Man this one took awhile to get out, I had a bot of trouble figuring out where to go from when i left off. anyway this one is a bit shorter than i normally make them but the next one is gonna be longer for sure. I closed the poll as well and it turned out to be Earth...though because I lack the spine to say no to my girlfriend its going to be Air. So blame her if your element didn't win. Anyway on with the story

Drunken Bender Ch. 5

As Toph and Beat shared their tender moment, Aang and the others were busy looking for Appa in the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se.

As Aang pasted up another poster, he wiped his forehead and sighed before he turned to look at Sokka and Katara.

"You guys this isn't getting us anywhere" Aang said as he set down his paste brush.

"This is all we can do though Aang." Katara said as she put up another poster before turning to look at him.

"It just doesn't seem like enough though," Aang said sadly as he turned to look forlornly at the poster of Appa.

Katara frowned gently and walked over before embracing Aang, "We'll find him Aang I swear," Katara said as she held Aang close for a moment.

Suddenly a voice rang out from above them shattering their tender moment.

"Aww so cute…and me without my camer-OW!"

Looking up they saw Beat leap down off of the roof of the warehouse beside them carrying a slightly blushing Toph bridal style. He landed with a soft thud and set her down before rubbing his head and glaring at Toph.

"Why do you always got to hit me Toph?" Beat said.

"Why do you always have to be such an ass?" Toph shot back.

"You know you love my ass" Beat said slyly causing Toph to sputter and turn red.

"Welcome back Toph how did the meeting with your Mom go?" Katara asked.

Beat scratched his chin as Toph turned to face Katara before a dark look passed over her face.

"It was a trap," Toph hissed out, "The Dai Li ambushed me and stuffed me inside a steel box."

"But if that's true how are you here right now?" Sokka asked finally adding to the conversation.

"Ah that would be my doing," Beat said as he rolled his shoulders, "I followed her and saw what happened and helped her escape…though the fact that she tore that box to shreds with her bare hands leads me to believe she may have done fine on her own."

"Wow Toph you can Bend Metal now?" Aang said with awe in his voice.

"Yup and after we beat up the Dai Li we found a scroll and…."Toph trailed off and blushed slightly as memories of what Beat and Toph did after the fight rolled to the forefront of her mind.

"And what?" Katara asked confused missing the mischievous grin spreading over Beat's face.

"And this," Beat said before he wrapped an arm around Toph's waist, spun her to face him, and kissed her passionately.

Aang, Sokka, and Katara's jaws hit the floor with a comical thud while Momo simply fainted dead away. The two kissed for a few more moments before Beat broke the kiss and Toph leaned against his chest flushed crimson and panting. She hated it when he did that it made her knees feel like rubber and yet she never stopped him.

"B-bastard," Toph moaned and slapped his chest weakly as she tried to regain her bearings.

"Y-y-you….a-a-and y-you!?" Sokka stammered out while pointing at them while Aang tried to resuscitate his lemur friend.

Katara suddenly squealed and embraced the two of them. "I'm so happy for you two!!" She gushed and squeezed them tightly before letting them go and sniffling. "You're so cute together," She mumbled as she teared up.

Toph and Beat both took a small step back away from Katara as she waxed on about their relationship before a shout broke them from their revelry. Looking to the end of the alleyway they saw a boy holding a pair of hookswords, his face was rather swollen and he had murder in his eyes.

"You!!" He said with a slight slur as he pointed at Beat.

"Jet!" Katara hissed out all traces of happiness gone from her face. Beat laid a hand on her shoulder before he stepped past her and took a few steps away from his friends.

"I see your face is healing nicely," Beat said coolly as he eyed Jet's swollen cheeks.

"Phuck you," Jet slurred, "I've been hoping to find you again after what you did to me!"

"Oh wow, Beat did you do that to him?" Sokka asked as he eyed Jet's face wincing slightly as he saw a bit of dried blood.

"It's a long story but the short version is, yes I did." Beat said as he eyed Jet warily

"Your damn right you did!," Jet said as he started forward, "I'm on to you Fire Nation scum, you didn't want me selling out your two buddies back at the tea shop so you tried to silence me!!"

"Two friends?" Aang said confused as he looked over at Beat who waved it off

"I'll explain the whole story later I promise," Beat said with a grin at Aang.

"But I will not be silenced," Jet said, "And now…I'm going to kill you Fire Nation!!"

Aang and company started forward to stop him but Beat threw out an arm to stop them.

"No…if he wants me so badly he can have me." Beat said quietly as he eyed Jet.

"You don't really mean to let him KILL you do you Beat!?" Katara said in shock.

"Of course not…like anything worth getting in life you have to work for it," Beat said before looking back at Jet, "If you wish me dead child you are welcome to try it," Beat started to sway and stagger slightly but Jet wasn't pulled in by the display knowing full well what Beat was capable of he and the Suiken user began to circle each other warily.

Jet moved first darting forward and slashing at Beat's waist. Beat bent backwards dodging the blow and kicked out with his right leg catching Jet in the stomach. Jet rolled back with the impact and sprang to his feet grimacing as he rubbed his stomach lightly while Beat continued to sway and stagger drunkenly.

"Dammit stop acting like a drunken fool and fight me like a man!!" Jet roared pointing his swords at Beat who paused and looked up at him.

"Be careful of what you ask of me boy…you might just get it."

"I'm going to kill you!!" Jet roared again and charged forward launching a barrage of blows with his swords. Beat dodged and moved as quickly as he could but he still sustained numerous shallow cuts.

After a few moments of frantic dodging Beat leapt back patting himself down to check for injuries before glaring over at Jet.

"Boy you're nine kinds of crazy" Beat said as he frowned down as his third ruined shirt in the course of 24 hours.

"FIGHT ME DAMMIT!!!" Jet roared as he brandished his swords at Beat.

"If you don't stop now I won't be held responsible for your survival stupid boy."

Aang and the others stiffened at what Beat said.

"Your not really going to kill him are you Beat?" Katara whispered as Aang and Sokka looked at him a bit put off.

"If I have to in order stop him?" Beat said, "Then yes I will without a doubt."

Toph remained silently though the rest looked slightly unsettled and moved back to give the two boys some room.

The two boys circled each other warily Beat had abandoned his swaying and was instead eyeing Jet carefully. Jet suddenly swung out with his sword and Beat twisted around it bringing his elbow around and slamming it into the back of Jet's skull with a dull thud. Jet stumbled forward cursing softly as he brought a hand back and rubbed his head before leaping at Beat bringing his swords to bear on the young martial artist.

Using the flat of his hand Beat deflected one sword to the side and dodged the other before grabbing Jet by the face. Sweeping Jet's feet out from under him he powered his head down to the ground with a crunch. Using Jet's face as a pivot he front flipped over him and got some distance from Jet who was clutching his face in pain.

Jet stumbled to his feet his nosing dripping a bit of blood.

"Ah dammit my nose!" Jet swore as he touched it gingerly. "I'll kill you for sure Fire Nation scum!!"

"Why does he keep calling Beat Fire Nation?" Sokka whispered to Aang who shrugged.

Beat took a few steps back his heel striking something on the ground. Glancing down he saw a length of pipe that had rusted away from the plumbing system of the old warehouse. Rolling out of the way of another swipe of Jet's swords he palmed the pipe and twirled it about before snapping it out catching Jet in the stomach.

"If you want to fight with weapons I'll be happy to oblige you" Beat said.

It was fast and furious from that point on the clang of metal against metal rang out over and over again as the two fought. As Beat brought the pipe to bear against Jet's swords it suddenly shattered, the old metal unable to handle the stress. Beat swore and leapt back, blood dripping to the ground as shards of metal had embedded themselves in the flesh of his hands. Jet smirked insanely his mind clearly having snapped at some point.

"After I kill you I'm going to kill your friends next," Jet said an insane gleam in his eye as he looked over Toph and Katara. "Though I may take my time with the women!"

Toph and Katara shrank back slightly, it seemed Jet had clearly gone insane and even though he knew most of the people present he was failing to recognize them.

Beat's eyes hardened further as he stood up and tossed away his coat before cracking his neck as he looked at the ground.

"It seems then that you leave me with no choice," Beat said his voice lacking all emotion before his head snapped up and he shot forward at Jet.

Dodging around the swords, he caught Jet in the side of the head with a heavy right hook followed up by a brutal rising knee to the face. Jet staggered slightly as his nose shattered completely under the force before a vicious axe kick slammed him to the floor. As he tried to push himself up a foot slammed down on his back pushing him back down.

Beat roared angrily before pushing off Jet's back to jump into the air. Flipping around as he came back down he drove his knee into the back of Jet's neck. A loud cracking snap shot through the alleyway as blood flew from Jet's nose and mouth before twitched slightly and his eyes rolled back into his head while Beat stood up slowly.

Aang and company stood there in shock, though they had seen what had happened their brains were failing to process it. Katara screamed and ran forward pushing Beat aside water already around her hands. Beat stepped back a sad look on his face as he watched Katara futilely try to heal Jet.

Katara's hands dropped after a few moments before she whirled around and stalked over to Beat and slapped him. Beat's head turned to the side from the impact but he made no attempt to dodge or block the blow. She opened her mouth as if to say something but simply turned and stalked off seething. Aang and Sokka ran after her calling her name. Toph walked over to Beat and wrapped an arm around his and laid her head on his arm.

"Do think you may have gone too far?" She whispered softly.

"No…I really don't," Beat said softly, "But that doesn't mean I wanted to do it."

Toph leaned up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek softly. Beat smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a soft squeeze.

"Go catch up to them I…need to do some thinking ok?"

"Alright but don't be too long, I'm sure your in plenty of trouble with the others,"

"Yeah…"

Scene Break and Time skip- 3 hours later at the House in the Upper Ring

Beat stepped into the house warily and as soon as he did he was bombarded with questions. He sighed and stuck his pinky in his ear and waited for them to fall silent.

"One at a time please, I know you all have things you want to ask me." Beat said after he managed to find a lull in their bombardment of questions.
Katara glared at him and was the first to speak.

"Why did you kill Jet?" She asked a bit of venom in her voice.

"Because it was necessary," Beat answered, "If I hadn't stopped him he was going to kill everyone else…not to mention what he had planned for you and Toph."

Katara sputtered before looking away the answer seemingly having placated her for now. Aang spoke up next.

"Certainly there was another way in which to stop him?" Aang asked.

"You noticed I did give him numerous chances to stop throughout the fight and a couple warnings as well." Beat said as he scratched his neck.

Aang thought for a moment before he sighed, stood up and headed out onto the backyard porch. Beat looked at Toph and Sokka questioningly.

"Anything that you guys want to say to me?" Beat asked them only to have them both shake their heads.

"I understand why you did what you did Beat." Sokka said.

"Same here," Toph said, " While I don't approve of it I do understand."

After Toph spoke she perked up a bit and dug a hand into her pocket and pulled out another scroll.

"Hey Beat I found this on one of the Dai Li, I figured its just another copy of the orders we found on that other Dai Li but do you want to check?"

Beat took the scroll, opened it and scanned it before quirking an eyebrow.

"Oh really now?" Beat said amused before he rolled the scroll back up.

"What does it say?" Toph asked.

"Nothing important it's obviously a lie" Beat scoffed as he tossed the scroll over his shoulder where it soared out the window.

"OW!!" a voice cried from outside.

Beat cringed and looked over his shoulder to the window.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Beat mumbled as someone knocked at the door.

Beat got to his feet slowly and walked to the door before he opened it a crack. He promptly fell on his ass and scrambled away from the door in a panic.

"HOW CAN SHE BE HERE!!?!" Beat screamed as he hid behind Toph who was thoroughly confused by this point only for the door to swing open revealing a girl. Aang rushed back in just as the girl stepped into the house and tossed her hair over her shoulder. She was just a bit shorter than Beat was with brown hair and a dress that had slits running up the sides to her waist. As she stepped in she looked around before her gaze landed on Beat and she stomped forward and grabbed him by the collar. Hauling him to his feet she smiled before she crushed him to her chest and squealed happily.

"Hayden it is you!!" the girl said, "I've missed you so much!" She pulled his head back and looked his face over before she kissed him all over.

"Oh you've gotten so handsome since I last saw-" She was cut off as Toph ripped Beat from her grip and held him protectively while she shot the mysterious girl a glare.

"Hey back off he's mine!!" Toph hissed her hackles raised

"No Toph you don't understand she's my-" Beat began only for the mysterious girl to chime in.

"Oh he is, is he?" She said with a grin, "And who are you that would lay claim to my cute little baby brother?"

"BROTHER!?!" They all screamed before looking over at Beat who was scratching his head sheepishly.

"Uh yeah….meet my big sister Rae Shepard," Beat said.

A/N

Oh-ho bet you didn't see that coming didya!? Anyway next chapter i introduce Rae and the team head's to Lake Laogai to try and find Appa. Also i will NOT be explaining Rae's past my beta Ibinx Rae is writing a side story about her with my permission since hers will eventually tie in with mine. I will describe her better next chapter though and a few outstanding questions about Beat will be answered. Until next time though

Ja

Soulnin