A/N: Every Turk is mentioned by code name in this chapter, so I've put up an insert: List of Current Turks V1 (it follows immediately after this chapter). Some people may want to check this out if they don't know the Turks' official event names. Please leave me a review if you'd like me to list the non-main Turks present in chapters where a lot of them are participating, or I'll assume everyone's fine just referencing this list!
The date of the Wutain Invasion (the date at the start of this chapter) is October 5th, 0000.
Re-Rank
Veld sat at his desk and looked at Tseng, Eden, and Vant for several long minutes after they described some of their activities before arriving in the city and the attack on Midgar in his absence, then asked, "And this attack began shortly after I left?"
"About two hours later, by my estimate," Tseng said. "The Department Heads will expect you to report to them on the reason you left. Should I ask why you did, or ignore the situation?"
"I suspect it wasn't one of our people who sent me the message, but it was a real enough emergency. Or would have been had it been reported a month ago, or thereabouts," Veld replied. "It would explain why no one met me when I went to Nibelheim, only to find Shinra Manor destroyed. If anything could have been salvaged, the monsters and villagers already destroyed it. Oddly enough, the Reactor itself was unharmed, but the research lab Hojo used it as was completely destroyed. Upon asking the villagers what had happened, they said it mysteriously burnt down about a month prior, with absolutely no witnesses or leads."
"...Shinra Manor burnt down..." Tseng repeated, lips twitching in amusement, and noted a similar expression on Eden's and Vant's faces.
"I shouldn't have to tell you we must look—discretely—for the one or ones who did the act. However, Hojo will be furious to find out his pet project is completely gone and he has to start all over. It would have been nice to have kept it from him until the next scheduled drop-off of data in the lab and library there, as he will be a holy terror when he hears about the loss, and we—any and everyone in the Public Safety Department—will have to simply bear his ire without saying a word."
"Understood," the other three said, knowing exactly what he meant—which also meant he knew exactly who had burnt down the Manor and wasn't willing to sacrifice his Turks to Hojo despite that fact.
"Now, as for Eden and Vant, I've had time to consider where to place you in our rank system. Obviously, the higher your rank, the more privileges you have. Trainee was out from the start, but I would be doing you a disservice to start you at Rookie as well. After hearing about the situation in the city and a notice I was sent earlier, however, any Turks who participated in it will be promoted three ranks from their current rank. You two become Leaders. Tseng has been waiting for a long time to be promoted to Omega, the highest rank we have—though I'm debating renaming that rank after what I've heard from you."
"No offense, but you should probably rename a number of those ranks, because the whole list feels tacked together, especially the ones after Legend," Eden commented dryly—his previous reading had included the rank names and order.
Veld actually raised a brow, even as Vant sighed tiredly and Tseng fought a smile. The man then offered, "Fine, come back first thing tomorrow morning and you can look through all the paperwork involved in renaming a single rank. If you feel it's worth renaming them, you can do all the paperwork for every change you want to make and give them names you feel would be more suitable, assuming they're acceptable by Shinra code. I need you here later tomorrow anyway, and that will give you something to do in the meantime."
Eden was blinking rapidly, Vant was staring in surprise, and Tseng had begun chuckling. After a moment, the blond teen gave a small, bemused smile and said, "Sure, I'll have a look and see what I can do. But what do I need to be here for?"
"A new assignment around the work you'll be doing for Tseng. Unfortunately, I'm not expecting to be able to assign you to it until quite a bit later in the day," Veld said.
"Oh, okay," Eden agreed readily. "What privileges do Leaders have which are different from the ones before?"
"Authority over the Infantry troops (1)," Veld answered. "You can override their orders on the battlefield unless they've been given missions under a specific code. They'll tell you they're operating under Code Indigo if they have an order you can't change...Which doesn't always stop them from asking for new orders from you if the situation has changed enough, though in that case, they're taken to task for their actions, not you for giving new orders."
"I see. Since Heidegger mentioned it, how will the four other new Turks take being left without promotions?" the blond asked with a raised brow.
"Three of the four were participating in the defense of the city, as those were Ruluf, Freyra, and Quis, so will also be promoted three ranks. In fact, Quis will be the same rank as the two of you. The last was recently promoted to Member for exemplary work, and while he may feel somewhat put out, I doubt Alvis will take it badly enough to be problematic," Veld answered, then pulled out two wallets and tossed them to Eden and Vant.
The two caught them easily, so he said, "Put any money and other items of monetary value you have on you in those and return them to me. All Shinra employees have a bank account here where your pay from Shinra will be deposited automatically. You'll be given two cards in a day or two, one with your employee ID and one the bank card every shop in Shinra territory takes. Circumstance may dictate you'll have to take cash out, or that you want to do so—we just need to establish the base account with your current funds."
"How much do you have, Vant?" Eden asked curiously as he flipped open the wallet and pulled out his gil to put in it.
"You had no idea how much gil was in my former home, did you?" Vant asked in a mildly amused voice, doing the same as the teen. "When you made your decision that day, I tracked it all down and—brought it with me. I have about three hundred thousand on me, which is quite a bit more than you have, even with all your luck."
Eden whistled, but Tseng said, "I do believe Ama no Murakumo more than covers the difference, but that's a weapon Eden actively uses, so it won't be going in the bank."
"Definitely not!" Ed agreed with a wry smile as he stuffed the bills and coins into the wallet and passed it back to Veld. Vant did the same, only his wallet was so full he couldn't fold it closed, which caused a few raised brows.
"Now, there's a few sheets of paperwork you have to sign, then you'll be free to go rest. In the morning, you'll have to stay in your rooms until another Turk comes to get you because you don't have your ID cards yet—you'll need them to travel the building. Vant, you can take the day off because of the need to see to personal business, and you can do the same, Tseng. It's only Eden I need here thanks to the issue I need resolved tomorrow," Veld said, pulling out the papers he needed the two to sign.
While they quickly read the documents—which were oddly short and to the point for a business contract, and which mostly dealt with secrecy issues—Veld told the Wutain man, "Drop Eden off at room fifty-eight-oh-six." Tseng's brow rose, but he nodded, so the man added, "And Vant, stay here for a bit. I'll drop you off at your room later."
"Of course," the black haired man agreed as both he and the blond teen finished what they were doing.
With that, Eden and Tseng headed out while Vant stayed with Veld to get caught up after so many years apart.
CA
That night, Eden slept like a log and was woken by something poking his shoulder and the sound of a woman chuckling. "Get up, Ed, or you'll be late for your meeting with Veld!" a familiar voice teased him.
Cracking an eye open, he saw Freyra at his bedside, grinning widely. "It can't be morning already..." he muttered tiredly. At least he wasn't numb anymore, but he still didn't feel the greatest after the events the day before—and it occurred to him to wonder if it was normal for things to feel so much less painful so quickly. He didn't think it was, but he really had nothing to compare it to, as that had been his first time killing. (2) And with Deepground...there was a good chance it would happen at least once more, something he really wasn't looking forward to.
"But it is. And it's almost eight, the start of our workday," she answered, chuckling again. "It was hard for me to wake up this morning, too, but really! You usually have more energy than this!" (3)
Groaning, the teen rolled over, gave a huff, and slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position. "I have a couple questions for you since you're here, Freyra," he told her as she turned to go, so she looked back at him curiously. "First, apparently you're a pretty new addition to the Turks, so what can you tell me about who's who in, like, the length of time they've been here and how much power they have?"
She gave a wry grin at the question and told him, "Other than Tseng and Veld, none of the others actually have 'power', the newer ones just tend to take the advice of the old hands. Veld has been in the Turks for over twenty years, and Rude has been here for over ten, but he never had any aspirations to command. Um...Balto joined nearly four years ago and in the same year as Tseng, who joined later, a little more than three years ago. Several of the Turks' old hands died not long after those two joined, mostly thanks to the Death God of the Battlefield, then Kariya joined us a few months after Tseng did.
"Reno joined early on about two years ago, then Maur and Judet later that year. Cissnei joined last year when her lessons ended, the youngest ever to join the Turks at fourteen. Illis joined in January this year, Emma joined in March when she graduated from the Military Academy, and Ruluf and I both joined in early June—I was only a Rookie when I met you, and Alvis was tagging along because he was a new Trainee who had just joined five days earlier, on the fourth of July. Rude was mentoring us then. Quis joined in August, then you and Vant in September. (4) I guess that covers everyone. So, what's your other question?"
Eden blinked at all the new information, then nodded and asked, "How—stuck on—the rank system in the Turks are all of you?"
"You mean the value we place in the ranks?" she blinked, and he nodded. "Well, at first, I thought they were pretty important, just like Ruluf, Alvis, and Quis did, but it just stops mattering after awhile. I think even Quis is starting to wonder what the point is when he really only joined because he likes our uniform (5). They don't affect that much about how we operate, and the only really important rank is Omega, where we're allowed to have Shinra pay for custom-made gear and have full access to everything in the company. Well, except Deepground, apparently. Why?"
"You have useless ranks. I was just wondering why when the Turks are a very small, elitist unit, and your rank doesn't determine the degree of power you have within the Turks, only outside it. I mean, just because your rank is higher than Quis', it doesn't mean you can give him orders—as far as I can tell, only Veld and Tseng can do that, and in Tseng's case, it's not because of his rank, it's because he's Veld's unspoken second in command."
"That's true. And actually, all the ranks get annoying when trying to make it to Omega. Either that was done to slow down our progress to that rank, or Heidegger did it because he stupidly thought we were going to be anything like the Infantry or even SOLDIER, who both have more use for ranks than we do, given their numbers and how those ranks influence the chain of command. All I know is that it's been like this forever, and it wasn't any of our department leaders who created it."
"Huh. That's food for thought. Thanks," the blond teen answered as he gave her a grin. "I'd better get ready now, though."
As Freyra was leaving the room, she commented, "There should be spares of your uniform in the closet and some basic undergarments in the drawers."
The door shut behind her, so Ed checked the two named places to see that there were indeed some uniforms and spare boxers and socks. He wondered if he should be worried they were the right size, then snorted as he remembered some of the things Hughes had known about him and Al—information people really knew a lot of details others didn't pay attention to. Could he ever notice details like that about people from meeting them once or twice?
It didn't take him long to finish his morning ablutions, oddly grateful for the fact that Turks apparently had apartments which were quite large with a full bathroom attached to the bedroom. The day before, he hadn't taken much time to look around his place, and he wasn't going to have the time that morning, either, but recalled seeing a fair-sized main room with furnishings (two couches, two chairs, and a coffee table), a kitchen (it was too big to be a kitchenette) combined with a dining room, also furnished (a plain, round, gray table and three chairs). Off to one side, beside about where his personal bathroom would be, he saw a small room which looked like it was just a toilet and sink for guests. Freyra, who had been in the main room waiting for him, led him out before he could look around any more, so he made a mental note to do so later.
"When do I get to eat?" he asked as they headed down to Veld's office.
"He should have food there. If not, I'll get some," she answered with a grin.
"Nice," the teen answered with a small grin. "Thanks."
"Oh, when you and Vant have your ID's, Veld will—try to—call us all together to greet you so we all know who our new—and old—members are. Well, assuming there's time based on the circumstances," she added. "Just to warn you."
"Makes sense," Eden shrugged.
Soon after, Freyra let the blond into Veld's office before going back to her own duties, and the older man pointed the teen to a table and chair at the back of the room where books and papers were already stacked. There was also a tray of food sitting on the table.
Veld told him, "You can go through the paperwork, and if you still think you can come up with something reasonable, be my guest."
"Thanks for the food!" the teen grinned over his shoulder as he moved over to the table and sat. He then stopped for a moment as a flash of all the dead bodies on top of the Shinra Building came to him. That had been an invasion...
Turning to look at Veld, he asked, "Before I start, do you have an estimate of the death toll from yesterday?"
"Enemy, ally, or civilian?" the man asked in reply.
Bile rose in the blond's throat as he realized there would be no need to add the last unless unarmed civilians had died in the invasion. "All of them," Eden answered softly.
Veld turned to his computer to check something as he said, "As far as enemy forces go, only about twenty percent of the terrorists died before they withdrew, and some of the Wutains left with them. Of those who remained, about five percent escaped, and five percent were captured alive. Our forces present in the attack only suffered about ten percent losses—mainly because most of them were highly skilled. Of civilians, the terrorists bypassed any who left them to their own devices and only killed those who actively attacked them, while the Wutains killed any man, woman, and child they came across—with only one noted exception so far, where a Wutain left three children alone. In the Sectors heaviest hit, we easily lost half our civilian population, and most of the company is running on bare minimums from that death toll. The total civilian death toll on the Upper Plate is about thirty-five percent, and around twenty-five on the Lower. I won't give you specific numbers, especially not when the count is still rising."
"...And what was Midgar's total population before the invasion?"
"Approximately thirty million, one third on the Upper Plate and two on the Lower."
"...How many of the Wutain troops—the total including the ones still in Wutai—did we defeat?" the teen asked with a wary tone in his voice. At least knowing the civilian death toll eased most of his guilt about having killed the invaders, even if it didn't make it go away entirely.
"At most, maybe between five or ten percent. Closer to five, I believe," the man told him. "The very fact that the Wutains didn't follow the terrorists' lead in ignoring civilians made me think the Emperor may not have known they came here, as he isn't fond of killing unarmed civilians. As such, I had them questioned with that in mind—they admitted they had come on their own initiative, every one of them, regardless of questioning method."
"...They were AWOL?" When Veld met his gaze evenly with a nod, Eden asked, "So how would that have changed what happened here if they'd won?"
"Death would have been merciful if that had been the case. It's likely their leader here would have taken over and the land not been turned over to Wutai's Emperor."
"And by the way they treated the civilians, and what they did to Tseng...You're probably right," Eden sighed, then gave a small smile when he saw Veld's brow rise. "They asked Tseng why he was fighting against his own people. He—said that was an interesting way to describe the people who had killed his family, tortured him, and threw him in the ocean to drown." When Veld nodded, the blond turned back to the meal.
It was a pretty basic breakfast meal, so he just ate quickly, then pulled over the books and papers to search through them, stacking them in the order he needed them to be in. From there, he began the process of actually reading through the whole set, glad it wasn't very 'heavy' reading and wasn't even printed all that small or close together. Blank spaces filled the books and sheets with the actual data, both on the timing and privileges of the Turks, of the processes, and of the paperwork to assign ranks, to change the existing ranks, and a thousand other things that made him raise his brows. And the work successfully took his mind off the invasion.
After awhile of researching the data, he frowned and got up to track down the books he'd been reading the day before. Veld watched him silently as he found the ones he wanted and went back to the desk to re-read some parts, one of which he dropped onto the table again, open to a specific page. He rose as he flipped a few other pages from one of his previous books as well, his intent frown deepening.
Turning around, he saw Veld watching, so pointed at the shelves and asked, "Where will I find the C-Code rules?"
Veld raised a brow, but rose and moved over to the shelf where the code book rules were. Pulling down the one Eden had asked for, he offered it to the teen, who took it with a grin and thanks. As the boy returned to the desk, the man asked, "What do you need that for?"
"Just checking something. I may do more than change rank names if this turns out the way I think it will," the blond answered absently.
"...Should I remind you to eat?" Veld asked blandly.
Eden waved him off and said, "Bring something along and pull the book out of my hands long enough for me to acknowledge the food. That's what Vant did to me for a month while I was researching."
Several minutes later, Veld did exactly that, at first producing an indignant look, then a wry laugh—he had told the man to do that, after all. With a quick thanks, he ate as he kept reading, then pushed the tray aside and continued as though he'd never been interrupted. Reading the code book clarified things for him, and also gave him the name of the document binder where he'd find the document he actually needed. Getting up again, he quickly found the correct binder, and the correct document in the binder, then returned to his seat to begin writing. The document was several pages long and made him detail every change he was making and why he was making it, but it was a lot easier than the paperwork to rename ranks.
Finally, when he finished, he held the completed document out to Veld and said, "Forget renaming ranks, we're just going to streamline the whole system. You've got six useless ranks, and to be honest, the Turks don't need to have so many because only the new recruits care about them. We're a small, closely-knit group who only have one person in our command chain—our leader—so rank isn't important for anything but privilege or kudos, and we don't particularly care about the latter. Also, if Turks—spies—need that kind of ego-boosting, what the Hell are they doing here? Rather than having six ranks more than needed, it would be more practical to have fewer ranks with clear benefits to reaching each, which become progressively harder to reach so it'll still take approximately the same amount of time to reach the top rank as it does now. Also, putting all that down on paper was way less work than changing the names of several ranks independently, since I'd have had to change more than half of them, anyway."
Veld blinked, then blinked again and scanned the list on the first page. Trainee was no longer listed as a 'rank', but as a pre-rank which had to be completed successfully to proceed to the proper ranks, of which there were now ten. It was in the pre-rank level where their basic new living situation was established, but they gained no privileges in that sense. The ranks started with Rookie, progressed to Silver, Expert, Ace, Gold, Master, Leader, Platinum, Grand Master, and finished with Legend, and each had a clearly-defined privilege and timeframe to be that rank. He had even noted the right of the Turk's leader or the Department Head to promote Turks outside the standard system for exemplary work or extenuating circumstances. (6)
What impressed Veld the most was the paperwork justifying the change to the whole system, and Eden had even re-ranked everyone based on the new system. The three-rank promotion had become a two-rank promotion, which superficially looked much better as it evened out the other promotions to be only one rank apart, and only people on those upper ranks would be adjusted to fall in the rank corresponding with their current level of privileges, other than the ranks Ace and below, where some of the privileges would belong to the rank above the one it previously had been.
As he was lowering the papers to give Eden his acceptance of the changes, the door opened and Freyra and Rude led in (or dragged in by the arms) a scowling, blond young man dressed in white dress pants, a white suit jacket much like a full-length coat, and a black shirt. His bangs fell over his forehead (7), his eyes were blue, and he had a cold demeanor. Clearly, the eighteen-year-old wasn't happy to be there, but the two Turks dragging him along proved to be too strong for him, so he settled for sparing some of his dignity and walking.
"Why have you brought me here, Veld?" the young man asked with a deep glare at the man.
First, Veld ignored him, turning his attention back to Eden as he said, "I'll accept this and send it along to the appropriate office. Whether it will be accepted there, well...We'll see." He then put it in one of his drawers and turned his attention to the short haired blond in white. "Rufus Shinra, meet Eden, one of our newest—and most skilled—operatives. Based on orders your father sent me before I returned here yesterday evening, Eden will be acting as your new guard unless he is specifically needed for an operation or mission."
"You can't just allocate a new guard to me, especially one unproven!" the President's son retorted with a glare.
"Your father witnessed Eden's skill for himself, hence his decision to place Eden in charge of you. As he put it, maybe I've found someone who can keep you out of trouble, or who will slap some sense into you if he can't," Veld answered. "Also, between us, Eden isn't likely to stop you from a lot of your antics after the kinds of—stunts he's pulled, himself. He'll just re-write your entire perception of the world and make sure you know what you're doing, what you're risking, and what your actual goal is—along with a way to actually accomplish said goal. According to President Shinra, he also has the right and authority to punish you, including dragging you over his knee for a spanking if he feels you need it. You're welcome to call him and verify that fact."
Rather than the outburst a very bemused Eden had been expecting, the older teen pressed his lips into a fine, white line for a minute before saying, "None of you would dare do such a thing to me—not after all the time I've spent with you."
"Eden—dares—to do or contradict anything he feels like doing or contradicting," Veld replied blandly. "And doesn't even feel put out by the extra work doing so causes him. In fact, he seems to greatly enjoy the challenge. As such—you are his challenge, and his problem to fix."
"Veld, you can only fix people when they want to be fixed," the blond Turk said dryly.
"Yes. And you just showed me you're rather an expert at fixing broken things after what you just did in six hours," the man answered, still completely bland. It wasn't even monotone, just—as though it was all completely irrelevant to him. "I feel you have the best chance of doing what we need done. How you go about it is entirely your choice. As long as Rufus is alive and whole at the end of it, even his own father will turn a blind eye to your methods."
"Aha," Eden smirked. "Of course, that idiot never thought his own behavior is the reason for his son's, so now we have to fix it for him. Why are all these people who clearly aren't fit to have children even allowed to have them?"
Rufus stared first at Eden at the words, then at Freyra and Rude as the woman laughed and the man hid his amusement behind his hand. His gaze then went back to Eden as he asked, "Why are you even allowed to work for Shinra with an attitude like that?"
"Because the only people who know I have it don't actually care as long as I behave in the company of the President and Department Heads, and I have perfectly selfish reasons for being here," the younger blond answered, meeting the older's gaze evenly. "Reasons which trump my dislike of most of the administration here."
The President's son turned to look at Veld again and said, "No."
"No?" Veld asked in reply, not entirely sure what he was denying.
"I'm not going to have someone like him in my company," the short haired blond clarified. "He's not even sane."
"More sane than you," the head of the Turks replied. "And you have no choice. The decision is already made. Tseng will find him when he needs him for anything, so you're both free to go. I suggest you test for yourself just how likely you are to escape from Eden's guardianship before you assume he won't be capable."
"That's not the point!" Rufus glared hotly.
Before Veld could answer, Eden threw in, "The point is that you don't want a guard, especially one who can keep up with you, because you're feeding one enemy or another information on Midgar's and Shinra's security, or you're doing something else you know is against the law or against Shinra." The others all faced him in shock (except Veld, who just had on brow cocked slightly) as he met the older teen's now concerned gaze. "And Rufus, I. Don't. Care. You're welcome to do whatever you like—as long as you know the whole story so you don't screw up so badly you destroy the world and not just your father or his company. If you've actually taken the time to figure that out and can give me truly logical reasons to take those actions, I'll even help you take them—but I won't just let you get us all killed over a grudge. Am I clear on that?"
"...Crystal," Rufus agreed, his gaze showing uncertainty and respect.
Notes:
(1) I just made this up, added it to the list of what Leader-rank Turks get to do. I figured it would make some of the things I've seen in all the FFVII games make more sense if Turks above a certain rank actually had command power over the Infantry. Also, I could actually see him asking this with how he's changed.
(2) So people are aware of this, part of his 'quick' recovery is from Minerva helping to make it less 'recent' and less painful as a result. She doesn't have much influence in Midgar, but because Ed counts as a Cetra (like Aeris, just without her constant communication with the Lifestream), he attracts some of her energy back to the area.
(3) There's a reason why Ed's so tired, and it's not the battle! I won't spoil the story, though.
(4) Check out the insert 'List of Current Turks V1' for more data on this if you want to know. And yes, I think Ed would want to know this after having been in the military, especially while he's still trying to figure out the rank system of the Turks.
(5) Yes, this IS actually Quis' (Nunchaku's) reason for joining the Turks, according to his character data. :D
(6) I just HAD to do this—the rank system in Before Crisis makes so little sense it's just stupid, and half the ranks feel just—tacked on for no reason or just because someone wanted to add extra ranks. So, I fixed it! Well, as much as I could given what I had to work with. And I also think Ed would do the same thing if offered the chance. Since Veld let him work on it, he did so, something he was never offered (never able to be offered) in the Amestrian Military. Veld's justification is that he actually likes things to be as streamlined as possible, but he just doesn't have the time to do something like that. Since Ed basically offered to do the paperwork for him, he let the one who had both the time and inclination to do it get the task done.
(7) This was what Rufus Shinra looked like before he officially became the Vice President at 20 years old, when he mostly slicked his hair back. Since he's only 18 now, he hasn't slicked it back yet.
