Chapter 1

Northern Star
The Badger Series #1

Every man needs a woman when his life is a mess;
Because just like in a game of chess;
the QUEEN protects the KING

I never wanted for much growing up. My parents were both well respected, and made a good deal of money working for the government. Nothing ever terribly bad happened throughout my life, save for my uncle Iroh and cousin Lu Ten dying mysteriously in a fire about ten years prior. My father had good bodyguards, as did the rest of us, and nothing ever happened to our immediate family. Well, no, there was that one time a burglar got in with a gun, but Surya managed to down the robber pretty quick.

My sister changed as we got older. She used to be carefree and content, but something... snapped, I guess. She became violent, cruel, even. My mother said there was already something evil in her from the day she was born, and unfortunately, for some reason, Azula chose to feed it instead of starve it. When I turned eighteen, her sixteen, she fell in with the wrong crowd, or so our parents say, and became one of the most vicious criminals our nation had ever seen. Supposedly, she was routed by law enforcement, and ran to the Earth Kingdom.

I guess that's why my parents followed. Not long after Azula left the Fire Nation, our parents did too, settling down in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. I suppose that's how this happened. Maybe Azula knew they'd followed her, as much as I suspected, maybe she got scared they were going to turn her in to authorities. My parents just wanted to talk.

"I'm terribly sorry," the man I'd never seen before was saying. "But, your honourable parents have been found burned to a crisp and shot in the street. Authorities are on the case. Their remains will be returned to you -" Blah blah blah...

I stopped hearing him about after 'burned to a crisp.' Only my sister would do that, and I knew it. After that, it was all funeral arrangements and which flowers to decorate the funeral home with, and whether they were to be buried as is or cremated properly, and who to invite. I'm not entirely sorry to admit that I had very little interest in it after that. My sister had just killed our parents, there wasn't much else on my mind.

I didn't cry. I knew they wouldn't really want me to, and crying over it wouldn't necessarily solve anything, either. But it didn't really help the heavy weight that eventually settled itself, right in the middle of my chest, it felt like, and refused to go away. I knew what it was. I wasn't really a stranger to sadness, despite being somewhat sheltered for most of my life.

My career was just taking off. I'd graduated from a prestigious college, and was starting my career in criminal justice. My mother wanted me to be a doctor, but I thought a lawyer sounded more interesting. Well, for now at least. I had the ability to dabble in various things, and I fully intended to, until I found something I was actually interested in.

But now my parents were gone, the guiding lights I had to find my way through the tunnels of uncertainty, and I wasn't entirely sure how to handle that. It may not have been so bad, if I had actual friends, but, it's a little hard to make true friends when you were the sole heir to a fortune. Azula's criminal activity led to our parents taking her off the will - all of their money and assets were going to go to me. It was strange then, in a way, remembering that. I suppose there was her motive. They'd slighted her what she considered her birthright as a Vanston by taking her off the will.

And now they were dead. And I couldn't solidly prove it was her.

I still didn't cry. Even as the day drew closer, the day my parents would be set in their slots in the wall and gone forever. Surya tried to cheer me up a little, and kept poking in with a latte or hot chocolate. He was close friends with my mother. I think he loved her, still did even when she was gone, in his way, and felt like he had a personal duty to look after me when she and my father were gone. He certainly took his position as my father's bodyguard quite seriously. It was always strange to me, how his love for my mother was very apparent, and yet he gave his everything to protecting my father, the man that had her love.

Or, maybe there were things that went on behind closed doors I never heard about. But those are things I think I still didn't want to know about, so I wouldn't ask.

Surya found me eventually, hours before the funeral rites, staring at the open slots on the stone wall in the mausoleum. Soon enough, those holes would be filled with their ashes, plaques with their names plated on covering the gaping wounds in the stone, where another person's heart was buried. Maybe two peoples' hearts - Surya's was probably, at least in part, going with the part of mine.

Here lies Ozai and Ursa Vanston, the plaques would read. One more sad story to add to the library. Okay, no, it was a little poem my mother had written years before going on the plaques. But my rendition sounded more accurate.

"You okay?" Surya asked, quiet in the hallowed place. I was quiet for a long time. Eventually, I think I snorted and shook my head.

"No," I said. "My parents are dead, my sister's gone, my uncle's gone, I have no friends, I have no life, come to think, and now I'm a millionaire. What point is all the money in the world, if there's nothing to do with it?"

Surya hummed, partially in understanding, it seemed, and partially in amusement. "Your mother asked the same questions once."

"Did she?" I hadn't heard anything about it.

"You know Ozai isn't a Vanston by blood," Surya explained. "The inheritance came from your mother. She, of course, has been a millionaire since birth, and had no siblings, so eventually inherited the fortune when her parents passed away before her. She asked me once, what's the point in having all this money, if I have nothing else?" Surya paused, seemingly a little sad. "Well, a few years later, she married Ozai, had you and Azula. So, maybe you just need to find something worth using the money for."

"I'd rather put it away," I replied. I didn't have any use for it anyway. I had everything I wanted, grades good enough to get right into school with no trouble, no friends. I had a car, but I didn't bother driving it.

Surya smiled. "Maybe you should," he agreed. "Put it away in a bank somewhere, and go out there, and find something that makes you happy, and give it everything you've got. Sometimes, the fortune's worth it, if you've earned it."

"Hardly anyone makes a fortune toughing it out." And it was true, what I said. Very few had ever gotten rich that way. The Vanstons only were because a great grandfather had invented motor vehicles. What a fantastic invention that was.

"Maybe not," Surya answered. "But you know, making a fortune doesn't always mean being filthy rich."

Now I was just confused. I thought sometimes, it was kind of a good thing Surya wasn't my father, because he'd have confused me stupid. My father was a straight-forward kind of guy, but Surya sometimes said things that made the little gears in my head take a spin down what the fuck lane. Sometimes, it was a good thing, but more often than not, it was just frustrating.

"Try it," Surya suggested. "Just put all the money in a bank, or buy bonds and stuff them in a safe somewhere, so you're not even tempted to take it all back out. Leave a little bit in the bank, so if you really need it, you've got it. And then just go out there and be somebody. Try a few jobs on for size, check out the nightlife, meet some people. Live a little. Cause sometimes, you have to figure out who you aren't, to learn who you are." Surya turned then, with a wry smile on his face, and shuffled up the mausoleum stairs.

My gaze went back to the holes in the wall. And despite my still seeing them as gaping wounds in the stone, the idea of them didn't hurt so much. Surya also once told me, that people lived forever, not by never dying, but by the things they passed down through generations. Our race learned by teaching one another. And if there was anything that my parents had taught me, it was that there were many different ways of life, none of them better or worse than any others, and that a life alone wasn't a life at all.

Eventually, I followed Surya up the stairs. In a few hours, I'd have to see my parents in the wall. And maybe accepting it would make it stop hurting as much.

Strangely, it didn't rain. It felt like it should have, to match the mood of the situation, but it didn't. In stark contrast to the entire ordeal, the sky was clear, it was a fairly lovely day, the wind was blowing, but it wasn't that terrible. And I was still upset, but somehow the weather made it a little easier to take my place near my parents' urns, porcelain and gold and side by side, surrounded by flowers of all kinds, shaking hands with everyone that came up to offer words of support. Most of them, it felt like, really didn't give a damn that my parents were gone, they just wanted me to marry their daughters or something.

Either that, or I was feeling particularly bitter. To be fair, I probably was.

The minister gave a short speech, talking about my parents' many accomplishments in life, and how my mother was a very generous, compassionate woman, and they'd both be so sorely missed. I didn't hear a word of it, to be completely honest. I was a little zoned out, listening to my mother sing in my head. That song she used to hum when Azula and I couldn't get to sleep. It'd been beautiful then - it was even more so now that she was gone.

Surya was still there, lingering nearby. He'd gone to say his last farewells to my parents, probably mostly my mother, and then came to stand near me and never went away. Somehow, I found his presence a bit comforting, and I think Surya had figured I might. He was observant, sometimes scarily so, and it really wasn't difficult to pick out his sons - they were a lot like him. He had three, from what I remembered. Agneya, a Waterbender, Jiva, an Airbender, and Suyis, a Firebender like him. Funny how they'd almost gotten one of each of the elements.

The procession began soon enough. I was after the pallbearers, carrying my parents' urns to their final resting place, across the cemetery yard to the mausoleum. I didn't notice anything had gone wrong until Surya randomly threw himself over me. And then I heard the gunfire.

"Zuzu!" a feminine voice called over the screaming. The guests and cemetery staff scattered. "Oh Zuzu! How could you have their funeral, and not invite your adorable little sister? How rude!" Azula. Of course it was Azula. She couldn't wait for a better time to go on her little gunfire spree.

"We have to go now," Surya whispered. "She hasn't found you yet."

"But, the funeral's not -"

"All due respect, Mr. Vanston, your parents are already gone. Now let's go, before your funeral's next," Surya urged. With one swift, practised movement, he had me up on my feet and moving, before I realised I was no longer in the grass. Gunshots sounded several more times. I think Azula and her irritating friends, Mai Fulmar and Ty Lee Linahan, were just shooting at anyone within range. The good thing about guns I guess, is the farther from your target you were, the higher your chances got of missing said target. Several times, I heard Ty Lee apologise for shooting someone.

"Sorry!" she'd call, letting her assault rifle hang off one arm. "I didn't mean to hit that! I was aiming for something else!" Ty Lee was a terrible shot - but she was unfortunately the kind of terrible shot that would aim for your leg, and hit your chest. The funny, or not so funny, thing about her aim was, it made her the sort of killer that really didn't intend to kill anyone, and yet killed dozens out of sheer dumb... luck? I'm not sure that's even luck. Luck on someone's end, but I'm not sure whose.

Mai, it'd seem, actually found us as Surya and I scurried across the cemetery yard. Sniper shots zipped past us, kicking up earth and grass all around. Surya wouldn't let me stop or slow down, practically dragging me when I started to do either, heading doggedly toward a car.

Without any more words being spoken, he popped open the passenger door, shoved me in, closed said door, ran around the other side and jumped into the driver's seat through the window. "Hang onto something," he warned, starting the ignition and immediately slamming the engine into reverse. The tires screamed something fierce, and the car shot backwards, leaving a trail of smoke. Another skilled jerking of the shift stick, and the car lurched forward at full speed.

Me? Well, I'm pretty sure my stomach got lost somewhere in the backseat along the way. Mai's sniper bullets clinked into the bumper, one even hit the windshield and got wedged into the glass, another slamming through the glass and crashing into a cup in the centre console, causing the glass to explode. But Surya didn't stop for anything, driving right on down the street.

I swear I heard Azula screaming her frustration as we made our get away, and eventually disappeared behind a tower of glass and steel. Actually, I might really have heard her screaming.

"Well, so much for a peaceful funeral, kid," Surya murmured. "I'm sorry it ended that way."

I shrugged. "Hey, I'm still alive," I answered.

"For now." Surya paused. "You know there's a pretty high chance your sister killed your parents."

"I know." And I did. I'd surmised as much. My criminal justice training even found a solid motive.

Surya didn't say anything for a bit, guiding the car through the streets. "I don't think the estate's a safe place for you right now."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Your sister's now trying to kill you, do so wonder why." His tone suggested otherwise. "And unfortunately, your sister's got guns and lackies. What do you got?"

"Uhh..." Lots of money?

"Yeah. I'll put you up some place, don't worry."

Some part of me worried anyway.

"All right," Surya started, leading me into the relatively middle-class apartment. "So, you've got lights, you've got a nice sized kitchen, bed, bathroom's that door right there. Nothing too fancy, but it'll get you by at least." Surya went to check the fridge, while I peeked around. It wasn't what I was used to, no, but my parents had taught me some of the most basic life skills, like cooking and cleaning, and it really wasn't that bad.

"How'd you get it?" I asked, curious. The light fixtures were actually kind of pretty.

"I got a friend that works in this apartment complex," he explained. "Eh, well that's disappointing. Anyway, he set you up with one of their better places. Here's your key," he mentioned, handing me a little gold key. "I'll have your car painted and moved. You know, let's just not make it obvious where you went, but a car might be a good idea if you want a job. I got the rent paid for the next few months."

"How'd you manage that?" Was he really wealthy enough to handle another apartment bill?

"Friend managed to negotiate the price down a bit, something less holy hell you're joking. I had money for it set aside."

I frowned. I didn't want to get him involved in this insanity. It was all my sister's doing anyway, and it was all my problem and not his. He'd been released from his work contract, as far as I knew. So what was the deal? "Look," I started, "I appreciate all this, but you really don't have to go through all this trouble."

"I know I don't. But I made your mother a promise."

"My mother?"

Surya snorted in amusement. "You can't tell me you never noticed."

I quirked an eyebrow up.

"Before your parents got together and married, we were a thing. Now, some people think I should've hated Ozai, for taking the woman of my dreams away, or whatever, but that was her choice and we broke on good terms. I still loved the hell out of her, still do. She and Ozai thought something like this might happen, so she came to me, gave me a good sum of money, and asked me to use it to help you, if ever it did happen. She asked me to take care of you, if she and Ozai weren't here any more one day. So, welcome to the Connolly family, I guess."

I frowned again. "My parents really didn't think I could handle it?"

"Well, can you handle it, when your sister starts shooting at you?" Surya shrugged. "I'm insurance, more like. Just here if you need a nudge in the right direction."

I still wasn't sure how I felt about all this. My parents had died, I had over six million in gold I didn't know what to do with, my sister interrupted our parents' funeral (seriously, I know she didn't like them, but come on), and now she was out to kill me, and hell if I could do anything about it. Now I was stuck living off the kindness of someone else, that wasn't even involved in all this at all, because my parents figured it'd be a good idea.

"Hey," Surya interrupted my thoughts. "A lot has happened." No shit. "Just take a bit of time to yourself, figure out what you want to do now, and go from there."

"I don't know what I want to do now," I answered, my tone sour.

"I know you don't. Like I said, take some time. You've got the leisure for it."

"Do I?"

"Hey, Azula won't get you out here. Might want to go grocery shopping by the way, you've got some food, I had my friend stock the fridge, but it's not much."

I shrugged. It didn't really matter.

"And don't go getting all mopey. I'll let you mope for a week or so, but you keep moping after that, and I'm gonna come in here and clobber you."

I snorted. Surya would, too. He was the kind of guy I could make myself like, if I really wanted to. The guy that could've been my dad, but wasn't. My father and I never really had a good relationship anyway. Maybe Surya already was my dad, in a way. Well, he was already a better one than my real father had been. Nothing against the guy, but antagonism didn't really tend to forge strong bonds with one's children.

It wasn't like I had much else to do. Most of my work at the law firm, for the time being, consisted of endless streams of paperwork. It was all just filing. I could do it at home, mail it to them or something, and call it good. Hell, I could quit. It wasn't like I needed the job. Nor did I really find it all that interesting - and let's be honest, I had such a hot temper, and tended to dive in head first so much, I'd probably put more people in jail than I kept out of it.

"I'll be around," Surya mentioned. "I live a few blocks over, so we'll be in touch."

I nodded. "Okay." I didn't mind being alone. Or so I thought.

"You need anything, just want to talk, grab a coffee somewhere, let me know. Just, not after six."

"What happens after six?" I asked, my curiosity overriding my filter.

Surya smiled. "My bar opens. I'll talk to you later." He shuffled to the door, pulling it open and closing it behind him.

Well, at least he had income still. It was good to know that he apparently hadn't been depending entirely on us for his income. I groaned, falling onto the couch, and staring at the ceiling. What did I want to do now?

The days stretched on endlessly after that. I woke up, had a light breakfast and read the paper, did some filing for the office, mailed completed work, and spent most of the rest of the day reading a book after a warm shower, watching the birds, something silly, and then I went to bed. And that was the extent of my day. I woke up, and did everything on automatic. I didn't have to think about anything, I just did it.

About a week and a half later, I decided it was time to do something different for a change. If I stayed in this rut, I'd quite possibly never get back out of it, and I knew as much. I pulled my shoes on, shrugged a light coat over my shoulders, grabbed my keys, and headed outside. It was nice to be out in the sun instead of behind a curtain for once. Savouring the moment for only a handful of seconds, I headed down to market. There was a nice selection down this way - the rural farmers brought their goods in, and sold them in an outdoor bazaar, and they were well priced for the quality.

On the way back, my arms draped with grocery bags, I noticed an odd sensation of being watched. I thought nothing of it, for most of the way. But then it got stronger, and as I turned a corner, a bullet whizzed past my ear. "Sorry!" a familiar feminine voice called. "I wasn't aiming for that!"

Ty Lee's aim still sucked. And I knew damn well that was what made her dangerous. Quick as I could, I zig-zagged down the street. I knew by now which apartment was Surya's, and made my way toward it. It was closer than my own. I ran through the glass doors, hurrying up the stairs, counting the doors until I found the right one. My boot slammed into the base of the door with a deep toned thunk thunk thunk. A grumbling noise answered, and then the sound of something heavy being thrown at the door. I slammed my boot against the door again.

"All right, all right, I'm up," Surya grumbled from the other side. It only took a few moments for the door to open. He blinked, but moved aside, and I scrambled in and handed him my grocery bags, slamming the door shut behind us and sliding all the locks in place. I heaved a sigh, and Surya set the bags down on the table.

"Something happen?"

"Something happened all right," I answered. "I had a bullet whiz past my ear on the way back. Yours was closer, so I cut a few corners and came here."

Surya nodded. "I see. So, your sister's figured out where you are anyway. I was hoping she'd get thrown off the trail."

"Well, apparently not," I snapped.

"Hey, I did my best. We might have a leak in the system."

I frowned, my brows furrowing together. "What system? What are you talking about?"

"Well you didn't think I was taking you just anywhere, did you?" He seemed a bit offended. "I've got an extra room, s'in the back. Usually Agneya uses it when he comes to visit, but he can crash in mine. Stay here, just don't go anywhere, and we'll figure out what to do next."

"This is ridiculous," I spat. "I can't even go grocery shopping now, and you want me to just hide some place?"

"I understand you're pissed -"

"You're damned right I'm pissed! My parents are dead, my sister ruined their funeral, and now she's after me? All because of a stack of gold? It isn't like I asked to end up with all this fucking money, hell, it's more trouble than it's worth right now, and I'm tempted to say if she wants it so damned bad, she can have it! It's not like I want it!" To be totally honest, no. At that point, I didn't want it. I didn't want it to begin with, Azula's chasing me around with guns and crap just solidified the sentiment.

"I'll make tea," Surya announced, going to it. "Have a seat. Breathe." He always took my temper so much better than other people did.

"I am breathing," I grumbled, but I fell into a chair heavily anyway.

"This is frustrating, I know. I was never expecting otherwise. But if you give up, then Azula gets away with this. Is that what you want? For her to keep getting whatever she wants and her to get used to being able to get away with anything? You're her brother, Zuko. It's up to you now to teach her that this behaviour is by no means acceptable. You're unfortunately though at a serious disadvantage. She has guns and lackeys. You have money. But you can't stop a bullet with money." Eh, he was right and I knew it. I just hated to admit that my little sister had the upper hand right now.

"So what now?" I asked. Surya hummed and set a cup of tea down in front of me.

"We use our heads. There's got to be something we can do. I'll do some digging around. You lay low and stay alive. Simple."

"Sounds too simple," I grumbled.

"Simple is good," Surya answered. "It means the chances of either of us getting lost in all the complexities is pretty slim. Too many people overcomplicate things, kid. It gets messy."

"I'm twenty six," I bristled. "I think I'm beyond 'kid'."

"I'm fifty one," he answered. "You'll still be kid when you're forty."

I supposed that was just something I'd have to get used to, then. At least he did outrank me in seniority. The term wasn't quite as offensive as it could have been otherwise.

"One yummy breakfast, coming right up," Surya sing-songed. Me, well, shit, I was still at least halfway in bed. My eyes drooped, and I fell heavily into a chair, letting my head fall onto the table. "That great a morning, is it?"

I snorted. "I don't wake up very quickly before the sun's up," I grumbled into the gold-detailed wood. It was a pretty shade of chestnut. Or, at least, I thought it was a pretty shade of chestnut. Considering he'd kept the thing for so long, apparently Surya thought so too.

"Well, it'll be up here in a few minutes," Surya answered. I'd been staying with him for a week or so by then. We'd settled into a comfortable daily routine, and, I hate to admit it, but, one good thing my sister did was run me off into someone else's presence. The existence of someone besides me and the silence, it was helping the lingering sting of being alone. I wasn't quite as alone as I'd thought I was, I suppose.

Once in a while, Agneya and his girlfriend, Rys, came over for a visit. They were due to wander by soon for dinner. Despite how aloof and awkward the initial meetings were, we'd settled into one another's presence, and now I really did seem to be part of the Connolly family. I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. The Connollys were good people, and it was hard to stay depressed around them, a fact that was rather beneficial to me at this point in my life. Now, Rys on the other hand, that girl was just freaky. She was there... and then she was gone. And it was freaky.

I wondered if things would always be like this. With me living with Surya for the rest of... well, probably his life, not mine, doing paperwork for a law firm I wasn't even entirely sure I wanted to work for. At least I was supporting myself to some extent. Surya gave me a place to live, but, he didn't try to give me much else besides that and his presence. The more the days went on, the more I realised I'd come to really like him. He was a good man - it was a shame his wife hadn't seen it, and bailed out on him. He told me the last he'd seen of Kaliska was her car's tail lights speeding off down the road in the rain. Suyis had been all of three years old.

That was tragic.

"Here you are," Surya grinned, setting a plate of eggs and toast down in front of me. He slid that day's paper across the table, and settled down across from me to eat his own breakfast. He didn't have to be anywhere in particular until later, when his bar, The Red Dragon, opened that night.

"Thanks," I murmured, lifting my head. It smelled delicious. One thing about Surya I learned very quickly, he was a perfect combination of father and mother, and never once lost an ounce of his masculinity for it.

"So," he started, munching his toast, "any ideas for what you really want to do with your life yet?"

I shrugged, picking at my eggs. Ostrich-horse eggs. Not the greatest, but they were good, if you cooked them right, and Surya always did. "Not really," I answered. "I've never really thought about it. You know, I thought maybe I'd be a cop once, but my parents were all, no that's too dangerous."

"Well, they're not here any more," Surya answered. "Not that I am encouraging disregarding your parents' wishes, but it is your life, not theirs. And I think, at least your mother just wanted you happy. Safe too, and there's the conflict."

He was right, and I knew it. I studied my fork for a bit instead of answering right away.

"It wouldn't hurt to dabble," Surya went on. "You'll be fine here."

"I wasn't before," I answered.

"You were a few blocks too far north," he replied, his tone mild. "Down here, we're close to the border, but if you stay south, you should be fine, unless Mai gets a nice vantage point from a rooftop a few blocks up."

I arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"They'd have to be pretty damn desperate to set foot in this area."

"Why?"

"This is The Badger's territory," Surya answered, and if anything, my expression became even more interested than it'd been before. He laughed. "The Badger, you've never heard of her?"

I shook my head.

"With any luck, you'll never hear her name again. Either one," he added after a pause. He went back to his breakfast. "Finish that before it gets cold," he said. "We'll go wander around when you're done, see if we can't find anything you think's interesting." I thought it would be a bit of a waste of time, but if it made Surya happy, I'd do it anyway. Who knew, maybe I would find something more interesting than law firm paperwork. "If nothing else, I need another bartender."

"I'm not good with alcohol," I said.

"Well, you don't have to be. Just pouring it in a glass. Agneya can do the mixers, and he probably wouldn't be opposed to teaching you."

Probably not. Agneya had the patience of a saint. He really was his father's son. Some part of my mind wondered what my life would've been like, if Surya was my father instead of Ozai. Certainly not boring, that was for sure.

We'd spent the whole day wandering up and down the streets, checking out the little homey shops and the places hiring apprentices. There was nothing that a law degree would get me into, necessarily, but if nothing else, I was only 26. I could handle getting another degree, if I found something I really wanted to shoot for.

But, for now, law firm paperwork it was. I fell onto the couch, a little worn out after the long day. Surya busied himself getting ready to go to work. He was the bar's bouncer. Funny, I'd never heard of a bar owner working in the bar, but all right. It probably made him happy, to some extent, to help out with his own bar and be a part of it.

"So," I called, "about that bartender job..."

Surya snorted from his room. "Unfortunately, it has certain dangers attached to it," he called back. "Last bartender I had got shot. It was a first for us, but people get drunk, and get into fights all the time."

"Hey, I'm already getting shot at," I answered. The way I figured, it'd at least make a little more sense if I was getting shot at in a bar instead of out on the street minding my own business. Maybe some sort of my mind attempting to regain some semblance of control over the situation, despite it knowing how futile an effort that was.

"I know," he answered. I knew he did. "But that doesn't mean put yourself in even more danger. We'll keep lookin', kid."

I grumbled something about looking forever, and if he heard it, he didn't respond. Just then, I decided to fall over on the couch. And as I did, another sniper bullet whizzed right over my head and embedded itself into the wall. Surya cursed, rushing out of his room half-dressed, and pulled the curtains.

"This is getting ridiculous," he said.

"You're telling me."

"Get dressed, something less classy," he barked. I arched my eyebrow at him, curious as to what, exactly, would make him say that. "You're coming to The Red Dragon with me, dress down, don't look rich."

I arched an eyebrow again. Everything I owned was designer. The light seemed to turn on in his head, and he grumbled more curses, turning and disappearing behind his door. "Where in the hell did Mai stick herself anyway?"

"I don't know," I answered.

"Rhetorical question, kid," he called back. A moment later, he came back out, handing me a pile of clothes. "Might be a little loose, but it'll work."

With interest, I pulled the shirt up, getting a look at it. It looked sufficiently middle class to me. "Why am I going?"

"I think you need professional help," he answered, shoving his bouncer shirt over his head.

"I'm not crazy," I protested. For the record, I didn't pout. Okay, maybe I pouted a little bit, but not all that much.

"Not that kind of professional help," Surya answered, rolling his eyes. "The kind of professional help with guns."

Guns. The kind of professional help with guns. Like my sister and her lackeys having guns wasn't enough, hey, sure, let's add more guns. I decided not to argue with him - Surya was stubborn enough, it was hard to believe he didn't have any Earth Kingdom blood. Instead, I just grumbled, smacked myself in the face, and went to my room to change. It'd be a little weird, wearing someone else's clothes, and I thought Surya's clothes would hang a little odd on me, but it would be better than sticking out, I guessed. I just kind of figured, sticking out in an environment like that one might be a little more risky than I could really afford at that point.

"Why do I get the feeling trusting you is eventually going to bite me in the ass?" I asked.

"Probably because it will," Surya answered, not missing a beat.

Well that certainly didn't make me feel better. Not that I surmise it was meant to. Surya had a very... shall we say, special, way of going about things. I wouldn't pretend to be privy to his thought processes. Rather the opposite, the man confused me shitless. But if he thought he could get me out of this mess in one piece, fine, I'd just go along with it. It was better than getting fried to a crisp and dumped in a ditch some place.

"I've got some connections," Surya went on. "We can get you someone that's been in this business for years now. You know, youngest detective in existence so far, 22 years old, started at 14."

"Fourteen?" I asked, dumb founded. He had to be kidding. No one started investigative work that soon, I should know that, I went to law school. I pulled my shirt on really quick, coming out to stare at him like he'd lost his ever loving mind. "Fourteen."

"Fourteen," Surya nodded. "Smartest person I've ever met, observant as hell, and knows a lot about your sister. If this one can't do it, nobody can."

"Who is it?" I asked.

Surya smirked. "The Badger."

Now, I was really interested.

I'm sure I was annoying Surya by the time we got there with my endless stream of questions. I was curious about this Badger girl, already, had been since he first mentioned her, only I hadn't had the nerve, or whatever, to ask him about her before now. He was taking me to see her, apparently, and that was kind of a really big deal. If I was going to meet her, I wanted to know what kind of person she was. Was she aggravating? Maybe too smart for me, was I going to have trouble keeping up with and understanding her? I felt like these were important questions. I didn't realise then just how important they were.

"Have you ever met her personally?" I asked. Surya seemed bemused, more than anything.

"Yes."

"What's she like?"

Surya snorted. "Irritating, somewhat hot-tempered, kind of freaky, unnerving I guess is more the word. She's very blunt, boisterous, loud, opinionated, a bit hard-headed..."

I frowned. Either we'd get along swimmingly, or she'd annoy the ever loving daylights out of me.

"Don't make that face," Surya chided. "She's a good woman, very talented. She's a master at what she does, see, and she doesn't let anybody dare forget it." I'd learn, soon enough, that was The Badger in a nutshell. She was a master of her chosen speciality, and being taken lightly was not pleasing to her in the least.

"I'll take your word for it," is what I said at the time. If he said so, I was willing to accept it. Surya had yet to lead me astray, or lie to me, and I didn't think he'd start then. No, Surya was a rather honest type. He said what he meant, did what he promised, and never backed out of a commitment. It was something I looked up to in him, in a way. He was kind of the person I wanted to become one day.

He led the way into his bar - a nicely detailed little red building on the corner of Tan Yang Road and Lin Ha Boulevard. It was pretty, I thought.

"Did the details myself," Surya mentioned.

"Wow," I breathed. "It's pretty."

"Catchy too. Everybody knows where the Red Dragon is. But that was the intention."

He opened the doors, the handles golden and shaped into dragons' heads. We entered the entryway, the floors a lovely slate tile, draped in red carpet, and the walls a maroon shade, with gold crown, dado rail and baseboard moulding. On the lower half of the walls, below the dado rail, was a neat gold and bronze dragon pattern. "You do the inside, too?" I asked.

"Some of it," he answered. "This room, my youngest did."

Ah, Suyis. The supposedly insane cop. Or, I heard he was a cop. But I heard Jiva was a cop, too, and he didn't really seem the type. Too calm, I always thought. We entered another set of doors, mostly etched glass, peonies coating the surfaces, into the main bar room. The air was heavy with the scent of bourbon and hazed over with smoke, cigarette and otherwise.

Agneya managed the bar alone. "'Neya," Surya called.

"Sir?" Agneya answered, setting the glass he was cleaning down.

"Has the Badger come in yet today?"

Agneya shook his head. "No," he answered. "The others haven't been in either."

"All right," Surya replied. "Can you manage the bar alone for a bit?"

"What happened?"

"Zuko just got sniped at in my living room."

"Ee," Agneya winced. "I think I can manage, long as you're not gone too long."

"If anything happens, just freeze the shits to the wall," Surya grumbled. Agneya nodded, and Surya led me back out.

"Does the Badger come to your bar a lot?" I asked, as we exited the entrance hall back out into the front.

"Sometimes," Surya replied. "She's got a thing for gin and blackjack." A pause. "Not playing blackjack, mind, but listening to it."

Listening? I thought that was odd wording, but I didn't say anything, instead scurrying to keep up with him as he power-walked down the street. Her office wasn't far, apparently, and she didn't typically pack up and go home until late, so if she wasn't out investigating something, she'd be in her office.

Three blocks, four blocks, five... Surya finally turned to the left, heading down Chang Jia Avenue. A few buildings down, he stopped, opening the door and shuffling in.

The entire building was made of metal and stone. It was a nice stone, I noted, a soft beige in colour, not too bright or light in shade. The walls had chestnut mouldings, complete with dado rail. The chairs were all dark brown leather, stately and professional. The front desk in the back middle of the lobby had no one behind it. "Have a seat," Surya murmured. I did as he told me to, settling down in one of those stately chocolate brown chairs, looking around with interest. Even the light shades were interesting. The centre ceiling light had a gold and glass cover, etched with pandas and bamboo.

Surya shuffled down the hallway. I thought it was weird, that they were apparently close enough he could wander through her office building at will unsupervised. Eventually, I'd learn he wasn't unsupervised.

The Badger knew when someone entered her territory.

A few moments later, Surya came back, a somewhat short, athletically-built woman behind him. She was impossibly pale, almost the colour of a porcelain doll, her long black hair held back in a messy half-ponytail, bangs hanging in her face under the rim of her tan fedora.

"This the kid?" she asked. Now that she was closer, I could see her eyes, hiding in the shadows the rim of her hat cast. They were pale green, just as impossibly pale as her skin. She was blind.

"He is," Surya answered. "Zuko, this is Detective Toph Northern. The Badger."

My eyes went wide. "This is her?" I asked, disbelieving.

"We'll talk," Toph decided.

"I have to get back to the Dragon," Surya said. "You remember how to get home?"

I nodded dumbly.

"Good. I'll see you after work." The door clicked closed behind him, and I had to figure out how to deal with this. The infamous Badger was a little blind girl. And she was eerily familiar...

Notes: I have no idea what this is. Bare with me, cause whatever it is, it'll be fabulous. I blame Charmed Noir and Rick Castle.

This is the first of a series. I'm guesstimating a three-part series, I'm not 100% sure. There'll be about six chapters in this first one. I could keep going on just this one, but I tend to take year-long breaks after about six to eight chapters, so I figured keeping it short and breaking it up into parts might just be the thing to make me stick to it. I dunno. We'll see. As you can tell, this is very AU, and several of my OCs from Like the Sun will be returning for this... cracked out crime adventure. It's meant to be set kind of in the same time period-ish as The Legend of Korra is, just with the original The Last Airbender characters we all know and love in it.

Disclaimers: As always, I don't want critique on my English or anyone pointing out my typos. I don't care enough. I got most of them, you'll survive. Any canonical, historical, cultural, etc mistakes I make, I can assure you, I am aware I made them and I did it on purpose. And even if you point them out, I'm not going to fix it, because I'm an ass that way, and I wrote the outlines a certain way for a reason, which means bending the rules of the universe on occasion. If you can't handle that, I'm sorry, my fics are not for you. This is a Toko, and due to the nature of the crime thriller noir type genre, here there will be violence, booms, bullets playin' bird, horrible language, and lemons. I don't write my lemons terribly explicit, though. I don't own Avatar. I wish I did. I'd probably be able to pay my rent. Speaking of paying my rent, if anyone is interested, I may have a job with Apple. Boo fuckin ya!

Apparently it's Zutara week? I almost feel bad for releasing Toko in the middle of Zutara week. And then I just giggle.