A/N: This is an intermission, meaning you see nothing but villains and my complete unsubtlety with plot points. O yes.

Chapter one to be up shooortly, as I am working on it as we speak. ... Working on it very slowly, because I block at the silliest things, really. I ... finished the intermission some time ago and forgot to post. I am great like that, yes. Enjoy


-- INCOMING DATA --

A lone figure is watching a monitor. Except for the small lighting it provides, the sole light seems to come from the green tubes further in the laboratory, glowing unnaturally. Their content can't be seen from this far, but the figure knows exactly what's in them. They're the most important things he has done yet. If he succeeds... His lips curl upwards at the thought. When he succeeds, it will be ... perfect.

"The boy is ready, Sir."

There is a pause as the shadowed man turns towards another figure. One of many meanless peons. The only tools he had that weren't useless are long dead by now, however, and so he makes do with what he has.

"And what about the girl?" He asks softly, his voice keeping a demanding tone nonetheless. The second figure shudders, both at what they're doing and at the man before him. He hesitates before answering, voice wavering slightly.

"... She is, also," he starts, "It-- should work."

Somehow, the first man seems bigger, even more intimidating as he turns towards him, glowering. "Should? You ignorant fool," he snarls, still not raising his voice even as the scientist cowers from fear, "It must work."

The second one babbles meanless apologies, but the other isn't listening, turning back to the tubes. He has been planning this so long and now, finally, he has the pieces he was missing. If anything were to not work at this point, everything he had done would be meaningless. It couldn't happen. He needed them both for this, the boy and the girl. They were ... special.

"Commence the procedure."

With a quick approval, the man runs out, panicked, belting out orders to more meaningless people. In the grand scheme of things, everything they did could have been done faster, better by people more talented. But talent, he knows, means betrayal. Oh, he knows rather personally. So he contents himself with worthless ants who can understand nothing, who know nothing. It is better this way.

The machines start up, a loud whirring noise suddenly heard as the tubes seem to glow even brighter, fluorescent. Yes. After the gruesome procedure of preparing both of them, they were finally injecting the Mako. Everything was going perfectly. His eyes focus on the boy, his lips pull back in a smile that shows teeth. Yes. Yes. He was reacting exactly the way he needed to, he was --

And then an alarm rings out and he turns around, crying out: "You fools! What are you doing!" The scientists are making moves to stop everything and hesitate once they see the look on the man's face, chills running down their spines. The scientist from before yells out, quickly as to not anger their "boss" further:

"It's the girl, Sir, she -- she's not reacting right, her body is rejecting the Mako! The boy is fine, but--"

The man snarls, stopping him mid-sentence. "Then continue the procedure on the boy, you ignorant

The scientist, in some strange form of bravery, yells back. "If we stop the girl, we have to stop the boy -- they're connected. She's dying! If we lose her, we lose him!"

The man's sneer is apparent, but he relents. "Stop the procedure immediately," he orders, firm, and the scientists move back to do so, hurrying, "The girl's body is only rejecting the Mako on a clinical scale, isn't it? She's not compatible. It's making her sick. But she'll still have her powers. We'll be moving her to the Project O. center, then."

There is a move of protest, but the man silences them all with a glare. "We may yet find a use to her, even like this. I will not have everything I have done be in vain."

"What of the boy?"

"Leave him here for now," the man answers, quietly. "He will be of no use to us without the girl. First, we must secure the girl. Am I understood? Now leave."

The quiet murmur of agreement and the shuffling as they leave the room is all that the man hears as he looks at the boy in the tube.

"It's sad," he tells him, "That you will never be as perfect as the original. But we couldn't have done this to Sora, you see? He is even more important than you are."

The grin is sudden on his face and, even though he is unaware of anything at all, the boy in the tube seems to shudder.

"So much more, indeed."

--FAILURE TO PROCESS DATA. FIGURES UNKNOWN. DATA KNOWN: PROJECT NAME ...

SORA X --