"You said you could get Angeal functional. Does that mean you really do believe you can help Angeal become human again?"
Zack didn't return to his and Sephiroth's makeshift quarters that night. Instead, during his walk he found an old break room the mining professionals had once used, and settled on a worn but pleasantly comfortable sofa as a good place to nap. It was old but clean, with not a trace of mildew or dust, proving that Genesis and his companions had spent some time improving their living conditions. They hadn't focused solely on making G-copies and raiding local towns.
Zack hadn't been able to resist snooping a bit first, though. The break room contained a stocked refrigerator, a small electric stove and oven, a sink, work counters, and cabinets with cookware and plenty of canned and dry goods like cereal, beans, and rice. Two round diner tables and seven matching chairs filled the central space. There was a coffeemaker on the counter, and a teakettle on the stove. Everything was clean and dust free. The drying dishes in a dishrack, plus a few stains on the stove, indicated that the facilities had been used recently. Probably Genesis, Lazard, Hollander, maybe even the G-copies, cooked and ate meals here.
He supposed they had to eat somewhere. Last night everyone had just eaten packaged snacks while they compared notes and got up to speed with one another. The food situation hadn't really occurred to him before, but yeah, Genesis's group had to eat, he thought as he stretched out on the sofa and closed his eyes.
Zack didn't know how long he slept before he felt a hand gently shaking his shoulder. "Zack," a welcome voice said, "Zack, wake up."
"Ooooh, c'mon, a few more minutes," he sighed, stubbornly keeping his eyes closed. He turned on his side, pulled his legs up to his chest, and snuggled into the cushions. "Just five more minutes."
He smiled to hear a familiar chuckle. "No, Zack," the voice said. "It's almost sunrise. You don't want to be found here in your pajamas, do you?"
True, that would be embarrassing, and also lead to questions he didn't want to answer. Such as why he was here and not in his own cot. He was supposed to be used to the weird shit with Angeal and nightmares.
It would be okay if Genesis found him, Zack thought. Genesis knew about barracks life and how sometimes a man needed space, and after his crazy disruption last night he wouldn't ask too many uncomfortable questions. But Lazard or Hollander? Ugh.
"I guess, but it's still a few more minutes before reveille," he murmured, still cozy in his half-asleep state.
"I doubt they sound reveille here. Though it wouldn't surprise me if Genesis sometimes plays a recording over the intercoms just to bug Hollander."
"That would be pretty funny."
The hand shook Zack's shoulder again. "Come on, now. Up and at 'em, SOLDIER."
"Okay, okay." Zack sat up and yawned. His eyes did not want to open, and he rubbed them. The hand gave his shoulder a last pat and pulled away.
Still fuzzy-headed, Zack asked plaintively, "Why're you here doing this, anyway?"
"Sephiroth asked me to check on you," was the reply.
"Seph—?" Zack's eyes shot wide open and he lurched to his feet. "Angeal?" He whirled and there was Angeal, turned away from him so he only saw his mentor's back, but that was enough. It absolutely was Angeal, solid and alive and whole, just as Zack remembered him. He was even dressed in his First Class uniform, and his Buster Sword hung from its harness on his back. He was everything Zack wanted him to be, everything Zack hoped he would become again.
Angeal walked toward the door, never turning to face Zack, but paused long enough to say, "Oh, if you want to make a good impression, you might get the coffee started before you go get dressed." He laughed quietly and added, "Dreams and honor are fueled by coffee, even in a place like this," and exited the break room, immediately turning to the left.
Zack heard a fluttering of wings, then nothing but the thrum of air circulation equipment.
"Angeal! Wait!" Zack bolted to the door and into the hallway. He scanned to the left, then to the right.
Nothing.
Nothing but stretches of concrete, linoleum floors, doors to workspaces, and ugly industrial pipes and ducts.
Zack ran a trembling hand through his close-cropped hair. "Coffee," he muttered. "That's what he had to say to me? Make the coffee?"
And he'd thought Genesis and Sephiroth were getting too weird! Look at him. He was interacting with a walking, talking, solid—solid?—Angeal, just like the old days. Actually, Zack was forced to admit, nicer than the old days. Angeal wouldn't have wakened him gently, but rather have let blaring alarms do the job, then chewed him out if he slept through them and came late to training. They were in the military, and expected to show discipline and follow rules, routines, and regulations.
"So, make the coffee," Zack said to himself. He rummaged through the cabinets, found a jar of pre-ground coffee and some filters, set it all up in the coffeemaker, and pressed the ON button. The machine immediately started gurgling and hissing with steam. "Right, coffee's on, everyone."
Zack then returned to his and Sephiroth's quarters. Sephiroth was gone, his cot made up neatly. Angeal's container was also gone. Zack assumed Sephiroth hadn't wanted to leave Angeal alone. Good judgment, there. Neither of them really trusted Hollander. Of Genesis and Lazard, well, Zack hadn't made up his mind yet, but they were all stuck with each other now.
He was pulling on a pair of ratty denim jeans when he finally wondered how he'd make a good impression for starting the morning coffee when no one had been in the break room to see him do it. Dang, he should have left a note!
He collected a few toiletries—toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, deodorant, razor and shaving cream—and headed for the nearest restroom. Fortunately, the two-story industrial building had several of them on each floor, so one was always in easy reach. The showers were a different matter. He'd been informed that there were a number of cold safety showers near the various quality control and geology labs located throughout the building. Apparently, there were also a couple of normal showers around somewhere for better personal cleanup after a lab accident, but no one had pointed them out yet.
He sniffed his armpits—nothing obnoxious detected!—and decided he could survive without a shower for a little while.
His stomach grumbled, so he returned to the break room to try to rustle up something to eat from the bounty awaiting him there. As he approached, he picked up the delightful scents of cooked eggs, rice, and vegetables. He also heard voices, and paused next to the doorway.
"—acceptable coffee," Genesis said after a loud slurp.
"Zack made it," Sephiroth said.
"Oh? I didn't think he was that thoughtful. Especially for us."
Zack grimaced, but yeah, he wouldn't have made coffee for Genesis if he hadn't been prompted to do so.
A chair scraped as someone got up. The coffeemaker gurgled. Lazard said in a tight, uncomfortable voice, "In any case, it was good of him. Teenagers aren't always so considerate, and you guys have been through a lot. Anyone would be rattled."
Sephiroth said, "Angeal told him it would be a nice gesture."
"Angeal. Right." There was a clunk as someone heavily put down a mug on a table. The chair scraped on the floor again, and Lazard grumbled, "It's creepy in here, with him right on the center of the table like that."
Genesis said, "Be nice, Lazard."
"Be nice, he says, with Angeal's head floating right in front of us. It's macabre. Why did you bring it—him—in here for breakfast?"
Macabre. Zack supposed that was actually a pretty accurate description. He and Sephiroth had been traveling with Angeal's head for months and gotten used to it. They usually took for granted that Angeal was just "temporarily indisposed," and had become almost indifferent to seeing his decapitated head in the jar. They treated the situation like it was normal rather than freakish and horrifying. Zack snorted softly. Familiarity really did breed contempt.
He and Sephiroth were really messed up, weren't they? They weren't close to normal. Lazard was the normal one.
Sephiroth said, "Angeal needs company sometimes, too, just like anyone else."
An uncomfortable silence followed. Zack decided that was the perfect time for him to make his entrance. "Good morning!" he said brightly to cover his discomfort at what he'd overheard.
Sure enough, Angeal's container rested in the center of the most forward table, where Sephiroth, Lazard, and Genesis sat with steaming mugs. Their empty plates indicated that they'd already finished eating.
"Good morning, Zack," Sephiroth returned calmly. He took a sip of coffee.
Lazard pushed away from the table and stood. "Help yourself to scrambled eggs." He waved at a pan sitting on the stove. "I need to get back to monitor duty."
At that moment, Hollander, sans lab coat for a change, pushed past Zack, shoving him aside. "I'm starving," he proclaimed as he made a beeline for the stove. He grabbed a plate and scooped all the scrambled eggs onto it, added healthy servings of rice and vegetables, then planted himself in Lazard's vacated seat. He waved his fork. "Ah, I see you've brought Angeal here. Good, we need to talk about him."
Lazard shook his head at the scientist's casual thoughtlessness. "Sorry, Zack, but there's plenty of food in the fridge. You can make more eggs if you want. I've got to go. See you later." He took his plate to the sink and, mug in hand, practically bolted out of the room.
"You do that," Hollander said absently. His attention was all for Angeal's head. "I need to speak with our three resident SOLDIERs." To Genesis, he said, "So, I gather there was some excitement last night. I'm sorry I slept through it."
"I'm not," Genesis huffed.
"I'm compiling a shopping list for you." Hollander shoved some eggs in his mouth. He turned to Sephiroth. "We're going to need new reagents and equipment. Do you have any leftovers of the nutrient broth Hojo used?" A few egg crumbs spit out of his mouth and got caught in his beard. He wiped them away with his wrist. "It would make my job a lot faster and easier if I knew what it was made of."
Zack rummaged through the refrigerator while he listened to the conversation. He found a plastic container holding a few cooked pork chops. They would make an excellent breakfast.
Sephiroth said, "Yes, I have a tiny bit left over, plus a few empty jugs that probably have some dried residue inside. Not enough to make a difference. We've been making do with IV feeding solutions and separated blood products like serum."
"Good, good," Hollander said. "I'm sure we can duplicate it once we get the proper chemicals worked out. Also, I'll need to take Angeal to my lab to get some readings."
"Readings?" Zack asked warily as he settled in an empty chair next to Sephiroth.
"Brainwave and bio patterns, a few cell samples to check cellular function and activity. Nothing exciting. But we should get started ASAP."
Sephiroth sat up straight, rigid and hostile. "What do you mean, cell samples? Are you talking about biopsies?" He glared hard at the scientist and clenched his left hand as though around the hilt of his sword.
Hollander looked unimpressed. "Relax, Sephiroth. I'm not going to do any cutting. There's no point to larger tissue samples like that at this stage. I can harvest what I need just with some swabs and some samples of the fluid he's currently in. He'll have been shedding cells in it all along." He chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "Oh, this might be even easier. When was the last time you changed his fluid? Do you still have it stored somewhere, or did you dispose of it? His cells should still be active in the discarded liquids."
"Wait, what?" Zack said around a mouthful of cold pork. Angeal's cells were floating around in that stuff and still alive? They'd been all over two continents! "Sephiroth, what have you been doing with the old fluid? Have we been spreading his cells everywhere we've been?" From his dreams, he knew that was a potential disaster. Hojo's research teams had treated Angeal as an ultra-high-risk biohazard.
"I didn't keep any of the old fluid. I've been flushing it down toilets whenever we had rented rooms," Sephiroth said, directing his attention to Hollander. "I assumed the sewage processing plants would sterilize it."
"Probably," Hollander said, nodding. "Disinfection of sewage involves some harsh chemicals and treatments, but we can do some tests here to be sure."
He didn't appear too concerned, so Zack relaxed. His newfound complacence was shattered by Sephiroth's next words:
"When we were camping I did dump it on the ground whenever I changed it out. We also cleaned the container once in a stream, though we used bleach to sterilize its interior after washing it."
Zack gasped, remembering. "That was when he had that Ahriman body—"
"Yes," Sephiroth interrupted.
Genesis gaped at the pair of them, glancing back and forth. "That was when you cut off his head the second time," he said quietly, his hand going to his own throat.
"Yes."
Hollander scowled in displeasure. "So the cells are already loose in the wild environment."
Zack said, "Sephiroth, Hojo and his assistants always had spacesuits on to protect them from those cells!"
"How do you know that? From those dreams you talked about yesterday?" Hollander asked intently. When Zack and Sephiroth both nodded, he grunted and shoveled in another mouthful of his eggs.
"How many cells does it take to make an A-copy?" Zack persisted. "Could the wildlife be picking up those cells?"
"They might have gotten into the food chain," Hollander allowed, clinking his fork against his plate. "But honestly, I wouldn't worry about fish, vermin, worms and bugs, or the birds that eat them. They all have short lifespans even without Angeal's cells mutating them."
Zack tried to imagine A-copies of rats, worms, and fish with Angeal's face. The images were disconcerting, to say the least.
"You don't think it's a problem?" Genesis asked. He twitched an eyebrow in disbelief. "Those are exactly the kind of creatures that travel distance or stow away on ships."
Hollander shrugged. "Even if they do become a problem, once we get Angeal functional again, he can recall the cells through Reunion. We can deal with their effects then." He nodded to himself, his gaze going to the wall as he started theorizing. "Angeal's cells always had the potential to become highly aggressive and invasive even before Hojo modified his biochemistry and gene expression, but until then he was stable enough. I don't believe his cells ever infected an external organism without deliberate implantation and cultivation. Otherwise, you'd have seen aberrations in Banora's flora and fauna pop up anytime he scraped his knee or sneezed—or Gillian, at least, would have noticed something out of place. I'm sure she was keeping an eye out for problems and abnormalities."
"Aberrations? Problems and abnormalities?" Zack repeated, incredulous.
Hollander ignored him and continued theorizing, "Now, though, it does seem inevitable that some A-copies might show up in the ecosystem. From what Sephiroth and Fair have described, Hojo's treatments probably made Angeal's cells even more aggressive and independent, but he should be able to control them. The infection might not be too widespread, though. You two," he indicated Sephiroth and Zack, "have been exposed to Angeal's cells for a few months now and aren't showing any adverse effects. But then, you're already Jenova chimeras, so further exposure to a Jenova hybrid's viable cells might be irrelevant to this line of thought. Though Genesis's cells are quite able to infect SOLDIERs and turn them into G-copies, so I don't know what might be different... Hmmm, well, it's all nothing but speculation at this point, of course, but it does give us something to look at."
Most of what Hollander said was pure gobbledygook to Zack, but he immediately latched onto the idea that Angeal could be made "functional." "You said you could get Angeal functional. Does that mean you really do believe you can help Angeal become human again?"
Hollander leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He said slowly, "I think it's possible to have him grow another human body, but given the biological changes Hojo triggered, he'll never be what you might call the same. He'll look the same, he'll probably generate human-appearing physiology—organs, limbs, skin and hair, that sort of thing—and he might even have mostly the same personality, but his fundamental genetic and biochemical makeup will never return to what it once was."
"Mostly the same personality?" Genesis asked, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.
"He's undergone severe trauma and complete structural reorganization at subcellular and genetic levels. No one would be exactly the same after all that," Hollander pointed out. "We all change with our experiences. None of us are the same as we were even last month. Adjust your expectations accordingly."
During Hollander's speculative commentary, Sephiroth had placed a hand atop Angeal's container. He kept it there as he asked, "What do we need to do to help him come back? What do you need from us?"
"Mostly just information for now," Hollander said. He chewed on some more eggs and swallowed. Somehow, despite all his pontificating, his plate was almost empty. "I want to interview all three of you separately about those dreams and telepathic experiences. Don't discuss them among yourselves any more than you've already done. I want your own impressions uncontaminated by different perspectives. I know that's impossible for you two," he gestured with his fork at Zack and Sephiroth, "because you've been traveling together for so long, but talk to me first about any future experiences you might have. Genesis, you can serve as a more unsullied source of information. You don't know what to expect or what is, well, normal for lack of a better term. Don't talk any more about your experience last night until after I've interviewed you."
"I had an experience this morning," Zack said, making air quotes with his fingers to emphasize the word "experience."
"As did I," Sephiroth added.
"What did I just say? Didn't it sink in? Don't talk about it, both of you," Hollander snapped. "We'll be having daily interviews, maybe more often depending on how active Angeal is with you. I'll correlate the dates to check for frequency, intensity, and consistency of your experiences. We'll get to the bottom of the psychic phenomena that way."
Sephiroth frowned at the scolding. Hollander snorted and said, "You asked how you could help. This would be extremely helpful. In fact, if you're finished eating, Sephiroth, we can go to my lab and have our interview now. I have suitable facilities upstairs. Bring Angeal. I need to start checking him over, as well."