A/N: Well, here is a story that took a long time to write. It's all finished now, so you can expect reasonable update speed. The chapters are kind of short, and the story overall isn't too long, but oh well. I hope you enjoy, and if you do, feel free to favorite, follow and review.

Makoto looked appraisingly at the bounty hunter, trying to see if he was right for the job. At an outwards glance, the man seemed to fit, and his reputation said that he finished nine out of ten jobs successfully, but Makoto still wasn't sure. The job he was about to entrust to this man was extremely important, and it would not do to have him mess it up.

The bounty hunter was of medium height, with short black hair and a permanent scowl. He was wearing a black mask that concealed the top part of his face, not all that unusual considering his profession, and he was dressed all in black. A sword hung in its sheath on his hip.

"I'm willing to pay you three hundred gold pieces for this," he told the bounty hunter. "This is a very important mission, and the safety of the fire nation hinges on this. I know that you are a fire nation citizen, though you may pretend to be from around here, and I hope you understand how many people you could save by accepting."

"Get to the point," the bounty hunter said, his voice raspy and deep. "What do you want me to do?"

These were the first words the bounty hunter had said since the beginning of their meeting, and Makoto thought that his voice suited him. To say the truth, the bounty hunter had been making him slightly uncomfortable. It's not easy to talk to a man in a mask and receive no reply whatsoever; even as you know that he is listening to you.

Makoto smiled. "Ah, but see, that's the point. The job is highly secret, and I can't tell you about it until you choose to accept it."

Makoto wasn't sure, but the bounty hunter seemed to glare at him. The corners of his mouth lowered into a frown even deeper than the one he'd had before. Makoto sighed.

"Fine, but you'll understand if I have to leave out some of the details. The Earth kingdom has sent a spy to the Fire Nation royal court. We have managed to narrow the identity of the spy to five people, but so far, we don't know which one of the five it is. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate the royal court, discover who the spy is, and eliminate him. If you accept the mission I'll give you more of the specifics."

"I don't generally accept assassination missions," the bounty hunter mused, "but you say this is crucial to the fire nation security…"

Suddenly and without warning, the bounty hunter turned around and started walking away, saying "I need time to think about it. Meet me tomorrow, same place, same time." Soon he was lost in the crowd.

Makoto almost gnashed his teeth in fury. That disrespectful son of a bitch… how dare he leave like that? Didn't he know who he was talking to?

The answer was simple: yes, he did, but he also knew who he was. The bounty hunter was good and he knew it. He knew Makoto couldn't afford to leave just because of a rude gesture on his part, and he was right, too: Makoto would be back on the same spot tomorrow at the same time, whether he wanted to or not.

It wasn't as if there were no other good bounty hunters, but most of them weren't in the area, and anyway, they specialized in different types of missions. One was very good at tracking people down but didn't usually take capture or assassination missions, one only did assassination missions but, while being really good at them, the collateral damage was incredible. There were only one or two people of the required level who could spy on targets, provide the necessary information and eliminate them quietly, without collateral damage, and most of them would never dream of doing a mission that would further the fire nation's goals. This left only one option: the bounty hunter who Makoto had talked to, and judging from his behavior, he knew it too.

As an agent of Fire Nation Security and Intelligence, part of the contra-intelligence branch, Makoto couldn't hire someone based on positive rumors. He had done a thorough background check on the bounty hunter, and had come up with the following results: the man's name was Lee, he had only ever failed one mission (due to circumstances beyond his control, it would seem), he would always finish a job and he seemed to have joined the bounty hunter business about a year ago, but had already made himself a name as one of the best. It was hard to tell what Lee did before becoming a bounty hunter. There were no records of a man named Lee anywhere; the best Makoto could do was find out that Lee had apparently used a ferry once. Aside from that, the man was a fire nation citizen, and he seemed to be loyal to his country: he was known to have refused missions from Earth Kingdom intelligence, as well as from the guerilla fighting group that called itself the ASW.

Makoto sighed and began making his way from the crowded city square back to his rented apartments. The Earth Kingdom city was rather small and seemed to be in a constant state of disrepair. There were construction workers everywhere, fixing the same piece of pavement for what he swore was the fifth time or building a new house on the already overbuilt street. Most of the workers were earthbenders, which he supposed made working a lot easier. This city, while not very impressive on the outside, had a darker side that mainly came out at night- it boasted the biggest black market of pretty much anywhere, as well as the most bounty hunters this side of the Hinati river. Makoto suspected that this was the only thing keeping the city alive: the bounty hunters earned their money (he didn't even want to know how most of them did that) and then spent it in the various stores and inns the city had to offer. It would also explain the large amount of pubs; Makoto had already seen three, and was passing a fourth when a man walked up to him and tapped him on the back, once and then twice. Makoto nodded, almost unnoticeably, and, without turning around, ducked into one of the pubs. He knew without looking that the man had followed him in.

He found himself a secluded table in the corner and sat down. After a few minutes, the man joined him at the table. He was wearing the same layered green-tan clothes that the Earth Kingdom citizens favored, and he had green eyes. Makoto didn't let that fool him. He knew that the man was also an agent of the FNSI, one working under his command, to be precise.

"Any news?" he asked, not bothering to lower his voice significantly.

The man nodded. "Our friend has intercepted another letter. He tells us he suspects that he is not the only one receiving them, and that it may be possible that some of the information in the letters is the same, so for now he has to pass the information on unchanged."

Makoto sighed. "That's not good news. Has he gotten anything important so far?"

"There are some bits that could tip the scales in their favor, but as long as we know they have them, we should be able to plan accordingly. That is, if the other letter don't hold anything more valuable."

"I suppose it doesn't matter. The person writing these letters should be eliminated within a month, at least if we can trust the person I'm getting to do this."

The man smiled. "Ah. So you have hired this… Lee?"

"Found him, yes. I offered him the job. He said he needs to think about it."

"So it's not certain?"

"I think it is. My sources tell me Lee is running out of money. I pay well, and couple that with whatever patriotism he has left, I think we have him."

"I hope you're right, sir. We need these leaks to stop, soon. Still, we suspect that the worst has already been done, about a year ago."

"Oh? What happened?"

The man did lower his voice now as he said: "You know how the Avatar attacked us on the day of the comet, though we were reasonably sure he would wait until later? Seeing as there was no way for him to know about the planned attack on the Earth Kingdom?"

"Yes?"

"New information has surfaced that makes us believe he had gotten information about the attack from someone, namely, from the ASW. And there is only one way the ASW could have gotten that information."

Makoto cursed under his breath. "So the only reason we didn't succeed to destroy the Earth Kingdom once and for all was because of this one spy? And even worse, the ASW have made contact with the Avatar a year ago?"

"We believe so."

"It's personal now, Sey. I lost my nephew in that attack."

"We've all lost someone, sir."