New Partnerships

[1st_class_zack]

Zack had never actually had a partnership. He'd had a mentor in SOLDIER, but the ultimate goal was every member to be self-sufficient. Still he liked people and didn't mind working with someone else. As long as they weren't like Sephiroth, putting everything off on him and constantly talking down to him or leaving him completely in the dark, or worst of all going completely insane and burning down the island.

When he learned he had been accepted to the IPD, Zack had been quite excited. It was nearly as exciting as the moment Angeal had announced that he had recommended Zack for 1st.

He'd read that his partner was going to be T-1000. He had heard some strange names in his lifetime, but T-1000 seemed the least like any name a person should have. At any rate, he found himself standing in front of the IPD office in the mid-morning. It was much less any sort of headquarters than he'd ever known. SOLDIER had occupied three out of twelve stories in the Shinra building.

He stood in the doorway, looking over the desk that occupied it. Obviously and thankfully, there wasn't a whole lot of deskwork to be done.

Comments

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

His new partner was not Crichton, Brendan, or even Ronon. Nor was it a hot chick.

All in all, the T-1000 was not entirely satisfied with the decision, but he firmly believed the Commander knew what he was doing. At least, he hoped he did.

He was returning from a shower following his morning run, only bothering to pull his shirt on once he reached the IPD office. There was a new, vaguely familiar presence in the room. The guy from Aeris' party. The one with the marginally better yet still bewildering hair.

He'd been partnered with a kid.

It might have been a hypocritical statement, since the T-1000 was only three months old himself, but the point stood. Sort of.

He didn't say anything yet, simply held Zack under an evaluating gaze, trying to decide whether he was yet another punishment the Commander had chosen to inflict on him.

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

Zack was hardly a kid, but he certainly didn't look like he had been through much. One scar on his cheek hardly told a story of battles won and friends lost. He heard someone approaching and turned his head to see who it was.

"Dragon Man," Zack decided was as good a name as any, especially considering he didn't actually know the guy's name. "You're in the IPD, aren't you? Do know T-1000?" He didn't know that T-1000 was a model number and should have had an article in front, such as 'the.'

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

Dragon Man. Did he know T-1000.

They were off to a great start.

Eye rolling wasn't a function the T-1000 was inclined towards, so he made a slight face instead. "In the way that I am him," he admitted reluctantly. "The T-1000. But you can call me Austin." His gaze traveled down and back up, taking Zack in fully before locking on eye-to-eye. Maybe he could be useful. In paperwork capacity. He held out his hand, "I think that makes me your partner."

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Sorry about that...Austin," he said taking the man's hand in a firm handshake. "Zack Fair." He'd been trying not to add the SOLDIER 1st class part. He smiled confidently.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

He was, at least, enthusiastic. Probably too enthusiastic for the IPD, but the T-1000 figured it would bleed out of him with time, and mostly with paperwork.

Which wasn't to say there was nothing to be enthusiastic about. Zack was getting paired up with a superior killing machine, after all.

"So," he tilted his head slightly, still studying his new partner, "what's your experience?"

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

So much for not adding the SOLDIER 1st class part. Austin was the only one sizing the other up. Zack also looked the T-1000 over, though perhaps not as thoroughly as Austin had.

"I was in SOLDIER. I was a 1st class before I arrived here." He was pretty sure that spoke for itself. Then again, he was pretty sure Austin wasn't from the Planet. "I've been in a lot of battles," he added just in case. "What about you?"

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

The T-1000 squinted a bit at the offered description. Cloud had said something about being in SOLDIER, and it made no more sense now than it had back then. The battles clarification was vaguely reassuring, at least, though there wasn't really much in the way of battling going on in the IPD.

Battling routine, maybe.

And clearly Zack had come from a sad world where the Terminator movie was not available.

"I was a terminator. A killing machine." And since Zack had brought up the whole '1st class' thing... "The newest model," he added proudly.

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

Clearly Zack's new partner was a talkative fellow. As talkative as Cloud maybe. Which was surprising given his lengthy speech before the dragon hunt. That reminded Zack of the jab at Cloud's hair, something he felt he ought to bring up later.

Zack didn't like killing machines. He'd battled a few and by battle that obviously meant destroyed them. He decided to tell Austin as much.

"A terminator? I've never met a good killing machine," he said, this time he was the one squinting at the other. "Especially not the newer models." He was really wishing he had a sword just now, just in case.

"Still..." he paused, still squinting at Austin. "You don't seem very robot-like." He poked Austin with a finger to confirm the flesh wasn't some kind of new technology.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

"Morality is irrelevant in a killing machine," the T-1000 replied coolly, trying not to lean too far into irritation, even though it was tempting. "But I am good at killing."

His gaze traveled down slowly, locking onto the offending finger. As if poking would have produced different results in his native state.

"I'm plenty robot-like. I just happen to be human now."

He was getting a distinct urge to slap Zack upside his head.

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

"Oh," he said, a little disappointed, and removing said finger. "What happened that you got turned into a human? And how do you know you are still good at killing?" He went back to squinting at Austin.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

"The island happened," he replied dryly, following Zack's finger with his gaze until it was out of poking range. "And I just know."

He hadn't attempted to test his skill set in that area yet, but he was certain it was just like riding a bicycle. Only the bicycle was a killing machine. Not that killing machines were meant to be ridden, but -

He wasn't very good with metaphors.

"Do you want a demonstration?" he asked with a curious eyebrow raise.

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

"I didn't know the island had the power to turn killing machines into humans. It seems such a waste." But it did stand to reason that it could since it could also bring people to it who had formerly been quite deceased.

The truth was he really did want a demonstration. He just didn't want to have to fight a former killing machine turned human by the island barehanded. He was better with swords, or umbrellas at the very least. Neither seemed to be in close proximity.

"Yeah," he blurted out, surprising himself. Somewhere deep inside, he was certain he could take any killing machine.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

"The island does a lot of wasteful things. But I was dead before, so I'm not complaining." Not that complaining would do any good, either way.

To keep a semblance of surprise, he didn't wait for an affirmative answer – Zack wanted a demonstration of killing, not fighting, and those were two very different things. Fighting was messy, unpredictable. Killing, to him, was a single stroke affair - efficient, precise, without a margin for error. There were no rules in killing, only a target.

He moved without thinking – this was instinct, what he'd been built for - first attempting to get Zack into a headlock, but when met with a surprisingly effective resistance, he quickly changed tactics and grabbed a stapler from the desk, slamming it into the side of Zack's head to briefly stun him, before kicking his feet from under him.

Once he was on the floor, it took the T-1000 a moment to pin him down and pull out his fork, pressing it lightly against Zack's neck. One accurate motion would sever the carotid artery.

He paused, frowning lightly. "I'm guessing we're going to skip the actual killing part?"

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

Zack had been ready for a sudden demonstration of killing. When Austin came after him, he'd dodged out of the way. A stapler to the head was not a tactic he had been expecting; however, and he quickly went down, stunned.

The island definitely wasn't Midgar and as he'd known for some time, his strength wasn't the same. He wondered if a fork could have killed him in Midgar, but then he would have had materia too. And it definitely wouldn't have been a fair fight.

"Uncle," Zack said, very expressively, flailing only slightly so as not to be jabbed by the killing fork. "I should think killing your partner the first day would look badly on your record."

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

"Probably," the T-1000 conceded with a contemplative nod. His record was already far from spotless, and Commander Vimes would definitely frown upon partner forking. He placed the weapon back in his pocket, glancing behind him to see if there was anyone in the area who was likely to misinterpret the situation.

Tackling and office supply assault wasn't the most routine occurrence IPD office, after all.

After making sure there were no witnesses, he got to his feet, offering Zack a hand.

"We're not really suppose to engage in killing in the IPD, unless it's a last resort."

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

"That's a good rule. Killing is...messy." And also brings lots of guilt you have to pretend to deal with later.

He took Austin's hand, more as a sign of 'no hard feelings' than because he couldn't get off the ground more elegantly.

"So... a fork. I never would have thought of that. The stapler was a good opportunity weapon too." He was fairly impressed. "Not bad for a killing machine turned human. Still, I'd love to have tried that back in Midgar." With lots of Materia and a sword.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

"If it's messy, you're doing it wrong," the T-1000 insisted, pulling Zack to his feet. His kills had always been as clean as the circumstances allowed. The T-800 was the messy one. "But I think it's bad, killing. And against the law." He still hadn't quite grasped what was bad about it – it seemed entirely perspective-based - but humans were generally pretty stern about it.

His gaze flickered to the stapler, "You make do with what you've got." He couldn't produce weapons out of his body anymore, so he took whatever the environment provided. "And if you're talking about fighting in native states, you probably wouldn't have stood a chance." Maybe Zack had possessed super-human powers before, but the T-1000 doubted it equated to what he had been. "I was liquid metal."

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

"It is bad," he agreed.

"A liquid metal killing robot?" Zack laughed. That made absolutely no sense.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

The T-1000's jaw clenched tightly. For some reason, Zack seemed to think laughing about what he had been was a good idea.

"Are you very eager to get stabbed with a fork?"

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

Zack's chuckles subsided, but he still wore a grin. "I know the stapler move now," he said, crossing his arms.

"So is this what we do in IPD all day? Stand around and threaten each other with folks? I'll need to go procure one if that's the case." His smile stayed in place.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

The T-1000 responded with a slight smirk. The stapler attack was hardly the only one in his arsenal, and there were plenty more office supplies to abuse, if needed.

"This is usually as eventful as it gets," he admitted. Of course, they were special circumstances, but he could bring those up later. "Unless you find a gundam to arrest. But you would need a weapon, and a fork is a good place to start." If anything, it prompted an eyebrow raise from your opponent, and contributed to the element of surprise. "My last one is probably still stuck in a T-Rex's eye."

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

Well so far IPD had been completely pointless. Maybe he should have seen if the post office needed help like Cloud. Or joined the building crew after all.

"What's a gundam?" He'd have to remember to get to work on making a weapon. Maybe a staff. Maybe he'd make one for Aeris too.

[skybot-snd.livejournal.com]

"Gundam mobile suit." Technical definitions were all well and good, but sometimes directness was better. "It's a giant robot," the appropriate amount of respect still went into his voice.

Zack seemed worried about the lack of activity in the IPD, so the T-1000 smiled, offering a friendly slap on the shoulder.

"And don’t worry, there are plenty of things to do. Like patrol. And paperwork."

[1st-zack.livejournal.com]

"Oh," he shrugged, not understanding. Giant robot suit? But he didn't really care.

The Zack to the shoulder had been unexpected and it jostled him slightly, but he appreciated the friendly gesture. Especially since so far, they had gotten off on a less than friendly start.

"Patrol, I got. Paperwork? Not so much." He could do paperwork, but talk about boring. Apparently though, boring was something the island had in great abundance.