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Post by Squall on Sept 15, 2006 18:11:44 GMT
That... Wasnt very reassuring? Squall watched her move the lump of whatever it was, I should really be helping her with that? Squall moved to give her a hand but she dropped it on the ground before he could offer any help. * Peers into the passage* " Not very welcoming is it?" Squall looked at Ami and took her hand, " No guts no glory?" Squall stepped inside
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Sept 15, 2006 18:37:16 GMT
Ami felt a biazarre kind of nostalgia, walking through this darkened space. The floor sloped downward, leading underground. A thick layer of dust covered the floor, and sometimes Ami had to brush cobwebs out of her face. She tightened her grip on Squall's hand, trying to keep a grip on the present.
She hadn't physically been in this space for nearly fifteen years. But it had haunted her dreams as far back as she remembered.
Only three years old, hiding under the water tower in the middle of a rainstorm. "We aren't really human, are we? They did something to us, didn't they?"
Some wary glances between her older brothers, slightly accusatory-- Who told her that?"What makes you say so, Kid?"
"You talk in your sleep."
A dull glow came from the end of the corridor. Ami focused on it, tensing for whatever the source might be.
The corridor finally ended at a glass door, marked with a biohazard symbol. The glass was cracked and filthy, but one could still see through it.
What Ami saw nearly made her throw up. "Oh, my G**..."
Stasis tubes. Three rows of them, each containing a clone. There were more rows, but these were dark and empty. The first three were lit with ultraviolet lamps, and sign posts marked each one-- Six Series, Nine Series, Twelve Series. All multiples of three. Each row had one empty tube at the front, marked "Prime". Digital displays attached to each tube read one of three words: Mature, Decanted, Terminated.
But the chilling thing was, all the clones in each row wore a familiar face. Each row of the three resembled one of her brothers.
Ami finally recovered her ability to speak. "I was born here."
She steeled herself, and slowly pushed the door open. This is so twisted and sick.
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Post by Squall on Sept 15, 2006 18:45:05 GMT
She shouldnt have to see this. Squall followed her into the room keeping a firm grip on her hand. He looked at the people in the tubes, then across to Ami... What should i say?... Christ i feel helpless... Squall turned to her and hugged her tightly, still fixed on the tubes. Should we destroy them? Eugh Shinra this is evil
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Sept 15, 2006 18:54:52 GMT
Ami refused to look at the tubes any more than she had to, but a chilling thought came to her and wouldn't leave her alone...
So, this is what Jenova was talking about... If she Reunited tomorrow, she'd have a full army at her disposal by the end of the week.
She clung to Squall, too stunned by all this to be angry, or to cry, or to do anything but just be there.
Ami didn't want to keep going after this, but the complex was huge and they had to keep searching, try to find anything the Sins might be after, and be prepared to face them when they came...
"I-- I really thought after we ran away, that the others were all destroyed..." she said numbly. "My batch was eliminated-- the Fifteen Series is gone. The others must still be here because they were tested successfully..." That was when she finally began to cry.
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Post by Squall on Sept 15, 2006 19:02:32 GMT
Squall squeezed her tightly and softly stroked her hair. What do you say at a time like this? Squall gently lifted her chin and looked into her crying eyes, " You turned out pretty successful from where Im standing," he wiped one of her cheeks with his thumb, " Doesnt matter how you were born, its what you do once your out." Squall gave Ami a little smile, the first time hed smiled in years, " Dont worry about where your from... Ill look after you."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Sept 15, 2006 19:14:45 GMT
Ami tried to smile back at him, even though the tears would just not stop. She leaned her head against him...
Her eyes began to flash. She saw the path leading out of the labs, through the control rooms, the testing and training areas... the library. There's information there... even if the Sins don't want it, it might tell me where Jenova's final remains are hidden. She must still be around somewhere to be able to do all this. And the chances are good the Sins do want the information there-- if they want to wipe humans off the face of the planet, I can think of no better place for them to learn how.
The psychic moment passed. She returned her gaze to Squall's, and saw the caring there, the compassion.
She put a hand on his face. "Thank you." She took his hand with her free one and began to lead him out of the lab, her sense of purpose restored. "Follow me."
As they exited, she turned back to him and did something even she had not planned on. She kissed his cheek and turned away, an obnoxious blush spreading violently across her face. "Let's go."
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Post by Squall on Sept 15, 2006 19:24:23 GMT
".............Your welcome." *swallows hard* Squall gazed at her as she turned to leave and it wasnt until she pulled on his arm he started to move, he followed at arms length, gazing at the back of her head. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! Squall buried his happiness and tried to concentrate on the job at hand, " Where are we going?" She seems to know where shes going? ... Who cares she kissed me!
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Sept 15, 2006 19:34:37 GMT
"The research library." Ami's voice was decidedly more resolute now, but she couldn't help being still a little squeaky. Shoot, I never kissed a guy before... what do you expect? "I think we might find a few things there to help us. We might get a better idea of where the Sins will strike next, if they don't strike here."
Good G**... my little sister is growing up too fast. First, she tries to save the world. Next, she has her first crush.
Ami grinned into the dark. Guess you can't call me "Kid" anymore.
You'll always be "Kid" to me. Don't forget that.
*****
Heavy oak doors, which opened with the push of a hydraulic trigger, opened into the research archives. Ami took a deep breath. "I can't help feeling jittery... this is how things went bad for the Template, you know." She noted a moment of misunderstanding. She elaborated. "Template. It's what my brothers and I always called Sephiroth." She squared her shoulders. "At least, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna go ape-s**t and torch a village where we're done here."
She approached a digital console and keyed in a search request.
JENOVA
"As long as we're waiting for the Sins to show up, I guess I can do some researching myself."
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Post by Squall on Sept 15, 2006 19:41:10 GMT
Squall felt rather uneasy following Amis revelation, " Dont... read into anything to much?" Squall couldnt help but worry for Ami in this place, Id rather be fighting the seven sins than for her to be here. Hed already seen her cry once, and this library didnt feel like it was to deliver any good news. Squall walked over to the back corner of the library and noticed too more tubes that theyd seen before, they were empty, but Squall could see something scratched into the glass, " Lets get out of here." There awake in these things!? Squall shuddered and headed back to Ami, "You found anything interesting?"
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Sept 15, 2006 19:45:24 GMT
Ami closed the window she was looking at, her eyes glittering with a dangerous glare. "Extremely so. It's a good thing we left the others to stand guard outside-- don't tell Vi this, but I think I just found out where they're hiding Jenny. And if I'm right, things may be more serious than even I guessed."
Ami looked around. Guess I was on the wrong track... doesn't look like the Sins are the researching type. But what can they do to destroy every human on the planet? And how do we stop it?
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Post by Squall on Sept 15, 2006 19:50:19 GMT
Squall nodded, not sure quite what it meant, but he trusted Amis judgement. " Should we free this Jenny girl?" Think i missed the Jenny conversation?... This place reeks of dirty secrets. Squall looked around and put a hand on his gunblade, " Ive never felt so uneasy before," whoops i didnt mean to say that out loud... " I dont think theres much here thats going to help us?"
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Post by Gdosimirj Sunset on Sept 15, 2006 20:06:59 GMT
Vieve had lapsed into a robotic silence after they had beaten back their assailants. She followed them into the Shinra complex, her hands clasped, head bowed, almost completely inhuman. Now she stood, gazing at the capsules containing the experiments, just looking.
There was fire in her eyes...
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Sept 15, 2006 23:33:15 GMT
Ami looked at him in a flash of surprise. "Ehh, no. Sorry, I keep forgetting you aren't from around here. 'Jenny'-- or Jenova, as she's better known-- is a being of devastating power who mostly wants what the Sins want: to destroy all life on the planet and start fresh. The only difference is, that means turning this planet into a barren rock on which to cruise the galaxy, looking for a new place where our kind can begin again. I don't know the origins of my kind-- what happened to their original planet, why they couldn't find an uninhabited place to colonize-- but I, for one, am unsympathetic. Of course we have a right to a home, but I don't think we have a right to yours. I happen to like this planet just the way it is." She began to lead the way back out. "What I want is to destroy her for good, and find some way to keep her cells from going back to the Lifestream-- if I can't, then the cycle will carry on, and Jenova will never stop hounding this planet. When she's gone, all my siblings and I will be free from her control-- but I can't let Vieve know what I intend to do. She's too much like my brothers: so obsessed with the idea of having a mother that she doesn't even realize what Jenova has done to her. I can explain it after, when and if Vi gets her sanity back; until then, we have to find some way of distracting her." Her mouth was set in a grim line. "I can't let Jenova claim any more innocents, and I won't let anyone keep me from stopping her-- not even Vi." She stopped just short of the lab and lowered her voice. "Now that I have the information, Jenova will do everything in her power to stop me. I have to strike quickly-- even the Sins may become a secondary concern, if she becomes concerned enough about my importance to her as a threat."
A threat? Ha! You're a lost and pathetic child with absolutely no direction, no place in this world, no hope for your future. Your family is gone and you are alone-- I am the only one you can turn to. Why do you not become my confederate and take your rightful place at my side, the founder of a new world free from the corruption of these base creatures?
JENOVA! I'VE HAD ENOUGH! You cannot hide from me any longer. I will see you fall.
No. You, my daughter, shall die with the rest of them. You are not an only child, don't forget.
A vision of Vieve in the lab flashed into Amnesty's mind, and her eyes widened. "What if-- can the Voice speak to Vieve?" She was talking to herself-- she didn't expect this to make sense to Squall. She grabbed his sleeve and began to run. "We have to get back to the others, now!"
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Sept 16, 2006 2:35:59 GMT
The time it took to drive over to Sector Seven was hardly enough to sober Reno up at all. Rude carefully ignored him as he watched the road, headed for the last place Shinra security cams had picked up the girl.
How had the boss put it? "Then the cams just lost track of her... near the secondary lab entrance. We'd like to make sure she didn't stumble upon it."
In other words, if she gets anywhere near the "secondary" (a fancy word for secret in the Shinra lingo) entrance, shoot to kill.
He drove around just a little longer, waiting for Reno to regain his senses. "How are you feeling, partner?"
Reno blinked repeatedly. "Better... at least the traffic lights don't make my brain explode anymore."
Rude nodded. "Fair enough." He pulled into Sector Seven and hid the car in a ruined building. "Let's go."
They set off towards the entrance, ready for any Survivor attackers. Little did they know the reason why they wouldn't encounter any.
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Post by *~Nikkole~* on Sept 16, 2006 3:08:46 GMT
nikkole finally looses the man in sector 7, she looks around unfamiliar with the area. she frowns and starts exploring and looking around.
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