Chapter 16

            The next day back at Shinra's air force base a single tear slowly formed in a young man's eye and meandered its way down his cheek. Why the tear, some would ask? One cannot fully digest the answer to this question without actually putting themselves in the shoes of Hector Winters.

            And that was just what Hector did, only these shoes weren't his combat boots, in fact there were no shoes at all on this version of Hector, for he was twelve, and money had been scarce in his family.

****

            Young Hector had always loved to play tag, and in this memory he was coincidentally enough playing tag. Like in any other proper game of tag in Lircos Hector's friends Jan and Niko were playing with him out on the dirt street which served as the main road for the village of Lircos. Both Jan and Niko had been lifelong friends of Hector's, although Jan was a good three or four years older than the other two. Even after an hour of running around frantically the boys weren't tired.

            Hector had managed to evade every attempt made by his friends at tagging him so far and was quite proud of himself. Niko was it, and had been for about twenty or so minutes, and he was getting rather bored with the job. Suddenly Niko's boredom ceased though, for he had finally come close to a prime target, Hector. Hector felt the firm presence of Niko's hand on his back, but suddenly that presence grew stronger and Hector plummeted to the ground, greeting a sharp rock at his head. Hector was it, but there more important things to deal with at the moment.

            Hector did not remember much of the time between his fall and waking in bed, but Jan and Niko gladly volunteered it later, as well as an extremely sincere apology from Niko. Apparently the rock had opened up the entire right side of his face. A very bloody affair, or so says Jan, Niko ran off to his house crying immediately after Hector fell.

            A nearby shopkeeper watched the whole event and immediately came out and carried Hector off to his bed where he could be treated. But the town medic and the boy's parents received quite a shock when they found the bloody gash gone, replaced by a long, thing glowing scar. Although his blue shirt was forever stained with blood.

****   

The adults never found any plausible explanation, and so it was not talked of. Though, as in any community, word got around and the Winters' became people one would look at suspiciously when passing by. They weren't like everyone else, especially the young boy; he was the oddest of them all, if only they'd known how wrong they were. Hector still lead a fairly normal life for the most part, until over the course of two years something strange began to happen.

            Mr. & Mrs. Winters had always been good people, leading a very mundane life, ever servile to the will of Shinra. They were the model citizens and parents, never stepping out of their place or questioning the rule of Shinra. Of course being in this mindset made them view Hector's incident as a horrible thing, but they still loved him, although cautiously. For this was how their religion, the religion Shinra had imported to their destitute village, had instructed them to deal with the bad things recently occurring in their life. But their religion had no scripture, or guidance for how to deal with the problems that would soon confront them.

            Mrs. Winters had always been very healthy; she ate well and ran a fast paced two miles every morning. So when she suddenly could not complete her runs it puzzled her, for she was still fairly young at forty-three, and had never before had any health problems. But after about a mile her bones ached with a pain unlike any other, as if they could sporadically break at any moment. And soon her body could not even carry her to work, to the point that she had to take a week's leave to try and recuperate.

            In that week the Winters' household was quite macabre, for Mrs. Winters had staked out her domain to include all of the living room, and so she lay, like some old deflated basketball, slowly losing it's air, waiting to be thrown out. Of course with the absence of a second paycheck Mr. Winters had to work double shifts to keep the family going.

            It was the double shifts that were the downfall of the Winters family. Mr. Winters had always worked during the day, but with the double shift he was working virtually around the clock, straight through the night with a few hours for break and right on to the next day. Though he always found time everyday to read a small passage from the Shinra manufactured Bible.

            But being faithful did not save Mr. Winters, as much as he'd hoped it would. For one night at the end of the first week in which his wife was sick, something occurred in the factory, something that never should have happened.

            The factory produced many things, too many to be named, but in almost every sector there was an abundance of feverish pistons and other rapidly moving machinery. There was one sector in particular which was notorious for it's malfunctioning machinery, resulting in many deaths. And so there was quite a dearth of people willing to even enter the area. Thus whenever a new employee applied they would always be transferred to the infamous sector, and when Mr. Winters applied for a second shift, just like any other employee, he was transferred to that sector.

            His luck had held out for the week or so he'd been working double shifts, but one ill-fated night that changed. On that night there was only one other person working in that sector, and together they toiled away into the night and almost clear on to morning. Yet their progress would be forever halted quite soon.

            No one really knows what happened in that sector on that night, but this much can be assumed. The central structure in the area was a large set of steel gears, which powered all the other machinery in the room when moving. It is assumed that somehow a gear came loose, and that one gear being the catalyst in some large reaction, brought everything around them crashing down, and in that span of seconds, the two men were crushed.

            The incident was not discovered until the next shift, when a trio of workers came in to take over, and found the sector in shambles. After a three week long period of cleanup the two bodies were found, although quite different looking in their squished state. Shinra sent their deepest condolences to the families, but by this time Mrs. Winters was quite sick, and it is not known if she ever fully comprehended the news.

            Through it all young Hector, at the time thirteen, passing on fourteen, shut himself in his room, refusing to go to school or even to visit his mother. With this began a tradition of mis-education that Hector never broke, never again was a school graced by his presence.

            So he grew up as an outcast, he never socialized, never went to school. He taught himself all he needed to know, and once he was satisfied with his education he took to wandering. At first it was just out in the fields around Lircos, but it soon escalated to much more serious explorations.

            His interest now lay in poking around buildings, sometimes occupied ones, and "borrowing" anything he found useful. But it never mattered if the buildings were occupied or not, for Hector never got caught. And so the rumor of "The Phantom" grew all over Lircos as things began missing from everyone's houses. So Hector began to think of himself as invincible, for if he hadn't been caught yet, why would he ever be caught? That attitude held strong, until one night when "The Phantom" was put to rest.

****

            The night was like any other, cold, dark and most of all, still as death. Except for one thing, the kind of movement that you caught out of the corner of your eye, like a leaf blowing across the street. But this movement was much more than a leaf; it was a boy, about fourteen, with dark brown hair and a look in his eyes far beyond his years. This boy was Hector Winters, but recently more well known as "The Phantom".

            It had started out like any other evening, slipping out of the house, getting a feel for the night, such as guards, weather etcetera, and then hitting the target.

The target tonight was a boring one, the water regulator building controlled by Shinra. And it wouldn't have been interesting for any other reason than the Shinra symbol on the door. Shinra, the people who employed every single able bodied citizen in Lircos. Without them the village of Lircos could not exist, the people would die, for Shinra also controlled the single grocery store.

What the water regulators held that was so interesting, Hector did not know, but he had a feeling about them, and that was all that mattered. The lock on the door proved interesting in itself, a level three security clearance, pretty high from some water pumps. But Hector hacked through it and the second the doors opened he knew that these were more than some ordinary water pumps.

The building was much larger than it's single brick one story showing above ground, a quick glance down made him slightly dizzy, a good ten stories were visible burrowing down into the earth, if not more. And stiffly clanking around these levels of catwalks were a pair of guards in the standard Shinra blue. This would prove his greatest challenge yet, but he was up to it.

Since the guards were heading downwards on their patrol he had free reign of the upper levels. And so he traipsed around conspicuously, almost forgetting he still had to keep his presence secret. What Hector was not aware of though at the time, was that his every step was being watched.

But oblivious to having been detected, he made his way down to a large set of circular feeder tanks. At first he assumed these held purifying chemicals, but upon closer inspection he read the word: MAKO stamped on the side. Mako? He'd never read about that in any of his science books, odd. Any time to further investigate was lost though as a gruff shout of "Hey!" startled him.

And to accompany that shout was the sound of rapidly clanging boots on the metal steps, running up towards the intruder. That was all Hector needed to take off at the fastest sprint he'd ever done, this wasn't tag any more. To his dismay the door he'd come in through was jammed shut in some sort of building-wide security lockdown, and the two soldiers were still coming.

As the first blue clad man came up the final flight or stairs Hector picked up a loose rusty metal pipe from the labyrinth of outgoing water pumps along the wall and swung it like a baseball bat right into the soldier's skull. A sickly thud resounded over the steady hum of machinery, sending a chill up Hector's spine followed by the sound of the man's limp body tumbling down the stairs.

            Hector made a dash in a random direction, but soon realized there was still one more guard. That one more toppled young Hector to the ground while in mid thought. Basic instinct caused the boy to jab his elbow into the man's gut, which was just enough to make the soldier loosen his grip for Hector to escape. But to where? He answered his own question as the soldier grabbed his leg, causing the boy to reflexively kick him in the face and without another though vault over the steel railing into the abyss of pipes and catwalks.

****

            The first thing that struck Hector when he woke up was the lack of color. Every square inch of his surroundings were devoid of any life or substance. It was as if he was floating in a sea of white, nothing anchoring him down. But suddenly the anchor buried itself in the sand as a hole appeared in the wall and there stood a silhouette.

            Then, as if being drawn in by some unseen cartoonist the silhouette filled out to show a wiry man standing in the doorway. At first he made no motion, just stood there, but then something clicked on inside his head and he stepped inside, door closing behind him. The man was dressed in standard attire for a Shinra worker, except his uniform, which held no tag designating a sector or other identification number. His hair had been fashioned into a crew cut, yet a few unruly blond strands had begun to poke out from the main body of hair, almost time for another cut.

            Hector had no chance to take in any more of the man though, because suddenly he found himself sprawled across the floor of the white cube, with a dull pain in his back where something had connected with his spine.

            "I hope you have finally realized that this is a bit more complicated than a petty game of tag." sneered the Shinra man.

            That voice was very familiar, yet Hector could not seem to place it.

            "Get up you wretch." ordered the other man.

            Hector obeyed, slowly turning around and getting to his feet. It was then that he realized how he knew the voice, and a sudden chill came over him. He was staring into the hazel eyes of his childhood friend Jan.

            "I see it didn't take much for them to bend you to their will." Hector said scathingly.

            Jan punched him cleanly across the jaw, momentarily moving the boy's head into an awkward angle on his neck.

            "Next time you talk without being asked to, the consequences will be more severe." admonished Jan.

            Hector nodded reluctantly, he would have to play Jan's game for now.

            "I have been sent here to get some information from you. Just the basics, so we can properly detain you without any legal entanglements. Your name I already know, along with the basic information. But now we come down to the most pressing question. What the hell are you doing here?" said Jan, lowering his eyes to look into Hectors' on the last sentence.

            "I don't really have a good answer for that." replied Hector.

            Jan sighed and averted his gaze from the boy.

            "All right then, I'd say your fate is sealed." the man said with a smirk.

            And so ended the brief questioning, for Jan turned on his heel and walked right out the door.

****

            But Hector was not alone for long, about ten minutes later the whiteness opened and a burly arm reached through to roughly pull Hector out into the hallway. He resisted for a moment, to get one last look at his brief home, the white prison, and then let himself be dragged out.

            The blackness turned out to be a brightly lit corridor lined with what seemed to be a series of white rooms like the one he'd just been in. Hector didn't get much of a chance to look though, for it seemed his guard was intent on making him as uncomfortable as possible, by jamming a metal rod into his vertebrae and roughly pushing him along at a good pace.

            Hector did manage to catch a glimpse of one cell, which had its door open. What he saw inside was rather disturbing, crimson blood stained the pristine white walls in blotches, most likely a result of Jan's brutality.

            After that cell the area changed, and a set of stairs presented itself at the end of the hallway. The steep, corrugated steel steps lead to a short hallway with what seemed to be laboratories on either side, and a blank door at the end. The door opened upon receiving a code from the guard on a keypad. And so with a strong shove from his escort Hector entered the room.

            It was practically the size of a closet and painted entirely black, save the walls to Hector's left and right. On these walls were two small, yet noticeable holes. Suddenly a pair of thin, circular, metal arms protruded from the holes, and wrapped themselves around Hector's waist, so as to make sure he didn't move. The reason for this soon became obvious as thousands of light beams illuminated him, and even passed through his body from almost every angle.

            This all happened within a few seconds, but it seemed like forever. And then it was over just as quickly as it'd begun. With a hollow beep, followed by a metallic click a door opened in front of Hector, revealing a small office.

            The walls were brick, poorly painted, with a now peeling, grayish tone. Dirty, worn carpet covered the floor, having been walked on so many times that all original color was gone. The room itself was cluttered with every science book imaginable, along with various documents, piled high on tables and cabinets. And at the center of it all was a cheap, old, metal desk, equally as cluttered as the rest of the room.

            A single, hanging light bulb, dimly lit the area and at first it appeared that there was no one else in the room. Suddenly though, as Hector's eyes adjusted to the light, a thin, pale figure was visible sitting at the desk. He wore a dirtied lab coat and a pair of cracked spectacles.

            "Come in quickly, the B.A.M malfunctions when exposed to this filthy air for too long." snapped the man.

            Obeying Hector stepped into the office, hearing the door rapidly click shut, and the filtering fans click on inside the small room behind him.

            "What the hell is a B.A.M?" asked Hector skeptically.

            "Body Analyzer Machine, it checks for any harmful substances, and also gives a complete reading of your body. Your reading is rather interesting…" explained the man.

            "Who are you anyway?" Hector wondered out loud.

            "Full of questions aren't you?" sneered the man, "Professor Hojo. Now stop interrupting me. As I was saying, your B.A.M. reading is surprising. It shows the Mako concentration in your body to be around 45%, one of the highest I've seen yet."

            "What's this Mako stuff anyway? It's all over the place, wherever this place is…"

            A smirk began to form on Hojo's face.

            "What is Mako? What is Mako?!"

            The professor suddenly broke out into a fit of cackling laughter, stopping only when his lungs could not handle the work anymore, and he began to cough violently. Once he'd recovered he began again.

            "Mako is the greatest discovery of mankind, it has put us where we are today!"

            By this point young Hector was beginning to become a bit perplexed, and also somewhat skeptical.

            "That didn't help." Hector said blankly.

            "Of course it didn't, not for an ignorant little boy like you. Even with it making up almost half of your body you still cannot feel it's raw power, it's beauty. But there may still be hope for you."
            Hector just stood there, and so Hojo continued.

            "You could be a great asset. With such a high concentration and no damage. But first you will have to let go, let go of your normal life. Leave it all behind." said Hojo, incorporating some random hand gestures.

            "Look can I leave now? You're starting to get kinda creepy, and I don't want to join anything that you promote so much." Hector said, as he moved to the door.

            Hojo made no motion to stop him, and Hector kept on slowly backing towards the door, eyes fixed suspiciously on the professor the whole time.

            "Why are you leaving so soon, don't you want to know why your mother is sick?" Hojo asked suddenly.

            At this Hector snapped around to face the professor.

            "I did not just bring you here to say hello, you'll need to know a few things before you continue on."

            Hector waited for more information attentively.

            "This substance, Mako, that you so quickly scoff at, is everywhere in this pitiful little town. Every drink you take, every morsel of food you consume, contains this. But it is an unpredictable thing. At first the population was reduced drastically in just a few years due to 'unconfirmed poisoning'. That was the Mako at work, when introduced to suck a weak body as a human's, it wreaks havoc. And so we worked to harness it's energy." cried Hojo, making a tight fist of his gnarled hand.

            "Only in the past ten or so years have we been able to control it. And so in most cases the Mako has begun to strengthen the bodies in the population, in a number of ways. In most every case the specimen has a very high level of endurance, along with numerous other qualities. For example your former friend Niko only has a very high level of stamina, nothing else; whereas that twerp Jan supposedly possesses a superior brain. You we have yet to full assess though. It is obvious your stamina is high, along with some regenerative capabilities, which were displayed in your tag incident, but nothing else is known at the moment."

            "The only problem is that sometimes the concentration can become too high and at that point the specimen almost always becomes ill. This is the case with your mother, here concentration is somewhere around 40%. That is why I find you quite interesting, for your concentration exceeds 40% yet you are perfectly healthy."

            At that moment Hector felt so unclean, as if the Mako was polluting his body as they spoke, which as a matter of fact it was.

            "You cannot get rid of it, you must accept it" said Hojo, as if having read the boy's thoughts.

            Hector just stood there, staring at some unknown point on the wall for an eternity.

            The professor let him go that night, much to the dismay of Jan and the guards.

****

            After that he ceased all of his nighttime prowling, primarily to tend to his mother. The Mako had almost fully saturated her, but he still held out some hope for her well being, but his hope was in vain. Hector's mother passed away the next spring, leaving him all alone in the world.

            Of course without an income he could no longer afford their house, and so with a backpack full of essential tools and such he set up an existence in the fields outside of the town. And that was why, a year later, he was not killed when Lircos was reduced to rubble.

****

            This thought was the last in his remembering for the night, because at that moment Cid walked into the bunkroom, and Hector couldn't have the lieutenant see him in his current state. So he quickly wiped the tear from his eye, turned over on his stomach, and fell asleep.

Note: Sorry it took a while to get this one up, I will try to be a bit quicker with writing 17, but this one was a beast to do, and I had to cut and reform a lot of scenes, hope it was worth it.