ShinRa had been on a slippery slope a long time. Veld knew better than anyone how far they had fallen. He'd been involved in some of the worst of it, his hands bloodstained and his sins unforgiveable. He was resigned to it, by now, but even he had his limits. What had happened to Vincent, to Felicia, had neatly snapped any loyalty to the company as a whole. He remained on ShinRa's payroll out of care for a rare few he wouldn't leave behind, and knowledge that someone had to help keep things from falling apart. If ShinRa fell, so would the eastern world, and so long as he and his lived in it, it was in his best interest to keep that from happening.

But goddamn, they were making it hard to stay.

Deepground was a nightmare. He was both right and wrong about what it was; it had most definitely started as a medical ward, but with nefarious purpose. While some SOLDIERs were returned to duty, the vast majority - the ones that had, again, "died" - were taken hostage and made a part of what his brain was currently trying to cope with by terming it 'Shadow SOLDIER.'

They were SOLDIER - SOLDIERs, at least - but not a part of the department any longer. They were taken into the bowels of ShinRa, the lower levels into the domain of Science and lower still, into a city below even the Slums that he'd academically known existed but hadn't realized was in use.

The thing with Midgar was, it had been built over preexisting settlements. Most people thought that was just what remained in the Slums, and mostly they were right; the Slums were the bulk of the original. But when the early reactors had been being put in, they'd had to ground them deep and build up, especially when they wanted to put Reactor 0 in. Of course the Plate had come later, quite literally overshadowing the Slums, and everyone sort of… forgot. Thought that the Slums was as rock-bottom as it felt.

But there was more. How much more… he was chagrined to realize he didn't know. "Reeve, what do you know about the under city? Structurally."

"Structurally?" Reeve hesitated. "I have blueprints somewhere from Dad, but it's not something I was exactly encouraged to look into."

"Surprise surprise," Vincent murmured, leaning against the desk.

Reeve sighed, wracking his mind. "It was constructed around the same time Midgar was. It's old, and it's enormous."

"So… they really are running a city," Vincent said.

"There's got to be an entire off the books, unaccounted for resource line going on," Reeve realized. "Money, food, supplies… personnel. How do you hide an entire city for decades? We should have noticed people coming in and out."

"Unless no one leaves," Vincent said.

There was a moment of grim silence.

Veld took in a slow, deep breath. "Well. I think it's time Heidegger and I have a little chat."

Andreas Heidegger was not, contrary to common opinion, an idiot. A little overeager at times, perhaps. A little too quick at the draw. A little heavy handed. Little flaws, and didn't they all have them? But he wasn't an idiot. So when the head of the Turks came for a chat, he knew something was up. Something he wanted no part of.

It wasn't that he and Veld were on terrible terms, exactly; they weren't enemies, but they weren't allies either, and they'd certainly never been friends. And Veld had that look in his eye lately, like maybe he wouldn't have minded if their mystery assassin had knocked off a few more of them. He was wound tight, something eating at him in a way he hadn't seen before, and when a man like that was on edge, it was smartest to just get out of the way.

Only he couldn't, because Veld wanted to chat.

(Veld didn't chat. He wanted information, and Heidegger was pretty sure he'd have told him anything he wanted to hear to get out of the line of fire.)

The worst part had to be that he didn't know what it was about. A little digging said Veld had just left the President's office, which might have meant he was there on Reeve's behalf. He wasn't sure that would be better than Veld coming of his own initiative, frankly. Reeve had also not exactly been an ally. In fact, he was painfully aware that he'd been barely civil to him in the past, at best. There had been far more insults than he was comfortable looking back on, not because Reeve hadn't earned them of course, but… well. He was now the President of ShinRa Inc.

It was a problem.

Maybe he was being audited? Though, he couldn't imagine Veld would necessarily tell him right away, unless Reeve requested it. Then again, Reeve had always been… well, appeared to be quite straightforward, much like his father before him. He had little taste for the important political nuances, part of why Heidegger found him a poor replacement as a leader. He had a good head for money and resource management, he'd give him that, but he had no military sense, and ShinRa had always been about weapons first, metal or flesh. Hopefully, he wouldn't ruin things before Rufus could take over.

He was shaken out of his musings when his secretary announced Director Faraman to see you, sir, with all the cheerful obliviousness of someone who had no idea they were alone with one of the most dangerous men in Midgar. She was a mastermind at paperwork and dealing with finances, at least, but sometimes he worried.

Veld did not wait to be let in, calmly strolling through the door with the kind of smile that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It was borderline friendly, until you looked at his eyes, which were nothing short of predatory. He was here for something, and in the kind of mood where he wouldn't have minded coercing it out of him.

Not an audit, then. For the first time in his life, he wished it was. "Faraman."

"Heidegger." Veld didn't sit, which wasn't a surprise, but given Heidegger had been seated it allowed an unfair loom to occur from the forced height difference. And he couldn't just stand up, that would be too awkward, if not outright confrontational, and he didn't want to make this confrontational, he just - "We need to talk."

Heidegger reeled in his emotions and offered an easy smile that he didn't feel. "Of course. What can I do for the head of the Turks?"

"We've been making it a project to go through the President's things, and we've come across a variety of projects. Some of which Reeve is unfamiliar with, as you can imagine," he said.

"Given he was never intended for this position, I think that's natural," Heidegger said.

"Mm. But I can't help but notice there were some things that I was not privy to," Veld said. "And one might wonder what, exactly, is going on that you wouldn't tell the head of security about."

Veld's words hit a sour note, and he had no doubt it was intentional; Heidegger had prided himself on his role in the company's safety, but the truth was they handled more external matters now. Internally, things were usually in the hands of the Turks.

Which did make him wonder, for a long moment, just what they'd gotten into. Where had they gone digging and what had they found that was a secret even to Veld? Oh sure, there was the whole Kalm cover-up that Heidegger had handled, but if that had been dug up Veld wouldn't be coming to chat. No, this was a professional insult, not a personal one.

What was there to find that he had a part in? Hojo had held all the 'secret' cards and probably taken most of them to his grave. Which was not to say Veld couldn't dig them up, but again - not something Heidegger should be taking the fall for.

What was left? What could he have possibly done that Veld hadn't been let in on? Well, that the President had been involved in. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be a little more clear; I haven't set out to keep secrets -"

"You always did want SOLDIER for yourself, even back when Anton was in charge," Veld mused. "Pitched a fit over Lazard, too, as I recall. Public Safety just wasn't shiny enough, was it? Wasn't strong enough."

"Excuse you, but if you're here just to insult my department, I've got better things to do," Heidegger said.

Veld smiled, and he realized immediately he was being baited. Thrown off kilter, to be vulnerable against the last person in the world he wanted to risk that with. "Of course, my mistake. I just find it interesting that at some point, when I wasn't looking, you went and found yourself an enhanced force to control."

Heidegger's mouth went dry as realization hit, and from the glint in Veld's eyes he could tell the damned Turk knew it.

"I can see we're on the same page," he said evenly. "Good. So. Let's you and I have a sit down and you can tell me everything you've got on Deepground."