Title: Dark Thunder

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, Crisis Core, or any characters therein.

Rating: Rated T for sexual situations, swearing, violence.

Summary: Zack is called to meet the President, but he isn't told why. This is a prequel to Thunderstruck, but you do not have to read Thunderstruck to enjoy this story.

Time line: I've seen some of Crisis Core and I decided to use some of the characters, but I played around with the time line, sorry. Zack has met Cloud, but Angeal is still around.

Zack Fair, SOLDIER, 2nd class, walked down the halls of Shinra Headquarters as fast as his long legs could carry him. He was extremely excited, because he had been called to the office of President Shinra, President Shinra, and he knew that the president didn't just invite people to his office for no reason. Of course, someone as perpetually positive and hopeful as Zack Fair never even considered the idea that he was being summoned to the office of the president for, say, a lecture, or disciplinary action. Oh no, as far as Zack was concerned, his promotion to first class was mere minutes away.

Also forgotten was the fact that President Shinra never bothered with ordinary fighters, he only cared about Sephiroth, and that he would be the last person to grant a member of SOLDIER a promotion.

“Zack, slow down, please.” Angeal sighed, walking at a much slower pace and gradually falling behind his young pupil. The older man was two seconds away from grabbing Zack by the collar and holding him back, because the last thing he wanted was for the over eager youth to make a fool of himself in front of President Shinra.

“But I'm excited, Angeal, I can't wait to see the President. I wonder what he wants.” Zack said, turning around to face his mentor and walking backwards towards his final destination. He looked back every few seconds to make sure he didn't run into a door, a person, or one of the many potted plants lining the walls.

“Did you ever stop to think that he might not have anything good to give you?” Angeal stressed. Angeal wouldn't tell Zack, but he was worried, because he had no idea what the President would want with his pupil. Most of the time President Shinra used the Turks, and he had Sephiroth, so what would he want with a 2nd class SOLDIER like Zack? Yes, Zack was good, but he was much to immature to gain the President's favor.

Angeal was certain nothing positive could come out of this.

“Why else would he call me to his office?” Zack said, cocking his head to the side in confusion and stopping. What was Angeal trying to do? Ruin his good mood?

“Just...don't get your hopes up, Zack. And be careful, I think something bad is going to happen.” Angeal warned, walking up to Zack and patting him on the shoulder before continuing down the hall.

"Spoil sport." Zack grumbled, following his mentor towards President Shinra's office.

Zack and Angeal walked down several more corridors and took a glass walled elevator up to the top floor before they came within sight of the door to the President's office. Before they could enter the office, or even talk to the secretary stationed outside the door, they were intercepted by a red headed man in an unmistakable navy blue suit. He was a Turk.

“Zack Fair, you need to come with me.” The red head said, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. His dark blue suit was wrinkled and unbuttoned, and he didn't bother to tuck in, or even fully button, his white undershirt. His hair was a deep, very unnatural red, and it was worn short near the scalp with a long, thick pony tail at the back. He had two short, crescent shaped scars over his cheekbones.

“I thought I was going to see President Shinra ah...what was your name again?” Zack said, looking at the Turk closely. Zack met the red head briefly, and he was hard to miss walking around the halls of Shinra Headquarters, but he never learned the man's name.

“Names Reno, and you will meet the President, just not here.” Reno said, motioning for Zack to follow him. Zack looked at Angeal, shrugged, and followed Reno back the way he had come. The trio came to the glass walled elevator and Reno pressed the down button.

“Hey, Reno, do you know what the President wants?” Zack asked, still very excited, if a little bit more confused than usual. To Zack, it felt like the elevator was taking hours to arrive but, in reality, it was moving at its normal speed.

“I...can't tell you anything.” Reno said, watching as the numbers on the digital display above the elevator door changed, constantly showing him what floor the elevator car was currently on. He refused to make eye contact with Zack or Angeal, and both men got the feeling that, for one reason or another, the Turk was uncomfortable.

An uncomfortable Turk really made Angeal worry, because he knew that there were very few things in the world that could bother a member of the Turks, even one as carefree as Reno often appeared to be.

“Reno, what is going on?” Angeal asked, staring Reno down, not that he thought it would do him any good. A Turk was one of the few men who would remain unaffected by a SOLDIER stare down.

“I can't say, so stop asking.” Reno said with a sigh, secretly wishing he could tell both of the men exactly what was about to happen. But Reno knew better than to open his mouth, because if he opened his mouth, he was likely to end up dead. To put it simply, Reno was not keen on dying any time soon, so he intended to do what he could to remedy the situation from behind the scenes. He just hoped he could continue to find ways to help his friend without getting himself caught, which would be bad for both of them.

Both Angeal and Zack were about to try and pry more information from the Turk but, with a loud dinging noise, the elevator car arrived on their floor and the doors opened wide for them. Reno stepped into the elevator first and Zack followed him but, when Angeal tried to enter the elevator, the Turk stuck his arm out and blocked the door.

“Sorry, Angeal, you can't come.” Reno informed the man, reaching over to press the button on elevator control panel that would shut the doors. The doors of the car shut in Angeal's face before he could even bother to protest.

Angeal was left standing in the hallway, wondering what was about to happen to his favorite pupil.

The elevator zoomed down the shaft quickly, passing floor after floor after floor. Only Reno knew where they were going, and he didn't seem very eager to talk, so Zack didn't even bother to ask him where they were headed. The two men just stood in silence, Zack watching the city outside through the glass walls, Reno watching the floor counter above the door. By the time the elevator car was halfway down the building, Zack's enthusiasm had died and was replaced with a growing sense of dread. Like Angeal, Zack was getting a very bad feeling about all of this, and he was no longer excited about meeting the President.

“Hey, Zack, you're a nice, gentle guy, right?” Reno asked suddenly, turning to look at Zack for the first time in a long time.

“Ah, yeah. I'd like to think so.” Zack replied hesitantly, taken completely by surprise. Of all the questions Reno could possibly ask him, that was the last one Zack thought he would actually be asked. Very few people ever bothered to ask a member of SOLDIER if they were nice or gentle because, quite simply, it was obvious most members were neither nice or gentle. As a rule, you didn't join SOLDIER if you were nice and gentle.

The only exceptions to that rule seemed to be Zack, Angeal, and maybe the blond haired boy named Cloud that Zack met on a recent mission.

“That's good.” Reno said, bringing his attention back to the digital display above the door. Now Zack was really confused and, if he thought the Turk would answer, he would have asked more questions. But, seeing as Reno was intent on staying silent, the black haired SOLDIER was forced to wait until they arrived at their destination to get all the answers.

Well, maybe he would wait that long.

The elevator stopped at the lowest level of the Shinra building, the parking garage, which, at the current time of the day, was almost empty. Reno led the way towards a veritable army of black sedans parked in a secluded corner of the vast concrete space. Zack had a good feeling which car they were heading towards because, waiting next to one of the first vehicles in line, was a large bald man who was also in a Turk suit. The large bald man was often seen walking the halls of the Shinra building with Reno.

When Zack and Reno neared the line of cars the bald Turk, who was named Rude, opened one of the rear doors.

“Get in.” Reno ordered, pointing to the, now open, rear door of the vehicle.

“Okay.” Zack said, climbing into the back of the car. The sedan was luxurious, with leather interior and tinted windows. Before today, Zack had never been able to ride in a car as nice as this and, he was sure, only Shinra executives, and the Turks, apparently, could use these high end vehicles. Riding in a car like this might have been fun, actually, but Zack still could not shake the horrible feeling he had growing in the pit of his stomach that something bad was about to happen.

Still, Zack hoped Angeal was wrong and that nothing bad was about to happen. He had to try and be positive, after all.

Reno shut the door for Zack and proceeded to get into the front passenger seat of the car. Rude got into the drivers seat, turned the car on, and Zack watched as the car began to pull away from all of its identical brother's and sisters. The bald Turk drove out of the parking garage and onto the Plate, stopping only for a second to show the security guard at the gate his identification card.

Silence reigned again as the trio drove to another unknown destination, well, the destination was unknown to Zack, anyway. Zack had a good feeling the Turks knew exactly what was going on, and exactly what was about to happen, and that they were purposefully not telling him anything. He didn't know why they refused to tell him anything, maybe it was because this was all part of a top secret mission, he just didn't know.

Zack hated being left in the dark, and he was really starting to wish Angeal was in the car with him. Angeal would know what to do.

“Hey, Zack.” Reno said quietly after ten minutes of driving in silence, knocking Zack out of his thoughts. Zack looked up towards the front seat and he saw that Reno had his head turned towards him.

“What is it, Reno?” Zack asked.

“Zack, listen, you probably won't want to do what the President asks you to do, but you have to do it, okay? It will be worse for you, and everyone else, if you don't do as he says.” Reno said.

“Whoa, wait, what the hell are you talking about?! Is that all you can tell me, come on!” Zack said, more than a little annoyed at the red headed Turk, who had yet to tell him anything helpful. Zack thought Reno needed to stop being so vague.

Zack grabbed the headrests of both the drivers seat and the passenger seat and pulled himself up so his head was between Reno and Rude's.

“Come on, Reno, spill it. What the hell is going on here? Why are you being so damn secretive?” Zack asked, glaring at Reno.

“I can't tell you. Now sit down, you're bothering Rude.” Reno said. Zack, being highly gullible, instantly turned to look at Rude, who didn't seem to be affected at all by his presence in the front seat. The bald Turk looked just as calm and stoic as usual.

“Oh, don't give me that, just tell me what is going on.” Zack said, turning back to Reno.

“I can't.” Reno said, putting his hand on Zack's forehead and pushing as hard as he could. He knocked Zack back into his seat, but only for a moment, meaning the energetic brunette was sticking his head back into the front seat almost instantly. Reno attempted to push him back, again, but his second attempt only initiated a childish slapping fight that would be frowned upon by any mature person of Reno and Zack's ages.

“Zack...” Rude said, stopping the slap fight immediately. Zack turned to look at Rude, one of his hands wrapped around, and pulling, Reno's pony tail, the other hand clutching the front of the Turk's blue suit. Reno was stopped in the middle of using both hands to push Zack, who had pulled his entire upper body into front seat, off of him.

“If you want to know what is going on, all you have to do is ask. We're here.” Rude said, slowing the car down and turning the steering wheel, pulling the vehicle onto a cracked, pot hole filled asphalt driveway.

Zack and Reno both looked out the front windshield and saw that the car was rapidly approaching a series of long, low white buildings. Zack frowned.

“What the hell are we doing at this sleazy hotel?” Zack said, hopping back into his seat, much to Reno's satisfaction. He looked out the side window, which gave him a better view of their destination now that Rude was driving parallel to the buildings, not towards them.

“This is where you are going to meet President Shinra.” Reno said, eying the hotel with distaste. He had standards, and this was lower than his, already low, standards, which was saying something.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Zack said in disbelief. He had never been to this particular hotel, but it was clear by the broken sign, the crumbling awnings, the chipped paint and the cracked windows that this was not a high class establishment. It looked like one of those hotels you took a hooker to, not a place you met the president of a multi-billion Gil corporation.

Zack couldn't believe this place was actually on the plate, he thought hotels like this only existed in the slums. This just proved that rich people needed out of the way, trashy motels to have their secret affairs in, too.

Rude drove to the second white building, which was hidden behind the first building quite effectively. He parked car near the end of the long, rectangular complex, right next to a pair of regular SOLDIER members that were standing guard and, it seemed, doing their best to stay out of sight. The soldiers looked up as Rude, Reno and Zack got out of the car, and they came over to meet the trio as they approached the building, their guns at their sides.

“The President has been waiting. Room sixteen.” The helmeted man on the right said. Reno and Rude both nodded and started walking towards the rooms, but Zack stopped to take a closer look at the quiet SOLDIER on the left. Even though the man was wearing a helmet, and he looked just like any other Shinra grunt in his uniform, Zack thought he recognized him. It was just the way he was standing and the way he was behaving that seemed so familiar to the spiky headed brunette.

“Hey...that you, Cloud?” Zack asked, moving forward to get an even closer look at the SOLDIER. The man jumped slightly.

“Uh, yeah...I can't believe you could tell.” Cloud said, removing his helmet so Zack could see his face. Cloud's blond hair was still gravity defying even though he had been wearing his helmet for the last few hours. Helmet head was for people with normal hair, apparently.

“Ah, you act funny.” Zack laughed, coming over to wrap his arm around Cloud's shoulders, glad to see a familiar face. Cloud laughed nervously, not sure if that was a compliment or not.

“Hey, Cloud, you've been here a while, right? Right? Well, so, do you know what's going on? Those Turks won't tell me anything.” Zack said, trying to weasel some information out of his old buddy.

“No, actually I don't know what's going on. I've been waiting outside the entire time.” Cloud said, hugging his helmet to his chest. He didn't like being left in the dark anymore than Zack did, but that was just another unfortunate part of being a low ranking member of SOLDIER. No one ever told the low ranking grunts much of anything.

“Oh, man.” Zack sighed, removing his arm from Cloud's shoulders and slumping down in defeat. He didn't see the irate red head coming up behind him until it was too late.

“Get over here, Zack, don't leave the President waiting.” Reno said, grabbing Zack by the collar of his shirt roughly and dragging him towards the hotel. Zack found out real quick that the skinny Turk was stronger than he looked and that, if he wanted to drag you somewhere, he was going to drag you there whether you liked it or not.

Reno dragged Zack down the line of numbered doors and he only let the SOLDIER free when he stopped at the last door in line. The door was marked with a big black number six, but, since it was next to door number fifteen, Zack assumed it had lost a number one somewhere along the line. Rude was also standing by the door, just looking imposing, as always.

“It's Reno, Rude and Zack Fair, the SOLDIER you requested.” Reno said after he knocked on the door. There was some noise on the other side of the door and Zack had a feeling there was a person looking at them through the peep hole to see if they were who they said they were. A few seconds passed before the door was opened for them and they were allowed to enter the dingy hotel room.

Once inside the dimply lit room the first thing Zack noticed was that President Shinra actually was there, he was sitting in the corner of the room smoking a cigar. The second thing Zack noticed was that Heidegger, an up and coming member of Shinra corp who always wanted to run the SOLDIER program, had opened and closed the door for the trio.

The third thing Zack noticed was the hardest thing to miss, it was a young man tied to the bed, completely naked, with a cloth sack covering his head. Zack could clearly see that the young man was trembling in what could only be fear.

Zack hated it when Angeal was right.

I did it again! I turned what was supposed to be a one chapter story into a multi-chapter story. I have a habit of doing that because I can't write short pieces. Oh well, good for you, bad for me. Please REVIEW!

Sorry this is kind of late, by the way. I wanted to get this out earlier, but I lost my motivation. I must have got it back, though, because this would still be a one chapter story if I didn't!