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[h2] [color=82ca9d]Laoshan Fang[/color]
Ba Sing Se, 8 Path Prison: Northeast. [/h2]

Mentions: [@Dblade26][@Korkoa]

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[color=82ca9d]“Remember now, we have to keep moving if we all want to get away! I want whoever hired these guards to be [i]horrifically[/i] disappointed when they show up!”[/color] While the young ones were still talking, Laoshan started hoofing it up the stairs, confident the others would follow. Where they went after they escaped the prison wasn’t immensely important as long as it got them out of the city. Things were a little hot right now, and the former monk most certainly didn’t want to know what happened to prison breakers in Ba Sing Se. The old regime crushed their hands, and he could only imagine what this supposedly crueler warlord of a king would do. [color=82ca9d]“Boat sounds good. Boat sounds quite good. Upriver would be… bloody badgermoles, that’s towards the Middle Ring. Fantastic. We should be heading that way anyhow. Gates are open today with coronation, at least according to the guards I overheard blabbing about it. That, and no one will expect prisoners to escape [i]towards[/i] law enforcement. This plan can’t possibly go wrong. Right? Right.”[/color] Laoshan muttered to himself, well aware that he was fully audible to those around him. 

Destination aside, things inside the prison were going rather smoothly. As things turned out, the guards weren’t prepared for a prison break on the day of An’s coronation, which meant that the riot, the wave of angry nonbenders, and the scattered handful of capable benders from various nations that had been picked up by the wave of rebellion proved more than capable of taking on the reduced watch. The middle aged man smiled as he ran past unconscious prisoners. The meatshields were doing their jobs, and the few groups of guards they encountered on their way outside the cellar were swiftly dealt with by a small horde of angry benders.

Soon enough, the metal of the bending section of the prison turned into the stone of the regular quarters, and the group emerged from their subterranean  incarceration into the blinding light of day. Laoshan blinked several times, muttering oaths to himself as the bending party made their way outside. His headache still hadn’t gone away, and all the sun wasn’t doing him any favors. 

Glaring through the piercing assault on his brain, Laoshan took note of a few things. The escaped prisoners seem to have taken the guards they found hostage, hog-tying the lot of them and throwing them into the middle of the prison’s yard. The yard itself was huge, with vast metal walls and a clever gate system. The gates were made of gigantic slabs of stone, requiring multiple earthbenders to open them. That wasn’t the problem. The biggest issue was that they would have to be opened from the outside, the entire inside of the courtyard lined with metal so that any earthbending escape could only make it so far. As things stood, the collected masses of prisoners who had helped clear the guards away from Laoshan's escape route was stymied, slamming their faces against the gates in frustrated woe. However, for a clever airbender, it wasn’t hard to notice that there wasn’t a ceiling on this courtyard, and the walls could be surmounted with a bit of fancy footwork, assuming he could get past the razor wire ringing the place.

Taking a moment to gather himself, the mendicant crouched, leaping up into a spinning jump propelled by a gout of wind that dented the metal where he had stood. His dirty feet made contact with the steel of the wall, pushing off, turning, and jetting loose another air blast from his legs to propel himself up to the razor covered wire surrounding the lip of the walls. His fingers latched onto the top of the wall, and he felt himself dangle. Laughing for a moment at how absurd he must look, a massive man with his arms outstretched like a child hanging from a tree, the monk shoved off of the wall, kicking off one final burst of air to flip over the wire and land atop the high ground. Laoshan spun on his feet, adopting a low defensive stance to take on the guards rushing towards him…!

...No one was on the wall.

What? The airbender leapt up to the viewports of the nearest watch tower with a small gust to push him, clinging onto the bars on the exterior of the tower and staring into the city. He knew he heard alarm bells ringing, and sure enough, there was plenty of sound coming from the Inner Ring… then the monk blanched.

[color=82ca9d]“So about those confiscated items… I think we should forget them.”[/color] The bulky man tottered slightly, resembling a filthy hog monkey as he leaned away from the bars, shouting down to his younger compatriots. [color=82ca9d]“We have company coming. I see… lots. Lots of ostrich-horses, and a good bit of fancy armor at the head of the charge. We have… 2 minutes? Let’s say 2 minutes, until they get here. Personally, I’m going to skedaddle and find that boat. You all are welcome to join... You know, if you can make it over the walls.”[/color] Laoshan grinned his dirty grin, hair slapping across his face in the fresh air as he stared down at badger-girl and the bald one. It was the challenges that made life fun, especially when they were for people other than him. Still, he hoped the fire nation girl would be willing to take help from the nomad. Lao sure as hell didn't know how to pilot a ship by himself.