President Shinra

Red had heard President Shinra. The executive was clinging weakly to the edge of the roof, crying out "Help me!" Barret walked up to him, a wide smirk playing across his features.

"Well, well, well..."

"Pull me up! I'll give you all the money you want! I have gil! Plenty of it!"

"Thing is, I don't want your money," Barret said, keeping his hand just away from Shinra, whose grip was fading. The President kicked weakly, trying to stay alive.

"Please!" Shinra said, as his grip finally relinquished. Barret quickly grabbed his arm, holding him but not pulling him up.

"Just let me live. Everything you want can be yours."

"I'm a man of modest dreams. Dropping you from seventy stories up would get me damn near to good."

"But not all the way. You want something more, don't you!?"

"More than this right here? Talk to me again like you know me," Barret said quietly, thinking of Jessie and Biggs. He lowered him at first, but then his conscience got the better of him, and he tossed the president onto the roof like a sack of potatoes. The president started to stagger back to his office as Barret pursued him.

"You're gonna get on TV and tell ‘em. Tell 'em what you did to Sector 7—that it was you who killed all those people! Then, you're gonna tell them the truth about AVALANCHE. That AVALANCHE ain't Wutai or anybody's puppet! That AVALANCHE fights for the people—the planet! That we fight to hold Shinra to account for its crimes! That is AVALANCHE! The filthy sewer rats… who brought down a goliath! You tell 'em that." The president reached down into his desk, retrieving something, his composure returning.

"Is that really all you want? For your names to be cleared? Hmph. That is what matters most to you? More than shutting down the reactors? Than the future of the planet itself?"

"Damn," Barret said, as the president pointed a gold-plated gun at his adversary.

"You're lying to yourself, even now. Truth… justice, honor, freedom! Vain indulgences, every one. Picture it! Picture a world without Shinra. Without mako energy. A stagnant, impotent world. Now picture a natural disaster. Who would help the people? Help them recover and rebuild? You? With their old world ruined, will they thank you for the nеw? I'm going to give you a chance." The rest of the squad ran up, and the president's eyes lit upon Tifa.

"Even you, Tifa Lockhart. I was so disappointed to learn you'd thrown in your lot with the sewer rats. We'd rescued you from your home town after all. Taught you. Enhanced you. Were you so spurned by me choosing Scarlet over you? You could have served us both you know. Don't you remember, licking Scarlet's juices off my cock in Costa del Sol? That could be your life again."

Cloud looked at Tifa. The signs of arousal were there. The stiff nipples, her scent ... but it was drowned out by steely rage.

"Fuck you," she said bitterly. President Shinra sneered at Barret.

"One last opportunity to consider what your principles are truly worth. But bear in mind that time is of the essence."

"And what about you Mister President. What are your vaunted principles?" Barret asked.

"What principles!? Did you understand even a single word of what I told you? I know what I want, and I take it. I take advantage of whatever I can, and discard that which I cannot. There is no room for sentiment or guilt." He cocked the gun, and fired.