Yaz wasn't sure how much time had passed since the Doctor left Seventh Heaven. There were no clocks in the bar's secret basement, only grainy security camera images helped her tell the passage of time. Jessie had barely moved since Barret and the Doctor headed to the surface but Yaz could tell she was nervous. The young woman's leg was bouncing up and down and she kept chewing her thumb nail. Occasionally she pushed a button and the images on screen changed but they mostly showed the same thing, the periodic flash from the pillar and crowds of people staring at the sky nervously.

Eventually, Jessie threw her hands in the air and jumped out her chair, "That's it, I can't sit around here any longer." The AVALANCHE member crossed to the opposite wall and reached into a wooden chest. Yaz's eyes widened when the red head pulled a large handgun from the crate, "I'm going to help them," she added with conviction whilst loading a cartridge into the weapon.

"What about me?" Yaz asked, "you can't leave me here."

"Your friend told you to wait," Jessie frowned.

"Yeah well, she's my friend not my boss," Yaz shot back, "can you at least get me out of these." She held up her hands that were still bound with a plastic. Jessie reached into the pocket of her cargo pants and pulled out a small knife. A smirk flashed across her face when the blade popped out the handle. Yaz was nervous for a few seconds when Jessie didn't immediately cut her free but to her relief, the red head released her with a swift swipe, "Thanks," Yaz said whilst rubbing her wrists, "now, let's get out there."

"Hold up", Jessie quickly pocketed her weapon, "why would you, an officer of the law, want to help a bunch of terrorists like us?"

"It's like you said," Yaz began, "a lot of people could die if something happened to the pillar." Jessie looked away, unconvinced by her words, "I know I'm not from this planet but there's innocent people out there and someone needs to help them." Yaz groaned as Jessie began to walk away, "I'm going whether you like it or not," she spat at Jessie's retreating form.

The red head stopped, spinning on the spot so Yaz could see her grin, "Psych," she beamed, "course I can't stop you, I just wanted to be sure you knew what you were getting yourself into." She practically bounced over to the weapons crate and pulled out another handgun, "Being a police officer, I'm sure you know how to handle one of these."

Jessie offered her the weapon but Yaz shook her head, "Actually, I'm not trained to handle firearms."

The AVALANCHE member snorted, "What kind of police officer isn't trained to shoot?"

"Most British officers don't carry guns," Yaz shot back, "we prefer to use the respect for the position rather than intimidation to enforce the law."

"So if a bad guy points a gun at you, what do you do?" Jessie asked, "hit them with some strong language?"

Yaz shook her head, "You may mock but our method is highly effective and respected around the world." Jessie didn't look convinced, "We do carry batons and tasers just in case but where I'm from, we rarely have to worry about machine gun wielding criminals."

"Well you do here," Jessie carefully put the gun in the crate before rummaging around, "Shinra troopers are the shoot first, ask questions later kinda people." She muttered something unintelligible, her head now buried deeper in the crate, until, "Ah ha, Barret was going to give this to Marlene in a couple of years but needs must."

Jessie turned around and threw a white cylinder in Yaz's direction. Not expecting this, Yaz took a couple of attempted to catch the item. The barrel was smooth apart from a red button and a green button one side and a small metal catch on the other, "Give that a push," Jessie motioned to the catch. Yaz did as instructed and watch in awe as the cylinder extended by several feet, "An Electro Baton", Jessie continued, "small enough to fit in your jacket but packs enough of a punch to strike fear into enemy hearts."

Feeling slightly nervous, Yaz pushed the green button and an arc of electricity flashed across the exposed prongs, "Barret was going to give this to his child?" she asked in disbelief, "all I wanted for my birthday was a new bike."

"Law of the slums I'm afraid," Jessie sighed, "even the little ones need to watch their backs. Oh and don't touch the red button," she added, "unless it's a dire emergency." Now even more nervous, Yaz retracted the rod back into the shell. Whilst she was doing this, Jessie was fixing something to her wrist, "Here this will hold that materia of yours in place."

Yaz looked down at the simple brown leather bracer on her arm. Until now, she had completely forgotten about the small orb the Doctor had given her. Pulling it out her pocket, she placed it into a vacant slot in the bracer, "But, I don't know how to use materia," she said to Jessie.

"Sorry, no time to explain", Jessie shook her head, "you'll have to learn on the go." She turned her attention back to her computer, "Just need to sort your ID out, unless you have one of those magic pieces of paper like the Doctor."

Slightly dumbstruck by the speed of events, Yaz slowly shook her head, "Fortunately I have something pre-prepared, just need to fill in the blanks," Jessie continued, "So, Yazmin Khan, height," Jessie looked Yaz up and down, "guessing five foot five, weight, let's say 120 pounds."

"Hey!" Yaz exclaimed.

"Alright, called it 110", Jessie replied with a wink, "it's just between us girls." A few keystrokes later and a small plastic card popped out from the laptop, "This is enough to fool an electronic scanner but won't hold up against careful scrutiny so, best not get caught." Yaz nodded dumbly, "Alright, let's kick some Shinra ass."

Yaz couldn't share Jessie's enthusiasm but quietly followed the red head over to elevator platform. Even if the pillar could be saved, hundreds of people could still be dead before everything was over. As they left the bar, the population of the slums didn't appear to be overly concerned. The residents were looking up curiously at the pillar and the helicopters overhead but paid no real attention. She could see one or two moving quickly but there wasn't an air of panic.

As they left what Yaz assumed was the primary residential area, the atmosphere began to change. Hundreds of people were gathered near a metal gate but someone or something was blocking their exit. The crowd was too deep so Yaz couldn't see what the difficulty was, and she had to fight through just to keep up with Jessie. She glanced over the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of blonde hair of a grey coat. There was too much noise to try and pick the Doctor's Yorkshire accent out from the sea of other voices. With Jessie getting further away, Yaz decided to keep up with the one person she knew had a way out the Sector.

After a couple of minutes, the narrow pathway opened out and Yaz could make out a train station in the distance. Jessie though turned left and pushed through the broken wire fence separating the pillar from the road. The police officer could already see signs of a skirmish, a couple of bodies lay on the ground and they had clearly been shot, "Shinra soldiers," Jessie said coldly, "a few less to get in my way."

Shaking off the callowness of her comments, Yaz looked up and saw a helicopter closing in on the pillar, strafing the structure with its machine gun in the process, "You're not thinking of going up there?" she asked in disbelief.

"The pillar's emergency release system is at the top," Jessie replied, "if we can secure that from Shinra, they can't drop the plate on the Sector." Jessie looked up at the pillar, "Barret, Biggs and Wedge are up there too, I can't leave them behind."

If nothing else, Yaz had to admire her bravery, a handful of AVALANCHE guerrilla fighters against what looked like the entire Shinra army, "It's a suicide mission," Yaz shook her head, "those helicopter gunships will tear you to pieces."

If Jessie heard her words, she showed no sign that they affected her, "If not us then who else", she sighed, "if our sacrifice saves Sector 7 and everyone in it then isn't it worth it?" Before Yaz could reply there was loud explosion just overhead. Jessie pulled Yaz to one side just as some metal debris fell where they had just been standing. Moments later, a large man Yaz identified as Wedge crashed into the same spot, "Wedge!" Jessie exclaimed and dashed towards her friend.

For a few seconds Wedge said nothing, he was flat on his back and staring vacantly at the sky. Yaz spotted where he had fallen from, either the third or fourth level of the pillar. It would've been a small miracle if he survived a tumble from that height. To her shock, Wedge suddenly let out a loud cough, "Man, what a ride," he groaned.

"Knew you were made of strong stuff Wedge," Jessie gave him a small smile, "anything broken?"

"My pride," he tried to sit up, "feels like something is jabbing into me," he added, rolling over slightly.

"If this is a way to get me to look at your ass again, I'll make you wish you'd died," Jessie rolled him over a little more, her eyes widening when she spotted a large chunk of metal sticking out of Wedge's back, "not so good", Jessie continued, "good thing I've bought someone with healing materia with me".

Yaz suddenly realised that Jessie was taking about her, "But I have no idea how to use this", she flashed the glowing orb in their direction.

"Tifa always said it was about intent," Jessie replied, "you need to really think about healing Wedge here and the materia will do the rest." The red head quickly grasped the metal imbedded in Wedge, "You might want to it quickly too, in case this has nicked an artery."

"No pressure then," Yaz mumbled. She took a few seconds to focus on healing Wedge before adding, "let's do it." Jessie quickly pulled the shard from Wedge's side and at the same time, Yaz focused on the materia. A warm glow spread through her body followed by a surge of power so strong that she collapsed to the ground. It took her a few seconds to clear her head, "Did it work?"

"I don't think you've got a future as a White Mage", Jessie began, "but Wedge isn't bleeding to death so I'd call it a win." Yaz looked at Wedge's back but to her shock there wasn't even a cut where the metal had been. There was a small red mark but nothing more, "Right I'm going up," Jessie continued, "I'd sit this one out buddy, rest up for a few minutes at least."

Wedge shook his head and slowly stood up, "Thanks Jess but I'm feeling much better," he groaned though and held his back, "I need to help the others."

As he hobbled towards the stairs, Yaz suddenly felt a drop in temperature. At first she thought it was a side effect of the materia but it was something else entirely. Descending from the skies were hundreds of black shadows, swirling like a swarm around the pillar and the entrance to the stairs. The creatures were faceless, merely black spectres that blocked their paths. To her, they looked like the visual representation of Dementors from the Harry Potter film series, "Not these things again," Jessie groaned, "you've already stopped me from going on the Reactor 5 mission. Haven't you ruined my week enough?"

To Yaz's surprised, the spectre's appeared to force Jessie up the staircase. The red head tried to come back down to assist but the creatures wouldn't allow her to pass, "Just go," Wedge called, "I'll follow as soon as I can."

As soon as the words left his mouth though, the spectres forced him from his feet and against the metal fence, "Wedge," Yaz cried and reached for the Electro Rod in her pocket, "time to see if this works." Extending the rod, she jabbed it in the midsection of a spectre and discharged the taser. The creature showed no sign of pain, instead it spun around and focused solely on Yaz, "Ok, not my smartest idea."

A group of spectres advanced on Yaz but to her surprise, they suddenly began to back away, "Are you scared of me?" she asked in surprise, "I didn't think the charge in this weapon was that powerful."

Deciding to use this to her advantage, she ran towards Wedge and scattered the creatures from his fallen body. She crouched down and was relieved to find him breathing and with a strong pulse. Yaz thought about using the materia again but she was still a little drained from last time.

Suddenly, the creatures stopped swarming around Wedge and turned their attention to the staircase. Some of them swooped up the stairs and others began flying up the outside of the pillar, "Jessie," Yaz whispered to herself. For some reason, these creatures were fearful of Yaz and the police officer was going to use that to her advantage. They had taken an interest in Jessie and she was going to do everything in her power to save her.

It was like the Doctor said, sometimes you just know who needs your help. Despite their different ideologies, Yaz felt Jessie was a good person who needed protecting. Praying that someone came by soon to help Wedge, Yaz charged up the stairs in pursuit of Jessie.