Chapter 5 – The President of Shinra
President Saldana of Shinra covered his eyes with one hand and tried to look at the landscape before him. It took a moment for him to get used to the natural sunlight after days underground and years under the smog of Midgar.
Most of his employees were too shocked by the sight they saw to speak; their home city was in ruins.
"How can this be?" he asked, scanning the sectors for any surviving areas. "The damage is greater then we had predicted."
Their eyes slowly got used to the level of light. Saldana's eyes focused on the two figures watching them from a short distance away. "Someone call Junon," he ordered. "We need to find out what survived. I had hoped that we could re-build Midgar but the damage is too extensive. This area is running out of abundant Mako energy anyway, we need to find somewhere else to begin drilling."
"Mr. President sir!"
Saldana turned to face his head of Mako reactor maintenance. "Yes, what do you want Mr Condra?"
Condra licked his lips nervously. "I think we should perhaps try to set up a base of operations here, I'm sure my team can get at least one reactor working. Just give us some time please sir."
"Fine." The president waved him away and then took a few steps forwards. "You two," he barked at Cloud and Tifa. "What happened out here over the last few days?"
Cloud and Tifa had been listening to the entire conversation and had worked out who these people were; the surviving executives who had hidden in the Midgar bunker. Cloud quickly scanned the crowd; there were only a few SOLDIERS among them. He could take them out and be rid of another part of the old Shinra.
Cloud unsheathed his sword. "The reign of Shinra is finished, Midgar is no more and Shinra has a new president."
One of the SOLDIERS stepped forwards to protect his president. "Sir, that is Cloud Strife. He was the one at the top of our wanted lists for crimes against Shinra."
Cloud looked over at Tifa; he could see the hatred in her eyes too. They thought that everything would be fine once Rufus and Sephiroth were gone, it seems that their fight went on. As Cloud prepared to strike he heard the sound of marching feet. He, Tifa and the president's bodyguards all stopped their attacks and turned to look east.
'Oh no,' thought Cloud. 'The other SOLDIERS are coming!'
He looked around, there had to be a way out! They were surrounded by rubble so that the two groups of SOLDIERS were blocking the only paths away. Cloud rubbed the green 'EXIT' materia in his sword, but realised that even that couldn't help him and Tifa in this situation.
"Cloud," whispered Tifa. The look of anxiety on her face showed that she was probably thinking along similar lines. "I can only see one easy way out of this mess…surrender."
"What are you thinking, they'd lock us up again. More carefully this time!"
Tifa patiently tried to explain her plan to Cloud. "Listen, if Cait Sith really is the president of Shinra, that squad of SOLDIERS arriving behind us will take us to him. Cait will be able to free us, all we have to worry about is this other president of Shinra."
Cloud didn't have long to think about it as the SOLDIERS who had been chasing them stopped near to them. "SURRENDER NOW OR WE WILL KILL YOU!" shouted their leader.
Cloud looked at Tifa; she already had her hands in the air. Grudgingly Cloud raised his hands too and dropped his Ultima weapon. "NOW DROP ALL OF YOU MATERIA, WHERE I CAN SEE IT!"
Cloud saw Tifa drop all of the coloured balls onto the floor in front of her, he thought about a way to try and hide some but was ordered to hurry up by the SOLDIERS' leader. He dropped the few pieces of materia he had borrowed from Tifa onto the ground in a small glowing pile.
"Thank you for you co-operation." The SOLDIERS were uneasy. No one had ever heard of Cloud Strife giving up since he had achieved legendary power through his weapons and materia. The leader then waved his gun at the other people standing by the central pillar of Midgar. "Who are you?" he asked.
Saldana looked at the SOLDIER with a bemused look on his face. "I am the president of the Shinra Corporation, if you are SOLDIERS then you now take orders from me."
The SOLDIERS by Saldana's side stepped forwards again, but the other SOLDIERS still looked unconvinced. "You'd better come with us if those are your ideas, and explain yourself to the real president of Shinra."
Saldana was taken aback momentarily. So Shinra had surveyed the onslaught of meteor, but who was it that now ran the company? Whoever it was Saldana had to outrank them, he was the highest-ranking official to survive until the doors of the bunker were closed.
"Who is this other president? I assure you that I outrank them."
The leader of the squad glared at the party in front of him. Many of the faces were familiar; he had seen these people before. "The president is Reeve," he said slowly.
The other president of Shinra scowled. "REEVE?" he exclaimed. "Reeve was arrested for crimes against Shinra shortly after weapon attacked the city. In these records are a list of his crimes and evidence of them. He is no member of Shinra, I am the real rightful president!"
Cloud watched this interchange with a growing sense of worry. Perhaps Cait Sith was not going to be able to get them out of this one after all. As the leaders talked some of the other SOLDIERS handcuffed Cloud and Tifa's hands behind their backs. Cloud was now very worried, it would take a lot to save them now.
As the now expanded party turned to walk to Neo-Midgar to meet Cait Sith, Mr Condra grabbed his president's attention. "Mr. President, we have done a quick scan of the area and found that the number 4 reactor is serviceable. May I have your permission to send a team to the reactor as soon as possible?"
"Yes, let it be done. I want power as soon as possible." Saldana turned to his secretary. "Have you contacted Junon yet and explained the current situation?"
"Yes sir. The secretaries in Junon have sent an order for the arrest of Reeve to the SOLDIERS in Midgar. Um, they also gave the news that it is not actually Reeve present in Midgar, but the creature he used to spy on the terrorist group AVALANCHE."
"It is of little consequence. The creature will be destroyed and Reeve stripped of all his power. Then I will lead Shinra back to glory!"
Cloud grimaced at the presidents laughter, it hurt his ears more then Rufus's. At least it was better then Heidegher's. He experimented by trying to slip his hands out of his handcuffs, but only succeeded in making his wrists sore. Shinra seemed to know what they were doing, and that was always a bad thing. 'Where are the others?' he thought. 'It's going to take an army to save us now, we can't rely on another Sephiroth appearing.'
~ ~ ~
Iona caught up with Cait Sith an hour after her last meeting with him. She had bargained her way past the guards and was now face to face with the cat.
"Mr. President," she began. "As you mentioned earlier that you plan to leave Neo-Midgar when the rescue operation has finished and that you plan not to allow us to use the reactors, could we please have some materia. Our defences are lacking and we are vulnerable to raiders. We appreciate your help but we need to be self-sufficient and able to protect ourselves when you leave. We don't want a repeat of the tragedy of last night."
The Cat thought for a moment, then got onto the stuffed moogle and began to hop around the room, trying to look serious and thoughtful but looking ridiculous as always.
"Well, (hop) we could donate (hop) some of our (hop) spare materia (hop) to you (hop). We would however (hop) ask you to remember (hop) all of this generosity (hop) and repay us sometime (hop) if we ever need your help (hop) or compliance." He had travelled around in a circle and was facing Iona again. "Do I make myself clear, Shinra could do with some allies."
"Thank you president Sith."
Cait nodded to her and began to write a note. "Hand this to the supplies people and they will give your group some materia. We don't have much materia to spare and it is valuable so remember this." Iona bowed and left.
She was happy that the new Shinra were much nicer then the old corporation and willing to help, but she couldn't shake off her distrust for the company which had caused her problems in the past.
"Iona!"
She looked towards the voice and saw Jess running towards her. "Iona, you're alright! I'm glad I've found you."
Iona tried to calm the excitable girl down, but she kept on asking questions. "What happened here last night, where did all these Shinra people come from?"
"I guess I've got a lot to tell you, come with me. You can help me carry the materia I'm collecting."
The pair walked over to one of the Shinra trucks that had just pulled into the town.
~ ~ ~
Nanaki stood at the front of the ship as it cut through the water. There was a breeze behind them and it was pushing the flotilla of boats towards Midgar faster then expected. The leading boat was similar to the one Nanaki remembered he and his friends had stowed away on during their first voyage to Costa Del Sol. Now it was carrying supplies and trucks, heading towards Midgar to help any survivors. Contact had not been made with anyone on the other side of the Ocean yet. Junon was still not responding and neither was Midgar. The fleet was now heading towards the coast where the trucks could be unloaded nearest to Midgar.
Nanaki looked over the sea and could see the thin sliver of the approaching coastline. Usually the sky over it would be dark, but the cloud which perpetually hung over Midgar had dissipated and the sky was clear.
The people of Cosmo Canyon had moved quickly when Nanaki had explained the situation to them. Supplies were quickly loaded onto trucks and driven over to Costa Del Sol. There Nanaki had encountered Vincent again. Vincent had done a very efficient job of motivating the locals to prepare the boats to sail. There he had heard that Cid was going to fly his supplies over to Midgar and that so was Barret. The two teams then merged and here they were.
Vincent was below the deck, keeping out of the sun. It was a hot day but the breeze kept Nanaki cool. As he watched the horizon he heard a distant roaring noise. Turning around he saw what he expected to see, on the other horizon a number of black dots in the sky. 'That has to be Cid and Barret,' he thought.
"Hey Nanaki." He turned again, this time to face the bridge. One of the people he had brought with him from Cosmo Canyon was standing there. He went on. "There's a Cid Highwind on the PHS for you, do you want to talk?"
Nanaki walked over to the bridge and tried to hold the phone in his paws. After some fumbling he got it into a position on the control panel on the bridge so that his head was laying on it comfortably.
"Hi Cid,"
"Ah, good to hear your voice my four legged friend."
"Er, thanks Cid. So how is your team doing? We should be on the coast in a few hours."
"Yeah, well we'll be in Midgar in a few hours. Our fleet is going a little slowly as we have a few blimps with us."
Nanaki asked a sailor for a pair of binoculars to be held for him, when he looked through them he could see the various aircraft more clearly. There was a wide variety from small biplanes to huge blimps and even a few modern aircraft.
"I see you Cid," added Nanaki down the phone afterwards. "Have you heard any word from Yuffie yet. I don't know if we can rely on any help from Wutai."
"Nah, I've heard nothing from the girl since she fell over her $%*&ing chocobo. Well, we'll see you in Midgar. I'm glad I'm on one of these modern ships, my one's a bit like the Highwind. We found it in Rocket town where a few of the military had flown for the end of the world. Heh, those blimps are really slowing up down. Of course I won't fly one, as I wouldn't be allowed to smoke. Well, see ya."
The line went dead and Nanaki began to walk out of the bridge when one of the radio receivers began to crackle into life.
"Calling all Costa Del Sol ships. Do you read us? This is Sea control in Junon, what is your purpose and destination?"
Nanaki rushed over and put a paw on the reply button. "We're a rescue party from the other continent. We're heading to Midgar to help the survivors."
There was a brief moment filled only with static from the radio link. "Proceed, there is already a sizeable Shinra rescue force in Midgar but your help will be appreciated. However you must prepare to have your equipment and vessels checked by Shinra officials before entering the restricted area of Midgar."
The world began to spin slightly around him. Shinra had re-formed? This was not what he had been expecting. Nanaki cut the link. "Quick, get me a link to the other ships and the aircraft," he ordered his helper. "Oh, and call Vincent up here too please. I've got some important and worrying news to give everyone."
~ ~ ~
The glow of a small swarm of fireflies lined the edge of the ornamental pond. The light of a paper lantern illuminated a small segment of the garden and allowed Yuffie to see what she was doing in the dead of night. The air was crisp and it was cool outside, but her mind was closed to the cold. Even in her small ninja outfit it did not bother her.
She moved with sudden speed and there was a whirr of metal as her shriuken flew over the pond and stuck a mantis to the ground.
Yuffie smiled, it was getting too easy. She needed to find new, more challenging training exercises if she wanted to improve further and protect her title well.
The aid ships had left that evening, it would take a day or two for the airships to reach Midgar and a week at least for the boats. Godo had stayed in Wutai to help run the country, Yuffie had stayed behind in case she met Cloud and the others and they demanded their materia back. In their place general Wing-Tsit Chong had led the expedition. Yuffie had never liked him; the general was like a stricter, taller, thinner version of her father. Like Godo but without Godo's good points.
Yuffie wondered how her old friends were getting on. Most of them should be arriving in Midgar soon, over there in Midgar it should be the early afternoon.
"Yuffie, are you still up?"
She almost lost her balance when her father's voice surprised her. "I'll be inside in a few minutes dad," she moaned.
"Come on in Yuffie, I have a few things I need to tell you."
Yuffie looked over at her father and wondered what he had on his mind. Suddenly she shivered as the cold finally got to her. "Okay." She ran around the pond to retrieve her Conformer and then sprinted into the house, trying to keep warm now that her concentration was broken.
Godo was standing there waiting for her. "Daughter, I want to tell you of some of my plans for the future."
Yuffie was now walking quickly to keep up with Godo as he strode deeper into the house. He continued. "When Shinra was destroyed some of the former employees flew here to Wutai, there were enough mako reactor engineers amongst them for us to get enough information to now build a mako reactor of our own."
Yuffie couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew what the reactors did to the planet and was of course now against their use. "Dad, you can't build one of those ugly things! You used to be against their use, you hated them when Shinra had them."
"But Yuffie, times change and so must we. The reactors were what allowed Shinra to beat us in the war all those years ago. The reactors and their materia. That is why you set out to get all of this materia wasn't it?"
Yuffie found her opinions conflicting.
"If we built our own reactor," continued Godo. "We would have a cheap power supply which would make all of our lives better, and reactors can also be used to make materia."
Yuffie clutched her head with her hands. What was more important to her: protecting the planet or her country?
"But Wutai has no powerful enemies anymore," protested the girl. "Why do we need so much materia now anyway?"
Godo shook his head. "You still have much to learn of the ways of the world my girl. There is a power vacuum in the world at the moment. If Wutai gains strength, we can fill it. If not then some other country will become dominant, the future will be our time Yuffie."
"Yes, but…but…"
~ ~ ~
Iona and Jess had distributed the new materia to the officers. Jess had kept a Shiva summon while Iona had equipped a 'Steal' materia in her bracelet, thinking that she already had a powerful enough summon.
Now they were looking around as the town was being repaired. "You can feel the enthusiasm in the air!" commented Jess. "Everyone knows what they are doing and are doing it."
Iona smiled. Perhaps things would work out well after all. If Shinra were on her side, she wouldn't need materia. The future looked bright for once.
"The sky isn't looking too good though," some dark clouds were building to the north. "Perhaps we should lend a hand building some shelters?" suggested Jess, however Iona wasn't listening. She was staring north; towards the centre of Midgar where a squad of SOLDIERS were approaching with a number of other people with them. She noticed that two of the people had their hands handcuffed. Jess saw the frown on her friend's face.
"What's going on over there?" asked Iona. "I'm going to check it out."
With that Iona sprinted over towards the new arrivals. "Wait for me!" cried Jess.
Cait was reading some papers when one of his secretaries informed him of the president's arrival.
"What do you mean?"
"The new president of Shinra has arrived Cait." The secretary glared at him, but he followed her towards the waiting Saldana.
Cait's first impression of Mr Saldana was not good. He had the posture of Rufus but a very different look to him. His hair reminded him of Sephiroth and Cait then realised that he knew who it was. Michael Saldana had been one of the top ranking Shinra executives, now he was one of the highest ranking 'old' Shinra members alive.
Cait's gaze then turned to his friends and he was surprised to see that they were handcuffed. It was unlike Cloud to be captured. "What is going on here?" the cat asked.
"Reeve, I am here to relieve you of your duties and place you under arrest, whatever form you may be in."
The SOLDIERS surrounded Cait. "Wait, what is going on?"
Cloud shouted out to Cait. "This guy wants Shinra, run. Everyone is already on his side!"
Cait knew that his anti-mako ideas had made him very unpopular. If Michael had a plan already in action he could already be finished. The cat had forgotten what it was like in the backstabbing world of Shinra. Long ago, Reeve and Michael had been good friends.
"I have evidence of your traitorous activities Reeve, you will now be executed for your crimes!"
Cait looked around as various guns were raised around him. "If you move we will shoot you as you run, now face your destruction with dignity and walk up against that wall."
The situation was bad. Cait knew that suddenly he had lost all of his power and was probably going to get shot. He needed a plan and fast! "Okay, I'll move."
Saldana smiled. "We wanted to make you an example with a public execution but the effect wouldn't be the same with a stuffed toy, so we will avoid the risks and shoot you now. These two," he nodded towards Tifa and Cloud. "Will have the honour of having information extracted from them before their public demise. We do still need an example if we are to rule with fear."
Tifa's eyes widened as she heard this. She had been in a gas chamber once before and did not want to repeat her experiences.
Cait was now standing near to a wall of concrete that was still standing amidst the devastation. He turned to face the firing squad. "Well, it looks like this is it." The small cat was shaking.
Iona and Jess were standing behind the group. "Why don't we do something!" exclaimed Jess. "This guy sounds like the old Shinra to me, we have to stop him!"
Iona was not responding. She was staring at Michael Saldana. "I haven't seen that monster for three years," Jess was surprised by the venomous tone of Iona's voice. "He ruined my life. I've known some nasty people in Shinra in my time, but he is by far the worst. What you see of him is the nice side. What he does when no one else can see him is too terrible to mention."
Jess was curious as to what Iona knew. "What do you have to do with Shinra?"
"I…I don't want to talk about my past. Not yet, but I have an old score to settle with him. We have to hinder him somehow."
Jess wondered what was going on, but had an idea. "Perhaps we could free the prisoners. If you go and free them and I round up the officers we can surround them and finish them off. Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?"
Iona thought about her summon for a moment. "I have a summon but I still feel too weak to use it. Perhaps I can steal something useful from one of the guards."
They gave each other a few words of encouragement and split up.
Cait Sith was scared. He had not been in such a situation before, except that then he realised that he had. His spare bodies had all been destroyed in Midgar so getting a new one would be difficult, unlike last time.
"Ready!"
Cait began to think harder. Was there another laboratory that might have held a spare body? Of course! The beta lab in Junon!
"Aim!"
If there was another body, could he be transferred into it? Last time Reeve had had to re-boot the Cait Sith system to use the second model. But what would it feel like. Would he be transferred with his memories or would he die and a new Cait Sith be created, if there was one?"
The guns were all raised and aimed at the small cat.
Then Michael Saldana gave the final command.
"FIRE!"