Guilt’s Cost: Part XCVI

Regression

Hojo was extremely frustrated with himself as he ran back into the lab to retrieve his cooler containing the embryos. He was aware that his aim had been poor and that given a little luck, Porter would survive the injury he’d given him. The scientist managed to shrug this off however, deciding that Porter was a pointless little fuck in the grand scheme of things and his survival wouldn’t much matter. Far better men had joined the ranks of ASRIO over the years, and Hojo’s life for the most part had gone on unaffected.

Having been alerted that there had been gunfire in the lab, several guards were dispatched there and they burst forth through the doors. They flew around the room, searching for any remaining intruders.

The presence of these crude men in his lab infuriated Hojo, especially after the last time they had set a grenade off in here destroying months of work. He flared with anger, wishing they were chasing after the intruders rather than invading his personal space. "They aren’t here you morons! They’re headed for the roof! Get out!"

The guards halted upon Hojo’s verbal barrage. They were torn between their orders to secure the room and obey the madman. Reluctantly they filed out deciding that they would take their chances with their commander rather than with Hojo.

Hojo went over to his computer and hit a COM button. Rude’s voice answered. "Professor? What’s going on?"

"ASRIO just stole one of my specimens. Mr. Valentine to be exact. It would appear that Porter was with them. In light of his sudden career change, I’m going to need someone else’s escort to D-2." Hojo said, attempting to sound as pleasant as the circumstances would allow. He was hoping that Rude himself would volunteer, as he was one of the last people he felt he could trust within Shin Ra.

Rude sighed heavily, not wanting to have to deal with Hojo this close to getting to go home for the evening. Rude had overheard Hojo and Harwin discuss the location of the secret lab before, and he had no desire to go up to the plate much less into one of the burned out reactors. Unfortunately Hojo was one of the few people within the cooperation that had the authority to order Rude around. "I’ll be there in a minute."

"Ah, thank you very much, Rude." Hojo licked his lips as he smiled to himself. "You will be greatly rewarded for your loyalty."

***

As the chopper rushed them homeward, Angel worked feverishly to try and save the young Turk’s life. Having to work without the benefit of anesthesia, she had to deal with his struggles against those attempting to hold him still for her. Even with Jaras, Ericson, and Morris putting their full weight on him, he was still fairly mobile. Reno knelt at Angel’s side, acting as her surgical assistant retrieving items from her bag and handing them to her. Rayna found herself unable to watch the spectacle and huddled in the corner with her arms tightly around D. She was deathly afraid for Porter’s life, not knowing what would become of her if he were to die.

Tifa was all too absorbed in Vincent’s current state to notice much of what was happening around her. She stared down at her husband, seeing all that had been done to him. Vincent wasn’t able to look at her anymore, as his shame over his new physical state choked in on him. Not only would he never be able to make love to Tifa again, he wouldn’t be able to hold her with his non-functional arms. Even if they did work, they still weren’t his own…

Tifa found herself unable to hold back her tears any longer. What Vincent assumed to be on her mind wasn’t. She was upset over what had been done to him, but her feelings in no way were directed Vincent himself. She wept over the thought of the pain that she knew he had suffered, and over the cruelty of his recent amputation. The sight of his arm laying before her in the garbage bag was forever burned into her. But the tears she cried were not truly ones of sadness; rather they were pure relief at having Vincent back again.

Tifa threw herself down upon him, burying her face in the curve of his neck and sliding her arms under his shoulders. "I was so scared I would never see you again…"

"What did Hojo do to you?" Vincent asked, closing his eyes and enjoying the sensation of her presence.

"He just did a little surgery on me to get eggs, that’s all." Tifa sighed.

"Are you all right? He didn’t do anything else?" Vincent remembered that Hojo had claimed not to have sexually assaulted Tifa, but he wouldn’t believe it until he heard it from her.

"That’s it, Vincent." Tifa kissed his cheek. "Other than the surgery he didn’t hurt me."

He was comforted to hear this but the stress of all that had gone on had still taken its toll on him and he slowly started to feel distant again. His momentary escape into sanity was fading now that he knew that Tifa was for certain safe.

As Vincent fell into silence, Tifa sat back up. Gazing down upon him, she could see that he was shutting himself off from the rest of the world. His eyes again became dull and he stared up into space. She reached down and shook him gently, not knowing what was going on. "Vincent? Are you okay?"

He may have made a slight response, but nothing big enough to be noticed. It was like he was falling asleep while being awake. A general void again took over his mind and his consciousness went dead.

"Vincent!" Tifa shook him more violently, fearing that he was dying. "Reno! Angel! Something’s wrong!"

Angel, who had finally finished working upon Porter looked over at Tifa as she placed the last bit of medical tape on the compression dressing on Porter’s hip. "What’s going on?"

Tifa was growing frantic. "He’s not answering me!"

By the panic in Tifa’s voice, Angel knew that something was profoundly wrong. She rushed to her father’s side and began to examine him carefully. All of his vital statistics seemed normal and Angel furrowed her brow. She had not only been educated in physical medicine, but in psychology as well. There was a growing suspicion with in her as she looked at him. "Tifa, there’s nothing I can do for him right now."

"What do you mean? What is wrong with him?" Tifa drew her hands up to her mouth, fearing the worst.

"He’s suffering from overstress, Tifa." Angel said, backing away from Vincent a little. "Shell shock, if you will."

Tifa blinked in confusion and then turned her eyes back to Vincent. "Will he be okay?"

Angel sighed. "I can’t really say, Tifa. That might not be it, we’ll have to look into it more when we get back to the base. Just stay with him and keep an eye on him, all right? I have to go keep watch over Porter."

Tifa stared down at Vincent helplessly. She had no real understanding about what was happening to him, and she was afraid. Tifa moved so she could sit flat on the floor and pulled Vincent to her so that his upper body was cradled in her arms. His vacant crimson eyes seemed to look right through her as she slowly rocked him. Vincent was still there, somewhere, and it would be left to her to get him back.