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The Choices You Make ~ Chapter 16 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So tell me," the General said, resting his fork on the side of his plate and glancing up at Zack. "Which of the new recruits do you feel will make it?" He arched one eyebrow at Zack as he picked up his fork again and speared a leaf of lettuce from his salad plate. Since his mouth was still full, Zack shook his head ever so slightly. He finished chewing and swallowed, then reached for his water glass and took a drink before answering. "Well," he said slowly, pushing a carrot around his plate with the back side of his fork. "Officially, you know, my opinion counts for squat." The General nodded curtly. "Your opinion, Zack, is not going on the records." "Alright." He stabbed the tender carrot with his fork and popped it into his mouth, delaying his answer. The General frowned slightly. "Sorry," Zack murmured. "I wasn't expecting the question." "Is that any reason to stall, Faelen?" He glanced at Sephiroth quizzically. "Why so formal?" The General sighed, reaching up to rub at the crease in his forehead. "Heidegger wants them all inducted, with no final tests --" Zack's eyebrows jumped in surprise, but he kept his mouth shut. "And the President is leaning towards agreeing with him. They're planning something, but no one is even hinting at what yet." Setting his fork down, Zack shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense. What about Hojo, and Scarlet? Whose side are they on?" "Hojo refuses to answer any pages or calls -- even the President's -- at the moment. He's deep into something, and again, no one's quite sure what. Scarlet...." He paused, looking towards the window. "Scarlet, for once, is keeping her plans to herself. She has implied, however, that if Heidegger gets more SOLDIERs, she wants the Turks." Zack shivered. "That's one power shift I do -not- want to see. Not that I think Tseng would stick around to put up with it, but still...." The General smiled thinly. "She forgets, as does most of Shinra, that the Turks are not Heidegger's, truly." "Point taken. There's the VP." "Precisely. And the President is not going to give control of his son's bodyguards to that woman." Zack nodded. Picking up another forkful of food, he ate quietly for a moment, considering Sephiroth's comments. As he ate, his gaze drifted around the small restaurant. Three-bladed ceiling fans whirled lazily overhead, stirring the plastic leaves of the drooping potted plants. There were only a few other occupants, and those were across the room in another private booth. He wondered briefly who owned the restaurant, but decided that if the General felt comfortable discussing company business here, it had to be someone reliable and discrete. "You're arguing that not all the candidates are suitable?" he said finally. The General nodded. "There's no point in inducting unstable candidates when they're just going to cause casualties. You and I have both seen enough of that." A shiver ran down Zack's spine as Sephiroth's comment called back memories of a wild, rainy night in Wutai when they'd been forced to gun down one of their own -- but not before he'd taken out three other SOLDIERs in his shooting rampage. "Shit," Zack muttered. "But they haven't seen that. Or maybe Hojo has, but he's not talking." "Exactly. And I don't trust the training officers. They're not the sharpest swords in the armory." "No, they're not," Zack replied wryly, shaking his head. "But they're usually competent." "Competent, yes, insightful, no." Setting his fork down again, Zack picked up his water glass and leaned back in his chair. He considered a teasing rejoinder, but decided the General wasn't in the mood for it. Instead he took a long swallow of lukewarm water and thought about this year's recruits. He thought of Cloud, and Kaney, and which would be more suitable in Shinra's eyes. "Dammit, Seph, I don't want to be the reason someone ends up in or out." The General's icy features softened slightly, and he sighed. "I know, Zack. But I need reliable information from someone who has worked with the recruits. Someone I trust." Zack sighed heavily, setting his glass down on the wooden table-top with a gentle thump. "I know. But shit." "I need names, Zack. Names and reasons. The final cut should only be three, and we have twelve to choose from. I need to convince them that we can't take them all." "Buy me a drink, or two," Zack said bleakly. "I'll do my best. You do know, though, that the Mako test is the only way to be certain." The General looked grim. "I know. But for that, I need Hojo's assistance." They shared a dark look before the General signalled for the server.
* * * There were reasons, and then there were Reasons, for everything ShinRa did, Zack mused as he stared at his empty glass. So many layers of reasons, really, filtering down through the ranks to the likes of him. The General had left, murmuring an apology for his departure once Zack had given him the information he wanted. Zack had nodded and waved him away before brooding over his drink. Three names and, in the end, none of them had been Strife. He wasn't trying to protect Cloud. He wasn't trying to deny him a chance at the dubious "glory" of SOLDIER. He just couldn't, in good conscience, say that Cloud would make the kind of SOLDIER ShinRa wanted. They wanted fighting machines with few to no morals. They wanted men who would follow orders unquestioningly. Men who could be rigorously trained and then turned loose on the world with the guarantee that every single one of them would act exactly according to plan. Cloud Strife wouldn't do that. And it wasn't that he'd spent too much time with Zack, picking up his rather bitter views of the corporate monster. It was just Cloud's fundamental nature -- the one that ShinRa was trying to beat out of him as they "trained" him. Maybe if Zack hadn't intervened, if he hadn't befriended Cloud and nurtured the thinking side of him, maybe ShinRa would have made him the kind of SOLDIER they wanted. Zack didn't regret anything he'd done, though. Names and reasons. Sighing, Zack stood up. He was going to drink himself into a melancholy stupor if he stayed here, he realized. The General had said that the meal was on him, but Zack threw a few gil on the table for a tip anyway. He needed to *do* something, keep himself busy. Maybe it was time to check his weapons and Materia stocks again. Yeah, that should kill a couple hours. Moving somewhat more purposefully, he left the restaurant and headed back to the barracks. * * * Traffic conspired against him, turning lights red and throwing impatient drivers in his path, making the walk back to the barracks an excruciating half-hour of travel. Finally, he made it to the relative quiet of the armed encampment that was the barracks, and let himself in to the storerooms. The equipment racked along the walls was a little dusty. That was hardly surprising. Once they'd been issued their swords, SOLDIERs only cared about whether or not those swords were sharp, and Materia-equipped. They had no interest in other weapons, besides the occasional handgrenades that the Seconds and Thirds used. Zack, on the other hand, was always curious about what new toys were under development by the Weapons Department. Often the one-of prototypes that were not slated for further development got dumped in the storerooms. Reno was fond of playing with them, he knew -- hence the Turk's use of electric and Materia-charged batons rather than standard issue firearms. But there was nothing new here today. Not even a discarded, half-mastered Materia. Idly, he trailed his fingers through the thin dust along the blade of one sword and found himself wishing he was back in Wutai. He'd rather liked it there -- well, when they weren't trying to beat the people into submission, that was. The bar there had had fabulous drinks. Catching himself thinking about that, he shook his head. Drinking was not a solution. Action, apparently, was, and he needed to find some. Wiping his fingers on his pants, he let himself out again, and headed for the training rooms. Picking a practice fight with a SOLDIER-wannabe would do for a start, he decided.
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