Isuke may have been as quiet as a fish, and as stealthy as she could be, but the Dai Li were like hawks; spotting her from miles away, diving into the stream, and sinking their talons into the soft flesh to devour her.

Rivers and streams and fountains circulated around the Upper Rings of Ba Sing Se, so she could navigate easily enough. She followed them in water and out, bending the water as she swam so as to not make any noise. But perhaps it was the dripping of her clothes out of water, or the droplets that he hadn't though to control in water, or maybe it was just that the Dai Li just had the ability to smell prey.

Isuke scoffed as she assigned the latter to them.

Back into a lotus-filled moat again, and then the stone of the moat began closing in around her. Fast and meaning to crush her, the surrounding stone clapped together. Isuke barely had time to react, shooting herself forward with her water tunnel and landing onto the hard ground just as the hard rock slammed together behind her. Water from the moat splashed out and rained down on her.

Without recovering, the stone ground beneath her body lurched upwards, sharp rocks aiming forward to hurt her. Capture her.

Isuke rolled away from the breaking ground, struggling to her feet and trying to dodge all the spiking rocks with shaking legs.

Spinning, Isuke could see that it was a single Dai Li agent.

One alone.

She might have a chance against one.

His stone gloved flew away from his hand, closing into a fist just as the agent did. Aiming straight for her head. A torrent of water came its way, blocking it and turning the rocks into dust as it made contact. The force of it was stunning.

Isuke knew that he wasn't aiming to capture.

She grit her teeth together, rage fueling her entire being. She fought back, hard and strong, meeting all his earthbending with the best of her waterbending, breaking the rocks, keeping her balance, and eventually she believed she could have overpowered him.

But like the hawks they were, they could sense prey nearby. More came to the solo man's aid, and now Isuke was being the one overpowered. Rocks and stones were coming at her from all angles, and she spun, sweating and panting, trying to keep up with the plethora of attacks.

More and more rocks were chucked at her, and she either dodged them or broke them apart, whipping water at them and quickly turning them into nothing more than large bits of rubble. More and more water she bent, using her own which she carried with her and picking more up from the giant puddles formed on the ground. Around her it spun in a circle, fast and furious and protective. And attack was dodged, from above and below just as well, and Isuke found herself sprinting forward once more, taking out a dozen of the Dai Li with her, knocking them unconscious with a hard smack to the head.

She ran on, forever on, trying to get to the Inner Rings of the palace. That would be where they would be, Isuke knew. The Dai Li had probably thrown them down into the Crystal Catacombs; she had read about that type of prison long ago from the stories passed around about the Hundred Year War.

But they were after her, like starving wolves after a rabbit.

Isuke ran and ran until her heart felt like it was about to burst in her chest, then she bent her water again, slushing it around and propelling herself upwards. She landed hard on top of a slanted roof, banging her knees painfully and having droplets rain down on her. With a groan, she forced herself to her feet again, to keep moving on, collecting the water with her.

A stone fist shot past her head, then broke apart.

Isuke jumped, soaring through the air and landing on the next roof. The bang went through her feet, but she ran on. On and on.

But there was no losing them.

She jumped down with a torrent of spinning water, back into the moat once more. Except here it wasn't broken. She formed ice, then thrust the icy weapons forward, breaking the earthbending assault and even managing to punch a couple of them out.

The Dai Li cared not for their fallen companions.

They left them lying on the ground, while the healthy still charged forward.

With a snarled scream, she hurled more ice through the air, crushing them and crashing into them and breaking them at all their odds. It made her feel powerful, victorious, brave. She felt she might actually win, and not be taken prisoner by those monsters.

Then she was grabbed by behind, hard hands like stone crushing her body and muscles. She screamed, and threw him off of her, sending him flying over her head. Rolling, he jumped back onto his feet instantly, summoning boulders out of the ground and hurling them forward.

Quicker than a blink of an eye, Isuke melted the ice back down once more, took the liquid water, and sliced it through the air.

There was a man's scream.

There was the deafening sound of boulders smashing into the ground and crumbling.

And there was the bright red flash of blood.

Zuko lay next to Mai in the bed, spooning her, his hand resting on her hip.

It was warm and almost quiet, and soft and peaceful enough that the two of them were almost asleep.

A booming knock pounded against the door, startling both of them awake. Groaning and complaining, they looked at each other with something akin to murder in their eyes, and then Zuko turned to the door.

"What?" he screamed out.

He thought that it was his Uncle Iroh still knocking at the door, but when the voice spoke up, he knew it was someone different.

"Permission to enter?" came the loud voice.

Mai groaned and flopped back down, pulling the covers up over her head just as the envoy entered. He was Earth Kingdom, that much was clear. He bowed low to the couple, and delivered the message with his head still fixed to the ground.

"There has been an assault against Dai Li agents on the Lower Royal Grounds, and the whole palace is to go on Red Alert."

"Thank you," Zuko said tiredly. "Is that it?"

"Both of Your Honors are requested at an emergency meeting amongst the nobles and generals."

Mai slid the covers down her face until her eyes were visible, flashing dangerously. Like hell she was going to get up in the middle of the night to go to some dumb meeting. She shot her mental daggers at the envoy, then cast them upwards at Zuko. He could read her expression well enough, and he knew she wasn't going.

"Requested? Or is it mandatory?" It wasn't the right thing to ask, for him to be thinking about denying his presence at an important meeting. Showed bad leadership, or something akin to that.

But at this damned hour?

"Yes. It is highly urgent. There has been murders."

The couple were fully awake now, their curiosity caught. Zuko leaned forward with a renewed interest, and Mai pulled the covers down over her body more, wanting to take in as much as this as she could. Her deadly eyes gleamed with rekindled excitement.

"Murders? More than one?"

"Yes, sir." The envoy removed their head from the ground, still sitting low on the ground, but looked them both squarely in the face. A bold move, considering all that was happening, but then again. "There has been at least five murders. Three murders from blunt force trauma, two to the head and one to the ribcage, and two murders from blood loss."

That was all he said.

"Sounds interesting," Mai whispered. Only Zuko had heard that.

"Well, thank you for informing me," Zuko said formally and got to his feet. He started for the royal robes, the suitable choice for high stakes meetings, and started to pull them on. "You will have to forgive Mai, she is feeling under the weather and cannot attend," he lied.

"Of course," said the envoy, then left as he was dismissed.

Mai got up out of the bed as soon as she heard the doors close and saw the light from the hallways vanish. That same spark of interest was alight in her eyes, and she was making note of her sais and daggers.

"Five murders," Mai said. "Now that's news."

"I'm assuming you're going to go after them?" It wasn't really a question, for Zuko knew the answer just as well as he knew his own name. That had been the reason he lied for her, amongst the fact that she hated meetings with a passion.

"I'm going to go after them, and I'm going to take them down," said Mai. Even with her usual monotones, she couldn't hide the anticipation in her voice. Zuko smiled at it, loving it when she was this way. She may not have been a firebender, but fire burned inside of her just the same. Slow and steady.

Dressed all in black, Mai smiled, went and kissed Zuko on the lips, and slipped out of the window into darkness, leaving Zuko alone in the bed chambers. He flipped the thick covers up over the pillows once more, bunching them so no one would notice her absence, and stepped outside into the hallways.

Servants were waiting there, eagerly awaiting him, along with a general assigned to escort him to the meetings hall. Zuko ordered no one to enter the bed chambers, strictly saying that Mai wished not to be disturbed at any cost, and then left with the general. Their footsteps were muffled by the thick, plush rugs than ran along the marble and stone floors.

Once they had reached the meetings room, attendants opened the huge, heavy doors with their earthbending, exposing a completely distressed group of people. Some were more tired than worried, and others were completely worried, their eyes bugging out and their hair a mess. Zuko, of course, was more tired than anything. Switching his burning eyes to the Earth King, newly instated, he saw that the king was close to completely losing his mind.

With quiet steps, he took the throned seat across from the king, as was his position. The eyes of the generals and nobles and highly-promoted guards switched back and forth across the table, leveling up the two demeanors of the rulers.

The wary, distressed, frightened king.

The tired, calm, and unmoved lord.

One of the noblewomen, dressed as though she were made to run and fight at any time, cleared her throat loudly. Zuko glanced at her, and he saw by her pointed look she was to talk to him.

"Where is Fire Lady Mai?" she asked.

Zuko faked a downcast look. "She was unable to make it, for she was far too tired, and struck ill by a horrible headache." He raised his eyes again, to the noblewoman. "Surely, you can understand." She nodded.

"I do so wish Fire Lady Mai good health."

Fire Lady Mai was currently scaling down the walls of the palace, quickly descending in an expert fashion. She had no fear of being caught, for stealth was something she was good at. And even if she was caught, she didn't really care. What were the guards going to do? She was the Fire Lady, invited by the Earth King himself, and given the freedom to roam around the palace grounds.

With a gloomy sigh, she walked along the flat surfaces of the green pagoda roofs, her feet quiet.

When the roofs ended, she began scaling down them once again, cycling through the motions of walking on roofs and climbing down heavily detailed walls until she reached the ground. It was a relief to her, and a sigh escaped her lips once more.

With her dart-like eyes, she pierced through the night's gloom to see two guards making their rounds. They carried on weapons, but since they were earthbenders, they needed no weapons. Mai watched carefully as the two passed each other and then continued on. She was just about to pounce when more guards came along, routing along the palace walls.

Right, she thought, increased security thanks to our mysterious killer.

Deciding there would be no right time, she took her chances and scaled up the side of the outer quarters once more, climbing and then dropping and then crossing the guards paths. Then the watchtower, seamlessly blended into the ornate palace with its own exquisite decadence, rose up before her. Darts in place, she scaled up this once more, then stopped.

Waiting, listening.

She heard no one there, so she peeked over the edge to the open space.

Three lookouts, but only one of them seemed to really be paying attention. The other two scanned with their eyes half-closed and their gazes crossed. Mai was ready to take them out, and demand answers from the observant one, but decided against it.

That was a bad idea.

A bad, bad, bad idea.

Her luck was good, though, because the two started talking. About the assassin, spirits be blessed. Mai listened intently, gathering the information she needed as the two idiots blabbered on without a care given, then slipped away.

Up to the Northern-most Tower, where she was expected to be seen. Guards were scurrying about the grounds like ants on an anthill, all of them restless and alert. There was no way the Blue Spirit killer would have come this way. Mai knew that well enough.

Calculating in her head, she decided that the South side was more likely to have her there, so she went that way.

Mai had to admit to herself, this was quite an adventurous night. The best out of all the nights here. As guilty as it made her, she was glad for the murders, otherwise she would not have this. And the fact that it, the Blue Spirit (or the person who had donned it) was the one behind the crimes made Mai have greater interest.

She was ashamed to admit it, but she liked it.

Spirits be damned, just as they be blessed.

She liked it.

But the Blue Spirit was not on the South Side, for Mai never made it that far. With her eyes, searching the dark like a hawk as she ran, she saw a streak of smallest blue and white, and her head whipped around to see a shifting shadow disappear once more into its own.

Mai altered her course, now tracking this tiny blue of blue.

Sliding down closer, she knew she had found her mark. She knew that mask anywhere. It was the Blue Spirit, as plain as day despite the shadows, and Mai's heart thudded in anticipation. Her face remained neutral, though, not letting her emotions show.

It would have to take a lot to make her show any sign of what she was truly feeling, if indeed she felt so strongly at all.

The Blue Spirit left the shadows, and Mai made her move.

Jumping, she flew quietly through the air, descending down on the person and pinning them to the ground. They hit the heard surface with a grunt of pain, and then immediately started to fight her off. Mai's sai came to her hand immediately, and she pressed the speared tip to the jugular of the masked one's neck.

They froze, terrified.

Isuke's heart pounded in her chest, and her mind was in even more turmoil. Hot tears started spilling down her cheeks as she felt the weapon biting gently into her skin in warning. Just a small thrust, just a small one, and she knew she would be dead.

And worst of all, she didn't now know what to do.

For all her planning, all her skill, all they she had gone through, her reactions were still poor. She was not trained, and her decision making was not the best in the world. Not for this kind of work, at least.

So she wept.

Tears spilled down her eyes, ran down her cheeks in rivers, and hit her neck like streams.

"I guess you're not as tough as they had made you out to be," said the woman currently holding the sai to Isuke's throat. Isuke grew angry at the comment, and her instinct came back to her. Bravery was once again rushing back to her, and she felt she knew what to do. How to fight this woman off.

She was a waterbender, and a good one at that.

Just as the energy seeped from her muscles, gathering the water, the woman spoke once more.

"And to think you had the nerve to kill someone."

Kill?!

KILL?!

Pathetically, she gasped out the word, "No!"

Her body crumpled to the ground, and the woman released her. Maybe she felt sorry for her, or maybe she felt her not worth her energy, or maybe she sneered down at her. Whatever it was, she released her throat, letting Isuke crumple to the ground and start crying. Still, the felt the tip of the sai press through her clothes and into her backside, right at the spine.

"I didn't kill anyone!" she sobbed in denial.

But the images of blood came to her mind again and again, replacing her denial with horrifying, grim acceptance, turning her words again.

"I didn't mean to kill them! I didn't mean to!" Her voice became smaller and smaller.

The woman with the sai listened to her every word.

But why?

Isuke turned to look at her, the Blue Spirit facing her with a braver face than Isuke could ever have had.

"Why don't you kill me? I'm just as bad as them!" Her voice was small, and quivered with her emotions. The woman only glared at her with narrowed eyes, sharp like daggers, seeming to pierce through the blackened eyeholes of the mask and straight into her soul.

Isuke hid behind the menacing face of the Blue Spirit.

Lend me your strength, she thought.

"How…" she swallowed, "How many—did I kill?"

"Five."

"Five?" her voice started shaking again.

"That mask holds special meaning for me."

Isuke looked up into her face again. Her eyes had not softened in the least, but something else was behind them. Something she could not read. But it had lead her to tell Isuke this, and she started wondering back to Lake Laogai and the Dai Li former headquarters where she had found it.

"Is that why you spare me?" Isuke asked, a glimmer of hope in her voice.

"No. You're interesting. And after the days I've had in this decency-forsaken palace, I need some kind of entertainment."

Isuke grimaced behind the mask, wondering what was about to happen to her.

The woman put her weapons back into her dark sleeves, and Isuke knew that this would be the perfect moment to strike. It would be now or never. With surge of anger and energy, she bent the water to her will, and hit it dagger-like towards the woman.

She dodged so easily.

Isuke struck again and again, propelling the dangerous jets of water towards her body. Wherever she could hit would be a success, and her rage and horror fueled her being. But her moves were too good. She kept dodging, jumping out of the way.

Knives were flying from her hands, and Isuke could only avoid so much.

When she felt the sharp edges pierce her body, sinking into the skin of her arms and biting open her veins, she knew she wouldn't win this fight. It made her feel small and pathetic, but she relented. Arms up, she sighed and put her arms up in defeat, dropping her bending water to the ground.

"Okay. I surrender."

Blood was soaking down her arm, thick and hot and dripping to the earth beneath her.

Her knives were still at the ready, just begging to be thrown into her body again and tear her open. Slice her in pieces.

But her only wounds were the knives in her arms. She threw no more knives.

So she will take me prisoner, Isuke thought.

"Maybe now I can join them," she said aloud.

"Who?"

"My parents," she answered, knowing she had nothing else to lose.

"If you take me prisoner, you might take me to them."

The woman's stoic expression revealed nothing, but still she hesitated.

"Why were your parents taken prisoner?" She wanted to hear this story. After all, Isuke was interesting.

With a sigh, Isuke put her arms down, took off the mask, and began telling her story.

Okay, so the action has finally increased here, and the story's going on a bit better

And now I think you guys will finally be getting some answers

Feel free to like and review