K U O
Lower Ring, Slums
Lower Ring, Slums
A quick twist cut the bathroom sink's scalding hot water flow, and Kuo mused quietly that he adored the hot water heater in his cheapo efficiency apartment, drying his hands on a nearby towel. He wandered shirtless out onto the rickety old balcony dangling from the side of the vintage brick tenements, overlooking the Lower Ring. With a flick of his wrist, Kuo brought the old rabbit ears radio on the railing to life, yanking a hand-rolled cigarette out of a pack on a nearby table and lighting it with a butane torch.
Smoke rolled across the deck and radio static buzzed cheerfully as Kuo seated himself in front of a gorgeous cherry blossom bonsai plant, letting the lit cigarette dangle from the corner of his mouth as he began to prune the old girl, turning his thoughts towards the fuzzy broadcast.
Yahan Zu, a strong bending reformist who worked closely with the king to not only increase anti-bending security around the city but also decrease capital punishment for accused benders, was murdered in his home yesterday night by the man known infamously as "Unity."
A reflexive smirk threatened to dislodge the cigarette from Kuo's mouth. He diverted a hand from the bonsai tree to readjust the tobacco-filled wrapper, puffing on it a few times to keep the cherry lit. None of the local news broadcasts were replaying Unity's message - by directive of the LSF's PR crew, no doubt... but Kuo remembered the speech. Had memorized it, even.
For a generation benders have cowered in fear of bureaucratic thugs like Yahan Zu, and Chiyo Ayuma, and Etsuko Kaito. No more! Forced underground for crimes imagined, ignorantly saddled with the blame for the entirety of humanity's blood lust. No more! Kidnapped, tortured, and executed - often before they're even born! I say no more!
Ayuma was the first. Kaito was the second. Zu is the third - but I assure you, people of the Republic... I am far from finished. Unity yanked his or her razor-sharp blade across Zu's throat, eliciting a gout of blood and nervous gagging... and then the live feed was cut.
Kuo was amused, to say the least - enthralled, maybe. His parents had been non-benders, but their parents before them had been a proud waterbender and firebender, setting aside their cultural animosity for love... and without their sacrifices, Kuo wouldn't be alive today. Both of his grandparents had been lost in the war, rounded up and murdered in cold blood - but their spirits lived on in the tales shared by Kuo's parents, of great Fire Nation palaces occupied by his ancestors, of gorgeous glacial cities filled to the brim with proud waterbenders.
He refused to fall victim to the media spin. Perhaps Unity was a monster... but they'd lit a fire under the Republic's ass, at the very least. Maybe the LSF would capture Unity and execute them... or maybe Unity would continue to pick apart the anti-bender politicos one by one. Maybe there would be riots, and revolutions.
One could only dream.
Kuo stubbed out his cigarette and lay his pruning shears on the table, flicking the radio off and heading inside. He had a busy day ahead of him.
"Hey, Jiayi."
"Daoji!" cried the old woman, embracing Kuo. She was a short, portly woman, her face lined with the hard-earned wrinkles of many years spent roughing it in the Outer Ring. Plenty of weatherworn folks occupied the slums, each as downtrodden as the other - but a certain glimmer of community bound the lot of them, nonetheless.
"How are things? Oh, just the regular, please," he replied. Jiayi went about the business of fetching him a styrofoam container packed with noodles and pork.
"We're doing just fine, Daoji," she replied, bustling about behind the counter. "Haven't seen you in weeks! Thought you'd moved on - or maybe gotten on the wrong side of the RSF, 'eh? Speakin' of - you hear about that uh... that Union fella'?"
"Unity? Yeah, I caught the broadcast. Seems like the radio DJs can't get enough of him, huh?"
"Got that right! Besides, what's his deal, anyway? Goin' around, upsettin' folks... things aren't that bad. Just let sleeping dogs lie, hm?" Jianji offered Kuo his container, and he handed her a few coins.
"Never bad advice, Jianji. Sorry to cut our visit short, but my schedule's packed. Thanks for the fuel!" Kuo was heading out the door and into the streets before Jianji could reply. He wolfed down the meal as he walked, stuffing the empty container into a trash bin and throwing up the hood on his jacket, rounding a corner into a back alley.
Kuo knew the side streets and alleyways of his little corner of the Outer Ring like the back of his hand - an old habit from his time in the Triple Threats, and a necessity that had saved his neck more than once.
"Kuo!"
Motioning for Wu to keep his voice down, Kuo hesitated only for a second before embracing his cousin. Slugging him across the shoulder, Kuo pressed a finger to his lips. "I'm in hiding, remember, Wu? Try to be a little less sloppy: I don't want to wind up on a Triple Threat meat hook losing fingers to the Executioner, if it's all the same to you."
"Yeah, yeah - my bad," Wu apologized sheepishly, crossing his arms. "C'mon - over here."
Kuo tailed his cousin closely, entering an old, burnt out apartment complex. It stank with mold and mildew, water damage evident on the walls, floors, and ceiling tiles that hadn't suffered extensive burns. He didn't know whether a firebender had duked it out with the LSF here years prior, or if perhaps the building had just been burned up by kids monkeying around.
Either way, nobody else was interested in the condemned old apartment, so Kuo and Wu had it to themselves. They proceeded to the fourth floor, and Kuo entered apartment 4D behind his cousin, shutting the door as an afterthought. On the old mahogany table in the center of the room was a shiny metal suitcase with a disassembled rifle inside, broken apart into several foam compartments. Two boxes of high-caliber rounds and a ballistics vest occupied the remaining space on the table.
"Just like you asked: scoped rifle with rounds and a lightweight vest. I take it you're still workin' contracts, even after you ditched the Triad?"
"Gotta earn a living somehow, Wu," Kuo replied, tracing the feed mechanism with his fingertips. "Your boss isn't suspicious?"
"Nah," Wu replied, waving a hand. "He doesn't care who I push arms to, y'know? So long as they've got cash. Oh, uh, speaking of which..."
Grinning at his cousin's raised eyebrows, Kuo placed a coin purse in Wu's outstretched hand. "There you go, you viper. Enjoy my hard earned cash."
"Yeah, I'll enjoy it about as much as you enjoy that rifle." Pocketing the cash, Wu's expression grew sour, and he changed the subject: "You need to move, by the way. Keep a lower profile. Somebody's been askin' about you."
"What? Who?"
"Some LSF agent, a woman. She met with the boss - like, the big boss, man. I dunno what he told her, but word is she's on the prowl for you. Waste anyone important lately?"
"Nobody worth talking about," Kuo said, turning back towards the gun, lost in thought.
After several moments of heavy silence, Wu cleared his throat. "You goin' out to the parade tonight?"
"Doubt it," Kuo answered. "Why, who's gonna be there?"
"Aw, man, you didn't hear? That rat fuck, the political guy, Akano - talks a big game about how benders are evil, y'know? Hell, that's how he made his fortune, workin' with the LSF. Word on the street, though, is that he's a waterbender himself. Guys like that, man... I mean, I'm not perfect, but he's a real asshole. I've even heard he works for the Red Lotus."
"You think that fairy tale's real, Wu? C'mon, don't buy into conspiracies. You're smarter than that."
"I'm just sayin', man. Who knows?"
Kuo grunted, stashing the boxes of ammunition and the vest inside the case and shutting it. "Might just show up after all," he replied, grinning. "Wouldn't mind seeing Anato. C'mon, let's get out of here."
