The idea to propose Reeve as the next president of ShinRa had occurred to Veld as he'd come up to Rufus' suite. He knew, without question, that Reeve was going to hate it more than Anya was going to hate being Director of SOLDIER.

He also knew that Reeve wouldn't turn it down, no matter how much he hated it, because Reeve had given his life to Midgar a long time ago, and was in far too deep to fathom letting it crumble now.

Rufus was the better politician, in a way. He had the steel it would take not to agonize over certain decisions that would be necessary to keep the empire that ShinRa had turned into running smoothly. But that same coldness left him unprepared to handle the fact that these were real human lives he was impacting, which meant he wasn't much of an improvement from his father. Given that was the whole point… he'd removed himself as an option, at least for now.

Admittedly, part of selling this to Reeve with any sort of peace of mind was going to be going the same way he did Anya - as a temporary solution. And it might be. If they could bury Rufus' history with AVALANCHE deep enough, or at least twist it just right, then they could keep him on as the Vice President. In time, he might even come back around, grow into someone they could trust.

Or maybe that was sentiment talking. He'd be lying if he didn't admit, at least to himself, that even after this he couldn't quite bring himself to give up on Rufus.

Part of him wondered if it still would have come to this, if he'd just had more time with him. To be a guide instead of leaving him watching his father's example for cues.

The rest of him knew it was far too late to torture himself like that.

So he called Maur off his current task and sat him on Rufus, both to keep an eye on him and because the former detective could wade through the information and form a strategy as fast or faster than anyone else on his team.

Then he went to talk to Reeve, who clearly had gotten absolutely none of his actual work done in his absence if the stack of discarded sketches meant anything. "You have a minute?"

"Of course, come in." Reeve waved him in quickly, engaging the security features almost reflexively as he took a seat and fixed him with full attention. "How'd it go?"

"He's not happy that he's not getting the chair," Veld said. "I think I made about the only suggestion he could even fathom tolerating."

Reeve blinked. "…you have someone in mind already?"

"There's not a whole lot of qualified people out there, Reeve; you need someone who's proven they can handle politics, someone you know can work with the board successfully, someone who can handle overseeing massive, complex operations but also knows how to delegate -"

"Veld, that's… that's quite a list," Reeve said.

"Someone dedicated to the wellbeing of the common man," he continued evenly, watching Reeve's brows raise. "Someone who knows Midgar inside and out. Someone who's already proven they can run over a third of the company with minimal support and still be consistently successful."

"Oh no," Reeve said, too quick not to catch on and far too aware of what was being asked to be eager to accept. "Nonono. No, you can't be serious, Veld, I have City Planning -"

"There is literally no one in ShinRa more qualified," Veld said. "The only thing you lack is the Shinra bloodline. And we can sell it as you taking charge until Rufus is a little older, and more practiced. If we're lucky, it'll even be true."

"Veld."

"I need someone I can trust, Reeve," Veld said quietly.

"Oh don't. Don't go there," Reeve said immediately. "Don't make it about that."

"It's already about that," Veld said. "You know it is."

Reeve groaned, covering his face with his hands. "You never make anything easy."

"No one said life would be easy," Veld said. "That doesn't mean it isn't worth it."

"There has to be someone else," Reeve insisted.

"If you can think of someone, I'm all ears," Veld said. "Heidegger would be happy to take it off your hands. He knows how to manage a large group of people."

"He's incompetent and we'd be back at war in a month," Reeve muttered, partially muffled by his hands.

"Scarlet has a good head for finance and resource management," Veld offered.

"She's just as bloodthirsty, and SOLDIER would never agree with someone who can't be bothered to calibrate their equipment properly," Reeve said.

"Palmer knows about running a business. He's still got a handle on his family's affairs," Veld said, smiling faintly when Reeve glared at him through his fingers.

"Palmer has his head in the clouds and is notorious for wasting resources and manpower," Reeve said flatly.

"We've ruled out Rufus, and I think we both know no one would accept me even if I could manage politics from the spotlight instead of the shadows," Veld said. "A stranger, perhaps? Get some new blood in?"

"An insult to the entire board. Rufus would shoot them himself."

"Well you're shooting down all the other options, Reeve," Veld said.

"Because they're not options, they're…" He heaved a sigh, running his hands through his hair. "God damn it."

"It's you or Rufus, Reeve," Veld said.

"And we can't use Rufus," Reeve said. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"There's always a choice," Veld said. "There's just not always good choices."

"If we want ShinRa to survive, there's not another choice," he corrected, slumping back in his seat.

"Not that I can see," Veld agreed.

Reeve stared at the ceiling. "What about City Planning?"

"You'll be the President, you can do as you see fit," Veld said. "If you still want to oversee it, fine. Just delegate more."

Reeve nodded faintly. "Okay."

"Okay?"

Reeve offered a small, resigned smile. "I'll do it."

With Reeve's cooperation secured, Veld headed down to medical, where a quick look at the check ins said the top SOLDIERs had regrouped again for one last meeting before the end of visiting hours.

"Didn't expect to see you again today," Kunsel admitted. "Everything alright?"

"There's been a small adjustment," Veld said. "Regarding certain positions of power."

"Go on," he prompted.

"Rufus is young," Veld said. "I realize a lot of that is perspective, especially for you all. But for this, for a company this size and a job that weighty, he's young."

"You want someone else," Drew said.

"I'm nominating Reeve Tuesti," Veld said.

"The Director of City Planning?" Zack said. "I've worked for him some. He always seemed like an oddly nice guy, for an executive."

"He is," Veld agreed. "He cares in ways a lot of people don't by the point they've been in the company that long. His job means he thinks about people, and their needs, not just politics. But he's been raised around the company, and a director since he was your age, he knows what he's doing."

"You think the board would go for it, with the VP still around?" Kunsel asked.

"I think the argument would be short, especially if Rufus doesn't put up too much of a fight," Veld said. "Reeve is well liked, competent, and no one ever registers him as a threat to their power. I think they'd agree before they realize he's not going to just roll over for them."

Drew hummed. "Promising. He does seem like a good guy, from what I've seen."

"Which is weird as hell," Benji said. "There aren't nice executives. What's his vice?"

"Work," Veld said immediately. "He puts the job first."

"Not always a healthy mindset," Drew said. "You burn out if you can't take a step back."

"I know." It had certainly crossed Veld's mind. He just had to hope Reeve would catch his stride faster than that, adapt and adjust to the new stress before it ate him alive. It was a risk they were going to have to take. "But he's the better candidate."

"Guess if 'putting the job first' means putting people first from his point of view, we're in a pretty good place," Zack pointed out. "If nothing else, he's never been anything but helpful and polite when I've dealt with him."

"That's sort of his thing," Veld said. "If I'm not getting any objection we'll go forward with that, then."

"Sounds good." Kunsel smiled. "We appreciate the check-in."

"I'm aiming for transparency," Veld said. "Teaming up doesn't do any good if we keep each other in the dark."

"Too true," he agreed. He didn't point out that it had certainly seemed more in the Turks' nature to keep things moving in secret. If they wanted to be open about things, he'd take it with gratitude. "Any idea on when you're, ah… moving forward?"

"Soon," Veld said. "A day or two. We don't want to give too much time for trouble to start brewing. But there's no action for you all to take yet."

"You got plans for us?" Benji asked.

"Just for you to find level ground with Anya when she takes over," Veld said. "Leave the politics to me."

"So long as your politics don't threaten SOLDIER, we'd be happy to," Drew said. "No one joins SOLDIER wanting to be a politician."

"No, I'd think not," he agreed, amused.

"So we're good?" Zack ventured.

"We're good," Drew said. "And we'll let you conk out, before Kunsel starts chasing us out."

"Yeaaaah, he might just," Zack said, covering a yawn.

"Take care," Veld said, slipping out.

"We'll be in touch." Benji saluted casually and headed out, Drew on his heels.