Soup Kitchen · Late Afternoon · In collaboration with [&.Exit]Soup Kitchen · Late Afternoon · In collaboration with @Exit

_
Red. Vasra’s eyes opened to a scene of chaos. A red miasma surrounded her. She heard screaming. It sounded far away. She saw blood running down her arm. A moderately deep cut, she noted, falling into well-practiced medical detachment. Splinters of wood were lodged in her skin. She couldn’t feel it. She couldn’t feel it at first. Then the sounds came rushing back. And then the pain. A torrent of panicked voices. Terror, anger, and violence. For a moment, she felt the pain coursing through her, biting into her arm, tearing at her throat. She fought the panic. Her fingers shook as she pulled out the splinters that she could reach, pain giving way to fresh adrenaline. She hissed, grabbing hold of her arm, tightening around her torn flesh, feeling the blood pool between her fingers. She fumbled for her bag, withdrawing a bandage. Two quick loops. A tight pull that sent her head spinning and her knees buckling.

She felt far away. She heard only a roaring current. A strange feeling. A connection. Around her. Below her. Everywhere at once. Vasra couldn’t place it. She couldn’t identify the deluge. She could hear the water. She could feel it. She could hear it whispering. She could taste the spirit water in her medical bag. She could sense the power contained inside of the bottles. She could discern so much. Too much. She was a drop. She was a drop in the ocean. Losing herself to the vastness, she could not move, and she could not act.

Her thoughts returned in roiling whirlpool of emotion and recent memories. Sonam. Her patients. Spirit Water. She remembered why she had headed to the Soup Kitchen, why she had come. Sonam! Where was Sonam!? Scrambling to her feet, Vasra looked around, colliding with a broken table top as she tripped on a prone figure. Sonam, alive, clearly conscious, Vasra noted as she felt a hand grasp her outstretched hand.

"Don’t move, Sonam," Vasra said, her hands darting over Sonam, gently touching, shifting, and checking the extent of the other woman's wounds. There were several. A laceration over her left eye, it would leave a scar if they didn't use some Spirit Water...the beginnings of a string of deep bruises across her entire right side, and a deep cut on her right leg. The lack of pronounced pupil dilation, suggested that Sonam had not suffered a concussion. Sonam was fine, under the circumstances, having weathered an explosion she was more than fine. Her own arm was- She was fine. They were fine. They had been lucky. They had been lucky and now they had to help. They had to act.

"What the hell was that, Doc?" Sonam began, struggling to stand up, she leaned against Vasra as the doctor gestured for her to move slowly and helped her stand. A hand slipped and brushed against Vasra's arm. Her face whitened and Vasra let out a heavy breath as the pain stabbed her. It was a rush job. She would have to redo it later. She had to keep moving. She couldn't stop. They couldn't wait.

"Woah! Hang on, Doc, you're wounded. just wait-"

"I’m fine, Sonam, it’s nothing, just a couple of splinters. You’ll be fine too. Some moderate bruising and a couple of new scars, but you won’t need stitches. I’m sorry, but I need your help, regardless of your present condition. We need to get the wounded out of here. We can’t be sure the building is safe. There are too many of them. We can't wait for any help."

"Right, sure, let’s get to it," Sonam said, sounding less convinced that Vasra would have liked. But she listened. She knew Vasra better than to try to stop her.

The pair had only just reached the closet victim, when fresh screams of pain and more shouting echoed through the debris strewn warehouse. Vasra could see a familiar face, the son of her patient, contorted with unexpected rage. The boy was clearly wounded, blood streamed down his face. She had no time to act before he lurched at a wounded woman, striking her in the face with his blood soaked hands. She saw the young daughter of her patient, his sister, rushing after him, despite her equally obvious injuries. Vasra cursed beneath her breath and ran towards the commotion.

"Stop! Stop! What are you doing!? Stop it!" Vasra shouted crashing into the young man as her arms wrapped around him. He was strong. He was stronger than she had expected. He kept on trying to hit the prone woman. He wouldn't stop. He wasn’t listening. He didn’t seem to understand. He didn’t seem to notice her. Flailing wildly, he dragged Vasra with him to the ground as one of his knees finally gave way with a sickening tear of muscle. Even with his injuries, Vasra struggled to hold him. She felt an elbow crack into the side of her head and saw new shadows as she desperately tried to stop the wounded boy.

"Please! Stop! You are hurting yourself! You have to stop! It’s alright, it’s alright, just stop fighting!" Vasra shouted, words clear despite the blows that indirectly struck her.

Sonam was the first to notice. As she recovered, she watched Vasra throw herself at the man and as her arms wrapped around the trunk of his body, things around the room moved. Bottles half filled with liquid were flung from the floor as if tossed by a ghost. Puddles of water that had begun to pool on the ground were kicked up. Water from severed pipes in the ceiling fell along a curved path for the briefest of moments. The strange occurrences only lasted for a few seconds but it was not easily missed and more than that, it was obvious to her what just happened.

She cursed under her breath and looked again at the doctor in bewilderment. By now, Vasra had locked herself onto the male in a struggle she was handily losing and although her mind struggled to process the right and wrong in the situation unfolding before her, whatever she felt in that moment paled to the idea of her friend being killed. Panic stirred in her when they both fell to ground and in a blind haste, she shoved off the floor and took a step in their direction. But something was not entirely right. As she moved forward, a force that was beyond her control propelled her. As if she had jumped forward on account of an invisible push, she was launched in the direction of the scuffle with more speed than intended and instead of coming to Vasra’s aid, only managed to rush past them and slam into the wall. She hit the ground hard, cursing loudly as pain welled up from a collision she was not expecting and as fresh bruises received more punishment. Desperation pushed her to ignore her body’s protest and find her feet again and as she turned to find the doctor, she saw the little girl run up with a fury in her eyes unlike any she’d seen in a child. Her foot swung hard in the direction of the man’s face, connecting with his nose with a loud thud and breaking his concentration on the downed woman.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" The girl screamed. Her anger and triumph were short lived however as the man grabbed at her feet and dragged her to the ground with him. Attempting to ignore Vasra, he tried to right himself over her to pin her down. "GET OFF ME!"

Noise. More noise. More shouting. More fighting. Vasra lost her grip on the brawling youth. Her arms burned, her muscles aching as she pushed herself onto her knees. None of it made any sense. Not the explosion. Not the strange feeling. Not the young man. He was still going. He was still fighting. Vasra noticed the pipe sticking out of his chest. The fresh blood that had appeared below his nose. The angle was all wrong. The young girl’s shouting drove away the disorientation. They were out of options. They were out of time.

Vasra looked around. She tried to spot her bag. She needed sedatives. She couldn’t find her bag. Clouds of crimson dust still enveloped the warehouse. Debris covered the floor. She watched with growing horrors as the youth kept fighting and as he made a sudden grab for his sister. Vasra scrambled desperately towards the two siblings. She picked up a half shattered table leg, holding it in her hand like a club, raising it above her head. And then she let it drop onto the floor with a wooden thunk. She couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t. There had to be a different way. A better way. Vasra’s mind raced, her heart pounding against her chest as she tried to find a solution. She felt sick. She felt a sudden wave of nausea, a pain that traveled from her stomach to her head, flooding the synapses between her neurons with an ocean of feedback and sending her reeling her neurons bathed in an impossible sensation.

She heard a low noise, barely audible above the unfolding calamity. The distant sloshing of a gentle river. She felt a tug on her arms, then her hands, and finally her fingers. She didn’t think. She didn’t need to. She felt the water. She felt the water pouring from the pipes. She felt the water pooling all around them. When she moved, the water moved with her. The water was within her and she was the water. Puddles of scattered watered swelled into a small stream that raced along the floor. The stream grew into a wave as it surged forwards, gently rolling over the young girl, somehow merely dousing her with water as it crested, and broke violently on top of the young man. Enveloping him, as if alive, the wave dragged the mad teenager with it and flowed onward, smashing against the thin wall in a shuddering crash of sheet metal.

Tunnels under the Middle Ring · Late Afternoon · In collaboration with [&.Exit]Tunnels under the Middle Ring · Late Afternoon · In collaboration with @Exit

_
A few minutes later, an insistent knock came at the door, startling Chu Hua out of her stupor. She and Kanna both stared at the door as the handle jiggled, seemingly terrified to move. They had been counting on waiting out the RSF or hoping for An to come- could this be the RSF, here? Chu Hua shushed Kanna with a finger to her lips. Surely if they thought the closet was empty they would move on. The knock, however, just became more insistent. Louder, more hurried.

“Open the damn door,” the knocker muttered. It was An- her voice was distinctive. Chu Hua wasn’t sure whether to be ecstatic or horrified. She looked at Kanna before creeping to the door and opening it quickly.

Her fiancée stood at the door, thoroughly drenched, a confused look in her eyes as she stared at the strange scene in the closet. Her expression melted into relief as she saw Chu Hua. “Chu, you’re okay, I thought…” Her eyes moved further into the supply closet, and she blinked. “Hello, Kanna. Um. What the actual fuck?”

Chu Hua found herself briefly mute. “I’m… babe, I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to know.” Her voice wavered.

An’s expression turned to ice as she shut the door. “Weren’t supposed to know what? That you’re a fucking… a fucking FIREBENDER?! I was supposed to fucking marry you without knowing that? What would have happened if…” She trailed off, evidently wanting to say ‘if you got caught’, but that was already the case.

“You’re lucky I found you two. I have no idea what the hell your ex is doing here, but I can get you both out through the access tunnels running under the city. After that, though, we’ll have a bigger problem. Namely that the RSF is going to hunt you both- and maybe me- like dogs.” She breathed out through her nose. “We’re fucking dead. But maybe we can delay that.” An was stock-still with tension as she spoke, looking nearly as stricken as Chu Hua. She, however, was much more functional in crises. The small woman, at odds with the two jacked stickball players, began to pace back and forth, staring at her phone.

Kanna was hesitant to speak at first despite the severity of the situation. Chu and An’s relationship was an environment unfamiliar to her and it was obvious the shorter woman was heated. Sensing the gears turning though, she decided now was as good a time as any to chime in. “I was just telling Chu that there is a way out of this mess, but it won’t be easy. The tunnels are a good start but the rest of it is… well it’s outside the walls. Well outside the walls. Chu can’t stay here and if she’s going to survive in whatever the fuck is out there, she might need more than just her shoulder pads.”

“It looked pretty chaotic out there and if you’re sure about where you’re going in the tunnels, maybe a stop by wherever she lives isn’t a bad idea.”

An looked at Kanna with a slight look of condescension as she spoke, seeming slightly annoyed on top of her anxiety and shock. She crossed her arms. “Uh-huh. And you’re suddenly a person smuggling expert?”

Chu Hua blew out a breath. “She saved my life. Be a bit nicer?”

“I do not have to be nice, I’m just trying to-” An grumbled, stopping herself in the middle of her sentence. “Fine. Sorry. We’ll go to the house. ”

Kanna’s eyes narrowed, but despite the heat she could feel rising to her cheeks, she managed to stifle whatever words were bubbling to the surface. ”Is there… an entrance. To the tunnels nearby.” She asked, chopping up her question to emphasize the attitude she was trying desperately to keep under control. She crossed her arms.

An narrowed her eyes. “Yeah. I’ve never been through this specific entrance, but I know the entrance should be…” She checked her phone. “On the west side of the stadium. Entrance is in the boiler room, I have biometric access. All my service crews have been evacced because of the lines bursting, so there should be no one in there now. And if we need to go to the apartment, there’s one near there too.”

Chu Hua gave Kanna a sharp warning look. “Yeah, we’ll need to make a stop. There’s something that I need.”

”Lead the way.” Kanna said, pulling her stick out of the water and flipping it under arm. She glanced at Chu, acknowledging the warning and breathed the rest of her frustrations out of her nose. She knew it was best to keep things as civil as possible despite being in a room surrounded by arguably the two most irritating people to her. Besides, she couldn’t take back what she’d already started, not that she wanted to. Getting her own ass to the tunnel was just as important to her as it was to Chu and An was her ticket.

The three of them exited the closet and crept down the hallway. The sprinklers were still going off, and they heard echoing boots and walkie-talkie chatter once in a while- the RSF was still here, securing the building. The stadium was eerily quiet. Everyone had fled. Chu Hua felt a growing sense of shame as she followed An and Kanna through the hallways. What had she done? There were char marks on the floor, water flooding the halls. It would take them months to repair this- and she wouldn’t even be here to see it repaired. She’d be either dead or out of the city by then. She wasn’t sure which option appealed to her more.

They reached the boiler room after about five minutes of walking. They walked down the thin stairs in a single file line, An going first. “Alright,” she whispered. “It’s here.” She pressed down on a cinder block in the wall. It started to glow, reading her handprint. It made a ding noise, and the wall opened up, revealing a door in the wall. An glanced back at the two of them. “Be careful. The tunnels are old.” She opened the door and stepped inside.

Kanna followed An through the doors and stepped into another world. Cold concrete walls of the boiler room became buff brick masonry that stretched endlessly into the lightless hall ahead and arched above them. The surrounding walls showed signs of years of neglect as chunks had fallen off, exposing the wood beam skeleton underneath. Besides the electrical wiring that lay bundled together and attached to the wall, it was clear that very few had been down here in a long time.

Kanna had heard of the tunnels running under the city, especially when she had begun searching for a way out for her mother. She’d also heard of the Underground, but this was her first time experiencing either first hand. True to An’s word, the hidden path did indeed feel old.

”It smells funny down here.” Kanna commented. ”How do you even know about this?”

An held up the flashlight beam of her smartphone into the darkness, lighting up their immediate surroundings in a fuzzy glow. She started walking, the click of her heels resounding across the dark, cavernous space. “I work for SynEn,” An said, hushed, despite the emptiness. “We have a lot of secrets. This is one of them. These tunnels are ancient, so be careful.”

“Oh, and, babe. Don’t… you know. The fire will eat up all the oxygen.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chu Hua said, hands stuffed in her shorts. It was getting better, but she was still burning up, shaking. Part of it was because that initial adrenaline rush was wearing off. She had started to feel the pain of the burns along her body. Still, though, she walked along.

After a few minutes of walking, she sidled up to her fiancee, looking reluctant. “An. You know, I’m… going to have to leave. One way or another.”

“I assumed,” An said, drily. Chu Hua winced.

“Before I have to go, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. For not saying anything. I was scared, I’ve never told anyone, I… I guess I thought if I kept my mouth shut I’d be fine. I’ve always just wanted to live, to have a good life with people I love, and you were part of that. I’m sorry we couldn’t get married.”

An slid her eyes to Chu Hua, still holding up the phone to the hallway beyond. Her face softened. “It’s fine. I’m just scared, that’s all. I never would’ve thought you were…” She seemed unwilling to say it. “We’ll have plenty of time. I’m coming with you, of course.”

Chu Hua made a briefly shocked face. She hadn’t expected An to want to come! “You don’t have to! You shouldn’t take my punishment, babe- it’s not right. Stay here. Live your life. Please.”

Kanna tried to remain quiet as the two conversed, watching in a silent contemplation that threatened to break. Their agitated shadows danced at odd angles against sloping walls as An continued to hold the light from her phone and as the women spoke, their voices would echo down the hall describing its length. Kanna imagined they had a ways to go and figured that if there was time to hash something out, there was no better time than now.

”Not that it’s my place to say but, like me, helping your girlfriend might put you out with the rest of us. Well…” She glanced to the side as she tried to ignore the decision she herself still had to make. ”...I say us but… I mean I’m honestly not sure sticking around is such a good idea for me either but then what? We make another stop at my place too? All the way the fuck in the Upper Ring.” She shook her head and then turned to Chu curiously. ”Actually, just cause I’m morbidly curious now, what is this thing you said you have to get?”

“None of your fucking business,” Chu Hua snapped, almost by instinct. She immediately colored in embarrassment. Why was she still being so cagey? Kanna knew she could bend, but it was mortifying to admit that she had had something in her house for years that proved her guilt. She sighed. “Something I don’t want anyone to find if they come by my place. You’ll see.”

”You know what, you’re right. It’s not my business.” Kanna answered with half rolled eyes. ”I just want to get the fuck out of these tunnels. This place creeps me out.”

Synergy Storage Facility · In Collaboration with [&.Exit] & [&.vietmyke]Synergy Storage Facility · In Collaboration with @Exit & @vietmyke

_
Jack was busy tending to Vsyka as Jin and Reman dealt with the other individuals in the room. He quickly pulled out the cape she had stowed only a moment ago and began wrapping it around her burning hands, trying his best to suffocate the last of the fire eating away at her skin. Vyska collapsed when it was finally extinguished, her screaming coming to an exhausted end and her body curling into itself as she tried to cope with the pain. Meanwhile, Jack assessed the rest of the room, witnessing both Jin airbend Sumire’s assailant out of the window with incredible force and also Reman knock the man out with his briefcase. He was stunned, somewhat impressed, but also wary of what he was seeing. A realization began to sink in and he quickly realized exactly who he was in the room with and what had to be done. A snap decision was made and Jack reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol, aiming it at the back of Reman’s head.

Click.

"Fuck." Jack dropped it and reached into the folds of Vyska's jacket, pulling out a second. He held it up to Reman for a second time and pulled the trigger, producing another hollow click.

"What... are you doing?" Vyska asked weakly from the ground. She was curled up on her knees with her hands tucked into her chest, both of them wrapped in the cape she'd put away only a few moments ago. Her breathing was labored and her body was shaking.

"Witnesses." Jack answered back plainly. He dropped the second useless gun and pulled out a knife from under his jacket. "They've seen too much." His eyes snapped from Reman to Sumire, who immediately threw her hands up and stepped in front of Jin, protectively.

"IALREADYKNEWJINWASANAIRBENDER!"

Quickly grabbing at Sumire’s arms and pulling her behind him, Jin had already begun taking a few tentative steps backward. His hands reached for his side- a gun that wasn’t there. He held an arm out in front of him- not that he particularly knew what he was going to do with it. As far as Jin was concerned the airbending he had just done was a one time thing- not easily replicated.

A quick analysis of the way Jack was looking at the two nonbenders in the room led Jin to the conclusion that Ms. Moon had been a bender for a while now- and the bodyguard was aware of it. Which meant Sumire and the Xuoshi engineer were loose ends.

”I didn’t see nothin’, hear me?” Jin clarified, taking another tentative step towards the door. Already, he could hear sounds from outside the control center- it wouldn’t be much longer before someone noticed all the commotion. ”Now, I think it’d be in everyone’s best interest if we pretend the last 10 minutes never happened.”

Reman was wide eyed as he quickly realized what is happening and how he is not out of the woods yet as Jack was set to making sure no one knows Ms Moon’s secret. He needs to choose his next words carefully here. “Jack, think about this, this does not need to end in blood. I am a Xuoshi, my family will want to know what happened to me if I die here.”

As he said this, Reman slowly reached for his pistol and he guessed he did need it after all. But, he did not reveal it yet, just waiting on Jack’s response and while Jack’s and Ms. Moon’s synergy guns did not work. His normal pistol should work and he has defended himself once already and he will defend himself again. Plus, he knows how to use it.

If I am being honest, right now Jack. I only care that the unconscious man behind me tried to kill me and by the looks of it the other man tried the same with Sumire and Jin. Ms.Moon did nothing wrong and Jin only defended himself. So how about we just listen to Jin and just forget about this? You do nothing and I say nothing agreed?”

Jack wanted to say something but his focus was split between his duty and the questions plaguing his mind. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew where to start to find out. ”V. Did you know?” He asked, keeping his eyes on Reman. He couldn’t see what he was reaching for, but the slightest wrong move and he would act.

”No… I’ve never… I’ve nevuaaAAAHHH!” Vyska’s scream became a ball of hot plasma that emptied from her mouth. A gout of flame spewing onto the floor like a waterfall and dancing against the metal. Whatever noise she was making was muffled by the sound of flames biting at the air and her eyes widened in terror, but her suffering only lasted for a moment. Jack turned around and struck her lightly on the back of her neck and the fire immediately stopped. She collapsed again, out of breath as beads of sweat dropped from her brow.

”What about you?” Jack, who was now kneeling next to Vyska, turned to Jin.

The body by Reman began to shuffle as it slowly, sluggishly tried to get back up.

”It's a… new development.” Jin replied quietly. Not necessarily a lie, but not the whole truth. Though as far as he was concerned the less anyone knew about the extent of his abilities the better shot he had at not dying.

”But I've never been able to throw people out of a window before...” Jin quickly added, looking at his hands suspiciously, ”The most I could ever do was hold a bullet in the air.” That wasn't a lie, though Jin had also never tested the extents of his abilities beforehand anyway.

”So that leaves just you.” Jack said, turning to Reman. ”Are you a bender?”

Reman would have said something then, but the sounds of the man slowly getting up took priority. Though he was not sure if the man was still hostile or not. But he would not take the chance if he was. So Reman walked backwards, and using his foot, he brought it down hard on the man’s back and held firm. Causing the man to collapse and get back on the ground. More or less pinned to the ground for the moment. ”Stay down if you know what is good for you.”

Turning his attention back to Jack and spoke honestly. “No I am not a bender and I am pretty sure if I was it would have shown now.” Taking a quick look at Jin and the downed Ms Moon. ”But that does not mean I am going to sell anyone out. Now I am not one to judge so hastily based on what the government says and as far as I am concerned. I do not think anyone here is responsible for what has happened and if this person below my foot is still going to try to kill someone.”

”If what you’re saying is true, then you’re going to help him get out of the city.” Vyska said, slowly getting to her feet and giving Jin an exhausted nod. ”I don’t know what’s happening but I do know that this morning, I could not bend. Now I can, and if people all over the city or even just within a few blocks of this facility are suddenly becoming Benders, then it is no longer safe here for any of us.”

”This isn’t the first time this has happened in the history of the world and they have contingencies in place for it.” Vyska’s eyes fell on Reman. ”Your family has recently updated the designs on all drones in and out of the city with hardware from Varrick Global. The same hardware the RSF in the Upper Ring are now equipped with. They can tell a Bender apart from a crowd with just a scan and right now, they’ll be sending both of these in force to sweep Ba Sing Se the same way they did a hundred years ago.”

”So what are we doing standing around here?” Jin quipped, growing a bit agitated, taking another few steps towards the door, tugging Sumire along with him. ”If they're going to start sweeping Ba Sing Se, then we need to bail, now.”

"I've got a car fueled and loaded with supplies in the garage. I'm leaving, if you want out, decide now. "

“But, where would you go? It is a wasteland out there and you will not last long without somewhere safe to go.” That was when it hit him, Tu Zin, one place that Jin could go where it would be safe But, no way Jin could find that place on his own. He knows those few that showed interest in the outside world in the Upper Ring know of Tu Zin and more importantly, how to get there. If it exists that is and that would mean being Jin’s guide and leaving the city. Well, he always wanted to see the outside world and it would mean helping Jin not die a pointless death while trying to avoid dying in the city.

After a moment of thinking about it, Reman made his choice. “There is a place you can go out there in the wasteland. A settlement in the wasteland if it exists, I have a general idea of how to get there and only a few in the city know of the place. Which means I am coming with you Jin, you need a guide and it is the best shot you got of surviving out there in the wasteland.”

Reman made a short chuckle, “I guess I am still going out in the wasteland after all.”

Chu & An's Apartment · Afternoon · In collaboration with [&.Exit]Chu & An's Apartment · Afternoon · In collaboration with @Exit

_
Kanna was pacing. Counting items in her head and on her fingers and tallying what they had and what they had to leave behind. ”Water. Couple clothes. Yuan. Do you have a gun?”

Chu Hua was rooting frantically through her drawers and cabinets, stuffing whatever she could find into a quickly expanding black backpack. “No, I don’t have a fucking gun, Kanna. I never thought I’d need one." As she spoke, she stuffed a picture frame into her bag and then, deciding against it, took the photo out of the frame and tucked it into a pocket.

Chu Hua and An’s apartment was an intensely modern, open affair. It was monochrome, with the occasional pop of color in the way of flowers or a picture frame. Chu Hua remembered several intense arguments with her fiancee about decor, of all things- An was a snob, while Chu Hua was more the type of person who just put stuff in a room and called it a day. Aside from the living room, there was only one other room- the bedroom, which was directly off the living space. The kitchen was open-concept and bled into the living room, only separated by a step. They were currently making a massive mess of the place, which Chu Hua didn’t care about because she knew she’d likely never see it again.

“I have one,” An spoke up, pouring water from a filtration jug into bottles.

”What?” Kanna asked.

“Since when?!”

An shrugged. “A bit ago. I’ll go find it. Kanna, kindly stop being useless and fill up these bottles.” She walked off to the bedroom, leaving the waters behind.

”Useless?! In case we forgot, this is my plan we’re following! Kanna yelled after her, angrily complying to the order anyways and grabbing up one of the water bottles.

“Well, there you go, Kanna. You’ve turned my fiancée into a vigilante. Congrats.

”I’d be more worried about the fact that she’s looking for a gun… she owns in her fiancee’s house!” The second half was yelled so An could hear her.

Chu Hua continued methodically putting things into her bag, until… “Fuck, I’m out of room. How am I out of room?!” She threw things on the floor- clothes, books, silverware.

’Chu…” Kanna stopped pouring. ”...What the fuck are those doing in your bag? Why are you packing books? And silverware?!”

“I don’t know! I’ve never been a fugitive before, Kanna!” She threw her hands up. “What if I need cutlery?!”

”You’re not going to need cutlery because you’re never going to make it out of the city before they kill you carrying all that extra shit! Light! How in the world did you ever become second best stickball player in the world?”

“First of all, first best. Second of all, if you haven’t noticed, I’m built as hell. And I need at least one fork.” Chu Hua stuffed one fork back into her bag, opting to leave.

“Found it!” A voice crowed from the bedroom. An emerged with a sleek weapon in her hand, held comfortably. It was a Synergy pistol. Chu Hua’s eyes widened as An held it out to her.

“Since when do we own a Synergy weapon, babe?” Her voice was deceptively calm. Holy shit, her fiancée was a secret badass. Chu Hua was starstruck.

Kanna on the other hand was not calm at all. ”How the fuck did you get that?!”

An shrugged, nonchalant. “It was a gift from my boss. Gonna keep ogling it or are you gonna take it?”

Chu Hua shifted on her feet. “You keep it for now, until you can show me how to use it. I think I’d just blow my foot off.”

An tucked it into her waistband, going about packing herself. She was far more practical than Chu Hua… despite stuffing some very distinctly fancy clothing into her bag. Chu Hua remembered, belatedly, that her fiancée probably didn’t own anything practical for the desert. That’d be something to settle later.

Kanna capped the last bottle of water and walked over to place a couple in one of the side pockets of Chu’s backpack. ”I’m sorry. What do you do again?” She asked An, removing the fork from Chu’s pack.

“I work for SynEn, and I also happen to be extremely charismatic,” said An, taking two bottles and shoving them in her own bag. “My boss and favorite coworker also happens to be Vyska Moon. Great drinking partner. Terrible giver of birthday gifts.”

“Oh, shit, I forgot that one thing I really needed,” exclaimed Chu Hua, who dropped her bag on the kitchen counter and dashed into the bedroom. ”Gotta find it, gotta find it…” She dropped onto the floor, tapping the floorboards.

Their bedroom was, like their living room, modern and austere. It had many more photos and a large closet, however. A large floor-to-ceiling window faced the cityscape, covering one wall.

A long time ago, Chu Hua had hid her tapes in this room. She only opened it when she was sure An wasn’t present, which hadn’t been for a while. So she only had a very vague idea of where they were. Finally, she came upon a loose floorboard. “Aha!” She popped the false floor off, reaching into the hole she had made in the ground. She pulled out four ancient-looking video tapes, each deceptively labelled with a fairly explicit porno name. They were, of course, not porn- something much, much worse. She held them reverently for a moment before heading back out into the living room.

“Don’t want anyone to find these here,” she explained, wrapping the tapes in her clothing and placing them at the bottom of her bag.

Kanna wasn’t quite quick enough to catch the labels on the tapes, but she did notice the tapes themselves. Again, hardly something she thought worth enough to bring along. ”Tapes? Seriously? I haven’t even seen one of those in years. Why would anyone be looking for them? And don’t- Ugh!” She watched in mild frustration as Chu stuffed them in her bag.

Chu Hua shrugged, a blush coming across her cheeks. To think now, that she had risked her life over something so fucking stupid? She was such an idiot. But she couldn’t just leave them behind. “Um. Let’s just say… I had to go to the Underground and spend 100k yuan for these. Each. And I hide them in my floorboards. So… well. You can make the connection.”

An looked at her strange from across the room. “Sorry, what? What the fuck have you been keeping in our house?”

”Yeah. Besides the super gun that’s probably just as expensive.” Kanna asked, giving An a glance. ”Although more uself than a… 100k yuan cassette tape. King Wu better be naked on it.”

“Oh, fuck you for putting that image in my head. No, no. It’s more important than that. This is old shit. Pre-cleanse shit. I’ll show you, sometime. You’d like it, it’s… film of an old sport. Nothing like stickball, but it’s entertaining. Also super illegal, so that’s fun too. Not like I’m not already a criminal.”

”Well, we all are now.” Kanna threw the last two bottles of water into the bag she’d been given and tied it off. Although smaller than the others, she didn’t have much to carry, mostly because nothing in the apartment was hers. There wasn’t enough time to travel all the way to her house in the Upper Ring. Not with things as they were now. Sure the streets were chaotic but they wouldn’t always be and there was no way to know when people would start paying attention. Both Kanna and Chu had their faces plastered on televisions screens and monitors across the Ba Sing Se and even before this they were already well known. It wouldn’t be difficult for someone to spot them and recognize arguably the world’s most popular Firebender and one of the city’s greatest Stickball players helping her escape. Not to mention who knew who was keeping tabs on An, connected as she was.

In her musings, Kanna’s eyes fell on a picture attached to the fridge and a thought suddenly occurred to her. ”Chu…” She started, turning to the other woman. ”...Are you going to leave something for your parents?”

Before she could answer, however, An’s phone started ringing.

There was pain in her voice as Chu Hua began talking. “I… yeah, I mean, I don’t have much time but I’ll write-”

She was interrupted by a loud shushing sound and a ringtone. “Both of you, shut the fuck up right now,” An practically yelled from the kitchen island. Her face looked drawn and pale as she showed them both her phone screen. Vyska Moon. “I have to take this. Keep packing, just be quiet.”

Chu Hua stared, slightly concerned, as An pressed the accept button and raised the phone to her ear. “Vyska,” she said, sounding a bit concerned, “is everything alright? This is an inconvenient time for me to talk about work stuff, so unless it’s an emergency....”

...

“I made it back to my apartment, thank God. Where are you? Are you alright?” An’s voice took an a more concerned tone as she turned in her chair, away from Kanna and Chu Hua.

...

“She’s… fine.” She hesitated for a moment, glancing at Chu Hua with a bit of a confused look on her face. “The game got cut off thanks to the chaos. Listen, I can’t come in. I have some more important things occupying my attention right now.”

There was a short pause while An bit her lip. ...

“I’m fine. I just can’t come in right now, alright? I’m sorry.” Her tone was terse, snippy.

... There was a dial tone as the person on the other end hung up.

An slammed her phone down onto the counter as the call ended. “God, she’s such an ass,” she said, pulling her laptop out onto the counter. “She wanted me to come in, I said no, and now she’s sending someone to the apartment. Keep packing, babe, write your letter… it’ll be weird if I don’t at least do this.”

Chu Hua glanced at Kanna and shrugged, now scrawling on a piece of paper. That conversation had been weird. “We’ll need to get out of here before they show up, then.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll think of something.” An looked vaguely concerned as she tapped on her keyboard.

Kanna threw her backpack over her shoulder and moved toward the window to peer at the street below. There had already been a few bender sightings nearby earlier in the day when the explosion happened. Although most if not all of them had been taken care of, there were still a number of RSF officers nearby, talking to citizens and closing off crime scenes. All of them were presently preoccupied and were paying little attention to the apartment. ”You want to leave before whoever she sends gets here? Would that be more suspicious?”

An put her head into her hands, massaging her temples. Chu Hua put a hand onto her shoulder, trying to comfort her, but she shook it off. “Sorry. Still hot?” She was feeling much better, but her skin still burned to the touch.

“Yeah,” An muttered. “I guess I’ll have to stay here and wait for them, then.”

“What?! No!” Chu Hua’s voice rose a few decibels as she rounded the kitchen counter. “Absolutely not. What if it’s… a trap?!”

An snorted. “What the hell’s she gonna do, have me arrested? No, you’re the conspicuous one. Kannas right, she’ll call the cops as soon as she sees I’ve left. Out of concern, but still. You’re the most recognizable criminals in the city. You two need to leave. I’ll stay here and join you later. Finish up and I’ll take you down to the tunnels and let you in, alright? I’ll give you directions to where you can leave the city.”

”You don’t have any more weird tapes to grab, do you Chu?” Kanna asked, stepping away from the window.

Chu Hua glanced An’s way, pursing her lips. “No,” she said, gazing at her apartment with a wistful look on her face. She ran her hands over the couch, the walls, the photos on the wall. It was almost certain she’d never see this place again, and less certain that she would never again step foot in the city of her birth. Thinking about her future was awful, setting off a roiling feeling in her. Tears came unbidden to her eyes. Her life, that she had worked so hard to cultivate, had been destroyed in a single moment. Chu Hua didn’t say anything, instead taking her backpack in hand and putting it over her shoulders.

“I’m ready to go,” Chu Hua said, walking towards the door. An stood from her seat and walked to the door, putting a hand on the knob.

“If you guys are ready, then…“

Kanna grabbed her bandanna and tied her hair up with it. As she walked up to the door, she also grabbed her paddle. ”Ready.”

The three of them walked out of the apartment and into the street, heading to the tunnels that ran beneath the Middle Ring. Chu Hua turned one last, uncertain look at her apartment building before she left. She really would miss this place. Who knew what would happen to her next?

Soup Kitchen · Later Afternoon · In collaboration with [&.Exit] & [&.Abstract Proxy]Soup Kitchen · Later Afternoon · In collaboration with @Exit & @Abstract Proxy

_
“Vasra…” Sonam began quietly, a look of fear passing over her face as her mind finally caught up with everything that had just happened. “I think… Did you know you’re a…” As if unconsciously afraid to put that thought into the world for fear it would somehow be more true than it already was, she refused to finish the sentence. However, her own body wouldn’t allow her a chance to think as when she’d finally brought her hands down, she’d inadvertently summoned a gust of air. Dust, debris and water was gently pushed away from her.

“What the fuck…” She said, her voice shaking.

“Is that what that was? I suspect you might be right,” Vasra said, her voice measured, her bearing collected, and her expression distinctly clinical.

She paused, casting a thoughtful gaze over the returned stranger. When she spoke, Vasra spoke carefully, and it was clear that she was conscious of the amount of uncertain witnesses, “I have worked with a number of interesting substances in my medical career, but I cannot say that I have ever noticed a personal capacity for bending in the past.”

Her eyes shifted to the still struggling young man. Vasra frowned, her face contorting into an unfamiliar shape, full of anger, as she stumbled towards her medical bag. Retrieving a metal syringe, she fit a needle, and drew up a pale liquid from a glass bottle.

Approaching the mindlessly failing youth, she coolly jabbed him with the syringe, pressing once the syringe was buried deep in his shoulder, “Enough, this ends now. Rest, be at peace, you have no reason to keep fighting.”

As the youth faded into heavy sleep from the sedative, Vasra turned towards Sonam, “None of this is normal. Something happened. Something is happening. The explosion.. This poor boy. Bending. Something is wrong. Very wrong…”

As Weiyuan stepped into the soup kitchen, he was immediately struck by a feeling of deja vu. It was a sensation he’d gotten used to. His other self had almost certainly been here very recently. Then again, it was shaping up to be a strange day, so it was hard to say anything was truly certain.

He didn’t get much farther than that moment of deja vu, however, as a second later someone was blasted into the wall by a torrent of water. There was something uncomfortably familiar about the person on the wall, but he couldn’t place it. Maybe it was just the glazed over eyes that they shared with the rabid person he’d planted into the street outside.

”What the…” The little girl had her hands in her hair now as she looked from her pinned brother to the collapsed area of the soup kitchen where the temporary medical wing had been set up. Her eyes were red and her breathing uneven as she tried to cope with what was happening around her. The flames at the other end of the room had spread, eating up almost a third of what remained of the dining hall and water had risen to about an inch.

”This is the Republic Security Force.” Came a more mechanical voice from outside. It was loud and echoed as if from a speaker, heralding another arrival. ”Please remain calm.”

”Shit.” Sonam carefully maneuvered closer to the door and spied an RSF vehicle drifting down from the sky. Blue and red lights illuminated burning streets, panicked faces and the eerie pink glow that had blanketed the entire block. As it approached the ground, a bay under the chassis opened up and something humanoid was dropped some fifty feet to the street below. It landed hard and without assistance, breaking up the asphalt upon impact and paying little attention to the force applied to its metal frame as it shouldered a rifle and began scanning the immediate area. It was slightly bulky and bipedal, with angular and blocky limbs, body and ‘face’. Dressed as if military and carrying on itself a number of easily visible crowd control devices. Although the padded armor marked it as an RSF officer, the thing was clearly not human.

From the center of the metal frame that was its head, a thin, nearly translucent beam was emitted like a cone. It swept horizontally, drawing a red line across every surface and every person within its line of sight. It stopped on a woman who had stumbled into the open road and she froze, but as she tried to remain still, the ground beneath her began to tremble.

The AI officer played a pleasant, two tone melody, not unlike one played for children, and shot the woman in the face.
”Benders. Please give up peacefully. I will not harm you.” It said flatly, continuing to scan. It turned toward the kitchen just as the RSF vehicle touched down not far from the robot.

”S-SHIT!” Sonam pressed against the wall. ”Get away from the door!” She yelled at Weiyuan, waving an arm at him. A violent torrent of wind was thrown in his direction, kicking up more water and debris, much to Sonam’s surprise.

The beam immediately fixated on the open doorway.

Weiyuan stumbled back, arms thrown over his eyes against the dust and debris thrown at him. It turned out to be overall fortuitous, as it left him clear of the AI’s scanner. He quickly pressed himself against the doorway, just barely out of sight.

This was bad. He couldn’t move unless it looked away. Somehow he had to make it look away. He shot a look at the other people nearby. There was the doctor who was a total unknown, and the wind-bender who had pushed him clear… but had also been the one to draw attention their way in the first place, so she didn’t seem terribly reliable.

He squared his body as best he could while staying flat to the wall. He just needed a single pebble and maybe he could get a bit of breathing room. He could feel what he needed on the opposite side of the wall, out on the street. Dozens of pebbles, rocks, and old chunks of asphalt that had been shoved to the side of the street over the years.

He knew what he needed to do, but could he do it? He needed to be precise, and right now precise was hard. He had power, but it wasn’t stable.

OK, so then he just wouldn’t bother with precision at all. He swung his left hand, the one farthest from the door out, and he could feel all the little rocks and pebbles outside try to follow it. He then swung it much harder, back toward the wall, pushing them all away again, sending them scattering across the street to clatter against the wall of the building opposite the soup kitchen.

Hopefully the thing outside would find that commotion more interesting than what had just happened inside.

The sound of rock hitting metal and the whining of overworking gears could be heard through the door as pebbles, stones and an entire slab of concrete were lifted and thrown at the AI. A wall of dirt cascaded over its frame like a wave and buried it in loose earth, ripping the thin red line tracing the kitchen away and opening up a window of opportunity for those inside to move. But just as one obstacle was removed, another was revealed.

”I… I can’t move…” Came the panicked whisper of the girl. She stood frozen in the center of a small cluster of suspended water droplets, her arms out and her body leaned forward as if she had been in the middle of moving out of the way of the door frame. Only, she hadn’t been allowed to. ”I…. can’t…. bre….”

Sonam’s eyes widened in fear. ”B-...backdoor… Backdoor! RUN! RUN NOW!” She screamed, pushing off the wall and bolting. Ignoring the girl or any measure of cover from whatever was tracking them, she vaulted over a small wall of fire and landed, or crashed, near a door just as shots from outside rang out. Bullets pierced the wall near Vasra and whizzed past Sonam’s head, burying themselves in the same door as she tore it open. ”GET IN!”

Weiyuan’s jaw dropped slightly. He… hadn’t meant to do that. Well it was fine. Now he just had to find Chae-Won and… what the hell was going on? Adding on to a long list of unfortunate and distracting events, the little girl suddenly found herself in the grasp of… something. Weiyuan shook his head. Problems for later! Chase-Won now!

Then the shooting started.

He dove to the floor, arms over his head and curling up. He cracked one eye opening, just trying to figure out where Chae-Won was. He’d crawl if he had to.

Meanwhile, it seemed gunfire was what would finally shock Chae-Won back to her senses. She rapidly blinked her open, suddenly wide-awake, though completely disorientated. Everything hurt, her ears were ringing, and she was struggling to remember where she was.

Then her eyes fell upon the kid, curled up nearby, trying to avoid being shot. Something in her immediately just snapped. It was clearly past time to be cautious.

She threw an arm out, intending to raise as much of a wall as she could to shield her while she got the kid and got out. A moment later, and a massive wall of earth burst up, tearing through the floor and battering aside tables. It careened forth, plowing through the outer wall at an angle and tearing it apart, leaving the massive, jutting slab of earth in its place.

Traditional gunfire wouldn’t be piercing that anytime soon.

“GAH! FUCK!” Chae-Won recoiled in horror at her own actions. She hadn’t meant to do that! “SHIT!” However, in her surprise, her startled motions caused two more slabs of earth to burst through the floor at odd angles, further adding to the earthen barricade. “Wh-wh-wh-”

She scrambled back, pushing herself to a sitting position before staring down at her trembling hands. What the absolute fuck was going on?! And then a pair of hands grabbed hers, holding them steady.

“K-kid? Wh-what the hell-” However, Weiyuan just shook his head. Clearly, this wasn’t the time for explanations, and, while she’d just given them ample cover, she’d also made ample commotion. “Right. Run first, talk later. Got it.”

It was a strange, strange day when she wasn’t the one in control, but for the moment, Weiyuan had had a few more minutes to make sense of things than she had. So far no sense had truly been made of it all, but… it was what it was.

The two got back to their feet and looked around. The room was on fire and falling apart at the seams, but it was mostly empty. It was them, the girl frozen in place, the doctor, and one guy nailed to the wall. At the back, they could see where Sonam had thrown the door open for them to escape through.

“GIrl, come on, what are-” Chae-Won tried to get the girl to run with them, but she just wasn’t budging. “What the f-... Screw it, they’re gonna surround the building if we don’t hurry! Everyone out!”

Chae-Won hurried ahead, waving for Wieyuan and the doctor to follow her… but Weiyuan hesitated. Could he really just leave someone behind without even trying to help?

He knew he was barely even a real person. He only existed to handle problems for his other self. It wasn’t his job to protect anyone else.

But… he would’ve tried too.

He shook her gently, then tugged on her, but nothing. He had no idea what was wrong, but… his only guess was that, maybe, if he could move her from that spot it might break the grip of whatever had a hold of her. It wasn’t like there was anything else he could try.

He took a few steps back and then, like back in the street, threw himself at her full force trying to just tackle her free of the spot. However, unlike outside, he wasn’t trying to spear the girl to the ground. If he got her to move, he’d try to roll and cushion the fall for her.

With any luck he’d be pulling her out of the room with the rest of them.

Weiyuan collided with the girl with enough force to move her, freeing her from the mysterious hold and pushing her to safety. But as she fell away and Weiyuan attempted to grab and roll with her to cushion her fall, his body suddenly froze, suspended in the air, exactly where the girl had been standing before. She hit the ground and began scrambling away, but Weiyuan remained where he was.

Oh no. He’d messed up. He couldn’t move. He could barely breathe. Now what was he going to-!?

PLASH!

He hit the floor, landing in a puddle of water. He momentarily wondered what had just happened, but with another cry of urgency from Sonam, he decided that, indeed, these were all questions for later. He pushed himself to his feet, attempting to haul the girl to her feet when he reached her, but between adrenaline shakes and his now wet shoes, he struggled. He wasn’t strong enough to lift an entire other person on a good day. If they weren’t in such a rush, maybe, but as it was…

He could have tried to use his bending, but after last time he was, quite frankly, afraid to even try. However, a pair of hands dragged him and the girl along a moment later.

“Next time you want to play hero, warn me!” Chae-Won shouted, shoving the two toward safety. She’d already peeled back a section of floor to create a gap in the fire, because at this point, what was a little more indiscriminate property damage?

Once they made it past Sonam, they took a second to breathe.

“OK, listen kid. Err, sorry, not you. Little girl. Once we’re clear of this, you get the hell away from us, got it? You don’t wanna be anywhere near us right now. Unless you wanna get shot for associating with benders.” Chae-Won told her while panting. Everything still hurt, her head was throbbing, she was pretty sure she had wood and glass splinters, and she still had no idea what the fuck was going on. She then looked to the others, “Assuming I don’t black out again… I think I can get us out of here…”

Her whole job was to know the streets, after all.

Abandoned Rest Stop · Early Morning · @EveryoneAbandoned Rest Stop · Early Morning · @Everyone

_
Sun scorched the air anywhere without shade. So hot was it that even the sand seemed to pour heat from the ground. Many were huddled together under trees and some in the shade of the one building still standing. A derelict structure from an age long past that had once been a herald of safety. Of a sign that the great walls of Ba Sing Se were within reach. Now, the thin black line drawn across the horizon in the distance was a sign of death. Of the life they were all forced to leave behind for the weak promise of safety somewhere beyond the desert at their feet. The place had long ago been abandoned despite an attempt to turn it into a small outpost for the city. Proximity to the desert and the storms that raged within it made any kind of permanent habitation impossible. Still, signs of their effort survived to today. Inside the hollowed out husk were tables and chairs nearly buried in sand. A counter that divided the dusty room in half and empty frames on the wall. Dated kitchen appliances. An old wire phone. An empty Cabbage Corp crate. Items from a different time and life frozen in time. Some found comfort in the strange world it was forever trapped in. Others only wanted to leave, unable to think of anything else but escape with their freedom so close. Every person had made the hard trek from the city walls to the rest stop in the middle of nowhere in hopes that they could be guided to safety. Now, the only thing standing between them and that rumored place beyond the sand sea was the raging storm in front of them.

A wall of sand, impossibly wide and stretching into the dark clouds in the sky was rampaging, barring passage for anyone but those with the knowledge and the tools to cross, and even those individuals were hesitant. They'd ordered everyone to wait while they watched in trepidation, gawking at streaks of light that would burn a path through tumbling clouds of gnashing stone. A display of nature's fury.

"We're liable to be buried." Informed Tikaani. A tall man dressed in brown and gray leathers from head to toe. Clothing made sturdy by scratchy fabrics and stiff layers that helped to keep invasive sand out and cooler hair trapped inside. His short black black hair was pinned back by a pair of goggles that had been pushed to his forehead to make room for the binoculars he was peering though. "It's not a strong storm but it's still dangerous."

"Are you serious? Are we looking at the same thing?" Kanna asked.

Nearby, several vehicles were parked and waiting. Each one fully gassed and modified in their own way to survive the unforgiving embrace of the desert. It was obvious that some had been cobbled together worse than others. Patch work frames of metal and twine that looked as though it could fall apart as soon as they hit the gas. All of them were older models of Satomobiles from decades past and none were modified the way a peculiar Kyoshi was. Already those more curious or those with no regard for boundaries were stepping up to the vehicle, eyeing it like a prize. However, more importantly, early on it was discovered that there were not enough seats to go around and already, some small conflict was brewing between those who would be departing first and those who would have to wait for a second convoy to arrive. Although nothing overly violent had yet occurred, tensions were already incredibly high and it was only a matter of time before someone became too impatient for everyone's good.

To compound the issue, almost 24 hours later and many were still unable to control their bending, or worse, unwilling to accept that which they had become. Unwilling to accept the people they were forced to run with.

Tunnels under the Middle Ring · Afternoon · In collaboration with [&.Exit]Tunnels under the Middle Ring/Desert Outpost · Afternoon/Morning Next Day · In collaboration with @Exit

_
”Chu… we have to go. If we wait any longer, we may not be able to make it out of the city before they seal everything.” Kanna was already standing a few feet away in the encroaching darkness of the tunnel. ”I’m sure she’s fine and will catch up.” She said, not really believing her own words.

Chu Hua shook her head emphatically. “No. No, she’s coming. Just thirty more minutes, please.” Her gaze was fixed on the abyss of the tunnel expanding behind them, hope and dread mixing in her eyes. An would come. She had to. Only hours ago, Chu Hua had begged An to stay behind for her own safety. But now… I can’t do this alone. They couldn’t leave her behind, not with the city the way it was, and not with the evidence of her helping them on tape. Even underground they heard pained and terrified screams, the rending sound of gunshots, the explosions of bombs. She couldn’t leave her fiancee here.

”You said ‘thirty more minutes’ thirty minutes ago…”

“So? We’ll wait. We can’t just leave her here, Kanna.”

”Yeah. Actually we can.” Kanna grimaced as the words came out of her mouth. They sounded much harsher than she meant for it to. ”I’m sorry. I just… I hate this as much as you but if she hasn’t come down yet, either whoever was sent to check on her never left, or… or we really need to leave. Regardless, as annoying as I think she is, I know she can handle herself. That much is obvious. She’s going to be fine but we definitely are not going to be okay if we stay.”

“You don’t understand,” Chu Hua insisted, growing agitated as she curled her hands into fists. “I know she can handle herself. But I can’t leave her here. I can’t. Maybe you don’t understand that kind of commitment, but she’s important to me.”

”No I do! I understand you’re committed to her but she’s also committed to you! Tha- Ugh! This! Right here. She’s committed to getting you out of here and ignoring that... that is what got my mother killed.” Kanna shook her head. ”She put her neck on the line for you literally a few minutes after finding out you’re a Firebender because you’re important to her too. We can’t let it be for nothing.”

Also I’m a fucking idiot and I put myself in this hole and I don’t want to die either, okay? I really dislike the idea of dying.”

“But… Chu Hua leaned against the tunnel walls, wearing a look of devastation on her face as she realized she had no ground to stand on here. What Kanna said was true. They had very little time, and if they stayed in the city, the two of them- especially Chu Hua- were certainly doomed to die of a bullet to the head. She couldn’t leave her fiancee behind, the very thought of doing so rended her limb from limb, but she also couldn’t wait here and let herself and Kanna die. Although she certainly loved An much more than Kanna, her ex had also risked her life for Chu Hua. She couldn’t let her die, either.

She was quiet for a long moment, staring into the distance, eyes empty. It was the thought of that obligation that finally forced her to speak. “I fucking hate you for making me do this,” she murmured, and stepped off the wall. “Fine. Let’s go.”

Kanna stole a last glance back down the tunnel toward where An had let them in. Like Chu, she wasn’t sure when or if she’d ever be back and figured that this was it. She hadn’t even been given the chance to properly gather anything from her house. Her clothing. Belongings. Photos. Her mother’s memory. All of it had been left behind, much in the same way that Chu was doing now with her entire world.

But then again, when Kanna really thought about it, there was little else left for her in Ba Sing Se. As much as she liked to give Chu shit about it, it was painfully obvious that Chu was going to over take her that year. Her time had been up a long time ago, she knew, and every victory at finals was just Kanna desperately postponing the inevitable. In some ways, the abrupt end of the game was a bit of a stroke of luck as there would be no official verdict as to who was best, but Kanna knew. She also knew that with no family left, the high-point of her career already at its end and no one to lament her absence in the same way An was Chu, her story was over.

”Yeah. I hate me too.”

---

After the two of them had left the tunnels and emerged from the city, they had set out to the desert outpost on foot. Kanna and Chu Hua sniped at each other on occasion, but for the most part they were silent. Chu Hua looked questioningly back at the slowly receding outline of the Ba Sing Se skyline every once in a while, looking for something, but Kanna didn’t comment. She couldn’t tell if she was grateful for that or not. Mostly, the trek blurred together. At certain points, her entire body just hurt so bad from the combination of burned and tired feet, burned skin, and general exhaustion and despair that she could only focus on putting one foot in front of the other. After all, they couldn’t stop. Someone would figure out where they had escaped to at some point and come looking- it was better to get as far from the city as possible as fast as possible.

They finally reached the outpost when the first hint of light was touching the desert sky. Chu Hua almost immediately fell asleep for two glorious hours while Kanna made sure no one took their things. Chu Hua took second watch, waking up to let Kanna sleep for a while. She watched the last trickle of fugitives- benders, she guessed- filter in. It immediately put her on edge. It was hard to think of herself as one of these people. Bloodied, devastated, some raving. All was quiet, for the most part, with the occasion argument breaking out. As the sun finally rose, bringing with it an unbearable heat, she watched people prepare to leave and nudged Kanna awake. Their names had been announced as some of the people leaving in the first wave.

Now, Chu Hua had one eye on the horizon and one eye on the car they were supposed to be leaving in. One foolish little part of her kept hoping that she would see An dashing across the sand, having fallen just a bit behind. But that isn’t going to happen. She stuffed her burn-mottled hands in her red plaid jacket, wincing at the pain that caused. She drew them out.

She eyed the storm critically, standing next to Kanna. It was strange- the one person she had wanted nothing to do with less tha twenty four hours ago was maybe now one of the only people in her vicinity she could trust. “Well. We weren’t murdered, so I don’t think the universe will sandstorm us to death,” she joked half-heartedly, provoking a glare.

She nudged Kanna, gesturing to the Kyoshi. A few people were milling around it, trying to look like they totally weren’t considering stealing it. “I think that’s our ride. Wanna go… I don’t know, stand next to it or something? So we don’t get trampled?” They trekked over to the Kyoshi, taking up a spot a good few feet away from the car. She up-nodded one of the tough-looking guys and then diverted her eyes, shifting from foot to foot. Chu Hua stood in silence, trying her best to keep her eyes angled out of the glaring sun. Maybe the worst was over.

Desert Outpost · Morning · [&.canaryrose]Desert Outpost · Morning · @canaryrose

_
Even with their ability to earthbend, walking through the windwhipped desert wasn't exactly pleasant. There was only so much even they could do to make the journey easier, juiced up bending or not. There wasn't much to talk about along the way, especially when one of them wasn't even capable of speaking.

Especially when, as the hours wore on, Chae-Won saw Weiyuan refuse to rest. Resting would mean most likely his other personality taking over again. A personality that had no idea what was going on and, in his mind, that lacked the fortitude to deal with their current situation.

Chae-Won didn't like to admit it, but she was thankful the current Weiyuan was sticking around. She was still anxious about confronting the other one with how things had left off between them. What was worse, this was a very bad time to try and resolve things. There was so much to try and explain.

Once arriving at their first destination, CHae-Won immediately got to work. There was only so much she could do, but after eyeing the vehicles, she at least came up with one thing to keep her busy: make sure she and Weiyuan were placed on the Kyoshi. She was not having it all go to shit now just because they got put on a rustbucket that was about to have its wheels fall off in the middle of the desert.

When fate didn't go their way, some careful manipulating got things back on track for them.

It was not easy, consdiering she had very little to work with, but she made it happen.

"OK, kid. Looks like we got a few people starting to group up. Might be stuck with them for a bit. Wanna go say hi?"

Weiyuan looked over at the Kyoshi and the people begginning to group up around it, and then back at Chae-Won with a stern scowl. Part of him wondered if she'd known who else was assigned to the Kyoshi when she'd been so adamant about them riding on it. There was no denying it was the superior choice, but still...

Chae-Won put a pleasant smile on her face, ignoring the pointed look coming from Weiyuan's baggy eyes, and marched over to the vehicle with him trudging along after her.

"Hey there!" she greeted the two women who'd gotten there before them. "Looks like we're riding with you!" She gave a somehwat nervous laugh, trying to pass it off as her just being friendly. Her facade was crumbling, and the longer she stood near the two the faster it fell apart. "S-so, uhhh, who are you? I-I mean I'm Chae-Won, your names are...?"

They would all hear the sound of Weiyuan's palm smacking against his face in second-hand embarassment. He just stared at her tiredly, simultaneously wishing he could form the words to yell at her and yet happy he had an excuse to stay out of it.

"Oh right! Um, this is my friend Weiyuan! He's also, uhh, gonna ride in the car. Truck? Wh-what would you call it? Ahahaha..." She regularly worked for people who would kill her if she breathed wrong. Why was this so hard!? She was pretty sure she was older than them and everything!

Weiyuan didn't even spare the other two a glance as he continued to just stare at Chae-Won in a mixture of disblief and disappointment. Finally he just pinched the bridge of his nose, massaging his tired eyes and shook his head.

Chae-Won grimaced at that, glancing back at the two women, "OK fine! I'm sorry! I totally know who you two are, I just didn't wanna be that person right now!" she blurted out her shameful admission, face flushed not just from the sun and heat at this point. "Uhh... b-but we really are on the same ride... so... umm... yeah."

Weiyuan, feeling a little bad at this point, nodded that Chae-Won was telling the truth, finally fully acknowledging Kanna and Chu Hua.

"Oh yeah, and Weiyuan can't talk, so don't think he'd being rude or anything." Funnily enough, talking about the kid suddenly had her talking calm and steady again. Again Weiyuan nodded.

In that moment of clarity, Chae-Won noticed the other guy wandering around the modded Kyoshi. He didn't seem like another passenger. One of the drivers, perhaps? Well considering the sate of the other vehicles, it wasn't so hard to believe he'd be curious about something so much nicer. That said, she couldn't quite let her guard all the way down. Anything that might threaten their way out was going to stay firmly on her radar.

Location · Date & Time · [&vietmyke]Desert Outpost· Morning · @vietmyke

_
The last 24 hours had been a blur. The explosion at the Synergy Center, the sudden empowering of his already little known powers. On the bright side, anyone that saw his powers was either dead or on his side for the time being. On the not-so-bright side, that brief anonymity would not likely last long. They needed to get out of the city and somewhere safe- relatively speaking. The Xuoshi engineer new a possible refuge away from the city, and that was all Jin needed to hear before he started formulating plans. Reman had a direction, Jin had a means to achieve said direction, and from there they were flying by seat of their pants.

With people still confused about what was happening, it was easy for Vyska to use her authority to push the other SynEn employees to do what she wanted or needed of them- she along with the rest of their growing little group wouldn't be there to suffer the consequences anyway. Additional provisions, or at least whatever they could grab at such short notice were procured, and any unnecessary junk and weight was unceremoniously dumped out of Jin's car and onto the garage floor. Jack cleared the garage of personnel, and Sumire discreetly gave the override to open the usually secured gates to allow them to reach the outside.

As for Sumire, it was a difficult decision, but one that ultimately only had one answer. She had a life in this city, and people depended on her just like Jin did. But Jin couldn't and wouldn't let her stay behind in the city- she'd already incriminated herself by assisting them, and if it was ever discovered that Jin and Vyska were benders, it wouldn't be long before the RSF were knocking on her door. No, as terrible as it sounded, the safest place for her to be was out of the city with him. In truth, her fate had been sealed the moment she discovered he was a bender- she was his closest, and to an extent his only friend in the city, and any RSF spook would be able to piece that together with ease. There was a tearful call goodbye to her mother, saying that she was going on an extended expedition along the pipes, and wasn't sure when she'd be able to get in contact again.

And with that, they were gone.

---

Admittedly, Jin and company's journey to the rest stop was easier than most. The Kyoshi was custom tailored to handle the trials and tribulations of the desert, and with much of the excess gear ditched, it was much lighter and easy to maneuver. The same couldn't be said of others- many walked, others came in beat up vehicles that frankly Jin was surprised were still able to keep themselves together. Jin wasn't sure how he was roped into it but at some point he became a designated driver for the burgeoning caravan of refugees. He didn't remember if he volunteered or was voluntold, but he was now the driver of his own little company of benders and outcasts.

Even from his spot in the shade of the rest stop, he could see the other drivers eyeing up his car like a hunk of meat at a butcher shop. He wasn't happy about that, but he wasn't surprised. While quite suped up- even for a Pipe Runner vehicle, amongst his coworkers, his car wasn't that much of a jump ahead. But here at this rest stop, his car may as well be from another world. Being frank, Jin was surprised that those old beat up cars had even made it out here in one piece, never mind try to brave the oncoming sandstorm. Even in the Kyoshi, Jin would be hesitant to take a storm like that head on.

"Should we stop them? Sumire yawned, interrupting his thoughts. Her voice was slightly digitized through her Pipe Runner helmet- a white helmet similar to Jin's, with a bunny ear headband affixed to the top. Her helmet was also notably in much better shape than Jin's, rarely used and still relatively unscarred by the sands. The two had been taking turns getting some rest, and only the desire to stretch their legs saw them exit Jin's Kyoshi. Jin's gaze beneath his polarized visor affixed itself to the one man that had taken it upon himself to take a closer look at the vehicle. The armored shutters made seeing into the vehicle itself an exercise in futility.

"Unless one of them has a grenade launcher in their pants I'm not that worried." Jin replied casually, though he still stood up from his seat by the wall of the rest stop, picking up his rifle as he did. "Though that being said, I'd rather these guys not get too comfortable with my car."

Catching sight of the Xuoshi engineer rounding the corner as he got up, Jin waved him down. They didn't know each other, not really. But something about their current circumstances meant he was one of the few friendly faces that Jin could relatively trust not to stab him in the back- at least for the moment.

"Reman, c'mon, we're gonna be mounting up soon." Jin called out to the man, gesturing for him to follow. "How're you holding up?"

A small group was also already forming around the Kyoshi, most likely the others that would be riding with them. The one that didn't belong was a sort of rough and tumble looking man- likely another driver- with a gun at his hip. Seemingly ignoring the growing group around his car, the man continued snooping around Jin's car, even going so far as to grab the door handle and try to open up the driver side door. It was locked, obviously. Jin for his part had his own gun in his hands as well- though not aggressively, but held rather casually in his grasp, with its muzzle pointed at the ground.

"Those of you in my car," Jin's digitized voice called out to the others, making his presence known, "Spare helmets and filters are on the outer racks on the left. Help yourselves. Might come in handy- though I might not have enough for everyone." Sumire quickly crossed over to the car, giving both Jin and the other driver a fairly wide berth as she approached the others.

"They're not as necessary while we're in the car, but they have sand and dust filters in case the weather stays bad!" Sumire said helpfully, pulling her own helmet off to greet the others.

"Hey there, friend. I think my car is full up on riders." Jin called out to the man creeping about his car, in a tone that, while not hostile was decidedly less than friendly. Jin stood a few feet away from the man, hand casually resting on his rifle. Now, I'm not looking for any trouble here. I hope you're not looking for any neither."

Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · In collaboration with |@KillamriX88] & |@canaryrose]Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · In collaboration with @KillamriX88 & @canaryrose

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Chu Hua looked up, squinting at the glare of the sun in her eyes. These two seemed… earnest. Well, the woman did- the boy looked chagrined. She sighed nearly imperceptibly as Chae Won started speaking, giving Kanna a resigned glance. A day ago, she would’ve been happy to meet these two- fans were, or had been, her favorite part of her career outside of the game- but today she was just done. She didn’t care. “Uh-huh,” she said, face and tone flat. “Cool.”

Kanna returned a glance that said ”They’re your fans…” and would have left her to suffer the attention if it were any other day, but out here, any attention was bad attention. It was something that the both of them hadn’t really considered. Kanna had been so distracted by the events leading to their departure from the city, she’d completely forgotten that back in their normal lives, the both of them were very recognizable. The fact that their escape from the field in the middle of the game yesterday had been broadcast to the entire city only compounded the issue.

Besides that, she found herself fighting instincts she hadn’t had for years. There was no need to step up and put herself between Chu and potential danger, not when it was no longer her place and especially not when Chu could handle herself. Yet, she wanted to.

...Chu was right. An should have been here… She thought to herself, recognizing the face of indifference on her ex. She decided the least she could do was try to keep things cordial with the strangers since it’d been made apparent they’d be riding together. She preferred everyone in their group at least remained friendly for however long the duration of the trip across the desert would be.

”It’s uh…always nice to meet fans...” Kanna answered, struggling to change what would have been a practiced greeting to something more fitting to everyone’s situation. ”So… are you both… you know... Are you both Benders?”

Chae-Won felt her whole body cringe with shame as Kanna called her a 'fan'. Was it that obvious? Of course it was.

“I’m so sorry. I made it weird, I know I did…” Chae-Won groaned. Fortunately, Kanna seemed less begrudging of their presence and gave her a less painfully awkward topic to discuss. “Oh, uh… yeah I guess that’s the kind of thing we can actually talk about now, huh?”

Weiyuan, having been on edge the second Kanna had asked, relaxed as Chae-Won. It was true. The pathetically small silver lining to all this was that he was surrounded by people where, for the moment at least, he didn’t have to hide that part of himself.

“Yep. Both of us are earth benders. I’d been teaching myself for years, and then I ran into the kid. He insisted on learning, so I figured I might as well make sure he learned right.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Neither of us are experts or anything. Obviously it's pretty hard to get proper instructions on how to do this stuff…”

Wait. Holy shit. That meant that at least one of the two women before her were also benders. Weiyuan coud see the lightbulb go off in Chae-Won’s head and rolled his eyes as she suppressed a squeal of delight.

She actually had something in common with her heroes.

“You trained?” That got Chu Hua’s attention. She stared at Chae-Won, baffled, looking the other woman up and down with a new appreciation. Training. Bending training. She had those tapes, but she had never imagined those skills might still exist. Bending was just a relic that she had been cursed with. Nowadays, it was something that happened to benders, not something that benders did. “How? Why would you do that? That’s… impossible! And insane.” She completely ignored the rest of the conversation, now fixing Chae-Won with an intensely interested and, frankly, confused expression on her face. She didn’t disclose her own status- it felt a little awkward- but she imagined it would be fairly obvious from the look of the fresh burns on her hands.

”Maybe she has ‘naked King Wu’ tapes too.”

“Shut the fuck up, please?”

Chae-Won’s brain completely short-circuited. Chu Hua was talking to her. Like actually paying attention and talking to her. Talking to her and actually interested!

“O-oh, I-I-” Aaaand then another hiccup interrupted her thought process. “Wait, naked who what now?” She blinked, but then decided it must be some sort of hilarious inside joke she wasn’t cool enough to know about. “W-well…” This time she was neither interrupted, nor too star-struck to speak. She began sweating a little, realizing the can of worms Chu Hua’s question might open with regard to her past. “It’s… um… a really long, lame story that I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in. Let’s just say I got started one day out of necessity and… just kept going. I just needed something to focus on sometimes and bending was what I had. Then, like I said, I found the kid and had to keep myself sharp for his sake.”

Well it was definitely a long story at any rate. One they didn’t have time for, so for now she was probably safe.

That said, even Weiyuan was eyeing her with a look that cried “bullshit.”

“Necessity?” Chu Hua raised a brow, skeptical. “Why would you need this shit? It’s awful. I just… you know, I tried really hard not to… but, well. Here I am now, so I guess that didn’t fucking work.” She snorted, shaking her head. “That doesn’t make sense to me. And you, kid, you… wanted to know all this stuff?”

”I mean… didn’t you also pay a hundred thousand yuan for the tapes? Not that any of this makes sense. How does someone…” Kanna tilted the stick in her hand toward Chae. ”...Manage to never get caught while training and teaching when Chu was over here burying a part of her in her floorboards?”

Kanna was wracking her brain listening to the multiple perspectives of the same issue. An issue with which she had very little exposure to until only a few days previous and had since then only dedicated time to finding a way to run from. On one hand, Benders were hunted and killed and those who knew they could bend before the accident had spent their lives hiding or trying to bury their powers for fear of the impact it’d have on their lives. On the other hand, there were those who had somehow managed to train and even teach others who wanted to learn. Something wasn’t adding up or maybe she just never understood the whole picture. The world was afterall a big place and Ba Sing Se by itself was massive. Maybe there were more solutions to the problem than Kanna had originally believed buried within the city. Unfortunately for her, that solution hadn’t come in time to save her mother. Instead, she was watching two people put together a puzzle that was supposed to explain their lives and why they ended up where they were. What decisions they made, why they made them and what if anything they could have done to change the present. It was as if anything related to bending was a shit show, just as they’d been told.

”Not to mention that she’s right. This is shit. Why try so hard to want it?” Kanna asked, almost as if addressing all three present.

“Look, I’m not a philosopher or anything, and I don’t want to get preachy. You’ll just have to trust me when I say there was a time when I needed it to work for me, OK?” Chae-Won told them. Meanwhile, she had indeed seen the burns on Chu Hua’s hands. She didn’t speak to her directly, but she did have one other thing to say, “But it’s not like it’s a disease. I’ve seen what sick people, monster’s, look like. Astonishingly, most of ‘em weren’t benders… Bending is just another thing in a long list of bullshit people have chosen to tear each other apart over. It helped me when I needed it, and that’s good enough for me.”

Weiyuan fidgeted with his collar as she spoke. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the glass wasn’t even what she was referring to, but it was all he could think about when she talked about bending like that.

They hurt me when they found out about my bending… and they hurt me when they didn’t know about it. If there’s no difference, then why shouldn’t I? Weiyuan mouthed the words, forcing a weak whisper out, though he didn’t really care how much they understood, nor was he in the mood to explain further. He just knew their attitude toward their bending was annoying.

It reminded him too much of his other self…

“I didn’t say I was sick or a monster,” Chu Hua retorted, crossing her arms. She was getting a little heated, despite herself. All that rage inside of her from yesterday was bubbling up, and she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

It wasn’t that she had never though herself a monster or resented herself for what she was. She had, and in some ways, she did. When she was a kid, she had taken showers as freezing cold as they could go. When she was a teenager, she had burned herself, trying to get herself to associate fire with pain, to get rid of it all. It had never worked. How could these people be so seemingly happy with it?

“Listen, I-” She noticed Weiyuan trying to speak and stopped herself in her tracks, trying hard to pay attention to his words. Her face softened after she heard him speak, however soft it was. How could it not? “Kid, I… I just know I wouldn’t be in this spot if I couldn’t bend. I don’t know if you can understand, but I have- I had- a career, a life, a family. If I hadn’t lit a stadium on fire yesterday, I would still be planning my wedding for next week. Now I’m not getting married at all. Fuck, what time is it, 9 AM? I’d be in bed with my fiancee second-guessing my choice of cake frosting, not in the desert preparing to travel to god knows where so I won’t be executed.” She started to get a bit choked up towards the end of her sentence, balling her hands into fists.

Kanna remained silent, finding herself yet again in an emotional situation with someone who needed another’s touch. Who needed the very woman they had both left behind. The worst part of it all was that she could no longer relate. Kanna was no Bender, nor was she expecting to wed anyone. She was just on the run from a life that knew none of the struggle any of the other three had to live through. Then there was Weiyuan who had surprised them both when he started to speak. Only thing was, his voice was like that of a broken whisper and nearly impossible to hear in the ambience of the crowd around them and strong winds from the storm in the distance. In her effort to understand him, it was only then that she noticed the lines carved into his neck half hidden by his messy head of hair. Her eyes glanced from him to the scars marking half of Chae-Won’s face and then to the burns on Chu’s hands.

”I’m… sorry.” Kanna said softly, again as if to all three although she was still looking at Chu. Kanna was afterall half the reason Chu was in the middle of the desert away from the one thing she probably needed. Even if the alternative was death, their running wasn’t shaping up to be much better. Not when every other person like Chu was broken in some way and had the scars to prove it.

“I get it. Maybe not specifically that, but none of us ended up here for happy reasons,” Chae-Won said. “And I don’t expect to change your mind about bending today, and I’m almost certain youm don’t want me to try.” There was more she wanted to say, but it wasn’t her job to lecture Chu Hua freaking Yuan. Besides, she was a grown woman who now would have plenty of time to think things over.

“But, if you do want to talk about any of that stuff, we’ll have time… so… just say the word,” she concluded. “Doesn’t even need to be about bending, really. Gonna be a real boring trip otherwise.” Then again, maybe a little boring wouldn’t be so bad right now.

"Yeah, I don't think we're getting... 'boring'." Kanna said, peering into the sky with a hand shielding the light from her eyes. "...What is that?"

Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · |@Theyra] & |@vietmyke]Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · @Theyra & @vietmyke

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"Hey there, friend. I think my car is full up on riders. Now, I'm not looking for any trouble here. I hope you're not looking for any neither."

The man eyeing the Kyoshi turned to Jin and sized him up.

"Actually I recognize this..." He said, tapping the side of the vehicle. "A Kyoshi. You only see this in one place." The man's eyes narrowed. "That pipe you protect? I heard it's all but busted up now since the accident. No synergy being pumped through the damn thing and it's making a lot of people nervous. People need the stuff, you know? So... you wouldn't happen to have any on you by chance, would you?"

"ERR! Nope! We've got none! So sorry, sir!" Sumire chimed in from behind Jin, shaking her head although the motions were slightly exaggeration. The bunny ears on the helmet tucked under her arm began to wobble slightly.

"You sure about that? Because if you did, I could buy it off of you for a very fair price. Right now, with the shortage, stolen synergy is probably worth more than this entire trip. Very valuable stuff. Very dangerous stuff and I'd be willing take some off your hands. Wouldn't want that trouble you're not looking for to find you instead." The man said, placing a hand on the piece on his hip.

"TIKAAANIII!"

Both the man and Sumire looked up toward the source of the yell. On top of the tower was a man who was waving at everyone below and pointing at the sky. "COMPANY!"

Curious, Sumire took a step forward and tried to see what the man was pointing at, throwing on her helmet again when the sun was making it difficult to see.

A dark figure was falling out of the sky at a fairly high rate of speed, drifting away from another object above it that looked to be moving further South.

Landing in the Tower · In collaboration with the LSFLanding in the Tower · In collaboration with the LSF

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The HUD on Zhen’s helmet ticked off the distance to the target and provided a line to follow. She didn’t need to, but she was using her own augment to count the time and distance alongside it, validating that both agreed. On the way down all she had heard was the noise of the wind around her wingsuit, the air currents rolling off the white folds of the fully extended airfoils, along with her counting down the time to Jin. When they were close, so close that Zhen could see the windows of the building and the people on the ground with her own eyes, Zhen said “Beginning deceleration for terminal approach. Please keep you limbs by your side during this process. The G-Forces will be substantial but you’ve endured equivalent amounts during your training.“

Landing precisely in the top of the tower took creative thinking to slow down so rapidly. It was tricky to make the bending motions when the wind was whipping around, and how closely Jin was strapped to her added to the difficulty, she could feel the weight of their body with every move. She executed the required motions with all of the grace she could, treating it just like she was in the training room and not plummeting through the air as made the sweeping and spinning gestures of airbending. A burst of air erupted from the roof of the tower, shattering the windows, tossing the furniture, threatening to burst the eardrums of anyone inside the room atop it. Zhen used the time it took for the blast to reposition her arms and legs to, stretching them out wide, and turn herself upright, catching the pressure wave like a sail. She winced at the forces, but to an external observer it all looked like a graceful slowing down, like leaf falling off of a tree.

Jin was somewhere between elation and fear as they soared through the air. They were silent, as the oxygen mask around their nose and mouth kept them breathing at high altitude. But their green eyes were lit up like twin emeralds behind their goggles. They were going to remember this for a very long time.

Flying, as it turned out, was fucking awesome.

As the two of them slowed, Jin took another slow and steady breath to calm down. The burst of air to the tower wasn’t a surprise, as they had gone over that part of the plan. What did shock Jin was the force of it. It was like a bomb had gone off. And this was just air. Benders were truly a terrifying species.

The speed was right and the structure was fast approaching. Zhen tilted more, leaning back, aiming to enter with her feet first. The window was narrow, entering it was like threading a needle but now wasn’t the time worry about if it was possible. The calculations had told her it was, any doubts she might have had no say in the matter. As they entered the wings on her suit stowed away and they sailed through the empty pane of the shattered window. Her boots met the ground and dug in, skidding to a stop but not before did the necessary footwork and motions for one more airblast, slowing the pair down to avoid any possibility of flying out the window on the other side. As soon as they had stopped she pulled the quick release on the straps and separated herself from Jin, then began to scan the room, paying special attention to the stairwell

Jin dropped and rolled neatly to their feet as soon as they were released from Zhen. Their gun pulled up and they scouted the other side that Zhen wasn’t eyeing. It was relatively quiet in here, aside from sand and insects. Once they noted the room was clear, they pulled free the oxygen kit. Deftly stepping over broken glass, Jin stepped toward the edge and lined up a shot to disable one of the farther vehicles.

The modified sniper rifle was about half as tall as they were. The barrel was marked with a single purple dot. It was unwieldy to most, but Jin had all but slept with this gun under their pillow in training. Some people had pets; Jin had Mifeng, or 'Bee'. “Got a clean shot. Ready when you are.” They spoke quietly into their earpiece.

”Go.”

Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · |@Theyra] & |@vietmyke]Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · @Theyra & @vietmyke

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A room three quarters of the way up the tower exploded from a seemingly random burst of air sending furniture and other debris flying through blasted windows. Shattered glass shards and heavy objects began raining down on the panicked masses closer to the base of the outpost.

"Shit!" Sumire screamed.

"Looks like time is up." The man who had been addressing Jin and Sumire pulled the gun out from the holster on his hip.

"What?! Hey!"

Sumire was again first to move, but just as he was bringing the weapon up to bear and Sumire had stepped in between him and Jin, the tire on a nearby parked vehicle exploded. The resulting bang, release of pressure and bits of rubber showering the three of them caused him to flinch and pull the trigger. The gun in his hand barked once.

Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · |@KillamriX88] & |@canaryrose]Abandoned Rest Stop · Morning · @killamriX88 & @canaryrose

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"Chu! Get in the fucking car!" Kanna yelled as soon as the room in the tower had erupted. She turned just as the figure in the air landed inside the recently cleared room and as she rounded the back of the Kyoshi and made for one of the passengers doors, there was a flash from one of the open windows.

Kanna flinched momentarily to the sound of the exploding tire and when she turned to look, she saw the driver of her car driver and the girl who had been with him fall over. The man they had been conversing with fell too and all three disappeared on the other side of the frame of the car out of view. It was impossible to tell what had happened, but as they fell away, she was instead treated to the chaotic scene unfolding beyond them.

What had previously been a stagnant sea of exhausted people waiting to leave was now a force of fear and panic that threatened to turn into a wave. People were throwing themselves on top of cars that were already well beyond capacity. Those within it were trying to kick them off. One car had already taken off and was moving with such speed and reckless abandon that a few who hadn't quite gotten in yet had fallen off with one slipping under the chassis of the vehicle. With the situation devolving so quickly into violence and mayhem, it was inevitable that bending would soon follow. Kanna witnessed a man pour a gout of fire from his hands over a group of people trying to climb onto the back of his car. All of them were immediately engulfed in flame and their screams were loud enough to drown out the panic from the rest of the those trying to escape.

...What the fuck...

Kanna turned to Chu. "We need to leav-!" A second explosion, this one further away but much larger, erupted just North of the remaining cars with enough force to knock Kanna off her feet and throw her into the side of the Kyoshi.

Landing to the North · In collaboration with the LSFLanding to the North · In collaboration with the LSF

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"Good effect on target." Reported Yi. "Alright you two. Hang on to something." Yi pushed forward on the stick and put the craft into a steep nosedive, dropping the Firefly out of the sky and swooping down hundreds of feet to close the distance between themselves and the chaos they had started on the ground. In the middle of the drop, and while still hanging on, Nelu moved over to 141 and knocked on the edge of the cage with his first.

"Leave some for us, alright?!" He yelled to the towering abomination. He received no response back.

"Drop point two."

"Go!"

Underneath 141's cage, a panel slid open leaving it and its cage suspended over nearly a hundred feet of open air. Nelu gave it another nod just as the locks holding it in place were released and the entire holding pen was dropped. As soon as 141 cleared the floor of the bay, the panel slid shut. A handful of seconds later and Yi reported over the radio.

"Drop is good. He's already on the move."

Nelu turned to Kata. They would be the last two to exit the Firefly. "Get us on the ground before he kills everyone, Yi!"

"Yessir!"

Within the minute, Yi had swung the aircraft back around to the crater made by their missile and touched down. Nelu was first off the aircraft, stepping onto hot desert sand that had been scorched a faded black from the recent explosion. Bits and pieces of those unfortunate to have been standing too close to the impact site were strewn in every direction. Not much further from the center of the crater were those who had been standing a little further away. They lay spasming on the ground in the throes of their final moments, struggling to hold on to the life that was slipping between their fingers. Nelu calmly walked up to the closest victim, pulled out his pistol and burned a hole the size of a ping pong ball into the side of their head with a bolt of plasma.

A Vanguard AI offloaded behind the Captain, quickly shouldering its rifle and immediately putting rounds into the scrambling crowd ahead of them. Kata followed soon after and as he cleared the aircraft, Yi took the Firefly back into the air and moved into a holding pattern around the tower. A gun swiveled free from under the chassis and it too began dumping arounds into the crowd.

Only a few seconds after his commander and friend Nelu, Katakuri exited the Firefly. He watched as his friend approached a victim of the explosion and put them out of their misery. Katakuri laughed at the situation but did not find it amusing that the person was in pain or needed to be put to death. The fact that his commanding officer simply shot a hole through their head amused him, "I suggest shoving the gun down their throat or right at the nap of their neck – if you want to end their suffering more quickly. The frontal lobe can be damaged with some chance of survival, but separating the brain stem is superior." He said before putting himself next to Nelu.

The only distinguishing feature was the agent’s body shape, which allowed one to determine that it was a person. With a few red accents, the suit was primarily black and charcoal gray. To be better protected from the mob, Katakuri was wearing plated armor with slight improvements. The entire purpose of the suit was to keep everything light so he could move more easily while protecting his head and vital organs.

”I’ll admit that I’ve never been as efficient with this part of the job.” Nelu said, turning to Kata. ”I’ll keep that in mind.” He then gestured towards the crowd where two people had broken away from the others and looked to be squaring off with them. One of them wildly swung their arm vertically toward the sky, pulling a wedge of earth from the ground and tossing it in Nelu’s direction. However, his stance was poor and the power behind the swing was unsure of itself and weak. Despite its size being large enough to make dodging difficult, the projectile moved far too slow and Nelu side stepped it easily. ”Do what you do best, Kata.”

He watched the earth-bender get into a stance before launching a sizable piece of land their way, and shrugged at the other man's comment, "I do not like to leave people in pain, so I might be nitpicking." He stood still because he knew the boulder would miss him, and he observed as his commanding chief moved to the side. The bender lacked self-confidence and used shaky bending techniques.

Katakuri was smirking behind his mask as he slowly approached the man who attempted to use earth-bending. "The most difficult style to master is earth-bending, and you gave me complete permission to eradicate you. Why did you attack my commanding officer?" The way Katakuri spoke was dispiriting towards the unknown man. Being on missions caused him to become almost emotionless in tone.

Katakuri mocked the exact stance the earth-bender used before pulling his dominant arm back, saying, "We haven't done anything directly to you, so you put yourself in a bad position." He drew his arm back for a moment, then threw it forward in a hurry, landing a punch on the man's jaw.

Desert Outpost · @vietmyke@Theyra@KillamriX88@Abstract Proxy@Exit[@Desert Outpost · @vietmyke@Theyra@KillamriX88@Abstract Proxy@Exit

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“Huh?” Chu Hua followed Kanna’s gaze, squinting into the sun while shielding her eyes. Was that a… helicopter? A figure was rapidly falling from the sky onto the guard tower below. A chill flooded Chu Hua’s veins a split second before the explosion. She knew what this was.

The tower exploded and the screaming started. She was stunned for a moment, stepping back until her back was against the truck, letting her have full vision of the chaos unfolding before her. Shots were raining down into the crowd, exploding tires, and people were scrambling to get on vehicles as quickly as possible. Even if they weren’t their vehicles. Chu Hua watched, horrified, as people were eaten by flames and as the crowd devolved into chaos. A few people came running for their truck.

"Chu! Get in the fucking car!" Kanna’s voice broke Chu Hua out of her stupor. Come on, come on… strategy. You’re good at this! Her brainwas moving so much slower than normal, a combination of sleep deprivation and panic and despair, but she was good at strategizing. She moved towards Kanna.

“Chae! Kid! We have to go right fucking now!” she screamed. “Where’s the fucking dri-”

In the blink of an eye, Chu Hua was thrown against the hood of the car by another massive explosion. She felt the crunch of her bag as it smashed against the car, and felt the sand on her arms as she slid off. A moan escaped her lips. Her eyes were scrunched tight against the sudden flash of blinding light, and her ears were ringing painfully in her ears. Everything hurt. She picked herself up off the ground gingerly. Her sense were fuzzy, and she had felt that explosion in her bones. Distantly, she hoped nothing in her bag had been broken. Especially not those tapes. But, more importantly, they still needed to get out of here.

Where the fuck had that explosion come from? Chu Hua pushed herself off the hood of the car, staggering to peer towards the source of that noise. Two people were walking out of what looked like a large crater, surrounding by dead bodies, shooting into the crowd. Her face went white. They needed to find the driver now! Chu Hua rounded the side of the truck, searching for where the driver and his friend had fallen.

“You!” she screamed at Jin Wei, panting and still slightly wobbling. “you’re the driver, right?! Get in the car and fucking DRIVE!” She didn’t care how mean she sounded- they needed to go, and now. These soldiers had no inclination to capture them alive. This wasn’t a hunt, this was an extermination.

Breathless, Chu Hua raised her head, staring at the horizon. There was something else out there. She heard the screams, saw it jumping from car to car. What… what was that? Something she could only describe as a monster came into view. Taller than her, its features warped, ripping people apart with its teeth and claws. She shivered. “What the fuck are you waiting for?! GO!”

Location · |@Theyra] Location · Everyone nearby

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It went wrong so fast so to Reman. Right as he found Jin and Sumire with a man that was eyeing the Kyoshi. Then the tower exploded, a gunshot coming from the man with Jin and Sumire. Reman was stunned, and as he tried to collect himself. A second explosion behind him that almost sent him reeling to the ground. Catching himself only barely once he was settled and got a look at the chaos unfolding before him. People running for their lives to what car was still working, and the bullets raining down on them. Only two thoughts was racing through his mind. Jin and getting the hell out of dodge.

So Reman quickly to Jin but coaching down as he tried not to get shoot. Holding his steel case firmly and when he came to the downed pair. As tried to get Jin up but noticed the still smoking gun that the man had and took a chance to stop the man from firing any more shots at Jin and Sumire. Seeing how he was still conscious, Reman moved fast with his hands still firmly gripping the handle of his steel case. The unnamed man seeing Reman coming to him. He managed to fire two shots while cursing, and Reman shielded himself with his steel case. While the bullets did penetrate the case initially, the bullets did not come out the other side.

Which Reman then proceed before the third shot to use his case to bash the man's head twice. Reman, in the chaos of things, did not check if the man was still alive, only when he was clearly at least knocked out. Reman, just to be sure the man could not bother them, he took the man's gun and secured it on his person.

Once that was over, Reman went over the Jin and Sumire and tried to get Jin up first while someone was yelling at Jin to get in the car. "Jin come on, you need to get up and listen to her. We need to leave now, or we all will die!"

Location · |@vietmyke] Desert Rest Stop · Everyone Nearby

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Jin Wei twitched uncomfortably as the man started going on about Synergy. Unsurprisingly he was one of them. To be honest, Jin wasn't used to talking with these sorts of people, usually it was just a warning shot and an order to shove off before the actual shooting began. Jin rarely ever got this close to them. In fact, had they been in any other situation, Jin would've already shot his warning shot and would be pointing the barrel of his gun at the man- but they were in a bit more delicate of a situation than being on the pipe, and shooting one of the drivers only spelled bad fortune for the caravan's survival.

Unfortunately for him, the man seemingly didn't give a fuck what the situation was, his greed obviously valuing the potential haul of valuable Synergy over the lives of the benders in his 'care'. Obviously the man wasn't having it, leveling not so subtle threats at him. As the man placed his hand on his hip, so too, did Jin's stance shift from 'casual' to 'ready' with his levergun.

However, before anything could happen, they became made aware of something coming in the distance- followed by the chaos of an attack. Had they been sold out? Jin barely had the time to formulate the thoughts in his head before he realized he was distracted. Whipping his head back to face the man in front of them, things were devolving rapidly. Jin started to move his rifle up, but Sumire stepped in the way- trying to protect him (ignoring the fact that he was in the process of trying to protect her) and as the explosion threw them to the ground, Jin heard the man's gun bark once- and felt his face get thrown back a split second later.

Jin hit the ground hard, dazed, ears ringing, his mouth tasting of copper and grit. His eyes struggled to focus, and he saw things in panes- repeated images playing across his view. Sunlight filtered through a large, spiderwebbing crack in the center of his faceplate. He heard voices yelling, and he felt someone grab his shoulders and pull him half up. He heard Reman talking to him, telling him to get up as well.

"Easy for you to say," Jin grunted as he struggled to his feet, "You didn't just get shot in the head."

Jin heard an 'Eep!' from Sumire and turned to find the dazed man struggling to get up, grabbing at Sumire's foot as he tried to stop them from getting away from him. Jin saw one of Sumire's bunny ears ripped from the ricochet of a bullet as she tried to pull herself away from him. Staggering out of Reman's grasp Jin put a pair of arms around Sumire and unceremoniously ripped her away from the man. Stumbling forward, the man swung a fist at Jin, bones cracking against the side of Jin's armored helmet as he cried out in pain. In response, Jin merely took a step forward and slugged the gunless gunman in the face with a steel plated glove, breaking his nose and sending him to the ground.

Pulling himself back up to his full height, he was now aware of the sound of a woman yelling at him to get in the car and drive. He shot a look over in the voice's direction, a shattered faceplate distorting the image so he couldn't quite see who it was yelling at him.

"You're more than welcome to get in another fucking car if I'm taking too long." He retorted sarcastically, the lights of the Kyoshi already blinking as they unlocked "Maybe hitch a ride with them?" He spat, pointing at the smoking, disabled junker of a car next to them. Jin yanked the driver side door open, the woman was right, they were running out of time, but Jin was never one to take a mouthing off without replying in kind. "Shut up and get in the car. Mire, shotgun, the rest of you figure it out yourselves."

Sumire slid over the hood as Jin grabbed the bar by the driver side door. As one foot placed itself in the car, Jin felt something grabbing at his ankle. Looking down, he saw the driver that tried to rob him, now weaponless and defenseless.

"W-wait!" The man spluttered through a bloody, broken nose, "You can't just leave me here!"

Jin regarded the broken man for a short moment before he nodded. "Fair enough." He leveled the barrel of his gun at the man's skull.

"Wait-"

The rifle cracked once, and the driver-side door of the Kyoshi slammed shut.

Pulling his helmet off his face, Jin pushed the start button on the Kyoshi and flicked a half dozen switches. Steel windows went blank for a moment before displays began to blink on, automatically filtering out the haze of the sand billowing around them. Fingers impatiently fidgeting with the control panel of his vehicle as he waited for everyone to finish throwing themselves into the vehicle. Hell, at this point in time Jin didn't particularly care about who was in his car or who he left behind. As long as Reman and Sumire were in the car, that's all that mattered. Reman had a direction to go, Sumire was Sumire. The rest of them could get in line and come along for the ride or pound sand. Chances are the rest of the caravan was fucked anyhow.

So long as they could load up fast enough, the only thing really standing in their way now was the big... guy...? Person...? Thing...? Jin wasn't entirely sure who or what it was, but he figured it wasn't faster than a car. It was standing in between them and the rest of the Si Wong Desert, but they were on open sand, he could just swing the car in a wide berth around the thing, and pray that the rest of the RSF were too busy cleaning up the rest of the caravan to pay attention to a single vehicle booking it into the wastes.

Desert Outpost · Desert Outpost ·

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Chae-Won lay on the hot desert sand. Honestly, this was a little too familiar. Why did shit keep exploding around her!? She lifted her head, her adrenaline spiking higher and higher as she took in the horrendous sights and sounds. She quickly rolled over, trying to fight off the feeling of weakness in her concussed body.

"Kid! Come on, we gotta move!" she shouted at Weiyuan who was in a similar position. While Chae-Won was surged with adrenaline, but focusing on what needed to be done, Weiyuan was just absolutely flooded and hyperventilating. He knew, deep down, that he only existed to deal with stressful situations, but this was just too much.

He was almost afraid he'd fracture into yet further pieces if he didn't get a break soon.

"Kid! Get up!" Chae-Won repeated louder, grabbing his shoulder and hauling him up. "O-OK, we gotta buy time! Follow my lead, OK?"

Weiyuan just stared back into her eyes, his whole body shaking. She grabbed him, meeting his gaze.

"Hey, I'm here? I'm right here! Just focus! You know how to do this!"

Weiyuan swallowed, his throat dry and not just because of the arid, desert air. He nodded. It would be fine. As long as he followed Chae-Won it would be fine. His job was to survive. Now he just had to do it.

They could see the rest of the group trying to get their driver on his feet and behind the wheel, so all they had to do was buy time until everyone was ready to go. Hopefully it wouldn't need to be a lot of time.

Chae-Won led him to the side of a vehicle, but not the Kyoshi. Instead, it was the other vehicle just to the left of it. The one whose driver had just eaten a briefcase and wasn't likely to go anywhere, even if its tire hadn't just been blown off. The two knelt down and compressed the sand beneath them, more and more until it almost appeared to solidify into solid stone. They then pulled it all back up, flinging huge chunks up compressed sand into the air. Then, they all burst, throwing massive clouds of sand into the air all at once.

Normally, the sand would have just fallen back to the ground within a few seconds, but it didn't. It seemed to hang unnaturally in the air, and then began to swirl. Faster and faster, higher and higher, around and around until there was a wall of swirling sand spinning around, until it encircled the disabled car and the Kyoshi.

That was part one of Chae-Won's plan done. Now, none of their attackers could see them. The question was would they go for easier to see targets, or hone in one the ones who'd just put on a big show for them?

However, there was a reason she'd centered the sand screen around the other car and not the Kyoshi. If they started firing blindly, they'd be less likely to aim for their escape vehicle. Also...

"OK! Keep it going!" Chae-Won shouted at Weiyuan. There was a brief moment of dumbstruck shock before she suddenly stopped helping him hold up the swirling sands. Immediately the sand slowed, some of it just dumping to the ground, but sheer desperation allowed him to kick it back into gear again, though it was far from perfect. Every few seconds the sand would slow before he could give it another push. Each time, it never quite fully recovered to full strength.

It was clear he could keep it up for only so long all alone.

Chae-Won knew this, which is why she had to put part two of her plan into motion fast. Honestly, there hadn't been a part two at first, but she really needed them to not shoot the Kyoshi. Or worse, there was nothing stopping them from just walking right through the wall of sand to come get them.

Not unless she deterred them a little more.

She threw her arms at the disabled vehicle and the whole thing rocked. It... surprised her. She hadn't expected that much of a reaction to her bending from it. She couldn't worry about that now, though. She just needed one thing from it: the glass. That did react how she expected. The windshield and windows, even the instrument panel gauges, all cracked and shattered. She then pulled back, drawing all the glass to her.

"Alright. Let's see if they're ready for this one," she muttered to herself. She returned to Weiyuan's side, returning her support to the wall, the swirling sands immediately picking up speed again and rising higher. At the same time, the shards of glass flew into the wall, swirling around them and rapidly picking up speed. "OK! Get to the car! I got this!"

Again, he looked at her with worry.

"I'll be right behind you! Now GO!" she urged less gently. He nodded reluctantly, and with a few hesitant steps, dropped his arms and ran to the vehicle, climbing in as soon as he could. The wall of sand didn't slow in the slightest without his help. "OK, motherfuckers..."

Chae-Won furrowed her brow. She knew which direction she'd seen the ones on the ground coming from, even if she couldn't currently see them, nor risk putting a hole in the wall to check. She'd just have to hope for the best.

She changed the movements of her arms, and one by one the shards of glass rocketed out of the wall of sand. Faster and faster like a machinegun, just peppering the area she'd seen the RSF coming from with shards of glass.

Once the wall was emptied of glass, there was naught left to do but join Weiyuan in the vehicle... but she hesitated. The vehicle she'd torn the glass from had been damaged. Shot. The ones on the ground hadn't done it, they hadn't been there yet. The shot had come from the tower.

She glanced at the Kyoshi. Could it take a shot like that? It certainly looked tougher, but did that matter? If it lost a tire, they'd be screwed. They'd never make it through the loose sands a wheel down. Not fast enough at any rate.

But... what could she do about that? Try to keep the wall up from inside the vehicle? She doubted her control was that good. No. Somehow she had to deal with the marksman.

Once she saw the last person climb in, she walked as fast as she could to the vehicle without dropping the wall, shouting in through the nearest open door, "Go on! I'll catch up later!"

Immediately Weiyuan's head snapped around to stare at her in horror. What? Catch up? How was she supposed to catch up to a car!? He immediately scrambled for the door, intending to drag her in if he had to, but she just gave him a sad look. "Just trust me, kid. Have I ever let you down?"

She then kicked the door shut in his face, signaling for them it was time to go.

She also knew that she had to hurry. If they weren't mad at them before, they no doubt were now after she'd just thrown dozens upon dozens of razor sharp shards of glass at them. Accordingly, and in order to drive home that they really needed to leave, she cut the wall in half.

In doing so, she flung half of it in the same direction she'd fired the glass. She was no airbender, so the swirling sands wouldn't last long outside of her direct control, but it had been launched with enough force to at least momentarily buffet their attackers and hopefully slow them down for a moment. After that, she took the remaining sand and spun it as fast as possible, sacrificing width for height.

She then launched that one too, sending the towering, tornado of sand surging toward the tower. She knew she couldn't just walk it there, it would become painfully obvious that someone was standing in the middle of it. She then broke into a sprint, trying to remain as much inside the rushing sand as she could. However, she couldn't keep up with it the whole way, so as it began to outpace her she dropped into a slide, using her bending to propel her through the sand, hoping it would take her the rest of the way.

She had a plan in mind for the tower and the gunman within it...

Abandoned Rest Stop · @EveryoneAbandoned Rest Stop · @Everyone

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...What the hell...

Nelu watched the twisting wall of sand curl into the sky. A cyclone of rock and dirt and debris tall enough to dwarf the tower it stood next to and wide enough that it was difficult to see past it to the sandstorm raging beyond. True to the information he'd given, the benders gathered at the edge of the desert were indeed still empowered and the display of bending before him was all the proof needed. More than that, this wasn't just some wayward attempt to bend in defense. This was calculated. Intentional. A product of control and direction with which the Bender meant to not only shield themselves but also attack.

Nelu's momentary state of awe was interrupted by the glinting of sunlight dancing within the whirlwind sand. It wasn't just one or two, but hundreds of small flashes of light trapped within it. Suddenly, those lights burst free from twisting confines and flew with haste in his direction. He hadn't even been given time to consider the oddity of what he was seeing when he realized that the shimmering wasn't just random debris caught inside the tornado, but shards of glass that had been intentionally thrown at him as a projectile.

"Glass... GLASS!" Nelu yelled, taking a step back. He was exposed as he was now. No advanced set of armor like that of his colleagues and no element helpful to defend himself when under direct threat of eating a wall full of glass shards. But as he retreated, he barked a command at the Vanguard nearby and it suddenly switched targets, shooting into the quickly approaching dense cloud of glass. It reduced the shards closest to Nelu to harmless, smaller pieces and knocked them out of the air. As it fired, it moved to position itself in between the glass and the Captain and took the rest of the attack head on while Nelu braced himself against its back. Glass shards whistled past him and the rest broke apart harmlessly on the Vanguard's metal frame. The sound of shattering glass filled the air.

"Advise! There is a glass Bender on the field! A glass Bender!" Nelu yelled over the sound of roaring winds into the comms. "Yi! Do you have eyes?!"

"Negative, Cap. That tornado is kicking up a lot of dust. Visibility is lo-"

An arc of light streaking from the ground into the sky briefly illuminated the thick cloud of dust kicked up from the tornado, the end of which struck one of the wings on the Firefly. The wing burst into flames and began to disintegrate in the air as the aircraft started spiraling out of the sky. Nelu watched from the ground as Yi and his bird disappeared behind a smoke screen just as a slice of the tornado was ripped away and tossed in his direction. He braced against the bot again as a wall of dirt and sand crashed over him.

Abandoned Rest Stop · @EveryoneAbandoned Rest Stop · @Everyone

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A freshly mounted weapon in front of Tikaani chimed something cheerful, signaling to him that a successful hit had been made. Of course, he didn't need the signal. The damage he'd inflicted on the Firefly was more than obvious as he watched it slowly tumble out of the sky. To the pilot's credit, however, they did an amazing job of putting it on the ground with only a single wing. It landed in a cloud of dust violently kicked up by a rather hard landing and much to Tikaani's dismay, there was no fireball. Still, the gun in the sky was down and now all he had to do was wait for his to cool down before he could fire it again. Vents along the side of the weapon began hissing exhaust in streams of white smoke and Tikaani began counting down ten seconds in his head.

"Drive!" He yelled down into the car from the roof hatch. They needed to leave now while they had a chance. With the gunship down and a large screen of sand to cover their retreat, there was an opportunity to make it into the sandstorm where their odds of survival were better. Still slim but much higher than their odds of surviving a scuffle with whoever had come after them. The only thing standing between themselves and their escape was a single man.

They were pretty much guaranteed to make it.

His vehicle peeled out shortly after the Kyoshi did, with those less fortunate clinging for dear life to the outside of the car.

Abandoned Rest Stop · @EveryoneAbandoned Rest Stop · @Everyone

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...Finally...

It was free. Allowed to roam. Allowed to move without restraint. There were no colored lines on the ground for it to follow. No faces surrounding it it was not allowed to crush. No walls or too-low ceilings or the deafening sound of absolute silence that filled its every day. This was freedom. There was warm sand beneath its feet and a sky far above it tainted by black clouds slowly swallowing up the surrounding blue. More importantly, there were hundreds and hundreds of feet of nothing but open space for him to run in. However, there was only one direction he wanted to go.

141 looked for and quickly found the closest target to him: A car that had broken away from the pack early in the skirmish and was already making for the desert ahead of the rest. It sped across the desert paying 141 no heed and judging by its current path and speed, there was no clear sign it intended to give him any berth. In fact, it looked as if they intended to run him through.

141 decided to meet them halfway.

It crouched low, dug its foot into the sand and launched itself forward, throwing itself into a sprint as a wall of sand exploded behind it. 141 bounded across the desert, clearing the length of nearly ten yards with each stride and closing the distance between itself and the approaching vehicle in seconds. Before the driver inside could swerve out of the way, 141 crashed into them, stopping them dead in their tracks and with enough force to crunch the frame like an accordion. The back of the truck lifted into the air and one of the wheels was torn free from the axle. One man inside was thrown through the windshield and landed hard in the sand, sliding a few feet before coming to a stop. He wasn't moving.

141 was already reaching into the shattered windshield before the vehicle was flat on the ground again. He pulled another person out from within with complete disregard to how rough he was handling them, yanking them through a frame of sharp shards of broken glass and ignoring their wails of agony as they were being cut open. However, before it could do anything to its prize, it began taking bullets. From inside, a few of those less injured by the crash began shooting and one started blasting it with fire from their hands. Others began to panic as they tried the door but found that the crushed frame had been warped enough to prevent it from opening.

Although doing minimal damage, the rounds bouncing off of its armor was still rather annoying and 141 quickly became frustrated. It backed away and decided that instead of fishing everyone through the one hole and allowing itself to get poked and burned continuously, it would make a second hole. It walked around to the side of the vehicle and grabbed the frame before violently flipping the entire truck over. Then, as if it were pulling a page from a book, 141 tore away the door and exposed all those inside. It began dragging them out of the vehicle one by one, removing the Firebender first and ignoring their attempts to stop the inevitable. The continuous gout of fire and his panicked blood curdling screaming was cut short when the man's life was snuffed out. The rest lasted not much longer than he.

When he was done and the destroyed vehicle and its inhabitants were no more, he turned to the next closest target: A Kyoshi.

Approaching the Sandstorm · A TLA collaborationApproaching the Sandstorm · A TLA collaboration

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_Exit
”Hey! Are you okay?” Kanna asked Chu, her voice layered in barely contained panic. As they pulled away from the rest of the cars, she tried her best to secure herself in the bed of the truck, stuffing her backpack into a corner and bracing herself against it with her arms anchored onto anything solid she could hold on to. With no seat available to her, it was the best she could do to prevent herself from bouncing around the interior of the truck like a ball.
_canaryrose
“I haven’t been okay for the last twenty-four hours, Kanna,” Chu Hua snapped back, still wide-eyed and, frankly, afraid. All six feet of her was stuffed into the trunk of the Kyoshi across from Kanna. She had managed to wedge herself and her meager things in between some cargo, but it was a tight fit and she felt every single pebble the truck ran over. And, frankly, they were running over a lot of pebbles. Everything hurt, and at this point, the adrenaline caused by the fight couldn’t mask it. She gulped, raising her head to stare out the front windshield. She couldn’t see much, but she did see that awful thing ahead of them. Oh, we are so dead. That Earthbender girl had bought them some time with her life, but whatever that was wasn’t stopping for a measly glass tornado.
_Exit
Kanna followed Chu’s gaze to the shuttered windshield where a digital display was painting the road ahead in lights and letters. Already, whatever had destroyed the first car was halfway between it and them and showed no signs of slowing down. ”What the FUCK IS THAT?!”
_canaryrose
“The horrifying thing that’s going to eat us alive if we don’t drive faster. Keep up.” Chu Hua’s words were nonchalant, but her voice was high and anxious. She turned her head from the windshield as it ripped off someone’s face, focusing on anchoring herself in the trunk.
_vietmyke
"If someone wanted to jump out of the car and take one for the team we'd be going faster." Jin quipped back through gritted teeth. The Kyoshi was meant to be a workhorse, but the weight of half a dozen passengers rendered it more sluggish than Jin would have liked- or was used to for that matter.

"Fuck me, that thing's fast." Jin cursed, staring down the huge creature as the Kyoshi sped across the sand, the car rattling as the shocks took on dozens of bumps and impurities on the 'road' at once. Jin gripped the wheel with an iron vice as he controlled the vehicle through the rough, but ultimately open terrain. Ahead of them, the sandstorm loomed above like a massive wall of sand and wind.

"We can lose them in the storm!" Sumire called out, pointing at the growing curtain.

"We need to get past that thing first. " Jin said grimly as he threw the wheel to the left and broke the Kyoshi out of its current trajectory and into a wider turn to try to keep away from the monster. He shot an eye at his rear view mirror. The driver named Tikanni was close behind them. Maybe the beast would go after them if Jin could shake them.
_KillamriX88
The whole time the Kyoshi sped across the sands, all Weiyuan did was twist and contort his body, trying to look out whatever window gave him the best view of the chaos behind them. He searched for any glimpse of Chae-Won he could find, but saw nothing. The dust and growing distance robbed him of any evidence of her presence, no matter how frantically he sought it.

Chasing the KyoshiChasing the Kyoshi

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As soon as the Kyoshi broke left, Tikaani’s vehicle broke right in an attempt to further confuse 141. In the middle of the turn, the mounted gun chimed again, signaling that it was ready to fire. He immediately pulled on the trigger and held it down, coaxing a charge into the weapon and aiming it at the approaching beast.

141 hesitated only momentarily when the two cars split, but ultimately decided to keep following its original target. However, when It swung wide to try and match the Kyoshi’s turn and then tried to reach for them, that short pause was just enough to put a few inches of space between them and its outstretched hand. For its efforts, 141 lost its footing and stumbled forward a number of steps, slowing down considerably and becoming an easy target for Tikaani. He adjusted his aim, but before he could release the trigger, he felt something hot press into his back and then heard something smash into the front of his vehicle. Confused, he looked down to see a gaping hole in the hood of his car that was now spewing thick black smoke… and noticed another hole just above his stomach.

The gun in Tikaani’s hand slipped free as he fell unconscious and slumped over the truck. As it swung away, it fired a charged bolt of electricity into the ground just in front of them, erupting the sand underneath and flipping the entire vehicle over.

141 gave the downed truck one look, turned back to the Kyoshi, and took off in their direction. It didn’t take long before it was already gaining on them.

Approaching the Sandstorm · A TLA collaborationApproaching the Sandstorm · A TLA collaboration

____________________________________________________________________________.
_Theyra
Reman was busy inside the Kyoshi trying to stay calm but utterly failing. Seeing how they are being chased by some kind of monster. What is that thing, is the dominant thought in his head right now as all he could do was to trust in Jin’s driving. Nothing he could do and he hated it. Feeling helpless in this situation, looking out what could count as a window and seeing the monster catching up to him His voice alarmed and concerned, “we need to move faster Jin, that thing is gaining on us!”
_vietmyke
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it! " Jin said through gritted teeth. The Kyoshi wasn't by any means a slow car, but it wasn't a supercar. While they would probably start pulling away from the RSF's attack dog in the straightaway. The dog was already on top of them and they needed to get out now.

The storm was growing close- in any other situation, Jin would call it mad to just drive headlong into a massive sand storm with little to no preparation, but the storm offered them everything they needed. The sands and winds provided them cover from the RSF shooters, and would hopefully deter any chase. They didn't appear to have any ground vehicles of their own, and flying into it with aircraft would be suicide. They just needed to lose the behemoth and cross the last few miles.

"Uh Jin!" Sumire quickly interrupted, "Jin! Booster!"

"Booster? What the hell do you mean-" Jin barked as Sumire grabbed the bobblehead on the Kyoshi's dash and yanked the base off, revealing a small panel that flipped open to reveal a small set of dials.

"Where the fuck did that come from?! " Jin yelled incredulously.

"Later! Hands on the wheel! It pulls to the left a bit!" interrupted as she quickly turned back to everyone in the back of the vehicle "Everybody grab onto something!"

Jin flipped the dial and the Kyoshi went airborne for a half second as it rocketed off a sand dune. The Kyoshi hit the sand with a harsh thud, sending a wide spray of sand into the sky as it rushed forward, jumping the Kyoshi from 70 to well over 100 in a second.
_Exit
Just as sand from the storm began to envelope the vehicle, a white hot bolt of energy slammed into its side, chewing through the outer layer of bullet resistant plating as if it were made of paper and punching a hole through it the size of a ping pong ball. It made a similar sized hole upon exiting the Kyoshi... after also passing through Kanna's neck.

In the Sandstorm · A TLA collaborationIn the Sandstorm · A TLA collaboration

______________________________________________________________________________.
_vietmyke
"Hooly fuck." was all Jin managed to get out as the Kyoshi threw itself headlong into the sandstorm. His hand gripped the wheel as he slowly eased off the gas pedal and reached over for the injector dial. He didn't want to slow down too much, but barreling through the storm would just end up with them wrecking and then they'd be in all sorts of trouble. Already, a warning light had begun blinking on his dashboard, and too much more would likely wreck their engine- or at least render it requiring maintenance at a dedicated shop, which they didn't exactly have the luxury of accessing at the moment.

To make things worse, the sandstorm was one of the biggest Jin had ever seen, much less drive through. The Kyoshi's haze filter was meant for the general sand whipping around them, but it wouldn't let them see through such a large storm, his visibility was barely a few yards past the nose of the car.

"I don't think they're gonna follow us. " Jin said, his chest heaving as he continued driving them forward, "Everyone okay?"
_canaryrose
Just then, Chu Hua started to scream. There were no words to it- just a high, keening wail of horror as she saw Kanna slump to the ground, a fist-sized hole punched through her neck. Instinctively, she leaned forward to catch her head in her hands, keeping her off the ground, but there wasn’t much she could do. Her hands were slick with blood, her eyes wet with tears that she didn’t realize she was making, and all she heard was her own awful screams and the gurgling of a person drowning in their own blood.

It had been so fast. One moment they had been afraid of the monster ahead but together and alive, and then… where had that come from? Why? WHY?! Chu Hua gripped Kanna’s skull in her hands, trying to staunch the bleeding with her thumbs, but all she got from that was sticking her hands right into the viscera of Kanna’s throat. She gagged, just barely keeping from vomitingNononononono- She couldn’t lose Kanna, the woman who had just saved her life. It wasn’t right.

“HELP! SOMEONE FUCKING HELP, PLEASE!”
_KillamriX88
Weiyuan had the misfortune of having to witness the fortune of their escape be further soured as the hot bolt of energy cut through the armor of the vehicle, and then Kanna. Screaming was not an option for him, just stunned silence, as his exhausted mind refused to accept the horrific reality before him.

Chu Hua’s scream snapped him out of that.

He couldn’t think of what to do, though. He frantically turned his head, scanning the interior of the vehicle to see if anyone else had noticed, but of course not. Chu Hua’s scream had been eaten up by the roar of the engine and the whistling of the wind coming through the hole in the armor.

However, the moment his eyes passed over Vasra, a glimmer of hope was born. They had a doctor on board.

Not worried about manners, he almost violently grabbed Vasra’s shoulder and shook her while pointing into the back of the vehicle at Kanna as Chu Hua began to explicitly call for help.

No. No, everyone was not OK.
_{Abstract Proxy}
Vasra didn't think. She didn't hesitate. Patting the hand that shook her shoulder, she nodded at Weiyuan and moved towards the trunk of the car, stumbling, tumbling, and then rolling as the Kyoshi bumped across the sand dunes. Crashing into the side of the trunk, almost slipping on the blood as she rose to her knees, Vasra grabbed hold of the young woman, Kanna, with one hand.

The sight that greeted her was horrible. Worse than she had expected. The wound was obvious. Kanna's throat had been savaged by whatever strange round round had torn through the Kyoshi. There was too much blood. She couldn’t see. Steading herself, she opened up her medical bag with one hand, retrieving a loop of dressing as she shifted closer.

“Move your fingers, please, just for a second,” Vasra said, gently moving Chu Hau’s fingers away from the wound, as she tried to mop the blood out of the way and then applied pressure. She had a second before the blood returned, streaming out faster than she got.

Carotid artery, Vasra noted clinically, fighting off the surge of adrenaline that raced through her. A mortal wound. A hopeless wound. They couldn’t burn it. They couldn’t tie it off. They didn’t have surgical tools. They were in a bumpy buggy racing through a storm. She didn’t have time to go digging through ravaged flesh. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds at most.

“Driver! We’ve got a casualty,” Vasra shouted, her voice full of urgency, “I need a moment, I need you to keep the car stable, as stable as you can.”

“You!” She said, pointing at Weiyuan, “Grab hold of her legs!”

“And you!” Vasra continued, grabbing Chu Hau’s hand, “Hold her head! Please, take a deep breath, I need your help!”

Si Wong DesertSi Wong Desert

______________________________________________________________________________.
Weiyuan clambered into the trunk of the vehicle, not exactly happy about the situation they were in, but more than happy to have someone directing him. Thinking for himself right now was too hard.

Looking at Kanna was even harder. He wedged himself into position, using his bodyweight to hold her legs in place.

He could still hear the awful whistling from the accursed hole and feel the sting of the sand flying through it. It would make a great distraction, and jt would be no good if the sand got into the doctor's eyes as she worked.

He held a hand up to the hole and did his best to push the sand away before it could fly through. He couldn't do that forever. He then tried to bunch the sand up in the hole, but the wind was making it hard.

Why did everything have to be so hard? He was exhausted, lonely, and one of the few halfway familiar faces he did have was bleeding out right next to him

She'd lied to him. She'd said she'd be right behind him. He always told himself he existed to take care of his more fragile half, but that was bullshit. Chae-Won had taken care of both of them.

The whistling had stopped, allowing him to hear the sudden creaking and groaning of metal. He realized he'd effectively compacted the sand into solid stone, plugging the hole.

Still, he didn't want to look away. He was afraid of what might be behind him.

In the Sandstorm · |@Fiber] & |@Theyra]In the Sandstorm · @Fiber & @Theyra

______________________________________________________________________________.
_vietmyke
The Kyoshi slowed to a gradual crawl, the storm was moving against them, so he doubted the RSF would keep chasing them when they had aircraft. Keeping the car steady as Vasra suggested wasn't exactly a thing the Kyoshi was capable of at the moment- what with the sand and wind buffeting the car, but at least at a slower speed there wouldn't be any sudden jostles.

A quick peak in the rearview mirror told him that there was an injury they were taking care of. It seemed bad, but there wasn't much Jin could do besides keeping them moving forward.

"Mire, you hurt? " Jin murmured quietly, so as not to disturb the doctor and the others. Sumire merely shook her head no. With a small sigh of relief, Jin placed a sandy glove on her head. "Good. Reman, how're you holding up?"
_Theyra
“How am I?” Reman made a nervous chuckle and looked back at the truck. At the crowded trunk. ”I feel like we should be concerned about the group on the trunk but, me?” Looking down at his case that was on his lap. Looking at the two bullet holes in it and wondering if anything in there is broken. Then taking a couple of deep breaths before speaking again. “I think I am fine Jin, do not worry about me.” Now looking out of the window and only seeing flying sand and not much else. “I will be better once this storm ends or we get out of it. So I can gauge how far we are from the Tu Zin and get us to true safety.” Or at least Reman hopes that for their sake and that there will not be any other surprises or near death encounters. But, it will be a long trip to Tu Zin and hopefully the worst is over but, that is something that Reman hopes for very very much.

Si Wong DesertSi Wong Desert

___________________________________________________________________________.
Vasra let go of the dressing she had been pressing against Kanna’s throat and dove her blood soaked hands into her medical bag, rummaging with maddening haste until she found a carefully wrapped vial. Tearing the thick paper away, Vasra pulled the cork out with her teeth, spitting blood away, as she carefully shoved the vial into Kanna’s throat, placing the edge as close to the carotid artery as she could manage with the woman’s predictable flailing. Pouring the precious liquid out, she slowly moved her hand further from the most critical areas of Kanna’s throat, trying to ensure spirit water spread out as much as possible. There would be only one chance.

Waterbending. Healing. Healing using water as a catalyst. She didn’t believe it. She didn’t think it was possible. But in a world of nightmares, surely there had to be dreams. There had to be hope. She had to try.
“We have to try,” she said, turning towards the other, “We can’t stop the bleeding in time. We can’t cauterize the wound. The spirit water…probably won’t work. But it will ease her pain. It’s something, at least.”

Closing her eyes, Vasra took a deep breath, placing both her hands over Kanna’s throat. She could almost feel it, the life flowing out of the woman lying beneath her. She tried to remember the anatomical drawings. She tried to remember the exposed throat of the cadavers they had used for practice. No, not like that, she thought with a shudder. She thought of the water. She thought of the spirit water shining bright with ethereal energy. She thought of energy. She thought of the energy flowing through Kanna. She thought of the energy flowing through herself. She thought of the energy flowing between them. All of them. From Weiyuan, to the dying Kanna, and to the panicked Chu Yuan.

Her hands felt warm and then cold. Numb, as she imagined how Kanna’s throat should have been. She imagined the pain fading. She imagined her wounds healing. She felt a strange sensation, a rolling wave of energy as the spirit water reacted, and then evaporated in a burst of steam.

She didn’t dare to open her eyes.

Two Weeks AgoTwo Weeks Ago

____________________________________________________________________________.
"Mom! Would you just listen to me?" Kanna jumped around the couch as she chased after the woman into the kitchen. "We can go. We have the money. We can get supplies. They said-"

"And do what, Kanna? Run? Forever?"

"We wouldn't have to. There's a place where it's safe."

"We are safe."

"What are you talking about? We are anything but! She saw you, mom! And at the worst possible time! Maybe if we were some random fucks in the Lower Ring it would be different but you're not just anyone! You think she's not going to talk? Do you know how much that information would be worth to the right people right now? Like say, I don't know, your opponent?"

"It's been weeks, we're fin-"

"I don't care how long it's been! We're never going to be safe!"

"Kanna..."

"You don't get it!" Kanna nearly screamed. Her frustration had boiled to a point where she could barely contain it. The fact that her mother continued to be so nonchalant about the ordeal only made things worse. She watched as she began pouring herself a glass of wine as if it were any other evening. "People don't just let this shit go, and even if... even if she doesn't report it... how long before you slip up again huh? Or maybe years from now she has a change of heart and then what? I can't... we can't live looking over our shoulders for the rest of our liv-"

"When you were born..." Kanna's mother interrupted. She was looking into her wine glass. "I was... afraid." She looked at Kanna. "I was afraid because I knew what my life had been like the twenty years before you arrived. I knew what it was like to live with this secret and I was afraid I was bringing you into that. And every year, as you got older, my fears only got worse. But... then we found out you weren't a Bender and you have no idea how relieved we were." She smiled and looked down at her glass again, watching the red liquid inside spin in slow circles. "And yet... it felt wrong. Bender or not, I would have loved you more than anything and I would have wanted you to live any life you wanted." She motioned with her glass at the house they were standing in. A place in the Upper Ring that they could call home. Her mother had taken the time to design the interior and too discovered a part of herself that she learned to love. Walls were an off white with furnishings made of a pale wood finish, accented sparingly with small foliage that seemed to grow out of the framework itself. A stone fireplace built into the wall stood vigil in the main living space that was adjacent to the kitchen, and where the two women stood, large windows provided a clear view of the horizon sitting upon the outline of a wall.

"This. Everything we have is built on a lie because they say it is. And why? Why is that? Why do we need to run from this? I've been a Firebender all my life and yet, I am doing what I've always done and every night, I come home to this. I come home to you. Who said that's wrong?"

"They did."

"And who said that they're right?" Kanna's mother replied, taking another sip from her glass.

"It doesn't matter who's right. They'll kill you."

"But it should matter... and maybe.. maybe bending is bad, but there's a big difference between what I think is wrong and what I know feels wrong. Being afraid for the life of my child when she's barely taken her first breath... before I can even celebrate her life... that is wrong. Somebody has to change that."

"That's not going to be you! Not when you're a-"

"My daughter is the best stickball player in the world. She fought tooth and nail for that crown. Where do you think she got all that fight from huh? You think I can't?" She raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

Kanna shook her head. "Mom, that's not... I just don't-" But before Kanna could say anything else, her mother had put down her glass, walked around the counter and put both hands on the side of her face.

"I will not run and leave my child to live a life in fear for the people she loves. I'll fight, the same way you're fighting right now."

In the SandstormIn the Sandstorm

______________________________________________________________________________.
Kanna continued to struggle against every pair of hands holding her down, her body moving involuntarily as it tried to cover the hole in her neck where her life was spilling out. But as the seconds ticked away and her consciousness began to slip, her mind devolved from desperate attempts at preserving her life to a numb acceptance of her pain. Fire had spread from her neck that began eclipsing all her other senses until it was all that she knew. She couldn't hear anything anymore. Couldn't feel anything else. She could only smell iron in the air and in that moment, all she could see was the fear in Chu's eyes.

There it was again. That fear. Kanna was so tired of seeing it. The brief flash when her mother had been caught. The way it stared back at her in the mirror every day after. Even now, out here in the middle of nowhere it had found her. Someone. Fearing for her life. She wondered if it had been the same way for her mother on the day she was born. What sin had she committed bringing her daughter into a world only for both of their lives to be plucked like the petals of a flower. What sin had she committed saving Chu? Was it really wrong for her to have done this? It looked wrong. She seemed upset. Maybe running was wrong, but then who decided that?

Kanna didn't know anymore, but she did know that this... felt right. Maybe in the end, that was all that mattered.

Her neck began to warm slightly. The pain faded away. Her fingers tightened around Chu's wrist as she looked up at her and smiled.

...I'm still the best Stickba-...

Si Wong Desert · AfternoonSi Wong Desert · Afternoon

____________________________________________________________________________.
"I. Am. So sorry."

Sumire had removed her helmet and was carefully replacing the 'not-sumire' bobblehead that she had removed earlier, concealing once again the button that was underneath as quietly as she could. Tension from the back had filled the rest of the cabin and she refused to be the one to break it. Outside and under the hood, smoke was coming from the engine, both from the beating it had taken from the elements and the speed boost Sumire had forced through it. It could still run, but judging from the noise it was making before they stopped, it was any wonder how much longer it would last. Thankfully, the gas levels were still somewhat good at a little over half a tank. If they were careful and didn't run into any more sandstorms or killer Benders, they could cross a significant stretch of the remaining desert before they ran out of steam. Possibly the whole stretch if they were lucky.

By now the storm had passed, presenting the group with clear skies and nothing but miles of sand in all directions. The tower they had run from was nowhere to be seen and neither were their pursuers. However, in the distance on the horizon was what looked to be a shape jutting out of the sand like a massive rock. Other than that, there was little else to see. Sand rolled across the desert sea in light waves, glinting sunlight as it glided away. The sun stood at its highest point in the sky, beating the ground in heat. Clouds were sparse and their shadows chased after the wind, too few and too fleeting to find any solace from the sun's fire.

In the back of the Kyoshi, a layer of blood had pooled under the cold body of Kanna.

Si Wong Desert · In collaboration with [.@Abstract Proxy][.@KillamriX88]Si Wong Desert · In collaboration with @Abstract Proxy@KillamriX88

____________________________________________________________________________.
_canaryrose

Chu Hua buried Kanna in the sand. When the truck stopped, the sandstorm gone and the skies clear and quiet, she had wordlessly stepped out of that gods-forsaken trunk, taken the first shovel she could find, and had started digging.

She hadn’t uttered a single word since. Chu, normally talkative and brazen and effusive, simply had a blank, ravaged look in her eyes as she dug that pit. Kanna’s body lay beside it, covered in drying blood. Her eyes had mercifully been closed (Chu was not sure who had done that, the minutes after her death were blurry only hours after, filled only with wailing and maybe with a vomiting episode), but she couldn’t get the vision of her last moments out of her mind. Her terrified eyes, meeting Chu’s with awful intensity. The vice-grip of Kanna’s hand on hers, her last delirious smile. Chu had a feeling it would haunt her forever. What had she thought, in those last moments? Had she been cursing herself for saving Chu’s life, for dying senselessly for a person she hated? She wanted to ask, but the dead body beside her feet would never respond again.

Despite the awful pain in her blistered and bloody fingers, Chu Hua kept digging. She wasn’t sure when or even how she had done it, but at some point she had taken off her jacket and laid it over Kanna’s face, revealing a white tank top underneath. Of course, it was no longer white. Although their trek through the forest last night had been freezing, the desert was unbearably hot. She felt the sun beating down on her bare arms and knew she’d have sunburns to go with the burns mottling her skin. She couldn’t bring herself to care. She just kept digging with a mindless intensity, almost as if to distract herself from the dead girl beside her and the tears stubbornly stuck in her eyes. When she brushed her black hair from her eyes, she just spread the blood staining her broken hands and the blood splattered across her face.

It wasn’t fair. It was the only comprehensible thought Chu could think beyond her swirling despair and rage. None of this was fair. Kanna wasn’t the bender. Kanna hadn’t even done anything wrong. But she was still dead, and Chu Hua couldn’t even give her a proper grave. Thanks to the sandstorms plaguing this stretch of desert, any marker of her final resting place would be gone within weeks. Her body would be lost to the elements. Chu could’ve cremated her, collecting her ashes, but she couldn’t bring herself to light her body on fire. The thought made her physically ill. Her bending had brought them into this, after all, had killed Kanna- why would she want to do that?

After the long grave had reached three feet in depth, Chu Hua dropped the shovel, taking a greedy breath and staggering over to her backpack, resting against the truck. She took a sip out of her water bottle, angling her eyes to the massive rock on the horizon. She wanted to collapse and sleep for a thousand years. Digging a grave in loose sand was harder than it looked, and she hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. Her eyes drooped, although it was unclear if it was out of sadness or exhaustion.

_KillamriX88

Weiyuan had effectively completely shut down once it was clear what Kanna’s fate was. This was beyond what he was ready to handle. He’d crammed himself into the far corner of the Kyoshi’s trunk space and curled into a ball, eyes wide but vacant.

He wasn’t really sure how long it had been, when they’d made it out of the storm, or even when or how long the vehicle had stopped moving. He just felt himself slowly coming back to awareness. Kanna’s… body… was gone. Perhaps that was why he’d finally “woken up” again. It was still him so he figured he must not have truly passed out.

Even so, there was still blood coating the floor. Just looking at it made his head begin to spin. He edged around it as best he could before climbing back over the rear seat and effectively collapsing out the side door. For a moment, he just lay on the sand, trying to catch his breath and wait for a sense of steadiness to return to his legs. As he picked himself back up, he saw Chu Hua nearby, just leaning against the side of the truck, looking distant, if not on the verge of passing out herself.

She looked filthy and exhausted. Scanning the area, he saw a shallow grave had been dug. He must have been nigh catatonic for some time if she’d been able to do all that in sand like this with only a shovel. He slowly walked over to it, trying to avert his eyes from Kanna’s body lying nearby.

The sandstorm was gone, but even so, the constant breeze of the open desert was slowly causing rivulets of sand to pour back into the open grave. He glanced back at Chu Hua, but she wasn’t paying attention at all. No doubt she’d completely worn herself out digging. If she’d already been anywhere near as tired as he was, it was a wonder she’d done as much as she had.

For some reason, he felt like he should help. Not that he wanted to, but that he was obligated somehow. Was it that he felt he hadn’t done enough? That he could have done more? That because he could it would be wrong not to?

He stepped over to the bottom edge of the grave and pushed into it with his bending. The sand began to flow out of it. Again and again, in a careful rhythm, it began to deepen. He had no way to measure it, he just knew as it was it wasn’t deep enough.

He also knew that it was just going to fill in again if he didn’t do something. Once he’d about doubled the depth, he focused on compacting the sand. He knew he was capable. He’d done it to plug the hole in the Kyoshi. He somehow had to do that again, but he’d been so distracted at the time he wasn’t really sure how he’d done it. It was different from what he’d done to start up the sand screen with Chae-

He felt like his body flipped upside-down and inside-out. Without really realizing it, his breathing became labored and everything started becoming blurry.

Stop. Focus. Just do. He bit his lip hard and just focused on compacting the sand as much as he could until it seemed like it wouldn’t just collapse in on itself.

He wasn’t sure what more he could do, but he could still feel that horrid sensation clawing at the back of his mind. He needed to do something before it overtook him again. As it was, the grave was unmarked. That would work.

Just keep moving and everything would be fine.

He moved to the head of the grave and knelt down, digging his hand down into the sand and reaching downward. The sand was deep here. He could feel himself being stretched thin as he tried to find something more solid down below the sands. Without the lingering effects of the explosion, he’d have never had a ghost of a chance to do this. Just barely, he found more solid ground down below the sand and began to pull. Again and again he’d reach down, pull, reach down, pull, until a small lump of stone finally rose above the sands.

He honestly felt faint by then, but he had to keep going. It would just get buried in the next sand-storm as it was. He stood up. Bending solid stone was different from bending sand. If he just slowed down and did it right, perhaps it would be less taxing, or at least be faster. He’d been relying too much on that unnatural boost to just bypass proper form.

He squared himself off and lifted it, the pillar of stone jutting up a solid furth more, and then again and again until it was as tall as him and hopefully safe from ever being buried. Still he felt the strain. Form or not, he was well past the point of exhaustion. Soon he’d have to stop whether he liked it or not. He was starting to dread that moment. There was only one more thing he could do.

He pressed his finger against the pillar. It wasn’t terribly wide, so he had to go vertically, from the top downward. The stone gave way beneath his touch until he was able to carve Kanna’s name into it. He couldn’t remember her surname, or if he’d ever even known it, nor was his writing terribly neat, but it was legible.

His arm dropped back to his side, and he bit his lip again, trying to just keep his mind as close to blank as he could. He didn’t know what to do now. He didn’t want to stand near the grave any longer, it was just one more unpleasant reminder of all that had happened, so he just shuffled back over to the truck and huddled up against it. He just stared down at the sand, absentmindedly swirling the sand around with his bending, watching it twist around under his influence and trying not to think about anything else…

_canaryrose

Chu Hua raised her head at the sight of the boy moving towards Kanna’s half–dug grave. She watched him do… something. She wasn’t sure. Earthbending? Would it help? She almost felt like stepping forward and getting closer, seeing what he was doing, but her feet screamed in protest and she stayed in place, gritting her teeth. So instead, she watched. The hole got deeper, and… Chu Hua opened her mouth in surprise when she saw what was rising out of the ground. A pillar. And he was carving into it.

Once Weiyuan came back to stand against the truck, Chu approached the grave again, barely containing a gasp as she saw what he had raised out of the ground. She touched the etching almost reverently. It was a gravestone. Kanna. The sand in and around the grave was compacted. Tears came to her eyes. Maybe Kanna wouldn’t go unmarked.

She walked back to the truck, limping towards Weiyuan. She stood in front of him for a moment, the wind in her hair. And then, almost falling into it, she wrapped him in a warm hug. “Thank you,” she whispered, voice trying and failing to conceal tears. They were flowing down her face. “Thank you. You… oh, god. They deserved so much better. But thank you.”

_KillamriX88

Weiyuan did not seem to react to Chu Hua’s sudden embrace except to stop his absentminded fidget bending of the sand at his feet. He went still, blank expression never changing. In a way he hated it, her breaking the fragile barrier he’d been upholding between himself and the grief and pain that had been incessantly marching after him.

At the same time, he could not bring himself to pull away. As it slowly wrapped its twisted fingers around his heart, he did not want to imagine a world in which he was alone with it.

Though he never even twitched or made any attempt to express himself, the truth leaked free all the same in a slow stream down his face.

_canaryrose

Slowly, Chu released Weiyuan from the hug. She wiped tears out of her eyes, staring at him. It struck her then that this boy looked to be the same age as her little sister. God, he was so young. “We can bury her later. I don’t think I’m ready yet.” She let that hang in the air for a second. His silence made her want to fill the space, so she rummaged through her bag. “Are you hungry? I think we might need to ration, but I have protein bars and jerky…” She offered him a cookie dough protein bar, taking one herself and splitting the wrapper open. She sat on the sand, cross-legged, putting her head in her hands as she chewed.

“You know,” she remarked. “She hated me. She was my ex-girlfriend and I was her biggest competition, she took every chance she could to say that. But she still saved my life when most everybody else that loved me would’ve been fine with my death. It’s not really fair that she’s the dead one, is it? Not when this is my fault.”

_{Abstract Proxy}

“I’m sorry about Kanna. It’s never fair,” Vasra said, approaching Chu and Weiyuan.
She’d needed to clean up. Old habits and training had taken over. She could hear Professor Vanoq’s soft voice in her head as if she was still in medical school,“The attending physician should, if at all possible, discuss the passing of the patient with the patient’s loved ones. In general, it is my experience that the patient's loved ones are given a brief amount of time to process what has occurred, before you attempt to talk to them.

Failure...and death were inevitable parts of medicine. Knowing that didn't make Vasra feel any better. She had tried. She had done the best she could, but it hadn't been enough. Maybe she'd bought the girl some more seconds, hopefully she had at least diminished the pain.

The winds had carried the end of Chu’s sentence and Vasra felt a painful reminder tugging at her heart,“She must have cared about you a lot. Nelu…my brother, he always said that in times of trouble you have a chance to discover the best in those around you. People rise to the occasion and they do great things for those they love.”

_canaryrose

“Kanna didn’t love me,” Chu said as she turned to the doctor woman. It occurred to her that she didn’t know her name. Huh. “She hated me. Or I thought she did. I don’t know. I don’t know why she did it. I think if our positions were swapped, I would’ve let her die.” Chu closed her eyes tight, trying to hold back another onslaught of tears. It was true. Chu would’ve turned her head and looked away, but Kanna had done something different. “Maybe… maybe she was a better person than me. It should’ve been me.” Chu kept coming back to that same thought: it should’ve been me. Kanna’s gruesome death, whatever had become of her fiancee… the root cause of it all was her.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She opened her eyes again, staring at Vasra and wiping her eyes with her bloody hands. “I should at least thank you for trying to help her. You’re… some sort of doctor, right? I’m Chu Hua Yuan.”

_KillamriX88

Weiyuan became more responsive as he was offered food and the topic shifted specifically to Kanna. As traumatic as the incident had been, he couldn’t claim to personally miss her, at least not in the way Chu Hua did. It was ever so slightly easier to deal with.

He fidgeted with the bar, though not yet opening it.

It wasn’t exactly easy for him to be part of a conversation, so all he could really do for the moment was listen. Chu Hua blamed herself. Vasra joined them, saying that Kanna had been there, risen to the occasion, because she must have cared.

Didn’t that just mean that what had happened to Chae-Won was his fault? It was a twisted kind of logic, but in his state it was the first place his mind had gone. The bar’s wrapper crinkled as his hands tightened around it.

No. Stop thinking about it. Stop it.

It wouldn’t, though. He knew well enough this would never go away. He desperately wanted the day to end, for the reins to be handed back over, but he couldn’t do that either. He’d never be able to handle all this. It was already too hard as it was.

_{Abstract Proxy}

“Vasra, Vasra Dermok,” Vasra said, holding out a clean strip of cloth for Chu. “I have…had a clinic in the Lower Ring. Not that it matters, I don’t suppose they’re going to let me keep my medical license after, well, after all of this..”

Vasra sat down, grasping sand in her hand and letting it slip slowly through her fingers as she stared at the hazy horizon,]“It shouldn’t have been her, but it shouldn’t have been you or me or anyone else.. We didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t ask for any of this to happen. But it did..and we’re here..and there’s no going back.”

“But it’s not your fault,” Vasra said, voice shifting with a sudden pang of weary anger that turned to sorrow. Breaking for an instant, as she looked at Chu and then at Weiyuan. They had suffered. They had all suffered. It was too much. But what choice did they have? There was only one way to survive. There was only one way to fight off the disease that threatened them. They had to keep going. They had to make it mean something. Anything.

They had to remember.

“I promise you, it’s not your fault…it never was.”

_canaryrose

“I…” Chu shrugged, a bone-weary look in her eyes. She appreciated the speech, she really did, but even in her life before all this she had never been one for glittery, hopeful speeches. The doctor sounded bitter, too, though, and Chu couldn’t help but relate. “It is, though,” she whispered. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve known for a long time that I was… you know. But I was selfish. I had a family. I was successful. I fell in love. I was supposed to get married next week, for fucks’ sake.” Fury built in her voice- at herself or someone else, she wasn’t sure. “My fiancee and Kanna are the only reason I’m alive. They helped me escape from a very public space. But An and I got separated while we were trying to get out of the city. I don’t know and might never know what happened to her, and Kanna…” She gestured to the dead body, tears coming to her eyes again. This time, she fully started sobbing. She wasn’t sure if it was for Kanna or An or just her life. “I was selfish,” she repeated. “I wanted things that I didn’t deserve, and look where it got the people around me. Maybe everyone would’ve been better off if I…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. If she had what? Ended it herself? She had considered it before but had never had the courage. Maybe it would’ve saved a lot of people a lot of pain.

But maybe Vasra was right. But if it wasn’t her fault, whose was it? She had never been so stupid to believe that bending was as bad they always said, but had never thought they might be completely wrong. Was it Ba Sing Se’s fault? Anger commingled with her despair and blossomed into rage. None of this was right. The blame didn’t entirely fall on her shoulders, she knew, but it fell somewhere in between.

Chu looked up at the blue sky. Maybe she’d go to sleep, wake up, and today would be a nightmare. But it wouldn’t go away, would it?

_KillamriX88

Weiyuan shut his eyes tightly as Chu Hua spoke. It all sounded so familiar. All he’d ever done any time he’d managed to wrest control from his other self was try to practice his bending. When had it ever even served him? If Chae-Won had never found him practicing that day, she wouldn’t have had to stay behind trying to protect him.

But, if that hadn’t happened, then what? Where would he be now?

Vasra said it wasn’t Chu Hua’s fault. Weiyuan wanted to believe her, because then maybe that absolved him too. He found himself clutching his own head. This was all just… too much. He was supposed to protect his other half when he was having a particularly bad day, but… who was supposed to protect him now?

No. No, Chu Hua had to be wrong!

He jumped to his feet, still clutching his head, his breathing became labored. She had to be wrong, because if she was right then…

His hands fell to his sides and he turned around, walking over to stand in front of Chu Hua, looking down at her. He looked about as stern as a scrawny, emotionally battered teenager could.

’When someone hurts you it’s no one’s fault but theirs.’ Low on sleep and in the dry, desert air, his whisper was even weaker than ever, though their surroundings were at least quieter than the last time he’d spoken to her. ’I… if you…’ He quickly threw his arm over his mouth as his dry throat gave out and he broke into a coughing fit, causing him to stumble away weakly.

She had to be wrong. If she was right… then everything he’d thought was good had been a mistake.

_canaryrose

Chu Hua’s watery eyes flicked to Weiyuan, watching with slight concern as he stood, starting to hyperventilate, and then stood over her. Was he going to punch her? Morbidly, she thought she might deserve it. But she didn’t know these people, and she shifted defensively, sniffling. His response… surprised her. She sat there stunned for a moment, her tears coming to a standstill, and then she became concerned yet again as he started to cough. She offered him her water bottle. “It’s alright. Breathe, okay?”

“... I wish it was that simple, kid.” She meant it. Maybe he was right, but Chu had always believed they didn’t live in a world where it was so black and white. None of this would’ve happened if she couldn’t bend, so she had to share some of the blame. But she appreciated the sentiment all the time. With a gasp of pain, she rose to her feet, legs swaying for a moment as if she was drunk. She patted Weiyuan on the shoulder, staring off into the distance. At Kanna’s corpse, lying on the ground.

She had to get it over with at some point.

“I think I’m gonna go… well.” Saying it choked her up. “Thanks. Both of you.” She picked up the shovel and went to bury her friend.