Tifa entered 7th Heaven and looked for the man with the gun arm. The bar was as crowded as she was exhausted, but she perked up to make a good first impression. Zangan did leave her with one morsel of information, "Go to the 7th Heaven and find Barret Wallace."
"Marlene, get over here!" She looked in the direction of that fatherly yell and spotted him. Barret Wallace, the man with the gun arm, bent down as a little girl ran towards him.
"Yes, daddy," she said gleefully hopping into his arms.
He lifted her onto his broad shoulders and lowered his voice, "I told you not to play near the pinball machine when there are strangers here. You know we got a secret to keep."
"Sorry, daddy," she said planting a wet kiss on his cheek.
"Mr. Wallace?"
Barret turned and looked down to see a timid little Lockhart smiling up at him. "Yeah, that's me. The name's Barret," he said letting Marlene down behind the bar.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Tifa Lockhart," she said extending her hand before remembering his lack of a right one and awkwardly grabbing her ponytail to compensate.
He looked on waiting for her to say her piece. He was a lot bigger than she expected. And older.
She stared sideways, losing her nerve. No, she thought. You are Tifa Lockhart. The best tour guide in Nibelheim. A trained fighter. One of Master Zangan's best pupils. You can look him in the eye. "My sensei sent me here. Looks like this place could use a new bartender... and maybe... a new recruit..." She hoped that wasn't too blunt, too soon. Why else would Zangan send her to a stranger if not to further her skills?
There was no mistaking her tone, nor the fact that he was desperate for a new team member who could fight, but there was no way he was about to trust a stranger. Jessie might have mentioned some karate dude from Nibelheim, but I've gotta be sure she's the real deal. He eyed her suspiciously, hoping to read her, or at least intimidate her. "Why haven't I seen you around here before," he asked. "You from the plate?"
"No, I... I'm from Nibelheim," she said losing some of her enthusiasm. Fire. Smoke…
"So, how'd you-"
Before Barret could get another word in, a fight broke out. Someone's Fire materia went missing, and it took less than a minute for that to turn into a drunken brawl. This is my chance. Tifa pounced and punched her way through the mob like a ballerina pirouetting across a stage. She was glad the weeks of bed rest hadn't affected her technique. When five grown men were on their backs, the rest of the bar quietly applauded simultaneously impressed and terrified.
She walked back over to the bar, cracked her knuckles and asked with a smirk, "How's that for qualified?"
She was definitely trained, but there was spunk and spirit behind each punch that would've been drilled out of her through any sort of Shinra training. The kind of spunk a real fighter needed. The kind of spirit AVALANCHE needed.
Barret remained serious. He turned and yelled at the rest of the patrons, "All right, everybody out. Next time you, mother#$% $& better think twice before starting a fight in 7th Heaven!"
They all scrambled out, some of them carrying the roughnecks Tifa had crushed. When the last patron chugged the rest of his beer and walked out the door, Barret turned around with a wide toothy grin.
"Goddamn, girl! I ain't seen someone kick around a mother%$#&*# like that in a long ass time." He slapped the table as excited as the day he founded AVALANCHE. This was just the girl he needed. "Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, get the hell up here," he yelled over Tifa's head.
The pinball machine descended and returned with the rest of the team, a confident looking girl just a little older than Tifa, a man with messy black hair and the casual demeanor to match and a pudgy nervous looking man that fidgeted as he stared. Barret put an arm around his new girl wonder and beamed at his team.
"Say hello to Tifa Lockhart, the newest member of AVALANCHE."