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Rogue and Zack 2
Dr. Lazard's face registered no surprise, no emotions at all. He merely looked down at the paper, his brow creasing slightly. He probably got all sorts through here.
“Rogue Angel... Age sixteen... Hometown of... Banora.” His eyes shot up to hers. “That's an awfully small town... I'm sure you know Genesis Rhapsodus hails from there as well...”
A small smile curled Rogue's lips. “Yeah, I know. Maybe it's coincidence... Or maybe country towns just turn out the best soldiers, hmm? Dedication, intuition, resourcefulness, ya need those things in the middle of nowhere as much as ya need them in the military ya know.”
Yeah, coincidence, abso-friggin'-lutely.
His brow twitched again.
“At least Genesis knows that... Interviews require certain decorum...”
“Why should I try to kiss your a** when I can probably kick it from here to Mideel and back, all before your boys out there know what’s goin' on?” Okay. That'd been too much. She knew it. But really, what could you do? She could look like an idiot trying to backtrack, or she could just... Look cocky and hope like hell this guy liked her attitude.
She went with the second option, her eyes resting at half mast as she leaned back, arms folded across her waist, resting on her bag, her eyes unwavering from him, hoping. Hoping he liked her attitude, and hoping he didn't take this as a threat and call those boys out there, in here, to try to throw her a** out. Rogue wasn't usually one to be demonstrative, but if she had to be...
A smile touched his lips.
“Oh really now? That's quite an ambiguous claim, little missy...” He turned to his computer, reading her Social off the paper, entering it into the computer. On the big screen behind him, a blue profile popped up. Name, age, hometown, Social Security number, SOLDIER Class, and SOLDIER number were filled in. Address, phone number, and details were left blank. There was a big gray square in the upper right corner.
Lazard tapped the top of his monitor, drawing Rogue's gaze. There was a soft flash of light, and her photo popped up in the gray area.
“Let's see if you can back it up, SOLDIER, Third Class, Rogue Angel.” His eyes lifted to Rogue's once more, that calm, pleasant smile still in place. “Because you start today.”
His hand flashed under his desk, then tossed her up a key with a tag dangling from it. Her SOLDIER number, thirteen, scrawled on it.
“That's to your locker. Get your uniform from it in about twenty minutes. In the meantime...” Lazard got up and opened the door, leaning out into the lounge. “Zack! Come here a minute will you? I've got a new assignment for you today.” Rogue twisted around in her chair to look, her bag falling to the linoleum floor with a thunk.
That guy from before, the boyish soldier with the honest smile turned to Lazard.
“Me? Alright then, what am I supposed to do now?” He rolled his shoulders and walked away from the group, up to Lazard and leaned in the doorway casually, his eyes flicking from Lazard to Rogue and back.
“I didn't think you'd mind too much. This is our new Third Class, Rogue Angel. Rogue, this is Zack Fair. He's going to be your new mentor around here. He's a Second Class. He'll show you around... Around ShinRa at least, I can't volunteer him into after hours work.” There he paused and slowly raised his hand to rub at his temples. Zack didn't seem to catch on. Rogue did, she felt the heat on her face.
“That's fine.” She rose and snatched up her bag, a soft, awkward laugh slipped, coming out constricted. Choked sounding. “Didn't figure you and I'd have another run-in so soon.” She held out her hand for him to shake, which he did with a strong, steady grip, a soft smile on his lips. The roughened calluses on their hands were identical, indicative of sword training on his part.
“Yeah, I bet not. Sorry for that... Guess...”
Lazard cut in.
“They don't see many women come in and out through here. You're the first female SOLDIER in ShinRa's history. I... Hope you uphold SOLDIER's reputation and honor. This is a pretty big deal...”
“For my kind?” Rogue cut across sarcastically. “Ya know, what you just said was an extremely poorly disguised warning to me against sleeping around on the job. And you know, you're really lucky I'm not gonna call you on it. That could be a sexual harassment suit that could squeeze me a pretty penny outta you. Hell, unless you wanna pay my room rental for like a year, that'd be nice.”
Zack's eyebrows were up and he was... Attempting to hide a look of amusement. It wasn't going too well. Lazard lost his composure for a moment, and fell silent. He stayed silent until the... Stunned look passed from his face.
“Alright, maybe it was. I apolo...”
Rogue raised her hand and cut him off.
“Don't even bother. I don't wanna hear it when you're not gonna remember why you apologized tomorrow.” She turned to Zack with a grin, a more playful one than anything. She was... Almost enjoying herself now. “You ready to get going? Your house or mine?”
Zack chuckled softly and pushed away from the wall, lightly steering her away from Lazard's office with a big, gentle hand against her back. “Let's just get you outta here before you add 'shortest career ever' to your list of fames huh? Did you really just say that s**t to him?” His expression openly amused now that his back was to the director.
“Sure, why the hell not? He insulted me first; I don't have to put up with that s**t from a desk jockey!” She crab stepped to escape the touch of his hand, feeling that it was a bit too intimate for her, for some guy she'd just met, no matter how he came across.
He understood. The hand dropped smoothly to his side, then both of his hands slipped into his pockets as they stood outside the elevator, while Rogue hit the call button.
“What brought you to Midgar? To SOLDIER? It's... Not the normal job choice for a girl your age...”
“I bet not. But I'm not normal. Not really normal in any way at all. Don't ya know? No girl grows up with an absentee father and turns out normal. All of 'em, bartenders, serial killers, or strippers. Me? I came to Midgar for SOLDIER, to prove something to both myself and my dear sweet daddy.”
When the elevator showed up and the door pinged and slid open, Rogue slipped into a back corner, while Zack moved up at the front, one hand sliding from his pocket to gesture at the floor buttons.
“The forties are all SOLDIER related floors. On forty-one are the changing and locker rooms. Forty-two is small to medium weapon storage. Forty-three is the training hall, made for actual sparring and battle simulations. Forty-four is the gym. Forty-five is a medical floor. Forty-six is the briefing and debriefing. Forty-seven belongs to the science department, I've never been there, and I've been told that's a good idea. Forty-eight is large weapon and mech handling. Forty isn't so different from the main lobby. It's just emptier, with a sleeping receptionist, and lots of plants. Obviously... This is forty-nine. The building goes up to seventy floors.”
“But it's only possible to access fifty-nine of them from the elevator?” Rogue's keen eyes flicked over the little yellow buttons, noticing that fast.
Zack nodded.
“Security measures. The only access point to them is either from the heliport up top, or by taking the inner staircase, where you have to have verified company ID every level or you can't even get into the stairwell. Trust me... Those floors, I'm told, are all administrative. Seventy is the President's office. The rest... I have no idea, I'm not allowed up there. Of us SOLDIER, only the Firsts, Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth can get up there.” He smiled softly and pressed the button for forty-one. “I, personally, don't feel any desire for the privilege, do you?”
“Nah, I'm good. You've seen my... Ah... Skill with the suits.”
“Skill...” He laughed. It was so easy to make him laugh and smile. “You keep on tellin' yourself that, kid... You're lucky he didn't have you thrown out.”
“Well... See, then I would've been... Demonstrating my merit. I don't think he would've kept that up for long... Or that you guys would've. I don't really like hurting people. I seriously doubt any of you'd've liked what I can do when I've got to though...”
Zack slanted her a look. One of interest and amusement, his bright blue eyes lit.
“You really do talk big. I'm gonna have to spar you.”
“You don't wanna do that...”
“Actually, I do.”
Rogue grinned, listening to the quiet hum of the elevator. Yeah, she liked this guy. He was cool and put together, but not uptight, and not some psycho, gung-ho killer either. He had the whole Zen balance thing going, even if he did seem to have the energy and eagerness of a puppy in a new house. There was something about the job he liked, he had a purpose, he was... Relatively happy, and seemed to appreciate having company. After spending... Far too long wandering and getting stares like you'd just stolen an old person's cane or something, it was nice to be appreciated.
“How about you? Why'd you come here? How long you been here? What's it been like?”
Zack turned to her, leaning back against the elevator wall. He seemed like he was thinking.
“I... I joined SOLDIER...” He rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward grin. “This is gonna sound stupid... I left home when I was fifteen. I came here when I was sixteen... Cause I wanted to help people. Be a... A hero, ya know? What every teenage boy dreams about. The job... It's tough sometimes, but anymore, for us, it's mostly been sitting around here. The Firsts have been getting all the action, being sent to control the war in Wutai... We've mostly been glorified police lately.”
“There's nothin' wrong with a dream like that. It's a whole lot more honest and noble than the reason I gave, but then I guess I'm a b***h.” She shot him a sly look. “So, officer, can I interest you in a donut after work? It's the least I can do, you putting up with me and showing me around and all. I've got a little money.”
Zack shook his head, grinning.
“Christ, there really is no end to your mouth...”
“I'm smart, and I'm a smartass. That means there's no end to the things I can come up with, man.”
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