Chapter Ten
When they reached the outside the general looked up the path only to confirm what Vincent had predicted. A helicopter was arriving on the hill overlooking the town. Sephiroth turned to look at Zack who had the same suspicion he had. How could he have gotten here so fast? Even by chopper it would take at least two days to reach this terrain from Midgar.
Looking behind him Zack whispered, "You better split Vincent, Find a way to get to Midgar so we can…" but when he looked he saw that the ex-Turk was already gone. Cloud, who was on his other side just shrugged, not knowing when the man had taken off.
Sephiroth turned to his men and made sure only they could hear, not knowing if the professor brought any Turks with him. "Listen, you are not to say what you saw to anyone. If Hojo wants to find out what happened he is to come to me. Tell him I'm acting a bit odd if you must, just enough to make him curious. Strife, wear your helmet. I can still see the shaken look in your eyes. Any Turk can pick up that you know more than what I'm ordering you to say."
"Yes, sir," he replied as he pulled out his helmet and put it back on.
"Now," The general continued. "There are already people in town that know we tried to save the reactor from blowing, but we did not get in there far enough to discover its dark secrets. It was just an old reactor about to go critical. As for the mansion, we were going to check it out. Strife was stationed near the entrance in the foyer and first floor. The mission was too important for an infantryman and you could not serve as a useful guide in the mansion as the townspeople never go inside."
"What about the other infantryman?" asked Zack.
"He was to stay in the town and keep watch. Even if I did order him to rest, he still should have kept vigilant," Sephiroth replied. He sensed the occupants in the chopper getting closer and ushered one last command to his Lieutenant. "Now Zack, I order you to fall into your mother hen role regarding my mental state. Do not take it over the top, but do try to sell it."
Zack blinked in confusion before understanding. "Yes sir."
Sephiroth nodded before turning to leave, "Mission start."
. . .
Hojo had barely suppressed his excitement as they arrived in Nibelheim. He was curious to see how well his carefully laid plan worked. There was no way it could fail. He had planted everything carefully years ago and sent Sephiroth on this mission at the correctly calculated time. With Angeal dead and Genesis on the run, it was something the General could not ignore when there was a possibility he could be like them. Hojo huffed at the idea of that imbecilic thinking. His project was far superior to Professor Gast's.
Looking up the dirt path he saw a SOLDIER and a grunt approaching, but couldn't ignore the higher rank's words.
"I'm tellin' ya Spiky, it was the weirdest thing. The way he was acting, something's not right, but he won't say anything. I'm starting to get worried."
"The recent loss to SOLDIER must be hard on him," Cloud offered, but Zack shook his head. "Nah, it's more than that. Sure their desertion bugs him, but what we saw in there, I wish I could tell you, but he ordered it classified."
"You saw what was in there?" asked Cloud.
"Well, not really. Sephiroth wanted to go in alone, but when he came out, I could just tell there was something off about him," the SOLDIER replied.
"What are you babbling about?" came Hojo's sharp remark.
Zack looked up and gulped, just realizing he had been overheard. "Nothing important sir, just talking about the crazy events we've lived through tonight."
"Explain," Hojo demanded.
Zack scratched the back of his neck, "Well, it's probably best if you talk to the general, sir, but we've had a disappointing mission so far. The reactor had a meltdown and then the general wanted to check out the mansion-"
"The reactor what?!" shrieked Hojo, making both SOLDIER and infantryman flinch.
"It blew sir," Zack replied. "We tried to save it, but it was a lost cause."
"Where is Sephiroth?" asked Hojo.
"He's back at the Inn," Zack pointed behind him to the three story building down the road. "But he was acting really weird."
"How?" asked the professor.
"Like he was in a daze. His eyes were unfocused, like his mind was in some faraway place while his body was running on autopilot. He ordered us up here to meet with you and that's about all he could do."
"Interesting," Hojo mused to himself. "You will stay out here and give my team your full report." With that he headed off towards the Inn.
When he got there he found Sephiroth sitting at one of the dining tables at the far wall. His coffee was still steaming, but it remained untouched as Sephiroth appeared to be deep in thought.
"Something troubling you?" asked Hojo as he sat down across from his prized subject.
Sephiroth looked at him and it took everything he had not to glare at him with murderous intent, as much as he wanted to snap the man in half he needed to keep his composure if this was to work. "I'm sure my second in command has already explained," he replied.
"Not in great detail, explain what happened," he ordered.
Sephiroth gave him the coldest look he could muster as he replied, "Would it not make more sense to wait for the mission report?"
"No, because I would never receive the full report. The majority of the company doesn't know that I have a small lab under that mansion, and I believe that you may have stumbled upon it. I'm sure you have questions about what you saw."
This was where Sephiroth wanted to break his stoic character and grin, but he refrained. "I was surprised to find what remained of a lab down there, but everything had been burned recently before we got there. I believe it's the work of Genesis. He's always been one step ahead of us lately."
Hojo's eyes went wide as he slowly stood up. "What? My lab was…"
"Destroyed," Sephiroth finished. "Nothing but charred ash remains. There was evidence of a library there, but anything that wasn't burnt up was unreadable."
Hojo clenched his shaking hands as he actually growled at the news. "How the devil did he know about that lab? It was top secret! Only members on my team knew of its existence!" He then looked over at the general, realizing that something wasn't adding up. "What was it that had you shaken?"
"There was one thing I was able to read before it crumbled in my hands. It mentioned Jenova, my mother and I saw my name in the notes as well. I…" Sephiroth closed his eyes and took a slow, deep sigh, "I was hoping to find out more about my origins, and that room seemed to hold the answer, but there was nothing left to salvage. As I tried to find a safe place to put the notes they fell apart in my hands." He then looked up at Hojo. "And back at the reactor, it felt like someone was calling to me. However the moment the reactor went critical I was overcome with a great pain and then nothing. The voice was gone and so was the feeling I got. Like someone who was there looking over my shoulder was no longer there."
Hojo turned to look at him with calculating eyes before closing them and shaking his head in disappointment. It took him a minute before he finally spoke. "What does it matter where you came from? The only thing that matters is what you can do now. Keep serving Shinra as you have all these years and maybe one day you'll find out what your true purpose is."
He got up then and headed for the door. "Come Sephiroth, it's time to return to Midgar. We're done in this worthless town."
Sephiroth could tell Hojo was hiding something as he followed him out, but said nothing. He'd find out what it was sooner or later and he had a good suspicion that he wouldn't like it. As they headed up the road he was relieved to see Zack and Cloud relaxed and joking while leaning against the chopper.
Hojo looked at them with disgusted contempt, which didn't escape Sephiroth's notice. "Have the infantry drive the jeeps back to Midgar," he told the silverette.
Sephiroth glared at Hojo's back, but kept himself calm. "The Lieutenant and myself will drive back as well. There was one other side mission I needed to handle on the way back." The last time Sephiroth checked, he was General of SOLDIER, not Hojo, a mere scientist. Sephiroth only answered to three people: Director Lazard who assigned the SOLDIER missions, President Shinra himself and Hojo, but only when in the labs as his patient. Since they were nowhere near his lab, Sephiroth had no intentions of putting up with him any longer than he had to.
