Two things I want to say. First, all of the specimen are characters from the main Final Fantasy games. They correspond to their numbers up to XV (15) which is Noctis. Above XV are other characters from the FF's. XX is Caius, in case someone missed that detail. 1 was the classic warrior of light from FF1 (the red hair).
Second, this story will get pretty dark pretty fast. I'm fully expecting this to either climb to M rating or sit just under it.
Journal Entry No. 836
It's been about a year since the incident in the infirmary, one year since XX strangled 1. I've made sure to keep a close eye on XX since then, no additional deaths since then, but Shinra still feels it is necessary to supply additional staff. I don't trust any of the new staff. I haven't had the time to properly evaluate all the new staff members. At least four of the new personnel have sexual harrassment citations, I made sure to personally let those four know that all female staff members carry loaded revolvers. I also made sure to distribute said revolvers and authorize their use for self defense.
Specimen Updates: VI developed a personality that only appears when she's confronted, she calls it the "Esper" not sure where she got the name. VII seems to have accepted being shunned, still purposely holding himself back. VIII has become either antisocial or simply an introvert, he just doesn't talk much at all. XXI has become schizophrenic, lacks any sort of emotional response, has zero motivation, and is under the delusion someone by the name of "Etro" is talking to her. XX hasn't once showed any remorse for killing I but has become fiercely protective of XXI. XX is showing the best results in the tests, strongest, fastest, and smartest. Apart from being a sociopath, he is giving me hope that Project S will succeed.
Next class I will be presenting every weapon I could get my hands on to the specimen. I'm curious as to what they will all choose.
The specimen gathered around the tables displaying all manner of weaponry. From throwing knives to swords far too big for the young specimen, stun guns to large missile launchers. There were even many hybrid weapons, gunblades was the unofficial name for such weapons. Most of the specimen chose bladed weapons, XIII and VIII chose gunblades, XXI did not take a weapon, XX took a sword from Shinra's SOLDIER division, and VII chose a boomerang of all things. Amodar was tasked with teaching the specimen how to properly use their chosen weapons and Jihl was brought in to further study the specimen.
After just a few classes, they all displayed exceptional skill with their chosen weapons, even VII with his boomerang. Most of the specimen congregated around XX and X, Jihl noted their natural charismatic leadership, XIII and VII though went off on their own on opposite ends of the converted hangar. The large group of specimen were having fun play fighting and making fun of the two loner specimen. After watching for several minutes, Hojo decided to approach VII as the silver haired specimen was still a mystery to the scientist.
"Hello Seven." Hojo said to get the boy's attention.
"Hello professor," VII reply in a neutral tone.
"Can I ask you why you chose a boomerang?" Hojo asked with genuine interest.
"It requires more skill than a sword or gun," VII stopped practicing for a moment looked Hojo in the eye for a few seconds "And it's not meant for killing people."
"Interesting. How did you know the boomerang was meant for hunting?"
"I didn't. It's just not sharp, blunt and heavy, or shoots anything." Hojo was impressed with the kid's intelligence.
"You have an impressive mind, Seven." Hojo was being honest but at the same time he was thinking about how his project had no place for a pacifist. To be a success, Project S needed something like XX or XIII. A sudden headache appeared and Hojo reached up to massage his temple, the frequent headaches were starting to deeply annoy the scientist.
"Thanks." VII said with a smile and a nod but the smile faded as he noticed the look of discomfort on Hojo's face "Are you alright, professor?"
"Yes, just a minor headache. Enjoy the rest of the class."
At lunchtime, the specimen were ushered out of the hangar towards their recreation room which also served as their cafeteria, XX taking the lead, VII and XIII falling into place at the end of the line. Hojo, Amodar, and Nabaat just watched the formation and progression of the line then proceeded to the observation window of the specimen rec room.
"Professor, I'm concerned about Ten." Jihl said as the three watched the specimen eat their lunch.
"What is the issue?"
"Twenty hates those that go against him. And since Ten is a natural leader, he's going to end up butting heads with Twenty and the incident from last year proves what happens then." Jihl had actual concern in her voice, something that was never there in the first couple of years she worked for Hojo. He didn't like it. It meant she was getting attached to the specimen.
"How many classes have they had with their weapons?" Hojo then asked.
"Ten or so," Amodar reply "But I'm willing to say most of them could easily take a trained soldier or two in combat." Hojo nodded in response.
"Why do you ask?" Jihl asked in return but Hojo just started walking away, back to his office.
Hojo sat in his chair watching the specimen during their training. It was the usual routine, laps, the obstacle course, cool down stretches, then some time in weight training. It slightly frightened Hojo that the specimen were lifting weights twice their own weight. Except VII, he was sitting on top of the thirty foot climbing wall in the obstacle course. The other thing about the specimen that was obviously starting to scare Amodar, Jihl, and himself was their endurance. Even after the laps, running the course, pushups and sit ups, and weight training, the specimen were barely sweating.
The class moved onto their weapons training and Hojo continued to observe, though he had stopped taking notes. He had an idea, an experiment in mind. But he needed to wait until the specimen were ready. Half an hour later, the usual happened. The two groups gathered, one for XX, the other for X, and VII and XIII went their own way. Hojo stood and walked to a large painted circle on the floor, it was the designated landing spot for helicopters when the hanger was still being used to house aircraft.
"Twenty! Ten! Come over here!" Hojo yelled to the specimen. All of the specimen even XIII walked towards him and the circle, his colleagues also made their way over. X and XX stood in front of the scientist. "Into the circle please, you two. Leave your weapons with Amodar. The rest of you, please stay outside of the circle." The specimen did as they were told and were now standing in the middle of the circle facing Hojo "We're gonna try a new game. The rules are simple, you must get the other person out of the circle. No breaking bones or biting. Are you two ready?" X and XX turned to each other and fell into starting offensive stances "Go."
Journal Entry No. 837
Unsurprisingly XX overpowered X with minor struggle. XX is both stronger and faster, he might also be smarter but it is hard to say. After the show of dominance, X's group including X himself became a part of XX's group. However, VIII, XV, and XXVI have splintered away and become a silent, possibly brooding, trio as they showed no interest or effort in approaching VII or XIII to join them. XIII is growing increasingly distant to the other specimen, she is also starting to purposely go against what Amodar requests of her. Unfortunately for me, President Shinra wants me to present my newest collection of notes and results to see if it's still worth funding Project S. But I'll go see a doctor about my headaches while I'm in Midgar. The specimen might enjoy having a couple weeks off.
Journal Entry No. 838
I have just returned to Project S with good and bad news. I told the staff the good news, Shinra will continue funding the Project, but they have no reason to hear my bad news. My headaches, they're caused by a large and inoperable brain tumor. The doctor said I have less than three months, I will not see Project S come to fruition. After I'm dead Project S will be liquidated as I am the head of it. I will not allow my Project to be swept aside and erased like the other failed Projects lead by inferior minds.
Hojo leaned back into his chair to rub his temples. The headaches were getting worse, the tumor was getting aggressive. The scientist glared at what he had written in his journal files, he was furious that he had been stricken with cancer. He felt as if the universe did not want him to complete Project S with the questionable new staff, budget cuts every few months, and finally the tumor.
The dark haired scientist stood from his chair and walked over to his filing cabinet, that was built like a safe, and began sifting through the papers. He soon found what he was looking for, the files on Arakawa's miracle medicine, which had been obtained through less than ethical means. Spreading them out on his desk, Hojo started reading through them and he smiled to himself. The only reason Project M had failed was Hojo had sabotaged it but other than that, the miracle medicine had flawless results. However, something occurred to him as he read through the files, it would take most of the time he had left to create the medicine and the labs inside the Project S complex lacked a couple of machines required to make the pills. That just meant he would have to get creative and make a liquid version of the medicine and there would be a number of sleepless nights for him.
With a heavy sigh, Hojo reached out and grabbed the files with the recipe and started on his way down to the lab. As he worked, several other staff members questioned what he was doing but none dared ask or even approach. Being the head of the entire Project allowed Hojo to work in relative peace. He was able to gather some of the needed chemicals and jot down a number of equations before he was interrupted by a member of security. The young soldier told the scientist he was requested in the medical wing, the morgue specifically. The first thought through Hojo's mind after getting the message was just one question and he left as quickly as he could. Upon arriving, Hojo saw Amodar, Jihl, and the coroner standing around an examination table with a covered body.
"Which one is it?" Hojo asked before anyone could speak.
"It's Six." Jihl answered calmly. Even though the three, now four, were standing around the corpse of a fourteen year old girl, none of them seemed perturbed in any way.
"And?" Hojo urged them for detail.
The coroner removed the sheet covering VI. VI was a pale skinned girl with curiously green hair but now most of her hair was gone, her skin burnt and cracked but her hands and feet were the worst. Just past her wrists and ankles the skin was heavily charred and cracked, burnt bone was visible in several places on her hands and feet.
"What happened?" Hojo was far too shocked to be angry that another one of his specimen was dead.
Amodar motioned to the coroner's terminal which had a paused video. It was a video file of VI in her room, she sat on her bed crying as revealed by the trembling of her body. After several minutes, which was skipped through, VI stood up and held her hands out in front of her. Bolts of Lightning shot out of her hands to hit everything around her, many hit her, they appeared faster and faster until there seemed to be continuous stream of lightning arcing into the room. The electronics in the room exploded, VI pulled her hands towards herself then threw them outward. A cloud of fire erupted through the window into the observation hall where the camera had been and the video was reduced to static.
"She killed herself?" Hojo asked the room after a couple of minutes.
"Sir, she could use magic without materia. And that's not why we called for you." Amodar stated. Hojo turned to him then looked at the coroner.
"After examination, I found evidence that Six has been sexually abused." The coroner said.
"What!?" Hojo shouted, he was outraged that whatever pervert had committed the act would dare touch one his specimen "When!?"
"Evidence says it's been going for a while, no way of telling exactly how long." The coroner answered calmly.
"I am sorry for not catching on sooner." Jihl said but Hojo waved her off.
"The pervert purposely targeted a group that is expected to have mental issues." The dark haired scientist mused "I'm guessing there was no DNA from the man that did this."
"No, sir. They were very careful." The coroner stated.
"Which means they've probably done it before." Amodar commented with a grim expression "We checked all the security but there was no sign of any alteration so they made sure to keep the attacks on Six in the blind spots."
"Jihl, I want you to examine the other female specimen." Hojo commanded "Whoever raped Six made years of research invalid."
"Uh..." Jihl stammered making Hojo shoot a glare at her "Sir, I'm not that kind of doctor."
"You're a psychologist and a woman, right? " A headache was setting in, making Hojo irritable "Now go figure out how many others have been abused!" Hojo barked at the blonde doctor. Jihl merely nodded her understanding before turning on her heel and leaving. Hojo sigh and turned to leave as well, he had work to get done.
Journal Entry No. 839
Jihl confirmed the other female specimen have not been violated. I suspect whoever did abuse Six is going to lay low for a while. However, I do know it wasn't any of the recently added security. It would take a long time to learn the blind spots in the camera coverage. Just one problem after another now. I'll let my new head of security, Yaag Rosch, focus on catching the pervert so I can focus on developing my cure. Tomorrow we will inform the specimen that VI is dead. Their reactions will be interesting.
"Group up!" Amodar commanded the eleven kids currently running drills "Now-"
"Where's Six?" X suddenly asked, interrupting Amodar. The blond boy was becoming quite a loudmouth in Amodar's opinion.
"I'm about to explain that, Ten." Amodar stated "Six unexpectedly and tragically passed away last night. She was very sick and did not tell us." The large man let his words sink in for a moment "If there is anything wrong, anything at all, tell us and we'll fix it. Okay?" All the specimen nodded their understanding "Now continue your exercises for a few more minutes." He did not miss VII turn and march away as he spoke.
VII sat next to the climbing wall and watched the others work out. He idly played with his boomerang in his lap, unaware that there was a glare plastered on his face. He noticed out of the corner of his vision that someone was approaching. The silver haired boy looked up and saw XIII staring down at him, expecting an answer to the question she knew he knew she was silently asking.
"He's lying." VII said with a hateful tone.
"About what?" XIII asked with genuine interest.
"Six. She wasn't sick." The green eyed boy stated.
"How do you know?" The pink haired girl asked not believing the boy in the floor in front of her. He got to his feet surprisingly fast and glared up at XIII, though not intimidating at all because VII was still quite short.
"Because I just do!" He shouted before storming off.
XIII watched him leave and found his behavior very strange. She thought him to be irrationally upset by the event and wondered if she should report it. Unable to come to a conclusion she turned to make her way over to some of the gym equipment. Out of the corner of her eye the teen with pink hair saw XXI, the girl with long blue hair that XX was strangely protective of, talking to XX. The purple haired teen boy, XX, was watching VII. XIII had a feeling that was not a good thing.
Sorry for taking so long with this chapter.
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