.: Chapter 2: One Year Before :.

"Jet, come here!" I looked over at Pipsqueak, annoyed.

"What is it, Pipsqueak? You know we have to get ready to leave soon. Sneers just found us a village that's crawling with the Fire Nation!" I was hard at work, packing up my tent. Longshot had already extinguished the fire and scattered the ashes, as well as broken up the circle of rocks around it. It was like we'd never been here, or it would if Pipsqueak would clean up his tent!

I marched over to him, completely fed up with his antics. I'd found Pipsqueak and Sneers together. Sneers had some talent for spotting people – he was the official lookout for the group. I sometimes thought the boy could literally SMELL the Fire Nation coming; he was just that good. He'd even come up with the idea of a bird call when we spotted someone. It was a good idea, considering "Hey, look, Fire Nation! Let's get 'em!" was usually too much warning.

But Pipsqueak… I'd let him join because of Sneers, and the fact that the guy was a brute. He'd saved my neck a couple of times. I wasn't afraid to admit that. Still, sometimes his lack of brainpower wasn't compensated for by his brute strength. He was starting to throw us off schedule.

"What is it, Pipsqueak? It'd better be good, because you still haven't packed up your tent and—"

"Check it out, Jet!" he shouted, shoving something warm and wriggling into my face.

"Hey!" I shouted, bringing up my hands to shield myself. My fingers hit skin and I opened my eyes, backing away a couple of steps. I looked down to see a little boy, wearing a ragtag uniform like most of us here. He looked up at me quietly. Suddenly, he became aware of the fact that his nose was running and wiped it on his arm. I smiled in spite of myself. The kid had bright red juice all over his mouth. "Find him in the food stores?"

"Yep. He was eating all of our lychee nuts."

"Hey, kid, you got a name?"

"Nope."

"What're you doing here?"

"I ain't got anywhere else to go," he told me plainly. "And I was hungry."

"You want to fight the Fire Nation, kid?" I asked.

"Sure." He didn't say anything else, but the word was full of emotion and his eyes flashed. I stared at him a little more carefully – he could only have been eight or nine, and already the Fire Nation had destroyed his life. He'll get his revenge today, I promised myself silently.

"Let's go then, The Duke." I don't know what made me say it, but it came out. Pipsqueak laughed and set The Duke on his shoulders.

"Come on, The Duke. You can walk with me."

"Where're we going?" The Duke chirped, curious and comfortable already.

"We're going to free another village from the Fire Nation, kid," I told him, tossing him a spear. He caught it easily and held it aloft. "That is, if Pipsqueak there ever packs up his tent."

"Sorry, Jet," Pipsqueak rumbled. I nodded and he started packing up his stuff.

The town was quiet, overshadowed by a forest. The forest was the key to everything. It was our cover and our hideout, somewhere that we knew better than the Fire Nation ever could. Once or twice, we'd talked about building a house in the woods, but I didn't want that to happen. Homes were too permanent, and homes could be destroyed. Most of the Freedom Fighters had learned that lesson the hard way.

Longshot looked at me from his perch in the trees, his quiet eyes telling me he was ready. The poor kid had only grown more withdrawn as time went on. The work of the Fire Nation, ruining another childhood, I thought to myself. I think crowds made him nervous – probably reminded him of the Fire Nation too much. I clenched my fists. Did the Fire Nation have to ruin everything?

Lost in thought, I didn't hear the rustling bushes, or Sneer's bird call, until it was too late. Suddenly I was in a tiny pair of arms, something sharp pressed to my throat. It felt like a rock, but I could only be sure that it wasn't a dagger.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Quiet," the voice snapped. I froze in shock. A GIRL? "Got any food?"

"Yeah," I muttered.

"Give it to me. I'm hungry."

"Pipsqueak," I snapped. "Give this girl the lychee nuts."

"But Jet," he protested, "The Duke's going to need to eat sometime." I glared at him fiercely until he cowered and dug through our stuff to find the lychee nuts. I tried to look at Longshot, hoping that he had a clear shot. Maybe then we could take care of this girl and move on with our lives. But Longshot was staring at her, something moving in his unreadable dark eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?" The Duke piped up, springing from his place in the nearby bushes. "You can't treat Jet that way!" I felt the girl freeze.

"What the heck is this?" she hissed. "What are you?" she demanded of me. "Some kind of crazed kidnapper?"

"Not exactly," I replied. "How do you explain HIM?" I pointed to Pipsqueak, who waved like a complete idiot. "No. I'm not a kidnapper. My name's Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters. We're TRYING to free this town of the Fire Nation, but you just got in our way and I don't think we'll be able to pull it off now." The girl dropped me like I'd burned her. I took out my hooked swords and whirled to face her.

She was kind of short, a lot smaller than me. Her brown hair was cropped short for a girl, but it was just as long as mine was. She had brown eyes that weren't focused on me, just roving around from face to face. What struck me most of all about this girl was that she was wearing a dress made of purple and silvery… stuff. It looked kind of shiny, the type of thing that I'd have been able to afford if the Fire Nation hadn't intervened.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Running away," she answered. "The Fire Nation just took over my parents' lands. I have nothing." Her voice sounded like she wanted to cry, but she didn't. I nodded, impressed.

"How did you sneak up on us like that?" I asked pointedly, the question for both her and Sneers.

"I've always been good at sneaking around," she replied in her quiet voice. "It's one of my many skills." She paused and looked around again. "Are you all guys or what?"

"Yep. All guys. Even our reinforcements back there—" several kids popped out of the trees and waved. I couldn't even remember all of their names "—are all guys."

"Hmmm…" the girl mused. "Hey, can I help?" I looked at her, surprised.

"You want to… help?" She nodded eagerly now, but once again her eyes weren't fixed on me. I followed her gaze and found her staring at Longshot. This might be good for the kid, I sighed to myself. Maybe he'll open up a bit or something.

Hang on a second, Jet. This is war. People's lives have been destroyed. You can't just invite people to join us willy-nilly, or the Fire Nation could infiltrate.

I glared at her, suddenly realizing how convenient this story was. NO ONE snuck up on Sneers. Maybe she was actually working for the Fire Nation, a spy coming to eliminate me. But she still shouldn't have been able to sneak up like that. Unless… Sneers was in on it, too.

Now you're talking crazy. Just invite her in and get on with it!

"You sure you're not Fire Nation?" I asked carefully.

"If I was," she smirked, "would I tell you?" She stuck out her hand, and I took it.

"Got a name?"

"Yeah, but somehow I don't think that matters anymore."

"Smellerbee!" The Duke called.

The girl smiled. "I like the sound of it."

"Nice to meet you, Smellerbee," I said. After we'd shaken hands, I took a second look at her. "Maybe we need to get you some different clothes."

A/N: And the traditional Freedom Fighters are now complete! I tried to stick with what Bryke gave me when it came to the kids joining the group. Also, if you've noticed that Jet is a little OBSESSED with the Fire Nation... well, that's how he came off to me while I wrote this. Obsessed. Maybe his obsessions will change throughout the story (hint, hint), but the general personality stays the same.