Ba Sing Se University · Late Afternoon · [&.Exit]Ba Sing Se University · Late Afternoon · @Exit

_
Zhen was in a classroom in one of the old buildings of Ba Sing Se University, holding a question and answer session for one of her seminars. Natural light was pouring in through the massive windows, built in an era before electric lamps, and she was seated at one end of the table, while the nine students who had bothered to show up were at the other end. Most professors liked to have their assistants handle these sessions, but in the times when Zhen’s busy schedule allowed she preferred to run them. She had expected attendance to be sparse, on a holiday such as this only the most dedicated or the most desperate bothered to come. The first question was asked by Siku, who was not very bright but tried hard. He seemed genuinely worried about the low marks he got, perhaps unaware of how the university could “adjust” the grades of students who came from families as wealthy as his. Zhen never interfered with this, but liked to make her initial grades honest, giving them a glimpse of the truth. He asked

“Could you explain Emotivism? You said something about it when covering ethical philosophy but I didn’t understand.”

She smiled, then said.

“Of course. Emotivism is the school of thought that ethical statements have no true or false value, no logical content, and the only thing they convey is the speaker’s own emotions regarding something. This takes some unpacking. Let’s take given an example of a statement with a clear truth-value: I am a 400-foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings. Obviously, that’s false. How do you know it is false?”

Siku said

“Well, uhhh, duh I can just look at you. You aren’t any of that. Did I need philosophy for that?”
Then Huanyan spoke up. She was one of the most dedicated students, earning excellent marks and showing the type of enthusiasm Zhen liked to see. Perhaps Zhen could persuade her to join her handpicked seminar on Bender Spirituality next semester. Huanyan said
“A better way of stating it would be that we can falsify it using empirical evidence, it contradicts our sensory experiences."

Zhen said

“Correct. Now, two more example statements, one of which is has truth-value, the other doesn’t: Chu Hua Yuan is a good stickball player, Chu Hua Yuan is good. Can you identify the one with a truth-value?”

Several of them spoke at the same time

“The first one”

“Correct, the description ‘good stickball player’ is something that we can ground in other concepts, it relates to the game of stickball, and we can link it to physical characteristics such as her stamina, the accuracy of her shots, etcetera. But once we remove the second part and reduce it from ‘good stickball player’ to merely ‘good’, we are adrift. Without the ability to tie it to reality, the only thing we can glean from it is that the speaker has positive emotions attached to Chu Hua Yuan, it’s semantically identical to shouting ‘Chu Hua Yuan! Chu Hua Yuan!’ like a rabid fan in the stadium crowd.
The problem is that all ethical statements are like the second type. Stating ‘killing is wrong’ or ‘making people happy is good’ is the same as our example from earlier, devoid of any content except for emotions. Even if we try to ground them by saying something like ‘Killing makes people feel bad’, we have merely sidestepped the problem, that is a practical statement, but we would still need to eventually make an ethical statement, such as ‘making people feel bad is bad’.”

As she was speaking her last words there was a pink flash outside the window, and everyone stared to see what happened. A beam of light had shot up into to the sky, disappearing after a few seconds. Then the window rattled from a pressure wave, luckily it was not enough to cause any serious damage. All of them were silent, then Huanyan started to say “I think that was by the…”

As she spoke Huanyan pointed at the window and summoned a burst of air strong enough scatter all of the papers in the room. After that the room was as silent as graveyard. Then she pulled her hand away and tried to gesture that she meant no harm, but that too summon a gust of wind that blew everyone’s hair back. When she tried to speak her words produced smaller blasts of air, like a light breeze, but enough for everyone to feel. Huanyan started shaking, trembling, fearful of what was happening, trying to avoid any large motions. There was no mistaking it, Huanyan was airbending. Zhen felt the power too but retained her composure, like the tightly wound spring of a mechanical watch. All of the students let out a scream in unison but then Zhen spoke with a commanding tone. “Quiet. There is no reason for anyone to panic, including Huanyan. I will find her the assistance she needs. Everyone else is to remain here, and call the proper authorities if anything else comes up while I am away.” They did as they were told.

She held Huanyan’s hand tight in her grip, pulling her along down the hallway. The trail of papers blown by gusts of wind followed them as they went, heads turned, and people screamed. Bending was happening elsewhere in the building, Zhen was sure of it, but she had to deal with the problem closest to her first. Eventually they made it to Zhen’s office, Huanyan shaking so much that she merely slumped down after the door closed. She looked around the spacious room, seeing the well organized shelves stocked with books, the awards on the shelf, and the array of photos displayed above her desk. There were many of them, every one related to some occasion where Zhen’s work with the Doing What We Can foundation brought her into the spotlight. So many of them were of Zhen smiling, reacting with awe as she accepted a donation from one the most illustrious families of Ba Sing Se. The Sorans, the Varricks, the Satos, the Moons, all of them had contributed, as though they had turned a charitable venture into a way of one-upping the rest of the elite, but among all of the photos one was front and center: the time that King Wu had made Zhen among the fortunate few to receive the Order of Republic Excellence during the New Year Honors.

Huanyan sat there in the center of the floor as Zhen rushed about the room. Zhen was closing the blinds, dragging a large trunk out of the closet, checking that it was empty, a lot of actions that didn’t make sense to Huanyan, but she was tired and scared, not asking any questions as she saw that her breath was still causing a small breeze that rattled the papers. Zhen stopped her work and crouched down beside her, making strange hand motions that Huanyan didn’t recognize. She asked Zhen

“What are you doing?”.

Zhen said

“An act of mercy”

Huanyan said

“What? I don’t understand. Is there something I should be doing?” her voice growing weak as she spoke.

Zhen said

“No. Nothing at all. Just sleep. There’s nothing you need to do anymore, nowhere you need to be, nothing you need to be. It’s coming on now, best thing is to embrace it, join in the emptiness. No use in fighting because there’s nothing after this.”

Zhen could see the air current’s swirl around Huanyan’s face, forcing her lungs full of pure nitrogen, her eyes closed slowly and her muscles relaxed, dropping her to the floor as she fell into a painless and final sleep. Zhen was by her side, holding her hand the whole time. When she felt the pulse stop she cracked a small smile before she began to compose a message for the corpse disposal division.

Upper Ring · Afternoon · Mentions [.&Exit]Upper Ring · Afternoon · Mentions @Exit

<sub>_
Katakuri was currently in the Soran residence, sitting in a white, metal-wired chair from the same set as a similarly styled tea table. The enormous windows let the scorching sunshine into the interior garden, where luxuriant greenery covered the walls and floor. Taking a drink of the black tea and honey combo, he found himself at ease for the time being. It was pleasant to see Chosah play around the coy pond and examine the blossoming plants. He took another sip of tea and let his gaze follow his daughter.

Chosah was scampering on the hardened sandstone tile floors. Her fine motor skills were far from flawless, but he hoped that playing in the indoor garden would help her improve over time. She examined each flower, attempting to pick some of them and relocate unoccupied pots as best she could. Chosah raced through several of the puddles strewn about the tan floors. The young girl was quickly whirled around by Dutchess the Doberman pinscher, practically on top of her. Looking at Dutchess, it was clear that she was unduly concerned about Chosah, which prompted the dog to be overbearing and the small girl to tumble. The vines crawling over the room may not have helped the child's case. Her foot appeared to have become entangled in a section of coral honeysuckle, which was starting to flower coral and salmon-colored blossoms.

When Chosah collapsed, Archer's ears seemed to shoot up. Despite his concern about Chosah, the second dog remained seated alongside Katakuri. "Duchess, come!"Katakuri decided to grab the dog's attention because she was nearly refusing to allow Chosah to get up. Since he employed a stern voice, the multicolored creature seemed to pause before dashing towards her master, virtually putting her head on his lap to ask for forgiveness.
"I know you want to help her, but you're doing more harm than good," he said casually to the dog as he started to pet her. While he stroked her head, Dutchess seemed to grind her mouth into his knee, her ears dropping each time his fingers reached them. Katakuri believed that animals had awareness, and he owned dogs long enough to know that they comprehended simple commands.

“Papa,” she murmured as she slowly rose from her fall, uninjured, and with a smile on her face. While his daughter called quietly, he raised his attention to her and replied, "Yes?"Chosah appeared to be on her hands and knees at the small indoor koi pond, attempting to reach one of the koi.
He sighed at her foolish attempt to pet a fish and yelled out to his daughter, "Take care! I know you're in swimming lessons, but you shouldn't go near the pond." With those remarks, he stood up and went to get her away from the water.
When Chosah noticed her father approaching, she stood up quickly and dusted off her dress, which had three yellow flowers hand-embroidered in the front. Katakuri felt horrible since Urose was nearly a mother to Chosah, but he welcomed all the aid he could get from his mother. If Urose was ever asked, she would gladly take care of her granddaughter. She was overjoyed to be in charge of Chosah.

Katakuri was close to Chosah but not within arm's reach of his daughter. A pink light could be seen from the corner of his eyes, drawing his attention to the sky beyond the large windows. The light was visible for only a few seconds before the sky returned to normal. He kept his gaze fixed on the spot in the sky to alter his perception, as he expected it to emerge from one of the lower rings from where it was located. "Mhm..." was the result of his cognitive process. Within that short period, Katakrui felt a weird sensation coursing through his veins. When he heard a splash from the koi pond, he snapped out of it.

"Chosah!" In response to her plunging into the water, he yelled. She rapidly went through the motions of keeping herself above water, but she didn't have to do much before her father yanked her out of the water. He rescued his daughter, but his dress pants were soaked up to the knees.

The two dogs saw Katakuri in the pond and assumed it was a confirmation of play. They ran towards the man and splashed around in the pond. Katakuri shielded his face, and he heard his daughter laugh. "Do you think this is funny?" he inquired. Chosah responded by nodding her head, obviously indicating that she found it amusing.

"Okay, I'll dress you like a boy. That amuses me," while stepping out of the koi pond - he attempted to taunt her. "Everyone out," he said, motioning for the dogs to quit scaring the fish and splashing water everywhere. He'd be lying if he said he didn't desire a son, but he loved his daughter nonetheless.

"Papa, no!" she cried, clutching his dress shirt tightly. She was extremely concerned that her father would threaten her in this way. "I like dresses," she added. Chosah adored the outfits her grandma made or the ones her father bought her. She was a tomboy but preferred to do everything in a frock.

When he arrived at the solarium doors, he stepped out and closed them once the dogs had left the room. One of the maids, which was nearby, looked horrified. Two wet mutts dashed through the halls, as did youthful master Soran, who was drenched up to his knees in noisy shoes. He made his way through the Soran family mansion to Chosah's room. Make sure she gets out of her damp garments and into dry ones.
He noticed his mother heading down the hall as he exited his daughter's room with her close behind. "What is all this commotion?" she wondered, having noticed the dogs rushing by before noticing her son, who was still wet, and her granddaughter, who was dressed in new clothing. "I apologize for the shambles, mother. I'll make it up to you later, but could you kindly have Chosah for the time being? "He pleaded as he handed his daughter over to his mother.

Urose did not seem to hesitate in taking her granddaughter from her eldest son, remarking, "Do what you have to," while holding Chosah. "Thank you, mother," Katakuri replied as he dashed off to his room. He swiftly changed his socks, slacks, and shoes in his room.
He felt it would be wiser to walk outdoors and figure out what that pink glow was. As he left the Soran family estate, he understood that something was seriously wrong with everyone. People who were not previously benders demonstrated the ability to bend various elements such as water, fire, air, and earth. People appeared to be scared of both themselves and others. Inhaling sharply, he had no idea what was going on, but he could tell it wasn't good. He knew the Lotus Security Force, as well as other organizations and the government, would be all over this. He was slowly wandering through the streets, unsure of what he should do in this situation.

The further he wandered through the frightened streets, the more blood and death he saw. Standing about his height and a half away from a sprawled-out figure on the ground. The person he was staring at was obviously dead, with his eyes still open and a puddle of blood surrounding his motionless body. Katakuri approached the body slowly and noticed that the man had extensive bruises on his skin, indicating that he had been transformed into or attacked by an earth bender. Katakuri was well-versed in the various forms of bending and how they might leave marks on one's flesh. Crouching down, he regarded the man in the eyes before sighing, "I am sorry that your life had to end this way," he whispered before closing the man's eyelids and glancing at the disturbance further away.</sub>

Location · Date & Time · MentionsLocation · Date & Time · Mentions

_
“Mmm…” A soft moan echoed to the rafters of the old building. The scent of perfume and sweat permeated the air. “Oh, Li… That’s – ooh, right there! Aah, not so rough!” A woman’s giggle followed, along with a satisfied sigh.

“I think… I’m done…”

“Aw, tapping out already?”

“Yeah. You’re the best, Li.”

The massuese gave her satisfied client a smile, and deftly placed their socks back on their feet. “Oh, you’re such a flatterer, Jin.”

Jin grinned, wiggling their toes. “Nah, seriously. After a hard night, all I want’s some ramen and a really good footrub.”

Message running in the Lower Ring was hard on their cheap boots. Jin was one of the few clients who utilized the actual ‘massage’ part of the Drunken Honeybee Massage Parlor on a regular basis. No one else had Li’s strong but soft hands. Jin stood up, running a hand through their thick, black cropped hair.

“You know,” Li smiled, batting her lashes. “There’s plenty of better ways to relax. Not just the feet, but all of you.” She sauntered up to Jin, lifting the short youth’s chin with slender fingers. “You do know you get a discount, right?” She leaned in slowly, fixing Jin in place with an amber eyed gaze.

Jin’s brown skinned face rapidly started to turn the same shade of crimson as a fresh bowl of Fire Flake curry. “Aha, ha – yeah, I know, I just… I never have time, and you ladies are all so busy, and -” They backed up hastily, bumping the wall behind them. The candle table nearly toppled over. “Whoops!”

Li chuckled heartily, stopping her teasing before poor Jin had a coronary. “Gosh, you’re so adorable. You’re gonna break someone’s heart someday, you know?”

“Ehehe.” Jin rubbed the back of their neck, green eyes half shut as they giggled. “I sure hope not. Sounds like too much trouble, to me.”

Li shrugged her slim, pale shoulders, starting to clean up the massage table. “Well, if you change your mind, you find me. I’ll show you a very good time. Or maybe you hit up the Zen Stallions instead? Whichever you like.” She smirked. “Us and the boys have a bet going on who’s going to give you your first.”

Jin’s jaw dropped as they looked askance. “Wha- Who says I ain’t gotten my first?! I thought I was a heartbreaker!” They folded their arms as Li simply began to laugh.

“If you could stop getting all blushy whenever someone cute hits on you, maybe I’d believe y-”

The next thing Jin knew, they were waking up to the sounds of screaming and the scent of smoke. “N-ngh…” They tasted blood, and staggered to their feet, leaning heavily against the wall. “What the fu- oh no, Li!” As their mind started to clear, they noticed Li on the ground under the window. She was very still, her body half buried beneath a twisted heap of concrete and window glass. It seemed as if she had hit the window as if thrown off her feet, hard enough to shatter it.

Jin rushed unsteadily to their friend, pushing aside her bloodied brown hair to check her neck for a pulse. Li didn’t move or make a sound. Jin couldn’t tell if she was even breathing. “Li! Come on, please…” Either Jin was pressing the wrong spot, or... “Shit.” Jin wobbled as they stood, exhaling in a shudder as they fought back tears. As much as they wanted to mourn, they had to get out first. Yanking their shirt up over their nose and mouth, they pushed their way through the crumbling doorway and headed for the main room.

Chaos reigned. Terrified screams and moans of anguish disoriented their senses just as much as the smoke. Jin moved toward the stairs on autopilot as they looked around. From what they could tell, the whole building had been rocked. The lights were out, and the girls’ work rooms, usually lit by aromatic candles, had sparked several small fires that were growing by the second. Their building was far too old and cheap for overhead sprinklers, and flames began to lick the walls.

“Lady Cho! Where are you?!” Jin cried out. Half-dressed girls and their clients were running out the door. It was getting harder and harder to see through the thickening smoke. They were shoved from behind by a few people rushing down the stairs, and it was luck that kept them on their feet.

“Lady – cough-” It was getting harder to breathe. The smart thing would have been to leave, but Jin refused to leave Lady Cho behind. That woman had all but raised them – this place was her home and business, and Jin knew she probably might still be here. Their green eyes swept the room, finally landing on a familiar shape in a brilliant kimono.

They rushed over immediately, but stopped short as Lady Cho held a hand out. “Don’t come any closer, Jin!” Jin was about to ask why, but the reason became very suddenly obvious. They hadn’t noticed it due to the environment, but -

“Run! Please go!” With every word, fresh flames poured from Lady Cho’s lips. Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she had been inhaling smoke.

Lady Cho was bending fire.

Jin was stunned. They hadn’t even had an inkling of suspicion about it. They knew the consequences, of course, but this was Lady Cho, one of the richest women in the Ring. Certainly she could work something out with the law. They offered out a trembling hand. “C-come on. We gotta get out of here, the whole place is going up!”

“No!” The tall woman balked, staggering backward as more fire poured from her mouth with each exhale. “Jin, go! Take care of the girls! And-” The inevitable happened in a flash. A stray spark from her mouth caught Lady Cho’s silk sleeve. It lit, and in her haste to pat it out, the fire simply seemed to stick to Lady Cho’s hands and spread. The woman screamed, and more fire poured from her throat, further catching her body and furthering the blaze. The more she tried to put it out, the worse it got, until the woman was covered, engulfed under red flames.

Jin froze, unable to do anything else but look on in horror. The scent of smoke and too much perfume was engulfed by the stifling, overwhelming smell of burning silk and charred flesh. Her screaming rung in Jin’s ears in a way that they knew they would never be able to forget. And yet, Jin couldn’t tear their gaze away as they watched the flames consume the only mother they could remember.

The thing that finally tore them away was a worryingly loud groan from overhead. The fire had reached one of the support beams. The wood was roasting quick. Jin’s body moved before their brain gave the command, and then they were running full tilt for the exit. They were barely out the door before a crash rang in their ears. The building was coming down, as the Lower Ring could do little but watch.

Jin coughed out smoke, their lungs aching and throat sore. They stumbled forward and kept moving, not sure where they could go or what to do. All around, the chaos that had been in the building continued outside on a grand scale. People were attacking each other. Benders – benders! - were on full display, terrifyingly displaying their ‘gifts’ for all to see.

What the hell was going on?

Lower Ring · Late AfternoonLower Ring · Late Afternoon

_
"What do I do?!"

"Nothing stupid."

Nelu pushed forward on the throttle, putting his cruiser into a nosedive, and watched as the dreary world around him began to tilt. Black spires encroached by thick clouds of smoke pitched toward him as the cruiser began to fall, and as his speed increased and the wind picked up and began battering his windshield, Nelu felt the familiar twisting in his gut as gravity left him. The cabin rattled, the engine roared and water in the air became long streaks drawn across glass. Eventually, the thicker upper layer of fog was pulled away like a veil revealing the world of chaos the Lower Ring had fallen into.

Framed in a city of smoke were streets littered in debris and the people of Ba Sing Se running in every direction with no direction. They dove into buildings or under cars and sought shelter where they could. Peppered in with the panicked masses were Benders, true to countless radio reports that were still coming in. But more than that, among the crowds were also those who were not exhibiting bending abilities but were attacking others unprovoked. Reports of individuals who were ignoring warnings and lashing out violently at those around them and in some cases, murdering those they got their hands on. Despite the panic and confusion induced by Benders revealing themselves all at once and in such large numbers, the random attacks were even more unsettling and the idea of a violent Bender drove Nelu to haste. There were few who could handle them, especially in the Lower Ring.

"Allen's location."

A point of light appeared on the windshield highlighting a section of the road a few blocks ahead, close to where Nelu knew the soup kitchen was located. "Officer Gima is here. He is not moving." Came a female voice.

"Status."

"Unconscious. Stable."

"Shit." He hissed, coaxing more power out of the engine. Gravity pushed him against his seat and the cruiser lurched forward, clearing several blocks of chaotic streets in less than a minute and putting Nelu above the entrance to the soup kitchen. There below him he could see a heavily damaged dumpster and the body of Allen slumped against it. Nearby was a man who seemed to have been half buried in the dirt and around the both of them were clear signs of earthbending. There were removed slabs of earth, drag marks and unexplained dirt spires protruding out of the street. His controlled panic and haste turned to anger.

"Get a paramedic unit to this location now."

"Yessir."

"Vanguard?" Nelu half yelled, descending close enough to the ground to dispatch his AI.

"Ready to deploy."

"Deploy it."

The cabin shook again as the undercarriage opened up and a payload was dropped. As soon as it had landed, Nelu moved to land his cruiser. Normal procedure was to wait for a clear landing area, typically provided by the AI, but Nelu wasn't going to wait. He found and made for a small clearing in the debris near the dumpster and put the cruiser down there. He was out before it'd even landed, exiting and dropping a few feet out of the air and into an angry swarm of dust kicked up by thrusters as he moved toward Allen with his weapon drawn. So focused was he on his downed friend that he didn't even notice the AI dispatch another Bender in the area, nor did he give any heed to the half buried, crazed man.

The first thing Nelu noticed as he knelt beside Allen were the heavy injuries he'd sustained to his face. It was as if he'd been beaten repeatedly by a blunt object, or in this case, pummeled by rocks, Nelu assumed. What didn't make sense to him was the fact that Allen's weapon was sitting across his lap as if it'd been neatly placed there. That and it was obvious that effort had been put into subduing the individual in the ground rather than killing him. He obviously wasn't the bender in question and whoever was responsible for what happened was no longer here. Or at least that's what Nelu would have initially believed if he hadn't heard noise coming from the kitchen and noticed the Vanguard focus on the doorway. He looked too and could feel a number of individuals huddled inside.

Perhaps what happened here wasn't an act of unprovoked violence and was instead one of defense. Maybe there had been a misunderstanding. Maybe the man in the ground, who was clearly unhinged, had been one of the crazed individuals running around and murdering people and had attacked Allen and the Earthbender was only trying to help. There was some obvious skill involved in the bending. Most were not capable of such feats, even when their powers were boosted as they were now. Everyone else was bending uncontrollably but this person was clearly making use of techniques they'd learned from somewhere, and that was more telling than anything else. That was dangerous. They needed to come in but Allen had to get out first.

"Hold on, Allen." Nelu gingerly scooped his arm under the unconscious officer's body and carefully picked him up, supporting some of his weight with the man's arm over his shoulder. It was difficult but he managed to guide him to the front seat of his cruiser and place him inside.

"Cancel the paramedic request and get him to the hospital, now." Nelu said once Allen was secure.

"Yessir." There was a mechanical chime as the cabin door swung shut, hissing gas as it sealed. Thrusters under the cruiser flared to life, once again throwing Nelu into a cloud of dust, and steadily lifted the vehicle off the ground and into the air. Once it was high enough, it took off toward the pink haze canopy above where it was quickly swallowed up.

Nelu turned to join the guard at the door but as he approached, the street was suddenly torn open and rolled like a rug. Dirt and rocks and slabs of asphalt spilled over the AI, burying it. But while the robot was rendered temporarily useless, the extreme display of Earthbending was all the sign he needed that his suspect was still here. Inside the room, he froze one of the individuals. A child.

...That can't be right...

Another began bolting toward the back and Nelu immediately raised his gun and started putting rounds through the wall, refusing to release whoever it was he had. If it wasn't a bender, then they were in serious danger and he needed to keep them away from the others. If he could keep them where they were, he could avoid accidentally hurting them in the crossfire and given their position close to the door, getting to them himself wouldn't be a problem. Once removed, he could more easily deal with the Bender without injuring an innocent civilian. However, as he began moving toward the door, a large earthen wall suddenly burst from the ground and pushed into the front wall of the soup kitchen, destroying it but also sealing it completely off.

"Damn it. Door."

A muted jingle from under a pile of dirt answered the command and after some rumbling and shifting of debris, a large slab of concrete was lifted and thrown off the pinned robot. It recovered, found its footing, picked up its rifle, and hit a button on the side before shouldering the weapon again. When it fired next, instead of a bullet, a ball of spirit energy was thrown at the wall, evaporating a chunk of dirt the size of a basketball. It fired again... and then again... and then again, steadily chewing through layers of loose rock and stone and pieces of concrete as Nelu studied the movements of those inside. What surprised him the most was that despite the others retreating, one of them went for the kid. They dove for them, pushing the child out of the way and sacrificing themselves to Nelu's grasp, whether they knew it or not. A selfless act. A good Samaritan not unlike the one who was willing to defend an RSF officer and return their weapon to them.

...There you are...

"aaAAAAHHHH!!"

Nelu turned in time to see a man running toward him, screaming at the top of his lungs. By the time he'd dropped the boy on the other side of the wall and focused his attention on the stranger, he'd been grabbed around the waist and thrown to the ground.

He hit his head rather hard.

LSF HQ · Morning · In collaboration with [&.Exit]LSF HQ · Morning · In collaboration with @Exit

_
“Good morning, 141.”

There was a tap against the capsule and from the other side of the frosted glass pane, a number of concealed faces could be seen. After a few moments of muted voices and a series of electronic beeps and chimes, there was a hiss of gas and the lid on the pod popped free from a latch. Another button press and it slowly began to rise, giving 141 an unobstructed view of a familiar room. It stood in the center of a cold, steel and gray box, its walls interrupted at regular intervals by piping and wiring tucked too closely together. They seemed like veins as they wrapped around the room, slipping in between and underneath machines, monitors and the metal shapes that made up the shell of the holding chamber. On every surface and tucked into every corner was a bulb or blinking LED, and in the dimly lit space, these could almost be mistaken for the night sky.

141 was currently secured by a number of straps and platinum bands around his arms, wrists, legs and ankles, all of them holding him in place and strong enough not to fail in case there was an attempt to escape. Across his chest was a large rig, the back of which was connected to a series of tubes and wires. As the pod opened up, the small monitor just above 141’s breast blinked to life and a man nearby began tapping the surface of a tablet in his hands. He was in a white, full-body suit that covered him from head to toe. His face was obscured behind a dark pane of reinforced plastic.

“We’ve got your usual breakfast…” He said to the backdrop of a series of mechanical clicks. From somewhere in the ceiling, hydraulic pumps could be heard. “How are you feeling today?”

Dead silence accompanied the question - not a single word spoken. The usual response from 141. Twisting his head towards his “caretaker,” 141 awaits for the man to finish up the regular checkup. In the meanwhile, 141 “entertains'' himself - calculating a general kill-time frame for the local vicinity. Seven seconds for the man in front. Thirty seconds to breach the hardened entry and exit ways and about five seconds for everyone else. Course, being utterly bonded by a complex series of interlocked restraints does not help. The only thing now is to wait and see what awaits for the day - usually decided by his overseers.

With no humanity left, there is not much to ponder on but the efficiency of extermination.

The man nodded as if he were listening to the thing talk, even as no words were being exchanged.

“How’s he looking?” Another called from the other side of the room. A female voice.

“Good. All good. Vitals are green. Readings on brain functions all indicate green. He’s good to go.”

“Good. They want him prepped.”

“Already?” The man in front turned around.

“Whatever is going on out there is apparently serious enough to activate the rest of the team, including 141. A joint operation from what I’ve been told.”

“Do they have a package?”

The female individual tapped a screen in front of her and paneling in the ceiling above 141 began to move. They slid to the side, making space for a number of large panels. Before they’d moved into place in front of the subject, they began populating with information. Lines of text and images depicting the destruction of the city were being flashed at 141 in quick succession. There was just enough time between each ‘slide’ for it to understand what he was seeing; Ba Sing Se was tearing itself apart in the presence of a sudden spike in Bender sightings.

Then, the images changed to a series of faces. These were shuffled through a little slower than those previous with enough time for 141 to absorb the features of each face. At this time, the female individual walked around to stand opposite the male in the room. “They’ve made it outside the walls and need to be handled before they escape past the desert.”

141 quickly absorbs the information given to him. - eyes twitching heavily as he processes each panel in a blink of an eye. A nightmarish flood of mission data consumed and understood in mere seconds. Once done, 141’s eyes return to their normal position. The thing now awaits to be released from his restraints, quietly and perfectly not moving an inch of muscle.

“Vitals are still reading good. Looks like he’s absorbed everything.” The man nodded before placing the tablet down and walking around behind the pod holding 141. The female stepped back as he began pressing a series of buttons elicitings more hissing as hydraulics were released and latches on the metal bands and straps fell away. The rig across his chest remained in place but the tubing and wiring in the back popped free, allowing 141 full movement once again. “Chip is still receiving.”

On the ground were two green lines painted parallel to each other. A path laid out before 141 for it to follow to the opposite end of the room. There, a panel slid open allowing access to its combat gear, mask and weapons.

“Go ahead, 141. They’re letting you out today. You get to be with the rest of the team. They’re waiting for you.”

LSF HQ · Morning · @EveryoneLSF HQ · Morning · @Everyone

_
Nelu pulled at the bandages around his head as he tapped on the table in the center of the darkened room. Lights around the edge began to illuminate the space above it, drawing in the air a three dimensional rendering of the Ba Sing Se. All three rings and every building in between floated in the space between every person present in the room. As it lazily spun in the air, red dots began to illuminate across the entire city, each one representing the last known location of a confirmed Bender who was yet to be apprehended.

"I'll make this quick so we can get on the road." Nelu began. "As you are all aware, a little over sixteen hours ago, the Synergy Storage Facility suffered a catastrophic accident, the cause of which is still under investigation. During the accident, an event was triggered across the city, similar to what occurred across the world during the Harmonic Convergence nearly two hundred years ago. Anyone who could bend was suddenly empowered. I'm sure you all felt it. More importantly, some who could not bend suddenly could." He hit another button and a number of faces began appearing on screen. Most of the individuals were unremarkable. Normal people pulled from their lives in a most violent and unexpected way. Some were more prominent, like a popular television host or a rising politician and others were icons known across all of Ba Sing Se. A particular stickball player's face was added to the lineup. "And these are just the ones we know about. We still need to look into missing persons and those who are knowingly aiding and abetting these fugitives. But that's an issue for another day. Right now, our focus will be on containment. Now, normally you are all activated separately and alone, specific to the needs of your target, but our objective today requires that everybody be present."

Nelu traced the table, pulling the rendered map of the city along with his touch until, many 'miles' beyond the wall, a rendering of a small tower like structure could be seen half buried in the sand. "A large group of Benders managed to escape before we could seal off the city. It is believed the majority of them intend to cross the desert to attempt to get to a small settlement beyond it. As impossible as that trek may be, we cannot risk any of them getting free so... we will be meeting the group here." Nelu tapped the air, blowing up the image so the structure was more easily visible. It was A tall-ish tower leaning precariously at an angle that looked to have once been a rest stop of some kind. "A little failed outpost at the edge of the desert that is used as a jumping off point for a caravan that crosses the desert. This is kill or capture, although we've apprehended plenty of Benders. Enough to replenish rank. It's really up to you how you want to go about this."

Nelu crossed his arms and then looked at each of his team members. "Any questions?"

He adjusted the bandage again.

LSF HQ · Early Morning · @EveryoneLSF HQ · Early Morning · @Everyone

____________________________________________________________________________.
Zhen was seated off center, staring at the map to comprehend the scale of the incident, filling her mind with all of the damage that had already been done, and all that would be needed in the aftermath of it. She raised her hand to ask a question. “Regarding our approach to this tower, are we going in quietly, or are we going loud?”

”Loud. They’re herded for the most part with nowhere to run so stealth won’t be an issue. Our approach will be by air. Yi already has the airship fueled and is standing by.”

Zhen said “Excellent. Do we anticipate the need for anti-vehicle capabilities, or is this exclusively anti-personnel?”

”We are expecting there to be vehicles modified for crossing the desert…” As Nelu spoke, he began pressing another series of buttons.

Katakuri was clothed from head to toe; he had been practicing concealing his identity from most in the L.S.F. The main two who spoke were Nelu and Zhen, and he was in no hurry to comment on this situation. Personally, Katakuri found it disturbing how quickly so many people became benders. What does this imply for the city? He thought. He could have been quiet because he was lost in his thoughts.

The short, soft-faced person in the chair nearest Nelu spoke up. Their exhausted green eyes were also fixed on the map. “Yeah, I got a couple. How many fugitives we talkin here? Is it so many that it’s gonna take all of us to contain the situation? Or are we just being extra cautious?” As they spoke, they fiddled with something in their gloved hands. It looked like a small metallic ball, tarnished and worn with age.

After a moment, the image above the table flickered and changed, displaying a fuzzy top down view of the area. There was a large leaning shadow that represented the position of the tower and numerous dots surrounding it representing the people who were gathering at its base. In a neat row nearby were slightly larger, rectangular shapes which were believed to be vehicles. Five in total. After a few seconds, the image changed and the number of dots on screen grew. It changed again and the dots multiplied once more. ”We’re looking at roughly fifty people, and given the large number of benders in one area and the assumption that they’re still empowered, we’re sending the entire team. It will take all of us. There’s no telling how much control they have over their bending and what kind of threat they might pose to us.”

Jin’s eyes flicked from dot to dot, counting. Finally, they let out a low whistle. “That’s a shit ton of people. I gotta fix my requisition list.” They tossed the metal ball into the air, just a bit higher with each throw. “Got a feelin it’ll be less before we get out there, though.”

Katakuri’s sense of humor had been tainted by years of service in the L.S.F., and hearing Jin’s remark caused him to chuckle, "You are right," his voice low and emotionless. “They can’t control themselves, so they are doing our job for us,” which was obvious. He doubted that they didn’t realize most of these people couldn’t control their powers during the major event that caused all of this.
"If necessary, can this containment mission be a kill-on-sight mission?" he wanted to know. When Katakuri asked this question, he was looking directly at Nelu. He was concerned about Nelu’s current situation, but he wouldn’t dare vocalize his personal concerns at work.

Nelu nodded. ”Like I said, we’ve captured enough Benders that we can replenish rank if necessary. There is no expectation to take anyone alive, so you are free to engage as you see fit.”

Katakuri smirked under the fabric that covered his face, nodding to his superior, “I will not disappoint you then,” he turned his job into a game by seeing how many individuals he could take down. Handling his career in this secret service position in a sick and twisted manner.

”You never do, Kata.” Nelu said, giving the man another nod and a smile. ”Now, I want everyone to keep in mind that there is a sandstorm raging in the area which is currently blocking their route. Readings of the storm indicate that it is dying, so our window of opportunity to catch them before they’re all on the move is closing fast. Expect panic and attempts to escape into the desert on approach, but also keep in mind that due to the danger of these storms, we cannot enter them without accepting extreme risk. Losing any of you is not something I am willing to do. So, If they get into the storm, I am ordering you now to let them go. The desert will do the rest. No need to get yourself buried along with them. Other than that, you’re free to do as you please.”

“Are there any other questions?”

Zhen raised her hand again and spoke “Is it sufficient to describe knowledge as justified true belief? How can we account for true beliefs built on incorrect but logically sound justifications?” She paused and heard the silence around the room.

“Oh, you meant about the mission. No further questions.” There was an even longer silence.

“Don’t look like that, you aren’t going to get quizzed on this.” Zhen said, realizing that humor was something she still had to work on.

When Zhen asked her question, Katakuri couldn’t stop himself from smiling. Her sense of humor was unique, but he appreciated her attempt to lighten the mood – if that was her intention. He approached her from behind, placing a single hand on her shoulder and gently squeezing it. "Not everyone is a professor of philosophy or has an astonishing amount of intelligence like you, Master Lun," he whispered, his face close to hers. Anyone could tell he was in a good mood and was probably smiling beneath the cloth mask.

"I have a new question." Jin piped up. They were staring at Zhen. "What the fuck did you just say?" They looked utterly confused. "I mean, I understood the words, individually. Just not together."

”Zhen has a sense of humor this morning.” Nelu commented, smiling as he tapped invisible keys on the table once again. ”That’s a good sign and something you will get used to it, hopefully. You’ll also get used to this.” The image of the spire was replaced by another face now joining the other bending fugitives. Another stickball player.

”You may or may not recognize her but she is Kanna Wu. Daughter of the woman you recently took care of. I know that before, the directive was to leave her alive, but it looks like she went and got herself further involved in her mother’s world. She was last seen helping Chu Hua escape during their game and there’s a good chance she’s out there with the rest of them.”

LSF HQ · Early Morning · In collaboration with [&.Exit]LSF HQ · Early Morning · In collaboration with @Exit

_
Jin lagged behind as the others filed out, still playing with that worn metallic ball. They peered at Tarnelu wearily, before speaking quietly.

“Never done a team mission before.” Their voice seemed calm, but the Captain had known the young specialist long enough to figure out when they were burying some emotion or another. “I ain’t really a people person. Unless those people need to be dead.” The metal ball was neatly rolled over their gloved fingers.

“D’you really think I can do this, sir?”

Nelu tapped the edge of the table, killing the lights and the floating images they were drawing. He waited until the others were completely out of sight before he spoke. ”Working well with others? Normally I’d say ‘yes’ and leave it at that. Can you do it?” He began walking around the table in the center of the room as he spoke to Jin, looking at the corner of his eyes and shrugging as if he were bouncing the question around in his head. ”Sure. You’re very good at what you do. You were good at it before we found you and you’re even better at it now. Arguably the best shot in the world, quick with your hands and a natural talent for ‘improving’ every piece of equipment we’ve given you. Really, I think the better question is whether or not the team can do this without you.”

Nelu stopped only a few feet away from Jin. His eyes fell on the worn ball they were twisting between their fingers. ”You don’t need to be a people person to be someone I or they can rely on. 141 is your prime example of this. You just need to do what you do best and everything else will fall into place.”

Jin’s hand finally stalled as Tarnelu neared. They seemed somewhat flustered. “Ah. Thanks for the confidence. It’s nice.” A tiny smile lifted their lips. But it dropped quite suddenly as Jin closed their eyes.

“I’m sure you probably know-” The Captain usually had his finger on the city’s pulse. “But the Drunken Honeybee burned down last night. What you probably don’t know is…Lady Cho died. She was a firebender, apparently, and she… just…burned herself up.” The scent of charred flesh hit JIn’s nose, and a shudder ran through their whole body. After talking a moment to box the memory back up, they started again.

“She’s gone. My home’s gone. Most of the people I was raised with- gone.”

Nelu took a deep breath. Loss was a difficult thing for anyone, not least of which for those of the LSF. The five on his roster now were not always just five and in fact, he was reminded of the missing spot on his team he still needed to replace. The loss of family, however, was always heavier than most and Nelu could understand the pain. ”That’s… tough, Jin. I know she was important to you and I’m sorry she uh....” He trailed off as he shook his head, envisioning how horrific a death it must have been.

”You know… my little sister is missing. And no, it doesn’t compare to what you’ve lost but I will say that even though it probably doesn’t look like it, I’m uh… worried about her. I was keeping tabs on her like I do and she’d taken a trip to the soup kitchen in the Lower Ring, near where the explosion went off. Near the Honeybee in fact. But…” Nelu was shaking his head again, chewing on his lip as he replayed the events of the day before in his head. Allen was in the hospital with critical injuries, beaten over the head with a pipe or blunted by rocks from an Earthbender. The Bender he did run into got away and all he had to show for his efforts was a rather sensitive bump on the back of his head hidden under a layer of bandages. He started pulling at them again as he continued. ”...She wasn’t there. Spent some time searching the rubble and found nothing but bodies and some guy pinned to the wall by a pipe. Nelu looked at Jin. ”I know you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this, and the reason is this: I’m a ball of nerves. This will be the first joint mission in a long time. I have a relatively new face on the team, I have 141 and I have almost fifty Benders out beyond the wall that I need to apprehend and right now my sister is missing. I get no closure today, but you Jin. You do. Lady Cho is gone but she’s not missing. You know exactly where she is. She’ll be out there with you today, as will every part of your past because that’s how this works. How you work. I’ve seen you survive worse with less. However, I do want to know if you think you can do this.”

Jin listened quietly as Nelu vented. They hadn’t known that their Captain had family. Most people in the RSF didn’t talk about relatives like that. Mostly because the majority of them were benders, and their families had disowned them. “M’sorry about your sis. I’m sure she’ll be found when the city calms down.” Or, more likely, she was already dead, and just not found yet. They didn’t say that, though. If Nelu was already feeling rough, then he needed hope, not reality.

Jin reached out as if to touch his shoulder, but let their hand drop. They turned away, as if trying to hide something. The Captain’s question was a surprise.

“Can I do it?” They took a moment to think, really think. “I mean - I could use a stiff drink and a nap, but that’s going to have to wait. Yeah, I can do it, and I will do it.” They shrugged, starting to toss the metal ball again.

“I got nothing left to lose, Captain. And everything to gain.”

”That’s what I like to hear.” Nelu reached out this time and placed a hand on Jin’s shoulder, giving them a reassuring squeeze. ”You’ll do just fine and when we get back, drinks will be on me and we can talk about whatever you want.”

Jin went very still as he squeezed their shoulder. Their whole body tensed in a way that only another soldier would recognize. The kind of eerie stillness that came from someone well-trained. For a moment, they didn’t speak. They didn’t appear to be breathing, either.

In a blink, they relaxed, as if absolutely nothing had happened. “Sounds good, Cap.” They turned their face just slightly, flashing a brief smile. “I gotta get my gear sorted. I’ll see ya out there.” They moved for the door, flashing a lazy salute on the way out.

Nelu accepted the salute and watched them disappear beyond the doorway. It slid shut behind them, leaving Nelu to his thoughts and the silence that followed soon after became an echo chamber for his musings. Despite what he’d said to Jin, he was hopeful for what came next. Spirits seemed high and even for Jin who had lost someone dear to them, the focus seemed to be on the task ahead, for the most part at least. It was hard to convince himself if he’d really seen it or not, but Nelu could have sworn there was a shade of red above the smile Jin had given him.

Onboard the Firefly · Morning · In collaboration with @EveryoneOnboard the Firefly · Morning · In collaboration with @Everyone

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Within thirty minutes of the briefing, every member of the team had assembled inside the Firefly, the LSF’s preferred aircraft for short term engagements. A small bird that favored speed and maneuverability over protection. With a five man crew not including the pilot and an AI, limited supplies and standard plating for protection, enough weight was shed that trips over large distances were kept short in duration. However, piloting the craft was often difficult and only one in the LSF had put in the time to learn to do it.

After a final gear check and a green light, Yi carefully put his baby in the air and made for the distant outpost. It’d been at least a year since his last mission involving the entire team, and although that mission had ended solemnly, he was hopeful for what was to come. Part of it was because he was just happy to see everyone together again. The other part was because he found himself more relaxed when in his element. He was happier in the air, and the sound of familiar voices drowned to a murmur by the roaring winds outside brought him a comfort that was hard to find.

After only an hour and a half of flying, the Firefly suddenly started slowing down and ascending.

”Two minutes to drop, Cap.” Yi said over the radio. Nelu gave Yi a nod and turned to face the rest of the team. He hit a switch on the wall, dousing the entire cabin in a red light. ”Everybody knows what they’re doing?”

Behind him, a monitor folded off the roof of the aircraft and blinked on. A live feed was displayed showing a view of the outpost from high above. Not much had changed since their last briefing save for a larger than expected crowd gathering around one of the vehicles.

Zhen sat in her seat in a lotus pose, eyes closed and breathing carefully. Meditation was one of the gifts she wished she could share more widely; the current climate didn’t allow her to promote it. The Benders claimed all sorts of benefits, wild gifts that it would bestow, but there was only one thing it was good for in Zhen’s mind: stilling the mind. She stopped all her thoughts and worked on only perceiving the darkness around. No spirits, no chakras, no cosmic awareness or burst of enlightenment, just emptiness. That was all she felt, and all she intended to see. It was the only honest thing to her, the only thing free from delusions. Perfect for achieving calm before a critical moment.

When she heard the drop was coming up she looked at the screen, making note of the features of the terrain. She commented on the gathering crowd

“Interesting that so many have gathered around that one truck parked away from the rest. Who knows why this one is popular, maybe people are repairing it or some celebrity is over there. I still believe that we should focus on disabling the rest of the cars, those are the most likely escape route. Leave the crowd for last and we might have to spend a few more minutes chasing them down, leave the cars for last and we might never catch them.”

Katauri was alerted when Zhen made a comment about how there might be a celebrity over there by the truck. "Are one of our targets not a celebrity?" he remarked sarcastically. Chu Hau technically fled from the law after she vanished from the stickball competition. Katakuri was listening to the news after the immediate event of benders bursting around Ba Sing Se. Since he doubted he wouldn't be called into his off-the-table job, he was curious about what was going on. Obtaining information on everyone who might be significant or who needs to be eliminated immediately in order to prevent the collapse of society. Even though the news may not be the best source, word would spread quickly, particularly after a championship stickball match.

Zhen had her equipment locker open and was doing her final checks. As she secured her own gear, she pulled out an oxygen tank and tossed it to Jin. “Here. This will have enough for your needs.”

Nelu tapped the screen, highlighting a small area just North of the crowd. ”Jin, make disabling the vehicles a priority. Yi… this area here is your target. After Jin makes the first move and you’ve deployed 141, I want you to clear it and then land.” He tapped the screen again and turned it slightly so their more silent member so they could see exactly where he would be dropped. For the entire duration of the flight, Object-141 had been bolted securely to a steel frame that surrounded him like a crate. Although there was a chip embedded within him to shut him off should he begin to act in opposition to orders, the LSF were not willing to risk him damaging the aircraft in the event he did become erratic. For everyone’s safety, he was secured by various straps and platinum metal bands not unlike the way he had been that morning, and would only be allowed freedom of movement once he was on the ground. He was only too eager to stretch his legs and nodded the sentiment at Nelu.

Jin took the oxygen mask that Zhen handed over, slipping it on over their head. After some adjustments, it fit snugly. “Thanks.” They had gone over the plan already. Zhen was an airbender, and they were both going to fly and take point on the tower. Jin was getting that little thrill in their stomach that always came before a mission. The next step was to narrow that energy into a single point of focus, like a laser. It was similar to Zhen’s meditation, but Jin would never use such a word for it. “Tires, or engines, Cap?” The tires would be a harder shot, due to the size. The engines would be a simpler target, but a little harder to detonate. Decisions, decisions.

”Whichever is easiest for you and gets the job done.”

”One minute to drop.” Came Yi again over the radio.

“Got it. Let’s crack some skulls.” Jin shut their eyes, exhaling one long, slow breath. When they opened their eyes again, they were ready. With an eerie calm, they checked their gun and bullets just once more, even though they knew that had been done twice over.

Nelu moved to the bay doors where he found and hit a switch in the panel. A warning alarm blared as the seal on the door was released and the back began opening up to a view of blue skies and sporadic clouds. Although picturesque, a ring of darker clouds marking the boundary of the nearby storm was slowly encroaching upon the fairer weather. Far below them stretched a near endless expanse of desert sand and a black dot in that sand was their target.

Nelu turned to the others, looking at each of them for a moment before giving them a nod. ”Let’s do this!” He yelled over the roar of the wind. ”Zhen! Jin! You’re up!”

Zhen had her mirrored mask secured now, hiding her face from the world. With a quick glance she checked the fabric on the airfoils of her gear, and tightened up the straps and the fasteners one final time. It was all secure, and she trusted Jin did the same. “Time to live up to your nickname, Flying Frog.” She said, then prepared to ride the wind.

Jin had a set of worn, purple tinted goggles over their eyes. They did one last check, before nodding once to Zhen. "Ready when you are."

Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · In collaboration with |@Fiber] & |@Mistress Dizzy]Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · In collaboration with @Fiber & @Mistress Dizzy

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”Go.”

Jin did not respond to their Captain. But they didn’t need to. Approximately 3 seconds later, the backside tire of the vehicle furthest from the tower exploded, sending pressurized air, rubber, and sand everywhere. They started lining up the next shot.

Zhen found a single guard slumped over by the wall, bleeding from the cranium, a small dent in the material behind. The air blasts hadn’t been kind to him. There was still a chance he might survive with medical intervention; they would wait and see how to allocate resources after the mission. She nonchalantly slid his weapon out towards Jin, keeping it away from the stairwell, and then left Jin to focus on their task

Jin’s gaze flicked away for a split second, long enough to extend a leg and pull the gun close with their foot. It would need examining later. Jin had a tendency to keep things that most people would toss out (growing up poor did that to a person), and would probably scrap it for useful parts.

As they lined up for their next shot, a powerful blast of wind crashed into the side of the tower and forced a large amount of air into the room through the open windows. Entering the more confined space, there was was enough force behind the jet stream that it could have knocked over anyone who was standing. However, Zhen felt the air blast and reacted the way her training had taught her, to go with it, to loosen up and course correct in the air. Once she was off her feet she began her rotation, and landed just a few steps from where she was in a technically perfect backflip. She said to Jin “Can you handle whatever that was, or should I stay with you?” After, she heard footsteps climbing the stairwell and knew what she would do. Using her skills she projected an airblast down the stairwell, couldn’t be sure it would hit anything because she was firing blind, but it was enough to give her the opening to charge down it at terrifying, air bending augmented speed. The sound of the tumbling body reached her however as it echoed up the entirety of the staircase, ending in a resounding thud and then silence.

If Jin had not been almost level to the ground, they would have been swept off their feet. Even so, the wind blast had them reflexively curling, making themself an even smaller target. It was over quick enough though, and Jin got back on Mifeng’s scope immediately, looking for the source of the wind. “I got this. Fuck ‘em up.” Jin figured it would be better to have the airbending woman watching their back.

“Where are you…” Jin’s voice was an eerie, soft sing-song as they searched below.

”G-guys! I’m losing control of my stick!” Came Yi over the radio.

Yi’s panic caught Jin’s attention, and they yanked the rifle’s sight upward to look at the Firefly. “That can’t be good." They said, watching as the aircraft began to spin out of control. The gun suspended beneath it began firing in wild arcs, throwing bullets in every direction and some of them hitting the tower near Jin. "Hang in there, Yi! Workin’ on it.” They adjusted, and amid the chaos of bullets, people were ducking and throwing themselves at the ground.

All but one. An Airbender.

Jin spotted the arms waving first, almost out of sight of the scope. “There y’are. Sneaky fucker.” Lifting the rifle fully, they crept toward the edge of the tower. The toes of their boots were just over the edge. Jin murmured as numbers, angles, wind speeds and direction were calculated out loud. Sure, benders could use nature itself to conquer their opponents. But even nature was run by the rules of math.

It was damn near a right angle, a straight down shot. Jin had the gun braced against their slim, muscled shoulder and one of the weathered tower walls. The stance would become uncomfortable quickly. Luckily, this wouldn’t take long.

“Bye-bye, bender.” They fired.

Outside the tower · |@Exit] |@Katakuri] & |@KillamriX88] collaborationOutside the tower · @Exit @Katakuri & @KillamriX88 collaboration

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_Katakuri
Katakuri was currently occupied with the individual that he was in hand-to-hand combat with – a weak earthbender who seemed more surprised the masked figure in red protective gear was only using martial art techniques. No synergy weapons, no bending, pure physical aggression to go against his opponent.

The one in the red suit seemed to prepare before quickly moving on his left heel, pressing into the sand while his body weight shifted – torso matching the horizon – his right foot swinging upward. He was balanced during this attack, swift, and strong. A strong force was placed behind his structured movements, placing the attack to hit the man in the upper throat or lower chin area. His opponent fell to the hot sands and he allowed himself to swing all the way around. Placing his right foot beside his left, he was securely standing on the sand facing a tornado.

TINK!
TINK! TINK!
TINK! TINK! TINK!

Grains of sand and shards of glass began to peck at his body armor, causing small scratches to dig into the red paint. He was barely able to hear his commanding officer over all the noise, the winds were not like a natural storm – there was a stronger bender in the area. Catching most of what his commanding officer said, he got that there was a glass bender – an Earthbender.

Seeing the bender-made tornado, he noticed that the artificial storm was aimed for the tower – Master Zhen. Jin. – looking back to see if his commanding officer was covered enough. Kata made the decision to help the others on the team. Making a quick movement with his feet – CLICK! CLICK – his boots decompressed from his lower legs and feet. Slipping right out of his boots, he began to stride against the sand with ghostly-white fire. As he rode these flames, he took off his gloves allowing them to be taken by the artificial winds.

Becoming close to the whirling wings, he realized that this tornado was weaker in speed than he thought. "Let’s see who else can play with tornados," he was smirking under his mask. Being a man of research, especially about his own abilities, Katakuri knew that tornados could be influenced by the heat and pressure of thunderstorms. At a blink of an eye, storms can change because of heating or cooling within the surrounding area.

Confidently placing himself in front of the tornado, Katakuri began to bend heat towards the base of the whirling winds. Feeling the grains of sand and shards of glass cutting into his exposed flesh. Glancing down to see his hands, dots of red were beginning to swell from the material punctures. Taking a deep breath, he chose to continue focusing the ghostly-white flames onto the tornado to disperse or change the danger's direction.

Without his gloves, his hands were in danger of the sands and shards of glass, but they were in danger of his own abilities. Anyone with knowledge of what color a fire burns would know that his flames are reaching degrees of 1,730 fahrenheit. Getting over 1,700 degrees would cause glass to melt. Holding such high temperatures to keep this tornado from touching the tower.
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won’s eyes widened as a scorching hot flame invaded her swirling sands. A bender? Was she being attacked by one? That… made no sense. The sand itself began to melt, raining down in tiny, molten droplets all around her, singing her clothes and stinging her skin. Any longer, and it’d be a lot worse than a sting.
_Exit
”I want that Bender alive!” Nelu yelled over the comms, watching as the strength of the tornado was sapped from its rotation. Although it was growing weaker thanks to Kata, Nelu still chose to keep his distance and moved away from it and the tower. He hoped the dust cloud in the twister’s wake would soon settle and he’d be able to see past it to the situation beyond. Although there were still plenty of retreating Benders in play, he was less worried about them running to what he assumed would be their deaths in the desert and more concerned about Yi. He needed to know if the Firefly landed in one piece or as a ball of fire.
_KillamriX88
Once more, those nearby would see the sand kick up, but beyond that, the swirling sand split apart, as if cleaved in two, pushing the burning grains of sand to the side. However, as the dust began to settle… there was no one there.

Inside the tower · |@Mistress Dizzy] & |@Fiber] collaborationInside the tower · @Mistress Dizzy & @Fiber collaboration

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_{Mistress Dizzy}
The whirling sand tornado was enough to scare anyone. Unfortunately, the young sniper couldn’t get a good enough bead on the earthbender to shoot. Too much sand in the way, and with their teammates in the same area, it wasn’t worth the risk. Jin had come quite close to packing their gun and getting gone, when she saw the mysterious masked firebender simply shoot across the sand in a lightning-white arc. They wondered, in an unoccupied corner of their brain, just how hot those flames were.

This was all going south, too fast. First Yi got tapped, now this. As soon as their commander said that the Earthbender got to live, Jin rolled their eyes. That had been the next one on Jin’s hit list. “Boo. Oh well. You’re the boss.” A new target, then. Green eyes flicked from target to target below. Mentally, they rewound the image of Yi and the Firefly dropping out of the air. “Lessee. From that angle, and the speed, accounting for air friction…” They adjusted again, scowling as the shot they were calculating was obscured by sand. “Really, really wanna pop that bender’s head off.”

Perhaps there was a different equation that would allow the same answer. Jin removed one of their tools from their belt. It was a personal grappling hook that they had built themselves - in fact, the first thing they’d ever built. Of course, now it was upgraded with LSF tech and probably cost more than a house in the Lower Ring. Strapping it around and attaching it to their back, they realized this wasn’t going to work without assistance.

“Hey!” They spoke sharply into the comms; hopefully Zhen hadn’t gotten too far.
_Fiber
Inside the stairwell, out of view from any windows, Zhen heard the noise of the commotion outside, all of them clashing together in a giant cacophony she said. “What is going on out there? Is Yi still in the air?”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
“I need a boost.” With their thumb as a ruler, they scraped a rough diagram on the dirty floor. The tower was a single line. Jin’s target, an X below. “I need to be… here.” They circled an area and stood, grappling hook at the ready.
_Fiber
With Jin’s request she started running the calculations inside her implant. The most difficult part was converting thoughts into numbers, once it had those it could work rapidly. Zhen said “Jin, tell me how high you need to be, which side of the tower you are jumping out of and when you make the jump. I’ll direct the blast based on those.“ as she ran up the stairwell to head back to the top of the tower.
_{Mistress Dizzy}
“If it helps, I weigh maybe 130.”

The second Zhen appeared, Jin started talking. “5.73 feet up, southeast, on a parabolic arc. Count of 5.” They took several steps back to get a jump start, then strode for the edge of the tower. Jin leapt into open air without a hint of fear, pressing a button on their belt. The grappling hook on their back shot upward, catching and securing on the roof. They swung forward, already starting to aim at the retreating car that had taken down the Firefly.

Under the towerUnder the tower

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_KillamriX88
Chae-Won gasped for breath, but quickly each breath felt less refreshing than the last. Before her cover had completely fallen away, she’d had the desperate idea to bury herself. She’d created a small pocket of air for herself, but that was quickly running out. The only air she had was that which had slipped through the sands with her on her way down.

This was bad. She was supposed to be protecting the Kyoshi and Weiyuan within it, not hiding in a literal hole in the ground. Well, it wasn’t like she could hide there for long. That said, while she was down there, she might as well take advantage of it.

Back above ground, suddenly, the entire tower would shake and shudder, suddenly listing dangerously to one side. Toward Katakuri, for that matter.

Underground, Chae-Won was holding in the final breath afforded to her, straining to pull and twist the tower’s foundation apart. She could feel the more solid earth and the tower that sat atop it. She could feel it ripping apart under her influence, but she was also beginning to see spots as she strained with her oxygen burning away.

Could she actually do this?

Maybe she didn’t have to. Maybe that fancy ass truck would be just fine without her. She’d already distracted them. While they’d lost sight of her, maybe, if she was careful, she could get out of this herself.

Maybe.

But maybe wasn’t good enough when it came to his safety. “You’re… not… taking…my… kid!”

She remembered the feeling of power she’d felt in the city, and with one last, almighty effort completely shifted the entire foundation at an angle. At this point, gravity would do the rest of the work for her. She could already feel the vibrations through the earth around her intensifying.

Now she just needed to dig herself out before she suffocated.

Jumping outside the tower · |@Mistress Dizzy] & |@Fiber] collaborationJumping outside the tower · @Mistress Dizzy & @Fiber collaboration

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_Fiber
Zhen had arrived at the top of the tower just as Jin jumped out. When the time was right she motioned with her hands and sent an airblast behind them, giving them more momentum to carry through the upswing, ready to soar high. Even as she was doing this she felt the tower rumbling underneath, and made a graceful dive out the window, headfirst then relying on her wingsuit to bring her speed to a safe level. As she saw the tower shift and crumble, she said “Jin, a word of caution about the landing: the tower won’t be there. I will be. If you get a good eye on the Earthbender as you come down please alert the team. Don’t worry about midair adjustments, I can predict your trajectory.”

A quick calculation confirmed she was out of the path but she still moved quickly to avoid standing too close to any falling debris as she hunted for the Earthbender.
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin swung out high and wide, gun secured against their own body. They aimed quick and fired, the white hot bolt of energy streaking down towards the desert. As they heard Zhen’s warning in their ear, they made a split second decision. At the press of a button, the thick cord attached to the crumbling tower released and retracted back into the belt. Jin's mind worked as their momentum carried them further from the tower, watching the shot fly and the second car still retreating.

Jin held in a breath. They blinked, once, and it was like the world reappeared in numbers and symbols. The laws of physics were simple and immutable. They could not be bent or broken - but they could be used. There was a point of an object in motion, where the momentum vanished. On a normal day, this simply meant hitting the ground. What went up, came down.

Today wasn't normal.

There was a point, a single moment, where the object going up stopped going up - but it did not yet go down. This was the second that approached, as everything seemed to slow and figures flew behind green eyes.

3 seconds out. Not yet.

1 second out. Jin’s finger slipped into position.

0.5 seconds out. Squeeze.

The center of momentum. The sniper was no longer swinging out. But not on the way back in. Gravity had yet to pull down. In this blink of an eye, everything was absolutely still.

0

Bang!

As the world blurred back into motion and Jin free fell towards the hard, hot ground, they smiled.

Outside the towerOutside the tower

____________________________________________________________________________.
The sands that were blowing around at their top speeds felt like sandpaper along with the shards of glass stabbing into his exposed flesh – he only began to realize the pain after influencing the swirling winds of the tornado. Seconds of pain registered, his nerves felt shot, and he stopped scorching the earth with his ghostly flames.

He didn’t want to look at his hand… they hurt… it felt like a heartbeat.

BUDUM

The sound was getting louder while his eyes fell to the blood stricken parts of his body – BUDUM BUDUM BUDUM! – His hands looked almost similar to scrapped leather, at least in his mind, and they stung. The more he moved them, the more they ached from the glass that was placed into his muscles. Only snapping out of these thoughts while he heard something shifting near him, turning around, he noticed the tower was falling directly close to him and quickly, "Well…fuck me…I guess" he whispered while looking at his best option.

His one hand was worse off than the other, so he kept it close to his chest. It was the one that was being hit the most from how the winds turned, so he did a few quick calculations in his head. Stepping about five or six feet to the one side and standing there. He placed himself right where a window was going to fall, his reinforced armor would take the majority of the impact – if any was to be done – and he waited for that impact without hesitation.

His calculations were perfect when the multi-ton tower came crashing down into the hot sands. Feeling the pressured winds, dust, and sand force its way against gravity, up, he breathed out – trying his best not to breathe in any of the hot dusk. Was his mask filtered? Did he replace the filter the last time he came back from a mission? He was going to need to change the filters.

Exposing his dark eyes for a moment, he couldn’t handle the build up of dust and minimal sand particles forced their way into his mask. CLICK, chhhhh… the uncompressing sound of his helmet. Taking off the protective-gear his face was covered by a black undersuit, holding his helmet in one hand – blood crawling across the metal. Simply sliding down to where it could drip off into the world. His other hand pinched the fabric around his nose before pulling it at it. A couple dry-chesty sounds could be heard from him as dust flew off from his under mask. Blood began to soak into the darker fabric and the movements of his hands shot electricity through his body.

A piece of rubble fell from the ceiling, or what was once a wall, near him. Making sure that his fabrics were not full of dust, he replaced the protective-helmet before moving around in the dark building. He was going to have to figure out how to get out of this ruined maze, so he began to look at the weakest points. There was a possibility of being able to kick a weakened wall out or find another window or doorway somewhere to the outside world.

Outside the tower · |@Mistress Dizzy]Outside the tower · @Mistress Dizzy

____________________________________________________________________________.
As the tower was collapsing and Jin was in freefall, she didn’t have to time to keep an eye on where Kata or the Earthbender might be. At the precise moment that the trajectory would be right, Zhen jumped up into the air with an airbending aided jump and grabbed Jin as they fell, cushioning both of their landings on the way down. As she set Jin down she saw another person falling out of the sky, having jumped from the tower. She caught this one too, bracing them on her shoulder. When the person began to thank Zhen she spun him around and slammed him face first into the sand. Before he had time to recover she had already handcuffed him and affixed a strange collar with a blinking to his neck. “Please remain where you are. Venturing more than five feet from your current location will cause the charge inside to activate, resulting in fatal damage to your carotid arteries, your trachea, and your brainstem. It will be removed once additional personnel arrive. Wait for them, and you’ll survive this. Or don’t. It’s your choice.”

After that it was time to focus on finding the Earthbender.

Outside the tower · |@Fiber] & |@KillamriX88] collaborationOutside the tower · @Fiber & @KillamriX88 collaboration

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_KillamriX88
The sand opened up like a mouth, allowing Chae-Won to crawl her way back out of it. She’d thought about trying to tunnel away underground, but… air was still a problem. She needed it now. And what if her bending finally began to weaken again while she was down there?

No, for the moment, being above ground seemed like the better of her options. Two, very, very unappealing options.

She had felt the crash of the tower coming down right before she surfaced, so she knew where to come up so as not to be crushed. She only had a few seconds of relative safety now. The tower’s collapse had thrown quite a bit of dust and sand into the air, but it would clear soon.

She wasn’t sure what to do. There wasn’t enough time to make a run for it. If that sniper was still around, tower or not, she’d be an easy target if she just ran. Then she heard one of them calling out to her.
_Fiber
“If you surrender now I can guarantee safe passage back to Ba Sing Se and a fair trial. The longer you resist, the greater your chances of dying here become.” Zhen walked slowly, circling, remaining light on her feet.
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won just sighed as the dust began to settle around her, resigning herself to the cards she’d been dealt.
“Funny. A murderer asking me to stand trial?” Chae-Won chuckled wryly. “You know despite all the stuff I’ve done you could arrest me for, I don’t think I’ve actually killed anyone.” She held her hands up. “But sure, come get me I guess.” That said, she didn’t move from her spot.
_Fiber
Zhen kept her distance and circled around with precise, mechanical footwork, just like the drills had taught her. She spoke. “Killing in the service of public order isn’t murder. Before you defend your clean conscience, I have a question: Was that tower empty? I know the answer, but do you?” She sent some low kicks as she walked, never disrupting her stride, each integrating fluidly with the circular motion. The kicks carried a windblast towards Chae-won, sweeping sand off the desert floor. Earthbenders needed a connection to the ground to get power, so that was the natural point of attack for her. All of this was an exercise in watching, measuring, probing; never expending much energy.
_KillamriX88
Public order? They were in the desert after being chased out of their homes! Well it wasn’t like she’d expected them to suddenly have an eye opening moment. They knew exactly what they were doing. As for the tower? She didn’t have the luxury of worrying about that. She could say it was their fault for taking that luxury from her, and maybe to some extent that was true, but in the end she knew all she cared about was Weiyuan. She’d made her choice and more than likely she was about to pay for it anyway.

As the kicks came, she quickly drew the sand up and over her lower legs, anchoring herself to the ground and just bracing herself. The first one or two blasts of wind mostly broke around her, but by the end she had lost her balance and stumbled back, falling to a knee.

So this one was a bender too!? There was some serious hypocrisy at foot here.

“OK, and why is my existence a crime and not yours, huh!?” There was no reason to expect fairness, but this was ridiculous.
_Fiber
Underneath her mask Zhen was smiling, content that she had gotten the bender to talk. She said “Neither of us belong in this world, not in this era. I don’t take pride in what I am, I don’t enjoy what I do, but I do what must be done.”

Once Chae-Won stumbled, Zhen picked up speed and started running, tumbling, never spending too long on the ground between jumps as moved towards Chae Won, throwing out jabs and punches in the air as she went. They were a mix of high and low attacks, done at different points in her jump, and her path arced around, making them come multiple angles.
_KillamriX88
“Right. Brainwashing. Got it.” Chae-Won grumbled to herself under her breath. Definitely no point in talking to her then. She Tightened up her stance, just trying to absorb the first few hits, still too off balance from the last barrage to dodge.

However… as much as it kinda hurt, she realized it really wasn’t doing much damage. It was just air after all, and it would take more than that to do any lasting damage. More than that, the air bender was moving in. While Chae-Won really didn’t want to know why they wanted to get closer, it did make fighting back a lot easier.

Chae-Won grit her teeth and then jammed both her arms into the sand, letting the blast of air hit her. It still hurt, but she was too anchored to be moved. Then, the sand between them began to almost bubble and shift. Should her opponent step into it, they’d almost immediately sink into the soft, loosened sand.
_Fiber
The next time Zhen landed she felt her foot sink deeper than it should have. It slowed her for a moment.
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won… almost couldn’t believe that had worked. She quickly focused in on the sand around her target, trying to pull them down just a little deeper before compacting the sand around them. If they didn’t break out soon, then a moment later they’d see two, towering waves of sanding rising up around them to bury them completely.
_Fiber
As she felt the sand get tighter Zhen summoned an air blast from her hands and her feet to escape, first it stopped the sand from closing, then it propelled her into the air. At the height of her jump she feinted launching another blast then added a flip to make her landing unpredictable. The waves were tall, one came just shy of brushing her head during her descent, but she paid it no mind. Zhen just continued to make a waving motion with her hands, summoning a ball of air that grew, positioning it below herself as she landed. Now standing on top the ball of air, she rode the airscooter around Chae-Won, gathering speed and holding her hands to her side, gathering air for some kind of attack.
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won grit her teeth. Of course an airbender would be able to loosen the sand almost as easily as she could. Mind you, she’d never fought another bender before, not really. Not unless one counted Weiyuan and… he wasn’t much of a challenge for her.

She was almost dumbstruck, watching them fly around her on a ball of air. However, she couldn’t waste time just watching. She set her feet beneath her as she ripped her arms from the sand, in one motion pulling up the sand with them and swinging her arms out. The sand to her left and right jumped up with the motion and then she again focused on solidifying it as much as she could, creating two, admittedly thin, walls of sand, hoping to cut off the runway of the Airbender and make them crash.
_Fiber
There was no need to adjust course when the airscooter could scale sheer walls just as easily as it could move across flat terrain. Few knew that, but Zhen loved to give her opponent little surprises. She had to admit that even she had learned something this fight, combat in sandy environments was something she had only limited experience with. Upon crossing the top of the wall Zhen intentionally overshot, gaining height, hoping to attack Chae Won from above. She thrust both of her hands forward and unleashed a crescent shaped blast of air straight at the Earthbender.
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won… was rather upset. They hadn’t even really had to try to deal with that one! Unfortunately, she was left too surprised to have any real answer for the counter attack. She was able to raise up some sand, but for the most part that just meant said sand was blasted right into her face as she was flattened to the ground.
She coughed, spitting out a bit of sand in the process.

Laying there on the ground, head spinning, she had a moment to think. This really was going poorly. Did it even matter if she won? There were still more of them. Her luck would run out if nothing else.
_Fiber
After knocking Chae Won over, Zhen landed on her feet and went towards her. She grabbed Chae-Won’s wrist tight, preparing to wrench it into position. She said “It doesn’t matter, but the tower wasn’t empty. You’re ahead of me in terms of people killed today. If you want to count up our sins and our good deeds over our entire lifetimes, I’m afraid you would also come up short.”
_KillamriX88
“Never claimed to be a good person,” Chae-Won choked out. “But I’m not here to compare cosmic score cards.” She chuckled. “But hey, speaking of the tower, I figure you must’ve been the one who blew the windows out earlier. Remember that?”
From her position laying on the ground, it was easy to see the little pinpricks of light from the half-buried shards of glass lying in the sand.

Chae-Won furrowed her brow and then, even as she lay on her back, lifted her leg up and stomped it back down. A pulse shot through the sand, and suddenly dozens upon dozens of glass shards of glass jumped into the air like scared fish, filling the air around them with the razor-sharp fragments.

Before Zhen could grab her other hand, she directed all the shards inward and then clenched her fist.

“Get fucked.”
_Fiber
Zhen’s eyes went wide when she realized what Chae-Won was doing. In an instant she let go of Chae-Won’s wrist, the sent out a jet of air, more to propel herself away than to hurt Chae-Won, but it only gave her a little bit of space. Already the first of the shards had whizzed by the side of her head, and so she summoned the only defense she had left, spinning around to summon a shield of air. That gave her temporary safety, but it took energy to maintain, and she didn’t have a boundless reserve to keep it up, let alone try to get out of the maelstrom. The shards were beginning to slip through, they were tearing her cloak to shreds, scratching her visor, lodging in the lightly armored torso of her combat suit. If she had to stay at the center of this, death was certain
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won flipped back to her feet, propelled by a burst of sand against her back and then focused all of the glass in on the air-shield. The spinning current of air would attempt to deflect the shards, but her own bending pushed back, allowing them to slip through. The moment the resistance was gone the shards would accelerate toward the woman again.

Judging by the lack of blood and screaming, she had armor under her cloak. Well, sooner or later she’d hit a soft spot…

Exiting the collapsed tower · |@Fiber] & |@KillamriX88]Exiting the collapsed tower · @Fiber & @KillamriX88

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Katakuri traveled through the broken maze, sc-lurp, an eerie sound to be made when you’re in a desert within a ruined tower. His feet felt something wet, he knew it was not water, and he could tell he was leaving the footprints of a forgotten soul behind him. Coming into a room, he noticed that he found himself at a dead end – a broken dead end. Knocking on the walls, he found a spot that sounded hollow compared to the rest and kicked through it easily.

Once a floor, this new wall fell down without much effort and some of the old wall which was now a ceiling collapsed on him. Dust went everywhere, and he found himself with light raining from the ceiling, "Finally, a window." he muttered to himself before boosting himself up. Quietly, he went through the window and landed on one of the sides of the cracked tower to see the outside world – it was comforting to see the outside world. Allowing his eyes to gaze, he spotted the aftermath of Zhen and this unknown earth bender.

Underneath his protective gear, his eyes sharpened seeing Zhen in such a position. Focusing his sights on Chae-won, he began to move his arm up and back. Allowing his pointer finger and middle finger on each hand point together as the other fingers curled back into his wounded palms. Breathing in deeply, the pain caused his hands to become shaky – they hurt.

Focus…
Focus or you could kill Zhen…

His eyes staying locked onto Chae-won, he needed to stop focusing on the pain or he could kill both of them with this ability. Purposefully moving each hand on the opposite side of his body, he was building up energy, and he could feel this power coursing through his veins – drip… drip… drip… - The more he moved in this way caused red droplets from his hands to fall onto the concrete, metal, and whatever other material there was to build this forsaken tower. Turning his body to the side, he pointed his dominant hand towards Chae-won as his other hand pointed the other direction. A crackling roar of electricity came from his direction before heading towards the oblivious Chae-won.

Outside the tower · |@Fiber] & |@KillamriX88] collaborationOutside the tower · @Fiber & @KillamriX88 collaboration

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_KillamriX88
A few more shards slipped through, one shattering against Zhen’s mask. She couldn’t focus on just forcing a few through quickly, she needed her opponent to remain surrounded or they’d just slip away. And then Zhen might see one or two particularly worrying shards of glass starting to worm their way through the wind barrier, seeming like they just might be in line with her throat.

CRACK!

Suddenly Chae-Won’s entire world lit up. In the same moment, all the glass fell back to the earth.
Chae-Won dropped like a stone, twitching and convulsing. Every nerve ending was on fire, but at the same time she was barely aware of it. When her mind finally caught back up, it was like needles were stabbing into every part of her body, overwhelming her and robbing her of her ability to move.

What the hell were these people?
_Fiber
The shards stopped and Zhen lowered her shield for a moment. Nearby she could see Chae-Won writing on the ground. Someone had come through and given her the opening. She was close enough now and there was no point in hesitating. She made large, circling and pulling motions with her hands, aiming towards Chae-Won’s head. It was working now, the subtle flows visible to one trained to see them, the current of nitrogen forcing it’s way into Chae-Won’s lungs. Once initiated all there was to do was watch Chae-Won slowly slip off into oblivion, her body going limp while Zhen stood over her, silently clapping as a way of acknowledging a grand finale.
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won looked up at the Airbender, seeing them do something and then immediately feeling something… off. It was hard to place it with the searing pain coursing through her, but she could also tell it was something new.

It was over and she knew it. She couldn’t fight back anymore. It didn’t matter, though. The kid was safe. Even if her sad, little story was over, as long as he was safe, it was fine. As long as that light kept on shining, she could accept the coming darkness. And then it overtook her.

Outside the tower · |@Fiber]Outside the tower · @Fiber

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Taking a few steps closer to the edge of the building, closer to Zhen, he pressed on his intercom, in a quiet voice with a sound of shortness of breath, he asked, "Are you okay, Master Lun?" He felt his blood pressure dropping, was it from the pain? The loss of blood? Most likely both. Kata stumbled, trying to catch himself before falling off the edge and onto the ground. He thudded hard, it sounded like something in his armor broke over the intercom. Katakuri fainted under all the stress and energy he used, and he was out cold before hitting the ground.
_

Outside the tower · |@Exit], |@Fiber] & |@Mistress Dizzy] CollaborationOutside the tower · @Exit, @Fiber & @Mistress Dizzy Collaboration

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_Exit
"Carefully..."

Nelu clasped his hand around Yi's wrist and slowly pulled the pilot out of the cockpit. Despite the damage sustained to the Firefly, Yi remained mostly unharmed. True to his skill, he'd managed to land the craft without seriously injuring himself and would be walking away from the landing with only minor cuts and bruises. The bird however was inoperable and could not be salvaged, which if Yi was being honest, hurt him more than any physical injury could.

By now, any surviving Benders had been cuffed and were lined up against the toppled tower and on their knees. The restraints around their wrist restricted their use of chi, removing the threat of bending for the time being. The Vanguard patrolling nearby made sure that none of them entertained the notion of trying to flee although the explosive collars around their neck was deterrent enough. All in all, about fifteen people had been captured. They would need a whole other transportation vehicle to take them all back.

The group didn't have to wait for long. A second aircraft similar to the Firefly arrived to take Katakuri and Yi back to HQ to be seen for their injuries. 141 joined them as well, obediently collected in yet another cage without fuss. Although not injured, he'd need a good wash to get the blood and sinew cleaned off his armor. Jin, Zhen and Nelu stayed behind with their prisoners to ensure no more were lost and more importantly, to keep an eye on a certain, still unconscious Earthbender.

"Did they give you a hard time?" Nelu asked Zhen after joining her from the line of prisoners.
_Fiber
Zhen paced back and forth in front of the line of prisoners, ignoring her minor injuries. Her tattered cloaked blew in the wind, and she said “One subject was notable, the rest were not. The earthbender in question displayed abilities indicative of some level of self-study, competent but not overtly familiar to any of the classical earthbending tradition, along with an as-of-yet novel ability to manipulate glass. If he was still with us I would love to see what the Old Man would have to say. Remember when he used to break our bones as fast as the medics could fix them?”

”Made us learn fast.” Nelu replied. ”Although I think I just learned that I don’t like my bones being broken. Which one was the Earthbender?”

Zhen silently pointed at Chae-Won in the line up, the only one of the prisoners had the marks of having been in a prolonged fight.
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin had Mifeng dismantled and slung around their back, and was beside Captain Nelu, simply waiting. They had their sidearm, a modified standard synergy pistol, within easy reach. Just in case one of the benders decided to get cute.

Though they hadn’t said anything, their head was starting to throb. The speed calculus on the second airborne shot from earlier had set a pain going just above their left eye. All that for a whiff.

Things were dying down, and with them, Jin’s focus was starting to drain. Even though they had practiced and trained and practically beaten their brain into submission, there was a limit to how long they could narrow the scope.

“Hey, ma’am?” Jin gestured to Zhen, not wanting to use her name in front of the prisoners. Even if it was a fake one, info was info. “I’ve been thinkin about that thing you said earlier.”
_Fiber
Zhen saw Jin and was glad that they were mostly unharmed. Exhausted, sure, but there would be time to rest. More importantly she was excited that Jin had showed interest in their earlier conversation “You have? Would you like to talk about it more?”

“Yeah. I think I get it. Sorta? Maybe there isn’t a measurable center of momentum between knowing, and not knowing. Like. Maybe it’s just binary. You know, or don’t.” Jin shrugged. “What I really wanna know is: who’s writin the definitions, and why?” Their thoughts tumbled out, a bit disjointed, like a kinked hose. “Every time I run into people who wanna box stuff up like that, it’s not ‘cause they wanna know what’s in the box. They wanna leave stuff outta it. And that stuff is usually people they don’t think measure up.”
_Fiber
Zhen said “So, the concept of knowledge is irreducible, that is to say that it cannot be decomposed into individual component concepts? I don’t know if I would take the same stance but I must commend your approach. There are so many problems in philosophy that just dissolve when you think rationally and refuse to give in to nonsense and imprecise definitions. Those snares can destroy the greatest minds and condemn whole civilizations to ignorance. New growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
After listening to Zhen, Jin piped up again. Their hand dove into a pocket, pulling out the metal ball from earlier. “I know that line. Guru somebody or other, forever ago.” They began to roll the ball over their fingers without dropping it, a quick handed trick. Their other hand dangled loosely around their pistol.

“Hey, you know what I don’t get?” It seemed Jin was on a new topic. “When the people who write these phil-o-sophy books are writin, who’s doin the real shit? Like. The cookin, the cleanin, the laundry. Fancy thought is great and all, but what about the people who actually make the world work?”
_Fiber
Zhen paused before answering “I think everyone can benefit from the knowledge of philosophy, even if they cannot create new works themselves. It is very important to see the world without lies, no matter who you are. We are better than we were in the past, our meritocratic system ensures that even intellectuals must show aptitude and produce work that benefits society, otherwise they will have to find another profession quite shortly. Modernity has eliminated much toil, we have far more excess resources to support these endeavors than our ancestors did, and further progress will see machines capable of even more of those laborious tasks. We’re far removed from the days of Guru Laghima and his cohort of air nomads living a life of pure intellectual speculation from birth while the serfs in the foothills spend their lives laboring in the fields.” She was a flustered by Jin’s question, wishing she could talk about her own works or her foundation without revealing too much about her identity.
_{Mistress Dizzy}
The ball picked up speed over Jin’s gloved knuckles. “Huh. I don’t know what a surf is, but I can guess it’s a fancy word for a poor bastard who has to work for a living.” Jin’s green eyes narrowed, squinting at Zhen. For several moments, there was an intense focus behind the gaze. “We ain’t as ‘removed’ as you think. Plenty of people work for other people. Y’ever think about food?” They gave Zhen a slow, up and down searching look. “No, you probably don’t. Someone has to grow that shit. It ain’t easy. It comes from a seed smaller than a BB,” Jin’s fingers pinched together “-and if anythin fucks with it - bugs, too wet, too hot, too- you get the fuckin picture, it’s dead. You don’t eat. Multiply that times about 10000, no one eats.”

Jin scowled, the ball finally stalling in their palm. “What if one of those surfs is breakin their backs out there, but they have the right answer to your question?” It would be clear to anyone who knew Jin’s background where that argument had come from.
_Fiber
Zhen had a long answer, the kind she loved to give at the start of a lecture.

“I think a lot about food. I think about how one acre of those seeds used to produce about four hundred and fifty pounds of food, and how modern techniques allow us to produce twenty times that. I think about how they had to save almost a third of their seeds merely to have enough to replant for the next year, now it is below ten percent. I think about how many in the Lower Ring subsist on inadequate diets, how lack of protein cripples the brain, how vitamin A deficiency blinds children.

I think about how the agricultural sector covers less than a tenth of the city and is expected to feed the rest, and to keep pace with the ever growing population.

I think about how over seventy percent of the Earth Kingdom’s population used to be farmers, barely managing to sustain themselves and the rest of the Kingdom; today the majority is free to pursue other endeavors.
I think about how all plants must ingest Nitrogen, and how our pitifully inadequate natural sources Nitrogen have been replaced by massive plants running on the Yang-Li process, how eighty percent of the nitrogen inside us comes from that, and how that technology was unknown until less than two hundred years ago and not feasible until the advent of synergy.

I think about how all plant life must feed on the sun, but our traditional staple crops can only manage to capture one or two percent of it’s energy, and even under laboratory conditions have never been able to get above five percent, while some Algae species have a photosynthetic efficiency of twenty percent.
I think about how prototypes show that a single tank of algae the size of a water heater could feed thirty seven people a nutritionally complete meal every day, and how we could fill towers full of them, blanketing whole blocks, feeding them Synergy powered lights instead of the fickle sun. I spend a lot of time and resources to try and make that one happen, but isn’t even my only cause. I’ll have to discuss some of the other initiatives further some time, but make no mistake, just because I can’t plant or harvest doesn’t mean I don’t think about where food comes from. I want to liberate us from what has held down a thousand generations before us, not to perpetuate old notions of higher and lower statons.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin silenced as Zhen spoke, eyes half closed. The metal ball went back into motion as they gently tossed it up and down. Once the woman's soliloquy wound down, there was a silence from the smaller soldier. Then their eyes flew open, the green irises bright with emotion. "Ma'am. I actually believe you wanna do somethin good. And I'm willin to give you a pass cause we're on the same squad." Then they paused, a distinct look of disappointment flashing across their face. "If you took a quarter of the time you spend thinkin about a problem, and put that into doin something real about it, we might actually be somewhere."

With that said, Jin walked off. It seemed the conversation was over.

Chu & An's Apartment · |@Exit] & |@canaryrose] CollaborationChu & An's Apartment · @Exit & @canaryrose Collaboration

____________________________________________________________________________.
_canaryrose
Knock knock knock.

An’s body tensed as she heard the sound at her door. She looked up from her laptop screen, hand gripping her pistol before she went to the apartment entrance. It had been about thirty minutes since she had left Chu Hua in the tunnels, and though she logically knew that Syn-En security wasn’t going to abduct her, she was still nervous. Any delays in their plan could mean she wouldn’t be able to join her fiancee and her fiancee’s ex-girlfriend outside of the city in relative safety. The city was one little mishap from the brink of collapse. She needed to get out while she could, and this was an unfortunate convenience.

As she stood at the door, debating whether or not to open it, she ground her teeth. Fucking Vyska. She liked her younger boss, true, but could she be more useless at a time like this? An should have been with Chu Hua right now, not staying at the apartment to ensure that no one realized she had left. And Chu Hua… that still pulled at her heartstrings. How had she never known or even suspected the woman she loved was a firebender? And why, oh why, had she lost her shit at the worst moment possible? An would’ve been lying if she said she didn’t resent that. They had to leave their lives- their very good lives- behind all because Chu burst into flames on live television. But she could shout at Chu about that later. Right now she had to ensure she wasn’t arrested.

Cautiously, An opened the door a sliver, sticking her head through the small crack but not much else. She kept one hand extended with the synergy pistol behind the door, finger on the trigger. “Hello? Can I help you?”
_Exit
Jack stared back at her through the sliver of space between the door and the frame. ”Is she here?” He asked, simply. His silver eyes regarded her with a blank stare that was ever hard to read.
_canaryrose
An knit her brows, her stance relaxing a bit once she realized who it was. She knew Jack, of course. Vyska was rarely seen without her bodyguard. Which meant her bodyguard was rarely seen without her. She hadn’t expected him to show up here, without his charge. “Who?” she said in an innocent voice.
_Exit
"Your fiance. They're coming." As he spoke, his eyes swept what little of the interior of the apartment he could see. ”RSF”.
_canaryrose
Goddamnit. An scowled deeply, partially for Jack’s sake. She had thought she had more time. But in a few minutes, RSF would come storming in through their doors, and she didn’t want to be here when that happened. The desert would be better than the inside of a prison cell, after all.. “Well, she’s not here,” An told him, almost snippily. “I… haven’t seen her, since… well. You’ve obviously seen the news. I got away from there as fast as possible.” She opened the door fully, stepping aside to allow him full vision inside. She was clearly holding the synergy pistol, although it was now neatly held at her side, no indication that she was even thinking of raising it. “You can check if she really wants to know, but if the police are coming, I doubt you want to be caught here. I’ll be okay.”

The apartment looked extremely out of array. If one knew An well, they’d know she was neat and organized to an almost obsessive degree. Every report she had ever turned in had been immaculate, every meeting planned out to the minute. This didn’t look like that. There were clothes strewn across the floor, items out of place, frames without their pictures. Her laptop was open on the counter with a notepad set next to it. There was a very full backpack sitting on the barstool next to it. An cringed when she saw it from Jack’s perspective, but she had no need to clean. If all went as it should, she’d never see this apartment again.
_Exit
”...Shit…” Jack whispered under his breath. He checked the time on his watch and then gave the room another scan. ”Was the girl here?”
_canaryrose
“Not sure,” An lied. It rolled off her tongue easily. “I said I haven’t seen her.”
_Exit
”Well you have a minute to make it look like you were the only one making a mess in here. When they get here, they’re going to want to question you and they may not do it here. But you’re not a Bender so you’ll be fine.” He nodded toward the gun. ”Don’t answer the door holding that.”
_canaryrose
“Got it. I won’t.” She moved towards her backpack, zipping it away. “Exactly one minute until they’re here?” She busied herself with looking like she was cleaning, looking at Jack quizzically. Her hands shook minutely, her gaze drawn to her bag. She needed to go.
_Exit
Jack reached for the door and began to close it. ”It’s going to look suspicious if you run.” He called out before it shut.
_canaryrose
“Well, of fucking course it will,” she muttered as soon as the door closed. She launched herself at the bag, pulling out the gun again and throwing on a mustard yellow cotton jacket. She put her laptop in the bag, reluctant to part with it. She slung the bag over her shoulder, moving towards the window. She left her phone on the counter, left, and then doubled back. With a quick pull and a grim look, she snapped it in half. Hesitating, she did the same to her work laptop, violently throwing it on the floor and stomping on it. She then poured a glass of water over the computer. Of course it would look suspicious if she ran. But she had no other choice. An knew she had committed the kind of crime that could never be forgiven, and being caught would mean that at best she’d live her life in a prison cell. If she didn’t run, she’d never see Chu again.

She had wasted precious time destroying her tech, but she didn’t want anyone to see her messages or her work. They were too… private. An smoothly opened the window and stepped through, squeezing her small body onto the fire escape and then descending rapidly. She had to get to the tunnels quickly and quietly. No one was on the streets right now, so any movement would be suspicious. She’d have to use the back alleys and, even then, keep an eye out for any rogue benders or, worse, police. After her apartment was found empty they’d search for her. She needed to be gone by then. She took off speed-walking down the street, keeping one eye cast over her shoulder.

As soon as An left, she heard sirens. They were faint at first, but she knew they were for her, and she kept walking, albeit faster. Then they were loud- unbearably loud- and a black SUV with darkly tinted windows came barreling down the street. Fuck. Think fast, think fast… There was only one place to hide, and only seconds to do it. Her heart beating like mad in her chest, An threw herself and her bag behind the dumpster, making a racket as she tried to wedge as much of herself back there as she could.

Oh God, please don’t look back here. Jack was right- it would be very suspicious if she was caught running. Her eyes darted around the alleyway, settling on the truck. She couldn’t breathe.
_Exit
The SUV skidded to a halt not far from the fire escape An had just used. Two men jumped out of the vehicle, one of them holding a rifle in their hands and the other a pistol. Unlike those found in the Lower Ring, the RSF of the Middle Ring were much better equipped. Besides their tactical gear looking better maintained, it was also clearly upgraded versions of their lesser counterparts. One of the major differences between the officers of the two divisions of the city were the helmets they wore. It encompassed their entire head, encasing them in a protective metal shell that made them seem all the more intimidating.

From within the SUV, a voice came over the radio. ”The room is empty.”

”I have a fire escape in the back that’s been used.” The officer on An’s side of the street called out. He began looking up and down the alleyway, glancing past An’s direction. Unluckily for him, the trash bins were keeping her obscured. ”No visual on the suspect.”

He then waved a hand at his partner who took off toward the opposite end of the alley, away from An. The one with the rifle began moving toward her.

The radio from within the vehicle answered again. ”Two block perimeter being set.”
_canaryrose
An wedged herself farther behind the trash bin, trying her hardest to make as little noise as possible. Two officers… possibly more in the front? In the house? Around the block? She wasn’t sure. They weren’t searching for her, but she had screwed herself over by running. A woman hiding behind a trash can would be incredibly suspicious, but she also couldn’t just come out and surrender. Despite knowing it was an awful idea and she didn’t even know how to use it, she gripped her pistol even harder. She wouldn’t come out. She could wait them out, right? But Chu would be gone by the time they left, and the city would be shut down… she needed to get out of here as soon as possible, but she couldn’t. Barely breathing, An glanced around, desperate for any way out of her situation. There was none.

She made a barely audible grunt of frustration. She’d just have to try booking it, then. Not now. When they weren’t looking.
_Exit
”There’s no one down here!” The other officer called out from further down the alleyway. The one closer to An turned around and began walking around the dumpster to see if there was anything on the other side.

”I’m not seeing anyone either…”
_canaryrose
With a gasp, An scrambled around the dumpster to the other side, facing the alleyway. She flattened herself against the dumpster, waiting to dart right back to the other side.
_Exit
Once again, a voice could be heard from within the SUV coming from the radio. ”Everyone hold your positions. We’re sweeping the building. No one enters or leaves. Vanguard are on site.”

”Ten four.” The officer closest to An moved between the building and the adjacent dumpsters but didn’t see anyone. However, the second officer had turned around and hadn’t made it more than a few steps back to the SUV when he noticed that just beyond it, something was crouched next to the same dumpsters his partner was standing next to.

”H-hey… Hey!” He called out to her. ”Don’t move!”

The first officer, confused, begins to circle back around the way he came, still unable to see An.
_canaryrose
He saw me. FUCK! An’s eyes darted around, wide with panic, and she made a split second decision. She stood, hurling her backpack at the officer who yelled out at her, and ran the opposite way down the alley and towards the street as fast as she could. She still clutched the gun in her hands, unsure what to do with it, but she knew she couldn’t be caught.
_Exit
”Runner in the alley! She’s got a gun!”

As both men took off after her, a shadow appeared on the ground ahead of An, drifting in from the side as if something from above was coming in over the rooftops. The silhouette against a blue sky moved into position above the upcoming intersection.

”Stop running!” The officers called out from behind her.
_canaryrose
An did not stop running. Rather, she sped up as she rounded the corner onto the main street, pumping her legs even harder as the cops started to chase her down the thoroughfare. At this point, she was panting, too terrified to notice the ominous shadow laid out in front of her. She, unlike her fiancee, was no athlete, and could not run for very long. It was clear in her panicked movements that she had no clue what she was doing. If she could just lose them…
_Exit
Ahead of An, a humanoid metal figure dropped out of the sky, cracking the pavement beneath its feet. It shouldered a rifle and pointed it at her and began taking steps in her direction.

”Halt, citizen.”

Just beyond it was the entrance to the subway system.
_canaryrose
An stopped in her tracks, staggering back, heaving. Wild eyes flicked between the robot, its rifle, and the subway entrance. She was so close. Only a few more yards, and she’d be able to escape. But this thing… well, it would stop her by any means necessary, even if that meant killing her. But An had a gun that could stop anything in its path. But destroying it would be unthinkable. An act of violence larger than any she had already committed. She’d not only be a suspect, but a wanted woman.

She didn’t care. All she needed was to get to Chu Hua. An raised her pistol and shot the robot in the face.
_Exit
The bolt of plasma melted halfway into its head, destroying circuitry and spraying bits of red hot metal and sparks into the air around it. Its arms immediately went limp and it dropped its rifle as it took one more step forward before collapsing on the ground. It wasn’t completely dead. The metal frame continued to twitch and move as whatever corrupted processes tried to resolve itself despite being unable to do so.

However, although the android had been taken care of, the two cops behind her had caught up in the time it had taken her to find her resolve. One of them tackled her from behind, although he hadn’t maintained control of An’s firearm on the way down. His arms were simply wrapped around her waist as he threw her to the ground. The second was only a few steps behind.

”Synergy gun!” He started screaming as he ran up.
_canaryrose
An went down, not physically strong enough to resist, but maintained control of her pistol on the way down. She kept it close to her chest, pressed between the asphalt and her as she gasped for breath. The shock of firing the gun for the first time combined with being tackled to the ground by a much heavier, armor-clad man meant she was dazed, not thinking straight. She hadn’t even seen them coming, how focused she’d been on what she had to do. The usually smart, strategic woman was reduced to flailing limbs and screams. “Get… OFF!” Holding onto her gun, her only sense of control, and keeping it close, she tried to twist onto her back, to where she felt she had a better vantage point. Her usually calculating, sometimes mirthful eyes were wild and panicked, her movements shaky. “Leave me alone!”
_Exit
With a final push against the pavement, An managed to twist herself around and free her pistol. Without thinking, she raised it up at the man and prepared to pull the trigger, but as the gun came up, the officer on top of her released his hold around her waist, brought his arm up to palm the side of the gun and push it away, and then struck her arm just above her elbow. Immediately An’s grip on the weapon relaxed and the gun fell harmlessly to the side. She turned her head in a panic as she watched her only chance of escape tumble away from her. The next strike from the man was felt just behind her ear and above her neck and suddenly, An’s entire world became darkness.

Ba Sing Se · MorningBa Sing Se · Morning

____________________________________________________________________________.
"Good morning and welcome to seven o'clocks on Shinobi News. Our top stories today...

Ripples in the aftermath of the accident at SynEn's energy facility two days ago, continue to be felt today. The massive explosion that rocked the entire Lower Ring destroyed several blocks of the industrial sector killing many and injuring hundreds more. Factories in the area have been put offline for an indeterminate amount of time which has further hampered life in the Lower Ring. Tensions continue to rise in the wake of heavy loss of life and with many out of a job, some speculate that the sudden outburst of violence following the explosion will soon return. The RSF continue to struggle to maintain order while emergency crews continue to work 'round the clock, digging through the wreckage for any more survivors.

Meanwhile, tensions across the city are equally strained after many bore witness to the sudden appearance of Benders, everywhere and in all rings. In the minutes following the SynEn accident, these... people made themselves known, attacking anyone and anything around them in an attempt to create as much chaos, death and destruction as possible. I'm sure everyone remembers the scene that unfolded during the championship game. Seen here again... Chu Hua, once beloved Stickball star, exposed as the monster she truly is when she went on a rampage on the field, and, the heroic moment when Li attempted to stop her."

...

"I tried to warn them. She has been suspicious from the day I met her. She was always sweating and hot to the touch and angry all the time and during the morning training sessions in the winter, she never complained about the cold! But I'm telling, they willfully ignored my warnings because she's their 'star stickball player'. She's only that good because she's a f***ing Bender! But with her and that traitor Kanna gone, we all know who's actually the best...

...M-me. It's me. I'm the best."

...

"Li stated only minutes after putting her life on the line for her teammates. Thankfully, quick responses from RSF patrols in the area limited the destruction caused by similar Bender appearances saw to the arrest of many of these individuals. Of course, we'd like to warn everyone and remind you all to remain vigilant. Any Benders that have escaped have likely gone into hiding. Please stay safe and report any suspicious Bender activity to the hotline below.

As of now, the investigation into the accident continues. Unfortunately, the Moon family could not be reached for comment at this time.

In other news, King Wu is preparing a gathering in the Upper Ring where he intends to address the nation. Many of the most powerful families and some of the most important people in Ba Sing Se are expected to meet at the palace later today in what is speculated to be the rescheduled gala in celebration of the centennial anniversary of the end of the Great War. Afterwards, it has been confirmed that a meeting of the King's cabinet of advisors will convene for what is to be an emergency session.

More on this later, but first, here's Bob with the weather."

"Thanks Bill. Weather forecast today is sponsored by Cactus Juice... 'Cactus Juice! It's the quenchiest.'"

Holding · |@Exit] & |@canaryrose] CollaborationHolding · @Exit & @canaryrose Collaboration

____________________________________________________________________________.
_Exit
”I apologize for the wait.” Nelu began as he entered the room. He shut the door behind him eliciting an audible mechanical ‘click’. ”I know they aren’t very good at keeping the people they hold fed. Can I get you anything? Water? We got a cafeteria too although I’ll admit the food is not the best.”

He placed the folder down on the table. It was a few pages thick and the label read ‘An Tamura’.
_canaryrose
An looked tired. She glanced away from the man entering the room, trying to keep a composed expression. “Just water, please.” Her voice cracked, and she let out a little cough. Her head was still pounding from the knock out blow earlier, and while she did feel marginally better, being in a crowded cell for at least a day didn’t help matters. She couldn’t believe she had ended up here. An from two days ago would have simply laughed if she had even been accused of being a criminal, but now… She had given up on leaving the city as soon as she had woken up in handcuffs and simply started to focus on staying as alive and as free as possible.

She met Nelu’s eyes with an untrusting, unflinching gaze. She was sitting up straight in her seat, hands folded in front of each other as if she was not wearing cuffs. She of course was- they were very uncomfortable- but it was good to project as much confidence as she could. She didn’t say anything else.
_Exit
Nelu nodded at the glass before turning back to An. Despite her situation, she was holding her head high, preserving her dignity in opposition of the cage she’d been thrown into. It was admirable, and the strength she conveyed despite her situation was clear not just to him… but to the rest of the RSF. There were few who were capable and willing to attack Vanguards. Typically they were Benders or criminals without much to lose. An was neither. She was no Bender and if her records were accurate, she had plenty.

He sat down. ”Let’s start with the obvious. You uh… shot at an officer. In the face.”
_canaryrose
“That’s a lie.” An maintained her poker face. “Next?”
_Exit
Nelu smiled as if amused though not condescending. It was as if he almost respected the lie. ”The Vanguard unit you-...” He waved his hand. ”You know what… We can just skip the surveillance and eye witness reports and the repair bill on that and skip to why you’re really here.” Nelu opened the folder, thumbing past the first few pages and flipping to the center of the stack. A picture of Chu Hua was paper clipped as if bookmarked.

A knock at the door interrupted Nelu before he could continue. It opened and an officer stepped inside and placed a water bottle in front of An before he left the room and sealed it.

”Did you see the game?”
_canaryrose
An was quiet for a few moments as she struggled to open the water bottle, twisting the cap futilely. It was difficult to get a grip on the water bottle with her hands cuffed so close to the table and, finally, she grunted in frustration and brought her mouth to the bottle to bite off the cap. It was vaguely humiliating, and she took a moment to compose herself, finally drinking greedily from the bottle. She hadn’t eaten or drank anything in the last 24 hours, so it was a welcome relief. It was, however, awkward to drink with her hands as close to the table as they were.

She put down the bottle and crossed her arms, staring at the picture of her fiancée on the table. It was very clearly a press release photo, but it made An’s heart leap all the same. “As far as I know, I was arrested for destroying a Vanguard unit, resisting arrest, and evading arrest,” she said, a cautious tone in her voice. She didn’t think they’d be this blatant so soon. Did they have the footage yet? As far as she knew, most of the databases were private. It couldn’t’ve taken them this little time… No. They just really wanted to know about Chu. “Not because of who I’m engaged to.”

“I saw the game, yes. All twenty minutes of it. But you’re not asking me that to get my opinion on the plays.”
_Exit
Nelu shook his head and then rotated the folder so that Chu was now right side up in front of An. ”Did you help her escape?”
_canaryrose
An’s heart slammed against her ribs. “No.”
_Exit
”Okay.” Nelu flipped the page. Another picture was clipped, this one of Kanna. ”Kanna Wu. Looked like she was taking care of your fiancée for you despite being on the opposite team. Did you run into her?”
_canaryrose
“No, not after what happened on the field.”
_Exit
”What were you doing in the tunnels?” Nelu asked, firing again.
_canaryrose
“I…” This she hesitated at. She’d have to craft a convincing answer and stick to it. “Going back to my apartment,” she answered, truthful but rather simplistic.
_Exit
Nelu paused as well when he picked up on the slight hesitation, but he didn’t press. He sympathized. The past day had been tough, not just on her but on everyone including himself. Everyone was tired. Confused. Betrayed and hurt. Truth and lies and their recollection was blurred too easily, especially when someone hadn’t been allowed time to recover from trauma.

Between that and the show of strength An continued to put on despite the hole she was in, he knew that no matter how hard he pressed her in that room, he wouldn’t get any of the answers he really wanted, if she even had them. He couldn’t continue his line of questioning. It’d get both of them nowhere so he relaxed.

”Look... Before you shot an officer, you weren’t in any trouble. The truth is, Chu is arguably the most well known Firebender we’ve seen in the world in years. And this Firebender has a lot of fans. I would know being one of them. I mean I really thought they were going to take the championship this year. We all did.” He shook his head and waved his hand dismissing the tangential thoughts. ”But now that she’s a Bender, it’s important that we bring her in and do this right. There’s people in the Upper Ring who are trying to set a new precedent with our proceedings, seeing as how whatever happened to our city is… turning people into Benders. People who weren’t before. These people don’t deserve the same judgment as those who have been hiding. They’re victims of something they had no control of. With your fiance, we want to make sure she’s protected. That the people know there is another option so we can get those people help. That’s what we’re trying to do here. Why you’re here. So we can start that process.”

”If you didn’t help her escape, then you don’t know where she is and we can help find her. And maybe you’re terrified of her now, but I promise you, your fiance is still in there and we can help if you help us.”
_canaryrose
An noticed him relax, and allowed herself to relax from a constant stream of denial, too. She folded her arms, allowing herself to droop a little. Her eyes were still wary, though. She let the silence extend for a moment. This man sounded genuine, but what he was saying made no sense. She turned it over. Chu Hua did not fall into that category for one, but, more importantly, it was difficult to believe him. This “soft” thing was completely at odds with everything she had ever heard about their policies. Narrowing her eyes, she scrutinized his expression. There was so much she knew that he either didn’t or was blatantly lying to her about. It made her uneasy. “I can’t help you. I told you I don’t know where she is, and even if I did, I think… what- what process?” She rubbed her arm, staring at her cuffed hands in total confusion. “You know what? I haven’t made my phone call yet. Could I do that now?”
_Exit
Nelu paused again, tapping his finger on the picture as he regarded An with curious eyes. Neither of them were being a hundred percent truthful and neither of them would divulge what the other really wanted to know. Unfortunately for Nelu, that meant for now, his hands were tied. An wasn’t a Bender and as far as he was concerned, her involvement with Chu’s escape was minimal. Too small to be worth wasting hours for. There were other fish he had to fry and one was already waiting for him. One that didn’t have someone else watching their back. An had friends in high places.

Nelu shook his head and sighed. “You can take that phone call outside actually. The uh… Moon family posted your bail already and are agreeing to handle your court proceedings. Apparently you’re needed back at work.” He scratched his forehead, his frustration and exhaustion showing through the cracks in the wall of his professionalism. ”I would suggest not adding anything else to your felony charge, Miss Tamura.” He closed the folder and stood up. He reached into his pocket and fished for a key before reaching across the table and unlocking the cuffs around An’s hands. They were folded up and put away and the folder was tucked under his arm. ”That means don’t shoot anymore cops until your court date.” He moved toward the door. ”And we’re keeping an eye on you now so try not to look like you’re about to run.”
_canaryrose
“I-” An looked vaguely stunned. She hadn’t been expecting anyone, least of all the Moons, to post her bail. She hadn’t expected to have bail available to her. Did they really not know she had helped Chu escape? A wall of relief hit her all at once as she massaged her now free wrists, glancing toward the door. “... Okay.”
_Exit
Nelu knocked on the door, waited for the bolt to be released and then stepped out, leaving the door open. Jack was standing outside.
_canaryrose
An stood and walked cautiously out the door, trying not to sprint out of the interrogation room. She stared at Jack in stunned relief. He stared back. She glanced at the cop standing behind them. Slowly, determining this wasn’t some awful trick, she let herself exhale. So she wasn’t that fucked. Still, she couldn’t believe that they were just letting her go. “Good morning. Afternoon? I’m not sure how long it’s been.” She folded her arms around her body, gripping herself hard. “Can I just… go? Or is there something else?” She addressed Nelu.
_Exit
Nelu shook his head. ”None at all.” He then turned to Jack and gave him a nod. ”Please thank Miss Moon for her time yesterday. If we have any further questions we’ll be in touch. Can you find your way?”

Jack nodded to which Nelu dismissed himself and took off down the hall without saying anything further. He was staring at his watch as he left.

”Please follow me, Miss Tamura. Miss Moon is waiting for you.”

...

An was led out of the station and to a waiting car parked on the side of the road. Once they were both inside, all pretense was dropped and as Jack spoke, there was a bit of disappointment obvious in the tone of his voice.

”I told you running was a bad idea.” He commented from the front. He pulled slightly on the steering wheel in front of him and the vehicle began to ascend, lifting off the ground gently and rotating away from the curb they had been parked at. ”They had nothing on you. Just documented use of your card in the tunnel which had already been logged in the system. Cameras were scrubbed and despite the mess, there wasn’t much in way of evidence left in your apartment. Not more than what I could get rid of. But a felony is going to be a little harder to take care of.” He looked at An through the rearview mirror. Despite the way she had been holding herself together, it was clear the past 24 hours were having an effect. ”You must feel like shit.”
_canaryrose
An held her head in her hands, glad to finally be out of a jail cell. Her head was hammering, her thoughts spinning. Why had they bailed her out? What the hell was going on? “I do,” she agreed, scowling. “I’m… any chance you have anything to eat in here? I’m fucking starving. Bastards forgot to feed me.”
_Exit
Jack hit a button on the center console and the middle seat in the back slid open to reveal a cooler underneath. There were a number of glass bottles of ‘Cactus Juice’ and next to that, crackers, meats and cheeses presented An with her own personal charcuterie board. The set was completed with a small bowl of black truffle honey that could be drizzled onto whatever combination of snacks was put together. ”The juice is her guilty pleasure. They bottle them like that just for her.”
_canaryrose
“Holy shit. Um. Thank you?” An almost wanted to ask if it was okay with Vyska that she was touching her things, but she was so hungry that she didn’t care. She hadn’t realized this was her boss’s personal car. An reached out and started piling things into her hand and eating them practically whole. This whole situation struck her as strange. She wasn’t nearly important enough for all this and she couldn’t quite figure out why she was being treated so well. She didn’t touch the Cactus Juice, giving it one sniff and deciding that, although she desperately needed one, a stiff drink would be for later.

How much did Jack know? She detected some chagrin in his tone, and a blush deepened in her cheeks. She had been an idiot. Shooting a cop wasn’t one of her proudest moments. “I…” She gulped. “I ran because it’s worse than what I told you. Much, much worse than a felony. And if they find out… well. I didn’t think anyone would help.” She raised her head, staring out the windows at the cityscape. Her entire body felt like one massive bruise, her throat still dry, her stomach practically a bottomless hole. She was exhausted. Her life had been turned upside down and her future had been stolen from her. She drummed her fingers on the window, thinking. If she hadn’t still been desperately trying to keep herself together, she would have burst into tears by now. She wanted Chu. She felt it in her heart, an awful ache that she knew would only worsen with time.

“How much do you know?”
_Exit
“Enough… but I’m sure you’re more interested in what Miss Moon knows and why she’s taken such an interest in you.” Jack looked at An through the mirror again. ”It’s about thirty minutes before we get there so feel free to take a nap. You might need it.”

”There’s also water behind the juice.”

Meeting with Sato Hitoshi · |@Exit] & |@Mistress Dizzy] CollaborationMeeting with Sato Hitoshi · @Exit & @Mistress Dizzy Collaboration

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_{Mistress Dizzy}
The rest of yesterday had been rough for Jin. Between returning to the city and assisting with getting the escapees sorted, visiting Yi and Kata in the infirmary, and fighting a wicked migraine on top of it, they honestly could have waited a day to meet the big boss. Jin’s head still hurt a bit, and their back and shoulders were sore from the unfamiliar bed in the barracks they'd slept in last night. But- orders were orders.
_Exit
Elevator doors opened to a simple gray room basked in soft light. A single desk sat at the other end where a woman waited behind a monitor that obscured her from the neck down. Two chairs were situated to the right, both of them of simple make and design: A darker gray fabric wrapped around an armless, angled frame with legs that folded into the seat and backrest. They didn’t seem terribly comfortable. Lighting crawled up the walls from a crevice in the floor and a single sky light filled the rest of the space with white ambience and drew a soft white square on the ground. As the both of them walked toward the desk and under this light, their shadows danced beneath them.

”Take a seat Dermok.” The woman began. ”Takashi, he will see you now.”

To the left, an outline of a door appeared in the previously blank gray wall. This rectangular shape depressed fully and would slide open once Jin had stepped in front of it. The woman motioned for her to do so.

”Sato is not as intimidating as he may seem. You’ll be fine.” Nelu smiled at Jin and gave them a reassuring nod.
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin looked back at Tarnelu, with a panicked glance that absolutely screamed 'Help!'. But they didn't say a word. They simply strode to the door and stood in front of it. As the door appeared and opened, they took a deep breath before stepping through.
_Exit
The next room was very different from the last. The mundane gray interior was broken by a display of lush green at the center of the room. A circular platform was raised a foot off the ground and within it, a tree stood tall and burst at the apex, throwing branches and leaves in a near perfect arc out and away from the trunk. It cast a shadow, inside of which lay a few rocks, small bushes, flowers and a creek that seemed to spill from a crack in the exposed roots of the tree. It babbled gently, cutting the silence in the room with an ambience that was soothing. Despite being buried deep within the earth and being trapped within a cage of concrete and metal, the space was peaceful. A slice of another world brought to life in a place where nothing else was meant to live.

”Can I get you some tea?” A rather rough and strained voice called out to Jin. To the right and standing in light drifting from the center of the room was an elderly gentleman. He wore a black changsam over white pants and sandals. As he turned to face Jin, the features of his face slid out of the shadows of the room, revealing a complexion that was… different. One eye was shut. The other glowed an eerie orange. The right side of his face from the cheek bone down to below the jawline was of metal make, covered in black that was cut at sharp angles and connected to complete the symmetry of his features. This synthetic skin crawled along the edge of his face, over an ear that was not there and over part of his scalp where it drew a hard edge along his hairline. Some of the surface was exposed, allowing some of the wiring and moving parts under the ‘skin’ to be visible. It was hard to tell if this was by design. These pieces moved as he spoke again.

”It’s freshly brewed.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin pulled their attention from the tree in the miniature oasis, head whipping at the sound of the voice. They didn’t startle physically, but their eyes flickered at rapid speed from the shut eye to the glowing one, the two halves of the face, the metal and circuits within, even the clothes.

Questions, dozens of them, flooded their mind, each fighting for attention. Who was this man? How had he lost his face? Who had done the masterwork of metal that replaced it? Could Jin meet that person, too? On and on.

Realizing a full second too late that they were staring, they stood at attention so firmly that they felt a pop in their spine.

"Yes, sir. Tea sounds good, sir."
_Exit
”Please. There’s no need to be so formal.” The mysterious man moved toward a table as a ring of warm light appeared from a crease in the room's walls. On the table was a pot that he promptly picked up and began filling a small cup with. Warm liquid poured from the spout pushing steam into the air, tinging it with a faint taste of roasted rice. When it was filled, he replaced the pot and carefully picked up the cup, turning around and walking it over to Jin. He handed it over to them.

”Just ‘Sato’.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin was seriously wondering how this room worked. They haven’t seen tech like this before. It was beautiful. What other people saw in fine art and plays, Jin saw in high level technology. “Um. Thank you, sir.” They took the cup and blew the steam away, taking a careful sip. It tasted rich. Even Jin could tell it was probably incredibly expensive. It still needed sugar, but Jin wasn’t about to say that.

“Ah, Mr. Sato? Why am I here? N-not that I’m not honored! I mean, I’m just- I’m not- in trouble or anythin, am I?” Jin’s mouth was running faster than their brain, and their hands were currently occupied. They didn’t know how to stop the flow.
_Exit
”Not at all. Just the contrary.” Sato smiled as warmly as he could, the parts of his mouth that were still flesh curling as he nodded reassuringly to Jin. ”We’d yet to meet and after hearing how well you did during your first joint mission, I decided it was time to speak face to face. Dermok… he continues to sing your praises, as he’s done since you’ve joined. His faith in his decision to choose you over the other candidates was not misplaced.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin relaxed somewhat, exhaling slowly. While they hoped they’d have some kind of warning if they were ever in that level of trouble, it was good to have it confirmed. From the moment they’d stepped into the room, there had been a careful, and unconsciously calculated distance between Jin and the nearest door. Now it seemed that some measure of trust had been earned. The sniper stepped in a little closer, taking another sip of the tea. “Does Cap- er, the Captain really say all that? That’s… nice.” They bent their head to sip the drink, eyes shut briefly to block the steam.
_Exit
Sato nodded and then turned his gaze toward the tree. As he did, the sharp contours of metal plates marking the outline of his cheek was put under the light from the center of the room. The word ‘Varricks’ was etched into the corner of one of the metallic surfaces. ”Do you recognize it? He asked regarding the tree.
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin's green eyes roamed the tree. They had always found a sort of beauty in nature. Where some saw wildness, they saw precision. Doctor Sylara Li, the engineer that had fostered their mind in LSF special training had said something quite profound once: “Numbers are all over, Jin. Nature is anything but chaotic. Look at the ripples in a pond, or a snowflake, or a shell. Spirals, hexagons, perfect ratios. Over and over and over. Whatever spirits put this planet together were mathematicians.” Jin had always thought the last bit smacked a little too close of spiritualism for a scientist. The rest of it, though, had opened their eyes.

“It’s a beautiful tree, Mr. Sato. But I don’t know too much about nature. So I don’t recognize it.” Their glance darted to the old man. “Should I?”
_Exit
Sato shook his head. ”No, and very few would. Spiritus mortis. The last of its kind I’m afraid. First discovered nearly two hundred years ago in the dirt around the Republic City portal. It was originally mistaken as nothing more than the roots of weeds and cast aside; turned into mulch for what little nutrients could be squeezed from it and for years, that was its legacy. Feed for other flora. Forgotten and tread upon by those without curiosity. Without eyes that seek.” Sato began walking slowly around the platform in the center of the room, inviting Jin to follow and allowing them to see the tree from all angles.

”It wasn’t until some years later that a closer look revealed that the roots were not roots at all. This tree begins life as a sapling sprouting from a seed buried in the dirt and remains that way. Buried. It must be dug up and moved. When given light, the sapling grows into what you see before you.” Sato raised his hand at the tree. ”A trunk of white gilded by a crown of the brightest pink… A most elegant display of beauty that begins life in the darkest of places. It is seldom given a chance to taste sunlight but given a sliver, it will grow. It will grow despite what little it is given.” His hand fell to his side and he suddenly stopped, his eyes focusing on something in the dirt. ”What’s more, once it has taken root, the seeds change. They give birth to something else entirely.” Sato reached across the platform and in between a number of long blades of grass, plucking out a miniscule black bead. This bead sat pinched between two fingers as he carried it over to a bowl at the edge of the room. Inside were similarly shaped and colored seeds. It was deposited with the rest ”Of course, if no one bothered to look… if no one bothered to give it a chance, it would have never become what it is now.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin paced behind Sato at a polite distance, examining the tree. The more Sato talked about it, the more sense the topic made. Jin wasn’t a fool; they understood the metaphor. Something overlooked, chewed up and not seen for what it truly was. An elegant description of an awful situation.
_Exit
Sato turned to Jin again, the light in his eye regarded them more heavily than it did before. ”You know… in another life I was once a child in the Lower Ring myself. It is… a difficult life.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin stopped in their tracks and stared at Sato, absolutely stunned. "Waitwaitwait- you? Holy shi- uhhh, I mean," Jin took a hurried gulp of tea and started over. "Mr. Sato, sir. That's huge."
_Exit
Sato smiled, amused at their surprise but continued. ”I didn’t have the Honeybee, but I did have… people and when you’re born to so little, you find what light you can. Family, allies, steal and kill if you must. Anything to survive. It is never easy… especially when you are not touched in the way the others in your team are.”

”Are you getting along with them?”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin gazed up at the brilliant pink petals, picking out the fractals in the placement with distant eye. It was difficult, tracing back the memories. There was no one to reminisce with, after all. Some of it was only remembered in a haze of pitch-dark, sweaty nightmares. Some of it was burned into their brain, so deep down that every layer showed the scar.

Jin wasn't sure which was worse.

"In Basic, everyone thought I'd burn out. Even I did, for a while." A faint, wry smile tweaked Jin’s lips. "Turns out, spite makes me work harder. No one saw me graduating top ten 4 years later. Then, the LSF… I don’t know what the Captain saw in me, but I’m glad he saw it." A flash of pride lit their eyes. “Us Low Ring Roaches don’t die easy, do we?”
_Exit
Sato chuckled lightly. ”’Roach’. That is a name I have not heard in ages. But yes… The things that we are capable of, if only others were not so quick to condemn us to crueler fates by virtue of our birth.” His smile held as his eyes drifted off to some far off memory. ”And to think of all we’ve had to rise above just to be something else. To be born new.” He looked again at Jin. ”You and I are very much alike, Takashi. We… our strength is not found the same way as it is for the others. We do not command the elements. We have but our hands and our minds to do our bidding. But you… you have an ingenuity they do not possess and I suspect you may see the world differently. The way the world truly is. How it should be. Which is why I believe I can entrust to you a task that may be too difficult for the others.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin grinned, the smile fading slowly as they reigned in their mind. While this visit was going to be something they’d remember for a long time, having a mission always made focusing much easier. They drained the teacup and nodded. “What do you need me to do, sir?”
_Exit
”Nothing.” He said simply, offering to take the empty cup. ”For now. But when the time comes, I will send for you and that is when I will make my request known. Today, however, I simply wanted to meet. Thank you for the honor, Takashi.” Sato bowed his head slightly.
_{Mistress Dizzy}
“Okay.” The usual RSF operating procedure, a lot of hurry up and wait. Jin handed over the cup, and saluted smartly. “The honor’s mine, Mr. Sato. And I mean that.” They turned, heading toward the door. Almost there, they paused, tipping their head slightly. Jin went very still for a few moments, before approaching the tree in the center. There, they stuck a hand in the grass and dug out a black bead.

“Is this what you were looking for?” They held it up to the light, curious.
_Exit
Sato watched Jin carefully, the lens around his glowing eye twisting and the light dimming as he focused on the hand holding the seed. For a moment, he didn’t say anything, but the moment passed and half a smile found his lips. ”Ah. I must have missed that one.” He nodded toward it. ”Keep it. You may find it useful one day.” He turned and began walking toward the tea set to replace the cup Jin had used. ”Just not as tea.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
Jin grinned. It gave their face a surprisingly childish look. “Thanks, sir.” Momentarily fishing in their shirt, they pulled up a little cloth pouch on a leather strand. Opening it, they gently dropped the seed inside. Then they dropped the pouch back into hiding beneath their clothes. They went for the door without another word, and saluted once more before leaving for good.
_Exit
Outside, Nelu was patiently waiting in one of the seats, and in the middle of shifting around uncomfortably. When he saw Jin enter the room, he smiled and immediately got to his feet. ”How’d it go? Not so bad?”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
“Nah. You were right.” Jin smiled back, saluting Nelu before relaxing. “He wasn’t scary at all.” Their eyes flicked to the woman behind the desk. Their voice dropped to a low murmur. “Apparently there’s a task for me. But I don’t know what it is yet.” They shrugged. “Typical.” They started walking for the door, shooting back a question at Nelu without turning around. “Do you really… talk about me to other people like that?”
_Exit
”Do I wha-”

”Dermok.” The lady behind the desk called after him calmly. When Nelu turned around, she gestured for the door, signaling that it was his turn. Nelu nodded.

”Right. My turn.” Nelu said, mostly to himself. He took a deep breath, steadying himself and forcing whatever blood was rushing to his cheeks to settle before he turned again to Jin. ”Sylara finished your tadpole so go check in with her. I’ll see you later.”
_{Mistress Dizzy}
“Oh, ok. I’ll check in with her. Bye, Cap.” Jin only looked back after the door shut behind Nelu. Then they, too, left.

...

_Exit
"Sato."

"You were right." The elderly man had by now moved to the side of the room where the bowl of peculiar seeds was resting. Behind him, Nelu beamed. "But... that does not excuse what you are attempting to do with the Earthbender. They will not turn easy. Not now." And just as suddenly as his spirits were lifted, Nelu was returned to the subject at hand.

"It's already being done."

"Incompletely. She has spent too long with her powers and those powers will be seen as a gift. It is difficult to change a narrative that is already written and believed."

"It won't matter if she's completely under control."

"Heh." Sato plucked a bead out of the bowl and held it up in front of him, peering at it as if for the first time. "'What is control if not truth.'"

"'And what is truth without a lie.'" Nelu recited. "The Earthbender is not why you wanted to see me. Neither is Jin."

"The King. The king has forgotten his place and grown soft. Conflict from the accident in the Lower Ring has made him nervous. These... Benders 'aren't the same from before the war. They're people.'" Sato placed the bead in a mortar as he spoke.

"Well the man has only known peace and a life inside a palace. Everyone in his circle looks like a friend." Nelu paused for a moment as he recalled what he'd shared with the Tamura woman. "So he's actually going to go through with it?"

"That seems to be the case, and because we lost one of ours during the incident, we no longer hold a majority of the seats at his table. We no longer have control."

"What will you do?"

Sato picked up a pestle and placed it within the mortar and against the bead. With some pressure, the seed burst into white grains. "What will you do with the Earthbender?"

??? · |@KillamriX88]??? · @KillamriX88

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_Prompt
Chae-Won awakens, lying on her back on a rather soft, comfortable mattress. Above her, a plain gray, cement like ceiling stares back. On all sides, plain gray walls. To the right is a stained wooden door that is slightly ajar and past it, white bathroom tiles are visible with a white fuzzy floor mat lying on top. To the left is a window with white sheen curtains drawn and outside, clear blue skies. The sounds of birds chirping can be heard. Past the foot of the bed and against the wall is a stained wood dresser about five feet tall and mounted to the wall is a large monitor. On top of the dresser is a remote with no buttons or markings and next to that, a small plant in a white pot.

The room continues around the corner although what is down there is not currently visible.

There is a nightstand next to the bed, and on it is a tall asymmetrical cuboidal shaped lamp, a free floating digital time display, and a pen and notepad. 'Duster Hotel' is written at the top of the notepad and on the side of the pen.

The bed itself is neatly made, beneath Chae, with two white pillows at the top and gray sheets tucked nearly perfectly underneath her. On the floor next to the bed is a pair of fuzzy gray slippers.

LSF HQ · @TheLSFLSF HQ · @TheLSF

____________________________________________________________________________.
Nelu was exhausted. It had been less than a couple days after the raid on the abandoned rest stop and already the team had new orders. Despite having been given time to rest, that day had seen to him buried in what he believed was the worst part of his job. Everything, even the things they did in secret, had to be documented and that meant paperwork. Logging the Benders they had captured, recording their names and occupations and where they lived. Tracking where they were being transported too based on their level of threat and deciding how best to handle their incarceration. Then there was the paperwork covering the injuries they sustained and the damages and losses to equipment. When that was done and filed, Nelu finally carved out some time to pay both Yi and Kata a visit. Yi had been discharged fairly quickly what with how minor his injuries were. Kata, however, remained under for some time. His injuries had been more severe and combined with the fact that he'd passed out from the exertion alone, it was no surprise he'd need the time to recover. Thankfully, despite Kata's condition when he had arrived, Nelu had been informed that he was stable and would be cleared for their next mission.

Their next mission would be a little different from their last with the team this time split into two. He and Jin would be traveling into the Underground to investigate reports of a gathering of the remaining surviving Benders, a gathering headed by one of the more powerful gang leaders of the city. Word was, the individual, whoever they were, sought to protect and train them to create for themselves an army with which they could take complete control of the Lower Ring and possibly push back against the Middle and Upper. The Underground was dangerous, especially for those who were unfamiliar with the criminal underworld, but given Jin's extensive knowledge from their youth and Nelu's experience in the area as an RSF officer, they were the two most ideal candidates for the operation.

Zhen and Katakuri would be tasked with attending the Gala in the King's palace. With vacant seats of power and a King whose direction could no longer be easily determined, LSF control over the city had become threatened. Friend and foe had to be re-established, threats identified and appropriate courses of action decided upon. Both Zhen and Katakuri were men and women of renown in their other lives and would blend easily into a crowd of well-known faces.

All of this information along with helpful bits of insight on known individuals who could be involved were displayed over the center table. Nelu would explain the situation and various assignments as the team filed in.

Upper Ring · Memory/Present· Mentions ChosahUpper Ring · Memory/Present · Mentions Chosah

<sub>_


The incident happened so fast, the flash of light, the explosion reaching the upper ring. Katakuri felt the need to go looking around his home and community, but he did not realize that was a mistake till it was too late. Noticing the front door was open, Did I leave that open?, he thought as he smelt smoke, smoke coming from inside of the house. Stepping through the frame was similar to going through a portal, a whole new presence was in the house and he didn’t know how to feel – PaapPAAAA!!! – a blood-curdling shriek filled with anguish rang through the Soran Estate. Panic. Chosah. He had never heard Chosah call out in such a way for him and his heart stopped, his body began to fill with dread, as he was washed with the realization that he left his family in danger, he left Chosah in danger.
The front door was open, someone had to be in the house. The smoke. The panic. There is a fire bender in this house…, he could feel his blood begin to pump throughout his veins as he began to dart down the hall. He hesitated and what if that was all that was needed to finish his family? There was no more noise, he couldn’t hear anything specific from any of the rooms he passed. Oh…gods what have I done… every bad outcome was racing through his head, he was prepared to see his daughter's lifeless body somewhere in this forsaken estate. He needed to get to where she was - where was she? “Chosah where are you!?” he shouted and anyone that could hear could tell that he was in a panic, that he was devastating himself with his thoughts.

“Kata is that you?!” he heard his mother’s voice calling from one of the sitting rooms down the hall. Almost sliding past the door that had dark smoke creeping out of its frame, he grabbed the frame to direct himself – CRACK! – the sound of crunching wood under his grip, the part of the frame he grabbed splintered into his hand while his eyes adjusted into the room.

As his eyes adjusted, he realized that there was furniture on fire, but he did not see the danger. There were no new faces in the room or faces that he recognized to be harmful though there was Chosah, Chosah…, his expression faded from all the emotions of terror and dread into a bottomless pit, into nothing. His dark eyes became empty as he stared at his daughter, he could hear his heartbeat in his eyes. The throbbing sound of blood rushing through his body. You’re the fire bender…, he couldn’t take his eyes away from her. How could he?

“Chosah…” his voice was low, almost whispering in disbelief, since he did not want to believe this was happening. His free hand moved as he focused on all the heat in the room, with a simple gesture there was no immediate danger, no more fire. Katakuri was not looking at Chosah as if she was his daughter or a four-year-old – Oh god… why couldn’t she be like her mother? – he began to regret as his body began to become limp under this realization. His daughter was like him and he did this to her.
Why couldn’t sh—- “Kata, you’re shaking,” his mother snapped him out of his thoughts and he found himself staring right into the eyes of the older woman. Urose recognized the ghostly look on his face, she and her husband had that same look when they found out Katakuri was a bender.
His eyes only stayed on his mother for a few seconds before lingering back to Chosah, his silence was more than enough to concern Urose. “Do not hurt her,” the mother and grandmother rushed over to her granddaughter. She knew what her son was capable of doing. She knew what he was. Urose decided to bypass being a citizen or mother, she was a grandmother first, and she hid Chosah behind her. Blocking Katakuri’s view of his only child. Urose purposefully kept an arm behind her back, she was holding onto Chosah by the hand, and she was not going to let go any time soon. Not when Katakuri was like this. He was questioning everything.

Letting go of the door frame, he took a few steps closer to his mother and Chosah. His breathing began to fall to a point of silence as his eyes obsessed over where Chosah was. He couldn’t do anything else except think at this moment. What am I supposed to do?
Urose began to feel her heart racing, her eyes began to sting from the salty solution overwhelming them. She wasn’t sure what her son was going to do, but she knew that if he wanted to, he could kill them all. Her eyes began to show terror the closer he got, “Stop!” she shouted with a panicked and shaky voice. “Please, do not hurt her,” Urose began to beg.

His eyes did not flicker towards his mother while she began to beg him to not hurt his daughter, but he did stop in his tracks. He could not believe that his mother thought of him in such a way, Does she really think I will hurt Chosah? Katakuri’s eyes began to sharpen under these thoughts, “Why are you scared?” his voice began to grow with aggression under her impression that he would do such a thing. “Do you really see me in such a light? Is it because I was born like this or because you signed me over to kill people?” He was not usually aggressive in his civilian side of life, but he couldn’t keep it down. All these mixed emotions were overwhelming. “What do you take me for –” his eyes darted towards his mothers, “–a monster?” he questioned her with an accusing tone. During his training as a teenager, he knew that she was terrified of him. His father was too. He never thou– he didn’t want to think his parents thought of him as anything else except their son.

Urose appeared to stiffen when Katakuri met her eyes, she couldn’t tell what his emotions were. How was she supposed to decide if she couldn’t guess how her son would react? Swallowing in an attempt to coat her throat and mouth with some type of liquid, she was hesitant to speak, and she began to stutter when words came out, “Y-you – you kill. You kill benders –” she was able to get the first part of her statement out, but she couldn’t control the shakiness of her voice or breathing. She couldn’t fully trust her son, he was a bender who killed benders. Urose was able to keep eye contact this whole time, “– and –“ she began to add more to her statement. She could not help but glance back to see if Chosah was still there, secure and safely behind her, “– and she is one now,” Urose forced those words out as if her lips were cracked dry and she hasn’t had water in days.

“Step away from her,” Katakuri demanded while gesturing for his mother to get away from Chosah.

“You’re going to have to kill your mother before you touch this child, Katakuri Soran,” Urose was becoming defensive, and he couldn’t blame her. He barely could get any words out himself, he was too wrapped up in the thoughts of everything that could and would happen to Chosah, to his daughter. He had no intention to hurt his baby girl, but he did not know if there were words to explain how he was feeling at this exact moment, “Mom,” he looked his mother in the eyes, “I will not hurt her,” his tone changed into a gentle one as he took a deep breath.

Urose glanced back at Chosah before glancing at her only son, she seemed to almost not believe what he was saying. She was reluctant to leave her granddaughter. She was worried that she would lose Chosah, the little girl who was practically another daughter. Raising her full-time if Katakuri was not around, she didn’t know if her heart could handle losing Chosah, “Do you promise?” Urose asked without moving. She seemed to need some type of solid confirmation of knowing that Katakuri wouldn’t harm the innocent and helpless child behind her.

“I promise,” he said while keeping eye contact, and he began to get closer to them.

“I will hate you if you hurt her, Katakuri. I will hate you forever,” Urose began to have tears run down her face, she could feel the salty solution nipping at her fragile cheeks. The woman was appearing more stressed the closer her son got, her usually proper bunned hair was showing frizz and loose hairs. Taking another second to decide what she would do, she had a split second of trust in her son, as she stepped away and let go of Chosah. Urose stepping away from the child exposed a tiny girl, shaking with tears running down her face.

Katakuri approached his daughter, looking down at her before kneeling to her level. Reaching out with his pointer finger as he lifted his daughter’s chin so she would look him in the eyes. “Are you okay?” His voice was gentle and his empty eyes began to show worry for his child. Under the process of taking all of this in and his thoughts, his emotions began to regulate. He cared much more for his daughter than anything in this world, even his own life.
Chosah shook her head no while she looked up at her father, she seemed to stare into his eyes trying to figure out what he was thinking. “Papa,” she said while trying her best to stop crying, the tears began to flow more. She began to rub the tears away, wiping them off her cheeks, and a burning sensation began to form.
“Chosah…” Katakuri sighed while grabbing a handkerchief out of his pocket and lightly dabbing at her tears. “Do not wipe your tears, you will cause your cheeks to become swollen and raw,” he informed her as he gently dried her face.

Wanting to seek comfort, she rushed to her father’s chest, trying her best to grip his shirt and hug him. Katakrui seemed to straighten up a bit when Chosah hugged him, he stared down at his daughter and put the handkerchief into his back pocket, “Do you want to go with daddy to his workout room?” he asked since he didn’t want to force her to go. She was in a very fragile moment, and he did not want to cause her to set the house on fire, “I think we need to spend as much time as we possibly can together,” he stated to reinforce why they would be going to the workout room.
Katakuri could feel the nod from Chosah against his chest, her little hands gripping his dress shirt and he could feel the damping moisture of tears from the little girl, “I’m scared daddy,” she began to cry more. He could tell she was terrified of what was happening, she didn’t understand, and he carefully lifted the young girl as he stood. Resting her on his chest while he stared over at his mother. Urose was pressing cloth to her cheeks as she was trying to handle her own emotions, she was really scared that I would kill my own daughter.
His expression changed to a more disappointed and stern look while his eyes were on his mother. “I know,” he said while rubbing the little girl's back to comfort her, “It will be okay though,” he tried to comfort her vocally. He couldn’t believe his mother thought he was ending his daughter right then and there. With no more words, he left the room with Chosah securely in his arms.

Carrying her down the hall, Chosah was quiet, and – all I could think of was how to deal with this situation. My work was all about eradicating benders, and somewhere deep down inside… I knew this day was going to come. I knew it was coming and I have done everything to prepare except emotionally.
What am I supposed to do? Eko you would have been so much better at this. You wanted me to leave the LSF when you knew we were having Chosah and I was foolish. I stayed and you’re not here anymore. Tears began to slip past his eyelashes and run down his cheeks. Naturally, his fingers touched the liquid, Why am I crying? Eko what am I supposed to do? He glanced down at his daughter, she was hiding her face in his chest and it was almost heart-aching – I am so sorry Chosah. I was so selfish to even look let alone stay with your mother. I was young… we both were… and we didn’t mean to bring you into this world. I didn’t mean to bring you into this world.

Taking a deep breath, he quietly opened the door and he could feel the doe-eyes of the little girl staring at him. “Why are you crying?” she asked while reaching up and placing a hand on her father’s cheek. “It’s nothing,” he said while forcing a smile and setting her down. Gesturing for her to go into the room.
He waited for his daughter to take a few steps before closing and locking the door, using his sleeve to get rid of the tears on his face, and he glanced over at her. Chosah was looking up at me with confused and scared eyes. She is so young, she doesn’t know what is happening and why I am reacting this way. She doesn’t understand the dangers that are to come.

Taking off his shoes before entering the room, he walked over to the window and stared out at the landscape. The city was naturally a dangerous place with a big population and many different people. Katakuri reached up, closing the blinds before looking over his shoulder at his daughter, “Come here,” he said while turning away from the window and sitting down on a mat.
Chosah seemed to be cautious, she usually wasn’t allowed in this room because of the weights and other workout equipment that could hurt her if unattended. She looked back at the door, showing an expression of concern about why they were in this room and why her father locked the door and closed the blinds. Why is dad acting weird? She heard her name be called again while seeing her father pat the mat in front of him. Chosah slowly approached him while trying to make a facial expression that showed how she was feeling. She couldn’t properly get the expression out before she sat down.

Sitting there she was looking up at her dad and he was looking down at her, “Chosah,” he began to talk and think about how to explain things so a four-year-old would understand, “Remember how I talked about bending before? How many people do not have that ability?” he asked while trying to read his daughter's expression.
Chosah shrugged at his words, she knew that he has talked about it before, but he doesn’t talk about it a lot or hadn’t in a long time. Katakuri nodded his head at her reaction, he wasn’t surprised, “Bending is not allowed in modern society, people are terrified of it and you are a part of that group that causes fear,” he was informing her of how the outside world would react. Hopefully, she was understanding. “This means you need to learn how to control it,” he gently grabbed one of her hands in his as he spoke, trying to stay connected in a way with his daughter while making sure she was understanding this whole situation.
“Chosah, please look at me,” his voice seemed to be looking for validation from his daughter. Chosah seemed to reluctantly glance up at her father. He stared into her eyes, and he doubted that she was understanding the severity of this situation, “I need you to learn how to control your powers so you know how to hide it from people. You will never show anyone these abilities. If you do, bad people will take you away from me and I will never see you again,” he was trying to explain while injecting fear into her mind.

“I won’t ever see you again,” Chosah seemed to become worried about that. She didn’t want to not see her father again or be taken away from her family. “Are these bad people the same people Oma talks about?” She was referring to her grandmother.
He seemed to think about this before replying, “What are the bad people she talks about?” He was curious and did not want to know at the same time.
“Oma says bad people like to take benders away to jail or never see loved ones again,” Chosah began to explain what she could from what her grandmother had told her. “She says benders do that too,” she added in a comment that stung in his chest. His eyes fell to the floor, she was explaining to him what he did for work and he couldn’t help the uncomfortability that rose in his stomach.
Katakuri might have been staring at the floor for too long, Chosah piped up, “Papa?” she asked while learning to get a better look at his eyes. She was curious why the atmosphere in the room changed so quickly after she talked. His eyes flickered at her attention, staring at her, “I’m sorry, but Oma is correct,” he wasn’t saying sorry to just say it. He was telling Chosah sorry for what he had done and will continue to do.
Taking a deep breath, one could find the humor in how your parents signed you away to these bad people before you had any recollection of rights, and your parents swing right around to explain to your kid who the bad people are – I am one of those bad people without any choice in the matter.

“These people are ruthless, Chosah. They have their morals stripped away and handlers to break their spirits and their bones. They will do anything and everything to take you away from me. I won’t let that happen, but you have to understand how severe this situation is. You cannot tell or show anyone these abilities,” he was trying to drill this into his daughter's head. That she was in danger if she began to tell and show people what she was.
Chosah was not familiar with her father speaking in such a tone or having a painfully serious conversation with her, but she was doing her best to understand the situation. Understand how he wanted her to. "People will take me away because of what I am? I won’t ever see you again?” she seemed to be getting the idea of how severe the situation was. “Yes, and you will never see me again, so you cannot show or tell anyone about your abilities,” his tone was stern and he was almost demanding this behavior from her. Obedience.

“Ok…” she seemed to become uncomfortable with her father’s behavior, how strict and stern he was getting. Somewhat beginning to fidget around, showing her uncomfortability to him. This was an overwhelming session for a four-year-old. She had to think more, she had to listen to what she barely understood, and she was processing a lot of information. Her subtle actions were telling Katakuri that he was making her uncomfortable.

Deciding it was better to switch the topic for the time being, “Let’s begin with a simple training exercise,” he said while taking his hand away from his daughter. She seemed to have a difficult time returning his eye contact, “You need to learn how to control it, so you get good at hiding it,” he mentioned while straightening up, sitting with his legs crossed, and holding out a single hand in between them. Giving his fingers a snap before a small flame came into reality, flickering, and lighting up his daughter’s face with warm colors.
Chosah seemed to jump, she was not aware that her father could do that, and she didn’t realize that she was connected in such a way to her father – they were both benders. The warm colors danced across her pale skin while he slightly smiled at her reaction, “Can you try to do that? Light it up and put it out,” he stated before snapping again and the flame disappeared.
Chosah was confused about his fingers when the flame went out, her eyes shot up at her father's. “Do it again,” she asked him to do it again with almost an excited voice. She was innocent of the hatred upon benders. He did it quickly again, sparking a small flame before putting it out, “Again?” she demanded and questioned at the same time. Katakuri chuckled at her reaction, “No, you try it and try not to burn the house down,” he teased her.

Chosah looked at her hands, as she began to attempt to spark a flame with a flick of her fingers.
Nothing…
She tried again.
Nothing…
She groaned in frustration as she tried again.
Nothing…
“I can’t do it like you,” her face began to run red since she was becoming frustrated. Her father made it look so easy. He would snap, it would appear, and if he snapped again, it disappeared. Why can’t I do that?

Sighing at the realization that Chosah was going to get upset, frustrated, or even angry with trying to master her abilities. “Chosah, you need to relax,” he stated calmly while watching her overall reaction, her expression, and body language.

“Uh– I,” she was trying to do it faster this time. flick flick flick . She slammed her hands down on the mat, allowing the frustration she was feeling to course through her, and the fire consumed her hands for only a little bit of time. Dark smudges were left on the mat along with the smell of burning plastic, “Ah!” she seemed to jump up and clasp her hands together, she wasn’t planning for that to happen, and she did have full control of her abilities.

“Chosah, you need to settle down. Relax while you try to take control of your powers or you might cause everything along with yourself to burn,” he began to explain in a gentle yet stern voice. Grabbing his daughter's hands, he led her to be closer to him. “Take a deep breath,” he said while closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. After a few seconds he opened an eye to check if Chosah was following, she was. He closed his eyes again and let out a breath, “Breath out.” He heard Chosah copying him, trying to do what he was doing.

Pointing at the middle of her chest, “Focus on what is inside of you, do you feel any different during the time you can bend fire?” he questioned while opening his eyes and looking at her. Her eyes were still closed as she was breathing out.
He knew that when he used fire, his abdomen felt full. Everything felt like it was coming out of each breath he took. Feeling the power course through his veins and the tension built in his body before the sparks were made. With each attack, it felt like everything was coming out of each breath he took.

Chosah seemed to think about his question and she shook her head no. Katakuri gave a small smile, This is going to take a while…, he couldn’t help that thought popping up in his head. “Try to focus on your breathing while you try to use your abilities,” he said while taking one hand away – off to the side. Inhaling with a snap, a small flame began to dance before his fingers. Exhaling with another snap, the flame was gone, “Try it,” he encouraged her.
The young girl watched her father, she wanted to do what he did, but she was not taking to her abilities as quickly as he did when he gained them. She began to attempt the inhaling and exhaling technique – inhaling and not letting the breath out as she tried to light a flame without success. Kata watched the young girl’s face begin to grow red with color, “Breath,” he said while watching her with some concern. Chosah seemed to let out a frustrated breath and look at her father from under her brows, rolling her eyes as she looked away, and she tried again.

Chosah would try and try again, till she got it. She got it! She seemed to get excited when the small flame began to dance before her and grow with her excitement. “Look! Look! LOOK!” She quickly repeated herself, doing a small little dance by stomping her feet. She was controlling the small flame.
“I am, do not worry,” Katakuri said while he watched the young girl dance in excitement, “Very good, can you put it out now?” he asked since he didn't know if she could. Chosah seemed to look at the flame before attempting to put it out. She seemed to have an easier time putting the flame out than creating it, with a floppy snap of her fingers the flame was gone.

“Let’s keep working on it till you feel comfortable, then we can move on,” Katakuri said while flicking his fingers and lighting up another flame. Snapping his fingers and it was out. Chosah seemed to have an easier time since the first flame she was able to control, she still struggled, but she was doing better.

Chosah seemed to get excited when she was able to create and distinguish a flame more constantly, “I think I feel it,” she said while pointing at her chest. “I’m proud of you…”

Bright lights began to blind him as he wandered out of darkness and a ringing appeared in his ears, he was conscious. Blinking a few times to ease the piercing pain of overwhelming artificial lights, Katakuri was looking around the room. He noticed that the door to the room was closed, there was a young woman in the corner tidying things up, and he was in the hospital wing of the LSF. The woman did not notice he was waking up.

Slowly sitting up, he was becoming one with the reality around him, “Ugh…” he groaned while reaching toward his face. The nurses here were sworn to an oath of silence, extreme silence, so he was not too worried. Feeling his face, he sat there for a moment in thought – he could only think of Chosah, how she was doing, and what he had to do. Did he want to attempt to do that?
The vital monitor began to beep from the major increase in his heart rate, “Mister Soran, you shouldn’t be moving so much. You have just woken up, yes?” she asked while coming over to check if the LSF agent was alright.

“I am fine, I was barely hurt,” he sounded like he was almost complaining that she was trying to make sure he was fine. He took the IV out of his arm as if he has done this before because he has done it before. Katakuri Soran might have been known as one of the worst patients in the LSF hospital wing. Never allowing the nurses to complete their job fully unless he was out when he was done with something that meant they were too, and other bad behaviors to have while in a hospital.

“Mister Soran, you need to settle down, I will sedate you if you do not allow me to check you before you leave this room,” the nurse was spunky, she heard the stories from the other nurses about Kata, and the LSF began to catch on that he needed someone as hard-headed as he was if they wanted him to heal properly.
Katakuri stood up, thinking about his options, and he shrugged his shoulders. He needed to find something to cover his face before he left the room anyways, but he was going to try and find the thing to cover his face first, “I will let you check my vitals, if–” glancing towards the young woman “–you help me find something to cover my face,” he was making a deal with the nurse.

What a pain in the ass. Why can’t he let me take his vitals and he will be on his way? the nurse’s eyes seemed to narrow when he proposed this offer to her. She wanted to tell him no deal, but she needed to maintain her posture in this line of work, “Fine. Your things are over there in the draw. Are you going to sit back on that bed and allow me to clear you before leaving?” she was goal orientated, that goal was to clear Katakuri, so they could both get out of this situation.

Going over to the draw by a chair – as if anyone would visit or be allowed to visit. Katakuri opened it with ease, seeing that there were dark slacks, a red dress shirt, a dark pair of socks, his dress shoes, and a mask that he could wear. Grabbing all of the items out of the drawer, he walked over to the bed and sat down. Placing the items beside him, “Do your job,” he gestured to himself. The young nurse grabbed a clipboard that was set on a small movable desk and she walked over to do her job.
She was taking down all his vitals, writing the information on the clipboard, and she gestured to his hands for a minute – writing down how they looked, how they healed overall, and more. “Did you want to participate in physical therapy, Mister Soran?” she asked in a way that already stated she knew his answer. This was his main nurse, she was one of the only people that knew what he actually looked like.

“Well, is it going to be with you or–?” he raised his brows with a smirk at his flirtatious comment.
“Mister Soran, I am engaged, thank you very much,” her tone was sassy and she sniped at him.
Rolling his eyes, he didn’t look at her when he made this comment, “I mean, your loss,” he began to tease as he looked back to confirm her reaction was a negative one.
“I am fine with that loss. I wouldn’t want to be with a bender anyways. No one does,” that last comment was somewhat personal, at least he felt it pinch inside when she made such a statement. No one does. Maybe he felt guilty that he went around lying about what he was...a monster… Taking a deep breath, she realized that her words didn’t come out right and she began to stutter.
“I-I-” she didn’t know how to fix that statement, “I didn’t mean that Mister Soran…” she seemed to step away, she could see the emotion on his face, and his whole expression dropped as he stared at the ground. He was in the middle of a thought.
“You’re wrong,” he blinked while letting his eyes connect with the young nurse, “Eko loved me and she knew what I was. Some people can love things that scare them and things that are scary can love them back,” the only amount of upset feelings, if you could really justify them as upset from the nurse’s comment, was his facial expressions changing, but he kept a gentle tone while telling her that he knew what love was. That he knew someone who loved him once.

The nurse knew he was talking about his dead wife, “I am sorry, Mister Soran,” she could only utter that sentence while hugging the clipboard to her chest. She didn’t think when saying those words to him, how could she be saying that to a bender? A fire bender who could kill her right in her tracks and maybe never earn consequences for it.

“I know you’re not,” Katakuri stood while staring at her, “Stop apologizing for what you truly believe. It's annoying to hear such shallow words. On the surface, I look like anyone, but you know deep down that I am what the news says my kind are. How we are destructive and dangerous,” he kept his eyes on her while saying this, his voice not made angry, since he understood her fear. He has seen that fear throughout his life. His parents, other children he was faced up against in the LSF training grounds, and people that he was hunting.

The room seemed to drop to an eerie silence, as she allowed her eyes to fall off him, in a guilty way, she stared at the floor. Katakuri began to dress in the appropriate attire, dark slacks, a crimson red dress shirt, matching dress shoes, cufflinks, a watch, his engagement ring from years ago, and a mask to get out of here.
Without another exchange of words, he left the room and headed to the front desk. There, he barely stopped, “Agent F22150 is leaving,” he did not even look back to see if the nurse registered that or not. He wanted to go home. He needed to go home.

Upon arrival home, he did not have the mask on anymore and Chosah was waiting at the door for him. She was hunched over on the ground with her head on the cushioned bench where you could sit and take your shoes off. She had a blanket on her and she appeared to not be in the most comfortable position. Katakuri walked over to his daughter after silently closing the door. He put a hand gently on her since he knew it was around six or seven in the morning – he didn’t want to wake her up. Gently lifting her up, cradled in the blanket, he walked to her room while the dogs realized he was home as well.
They began to make some noise and he shushed them, they seemed to get the signal and began to calm down. Their nails were not chattering on the wooden floors from their small bounces of excitement. Duchess seemed to groan somewhat when she had to calm down as if she was arguing with Katakuri. She pushed her body against his legs, practically begging for attention.

Nudging the dog in an attempt for her to get off his legs, since he didn’t want to trip with Chosah in his arms, “Duchess. Move.” he tried to keep his voice down while vocally telling the beast to get. Duchess started to press her weight against him even more. Stopping in his tracks, he stared down at the dog who seemed to have a sh*t-eating-grin and a small wag of her tail. “Fine.” he commented somewhat aggressively while he reached down to pet the dog. She pressed her head up against his hand, forcing his hand more up in the sky, so he had to more aggressively pet her of her need for attention.

After a moment of being petted, Duchess seemed to be fine and not directly bother Katakuri while they walked towards Chosahs room. Opening the door to a room that was heavily decorated in pink, white, and blue colors. He told the dogs to stay outside of the room as he carried Chosah to her bed, picked up the comforter, and placed her on the soft sheets. Gently, he tried to tuck her in and place a kiss on her forehead without waking her up. While giving her a kiss, he felt her little hand begin to touch his face, “Papa,” her voice was lacking consciousness as if she would only be awake for those few seconds.
Whispering to her, “It is me,” to maybe confirm any fears of it being someone else or differentiating that it wasn’t one of her grandparents. Katakuri barely touched her hair with the tip of his fingers while he stroked it out of her face. Staring into her eyes that were barely open or awake. Her little hand felt so warm on his chin, she must have been sleeping at the front door for hours. He wasn't surprised, Chosah did that a lot.

“I’m…” she tried to say something else, but she yawned. That yawn seemed to break anything she was trying to formulate in her head. She was silent for a few seconds before trying to say something else, “I…” she could only get the first word in her sentence out.

Smiling at her innocent struggle to talk while she was still so tired, he interrupted her in a soothing voice, “You can tell me later,” he said while giving her another kiss on the forehead before raising himself away from his daughter more. She appeared to have passed out in the past few seconds, so he confirmed that he was good to go.

Getting to the doorway of her room. “Papa,” he heard the voice of his daughter be more awake. Letting his eyes go over his shoulder, he noticed Chosah was sitting up in bed, rubbing her face, and trying to wake herself up.

“What?” his voice was not very loud, since he was trying to keep her sleeping since she needed it. She was probably up all night because he didn’t come home. She didn’t like it when he wasn’t home at night.

“Cuddles?” her voice almost sounded as if it cracked as if she was begging to spend time with him, and she kept rubbing her eyes. Trying her best to formulate the reality around her.

He nodded his head, “I can,” he shut the door so the dogs wouldn’t bother them. Slipping off his shoes by the door and walking over to the bed. “Scoot, I barely can fit in this bed, to begin with,” he said while she tried her best to scoot. Only gave him about a foot of space to be on the bed and it was a twin XL mattress. “That’s not going to work,” He said while taking the blankets from Chosah and picking her up. Moving her to the edge by the wall, he got into bed with her. Putting the pink comforter over both of them and holding Chosah close, cuddling her. Less than thirty seconds later, Chosah was completely out against his chest. Katakuri lay there, thinking about what needed to be done.

Katakuri ended up falling asleep and his daughter was the one fully awake, it was around ten or eleven in the morning, and she sat there watching her father sleep. She likes spending time with him even if he was sleeping, so she wasn’t going to take him any time soon. Chosah associated her father being awake with the less time they get to spend together since he was a busy man. An agent for the LSF, COO of the family company, training, and then he would spend time with her after all of that.
She cuddled him in an awkward position, since he was on his side, so she placed her head on his left arm. Being in a similar position to earlier on how she was hunched over with her head on the bench. She stared at his face, she was curious about what he was dreaming about or why he was so tired. He usually would be awake from dawn to dusk.

After a while her stomach began to growl, it was about fifteen minutes before noon, and she was considering whether she should wake him up or not. “Dad-dad” she repeated herself as she sat up and began to attempt to shake him awake. “I’m hungry,” Chosah stated while trying to shake her dad awake more.

“Chosah, I am awake, just give me a second,” his voice sounded half asleep while he began to adjust to the small bed before rolling off from it. He slipped off from the bed without making much noise, lying on his back on the floor, as he stared up at Chosah looking down at him.

“You messed the bed up,” she pointed to the blanket that was still somewhat around him, half on the bed, and the pillow that fell off while he was moving around. “You got to make the bed,” her tone of voice almost demanded as if she was trying to say, she wouldn’t.

“It’s your bed” he began to argue with her.

Her brows knitted together while she let out almost an offended huff, “You messed it up,” she was validating the reason he had to make it. He messed it up.

“Mhm, no,” he was teasing her, but she was still offended that he would tell her no. Every time she messed up the bed, she had to remake it.

“You…you…” she was showing that she was trying to figure out the word. “You…” she huffed and then jumped off the bed onto him.

“Ugh! Chosah!” He rolled over after she landed square on his torso, he felt the little bits of pain shock his body from his daughter's weight straight onto his ribs and stomach. Coughing hard, he wasn’t prepared for her to do that at all. “You can’t do that,” he said while beginning to get up, so she slid off him onto the other part of the floor.

“And you can’t do that,” she repeated back in more of a questioned statement while pointing at the bed. She seemed to be frustrated by her dad not wanting to make her bed after he was the one that messed it up.

“Chosah, I will make your bed, I am just pulling your leg,” he actually pulled at her leg playfully while saying this. She seemed to brighten right up after he confirmed that she was not going to have to take care of his mess.

Making the child’s bed was not difficult at all, so he was done within a moment or two. “Time to get something to eat?” he looked over at Chosah who was playing with her toys. She was spoiled by her grandparents, especially by her grandmother.
It was around lunch, but they both decided that breakfast sounded better, so Katakuri made kimchi fried rice with eggs and bacon. They sat there in peace at the table eating their breakfast till Mister Soran stormed in, “What is this?” the older man threw up his hands. “Is what Urose saying about her true?” he gestured to his granddaughter with a red face, he was angry, steaming.

Katakuri glared up from his brows as he watched his father’s reactions and he huffed out a breath. “Don’t look at me like that! Answer me.” the older man demanded while waving his fist and Chosah seemed to instantly go in fear. Sliding from her chair to under the table, was not normal behavior from her grandfather. He did get angry, she has seen him steam up in a rage, but she was never the target.

“You’re scaring her,” Katakuri said while staring at his father with a blank expression. He could feel Chosah curl around his leg while he slipped a hand under the table to play with her hair, trying to comfort her.

“Scaring her!? She’s just like you! Did you know about this from when she was born?” Mister Soran was trying to figure out how long he has been put in the dark about his granddaughter being a bender. He was not happy about the information Urose told him, and he was angry at his son for being a bender.

“No, her abilities are new.” Katakuri kept it real with his father most of the time. He could feel his leg begin to heat up under the table, and he began to brush his fingers into Chosah’s hair even more. She was clinging onto his leg from her grandfather being so angry, and she understood that she was the reason why. The old man was not keeping a cool head about the situation.

“We need to inform the RSF – the LSF!” Those words stung when he heard his father say them. He knew that they might not understand that the RSF or LSF would not take Chosah. She would be euthanized or in prison for the rest of her life. They already had replacements for him if he died.
He might have hurt Chosah with his movements, ripping himself away from her, and going over the table. Face to face with his old man. Katakuri was the taller one, “Tell them. I will burn you alive.” There was no hesitation with these words. No second guessing on if he should say it or not.

Mister Soran could tell his son wasn’t joking, and somehow all his anger faded into a cold sensation in his body. Was this fear? Fear of his own son. The dark eyes staring back at him were not his son’s, they were like the ocean at night. Dark and ruthless, if you took a dive into them, you wouldn’t return. “Kata, we need to.” He was trying to do the best for the family business, not his family with that thought.
Hearing a loud bang, Urose speeded up to get to the kitchen faster and she saw her husband hanging there by her own son’s hand. The older man held onto the wrist of their son. “Katakuri!” she shouted in a surprising way as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “Let him down!” she ordered.

“Why did you tell him?” Katakuri kept his eyes on his father and squeezed the man’s neck even more.

“I had to, Kata,” his mom almost pleaded as she heard her husband begin to struggle for air. “You need to put your father down,” she repeated herself, she didn’t know what else to do.

“I don’t think I can. He was threatening to tell the LSF and RSF about Chosah. Chosah is the closest I will ever get to Eko’s last moments. She is the last living part of Eko that I have and you will NOT do anything to inform the LSF, RSF, or tell anyone else. If any of you tell anyone else this whole estate will burn. The family company will burn. I will burn everything. I will burn Ba Sing Se to the ground if I have to, to keep Chosah safe. Just don’t tell anyone else about Chosah, her abilities, or anything about me. Then you get to live in your safe little city,” Katakuri dropped his father and the man grabbed his own throat trying to regulate his breathing.

Urose ran over to her husband, crouching to his aid, as she looked up at her son in the eyes. She could tell she was serious about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground if it meant keeping Chosah safe. He stared at his parents for a few seconds before turning back to the table and realizing Chosah wasn’t under it anymore, “Fuck…” he huffed while going to search for her. As he left the kitchen, he swore he heard his mother say, “Mazu, they will kill her.” Urose did not want to lose her granddaughter.

Spending the next fifteen minutes looking for his little girl, he noticed that one of the sunroom doors was open. The handle was wooden and charred black. Katakuri touched it, feeling its warmth as he heard the faint cries of a terrified child, “Chosah,” gently he began to enter the room as he opened the door. Dark footsteps were scorched into the room's tile floor.
Looking around the sunroom, he spotted Chosah right away in the koi pond. She was splashing water on herself as she was trying to control her crying. The clothes she was wearing seemed to have caught on fire and her skin seemed to be a bit red, nothing more than first-degree burns.

Katakuri went right over to the koi pond, stepped in, and sat by his daughter. Looking around as he relaxed on the edge, putting his arms wide to look at the plants in the room. “Couldn’t control it?” He glanced over at her as she seemed to sniffle a few times, noticing her father was fully clothed and lying in the koi pond.
To her, this was ridiculous as she began to start laughing while tears kept coming from her eyes, “Papa,” she was smearing her face with koi pond water as she tried to get the tears off her cheeks. “W-what are you doing?” Chosah couldn’t help the little escapes of laughter in between sniffles and cries.

“I don’t know. I thought it was a good idea, I was feeling pretty heated myself. I mean as a kid, I never jumped into a pond when I set myself on fire. I guess you’re smarter,” Katakuri glanced back at his daughter, seeing her frown slowly shape into a small smile, as she began to laugh more.

“I’m smarter?” she made an inhaling sniffing noise, as she sat there looking at her father with a confused look.

“I mean, I always tried rolling on the ground. That–” thinking about it for a second, “– usually worked.” shrugging his shoulders at the memories. “I think water is a pretty good way to put out a fire,” he scooped water up in his hand and allowed it to pour gradually out through his fingers.
“Chosah, I need to get you out of the city and you will be on an adventure for the rest of your life. I hope I can join you on this adventure, but I do not know if I can. If I don’t join you,” he sat up while looking at his daughter and grabbing her hand, “I will always be with you in here and here,” with his other hand, he pointed at her head and her heart.
“I might not be able to join you, so I can make sure you get out of this city safely.” he was trying to explain to his four-year-old daughter that he might have to sacrifice his own life to make sure she lives a decent one. He knew his father wasn’t going to keep his mouth shut for long. The LSF only figured out about Kata because his father was scared of benders.

“I don’t like that,” Chosah seemed concerned when her father was explaining this plan to her. She would have to live without her grandparents, her aunties, the dogs, and maybe her father too. She wouldn’t have anyone then. She would be all alone, and she didn’t want to be alone.

“I know, but you need to understand, Chosah. You are not safe here anymore,” Kata knew this was a hard decision and realization for the both of them. Stroking his hand through his hair, he began to dampen the dark locks as he kept his eyes on his daughter.

Chosah nodded with a firm frown, she knew her father was trying to do the best for her, but she didn’t like the plan.

Katakuri grabbed his daughter and pulled her close, picking her up, as he stood out of the water and let them both drip off for a moment, “Can you keep this safe, Chosah?” He pulled a ring from his pocket while giving it to Chosah. It was her mother’s engagement ring that hung on a silver chain.
Chosah seemed confused, but she recognized the ring. Her father wore a matching one. “Is that mama?” Chosah went to grab the ring, which he allowed her to grab onto the necklace.

“It is,” he confirmed while putting the chain around her neck. Chosah seemed to get caught up in the pretty gem on the top, a blood diamond, on a pure silver base. She was examining the jewel while Kata carried her to the bathroom to get some aloe or burn cream, so her wounds would be fine.

Making sure Chosah was safe in her room in new clothes, and her wounds tended to, Katakuri knew what he was going to have to do. He was going to have to put this plan into action tonight. It was already rolling and everything was paid for, he had to meet with the people who could get Chosah out of the city without much issue and get her to one of the civilizations out of the wall. Somewhere she could grow up safely as a bender. Staring at his daughter playing with her toys, he loved her so much, and he would always love her that much or more.

Everything was going to be expected till he got his plan in place. The raid was most likely going to cause getting out of the city difficult. Everyone that would help benders get out was probably dead or in extreme cases of hiding. He could climb the wall with Chosah or probably walk through the gates without issue. Katakuri knew he was going to have to get her out of the city one way or another, but his years of planning were halted by the major outburst of benders.
Going over to where Chosah was, he sat down beside her and asked if he could play. She handed him a toy that looked like an unagi, and she asked him to be the bad guy that was holding the princess hostage. He instantly got into character with the toy, and he would spend the rest of the night with his daughter.</sub>

Upper Ring · Morning · [&.Exit]Upper Ring · Late Afternoon ·

_

Zhen’s morning started at the Metropolitan Club of Ba Sing Se. One of the city’s oldest social clubs currently was housed in a modernist building, seated in the middle of one of the canals that ran through the Upper Ring. The top level was a gorgeous Chuiwan course, always packed with people spending more time discussing business than they did actually trying to hit the ball into the hole through the finely crafted maze of obstacles. Those who tried to work on their stroke spent time at the practice range, hoping to improve their score on one of the city’s most fiendishly difficult courses, frequently sending another ball out into the water. The lower levels of the building actually dipped below the water line of the canal, letting the occupants see into the clear blue waters whenever they looked out the window. The restaurant section of the club used this to the greatest effect; all three levels were covered in a wedge of floor to ceiling windows, like a transparent ship’s bow set in the water. There wasn’t a single table with a bad view. This was where Zhen found herself, showing up for the regular breakfast meeting of esteemed ladies of the Upper Ring. Who showed up varied, but one of the staples was Kazuha, who was talking as Zhen sat down.

“So they’ve rented the stadium for the rally on short notice, I’m impressed they had this all ready only a few days after the incident. Everyone is walking in; finding their seats and the sound system is ready. The speaker is prepping himself before he goes on. And back here they’ve got this massive, just enormous pile of Chu jerseys, ready to wheel them out when the time is right for the bonfire. One of them even has got the flamethrower ready and he’s trying it out on scraps of paper, doesn’t even care if he sets off the smoke alarm. Anyway, the two people in charge are standing there and they just keep going back and forth if they should go through with it. One of them says it’s a great visual to have big pile of burning jerseys, then the other says but it’d be traumatic, and too similar to what Chu did. Some third genius chimes in with the fact that apparently burning objects in public could be a sign of respect in the days of the Fire Nation, and then they’re all shouting about what do we do with this giant pile of jerseys we collected, can’t give ‘em back, can’t just forget about them. So that’s when I tell them ‘I don’t care what you do with them, but if you don’t figure out something right now then I’ll be needing that flamethrower over there because I’m going to use it on the check that would’ve been my next donation to you’ “

Somewhere in Kazuha’s tangled mess of a family tree lies ties to both the Moons and the Satos. She is far too removed to have involvement in the interests of either, and her fortune isn’t even close to making the list of the cities richest. It’s still far beyond what an ordinary citizen could attain, and gives her the ability to live a life of luxury and buy influence. She deploys it strategically; hunting for wherever will give her the most influence for her Yuan; now she sits on the board of half a dozen major organizations and even more small ones. Zhen knows her because she’s on the Board of Supervisors for the University of Ba Sing Se; others might know her as one the biggest supporters of the Equalist League. Also with her was the other stalwart of the breakfast gatherings, Shujia. Shujia’s husband is the Duke of Gaoling. He rules over nothing, Gaoling is just another territory on the map, shaded in as Republic territory, but the most it ever sees are a few planes flying over it; Shujia’s family has never set foot in it, practically no one from Ba Sing Se has since the Great War. The title of Duke lives on, and off of it the family has continued to accumulate influential positions without any justification other than the title they hold. There is one more with them, the youngest of the group, Yunjin. She is a former RSF pilot who founded her own company a few years ago. It’s seen explosive growth and is said to have all three of the Zaibatsu submitting bids to buy it, rocketing its founder into a realm of wealth and status she had never known before. She sits ram-rod straight, just like they taught her in the service, and wears an immaculate outfit that is two seasons out of style. She doesn’t talk much, shifting her eyes around and struggling to find an opening in the conversation.

After joining them they talked about the usual business of the upper ring, dominated by rumors about other people in their social circles. When Zhen discussed her foundation’s work or progress on her manuscript, Kazuha and Shujia feigned interest, not wanting to appear uncultured; Yunjin genuinely wanted to hear more but each time it goes on too long the conversation drifts back to particulars of the personal lives of the royal court or the indiscretions of the corporate elite.
When the waiter came by they all place their orders: Smoked Sea Slug for Kazuha, Wild Elephant Koi rolls for Shujia, Tsampa for Zhen and Moo-sow bacon for Yunjin. They had accepted Zhen’s bland, vegan diet into their social circle, but as a newcomer, Yunjin wasn’t spared their scrutiny. She explained that she was always fond of Moo-sow bacon from her time in the service, the commanding officer always made sure they ate well before they had a particularly grueling mission, no matter how many favors he had to call in with the quartermaster. There was a silence as Kazuha and Shujia refused to respond, cultivating the awkwardness as a way of highlighting her lack of sophistication, until Zhen came in and turned to a more intellectual topic, discussing food insecurity in the Lower Ring, sharing what she had learned recently.
When the waiter came he set their plates down quickly, the height of the breakfast rush gave him little time to pause. He pushed a heavily loaded cart up a spot a few tables down, but he forgot to engage the brakes. While he was looking away, it began to roll, picking up speed and heading towards Zhen’s seat. Shujia screamed when she saw it. Once Zhen noticed, she leaned back in her chair, tilting it onto its hind legs. As it was almost falling over she holds her hands up and touches the floor when it starts to come down, supporting her weight on them, then pivots the rest of her body to complete the flip. She stood tall, giving her shirt and her pants a wipe to clear out the wrinkles, looking over the aftermath of the collision of the cart and the chair. None of the fallen food reached her.

Shujia stared at the waiter and shouted to him

“What is your name?’

“Vang” He said

“Go home now. Don’t come back, ever. Also don’t bother applying to any jobs at any other respectable dining establishment on the upper ring either.” She said

“Uhmmm?”

Then Shujia stood up out of her chair and began to walk towards him. She said

“Do as I say while I still have some patience left. Don’t bother bringing this up with your supervisor, it’s best to leave now. Dally and you may find yourself facing criminal charges.”

Vang was out of there as quick humanly possible without hitting anyone else.

Kazuha said

“That was an impressive maneuver there. I’m surprised you find time to stay so fit, professor. What’s your secret?”

“I bet it’s yoga.” Shujia said

“It’s not any one thing, but I prefer to keep the details to myself. Having some secrets can be fun, after all.” Zhen said

“Look at you professor, keeping secrets, doing yoga, eating like an Air Nomad, reading Bender texts. Some might say you’re going soft.” Shujia said

“If people wonder about my views I would direct them to read my books. If one reads them they should have a good grasp on what I believe.” Zhen said

“What would you say to those who don’t want to read them?” Kazuha said

“I’d say what I say to some of my students, unfortunately I am not your mother and I don’t have the time in my schedule to read you a book and tuck you in at night. Although I might prefer that to having to sit through another one of these meetings about all the minutiae of reopening the university after last week’s incidents.” Zhen said

“Are they taking steps to ensure the campus is safe from Benders?” Kazuha said

“They are, along with discussing other priorities.” Zhen said

“What could be a higher priority that keeping Benders away from our young students?” Shujia said

“It is not an issue we are ignoring, I can assure you.” Zhen said

Before anyone could answer, Yunjin spoke

“Any of you ever kill a Bender before?”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Kazuha said

“I was saying, you guys talk a lot about them but I was wondering if any of you has ever killed one of them before.” Yunjin said

“No…none of us have. Why would you ask?” Shujia said

“Because I have, and I don’t think any of you would know what it’s like. It didn’t feel good. Didn’t really feel bad either, didn’t feel like much of anything. For me, up in the VTOL bird, I just lined one up in the gunsight and squeezed the trigger. Let the first burst go and it hit the mark, no need for a second. I just saw them in the blurry little black and white screen, they twitched for a moment when the bullets hit them and that was that. They fell over and never moved again. The radio was loud after that, some people asking for a confirmation, some hooting and hollering, but I was quiet.” Yunjin said. There was more silence.

“Anyway, what I meant was, we spend a lot of time thinking about them, building ‘em up like some kind of monsters, but in the end they’re just flesh and blood. I don’t like ‘em, and I did the right thing that day, but that doesn’t mean I’ve gotta keep how much I hate them always on my mind. I can live my life better if I don’t have to think about them all the time. Not every problem in the world is caused by Benders.”

All three were quiet. Zhen was stone-faced, a calm and blank expression revealing no feeling. Kazuha seemed to want to say something but held off, never saying a word. Shujia gave her the type of contemptuous glare that came from generations of privilege, wishing she could stare so intensely that it would evict Yunjin on the spot. The finished up breakfast and parted ways with little further discussion. Yunjin and Zhen made sure to exchange contact details with as they left, out of sight from the other two. Yunjin might not be welcome back at the breakfast gatherings again but Zhen admired her courage.

Zhen took the monorail home. In the upper ring it is clean and always on-time, but few residents ride it. The main users are the workers, those who commute in from elsewhere to serve the denizens of the upper ring. She used the time to compose a message to one of her assistants at the Doing What We Can Foundation.

Subject: New Pilot Program – Direct Cash Aid to local leaders

I have a new idea for deploying our funds that I want to investigate with a pilot program: direct cash aid to the Lower Ring, to be distributed by a local leader. I would like to begin promptly with an initial one-off trial, budgeting four hundred thousand Yuan. Please work on guidance for the recipient although we won’t impose strict controls at the start. We will ask them to keep records and then rely on those and our own auditing before we consider expanding it. This could potentially increase the speed and reduce costs associated with deploying funds.

Please implement this when you can. I know the first recipient and can forward them instructions once the funds are available.

She also saw there was another message for her, but it was of a nature that was too sensitive to check in a public space. That would until she got home.

Zhen looked out the window and saw neighborhoods pass; each one had a particular character to it. There’s one for the old money, another has mostly nobles, one that is where government officials settle, and each of the megacorps have their own place where they encourage their executives to live. The one where she resides is a collection of miscellaneous professions, the homes there are beautiful but some of the more humble by the standards of the Upper Ring. The house Zhen and Xiaoxu lived in was a clean black rectangle, apart from one notable feature: a semi-opaque glass façade covering an inner garden, complete with trees and a pool of water. The interior was more conventional, filled with sharp angles and minimalist décor, but the basement held something that not every house in the Upper Ring had: a space specially treated to prevent any outside surveillance and allow for classified communications. This was where she headed after entering, going to return the message she saw on the bus. The secure area was divided into two halves, so that both she and her husband had their own work area; he needed his for consultations with the Ministry of Justice, and as far as he knew hers was for handling the classified spiritual texts she had access to. She could see him on the phone when she went in.

She made a call to one of the “men upstairs”, the people who had a say in just about anything in her life and were particularly keen on guiding the operations of her foundation. To her surprise, they picked up when she called. The conversation was brief, she asked

“What was it that you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh, not much. Just wanted to let you know there might be a change in priorities when it comes to where your foundation’s funds are directed.”

“What kind of changes?”

“I’m afraid I can’t share that yet. We will let you know when it is time. For now, just wait; be nice and obedient and ready to do as we say. That is all.”

He hung up.

Zhen took some time to process it then stepped out just in time to see her husband wrapping up his call. As soon as he was in the hallway he shouted.

“FUCK! FUCK THEM ALL!”

“Uhm, uh, what happened? Zhen said

“Those pricks at the Ministry of Justice put everyone with two braincells to rub together on the case of the Advisor caught bending, but when I ask if I can be part of it they tell “Oh, Prosecutor Zhang , we need you on this other very important case” I wasn’t asking for much, just a speaking section at the trial, doesn’t even has to be cross examination, I know they’re picky about those because you have to make the witness breaking down believable for everyone watching on the screen but come on, the trial is a big event, can’t they find some spot in it for me? I was the king of Mock Trials back in law school, undefeated, perfect record. You can’t leave a talent like me out even if it would’ve been my first trial. Anything else is going to be a downgrade.” He said

“I’m sorry to hear that. I think they will regret their decision once they’ve had time to reflect.” She said

“I don’t want to give them time; I want those imbeciles to own up to how wrong they are. Nothing is going right. The day I get made prosecutor the city explodes in a mess of bending and that’s all anyone can talk about. The big gala got rescheduled and of course it’s all going to Benders this, Benders that. Even the little things are going wrong. Two days ago, we were supposed to celebrate my promotion, but you had that little emergency meeting with the government.” He said

“I’m sorry about that; they needed an expert on Bender history on short notice. We still got to celebrate the day after.”

“It wasn’t the same; it ruined the reservation I had at The Fat Turtle Duck. I couldn’t celebrate there by myself; it wouldn’t send the right message. Because I had to reschedule to a time when you were available, I ended up at Narook’s again, like every other middle manager celebrating their promotions.” He said. Zhen thought it was best to change the subject.
“What about the case that they did give you?” She asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Some dumb bitch that decided to shoot a security robot the same day her fiancé turned herself into a human torch in the middle of Badgermole stadium. I think I only got this one because I wrote that law review article arguing for full equivalence between crimes against RSF officers and ones committed against RSF robots. Cranked that one out over a weekend but they liked it, I knew they would. Anyway, so my first case is against this nobody, An Tamura or something. If anyone else remembers her name, I hope it’ll be because of how bad I destroy her. Maybe if I do well enough they’ll give me Chu next, assuming they catch her alive. Huh, I wonder how many people in the prosecutor’s office have ever gotten both members of a couple on separate occasions, let alone done it back to back. If I do that I’ll have to tell people about it, maybe even make an award, they can call it the Xiaoxu Award, it’ll go to anyone who nails both members of a couple back to back.”

He looked very satisfied with himself after saying that, while Zhen looked puzzled.

“When I say nailed, I mean, in the courtroom, y’know. You wouldn’t know because you aren’t part of those circles but we do talk like that, it’s common slang, trust me.”

“I will take your word for it. I have one meeting at the University today, other than that I’ll until it’s time to get ready for the Gala tonight.”

She went upstairs, looking forward to getting a moment of quiet in her busy life.

A Memory? A Dream? / ??? · A Memory? A Dream? / ??? ·

____________________________________________________________________________.
It wasn't technically illegal to leave the city and walk out into the endless, barren sands of the desert, but it was the kind of thing that drew questions. Unless you were a pipe runner, why would anyone ever want to? So one generally found other ways. Those ways shifted over time as the RSF found them, closed them up, and others popped up or were pried back open once the RSF couldn't afford to watch it any more.

There were reasons, after all, however few they were.

Today's reason was the most dangerous of all in a world that actively and aggressively denied the existence of benders.

Weiyuan took a somewhat loose stance. Chae-Won immediately knew he wouldn't even be trying to use regular earth bending any time soon. He would focus on send bending, because he found it easier. Well, it was his loss, then.

"Remember," she said, "no using solid rock to attack. We aren't trying to concuss each other." In case he changed his mind. He nodded. "All right then. Let's go!"

Immediately he swung his arms forward, throwing a wide blast of sand at her. She'd have rolled her eyes if it wasn't for the fact that she'd get sand in them. Instead, she simply parted it, immediately giving away Weiyuan's next move. Their fighters were never anything approaching fair, of course. Most of what he knew had come from her, and she knew all his strategies.

It didn't surprise her that he'd try to close the distance. His control still needed a lot of work and it was hard for him to really attack from range.

As he rushed in, she simply moved ever so slightly aside and called up a pillar of earth below her foot to rapidly drive her knee into his gut, completely cutting his momentum and dropping him to the ground. For a moment, he just lay there, completely stunned and just trying to breathe. She was a little afraid that had been overkill. However, he did recover before she thought to end the fight.

He took a note from her, using the earth to propel his body. He spun himself, swinging his leg up toward her face, throwing up sand as he did. He didn't just kick up a little of it, either, a rather sizeable stream of sand followed his foot, careening toward her face. She had to say it was a good move. She was proud of him.

Anyone else probably would've taken it. Again, however, their fights weren't supposed to be fair.

She stepped back, turning her whole body as she gathered up the attack, spun around, and blasted it back at his chest, slamming him back to the ground and leaving his upper body half-buried by his own sand.

"I think that'd good for this round," Chae-Won told him, holding her hand out. "That was a good try, though."

He spat out some sand, narrowing his eyes at her, but reached out to let her pull him back to his feet.

You said no solid rock... he told her once he was back up.

"Hey. I didn't hit you with it, did I?" she smirked at him. "You know exactly what I meant by that. You're getting better with sand, but you have to get used to all aspects of your bending. If you're gonna keep practicing, you need to know what you're doing. There's no getting away with half-assing it."

He looked away, but nodded. All this was his idea at the end of the day, so she knew he wanted to learn, but she also knew he got frustrated. His actual ability to train was rather sporadic due to his condition, so progress came small spurts at best.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, kid. I'm still learning too," she told him, ruffling his hair, dusting some more sand out of it as she did. "I mean if it wasn't for you, I-..." she cut herself off, swallowing hard. Of course he noticed, tilting his head. "Ah, i-it's nothing. I mean... I just..." She began fidgeting nervously. "I don't suppose you'd believe I wasn't going to say anything, huh?"

He shook his head, You never told me how you first learned.

"I... did not."

Do you not want to?

She flinched, seeing the bit of disappointment in his eyes, but it quickly vanished.

It's OK. You don't have to. He shook his head. I'm happy you're teaching me. That's enough.

"No!" Chae-Won blurted out, gritting her teeth as she got flustered. She ran a hand through her hair, taking a deep breath. "I... I do want to tell you. I don't mind, really, it's just... a lot. Especially when I wasn't really expecting it to come up."

He shrugged, It's fine either way. Not like I'm around that often anyway.

"Hey!" She suddenly grabbed his face in both hands, making him look at her. "None of that, huh?! I don't like you thinking like that!"

Still, he tried to avert his eyes. He grabbed her wrist, but she wasn't letting go. Finally he relented and met her eyes.

"I care about both sides of you, OK? You're not just some wall that only exists to protect your 'other half!' You're... just you. And this is the side of you I met first, remember?" She let her hands fall down to his shoulders. "This is all for you, you know? If not for you... I'd have forgotten all this a long time ago. Someday, I'd have come to regret it, and by then... it would have been too late. So I will tell you all about it, because I want to share it with you, and because you deserve it. OK?"

She could see him struggling to absorb it all, but finally he bit his lip and gave a slight nod.

"And I mean it! I'm not gonna forgive anyone who looks down on you! Including you! Now tell me you understand." She furrowed her brow. Another nod. "Good." She pulled him close, wrapping her arms around him. "It's just you and me, kid..."

Slowly she felt him reciprocate, his arms grasping at her back and face burrowing into her shoulder.

All this was why she had to protect him, and why she had to push him. She never wanted to see him hurt ever again. She needed to know that if, someday, that if she wasn't there... that he'd be OK.

/

Chae-Won's eyes slowly cracked open. She was... comfortable; happy to stay put for however long she could get away with. Except, her room wasn't that comfortable, a fact she was quickly becoming aware of.

As her mind continued to awaken, she remembered she wasn't supposed to be in her room, but the desert. This was not the desert. She sat up, slowly turning her head left, and then right, taking it in. Were those fuzzy slippers?

". . . what the fuck?"

Moon Residence · |@Exit] & |@canaryrose] CollaborationMoon Residence · @Exit & @canaryrose Collaboration

_______________________________________________________________________________{..... . . . . . . . . . .
Exit}
The rest of the ride saw Jack in his usual silence and An in the backseat with her eyes glued to the monitor in front of her. Bits of cracker and cheese had collected on her worn clothing and the board had almost been completely consumed. Shinobi news was covering her missing day and a half, laying out events as they happened and the effect they had across the entire city. When the newscast got to Li and her statement, An erupted in hysterical laughter.

Roughly half an hour later, the craft began to descend and as they broke through a thin layer of clouds, the Moon residence appeared. It was a large abode surrounded by acres of green land, the exterior of which was very clearly designed modern and lavish as was the norm in the Upper Ring. Walls were tall and straight and alternated between a cloudy gray, black and a dark wood finish. Some of the walls were replaced by windows that stretched from the ground to the roof. Portions of the roof itself were flat and gardened, adjourned with trees and shrubbery that matched those planted in the surrounding grounds. The lawn was cut in half by a brook that wove in between, and sometimes underneath, winding walkways and the garden, and was interrupted at regular intervals by a small waterfall. From the above, it was easy to see the fish swimming around in the various ponds.

There was a path that led from the side of the home out to a platform where Jack put them both down. They landed next to another vehicle. One that An would definitely not have seen anywhere else; A craft that was nearly completely black and was both angular yet sleek. Some of its edges were lined in a thin sliver of gold. It looked rather expensive.

Jack was out of the car first and quickly walked around to An’s side to open the door for her. ”Welcome to the Moon residence.” He said as he helped her out of the vehicle.
_canaryrose
An stepped out gingerly, staring at the massive estate in front of her. She resisted the urge to gape or exclaim in wonder, simply standing there with her hands crossed in front of her. She had never been invited to the Moon residence and, until they had entered the inner Upper Ring, had expected they’d be returning to the office. That signalled that this was much too private to speak about there. This was no work matter- it was personal. Suddenly very self conscious, she dusted the crumbs off her shirt. Her hair and dirty clothes, however, couldn’t be taken care of easily. And she was pretty sure she somewhat smelled. It seemed that someone had dragged her prone body across the asphalt at some point.

She had grown up in the Upper Ring, it was true, but her family home was practically a hovel compared to this grand estate. She glanced at the car for a moment in a bit of confusion before turning to Jack again. She didn’t know much about cars. “Thank you. Where is she?”
_Exit
”Follow me.”

Jack led her away from the landing pad and up, toward the side entrance of the house on an inclined path that took An over a small bridge and through a part of the garden. It was a short path but it was obvious from just this stretch of the walkway that every inch of the grounds had been meticulously curated; made to feel as if one was somewhere else entirely. There was no Ba Sing Se here. Just the quiet murmuring of water, the sound of the whistling wind threading through branches and leaves and the call of birds somewhere in the sky. The air here was unbelievably clean, even when compared to the Middle Ring. It was fresh and rejuvenating and every breath was crisp and cool.

The glass door that was the side entrance was opened for An and Jack motioned her inside before stepping in himself. Inside, An was greeted with vaulted ceilings and a panoramic view of green, lush landscape and distant mountains beyond the outer wall. Hardwood floors wrapped around a large planter where a tree provided some shade. Toward the center of the room was a sofa and rug and coffee table sitting on top. To An’s right, the room opened up to more living space and a dining room and beyond that, a doorway into the kitchen. Stairs around the corner wrapped around a small tree that led to the second floor and a landing that was visible from the first.

A familiar voice drifted down from above.

”Yes, Daddy. I understand… Just please be careful.”

Jack motioned for An to take a seat on the couch as he moved toward the stairs to fetch her host.
_canaryrose
An sat down, her posture board straight. She folded her hands on her lap and gazed at the extravagant living space in front of her. Being in this room felt extremely uncomfortable. She was somewhere she shouldn’t have been, seeing things she shouldn’t have seen. She didn’t wander as Jack went upstairs, although she did barely suppress a giggle upon hearing Vyska call her father “daddy”. Being with Chu Hua for four years had not made her more polite.

She took a deep breath. Even the air in the house was so much fresher- but she had been in jail for the last day and a half, so she was maybe at the wrong point to make comparisons from.
_Exit
”She’s here?... Thank you.” Vyska’s voice continued to drift down the stairs, her voice somehow still louder than Jack’s despite her whispering.

”No, it should be fi-... Okay, okay.”

After a moment, footsteps echoed from the second floor gradually getting louder until a tuft of blond hair appeared from over the landing edge. It moved toward the stairs and disappeared again, only for Vyska to appear at the bottom. Jack was following behind her.

”An!”
_canaryrose
“Vyska.” An stood from the couch as soon as the young woman’s foot touched the first floor, practically standing at attention. It was far more serious than she usually was, but this was far more serious than her life usually was.
_Exit
Vyska walked over, keeping some of her composure although it was still obvious she was relieved. ”It’s good to see you… although…” Her eyes drifted across An’s body from head to toe, recognizing the state she was in after more than a day of being away from home and without proper self care. She stopped only a few feet away from her, hesitated for a moment and then stepped up to give the woman a hug.
_canaryrose
An's brain short-circuited. She hesitated, but eventually returned the hug, giving Vyska a light squeeze. She noted the hesitation but couldn’t blame her- She knew she didn’t look very clean.
_Exit
”You look like shit.” Vyska confirmed before stepping away again and releasing An. ”And smell like it too.”

”And I know you’re probably really confused right now about why I paid your bail and had you escorted here and we do have a lot to discuss. But right now, I’m sure you could do with a nice bath and some real food?”
_canaryrose
“I…” An looked dazed as Vyska released her from the hug. They didn’t hug. They just didn’t, it was unprofessional. What on Earth was going on? “Thank you. I don’t know- wait, do I really smell that bad?” An gave herself a sniff. It really was that bad. She made a face. “Yes, I’m… well, confused is a gross understatement. A hot shower and a hot meal would be nice, though. But please don’t let me take advantage of your hospitality.” She lowered her eyes from Vyska’s to the floor. Her voice sounded shy, almost chagrined. An hated not knowing things, but she hated being helpless even more. It would be rude to refuse Vyska’s hospitality, though, and she didn’t know what else to do but accept the offer. What she really wanted to do was find out what was going on. But apparently, Vyska wouldn’t do that until she stopped smelling.
_Exit
”You’re not taking advantage of anything, I promise you. I-...” Vyska shook her head, dismissing the direction the conversation wanted to go and focusing on what was more important. They had time. Enough of it at least for the time being. ”There is a lot going on. For now, let’s get you into something more comfortable.”

Vyska led An up the spiraling staircase and down a hall only a short distance. The interior decor changed only slightly as the open feel of the previous space became more enclosed. The wall on the right became jagged rock as if it had been cut right from the side of a mountain. Soft warm light drifted down from the crevice created between where that wall and the ceiling met. The source of the light could not be seen. Breaking up the long stretch of black stone were a number of bamboo trees. To the left, a heavy looking, wooden door had been cut into the gray wall. Vyska walked up and opened it and ushered An inside.

Inside, the space opened up once again. Large ceiling to floor windows on two sides of the room offered a view of the distant horizon. The central portion of the ceiling too was opened up to the sky where the sparse white clouds were joined by the canopy of trees planted on the roof. A large king sized bed was pushed against one of the windowed walls and opposite the bed was a door that led to a well lit bathroom. Through that door, a glass cubed chamber could be seen with what looked like a slanted roof and a hundred nozzles attached to the surface. Next to the door leading to the bathroom was a cobalt, marbled wall with rectangular shaped outlines cut into it.

Most of the room was colored black and gray including the walls and the bed sheets. Highlights were wooden and there were sparse plants situated around the room to bring in some green and make an otherwise cold looking room seem more alive. Despite the color temperature, a carpet that was overly soft and a personal fireplace that was currently shut off helped to bring in some warmth.

”This is the guest room. Anything in here is yours to use as you please. There are fresh clothes in here…” Vyska moved to the wall and tapped one of the shapes that was cut into it, coaxing the drawer out of its nest. The interior of the compartment was outlined in a soft white light allowing anyone to easily see what was inside. ”Everything should fit.” She said, tapping it again so that it slid shut. ”There is also water in the cooler that is the nightstand. Again, take whatever you need and please take your time. Someone will be outside your door if you need anything else and when you are ready, they will lead you to the dining room where we can eat and talk.”
_canaryrose
“...Thank you. I won’t be long.” Once again, An wore a stunned and grateful look on her face, but she at least tried to smother it this time. This “guest room” was larger than the master bedroom in her own apartment, and certainly larger than the one her and Chu shared at her parents’ house. An watched as Vyska closed the door behind her, relieved to hear no click of a lock, and then turned to the bedroom. The bed was calling her name, but she didn’t have time to nap. Instead, she moved towards the dresser, picking out an outfit and smoothing it out on the bedspread before walking into the bathroom and locking the door.

An took a very long, very hot shower. She blow-dried her hair, washed herself, and started to do her make-up. Vyska had her favorite shade of lipstick, which was extremely surprising. But when she was staring at herself in the mirror… It was all too easy for her to cry now, when she was alone. The sobs came, wracking her body as she cried for the first time in a day and a half. She had tried so hard to get Chu and her out alive, but all she had done was maybe save her fiancee’s life and potentially doom herself to decades in prison. It was all so fucked. She was so fucked.

...

40 minutes after Vyska led her to the guest room, An opened the door to see the face of an attendant staring back at her. “I think I’m presentable now. Could you take me to Miss Moon, please?”

An had changed everything about her appearance. Now, a sheer white collared blouse was half- tucked into sleek black slacks, which in turn were tucked into low black stilettos. The blouse was left half-out, the right side hanging down like an arrow. It was intentional. She had tied her now-clean black hair into a high ponytail and had applied a red lip and a bit of eyeliner. There had been plenty of T–shirts and robes in the dresser, but An had wanted to appear professional. And maybe it helped her to put on that armor. Her eyes were still puffy around the edges, but she had tried to conceal that as best she could with foundation.

The attendant nodded shyly and led An down to the dining room, back down those same luxurious stairs. An had to hold onto the rail because of her heels, but she descended easily and emerged onto the ground floor, following the girl into the dining room.
_Exit
A table large enough to seat eight had settings for only one. Opposite where Vyska was seated and in front of a waiting chair, from left to right, were the dinner and salad fork, a plate with a black cloth dinner napkin pulled through a golden ring and a dinner knife and a spoon. Above the forks was a smaller plate with fresh warm bread sitting on top next to a small butter knife and a small portion cup holding butter. Above the spoon and knife was a water glass already filled and chilled and next to that, an empty wine glass.

Vyska was sat in front of her own glass of red wine and a laptop that was open and facing her.

The attendant ushered An toward the open seat.
_canaryrose
An sat down, seeming comfortable in the fancy setting. “Sorry I took so long,” An said. “The room was very nice. Thank you.”
_Exit
”Of course. And don’t worry about the time. I’m just happy you were able to make use of it." Vyska clasped her hands together and raised her eyebrows as she regarded her guest. ”What would you like to eat? We can make you anything.”
_canaryrose
“Whatever you’d like is… fine,” she said, raising her brows slightly. “I’m not picky.” She felt sweat bead on the back of her neck. She took a sip of the water.

She decided to bite the bullet. “Vyska,” she said, voice dropping. “I’m sorry to be rude, but I need to cut to the chase or I am going to combust. Not- not literally- you know what I mean. I committed a Class A felony twenty-four hours ago after my fiancee turned into a firebender and lit a stadium on fire. I might be being investigated for worse things, too. I should’ve been terminated by the company immediately, not… bailed out of jail and personally escorted to your estate. What is going on?”
_Exit
Vyska nodded at An and then gave the attendant a signal with her hand. The attendant bowed and left the room, walking through the doorway leading into the kitchen and disappearing. When they were gone, Vyska’s eyes drifted back to An’s. The far off, professional expression having long left her face for something else.

”Did she make it out? Chu?”

Jack appeared in the other room where his figure became silhouetted against the windows. He paced slowly, staring out into the vista of the surrounding grounds, making himself known but otherwise easily blending into the background.
_canaryrose
An immediately started sweating more, tightening her hands underneath the tablecloth. So this was what this was about. Of course. Should she play dumb? Should she tell the truth? “I… don’t know.” She left it at that. It was both the truth and a lie. She really didn’t know what had become of Chu after she had left her and Kanna in that tunnel. She hadn’t even let her kiss her one last time. That settled in with an awful regret.
_Exit
Vyska’s eyes lingered on An for a few moments before they dropped to the wine glass in front of her. She seemed to be tossing something over and over in her head, as if weighing the response she was given. ”I want to apologize, An.” She began, not looking up. ”At the time of me calling you a few days ago, I already knew you had used the tunnels to help Chu escape. And with Kanna. I had the card usage and the footage. What I didn’t know was your plan, but after what we saw on the news, I knew the danger you were both in, so I sent Jack to get rid of the footage and to help you get out.” She bit her lip.

”It was inevitable that the RSF would be at my facility. Mostly for rescue, but I knew there would be others who'd be more interested in finding a reason ‘why’ and I also knew that if they went digging through my records, they’d find a connection to Chu.” She gestured at An. ” Sure enough, shortly after I sent Jack away, a man arrived who I’d never seen before with a badge I didn’t recognize and authority I didn’t know existed. He had me try and contact you, and, well… I half expected or hoped you wouldn’t pick up. But then you did.” Vyska smiled slightly. ”Let’s just say he wasn’t too happy with the ‘I’ll send someone over comment’ but...” Vyska shrugged. ”His instructions weren’t very clear.”

”Luckily, RSF response was slower than expected and Jack told me no one was in your apartment when he got there. But it’s obvious the call stalled you and I’m assuming you wanted to leave.” She paused again, this time her eyes searching for any acknowledgment to what she was sharing. ”And I know what I’m saying doesn’t make any sense. ‘How do I know what you wanted to do with Chu and why would I help you?’, right?”

”Vyska…” Jack had moved a little closer now and was leaned against the wall. His arms were crossed and he was staring at Vyska intently. Vyska only closed her eyes and tilted her head away from him, her face scrunched ever so slightly as if she were trying to squeeze his voice out of her head.

”What’s going on is I need to know… I need to know that if there’s a chance that she’s alive and you can help her, would you? And I need you to be honest with me. You’ve committed a felony, yes. But we both know which of your crimes is greater. One puts you away for a long time but the other will get you killed.”

”Are you willing to die for her?”
_canaryrose
An met Vyska’s eyes, a look of shock and horror blossoming across her face. It made sense. They knew. It was clear in her eyes that An knew everything she was saying was true, that Vyska knew everything. She squinted her eyes shut tight for a moment, thinking. Vyska was clearly on her side. Unless this was some elaborate trick- no. No. It wasn’t. An’s brain was working slower than normal, but she still thought she knew how to discern between truth and lies. Vyska was telling the truth. She had done An a favor, true, but she still knew too much. Why had she deleted that footage? Why had she helped her? She couldn’t figure it out.

An opened her eyes, meeting Vyska’s again with a flat stare. “You know I’ve never done anything without a reason,” she said, fingers raising to clutch her water glass. Her hands shook minutely. Would she be willing to die for Chu Hua? It was a loaded question. Would An be willing to die for anything? “Yes,’ she breathed. She almost looked stunned that these words were leaving her mouth. After that, they spilled out, a torrent of emotion. “Yes. I would. I think I’ve already proved that, don’t you? I helped her escape knowing that it would get me killed, and I did it anyways. I love her.” She touched her engagement ring, a white stone adorning her finger. “I love her so much I shot a cop so I could run with her. Does that prove it? I don’t know if she’s even alive, but I would do what I did a thousand times over.”
_Exit
”Yeah. Well… sometimes things change when the threat becomes very real. Then you start rethink everything you knew about yourself; who you are and what you're willing to do.” Vyska began pulling on the edge the glove on her hand.

”Vyska.” Jack said again, more firmly this time. He’d uncrossed his arms and was now standing straight, his hand already reaching into his jacket.

”She’s been through enough uncertainty, Jack. She needs someone she can trust too.” Vyska answered back. She pulled the glove completely off and revealed the burn injuries covering her entire hand. There were red marks over parts of her skin that had peeled away, mostly across the entirety of her palm and climbing the inside of her fingers. They looked fresh, though how fresh was hard to tell. For someone who would have suffered burns only a couple days ago, the injuries seemed to have healed too fast.

A candle stood on the table nearby. Vyska passed her hand over it and watched as flames poured from her palm over the wick, lighting it. Her eyes darted over to An, measuring her response. Jack watched as well, ready to move the moment An reacted the wrong way.
_canaryrose
An didn’t make a sound. Her entire body, though, tensed, as if she was preparing to run at a moment’s notice. Her mouth parted, her eyes widened. It was an involuntary response. Vyska was…

A firebender. An stared at Vyska with a newfound understanding and a blossoming horror. “I see. Well. That’s… certainly not ideal.” Her response was measured, although her heart beat like a rabbit’s in her chest. It didn’t bring everything into clarity, but she finally understood as she looked between Vyska and Jack. Vyska hadn’t helped her because they were coworkers- Vyska had helped her out of a sense of kinship.

An leaned forward, taking Vyska’s burned hand in her own. She turned it over in her unblemished one, examining it.. “You’re like her, then,” she murmured. Her eyes flicked to Jack’s. “Don’t worry. I can’t exactly run to the RSF and tell them our boss is a firebender, can I? I’m assuming copies of that footage still exist somewhere.” It was true- knowing each other’s secrets was like some sort of shield. Neither of them could reveal the other’s secrets without worrying about the safety of their own. “Her burns were worse than this,” An commented, finally releasing Vyska’s hand. “I don’t understand why you’re showing me this, Vyska. Why?” Her voice finally betrayed a bit of fear then, of Vyska or of the consequences of this, she wasn’t sure.
_Exit
”Because what I’m about to ask you to do is going to be impossible if we can’t trust each other.” Vyska said, still slightly stunned that An had found it in her to reach for her hand the way she had. Jack too had nearly shot the woman, but Vyska had thrown him a hand sign from under the table. Still, his hand was firmly wrapped around the grip of a pistol in his jacket and despite what An had said, his eyes remained glued to her.

Vyska began pulling the glove back over her hand. ”Right now, all I have is Jack… and a clue that might involve you, but I can’t rely on you if I think you’ll sell me out… and I need you. The same way you need Chu. I can get you to her. More than that, I think I have a way to make it safe for you two to be together… but we’re going to need each other to do that.”
_canaryrose
An’s heart skipped a beat. “You can trust me,” she said. “You’re right; I could sell you out. Information like that could get me out of this mess. But you know too much about me. And I can’t say I have very warm feelings towards the Republic right now.” Was that too close to treason? An wasn’t sure. “Plus… I think I owe you my life. If you hadn’t bailed me out, I’m sure they would’ve wanted to do more than chat.”

“What is it? What do you need me to do?”
_Exit
Just then, the attendant returned holding a platter under a cloche. They set it down on the table in front of An and removed the lid, revealing a piece of meat that had been cut into a perfect cube. On top sat a golden, caramelized onion that had been chopped and shaped into a lotus. Underneath the steak, was a small bed of vegetables and a streak of white sauce that smelled of garlic that had been pushed in a wide arc away from the rest of the meal.

The attendant bowed and then left.

”Enjoy the fox antelope and when you’re done, you’re going to help me find the Avatar.”

??? · |@Exit] & |@KillamriX88] Collaboration??? · @Exit & @KillamriX88 Collaboration

_______________________________________________________________________________{..... . . . . . . . . . .
KillamriX88}
Chae-Won was confused. Either this was a dream, or everything else had been a nightmare. The cynic, however, told her this was all real and someone was fucking with her. Somehow.

Things just didn’t add up.

She moved to the side of the bed and picked up a slipper, shaking it and tentatively reaching inside. Nothing. No tacks or needles. OK, so it wasn’t something like that... so far. Being far too petty, she abandoned the slippers there and went to the dresser next.

Her goal was the potted plant of all things. She picked it up, put it under her arm, and… wait a minute. She stopped and held the plant out in front of her. Something felt wrong.

If she was being spied on, she figured they already knew what she could do, so there was no reason not to try. She tried to bend the soil in the pot.

Nothing

“OK. What the fuck?”

She scowled angrily at the pot, but took it with her anyway. She could still smash it over someone’s head if she had to. So, silly as she might look, she carried the potted plant in hand like an impromptu companion.
_Exit
To her right, a darker hallway led to a door that was slightly ajar. There was a sound she could hear coming from that direction resembling cracking wood. The pops were soft and muted through the walls and there was no smell of burning material typical of a large scale fire. It was gentle, not unlike a fireplace.
_KillamriX88
Chae gripped the pot by its rim in one hand and carefully pushed the door open with her other, carefully peering inside to see what, or who, awaited her.
_Exit
Through the door, the room opened up. A tall ceiling embedded with lights brightened the space beyond where a comfortable looking gray couch waited. It faced away from Chae toward a set of floor to ceiling windows overlooking trees standing too close together. It was impossible to see through the thick foliage to what was on the other side, especially considering the light layer of fog surrounding them.

The floor around the couch was made of concrete and seems cold to the touch, but the fireplace set in the wall to the left invited warmth. On the center of the couch was a head of short black hair. It bobbed side to side but remained facing forward and hadn't noticed anything was amiss. Chae narrowed her eyes and stepped into the room.
_KillamriX88
There wasn’t much use in avoiding a confrontation here. She hefted the potted plant as she approached the couch.

“OK, you have five seconds to convince me not to throw this at your head. Where the hell am I?” she asked the individual on the couch.
_Exit
”Hu- WHA! HEY!”

From the other side of the couch, a small boy swung around to face Chae, his green eyes staring up at her in surprise. He scrambled back along the couch, but even as he began to retreat from her, the fear that had started to creep across his face turned to anger. ”WHUAT DA HECK, LADY?! Yuh got a few screws loose er whut?!

He was wearing a plain white shirt over white shorts and had on white slip one shoes. Besides that a skin that seemed slightly pale, little else stood out besides the emerald irises.
_KillamriX88
She had a moment of self doubt. What was a kid doing here? That said, she wasn’t about to start questioning herself just yet.

“Maybe I do! Now answer the question! Where the hell am I? I wasn’t here when I…” Saying she’d “gone to sleep” didn’t quite fit. “When I was last awake…”
_Exit
”I dun know! Dun hit me cause YoURR da one confoosed!” He picked up a pillow and tossed it at her, aiming for her head. The throw was weak. ”Didn’t yuh see da paypa’?”
_KillamriX88
As the pillow landed at her feet after bouncing harmlessly off her, she pondered his response. Paper? Newspaper? No, but there had been something with a label on it. Dusty Hotel? That didn’t seem right.

“Dust… uh… Duster? Duster Hotel?” She blinked. “OK, great, that’s a name. What-?” She took a breath and sighed. This was going nowhere. She put the plant down, starting to feel really silly at this point, and instead put her hands on her hips. “Look, is there anyone else here? Someone clearly brought me here and I wanna know who. And why.”
_Exit
The boy's eyes snapped to the left and the right of the room, still wide with surprise. ”Uh. Nope. Juss us here, crazy lady.”
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. This was absurd. “Are you always alone? Did you even know I was here before now?” The hell kind of hotel was this?!
_Exit
”I wusn’t always alone, but isss been a while…” The boy seemed to relax some, his wide eyes beginning to squint at Chae-Won as if he were studying her. ”Yurr actually da furst in a while.” His eyes slowly turned to confusion and his face twisted up at her. ”Why are yuh here?”
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won was beginning to get a very weird feeling about this place, but she couldn’t explain it. Something was very… wrong? Unusual? She couldn’t pick the word that fit best. Nothing quite sat right.

“I… lost a fight against some very bad people. I thought they’d taken me here. They must have, but then… that doesn’t make any sense. Um, my name is Chae-Won. Sorry I scared you. What’s your name, kid?” she asked him. Either something had happened while she was out, or this was a very elaborate prank and they had a fucked up sense of humor.
_Exit
”Chaaaaay woooaaan.” The kid nodded his head. ”Nice tuh meet yuh, Chaywon. Thanks fuh not killin’ me with da plant. I’m…” He suddenly paused, his brow furrowing and his eyes drifting off momentarily as if he seemed lost or had forgotten what he wanted to say. Then he blinked and his eyes returned to Chae’s. ”Peng! Heh… almost forgot.”

”Yuh hungry? Yuh was out fuh a while.”
_KillamriX88
He’d almost forgotten his own name? What the hell was going on here? With everything that had happened, she couldn’t help but be on edge. Every little thing felt like a warning bell.

“Nah, I’m, uh, good for now…” she told him. “Hey, how about you give me a tour of the place, huh? Since I’m here, I might as well have a look around if that’s all right.”
_Exit
”Sure!” Peng stood up and walked around the couch. He then spread his arms wide and did a spin. ”Da main room! Yuh can sit here and relax. Sumtimes they play movies.” He pointed toward the ceiling in front of the window where a small crease was visible. ”Da screen drops outta there… And ova here.” Peng began walking away from that side of the room, back in the direction of the door that led to the bedroom Chae had been in. Across from that door was a space that was very obviously a kitchen. There was a faucet and a basin sitting in a dark wood countertop with nothing else around it. The space above the counter was limited as well since the wall jutted out at an angle before climbing steeply toward the ceiling. A person of average height would have to bend down to place their head within the space. The design was slightly awkward. On either side of this sink were what looked to be cabinets. However, on closer inspection, these cabinets were sealed shut. In front of the sink was an island of similar wood make and in the center of the island was a rectangular depression.

”This da kitchen! Yuh can wash yur hands here…” He pointed at the faucet. ”...And yuh can get some food here.” He pointed at the depression in the island.

Walking around the island, he moved toward the hall. Along the left wall were a series of doors, five in total, all of them similar to each other and each one closed save for Chae’s. At the far end of the hall was a door that was different from the others. It was solid black and there was no obvious knob or handle. On the right, a long window that stretched the length of the wall to where the hall turned into the kitchen provided soft light to the more enclosed space.

”These are da rooms. This one is yurs now. Dat one next tuh it is mine.” He stepped in front of it and blocked it with his body. ”Yur... not allowed inside. The others are empty but are always locked. Trust meh, I’ve tried tuh get inside.”

”Anyways… that’sssss it! Any questions, Chaeyun?”
_KillamriX88
Chae-Won didn’t answer. She’d finally figured it out. She just wandered back into the main room and fell onto the couch, burying her face in her hands. Hotel her ass.

This was a prison.

She took a deep breath, letting her hands drop, folding them together between her knees.

“Hey, kid. Peng.” She almost didn’t want to ask. Maybe if she didn’t, she could try to live in denial. “How did you end up here?”
_Exit
Peng followed Chae back toward the couch and eventually found a spot a few cushions away from the woman. ”Well… uh…” Again, the same lost look from before found the boy again. His eyes wandered to the windows. ”I… dun really remember. It’s been so long now. So long… so long…” He turned to Chae. ”Yuh said you were fightin’ some bad people? Why?”
_KillamriX88
He didn’t look that old, but she supposed that to a child that young even a few months might feel like a long time, and who knew how long he’d been in this place.

“There are people known as benders…” she said. For all she knew, this kid was one too. “Something happened, and it forced a lot of them out of hiding. Some of them didn’t even know they were one. Benders or not, they’re still just people, but the ones I was fighting… they say that’s wrong. They were willing to hurt people just because of that, including someone I care about. I didn’t let them, but it meant I couldn’t follow him. I had to stay behind, and then they got me,” she gave him the simplest version she could manage. “If I had to guess, there’s a similar story behind why you’re here.”
_Exit
”Is he safe now?”
_KillamriX88
Well now that was the question wasn’t it? She was mostly certain he’d made it away, and that they’d had no method to follow him, but now what?

“I… don’t know,” she said, sounding distant.

He wasn’t ready.

“I was supposed to take care of him.”

A meek, mute boy with two personalities; they’d drop him the second they could get rid of him.

“He… needs me…” Her hands clutched tightly at her knees. “He won’t know… what to do out there…”

Had she really protected him at all?

_Exit
”Well at least yur ina safe place.” Peng said, his voice slowly becoming warped. Suddenly, Chae began to feel sleepy.
_KillamriX88
She hadn’t eaten anything, drank anything, and Peng seemed fine, so she had no idea how or why. There was nothing she could do about it.

If anything, maybe it meant she’d get more answers soon.

“I… wouldn’t be so sure about that.” She just let her eyes close and… waited.
_Exit

After a moment, another unfamiliar voice pierced the silence. "Thanks for coming." Nelu said."You can open your eyes now."

LSF HQ · Late Afternoon · In collaboration with [&.Exit]LSF HQ · Late Afternoon · In collaboration with @Exit

_
Jin silently strode down the cold halls of the LSF headquarters. Their feet knew the path well, leaving their brain far too much time to think.

What’s Mr. Sato’s mission? When will I know? And… why me? I mean, yeah I got the skills, but, you can’t teach experience, everyone says that. I ain’t been running solo long enough. I don’t fuckin get it.

Unless. Maybe. If what Sato said is actually true, maybe Cap stuck his neck out for me?

But what the hell would he do that for? There’s nothing in it for him.

Jin’s mind spun in circles, and they pressed their thumb just above their left eye where a little pain was starting to throb. It was all a puzzle, and they couldn’t make any headway in figuring it out. They stopped short, realizing they had reached their destination already. After they scanned their badge, the door opened with a whoosh of even colder air.

“Knock knock, Doc.” Jin rapped on the doorframe to announce their presence.

”Yes, Jin. Do come in.”

”Just who I was hoping to see.” Came a familiar, somewhat tired female voice from inside the workshop. Stepping through iron doors transported any and all into the mind of a woman that very few could understand. Concrete walls became cold steel, every inch of which was lined with ‘innovation’... or destruction. It was often hard to tell the difference for anyone but one. To Doctor Sylara Li, each piece of metal, every screw and spring and stripped wire were the pieces of painting she could see clearly in her mind’s eye. The pieces of a puzzle that only her hands knew how to put together. As they were now and to the untrained eye, they were like bones and carcasses of science and physics hung on walls and shelves. Like slices of meat and fish.

The woman’s library of work, a record of her accomplishments, were strewn in haphazard piles in the room. Steel frames given life and then just as quickly forgotten and dismissed as older models. Technology outdated as soon as it was discovered. She was ever looking toward the future, even as she approached her fifties and the years ahead of her began to dwindle. Even as the hairs on her head began to gray, the spark in her eyes never left and it was that same spark that regarded Jin as they entered the room. Eyes that pulled apart everything in front of them to understand the individual pieces only saw the body and soul of a person they had helped to create. A mind like hers, yearning to see and understand the unknown and explore the darker corners that others did not.

Today, ‘last year’s model’ was non other than a miniscule piece of technology. A marvel, even when compared to the latest Xuoshi model drones. Jin’s tadpole had become one of their closest companions when on the field. A brain already able to dissect the world around them into basic law may not have needed assistance in any form, but Doctor Li understood that a mind could only do so much. That rules meant to be unbreakable could only be bent so much before they broke you instead. Machines could go beyond that and it was through Jin’s tadpole that they could achieve as much.

”I think you’ll find the updates to your friend here more than beneficial.” She began, tapping the small device with a long and thin metallic pointer.

On the table in front of her and the approaching Jin was a small metallic shape that seemed to start cuboidal and shape itself into a point. Almost like an elongated teardrop about four inches long. Once coaxed, a small light blinked at the ‘nose’ and the shape suddenly split down the middle. A line appeared along the center and the two halves unfolded like wings, folding horizontal and parallel to the table top as if it were flexing or stretching. Once the wings had folded back into itself, the main body lifted itself off the surface on six miniature legs and the head popped free. The orange light swiveled up to look at Jin as they approached, ‘blinking’ at them and walking around itself in a small circle as if elated to see them again. It chirped something high-pitched and pleasant at them.

”The slight damage to its communicator has been fixed and improved for range as well as the visual link.” She placed the peripheral contact lens in its case next to the Tadpole. ”And that was just what you asked me to look at.”

Jin grinned huge as their friend came to life. “Hey, buddy! Good to see ya!” They reached out with a fingertip and stroked the bot’s ‘head’ as if it was a pet. The bot made a noise very similar to a purr. “Tad looks good as new, Doc.” They picked up the bot with care, turning it 360 and looking with a sharp eye. “Alright. What else did you do?” Practically every time Tadpole was left in the Doctor’s loving care, it came out with at least one fun new upgrade. Some were innocuous and fun. Others were far more useful. Most of the time, the upgrades were things that were at a skill level that was so far above Jin’s own, it was almost depressing. Almost.

If anything, it made them want to work even harder to get to the Doctor’s level.

The Tadpole began to disappear in the palm of Jin’s hand, slowly becoming translucent until it was entirely transparent after less than a minute. ”I managed to finally fully integrate visual camouflage. It's most effective when it’s standing still and will become visible once it starts to move again. Also…”

Jin let out a little gasp, green eyes glittering as their little robot friend completely disappeared from view. “Doc. You finally did it!” Jin had a camouflage suit of their own, one that they had trained for hours in but had not yet put into active use. Dr. Li had been trying to get the visual camo to function for months for the AI spotter bot, but there had been setbacks aplenty. It seemed that the smartest woman they knew had finally cracked the code. Experimentally, Jin wiggled their fingers behind the space where they knew Tadpole sat. There was some visual distortion, but it was subtle, and would likely need another sniper to spot it in the first place.

“Aw, shit! Me and my buddy are gonna be the sexiest duo no one will ever see comin’! Wait, did you say ‘also?’” Jin’s head whipped toward the Doctor, a childish glee in their gaze. “What else did you do?”

Sylara reached under the table with her right arm and grasped a heavy steel plate that was several inches thick. What would have been impossible for some was only a slight inconvenience to a woman who had done work on herself as well. The servos in the metal of her arm chewed audibly at the air as she carefully placed the heavy slab on its side standing up. She then tapped around its center and waited. The tadpole, still invisible, leapt out of Jin’s hand and onto the spot Sylara had directed it to. Its smaller shape seemed to warp the air around it as its camouflage struggled to keep it obscured, only letting up once it had landed. Now corporeal again, it wiggled its tail a few times before forming a sharp point and aiming the tip at the steel plate. The tail then began to rapidly spin and dig into the surface, filling the air with the sound of grating metal. Despite the noise, Tadpole burrowed through with ease and after only a few moments, it had crawled completely through the fresh hole. It appeared on the other side of the plate, the edges of its wings glowing bright red and its head shaking free some of the swarf that had collected on it.

”Heat is absorbed through its wings and stored as energy. The metal casing has been improved to resist abrasion. It's impossible to make it quiet when cutting through steel but through softer materials, stealth can be maintained.”

“Oooh!” Jin applauded a bit, impressed. “That’s a game changer. Add that to the visual link and suddenly I can see through walls. Nasty.” They let out a little whistle, and Tadpole, done dusting itself off, sprung from floor to table, then to Jin’s shoulder. Jin gave it another fond rub on the head chassis before returning their gaze to Dr. Li. “You’re the best, Doc.”

“Oh yes, I know.” Sylara didn’t even blush at the praise. It wasn’t ego stroking bullshit, it was factual truth. “Alright, one last thing.” She gestured for Jin to follow, and they walked through the lab together.

There was always so much to view in Dr. Li’s lab. Blueprints, models, and even things that were still in idea form. Jin knew better than to ask about any specific thing. The Doctor was very protective about her unfinished work. Any prodding about it would get the curt answer ‘you don’t eat bread while it’s still dough’.

“Here.” The Doctor stopped in front of a tall display case. “Don’t tell Dermok, but I’ve got a bit of a preview for your next mission.”
Jin frowned slightly, confused. “Next mission? We just got back.”

The Doctor waved her hand, dismissing the question. “They’ll chew my ass off if I give you any more detail.” She fished a remote from a lab coat pocket.“Feast your eyes on this!” With a little flourish, the case opened.

Jin stared, looking between the contents of the case, and the expression of glee on the Doctor’s face.

“Heh. You’re kidding, right Doc? …Doc?”

Palace · Late Afternoon · |@Katakuri] & |@Fiber]Palace · Late Afternoon · @Katakuri & @Fiber

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Arrival at the palace itself would have been an event for anyone who didn't live in the Upper Ring. For those who lived and breathed this life, the gilded scenery, flashing lights, and over-saturated self importance was just another day in the life. Personal airships arrived at a number of marked landing pads one at a time, offloading its precious cargo before being taken by valets to be parked elsewhere. Each one was an obvious representation of affluence and power. The men and women who exited these vehicles were similarly wrapped in opulence. Skin like porcelain, hair thick and lush. Their bodies adorned in jewels that glinted in the setting sun. The wealth on this day alone was worth more than all of the combined wealth of the rest of the world, and even then, they themselves paled in comparison to the palace.

The palace itself was large, outlined in gold and embellished in flora. The shape had been heavily altered from the simple rectangular blocks that were its past. Instead of sharp edges, the building had been rounded and the size expanded greatly. The walls had been knocked down and redesigned and the surrounding grounds had been cleared and filled with acres of open land, some of which had been converted into a Chuiwan course that resembled a miniature scale replica of Ba Sing Se. It was also one of the tallest buildings in the Upper Ring and due to the elevation, the deck at the top enjoyed a view of the entire city stretching into the horizon.

Every path outside of the palace seemed carved into the surrounding greenery, lined on either side by various trees and bushes and waterways. Additionally, some of the flora found here could not be found anywhere else in the world, further adding to an illusion that had been so carefully crafted. A visit to the palace was a visit to an entirely different world, and when standing on top of it, it was often far too easy to forget the real one. In fact, many in attendance were ignorant of anything beyond the walls of the Upper Ring and happily remained so.

The list of guests, though quite exclusive, was still quite long. There were many families who held power in the city, though obviously some more than others. Families like the Varricks and Satos or the Moons and Sorans and Xuoshis; The faces of finance and technology having each had a hand in curating the city into what it was today. The Gan-Lans would be in attendance as well, owners of Cabbage Corp. Lani Butakha, director of the NSL and owner of the Wolfbats. Lana Cheng and her husband who was head of the largest banking concern. Lana herself had her hands in many charitable foundations. The Xus. The Keums, owners of the farming land to the North and Northeast of the city, and the Zoltas who were a prominent family having earned their place at the gala despite rumors abound of ties to the Triple Threat Triad. And these were just a few of the more well known names in attendance. There were many more and it was expected that the palace would be at capacity. Many had been looking forward to the anniversary gala while others were looking forward to what the King had to say about events unfolding in the city.

As each guest arrived, attendants who were standing by moved to receive them, offering to take any coats or jackets and bags for safe storage. Then, each person was led off the platform and toward the palace by a personal attendant. They would be ushered through large gilded archways that led into a hallway, decorated with portraits of Wu's past, and then through already open doors to the ballroom.

Inside, tables covered in black cloth had been placed in a half circle around a stage at the far end. Each one had been properly set with golden dinnerware and adorned with a bouquet centerpiece of red, greens, yellows and whites. Like the flora found in the Upper Ring and those around the palace, the flowers here were indeed real and the scent was sweet. Nestled in between some of the leaves were soft lights. On the stage, Jie Xiao was singing something pleasant into the crowd. She seemed lost in her own world but it was obvious that others in the room were being pulled into her daydream.

Other guests had found their assigned seats and were already striking up conversation with those around them. Weaving in and out between the tables were a number of servers who were offering wine or water and hors d'oeuvres. Near the front and closer to the stage were two tables that were a little off center. Two individuals were already seated and chatting away.

"...It's unthinkable. Can you believe it? I swear he picks those players wearing a blindfold. Thank the King he is not my manager. I'll be damned if there is a Bender ever allowed in the Wolfbats." An elderly woman with graying hair and subtle cracks around her dark eyes pulled a sip of her wine.

"What about the Wu girl." Came the woman seated next to her. She was shorter but only slightly and sported a head of dark hair that had been straightened and parted at the front. It seemed almost too simple in present company, but the stark blue in her eyes was piercing and far too distracting for anyone to notice.

"Now that is truly a shame. Lisa did so much for the good of the league and all her daughter did was drag her name through the dirt. And now, there are rumors that she was even involved in her mother's disappearance." The woman's eyes flicked toward the empty chair next to her. The Wu name had been crossed out and replaced with 'Tamura'. "That woman... She knew how to hold a conversation."

Entrance to the Underground · Late Afternoon · |@Mistress Dizzy]Entrance to the Underground · Late Afternoon · @Mistress Dizzy

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The day was overcast. Light struggled to pierce the cloud cover over head and reach the city floor, leaving the streets darker than it typically was at the hour. Heavy smog hung thick in the air as it always did, making it difficult to breathe for some. Many wore masks to try and keep the dirt from their lungs. Others, those who'd lived in the filth all their life, learned to live with it. Besides the elderly and children, it was sometimes easier to see who did and did not belong on that distinction alone.

The streets were crowded as they always were. Throngs of people cloaked in black and grays pushed past each other on their way to somewhere else. All of them packed so close together and yet every single one isolated in their own worlds. Their crouched, hooded figures a sea colored bleak in stark contrast to the lights dancing above their heads. The murky air here was often tainted in hues of pink and blue and other odd hues, graced by neon lights and cracked street lamps. A half naked woman bound across the street above downcast heads, her hands opening and pointing toward her home where pleasures awaited any who entered. A convenience store cut into the neglected exterior of one of the many housing stacks advertised 'CCCXTRM' in neon letters and 'Spirits' underneath. Across from it, a food stall was open serving hot bowls of ramen. It was crowded at all times of the day with the limited seating around the one man operation. The menu was small and the options few but the pricing was somewhat reasonable, especially considering the addition of 'fresh' vegetables. A curious thing when fresh anything was hard to come by in the Lower Ring.

One of the pathways branching off the main road became a long flight of stairs that seemed to climb further down into the bowels of the city, sloping steeply before turning into the dark. There were more people here, loitering on the steps or sleeping in the little slice of Ba Sing Se they had cut for themselves and called home. They did their best to keep out of the wash that fell from the upper levels.

A man stood at the top against the wall seemingly minding his own business. He was wrapped in a black leather duster with neck lining that was taller than most. When folded up, it could cover past his chin and was at the moment open and loose, hanging almost like a scarf. Underneath he wore a plain gray thermal and pants, also dark and somewhat loose, with the hem of each leg gathered above his black boots.

On the wall behind him was a surprisingly well done mural of a helmeted female. White hair cascaded down her back from under a helmet that was also sporting two bunny ears.