More in the vein of the Mewtwo Project
88. Predict
Even if he had been expecting such a big shock, he never would have expected this.
They sat across from each other in the kitchen in tense silence. Nanba could hardly bear to look at the horribly disfigured man before him.
“ I really don’t know what to say.” The doctor picked at a dent in the table top, intently focusing on it to avoid the present situation. “ I’m glad that you’re…alive.”
He had intended to say alive and well, but couldn’t do it.
“ Well, that makes one of us.”
The other man sat calmly, staring, seeming to wait for something. His expression seemed to say that he would only explain himself if Nanba really was too dense to figure it out on his own.
“ We thought you were dead…you disappeared in the accident and we assumed…”
“ I know what happened.”
“…right. You were there.”
Nanba finally did look up, very slowly like a scolded child, to meet his eyes. He supposed that once you got past the shock, the disfigurement really wasn’t that bad. He was burned almost everywhere. Nanba quickly tried to force himself to get past the thought that his skin looked like a pizza after you took off the cheese…dimpled and uneven. It’s the same thing, I guess. He thought. Remove the cheese, remove the skin.
“ Do you know why I bothered to come here today?” Fuji seemed to stare right through him.
Nanba knew good and well, though he hadn’t figured out how Fuji had known exactly what they were up to since he hadn’t bothered to return to Team Rocket after the success of the Mewtwo Project. The fact that someone on the outside had access to their information unnerved him.
“ You want to come back to work.” He decided to play stupid anyway. It was a good thing his wife wasn’t home. “ Speaking of, I’m supposed to be at the lab right now. We had an appointment with Gio-“
He cut himself off, realizing that he was about to tell on himself anyway.
“ I know that after looking at me an intelligent man would have deduced this already, but I came to tell you that you’re making a grave mistake.”
“ Well, of course you would think that,” the smaller man tried to rationalize, “ because your Mewtwo got away, but-“
“ Nothing has come so far in the past few years to prevent this from happening again. I’m begging you not to repeat my mistake.”
Nanba sighed heavily. That wasn’t necessarily true. Fuji had handled the project alone, but he and Sebastian were on this together along with a huge team of scientists. Giovanni was keeping a much closer watch on things this time around. With more people and more advanced technology, he was confident that they wouldn’t repeat Fuji’s mistake.
Sebastian seemed confident about it, anyway.
“ Well…why don’t you go to Professor Sebastian about this? “ Nanba asked, trying to remove responsibility from his own shoulders. “ He won’t listen to me, there’s no way he’ll quit.”
“ Unless Sebastian has changed a lot,” Fuji explained, “ I know he has a blatant disregard for human life. Do you think he cares if this kills you? Science comes first.”
Nanba thought about this for a moment.
“ Sebastian is thirsty for fame and recognition and perfection in the same way I was desperate to have Amber back. I didn’t care I was creating a monster that Giovanni intended to destroy the world with. My needs were being fulfilled as well. That’s why you must stop him.”
Very clearly trying not to believe this, Nanba shook his head to cue the other man to stop.
“ I appreciate your concern about it and all. It’s been good to see you again.” He said calmly. “ But we have everything under control.”
“….very well.”
Despite his disfigurement, disgust could easily be read in Fuji’s expression. He stood and leaned over the table, getting a little too close for the other man’s comfort.
“ I can’t stop you. I just hope that when history repeats itself you’re a luckier man that I was. Take a good long look at yourself.”
Nanba had to remain sitting for quite some time after that.