A large crowd is gathered in the back alleys of the docks of Yue bay. Overly excited brutes and bookies began making bets as an ongoing 30-man rumble escalated before them. Fist fighters, non- benders and benders alike, were fighting it out in a no-holds free for all. The only rules were: no bending and no weapons. The fighters started making strange and very short lasting, alliances to make sure that they were the last man standing. Earth kingdom citizens, Fire nation nationals and Water tribesmen continued their pointless beat down completely unaware of four hooded figures making their way through the crowd.

The four made their way toward the makeshift fighting area, where the only thing separating the fighters and the audience was a very thick rope on the ground. They were beginning to encircle the fighters when the youngest among the four became engrossed in the spectacle. A rather tall Water tribesman and a very muscular Earth kingdom citizen were sweeping through the fight, back to back. They were outnumbered more than 5 to 1 but the Water tribesman was like an unstoppable wave flowing between the fighters while the Earth citizen was an immovable wall.

As the cheers of the crowd grew, a spectator bumped into the young man; knocking him down. As he tried to help him up, he noticed the uniform he was hiding beneath the cloak and quickly turned to run.

"POLICE! It's the Yu Dao Squad!" the spectator screamed as the crowd instantaneously began to run away in every direction. The fight forgotten, even the injured fighters flew past the alleys to avoid being caught. However, aside from the four that were prematurely found, there were a few other officers in hiding at specific corners. In particular, a very powerfully and dangerously temperamental earth bender known as Toph Beifong. Cursing under her breath, she launched herself in the middle of the stage to send out waves that would trip those running away carelessly.

"Sorry Captain, I got distracted!" cried the rookie that had messed up one of his first operations.

"Getting distracted gets you killed, you idiot! Now focus, even with seven of us, we can't catch them all." Toph tried to contain the situation but she and her methods were well known to veteran thieves and crooks. Though the new faces would get caught and processed, the experienced ones were already halfway in the clear. As she scanned the place for the more dangerous occupants, she heard one of the fighters laugh and swiftly run away. She furrowed her brow and swore she'd take out her frustrations on that particular fool that dared make light of them.

"Hey, I'm going to go catch that one guy that slithered out. Make sure to tie these guys up and meet me at the station, and that's an ORDER." She screamed as she gave chase to the mystery fighter.

The chase was not in the open, where it would have been Toph's overwhelming advantage, but between alleys and buildings. The stranger had long steady strides, Toph noticed, he would not be tiring any time soon. He was clever enough to try and not touch the ground or anything made of stone, but he always had to come down or else risk being cornered; Toph's hearing could pick up on his loud breathing and heartbeat. After a few minutes of hide and seek with the man, Toph simply yelled into the night and began building as many walls through the alleys as she could to box in the stranger. Very soon after, the man stood face to face with the world's strongest earth bender with a dead end to his back.

As Toph prepared for at least a little bit of resistance, the man began to laugh out loud. As he wiped away imaginary tears, he took off his hood and began walking towards the faux-captain of the Yu Dao police force.

"SOKKA! What in the spirits' name are you doing here!" - Toph

"Ha-ha, man, Toph, you sure gave me a scare there. I thought it was one of your other guys. They are a little too rough with me sometimes. You know . . . you gotta admit that I gave you a pretty good run for your money. But since we are already out here.. " With great relief, Sokka walked toward Toph, placing an arm around her shoulders like old friends. He couldn't, however, finish his sentence as she shot up her arm, punching him in the shoulder.

"Ouch! Toph, what's the deal" - Sokka

"You Meathead, you're under arrest" - Toph

Using the special metal rope that they used on earth benders and especially dangerous criminals, Toph tide up a very loud Sokka.

As Toph and a tied up Sokka walked through the police station that was filled with activity, they walked around the people with practiced ease. The earlier bust they had had been huge and they had trouble processing and incarcerating all the apprehended miscreants. Sokka lamely greeted the police officers and criminals alike with familiarity.

"Ok, we're in the station already, is the metal rope really necessary?" - Sokka

"Yes, now shut up Snoozles! I'm really angry this time." - Toph

"HA, so you weren't angry all those times before. I knew it!" - Sokka

"Be quiet. I'm trying to think here." - Toph

Toph and Sokka bickered back and forth as the majority of police and crooks both tried to ignore the famous pair's arguing. There were few people who could come in the between the two when they decided to argue, and everyone knew it. As they neared the cells, a very muscular earth bender was being escorted by a couple policemen. Sokka saw him and smiled.

"So, they caught you too, Pao, huh. I guess that had to happen eventually." Sokka said with a satisfied grin directed at the man that not an hour earlier, was fighting with him side by side. The earth bender named Pao, scoffed and puffed up his chest.

"I didn't get caught like you, I'm here to pay bail for Oma. Mom would skin me alive if I let him stay the night here." - Pao

Sokka's grin fell as he realized that he did, in fact, get away safely. He was even brazen enough to come to the station himself to bail someone else out. The courts were busy enough that if you weren't caught in the act and the crime was a minor one, they wouldn't even bother going after you. Sokka began to mutter darkly under his breath.

"Yeah, cuz you didn't have Toph Beifong chasing you. . ." - Sokka

"Yeah, yeah. . stuff it " - Pao

The earth bender pretended not to hear Sokka as he was taken to the cells to find his little brother and Sokka was taken to the temporary office of the faux captain of the Yu Dao police. The Yu Dao police, lead by Toph and made up of the past Yu Dao resistance and a few other volunteers, were supposed to be a temporary measure to keep peace in the newly established Republic City. However, how long "temporary" would be, nobody knew, so they treated Toph as the de-facto captain and the rest as true peacekeepers. As soon as they entered her office, Toph freed Sokka from the ropes and had him sit in front of her desk. She stared down at him in silence as he grew more uncomfortable under her scrutiny. He rubbed the back of his neck as he began to sweat and avoid eye contact. The tense silence was broken by Sokka, who couldn't stand the pressure any longer.

" So, ah, you're very angry. I guess. . . " Sokka began but Toph just narrowed her brows more.

He began to laugh nervously.

"Ha ha, ha, ok. So, you're very angry. Ok, that, I understand. But I do want to say that I've done wayyy worse in the past and..." He stopped again when that seemed to anger her even more as she began a low growl under her breath.

He began to make wild gestures with his hands as he tried to come up with another excuse but before he could, Toph explode at him.

"OF COURSE, I'M ANGRY!" The shout was heard by all in the station. Everyone in the station paused for a moment with caution, but after seeing that there would be no aftermath this time, they continued on with their work.

As silence fell once more between them, Sokka peaked between his fingers that were covering his face. He saw that Toph was thinking about something very hard. He really didn't know what was going through her head. He tried to break conversation again.

"I can pay the fine for the street fight." - Sokka

" I know you can. That's not what I'm angry about." - Toph

Sokka stopped cowering in his chair and sat up straight. He stared at his best friend turned police captain and wondered what was going on.

" So, you're not angry about the street fights?" - Sokka

"Oh, I'm angry about it quite a bit but that's not what I am really angry about right now. I'm angry about something else completely. I'm angry at you" - Toph

"You're angry about me but not about the street fighting?" - Sokka

"Of course, I'm angry at you. This isn't just one street fight you've been involved in. I have no idea what you're up to most of the time! But everyone always comes to me looking for answers about you! I'm the only one left that anyone even bothers to question because Aang and Katara fly all over the place. You can give everyone the run around because you're an important councilman, but I can't, so that leaves me holding the bag. I am left telling everyone again and again and again that I have no idea what my supposedly best friend is up to. Then, they look at me like an idiot or like I'm the one covering for you or whatever it is they think I'm doing." - Toph

Toph stopped to take a breath as Sokka tried to respond but Toph continued.

"Worst of all though, is that some have already caught on and don't even bother asking about whatever it is you or Katara or Aang are doing because they already know, in team Avatar, I'm the odd one out. Did you know Katara stopped asking me about how you were doing and what you were up to in her letters months ago?"

Sokka fell into a quiet contemplation. It had been four years since the war had ended and three years since Republic City had been founded. The republic had been a brain child of Sokka's since the very beginning. This meant that as one of the founding councilmen, he commanded great authority and respect, but mostly authority. They weren't children anymore, or at least not irresponsibly young adults. He was already 20 and Toph was 17. She was no longer the small twelve-year-old girl that they found at the earth rumble and he was no longer the lanky fifteen-year-old that tried desperately to act like a warrior. That much was obvious to him as he was just barely above 6 feet tall now and she, despite still being much shorter than him, not so small or baby faced. She was a beautiful young woman now.

Time, however, did take its toll. The Gaang could barely get together a couple of times a year as they were all very busy people. The only person he saw regularly was Toph, but as she mentioned, they had grown more than slightly distant. They met up about once a month, but they barely talked. Neither wanted to mention their jobs as they were overwhelmed at times by them, but this led to shallow conversations and little actual reprieve.

The biggest rift between them, however, was his inventing. Sokka ran a factory and a laboratory. It was built and design by him and the mechanist to test whatever new crazy idea they could come up with. Since they didn't want their inventions to be used for evil ever again, they worked in absolute secrecy. It took up big chunks of his free time and he would disappear in his research for weeks at a time. When the subject came up between them, Toph could never keep up with Sokka's train of thought and would become frustrated.

Sokka, in that moment, decided he didn't want to lose his best friend. He had also missed her greatly but had been working in secrecy on solving several serious problems that concerned both the new Fire Lord, Zuko, and Aang. However, he no longer wanted to leave Toph in the dark. He trusted her more than anybody else in the world.

"Toph, you're right, and I'm sorry for leaving you out in the dark for so long." - Sokka

"You know that alone isn't gonna cut this time, right?" - Toph

"Yes, I know, which is why I'm going to tell you everything I've been up to and why. But I can't tell you here. It's not secure enough." - Sokka

"My office in the police station, not secure enough, really?" - Toph

"Someone could overhear us, or they could be eavesdropping. I want you to meet me tomorrow morning, if you can, in my lab. If you go, I'll tell you everything." - Sokka

"Everything?" - Toph

"Everything" - Sokka

Toph thought about for a second before simply exhaling. It seemed like a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She relaxed and looked at Sokka.

"Ok, Snoozles, but if I don't like what I hear, I'm going to be very angry. A very breaky kind of angry. Are we clear?" - Toph

"Very clear" - Sokka