Work Text:
For Veld, it Started when he got a call from Rufus.
“Out of curiosity, what are you planning to do about the feral blond child in the vents?”
Veld blinked a lot. He had been prepared for many sentences, but that was not one of them. “The what?”
“There is evidently a small, dirty, feral child in the vents. He has pale blond hair.”
“Shiva’s sake, what did your father’s loins do this time?” Veld barked. On the other end, he was rewarded with a rare noise—a soft, genuine laugh from Rufus Shinra.
“The same thing they usually do, I expect.”
“I’ll look into it,” Veld said, and hung up.
***
The second call came way too early after way too late of a night. Veld still hadn’t washed the sweat off or changed into something respectable—this suit would not be salvageable, he could tell.
“What do you want?” He barked into the phone after making sure it wasn’t Rupurt. Rufus had a sense of humor—Veld knew, because he’d practically raised the little shit himself. Rupurt evidently had better things to do.
“I just saw the kid again. He has mako eyes. Not like a little mako either. Very mako.”
“Oh for—”
“Do you think Daddy Dearest would have handed over a bastard to Science?”
Veld paused, disturbed. Actually, it would be in keeping with tradition. He had handed off his legitimate heir to his spymaster and assassin, after all. “It… would not surprise me. What was the kid doing this time?”
“I’ve started calling him Tanuki in my head. He was raiding the fridge.”
After the little trash scavengers with legends of having balls both monstrous in size and put to uses to which balls should never be subjected? “Sounds fitting. Raiding the—”
“I’m in the executive breakroom. The really nice one. He was going through the fridge when I came in, he looked me and my weapons over, decided he didn’t give a shit, and went back to raiding the fridge. He then exited via the room vent, which he closed with his feet, and now I’m brewing coffee.”
The true Elixir, and those who said otherwise were heathens, and meant to be purged from this earth. “You didn’t say anything to him?”
A pause. “No. For one, he was too… he moved like he expected attack. For another… I was curious.”
Probably for the best, if that science slut Hojo had gotten a child mako enhancements… Rufus could handle himself in a fight, Veld had made sure of it, but he was never going to be able to top someone who had to fight to survive regularly. And if the kid had survived in the labs, he would have had to.
And if he somehow wasn’t from the labs and had made his way here anyway? That… would be worse. If he was really involved with the small scale sabotage around the Tower, he would have at least known his way around the tower and a variety of tools. “I’ll update the Turks I have working on it. Thank you for letting me know. Anything else of note?”
“Not as yet.”
“Do you think he’s letting you see him?”
There was a pause. At two encounters that were both clearly identifiable and nonhostile, Rufus was head and shoulders above anyone else in the Tower. The child rarely deigned to be seen at all, and he was usually gone so fast that onlookers, even trained ones, weren’t certain of what they had seen.
“I don’t know. I’ll think on that.”
“Stay armed and near your dog. Just in case.” He’d lost a lot of kids over the years. He didn’t want the vent kid to be one of them, but he didn’t want the blond jackass who had been entrusted to him to be one either.
***
Tanuki. Fucking Tanuki.
When they knew what to look for—child sized fingerprints—they had the proof. The kid had been everywhere. He apparently had some small ability with electronics too, or at least knew how to avoid cameras—which meant their hole security system was either compromised by his touch, or by his knowledge of it.
Veld was starting to admire the little bastard. If they managed to catch him, he was going to offer him a job, and told Tseng so regularly. Tseng usually responded that one Reno was enough, thank you.
Tanuki had been in the executive offices and had sabotaged to coffee machine, a lot, evidently from sheer pettiness.
Tanuki had sabotaged the Turk coffee machine. And, once their search for him ramped up, the vending machines too.
After someone had decided to try leaving drugged food in the fridge, the whole fridge had been… somehow rearranged to be upside down on the inside, from the shelves to the boxes of food glued to their undersides. Without appearing on the camera. They stopped trying to drug him after that.
Veld did leave him candy on his desk. And a note. “Is there a kind you prefer?”
Tanuki didn’t bother to specify his candy preferences, but he did leave ‘thanks’ on a piece of paper in a surprisingly elegant hand. And whatever Veld left out, he took.
Tanuki had been in his office then. Which was supposed to be impossible to break into. But… if he left a note for Tanuki, odds were he’d find it.
Tanuki had definitely been down to Science. Though they told Science they were being paranoid and sometimes having your fridge, coffee machine, backup coffee machine, vending machine and coffee vending machine break down all at once was normal.
Reno only barely kept a straight face. Veld resolved to leave him out of matters concerning Science in the future.
“Why Science?” He wrote on a slip of paper, and tucked it under a water bottle, some protein bars, and a few bars of chocolate with puffed rice in them.
When he got back in to his office the next day, he had an apple core in his trash can that hadn’t been there before, and a cleared desk. In the place of his offerings was a new note. “Because they deserve it, and Hojo is an asshole.”
Well. Hard to argue the facts. He weighed the pros and cons of getting the apple core sent through forensics, and eventually decided against. The kid knew he could do that, he was fairly sure—the apple core was either a false lead or a test.
“He’s also been in my office.” Rufus said mildly one day when they were both lingering after an executive meeting and the others had left. It had become a tradition of sorts, or perhaps a superstition, to offer the vent child something after meetings with large meals. Similar superstitions had started cropping up all over the tower—bribes—money was ignored but food, candy and drinks, including alcohol to Veld’s private dismay—were offered to keep the Tanuki away from coffee machines. Reeve’s department, which never seemed to have any trouble with the brat for some reason, seemed to think of the denizen as a sort of office pet that no one really believed in. But offerings were left, and sometimes rewarded.
“Your… private office. How did your dog react?”
“She was cuddling with him when I came in.” Rufus finished making a plate of food—balanced and loaded, which made Veld grin—it didn’t matter what the kid’s parentage was, Rufus was as close to fussing over him as he had ever seen—and Veld unscrewed the vent so he could slide the offering—along with the requisite bottles of water, in. Veld put the vent cover back on. He’d come back for the dishes tomorrow.
“Great. Your ferocious protection beast—” they both knew that animal was a pushover. Had been from the start—“has succumbed to the charms of our resident spirit of mischief.”
“Got to talk to him a little, too.”
That was more interesting. So far as Veld knew, even the letters he exchanged with Tanuki were an oddity. “Oh?”
“Said he could kill me and the dog if we didn’t let him go. I believe him. So I asked him why not do that instead. Said it was too much trouble, and he preferred me alive. Also that the dog was the one of us that he definitely liked best.”
Ohhh, Veld was definitely blaming Rupert’s balls for this one all right. The man was randy as an alley cat. “And you only deigned to tell me that he threatened your life now?”
“That wasn’t a threat. He’s more direct than that. That was him stating facts.”
Sweet hell. “Fine. What else.”
The brat shrugged. “Asked his name. Said I hadn’t earned it but he would tell me when I had. Said he was fine with the nickname I gave him for now.”
…. No one else actually called him the Tanuki. “He knows his nickname. Of course he does. He’s in the vents.”
***
He wasn’t…. hostile. Feral, possibly raised in the wilderness by a Mu, and definitely serving his own ends, but not… hostile. And that was curious, given his current… living standard.
He had taken to passing on information that—okay, it was accurate, useful and actionable. But why a child would know what it meant or care Veld didn’t know. There was no obvious pattern to the boy’s chosen information. He tried asking. Nothing.
Yeah, he definitely needed to offer that boy a job.
And his choice of targets was increasingly petty. So far, Veld’s favorite was the time when the lightbulbs in every bathroom in science exploded while Hojo was taking a shit. When the lights were replaced, the toilet paper was gone.
From every bathroom in the tower except the Engineering floor. Veld wasn’t sure if he should be as amused as he was… but he was.
At least Reeve was gracious about loaning out the bathroom.
This trend continued for weeks. Until the day Science self-destructed.
It was pandemonium. Hours were spent just containing the various escaped experiments—though privately Veld was quite convinced that there had been a few escapees that stayed that way. The firelion, for instance, was long gone, and gone he stayed. It must have taken weeks to line it all up—a fuse blown here, replaced with a faulty one—a lightbulb there, a failsafe on a cage an a mako tank there and there.
Even if they could pin this on the boy, Veld would make sure, damn sure, that they were never able to prove it. Rupert was in a towering rage over the damages done to his building. The thirty minutes of fire extinguisher had taken out more than a few secure files, most prototypes of the Weapons department, and destroyed a lot of electronics.
Rufus was more contemplative, looking out at the tank with Hollander drowned in it. “Think we’ll be able to prove he did it?”
“We won’t,” Veld said, trusting him to hear what he was really saying. A corner of the boy’s mouth curled upwards, proving again that he was right to trust the boy’s wits.
“Not what I asked.”
“Isn’t it?”
Rufus grinned. “Think we can figure out why he did it?”
“Hojo looks like the uglier, messier version of a crime of passion. That’s not evidence enough?”
“Veld, it’s late and I’m tired. Let’s pretend you aren’t turning me into my most devious self for eight seconds.”
Veld snorted, but relented. “We found… well. It’s hard to tell. But it sure looks like for some reason Hojo had all his most sensitive files about… subjects… all in one place, and they somehow managed to fall into an experimental acid after slogging through some mako. The sensitive files. The ones he had on computer, why, they seemed to have been eaten by that same experimental behemoth that partially ate Hojo. Between the stomach acid and the chewing, not likely to be much salvageable. We only got two shreds of paper to show us what was on them to start with—a picture of a girl Hojo had my men stalking in the slums and, on a separate paper, the words ‘the subject known as Sephiroth’.”
Rufus frowned, “Hypothesis?”
“I think Hojo had him. I think he’s destroying any information he can find on himself and any other sentient subjects of Hojo’s. While taking sweet revenge. It’s what I would do in his shoes.”
“’My team is my family and I look out for them.’” Rufus quoted, voice quiet. Veld felt himself blush.
“You should quote someone less dramatic.”
“Dramatics have their uses. The kid knows the value of loyalty, then.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Perhaps… perhaps we can use that.” Veld felt his eyebrows climb, and Rufus shook his head. “No, blackmail is more my father’s style. I was thinking something subtler and more gentle. We give the kid a gift. I’m sure your department has backup files on this… girl he tried to protect yes? If you are tailing her?”
“If your Tanuki hasn’t destroyed them.”
“I would be ever so surprised if he hadn’t. He’s usually quite thorough.”
Veld mock sighed, but let the corners of his mouth twitch, so Rufus would see he was pleased. Tseng would be delighted. The files would certainly be destroyed now. “And of course without any reason left as to why we were tailing her the men I have on that task will have to be assigned to something else.”
“Probably just some perverted side thing of his anyway.”
Neither of them believed that. Veld remembered exactly why they were tailing that girl. But he was going to forget. Deliberately. “Perhaps we should thank your Tanuki for saving the company some frivolous spending.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Rufus said, with leery distaste at the ruins around him. “Though… lets go over Hojo and Hollander’s spending again, yes? See if we can put a spin on this that will appease Daddy Dearest, or distract him for a bit.”
It wasn’t really a secret, that Rufus was trying to take the company from his father. It was a secret that Veld supported him wholeheartedly. Rufus understood loyalty. Rufus understood rewarding those who served you. Veld had made sure to teach it to him, as a boy.
He had learned his lessons well, and he had made his father proud. Veld had felt that pride like a fire in his chest. His kids did alright.
Rufus left for his suite, to sleep, because he could afford to-- his job wasn’t cleanup after all.
And then… the phone rang. Veld had expected updates on the cleanup across the Tower—he frowned, seeing the ID, but, “Rufus?”
“Tanuki is shot and bleeding out in my bathtub. Executive suite. Send medical assistance.” He paused, just a little too long, and took an audible breath. “SOLDIER kit, a surgeon if you can manage it.”
“Understood.” Veld hung up.
***
Veld had been a father once. He supposed in some ways he still was—to the Turks. To Rufus. But Felicia had been the only child he physically fathered, and the only one he had held at the hour she was born. She had changed him, even before she died. Oh, he could still clean up Shinra’s messes, if he couldn’t, he’d be dead. Competence was the only thing that kept him from having an unfortunate accident, and thus, saving his Turks. The SOLDIERs, who the company sank far more money into, were treated as expendable. He was under no illusions about how his Turks would be treated if he didn’t play his cards very carefully.
So he could do cleanup and keep a face like stone and make everything work. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he still felt it. It still got to him. When he looked back at the night, it was a series of horrific snapshots.
The trail of blood was like a beacon, too bright and too much. And it came from the kid. That tiny, tiny little kid.
He’d crawled in the bathtub. The kid knew the bleeding wasn’t going to stop, and went through the extra trouble of going over the ledge… his limbs would have felt like lead, with the blood he had already lost. Why had he bothered?
Rufus, pale, worried. He hadn’t seen him show anything like fear since the time old man Shinra had threatened to dispose of Starry if he couldn’t teach her perfect manners and obedience before she reached a year of age. But Rufus was his father’s son in some regards. The dog got trained.
He heard him talking when he opened the door, and didn’t recognize his voice at first. Thin. Pinched. “Hey, hold on. Help is coming. Help is coming.”
He sounded like he’d been repeating himself for a while.
Helping with the surgery. More blood. The kid already unconscious.
He looked a lot like Rufus had when he was that little.
Healing the incisions, holding the medic up with the other hand. She was young. She was shaking with horror and exhaustion. But she did a good thing today. Maybe that would help. Maybe.
Starry leaping up onto the bed, whining at her master.
“It’s extra heat,” Veld forced out. “Let her. She won’t hurt him.”
They never considered using any official channels. Veld had bullets in his gun if they had wanted to go down that route—why would they choose the less efficient option?
And then they were standing at the foot of the bed, watching him sleep.
“Did you know Hojo was actually a good shot?”
And the night fractured like glass.
***
Veld wasn’t a man who broke. Veld wasn’t a man who lost track of time, who locked himself in his office and keened through clenched teeth. He couldn’t afford to be. But he was in his office, and the door was locked, and he was pacing like a caged beast and he didn’t know how he had gotten here, but he kept flipping the USB from one hand to another. He didn’t remember how he had gotten here, but it would come back if he thought about it. He was pretty sure anyway.
Moreover, he didn’t care.
He should stop.
He kept pacing. He plugged the USB in. Watched it again.
The video with Gast would have made him smile once. It would have given him a reason Shinra would have accepted, to shoot the bastard. But… the other videos.
The other name. The one he couldn’t let himself think. Because he had to be here. Had to think. Had to function. That… could not be right.
He heard Tseng ask to be let in. He ignored him.
Rufus ordered it, a while later. He hesitated. Rufus growled his command.
Veld obeyed. Rufus looked himself, this morning. Was it morning? Was it still morning? “I expected you earlier.”
Veld just looked at him. That wasn’t a question.
Rufus crossed back to the door, shut it, made sure it was locked. “Show me.”
Veld did. Rufus swore a few times. The videos were bad.
Well. Not the one with Gast. That was bad, if you were a civilian. Not if you were a Turk.
The other ones were bad.
“Who was that man?”
“Vincent Valentine. Code name Cerberus, in the older reports. Verdot’s partner.”
Rufus looked at him. He knew full well who Verdot was.
“I didn’t know.” Veld said. “Its my job to know things. Even then, it was my job to know things. And I didn’t know.”
“Director Dragoon,” Rufus started, with the voice he used when addressing the board, the one Vincent had taught him. Hard and clear and cold. “You will set out for Nibelheim immediately.”
What?
“This is a clear and demonstrable misuse of both Shinra funds and the lives of esteemed Shinra personnel. You will gather any evidence that you find. You will comb through the late Director’s research notes. You will uncover every secret he ever had. I want to know what the bastard’s porn subscription cost and what it offered him. I want to know about every dirty thought he ever entertained. You will go to the manor, turn it upside down and shake it if you have to.”
“Sir.”
Rufus gentled his tone. Only a little. “And. You will find anything left of any Shinra Personnel, and you will bring them home. We do not leave our men to twist in the wind. Do you understand?”
“Sir!” And Veld… hesitated. Because he had already lost one child. “Sir. Are you certain I shouldn’t simply send a team?” You need someone here to watch your back. He ached to be in Nibelheim, to see if… if what the end of the video suggested, however horrific, was true. And so much time had already been lost. But losing another child… If anyone slipped up…
“I have my weapons. Tseng if you don’t take him with you to the manor, though you will take a team with you. I have Dark Star.” And then, the slightest smile. “Tanuki left my hospitality this morning and reentered the vents. I’ll be fine.”
“He understands loyalty,” Veld agreed, and turned to find his partner.