A/N; A good porion of this chapter is inspired by Absolute Trust by Urbanator93

FUEL

(JET)

It had been a few days since the pirates situation and the group was currently in a forest which for some reason had a lot of red leaves. Shinra walked around while Momo flew overhead, chasing a bug.

Something about the forest and forests in general always calmed Shinra. He could remember randomly walking out of the village on his days off just to wander in the surrounding forest. It just felt so.. peaceful, so right. Sure, there'd be wild animals lurking of course but besides that, Shinra loved just walking around or sitting in the forest.

While musing, he managed to catch sight of Momo running towards a stack of lychees on the floor. From personal experience while training with Kakashi, Shinra immediately realized those lychees were too conveniently placed.

"Momo, don't touch those!" Shinra screamed but of course it was too late. The lemur had already jumped towards them and immediately set off a trap, lifting Momo into the trees alongside two animals that were also trapped in separate traps.

"Shit.. the lemurs would all be extinct if Momo was from world" Shinra immediately pulled out a shuriken and threw it at the ropes holding the traps, causing all three to fall to the ground. Shinra then went ahead to free the animals as the rest of the team finally came along looking for him and Momo.

"Fire Nation traps" Sokka said, looking them over. "You can tell from the metalwork. We better pack up camp and keep moving"

Everyone agreed and packed up their stuff to keep moving, but stopped loading their luggage onto Appa when Sokka spoke up. "Nuh-uh, no flying this time"

"Why not?" Shinra asked. "Flying is literally our fastest means of transportation"

"Think about it, somehow Prince Zuko and the fire Nation keep finding us" Sokka explained. "It's cause they spot Appa, he's too noticeable"

"No he's not" Katara replied.

"He's a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head, it's kinda hard to miss him" Sokka pointed out. Appa growled in response.

"Sokka's just jealous cause he doesn't have an arrow " Aang petted the bison.

"I know you all want to fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe and walk" Sokka insisted.

"You realize most of the times we get spotted is cause we stay somewhere too long or someone rats us out.. right? That isn't Appa's fault" Shinra pointed out. Aang nodded in agreement. "If getting spotted in the sky is our problem then I could easily disguise Appa as a cloud. There's a technique for that"

"That would mean you'd be using a lot of your chakra" Sokka countered. "It's too risky. Shinra, you're one of our heavy hitters. You'd need enough chakra for us to last in case there's a fight"

"Yeah, that's fair" Shinra conceded shrug. He didn't have the strength to argue anyway.

"Wait a minute, who made you the boss?" Katara asked.

"I'm not the boss, I'm the leader" Sokka pointed to himself. Shinra and Katara snorted.

"You're the leader? Your voice still cracks" Katara replied.

"I'm the oldest and I'm a warrior, so I'm the leader" Sokka's voice cracked at the first part and he tried to deepen it at the second, causing Shinra to almost burst out laughing.

"Actually Aang's the oldest," Shinra pointed out. "112 years is a massive gap"

"And he's the Avatar" Katara added.

"Are you kidding? He's just a goofy kid" Sokka replied. They all looked at Aang who was messing around with Appa.

"He's right!" The Airbender said. "Besides, Shinra has way more training and battle experience than all of us. He should be the leader"

"No thank you" Shinra quickly dodged the offer. "I doubt I can handle that much responsibility. Sounds like work"

"Plus you're not even from this world, you don't know what to expect like I do" Sokka once again pointed to himself.

"Before we met you, you spent most your life in an isolated village with barely more than ten people in it" Shinra replied, his usual bored expression on his face.

"Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?" Katara asked. "I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl"

"I've kissed a girl, you just haven't met her" Sokka defended.. badly.

"Riiiight" Shinra replied.

"Who? Gran Gran? I've met Gran Gran" Katara smirked.

"No, besides her! Look my point is that my instincts tell me we shouldn't fly and a leader has to trust his instincts" Sokka insisted.

"Except no one agreed to you being leader" Shinra replied.

"You don't have to, fact is fact" Sokka folded his arms. "And the fact is that I'm the leader and no one else"

"Then we'll do it your way of wise leader" Katara replied sarcastically.

Shinra looked at her. "He's gonna get us killed"

"Yep" she nodded.

"Cheer up, guys" Aang said. "Who knows? Walking might be fun!"

"Walking stinks!" Aang complained, not even ten minutes later. "How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?"

"I don't know, Aang" Katara replied. "Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know everything"

"Haha, very funny" Sokka rolled his eyes.

Shinra was just as tired, hell even more tired than them. He didn't ask for this, but he wasn't about to join the complaining. He got enough of that already from the the tailed beast in his stomach. The boy tuned them out for a bit to keep deliberating about their situation and his own potential choices in this war.

He was brought back out of his head by Sokka pushing past some bushes to reveal that they'd walked right into a Fire Nation camp.

Without a second thought, Shinra immediately kicked Sokka in the gut. "Thanks a lot, leader!"

Before the group could do anything else, the soldiers bent fire at the same bush they'd come from, cutting them off.

"If you let us pass,we promise not to hurt you" Sokka said to the soldiers.

"You promise not to hurt us?" A soldier with an eyepatch mocked.

Shinra immediately spawned a clone and they were both about to rush at the soldiers when the one who'd taunted them immediately fell over.

"Nice job, Shinra" Aang complimented. "How'd you do that?"

"Uh.. I didn't do anything" the ninja looked just as confused.

"Look!" Katara pointed. In the trees stood a kid about their age stood with two hook swords.

Shinra tilted his head for a split second before charging at the Fire Nation soldiers again, his clone pulling out a kunai while the original decided this was a good time to sharpen his wind release even more. He blocked and dodged the soldiers with Firebending while his clone focused on the ones holding spears.

The kid ran towards two soldiers, taking them both down with his hook swords. "Down ya go"

That had to be the cockiest tone Shinra had ever heard.

The other members of team Avatar finally stepped in after watching for a few seconds. Aang was confused, Sokka was suspicious and Katara was fully amazed.

Shinra swept a soldier's leg and quickly hit another with a hook kick to the jaw when he realized more kids were getting involved. A kid with a bow and arrow, a really little one that didn't look more than ten, a girl who had a lot of warpaint on while using a knife and a huge guy who fought with a log.

The ninja felt heat behind him and backflipped just in time to dodge a fireball. The boy immediately faced the soldier who did it and rushed him, hitting him square in the chest with the Gale Palm and sending the man crashing into a tree.

Turning around, Shinra noticed one of the soldiers try to attack the boy with hook swords. Luckily the kid caught him in time, spun and disarmed the soldier by sending his spear into another soldier that Sokka was trying to deal with.

"Man!" The water tribe boy complained.

Another soldier tried to attack the hook sword guy from behind but Shinra quickly threw a kunai at the man, much to his surprise. In an instant, the kunai dispersed in a puff of smoke to reveal a clone who immediately fired air bullets at the soldier, sending him far back into the forest.

"And stay out!" Shinra yelled as the soldiers retreated.

"You're good" hook swords complimented.

"Thanks, you too" Shinra nodded. The kid then went over to Katara.

"Hey" he smiled at her.

"Hi" Katara.. blushed?

"You took out almost a whole army singlehandedly" Aang was amazed.

"Army? They were only like twenty guys!" Sokka scoffed.

"Twenty four " Shinra corrected.

"My name is Jet and these are my freedom fighters" the boy pointed to the kids who joined him in fighting.

"Sneers" the kid with the topknot.

"Longshot" the guy with the bow.

"Smellerbee" the girl with the dagger.

"The Duke" the small kid.

"And pipsqueak" the gigantic guy.

"That's a nice dagger" Shinra nodded at Smellerbee. "And you use it really well"

He wasn't kidding, it was nicely crafted steel with a gold hilt and a loop on the pommel. It looked like a cross between a regular knife and his own chakra saber.

"Thanks" She smirked at him.

"You think my name is funny?"

Shinra turned to see Aang being faced by pipsqueak.

"It's hilarious" Aang smiled, not in the slightest bit afraid.

The huge boy immediately started laughing along with Aang, accidentally knocking the Airbender down while doing so.

While the freedom fighters cleared out the Fire Nation camp, Shinra sat under a tree with his eyes closed as he tried to take in as much serenity as he could get. Unbeknownst to him, a certain member of the freedom fighters was taking glances as him while she worked. Jet sat not too far from the ninja and watched his group work.

"Hey, Jet" Katara walked up to him. "Thanks for saving us. We're lucky you were there"

Shinra's eyes opened.

'What the– we've spent weeks together and Katara really thought I couldn't handle this?'

"We should be thanking you" Jet said. "We were waiting to ambush those soldiers all morning. We just needed the perfect distraction, little did we know you guys had a one man ambush machine of your own"

"If you were gonna ambush them then you should've had the distraction planned out already" Shinra said, almost absentmindedly. "Or just overwhelmed them with the shock value of jumping out of the trees"

Jet shot the boy a weird look. Katara gave him a glare.

"Well, we were relying on instinct" Katara glared at her brother.

"You'll get yourself killed doing that" Jet remarked as Sokka walked away.

"Hey, Jet these barrels are filled with blasting jelly" the Duke called.

"That's a great score" Jet replied.

"And these boxes are filled with jelly candy" Pipsqueak called.

"Also good, let's not get those mixed up" Jet slowly got up.

"We'll take this stuff back to the hideout" The Duke said.

"You guys have a hideout?" Aang asked.

"You wanna see it?" Jet asked.

"Yes we want to see it!" Katara immediately perked up.

'This is Sakura all over again...' Shinra rolled his eyes.

After a while of walking through the forest, Jet stopped them. "We're here"

"There's nothing here" Sokka shrugged.

Jet handed him a rope "Hold this"

"Why? What does this do?" Sokka asked before immediately being pulled upwards into the leaves above.

"A hideout in the trees.." Shinra looked up. "Smart"

"Yep" Jet nodded. "You wanna go next?"

Shinra smiled. "I think I got it"

With that, the ninja immediately started running up the tree after Sokka. Thankfully, his chakra control had become more refined.

"Shinra, wait up!" Aang leapt after his friend.

All the freedom fighters were surprised but Smellerbee was the one who asked. "He can stick to trees?"

"He has lots of powers" Katara answered. Jet looked up at where the boy had gone with an unreadable expression while the others looked impressed.. even longshot.

Shinra looked around at the hideout once he got there. It was basically a village up there.

"A village hidden in the leaves..."

The ninja snorted at the lameness of his own joke as the others made it to the top. He noticed Katara holding onto Jet a little too closely. He almost let out a gag for multiple reasons. First, this whole scenario reminded him of Sakura's annoyingly obsessive crush on Sasuke. Second, did she have any idea that Aang liked her?

"It's beautiful up here" Katara said.

"It's beautiful and more importantly the Fire Nation can't find us" Jet replied.

"They would love to find you, wouldn't they, Jet?" Smellerbee smirked.

"It's not gonna happen, Smellerbee" Jet had a smirk of his own.

"Why does the Fire Nation want to find you?" Katara asked as they a walked.

"I guess you could say I've been causing them a little trouble" Jet replied cheekily. "See, they took over a nearby Earth Kingdom town a few years back"

"We've been ambushing their troops, cutting off their supply lines and doing anything we can to mess with em" Pipsqueak spoke up.

"One day, we'll drive the Fire Nation out of here for good and free that town" Jet said.

Shinra could barely keep himself from rolling his eyes. From what he'd seen, the Fire Nation would stop at nothing to find anyone they chased after. If they hadn't found Jet it was most likely cause they didn't deem him important enough to even look for. Zuko almost burned Kyoshi Island to the ground, what was stopping the rest of the fire Nation from razing this forest to smoke these kids out?

"Again, you could just come up with a solid plan to go in there and fight off the soldiers directly" Shinra shrugged, earning another look from Jet.

"Exactly!" Sokka said. Katara was shooting them both a glare that told them to be quiet. Shinra however wasn't really phased and just shrugged again, tuning them out as they started talking more about the fire nation.

'Kid'

'Yo'

'Be careful with this Jet guy, I can sense a lot of negative emotions from him. They're buried but they're still there'

'Thanks, Fox'

--

The group then joined the freedom fighters for dinner at a long table in the middle of the hideout.

"Today," Jet raised his cup. "We struck another blow against the Fire Nation swine"

Everyone but Sokka and Shinra cheered. Shinra couldn't help but start to get tired of this kid's ego. Maybe it was due to his training and past battles but they ambushed one small group of soldiers in a forest and stole their stuff.. that was far from a significant blow if the Fire Nation was about to take over the entire world.

"Now the Fire Nation thinks they don't have to be scared of a couple of kids hiding in the trees" Jet said. "Maybe they're right"

The kids booed at that.

"Or maybe... they're dead wrong" Jet finished in a menacing tone. The kids cheered as he walked over and sat next to Katara.

"Nice speech, Jet" Katara complimented.

"Thanks" Jet said. "By the way I was really impressed with you three. That was some great bending I saw out there today"

"Well, Aang's great. He's the Avatar" Katara blushed. "I could use some more training. Shinra was holding back"

"Avatar huh? Very nice" Jet smirked before turning to Shinra. "So what about you?"

"Huh?" Shinra turned to Jet. He genuinely hadn't been listening to anything going on.

"What are you, Shinra? How can you Airbend if the Avatar is supposed to be the last one? And what did Katara mean by holding back?" Jet narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'm a ninja and I'm not restricted to just air" Shinra replied flatly.

"A ninja?" Jet furrowed his eyebrows. "What's that?"

"He uses elements like we do with bending" Katara stepped quickly. "But his powers work differently"

"So what else can you use other than air and cloning?" Jet asked almost mockingly.

"He can use lightning" Aang spoke up casually. "That's why Katara said he held back"

There was dead silence in the hideout for at least five seconds, all the kids staring at Shinra.

"What?" The ninja shrugged, very uncomfortable with the sudden attention.

"You can bend lightning?" Jet asked, Shinra could see a spark of rage in his eyes. The nine tails was right.

"Yeah" Shinra nodded with total honesty.

"Firebender!" One of the kids said. The freedom fighters immediately picked up their weapons.

"Will you people stop labelling me a firebender already?" Shinra was honestly tired of this. First Zuko, then the Kyoshi warriors and now these urchins. "I use lightning, yes but it doesn't mean I'm from the Fire Nation or even a firebender. I'm not even from this world, damnit!"

"It's true, he's not" Katara vouched for him.

"Well I guess if you're with the Avatar, you can't be a firebender" Jet said. "I guess you're alright"

Shinra studied the room, there was still a lot of tension as the kids all looked uneasy. He knew when he wasn't wanted. The boy let out a sigh.

"If it's that much of a problem, I'll leave" Shinra stood up.

"I second that" Sokka stood up as well. "We need to get moving anyway"

"Sokka, you're kidding me" Jet said. "I needed you on an important mission tomorrow"

"What mission?" He asked.

Shinra shook his head a little, knowing Sokka was on board as soon as he heard about a mission.

"I'll stay with Appa" Shinra placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder.

The ninja took one last look at everyone in the room, he could tell Katara wanted to say something but didn't. He then walked out.

Shinra thought about what'd just happened.. that was random. He understood the Fire Nation caused a lot of pain and apparently lightning was a deadly subset of firebending in this world.. but what he saw in Jet's expression was pure aggression.. something he usually noticed with Sasuke.

Something about Jet seemed wrong.. okay, everything about him seemed wrong. The ego was definitely a huge thing that stuck out, but something else seemed wrong.. like Jet was hiding something. Shinra could feel it and the nine tails himself even sensed it.

He walked on the bridge and towards the zip lines. He almost made it when he felt someone rushing him from behind, causing him to weave out of the way instinctively.

"What the fu-" Turning around, Shinra was faced with Jet whose calm look was replaced with the furious one he saw earlier. "What is your problem"

Without answering, Jet charged at him again but this time Shinra kicked him back easily.

"Will you fucking stop already?!" Shinra looked at the older teen. "I said I'm going!"

Jet immediately brandished his hook swords, maintaining his glare on the boy.

Shinra sighed. "It's always the ones girls fawn over"

Jet immediately rushed towards the boy and slashed, only for Shinra to immediately block with a kunai. Jet kept attacking while Shinra kept parrying, dodging and blocking with a pair of kunai. He could've easily knocked jet out with a lightning blade but it would be way too loud, he didn't need to start fighting a bunch of forest kids.. speaking of which, how was nobody in the treehouse hearing this?!

Shinra connected a roundhouse to Jet's midsection, followed by an elbow to his jaw, causing the older teen to slam into one of the trees.

"What is your deal?!" Shinra breathed heavily.

"You're good.. but I'm not going down without a fight " Jet was still slumped against the tree. Shinra was about to reply when.

"Jet, what's taking you so long— Shinra what're you doing?!"

Shinra turned around to see Katara staring at him.

"Why are you attacking Jet?!" She demanded.

"Attacking him?! I was defending myself, this maniac was trying to kill me!" Shinra pointed at him.

"Katara.." Jet groaned out, holding the spot where Shinra kicked him.

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Shinra deadpanned.

"Shinra, mind your language" Katara glared at him. By this time, Aang, Sokka and the other freedom fighters had come out of the treehouse to see what was happening. "Jet came out here to check on you and this is how you act?"

Shinra was in open mouthed shock over how quickly Katara would really just believe Jet.. someone she'd literally met less than three hours ago over him. How did she fall for this bastard's words so easily?

The water tribe girl pushed past Shinra to help Jet back to his feet, the leader of the freedom fighters still had a false expression of hurt on his face.

"Katara will you just listen to me–" Shinra started

"I don't wanna hear anything from you" she cut him off.

The ninja let out a sigh and pursed his lips. He could've sworn he saw Jet smirk as she lead him back to the treehouse. He knew the other freedom fighters were glaring at him for hurting their leader but honestly, that was the last thing he cared about right now.

The boy put both of the kunai back in his pouch and jumped back down the branches.

As he got closer to the ground, Shinra felt weird.. tired. But this wasn't chakra exhaustion. In just a few seconds, he was barely able to make it to the ground without falling over. What the fuck was happening?!

Shinra took a few steps and leaned onto a tree to keep himself steady.

He was about to call for Appa at the very least before he felt his vision begin to dim. Within three more seconds, Shinra fell with a thud.

It felt like an eternity till Shinra finally regained consciousness. And when he did, he woke up with a massive headache. As he tried to touch his head, he realized he couldn't move. His hands were tied behind his back. As he finally opened his eyes, he could barely see anything except that he was in a wooden room, tied to a pole and seated on the ground. Was he in a treehouse?

"What the fuck..."

"Oh you're awake"

Shinra raised his head to see Jet walking into his field of vision, that unmistakable look of hatred in his eyes. That same one Shinra always got from the villagers as a kid.

"Don't bother trying to escape" Jet said, raising a familiar item in his left hand; Shinra's weapon pouch. "I got all your weapons and the drug that knocked you out cuts off all bending for hours"

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you?" Shinra rasped out.

"I know you're an assassin sent by the Fire Nation so I have something special planned for you" Jet said. "Travelling with the Avatar to lure me into a false sense of security was a smart idea. But you'll never take me down.. it'll never happen"

"You don't mean shit to the Fire Nation" Shinra spoke. "I'm sure they barely know you exist. You have no idea what it's like to be hunted by those maniacs. I haven't spent that long here, but I'm sure if they wanted to, they would've taken you out a long time ago. You don't even have the balls to fight the soldiers in that town head on"

Shinra's vision immediately flashed white as Jet's fist flew across his face.

"You really should watch your mouth" Jet kept speaking, his sentences being punctuated by punches. "I'm doing this to protect your friends from you. So you don't betray them like all you evil firebenders would".

Despite each blow, Shinra kept raising his head and looking at the older boy with an almost annoying level of defiance. Jet added a hard kick to the younger kid's for good measure.

By the time Jet stopped, Shinra had gotten a very bruise over his left eye and a bloodied lip. The older teen then grabbed his hair and forced Shinra to look at him.

"As for freeing that town, I already have the perfect plan" Jet stated. "I'm going to get your so-called friends to fill the reservoir and then I'll blow the dam, washing away all the fire Nation swine. And then, you're next"

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Shinra's eyes widened. "No, I'll rephrase that; you are out of your fucking mind!"

Unfortunately, Shinra's snarkiness cost him another punch; a savage blow to his neck. The boy spat blood onto the wooden floor before looking up at Jet again.

"Three things..." Shinra let out a pained chuckle as blood trailed down his lip.

Jet furrowed his eyebrows. What was this kid laughing at.

"One... your obsession and short sightedness is gonna get you killed one day" Shinra said. "Two... Next time you wanna capture a Ninja... Keep the hands apart"

Before Jet could even reply, a swift kick met his head, sending him to the floor. The teen looked to the direction where the hit had come from to see a second Shinra standing over him. Jet was in shock and immediately pulled out his swords.

"Put it down, Jet" the clone warned, almost nonchalant.

Jet completely ignored of course and ran straight for the copy who immediately conjured a lightning blade in his right hand. The clone had the speed advantage and met Jet in the middle, hitting him right in the shoulder and having blue lightning be the last thing Jet saw before passing out.

As Jet fell to the floor, Shinra cut himself loose with a kunai he hid in his vest. "Three.. chi and chakra don't work the same way, you dumb fuck"

He felt the nine tails start to slowly heal his wounds.

"Stop, not yet" Shinra whispered. "I need these as proof"

"We gotta tell the others what he's planning" the clone spoke.

"They'll never believe us" Shinra shook his head. "Especially after what happened a couple hours ago"

"So what do we do?" The copy asked.

"If we don't make it in time, we head to the town and get everyone out, both soldiers and civilians" Shinra said. "If the soldiers don't listen, we use force. But we need to wait it out.. if Jet wakes up he'll probably make his minions go on a manhunt for me. Plus we don't even know when he plans to blow the dam. It could be anywhere from three days to three weeks from now. For now we don't move till we have all the info"

"Anything else?" The clone asked.

"We need Sokka"

As Shinra jumped from branch to branch, he went over everything that'd happened all over again in his head. For one, Jet was obviously fucking nuts. Two, people's lives were heavily at risk. How would he prove that to Katara and Aang though?

Wait a minute.. if there were no explosives to begin with, Jet won't even be able to blow up the dam... Shinra had an idea.

Once Shinra got to the treehouse, he ignored the looks he got from the kids and walked into the hut where he'd remembered they packed their things. Luckily it was still the early hours of the morning and he'd walked in right on time as Sokka seemed to be getting ready to step out

"Sokka" Shinra said softly. The water tribe boy turned towards him and his mouth fell open at the sight in front of him.

"What happened to you?" Sokka slowly walked towards him.

"Jet happened" Shinra replied flatly. "He drugged me and fucked me up... I'd rather not go over the details right now. Jet's gonna blow the dam and destroy the whole town nearby just to take out a couple Fire Nation soldiers"

"He's gonna what?!" Sokka's eyes went wide. "When?!"

"I don't know, he's knocked out right now so our safest bet is probably tomorrow" Shinra said. "You have to keep Jet distracted.. buy as much time as possible. I was gonna warn the townspeople but I might need to get all that blasting jelly as far away as I can"

"What about Aang and Katara?" Sokka asked.

"You saw how Katara acted when she saw me and Jet fighting" Shinra sighed. "That'll just cause more fighting. Where are they now?"

"Probably just wandering around the hideout, Katara's probably looking for Jet" Sokka shrugged.

"Okay that's what I thought" Shinra sighed. "Just keep your eyes peel during the mission alright?

Sokka nodded. "Good luck"

"You too, man" Shinra nodded before heading out.

After getting back on the ground, Shinra found the spot hidden in the bushes where Jet stashed away the blasting jelly, thankfully the barrels were all placed in the same cart.

Shinra summoned three clones and they all started moving the cart away from the vicinity. He wondered how far they'd have to take it before it was safe enough to blow it up.

Shinra had barely gone too far before running into a few of the freedom fighters.. specifically longshot and the Duke.

"What're you doing?!" The Duke yelled. Longshot's eyes hardened.

"I'm guessing your psychotic leader already told you a twisted version of what happened" Shinra tilted his head. "I'm keeping that colony safe from him and you two are gonna step out my way"

Immediately, Longshot fired an arrow at Shinra. Luckily the ninja dove to the side to evade it. He immediately threw a kunai at longshot which the archer tried to dodge. Unfortunately, the time it took him to dodge the knife left him vulnerable to a lightning blade. Meanwhile , Shinra's clone easily disarmed The Duke and quickly knocked him out with a light choke, not wanting to actually hurt a kid that young.

They continued on until they were somewhere Shinra considered far enough from all civilians and people in general. How he knew was the fact that the leaves on this side were slowly changing their shade to yellow. And conveniently enough, there was a ditch in the clearing they were currently standing in. He wasn't sure what it was meant for originally but it would definitely do. The three got to work unloading all the barrels and dropping them into the hole.

Shinra then slapped explosive tags onto each of the barrels and stepped back to observe their work.

"Now we get far from here before detonating this shit" Shinra said as he and his clones started leaping through the trees to get back to the others, hoping that Sokka was okay.

Once they'd gotten at least 70 feet away from the site, Shinra made the tiger sign, trying not to flinch that much at the loud booms coming from behind him. The boy let out a sigh.

"Okay, that's done with.. now let's hope Sokka stopped them from filling the dam"

By the time Shinra made it back to the hideout, he could hear talking from the same general area where they had dinner.

"He was an assassin sent to eliminate me" He heard Jet say. "There's a compartment for poison in the knife. You helped save my life, Sokka"

"I didn't see any knife" Sokka's voice replied.

"That's because he was concealing it" Jet said.

"See, Sokka?" Katara said. "I'm sure you just didn't notice the knife"

Shinra had heard enough. He pushed the flap open and walked in.

"If it was concealed, you never would've found it" he stated, pulling out his Chakra saber; it was technically a shortsword. It had a black and white hilt, a metal guard and a sleek steel blade with the kanji for "will of fire" inscribed on it. It was about 19 inches long. "If he was a trained assassin like you said, you wouldn't be able to find that knife on him. Concealing weapons means only those in a similar skill set would know where it is"

"Shinra... What happened to you?" Aang looked surprised to see the bruises on his face. Katara was just as surprised and put her hands over her mouth.

"Katara's boyfriend happened" Shinra replied, not taking his eyes off Jet for a single second as he sheathed the saber. "He drugged me sometime during that last fight and kidnapped me, pretty much put me through military level torture and would've killed me if I wasn't able to escape"

Katara looked between Jet and Shinra, almost begging for it not to be true.

Jet's expression changed from his shock to one of fury. "That's what fire Nation scum like you deserve!"

"And you deserve a straitjacket, you sick fuck" Shinra said. "You were going to kill innocent people because of a few soldiers?"

Aang's expression shifted to one of horror and disgust at the thought.

"That's the price of freedom" Jet spat.

"How are they gonna enjoy their freedom if they're all dead?" Shinra glared at him. "You planned to take lives, Jet.. innocent lives! You're no different from the Fire Nation!"

"Don't compare me to them!" Jet roared.

"I just fucking did!" Shinra spat back. "Also, don't bother looking for your explosives. They're all gone. I made sure of it"

Jet grabbed the dagger on the table and was about to get up but he was pushed back by a splash of water from Katara's pouch. Her eyes seemed to well up with tears as she hit him with it again and again, pushing him further back into the wall before freezing the water solid, pinning Jet to the wall.

"Jet, I trusted you" Katara's voice trembled as she spoke. "I trusted you and you lied to me, hurt my friend and... You're sick!"

The waterbender held a bit of water in the air and bitch slapped the freedom fighter with it twice, then thrice, then four tines... She didn't seem like she'd stop anytime soon. Katara felt embarrassment, remorse and most of all betrayal right now and she wanted to take it all out on Jet.

After the eighth hit, Shinra noticed she turned the water into an icicle and immediately grabbed her wrist before she could throw it at Jet's head. Katara turned to look at him and he shook his head.

"Why not?!" Tears still streamed down her face. "He hurt you! He was going to kilm you!"

"It's not worth it" Shinra said with a blank expression. "If you do it, there's no difference between you and him"

Katara closed her eyes and melted the icicle back into water and slapped Jet one more time with it. Suddenly, Smellerbee, Longshot at the rest of the freedom fighters rushed in.

"Freedom Fighters, kill them!" Jet yelled. Shinra gave them a single look that caused them all to step back. Most of them were shocked to see the state Shinra was in. Smellerbee and Sneers winced, Pipsqueak's eyes went wide. Longshot and the Duke however were still scared as he'd fought them earlier.

"You knew Jet was going to wipe out that town.." Shinra realized. They all looked down in guilt and shame. "Are you all nuts!?! Some of the citizens in that town are kids younger than the Duke! Did you even stop to think?!"

The ninja unzipped his vest and lifted his black T-shirt underneath, showing a now purple contusion in his right side a little below his kidney. "Look what your leader did just cause he thought I was a firebender!"

Shinra let out a deep sigh. "Jet just told you to kill the Avatar.. now tell me.. who do you think can actually take down the Fire lord? The literal master of all elements... Or Jet?"

Silence fell among the freedom fighters. They all knew the answer. Smellerbee shook her head and started backing away. Longshot and the Duke started to do the same and soon enough all the others did.

"Cowards! You're all cowards and traitors!" Jet barked.

"You became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people" Sokka replied.

"You dirty piece of scum! I'll kill you!" Jet screamed at Shinra. "This was your plan huh?! To sneak in and scatter my team?! I'll take the Fire Nation down myself if I have to!"

Shinra walked over to the thrashing teen and immediately punched him hard in the head, effectively knocking him out. "Shut the hell up for once, man"

"C'mon, let's get out of here" Sokka said. The group then left the treehouse.

"Shinra..." Katara looked at the boy's bruised face as they made it back to where Appa was, reaching for her pouch. "Your face is still in bad shape. Let me–"

"I'm fine" Shinra replied simply as his injuries started to glow red and close themselves up, thanks to the nine tails' chakra.

A few hours later, the group were sitting at a location where they'd set up camp. Everyone else ate dinner while Shinra sat and thought.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked. "I know you don't always talk but this is quiet even for you"

"I just realized that..." Shinra shook his head. "If the drug Jet used actually worked on chakra users and I didn't have the nine tails..I probably wouldn't be alive right now"

"What did he put you through?" Sokka shook his head.

"Hell" Shinra scoffed bitterly. "But it's nothing I'm not used to. I didn't trust him but I definitely didn't think he'd be bat shit crazy enough to kidnap me and try to murder a whole town"

"Aang" Shinra turned to the Airbender. "Roku told me something else in that dream.. he asked me to forfeit my chances to going home to help you win the war. At first I wasn't sure... but after what happened today... I don't know if you'll be able to sense a trap yourself without walking straight into it. I might have to stay till this thing's over"

Katara who had been quiet this whole time burst into tears and immediately wrapped her arms around Shinra. "I'm so sorry! I thought I could trust him.. I had no idea that he'd do this to you!"

Shinra silently hugged her back as she sobbed. He couldn't lie to Katara about forgiving her because honestly, he hadn't. But at the same time, he sure as hell knew he couldn't stand to see her cry.

After all that had happened, most would exit the group immediately. The war technically wasn't his problem, but Shinra knew that this only meant they needed him. He realized he felt responsible for them and honestly couldn't forgive himself if they walked into something worse than Jet when he could've helped.

The ninja let out a sigh as he was still in Katara's arms. He knew now what he had to do.

He hoped Roku was happy.