"We were outnumbered ten to one, but we fought back anyway."
- Haru of the Earth Kingdom.
Stumbling across the empty landscape, Ban, Meiling and Willow found their way to a nearby town and slipped in amongst its buildings shortly before dawn, when the skyline on the horizon was starting to lighten.
They kept to the alleyways and the back streets, staying out of sight. Even though they were exhausted from the long night's walk, they kept on going, putting one foot in front of the other. If pressed, they wouldn't have even known where they were going.
Just... forward.
Ban paused by an intersection as he realized this, rubbing his eyes and giving a sigh, realizing just how tired he was. It was almost morning now, and they hadn't had a good night's sleep. His rumbling stomach also told him it was high time for breakfast, but he wasn't sure what to do about that either.
Mixed in with his hunger, however, was a sense of nausea.
Having never been outside of Zaofu in his life, Ban wasn't fully prepared for just how disgusting the outside world was. The city of the Metal Clan hadn't exactly been pristine, but it had been largely litter free, and its gardens and trees lovingly maintained, if not professionally so. Its buildings were designed to last for generations, every structure perfectly crafted for its inhabitants needs with the most modern of architectures and technologies.
But here, this place... there was refuse everywhere. Liter on the ground, the occasional newspaper blowing in the breeze. Even as he watched, a passerby stuck some chewing gum in his mouth and tossed the wrapper aside onto the ground. Mere feet away from a trash can put there specifically for that purpose. Ban didn't quite gawk, but he did stare, wondering just what sort of people could live in such filth. The buildings were crumbling, bricked up and falling on hard times. Some of them visibly sagged, leaning one way or another, or else had shingled roofs covered in ugly metal plates to keep them waterproof. Some of the vehicles lining the streets were the same way, rusted by age, missing wheels and up on cinder blocks, or else painted garish colors in an attempt to revitalize.
And it stunk.
It stunk to the heavens and probably far higher even than that, the filthy garbage, the unwashed bodies, the raw sewage that didn't seem quite contained well enough beneath ground in the antiquated sewer system. Ban waved in front of his face, trying to dispel the odor, but it followed them everywhere.
Pausing at the intersection and taking a good look around, Ban guessed they were at the threshold of a housing district and the main part of town. Probably a good place to find businesses, whatever they could be looking for.
"Let's get some breakfast..." he said, walking forward, looking for a sign that indicated a suitable restaurant or fast food location.
"Do you have any money?" Willow inquired. Her dress had no pockets, and she had no yuans in the purse resting across her shoulder.
"Uhm, some," Meiling replied, patting the back pocket of her skirt and reaching for her wallet.
Ban, of course, one-upped her as he opened up his wallet and showed his Cabbage Credit Card, or Triple-C. "Mom and Dad gave me this for emergencies... I'd say this counts."
"Breakfast on you then," Meiling said, smiling for the first time in what felt like far too long.
He almost managed to smile at that, but couldn't quite manage. After everything that had just happened, he wondered if he'd ever be able to smile again.
For breakfast, they settled into a booth at a local Jasmine Dragon, which was already bustling with activity early in the morning. Though its primary sale was in tea, it also had a number of breakfast items and snacks suitable for consumption. Ban took their order while Willow and Meiling grabbed a booth in the corner, well removed from the general populace. Thankfully, most weren't staying to eat, they just grabbed their tea to go.
Jiao had to stay outside, the owner didn't tolerate pets, but he'd been leashed up by a nearby water hydrant and was still visible from the window, so Ban wasn't overly worried about him.
After eating in relative quiet, the two girls turned to Ban, and Meiling popped the inevitable question.
"What do we do now?"
"... I don't know," Ban said, then looked up, realizing both sets of eyes were on him. They weren't just asking each other, they were looking to him for guidance. "Rohan was the one with the..." And there, a fresh wave of despair rolled over him, the pain fresh once more. "Oh no, Willow... your grandfather."
He half-expected her to be teary-eyed and morose, but she looked oddly serene as she reached across the table to pat his arm gently. "It's okay, Ban..."
"But he's..."
She nodded, eyes half-closed. "I know, grandfather's gone. He died saving us."
"He died a hero," Ban said, half to himself, still reconciling the fact. "Protecting the... the Avatar."
His voice dropped at the last word, and he glanced around nervously. The tea shop was a bustle of early morning activity, but everywhere he looked, everything seemed perfectly normal. Instead of reassuring Ban, however, it only made him more nervous. Whoever was after them could be anyone, could be anywhere, could be right beside them and they would never know until it was too late.
"We can't go home," he decided, speaking aloud, sharing his thoughts with the girls. "Whoever came after us on the train knew we were there. They knew where to find us."
"How?" asked Meiling.
"... I don't know," he replied. "Nobody else knew about our trip except Rohan and the White Lotus... maybe they followed us from Zaofu."
Meiling shook her head, blonde ponytail bobbing behind her. "Maybe someone in the White Lotus was the leak?"
"Leak?"
"It's what they call someone who sells out information," Meiling said. "I saw it in a mover once."
"I know what it means," he replied grimly. He'd watched his fair share of movers too, and read some novels on espionage before. "It just doesn't sound right though, I mean... the White Lotus? They're the most noble organization in the world. They help impoverished nations and refugees and run blood drives... and they provide funding for old temples and colleges... they're not some secret spy organization."
"They are kinda secret," Meiling argued. "They told you to keep yourself secret, didn't they?"
"And a great lot of good that did," Ban said, feeling his hands grow cold. He held his tea cup to warm them up, though he still felt a shiver run down his spine. Meiling was making a lot of sense. Even if the whole of the White Lotus was more benign and noble, it could still have members willing to sell secrets for greater gain. Or worse, infiltrators who were waiting for the exact moment they found the Avatar in order to...
Ban didn't even want to think about that.
"We can't go home," he repeated. "So we need to keep moving."
"Moving where?" Meiling replied.
"Grandfather said to find the Third... we should do that," replied Willow airily. She hadn't touched her tea.
"Whoever that is... must be someone we can trust," Ban said. "If Rohan suspected the White Lotus was compromised, that's who we can trust too. So we find them."
She tossed back the last of her drink noisily before replying. "And... how do we go about doing that?"
"... I don't know," Ban said. "The Third isn't a lot to go on... maybe for now we should just lay low. Maybe... maybe this'll all blow over?"
His voice cracked faintly with his last question, and Meiling and Willow exchanged a look. None of them believed that for a minute, not really, but for a moment, they let themselves hope it could be true.
With no reliable, secure means to contact home or meet with members of the White Lotus, Ban suggested they rent a hotel room for the next few nights and try to sort things out there, using it as a sort of home base they could all retreat to if they got separated or lost. So they immediately went to the nearest public hotel they could find and rented a room. Paid for of course by Ban's Cabbage Credit Card.
"Everywhere I am," he murmured, reciting the card's infamous slogan. It was from an old VV commercial.
It wasn't a very big room, but it had two beds, and a fold out screen they could use to separate it into a girl's side and a boy's side. They'd just settled in when there came a knock at the door. Ban was just re-emerged from answering nature's call in the bathroom.
"That must be room service," Meiling said with a cat-like grin.
He frowned at her, clearly not pleased. "Mei! You can't just order up anything, we're on a budget, my three-C only has enough for like..."
Opening the door, Ban didn't see friendly wait staff with their room service. Instead, he saw a trio of policemen, and froze instantly in the doorway. Despite not having done anything wrong, he immediately panicked, wondering just what could have brought them to his doorstep. And in that moment of hesitation, they struck. Well coordinated and disciplined, the policemen moved into the room, snapping cuffs on Ban's wrists and softly pushing him up against the wall. Before he knew it he was handcuffed behind his back. Meiling hit the wall beside him a moment later, similarly cuffed.
"Ban Beifong? We need you to come with us."
They were taken into a police car and hauled into the station. All the while, Meiling was cursing up a storm, while Ban just sort of sat numbly beside her. One of the cops had tried to grab Jiao as well, but the slippery eel-hound pup had escaped as soon as the door was open, for which Ban was grateful. While he missed Jiao, he'd be safer out on the streets than with the police. They might try to put him down, and he couldn't bear dealing with that.
Idly he tuned himself back into the present, and noted Meiling hadn't stopped talking. She did seem lowering the volume of her shouting, however. Perhaps she was running out of steam.
"This is outrageous!" Meiling hollered. "I demand my lawyer!"
"Do you even have a lawyer?" asked the policewoman standing beside her, holding her shoulder.
That brought Meiling up short. "No," she admitted. "But I know I have the right to one! Its Earth Kingdom law! Now you listen to me!"
"I think we've listened to you quite enough," said another cop, behind the desk, who seemed to be taking all this down. He looked to be someone of authority, possibly a senior officer, though Ban couldn't identify his rank. Even so, he seemed to be the one to talk to. So before Meiling could launch into another tirade, Ban cautiously made his way to the desk.
"Sir, pardon me, but my friend is right, this must be some misunderstanding..."
"Name..."
"Uh, it's Ban sir, look I..."
"Last Name," the desk sergeant said, reading off the list of questions in front of him. He didn't even look up at Ban as he approached.
"... Beifong, sir," Ban said. "Ban Beifong."
If he'd hoped the family name would hold some influence, it seemed he was mistaken. The desk sergeant barely paid any notice of it. Indeed, he continued to sound as if he was thoroughly bored as he took the rest of their information down, including rest of Ban's information, then the girls names, ages, and places of origin.
They also confiscated their backpacks, purses, and even their wallets. Meiling fumed angrily as she watched the brand new bag she'd acquired that very day get upended to sift through its contents, pawing through the clothes there as if hoping to find contraband hidden amongst them.
"What are we even charged with?" asked Ban, hoping to ease into more comfortable territory.
"Theft," grumbled one of the policemen.
"Your card was reported as stolen," the desk sergeant added.
"That's absurd," Ban protested, grabbing it off his desk. "It's got my name on it, look!"
The desk sergeant pushed the card away when Ban tried to shove it into his face, looking only vaguely annoyed. "I don't have any guarantee that's you..."
"Check the learners permit then!"
He glanced down at the other items from Ban's wallet they'd confiscated. His face and name shined up from the card that said he was indeed licensed to drive, albeit with supervision, and even the desk sergeant could not argue that the young man in question was standing before him. But even so...
"You might've stolen that too," was all he said, closing his book. "Put them in holding for now," he informed the other officers.
"Are you completely stupid?!" Meiling said, struggling against the iron hard grip on her shoulder. "You know that's him! Look at the photo! LOOK AT THE PHOTO!"
Ban was more subdued as the officers dragged him away, and Willow didn't even seem to quite grasp she was in trouble, following along the officer as obediently as a lost puppy dog. The three of them were ushered through one locked door after another until they were led into an adjacent room full of big metal bars, dividing the area up into separate holding areas. Most of them were empty, except for a single other prisoner. But Ban had no time to focus on that right now as the door was unlocked and he, Meiling, and Willow were shoved roughly inside. Instinctively reacting to a threat, his body turned to grab the door and open it back up, but they'd already shut it and locked it in his face.
"This isn't right," Ban said.
"Tell it to someone who cares, kid," muttered the policeman who locked them in, before turning to leave, hanging the keys to the cell on the wall beside the door. Well out of the reach of anyone on the wrong side of the bars.
Meiling pulled on the bars of the cage by sheer stubborn instinct, but they were solid iron, and immovable to all but a metalbender.
"Lousy rotten insufferable..." she muttered angrily. Then, a thought came to her, and her head jerked up. "This feels suspiciously set-up..." Meiling remarked.
Nodding absent-mindedly, Ban was inclined to agree. No cop, no matter how lazy or corrupt, should have been able to get away with what had just been pulled just now. This had been deliberate. For a moment he wasn't sure if it had been wise to reveal who he was, but he hadn't had much choice at the time. And in any case, damage already done.
"They must be working with the man who tried to blow up the train tracks," he said, running a hand against the bars of the cell, looking for weak spots. Nothing. The bars were solid. And while he was an earthbender, and the Avatar to boot, he barely knew how to move rock. He had absolutely no idea on how to bend metal.
"But how?" asked Willow, puzzled.
"How what?" repeated Meiling, confused.
"How did they find us... we didn't call anyone... no one could possibly know we were here..." his voice trailed off as a horrible thought dawned on him, and he pressed a hand to his pocket, where his wallet had been.
"The three-C!" Meiling said, snapping her fingers and pointing. "They're tracking your cabbage credit card!"
"Hey!"
The call came from the cell adjacent to theirs, separated by another row of bars. In it was another prisoner, a dark-skinned youth with long dreadlocks braided down the back of his head. If Ban had to guess, he'd estimate his age at very late teens, possibly even young adult ready to make his way in the world. His coloration suggested Water Tribe, though his clothes looked a little more rough and worn than most, the dull blue of his hoodie faded to an almost navy coloration, and his pants practically black. A short chain emerged from one of his pockets before connecting to his belt, Ban had seen some in Zaofu who used those to protect their wallets from being stolen.
"Keep it down, will ya? Some of us are trying to sleep here."
Spotting the look in her eyes, Ban swiftly drew Meiling back before she could launch into an angry tirade. "Sorry," he apologized to the other prisoner, hoping to defuse the situation. The last thing they needed was criminals working against them as well.
It was almost an hour later before they finally had company again, another pair of policemen coming in and checking the rosters on the wall. One them pulled down the clipboard while another decided to just cut to the chase.
"Ban Beifong? Do we have a Ban Beifong here?"
"Over here sir!" Ban called out, knocking a hand against the iron bars of his cell. "I'm Ban Beifong. Are you here to release us?"
The two men, big, brutish fellows who barely fit into their uniforms, exchanged a look. "You could say that."
Recoiling instinctively, the young Avatar took a good look at the two men. They were dressed like the police from earlier, same uniforms, same belts with cuffs and night sticks and even the same shiny metal badges. But apart from that, they didn't look like cops. Their hair was rough and uneven, and too long, and they had a loping sort of gait, not like the military march police subconsciously tended to develop. They looked like cops, but not up close.
These weren't policemen.
They were enemies.
Ban stepped away from the cage. "Who are you?"
The bigger one smiled. "That's not your concern, little boy. Now just come on here, and we'll take good care of you..."
"What about our lawyer?" Ban asked, seizing onto a legal technicality. And one he'd admittedly seen on VarriVision. "I know my rights, I'm an Earth Kingdom citizen... we're entitled to a phone call..."
"The only thing you're entitled to, brat, is a very slow..." he reached down into his pocket. "... and very painful..." and drew something out. "... death..."
It was a medical syringe, like the sort non-waterbenders used to sedate patients. But whatever was in that syringe, Ban had a feeling he had no desire to feel it pumping through his veins.
"Time to put this brat down," said the other cop, laughing darkly. He unlocked the cell door and opened it wide. Ban stepped back, shielding the girls with his arms. Hoping they'd leave them alone, since they were after him, not them.
"Good thing they didn't tell us we have the right to remain silent!" Meiling said, throwing up her foot and swinging it down hard. "FLAME KICK!"
The resultant fire arc wasn't exactly spectacular, but it got results, forcing the two false policemen back, and knocking the syringe out of the first one's hands. It shattered on the ground, spilling its clear contents all over the floor.
"Flame Kick? Really?"
"It's a work in progress!"
Ban swiftly moved to try and incapacitate the nearer one with some chi-blocks, but he was more than aply prepared, dodging aside a strike and cuffing Ban upside the head, knocking him back. His partner swiftly threw himself at Meiling, knocking her down. She may have been tough, and a firebender to boot, but she was still only a sixteen year old girl, and on the smaller side than most. His sheer strength and weight overpowered her, pinning her up against a wall.
"Let her go!"
A burst of wind struck the man's shoulder, throwing him off of Meiling. Willow followed it up with an airbending palm strike that was aimed for his head, hoping to render him unconscious. However, he proved too swift to strike, ducking underneath her swing and moving swiftly to grab her slender arm, pulling it behind her back and throwing his much larger, heavier arm around her throat, cutting off her air. Willow gasped as her eyes fluttered, unable to draw breath.
"Beifong! You come with us easy like or we're going to break the girls neck!"
All fighting instantly ceased.
"Don't hurt her!" Ban said, hands upraised to show he meant no harm. "I surrender."
"Smart move, kid," muttered the first false cop, reaching into his jacket, searching for something. Possibly a pair of handcuffs. Or another syringe.
The second policeman maintained his hold of Willow, as Ban reluctantly stepped forward. As he did, however, he noted the first man's position, right in front of the bars separating cells from one another. And behind him, smoothly rising to his feet, was the dreadlocked boy from before. The other prisoner caught Ban's eye, and tilted his head subtly. His hands shifted on the bars, and Ban caught the jist of his meaning in that simple movement.
"Alright, we'll come..." Ban started to said, in a deceptively mild tone of voice, before suddenly thrusting forward on his feet and slamming his elbow into the false policeman's chest, knocking him back. He slammed into the bars, and the prisoner thrust his arms through the bars, locking them around the cop's neck and head, holding him tight. He was big, and he was tough, but his positioning was all wrong, and he was held fast. Ban threw a chi-blocking strike at his arms and legs, however, to ensure he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Willow took the opportunity to slip out of her assailants grip and threw an airbending push with her hands, throwing him up against the wall and rendering him unconscious. Meiling scooped the keys off of his belt and unlocked their cell.
"Jailbreak!" she declared, as loudly as she dared. Willow and Ban were right behind her as they swiftly locked their assailant in the cell in their place, then headed for the back exit.
"Hey!"
It was the other prisoner, having released his captive, now clinging to the bars, hand outstretched, reaching for them. Meiling belatedly realized she still had the keys in her hands. She looked to Ban for guidance.
Options were limited, but foremost in his mind was that the prisoner had just saved their lives.
"Get him out," he instructed Meiling, glancing down the hallway and checking for more police. Meiling quickly did as requested, unlocking the cell, leaving the keys behind as she pulled the barred door open for him.
"Thanks," the other prisoner said, though he seemed to be addressing Ban more than Meiling. A commotion further down the hallway caused his head to snap up. Nothing coming their way, but sounds of activity. "We don't have long before they come for us... come with me. I know a place we can lay low for a while."
Finding a nearby table, he shoved it up against the wall, climbing atop of it moments later and prying open the window. Unlike the barred ones that had lined the cells, this one was free of such obstructions, though it helped they were on the second floor of the police station. Peering out the window, the street teen spotted a pipe that could be used to shimmy down the side of the building.
"We'll get out this way," he said.
Ban was about to follow when Meiling stopped him. "Is it smart of us to be going anywhere with a low life?"
"Who you callin' low life, short stuff?"
"SHORT?! I'm average height for a girl my age!"
He gave her a look that plainly said he didn't believe her, and Meiling fumed, eyes narrowing as her blonde ponytail seemed to take on a life of its own, spiking out sharply behind her.
"Oh you are so asking for a Flaming Hand of Firey-...!"
Ban cut her off, quickly grabbing her shoulder and gently pushing her forward. Willow had already slipped through the window. Ryuku was standing at the bottom ready to catch her, but she drifted to the ground as lightly as a feather, leaving him dumbfounded.
"Come on, we have to go," Ban said, coaxing her through the narrow exit. She grabbed the piping on the side of the building to aid her descent, trying not to think of how unfortunate she was to be wearing a skirt in this situation.
"But...!" she protested, as he gently pushed her through the window.
"We don't exactly have many choices," Ban pointed out, then followed.
Authors Notes:
Please review if you've enjoyed.
Cabbage Credit Cards are obviously a product of Cabbage Corp, which has been on a decline in recent years. But they managed to secure their future with the equivalent of our worlds credit cards. Everywhere the merchant goes... er I mean, everywhere you wanna be.
We also have a passing mention of VarriVision, the full proper term that Meiling referred to as 'VV' previously. The Avatar world's equivalent to Television and the TV. Made by none other than, you guessed it, Iknik Blackstone Varrick, who after getting married and having a family went into the entertainment industry for the sake of his kids. Making more movers and steadily improving quality and availability until they could have it available in (almost) every home.
And here we first meet Ryuku Kuruk, who'll receive his proper introduction next chapter. Team Avatar has completed its elemental set, and is ready to ride. I picture him with the voice of Yuri Lowenthal.
Next Time: Book One, Chapter Five, Kuviraville.
