paixaorpg | Surrounded by Idiots [Completed]

If he hadn't been sitting down Hojo probably would have jumped about a foot in the air just then. As it was his eyes grew to about the same size as the lenses of his glasses.

"...Uhm..." There really was no good explanation that he could come up with. Not that would get him out of this unharmed, anyway. It wasn't his fault, though, that much was true. "...Brought your mercenary."

The man looked suitably terrified, but that was not enough to fix things.

"Clean up this mess!" He bellowed. "And then get back to your quarters! Before I choose to end your life!"

Ansem closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning to take a closer look at his visitor.

However useful the man might be, he was completely useless in his current condition. But Ansem had a much better idea than wasting energy and resources healing him.

"You look unwell," he said, calmly, approaching slowly. This man smelled foul. His Darkness ran deep. Yes. He might serve adequately as he was, with just a little adjustment... "Allow me to help you," Ansem said, kneeling down in front of the slumped figure.

He reached out and pressed a gloved hand to the man's chest, very deliberately, just above his heart. There was some resistance--his will and the mental walls with which he had surrounded himself were thick--but not enough to stop Ansem from reaching into his heart and pulling that pitch black Darkness free.

Well, that was effective. Hojo scrambled to his feet and bolted back to the lab. There was mud in there too and he decided that got to be taken care of first. Everything in the hall got to wait until Ansem and the mercenary were gone.

Vicious had been listening to the conversation with his eyes closed. So finally the one who had hired him showed his face and those who served him jumped at the sound of his voice.

The mercenary opened his eyes and locked them on the strange employer that reached out a hand to touch him. Perhaps it had been the sickness that had allowed Vicious to let the man come so close without realizing the danger. Either way it was too late to stop him from placing his fingers upon his chest and little did he realize the threat this posed to his existence.

He hissed lowly as the darkness kept at bay within him was unleashed from a greater source outside of himself. Inside, he struggled unwilling to give entirely into the beast that dwelled within him for as long as possible. The real reason, they called him Vicious had been locked away so soundly for so long that only Julia and Spike had ever been able to raise it like and this thing- this man did with one touch of his hand. The employer with a voice filled with a strong sense of superiority who smelled of that all too familiar scent sex removed his hand.

Vicious glared darkly at him savagely aware of the fact that he hated this man. He hated him with all that was his pride and respected him at the same time in his own fashion for returning him back to what he was, a beast.

"Get. Off. Me."

The words were hissed out barely more than a whisper followed by the sound of the katana slid an inch out of the sheath in warning.

The beast, unleashed, was quite something to behold. And it did not seem to want to be tamed.

With a flick of his fingers, the weapon with which Ansem was being threatened disappeared from the man's grasp. In response to the hissed order, he moved not an inch, glowing gold eyes meeting furious grey with calm and command.

"You do not give the orders here. Do I make myself clear?"

Ansem spoke softly, but he did not need volume to make his point, grabbing the Darkness in one etheric fist and giving it a jarring shake, like a dog by the scruff of the neck, to show who was master.

Loosing his weapon was a considerable loss for something so stupid but it was hard not push his employer just a little further. He kept Ansem's eye contact not one to back down even if that same man was now pulling at a piece of him he didn't know had been locked away. It hurt enough for him to clench his fists ever so slightly, a visible side to the sensation within.

"Yes."

Vicious smiled at him.

Ansem offered a toothy grin in return. "Excellent."

He stood up, still holding the Darkness by the scruff of the neck.

Apart from freeing the man's true self, he had done him the favour of an inverse sort of healing. What before had been pain and poison were now things that fueled him instead of drained him. He would not require a recovery time before he could begin work.

"Now, if you will follow me, I shall explain your duties."

Left with no choice Vicious did as he was told and slid to his feet. He noted that despite the fact that he was damaged from the poison and illness, he was feeling a hell of a lot better. Even with a teather on him as obvious as a knife against his throat.

The mercenary habitually stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned forward slightly use to walking in a slight slouch from the weight of carrying a bird. He followed remaining absolutely quiet but taking in his surroundins as they passed them. Words weren't required and he was no yes man about to instantly agree with his client.

Ansem strode purposefully into the laboratory, walking past where the scientist was scrubbing mud off the floor on hands and knees and carefully placing the heel of his boot on top of one of those hands before taking another step.

"This is the laboratory," he explained to his new servant, casually moving on and gesturing at their surroundings. "Beginning this evening Mr. Hojo and I will be performing a series of procedures and experiments. Our test subjects will be...shall we say, volunteered for this purpose?"

He turned to face Vicious with the slightest amused smirk on his face.

"Your primary duty will be to keep watch over them and make certain none of them escape. You may kill them, if necessary," he added as an afterthought.

Vicious inclined his head slightly in agreement. He was fine with the task of guarding. It was after all something he was hired for. Although if the employer didn't come through with his side, he'd see how long Vicious's interest would last.

"Fine."

He shifted his weight to his left foot then back to his right now keenly aware of the missing weapon in his arsenal. It would be good to have it back in place, especially when dealing with a situation like this. If needed Vicious intended to hold true to the specifications of the task.

"The katana?"

Hojo bit back a yelp as his hand was stepped on, backing out of the way as soon as he was free to do so. Maybe now would be a good time to go back out into the hall..

Ansem completely ignored the yelp of pain from his incompetent assistant, though he did note it with dark amusement.

When Vicious inquired about his weapon, Ansem turned back to face him with a smile. "I take that to mean you accept, Mr....?"

Unfortunately at this moment Hojo's pain did nothing for Vicious who was now settling into his job. Otherwise he might of smiled at the scientist or even paid him some attention. Instead he kept his focus on his employer.

"No other option."

Vicious stated simply in a cold tone. He knew the score and wasn't about spend time hiding it. If there was work to be done he was doing it. Anything to prepare for a smooth accomplishment of the task and sure of reasonable success.

"My name is Vicious. Don't apply anything else to it."

A silver eyebrow rose at the mercenary's response. But once he had agreed, Ansem let go his hold on the Darkness within his heart, allowing it to slink back into place.

"Very well, Vicious." Ansem could not hide the purr of amusement in his voice as he spoke the name. These hired swords could take on such ridiculous pseudonyms. "I believe this is what you are missing?"

The katana materialised in his upturned palms, offering the weapon to its master.

"Feel free to survey the territory you will be guarding at your leisure. And if you will be needing your own quarters...something can be arranged."

Kadaj had located a bath off his room and had spent a considerable amount of time there before finally deciding to venture outside, giving one last glance around his room before heading out. As nice as all the books and things were, he wanted to see more of this place, and that wouldn't get accomplished from within his room's confines, now would it?

He wandered around a little aimlessly at first, confident stride hiding the fact that he was getting more and more hopelessly lost with every step he took, before he finally began to hear voices. It was easy enough to pick out Ansem's, less so to identify the others.

He smirked slightly and headed towards them. It was nice to be out of his room, sure, but the experience would be considerably more enjoyable if he had someone to talk to.

Hojo was on his way out into the hall when he nearly ran into Kadaj, actually doing a double-take when he saw the boy. ...That was strange. He looked very similar to the other bizarre silver-haired man, the one who decided to follow him into the library several days ago.

"...Who are you?" he asked, baffled.

At this point the client's worries weren't his. If he was intending to betray Ansem then it would have already been in motion in his head. For now he was content and all his interests were seemingly being met. Left without those concerns he had no intention of ruining his reputation. Vicious didn't give a damn what Ansem thought of his name, names weren't all that important and this one was the that had managed to stick through years of life.

The mercenary took the blade from him and placed it back where it belong carefully checking to make sure that it would be an easy draw as necessary.

"I'll hold you to that...and I will be needing my own quarters."

Vicious didn't address whether or not there were places he could go or not. If Ansem felt it was necessary to tell him, he was sure he would. Otherwise to the mercenary they were free game if he needed to know.

At the villain's answer, Ansem turned to face the adjacent wall. He gestured, indicating a door that had not been there previously.

"I trust this will meet your needs. If there is anything else you will require to perform your duties--"

He broke off in mid-sentence, hearing a very familiar voice from the doorway at the far end of the lab.

"My name is Kadaj. What's yours~?"

Ansem turned away from Vicious without another thought, the mercenary already forgotten as he quickly strode across the lab to greet his beloved.

Kadaj frowned at him slightly, a little annoyed at being asked that without so much as a "hello." Judging by the fact that this man, whoever he was, didn't seem to be worth the attention of Ansem at the moment, he was probably insignificant. Still, there was an odd sort of sense of familiarity about him that was rapidly making itself apparent to Kadaj, even if he himself had no idea who the other was.

He decided to humor him for now... mostly. With his best infuriatingly smug, superior look, he answered, "My name is Kadaj. What's yours~?"

Kadaj. Well, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with a name, considering it wasn't familiar to him. Maybe he was hoping for an explanation, though in that case he realized he should have asked for one.

"...Hojo," he said, sounding sort of lost in thought. If only he'd gotten the other's name, he could ask if they knew each other... though he couldn't place why in the world it was so important to him. He just felt like he should know who this Kadaj person was, but he didn't. Strange.

Well it didn't take much to distract his employer it seemed. Apparently all it took was something pretty with a little bit of flair to catch the man's eye. Vicious gave the silver haired boy a bare minimum of a glance before walking off in the opposite direction of the group. There was no reason for him to introduce himself, as far as he was concerned it was a job with a slightly, if not fully perverted employer. Nothing particularly out of the usual.

While the others talked Vicious intended take a quick look around the lab before taking off for other parts of the fortress. Later on he would come back to double check the quality of the cages, the locks, conditions and other aspects that would help to know.

Strange. Kadaj had the strangest feeling that this person standing in front of him was supposed to be dead. Not exactly the most common reaction to meeting someone for only the first time, but it was there all the same.

"If you don't mind my asking," he said in a slightly sharper tone, noticing that the other's attention was slipping, "shouldn't you be dead?"

He glanced up, catching sight of Ansem heading towards them and smiling at him. Well, at least he knew there was someone here who wouldn't ignore him.

Well. Hojo blinked, snapped out of his (very slight)trance at the sharp inquiry.

"...No?" What a strange thing to ask... now he was just confused, really, and rather than stand there and ponder it he moved to leave, deciding to ponder it by himself so if he was going to look like an idiot(again) at least no one else would see.

Perhaps it was fortunate that Hojo was moving to leave anyway, because Ansem fairly plowed into him like a freight train into an errant cow in his eagerness to get to his beloved. The sweet smile from across the room had only served to quicken his pace.

With a smile that lit up his face, Ansem declared, "So the little prince has deigned to grace us with his presence! Welcome, my love! Shall I show you around my laboratory?"

He resisted the urge to embrace, pet, and coddle his little peacock, instead merely extending a gentlemanly hand along with his offer.

Kadaj sent Hojo a curious look but evidently forgot entirely about him once Ansem got closer and started talking to him. It was always nice to hear those sort of words directed at him, really, and Kadaj took his hand without a second though.

"I'd be honored~" he said teasingly, amused at his enthusiasm. Not really fair, considering Kadaj himself had gravitated here simply by hearing him, but oh well. Ansem didn't need to know that.

Hojo made a startled noise as he was more-or-less shoved into the wall in Ansem's mad dash for his lover. Well, that answered the question of why the silver-haired boy was here... He assumed, at least, and there was no way he was going to ask. Instead he worked on making himself hard to notice while he waited for the other two to move out of the doorway so he could leave.

The moment Kadaj took his hand, the world around Ansem narrowed to that single presence. Would touch come so easily now that he had shown Kadaj some of the benefits? He sincerely hoped. But he supposed he would not truly discover the answer to that question until they were alone once more.

The tease in Kadaj's voice registered with Ansem as only one of many in the boy's childlike personality; he did not take it personally.

"Then it would be my pleasure." Ansem smiled, leading the boy formally into the lab.

"Mr. Hojo," he added over his shoulder without bothering to look back. "I have not yet had the opportunity to explain the laboratory and its foreign equipment to you. You might find it helpful to attend."

With no more than that, he led Kadaj over to the computer that took up an entire corner of the lab, taking the boy's right hand in his, so that he could drape his left arm around the slender waist as they walked.

"This is the main computer," he explained. "It monitors and records all of the data received by various devices in the laboratory. It also powers and controls the basic functions of all of the equipment.

Just now, as the experiments have not yet begun, it has little to do." He waved a hand at the small journal lying on the flat surface near one of the keyboards. "So I directed it to interface with the city's journal and messaging system so that I could review it on the main screen."

He tapped a button and the map of the city came up on a monitor that had appeared to just be part of the wall before but now showed to take up an area of 2 by 3 meters.

Kadaj looked over the computer, expression suitably impressed. Computers and laboratories weren't particularly new to him, but this was still impressive all the same. He thought it was clever of Ansem to connect it with the journal network, though.

The arm around his waist seemed to recieve little notice, although that was more because Kadaj didn't mind it rather than because he just hadn't noticed it. It was really sort of nice to be led around the lab by Ansem, and he shifted his wait just a little so that he was brought closer to him.

Funny, it seemed like that man-- Hojo was it?-- fit in perfectly with the laboratory environment, at least in Kadaj's mind. He still couldn't figure out why, though. How irritating.

Hojo, really, was just kind of annoyed at the assumption that he needed to be told how laboratories worked. Sure, this was a nice lab, but he didn't need his hand held. Still, he followed somewhat behind the others, half-listening and half musing to himself about gods-knew-what.

If Ansem were a being capable of happiness, this would have been as close as he'd ever gotten: walking around his personal chapel dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, explaining its intricacies to...someone most dear, having that someone huddled close against him as they went.

He led them on a full tour of the outer laboratory, explaining the various machinery and significant tools without going into much detail. Mr. Hojo did not seem inclined to ask questions, and Ansem was almost looking forward to the time when he would ask for clarification later and he would be able to berate the scientist for not paying attention now.

Ansem was aware of Vicious moving around in the background, but he seemed to want to keep to himself and merely observe in his own way. This was hardly a social occasion, and Ansem was content to let him mind his own business.

The tour ended with the containment facilities. There were only three set up so far; Ansem wanted to construct each unit to suit its specific inhabitant. The ones in place now were crude structures only, the largest of which held what remained of his ungrateful pet.

"And this is where the subjects will be contained until we are ready for them," Ansem was concluding. He felt somehow...awkward with Kadaj as audience before the cage containing the crumpled and broken form. "At the moment, it is merely serving to house a disobedient pet who needed to be taught a lesson." Ansem glanced surreptitiously at Kadaj, uncertain what the boy's reaction would be.

Kadaj was more amused than anything else at first, looking over the huddled body with a slight smirk. "A disobedient pet, is it? Interesting...." Almost as though sensing Ansem's anxiety and wanting to compound it, he continued to examine him. His eyes trailed over him before stopping on the blonde spiky hair, eyes widening slightly as some seemed to click into place in his mind. That couldn't be-- could it?

Rather abruptly, Kadaj pulled away from Ansem to close the distance between himself and the cage, determined to get a better look. The eyes were obviously closed, but Kadaj didn't need to see them to know that they would be a bright, mako-tainted blue. Of all the people for him to run into from his world, it had to be him, didn't it?

He whirled around to face Ansem, pointing behind him to clearly indicate the "pet" and demanding angrily, "Why is he here?!" He sounded so bratty even to his own ears that he mentally winced, still not dropping the arm. He couldn't bring himself to care beyond that, though; the presence of his wayward older brother was just too shocking.

Ansem was immediately relieved when he saw that Kadaj was amused by the caged, broken young man.

But it did not last. As his little peacock continued to look in at his pet, something unpleasant began to build within Kadaj, until Ansem was certain he was going to throw a tantrum over something.

He was just baffled as to what it could be. If he was not somehow jealous, then...

At the boy's outburst, Ansem paused to attempt to unriddle the hidden meaning in his tone.

Why was he so angry? Did he feel Ansem had mistreated Cloud?
No.
There was too much hatred in his voice.

But he was utterly at a loss to understand why, so he said instead, simply, sounding rather helpless, "You...know this man?"

Hopefully the rest of the tantrum yet to come would make things clear, so that he could offer a solution and soothe the boy's irrational temper.

Shortly after they stopped at the blond man trapped in a cage, Vicious back tracked for the entrance. He had heard enough and there was more to explore of the fortress besides this one room where later he would spend much of his time tonight. Slipping into the hall then quietly closing the door behind him he lit a cigarette. So the journals were bugged and Ansem was stealing people for his work. What he was planing to do with them...well Vicious had ideas and didn't want to go further than that. He reached for the journal and stolen stylus in his pocket while wandering down the hall to the left.

Loud voices. Loud voices pulling him away from the quiet, dark place he'd been staying in. Coming back meant greeting the pain with wide open arms. And that pain was eager to have him back.

Cloud opened his eyes slightly. He could see Ansem. Was there more punishment waiting? Hojo in the background. And someone very close. Someone with silver hair and an indignant voice. Cloud didn't recognize it.

What did they want? He'd been left in peace for so long. Memories of the discipline were still sharp in his mind. So this was where he ended up, in some very uncomfortable cage. Cloud stayed curled up quietly, listening, wondering what his new punishment would be.

Oh. Well, of course Ansem wouldn't understand. Silly him. Heeheehee...

Kadaj let his arm fall finally, sending a small glance over his shoulder at the blond man. But, hadn't this been what he wanted? To be reunited with his family? The traitor hadn't been his first choice, obviously, but...

He started laughing softly. "He's my older brother~" he said in a bright, cheery voice, giving Ansem a beautific smile. "I'm so glad you caught him, Ansem. This will make things so much easier..."

It would be a lot harder to kill Cloud if he didn't know where he was after all.

The boy's temper seemed to cool at the question, but there was still a mania in him that remained since he had recognised the man inside the cage. It manifested as laughter, and Ansem became even more concerned.

When Kadaj revealed that his pet was his older brother, Ansem was even more confused. He hated not understanding, not knowing, perhaps more than anything in the universe. This couldn't be one of the brothers Kadaj had spoken of. Ansem would surely have recognised that sleeping Presence in his pet. And yet...that intoxicating Darkness...

Comparing the two now side by side, there was something they shared, but it was not connected to that magnificence he had seen in the Sephiroth, it was something...else.

Ansem walked the two steps that took him close to the smiling boy. "If it pleases you, then I am also pleased. But tell me, my love, what have I facilitated for you by taking him? I thought Yazoo and Loz were the brothers you sought..."

Still smiling, Kadaj moved a little closer to Ansem's side, wrapping both of his arms around the taller man's waist and giving him a hug.

"Killing him, obviously. What else could I possibly have planned for a traitor?"

Kadaj slipped away again before Ansem could react, begining to circle the the cage with a subtly disturbing gleam in his eye. "I would have liked to find Yazoo and Loz before him, to be sure, but this might be a blessing in disguise... I can take care of him all by myself then continue my search uninterrupted. Mother would be pleased."

To say he was caught off-guard by the boy's sudden embrace would have left out the important factor of just how this automatic and unplanned action, so naturally affectionate, made Ansem feel. He was too stunned to respond in kind before Kadaj had pulled away again.

"What else could I possibly have planned for a traitor?"

Ansem raised an eyebrow at this information. "I see."

He let the boy talk himself out as he circled the cage, plotting his revenge.

But somehow, simply killing his pet seemed such a waste. Ansem had had such plans for him, even beyond the use he had had of him thus far...

"I would never deny you your prize, my love. But first, I should like to hear the story of his betrayal. There is so much of your past I do not yet know."

So saying, he moved to Kadaj's side once more, and placed a gentle hand on his cheek, looking down into bloodthirsty green eyes.

"And then," he continued, softly, "when you have told me your story, I shall tell you of the special plans I had for your...brother. You may find them interesting."

Kadaj looked up at him, his attention finally leaving Cloud and focusing on Ansem. It was a lot harder than it sounded, really; for the person whose very existence defied all of Mother's and Sephiroth's best efforts at achieving their goals to be so close and already in a weakened state and still be unable to harm him irritated him, so much that he could hardly stand it.

But he would wait. For now.

"I would be happy to tell you about his betrayal... and I'd definitely be interested in hearing these plans of yours."

Kadaj was pleased. The more time he spent around Ansem, the more sure he was that he understood him-- maybe not as well as Yazoo and Loz did, obviously, but enough that he felt reassured that his decision to trust him hadn't been the wrong one. Staying had been a good idea after all.

"Very well," Ansem said, with a sexy smile. "Let me show you, then." His hand smoothed a path down the boy's cheek to his throat, tracing a line to his shoulder and finally dipping down to wrap around his waist once more. He guided Kadaj back over to the main computer and quickly zipped through some menus and entered a passcode or two before a schematic came up on the screen.

Ansem pulled up one of the rolling desk chairs that were scattered around various research stations in the lab. "Please sit." He turned back to the computer, leaning over the keyboard eagerly as he spoke.

"I noted in the test subject from the beginning a particular type of Darkness with which I was unfamiliar. It is what drew me to him, initially." Not the whole truth, but close enough for Ansem's purposes.

He pushed a button and the unintelligible scrawl of formulae and sigils changed to a CG rendering of one of the larger machines in the lab. A Cloud-puppet appeared on the pallet of the machine.

"In theory, with the right procedure, it may be possible to draw out that Darkness - for it is not a type I find myself capable of fully manipulating by hand - unusual in and of itself..."

The next screen showed a Heartless-like modified Cloud sitting up on the pallet, Darker and better than before.

"Executed properly, he would become an entirely new strain of Heartless." The excitement was evident in Ansem's voice. "Perhaps, Heartful, if the Darkness could be magnified without the removal of the organ, and I believe it may be possible..."

The next screen showed a giant Cloud-Heartless with fangs and dreadlocks.

"The imagination pales at what it might be capable of."

He turned back to Kadaj, a mad scientist light in his glowing eyes. "I should like very much to experiment with his Darkness." Ansem closed his eyes for a moment, and the extent to which his eyes had been glowing became clear in their absence.

"Of course," he allowed, "if the procedure fails, if it is not performed just so, he will die."

He opened his eyes once more, looking earnestly down at Kadaj. "But his life is yours, my love, and I would not do this without your ascent."

Ansem knelt down in front of the boy, taking his hand.

"That Darkness...is that...what connects the two of you? Did he get that from...'Mother?'"

If so, and he were allowed to experiment with it, it would give Ansem a head start on obtaining the information he would need to eventually defeat her.

Hojo was rather startled by the fact that Ansem seemed to have a slide show set up to explain his plot. He didn't laugh out loud but he couldn't keep from grinning, thoroughly amused. He'd kept back, deciding to remain rather unobtrusive, so it was unlikely he'd have been noticed even if he did make noise.

Still. The 'darkness' Ansem spoke of... Cloud had mentioned it earlier. His amused expression faded as he began to think on it. What in the world could he have been referring to? It was a concept, not a tangible thing, and one can't experiment with concepts. And 'heartless'? Impossible, unless an alternate valve system was implanted artificially and that was unlikely to be any sort of enhancement.

...And yet. It was possible that Ansem was referring to something similar to the Lifestream-energy used to make mako. A sort of anti-mako? He couldn't think of what the opposite of life could be, other than death, which was a state of being or a verb, not a force. Unless it was a force and he just didn't know it... but what possible purpose would a 'deathstream' serve?

Perhaps once Ansem and Kadaj left he could go through the files on the computer, because he felt like he was grasping at straws and without more information he knew he couldn't even begin to form a hypothesis.

Kadaj was quite frankly fascinated by Ansem's little plan. His older brother, experimented on and made into a new type of... what was it, "Heartless?" Possibility of death... heh. He was begining to think that it sounded like such a better option than simply killing him like he had originally planned, so he smiled approvingly down at Ansem.

"I don't know if this 'Darkness' you talk about is from Mother, but it's definitely a possibility. I don't like the idea of any of her cells being experimented on any further, but my dear older brother lost any and all right to them the moment he turned his back on her. With that in mind... I wouldn't mind at all if you went along with your plan."

He thought of something suddenly and his smile turned slightly wicked. "I have only one condition... can I watch?"

So his pet did have some connection to this "Mother" as well... Something about these cells Kadaj was so eager to find. Could he have been injected with them, perhaps? Was this "Mother" in fact some sort of Virus?

Fascinating.

Unfortunately, he could hardly ask his little peacock for confirmation. Ansem did not want to risk making him suspicious.

For now, he had permission to experiment, and that was all he needed.

Well, perhaps not all...

The wicked smile only made the boy's beautiful features that much more attractive. Ansem's lips curved in a sly smile in response.

"Nothing would please me more," he purred, leaning up to kiss the devious little prince.

Just then, the computer chimed, indicating one of Ansem's message board queries had received a new message. He leaned over and brought up the journal's mailbox.

The weather mage was in place, it seemed. He quickly sent her word that he was on his way.

"My love..." he smiled deviously, turning back to Kadaj, "how would you like to join me in procuring a new test subject? It might prove...amusing."

Cloud listened to the plans intently. Ansem had thought things out in great detail, even including graphics in his grand scheme. So that was what he was to become. Well, not if he had anything to say about it. He wasn't going to sit here and let those things happen to him. He had almost escaped once before. If he hadn't gotten lost, he would have made it into the night safely. One more try, one more chance, and he would definitely get away.

But he'd need help. Cloud had no idea how to pick a lock without any tools. He'd also need clothes. He wasn't planning on running away stark naked. Maybe Hojo could be manipulated. It was the only chance he had, since Hojo probably spent the most time in the lab undisturbed.

Anyway, it was interesting to watch Ansem fawn all over the silver-haired man. The one who claimed to be his brother. He'd been mistaken. Cloud had no brothers. He'd never even seen this man before, and he was very vindictive for a stranger. Ansem seemed to be very fond of him. A replacement pet. Well, they could have each other. Cloud didn't care much for rough love. Still, the new pet reminded Cloud of someone he'd known before. He couldn't shake that feeling.

He needed to get out.

Kadaj blinked. A new test subject? ... Well, why not? It wasn't like he really had any other engagements, really, since his search for his brothers had temporarily been put on hold. Besides, hanging around here with the other thoroughly uninteresting people would be incredibly dull.

"All right~ since you say it will be amusing," he replied, that same smile on his face. "'Procuring,' is it? That should be interesting... although, I wonder if I might need my sword..?"

He trailed off significantly, giving Ansem an expectant look.

"How remiss of me!" Ansem's expression was a Vaudevillian show of surprise and regret. "Of course you may have your weapons back, though you will not need them for this exercise." With a gesture, Kadaj was once again armed as he had arrived at the fortress.

Ansem favoured his beloved with a sly smile. "This will be an exercise of trickery and entrapment, not force. I have a feeling you will excel in it. In fact, I may let you do it alone." He passed his hand over the silver hair in a fond caress.

Then he stood and turned to the scientist, who was lurking in the vicinity of his pet's cage. "Mr. Hojo. We shall be away on business for a short time. As Vicious seems to have...wandered off, I leave the subject in your hands until we return. Do not make a mess of the lab this time."

Feeling those instructions adequate, Ansem extended one arm to create a Dark Gate before offering the other to Kadaj.

Hojo bit back the slight scowl he wanted to express at the order and simply nodded, his glasses catching the light with the slight motion. Honestly, it had been an accident. And he'd cleaned it up.

This would give him a good reason to search through the main computer for more information on this 'darkness.' The concept was an interesting one, and he wanted to know more, especially if he was to be assisting Ansem in working with it.

Surrounded by Idiots [Completed]

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To Hojo-bitch and Vicious

no subject

no subject

To Vicious

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

To Vicious and those guys over there

To Hojo

Re: To Hojo

To anyone

To Hojo and Ansem~

To Kadaj

To Hojo and Kadaj

To Hojo (kinda) and Ansem

;_;

To Hojo and Kadaj

To Ansem and Hojo

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

To Kadaj <3

To Ansem~

To Kadaj: Marry me? Love, Ansem

To Ansem~<3

To Kadaj OTP-luv

no subject

To Ansem~

To Kadaj <3333

no subject

To Ansem~

To Kadaj and Hojo

I wish glasses did this in real life. To Ansem. :D