Meanwhile, Tifa and Don Corneo were both alone in the Don's bedroom. Tifa was sitting on the side of the bed, and Don Corneo was sitting on the bed at the other side of it, having done nothing yet, and Tifa certainly had every intention to keep it that way.
"Come, come now, don't be so shy, babe. We're all alone now, just you and me in here with a bed. You're just so cute, I never get tired of looking at you," said Don Corneo, with a rather sleazy and perverted look.
Tifa was finding it very hard to conceal the sheer amount of loathing, disgust and revulsion that she felt, and she was filled with boiling anger, and had to restrain herself as much as she could to keep calm, as she answered back.
"Yes, I know about that already, but I would like you to just explain something else to me before we start, Don Corneo," said Tifa, with forced calm, hoping to trick the Don into revealing the information about Shinra's plans that she wanted to know. Don Corneo grinned stupidly.
"Oh, you mean about that? Don't worry, I'm single. Feel better now? And I've had all the tests done. I'm as healthy as a horse. I'll take you through it slowly, step by step. So come on, let's get to it!" said Don Corneo, licking his lips in a disgusting way on his ugly face.
Tifa started to get very angry now and enraged, feeling a strong temptation to beat the Don to death, but she still stayed calm as best as could, so that she wouldn't blow her cover, though the fact that the Don certainly seemed to have a one track mind wasn't making things easy at all.
"No, I'm not asking about anything like that at all. That's not what I had meant; I wanted to know if…no, stop it! Wait a minute, just stop! No, not yet, wait!" shouted Tifa, quickly and desperately, as she saw that Don Corneo was creepily coming towards her, the look in his eyes telling her that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Oh, come on, come on, I just can't wait any longer, let's just get it on now! Here comes papa!" exclaimed Don Corneo, excitedly, as he sprang forwards on the bed to grab her.
Don Corneo quickly lunged at Tifa, but he had definitely underestimated her, as she quickly leaped out of the way and off the side of the bed, and then, not caring about staying calm anymore, Tifa swung her foot at him, wanting to punish him for what he tried to do, and her foot struck the Don's face with a loud thud, her heal directly striking his eye.
Don Corneo screamed with such agony that it made Tifa flinch despite herself, as the Don fell flat on his face on the bed, screaming in pain, and clutching his face with his hands, and Tifa noticed that a fair amount of blood flowed from between them, dripping downwards to stain the bed. Just then at that moment, Cloud and Aeris arrived, bursting into the room.
"Cloud, you came!" said Tifa, happily and clearly relieved, and she quickly rushed over to his side, as Cloud looked at her, and then in bewilderment at Don Corneo, who lay screaming and squirming on the bed in obvious agony.
"What the heck happened to him…?" asked Cloud, raising an eyebrow, as he watched the screaming Don. Tifa looked a little sheepish, but not regretful at all.
"I think I might have just half-blinded him, he was really coming onto me and getting on my nerves, so when he lunged at me, I just erupted and kicked him hard in the face. I think I struck his eye by mistake, so he won't be able to see out of that anymore, but never mind, as far as I'm concerned, he deserves it. Now, let's begin the interrogation, he still knows things that we need to find out about," said Tifa, and Cloud nodded.
Don Corneo stopped screaming as his pain seemed to fade away a little, but he was still whimpering and covered his ruined eye with his hands, and looked around with his one good eye, noticing that Cloud and Aeris had both just burst into the room now, standing beside Tifa, who he knew had just attacked him like this, and they stood looking down harshly at him.
"What the hell's going on here, why was I just attacked by that girl!? And who has dared to enter my room, just who the hell are you people!?" shrieked Don Corneo, in clear agony, obviously not understanding what was happening.
"You just shut up, you're not in control here, your cronies have all been dealt with, and you're under our orders now, so just shut up, and do as we say! But I'm guessing that you still don't get it yet, do you, Don Corneo? You don't know who we are, and you still don't know what this is all about, right?" asked Tifa, sourly, with such a sharp edge of venom to her tone of voice, that the Don flinched in clear terror upon hearing it, and could only splutter in answer.
Tifa quickly took off her dress, ripping it off her in disgust, and throwing it aside as she got rid of her dress disguise. Like Cloud and Aeris, she had also been wearing her regular clothes underneath her dress, as she took out her fighting gloves, and put them firmly on, cracking her knuckles with a threatening and imposing sound that echoed around the room.
"G-Get w-what…?" stammered Don Corneo, fearfully, still rather confused and bewildered.
Tifa snarled in anger and pure hatred, making Don Corneo tremble wildly in fear, and without warning, Tifa then punched him hard in the face, breaking his nose, more revenge for what he had attempted to do before. Don Corneo screamed in pain, blood flowing down his nose, mixed with the agony caused from his already ruined eye.
"(Argh!! This is the worst pain I've ever felt, make it stop, make it stop! This nightmare can't be happening, no one hurts me like this!)" thought Don Corneo, as Tifa shouted at him.
"Just shut up, if you really are that stupid, then we'll spell it out to you instead!! Consider this is a personal visit to you from AVALANCHE, I'm sure you've heard of us. We're asking the questions now Corneo, so listen up! What did your assistants find out about us? Why were your cronies snooping around the Sector 7 Slums? Talk now, and just tell us the answers we want to know!! Because if you don't tell us…" said Tifa, dangerously, with a nasty glare at the Don, before glancing pointedly at Cloud. Catching on, Cloud snarled angrily at Don Corneo, and withdrew his massive sword from its metal locks.
"If you don't tell us anything, then I'll chop your those balls of yours right off. We all know that you've got heavy Shinra ties, Corneo, so you know what we want to find out. Now answer her question," threatened Cloud, coldly, taking out his sword, and poked it against Don Corneo's pants, and at this, the Don now trembled with great fear, his one good eye wide with terror, while he still clutched his hands over the other, his own blood covering his face.
"NO, NO, NO! Not that, please don't do it, anything but that! I'll talk, I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything you want to know, just don't do it! It was Shinra's idea, not mine, I swear!" insisted Don Corneo, absolutely terrified of them and looking at them with great fear, even jumping in fright every time they talked or moved.
"So TALK," ordered Tifa, coldly. Don Corneo gulped.
"Shinra knew that AVALANCHE were based in the Slums of Sector 7, and they wanted to know their current location in Midgar at the moment. And to do that, they just needed to see what place their leader was at. I made my subordinates find out where the leader, the big black man with the gun-arm was, and to make sure that he wouldn't leave Sector 7, when Shinra would begin their act against them. But that's only what I was ordered to do," explained Don Corneo.
"Ordered by who?" asked Tifa, curiously, listening intently to the Don's explanations, as were Cloud and Aeris.
"NO, NO, NO! If I told just you who sent those orders over to me, then he would have me killed at once for leaking information!" screamed Don Corneo, very terrified indeed, but Tifa snarled angrily at him, getting impatient.
"Talk Corneo, just answer us! NOW! Because if you don't tell us what we want to know…" said Tifa, menacingly, a low growl in her throat, and this time it was Aeris who caught onto this, and decided to help as well, as she spoke up.
"Then I'll rip those balls of yours off. I rather think that it's in your best interests not to refuse our request for answers, Don Corneo. Now answer her question," threatened Aeris, (although she was just acting and playing along with this interrogation, but Don Corneo didn't know that at all) as she held out her quarterstaff, and poking it hard against Don Corneo's pants, next to Cloud's sword.
Aeris grinned smugly at Cloud and winked at him, clearly pleased with her own acting in this situation, as Don Corneo's fearful trembling increased, and Cloud could tell that Aeris was clearly enjoying this, as Don Corneo's composure completely cracked, and he shouted out the answer.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you, I'll tell you who did it! It was Heidegger of Shinra Incorporated! Heidegger, the high ranking top army general of Shinra, second in command to the President himself, and head of Public Safety Maintenance!" wailed Don Corneo, clearly extremely terrified.
"The head of the Public Safety Maintenance Department just sent important orders to you!?" shouted Cloud, surprised and astounded. Cloud almost dropped his own sword in his big shock, and he began thinking to himself.
"(Heidegger, the leader of the SOLDIER troops…? He was my boss back when I was with Shinra…but how exactly would the head of the Public Safety Maintenance Department of Shinra try to destroy AVALANCHE? The Turks, the SOLDIER program and the Shinra Army are the main branches of the Public Safety Maintenance Department…)" thought Cloud, thinking heavily.
"(If Heidegger really is that serious about getting rid of AVALANCHE once and for all, than First Class members of SOLDIER, and the best Shinra soldiers around will probably already be assigned to take out them out right now. The Turks wouldn't be too far behind them either, and they'd be organising the attack itself. But what exactly are they planning to do to deal with AVALANCHE…?)" wondered Cloud, troubled by what these events could mean for the rebel group, or for himself for that matter, as Tifa shouted at the Don again.
"Did you just say that Shinra Incorporated sent you those orders!? What are they up to now!? Talk, answer us now! If you don't tell us what Shinra's up to…then I'll smash your balls in," threatened Tifa, raising her muscular fists, ready to smash his balls (which she could easily do), if he refused to speak.
With his one good eye and his hands still clutched over his other one, Don Corneo looked around at Cloud's sword, Aeris's staff, and Tifa's fists, with even greater fear, and he was more terrified of them than ever now, and when he spoke, his tone of voice trembled, and he was shaking in terror.
"Y-You…y-you're all really serious about this situation here, aren't you? Well, for your information, I'm not fooling around here either, you know, so I'll tell you exactly what Shinra have got planned for your petty little rebel group. Shinra is trying to crush AVALANCHE'S resistance against them for good, and they want to infiltrate and destroy their hideout, with them all inside it. And they're really going to crush them once and for all…literally…by blowing up and destroying the gigantic Pillar in the Sector 7 Slums, which means that they'll break the support structure that holds up the massive section of the Plate (with the Sector 7 upper city on it) right above the whole Slums of Sector 7 itself," explained Don Corneo, nervously.
There was a long, stunned silence as Cloud, Tifa and Aeris all went quiet at once, and simply just stared at him, all of them now wide-eyed and horrified at the very thought of what he had just told him. It was a very gruesome plan that Shinra had.
"THEY'RE GOING TO JUST BREAK THE PLATE SUPPORT!?" screeched Tifa, alarmed and filled with immense horror at the very thought of Barret and the others, and all of the citizens of both Sector 7 cities, all getting killed and crushed to death in an instant as the Plate would fall from above. Don Corneo nodded, and even he seemed rather spooked at the thought.
"You all know what will happen to them if the Pillar holding the Plate above them explodes, don't you? With the Pillar gone and out the way, the Plate will go PING, and with no support to hold it up above the Sector 7 Slums, it will fall right down at the lower city, and then once it hits and flattens the entire place, everything's going to go BAMM, destroying both the lower and upper city of Sector 7, in fact the entire area of Sector 7 will be completely destroyed! I had heard from Shinra Incorporated that their hideout was in the Sector 7 Slums, so they assured me that's the only Sector they're getting rid of. I'm just glad that AVALANCHE'S hideout wasn't here in Sector 6. Okay, I've kept to the bargain, and told you everything that Shinra are up to concerning AVALANCHE! That's all I know! I swear, now just leave me be!" insisted Don Corneo.
Don Corneo was then bawling by the time he was finished, making him look completely pathetic, and then he began to scream in agony as the intense pain from his ruined eye flared up once again.
Cloud withdrew his sword, Aeris put her staff away, and Tifa lowered her fists, having found out what they needed to know, but had got more than they bargained for, as none of them expected anything like this. They were all horrified and speechless with Shinra's plan, and stood in stunned silence.
"(I…I can't believe what I've heard. I'd known for years that Shinra were evil and selfish…but I never thought they would use such drastic consequences to deal with us. Countless thousands of innocent people, from both the upper and lower cities…are going to die along with Barret and the others…we've got to stop this from happening,)" thought Tifa, as she spoke.
"Shinra are going to completely wipe out all of Sector 7 itself just to deal with us!? No, there's no way we can just let that happen, we've got to defend that Pillar from Shinra, and save the Sector. And I know that Barret will take the same sort of action, he and the others will be going to defend the Pillar from Shinra right now, I know they will. But they're really going to need our help this time. This is by far the worst situation we've been in yet, it's likely that we may not survive this at all, but we have to try and save all those people anyway! Cloud, will you come with me to Sector 7 to help Barret and the others defend the Pillar and save the Sector from Shinra?" asked Tifa, clearly very worried and alarmed. Cloud nodded grimly.
"Of course I'll come to help, Tifa. I'm not letting Shinra Incorporated flatten and destroy the whole area of Sector 7 itself, and an eighth of the whole population of the whole city of Midgar just because of our own actions against them," replied Cloud, nodding, and Tifa smiled at him gratefully.
Cloud, Aeris and Tifa then all started to hurry out the room, their task now done here, and a far more important one had just begun, but Don Corneo quickly spoke up to them again, nervously, and they stopped in their tracks, and turned to face him, looking at the Don coldly as he spoke.
"J-Just a second. T-There's s-something that I n-need to ask y-you," stuttered Don Corneo, still shaking with fear and pain, his hands still clutched over his ruined eye.
"SHUT UP!!" snapped Cloud, angrily, and the Don flinched.
"(It's time for my revenge now. No one gets away from assaulting me in my own mansion like this, no one gets away with blinding one of my eyes and striking my face, no way. And they're not going to get away with making me babble on like this, or for getting me in trouble with Shinra now. They'll pay for the damage and suffering they've all caused if it's the last thing I do…I think I should feed them all to Apps, it's been a while since he's had a good human meal to chew down on now…)" thought Don Corneo, as he spoke up, trying to act nervous.
"N-No, wait. I-It will only take a s-second, I a-assure you all t-that. Just how do you think scum like me feels when they babble on about the truth to those that have just wounded and attacked them? Why do you think I would do it? Number 1 – Because I was clueless? Number 2 - Because I was sure to win? Or Number 3 – Because I was ready to die?" asked Don Corneo, and suddenly, he was being strangely calm and casual.
"I vote Number 1. Because you're a clueless bastard. And you value your own worthless ass," said Cloud, coldly, looking rather icily at him. Don Corneo seemed to be considering his answer, in mock thought.
"Hmmm…well, the answer's a close one, but no cigar I'm afraid, and now that you've got my answer wrong, you'll have to pay the penalty for it! Say hi to my pet Apps for me, before he feasts on your skin and bones!" declared Don Corneo.
Then in a flash of sudden quick movement, before Cloud or the others could do anything about it or move from where they stood, Don Corneo suddenly reached out and pulled a hidden lever at the side of his bed with one of his hands, while covering his ruined eye with the other.
A trapdoor then suddenly opened up right below the floor that Cloud, Aeris and Tifa were each standing on, and with a cry of startled surprise and fear, they all fell at once, and plunged straight into the darkness that lay far below them…