Chapter 1

"Next!"

The line shuffled forward accompanied by the dull clanging of chains. There was a clatter as the locks on the first in line fell to the ground. Then a whimper as she was pushed forward. Her face full of unbridled horror. A flash of light, a crackle of electricity and then..., the scream. A heart wrenching wail that pierced through the souls and bones of all who would soon share her fate. A boy dropped to the ground, too scared to look away as he muttered intelligible words and blinked back tears. The girl fell to the ground..., still, cold and unmoving.

There was a grunt of disapproval as the girls now deformed body was roughly picked up by one of the guards and thrown into a heap of those who had already gone on ahead in the same manner.

"Next!" spoke the man. The line was pushed forward by the other guards, followed by the sound of tentative footsteps. Inching closer to their deaths. The chains on Ronin's hands fell to the ground. With it, the realization that his end was near...

And he welcomed it.

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A month earlier...

"Move it guys!" their leader called back to them as he shuffled in the muck of the sewers of Ba Sing Se. Sean turned back, his ball of fire in his hand to light up the dark tunnel, to see what was keeping them.

"Coming!" replied an airy voice as its speaker, a young boy of about thirteen with bright blonde hair and mischievous brown eyes brushed past Ronin with his arms crossed behind his neck.

"Whatever." said another voice as its owner sloshed loudly in the muck. Making no effort to be quiet... or clean. He bypassed Ronin, hands in pockets, jet black hair set upon a fiery face with a permanent scowl.

The two stopped walking and looked back at Ronin as he stood stock still as the consequences of what they were about to do hit him yet again.

"You coming?" asked their leader, his flame casting eerie shadows against the walls of the sewer.

"Y... yeah!" Ronin replied as he hurried to catch up with them. The blonde boy closed his eyes and smiled at Ronin. "Don't ya worry." he said. "It's just another heist. In and out. No bigee!" he finished chuckling.

Ben. He made it sound so simple although they knew what they were up against. What would happen to them should they fail. 'No time to think about that now.' , Ronin chided himself. The operation has begun. Better to focus on what we've  to do than what would happen should we fail. Besides, he thought clenching his fist, its very embarrassing to be encouraged by someone two years younger than you.

"Stop being a wuss!" The dark one, Roth said. "It's just like all the other ones so don't worry just 'cus these guys have" extra security". Besides... "he looked back warily at the last member of their team behind Ronin. "... we have her! "

That's a bit of an understatement when referring to our greatest obstacle as" extra security." Ronin thought. But Roth had a point. They'd been in bad situations before but because of their secret weapon, they'd always escaped more or less unscathed. He stole a glance at the figure who brought up the rear as she walked effortlessly on the surface of the muck. Trice of the water tribe.

In context, the operation was simple. Break in. Get the goods and get out without touching the ground. The target today was the Soa Yin family's 3 warehouses where a huge assortment of next gen technology was currently being developed. The plan involved 2 teams. The alpha team attack the biggest and most fortified warehouse where the products were assembled, tested, stored and packaged before being sent out to the public. It held the most expensive of items and attacking that would be the most profitable, but also the most risky. However this would serve as a distraction to the elite guards guarding the grounds. Beta team would infiltrate the grounds masked by the distraction of the alpha team and plunder the warehouse furthest from the distraction, where the parts were made.

All without touching the earth. If they so much as even rustled a blade of grass, it was game over.

To Ronin, back when the planning was going on it seemed quite feasible. But now under the full knowledge of what they would encounter, he wanted to back out. His concerns weren't solely shared by him. Roth and Sean looked a little jittery as they took liight tentative steps and inched forward. Wary of everything. Even Ben didn't have that carefree look in his eye and was actually being serious. The only one seemingly unawares was Trice with her head bent, hidden in her dark hoodie.

"Alright guys that's far enough" Sean said. "This should be far enough. Anymore and we'd be in their range."

Roth scoffed. "So what now? We're supposed to sneak in, grab stuff and get out" without making contact with the earth." It's not like any of us can hover for long. And..." he cocked his head at Ronin "this guy's a non-bender, so how the heck ..."

"I was getting to that." Sean interrupted. "Trice. If you may?"

All eyes turned on her. She stood behind them without uttering a word, even throughout the entire journey through the sewers. She wore her black, tattered, dirty cloak against her hoodie, ripped jeans and sandals. Her pale skin just visible beyond the sleeves.

She raised her left arm and spread her fingers in front of her. Immediately, the murk beneath them rose in snake like tendrils and began to twist in upon itself.

Decades of garbage, faeces and dirt drained out of it and fell to the ground till all that was left was clean, clear water.

"Water purification!" Ben chuckled. "Sweet!"

'That kid.' Ronin thought as he looked in awe at the tendrils of clear water which had once been green with filth and various wastes. The tendrils enveloped the team. Spreading and thinning beneath their feet until they stood on a platform of water which levitated above the ground.

"Hmph!" scoffed Roth.

"Amazing!" breathed Ronin.

"Alright Trice," Sean said. "take us in!"

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"Y'know I still don't see why I have to be on the hit-and-run team. " mumbled the kid.

"I already told you Mike. You're needed here and not there." Lucas said for the umpteenth time.

'Kids!'

"But Roth could've done this part. He is a fire-bender after all."

"He's also not an 8 year old kid who can't keep his mouth shut when he's supposed to be doing his job."

"You telling me I'm incompetent? fired Mike.

" Sure looks like it! "shot Lucas.

" You guys! "

The duo turned to face the speaker. Their comrade Ivy. Her faced beaded with sweat, her strained arms and hands trembling as she kept moving them, letting her energy flow so they could stay off the ground and undetected.

" It's kinda hard maintaining a large mass of water to act as your flying carpet over a long period of time so could you finish the job already?!" she finished with a shout. Her unkept brown hair fell in waves behind her reflecting the light of the full moon above them. Her arms shook from exhaustion. Should she loose her hold...

" R... right! " mumbled Lucas turning to face the large establishment before them. Imposing and ebonite like some god of death rising from the abyss. " Come on Mike. Blast the door down!"

"Yeah. Yeah...jeez!"he responded apparently still miffed.

" And try and do it beautifully, like me. "

Mike gave an exasperated sigh." I'm gonna strangle that Phyrus spirit one of these days, Ivy."

He bent his head to look at the spirit which lounged leisurely on their foothold of water.

It indeed was beautiful and with a subtle air of grace. It had a pale luminescence of green which glowed ever so softly in the night. With an arched back and a long furry tail, it seemed almost like your everyday house cat. But what set it apart were those large, ancient and intelligent eyes which seemed to have seen it all.

"Whatever." Mike mumbled. He stepped forward till he stood at the very edge of their support of water facing the large doors to the warehouse. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and spread his fingers beside him. Lucas and Ivy waited in silence. The trembling in her arms became more pronounced as panic and accumulated fatigue began to take their toll.

Mike opened his eyes. All traces of a brat gone. Flames snaked up his forearms as he clenched his fists, raised his hand and punched the door.

BOOM!

The doors held. Transferring all the summoned flames to his other arm, he gave another hit to the doors.

BOOM!

The doors gave way revealing a dark interior filled with shiny, mettalic objects of different sizes and shapes.

"Okay we need to get out of here, now." Lucas said. "The guards would surely have heard that, Ashe! " He called to the spirit.

But the strain was too much for Ivy. Her arms gave way and she fell forward unto the water unconscious as the water too fell unto the earth.

Lucas gave a little yelp when he found himself on the ground. Suddenly, the duo was all pins and needles. Nothing happened immediately but they knew it was only a matter of time since they had made contact with the ground.

"Ashe!" Lucas called loudly. The spirit was already transforming. Becoming longer and larger as luminescent wings sprouted from its back. It now stood as big as a truck. Easily able to take four or five people.

"Get on! Quick!" Lucas shouted to Mike as he rushed to Ivy's side.

"Ahh!" Mike exclaimed. He'd been about to jump aboard the spirit but seemed he couldn't anymore.

'Already?!' thought Lucas. He threw Ivy aboard the spirit and turned to help Mike. But he couldn't move his feet. He realize that the ground had risen above his feet, firmly holding him in place.

"Shit!" cursed Mike. Fire formed on his fists which he brought down on his feet, wincing in pain as he hurt himself in the process. He broke free stumbling on his bruised feet. But there was no time to waste as the earth moved to ensnare him once more.

"Yah!" exclaimed Ashe as he launched himself skyward to escape the persistent earth.

Lucas pounded upon the earth trapping his feet.

'Not much use of wind against earth is there'.

He broke free of his earthen restraints. However, the sound of fast approaching footsteps greeted his escape.

Mike blasted off a column of flame towards Ashe like a rocket.

"Don't wait for me!" Lucas called out. He twisted his upper body as far back as it would go while keeping his lower body in its previous direction and summoned the wind beneath him.

The rock came out of nowhere. It whizzed past his head, missing him by mere inches. 'They're close!'

With all the strength he could muster, he violently twisted his upper body forward while simultaneously releasing the wind beneath him to form a spinning vortex which propelled him upwards towards his team mates above him.

'It's okay. I'll make it. They won't be able to catch me' he thought to himself. He stretched his hand towards Mike whose hand already reached for his.

The rock hit Lucas square on the head. Knocking him unconscious as he fell towards the armour clad individuals below.

"LUCAS!!"

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"That's the signal." Sean said in response to the distant explosion. He signalled to Trice who slowly raised them up and out of the sewer. They emerged, with Roth holding up the metal grating of the sewer, into a lush green field with the unending sound of crickets. Before them stood an enormous building three stories high, stretching out in both directions by about 60 metres.

Sean turned to look around them. "Okay, we don't seem to be pursued or watched."he said" For now, everything's going according to plan."

" Till it all comes crashing down on us."mumbled Roth as he set the grating down on their support of water.

" I hope the others managed to escape." said Ronin.

"Mehh. They'll be fine." replied Ben looking at the warehouse before them. "They've got a Phyrus spirit and Ivy. I think we should be worrying about ourselves."

Robin nodded. Reprimanding himself yet again that a thirteen year old boy should be giving him advice. He reached into the pockets of his worn trousers and grasped the contents within as he muttered a silent prayer.

They stood before the building to find it, of course, locked. Not with a key but with a pass code. A dial shimmered white in the moonlight next to the doors. It contained ten keys each emblazoned with a number and above all the keys, a blue screen.

They couldn't blast this door down. If so, then the Alpha team's effort would be for naught. Type in the wrong code and a screeching alarm goes off notifying every guard in a three hundred metre radius.

Sean turned to Trice. With her right hand, she manipulated two streams of water from their support and placed them on all the keys of the locking system. The team fell silent as they stared at her. Then...

4...5...3...6...2...9

The doors silently slid open. She'd done it. They were in.

"How'd she do that?!" Roth exclaimed flabbergasted.

"It's simple." said Sean as they moved in on their support of water. "Heat."

"Huh?"

"Whoever opens up this place has to punch in the code to get in. In making contact with them, no matter how miniscule, friction is produced. And..." a ball of flame materialised in his hand "... fingerprints are left behind as well. All that happened was just a sensing of the ones with the lowest temperature and fingerprints to the ones with the highest temperature and fingerprints. "

" I see. "said Roth who also raised his hand and summoned fire to it. In the light of the twin flames, the room came into focus.

" Woah! " Ben breathed. The interior was vast. Glass slides were mounted at various spots touching the roof above separated the interior into various spots of development. The fires brought into focus, gleam of metallic equipment and lustrous glass items which made the place sparkle like a starlit sky. Neatly packed in a corner were boxes upon boxes of the various parts which were due to be transported to the third warehouse for assembling. At the rear of the place, a flight of stairs led up into the upper floors.

"Jackpot!" exclaimed Sean. "All right people, load up!"