The city seemed near-dead as Hang led the four of them through the town. Haruko had initially pegged the waterbender as an outsider, like Koto and Tashi, but from the way she navigated the backstreets and alleyways, it was clear Hang knew the city as well as Haruko, if not better. Even though she was still limping and clearly weary from her injuries, Hang had made her way to the front of the group, with Koto, Aazir, and Haruko trailing her.

“Turn here” Hang made a gesture with her hand. She spoke with a directness, an urgency Haruko wasn’t used to.“They’re probably keeping your bison at the police headquarters.”

Hang led them to an empty office building. Haruko knew it as what used to be the Jet Gold business office before the oil processing company had gone bankrupt a few years ago. Now the five-story-tall office building was completely empty and had been up for sale for what seemed like forever, no prospective business wanted property so close to the police station. It dawned on Haruko why they had stopped here.

“Can you guys climb?” Hang said, pulling water out of a leather waterskin she wore on her waist. Koto nodded and jumped a story up, her movement propelled by airbending. Hang followed soon after, creating a sort of grappling hook with the water she had brought. Not knowing exactly what to do, Haruko ran at the wall and started to scale it.

It was a simple enough idea, to assist her climbing by slightly altering the bricks in the stone wall, but it took a lot of precision and dexterity to both keep the wall intact and keep herself from falling. It definitely wasn’t the most effective version of earthbending-enhanced wall climbing technique, but it was the quietest one Haruko could think of. She made it to the top of the building just before Aazir did, he had adopted a similar technique to hers.

Hang helped Haruko up and helped her dust herself off, she had returned the water to her waterskin in the time it had taken for Haruko and Aazir to get up. She led the two of them to where Koto was standing, looking over the edge at the police headquarters.

The building was small, at least compared to the office building they were standing on. It was a few stories high, with a large courtyard in the back. In the courtyard was Cloud, being tied down by metal cables.

“I think I have a plan.” Hang said. “You see that fountain in the front?” She gestured at a water feature in front of the building. Haruko hadn’t noticed it before.

Hang continued. “If I can get to that, I can create a wave of fog that will make it easy for you” She pointed at Koto. “To drop in and free your bison. But I’ll need cover.”

“I’ll do it.” Aazir stated.

“No, you’re going with Koto. That seismic-whatever it is will come in handy if you’re being sneaked up on. Haruko’s coming with me.”

“I am?” Haruko asked.

Luckily for Haruko, Hang had helped her on the way down from the tower, using the same technique she had used to get up. Haruko felt exposed on the street, so close to the headquarters, but for now, they could hide in the shadows.

“I need you to create a distraction so I can get to the fountain,” Hang whispered. Haruko nodded and dropped into a quick bending stance, creating a rift in the street in front of the building. Her sudden movement had done exactly what she wanted it to- catch the attention of the people inside. Within seconds, a pair of officers ran out to subdue and arrest her.

Haruko created a wall of stone in between her and the cops for defense, then sent it at them. She was outnumbered, but not outmatched. If she kept reminding herself that maybe it would be true. As Haruko dodged the small bullets of earth shot her way, Hang maneuvered through the battle to the fountain and pulled out nearly all the water in the feature.

For a moment, the water stood still, reflecting the moonlight in a ball over their heads, until Hang, with a fluid motion of her arm, dropped it onto the ground. The water didn’t make an impact but evaporated into a thick mist as Hang bent it, spreading the fog around the entire headquarters.

The fight didn’t stop. Haruko was immediately hit in the shoulder by a chunk of rock, which she immediately sent back in the direction it came from. She lifted another wall to hide behind, and to her surprise, Hang showed up out of the fog right next to her.

“What now?” Haruko asked.

“Now that I’ve created the fog, Koto and Aazir should be on their way to free Cloud.” She grimaced and clutched her side, she must’ve gotten injured during the fight and wasn’t recovering from it well.

Haruko nodded. She stood up briefly to send a chunk of earth at her opponents- it was difficult to aim when she couldn’t see, but that meant they couldn’t see her either. For now, it was a waiting game. “Do you think they’re-”

Haruko’s question was cut off by a low, loud roar from above. Haruko and Hang both looked up to see Cloud descending from the heavens above. The fog around her seemed to clear as the bison descended, as she came closer Haruko could see Koto and Aazir riding her.

“Come on!” Koto yelled. Haruko could barely hear her voice over the ringing in her own ears but the message was clear. She and Hang exchanged a quick glance before racing to Cloud and climbing onto her.

As soon as Haruko and Hang were sitting in the round saddle with Aazir, Koto near-shouted the command, “Cloud, yip yip!” And pulled them into the sky. Haruko watched from above as the mist cleared and the scars of the battle became visible.