Final Fantasy VII

Chapter III . CLANDESTINE

May 0009

Nearly five months had passed since she had been appointed project leader, and Adele's colleagues thought she might be on the verge of pulling her hair out in frustration: but it had turned out to be quite the opposite. She was beside herself.

A 3D imaging scan revealed that the specimen was humanoid: female, and alive. But after zero physical response to stimulation, MRI scans showed brain activity, but the specimen appeared to be comatose.

Within a month, the protective barrier had been dropped, and Rufus had ordered tissue and DNA samples and for evaluation to begin. He wanted to know everything that was possible to know about this being, and Adele obliged. She had become obsessed; sleep had become a distant memory. She would spend hours looking over the records and video footage. She would examine the recorded 3D scans, passing up no detail.

Rufus shared her enthusiasm, checking in on Adele regularly to see if she had discovered anything new about the project. They would meet two, sometimes three times a day to discuss her findings.

The genetic makeup was nothing like she had ever seen. While the specimen was humanoid, and shared similar DNA strands to humans, there were additional markers that revealed enhanced abilities: super-human strength, keen senses, speed: the rate of her healing ability after test samples were acquired was astounding.

Adele began to suspect that this ethereal being also held the ability to use magic without the assistance of Materia. But her suspicions would remain just that, until the specimen would wake, all she could do was suspect.

In the meantime, she studied everything she could. Overlooking no small detail in her research.

The pain was unbearable.

Consistent.

She cried, but the tears never escaped. They were trapped behind her closed eyes.

Her sobs echoed inside, resonating loudly. She was unable to escape.

Would it ever end? She called out to the heavens: to whatever deity was there, begging and praying. But her pleas were unheard.

For months, she could feel needles boring into her skin; knives cutting into her.

Extracting her flesh, her blood; her life.

She was subjugated; held down by invisible chains inside her own mind. Unable to react, to fight back: unable to defend herself.

She was blind and paralyzed, but not deaf.

She could hear their voices. Warbled and distant; speaking a language that seemed familiar, but yet so foreign through her black prison.

Please… just let it stop…

Adele woke up at her desk once more; the computer screen glowing vibrantly, blinding her.

She groaned and swore quietly as she pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses. She stretched and winced in pain. Sleeping in her computer chair waged war on her back. And her back always lost.

Coffee. She thought as she pushed her glasses up, resting them in her hair. Since taking the lead on this Project, she found herself chained to the Shin-Ra building. As elated as she was at the progress they had made, not going home on a regular basis had begun to take its toll on her.

Coffee. She repeated as she pushed herself out of her chair. Across the room she could see the blue light blinking on her cell phone. A message.

Voicemail?

Who would be trying to get in touch with her? Everyone she saw on a regular basis worked for Shin-Ra Corp: they never called. They saw her every day.

She made her way across her office and stooped to pick up the phone. She activated the screen and maneuvered to her messages.

A text message, from Rufus?

She gave her phone a funny look.

Meet me in the observation room. It read.

She snapped her phone shut and glanced up at the clock on the wall. It wasn't even 5am, the message had been sent only fifteen minutes prior to her waking up. What is he doing up this early? It must be important... She shook her head as she pulled her glasses back down, resting them on the bridge of her nose before smoothing down her hair.

Adele dropped her phone in her pocket and checked for her badge before leaving her office.

The Shin-Ra Laboratory hallways were barren. Not even infantry monitored the Section 6 hallways anymore. All time and payroll had been forwarded to those who were appointed to monitor the Special Projects Division. Since the alien had been retrieved and brought to the labs, the entirety of three sub-surface levels had been devoted to research and testing related to the specimen.

Adele stepped inside the elevator and swiped her ID card in the reader. "Sub-level 3, please." She recited to the elevator before the doors hissed shut and the pod began to move down the long shaft to the underground levels.

The whirring of the pod in the midst of a controlled fall was almost comforting now, she had heard it so often. She smiled and shook her head. Oh the things we grow accustomed to. She chimed in her head as the doors opened, allowing her to step into the Sub-Level 3 walkway.

The space matter that was recovered with it was contained on the Sub-Level 2, while biological testing and research was centered on Sub-Level 1.

The specimen itself was kept in the large chamber on Sub-Level 3, under constant watch by Shin-Ra's finest.

Except for that night. Perhaps the President had sent them on break while he met with his Project leader? Something pricked at the back of her neck. She was suddenly apprehensive.

Taking in a deep breath, Adele punched in her key code on the pad before confirming her identity with a palm scan. The door hissed open and the sound of beeping monitors greeted her.

It was strange for the room to be so quiet.

She stepped inside, her hands in her pockets as she made her way to the figure of the President standing before the glass chamber that protected the specimen.

"You messaged?" She stopped beside him, her eyes locking on the same thing he stared at so intensely.

"I did." Rufus nodded. He was quiet for some time, then turned to her as he began, "I think it's time we took this project to the next level." The look in his eyes startled her.

"…What do you mean?" She turned her head slightly, her eyes narrowing. "The next level?"

He again nodded, "Yes." He glanced across the glass chamber at Dr. Ellison who stood, palm against the glass. His eyeglasses reflected the light, making the lenses glow eerily so she could not see his eyes. "Dr. Ellison will be replacing Dr. Chamberlain on this project since he has a vision similar to my own."

"And what vision would that be?" Adele pulled her hands from her pockets before crossing her arms over her stomach. She somehow began to feel threatened. She wasn't certain why.

Elliot walked around, stopping to stand beside the President as he continued. "I have noticed in your reports that you've been tracking the Guest's cycles, and you've taken time to scan and study the reproductive system of our guest." He pushed his hands into his pockets.

This was not good. Something in the back of her mind had always told her not to input those notes into her computer files. "You asked me to learn everything there was to know about the alien. I was simply complying." She tried to make light of it.

Adele was curious as to how her reproductive organs were compared to human females.

The result was startlingly similar.

But she had not anticipated Rufus delving into such research. Unless…

"Yes, you're right. I did, didn't I?" A smirk turned up a single corner of his thin lips. "So, let's discuss moving forward with the next stage of the project. Dr. Ellison, would you care to catch Dr. Weiz up to speed?"

Adele shifted her gaze to her partner.

Well.

He was her partner. She suddenly felt betrayed by him. He had concocted some sort of plan with the President without her knowledge.

"Well?" She couldn't hide her angered impatience.

Elliot offered his cohort a small smile as he reached out for his touch pad that had been set on the observation panel. "You are very aware that the project you were formerly working on was a bust. Eight out of ten volunteer hosts were lost due to incompatibility, meaning no subjects were produced from the experiment."

"And therefore the project was terminated. All projects were when we found this." She nodded to the Guest.

Dr. Ellison looked at the President, then back to her, "Well, not all of them. But yes, that project was suspended." Before she could speak, he went on, "Since you took it upon yourself to track the menses and reproductive cycles of our Guest, the President and I realized that there was a possibility to merge the two projects together."

Horror flashed in her eyes. "You can't be serious." She looked between them, her mouth dropping open. "Even if…" She paused, then shook her head, "No, it's impossible."

"You believe there would be complications?" Rufus raised his eyebrow.

"There is no way to determine the outcome: we could very possibly lose both. The specimen has proven to be stable to a degree. If we attempted this, there's no telling what could happen." Adele's voice raised slightly, her disdain for the proposal apparent.

"Dr. Weiz, what we are proposing will cause no risk to the Guest." Elliot looked down at his touch pad, activating his files before bringing up something on the screen. "Look at this." He held it out for her to take.

"What is this?" She demanded, snatching it away and pushing her glasses up on top of her hair as she looked at the chart that glowed on the screen. Her expression softened as her eyes scanned it. "These are… this is…" She looked up and between the two men. "These were confidential files. I didn't even have access to these."

"After viewing some of your results, and conversing with Dr. Elliot on the topic of the failed experiments, I allowed him access into those files to do some comparison and research. As you can see, it paid off."

"I don't believe this." She looked back down at the tablet. Disbelief and disappointment combined together, wrenching her gut. Her hand spread over her mouth as she continued to study the image in her grip.

"So you see. The chance of the experiment failing is very little. There would be a 98.5% chance of success." The President smiled.

She looked up.

She hated that smile.

She wanted to slap it right off his face.

"I really won't have much of a say in this, will I?" She frowned and handed the tablet back to Dr. Ellison.

"You can either assist in the merge, or be pulled from the project entirely." Rufus explained.

She didn't want that. This was her project. She had lost too much over it. Put too many hours into it. She would not lose this. Even if it meant sacrificing her morals.

She knew what they were proposing. And she didn't like it. But if she did refuse to help with project progression, she would be removed entirely from the Guest project, and could very well lose her job.

She didn't have to like it.

"What about the samples? I thought they were depleted?" She folded her arms over her stomach and turned to the glass, staring at the comatose Guest.

"It's true, there are very few samples left…" Elliot sighed and rubbed his forehead, "But I believe if enough care is taken, and the timing is right, we will be successful and it will take."

Adele inhaled, nodding slowly. I don't really have a choice… I'm sorry… She reached out and ran her fingers over the glass wall.

"The next opportunity won't be for another two weeks." She dropped her hand to her side and turned back toward the two. "My personal computer monitors her vitals and cycles automatically." She glanced at Rufus, "I believe you can access my desktop from the master server." She hated that the remote software had been installed on her personal laptop, but as a Shin-Ra employee, she had little say in the matter.

"Perfect. In two weeks' time, we'll be on the road to success!" The President's tone was overly chipper. And confident.

Adele didn't share his confidence.

If he was planning to revisit old projects, she was familiar enough with the results to realize that this wasn't such a grand idea.

But she sealed her lips. All she could do to keep her job was to go along with it.

She would have to be in it for the ride.

And she knew it would be a long and treacherous one at that.

Final Fantasy VII characters & references, © SquareEnix/SquareSoft. Original plot and characters, Dr. Adele, Dr. Ellison and Monet, © to me, J.K. Hinther, 1997, 2012 & Beyond.

This is a short chapter... not sure how I feel about it. I went over and over it but I feel like it's running in circles. Oi. Just not sure.

I tried to progress the story without revealing too much :/ I don't think I pulled it off. We'll see...

Thanks to my new reviews, fav's and followers! :D yay! Hopefully I'll stay on track with this ^^ I have so much inspiration, but never have time to sit down and do it!

This is a work in progress and also a writing exercise for me, which is why I'm being so obsessive about it. Trying to get my writing skills up to par before I begin working on my original works set in a world I've been developing for over fifteen years. So with this I'm looking for critique! Technical and constructive critiscism. I'm looking for critique on story flow and character development, which I know I have a problem with.

I'm going to try my damndest to keep characters IN character. The characters from FFVII, as well as my own characters. It is rather silly to use my main character from my original works and place her in this world, but it makes sense in my head for a variety of reasons I won't go into on here.

So please, reviews are appriciated! And earn cookies and cupcakes! =^3^=