Pater Familias

“Father, what are you doing?” Sephiroth’s deep, melodious baritone drifted into my lab.

I finished putting the leads on Steve Curdell. Now I had all but George and Havars in here, but Havars wasn’t in this equation and Curdell already had company. Brisk in my enthusiasm, I checked all the feeds on the unconscious men and powered up the imager. “Walking in the dark, boy,” I grunted. “I told you to wait.”

“Yes, but you didn’t tell me why.” Sephiroth walked to the group of men, looking at each one. “I need to know why I’m surrendering my father to his old madness, even if just for one night.” He turned to frown at me. “If indeed you can stop after one night.”

“I’m your father, not your child.” I flicked on the monitors. “Credit me with knowing my own madness.”

Sephiroth watched me secure readings, then turned to gaze at the three monitors. “What are you measuring?”

“Guilt.” I engaged the recorders and hit full power.

My subjects jerked even while unconscious, the pain and intrusion bringing them to semi-wakefulness. My blood soared watching them fight their bonds, watching them strain against adamantium clamps. They could struggle all they wanted, but they wouldn’t free themselves. Only my son could get out of these restraints.

Then, the images began to coalesce on the monitors, and I selectively filtered their histories with my Cherry Blossom.

I saw Andrews slap her, her head jerking with the force.

I saw Burnside twist her arm, grinning with glee as she cried.

I saw Curdell shouting at her, holding her down to scream in her ear.

A hundred images of cruelty sped by me in seconds before the screens went black. My stomach churned. Sakura carried all this misery in her soul, while each man carried only their own ideas of ownership and superiority. Well, she belonged to me now, and I would be damned if they didn’t suffer like her. No, worse.

They would receive double what they’d given her.

I jerked the leads off and tossed them into the incinerator chute. Hitting the duplicator, I made copies of my evidence and sent them to my home pc and to my secured computer here in the lab office.

“Your botanist hasn’t had the best life,” Sephiroth observed, using a voice more commonly reserved for rabid dogs and angry women with shotguns.

“They all called her ‘whore’, and they all abused her.” I turned to my son. “You should leave now, Sephiroth.”

“What you can do won’t bother me,” he answered calmly. “I’ll wait, but I’ll do it in your office.”

“Stubborn.”

“Yes, and you’re a crazy old man.” Sephiroth swept for my office’ corridor. “But, I’m not leaving you.”

I waited until he’d gone before addressing the awakening men. “Welcome to Hojo’s lab, gentlemen,” I greeted, bringing out the gurney. “I know you won’t enjoy your very long very painful stay.”

********************************************************************


“Father.”

I sighed. “Not now, Sephiroth,” I complained.

“Father, you need to get home before your botanist misses you,” he insisted.

I looked at my handiwork so far, assessing if I could leave. I hated leaving with a job undone. There lay Curdell, screaming. Well, nearly screaming. His voice seemed ready to go after five hours of my attention. He kept trying to cover the gaping hole in his groin, but his shackles wouldn’t allow it. I hoisted a jar, showing him his pickled penis and testicles. “Missing these?” I asked. “I assure you, my little Cherry Blossom does just fine without them. I’m sure you can, too.”

Tears leaked from his eyes, tears made mostly of capsicum. I’d kept him on a drip of the solution since the beginning, replacing much of his body’s water with the chemical that made mace so effective. When he cried, he only hurt more, but once he started he could hardly stop.

“Father-.”

“I have two more hours before Sakura’s morphine wears off,” I snapped.

“Be that as it may, these men aren’t going anywhere, and you need to look presentable if you mean to keep this a secret from her.” Sephiroth tugged on my sleeve.

I fought him briefly, though knowing it useless. He grabbed me, lifted me in his arms, and sat me on a desk like I was a child. Putting his face only inches from mine, he stared into me. “Father, I understand.”

“Do you?” I felt brittle and rigid, like shale. I could feel myself flaking into glass-like bits, and those bits cutting into my chest. They spun like a bone saw and burrowed, bringing up dead, black blood from my heart.

“If any man called my flower girl a whore, I’d make him eat his own lungs,” he said lowly. “But you’ve been…operating… for hours, and you’re getting manic. Your eyes have an electric aqua nimbus and your hands are shaking.” He held one of my hands up under my eyes, making me look. “You’re going to fly apart. This is too much, too soon.” He took me by the shoulders and shook me gently. “Put these men in stasis and come home with me.”

I obeyed him. I thought I could obey Sephiroth no matter what frame of mind I suffered under.

Locking down my half-finished experiments, I threw my lab coat into the incinerator. Sephiroth waited patiently for me to check on the pedophile, apparently knowing I’d let Kisaragi into my sanctuary. The ninja had left quite a mess. Satisfied, I turned the heat lamps on George Allen and walked away.

My son met me at the door. He held out my good leather coat. I let him put it on me, feeling drained. I hadn’t realized how darkness ate the soul. Until giving out some good, I hadn’t the contrast for comparison.

“I can’t hear your thoughts anymore,” Sephiroth murmured, escorting me from the building.

“Sorry.” I relaxed the wall between us, hardly realizing I’d left it up in the first place. It wasn’t like I’d meant to exclude him out of spite. I hadn’t wanted him hearing the crazy, vitriolic old mad-scientist-monster again.

That’s better, Sephiroth sent to me with soft humor. I do like that crazy, vitriolic old man, especially when his poison isn’t pointed at me.

Perhaps he sensed I needed the walk, for he didn’t push to just fly us back. It made me smile. I wasn’t a slouch. If someone attacked me, chances were slim I wouldn’t maim or kill them. Still, my son was the Supreme Defense. Shiva, he made me proud. I was even proud he could and would govern me.

Aerith had my undying devotion for turning us around. I would do anything for her.

Sephiroth draped his arm over my shoulder. Nearly choking with emotion, I tried to focus on less ebullient things.

Don’t, dad. Sephiroth gripped me tighter for a moment in a one-armed hug. If you’re a balance, like Aerith says, you need to wallow in all the feel-good shite right now. Look what you did in the lab.

I’m not finished, son.

Holy fuck, I could use some cheering up.

I know. My son paused at a drink machine standing outside a bar. He thumped on it while holding a button down, and an Electro-Cola dropped into the chute. Drawing it out, he pulled the ring-tab and handed me the can.

“You know you’ll be all over the nation tomorrow,” I told him, pointing up at the camera over our heads.

“Probably.” Sephiroth’s lips parted for a beautiful, toothy smile, the kind that made women throw their panties at him. “But, then Electro-Cola will call me for a sponsorship and all will be forgiven.” He held his arms out, as if envisioning a sign or billboard. “Drink the cola General Sephiroth likes to steal most!”

I snorted the nearly-pure caffeine out my nose. Choking, I fished in my pockets for a handkerchief.

“Electro-Cola, the preferred drink of mako-augmented villains and mad scientists everywhere!” Sephiroth warmed to his topic. “Electro-Cola, perfect for that pesky low-level after a slaughtering! Why not drink Electro-Cola, before, during and after your schemes?”

I laughed so hard I cried. Sephiroth displayed a wicked sense of humor. I loved it.

Holding an invisible can level with his head, Sephiroth affected the most serious, sober demeanor. “When I can’t run someone through with the Masamune, I calm my nerves with a serving of Electro-Cola.” He pointed to the invisible label, his eyes moving helpfully in the same direction. “Its lack of redeeming features and danger of consumption strongly match my thirst. With three times the sugar and five times the caffeine of ordinary brands, Electro-Cola really satisfies.”

My stomach hurt. I dropped the soda to laugh, spraying us both with the sugary poison.

“Really, father,” Sephiroth chided. He put the can in the waste bin and promptly stole another from the machine. Again he opened and served. “Drink that one, now, because you need your energy. Even artificial energy is better than none when you have to face a pretty, intelligent woman.”

“You’re absolutely correct.” I chugged the drink, belched, and tossed the empty. “Thank you, boy. I really needed that.”

“What you need is to get laid, to eat a decent meal, and to sleep for a week with that botanist.” Sephiroth once again resumed guiding me down the street under his huge, heavy arm. “In that order, too.”

“She’s gun-shy.”

“I would be too if my every lover liked to abuse me.” Sephiroth reached into my coat, finding cigarettes and lollipops. He took a lolly while I took a smoke. “She’s had horrible luck. How are you going to help her with all that emotional trauma? You aren’t a psychiatrist.”

“I can hire her one, or I can take classes and get an accreditation.” I inhaled sharply, enjoying the sting of the stale smoke. “Getting a psychiatry degree will take more time than I’d like. I’d rather fix her before I have to study for a year.”

“You could get your degree in a year?”

“Certainly. I can do anything I want.” I took another deep drag. “I finished my medical schooling in two years. I got my doctorates in less time than the norm. Bioengineering was a snap, but I liked neuroscience more. Too bad there isn’t much call for it in my work.”

Sephiroth stopped. I halted to look up into his intent face. His eyes took me in with open regard. For an instant, I felt he saw me as a stranger.

“I did,” he murmured. “I somehow never pondered your accreditation.”

“It’s easy to overlook.” I shrugged. “My behavior took and still takes away from the letters after my name.”

“What are the letters after your name?” he asked softly.

“Shit, Sephiroth, I don’t know.” I flicked my smoke away, watching it tumble over and over in the dark. “I guess we could look it up in my Shin-Ra file.”