Tseng had already undertaken several missions accompanied by SOLDIERs. In his experience, despite the 'military' flavour of the unit, they tended to be rather... unique individuals. To a member of the Turks, that was nothing new, but SOLDIER dealt in a different brand of 'crazy' than the Turks did; no Turk was going to let a possibly (very, in Tseng's opinion) mad scientist shoot them up with strange chemicals, and Turks preferred to only go into fights they could win. Most of the time, anyway.

He wasn't quite sure what to expect when he was given a mission that involved accompanying SOLDIER's very own General.

He was surprised, meeting him up close for the first time, to discover he wasn't as old as he'd thought. But then a lot of the SOLDIERs looked younger than they really were, thanks to the mako treatments, and the silver hair was quite deceptive. The eyes were even more startling up close, brilliant green with a subtly metallic sheen, the pupils distinctly non-human slits that widened as soon as they were out from under the artificial lights of the ShinRa complex.

Useful, if somewhat unusual.

Another surprise, considerably more pleasant, was that Sephiroth didn't talk much. He'd already undertaken several missions with Hewley's apprentice, Fair, who never stopped talking, and most of the other SOLDIERs were the same, although not to that degree. Worst was Rhapsodos, who didn't just talk, but quoted poetry: Tseng had quickly learnt why his briefing for that mission had ended with the words, 'and no, you may not shoot him.'

But once they reached their objective to discover that the 'rebels' they were dealing with were better armed and in far greater numbers than their intelligence had suggested, Tseng learned that Sephiroth had one thing in common with every other SOLDIER he'd known.

"We should call for reinforcements," Tseng said, reaching for his PHS and starting to dial. He slid down behind the outcropping they were using as cover. Sephiroth continued to peer over the top of it, something that might – almost – have been a smile, playing across his lips.

"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary," Sephiroth said calmly. "It's been awhile since I've had a decent workout, but I'm sure I'm not too rusty." With that, he was gone.

By the time Tseng reached the top again, Sephiroth was amongst them, blade flashing at impossible speeds as he cut through his opponents. Tseng shook his head, hearing a tinny-sounding voice emerging from his PHS as somebody picked up at the other end. "This is Tseng," he said calmly, watching as the carnage spread. Sephiroth, it seemed, had been correct about the need for reinforcements. "I require a clean-up team at the following coordinates."

He hung up, and watched as another dozen men poured out from one of the buildings. Several of them aimed guns towards the general, and Tseng drew his own pistol, only to find it unnecessary. Not one of them lived long enough to fire. After several more minutes, all was quiet.

Sephiroth looked around, paused to wipe his blade clean, and walked back towards Tseng, positively radiating satisfaction.

"SOLDIERs," Tseng muttered under his breath. "They're all crazy."