brushing himself down.

Tseng just smirked. Zack raised an eyebrow and was shocked to see the smug expression replaced with a serious one.

"Zack….. there's another matter of which you would like to be informed."

The serious tone led to a pause in Zack's happiness. He turned to pick up his shoes, knowing the only other subjects this conversation could be headed to.

"Hojo has…."

"Captured Aerith? I knew it'd happen eventually." Zack turned and faced Tseng, a serious frown graced both men's faces.

"Should I order a turk to go into the Science department and watch after her?"

Zack raised an eyebrow. "And how would you explain that away?"

"I wouldn't. I'd say that Elena was joining the others and really order her on a top-secret faction mission to make sure that the girl isn't extremely harmed by Hojo in any way."

"Well then, problem solved." Zack said. He walked over to his desk and sat on the edge of it as he began to put his shoes back on.

"You don't wish for me to order an extraction? You don't wish to see her?"

"Enough people are threatened by this Reactor business and by Wutai's cooperation with Avalanche, without me being distracted. She's okay at the moment. I know what Hojo is like at the beginning and I know what the extent of his interest in her is at the moment. She'll be fine for a day or two."

"If you say so." Tseng spoke softly but Zack turned on him anyways. He glared at the Turk for a few moments before speaking again.

"She's fine, and besides, I'm not ready to see her."

"Alright, you need to see Rufus, today, at some point. It's been a week since you went to see him. You know what he'll do if you don't. I'll have Reno, Rude, Cissnei, and Veld leave immediately. Your orders shall be in the hands of your firsts within the next hour and the actions will begin as soon as you give the signal."

"Give them these." Zack reached into his desk and pulled out three PHS systems. All of them were rigged specially to his own, all of them were designed by Reeve and impossible to crack. Many more would be issued to faction members within the next six hours.

"Yes."

"Do you think it would be possible to skip Rufus today? I mean, what's one more day?"

"He won't evacuate unless you explain everything to him personally, also, he's impatient. You know that you're pushing it. Last time you waited this long he-"

"I know, I know. He'll use the collar again if I don't go. It was so awkward trying to explain that away to that group of cadets last time."

"Then go."

"I will, it's just. Gaia, when will this end?" Zack asked. He didn't bother to hide the strangled quality to his voice and there was no way for him to wipe the pain from his face.

"Zack... All you need do is ask and I'll kill him within a second." Tseng said. He turned to face Zack fully, he'd already been halfway to the door. The expression on his face relieved Zack a little. Someone cared for his pain. That was good... and bad.

"I don't need your pity. I don't need you to rescue me." Zack said. He sent a glare in Tseng's direction without meaning to.

Tseng didn't respond. He just walked out. Zack was left alone in his office to plan out the rest of his day.

He resisted the urge to smash everything in sight as unadulterated rage filled him. He let out a violent sigh when the words: "You' are my hero, everything I want to be. Thank you." filled his mind along with a feminine face with blue eyes and a chaotic blonde fringe concealing a pale forehead.

Cloud, would you just sit back and let Avalanche and Wutai do their thing? Would you just let this crazy thing take down Shinra? Or would you create a chaotic plan to limit the loss of life as much as possible? Even at the risk of failing?