Wake Up <Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom>

[ikeru]

Assuming the sudden entrance of another bender was not an over-zealous Dai Li agent (the majority of which had taken to trying to crack Ikeru's rock walls, which she was forced to turn around every few moments and restore its earthy goodness), she didn't even spare the intruder-slash-helper a second (or first) glance but instead barked out an order. "I can't keep up this barrier and take down the wall--you keep those crazy fools away while I try and get us the hell outta here!" For the second time, she abandoned her efforts on the wall to concentrate on carving a hole in the ground around her's, the boy's, and the Mysterious Avenger's feet, to hopefully sink the trio underground and Earthbend a tunnel under the wall and out of the damned city.

Bao Li's coughing, while not intentional, was really getting on Ikeru's nerves. "Shut the BAD! up, kid," she hissed, sweat rolling down her face as the mixed threats of the stifling heat and swirling puffs of dust and dirt in the rock tomb threatened her work. There was no way in hell she was going to let a little heat and airborne dirt stop her from escaping, but the Dai Li sure weren't helping.

One or two brave guards, Ikeru wasn't sure how many, had sent a surging rock line under the walls to twist around Ikki's bare feet and pin her to the spot, but a well-placed attack from a hunk of the wall freed her from her binds. Her only aspects of comfort was the reassurance, which she played on repeat in her head, of the Dai Li not having jurisdiction outside the city walls. Of course, they probably did (they were the freaking Dai Li and this was the freaking capital city), but, well...BAD! them! Suspend your belief and all that, right?

[jochi]

Oh, how that voice...no, wait, voices. there were two, one screeching orders like a howling lunatic and the other intent on hacking up a few internal organs. So there were two voices, but what made things so horrible in that situation was that Jochi recognized both of them. Seriously, in such a big city, what were the chances of running into that whiny little imp and the cranky witch who kept trying to kill him? Really, though, neither were as bad as the Dai Li, who not only tried to kill each of the trio, but were likely to succeed. Their abilities were impressive and deadly, even though Jochi would probably be a rotting corpse before he admitted as much.

"BAD! you!" Jochi seemed to shout profanities for no reason, since he was quick to reinforce the wall and keep it standing with all his might. Oh, if only they were in the desert, surrounded by miles of sand, then he could tear each of them apart like pieces of paper. Such a claim could be exaggerated, but that didn't stop Jochi from thinking it over and over. When a volley of rocks buckled the walls, Jochi strained to keep their barrier standing. He had the feeling the bastards would near them in no time, in which case they were done for. Jochi didn't hesitate to voice his feelings on the matter. "Hurry the BAD! up, bitch!"

[baoli]

The swearing confirmed Bao Li's original thoughts of who, exactly, he was dealing with - and as per usual, Jochi was an angry little bastard. Why, in the name of the Earth King, did he have to be so luckless as to fall in with these two, anyway? Silently cursing himself, he tried to stifle his coughing as the assault from the Dai Li slammed into the barriers Jochi was now holding up as Ikeru dug. He listened to the defenses rattle - they weren't going to hold, not for her to dig entirely under.

He had another idea. He managed to stop coughing long enough to spit it out, his voice somewhat hoarse. "Rope. Do we got rope? 'cause I don't think this is gonna work, and I got another idea," he explained. Hopefully one of them had enough rope for this...it was a longshot, but way better than standing here and waiting for someone to get into position above them and drop the wall on them.

[ikeru]

Ikeru nearly stopped what she was doing all together when the rough, gravelly, grating, infuriating, aggravating, maddening, annoying, bitch-like voice of Jochi pierced her eardrums and sent nauseating waves of hatred through her body. Turning smartly on the balls of her feet, she cocked back her fist to deliver one hell of a punch...and let it drop to her side. Fighting in the home-made "pit" wouldn't do them much good. Any moment now, she expected the quickly-falling walls she had constructed to crack and tumble away into nothing, and standing there in the debris, their arms neatly folded behind their backs, would be the Dai Li, and this time they wouldn't get a second chance to behave. This time they would be exterminated.

Grinding her teeth in suppressed fury, she silently resigned to kick the man's skull in the very moment they were outside the city and set herself back to work. It may have looked easy carving out a space big enough for all three to slide under the wall and get out safely, but the ground was thick, and the murderous Dai Li, evidentially thinking ahead, were doing a hell of a job interfering with her hard work: every time the hole she was digging into the base of the wall with her Earthbending looked halfway finished, one or two agents would simply seal it back up, or knock huge chunks off the wall into the whole, or encase her feet in tight-tight-tight stone, and she would be forced to start all over again.

"Rope. Do we got rope? 'cause I don't think this is gonna work, and I got another idea," the boy said over the crashing rocks.

Swallowing hard and fixing her sharp emerald gaze on him, she shrugged her bag off her shoulders and set back to work on reopening their only chance of escape, all the while refusing to look away from Bao Li. "In there. It ain't much, but whatever the hell you're gonna do, you better do it right now since I don't know who's gonna be done first: me or them." With that, she swept her feet over the ground, feet out, and kicked an impressive dent at the base. Cracks and fissures shot up the wall, and with a tiny little smirk, she did it again and again and again until, finally, it seemed she was making some headway. Baring the intervention of the Dai Li, it seemed likely they would be under ground and out of the city in a solid minute and a half, with or without Bao Li's help and silly little "ideas".

[jochi]

Despite the fray of flying pebbles and choking dust clouds pelting his face without relent, Jochi couldn't help but wonder if the Dai Li even knew he was there. Sure they saw him dive out of nowhere, but it was the mere blink of an eye before he launched his attack that quickly obscured their view. They could easily assume it was the woman alone holding up the wall as she tried to burrow under the wall. It was a tough call to make.

Would they really assume Jochi was in cahoots with that skinny woman after they tried to kill each other twice in the marketplace? Come to think of it, wouldn't they also think the sandbender put aside his differences and was working for the common goal with the two Ba Sing Sei citizens? Again, hard to tell. Jochi just wanted them gone, whether or not he was responsible for it, and to be out of the city himself. Why did he even bother to go inside those hellish walls?

Drenched with sweat from keeping the wall intact, his hands kept the barrier from buckling with each pummel of stones and earth. He let out a cry of anger, like an enraged lunatic, but only to briefly swing back his hands and bring them upward to summon another layer of earth for reinforcement. Thickness was added to the wall, but time was running short. Those Dai Li wouldn't give up, but whoever said Jochi would either?

[baoli]

Sighing as he dug the rope out of Ikeru's bag, Bao Li tried not to show any fear - he was determined to be considered useful enough by the two benders that they wouldn't simply throw him off the wall if his plan worked. He uncoiled the rope a bit, and looked up at the wall through the cloud.

It was going to be close, if anything.

"Here's the idea then - you guys can fling rocks. I'm small and agile. What if you fling me, on a rock, to the top of the wall? I slip over, tie the rope and let it down. It'd go way faster than this bending under or through the wall is - the Dai Li won't see it coming either, they're all concentrated on shutting the wall up again," he explained. Re-coiling the rope, he looped it over his thin torso and under one arm. "Can you do it?" He looked at Ikeru, waiting for a response.

There was, of course, the chance they wouldn't do it anyway, even if they could - after all, why wouldn't he just run when he made the top of the wall?

[ikeru]

Without so much as a second thought (there wasn't enough time for those now-a-days), Ikeru wrapped a bony, bloodied hand around Bao Li's middle, making damn sure to grab extra-extra-tight, and punched a massive hole with the other hand through the makeshift rock ceiling. Using the precious moment or two they had to use the gap, she flung the tiny little boy as hard as she could through the hole and, surprisingly, quite a few feet into the air, the loose rope trailing behind. Once it looked like he peaked and was going to fall to his death, she jerked her fist into the air, stuck her fingers straight out, and jabbed them upwards once more. A medium-sized hunk of rock broke free from the wall, slamming into Bao's small form and carrying him upwards.

Low and under her breath, she muttered while turning all of her attention to fighting off the increasing advancements of the Dai Li, "This had better work or I will BAD!ing kill you."

[jochi]

Jochi was certain this stupid plan, stupid as it was, would be as stupid as he expected. Maybe even more stupid. He had little time to think holding up that wall, of course, but the sheer stupidity of that plan wouldn't hold water any better than a rusty bucket full of holes. Seeing that accursed kid vault into the air, Jochi felt compelled to swear under his breath. His lack of faith was inspiring.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Jochi yelped at the skinny woman, enraged at her decision. As much as he would have liked to dish out more flattering statements, he had to acknowledge that the deed was done and couldn't be changed. He did, however, swear a few more times. There were simply too many incoming rocks and ruptures trying to break down their mini-fortress for him to stay in determined silence any longer. "Damned kids...asshole guards..."

[baoli]

The slamming of the wall-slice into his backside nearly jolted Bao Li's spine out his mouth, but he managed to get himself together. repositioning into a crouch, he kept an eye down below and dodged as the Dai Li threw rocks at him - at one point dropping back down to his belly to avoid losing his ribcage. Finally, he was within distance. With a violent leap, he propelled himself to the top of Ba Sing Se's outer wall and secured the rope as hard as he could.

He scrounged for a second, trying to dig up more rope up here, dodging and ducking the rocks from below. He didn't think on it immediately, but it was a bit odd - there were no guards on this part of the wall at all. He managed to find another large coil of heavy rope and hitched the two pieces together, tugging as hard as he could on them before lobbing the whole mass over the side.

He just hoped it was enough to hit bottom and the two benders could defend themselves and that rope on the way up.

[ikeru]

Once she was sure the boy had made it to the top, Ikeru dropped her blind offense against the city guards and sprung into action. ...well, more action. She sprung into...it... ...she did more stuff. Spinning her upper body around, she slammed her fists into the wall, watching as great cracks sprang up the surface, and then stomped her heel into the earth; at the same time, she tore her fists out of the dents formed in the wall and thrust them down. A low, ominous rumbling issued from the ground, and before anything could be done, both Jochi and Ikeru were sent shooting up the wall riding an enormous slab of rock. She was silent the entire time, concentrating on the tiny (yet quickly growing) form of Bao Li on the wall's edge.

They made it to the halfway point easily enough, and once she was close enough Ikeru reached out and knocked the young boy onto their getaway...rock. She would, of course, leave all of the defense and attacking to Jochi, being more preoccupied with just getting them the hell away from Ba Sing Se. They crossed over the top and started their journey down.

A minute later, the trio landed rather roughly on the safe, hopefully Dai Li free ground outside the city...but Ikeru knew it wasn't quite over yet. She broke into an all-out sprint, arms pumping and knees practically punching holes through her chest, as she tore ass away from the wall. Considering herself a safe enough distance away, she suddenly stopped in her tracks and swung the ball of her foot into the ground, splitting the earth open and making a crater. She jumped in, waited a few moments for any stragglers (read: Jochi and Bao Li) to follow, and quickly sealed the top. There she would wait, breathing hard and blind in the darkness. Would they make it out alive? Was this the end? She surely BAD!ing hoped so.

[jochi]

Jochi was so focused, so intent on keeping that wall intact that he failed to take heed of the rumbling ground before it was too late. Jolting skyward on an airborne rock, his strong grip on the wall, when interrupted, caused him to stumble forward. The highest his anger would escalate was a red face and frustrated kick to the ground, sans bending, since even Jochi himself would know better than to destroy his only ticket out of that place.

When those Dai Li faded to tiny dots before his eyes, Jochi couldn't help but feel a well-founded sense of superiority. Not only was he taller than someone for once, but as far as he and the woman were concerned, they were untouchable. Screw them for being such bastards!

After a flurry of rushed earthbending, hushed cursing, and spurting adrenaline, Jochi ultimately wound up wedged against the woman and preteen once again. Though his tiny lungs yearned to breathe fresh air deeply, a quick bout of heavy breathing drew him to merely inhale and exhale through his nostrils, quiet as can be. He knew he had to be cautious, even though what could best be identified as that woman's elbow was digging into his abs rather annoyingly. It made him groan and growl a bit, but in the end, all he could do was tolerate it...or move her arm out of the way forcefully. Incidentally, it wound up being the latter.

[baoli]

Bao Li felt intensely useless but relieved - the ropes had gone completely unused, Ikeru shooting the three of them clean over the top of the wall. But they'd cleared the inner wall, at least, and were on their way. Well, if being buried in a hole could be counted as on their way, at least. He tried to stay out of the way as best he could, figuring maybe he could get out on his own once they left the underground bubble. He breathed as little as possible, in case they would have to stay there for some time. He knew they needed to make the outer wall and leave for good as soon as they could, but at least now there were fewer people throwing rocks at them.

In a way, though, he didn't want to leave the company of the two badmouthed, angry benders - they were safe as far as he was concerned, and as much as they hated him, at least he knew what to expect from their hate. The rest of the world was a much bigger and more frightening thing. With these two, he was aware that he'd be hit. With other people, he thought it might be worse.

He crouched in the dark and waited.

[ikeru]

Minutes seemed like hours seemed like days and before anyone could protest, Ikeru dug her fingers into the 'roof' of their hiding hole and slid it open, peeking first the top of her head out, then her neck, then her whole body, as she surveyed the rough, rocky remains of their impromptu, half-assed "carriage" out of the city: it lay in dusty ruins just a few yards away, almost ominous, casting long, thin shadows over the flat plains. When it looked like no one else was going to show up, she pulled herself out of the hole and breathed an incredible sigh of relief. The wall of Ba Sing Se loomed over her like a nasty reminder of the city that they had just fought so viciously to get out of; the notion of even stepping a single foot back inside its guarded walls sent a cool shiver up her spine.

She wiped the back of her dirt-swaddled arm across her sweaty and equally dirty forehead, leaving behind a smear of grime that stood out in stark contrast on her pale, fear-stricken face. She placed her hands on her hips and turned to face her companions, grinning smugly.

"Well, looks like I just saved your asses," she boasted. "The least you could do is buy me a drink. I'll take a..." Her taunting trailed off as her gaze flitted away from Jochi and Bao Li to right behind them, where the city's second wall, which encompassed the Agrarian zone, lurked in the distance and blotted out the warm sunlight. Her cocky grin faltered and her shoulders slumped. How the hell could she forget about the second wall? "BAD!," she muttered.

Ikeru huffed noisily, obviously displeased with this new predicament. Clearly they couldn't just walk to the wall, since they would be totally exposed to any brave Dai Li agents who managed to scale the wall. Waiting around and thinking up a plan was out of the question, too, since...well, since Ikeru wanted to get the hell out of Ba Sing Se already. That meant only one option left.

"Back in the hole," she said, shooing them back down should any one have wandered out, "we ain't out yet." Once the two were safe and out of harm's way, she sealed the top again and turned in the assumed direction of the second wall. "We're going under the wall." She positioned her feet to curve just slightly away from her body, opened her legs, and stooped low. Swinging her arm up from her side, she cut a large-ish hole in the earthy wall in front of her. "You, Failed Midget Clown," she demanded, addressing Jochi, "help me with this. You, Annoying Little Boy...just don't BAD! up anything." With that, she began a series of kicks and punches, carving a wide-enough tunnel for the three to travel through easily. Jochi's help wasn't exactly needed, but it was a bit of a long trip, and the faster they got out of there, the better.

[jochi]

To be honest, Jochi had been wondering how the woman would react to that outer wall all that time. He assumed she had it all planned out, escaping from one wall to the other without a hitch, but her words and reactions spoke otherwise. Feeling a bit of disappointment, he gritted his teeth a bit. Jaw clinching, a few arteries stood out on his temples. It was obvious his patience was wearing as thin as the woman herself. He should have known better than to trust her, if even for a fraction of a second.

Alas, when she branded him with a nickname he found less than flattering, that was something of a straw that broke the camelphant's back. General stupidity and carelessness would get her so far, but that new alias was just plain rude. Without question, he felt like stomping her into the dust. And, in usual Jochi fashion, he lost it completely right as the woman plopped into the hole.

Stomping the ground, letting out a furious cry, the earth around him crumbled and shook, taking him down to the lady's level and perhaps dragging the boy with him if he stood near enough. Now with two seperate craters outside the wall, Jochi kicked the flimsy layer of dirt between them and sent chunks of soil flying at the woman. Only with Jochi would this escape turn into a fight. "BAD! off! I'm gettin' outta here myself!"

[baoli]

Bao Li wasn't really that surprised when the escape turned into another fight. Everything with these two turned into, at the very least, a verbal sparring match. He was honestly kind of shocked the two had gotten this far out of the city proper without killing each other - or him. But when Jochi split off and formed a second crater, he didn't do a damn thing about it. Rather surprisingly, as well, given he'd been playing peacekeeper as best a twelve year old nonbender could between Ikeru and Jochi.

He stood stock still and let Jochi go, ducking as he flung a shower of soil back Ikeru's way. He actually grinned at that outburst. Or rather, at the plan Jochi didn't even know he'd come up with.

Sure, the Dai Li were looking for ONE set of benders...but two sets? That gave all of them a better chance of getting out of the city entirely in all the confusion. Splitting up was the best course of action. And since Bao Li was being given a choice of surrogate parentage, he decided to stick with the only one who'd shown any kind of concern for him so far and follow Ikeru.

He did as she had asked and stayed out of her way as best he could. They were going to make it.