Featured Author ocs:

Hikari-Angel143- Carmina Sanchez
Lucas Bane- Lucas Fedrick
Pikpixie03- Rally Nightshade
Roseria Slyvester- Rosetta "Rose" Sonoma
Zalger248- Chao Shuyan (Appears Chapter 15)
TheUndyingCrystal- Cynthia Gordon
AWESOME AUSSIE GURL- Isabelle Smith

Chapter 13: The Woman in the Wheelchair

Opening Theme: "After" Macross Plus OST

We both bolted into the crowds of the Wall Market and finally stopped near an old well where a couple of beggars were out making rounds asking for gil. I took in a deep breath then looked down at the girl in the wheel chair, she was staring at me again. Her gaze made Aerith's look almost normal.

"Hey uh...thanks for the uhh...security vent thing. But once they see that knocked out guard, they'll tighten the security even more. Just my luck." I rubbed the back of my head then looked at her, she was completely still and silent like a statue. "Not to say that's any of your fault or anything..."

"How did you escape the ShinRa building?" She asked.

And somehow when she asked me that one question, THAT ONE QUESTION. My mind went into a haze, my head throbbed with pain and I saw images...disturbing images. Of me, being on a metal platter while doctors in white lab coats looked over me. Images of me being contained in a glass tube where I hovered in liquid mako. Also, there was an image of her...She was there standing beside Professor Hojo...

My head throbbed so bad I dropped down to one knee holding my head as if to stop a shit ton of information from blowing my head off. And suddenly it all stopped, I dropped down breathing in hard. The beggars stared at me like wild dogs, they were waiting for me to pass out so they could raid my pockets or take my weapons to sell them.

"Are you alright?" She wheeled up to me.

I looked up at her then quickly grabbed my right pistol, I hopped to my feet and pointed it square between her eyes. "You...wh-who are you?! You were with Hojo! You're with ShinRa!" It took a few seconds to balance myself, I was still a little dazed and weary from the head trauma.

"Not anymore." She calmly tipped her glasses up on the bridge of her nose.

"Don't give me any of that shit. You know ShinRa has more secrets than money...what the hell did you people do to me?!" I shouted.

She calmly said; "I could tell you, but it's better if I showed you. Please, let's go to my home." I narrowed my eyes and despite every voice in my head telling me to pull the trigger, I lowered the gun. She wheeled past me and I once again put my gun away in its sheath. I turned and followed her as she wheeled through the crowds.

I followed her through the Wall Market and past the HoneyBee Inn. A few unfaithful married men and gangsters were raving about not being able to get in. As we passed by the Honey Bee Inn we came across a small cottage that looked like Aerith's house hidden beneath two massive mako pipes. It was carefully tucked away under the huge pipes, the space pocket allowed.

She wheeled up the small wooden handmade ramp then opened her door and wheeled into the darkness, I didn't step in until she turned the lights on. Once inside, I sort of stepped in carefully, smelling the sweet smell of honey and pine as I came in. The house was a little bland, there weren't any pictures on the wall, a single sofa and a fireplace. There were several tables all over the place with tools and random pieces of machinery sprawled across them.

The house had no upstairs, it was all on one level. There was a bed near the back of the house and the kitchen was in a different room apart from the livingroom. "Ok...I'm here, who are you and how do you know me?" I asked pointing at her. She didn't respond right away, she wheeled over to a small black office drawer and pulled out a beige portfolio.

She sat it in her lap then wheeled over to me and handed it over.

"My name is Cynthia Gordon and I was a researcher and weapons developer for ShinRa..." She answered. "And I know about you because I'm the one that found you."

I opened the portfolio with the red letters CLASSIFIED printed over the cover. Inside were a few photos of my face and men in white suits with ShinRa Soldiers around them wheeling me up on a cart from a Crater. I looked at the report, filed by Cynthia Gordon.

Subject: 0
Blood Type: B
Date: XX-XX-XXX

REPORT:

Subject shows signs of severe Mako Addiction, while still maintaining a human pulse. He is very much alive, not even SOLDIER candidates survive from this level of mako fusion without some form of mutation. From here on out, Professor Hojo will be overseeing Subject Zero's development.

I sat down and went through more files and reports.

"You were found in the North Crater, a devastated part of the Northern Continent. I was there with a research team to find more material for a weapon I was developing at the time. And we...found you...lying in a geyser of pure mako energy." She explained. But I couldn't recall any memory of it.

"I was found in North Crater..." I repeated rubbing my forehead. "So that's where I ended up after coming here."

"You were infused with so much Mako energy that you wouldn't wake up. Trapped in this coma-like state. At first I was overseeing your condition. But I was removed from the project and assigned back to development of weapons while Hojo oversaw your development. I'm not sure what happened to you after that." She explained tipping her glasses up. "You're a very rare subject, so I doubt they just let you walk out on your own. So how did you escape?"

I shrugged and flapped the folder down beside me, I ran my hands through my hair. "I don't know...I don't remember...Rally and Tifa told me they found me in the Train Graveyard in the slums."

"Memory loss, could it be a side effect of Hojo's experiments?" She asked herself rubbing her chin. Talking to no one in particular.

"I don't know, but what I do know is...this all has pissed me off enough to ask the damn questions myself." I stood to my feet clenching my fists. "Fuck fear! Fuck doubt! I'm kickin' it to ShinRa for locking me up like some lab rat."

She bowed her head to me. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't mean for all of this to happen to you. I only wanted to..."

"No need to apologize, what happened has happened and there's no changing it. But I can't just move on from this, there are chunks of time that I'm missing." I looked back at Cynthia. "Do you know anything about my transformations?"

"Transformations?" She asked.

From the look on her face I could tell she knew nothing but I felt I had to explain it to her. "Well, it happened twice already...I'm sure of it. I-I transformed into this monster..." I placed a hand of my chest. "I can feel something dark inside of me, this monster that I transform into. It's still there. I can feel it and I can't control it. I just blank out and when I wake up...huge chunks of time are lost. And I'm told by the people around me of the shit I messed up."

"No, it's the first I've heard of it. But it wouldn't surprise me if Hojo knew." She added.

"Right." I shook my head. "Ok, I'm goin' to ShinRa and I'm gonna...wait..."

I completely forgot about Aerith and them. Oooh man!

"Wait, I guess I'm gonna have to put that operation on hold." I said folding my arms.

"You're worried about your comrades?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, that comes first. Thanks for telling me all of this." With that I made my way to the door, the moment I grabbed the door knob, I heard her.

"Hey..."

I turned around to see her. "I feel kind of silly, here I don't even know your name. I only know you as Subject Zero."

"It's Kelvis, but just call me Kel." I replied.

"Do you mind taking me along as well?"

The question suddenly floored me, but she was pretty hot...I didn't mind the wheelchair. She was cute in the face and I'm sure if she didn't have to sit and slouch in that wheelchair her body would be rocking. "Yeah, I'd love to have you come along?" I replied back quickly and she just stared at me.

"Ok?" She found my invitation a little too sudden.

"If you don't mind me asking though, this is gonna be pretty dangerous. Why exactly..."

"I don't work for them anymore, they took my experiments and weapons from me and used them for full-scale wars and torturing innocent people. I created the weapons for them to protect Midgar, not spread fear and terror through Gaia." She slammed her fists on the handles of her chair. "The weapons used in the war against Wutai... I developed them. They killed many people and all of that blood is on my hands. Had you still been with them you too would be used in those brutal experiments to make all who oppose ShinRa to submit. I've always wanted revenge...to be redeemed for all the pain I caused by destroying that damned company! But seeing you, hearing your voice and feeling your determination...I feel like I can make my dream of tarnishing ShinRa a reality."

I walked up to her and kneeled down to meet her at eye level. "You developed those weapons and mechs with the intent to protect this city and it's people. What they decided to use it for is on them."

"I don't need a lecture." She glared at me then looked away.

I stood to my feet. "Right, well your reasons for fighting ShinRa are your own and I won't pry. Besides AVALANCHE could use someone with your technical expertise. Relying on only Jessie for tech support is kinda stretching it."

"AVALANCHE?! You're working with AVALANCHE?!" She asked.

"Yeah? Oh man what now?" I asked.

"I just...AVALANCHE's leader Barret. We had a bit of a falling out...I refuse to work for that buffoon. Let's get this straight now, you and I are working together. AVALANCHE can do as they please." She angrily glared at me.

I nodded. "Ok. It's a deal, you won't answer to anyone."

With that Cynthia grabbed a black box off of her dresser then sat it in her lap and wheeled out of the door. I walked along side her as we both went back into the Wall Market. "Here..." She handed me the black box and I opened it, inside was a silver revolver with a long neck and a hick handle, there were three triangular barrels. It looked like a silver revolver version of Vincent's Cerberus gun.

"Awesome. What's this?" I asked holding the gun it, it was pretty heavy.

"It's called the Blitz Magnum. It's the very last weapon I created before I left ShinRa. It's a gun that's powerful enough to knock a Behemoth on its ass." She said tipping her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. She was boasting a little.

It came with a brown holster which I tied around my waist letting the gun hang on my lower back.

Cynthia Gordon joins the party...I guess. And I got a NEW WEAPON! This baby looks sweet! And what is it with me and all these girls anyway? The only guys as allies are Biggs, Wedge, Barret and Lucas. Well it's not like I'm complaining.