Avatar: The New Era [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 3: A Red Bracelet

"Tokku!" his sister ran towards the men carrying his brother

His arms were gashed with several wounds and nothing more happened to his body. Lu Mei ignored the other unknown body that was being dragged by the officers.

"What the heck happened?" Lu Mei touched the open wounds

Tokku hissed in pain "We were attacked by that guy" he motioned over the lifeless body

The man was stabbed at the back with an arrow and his body was full of stitches.

"Lu, I need to talk to you guys about something" blank eyes stared at Lu Mei "It's about...him"

The firebender's eyes widened and she shook it off to help her brother.

~~~~~

Everyone was sitting around the living room of the abandoned house they stayed at. Sassan was sitting on Kurana's lap when a certain waterbender came in.

"Hey guys, I got a few info from my encounter yesterday" he sat down and threw a package wrapped in cloth

Syv was the first one to grab the package "What's this?"

"Open it if you're tough enough" he leaned back

The non-bender furrowed her brow and proceeded on opening the wrapped object. She slowly revealed a dark red stain on the white cloth. A finger suddenly stuck out and startled the woman. She threw the object back on the table. The Avatar and the young girl turned their heads in disgust.

"Told 'ya" Tokku rolled his eyes

"What are you doing with a-" Syv was cut off by her gut feeling to puke out

"It's not just any other hand" He grabbed it and held it up "It's my dad's...our dad's"

Lu Mei stood up "What? What do you m-mean?!"

"Here" she took the hand from her brother "Look at his tattoo"

The firebender's eyes widened "Its...the family symbol"

The tattoo was a single head of an eagle-lynx. It was inked in dark grey yet the stains of blood overlapped the image. Stitches hung from the gruesome hand and Sassan had no courage to look at it.

"C'mon, give me a heads up on our guy" Lu Mei insisted on getting the info out of her brother despite the fact that this moment was making her heart shatter

"Alright, this is no ordinary guy" Tokku stared at each one of his teammates "He knows everything that needs to be known about chakra paths and human anatomy"

"I'm guessing, he's a top-notch scientist or a researcher" he held his chin "knowledge about this only comes from one source...Wan Shi Tong's Library"

Everyone was focused on listening at the important details that Tokku was sharing.

"Our guy dismembers limbs and other important parts of a bender's body so that he can transfer it to another person which makes the fact that this individual right here" he pointed at the dead body behind them "is a dual-bender"

"I ran through the files that we got from the Chief and this body was indeed a missing person"

Kurana spoke up "So, where are you going at?"

"Our scientist kidnaps people and turns them into dual-benders, the reason?" he paused "That's what we're gonna find out"

~~~~~

The morning sun rose and Sassan woke up. She groggily opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar view outside the window. It was Kurana, training early in the morning. Sweat dripped down from her chin as she gave Sassan a sweet smile.

"She's an early bird" Tokku leaned out the window

"Does she do this every day?" the young child looked up

The waterbender took a sip from his coffee "She would be uneasy for the whole day if she misses her morning training"

Kurana walked in and took a towel from her bag "Are we going to search again today?"

Tokku shook his head "Nope, let's take a break and drop by the market for some supplies, we're running out of coffee!"

Laughter filled the air, yet Sassan sat quietly at the corner of the couch

"Sassan will come too, right?" Lu Mei asked

The Avatar nodded "Of course!"

The young girl smiled and ran towards her step-sister to hug her.

"Hey, I got a little something for you" the Avatar pulled away from the child

She handed a bracelet that consisted of bright red beads. Sassan happily accepted it and wore it immediately.

"Thank you, big sis!"

~~~~~

Syv and Tokku were the ones left in the house while Kurana, Lu Mei, and Sassan ran off to buy supplies. Tokku wasn't able to come since he just got injured from the fight and Syv was still treating the other officers' injuries with the medic.

"Go get some eggs from that guy" the Avatar pointed at an egg vendor

The little girl happily ran towards the stand. The man had a hood on and his face couldn't be seen. Sassan was asking for a tray of eggs but, the man was ignoring her.

"Uhh...excuse me, sir?" Sassan tugged on his robes "I was asking for a tray, please?"

Light reflected on the man's wicked grin. Fear crawled in the young girl's face when the familiar face brought memories back from her mind. The man held her hand tight and hid her in the robe.

~~~~~

"What's taking the kid so long?" Tokku played with the potatoes in his hand

Kurana was starting to worry "She went to that egg ven-" as she looked at the egg stand, there was no one standing

The Avatar ran towards the area and looked around for the missing girl "Ha-have you seen a ch-child?! About this tall, short brown hair, and a stitch on her sh-shoulder?!" She asked the people walking around, who in turn shook their heads

The sun was starting to set when the others ran towards the worried Avatar.

"Kurana!" Syv was running and what looked like, she held something in her hand

"What is it, Syv?! Did you find her?!" Kurana was holding the exhausted woman

"L-look, t-take a look...at this-" Syv opened her hand

Kurana gasped and dropped down to her knees "No..." a crimson bracelet was in her hands. It also had a letter tied to it

~~~~~

Greetings, Avatar. I'd like to have a few moments of your time at my place. If you aren't there two days from now, you wouldn't want to know what I'll do with the child. If you want to know where I live, answer the riddle:

I do not have eyes, but I always sleep

I do not have legs, but I am tall

I can't go down if I'm hit with something cheap

But the harder you hit, the faster I fall

See you in two days, Avatar

-N

~~~~~

The letter was written in blood. Kurana gripped the paper hard, completely crushing it in just one hand.

"Don't...piss...me...off" she clenched her jaw as the dark filled the night

~~~~~

A/N: Hey there guys! I am so sorry for missing out another week :( Finals just finished and I am now on break! Yay! :D I'll see you guys next week for the continuation of this short part :p I hope people are still here :(