SO THE DEAD MAY SMILE

NOTE: Decided to upload this one too, while I could remember :P hope you all enjoy it! Another new character in the next chapter to come ;) Keep reading! PLEASE review it gives me a lovely warm feeling inside 

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"This way sir." The laboratory assistant directed, as he and Spoole made their way through the network of corridors, towards Experimentation Room 24.

"What exactly has happened?" Spoole demanded, having to walk quickly to keep up with the scientist's excited pace. "Evans, you realise I was waiting for the outcome of an extremely important meeting, this news you have had better be significant, the board will be expecting me to be there when they reach their decision. They will not tolerate-"

"Sir." The scientist calmly stopped and turned Spoole. "There has been a very significant development in the specimen we collected only two hours ago."

Arthur Spoole took a moment to collect himself, and his eyes lit up with the same enthusiasm he had noted in Evans' eyes earlier that minute.

"A development since you inserted the chip?"

"Yes, we were very lucky to find her. We installed the chip a few minutes short of an hour and a half ago. At first she seemed unresponsive...but..." Leemos Evans paused, smiling slightly for effect.

"Yes, but?" Arthur cried impatiently.

"But, she has woken up." He finished, his smirk broadening.

"Excellent!" Arthur shouted, smiling even more widely. "Has she spoken? Moved? Increase in heart rate? Anything?"

Evans continued to smile. "Yes, she has indeed spoken. She has not moved much, but we believe this is purely because she is 'stiff' due to the conditions she has been in. We have not actually let her out yet to test her reflexes, but at the rate she is recovering, which is truly quite amazing, she may be ready for that process within a few hours! I am sorry for disturbing your waiting time sir, but this latest news truly was too important to wait, we felt."

"Yes, yes Leemos you're quite right." He said, taking special care to use his colleague's first name, to show he was pleased with his work. Indeed, Evans bowed his head slightly, acknowledging the compliment. "Shall we go in?"

"Indeed we shall." Leemos replied. "Just in here sir." He said, tapping MAD24 into the system. There was a small click and the door to Experimentation Room 24 opened. The blue lights were dimmed inside and a few computer mad noises and flashed lights every so often. Spoole looked up at the subject. She had long, chestnut brown hair, and she looked around with an air of wonder, tinged with fear. She was trapped inside a big glass tank, in the shape of a giant test tube. A pumping sound told Arthur that it was being constantly supplied with oxygen, while a small monitor told him that her heart rate was slightly faster than usual. Arthur felt this was to do with fear she was experiencing.

Arthur gazed at the woman and smiled. Their first Jenova experiment.

As he had tried to develop THE MICROSMILE, Arthur had taken a variety of subjects, dead or alive, voluntarily or not, to test each prototype on. After a dozen or so mishaps, they had begun making progress. Now, he knew that everything worked. Absolutely everything.

THE MICROSMILE had two main features. The first was its ability to create, when it felt the shutting down of the body, an image of great happiness for that person alone, picking on their hopes, needs, and memories, all in less than half a second, before the brain shut down. THE MICROSMILE had only a one in 1.367 billion chance of this not working it had been calculated. There had been one experimented where this chance had indeed occurred, where THE MICROSMILE had picked on the subject's fears as opposed to dreams. The look of pure horror on the man's face had been deeply disturbing, and so his body had been disposed of.

After all, the board of Governors would not be happy if they saw it.

However, there was one other feature of THE MICROSMILE. One he decided it would be best to keep from the Board. Arthur Spoole had been working on the concept for years now, and he was still not sure how he had done it. Maybe he was mad. But it had worked, and he had finally reached his final goal.

THE MICROSMILE could now bring the dead back to life.

Previously, they had tried it on three successful experiments. Two that had already had the chip inserted and one that had not. They had found a body and inserted the chip after death, it had still worked. The subject had still awakened. Afterwards, during the Geostigma crisis, they had started fiddling around with Jenova infected subjects. Infected kids on the street mainly, had been used, and they too had died with smiles on their faces. Probably thinking of their non-existent or non-caring family.

And now this experiment, with Jenova cells inside her had been bought back to life. And she was responding. This was truly remarkable.

"May I?" He asked Leeson. Common courtesy. Leeson couldn't really say no.

"Of course." Leeson replied, handing Arthur a small microphone-type device. Arthur held it to his mouth.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. The subject snapped her head towards him, her fear accelerating. But Spoole could see there was anger there too. She had a hard time speaking, and when she did, her voice was a mere croak.

"Where's...Vincent?" She asked, her voice showing the pure frustration she was feeling.

"Vincent?" Whispered Spoole to his colleague. "Who's Vincent?"

"We're not sure." Leeson replied, frowning slightly. "He's all she asks about. A good friend of hers perhaps? Her spouse?"

"What is your name?" Arthur addressed the subject in the tank. "Who are you?"

"Where's Vincent?" The subject said, panic evident. "I want to see him." Spoole could see the subject was beginning to get stressed, soon she would probably cry if he didn't act quickly.

"Vincent will be here soon." He said smoothly. Lying came naturally to him nowadays. "Just tell us who you are." The subject looked slightly disorientated for a minute, and then relaxed slightly, though the bewildered look remained in her eyes. She sat down and hugged her knees tightly to her, seemingly resigned, never taking her eyes off Spoole.

"My name...is Lucrecia." She whispered, sounding scared. "Lucrecia Crescent."

"Look that name up on the files, and find out who this Vincent is." He murmured to Leeson. "I want any threats, anyone who would notice her absence dealt with."

"Yes sir."

A security guard walked in. "Sir," He began. "The board request your audience."

Arthur smiled and hurried out of the lab, gleeful. They had tried THE MICROSMILE on everything now. Those who were and weren't affected with Jenova cells, and any way they were infected had been tested. Firstly through Geostigma, then only some cells. There was only one thing left. Testing those made up almost entirely of the cells.

They had specimens. The first job of THE MICROSMILE had worked, and now they needed to only wait to see if the second part would. All in good time.

Arthur arrived at the board room and entered, confidence in his stride. He sat down and waited.

"Mr Spoole, after much consideration, we have decided to let you go ahead with your plans to release THE MICROSMILE." The director announced, face impassive.

Arthur Spoole only smiled calmly.

"Thank you." He replied.