This Is War
Chris had been silent the whole time, from the moment Amon had taken his bending away, to the very moment right now. They figured they wouldn't go back, that they wouldn't go down without a fight. If anything, they should win, considering they were benders.
Janae occasionally glanced over at Chris, and at Cody, looking to see if those two were alright after the recent traumatizing events. She was sure they were checking on her, too. The three of them walked the barren streets, no idea what to do now, but yet – they had the very vague idea of fighting back.
"Guys," Janae whispered, pointing at a few bodies walking ahead of them by about twenty feet or so. The other two looked up, noticing them as well. They immediately recognized the three bodies in front of them as Equalists, considering one of them had the electro-rods on their back and the other two had weird gloves on.
"What do we do?" Chris asked quietly, the first words he had spoken since his gift was taken away.
"We go after them, uhduh," Janae answered, glancing at Cody, who nodded.
Cody exhaled, "I say we beat them up and take their stuff, like in a cliché jailbreak film."
"Sounds like a plan," Janae breathed, her steps becoming silent as she crept along quickly, getting closer and closer to her target. Cody did the same, Chris staying behind, figuring he could keep watch if he couldn't do anything else.
Janae reached forward, taking one of the Equalist's head in her hands, and wrapping an arm around his neck at the last second, before he could react. The Equalist never had a chance when Janae twisted his head to the side, knocking him out almost instantly. Cody had done the same, the other Equalist falling just as Janae's had.
The last Equalist saw the benders, and readied his glove, ready to stiff arm anyone who came near him. Cody ducked, dodging the Equalist's strike and kicked him back. That would save time, Cody figured. Janae grabbed the Equalist by his neck as he was pushed backward by Cody's kick and slammed him on the ground roughly.
Cody was next, a ball of water crashing down on the enemy's face, and wrapping around his body. The water held the body, and Cody simply threw him against a building with an extra push.
Now that all three of the Equalists were out, they could commence with their espionage.
...
Cody, Chris and Janae had all changed into the uniforms in an awkward silence, Chris willingly snagging both the glove and the electro-rods with no regrets.
"This is some cool shit," Chris had said, stretching his fingers in the glove he had taken.
Now, all they had left to do was follow more Equalists with the hopes that maybe people like them wouldn't beat the shit out of them thinking that they themselves were Equalists.
That wasn't the case, obviously.
They ended up following what seemed like a squadron of Equalists, getting lost, and finding a chi blocking class in an abandoned studio.
The three looked in the windows, and found just what they had been looking for.
"Oh my god," Janae gasped, spying the familiar blonde head of the girl she lived with.
"Is that – " Chris started, but was answered promptly.
"Yeah. What's the plan?" Cody nodded, focusing in on the people around Katey, the moves they were being taught.
Chi- blocking.
"Why don't we just go in and get her?" Chris suggested, sighing.
"Because that's a dumbass idea, and I'm choosing to ignore it." Janae shook her head, and looked around for the door, which she assumed was right around the corner.
…
In the end, the three did simply walk in, and the class fell silent, as did the three friends themselves. Katey didn't recognize them, though.
All of a sudden, it seemed that everyone had made the same move of charging after them, as if they knew that they weren't Equalists after all.
Cody made a different move – he raised both of his hands, and with a grunt, everyone had stopped moving. It seemed as though they were making pained noises – not that Cody could do anything to stop it.
"Get Katey, and let's go already – " Cody mumbled through clenched teeth.
Chris was off to do that, Janae staring at Cody in horror and wondering if she should be amazed or terrified.
"You can… You can bloodbend?"
Cody nodded, watching as Chris simply slung Katey over his shoulder and ran back towards them. He was about to pass out, but figured he should just keep going on, for now. He could rest when the time came.
"Why didn't you tell us! You could have done this exact same thing when Amon was in the middle of taking Chris's bending away!" Janae yelled at Cody, and Cody shrugged, realizing he could have done just that.
Janae threw off the goggles and mask of the uniform, along with Chris, who did it because it was getting harder to breathe.
Cody backed away, trying desperately to keep as many people as controlled as possible. Once Janae and Chris (and Katey) were out, he slammed the door closed, dropping everyone, and locked the door on the outside. He called Janae, telling her to set the door on fire, and she did, sprinting back to catch pu with Katey and Chris.
Katey, on the other hand (or shoulder), wasn't as happy. "What are you doing, traitors! Let me go! Right now! Chris, stop being an asshole and put me down!"
"Nope," Chris said in response.
She fell off his shoulder eventually, and glared at the three of them.
"Why?" Janae had whispered, stepping towards her roommate.
"Why what?" Katey had spat back at her, raising her fists, on the balls of her feet. "Why I was recruited to become an Equalist? It's simple, really – I'm always in the shadow of you three, and it's not fair! It's never fair! Nonbenders need to be treated equally, if not better than impure people like you! You don't deserve to wear that uniform!"
Janae was shocked, and glanced back at Chris and Cody, and they got the message. Turning, they both continued moving on, where – they didn't know themselves.
"The world needs to be rid of pretentious bender assholes just like you, Janae – can't you see? This is a worthy cause!"
Janae couldn't help but wonder if Katey had secretly hated her all this time – or if she had been brainwashed by Amon's ideals because of how much they had actually applied to her. "You don't know what you're talking about, Katey! This isn't how you think!"
"And how would you know?"
Janae was quiet, taking another step forward. She didn't want to do it, but she could feel anger boiling in the pit of her stomach, and she had to do something about it.
"Bring it." Katey challenged, a smirk donned her face.
"You bring it!" Janae screeched, sending a punch that Katey caught and threw to the side. Katey punched her in the gut, and Janae responded by slamming both of her hands on the sides of Katey's head, making the other scream a little. With Katey's eardrums ringing, she couldn't focus, and ended up getting a fireball to her side.
"Damn you, Janae!" Katey screeched, getting back up and sprinting to Janae. She dodged another fireball sent her way by ducking, and another one by sliding across. She got close enough to kick Janae back, and Janae had just enough time to put a blast of fire in Katey's face. Katey screamed once again, and Janae fell on her back, hearing a crack in the wrong places.
"Damn…" Janae mumbled, sitting up and seeing Katey sprawled on her back and a darkness to one side of her face. She was dead, as far as Janae could tell.
"How unfortunate." A voice chimed behind Janae, and she didn't answer. Instead, she merely opened her eyes and lifted her head.
"A worthless girl you thought was your… friend, turns out to be exactly the opposite. Yet, I only have one question for you," the masked man said to Janae, and by now, she had identified it as Amon.
"What are you?" Amon asked, watching as Janae turned around and stood, admiring the stains the tears had put on her face.
Janae was silent, eyes flickering to the side, letting her mouth drop slightly. "I… I don't know…"
Amon bent slightly, letting Janae admire his eyes at the moment. "I know what you can be."
Janae was silent.
"You can avenge your friend – take in my – her – our beliefs. Become an Equalist, Janae. Fight for the side that's right."