Yep, it's an extra chapter! I got really nice reviews for the last chapter so this one's going up a bit early as a thank-you.
Deterministic Systems
The three Generals did not get around to asking Vincent for the J disk until the afternoon of the day after their drunken binge. The former Turk had never personally understood the appeal of alcohol even before Nibelheim and now she had Chaos in her she couldn't even get tipsy, let alone falling-down-drunk. Meeting a less-inhibited Sephiroth had however been a reasonably pleasant experience, as in his intoxicated state her son had demonstrated that he, too, craved the emotional contact that she did.
The PHS message came late in the afternoon while Cloud was taking Wolf for a run around the block to build up her stamina; Vincent therefore sent her blond student a message of her own so he knew where she'd gone and slipped away to the agreed-upon contact point, a discreet infonet café in Sector eight a block away from LOVELESS Avenue.
Even when dressed in street clothes the three Generals were not hard to find: three tall, good-looking and muscular men, however they are dressed, cannot help but draw the eye. Surprisingly Sephiroth was the least conspicuous, his long silver hair braided and hidden down the back of the jumper he was wearing and a hat hiding his scalp and startlingly green eyes.
"Gentlemen," Vincent murmured as she joined their table in the back of the room. Her clothing was anything but subtle; her compromise with Chaos meant that, while he would allow her to dress discreetly if disguise was essential, on a day-to-day basis she had to look the part of his avatar. As a result she drew the eye even more than the Generals did.
"What's with the vampire costume?" Genesis asked. "Going to a party this evening?"
Vincent raised an eyebrow. "It isn't a vampire costume," she said shortly. "Did you have questions?"
"Just the one," Genesis responded quietly, not put off by her terseness. "What's your plan?"
"The plan," the former Turk murmured. "My original plan was very simple, but evolving circumstances have forced complications on me with each additional player. As it is you will need to read the next disk in order for the plan to make sense to you."
"How did you get copies of all that data?" Angeal asked.
Vincent shot the Dark General a sideways glance. "I was a Turk. Digging up dirt on people is part of the job."
"What is your ultimate goal?" Sephiroth asked softly, green eyes meeting his mother's red.
Vincent smiled. It was the kind of smile that Hellmasker wore underneath his mask. "Hojo dead, his projects dismantled and a happy family. A change in the ShinRa senior management and company policy would not go amiss either." Her reading into Mako led her to believe that relying on the Reactors for power was dangerously unsustainable; AVALANCHE's rather brutal policy was not however the best way to enact change. She was keeping tabs on Reeve Tuesti, director of Urban Development, as he seemed the most likely person to find a viable alternative to surviving off the lifeblood of the planet.
"Lets see this disk then," Genesis said impatiently, adjusting the screen of the table's computer so it couldn't be seen by anyone except the three incognito SOLDIERs. Vincent agreeably handed over the J disk and pulled out a sheaf of recently-pilfered medical notes and her notebook: five years of obsessive study had made her reasonably capable of understanding both the medical jargon and the concepts needed to make sense of the cellular biology that riddled all of the projects managed by professors Hojo and Hollander. Besides, what Chaos had told her last night while she was getting the Generals to go to bed had been very enlightening.
First had been Chaos referring to the JENOVA cells in all three Generals as 'the Calamity' which had caught the former Turk's attention as that phrase turned up frequently in Cetran history. Second had been her tenant's assertion that he could neutralise the J-cells in her son's body so that 'the Calamity cannot spread', which he promised would prevent JENOVA from communicating with Sephiroth as a bonus. As Vincent intended to sabotage Hojo's 'Reunion Theory' almost on principle, that Chaos had offered to help her do so was an opportunity to be taken advantage of; however before doing so she needed to work out the mechanics of the process for her own peace of mind.
In her notebook she scribbled 'Chaos = disorder', then 'genetic chaos = mutation = change and/or death'. Then she wrote 'denature' and circled it. Denaturing viruses made them inert, deforming the genetic structure so they could no longer reproduce. What the WEAPON bound within her body seemed to be saying was that it could channel tiny tendrils of its energy into the cells affected by the JENOVA virus and denature those sections which enabled communication, cloning and absorption of external genetic traits, which would in turn prevent 'the Calamity' from spreading without adversely affecting the hosts. The cells would still be present and usable, but 'brain dead' for lack of a better term.
Vincent flicked through the stolen paperwork again; she'd copied these from professor Hollander, who seemed to be concerned about Genesis' current rates of cell turnover. The phrase 'steadily escalating' was not the kind of thing that boded well, especially when JENOVA was involved.
Sephiroth made a sound like an angry cat, prompting Vincent to look up from her reading. Genesis looked disgusted, Sephiroth was white with fury and Angeal seemed sickened.
"Charming reading, isn't it?" the former Turk murmured.
Sephiroth snarled. "Hollander at least truly believed the cells were Cetran; Hojo knew exactly what he was doing yet did it anyway. He told me Jenova was my mother! That, that thing is just a parasite, a virus and a tumour on the face of the planet. I want no part in that mad scientist's sick delusions."
"Is there a cure?" Angeal whispered hoarsely.
Vincent put down her notes and tapped her clawed fingertips on the tabletop. "what do you three know about viruses?"
Genesis shrugged. "They make you sick until your body fights them off and most SOLDIERS rarely catch them. Angeal and I never really did previously anyway."
"Your body fights them to a standstill; they cannot be purged completely as they are not truly alive, more like pieces of computer coding than actual cells," Vincent corrected carefully. "Viral vaccines use denatured viruses that are unable to reproduce in order to provoke an immune response without actually endangering the body. Normal SOLDIERs get what could be called 'JENOVA vaccines' when they are promoted to first-class, augmenting Mako with J-cells that settle in the host's body yet are inert. You three on the other hand have living, breeding colonies that are rapidly approaching maturity." She tapped the stolen medical notes for emphasis. Genesis frowned as he noticed what she was reading but didn't comment.
"What happens when the colony matures?" Angeal asked quietly.
Vincent shrugged. "It tries to take over."
There was a very nasty silence.
"I do have a possible solution to hand," Vincent offered as black depression and grim rage settled over the trio like mist. "Though it is neither proven nor scientific."
"Anything is better than this," Genesis hissed, gesturing at the screen. "I refuse to be a monster, let alone a puppet for a colony of alien flu!"
"My solution is related to the Chaos project," Vincent explained carefully and obliquely, "as Lucretia Crescent experimented on me with the tainted Mako my father was studying."
Angeal looked startled by the revelation. "How are you still alive?"
"Exceptional circumstances," Vincent bit out. She didn't like talking about Chaos; possession made people twitchy and telling Sephiroth now that she had a summon/WEAPON hybrid living within her would not go down well. "I did however gain the means to harness the entropy and direct it at specific sections of the genetic structure of the JENOVA virus, which should enable me to denature them in situ. However this is just the theory: even if I succeed there may be spontaneous mutations as side-effects."
"Rock and a hard place," Genesis muttered, eyes tracing the words on the papers Vincent had put on the table. "There are no dreams, no honour remains; The arrow has left the bow of the Goddess. We don't have a choice."
"How soon can you do this?" Angeal asked.
Whenever they wish; the Calamity must die! Chaos interjected, giving away that he'd not actually been as asleep as she'd believed. Vincent did not by so much as a single twitch give away that one of the voices in her head had just shouted in her ear.
"Organise a week or two off and I can do it right away. You''ll probably be sick for a bit and I'm not sure how many changes your bodies will go through as they adapt or how long said changes will take."
"I'll go first," Angeal offered.
"No, I will," Genesis said vehemently, scowling at Vincent's copies of Hollander's notes. "I appear to have less time than either of you do. If something goes wrong with me there'll be time to refine the procedure for you two. Bastard didn't even tell me that he thinks I've only got a few months left before my body starts deteriorating. Bloody scientists. To spare the sands, the seas, the skies I offer thee this silent sacrifice."
"You don't do silent Genesis," Sephiroth said dryly, "but your point stands."
"Book two weeks' holiday with Lazard and pray for the best," Vincent told the redhead, collecting her notes and removing the data disk from the computer. "While the procedure will certainly cripple the virus I have no idea what it will do to you."
A bit of angsty drama to balance out the humour. Chaos likes my Vincent because she is perfectly happy to raise hell for a 'good cause'; ie: protect Sephiroth. Thus, she actually gets to be his avatar rather than just his prison cell. Chaos also thinks Cloud is both cute and entertaining, but that's beside the point.
