VERY IMPORTANT! Sorry to break the flow of the story, as we usually put A/N's at the end, but this chapter gets extremely violent and graphic. Proceed with caution.

"This is RIDICULOUS!" Varrick waved the newspaper around dramatically, "My moustache doesn't look like that at all!"

The applecherry blossoms floated in through the open wall as they sat at the breakfast table, overlooking the quiet fields of Shu Jing village. It was one of the first warm days of spring, and the sun lit up the grass in a rolling carpet of green pastures all the way down to the glittering bay. Nothing short of perfect.

"Give me that." Asami took the newspaper from him quickly, reading through the article, "Hmm. Izumi's not going to like this."

Zhu Li looked up from her tea, bouncing Mingzhu on her knee, smiling as she grasped for the falling petals, "What does it say?"

"Fire Nation accused of harbouring Earth Empire fugitives," she read. "Fire Lord Izumi is once again embroiled in a diplomatic spat with representatives of the Earth Empire, who accuse her of sheltering deserters from the former United Republic, and members of the armed resistance known as the Dàfēng. Fire Lord Izumi has refuted the claims, stating to the press, 'The Fire Nation is not and will never harbour the fugitives of another sovereign nation. These accusations do nothing but damage relations between our two nations, bringing about unnecessary distrust.' Earth Empire representatives are yet to respond with a comment, but the message seems clear. The Fire Nation will not be pushed around."

"See what I mean? Ridiculous! Those Empire chumps make me want to tear my hair out, and I love my hair!" Varrick shovelled a chopstick full of egg into his mouth, chewing indignantly.

Asami folded the newspaper away gently before returning to her tea, smiling at the petals that had landed on the surface of the brew. "Izumi seems to be handling it pretty well, though."

"She's an excellent diplomat." Zhu Li set her daughter down on the floor gently, keeping half an eye on her as she bit into the moon cake she'd gotten herself for breakfast.

"Doesn't matter if the person you're working with is crazy!"

"We're living proof that Kuvira has a reason to be paranoid." Asami finished her tea, pushing herself up, "And also the reason that Izumi has to be so defensive. I don't think Kuvira's crazy, and that's what scares me most. She knows what she's doing."

She moved off as Varrick continued his animated complaints, stepping down from the balcony and out into the orchard. It was snowing, pink-white as if the trees were blushing. It looked like a dream. She could use a good dream, for once.

The sweet smell clung to her sleeves as she walked to the top of the hill the orchard was saddled against, the long grass somewhat difficult to navigate in her zori. It had taken a while to get used to the layering of the kimono after the fitted outfits of Republic City, but Shu Jing was traditional Fire Nation through and through, and they had to blend in. She couldn't seem to shake the memory of the United Republic any more than she could the scent of blossoms from her hair. Some days, if she strained, she thought she could glimpse it on the horizon- the empty, derelict towers of Air Temple Island, at least. It was just her imagination, of course. It was all so long ago, now, and so far away. She still felt like she was slowly waking up to a nightmare, and the flowers were the calm before the storm. It wasn't right that the world could be peaceful without her friends in it.

She sat down in the grass, and wished she could sink into it. Eleven years. She rolled it around in her mouth. E-le-ven. It felt like a cloud, bruised and threatening, crouching near the ground like a wounded animal. It curled in her chest, snarling, claws embedded in her lungs. She knew they would have wanted her to move on, but it was so hard.

Maybe one day, she told herself. Maybe it won't hurt as much. She remembered what Zuko had told her, that horrible night she and Varrick had limped into the the docks of the Caldera. They were cold, shivering and shell-shocked, neither of them much up for talking. Iroh had flown ahead in a sea plane, taking Zhu Li to healers in the capital and warning Izumi they were coming. Varrick was grim, hunched over and pale-faced like he had bled out all across the Mò Cè Sea. She still saw some of that darkness in his face when Zhu Li wasn't looking, that fierce protectiveness that overshadowed his eyes. But Zuko had been there, along with a small group of firebenders who sank their boat the minute they'd stumbled off, hiding the evidence. His hug was an envelope of warmth and understanding, silent confirmation that it was real, that it had happened, and it was okay to cry.

"One day, Asami," he'd said, "one day."

She hugged her knees and looked out at the fishing boats bobbing on the bay. Maybe one day.

The stark, fluorescent lights of the train were a blessing in disguise. The harsh white light painted Jiji's face in sickly hues, making him look more sallow and ill than he already did. If she was honest, the light layer of flour on his skin helped, taking the colour out of him. The few guards sitting at the end of the carriage shot her sympathetic looks as the young earth bender beside her curled up against the badgermole he was with. Guanyin might be young, but he still took up most of the train carriage. He looked just a little bit ridiculous, with their pack of supplies hung around his neck like the badgermole equivalent of a hippo cow bell.

As the train started to move towards the main city dome, Qí seized the opportunity to gather her thoughts and examine the situation. It's a tactical problem. Panic is not going to help here. You have cover, and an escape plan, sort of. Just take a deep breath, and look at the facts. But before she managed to form a coherent thought, Jiji's voice, brittle and small, broke her concentration.

"Qí... why are we on the train?" Oh, he really sounds sick now. Not good. I hope it's just the nerves getting to him.

Her voice no higher than a slight murmur, "I've already told you pipsqueak, we're going out."

Jianyu's eyes widened in warning, "Not so loud! Someone might hear."

"Out into the fresh air, you idiot." She rubbed her temples absently. Her brain was fried. "It might clear you up a bit before we get to the doctor."

"Oh. Okay then."

As the train continued its journey towards the city dome, the curiosity of the guards appeared to increase, their questioning looks mixed with a low, questioning chatter among them. They were on the verge of asking why the huddled figure of Jianyu was out at this hour with Qí; but they all knew better than to get themselves involved with whatever was going on between the pair. Quiet whispers continued between the three of them before Qí gave them her best Sergeant's glare, with such ferocity that the youngest of them let out a small yelp of surprise and quickly made the opposite wall seem very interesting.

She snorted and murmured to herself, "Newbies don't know how to keep their noses out of other people's business." Her knees were shaking with nerves, but she'd admit it over her own dead body.

"We must look pretty strange." He was sounding worse now. It'd be just her luck if they escaped just to have him catch pig chicken pox.

The train pulled to a stop with a small jolt as it arrived at the city dome station. She squeezed Guanyin out through the doors before helping Jiji up onto his back and leading him out onto the street. The afternoon sun beat down on them with spring heat, shining off the smooth buildings that reached towards the heavens with their fingertips.

By the time they reached the other side of the city it was half an hour to curfew, and the roads were almost deserted; but her guard's uniform, even without the badge, was enough to make most civilians avert their eyes. She held Guanyin back as she peered around the street corner at the next rail station. "This is the fun part, pipsqueak." She helped him down off the badgermole's back, ruffling his hair, "You hang back here while I deal with the guards, okay?"

There was a flash of defiance in Jiji's eyes for a split second, but it quickly disappeared. "Alright."

She nodded and left him there, rolling her shoulders back and strolling casually up to the station. Be a commanding officer. Doesn't matter if you're not, have the attitude of one. You have surprise on your side. The pair of guards gave the standard salute, not paying too much attention. And why should they? It was just another boring night, watching over a rail station that got no traffic but for the supply shipments in the morning and redeploying troops at night.

"Do you have clearance to leave, ma'am?"

"Of course," she said, "I have my pass. It's just in my pocket, let me get it out…"

She turned slightly away, pretending to search in the side compartment of her armour. Don't get too close. Don't give them time to react. Just hit them in one go. She pulled two squares of metal off a nearby trashcan, whirling around and smacking them over each guard's face, sealing them tight. The metal formed death masks, filling into their mouths as they tried to draw breath, tightening over their skulls as they staggered around, trying to claw them off, drawing blood from their scalps. They were too panicked to bend, too poorly trained to do it on instinct. She sunk them into the pavement up to their knees, holding the metal onto their heads until slowly, jerkily, they stopped moving. She waited half a minute more and peeled the covers off their faces, checking their heartbeats. Not dead, unconscious. Not the fastest way to take them out, but definitely the quietest. They would need reviving, but by the looks of the train arriving into the station, they'd get it. The conductor took one look at her and the two half-upright bodies in the street before activating the alarm, the station lit up immediately in blinding floodlights, sirens going off all over the place. She cussed under her breath, forcing the train doors open and slamming the conductor into the interior wall, shouting back over the wail of the klaxon.

"Jiji! Get inside, Guanyin too! Quick!" She dodged a flying seat, grabbing the slight man by the shirt and dragging him out of the train and into the open, staggering back as he headbutted her. This is going to be fun.

The conductor was ripping chunks of earth out of the ground and flinging them at her, obviously trying to hold out until backup arrived. Messy form. Not grounded in his stance. She put herself between him and Jiji as the kid squeezed the badgermole through the carriage doors. He was a fairly good shot, she'd give him that. He was keeping her busy blocking the frantic projectiles, the sound of running footsteps and shouts approaching from either end of the street. Time to get out of here. She threw up a wall and pushed whichever of Jiji's limbs were still outside in, clambering up on top of the carriage and shunting it off towards the airship docks. Truth be told, she had no idea how to operate this thing, but besides the screech of the breaks along the metal she could push it along the rails with a bit of effort. From the lights activated at the docks, it looked like they'd already radioed ahead to warn the guards in the docks. Less fun. Those guards were military, properly trained and probably armed. Maybe I can throw the train at them.

The thought made her smile.

This is hands down the worst shift I've ever worked, Guowei thought as he watched the renegade carriage hurtling towards them. The captain hadn't even finished his noodles before the alarms went off, and now there was some sort of banshee riding a train towards his squad.

"Spread out! Make yourselves harder to hit!" The others scattered into a loose semi-circle, pulling strips of metal from their arms and sharpening them in preparation. The train slid into the depot, barely stopped for a millisecond before the woman on the roof had launched herself off, spinning a sheet of metal in front of her to absorb their missiles. She was shielding someone inside the train, someone struggling to push a badgermole through the doors- isn't that Kuvira's son? What in Shu's name is going on?

If that was Jianyu, then nothing good. Is he being kidnapped? Where is his Sifu? She should be guarding him- oh. He nearly wet his pants. The clamps holding the train to the rails were being snapped open, metal screeching in protest as the former Sergeant Qí lifted the train carriage above her head-

"RETREAT! RETREAT!"

He backed up as his squad scattered, knees shaking. She looked like an evil djinn, lit by flashes of sparking electricity, face twisted into a vicious scowl. Jianyu was running off from behind her, making a beeline towards an airship, a small military vehicle used for hunting deserters- they're escaping.

He was almost tempted to let them go. The carriage hanging over his head was certainly convincing. But his commanders would have his skin.

Service never demands suicide.

The compartment came crashing down towards him before he could change his mind, oddly silent for a second as it flew through the air. He pushed up a wall of metal from the docks, bracing himself for impact- fifty tonnes of reinforced steel came crashing down, driving him back and shattering his wrists with the impact. He slid back across the metal platform, peeling more and more metal up into the barricade, digging his feet into the steel floor. The noise was unbearable, he couldn't hear or see anything but the mess of metal he was barely holding together-

One of his squad hooked a cable around his waist, yanking him out from in front of the locomotive as it careered into the side of a support tower, pulverizing the front half of the compartment in an almighty blow and bursting into flames.

Guowei leaned on his constable's leg, not bothering to try and get back up before he passed out.

That… was terrifying.

Jiji's feet pounded on the long metal dock, each step ringing like bells. Guanyin was following close behind him, confused by the amplified and reverberating vibrations moving through the floor. He could hear explosions crashing out behind him like earthquakes, but he didn't look back.

She threw a train at them!

Somehow, he wasn't surprised. Mom had picked Qí to tutor him for a reason. But he'd never seen her fight like this before, vicious and forceful. Training was about technique, this- this was life or death.

He'd be seeing those death masks in his nightmares, he knew. If he even had his own nightmares. He had no idea what his dreams were anymore.

He reached the airship Qí had pointed him at, putting one hand on the metal side and immediately sensing the distinctive vibrations of running footsteps. He pulled a strip of metal out of the dock, spreading his fingers and shredding it into a hundred razor-sharp splinters. This is it, Ji. Remember what Qí says: don't hesitate. They won't.

He pulled the gangplank down and climbed inside, immediately under fire from a trio of nightwatch soldiers racing down the corridor he'd stepped into. He ducked and wove, avoiding the strips from the uniforms of the first two and sending the needles back at them, filling their throats with pinholes. That's a lot of blood. Their hands found their throats skewered with razors, and they sunk to the floor, unable to hold the wounds without pushing the needles in further.

The third soldier fought him from behind her dying comrades, pulling the outer shell of the airship in, trying to crush him. He pushed against it, struggling for control as it buckled in on him, slowly being sandwiched against the inside wall. He could see the determination in her face, the horror, she probably had family- he was shaking with the exertion, most of the needles dropping to the floor like tinkling glass, fingers digging into the metal and he was losingroomtobreathe- he inhaled deeply and let go of it all in an instant, flinging shards of metal through her eyes as the wall slammed into him, audibly cracking his ribs.

"Aaah!"

The sound set his teeth on edge as he bent the metal back, crawling out from under the crumpled panels. There was blood leaking out from between the woman's fingers as she grasped at her face, a deep, carmine red. It made his stomach turn, the world swimming in front of him for a moment as he stumbled over. If they're still moving, they're still a threat, Qí's voice commanded in the back of his head. Get them away from you, or finish the job. He grabbed the back of her uniform, trying to ignore her sobs as he pushed her out the airship door and sent her rolling down the gangplank into a limp heap at the bottom. Well, she's not moving. His lips felt numb. He was left with the twitching bodies of her two comrades, strewn haphazardly across the floor. They looked oddly like dolls, limp and pale. He stepped over them, slipping around in the blood as he headed for the cockpit of the airship. The fighting outside was drawing closer, and he wrapped his arm around his ribs to stop himself collapsing. It hurt to walk, to breathe, to think, but Qí needed this hunk of metal running by the time she got here.

The cockpit was deserted, quiet but for the low hum of a generator and the muffled conflict outside. The controls weren't as complicated as the mechasuits Mom had shown him. Front and rear engines, rudder, altitude, vents. He turned on the engines, letting them power up and watching the fight through the window. Qí was backed up against Guanyin, slowly edging towards the airship as the line of guards and soldiers closed in on her in a coordinated crescent. She was drenched in sweat, her wet forehead reflecting the moonlight as one shot punctured her thigh armour, two-

Guanyin raised his huge paws, dwarfing her in shadow for a moment before he brought them both crashing back down on either side of her, the metal of the dock rolling back like a tsunami and knocking her opponents off the dock. Qí didn't stop to look, widening the airship door and shoving Guanyin inside, limping in after him and shouting to Jiji, "Go!"

Lucky the domes aren't shut yet.

He knocked the engines into gear, sending the ship forward so fast it snapped the cables mooring it and sent him stumbling back. He reached out and pulled the joystick towards him, putting the vessel on a trajectory up and out. Leaning against the window he looked back down at the docks, blinking in astonishment when he saw every other vessel there crumpled into a pile of scrap metal.

"Airships are easier to throw than trains. They already float." Qí stumbled in, flopping into the co-pilot's chair and inspecting the strips of metal embedded in her thigh, blood dripping down her leg. "I can't remove these without a healer, might have cut an artery. How're you doing, pipsqueak?"

Jiji shook his head. He didn't want to talk. It was all washing over him, the blood, the limp bodies, his chest-

Qí caught him as he fell.

A/N:

Lou: Well, that was fun, haha. Qí is a very strong bender, but she tends to overkill to compensate for technique. And we're starting to meet the others! Asami and Zhurrick are going to have a much greater role soon enough :)

Pat: This was fun to write and edit :) Also, as it says at the top, this chapter and most likely future chapters will get violent (to this scale we don't know). We have changed the rating and warnings for this fic so please keep this in mind!

Thank you all for reading so far! It means a lot to us both!