Chapter 5

Akki was caught off guard. As his warm lips met hers, she stood frozen. An unfamiliar feeling filled her and for a moment she found herself kissing the masked man back. But only for a moment. Her hand shot up to his chest and pushed him back. Amon's mask fell back in place over his face and his eyes stared piercingly at her.

"This can't happen." Akki whispered coldly. Her dark eyes quickly left the equalist leader and the assassin spun on her heel. Opening her door, Akki moved to step in, but once more Amon's voice filled her ears.

"I apologize."

Akki glanced over her shoulder at him before stepping into her room. "Goodnight, Amon." Quickly, she shut the door behind her, listening to the sound of the Equalist leader's footsteps lead away from her door. With a sight of frustration, Akki grasped the headgear of her uniform and ripped it off, throwing it across the room. "Fuck. Fucking hell!" Tossing herself on her bed, she reached in to her pocket and brought a cigarette to her lips. She quickly lit the end with her fingertip and inhaled as deeply as she could. This was not a predicament she had ever imagined herself being in.

Exhaling, she watched the large, swirling cloud of smoke float to the ceiling. 'This was a one time thing.' Akki thought to herself. 'I can squash this no problem.' Despite that, Akki had found that she had liked it? 'All the more reason to get this done.' But patience would be an important virtue for this job. She couldn't just kill the man in a base full of his own followers, that would be impractical. It felt like there was always someone around.

Amon clearly had an interest in her. There was no doubt. She needed to use this without it going too far.

Taking a last drag of her cigarette, Akki sat up and ran her fingers through her hair and glanced and the small clock on her bedside table. It was almost 2:00 AM, and Akki was definitely feeling the time. She was exhausted and sore. And expected to train with her target the following day.

Akki stood up and shed her clothing, relieved to feel her skin breath. The assassin walked towards the small bathroom attached to her room and turned on the sink, splashing the cold water on her face, removing the grime from her scuffle with the Lieutenant and the Triple Threats.

"Shit. The Lieutenant." She groaned. Staring at her reflection in the mirror. Akki had forgotten about him for a moment. It would only be a matter of time before he dragged his ass back underground. Would he take her threats seriously? She honestly didn't know. He was a loose end for sure. Why didn't she finish him off when she had the chance? "Fucking stupid." The woman gripped the sides of the sink tightly as she scowled at herself.

Throwing on a baggy black shirt, Akki climbed in bed, drifting to sleep shortly after.

It felt like she had only slept for about 5 minutes when Akki heard a rapid knock on her door. Squinting at her clock she saw that the time read 4:30 am. Groaning in annoyance, she crawled out of bed and dragged her feet to the door. Pulling it open a crack, she was surprised to see the masked man himself standing at her door once more. "...Brother Amon?" She asked in a groggy confusion.

Amon stared down at her. She could see his eyes drift slowly downwards, towards her bare leg as the light from the hallway shined in through the half opened door. Then quickly they went back to her scarred face. "Get dressed quickly. You are needed."

"..What?" Akki's pale hand rose to her eye, lightly rubbing the sleep out of it. "What's going on?"

"I will explain soon. Get dressed." His low gravely voice sent shivers down her spine. Akki tried to ignore the sensation, simply nodding at the equalist leader and shutting her door.

The woman turned on her lights and quickly threw on her uniform. She wondered if this had something to do with her tiff with the Lieutenant. It wouldn't be long before his face surfaced. 'His mutilated face.' Akki thought to herself, giving a small laugh.

Akki exited in to the hall to find Amon standing their waiting for her. "Follow me." He swiftly began walking down the hall, with Akki not far behind. The air felt thick with tension. An awkward tension. Yet another feeling Akki was not familiar with. 'It's just a job. He is nothing. Nothing but a shiny pile of yuans.' She reminded herself, watching the tall, mysterious figure in front of her.

"What's happened?" She asked again trying to ease the tension. Akki quickened her steps to catching up, walking by his side as she did.

"Patience, Noma. You will know soon enough." Amon stared straight on and neither spoke until they entered what appeared to be an infirmary. A dark eyebrow rose on her face. Amon pulled a curtain back to reveal the battered and still unconscious body of the Lieutenant.

The assassin took a moment to appreciate the work she had done on the man before finally asking, "What the hell happened to him?"

"Some of our brothers and sisters discovered him near Triple Threat territory." Amon started, holding his hands behind his back. "I'm sure you remember the fate of Lightning bolt Zolt."

Akki began to feel uneasy about where this was going. She hadn't considered leaving the Lieutenant so close to her employers. "Yes. The leader of the Triple Threats if I am not mistaken."

"Correct. It seems that his followers are displeased by that outcome and have taken it upon themselves to brutalize the fair minded followers of our movement in an attempt for revenge." Amon turned to Akki. "It is time to put an end to this plague. No longer will the non benders of this city be terrorized by something so outdated and pathetic as the triads." He spoke venomously. She could almost see the disgust on his face.

'Shit.' Akki thought, feeling a lump form in her throat. Was she about to be pitted against her own employers? How could she have been so sloppy. 'It's because of him.' The women found herself forcing away a scowled as she started up at the white and red mask. She had a momentary lapse and was stupidly distracted by this man's display of power. This was such a beginner mistake. "How can you be sure it's them?" She asked in an attempt to divert her target.

"It's them." His voice lowered as his blue eyes met hers. The two stood in an awkward silence for a moment. The tension from what had happened hours before was still very much alive.

Akki forced the lump in her throat down as she tried to compose herself. "And what is it exactly you want to do?" Her brain was scrambling to come up with some sort of plan. She had definitely not been prepared for this.

The Equalist leader remained silent for a moment longer, before taking a step towards her, his body tensed up. Akki unconsciously took a small step back. This didn't seem to go unnoticed by Amon as suddenly broke eye contact with her and relaxed, moving his gaze once more to the unresponsive Lieutenant.

"Tomorrow night, we get rid of this problem. For good. And you will be leading a small team of our most experienced followers."

Akki followed him, in turning her attention to the beaten man on the hospital bed. His face stirred occasionally, twitching in pain. If anything, at least her lose end was close by. It would be easy to simply over dose the man. "Very well." She finally answered. "Is that all?"

"Yes." He answered curtly with out breaking his stair on the unfortunate man before them. Akki nodded and turned to leave. "Noma." His voice rang out suddenly.

Akki stopped in her tracks. "Yes?"

"I…" Amon trailed off. Akki looked over her shoulder to see him still with his back to her. "Never mind. You must be tired. Go get some rest for tomorrow."

Akki watched him for a second more before leaving to resume a much needed sleep.

The 25 year slept the hardest that she ever had. Not waking up until well after noon. When she did finally awake, Akki layer in her bed for an hour staring that the ceiling. She needed to warn the Triple Threats of what was coming. Only for the matter of securing her yuans.

She pulled herself up in to a sitting position, pulling on a pair of black pants crumpled on the floor. When she was dressed, the woman quietly exited her room and headed towards the surface entrance. A few equalist followers walked by her, talking in hushed and excited voices. Akki caught details of what Amon had planned for the evening in their conversation. This made Akki quicken her pace.

The woman slipped out of the underground compound and headed off in the direction of her apartment. She suspected that Amon would probably have spies in the Triple Threats territory by now. She needed a change of clothes and a way to pass by these spies unrecognized.

When she arrived, the woman was quick to lock her door and began closing her curtains. When she was sure that she was safe of the chance of prying eyes, Akki headed to the closet in her room. Pulling back a panel in the wall removed a large bag from the hole. Removing a few extra knives from it, she pushed two in to her boots and one larger sheathed hunting knife in to an inner pocket of her pants, hidden along her hip. The triads were not to be trusted and bringing along back ups was always advisable.

She then reached for a hooded jacket and change of clothing. Swapping outfits quickly, Akki headed out the door to the notorious triads base of operation. The woman stuck to the roofs of the buildings and backroads as much as she could. Everyone she passed she was suspicious of. Even after arriving to her destination, Akki wandered passed, walking down the street a for a little longer, before taking a left down a back road and doubling back to the triad base. She needed to be sure she wasn't followed or Akki would be as equally as fucked. She imagined maybe worse.

Her black gloved hand reached the door and banged on it. After a minute more, a small window on the door opened to reveal a dark brown eye staring her down. The window quickly slammed shut before the door opened and she was quickly ushered inside by a disgruntled looking bald man.

The man rushed her towards the triads members, who all seemed to be in this one sitting room area. She could hear a crackle voice echo from a radio in the corner while the various gang members laughed and talked loudly. The bald man cleared his voice loudly, catching the attention of his peers.

"Did you kill the fucker?" She heard a voice ask her. The man who hired her stepped out in to her view, walking closer to her.

"You need to leave. Right now." Akki stated coldly.

The man began laughing and was soon followed by his goons. "As if. That's funny." The man reached a hand out and lightly held a strand of Akki's dark her. She was quick to slap his hand away.

"I'm not joking." Akki took a step towards the man. "Amon is planning an invasion on you tonight. You won't stand a chance."

The room became quiet as their stand in leader studied Akki intently. "How do you know this?"

Akki rolled her dark eyes at the man before answering. "I've been undercover planning to get this guy for a week. I hear things. The other equalizers talk. That they were quite excited this morning."

The leader seemed mull this over for some time. "And how do you know that we can't stand our own?" He questioned.

Akki found herself irritated by the ego on this man. "Is it worth losing your bending to find out?"

The man once more went silent before slowly nodding his head and turning to face his men. "Alright everyone grab your shit. Seems we will be going on a little trip for a while." When he turned back again, he found that Akki was already gone.

The assassin hastily made her way back to the Equalist base. Hoping that no one had noticed her absence.

About an hour later she arrived back. Quickly changing back into her equalist uniform, the woman once again heard a knock at her door. She finished pulling on her headgear as she made her way over, slowly pulling the door open.

Standing there was one of Amon's many equalist followers.

"He would like to see you in the infirmary." The small voice of a woman spoke softly from behind their mask. Akki nodded, heading over to their meeting place.

Upon arriving, the first thing her black eyes saw where the Lieutenant's staring back at her from the bed with a most disdained look. Standing beside him with his back to the woman and hands folded behind him was Amon.

"You requested my presence?" Akki spoke, making presence known to Amon.

"I did." He spoke, turning to face her. "The Lieutenant here has quite an interesting story."

For a second, Akki felt herself stop breathing as she glanced between Amon and the beaten man. Did he open his pathetic mouth? Did she need to make a run for it? Composing herself, Akki finally brought herself to ask, "And what is that?"

Amon looked down at the hospitalized man. "Tell my second what you told me."

Akki saw the Lieutenant cringe at her title, sending a rather vile look her way. "... It was the Triple Threats." Akki immediately felt a sense of relief wash over her. The man then went on to tell an elaborate story of how he had stood up for a unsuspecting non bending family being victimized by the triad and had nearly died protecting them or something along those lines. At some point Akki tuned out the bullshit story, desperately wanting to get the hell out of there.

Her eyes found themselves wandering towards the tall, authoritative figure standing near by and unconsciously began to take in his physique. Her mind wandered to the night before. She could almost still feel his fingers touching the scar on her face. Why was this man so intriguing?

Realizing the very man had caught her staring, she quickly focused her attention back to the pathetic piece of meat finishing up his story.

"Well that is quite the story. Some might view you as a hero for what you did." Akki spoke, trying to hide the border in her voice.

"Indeed." The Lieutenant replied, eyeing the assassin.

"Are you prepared for tonight?" The masked man cut in.

"I'm ready to do what needs to be done." Akki answered.

"Excellent. Now if you will excuse us Lieutenant, I need to have a word with my second."

"Of course." The Lieutenant quickly responded.

Amon looked at Akki and gestured towards the door. Obliging him, she turned and headed out into the hallway with Amon in tow. Amon continued walking with Akki behind him until they came to a room that appeared to be someone's office and sleeping quarters. It was a larger room then hers that was dimly lit. Giving off an aura almost as mysterious as it's owners.

"I think we need to talk about what happened." Amon started.

Akki quickly cut in, hoping to put an end to this conversation as soon as possible. "Please. Think nothing of it. It was a mistake and I haven't thought about it since, and neither should you." Her voice came off almost too cold.

Though she couldn't see his face, she could tell by his silence that her abruptness had caught him off guard.

"Be Careful tonight." He finally spoke, in a low velvety voice. "The triad members are dirty and will not put up a fair fight." The man's boot clad feet took a step closer to her.

"I am familiar with triads. They are nothing I can't handle."

Amon took another step closer. "You are a mysterious woman." He commented giving a small deep laugh. Akki felt the new familiar shivers run down her spine at the sound of it. She suddenly began to feel this animalistic urge to finish what was started the night before.

"I could say the same about you." This time Akki found herself stepping closer to him. 'Don't be a fucking idiot!' She could hear a voice in her head scream. The slight masculine scent of Amon caught the attention of her nose, only making the urge to rip off his mask and feel his lips against hers so much stronger.

"Your men will be ready and waiting for you at 10 pm." The man spoke, his body tensed as she stepped closer and he continued to stare at her scarred face, with no signs of stopping.

"With all due respect, I am more then capable of doing this on my own. The triads are child's play." She felt her chest burn and flutter. It almost made her sick. She wanted to be ashamed of this. She needed to leave.

"I don't think that is a risk I'm willing to take." He spoke lowly.

Akki couldn't resist anymore. Her gloved hand reached out and grabbed the front of Amon's jacket. Pulling him close, she raised the bottom of his mask and brought her lips up to his. With out hesitation, Amon pressed back passionately. One of his hands trailed up to her neck and into her hair while the other came down to her hip, tracing the outline of the concealed knife before resting on the small of her back.

Akki held on tightly the front of his coat, reaching her free hand up under his hood and in to the thick hair hidden underneath. This kiss felt like it lasted forever but at the same time not long enough. The two broke apart, lightly panting and they watched each other in silence. Amon lightly traced the scar across her face. Much to Akki's own surprise she let him.

Hey guys. After a 6 year hiatus, I've been inspired to continue on with this story. Hopefully some of you are still interested in this, after all it has been a while. Regardless I will continue to upload chapters when I can.