Chapter 7: Rookie

"Oh, great. It's you again."

"I was able to trace my phone to an AirShare," Azula smiled vindictively as she strutted up to Officer Hide's desk. "Now, while I'm fully prepared to confront the thief myself, I'd rather do things above board, with a police escort."

"None of the officers have time to deal with this alleged petty theft," he sneered coldly. "We have much larger fish to fry. There are some real dirtbags out there."

Her gaze remained unyielding. "Yes, I can see that."

His eyes narrowed. "Do you have something you'd like to say to me, little Miss? Because I'd think real carefully about your next words."

While Azula wanted nothing more than to set his stupid face on fire, she knew better than to threaten a cop. Thankfully, the young rookie cop from the back desk intervened.

"I'll escort them."

"No, you will not," Officer Hide barked.

"Then I'll take my lunch break," she smirked, rising from her desk and exiting through a door in the back. She met Azula and Sokka on the other side of the plexiglass screen. "Be back in an hour!"

Defeated, Officer Hide muttered something to himself as he walked away toward a vending machine.

"Don't worry about him. He's a raging asshole. You're in much better hands now," she assured, deliberately cracking her knuckles.

"Thank you so much for doing this for me," Azula said, following the rookie officer out of the station. "I'm Azula, and this is my friend, Sokka, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The name's Toph. Just to get all the pleasantries out of the way, yes, I'm blind. Yes, I can 'see'. With earthbending. No, I can't drive. I mean, I can, but you probably don't want me to, and the pedestrians definitely don't want me to. So, who's driving?"

"I guess that would be me!" Sokka opened the front passenger door and helped Toph in.

"Alright, let's roll!"

During the drive over, Toph was able to identify the owner of the AirShare, as well as the current guest, well, in this case, guests. Chan and Ruon-Jian. While "Chan" didn't ring any bells, Azula had vaguely remembered her one-time paramour referring to his friend as Ruon-Jian. So Chan it was. A lackluster name for a lackluster lover.

"This will be a piece of cake," Toph grinned, eyeing the front door as if contemplating kicking it in.

"Uh, shouldn't we get the passcode from the owner before we barge in?" Sokka interjected.

"No. It will be way more fun this way, trust me."

"Wh-What if they're home?"

"Relax, I have a gun."

"You do?!"

"No!" she cackled. "And they're not. I can feel it. Now be quiet while I pick this lock."

"I don't know about this." Sokka cast a nervous glance at Azula.

"Well," she shrugged, "she is a cop. Maybe we should just let her do her job."

"I guess…"

"That's the spirit!" With a confident smile and a strong stance, Toph raised her arm, extending it straight in front of her towards the door. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With just a few quick turns of her hand, she effortlessly disassembled the lock.

Azula and Sokka stared at her, utterly stunned.

"Oh yeah, did I forget to mention I'm a metalbender?"

"Umm, yeah!" Sokka answered. "That was so cool!"

"Yeah, I am pretty cool."

Azula nodded with approval. "I wish I could do that."

"Me too!"

"As much as I'm enjoying your much-deserved praise, let's go get your stuff back." Toph swung the door open.