A/N: CW for canon-typical violence.

Enjoy!

"How did we end up in jail again? You said you had it under control!" Mike hissed into the aether as he sat in the cell, cuffed once again on his hands and feet. He'd been in and out of awareness for a while, but was finally feeling present again.

He heard something along the lines of 'Chief pushing the wrong buttons' or something, not sure who was saying it within his headspace. His lips were cracky from being too dry, and there was a bit of reddened skin around the edges that was tender to the touch, not that he could touch it. There was a new bruise on one of his arms too. "I guess it's better than the alternative for now…"

"Long time no see!" Duncan the guard said sarcastically from the other side of the cell, leaning on the bars casually. "I see your little vacation has come to an end, huh. You staying longer this time?"

"No idea. Are you trying to grow a beard? It looks…kinda pathetic, if I'm being honest," Mike shot back at him.

"Woah, uncalled for! And it's more of a goatee situation, thank you very much," Duncan huffed, adjusting his uniform helmet. "Not gonna take criticism from a prisoner."

"You should shave it, you looked much more intimidating without a blob on your face."

"Hey! Quit harassing your guard, scum. Burning that hallway means you lost your talk back privileges," another guard yelled at him.

"I burned a hallway?" You burned a hallway, Vito?!

"Someone else did, but that's irrelevant now," Beifong interrupted, opening the cell and standing him up. "I've found officers to go with you on this mission. Don't mess with them."

"What mission?! I was visiting Dwayne and Junior, then I'm in jail, now suddenly I'm being dragged along somewhere?"

"If it makes you feel any better, it was your firebender friend's idea."

"He didn't leave any notice of something like that…"

"Too late for that, then. You'll be briefed before you leave."

Mike was frazzled. The closer he got to the point he was told to go to, the more he felt the others trying to push their way out so they could turn them around. He took several wrong turns and tripped a little at one point but didn't fall.

The two officers Beifong had brought were waiting in hiding spots he wasn't aware of, as they had vanished quickly after entering the area. It was a normal street not far from the fruit shop's remains, but it was weirdly quiet. There had always been some noise in the area before, some radio blaring along or people arguing several doors down.

Where had everyone gone?

He stopped in front of the fruit stand and surveyed the damage. The entire facade that sold the fruit had been demolished, stains of fruit juice still on the ground and smelling bad from days of not being mopped up. Everything looked damp.

He took a deep breath, ignoring the painful anger and guilt he was feeling that gave him a headache and made the fogginess worse. He should've been here, he could've stopped them.

"The fruit wasn't any good, there's nothing to grieve over," an unfamiliar voice spoke behind him.

He turned his head and looked. A girl not much older than him was standing there. He was immediately reminded of Korra, as she had that air of haughty arrogance about her and also had some of her hair in Water Tribe-esque loops. "I thought it was good…" he said, trailing off as alarm bells rang in his head, adding to the noise that made him want to lie down.

"That must've made you so sick, eating something as disgusting as expired melons," a second voice cut in. Another girl emerged from behind Mike, she looked younger than her comrade. Her face makeup was messy, and she kept her hands behind her back.

"I told you to wait for the signal," the first girl said annoyedly between her teeth.

"They didn't say he'd be cute, Court, level with me here," the second replied in a similar manner.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "You're so unprofessional, Zoey, we're supposed to be intimidating."

"I am not of the best hearing. Could you speak up?" 'Mike' suddenly asked politely, tapping their foot as the two bickered. These two matched the descriptions Junior had given perfectly. "You have something to say, so say it."

"You must be the kid Hatchet won't shut up about…he's never used the same name for you twice," Zoey replied, looking them up and down and, admittedly, liking what she saw. "Deserter. Pain in his side. Infuriating."

"Indisposable," Courtney added, popping open a vial that was attached to her belt.

"Yeah, yeah, that too," Zoey said with a dismissive wave of one of her hands. The other was still obscured.

"I have the money to pay off what Dwayne owes, there's no need for violent things," 'Mike' assured them. "And Hatchet can leave them alone."

"This doesn't work like that. It's not that easy," Courtney insisted, bending the water from the vial. "He's got a few words for you." She felt her control on the water weaken immediately. "So you're going to come with us."

'Mike' laughed.

Neither expected them to laugh. "What's so funny?" Courtney asked, confused.

"You two are so silly," 'Mike' said with a humorous grin. "You think really that you can intimidate me?" The air grew closer to the pair. "I should feel sorry for you, but this is just too funny!" They weren't attacking.

"Stop laughing! This isn't a joke!" Courtney huffed. "Fine, you want to do this the hard way?" She gave Zoey 'the signal' and quickly began creating a fog cover out of the water she had, except she couldn't get very far with it.

Zoey didn't wait to move in and strike, leading with her previously hidden hand. It was covered by a very thick, electrically buzzing glove that glowed.

'Mike' dispelled the fog with a quick gust of air. They swished away from Zoey's very dangerous hand, barely, and did a twist that caused her to stumble from the sudden push from the wind.

"That wind, it can't be…" Courtney said as she gathered whatever remaining water was left in the air and in her vial and shot it in a blast towards them in the hopes of tripping them for Zoey to neutralize. "Al said he was a firebender!"

"You want to see fire? I am not sure if I can arrange that, we shall have to see!" 'Mike' said before leaping into the air and doing a flip that led to air being shot from their feet, avoiding the watery blast.

The two were pushed back further, causing Courtney to lose her grip on the water again and having it fall to the ground with a sploosh!

'Mike' landed on the ground, much further back than before. They blinked rapidly. "No, too much wood around, it will be worse than the roof, I can—wait a second—" They were still for a few moments.

"Now, Zoey! Get him!" Courtney demanded.

"Right, right—" Zoey had been minorly transfixed. She shook out of it and advanced rapidly.

"I got us this mess, yo, I'm fixin it," Vito growled, shoving his hair out of his face with both hands; it had blown in front of it following the landing. "We ain't running again." His mouth was already emitting a steady stream of smoke, as were his fingertips.

Zoey tried to dash behind him and hit his back with her glove. He had already slid out of the way and left a trail of flames in his wake followed by a one-two from his hands that were semi clenched in a sort of clawed fashion. Her hair was singed and she barely dodged the majority of the fire. "You can crawl back to Hatchet and tell 'm I ain't interested in his words no more," he snarled at the two, sending another wave of flames their way.

"So he is a firebender, we do have the right guy!" Zoey figured, breathing heavily and coughing from the smoke that continued to engulf them.

"We're not leaving without you passed out on the ground," Courtney bit back at him.

Vito cracked his knuckles. "Ya ladies got your little heads twisted 'round too many times." He extended his hand and formed a sizeable ball of fire just above it. "That's what he does, yo. Hits you where you're weak." He chucked the fireball into the air. "And I ain't weak no more." He jumped up and kicked the ball of fire, sending it hurtling towards them til it burst, surrounding them with a circle of flames, trapping them.

"Wh-what sort of move is that?!" Courtney said, startled and unable to even think about trying to counter. "You didn't even hit us, coward!"

Vito laughed, small flames escaping his mouth between his sharp teeth. "I learned from one of the best firebenders there is. She's so crazy she a genius." He stepped through the ring of fire. "I coulda done so much worse, yo." He sent a very quick shot of fire into the sky, signaling the officers that had accompanied them there.

The sounds of metallic wires quickly enveloped the three. One wrapped around Vito, knocking him to the ground. He gasped before gritting his teeth and jerking his head to look up. "Ey yo, why you taking me down too?!" he yelled as the two officers descended.

He didn't get an answer before everything went dark.

Leave a review if you want, see ya next time folks-