He rode for a while until they arrived at Shetland, where he landed it in front of his house, one that had been empty for a while. He made himself invisible, seeing Qiaolian May help the girls get out and bring them inside the house.

He sat there, waiting for them to get in, and then waited another hour before entering the house himself.

"You are back so soon?"

"Yeah," Cloud showed her the disk and files but didn't give them to her. He went to the library, where Howard and Wendy kept their files, pulling a red book, and shelves opened, revealing a safe, in which he put them in, closing it, "How are the girls?"

"I put them all in a room, some of them were hungry, so I gave them what little hadn't gone bad."

"I'll arrange for the food and clothes for now."

"What then?" May stopped him from going anywhere, raising her eyebrows, "Are you going to raise them? Teach them? Take care of them their whole life? Have you ever taken care of a girl before?"

Cloud hesitated, "If they need a place to live, then I'll build one; they need teachers I'll hire; if they need to be taken care of, then I'll get the maids. If they want jobs, I'll get them that too. So yeah. I have money and nothing better to do with it."

May exasperated groaned as she walked behind him, "And what about the other girls? This is an organisation. We need help. Maybe asking those chasing after them would be a good idea."

"You mean SHIELD?"

"Yeah. Shield. Who are they?"

"A corrupt organisation," Cloud stopped at the door, "That disk has research that would help them control people's minds. These girls? They'd be trained as agents and later mind controlled. That was Dreykov's plan. But let's not forget. It's not them who was researching Mind Control, but Shield. I don't want them to know it's here. Who knows what they'd do?"

May parted her lips in confusion; she wanted to argue but couldn't without breaking the cover. She rubbed her forehead, "How do you know that it'd be used to control minds?"

"I saw the research," Cloud leaned against the frame, crossing his arms as he watched her, repeating Lucrecia's words, "They seemed to have dissected the human brain and constructed a blueprint of Basal Ganglia. Learning, Movement and Cognition. Basically…Mind Control."

May betrayed a look of shock, taking deep breaths, "How do you know it was SHIELD?"

"He said as much. North Institute was a SHIELD front. He thought I was a SHIELD Soldier, there to take it back."

May closed her eyes, "Then, why haven't you destroyed the project? What do you want with it?"

"An antidote. I'll make one before they can recreate this research," Cloud shook his head, "I have no interest in being Mind Controlled. Do you?"

"Can you do that? Make an antidote?"

"Even if I can't. I know someone who can," Cloud looked towards the stairs, at the blue-haired girl standing above them, "Anyway. I'll get you a blank check, take as much money needed to arrange everything for the girls, and make it big. I am sure there are bound to be more of them."

"You are going to save them too?"

"Yeah."

"I don't get you…why?"

Cloud wondered as his footsteps slowed, seeing Zack's reflection in the mirror, "Because…that's what he would have done."

Abruptly, everything disappeared, leaving Tifa, Aerith, and Hermione with Tifa, who closed the Log. She glanced towards Aerith, "Eri."

Aerith looked down, shaking her head; she bit her lip, feeling her eyes become watery, "I…never knew it burdened him still."

Hermione parted her lips to say something but thought it would be better not to say anything. Only Tifa encouraged her to talk, and she understood, "Uh…we were worried that he'd get another girl. He got an army."

Tifa and Aerith looked up to get a good look at Hermione, who was wincing, and Aerith burst into laughter, her palms put together, her fingers touching her lips, and Tifa chuckled, trying to surpass her laughter.

"I guess he did, didn't he?" Aerith grinned, "Oh well. It's a good thing he did. Otherwise, I would have punched those guys to save those girls."

"Do you still have that much money? That would be a lot of money," Hermione asked.

"Don't worry. The money we could always make, one way or the others. Those girls are important," Tifa pressed her lips and nodded, "But…I am more worried about why we are not back in the room and this darkness?"

"Uh…" Hermione looked around, realising they weren't back in the room, but it was like she was inside a tv, all black but with light just enough to see each other.

"Um…" She thought when they found themselves inside a house, in front of an aged woman. She was sitting on a lounger, and then footsteps started ringing in the room, and the woman opened her eyes. They wanted to look around, but the room shifted with them, and they could only see the woman who opened her eyes, looking at the person who had visited her.

She shook her head, "I told you. I am retired, and while your offer is tempting. I have no interest in that."

She had only rejected the person in black boots and pants when a few files and a disk were dropped on the table in front of the brown-haired older woman whose hair was starting to show the whites.

She sighed and leaned forward, picking up the files, "Whatever this is won't change my mind."

She looked through the file, disappearing behind it and turning the page intensely before she picked another, and then another, and she picked up the disk, staring at it before she threw in on the files, "Damn it. How long before you can arrange everything?"

A sharp sound of sparks appeared in the room, and a portal formed, making the woman stand up with a smile, "Mind Control and Portals. What else is new?"

And everything disappeared again, allowing the three girls to see their dorm room.

"Uh…what was that? Echo?"

[You didn't see everything, so I made a preview for you. Liked it?]

Tifa rubbed her forehead, "I guess…we aren't calling Cloud?"

"Yeah, he already has enough on his hand. I'd rather not make him feel that he needs to be here too," Aerith sat down on the bed, "Let's wait for a little while before we go to see him?"

"What if he saw your Log too?" Hermione blinked, "Can you block it?"

"Can we?"

[Yes. Do you wish to?]

Tifa and Aerith exchanged a look, and Aerith shrugged, "Nope. No need. That would only worry him. Though, block parts of it. You know which ones, right?"

[Your reaction?]

"Yeah…that part," Aerith whispered.