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She slowly came to, her head throbbing and a slight unease in her stomach. She opened her eyes, seeing that she was in a dark room and, curiously, the edge of a table directly above her head. She slowly moved from under it and stood up. She breathed deeply to steady herself, before realizing something was in her hand…
A gun with a silencer.
One might react with horror and shock, but she did not. Something told her that it was natural for her to have it and after examining it, found she knew instinctively how to use it.
But why she did not know.
She looked down and saw a purse that matched the dark blue dress she wore. Feeling that it was hers, she picked it up and stowed the gun in it. She moved through the room and saw a pair of legs on the floor. She moved closer to them and saw the rest of the body of a man behind the large desk.
In his hand was a gun, and three bullet holes in his chest.
She blinked and suddenly, the image of her shooting him after he tried to shoot her came to her.
She breathed out in relief, feeling that was acceptable.
But what was did not feel acceptable was being in this room. She looked around and found the door and made her way to it…
Where it open and an incredibly handsome man in a white shirt, red vest, and black slacks came in.
“Oh thank goodness you’re okay, Jing,” he said.
“Jing?” she repeated, feeling that name did not quite feel right to her.
“Yeah, you’re Jing and I’m Sokka,” he explained. “What happened here?”
“I… don’t know,” she said earnestly, before urgency took over. “But we need to leave. Now.”
“Fine by me!” Sokka said. “Some of the Kasen guys are giving me some unfriendly looks.”
“Kasen…,” Jing said thoughtfully, feeling that the name was not for the good guys and she, and now Sokka, needed to stay away from them.
She shook her head, deciding to focus on leaving wherever she and Sokka were before finding out where is in a not some comfortable way.
The two of them made their way out of the office and down a hallway, where a large man in a suite approached them.
“Stop right there,” he said to Sokka. “Boss wants to have word with you.”
“Uh, would it be okay if I help her first?” Sokka said innocently. “I think she drank too much.”
The man eyed Jing suspiciously. “I think the boss would want a word with her too. Come on.” He grabbed Jing’s arm, and sensing that this would lead to her demise, she reacted instinctively…
She struck his throat, causing him to gag violently, and she followed it up by punching him in the gut and then kneeing him on the forehead, knocking him unconscious.
“Where can we hide him?” she asked casually.
Despite his shock, Sokka pointed towards a nearby room that was unoccupied and helped Jing carry the unconscious guard into it. They quickly made their way down the main stairway into a large galley, which was full of people in expensive clothes, gambling at various tables. Jing looked at the dealers and noticed they wore the same outfit as Sokka.
“You work here,” she stated more than asked.
“Yeah, but after tonight, I think my termination is pending,” he quipped as he led her to the main doors. They walked through them and Sokka quickly led Jing to his muscle car.
“Hey!” a guard shouted at them. “Get back here!”
“Maybe another time!” Sokka shouted back before firing up his car and driving away…
After which, his back window was blown out by gunfire.
“Oh c’mon!” Sokka shouted as he accelerated toward the main gate, with two more goons standing by it pulling out their guns.
Jing, acting on instinct, pulled out her gun and fired a few rounds at the feet of one of the goons, forcing him to dive for cover. The other goon tried to close the gate, but it was too heavy for him to do it alone, allowing Sokka to drive through it, allowing them to get away clean.
“Well that was exciting!” he shouted. “Can you please tell me what’s going on?!”
Jing put her gun away and tried to recall the night before she woke up but could not remember anything in detail. The only image she can recollect is her struggling with the man in the office before being knocked down and shooting him in self-defense.
“I can’t,” she admitted.
“What, like, it’s a secret?” Sokka asked, getting frustrated. “I almost died to help you with this operation of yours, so you owe me the whole truth. Now what’s going on?”
“I would tell you, I really would,” Jing said, rubbing her left temple as her headache returned in full force. “It’s just… I don’t remember.”
Sokka looked at her in concern. “What, like amnesia?”
“That would make the most sense,” Jing said. “I woke up under that table with a headache.”
“Then you must’ve hit your head on it,” Sokka deduced.
“How perceptive of you,” Jing quipped. She looked out the window and saw buildings that felt familiar to her, but she could not place them in her memory. “Where are we going?”
“To the safehouse you told me about,” Sokka answered. “You told me to go there if my cover was blown. I’m thinking there might be something, or better yet someone, who can jog your memory.” He paused for a moment before looking at her purse. “Could there be something in there that’ll help?”
Jing opened her purse, which was only large enough to discreetly hide her gun. But there was a small wallet. She pulled it out and found an identification card with her picture and name.
“What does it say?” Sokka asked as she stared at it.
“’Jing’”, she said in defeat after examining the card in detail, finding that none of the information felt correct to her. “This is just part of my cover. Nothing helpful.”
“Is there anything else in that purse?”
Jing went through it and found a flash drive. She felt that it was important. “I cannot lose this,” she said more to herself than to Sokka.
“Then we won’t lose it,” Sokka reassured her. “I don’t know what’s exactly on that drive, but I imagine it has a lot of dirt of the Kasen family on it.”
“Kasen,” Jing said, a distastefulness filling her mouth. “They’re the major crime family here in… in…”
“Republic City,” Sokka finished for her.
Jing smirked as realization came to her. “Right, and I was sent to clandestinely uncover information that will lead to their prosecution.” She turned toward Sokka. “And I recruited you to help me with that.”
“There we go!” he yelled with a gleeful smile. “Now you’re starting to remember! Do you remember who you are?”
Jing breathed in and sighed. “Not quite. Maybe once we get to the safehouse, we’ll find something to help me.”
“Or someone,” Sokka added. “Does it feel like you’d have a team there? Or your partner?”
Jing thought on the word ‘team’ and images of a man with the left side of his face scared from a burn filled her mind. She then recalled how she teased and made fun of him, while another image flashed of her scolding him for a mistake he made…
When they were children.
“I just had… memories of a man,” she admitted.
“A man?” Sokka said, a sense of foreboding in his gut. “Like a boyfriend? Or a husband?”
Jing rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself. “No, that doesn't feel right to me. More like… an annoying brother.”
Sokka snorted. “Well, maybe he’ll be at the safehouse and he can annoy you until your memory comes back.”
Jing shifted slightly in her seat. “I think no one is going to be at the safehouse. But there might be something there that will help us.”
“Hope so, because we’re almost there,” Sokka said as he pulled around in front of a building with a large garage door. He pressed the remote clipped to the visor in his car and reversed into the garage, the door closing after he pressed it again. He stepped out of his car and went behind it.
“Aww man!” he groaned after examining the back window. “It took me almost three years to restore my baby! How am I supposed to find the rear window for a ’70 Chevell SS?!”
Jing approached him and felt guilty for being the catalyst of Sokka’s woes, even though she does not understand what is so special about an old muscle car.
“Don’t worry,” she said to her surprise as she patted his arm gently. “When this is over, I’ll help you find a replacement.”
Sokka looked at her and realized that her memory loss might be affecting her in some positive ways. He smiled brightly at her and said, “Thanks Jing.”
She smiled back but not before grimacing slightly. “Don’t call me that.”
Sokka blinked blankly before asking, “Then what should I call you?”
“Just… not Jing,” she said before looking behind him at the staircase. “Come on. Let’s see if there’s anything upstairs.”
The two of them climbed the stairs and found a comfortable if simple apartment with basic furnishings and a small kitchen. Sokka entered the kitchen to investigate the fridge and freezer. “Uh, only frozen foods,” he mused. “Guess this safehouse was set up some time ago.”
“That sounds right,” Jing said as she sat down before a laptop on the small dining table. She opened it and found it locked. Unable to recall the password, if she knew it, she typed in random characters until the laptop gave her the hint.
It said, ‘brother’s nickname’.
“Can’t log into it?” Sokka asked.
“No, but I should be able to,” Jing said, as the thought of her brother’s nickname was on the edge of her mind, but it eluded her. “Once I remember my brother’s name, and my nickname for him.”
“Any idea of what letter it starts with?” Sokka asked.
“No,” Jing answered, “and quite honestly, I’m not feeling like thinking much harder tonight.”
“Headache still bothering you?”
“Quite thoroughly.”
“That’s alright,” Sokka smiled at her. “After some cheap pizza and a good night’s sleep, I’m sure you’ll be recalling everything accurately in the morning.”
“One can only hope,” Jing said as confidently as she could, but something told her it will take more than a good night’s sleep to restore her memory.
He paced back and forth in their team room, unable to settle down.
“Zuko, would you sit down, you’ll bore holes in the floor,” Mai told him after going through the list of contacts to figure out where Azula, or Jing as they know her, is.
“I can’t!” he said, pulling at his hair. “What if she’s dead? What if the Kasen’s got her? What if-!?”
“Zuko, you’re not going to help her thinking of the worst-case scenarios,” Mai told him. Zuko breathed deeply and sat down, rubbing his temples to ease the tension in his head.
“Any luck with our contacts?” he asked.
“Maybe,” Mai answered. “I’ve managed to reach each one and they all said they haven’t seen Azula, or Jing as they know her.”
“Ugh, how does that help us?” Zuko asked.
“It helps us because one of our contacts is, as far as I can tell, is unreachable,” Mai said, causing Zuko to raise his eyebrow.
“Again, how does that help us?” Zuko asked with edge to his voice.
“Because when I call the cell phone we provided to him, it goes right to the voicemail he set up,” Mai explained, before turning to her other teammate. “What does our file say about him?”
“He’s one of the top dealers at the Kasen’s casino,” Ty Lee replied, before a sly smile spread over her face. “His name’s Sokka and he’s really handsome…”
“But why is his cell phone going right to voicemail? Is it turned off?” Zuko asked.
“Or the battery is dead, and he can’t charge it,” Mai theorized.
“Hopefully he’s okay and with Azula,” Ty Lee said. “I know for sure she’s okay.”
“How can you be so sure?” Zuko asked.
“Because if she was dead, at least a quarter of the Kasen family in Republic City would be too if they cornered her,” Mai said. “You know how capable she is.”
“Yeah, you got a point,” Zuko admitted. “But I’m still worried about her.”
“Worried about what could happen to her?” Ty Lee teased.
“More like worried about what she’s going to do on her own,” Zuko mused.
After having pizza, Sokka and Jing slept through the night, though the latter had strange dreams about what she presumed to be memories. She woke up early in the morning and went through the safehouse again, looking for anything that could help her recall her true identity, but just like last night, it was to no avail.
She sat in the recliner, trying to recall anything beyond last night. Sokka slept on the couch nearby, breathing softly and evenly. Jing mused that the excitement of last night made him more tired than usual. Or perhaps he slept more than average.
A sudden and powerful knock on the door brought her to alertness. Sokka woke up abruptly and stood up.
“Ugh, who can that be?” he asked before walking to the door. Jing stopped him and motioned him to be quiet. She mouthed, ‘ask who it is?’
Sokka crooked an eyebrow, not understanding what she mouth.
Jing rolled her eyes and mouthed the message again, all the while the knocking became more frantic.
Sokka shrugged his shoulders, still not understanding.
Jing gritted her teeth and grabbed a notepad and pen, writing down ‘ask who it is Dum-Dum!’
Sokka’s eyebrow twitched but he composed himself quickly. “Who is it?” he said as casually as he could.
“It’s Suki, open the door now!” a woman’s voice bellowed through the door.
Sokka hesitated for a moment but knew that if anyone could help him and Jing, it was Suki. He approached the door and opened it. A woman with light brown hair and violet eyes entered the safehouse. The way she carried herself conveyed authority and confidence, with a penance to not suffer fools lightly. It felt to Jing that she would normally take a liking to someone like that, but there was a feeling of unease that put her on edge.
Sokka closed and locked the door before approaching Suki. “It’s quite perfect timing you have. I thought about going to you for help.”
“Well after what our surveillance unit picked up on the Kasen’s, I thought you two were dead,” Suki said to him with a sharp tone. “Why didn’t you check in?”
“Hey, I was shot at for the first-time last night,” Sokka retorted. “Forgive me for not having the training to emotionally handle all that and still think clearly.”
Suki turned toward Jing, an annoyed expression on her face. “And what about you? Why didn’t you check in with us or even your team Azula?”
Realization hit Jing like a wreaking ball. Azula… she felt that was her name.
“Azula,” she said in self-assurance.
“Yeah, that’s your name,” Suki said with more annoyance. “Special Agent Azula of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. A top-notch agent like you should’ve checked in with us when your cover was blown. But maybe it’s true that feds are more arrogant than they appear.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on here,” Sokka said, stepping closer to Jing, or Azula now. It was going to take him time to wrap his head around that. “Azula here had her head rocked and is suffering from a case of amnesia. It’s not her fault that she didn’t check in. If anything it’s mine.”
Suki sucked on her teeth. “Amongst other things,” she jabbed.
“Oh don’t bring our relationship into this, it’s over Suki,” Sokka pleaded more than asserted.
“Over before it officially ended,” Suki said with a hurt tone.
“Yeah, because you were so focused on your job as a police captain that you hardly had time for me,” Sokka said.
“And so you filled that time with that bitch Yue,” Suki shouted, though Azula got the sense that she put no real meaning in her choice of words.
Sokka though, could not, or would not, pick on the way Suki was projecting herself onto another woman. “I told you this a thousand times! Yue had cancer. My sister Katara was overworked between taking care of her and nursing school. I volunteered to help because, sure, I was looking for someone to fill the void you left for me because of your damn commitment to the police department! But nothing happened between me and Yue! Not in the way you think!”
“And it was only a matter of time before it did!” Suki shouted back.
Azula, feeling that this argument would turn into a full-blown fight, and feeling incredibly protective of Sokka, interrupted before it could escalate. “Alright, I think this is not the best time or place to discuss this. Not when lives are at stake regarding our case against the Kasen family.”
A few tense moments passed before Suki turned her head away from Sokka and sighed deeply. “Alright, let’s stay focus. So Azula here has amnesia. Has she regained any of her memories?”
“A few flashes here and there,” Azula said. “And you can speak to me. I haven’t lost my hearing.”
Suki turned toward Azula. “Right, sorry. So what memories have you regained?”
Azula recalled the images of the scarred man, of him and her as children. “I remember a man, who I think is my brother. Or at least he feels like a brother to me.”
“That sounds like what you described as the muscle on your team,” Suki said.
“That sounds like him,” Azula said, feeling that described her brother perfectly. “What is his name?”
“You never told me,” Suki said to Azula’s disappointment. “You refused to let me and my people know the names of the people on your team. Some kind of compartmentalization.”
“Damnit,” Azula said, feeling like a fool for not being more trusting. “What about the rest of my team? What did I tell you about them?”
“There’s only two others you mentioned, both of them women,” Suki told her. “One is a tech and surveillance expert, and the other specializes in infiltration. That’s all you told me.” Suddenly, Suki’s phone started ringing. “Sorry, I have to take this.” She stepped away from Azula and Sokka to take her call.
Sokka stepped closer to Azula. “Does any of that help you Ji-, I mean, Azula?”
Memories flooded Azula as she recalled images of two women who fit Suki’s description. Azula even recalled them being friends as children.
“Yeah it does help, it’s helping a lot,” Azula said. “But before you get your hopes up, I can’t recall their names. But…” She went over to her purse and pulled out the flash drive, believing that this is why Suki is agitated.
“Sorry,” Suki said as she walked back over to them. “My niece has been asking when I can take her to the zoo.”
“Zoo…” Azula said, feeling that it was a word she used often… to address her brother! “Zuzu!”
Sokka and Suki looked at her with confused expressions. “Zuzu?” the latter asked.
“That sounds somewhat better than Dum-Dum,” he mused.
Azula chuckled. “That’s what I call Zuko that too.”
Excitement took over Sokka. “You remember your brother’s name!”
“I do, but I still can’t recall where he is but,” she said before holding the flash drive out to Suki. “I believe this will help your case against the Kasen’s.”
Suki sighed in relief. “Well it looks like your undercover work paid off. If you got the right information about that casino’s finances, this may allow us to tie Lee Kasen to his racketeering and drug trafficking rings.” She left the room, intending to hand this over to the district attorney as soon as possible.
The last part of Suki’s sentence stirred something in Azula’s mind. “May… tie Lee…” Her eyes became unfocused for a moment, as more memories came back to her.
“Uh, are you okay?” Sokka asked.
“Mai and Ty Lee, that’s the other members of my team,” Azula said confidently.
“Yay! You remembered who your team is!” Sokka shouted. “Where are they located?!”
“That I don’t remember yet,” Azula said, but before Sokka could lose all of his joy, she continued on by saying, “But I remembered Mai gave you a phone after you agreed to work with us. Where is it?”
Sokka’s eyes widen in realization. “ Damn, I forgot about that!” He rushed to his old uniform and pulled it out. He handed it to Azula after turning it on.
“There’s only one number on that seems familiar to me,” she said after checking each contact. She dialed it and put the phone on speaker.
“Sokka? Is that you? I’ve been trying to call you.”
“Mai, it’s me,” Azula said.
“Azula? Where the hell have you been?”
Azula rolled her eyes but smiled. “Nice to hear from you too Zuzu. I managed to secure the package and handed it off to Suki. Meet us at her workplace.” She hung up the phone and turned toward Sokka.
“I guess you’re well on your way to recovering your memory,” he said with a bright smile.
“Yes, quite,” she said with a smile. “I’ve never done this with any of my assets during an operation, but given how you essentially saved my life and, more importantly, my operation, I believe what I’m about to do is most appropriate.”
Before Sokka could respond, Azula reached up and grabbed his beard, pulling him down level with her face…
And she leaned in and kissed him passionately.
He was stunned at first, but he was never one to pass up good things when they happen.
After they parted to catch their breaths, he asked, “Is that onetime thing or…”
Azula smiled devilishly at him. “Oh no, I feel that I’m going to more use for you in the future.”
An excitable dread filled Sokka’s chest. “On more operations of yours or… other means.”
“Perhaps on an occasional operation, once I put you through my training,” Azula said, before pulling Sokka closer to her. “But I mostly intend for you to a stress reliever for me.”
Sokka smiled brightly, sensing he is going to enjoy being the stress reliever for a top-notch special agent of the Criminal Investigation Bureau.