Guilt’s Cost: Part LXXXI

Amputation

As anxious as Hojo was to get Tifa’s surgery underway, he needed to pay a visit to Vincent first. He was angry about his specimen telling Porter about Rayna’s predicament. Hojo would have expected better of Mr. Valentine.

He threw open the door to Vincent’s room and walked up to him. "You seem to have upset my dear Porter very badly today with your talk about his girlfriend."

Vincent narrowed his eyes at the madman. "Then maybe you shouldn’t have told me."

"Insubordination is punishable, Mr. Valentine." Hojo went over to a small table in the corner of the room that was laden with various medical instruments. He picked up a scalpel and turned back to Vincent. "I was going to wait to do this, but I think you need to be reminded of exactly who I am and what I am capable of."

Vincent caught sight of the medical knife in the scientist’s hand and felt his heart race. He had to bite his tongue to keep himself from begging for forgiveness. He would endure this torture before losing anymore of his dignity.

Hojo came back to Vincent and frowned. He was disappointed by Vincent’s lack of response to his approach. Thirty years ago, Vincent would have been in tears. "You seem to have gained some fortitude over the years, or else you’ve just become stupid."

Vincent swallowed as Hojo reached out with his left hand and traced a line on his right shoulder. He knew that Hojo was going to cut off his arm.

Hojo smiled in satisfaction as he saw the color drain from Vincent’s face. "This is where I’m going to cut you. I was going to at least do this under anesthetic, but after interfering with my relationship with Porter, I no longer think that you deserve it."

Vincent’s eyes grew wide as Hojo placed the blade against his skin. As he watched, the scientist made one clean incision from the top of his shoulder to the armpit. Vincent grit his teeth as the pain of the cut began to sting.

Hojo stooped closer to inspect his first incision. "This isn’t going to be easy with you strapped to that table like that. I will have to go through the muscles on this side, then the joint, then the tissues and skin of the other. Usually one would dissect away all the soft tissues first and then the bone last, but I guess that isn’t to be today."

Vincent clamped his eyes shut, doing his utmost to suppress his terror and pain. Hojo’s descriptions of the rest of the procedure made him nauseous and his head began to spin. "No…"

Hojo was pleased to hear the first sounds of fear in Vincent’s voice. He quickly retrieved some gauze from his surgical tray and came back to Vincent’s side. He didn’t worry about sterility during his surgical procedures. The madman had created a barrage of antibiotics that he pumped into his specimens preventing infection. He blotted away the blood that had begun to ooze from the incision before bringing his scalpel back up to Vincent’s shoulder. He slowly began to work away the attachments of the biceps muscle of Vincent’s arm to the bones below.

As the scientist cut away at him, the pain became excruciating from various nerves being severed. Vincent bashed his head back against the table, struggling futilely against his restraints. What was left of his body involuntarily writhed in agony. A deathly scream escaped him, as he was no longer able to hold back his terror. "Stop, please stop it! Tifa, help me!"

The scientist grinned widely as Vincent’s composure was lost. He looked back over his shoulder briefly realizing that he had left the door to the room open. Certainly Tifa could hear these screams, and she would be in tears.

Vincent’s head continued to swim from his pain and he felt like he was going to vomit. The only problem was that he hadn’t eaten since coming here, and so as he retched nothing came up.

Vincent’s movements were not making Hojo’s job easy, but watching Vincent’s continued panic was making it all worth while. "Come now, Mr. Valentine! Is this really so very bad?"

"God damn it, stop!" Vincent begged between dry heaves. Hot tears of anguish burned his eyes and marked his cheeks.

"Now remember, you made a promise to me. I can have your arm and your wife lives." Hojo intentionally stabbed the blade down all the way to the bone. "So I can’t very well stop now, can I?"

A wordless cry escaped Vincent as he felt the blade glance off the bone. All of his previous tortures at the hands of this man were beginning to pale in comparison to what he was feeling at the moment. A strange feeling of dizziness washed over Vincent and the sound of Hojo’s voice seemed to grow more distant.

Hojo looked up at Vincent’s face seeing the last of the color drain from his cheeks and his eyes flutter closed. "Mr. Valentine, you can’t pass out now, we’re just getting started!"

Vincent didn’t hear this last remark, nor did he feel anymore pain. His world for the moment was one of silence and darkness. In his unconscious state he dreamt of being in Tifa’s arms again. He was blissfully unaware that the scientist’s amputation of his arm was still going on.

***

In her room, Tifa lay on her bed with the pillow pressed down over her ears. She was trembling from the sound of Vincent’s screams. Try as she might, she could not blot them out and she sobbed in her helplessness. Whatever Hojo was doing was exceptionally cruel and she was certain that Vincent was slowly being killed.

When she heard her own name called out by Vincent, it was too much to bear. Tifa threw the pillow across the room and jumped off the bed. She ran towards the door in desperation, wanting to get to Vincent and stop his torment. Just a few steps short of the door, the chain attached to her leg lost all of its slack. Tifa let out a startled shriek as her leg was violently held back causing her to fall forward. Her chin hit the concrete floor violently and the taste of blood at once filled her mouth.

Cloud rose from his seat and came to where she lay on the floor. He reached down and grasped her upper right arm pulling her back to her feet. "Your restraint will prevent any escape."

Tifa looked up at him with flames in her eyes. She spat out the blood in her mouth upon Cloud. "No shit? Is that the best Hojo can come up with for you?"

Cloud stared back down at her blankly. Her words held no meaning for him.

"Fuck you! Fuck all of you!" Tifa spun on her shackled leg bringing the boot of her left foot over in a roundhouse kick.

Cloud was struck so forcefully by the blow he was thrown back into the corner where his chair was. A stream of blood began to run from the corners of his mouth, but his expression continued to be blank. The computer’s attachments within his cranium had been badly shaken by the blow and he was unable to control his body. He sat slumped in the chair like a discarded puppet.

Tifa couldn’t stand looking at him sitting there like that, and turned her gaze back to the door. "Hojo! Leave Vincent alone! I’ve broken your fucking doll in here! You’d better come check it out!"

***

Back in Vincent’s room, Hojo heard her shouts. As he meticulously worked through Vincent’s shoulder joint he smiled to himself. "Mrs. Valentine, I warned you that angering me would make life more difficult for your husband, did I not? I wonder what you’ve gone and done to poor Cloud? No matter, I will be done with you soon enough. But your husband will stay here with me, forever."