Chapter 4,
Plans for the Future
As Hojo entered the room the only thing on his mind was the baby in the corner. The infant slept peacefully not knowing what had befell her parents, or that the gaze of the evil man rested on her. Dr. Valentine was busy attending to the fallen professor, so Hojo had his chance to scoop up the infant and bring her to his lab. At his cold touch she woke up. Hojo was mesmerized by the bright glow of her eyes. He quickly pulled out a syringe and pricked it into the baby's foot, drawing a shiny bead of blood. He quickly captured it on a slide and had the chance to hid it in his desk before Dr. Valentine came in to take her away . " I'm taking her to the nursery till Dr. Monet wakes up" said Dr. Valentine. "Sure, I just took her here to get her out of the way, She will be better taken care of there, I have things to do and don't have the time for crying brats" his voice showed no sign of any emotion, his eyes had a cold, hard stare as he looked at the now screaming child. Dr Valentine scooped up the screaming child and left the lab.
After running some tests on the tiny sample of blood he had pro quired, Hojo thought to himself he would need more blood, a lot more to test. He had enough blood for the most important test which came back just how Hojo had hoped. "Yes, yes, just what I expected, it seems like the mako has in fact transferred into her!" All his previous experimentation had never produced a live specimen, his projects always seeming to prematurely "expire". That might have something to do with his impatience, always injecting too much mako in his attempt to be the first to create the "ultimate life form" for Shin-Ra. Sure, she was just a newborn now, but in the future she would be a goldmine for his research! Once she reached maturity she would be bred to create the most powerful of creatures. She was the key. With her genetics and mako infused cells, anything was possible. The problem was waiting for her to mature. "Damn!" he cursed under his breath, thinking it would be at least 14 years of waiting, 16 if he wanted to be on the safe side, He didn't want to wait that long. I must be patient, he thought to himself, if I rush now everything will be ruined, somehow I need to wait, no matter how hard it may be, nothing could stand in his way! Nothing except time, and her father, but he could be dealt with easily, more so now that his beloved Veronica was gone. That new scientist, Valentine, may become a bit of a problem too, but enough for now, he decided that he would be able to rid himself of these loose ends soon enough.
Till she was old enough to breed, He would occupy himself with his other experiments, like the "Materia project" He was on the verge of discovering how to fuse materia into human bodies, something never before done. Before now materia had been only used to enhance weapons, and by mages to summon minions from the other planes, but he saw more possibilities in the rare glowing orbs. Something between human and demon, able to transform at anytime into a merciless creature who's only want is to spill as much blood as possible. He wanted to create death itself, then he would be its master.
No one knew he had obtained the summon materia, He himself didn't even know its full ability. He tried once to summon the creature within the orb. That was an experience he would never forget! He used one of the protesters the Turks had imprisoned, that is where most of his subjects came from. Fools, as if anyone could stand up to Shin-Ra, but there were always fools daring to try, once they were imprisoned no one heard from them again, ever. But they never learned. They kept coming.
He summoned the creature by using the mana from his captive. The horrible thing called forth had nearly tore his head off. All he could remember in his confusion and fear, was a beast with skin a vile shade of rotten purple. Like something that had died and was left to rot. If the prisoner would have held out a little longer, Hojo would have been torn to shreds by the creatures razor sharp claws, but summoning the creature and the manna it consumed proved to be to much for the unlucky prisoner. His heart gave out seconds after the creature appeared. But instead of being grateful to the poor man for his weakness, Hojo cursed and spat at the cadaver. He threw his anger at the dead man, kicking him and punching him while screaming like a lunatic "You weak piece of shit, How dare you die, you were not supposed to die, not until I wanted you dead!" he continued to beat the dead body until his hands were bloody and the dead man's face was nothing more than bloody pulp. So strong was Hojo's anger.
Next time he would use a stronger specimen, yes, next time it would be different, he would take his time in selecting the perfect host for his precious orb. Someone strong, someone ruthless, in perfect physical shape. While he was busy thinking of the possibilities, he was interrupted by a young man in a dark blue suit, one of the "Turks" he couldn't remember the man's name, it didn't matter to him anyway, after all the turks were there to do his bidding, nothing more than brainless guns for Shin-Ra, a source for specimens, nothing more. " Ah, excuse me sir" mumbled the Turk clearly uncomfortable by being so near Hojo. "But you asked to be informed when Professor Monet woke up." "What?" Hojo asked, it was obvious he was lost in his own thoughts. " Ah... Professor Monet has.." started the Turk. "Yes, Yes, thank you that is all I require" Hojo cut the man off. As Hojo watched the Turk nervously fumble with the door knob in his haste to get away, a thought came to him. A Turk? A Turk would be perfect for the experiment. Strong, ruthless, in perfect shape, now that would be a specimen that would last, didn't a Turk have to be the best even before being considered by Shin-Ra? And then with the 6 month training, 90 of the candidates never made it, they didn't give up and drop out. No, if they were not strong enough to handle the stress of the training they were killed by it. No turning back once you decide to go down that street. Perfect! Hojo thought, impressed by his own ingenuity, now to get to work, so much to be done. So intent on his new line of thoughts he almost forgot professor Monet, a minor detail.