The only information they had to work off of was a second hand description and the direction their mysterious target had gone in last. The gang headed South to make their way to the Lower Ring. To their surprise, Joo Dee stayed behind at the entrance to the Middle Ring, saying she would wait for their return. As they made their way farther south, they hashed out their plan.

Sokka argued that they needed to all split up to cover more ground. Katara said they couldn't split up in case the man attacked them, he had already attacked some guards. So they compromised and split into two groups. Toph, Sokka and Momo would work together while Aang and Katara would work as a pair. Once they made it to the Lower Ring, the two groups split off. Aang blasting himself and Katara onto the rooftops to get a better vantage, while Momo took to the skies above Toph and Sokka.

The streets were packed, people hawking wares and transporting goods in the midmorning sun. Toph and Sokka stayed close together, more than a few times Toph sent a pillar of stone into a pickpocket's stomach. It was the only action she would get today, it seemed. For hours they walked through the streets of the Lower Ring. Sokka was keeping a sharp eye out, Toph was sure. She wouldn't be much help until after they found the guy. She was stuck being bored.

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Aang and Katara could move much more freely on the rooftops, most roofs connected or were only separated by a couple feet. It was easy to hop from roof to roof. Katara knew that this was going to be a marathon, they should slow down and really look every area over. As time went on, it seemed to dawn on Aang that they were not going to find the man quickly. This realization only made Aang speed up.

Eventually Katara had to plant her feet and yell "STOP". Aang spun around, eyes wide sweeping the area around them.

"Did you see him!?" he asked.

Katara breathed out slowly "No. Aang, I know you want to find him, but you need to slow down." Aang looked like he was about to retort but Katara pulled him into a hug.

"I know, we need to find him to find Appa. But we aren't going to find anyone going that fast. We could run right by him and never realize. He doesn't know we're looking for him, but if he might catch on if we're running around like crazy people." Aang deflated in her arms, but quickly recovered.

"Thank's Katara, I think I needed to hear that."

They continued to run along the roofs, but at a much slower pace, trying to look for anyone out of place. Around the time the sun was setting, they found someone they didn't expect. They found him looking out from the corner of a rooftop, eyes sweeping over people in the street. He startled and turned when Katara called out "Longshot?".

The boy seemed surprised once he recognized Aang and Katara, but still politely waved in greeting.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Katara "Are all the Freedom Fighters in Ba Sing Se?"

Longshot shook his head and held up three fingers.

Aang piped up "Only three? Where is everyone else?"

The stoic boy just shrugged and turned to scan the crowd below again.

Katara's eyebrows scrunched together "Is Jet here too?"

Longshot made a complicated and pained face. He nodded, but put a hand up to his eyes and mimicked looking around for something. Aang and Katara shared a glance before

Katara spoke again "You're looking for him? Is he lost?" Longshot contemplated for a long time before finally turning to look at both Katara and Aang

"The Dai Li took him"

It was the first time either of them had heard him speak, which was surprising. It was equally concerning that the Dai Li were mixed in. The facade of Ba Sing Se had only slipped for a short time last night during their conversation with Long Feng, but it was obvious the Dai Li were heavily involved.

Aang looked torn "Normally I would say we could help, but we're looking for someone too!"

Katara nodded "Aang's right, you haven't happened to have seen a man calling himself a Sage?" Longshoot shook his head, Aang continued the description.

"Tall, dark hair, wears a funny badge on a ribbon?"

Longshot's eyes widened at the mention of the badge. Katara pulled out the forms Long Feng had given them. She showed Longshot the page with the sketch of the badge on it. The tall boy studied it for a long moment before nodding his head and handing the page back. He looked uncomfortable again before saying

"Got Jet arrested" Aanga and Katara shared an enthusiastic look. This was their first real lead. Longshot must have made a decision, he gestured for Aang and Katara to follow and set off at a quick pace.

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Toph would contend she'd had worse days, but that fact didn't make this day any better. She was being pulled along the crowded streets by Sokka. There were too many people around to actually focus on any one person. Not to mention, because she had never "seen" their target, she didn't really know what to look for. They had wormed their way through another bustling intersection with Sokka stopped dead in his tracks, Toph 'oofed' as she ran into his back. She was about to ask him what his problem was when he pulled her off to the right even faster than before. They were headed in a beeline right at someone. He was about the same height as Sokka, and he had his back to them.

Sokka called out "Jet!" right before turning him around by the shoulder "What are you doing here?"

Jet paused before answering "Sokka, funny meeting you here." The teen said pleasantly "I'm looking for a job. If we all work together, we can really clean up the lower ring and help the economy."

Sokka stared at him like he had two noses. "What the heck!? What about the Freedom Fighters?"

Now it was Jet's turn to look confused "Fighters? We don't need to fight here, it's safe in Ba Sing Se."

Sokka made a choking noise "What!? You tried to flood a fire nation village because of the war? You think I believe you've done a 180 just like that?"

Jet patted Sokka on the shoulder "It's okay to be confused Sokka, we're safe, there isn't a war".

Sokka lightly elbowed Toph in the side "I don't know what plan you've made up this time, but we know you're lying, right Toph?"

Toph raised her eyebrows "I know we know what he's saying is gobaly-gook, but he's telling the truth"

Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose "Now you're saying gobaly-gook"

Toph scowled "What I mean is, Jet believes every word he is saying, as if it's fact." Now Sokka scowled.

"It was good to see you Sokka, I've got to get back to job hunting. It was nice meeting you Toph" Jet turned as if he meant to leave when a cannonball flew into his midsection.

The cannonball turned out to be Smellerbee, the small girl was weary of Sokka and Toph at first. Once the much larger problem, Jet's condition, became apparent, she became much more accepting. Jet gave the same greeting to Smellerbee, like seeing an old friend, then tried to leave. When she questioned him about getting detained by the Dai Li, he didn't know what she was talking about.

Sokka observed their interaction and thought. From what he could gather, Jet had been in a fight with someone they suspected of being Fire Nation. Jet got caught and was taken in by the Dai Li and was now clearly acting differently. Sokka rubbed his chin.

"And you're sure the guys from the tea shop are Fire Nation?"

Smellerbee's eyebrows scrunched together "I wasn't sure, Jet was dead set on it though. The uncle's tea heated up by itself when we were coming into the city"

Sokka's face fell in disbelief. "His tea was warm? That's it?"

Smellerbee huffed out a swear under her breath "Look! I didn't think so either. We didn't even really know the guys. They're probably regular refugees like most everyone else. The nephew might have even fought against some firebenders for all we know, had a big burn mark on his face. But Jet was sure, so he attacked them to force one of them to firebend."

Now it was Sokka's turn to swear under his breath "His face!? Was it over his left eye? And the Uncle, was he short and fat?"

Smellerbee shrugged "It was over his eye, I think it was on the left side…but maybe it was on the right? The uncle was pretty stocky." This was getting more and more complicated, a mystery bender, the Freedom Fighters, Jet acting strange, and Zuko was here too.

Toph was finally getting excited. Sokka was demanding Smellerbee tell them where the tea shop was. She had never met this Zuko before, but she had heard the stories many times during their travels. Sokka sounded like he was ready to march down there and start a fight right now. No more getting led around, it was Toph's time to shine.

That was until Momo dove out of the sky onto Sokka's shoulder. The lemur pulled on Sokka's head, jumping up and down before flying off. When they didn't immediately follow, Momo flew back down. This time landing on Smellerbee's shoulder and doing the same routine. Toph groaned, she knew they weren't going to fight anymore. She was right, they followed the lemur while dragging Jet with them, who kept trying to politely break away.

After a few blocks Smellerbee spoke up "Hey! Your lemur's taking us right towards our secret base, what's the big idea!?"

Toph scoffed "You think he told us before flying off and we kept it to ourselves?"

Sokka just slapped his forehead "Let's just see where he goes first before fighting about it"

As it turns out, Momo was taking them back to the "Secret Base" as Smellerbee had dubbed it. The base was the top floor of a half crumbled building. The only access was from the building next to it. The roof was half gone, they had patched it with cloth sheets for shade. One room still stood, where a small fire burned in the middle of three ramshackle beds. The biggest surprise was that the base wasn't empty. Longshot greeting them with a nod of his head. Aang and Katara jumped up from where they had been seated against the wall. Longshot's face brightened when Jet entered behind them. The mood sombered up once it was obvious something was wrong.

Now that Smellerbee was there, she could tell Katara and Aang what happened in the tea shop. Both were shocked to hear that Zuko and Iroh were in Ba Sing Se. Smellerbee was able to tell them more about the stranger who broke up the fight between Zuko and Jet. He matched the description the Dai Li had given them to a T. Except for one detail, he hadn't done any bending that anyone had seen.

Aang groaned "You're sure he didn't earthbend or airbend at all, not even a little?"

Longshot and Smellerbee shot confused glances at him

"I didn't think there were any more Airbenders..no offense" she said.

Aang sighed "I assumed I was the only one left, but…the reports claim he was seen doing some sort of airbending. But they also say he did some earthbending too."

Sokka chewed on a lip "Of course, those reports were from the Dai Li. Not sure if we can trust them."

Katara cut in "It doesn't matter, everything is connected; the unknown bender, Jet, Zuko, Dai Li, and Long Feng. I think we should work as a team. I'm the first one to have reservations working with you again…but, it would be better to work together than to get in each other's way."

Before anyone could respond she pulled Jet to one of the beds and had him lay down. She pulled water from her flask to her hands and they glowed when she put them on either side of Jet's head. Katara closed her eyes and let the water guide her. The problem was obvious, two shadowy orbs sat right behind Jet's eyes. She moved her hands to rest over Jet's face and let the healing energy in the water radiate down over the shadows. They resisted at first, but eventually dissolved away into motes of darkness.

Jet immediately jumped up into a defensive stance, grasping at the sheaths on his back. His swords were missing, probably taken by the Dai Li. It took a moment before he came back to himself. The fog lifted from his face and he realized where he was.

"Why are you guys here? Where are my swords? What happened to those firebenders? Wh…" The questions cut off as Smellerbee flew into him, Longshot walked up while the girl hugged Jet and put a supporting hand on his friends' shoulders.

Jet turned to the Gaang "Can someone tell me what's going on?" Toph deflated, the talking wasn't over.