"Most people are pathetic drudges, barely existing in their insignificant, meaningless little lives. They should be proud to serve a greater purpose!"
Creepy laughter crackled from the loudspeakers. "Yes, yes!" Hojo exclaimed, bending down over his controls. "I knew it! I knew he wouldn't let his copies harm you two." His fingers danced over his controls. Machinery hummed and lights pulsed. "This data is superb! Magnificent! At last, I've captured full-spectrum readings while he's controlling his copies."
In disturbing, unnaturally perfect unison, all the monsters turned to stare up at the observation window. At Hojo.
"Heh heh," Hojo laughed. "Hewley, your foolish attachment to your friends defeated you. You should have cooperated with me sooner. The end result is the same."
The ground monsters crouched, muscles quivering as though ready to spring. The flying Ahrimans rose to Hojo's level.
"You know they can't get to me," Hojo gloated. "You're helpless, and I have my precious data. Every time you interact with your copies, every command you give them, I gain more data."
"He's batshit crazy," Zack muttered.
"No," said Sephiroth, finally turning his head away from Angeal. "He's not. He knows exactly what he's doing."
"He's ranting."
"Remember what I said about his need for an audience. Now prepare yourself. We're not done here."
Drawing in a deep breath and firming his battle stance, Zack nodded.
Hojo spoke to them: "Don't you see? With more of this data, I can create ways to control copies directly without their master! Shin-Ra will have an invincible, enhanced army without needing to trust to human loyalty or technological manipulation!"
"This has to end, Hojo. The Wutai War is over. The Occupation only requires ordinary troops and lower SOLDIER classes. I know you don't really care about expanding the President's army," said Sephiroth, gripping Masamune tightly in one hand.
"Don't be an idiot. That old fool's wars will never end. I'll give him all the trained copies he wants. I don't care if he occupies half the Planet or razes it all to the ground, as long as my research makes progress! Don't you understand, Sephiroth? When I have even more knowledge, I'll make you even stronger! Better! My science will be proven supreme!"
"Is that really what this is about, Hojo?" Sephiroth asked him cynically. "Really? One-upmanship? With whom? Gast? Hollander?"
"Hollander?" Hojo actually sputtered. "That second-rate hack? Absurd!"
"You obviously thought highly enough of his work to use his own son to further your new research," Sephiroth said, lip curled with contempt. "You have nothing of your own that's suitable, but Hollander did. It infuriates you that he accomplished something you couldn't. Why else use Angeal save out of necessity and spite against Hollander?"
Hojo's features distorted with fury. Sephiroth pressed his advantage. "You've always been jealous of Gast. The real Jenova research was his. All your work is stolen from the efforts and knowledge of others, and you've just been tinkering like an amateur. You're the hack, Hojo, not Hollander."
"You ungrateful fool! You—" Suddenly, Hojo leaned back and let out crazy laughter. "Oh, I see what you're doing! You've always looked down on me, but my genius created you! With my new knowledge, I'll improve you, enhance you to greater levels! You'll be more powerful than the Planet itself. I'll even make you immortal! Don't you want to be an immortal god, Sephiroth? It's almost within my—our—reach. You'll become the ultimate, shining example of Jenova's power and my pure genius!"
"What about Angeal?" Zack screamed at him, gesturing back at Angeal's tank. "What about all the other lives you've ruined? For what?"
"Knowledge, my boy. Pure scientific knowledge! It's built on stepping stones, you see. One must make necessary sacrifices for genius and the advancement of knowledge! This world couldn't have been created without people like me, people who understand that some are born to push the boundaries of science. Only a scientist of my caliber could accomplish what I've done! Most people are pathetic drudges, barely existing in their insignificant, meaningless little lives. They should be proud to serve a greater purpose!"
"I've heard enough. You were almost right, Zack," Sephiroth murmured—so unemotional, so cold. "Hojo... My father..." He blew out a long, tight exhalation. "He isn't merely crazy. He's a sociopath with no restraints." In his bangle, a Summon materia glowed.
Bahamut, Zack saw. He noticed another next to it also start glowing. Ifrit? Sephiroth had that wriggling madness in his eyes again, and Zack felt his breath catch in his throat.
"Sephiroth," he said, attempting a calming, reasonable tone, "you can't use both those Summons in here!"
"Can't I?" Sephiroth sounded almost bored.
"You'll destroy this entire level! Maybe more!"
"Yes, that's what will happen." The corners of Sephiroth's mouth turned up the tiniest bit, and the madness in his eyes grew brighter. "I'm finishing what Genesis started. You should go, Zack, before Hojo's specimen control protocols activate. Make for Rally Point Alpha. Follow the plan."
"What? No!" Zack couldn't believe his ears.
"That's an order, Zack."
"I refuse! I'm not leaving you guys behind!"
Sephiroth turned his head and spoke to Angeal. "Get him out. I will take care of everything."
"No!" Zack protested again.
Six Ahrimans swooped down with flawless synchronization. They grabbed his arms, legs, and belt with their clawed feet, then flew upwards. Zack struggled against them but they had strong holds on the weak areas at his elbows and knees. Angeal was an expert at disabling an opponent and using their own strengths and weaknesses against them, and his copies now used those same skills on Zack. The Ahrimans headed straight for the exit.
Zack craned his head back. "Angeal! Stop, please! Please!" he yelled, but neither Angeal nor his copies took notice. In horror, Zack saw Sephiroth finish his castings, saw the fiery eruptions that marked the arrival of Bahamut and Ifrit.
Could even Sephiroth survive at Ground Zero when those two Summons annihilated the lab?
Immediately out of the giant lab cavern, the Ahrimans turned down the left branch corridor, navigating a different path than Zack and Sephiroth had followed. They raced through a series of hallways and rooms, strangely not traveling along any of the expected ways out of Hojo's network of workspaces. Zack had all the exits memorized from Cissnei's maps, but the Ahrimans weren't taking a route he recognized.
Had her information been incomplete? Had she—or the Turks—deliberately omitted escape information?
And then Zack realized the Ahrimans were heading for an exterior wall, not a regular exit. Up ahead, large windows looking out over Midgar came into view. The copies sped up and dove straight for them. Zack's eyes widened in alarm, but before he could protest the enhanced monsters crashed at top speed through the reinforced glass. It burst outward in glittering shards, with prismatic flashes of artificial light reflecting on the fractured surfaces as they tumbled to the ground. Zack grimaced as razor-sharp splinters stung his exposed face and arms.
Behind him, fire and blue-white energy exploded from the Shin-Ra headquarters, bursting out of windows and tearing concrete walls like tissue paper. Molten metal droplets spattered, rebar and concrete chunks blasted outward, and the great roaring of an uncontrolled conflagration split the air.
"Oh, no," he whispered. There was nothing he could do now except trust that Sephiroth would somehow pull through and escape.
"Angeal," he said to the Ahriman on his left elbow, "or, um, whoever? You?" From behind its armor, the monstrous eyeball swiveled to look at him. Zack heaved a deeply defeated sigh. "We have a truck waiting outside Midgar. I'll guide you to it."
They flew on.