Minimum Complexity

Waking up in a coffin would ruin anyone's day. As Vincent was waking after being sedated by a mad scientist, had a voice in her head, disturbing whispers in her hind-brain and her recently awakened motherhood instincts were screaming blue murder, her reaction to the small, dark and enclosed space she was locked in could be considered fairly mild. In that she only hammered the lid above her face with her fists and roared her extreme displeasure at the situation to the world in general.

Unfortunately for the ex-Turk the coffin was very sturdy: Her fists barely dented the lid. No-one came to see what was causing the hullabaloo either, nor could she hear any background people noises, which suggested that Hojo and his goons were no longer in residence.

More significantly, Vincent had no idea how much time had passed between getting shot and waking up different on that operating table, let alone the amount of time between being sedated and getting to where she was now.

Five or six months between being shot and my implantation, little vessel, if the female scientist was to be believed.

Vincent blinked. She vaguely remembered the voice that had introduced itself as Chaos from her previous awakening, but hadn't really thought it was real. Or paid it any particular attention. What had Hojo done to her that had resulted in hearing voices in her head?

I am not a manifestation of insanity, little vessel; I am not a part of you at all. I am Chaos, herald of the WEAPON Omega and it was the woman who locked me within your mortal flesh.

This Chaos person sounded suspiciously like the subject of Lucretia's thesis and Vincent's late father's research. So, Lucretia had implanted Chaos -who sounded far too much like a summon of some sort- into Vincent somehow, which had resulted in the former Turk waking up shortly after. About half a year after getting shot in the first place, if the information Chaos had given her was accurate. Which meant that Hojo had had her unconscious body to experiment on to his heart's content for about half a year.

Vincent shivered. One day at the sociopath professor's not-so-tender mercies was twenty-four hours too many. What could the madman have come up with to do with her in six months? Did she even want to know?

I suspect much has been done, little vessel. You are more resistant to damage than other humans if your laboratory rampage is any indication, as well as stronger, faster and more sensitive to your environment. It is also evident that you do not need to eat, or you would be experiencing hunger. Your body has fully regenerated from what damage it took and is in perfect health. These modifications make you an adequate vessel, though still a humiliatingly limited one for such as I.

The former Turk ignored the complaints of her new and probably permanent tenant. Had Hojo been trying to create some kind of super soldier? Was that the real purpose of 'Project J'? If so, she could understand why the company had been willing to sponsor it. Not to mention just take Hojo's word for it that one of their best Turks had died in a 'laboratory accident' without following it up.

They may indeed have been trying to create a superior warrior, but the independent personality fragments you contain are probably not what this Hojo had in mind for a better soldier. Soldiers are grunts who follow orders unquestioningly; your little extras make you delightfully unpredictable. Which is likely why you are here rather than still in his care.

Joy. So Vincent was a failed experiment. A being that went by 'Chaos would naturally appreciate unpredictability but being unable to control herself would be dangerous if she wanted to get Sephiroth back. Having 'independent personality fragments' could be dangerous if they tried to hurt her son. How many did she have and what were they like? She knew one was probably the twelve-foot beast she had first woken up as, but the others?

You have three, which does not include me, Chaos said with a long-suffering sigh, and they are very poor company. The Gallian Beast, which you have already met, Hellmasker and Death Gigas. The first is animated by pure animal instinct, the second is all bloodlust and the thrill of slaughter and the third is just a ball of brute force and single-mindedness given physical form.

Vincent winced. They sounded charming. Considering that Chaos called them personality fragments, they were probably independent manifestations of her drives with none of the intelligence and restraint needed to properly channel them. What would happen if one of them emerged and took over, like Chaos had in the lab?

Destruction, mayhem and death, little vessel, in varying proportions depending on which one rises to the fore. What else?

The former Turk frowned within her coffin. She needed a plan, she needed information and most of all she needed out. The coffin lid had dented when she punched it, but too many hits might deform it to the point that it jammed rather than removing it like she wanted. It might slide off sideways...

… but it didn't. It was very firmly secured from the outside. Since escape was currently impossible Vincent decided to plan. Of course it was a very tentative plan, given the utter dearth of information available in her current situation, but it was better than nothing. She could -and would- fine-tune it properly once she got out and was able to properly gather information again.

First, read everything pertaining to Hojo's experiments on her still in the mansion, be it on paper or in the computers, and check Lucretia's laboratory for information on Chaos. Second, find out what has been happening inside ShinRa and what else the company and the Turks had been up to since she fell out of contact. Third, find and take back Sephiroth. That last objective would probably give her an opportunity to kill Hojo, but if not that was the forth item on her to-do list. The file copies in the Costa del Sol safe house would help since they were proof of parentage and would help her legitimately gain custody, but if there were problems she was perfectly prepared to do things the hard way. That the company was well aware that Turk Vincent was indeed capable of shooting, stabbing or otherwise removing any and all obstacles between herself and her objectives should prevent things getting too confrontational though. She may be listed as a sharp-shooter on her official file but her true specialisation was assassination.

But before Vincent could do any of that she needed to get out of the coffin, which was most definitely locked from the outside. Perhaps if she made enough noise someone from the village would come looking. Or, failing that, send news to ShinRa that something was making a Gaia-cursed racket it their mansion?

It couldn't hurt to try.


Next person we meet will be Cloud, I think. This story was inspired by A Box full of History and Butterfly Effect, both truly excellent stories. Themes present in both may surface in my own story, since imitation in the sincerest form of flattery.