Ohhh, double upload. I was gonna combine this chapter with the previous one, but I thought it would be too long.
Read and review!
Con-Bending
Bolin woke up to grainy concrete against his face and something itchy around his arms. He sat up, realized his was tied up, and looked around the unfamiliar room with half his conscious. It was spacious, but only one hanging light above his head lit the room. There were windows, but they were covered in dust and very high up, higher than the lampshade.
"Where?" He gurgled.
"Oh, look, the boyfriend's finally up." A young woman playing with a knife said, wearing earthbender green. "Can I get to hurting him now, Miki?"
"Wait til the Boss gets back, Shirshu." The firebender that had asked for directions said. "You knows he's gotta look over everything twice."
"Then can I at least play with the little dolls?" The girl named Shirshu said. "You weren't meaning to snatch them up anyway."
Bolin looked to his right and his heart nearly stopped. Ren and Naomi were tied up too, gags in their mouths. They didn't look all that scared, but Bolin still panicked.
"Not til the Boss gets here." Miki the firebender spat.
"Well, aren't you the little panda pug pup." Shirshu teased. "You follow Penza wherever he goes?"
Miki threw a fan of flames at her. "Shut up! If you wanna get another lesson from the Boss, be my guest."
Shirshu smiled and twirled over to Naomi. "Hey, Doll Face. Aren't you just the cutest little thing?" She pressed her knife threateningly against her cheek. "I don't like cute."
Ren vehemently tried to undo the ropes around her, struggling against the twine, to get to her little sister.
"Oh, aren't you brave." Shirshu cooed, the knife still pressed against Naomi's cheek. "This your baby sister? Don't worry. I'll play with you next."
"Leave them alone." Bolin said firmly, glaring at her. "They have nothing to do with this. Whatever this is."
A door in the back burst open, hitting the wall with a loud slam. "Shirshu!" An angry, booming voice demanded. "What did I tell you about damaging the merchandise."
"Don't get your fedora in a wad, Penza." Shirshu sighed, straightening and finally lifting the knife from Naomi's skin. "I was just having a little fun."
"Then go play mahjong." The man named Penza retorted, coming closer to the light. He wore dark pants, a black long coat, and red button vest. He was menacing, but younger than Bolin had thought.
"Who are you?" Bo demanded. "Why are we here?"
Penza stared at him, a look of disdain and anger slowly spreading across his face. "Dammit, Miki! You grabbed the wrong brother!"
"What?" Captor and victim asked in unison.
"But you said the Avatar's boy was a pro-bender for the Fire Ferrets." Miki hastily argued. "This guy's a Fire Ferret."
"This is the fat one, it's the firebending one we want." Penza argued. "You better hope Nadia held up her end of the plan."
"Wait a second." Bolin frowned. "You're after Mako? What do you want with my brother?"
"Ransom, Handsome." Shirshu smiled sweetly at him. "We'd make big bucks from the Avatar for your brother. You, not so much."
"Hm. Maybe not." Miki said, stroking his chin. "We'd get mass respect for taking a police officer's bro."
"Wow! You're right!" Shirshu smiled, taking Bolin's chin in her hand. "Maybe you'll be useful after all, Handsome."
Naomi shook her head, trying to get the female thug's attention. When she did catch on to the signals, she scowled at the little girl.
"What do you want, Shrimp?" Shirshu asked. "Have something to say?" Naomi nodded. Shirshu snorted and pulled the gag out of her mouth."Whaddya want, Cutie Pie?"
"You're really unattractive." Naomi said bluntly.
The comment was so unexpected that nobody moved, they only stared at the little girl. Then Miki started laughing uncontrollably, Penza joining him.
"I like this kid." Penza chuckled.
"Yeah, real eye for detail." Miki chortled.
"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU TWO!" Shirshu yelled, punching Miki in the jaw and sending him toppling over a stack of wooden crates. She whirled back around to glare at Naomi. "First thing I'm cutting are those pretty little lips of yours, Baby Doll."
"Can I use them to say a few more things?" Naomi asked. "It won't be mean, promise."
"Shirshu, let the kid talk. You might get a laugh out of her this time." Penza said, wiping a few tears away.
"Whatever." Shirshu grumbled, seating herself on the hood of the car. "As long as I still get to slice up the little brat."
"Don't mind, Shirshu, Baby Doll. What were you gonna say?" Penza asked.
"First of all, I'm not short. I'm still growing." She pointed out, knitting her eyebrows together. "Second of all, who's Miss Nadia? And what's your plan?"
"Heh." Penza chuckled. "Might as well tell a dying man. See, we're a new gang, but we ain't got any respect on the streets yet."
Ren finally wiggled out of her gag and coughed. "So you planned to steal the Avatar's boyfriend in a misguided attempt to gain respect. 'Wow, those are the guys that got the Avatar's lover. They must be pretty badass', right?"
"Smart little fortune cookie, ain't ya?" Shirshu snorted.
"And this Nadia lady is either placing the ransom note as we speak, or you have some other dumb idea." Ren narrowed her eyes. "It's probably the latter."
"You talk a lot of big words, Owl Eyes." Another woman said, walking in with a bundle in her arms. She had perfectly straight hair, a blank expression on her face, and wore Water Tribe blue. "Who are the runts?"
"Doesn't matter." Penza huffed. "You get the babe?"
"I'm not carrying a loaf of bread, Penza." Nadia narrowed her eyes.
"Oh, let me see the little guy!" Shirshu said.
"Hell no." Nadia said, keeping her blank expression the entire time she spoke. "Little bundles of joy do not mix with crazy bitches like you."
Shirshu glared daggers at the waterbender. She knew she couldn't take her in a fight, but she wanted to try anyway.
"I'd put the baby down before you actually catch emotions, Nadia." Shirshu smirked.
"Maybe I should give him to you." Nadia smiled coldly. "You could catch it's cute."
Shirshu turned red, but one look from Penza kept her from jumping at the waterbender, caws at the ready.
"Put the baby in the cradle already." Miki said. "It'll wake up if you keep holding it."
"Whose baby is that?" Naomi asked.
"Councilman Tenzin's snot-nosed brat." Shirshu smirked at Naomi.
Bolin gasped. "You baby-napped Rohan! Are you crazy?"
"No, they're power hungry." Ren said. "Taking a councilman's baby was to show that they aren't afraid of the law. It's to prove how 'tough' they are. No one would want to mess with a group who isn't afraid of anything."
"Wow, kid's a genius." Miki said, scratching his forehead underneath his fedora. "Maybe we should keep her as a resource. Get her to think of new ways to get shit, like rob a bank."
"Ha, that'd put the Storm Bringers on top. Get a kid to tell us how to rob a bank." Shirshu snickered. "We'd be the laughing stock of the block."
"You really like to rhyme, don't you?" Naomi asked her.
"Shut up, Shrimp." Shirshu spat.
"I TOLD YOU I'M NOT SHORT!" Naomi raged.
"Shut up, both of you." Nadia sighed. "You'll wake the baby." She cooed, placing Rohan in the wooden cradle and caressing his head.
"Don't touch him!" Bolin shouted. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, stealing an innocent baby!"
"You guys are the worst!" Naomi said.
"That's what we're aiming for, Baby Doll." Penza smirked.
"Flawless plan, I have to say." Ren said, nodding sympathetically.
"What?" Bolin and Naomi exclaimed.
"Than-"
"But you made one very grave error." Ren cut off. "You took my sister and I hostage."
"How's that an error?" Shirshu snorted. "Besides the fact we had to carry around extra weight?"
"You don't know our captain." Naomi smiled. "She's really scary when you piss her off."
"Captain?" Miki chuckled. "You live on a boat or something?"
"Yep." Naomi smiled. "Cap'n Ink's gonna put you guys six feet under the ground."
Something about the way the little girl had said those words without any doubt in her eyes. She was absolutely certain that her captain was going to come and rescue them. It sent a shiver down each Storm Bringer's spine.
"Hey, kid." Mike growled. "We got three of the toughest benders out front watching the place like falcon hawks. No one's getting in."
"Ha!" Naomi barked. "Only three?"
"You underestimate our Big Sis." Ren smiled smugly.
Nadia walked over to them, a look of ice cold hatred in her eyes. "You two are really starting to annoy me."
"Good." Naomi smiled.
Nadia raised her hand to smack the smile off Naomi's face, but something dark and slithering floated in front of her face. "Ew!" She shrieked, stumbling back a step. "What is that thing?"
"Newt!" Ren and Naomi beamed.
Miki raised an eyebrow "Wha-"
An animalistic roar ripped through the warehouse as something slid down the lampshade's electrical wire, ripping the bulb from it's stationary position. Whatever or whoever it was slammed into Miki, simultaneously sending the light swaying back and forth.
Bolin only saw glimpses of the battle before him as the light swung wildly around. Miki was punched someone, which punched back tenfold. Shirshu had leapt into the fray, only to be flung back against the car with such force that she dented the hood, slumping over in defeat with her knife rammed into the middle of her hand. Nadia send ice daggers blindly into the dark, only to be struck from behind several times and slumping to the ground, her element pooling around her. Penza sent flares of aggression at his foe, but soon a high-pitched scream of agony was heard, punctuated by the sickening sound of two pops.
When it was all over, the light stayed in it's dizzying course, but only one figure stood against the darkness. Wild brown hair enveloped her face. The bottom of her pants were stained brown from mud and dirty water. Their were bandages wrapped around all the way up to her elbows, stained a deep red at the knuckles. Her own face was bleeding, from the nose and a few thin scratches on her cheeks, but that didn't seem to bother her.
She turned to them with an aura of vengeance around her like a cloud of dark shadows. Stalking toward them, Bolin felt himself begin to tremble. She's a war goddess! He couldn't take his eyes off her, no matter how much he wanted to.
She walked slowly closer and grabbed the lampshade, the light falling directly over her and casting devastating shadows across her battle face. She stood for a minute, motionless, before letting go of the light and raising her head. Bolin's breath caught in his throat.
Such deep blue eyes. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen, even when covered in blood. There's no way she took down all those guys by herself. There's gotta be someone else.
"Newt." The goddess ordered calmly, clipping off the word curtly.
The black floating snake thing that had scared Nadia earlier trilled and saluted her, then swam through the air toward them. With a few quick movements, the ropes were cut and the three fo them were free.
"INK!" Naomi ran over to the warrior, grabbing her legs in a tight hug.
Ren did the same, wrapping her arms around her waist. "We're sorry."
In the blink of Bolin's eye, the all powerful warrior goddess crumpled away as she picked up her children and buried her face in their shoulders.
"You two are so grounded." She mumbled, her voice soft and weak.
Bolin felt like he was intruding, he twiddled with one end of a rope.
"We're going home."
That instantly snapped Bo out of his meekness. He stumbled to his feet and cleared his throat. "Um, uh, what about… I mean, what's your-?"
"You should bring the baby back to his mother." The heroine said, turning her back to him and heading for the back door, still carrying the little girls.
"Rohan!" Bolin gasped, momentarily forgetting the infant. He raced over and picked up the sleeping boy, cradling him gently in his strong arms.
"Don't use the front door either." The mysterious girl said from the door.
"Ok-Hey wait!" He jogged over to the backdoor, trying his best not to wake the baby.
Bolin walked out into the night air, and looked up and down the street, but the three girls had vanished out of thin air.
"What the-" Rohan whimpered and cuddled closer to Bolin's chest for warmth. He adjusted the baby's swaddling to keep the chill from waking him. "Let's get you back to Pema, okay?"
