Two men stood by a table whose papers and books were thrown and pushed off, their place taken by another young-looking yet scarred man.
The older looking of the three goes by the name of Professor Hojo, and he was the lean hunching man in the labcoat standing over the feverish and most probably hallucinating red-eyed man (if you could call him a man), while the blond one, Cloud stood close enough to stop Hojo if he did anything that he did not agree with.
Cloud stared at the scene happening before him, was he really letting it happen?
Right now all he could hear was ragged, pained breathing coming from Vincent and a bit too amused random low murmurs coming from Hojo, which were usually followed by Vincent's breathing becoming erratic or stopping for a moment.
Cloud allowed himself a moment to think about what lead to the scene before him, as Hojo hasn't tried anything out of their "agreement" in the past ten minutes...yet.
Did they really hunt a weakened Vincent down when he refused to relive his nightmares at the hands of Hojo, when Cloud himself knew what the man was capable of? Yes they did.
Of course, not that he could compare his own experience to Vincent's, which was basically repeating itself right in front of him, and this time he could stop it, anyone could. And Vincent knew it too. He heard their long explanation as to why they were doing it, or at least he hopes he was conscious enough to. They were all desperate enough to try to believe that Hojo wouldn't just torture him.
Wondering why would they even considering his so-called help? As mentioned before, they were all scared and desperate enough to "trust" Hojo's offering of help because no matter how much they looked for and through his writings about Vincent in the laboratory/library, they couldn't find anything that any of them had any qualification to do or even attempt to. And materia did little help.
And how did Hojo found out about their need for help? It was a coincidence, as while they were down there, a random woman from the Turks came to retrieve some papers for him. They assume that she told him.
Cloud quickly found himself out of his thoughts with a harsh grip on Hojo's left hand that had just harshly slapped the surprisingly silent gunman.
"Oh, so you were paying attention? Hard to tell with your kind, it's just the same lost glossy look in your eyes that never changes, quite boring to be honest, as you barely let them glow. Now, would you be so kind as to release my hand?" Hojo's annoyed expression as he pulls his hand free only spiked his own annoyance and just plain hate for the man.
"Why did you slap him?" Cloud's voice was as stern but calm as he could manage, taking a step back from the man, as if disgusted by him.
Hojo glanced back at the suddenly unconscious Vincent and frowned. "There's your answer. I was trying to keep him awake, as his wounds heal much, much slower when he's awake. I can't work on him when he's unconscious, as while I do so enjoy seeing his face contort in pain, it would be nothing but a waste of time for me."
As he ended this small rant of his, the corners of his lips twitched up as if threatening to grin at the blond. "You don't know anything about him do you? He doesn't trust any of you does he now? And I wonder what he will think when he, ahem, gets "better". I heard it wasn't easy getting him here in his delirious state was it?" Hojo moved away from the table with the subject on it to a free nearby desk, picking up a random notebook and pen from the nearby bookshelf as he continued talking." Hmm... Perhaps the way he acted could... help me help him." Hojo rolled his own eyes at the phrase, oh how cliche it was.
Hojo walked back to his "patient", oh how it brought back memories, he thought as a small almost unnoticeable grin appeared on his face, making the blonde glare at him. But, as quickly as it came, the grin faded into a focused, somewhat blank expression as the scientist wrote things down on the black notebook while ignoring the continuous glare the younger man was giving him.
Suddenly Cloud found himself rubbing a spot in his arm that a quite sharp pencil was pushed into, Hojo was really pushing it (the agreement that is).
"I am waiting for you to talk if you haven't noticed. When did it start and with which symptoms, as it is hard to find anything in particular cutting him open over and over for two hours, but I can continue if you want, as none of you seem to mind. If you do not know how it started, you may go and call someone else to be here."
"Quit your remarks Hojo, they're all false. You're pushing close to the limits of the agreement." Cloud said, but only earned a scoff and a sneer from Hojo for not calling him by what he considers to be his full name, Professor Hojo.
Cloud cleared his throat, suddenly finding it itching and not wanting to talk about the subject with the man. It almost felt like he was betraying the red eyed gunman (okay, he admits, it's somewhat too late to be feeling guilty) by telling the scientist how weakened and dangerous he was becoming. Taking a deep breath Cloud prepared himself to report the most important and only the things Professor Hojo needed to know.
Somehow, all of this feels familiar, reminding him of his position as a lowly Shinra infantryman...wait what? He shook his head it, probably just reminded him of the position itself, as he doesn't remember ever being one... But then how did he get into SOLDIER..?
"It isn't clear when it actually started, but we are assuming that it started somewhere between Yuffie, the ninja girl, catching a bad case of a flu which joined with her motion sickness made her throw up on him and when he was in a group with me and Barret doing monster hunts for Gil in which we all were badly poisoned and only had two antidotes on them, all while we were going back to the town to get more. This time, he threw up and passed out and only woke up fives hours later, but the poison had already been filtered out by then. Although we did take the precaution of still giving him an antidote."
Well, Cloud thought, that's about it. He stood there in silence wondering if he should continue and how, while Professor Hojo seemed to be taking in the information and writing something down, before giving Vincent a glance with raised eyebrows and turning to look back at Cloud.
"I hope you do realize I will need to talk to her, as it seems that she was the cause for the first incident, and most probably in the middle as well, I presume. And no, you will not do until we get to the later parts, because I don't know if you know, humans hide things and lie. I will need to talk to her myself." Hojo said while he turned his back on Cloud, looking through cabinets and drawers as well as between books. Suddenly he pulled out a book, or should he say box disguised as one, and took out a vial of clear liquid with a slight yellow tone to it, raising it to the light, and Cloud is pretty sure he heard him mutter "... it should be relatively safe to use..." and "... only 31 years..." so he really does need to ask what that is.
"Yes, I think we can arrange you talking to her." Cloud did not miss his raised eyebrow when he said think, this man is really stabbing his patience. Ignoring his want to just at least behead the man, Cloud quickly stood between him and the table as he decided to not let him pass until he knew what was in the vial. As the man picked up a syringe that he was pretty sure he just found laying around, Cloud cleared his throat rather loudly and got his attention. "What is in that vial?"
"Nothing that interesting, simply something to be sure that he wakes up. I will warn you, he really gets loud and I am guessing with the slightest acidification the liquid might have suffered, it will be more painful, in turn, having him scream more. If you happen to be uncomfortable by this, this will be a good opportunity to explain to the nosy short female at the door what I want her to talk about."
Cloud slowly took a step back and glanced at the door that suddenly shut closed behind them. "Is there another..." way is what he wanted to ask, but he was quickly interrupted by the scientist.
"Yes there are, but most involve stabbing him, electrocuting him, waiting it out as he gets worse or half drowning him. Would you prefer any of these, or a simply temporary burning sensation?"
It would be hard to miss the slight winces that appeared on Cloud's face as he tried to weight down the options before him, but he was quickly distracted by the door behind him opening and a Yuffie and if he saw right a Cid as well peaking in with worried expressions. Cloud breathed deeply as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, he is the leader, he must make decisions. But sometimes they can be so hard.
Hojo didn't really seem to care for his opinion, as he simply knew that the other would allow him to continue, it really was pathetic this display here. He pushed the syringe inside the small vial retrieving its content and smiled to himself, but his face quickly turned into one of pleased surprise when he heard the words leave the blonde's mouth.
"Just... try to silence him." Oh that's cold, a voice inside his head said to him, and as he approached the door and glanced back, he agreed. As he started to close the door behind him, a pained muffled moan quickly turned to desperate barely muffled screaming. He swore he could hear the screaming man trashing on the table, as the other three in the corridor glared at him. Oh for his mastered Bahamut materia, he wished this would be worth it.
