Chapter - 3: Dark Clouds
Vincent's footsteps echoed through the empty hallways of the Shin-Ra mansion, he pulled back the left sleeve of his suit to check his watch, they were late. He was stationed here in this rural town to guard a group of scientists on some sort of project, and was sent a week early to check out the surroundings, if their discovery was as large as it sounded back at HQ then he figured there may have been some troublemakers around here. He straitened his suit out, he liked to make good first impressions, it was key to establishing trust if it was needed.
The Young Turk looked calm, cool, and well calculated, as if every movement was planned and well thought out. He shuffled over towards the window, separated the blinds with two fingers and looked out, there was a truck outside, it was the same one as before, they were shipping supplies for the Project to the basement of the mansion. They were just now driving off, and Vincent figured the rest would be here soon, but curiosity won over, and he went to the basement.
He walked down a strange tunnel at the bottom of a large spiral staircase, it was a room hidden from the rest of the house, but his clearance level was high enough to be informed of its location. At the end of the hall he entered the laboratory where the equipment had been set up, he moved among the boxes that were lined up in front of empty bookcases. Most of the boxes contained books, papers, thesis's on different topics, general texts that didn't interest him, then he came up to a small metal box with the letters, J E N O V A, stamped on the front steel plates. He bent down and lifted the lid, inside there were vials of various sizes filled with strange liquid he had never seen before, he cocked his head to the side, he was not extremely well versed in science but something about this unnerved him. From upstairs, he heard the sound of footsteps and quickly closed the box before heading to the door of the lab. He stopped in front of the closed door, ran his hand through his long, black hair and stood tall. Professor Gast was the first to reach the end of the hallway, he was flanked by Doctor Hojo, Gast was older and looked more world worn, Hojo had pale white skin and greasy black hair, he looked like he had not seen much daylight in years.
"Uh…" Gast delayed. "Vincent right?" he was returned with a slight nod.
"May I be so bold as to inquire as to just what exactly you are doing down here, Turk?" Hojo snapped.
"I was insuring the safe delivery of your supplies, Doctor." Vincent responded coldly.
Hojo huffed and bushed past him, heading into the lab to make sure nothing had been tampered with.
"Vincent," Gast addressed formally. "Could you go help my partner with her bags?"
"As you wish." said demurely, he was lightly insulted that they would give him such a demeaning task, but his complete boredom made him pray for anything that would keep him busy.
Lucecia fumbled with her suitcases and bags while trying to grab the doorknob when the door opened, looking right at her was a tall man in a crisp blue dress suit with dark piercing eyes. He couldn't help but stare as he grabbed one of her suitcases and helped her inside, her long brown hair was wrapped in a ponytail and her deep, blue eyes sparkled in the quickly fading sunlight.
"Thank you, Vincent." she said as he led her upstairs.
"You know my name?" he asked with a puzzled look painted on his face.
"Yes," she nodded. "We were given report files on the Project, and those involved."
He knew, he himself had read one of those files, but he much enjoyed hearing her explain it to him, he couldn't tell if it was because of her voice or her personality. They talked off and on while taking the long trek to the basement.
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Lucrecia had sat for the last six hours and was getting drained, work was so hard and there was no relief. Vincent had wandered down into the lab and watched her, his plan was well formulated and planned, he moved over next to her.
"Hey, you want to give that computer a break and come have a bite to eat with me?" he asked.
Lucrecia garbled some sort of response, but she was too caught up in her research to hear what he even asked.
"You ok, you look tired." Vincent continued, but was met with the same response.
Fed up with it he moved behind her laptop and pushed the screen down as she was reading.
"Hey! What's the deal…" she started. "Oh, Vincent when did you come down here?"
He chuckled and a grin spread across his face. "I came to see how you were, your colleges left for lunch and you stayed behind, want to grab a meal with me, my treat."
"Oh, I don't know I should finish this-" she considered, but Vincent cut her off.
"You haven't left the house in two days; the sunlight would be good for your complexion."
"I guess we I could, I am hungry."
"Yea, and you don't want to start looking like Hojo, he looks like a vampire."
Lucrecia chuckled, she didn't dislike Hojo as Vincent did, but it was funny how pale he was, she just figured he needs to go spend a weekend in Costa De Sol.
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"So how is your progress coming along?" Vincent inquired about the Project; it had been five months since they came here.
"Not much of a breakthrough," she said, as she held Vincent's hand while walking through town. "We have had some setbacks."
In the five months he'd known her they had started to grow close, Vincent was smitten with her, she was the perfect person to drive away his demons, the dark memories that haunted him every day were gone in her presence, he felt safe and secure. She had been troubled lately because her partner, Professor Gast had gone missing, he never came back from a reporting trip to Midgar, but he sensed something darker bothering her.
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"What is the meaning of this, Hojo?" she shouted when she came into the lab and saw a person strapped to the table with a needle in his arm.
"Don't tell me you're as narrow-minded as that bullheaded Gast?" Hojo remarked with a sneer.
"But that's a person, not lab mice; we don't know what effects it could have on humans."
"In great science, sacrifices must be made," Hojo preached. "For the good of all man-kind."
"But…"
"No!" Hojo yelled. "If we succeed with this it could be the gateway to the Promised Land!"
Lucrecia though on that for a while, the doctor never took his fierce stare away from her. "How does this have anything to do with the Promised Land?" she questioned
"Do you know nothing?" Hojo sighed. "If we clone another Cetra from the cells of Jenova, that person could travel to the Promised Land, and with our funding behind him, he could lead us into a land rich with Mako energy."
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"Lucrecia, before you go, could I speak with you a second?" Vincent asked as he stopped in front of the gates to the mansion.
"Sure, what's on your mind Vince?" she asked.
Vincent hugged her and then knelt down on one knee in front of her, pulling a case from his pocket; he opened it and slid the ring onto her finger. "Marry me, Lucrecia?" he softly mouthed as he smiled cheerfully. This was going to be the happiest day of his life, he felt like a different man then when he came to this mission, he felt confident in his humanity for the first time in along time, next to the woman he loved and wanted to make his wife.
Lucrecia choked, tears streamed down her face as she turn and ran away from Vincent. His lower lip quivered and tears started to flow down his face, as he watched her, he could feel the clouds coming back to him, he felt alone, he felt rejected.
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"Just as I feared," Hojo spoke as his eyes scanned the printout from the computer. "The full grown human body rejects the J-cells as if they were a disease."
"But how could that be?" Lucrecia wondered.
"Something about the cells," Hojo mumbled to himself. "But, if we could put the cells into a person before their immune system forms."
"We would have to use a fetus, nothing else would work." Lucrecia pondered, not drawing the same conclusion as the doctor.
"Yes, a fetus." he replied cryptically as he stared at her stomach.
Lucrecia looked at him and then traced his eyes. "You can't seriously be consid-"
"Just think, in nine months we could have a Cetra, at our current rate it could take years to accomplish." he interrupted.
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Vincent sat alone against the wall of his room at the inn, after this morning he needed something to fill the void within him; his life was like a dark cloud that loomed over him, being a hired killer wasn't easy. Lucrecia had become the only light in his darkened soul, seeing her with Hojo, kissing him, was too hard to bear. He wouldn't let himself be jealous, if she was happy then he would be also, he couldn't see any reason he was needed anymore, there hadn't been an attack against the lab and he was only slowing down the research after his romantic interlude with Lucrecia. He felt like going away, maybe back to Midgar and find a job as a mercenary, or he could travel the world, visit Wutai, anything to be away from Nibelheim.
"No…" he muttered aloud to himself as he lowered his head. Anywhere he went, his darkness would find him, and Lucrecia wouldn't help him anymore, after spending time with her being free, there was no going back to how things were before, he picked up his gun that had been sitting next to him and ejected the clip, one round was still in the chamber. "All I am is a painful memory." he spoke silently. He remembered the first time he had seen her, he thought he had laid his eyes on a goddess; he smiled as he thought of her grace and beauty. "I just want her to be…" a single tear rolled down his face as he finished. "…happy." He swiftly placed the barrel against his right temple and pulled the trigger.
