Vincent had only been temporarily disheartened during the period of Lucrecia's rejection of him, and acceptance of Hojo, but once he was over it, namely, after the night where he fell asleep in Lucrecia's lap, his vehemence to stop the experiments just as fiery as before.
He wouldn't go to Lucrecia again... he'd tried that tactic, and it didn't work. She was willing to give him up for science, she would not be willing to give science up for nothing in return.
So Hojo was the only choice left. Vincent knew that it was probably already a lost cause, even as he conceived the idea... but he had to try it. Had to for Lucrecia's sake...
He woke up the next morning with these ideas in his head. Lucrecia was already gone. When did she say the new experiments would start? Two days, he thought... that meant he had that much time to convince Hojo not to do what he was doing. Quite a task considering that he had 48 hours to get a stubborn man, who hated his guts, to give up his life's pursuit.
Later that day, he made his way down the steps to the basement, walking decisively into the lab. Lucrecia and Hojo, who'd been examining something on the other side of the room started as the door opened, and spun around.
"You!" Hojo spat, "What are you doing here, Turk! You're not allowed in this room."
Damnit... he hadn't counted on Lucrecia being there... "I'm here opposing your work, Hojo." Vincent stated plainly. Lucrecia watched him with pleading eyes, begging him to go away... disbelief was evident on her face, why was he down here?
"Oh?" Hojo said, hands on his hips and an eyebrow raised, "What are you going to do about it, Turk?"
"As a ShinRa operative, I am obligated to report to them on anything interesting, or otherwise suspicious that I observe during my stay here." Vincent explained, "I'll be sure not to leave this out of my next check-in with headquarters. They'll be very interested to know how this twisted experiment has progressed."
Hojo gave an over-loud laugh, "ShinRa already knows all about my experiment, AND where I plan to go with it! They've already given me the O.K. on Project Jenova."
Vincent grit his teeth together, "You mean to say ShinRa is actually supporting this kind of work?"
"With all the money in their pockets." Said Hojo haughtily.
"Then I'll tell the rest of the world!" Vincent gestured behind them, "How do you think the people in this little town would like it to know that under their very feet you're using human guinea pigs for your research!"
Hojo laughed again, "If anyone finds out about it, ShinRa shock troops will surely put an end to the public outcry."
"They can't kill everyone in the whole world!" The Turk spat ferociously.
"Not everyone in the whole world would be as opposed to it as you are, Valentine, if they even find out about it. Don't think for a second that because this little flower means something to you, that it qualifies her as something greater, and above all other humans. ShinRa doesn't hold her in such favoritism as you do."
Lucrecia's shoulders sunk minorly at that. A fist collided violently with a nearby bookshelf, sending some of the scientific volumes and work-journals toppling off it to the stone floor, "Shut up!" Vincent growled, "It wouldn't matter if it wasn't her, it's still wrong to do this, any of this, you know that!"
"She's also free to make her own decisions..." the scientist continued, unphased, "...and she's chosen science over ethics, ME over YOU." he stabbed his finger in the air, pointing almost accusingly at the Turk.
Vincent's eyes softened as he looked at Lucrecia. She kept her gaze strictly on the floor, not looking at either Vincent or Hojo.
"And one such as you sure has a hell of a lot of gut trying to talk to me about the value of human life." Hojo said, a rage bubbling up in his tone, "A filthy Turk-assassin like you, to a high-ranking, respected expert as I am."
"Gast and my father were experts." Vincent looked up angrily, "They knew their limits and boundaries, they knew when to call it quits." he stood a little straighter now, "It doesn't matter what my profession is, where you're going with yours is much more dangerous. I am against it! Why human experimentation!"
"She and I are both scientists!" he gestured wildly, "You have no power to do anything to us, Vincent Valentine, you are a pawn of the ShinRa elite. You are here to, as both you and I said before, keep the townspeople in line if they try to dig into our little mystery any more than they should. Lucrecia and I have decided together to go through with this, and ShinRa as well gives us their support." he drew an arm around the woman, but she didn't react, "You're just bitter because you didn't get the girl, Vincent." he sneered, "Not that it would have been allowed, anyway. A scientist and a Turk!" he scoffed.
Vincent's fists clenched together again. The inside of his glove was wet where he'd hit the shelf, and the brittle wood had splintered, pierced the leather, and scratched his skin. His eyes narrowed, and he exhaled a slow, shuddering breath, trying to calm down his fury. "If you hurt her, Hojo, I swear..."
"What are you going to do? Shoot me with your little antique gun?" Hojo laughed, motioning to the firearm at his hip. "But that would get you fired, if not executed... and it would make you a murderer then, now wouldn't it? Ah, but I suppose that's not much of a threat... because you already are." he looked at Lucrecia, shrinking away in his arms, "Who could love a monster like you?"
Shooting him didn't sound like such a bad idea, Vincent thought. His hand was already halfway to the holster, when he caught himself. He needed to get out of here, before he did something seriously stupid, or further destroyed his chances of saving Lucrecia... that's what he was doing, what he had to do. He was going to save her.
The Turk turned for the door, slamming it behind him as he walked swiftly down the hall outside. That scientist was intolerable... and shameless and stubborn to boot. There would be no reasoning with him, Vincent already knew that. Still... he had to try.
Lucrecia was right... even if she had agreed to marry him, he would've been doubly opposed to experimentation on his own child, if not opposed at all to the creation of that child. It was a lose-lose situation, because even though he had no qualms with Hojo experimenting on his own child, he didn't want Hojo experimenting on Lucrecia's... So it was really the very fact that Hojo and Lucrecia were having a child together that angered him, but he couldn't present that as his argument, because it was not only selfish, but it was Hojo's right, now that they were to be married. That god-forsaken scientist had seen past all the barriers, and overcome them. He really was powerless all on his own.
Lucrecia made herself continually absent whenever Vincent was around the next day, which wasn't much. The Turk had decided not to do anything at all... especially not confront Hojo again. Nothing held his attention anymore, not his flute, not his gun, not the hundreds and hundreds of books in the library he still hadn't read yet. He was singularly focused on the task of Hojo's experiment, the accursed Jenova Project.
He had to stop it... the more he thought about it, the more the very feel of the experiment was beginning to sicken him. It was like a superstition, a little trivial worry spiraled out of control, a mountain made out of a molehill. Vincent still had a firm enough grip on things to be able to see how this ominous feeling could just be reading in between the lines too much, the outcome of his mind trying to otherwise justify the hatred he felt towards Hojo right now... but his grip had loosened enough so that this realization no longer mattered. He would stop it at all costs.
The Turk turned in early that night, with the intention of getting up extra early the next morning, before Lucrecia did. And this, he managed.
Silently, as to not wake the sleeping girl, he pulled on his Turk regalia, and with the gun strapped to his side, proceeded out of his room, and down the stairs, into the basement. Calmly, he walked down the hall, and opened the door, to find Hojo hurriedly working, just where he'd expected to find the scientist. It was later this day that Lucrecia was scheduled to be impregnated, and he could already see the equipment to do so that Hojo had already set up.
The scientist turned around to see Vincent there, looming in the doorway. He jumped slightly, startled, then quickly regained his composure, slapping that superior look onto his face as he gazed upon the Turk. "What do you want here, Valentine?" he growled, continuing about straightening the things on the shelf near him, and finding better places for a few things he had in his hands.
"You know why I'm here, Hojo..." Vincent said, voice soft and under control. At this point, he would beg on bended knees just to stop Hojo...
The scientist wiped his hands off on a cloth, tossing the scrap into a nearby wastebin as he moved toward the Turk, hands in his pockets, "Yes, I think I do... you're here to try and reason with me, convince me to stop my project. But after that outburst of yours the day before yesterday..." he glanced at the shattered bookshelf, still not repaired, though the books had been moved to another place, "I doubt you'll be able to keep a control on that temper of yours for long." he smirked, "But go on and humor me."
Vincent took a deep breath, indeed, the scientist was right... his nerves were already being tried by the grating personality of the man... but he was just itching to prove himself better than that.
He stepped up, and held his arms out to the sides, "What do I need to do? What will make you stop?" he asked, "Money? Power?"
"You can't give me that!" Hojo laughed, "A lowly orphan Turk like you... you're dirt poor, boy, and at the bottom of the stack as far as influence goes."
Vincent narrowed his eyes, "Then is there anything else I can do for you?"
Hojo laughed, "Well, actually..." he turned his eyes to a tray of little sample vials across the room, a look shining in them the likes of which Vincent had never seen before... he did appear truly like a mad scientist when he looked that way.
"What?" Vincent pressed... if he was near a breakthrough with this crazy man, it would surely be the greatest accomplishment of his whole life. He took a glance over to whatever Hojo was looking at... that proved to be all the scientist needed.
In a swift, fluid motion, he'd lunged forward, reaching out for the Turk... Vincent saw the motion just in time, sidestepped, gasped, and pushed the scientist away, but it was already too late.
A shot rang out, echoing painfully loud off the rock walls: Vincent stared up, wide-eyed... Quicksilver was resting easily in Hojo's hand, a wisp of smoke curling up from the tip of the barrel... It had been pulled from it's holster, and he hadn't even noticed it. The sharp, molten pain spreading through his left arm alerted him to what the scientist had done.
"You may not have known it..." Hojo said, moving in on the wounded Turk, and pushing him down with surprising force, so that Vincent was practically doubled over, and at the scientist's mercy, "But that threat of 'telling the world' about my little experiment... well that just struck a little too close to home for me." he smiled sadly, replacing the gun in Vincent's empty holster, and reaching back into his pocket.
"ShinRa is merciless, and has nothing against sacrificing a little lamb like Lucrecia... but the rest of the world..." he grimaced, "...is not so progressive in their thought." pulling his hand back out of his pocket, he produced a little syringe, filled with some mystery liquid, and as Vincent was struggling to stand up straight again, shoved the needle into his neck.
"Ahh..." Vincent protested, wriggling to try and get away.
"No, no... I wouldn't do that, Valentine, you'll break the needle, and cause yourself more injury..." Hojo cooed smoothly, with a voice like poisoned honey. All in the matter of a few moments, Vincent had learned how much to fear that voice... what would happen to him now? He'd failed Lucrecia... would he even ever see her again? These thoughts passed through the Turk's head, as his vision blurred over, and he passed off into darkness.
xxx
Author's Ending Note Thingy: MWAHAHAHA! NOW THE FUN BEGINS! sadistic I love torturing my characters... not that Vincent's mine... but he is in this story! Uhm... warning of possible gore ahead? I don't even know what's coming until I write it... this entire story was only ever a concept in my head of: I need to tell what I think happened, but I never actually had one bit of it planned out. XP I'm just special like that.