Edge: Seventh Heaven Bar\

Yuffie was sleeping, as they say, the sleep of the dead. Her arms were dead, her legs were dead, and the rest of her was simply numb to the world. Late the night before she came back to the bar and climbed in through the window, collapsing face-first into the mattress in the spare bedroom which Tifa loaned out to her. A few seconds passed, and then she was soundly asleep until the very late morning.

Her senses returned to her slowly, starting with sound. The continuous ringing of her alarm drilled into her ears and forced her into a state of partial wakefulness. She groped across the mattress, across her messed blankets and pillows, to her nightstand, where her arm guard rested, and thumbed the holographic display where a small, neon clock was shaking insistently. The ringing stop and Yuffie, body hanging partway off of the bed, fell face-first and landed with a groan.

Her room was lit already by the midday sun, its warm yellow light painting the walls and the floor. She winced as she opened her eyes and pulled the sheet from her bed off and over her. It gathered about her neck and chin but left her aching eyes uncovered. A final groan, and she laid there in defeated frustration, glaring sullenly at her window.

The sun glared back while the curtains danced.

Outside Edge was alive, people moving, working. Cars hummed up and down the street. Steam drifted in and out of few, moving wherever the wind willed it. It was nothing but a grimace to her as she struggled to standing and, in a final act of frustration, threw her crumpled sheet back onto the bed. She checked the time and took the holographic device from her guard, fixing it to the belt of her shorts.

She shuffled to the bathroom, where she washed her face and made a lazy attempt at brushing her teeth. This was followed by increasingly half-hearted efforts at further grooming which involved her muttering a lot and patting her hair. At one point she scratched her rear. Afterward, she followed the hall down the stairs.

The night had went long. By the time her paperwork was done Yuffie was crawling into her bedroom at dawn. Structure was a problem for the W.R.O., and the Hunters were no exception. Especially after their recent move, space was limited. They had few holding cells kept only for the worst, who were only there until they could be shipped to the W.R.O. HQ for proper interrogation and processing. Street toughs, like the ones she just caught, were handed off into Warden hands, which created work for everyone involved.

It bothered Yuffie, all of the red tape. When given the assignment, Yuffie had assumed it would be a problem that solved itself quickly, and she carried that thought with her to each new location. Edge, in particular, seemed incorruptible with such close ties to the W.R.O., but she was wrong. A month after their arrival in Edge the Materia smuggling going on in the area was worse than ever, and she was coming to regret her decision to stay with Tifa, who offered her housing during her time in Edge.

Yuffie stopped by her room to grab shoes when her PDA chimed. She tapped it and slipped a sock on one foot. "I'm already awake."

"Good afternoon, Yuffie Kisaragi."

Yuffie frowned and slipped her other foot into a sock. She wiggled her toes. "Shelke, did you set my alarm, cause I sure as hell didn't set it last night."

"Yes, I did."

"It isn't difficult. The encryption on the model TPK-337 Holographic…"

"Know what? I just remembered I don't care." She pulled a boot on and begins lacing it. "Don't do it again."

"Understood. We've processed the dealers from the night before. Their interviews and interrogations were completed this morning."

"I interviewed him last night, actually."

"Informally. Formal interviews were conducted when Warden interrogators arrived and filed no less than an hour ago, and a connection has been found between these dealers and other dealers previously apprehended."

She feels around under her bed for her other boot. "And that is?"

"Wasteland Bar."

"Never heard of it."

"The bar is fairly new. It was built on the fringes of Edge, MIdgar-side. Records states that it is already under surveillance by Warden forces due to suspected criminal activity."

Yuffie grunted an affirmation and found her boot. Sitting back, she stuffed her foot inside.

"It may be the staging area. Orders are to go there and gather information."

"Of course they are," she said, tying her shoe. "Like I need to be told how to do my job."

"This will be infiltration and reconnaissance, Yuffie Kisaragi. You need not engage them."

Yuffie stood, stifled a yawn, and left her room. She sauntered down the hallway, toward the stairs. "Ah-huh."

"Daisy will be there also. I have already spoken with her and should be there in thirty-minutes to pick you up, traffic permitting."

"Sounds like fun."

"Good luck, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuffie said, her finger hovering over the holographic interface. "I won't need it." With that, Yuffie hung up.

Yuffie made her way downstairs to the bar, where she found Marlene and Denzel having lunch while Tifa wiped down the counter. She could smell freshly cooked bacon and bread. As she staggered through the room, she stole a chip from Denzel's plate. He gave a quick glare at her while she patted his bushy auburn hair and slumped into the nearby chair.

Marlene smiled. "Good afternoon, Yuffie." She slid her plate toward Yuffie, who stole a wedge of sandwich for herself. They were having BLTs, crust removed, sliced into halves. Yuffie stuffed her half into her mouth.

"Yuffie, you're not stealing their lunches again, are you?" Tifa had her back to them and was busy prepping for the evening rush. Her new 7th Heaven was every bit as popular as the old one, as was her ability to see things with her back turned. Yuffie always called it her motherly instinct. Tifa didn't seem to mind.

"Me? No. Never." She winked at Marlene, who giggled politely in response.

Tifa turned, tossed her dish towel over her shoulder. "If you want, I'll make you something real fast.

"No time." Yuffie stole a drink of Marlene's water as she stood. "Got work."

"Of course you do." Tifa smiled. "And when exactly did you get in this morning?"

"And what did you do last night? Did you stop anything big?" Denzel rarely spoke, but he was always excited to hear about her work.

Yuffie offered him a brief smile. "I saved the world."

"Yeah," Denzel said, rolling his eyes, "We already know that."

Yuffie blew him a raspberry. "Seems more impressive to most people," she said. "Last night was just a smile time Materia deal in the Midgar ruins. Whipped some butt, asked some questions. Now, we're going to go verify what we got from them." She looked to Tifa, who was counting her bills from last night on the counter. "Hey, Tif, you ever heard of the Wasteland Bar?"

Tifa paused thoughtfully. "Yeah," she said, a hand on her hip, "That's where all the sorry riffraff I kick out of here go to sulk. Why?"

"It's where I'm headed. Got any advice?"

"Not much." Tifa went back to counting. "Hear they're open pretty much all hours of the day." She laid down her last bill, set aside the extra, and stacked what was left neatly. "Rumor is that place is dangerous, Yuffie. Be careful."

"Danger? Please. I'm the great ninja Yuffie." Her PDA chimed, and she thumbed it on. "Yeah?"

"Pulling up."

"Right." Yuffie ended the call with a swipe of her finger and grabbed a handful of chips from Denzel's plate as she passed. "Well, you all have a good day. And Tifa, feed those kids, will you? They're all skin and bones."

She was stuffing her face on the way out the door.

Edge: Streets\

Daisy drove a car that is sleek and red, with two doors, two seats, and the canopy down. She has glasses on and lets her dark hair whip about, unrestrained, in the wind. He smile is painted on, ruby red, and her outfit is casually revealing. She loved her car and took it with her whenever she could on missions. Edge, for her, is a blessing, especially after the difficulty of traversing Wutai without wheels.

Yuffie hated it. She hated the glossy finish. She hated the leather seats. She hated the polished rims. And she hated how her stomach churned as she hung over the side door, head down, trying not to vomit as she watched the Edge streets drift by.

Only a few years ago Edge was grassland and dust. The air was fresh, the sky a soft blue on clear days and pale when overcast. Steel and stone brought change to the area though. The air stunk of chemical and fume, tasted of stagnation and exhaust. The people of Edge had used Midgar as a template, designing their home with skyscrapers in mind and long, narrow streets meant for maximum efficiency.

Yuffie hated cities, and Edge was a city by design. Born to Wutai and raised on the road, the tall, glassy walls that surrounded her suffocated Yuffie and only served to make her illness more severe. Daisy, on the other hand, was always at her best within the city. It was the country that gave her allergies.

Still, the unchecked growth was something that gave pause to both women. They could remember the rapid development of Shinra, which turned almost overnight from a power company to the world's greatest military growth. The W.R.O. is growing with equal rapidity to the city that is their jewel and, though their promises seem sincere, there are some who remember Shinra Inc.

Daisy stopped them at a traffic light and waited patiently. She glanced at Yuffie. "Sick again?"

"Ugh."

"You read the briefing?"

"Not. A. Word."

Daisy laughed and shook her head. The light turned, and she took off. At the end of the street, Daisy took a left toward the outskirts of town. "Wasteland isn't in the best area, as it's name would imply." Daisy peeked over her glasses. "You listening?"

"Blrk."

"We're there to gather info. Which means not drawing attention. THeir usual clientele doesn't often include Hunters, so we're not us, then. We get some drinks, we sit on them, and we wait. Understood?"

Yuffie grumbled low.

"I'll take that as a yes." Excelerating-to Yuffie's dismay-they pass a car. "There's supposed to be a lot of criminals in there, including potential smugglers. This is their home, okay? Which means that there may be other W.R.O. investigations going on in there. Stay sharp, stay calm. No guns blazing, please."

"Don't. Use. Guns. Grgh."

Daisy nodded and then looked at Yuffie, who was nearly green. "You going to be okay?"

"No. Promises." Yuffie hardly had the words out before her breakfast follow. Her vomit left a trail along the road as they passed and also familiarized itself with Daisy's car door.

Edge Outskirts: Wasteland Bar\

Wasteland Bar was a squat, square building with fractured plaster and a flat roof. The exterior was ramshackle, haphazardly thrown together from various materials left over from the Midgar ruins. In truth, that wasn't as uncommon in Edge as the government and the W.R.O. would have the residents believe, but Wasteland in particular seemed hardly to be holding together. One of the windows was broken out, the glass of it still littered across the partially paved and pot-hole pocked parking lot. A thin fabric was put in place of it.

The interior, the women found after Yuffie had time to settle her stomach, was not much better. It was dimly lit and smoky. Holes in the roof offered more light than the burnt out or dirtied light bulbs. A sea of beards, tattoos, and shifted glances greeted them as they stepped through the doors, steel forcefully hammered to wood and looking ready to collapse at a touch. A thin man with a gray mustache watched them from the bar. He didn't smile.

Their entrance heralded a sudden silence, save for the music in the background. There was a jukebox, the lights on it dead, the glass casing fractured, at the far end of the room. Yuffie and Daisy took a booth near the end of the building and life returned, in a trickle, to the bar. The patrons, hunched over their tables, gambled and plotted, and they kept close watch on the duo. The thin man behind the bar approached and took their drinks. Daisy asked for something light. Yuffie got a tonic water.

True to form, when their drinks arrived, they sat on them. Yuffie swirled a slender red straw around her water and watched the small whirlpool it formed. Daisy sipped her drink and winced.

"Whooo. I asked for something light."

"Should have gotten water, like me," Yuffie said, placing her finger over the top of the straw and drawing it out. She sucked her water from the bottom before placing the straw on the table. "We're getting some looks."

"Of course we are. Aren't you supposed to be a ninja?"

"Aren't I?" Yuffie twisted her brow. "What is that supposed to mean."

"It means that you're not exactly being inconspicuous."

"What? Want me to scowl more?" Yuffie shrugged. "Excuse me for having a bit of presence."

"You waved at someone when we entered."

"That's called being friendly. You're the one over there wincing at a little alcohol and being all shifty-eyed." Yuffie hunched and darted her eyes back at forth while wriggling her fingers. "Golly gosh, I sure do hope no one notices that I'm spying right now."

"Yuffie!"

"Then again," Yuffie stood up to survey the room, "Everyone else here is pretty shift-eyed, too."

Daisy took Yuffie by the shoulders and yanked her down. "Would you sit down?" She sat back, sighing. "We're supposed to be blending in."

"Oh, please, that was never going to work." Daisy gave her a look across the table, and Yuffie sat back, hands up, "What? We don't have enough tattoos for that." She looked around the bar. "Or yellow teeth. Or tattoos OF yellow teeth." She tilted her head. "Really, dude?"

Daisy sighed, head down, pressed flat to the table. Then, gathering herself, sat up and gave a look around the room. Everyone was watching them. It wasn't overt, but they kept glancing toward their table. The music was on, the conversation was full, but no one turned their attention away for long. It was obvious now that each one was armed, too.

Yuffie sipped her water. "I think they recognize me."

"Recognize you? From what?"

"From the war," Yuffie said.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Of course they do. Everyone knows all about the Great Ninja Yuffie."

"Oh? You sound jealous."

Daisy sighed. "Just stop."

"Relax, Daze." Yuffie sat back and crossed her legs. She swayed one foot in tune with the music from the jukebox. "Ninja Rule #1, if you act like you don't belong, then you won't belong."

"I thought Ninja Rule #1 was to end the fight before it started. Or there was that time you said it was to move like the night."

"Ninjas have a lot of rules, the importance of which change to suit the situation."

Daisy sipped her drink again, winced, and spit it back into the cup. When people noticed, she held the glass up and pretended she was enjoying it. Looking back at Yuffie anxiously, she said, "They're still watching."

"Of course they are. It's all cause we're so pretty."

Daisy folded her arms and hid her face away with a groan. "That doesn't make me feel better."

"It should." Yuffie turned her cup in circles. Then, she set it on a napkin and watched a wet ring form about it. "Come on, this is better than Junon, isn't it? I mean, you remember that one chase? With the guy with the toupee."

"Oh, don't remind me."

Yuffie cracked a grin. "Point is: we've done this before. So, sit back and enjoy it."

Gradually, the bar settled. All around them, people returned to their drinks, to their laughter, and to their conversation. The glances continued, of course, and the bartender hovered now, watching them with open interest and suspicion.

They waited longer and let a few people filter out. The patrons who stayed were the ones watching mos intently, and both women knew that their time was running out. Daisy stirred her drink now, the strong smell of which was making her nose wrinkle.

"I don't know," Daisy said. "This is starting to feel a bit different from Junon." She glanced back at the patrons again. "I seriously think they know."

"Oh, they definitely know."

Daisy sighed, stared at her drink. "This was all a huge mistake."

"Seems like."

"Then, what will we do? We can't gather information when they know we're looking for it.

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, that is a funny anecdote, and I am laughing at it." Yuffie stood. "I need a refill."

"You've barely drank any of it."

"Good point." Yuffie, still staring across the room, eyes locked on the bartender, poured her drink directly onto her booth seat. Then, she marched through the crowd toward the bar. People parted to let her pass, eyes fixed openly on her now. She found a stool and settled.

The bartender gave her a long stare, arms crossed, cigarette burning in his mouth. He approached, a trail of blew haze following him, and stopped in front of her. There, he removed his cigarette and blew a puff of smoke into her face.

Yuffie coughed and waved the smoke off. The tension was back, and she could feel it in her neck. Everyone around the room had shifted collectively and each would be reaching for their weapons about now.

The bartender stared her in the eye. "What'd you want, little girl?"

"Another drink," Yuffie said, setting her glass on the bar. "And, if you're open to it, a moment of your time." She gave a lackadaisical smile. "If you're lucky, I may be willing to pay for both."

The bartender pulled out a bottle of something clear and sour-scented, and he poured it to overfull, leaving pools of beaded liquid settled around it. Then, he shoved the glass at her. "There, on the house. Drink it and leave."

"Well," Yuffie said, glancing at the glass she had. The contents of it had spilled out over the bar and onto her exposed thighs. She wiped at the mess with her hands. "That's no way to treat a customer."

"You're not customer."

"Oh? I'm not?" She looked him in the eyes again. "Then what am I?"

"W.R.O."

The air tightened. The entire room eyed her back. Yuffie considered the placement of each thug, accounted for potential movement around her based on the scuffling of feet during the short-lived exchange and the the breathing patterns. The bartender, meanwhile, spat at her. His saliva left a thin string across the bar and landed, squarely, against her cheek.

Yuffie pursed her lips, shrugged. Then, she took the glass between her fingers and spun it, slowly, in the alcohol. The smell was stronger now. "You could call me that." In her periphery, she could see the knives drawn, the pipes readied. "You could also just think of me as being curious. Actually, it's better to just think of me as being curious, because whatever the case is, I'm going to find out what I want, and curious saves me a lot of paperwork and you a few cracked ribs."

"We ain't scared of you," the bartender said, evenly. He leaned forward to stare her in the eye. "We killed before, even government dogs like you, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Yuffie? Kisaragi? Me?"

The bartender gave a scoff and smiled like he was in a secret. "Recognize you the moment you walked in. All them broadcasts way back when, hero of the Jenova war." He sat back and laughed. "Well, you ain't no hero here, honey. You're just out number."

"Fair." Yuffie looked over her shoulder, past the collected thugs preparing to strike. "Hear that, Daze? They did recognize me." She turned back to the bar. "And assuming I am her-which, spoiler, so totally am-what makes you think you can kill me?"

"Cause you ain't no one. From what I heard, all the others did all the work. All you did was show up and take credit." He reached into his pocket and produced a pair of brass knuckles. Fixing them around his fingers, he flexed. "Finish your drink and get the hell out of my bar before you regret it? And take your little girlfriend with you."

"Here what he just said, D?"

"Of course I did," Daisy said, a frown thick in her voice. "Reed is going to love this."

"We'll say it's self-defense."

Reaching forward, Yuffie grabbed the bartender by the head and slammed him, face-first, into the glass on the bar. After, she gave him another hard slam before throwing him back and turning, kicking out at the man behind her who had brandished a knife. Another man stepped in, also with a knife, and jabbed for her, and she sidestepped and swung forward, punching him in the face.

A group of other men had surrounded the booth. One of them brought a wooden beam down on Daisy, who leaped onto the table and kicked out at him. Two other men grabbed at her and pulled her from the bar while she wriggled and stretched. Reaching back, she pulled a taser from her back pocket and pressed it to the arm of one of the men. A jolt of electricity shot through the man, tensing his body and sending him to the ground.

Daisy fell to the ground when one of the men released her. She shocked the other man until a big, brute of a man stomped forward toward her. Retreated back, she scrambled out of reach into the safety beneath the table until the table was lifted up, pulled free from the loose floorboards that previously held it. They made eye contact, and he grinned.

Yuffie spiraled through her group of people, kicking at the man's back and knocking him forward. Pushing off of him, she spun around again and landed a blow on another man's face and knocked him back into the stools. Two more men approached her, and she marched forward, jumped forward and grabbed one man around the shoulders, using him to suspend herself while she kicked out at the second. Then, using inertia, she twisted around the man and brought her elbow down upon the first man's neck.

The man went to kneeling, where Yuffie grabbed him by the head and kneed him, hard. He went sideways, collapsing against the bar.

The cocking of a gun drew her attention. Yuffie looked up to find a man, tattooed and battered as the rest, with a gun pointed at her forehead. She watched him grin and grinned in turn, and then grabbed him by the wrist and twisted his hand back.

"Bitch!"

"Now, now, that's not nice." She brought her knee up into his arm and felt it snap. Then, peeling the gun from his hand, she kicked him down across the face and took the gun apart, piece by piece. Nearby, the last man was brought down by the buzz of electricity.

Two men were left, one thin and one older. Thin carried a steel pipe. He wore his head short, nearly bald, and had a pair of sloppy serpents tattooed across his skull. Old had a knife ready and a greying beard. Yuffie looked them up and down and, hip cocked, dropped the gun's different pieces to the floor.

"You two really think you can win this?"

"No," said thin, shaking. "But…"

"But?"

"Them was our friends," old said, but he said it without much feeling. It seemed to her that a life of crime was, at best, a hobby for him, maybe something he did with his son just as a way to connect with him. By this point in the fight, however, both were beginning to consider how bad things may turn out for them.

"Ah. So, honor before reason, then?"

"Something like that." The old man took a deep breath, closed his wrinkled eyes tight, and then charged. He lead with the knife and put his full weight behind the lunge. Yuffie hardly had to move to lead him on the ground with his knife in her hand, flipping it casually while she kept him pinned with her foot. Her gaze was fixed on thin. "You give?"

Thin looked, first at her, then at the old man on the ground, and then back at her, and he dropped his weapon and let out a whine. "Don't hurt me."

"I won't. In fact, I'll let you help me out a bit, but…" She kicked the old man once, just to keep him obedient, and then walked away, blade still in hand. When she reached him, she kicked again. It wasn't hard, but it knocked the wind from him and sent him back into a chair, which she thin pushed into a nearby wall. Throwing the knife, she pinned it into the seat between his legs, catching the fabric on the way. Then, she stepped forward and leaned against his knee. "Talk fast or I'll stomp them to dust."

He swallowed, loudly, and began to sweat. "But, I don't wanna be a squealer."

"Oh, you'll be squealing a whole lot more if you don't talk."

Another swallowed. It almost sounded like he actually said 'gulp.'

"What do you know about the Materia Smuggling going on around Edge? Who are the dealers? Where are they getting it from? ANd if you don't know, then who would?"

"None of us" she squeaked, and she applied pressure into his thigh. "W-What I mean is, we ain't dealers! We do the running is all, and we do it for someone else. Big group, led by some man with a mask."

"A mask?" Yuffie glanced back at Daisy, who was watching from behind. "And who is this man exactly?"

"I don't know! He ain't just into smuggling, though. He's been doing more, lots more, has a whole group of people doing it for him, doesn't even need the numbers. All he wants from us is to move his stuff without getting caught. That's all!"

"And say I wanted to get my hand on this masked man. How would I go about doing it?"

"Th-they don't need the numbers, but they're always recruiting. People go there, they go normal and come out all kinds of crazy. Talk about fighting for some cause of some nonsense."

"A cause?" Yuffie snorted, laughed. "Real original, these guys. ANd where do they do these recruitment drives?"

"All over."

Yuffie shifted her foot away from his thigh and moved closer to his crotch. "Where is that?"

Thin, wide-eyed, shuddered. "Midgar Ruins! Sector 3! Tonight!"

"Tonight, huh?" Yuffie lifted her foot and positioned her toes between the knife handles and the chair. With a flick of her ankle, she flipped the blade up and caught it in the air. Then, turning, she tossed it, hitting a man rising behind Daisy with the butt and knocking him back to the ground. Without a look back at thin, she said, "You can go. And take your daddy with you."

Thin and old were nearly out the door, Yuffie called to them. They stopped, stiff, and swallowed. The young man, formerly thin, now just a boy trying to turn his life around, turned. "Y-Yes?"

"Just out of curiosity, if I wanted to go to this thing-I mean, it does sound fun-what's it for? Who are these people?"

"Th-the Emerald Lotus."

Yuffie's eyes narrowed. "Emerald Lotus? You sure?"

"Y-Yes."

She tapped her chin and then laughed. "Okay, then. Thanks. Have a good day now. And stay out of trouble."

"Y-you, too?"

Both men left as Yuffie walked the length of the bar. The men on the floor breathed shallowly, not a death among them. Daisy stood by the bar, slapping her taser against her palm and cursing quietly to herself.

"A taser?"

"I knew things would go sideways." Daisy frowned at Yuffie. "They always do when you're around."

Yuffie shrugged, and the two of them started toward the door.

"And what was that 'stomp them to dust' crap about?"

"Something I picked up from Tifa way back when."

Daisy shook her head. "You people," she said, dropping her taser into her pocket and climbing into her car.