Chapter 34: New Recruits

(Same tags apply as in Chapter 1)

Zade Fraser led a group of twenty-four through their hidden facility deep within the mountains east of Fort Condor. After the loss of seven men and the heat that would be increasing on their operation by Shinra, they needed more security.

The tall blond walked over to the large metal door at the end of the stone corridor, pulled it open and moved to the three men that were waiting inside. Fraser stood beside the three men, waiting for the group to file in completely.

"These are the guys you recruited, Fraser?" One man who went by the name Jackal, asked.

"Yeah. We've lost seven men. While that number is acceptable for the missions we've been on so for, now that we have our hostage, security will need to be doubled." He turned to face Jackal, Corbin and Shorty, meeting each of the men's eyes. "I gotta go check on my little lady," He said with a smirk as he referred to his auburn haired captive. "Then speak with Onika to see if he's done with his research.

"You three will get them set up and placed in positions both inside and out of the base." He ordered before turning to the group of men.

The men milled about, laughing with one another, oblivious that their new boss was watching them.

"Hey!" Zade shouted and the voices ended abruptly.

"You all know why you're here. These men," He gestured over his shoulder to the three behind him. "Will give you your instructions. If I find or see you fuckin' around while on duty, you will answer to me and there'll be hell to pay." He looked over the men once more before striding out of the bay.

As he walked down the corridors to the cells where his hostage was kept, a familiar voice poured through the speaker over his head.

"Fraser to the lab."

With a slight growl, he turned around and headed back towards the lab, not happy that Onika had interrupted him just as he was about to have a little fun.

.::-o-::.

Zade moved with ease through the corridors as his men moved quickly out of his way. Soon he arrived in the lab where the professor sat mumbling to himself as he peered down at a screen. Before he could say something to the professor, the man spoke.

"Fraser, you captured a woman in her early forties from icicle inn, correct?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I can increase the cell division and double the speed of the cloned Jenova cells' maturation rate by introducing them into some samples I will take from her." He said nonchalantly, pushing himself to his feet.

"Would you like to see the results of my serum so far?" Professor Onika asked as he walked over to a one-way mirror made of a reinforced glass/aluminum alloy.

Zade nodded and moved to the mirror, which looked into a room a few feet below. Sitting stark still on a cot, wrapped in a blanket, sat a young boy who couldn't have been more than fourteen years old. Besides the cot, a toilet sat in the corner beneath the window, slightly out of view to give the boy a semblance of privacy. A chair sat in front of computer on a desk and a barbell with large black weights sat on the floor.

Long black hair partially hid his closed eyes and his chin sat atop his knees, which were drawn up to his chest. Around his throat, a thin white collar rested, clearly visible through the long black hair. It looked to Zade as if the young boy was sleeping, that is, until he spoke. "I know you are there…I can hear you both breathing." He said quietly. "Let me go…"

Zade looked over to Onika. "Isn't this glass reinforced? He shouldn't be able to hear anything with the speaker off." He said in wonder before looking out at the boy.

"That's a natural occurrence. The acuity of his hearing has increased by two times." He said before reaching over and pressing a button on the wall, turning on the PA system in the room below. "You are in no position to demand anything child. You will do as told or the repercussions will be severe. Now get up, boy!" He said in a threatening tone.

He turned off the speaker and turned his attention back to Zade. "That barbell weighs 300 pounds. Our young specimen weighs 135 pounds and is sixty-eight inches tall. The first dose of my cloned Jenova and the purified mako was the same amount that you will get in your first two treatments. His second treatment contained no Jenova and a diluted mako mixture." He looked down to the room below and saw that the child was still sitting in the same position.

With an aggravated sigh, Onika removed what seemed to be a small PDA from his pocket. Removing a stylus, he then tapped a command on the tiny computer before glaring down into the cell. The boy stiffened and fell onto his side, shaking violently as the white collar flared to life.

Bolts of electricity coursed through the boys' body, but he refused to cry. The pain was becoming unbearable and just as a whimper was about to escape his lips, the collar shut off. Ragged pants escaped his lips and a single tear fell the short distance from the corner of his eye to the pillow before he pushed himself to a sitting position.

The ebony haired boy slowly opened his yes to reveal the glowing violet irises shining from beneath the disheveled black strands. He glared up at the glass looking at the two men whose silhouettes he could clearly see behind it. He stood there, his body still shaking as he waited for the next command.

Onika smiled and nodded. "Display your strength." He commanded.

The boy walked slowly over to the barbell, almost as if in pain before glaring down at the black metal. After only a moment of concentration, the barbell rose two inches off the ground before he grabbed it easily with both hands and lifted it over his head.

Zade reached over and turned off the intercom, though now he knew the boy could probably still hear them. "Did you know about that?!"

"About the levitation?" Onika replied casually.

"YES! About the levitation!" He looked at the boy in amazement.

"No. Actually that's a new development. Before now, he couldn't do that." He looked back down into the pit. "Weight agility. Now."

Even the professor was impressed as the barbell spun in his hands once over his head. The watch as the boy went through movements similar to katas with the barbell. Each movement was fluid and seemed practiced, but after a moment, the boy's arms began to shake and the weights dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

He collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his muscles burning almost unbearably. A couple tears of pain dropped from his eyes and landed onto the cold floor.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Lactic acid buildup in his muscles. His body isn't accustom to such a strain. If he had received the full treatment already, it wouldn't be a problem. The Jenova cells and the mako would eliminate any lactic acid before it built up." He said, looking down at the shaking form on the floor.

"Despite this, its still amazing Professor." He said before turning to the shorter man. "How long before you get your sample will we be able to start the procedure?"

"I'll be able to speed up the cloning greatly. I'd say that for the reproduction of the cells to be complete: 8-12 hours. The injections can start soon after that."

"Well I was to be the first to receive the enhancements, and after what I've just seen here, they mutation risk is well worth it. When can we start with my injections?"

Onika sighed at all the questions from blond. "Well if you weren't standing here rambling on and on and went to retrieve the woman, I could've started collecting my samples!"

Zade's eyes narrowed in irritation before turning on his heel and striding out of the lab.

"Asshole…" The blond growled as he strode towards the cell where the auburn haired woman was being kept.

.::-o-::.

Elmyra moaned as she rolled on her side within the darkened cell. Nausea began to roll in her stomach, causing her to tumble from the cot and crawl over towards the toilet in the corner of the room. The woman emptied the continents of stomach into the bowl.

Dry heaves wracked her form and her head began to ache as she pleaded with the planet to make it stop. A few moments later, her stomach finally began to settle. She slowly pushed herself to her feet, gripping the concrete wall for balance. She moved to the sink and rinsed the horrid taste from her mouth thoroughly before drinking and making way back to the bunk.

'They must have given me too much of that tranquilizer…' She thought as she curled up on the cot, clutching her stomach. 'Then again, I never did react well to them…' The green-eyed woman still felt like she was drugged, even though it had been over a day since she was taken.

Since she had been awake, only one person and been in the cell to check on her. The whole event was a bit blurry, but she remembered feeling her head spinning from the drugs that were still swimming in her body.

She felt tears slowly rolling down her cheeks as she thought of the dark skinned man. The last thing she remembered before that was hearing the blond man's gun go off and the sight of Barret falling to the floor before being sent into darkness by the needle that pierced her flesh.

Tears slowly begin to course down her cheeks as she closed her eyes and began to pray. Truth was, she didn't know if Barret was still alive or not. She only knew that he had been shot.

That thought made her heart ache painfully in her chest. Would she have yet another person she cared for ripped from her grasp? If she survived or escaped from her stone prison, would she have to return to Corel and tell the darling little Marlene that her Papa wouldn't be coming home?

Though these last few months had been hard as she looked back on her daughter's tragically short life, Barret was there with her through it all. He had held her when the pain became too great and whispered comforting words in her ear to ease her aching heart.

Over time, the pain began to slowly subside; she began to look at the gun-armed man in a new light. Each day she learned something new about him, whether it was something that he had told her, or something she had happened to notice while going about her own business throughout the home she shared with him in the tiny coal mining town. She always found herself wanting to know more about him and grew to care about him more and more.

She though about how he told her the story of how he had met Tifa, about Dyne and other bits of his life. A smile graced Elmyra's lips as she thought about some of his quirks he had, like he wouldn't eat white condiments. Mayonnaise, ranch dressing, tartar sauce, he refused to touch any of it. For reasons even he didn't understand, the stuff just repulsed him.

An odd sob mixed with laughter escaped her lips as the tears continued. "Oh gods, just please be okay…please don't let another person I love die…" She murmured weakly as she curled tighter into a ball.

.::-o-::.

About thirty minutes later, the sound of the latch unlocking the door to her cell caused tired eyes to drift eyes. Footsteps approached her and reddened green eyes opened. Blurred eyes began to slowly focus, revealing the lecherously smiling face of the man who had taken her away from her friends and taken her away from Barret.

Elmyra moved away from him sluggishly, eventually her back came to hitting the wall, preventing her shaking form from escaping his grasp if he decided to hurt her. "What do you want? Why don't you let me go? Please…" She pleaded futilely with the blond, only to have his grin grow. A chill went down her spine at the look in his eyes. There was something undeniably unstable and malicious under his smiling visage.

"Can't do that, toots." He said and sat on the bunk and grabbed her wrist tightly when she tried to move further away from him.

Elmyra still struggled weakly as she was pulled to the edge of the bed and into a sitting position at his side. A wave of nausea passed over her as his calloused hand came up and caressed her cheek. His grip tightened with bruising strength when she tried to pull away. His thumb traced over her lower lip as he spoke.

"You see, we still want the tapes that your friends have, so you are our bargaining chip, babe. And now, your presence has been requested by Professor Onika." He stood and pulled her body tight against his own, startling the already frightened woman.

His hands traveled down her back to brush against her rear. "It's a pity that Onika wants you now or I'm sure we could have a pretty good time." He said, admiring her soft feminine body. 'The years have definitely been good to her…' He said in his mind as she struggled against the hand that was now against her breast.

The auburn haired woman felt a wave of nausea return as she finally managed to wrench herself from his grasp, her body shaking in her fear, anger and disgust. She slowly walked over to the cell door and waited, her head held high as she tried to keep her composure. 'I have to stay strong…' She said to herself before meeting Zade's eyes.

"Shouldn't we be going?" She hissed. Right now she'd rather be meeting with this 'Professor Onika' then here in her dark cell with her obviously aroused captor.

Zade chuckled and moved to the door, but before the heavy door was opened, he pulled her back against his chest. His hand came to rest just above her pelvis as he nuzzled the side of her neck. "We'll continue this later…that's a promise."

Elmyra growled when his pelvis ground against her as he continued nuzzled the side of her neck. "Mmm…you taste as good as the first time I did this to you…we'll continue this later…that's a promise."

Elmyra growled when his tongue snaked out to trail across the soft skin below her left ear. Her knee came up before sharply shooting back, her hell contacting his shin.

She yanked out of his embrace and glared hard at him. "Don't touch me!" She hissed once more, her hands curled into tight little fists. "I'm not a whore and I don't love or even like you so you have no right to touch me like that!" She screamed as a wave of dizziness washed over her, causing her stomach to turn once more.

"Fraser to the lab!" Onika's voice bellowed through the PA system, causing Elmyra to jump slightly.

A sigh escaped Zade's lips as he glared at the hidden speaker. "That prick is always ruining my fun…" He turned to the older woman and tossed his head towards the door.

"Let's go." He said with a wink and gestured for her to go out first.

"Pervert…" Elmyra mumbled as she left her cell, holding the wall for support.

o-o-Author's Notes-o-o

I'm sorry…I had to break this chapter into two…so you're getting two for the price of one . Some of you will want to kill or severely injure me after the next chapter but just remember, if the authoress is injured or killed, she can't continue.

Edited 1/19/07

10/04/07

Edited because of change in formatting. Also re-numbering chapters. Minor content edits.