James threw himself out of the train, and landed painfully on the ground. The motion of him hitting the hard ground caused him to roll over several times uncontrollably. He eventually came to a stop and saw Amy standing by his feet. She helped him up, and the pair went to see if they could find Barret.

'Don't let your guard down 'til we get to the reactor. It's just down this tunnel. Biggs, Wedge an' Jessie have got everything sorted out, so move.'

At the end of the tunnel, they noticed that it had been cut off by red laser beams, which crossed over, blocking any way through.

'Those are Shinra's security beams. Don't look like we can go any further,' said James, looking at the beams.

'Don't you dare fall forwards and into 'em,' warned Barret.

'I don't intend to.'

Something caught James' eye. He looked to the left and saw a small hole in the floor. He made his way over to it, and looked down.

'Maybe we can get down using this?'

'You're tellin' me to get down there?' snorted Barret, 'yeah, right. Are you serious about goin' down there just to get under the plate? No way, what are we gonna do?'

'Go down.'

'But damn man, that thing gives me the chills.'

James ignored him and lowered himself into the gap, where he slid down easily. When he reached the bottom, he landed on the ground, and quickly moved out of the way when Amy came tumbling through. They both stood near where they fell through, listening to the sounds of Barret grunting.

'Keep moving. Don't be still, otherwise you'll get stuck,' called up James, grinning at Amy.

Barret's response was incoherent, but loud. James thought he could see a pair of feet kicking frantically, and eventually there was a drawn out scream, and Barret came crashing down to Amy and James' feet. He picked himself back up and dusted himself down, giving James evil looks.

'Get stuck?'

'Just thought you ought to know,' James replied calmly, trying to keep a straight face.

After a few minutes of climbing around and searching around, they met up with Jessie. She apologised about the situation on the train.

'I don't know what went wrong with the IDs,' she said.

Barret waved her off.

'Never mind, its over with now.'

They made their way to the reactor's core, where something flashed before James' eyes which brought him to his knees.

Amy knelt down on the floor of the reactor, next to the figure of a man, lying down. There was a long bladed sword next to him. She fumbled at his wrist, and failed to find a pulse. His flesh was colder than ice.

'Papa?' she called, whispering softly to him. She shook him slightly, but there was no reaction. 'Sephiroth! He…he did this to you, didn't he? Sephiroth, Mako reactors, Shinra, SOLDIER…I hate them all!'

James found himself staring at his knees, clasping at his head with throbbing with pain. It was so severe, he was almost blinded. There was a hand on his shoulder, and he forced himself to focus.

'James….are you alright?' It was Amy.

'Amy…' he murmured.

'What?'

'….Nothing. It doesn't matter. Let's get on with what we're meant to be doing.'

Barret passed James another bomb, who, like before set it. The three made their way back outside the reactor, where they saw a surprise.

'C'mon, this way!' ordered Barret, and stopped when he saw what was in front of them. 'Shit! Shinra soldiers? What in hell is goin' on?'

The soldiers surrounded Amy, James and Barret, enclosing them.

'A trap…' uttered James in a low voice.

His attention was drawn back to where they had come from as footsteps sounded. Another figure was walking calmly over to them. He was a fat man, dressed in a red suit, with slicked back blonde hair. He did not think it was possible, but Barret looked deathly pale.

'…Presi….President Shinra?' he gasped.

'Why is the president here?' shot Amy, looking from James to Barret. They both shrugged, but apart from that, gave her no response.

'Hmm, so you all must be that…oh, what was it?

'AVALANCHE,' snapped Barret. 'And don't you forget it! So you're President Shinra?'

'So it would seem.'

'Long time no see, President,' interrupted James, calmly. In the corner of his eye, he could see the AVALANCHE leader giving him a dirty look.

'Long time no -?...Oh, it's you. The traitor. The one that quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew that you had been exposed to Mako, from the glow in your eyes. Just remind me of your name.'

'James,' he replied.

'Ah yes,' said the President. 'Forgive me for not remembering your name, but I can't be expected to remember the name of everybody, unless you become another Sephiroth. Ah yes, Sephiroth. He was great….perhaps too great.'

'Sephiroth -?' started James, but Barret cut him off.

'Don't give a damn 'bout none of that, 'cause this place is gonna go up with a big boom soon, an' it serves you all right!'

'It seems like such a waste of decent fireworks….just to dispose of vermin like yourselves…' said President Shinra distantly.

'Vermin?' choked Barret, 'you Shinra are the vermin, destroyin' the planet with yer damn reactors! So that makes you King Vermin! So shut it!'

President Shinra yawned.

'You are beginning to bore me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am – as I'm sure you can appreciate – a very busy man, and I have an important dinner I must attend.'

'Dinner?' spat Barret. 'Don't gimme that! I ain't finished with you yet!'

'But don't worry, I've made preparations for a playmate for you all.'

Before Barret could retort, their attention was diverted by a low rumbling sound. The bridge underneath their feet trembled slightly. James leant against the railings and looked down. If one of them fell…

'What is that?' cried Amy.

'Meet Airbuster, a techno-soldier. Our weapons department was able to create him. I can imagine that the data he will extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in our future experiments,' explained President Shinra.

'….Techno-soldier?'

'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go.'

A helicopter came flying down and landed on the path where President Shinra was standing, as James started to run over to it, one arm outstretched.

'President, wait!'

But it was too late, for he had already entered the helicopter, which had started its ascent into the air. James, Amy and Barret all retreated, until they were back to back.