Another week, another chapter. I'm finally recovered from the scrunge that has plagued me since the end of last weekend... well, mostly, anyways. Real talk, throat infections suck. This week has been slow on the writing by comparison, largely due to the aforementioned recovery stealing a lot of my focus. But I managed to make some moderate progress in the rough drafts, and I'm happy with what's happened with the editing, and that's what matters.
KuraraII: This is a valid point, and I will definitely be taking that into consideration. There's a lot going on in the first parts of the story, and getting the readers (and to some extent the characters) up to speed on it all was an initial focus of mine. Now that this has been mostly accounted for, I'm planning to start moving into the long haul of the story.
Mr. Haziq: Ranma is definitely going to have to evolve some, yeah. The problem is... it's Ranma. He's very strongly set in his pride and doesn't like it when outside forces conspire to make him alter his behavior. That doesn't mean that he can't, or won't, but it does mean he's going to have to work at it.
Anyhoo, here is the new chapter, and I hope you all like it!
Chapter Nineteen
Seeing Red
[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 12
"We're not rebuilding," President Shinra said with an air of finality, taking a long drag on his cigar.
"What?"
"We're leaving Sector 7 exactly as it is." He exhaled a cloud of smoke, and turned to look at the man in the simple blue suit. "And restarting the Neo-Midgar plans."
The man in blue looked shocked. "Then, the Ancients… you've…"
The president nodded confidently. "The 'Promised Land' will soon be in our hands. Start your work immediately. Increase mako rates by…" he shuffled through a few papers on the conference table, until he found the one he was looking for, "...fifteen percent in all sectors… and send out word to reactors in other cities to do the same."
"Rate hike! Rate hike!" an oversized man in a gaudy yellow suit yelled in a childish singsong. "Tra la-la la-la! Please include the Air Force in the new budget!" he finished with a pleading tone.
The president did not even respond to the outburst with visual confirmation of the man's existence. "The extra income will be divided between Reeve and Scarlet's departments," he indicated the man in the blue suit and the woman in the red evening gown.
Reeve sat down, but his expression remained pensive. "Sir, if the rates continue to climb, people will become upset, lose confidence in the company. They-"
"The ignorant masses will do no such thing," Shinra interrupted. "They will continue to see Shinra and our mako energy as the only way to meet their needs, and to keep their lives moving along in comfort and peace. In the end, they'll have even more faith in us."
"Gyaa haa haa!" Heidegger, the man in the green general's coat, barked out a loud and annoying laugh. "Of course they'll have faith in us. After all, Shinra is the one who finally ended the threat of those eco-terrorists, AVALANCHE, and saved the people from their brand of destruction!"
"That dirty little shit!" Barret hissed, his temper flaring, but Ranma waved him into silence again.
"Hojo," the president went on, oblivious to the intruders above, "how's the girl doing?"
The man in the lab coat stood somewhat awkwardly, adjusting his glasses. "As a specimen, she's clearly inferior to her mother," he began in a greasy tone. "It's a shame the mother couldn't be recovered. I'm still in the process of comparing the biological data between the two specimens, but for now she appears viable."
"How long before you have all the data you need?"
"A hundred and twenty years, I think," he replied, nonchalant. "It's probably impossible to complete the research in the lifetime of the subject… or in our lifetimes, for that matter. I'm considering breeding her, we might get enough viable specimens to withstand the research."
"And the Promised Land?" Shinra demanded, setting his cigar down in a gold ashtray. "A timetable like that is going to hinder our plans significantly."
"Yes, and I need to return to work," he continued, almost oblivious to the words spoken to him. "She has strengths and weaknesses both." And Hojo wandered out of the room, mumbling to himself as he walked.
President Shinra ran one hand across his face. "Whatever," he muttered, picking up his cigar again and taking a long puff from it. "That concludes the meeting, I expect regular progress reports from each of you on your assigned tasks. Palmer, come see me in a few hours, perhaps we can find something to set your department to as well."
The man in the tacky yellow suit nodded at that, and each of the executives stood and filed out of the conference room. Ranma motioned to Barret, and the two began to work their way back down the vent. "Hojo must know where Aerith is," Ranma whispered. "We should see if we can follow him."
"Yeah, no shit," Barret grumbled back. "Need to get back to the others first. Don't want them runnin' off and doin' somethin' stupid."
"Like what?"
Barret shrugged. "If I could think of alla the different kinds of stupid those two could get themselves into," he said, climbing down into the stall, "I'd'a told them specifically not to do that."
"Heh," Ranma said, accepting the handhold Barret offered to lower her back into the restroom. "You're like the team dad for those two, aren'cha?"
Barret grumbled quietly and crossed his arms. "Already got one kid runnin' around," he said. "Couldn't pay me enough to try watchin' over two more of their size."
"Don't worry, I'll keep your secret," she teased, stepping back out into the hallway. And nearly freezing as she saw Cloud and Tifa standing at the other end of the hallway, panicked looks on their faces. "Oh, hell, Barret, we may need to move."
"Whuzzap?"
"Not sure, but Cloud and Tifa are down the end of the hallway and look like someone just walked on their graves."
Barret peeked his head out of the door briefly, and caught Tifa's eye. He immediately ducked back in, and poked Ranma. "Keep an eye on 'em," he said in a gruff tone. "'Bout to throw a signal, you tell me what she does." With that, Barret stuck his good hand out of the restroom door and made a complicated sign with his fingers. Tifa stared at it for a long moment, before glancing to her right, and then holding up one hand in response.
"Well?" Barret asked.
"Right hand straight out, first two fingers raised, thumb out."
Barret nodded, and stepped out, walking towards them slowly. "What's got you two spooked?" he hissed as he approached.
"Sorry, Barret," Tifa replied quietly. "We made it around this corner just as that creepy guy in the lab coat came out, mumbling to himself. Then everyone else started coming out, so we thought we'd blown it."
"Give me a heart attack next time, it'll be kinder," Barret grumbled. "Guy in the lab coat's Hojo, he's our next destination."
"That was Hojo?" Cloud asked in bewilderment. "Never met him before, but… he's famous in SOLDIER circles-"
"Yeah, yeah, drop the psycho worship," Barret interrupted. "He's got Aerith, or he knows where they've stashed her. Either way, we gotta roll, now."
Floor 67, 90 seconds previously…
Hojo stepped through the doorway, his badge registering entry into the restricted access area. The door briefly began to close, then reopened. Hojo failed to notice, lost in his own musings. The lights overhead flickered briefly, and then returned to normal.
Floor 67, now...
Cloud stepped out of the stairwell, sword drawn, eyes alert and glancing in both directions. "Don't ask me what's up here," he said quietly. "I know the President's office is on the 70th floor, but I've never been this high up in the building before."
"This place gives me the willies," Ranma commented, a half step behind Cloud. "Like, seriously bad vibrations here."
"Any idea where we oughta go?" Barret asked, eyes peeled for any targets.
Cloud gestured with his sword. "This way, I think…"
The four of them moved down the hallway, and found themselves in a room filled mostly with wooden crates, and one enormous glass chamber in the middle. Hojo stood in front of it, peering through the glass at the creature within, a heavily scarred creature resembling a cross between a dire wolf and a panther. The four ducked out of sight behind the crates and assorted clutter.
"Is... that... today's specimen?" a man's voice called out from somewhere above them, a tone of disgust apparent in his question.
"Yes, indeed," Hojo responded, his gaze focused on the being within the chamber. "We're starting immediately. Load it into the elevator queue and be ready to raise it to the upper level at once."
"Sir!" the man acknowledged, and there was the sound of footsteps disappearing into the distance somewhere above.
Hojo leaned in close to the chamber glass, giggling in an entirely creepy manner. "My precious specimen…" And he turned, as if remembering a pot of tea he'd left on the stove, and walked past and out of the laboratory area without a second glance.
Ranma looked after the man as he left. "Definitely creepy," she said succinctly. "What's in the big glass tube, anyway?" She took a few steps out of the crates, and looked in at the 'specimen'. A four-legged creature with an almost leonine body, a wolf-like head, and a long narrow tail with what appeared to be a live flame on the end. The creature was curled up, half-asleep, the flaming tail flicking back and forth in an irritated pattern, the dark-red ridges of long fur along its spine contrasting with the lighter red of its bare skin over most of the rest of its body. "Huh. Weird, ain't got anythin' like that back home..."
"So that's Hojo…" Cloud said quietly, trailing off. It was then that he turned to see the object he'd been hiding behind. A large semi-spherical tank, with a door on it, bolted shut, and a glass panel fitted into the top of the door. He glanced up, noticing the plate welded to the tank. "Jenova…?" he whispered. Without thinking, he set his sword on his back, and hopped up on the lip of the door to peer through the view port.
"Hey," Ranma said, trying to catch his attention. "Cloud!"
CloudCloudClsoudCloudzCloudCloufdClouadClouudClolludCloudsClouidCloud
"Cloud!"
Cloud blinked, only then realizing that his eyes had been shut. His head hurt. His hands were squeezing his head, so that made sense. He stopped doing that. He was trying to walk forward. He was on his back, he couldn't walk that way. How had he gotten on his back? He took a deep breath, only then realizing he'd been holding his breath over a minute. "I… I'm fine," Cloud said, panting softly. "It… the hell… Jenova… Sephiroth's… they brought it here…"
"Cloud, please stop, just breathe," Tifa said. Tifa was kneeling on the floor, hovering over him. She looked sad. Upset, maybe. Hard to tell. Always so difficult to tell. Tell? Words. Something important. "Did you see it?" he mumbled, still trying to piece himself together.
"See what?" Barret asked, waving his arms to indicate the rest of the room. "There's nothin' else here!"
"Barret, hush, that's not helping," Tifa berated him.
"Inside…" Words. Words were always difficult. Never got the timing right. Maybe try not-words. Cloud pointed with one shaky hand, body still shivering.
Barret turned around, noticing the tank as more than just a background object for the first time. He pulled himself up by the viewport and glanced inside. "The fuck?" he nearly yelled, dropping his volume at the last moment as he remembered where they were. He stepped away from the bolted door. "Where's its fuckin' head?" he hissed.
Ranma, sensing that something important was happening, ventured past Tifa and Barret, and being a bit shorter than either of the men in this form, practically had to climb up the door, hanging off of two of the rivets by her fingertips. She peered inside.
And immediately regretted it.
Words sprang to mind, all of them unpleasant. Starfish. Bent body. Limbs inside torso. Raw musculature. Eyes. Pink. Alien. Flesh. Something trying to build a human body for itself, and failing at every moment. A terrifying, overwhelming sense of wrong that made her fall backwards, tumble to her knees, and nearly vomit behind the crates. "O Kami, make me a stone," she whispered in prayer. Tifa looked up at her, and started to move towards the tank. "No, Tifa," Ranma said, holding out a hand. "Trust me on this, you're better off not seein' that thing, whatever it is."
"Dunno what that thing is," Barret said, shuddering involuntarily. "But the shrimp's right, whatever it is, it ain't for lookin' at. Whole thing's stupid…" he trailed off and glanced around the science department's storage area. "Looks like the coast is clear now. We need to get moving."
"Cloud, are you going to be all right?" Tifa asked.
Cloud nodded, slowly pulling himself to his feet. "I just… it freaked me, is all," he said calmly. "Sorry to worry you all. Barret's right, we need to go. Aerith still needs our help." With that, he turned and started walking, moving towards a service elevator in the back of the room.
Ranma and Tifa stared after him, almost identical expressions of disbelief on their faces. "Is he... for real?" Ranma said aloud, not really expecting an answer.
"He is," Tifa responded, a slight edge in her voice. "If he says he's okay, then he's okay."
Ranma nodded, uncertain, but followed anyway, leaving the specimen behind.
Floor 68
The service elevator led to an upper area of the science department, where a similar chamber appeared, almost twice as large as the one below it. Hojo stood in front of the clear chamber, examining it thoughtfully. As the team stepped out of the elevator, Hojo turned and noticed them, apparently for the first time.
Ranma ignored him, instead focusing her attention to the inside of the tank. "Aerith!" she called out, seeing the familiar red bolero as the girl beat against the inside of the glass with her hands.
Hojo glanced between Aerith and the incoming crowd of people. "Aerith?" he said with a distasteful tone. "Is that the specimen's name? What do you want, anyway?"
"We're taking her back!" Cloud declared, drawing his sword.
Hojo scowled. "I don't have time for this outsider nonsense, I have to get to work." He began to walk off, but Barret dashed in and grabbed the man by his lab coat, thrusting his gun-arm under Hojo's chin. "Oh-ho, very lively," he taunted with an air of someone examining a new type of insect. "Though I think you should re-examine your actions. After all, the equipment here is of such a delicate nature… Without someone of my intellect, who could possibly operate it, hmm?"
Barret grumbled in response, but slowly released Hojo from his grip. "You sonuva…"
"Yes, that's much better," Hojo rolled his eyes as he adjusted his clothing. "You really should take the time to consider the consequences before taking such rash action. For example..." he tilted his head up to a control room on a walkway above. "Bring in the specimen!"
"What?" Tifa cried out. "What are you doing?"
"Establishing the consequences, of course," he replied, unconcerned. "Both of these animals are the last of their kind, they must be given… a fighting chance, to beat the odds of extinction…" A panel inside the glass chamber slid aside, and a platform began to raise up from underneath. The 'specimen' from the chamber below appeared, its tail going straight and lowering its body in an aggressive stance. A savage, animalistic growl seemed to vibrate the air, originating from inside the chamber.
"Okay, that does it!" Barret barked out, pushing Hojo to one side, and turning his gun on the chamber itself.
"Wait, no!" Hojo shouted.
Barret ignored him. Aiming carefully at a portion of the glass some ways away from where Aerith was cowering, he let loose a salvo of automatic fire, but the chamber wall held.
And then began to glow, blindingly bright, causing them all to turn away in reflex.
"No, what have you done?" Hojo demanded, pushing past Barret and towards the chamber door. "My precious specimens… must document this…" He pressed a series of keys on a panel just in front of the chamber, and the door hissed open. The glow began to fade, leaving the chamber visible.
Aerith was still huddled to one side.
And the 'specimen' was now standing in front of the door, aggressive posture and all. It leaped, pouncing on Hojo and knocking him to the ground. "Gyaaah!" he yelled, as the weight of the creature's body pressed down on his chest, the low growl returning.
"Now's our chance!" Cloud said, leaping past the fallen Hojo and running into the chamber. He pulled Aerith to her feet, and looked at her. "You gonna be okay?"
"I think so," she responded. "Thanks, Cloud."
"Cloud!" Tifa called. "That elevator inside is moving again!"
Hojo giggled maniacally, easing up onto his elbows as the creature on top of him turned towards the specimen chamber. "Yes…" he hissed. "A ferocious specimen, indeed, to clear you all out. And then I can return to my experiments!" He turned and stumbled for a few steps, before disappearing down a hallway in the back of the room.
The wolf-like creature turned to face Barret. "The specimen he's bringing up is rather strong. You will need my help to subdue it."
Barret, Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa all turned to face the creature. "It talks?" Barret asked.
"And he can do far more than that," he replied in an irritated tone. "But we have no more time right now."
Ranma jumped in close. "Little guy's right," she said simply. She moved her hands in a familiar pattern, pulling out a staff, and tossed it to Aerith. "What's your name?"
"The good doctor-" his voice dripping with sarcasm, "-called me Experiment XIII. Call me what you will."
Ranma nodded, looking over the skin and fur of the creature. "Red, then."
Red looked up at her in turn, noting in particular the color of her shirt and hair. "How... original," he responded dryly.
"Look, it's what I got in five seconds, deal with it."
The elevator's ascent began to slow as it reached the uppermost level of the science lab chamber, and the team got a good look at what was in front of them.
It was not what they had expected at all.
A/N: I'd always figured AVALANCHE members would have developed some kind of signal code, a nonverbal way of demonstrating basic concepts like 'threat', 'clear', etc. This felt like a fun moment to demonstrate it.
"O Kami, make me a stone" is an adaptation of a Chinese prayer. The long form of the prayer translates roughly to "Merciful God, please take me away, I will close my eyes and and my heart and become a stone." The short form of the prayer is occasionally used in its place. Anyone who has watched the space western series Firefly/Serenity will probably recall River Tam speaking a similar line at one point.
I'll be honest, the first time I saw the Jenova cutscene, it kinda freaked me out. I wanted to re-create that level of discomfort, confusion, raw terror, that ought to have been present for anyone seeing, for the first time, a two-thousand-year-old eldritch abomination from space that had been rebuilt using a mad scientist's insane genetic experimentations. So... uh... you're welcome?
The particular flavor of Cloud's snap here on seeing Jenova was written from... a very personal moment. For those who have not already read my bio, I am transgender, and I identify as female. Early in my transition, when I was still adjusting to the hormone therapy, I had what I discovered to be occasional dissociative episodes caused by gender dysphoria triggers. In discussing this with my therapist at the time, the best description I had for it was as if the entire world 'skipped' for a moment, like a vinyl record hitting a scratch and looping the same line over and over again, but in fast forward. It is not a pleasant feeling at all. Subtracting gender dysphoria from the list of symptoms, I found that Cloud's 'seizures' from Jenova's control/proximity are similar in quite a few ways to what I had at the beginning. So, that's how I wrote it.
Regarding Red XIII... As a species, he seems to exhibit both large-cat-like and large-wolf-like traits, but I don't believe any large cats howl. As a result I tend to use wolf and lupine terms to refer to him. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Hope you like it! Feedback and comments welcome!