The Streets of Ba Sing Se

[siin]

On a dark deserted street somewhere within the massive walls of Ba Sing Se a skirmish between two groups was being concluded. The cries of men assaulting one another with whatever means they could filled the dark night air. One of the groups was made up of a large number Earth Kingdom youths that had somehow gotten their hands on weapons. The other group consisted of Ba Sing Se’s best, the Dai Li. The battle had sounded fierce, but the youths were outmatched and now backed against a wall with the Dai Li a few feet away, staring them down.

Out of the shadows of a nearby alley she made her entrance, Siin Nene, leader of the Dai Li. Her long black hair flowed down her back and over her shoulders as she approached her subordinates. Her green dress, not offering much in warmth, looked stylish and sleek as it clung to her attractive figure. Siin’s cruel glare fell upon the youths against the wall as she stood a few steps behind one of her men.
“That was all fun,” the light tanned woman said softly, “but I’ve had enough of chasing you all through the city.” Siin slowly raised her right hand, in which was her pipe. She tapped the tool in her left hand, seemingly waiting for the youths to say something. There was silence for a few brief moments before Siin broke it with a sigh. “Tell me where you got the weapons,” she demanded through a groan.

One of the youth stepped forward, his fiery eyes staring back into the woman’s. “We ain’t telling you all nothin!” The bandanna wearing youth raised his hand and made a gesture with his hand at Siin, causing some of the youth to chuckle.

“You mistake me for the city guard,” Siin replied with a smile on her lips. “We’ll see if you want to tell me anything after a few of your friends die.” Siin took her pipe and tapped the man in front of her on the shoulder, signaling to attack. The Dai Li agents instinctively began Earthbending and launched man sized boulders at the youths, crushing many of them since they were huddled together.

The youth that had spoken for his group cried out in shock as he looked to his sides, his friends crushed and their blood splattered onto the wall behind him. “Uri, Pi, Gio…” the youth fell to his knees and began to sob.

Siin’s smile became a cruel smirk as she looked at the scene. “Red is really a good color for that building,” she commented coldly. The sinister woman’s eyes stared at the crying youth, uncaring and indifferent to his pain. “This is what happens when you try and take up arms in my city.” The sobbing youth did not reply to Siin’s insensitive words, and was more than likely ready to suffer the same fate as his friends.
“One last chance,” Siin was becoming impatient, and she was starting to become cold from the night air. “Who gave you the weapons? It baffles me how you insects are still able to procure them after I’ve worked so hard to keep them out of the city.”

The cruel woman and her men waited eagerly for the youth’s reply. Hopefully in the meantime no interruptions would happen.

[The Jackal || Ji Taro]

It was cool and misty that afternoon and The Jackal was glad of his long sleeved shirt. The cloudy overcast skies looked like they might open up at any minute and start crying, and the chilled wind was blowing the fabric of The Jackal's cheich away from his face just a little. After tightening it up again, the young man looked down from the rooftop where he was waiting. Those guys who bought the weapons from him were students, they were tired of having their friends abducted every time the protested against the government. The Jackal sympathized. For a price of course. "Hmm, I knew they were going to get into trouble, didn't think they'd outright fight the Dai Li though..." the Jackal mused on the roof top. The Jackal had followed them, out of pure curiosity as to what they were going to do rather than concern for their safety; they were all at least as old as he was, and should've known a bad idea when the heard one.

The fight did seem to go their way though, then again the Jackal could have told you that was going to happen for the start. Weapons are great equalizers; they are not, however, insta-tactics or battle-savvy-in-a-can. The way those kids rushed at the Dai Li over and over again made killing them way easier than it should be. The Jackal frowned as the red smear was washed across the wall "Guess they learned scale mail doesn't make you invincible..." The Jackal muttered with a morose chuckle. And there she was. Siin Nene, what a bombshell, and The Jackal always seemed to gravitate towards the borderline psychotic chicks. She was down there talking to the guy, and he seemed to be a little more loose lipped after the Dai Li decided to play "Giant Rock Bowling" with his friends as pins. "Tsk. So much for return customers." the Jackal mumbled to himself as he set up his crossbow on the ledge of the building. This shot he was going to do without the scope; he was vertically above the target and it wasn't more than 50 yards away. Also, he didn't want the glare to give away his position (it wasn't overcast enough to chance it) because he was really in no mood to fight a bunch of Dai Li agents.

"Sorry buddy," The Jackal said lining up the head shot "kindred spirits and all that..." The Jackal squeezed the trigger and heard the cloven air as the bolt flew towards its destination. This particular projectile had something nasty in its tip as it was packed with specially formulated black powder which would be ignited and explode just a few seconds after impact. The blast would probably rip the kid's head apart but do little damage to any one around him, it was more for shock and awe to confuse to Dai Li long enough for him to get off the roof. "It was this weird guy in all black, he talked like some one from the Si Wong." the young man started "His name was 'The Ja-'". It hit with a meaty thunk in the mans neck, and pointed (from the perspective of the Dai Li standing in front of the kids) to the left, towards Jackal's position. "OH! and killed mid-sentence too!" the Jackal belted out after seeing the shot stop the boy's confession. Ten seconds was more than enough time for several Dai Li agents to look towards The Jackal's position and see him standing up triumphantly after his feat of marksmanship. Then boom a pulpy mess of angsty teenager head splattered several of the people standing around the boy, and knocked about as many of their feet. "Damn I am so dumb." the Jackal hissed in exasperation as he laid his face in his palms.

[siin]

Everything happened so fast, and neither Siin nor the Dai Li agents were prepared for the series of events that unfolded after they all witnessed the only surviving youth silenced by an arrow to the neck. A few agents turned their heads in the direction of where the arrow came from, noticing a man atop a building. Siin noticed this too, her icy glare fixated upon the figure above them. Before the cruel mistress could utter a word a small explosion erupted from the youth. Blood and body parts flew forth from his kneeling location towards the Dai Li.

Siin stood paralyzed with anger, though her eyes looked strangely calm. The entrails and fluids from the youth had not only hit the agents, but Siin as well. There was no need to look at her green dress, it was stained with blood. Her face and bare skin were dotted with blood spatter. “Oh…my…” she whispered, her eyes wandering from agent to agent, making sure to have all eyes on her. “Someone…clean me up…now.” Siin’s words revealed immense anger as she finished her sentence.

Several Dai Li agents huddled around Siin and pulled white cloths from underneath their green robes. They were allowed to lightly dab the blood off of Siin’s face, upper chest and arms. The few that had been allowed to touch her could feel the ever watchful eyes of Siin, watching how they touched her. Needless to say they were more than careful not to get cheeky.

“That’s enough!” Siin thrashed her arms about, sending the Dai Li agents back away from her. “What good are you all if you can’t even see an arrow coming down from above?! What if that had been an attempt on my life?!” Siin watched as the agents looked at each other, trying to find something to say. “Forget it,” she said with a huff, “All I want now is the person who did this groveling before me!”

Two Dai Li agents bowed to Siin and sprinted off towards the building, creating stone steps as they did so that they could reach the man. The two leapt towards the building, their stone covered fists raised, ready to engage the potential threat.

[The Jackal || Ji Taro]

"Aww shit..." The Jackal said looking through his scope. He had decided to attach it to the crossbow right after the boy's head exploded because his position was already given away and he could use the bonus it gave him. Siin Nene, the head of the Dai Li. The Jackal was familiar with her and had heard a few reports about her rather ruthless administrative style; he didn't quite agree with the whole "better to be feared than loved idea" himself, but he was impressed that she was so easily make it work for her. Through his scope he saw her give a command to her men, and contemplated taking another shot, this one aimed at her. He didn't get the chance however as she was soon surrounded by a man-shield of Dai Li agents "Clever," the Jackal mused "use them to protect yourself." Then he realized that they were cleaning off the arterial spray that his little "present" had left on her, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

The Jackal looked around and realized that there was no way to get off of the roof fast enough without either putting himself in a vulnerable position to the two agents he noticed coming his way, or just outright causing serious injury to himself. He was contemplating this fact when he realized just how close those two Dai Li agents had gotten to his position. If he worked fast enough he might have enough time to set up his crossbow again (which he had taken down before realizing there was no quick way off the roof) and take them out before they reached him. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" The Jackal hissed in rapid succession as he struggled to get set up in time. "Yes!" he said as he lined up a shot on the agent to the right and took it. "Caught in the chest," Shi said as the explosive smacked into the torso of the Dai Li agent who was in mid-flight on his way to The Jackal. "and..." he continued as he with drew another explosive bolt from the bandoliers about his waste "caught in the chest."

This time the Dai Li agent had been too close to Shi, and was flying right towards him with his fist raised high. Instead of shooting it, Shi had used the bolt as a melee weapon as he parried the agent's right jab with his own left hand, and used the momentum from the flying assault to stab him in the chest with the bolt held in his right hand. It worked and Shi thought the fight was over as the Dai Li agent's momentum carried him past Shi and stumbling towards the opposite in of the roof. Dai Li, however, or made so for a reason and the resilient agent pulled the device from his chest with just enough time to toss it towards Shi. "Monkey feathers." he muttered just before the bolt exploded halfway between him and the agent, both of them had enough time to hit the deck. Shi was still on the ground when the member of the Dai Li rose to his feet. He took several pot shots at Shi, launching the stone gloves encasing his hands as projectiles.

The Jackal rolled out of the way of the flying gloves, each time the hard life ending surfaces of the stone smashing where the Jackal had just been, letting him know he had just made it. He rolled over to where his crossbow had landed, grabbed it, and sprung up off of his stomach. He was about to take the shot when he realized the Dai Li agent had charged him, he didn't have enough time to avoid the hard, rocky backhanded slap across his face that knocked him off balance. "...did you just bitch slap me!?" The Jackal said with a grim smile as his mouth filled up with blood. Ever the opportunist, The Jackal used this to his advantage and spat a mouthful of the crimson liquid in his opponent's eyes, and then proceeded to bludgeon him with the but of his crossbow. He felt the bones in the man's nose give a satisfying crunch as the broke under the force of his muscles. The man was dazed and Shi reached for his throat. Grabbing tightly, Shi aimed to literally squeeze the life out of the Dai Li agent (who tried feebly to resist). No matter how hard he pulled the agent was unable to loosen Shi's grip, which was ironclad.

The Dai Li agent quickly slipped unconscious and Shi let go of his neck, not really wanting to cause death if it could be easily averted. So far no one had given him much of a choice in the matter, and he wasn't going to go out of his way to not hurt people who were actively trying to kill him. As soon as the agent's body hit the floor The Jackal slumped over and spit out another mouthful of blood, and took a deep breath. He hated the taste of blood in his mouth, and even choked for a quick second when he inhaled some of the vile fluid. Shi then gasped and looked around, realizing that he had just zoned out and left himself open to attack while his enemies were probably working on their next move.

[siin]

Before the mysterious stranger engaged the agents that had been sent after him, Siin was quick to make sure that he would have a hard time escaping. “All of you,” she announced to her agents, “line up and bring down the building. I want that person’s corpse among the rubble.” Siin watched as the five remaining agents looked to one another, obviously concerned about the bystanders that could be in the building. Siin wasn’t going to allow her chance to quell this incident. The stranger was busy fighting an agent, and was unsuspecting. “Bring down that building!” Siin’s black slipper stamped against the ground as she barked her command.

The agents had no choice but to obey. They quickly lined themselves up, facing the building the stranger was fighting atop. With a simultaneous stomp the five caused thick slabs of earth to erupt from the ground. The five then stomped onto the ground again, launching their slabs into the air, and then finally delivering powerful kicks to send them flying towards the building at high speed.

Siin had been watching the stranger battle against the agent, but it was hard to see everything. A loud crash sounded throughout the air, and Siin couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched the slabs of earth rib through the building, essentially cutting it in half. The earthy building began to crumble beneath itself. “It appears he’s falling for me,” quipped the cruel politician with sadistic satisfaction. The stranger was caught, or so the sinister Siin thought.

[The Jackal || Ji Taro]

The Jackal felt the ground beneath his feet give way and heard a loud ear splitting crack come from beneath him. He peered over the ledge of the building he was on to see a dark ring of Dai Li agents surrounding it. All of them were in an Earth Bending stance and The Jackal felt his stomach hollow out and his blood run cold. "Today really isn't may day is it?" he inquired to the air. He felt the building he was on tilt to and fro under its on weight, it was just on the verge of collapsing and The Jackal had little time to work. "Just need to grab my handy dandy crossbow here..." he whispered as he loaded the weapon we another one of his special bolts. This one in particular had a spool of tempered steel wire in the head. Attaching one end of the thick braided wire to the finger guard on his weapon, The Jackal got down into a sprinter's stance.

The wire was diffidently not long enough to reach any of the other buildings on its own, and none of them were quite close enough to simply jump to, so the Jackal had an apt alternative (as he often did). He ran at full speed towards the end of the roof, in the direction of Siin Nene. The leap supplemented the length of the wire enough that the shot he took was able to embed itself with in the walls of the nearest building. The Jackal swung from the line like some deranged jungle man, with the wire giving as soon as the Jackal had made one arc past the bolt. He would've hit the ground hard, but went with the momentum and instead hit the ground rolling. It was still a fairly hard surface to hit without any padding, but the Jackal was undeterred. He landed in between where Siin was standing the building (now rubble) the Dai Li had surrounded, with the bulk of the Dai Li behind him now. He rolled for a good while, and then used that force to break into a full sprint towards Siin. He raised his crossbow and took a few inaccurate shots as he ran towards her. He figured now was a good a time as any, what with her personal bodyguards not in the way to take the hit.

[siin]

“You idiots,” Siin yelled in distress as she watched her agents surround the building without her order. She had intended the building to fall and they stand ready to attack if the man should survive the fall. Now she was vulnerable and the stranger was running at her after landing. She now stood facing a rushing vandal and his crossbow, which had let loose projectiles in her direction.

“Hmph,” the lady scoffed as she quickly lowered her arms, bringing them up quickly into the air and creating a small wall of earth. Her movements were a tad slow, allowing a bolt to fly past her earthen defense. The whole thing happened so fast, but Siin was fortunate enough that the bolt had been a few inches off from hitting her left arm. There was no time to think about close calls. Siin quickly pushed her hands the wall she had created and launched it forward. Hopefully that would hit the assailant, or at least slow him down.

“Agents, to me, now!” Siin’s command was heeded as the men turned to return. With how far they were there was at least a minute before they would reach her. Siin was a competent bender, but her dress extremely limited her leg movement. She couldn’t run, or take a stance. She would have to react quickly to whatever else the stranger had up his sleeve and hope that her minions would grab him while he was distracted. There was no way an insect like this would bring her down.

[The Jackal || Ji Taro]

The Jackal's sprinting speed was something impressive indeed. He hadn't the natural inclination for bending that his enemy did, but considering is lack of a social life the time he spent away from business was wholly devoted to perfecting those skills he did have a penchant for; those mental and physical. He saw the amazing figure of his enemy break down into a bending stance and couldn't help but to admire it a bit. Either his opponent had been counting on him to be distracted or was just really lucky, because all too late The Jackal realized a large wall of earth was flying towards him. The Jackal tried to dive out of the way but it was too big and and he wasn't quiet quick enough. His torso was out of the way, but his lower body was hit full force and he was thrown violently to the ground.

"I seem to be rolling a lot today." The Jackal said with a grimace as he came to a stop. His legs were sore and he was sure he was going to have a few nice sized bruises when he woke up tomorrow. His crossbow had tumbled just out of reach and he made a mad scramble to get to it. He was all out incendiary ammunition, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He grasped it with a falcon-like hold, and his talonous fingers greedily vied for a spot on the trigger. He got up in a kneeling position on one knee, which was painfully difficult after the blow he received from Siin Nene. He wasn't facing her however, and sent two shots that he had just loaded into his crossbow towards the mass of Dai Li who were returning to their diva-in-chief, and he fired another in Siin's general direction, and finally he praised the fact that he practiced holding his breath for unreasonable amounts of time. A purplish gas spewed from canisters on the tips of all the bolts he had fired, and The Jackal took a big gulp of air before the nasty mist reached his general vicinity. It probably wouldn't kill her in and of it's self, but it would force her to move out of the area and away from her agents; at least for awhile.