Narook had seen many people walk in and out of his restaurant. Some were couples on dates, some were alone, some were groups of friends; all were different sorts. No stranger to his restaurant, though, prepared him for the trio that came in that afternoon at lunch.

A girl with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail with long side fringe hanging over her right eye, affectively covering it, dressed in earth colors walked in with one of his regulars, Bolin, tucked under one arm, and a street rat tucked under the other. "Uhh…heya, Bolin!" the owner of the restaurant called from the back.

"Hey, Narook!" Bolin replied jovially as Kai let him go.

"Heard about your run in with the Triple Threats, how'd you get down?" the man asked after Bolin had led Kai and Skoochy over to the counter.

"This lovely lady right here," Bolin slung his arm over Kai's shoulders and pulled her into his side, "Cut me down." Kai went rigid at Bolin's actions and then blushed furiously.

"That takes some guts kid, standing up to the Triple Threats like that." The owner told her.

"I fought some of them a few nights ago," she muttered watching as Bolin's eyes grow wide in disbelief and Narook's narrow in skepticism. "I was supposed to meet up with a woman for a job at a corner near the slums of town. I took a detour through an alley way that was apparently part of their territory when I heard the shouts of two little girls.

"You're that girl that saved the councilman's kids, ain't ya?" the owner asked Kai, who nodded in confirmation. "You got any idea how pissed the police are with you, girlie?" Narook asked her.

"Relatively, I mean, they're obviously pissed that more of the Triple Threats were terrorizing their city. The Chief's probably pissed that I decided to," Kai paused and then began to make air quotes as she spoke again, "'dish out vigilanty justice,' and their pride's probably been shot because a teenage girl was able to outdo them at their job."

"And you aren't scared of Saikhan?" Bolin all but squeaked out.

"He already had me escorted to the station this morning," Kai crossed her arms across her chest, "Trust me when I tell you we aren't on good terms." As she finished that statement she thought back to her meeting with Saikhan:

"You are in a lot of trouble, missy," Chief Saikhan said as he walked into the interrogation room.

"It's Kai, actually, but you were close." She smirked, her arms crossed across her chest as she leant back in her chair.

Chief Saikhan sneered at her, "This town is protected by my police force. We are the ones assigned to protecting this city. You can't just go around delivering vigilante justice; there are rules and laws of this city that you have to abide by!" he snapped at her.

"Alright then," Kai shrugged, her face nonchalant, "Next time I'll just let the little girl get raped by the thug." Chief Saikhan sneered down at her. Whether or not it was at her being smart with him, or if it was at his lack of patrol on the city letting the two daughters of Councilman Tenzin nearly get raped by a miniscule percentage of Republic City's underbelly, Kai didn't know. Kai smirked either way, and leaned forward, going to stand. "Is that all, officer?" she asked, "Because I've got to get home."

"You can go," he all but growled at her.

"Thank you," she lilted out as she stood and headed for the door.

It was now one of Chief Saikhan's main goals to get her arrested. The thing was: she wasn't doing anything illegal. Therefore, he couldn't arrest her.

X

"What do you want on your noodles?" Bolin asked her as he walked over with their tray of food.

"Nothing," Kai replied nonchalantly, "But what I would like, though, is to know why the Triple Threats tied you to a pole yesterday." Kai leveled him with a firm stare with her left eye.

Bolin looked around cautiously before he set their food down on the table and slid into the seat across from her and Skoochy. Skoochy took his noodles from Bolin and kept an unwavering gaze on them as he ate. "Well," Kai said with an attitude, urging Bolin to speak.

The earthbender boy sighed, "My brother and I did some work for them when we were little," Kai sensed his apprehension to her reaction rather than saw it on his face. Kai blinked, unfazed, making a gesture for him to continue his story. She watched him heave a sigh at her not running away at that small fact about him. "They got bored last night and decided to 'teach me a lesson about loyalty'."

"And they're still on your tail because…?" Kai asked.

"Now, it's because I got down from the pole before they came and did it themselves." Bolin grumbled.

"Are you going to the police about it? Because not only is it assault, it's vandalism too."

"Why would he go to the–" Bolin cut Skoochy off,

"A police officer found me tied to the pole half-way through the night. He asked how I got there, and I told him." Bolin muttered. "The officer didn't do anything, not wanting to get on the Triple Threats' bad side, and Saikhan won't do anything about it either, probably."

"You'd be surprised," Narook voiced. "I read in the paper that the Metalbending Force was investigating a lead. Maybe that was just the final push to get Saikhan to actually start trying to slow the city's underbelly." The owner of the restaurant set a second bowl of noodles down in front of Skoochy.

The little boy looked up about to protest, but he was cut off by Narook, "On the house, kid."

"Thank you," he told the man.

"No problem." Narook told him before walking off.

"Why did you want to know?" Bolin asked Kai with his mouth full of noodles. Kai tried not to laugh at him.

"Oh, the people that were sitting behind use a few minutes ago were talking about how they heard that the Triple Threats were after whoever ratted them out." Bolin paled. "Don't worry." Kai told him as she took a large bite of her noodles.

"You know," Bolin commented, "For a girl, you sure don't eat like one."

"Excuse me?" Kai asked darkly.

"Nothing!" the boy squeaked quickly, "I'm sorry. Why shouldn't I be worried?" he tried to change the subject.

Kai, deciding it'd be better for her not to punch the boy in the face for the insult, knowing that he probably hadn't meant it the way it came out, replied to his question calmly, "I have a plan to keep them off of your tail." Skoochy looked to her his mouth crammed full with noodles.

"What?" Bolin voiced the fourteen year old's silent question.

"'Tis simple, really." Kai smirked and went on to divulging Skoochy and Bolin in on her plan.