The Dark Legacy
Chapter three:
Deadly Games
Cid groaned. He felt like shit, with a headache twice as big as the Sierra, and the fact that his eyes hurt whenever he opened them did not help. He knew there were people outside his room, but for a reason, he did not even have the strength to shout them to shut the fuck up. Then, the door opened and almost immediately the lights were turned off. Small relief, but he still felt like shit. Oh, and old, too. A thought that disgusted him right now.
«Cid?»
The pilot lifted weakly his arm to cover his face, muttering something that sounded like a swear.
«Reeve… shut yer trap for a sec…»
The administrator lowered his voice immediately and reached for the glass of water that have been placed purposefully on the bedside table. He was used to Cid's gruff voice, but now, he actually had difficulties to recognise his friend. They were in the medical aisle of the WRO Headquarters, and Reeve had ordered a very special treatment for the pilot. In fact, he was in the room normally reserved for him, and the best doctors were on his case. He reached for Cid's hand.
«Sorry about that… here.», he said, helping him with the water. «The doctors say that you should be out of here in about two weeks, if you don't react too badly to the Mako mist…»
«Feels like a few days more to sleep would do ol' me some good awright… but two weeks? Fuck…»
The water helping, the blond looked a little more aware, and Reeve took the chance to ask for a favour before Cid could slip into a long sleep again. After all, he was a mechanic, used to technical plans and such, and most of the ancient blue prints he had recovered from Shinra files were made by Scarlett and Heidegger. The pilot had worked with them both during the space program and could provide more information than any architect he could hire.
«Do you think you can help us with something?»
«Depends on what… right now I could kill for an aspirin…»
«Can you see clearly in the dark? I need your expertise in technical plans… I have uploaded some files and retrieved the drawings we found on Tseng and Rude, but, for the life of me, I can't find any sense with the original design of the reactor.»
Cid yawned, reached for his flight goggles, but found nothing and sighed. Usually Vincent would hand them to him… But now he was gone. So far, after the fight with Deepground and the clash with the remnant brothers, he has expressed the desire of staying on the Sierra. He had explained to Cid that he wanted to find another way of living. During their services for the WRO and the other trips they shared on the ship, they quickly developed a strong bond… And when Shera left one day, it's Vincent who picked up Cid's pieces over the place. Even gone drinking with him… always there. Right now he missed his hand on his shoulder… even more because he didn't have anything to chew on.
«Think we'll find Cloud 'n Vinny?»
«I hope so…» Whispered Reeve, «So far, we didn't receive any ransom demand… I fear for the worst…»
«Then, help me the f&?$ up, I'll see what I can do… and bring me a bucket of aspirin.»
Cloud had difficulties to breath since the geostigma had reached his torso. Only now, he knew he couldn't count on Vincent anymore. He couldn't reach him, in mind or physically. Since a while, now, he seemed… dead, for a lack of better word. But he knew Vincent was still there, his presence hadn't faded away, yet. But he wasn't responding to anything… Not even when they were coming. He had stopped counting the days since he was here, but he could tell that at least three days had passes since Vincent had that… seizure. Sephiroth was afraid of him, Cloud could feel it, but, as far as he would try, the man would not respond to anything.
They were now too weak to move, afflicted by geostigma, and constantly healed/drained for the processing of the rebirth, as they overheard. Sephiroth later told him that he supposed that meant a cloning process. They wanted to clone them, maybe for producing an army, an armed opposition to the WRO. And they probably wanted to clone the link, too, and this is why they needed Geostigma so badly. Even more surprising was that the ex-General knew Dover. He was a student of Professor Hojo, in charge of a project close to the Jenova Project and Deepground. A project by the name of 'Aurora Project' which fused both JENOVA cells infusion, massive Mako showering radiations and genetic transmutation. Genetically engineered soldier. Ultimately, SOLDIER was only the beginning, since they projected to use the genetic material of the best Mako-resistant SOLDIERS, the best fighters, the most proficient with materia, forcing it directly into the genes of new SOLDIER so that training would be practically useless. But if they could use the empathic link, the army would move like one man, which provided a certain advantage.
The bluish glow was intensifying, and Cloud knew Dover was bound to leave soon. He stayed put, watching as the labcoats walked out, until the last one closed the magnetic door with a hiss. Vincent remained slumped against the wall, but Sephiroth shuddered and heaved violently. The blond knew he was going down very fast, he could feel the geostigma spreading deeper than his own, but he knew too, that he was still awake. And cold. Somehow, he had to get to him and warm him up a little. Even if the chill air was getting to him, too.
«Seph… Seph, turn over… »
Slowly, with difficulty, Sephiroth complied, and Cloud could feel how much of his strength that cost him. The left side of his face was now covered by the black stain and his eye refused to open. He was pale, so pale and the pad monitoring his condition on his shoulder was currently flashing orange. When he started crawling, though, Cloud was surprised. He couldn't do that, it was too much for him!
«Stay there, you… ah, you're in no shape to… please…»
«You're cold», he whispered hoarsely, «Your arm is broken… I just… I… Ah!»
«Sephiroth!»
Time seemed to stop as the geostigma ravaged his body, pulsing, sending waves of painful fire through him, leaving the silver haired man panting for breath before he could resume into crawling to Cloud. He collapsed as soon as the blond could reach him.
«I just… I just don't want to die alone…»
The blond's eyes widened, he called Sephiroth a few times, but the silver haired man didn't respond. And the red light now flashing was scaring him.
Still there, but not there… Imprisoned inside his own mind, unable to act on his own, prisoner of a mental cage from which he cold not escape. Vincent could only try to see what was going on outside, but for now he was simply unable to. He felt the turmoil, the movement, the panic, the pain… he could feel, faintly, presences. But then all of a sudden, the cage closed in on him, his mind was assaulted by JENOVA and he recoiled back in pain. His mind turned suddenly toward Cid, for an unknown reason. But doing so just intensified the pain and the Calamity warned him.
«Be careful my son, if you fight me off, I'll have to kill that human, and even your brothers. Don't force me to… dispose of you…»
He had the impression that air couldn't fill his lungs, he was choking! His consciousness was fading into black, slowly…
«But then again,» he heard her whisper, «If you wish to see… I can allow you this privilege. If only for a while! Mwahahahahaha!»
Suddenly he was overwhelmed by the carnage; Sephiroth was laying face down in a puddle of black blood and Cloud was in a heap at his feet, one hand clawing at his throat and choking. Two lab assistants were dead, heads crushed against the wall. There was blood everywhere, and he was sure that if he had been in his body right now, he would have thrown up. He wanted to run to Sephiroth and Cloud and get them out of here, fast.
«No, no, no, my son! They deserve to stay here, as a punishment for their worthlessness. You will bow to my will, or this time, I won't be merciful toward your brothers…»
And he was promptly thrown back into his cage. He had no mean to reach out to Cloud and Sephiroth. There was only the blackness, a little like Nero's, but he just knew, he was condemned to live through the will of JENOVA. But he was a patient man. Like a good sniper he was, he would wait until she let her guard down to try to gain his body back, because unlike Sephiroth or Cloud, he was used to fight against mental opponents. He just had to make sure he wasn't endangering anyone. He was ready to play. Even if that meant that to get his body back, he would have to sacrifice himself.
There was a strange thing about the Professor Dover, really, as if loosing his primary specimens was in his plans. The smile upon his face was alarming as he discovered the carnage. His precious Sephiroth lay lifeless on the floor, covered with Geostigma and struggling to breathe beside a headless assistant while Cloud seemed to have suffered several injuries during the attack. Adjusting his glasses, he made a few steps in the holding cell, observing the pads monitoring their condition.
«Good, very good!» he said, nodding to himself, «Finns!»
«Y-yes Professor… ugh…»
«Stop fussing about and tell Klaus to monitor the test subjects closely. Jani, specimen 1 seems to have difficulties keeping his own temperature stable. Place him into a regulated warm chamber. As for specimen 2, see to the threatening injuries and place him under observation. I believe the transfer will begin shortly for this one.»
«What about specimen 3?» Finns dared to ask, but he immediately regretted his decision.
There was a sort silence as Dover looked up, seemingly in a deep reflection. His hands went into his pockets to retrieve a small vial containing a bluish-grey liquid. Finns was more than surprised when Dover placed it between his very eyes, closing the distance between them so he could see his own terrified face in the reflection of the Professor's goggles.
«I shall give you the light, Finns, as your work here has been appreciable at the least. It seems that specimen 3, Vincent Valentine, never had the chance to be host to JENOVA. As for specimen 1, 3 has a high ratio of transmitting cells. Tainted Mako energy activated those cells, making them shift into receiving-transmitting cells, and thus making his body a good host. Specimen 2, while under Hojo's care, was given a higher ratio of receiving cells and this is why JENOVA was able to reach him by using Sephiroth's body as an emitter.
This shifting pattern was first observed by Professor Gast, but he dismissed it as he believed it to be part of the cell division process. Hojo discovered that the JENOVA organism contained two sorts of cells: blue and grey. Blue cells have their core expanded, near the exterior membrane with small, tentacle-like treads reaching out to the other cells. They are the weakest of the two sorts but, when placed near a human or animal tissues, the treads invade nearby cells, immediately and quite aggressively. The 'host' tissue is then assimilated quickly, turning a light grey colour and used as nutritive source as the initial cell divide and reproduce. Then, a most unique process occurs; the newly born cells begin to vibrate in unison with each other, attracting other inactive nearby JENOVA cells, and the cycle begins anew. On a larger scale, those transmitting cells can 'call' other hosts, as Professor Hojo witnessed during the failed Reunion. However, if the host is too weak, the tissues aren't assimilated, but they are destroyed, along with the JENOVA cells, meaning the death of the specimen.
The transmitting cells are weak, but powerful and aggressive. The grey one are stronger, but of lesser power. Those are the one that usually protect the transmitting cell, their core is small, far off the exterior membrane and the tentacle are reaching in. Coupled to the transmitting cell, they become a powerful emitting-transmitting entity that can have an immediate knowledge of any other host who is vibrating nearby. Professor Hojo made a good work on isolating the function of both cells with his experiments. When placed near host tissues, the grey cells allow the fight to occur, and when the body stops, thinking the cell is dead, it begins to reproduce, divide and isolate every cell from one another. This as an after effect quite interesting; the subject become stronger, the healing process is accelerated and the senses are honed to a certain degree. Then again, if the body fights back but is not fit for receiving the cells, a chemical reaction occurs, corrupting the hosting cells after the initial fight and death is inevitable, along with a terrible mutation.
The inoculation of only receiving or transmitting cell, however, has a terrible drawback: the subject, unable to find completion as his body seems to be vibrating in the transmitting or the receiving way, become mentally unstable and destructive, as Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz proved to be. To create a stable, durable subject with JENOVA cells, you have to give him the good ration of blue-grey cells and allow him to vibrate in a unique way so he can receive only his own transmissions, making him independent.
So, my dear Finn, as for Mister Valentine, soon the transfer will begin for him too. When the cells we inoculated to the test subjects will activate, all I will have to do is press that button here, releasing the tainted Mako held in his shoulder monitor to revert him into a receiving host, meaning a host suffering from Geostigma. Specimen 1 and 2, however will be graced with a Mako shower, giving them the transmitting quality. And transmit they will, trust me. Since we re-activated their cells in the same way, 1,2 and 3 vibrate, emit and transmit on the same level. Mister Valentine will come back crawling in no time.»
Just then a door opened and an assistant came running into the holding cell. Out of breath.
«Sir! Sir, half of the children are dead, but S2,S5, S8, C1 and C12 start to show signs of transfer!»
«What about the V ones, Klaus?» Dover asked, without even looking at him, eyes still locked with Finn
«Nothing for now, V1 to V9 are all alive, but no sign of transfer yet.»
«As I said, Finn… Patience is the key.»
End of Deadly Games
Author's notes
See you in next chapter: Masters and Puppets