[ OOC ]
[ ooc: lol spam. D: I'm sorry guys. All done now! ]
07th Mar 08: Due to a hiatus during this month, things have been a little quieter. Maizuru was kidnapped by Wesker, and a search party was organised in order to find him. Fortunately he was returned unharmed and brought in for questioning about what he remembered. During this time Shu also met Auron. The man burst through his door demanding that a search party be organised to find Braska, who had been kidnapped by Seymour. When asked to fill out the paperwork, Auron smacked the lot out of his hands and onto the floor, only conceding when Shu made a bluff to leave and ignore the problem. Shu has since developed something of a minor crush on Auron, and realising he was also had the potential to become an excellent ally, he somewhat strong-armed him into joining ShuRa. Seymour was added to the list of threats.
It is at this point that Will Birkin arrived. Noticing Wesker's panicked and threatening behaviour towards the man, Shu insisted he come to the ShuRa building for safety and asylum. He was then moved to ShinRa's building due to their stronger security, though he was still considered to be within ShuRa's protection, and the higher employees had full access to him.
Shu came down with severe flu for the week; when he returned, he discovered that a love event had stretched through the Valentine's Day week, and that it jumped straight from that into an age event - where a considerable body of Purgatorium's citizens were suddenly a great deal older, or pint-sized. The children began to flock into the dangerous streets; Shu, looking to bring order, took advantage of the children's fertile imagination and talk of space aliens.
My name is Shu, and I am a mutant space alien. I'm going to eat you all.
I've been noticing that you intend to gather at the clock tower. Clearly my plan is working! You see, I have disguised myself as a clock tower, and I will gobble you all up the moment you come near me.
Of course, what I will fail to tell you is that staying in the safety of your homes with an adult is my only weakness. You will never get that out of me for as long as I live.
So come, children.
Come into my hungry gullet and let me know the taste of human flesh.
This proved fairly effective against a large number of the children, though he unintentionally terrorised several others. It was also the first time he met Lockon, a man he would come to appreciate and respect as one of Allelujah's equals.
Kurama notified Shu that he had, via the innocent kindness of Marina and Grantz's connection to her, been able to send forward a seed that would bloom and restrict Grantz's movements, eventually paralysing him. This was the first indicator for Shu of Kurama's potential, and he told him that he was very impressed - though Kurama naturally felt burdened by the abuse of Marina's trust. However, his efforts were not successful, and efforts to confine Grantz fell to the wayside when Wesker appeared.
In a stroke of good fortune, Wesker was regressed by the event, and de-aged mentally and physically to approximately four or five years old. He made for an eerie child, calling himself Subject 63255 and robotically, carefully and precisely performing tasks. Shu jumped on the opportunity and claimed to be Professor "Shubert", telling Wesker that he was transferred to the new test facility due to security problems in the other that had since cut off their communication. Wesker willingly entered ShuRa's care, and Kurama took custody of him.
However, Kurama got himself in considerable trouble then when a recording was released on the network as he used his vines to subdue a struggling demon child. When it seemed that Kurama would have to leave due to his moral conflict with Maizuru, Shu took him aside and told him he would keep him on under no clear occupation, but that his work would continue as normal and he would still receive pay. Kurama was able to explain that demon children couldn't be treated the same as human children, and that he would have destroyed the office had he not found a way to hold onto him.
Elena came to live with Shu at around this time, initially to take care of Schuldig and then to have some privacy when the new influx of Turks made her home and liquor cabinet their base.
During this time, Schuldig came to Shu, informing him that he had slept with someone during the Valentine's week. Shu withdrew from him significantly, and though this clearly distressed Schuldig to no end, Shu threw himself into his work and very much turned a blind eye to him for some while. Though he claimed not to blame Schuldig for what happened, as he was under the god's influences, he also explained to Elena that he wasn't ready to face him at that point in time. However, when Schuldig regressed to childhood age and vanished, accompanying a presumed child molestor calling himself Batman (it was actually the unfortunately misunderstood Yohji), a search effort was mounted, but Schuldig wasn't located until the end of the event.
Kurama eventually came to Shu, proposing a way of exhausting Wesker. His Tyrant cells still remained in his child form; needing to consume more food than most humans falling into a hybernetic state when he couldn't, Kurama put him on a regime that exhausted the child, refusing it food. Finally, Wesker fell into his hibernetic state, and was confined. Kurama and Shu once again spoke of their interest in the greater good, despite the questionable moral cost. Wesker was a child then, but it was a temporary thing. They both knew it was the only chance they had.
The event ended. Schuldig was found, Wesker remained in his hibernation state, and Shu managed to upset Asellus by making a joke in very poor taste about revoking the permission he gave during the child event of supporting Asellus and Cosmas's relationship. Thankfully, things were soon resolved, and Shu apologised sincerely.
It was very shortly after the event that Shu realised Mathiu had been gone for some time. He grieved for the loss of his mentor, and threw himself, once again, into his work. Allelujah was added to the sphere of knowledge as to Wesker's location, something that had been kept a secret for the most part amongst a small handful of employees.
He permitted his executives to employ others under their own departments without the necessity of going through Shu, though permission to fire an employee still had to be sought in case the individual could instead be transferred. With ShuRa's limited manpower, he suspected this would be a good way to gain some strength.
Additionally, there was a major incident involving Lockon, Logan and Allelujah. Allelujah's insane, sadistic alter ego was activated by proximity to Soma, and though the problem was resolved and he reverted, Logan was wary of keeping someone so dangerous within the company. Lockon attempted to threaten Logan, and Shu made a private announcement to the three of them to keep all disagreements within the company and private, and to speak to him in the event of any major incidences. Allelujah retained the job, as the one best qualified for it.
He had a heartfelt talk with Schuldig about his rejection of Cissnei, a problem that was still going on, and he did his best to convince him to speak to her again with rather lacking success.
Shortly after this, however, Schuldig was killed. It appeared he had shot himself, and Shu had been made aware of the fact that he had planned to engage in a fight against a man called Warren, who used psionics. It seemed he had killed himself to avoid coming under his control. Sylar found him and transferred his body to Shu. Elena came to live with him until Schuldig came back to life. Though Shu was devastated, part of him was at least glad that he could finally do for Schuldig what Schuldig had done for him all that time ago, after he threw himself from the tower.
Things were about to take an unusual twist. As Grantz became the new great power in Wesker's place, he took Allelujah, experimenting on him ruthlessly. Hojo soon got involved, bringing his own pet project to the table to try on Allelujah, and the experiments were soon coloured by systematic torture.
Shu went to the seemingly dead, hibernating form of Wesker and gave him a proposal:
We're going after Grantz. You know his location well, I'm sure. We know you have all shared laboratories. We know you are in open communication with each other. You can give us his location, and of course, we can set you free. With conditions.
Firstly, you will come under the control of the ShuRa company. You will be our employee and our dog. You will comply with our every order. You will be constantly under supervision.
[...]
I'll also be looking into power limiters, various other controls should it prove necessary, but I would hope the idea of a sudden, debilitating pain coursing through your nerves would be more than enough deterrent.
I'll give you time to consider. In a day, we will rouse you - heavily drugged, I might add, so don't try to be clever - and you will be given the chance to inform us of your decision. If you don't remember this, it will be replayed for your benefit. If you refuse, we'll put you back under, and that will be it.
I trust you'll make the right decision.
Shu was in luck. Wesker made the right decision. He gave ShuRa the most trap-riddled directions to their shared laboratory where Grantz had since been paralysed by Kurama's plants. He had slid the seeds into the food Marina baked for Grantz, and Marina fell out with Kurama as a result, seeing it as a betrayal.
Grantz was able to escape through killing himself. Allelujah, now Hallelujah as that was the only personality Grantz claimed was left, was also set free.
It appeared that at this point, Shu began the systematic process of killing Wesker, over and over and over, eradicating as many of his pre-Purgatorium memories as he could. It seemed his actions were urgent; he told no-one of what he had done, apparently aware that his time was growing short.
He was correct. One the 3rd of March, Shu was uprooted from Purgatorium, able only to say one very brief goodbye to a few key people. He was cut off just as he got to Schuldig, and has now seemingly left for good.
In his absence, ShuRa has reshaped. Logan was able to take command, and the new system has branched out to include new jobs, and several new recruits.
Schuldig was devastated by the loss, however. Speaking curtly to others for several days, he drew away from the Company, drew away from everyone. His Nobody, Axel, even pressed Roxas to let them merge to make him better, but Roxas refused to allow it, not wanting to lose Axel.
However, Schuldig eventually returned, claiming Shu had come home. Many people were baffled, many more angry that Shu had made no announcement to the effect. However, Roxas contacted Elena, telling her he believed Schuldig was not all right in the head, and that the Shu was not the Shu he claimed he was. Concerned, Elena went to meet with Schuldig and find out what was going on.
Her worst fears were confirmed. Schuldig assured her Shu would be home soon, and a slam and a scrape let them know when he had come.
It was Shu that stood on the other side of him, to a degree. Instead of the strategist's usual intelligent face, this creature had a stupid one, mouth hanging slightly open. His mouth, chin, and all the way up to his cheeks to nearly the eyes was coated in blood, bits of fur and scraps of meat stuck to his skin. The man's skin was fishbelly white, eyes glazy blue with death. Near his hairline was a pitted hole, the flash of bone seen through it. Elena was probably smart enough to recognize a bullet wound when she saw one. The creature's gaze tracked Schuldig as he moved, the tendons in Shu's neck creaking as he did.
"You need to get cleaned up, Lieb. Elena is here," Schuldig said patiently, dipping the cloth in a pot of water before taking one of the creature's hands and starting to clean it.
- teufel_schu
He had, in his grief and desperation, dug up the zombie that ShinRa had kept for research, and used all his mental will to keep him under control and cohabiting with him. Elena leveled the gun at it, telling Schuldig that this wasn't the Shu he wanted. Schuldig responded by telling Elena that there was still part of Shu in there somewhere, as Shu had once told Schuldig that he had a faint memory of attacking Rufus after he died.
The ShuRa company is currently looking to bring justice against Hojo and Grantz, who have both been mocking their efforts and Hallelujah/Allelujah over the network.
The ShuRa company as it stood at this time.
26th April 07: It has been a very, very, very long time since the last update, because I am a bad mun. D:
While Shu was gone, Duke assisted Wesker in breaking out of ShuRa, thus making himself an enemy to the company. However, Wesker has been lying low ever since to avoid capture.
Shu returned after a year on his home world, only to discover that a single week is all that had passed in Purgatorium. He spent a good half-hour hyperventilating in front of the terminal before he finally managed to post.
Severely disorientated and with a very patchy memory, discovering that Schuldig didn't believe he was real only helped to cement his confusion. Elena and Schuldig spoke on his journal, where Shu found that there were allegedly four of him. Zexion had been taking the opportunity to manipulate Schuldig by using Shu's appearance as a disguise for he and Axel, though to what end isn't entirely clear. This was in addition to the zombie, who Elena was unable to kill with Schuldig protecting it.
Elena immediately went to retrieve Shu in the hopes that seeing him would help Schuldig get better. She also kissed him upon his return - a giant leap forward in their relationship, though it left Shu terribly confused about its meaning for some time after.
They found Schuldig at Sunde, and the zombie once again made its appearance. Schuldig defended it still, even as it tried to bite him; he told them that some part of Shu still existed in there, that it was still him, but Shu kept the pressure on him, insisting that what little humanity he might have preserved still eventually died so that he could come back to life after he became a zombie. There was nothing of him left in there.
He asked for Schuldig to put it back in the basement, and Schuldig finally complied. Shu embraced him, and Schuldig began making his shaky way towards reality again, accepting the embrace and returning it. Shu, himself moved after a year of being away, set aside his stoicism in favour of sheer relief. Whether he would voice it or not, he was heartbroken without them, in a daze. It later emerged that he'd tried to explain things to Apple in his own world, and she had taken his ramblings for that of a war-scarred man starting to lose his mind. She'd sought to help him, which he of course rejected.
It was directly on Shu's return that Logan vanished, keeping them from exchanging any words and leaving ShuRa without a head. Shu took the helm of ShuRa once again, and declared a moment of silence exactly one week after Logan's disappearance. His first course of action was to try and mobilise his forces against Hojo, who had performed a vivisection on Roxas on a sound post on the terminals; however, Roxas was released before Hojo could be discovered.
He also made this declaration, in light of some criticism:
I believe that seeing error in our human weakness is the greatest error in humanity.
It's a common misconception that technological advancement, that strength alone is the way to power. It's certainly an advantage that can't be ignored, but this isn't a battlefield where one need only be concerned with one's soldiers outlasting the enemy. This is a sly, cunning evil; if we beat them, we will beat them on their turf, and trying to strong-arm them through bull-headed force of will only gets useful men killed.
I don't care how powerful any of you are. I don't care how many magical abilities you have, how many kilos you can lift. I care only that you are smart, that you're smart enough to plan ahead and still take opportunities as they come, to compensate for your physical, emotional and mental weaknesses; to realise that, regardless of what the enemy has on us, they are no more immortal than we.
All I ask for is a drive greater than their own, and the means to achieve your aims to the best of your ability.
Kurama approached him at this point about perhaps opening communication with Wesker in an effort to make an ally of him. Kurama, whose efforts against Grantz had been so successful, was more than trustworthy to Shu, and so he permitted him to do so. None were aware of the arrangement, and Kurama and Wesker were able to make tentative allies of each other. However, it's hard to tell how much of Kurama's alliance with Wesker is feigned, and just how much is genuine - as well as how much of his activity Shu is actually aware of...
During this time, he also discovered that the Rufus he knew had left and been replaced with another, from a different universe and with different motives; in response to this, Zack and the SOLDIER team had separated from him, and Rufus had been left with his Turks primarily. Shu sought out Rufus to make sense of this, and they discussed. Shu was wary of this Rufus and his less respectful approach to him. Regardless, for what the previous Rufus had done for him, he offered his forces if Rufus required them. This was also the first indication that an electricity project might be formulating, and Shu was more than willing to offer his forces to construct anything necessary to see electricity in action.
During this time, there was a sudden spike in violent attacks within Purgatorium. Shu set up a patrol through the city and cooperated with ShinRa to locate bodies and try to locate culprits. A corpse was found near the clock tower, and there were multiple kidnappings.
Shu tightened the connection with ShinRa, seeking a merge between the two companies. While that didn't quite occur, it did result in him stepping down from his stressful position as head in order to work as an in-between and generate good relations between the two companies. He began training the Turks and resumed his business of generating 5am runs for them to do, though this would prove to be a short-lived arrangement in the end. Kurama was appointed ShuRa leader, though his relations with Wesker were a cause for concern if they were ever discovered.
This was at the time that the Dark Tower plot began. Shu initially felt much of it; he had the first dreams of the strange man with the laceration across his skull, heard the talk of Sora and sought answers on the journals to little effect. However, he kept his eyes and ears open, but it only paid off in making him aware of more signs.
At this time, his ugly shoes were stolen by a cat named Bast, who wore them around everywhere and claimed that they were 'magic'. Shu was outraged, as his shoes meant a great deal to him. Thankfully, they were ultimately returned, though not without an awful lot of white cat hair stuck in them.
It was somewhere through this that Schuldig, Shu and Elena became a threesome relationship of sorts, due to Schuldig's boldness and exposure of their mutual feelings for each other. However, Shu seemed and continues to seem quite disconnected from Schuldig and Elena, who maintain a tighter relationship.
It was at this time that Schuldig showed the first sign of Geostigma: a tiny, leaking bruise on the back of his hand. Shu contacted Dr. Lucrecia for answers, but results were inconclusive at the time. The disease would soon spread, and Elena took over taking care of Schuldig; Shu, in the meantime, would be growing deeper and deeper into his own private world, a lack of sleep worsening his mental state.
When he did sleep, he had poor dreams. He was a victim of another Dark Tower dream, in which he saw others' memories interspersed with angry messages and threats. Shu also saw his own memory of the fire spears.
You forgot the first rule in the book: never put the strategist in danger.
I had to throw away "the book". You've read it too many times.
My calculations weren't far off. It didn't take long for the blaze to spread; a coniferous wood was no more than kindling in waiting once the fire spears touched home. All around, timber fell with deafening crashes and cracks, ashes and embers rising like disturbed dandelion seeds in their wake. My body was caked with fear-and-heat-sweat, my eyes were burning from the brilliance of the light and I had to wonder. I had to wonder what, precisely, made me think this was ever a particularly good idea.
... It had worked, though. Death had been that acceptable inevitability, though part of me had rather hoped for something more positive. I really didn't want to leave little more than a charred corpse after coming this far. It just wasn't the death I wanted.
That was the double-edged sword, I suppose. On the one hand, she taught me that self-sacrifice can have its place, its value. On the other, she taught me that my life could make a considerable difference if I used it wisely.
I didn't realise I was on the ground until Viktor was hauling me up over his shoulder. It had to be Viktor, I thought, because nobody else could possibly smell that bad.
... Looking back, I suppose it was a rather horrible thought to have about the man who saved my life.
After experiencing it, he made a private post to himself, rambling about Low Men and whether he should be preparing for warfare; he took the dream as a threat of world destruction, which may well be how it was meant. His paranoia would only worsen when a post was made on the journals that sounded all too much like Luca Blight speaking of replacing Jowy's position in his army with another blond, and graffiti appeared on the side of ShuRa, reading "MAGGOTS". He quickly had this cleaned off, assisting the ShuRa employees in doing so. He also put out a public warning against anyone resembling Luca, noting the white army and wild black hair. Unfortunately for him, wild black hair is rather common, and Luca wasn't wearing his usual armour. He had fallen in with the company of the Low Men wandering Purgatorium.
Evidence of his paranoia reared when, spotting dialogue between Schuldig and Zexion that seemed to allude to sex, he flew off the handle and threatened them both in one swoop. Schuldig was able to talk him down, explaining where he'd misinterpreted the dialogue. Shu reluctantly gave in, but remains wary.
This possibly also led into his explosive, cruel argument with Elena. He discovered that, while he'd been off being too busy to care about his boyfriend's sickness, Elena had contacted Wesker in hopes of finding some kind of cure for the disease ailing him. Shu saw this as a huge threat to Purgatorium's safety and yelled viciously at her, causing her to leave Shu and Schu for some time.
Shu eventually contacted her on the journals, making a roundabout apology:
Shu:
If you're done feeling sorry for yourself, I'd like you to come home.
Elena:
I wasn't ever feeling sorry for myself!
Shu:
Ah, good. Then you can come home quicker.
Luc arrived, and they conversed briefly. While they have mostly kept out of each other's hair, Shu continues to monitor him, oblivious to what occurred during the Second Fire-Bringer War.
Shu's loathing of his own humanity also seemed to grow, as he made several scathing comments about morality, about humans. Perhaps this was why, when Kurama was revealed to be a demon and actively working with Wesker, Shu ended up privately siding with him; interestingly contradictory to his behaviour towards Elena doing the same.
With Kurama's leadership position damaged, however, he stepped down, and Shu refused to resume his former position, insisting that he remain in the background. Treize became the new company head. This proved to be both a plus and a negative, as Treize was a very competent leader but had made enemies with several members of ShuRa.
A considerable body of their offensive force defected. Most of that defense force were also members of Celestial Being, who Shu had recently discovered to be what he referred to as a "fascist force". He spoke to Allelujah on the matter primarily, as he had been one of the earliest members of ShuRa, and they had always been quite close. Shu had been unimpressed, and had requested some kind of brief on how Celestial Being intended to continue their work in Purgatorium when the environment had proved so different. Allelujah assured him that something would be given to show him what they hoped to do and how they hoped to do it.
Something wasn't given. When most of Allelujah's team - and Allelujah himself - defected to Celestial Being after Treize came into leadership, Shu reacted poorly, making a public declaration against Celestial Being.
Purgatorium.
What follows is a matter of my personal stance on Celestial Being. Not ShuRa's. However, I feel it necessary to make my point from a position of authority and experience.
As you know, there is a new fascist organisation making its presence known here and going by the name of Celestial Being. They are renowned for forcing their way into private conflicts to beat down both sides into doing what satisfies them. They have enjoyed the pleasure of living in a society in which they, presumably, have nothing worth fighting for.
As one whose life has been defined by meaningful and necessary warfare, I will not personally be cooperating with these fascists. Moreover, I believe that Purgatorium should not be burdened with the personal opinions of one lone society. We are different here, and adapting is the only answer. It disappoints me to see good men wasting their time on frivolous, whimsical pursuits, particularly when their goals have no practical application in this new and very different environment.
For further information on my reasons, I am publicising this discussion I held with one of their representatives for your review, dated the 31st of the previous month.
This worsened Allelujah and Shu's relationship considerably, though after a long discussion, they managed to part relatively amicably.
Hojo died at this time, killed by his own portal-making device and, as it was outside of the realm of Purgatorium, he failed to return. One down. Logan had also returned some time earlier, but hadn't returned to ShuRa; Shu did monitor Logan however, noting his strange behaviour, but pinned much of this on Logan having no recollection of anyone here. It was only after Hojo vanished that it emerged that Logan had been manipulated into Hojo. Hojo had convinced him that none of what he was seeing was real, but with him gone, it seems that Logan and Shu's strange friendship may improve.
Shu met with Allelujah at the ball. They danced at this time, and Shu used the opportunity to at once apologise to Allelujah for his unfair conduct, and also to none-too-subtly physically intimidate him and threaten he and Celestial Being. He assured him that he would be very sorry to have to crush them if they got in his away. Allelujah was left somewhat paralysed. They stopped dancing, Shu touched Allelujah's hair somewhat suggestively, and released him. It was his only major encounter at the ball, presumably because he left quite quickly after that, shaken by his own strange conduct.
Their relationship would improve soon enough, however.
Schuldig, delirious with his sickness, decided that Shu was the Phantom from the Phantom of the Opera. After doing some research (though nowhere near enough; KOS-MOS was forced to point out that Phantom was the Angel of Music, not Christine) he made a message on the journals to lure Schuldig to him and get a blood sample out of him. Schuldig would go on to claim that Shu was a vampire, just like Elena; they had both been taking samples to give to other scientists within Purgatorium, seeking answers. Kurama was the next in line to try and identify the problem and resolve it.
Allelujah also replied to the post, and the two of them shared a few lines from one of the songs: Point of No Return. Shu observed that the lines were unusually violent for a love song. Allelujah pointed out that the song was more about obsession, manipulation and control than about love. They continued, their discussion reflecting an unusual parallel in their own working and personal relationship:
Allelujah:
If I remember right...this song's used for a play within a play, so to speak; a show they're putting on in the opera house. There's a young, naive girl named Aminta who's been captivated by a man...Christine plays her... And a man named...I don't remember, but he's lusting after her, so he ends up disguising himself and pretending to be the man she's in love with. And the Phantom ends up playing that role after killing the guy who was originally supposed to. So the whole song's about that seduction, him seducing her to be his. And it parallels into Christine and the Phantom.
......I can't believe I remember this much about the show, especially considering that it's centuries old for me.
Shu:
Then it's a subliminal message to the play, something the audience is more aware of than the players themselves?
... Unless one is the Phantom, of course, and sees all aspects of what is occurring.
Allelujah:
Basically, yes on both ends. He was also the one who wrote the opera they're performing. Don Juan Triumphant. ....oh, yeah, then the guy's name was Don Juan. So the entire thing was more than likely very carefully calculated by the Phantom, both as a parallel and as a plan to get Christine (and then snatch her away right afterwards).
Shu:
This Phantom sounds quite cunning.
But a fool to be so single-minded and selfish. He would tear down everything Christine loves and works for simply to have his way. Is any goal worth that damage?
Allelujah:
He's an extremely intelligent person, so...
I don't think so. Because in this case, in the end, if he really does love her... Well, she's not going to be happy with him.
More generally...to use someone like that for your own goals... It shows nothing but selfishness and cruelty. Personally, I can't think of a single situation where something like that would be acceptable.
Shu:
Not a single situation, Allelujah?
... I don't believe that.
Allelujah:
Then what kind of situation would you find that acceptable in?
Shu:
You'd kill hundreds of men, but you would morally object to manipulating one?
... A hypothetical situation in which it is only by manipulating one man that peace can be brought. Isn't that technically the work of Celestial Being, as it stands? You claim they communicate with the leaders of those armies engaged in warfare. I doubt it is simply to implore them to cease what they're doing.
Military strategy itself is all about manipulating the enemy.
Allelujah:
There's...little communication outside of battle.
...
Perhaps.
However, it seemed he would be unable to live up to this. With the threat of the Organisation suddenly rising and taking even more of his employees away, he finally contacted Kurama and Treize about a potential merge with ShinRa. Kurama responded positively to the idea, and Treize remained firm in his belief that ShuRa could still stand alone. However, the decision would quickly become much easier: Treize was snatched out of Purgatorium much as Shu had been, and Kurama defected on his own to become a member of ShinRa. Shu was alone, unwilling to lead where his actions could be seen - particularly as he now had some dealings with Wesker.
At present, he is in the process of dissolving ShuRa, while trying to decide what he himself will do. He's torn between multiple options, and while ShinRa is the most obvious choice, it may not be the most effective...
07th Mar 08: Due to a hiatus during this month, things have been a little quieter. Maizuru was kidnapped by Wesker, and a search party was organised in order to find him. Fortunately he was returned unharmed and brought in for questioning about what he remembered. During this time Shu also met Auron. The man burst through his door demanding that a search party be organised to find Braska, who had been kidnapped by Seymour. When asked to fill out the paperwork, Auron smacked the lot out of his hands and onto the floor, only conceding when Shu made a bluff to leave and ignore the problem. Shu has since developed something of a minor crush on Auron, and realising he was also had the potential to become an excellent ally, he somewhat strong-armed him into joining ShuRa. Seymour was added to the list of threats.
It is at this point that Will Birkin arrived. Noticing Wesker's panicked and threatening behaviour towards the man, Shu insisted he come to the ShuRa building for safety and asylum. He was then moved to ShinRa's building due to their stronger security, though he was still considered to be within ShuRa's protection, and the higher employees had full access to him.
Shu came down with severe flu for the week; when he returned, he discovered that a love event had stretched through the Valentine's Day week, and that it jumped straight from that into an age event - where a considerable body of Purgatorium's citizens were suddenly a great deal older, or pint-sized. The children began to flock into the dangerous streets; Shu, looking to bring order, took advantage of the children's fertile imagination and talk of space aliens.
My name is Shu, and I am a mutant space alien. I'm going to eat you all.
I've been noticing that you intend to gather at the clock tower. Clearly my plan is working! You see, I have disguised myself as a clock tower, and I will gobble you all up the moment you come near me.
Of course, what I will fail to tell you is that staying in the safety of your homes with an adult is my only weakness. You will never get that out of me for as long as I live.
So come, children.
Come into my hungry gullet and let me know the taste of human flesh.
This proved fairly effective against a large number of the children, though he unintentionally terrorised several others. It was also the first time he met Lockon, a man he would come to appreciate and respect as one of Allelujah's equals.
Kurama notified Shu that he had, via the innocent kindness of Marina and Grantz's connection to her, been able to send forward a seed that would bloom and restrict Grantz's movements, eventually paralysing him. This was the first indicator for Shu of Kurama's potential, and he told him that he was very impressed - though Kurama naturally felt burdened by the abuse of Marina's trust. However, his efforts were not successful, and efforts to confine Grantz fell to the wayside when Wesker appeared.
In a stroke of good fortune, Wesker was regressed by the event, and de-aged mentally and physically to approximately four or five years old. He made for an eerie child, calling himself Subject 63255 and robotically, carefully and precisely performing tasks. Shu jumped on the opportunity and claimed to be Professor "Shubert", telling Wesker that he was transferred to the new test facility due to security problems in the other that had since cut off their communication. Wesker willingly entered ShuRa's care, and Kurama took custody of him.
However, Kurama got himself in considerable trouble then when a recording was released on the network as he used his vines to subdue a struggling demon child. When it seemed that Kurama would have to leave due to his moral conflict with Maizuru, Shu took him aside and told him he would keep him on under no clear occupation, but that his work would continue as normal and he would still receive pay. Kurama was able to explain that demon children couldn't be treated the same as human children, and that he would have destroyed the office had he not found a way to hold onto him.
Elena came to live with Shu at around this time, initially to take care of Schuldig and then to have some privacy when the new influx of Turks made her home and liquor cabinet their base.
During this time, Schuldig came to Shu, informing him that he had slept with someone during the Valentine's week. Shu withdrew from him significantly, and though this clearly distressed Schuldig to no end, Shu threw himself into his work and very much turned a blind eye to him for some while. Though he claimed not to blame Schuldig for what happened, as he was under the god's influences, he also explained to Elena that he wasn't ready to face him at that point in time. However, when Schuldig regressed to childhood age and vanished, accompanying a presumed child molestor calling himself Batman (it was actually the unfortunately misunderstood Yohji), a search effort was mounted, but Schuldig wasn't located until the end of the event.
Kurama eventually came to Shu, proposing a way of exhausting Wesker. His Tyrant cells still remained in his child form; needing to consume more food than most humans falling into a hybernetic state when he couldn't, Kurama put him on a regime that exhausted the child, refusing it food. Finally, Wesker fell into his hibernetic state, and was confined. Kurama and Shu once again spoke of their interest in the greater good, despite the questionable moral cost. Wesker was a child then, but it was a temporary thing. They both knew it was the only chance they had.
The event ended. Schuldig was found, Wesker remained in his hibernation state, and Shu managed to upset Asellus by making a joke in very poor taste about revoking the permission he gave during the child event of supporting Asellus and Cosmas's relationship. Thankfully, things were soon resolved, and Shu apologised sincerely.
It was very shortly after the event that Shu realised Mathiu had been gone for some time. He grieved for the loss of his mentor, and threw himself, once again, into his work. Allelujah was added to the sphere of knowledge as to Wesker's location, something that had been kept a secret for the most part amongst a small handful of employees.
He permitted his executives to employ others under their own departments without the necessity of going through Shu, though permission to fire an employee still had to be sought in case the individual could instead be transferred. With ShuRa's limited manpower, he suspected this would be a good way to gain some strength.
Additionally, there was a major incident involving Lockon, Logan and Allelujah. Allelujah's insane, sadistic alter ego was activated by proximity to Soma, and though the problem was resolved and he reverted, Logan was wary of keeping someone so dangerous within the company. Lockon attempted to threaten Logan, and Shu made a private announcement to the three of them to keep all disagreements within the company and private, and to speak to him in the event of any major incidences. Allelujah retained the job, as the one best qualified for it.
He had a heartfelt talk with Schuldig about his rejection of Cissnei, a problem that was still going on, and he did his best to convince him to speak to her again with rather lacking success.
Shortly after this, however, Schuldig was killed. It appeared he had shot himself, and Shu had been made aware of the fact that he had planned to engage in a fight against a man called Warren, who used psionics. It seemed he had killed himself to avoid coming under his control. Sylar found him and transferred his body to Shu. Elena came to live with him until Schuldig came back to life. Though Shu was devastated, part of him was at least glad that he could finally do for Schuldig what Schuldig had done for him all that time ago, after he threw himself from the tower.
Things were about to take an unusual twist. As Grantz became the new great power in Wesker's place, he took Allelujah, experimenting on him ruthlessly. Hojo soon got involved, bringing his own pet project to the table to try on Allelujah, and the experiments were soon coloured by systematic torture.
Shu went to the seemingly dead, hibernating form of Wesker and gave him a proposal:
We're going after Grantz. You know his location well, I'm sure. We know you have all shared laboratories. We know you are in open communication with each other. You can give us his location, and of course, we can set you free. With conditions.
Firstly, you will come under the control of the ShuRa company. You will be our employee and our dog. You will comply with our every order. You will be constantly under supervision.
[...]
I'll also be looking into power limiters, various other controls should it prove necessary, but I would hope the idea of a sudden, debilitating pain coursing through your nerves would be more than enough deterrent.
I'll give you time to consider. In a day, we will rouse you - heavily drugged, I might add, so don't try to be clever - and you will be given the chance to inform us of your decision. If you don't remember this, it will be replayed for your benefit. If you refuse, we'll put you back under, and that will be it.
I trust you'll make the right decision.
Shu was in luck. Wesker made the right decision. He gave ShuRa the most trap-riddled directions to their shared laboratory where Grantz had since been paralysed by Kurama's plants. He had slid the seeds into the food Marina baked for Grantz, and Marina fell out with Kurama as a result, seeing it as a betrayal.
Grantz was able to escape through killing himself. Allelujah, now Hallelujah as that was the only personality Grantz claimed was left, was also set free.
It appeared that at this point, Shu began the systematic process of killing Wesker, over and over and over, eradicating as many of his pre-Purgatorium memories as he could. It seemed his actions were urgent; he told no-one of what he had done, apparently aware that his time was growing short.
He was correct. One the 3rd of March, Shu was uprooted from Purgatorium, able only to say one very brief goodbye to a few key people. He was cut off just as he got to Schuldig, and has now seemingly left for good.
In his absence, ShuRa has reshaped. Logan was able to take command, and the new system has branched out to include new jobs, and several new recruits.
Schuldig was devastated by the loss, however. Speaking curtly to others for several days, he drew away from the Company, drew away from everyone. His Nobody, Axel, even pressed Roxas to let them merge to make him better, but Roxas refused to allow it, not wanting to lose Axel.
However, Schuldig eventually returned, claiming Shu had come home. Many people were baffled, many more angry that Shu had made no announcement to the effect. However, Roxas contacted Elena, telling her he believed Schuldig was not all right in the head, and that the Shu was not the Shu he claimed he was. Concerned, Elena went to meet with Schuldig and find out what was going on.
Her worst fears were confirmed. Schuldig assured her Shu would be home soon, and a slam and a scrape let them know when he had come.
It was Shu that stood on the other side of him, to a degree. Instead of the strategist's usual intelligent face, this creature had a stupid one, mouth hanging slightly open. His mouth, chin, and all the way up to his cheeks to nearly the eyes was coated in blood, bits of fur and scraps of meat stuck to his skin. The man's skin was fishbelly white, eyes glazy blue with death. Near his hairline was a pitted hole, the flash of bone seen through it. Elena was probably smart enough to recognize a bullet wound when she saw one. The creature's gaze tracked Schuldig as he moved, the tendons in Shu's neck creaking as he did.
"You need to get cleaned up, Lieb. Elena is here," Schuldig said patiently, dipping the cloth in a pot of water before taking one of the creature's hands and starting to clean it.
- teufel_schu
He had, in his grief and desperation, dug up the zombie that ShinRa had kept for research, and used all his mental will to keep him under control and cohabiting with him. Elena leveled the gun at it, telling Schuldig that this wasn't the Shu he wanted. Schuldig responded by telling Elena that there was still part of Shu in there somewhere, as Shu had once told Schuldig that he had a faint memory of attacking Rufus after he died.
The ShuRa company is currently looking to bring justice against Hojo and Grantz, who have both been mocking their efforts and Hallelujah/Allelujah over the network.
The ShuRa company as it stood at this time.
26th April 07: It has been a very, very, very long time since the last update, because I am a bad mun. D:
While Shu was gone, Duke assisted Wesker in breaking out of ShuRa, thus making himself an enemy to the company. However, Wesker has been lying low ever since to avoid capture.
Shu returned after a year on his home world, only to discover that a single week is all that had passed in Purgatorium. He spent a good half-hour hyperventilating in front of the terminal before he finally managed to post.
Severely disorientated and with a very patchy memory, discovering that Schuldig didn't believe he was real only helped to cement his confusion. Elena and Schuldig spoke on his journal, where Shu found that there were allegedly four of him. Zexion had been taking the opportunity to manipulate Schuldig by using Shu's appearance as a disguise for he and Axel, though to what end isn't entirely clear. This was in addition to the zombie, who Elena was unable to kill with Schuldig protecting it.
Elena immediately went to retrieve Shu in the hopes that seeing him would help Schuldig get better. She also kissed him upon his return - a giant leap forward in their relationship, though it left Shu terribly confused about its meaning for some time after.
They found Schuldig at Sunde, and the zombie once again made its appearance. Schuldig defended it still, even as it tried to bite him; he told them that some part of Shu still existed in there, that it was still him, but Shu kept the pressure on him, insisting that what little humanity he might have preserved still eventually died so that he could come back to life after he became a zombie. There was nothing of him left in there.
He asked for Schuldig to put it back in the basement, and Schuldig finally complied. Shu embraced him, and Schuldig began making his shaky way towards reality again, accepting the embrace and returning it. Shu, himself moved after a year of being away, set aside his stoicism in favour of sheer relief. Whether he would voice it or not, he was heartbroken without them, in a daze. It later emerged that he'd tried to explain things to Apple in his own world, and she had taken his ramblings for that of a war-scarred man starting to lose his mind. She'd sought to help him, which he of course rejected.
It was directly on Shu's return that Logan vanished, keeping them from exchanging any words and leaving ShuRa without a head. Shu took the helm of ShuRa once again, and declared a moment of silence exactly one week after Logan's disappearance. His first course of action was to try and mobilise his forces against Hojo, who had performed a vivisection on Roxas on a sound post on the terminals; however, Roxas was released before Hojo could be discovered.
He also made this declaration, in light of some criticism:
I believe that seeing error in our human weakness is the greatest error in humanity.
It's a common misconception that technological advancement, that strength alone is the way to power. It's certainly an advantage that can't be ignored, but this isn't a battlefield where one need only be concerned with one's soldiers outlasting the enemy. This is a sly, cunning evil; if we beat them, we will beat them on their turf, and trying to strong-arm them through bull-headed force of will only gets useful men killed.
I don't care how powerful any of you are. I don't care how many magical abilities you have, how many kilos you can lift. I care only that you are smart, that you're smart enough to plan ahead and still take opportunities as they come, to compensate for your physical, emotional and mental weaknesses; to realise that, regardless of what the enemy has on us, they are no more immortal than we.
All I ask for is a drive greater than their own, and the means to achieve your aims to the best of your ability.
Kurama approached him at this point about perhaps opening communication with Wesker in an effort to make an ally of him. Kurama, whose efforts against Grantz had been so successful, was more than trustworthy to Shu, and so he permitted him to do so. None were aware of the arrangement, and Kurama and Wesker were able to make tentative allies of each other. However, it's hard to tell how much of Kurama's alliance with Wesker is feigned, and just how much is genuine - as well as how much of his activity Shu is actually aware of...
During this time, he also discovered that the Rufus he knew had left and been replaced with another, from a different universe and with different motives; in response to this, Zack and the SOLDIER team had separated from him, and Rufus had been left with his Turks primarily. Shu sought out Rufus to make sense of this, and they discussed. Shu was wary of this Rufus and his less respectful approach to him. Regardless, for what the previous Rufus had done for him, he offered his forces if Rufus required them. This was also the first indication that an electricity project might be formulating, and Shu was more than willing to offer his forces to construct anything necessary to see electricity in action.
During this time, there was a sudden spike in violent attacks within Purgatorium. Shu set up a patrol through the city and cooperated with ShinRa to locate bodies and try to locate culprits. A corpse was found near the clock tower, and there were multiple kidnappings.
Shu tightened the connection with ShinRa, seeking a merge between the two companies. While that didn't quite occur, it did result in him stepping down from his stressful position as head in order to work as an in-between and generate good relations between the two companies. He began training the Turks and resumed his business of generating 5am runs for them to do, though this would prove to be a short-lived arrangement in the end. Kurama was appointed ShuRa leader, though his relations with Wesker were a cause for concern if they were ever discovered.
This was at the time that the Dark Tower plot began. Shu initially felt much of it; he had the first dreams of the strange man with the laceration across his skull, heard the talk of Sora and sought answers on the journals to little effect. However, he kept his eyes and ears open, but it only paid off in making him aware of more signs.
At this time, his ugly shoes were stolen by a cat named Bast, who wore them around everywhere and claimed that they were 'magic'. Shu was outraged, as his shoes meant a great deal to him. Thankfully, they were ultimately returned, though not without an awful lot of white cat hair stuck in them.
It was somewhere through this that Schuldig, Shu and Elena became a threesome relationship of sorts, due to Schuldig's boldness and exposure of their mutual feelings for each other. However, Shu seemed and continues to seem quite disconnected from Schuldig and Elena, who maintain a tighter relationship.
It was at this time that Schuldig showed the first sign of Geostigma: a tiny, leaking bruise on the back of his hand. Shu contacted Dr. Lucrecia for answers, but results were inconclusive at the time. The disease would soon spread, and Elena took over taking care of Schuldig; Shu, in the meantime, would be growing deeper and deeper into his own private world, a lack of sleep worsening his mental state.
When he did sleep, he had poor dreams. He was a victim of another Dark Tower dream, in which he saw others' memories interspersed with angry messages and threats. Shu also saw his own memory of the fire spears.
You forgot the first rule in the book: never put the strategist in danger.
I had to throw away "the book". You've read it too many times.
My calculations weren't far off. It didn't take long for the blaze to spread; a coniferous wood was no more than kindling in waiting once the fire spears touched home. All around, timber fell with deafening crashes and cracks, ashes and embers rising like disturbed dandelion seeds in their wake. My body was caked with fear-and-heat-sweat, my eyes were burning from the brilliance of the light and I had to wonder. I had to wonder what, precisely, made me think this was ever a particularly good idea.
... It had worked, though. Death had been that acceptable inevitability, though part of me had rather hoped for something more positive. I really didn't want to leave little more than a charred corpse after coming this far. It just wasn't the death I wanted.
That was the double-edged sword, I suppose. On the one hand, she taught me that self-sacrifice can have its place, its value. On the other, she taught me that my life could make a considerable difference if I used it wisely.
I didn't realise I was on the ground until Viktor was hauling me up over his shoulder. It had to be Viktor, I thought, because nobody else could possibly smell that bad.
... Looking back, I suppose it was a rather horrible thought to have about the man who saved my life.
After experiencing it, he made a private post to himself, rambling about Low Men and whether he should be preparing for warfare; he took the dream as a threat of world destruction, which may well be how it was meant. His paranoia would only worsen when a post was made on the journals that sounded all too much like Luca Blight speaking of replacing Jowy's position in his army with another blond, and graffiti appeared on the side of ShuRa, reading "MAGGOTS". He quickly had this cleaned off, assisting the ShuRa employees in doing so. He also put out a public warning against anyone resembling Luca, noting the white army and wild black hair. Unfortunately for him, wild black hair is rather common, and Luca wasn't wearing his usual armour. He had fallen in with the company of the Low Men wandering Purgatorium.
Evidence of his paranoia reared when, spotting dialogue between Schuldig and Zexion that seemed to allude to sex, he flew off the handle and threatened them both in one swoop. Schuldig was able to talk him down, explaining where he'd misinterpreted the dialogue. Shu reluctantly gave in, but remains wary.
This possibly also led into his explosive, cruel argument with Elena. He discovered that, while he'd been off being too busy to care about his boyfriend's sickness, Elena had contacted Wesker in hopes of finding some kind of cure for the disease ailing him. Shu saw this as a huge threat to Purgatorium's safety and yelled viciously at her, causing her to leave Shu and Schu for some time.
Shu eventually contacted her on the journals, making a roundabout apology:
Shu:
If you're done feeling sorry for yourself, I'd like you to come home.
Elena:
I wasn't ever feeling sorry for myself!
Shu:
Ah, good. Then you can come home quicker.
Luc arrived, and they conversed briefly. While they have mostly kept out of each other's hair, Shu continues to monitor him, oblivious to what occurred during the Second Fire-Bringer War.
Shu's loathing of his own humanity also seemed to grow, as he made several scathing comments about morality, about humans. Perhaps this was why, when Kurama was revealed to be a demon and actively working with Wesker, Shu ended up privately siding with him; interestingly contradictory to his behaviour towards Elena doing the same.
With Kurama's leadership position damaged, however, he stepped down, and Shu refused to resume his former position, insisting that he remain in the background. Treize became the new company head. This proved to be both a plus and a negative, as Treize was a very competent leader but had made enemies with several members of ShuRa.
A considerable body of their offensive force defected. Most of that defense force were also members of Celestial Being, who Shu had recently discovered to be what he referred to as a "fascist force". He spoke to Allelujah on the matter primarily, as he had been one of the earliest members of ShuRa, and they had always been quite close. Shu had been unimpressed, and had requested some kind of brief on how Celestial Being intended to continue their work in Purgatorium when the environment had proved so different. Allelujah assured him that something would be given to show him what they hoped to do and how they hoped to do it.
Something wasn't given. When most of Allelujah's team - and Allelujah himself - defected to Celestial Being after Treize came into leadership, Shu reacted poorly, making a public declaration against Celestial Being.
Purgatorium.
What follows is a matter of my personal stance on Celestial Being. Not ShuRa's. However, I feel it necessary to make my point from a position of authority and experience.
As you know, there is a new fascist organisation making its presence known here and going by the name of Celestial Being. They are renowned for forcing their way into private conflicts to beat down both sides into doing what satisfies them. They have enjoyed the pleasure of living in a society in which they, presumably, have nothing worth fighting for.
As one whose life has been defined by meaningful and necessary warfare, I will not personally be cooperating with these fascists. Moreover, I believe that Purgatorium should not be burdened with the personal opinions of one lone society. We are different here, and adapting is the only answer. It disappoints me to see good men wasting their time on frivolous, whimsical pursuits, particularly when their goals have no practical application in this new and very different environment.
For further information on my reasons, I am publicising this discussion I held with one of their representatives for your review, dated the 31st of the previous month.
This worsened Allelujah and Shu's relationship considerably, though after a long discussion, they managed to part relatively amicably.
Hojo died at this time, killed by his own portal-making device and, as it was outside of the realm of Purgatorium, he failed to return. One down. Logan had also returned some time earlier, but hadn't returned to ShuRa; Shu did monitor Logan however, noting his strange behaviour, but pinned much of this on Logan having no recollection of anyone here. It was only after Hojo vanished that it emerged that Logan had been manipulated into Hojo. Hojo had convinced him that none of what he was seeing was real, but with him gone, it seems that Logan and Shu's strange friendship may improve.
Shu met with Allelujah at the ball. They danced at this time, and Shu used the opportunity to at once apologise to Allelujah for his unfair conduct, and also to none-too-subtly physically intimidate him and threaten he and Celestial Being. He assured him that he would be very sorry to have to crush them if they got in his away. Allelujah was left somewhat paralysed. They stopped dancing, Shu touched Allelujah's hair somewhat suggestively, and released him. It was his only major encounter at the ball, presumably because he left quite quickly after that, shaken by his own strange conduct.
Their relationship would improve soon enough, however.
Schuldig, delirious with his sickness, decided that Shu was the Phantom from the Phantom of the Opera. After doing some research (though nowhere near enough; KOS-MOS was forced to point out that Phantom was the Angel of Music, not Christine) he made a message on the journals to lure Schuldig to him and get a blood sample out of him. Schuldig would go on to claim that Shu was a vampire, just like Elena; they had both been taking samples to give to other scientists within Purgatorium, seeking answers. Kurama was the next in line to try and identify the problem and resolve it.
Allelujah also replied to the post, and the two of them shared a few lines from one of the songs: Point of No Return. Shu observed that the lines were unusually violent for a love song. Allelujah pointed out that the song was more about obsession, manipulation and control than about love. They continued, their discussion reflecting an unusual parallel in their own working and personal relationship:
Allelujah:
If I remember right...this song's used for a play within a play, so to speak; a show they're putting on in the opera house. There's a young, naive girl named Aminta who's been captivated by a man...Christine plays her... And a man named...I don't remember, but he's lusting after her, so he ends up disguising himself and pretending to be the man she's in love with. And the Phantom ends up playing that role after killing the guy who was originally supposed to. So the whole song's about that seduction, him seducing her to be his. And it parallels into Christine and the Phantom.
......I can't believe I remember this much about the show, especially considering that it's centuries old for me.
Shu:
Then it's a subliminal message to the play, something the audience is more aware of than the players themselves?
... Unless one is the Phantom, of course, and sees all aspects of what is occurring.
Allelujah:
Basically, yes on both ends. He was also the one who wrote the opera they're performing. Don Juan Triumphant. ....oh, yeah, then the guy's name was Don Juan. So the entire thing was more than likely very carefully calculated by the Phantom, both as a parallel and as a plan to get Christine (and then snatch her away right afterwards).
Shu:
This Phantom sounds quite cunning.
But a fool to be so single-minded and selfish. He would tear down everything Christine loves and works for simply to have his way. Is any goal worth that damage?
Allelujah:
He's an extremely intelligent person, so...
I don't think so. Because in this case, in the end, if he really does love her... Well, she's not going to be happy with him.
More generally...to use someone like that for your own goals... It shows nothing but selfishness and cruelty. Personally, I can't think of a single situation where something like that would be acceptable.
Shu:
Not a single situation, Allelujah?
... I don't believe that.
Allelujah:
Then what kind of situation would you find that acceptable in?
Shu:
You'd kill hundreds of men, but you would morally object to manipulating one?
... A hypothetical situation in which it is only by manipulating one man that peace can be brought. Isn't that technically the work of Celestial Being, as it stands? You claim they communicate with the leaders of those armies engaged in warfare. I doubt it is simply to implore them to cease what they're doing.
Military strategy itself is all about manipulating the enemy.
Allelujah:
There's...little communication outside of battle.
...
Perhaps.
However, it seemed he would be unable to live up to this. With the threat of the Organisation suddenly rising and taking even more of his employees away, he finally contacted Kurama and Treize about a potential merge with ShinRa. Kurama responded positively to the idea, and Treize remained firm in his belief that ShuRa could still stand alone. However, the decision would quickly become much easier: Treize was snatched out of Purgatorium much as Shu had been, and Kurama defected on his own to become a member of ShinRa. Shu was alone, unwilling to lead where his actions could be seen - particularly as he now had some dealings with Wesker.
At present, he is in the process of dissolving ShuRa, while trying to decide what he himself will do. He's torn between multiple options, and while ShinRa is the most obvious choice, it may not be the most effective...