Hojo slept peacefully in his bed. Not even the outside noises of Midgar could stir him. The blinking lights of the big city beat down upon him in a pointless endeavor. Nothing could wake him.
"BRRRRRING!"
Except maybe the phone.
Hojo growled at the noise and picked the demonic spawn of plastic up and placed it next to his ear. Before he got the chance to answer it however, a panicked young female�s voice came screaming from the other line.
"DOCTOR!" the desperate woman yelled.
Hojo rubbed his head as she continued to scream into the phone.
"SHES GONE! THE PHASE TWO PROTO TYPE IS GONE!" she ranted.
"SILENCE!" Hojo roared over the phone. "What do you mean She�s gone?"
"Just that sir," the woman said with a shaky voice.
Hojo sat up in his bed and thought for a moment as he rubbed his brow.
"Who was the last one to interact with her," he asked getting out of the bed.
"Eliza Hayner sir," the woman said again.
Hojo leaned and popped his back. He paused and rubbed his chin.
"Sir?" came the woman�s voice. "What should I do?"
"Nothing," Hojo said.
"Nothing?" she asked.
"If you repeat what I say, this conversation will take much longer."
"Forgive me..." she said. "I..I.."
"Take the next few days off," he said pulling his pants on. "In fact, I want you to hang up now, and go home."
"Yes sir," the female said hanging up the phone.
Hojo tossed the plastic hellion onto his bed and started pulling his shirt on. Feeling his back side vibrate he pulled his pager out of his pocket and looked down at it. The tinny LCD screen flashed a short simple message.
"Cleaning up a terrorist mess in Gongaga."
Hojo knew who it was. His brow furled in anger as he tossed his pager against the wall.
Eliza Hanyer was a thin woman. Given her tall height, it was hard to say if she was thin by her chousing or by nature. She kept her eerie glowing blue eyes fixed on the Mako reactor. Her chin length blond hair fluttered slightly in the wind. She glanced down at the young man that was squatting in front of a Laptop computer, then re-fixed her eyes on the reactor.
"Status?" she asked crossing her arms.
"The prototype is showing an increase in energy being generated in her body," the young man said. "Leave her in?"
"Let her be," Eliza said. "If her energy rating start to go over 800%, then I want to know."
"Yes Ma�am," the young man said nodding.
As Eliza stared at the reactor, she felt a ting of jealousy. Here, even the prototype was still more powerful then the actual subjects based after it. She wondered how long it would be for Hojo actually went into Phase two. As her mind continued to wonder, the faint sound of a helicopter could be heard in the distance. Looking up at the night sky she noticed a solid black outline approaching the town. She smirked and looked back at the reactor.
"He�s late," she said.
As the helicopter came flying up, the dirt on the ground started stirring and blowing all over the area. The young man at the computer picked up the machine and covered it with his white lab coat. The Helicopter hovered over the ground allowing someone to jump out of it. Eliza crossed her arms and continued her stare down with the reactor. Out of the far left side, smoke was starting to rise from it.
"ELIZA!" screamed the man from the helicopter as it took off.
Eliza rolled her eyes and looked over.
"Yes Hojo," she said.
Hojo came stomping over to her and looked down at the young man that was squatting on the ground.
"Eliza what is the meaning of this?" he demanded.
"I�m running some tests," she said looking back at the reactor.
"Tests?" Hojo asked looking back up at Eliza. "What the hell kinds of tests would you need to run on this reactor?"
"I want to see how the subject would respond when told to kill people attempting to do something that the feel is for a good cause," Eliza said.
Hojo raised and eyebrow at this comment..
"Complex thinking?" he asked. "How is she responding?"
"So far she questioned the motive of killing people," she said. "However after she entered the building, she stopped communicating verbally."
"It�s a Mako Reactor," Hojo said. "She must have reverted..."
He looked down at the young man sitting at the computer.
"Report," he demanded.
The young man shifted and looked at Hojo.
"Well sir," the young man said. "The Subject�s energy levels are at their normal, however, they appear to be rising at an increased rate..."
Hojo bent down and looked at the laptop.
"Call her back," he said. "Her levels are rising to fast, she�ll burn out."
"Subject, Proto type phase two," the young man said into a small microphone. "You are under orders to abort and retreat."
There was an awkward pause when suddenly the speaker on the computer turned on. The noise in the background was like something out of the young man�s nightmares. People we�re screaming in terror, things we�re clearly exploding, and guns we�re going off. He looked up from his laptop and stared at Hojo. Suddenly, a young,, hate filled female voice clearly broke through the chaos.
"I don�t have to listen to you," she said.
Eliza uncrossed her arms and looked down at the computer. Hojo looked up at the reactor.
"What the hell," he said.
Eliza bent down and grabbed the microphone from her colleague.
"Listen to me, you are to retreat, do you hear me, abort," she demanded.
There was another long bout of silence. Suddenly the far smoking wall of the reactor exploded out ward. Eliza stood up slowly, her mouth hung open as she stared in disbelief. This was the final straw. If she didn�t come back, the project would have to stop.
The sounds of death came back onto the computer once more. The woman�s voice, now icy and full of malice seemed to fill what was left the night.
"I will not be controlled by the likes of you humans," she said.
Eliza looked over at Hojo.
"She�s out of controls," she said.
"You think," Hojo said looking at her. "This is a failure that I will not present to the rest of ShinRa."
"But," Eliza said. "Everything we worked on!"
"No everything I worked on," Hojo said walking up to her. "You we�re just along for the ride."
Eliza opened her mouth the say something when suddenly the whole reactor exploded. The three scientists turned their backs to the inferno, hoping to not get hit by any shrapnel. The Young man fell down to his knees and looked at his now beeping laptop.
"Subjects levels have risen to almost 2000%!" he yelled. "That�s over 1000% past the safety line!"
Hojo turned around and looked at the reactor. His face no longer filled with anger, but now, amazement.
"This power she holds..." he said. "I must find a way to control it..."
Eliza turned around and looked at the blaze.
"I thoght this was a failure," she said.
Hojo turned and smirked at her.
"To everyone, it will be, for the rest of us...we�ll keep working," he said. "I will find a way to perfect and refine Materia infusion in such a way that it can be used on all soldiers. I�ll find a way to completely eradicate emotions like fear and sadness, and yes oh yes, pain will no longer be an issue..."
As he grinned the young computer man started scooting away as fast as he could. Hojo looked down at him and frowned.
"What�s your problem?" he asked.
The man pointed towards the flames.
"It...it�s not humanly possible..." he stammered.
Hojo looked up at what he was pointing at. A wild deranged grin filled his face. Approaching the trio was a mid sized woman with long silvery hair. Her eyes we�re a brilliant green that glowed with almost as much intensity as the flame. Her face was void of emotion and covered in ash. The black body suit she had been wearing was cut, burned and almost gone from her body. Her boots looked like they had fused to the ground at one point. On her back were wispy black tendrils of some sort of energy.
Eliza started backing away slowly as the woman approached. The woman stopped about ten feet from Hojo and stared at him. Hojo started to chuckle as he opened his arms.
"That�s my girl..." he said.
In a flash, the woman leaped at Hojo.