#kunsel: you hand it to me right now i can tell you're hiding something ( gets kidnapped so that they can find the secret warehouse )

[vctlan]

[ FOURTEEN ]  receiver was kidnapped,  sender shows up to "save" them.  (tseng coming to collect kunsel's ass)

MEME | @pseudodead

In truth, it is not hard to find the scraps of the SOLDIER program out in the wild, a scattering of wanna-be mercenaries let go due to deficiencies in mako adaptability or those afflicted with cellular degeneration that rendered them useless in combat with a short-term expiration date, unsalvageable even for managerial and educational contexts.

(It is hard to feel positive morale and believe the propaganda of your own indestructibility when those set to teach you are wasting away before your own eyes, after all.)

Dealing with them would give you critical insight into the program and how they worked on a baseline, but you would be dealing with a warped and unclear picture, your sample size quickly deteriorating under duress. If you were to replicate Shin-Ra's human experimentation, set to create your own super-soldiers, you would have to try and capture a live one, properly handled by the Science Department, at their full capabilities.

A task seemingly impossible until you remember that at their core, they are humans too, as monstrous as they might appear.

Wrong place, right time -- nothing distinguished Kunsel from any other SOLDIER, merely the one unlucky enough to get dispatched for this mission, baited in by his own curiosity as to who could be behind the clearly premeditated monster attacks. For once, it wasn't Shinra, but as humourous as that thought was it did nothing to spare him from being taken in by surprise, status afflicted to hell until he could barely tell what was up and what was down.

Sure would figure that they'd premeditate and plan this attack to avoid direct confrontation -- and he would've considered that fact, had he known this to be a possibility, a thought immediately creeping into his skull as he wakes to the beeping of his own heart monitor, limbs shackled to the operation table he'd been laid upon, shed of his armor.

SOLDIERs 3C had been going missing mid-mission, only to be found days if not weeks later -- some fairing better than others, some dead, but it was all very hush-hush. Even he barely heard of it, what glimpses he got into the topic wrung from those that were found and heard in frustrated mutterings from Hojo, complaining about his work being half-assedly plagiarized. He knew it was a possibility, a situation that was to be assumed unresolved… but well, the last case was months ago, and you never think this sort of thing will happen to you, now do you? It honestly didn't cross his mind that the rampant monster attacks and SOLDIER disappearances could be connected, both happenings so constant nowadays that they almost turned to white noise in his head.

Tseng, however, who slid this mission his way, certainly would've known more than he did -- and purposefully withheld information from him. Had the Turks gained insight on who was behind this? Was that the reason why the kidnappings paused, whoever organizing them scrambling to reform their plans?

… It didn't make him feel any better ( he'd like his blood back, first of all ) but it did somewhat ease his nerves, weirdly enough; the thought that Tseng knew this would happen.

Because that meant he ought to have a plan, no?

( He better, because if Kunsel found out he just tossed him into the pit to see what'd happen Kunsel would punch him with zero regrets or regard for shattered facial features. )

Unfortunately, to find this out meant biding his time and playing along, trying to keep himself mindful of his body's own resistance, that nothing short of a shot to the head, stake through the heart or complete exsanguination would kill him at the hands of someone like them… and from the conversations he listened in while pretending to still be passed out, they wouldn't be able to get a new "sample" without raising suspicions again.

So he was more or less safe in terms of them not wanting to immediately kill him.

Didn't mean it was particularly comfortable to go through prodding and experimentation by people who still seemed to have no clear understanding of how it was that the SOLDIER program achieved its results -- his only company outside of his capturers was a young man he didn't quite recognize, completely comatose with signs of joint mineralization: a clear case of severe mako poisoning.

They'd tried, and they'd failed… Or they were trying to fix him? Honestly, Kunsel didn't care which it was.

Time passed, and blood samples turned to live tissue samples, and soon after that he was being prepped for some sort of operation, pumped with blood thinners so that his enhanced healing would not get in the way.

That wasn't a good sign. Neither was the fact that he was still awake, even with a mask strapped to his face, gas consistent but nowhere near enough to fully put him under. The 3C he spoke with said he didn't remember anything but… there was the catch. He was 2C, it probably didn't cross their mind to adjust for his own heightened levels. Or they didn’t care.

Okay, now he was starting to get just slightly worried --

Shots ring out, and blood splatters against Kunsel's face as a scalpel cuts down from the top of his breastbone, only getting as far as his navel before the body holding it jerks and drops it to the floor, metal utensil clattering to the floor as the surgeon collapses on top of Kunsel.

The chaos that follows suit is loud, hard to follow, and messy, but it's over quickly.

And he can recognize the sound of dress shoes against rough cemented flooring immediately, drawing in a sigh of relief while also trying not to look like he'd questioned if they were ever going to show up.

"Took you guys long enough." It's muffled through the oxygen mask, drawled through a moderately sedated body, but it at least immediately lets them know he was awake. Blood pools around him on the operating table, but it's hard to gauze whose it was with a dead man currently on top of him.

When he's freed, cut hastily healed, and reunited with his apparel, Kunsel can't help but hold onto his helmet in his hands and glare at Tseng as they board the helicopter back, entirely unamused and making sure he knew Kunsel's reading on the situation.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" A beat passes, and that anger turns into frustration towards himself, both at being obviously played and at not seeing it coming. "A heads up would've been nice, at least. I might not be Loveless theatre production worthy, but I can fake being clueless if you wanted to set them a trap."

Still though… it was kind of interesting seeing a case come to it's resolute conclusion. Not that he'd admit he thought it was kind of fun if you take out the “about to be vivisected” part.

The planted warehouse fire behind them is set to burn everything inside into absolute carbon before the emergency services would be allowed to react. He'd feel bad for the comatose kid but… mineralization that advanced was a dead end. And any remains of this sort of experimentation would only bring with it copy cats.

All that Kunsel cared about now was getting his Mako-booster shot, eating his weight in food and then immediately passing out.