It's the final installment of the Otaku Corporation trilogy! I'm still not quite sure if this is going to be a oneshot, or if it's going to have to be extended into multiple chapters... I got a lot of ideas for this last one, so you guys might be getting more than a oneshot here!
Alright, let me give credit where it's due before I go any further.
First of all, to my amazing reader/reviewer run4life, who has been a GREAT encouragement on my Crisis Core story "Ordinary Day". She gave me lots of amazing/hilarious ideas for this story, and I plan to incoporate ALL OF THEM. Yes. ALL OF THEM. (Just thought I'd repeat it again for emphasis. xD) That's why this might go over into more chapters. Thanks again, my dear! You rock ^.^
Next, to my good friend Amadora (go to her profile!), who has been an amazing fellow otaku, a great new friend, and a vertiable fountain of ideas for new stories and dialogue. Not to mention characters. Expect many more stories inspired by conversations we've had and things that have happened to us. There's a new character in this chapter based on her!
Oh...and the Otakus get another...acquisition ;) You'll have to wait to see who it is...!
Last, but not least, I do not own Final Fantasy VII or XII or Crisis Core or anything of the like. It all belongs to Square Enix. Should I ever find myself owning the rights to these things... Well, let's just say there'd be some plot changes. Just little ones, here and there.
Anyway. Let's get on with this shall we? The final Otaku Corp. Enjoy the fangirlness.
-I. Day to Day-
The humming had been annoying from the beginning. But, by the third day, it had crossed over into maddening.
The five Shinra employees sat in various places around the room, all with blank stares on their faces.
Genesis was in the corner farthest from the door, rocking back and forth slightly as he murmured his beloved Loveless.
Angeal sat on the opposite wall, nearer the door, slumped against the wall in exhaustion and boredom.
Sephiroth sat facing the wall to Angeal's left, occasionally moving only to bang his head against the wall.
Zack sat against the wall to Angeal's right, looking up at the small window at the top of Sephiroth's wall.
And Reno...sat right in the middle of them all, still humming away.
"Reno," Sephiroth growled, his forehead resting against the gray wall. "For the thousandth time...shut up."
"What's your damage, yo?" Reno asked, breaking from his humming streak. (This was greeted by relieved sighs from all those present.) "I'm just trying to lighten the mood."
"You're doing about as good a job as the poet over there," Zack said, nodding to Genesis, who seemed to be off in his own world and oblivious to this conversation.
"What are you humming, anyway?" Angeal asked Reno.
Reno shrugged as best he could with his hands bound behind him. "Nothing in particular. Just a song."
Zack blinked at Reno for a moment. "Please don't tell me you're still waiting for your 'brilliant escape plan' to come to you."
Reno just kept humming, a smirk on his face.
"Seriously, man, I've never tried this hard to get a girl -and that's saying something!"
Angeal nodded, and Sephiroth shrugged a little.
"It's been three days. Don't you think your plan would've come along by now?"
"Give it time, give it time," Reno assured. "It'll come when it's ready."
"We're not talking about a pet cat that didn't come home one night," Sephiroth said. "Why don't we all just grow up and face the facts. We're not going to get out of here unless they release us."
"Who says everyone in this room is an adult?" Zack said.
Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "Stop being immature, Fair."
"Hey, I'm entitled," Zack said, grinning. "I'm not eighteen yet."
"Yeah, well, at the rate we're going on the escape plan, you'll probably be twenty-five before we get out of here."
You're probably wondering what's going on, yes? Well, in case you're just joining us, here's the gist of it.
There's a secret, underground corporation on Gaia, based in Midgar -the Otaku Corporation. Picture Shinra, only run by deadly operatives who want nothing more than to discover more about their...well, their favorite...people, I guess you'd say. So I suppose it's worse than Shinra.
The four SOLDIERs and one Turk had been in the custody of the Otakus for three days, and were starting to lose hope of ever escaping. The only thing that kept Reno going (and kept his mind off the fact that he had no cigarettes or alcohol in that cell) was his hope of escape, and the promise Takara (the operative who had captured him) had made to him.
That cute laugh she has... Reno thought, smiling. And the threatening way she said, "Yeah, sure. If you get out of there, I'll... How 'bout this, I'll give you my number. Good luck with that." Man, she is HOT!
Genesis had stopped properly functioning after the first night. It seemed he was having Loveless withdrawls. He didn't look at or speak to any of his fellow captives, but instead just stared off into space or at a wall, quoting the poem to himself.
Sephiroth had virtually lost all hope, and could now only wish for a quick and painless death. If only to be spared Reno's inane humming and smiling.
Angeal was teetering between hoping they'd be let go, and giving up altogether. He wasn't quite sure which seemed more plausible at that point.
Zack was still hopeful, but only because Kallie (the girl that had taken him down) didn't seem like some of the other operatives. She apologized a lot and made sure no one was getting hurt, whereas the other operatives were ruthless. It didn't seem like she would go to any lengths to get what the Corporation wanted (whatever that was).
Maybe there was hope for the five yet.
;;;;;
Here's how a typical day for the captives would go.
Three meals a day, which were brought in and fed to them by operatives who had a healthy amount of self-control. Don't even ask what would happen with the operatives who didn't have self-control.
They were allowed to leave the room to take care of the necessities only when accompanied by an operative. After the first night, the binds on their legs had been taken off, so they were allowed to roam freely around their room.
At arbitrary times throughout the day, one or more of them would be taken away from the others by an operative. They were usually taken to a plain, white room with bright lights that housed a square white table and four white chairs. Picture an interrogation room like one you'd find in a police station. They were then asked a series of questions like, "What was your childhood like?" "Why'd you join Shinra?" "If you were to ever get married, would you want children?" "In response to the previous question, if you replied yes, how many and genders?"
And sometimes they'd get even weirder ones like, "What type of shampoo do you use?"
Another thing they were taken from their room from was for "meetings" with their otakus -girls that had associated themselves with that person. Sometimes it was calm and relaxed, completely ordinary. Like a conversation you'd have with a random girl in a coffee shop. (Minus the deadly operatives guarding the doors, and the fact that their hands were still tied during all this. And the question of why would any of them be in a coffee shop together in the first place.) And other times, the girl would have to be strapped to a chair in the same room, or have to talk through an intercom from another room. Even still, some had to be dragged out of the room after only a few minutes because they couldn't contain themselves.
The capitves' general reactions to the more crazy ones?
Genesis didn't register a lot of it, and just kept quoting Loveless. This made his otakus swoon and lose control, naturally.
Angeal didn't respond much beyond a half-hearted chuckle, and immediately starting to wish that he could get out of there as quickly as possible.
Sephiroth was relatively bored with it all until a girl went completely nuts. Then he was freaked out beyond all measure.
Zack didn't mind it too much. In fact, he and Reno found it somewhat amusing. To break up the monotony of their time back in the room, they would get into heated discussions about their otakus' latest freak-outs, and what they did to set them off. And what could they do to make it worse? Things like that. They made it into a sort of competition, much to the chagrin of their cellmates.
And this was how the five passed their days. Is it difficult to see why madness was almost inevitable?
;;;;;
Kallie wrung her hands nervously, looking into the one-way window at the five newest acquisitions. Zack and Reno were again going on about their latest meetings, and the Otakus' reactions.
She shook her head and stuffed her shaking hands into the pockets of her black slacks. This feels wrong, she thought. But it's my job! And I succeeded in my biggest missions yet! I got promoted! The Director put Takara and I on her personal staff! Still...at what cost?
Kallie heard footsteps approaching and looked up. She smiled and waved at her good friend and fellow Otaku as she approached.
The other girl smiled and waved back. She stopped next to Kallie, looking through the window. She brushed a blonde-dyed-pink strand of hair out of her eyes and smirked. "Lemme guess... You caught Zack?"
"Gee, I don't know how you ever guessed," Kallie replied dryly, smiling. "What's up, Patty?"
The girl -Patty- shrugged. "Heard you and Takara made a huge score, and wanted to come see what all the fuss was about." She elbowed Kallie in the side, smiling. "And I hear you both got promoted! Director Nakahara can't stop talking about what great operatives you both are."
Kallie nodded. "Yeah, sure."
Patty scanned her eyes around the room below her and Kallie. "So who'd Takara get?"
"Reno," Kallie replied.
"Of course," Patty said, nodding. "That's why he's grinning like a crazy person. What'd she promise him?"
"Her phone number," Kallie said.
"Did anyone tell him about the last guy Takara caught?"
"No."
"All the better, then. What about Angeal? And Sephiroth? Who took them down?"
Kallie listed off the names of the operatives who had assissted in the capture of the two 1sts.
"Impressive..." Patty mused, nodding again. She looked at the red-clad figure in the corner, and raised an eyebrow. "Kallie?"
"Hmm?"
"Why'd we kidnap a woman?"
"What?" She followed Patty's gaze. She rolled her eyes. "That's Genesis."
"OH," Patty said. "I was mistaken."
Kallie laughed and shook her head. "So how'd your mission go? Heard it was quite the adventure."
Patty grinned. "Oh, you have no idea. But, in short, the mission was successful."
"Really?"
"Yep!" She walked to another window to their right, which looked down into another room very much like the one our intrepid heroes were in. Patty pointed, smiling proudly.
Kallie nodded, smiling as well. "Very nice. Y'know, not just anyone could take out a sky pirate."
"He's a dashing sky-pirate!" Patty corrected, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "I can't wait till I get my meeting with him." She smiled at Kallie. "He said I had guts, and was the most fascinating girl he'd ever come across! Can you believe it?"
"Not at all," Kallie answered, shaking her head.
"Hey, will you proctor our meeting? You I can trust."
"Why not? Not much else going on around here."
The two heard the distinct sound of high-heels tapping on the hallway floor, and snapped to attention.
"As you were," Nakahara replied, nodding at the girls.
Kallie and Patty relaxed a little.
"How are the Shinra acquisitions doing?" Nakahara asked, looking down into the room.
"All well, I think, Director," Kallie said. "Except for Genesis."
"Yes, I have noticed that..." Nakahara mused. "We'll have to get a copy of Loveless somewhere to prevent him from losing what's left of his mind."
"We could send an operative to his apartment to get his book," Kallie suggested. "But, Director, wouldn't relieving him from his withdrawled state only do to worsen the condition of the other four?"
Nakahara smiled and patted Kallie on the shoulder. "You see? This is why you got promoted, Jones. Still, I don't think we can simply ignore Genesis' state."
"Neither do I, Director, but I fear for the mental stability of the rest of them. Particularly Sephiroth."
"Yes, he does seem to be the most unstable..." Nakahara mused. "I'll look further into this, Jones. No changes for now. By the way, where's Saito?"
"She's off on another mission, Director. She was sent after the ever-elusive Vincent Valentine."
"Good, good. Keep me posted on her progress."
Kallie nodded.
Nakahara nodded back, then turned to Patty. "Davis, what have you got for me?"
"My latest mission was successful, Director. The one known as Balthier is now in our custody." She gestured for Nakahara to look into the next window.
Nakahara looked, and nodded approvingly. "Well done, Davis. Well done, indeed. Make sure to fill out all the proper reports."
"To be sure, Director," Patty replied with a nod.
"Well, it seems you ladies have everything under control here. So, if you'll excuse me..."
"Yes, Director," Patty and Kallie said as Nakahara turned to leave.
She turned back. "One more thing, ladies."
Patty and Kallie waited for her to continue.
"Make sure security is still keeping the Y.O.'s out of this area. I don't want a repeat of that incident last year involving that SOLDIER director and that Turk."
"Yes, Director," Kallie said. "I'll make sure of it personally."
Nakahara nodded and left.
"Refresh my memory," Patty said, looking at Kallie. "'Y.O.'s'?"
"Yaoi Otakus. They're not allowed in this sector when we've got multiple acquisitions."
Patty nodded, thinking. "And...this 'incident' last year...?"
"You do not want to know. Trust me. It's the reason all the Y.O.'s had to get different IDs, key cards, and badges."
"I'll take your word for it," Patty said.
Kallie looked back at the five Shinra acquisitions, and the latest one Patty had caught.
There is an excitement...a power about this place, she thought. I know why I joined, and why I do my job as best I can. But still...now that I acutally completed the one big mission I'd been training for...what is there left to do?
Plans were already churning in the brunette's head about possible scenarios. She ultimately decided that it would be best to keep quiet about whatever she was thinking for the moment. For now, she'd just let the other operatives have their fun.
At the very least, until Takara got back from her mission.
She can't be gone too long, Kallie thought. I mean, no operative in the history of the Corporation has been able to catch Vincent Valentine! He's too shifty.
Then again...if someone were to ever catch him...I wouldn't be surprised if it was Takara who finally did it.
Well, it's not finished, so it looks like this will be a multi-chapter finale! Let me know your thoughts! More to come soon! ^.^
