The Forgotten Hero

Chapter 23

            Rufus left the control room shortly. He motioned for her to follow him. Verna quickly ran after him, eager to get away from Heidegger. She already got her shots of him. She just wished she could see his face when he saw them.

            “Scarlet’s still outside your room,” Rufus noted at the sight of the not-so-prudish female.

            Verna frowned. This was going to be problematic. All of her things were in her room, including her laptop. Her eyes widened. Her laptop. Scarlet could very well hack into it and read her news articles and then her cover would be blown.

            “I can’t let her get to my laptop,” Verna whispered to Rufus.

            Rufus nodded slowly as he approached the room, “Scarlet, step aside.”

            Scarlet did so begrudgingly, “Why do you need to get into her room?”

            “Jane’s having an issue with motion sickness. She’ll be staying in my room, so I can keep an eye on her,” Rufus walked in and grabbed a bag while Verna grabbed the rest. “I’m just getting her things.”

            “Tch, whatever,” Scarlet crossed her arms as she looked out into the hallway. She took a step back and gulped audibly.

            Verna looked over to see a man with greasy slicked back hair hunched over. The man pushed his glasses up as he examined everyone in the room. Behind him was a Turk. Verna’s seen him before, his name was Rude. The man in the white lab coat, she didn’t know.

            “Caring for another human being, President? That’s highly unlike you,” The man remarked in a voice that seemed to claw at chalkboards. “Exactly who is this Jane? Hmm? She surely must be the specimen.”

            “Hojo,” Rufus glared. “I seem to remember you abandoning Shin-Ra. What are you doing here?”

            “I was merely on a vacation before Sephiroth killed your father,” Hojo placed his hands behind his back. “I’m here to see the crater. I have a hypothesis that I want to see. If it turns out I’m right things will be very interesting.”

            “And what would that hypothesis be?”

            “Oh, nothing that concerns you, for now,” Hojo turned to leave. “I don’t want to interfere with him, not at all. Besides, it’s probably too late for you to stop anything.”

            He walked away with the Turk close on his tail. It was obvious that no one trusted the man – the scientist. Verna certainly didn’t like him – at all. He seemed like he could care less about the lives of others just as long as he could run an experiment.

            “Let’s go,” Rufus walked past Verna and led her to her room. Verna looked back as Scarlet started to follow them.

            “I should see if she’s alright,” She tried to play off.

            “Absolutely not,” Rufus responded in a harsh tone that was borderline yelling. “If you set foot into my room you will be fired immediately. Do I make myself clear?”

            Rufus looked back at the manager. Verna felt her heart leap at the menacing glare. His eyes were extremely cold. She’s never once seen this side of him. Yes, it seemed like his temper was starting to go to the extreme on this ship, but he still managed to remain calm. Now…His calmness was evaporating under the hellish flames of his wrath.