A/N: 30 chapters up in here, alert the press!

Thank you to the guest TDI Fan for being the first FFN reviewer of this story! :D

CW for lots of switching and blendiness that is painful and disorienting at times, as well as an off-screen injury.

Courtney grumbled under her breath as she walked down a street, scrunching the fabric of the garbage robe-jacket-whatever Alejandro had made her wear out to 'cover any familiar traits' like the fact that she was dressed in a disgusting brown-ish green-ish thing and looked miserable while doing it wouldn't call attention to her. If he was going to send someone out he could have picked someone who hadn't recently broken out of jail.

No, no, she couldn't think of it like that. This wasn't punishment for anything. She had a very specific job to do! He was putting trust in her and only her to get it done.

She was hungry though, so she'd be getting something to eat first.

The choice was easy: A local, seedy hole-in-the-wall serving 'the best of the globe's treasures' dating to the earliest years of Republic City that may or may not have been founded by pirates. The cuisine was as varied in taste as it was in origin, but she was there for two things only.

Knocking on the counter three times and signing to the man behind the counter silently, she knew she wouldn't have to pay a thing as she ordered her meal. The joint was under the gracious 'protection' of Hatchet and she would receive the benefits of association.

When she left the place with a half-eaten blueberry cookie in hand, the yells and cries of the jerk who tried to flirt with her before she manipulated his hot ramen broth to splash all over his face and clothes put a small smile on her face.

"I am so sorry that you experienced that, miss," one of the employees stood in the doorway right as she was leaving. "Trying to keep the place in order is like, kinda hard when it's got a rep like it does. We're trying to improve every day! You're always welcome back whenever you're hungry again." He grinned nervously.

"I couldn't care less what your reputation is," she spoke coldly, not really looking at him. "Keep your payments up and there won't be a problem. Besides, I'm not fazed by men like that, they're a dime a dozen." She lazily glanced over and saw his name tag. It read 'Geoff' in scrawly lettering with a smiley face next to it. "You're lucky you make half-decent seaweed soup or this place wouldn't be standing much longer." She walked away, taking another bite of her cookie.

Yeah. That's how powerful people talked to lesser folk.

The soup was good. Tasted like home.

Home.

She shook her head. Not worth it she thought as she trudged along, lost in her own thoughts. Too long of a detour.

Then again, if she got her task done quickly…

What was her task again?

"I'm telling you, my man, this place ain't worth the dirt on the paint job!" a voice passed by and lingered on the air, constantly in motion. Courtney turned and saw a red and gold car that stuck out like a sore thumb zooming down the crumby street. Two men and a woman occupied the vehicle. "What are ya gonna do, smoke them out?"

"From the intelligence we got outta that goofy policeman, they got a pretty interesting prize for the taking if we do it right," the driver replied.

That was all she was able to hear before they were too far away.

That was a Triple Threat vehicle she thought. Didn't Al make a deal with them to stay out of our way? That's what he'd told her, anyway.

Something must have changed their mind.

Or someone.

Now she was worried. She should probably go back to base and see what was going on—

No, no, focus on the task!

What was it again—-?

Zoey stood in the dark and watched the silhouette of whom she thought was Yizo or Mani or whatever his name really was lay still on the ground breathing uncontrollably. She could have turned on the light at any point, and eventually she did, but she just watched for a few minutes. Al must've done a number on him she thought, pulling her glove up further as she felt it slide from being a bit too big for her.

She was more at ease in the shadows. She could get close without people noticing, and it made her feel like she could do anything. Alejandro had told her to watch the prisoner/ new re-recruit first but she had a feeling he'd picked her over Courtney because she'd talked a lot earlier, which was stupid because she made great points but he always talked down to her so was it anything new?

Their breathing unsettled her, that much she knew for sure. Turning on the light made them flinch upward, the whole body rigid and their eyes reddened from crying silently. Then after another second or so they went slack. Their stare at the ground was empty.

Nobody was home.

Zoey took a couple steps towards them but stopped herself further when they started mumbling after closing their eyes. They carefully crossed their legs and clasped their hands together loosely. "A leaf in the wind," they whispered, their voice higher. "We are a leaf…in the wind." They took a breath in and Zoey could have sworn she felt the air move past her like it did when they'd fought in the street.

When their eyes opened again the emptiness was gone but they were looking towards their hands. "We stay centered, we can do anything," they said a bit louder. "Whatever it is that happened is gone away."

Zoey retreated back towards the wall again. What was she supposed to do? He'd freed himself somehow! That wasn't supposed to be possible with the way they'd restrained him, unless Al had wanted something like this to happen…no, that was stupid. He wasn't out to get her. He didn't want Yizo to escape.

I'll just sneak up and zap him again, she decided internally. Should be like taking rock candy from a baby badgermole. He doesn't even see me!

That was when she was swept off her feet.

Literally. A gust of wind pushed her off her feet and she fell to a sitting position on the floor, yelping at the impact.

"I might not know my location but that doesn't make me unaware of my surroundings," 'Mike' remarked, not even glancing at her as they stood up.

"How did you do that again? Is that some sort of weird advanced fire bending thing?!" Zoey asked annoyedly while also confused and scrambling to stand again until she fell once more.

"I don't owe you a word of information," they responded. "Not after you attacked me."

"You would've been arrested again if I hadn't knocked you out, dumby, you should know that." Insulting him was probably a bad idea. She was squaring her shoulders more and maintaining her angry face that she'd always been taught to so that people would take her seriously.

They finally looked at her properly. Their eyes swirled in a way they never had, sparkling dimly under the artificial light. It was weirdly mesmerizing; she'd almost forgotten she'd found them attractive at first glance. "I don't have the energy to take any jabs from angry girls right now. Let's just not go down that road right now," they suggested.

"You can't tell me what to do. I'll say whatever I want, you're the prisoner here," Zoey pointed out while also physically pointing at him.

"I am not restrained. Are you sure I'm really the prisoner?" they pondered.

"You were supposed to be restrained, but you got out somehow, and that wasn't supposed to happen," she insisted. "So I'm here to make sure you don't go anywhere."

"You can certainly try to restrain me again," they challenged her. "You'll fail, but you can try."

So he was going to be like that, huh?

Fine.

He asked for it.

Several seconds later she was flat on her back, the wind momentarily knocked out of her.

They stood over her and looked down at her face. "You're new to livin' under, huh," they figured. "I bet you ain't seen nothing break your schoolgirl streak yet." His fiery eyes were tired. "That's how they all start, yo. It'll happen sooner than later and you won't get out til they run you into the ground or you lose it on your own." Vito shook his head and turned away from her.

"What…" she gasped as she found the ability to breathe again, "are you talking about…?"

"You got nothing out there waitin' for you. No one lookin', I bet. No one'll care when Al decides you ain't worth a copper piece to replace," Vito continued.

That made her angry. "What gives you the right to talk to me like that?" she asked. "You don't know anything!" She had someone who'd look for her if he could, but he was busy doing time.

"I was you once, yo," Vito responded, his arms crossed, shoulders tensed and a growly undertone to his words. "Mindless muscle. Protectin' people who didn't care nothing if I were to go up in my own flames and crumble into dust."

"They'd care! They do care, you jerk!" she refused to hear him, sitting up and moving to stand. "And Alejandro cares enough to want you back here too!"

Vito grabbed his head with his hands, feeling a sudden throbbing sensation that made him feel dizzy. "What he and I had goin'…ain't your business, hnngh, yo…." he spoke through the pain, ending up on one knee. "I didn't leave…for no reason…gah…!" His hands fell and pressed into the floor, emitting a small wave of flames in front of him alongside a smaller, secondary wave from his mouth. "Spirits o' the Islands, I can't be doin' this right now, it hurts." His instinct was to tear through the floor with his claws and burn the whole place down while he did it but he couldn't do that. They weren't sharp enough and that blond raggedy figure he saw spottily on occasion wasn't around inside, he couldn't hear him. He would've been able to help, maybe. Vito didn't know for sure; he had a feeling more than anything else, but a really strong one.

Zoey finally stood again. "Alejandro talks about you like there isn't a whole nation and a half of people who can do what you do. What you were able to accomplish." She grabbed the back of the half-Air Acolyte uniform he was still wearing and made him look up at her. "You've been replaced five times over. What's so special about you anyway?" She activated her glove.

"I don' pretend… to be what I ain't," Vito replied through gritted and smoking teeth. He wasn't fighting back; the world was criss-crossing in front of him and he was slipping away, he could feel it.

"And what are you, exactly?" she pressed.

"…not stupid enough to let you charge us up again," he replied before taking a breath in and accidentally coughing out fire that flew upward towards her face.

That wasn't part of the plan he'd thought of in about a second.

She was fine. The flames didn't go that high.

Right?

Okay I do this thing with chapter milestones sometimes where I ask questions to the audience about the story to answer in reviews since this is about the halfway mark of the currently finished chapters. Here we go:

1. Favorite/least favorite chapter? Why?

2. Favorite/least favorite character(s) in the story? Why?

3. You got this far. What's kept you reading?

Feel free to answer these or leave any other feedback in a review. Onward to the next 30-odd chapters!