“Someone dares to undermine us,” Amon coldly declared to the packed warehouse. He paused for effect to scan the audience. “Someone is trying to paint us as monsters. To lower us to the level of old world barbarity.”
As he noted the bobbing heads agreeing with his words, the masked leader softened his posture a little and spread open palms for effect. “What do we Equalists seek? Freedom from the oppression of benders. We seek to Equalize their station with ours, to bring into account their thoughtless discrimination and misdeeds. There is nothing to gain from senseless slaughter.”
It didn’t send the right message nor foster the right fear, Amon didn’t say.
“Someone is trying to pin their savagery on us,” he repeated, his hands clenching into fists as they slowly rose up before him. “And we will not let their brazenness go unpunished.”
The air of indignation he’d been cultivating this evening finally bloomed into a chorus of angry affirmations. Fists punched into the air and calls for action were shouted. Behind his mask, Amon smiled, already imagining another batch of zealous volunteers to induct into his small underground army.
Amon basked in the raucous fury for a few seconds before turning to leave the stage, passing the spotlight to a lieutenant with a nod of his head.
The morning’s unpleasant surprise sowed uncertainty among his followers, forcing Amon to call an assembly in the evening to nip the issue at the bud. It was risky to gather at a large space like this, but he cannot allow himself or his movement to be painted as mass-murderers, not without justification (however fabricated that might be). The Equalist movement still needed recruits, and a bloodbath like what happened to the Itiros would only turn away many of the more moderate sympathizers. It would also give the ruling council to really focus their resources to combat the Equalists.
Which might have been the point for the massacre…
Amon allowed himself a frown as he came down from the improvised platform of crates and metal sheets, but quickly retrieved his stony composure as he approached a nervous trio corralled by Equalist troopers.
“Did you get all of that?” he asked, ignoring the journalists’ concerned fidgeting, and focused instead on their pencils and notepads.
All three of them nodded promptly, not at all hiding their fear of him.
“Good. I expect to see a fair report of this evening’s event.” He then shifted his gaze to the guards and gave a single nod. “Kindly see them back to their homes.”
Bags suddenly shot over the three journalists’ heads, and they were quickly whisked away despite their yelps and struggles. Amon resumed his journey to the exit, and returned to his musing over the Itiros.
Who could be so callous to orchestrate such a thing?
Tarrlok? Is he one to simply discard such staunch and wealthy supporters?
But there had been no news of any fallout between the two parties…
A secondary perhaps? Or another councillor? But the latter were spineless dolts…
“We don’t have enough information…” Amon muttered in annoyance, drawing the puzzled attention of his retinue.
“Sir?” Namazu, his second-in-command, asked softly without breaking stride.
“We need more information about what happened at the Itiro estate. See if any of our brothers and sisters have access to the morgue where the Itiros are housed. And that sister who’s got the attention of a police lieutenant, ask if she’s able to learn anything about the investigation.”
Namazu snapped a wordless salute before marching off, and not for the first time, Amon lamented the fact that he couldn’t gain any direct contacts within the metalbending police; the few non-bender staff were staunchly against the Equalist movement, unlike the truly oppressed who were forced to serve the triads. They were far from incorruptible, but they had enough principles along with the metalbenders under Lin’s stern gaze to not sell away case files and evidence.
Still useful for the occasional minor tipoff, but far from valuable assets.
Now, with that done-
The warehouse’s backdoor opened, and a plainclothes footsoldier slipped through in a hurry. Amon tensed for a moment, until he realized the messenger wasn’t giving the usual handsignals.
Not a raid, at least. Then which other urgent scenario would warrant sending a runner?
“Sir, unusual movement from Xing has been reported.”
Ah, of course.
“And where is he headed?”
There was no mistaking the nervousness that now leaked through the man’s stiffness. “We…we’re not sure, sir.”
An expectant pause filled the space between Amon and the trooper who now drew everyone’s attention.
There was an audible gulp before he finally elaborated. “We followed him out of his home, and then he crossed a busy road with one of the urchins, and then…and then we lost sight of him.”
Amon took a second before delivering a stony response. “Lost sight?”
To his credit, the messenger didn’t devolve into stammering or shaking. “We searched the area, and found no signs of him or the kid. I was sent here right after that.”
“Did he somehow turn back?”
“No, sir. We checked around his home, it’s empty. The boy and the old man are with Asami Sato.”
It was incredibly hard not to scream or at least break into a sigh. Whether from incompetence or another revelation of Xing’s true talents, this little complication was something Amon could ill afford. “Go back and tell your team to keep looking. I’ll be sending reinforcements to help.”
*****
It felt like forever since Ren felt the itch and airiness of a street urchin’s clothes, and the subtle tension that hung within the air of desperation in the back alleys. It was almost frightful, the contrast between the fine threads Asami had bought for the girl compared to the tattered thing she used to wear until her fortuitous encounter with Xing.
Just because she and Kai had decided to pick on a seemingly oblivious White Lotus tourist, they were plucked out of the alleys and got practically adopted by a terrifying director and his incredibly wealthy and smart girlfriend.
Now that she thought about it, it sounded like one of those fairytale plays, didn’t it?
Shaking off that thought, the former vagrant snapped her attention back to a darkened alleyway, where a surprisingly well disguised Xing was conversing in whispers with one of Ren’s old acquaintances.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The boy was properly spooked when Xing came out of the shadows to greet him, and even from where Ren had been standing, it looked like her adoptive brother disappeared into some unknown tunnel in the darkness to materialize out the other side of the street.
She’ll have to ask him to teach her that trick later.
Now safely secluded in a narrow dead end, Ren simply watched and gave occasional nods to her former alleyway colleague to reassure him. The weak light that reached them from the main road offered just enough illumination for facial features to be recognized, chiefly Weikong’s almost-terrified expression contrasting with Xing’s far too calm one.
“How certain are you?” Xing asked in what was supposed to be a calm, reasonable tone. But to an alleyway sneak unfamiliar with him, it very likely sounded too even, too assured, like the outside contractors some triads liked to hire. Even the workman’s cap he wore didn’t detract from that.
Ren almost forgot how scary he seemed when she first met him.
So of course poor Weikong almost shook his head off his neck as he answered. “L-Look, I-I said I’m not exactly sure, alright? It’s the night lights and shadows, you know? I swear-”
“Relax, Weikong,” Ren cut in, before the young informant broke into begging for his life. “It’s ok if you’re not sure.” She nodded at Xing. “He just wants to know how certain you are about what you saw. It’ll help in figuring things out.”
Weikong gulped down his nerves, and managed a more steady nod.
“I-I’m pretty sure there were at least a couple-dozen of people dressed as servants-”
“Water tribe?”
“Yeah. Definitely. I think…I think they were headed to the Itiro’s. At least, they were taking the street in that direction.”
“That’s good,” Xing soothed. “Were they carrying anything?”
“N-Not that I could see.”
“Were they moving peculiarly?”
Weikong’s nervousness actually lifted for a moment as he gave Xing a confused “huh?”
“Like if they might be hiding cleavers or axes under their pants or shirts.”
“Oh. Uh… I…don’t think so?”
Xing nodded at that and moved on. “And you’re sure you saw them pass by you before the games started?”
Weikong’s nod was more solid this time. “Y-Yeah. Positive.” Well, at least he was fully certain about that fact.
“And you didn’t encounter them again?” Xing asked, earning another shake of the boy’s head.
“Not…not that I remember. Nobody passed by that stretch throughout the night.”
“Hm… And how long was that?”
“Until the police airships arrived-”
“The patrol?”
The boy shook his head again. “No, the couple of airships that came after the patrol. When they began circling in the air to start a search pattern, I scrammed.”
“And you didn’t notice anything else before that? No other commotion?”
Another shake of Weikong’s head.
Ren found herself mimicking Xing’s thoughtful hum as she pieced together what was revealed so far.
A group of household servants headed towards the Itiros in the early evening, but not returning the way they came at the very least. It didn’t sound like much, but with how Xing had gone quiet, there was probably something Ren was missing here.
After a few seconds of quiet thinking, Xing finally reached into a hidden pocket to pull out a wad of yuans. Weikong initially flinched at the motion, but once he realized he wasn’t going to be permanently silenced, the boy stared dumbly at the roll of money.
“Thank you for your assistance. This should be enough to confirm that we didn’t have this conversation?”
“Who said what?” Weikong immediately replied as he gingerly accepted the yuans and flicked through the paper notes.
Xing gave a satisfied nod, and then offered a gentle smile. “While I appreciate having a reliable source, if you ever want to leave the alleys, there’ll be openings for paid interns.”
Ren coughed softly to stop herself from laughing as Weikong almost dropped the cash to stare again at Xing.
“You…you can do that?”
The director shrugged like it was nothing. “It requires honest work and diligence, but, well…”
He glanced at Ren’s direction and she took her cue to smirk at Weikong.
“You can check with Ren if you’ve any doubts.”
“Me and Kai get paid enough to pay rent for a proper apartment, and buy our own meals.” If Xing wasn’t already so stubborn about handling both by himself, and Asami didn’t spoil them with her own doting. Honestly, at this rate Ren wasn’t sure what she was saving up for anymore.
“Xing will probably pay you enough to cover a room and meals…assuming he lets you pay for them.”
The man shrugged with some amusement flitting across his face. “Employee dormitories are still in the planning stages.”
Weikong’s face scrunched up into a tight frown as he seriously considered the offer, which proved that Ren was right in recommending him. He hadn’t fallen for the scam of security by joining a triad or street gang, and he’d long ago (well, a few years ago, which was still a long time for kids like themselves) had expressed the desire to leave the shadows of Republic City.
They parted ways moments later, with Xing taking care to scan the streets before exiting the alleyway.
“Where to next?” Ren whispered as they kept to the edges of the streetlights’ glow. Weikong was the only contact she knew who operated anywhere near the richer residential district. The triads’ informants, however risky they were, didn’t skulk in the alleyways like Weikong around these parts, instead tending to be embedded in the noble families they spied on.
“I’ll be checking the estate next,” came the calm, certain answer without shifting his gaze from the space ahead.
“You mean ‘we’?” she hissed.
“I’ll need you to keep watch.”
“Oh. Right.” Assured that she wasn’t going to be left out due to ‘sensibilities’ (like what Asami tended to do when she had meetings with loudmouths like Mister Dao), the former thief quietly followed Xing’s lead as they slipped into another alley, this time to climb up the boutique’s decorative facade to get to the roof.
Seeing her constantly switching her gaze from the ground below to the darkening skies above, he asked, “do you use the roofs often?”
“Barely. Airships, you know? You stand out easily from up there if you’re working a window.”
A smirk appeared on Xing’s face. “Good thing we’re not putting ourselves anywhere too obvious.” Ren rolled her eyes at the joke, and then followed after him as they began hopping from one boutique rooftop to another.
They reached a major junction, and Xing seemed to be focused on the trucks and cars below that had stopped to yield to traffic. Ren barely acknowledged the traffic shifting when he suddenly loomed over her.
“Hold onto me.”
“Huh?”
He grabbed Ren without further warning, and suddenly they were shooting across the intersection right as the vehicles coughed and barked into motion.
Ren juddered in Xing’s arms as he landed with a crunch of heavy tiles. Her legs kept her standing once he gently eased her down, but the girl’s mind was caught in a daze as she struggled to process what had just happened.
“You alright?”
“Bwuh?” Ren spat out a few strands of hair, blinked a few times, and finally yanked away the hair pasted onto her face as she regained some composure.
“What was that? How did we…”
“I did tell you I’m a bender, right?”
Ren blinked again, and then looked around to take in her new surroundings. They were at the tip of a Fire Nation styled pagoda, in some rich family’s house. Judging by the lights from the smaller buildings below, they were enjoying an oblivious post-dinner family time or something.
She also noted the wisps of smoke trailing from Xing’s feet.
“Where’s the shop we were on?” she asked, wide-eyed.
As an answer, Xing turned around and pointed to one of the many blocks dotted with lights in the distance.
“How did you…?”
“It’s a little bending trick. By the way, we never got around to talking about you and Kai’s bending.”
Despite the unsubtleness of it, Ren took the change of topic and answered with a shrug. “No reason to use it, not in our…old job. Firebending draws the attention of the Agni Kai.”
Her adoptive brother hummed with disconcerting seriousness at that. “A talk for another time, then. For now, do you need my help getting down?”
She hadn’t been so spoiled by him and Asami that she did. Ren easily slipped down the multiple levels of the pagoda, while Xing simply…plummeted down to the ground seemingly unscratched. They climbed over the walls to leave the compound, and found themselves just a few streets away from the Itiro estate.
There were police signboards set up at frequent intervals around the walled compound, warning the curious of the dangers of trespassing. Ren also noticed an armored car parked nearby the main gate, and a squad of metalbenders patrolling the perimeter. It reminded her of security at an Agni Kai ‘office’.
“How are we going in?”
“‘We’ are not. I am.”
Ren held back the urge to sulk at being left out. This wasn’t infiltrating some petty crook’s house, after all.
Xing took off his hat and passed it to her, and then fished out a small trinket - a tin whistle - out of his pocket.
“Two long blows if something’s coming.”
“How long is ‘long’?”
“About a couple of seconds,” he immediately answered. “If you’re in trouble, just blow however many times, however long, and I’ll come running. Understand?”
He was giving her the ‘very serious’ look, so Ren shoved away the complaint she wanted to voice and just nodded instead. “Got it.”
Xing gave one final nod before hurrying around a corner, and then Ren jumped when she heard a sharp clap from that direction. She didn’t miss the thin column of smoke either, that quickly begun to disperse as the police at the other end startled at the commotion.
Ren quickly found a good patch of darkness to lurk in, so that she could keep watch as she said she would, and to process the fact that she just saw Xing shoot straight up into the sky in a way - that she was pretty sure - no one else has ever done before.
So focused on the police who were searching about that the girl failed to notice something or someone diving straight down from the night sky into the Itiro’s grounds.
