The man in black drew a sword and pointed it at the blue-caped woman. "You're not fooling anyone, waterbender. I know who you are," he informed her gruffly, the candle in the room casting long shadows, throwing black silhouettes of them. "The Avatar's waterbending sifu is not welcome within the walls of our city."
Katara, seventeen years of confidence and bravery, stood her ground. "Republic City was founded by the Avatar and Firelord Zuko. I'm as welcome as you are, if not more so. Drop your weapon; if I intended to battle I would not have infiltrated the Equalist headquarters upon my discovery of it. I would've bent it into the sea, ironic as that would've been," she smirked beneath her hood and then pushed it back, revealing her face and her head.
Her hair styled in a newer traditional style; the top was pulled back into a braid that fell down the rest of her hair, and her hair loopies were linked to the top of that braid, not hanging but loosely falling against the rest of her hair. The rest fell almost the same, bar for the two thin warrior braids that fell from under one of her hair loops. Beneath her cloak she wore a new, roguish outfit, befitting the poorer districts of Republic City, but she didn't intend for the equalist before her to see the rest of her clothes.
"Speak, bender, but don't move. If you expected to reach and assassinate our leader tonight, you were mistaken," he spat sinisterly, his sword coming to his side.
Katara's eyes narrowed; they hadn't done that before she'd known Zuko. She supposed she'd picked up the trait from him. "I didn't. I am here to request an alliance with inside members of the anti-bending revolution," she explained quite simply, without tiptoeing around the subject or backing edgeways into it.
The man seemed to become confused at this, before looking offended and extending his sword again. "The Equalist Movement is loyal to its leader! You'll never succeed in your scheme."
Katara shook her head and extended a soft, tanned hand to the man in the candle-lit darkness. "You don't really believe that bending is against nature, do you? Bending is as natural as the stars in the sky, and the fish in the sea. How can you possibly intend to flush out bending as a whole when the moon bends the tide? Do you think you can exterminate the moon as you can exterminate the benders? With swords and … what are they called? Guns?" she gritted her teeth. "You want to find something unnatural, look at the new, mechanical weapons on the Equalist's hips."
The man faltered and his weapon shivered the same as his body. "Silence!"
"I'm sure you were recruited with immaculate propaganda, just the same as the fire nation soldiers who wiped out the Air Nomads; filling your head with lies that tell you how benders are evil and think they are better than non-benders. My older brother is a non-bender and he is as skilled a warrior as I am. He fought with just as much mastery as I did on the day of Sozin's comet," Katara shut her eyes and unfolded her fingers to reveal her soft palm. "But the 'Equalist' name is just a front for those who want to use and sell guns before the traditional means of battle; those who would rather learn in thirty days how to aim than to learn in three years how to battle. The duels they see for the future are with guns, where one man is a killer and the other a corpse at the end. Is that the world you want to raise your children in?"
The man's sword fell to the floor and clattered there for a moment as he hung his arms at his sides. "You … how do you know all this, waterbender?" he whispered to the shadows.
Katara's hand seemed more inviting to the man now. "I know a man who found his way through the darkness of lies to see the truth and fight for it," she explained solemnly. "Good men fight for the truth. Not for lies."
The dark figure shuddered. "I am a good man. And I've seen it. The way he speaks to people; he's always implying in some way that the benders are to blame …"
"Your leader?"
"You must not speak of this to anyone, waterbender … but his power is reason enough to not question his methods, or his beliefs. His first impression is so persuasive, that you cannot question his motives or his logic. I saw it, but I never would've spoken of it had you not found me."
"You can't tell them I spoke to you. Not while I'm still in Republic City; if they found out I am trying to recruit their members, they could have me killed in my sleep. I don't doubt your leader's power … or … is he still your leader, Kachu?"
Kachu blinked at her in the darkness, and he stared for a moment, a long pause ensuing as he did so.
"I can't leave. You can't leave these people; the only way out is death," he finally spoke. "And the leader … I believe in many things he says. I have followed him, and I have been better off for it."
Katara frowned weakly, and reluctantly continued. "We have a plan. We've discovered a secret entrance to the Equalist Headquarters. Underground. But it needs to be opened from the inside - even military forces couldn't get in without inside help. The United Republic Police Force are preparing an infiltration, but they need my help to recruit someone who can let them in," she cleared her throat and then added, "I'm hoping that person can be you."
Kachu shook his head. "I don't know … I need to go; they'll be getting suspicious. Leave immediately."
He turned and ran, and Katara turned and did the same.
The waterbending master walked into the Firelord's private chambers aboard his airship above Republic City. She nodded to the servants to leave and they bowed before complying with her request. Katara pushed her traveling hood back and then worked at the clip holding it together at her chest, walking toward the chaise lounge where the nineteen-year-old Firelord was lying back with a pretty woman dangling grapes over his face and picking them off to pop into his mouth.
"Leave," Katara told the woman, grabbing her cape in one hand and tossing it to the other chaise lounge; there were three around a low, square table in the room. She revealed her sleeveless, high-necked, navy blue tunic top, black leggings and knee-high, gray-brown, sealskin boots. Her upper arms were adorned with two-inch thick bands of water tribe colors and patterns, her wrists and hands with black combat bandaging.
The woman with the grapes glared at Katara before placing the grapes on the golden tray on the table, standing up and leaving. "Of course, Lady Katara," she murmured on her way out.
"I see you're taking liberties with the servants," Katara sat down on one of the sofas and crossed her arms with a dark expression on her face.
Zuko sat up and wiped his mouth for any traces of grape, "What are you doing on my airship? I'm supposed to be on vacation in Ember Island; if anyone found out where you were, they'd then assume you were visiting someone of importance on this overly expensive airship, and then realize I'm working when I should be kicking back," he pointed out calmly. "It's not often I get my uncle to take over for me, you know."
Katara raised an eyebrow at him and cleared her throat. "Working. Sure. That's what you were doing," she remarked sarcastically.
"Hey, I'm here trying to figure out how to stop people kidnapping benders. I'd much rather be out looking for my mother, but they recognize my airship in the Earth Kingdom, thanks to Toph," he grumbled in annoyance. Toph had had them bring his transportation to her summer home in Omashu so he wouldn't have to leave early to travel to the docks last year.
Katara scoffed and reached for the grapes on the table, plucking one off the vine and then sticking it in her mouth. Once she swallowed, she talked. "I got into the Equalist Headquarters."
Zuko nearly choked.
"What? How?" The Firelord sat on the edge of his seat. "Why?"
Katara watched him simply. "Because the police and I have been working together to actually solve the problem, while you sat up here having women feed you grapes," she stuck her tongue out at him, before continuing. "I talked to an inside member, I tried to get him to help us."
"Did it work?"
Katara glanced aside thoughtfully. "I don't know. He seemed to have mixed feelings about helping us get into the headquarters. He could tell the leader I tried to recruit, or that I'm trying to recruit, and then throw off everything; they could have me killed before I even have time to talk to Toph's police force. If he says anything to anyone, its all over," Katara suddenly felt stupid for putting the whole operation in the hands of the enemy. "I hope he doesn't make me regret it."
Zuko's brows tilted up as best they could with a scar making it difficult. Katara had always given trust too easily; in the crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se, she'd trusted him, only for him to stab her in the back afterwards. He pulled his mouth one way, thoughtfully. "You didn't tell them about the secret entrance though," he assumed quite calmly, as if this made the whole plan safe, the secrecy of that entrance. And then, seriously, "Did you?"
Katara choked inwardly and then shook her head immediately. "No," she told him solemnly, cursing herself inwardly. "I'm not that stupid," she screamed within the confines of her head.
Zuko nodded. "It'll be fine."
"But if he tells anyone …" Katara leant forward and then grabbed her own head. "If he tells anyone, if he takes the wrong side, everything we worked for will be lost because of my stupid mistake," she then grunted indecisively. "How thoughtless can a person be?" she murmured angrily.
Zuko frowned and pulled a grape from its vine, popping it into his mouth and chewing, his eyes fixed on the center of the table before him. They would know when things went bad or good, he supposed. But for now, they had to wait. And if the man kept his silence for a day, he could be trusted to keep his silence for another. They just hoped this didn't backfire on them.
A/N: Oh, my poor, broken writing skills. I have writers block, as you can tell in this oneshot (might be a twoshot later).
I wrote this because I went to my dad's house earlier to babysit my half-brother, who's about ten months old. Anyway, after I finally got him to sleep, my step-brother, (dad's girlfriend's son from a previous relationship), asked me to play on the Wii with him. My Dad and his fiancée when out to milk the cows and it was just us three in the house. Then Matthew, my sort-of-step-brother, who's ten (I'm fourteen), said he hates my dad.
Now, Matthew (10), my dad (53), his mom Kylie (35ish), my half-brother Emlyn (10months), and my sister Rowzii (13), live together at their farm.
He said he thinks my dad is changing his mom. He said how he's put ideas into her head that she didn't always have. I told him that he's right; my dad has put all sorts of bigoted ideas into her head, like he did to my mom. Matthew said my sister is just the same. I told him it's called narcissism and my dad got it from his mother, and my sister got it from my dad. I explained to him what it is and how he can keep himself from becoming like them. I told him to get closer to Emlyn than my sister is, because 2 versus 3 is better than 4 versus 1.
He asked if I believed in ghosts, and I decided to tell him a creepy story. I told him how my mom told me about the secret room in the old farmhouse. The house is like, 400 years old. Anyway, there's this secret room that was used as a priest-hold. He asked how I knew that and I told him my mom had told me when I told her I wanted that farmhouse again.
Yeah. I want my old childhood house back, and I want to do it up - to buy it when my dad dies. We knocked on the walls for a bit and we found the hollow spot. Anyway, when I was in the car with my mom, I told her how I'd had this talk about my dad with Matthew. I said he was just like us and that he could see it. Then she fucked my mind over.
"You didn't tell him you plan to have that house, though." Brief pause. "Did you?"
"No! I'm not that stupid!"
SHIT. So now, if Matthew tells them what I said, then I'm screwed; I won't be welcome to see my little brother anymore, and my dad will make sure I never get that house. Even if he tells my sister, she's obsessed with my dad, she'll tell him, and I'm screwed. I told him he couldn't tell anyone, but he's ten! What if he slips up?
So yeah. I made a bad move and I could screw myself over with it. This will become a twoshot when I know whether things have gone good or bad. If he tells them, Kachu will screw them over and Katara will feel shit, as will I, if Matthew doesn't, Kachu will help them infiltrate the headquarters and then there will be no reason to watch LoK. Kidding.
Reviews are happy-love.