Chapter 27
As he walked up what felt like the hundredth staircase this afternoon, Kain Dawson began to wonder just what the hell he'd gotten himself into. Up until this week, he'd never had cause to go inside the Shinra building before – his effectively small time fraud scams tended not to touch large companies who could fight back.
He was being shown around by Linden, who had taken it upon himself to give the rookie the grand tour. That meant he'd spent roughly three hours so far being dragged up and down the HQ, introduced to people who's names he'd instantly forgotton, and given all manner of advice from others he doubted he'd ever see again.
They reached the top of the stairs, and Linden pushed open a set of double doors. "Behold" he intoned dramatically. "Weapons Development." He ushered his charge through, as Kain looked round, clearly out of his depth. "This is where all the fun stuff happens" said the Turk conversationally. "Practically my favourite department in fact."
"Practically? So what's your favourite?"
"Secretarial typing pool."
Kain got the feeling he should have seen that one coming. A few days spent in Linden's company had been most… enlightening. The man didn't seem at all like a Turk. Or rather, he wasn't the spitting image of what Kain had thought a Turk should be. Neither had the other one, the guy they'd introduced as Deacon. The only person who appeared to live up to the reputation was their leader…
Linden swiped a passcard through a reader and escorted him through some more doors. These ones opened into a laboratory of some kind, at least, that was what Kain assumed from the sterile looking plain white walls and men in spotless labcoats. Upon closer inspection however, he began to realise that this wasn't your average run-of-the-mill lab. His first clue was a man hunched over a table, intensely scrutinising a sandwich. Either he was incredibly picky about his food, or something strange was going on here. Another man was stood in a panelled off enclosure, pointing an umbrella at a dummy. Kain resisted the urge to stare.
"OK now" said Linden, interrupting the rookie's thoughts. "I'm gonna introduce you to Retro. He'll get you all kitted up."
"Retro?"
The Turk gave him a knowing grin. "You'll see." They weaved their way through the room, until they found a middle aged man playing with a PHS. A vast array of tools was laid out in a haphazard manner on his desk, while he tinkered inside the device with a screwdriver. A thin plume of smoke drifted up from the back of it. Kain decided to keep a safe distance in case the thing went off.
Linden showed no such concern. "Retro! How ya doing man?" he asked cheerily, slapping the weapons developer on the back. "I've brought the new guy along. Can we get him sorted?"
Retro looked up from his work. "New Turk, eh?" he asked rhetorically. "I think we should be able to provide most of what he needs." He put down the screwdriver and PHS, which was now beginning to emit a rather worrying burning smell. "Come with me then, I don't have all day…"
The pair followed him towards a small office room full of cupboards. As they walked, Kain leaned over to Linden. "Is he OK?" he whispered conspiratorially. "I mean he seems a bit… You know…"
Linden nodded. "Oh yeah. He is. But he's also the best developer of weaponry that the company has ever seen. So we tend to ignore the fact that he's a little…"
"Nuts?"
Entering the room, Retro bad them take a seat whilst he searched through some drawers. "Right, first things first" he announced, producing a smooth black gun. "Standard issue Turk revolver. Complete with clips and silencer." He arranged a set of accessories on a table and gestured for Kain to take them. "We can get you whatever else you need, once you've found you weapon of choice. In the meantime, this should be enough to keep you out of danger."
"My weapon of choice?" Kain had the distinct feeling that all he was doing was repeating what everyone else was saying, and it was beginning to make him feel foolish.
Thankfully Linden was on hand to explain. "There's no strict rules as to what weapon you use" he said. "So we can all find something that suits us best. I prefer these little guns, whilst Deacon has a huge mother of a rifle. Vincent of course has an entire room at his place full of guns, but then again he would." Kain sensed there was some kind of joke hidden there, but wasn't quite sure what it was. He gave a spirited smile though, to try and keep up.
In the meantime, Retro had located some more objects and was spreading them out infront of the Turks. Kain did a doubletake when he saw exactly what the objects were. "Bubble gum?" he asked incredulously. "And biros? You bring me up here for a quick snack and a company pen?"
Retro sighed and shook his head. "Just what kind of Turk have you recruited this time?" he demanded of Linden, who simply grinned and shrugged. The developer pointed at the gum. "This is not simply chewing gum" he explained. "This is high powered plastic explosive designed to look like chewing gum. And these biros, as you call them, can fire projectiles."
"You're kidding me."
To demonstrate his point, the weapons developer picked up one of the pens and stalked outside. Locating the nearest dummy, he pointed the biro at it, and tapped the end. Nothing happened.
Kain smirked. "Well" he started, "if that was supposed to…" His comment was cut abruptly short by the sudden and rather violent explosion of the dummy. Retro turned round and beamed. "Holy shit."
A short while later, the pair of Turks left the laboratory, one considerably more tooled up than he had been when he came in.
"So let me get this straight" muttered Kain. "You call the most technologically advanced guy in the whole company, a guy who I'm sure has more gadgets and gizmos than anyone else on this planet, you call this man 'Retro'?"
Linden gave a wry smile. "Yep. Not sure how that happened really. I think it was a Vincent thing and the nickname stuck."
"I've been meaning to ask about Vincent…" They reached the Turks Lounge, where each collapsed into one of the comfy chairs. "What's his deal?"
"His deal?"
"I can't work him out at all." Kain lodged his chin in the cup of one hand. "I mean one minute he's normal, the next he's scaring the shit out of me."
The more senior Turk had to agree. "Vincent is… complicated" he said at length. "I've known him for a few years now, and I still don't think I totally get him. He's a damn good Turk, probably the best we've ever had. I don't mind admitting that. He's just not the most sociable of people I guess."
Kains' sarcasm was evident. "No. Really?"
Linden rolled his eyes. "He takes the job very seriously. It's all about how he deals with things. Same goes for each of us, but you'll find that out for yourself soon enough."
Their musings were interrupted by the object of conversation poking his head round the door. "My office. Ten minutes." Then he disappeared again.
"You see what I mean about serious?"
- - -
"Professor?"
"Yes?" Gast turned around, and smiled when he saw the diminutive form of Lucrecia standing behind him. "Ah, what can I do for you?" he asked kindly.
The young scientist looked pensive, as she toyed with a lock of hair. "I've been thinking" she began. "About the Project, I mean…" From his desk in the corner, Hojo's earns pricked up. Without drawing attention to his movements, he carefully shifted round to hear the conversation more clearly.
Professor Gast looked on encouragingly. "What about it?" he enquired.
"Um… Well, we're all set to go, aren't we? We've got the Mako cells, we've got the Jenova cells, we've got the technology… There's just one thing we're missing, isn't there?" The strands of hair in her fingers were subjected to more vigorous twisting.
"What are you getting at?"
"We still need a host. And I was thinking that maybe… I could be it."
Neither scientist noticed the sly smile that was beginning to cross Hojo's face. Bless Jenova, the Ancient was right! The damn fool woman had put herself forward as the test subject without prompting. Well, without any human prompting, anyway. Truly the powers of the Cetra were something to behold!
"I mean" Lucrecia hurriedly went on, "we'll need someone young, and healthy. And if the host is someone who knows about the Project and understands it, then wouldn't that be the best idea?" The words rushed out of her mouth, as she tried to express what her mind was telling her. "So I am volunteering. Myself. If you think it's a good idea…"
Professor Gast placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "My dear Lucrecia" he said comfortingly. "I can't think of a single person who would be better for this task. And I'm sure Doctor Hojo would agree with me, wouldn't you Doctor?"
Hojo looked up, in pretence of not having heard them talking. "Eh? What?"
"Lucrecia here has put herself forward to be the carrier of our Project specimen. I think it's a capital idea, don't you?"
The Doctor nodded casually. "Yes, I'm sure that will be most satisfactory" he said, keeping his outward appearance as cool as he could manage.
"And of course" carried on Gast, "as you know, Doctor Hojo has volunteered to provide half of the genetic material. So really we're all set to go."
Lucrecia nodded. There was something nagging at the back of her mind, a voice, trying to tell her something. But it seemed to be coming from so far away, she could not make it out. Never mind, she thought. It can't be that important. "So how are we going to proceed?"
Gast pulled out some of his own notes from on top of the tabletop. "The original plan was to carry out an artificial insemination upon the host. After a short period of time, we will begin to introduce the Jenova cells. I see no reason to change that plan, do you?"
His colleagues shook their heads. "In that case" declared the Professor, "I think we should start immediately. Agreed?" The consensus was unanimous, and the three rushed to begin the thousand and one little tasks that would would need to be completed before they could get underway.
In the deepest recesses of her mind, the part of Lucrecia that was still Lucrecia beat furiously against an invisible, solid barrier. She shouted and screamed, but the cocoon Jenova had wrapped around her consciousness closed in and drowned her words.
