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Chapter 3 – Captured
It sounded like rain on the glass roof of the church, but no rain ever reached the slums. Confused, Aerith looked up to see twisted metal pounding down on the church. She had no idea where they'd come from, and wondered if Zack would be falling through again. She giggled at the memory of the SOLDIER falling onto her flowers, then sobered. She'd not heard a single word from him for years, despite her letters. It wouldn't be him. Sighing, she turned her attention back to her flowers. There was probably an accident or fault in the reactor above. Yes, that was probably it; those sorts of things did happen from time to time.
"Good morning, Aerith." She started, and turned to see a familiar blue suit. Except this wasn't Tseng; the man stood in the doorway had a shock of red hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and a cigarette dangling from his lips. She remembered that Tseng's second-in-command fitted this description, and his name was Reno. Zack occasionally called him Reno the Merciless, although that was probably just Zack messing with her. She hoped so.
"Good morning, Reno." Her voice mercifully stays steady. "Have you come to smell the flowers?" He wasn't, she knew as soon as he said her name, but there was little harm in trying.
"Not quite." Three soldiers ran into the front of the church, guns in hands, all pointed at Aerith. Her green eyes opened wide; this was her worst nightmare. She backed up, then skirted around the flowers and bolted for the back door. She had to get out of here.
"Don't let her get away!" Reno snarled, and the four began to run after Aerith. With trembling hands, she unlatched the door and ran into the bell tower, ascending the first flight of stairs before Reno got to the door. They were coming to take her back to ShinRa, back into the greasy grasp of Hojo. As she went to climb the second set of stairs, one of the troopers caught her up. He went to knock her out with the butt of his gun, but she ducked and grabbed the wooden rod she kept strapped to her back. She hit the man in the chest, which sent him staggering backwards. It hadn't been a hard blow, by anny standards, but it had caught him by surprise. Aerith rammed the pole into his stomach, forcing him to back up more. The edge of the rickety scaffolding gave way under his heavy boots and he fell backwards. She didn't wait to watch him hit the stone floor, but carried on. There was little time as it is. Near the top of the second flight of stairs, the other two troopers reached her and she cursed inwardly. The first fight had slowed her down. One of the troopers grabbed the hem of her jacket and yanked her back into his arms. He held her in a vice-like grip as he called to Reno in a jubilant tone. She let herself go limp in his grasp, then brought her leg up and booted him in the groin as he was busy congratulating himself. Shocked, he dropped his gun and fell to his knees. He was helpless as Aerith whirled around and kicked him in the head, snapping his neck backwards and sending him plummeting to join the first trooper. The final trooper looked on in shock as she scrabbled about on the wooden planks and grabbed the gun, bringing it up in one fluid motion and smashing it over the third trooper's head. He crumpled to the floor and the gun slid out from her grasp as she watched the man keel over. She'd never really hurt a person before, but now she'd just dispatched three without a thought. Sure, it was in self-defense, but even so. Those men on the floor didn't look very alive anymore. Had… had she just killed a man?
"Having a conscience, are we?" She'd forgotten about Reno, and let out a small scream as he wrapped his skinny arms around her neck and crushed her to him. He laughed, and she could feel him slowly constricting her breathing. She brought her leg up, aiming to kick him like she had the other trooper, but he sharply kicked her other knee so it buckled from under her. With a gasp, Aerith crashed to the wooden planks. Reno leant over her, one foot firmly placed in the small of her back. He snorted in contempt and she felt a small prick in the flesh of her arm. "Next time, don't bother trying to take on a Turk, darlin'." It was then she realised that the prick had been from a needle, and said needle was probably full of sedative.
I can't go back. She fell unconscious and Reno took a glance at his fallen troopers. "Bloody useless."
Barret eventually managed to navigate the trains half-carrying, half-dragging Tifa and pulled her back to Seventh Heaven. When they reached the bar, Marlene came hurtling out and leaped down the steps, much to Barret's horror.
"Daddy! Daddy! There's some scary man in the bar!" Tifa jerked herself out of Barret's grasp and hobbled into the bar. Looking around, the only one who looked suspicious was a man sat on one of the bar stools with his hood up, downing a glass of whiskey. Clenching her fists, she did her best to walk over in a threatening way, but it wasn't really working.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" She put her hands on her hips and looks at him expectantly. He turns to meet her gaze and almost overbalances. Probably not his first glass of whiskey then; his eyes are starting to become glazed.
"I dunno, can ya?" She feels Barret's presence behind her, and the man sees him too. His eyes opened wide and he bolted for the door, but the drinks slowed him down. Barret grabbed him by the shoulder and roughly shoved him back on his stool.
"Where're you going so fast, huh?" There was a small sound of fear from the man as Barret lifted his gun-arm to the man's head.
"Er, I was… done here. Finished my drink."
"So what was the hurry all about?"
"Gotta get back, back to work for me." He let out a nervous chuckle and made to try and escape again, but Barret wrapped his hand around the man's neck.
"An' where's that?" The man fidgeted in his seat, causing his hood to slip partway, uncovering his face. Tifa had seen this man before, although only briefly. He'd never been important; she could only remember his face because of the small tattoo just below his right temple. She remembered thinking that it was a weird place to have a tattoo, even a tiny one.
"Sector Six…"
"Very specific, huh? I'll blow ya brains out if I have to! Where!?" Barret growled and tightened his grip. The man's face began to take on a very unusual shade of purple.
"Don…" He wheezed out, voice low so the other patrons, who were looking on incredulously, wouldn't hear. Barret released the guy, who ran as quickly as he could, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to get out of the bar.
"He meant Corneo? What's he doing sniffing around here?" Tifa asked, although she knew Barret knew about as much as she did.
"He's the only Don in Sector Six." Barret's face was set in a frown.
"Then we need to go and see why he's sending-"
"No. You're not gonna go to Corneo's place. Leave him alone." Barret sounded almost threatening to her, and truth be told, it was a little scary. She wanted to take his advice and just leave Don Corneo on his gaudy little throne in Wall Market, but she also wanted to go and see what was going on. If he was sending people here, something had to be going on. Corneo rarely stuck his hand out further than his own little empire in Sector Six. She bowed her head.
"Okay then. He probably just wanted a drink." She smiled up at him and he nodded back.
She woke to blinding whiteness, then a familiar face. It was familiar, but not one she wanted to see.
"So you're awake. Excellent." Hojo's face disappeared from sight, and she tried to sit up. Having him out of sight was always a bad idea, but she realised that she was bound to the table. Sighing, she fell back on the table and waited for him to do something. Struggling was useless. Struggling meant he would tighten the bonds. She'd learnt that when she was six. He began sticking tubes and needles and various other things into her and running tests, but she shut her eyes and focused on her breathing. She could sense that he was a tiny bit annoyed that he couldn't illicit the same terror in her as he could when she was a child, but a lot more had happened to her now. She'd watched her mother die, and she'd been as helpless as the cobbles she'd been sat on. Even the slums had toughened her up. However, Hojo was more annoyed by something else. He began to mumble as the tests continued and kept repeating 'disappointing' a lot. This unnerved her, as that probably didn't bode well for her.
After a while, he threw his hands up in the air and sighed in frustration. He turned to leave, probably having more important things to do. Perhaps she was what he classed as a 'failure'?
"Put the Ancient in one of the cells," he barked at one of his helpers. "I'll continue with it tomorrow." Did he just refer to me as 'it'? That made her angry; what a rude thing to say, even coming from Hojo! But at least she was getting out of here for now. She hadn't been here that long by Hojo's standards, either. She must've really been a failure, which wasn't a good sign. That normally meant a quick disposal by the Science Department.
"All right, ladies! Line up in front of the Don!" Tifa got into position, in the middle of two other girls, and puffed her chest out. She needed to be picked for tonight, or else she'd never find out what he was up to. She took a sneaky glance to her left to check what competition she had. The girl was small and pale, with dirty blonde hair pulled up into a bun. However, Tifa could not deny that she was very pretty, the sort of classic beauty found in childhood tales of princesses and the like. The girl on the other side was like her polar opposite. Her curls of brown hair were left free to tumble down her back, and her skin looked like she'd spent a lot of the time in the sun, which most likely meant she hadn't been in Midgar long. Green eyes blazed as she glared at Don Corneo; she wasn't here of her own volition, but then, she looked young, way younger than what should be allowed here.
"Hmm! Good, splendid!" Maybe she's being forced into the Honeybees. Apparently it paid well, and so many were in need of money down here. Corneo leaped over his desk to examine the girls in front of him, and Tifa was surprised he could. He looked at the first girl, the one who glared at him, and she leant backwards, as if recoiling from him. He looked delighted. Tifa felt slightly ill. When he came to her, it took all of her willpower to wink at him and make a saucy 'come here' gesture at him.
"This one…?" He murmured, grinning and licking his lips. She fought the urge to run away from this lecherous man and smiled at him instead. He glanced at the third girl, the blonde who was trying to integrate herself into the shadows, before shaking his head almost imperceptibly and pointing to Tifa.
"I've made up my mind! This little beauty is my choice for tonight! Woohoo!" The Don began to wiggle his hips, and Tifa really did feel sick. "You can have the others!" The man who'd led them in muttered his thanks before leading the others away, leaving just Tifa with Corneo. He led her into his bedroom, which was tastelessly decorated with bright hearts and garish colours.
"Woo-hoo!" Corneo shouted, hastily stripping off his outer layers of clothing. "Come, come, don't be so shy..."
"I know... But you know, Don Corneo, I'd like you to explain something
before we start..." The Don looked confused for a moment, then grinned, showing all of his false teeth.
"Hm? Oh, you mean about THAT? Don't worry. I'm single. There, feel better now?" He wiggled his hips and Tifa took a step back. She really would be sick if she didn't get out of here soon. What a repulsive excuse for a man!
"No, no, not that. I meant-" He wiggled his hips again, this time more vigorously. "No, wait a minute…"
"Aooooooh! I can't wait any longer! Here comes papa!" The Don launched himself at Tifa, who hopped out of the way and punched him in the jaw. She grabbed him by his neck and squeezed, pushing him against the bed.
"My question was different. Why were your assistants in Sector Seven?" He mimed sealing his lips. Tifa slapped him in the face. "Talk! Else... I'll chop 'em off." His eyes widened and he squeaked as she made a crushing motion with her hand.
"No, no, no! Not that! I was ordered to find out where the man with the gun-arm was."
"By who? Who?" Tifa commanded. Corneo grinned, as if he had just remembered something.
"That's enough for tonight, darlin'." What the hell is he on about? She tightened her grip on his neck; he wasn't running this conversation, she was. "GUARDS!" She'd completely forgotten about the guards stationed just outside this set of rooms. Gasping, she released her grip on the Don and stepped away from him. Corneo rolled forwards to his bedside table and took a glance at Tifa before pressing the button. The floor beneath her gave way and she began to fall. It was a trapdoor. Damn it, Corneo!
The guards burst into the Corneo's bedroom and saw the open door leading to the sewers.
"Aps has it under control, I believe." The Don grinned again, like a cat with all the cream in the world. "Now, bring me the other dark-haired beauty!"
"Take it up to the next floor. We're going to start the breeding." Hojo sounded angry. A blond man pushed his glasses further up his nose and nodded. He pressed a button on the control panel infront of him, and the floor of the glass cell began to move up, carrying the red animal with it.
Aerith looked up as the floor began to shake. What was going on? Was there some sort of earthquake happening? She glanced over to the lab assistants outside her containment unit, but they didn't seem to be bothered, so she forced herself to relax. Then, the middle section of the floor split open and a new platform rose up in its place. One with a very large feline-type animal on it. Letting out a shriek, Aerith scuttled backwards until she hit the glass. The animal reared up on its back legs, letting out a snarl, before bounding to Aerith and pouncing on her. She screamed again, arms flailing to try and get the attention of the assistants. One nudged Hojo as he noticed the Ancient's predicament and pointed at the containment unit. The beast let out a long howl as Hojo ran over and slammed down on the largest button on the control panel. The unit immediately began to fill with a thick grey gas. The animal took a sniff of the gas, then recoiled. It began to pace in front of Aerith, snapping its teeth and snarling, but its movements were steadily becoming more and more sluggish. Eventually, it dropped to the floor, asleep. Aerith followed not long after.
When she woke up again, the beast was in front of her. She opened her mouth to scream, but at a second glance, it didn't seem to be about to attack her. She sat up, shaking, and the beast shook its head.
"Sorry about earlier." It can talk!? "It was only to stop Hojo's plans. He's trying to breed us, you know, but I won't harm you."
"Er…" What were you supposed to say to a beast that had attacked you and now can apparently talk? "It's okay?"
"Ah, forgive me. I suspect you're not used to talking animals, right?" Aerith shook her head. Did he really think she would be?!
"Do… you have a name?" He seemed to think about this for a moment, tilting his head slightly.
"Hojo called me Red XIII, although that is just an experiment placeholder, I think. You can call me as you wish." The animal seemed nice enough now, so Aerith shrugged. Maybe it was telling the truth.
"I'm Aerith."
He tousled his blond locks as he watched Professor Hojo pace in front of him. He would be lucky to get out of this lab alive today; Hojo was furious at the attempted breeding.
"They're in the same holding cell, right?" He nodded assent.
"Yes, Professor Hojo."
"Good. We will leave them for a few days, and after that, we will have to intervene with AI. Got it?"
"Yes, Professor." Hojo sloped off, muttering something about another of his current projects. His assistant frowned in disgust; the man paid no attention to the people and animals that he kept here. Red XIII had just tried to kill the girl, and now he was expecting them to breed? He'd known when he joined the Science Department that Hojo had few morals, but trying to breed a young girl with a feline-type thing was a step too far. He wasn't going to stand for this. He strode off, in the opposite direction to Hojo, face set in determination.