Author's Note:
I don't own FF. Ha, you were hoping for a funny disclaimer, weren't you? Suckers!
Chapter Twenty Seven
Enemy From the Sky
Lucrecia held a hand to her face, trying to ignore the headache. It had started as a dull throbbing sensation, aching behind her eyes. At first she had suspected that it was some sort of illness, or maybe allergies, then laughed it off.
With the Jenova in her, she couldn't get sick. Almost thirty years, and that still hadn't fully sunken in yet. She was going to have to accept soon that she was more than likely immortal. Not even Obsidian's blow had really hurt her, and thirty years hadn't added a day to her features.
The accursed pain in her skull wouldn't go away, though. The headache felt liked something buzzing around in her skull, poking around, setting small fires and then dosing them with mountains of ice shards. It was steadily getting worse the closer she came to her potential ally.
Something was trying to warn her away. An inner doubt, perhaps?
This meeting with Rufus had to take place, though. She had spent a month preparing, trying to figure out how to put this forth before him, elude the Turks so that they wouldn't try to kill her on sight, manipulate everything down to the last detail...
And now something was different. She didn't know what, but she could primaly feel it. It was like a predator, always at the edge of her vision, but darting away whenever she tried to look as it. The sensation reminded her of something, but she wasn't sure what....
And it wasn't just that. Rufus Shinra had apparently become even more arrogant than he had been a week ago. Gone were the platoon of guards that always used to follow him. Now, only Reeve would be by his side, and possibly one of the two Turks still left.
Something had changed, and that made Lucrecia wary. She didn't like unpredictable changes. In science, everything was bound by a set of rules. In her own life, everything had been tightly controlled. But here, in the world, nothing ever really made sense.
So it was here she stood, on top of one of the Junon elevators that transported people around the city, waiting for Rufus to do his daily rounds. She had watched him from afar do this on schedule every day.
She looked down to her wrist watch, then muttered to herself. He was late. From what she had seen, he was never late. Her headache buzzed even more, crying out for relief. She needed to get out of here. Lucrecia decided to wait another five minutes. If he wasn't here by then...
A click sounded behind her, and she turned to face it. Pointed directly at her head was an advanced Shinra model shotgun, designed to be used as a staff in close combat as well as an effective long ranged weapon. Her heart leapt into her throat as she looked down the barrel of the gun. Now she knew how Vincent must have felt.
The wielder of it was Rufus. Reminding herself that she was technically unkillable, Lucrecia straightened herself out and looked him directly in the eye. And gasped.
As the assistant to both Professor Gast and Hojo, and having worked on the Soldier project herself, Lucrecia naturally recognized Mako eyes. Their unmistakable glow was clear, a soft blue, very gentle in its appearance. But something was different about these eyes. Something familiar, but odd. An anomaly.
The unmistakable feel of a predator looking at her was unmistakable. She had been led into this somehow, he had known she would be here. But how? Why this confrontation? Why risk himself, even if he was newly enhanced?
"Professor Lucrecia Hargun, I presume."
Her eyes narrowed at his arrogant tone. He sounded smug, as if he knew something that she didn't. "President Rufus," she replied. "I wanted to talk--"
"Then talk. You have one minute. Satisfy me. And don't think that you'll be surviving a blast from this. The shells are made from hardened Mako. They'll kill even you."
Her heart leapt again, and she swallowed. Once she had wanted to kill herself, to end her existence and get away from all the pain and suffering within herself. Not now. Now she had to play her hand, for her son.
She had meticulously researched Rufus before making this appearance. He was a tyrant in the making, ambitious, brilliant, but he had one fault. Everyone knew of his original quest to rid the planet of Weapon. Now he seemed to have renewed that mission against Obsidian, more obsessed than before. He was on the offensive, sending troops out every day to locate it, so that he could destroy it.
"I will help you destroy Obsidian Weapon. I can find it for you."
"Hmph. I can do that all on my own. I don't need any help, especially yours."
His grip on the weapon tensed, and she yelped. "Wait! I know how to hurt Obsidian. Make it suffer."
Rufus loosened his hold and cocked his head at her. "I'm listening."
She reached into her pocket and grabbed a Shinra-issue electronic pad meant for holding data. She flicked on the screen and held it up for Rufus to see. On it were designs for a weapon meant to produce a chemical made of Jenova cells and Mako. It was the equivalent of acid to one of the planet's Weapons.
"This will burn Obsidian, melting it. It's the most effective way of killing it, but in no way humane. In return for showing this to you, I have one request--"
"Yes, yes," Rufus said. "I'll keep you alive. Consider the death warrant on your head gone. Give me the plans and leave."
"That's not what I wanted."
"Oh?" he said, the gun becoming an obvious threat again.
"Obsidian Weapon has a prisoner. Vincent Valentine. I need him for--"
"No. Whatever it is, no. I don't negotiate with your kind, not on the level that you want." A new tone was in his voice. Something akin to anger, but not quite... a kind of hatred. The tone was unfamiliar to her. She had never really been hated before. She had only heard it once, just before Vincent had thrown himself into the Lifestream.
She tried to ignore the implication of what was in his voice. "Why not? What do you mean, 'my kind'?"
"You are the enemy from the skies. Or born of it. Or influenced by it. But you are her. I can feel it in you. My kind has always been destined to fight yours. Give me the plans, and I'll let you live. But otherwise, I'll just kill you and take it from you."
This wasn't happening. She hadn't expected Rufus to be ready for her, to have a weapon that could actually kill her. She had expected the element of surprise, that she was the superior mind and possessed abilities to manipulate the outcome of this negotiation. She had so expected to succeed, but this...
The predator's gaze was upon her, and she now knew where the familiar sensation had come from, why Rufus seemed to hate her.
All members of Soldier were injected with version 1.02 of the Mako serum. It was meant to be the catalyst to the procedure, the way to survive the Mako shower and prevent extensive Mako poisoning. It was also filled with Jenova cells.
Version 1.01 did not.
Version 1.01 was filled with the DNA of Ifalna, the last of the Cetra.
Rufus was now in effect partially Cetra, with all that it entailed. A part of him could sense those touched by Jenova, and would seek to destroy them. She flinched away at the realization. That was what he had meant by his and her kind.
She dropped the plans for the weapon onto the top of the elevator, and began to step away. Never had she been so afraid, not even when she had feared her own son dead.
"I've changed my mind," Rufus said.
Her head jerked up. She felt her knees shake. An impudent look was on the President of Shinra's face. "I'll give you a head start. One day. But after that, I will find you, and kill you. Now start running, Jenova."
She turned and fled.
Author's Note:
Dun dun dun! I'll be doing my editing shortly, as soon as my editor appears. He's at the movies, curse him!
Update: I just tweaked this and threw in some more description, cleaned up some typos, and made the thoughts flow a bit better. Should be a bit of a better read now.
I don't own FF. Ha, you were hoping for a funny disclaimer, weren't you? Suckers!
Chapter Twenty Seven
Enemy From the Sky
Lucrecia held a hand to her face, trying to ignore the headache. It had started as a dull throbbing sensation, aching behind her eyes. At first she had suspected that it was some sort of illness, or maybe allergies, then laughed it off.
With the Jenova in her, she couldn't get sick. Almost thirty years, and that still hadn't fully sunken in yet. She was going to have to accept soon that she was more than likely immortal. Not even Obsidian's blow had really hurt her, and thirty years hadn't added a day to her features.
The accursed pain in her skull wouldn't go away, though. The headache felt liked something buzzing around in her skull, poking around, setting small fires and then dosing them with mountains of ice shards. It was steadily getting worse the closer she came to her potential ally.
Something was trying to warn her away. An inner doubt, perhaps?
This meeting with Rufus had to take place, though. She had spent a month preparing, trying to figure out how to put this forth before him, elude the Turks so that they wouldn't try to kill her on sight, manipulate everything down to the last detail...
And now something was different. She didn't know what, but she could primaly feel it. It was like a predator, always at the edge of her vision, but darting away whenever she tried to look as it. The sensation reminded her of something, but she wasn't sure what....
And it wasn't just that. Rufus Shinra had apparently become even more arrogant than he had been a week ago. Gone were the platoon of guards that always used to follow him. Now, only Reeve would be by his side, and possibly one of the two Turks still left.
Something had changed, and that made Lucrecia wary. She didn't like unpredictable changes. In science, everything was bound by a set of rules. In her own life, everything had been tightly controlled. But here, in the world, nothing ever really made sense.
So it was here she stood, on top of one of the Junon elevators that transported people around the city, waiting for Rufus to do his daily rounds. She had watched him from afar do this on schedule every day.
She looked down to her wrist watch, then muttered to herself. He was late. From what she had seen, he was never late. Her headache buzzed even more, crying out for relief. She needed to get out of here. Lucrecia decided to wait another five minutes. If he wasn't here by then...
A click sounded behind her, and she turned to face it. Pointed directly at her head was an advanced Shinra model shotgun, designed to be used as a staff in close combat as well as an effective long ranged weapon. Her heart leapt into her throat as she looked down the barrel of the gun. Now she knew how Vincent must have felt.
The wielder of it was Rufus. Reminding herself that she was technically unkillable, Lucrecia straightened herself out and looked him directly in the eye. And gasped.
As the assistant to both Professor Gast and Hojo, and having worked on the Soldier project herself, Lucrecia naturally recognized Mako eyes. Their unmistakable glow was clear, a soft blue, very gentle in its appearance. But something was different about these eyes. Something familiar, but odd. An anomaly.
The unmistakable feel of a predator looking at her was unmistakable. She had been led into this somehow, he had known she would be here. But how? Why this confrontation? Why risk himself, even if he was newly enhanced?
"Professor Lucrecia Hargun, I presume."
Her eyes narrowed at his arrogant tone. He sounded smug, as if he knew something that she didn't. "President Rufus," she replied. "I wanted to talk--"
"Then talk. You have one minute. Satisfy me. And don't think that you'll be surviving a blast from this. The shells are made from hardened Mako. They'll kill even you."
Her heart leapt again, and she swallowed. Once she had wanted to kill herself, to end her existence and get away from all the pain and suffering within herself. Not now. Now she had to play her hand, for her son.
She had meticulously researched Rufus before making this appearance. He was a tyrant in the making, ambitious, brilliant, but he had one fault. Everyone knew of his original quest to rid the planet of Weapon. Now he seemed to have renewed that mission against Obsidian, more obsessed than before. He was on the offensive, sending troops out every day to locate it, so that he could destroy it.
"I will help you destroy Obsidian Weapon. I can find it for you."
"Hmph. I can do that all on my own. I don't need any help, especially yours."
His grip on the weapon tensed, and she yelped. "Wait! I know how to hurt Obsidian. Make it suffer."
Rufus loosened his hold and cocked his head at her. "I'm listening."
She reached into her pocket and grabbed a Shinra-issue electronic pad meant for holding data. She flicked on the screen and held it up for Rufus to see. On it were designs for a weapon meant to produce a chemical made of Jenova cells and Mako. It was the equivalent of acid to one of the planet's Weapons.
"This will burn Obsidian, melting it. It's the most effective way of killing it, but in no way humane. In return for showing this to you, I have one request--"
"Yes, yes," Rufus said. "I'll keep you alive. Consider the death warrant on your head gone. Give me the plans and leave."
"That's not what I wanted."
"Oh?" he said, the gun becoming an obvious threat again.
"Obsidian Weapon has a prisoner. Vincent Valentine. I need him for--"
"No. Whatever it is, no. I don't negotiate with your kind, not on the level that you want." A new tone was in his voice. Something akin to anger, but not quite... a kind of hatred. The tone was unfamiliar to her. She had never really been hated before. She had only heard it once, just before Vincent had thrown himself into the Lifestream.
She tried to ignore the implication of what was in his voice. "Why not? What do you mean, 'my kind'?"
"You are the enemy from the skies. Or born of it. Or influenced by it. But you are her. I can feel it in you. My kind has always been destined to fight yours. Give me the plans, and I'll let you live. But otherwise, I'll just kill you and take it from you."
This wasn't happening. She hadn't expected Rufus to be ready for her, to have a weapon that could actually kill her. She had expected the element of surprise, that she was the superior mind and possessed abilities to manipulate the outcome of this negotiation. She had so expected to succeed, but this...
The predator's gaze was upon her, and she now knew where the familiar sensation had come from, why Rufus seemed to hate her.
All members of Soldier were injected with version 1.02 of the Mako serum. It was meant to be the catalyst to the procedure, the way to survive the Mako shower and prevent extensive Mako poisoning. It was also filled with Jenova cells.
Version 1.01 did not.
Version 1.01 was filled with the DNA of Ifalna, the last of the Cetra.
Rufus was now in effect partially Cetra, with all that it entailed. A part of him could sense those touched by Jenova, and would seek to destroy them. She flinched away at the realization. That was what he had meant by his and her kind.
She dropped the plans for the weapon onto the top of the elevator, and began to step away. Never had she been so afraid, not even when she had feared her own son dead.
"I've changed my mind," Rufus said.
Her head jerked up. She felt her knees shake. An impudent look was on the President of Shinra's face. "I'll give you a head start. One day. But after that, I will find you, and kill you. Now start running, Jenova."
She turned and fled.
Author's Note:
Dun dun dun! I'll be doing my editing shortly, as soon as my editor appears. He's at the movies, curse him!
Update: I just tweaked this and threw in some more description, cleaned up some typos, and made the thoughts flow a bit better. Should be a bit of a better read now.