Aerith had thought the voices had been loud when Leviathan unlocked them. They had been the loudest she'd ever heard.

But nothing like it was in this moment, as Midgar came into view.

The Planet was screaming.

Aerith flinched, pressing back against Cloud as he gasped softly from the psychic overflow of it all.

"Aerith? Cloud?" Zack leaned over, hesitant to touch despite the instinct to. "Hey, what is it?"

"The Planet is crying out," Aerith whispered roughly, hands instinctively covering her ears. Of course, it didn't help. The sound was internal. "Jenova's awake and active, and it's panicking."

"Active how?" Veld asked, looking at her sharply just before his phone went off, rapid fire texts, one after another. He swore, stomach dropping, and grabbed the phone to get a look at the messages. What he saw just confirmed the horrible gut feeling. "…Deepground has breached the surface."

"The Slums or the Plate?" Kunsel asked, already reviewing what he knew of security in place in both. It wasn't promising.

"Both," Veld said grimly.

"They've got enough operatives, they don't have to pick," Zack said. "What about the Tsviets? Any lead on them or the Restrictors?"

"The Restrictors are probably holed up somewhere puppeteering from a distance," Kunsel said. "Assuming Jenova's not completely pulling their strings at this point, anyway."

"We can track the Tsviets," Vincent said. "That much power in one place, completely unhidden, shouldn't be a problem."

"There's four combatant Tsviets, with the possibility of a fifth gumming up the works on the intelligence side," Zack said. "I'm not expecting Argento or Shelke in the field, but Azul, Weiss, Nero, and Rosso will be out in force if they've been set free for raising maximum hell."

"We should be able to get IDs on them," Kunsel said. "They won't be hiding. From there… well. There's four of them…"

"And four Firsts," Zack said. "Who takes who?"

"Tell us about them," Drew said. "We may not know solid weaknesses, but even knowing their strengths and our weaknesses might help."

"All I know is what I could observe from a single, brief meeting," Zack warned.

"Lucky you, I know a little more than that," Veld said, smiling faintly as all eyes turned to him. "Weiss was supposed to be their Sephiroth, the ultimate leader and tactician, ridiculously strong and fast. He dual wields a pair of long gunblades and is capable of, but not inclined to use, magic."

"Zack's fastest," Benji said. "Just sayin'."

"And probably the strongest," Drew admitted.

"So I get Weiss. Great. He's like if a tank and a supernova had a baby, I hope you realize this," Zack said.

"Take Kunsel with you," Drew said. "You two have perfect sync, and if you can get ahold of a couple headsets you can coordinate - he could even scope things out for you from a distance."

"Might be best," Kunsel admitted softly. That, or he had to stay out of the fighting entirely - their bond type could make him a liability, one Zack couldn't afford - and it would kill Kunsel to toss Zack into this alone. But doing intel? He could do intel. He could help, just… not in a traditional SOLDIER way. But he was okay with that; Zack had always been the hero.

Zack took his hand in his and squeezed. "You got it. What about the rest?"

"Rosso and Azul are on two separate ends of the spectrum," Veld said. "Rosso is a blazing fast mage with a penchant for aerial attacks. Absolutely brutal, even for a Tsviet. Azul, on the other hand, is fast but not specifically faster than any of you because sheer size slows him down. But he's what you boys like to call a 'tank' and there's notes of him carrying a literal cannon instead of a sword."

"…well shit." Benji grimaced. "I… guess I'll take Rosso, since Rhapsodos is still out of it. Mage to mage, and lightning is great against aerial attacks."

"I'll take Azul," Drew said. "Seems the safest bet. I'm probably not as strong, but I'm fast, and I can take a lot of hits."

"Does that leave… Nero to me?" Nikolas asked.

"It would, yeah," Zack said. "The Void."

"…well that's not ominous." Nikolas looked to Veld. "What can you tell me about him, Director?"

"Next to nothing," Veld admitted. "There's very, very limited intel on Nero, and what there is sounds like a bit out of a story you'd tell to scare kids; he controls shadows, and is capable of travel through them. He's trained to use guns. Beyond that, I don't know. "

"What I'm hearing is he could be absolutely anywhere," Zack said. He made a face as Veld inclined his head in mute agreement. "Do we have eyes on anyone yet?"

"Some. Things are in a bit of disarray right now," Veld said. "We should have more concrete reports by the time we reach the building."

Zack huffed softly and shifted to nudge at Genesis, ignoring Aerith's sound of protest. "I get it, he's exhausted. We need to know how exhausted, because this is very much an all-hands-on-deck situation."

"Nhh?" Genesis shifted, grunting when Zack kept poking, and eventually pushing himself upright. For a moment there was confusion and building panic in his gaze, before he seemed to recall what had happened. "…where are we?"

"In Midgar airspace, a few minutes from our landing point," Zack said. "How're you feeling?"

"Better than I have in a long time," Genesis admitted.

"And how is that on a scale of 'could fight if I had to' to like, what you were capable of in Modeoheim, even?" Zack asked. "I know that was a while ago, but -"

"I'll rally," Genesis assured him, blue eyes back to the steely awareness of a warrior that they hadn't seen since before he'd deserted. "If I'm needed, that's all I need to know. I'll do my part."

Zack felt something relax a little. "Alright, good. Then you go with Nik, help him track Nero."

"Nero?" Genesis prompted, having been asleep.

"Right, so uh. Long story short time," Zack said. "Hojo had a backup for SOLDIER in an underground city below Midgar, called Deepground. Freaking huge place, and they've got these guys marinating in mako and J cells. Our endgame is finding some guys called 'Restrictors' but first we've got to knock out their biggest players, the Tsviets, and any lesser operatives we run into, hopefully without this turning into half the bloodbath it could."

"Nero is one of the Tsviets," Kunsel continued seamlessly. "He has 'shadow magic' from a unique enhancement process including dark mako. He can, apparently, travel through shadows, which is a hell of a problem in the Slums. But you can sense him, it's like staring into the void. You'll know the feeling when you get it, just… trust me."

"So I'm to help find and… subdue? Kill? What are we doing with this man?" Genesis asked.

"Kid," Zack corrected grimly. "Younger than me, like… green recruit age, just a hell of a lot more powerful and seasoned than he has any right to be because of hell training."

Genesis mouthed 'hell training' to himself, nodding slowly. "Do you think any of them could be turned to allies?"

"Even if they agreed, I wouldn't trust them. They've got control chips the Restrictors can use to make them do what they want, and they don't want to play nice," Zack said. "But… if you could subdue him…"

"Fair…" Veld warned.

"Look, it's a thought," Zack said. "They could be beaten into submission, trapped, and saved for after we defeat the Restrictors."

Genesis hummed. "If you defeat these… Restrictors, then you've completely unleashed the whole place, you realize. There is no longer any restraint. Total unreasoning chaos."

"What's your strategic suggestion, then?" Kunsel asked.

"Mine?" Genesis seemed a touch surprised to be asked, but shrugged. "Leash them again. Someone controlled them before, somehow. Hojo, perhaps. It sounds like his work. But he was a very different type of scary."

Zack raised a hand. "I'm not great at being scary."

Genesis arched a brow. "If you're capable of killing someone, and willing to do it if they don't 'behave' - willing to prove it when they test you - you're on the right path."

For a moment, Zack looked sick. "I… Genesis."

Genesis sighed. "Angeal did you no favors keeping you out of the war."

"Hey!" Zack bristled, despite having thought the same thing more than once.

"We're not here to kiss babies, puppy, Midgar just became a warfront," Genesis said, firmly but not quite as harshly as he might have once. "You will do what you have to do, or people - innocent people, this time - will die. They're going to die anyway, but more of them will die if you don't put it all out there. Our enemy is fighting for their lives and freedom, and that makes you desperate. Desperation makes even a kind man ruthless."

Zack wasn't sure he agreed with that, but… if anyone there would know, it was Genesis. He'd been a kind of desperate Zack couldn't even imagine. And yes, he'd been ruthless.

"I don't like it," Benji said softly, a tiny, mirthless smile on his face. "But I never did. Doesn't mean he's wrong, exactly. Not… not dealin' with this kind of people."

"Sometimes people do bad things for good reasons," Genesis said softly. "It may just be a mercy to kill them outright. I suppose we'll see."

Zack looked away, unable to meet that knowing gaze. "…guess we will."

"I've got confirmation on several Tsviets," Veld said abruptly. "They're spreading out through the slums."

"It's go time," Kunsel said.