Inside the Marine Science Unit No. 8 Research Institute, Sephiroth followed Vegapunk as he showed him around the various facilities.
Still, he was not a Marine. Although he supposedly had Rear Admiral-level clearance, areas with higher security classifications remained off-limits.
What he saw along the way was fairly classified too, but these were all experimental projects that required Satellite Shining's cooperation. Keeping them from him was hardly practical.
Kizaru and Sentomaru followed Vegapunk like a pair of bodyguards flanking him.
Hina, their liaison, actually had the lowest clearance and was left in the reception room.
"In short, the 'clone soldier' project has been underway for quite some time..."
As Vegapunk spoke, Kizaru rubbed his chin but did not stop him.
Whatever the case, since the higher-ups had decided to involve Satellite Shining, withholding the relevant explanation would hardly be appropriate.
"But you have no finished product. Or rather... no stable finished product that can be mass-produced, right?"
Although Sephiroth did not know the details, his grasp of the overall situation might well have been more comprehensive than Vegapunk's own.
-An omniscient perspective, kid.
"I won't deny that."
Vegapunk knew Satellite Shining had dealt with Germa and must have encountered their clones.
However, Judge's clones were not especially strong. They were not far ahead of elite Marine soldiers, reaching the level of lower- to mid-ranking noncommissioned officers at best.
As for turning his own children into modified humans, Vegapunk personally found that behavior contemptible.
Besides, judging by Marine intelligence, those modified humans were only around the average level of the Supernovas.
As they exchanged questions and answers, the group followed a metal corridor into a human experimentation laboratory.
The laboratory looked like a cross between an operating room and a precision equipment maintenance workshop.
An operating table stood in the center,