If at First You Don't Succeed... <Omashu, EK>

[manju]

Manju's mouth gaped at the leader's vaguely condescending remark, but she shrugged it off, thinking it best to let it go. She was well aware that her quietness and submissiveness would make the operation run much smoother. She tightened the gauze straps around her wrists, then ducked down to tighten those on her ankles in preperation. The Igni didn't want those leather flaps on her hands or feet to fly off during a battle that would probably ensue.

She started performing simple, low-impact stretches in preparation, but these soon graduated into doing such things as handstands and aerial flips to "prepare" herself for whatever she needed to do. In reality, Manju was getting a bit carried away and was doing things of this sort simply because she enjoyed it.

She ceased her gymnastics shortly before the rebel soldiers ordered that the four be led to the dungeons, and Manju followed obediently.

[mulaqi]

Muqali allowed himself to laugh at the male Sand Nomad’s comment about giving out hugs. Just the mention of the possibility from such a gruff looking man seemed somewhat amusing to Muqali. Still, even if the man wasn’t being exactly friendly, it was better than the cold silence he was getting from the female Sand Nomad. She could be holding a grudge but not voicing one, although she hadn’t said anything when he first met her, either. Probably just didn’t like him from the get go. Really, he couldn’t exactly blame her considering the circumstances.

The group was silent as they followed the two Earth Kingdom soldiers through the winding halls of the underground. It was kind of amazing, like there was a city within a city. Well, it wasn’t quite a city down here, but it was fun to think of it that way. After all, it lacked houses and people. Certainly had enough roads, though, as was apparent by the time it was taking them to reach the dungeons. After what felt like an eternity of walking, the soldiers finally stopped at a dead end.

“We’ll be entering the prison here when we receive the signal,” one said. “You have some time to rest for now, but try not to sleep. We’ll need to be moving quickly once we get going.”

Muqali nodded and leaned up against the nearest wall before sliding down it into a sitting position. While the rest was good, it left him terribly bored. Within moments, he was picking at his teeth with his fingernails subconsciously. A few moments after that, he was no longer able to contain his silence.

“So, this guy we’re supposed to rescue, what’s he like? Is he some kind of strategist or something?” he asked to no one in particular. “Or is he a big warrior guy? I mean, your boss said he’s supposed to help with the fight against the Fire Nation, right?”

[nasrin]

Nasrin leaned heavily against the wall of the tunnel as she had been doing ever since they arrived at the designated location. Her fellow sandbender was doing likewise across from her, and the two seemed to be equally unphased by this whole ordeal. As Muqali inquired about the prisoner to be rescued, though, one of the guiding soldiers provided an answer.

"The prisoner we're charged with rescuing is a wealthy land-wner and a man with many connections in high places," the man informed Muqali. "He has resources in several other regions of the Earth Kingdom that could be invaluable to supplying the Resistance."

"What's this rich boy's name?" the elder sandbender asked, chiming into the conversation.

"Jeonji," the soldier replied, and then after a moment's hesitation added "Jeonji Hwang Shi. I've never seen him myself, so we'll have to split up and find him quickly."

A few more minnutes passed, and then one of the soldiers began taking out a few canvas sacks from a larger one that he carried. He tossed them to Nasrin and the other sandbender and kept one for himself. Before either got out the first syllable to the question of what they were for, the soldier explained, "The holding cells are lined all around with solid steel. Start filling these up with as much earth as you can carry, or else we'll be banking on the luck of finding whoever has the keys."

Nasrin exhaled a deep breath as she forced herself up from the comfortable reclining position and began breaking down the stone of the tunnel floor into sand, and then guiding it into her bag with a bit of bending. The other members of the Resistance should be making their move soon enough.

[manju]

"Dis place is dank an' it smells..." Manju softly muttered to herself with a distinct bitterness, arms crossed. Where did she fit in with this plan? She can't break a lock using sand or earth, nor could she bend any sort of element. She'd probably get to beat up a few guards, but even that wasn't likely as far as she could tell.

Muqali slumped down on the ground, probably taking advantage of the short break they were granted, so she went up and plopped down beside him. "So, weird guy...we 'ave ta save some spoiled rich kid, huh?", she stated, not caring if Muqali heard. She just wanted to voice her grief. A fight could happen, but then again, it might not.

Manju heaved a sigh, then stepped a few feet away from where he sat and entered into a handstand. She moved herself a few steps on her long hands, then lifted her left arm up to her side, shifting her weight solely on her right hand. Such wasn't a problem for her. She was used to hand-walking. Boredom could really take its toll on Manju at times, especially at points in time when a fight looked entirely possible. Her torn outlook, however, was not kind to her one bit. All she had to do was wait, unfortunately enough.

[mulaqi]

It seemed that warring outside of the Si Wong was a little more complicated. Inside the Si Wong, you got money as you won battles by taking your enemy’s valuables. That was part of the reason you fought them. Here, it seemed that you used money as you fought battles, which while strange at first, made sense to Muqali. If your enemies didn’t have plunder (not a problem in the Si Wong) then you would indeed expend resources during battle and not gain them back. Therefore, you would need a way to pay for your resources, and in this case it happened to be some rich guy with three names that was being held in a place made entirely out of steel. That was interesting to Muqali, at least. The most steel he’d seen at once were on sand-sailors, but they were basically just a floor. To have it all around him…

"So, weird guy...we 'ave ta save some spoiled rich kid, huh?" he heard Manju say to him, cutting off his musing.

“Me weird? You’re the weird one. I don’t do cartwheels in the middle of the street and stick pieces of metal into my face,” he retorted with a grin, pointing his finger and wagging it at her. “And…well, we don’t know he’s spoiled. He could be nice.”

One of the soldiers snorted, “If he’s a Hwang Shi, he’ll be spoiled, I guarantee you that. Be prepared for a lot of complaining and ordering.”

The other soldier chuckled, and Muqali winced. They could be wrong, but they were from Omashu, so they would no better than he. Too bad, really, he’d hoped to get to know someone nice from Omashu who could satisfy his curiosity about the city. In the desert, he wasn’t normally this curious, but this was his first time seeing the world outside it. A free spirit like him would only naturally be curious about a world he hadn’t even experienced before. Sighing, Muqali again began to pick his teeth out of boredom, but no sooner had he started then the signal finally came. An Earth Kingdom symbol on the wall suddenly shifted and turned ninety degrees. Muqali was puzzled by it, but it’s nature was very simple, really. It was a long shaft of stone that extended towards the exit by where the distraction part would be leaving, and a simple bending maneuver would reach them over here.

“All right, let’s go. Remember, keep quiet, and try to be quiet. Take out the guards quickly if you have to,” said the earthbender before bending down a chunk of the wall in front of him to reveal a door.

The other soldier took out a key and unlocked the door before opening it and stepping through. The earthbender motioned for the others to follow the first soldier, and everyone complied, with the earthbender bringing the wall of earth back up as they entered and closing the door. The steel halls felt cramped to Muqali, and he walked cautiously with his tonfa out as they walked trough the halls.

“We’re nearing the section where our targets are being held,” whispered the soldier leading the group as they came to a halt. “The section we were in before was unguarded, but here we might encounter trouble. Stay alert.”

With that, the group continued onward into the caves of steel…

[nasrin]

Nasrin followed the other members of the mission as they filed through the opening in the tunnel that took them into the city's dungeons. She stayed near the rear of the group, though, alongside her fellow sandbender. It wasn't really out of fear of getting hurt, but she simply didn't feel a particular sense of motivation. That and her drinks throughout the day hard started to accumulate into an effect of slight intoxication. Her senses were a little dulled, and she wasn't really concentrating too much on the happenings around her.

As the group slowly stalked down the steel lined halls, the Resistance soldiers quietly opened the slats on the doors to peak into the cells, calling for their intended rescuee. "Jeonji?" one of the men would whisper, occasionally repeating himself a few times as his eyes scanned the dark room before moving on. Taking up the rear, Nasrin kept herself occupied by looking out for any guards approaching from behind. Meanwhile, her fellow sandbender went about going from cell to cell himself, calling out for the Si Wong merchants.

"Gao?" he called at the latest cell, "Gao you greedy bastard, where are you?" Nasrin Was walking backward, keeping her eyes peeled for danger, and at that point she accidentally bumped into her comrade. He started somewhat, and Nasrin side-stepped a bit to lean against the wall. Her eyes were a little glossy, but she didn't look too different from her usual placid expression. "You all right?" the elder man asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Fine," Nasrin managed to nod, scratching her nose a little as she reached for the jug on her hip. She uncorked it and started to pull down the bandages over her lips, but the other sandbender caught her hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Having some water," she replied, her voice barely showing a hint of a slur, though she'd obviously consumed quite a bit of alcohol. She started to raise the jug closer to her mouth and added, "To clear my head a bit." However, her comrade quickly yanked the jug away from her and tossed her a canteen.

"Wrong container," he told her, smirking slightly in amusement as he recorked the jug. Nasrin slowly shifted the canteen around until she was holding it right and then took a sip of the water. After a few moments of gulping down the liquid, she lowered the canteen and wiped her mouth. A frown crossed her features.

"My water tastes better," she said simply and tossed the canteen back to her companion while he returned her jug. She clipped the jug onto the rope around her hip and then resumed the mission by keeping up rear guard.

[manju]

Her steps were silent as she moved in the relative darkness, bare feet ambling softly and carefully on the cold floor. Manju moved herself in half-circles as she walked, stealthily perusing the surroundings to make sure of any detection from the enemy.

Amongst her comrades, Nasrin was walking backwards, Muqali had his weapons bared, and the other sand nomad was checking cells for the captured merchants. Light, yet halted breaths through her nose ensured no unnecessary noises would be made, no matter how soft it may have been. Having a good degree of knowledge of how to move stealthily, Manju made not a single sound as she walked, and a person would never know she were there if they had their backs turned.

Her slow half-circles of movement caught what sights Nasrin or any others in the group might have possibly missed. Eyes were everywhere, and an enemy's entrance could not possibly go unnoticed. Hopefully they would find Jeonji soon...

[mulaqi]

It had felt like forever since the group had entered the dungeon, but it had only been a few minutes. Even so, Muqali hoped they were close to Jeonji and the Sand Nomads. The narrow steel corridors were making him antsy, and he couldn’t help but worry that they were going to run into a group of guards any second. On top of that, this didn’t feel like a great rescue mission. They had passed up dozens of other prisoners so far, leaving them to rot in a cell because they weren’t who they were looking for. While he understood the practicality of not rescuing everyone who needed rescuing, he didn’t like the idea of it at all. It wasn’t very heroic at all. However, he was soon reminded of the practicality part of it. Just as the Earth Kingdom soldier in the lead was speaking into a cell, looking for Jeonji, a Fire Nation soldier turned the corner at the other end of the corridor. Reacting as quickly as he could, Muqali whipped the tonfa in his right hand at the soldier, striking him in the face just as he opened his mouth to call for help. The soldier dropped like a sack of hammers, and Muqali quickly scampered up to retrieve his tonfa. As he did so, he heard a whisper from a nearby cell.

“Hey, I recognize you! You were fighting those Fire Nation soldiers earlier, right?”

Turning, Muqali saw a pair of eyes looking at him from a nearby cell. Whoever it was in there had managed to pry the eye hole open with a spoon to get a look outside. Walking up to it, Muqali motioned the others over.

“Are you part of Gao’s caravan?” he asked in a hushed tone, receiving an affirmative in reply and then turning to the others. “Hey, I think we found ‘em.”

[nasrin]

"Step aside," the Resistance soldier ordered Muqali, moving to stand in front of the cell door. "Go make sure there are no other guards." Having checked the remaining cell doors on the opposite side of the hallway and coming up empty-handed, he figured that Jeonji must be in that cell or the next. The soldier pressed his face up to the bars and looked into the dingy room which was lit by a dull phosphorescent crystal on the back wall. "Is there a nobleman in there?" he asked the desert merchants, "He goes by the name of Jeonji of the Hwong Shi family."

"I think that's that guy," came the reply from one of the merchants, who pointed to the dishevelled Earth Kingdom aristocrat sitting against the wall. The solider took a quick glance and somehow managed to recognize the man's tattered robes as the remains of an outfit belonging to someone of high standing. "Open this door," he said, stepping aside and gesturing toward the two sandbenders in the rear of the group. "Quickly."

Nasrin sluggishly turned around and hefted up the bag of sand that she'd be dragging along the ground. She loosened the tie at its top and reached a hand over the opening, calling on the sand within with her bending. The sand streamed out of the bag as she let it drop to the ground and formed a floating clod of dirt in the air beneath her palm.

Beside her, the other sandbender had done likewise and he started toward the cell with the sand coating his fist like an earthen glove. "Look out," the male sandbender said, gesturing for the Resistance soldiers to move. The desert nomad stood before the door, staring at it for a moment to analyze its structure.

Two hinges lined one side while a heavy bar and padlock fastened it shut. "Okay," he hummed to himself, solidifying the sand on his hand into a piece of stone. He placed his other hand up, lined up his shot, and then bright the stone-covered fist down in a hard hammerstrike. The stone clanged loudly on the padlock, but the steel refused to yield. The sandbender tried again and again, and on the third time the lock broke. "There we go," he said satisfactorally, removing the shattered lock with his free hand.

The rebel soldier stepped in quickly to open the door and fight his way past the desert merchants to free their own priority prisoner. Nasrin stood back, holding the clod of sand a few inches over her palm and wondering if she even needed to come. She might just as easily have stayed in the tunnel and continued drinking...

The merchants streamed into the hallway, chattering in whispered comments while the other sandbender tried to hush them down. "Get your rich guy and let's get out of here," the male sandbender told the soldiers. "We'll start back for the tunnels." He waved for Nasrin to start heading back the way the came and she nodded her understanding. She started back down the steel hallway, dropping the sand back into the canvas bag, while the merchants followed in an anxious cluster. They seemed a little nervous, and Nasrin didn't feel the need to make them any more so by informing them that she'd completely forgotten where to turn.

[manju]

The desert merchants and the snooty rich boy were found at last. Manju was relieved, to say the least, that she would have to stay in this dank and smelly tunnel for only a little while longer. As she stood back, lurking in the shadows silently while the others did their work, the Igni girl of the Umi Hebi tribe grew tired of keeping watch. She was also becoming increasingly bored with having to do nothing but stand there for so long.

Suddenly, the call was made for Nasrin to lead most of the others out to freedom, to go back the way they came. Manju jetted farther ahead of Nasrin and the others in the metal tunnel as they all ran, her bare feet pitter-pattering on the clammy ground. Nasrin must have known where she was going, after all, and Manju wanted to be the first one to be out of the horrid place.

[mulaqi]

Muqali peered into the cell after it was opened. The merchants came out quickly, but one figure was left struggling to stand, the one that had been identified as Jeonji Hwang Shi. Muqali recognized the weakness from experiences in the desert. It was hunger. The man probably hadn’t had too much to eat during his stay, and was rendered fairly weak. The non-bending Earth Kingdom soldier seemed to notice this as well, and quickly moved into the cell and hoisted the man over his shoulder. Not too nice, but probably a wise move. They did need to move quickly after all. In fact, perhaps they needed to move even quicker then they were moving even now. Down the hallway and around the corner, faint clanking and voices could be heard. Following the soldier out of the cell, Muqali looked suspiciously towards the sound, only for an expression of caution to be quickly swapped for panic as a fireball tore down the narrow hallway towards the group. Grabbing the heavy steel door, Muqali swung it in front of the blast, holding it in place as it shuddered from the impact. Behind him, the Earth Kingdom earthbender was shielding the group from a fire blast with the earth he had brought.

“Run run run!” Muqali yelped, giving the soldier carrying Jeonji a shove in the back to get him going down the hallway Nasrin and the others had ran down. “This place is too narrow to fight those benders!”

Moving ahead of the soldier, Muqali’s eyes darted this way and that as he scanned the side halls they passed for threats. The soldier wouldn’t be able to fight while carrying Jeonji, so Muqali had to act as a lead blocker of sorts while they raced to rejoin the others. Aside from clothes-lining a firebender in the throat with a tonfa when the man had jumped out from around a corner, he fortunately had to do very little before they caught up. Once he and the Earth Kingdom soldiers got there, however, he found that the merchants were not moving fast enough.

“Manju, sandbender lady, sandbender non-lady! Get your people to move faster or we’re gonna be roasted!” Muqali yelled to the front of the line as he started to prod the merchants forward with his tonfa.

[nasrin]

Nasrin was strolling down the hallway at a fairly relaxed pace. The previously imprisoned merchants had clustered up behind her, eager to be free of the dungeon but otherwise clueless as to the way out, and couldn't proceed faster than their rescuer. "Hurry!" one of them pleaded quietly, trying to instill a sense of urgency in the apathetic sandbender.

The heavily wrapped women barely responded save for a somewhat annoyed grunting sound and kept on walking. She passed by a large steel door that seemed vaguely familiar, but when Nasrin looked at the next one and tried to think which one she'd come through, she couldn't make up her mind. She paused only briefly, giving the merchants a bumbling stop as they tripped over themselves, and then continued on in order to check the next door.

When the shouts from behind started echoing and the light of a flame lit the hallway, all bets seemed to be off. The merchants let out shouts of fear and started badgering Nasrin even more to lead them to safety. The din was quite aggrivating and she held up her hands over her ears for a moment. Her head was already buzzing and the noises were not doing much to help. "Idunno," she said in response to their pleas for directions, "Further that way?" Her last statement was almost more of a question than an order, and the merchants soon realized that she had lost her way.

Behind the group of white-robed merchants, the other sandbender was swiftly running to catch up and spotted the door they'd entered through. However, as he reached the exit and pulled it open, he noticed the crowd further down the hall and realized they'd missed the turn. "Hey!" he called, "Over here, this way!" He waved for emphasis, and the merchants quickly started flocking towards him. Nasrin was left trailing a few strides behind them, following in a sort of reluctant jog while rubbing an ear with one hand. The older sandbender stood aside as the merchants streamed into the cell and watched his comrade approach. "You picked a great time to get smashed," he said to her, somehow managing to find the slightest bit of amusement despite the rather dire situation.

If Nasrin even registered the comment, she didn't seem to show it. As she reached the door, he directed her through the entrance, though he staggered a bit as she went through and her shoulder clipped the frame. She spun around once and stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. As she stood there, still holding the bag of sand from earlier, the elder mercenary extending his palm and gave a tug, calling the earth to him with his bending. The bag flew out of Nasrin's grip and landed in his, casuing a momentary flicker of confusion for the dazed woman. "Get them into the tunnel," he said, "I'll give those other guys some cover."

She nodded after a moment, and then began pushing her way through the merchants to get to the rear wall where she opened up a path with her bending. Confident that she couldn't mess up that small task, even if she was drunk, the other sandbender stepped back out into the hallway just in time for the rest of the rescue team to arrive. The sound of clanking boots, not something you heard from most Earth Kingdom soldiers, gave him the hint that there was a Fire Nation presence behind them. Still holding Nasrin's stash of sand, as well as the hardened earth on his fist, he decided to help secure their escape.

"Watch your heads!" he called as he hefted the bag of sand in his hand, took a quick step and then hurled it over the incoming group. The sand flew over them, close to the cieling, and before it hit the ground, the sandbender extended his hand toward the bag and clenched his fist. The sand exploded outward, shredding the bag and forming a thick dust cloud that filled the hallway for a good 15 feet behind the group.

[manju]

The onslaught of running and excitement greatly lifted Manju's short-term outlook and raised her spirits. She had fallen back amongst the soldiers, following the epicene sandbender Nasrin, as she realized her jetting ahead would probably lead to her getting lost. A fight could very likely ensue, but most important of all, she would no longer be forced to stay in the disgusting underground tunnel or dungeon. Their mission was all but complete, if not for the unseen opposing soldiers from Manju's home nation trailing them from afar.

Manju kept quiet the entire time, being part of the crowd of entirely Earth Kingdom origin, the lithe Igni female being the only exception. Her near-silent, bare-footed steps were overshadowed by those of the rest, the tunnel being filled with the resonating running steps of desert-dwellers or Omashu citizens.

As she stayed obedient, not questioning Nasrin's direction no matter how incorrect it may have been this time around, the group was certain to find their way out. Or at least they would soon enough, as Manju hoped.

[mulaqi]

The sound of pursuing soldiers could be heard as Muqali and the others raced through the halls. With such a large group of people clearly not accustomed to athletic activity, it wasn’t going to be long before they were overtaken, and then it was all over. There was no way they could battle the entire prison’s guards all by themselves, especially not with these close quarters making it harder to avoid the firebender’s attacks. They needed a way to slow their pursuers down, and Muqali could see only one option. Coming to an abrupt halt, he turned on his heel and assumed a fighting stance.

“Keep going I’ll stall them!” he called back, preparing his tonfa.

Confidently, Muqali stood ready to confront the pursuing Fire Nation soldiers. After all, he only had to fight them off for a short time, so he could handle it…or so he thought until he saw the mob of Fire Nation soldiers come pounding around the corner, steaming towards him like a herd of rabbid moose-lions. There were a lot more than he had thought, and from the sound of it, a lot more were coming. Instantly, his confidence vanished, substituted for a yelp of panic as he started sprinting in the opposite direction.

“Never mind! Never mind!” he yelled as he raced to catch up with his cohorts, barely avoiding a fire blast as he rounded a corner.

“Watch your heads!” called the voice of the male sandbender as Muqali caught up with the Earth Kingdom soldiers.

The bag of sand landed just behind Muqali, and the explosion of sand that followed just afterward made Muqali stumble as he ran forward. Swinging his arms in a mad attempt to keep his balance as he both ran and fell simultaneously, Muqali made it several feet past the earthen entrance before finally succumbing to the forces of physics and falling to the ground. Getting up and dusting himself off, Muqali looked around to find everyone accounted for save the sandbender finishing up his bending. Letting out a sigh of relief and exasperation, the Sand Nomad leaned up against a nearby wall for support.

“Well, that could have gone better…” he said to no one in particular.

At least they all seemed to have made it out safe and sound…

[nasrin]

Nasrin's head was buzzing slightly, but through the slightly drunken haze she still managed to function well enough to do her charged task. Facing the back wall of the cell, she placed her palms flat to the stone and then spread her arms apart. The stone seperated vertically in front of her and retreated into the side walls, opening the way to a tunnel lit with green lanterns of phosphorescent crystal. Almost immediately, she was barrelled forward by the mob of Si Wong merchants behind her.

Manju made it through as well, and shortly thereafter came the few Resistance soldiers and Muqali. All that remained was the other sandbender. Nasrin managed to squeeze her way back toward the opening in the tunnel in order to see her comrade arrive.

He was still outside the cell in the hallway, though standing clearly visible through the doorway. He had broken the stone coating off his hand and was punching small chunks of the rocky projectile down the hallway and into the dust clod he'd created. Occasional yelps of pain and rings of metal told Nasrin that he was treating the encroaching firebenders to quite a hailstorm of rocks.

"Come on!" yelled one of the soldiers who was waiting near the tunnel and waiting to seal it off. The elder sandbender punched off two more decent sized rocks before the last of his earth was gone, and he seemed to be ready to comply. The mercenary called back something, as if to confirm that he was on his way, but as he reach for the cell door to pull it closed behind him, a burst of flame struck him from the opposite direction of the hallway.

Nasrin's eyes widened sharply, and for a moment, her buzz just seemed to disappear. As if the world seemed to appear in amazing detail for just that heartbeat, Nasrin watched as her longtime ally and traveling companion was lifted right off his feet by a jet of orange fire, his face contorted with pain. Her jaw dropped ever so slightly, but she made not a sound. And in the next instant, he was out of sight, thrown aside from view through the open door. Beside her, the Resistance soldiers cursed, though they made no move to help him. The two shared a look for just a moment before a nod was issued and the bender sealed the entrance to the tunnel.

Nasrin stared blankly at the stone wall which was suddenly blocking her view, and she tried to stammer out some sort of response. However, the soldiers were already on the move. Nasrin found herself being tugged away from the wall as more stone was brought down to block the entrance, and then ushered into a march back down the tunnel toward where they came. She plodded along, somehow managing to keep up with the group despite the fact that her mind was miles away.

The alcohol did much to muddle her thoughts, and her natural apathy toward everything was always a factor, but the reality of the situation was that she'd just lost her only true companion in this entire region of the Earth kingdom. Somewhere inside, through all of the haze, that struck a chord.