Chapter Twenty One
Knowing that there would be several hours before the mission, Jaras went back to his room. When he opened the door, he saw that Jeanine was still sleeping in the bed. He went over and lay down beside her, draping an arm over her waist. Jaras nuzzled against his wife.
She stirred and opened her eyes slightly, turning her head to look at him. "Did you get Aaron what he wanted?"
Jaras gave her a faint smile. "Yes. How are you feeling?"
"Just a little tired." She rolled onto her side so she could look at him easier. Jeanine could see that there was something on his mind. "What's wrong?"
He reached up and caressed her face gently. "Angel found out that Dad is in the Junon lab, and we're going in to get him tonight."
"You're going?" she asked, already knowing that he was.
"Yes."
Jeanine closed her eyes and sighed. Jaras had already told her a dozen times that if there turned out to be some way for him to help Vincent, that he would. "I'd beg you not to, but I know you have to go."
He kissed her lightly. "Thank you."
"But before you go, I want something." Jeanine gave him a shy smile. "Since you found out that I forgot my pills the other day, you haven't really touched me. There's nothing to worry about now."
Jaras cocked an eyebrow. He'd been afraid of getting her pregnant, but that fear was now gone. After propping himself up on one elbow, he carefully pushed Jeanine onto her back and kissed her. He invaded her mouth in his timid way, hearing her sigh quietly in submission. Jaras pulled back for a moment and looked down into her eyes, seeing tears there. "Jeanine?"
She was trying to hide her fear about him going, but her eyes had still stung anyway. Still, Jeanine wanted to be with him, in the hopes that he could make her forget at least for a while. "Don't stop…"
With his free hand, he tenderly wiped away the tears that had fallen. Jeanine closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly. Jaras saw her mouth quiver faintly, and bent closer to her once more. He let the tip of his tongue glide over her lips, barely making contact with them, to which she responded by catching her breath.
Jeanine brought her hands up to frame his face, so she could pull him to her mouth, to make him kiss her deeply and not just tease her like he'd done. Even after six years, he still drove her mad.
-----------------------
When security had gotten to the lab, they'd found Dr. Methius unconscious but alive on the floor. He'd quickly been rushed off to the hospital, and one of the guards had managed to retrieve his severed arm from the interior of the cage, since Chaos had cast it off close to the bars.
The surgeons at the hospital were able to reattach it, and thanks to the nerve grafting techniques that had been first used outside of the lab on Vincent, ironically, he would regain use of it once it healed several months down the road. The hospital staff wanted him to remain for a few days so they could observe him, but as soon as he woke up from anesthesia, Peirte began demanding to be released. While his doctors eventually agreed to let him go the following day, for tonight they insisted that he remain and so they sedated him with painkillers to quiet his protests and demands.
Amy, too, had been taken to the hospital, since no one was quite sure what was wrong with her. Once there, the doctors had examined her and figured out that she'd been drugged. After running a blood test, they saw that she'd been given a dose of flunitrazepam, more commonly known as the date rape drug.
As she began to come out of her stupor, the hospital staff started to question her about what had transpired and how she'd been given the drug, but she refused to say anything. Amy was aware that incriminating Dr. Methius in any way would do no more than result in her death. Besides, she was still a Turk as far as Shinra was concerned, and she knew that she needed to get back into the lab to try and help Vincent. After all, he had saved her from her worst nightmare and she owed him.
Within a few hours of being admitted to the hospital, Amy was feeling good enough to get up and she was released. She headed straight back to the Shinra building. Amy made her way up to the lab and entered.
Vincent was in the cage and had picked himself up off of the floor at some point and thrown himself down upon the bed. He'd pulled the blanket over his body, hiding the fact that he was now naked, since his transformation into Chaos had shredded the pants he'd been wearing. His submission to the demon for the first time in so many years, coupled with his exhaustion from his torture, had wiped him out and he'd fallen asleep.
Amy neared the side of the cage. "Mr. Valentine?"
He came to the surface of lucidity, but didn't open his eyes. "What?"
"Thank you."
Reluctantly, he opened his eyes, spotting the female Turk standing beside the cell. "Your employer wouldn't be happy with you carrying on such a conversation with me."
Whether it had been an order from Rude or not, Amy cracked. Part of her felt like her life was going to be over anyway once Peirte got out of the hospital. "I don't really work for Shinra. I'm not a Turk."
Vincent scoffed. "That's supposed to be a surprise?"
She found his tone to still be biting and cold, yet for the time being, she was suffering from a case of 'knight in shining armor' syndrome and it didn't get to her. "To someone who was a trained Turk, I guess not."
He just kept his gaze upon her, not having much else to say.
Amy knelt down on the other side of the bars, to be closer to his level. "I wasn't supposed to say anything to you about this, but I'm with ASRIO. They put me in this lab to keep an eye out for you."
"I'm the last person they should be interested in." Vincent was curious as to why the organization he had almost destroyed would care. Then again, maybe they had wanted to keep tabs on him in case he was going to try something else.
"Well, they are interested in you because they had some pretty hefty strings pulled to get me here." Amy knew at least not to bring Rude's name into the equation in case Vincent for some reason did rat her out. "Your daughter is worried about you."
He closed his eyes and sighed at the thought of Angel. How much he must have hurt her by turning on her husband tore right through him. "She, of all people, should hate me the most. I killed Reno."
Amy smiled faintly. "No, you didn't. He's alive."
Vincent's eyes flew open again, and he sat up, still keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around him. "Alive?"
"Yes." Amy had no idea how much her former boss had already recovered and so couldn't comment on it further.
He hung his head and smiled to himself. Since his surgery, he'd gone to the gun range religiously in an attempt to remake his marksmanship what it had been before he'd gotten his new body. Often, he'd rued the fact that his aim had never entirely recovered, but now, he was suddenly grateful beyond words. Had the bullet hit Reno where he'd intended for it to go, his son-in-law would most certainly be dead.
"I want to help you, Mr. Valentine." Amy grabbed the bars with her hands, wishing she could reach him.
"You should be getting out of here and running to the base before Peirte shows back up and tries to assault you again." Vincent glanced at her for a moment.
"I'm not leaving you in this lab alone to fend for yourself. Peirte gave me keys, I can let you out." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key ring.
"Don't you dare open this cell up," Vincent growled at her. "You have no idea what could happen if you did that. You saw the monster that lives inside of me. You cannot risk turning me lose onto the outside world."
"You can't stay here!" She felt desperate. "If you do, you know Peirte's going to kill you!"
"I don't care about myself anymore." He slumped forward. "I have no life to go home to, I ruined all of that. I died in that hallway during the mission to free my son. Five bullets to the heart. I've been on borrowed time since then, and with it, I've almost destroyed the lives of the ones that I was supposed to love, the ones I was supposed to protect. Sadly, I failed and Sephiroth-- God damned Sephiroth-- turned out to be the hero and a far better person than I. So let him kill me, it is no concern of mine. You, however, need to leave. Otherwise, you'll die too. There's been enough death, enough suffering. I can't bear anymore blood on my hands than I have. Leave, if you know what's good for you."
"You can go back and apologize, Mr. Valentine. Angel's your daughter, she can forgive you." She was more than reluctant to leave this man to his fate. His comment regarding the five bullets to his heart hit Amy hard, as she realized that the place in the hall Peirte had shown her before had been the site of Vincent's death. "If I knew you didn't want to live, I would have run from Dr. Methius before he tried to force me into having sex with him! We could all have been spared this. I put myself in that position because he told me he'd stop hurting you for the night. If that was all for nothing, though…"
Let me guess, just one more sin hefted upon you for you alone to bear, right Vincent? Chaos growled snidely. If you're just going to stay here to die, I'm going to do everything I can to get us out. You are aware of that, right?
He ignored the demon entirely for the moment. Vincent honestly felt bad for Amy, but if Chaos was once more able to manifest himself, then he was just too much of a danger to go back to those he loved. Besides, Vincent didn't honestly believe that anyone would ever forgive him for what he'd done, whether he had been driven to do it by his addiction or not. The fact was he would remain in the cage until Peirte killed him, and that would be that. He'd never get the chance to tell Tifa that he forgave her and that he loved her still, he'd never see his new daughter, he'd never again see his sons or Angel, and he'd never get to tell Reno how sorry he was. As far as he was concerned, it was all over with now. "I'm sorry. Please, just go."
"Do you want me to leave the keys with you in case you change your mind?" she asked.
The demon perked to attention. Yes! You better take them!
"No," he replied, knowing that Chaos would just take him over the first chance he got and use them to let himself out. "All I want is for you to get out of here. I can at least take some peace in knowing that someone made it out of here alive."
I'm really starting to hate you, Vincent, Chaos sulked.
Amy had failed her mission, but living was more important than remaining in this lab now that it was clear that the man before her would refuse a rescue. "All right, I'll go. Is there anything you want me to do first?"
He thought about if for a moment. "Get me a pen and paper."
She got up from the floor and searched a nearby desk, coming up with the requested items. Amy brought them over and slid them through the bars.
Vincent moved from the bed and took them, and began writing. He worked in silence for several minutes, wiping his eyes with the back of his left hand on occasion. Eventually, he finished and he folded the paper carefully. He wrote his wife's name upon the outside of it and passed it to Amy. "When you get back to ASRIO, see to it that somehow it gets to Tifa. Angel will know what to do."
Amy took the note and placed it into her coat pocket. "All right, Mr. Valentine."
He gave her a faint smile. "Go on, before it's too late."
"Okay." She turned and slowly began to walk away.
As she retreated, Vincent had one last thing to say. "I'm sorry for being so terrible to you."
Oh if I could throw up, I would right about now. Chaos wasn't able to stand this blatant mush.
The ASRIO agent looked back over her shoulder and gave him a smile. "It's all right, I really wasn't Turk material, I guess."
Vincent laughed to himself quietly and watched her walk out of the lab. She would never return to the Shinra building. At least someone's life had been spared.
-----------------------
Brad set the chopper down on the airfield considerably later than he'd been expected. Cid's reception had proven to be perhaps too fun, and the chopper pilot had helped himself to a little more alcohol than he should have, thus making him delay his return home. As he helped his wife out, Angel came running over. He flashed her a quick smile, thinking that he was going to be in trouble for using the helicopter for personal business. "Hey."
"How long before you can be back in the air?" Angel asked, skipping all of the pleasantries.
"Honestly? Tomorrow." Brad put his arm around Lilly's shoulders.
"Tomorrow!" Angel shook her head. "No! We have to get to Junon tonight!"
Brad frowned. "I'm sorry, Angel, but she was acting up on the way home and I need to run through some of her systems. Besides, I'm an old man and I need to get some rest before I go taking off for another long trip like that."
"We might not have that long!" Angel was feeling panicked. The thought that her father could die simply because the chopper and pilot were both apparently tired got to her. "And who gave you permission to take ASRIO's helicopter off to wherever you went in the first place?"
Brad knit his brow. "Reno never cared."
"Reno isn't in charge anymore!" Angel turned and started to storm away. "Get to work on that thing and let me know the moment it's airworthy!"
Lilly laughed at her husband. "When was the last time you got in trouble like that?"
The pilot shrugged. "It's been a while. I guess I'll be staying here tonight."
"Okay." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going home."
"Goodnight." Brad gave her a swat on the rear as she walked away.
-----------------------
Tifa sat on the floor on the sleeping bag she'd been given, since Aaron had asked her not to use her bed anymore as it was within his reach. The baby had been asleep for a while, and she had nothing better to do than watch as her son continued to play his game that Jaras had gotten for him earlier.
Aaron had actually slept through the conversation that had taken place earlier that day, and had no idea that his father was still possibly going to be rescued. Every once in a while, he'd lower his game and have to fight off tears as he wondered about his dad's fate.
When Aaron did this again, this time actually having a few tears fall down his cheeks, Tifa crawled over a little closer to the bars. "Sweetie?"
"I just wish I knew." He glanced up at her. "I miss him, Mom."
Tifa wasn't sure if she should tell him that his father was alive or not. She didn't want to get his hopes up in case Vincent didn't survive. The boy had been jerked around emotionally enough. "I know, I miss him, too."
"Mom?"
"Yeah?" Tifa continued to gaze at her son.
His red eyes met hers once more. "I know that stuff they gave me this morning didn't work, but do you think that they'll come up with something that can?"
"I'm sure that Quigley's going to do everything that he can, Sweetie." Tifa gave him a smile.
"After what I did to him this morning? Why would he try to help me?" Aaron couldn't honestly understand.
"Because he knows that wasn't really you that hurt him." She dared to get just a little closer.
He frowned. "I don't get it."
"Well, even when your father used to change like you do now, Chaos did some terrible things, but I always knew that it wasn't really Vincent, and so I was able to forgive him…" Tifa's eyes went wide. The image of Vincent glaring back at her during their ill fated encounter the morning before he'd departed flashed through her mind. She remembered what she'd said to Cid after running out of the room and into his arms.
It was just like Chaos was back.
"Aaron, I'll be back in a little while." Tifa got up and walked out as fast as she could. She hoped the Charlotte would stay asleep while she was gone.
She got to the lab and walked in, spotting Porter and Quigley together as they often were, hovering over some sort of analyzer. "Hey, guys?"
Porter turned to face her quickly. "Yes?"
"I was wondering if you had any sort of theory as to why Aaron can do what he can? I mean, do you think that there's some sort of possibility that Vincent wasn't actually completely cured?" Tifa went over and sat in a chair close to them.
Quigley, still a little high from his pain medication moved to face her, wavering slightly as he did so. "Yeah, we were talking about that earlier, weren't we, Port?"
He nodded. "We speculated that on some level, Chaos was still in Vincent, but that the drug he'd gotten had just taken away the demon's ability to manifest, but had left some DNA sequence within him."
"And that he was able to pass that on to Aaron," Quigley added. "It's taken all these years for that DNA sequence to kick Aaron's body into a state where he could do what he can."
"If that's the case, then somewhere along the line, Vincent's probably going to start doing it again too, if he lives," Porter finished.
Tifa sat silent. She closed her eyes and hung her head. Vincent and Tifa had always had an emotionally intense relationship as they were both temperamental and stubborn, but the way things had taken a turn over the last few years had seemed beyond their norm. Maybe that demon had been burrowing through his mind during that time, making him the way he'd become. Perhaps he'd even turned to drinking as a means of trying to silence that beast. She had blamed Vincent for it all and maybe, just maybe, it had been Chaos' doing. "Oh my God…"
Porter saw her break down and he went to her side and knelt down. "Tifa?"
"I blamed Vincent…" She looked up into his stunningly green eyes. "I blamed Vincent and it wasn't his fault."
Quigley hated to see women cry, and he rolled his chair over to her side as well. "Have you seen signs of Chaos in Vincent since his supposed cure?"
She nodded. "I think so. I had no idea, though. But now…"
"Hindsight's twenty-twenty?" Quigley offered a smile. It was looking like Porter's theory had been correct. "Port, you're a fuckin' genius."
Not really familiar with the man cursing, both Porter and Tifa stared at him.
Quigley caught their expressions, and knew what it was. "I'm stoned."
They both laughed in response.
Tifa looked back at the former Turk. "So, if the two of you were thinking about this today, then do you think you can figure out what to do for Aaron?"
"At the very least, we can come up with a drug similar to what we tried today, but have it tweaked just a little so that it's geared specifically for his demon's RNA codes." Porter pointed over toward the machine. "There was some of your son's blood on the syringe we used to give him that injection this morning, and we were analyzing it to see if we can single out the RNA code for his demon. Just like with Vincent, as it seems, this drug won't truly cure him, but it will knock the demon back from being able to manifest for a few years, hopefully buying us the time we need to come up with a real cure."
To hear that they at least seemed confident about finding something to prevent Aaron from transforming made Tifa feel much better. "And as for that real cure, what do you think your chances are of finding it?"
"Well, it won't be easy, and it might take us a while. If it truly is something embedded in his DNA, then it might be tricky." Quigley crossed his arms over his chest.
Tifa gave them both a smile. She had nothing but confidence in the two men before her. "If anyone can do it, it's you guys."
Angel came storming in. "Brad came back and says the chopper won't be ready to go until tomorrow afternoon!"
Porter stood up as quickly as he could manage. "That's bad."
"Tell me about it." She went and threw herself down into a vacant chair. "I don't know what to do. We could take the airship, but we'd have to land further away and we wouldn't be able to pick up off the roof. We'd have to run out of the building and to the ship."
"It would probably be best to just wait for the chopper, Angel." Porter went and sat in a chair next to hers.
"My dad could be dead by then, Porter!" There were flames in her eyes. Nothing was going her way.
"Angel…" Porter wished there were something he could say to comfort her, but that was Reno's job, and he wasn't here. "I don't know."
Angel's cell phone went off. Although she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, she pulled it out. "What?"
"It's Amy."
Angel immediately stood up and took a few steps away from the others. She could tell from the agent's voice that she was terribly upset. "What's going on?"
Amy was silent for a moment. "I quit."
"Amy! You can't! You're our only plant in the lab!" Angel suddenly had a horrible thought. "Is Vincent…dead?"
"No, not yet, but as soon as Dr. Methius gets out of the hospital, he will be." Amy leaned up against the housing of the pay phone she was calling from. "I've seen things, Angel, that I never wanted to. I can't work for ASRIO anymore after all of this. It's…it's just too much. I'm never going to be the same."
"Amy, please, I'm begging you! Go back in that lab and keep an eye on my father until we can get him out!" Angel felt herself begin trembling in her anxiety.
"He doesn't want out, Angel." Amy closed her eyes, remembering the look of complete surrender upon Vincent's face when she'd left. "He's got some sort of monster in him. Dr. Methius had been torturing him, but he stopped to try…"
"To try what?" Angel knit her brow, feeling the sheer emotion coming from the other woman.
"To try and rape me." Her shame over the situation came out. "Mr. Valentine actually broke free of his restraints and pulled Dr. Methius off of me. I got away, but I looked back and watched as Mr. Valentine turned into some sort of monster. Dr. Methius had his arm ripped off by him, but he managed to trap Mr. Valentine in a cage."
Angel pulled the phone away from her ear and turned back to the others. "Vincent turned into Chaos."
Tifa, Porter, and Quigley all gasped, but they had expected that this would happen at some point.
Angel put the phone back to her ear. "Then what?"
"Then I and Dr. Methius were taken to the hospital. I wasn't hurt and I was released right away, but Dr. Methius has to stay until tomorrow. I went back to the lab to see if Mr. Valentine wanted me to get him out, since I felt that I owed him for getting Dr. Methius off of me, but he said he wanted to stay and die. That if he was able to turn into whatever that was, that he couldn't come back and risk those he loved and that no one would forgive him for what has happened anyway." Amy pulled her suit jacket around her tighter.
"Damn it." Angel closed her eyes and sighed. Knowing that the scientist had attempted to sexually assault Amy made Angel face the fact that she really couldn't ask the agent to go back into the lab. Dealing with that sort of thing was outside of Amy's scope of duty. "Don't quit entirely, though, Amy. Come back to the base, and we can give you a job here. You don't have to be in the field anymore if you don't want to."
"I don't know, Angel. I'm going to have to think about it for a while." She shrugged to herself. "I've been through a lot over the last day."
"I understand. Do what you have to, Amy." Angel went over and sat back down in the chair she'd been in before.
Amy looked across the street, seeing a copy and fax shop. "I'm going to fax over something that Mr. Valentine gave me to give to Tifa."
"All right. You know the number to the fax in the lab?" Angel asked.
"I do." Amy moved to hang up. "I'll talk to you later, Angel. Give Reno my best wishes."
"I will. Bye." Angel flipped close her phone. She turned back to face the others. "Okay…uh, shit. Father's still alive, and Dr. Methius is in the hospital until tomorrow. That means that he'll probably not be killed until some time tomorrow."
"What caused him to turn into Chaos? Did she say?" Porter asked, curious.
Angel nodded. "Amy said the Dr. Methius was trying to rape her, and that Vincent broke out of his restraints and pulled that nut job off of her before turning into Chaos and ripping the bastard's arm off."
Porter looked over at Quigley. "Seems to be the theme of the day."
"I guess." Quigley was grateful that Aaron hadn't possessed that kind of strength.
Tifa caught the underlying meaning. "Vincent stopped Dr. Methius from raping your agent?"
"That's what she said." Angel felt some pride in her father's actions.
"Then he's gotten back some sense of right and wrong." Tifa actually felt herself smile. "Vincent's…he's still there on some level."
"Amy offered to let him out of the lab, and he refused to go with her." Angel sighed heavily. Things would just be easier if her father had some interest in self-preservation. "He said that he couldn't risk being turned loose if he was capable of turning into Chaos again, and that he didn't have anything to live for since he thinks we will never forgive him."
"We don't need to forgive him! This was all Chaos and Shinra's doing! Vincent was just along for the ride." Tifa grew angry.
The fax machine fired up to life and spit out a paper. Angel picked it up and glanced at it for a moment, seeing that it was a handwritten letter addressed to Tifa, she gave it over to her.
Tifa took the paper. "What is this?"
"Amy said Vincent gave that to her to give to you, so she faxed it." Angel said, motioning for Tifa to read it. "See what he has to say."
Tifa gripped the paper in her hands, and slowly brought her gaze down to it.
To My Wife,
So, it looks like that other letter I wrote wasn't the last, but I suppose this one will be. Chaos is back. Believe it or not, he actually prevented something terrible from happening to a woman. Completely out of character for him, huh?
In light of this, though, I'm refusing freedom. After all that Chaos did in the past, I cannot in good conscious, let myself be freed. I would never be able to see you, Aaron, or Charlotte for fear that he would hurt them. That being the case, I have nothing to live for. Besides, I've hurt everyone I love so much during recent events, that I know I'm not wanted back.
The ferium is out of me now, and with it has left the force that drove me to do what I did. I can't explain it. Somehow, that simple chemical was able to turn me into something perhaps far worse than Chaos ever was. Strange to think that was possible.
Sephiroth, Jaras, whoever he is now, has my eternal gratitude for stopping me from selling out ASRIO. Thank him for me. He saved the lives of everyone that works for the organization. He is a hero and deserves the thanks of all those who he helped. Tell him that I love him and that I'm proud of him. He's a good man.
As for Aaron, I heard that he now can turn into something like Chaos. I don't know if that is in fact true or not, since it came from Reno. I thought at the time that maybe he was just telling me that to manipulate me in some way, but now I'm not so sure. If it's the case, then it's just further evidence that I've ruined yet another life. Have ASRIO give him the drug they gave me to keep him from hurting someone or himself, but know that it's not a cure. It didn't cure me. It took away Chaos' ability to come out and in fact, he was completely silenced for a few years, but then he came back within my mind. Maybe if they just treat him with it every few years, they can keep Aaron from suffering what I have. I don't know anything about that sort of thing, so I suppose Porter and Quigley will have to muddle through that. What do I know?
He's been in my head all of this time. It was his attempts to take me over that gave me the seizures. That's the honest to God truth. I drank to get him out of my mind. I should have just admitted this from the outset, but I was in denial and didn't want to face it myself. It doesn't matter.
Tifa, I love you. I hurt you and I drove you away. I accept the blame for that and if I wasn't facing this demon now and if there were some way for everyone to forgive me, I'd come back to you in an instant but that's not how it is. I guess I'm really just restating what I wrote in the previous letter more or less. Maybe I have a one-track mind.
I heard that Reno's alive. You have no idea how relieved I am to know that. He must have been hurt badly, but at least I didn't kill him. Tell him that I'm sorry, tell Angel that I'm sorry, too. Reno didn't deserve that. I should have just turned the gun around on myself, but that damned ferium…
Tell my kids that I love them-- all of them, and remember that I love you, too, Tifa. I wish I could fix all of this. I really wish that I could. Story of my life.
Vincent
Tifa dried her eyes and folded the paper in half. "Poor Vincent."
"What did it say?" Angel asked, coming closer.
"That he loves us and that Chaos ruined our marriage." Tifa laughed to herself, since she'd just come to this realization without him telling her just moments before. "He doesn't want to be rescued, since he's afraid that Chaos will hurt someone again."
"Well, he's getting rescued, whether he likes it or not." Angel looked over at Porter. He'd spoken to her before about his theories regarding Chaos and Aaron's situation. "That drug didn't work on Aaron, but do you think that it will work on Vincent still?"
"It should," Porter answered.
"Then get some ready for us to take when we get on the way to Junon. As soon as that chopper is ready, we're leaving and if that means that we have to go into that lab tomorrow during the day, then that is what we'll do." Angel started toward the door. "I have to go tell the others about our delay."
-----------------------
Jaras was lying with Jeanine in his arms as he kept a watch out of the corner of his eye on the clock. It was time to go up to the airfield for the mission, but he was finding it hard to leave his wife's side. Yet, he still knew that he had to go so he slipped from the bed carefully, tucking the sheets back down around Jeanine once he got her settled. Jaras went to the dresser, picked up the sword that he'd brought back from the lab, and then left the room.
He walked out onto the airfield, finding Spanky, Ericson, and Kimo there. They stood waiting for a while, before Angel showed up. They all turned to her, looking for an explanation since the helicopter was nowhere to be seen.
"The mission has been delayed," she said, stopping at her brother's side.
"Why?" Jaras looked over at her, not pleased.
"Because Brad can't get the chopper back up in the air until tomorrow." Angel scanned over the other men present.
Jaras' eyes seemed to glow brighter for a moment before he unsheathed his sword, spun, and then stabbed down into the grass with it while groaning loudly through clenched teeth. The blade sank into the turf a solid twelve inches. "Damn it!"
The only time Angel had witnessed anything like a break of Jaras' temper had been seven years ago after he'd first regained his memories. She went to him and placed her hands upon his shoulders, which were presently heaving with his furious breaths. "Are you okay?"
He pulled his sword out from the ground and then slowly turned to face her. "Do I look okay? My father, our father, is trapped, waiting to die in some God forsaken Shinra lab, and we have to wait for the chopper? This…this is ridiculous!"
"Well, I'm sorry Jaras, but I don't know what else to do. At the very least, he's safe from Dr. Methius until sometime tomorrow." Angel reached out and grabbed his left hand.
His eyes narrowed. "How do you know? What happened?"
"Amy, our plant, called me to tell me that Dr. Methius is in the hospital. Apparently, our father turned into Chaos and ripped off his arm." She tightened her hold on him.
Jaras actually smiled. "Did he?"
"Yes, and so until Dr. Methius gets out of the hospital, which by all accounts will be tomorrow despite the gravity of his wound, Vincent is safe." Angel gave a small smile of her own. Both she and Jaras were proud of Vincent for managing to extol some measure of revenge upon the madman.
"So we have a little more time." Jaras dropped his sister's hand and resheathed his sword.
"It looks like it, yeah."
Jaras clamed himself down for a few moments before turning and going back down into the base. If they had more time, then he was going to spend it with his wife.
-----------------------
Vincent sat on the mattress within the cage, staring over at the clock that hung close to Peirte's office door. It was presently four in the morning, or at least, he thought it was if the clock were right.
Maybe it wasn't. There was no way for him to really know.
He couldn't help but wonder exactly how he would be killed when Dr. Methius returned, and when that would happen. For the most part, Vincent was hoping that after his last encounter with him, that Peirte would be too frightened to risk bringing him out of the cage for more torture. If that were the case, maybe the doctor would just have a few well-armed guards come in and act as an impromptu firing squad, killing him in the cage. After all, Vincent had been shot to death before, and he knew that it wasn't the worst thing he'd ever gone through. Although, he had to wonder how long it would take him to die after being riddled with bullets, since he now possessed the damn artificial heart.
Lovely thoughts, Vincent.
Shouldn't you be silent now? Usually you'd shut the hell up at least for a while after coming out in the old days, you know. Vincent closed his eyes, resigning to the fact that Chaos wanted to talk.
That was the old days. I'm not tired yet, Vincent. Sure, I'm too tired to come back out, but I'm fine enough to talk. Besides, what else do you have to do as you sit here dreaming about your death? Chaos laughed. You seem to be in love with the idea of dying, Vincent. I guess I can't quite understand it. Then again, I have no soul. After you die, I get to stay in this body, eventually fading into nothingness once the connections in your pathetic little brain shut down once and for all.
Well, that's just a fucking shame, Vincent shot back, his mind echoing his sarcasm.
At least we have a son to carry on this legacy.
Vincent frowned and stood up, keeping the blanket wrapped around him. He's not your son! He's mine. Don't you ever try to make any claim over him!
If he were just yours, then why does he have a demon inside of him, Vincent? Chaos asked. Where did that demon come from? I'd say me.
We don't even really know if he does. Reno could have been messing with me. Vincent took a few steps and then leaned against the bars.
What would have been his motivation for doing that? Think about the expression he wore when he told you. You knew him well enough to see that he was being sincere. That boy is just like you, as sure as the sun will come up in the morning, Chaos thought back.
This struck Vincent as odd somehow and he turned towards the row of windows along the far side of the room. The sun was already coming up, judging from the orange glow emanating through the blinds. The clock was wrong. For it to be that bright outside this time of year, it had to be at least seven.
Well, it looks like we just lost three hours of gripping conversation, Vincent.
Shut up, Chaos. I'd really rather not have to spend my last moments on this earthly plane talking to you. Vincent let his head rest against the cage bars with a dull thud.
You'd rather spend them wallowing in your self-pity for all of your failures and so-called sins, right?
Actually, I'd like to spend them thinking about my wife and children, if you don't mind. I never even got to see my new baby. My little blond daughter. Vincent felt a burn in his eyes, and closed them again.
You sniveling idiot. Chaos hated this sort of sickening sentimentality. It made him ill. Fine, just give up and let us die, Vincent. I can't take anymore of this shit. You whine and rue your fate constantly. Your existence is pathetic and miserable because you never pull out of your petty little problems long enough to get any perspective on how good you actually had things. You deserve what you get.
Vincent grew angry and slammed a hand against the cage. Shut up! I know I had a good thing going, and I know that YOU are the main reason that I ruined it! If you'd just stayed silent instead of constantly droning on and on in the back of my mind… I'm the one that's sick of living like this! You've loved every fucking minute of it. You liked watching my life fall apart. You got off on the fact that I drove my wife into having an affair.
Perhaps. What else did I have to do? I couldn't come out, and your life had become…dull. You never did anything exciting anymore. You sat around the house, went to the gun range on occasion, and bought groceries. Riveting, every moment of it. Stunningly exciting. Chaos' disgust for Vincent's domestic life was obvious.
It may have been boring on some level compared to the old days, but it was a welcome break. I was sick of excitement. His shoulders slumped as he realized exactly how much he missed the simple activities of home life.
The lab doors opened, and Peirte walked in, his arm bound up tightly in a sling. The dressings over his shoulder were soaked through with blood, and the small identification bands that had been placed around his left wrist in the hospital were still present. Since the shirt he'd been wearing before going to the hospital had been ruined, he was topless, save for the bandages that pinned his arm against his chest for the time being.
Vincent looked at him languidly, neither afraid of the doctor's return nor impressed that a man that had just had his arm ripped off several hours before was back at work. He let his eyes fall way from Peirte and back to the cage floor. Honestly, Vincent was just too tired to do anything else.
Dr. Methius stood close to the lab doors for a while, observing Vincent's reaction to his return. He'd hoped for some sign of fear from his prisoner and was disappointed that there was none. Vincent just seemed unmoved by the whole situation.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get any sort of rise out of Vincent, Peirte walked over to his office and vanished inside for an hour, before emerging again with a lab coat draped around his right shoulder, his left arm through its sleeve. He went over to his microscope and sat before it. Peirte pulled out a box of slides and placed one on the scope, before getting to examining it and taking down notes with his left hand.
This struck Vincent as odd. He'd noticed that Peirte was right handed, and the fact that he was now carrying on with his left hand as though it were the most natural thing in the world fascinated him in a way. Vincent stared as he tried to figure it out.
Dr. Methius felt Vincent's gaze upon him for a time, but chose to ignore him until he'd finished with his slides. He pushed his microscope back on the table gently and looked up at his prisoner. "Is something amusing you?"
Vincent figured he had nothing to lose. "You were right handed."
Peirte huffed and rolled his eyes. The pain in his shoulder was making him more than irritable. He held up his left hand. "Actually, I'm completely ambidextrous. I always have been, but I tend to be right dominant. As you can see, however, I can get on with my left with no trouble."
"Then I should have ripped off both of them." Vincent slogged over to his bed and sat down upon the mattress, his back turned to the scientist.
Peirte narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips for a second. "Classy, very classy."
Vincent hung his head and shut his eyes. He hoped that Peirte would just do whatever it was that he planned to do soon.
The doctor got up and walked over toward the cage, making certain to remain far enough back from the bars as to be out of Vincent's reach, even though it seemed like Vincent was absolutely no threat for the time being. "Mr. Valentine?"
He glanced up at him briefly, pleased that the man was staying back. If nothing else, Vincent had made Peirte fear him. That was gratifying.
"How's your burn fairing this morning?" he asked, pushing up the spare pair of glasses that he'd retrieved from his office upon arrival.
Vincent hadn't honestly given it any thought after his transformation the night before. He brought his right arm out from beneath his blanket, and saw that the grotesque wound Peirte had inflicted upon him before was completely healed. With the return of Chaos' ability to manifest himself, apparently his exceptional recuperative powers had been restored. He parted the blanket over his chest and looked down, seeing that the incision over his chest was now gone as well, leaving the remaining surgical staples embedded over the repaired site. "Well…"
"Hojo's notes mentioned that the Chaos demon let you repair your body within just a few hours of injury. I guess that this is evidence it's true." Peirte nodded slightly. "I'm glad I got to see that for myself."
Vincent tensed his jaw and then glared up at the doctor. "Why is it that someone who seemingly has intelligence on some level wastes their time on insane projects and notions instead of doing something useful?"
Peirte's body seemed to get a little more rigid, but then he relaxed again. He knew that Vincent was trying to get to him, and he wouldn't give him the pleasure. Dr. Methius smiled to himself and turned away slightly. "All that is useful has been done. Pure research is by far more exciting, anyway. If there were something 'useful' that I wanted to do, I would. I can do anything, Mr. Valentine. Don't you ever doubt my abilities for one moment, or mock them."
Feeling full of himself and frustrated over everything that had happened, Vincent dared to speak back. "Anything? Then do something like cure cancer instead of wasting time trying to cut through people with welding equipment."
Peirte cocked an eyebrow. "Cure cancer? All right, what type?"
Vincent flashed back to Cid. "I don't know, how about whatever it is that smokers get?"
"Heh, please. Small cell carcinoma?" Dr. Methius took a step forward. "That's been done."
Vincent knit his brow. "Done?"
"A cure, Mr. Valentine, has been found for that. A dozen times over, in fact." Peirte placed his left hand over his right shoulder. It was beginning to hurt more.
"Then why doesn't anyone know what to do for a man that's dying of it?" Vincent asked.
"Because to let that out, as well as the knowledge that many, many types of cancer have been found to be curable would be entirely irresponsible." The doctor actually laughed at Vincent's ignorance.
Vincent didn't understand. "Irresponsible?"
Peirte scoffed. "Tell me, how many people do you think are employed either directly or indirectly in the area of cancer research?"
Vincent had no idea, and didn't respond.
"Thousands, Mr. Valentine, literally thousands." Dr. Methius went over and sat on the edge of a nearby exam table. "And many of those people were educated just to take part in cancer research. If the disease were cured, they would all be out of work. Think of it as killing the golden goose, if you will."
He still stared on silently, not believing what he was hearing.
"Cancer research brings in billions of gil in revenue for both this company and hundreds of other organizations around the world. Do you honestly believe that in all of these years that no one would have come up with a cure for anything? No, of course not. With the unlimited funding given to cancer research by governments and charities, it is one of the biggest scientific industries in the world. In order to keep their coffers filled, different labs will break with news of so-called exciting developments in cancer research, but nothing of real value ever comes out. Haven't you ever noticed that? When all the while, cures have been found for most cancers. But if those cures got out and became public knowledge-- boom, the collapse of an entire industry, and the loss of limitless funds. It would be a sad day, indeed. Besides, people need to keep dying. If we gave out the cure, the life expectancy average would skyrocket, making the overpopulation problem that much worse. There is no good reason to let the cures out. Ergo, we keep them closely guarded, hidden lest those in cancer research work themselves right out of a job."
Vincent inwardly shuddered at the sheer evil greed that was corrupting the field, if Peirte's claim were true. "Right. I bet there is no cure. You're just unable to admit that there's something you can't do."
Dr. Methius narrowed his eyes. "You honestly doubt me?"
"Maybe I do." Vincent glared right back.
"Just a moment." Peirte hopped off the table and went into his office. Several minutes later he returned with a laptop computer in his left hand. He sat it upon a table close to Vincent's cage and typed on it for a moment before turning it around so Vincent could see the screen. "Read it and weep."
Vincent got up from the bed and went to the bars. As he squinted at the screen, he could make out the words there. It was all medical babble, but the message was clear. This was the drug formulary for the cure to the type of cancer that Peirte had mentioned earlier.
He wasn't bluffing. There was a cure, and apparently, many more.
Vincent felt sick. Maybe he didn't care anymore if Cid lived or died, but Tifa sure as hell did. She would be miserable when Cid actually succumbed to his disease. That almost made Vincent want to break out and get this information out to the world.
Almost.