Chapter Eight: The Chaos Project

Disclaimer (as read by Fujin from FFVIII): Yo, Casseh does not own the Final Fantasy Franchise or the characters, ya'know? But…the plot is from her mind, so you can't steal it, ya'know? Peace!
Oh, and I apologize for the substantial confusion in Chapter 7. I totally hate myself for even writing it. I went ahead and tweaked it. I was totally out of my mind writing it... Same with this chapter. Kinda confusing too. Gomen nasai!

Ashton took a step back, opening his coat. He had a bomb strapped to himself with the timer down to four seconds.

"Oh &! Run!"

Vincent grabbed Yuffie and dived as far as he could in the limited amount of time he was given. The explosion could be heard from miles away, even though it didn't cause too much damage to the buildings around the site.
Yuffie opened her eyes to find her face pressed against Vincent's cloak who after making sure that the young ninja was alright, stood up.

"Man, that guy was such a tard. If he wanted you for an experiment so badly, why did he just blow himself up? He could've at least given us an explanation, because I'm confused out of my mind."

Yuffie gripped her head for added emphasis.

Reno walked over to where the young ninja and the gunman stood.

"Oh, he still wants to do that experiment all right. You see…that wasn't really him."

He held up what seemed to be a head.

It was quite distorted from the explosion and seemed to be a human's face, but instead of flesh where the skin had been burnt off, there was a metal plate with wires sticking out, still fizzling.

Yuffie pointed to the head.

"Eww…okay, now that is sick. So, where is the real guy? And I want an explanation right now. "

Vincent nodded slightly in agreement.

"Yes, if you have any information to share, please tell us. I am at as much as a loss as Yuffie is."

Rude nodded.

"You may want to follow us to the pub. It's a long story"

The pub was nearly when the group walked in; besides themselves, only the barkeep and some guy intoxicated out of his mind were inside. Reno and Rude got themselves a beer while Vincent drank water and Yuffie chugged down a Pepsi.

Yuffie leaned forward onto the table across from Reno.

"Okay, so tell us: why does that creep want Chaos"

Reno sighed.

"It's like this: some time ago, Ashton Talbot was an assistant to Professor Hojo."

He looked at Vincent.

"Ashton and Hojo were working on an experiment years ago…thirty some years ago. They…wanted to put the cells of a demon inside of a human and see how it reacted. The result was…well, you should know more than anyone, Vincent."

Vincent's eyes glazed over.

"Ashton... helped turn me into…this?"

He looked down at his claw.

"Why is Ashton after Chaos' cells if he already knows how they react?"

Reno sighed.

"I don't know much more. That guy is as spastic as they come, seriously. He wants to use your cells...Chaos' cells for his own creepy purposes. He left Shin-Ra Inc after Hojo's 'untimely death."

Yuffie smacked Reno upside the head.

"You dumb butt, we already KNOW he wants to use Chaos…but what FOR?"

Reno rubbed his head. "Beats me…"

Yuffie got up and stomped her foot.

"We sat here for like, ten minutes to listen to a dumb explanation about what we could kinda already figure out? That's not good enough! This guy could be planning anything? Where could he be now!"

Vincent looked at Rude and Reno.

"Thank you for your information, however vague it may be. Do you think you could help us find the location of Mr. Talbot?"

Rude nodded.

"We got some info out of one of his wanna be Turks. He said it's in a reactor. He keeled over before we could get anymore information out of him. We're looking too. When Ashton left Shin-Ra Inc, he found some documents Hojo had hidden in the Mansion. Our orders are to retrieve them. Those files contain all of Hojo's notes on the extraction of Chaos' cells. If they fell into the wrong hands…like they already have..."

Yuffie chugged the rest of her Pepsi.

"Say, who was that kid who that robo-Talbot handed those documents to? He looked Wutaian, but I know I haven't seen him before..."

Reno smiled.

"Sorry to break it to you, Yuffster, but I don't think that kid is interested."

Yuffie stomped her foot.

"You…! I was just wondering who he was!"

Vincent put his hand on her shoulder.

"We know what you meant and I too am curious about that boy."
Rude set his glass down.
"That boy was another one of Hojo's experiments, but not in the Chaos Project. He was a failed experiment in the Jenova Project. He…isn't human anymore. His emotions… have been destroyed"
Moments passed in silence. Vincent pulled out his PHS.

"I'm going to contact Cid and ask him to come pick Yuffie and me up. You both are more than welcome to help us get to the bottom of this." Reno and Rude nodded in agreement. Vincent dialed a few numbers on the phone. "It's broken. Must've gotten wet. Yuffie, try yours." Yuffie pulled out her PHS.
"Great, mines broken too. Where is Cid right now?"

Vincent looked up.
"He's with Shera in Rocket Town. That's not far from here." Rude nodded. "Rocket Town?" Reno laughed. "Yeah, that's where Cloud and Company totally wiped the floor with your behind, remember?" Rude grunted. "Don't remind me"
Vincent nodded.
"Good. We get a couple of Chocobos and head out in the morning"

Author's Note: Gawd, I hated writing this chapter…same with the last one. I think I rushed into the plot too fast. Oh well…I SWEAR the next chapter will be better.