The large, muscular man with the turban walked faster and faster, weaving his way through the dense crowds of the marketplace. He moved swiftly, despite the pushy, stubborn shoppers in his way.
He turned back every few seconds, as if expecting to see something following him. Every time, it seemed that his eyes didn't find their target, but still he shifted anxiously.
If anybody in that marketplace had taken the time to actually look at the man shoving through them rather than just mutter a curse, then they would have wondered what such a bulky, terrifying-looking man seemed to be running from.
As it was, nobody did. As always.
The man rounded the corner and bounded up three flights of stairs, finally coming upon the dusty attic of a deteriorating building. Pushing through the curtain serving as the door for the small room, he exhaled, not exactly surprised to see another man sitting on the small cot.
His gruff voice came out higher than usual. "Blue. What are you doing here?"
The other man didn't move, and his shaggy hair over his bent head hid his face, but the man with the turban knew his lips had stretched into a humorless smirk. "Catching up. How've you been, Combustion Man?"
The raspy voice made the usually ruthless Combustion Man close his eyes for an instant, despite his familiarity with it. "Blue. Blue, you don't understand."
"Then tell me. Make me understand why one of the greatest assassins of the Fire Nation is hiding out in a decrepit little room in the middle of nowhere."
Combustion Man licked his lips, grateful for even the smallest amount of time. "How much do they pay us, Blue? Twenty grand silver a year? How can a man survive on that? They pay so much, it's unbelievable..."
The shaggy-haired man didn't look up but rather examined his nails. "How much?"
"Think ten times what you made in your best year, Blue. Twenty times it. Fifty. You see, Blue?"
"I see. Trust me, I see."
"Think about it, Blue. In fact, hey, you should join me! You, you'd be amazing, you kno-"
And in an instant, Combustion Man's dead body lay on the floor. The shaggy-haired man looked from where he'd snapped his victim's neck against the plaster to where the corpse lay on the floor, and shifted the body aside disgustedly with his foot.
"Don't ever try to insult my loyalty to the Fire Nation. It's impenetrable, just like yours should have been."
By the time Combustion Man's next visitors came to check on him, the murderer was long gone.
Zuko walked out of his small house in the residential area of Ember Island, not exactly ready for another day, in nothing but a shirt and a pair of boxers. He shoved his jar at the milkman, hoping to not be standing out in public longer than was necessary. Of course, only a second was needed before his gossiping neighbors started in on him.
"Oh look, dear, he's back!" The woman the next house over grinned foolishly as she dried her hair.
"Why are you looking so happy?" Her husband peered at her suspiciously.
"Ugh, the delinquent's back." The old man across the street glared, unhappy to have his reading time interrupted by the unpleasant sight of that young man.
"And look at all those bruises along with that old scar. He better not start any fights here." His wife wrinkled her nose.
Zuko walked out again about an hour later, all dressed up in uniform. His friend Liang stopped his truck, ready to give Zuko a ride down to his office in the old government buildings.
Zuko grinned and hopped in. "What's going on, Liang?"
Liang smiled happily, always so contented with his life. "Same old. Checking incoming messages for the Fire Nation and whatnot. No big deal."
"Well, at least you're contributing more than I am at my desk job."
"Don't worry about it, man. We're all cogs of the Fire Nation machine. One day we'll all help take down the Water Tribes."
"Yeah," Zuko smiled back at his cheerful friend. "One day."
Zuko's head peeked out of the office door. "You wished to see me, Officer?"
The man sitting at the desk inside the office looked as if he had been waiting for Zuko. "Yes, yes. Come in, Zuko."
Zuko closed the door behind him gently, and sat down in the seat, leaning his elbows on the desk and moving in closer. "Is it urgent, Zhao?"
The man, with sharp greying hair and even sharper eyes nodded. "There's a man, Professor Zei. He is a brilliant man. Teaches at Ba Sing Se University. You remember the nuclear information we were given that we're using to develop our new weapons? We got it from him."
Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Let me guess. He's giving the same info to The Aurora."
Zhao opened his arms in a gesture that seemed to say "who knows?", but his eyes glinted like steel. "It seems to be so. We've kept tabs on him, and tehre's information being sent to someone unknown. We need you to investigate."
Zuko rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Thank Agni. I thought you'd keep on my break forever."
Zhao laughed. "Even you don't know how useful you are."
Zuko smirked back and stood up.
"And by the way, good work with Combustion Man, Zuko."