Fandom Avatar: The Exiled Chronicles

[Colorless Spectrum]

A Rescue Attempt

Even with the warning, it didn’t look like the people from the warehouse could set out a patrol fast enough and Xu was thankful for that. It gave them enough time to get in, grab their companions and get out. There were many risks with this plan— one of them being that someone might get to the airship before they could. While he had thought of a lot of fail-safes to prevent it from being destroyed, infiltrated, or otherwise grounded permanently, he didn’t want to risk it.

Getting to the warehouse was easy enough at least. Entering it was a whole other beast. He settled behind one of the bushes, looking over for any possible entrances. “So we know that the others infiltrated from the vents.” He pointed up at the rooftop. Not knowing the layout of the warehouse was detrimental, but they knew a few things from the reports at least. “Xian and Xiurong are together, outside the vents in some room with gas canisters. They probably know that the place is on full alert and would escape.” He pressed his hand to his chin, brows furrowing as he continued to think. “Yara is still in the vents, alone. Maizen and Taka, on the other hand, are both with these goons.”

Everyone was split up and they had to prioritize who they would get out first and how to get out. “We also need a way to get back to the airship. Any vehicle would do and if it comes to it, I’m more than willing to try my hand on driving that monstrosity.” He claimed, pertaining to what Jia had reported earlier.

“Anyway, do you think you can find out where they are?”

Even before Xu had asked, Jia was already trying to pinpoint their location through seismic sensing. Unfamiliar people, unfamiliar heartbeats, unfamiliar movements. There was a lot, and even though she barely knew the others, she had already tried to memorize them, through this ability that was known only by Earthbenders the moment they came to the Headquarters.

She found them. It wasn't too hard, but it was odd. There was another, much more familiar than everyone else and now she's only hoping that it's not who she thought it was. "I found them. We should go in from underneath, I can make a way in. It would probably be better to wear our masks already in case they released the gas already." She said, stoic as ever.

Jia was quick to fix the mask to her face before ripping the earth apart to create a path inside. Leading the way, Jia made sure that the space around them would be comfortable enough for Xu to walk in, whilst telling him whenever they are changing direction. "We're here." She said, her voice slightly muffled by the mask. "I'll go in first and surprise them."

And with that, she shot herself up, leaving the hole open for Xu to climb out of. Immediately, she shot shrapnels of rock from her makeshift glove to the goons near Taka and Maizen before shifting her body and making use of her three-sectioned staff to another that went charging towards her, hitting them right where it hurts best.

Xu nodded, quickly wearing and fixing his mask and let out a deep sigh. Anywhere he went was some sort of trouble, huh? Then again, he was willingly going along with this in hopes to get Xiurong to stop getting into trouble. As Jia opened the tunnel and explained to him her plan, he looked back to the way back to the airship for a moment. He really was more comfortable in the air than on the ground.

He dropped down into the hole and followed close behind Jia. He only had to trust her and her seismic sense to tell them the way because he couldn’t see anything for the life of him. He grumbled something under his breath as they continued forward, left, right, forward again. For someone who had grown up with mostly earthbenders, Xu found himself uncomfortable. There was too little space to do anything and the idea of not being able to move bothered him. Huh, maybe he wasn’t cut out for these bending styles after all.

As Jia shot upwards, he waited for a few moments to allow the people to register that Jia was there and aim all of their focus there. He took out three stun arrows. He really hoped he had time to collect these before having to leave. He didn’t have the luxury of making multitudes of them on the fly if he was also in charge of flying the airship.

He jumped out of the hole and crouched down, launching the three arrows in succession. Three bodies crackled with electricity and dropped to the ground. He quickly put away his bow, knowing that the area wasn’t going to leave him with enough breathing space for archery. Those that weren’t targeting Jia turned to him and began their advancement. He brought his arms up in preparation while looking around to see any possible hint of an—

Is that…!?

A wall of earth appeared in front of Xu, shattering after being hit by rock upon rock. Behind him was Jia, her blank expression was nowhere to be found and was replaced by furrowed brows and a frown. Her eyes were only on one person, Xu’s attacker, or rather better known as her old friend, “Chen."

Jia stomped the ground to levitate a huge boulder before sending it flying towards her old friend. "Switch places with me, Xu."

His eyebrows furrowed at Jia’s remark, looking back at what he truly hoped was just someone who was in something suspiciously like the Dai Li armor. Filing the memory at the back of his head, he turned around to see multiple attackers heading towards them. Benders, it looked like. Outnumbered and outpowered, he really should stop being so arrogant. That was Xiurong’s job.

“Capture him if possible.” He told her. “I have some questions.” He headed off towards one of the firebenders, twisting out of the way of his flaming dropkick before turning around and grabbing his arm and his neck, sending multiple voltages of electricity through him. He didn’t have time to ponder whether or not he had killed the person or not as another made another swipe at him. He grabbed the attacker’s hand and flipped him onto the ground before rolling out of the way as the ground formed a hole.

“Geez, it would be nice if you could ease up a bit.” While it was surely intended to be lighthearted, his flat delivery caused it to sound like a bored comment.

The boulder was shattered and Chen let out an audible sigh. Initially, he didn't want to get caught up in all of this but there wasn't anything he can do about it now. Jia found him, and he also attempted to attack the Prince of the Earth Empire, not that he knew at first but there was only one person she stuck by. "At least say something." He said to his old friend, he couldn't help but feel ashamed at being seen doing unhonorable work.

No words were spoken back. There wasn't any room for any sentimental familiarity when the person in front of you is a traitor to the Empire. To the Royal family, and that is where her loyalty lies. She pulled forth the specks of dirt and formed a torpedo of sand towards Chen as a means of a momentary distraction.

It was a shame, Jia thought, to see Chen like this when he had much potential to be a great agent of the Dai Li. But perhaps this force formed by Kiyoshi will always be tainted with corruption within its ranks.

After Chen had dispersed the torpedo, he found Jia already in front of him and already directing a punch to his stomach while wearing a thicker earth gauntlet than before. He was quick to react, using his arm to protect himself from her attack but still, it had hit him quite harder than he expected. "I don't plan on going down easy, Jia."

And she wasn't expecting him to. Chen isn’t someone that likes to hold back on any kind of fight, that Jia knew well. He was quick to summon a column of earth from his side with the motion of his hand as a counterattack. Jia bent backward and into a flip that also sent a portion of Chen’s column into one of Xu’s enemies that were just about to attack him.

As the column of rock smashed into the other earthbender, Xu flinched a bit as he watched his opponent get flung into the wall by the massive chunk of debris. “Ouch.” He said for the unconscious Bone Crusher before quickly stepping back as a sword passed straight by his face. He felt the sting first before he reacted. His hand crackled with electricity and he grabbed the assailant’s arm— sending volts of electricity coursing through his bloodstream.

He belatedly realized that it was virtually useless. His assailant gave him a wicked grin before pulling his arm back sharply and sending a punch right at Xu’s face. The prince managed to remove his grasp and duck down.

Looks like he’ll have to resort to old-school tactics.

He tried to sweep his legs but the man simply jumped and moved back. The man prepared his sword, raising it in front of him. What a hassle. Xu grabbed his dagger and took a deep breath. He just needed to get that sword away. Xu moved forward and lunged straight for the swordmaster's hand only for it to get parried and the two went back and forth— with each strike came a parry or a dodge. Quite a stalemate, Xu thought to himself as he backed away. His opponent was at least not as aggressive as the others.

The floor of the warehouse was ruined. There was barely any of it left where Jia and Chen fought, every crater was filled with shrapnels of earth and cement that would make it hard for anyone to traverse. The air around them was filled with dust, every bit of it she could feel landing on her and on the ground. Jia knew that if she only used earthbending that they would be wasting time when they needed to get everyone out and fast. Chen was good at holding his ground after all.

Jia moved in a way that was nothing sort of elegant but was like that of a water bender. The earth that she had pulled up from the ground had turned into lava, the heat that emanated from it was her own, her lava bending had never been so close to her but it left a heavy feeling in her heart. A reminder, one she didn’t like but she had a duty that needed to come first.

Lava was denser, heavier than water and yet it looked as though it flowed just the same. The red hot liquid hangs from Jia's hands, something she only thought of now. She raised her hand, the lava following the arcing motion before she struck down and forming a whip-like attack at Chen.

The man’s eyes widened in a mix of awe and surprise. How could he forget the famous retainer’s special ability? To be able to bend something beyond the earth, her father must be pretty proud of her. He didn’t even have time to chuckle at his own humor as he strongly stomped his foot on the ground and summoned a pillar of earth. Nevertheless, Jia’s molten whip seamlessly cut through the block, licking through the fabric of his garb and burning the surface of his skin as it curved downward.

Chen flipped backward, his own construct crumbling down the spot where he stood. Once the dust settled, his large silhouette could be seen palming the exposed line of burn across his chest. He gritted his teeth; his chances of defeating Jia were rather small, but his job wasn’t to defeat her but to buy time for the boss’ move.

It was then when Jia would feel the tremors of countless footsteps. Behind the prince and his retainer, one of the large gates slid open and revealed a small platoon of gangsters. There were about a dozen of them, each not looking too different from the ones they’ve had downed if not for the various weapons in their hands. It was a curious mixture of electric-charged melee weapons and bulky guns.

“Hey, you over there! What are you doing!?” Chen barked at ‘Nigel’, beckoning for him to join the fight against the prince and his retainer. “Get them!” He then pointed at the duo. Upon his command, two of the backups stepped forward and pointed their guns at the two, each launching a metallic net with the intention to ensnare them.

mention: || interaction: AI10100 . D O V E Entity.Eclypse

 

[Flutterby]

Spoiler: In the vision

Her own name reverberated in her ears, the timbre of her mother's voice sounding hollow and strange. The eyes she was staring into blinked, but when they opened, Yara could have sworn they were less blue than before. But her mother was turning and walking away before she could think about it, and she had no choice but to follow.

Up in the distance, their settlement came into view. Yara could already see their home- and the figure outside of it, bent over a couple containers of flowers. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of her father. He seemed to sense them, and stood and waved. Yara raised a hand to wave back, but before she could, there was an irritated grunt from the woman beside her.
"I told that man not to bring home flowers for Sarrin as well. She shouldn't be rewarded for having hurt feelings." Hanna's tone was dripping with derision.

That man.. that man.. The way she said it struck Yara as so.. odd. She tried to shove it away, focus on how she did deserve the flowers, for her dedication, hard-work, skill..
But her eyes rested on the distant figure of her father.
"I'm-I'm sure that he means well," Yara said, but the confidence in her voice was gone.
Her mother snorted. "He can mean as well as he likes, but all it does is encourage her to sulk about. Two peas in a pod."
Yara's feet stopped moving. "What are you-"

The whole scene in front of her eyes seemed to dim. Like the color was being sucked out of the world. There was a pain in her temple.
Her mother was still walking, either chasing to ignore her now, or hadn't heard her. Pain and fear morphed into anger, faster than she could stop it.
"Mom! Why would you say that?"
The woman stopped.
"You know as well as I do that Dad is absolutely the kindest man around- isn't that part of the whole 'balanced' thing?"
The woman turned. There was a noise rising in her ears. A humming, whirring sound.

"Kind?" Hanna's face twisted in the laughter. "I think you mean weak, dearest."
She sounds like Xiurong. The thought was there and gone before she could grasp it.
"You're supposed to love him, Mother." Yara's expression had grown dark. The whirring in her ears was a machine, she was sure of it now.
"One doesn't need love to make children, Kiyara. The man had a halfway decent face and now he keeps a nice home, otherwise he'd have been out on his ass years ago. Don't be naïve." Hanna turned with a dismissive wave of her hand, as if she hadn't just said that.

There was an attack flying at the woman's back before Yara even knew what she was doing. Had she stopped to think, she never would have done it. Hanna would snap her in half in an instant. But she was so horrible.
Hanna didn't seem to see the water rushing toward her, until she turned, planted her feet, and sent it splashing into the side of a hill, all in one swift movement.
"How dare you.. with my back turned, no less." Hanna hissed, now stalking back toward her. Yara readied herself for the retaliation.
I was in the vents.
The thought burst into her mind at almost the worst second, ruining her balance as she desperately tried to redirect her mother's water whip. She managed to stay on her feet, and send it back as a jet. Hanna side-stepped it, and Yara could practically see the shift in her mind happen. Her mother melted the snow at her feet and pulled it into an octopus form.
Xiurong sent me into the vents. I'm still in the vents.
"Have you been spending time with them, behind my back?" Hann's voice was viciously cold, but completely wrong. It seemed to phase in and out, rising and falling with the hum of the machine she was hearing.
That's not my mother. I will never be a warrior in her eyes. I have to get back.
Yara formed her own defensive form- two rotating rings, a gimbal. She ignored the fact that there were hot, angry tears in her eyes now.

Yara's breath was still moving in and out steadily, if not more quickly than normal. Her face was slack at first, but as Maizen began to shake her, her eyebrows tented together and her eyes pressed more tightly- a flinch, though not in response to anything Maizen could see. Her limbs still splayed about her, completely useless. There was no response, other than that, for what felt like far too long.

Spoiler: In the vision

At first their fight started with water whips, jets, a wave here and there. But after Yara managed to send an (sharper than she meant it to be) edge across Hanna's cheek, drawing a few drops of blood, Hanna started sending ice attacks, getting more and more furious by the moment. Yara told herself she had no choice but to escalate in turn, because.. well, what would happen if her not-mother killed her in this vision? Would she ever wake up?
"When I end this fight, you'll never set foot in my home again!" Hanna.. no, Not-Hanna, had been shouting for what felt like forever. This element of the fight felt horribly real, even though she told herself it was not.
Yara was beginning to tire. She had been pulling punches, she knew, but a part of her hoped she would just wake up before the end of the fight. That didn't seem to be the case. She had to fight to win.
"It's not real. Not real. Not real." She whispered. It did very little to help the way she was feeling. Fending off another round of ice shards launched at her head, Yara finally felt like she had the courage to end it.
"I will BANISH you to the ends of the EARTH!" Not-Hanna's voice was hoarse. Either that, or the reality she was in was finally starting to fray.

"You already have," Yara whispered, as she sent every drop of water she could in a wave at the woman. Clearly, Not-Hanna had planned to let it wash over her before returning with another attack. But Yara froze it around her, closing her fist softly. When she clenched it tightly, the ice ball, the woman's frozen body inside it, and the entire vision shattered around her.

Yara's eyes opened suddenly, and she sat up so quickly she almost hit her head on the top of the vent. Her mouth opened to scream, but there was something on her face. Someone crouched near her.
She almost hit him. And then she remembered it was Maizen.
"Maizen," She choked out, "The gas..is bad." Yara reached up to rip the mask off, to hand it to him. Her cheeks were wet. She was crying. Heavily. As soon as her body could get the air to do so, it wanted to sob. Her hands were shaking, so badly she couldn't even grasp the mask, let alone remove it.
The Prophet

 

[The Prophet]

Maizen Tosuda

Spoiler: Appearance

​

This was taking too long.

Yara was safe from more gas entering her system, but as he attended to the waterbender in the confines of the vents, he wondered if it had already done too much. Holding his breath all the while, Maizen peered a little closer and shook with a little more force. The only indication that there was anything going on at all were her tightly clenched eyes behind the glass lens of the gas mask, but even that could easily be other reasons. At least the reaction meant they were still around.

At last, there was movement.

The firebender was quick to move out of the way of the newly awakened waterbender when she awoke, the suddenness of her awakening somewhat startling Maizen. It must have been a frightening experience: partly he wondered if his interference made it so.

"Maizen," She choked out, "The gas..is bad."

The line almost made Maizen laugh out of habit, despite their situation. He was prepared to give some no verbal ironic reply, but it died in his chest when he watched Yara try to pry off the gas mask. She was crying. Silver eyes widened slightly; Just what did that gas make her see? In that flash of a second, Maizen found himself internally panicking. What should he do? How do people console others? He didn't want the people he'd befriended less than 24 hours ago to cry, but he didn't know how to fix it. Maizen snapped his fingers once by his side, calling up any memory that could serve him in this scenario. He found his solution quick enough, as he shot his hands out to stop Yara from taking the mask off, grabbing both of her hands.

A little gas intake on his end was fine, right? He'd be fine for a little while. "...Really now, let's not mess with that, shall we? That mask is what's letting you breathe clearly. Relax, everything's going to be alright." Maizen paused, his voice taking on a half-sarcastic tone. "You were just stuck passed out in a vent inhaling toxic fumes for a quarter of an hour. Easy work really, especially for someone of your caliber." He dropped the sarcastic nature, the young man smiling faintly. "The fumes are psychedelic; you see things that aren't real, even they felt real. You're okay now though. Focus on something in the present, it'll help you collect yourself. Can you do that for me?"

The sound of fighting and the impact of various bending began to sound below, somewhat muffled by the metal corridor they found themselves in. So much for a stealth mission. The vents shook very slightly, but it was otherwise nothing but their signal that the operation had gone loud. The firebender in him picked up many sources of heat as it was bent around, including one that felt like someone had summoned a great deal of li heat, strangely not fire though. Perhaps the avatar got fed up with sneaking around? Or maybe it was Jia and Xu, here after high alert was triggered. Smiling at Yara, he nodded towards the open grate out of the ventilation.

"So are you back with me? I hate to cut this short, but we seem to be in a small metal corridor suspended over what sounds like a very heated battle. Could we perchance continue outside of the immediate metal bending material? There's also the fact I've been breathing in the same toxic gas you have for about a minute now, but I find that secondary really."

Flutterby

 

[Entity.Eclypse]

Taka
Mentions/Interactions: ​

From the moment it had been announced that 'a beam of fire' had been launched from the forest, there was no way for this to remain a quiet mission. The sudden panic of the other gang members around them, along with the sheer terror they expressed at the idea of the avatar raiding them was astounding. Still holding the ladder firmly in place, Taka looked back towards the ventilation shaft with a hint of worry in his expression. The fact that conflict was threatening to break out only meant more danger for those who were trapped in such an enclosed space. With the possibility of the building caving in, the position was made only that much more frightening. Worse still was the odor of this place, given the 'behemoth' and the tank of mysterious white gas it carried in, he could only assume that they were utilizing the gas for something. The ground of the warehouse floor began to shake as he noticed cracks forming a short distance away from him. A moment later a somewhat familiar figure broke free from the earth, followed by sending two of the thugs around him slamming down against the floor.

"No chances of playing the fool now" 'Nigel' sighed before climbing up the ladder a few steps. Given the rather intense entrance, he could already assume that the ground floor was soon to become a warzone. After getting up about four steps of the ladder he reached down to his side, unclipping the mask from his waist. Without a moment to think the sounds of combat broke out around him again, it would be more suspicious if the overseer were to watch him climb into the vents and just escape. Granted, their cover was probably already blown at this point. But even still, the idea was worrying. Looking back out to the warehouse floor the fight seemed to be kicking up as 'Chen' began facing off against his rival earthbender. Utilizing this momentary distraction Taka looked upwards and tossed the mask he'd received into the vent, its form disappearing just as quickly as he'd tossed it.

If nothing else, he knew from the earlier thug that the vents were filled with that hallucinogenic gas. Comparatively, he was mostly safe from its effects down here. 'Spirits help us get out of this one.' Quickly, he would scramble back down the ladder and over to one of the fallen goons. They had to have had a weapon of some kind, right? He flipped over the unconscious and heavily bruised thug who had been rock-punched earlier. Quickly searching his belt garnered results, a simple truncheon was fastened to his belt alongside his mask. Without waiting 'Nigel' took the items and quickly attached them to his person. Glancing around he considered moving towards one of the other goons to find a more suitable weapon, but other matters took precedent.

The first of these had been the scraping of metal against the floor, forcing his gaze towards the sudden emergence of better-armed thugs. The next of which had been the booming voice of the overseer, drawing his attention away from the soldiers for a moment. "On it!" The annoyed tone of 'Nigel' called back as he noticed the large metallic pipes that seemed to open into the room. The rotten scent which had been somewhat dull up until now seemed to be growing stronger, now burning his nostrils with a sulphuric acidity. Choking for a moment on the stench, he let out of choppy cough before placing the gas mask over his face. One of the glass lenses had a spiderwebbed crack on it, though it was unlikely that it was bad enough to jeopardize anything other than the visibility. If he had to guess they were pumping more gas into the chamber, more than likely in a desperate attempt to 'smoke out' the intruding party. He had to hope that there was enough unpolluted air for this plan to conclude with everyone's sanity intact.

From his perspective, it seemed as though somewhere between four to seven nets began their approach onto the two earth kingdom natives. Without any further hesitation, he began charging forward, truncheon in hand. Seemingly en-route to intercept the intruding duo. If he was lucky he might've been able to catch the other thugs off-guard and given time for the other two to recover. If they weren't so lucky... he would wind up taking a trip to the wall via the boulder express. To his right, he noticed a slight glimmer and skidded to a hasty stop. On the ground was the sword of an earth-shattering incident, literally. Quickly he scooped up the blade before continuing forward. Raising his arm back before quickly slinging it forward again, the hefty club soared forwards with a choppy whistling sound as it tore through the air. He's made sure the throw would steer clear of any people, but it could miss its target entirely. 'Just hit the net... there's no way I can miss with that many of them.' The faint sound of impacting something metallic being impacted rang out, but his gaze stayed locked on the backup.

"We just have to make sure we complete this mission-." He would murmur under his breath. If they did this... they wouldn't have to worry about Igoo being stuck in some black market ring, and he wouldn't have to go through needless pain. Helping this city would be a nice bi-product, but ultimately it would be meaningless if they didn't free that bison. His footsteps rang out against the decimated ground as he took caution in avoiding any earthen shrapnel he could. His heartbeat raced as he moved toward them, how long had it been since he last fought someone? Too long. But the goal wasn't to run in and fight all of them anyways. A few of the somewhat confused thugs turned to face him, some appearing a bit confused as to why their ally was turning towards them. If he had been born a bender then maybe he would've boasted about how he could wipe out this many thugs with ease. But as a nonbender, if he could divert some of their attention that would do more than enough. At least until he could come up with a more concrete plan.

 

[AI10100]

B E I F O N G , X U
Interacting with: Colorless Spectrum . D O V E Entity.Eclypse
Location: Hangar 1, Warehouse​

The gates practically screeched open in his ears and a feeling of dread went through his entire body as he readied his weapon once again. His opponent let out a guffaw, lowering his sword to point right at him. He was being confident. They were outnumbered. They were going to lose if they didn't have a plan and, unfortunately for Xu, he didn't have one. Wait. calm down. This one first before anyone else. He took a few steps back and this made the swordsman think that he was retreating. Taking an aggressive approach, the swordsman charged forward with a heavy slash downwards.

Xu switched his knife to the left hand and used it to parry the sword once again to the side, only making very small movements to keep his ground. The swordsman was stumbling forward and he delivered a swift punch straight to the throat of the swordsman. Even beneath the two gas masks, Xu could hear the man wheeze, trying to get some air through his injured throat. "Allow me to help you with that." Xu muttered as he unclasped the mask from the swordsman's face and grabbed it. He quickly fastened it to the side of his pants.

He grabbed the man from the collar of his suit and turned around. Oh. A net. That's what the sound was. He also spotted Taka heading for the reinforcements, a sword flying through the air and getting rid of the nets that were heading towards them. Xu made a mental note to thank him later. However, another net had narrowly escaped the sword and was heading straight at him. "Hm, I don't feel sorry for this." He alerted the swordsman before heaving him over his shoulder and throwing him straight at the way of the net. It quickly wrapped around him and, with the added weight, plopped onto the ground before it could reach him. He took a deep breath, scrunching his nose as the scent of rotten eggs assaulted his senses. So they've started to pump it into the warehouse?

Faster. They need to get out faster.

Xu turned to Chen, sheathing his dagger and letting out his throwing knife dipped with the same paralyzing poison that adorned his arrows. He let the knife loose straight at Chen before turning around and grabbing his bow.

He could very well leave Jia alone. She could handle herself more than he could handle himself. Xu was already running towards the group in a parabolic movement. He reached behind him. Those electric weapons would be a hassle to deal with and he really didn't want to get electrocuted any time soon. His pulse arrow was nocked back on his bow and he stopped, taking aim and letting it hit the ground near where the majority of the electricity-wielding people had been. The arrow let out a hum before most of the weapons short-circuited, letting out a pop before reverting to their more normal versions. This seemed to infuriate the others and at least took some heat off of Taka. But of course, that means that the attention was on him.

By the spirits, he really should have started investing in more explosive and hurtful bombs.

 

[Colorless Spectrum]

Jia Xiaodan

Chen was getting agitated as no amount of earth that he pulled up worked against Jia's lava whip. Every wall of earth and block was sliced into two, and he wasn't keen on the idea of being served as a pork cutlet for dinner. And Jia, she was relentless with her attacks that it pushed him further back until there was a wall against his back. It was then that he felt a stabbing pain in his arm accompanied by the growing numbness of said limb.

If one could see behind the mask, they would see the Lavabender's lips in a small smirk. She immediately let go of the whip, turning back into stone and slammed her fist at Chen's temple rendering him unconscious. Jia was quick to tie him up with her scarf, ripping it into two for his hands and legs. It left her feeling exposed, as the portion of her burn scar was now visible but duty comes first over her feelings. It wasn't as important as the mission before her.

A group of thugs had rushed towards her, their weapons in hand and ready to strike but Jia anticipated this. As soon as she finished with Chen, she immediately summoned a wall of earth that she let fall onto the thugs. After Xu had disabled the electricity in their weapons, she had found herself beside the Prince and rammed a column of earth to a few poor bastards. "I can handle this, bring Taka with you and go find the truck."

mention: || interaction: AI10100 Entity.Eclypse

 

[Flutterby]

Yara's hands flopped uselessly against his at first, trying to stop him from stopping her. It was as big a failure as trying to take the mask off in the first place.
Everything is going to be fine.
Her fingers closed around his hands, an icy cold vice grip. His hands weren't just warm, they felt hot. Like the fire Dad always had going for after training with Mom.
She had to make a conscious effort not to sob aloud. It wouldn't stop. Her throat was burning from holding it back.
No. Not after training with Mom. Training with him. You trained with Dad to be a healer.
Maizen was still talking. She tried to listen. "Someone of your caliber" sounded like a compliment, maybe. She wanted to vomit. She might have let herself, if not for the mask over her face.
You can never go home because you murdered her.
"..you see things that aren't real, even they felt real." That actually got processed by her brain.
Not real. I chose to leave after being denied a ceremony. That wasn't real.
He wanted her to focus on something in the present. Her grip on his hands tightened.

Finally, she was able to get herself under control. About halfway through his suggestion they shouldn't be inside the duct during the fight below.
She released his hands, and before she could stop herself, gently cupped his face with her hands.
"You need a mask too," she murmured, instantly hating how hoarse she sounded. If she hadn't had one on herself, she might've kissed him. It was such an odd impulse, given the situation, but it would mean feeling something, anything, other than the fear and anger and guilt.. Focus, you dumbass.
There was a clang near the opening behind him. Yara jumped out of her skin, but was overjoyed to see a mask appear. Or, as close to overjoyed in that moment.
"Would you look at that." It came out flatly, without humor. Whatever feelings she was having, she had to shove them down. They needed to escape. And she needed a healthier coping strategy than 'seduce Maizen'. She was still shaking, and didn't think she had it in her to raise a hand against another human, but he did have a point about not being crushed inside a metal tube.
"Okay. Let's go."

The Prophet

 

[. D O V E]

Visions within the Mist
Written by Xanto and . D O V E
​

"The aircraft has landed with the prototype vehicle you stopped from production, Xiurong. It's filled with, what I assume to be, the same toxic gas that you're holding right now. It's being protected by gas-masked guards. The fumes must be strong enough to leak out of the container. If there's a gas mask, find it and wear it immediately."

The prince’s voice cackled through the Avatar’s radio with resounding information. True to his words, the large containers ceaselessly oozed with the rotten odor of the toxic gas. Beads of sweat trickled down Xiurong’s temples as her eyes once again roamed their surroundings. It was undeniable that Xian and she were in a pretty bad spot. They were heavily environed with canisters of different sizes, all exuding the same gas that had tormented the palace and her father months ago.

“Damn it…” She muttered through gritted teeth before straightening herself, arms moving in a fluid manner to cleanse the air in their radius with airbending. She didn’t know if this countermeasure would still run its course as they’ve already been inhaling the psychedelic fumes since they entered the vents. She should’ve assumed something was off right from the start, yet she chose to blame the gangsters’ unhygienic practices for the foul odor.

To think that these imbeciles took part in the abduction of her dear father… She’d be sure to make them pay for their atrocities! She couldn’t wait to get her hands on them- to feel her fingers wrap around their scrawny necks, and hear the sound of their bones popping under the sheer pressure of her fists. The pain she’d cause them would be so immense, far stronger than the one they've inflicted upon her and the empire!

A throbbing within her head accompanied her rising anger. It felt rather dull at first, like the familiar sensation of blood rushing to her head whenever the feeling of rage would come knocking on her door. However, it soon grew and grew until she stopped her bending motions, her hands shooting up to cradle the side of her head as she slightly winced in pain. It felt like something just seeped into her skull and took a hold of her mind, grasping it with such intensity that it forced her eyes to shut tight.

“Xiu…,” the familiar yet oddly weak voice of Yara cackled through her radio… or beside her… or behind her… Xiurong couldn’t tell anymore. The tremendous pain that suddenly surged through her system rendered her senses unable to function.

That was when a strong grip held her arm. Xian could feel the pain she felt, while still trying to airbend the gas particles away as much as he could. “Let’s move forward,” He gruffly stated in the midst of all the contaminated oxygen.

​

Xiurong forced her eyes open to look at Xian’s hold, hoping she could ground herself with it yet it proved to be futile when the ringing in her head only worsened. Cold sweat covered her body as her vision started getting hazy. “Xi...Xian? I-I can’t…” She felt as though the pain was rendering her body immobile.

“You’re the Avatar,” He replied, momentarily letting his eyes wander to hers, “You can.” His gaze then briefly broke away at a slight wince of pain. The sooner they moved, the better.

You’re the Avatar…
You’re the Avatar...
“You’re the Avatar.”

The words echoed in her head until eventually, Xian’s voice was accompanied by what sounded like hundreds of others. They filled her head, accompanying the ringing of her head which only made everything more agonizing. She closed her eyes and opened them again, meeting the sight of countless ghostly apparitions. Each of them had pools of bright light for eyes, all directed at her.

She felt her eyes widen, a burning sensation overwhelming her orbs before they eventually glowed the same light. In that instance, flurries of wind surrounded the Avatar as she gradually levitated in place. The canisters loitering the room were pushed back against the wall, some toppling over and spilling their contents. However, the modified gas was unable to roam free as it immediately got sucked by the Avatar’s growing cyclone.

“Well,” Xian raised his voice as the cyclone strongly whirled around them, “This is one way of fixing things.” His hand firmly held Xiu’s arm, ensuring she still had some sort of physical connection during the whole fiasco. He understood the vaguely familiar state of communicating with spirits. Although he was unable to see the apparitions, he was able to sense the growing spiritual presence.

A trail of swirling wind soon formed, disassociating from the main windstorm and gathering near the center, a few steps away from the floating Avatar and the airbender. Eventually, the surrounding gusts dissipated and Xiurong’s feet found themselves back on the ground. She felt her knees momentarily grow weak, having to lean against Xian and his hold to keep herself up before flinging her steadying vision ahead.

Now lacking its former glow, Xiurong’s eyes widened as they fixated on the figure ahead. It was a man donned in emerald garb with golden linings, a crown with the empire’s crest at the top of his brown hair.

“F-Father…?” She called out, realization dawning. “FATHER!” The mere sight of him made Xiurong push every other thought out, bursting herself out of Xian’s hold as she scrambled for the missing emperor.

Xian nearly stumbled back in confusion before promptly launching after her. Last he checked, there was no human figure ahead. . . unless she caught a glimpse of someone just around the corner? Regardless, their discombobulated states would just about give away their now beyond incognito mission.

The airbender sprinted forward, trying to mask their sounds as best as he could despite his now throbbing headache. It wasn’t too off to say the veins at his temples felt like they were about to burst.

He pushed on.

Upon glancing past Xiu, Xian’s step weakened. The physical toll was ripping through so much he could’ve sworn that was a hallucination. Xiu ran after a figure alright, but it wasn’t a person. Spirits?

The Avatar moved too quickly with her chase, and the airbender’s worsening condition didn’t make it any easier to pursue her. If this kept up, he’d knock out right on the spot-

As if on cue, about a dozen of green, small orbs revealed themselves to Xian. Eventually, these orbs took on the form of what appeared to be small trents with heads shaped like a teardrop. They all looked at the airbender and seemingly smiled, floating their way around him thereafter. The wisps left a trail of verdant sparks as they moved around, essentially encasing the airbender in a spiral of green light.

“Am I dying?” The airbender glanced around in confusion as he sprinted onward. The spiritual light show / hallucination was nothing in comparison with his determination to find the Avatar. Xian’s still suffering head dodged the view blockages as best as he could to keep his eyes on Xiu until the pain suddenly stopped.

He coughed with a stumble, nearly hacking until his lungs could breathe. Then, his head shot up.

“Where is she?” He questioned, swiftly looking around. How could he lose her?! Xian ignored that he suddenly breathed just fine. It didn’t matter that his headache miraculously stopped. Still, he carried on with his sprint up until the trents hindered his way once again.

The man furrowed his brows with impatience. He didn’t have time to fall into the traps of his own hallucinations. He needed to find Xiu. The entire situation was pulling out a new, seething side of him. Xian was ready to snap at these hallucinations- till his eyes met the trents’ smiling faces. . . Breathe.

His lungs filled with clean air as the spiritual wisps calmly floated around him. They weren’t hallucinations. They really were spirits. They were trying to help him, not stand in his way.

Xian respectfully saluted with a fist in the middle of his palm. He knew he had to deeply meditate a whole lot later to make up for this one. Though for now, he and the spirits seemed to be on the same page. With a playful smirk at the trents, Xian launched forward before darting down the hall with their guidance all the way to- “Xiu?”

 

[. D O V E]

Xiurong Beifong

​

The Avatar's world has completely narrowed down to just her and the retreating figure of her father. She couldn't understand why he was walking away from her, and why she couldn't seem to catch up despite how fast she has been sprinting. After a few turns, Xiurong reached what appeared to be a large room filled with machinations. She was greeted by a few gang members in there, all of them donning white lab coats and gas masks as they flung their attention at her. Alarmed by the Avatar's intrusion, they scurried to retrieve what she could only assume to be their weapons.

A few of them succeeded, however, most fell victim to an onslaught of fireballs that hurled them against the metallic walls and machinery. The Avatar caught sight of her father entering another hallway, and she was just about to follow suit when one of the surviving gangsters shot her with a shock bolt. She clenched her jaw as she felt it hit her right arm, subsequently causing the limb to go numb.

Angered, Xiurong flung her gaze forward and fixed it at her shooter.

"I-It's the Avatar!" The gangster, who turned out to be mohawk-haired from Taka and Maizen's station, announced with great fear.

With fire bursting from her feet, Xiurong launched herself up the air just as Mohawk fired another dart. The rest of the conscious gangsters tried to provide a backup by sending their own projectiles, but the Avatar merely flipped midair and smoothly dodged. A loud crash then resonated throughout the room as both of her feet collided with the man's face, sending him skidding through the ground.

The barrage of darts that followed suit forced the Avatar to seek refuge behind a rectangular column of metal connected to the vents. She clicked her tongue, knowing she had no time to waste with these goons. After making a series of firebending gestures, the Avatar created a spinning large shuriken made up of flames over the palm of her hands. As she began another set of motion, the shuriken swiftly moved around the laboratory in order to gain momentum before making their way up. The smell of burning metal permeated the room as the fiery contraption cut the poles which held the vents up the ceiling, causing it to collapse onto the poor souls below.

The different machinations and large tanks shattered due to the fiasco, causing more of the matured gases to escape into the factory. Nevertheless, Xiurong couldn't care less as she finally stepped out of her hiding spot and headed in the direction of her father.

It was only then when Xian would arrive, witnessing the aftermath of the Avatar's destruction. "Xiu?"

Sadly, his call seemed to have fallen upon deaf ears as the Avatar only continued delving further into the hallway. Eventually, Xiurong reached the end of the path and found herself staring at large, metallic double doors. She pushed them open, revealing a circular room lined with screens and machines. It appeared to be the control room of the entire facility. However, the most striking feature of the room appeared to be an otherworldly rift at the center.

The Avatar gaped at the strange object. She could feel an immense amount of spiritual energy exuding from it, growing stronger and stronger with each passing second. "...Father?" She called out, hoping he didn't enter the mysterious rift. Her stomach churned. She remembered feeling this way whenever Jia would have her enter a dark tunnel so they could sneak out of the castle. It has been so long; she almost forgot what it felt like. Still, the Avatar shook her head and steeled herself, the unwanted feeling dissipating soon after she recalled her training with the White Lotus.

Xiurong took strong steps forward, hand reaching out for the emerald rift when-

Spoiler: Click

The head of a massive, green dragon emerged out of the rift. Xiurong stumbled backward as its bright eyes focused on her too closely. She felt giant clawed fingers wrapping themselves around her body right before she collided with the ground, subsequently raising her closer to its eyes.

"U-Urgh! Get your claws off me!" Xiurong demanded, struggling out of the spirit's hold.

"Avatar Xiurong," its voice was booming, like an amalgam of thousands of people.

She banged her fist against its scaled finger. "I said- LET ME GO!" Its grip tightened around her. "Are you the one who took my father!? RETURN HIM AT ONCE!"

"Your father is and was never here. I merely manifested his form to lure you." It explained

As Xiurong focused on its bright orbs, it became clear to her that countless visions seemed to be happening inside. In that instance, one of the many scenes zoomed out, revealing it to be that of the Bone Crushers loitering around the swamp in the Earth Empire's borders. The large contraption was in there, and it looked like the gangsters were using it to suck the swamp gases and transfer them into its container.

"...That's-"

"What your kind is trifling with is no mere gas, Avatar. It is the essence of my kind... of my children." It viciously snarled. "My kind agreed to keep the portals open, to continue blessing this world with our presence, under the promise of a new harmony. YOUR promise!" The vision within its eyes shifted to Avatar Korra conversing with members of the spiritkind. "Yet, you've once again failed to protect us from the greed of your kind!"

"H-How can any of this be my fault!? I can't control the minds of men! Much less their desires!" Xiurong fiercely retorted, gradually finding it hard to breathe as its grip on her kept on tightening. "But I-I can stop them!"

"You've already failed, Avatar. The spirits will no longer be subjected to this cycle of abuse... to this insanity. The era of mankind is at its brink." Darkness soon swallowed the visions within the spirit's orbs, painting its formerly bright eyes with the color of the abyss. "Soon, it will be our turn..." The dragon's emerald sheen was then replaced by black coverings with crimson patterns. Dark tendrils emerged from the rift, wrapping themselves around Xiurong whose efforts of freeing herself all went to vain.

"ARGH!"

The tendrils pulsated with corrupted energy, and Xiurong could only writhe in pain as she felt them seep through her system.

Xanto

 

[The Prophet]

Maizen Tosuda

Spoiler: Appearance

When Yara gripped the firebender's hands in retaliation, the first thing he noticed was how cold they were. The ice-like temperature of her hands made the fire nation instincts in him internally heat his own hands to maintain his hotter body temperature, and Maizen waited for her to calm enough to release them. The waterbender eventually did, and Maizen's hands went to his own sides as hers let go. "Glad you're feeling bet...ter?"

He had not, however, expected Yara's hands to find his face. What was going on? What was she doing? He wasn't used to this in the slightest; and it was certainly a surprise to experience much now. What did one do in this situation?

"You need a mask too." Came a very hoarse murmur.

"...I do. However, a mask isn't going to come flying into the vents from our call, yes? I'll find my own when we get down, you focus on breathing and regaining control. I appreciate the care, though." As if on cue, a clang behind him brought his attention to a fully intact mask, right there for his convenience. "It seems I was mistaken." Taking the mask into his hands, he pulled a strap on the back and smiled at Yara briefly until the shaking hands of Yara retreated enough for him to slip it on. Instantly his world felt a little darker again, and he was grateful that the mask covered up the fact he nearly drew blood by biting his lip. The second time today didn't make it any easier. At least now he could breathe clean air. Yara gave the signal that she was ready to go, and Maizen nodded in response. "Who knows? Perhaps the silent bodyguard will have taken care of everything already, and we won't need to lift a finger."

With that, he was out the vent and quickly down the ladder. Quickly he observed the situation while waiting by the ladder for Yara to come down, deeming his talents best put towards the group that had just come in. He'd caught the end of Jia talking to the Prince; he and Taka were to find the truck while she dealt with those present. Once Yara was down the ladder, he spoke up. "I do hope you don't mind us staying here this fight while they go. You likely will not need the assistance, but just in case, as they say."

To accompany his words and a small smile, Maizen drew his hand out to draw an intense ball of flame out into his palm. "I'm quite capable, so any sort of worry is unnecessary." Moving forward in a short dash, fire snaked up and down his arm in a twisting display before the fire shot out and slammed into the chest of a thug. With a small pirouette Maizen turned to face another, sidestepping as the the criminal stabbed with a staff that slammed into the stomach of their own ally as they snuck on the white haired adversary. Stepping in towards the case of friendly fire, Maizen drew both arms across his body to target both thugs with a burst of fire that very quickly had them out of commission. Wasting no time to weave under the falling metal staff and turn, he dodged a flying Boulder and retaliated with an arc of fire stemming from an axe kick straight through the staff before it had hit the floor. "Strangely persistent, aren't they? One moment."

A boxer by the looks of it, their entire arms covered in gauntlets of solid rock. Maizen's eyes narrowed before he threw two fireballs, testing something as the man weaved left and right to avoid them. At least they slammed into the back of someone else. The brawler rushed in, coming in low with an uppercut that would have undoubtedly sent his thoughts elsewhere had the white haired man not stepped back. The brawler didn't let up however, swinging precise and quick blows that forced Maizen to continue dodging his way back in their conscious effort not to get hit. It would be so simple to just plant a heel in the man's chest, but certain conditions made that a very bad idea with anyone, especially not someone trained like he clearly was. Instead, Maizen continued his way backwards. Suddenly, a particularly vicious hook made Maizen lean back at a strong degree, enough so that his head hit a rock pillar made and abandoned by an earthbender. He should have paid more attention. The blow was just enough to break his concentration; steam seeped out of the filter and an invisible heat started to burn at the forehead of the mask, only to go out just as quickly as it had arrived when the boxer laughed and raised both hands high.

Maizen raised his hand upwards in a pulling motion, and a pillar of flames slammed into the fighter from below, sending them to slam into the ceiling before falling back down to the ground covered in soot and groaning. "Pardon, I wasn't trying to hurt them too badly. He'll be alright eventually. Hopefully."

 

[AI10100]

B E I F O N G , X U
Interacting with: Colorless Spectrum Entity.Eclypse The Prophet
Location: Hangar 1, Warehouse​

He ducked under a swipe of a baton before forcing himself backwards, flipping and hopping back as the assault continued. He raised a hand to block an incoming strike and pushed forward, slamming his right fist into the attacker's abdomen. Xu watched as his attacker fell back only to be replaced with a firebender. He stepped back and a column of earth slammed into them. His eye twitched, sympathizing with the pain from a very serious earthbender.

"Good shot." He muttered to his retainer, relaxing his fighting pose as he made a quick survey of the battlefield. Certainly, the enemies were thinning out and Jia would make quick work of them. Xu grumbled something under his breath, giving Jia a small pat on the shoulder. His way of saying 'stay safe'. Among the people of the Dai Li, Xu was certain the only person he could fully trust was Jia. He'd really prefer not to lose her to some thugs in some nondescript warehouse outside Republic City.

Before he could call out to Taka, however, Maizen had dropped from the vents— insisting that he stay and fight with her rather than go and steal... acquire the prototype vehicle. "Taka's radio. Tell us when you're finished." Xu told the two and gave a glance as Maizen began to fight with the group. These really were a very capable ragtag group of people, isn't it? Confidence in a plan was not something Xu had often; feeling better to have backup plans for backup plans. Still, there was little time to create one.

"If you guys can get a hold of Xiurong or Xian, that would be great. We can't leave without them." If there was one missing person among all of them, Xu would prefer to come back to them anyway. He turned to his fellow nonbender, giving him a small wave to beckon him towards the group as he inched away towards the other door. "Taka, let's go!"

Xu headed over to the door as soon as he finished, opening it and viewing the hallway. No one was coming from there. He guessed the reinforcements were all focused on the hangar they were in anyway. With the ruckus that the three benders would do, they would keep the heat off of himself and Taka. He was sure that there would be guards waiting at the vehicle anyway. There was no way they would leave that unguarded. Still, between him and Taka, he was sure that they could make it through.

 

[Colorless Spectrum]

Jia Xiaodan

She simply nodded at Xu's compliment and proceeded to go back into fighting stance the moment people were going for the attack once again. She shot chunks of rock to a nearby thug as Maizen and Yara got down from the vents. Jia was confident she could take down all the thugs in the Hangar and while she also doesn't mind the help, she'd much prefer that the non-benders were with more people. She doesn't know what Taka is capable of but Xu can also handle himself.

"Hmph." Was all she voiced before Maizen went off to fight the other thugs. She was unimpressed by his worrying of their opponents, they don't deserve it. In her opinion, they deserve to be beaten until they're face is swollen. Just knowing that these people possibly had a hand in the kidnapping of the emperor made her blood boil, but she wasn't one to let her feelings pour out of the kettle. Mission comes first before herself, especially when there is a lot at stake.

Jia inched closer to Yara, noticing how the waterbender was still disoriented from the gas. Assuming that their healer had no way to defend herself at the moment.

"Hragh!" A thug lunged forward while his companions wanted to gauge what Jia would do first. His baton had only struck the air and his face met the metal end of the Dai Li's staff. She finished him off with a roundhouse kick and pushed him out of the way with her earthbending.

If Jia had been like her younger self she would have made a provocative remark towards these people, not that it was needed. They were eager to fight anyway which further resulted in earth, fire, and wind going back and forth with the failed attempt at using their weapons against Jia.

She was doing well against them, but she also noticed how her movements have started to become sluggish. Since the fight with Amelia and Ah Lam she had barely taken a break since then, what with how she had also been fighting multiple opponents. She let her heel drop to the ground with force, summoning pillars that flung the thugs to the sky. She wasn't stopping there as she lowered the columns only to bring them up again.

The Dai Li found herself panting after the battle, she curled her toes as her legs started feeling heavy. It wasn't a surprise to her, just like how one's muscles would become tense after an extreme exercise. Still, isn't wasn't the time to rest. There were still a few loitering around and not to mention...

"Yara," Jia called out, pulling the water bender to her side and holding her steady as she took on the blow of the baton with her free arm. The metal was cool against her skin, muscles pulsing against the steel. "Shame on you for attacking someone who can't defend themselves." She said menacingly before kneeing him to the stomach and summoning a block of earth to send him flying to the side.

"Did you get hurt anywhere?"

mention: || interaction: AI10100 Entity.Eclypse The Prophet Flutterby

 

[Entity.Eclypse]

Taka
Mentions/Interactions: AI10100 Colorless Spectrum The Prophet Flutterby ​

The sparking of electrical weapons had initially drawn his attention away from the goons themselves. If he was hit by a solid strike from one of those there was no doubt that his movements would turn sluggish... No, if he was hit by one of those they'd overrun him for sure. Cautiously he went into a defensive stance, contempt with the possibility of dodging the attacks from their weaponry. From his peripheral, he noticed as Xu launched something into the ground. Immediately some of the goons turned their attention down to the weaponry in surprise as their potent arsenal was lowered to a more manageable level. Two of the goons elected to charge towards Taka, meanwhile, the majority of the others seemed preoccupied with the short-circuiting of their equipment or the one who had caused it.

Despite throwing his sword to intercept a net, if the mangled piece of metal could still be called a sword, he doubted that he'd need it now. Immediately he was forced to dodge away as a burst of flame struck forward from the goon at the forefront. Quickly Taka pirouetted before striking near the elbow of the firebender's extended arm, a look of shock growing in the eyes beneath the man's gas mask as his arm seemingly went limp. With this look of shock continuing to set in his other hand extended out and struck at the base of the man's neck, the second of these two goons swung downwards with a heavy strike from the club that had once been his stun rod. This time he dropped into a crouch, causing the swing to impact against the stunned firebender with a heavy thwack. With that, the firebender began his journey to have a nap with the 'soft' concrete floor. The goon accompanying him let out a sound of frustration as he pulled back to swing again, only to be met with an impact to his shin causing the man to stumble in his swing.

Taking just a second to scan his surroundings, Taka watched as earth tore free from the ground and immediately assaulted the remaining thugs. The club above him swung down once more, only for its target to quickly pull away once more. Now on his feet again he pushed forwards, watching as the goon began his next swing. This time the man swung horizontally, giving up on the crushing power of his downward strike. Ducking beneath the swing once more Taka's fist found purchase against the clavicle of the goon before a second strike caught the man in his stomach. "The truck? Ah we're taking that..." He muttered to himself before pushing the goon away from him, causing the man to fall still next to his companion. More than likely they would be ready to move within the hour, but if things went as planned that would be a problem for the cleanup crew on this operation.

Taking a moment to steady himself for any further aggressors, a pleasant surprise came in the form of the vent duo dropping down and making their presence known. A relieved smile came from under his mask, while the situation wasn't 'safe' by any means having the majority of this infiltration group accounted for was safer than losing communication. As the firebender made short work of the goons attacking him, Taka's attention deviated to Xu. As the plan was quickly relayed to the group, he impulsively checked his pocket to ensure that the radio was still present.

Upon confirming the fact that he hadn't lost it, he turned to face the rest of the group once more. Noticing as the benders of this infiltration mission grouped together, he called out with a simple "Stay safe!" before heading after his comrade. Arguably the plan went louder than intended, but given the rumors surrounding the avatar and the... lively personalities he'd seen within the short time he'd known them, you could also argue that this was going better than expected. After all, this warehouse hadn't turned into ruins... yet.

Pushing the morbid idea of being buried beneath this facility, Taka made haste in continuing down the hallway. "If I had to guess, they'll probably have more of those nets waiting for us!" While the vehicle would be his main focus, he couldn't imagine that they would just let any unskilled goon drive their prized possession. But then again... each of the goons he'd encountered blindly trusted them with little to no questioning, so maybe they were dull enough to let that happen. Come to think of it, wouldn't they try to use the vehicle itself as a weapon? No... even the most boneheaded band of bozos would realize the damage that would cause to their warehouse.

With that resolve backing him he felt a little more confident in 'borrowing' such a vital asset to their operation. "We got this" He muttered under his breath as the next entryway between them and 'The Behemoth' drew nearer.

 

[Flutterby]

It was loud outside of the vent. Which, considering there was a battle going on, wasn't surprising. But it was disorienting. Distracting. Terrifying.

Maizen was talking to her. Jia was nearby, suddenly and silently. They needed to help. At the very least, she needed to defend herself. Yara uncapped the water skin at her side, and drew out the liquid inside. It formed a stream with undulating, unclear edges.
There was fire from Maizen, rocks and debris flying. Maizen lost track of the terrain and hit his head on an abandoned rock pillar. Yara sent a water whip at the boxer's back, but it splashed against his strong back like a lazy wave at the beach. The man didn't even notice as he prepared to end Maizen.
Maizen recovered quickly, defending himself after only a moment. But Yara stared down at her hands, the water that had been under her control falling to the floor.

You went from killing in cold blood, to not even being able to do the simplest forms? That's why you'll never be a warrior- unreliable, weak, emotional Yara. As always.
That wasn't her mother's voice. It was Sarrin in her head now.
Did I kill her in my head too?

Someone grabbed her. Jia.
A baton flashed through the air, connecting with skin. Not her skin. Jia's. Jia took the blow without so much as a blink.
"Did you get hurt anywhere?"
"I killed her," She whispered. No, focus. Are you injured? Is there pain? Can you feel anything?
Blue-gray eyes met green-yellow. Silence. Yara reminded herself to breathe. In.
"No pain. But the gas.." Out. She let out the air before she was done speaking. Not that there was much left to say on her current condition. In. Her next words were a plea, as if Jia herself were the only person who could control the situation.
"We need to find Xiu and Xian and get out. Please."

It occurred to her then that she still had a radio. She reached up and hit the button. There was a squeal as the little machine responded, but when she tried to say the Avatar's name, her voice wouldn't come. You already called out to her, and she didn't come, and now you're a murderer.
"Shut up Sarrin." Yara whispered, before forcing her voice into the radio, '"Xian? Where are you?"

The Prophet Colorless Spectrum . D O V E Xanto

 

[AI10100]

B E I F O N G , X U
Interacting with: Entity.Eclypse
Location: Warehouse, Hangar Two​

"Probably. I'd say we should go in sneakily and try to take them out.... but I'm pretty sure they'd be expecting us." Xu responded with a sigh and a shake of his head. Still, they needed to get out as soon as possible. Taking down the warehouse and taking back this contaminant was currently the best course of action. He pressed a hand on his neck. "You do have some pretty good aim. I don't have a sword to give you but—" Xu grabbed the two daggers he kept on his person and handed it to Taka. "Maybe those will help with the nets. I have my throwing knives so don't worry about me." At least if they do get caught in those nets, they could easily cut themselves out.

He stalked towards the door, peering through the small glass window. There weren't as many of those Bone Crushers in there as there were in the first hangar where most of the fighting was happening. This was good. Considering it was only him and Taka against likely a couple of benders. There was one guarding the door they were going to go through. He took a few steps back, turning to Taka and lowering his voice to a whisper. "There's someone right beside the door and I counted around... five of them. Might be more behind or inside the prototype. If we enter right, we can probably take the two out— the one beside the door and the one across. I'll take the one across." He remarked, leaving not much discussion. Taka didn't have any ranged weaponry but taking down the two immediately would be more beneficial to them in the long run.

Xu took off his bow and reached towards his quiver. He only had a few arrows left. He really had to restock at some point. However, it should be enough provided that there wouldn't be more reinforcements. If everything does go well, they should be able to take the hangar in a few minutes. The Bone Crushers seemed to rely more on their sheer number than pure skill. Still, he knew better than to underestimate any of his opponents. He reached out, patting Taka's shoulder by instinct like he always did with Jia. "This will go well. Don't worry." He said in the most reassuring way he can. He hadn't known Taka for long— if you even counted the few hours of planning knowing each other— but he had proved himself to be an able person in a fight.

"You ready?"

As soon as Taka gave the affirmative, Xu nocked an arrow on his bow and pushed the door open with enough force for it to slam on the other side. Trusting Taka to handle the one next to the door, he used the mild surprise of the bandits inside to pull his arrow back and let the arrow loose. The arrow sailed through the air and hits its mark, electrocuting the Bone Crusher. He didn't wait for the target to fall as he immediately switched to the ones besides the Behemoth. He shot another arrow but a wall of earth appeared to stop it. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as three earth discs shot towards him and he ducked down and quickly moved out. He turned his gaze upwards for a moment, seeing what looked to be a hooded figure on the upper pathways. Xu could only wonder for a moment before his attention was stolen by the earthbender's partner, running towards him with an electric baton. He raised his bow to block the strike and the bow held firmly against the weapon. He dropped down and swept at his assailant's feet, forcing him down. He delivered a swift, heavy kick onto the downed man and knocked him out.

Another disk of earth knocked the wind out of his lungs as it slammed straight on his abdomen, sending him tumbling back and gasping for air as the earthbender let out a cackle. The others were jumping into action and, through blurry eyes, Xu could see that there were four others. Great. He felt the earth rumble for a moment and he rolled out of the way just as the ground beneath him shot upwards. Maybe there was merit to growing up with a bunch of earthbenders. He wasn't as sensitive as they were but he knew how they operated. He pushed himself up and strapped his bow on himself again. Best to get up close and personal with these people.

 

[Xanto]

Xian Zhao​

-And of course Xiu kept dodging the finish line to end their untimely game of tag. The duo ran, sprinting till they had no air left in their lungs. That was, up until they reached the center of their map. The warehouse control room was nowhere near what they expected. Probably since there was an otherworldly rift smugly positioned in the middle. But really, who was keeping tabs at this rate. Weren't there magical trents still floating around him somewhere?

"What- what's?" Xian furrowed his brows in confusion, aggressively trying to breathe in air for the nth time that day. His own thoughts caught up to speed though, after realizing it was a spirit portal similar to the ones his family had protected for years. Then there was the avatar, reaching out for the rift till- a giant dragon head popped out and grabbed her with its claws. Of course. Xian thought to himself. Just when his mind couldn't feel more drugged.

Xiu helplessly struggled against dragon's grasp as it seemed to tighten around her. Surely the right thing to do was speak with the dragon spirit. "AVATAR XIURONG!" The voice of a thousand souls echoed from the dragon's mouth. Xian promptly took cover behind a wall, looking over his shoulder past the post to view their exchange. The dragon's voice boomed through the room, speaking to the avatar about humankind tampering with spiritual essence. The essence also known as whatever was driving the lot of them crazy.

That's when a voice brought him back to familiar reality. "Xian? Where are you?" Yara's voice muffled against his chest. Previously, the airbender shifted to keep the walkie at an easily accessible range. He also made the wise move to muffle the sounds emitting from the device. "Control room. There's a spiritual dragon-"

"ARGH!"

Xian quickly snapped his head around at Xiurong's resounding yelp against the dark tendrils surrounding her. Then, his thumb released the button of the walkie.

It took less than a split second for an unfamiliar reflex to kick in. Impulsivity at its best. "RELEASE HER!" He firmly demanded, sending a wind funnel of a punch from out of nowhere. It burrowed strongly toward the dragon all the way up from his training rooted in the highest of altitudes. All before Xian took off in a fleetfooted sprint toward the spiritual beast. He sent a diagonal air swipe then sent a back flip wind kick in a handful of seconds with little to no reaction time in between. The swift, aggressive attacks were nearly foreign to him as he honed in only on the dark tendrils surrounding Xiu.

. D O V E Colorless Spectrum AI10100 Flutterby Entity.Eclypse The Prophet

 

[Colorless Spectrum]

Jia Xiaodan

"Yara?" Jia called her again, leaning closer until she heard the faint words that had flown out of the waterbender's mouth. Her eyes were focused on Yara, those were words not to be taken lightly but she also knew what happens when one inhales that horrid gas. So far, the woman had done nothing to make the Dai Li suspicious but it was certainly something to keep in mind. "It's good that you're not in pain although it seems the gas is still affecting you."

Jia was about to go off and continue fighting the remaining goons when she heard Yara's plea. It froze her in place, staring at those blue-grey eyes looking at her as if only she can make things right. It reminder her of when she and Xiurong were children and an anger flared inside her chest. She wanted to scoff it off and say "She doesn't need me. The Avatar made that very clear when we were younger." It was ironic, at least... It was to her.

"She doesn't-" The lavabender started, suddenly at a loss for words, what with Yara's quiet outburst. A pause. "You're barking at the wrong tree, Yara." My duty is not to the Avatar, it is to her twin, the Prince of the Earth Empire. She wanted to say until the static noise of the radio was blasted from the speaker.

Xian's voice was crisp and clear to the Dai Li's ears despite the white noise. "Control Room. There's a spiritual dragon- ARGH!" Her body tensed at the sound of Xiu's voice, no matter how many times Jia tried to bury those feelings of hurt and anger, it always comes back to the surface and with it comes the longing of the friendship they once had.

"Tsk." With gritted teeth, Jia had called all the debris to her side. A large boulder was made from the leftover mess of their battle. From what was once solid earth had liquified with heat, burning like the sun.

"I think you can handle things from here, Maizen. When you're done, go find the Prince and Taka. Tell them we'll be in the control room with the Avatar." Her voice was as firm as the hardened expression on her face. She took a glance at the firebender before slamming the lava into the wall, melting off the metal and forming a gaping hole. She was quick to run as soon as she could pass through, calling Yara to follow her, until they were met with another wall.

Jia had formed a drill with the lava that she bended and letting the liquid heat melt the metallic walls. The first thing she saw was Xiurong being held by dark tendrils and the spirit of a dragon. "Xiurong!" The earthbender had immediately summoned spikes made of earth and shot them at the spirit and the tendrils that held the Avatar in place but it simply passed through the former. Jia took out her staff and immediately bashed it to the tendrils over and over, hoping that it let go of the Avatar.

"What are you doing to her!?"

mention: || interaction: The Prophet Flutterby Xanto . D O V E

 

[Entity.Eclypse]

Taka
Mentions/Interactions: AI10100 Xanto ​

Continuing forwards he cracked a small grin beneath his mask at the mention of throwing swords, "Usually I'd prefer to hold onto my weapon, but thank you all the same." Carefully he slipped the pair of daggers into his belt, ideally, they wouldn't have to be used- but there was no telling what was waiting in that next hangar just yet. In the best-case scenario, they would stumble upon a small group of people who hadn't heard the commotion from down the hall. Granted, with the panic that had occurred with the beam of fire there was bound to be some form of alert within their ranks. As they approached the door he quickly squatted down next to it, before turning to look back down the way they came. While they had left three of their allies to ensure no one pursued them, taking the extra step of caution was never a bad idea.

Giving a simple nod as Xu explained the situation in the room, he pulled one of the daggers free from his belt. Given their current situation, Taka couldn't even think of denying an immediate takedown. If more goons were lurking about then knocking their numbers down quickly was more important than being picky over who you were fighting. That being said, if they were benders then it wasn't unlikely that their options could be quickly locked down. Especially if their limited entry space was turned against them. The sudden presence of a hand patting his shoulder caused a slight tenseness to run through his body, his head snapping away from the doorway and back to his ally once more. At the reassurance of the prince, Taka granted another nod and turned back to the doorway. "Got it, worst that could happen is the Bone Crushers living up to their name after all." He jested if only to break the tension before the upcoming conflict. Having seen both Xu and Jia's entrance to the warehouse he'd been able to gauge that they were fairly accustomed to these physical confrontations.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

As the door swung open Taka immediately entered the room, twisting around the doorframe he launched his assault onto the momentarily surprised goon. Immediately he struck forward with the dagger, plunging the hilt into their stomach. The goon instinctively doubled over in pain, only to be met by the hard strike of a knee against their chin. Through the glass lenses of their mask, Taka could see their eyes flutter shut as their head, followed shortly by the rest of their body, snapped backward and collapsed. "Sorry... but try to make better life decisions going forwards" He muttered quietly to the unconscious goon, as a pang of guilt rang in his heart. Sure the intention had been to catch them off guard, but there was the risk of seriously hurting them with an attack like that.

The sudden sound of cracking earth caused his attention to shift to the remaining combatants. Two of them seemed preoccupied with the prince, and given the sound of impact, he heard a moment ago one had been taken care of. Quickly moving around the shattered earthen debris, there was an attempt to approach the earthbender who had proven themselves problematic. Quickly stepping back he managed to barely dodge the buzzing strike of another goon's stun baton. The sound of the electricity crackling around it drowned out the frustrated sound of its wielder. A high-pitched screech could be heard as one of the nearby toolboxes contorted and soared towards him. Hastily side-stepping Taka managed to dodge the previously obscured thugs strike, causing a muffled "Shit" to sound from the metalbender. Without missing a beat the baton-wielding individual swung again, to which Taka responded by parrying the blow against his recently borrowed dagger. As the baton strike moved towards the floor Taka struck outwards with his free hand, striking against the goon's neck with a chopping motion.

The hard impact of the strike caused the man before him to falter, and another strike rendered the arm holding the baton limp. The goon behind lifted a chunk of rock from the ground before firing it forward with a kick, spotting this over the shoulder of his closest opponent Taka made haste in dropping into a crouch. As the rock flew forwards it crashed into the back of the unknowing thug, causing the man to fly forwards carried by the momentum of the crude mass of stone. Clattering to the floor where he once stood, while the thug had been knocked unconscious a few meters away, was the temporarily lifeless stun baton. "You guys have terrible cooperation huh?" He called out to the metalbender as he lifted himself up newly acquired baton in hand. "Maybe you could put in a request for funds to be put into team-building activities rather than these-" A wrench flew forward, contorting in the air as it moved before striking him in the stomach. Reeling back from the impact Taka glared towards the metalbender. "Ah- That hurt y'know..." He grunted before moving forward, hastily attempting to close the gap between the two of them.

A column of earth began to rise in an attempt to intercept him. But rather than pull back as the earth began to rise, Taka took a step forward and found himself being lifted by it. Quickly he tossed the baton downwards at the metalbender, who backstepped the projectile swiftly. In this brief opening, Taka leaped down from the slightly elevated position and struck at the goon. The strike connected as the metalbender blocked with their forearms. His leg quickly shot out, striking at the bender's leg in an attempt to knock them off balance. As expected the metalbender was sturdy, as most earthbenders were, and held their ground despite this. The kick was answered by a punch from the earthbender, a strong strike that managed to find purchase against his cheekbone despite Taka's effort to block it. A glancing blow, but even that caused the stringing sensation of pain. Immediately the goon attempted to follow up with another strike only to find the target evading backward from the strike. Hastily snatching up the baton from the floor once more Taka struck the object against the torso of the individual before him, a surge of electricity sent the metalbender's muscles into spasm.

"But I know a bison who can hit a lot harder." Pulling the baton away from the torso he followed it up by immediately driving one of its ends against the head of the goon, causing them to crumple to the floor. A slight crackling noise came from the interior pocket of his jacket as he heard the voice of his friend almost entirely drowned out among the sound of conflict. While he hadn't heard the entire message what came through caused his eyes to widen, "Spirit Dragon?" The words left his mouth in disbelief. If what he heard was true then they must've stumbled upon something way bigger than a gang peddling from the swamp. Without delay he threw the baton towards one of the remaining goons, sending the projectile crashing into the wall next to them. The goon's gaze turned to Taka, so it seemed to at least serve as a temporary distraction. "They found some sort of spirit beast, I think they're in trouble!" He shouted in hopes that Xu could hear him over the cacophony of combat that resounded within this hangar.

 

[AI10100]

B E I F O N G , X U
Interacting with: Entity.Eclypse
Location: Warehouse, Hangar Two​

"Can you give me a second?" Xu called out for a moment, raising his hand as he stood up. He took a deep breath and he noticed the bewildered look on the earthbender's face. Sometimes, throwing words out on the battlefield sometimes gives miracles. Taunts, distractions— jokes. Xu's eyes flitted to the side. Taka was doing well for himself. Well, it was time to get this over with so he can get to cracking on the vehicle. Before he could fully recover with his thoughts, the earthbender had decided that he would not honor this brief ceasefire and shot three small rocks straight at him.

Xu quickly rolled to the side, hissing in pain as his abdomen throbbed. "Hey, who said I was ready?" He was not graced with a response as two walls formed on either side of him and quickly closed in on him. Xu ran straight forward before reaching behind him and grabbing a smoke arrow. He threw it down and in moments, smoke began to permeate through the air obscuring both his and the earthbender's sight. The walls closed in, smashing whatever was in it into nothing but mush.

The smoke traveled forward, creeping into the large room. What was contained within the small smoke arrow wouldn't have been enough to fill such a big space, nor for too long. The earthbender shot a few rocks into the smoke, dispelling some of it but hitting nothing. Satisfied with this observation, he turned his attention to Taka, unknowingly leaving his backside vulnerable to the prince who burst through the smoke. Keeping his steps as light as possible, he sped forward and grabbed the bender by the arm and pulled back. A crackle of electricity burst from his gloves and he pressed it straight onto the man's neck. Jolts of electricity poured into the earthbender and Xu had to hold back his surprise when the bender raised his right arm, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and threw him down in front of him.

Man, he should get this guy's training regiment or something.

Xu rolled to the side and stood up. The earthbender stared down at him but the prince raised a leg to kick him straight on the neck. As expected, his opponent could barely react and he went straight down with a thump. Thankfully, volts of electricity wasn't easy to shrug off no matter how well trained you were. He turned back to Taka to see that he ended his own match up with the metalbender. He saw Taka throw the baton over to remaining Bone Crusher and Xu quickly followed it up by taking out his bow and sending a shock arrow. He went down with little resistance. Xu quickly nocked another arrow and aimed upwards, towards the catwalk and released an arrow. Before his arrow could meet its mark, the masked man seemed to sink down into a puddle. Evading capture. Looking for reinforcements maybe?

Taka reported that there was some form of a spirit beast. Well then, that shouldn't be a problem to them, he should go ahead and—

"Wait, spirit beast?" He looked at Taka with a raised eyebrow, also in disbelief on what he had heard. Xu's faced multitude of opponents during his training. Non-benders, benders, even threw in a couple of exoitc beasts here and there to teach him... but spirits? Think. Xu had never encountered spirits before and he wasn't completely sure about how non-benders fared against them. Did conventional weapons even stand a chance against them? Wait, wait, but spirits are usually diplomatic enough to talk with them, right? In fact, that was the Avatar's job, right? Besides, the Beifongs weren't exactly high on the spirit like list, considering what their ancestors did do.

Xu stashed his bow once again. "I'm not sure what we can do about spirits. Xiurong's the Avatar, this is her thing. Are you saying that she can't handle it?" Though his words seemed judgemental, Xu's tone gave away his surprise and disbelief. Also, he needed to get working on the Behemoth. The faster their method of departure is prepared, the lesser the chance of getting ambushed again. On the other hand, he could go out and help Xiurong and the others with that beast problem. "Taka, go check on them. I'll get this running in no time so we have a quick out just in case. And..." Xu deftly mde his way to the top of the vehicle and opened the latch. He bent down to look into the cockpit. One cursory look around and he looked back at Taka. "There's a radio here that I can match with our frequency. If you need any help, I'll make sure I'll hear it. Good luck."

With that, Xu slid into the cockpit of the vehicle. The schematics that they were shown seemed to match up with most of what he was viewing at that moment; however, there were key differences. That was for later perusal. First thing's first. He had to start the engine and get the radio working as soon as possible.

 

[. D O V E]

• Jia, Xian, and Xiu
• Xu and Taka
• Yara and Maizen

• 
  
  ​
  The pain was excruciating, seeping from all over her flesh to her spirit. It felt as though something sinister was eating every fiber of her being. Blood trickled down her lips as her teeth pierced through them, a wasted effort to keep the pained cries from pouring out of her mouth as torment eventually reigned. The Avatar's struggles faded, and her form fell limp within the dragon's tight grip. With fainting senses, she felt a series of rushing wind, accompanied by a fierce demand.
  
  "RELEASE HER!"
  
  The cry pushed forth an image in her mind. One of Xian's face, his lips forming a tight line as his gaze slowly left her. She remembered. It was the expression he wore after she told him she didn't need him. 'It... hurts.' She thought with dulling eyes. '...Xu... Jia...'
  
  "Xiurong! What are you doing to her!?"
  
  In that instance, Xiurong heard remnants of her old friend amidst the barrage of winds. She couldn't tell whether the entity's presence was once again playing tricks on her mind, or she was truly here. Regardless, her body was starting to fail her, and her mind was drifting off to nothingness.
  
  "YOU MEDDLESOME FOOLS!"
  
  The dragon roared, the airbender's attacks on his appendages proving to be worthwhile as a number of them retreated, loosening up its hold on the unconscious Avatar. This was backed up by the spikes of earth delivered by Jia, causing the rest of the tendrils to withdraw and for the Avatar to fall from its grip.
  
  While the dragon's tendrils were completely vulnerable to the benders' attacks, the dragon itself was not. Xian and Jia's attacks simply phased through the dark being, regardless of their remarkable intensity. The spirit let out a thousand-voiced guffaw at this.
  
  "IT'S ALREADY TOO LATE, PUNY MORTALS. YOU'RE MERELY DELAYING THE INEVITABLE. THE CATALYST HAS ALREADY BEEN SET, AND SHE WILL BRING FORTH YOUR DOWNFALL!"
  
  The edges of the otherworldly rift glowed as the massive dragon opened its mouth, a ball of darkness forming inside it. The shrill and growing hum of what sounded like electricity resonated throughout the control room as a great amount of spiritual energy accumulated within the orb. After half-a-minute of delay, the dragon blasted the energy. The ear-shattering laser cut through the center of the room and beyond, dividing both the ground and the ceiling in half.
  
  The ground trembled as the affected portion of the facility began to crumble, putting the three individuals at risk of getting flattened by the debris. As this chaos ensued, the dark dragon retreated back into the portal, which eventually closed into thin air once it was gone.
  
  Xanto Colorless Spectrum
  
• 
  
  ​
  
  Right after Xu and Taka formulated their next plan, the reverberating sound of a laser filled the room they were in, followed by the shaking of the ground beneath their feet. A strong force of wind then busted into the room they were in, sending the metallic gates that separated the hangar from the hallway leading into the control room flying. A thick and dark cloud soon swamped the room, the stench of chemical and fire overpowering the senses of those lacking a gas mask. To add more to their worry, the temperature in the hangar was rising to an uncomfortable degree. It wouldn't be unreasonable to say that it could grow hotter still, thanks to the metallic foundation of the entire facility.
  
  Watching the two non-bender's show of prowess from above, the mysterious figure finally moved from his seemingly frozen position. With a few movements of his arms, his form began to melt, as though he was made of ice all along. The only thing that was left in his position was the dark robe he wore, sitting on a puddle of water.
  
  Meanwhile, a few of the gang members they've beaten up were starting to heavily cough and heave.
  
• 
  
  
  ​
  A fainter version of what Xu and Taka heard and felt would reach Yara and Maizen. The remaining goons were obviously staggered by this, their fears growing with each passing second. Now, it was fully clear to them that they were losing this fight. With panic-stricken shrieks, the remnants of the Bone Crushers rushed their way to the hole made by Jia and Xu's entrance.
  
  On cue, Yara and Maizen's radios let out an indiscernible cackle. Eventually, the static noise flattened into the familiar voice of a certain cop. "Avatar team, Avatar team, come in." Captain Beifong's voice resonated from the devices. "The mission's duration has greatly exceeded its expected length. The department, under the White Lotus' request, has mobilized my platoon to extract your team. Do you hear me? What's your status?"
  
  A goon standing by the makeshift exit pointed at the dark sky above the forestry. "Look above!" Several lights were approaching the facility, the silhouette of airships subsequently coming into view.
  
  Flutterby The Prophet
  

 

[Colorless Spectrum]

Jia Xiaodan
The world felt slow at such a dire time like this one. Her heart was beating so strong that she could hear it vibrate inside her chest, her hands felt heavier after every hit she had done with her three-sectioned staff, and her body felt like it was burning from all the fighting she had to do, and still, that was all she had been doing until now from the moment they saw Ah Lam and Amelia.

The Spirit's words fell on deaf ears. She saw the tendrils beginning to slack and she knew what came next after that. A single step from her feet seem to echo in her ears as her arms reached out for the falling frame. Jia's eyes were solely focused on one thing, "Xiu!"

Her arms wrap around the Avatar's neck and legs, Xiu was heavier than she anticipated. The added weight was putting a toll on her body that made her kneel to the ground. She let her old friend lay down on the floor, one of her arms supporting Xiurong's upper back and neck when a blinding light split the facility in half and shook the ground where they rested.

She could see the cracks starting to form from the ceiling, any good earthbender could tell with their seismic sense what was happening around them. "Don't die yet." She said in a whisper. She looked over to Xian and gave him a firm nod as if to say everything was going to be okay and with what earth she could muster, Jia summoned a thick wall of earth in the form of a dome to protect them from the debris.

mention: || interaction: Xanto . D O V E

 

[Flutterby]

"Barking up the wrong tree" was such an odd turn of phrase to hear, in the context. What, Jia didn't want to get out, too? Or she just didn't want to get out, with the Avatar in tow? It had always been obvious that things were icy between the two, but surely death was the lesser of two evils at this point.

Xian's response seemed to snap Jia out of whatever grudge she was holding. It helped sober Yara's mind, too. "Spiritual dragon" wasn't something you heard every day, or even during most of their battles. The earthbender was off in a split second, calling for Yara to follow, but when she took a few steps to go, her knees wobbled and threatened to crumble. Apparently her body hadn't caught up yet.
Yara tried again to follow, and this time her legs did give out. She caught herself with her palms, wincing at the debris digging into them. Before she could right herself, there was a disturbance. She felt it as an instinct first, and maybe later she would ponder if that was a response to the spiritual energy or just a physical response to vibrations and sounds just outside of hearing range. But the building sound and the rumble of the building made it clear.. she should probably stay on the floor.

When the earth seemed to steady itself, the goons around them were already fleeing. Whatever was going on here, clearly they weren't being paid enough to stick around and fight some more.
The waterbender was about to push herself onward, behind Jia, when her radio crackled and Captain Beifong's voice reached them.

She hesitated, and then activated hers to response.
"Status is.. not good. Unexpected developments down here. Team is split up." She had to stop, take in a breath. Why was the air so full of smoke and dirt?
The ground rumbled under here. "I think we're going to lose the building," She said, her hand still on the radio, but the sentence aimed at Maizen. Yara took her hand off of the radio and tried to stand, this time being mostly successful after tottering to the side a bit.
"What- what do we do? Do we go after them?" She gestured the direction that Jia had gone, and pulled her water back to her. Only about half of the puddle listened to her, so she put it in the skin and cut her loses there.

The Prophet

 

[AI10100]

B E I F O N G , X U
Interacting with: Entity.Eclypse Colorless Spectrum . D O V E Xanto
Location: Warehouse, Hangar Two​

Xu hadn't even gotten his hands on the controls when something... happened. Within the safety of the cockpit, he hadn't been affected by the blast of the wind— but the truck itself shook from its power and that was telling. He grabbed the entrance to the cockpit, whipping his head around with the question of what happened in his throat and said question died there. The door to the other hallway was clean off its hinges and slammed onto the wall opposite to it while fire and smoke began to creep into the hangar.

Huh. Maybe it was a good thing that he wasn't planning on running after Xiurong and the others.

It seemed that time was of the essence. He couldn't falter now. He dropped back into the cockpit and began his work. Rule number one of stealing a car— always check for the keys. Thankfully, despite its humungous size and well-defended interior, the vehicle itself operated like any other car with added features. Unfortunately, the key wasn't anywhere inside the vehicle. It was likely with one of the unconscious Bone Crushers or with Chen or something. There wasn't enough time to search for it.

He took out his multipurpose tool and got to work. He pried open the ignition and watched as the wires tumbled down. Thankfully, whoever made this vehicle seemed to follow the same color-coded wires that most automobile companies used. He grabbed the two red wires and cut them loose. He proceeded to strip the ends of the wires and pressed them together. In that moment, the interior lit up— the radio crackled to life and the gauges started to move. The odd one out of the gauges shot to the full meter— the gas meter. Great. He twisted the ends of the wire together before moving onto the next one. It was getting hotter. Sweat was already dripping down his face. Absolutely fantastic. Nothing like water and electricity mixing, right?

He wiped the sweat on his sleeve and continued. If he hadn't been working on electrical components for years, then he probably would have fumbled already. Nevertheless, Xu took the brown wires and cut them off. He stripped the ends and pressed them together. Once. The engine roared before dying down. Twice. Same result. Thrice. Same result. The fourth time did the trick as the engine continued running after he had separated the wires. He wished he had tape but beggars can't be choosers as he allowed the wires to dangle dangerously close to where he would be placing his legs to actually drive the Behemoth.

Xu reached for the radio and adjusted it until it matched their frequency, missing the report from both the Captain and Yara. "Fire's spreading out into the second hangar. I've got the vehicle ready to get out. Jia, Xian, Xiurong, if it's quicker to rendezvous out, get out!"

With that, the prince opened the hatch again and cursed under his breath as the smoke entered the cockpit. Thankfully, the gas mask held up. He looked around to see that some of the Bone Crushers had regained consciousness and were hacking up a storm from the smoke. "Hey, all of you! Get out of here, the building's gonna go!" He turned to Taka. "Get on!"

Once his partner was on, he maneuvered the Behemoth to face the hallway leading to the first hangar. He turned to look back at the path leading deeper into the building. Were the three alright? Did the... spiritual dragon or whatever get to them? Did it cause this? There were so many questions in his head. Should he stay?

He grabbed the radio again. "I'm waiting for you guys at the second hangar. But as soon as this place is going to crumble, I'm gunning it for the exit. Do you need help?"

This was a terrible idea. He didn't even know if they were conscious enough to respond. But, he stubbornly stayed in place until they get there or the building collapses on them— whichever comes first. Though honestly, he'd prefer if it was the former.

PS: Do not attempt hotwiring a car unless it's your car. This also is based on old model cars so I cannot guarantee your safety and success if attempted on newer models. If attempting, please make sure you are well-equipped.

 

[The Prophet]

Maizen Tosuda​

Three thugs hit the floor in quick succession; white hair catching some of the soot from his own flames as Maizen righted himself and started stepping back towards Jia and Yara, fighting all the while. It felt like his sense were in overdrive; the smell of things burning all around him. The sight of people falliing and debris tumbling down, blocking off routes and crushing those unlucky. The sight of a spear heading for his face, rusty and crackling with electricity. The back of his head being blasted with rock and dust as the spear missed by mere inches thanks to quick movement and the aftermath of a fallen earthbender. It was all playing out so quickly, and all the white haired man could do in return is fight further.

This was not going well. Something was going on deeper in the facility, and if Yara's radio coming out just over the violence was anything to go by, the spiritual dragon wasn't a turn for the better. He could almost laugh, picturing his father, or his guards' reactions to the turn of events. He'd never be able to leave home for years."...!" A rock slammed into his shoulder while he was distracted, and Maizen whirled around to throw a ball of fire right back. How determined were these guys to be criminals? He expected them to run at this point, especially when so outclassed. A knife made of fire shut up another, and an arc of heat slammed a swordsman into a wall. This was getting tiring, enough so that he considered sending the lot of them to the spirit world with a sweep of his combustion bending. However, he'd probably just end up sending himself and everyone else there too, and make it very hard to get anything from the building.

Suddenly Jia rushed past him; was she seriously going to fight a spirit? And take an injured waterbender with them? What a soldier.

"The lava bender thinks I can handle the room? I feel so honor- oh, orders." Maizen mused, watching her go before moving to Yara's side as they failed to match Jia's gusto. "I think the right phrase here is 'don't push it'. Come on, I don't think it's the best idea to fight a spirit dragon in your state." As Yara began to stand, the firebender's head snapped up, feeling a wave of something destructive.

There couldn't be another combustion bender here, right? The odds of there being a fourth, and two in the same spot at that, was all but impossible. The dragon? Probably, spirits seemed wild like that. The criminals weren't too keen on fighting anymore, and as the young man looked above them to the rapidly crumbling structure, Maizen wasn't too keen either. The authorities called in, and Maizen bit his lip in contemplation behind his mask. "...We're leaving. The building's about to fall, and we're hardly in a position to help at this point. They're capable enough, and smart enough to leave as soon as they can. Besides, somebody's gotta help secure the outside of the building." Maizen sent a wave of fire to the makeshift exit, securing their exit from the Bone Crusher threat. Some ran off, others were knocked away; at the very least they wouldn't be hampered on the way out. As debris fell around them, Maizen leaned over some, offering his aide getting out. "Can you walk? Here, lean on me."

Flutterby

 

[Xanto]

Xian Zhao​

"Not to parry the moment," Xian's voice casually broke through the crumbling white noise surrounding them, "But how about we make our way out before anything else happens?" His grey gaze glanced at the two ladies, one with an arm holding the other. Xian firmly stepped toward the two before bending on a knee to get to their level. Jia and Xiu had a deep connection despite the multiple quarrels Xiu would rant about. That, he knew.

His hand reached out toward Xiu, opposite the side of Jia as his stare met the earthbender's. "I can support. You think you can maneuver our dome?" Xian waited for Jia's release before carefully guiding Xiu's arms around his neck. Then, he stood up in one smooth swift movement, letting Xiu's legs rest in his arms as he lifted her onto his back. Jia needed both hands to strongly reinforce their earth shield against all the debris with full focus. Additionally, staying under this establishment with the risk of more chemical substance releases was not a safer option. The three of them needed to leave as soon as possible.

Xian started for the way out. He wasn't in his prime state due to the acid trip moments prior; however, having Xiu on his back was still something he could steadily muster. His steps were strong, unwavering in balance against the now uneven floors as Jia safely paved their way. They all had a lot to recover from. Tripping over tired footsteps, and inhaling more contaminated gas was the last thing anyone needed.

Xian glanced over his shoulder at the worn out Xiu. She . . didn't need any of this added to her plate. Avatar or not, the spirits were placing blame on her for actions she didn't perform. The airbender's brows furrowed as his mind involuntarily flashed to the prior scene. He could remember the pain in Xiu's eyes as the spiritual dragon almost squeezed the life out of her, but that was just it. They had almost no chance against one retaliating spirit. What more if many attacked? Xian sighed as his head turned forward to eye the path ahead. His father wouldn't know . . or would he? Gah, what the airbender would give to have Jinora's insight.

For now, he had to focus on the many situations at hand. Their team was splayed around the map with each group undoubtedly facing their own scoop of chaos. Yet no matter which storyline got shoved into the limelight first, Xian arrived at the same conclusion. Step 1: Get the team together again.

. D O V E Colorless Spectrum