Homecoming (Private)

The transport was pulling into the inner walls of the city. It had been many decades since the warrior from the White Lotus stepped foot into his homeland. It was time for a visit. Sadly, the Airbender's father was said to die many years ago soon after his mother passed away. It was alright, the samurai had been taught the spiritual aspects of life from the monks. He knew he would see them again in the next life. Until then, he would enjoy his life here on Earth. It was far from the warrior's time to move on into the spirit world.

The train came to a complete stop and the swordsman stepped off of the transport and began walking through the crowd. He was wearing his usual Earth Kingdom attire with a straw hat to cover his forehead and eyes. However, he was able to see just fine. There was a long travel to the city and he was there on business. Apparently there was a renegade Metalbender hiding within the walls. He was a dangerous individual who was gathering intel by infiltrating the Dai Li. Soran was ordered by the White Lotus to kill the man and get out of the city before he was even noticed. He was assigned to go now before the man's plot to assassinate the leader of Ba Sing Se could be initiated.

While scouting the city, he noticed many Dai Li standing out of the palace. Trained exclusively by Avatar Kyoshi herself, they were taught in the art of stealth and precision. They wore gloves and shoes, both made out of earthen materials, in order to Earthbend on the go. There was one of them that stood out more than the rest. The Dai Li agent walking through the doors of the palace had a tattoo of a black tribal scorpion on the back of his neck. This was the mark the Order informed the assassin about. There was no doubt; this was the target. The Airbender had to sneak into the palace to execute the man. So he scouted the area while going to eat at a noodle shop until the nightfall. There was no moon in the sky, so the only thing lighting up the night sky was the stars. This was the perfect night to sneak into the palace.

The swift warrior went out into the dead of night. Using the stealth of Air-hopping; Soran successfully snuck into the palace without being detected. The swordsman noticed a group of the Dai Li walking down the hall as the one with the scorpion tattoo split up from the group. The others didn't notice due to him walking in the back. Soran followed the man as he entered an empty hallway. The man's ear twitched as he turned around. Soran quickly hid behind the corner as the Dai Li poser shrugged and continued to proceed through the door at the end of the hall. Soran ran towards the door silently and walked through.

As soon as he opened the door; the Dai Li agent shot a binding "weapon" called surveyors' chains from within his robe's sleeves and caught Soran's wrists before he could draw his sword. The warrior quickly brought his leg up and kicked the man in the gut with a gust of wind, which knocked the man against the bookcase behind him. The warrior quickly drew his sword and cut the weakest link of the chains from his wrists and charged the man. The man swung his arms up to make a wall of Earth from the ground, but Soran charged and thrusted his sword through the stone wall itself and stabbed the man in the heart, killing him within seconds.

The samurai pulled his platinum sword from the stone wall and revealed the blade covered in blood. The warrior pulled a cloth out of his back pocket, the Airbender cleaned the blood off of the blade and placed it back into the sheath. Turning to the left; he noticed a girl wearing a black hood who had seen the entire fight. "Shit..." was the only thing the warrior could utter before hearing the Earth King's guards approaching from down the hallway, "I heard the sound come from this way!" a voice shouted.

Looking over at the window to the right; Soran blasted it open with a gust of air and jumped out of it before hopping from rooftop to rooftop before he could be seen. Number one rule of the White Lotus; don't get caught. Anybody following behind him would see his Kanji of the Flower of Life. But luckily, only another Airbender would be able to keep up with him considering how he was escaping.

 

Loki

Loki regularly stole from the Earth Kingdom Palace.  Since she usually stayed nearby, it was a great way to make a steady income.  Since she only took a couple of things at a time, there wasn't exactly an entire fleet of police trying to find her.  Plus, the fact that she never left a trace helped her keep the Dai Li at bay.  It was an embarrassment to them, as they were the highest quality police force in the world, yet they continued to have royal objects of value swiped from under their noses.  Loki usually snuck in through the rooftops.  There were many open areas that were easy to get into the palace by.  They were also heavily patrolled areas, but by now, Loki had the patterns down to a science. Today was no different.  Loki went into an open archway that led onto a balcony on the second floor of the immense palace.  She suppressed her footsteps by bending some air under her feet and floating through the halls.  A guard passed by her, obviously bored and tired.  Loki whispered past him and into a room of one of the sleeping royal family members.  Many gifts from diplomatic travels were strewn around the room.  Loki took some jewelry at random, using her airbending to do it silently. Loki made her way quietly out of the room.  She couldn't see any guards, which made her pause.  She made her way around a corner, and witnessed a quick assassination.  The Dai Li agent had been aware of his assailant's presence, but the assassin, much to Loki's surprise, used airbending to turn the battle around.  Her eyebrows raised with curiosity, but she prayed that the man wouldn't turn on her.  She wasn't confident at all.  He seemed to be adept in both his bending and his swordplay; she wouldn't stand a chance. The man turned to her and muttered a profanity.  Loki was sure he would kill her so as to dispose of any witnesses, but some shouting guards saved her at the last second.  Well, sort of, Loki still had to make her escape.  The man went through an open window nearby, and Loki followed him out of necessity.  She actually had an easy time keeping up.  One of the few things she could do with aplomb was use her airbending for speed.  She could see some kanji on the back of the man's shirt, which only increased her curiosity.  Although it likely endangered her life, she followed him to find out exactly who this man was.  She assumed they were being pursued, but she didn't dare look back and see.

Mood: Curious Condition: Fine

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop; the assassin noticed the girl he had seen before was following him and the Dai Li were not too far behind. However, the dead of night covered his trail and the girl in black could barely be seen as well. The White Lotus swordsman jumped down a ledge and into the window of an abandoned shop that was currently closed for the night. He was able to determine from the girl's movements as she followed him that she was also an Airbender.

Normally Airbenders weren't using their bending skills to steal from cities. But then again; they also weren't going out and killing people, so he had no room to judge other Air Nomads for how they used their Aerokinetic abilities. In fact, it was nice to know that he wasn't the only Airbender who kept his hair and used his abilities for "unorthodox" methods of use. As the girl attempted to jump; the master Airbender performed an Airbending suction to draw the girl in like a vacuum. He wrapped both arms around her; on arm around her torso to keep her from moving while his other hand was placed over her mouth to keep her from making a noise.

"Shhhhhh!" Soran whispered in the girl's ear while the two watched as the Dai Li jumped over their location and continued pursuit of the two. Luckily, the Dai Li didn't get a clear enough look at either of them to recognize them if they decided to walk the streets. Once he felt the two were safe; Soran released the girl and backed away from her. "You almost jeopardized my mission!" the White Lotus assassin accused silently.

 

Loki

Loki didn't really have a problem keeping up, but she did have trouble seeing.  Eventually she lost sight of the assassin she'd been following.  She was disheartened, but she continued to flee with the same amount of energy.  She came to an easy jump, but she was surprised by what she thought at first was a sharp increase in gravity.  A vacuum of air quickly sucked her into a building and into the arms of the airbender she'd been chasing all along.  Loki could barely see the Dai Li as they jumped passed the shop they were hiding in. The situation was a bit creepy.  It was a dark room, and the man she knew to be a killer had his hand over her mouth and could likely take her out in a second.  She did not scream though.  He finally released her and scolded, "You almost jeopardized my mission!"  Loki raised an eyebrow, and her usual smirk grew.  "Ah yes, you really needed me there to jeopardize your mission.  Seems like you had a handle on that yourself."  She wasn't lying.  Loki had merely been a nefarious bystander.  "In fact, you actually ruined my mission," she argued.  The jewelry in her pocket said otherwise, but Loki did not find the truth to be all that necessary or interesting right now.

Mood: Curious Condition: Fine