When Cloud Strife slept these days, his nights were filled with glowing green and the screams of the innocent. All part of his 'training,' Shin-Ra had proclaimed when the thirteen-year-old awakened in the depths of what was known as the Warehouse to the recorded screams of thousands begging for mercy. Soon, it had become evident that no matter how he resisted, Rufus Shin-Ra was determined to break him. This was again explained by the TURKs as necessary for the future.
SOLDIERs were heroes.
THEY expected him to be so much more.
Not a god, that was quickly made evident when Hojo and Hollander made such insinuations towards that effect. All three of them were made to pay for that idealistic view. Quickly too was smashed by the idea of turning him into some kind of clone. They wanted something else.
Something special.
Someone they had deemed destined to take on the burdens of their world and engage with the ferocity of a Nibel Wolf against all the enemies they pointed out. His idols soon became listed under the word THREAT.
They stopped just short of torture, passing him into a specially treated form of water that, in the darkness, glowed with just a hint of green-blue. There were no mirrors or clocks. There was nothing more than a prison in which Cloud had found himself. Silence echoed as he heard footsteps down the hall, people speaking softly to one another as his cell door rattled open. The young teenager was not fooled. As quickly as he could, Cloud rolled from his bunk and dropped to the floor with a soundless grace that had been drilled into him by Reno's riot rod.
Gleaming blue eyes watched booted feet step into the room and walk about as if trying to gauge where he had squirreled himself away this time. Slithered halfway between his bed and the sink, Cloud Strife gave a gasp of startled air when Reno suddenly jerked the bed away from the wall and revealed his newest hiding place.
"Tricky kid, though not quite good enough to get you out of the labs today. However, you can relax. We have brought you some friends to play with. Real-life SOLDIERs. Can you believe that?" The TURK gave him a wide smile, pleased when the boy nearly snarled and went for his throat with bare hands. Still, he was forced to correspond with a well-placed jab to the boy's stomach. Hardly enough to bruise so much as a reminder of just where he was.
Cloud Strife fell to the floor panting for the air that had been forced out of him. Asking any questions had long since been proven futile. When the Vice President of Shin-Ra felt like talking to him, he came to Cloud. Cloud was never brought to him. Ever. With a hand wrapped around his upper arm, the small boy was yanked to his feet and forced nearly into a run beside the adults that dragged him to the destination he hated most in the world. Thrust into hell, the blonde-haired person turned his eyes on his captive tormentors and dared them to make him scream.
Useless as the prod had become, Hojo and Hollander were pushed into working together to create what their boss claimed was a perfect weapon.
Vincent Valentine was their latest testing dummy.
Two new specimens had been brought in with him. Neither of whom the two men had expected to fall so easily into their hands, nor were they carefully watched. Bruises marked up and down their faces, completely missed by their hands and eyes, and noticeable lumps had become commonplace in their daily lives.
Both men were wide awake, strapped into chairs where they could easily see the door and the newest prisoner brought in. Two pairs of mako-bright eyes narrowed and widened at the same time. The second-class SOLDIER that let loose the most vehement protest when the boy was hauled over to the cold steel in the room's center. With quick, efficient moves, the child was restrained, and the two scientists were released from their chains.
Elena cocked a gun, pointing it directly at the back of Hojo's head. "No funny business this time, Professor. You know exactly what the Boss wants, so do it."
"What the hell do you think you're doing to that kid?" Zack yelled at them. Her face turned towards him and gestured to the looming tanks of mako, each of which seemed to hold a different type of the damning power. Cold trails of sweat broke out along his brow as his head whipped back to meet the observant eyes of the one responsible for it all.
Rufus let himself smirk at the SOLDIERs. "As I once said to that child's mother, we are in the business of creating heroes. Cloud just happened to have the most potential in the market."
A stifled shout broke the conversation that was never meant to be. Hojo had already filled the first hypodermic needle with the vile concoction known as Mako and pierced the boy's arm. With the two SOLDIERs distracted by the boy, Hollander moved in on the Red-Coated General. Pure glowing blue slithered from a needle into an IV already pressed deeply into his flesh. Genesis turned his eyes to watch the liquid flow down the plastic tubing, only to disappear into his arm. Unlike the terrible burning of mako, this was more like a soothing rain shower on a hot summer day.
Genesis nearly scowled as the Vice President nodded at him. "So, we've become your lab rats?" the Commander asked.
"Not quite. Your presence here is mostly to help keep young Strife in line. It is a rather interesting process I wanted to do. Perhaps he would stop trying to escape if he knew his actions would harm those he looks up to." Rufus gave no further attention to them as he walked over to the child that now jerked at his bindings with even more power than before. "Tseng, have the restraints replaced before the next treatment."
"Yes, sir." The TURK responded.
Finally, Genesis turned his eyes brimming with unnamed emotions to the profile of Hojo as he bent over the blond boy. What they were doing to that boy, not even a trooper or prisoner of war was no less than a true nightmare, "You sick bastard."
A knowing smile answered his quiet assassination of the Vice President's character. "That boy is saving your life." He drew. "The degradation you were suffering has been halted by the same treatments that will be used on all future Soldiers."
"Zack Fair wasn't degrading, you sick son of a…"
"Careful, Commander, there are children present." Rufus scolded him. "Of course, Fair wasn't degrading. He's present for another purpose altogether."
The aforementioned teenager growled with word fury at the blonde-haired person. "What the hell do you need me for?"
"A simple case really. SOLDIERs often have a point where they sink into madness unless there is another to provide them with stabilization." Rufus started with reasoning that defied all expectations in the books. "You are required to preserve the mentality of Cloud."
