Yĭng kept her head down as she slipped through another nameless Earth Kingdom town. It was entirely possible that her father’s enemies might find her here, an ocean and several hundred miles of rock away from the Republic. What doesn’t make sense is why they took Lixue first. I’m an easier target to get to, and Lixue’s more closely tied to her husband’s policies than Father’s. So, why not me? She dodged a speeding car, and finished crossing the street.

Someplace to hide, someplace to lay low…that would be ideal. A rather worn-down building nearby looked promising. Probably abandoned, by the state of it. A large graffiti tag on the front stated that the end was near. What else was new?

She slipped inside and shut the door behind her, peeking through a crack in the wall. If she’d been followed, she couldn’t make out her pursuers in the crowd. Dammit, I want to go back to the Republic and school. I don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere in the Earth Kingdom when we might be on the verge of another civil war.

Yĭng soon found herself in a very small apartment. It was the kind of place where you did not find rats, because rats had standards. But there were a few signs here and there that somebody actually called it home. The small refrigerator in the corner was actually plugged in, that tower of pizza boxes looked and smelled suspiciously fresh…and, of course, the body lying prone on the moth-eaten couch was a rather big clue.

Yĭng eyed the body for a moment. Is he alive? Sleeping? On drugs? Maybe hiding here was a bad idea…

A twitch and a snore indicated that he was, in fact, alive. He shifted, and Yĭng could get a better look at him. He was wearing a pair of faded denim pants and a shabby grey t-shirt. His dark hair and tanned skin was probably an indicator of Water Tribe heritage. Yĭng took a step towards him and stepped on a soda can, eliciting a small crunch. It was enough to get his attention. One blue eye opened lazily.

She froze, and put on her public face. “I-I’m sorry, I’ll go, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you…” Sweet, innocent, and just a little scared.

The man yawned and shrugged a bit, inasmuch as one could do so while lying down. “Whatever,” he murmured. “S’not my business.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll just…be going, then.” She nodded, and started to back out of the room.

“You’re dressed way to nice to be in this neighbourhood voluntarily,” he said, “which means you’re probably hiding from something. And, if it finds you, it’ll probably bother me eventually. But nobody looks here, provided you don’t owe any of them money.”

She shook her head. “I don’t owe anyone money, I just— there’re some bad men who don’t like my father, and they kidnapped my older sister, and I’m scared they’ll come for me, too…”

“I don’t give two buffalo-yak shits,” he grunted. “Stick around. Or don’t. Whatever you do, just do it quietly.”

She nodded, and curled up in a corner.

And then, two heavily-armed thugs broke through the door. “Just relax, Miss Tŭ,” the first thug said, pointing a machine gun at her. “We don’t want to hurt you.”

The man on the couch grunted loudly, drawing all eyes to him. “Can’t a man get any damned sleep around here?” he snarled, not opening his eyes. Without looking, he raised his arm, made a fist, and brought it down in a flailing motion. As he did so, an exposed pipe in the wall burst open. A torrent of water flowed out toward Yĭng… and then made a sharp right, blasting into the thugs and blowing them out the door and against the opposite wall. The force of the impact knocked quite a bit of damp plaster loose. They were out cold. As suddenly as it started, the blast of water stopped, though the pipe was still leaking quite steadily.

“Be a dear and wrap something around that, will you?” said the man, rolling over.

Yĭng stared, wide-eyed, at the unconscious thugs, then at the man, then at the pipe, then back at the thugs. “R-right,” she said, and did as he asked.

“Don’t worry about the monkeys,” he murmured. “Someone’ll be along to drag them off. Or possibly rob them. One of those things. But lock the door this time.”

“…Can I ask you something?” she asked, quickly.

“Obviously,” said the man, “seeing as how you just did so. It seems that inquiry is well within your capabilities. I bet you can walk and chew gum at the same time, too.”

“I-I mean…if I pay you, will you protect me?”

This time the man sat bolt upright and looked right at her. Never had Yĭng seen eyes so full of loathing. “What the fuck are you on?”

She flinched back. “I-I’m really scared. Of men like those. And they just keep coming after me, and y-you took care of them, and I’d pay you, I’d pay you whatever you ask, if you just keep me safe…”

Heaving a deep sigh, the man slumped back down. “Not my problem. Go find your lackeys elsewhere. I don’t want you money. I just want to be left alone.”

“Please. I don’t know who else I can trust…”

“How do you know you can trust me?” he grunted. “We’ve just met. For all you know, I’ll rape you and leave you for dead given the chance.”

“Y-you haven’t yet? A-and you aren’t working with them. Wh-who else would want to hurt me? I’m a history student, for crying out loud!”

Another sigh rang out. “Forget it. Squat if you want to, I don’t care. But leave me out of your petty squabbles.”

“Please,” she begged. “I-I don’t know who else to turn to.”

“Here’s a suggestion. Not me. Piss off.” With that, he rolled over, his face turned toward the back of the couch and his back to her.

“Please.” She was crying. She needed him, couldn’t he see that? She couldn’t be captured, or killed, she wasn’t ready for that.

He slammed a fist against the back of the couch. The wrapping around the pipe bulged a bit as he did so. “No. Now either shut up or go away.”

And then the building exploded. Yĭng screamed.

Now that the moment had passed and her ears had stopped ringing, she realized that she still had ears to ring, and thus the building had not quite exploded. But another impact shook it shortly after. She felt herself get shoved away, just as a bunch of bricks fell where she was standing. The man had sprung up and tackled her out of the way.

She was shaking, keeping her face buried in his shoulder. There are going to be mutilated bodies. There are going to be mutilated bodies, just like in the pictures from the wars. I don’t want to see real mutilated bodies, I don’t even like looking at the pictures. Please, please, please, Crazy Man, why won’t you protect me?

Another series of impacts shook the apartment building, nearly causing Yĭng to lose her footing. “Come on!” the man snarled, tugging at her arm. “Are you stupid?” Practically dragging her, he darted out toward a door in the back, which led right outside, and he kept running. Outside, she could hear more of the impacts. When she looked back, the whole building was starting to collapse.

To her credit, she didn’t freeze up, though she did stumble while fleeing with Crazy Man, as she had privately dubbed him. She wanted to thank him, to beg him again to stay with her, but she needed her breath for running, so stayed silent.

He stopped about a block away, and turned to watch the spectacle. He was silent for a moment.

“Man, my landlord is going to be pissed,” he said, in the tone of one who was slightly bummed about stepping in something unpleasant.

“Well, that, and you don’t have a place to stay anymore,” Yĭng said, remarkably calm for a simple “history student” who’d nearly been blown up moments before.

He shrugged. “I’ll find something. The alley behind the deli had a promising-looking cardboard box in it.”

“Or you could stay with me,” she pointed out.

There was another silence. The man continued to look forward.

Then he shrugged. “S’not like I’ve got anything better to do,” he muttered. “Where’re you going?”

“The Northern Air Temple.” Her father’s security had suggested she hide in the Western Air Temple--it was virtually inaccessible, and close to the Republic without being actual Republic territory--but she didn’t entirely trust every member of her father’s staff. The Northern Temple would protect her better.

“So, I escort your very targeted behind there,” he said, “and, assuming said behind is all in one piece, you pay me, and then I piss off and we never see each other again.”

“That’s the plan,” the Senator’s daughter said, evenly.

Another shrug. “Meh, it’ll do. Lead the way.”

Yĭng breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“Kody.”

“I’m Yĭng.”

“Don’t care. Let’s go.”

She nodded, and led the way, hoping against hope that this ploy actually worked and she got to the Northern Air Temple in one piece.

And unraped.

Unraped was good, too.

*                       *                       *

The ambush had come out of nowhere.

One moment, the small militia unit Jīn Shí belonged to was breaking camp, preparing for the next step of their journey.

The next, the second-in-command had suddenly fallen, a bullet between his eyes; another soldier cried out as a woman came flying out of nowhere and twisted his head sharply to one side, breaking his neck.

Immediately all weapons turned onto the woman, but she moved impossibly fast, avoiding the bullet fire with an incredible leap.  Shí tracked the woman’s velocity and aimed her pistol for where the woman would land, then searing pain tore into her thigh, earning a scream of pain as Shí involuntarily dropped her gun.  Then the woman was in front of her, smiling prettily as she grabbed Shí’s shooting arm.  “None of that, darling,” she said in a low, husky voice, then broke that arm.

Shí fell to her knees in pain, then her commander had her by her unwounded arm, pulling her roughly to her feet.  “Go, kid!” he shouted at her, pushing her towards one of the buildings.  “Get under cover!”

More shots followed, taking out three more members of Shi's squad in quick succession. They were coming from a muscular, dark-haired man who had taken cover behind a fallen wall, in case the squad returned fire.

One enterprising man threw a grenade towards the gunman; the woman leapt in the air and spun, one foot coming around in a kick that would make any soccer goalie green with envy that launched the explosive high into the air, where it exploded harmlessly.

The gunman, unfazed, kept shooting, always aiming to kill, and sending no more shots Shí’s way.  Stumbling just ahead of her commander, Shí made it to the building just as the woman took hold of the commander and broke his neck as well before throwing three punishing blows into the young woman’s back, throwing her into the door frame.  Looking past her, Shí realised in horror that she was the only one of her squad left.

"Yù Lóng! Leave her alive, it's time to go!" the gunman shouted.

The woman blew a kiss to Shí and jumped out of the way.  “You take all my fun away, Jiān Miè,” she complained as she landed beside him.

"Come on," he replied, tersely, and started to head out of the town.  She followed on his heels, and Shí sank to the ground with a sob.