Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Tell us what you know!”

The electrified glove poised across his chest should have been enough to make anyone talk but he remained stoically silent. All he could think about was the searing pain consuming his right arm, though injury or none, there was no way they would ever have gotten any information out of him. The metal bands tightened around his limbs where they bound him to the table and he couldn’t help but let out a cry of pain.

“TELL. US. WHAT. YOU. KNOW!”

He managed to splutter out a defiant ‘no’, making firm eye contact with his captor and trying to ignore the taste of blood in his mouth. He knew the situation with his arm was a lot, lot worse than he could see but he couldn’t afford to worry about himself at that moment. He just couldn’t.

The last thing he remembered was the hand, purple energy flickering around the palm as it plunged towards him. Then his vision blacked out.

---

‘“-and that is why we must do everything in our power to stop the Equalist uprising.” “Thank you so much, Councillor Allura, for taking the time to join us on the show. Now for some more headline news: the Green Bandit strikes again! By the time the police arrived on the scene the triple threats were already tied up and gagged with barely any evidence of a fight. They say it was this metal bending kid dressed entirely in green, like no one they’d ever faced before. Well, at least this time the Green Bandit is helping fight crime rather than stealing state of the art technology. But the question remains: What is their agenda and where will they strike next? Now, over to Coran for the probending updates…”’

Pidge rested her feet up on the table as she listened to the scores, snacking on a packet of fire flakes. Okay, so maybe she had only turned on the radio to listen to what Republic City had to say about the Green Bandit. So what? She hadn’t intended to become a mysterious public figure but after the radio incident had gone wrong… well, she figured she might as well enjoy it.

It had started out with just basic supplies. Some bread here and there, where the baker had made more than intended. Extra yuons from a wealthy home owner that couldn’t keep track of his pig-dog, let alone his wallet. Hell, she had even stolen from the Cabbage Corp merchant on the street corner (yes, she really had been that desperate). But it wasn’t until she spotted that radio system through the window of an 8 th story apartment that she knew her luck had changed.

Now most people probably wouldn’t have spotted such an item from ground level, but Pidge had an eye for technology and, well, a feel for it, too. Her metalbending allowed her to hone in on the wires, mapping out a whole virtual network of the metallic creations around her. This was not unheard of amongst metal and earthbenders – the original metal benders had had this ability, and a few people since then but they were few and far between. Pidge only knew of two others, her father and brother… who were currently missing. Which is why she needed that radio.

Scaling the building was no problem for her and her bayard and in a few ticks she found herself in the room surrounded by beautiful, wonderful technology. Well, it wasn’t quite as wonderful as the things they had back in Zaofu, but with a few custom improvements it would do just fine. She loaded up her bag and made her way back to the window, intending to go as swiftly and unnoticed as she had come. That was until she spotted it.

A small squeal escaped her lips when she read the packaging. The first ‘Journey to the Depths of the Spirit World’?! And ‘Avatar Flux 2’?! She could barely contain her excitement as she crossed the room to admire both games and spent several seconds just holding them in awe. The sound of approaching footsteps and voices stirred her from her trance. Flying quiznacks! She hurriedly shoved one of the games in her bag and tucked the other under her arm, making haste for the exit. She made it to the window just as the door handle was turning and two men appeared, illuminated by the flame one of them was brandishing. The two parties stood in standoff for a solid tick and a half, then she slipped through the window and sailed down to the street below. Even though there was no way those two could have caught up with her, she didn’t stop running until she was back to her underground hideout, panting and out of breath.

She cursed her own carelessness, but there was no going back; she had been seen. Sure, the mission was successful and she’d come away unscathed with bonus items intact. But she couldn’t afford to blow her cover. Not once. Not ever. There was too much at risk.

She settled on a plan of action whilst making the necessary adjustments to the radio she had just acquired, humming softly to herself. Right now, it seemed the city had the advantage. They would start looking for her. But she could throw them off the trail. She would embrace the earth thief persona at night, act unpredictably. If she threw in enough saving the day and random acts of kindness, they would eventually mask the things she did for her own mission and make her an anonymous public hero in the process. Nobody wants to arrest or expose a public hero. And by day… well. Nobody would suspect a young Fire Nation boy to be the face of the Green Bandit.

“…and don’t forget to bend your way down to the arena tonight at seven for more faaaaantastic action from the Boar-q-pines, Buzzard Wasps, Eagle Lions and many more fabulous teams. Coran, probending announcer and flight master extraordinaire, signing off!”

Pidge glanced at her watch. Twenty five to seven. She hurriedly got changed out of the pyjamas she’d been lazing around in all day in exchange for her fire nation gear and earthbend-ed out of her hideaway, emerging in a cluster of bushes in the park. Breathing in the fresh air, she looked up at the golden building looming in front of her and headed with determination towards the probending arena.

She managed to find a spot right at the front of one of the balconies. In the two months she’d spent in Republic City, she’d taken it upon herself to watch every single probending match and knew exactly how to get a good seat when she wanted one. To begin with, she wasn’t even particularly keen on the sport, however she was keen on improving her bending. Then, after a couple of weeks, she found herself hooked on it the same way she got hooked on video games. She knew the names of all the teams and their members and managers and details about their personal lives… well there were some teams she knew more about than others. The Eagle Lions were one such team, and today they were going to be on just before the intermission. Pidge sat through the first couple of games, eagerly awaiting the announcement from Coran which eventually blasted through the speakers of the arena.

“First, let’s welcome the Eagle Lions!” The familiar figures she knew so well glided in on their platform, helmets in hand and smiling and waving to cheers of ‘Paladins! Paladins!’ Well, two out of three were smiling and waving. The third member of the team had his arms folded tightly across his chest and wore a death glare ready to kill. Oh no, this can’t be good.

“Despite being one of the newest probending teams on the scene, they’ve done remarkably well this season and I’m sure we’re all excited to see how they play tonight. We’ve got our waterbender, Lance McClain!” Lance kissed his hands and raised his arms to the crowd, lapping up all the attention as he normally did, though today there were a few shifty glances in the direction of the firebender.

“Then –that’s right! - it’s earthbender Hunk Garret!” He showed off his biceps to the crowd who seemed to love it. There were several calls of ‘We love you Hunk!’ and Pidge cheered from her seat. She had always had a soft spot for Hunk; he seemed like such a genuine and lovable guy, though if she had to guess she would say he looked a little more nervous than usual.

“And finally our firebender, Keith Kogane!” Keith made no attempt to appeal the crowd’s better nature, his arms still tightly folded. He always presented himself as the distant, edgy kind of guy which fans seemed to lap up as if he was doing it for them. Pidge suspected this was far from the truth. From what she had gathered from watching him, his body seemed to reflect very clearly what was going on in his mind and there seemed to be little he could do to change this. Tonight was a shining example of this, and the death stare he had been wearing earlier was now one hundred percent directed at Lance. Hunk, who was in the middle of the two of them looked like he wanted to shrink away into the shadows. This is really not going to end well, Pidge mused.

After Coran announced the Ember Island Eel Hounds, both teams put on their helmets and took their positions in the centre.

“Three! Two! One! Go!”

The water bender from the Eel Hounds launched a jet of water straight at Keith, who aggressively hurled a fireball in response.

“Hey, that one was mine!” Lance dodged a flying disk as he intercepted the path between Keith and the waterbender. “Get your own enemies!”

“Got one right here, thanks.” He shoved Lance out of the way, using a bit of fire in the process. Lance ended up on the floor, sliding into the next zone. The whistle blew.

“FOUL! Kogane, move back a zone.”

“This is all your fault.”

“ MY fault?! You literally just attacked me and-” The whistle blew again.

Hunk was doing a good job holding out by himself, but with two squabbling team mates and shouts of ‘What the hell is wrong with you?!’ behind him, that didn’t last long. Two more penalties later, Hunk and Keith found themselves in zone 3 together with a flailing Lance in the water below.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?! This has got to be the most in-team violence Republic City has ever witnessed in probending history!”

“Hey Keith? Any chance you might be able to chill out just a little bit?”

“Any chance you could just let me fi-” All three elements shot at him simultaneously causing him to loose footing and fall.

Guess it’s all down to me then. Hunk speculated. If I go too, it’s a knockout and we’re out of the game. They had thirty ticks left before the round was up. If he could just hold out that long…

He summoned up all the power he had. Disks flew in all directions, warding off fire, water and earth. He even managed to push the firebender back a zone.

“Aaaand, TIME’S UP!” Hunk let out a sigh of relief. They may have lost the round, but they were still in the game. “What a spectacular comeback from Hunk, everybody! Let’s hope Lance and Keith can sort out their differences in the next round, otherwise it’ll be an easy win for the Eel Hounds!” Cheering erupted from the stalls. Pidge sat there fuming. What the hell were they playing at?

Lance and Keith arrived back on their platform refusing to acknowledge the other even existed.

“What the hell were you guys thinking?! We could have lost the game back then!” Silence. “Lance, I already said this to Keith but you need to chill out too.”

“ I need to chill out?! I’m not the one with the problem.”

“ YOU’RE not the one with th-?!”

“Right now, we’re all the ones with the problem if we can’t work together as a team. This was supposed to be an easy win for us. Now, if we lose the match, our only chance of qualifying for the tournament is if we beat the Wolf Bats. Is that what you want?”

“No.”

“Not really.”

“Come on, guys, we can do this.”

Round two began, and for a while things started to look a little more hopeful. Hunk and Lance took on water together, managing to knock her off while Keith took on the firebender and fending off the odd disk that shot in his direction.

Distracted by their mini victory, Hunk was too late to notice a chain of disks hurtling in his direction. They slammed hard into his stomach, knocking him all the way back to zone three.

“Keith, how could you let that happen?!”

“How was that anything to do with me?”

“You were fending off Earth! I thought you had us covered!”

“I was blasting the disks that were coming my way! I’m not some legendary defender for the whole team you know. If you hadn’t been basking in the glory of knocking off Water then maybe you could have defended him.”

“Uugh!”

“The Eel Hounds may now advance to the next zone!”

Hunk had managed to crawl up to the barrier and was promptly sick over the edge. The crowd recoiled.

“Sorry, everyone.” He apologised, even though no one could hear him. A fireball came his direction a few seconds later and he found himself in the water.

“Time’s up, and we have a tie! Let’s see who gets to pick the element for the tie-breaker!” Coran flipped a coin. “Aaaaand… it’s the Eagle Lions! I wonder how they’ll go about making their decision. A punch-up between Keith and Lance, perhaps?” The crowd laughed. Keith and Lance looked livid. Pidge hung her head in her hands. This was not how it was supposed to go.

“I’ll do it.” Hunk declared, stepping off his platform and back to join his team. He was in a bad way.

“You look like you’re about to pass out.” Keith said flatly.

“What? No, I’m fine…” He stumbled towards them both and ended up on the floor.

“Look. I’ll just do it, okay? We choose fi-”

“Hey, who gave you the right?!” Lance protested. “You couldn’t even protect Hunk in the game. How are you going to protect yourself?” Ooooooh, the crowd reacted.

“For the last time, I was protecting myself, which is why I wasn’t protecting Hunk. Get it? It’s more than can be said for you. I’ll take this one. You spend the time healing Hunk as much as you can. We want to be able to give it our all in round three. The Eagle Lions choose fire.” The two rivals were right up close now, the tension between them growing as they glared into each other’s faces. Lance eventually broke the direct gaze and went over to Hunk, though his eyes didn’t leave Keith for one second. The opposing firebender, looking smug, stepped onto the centre platform with Keith as it raised up into the air.

“You may begin!”

To say the battle was intense was an understatement. Keith lashed out as soon as he could and kept pounding fireballs into his opponent with what seemed to be pure rage. Lance, who still had his eyes fixed on the firebender was no longer sure whether it was out of rivalry or concern or pure horror. Pidge wondered if he’d ever stop. His opponent was putting up a good fight but it was clear he was no match for Keith. No one was. He even through an extra fireball down after the Eel Hound’s firebender had been knocked off the podium, and there was no cheering; just stunned silence. Coran cleared his throat.

“Well… it looks like that round goes to the Eagle Lions!” The crowd were hesitant, but they slowly began clapping. Keith made his way back to his teammates.

“That was… scary.” Lance managed to say, putting his hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“It was nothing,” Keith rebuked as he batted the arm from his person, his brow furrowed in deep thought. There was clearly something up, but Lance decided it wasn’t time to pursue the subject. Not that Keith would explain it to him at another point, anyway. He was vaguely aware in the back of his head that he and Keith were supposed to hate each other right now, but the shock of the fire showdown had changed the atmosphere so much that anything with the word ‘supposed’ seemed to have gone out of the window. He helped Hunk to his feet.

Hunk had recovered enough to be able to get back on his feet again and seemed semi up for the final round. It was more to do with the time out as Lance’s healing skills had never been that great, but he appreciated the help none the less. Now that Keith had scored them a round, they were actually in with a chance of winning. So long as they got their act together, of course.

“Let’s do this.” Keith seemed to have some newfound determination after the tiebreaker and the others nodded in response. Coran announced the start of the final round, and they began.

Lance and Keith worked together to take out Earth. Keith burnt up the disks whilst Lance attacked from the side. It wasn’t long before he’d been knocked back two zones. Meanwhile, Hunk fended off Fire and Water by himself.

“A little help over here would be good.” Keith shot the firebender, who was still a little shaken from their one-on-one, in the gut and he staggered over the line behind him. Hunk and Lance took on the waterbender again and although she put up a good fight, she ended up falling back too and joining her Fire comrade in the zone behind.

“The Eagle Lions may now advance a zone!”

“Look at us, advancing a zone!” Lance proclaimed, enjoying himself a little too much. “Who would have thought?”

They managed to knock Earth off with no trouble. Keith then went for Water and Hunk for Fire, Lance in the middle, defending them when necessary. They advanced another zone. Lance and Hunk high-fived each other. The crowd was really getting into it now. Their sudden surge of teamwork seemed to have won them over and Pidge watched intensely from the edge of her seat.

Hunk and Keith sent the firebender flying over the edge. That just left the waterbender, who was holding up pretty well having regained a bit of strength. Ten ticks left. They had pretty much won by this point, but Keith caught Lance’s eye from across the arena which said one thing: knockout? He nodded in response. Keith short a ball of fire to the other side of the waterbender, turning her towards Lance, who took the opportunity to hit her square in the chest with a jet of water. She fell into the water below and the crowd began cheering like crazy.

“IT’S A KNOCKOUT!” Coran bellowed into the arena. “Let’s give it up for the Eagle Lions!” Lance was lapping up the attention from the crowd, and Hunk’s face was beaming with pride. Even Keith managed a faint smile, although he remained somewhat subdued and distant. Once they were back in their changing room, Hunk leapt in the air.

“Wooo! We did it!”

“Look at us, being all awesome and everything! Did you see that last hit I made? They don’t call me Sharp Shooter for nothing.”

“Yeah, you guys did great.” Keith had sat down across the room from them,   

“What do you mean? You completely roasted that fire guy, remember?” Hunk countered. “I mean, it was terrifying, but it won us the round.”

“It may have won us the round, but that’s because my strengths lie in close combat. I’m not cut out for teamwork and I think you guys know that. Well now I do too, and I want the Eagle Lions to have the best possible chance in the tournament. What I’m trying to say is, I’m leaving.”

---

Not for the first time, Pidge wondered whether she should do it. She paced around in the corridor for a bit, thinking over all the things in her head. The urge to go through with it was definitely stronger today than it had been before. It didn’t even have to be a big deal, especially if she kept her Fire Nation act up and played it down. But then, if she played it down, he would have no reason whatsoever to agree to help her, brushing her aside as a fan who wanted his attention. But if she told him the truth… Aaagh, why did things have to be so complicated? Maybe if she could find another way to grab his attention…

In the end, she resolved to go down there to give herself the option, even though there was still a part of her that thought the whole thing was stupid and unnecessarily dangerous. So far she had been doing just fine on her own with her earth and metal bending. Why add anything else to the mix when she could just continue as before?

She laughed at how much she was thinking like an earthbender. Valuing the safety of self-sufficiency over anything else. She had come to Republic City to find her family, but it wasn’t quite as simple as that. There was also the knowledge and safety that there were certain people here that could help her, should she wish to make contact with them. However in doing so, she would have to come clean about certain elements of herself which, quite frankly, she didn’t want to do. Just because she was capable of something, didn’t mean she had to use those skills. In theory, she could just keep going as she was and let the world continue as it had for the last fifteen years. Various images ran through her head. Thoughts of the increasing equalist uprisings. Allura, the last of her kind, struggling to keep the Air Nomad ideologies alive in a world that rejected them. The ever strengthening alliance between the Northern Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom and how all media seemed to ignore the dangerous potential the two had together. In a way, she would rather be powerless to stop these things than to have the ability and not succeed…

She pushed those thoughts to one side. If the timing was right, she would ask him, even if he was an impulsive, wayward firebender (was there any other kind?). The way he had treated his opponent… was that something she agreed with? She wasn’t sure, but his fighting style was unlike any other she had seen and, if nothing else, that was enough to draw her in. But there were other things; the secretive nature and the sense that he was on his own personal mission that she could only begin to guess. Qualities that she recognised in herself. She may not be able to trust him, but the fact that they shared some common ground meant that it wasn’t completely out of the question.

Voices pulled from her thoughts and she realised she had arrived at her destination. Hiding herself behind the ajar door, she peered through the crack between the hinges, listening in to what they were saying.

“-but we were working together so well in the final round!”

“We may have been, but it took two rounds before we were even close to that. We might not have that luxury again. You said it yourself. If you hadn’t held everything together, it would have been a knockout and we would have lost there and then.”

“So great! We can work on being a better team and maybe hate each other a little less – or at least not let it get in the way in a game-”

“Lance, Hunk. You’re not understanding. I have other stuff I need to do besides probending. Things out there in the real world that actually matter.” Hunk’s face dropped. “I need to be out there, trying to find Sh- someone , and sending one second blasts of fire at people within a set of rules isn’t helping. The equalists don’t play by rules. Hell, even the police don’t play by rules. I’m sorry, but if you want to take part in the tournament, you’re going to have to find somebody else. I’m out.”

Wait. Keith is really leaving the team?

“Come on, man, we were in this together…” Lance pleaded, but Keith had already turned his back on them. “FINE!” He yelled after him as he walked towards the door.

“Good luck finding your boooyfriend!” Hunk added, which resulted in an angry Keith turning back towards them.

“He is not my boyfriend,” he spat, full of distaste and pushed the door open so violently that Pidge had to leap out of the way, before slamming it behind him. The two of them locked eyes, both equally surprised by the sudden human encounter. However, the surprise meant that for a split second Keith’s guard was down and in that moment his eyes told the story of pain, loss and determination before the defences came up again.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, hanging about listening to conversations but for what it’s worth I wouldn’t risk it again.” Pidge still would have felt panic even if she hadn’t been eavesdropping, but the fact that this was Keith Kogane, the very person she had been seeking out and the fact that everything had completely not gone to plan caused her to freeze like a frog rabbit in the headlights.

“I, uh, I was just looking for the bathroom and I heard arguing and just wanted to make sure everyone was ok. I’m sorry. I’ll leave now.” She bowed to him respectfully, Fire Nation style, before turning to leave and caught Keith looking embarrassed out of the corner of her eye.

Part of her wanted to yell at herself for being dumb and not taking the opportunity while another part congratulated her for keeping a low profile and not diving into a situation without being properly in control. However, most of her didn’t care so much about the Keith incident anymore, as she now had a better, more subtle and certainly more course of action to follow. She opened up her hand to reveal a red hot flame floating above her palm, and she grinned.

Chapter Text

“Good night, Katie. Sleep well!” Sam Holt turned out the lights as he left the room, leaving his four-year-old daughter to snuggle into the blankets.

“G’night, Dad.” Katie waited for ten ticks. Twenty ticks. Thirty ticks. She was beginning to get impatient and thinking he might have forgotten her… Then she heard the faint knocking and leapt out of bed in an instant, bounding over to the door.

“Matt!” She greeted him enthusiastically. He responded by putting a sharp finger to his lips and Katie was immediately silent.

“We have to be quiet,” her brother reminded her. “We can’t let Dad or Mum know.” They crept through the corridors, carefully avoiding the centuries on duty and managed to make it out just as the domes were closing.

They stepped outside and the bitter winter air made them both catch their breath.

“Spirits! It’s cold out here.” Matt cursed as they made their way to the next dome along. It wasn’t a long walk, but even with their warm clothing Matt couldn’t help but shiver.

“Let me warm you up,” Katie offered.

“How does that work? You must be as cold as me.”

“I’m not, though,” she replied, taking his hand. “See?”

“Holy hog monkeys!” He exclaimed. “How…?” A warm heat spread around his body, gentle but comforting. Katie looked up at him, confused.

“I was warm… so I shared it with you?” She didn’t understand why that was strange. It made perfect sense to her.

“It’s not that, it’s just… well…” There were a few things it could potentially mean and he needed some time to figure out which one it was. And if word go out that he had even considered one of the options… well, he didn’t want to take any risks.

“Thank you, Katie. I’m much warmer now.” He paused, crouching down so that he was face to face with his little sister. “But for now let’s keep the heat thing a secret. Is that okay?”

“Is it bad?”

“No. At least I don’t think it is. Just unusual. And until we’ve worked out why you can do this it’s better that no one else knows. Think of it this way; if I’m working on a science project, trying to discover something new, if I tell other people what I’m doing it means they can copy my ideas. Especially if they’re really cool. Now this heat is really cool. Well, not literally cool because it’s heat but awesome cool. People are going to want answers. Explanations. And if we can’t give them answers… well, they will keep annoying us until we do and then we won’t ever get time off to play ‘Journey to the Depths of the Spirit World’ together.” He hoped he had chosen the right words as he didn’t want to scare her unnecessarily; she was still so young. They both were. It was probably nothing, anyway…

Katie had her thinking face on, the serious yet faraway look that all members of the Holt family seemed to share when they were trying to make sense of something. Eventually, she spoke.

“Okay,” she agreed. “It can be our secret.”

“Great. Now let’s go break into the Garrison technology room!”

---

“Hey gurl, you’re so fine, I bet you get a latté dates.”

“...I’d just like to order some lychee juice, please.” The Earth Kingdom girl awkwardly placed her order.

“Coming right up! Wait, is this to have in or take out? Because if you were a drink I’d wouldn’t hesitate to take you out.” Lance winked. He could have sworn the guy behind her in the queue rolled his eyes.

“Take out is fine. The juice, I mean.” She blushed, though out of embarrassment rather than flattery, and he pretended not to hear the reluctance in her voice as he turned to make her drink. It’s not like beautiful girls were in short supply. He worked in a café; they were bound to drop in at some point. Probably because of my mesmerising charm, he joked to himself, knowing full well that wasn’t the case. It was Hunk’s food. It was always Hunk’s food. Not that any of that was going to deter him from trying his luck, of course. He exchanged the lychee juice for yuons and the girl left without a word. Rude.

“Hey, are you here to see the wonderful Lance McClain of the Eagle Lions?” He struck a pose, showing off his muscles. “What can I get you? An autograph? A drink? An autographed dr-”

“Do you always flirt with your customers?” The fire boy asked, seemingly amused.

“I wasn’t flir- I mean, what? I don’t- I only flirt with girls, and seeing as you’re a guy and not a girl – I think…? – that means I’m not flirting with you.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot; you don’t flirt with guys. You pretend to hate them and make them your rival because it’s an easy way of getting their attention that doesn’t involve you admitting your feelings or crossing your suspiciously reinforced ‘No Homo’ façade.” Lance stood, gaping in confused silence. “Anyway, I wasn’t referring to me, I was talking about the girl who just left.”

“Ah, right. Yes. I knew that-”

“Hey guuurl, you’re so fine, I bet you get a latté dates.” The kid’s impression was horrifyingly spot on, and he even did the finger guns too. He found it hard to argue with someone who did finger guns.

“Look, enough with the teasing. Can I get an order?”

“Oh, I’m not here to order anything. I’m here with a proposal.”

“Woah, slow down. I truly appreciate the offer but as I already said, I’m not into guys-”

“Shut your quiznack. Is Hunk here?”

“Oh I see how it is. Using me to get to him. Sneaky. Just a heads up though, I don’t think he’s into guys ei-”

“Look.” He leaned in, producing a flame in his hand and a couple of customers gasped, pointing and whispering. Lance took a step back. “I heard on the grape vine that the Eagle Lions are looking for a new firebender. And I just happen to be a firebender. What d’you say?”

“I’ll… I’ll go and get Hunk. Back in a tick!” He quickly asked the other barista on duty to cover for him before making his way through to the kitchen. The smell of freshly baked cookies greeted him as Hunk brought the tray out of the oven.

“Hunk, these look amazing!”

“Perfect timing! Can you take these through to the front for me?”

“Actually, something’s come up. There’s a firebender out there who wants to join our team.”

“Sweet! What are the chances?”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit early to start recruiting? I mean, it’s only been a day.”

“A bit early? We need all the time we can get. We’re down to play the Wolf Bats next week, and we can’t afford not to take on anyone that’s prepared to join us at this point. I know we don’t have to win the match to go through, but if we want to play in the competition we have to show up with a full team.”

“But what about Keith?”

“Were you even in the same room as us yesterday? He said he quit.”

“But what if he was just saying that? In the heat of the moment – ha, get it? Heat.”

“He sounded pretty certain to me.” Hunk dished out the cookies onto a tray, handing Lance one too. “And he said it himself; he’s got other things to work on like looking for someone. Whoever that is.”

“But what if he wants to come back? I don’t think he really has many people in his life and, even if we do hate each other a little bit, I’m just kinda worried about him.”

“Me too. But he only left the team, he didn’t say he was never going to speak to us again. As far as I’m concerned he’s welcome to drop in whenever he likes. I’m not convinced that he will, but that’s Keith for you. We don’t have to accept this new firebender if you don’t want to, but I think it’s stupid not to at least give them a chance, see what they’re like.”

“I guess,” Lance agreed, deciding not to push the subject of Keith any further. However much Lance wanted to resist the changes happening around him, Hunk did have a point. “How did he find out about the vacancy, anyway? I mean, I haven’t told anyone about Keith dropping out yet. Have you? Don’t you find it all a bit suspicious?”

“I haven’t told anyone either,” Hunk admitted, “but I’m not surprised. Word travels fast in Republic City, and it’s not as if this change is completely out of the blue. Though as for how he found out, we could just go and ask him.” Hunk smiled.

The two of them headed back to the front of the shop with the cookies in tow. The firebender was exactly where Lance had left him, leaning against the counter tapping his fingers.  

“I was beginning to wonder if you were staying in there forever.”

“Oh, we’d have had to come out eventually.” The firebender raised an eyebrow as Lance continued. “You know, to go to the bathroom, chat up all the ladies, you know how it is…”

“I’d be happy to stay in the kitchen forever. There’s food in the kitchen. I’m Hunk, by the way, but I mean, you probably already knew that.”

“I’m Pidge. So… are those cookies for us?"

Within a few minutes they were all sitting around a table eating cookies and drinking milkshakes.

“So, how did you come up with the name Eagle Lions?”         

“Lance originally wanted it to be the Space Lions. We toned it down.”

“I still think we should have been Space Lions, personally. I mean, name me something that’s really cool? Space. And another thing that’s really cool? Lions. We couldn’t have picked a cooler name, but some people didn’t like it.”

“Wasn’t me.” Hunk held his hands up in surrender.

“And it would have worked well with the chant ‘I say “Space!” You say “Lions!” Space-!’”

“Lions!!” Pidge joined in enthusiastically, fist pumping the air though his voice faltered when he realised he was the only one who had joined in.

“Exactly, Pidge gets it! Unlike somebody. I mean, it still works with ‘Eagle’ but it’s not quite as catchy.”

“What is it with you two anyway? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Me and Hunk? Oh there’s nothing wrong with us, isn’t that right, buddy?”

“He meant you and Keith, Lance. You and Keith.” Lance sighed, accepting the fact that he was unable to brush of the question with defensive humour.

“Yeah, I know." His guard had only dropped for a second, but it was long enough for the others to glimpse the concern that flashed across his face. “Well, we’ve always had this kind of rivalry thing going. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck- hang on. Is that what you meant when you said those things earlier?!”

“Wow, you’re slow.”

“What things?”

“I don’t know why you’d think that, but it’s not true, I can assure you,” Lance insisted. Pidge sipped his milkshake, raising his eyebrows again.

“What’s not true?”

“Pidge is under the crazy impression that I’ve got a crush on Mullet-”

“You call him Mullet?!-”

“Which is stupid because even if I did like guys, which I don’t, he is not my type. Nope. Not at all.”

“Right. Gotcha.” Another sip of milkshake.

“OH MAN! This is HILARIOUS!" Hunk wiped a tear from his eye from laughing so much.

“It’s not that funny!” Lance protested, in vain.

“Hey Hunk, what d’ya say about a bet? 20 yuons says Mullet and Sharp Shooter end up together.” He held out his hand.

“Guys, this is harassment!”

“Oh, there’s no chance of it happening at all but no way am I missing out on the opportunity to tease Lance about something.”

“So the bet’s on?”

“Sure.” They shook on it, Lance despairing next to them.

“Why do you feel the need to do this to me?”

“Isn’t this what teammates are for?”

“I guess…” “Hell yeah!” They replied simultaneously.

“Awesome, so I’m in!” Pidge stood up, downed the last of his milkshake. “I’ll see you guys at six for practice. It was nice meeting you.” And simply walked out of the shop. Lance turned to Hunk.

“What just happened? And how did he know our practice time?”

“I think we just got ourselves a firebender! Look at us, the Eagle Lions are back in the competition!”

---

Te-osh stood letting her metal yo-yo fall and rise, catching it each time as she eyed the man sitting in front of her.

“Two Toed Ping, isn’t it?” Two Toed Ping nodded solemnly from his seat behind the desk.

“Y-yes,” he stuttered. It wasn’t the first time the two of them had met, and it also wasn’t the first time said meeting had been in the police headquarters.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Well, Shady Shin and me, you see, we were just trying to get some good and honest supplies from our friend the shopkeeper-”

“So you raided his cash register and set fire to his merchandise?”

“I mean, when you put it like that it does sound a little-”

“Illegal?” Ping gulped. Te-osh continued. “We’ll deal with that later in court. Right now, I want to know what happened after that. Tell me about the metalbender.”

“She – he? they? – was scary. Came outta nowhere. Knocked us clean out and next thing we knew we were tied up and we could hear the police sirens approaching.”

“Anything else? Height? Appearance?” Te-osh rested her hands on the desk in front of him, leaning in.

“Well, I did catch a glimpse of their face. Hair was sort of brown and spikey though it was hard to tell under the mask. Couldn’t have been more than fourteen or so. You won’t catch him. He’s too fast, even for you.”

“Do you know what they wanted?”

“Probably just to lynch us.”

“Did they say anything at all?”

“Nope.”

“Have you or any of the triads had run-ins with them in the past?”

“Only last week when the same thing happened to the Agni Kais.”

“Did the Green Bandit take anything from you or from the shopkeeper?”

“I was unconscious! How was I supposed to know?!” Te-osh sighed.

“Very well. You may go – for now. But I’ll be watching you closely.” She closed the door behind him, leaving her alone in the room with one of her officers.

“You’re letting them go just like that?” He asked, bewildered.

“It’s vital that we gain as much information as we can. I bugged both their jackets so we’ll be able to hear what they’re saying. This could get us leads on the triads’ plans and whereabouts, but not only that; they could get a visit from the Green Bandit again.”

“Clever. Do you think they’re a threat to the city?”

“They’re a wildcard. My suspicion is that they’re safe, however we must acquire more evidence first. There’s always a chance an earth bender this powerful could have been sent by Zarkon and although this is unlikely, we must be able to rule it out as an option. There’s also the possibility Iverson’s using them in some kind of hidden scheme to gain the people’s support, and there are only a few places that would produce a metalbender that good at such a young age. All this said, I’d much rather have them as a friend than a foe, and if it does turn out they’re on our side… well, they’d make an excellent addition to the police force, don’t you think?”

---

“Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders? Then join the equalists!” A man stood on a small table in the street, proclaiming his words through a megaphone at a small crowd that had gathered around him. Behind him hung a huge poster of a masked man Pidge recognised as Amon, the equalist leader. The hooded figure was present on all their leaflets and propaganda, though no one she had spoken to seem to have any idea of his identity beyond this image.

“For too long,” the man continued, “the bending elite of this city have forced non-benders to live as second class citizens. Join Amon, and together we will tear down the bending establishment!”

A small part of her could relate to what he was saying. The council here was corrupt; she knew that all too well. There were constant reports of Councillor Allura trying to pass well-meaning policies and being out-voted by the rest of the council, and Pidge was sure she knew exactly who was to blame. But one man – however much Pidge despised his very essence – did not represent the entire bending community. The amount of support the equalists were getting was scary and their policies were unforgiving. Keeping her head low, she made a mental note of the equalist man’s face in case she ever encountered him again and continued on towards the probending arena.

The training gym was enormous. The high ceiling arched upwards and a balcony made a rim around the edge about a story high, lined with tall windows, evenly spaced, through which streaks of sunlight created dusty rays. High up in the roof, beams ran lengthways down the room with curved supports anchoring them to the ceiling. Pidge imagined it would be fun to swing about from the rafters as if they were a giant set of hog monkey bars; it was a metalbender’s perfect playground.

At ground level, piles of probending disks in little clusters were stacked up by the walls. Punching bags hung down from beneath the balcony and in the centre of each of the long sides, a net came down to the ground with loose disks scattered around the base. Pidge couldn’t believe it. She had talked her way into the team she had only ever dared to dream about and now she was a probender.

She had arrived there early, giving her the chance to look around without the prying eyes of her teammates. She found a few broom cupboards, mostly full of cleaning supplies and spare probending gear, however one contained a questionable amount of facemask packets.

Her eyes wandered to the earth disks, and decided to have a bit of fun. She had always wanted to see what they were like to bend, and it was probably one of the only times she would get to try them out now that she had outed herself as a firebender. She shot a couple into one of the nets, getting better with each attempt. The disks lent themselves to having a good spin put on them and she revelled in the feeling. She then resorted to spinning five of them round her head, getting faster and faster.

The door opened into the gym and she jumped backwards, all the disks crashing onto the floor. All except one, which landed on her foot.

“Ow!” She yelled, cursing as she flung the offending disk elsewhere.

“Everything alright?” Hunk asked as he and Coran entered the gym, followed a little later by Lance, sipping a takeaway coffee.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, rubbing the top of her foot before straightening up. “I’ve always wanted to see how heavy the disks were. When I picked them up they felt a lot lighter than I expected but, uh, since one just landed on my foot I’m re-evaluating that judgement.”

“You must be Pidge,” Coran bent down to her level as if inspecting her face just to see if she was really as short as she was. “I am Coran Hy-”

“Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe. Probending announcer, ex United Forces general, advisor to Councillor Allura and owner of at least four businesses in Republic City and the Southern Water Tribe.”

“You certainly know your stuff. I’m impressed! And it’s seven companies, by the way. At least, those are the major ones. First, there’s Nunvill. I discovered it almost by chance, when I realised the popular Water Tribe drink, in a much more concentrated form, did incredible wonders to my facial hair. So naturally, I did what any respectable and, dare I say, slightly intoxicated young man would do and patented it. I was so proud of myself that day, and it was the first of many great and life changing discoveries I was soon to make.” He puffed some kind of liquid out of a small vile onto his ginger moustache and it immediately expanded, resembling an exotic centipillar even more than it had before. “Smashing, don’t you think?-”

“Coran.” Hunk interjected, clearly aware that if he didn’t stop the man now they would be stuck listening to his business adventures for more than just a few more ticks.

“Ah, right, yes. Of course. Anyway! Hunk informed me you had a new firebender, and I wasn’t going to miss out on a press opportunity. Pidge, tell me a little bit about yourself.”

“Umm…”

“Do you have a second name?”

“Uh…” There was no way she could use her actual name and so quickly thinking on the spot she blurted out “Gunderson?”

“Pidge… Gunderson…” Coran muttered to himself as he wrote it all down on his notepad. “You seemed a little unsure there, but not to worry. What kind of bending experience do you have? Any hobbies or interests? Remember, anything you say now will be included in tomorrow’s copy of the United Daily News, so answer carefully.”

“I have, uh, a lot of bending experience.” With the way Coran was demanding answers from her she was terrified she might accidentally spill one of her secrets. “And I’m really into probending. I watch every match that I can and have always wanted the opportunity to play, so I’m very grateful for the Eagle Lions for accepting me onto their team. I know that I can never replace Keith, but I hope that I’ll be able to bring something to the team that will allow us a victory in the upcoming tournament.” She was amazed that she had regained her ability to articulate sentences and Coran was beaming with delight.

“That was perfect! The newspapers will love it!” He exclaimed, jotting everything down word for word. “Now, time for the pictures.” He whipped out a camera and started taking pictures of Pidge before she’d even processed what was happening. She had known that there would be lots of media coverage as a probender, but she hadn’t expected it on day one, before they had even trained together. And there was that small voice in the back of her head reminding her that there was still a chance Iverson might recognise her. Of course he won’t, she reassured herself. He’d be looking for a metalbending girl, not a firebending boy. There’s no way he’d associate the two, especially not with the shot hair. And he doesn’t even know I’m in Republic City, so it’s all going to be fine. Plus, he’s probably not interested in me anymore… unless I draw attention to myself and he gets suspicious…

“And now for a group one!” Coran moved his hands about, trying them in several different positions, never satisfied. Eventually they settled on one with Hunk in the middle with Lance and pidge facing slightly outwards on either side, both making a gun with their hands. Lance and Coran thought it was fantastic. Hunk and Pidge did not, but had no choice but to go along with it anyway.

“Well, I’ll leave you three to get on with your practice now, and I’ll see you soon I’m sure but, just in case I don’t, then good luck for Saturday!” As Coran left, Hunk groaned at the thought of Saturday.

“I might as well go back to bed. Wake me up after the match and then we can focus on the tournament and the games we actually have a chance of winning.”

“What’s happening on Saturday?” Pidge asked, genuinely wondering. “I mean, we have a match, but what’s so bad about that?” Lance and Hunk turned to look at her in complete horror.

“You really don’t know, do you…?” Lance stated. “Well, I guess that would explain why you weren’t put off joining our team.”

“We’re playing against the Wolf Bats.” The words sunk into her like a block of lead falling right to the bottom of the ocean.

“Ah.” It was all she could manage to say under the circumstances. In the back of her mind she had known that this a match was coming up. But when she’d read the schedule? That was before she actually had to play the match herself. The Wolf Bats had won every single game and every single tournament for the last four years. However, not only were they the best team around, but they also played dirty. They constantly snuck in illegal moves, intimidated opponents outside matches and on a few occasions even harmed other players. Of course, there was never any proof of this but everyone knew what had happened even if they were too scared to do anything about it.

“I’m guessing it’s too late to quit?” She joked.

“Oh, no chance. Sorry, but you totally got yourself into this mess and there’s no way we’re losing the only firebender stupid enough to sign up for this.” ‘Stupid’ wasn’t a word that was normally applied to Pidge and coming from Lance of all people it was almost laughable.

“So, I guess we just shut our eyes and prepare for defeat?”

“That’s the spirit,” Hunk patted her on the shoulder. “You’ll fit right in here.”

“So, shall we begin?”

“Sounds good,” Pidge agreed.

“We normally start our training with a friendly warmup match of two against one. And as it’s your first time here, Lance and I thought it would be a good way to welcome you to the team and see what your bending is like by having you fight against both of us.”

There were many things going through Pidge’s head at that moment, but as soon as she heard those words the prevailing thought was ‘oh quiznak’.

“Ha ha, that doesn’t sound like a very friendly welcome…” Pidge awkwardly attempted to brush off her impending fear. She’d been hoping for a more gradual introduction to the world of probending. Maybe some time to get used to it all? Even a one-on-one would have been more manageable…

“Think of it as payback for all the teasing earlier,” Lance quipped.

“OK then.” Pidge gulped, realising there was nothing she could do to get herself out of this situation. Shut our eyes and prepare for defeat. She wished she didn’t have to follow her own advice so soon. Lance counted down from three.

“…Go!”

Within half a second she had already been drenched with water and was attempting to fend off disks. The first one hit her right in the chest and she staggered back, nearly slipping in the puddle behind her. The second one she blocked with her arm and even though her strong stance allowed her to absorb a lot of the shock, it still hurt enormously. The third time, she remembered that producing fire was a skill she could and should be utilising and managed to produce a gentle flame which did absolutely nothing to stop the momentum of the disk and instead simply heated it up, making the impact more painful that before.

She had forgotten how painful being hit by a rock could be. The entire thing was humiliating. She could so easily have beaten them both with earth and metal but as it stood, Lance and Hunk were barely trying at all and she was getting her ass beaten. Eventually, she managed to vaporise half a disk, the rest of which fell to the ground.  

“Is this really the best you can do?” Lance taunted. She shot a slightly larger flame at him which he dodged with ease, though it had gone out before it even reached him. “I thought you said you were a… what was it? An ‘experienced bender’?”

“Experienced at watching probending, more like. Well, that won’t do much good out there in the arena.”

Pidge hated that this was true. Well, regarding her firebending, at least. Why had she thought that two months of watching firebenders intently was going to suddenly make her able to do it herself? She had never even used fire in front of anyone else before – well, other than Matt, but those times hardly counted – and the few times she’d tried things out by herself she had been very cautious, not wanting to draw attention to herself or risk a disaster that could expose her. She should have just asked Keith when she’d had the chance. She could have kept a lower profile that way and actually worked on her firebending.  Yet, she had liked the idea of being a probender and, in that moment, she had justified her personal desires without properly looking at the whole picture. And because you think that you can just go out there and do anything, her brain added, to her disapproval. Well, there was nothing like learning on the job in front of thousands of people.

She began to get more into the flow of everything. If she focussed on dodging attacks rather than trying to attack with fire, she was a lot more successful. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a temporary solution. The only problem was, she kept forgetting that incoming disks weren’t free ammunition and leaving it too late to get out of the way. She was spending far more time fighting her natural instincts than the opposition.

A combination attack knocked her off balance and suddenly she was on the floor, her teammates advancing towards her as she tried to decide between an escape plan and admitting defeat. She could sense a metal container in the corner of the room and if she knocked it over she could attack them from behind whilst they were distracted…

“I knew we should never have allowed you onto our team. You can’t even firebend.” Lance’s words struck something deep inside her. They touched on her deepest fears, that she would never be able to master the other elements. That she was never cut out to be the avatar. But they brought up memories too. Iverson’s words echoed through her mind. I should never have allowed you into the Garrison. She wanted to push the feelings down but they refused to leave her alone. You don’t know how to use the technology. She wanted to get the stupid, horrible man out of her head but the memories kept coming. Your brother and father are dead, Katie.

That was the final straw. Fire erupted in a circle all around her, spreading to the far corners of the gym. Disks cracked and windows exploded as the anger flowed out of her in searing heat. The wave only lasted a few seconds, but the aftermath was impressive. Lance quickly doused his and Hunk’s shoes and trousers and, after recovering from the initial shock of it all, began putting out flaming punching bags. The smoke alarm went off shortly after, activating the sprinklers and it wasn’t long before Hunk and Pidge were completely drenched.

“That was… quite something,” Hunk said, the first one to speak. They had moved outside now, away from the commotion, leaving the fire services to do their thing. Most of the fire had gone out already but there was a lot of mess to clear up. Lance, who had kept himself dry, was doing his best to remove the water from his teammates’ clothes.

“Yeah, not even Keith ever did anything like that!” 

“Maybe next time you could go for something in-between ‘pathetic’ and ‘burn the place to the ground’?” Hunk suggested.

“I’ll get there.” Pidge tried to sound confident. She was more hopeful now that it would be possible, eventually, but had her doubts that it would be before Saturday.

“Do we really have the time to wait for a beginner?” Lance asked.

“I’m not a- OK, fine, I’m a beginner. But I’m also a fast learner.”

“And we should believe you because…?”

“Because you don’t have another option.” The three of them stood there for a while, all of them silently agreeing that one, this was true and two, that they were doomed.

“Can I ask you something?” Hunk asked, out of the blue.

“Sure.”

“The way you were bending in there… the moves were much more like earthbending moves than firebending.”

“Well…” Pidge paused for a moment, figuring out how much she wanted to open up to her teammates. “I was raised in Zaofu. My dad and older brother were – are – earthbenders, and because I was the only firebender there I learnt what I could from them. That’s one of the reasons I’m in Republic City now; to improve my bending.”

“Woah, Zaofu!” Hunk’s voice was filled with admiration. “I’ve always wanted to go there. It seems like such an awesome pace, being the home of modern technology and filled with metalbenders.” The way he said ‘metalbenders’ drew Pidge’s interest.

“Can you metalbend?” She asked.

“I’ve… I’ve never tried.” This was a lie. “I guess I’m afraid of not being able to do it.”

“I know the feeling.” Hunk and Lance gave her curious looks but made no comment. “I should probably start heading back and get some food and rest. Wouldn’t want to be late for training tomorrow. Do you guys train in the morning? What time should I meet you?”

“Food and rest sounds good… sorry, what was the question? Oh, yeah. Training. Why don’t you come to the café at dawn and have breakfast with us?”

“Dawn?!” Lance objected.

“Hunk’s right, if we’re going to stand a chance of acting like a team before the game we need all the time we can get.”

Once she was sure Lance and Hunk were out of sight, Pidge made her way to the back entrance of the arena and, making sure no one else was watching, reformed the metal she kept hidden under her clothes into the familiar shape of her bayard. She shot a cord all the way to the top of the building and sailed up into the sky.

Once she had reached the top, Pidge scrambled onto the roof of the probending arena, climbing up to the highest point. From this position, she could see the expanse of city all around her. It wasn’t the first time she had viewed the city from this height, but it was just as breath-taking every time. In one direction was the Little Ba Sing Se Shopping Mall. It took up a wide area of land with its three ringed system, and contained within the centre was a smaller than life replica of the Earth Emperor’s Palace. At some point she would have to take a trip there; not because she was interested in what Emperor Zarkon’s bed chambers looked like but, from what she had heard, the shops there sold all kinds of interesting things.

However, in the landscape of the city, the metal Garrison building stood out to her, much uglier and taller than most of the others. The Garrison School of Metalbending and Technology had two centres, one here in Republic City and another, the original Garrison, in Zaofu. Pidge’s grandfather, one the first of the modern metal benders, founded the school and her father, Samuel Holt, had been the one to introduce the technology aspect. With the way the world was going, he had felt that technology was going to become increasingly important, and the more people that studied and understood it properly, the better the impact it would have.

Unfortunately, not all those who worked at the Garrison shared the same innovative ideals as the Holt family. It wasn’t that everyone was bad, no, just… Pidge wasn’t sure if she could place the feeling. Maybe it was because she and the rest of her family had such an intrinsic link to the materials they were working with. This extra sense of being able to feel the metal as it twisted into the intricate shapes. This understanding of the earth and metal around her laid all around her like a map, this inner knowing. A lot of the technology students were non-benders but even the metalbenders that studied both just weren’t as… connected. She had often felt out of place and alone, alienated by her classmates for her talent and abilities. Even the staff didn’t take kindly to her. Especially staff like- like Iverson. So focused on himself and control and lying and breaking up families-

She realised she was crying, her hands drenched in tears. Wiping them on her shorts, she reflected on what had happened in the gym; her sudden outburst of flames. It was the first time she had let her anger flow since she’d tried to hack into the Garrison computers and been caught. Since then she’d kept it all bottled up inside her, using it to fuel her every move from under the surface. It was the driving force of her need for answers and, though she didn’t want to name it in such a way, revenge. She had been holding onto everything so tightly and, for the first time in a while, she felt her grip on life loosening a little and was able to pause and breathe for a moment. The Republic City air washed over her as she turned over a flame in her hands, the motion much more fluid than ever before. She could feel the energy from within flowing out of her naturally, rather than being forced. She wasn’t there yet, but it was something she knew she could work with.

She turned her back on the unpleasant memories, turning to facing out to sea. The Air Castle stood on its island a little way from the shore, next to the statue of Avatar Alfor. Pidge barely knew anything about the past avatars. They were only distant legends to her, great people who were nothing like herself. She could barely entertain the idea that she was connected to them in any way at all, and besides, weren’t they supposed to have some kind of psychic link or something? She didn’t have any of that. She was just Pidge, a fugitive metalbender who just happened to be able to bend fire too. Sometimes. But a lot of her didn’t care about any of this. All she wanted was to find her family.

Her family. She remembered why she had come up onto the roof and set to work connecting her radios to the large aerial disks, monitoring the signals in the hopes that somehow she would get a lead on her brother and father.

---

“Things are much harder without your bending, don’t you think?” The equalist woman mocked them from behind her mask. The two figures loomed down at the men they had just tied up, back to back. Both were still in a daze from the shock of the electric gloves and one tried to produce a flame, but to no avail. The other slumped in defeat.

“What did you do to us?” The firebender asked, worried.

“Oh, we just did a little chi blocking. Don’t worry, it’s not permanent. But first, we need answers.”

“Tell us.” It was the other equalist’s turn to speak. He was definitely male, and his voice had a certain smoothness and charm to it. “What did they look like?”

“Who?”

“The Green Bandit, of course.”

Both men hurriedly gave descriptions, nothing that the two hadn’t heard already but the woman took notes nonetheless. However, after they had finished, she looked at her partner and he nodded.

“Did they look anything like this?” He brought out a newspaper clipping and held it out to their captives. The earthbender squinted at the photo.

“Potentially. The eyes… they could be the same person but I can’t say for sure.”

“Do you know who they are?”

“What we do or do not know is none of your concern.”

“Well seeing as we’ve given you what you want, can you untie us now?” The firebender asked nervously.

“What do you think?” The woman playfully asked her companion. “I say we leave them like this. They can free themselves when their bending comes back, after all.”

“That sounds good to me,” her companion agreed.

“How long will that be?” He tried not to show the nervousness in his voice.

“Oh, a few hours maybe? I’ve never hung around long enough to find out. Speaking of which, we have other business to attend to.”

“But just remember,” The equalist man added, “that if you mention this encounter to anyone we will know, and next time? Well let’s just hope there isn’t a next time, because you won’t be so lucky.” The benders gulped and nodded in agreement and the equalists gracefully leapt out of the window, landing without a sound on the ground below before running off into the night.