Chapter 3: Truth in Lies

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Katara gasped as she witnessed the gruesome sight before her. Though she knew nothing of this man, even being threatened by his temporary presence in the building, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She knew he was about to kill Zuko, but the sight of anyone dying made her a little sad. It reminded her of how easily her mother was killed.

Aang looked over at her with deep concern on his face, seeing the look of pure horror that had overcome hers. He knew that look well, as it was the look he had on his face years ago when his parents had died…

Knowing there wasn't much he could do, he wrapped her in a hug, doing his best to pour his comfort into her as the look of utter shock remained on her face. She sunk into the comfort he gave off before the question she had asked him before came back to mind. "Where did you go?" she whispered, not wanting to speak too loudly as the rest of the room were in quiet conversations themselves, everyone talking about the same thing.

"I went to go get help, but then the lights turned off," he whispered into her ear, causing a shiver to go down her spine. "Then I heard a gunshot and I ran back here to make sure that you were okay." He let out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry I ran out on you. I should have been here in case something happened."

Katara looked over her shoulder and into his eyes. "It's okay, Aang. I probably would have done the same." She looked back over to the dead body. "I just can't believe someone actually died right here," she murmured, still feeling horrified at the thought. Then she remembered something else. Something from before the man had come into the room. No, no, no, Aang's worried voice replayed in her mind. Not right now. Please not right now. She looked at Aang in concern. Why did he seem to know that something was going to happen? This made her worried. Was he who she thought he was?

Before she could go further in her thoughts, Zuko and Mai finally got over their shock enough and saw their friends in a similar state. Walking over to them quickly, Zuko nodded to Aang while Mai awkwardly gave Katara a hug.

"Are you guys okay?" Zuko asked in concern, seeing the multiple emotions going over Katara's face.

Aang looked at him in disbelief. "You're asking if we're okay? You're the one who almost got shot!" he exclaimed.

Zuko took a shaky breath. "Yeah, I wasn't really a fan of that either, but I'm fine." He looked over to his love and now fiance. "Are you okay, Mai?"

Mai tried to roll her eyes, but she too couldn't hide the fear that had taken over her as the man came in the room. "Yeah," she finally sighed. "I'm just glad it's over with."

Zuko nodded and kissed her cheek before looking back over to Aang. "Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?" It wasn't a question.

Aang nodded and looked at Katara. "Do you think you'll be okay if I go talk to Zuko for a minute? I'll be right back," he promised, seeing that Katara clearly didn't want to be alone right now. Katara was hesitant. She wanted Aang to comfort her right now, but then again, she wasn't sure she knew who Aang even was. He seemed to be hiding something, and she had no clue what. He knew that something like this was going to happen, but how could he have known? Deciding on it, she nodded mutely as he kissed her cheek, making her unconsciously blush. "I'll be right back," he promised again before he nodded to Zuko and followed him out of the room.

Katara looked over to Mai, hoping to get some answers that her friend might be able to provide. "Mai?"

Mai was once again looking at the horrific scene, shocked to the core that such a thing had happened there, but eventually turned her head to look at her friend. "Yeah?"

Katara fiddled with her fingers a little nervously, feeling a little ridiculous asking this, but she knew it would bug her if she didn't try. "Well… before the whole thing went down, Aang seemed to know what was going to happen. And just now, Zuko seems like he knows about whatever it was, too. Do you… know anything about what's going on?" she finally questioned.

A moment of silence passed between them before Mai finally spoke. "It's not really my place to say. All I can really tell you is that they both have a… job," she finally finished lamely.

The blue-eyed beauty raised her eyebrow quizzically. "A job? But Aang owns a bar?" she said in confusion, wondering what kind of job would let Aang be able to tell when something like this would happen.

Mai just waved off her question. "I'm sorry, Katara, but I can't say anything else. You'll have to ask your date if you want to know more."

Katara looked like she wanted to argue more, but she could tell by the look in Mai's eye that she wasn't going to accept any more questions, so she gave up with a defeated sigh. A few moments later, Aang and Zuko walked back into the room, looking more resolved than they had when they left to talk.

"Sorry about that," Aang apologized as he walked up to his date. "Zuko just needed someone to calm him down after almost being killed."

Not being sure whether to believe him or not, she simply shrugged. "Okay." A moment later, the police finally arrived and looked around the crime scene. One in particular, Katara noticed, seemed to recognize Aang and walked up to him.

"Good evening," he greeted them grimly, having just witnessed the dead body in question. "Do you mind if I ask you guys some questions about what happened here tonight?"

Aang looked questioningly to Katara, who, still somewhat dazed and confused nodded before looking back to the officer. "Of course. Ask away."

The officer nodded and opened a notepad. "Would you mind describing what exactly happened here?"

Aang took a moment to choose his words carefully. "Well… Me and Katara here were watching our friends as they got engaged," he gestured to Zuko who was talking to Mai in a corner of the room. "Then we heard a scream from another part of the restaurant. Then that man," he pointed to the dead body. "Walked in and aimed a gun at him, saying, 'You will die'. Then the lights went out and went back on moments later to reveal him dead."

The officer nodded and wrote everything down as Aang leaned into him. "It sure is a beautiful night, isn't it?"

"It is," he agreed, looking at him closely, almost as if he was expecting something. "Have you ever seen a more beautiful night than this?"

"Only once," Aang replied with a smile, but his eyes held a look of seriousness that Katara didn't understand. "On a late night in Bolivia." Understanding filled the officer's eyes as he nodded and put the notepad in his pocket.

"Alright. Thank you both for your testament. We will contact you if we have any more questions." He gave Aang a sharp nod, a message in his eyes that Katara couldn't quite decipher, but then quickly walked away, leaving her wondering what in the world was going on.

Aang then turned and gave her an apologetic smile "Sorry, he's an old friend of mine, but he pretends like he doesn't know his friends when he's on the job." Katara was becoming more and more worried as time passed, but before anything could happen, Zuko walked up to him again.

"We've got to get going," he told him regretfully. "After all, it's not everyday that one gets engaged. That, and it's not everyday that the engagement is almost ruined by a maniac," he laughed a little before he clasped Aang on the shoulder. "Be careful out there."

"I'm not the one you should be worried about. I can handle myself," he assured him with a smile. Zuko smiled back and nodded before taking Mai by the hand and walking out of sight as Aang turned back to Katara.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I've had enough excitement for one night," he laughed a little grimly. "Do you just want to go home?"

Katara was silent for a moment. She didn't want to abandon their date, but if not because of the dead body that was currently being investigated, then because she wasn't sure she knew who Aang even was. Something strange was going on. Mai had told her that he had a 'job', but what this job was, Katara couldn't quite figure out. It didn't seem to be a regular job, as Aang seemed to know that something bad was going to happen before the man had walked in. Nodding slowly, Aang saw the discomfort and wariness on her face and reluctantly led the way, feeling bad that she was going through this.

Does she know? He wondered. No, she can't know, but… she seems a little more distant than she was before. She heard me mumbling to myself. Should I just tell her? He shook his head at himself. I can't tell her. No one can know. As much as he knew he shouldn't, he also knew he really liked Katara, and he didn't want to give her up because of his 'job'.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the car door and watched as she slid in, just staring forward in pure silence as he made his way over to the driver's side. Starting up the car, he looked over at her and saw the same expression on her face, completely unchanged. The guilt was starting to get him, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could go without telling her.

"So," he started awkwardly as he drove down main street. "Besides… what happened… Did you have a good time?" he asked hopefully.

Katara remained silent, doing her best not to let her fears and confusion get the best of her, but she just couldn't take it anymore. Something was going on, and although she liked Aang a lot, she needed to know who her date truly was.

"Who are you, really?" she finally asked him seriously, making his head snap to her in surprise for a second before he resumed his focus on the road. Katara took a deep, calming breath before she trusted herself to speak again. "I know something's up, Aang. Mai told me that you have a 'job'." Aang mentally cursed Mai for giving that up. Katara was silent for another moment before she glanced at him. "I really like you, Aang, but I can't be with someone who's hiding something from me. Please, just tell me what's going on."

Aang was silent for a moment, eyes slightly downcast as he focused on the road. "You wouldn't believe me," he murmured, knowing that if he told her, Katara would probably never want to talk to him again even if she did believe him.

"Try me," she invited. Aang was still hesitant, and Katara was losing her patience. "Aang, you were my first. Don't you think that I deserve to know why my date seemed to know that his friend was going to be attacked?"

After one more moment of silence, he sighed and pulled over to the side of the road, ensuring that they were in a quiet spot where no one would disturb them. Once he was satisfied, he took one last deep breath and turned to look at her. "Okay, I know you're probably going to think I'm crazy, but… I'm a sort of spy," he finally admitted.

Katara looked at him in disbelief for a second before she nodded. "You're right. I don't believe you." Just as Aang was about to respond, a man in a trench coat similar to the one at the restaurant stood outside Aang's door. Unfortunately for Aang, he had forgotten to lock the door and was dragged out of his seat, much to Katara's surprise. "Aang!" she yelled, now fully believing him as the man held him to the ground. Never being one afraid of a fight, she got out and ran over to the hooded man, not hesitating to push him off of her date.

Aang quickly used this distraction to get up on his feet and into a fighting stance, now over his shock. The man regained his stance as well, but Aang was too quick. Diving forward, Aang tripped him off of his feet and pinned him to the ground. "You know I don't want to do this, Zhao," Aang muttered to him.

Zhao chuckled darkly as Aang's knee dug deeper in his chest, making him gasp a little. "I don't want to either, but you know as well as I do that your friend is a traitor. Who else would tell his family where our base was located?"

"What on Earth is going on here?" Katara asked in exasperation.

Zhao looked at her from under his hood. "It's none of your business, lady," he told her before Aang helped him back onto his feet. "Look, you know that I don't want to do this, but your friend betrayed us. If you help me take him in, then you can stay in the Order."

Aang shook his head. "You know I can't do that, Zhao. Zuko didn't do it, and I'm working on proving it. I've been tracking down the person who did."

"What do you mean?" Zhao questioned him skeptically as he brushed off his coat. "Do you have actual evidence that it was someone else who leaked the location?"

"Not enough evidence yet," Aang admitted. "But when I heard about what happened, I thought that there might be a hacker, and after some searching through our security, I found out we've been hacked."

"Yeah," Zhao growled a little. "By your 'friend'. The one who betrayed us."

Aang shook his head. "If there was a hack in our system by one of our teammates, all they would have to do is do it from our own equipment. This hack came from somewhere in this city, but not in one of our bases."

Zhao looked at him in surprise. "Really?" Aang nodded. Pondering this for a few moments, Zhao finally nodded. "Very well. I will try to reason with the council, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. If you're going to prove your friend's innocence, you're going to have to track down whoever this hacker is and bring them to the council. We lost too many of our members to let this go unanswered."

Aang nodded in acceptance. "Of course. I can do that. If you want, I can take you back to my base and show you what I found," he offered.

Zhao shook his head. "No, I believe you. Besides, I need to go talk with my fellow council members to make sure that they don't continue to hunt you down." He looked down sadly. "It's a shame about Bryant, isn't it?"

"It is," Aang agreed sadly. "But he shouldn't have taken this personally. I get he lost some friends, but he knew better than to go after someone without the council's permission."

"But he did have the council's permission," Zhao informed him without much remorse. "Did you think that they wouldn't have him on our list?"

Aang silently cursed and nodded. "I knew, but I was hoping that, since there's no evidence, they would at least wait a little longer before they put him on their list."

Zhao shook his head grimly. "No, they didn't, I'm afraid. You may want to warn your friend, otherwise it will likely cost him his life."

"Okay," he sighed in resignation. "Thank you for letting me know. I promise, once I've figured out more about the leak, I'll be in touch."

"Good. Make sure you do that," Zhao playfully ordered before he started walking away to a street light. Looking around, he pressed a few buttons on it and took a step back as an entrance slid open. Sizing it up, he jumped down as the entrance closed behind him.

Katara's head was going a million miles a minute. So Aang was a spy… or something. From what she had heard of spies, they didn't quite have kill lists, so she doubted Aang was an official spy. Tired of being confused, she looked back at Aang and got straight to it. "Okay, seriously. Who are you? Is your name even Aang?" she challenged.

Aang put his hands up in a pleading gesture, trying to show her how sorry he was in his eyes. "Yes, my name really is Aang." Taking a deep breath, he continued. "What I told you about my life is true, just not the full truth." He paused for a second and gathered his words the best he could. "My parents were killed, but they weren't mugged. They were killed by our enemies. They did own this bar and passed it down to me when they died. Everything else I told you about me is true. I do choose to keep the bar because of my parents, but the other reason why is because… that's where my base is," he admitted reluctantly.

Katara wasn't anywhere close to feeling better, but she motioned for him to continue. "Look," he sighed sadly. "I get it if you don't want to see me anymore, but-"

"Show me."

He looked at her in an odd mix of surprise and confusion. "What?"

"Show me your base," she expanded, "and if I see that this is all real and that you can explain to me about everything, then we'll see."

Aang was hesitant, but… he really liked Katara. That, and she already knew about most of his 'job' that he had told her. He had gone this far, he figured. He might as well finish it off, one way or another. "Okay," he sighed and walked back into the car as she returned to her seat. Before long, they were at his bar, with it filled to the brim with people. After all, it was a friday night.

Walking in slowly, he attempted to sneak past everyone, but one of the partiers heard his footsteps. "Aang!" the drunken man exclaimed. "Are you here to party?"

Aang gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry Frank, I need to do something."

"More like do someone!" Frank hollered, clearly indicating Katara who blushed, being reminded of her previous thoughts from earlier as everyone else but Aang and his bartender laughed with him.

"Oh, you don't need to do her," his bartender, a beautiful blonde in a red flannel and jeans winked at him. "Why settle for less when you can have me?"

Katara, despite everything that had happened, became insanely jealous and was about to go over and tell her off, but Aang held her back as she looked at him in surprise. "No, Kat," he whispered, making her heart beat faster against her will at his nickname for her before he turned back to his employee. "Sorry Jenny, but you know that I don't date my employees."

"I'll quit right now," she offered as she served a man his drink.

"Sorry Jenny, but it's not going to happen," he said quickly before he started running up the stairs with Katara right behind him. "Have fun, everybody!"

There were some hollers in response, but Aang shut the door and locked it behind him before anyone else could say anything to him.

"Phew," he breathed in relief. "Glad that's over." He then remembered that Katara was there and the reason why she had followed him home. "Okay, so my base…" he trailed off thoughtfully as he walked over to the end of the hallway. Katara seriously wondered for a minute if he was going to go into his room to seduce her, and considering everything that had happened that night, some stress relief was starting to sound really good at the moment. However, he stopped in front of the wall at the end of the hallway and made sure that she was behind him as he pushed in a portion of it to reveal a security pad, making Katara's eyes widen. Quickly punching in a code, the wall split apart to reveal an elevator. Katara gasped, but stepped in as Aang sent it down, making it go down further than Katara had imagined it could go until it finally arrived with a ding!

The elevator doors opened to reveal a large room with several computer monitors scattered throughout it, all of the technology appearing to be the best of it's kind. There were papers everywhere, security footage, and from what Katara could see appeared to be a list of what she could only assume were enemies.

"So as you can see, I do actually have a base," Aang finally said as he gestured to the room. "This is where I do all of my… work."

"And what exactly is your work?" Katara questioned him.

He took a moment to think about how to put it in the best words possible as he sat down in his chair and invited her to do the same. "Well… I guess I should probably start with my Order and why we're here," he began thoughtfully. "The group of people I work with are dedicated to preserving the freedom of the people in this city, and to those in the other cities we've branched out to."

Katara raised a brow. "Like that lame Assassin's Creed game?" she asked doubtfully.

He laughed a little and shook his head. "No, no. Not that," he assured her. "Or at least, there's no Assassins and Templars or anything like that. We're just people who've seen how the wealthy try to rule over the poor and won't stand for it." He laughed a little. "It's actually kind of ironic."

"What is?" Katara asked curiously.

"Well, some of our members are wealthy, but still choose to fight anyway. Like the man who attacked me earlier. Zhao," he explained. "He's rich. He even used to be an admiral, but he saw firsthand what people like Ozai Agni do to us and decided to fight against him, even though he used to work for him."

Katara looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah," he laughed a little before he got back on topic. "But anyway, the Order has been working against corrupt rich families and politicians for the last couple hundred years. I was born into it, but I made the choice to do it when my parents died. They showed me how this city was being abused and I decided that I wanted to do something to help."

Katara begrudgingly had to admit that she admired him for that, once again proving just how selfless he was. "Okay, but why do you have a kill list? Can't you just try to talk them out of it?"

Aang sighed and nodded slightly. "Yeah, we've tried. Even in some rare cases, the people on our lists have agreed, but they never kept their word and paid for it with their lives."

"How many people have you killed?" she questioned seriously, wanting to know if he was psychotic.

He thought about it for a moment. "I don't really know how many, but more than I would ever want to kill, which is none. But I just don't see any other way."

"Why don't you report them to the police? Let them handle it instead of getting blood on your hands?"

"Because they can't do much either," he shrugged simply. "We have some friends in the force, but there's never enough evidence to put them away, and they have their own people in the force as well. Believe me, we've tried that route too."

Katara took a moment to let it all sink in. So she had gone on a date with a killer. Not a psychotic killer, but still, a killer. But she knew the real question was, could she continue dating him knowing what he chose to do? What if his life messed with hers? Looking into his eyes, she saw how sorry he was and made her decision as she kissed him.

He was surprised, but kissed her back for a few moments before they pulled apart. "So… does that mean…" he trailed off, not daring to hope for what he wanted it to mean.

"Yeah," she nodded slowly. "Look, I can tell that your life is complicated, but… I really like you, Aang. As long as you weren't lying about anything else, then we can try this again."

"Really?" he asked with obvious relief in his voice.

She smiled and gave him another kiss. "Really. Just promise me from now on you won't hide anything else from me."

"I promise," he said instantly, making her smile. She knew that he meant it too, and that he would be good on his word.

"Okay," she smiled and kissed him again, reveling in the sweetness of his lips. They didn't get to kiss for very long before a beep sounded, making them split apart as Aang took a closer look at the screen. "What is it?" she asked curiously.

He continued reading it for a second before he smiled triumphantly. "I found the source of the hacker!" he exclaimed excitedly, writing down the address on a piece of paper. "If we can go to this address, we can find the hacker and turn them in. That way Zuko won't be killed for something he didn't do." He paused as he realized he said "we". "I mean, if I can go," he hastily corrected himself.

A question popped into Katara's mind. "Wait, Mai told me that Zuko had a job, but she never said anything about her having one. Is she a part of your Order?"

Aang nodded. "Or at least, she was before the council decided to have Zuko killed. Though I'm sure she's still going to do some work herself. She'll just have to watch out for other members."

Katara thought about it for a moment. She had always wanted more meaning in her life than just working and dating, but could she accept a life of killing, even if it was those who deserved it? Looking into his eyes, she was reminded of how his parents had been killed, and realized that they were likely killed by these people Aang was talking about. And if there was one thing Katara couldn't stand, it was people who were willing to tear apart families for their own selfish gain. "I want to join you," she finally decided.

Aang's eyes widened noticeably in surprise. "What?"

"I want to join you," she repeated herself with a small smile. "Although I'm not crazy about the idea of killing, these people that you've mentioned… they deserve it if they're okay with tearing apart families like that." Her anger started spiking, but she pushed it back down. "If you'll have me… then I want to fight with you." She waited in silence for a few moments as he stared at her, completely dumbfounded, until he smashed his lips to hers. She was surprised, but she enjoyed the kiss and kissed him back for a few moments until he pulled away, leaving her wanting more.

"I would love to have you join us, but…" he started nervously. "I don't want you to get hurt," he admitted with a sigh, making her smile at him. He really did care about her.

"And I don't want you to get hurt," she replied simply with a soft smile. "But I also don't want people like you're describing to get away with this. I want to make a difference. I'm a good fighter, a master waterbender, and I'm smart. I'll be a good addition to your order," she promised.

"Are you sure?" he asked unsurely.

"I'm sure," she assured him. "Okay?"

He was silent for another moment before he finally nodded. "Okay."

"Okay," she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck before pulling him into a kiss. She was once again amazed at just how good the kiss was. Never before had she enjoyed a kiss so much. A thought struck her as they kissed. She couldn't possibly… love him yet, could she? It was hard for her to tell. The rational part of her wanted to say that obviously it was impossible, but the part of her that felt like she was being lifted off her feet seemed to disagree. Putting these thoughts aside, she deepened the kiss, wanting to be as close to him as possible.

This became a problem, however, as she felt the still somewhat new burning feel in her loins as the kiss became heated. Before either of them knew it, Aang was trailing kisses down her neck as she moaned loudly, feeling as if she was on fire. They reluctantly broke away for a moment as they looked into each other's eyes. "You want to take this upstairs?" she asked a little desperately.

He had never nodded so quickly before in his life as she dragged him over to the elevator and back up to his room, letting themselves forget about logic for the night.