I watched with glee as Vincent struggled in vain with the leather straps. Fortunately, they proved strong enough that not even the highest ranking Turk could break through.

Brilliant.

"Hojo!" he shouted, wriggling his torso to and fro, "What the hell is going on?"

I answered with a simple chuckle before lowering a hand and cupping his cheek.

"I'm taking care of you, Valentine," I replied as though it were the simplest fact to digest. Leaning down once again, I spoke in a tone just above a whisper, "In all seriousness, you should be thanking me." With that, I leaned back and simply stood, smirking at the flicker of incredulous disbelief within his ruby orbs.

"Where. Is. Lucrecia?" he ground out, twisting his neck to the side so as to get away from my touch. Honestly, I could have laughed at the image. And I did. It wasn't hysterical, but it wasn't a mere chuckle either. I suppose I may have just been that giddy to finally have Valentine within my grasp. He had proved nothing but a burden to me ever since he arrived, and soon he was going to learn that I do not tolerate burdens.

"She's fine," I replied, sobering up with a slight narrowing of my eyes. What gave this..thing the right to ask about my wife, hm? I had known for quite some time, of course, that he was foolishly in love with her, but that still gave him no right to demand things whilst under my mercy. Such insolence.

But I chose this time to ignore it. Now wasn't the time to talk about Dr. Crescent and his meaningless emotions. Turning away swiftly, I traced my steps back to my disorderly desk and quickly swiped a clean surgery knife from within my supplies bag. Approaching the Turk's form, I stood at his side, simply observing him. The blood from the gunshot wound was still staining his blue uniform, however after reaching out a hand and peeling the ironed cotton away, I saw that there was no longer a wound. In fact, there was no sign it had even been there in the first place. Interesting.

Truthfully, I didn't know all that much about the Chaos gene. It was common knowledge to my department that it housed a demon of sorts, and when given a host it could do all sorts of unimaginable things. However, I was not aware that it healed grievous wounds, let alone possessed the power to bring back the dead. Though, I wasn't complaining. This was, after all, quite the pleasant surprise.

Curiously, I brought the knife down and stroked it along his left arm, watching as a small trail of blood formed almost immediately. Just as quickly, however, it diminished, leaving no trace in its wake. I ignored his sharp inhale of surprise rather than actual pain and repeated the action, only slightly harder. Again, the same result.

I furrowed my brow. This was quite miraculous, actually. Never before had I seen a serum that could instantly heal wounds, no less fatal ones. Fairly confident in this theory, I shifted the knife's position in my palm so that all of my fingers wrapped around its hilt. Carefully, I lowered it to the spot directly above his heart and slowly dug into it.

Giving into the faint twitch of my lips as Vincent cried out softly, I continued applying the appropriate pressure until the blade was buried into his heart as far as it would go. A choked cough made my eyes rise to his face and I noted with dull interest that blood was seeping from his sputtering mouth. With a soft sigh I jerked the utensil from his body with more force than was probably necessary. Glancing down, I watched as he shivered violently for a few moments before holding absolutely still. Taking my eyes away to look at the man's chest, my eyebrows raised fractionally. In no time at all, this fatal injury had vanished as well. This was getting interesting.

Vincent's eyes looked frantically at his chest, no doubt expecting a puncture mark quite gruesome. To his obvious surprise, there was nothing but a considerable amount of blood, and his eyes widened. Looking directly at me, however, they narrowed once again.

"What..did you do?" he asked in a carefully controlled tone. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he would strangle me, would he have the chance. "This..what did you do?" he repeated, this time with more force, gritting his teeth.

I let the wide smirk that threatened to come forth stretch across my face. "I saved you," I replied simply, "You were dead, and now you're not." I chuckled at his face and watched with amusement as his fists clenched angrily.

"Bastard!" There's that nickname again, "You shot me!"

I had to repress the urge to roll my eyes at such a blatant claim. Honestly, it was about time he touched the subject. I was beginning to get anxious I wouldn't get to talk about it at all.

"Finally catching on, are we?" I asked in a mocking tone, but didn't pause long enough for him to make a scathing remark. "Yes, I shot you. But you're not dead anymore, are you?" Giving a deceiving smile, I continued. "No, I revived you. As is expected of a scientist of my caliber." Oh, was I bragging again? From the twitch in Vincent's eyes, I took that as a silent yes.

"What are you planning?" he questioned, ignoring my boast.

I tilted my head and presented him with another smirk. "Oh, I actually haven't got much planned, Valentine. I'm just..making it up as I go along, really." This wasn't entirely the case, but oh, how I loved to get under his skin. Evading obvious questions seemed to be one of the few things that truly irritated the younger male, so I made certain that this happened occasionally.

Hearing his soft growl, I regarded him with a cool glance before continuing. "Well Vincent," I very nearly spat the name, "you're going to be assisting me in a few experiments." At the suspicious furrowing of his brows, I elaborated further with a smile. "You're to be a specimen of sorts."

I had to laugh at the sudden enlargement of those sparkling eyes. Really, was it that surprising? I thought it would be obvious, being strapped to a table with numerous sharp utensils scattered about the room. Oh well, I suppose not all of us were blessed with common sense.

"You mean to..use me to test your theories?" he asked, voice lowered to a mere whisper.

"Oh very good, Vincent!" I exclaimed in a tone not unlike congratulating a child, and had to restrain myself from lowering a hand and patting him on a job well done. I didn't want to come off as 'too' condescending, after all. As he opened his mouth to no doubt yell at me, I reasoned that it was only fair to be truthful, at least in measured amounts. "Yes, I'm going to be testing a few things on you." A "few" meaning several, and that meaning easily over a dozen.

"I don't want to be your test subject!" he shouted, struggling once again, "Get someone else to be your lab rat, because I want absolutely no part of it!" Ah, such a foolish little boy. Didn't he know now that the moment I had revived him, it was logically my decision whether or not to put him to good use? To be perfectly honest, his very life belonged to me.

"Vincent, someone in such a..mediocre position should feel honoured to be my experiment," I said mockingly slow, "Naturally, you will be held in the highest regards once I'm finished with you." Which, knowing me, won't be for quite awhile. True, I do grow bored with redundant tests, but I had the feeling the raven laid out before me would prove quite the intriguing spectacle.

"Furthermore," I pressed, "You are my responsibility. I owe it to the public to keep them protected from that which is inside of you." I let a small smirk grace my features.

Valentine didn't seem to entirely comprehend what I said. I didn't blame him; the thought hadn't occurred to me until an outside force had directed it to me after all. I decided to let him stew in his own musings for awhile. Let him consider his options; at least he wasn't yelling.

"But," he began, "Lucrecia--"

"doesn't care," I lied and raised an eyebrow while letting a smug smile light my face, "She told me she would prefer to not be around you, I'll have you know. She was all too happy to allow me to have a new specimen to test on." To be perfectly honest, the stupid woman had no idea I had used what I did, and I wouldn't tell her unless necessary. This situation did not concern her.

Feeling quite confident suddenly, I leant down once more to run a hand his through obsidian locks. Of course, he jerked away again, but he wasn't able to conceal the look of hurt that flashed across his face. I wasn't surprised; despite being a Turk, he still was nothing but an emotionally unstable child. No doubt he felt betrayed by my little white lie, though I could tell there was some denial still flittering around in his mind. Let it not be said that he's a stupid individual. Vincent was trained not to entirely believe something lest he bare witness. That wouldn't be a problem; it wasn't necessary to make him believe every word I said. So long as he remained a loyal test subject, I had no qualms.

Still, somewhere within me I felt a thrill of joy that I was able to tweak his feelings to this degree. I made a mental note to increase physical contact as well as mention Dr. Crescent. They both seemed to get under his skin quite a bit.

The raven seemed to pull himself together before glaring vehemently at me. "That still doesn't give you the right to use me," he said in carefully controlled tones. He knew just as well as I that displaying too much emotion would only lead to exploitation. "Now let me go, Hojo."

I honest to Gaea laughed at this. "How did the notion of making demands seep into that little head of your's?" I said, slowly sobering up, "Don't you understand? You're in no position to make requests, Valentine." I offered a faint sneer at the blatant audacious attitude. Really, had he no respect for the man that saved his life? True, I had been the one to end it in the first place, but it was out of sheer protection. He was simply beside himself, ready to attack me at the drop of a hat.

Oh, it was a trivial matter. The man was upset by me not allowing Dr. Crescent to see our child, but she knew what was coming. She knew all along that the boy was nothing more than an experiment. And of course because I am the father, it only made sense that I was to make the ultimate decision. Apparently he disagreed.

I could tell Vincent wanted to reply with undoubtedly a hatred-laced remark, and he even opened his mouth, but I wasn't particularly in the mood to deal with much more sass. It wasn't as though I didn't enjoy getting under his skin, but there's only so much of someone you can take before they become a little tiresome. Once again, I raised the knife and quickly pressed the sharpened tip to Vincent's tongue, causing him to tense up almost immediately.

"What's the matter, boy?" I taunted and applied more pressure until slow but steady red beads dropped from the muscle, "Cat got your tongue?" Sure, I did enjoy his angry protests, but I was also well aware there was to be some speech about how he would get out of this and destroy me. I knew it by heart from other subjects, and not one of them was able to pull through with their threat. Besides, there's only so much immaturity I can take before someone is stabbed.

I watched as he tried to carefully slide his tongue away from the blade, but I only pushed down harder, threatening to cut into the muscle lining his teeth. As he slowly relaxed, I removed the knife slowly and patted him on the head. "There, that wasn't so hard now was it?" I said in a mockingly soothing tone. Vincent needed to learn to obey and accept orders without back-talking. And if this was the only way he would listen, I honestly had no problem with it.

As soon as the knife slid from his mouth, Valentine closed his mouth tightly and attempted to nurse the bleeding wound. Apparently he had forgotten that all manner of injuries heal instantly. I would not have implanted such a potentially fatal wound just now had I not known that; he would prove to be very useful, and I wouldn't be living up to my namesake were he to die the first day I had him.

Giving a sneer to the boy, I turned away to glance at the metal tray beside the table. I hadn't laid all of my supplies there, as I wasn't prepared to take too many chances, but I had a fair few. A large scalpel and a pair of scissors, tweezers and puncture needles, an artificial leech, empty syringes, and finally a trephine. True, one or two of my instruments could be considered "outdated" and even "hazardous", but I found them no less effective.

My open hand seemed to stroke the air above each utensil as I contemplated which one I should use first. The knife had already served its purpose; for the time being anyway. I had no doubt it would come in handy in later of course.

Lifting an eyebrow thoughtfully, I was suddenly aware that I wouldn't actually be capable of thoroughly making use of the boy if every little scratch I made healed within a few seconds. I raised the hand that hovered and brought it to my face to tap my chin.

No, this wouldn't do. The Chaos gene had served its purpose, but it was now interfering with further tests. Logically, the ideal action to take would be to extract it from his blood stream. But not only was that bordering on impossible, I didn't know the results of it. Perhaps the boy would live, perhaps he'd die once more. And if in fact he did die, what was I do to?

I hadn't realized I had been muttering to myself until the Turk spoke up. "Chaos..gene?" he repeated, pure emotional denial soaking each word, "You injected me…with the Chaos gene?"

Oh dear, he sounded rather upset, didn't he? Letting a false smile slide onto my lips, I turned to him. "Why, yes I did," I confirmed cheerfully, "And that is now exactly why you're alive. Really, Valentine, you should be thanking me on bended knee." I smirked calmly at the image. That would be quite a delight, to have such an arrogant young man finally realizing just how little he was worth. With luck, this little endeavor would bring forth that realization.

"That wasn't your's to use!" he shouted, once again struggling furiously in his bonds, "That was Lucrecia's!"

I raised an eyebrow at that little outburst. "Don't you know anything, boy?" I asked, lowering my voice threateningly, "Dr. Crescent may be my wife, but she is first and foremost my lab assistant. Anything she owns in the scientific field is mine."

I could easily hear the unspoken words. Not only was he angered that I would use something developed by his so-called "love" without permission, but I understand all too well that he was appalled that I did not consider Dr. Crescent so much as a wife as a tool. Truthfully, I saw no reason why I should see her as a significant other before an employee. She proved little to no use after giving birth, but has been moderately beneficial in the work field. In a logical opinion, she was far more use to me as a subordinate than a spouse.

Not bothering to give him the chance to reply, I turned away once more. At the moment, he was proving to be a distraction; that wasn't something I would abide by. The problem at hand was thinking of a solution to this apparent instant healing he now possessed. My eyes traced over each sharp tool before locking onto one of the few syringes. Grinning widely, I plucked it from the tray and brought it closer to Valentine.

I ignored the momentary glimpse of panic across his face and without warning, forced the tip into his arm. Slowly, I drew the blood out until all 12 milliliters of the barrel were full. Extracting the needle with a quick tug, I wordlessly returned to my desk.

Taking a seat absently as my eyes were fixed on the red liquid, I reached out blindly for a clean Petri dish. Having successfully grasped one, I brought it closer and opened it, before applying gentle pressure to the plunger. I watched through my glasses as exactly five drops fell from the tip and onto the glass surface. Not wanting to contaminate the sample from any floating bacteria, I quickly placed the lid overtop the dish and sealed it shut.

I took this moment to stand up and stride swiftly to the microscope situated at the far side of the room. Slipping the Petri dish just below the lens, I bent over so as to peer inside. There was the usual: Blood vessels, glucose, quite a bit of Mako, traces of blood and muscle tissue, and.. I peered closer as I adjusted the vision setting. There it was. My upper lip curled in mild delight as I gazed upon the chromatic Chaos gene.

It seemed that now I could set to work divulging a plan to break through its barrier, if only for a short while.