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A Few Weeks Later
Professor Gast Faremis' POV
"I'm…I'm going to be a father?" He asked looking at the town doctor in shock at what he'd just been told.
"Yes you are." The old man replied with an amused smile on his face.
"I'm going to be a mother?" Ifalna asked just recovering from her own surprise.
The doctor merely nodded never losing his amused smile.
It'd been a few weeks since Ifalna had first started feeling a little under the weather but he hadn't thought much of it since it was hardly odd to catch a cold. Indeed when she improved after a few days he'd believed that it was all over but when the symptoms resurfaced almost a week later he'd gotten worried. They'd consulted with their neighbours to find out if there was a flu common to the area or just going around and found that there was one making the rounds. With a few trusted remedies provided they'd returned home but a couple of days ago with no sign of the symptoms disappearing they'd finally decided to see the town doctor.
In the end it'd only taken a brief discussion and an examination of Ifalna for the doctor to reveal that the last surviving Cetra was pregnant.
Needless to say there was no doubt as to who the father was since over the course of the years since they'd first met a casual relationship had grown into something much more. It had never been his intention in the beginning to be anything more than an acquaintance to Ifalna at the least and a friend at most. It had been guilt and a desire to uncover the truth that'd caused him to abandon Shinra as he sought to find out what'd really happened to the Cetra. When he'd encountered Ifalna and learned that she was in fact the last pureblooded member of her race still alive it'd been enough for him to consider the existence of a higher power.
She'd been wary of him but so resolute had he been to get the answers he sought that he'd done everything he could to earn her trust. It hadn't been until he'd suggested that they relocate to the town of Icicle Inn proposing that the isolation from the rest of the world would provide security for what he wished to discuss that she'd begun to warm up to him. She'd informed him that he was not the first to seek her people out and in the past those that found the few surviving Cetra had not come with benign intentions. Indeed they'd all been seeking the 'Promised Land' mentioned in the Ancient scriptures that had survived to present day convinced it held great wealth. Some had tried to charm the survivors into revealing what they knew but most had used pain as well as suffering to pry loose the information all too often resulting in death.
Thinking back to his former employers a sickening feeling in his gut had told him all too well that Shinra would have tried persuasion before moving onto coercion and if that failed torture. It had been through his resolve to prevent that from happening that he'd suggested relocating to the town they presently inhabited since to his knowledge there was no Shinra presence there.
As time had passed Xander had been brought into their lives unexpectedly but by no means was the boy's presence unwelcome. It had been only right to save the child from the weather and the beasts that inhabited the area but after that taking on the role of an educator had further aided in dispelling the cloud of guilt hanging over his head. Time had passed with both he as well as Ifalna admitting that they'd been finding themselves taking on a more parental mindset with the boy.
From there…well…they'd both decided to explore the feelings that they were beginning to feel towards each other.
Given what he knew about human procreation and the amount of time between conception and birth he had a rough idea of what night had given way to present circumstances.
"Now based on what I've been told it doesn't seem that there are any irregularities in the symptoms so I don't believe there's anything to worry about." The doctor said writing a list onto a piece of paper, "So long as you follow these steps and ensure that Ifalna is not placed under any unnecessary stress I see no reason for anything to keep her from giving birth in six or so months."
"I can assure you doctor that your recommendations will be followed to the letter." He promised after being handed the list, "Should any surprises appear I trust that we can count on your help?"
"Of course. I'm not going anywhere and you two are the first expecting pair I've had in years." The doctor replied with a nod.
A few more pleasantries were exchanged before he escorted the doctor to the door thanking the man for his aid several times before turning around to rejoin Ifalna. When he got back to the bedroom he was unsurprised to find that Xander by her side discussing what'd been revealed. The boy had gone out shortly before the doctor's arrival to pick up a few things from the general store so he had not been present for what'd followed.
"That's great!" Xander exclaimed looking both excited and happy for Ifalna, "What can I do to help!?"
"Just help around the house and that'll be enough." He said getting the boy's attention.
"Sure thing!" Xander said nodding without hesitation.
It wouldn't be anything the boy wasn't already doing aside from perhaps running errands so that he could remain close to Ifalna in case something happened so he wasn't worried. Between the two of them Ifalna wouldn't have a thing to worry about and while he suspected that she'd go stir crazy unless given something to do he hoped their discussions would provide sufficient distraction for her. If not he would speak with some of the townsfolk that might have a book or six that Ifalna hadn't read yet.
"What're you thinking about Gast?" Ifalna asked with some suspicion.
"Just thinking of ways to make your pregnancy less taxing and more comfortable." He replied wondering if she might have a few ideas of her own.
So long as they didn't involve anything too far out of the way he wouldn't mind making a trip to get her something.
"That's sweet but don't think that I'm simply going to be laying in bed all day while you and Xander do everything that needs doing." Ifalna said with an understanding smile, "I'm pregnant not a rickety old woman. I'll still be able to do plenty for the next couple of months without overworking myself."
"But-!" He said trying to object only to be silenced with a look.
"I promise that as soon as things get difficult to do I'll let the two of you take over." She said stating how things would be, "Until then though we'll do things as we always have. Understand?"
His initial instinct was to protest, to insist that her well being took priority over any household chores, but he couldn't find the right combination of words that would win him the argument.
"Just nod your head and say 'yes dear'." Xander said as though conveying sage knowledge only to smirk at the end, "It's easier just to say yes."
Seeing Ifalna smile in triumph he sighed and did as the boy recommended hoping that his love would show good judgment in the months to come. He had no experience in such matters but he had overheard enough talk from the various women employed by Shinra to know that calling it something of an adventure would be accurate.
~I just hope I have it in me to survive this adventure.~ He thought even as Ifalna and Xander continued to talk though more about the latter's next lesson.
There was a reason he chose to become a scientist rather than a heroic knight like other boys did.
Four Months Later
A Clearing a Short Distance From the town
Ifalna's POV
"Well we should be far enough from the town for whatever it is you wish to show me Xander." She said looking back to barely see the houses that made up the town, "Now what is it?"
"Well…I've been trying to practice what you taught me about using materia." Xander replied sounding as uncertain as he looked, "I figured even if I couldn't cast any spells without holding the materia I could at least master the steps to using them."
"Smart decision." She said praising his diligence in mastering what she'd taught him, "I trust you've made solid progress?"
"Ye-ah…you could say that." He replied his expression of anxiety spiking for a moment, "Um…it's probably better if I just show you."
"Show me? What do you mean?" She asked confused about what the boy could mean, "You don't have any-"
Before she could finish her statement her senses, those honed by her parents and the teachings of her people, flared as power rose up around Xander. Like a mix between heat shimmer and rising mist it came before gathering in the boy's right hand transforming into a mass of flickering orange flame. The fire did not burn the boy's hand but rather flowed around it like air before the hand was thrust forward launching the mass through the air. It travelled about as far as Xander's usual fireballs did when holding the fire materia but she was only peripherally aware of it when it lost momentum and dropped to the ground.
Her mind was far more occupied with the fact that she'd just seen a boy not even ten years old using magic without a piece of materia in his hand.
Some might argue that the boy could've stolen the materia and was hiding it somewhere in his clothes but she knew better. Unlike some people neither she or Gast viewed materia of any sort to be toys to be just left anywhere but rather as tools that could be dangerous. As such when neither of them were using them they made sure to put them out of Xander's reach and in a secure box that the child wouldn't be able to get open no matter what.
So unless Gast had gotten careless there was no mistaking that Xander had somehow managed to cast a fire spell all on his own.
"H-how?" She asked unable to come up with anything more verbal than that.
"I don't know. I just thought real hard about the steps and how it felt casting the fire spell and…it just happened." He replied even as the power drawn forth settled once more into the soil, "I'm not as good with the others though."
"You mean you've tried to cast both haste and protect?" She asked realizing that the surprise might be bigger than she'd originally thought.
"Yeah but protect fell apart real easy and I barely got anything from haste." He replied sounding frustrated that he'd been less than successful with haste.
While she could understand his frustration she also felt relief since she could only imagine how dangerous it might have been had either spell gone wrong. While she had never seen it happen she remembered growing up with her parents how they would occasionally come across wild materia. In most cases after determining what type of materia they'd found and claim ing it there had been a few cases when the materia had visible flaws. A crack, a less than circular form and other similar problems were usually all it took for her parents to leave it where it lay to be reabsorbed into the lifestream. The memory was not the same as Xander's situation save that both had the potential to harm if not kill the one casting magic unless they were VERY lucky.
Indeed Xander had to be VERY lucky given how long she suspected he'd been casting spells without materia.
"Xander you must promise me that you will never try to cast spells without me being present." She said with the utmost seriousness in her voice, "Magic is not a toy. It can be VERY dangerous to use and you've still got a lot to learn. Promise that anytime you want to try…this out again you'll come get me. Okay?"
"I promise." Xander replied both sounding as well as looking like he'd just been scolded.
Personally she would've defined her words as more of a warning than a scolding but she could understand how most kids would view anything other than kindness as somewhat scary. Putting on a slightly warm smile she knelt down in front of him and gave him a hug to show him that she wasn't really angry at him and still cared greatly about him. When he returned her hug she knew that he was feeling better but she still let their embrace linger for another minute just to make sure any bad feelings were long gone.
"Now that that's out of the way let's see if we can figure out why you're having trouble casting protect and haste." She said wanting to learn more about what Xander was seemingly capable of, "Give me a moment to prepare and then when I tell you try to cast protect."
After a nod from the boy she took a few steps back before closing her eyes so that she could tap into skills that she had not used in a long time. One of the things her parents had always stressed to her was the need to hide from those that had inherited Gaia from the Cetra and to never give them reason to think that she wasn't just like the rest of them. As such she had only ever tapped into the skills of her people when she'd had no choice or was completely alone since each of them were quite memorable in appearance.
The one she intended to use now was one that would grant her the greatest insight into the boy in front of her and hopefully explain how he'd done the impossible. Tapping into what could be considered the 'eyes' and 'ears' of the planet she opened her own eyes to nod at Xander to begin casting protect. Tapped into the senses of the planet she was able to see and sense so much more than what she'd been able to on her own even if she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it going for very long.
As she took in what the planet had to share with her she couldn't help but be distracted for a few seconds at the sights and sounds for they were unlike anything else on Gaia. With a mental shake though she focused on the specifics that she could make out before comparing them to all that she'd learned over the years. Focusing on Xander himself rather than the magic he was drawing up from Gaia and the first thing she could see was a spot of concentration within his body. If it was to look like anything it would be as though someone had implanted materia into the boy's chest yet at the same time she could not make out a defined shape. Whether this was because the light of the mana being concentrated hid it from her or it didn't exist in the first place she didn't know.
~Not quite the same as when mother did it but it isn't drastically different either.~ She thought even as she tried to reason out more from what she was experiencing.
It wasn't like how non-Cetra looked when they used materia either…so what was going on?
Seeing that the boy was almost ready to move onto the next part of the protect spell she watched to see if she could spot where he was making the mistake. Seeing as how he'd managed to cast the fire spell a moment ago without any trouble it struck her as odd that he would have problems since while protect cost four times as much mana it was in fact simpler. It was only when she believed the spell was about to reach the apex point, the moment when it became visible to the unenhanced eyes that she got an answer.
She very much wished that she hadn't.
Just as the magic began to manifest a dark mass of blackness that looked like a hooded person from the shoulders up only flew threw the manifestation point of the spell. Its passage seemed to destabilize the spell and while it did not neutralize it right out of the gate it did cause the final part of the execution to fail. Barely any sign of the protective sphere manifested before it crumbled to pieces and vanished back into the mana that made it up.
Not surprising considering the nature of the being that had passed through the manifestation point.
Where the Whispers went nothing was for certain.
According to the tales they were arbiters of fate born of the planet to enforce the course of destiny as determined by the planet itself. Any time that someone or something began to veer away from the chosen path they appeared in large numbers to force things back one course. Worst of all was the fact that many didn't even know that the Whispers were even there and amongst the Cetra one needed to focus to do more than mere sense their unsettling presence. More than that the stories told of the Whispers taking something of those they touched or passed through and she personally suspected it was mana they took. Outside of the body the theft of mana would only result in a spell failing but inside of a person's body as it passed through vital life sustaining points it could do great harm.
Even kill a person or so the stories went.
Watching as Xander frowned in frustration before trying to cast protect again she watched closer this time in order to see if she could discern WHY the Whispers interfered. With focus she'd employed only a few times before she watched the flow of mana, maintained an awareness of each flow individually as well as the points of joining and separation, as the casting started. Everything seemed to be flowing properly, even naturally despite how unreal it seemed that this was being done without materia, but when things reached the point of manifestation a Whisper once more intervened. Watching carefully she watched it fly through the point and just like she'd suspected a sizeable amount of mana left the convergence point causing the spell to sputter out.
This proved to her that the Whispers were trying to stop Xander from casting the protect spell but the question then became 'why'. Based on what she'd seen when he'd cast fire there'd been no interference then since it'd been cast well enough. Was it the amount of mana needed to cast the spell? Were the Whispers only choosing to intervene if Xander tried to use a certain amount of mana for a spell? No, she didn't think so. Xander had mentioned how he hadn't been able to cast haste successfully either and by her measure it required the same amount of mana as fire. Was it what the spells were meant for? Fire was almost exclusively meant to attack but both haste as well as protect were more for support or defence.
Could some part of destiny be threatened by Xander learning to use those two spells without materia?
It didn't seem possible that a boy Xander's age could do anything to change the course of destiny even if he did manage to reliably use haste and protect. Both spells were the minimum one could do with their respective materia and the user's age could influence the strength of the spell. Yet at the same time she couldn't think of any other reason why the Whispers would be acting the way they did. For now they seemed content to simply disrupt his training and ensure the spells failed but worry crept up within her as she considered what might happen if the matter escalated.
If the Whispers decided that more than light action was required noticeable harm could befall Xander…if not death.
With her worry putting cracks in her focus she let her connection to the planet fade away and while she felt a measure of fatigue she couldn't say it hadn't been worth it. With the strides in her understanding of Xander's aptitude for magic and now realizing that the Whispers were involved she now knew what she had to do.
"Xander I believe I know why you cannot cast protect or haste without Gast's materia." She said carefully choosing her words so as not to scare the boy, "Magic on Gaia abides by certain rules that few know of and even fewer choose to respect. I believe that when you try to cast those two spells you are doing something to break those rules and so Gaia intervenes."
"But I can cast fire no problem!" Xander protested clearly not seeing why he'd be able to do one but not the others.
"Unfortunately these rules even I don't know so I'm not sure why there's a problem with haste and protect." She said placing calming hands on the boy's shoulders, "But I think that until we learn what those rules are and if it's dangerous to break them that you should stop trying to cast spells without Gast's materia. I know you were probably excited that you could do something special but sometimes being special is dangerous. Understand?"
"Yeah." Xander replied sounding like he'd just been told he couldn't play with something cool until he was older.
Knowing that the boy would be depressed unless something was done she decided to do something both of them would like.
"Would you like to come with me to the store to get a few things?" She asked with a smile she sometimes used to trick people into doing what she wanted them to, "I was thinking of making a batch of cookies to nibble on."
"YES! Let's go!" Xander exclaimed like someone had just told him that he could get whatever he could carry in his arms for FREE.
She chuckled as she led the way back to town imagining for a moment what the future might look like once her child was born and found out about the unofficial sibling.
It made her smile.
Half a Mile Away
"I think we just got our promotions Bill." He said after lowering the binoculars from his eyes.
"Promotions AND a nice bonus on our next pay checks Wesley." Bill said before expertly putting away the camera with the special lens attachment, "I don't exactly understand what we just saw but I've got a good feeling it'll get Hojo cackling."
While not exactly a sound most people wanted to hear for whatever reason those who'd been attached to the science division long enough could find a silver lining about it. He and Bill had been assigned there after making some ill advised comments about Heidegger's laugh no doubt with the intent of some accident befalling them.
Or worse being used as test subjects for the scientist's latest procedure.
Fortunately the two of them had teamed up to make sure that whenever the odds of becoming a lab rat went up they were someplace else running an errand or something. All it took was offering to handle some menial task Hojo or one of the other scientists would rather not deal with and they could leave the lab before things took a turn for the worse. As such they were among the longest lasting troopers assigned to the science division and had been pulled from duty in the tower to find the source of 'an unidentified energy signal'. Naturally since they were just grunts they weren't told any details but rather had a complex looking device shoved in their hands along with their gear before being told to go find it. They weren't the only pair sent out of course with the rest scattered throughout the Snow Fields region but unlike the others he'd had the brilliant idea to get closer to the populated areas. Sure when it came to things Hojo wanted found it could be anything from a rock to an animal to a person but his instincts had him thinking it was going to be the last one. Rocks stayed in one place and aside from materia he'd never heard of anything emitting energy strong enough to reach Midgar. Animals while a possibility were few and far in between in this part of the world with most of them being monsters and they'd have heard of a new monster prowling about that was implied to be powerful.
A person on the other hand could be both powerful and intelligent enough to keep from doing things that'd draw attention to themselves.
It'd taken a little while to survey the area but when he and Wes had noticed a woman and a boy walking away from the town they'd decided to go with it and see what it got them.
Needless to say it'd paid off BIG TIME.
Between his own eyewitness testimony and what Wesley had managed to catch on the camera there was no doubt that both the woman and the boy were special. Were they related? Mother and son? He shrugged since in the end it didn't really matter. Hojo would definitely be interested in them and it might even put the deranged scientist in a good enough mood to put a positive comment or two about him and Wes in his report to President Shinra. That alone might get them tapped for important assignments somewhere if not pulled from their assignment to the science division entirely.
A definite plus!
"Let's get moving." He said as they began to make their way back to the vehicle so they could return to the camp that'd been set up, "I didn't see anyone else but I'll be damned if I let another team get the credit for this find!"
"Got that right!" Wesley crowed in agreement double timing it back to the vehicle.
Things were looking up for the two of them!
Two Months Later
The First Floor of Gast and Ifalna's House
Evening
Xander's POV
~Why am I stuck doing the dishes?~ He thought even as he did the chore Ifalna'd asked him to do, ~I'm just a kid!~
Sure he'd said that he'd help out around the house while Ifalna was pregnant in order to make things easier on her but he meant little things. Picking things up off the floor, carrying the dishes to the sink, hanging the clothes on the line in front of the fireplace and stuff like that. Stuff like this? A little much considering that he was the shortest person of the three of them and didn't have much in the way of muscle washing the dishes took a lot more effort than you'd think. He couldn't do it too quickly or he'd risk dropping a dish or a glass and they didn't have enough of either to risk one shattering.
Plus if he broke a dish that would mean he'd have to clean it up which would mean more work than he already had on his plate.
Not something he wanted.
~Hopefully I'll be able to get it done by the time they're finished with their 'private research session'.~ He thought rolling his eyes at their alias for smoochie-smoochie alone time.
While personally he didn't see what the big appeal was to kissing and thinking of girls like that he knew it was something older people were really into. Nancy at the shop could often be seen reading cheap romance novels sighing every once in awhile with a weird look on her face. For awhile he'd just ignored her choosing to focus on getting whatever he'd been sent to the shop to get but one time he'd made the mistake of asking if she was okay. The result? She'd gone into a LENGTHY explanation of the story she was reading and what'd happened in the chapter she was currently enjoying.
NEVER, EVER, AGAIN!
Don't get him wrong she was a nice enough person but it was a case of someone entirely too enthusiastic telling him in great detail about something he very much didn't want to know.
Due to Nancy's longwinded talk about her book and a few other things he knew what sort of signs to look out for to indicate that a guy and a gal were getting all mushy. Fortunately for him they kept things polite and went to the lab for it rather than doing it in front of him because if that'd happened he'd go to his room and wait for it to be over.
As he finished the last dish a knock came from the front door which was odd since after a certain hour most of the townspeople stayed inside. While things might be cold during the day despite the sun being out they became downright bone chilling at night when the temperature dropped even further. Sure if you put on enough clothes you could probably last longer than most but he didn't see anyone needing to go that far just to visit them. If anyone needed something of Ifalna or Gast they almost always came calling during the day unless it was some kind of emergency.
"I'll get it!" He yelled up the stairs so as not to interrupt their private time.
Throwing the wash cloth on the counter before hopping off of the stool he'd grabbed to make washing the dishes easier and walked towards the door. It didn't take him long to get there and with the ease of having done this many times before he opened it but the ones he found on the other side were complete strangers. At the front was a guy with long black hair and glasses wearing a white furred parka and honestly looked like he thought living was a river of sewage he was forced to wade through. Behind him though were men unmistakably in uniform stood with rifles more intimidating than the old hunting rifle Gast had used long ago to save him.
He had a bad feeling about this.
"Hello, is there something I can do for you?" He asked doing his best to be polite even if the feeling in his gut refused to be ignored.
"Yes there is." The man with the glasses replied before pulling his right hand out of his pocket.
Instantly he recognized the item in the right hand as a gun of some kind but before he could do anything it was aimed and fired. A sharp point of pain blossomed in his left arm and before he could do more than reach for the white thing sticking out of it he suddenly started to get sleepy. It soon became too hard to stay standing and so he let himself fall onto his butt even as he tried to figure out what was going on.
"Interesting. The tranquilizer should have rendered him fully unconscious." The glasses wearing man said with mild interest before turning back to two of the uniformed men, "Restrain him. The rest of you come with me. It's time to see if my suspicions are correct."
Hearing that they were going after shook off some of the sleepiness he was feeling since he feared for their safety but just as he was about to yell a warning the butt of a rifle hit him in the head almost robbing him of consciousness altogether. However as Ifalna and Gast could testify to his could be pretty damn stubborn when he wanted to be and in this case he refused to go to sleep when all this was going on.
"Tough kid." One of the two uniformed men said with some respect.
"Whatever. Let's get the restraints on him before Hojo gets back." The other one said taking something metallic that looked like they were meant for his arms out of his backpack.
"Heh, heh, heh…I've been searching for you, Ifalna." The glasses wearing man said loudly enough to be heard from the first floor, "Or should I say the sole surviving Cetra! Long time no see, Professor Gast!"
"Hojo…how did you know?" Gast asked sounding both shocked and afraid.
"That you were here with her? I didn't know anything until two months ago." Hojo replied sounding only mildly distracted, "I was in fact here attempting to track an unusual power anomaly when my team stumbled upon a most interesting sight. Indeed when I watched the video recording I could scarcely believe what I was seeing! A living Cetra and a boy capable of using magic apparently without being in possession of materia!"
~That was when…~ he thought remembering the day he'd revealed his secret to Ifalna.
This was his fault.
If he hadn't said anything, if he hadn't done anything, these guys wouldn't have found out Ifalna was a Cetra! All they would've been interested in was him!
"Imagine my surprise when the spies I sent into the town to gather information mention this woman being in the company of a man matching your description. Given the focus of your research prior to disappearing and what I'd seen in the video recording there was only one logical conclusion to make. You had succeeded in finding a living Cetra!" Hojo said sounding a mix of angry and pleased if such a thing were possible, "I almost ordered the men to apprehend the lot of you immediately but then I was informed of your efforts at creating a human-Cetra hybrid. An intriguing idea if I do say so myself. Still I wasn't willing to wait for it to be born so I compromised: I waited just long enough for facilities to be prepared back in Midgar and for the pregnancy to be far enough along that I couldn't afford to miss any more data."
A few seconds passed suggesting someone else had spoken but it'd been done too softly for him to hear anything.
"Hmmm, Aerith? What a nice name for the specimen." Hojo said with dark humour, "Ha, ha, ha! I'll be sure to put it in her research file."
~Research file? But that would mean-!~ He thought knowing what word meant and not liking what it could mean when used like Hojo just had.
Anger sprung up within him at the possibilities that exploded into his mind pushing back the sleepiness even further and actually let him kick back one of the ones trying to restrain him.
"Quit messing around! He's just a kid!" The uniformed man with a solid grip said, "Slap those on him!"
"That's it! I'm severing all ties with Shinra!" Gast yelled from upstairs clearly angry himself, "Please leave."
Spoke like a man who believed in the power of reason and thought that words alone could solve almost every problem.
"Please! Aerith has nothing to do with this!" Ifalna begged sounding afraid, "She's just a halfbreed! If you let her be born and give her to Gast I'll do whatever you want!"
Clearly the kind lady, the one who'd taught him so much, did not believe any good could come of this situation without sacrifice.
"True as a pureblooded Cetra you are the ideal specimen but I am intrigued about the possibility of grafting your DNA onto a human host." Hojo said sounding dismissive of the deal, "Your offspring is too valuable as a baseline to possibly just let her go."
He knew it. In all the books he'd read you could never count on the bad guy ever being anything other than evil.
It wasn't in their nature.
"You understand don't you, Professor Gast?" Hojo asked like he believed a fellow scientist would see his point of view, "We can change the future of the plant!"
More speaking was done only slightly louder than before and enough for him to say for certain that it was Gast that was doing the talking.
"Please don't put up a fight." Hojo said with mild exasperation, "I don't want any harm to come to my precious samples."
"You won't harm them!" Gast yelled loudly to be followed by the sounds of a struggle.
Knowing that even if Gast and Ifalna managed to get away from the ones upstairs they'd only run into trouble if the two guards down here there was only one thing to do. Willing the sleepiness to the back of his mind he went through the steps of casting a fire spell as quickly as he could in his mind before flinging his strongest arm at the closest bad guy. Against all odds he did manage to throw fire at the guy but he could tell before it'd even left his hand that it was less than a third as strong as it should've been. Nevertheless it succeeded in lighting the man's uniform on fire while also startling his partner enough to interrupt the locking of the restraints on his legs.
Swimming his mind was from the exertion yet still he decided to go for a double and swung his fists at the other man's face not caring if he was doing it right or not. He succeeded in knocking the guy on his butt however before he could do more he could hear two sets of feet coming down the stairs. If that was Ifalna and Gast then they'd need to go IMMEDIATELY or risk being here when these guys got their acts together. Getting to his feet as best he could with how he was feeling he began to run for the door just as the two who'd welcomed him into their home reached the bottom.
BLAM! BLAM!
And just like that hope was shattered.
"Gast! NNOOO!" Ifalna cried out even as the father of her child fell to the ground.
Gast had been shot from behind and it hadn't been in a place where survival was likely.
Adrenaline surged through him decimating whatever had been put in him to him and with only slightly clumsy steps he arrived at Gast and Ifalna's side. Time seemed to slow and it wasn't even one of those storybook moments that you wanted to last forever. Seeing the blood spreading more and more from two points on Gast's chest fear mixed with the adrenaline though not because of the sight of it but rather because he didn't know what to do. They didn't have any medicine on them or materia that could help out and he could tell that if something wasn't done fast then Gast would…he would…
"NO! Fuck this!" He exclaimed the words coming to his lips through feeling more than thought, "You're not going to die!"
More than anything else he poured his will and his feelings into these words even as he desperately tried to force SOMETHING to happen.
ANYTHING!
"Is that how you truly feel?" Asked a strong regal voice from behind him.
Turning his gaze to see who it was he almost expected it to be the strange woman that'd up and vanished on him so many weeks ago but it wasn't. That woman had possessed a different sort of strength, harder, but this woman's strength came from her compassion as well as her resolve. Clad in a dress beyond compare she reached his side and knelt beside him her eyes never leaving his even as she waited for his reply.
"Yes! I don't care what it takes." He replied not hesitating for even a moment, "I don't want him to die."
"There will be a danger." The woman said with audible warning, "I was much older than you when I first performed this act and I nearly fainted. If I do this you may fare much worse."
"What part of 'I don't care what it takes' don't you get?" He asked perhaps a tad more sharply than he should have, "Whatever the price is I'll handle it and if…if I die then at least I won't get dragged off someplace by Hojo."
"Very well. Place both of your hands on his chest." The woman said with reluctant acceptance, "I will do the rest."
Without wasting even a moment he placed both his hands on Gast's chest and a moment later he felt an unreal feeling well up within him. Indeed it felt like he was sharing the same space with another person at the same time but when his vision began to change things got really wonky.
"Blessed stars of life and light, deliver this one from reaper's blight." He said even though it felt as though someone else was speaking through him, "Blessed stars of life and light, deliver this one from reaper's blight."
Over and over the chanted but before doubt could begin to creep into his mind he watched as an almost invisible light began to be emitted from his hands. However for every second the light remained he could feel his strength leaking out of him like water from a bucket that someone had used a screwdriver to make the hole. He made an effort to stop the drain but it was a pathetic effort given that he refused to spare more out of fear that it might ruin his efforts to save Gast. Even as he began to sway he made sure his hands stayed on the man's chest and did everything he could to keep chanting though the words were getting harder to say clearly.
In the end resolve and sheer bullheadedness could only do so much.
As the strength in his body was reduced to barely more than a vaporous cloud he was only peripherally aware of hitting the floor. His vision and his hearing might as well have been muffled beneath thick clumps of snow for all that was getting through to his brain.
"Hmmm…disappointing. I was expecting something more given what the boy did on the video." Hojo said sounding irritated at how things had gone, "A wasted effort though. Even with fully mastered healing materia the placement of those two shots will ensure Gast dies in minutes. Still…it would be tiresome if he were to survive and chat with a Turk…a final shot to the brain should suffice."
Was this how it would play out? Did he put forth all this effort and sacrifice so much of his strength just for it all to be reduced to nothing?
"Aaah…no…stop!" Ifalna's painfully said as though a second source had besieged her.
"Drat. It would seem that the trauma and heightened emotional distress are having an adverse reaction on her." Hojo said giving the matter his full attention, "Get those two into the vehicles! Quickly! We must get back to camp so I can treat the symptoms before they interfere with the specimen more than they already have!"
"Right away sir!" An unknown voice said and soon after a feeling of being lifted off the ground made its way to his mind.
But this proved to be the final straw as far as his brain was concerned and with little fanfare consciousness was torn from him.
He prayed destiny would be kind when he awoke next.
One Week Later
Shinra Building, 67th Floor
Professor Hojo's POV
"I dare say that this has proven to be a most worthwhile venture." He said as he finished going over the latest test results on the male specimen they acquired a week ago.
He had been motivated enough when he'd originally detected the anomalous energy readings in the beginning, his interest had been aroused when he'd watched the video recording and now he was firmly invested in learning more. While not as high a priority as the subject from Project S he was seeing many signs of potential to one day update that assessment considerably.
It hadn't taken long to return to the Shinra building and immediately he'd ordered suitable specialists to see to the Cetra and ensure there was no danger to the subject. They'd managed to stabilize her emotional state back at camp for the most part with the injection of various sedatives and muscle relaxants but they'd been forced to tread carefully. His speciality was hardly in that field of science and he refused to risk losing such prized specimens due to an oversight. As for the boy he had been weak when they returned to the camp but gradually showed greater vitality during the trip back to the labs. Once they'd arrived the vitals were sufficiently strong that he'd felt it safe to start the less harmful or invasive tests and later on once recovery was complete they would move onto the more interesting ones.
Imagine his surprise when the safer tests began to reveal oddities he had never thought to expect but excited him nonetheless. One such anomaly was the fact that regardless of where a subject's native habitat was there were certain variables that remained consistent across the board. One such variable being the presence of microscopic levels of mako in the blood stream and the signs of the body's adaptation to the presence of the substance. Indeed as a matter of evolution every form of life on Gaea had been forced to adapt to their environment in order to survive with the changes only becoming more numerous as the centuries went by. However when he performed the various tests on the samples, willing to wait a bit before beginning work on the Cetra, it wasn't long before he detected the absences of several evolutionary attributes. It was inconceivable that they would be missing! Even if the subject had been kept in a custom made containment chamber designed for complete isolation inheritance would've ensured certain traits were passed on. He considered the possibility of the subject being artificial in nature and perhaps deliberately engineered to be lacking the expected traits but dismissed it shortly thereafter.
On all of Gaea only Shinra had the necessary equipment and scientific knowledge necessary for such a project. Even if there were labs scattered about the planet each of them had their own security measures to prevent undetected entry and President Shinra had ensured that only the top scientists employed by him would be assigned to the Shinra building. The rest, the garbage who didn't make the cut, would be scattered to whatever location had a vacancy to be forgotten in obscurity. Therefore even if such a venture had been undertaken it could only have been done in the Shinra building and he would've been aware of it.
Therefore the only other possibility that made rational sense was that the boy was NOT of Gaea and had only recently arrived on it.
The amounts of mako in his system would certainly support this theory as well as the lack of evolutionary attributes. When one took into account the remnants of Lost Tech being kept in a closely guarded Shinra location known only to the board of directors and scientists who'd willingly consented to live out the rest of their days in that secure location it was plausible. According to the records retrieved from the advanced technology the humans of Gaea didn't evolve there but rather had arrived over a millennia ago from another planet.
A planet named Spira by its inhabitants.
However while a marvel of engineering some miscalculations had been made resulting in the craft crashing due to some unforeseen phenomena. Much of the technology involved had been destroyed on impact with only a handful of survivors still alive to pick through the wreckage for anything of use. Over time three factions came into being that persisted to this day: those that chose to abandon their past to start from scratch, those that chose to preserve what they knew as best they could and those who sought to one day revive their technology. The first obviously were the spiritual sort who would later go on to become the Cetra, the second would be those who would become the more dominant variation of humanity and the last would be those who shared views similar to the Shinra board of directors.
~If the specimen truly is from another world then an effort must be made to find out HOW it came to be here and WHERE it came from.~ He thought looking at the collection of papers in his hand, ~Was it a spacecraft like the one used by the people of Spira or some other method?~
Something to ask the Cetra about when he began his study of her.
He would after all need something more than his own personal theory if he was going to convince the President to assign resources into locating the method of the specimen's arrival. If he could learn enough to at least arouse the man's greed and lust for power the rest would take care of itself leaving him to continue his own work until a development occurred. If it bore fruit then he would visit the location personally to find that which the lesser drones would likely miss in order to find that which would aid him in his work. The rest he would likely leave to the likes of Scarlet and Heidegger for their divisions in case they made something of it that would further distract the President from the science division so he could work.
In any case the only other development of note since the specimen had been brought to the Shinra Building was confirmation of the source of the energy anomaly. Once the instruments that were too bulky and heavy to be transported were brought into play it had been simplicity itself to scan the subject and compare the data to the records. More so then that there was a measured increase in reaction from Jenova and the organic matter extracted from the subject leaving no doubt in his mind that the newly acquired specimen was the source. He'd been worried for a time that this new stimuli might adversely affect the various ventures attached to the Jenova project but subsequent tests indicated minimal changes in known results. So long as the anomalous energy and its effects on Jenova were taken into account it should be perfectly fine to proceed as originally planned.
Setting down the papers he wondered how best to make use of the new specimen beyond the acquiring of various forms of data.
Biologically speaking there wasn't enough of a difference between the subject and the rest of the rabble that lived on Gaea to warrant biological experimentation. Indeed given the absence of mako influenced evolutionary traits it might actually prove a hinderance to his experiments involving the substance and Jenova. Perhaps learning how the subject was able to execute phenomena without the presence of materia would be of interest. Much like the rest of the world it went against established data that someone would be capable of such a thing but the video clearly indicated it was possible.
~Hmmm…once the proper preparations are made some exploratory surgery might be in order.~ He thought considering a course of action, ~If the specimen in fact has materia INSIDE of his own body it would explain the video.~
If this did turn out to be the case it would be interesting to find out the specifics especially if it somehow improved the utilization of materia. It was after all a known weakness of materia users that the spheres could be taken from them but if it were implanted that would make things much harder. However if there were no materia spheres implanted then that would indicate that there was something special about the subject that allowed it to use 'magic'.
~A way to tap into the power of the Cetra without requiring materia spheres.~ He thought with a smirk manifesting on his face, ~Were it not for the obvious biological differences I would have thought the specimen to be a Cetra himself but that is not the case.~
Nevertheless it would be a boon to find if this ability could be given to other subjects especially in light of the President's ambitions. True the official intent of the Jenova Project was to create a human-Cetra hybrid in order to lead the company to the 'Promised Land' so that the Neo-Midgar venture could begin but there were side benefits. Power and wealth were the two things that President Shinra coveted more than anything else so anything that could give him one or the other would be pursued. As such producing something as plebeian as 'super soldiers' was definitely something he would be interested since it would give the former and allow him to take the latter.
At the moment most of the subjects were of that hack Hollander's G variant since he'd seen no point to aiming for quantity when quality was far more preferable. Naturally his subject of the S variant was superior to the G variant and was proving this with every test presented to the specimens. Personally though he thought it a waste of time granting the G subjects 'parents' and allowing them to live ordinary lives but an argument had been made that it would ensure psychological stability as well as opportunities for coercion. Grudgingly he had to admit that whenever dealing with potentially powerful subjects it was only logical to ensure that a method existed to control them and if necessary terminate them.
If a way could be found to copy the new specimen's materia-less casting onto his S variant or the G variant the result would be quite interesting to see. Indeed if the entire mechanism was internalized and made to work via the internal organs then it was possible that the energy could be influenced more deeply through chemicals or methods of genetic modification. What sort of phenomena could be invented then?
"A worthwhile venture indeed." He muttered to himself before a possibility occurred to him.
It was a risk but at the same time the potential benefits set his mind afire with lines of experimentation that would open up.
He could not help but express his happiness at the advancement of science that was to come!
One Month Later
Xander's POV
Hell.
He didn't know what the word meant but when he looked for one that described his current predicament it popped to the surface of his mind after a few moments.
When he'd awoken he found himself in a place he'd never before seen but it was not a place of cold and wood and snow but rather steel. Steel and people in clothes meant for a warmer climate than the town he was familiar with. That alone would've been odd but what made it hell was what the people did to him. Without asking for his permission and with little regard for how they hurt him they began to stick things into his arm that took blood, cut off some of his hair and other things he didn't like. When they were done with that they took from him the clothes he'd been given by Ifalna and Gast replacing them with plain cloth pants and a sleeveless shirt.
They didn't even bother to give him UNDERWEAR!
He'd thought for a moment that they would be done with him for awhile since they'd taken enough from him that they'd be looking at it for weeks.
He was wrong.
Three weeks ago they put him through strange machines that he didn't recognize but looked a lot fancier than what Gast had in his lab. Some didn't harm him in the least, some made him uncomfortable and some inflicted such pain that he nearly lost consciousness several times. He couldn't be sure but he thought he'd heard one of the people say that they were under orders not to endanger his life in any way or inflict permanent damage. So basically the only reason things weren't worse was because they wanted to get everything they could out of him before…before what exactly?
He didn't know because he didn't know what their goals were or what his part in achieving them were.
He'd tried to listen to them when he could and understand what was going on but the terms they were using and the things they said were completely different from how Gast talked. Even recalling the notes that he'd helped with and the books he'd been allowed to read it was clear that this science was completely over his head. All they seemed to care about was the results of their tests and experiments!
If Gast represented the best that men of science had to offer then these people represented the worst.
ESPECIALLY the one they referred to as Hojo.
The man might look like a human being but he lacked anything even remotely resembling humanity.
He didn't appear too often and didn't perform many of the tests himself but there was no mistaking that he was the one in charge of it all. All the rest of the scientists were clearly afraid of him or rather what'd happen to them if they did anything to displease him. When Hojo came though he couldn't shake the feeling that he was less in the presence of a person and more in the presence of a scary monster that could gobble him up without warning. To Hojo no one else mattered but him, nothing else mattered but his work and anyone that challenged these absolutes probably didn't last too long.
At the moment he was in his room on his bed trying to get some rest in spite of the lingering pain in his body. Though to call it a room would've been a serious understatement since it was all grey with a locked door, a simple toilet in the corner and the bed was only a little better than the floor when it came to sleeping. How did he know that? Because one of the times he'd been brought back from a series of tests he'd simply been tossed onto the floor and left to get into the bed on his own. However the pain that night had been too much to let him get to his feet and he'd barely been strong enough to crawl over so he could pull the blankets off the bed.
He hadn't gotten much sleep that night.
When he couldn't sleep though his thoughts inevitably drifted back to happier times living alongside Ifalna and Gast in the snow covered town. He still couldn't remember anything about what came before being saved by the two of them but oddly enough it no longer caused him pain to try. Instead it was more like trying to push through a wall of muddy water in that you couldn't see through to the other side and trying to walk through it was impossible. Every time he tried to 'reach' through with his mind to what lay beyond it was violently repelled leaving him mentally exhausted before too long.
Was what existed on the other side of the barrier really worth it?
Yes.
He wanted to know who he was, where he'd come from and why he was able to cast spells without materia on hand. He thought that if he could just learn the answers to those questions then maybe he'd be able to stop looking behind him and start marching towards something.
Without memories of his more distant past though he began to think of his more recent past or more specifically what'd happened to the two adults who'd taken him in. Gast…he…he was probably dead. He didn't know what it was that he'd done to try and save the man but he was pretty sure he blew it. Ifalna hadn't ever let him practice with any healing materia so he didn't know what sort of injuries it could fix but with the amount of blood Gast had been losing he doubted anything short of a miracle would've worked. It saddened him that the man who'd taken time out of his own work to teach him had returned to the planet and would never be seen again.
As for Ifalna she'd probably been taken by Hojo too but he hadn't seen or heard about her since he'd lost consciousness at their home. No one in this new place had spoken her name at all leaving him to wonder about her wellbeing as well as that of her baby. Had Gast's death done something to the pregnancy? He hoped not. He was kinda looking forward to being Aerith's big brother even if they weren't related by blood and her parents hadn't formally adopted him. It brought a smile to his face whenever he imagined what it'd be like helping her learn to walk, exploring the woods together and helping her learn to use materia.
Now though that could all be dust in the wind if seeing her husband die had done something to Aerith.
He just didn't know.
He couldn't even plan for the future because he never knew what the people here would do to him tomorrow. He didn't know where he was, where the way out was or the best way of getting there was!
~^Then what're you going to do about it?^~
The voice from nowhere caused his eyes to open instantly as he looked about the room to find the source but even with the scant light coming from the seams of the door he saw nothing. Was he going crazy like that old man who liked to talk in front of the inn? Everyone treated the elderly man kindly but they also agreed that his mind wasn't in the greatest of shape. Kept talking about things that'd never happened or to people who weren't there. Occasionally the guy fell into a period of acting mostly normal but it never lasted too long with the periods of stability coming at random.
~^If you find yourself in a situation with precious few answers and even fewer options you're not going to change that by whining about it.^~
"I am NOT whining about it!" He muttered not wanting people outside the room to think he was crazy.
~^Yes you are. If you don't have options then you need the means of gaining them. Train your body and mind. Be aware of your surroundings. Remember everything you hear. Do this and things will change.^~
With those last words he somehow got the feeling that whoever had spoken had gone but with a slight sniff he could swear he smelled something like the special bottle in Gast's lab. He'd asked the scientist about it once and been told that it was something special he'd gotten from a Wutai man he'd met on his travels. As for what it was Gast had merely said he'd find out when he turned eighteen. He hadn't overly cared at the time but the smells were definitely similar in nature.
Nevertheless what he'd been told stuck with him.
The task still felt insurmountable given the mountain sized pile of things he didn't know but it was either work to change it or wallow in the hell he was now in. Since wallowing would mean he'd never leave this place and things would never get better he decided he'd better get started with his 'training'.
Getting off the bed he got into position and began doing the simplest exercise that just about everyone knew how to do.
Push-ups!
The Board of Directors Meeting Room
Three Weeks Later
President Shinra's POV
"Have you made any progress with the Ancient Professor Hojo?" He asked after taking a puff of his favourite brand of cigar.
"The specimen successfully gave birth to her hybrid offspring with no detectable harm coming to either of them as a result of her period of emotional distress. However I would advise utilizing more gentle methods of interrogation for the time being." Hojo replied weaving his web of words as usual, "Once the lingering effects of her pregnancy and the injections used to keep her stable have faded we can resort to more forceful methods should she prove uncooperative. Waiting will also give us time to acquire the methods of persuasion we will need."
In other words the scientist wanted to drag out his hold over the Ancient for the purposes of his experiments. He was no fool, he knew his head of the Science and Research Division well, so he knew that the man was using him just he was using Hojo. Neither of them would ever let the leverage they had over the other be wasted and would always be on the lookout for more in order to strengthen their own positions. For the moment though there was no one in the Division smart enough and reliable enough to replace Hojo with Hollander being lacking and Gast going MIA. Therefore until this status quo changed or the professor proved to be more trouble than he was worth they would play this game with each other.
Still it was good to hear that both the Ancient and the child he'd discovered she'd been carrying were healthy since it meant he had another two methods of finding the Promised Land. He still had hopes for Projects S and G to produce a hybrid capable of finding it but had some doubts regarding their viability given their means of creation. A naturally born hybrid from a still living pureblood appeared in his eyes to be much more reliable. As a whole it made him believe that it was only a matter of time before he beheld the mako rich Promised Land with his own eyes.
The place where Neo-Midgar would be born!
It would be a place of technological wonder that'd make the current Midgar look like a proof of concept prototype by comparison! While he didn't know what the Promised Land looked like at the moment he'd nevertheless hired a team of architects to begin drafting designs for what Neo-Midgar could look like. Without any specifics he'd simply told them to design something grand beyond compare as well as a symbol of the power of mako.
A symbol of the power of Shinra.
He'd given them a year to come up with some preliminary designs that he would later appraise before eliminating the ones whose visions did not match his own.
"And what of the boy you had my men drag in?" Heidegger, head of Public Safety, asked sounding like he considered the boy dead weight, "You've had him for just as long. I assume the wait for results is going to be worth it?"
"You've seen the video for yourself. The potential gains for learning how to cast 'magic' without materia are incalculable." Hojo replied as though the matter was all but closed, "When added to a possible second site for certain Lost things and it is quite worth Shinra's time to spend resources on the specimen."
He knew all too well what Hojo was referring to and he agreed that if there was a second site of Lost Technology then finding it would almost be as high a priority as finding the Promised Land. It had been through blood, sweat and no small amount of gil that his ancestors had worked to resurrect the technology of the Fahrenheit Two and if the records were accurate they still weren't there. Ships the size of a Shinra battleship capable of flying through the air and armed with directed energy weapons more powerful than any materia on record.
Even with his drive and the resources at his disposal he doubted that he would see the goal reached in his lifetime but then that was what children were for.
~Speaking of which I can't let this meeting go on for much longer.~ He thought glancing at the clock on the wall, ~The play is due to begin in a little over two hours. The prep work will take almost as long to say the least.~
"Have you learned enough to at least propose a tentative theory on how the boy can do this?" He asked hoping that such a thing would at least silence Heidegger so that they could bring the meeting to a close that much sooner.
"While I would prefer not to hypothesize this early in the study of the specimen I believe its personality matrix or 'soul' if you are feeling religious is more intricately connected to its body than ours is. As a result when it uses materia and the sphere establishes a connection to the lifestream so too does it establish a connection to the subject's personality matrix." Hojo said sounding like he'd at least been thinking of this theory longer than others, "As a result the lifestream or 'the wisdom of the Ancients' as it is often referred to is able to be downloaded directly into the subjects mind. As a result so long as nothing happens to erase that knowledge the specimen can utilize it on its own without the need for materia."
He could tell that some in the room were having an easier time understanding the scientist's words than others.
"Put more simply while the rest of us require an instruction manual at all times to use materia the subject's unique 'soul' allows him to copy it perfectly right into his brain." Hojo said with mild frustration at being the only scientist in the room, "As such after he's read the manual once he no longer needs it in order to use the spells. I imagine that some of it will depend on how close to being mastered the materia is in terms of which techniques he can use but that can be managed well enough."
"Interesting. With enough materia on hand the boy could literally become a walking arsenal that no one would know they were looking at besides us." Heidegger said with a smile before unleashing his annoying 'gya-ha-ha' laughter.
"Potentially yes presuming that there is no biological limiter in the subject's brain that would be the case." Hojo said pointing out an accurate weakness.
The human body as it was barely met his needs for the casual day to day matters and was little better than cannon fodder in battle. It was one of the reasons why he'd tasked Hojo with exploring the possibilities of taking the work being done in the Jenova Project and using it to create super soldiers. It was inevitable that with deposits of mako being the finite resources they were that his company would need to expand to other locations on the planet if it was to not just survive but dominate. He knew all too well that there would be those who'd resist the usual bribe package to allow the construction of a mako reactor and some might even reject Shinra's presence entirely. While they had Heidegger's Public Security forces and Scarlet's military hardware conflict could quickly become a costly affair if it went on for too long. Better to use superiority from the beginning to stomp out the opposition swiftly and with sufficient super soldiers anyone who opposed him would be swiftly dealt with.
"Would it possible to adapt the enhancement procedures you're devising for the SOLDIER program to work on the boy?" He asked with veiled curiosity, "If his body could be enhanced it would increase the number of 'instruction manuals' his mind could hold and utilize."
"Hmmmm…an interesting proposal Mister President." Hojo replied stroking his chin in thought, "While the enhancement procedures are still in the development stage I would be willing to explore that avenue of experimentation once the risk to the subject was minimized. It is to our knowledge one of a kind after all."
"Take the time you need to minimize the risks but once the procedures are safe enough put the boy through them. If it works as I hope it will it will be MOST profitable for the company." He ordered not letting the scientist think he had any other option open to him.
While the sole product of the S variant of the Jenova Project was showing pleasing results with the training being provided it would be best to have a backup in case of the unforeseen. The boy might not be an Ancient or a hybrid but if he could access and internalize the wisdom of the Ancients then it was possible with enough exposure clues to the location of the Promised Land could be found. Indeed if a way was found to copy the boy's power onto the S variant prototype…
~No. Putting too much power in a single individual is too risky.~ He thought dismissing the momentary imagining, ~Without a reliable means of control that couldn't be safely removed physically or magically I could find myself with a blade at my throat.~
Then a thought occurred to him that might just solve the problem nicely.
While efforts were being made to control the environment of the S variant in order to psychologically manipulate the prototype it was inevitable that it would develop certain HUMAN weaknesses. While he would prefer something powerful yet obedient science was not yet at the point where gaining the latter could be done without reducing battlefield effectiveness. As such the only route left to control the S variant was to use its weak human needs against it by selectively arranging for it to befriend or be befriended by the right people. If 'friendships' were encouraged of the close variety then threats implied, veiled or otherwise would make for an effective leash for the S variant. Naturally they would have to prove willing to go through with the threats but at the same time allow hope to exist for the friend's survival and recovery.
He would prefer not to find out what the consequences would be if the 'friend' were to be killed especially if Hojo's claims about the S variant's eventual abilities proved accurate.
If the boy being discussed were to be made one of those friends, perhaps even partnered in the field frequently, they would both still be manageable but would also make for an effective combination.
Something to think about for the future.