No, kiddies. There is no such drug as ferium. I made it up…maybe I should be a drug lord…
Just say no, m'kay?
Chapter Eleven
Peirte sat at his computer in his office, watching the surveillance recordings from Vincent's home. He got to the part where Vincent had returned, and leaned closer to the screen, eager to see what his new toy was going to do. He flipped to the camera in the bedroom, and thanks to the night vision that the camera was capable of, he saw Cid and Tifa having sex. Dr. Methius wondered just how bad things were about to get when Vincent inevitably caught them.
He watched as Vincent went back to the bedroom and slipped inside, going over to the edge of the bed, close to the other two. When they spotted him and gave their terrified reactions, Peirte squealed with laughter, amused.
If the ferium is controlling Vincent properly, he should be able to keep from killing the pilot so that he can finish the mission I've sent him on, Peirte thought as he examined the scene. Then again, this does look pretty bad. Poor man was only gone for a few days. Some wife he had there.
The scene unfolded, and words were passed between those present. Peirte's eyes went wide as he realized that Vincent was preparing to attack Cid. No, come on! You should have better control than that, Mr. Valentine!
The door to the room opened and Aaron ran in, halting Vincent's intended attack.
Methius examined the scene closely. Apparently, Vincent was still capable of feeling on some level, as demonstrated by both his intent to kill Cid, and then by his reluctance to do so in front of his son. Vincent's feelings for the boy clearly overrode whatever else was still capable of seeping through the drug's haze. Good, you still have a weakness to exploit should it become needed. The addiction to ferium keeps most in line, but you're far from being like most, aren't you? That boy better hope that you do as told, so that I don't have to bring him into the equation. Then again, he's as good as dead anyway. Once we get that list of people that have anything to do with ASRIO, your wife's name will be on it, and I'm never one to leave orphans behind.
-------------------
After his overdose and seizure, Vincent had made his way to the cockpit, wanting to know how much longer they had to go until setting back down.
"Not long," Brad had simply replied.
Vincent sat down in the copilot's seat for a moment.
Brad motioned over to him to put on the headset.
Vincent complied.
"What in the hell happened back at the house? I was thinking that you were going to come out and tell me to go home, not go back with me." Brad glanced over at him, seeing the stress on Vincent's face.
"My wife isn't my wife anymore." Vincent crossed his arms over his chest.
"What?"
"She's involved with Cid." Vincent met the pilot's stare. "Hence, I'm going back to the base."
Brad couldn't believe that his old buddy was carrying on an affair with this man's wife. "No shit?"
Vincent shook his head. "No, and it stays between you and I. Understand?"
"Sure thing." Brad was in shock.
Vincent pulled off the headset and went back to his previous seat. He didn't feel much like talking.
When the helicopter landed back at the ASRIO base, Vincent slowly got out of it, wanting no more than to get inside and into bed. Reno was out on the airfield, however, despite the fact it was close to three in the morning.
The ASRIO leader came up to Vincent. Brad had radioed ahead, saying that Vincent was returning with him. Reno knew that this could only mean that things back home for Vincent were bad as suspected, and he was determined to get answers. "Vinny?"
Vincent glanced over at him with a slack expression.
Reno saw the stress in the way Vincent was carrying himself, even if his face lacked emotion. "Come on, let's go inside."
He followed his son-in-law down into the base and toward his room. Vincent pulled out his room key and unlocked the door. He went and landed on the edge of the bed.
Reno flipped on the light and froze. In the darkness of the outdoors, he hadn't gotten a real appreciation of what Vincent presently looked like. His complexion was ashy and he seemed to be drenched with sweat. Vincent's pupils were pinpoints, despite having just been in the dark. "What the fuck happened to you?"
His overdose a few hours before on the chopper had left him physically exhausted, compounded by what he'd gone through with Tifa and Cid. "I just want to go to bed."
Reno came over and sat next to him. "Look, I know that something's wrong back home. I figured out at least that much before. You coming back here instead of stayin' home with Tifa pretty much confirmed it. Vinny, you can tell me what's going on."
Knowing that he was going to inevitably betray the man next to him, Vincent felt like he should begin distancing himself from the ASRIO leader as much as possible, however, telling Reno what had happened would gain him more sympathy. That could be useful, and it would give a viable excuse as to any change in his behavior. "Tifa and I have been having some trouble, you're right."
"What happened?" Reno asked, satisfied that he was getting to the bottom of it.
"When Angel and I went on our last trip to Wutai, Cid came over and Tifa cheated on me." Vincent hung his head. It wasn't that hard to portray himself in heartache, since he really did feel some measure of pain.
Reno's eyes went wide. "Are you shitting me?"
Vincent just shook his head. "I just found that out before leaving to come here. Then tonight when I went home, I walked into the house and found Tifa and Cid going at it again."
For a rare moment, Reno was speechless. He had a compulsion to make an inappropriate comment about how he wished he'd known Tifa was playing the field, but he managed to edit himself. "Oh…"
Good, Vincent. Now, use it to your advantage. Chaos was setting the trap.
Vincent turned his head so he could look at Reno. "I have nothing to go home for, Reno. Can I stay here?"
Reno nodded. "As long as you like, sure thing."
"And, I'm hoping that you can give me something to do, to try and keep my mind off of things." Vincent forced a feeble smile.
"Yeah, actually, I'm always in need of help around here. You're someone I can trust right off the bat and give clearance to get into the computer system…if you don't mind a desk job, that is." Reno was in need of pencil pushers, and finding new help and then screening them for clearance was a huge pain in the ass that could be avoided with Vincent. After all, he was family.
Perfect.
Vincent reached out his hand and placed it upon Reno's shoulder in a false display of gratitude. "I'd really appreciate that, and a desk job sounds really nice after all that I've been through."
Reno smiled. What he'd just learned about what had happened between Vincent, Tifa, and Cid broke his heart. The fact that Cid had gotten together with Tifa didn't sit well with the ASRIO leader. He and the pilot have never gotten along very well at all and he, like Vincent, found him generally to be a stubborn bastard. "God damned Cid. Fucking figures he'd do something like that. I remember the way he and Tifa were all buddy-buddy back when you and she were here. It always bothered me a little, especially when you were lying in that hospital bed, unable to tell him to back the hell off. Vinny, I'm really sorry."
"Thanks." Vincent hung his head again. While it wasn't proving that hard to manipulate Reno, Angel would be a different story, and he realized that he was not willing to face her with all of this. "It might be a good idea for us to not tell Angel about this for now. Maybe we can tell her that I'm staying to make sure that Jaras is going to be all right or some such thing. You know, just in case Tifa comes around and she and I reconcile, I don't want Angel upset about this whole affair if it can be avoided."
Sparing his wife such pain was something Reno was willing to participate in. "Sure thing, Vinny. If you decide to tell her, that's your business. I won't go over that line, okay?"
Chaos forced Vincent to smile in his satisfaction about how easy this had been. "That would be great, Reno. It really would."
"No problem." Reno got up from the bed and reached down, patting Vincent on the back for a moment. "Get some sleep and we'll figure out what to do with you in the morning."
Vincent just nodded, continuing to smile. Too fucking convenient. You're an idiot, Reno. A trusting idiot.
-------------------
Sephiroth found himself alone, as Jeanine had gone out to lunch with Dr. Arlin. Not knowing what else to do, he left his room and went to go see Vincent. He knocked on the door, and eventually his father answered. "Hey."
"Are you alone?" Sephiroth asked, already knowing the answer.
Vincent, having just given himself yet another dose of the drug, was somewhat slow to respond. "Yeah, come in."
Sephiroth did as ordered, going forward and then landing on the couch. He watched as Vincent came over and sat on the bed, after locking the door. "So, what happened last night after you went to see Tifa?"
Vincent gazed back at him coldly. "I walked in on her and Cid. I just left after that. End of story."
He raised his eyebrows. Having been told of Tifa's infidelity in the lab, he wasn't surprised at what Vincent had seen, but he was a little shocked to hear that Vincent hadn't killed the other man outright. Sephiroth, not knowing the details, just figured that the ferium had erased his father's emotions to that extent. That was frightening, and it meant that Vincent was most likely going to comply with Dr. Methius' order completely.
During the time Sephiroth had spent with Jeanine, he'd come to appreciate that his depth of feeling for the woman was just as strong as it had ever been. He was also aware that if he went back to Peirte and received more injections of Jenova, that he would change more and either potentially lose his love for her, or become blatantly someone who was not Jaras. This thought had cut through him. Even though he literally craved the power that Dr. Methius could grant him, he wasn't steadfastly committed to it anymore. Jeanine meant that much to him.
Because of this, he was no longer certain that he wanted to carry on with the mission they'd been given. Besides, Sephiroth knew good and well that Jeanine, being his wife and known to ASRIO, would be on any list of contacts that ASRIO possessed. Power hungry or not, setting Shinra's dogs loose to kill the woman he loved was not an option for him. But if Vincent was this cold, this emotionless, then confessing his reservations to his father would do no more than turn Vincent against him. Only by keeping on Vincent's side, or at least seeming to, could Sephiroth potentially keep Vincent from ratting him out. Because when push came to shove, he was very much aware that Reno would take Vincent's word over his.
He suddenly felt trapped and he didn't like it. Sephiroth had to find a way to stop Vincent, but was starting to feel like the only way to do so was going to be to kill him, and that would be messy.
Vincent narrowed his eyes as Sephiroth slipped into a protracted silence. There was something serious on his son's mind. "What are you thinking?"
Sephiroth snapped out of his pensive state and looked back at his father. "Nothing important."
"You're lying."
He flipped his silver hair over his shoulder and leaned back into the couch. "I believe the ferium is altering your perception. I have nothing to hide from you."
Sephiroth could be right about this. Vincent was physically feeling a little unwell, and it was entirely possible that the way he was processing information from the world around him was off. "Perhaps."
"Is the incision on your chest healing?" Sephiroth asked, needing to change the subject.
Unconsciously, Vincent reached up and touched his shirt where it ran over the wound. "Slowly."
Sephiroth saw a small glimmer of possibility. "You know, the ferium could be affecting the way you're recovering from the surgery. Although I know that it keeps you from feeling any pain, and I know it would hurt, it does alter other functions of your body. It might be worth while to reduce how much of it you're taking until you have recuperated."
He hoped that Vincent would consider this advice. If he came far enough out of the ferium's haze, Sephiroth supposed he might be able to safely talk Vincent out of the mission.
Vincent shook his head. The ferium would not permit him to reduce the frequency of his doses. His addiction was all encompassing and he was at the mercy of the drug. Besides, cutting back, were it possible, would make him feel his heartache over Tifa, and that would be far worse than this mode of existence. "That's not going to happen. As long as it heals, I couldn't care less how slow it goes. Besides, if you had any idea what the ferium makes you feel like when you're coming down from it, you would never conceive of suggesting such a thing."
It was worth a shot, Seph, he thought to himself as he continued to consider his father before him. Maybe he could find another way to stop Vincent. "Do you have any idea how you're going to go about getting the list for Dr. Methius?"
Vincent actually smiled, remembering how easily his plan had fallen into place. "I do."
"Well?"
"I spoke with Reno last night, and told him that I planned to stay here for a while since I can't go home to Tifa. I asked him if I could possibly have a job here to keep myself distracted from my so-called pain and he said yes. He's giving me a desk job from the sounds of it, and he's giving me clearance to get into the computer system since he believes that he can trust me." Vincent felt Chaos roll over within him, laughing.
This was not what Sephiroth wanted to hear. "I see."
"Once I have that clearance, I will find a way to smuggle the needed information out of this base and get it to Dr. Methius." Vincent looked down at the floor before him, knowing that he should feel bad about this traitorous act, but there was nothing. "It's easy."
"And the fact that Shinra is going to kill everyone on that list, save perhaps you, Spencer, and I, is all right with you?" Sephiroth asked, searching for any negative reaction.
Vincent turned his blank eyes up to his son. "What concern is it of mine?"
"Have you not become attached to some of those working here? What about my sister, for instance?" Sephiroth himself didn't particularly care about Angel as it was, but Vincent was her father and had seemed very protective of her.
The former Turk stared at the floor again. He had loved his daughter dearly, but that had been before the ferium. Now, the only person who he still had any concern for was Aaron, and that was only because he was a small child-- his small child. "What of her? She knew the risks of staying here and getting involved in this organization. As long as Shinra makes it quick and they don't take her into a lab for any kind of experimentation, what do I care?"
Sephiroth knew that Vincent was wondering why he had asked such a thing, and he realized that he needed to cover his tracks. "Good. That's what I was hoping you'd say. If I had to call into question your resolve to see Dr. Methius' mission through, I would have to kill you and finish it myself. Having you makes it far easier than it would be for me alone."
Vincent managed a smile. "You need not worry yourself about my commitment to this, Sephiroth."
And that's the problem entirely, Sephiroth thought silently.
-------------------
Jeanine and Janice sat in a small diner in Costa del Sol. They'd finished their lunches, and just sat talking.
"You must be elated that Jaras is home, I would imagine," Dr. Arlin said, after sipping at her coffee.
"You have no idea. Janice, I was so scared I'd never seen him again! All I could do was sit around and wonder what sorts of horrible things they were doing to him. Jaras is so quiet and gentle… he didn't deserve that." Jeanine felt a lump come up in her throat.
"Has he been able to tell you what they did to him?" Janice asked, curious.
Jeanine shrugged. "A little. I know that they tried re-infecting him with Jenova, but it didn't take I guess, because he has so much Mako still coursing through him. The worst thing for him, though, was the treatment he received from the SOLDIERs that captured him as they took him to the lab. It was awful."
"I'm really sorry to hear that. Is he going to be all right?" Dr. Arlin knew how sensitive Jaras was, and how much this had probably disturbed him.
Nodding shallowly, Jeanine replied, "I think he'll be okay in the long run. He's been through a lot in his life and he's strong from it, but he is a little…different for now."
"Different?"
"Yeah," she sighed, staring down at her empty lunch plate. "The way he's speaking and acting. I mean, for the most part he's the same, but there are some subtle changes from what I got used to over the last several years."
Knowing that Jeanine was the specialist in the area of mental well being, Janice asked, "What do you think it means?"
"Undoubtedly most of it's just due to the fact that he went through such a terrible thing. He's admitted to me that it brought up all of his old memories as Sephiroth again, which accounts for some of it I'm sure." Her expression fell. "But when we start talking about anything other than he and I, I don't know, he gets weird."
"How so?"
"Well, it's like he doesn't really care for anyone else anymore. He treats me just fine, but when we start to talk about Vincent or even Angel, Jaras just seems a little detached. It's like he just doesn't care about them all that much. There's just a certain blankness in his expression, and there is a lack of concern in his words about them." Jeanine shook her head. "I don't know, he's only been back for two days, maybe I'm reading too much into it."
"Or maybe you're so close to him that you're not reading enough into it, Jeanine." Dr. Arlin pushed her glasses up. "I'm not a shrink like you, but I do know that seeing what's going on with people that you're as close to as you are to Jaras is sometimes hard."
Jeanine looked thoughtful. "Yeah."
"You're sure that he really is Jaras, right?" Janice asked, leaning forward. "You don't suppose that the Jenova did take, and that he's just been putting on an act for everyone so that Vincent would get him out of the lab, right?"
This pained something within Jeanine-- it was not a possibility she was willing to consider. "If they had really made him back into Sephiroth, he wouldn't care about me anymore, either I'd think, but he does."
Janice would just have to bow to the other woman's superior knowledge on this. "But if you ever started to have any doubts, you'd let someone like me know, right? I don't want you getting hurt. I know I don't need to remind you of the things that Sephiroth was capable of."
"I know and trust me, if I did start to doubt him, you and Reno would be the first ones to know." Jeanine reached over and picked up the bill, before throwing the appropriate amount of money onto the table. The thought that the man that she had been with for the last two days could be Sephiroth seemed almost laughable. Another thought crossed Jeanine's mind, and she chuckled to herself quietly.
Dr. Arlin looked over at her. "What's that about?"
"Nothing, it was really inappropriate." Jeanine continued to giggle.
"I have to know now."
Jeanine smiled over at her friend. "Just that if he is Sephiroth…I'm not going to complain about the sex."
Janice herself snickered. "It's been good, huh?"
Jeanine winked at the other woman and got up. "Oh yeah."
-------------------
Despite recent events, Tifa felt that she needed to restore some sense of normalcy in Aaron's life and so she'd taken him to school that morning. Now, she, Cid, and L.C. sat at the bus stop waiting for the boy to be dropped back off.
L.C. was sitting outside of the car, playing on the side of the road while Tifa and Cid remained in the front seats of the vehicle, keeping an eye on the pilot's son.
"Tiff?"
She turned to him. "Yeah?"
Cid knit his brow and looked out the window. "I'm gonna have to find a new doctor around here to go to."
She hung her head and sighed. Thinking about his terminal illness was something that she'd been trying to avoid. The fact that he'd just said such a thing instantly told her that he wasn't feeling well, and he had seemed worse off. "Are you okay?"
Cid shrugged, remembering all the blood he'd coughed up the night before. He'd not done that prior to yesterday. "I just need to keep on top of this as much as possible, that's all. I'd like to keep going as long as I can, you know."
"Okay. I can call the doctor Vincent--" she stopped for a moment, shocked that his name had so easily crossed her lips, "used to see and get a recommendation of an oncologist from her." Tifa offered him a weak smile.
Knowing that this had just depressed her, Cid reached over and placed a hand on her knee. "It's okay, Tiff. Don't look so down."
Her response was halted as the school bus rattled up next to the car and came to a stop. The door opened and Aaron disembarked. L.C. ran up to the other boy excitedly, but Aaron seemed to blow him off for the time being and just made his way to the car, then climbing into the back seat.
Tifa looked back at her son, while L.C. got in as well. "How was school?"
Aaron set his backpack onto the seat between he and the other boy, then crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine."
He's never going to let you forget his father, not even for a moment, Tifa thought, forcing herself to smile. "What did you do?"
He ran a hand through his dark tresses and narrowed his eyes. "Nothing."
Resolving that conversation with her son was a lost cause for the time being, Tifa faced forward and looked over at Cid. "Let's go head toward town so we can take the boys somewhere fun for dinner."
He turned on the ignition and pulled them back onto the road, heading toward Kalm. "Sounds good."
-------------------
Spencer had locked himself into the bathroom of the room he and his brother shared. He'd been trying to inject himself with more of the ferium for well over half an hour now, but he was having terrible luck. Not being skilled in this area at all, he'd already blown all of the veins on his left arm, and now he sat trying to give himself the shot in his right arm, using his left hand in what was proving to be pathetically awkward attempt.
It had been a long time since his previous dose, and withdrawal was starting to set in. He was shaking now, not helping his situation. Had Spencer been thinking clearly, he would have gone to Vincent's room and sought his help, but that was not to be.
Spencer made another stab at his arm, searching for his elusive vessel, but missed once more and hit a nerve, causing him to groan in misery. Things just weren't working for him as they should.
Quigley was presently in the room. He hadn't been here when his brother had initially gone in to shoot up, but he'd returned ten minutes ago. When he heard Spencer's pained cry, he went over to the bathroom door. "Spence? Are you okay?"
Through clenched teeth, he replied while trying to fish for his vein with the now dulled needle. "I'm…all right…Quig."
He knew good and well that his brother wasn't all right, and he grew afraid. "Spence, open the door."
"No, just go away." Spencer grew frustrated and pulled the syringe away from his arm, then hurling it over toward the sink. The pain that was quickly overtaking his body was driving him mad.
When Quigley heard something go flying in the bathroom, he decided that enough was enough. He through his weight against the door, popping the lock. As the door flew open, Quigley's eyes went wide.
Spencer was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the shower door. There was a belt strapped around his upper right arm, and trails of blood ran down it from his failed injection attempts. The young man was drenched with sweat and trembling terribly.
Quigley couldn't quite comprehend what he was seeing. His brother had always been fanatical about his health and body, and the fact that he was sitting here, seemingly trying to take some drug just seemed unnatural. He went over and knelt at his brother's side. "Spence, what are you doing?"
Desperate for any relief, Spencer pointed over at the sink. "Grab the syringe. You know how to give injections."
Quigley looked into the sink, seeing the syringe lying within, containing an unmistakable blue substance. He turned back to his brother and put his hands on his shoulders, shaking him slightly. "Ferium! You've been shooting up ferium!"
Spencer tried to push Quigley away, seeing that he wasn't going to help. "Never mind, I'll do it myself!"
Normally, Quigley was no match for his brother physically, but thanks to the withdrawal pains, the ASRIO researcher was easily able to push his brother right back down. "You're not doing any such thing!" Quigley looked over and saw the vial of ferium sitting on the floor next to his brother's leg. He picked it up. "Stay here, I'm getting the doctor. She can help you, Spence."
"You don't understand!" Spencer was crazed with the thought of being denied his fix. "Quig, you have to let me have it!"
"No!" Quigley got up. "Stay here!"
Spencer, too weak in his current state, slumped over onto the floor, writhing in agony.
Quigley ran to the infirmary and threw open the door. Dr. Arlin was within, having just returned from her lunch with Jaras' wife. "Janice!"
Not accustomed to seeing this man in anything resembling panic, the doctor came over to him quickly. "What is it, Quigley?"
He held up the vial he'd picked up from his brother's side. "Spence has been taking this and he's having withdrawals back in our room!"
Janice snagged the unlabeled vial from the man's hand. She recognized it easily enough. There were few injectable drugs out there this color. "Ferium?"
"I think so." Quigley was eager to get back to Spencer's side. "He needs your help."
Dr. Arlin knew that there was close to a zero percent chance that anyone ever kicked ferium addiction. This was the cruelest drug on the street. The withdrawals alone could kill it's victims, assuming that they didn't just end their own lives first to escape the pain. "Go back to him right now, I'll be there in a moment."
Quigley nodded and then ran back to his room, finding Spencer much like he'd left him.
Janice grabbed her medical bag and quickly followed. She stopped at the intercom panel first and hit a button. "Kyle?"
After a few second delay, the man answered. "Dr. Arlin?"
"Meet me at Quigley's room and bring a gurney. Spencer's been chasing the blue dragon and he's in withdrawal." Dr. Arlin let go of the button and ran out of the infirmary.
Upon getting to Quigley's room, she found that the door was open and went in. From the bathroom she heard Quigley's voice and Spencer's cries and followed them to their source.
"Quigley, help me get him over to the bed," she ordered, setting her medical bag down for the moment.
The researcher did as ordered, and helped her drag his brother from the bathroom. Spencer was starting to convulse, making the job far more difficult. They got him laid out upon one of the two beds in the room, and Quigley struggled to hold his flailing brother down. "Janice, can you do anything for him?"
She was hastily taking Spencer's vital statistics as best she could under the circumstances. "For the most part, he's going to have to get through this part alone, Quigley. Anything that I give him right now will just be one more drug for his body to have to metabolize. He needs to detox, and that's something his body will have to manage through on its own. Once Kyle gets here, we'll take him to the infirmary and strap him down."
Spencer's eyes were wild in his misery, and he grasped at his brother. "Quig…I need more ferium! I'm dying!"
Janice interrupted. "You're not dying, Spencer. You're going through withdrawal. I know you feel horrible right now, but if you ride it out, you can get free of the drug."
Quigley looked at Dr. Arlin. "I've heard that addicts of ferium can die from their withdrawal symptoms, Janice. I can't lose my brother like that."
She met his gaze, herself well aware of how very nasty this drug was. "Giving it to him now would temporarily end his suffering, Quigley, but if he keeps taking it, I can guarantee you that he'll die. Letting him detox and then get off of it is the only chance that he's got. He's always been strong and if anyone can survive withdrawal, it's him."
The researcher wasn't particularly comforted by these words. He looked back down into his brother's pain stricken expression, his heart wrenched by the situation. "God damn it, Spence…why?"
"You had no idea of his addiction until just now?" Janice asked, wondering how long this had been going on.
"I never would have thought that he was on anything at all, Doctor." Quigley had never seen any signs of drug use in his brother before the mission. "He's always acted just fine. They say ferium takes away people's emotions, but he never acted strangely at all. The only thing that's been different about him has been that he's been a little quiet since the mission and his stay in the lab, but I figured that it was just a result of the fact he was recovering from the surgery he went though."
Janice locked into Quigley's gaze. "Since the mission?"
"Yes, before then I never would have suspected anything."
Dr. Arlin lost herself in thought for a moment. How Spencer could have gotten hooked on ferium while being held prisoner in that lab for those few days was beyond her, but she wondered if perhaps he had been given ferium to kill his pain, or as part of some cruel experiment. She realized that she needed to talk to Vincent.
Kyle finally arrived with the stretcher, and they managed to tie Spencer down to it before getting him to the infirmary. Once there, he was restrained in a hospital bed and started on intravenous fluids to help his hydration and flush his system. Quigley refused to leave his brother's bedside, no matter how bad things were going to get from the withdrawal.
Janice stood next to Kyle a short way off, exhausted from having fought to get Spencer situated. "I need to go talk to someone for a moment. Can you keep an eye on Spencer?"
Kyle nodded. "Sure thing."
"Good." She turned and walked out, heading toward Vincent's room.
Vincent was sitting staring at the television, although it was off. Freshly dosed with more ferium, he was just pleasantly spaced out. He never heard the first time that Janice knocked on the door, but the second time she did so he was pulled from his trance. "Come in."
Dr. Arlin opened the door and stepped into the room, spotting Vincent on the couch. She came over and sat beside him. She looked at Vincent's arms, wanting to see if there was any evidence of track marks, but as always, he was wearing a long sleeve shirt. "I need to talk to you about something very serious."
He did his best to put on a concerned expression. "Really?"
Janice took off her glasses and looked at him. "Quigley just caught Spencer shooting up ferium. He's in the infirmary now, going through the throes of withdrawal."
Vincent donned a look of confusion. "Ferium?"
"Do you know anything about it? Was he given ferium in the lab you two were held at?" Janice asked, leaning closer.
Vincent nodded shallowly. "He was given something for the pain he was in after waking up…but I don't know if it was whatever you just said."
"Ferium, Vincent." That he didn't seem to know what this was at least made Janice believe that he wasn't on it. She was slightly relieved. The fact that he was already battling to overcome his dependency on alcohol was bad enough. "We're you given anything for your pain?"
"No, I refused. I was too phobic to accept anything they offered, but Spencer begged for something to end his pain. The stuff they gave him was blue, that's about all I could tell you." Vincent was getting far too good at lying again.
"If it was blue, then it was ferium. Damn it." Janice hung her head and sighed.
Out of his own curiosity, Vincent asked. "So what's going to happen to him?"
"Honestly? Most likely he'll die." Janice looked up and met his gaze. "That's the worst thing about that drug. Either you keep taking it and it inevitably kills you through overdose or bodily run down, or you try and get off of it, most likely dying during the withdrawal or killing yourself to escape. As it stands at this moment, his chances are pretty slim."
Vincent had a thought. If Spencer was in such a predicament, there was a possibility that he'd blow the mission by revealing their plan. Forcing himself to seem concerned, Vincent asked, "Has Spencer said anything?"
Janice shook her head. "No, right now he's so miserable that all he can do is lie in the bed he's tied to and scream. If he makes it through tonight, then he'll probably go unconscious and stay that way for a few days. He's not going to say anything intelligible for a long time, if ever."
This relieved Vincent to some degree. "That's too bad. Tell Quigley that I'm sorry."
Janice got up from the bed, feeling that she'd gotten all she could from Vincent. "I will. I'll see you later, Vincent."
"Good bye, Doctor." Vincent gave her a polite smile.
Inside, Chaos was pleased. You're doing this very well, Vincent. If I didn't live inside of you, I'd be downright terrified. I know what you're thinking of doing.
Vincent closed his eyes and moved to lie down upon the couch. I can't risk him talking and ruining the mission. I've only got enough ferium to make it through three weeks. I need to get that information back to Peirte.
Did you hear what she said, though? Chaos had paid close attention to the doctor's words. She said if you keep taking it, you'll die.
I'm not scared of death, Chaos. I'm scared of going through that withdrawal pain again. Vincent draped his arm over his eyes to block out the light.
Chaos growled. We're in a lose-lose situation, Vincent. As much as I like you since you started taking ferium, the fact that we're almost sure to die from it is not a thought I'm fond of.
Well, perhaps after we do this and get the information Peirte asked for back to the lab, he might be able to do something to help us. Vincent hoped that completing the mission would earn him some points with the madman.
I hope for our sake that you're right, Vincent. Chaos settled back down and fell silent.
-------------------
It was close to eight-thirty when Brad finally made his way from the hanger and to the house he shared in town with his wife Lilly.
As always, she had dinner waiting for him on the table and she met him at the door. "I missed you last night."
He greeted her with a brief kiss and a swat on the rear. "Sorry about that. Reno had me go to Junon again."
She was used to her husband being called to duty and not making it home every night. "It's all right, let's go have dinner."
Brad followed her into the kitchen and landed in his chair, immediately helping himself to what she'd made for the evening.
Before sitting, she went to the fridge and retrieved her husband a beer. She, too, then started to fill her plate. "So, has anything interesting happened?"
He shrugged while flipping the top off of the bottle she'd given him. "Not really. That Vincent guy and his wife are on the outs, I guess. You're not gonna believe this, but I guess she's seeing Highwind now."
Lilly looked surprised. "Highwind? Cid Highwind? Yikes."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. It had always amused Brad on some level that his old comrade had always been such a huge turn off to Lilly, even though he and Cid were so much alike. "Yeah, Cid."
She set her fork down and locked into his gaze. "Did you call him yet?"
Brad shook his head. He'd told his wife about Cid having cancer and that he intended to call him, but being socially just as backwards as the man in question, Brad hadn't actually committed to doing it yet. "No."
"Well, I think you ought to, O'Malley."
When she called him by his last name, he knew he was in the doghouse. "All right, after dinner."
Lilly had already reached back and grabbed the phone and was holding it toward him. "No, you'll call him now."
Huffing, he took the phone from her and pulled out his wallet, retrieving the piece of paper that Vincent had written his phone number on the day before. He supposed that Cid would still be there since he and Tifa were apparently involved. Brad dialed and then waited for an answer.
It was Tifa. "Hello?"
He recognized her voice. "Hey, it's Brad. I was hopin' that Highwind was around."
"Oh, hi Brad." Tifa smiled. She liked the chopper pilot-- then again, she just seemed to have a thing for pilots all around. "Just a sec, I'll get him."
Cid was sitting with the boys in the family room, watching television as was becoming their nightly ritual. When Tifa walked over holding the phone out to him, he knit his brow. "Who is it?"
"Brad." Tifa literally placed the phone in his hand.
Cid took a deep breath and got up from the couch, then leaving the room. If he was going to talk to Brad, then he wanted privacy. He stepped out onto the porch before putting the phone to his ear. "Hey, next time you're gonna bring someone by to walk into the house in the middle of the night, at least come in and say hello."
Brad laughed. "Hey, I'm glad I didn't from the sounds of it. Watchin' you nailing Vincent's wife is the last thing that I need to see."
Cid couldn't help it and laughed as well. "He told you, huh?"
"Naw, but you just gave it away from answering like that. I was joking." Brad was pleased to have just pulled the truth out of the other man in such a way.
Damn it, he's still smarter than me. Cid grinned. "Hey, at least I'm still capable of getting some, and with a younger woman, no less."
"Yeah, racking up married women isn't really something to be all that proud of, Highwind." Brad leaned back in his chair. Talking to Cid was always good, but he knew he had to get to the reason for the call. "So, uh, I was told something the other day about you."
"What's that?"
"I was told that you've got cancer." Brad picked up his beer and took a drink, feeling the pain of this statement tear through him.
Cid sat down on the porch steps and leaned up against the railing. "Sunshine spilled that, huh?"
"Yeah."
Cid knew that next to Tifa, Brad was the only one who'd care to know this news. "It's true, I do."
"I'm real sorry to hear that." Brad frowned, not relishing the idea of his friend meeting such an untimely fate.
"I know, it sucks." Cid looked out over the dark yard. "The doctor told me I've got a few months and really, I've been feeling pretty good except for a little coughing, but last night, I started coughing more and, not to be gross, there was blood."
Brad shuddered at the thought. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yeah, find a cure for cancer and I'll buy you a drink," Cid laughed back, pushing through the depression.
"You bet." He was grateful that Cid was going to take the conversation in a lighter direction. "Well, I just sorta wanted to check in on you. Dinner's waiting for me."
"Yeah, okay. Talk to you later," Cid sighed. "Bye."
"Bye." Brad turned off the phone.
Cid stayed out on the porch, staring into the darkness. He thought for a few moments about the days he and Brad had spent in the service together and he found himself smiling.
The door to the house opened up and Tifa stepped out, coming over next to him and sitting. "What did Brad want?"
"Sue told him I have cancer, so he was just checking up on me." Cid set the phone down upon the porch behind him.
Tifa looked away, seeing a lightning storm off in the distance. Tonight was shaping up, weather wise, to be like the previous day. She didn't really want to dwell on Cid's condition. "I think it's going to rain again."
He knew what she was doing and decided to play along. "Yeah, I think so."
She looked over at him and smiled. "Cid?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you." She smiled.
Cid put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "I love you, too. This is so damned weird."
Tifa laughed quietly. "I know, but it's okay, right?"
He gave her a quick kiss. "Yeah, it definitely is."
"It really did scare me last night when Vincent showed up. I mean, I'm glad that he's alive, but I thought for sure that he was going to kill both of us." Tifa rested her head against his shoulder.
Cid loved the way she felt against him. "Yeah, I was pretty scared, too. The only reason he backed off was Aaron."
"At least he's got some control over himself, I guess." Tifa closed her eyes.
"Luckily for us." Cid confessed something to her. "I was just so afraid that you were going to cut things off with me afterward…"
She moved back so she could look into his blue eyes. "Cid, I'm committed to you, and I'm going to see this out. Vincent being alive isn't going to change that. Like I've said a dozen times now, our marriage was over. Vincent would have to change a lot before I ever thought about getting back together with him."
Which is to say that on some level, you haven't completely written him off, Cid thought to himself.
Tifa saw his expression change. "What?"
Cid gave her a smile. "Nothing. We should get inside and check on the boys."
-------------------
After going to the cafeteria and forcing himself to eat, Vincent went to the infirmary. Once inside, he saw that Quigley was there with his brother who, for the moment, seemed to be unconscious. He went over and pulled up a chair next to the researcher's. "How is he doing?"
Quigley turned his exhausted eyes toward Vincent. "He's passed out finally. Poor Spence was screaming and crying most of the day."
"And you've been here the whole time?" Vincent asked, feigning concern.
Quigley nodded.
"The cafeteria is still open. You should go get something to eat before it closes, Quigley. I can stay with him while you do that." Vincent sounded sincere.
"All right." Quigley was thankful for this break in his vigil. "I won't stay away too long. I appreciate this, Vincent."
He smiled. "Think nothing of it."
Quigley shuffled out of the room and went to go get his dinner.
Vincent looked around, and saw that he was completely alone with the other man. He stood up and leaned over him. "Spencer?"
The other man slowly opened his eyes, and then closed them again. He was too spent from his day of misery to do anything more.
Vincent pulled a syringe from his pocket. It was loaded with a full milliliter of ferium, four times the dose that he and Spencer were on. He reached over and picked up the intravenous line going into Spencer's arm, delivering fluids to him. After finding the injection port on the line, Vincent quickly drove the needle of the syringe into it and pushed the ferium into the line. That done, he slipped the syringe back into his pocket and sat back down. Time would do the rest of the job.
As the drug was carried into Spencer along with the fluids he was receiving, the pain he was in faded and he felt a wonderful level of euphoria come over him. He sank into a deep sleep as the large overdose that Vincent had just given him ran through his veins.
Dr. Arlin had hooked Spencer up to a monitor earlier to keep track of the man's heart rate during his detoxification. As the number indicating Spencer's pulse began to drop, Vincent realized his mistake. The monitor would send an alert to Dr. Arlin once Spencer's heart beat dropped below a certain point, and he was close to it.
Vincent rose from his seat and quickly reached over, pulling the monitor's cable from the wall, disconnecting it from the line that would have carried the alert to Dr. Arlin's room. Less than a second later, the monitor began to signal as Spencer's heart rate dipped below forty. Vincent hit a button on the monitor, silencing it and he fell back into his seat again. He would call Janice and put on a good show for her, but not until he knew that Spencer was very much dead. If the doctor came in too quickly and realized that Spencer was dying of an overdose, not only would Vincent be revealed as a traitor, but Spencer could possibly be saved with injections of naloxone, making things far more complicated.
Vincent continued to watch Spencer as his complexion started to turn cyanotic. The man had already stopped breathing and it was just his heart that needed to give up. Five minutes later, Vincent reached out and felt the side of Spencer's neck, and found that there was no pulse. Now, it was time for Vincent to act.
He first reconnected the monitor to the wall and turned it back on, setting the machine's alarm blare off. Vincent then went and hit the intercom button.
Janice quickly responded. "What's going on? The monitor alarm is going off."
Doing his best to sound upset, Vincent replied. "I was sitting here watching Spencer while Quigley went to go eat, and the monitor just started to go off. I think he's dead. You better get here quickly."
Janice didn't reply and just ran out of her room, toward the infirmary. She threw open the doors and went to Spencer's side. The doctor could immediately tell by the color the other man had taken on that he was already severely hypoxic. She pulled over the emergency cart quickly and grabbed and endotracheal tube, getting it placed into Spencer within seconds.
Kyle had been alerted and he also ran it. Seeing what was going on, he hooked up a respiration device to the tube that Janice had placed in Spencer and began giving him breaths.
Janice got up onto the bed and started giving Spencer chest compressions after injecting a bolus of epinephrine into him. She performed CPR with fervor, but already knew that it was going to be pointless.
Quigley chose that moment to walk back in, and he stopped in the doorway when he saw the activity taking place around his brother. "What's going on?"
Vincent walked over to him. "I don't know, he just stopped breathing. The doctor is doing everything that she can."
Quigley felt tears in his eyes. "I shouldn't have left…"
Come on, make it convincing, Chaos urged.
Vincent placed his arm around Quigley's shoulders. "It would have happened either way."
Janice, after several minutes of trying, stopped chest compressions and looked over at Kyle. "Time of death, nine twenty-three."
Quigley heard this from where he was standing with Vincent and fell to his knees. "God no…"
If only you could tell him not to worry, as he will be joining his brother after ASRIO gets that list, Vincent. Chaos was reveling in this second murder, even more than that of Derek. Two down, Vincent. How many more do you think we're going to have to kill before we get this job done?
As many as it will take, Chaos, Vincent thought, as he watched Quigley come undone before him. As many as it takes.