Viral Love

Hojo.

This was a nightmare. I’d wake up soon. I couldn’t be staring at endlessly repeating fluorescent lights, lying on a stretcher. I couldn’t be going back down into a maniac’s lair a second time.

Wouldn’t he ever have the decency to die? He looked the same as he ever did, unwrinkled, his round glasses perched on his oily nose, his lank hair falling in his face.

“Morphine’ll take care of his pain,” he said to someone. “Don’t overdose him. His physiology won’t take it well and we’ll have an enraged shape-shifter on our hands.” He walked just alongside me, and reached to turn my head in the opposite direction.

I hated that he touched me gently, hated that even more than the fact I couldn’t fight him. He’d never been rough, not even when he did his disgusting tinkering with my body.

“This isn’t the old lab, Valentine,” he told me. “You’ll enjoy your stay a lot more this time, I promise.” He leaned over me to examine my neck. “That idiot grazed you here, too. This would be easier on both of us if you’d just speak to me.”

“I’ll say your eulogy,” I offered.

“You already have, prematurely,” he replied, unmoved. “Kind of you to wish me peaceful rest, but there’s no peace for the likes of me. Or for you, for that matter.” He pried one of my eyelids open and looked at me hard. “You need to stop drinking. I know you can’t get drunk anymore, so why do it at all?”

I didn’t answer.

Sighing, Hojo stepped back so his orderlies could carry me and my friends into a room of bright whiteness and cool air. I felt myself placed upon a table.

Panic seized me. I fought the drugs in my system, desperate. No telling what he’d do to me. I wasn’t about to lie still while he cut me open, not this time.

“Valentine, stop it,” he ordered firmly. “Marcus, you and the others vacate; if something goes wrong I don’t want my best people killed. Tell Leanne to stand by. Get the clone and his girlfriend into a warm cell and under observation. And, lock the damned door behind you. I don’t want an assassin’s bullet interrupting my work.”

I felt my bonds giving under my terror. Renewed of hope, I fought even harder, bringing my body off the table. The room tilted and plunged and I suddenly hit a hard tile floor. I stiffened in horror as I felt Hojo himself picking me up. All the fight suddenly just drained out of me, leaving me limp and helpless in his calm grip.

“Better,” he praised, putting me back on the table. He picked up a pair of scissors and began cutting my shirt off. At the first snip, his eyes went to mine. Slowly, he put the scissors down and began unstrapping the shirt instead.

I couldn’t look away from him. I thought if I did, in that instant he’d strike.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he murmured, removing my gauntlet. “I’m not going to hurt you. I can’t imagine you’d be bothered much even if I did. The way you mope around Midgar, displaying yourself suicidal and homicidal, shows me you don’t care what happens to you.”

He took my restraints off, though I hadn’t noticed him holding a key. They clattered to the floor, echoing sharply. “I’ll leave those off if you’ll calm down,” he promised.

He was insane. If I could get my leaden limbs to work he’d be dead. I nodded, feigning compliance. I’d rest a few minutes and take my chance against him. I’d find Cloud and Tifa, and we’d get out of this place.

Hojo finished stripping me of my top. His hands went to my pants. I couldn’t help jerking. Giving me another long look, he removed my boots. “I can either cut a hole around the bullet wound, or take the pants off,” he said. “I’d imagine you’d want your clothing intact when you leave.”

When I leave? Cruel bastard. He had no intention of letting me go. I used what little strength I’d gained to start taking the pants off myself. I’d be damned if I let him expose me. His very touch sent chills down my spine.

Hojo backed off. He walked a short distance from me and began washing his long, eerie hands. Despite myself, I couldn’t help watching him. He moved methodically, with practiced grace, washing his forearms as well as his hands.

But, now was my chance. I got off the table silently, and crept toward him, picking up a heavy metallic tray. I could taste victory. Though weak, I had strength enough for splattering his brains all over this pristine white room. One blow and some of my nightmares could end…

I swung.

Moving faster than I’d ever seen him move, he ducked the tray. I grunted in pained surprise as he tackled me and brought me to the floor. A Jenova tentacle shot out from his back, then another and another. In seconds I lay wrapped in them, helpless. They were massively strong.

But gentle. Goddamn him, he was still gentle. I poured all my hate for him into my eyes, staring up with every hope my rage would just ignite his greasy body.

Undisturbed, he only held me down. “You wouldn’t get out of here even if you managed to kill me.” He got off of me, using his beastly arms to put me on his table once again. “Now, I’m going to dig bullets out of you. Even you can get systemic poisoning from lead.” He brought thick leather restraints from under the table and began clamping me down. “These will hold you after I get the morphine in you.” He checked the clock on the wall, his black eyes narrowing. “I have thirty seconds to dose you, I estimate. You build energy quickly.”

Abandoned to his plans, I didn’t fight him or the needle. His earlier words about how I moped around the city came back to haunt. Most of the time I truly didn’t care what happened to me. Now that I’d burned up my resistance, that old depression came creeping back.

Why fight him? He’d have his way. Hojo always had his way.