Saying the SOLDIERs were livid was an understatement. In fact, if they'd had any less control of themselves, Veld wouldn't have been surprised to be standing in a room of foggy blue light from pending limit breaks on sheer emotion.

But no, the four Firsts hadn't made it to their ranks without strict control of their power, and Kunsel was practically a First himself. Not, perhaps, in power and not in enhancements, but in sheer skill and even in authority - the rest treated him like one. Which helped. If they continued to follow Kunsel and Zack's lead, the Turks had a much better chance of containing this, to keep it from blowing up into a disaster worthy of the previous leaders of SOLDIER. Because they were plenty capable, just not inclined.

Yet.

Veld was not a praying man, but he'd seen too much not to think there was something out there somewhere, and if it cared at all for the Planet, it'd better help out on this one.

In the meantime, he was going to have to do this the old fashioned way and just… hope it worked. Which it seemed to be doing, they were livid but they were reasonable. Riiiiiight up until the mention of the microchips came out and suddenly there was a thin but undeniable ring of green around Zack Fair's eyes.

Vincent stepped up behind him, the motion drawing all five sets of too-bright eyes. "Obviously, we do not approve of this. Even the Turks have limits."

"Yeah I drew a pretty hard line before we ever got to literal slavery," Zack said, voice hard.

"What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck?" Benji demanded. "Mind control? Microchips in their goddamn brains? How did you not put a bullet in Hojo's brain before he could do this?"

"Distinct underestimation of how low he would go," Veld said flatly. "Frankly I didn't think he was capable of this."

"…as much as I hate to say it, I can't say I'd have ever predicted this either," Vincent admitted. "Crimes of passion are one thing, this is…"

"Okay for one thing, the good professor was a-okay with letting Genesis and Angeal die," Zack said. "Full stop. That? Is not okay. Like, Genesis and I were not on the best of terms, but seriously. Leaving someone to die of degradation without even trying to help them? Nuh-uh. That wasn't a crime of passion that was just cruel to be cruel."

"I am the last person to tell you that Jirou Hojo was a good man," Veld said. "And this is coming from also not-a-good-man, so I would know. But this is still something that I have trouble believing from him. Which doesn't matter, because he's very dead and can't answer for his crimes whether or not he 'meant' for things to go this way."

"We're just cleaning up the mess. Gotcha." Kunsel sighed. "So… what do we do with this nightmare fuel? You do have a plan, right?"

"We need to get in there and assess in person," Veld said. "You can fake a lot in reports, and if even half of this is true the inherent power imbalance leaves the door wide open for a horrific amount of abuse."

"Oh, you mean besides the listed abuses?" Benji asked, with an innocent tone that had fooled precisely nobody ever.

Drew kicked his ankle. "So. How's that pan out with us?"

"I was picturing bringing your general and his primary adviser," Veld said.

"And what, the rest of us just cool our heels waiting?" Benji asked.

"As much as I'd like us to outnumber the board, I don't think that particular grouping is wise," Veld said.

"It'd make a statement," Benji said.

"It would. But not the one we need right now," Veld said.

"Maybe." Kunsel frowned. "Better to err on the side of caution, I suppose."

"SOLDIER is not exactly known for that," Drew said. "But yeah, you've got a point. Going in guns blazing tends to turn people off. Even if they do deserve it."

"Oh they do, and don't get me wrong - there will be a reckoning for this," Veld said, not surprised at the grim little smiles that statement earned. "But we have to play it careful, until we understand what we're dealing with. You don't go into battle against an unknown without a little caution."

"And these… Restrictors are an unknown," Kunsel said. "So are the microchips. How thorough are they?"

"I can't see them being much use if they weren't capable of complete control," Veld said. "Whether they usually use it or not."

"As sickening as the thought is, he's probably right," Drew said. "It makes the most strategic sense; if you're going to go there, so far as to enforce mind control, then you might as well go all the way."

"So we've got four puppet masters and a boatload of hyper powered puppets," Benji said. "Great. That's going to traumatize me the rest of the day."

"Okay, we are not using the word puppet," Zack said. "These are real people, regardless of their… circumstances. They're more than puppets."

"Hopefully." Vincent arched a brow at the look he was given, shrugging. "We don't know that yet. People, sure, I'm not arguing that. But how… independent they are is questionable."

Zack looked distinctly ill at the thought.

"We need to find these things out before we can go forward in any capacity," Veld said.

"Right." Kunsel rubbed Zack's shoulder, grounding them both in touch. "Sure. Okay. So… when do we ah, do that?"

"I'd like to arrange to have a bit of a tour with the board and the two of you within the next few days, the sooner the better," Veld said. "But that's a hell of a thing to just drop on anyone, hence having this conversation about this first."

"We appreciate it," Kunsel said. "You've given us a lot to process, but we'll be there."

"I expected no less." Veld watched them a moment. "I do ask one thing. For now, follow my lead. Please."

Kunsel was silent a moment, eyeing him, then nodded slowly. "For now. At least publicly."

"That's all I ask."

Two days later and Kunsel was regretting that. The board was together - Reeve and Veld in the real lead, though Heidegger seemed under the impression he had some sort of leadership position due to inside knowledge. Scarlet, who had also apparently known, seemed disdainful of it all but that wasn't much of a surprise. Rufus was hard to read, but Palmer was clearly all nerves.

Zack was in his First Class charcoals, not wanting to bother with a stiff formal uniform in an unfamiliar, possibly dangerous situation. Kunsel, likewise, was still in his regular uniform as well. They flanked Anya, who was unreadable save for a hint of grim displeasure in her eyes; she didn't like this any more than the rest of them.

Professor Rayleigh was the last to join them, though more likely because she was genuinely busy than because she was dragging her feet or thought it wasn't worth her time, like her predecessor had a tendency to. Kunsel had decided he liked her, honestly; she was hard working, up front, and seemed oddly ethical for a ShinRa scientist. Odd, but he'd take any advantage.

And then they were heading down.

Really, really far down. Below ShinRa. Below the Plate. Below the Slums. Into a city below The City, which had once been the city, and it made Kunsel's head hurt even as he tried to process it all. Because the elevator, much like the elevators up in headquarters, were clear to show off the view. And the view said to him that this was indeed a CITY in its own right. Just where Midgar had blossomed up, Deepground had dug even further down.

"Holy shit," Zack whispered, eyes wide.

"An underground city," Reeve breathed, placing a hand on the curved surface of the elevator as they finished their descent. "This is amazing."

"A technological and architectural masterpiece," Heidegger said, as if that made up for what it housed. "You'll find there's quite a lot to be impressed with here."

"That's a word for it," Veld said evenly, and his utterly flat tone seemed, amazingly, to have successfully sent off warning bells to the other director, who mercifully fell silent instead of further praising the place.

"So. Who are we meeting with for this tour," Scarlet said, glancing aside at Heidegger.

"The Restrictor, of course!" He said. "Who better?"

"There's 'the Restrictors' and there's 'the Restrictor' then?" Zack checked. "Ooookay. Not really a feel-good name there. Like, not even motivational, that's just…"

"Zack." Kunsel touched his arm lightly, ending the flow of words before they could gain too much momentum.

Anya hummed softly, arching a brow at Veld's look. "The boy has a point."

"Let's just hope the rest of it's so straightforward," Veld said.

They emerged from the elevator at last, having descended to what was probably just the highest 'floor' level. Judging by what they'd seen, it went lower.

Zack was fine with not going lower. The whole place was giving him his first brush with claustrophobia and he really could have done without it.

They were greeted by a single figure, dressed in black with a tall, spiked helmet that completely covered his face. His was a guess, of course, but they would be the tallest woman Zack had ever run into if they were a woman - and as far as he knew, enhancements didn't play nice with women. Gillian Hewley had been the first he'd ever met, and he'd only known she'd had them in retrospect after finding out more on Project G.

This guy positively reeked of mako. And…

"Zack?"

Zack blinked slowly, vision tunneling on the strange figure, something in the back of his mind twitching.

"Zack?"

Memory struck.

Standing on the pipe leading up to that cursed chamber. Staring into wild green eyes. Pleading for sense with the distinct knowledge in the back of his head that things had already gone horribly off the rails.

That monster. The real monster, not Sephiroth, not Angeal not even Genesis, that - that -

"Jenova," Zack breathed.