The Vault Job

It was a fine sort of spring day. Kano sat at a small cafe just inside the city gates of Omashu. It was a fine sort of place and he was happy to have some free time on what had otherwise been a diplomatic sojourn to enjoy it. Sipping at his tea, he looked around. The Earth Kingdom seemed to have recovered from the war quite well. There were people all over enjoying the new-found trade and peace. It was quite nice. And yet, even in the brightest times there were always a few shadows...

"HEY! STOP HIM!"

The shout tore through the air like a shot. Kano looked around in time to see a young man running with an armful of weapons stolen from an arms merchant who was giving chase, if only just. At the last second, Kano slid his foot out and tripped the boy. The weapons went flying as he hit the ground. Instantly, a circle formed in the crowd as Kano lazily drew his saber and held its sharp edge next to the boy's chest as he looked up at him from the ground. Kano sipped his tea again.

"Oh!" said the merchant, panting as he entered the ring of onlookers. "Thank you! Thank you so much, sir. I. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't stopped him..."

"You shouldn't thieve." Kano said, looking down at the boy through narrow eyes. "In this time of peace, you're contributing only conflict."

"What would you know about it?!" the boy growled. Then, suddenly, he batted the blade of Kano's sword away, cutting his palm badly in the process, and leaped to his feet, running off...

"What the...?" was the general sentiment of the crowd. And if he was honest as he looked at the tiny bit of blood on the edge of his saber, it was the same thing Kano was thinking in utter confusion...

One of the closest swords to Kano on the ground began to shudder as the dust on the street began circling around it covertly. Kano looked down, confused and then out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure behind the crowd. She was bending.

Airbender... he thought almost blankly. What was she up to? Then the weapons flew up in a high arc and landed in her waiting arms.

"You!" Kano barked, leaping to his feet. "Stop right now! Guardsmen!"

A number of Omashu city guards who had joined the crowd jumped at his order and pushed their way through the crowd toward the woman, but she was already taking flight. Kano, however, wasn't going to be evaded so easily. There were a great deal of fresh leaves, full teacups, and containers of water about to draw off of. He bent the water into a powerful whip and sent it after her, aiming for her ankle...

Kano immediately brought the water back to him, forming it into a sort of round shield, freezing it solid. He swatted the sharp gust of air aside. Despite the fact that put a deep gouge in the shield, the ice held. In the same motion, he spun on the spot and sent the shield at her like a frisbee. He closed his hands into fists and brought them together before bringing them apart again into a stance that wouldn't have looked out of place if a boxer was using it. The result was that the thick, flying disk of ice split into twelve or so thinner disks. With another motion, they molded themselves into curved bars of ice, one each aimed at both wrists, both shoulders, the neck, the midriff, both thighs, both knees, and both ankles. If they landed true, she'd be thrown back against the building behind her where the sharp points at the ends of the bars would stick into the stone like so many tacks in a board.

Even an airbender would have trouble getting out of this. It was an exhausting move. Inwardly, Kano hoped it hit. He wasn't well rested after his travels and wouldn't be able to summon much more of an attack if this one failed also. Still. The Earth Kingdom was an ally to the Water Tribes. Its problems were their problems. And though he seriously doubted that Meili would drop to her knees in thanks for stopping a common thief, in all that implied, he still wasn't about to let something like this go if he could stop it. No one steals weapons for righteous reasons...