Viral Love

Written for my very good friend, Aidan..
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“No news yet?” I sipped my coffee as I awaited a reply. Abduction team organizers had reputations for short tempers. I dared the gun-toting pipsqueak to even look at me funny. He’d occupy a cell so fast I’d break the sound barrier putting him in it. Shin-Ra was mob rules these days. Without Rufus to keep order, the stronger flourished while the weaker died.

Shin-Ra had always been like that, really. But, Rufus’ mysterious vanishing act had everyone rattled. We all jumped at shadows, waiting for axes to fall.

“No news just yet, sir,” the man said, peering at me nervously from over his shoulder. He didn’t like me standing behind him. “We got a sighting of AVALANCHE at Reactor 17 in Kalm. The abduction team is en route.”

I sighed. Unless the clone made a colossal mistake, an abduction team wouldn’t take AVALANCHE. If I could spare the time, I’d go after them myself. I had too much work to do, however. This mutated version of Geostigma wouldn’t cure itself.

I had only basic ideas about this disease. I knew I couldn’t get it; I couldn’t get any bug, factually. My body burned up infection and viral attacks. But, I didn’t have any other people with Jenova cells to test. Strife and Valentine both had J-cells. I needed them. I needed the whole team. None of them had X2Geostigma; I had that information on good authority from Reeve Tuesti. I hoped the man never figured out I was his mysterious Shin-Ra contact in lieu of Rufus.

I meant no aggression to anyone, but I didn’t pick sides, either. I stayed with Shin-Ra for the funding and the pretty toys. I’d never finance all my scientific endeavors as a private citizen. I’d certainly never conquer this syndrome without lots of gil. And, I needed Strife and Valentine, damn it!

Strife had defeated the original Geostigma virus on his own. He probably stood as my best chance. Valentine… I didn’t know if he had immunity because of something I’d done, something Lucrecia had done, or because of some naturally occurring resistance. I needed an inoculation to prevent the disease and a cure for those already afflicted.

“Professor?” Pretty Miss Brooks, my latest in a series of assistants, flagged me down on the way to my office. “We got the results from the boffins.” She gave me the file with a wide grin. “Congratulations, sir. The tranquilizer works under any conditions, with any body chemistry, and in the small dose you were hoping.”

“Thank you, Tina,” I said, returning her smile. She was a nice girl. I didn’t know how she ended up here. “Take the rest of the day off. You’ve waited on these results for nearly forty hours.”

“I don’t mind waiting, sir,” she said, sounding sincere. “It’s a privilege to work for you.”

“No, it isn’t,” I said sternly. “I don’t know where you get that idea.” Tina, so far, had avoided the fate of her predecessors simply by doing her best and keeping her nose out of my personal business. I’d had to eliminate five before her. “I’m crazy and cruel and you know it.”

She nodded solemnly. “But, you’re brilliant.”

Ego soothed, I sighed. I probably wouldn’t kill this one. She had stars in her eyes for science and I respected that as much as her honest flattery. “Get gone,” I told her. “Take your boyfriend out. What’s his name?”

“James,” she sighed dreamily. “James Hoke, SOLDIER, second class.”

I put my hand on her shoulder and steered her in the direction of the exit hallway. “Go take James to a showing of Loveless or something. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay.” She walked away, her steps light with imagined romance.

I felt old around young girls like her. Young men I could pass off as inexperienced men, but young women I could never just pass off. They hit a soft spot.

I could use a nice young man or woman. I’d not had a decent lay in eight months. I’d probably have to go to the Honeybee Inn to get some action, and I hated to resort to over-used dick and pussy. Pussy that saw lots of action felt loose, and a dick treated the same way just felt so mechanical.

I entered my office. A whisper of movement alerted me to the presence of someone else. I had my tranq gun out and firing before the door shut. A man hit the floor face first. I shut the door and rolled him over with my foot to have a look.

One of Scarlet’s. That made three in two weeks. She’d have to hire better help if she wanted to take me down. Still, the man shouldn’t have been able to get this far. I had orderlies and staff to prevent this.

Hitting my intercom, I called for Robert Argel, my dependable muscle around this place. “Robert?” I asked, waiting.

“Here, sir,” he answered almost immediately.

Good man. He had a bottle and a bonus coming to him for being so available. I got tired of replacing orderlies.

“I have another assassin in my office,” I told him. “Come and remove him, please.”

“Right away, sir.”

I terminated the connection, went to my drinks cabinet and selected a bottle of apple brandy. Pouring into a clean glass, I sat on the edge of my desk to think.

Rufus had been gone for four weeks now. No one knew what had happened to him. The Turks were beside themselves, having no president to protect. Heideggar gave them busy work far below their capabilities. That idiot, Palmer, ran Public Relations now, and had an agent of New Midgar Alliance on speed dial.

Samuel Quinn threatened to become a giant burr in my butt. Although more centered toward negotiations, he scrutinized all my moves. It seemed the Alliance wanted Shin-Ra compliant to more fiddly stipulations along with their desire to push fossil fuel. We now had an ethics committee, of all things. And, they found me more ethically questionable than anyone.

As if moral values had anything to do with science! Medicine, especially, required progressive, daring moves to go forward with any speed. I didn’t need some pencil-pushing desk jockey lecturing me on humane methods of scientific exploration.

The brandy tasted good. I appreciated dumb-apples for their piquant flavor.

Robert entered. He picked up the would-be killer and slung him over one of his broad shoulders. “What do you want done with this one, sir?” he asked politely.

“Throw him in a cell,” I muttered. “He’ll make a good test subject.” I pointed to my liquor cabinet. “Take your pick on the way out.”

“Thank you, Professor Hojo,” Robert said, carrying the brute with him over to my storehouse of alcoholic wares. “Renee’s about to come on shift,” he remarked. “Do you want me to station her outside your office?”

“Yes, thank you.” Renee was the most intimidating female I’d ever clapped eyes upon. At an easy six feet, she probably weighed in at two hundred and twenty pounds of solid muscle. She was lean, lithe and aggressive, and she liked me. Shiva only knew why.

Robert left and I settled into my desk chair to catch up on paperwork. I loathed paperwork, had always hated it. It seemed stupid to continue filing update documents for administration when Rufus wasn’t here to read them. Scarlet and Heideggar certainly hadn’t the brains to appreciate what I did. Since they now jointly ran the company, I had little choice but to comply.

Renee stuck her head in my office after a heavy series of knocks. “I’m here, Professor Hojo,” she said. “Nobody’s getting past me.” She cracked her knuckles and grinned, showing startlingly white teeth.

“Lovely.” I nodded to her. “Remind me when it’s lunch time, will you?”

“Sure.” She shut my door. Seconds later I heard her drag a chair over to it and set it right against the heavy aluminum barrier.

I released a sigh. If only the abduction teams had people like Renee…