CHAPTER 28
After vacating the confines of the air duct, the "Save Widdle Aeris Team" -as Zack endearingly named them all- proceeded towards the stairs, but had to do so carefully, as there were still some diligent workers on this floor of the building. Their boots clapped a bit too loudly against the polished marble floor, causing a mild bout of discomfort among the comrades. And then save for a young man who was walking by who was far too absorbed in paper work to notice the AVALANCHE members anyway, the five companions didn't run into anyone, and made it to the stairwell without incident.
The stairwell was actually a large white room with carpeted stairs leading both up and down, and there were fancy metal hand rails which seemed to serve more as decoration as opposed to their implied function. A large "66" was displayed on the wall, and was accentuated by an overhanging light. A small red couch also sat near the door on the opposite end of the room. Not really bothering to take in the scenery, the heroes slowly made their way up the stairs.
Zack took up the lead, and peered around the top of the stairs with caution before proceeding. However, a sign near the door caught his attention:
"Trespassers will be BIO-3'd. Survivors will be tentacle raped to death."
Zack looked at the sign wide eyed. "What it lacks in humorous content, it makes up for in urgency..."
"Something wrong?" Dyne queried.
"Uhm... you wanna go in first?" the former SOLDIER tried, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Oh, quit being such a pussy!" Jessie teased, lightly shoving Zack from behind.
"Hey, ya are what you eat!"
Cloud, Dyne and Tifa looked at Zack wide-eyed while Jessie gave him a look of amused interest. Ignoring his companion's reactions, Zack headed for the door. Sliding his key card into place, he was satisfied when the automatic lock gave off a green light and bleeped happily. The large, white metal doorway slid open, allowing Zack to peer around the cream-colored hallway. Noticing that it only went off to the right, he made certain that no one else was in the area before continuing. The floor was gray and metallic, prompting Zack and the others to be careful not to walk too loudly. Though once halfway down the corridor, movement caught Zack's eye from around the distant corner. However, the movement became still within a moment. Whoever it was knew Zack was there, he was sure of it.
Two SOLDIERS suddenly charged around the corner, their batons drawn. They wore blue jumpsuits similar to Zack and Cloud's, with Kevlar laced tops and metal shoulder pads. They also wore protective face masks and pads for their joints. They skid to a halt once they realized they were out-numbered, and gave each other a look that could not be deciphered from a distance. But before they could consider retreating, Zack slid between them, slashing out at the one to his left with an upward arc.
The attack was blocked, prompting the other SOLDIER to try his luck with an attack of his own. Zack spun around and away from the weapon, taking a step back, then counter-slashed at the second SOLDIER with his gigantic blade. This attack too was parried, but that did not concern Zack as he instantly went after the first SOLDIER again, practically bouncing his weapon off from his previous opponent's blade as if ricocheting it.
Again the swing was blocked, but the SOLDIER was caught unaware by the sheer strength of Zack's attack and was thrown into the nearby wall. The raven-haired fighter wasted no further time on him and quickly swung back at the second SOLDIER, who had just brought his blade up to attack. This wound up becoming a fatal mistake as Zack was able to slash him in the gut.
"Say, shouldn't we help?" Jessie insisted.
"No," Cloud answered before Tifa or Dyne could respond, "You'll only get in his way."
Zack swung back and forth between the two defenders, the one on his right having barely enough strength to put up a fight as he was bleeding to death. But then Zack suddenly ceased his attack, and put up his blade defensively as a large flying sickle came bearing down on him, effectively blocking it with a loud CLANG. Two more SOLDIERS and a large robot appeared at the end of the hall. The robot -called a Moth-Slasher as obviously it was meant to be the scourge of small flying insects (please note that was sarcasm)- was bluish in color, and moved around on a large, menacing-looking spiked wheel.
"EAT BOLT MUTHAFUGGAS!" Zack proclaimed as lightning ripped from the ceiling lights. The robot short circuited and sputtered out. One of the newcomer SOLDIERs was thrown into a wall and knocked out. The remaining SOLDIER fell, but sprang back up. What Zack failed to notice was that one of his previous two opponents was still in good shape, and was about to slash his head off!
Tifa caught this SOLDIER's arms though, and before he could put up any resistance, the busty ninja rapidly snap-kicked him in the groin, gut, chest, chin and face, stunning him. But before she could finish him off, an Ice spell caught both her and Zack by surprise, sending them to the ground as their bodies rapidly chilled to below freezing in a burst of magical cold.
The SOLDIER picked up his bleeding companion and tried to make a break for it while the third bought them some time with a flying sickle towards the AVALANCH members. Unfortunately for the first SOLDIER, he found himself shot in the legs by Dyne, who didn't even flinch as the deadly projectile flew by and barely singed his left shoulder, drawing a good amount of blood as Jessie and Cloud ducked away. The AVALANCHE leader responded in kind by firing at the third SOLDIER's arms and neck, amused that his new weapon came with a built-in silencer and sending that opponent to the floor.
The robot chose just that time to come back online, but found its renewed vigor short lived as Jessie cast a Water spell that targeted the machine's central processing core, causing it to short circuit a second time. This time, it managed to use its vocal emulation unit to sing [[daaiiisy, daaaiiisy...]] before shutting down for good.
"Everyone okay?" Zack inquired. A series of nods was his answer, though Dyne was holding onto his shoulder, blood running slowly down his arm, but he insisted he was fine. The former SOLDIER gave Tifa a nod to thank her for her help, and understanding this, she returned the gesture as if to tell him he was welcome.
The five continued forward, weapons at the ready, and thankful no one had pulled an alarm. Eyes sharp, Zack led the way, but didn't see anyone around as he turned the corner. The corridor stretched all the way to the end of the floor, and at one point near the middle branched off to the right, towards the jail. Zack led his comrades straight down the hall, past the large windows that took up the whole side of the wall and the opaque elevator tubes which stood off to the left. They also passed a few doors which stood to their right, and eventually the hall opened up into a large storage area full of crates. On the right was a large metallic-patchwork dome with pink light flooding out of a window, off to the left and several yards away was a containment unit of some sort. And in front of that stood Hojo, glaring inside the fogged up container.
Zack's face displayed a scowl, and he was about to charge forward -- that is until Cloud covered his mouth and pulled him behind a pile of crates. Before Zack could put up a verbal protest, he heard several series of footsteps, and laid low in the shadows with the others, who had already taken cover.
"Sir," a somewhat young sounding voice said, "We're almost ready to begin."
"Perfect," came Hojo's nasally voice. "Make certain to post a guard, and also... were your readings on the Red-Thirteen specimen to my specifications?"
"As you can see for yourself," came a third, slightly deeper voice, "The process isn't at 100%, but it will be sufficient for our purposes. There were some anomalous J-cell reaction feedback readings, but we don't believe them to be a problem."
"Not a problem?!" Hojo spat. "You simpleton, you have no idea the power a few of these cells can endow upon the injectee if not controlled with precision scrutiny!"
"Sir, everything was done as per your instructions. With all due respect, if there are any problems, it's because of your errors, not ours."
This was followed by several moments of tense silence which was then broken by a very sudden and loud gunshot!
Jessie almost jumped and screamed, but contained herself. The only other sound in the large room was that of a body hitting the metal floor.
Hojo then spoke, as if the man could still hear him, "My only error was hiring you. You two," he then said louder, directing his attention to two unknown people, possibly SOLDIERs, "Clean up this mess... put his body in one of the specimen incubators. If he has a family... Mmm, make something up."
"Yessir," two very strong, masculine voices replied in unison. While none of the AVALANCHE members could see what was going on, they were able to assume that while the body was being carried away, Hojo and the other remaining scientist(s) -or whoever it was with him- walked off towards the elevators. After the coast was clear, Zack dared to stand up, and much to his relief saw that the area was actually empty.
Tifa wandered over to the container Hojo was staring into before. The glass was fogged up, and there was some kind of mist covering whatever was inside. All she could see clearly was some kind of orange tail with what looked to be a flame on the end of it. Dyne observed this too, and raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself about what kind of animal could possibly have such a feature.
Meanwhile, Cloud had become fascinated by the large metallic dome. Feeling oddly compelled to look in the window, he did so. The pink light blinded him for a second, but the form inside soon came into focus. He couldn't make it out at first.... it seemed to be some kind of winged woman, except she ...didn't have.. a head?!
"Je...no..va?" Cloud muttered.
Suddenly, a loud ringing pierced the young blond-haired man's ears. Holding his head, he arched backwards as an unknown pain started consuming his person. He barely remembered a time when he felt he was at death's door: This was far worse. He felt as though his mind, his will, his being were becoming disintegrated and replaced by an unknown force...
-smack!-
"Huh?!" Cloud responded, coming back to his senses as though nothing had happened. Zack was giving him a look while twisting his finger in his ear.
"You okay? You looked like you were having an anal-ism," Zack quipped.
"You mean aneurysm, right?" Cloud corrected flatly.
"Meh, tuhmato, tomahto."
"Well, I dunno what that was.... I saw Jenova in the tank and I just... I dunno.. I wonder why they brought it here, though?" the blonde wondered to himself, ignoring Zack's jokes.
"Well, it can't be as bad as having that annoying EEEEEE in your ears... dammit, it just won't stop!" Zack complained ignorantly. He smacked the side of his head, somehow forcing the slight irritation to subside.
"Do you two always start your sentences the same way?" Jessie teased.
"No," Cloud protested lightly.
Zack opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, putting on a thoughtful expression. "Now if I say 'no', that would prove that we actually do that... so then I'd have to say 'yes'.. but if I say that, then we wouldn't be saying the same thing... and uhm... ah screw it."
"We're wasting time here," Dyne pointed out.
"Right," Zack confirmed. "Let's take that service elevator on the other side of the room. That should take us to Hojo's lab, and I don't think we'll need a key card..."
The group proceeded in single file, Cloud bringing up the rear. He took one last gander at the Jenova tank before following the others. Along the way, he spied something in the corner. Detouring off, he smiled at the prospect of finding some kind of large device which, while he had no clue what it actually was, was being powered by a Poison Materia. He opened the small glass cage and removed the magical gem, causing the machine to power down. Upon giving it some thought, he realized that the device was hooked up to several incubation tubes which lined the walls, and that the Poison must somehow be used to help experiment on whatever was inside those tubes.
"Cloud?" Tifa queried.
"Comin'," he responded, jogging up to the elevator.
"Okay, just so we're clear," Zack announced, though looking at Cloud, "I don't care if the whole Shinra army is about to blind-side me. Hojo's mine! I don't think I should have to remind you what that fucker put us through!"
Cloud blinked, taken aback by Zack's suddenly serious tone. He wasn't the only one; Tifa and Jessie were giving him odd looks, too. "R-right," Cloud stammered.
"Ah, I'm kidding, you can have a piece of him too! I'd be selfish if I killed him all by myself, now wouldn't I?"
"Whatever, let's just get this over with."
The five companions squeezed into the service elevator, and remained silent on the slow, yet still short trip up. Ordinarily, Zack would have found himself making some comment about being the meat in a boob sandwich as both Tifa and Jessie were turned towards him and squeezed against his arms (though some what on accident), but he only had one thing on his mind: Hojo shishkabobbed on the end of his sword. And oh yeah, rescuing his ex...
Though it bears mentioning that for the record, Tifa was not trying to press her breasts against Zack's arm, she was pushing her back towards Cloud's body. It's just that the elevator was painfully small.
As the 68th floor laboratory came down into view, Zack gripped the handle of his sword so tightly, it almost reached the point where the blood began to drain from his knuckles. Hojo was standing slightly lurched over in front of a large, cylindrical glass container which stood in the middle of the semi-circular white room. There were also some tables off to the right, some kind of structure overlooking the lab off to the left, and various pods like the ones downstairs lining the far wall. As the metal gateway retreated to the side, Zack charged with a yell, sword raised, ready to cut the slime ball down.
An electric force field dividing the room in half shocked the ex-SOLDIER out of his revere, though. He was thrown to the ground violently by the jolt as his companions raced up to help him.
"Wha.. what the?!" Zack muttered.
"I've had to take precautions," Hojo explained matter-of-factly, not looking at Zack, but rather the woman inside the large glass tube before him.
"Aeris!" Tifa exclaimed, recognizing the brown hair and pink dress. Aeris was on the floor, barely moving. She looked like she might be unconscious. Her small red jacket was gone, and her dress seemed slightly disshelved. Her right hand was also bandaged up.
"What've you done to her, you bastard?!" Zack demanded to know.
"She's had to be... prepared. She put up quite a bit of resistance... we eventually decided removing all her clothing would be needlessly bothersome. Not to mention it'll give her 'partner' something to do..."
"What in the world are you talking about?!" Dyne asked, aiming his gun arm but realizing his bullets probably wouldn't pass through the energy barrier.
"It's simple," Hojo offered, glaring at the five intruders, "She's the last of her kind. We need to force her to breed so that the Cetra do not die out."
"I severely doubt your intentions are that benevolent," Dyne argued, "Now let her go, or else!"
"Oh no, whatever will I do?!" Hojo mocked, rolling his small black eyes. "Please, if nothing else, do realize that I am not stupid enough to think your bluff has any emotional impact on me whatsoever. I have a force field protecting me, and even if I didn't, if you killed me, there'd be no way to operate this machinery and free your friend here."
"...guh." Cloud muttered, helping Zack up.
Hojo turned his attention up towards a control center which was situated above the laboratory, accessible only from a catwalk. It stuck out like the beak on a bird, and was composed mostly of thick glass as to allow the occupants to see everything in the lab with maximum safety. Advanced computer equipment lined the inside of the entire structure, most of it for taking readings and controlling the various machines in the laboratory. "Bring in the second specimen!" he commanded the scientist inside, who instantly moved to comply.
Aeris began to stir, her head spinning in several different directions at once. She found that she was in a large, round glass cage, and she almost began to think that the past few days were a bad dream, and that everything was going the way it should. However, the pain in her bandaged up right hand, and the fact that she was missing her jacket and apparently her panties spoke differently. She barely remembered getting her hand bandaged up, and some orderlies trying to restrain her as Hojo's lackeys attempted to undress her as a "preparation". And even after she was drugged, she continued to squirm and fight until they gave up. She wasn't sure what had happened next...
It was then that a noise caught Aeris' attention. A circle opened up in the middle of the floor, shooting the mist from below up into her prison. The white fog obscured her vision, so that as the form that was being raised up came into view, she did not realize that even though this was a familiar situation, she was about to be subjected to yet another surprise yet again.
The flaming orange tail was familiar, but as the fog dissipated, the body of a young HUMAN came into focus. Aeris' large green eyes went wide as the naked, red haired young man stirred. He was fairly muscular, with somewhat pale skin covered in a very scant amount of orangish-red hair on the arms and legs. The Cetran numeral for thirteen, "XIII", was tattooed on his upper left arm, along with other strange markings and scars across his body. He had just-past shoulder length red hair which was collected into a braid on either side of his head, and had some kind of orange animal ears sticking up out through the top of his mane. The mutant lifted his head, revealing a young looking face, half-obscured with red hair which covered a gaping scar where his right eye would ordinarily be. He also had red markings on either side of his face, and a very scant goatee made up of but a few scarce hairs. In addition, his nose was replaced by what looked like a dog's snout, accentuated by an almost canine yellow eye, which studied Aeris cautiously.
"What in the high holy hell is that?!" Zack blurted out.
The creature spun around at this. "He" (As made very apparent upon a simple glance between his legs as he started to stand) glared at AVALANCHE for a brief moment, then began to calculate things in his mind. Slowly turning his head back towards Aeris, he gave her an apologetic glance before leaping right at her, pinning her to the glass! Aeris screamed as the superiorly strong being held her arms off to the side while pushing his body lightly against hers and letting out a growl. He brought his face close to Aeris', his tail dancing excitedly behind him, and the next sound that came out of his mouth was a scant, discreet whisper...
"I won't hurt you..." he said in a soft, somewhat deep, but non-threatening voice.
Aeris nodded in comprehension, though was still afraid. If the creature she once knew to be gentle and intelligent in another life had been physically altered so radically, she had no clue what may have happened to his mind. Plus, the subtle fangs didn't exactly calm her, either...
"What the hell's goin' on?!" Zack yelled, charging.
"ZACK!" Jessie warned, but too late...
Zack's body crackled with energy as the lights in the lab began to flicker.
"Oh... right... force-field..." Zack coughed before falling on his back in a smoldering heap.
"As I already told you, both these animals are endangered," Hojo offered, "If we don't do something to help, they'll both disappear!"
"You sick lying fiend!" Dyne shouted, shooting at the force field, logic be damned. His efforts were futile as indicated by the fact that the bullets were destroyed upon impact, but did not hamper the shield's power. The lights had drained out a bit though, but came back to full illumination after Dyne stopped.
"Maybe WE can't pass through, but I can still do this!" Tifa proclaimed, casting a Fire spell at Hojo. However, she soon found her OWN body scorched by magical flame instead of her intended target. With a scream of pain, she fell to the ground.
"Tifa!" Cloud exclaimed worriedly, rushing to her.
"I... I'm okay," Tifa coughed out after a moment, pulling on Cloud to try and stand up.
"The force field is also reinforced with a reflect spell," the scientist explained, adjusting his large round glasses. Zack looked at Hojo with fiery, hateful eyes and struggled to get up, his body quaking in resistance.
With a determined yell, Zack again threw himself at the electric force field, screaming in pain as the volts coursed through his body.
"DAMN IT ZACK!" Jessie and Cloud yelled simultaneously, though more out of admonishment than worry.
"HEE HEE HEE! You just don't learn, do you?!" Hojo teased as Zack's body began to fry inside the force field. However, the irate scientist was in for a surprise as Zack almost seemed to start shrugging off the pain, clutched his sword, and concentrated on his Bolt Materia...
Lightning ripped through the large laboratory, using the force field as a source. The reflect spell sent the lightning strikes in every direction, including up at the control deck situated up above. The lights began to flicker as explosions and sparks tore through every nook and crevice of the walls and ceiling, the roar of thunder becoming too deafening to withstand, forcing the AVALANCHErs to cover their ears and eyes. Amid the chaos, the container with Aeris and the mutant was struck and began to malfunction, activating a stun beam which zapped them both.
When the noise and lights stopped, the large room was cloaked in darkness, and draped in silence. Emergency lights then slowly activated and illuminated the area, revealing that Zack had collapsed and that the container had taken some damage, and there seemed to be nothing within aside from a pulsating glow...
"My specimens!" Hojo cried out in horror. He rushed over and absent-mindedly opened the sliding door as the glow faded away, and everyone watched in shock as a streak of orange burst out, tackling Hojo and sending him skidding several feet. An orange-colored, lion-like creature with the same eye, nose, ears, hair and tail as the boy who had been in the tube before was now biting at Hojo, and tossing the scientist's head around like a rag doll as he jerked left and right.
Zack blinked his eyes open and saw all this, and again struggled to get up, sticking his sword in the ground and using it for support... "Cloud..." he coughed weakly...
"On it," the blond-haired former soldier responded. He headed into the container to help Aeris up...
There was darkness... pain. You begin to open your eyes, and a familiar stalk of spiky blond hair greets you, accompanied by those lovely light blue glowing eyes. He holds out his hand, beckoning you to come to him. The past few days melt away, as it was nothing more than a bad nightmare. This is real, and it's more than okay, it's just as it should be...
"You gonna take my hand, or do I have to carry you?"
..or not. Jerk.
Aeris picked herself up, making certain not to put any weight on her injured hand. However, the stun beam had taken its toll, and her legs began to weaken, causing her to fall right into Cloud, who tried to brace her by the arms. Her head wound up on his chest, and she looked up weakly into those perfect blue orbs she fell in love with so long ago, although this sight would not last as her own eyes began to close on their own.
But then her eyes opened right back up at the sound of a jolt and an inhuman scream. The reddish lion creature flew back away from Hojo, hit the cage, and reverted back to its humanoid form, and lay there unconscious. Hojo recomposed himself, holding a tazer in one hand, and wiping saliva off his collar with the other. He glared at AVALANCHE as he began to back up, a sour look in his beady black eyes. "Computer!" he screamed out, "Awaken Specimen: Howlett, James. Code red, target all unknowns, Initiate!"
With that, a large white pod on the far wall began to shift, its windowed door sliding open with a hiss, white mist rapidly escaping from the small chamber. And before anyone could blink, a shape burst out of its former prison, the cold steam almost clinging to its humanoid form as it leapt through the air and landed between Hojo and AVALANCHE. It was a man, quite muscular (and quite naked), with black hair that was slicked back into two spikes, and mutton chops down his rugged face. Small computerized gadgets and wires covered his hairy person, attached by a series of straps and cables.
Zack managed to get up by this point, and looked the slightly feral man up and down. "Dammit, Hojo, What's with you and naked guys, anyway?" he reprimanded while charge-walking towards the scientist, not paying the newcomer any heed...
That is until the stranger put up his fists, each of which in an instant popped out three, foot-long metal claws from between each of his knuckles with a SNIKT!
"Oh, shit," Zack mused...