Kuzou woke up, startled.

His head hurt. The room started to rotate due to his abrupt rise, but after a few seconds of staying still, things started to return to normal. A sepulchral silence filled the room, following the slight sway of the boat.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to organize his thoughts. Based on the tiredness he felt, he had barely slept for three hours, which indicated it was between three and four in the morning. He confirmed this assumption on his watch with an exhausted sigh. Nights like that were not unusual, quite the contrary, but the fatigue was building up too much. The former agent was already noticing negative effects of the most varied, both psychological and physical. If it persisted, he would soon be incapacitated. In fact, a normal person would have already collapsed.

And then there he was again, always alert, waking up to the slightest disturbance. A bed should have been better than the hard ground and its endless vibrations always pestering him, but in the end, he had grown accustomed to the uncomfortable alternative. Not feeling the ever-reliable vibrations of the earth was what bothered him now; he was left vulnerable, something he couldn't afford.

Not that logical reasons like that were the only thing that took him out of his sleep. He also had nightmares, like every human being, after all. But many times he had woken up by pure intuition, simply because he felt something wrong.

This was one of those times.

All that surrounded him was silence, and it bothered him. Something about that lull seemed disingenuous.

It was futile to resist that feeling; he was not going to be able to relax. He picked up the small bag he had bought back in the port from above the nightstand and stood up.

With his hand on the bedroom wall, he closed his eyes and began to pay attention to the vibrations, looking for something out of the ordinary. It was not possible to feel with earthbending in the ship's non-bendable metal alloy, but any sound would come first through the solid material.

It didn't take long to find what he was looking for.

Without making a sound, he left the room. The dark corridor greeted him with the same silence. He went to the right, where the vibration had come from.

He stopped when he reached Yan's cabin. The door was ajar, and no sound came from inside. He checked discreetly and confirmed his friend was not in his quarters. No signs of confrontation.

Ever more suspicious, Kuzou moved on.

The sound reached his ears before he reached Rohan's cabin. Hiding in the corridor, the former agent watched, ready to attack.

The door was wide open and two unknown men seemed to be watching what was going on inside the noisy room. Despite not recognizing who they were, he managed to identify what they were by the clothes. A third one appeared hurled from the room, startling and driving the other two away from the door. The giant left shortly thereafter, trying to get rid of a fourth fool that clung to his back desperately.

Kuzou smiled. You caught him at the worst possible moment.

With a violent movement of his arm, the colossus knocked down one of the nearest men, while trying to get rid of the parasite clinging to his neck. The only one still standing drew a dagger and prepared to attack.

I don't think so

He bent one of the metal balls from the bag at his waist and shot it like a bullet. The poor man didn't even know what pierced his arm. Before his dagger fell to the ground, the ball permanently incapacitated the two men on the ground and pierced the blade owner's leg on it's way back.

Without noticing the man's screams, or the lack of resistance from his attackers, Rohan managed to grab the prick on his back and beat him until he was unconscious. The former agent decided not to get in the way while his friend relieved stress. When the giant began to find the man whimpering beside him strange, he revealed himself.

"Rohan."

His friend jumped slightly.

"Kuzou! Oh, good," said the colossus, relieved.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, just a few scratches. These men tried to invade my room," he mentioned when he saw his friend kneel over the wounded man. "They would have taken me by surprise had I been sleeping."

If there was anyone who had a "right" to not be able to sleep that night, it was his huge friend.

"Our pirate fellow here was unlucky this time," laughed the former agent, acid. The man looked at him, afraid.

"Pirates?" Exclaimed the giant, incredulous. "It is not possible for us to have so much bad luck."

"Ah, but they're not here by chance, are they?" Asked Kuzou to the shivering man in front of him.

Without waiting for an answer, he bent three balls out of the bag and levitated them on the palm of his hand.

"You have this many chances to tell me what you're doing here," continued the former agent, indicating the metal balls that swirled in his hand as he met the pirate's eyes. "The first one will hurt you. The second will castrate you. The third will kill you."

Fear was visible on the injured man's face, but he seemed to want to resist. His spark of defiance did not have time to form, however. The first ball flew towards his foot and broke his left pinky toe.

Rohan felt a shiver all over his body when he saw that, remembering all the times he had hit his pinky on objects.

"You son of a bitch!" Shouted the pirate in agony. "I will...!"

The ball stopped his empty threat by breaking his big toe. As if it had just been an accident, the sphere went straight to the right knee, lodging itself inside the bone. The resulting crack was not pleasant, much less the screams that followed.

Slowly, the now red ball, levitated out of the man's leg. It floated in front of his face, drawing his attention, and then returned to the former agent's bag.

In other words: only two remained.

The pirate, in pain, did not let that detail go unnoticed. He glanced at his groin in desperation. Kuzou remained silent.

"W-we were hired... to intercept a-any boat that left the seaport..." stammered the man, finally. "To capture... a-abomination ..."

"Figures," Rohan spat sourly.

"The strategy was to surrender the crew and targets discreetly, correct?" Asked the former agent. The pirate nodded. "You gathered them on the main deck, I imagine." affirmed, scaring even more the poor fool, who nodded.

A loud sound from above caught the attention of those present. Kuzou recognized the sounds of a clash.

"There goes the discretion, it seems," observed the former agent.

A metal sphere hit the pirate's forehead, leaving him dizzy, and then retracted to the bag. As if the metal ball had done this on it's on free will, Kuzou had already left the man behind as he headed towards the commotion on the deck. Despite being taken by surprise, Rohan soon followed him.

"I hope you are good at metalbending," he said, throwing a handful of silver orbs at the giant.

"I can handle myself," he said in reply.

"Good. That's Ember's cabin," he pointed out ahead. "Verify if she's there. I'll take care of our visitors."

Before the colossus could process that information, two pirates appeared at the end of the corridor. As suddenly as they came, they collapsed. Two reddish spheres returned to the silver procession that surrounded his friend's hand.

Swallowing lightly, the giant did as he was asked.

The firebender was nowhere to be found. Judging by the mess, however, she hadn't been captured quietly.

"We must hurry," declared the giant.

The friend nodded and they both started running. Three more pirates appeared on their way, but were knocked down so fast that Rohan was not even able to bend metal. Soon they were on the staircase that led outside.

"Get ready," Kuzou said, as they ran up the steps. The giant took that warning seriously.

The misty night received them. So did a dozen pirates. Reflecting the moonlight, the silver orbs looked like stars as they flew through the night, and yet, imperceptible to their victims. Despite not having the same skill as his friend, the colossus managed to take down three of them.

The pirates fell so fast that even the crewmembers, who were tied on their knees in the middle of the deck, were startled. A shouting starboard caught their attention.

The pirate ship was much bigger than the small vessel they had rented, and it was so close to their boat that a single jump was enough to board them. And the hundred rascals who were screaming above them on the enemy deck seemed about to do just that.

"Rohan! I'll take care of them" said the former agent to his incredulous friend. "You help Ember and Yan," he continued, preventing him from protesting.

That shut the giant up. He hadn't even found his companions, who were probably in danger.

Pirates started to jump onto their boat. The bag burst when the former agent bent all the metal balls. Most of the invaders were thrown against the ship's hull, directly into the sea, and those who managed to land were soon punctured with the same violence. It did not take long for the fog to begin to redden.

Trusting his friend, and at the same time a little scared by him, the colossus went looking for his colleagues.

Both were lying on the floor, unconscious. The giant's heart sank. They had to be fine. He would not be able to endure another tragedy. Anxious, Rohan measured their pulse.

He sighed with relief. They were fine, just a little hurt and, for some reason, wet.

"Kuzou! I found them!" He exclaimed.

"What's wrong with them?" Yelled back his friend, without pausing his attacks for even a second.

"I don't know exactly, they are unconscious, but I don't know how or why" started the colossus.

His hands did not respond when he tried to gesture.

What the..., he thought, startled.

He tried again. Nothing. He couldn't feel his hands. His arms were still normal, but it was as if there was nothing above his wrists. He banged his fingers against the hard floor. Nothing. Neither pain nor anything. Nothing seemed wrong with them, however, except...

Since when were his hands wet? Not only that, for some reason, the liquid was yellowish.

He understood then.

"Rohan?" the former agent was worried.

"They are covered in some strange liquid! I touched it and now I don't feel my hands!" Shouted the giant.

"What?!"

The pirates had taken a break from the attack, as if seeing several of their fellow men massacred affected them. Kuzou knew it wasn't that, but he thanked the truce nonetheless. He was already seeing everything blurred. Fatigue had reached him after all; he wasn't going to last much longer. And that news from Rohan...

A paralyzing liquid. He knew who used such a method. It was very characteristic.

As if to confirm his fear, the pirates on the enemy deck moved away and a dark figure went to the edge of the boat to face him.

Shit, cursed Kuzou.

The figure had every inch of its body covered with black fabrics, which the former agent knew were waterproof. Only its eyes were visible between the dark robes that hid its face. So dark were his clothes that his aspect mixed with the shadows, being only noticeable because of the moon behind him.

That was bad. Their disadvantage was now ridiculous. He didn't know how to get out of that situation.

The shadow raised its arms. A huge wave invaded their boat and hit the giant.

"Rohan!" Howled Kuzou.

The friend had disappeared, taken by the wave, along with his unconscious colleagues.

His only chance against such a situation was to eliminate the waterbender in a single stroke.

He gathered all the metal balls he owned and bent them, molding the shape of each one, until they were as sharp as needles. They would thus pass through any wall of water or ice the enemy could bend.

As expected, the shadow raised a wall of water between them. However, floating inside, were his friends. Among them, only the giant was conscious, struggling.

This would not be an impediment under normal circumstances; he was more than able to avoid his friends and hit all the needles on his target. However, at that time, the former agent was literally seeing three of every single thing present. He had compensated until that moment with area attacks.

Damnit. Not now. Concentrate, calm down...

He had hesitated for too long, however.

The water wall rose, and the extraordinary displacement of the sea bellow turned the boat over, plunging Kuzou, and everyone on deck, into the icy darkness.

Kuzou woke up, his consciousness gradually returning to reality.

He did not remember when nor how he had passed out. His last memory was falling into the sea and being enveloped by the pitch black that was mixed with his unconsciousness. He remembered everything else, however.

He didn't have to look for his friends. They surrounded him, chained to the floor like him. He noticed that they were sleeping as best as they could against the walls of the cell in which they were. They looked well, everything considered.

With his greatest concern resolved, he concentrated on analyzing the environment. It was obvious they were on the pirate ship that had approached them. His cell was improvised from what had once been a cabin, from before the boat was taken by pirates. In a superficial inspection, he had managed to identify at least fifteen usable faults, but he knew the real problem was outside his quarters.

Even excluding the mercenary who incapacitated them, he knew the Avatar and his minions would not leave the supposed Abomination in the hands of some rascals. No, some sort of special entourage would be in charge of escorting them. Therefore, the two figures out of sight the former agent had identified guarding the cell entrance were dangerous unknown variables.

First, however, it would be interesting to regain his notion of time. He was able to have a vague idea of the period that he had been out cold based on the pain he felt from being in an uncomfortable position for too long, but the margin of error was too great. His colleagues wouldn't be able to know it, either, but he might be able to come up with a better deduction by crossing their information.

Coming to this conclusion, Kuzou made a slight sound to wake his companions. As expected, Rohan was the first to open his eyes.

"Kuzou! You are awake!" the giant sighed with relief.

The other two awoke to the voice of the earthbender. They were not the only ones who responded to that comment, however. As he had imagined, his awakening caught the attention of the guards at the door. One of them put his head in his field of vision, curious. The other did not reach that far, but his shadow, visible through the door bars, betrayed the same reaction.

The former agent smiled.

"Two threats down. They are not a problem. They must be employees of the now defunct 'museum', subordinates of Yikki," he concluded.

"How long was I unconscious?" He asked.

"Without a doubt, more than a full day," replied the colossus. "We were very worried."

"We were afraid you wouldn't wake up..." Yan commented, nervous.

Ember said nothing, but her red eyes said everything he needed to know.

Despite all the misfortune they went through and the situation they were currently in, Kuzou swallowed a happy smile at that reception.

"Are you okay?" Asked Rohan.

"Great. I was in need of a good rest," joked the former agent, despite being the truth. He felt refreshed. "You?"

"Despite everything, we're fine," said the giant. "Whoever captured us knew how to do it with such efficiency that it didn't even hurt us."

"It was surreal. In one moment everything was normal, in the next, I was on the floor without being able to move, and wet, to top it all off" explained the nomad, confused. The girl shook her head, agreeing.

"Yes, that strange liquid..." mentioned the colossus, looking at his hands.

"It was poison," said Kuzou, drawing everyone's attention. "Paralyzing poison."

"For real?" the airbender was shocked. "But how..."

"You have probably heard of Kuro of the Black Water, I imagine?" Interrupted the former agent.

Silence took over the environment.

Shit, shit, shit,shit,shitshitshit...

"It's not unfamiliar...," pondered Rohan.

"You gonna tell me that this guy not only exists, but is also who captured us?!" Exclaimed Yan, terrified.

"Is he some kind of legend?" Asked the giant, lost.

"Well, I wouldn't say a legend, but... well, no one has ever seen the guy," replied the nomad.

"Something intentional, no doubt," Kuzou countered. "He's quite famous in the underworld. An exceptional mercenary, respected even by the Dai Li. He is also known as a poison master, always carrying toxins of the most varied types. A poisonbender, one might say."

As expected, an uncomfortable silence settled between them.

"It's too much bad luck..." Yan complained.

"It is a complicated situation, indeed."

"Understatement of the century!" exasperated the nomad.

"What do we do now?" Whispered Ember, speaking at last.

Her question seemed to silence the group. Everyone looked at the former agent, predictably.

Kuzou sighed, resigned. He wondered if they even realized they did that involuntarily.

The truth, however, was that the situation did not yet have a solution. Not that he was going to say that to his colleagues.

"We remember that the walls have ears, that's what we do" he countered, pointing to the entrance.

The shadows in the corridor seemed to shrink as they felt the stares in their direction.

The companions got the message: they couldn't talk too much. With the silence of his colleagues guaranteed, Kuzou could concentrate on finding a way to get them out of that struggle.

If that was even possible.

End of chapter.

Author's note: I'll have to keep at this 2-week schedule for a while. Hopefully, not for long.