"Dr. Hojo, is the anything I can do for you?" the young guard asked, clearly intimidated by the figure next to him. He and another guard were currently on their way to a Shinra site, located on the beach. There the higher ups would assess the damage cause by Vincent Valentine's defection. The truck they were driving was borrowed from the people of Nibelhiem. His partner was the lucky one; he was too busy driving and didn't have to pay attention to a spook like Hojo. Just being in Hojo's presence made his skin crawl, but the silence was killing him. The scientist was busy reading a report of some kind, and his face scrunched up after the guard spoke. He looked at the guard briefly.

"You can be quiet for the remainder of the ride." The man snapped as he returned to his reading. "It's bad enough you idiots let that fool run off with my test subject. The last thing I want right now is your nagging disturbing me." The guard stammered his apologizes before staying silent, glaring at the driver who made no attempt to hide his snickering.

Hojo tried to read more, but to no avail. Instead he set the manila folder to the side and looked out the window. His concentration was shot at the mention of that boy, that fool that tampered with his experiment. The data he had collected thus far had been amazing, to say the least. He had learned so much about Jenova in this past few months, with so much more to learn and so many possibilities to explore, and yet that Turk had ruined everything. 'Possibly,' he corrected, 'he possibly ruined everything.' The scientist still held hope that Shinra would fix they're mistake and retrieve the subject.

Thoughts of the subject only brought confusion. He was very surprised that Crescent had actually went along with Valentine; he was under the assumption Dr. Crescent had wanted this as badly as he did. Apparently some didn't have the stomach for their line of work. As much as he despised Gast, Hojo couldn't help but respect the man just as much; he was the best at what they did. For now, anyway; it was Hojo's intent to surpass him in every way possible. Still, Gast didn't let some flimsy sense of morality interfere with his experiments.

The truck arrived at the beach site, and Hojo's heart dropped. He could see the fire and smoke from here, and feared the worst. Was the subject dead? He had ordered that she not be harmed in any way, but of course those Turks had managed to screw that up.

He leap out of the truck as soon as it stopped, making his way to the speed boat on the beach. He ignored the grunts swarming around the area like ants, and made his way to the uniformed pair, the Turks. One of them, a female, was being attended to by medics, the male, Mason as he recalled, was talking on a cellphone and ignoring him, much to Hojo's chagrin.

"I understand sir, I'll debrief you once we land in Midgar. When will the transport get here? I see." He hung up and turned the professor. "What can I do for you?" he questioned. "Where's the subject?" Hojo asked, as though it should be obvious. Mason shrugged. "She escaped." he stated plainly, with an air of apathy that angered Hojo fiercely.

"What!?" the doctor exploded. "How? Don't tell me your so incompetent you couldn't catch one pregnant woman!?" Mason's nostrils flared, clearly not taken with Hojo's tone, but the scientist didn't care. What could possibly have impeded them so greatly?

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the details with you at this time, but Vincent Valentine had assistance that we were unable to overcome. We did manage to capture Vincent and data Ms. Crescent stole from Shinra."

Although Hojo was livid at Lucrecia's escape, Vincent's capture peeked his interest. "Where is he?" the scientist asked, adjusting his glasses. The Turk pointed him out; he was lying down by the boat with his hands behind his back and legs together, all of his appendages were handcuffed. A helicopter started to touch down some ways beyond the truck. The Turk excused himself and ran over to it, leaving Hojo alone, not that he minded. The scientist walked over to the prisoner with a certain degree of satisfaction. This man had ruined everything, his dreams, his ambitions, his project, all of it. It was good to know he would pay for his foolish actions. Hojo was not sure what expression to expect from his former guardian, but he hoped it befitted his current predicament; fearful, regretful, and pitiful.

Hojo stopped just next to Vincent. The former Turk, who until then was staring off into space, looked at Hojo with vague interest. He looked at him for a few seconds before turning back to space. Hojo frowned, not expecting to be brushed off so easily, and a little disappointed. No matter; he would be there when Vincent received his punishment, and if Hojo knew anything, Shinra would have begging like a dog for death. As Hojo turned to leave, Vincent decided to speak up. "I almost feel sorry for you." The scientist looked back at him, confusion apparent on his face. The former Turk elaborated. "This is on your head. Your negligence has cost the company a great deal of money, and your precious specimen is gone." Hojo's mouth dropped slightly, causing Vincent's eyes lit up with triumph for a brief second before fading. "I guess it's to be expected. After all, your nothing compared to Gast."

Your nothing compared to Gast. Those words rang in his mind over and over. The final straw had been pulled; the combined frustration of losing the test subject, of having his ambitions shatter, of being compared to him, was too much. "You bastard!" Hojo screamed, his face red with anger. Pulling his pistol from it's holster, Hojo ignored the shocked gasps around him and fired a shot, directly in Vincent's chest. It felt incredibly satisfying, Hojo decided, so he fired another, and another, and another, until a hand grabbed his wrist and twisted, forcing him to drop the weapon as Hojo winced in pain. The owner of that hand was Mason, who looked furious, to say the least.

"Get him some medical attention! NOW!" he yelled. Everyone grunt in the area flinched at his command, forcing everyone around to get to work. A stretcher was brought forth with remarkable speed. Two grunts picked up the body and carried it off, and Hojo could have sworn he saw Vincent, who was surely dying, smirk at Hojo as he coughed up blood.

The Turk let go of his wrist. "What was that?" He asked, his voice careful, his anger barely contained. "Why the hell did you do that?"

And for the first time in a long time, Hojo was at a lost as to what to say. He remained silent for a time, too long for Mason. The Turk grabbed him by the collar and lifted him in the air with ease, bringing him face to face. "I asked you a question."

"Let me go! That's an order!" Hojo gasped as he struggled, unable to overcome the physically superior Mason.

"That's not how it works, professor." he remarked derisively. He let go anyway, forcing Hojo on his behind. "You probably killed our one link to Ms. Crescent's location. You just jeopardized our operation, and I have the right to kill you where you stand." Hojo climbed to his feet and dusted himself off, looking at the Turk squarely. Too his credit, Hojo didn't flinch at such a threat. That fact made Mason want to do the deed even more, but Verdot would probably punish him for doing do. Mason was within his rights to kill Hojo after what he just did, but Hojo is in deep, and Verdot wants to see the bastard squirm. "Let me guess," Mason began, cocking his head slightly. "He goaded you into attacking him, right? Dead prisoners don't say nearly as much as living ones, after all."

Hojo sneered, and before he could answer, another did so for him. "That's exactly the case." Hojo turned around to see Professor Gast standing behind him, his face looking grim. Hojo's sneer grew even darker. "I heard the entire thing, and it just so happens that he was correct. This entire incident came about because you didn't pay attention to Mr. Valentine attitude towards the Jenova Project."

Once again, Hojo's face went red. "That's ridiculous!" he began, gesturing wildly. "I had no way of knowing this would happen! How could you expect,"

Gast cut him off, shaking his head as he did so. "You knew Vincent was oppose to using live subjects for the experiment, and everyone in Nibelhiem figured out how he felt about Lucrecia. The two spent a great deal of time together months prior to the experiment after all. You had full authority to replace Vincent with another Turk for protection, given his connection to Lucrecia, but you didn't care what he did so long as he didn't interfere with your project."

Teeth clinched, Hojo didn't deny the accusations against him. How could he? It all made sense after all, and Hojo wasn't one to deny logic, even if it didn't favor him. "We don't expect you to be omniscient, but we do expect you to be observant; of your experiments and of the people you work with." He gestured to Mason, and the Turk grabbed Hojo by the arm, practically dragging him. "You'll have to report directly to Shinra. I'm assuming command over the project. With any luck we can still salvage this disaster." Hojo hung his head at this, resigning himself to whatever was in store.

"So much potential." Gast whispered as he watched Hojo and Mason depart. Hojo was a brilliant man, but his own bitterness towards others and his obsession with science would be the end of him, if Shinra wasn't. With a heavy sigh, he gathered the attention of a passing guard. "I'll need a laptop." the guard nodded and saluted. "Yes sir. Will that be all?" Gast thought for a second before responding. "And keep me updated on Mr. Valentine's condition. Call the Shinra Mansion to get a hold of me."

Gast received a laptop in a few minutes. He thanked the guard and made his way to the truck parked a ways from the site. As he entered the back, he told the guard to drive to Nibelhiem, which he complied. As the truck pulled away Gast examined the content of a bag Mason retrieved from his failed mission, which he had been ordered to hand over once Gast returned from Icicle Inn. It was a curious thing, that he would waste time grabbing a bag when the ship he's on was about to explode. Of course that would suggest that this must have some significance.

The professor pulled out a series of flash drives bound together by a ring, titled "The Omega Report". 'Interesting.'


The pair had landed about an hour later after Cyan destroyed the ship. They had landed on a small island with a small station set up by Wutai. Said station was little more then a wooden hut though, and the only two guards stationed there didn't see them coming at all, let alone prepare for their arrival. Lucrecia was surprised to see someone more incompetent then Shinra grunts when it came to menial work. Once Cyan arrived, he explained the barest of details to them; that Lucrecia was a VIP and Shinra was after them both. One of the men sent a letter with a messenger bird. Cyan went off after that, to chat with the two men about something. He asked her to wait in the station for a bit, as they would leave upon his return. The woman sat down by a table and set Vincent's bag on the floor.

Lucrecia looked out the window, watching the sun was slowly rise, destroying any traces of night. Vincent was dead.

She shook her head fiercely, trying to alter the course of her thoughts. She couldn't think about that now. Not ever, if she could help it. Lucrecia wondered what Wutai would be like. Based on the structure she was in, it seemed they didn't possess the level of technology Shinra had at it's disposal. Perhaps it's because of an inferior amount of resources, perhaps it's because Vincent's dead.

She grabbed Vincent's bag and set it on the table. She didn't want to have anything of Vincent's at her disposal, but she had forgotten her bag on the ship and Vincent was dead. No, she meant to think that she had nothing else to do. That was it.

She opened it quickly, hoping to find anything to take her mind off of, certain things. There was nothing inside to interest Lucrecia. Just several Materia and Vincent's, no, a pair of guns. She took his pistol in her hands and observed to. He was fond of this one, of Cerberus. He had it custom ordered for himself when he became a Turk. It cost him his entire paycheck, but he didn't regret it in the slightest, that's what he told her. He had showed her how to work it once, so many months ago. They were at their place, under the tree on the hill. His arms were wrapped around her too affectionately for friends to do, as he guided her hands with his own, explaining to her the intricate workings of his favored weapon. She recalled that at the time she wanted to so badly to kiss him, but she was so afraid to do so. When that Lockhart boy had stumbled on them, she was almost glad for the distraction, but mostly disappointed for the missed opportunity.

That moment was gone forever now, and nothing like it would ever come again. Because Vincent's...

Slowly, absently, she found the safety on the side. With a slight press, she turned it off. Just one shot, she thought as she held it loosely in her hand. Just one shot and it would all go away.


'Fascinating.' Gast thought as he went over the Omega Report. He had know Lucrecia was a brilliant woman, especially given her position and youth, but this was definitive proof. Granted, although there was quite a bit of guess work, there was also some proof to support the theory. Of course, the problem Lucrecia had no doubt faced was that to prove her theory correct, an untold amount of people would have to die. The 'Omega Weapon' is a doomsday scenario, and scientific theories are pointless in the face of Armageddon.

There was a particular facet of the theory that was much more plausible, though. Omega's Herald, Chaos. Gimoire Valentine had discovered smaller concentrations of Mako energy within the Lifestream, during the construction and analysis of Mako reactors, that were too small to be "Weapons" but too large to be Materia, which seems to possess some sentience. While Lucrecia was his apprentice he had researched into the matter extensively before he died. Lucrecia expanded on the idea it seems. Chaos seems to be a semi-sentient pseudo-Weapon, with similarities to both Weapons and Materia. According to Lucrecia, it was possible to bind Chaos into a human host, similar to how one equips Materia. There are risks though. Chaos is extremely powerful, and probably wouldn't care for being bound to anything. The entity would no doubt resist the procedure, which increased it's difficulty. If the body if was bound to wasn't strong enough to hold Chaos' power, it would no doubt break free. And if the person was too weak spiritually, without an inhibitor like the Protomateria Lucrecia discovered at some point, Chaos would devour the host's soul and take control of the body.

Gast arrived in Nibelhiem shortly. Once the truck arrived at the mansion and he stepped out, a guard came up to him. "What's the problem?" the professor asked, putting away the data and laptop. The guard seemed most appreciative that he wasn't being snapped at, Gast noted, which didn't say much for Hojo's respect for these men.

"Sir, Mr. Valentine has just passed away." Gast's head hung at that. Vincent was a good man, one of the few he knew. To hear of his passing was, wait. "How long ago?" he asked sharply.

"Roughly ten minutes sir." the guard replied, confused. What did it matter how long ago it was?

To Gast it mattered a great deal. He stood there for a time, the gears of his mind turning, thinking, pondering. Ten minutes dead, he had time. And if Gast wasn't mistaken, and he probably wasn't, the equipment should all be there. It wouldn't cost much, so Shinra won't make to much of a deal. They had the restraints as well. Still, would Vincent appreciate this? Probably not, but Gast had a feeling he wanted to be dead even less.

"Have the body brought to the labs as quickly as possible. Have it strapped into the restraints and make sure two technicians are brought down as well. No, make that three."

The guard grew more confused, and his face grew pale. "What do you have planned sir?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

Gast thought for a second, looking at the guard's face before answering. He decided to spare him a few nightmares, as even he was more then a little... unsettled by what he had planned. "That's classified." The guard was apparently satisfied with that answer, and ran off to accomplish his task. Just as well, Gast supposed. Classified in Shinra meant secrets one died, or were killed over.


Slowly, she pointed the gun at herself. Her breathing quickened, her limbs shook, her mind went blank. Lifelessly, she squeezed the trigger...

At the last second, she pointed it upward and away from her head, screaming for... no reason whatsoever. She pressed the trigger again, pointing the barrel to the ground. Nothing but a click filled her ears. She pressed the trigger several more times, with the same results each time. Empty. The gun was empty. Eyes wide open in shock, she seized the bag and searched inside. All that was inside was his rifle and materia. She looked on the side of bag, finding two large pouches. Opening the one that seemed full, she saw several cartridges of ammunition, and a folded napkin on top. She removed the napkin and opened it slowly. It was a note, no doubt scribbled in haste but legible nonetheless, that read "Live on for my sake."

She stared at the note for one minute. Gradually, tears fell from her face yet again. She did nothing to wipe them, her attention focused on the note. He knew. He knew what she might do, he knew what would happen, he knew all of it. He's dead. Vincent is...

"Vincent is dead." her voice trembled, and no sooner then that, she broke down. The declaration removed any doubt in her mind, and shattered the false composure she had clung to until now. She placed her arms on the table and buried her face in them, thinking of no better way to silence her sobbing. Her despair washed over her like a torrent, too strong for her too resist. At that point, she was too tired to do so anyway.

Vincent was dead.


"What's the rate of the procedures?!" Gast roared as his fingers moved rapidly about the keyboard. The technicians to his left and right monitored the screens before them. The left, Michael, looked at Gast, his face pale white with shock. A look from Gast shook him out of it. "Carbide ceramic ossification rate is at 70%, Muscular enhancement injections rate is at 69%, Occipital capillary reversal rate is at 70%! The grafting of the monster DNA is a success! There are no negative side effects to the subject's body!"

Vincent was strapped to a table with a glass dome around him, with several tubes attached to his limbs. He was currently shirtless, not that that mattered to the men present.

"Steven!" Gast yelled, looking at his right. "How is the Mako Stabilization?"

The other technician, his expression more composed but still shocked, answered immediately. "Mako Stabilization at 70% sir. How is this possible sir?"

Gast didn't answer. Inside he was smiling, glad that he was correct in his hunch. The procedures Micheal was monitoring was a brain child of Hojo's, an experiment to create super soldiers. In addition to chemical injections, Hojo collected genes from several monsters, that should allow the subject to transform. Unfortunately, the rate of failure was far too high, and the side effects would permanently damage or disfigure the subject's body, if not kill them. Gast once recalled Hojo musing about mass-kidnapping children and trying it on them, in order to get a better estimate on the odds, and at the time he thought Hojo was kidding. Gast tried to help Hojo work out the problems, but Hojo was all to eager to label it a failure and shelf it, although he suspected that Hojo simply didn't want any help from his "rival". Gast, however, had added a little something to the notes; Mako Stabilization. Mako energy is highly adaptive, and direct exposure to refined Mako can improve your physical abilities when used in moderation, if only slightly. The problem was that one would have to use a very small amount of Mako, or risk over exposure and Mako Poisoning.

In short, the Mako energy is helping the body adjust to Hojo's experiments.

Once the procedures were over, the hard part would come. Vincent's body was strong enough to contain Chaos, but exposing any body, living or dead, to the amount of Mako energy he was about to use, was incredibly dangerous. In the best case scenario, Chaos will resuscitate Vincent. But in case of the worst, Vincent's body, now extraordinarily powerful, will mutate into something unspeakable and kill them all.

Vincent's body was removed from the table and placed inside a water filled tube, which was then sealed shut. Gast asked the two men to leave. They were reluctant of course. As men of science that just witnessed a miracle, they were inclined to stay. Gast wouldn't allow it; in case something went awry it would be best if they were as far away from here as possible. Once the men left the room Gast sealed the door. He couldn't risk letting loose... whatever Vincent will become.

The scientist walked over to the console in front of Vincent and rubbed his eyes. Sometimes, he felt like a mad scientist from old television shows and novels, and Vincent's the hapless corpse he's about to mutilate for the sake of science, or whatever demented ambitions they had. Staring at Vincent, Gast felt so very old. Ten or twenty years ago, this kind of technology was pure fantasy. Who had ever heard of Mako energy? Anyone who presented such theories back then would have been laughed at, mocked by his peers, and ostracized by the entire scientific community. Shinra changed all that, and what was their prerogative? Money.

'Enough of this.' the professor mused silently. He was brooding again, and wasting time.

With a sigh, he pressed a key on the console, which triggered the sequence. The clear, water filled tube began to tint green as Pure Mako began to filter in. Soon, the tube was almost completely green and glowed ominously. Exposing any organism to pure liquid Mako was dangerous business. Shinra, and by extension Gast, still didn't fully understand Mako and what it was capable of. In almost every case of a 'Mako dip' Gast had heard of, the victim suffered from Mako Poisoning, a type of coma that left the victim a babbling invalid. There were some rare cases where the victim turned into a monster, and even rarer cases were nothing happened at all.

The canister of Pure Mako he was using was one belonging to Lucrecia Crescent, one of the few things left over from her time as Grimoire Valentine's assistant. This batch, according to Lucrecia, contained the Chaos Gene, a piece of Chaos left behind when Grimoire and Lucrecia summoned it, which will hopefully attract the real thing.

The scientist sat in a chair next to a table, some ways away from Vincent. Hope. The concept seemed so useless sometimes, when you really needed it. Still, that was all he could do at the point. 'Well, that and this.' the doctor thought, as he reached for his tape recorder, inside of Lucrecia's bag with "The Omega Report", his laptop, and the Protomateria. Gast cleared his thought and pressed the 'record' button. "This is Dr. Gast Faremis..."


Lucrecia had cried for little over an hour. By then she was sure her tears had run out. She sat up and tried wiping her eyes, hoping to make herself presentable. She didn't want to worry Cyan, who had so much work ahead of him; escorting a pregnant woman to Wutai was bound to be a hassle on anyone. She would have to thank him again when he returned.

"Wait." she whispered to herself. Cyan hadn't been back in an hour. She slowly rose to her feet, taking a few of Vincent's materia with her; she wasn't very skilled with them, but Lucrecia did have some experience with Materia, enough to defend herself better. She walked to the door, as though on egg shells. It was a useless gesture she found, as her steps caused the wood to creak horribly. Abandoning stealth, she walked out normally. She saw Cyan on their boat, drinking tea and laughing with the young men who were stationed on this island, and breathed a sigh of relief. Why would Cyan worry her like that?

The elder man looked up and smiled at her warmly, and then she understood. He was giving her space, allowing her to grieve. Lucrecia knew herself well enough to know she would never do so with anyone present,except maybe Vincent, so she was grateful to the man. She waved at him and smiled back. She wasn't 100 percent. Even now she felt like crying again, but with Cyan's help, she might get there.


Three hours passed and Gast was starting to lose hope. He was eager to see this work, but it seemed like this was just a waste of time. Lucrecia had guessed that two hours would be enough, but she didn't have much to go off of, and she couldn't possibly predicted that the subject in question would be dead. As he reached for the tape recorder to record his "progress", he noticed something. Vincent's finger twitched slightly, and Gast looked at heart rate monitor. A slow, steady pulse was forming. Exhilaration filled Gast then, and he was reminded of why he chose to pursue science in the first place. Vincent's eyes opened, frightened and confused. Soon after, he clutched his body in pain. No doubt his body was reacting to Chaos being trapped in his body. A sense of dread overcame Gast. All at once, a surge of malevolent intent washed over the entire room. Stepping back slightly, the scientist saw Vincent's body... change. His hands turn into claws, his skin turned gray, and his hair spiked up. His eyes, once an unusual shade of red, turned gold.

Gast backed away in fright as Chaos grew large bat-like wings. He began thrashing about in the glass tube, like a wild beast. Fear grasped him as he noticed the glass starting to break, and the scientist looked for anything to defend himself. Somewhere in him, Gast realized what a ridiculous idea that was, but fear made one do crazy things. Inspiration hit him as his eyes fell in Lucrecia's bag. 'The Protomateria.' he thought as he raced to the bag and pulled it out. The gem was now glowing brightly, and once he had revealed it, Chaos grew very complacent. Almost calm.

Gast walked towards Chaos in a trance, the Protomateria pointed forward and glowing more brightly by the second. Once he was at the console, the materia left his hand, shooting straight for Chaos' chest. Without breaking the glass, the materia embedded itself in Chaos' chest. The creature shut his eyes, as though it were going to sleep, and a red light surrounded it. The light dissipated, and Vincent had taken Chaos' place. Gast looked back at the heart rate monitor; Vincent had a steady pulse, he was asleep, and more importantly, alive.

Gast sighed deeply, his shoulders were sagging and his knees were on the verge of buckling. He was exhausted, the stress of flying all the way to Nibelhiem, reviving the dead, and coming face to face with death was tiring business for anyone. Nevertheless he walked back to his chair and flopped down in it. All of a sudden, he thought of Ifalna, and her seemingly boundless energy, and wanted to get to Icicle Inn even faster now.

But first, there was work to do. Picking up his tape recorder yet again, he began. "This is Dr. Gast Faremis. I have successfully revived Vincent Valentine."


That's chapter 4. Thanks for the reviews, author alerts and such, they made great motivation. Well, that and a Spring Break with nothing to do. The procedures Gast puts Vincent through are borrowed from the first Halo novel, Fall of Reach (except for the monster DNA stuff). Square wasn't very specific about what Hojo did to Vincent so I had to use something, and I hope it makes sense. Verdot is a character from Before Crisis - Final Fantasy 7, he is the leader of the Turks at the time. Final Fantasy Wiki has more info if your interested.