To call the city Ba Sing Se would have been an understatement. The children and soldiers entered the city on a monorail that was propelled along with Earth bending. John and the Hell Jumpers looked at the view outside the monorail windows casually. It was not that they did not appreciate the view, which was none the less impressive but, it was not the first time any of time had been to a big city. During the entire ride John remained quiet.

He was the kind of person that most of the time remained quiet unless he felt it was relevant to say something. The Kids and Leona's squad were both involved in their own conversations. Rachael had her arms crossed as she held her DMR against her shoulder as she casually looked the city as it filled her view of the horizon. So far the Native American woman had taken the approach of a casual observer. From her perspective this planet and the people in it were little different from any other places she had been or from any other person she had encountered or met. This planet was unique in its own way of course. She had seen some animals she had never encountered before and this thing called bending was something entirely new as well. But otherwise it had familiar feel to it. Rachel looked across interior toward the front of the monorail car he to see, the lieutenant was sitting in a leaned over position with her elbows placed against her knees, and her hands clasped beneath her chin while she was involved in a conversation with Silas the squads sergeant. Silas was seated across from Leona. The sergeant had the ankle of his left foot resting on his knee while he sat in a reclining position and nodded as he spoke with Leona about what their next course of action would be.

"So," Silas asked casually. "What's next?"

"Honestly Silas, I don't know." Leona answered.

Silas was quiet for a moment while he arched an eye brow and tilted his head slightly to the left.

"Seriously El Tee?"

"I'm making this up as we go along."

A moment later Leona snickered as she overheard a short exchange of words between Sokka and Toph.

"Hey don't Jinx it!" The tribesman said to his sister after remarked about her relief in reaching the city and about being grateful for coming there. "We can still be attacked by some giant exploding Fire Nation spoon. Or find out the city's been submerged in an ocean full of killer shrimp!"

Toph looked at her friend in annoyance but replied in a joking way.

"You been hitting the cactus juice again?"

"I'm just sayin', weird stuff happens to us."

"Hey lighten up," Leona teased. "You're still alive aren't you? Besides exploding spoons aren't that useful and I think it's highly unlikely that shrimp of any variety would survive long out of the water."

Toph for her part seemed to start becoming irritable.

"Back in the city, great."

Sokka seemed to disagree with Toph's sour mood about Ba Sing Se.

"What's the problem? This place is amazing!" Sokka spoke in reply to Toph's bleak statement.

"It's just a bunch of walls and rules." The blind girl said pointedly. "You wait; you'll get sick of it in a couple of days."

John didn't pay much attention to the conversations going on around him. In his mind they had gone off track more than he would have liked. So far, this had excursion become a series of one senseless distraction after another. The Spartan felt that he had run around in circles and wasting time and accomplishing nothing. Had it not been for his reserved demeanor or his high levels of self-control it is likely that he would lose his temper a long time ago. It was true that this situation was starting to irritate him; however it was mostly derived from the fact that he felt as if he were unable to do anything useful or productive. John snorted through his nose to clear his mind as the monorail came to a stop. The Master Chief waited a moment to allow his emotions to simmer down, while the other passengers exited the monorail car.

When John stepped out the door he noticed that the group had traveled with, (Leona and her squad along with the Avatar and his companions) the Spartan noticed a woman standing just in front of them a small gust of wind blew her hair to the side, the woman in question was in John's opinion unremarkable save for one special detail; the smile she was wearing on her face was rather strange. The Spartan had seen people smile before, he had smiled with a toothy grin in his youth, but the smile he saw on this woman's face was so wide that it seemed that she could swallow a water melon whole.

It was at the point when the Master Chief had joined his traveling companions that he had started to get the impression that this whole thing was going to get very interesting in the Chinese sense of the word. The new fiasco would start just the woman with the strange smile introduced herself.

"Hello my name is Joo Dee!" The woman said excitedly. I have been given the great honor of the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Katara, and Toph. Welcome to our wonderful city shall we get started."

"So they decided to give a tour guide." Cortana inside John's helmet "that's rather nice of them."

"Something is off about that woman." John said aloud.

"Yeah," Leona agreed, "Something is definitely odd about her, I have seen perky people before, and they're very annoying. But this is different it's almost as if Judy here had recited this speech a million times."

Something about this entire situation was already getting weird. John found more evidence to support his hypothesis when Sokka growled in annoyance and walked up to Joo Dee after she had seemingly brushed off his statement about having valuable information regarding the Fire Nation army.

"Maybe you missed what I said." Sokka spoke in a flustered tone. "We need to talk to the king about the war, it important."

Unfortunately Joo Dee's reply was not helpful. In fact it would seem that Sokka was being outright ignored.

"You're in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here."

The tour guide's statement made Leona snort and mutter something in English.

"What a load of bullshit."

"Yeah," Silas answered "I hate this place already."

"This is going to suck…Hard" Diego muttered.

"It could be worse." Rachael reminded.

"Please don't say that, Birdie." The lieutenant said in exasperation, as such words often tended to be prophetic.

There were reasons why John disliked being the center of attention. And one biggest reasons, was Hero Worship. And when the female tour guide addressed him with a new moniker the Spartan rested to slap his visor and glare upward.

"You must be the Jade Warrior and his acolytes."

John wore a glowering expression behind his helmet. The city Ba Sing Se was already becoming more trouble than it was worth.

"Excuse me?" The Master Chief asked.

"Welcome to Ba Sing Se." Joo Dee Said with a toothy grin.

Leona sighed irately over a secure radio channel as she addressed the Spartan.

"Just play along for now Master Chief."

Moments later John and his traveling companions were herded into a large carriage pulled by pair massive flightless birds called ostrich horses. The primitive vehicle was comparable to a tour bus. The UNSC personal who were starting to dislike the situation more because of the annoying quality that Joo Dee voice had taken ever since they had first met. For it was like some was trying to piss in their ear and tell them it was raining. This assessment seemed to become self-evident as soon at the tour started.

"This is the lower ring." The tour guide announced.

"What's the wall for?" Katara asked.

The answer Katara recived seemed almost as if it had been rehearsed or something.

"Oh, Be Sing Se has many walls! There are the ones outside protecting us, and the ones inside, that help maintain order. This is where our newest arrivals live, as well as our craftsman and artisans, people that work with their hands. It's so quaint and lively!"

"I'm getting a bad felling about this place, Chief." Cortana spoke.

"No kidding." John answered. "How so?"

"I'm formulating a hypothesis about it." Cortana answered.

"What hypothesis?" John Inquired. "Why are you being so cryptic?"

"For now call it a hunch"

"Wonderful."

John looked out of a window and saw what one would call a slum. The Spartan nearly shook his head. The people here were doing little better than those outside the walls of the massive city. It was almost if these walls were in place to keep these people out of sight and out of mind.

"So, you're saying that this city is a police state." The Noncom

"That's what I'm starting to think." The AI

"I think that the Avatar and his friends, are going to in a complicated situation."

"Our life is always interesting." Cortana quipped. "I doubt that's going to change any time soon."

The tour continued into the middle ring of the city. The Spartan and the hell jumpers didn't show it but they were not appreciative of the tour for them it was mealy a formality. Leona and Rachael shared look of boredom and fraying patience. The soldiers had no interest in learning trivia about Ba Sing Se. And in the collective opinion of the UNSC personal accompanying the group of children Joo Dee was ranking among the most annoying people they had ever met. It difficult for John or the ODST's not slap their foreheads or tell their tour guide to 'Shut the hell up' as she opened her mouth again and continued to talk about Ba Sing Se was the best place in the world when clearly it was not.

"This is the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se, home to the financial district, shops and restaurants, and the university."

At this point it seemed likely that Sokka would soon be blowing a gasket. He leaned forward and spoke to Joo Dee.

"Yeah, we met a professor from the Ba Sing Se University. He took us to an ancient underground library where we discovered information about the war that is absolutely crucial for the Earth King to hear!"

Unfortunately, Joo Dee Seemed to ignore every other word the tribesman had said. The tour simply continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

"Isn't history fascinating? Look, here's one of the oldest towns in the Middle Ring, Town Hall!"

"Is that woman deaf? She only seems to hear every other word I say." Sokka spoke.

"It's called 'Being Handled'." Toph pointed bluntly "Get used to it."

(* * * * * * *)

When the tour was finally over, Lieutenant Stark went about getting things set up as soon everyone had into the housing that was set aside. Leona's first order was business to have the newly repaired pelican of the UNSC Hekate prepped and ready to go on her orders, for a supply run. Her intention was to convert this place into a temporary command center. The aircraft would arrive at night carrying the equipment that she had requested. It was precaution to keep the activity away from prying eyes. The sight of Dai Li agents she had seen earlier, made it clear that they would have someone looking over their collective shoulders 24/7. Presently the Children had headed out to investigate the whereabouts of their sky bison. Leona thought that the Avatar and his friends had admirable determination in this matter; however it was unlikely they were going to find this animal so easily by going around and asking questions. And while Aapa was rather large and difficult not to notice, it seemed rather unlikely that the kids would find the sky Bison on the first day. Due to the size of the city they were searching through.

She did not blame the kids for headed out. In fact Leona felt that it would productive for the children to head out and blow off some steam. From what the Master Chief had told her it seemed that those kids had been through a rather stressful ordeal. It had the added advantage of getting them out of the way, so that she could get the pelican unloaded without any distractions. However as a precaution she had the Spartan keep a discreet eye on them. God only knew how much trouble they would be getting into otherwise. Leona peered out a window and checked the horizon and noted that the sun was beginning to set. The lieutenant placed two fingers against the earpiece she was wearing and spoke into the microphone attached to it.

"Is the equipment I asked for loaded into the pelican?"

Leona waited a moment until a male voice answered her inquiry.

"Yes, El Tee. We have everything you asked for packed up and ready to go. All we need, is your go ahead."

"Copy that." Leona answered "Bring it over to my location."

"Understood, we're headed over with the care package now; ETA ninety minutes."

"Good, I'll be holding you to that Crew Chief."

"Yeah," The Crew Chief answered, "I hear ya over and out."

The pelican arrived at later in the day as the lieutenant had expected. She knew that the aircraft was going to attract attention, which way why she had made arrangements to have the aircraft drop the requested supplies and equipment from high altitude. Leona looked up expectantly as the crates slowly lowered to the ground. Leona then looked over her shoulder and addressed Silas and the rest of her squad. She wanted get this over quickly because she had felt that they had already attracted enough attention.

"Alright people let's get out there! We don't have all day!"

As the Pelican's cargo ramp lowered the ODST's ran out and started moving cargo as it slid down the ramp. In all the contents of that the Pelican was dropping included two portable weapons lockers, another crate of communications equipment, along with a holo plinth for Cortana. There were other things brought into the house as well but these items took priority over everything else. When the squad of hell jumpers had finished unloading the cargo from the drop ship, Lieutenant Stark wasted little time in having everything brought into house.

"Let's get this stuff inside now! Double time it people!"

The first order of business was to make sure that both of the weapons lockers were secured and locked up tight. It was common sense proven by Earth's history that children and firearms did not mix well. Afterward Diego and Carl went about setting up the communications equipment along with the holo plinth and other electronic equipment, which was currently being installed by Carl and Diego. Leona paced back and forth as she considered the situation. The reason she sent out the Master Chief was for something other than babysitting. Rather he was also sent out to observe the city in more detail and to confirm her suspicions.

Something about this city didn't sit right with her. She couldn't shake the feeling some one was constantly looking over her shoulder. And when her suspicions were correct it was always the same people; the distinguished Dai Li agents. The Dai Li seemed more like the Gestapo of Nazi Germany rather than an actual law enforcement agency. Ba Sing Se was a prison, not a safe haven.

(* * * * * * *)

Earlier in the day at Ba Sing Se University.

The Master Chief's current mission was to conduct overmatch without being discovered by the group of children that he was supposed to look after and sear for prying eyes. Particularly those of the Dai Li. The Term overmatch was derived from US military doctrine during the 21st century Ce. The principal being that a small group observes the surrounding terrain to provide support to friendly units with covering fire or by simply notifying friendly forces of the terrain and what the opposition from the enemy is like.

Presently the Spartan was observing the group of children from a rooftop that overlooked the street. At this moment John Saw the children conversing with what looked like a young man in front of a building known as Ba Sing Se University. And as one would expect from such an establishment, the place was busy, as made evident by the numerous students and faculty members going about their business. However this little detail was irrelevant, as the Spartan's attention was directed at Aang and his friends, along with the person they were talking to. John guessed that the man the Avatar and his friends were talking was probably a student or at the very least a teacher at the university.

The Master Chief observed the group of children through the scope of his battle rifle. He was only able to observe body language due to the facts that one he was to too far to hear what they were saying and two, the background noise of Ba Sing Se's citizens going about their business made that even more difficult. What John was able to determine for certain was that, whatever they were talking about; the subject matter was unwelcome. It was easy for The Master Chief to see because how nervous the university student seemed and how eager he was to end the conversation and go about his business. In fact the university student was so frantic, that he tripped over himself and dropped the collection of scrolls he was carrying. The frantic young man then hurriedly picked up the papers he had dropped and walked off at a brisk pace, while he was constantly looking over his shoulder with a nervous and fearful look on his face. What John didn't notice was that Joo Dee was waving with at the frantic college student the same odd trademark smile on her face.

John looked up to see that it was starting to get late in the day. John continued to follow the children while jumping from rooftop to rooftop as the carriage made its way back to the housing that was aside for them. While the Master Chief was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he began putting recent events into perspective. The Spartan was curious as to what made the college student from the conversation he had observed earlier so nervous. This event combined with he had seen earlier from the tour of the city along with a candid discussion with Lieutenant Stark about her suspicions about Ba Sing Se, made the master chief think that something was definitely off. When John came to an alley aside from the housing that had been set aside for the Avatar and his friends, he calmly step off the ledge of the roof and landed with a dull thud that kicked up a small cloud of dust at his feet. The Noncom then pressed his back against the wall of the house behind him and slowly inched his way to the edge of the alley way. While doing this, John slowed his breathing with short shallow breaths in an attempt to further his chances to remain undiscovered. By then he could easily over hear Joo Dee's irritatingly perky and overly rehearsed voice.

"Well, I'm sorry no one has seen your bison. Why don't you go get some rest? Someone will be over with dinner, later."

John relaxed a little as he heard the Carriage drive off. He was about to make his way inside the house through the back door to report to the Lieutenant for debriefing when he overheard Sokka's voice.

"Hey come with me."

The Spartan decided to continue watching the kids for a little while and used a window ledge as a platform to give him an extra boost as he jumped up the opposing wall and climbed up the roof. From the Roof top John quietly followed the group in a hunched over position. The Spartan continued to watch as Sokka knocked on the door of a house across the street. John was eager to actually hear what was going on with perfect clarity this time so he decided to jump across the street to the roof of another house. The Spartan took several steps backward to back ledge of the roof of the house he was standing on, before going at a full sprint. Amazingly enough the Master Chief was able to make the distance across the street with ease as he landed on the opposing roof with a forward somersault, with the battle rifle he was carrying clutched tightly against his torso. John halted his momentum with the palm of his left hand. The Spartan then got up from his kneeling position and made his way closer as to over hear the conversation Sokka and the rest of the group of children were having with the man who had opened the door that the tribesman had knocked on earlier. John settled into a comfortable position, slowed his breathing, and ease dropped on the conversation.

"You're the Avatar!" The man at door answered and introduced himself. "I heard you were in town. I'm Pong. "

"Nice to meet you Pong." Wang's voice answered politely.

"So, Pong, what's goin' on with this city? Why is everyone here so scared here to talk about the war?" Sokka asked.

From the sound off Pong's voice it was obvious to John that the man was trying to avoid the subject of Sokka's question.

"War? Scared? What do you mean?"

"I can feel you shaking." Toph deadpanned in annoyance.

"Look, I'm just a minor government official." Pong said frantically. "I've waited three years to get this house. I don't want go get into trouble."

"Get in trouble with whom?" Katara asked.

Pong made a hushing sound before finally answering the water bender's question with a nervous whisper.

"Shh, listen; you can't mention the War here. And whatever you do, stay away from the Dai Li."

Back on the roof top Cortana spoke to John from inside his helmet.

"Well that certainly explains some things."

"The lieutenant's suspicions were correct." The Spartan confirmed. "We need to get back and tell her what's going on."

While The Gang stood in front of Pong's doorway staring at one another in confusion, John decided to take advantage of the distraction and make his way back to the Lieutenant and report to her what he had learned. He had done this the same way he had come previously to Pong's house by jumping across the street via roof top. While the children came to the front entrance of the prearranged housing that now served as a temporary HQ; the master chief made his way to the back of the house. Upon entering through the back door, the Spartan made his way to the holo plinth situated inside the living. The pylon he walked to was waist-high by his standards. This meant that The Master Chief would bend down to slide the data chip holding his AI companion Cortana and install her into the system.

The Spartan started the procedure by reaching up behind his head to remove the chip from the slot situated on at the back of his helmet, just above the base of his skull. John stood up and waited a few moments for Cortana to fully integrate into the system. The Process began when a luminous blue digitized orb with lines of data orbiting it levitated over the shallow mushroom-shaped top of the holo plinth. A split second later Cortana presented herself in her avatar form. This just so happen to be a semi nude holographic woman with digitized streams of data running up and down here body similar to the way that blood would circulate through the body of a human being.

As luck would have it Sokka along with the other children were walking into through the door at that very moment. As an artificial intelligence, Cortana had always been curious about human behavior. So obviously, she was amused at the Gang's collective reactions. Toph seemed oblivious to Cortana's presence, however Sokka was obviously distracted since he was gawking at Cortana's holographic form and did not realize where he was walking until he had tripped over a bundle of wires and fell flat on his face. Katara covered Aang's eyes and made it point to be looking elsewhere.

"What's with you guys?" Toph asked.

"Toph!" Katara exclaimed. "Close your eyes! You shouldn't be looking at such vulgar things!"

"Hold on, Sweetness." Toph relied in mixture of confusion and irritation. "What are talking about? In case you've forgotten I'm blind."

"It's nice being the center of attention for once." Cortana chimed teasingly.

"You're not helping the situation." The Master Chief riposted.

John sighed and braced himself for inevitable complications. He was now going to have to introduce them to the voice in his head. The problem was that John was unable to give the kids an exact explanation of whom or what Cortana was. The conversation was an odd one. In some ways it had threatened to derail into a debate about artistic interpretations of the human body vs. pornography. Not that these kids knew about what porn was but, sometimes children could surprise you. This sort of situation had never come up before; the UNSC was a military organization where everyone was expected to act their age. Or at least act as if they had some semblance of maturity. John was metaphorically stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Hey Katara, whets wrong? I can't see anything." Aang protested.

The Spartan emotions were unreadable to Aang and the water tribe siblings but, Cortana was quite certain that John was in a state of frustration. The A.I's conclusion was derived from her close relationship with the Spartan. The situation became worse when Aang peeled Katara's hands from his eyes just in time to see Cortana Place a hand on her hip, strike a pose and blow a kiss at him. Aang blushed and John tried very hard not to slap the visor of his helmet.

(* * * * * * *)

The next morning was surprisingly quiet despite what happened during the previous evening. John had been up since midnight, do to the fact that he was by habit a light sleeper. He was one those people who could be well rested with little more than three to four hours of actual sleep. While everyone else was sleeping John moved about the perimeter of the house to make sure that it had remained secure throughout the night. Afterward the Master Chief procured a set of Allen wrenches and other small tools and laid them about in neat pile as he sat on the stone floor cross-legged, and began dismantling the battle rifle he had carried during his trip here. The Spartan knew as well as any other soldier that failing to maintain your weapons could result in death because of your gun jamming in the middle of a fire fight. Which was why periodically cleaning and inspecting your weapons was so important. This was reinforced when, he remembered the words of his Drill Instructor and mentor Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez.

"If you take of you care of your equipment. Your equipment will take care of you. So remember to keep your weapon clean; I didn't waste all this time training all of you, just to die of incompetence! "

John huffed beneath his breath with as his mouth curved into a shallow smile of amusement behind the visor of his helmet. Franklin Mendez was one of few people outside of his brothers and sisters in arms in SPARTAN program that he could truly trust. It wasn't like he was paranoid around strangers, John trusted his fellow to do their duty and watch his back if need be, and it wasn't like the Avatar and his friends were bad people but with outsiders his trust was provisional. John was the type of person who took a lot of work to gain his trust.

Despite the bulk of the gauntlets John's hands moved with surprising dexterity as he expertly dismantled the frame of the battle rifle and set the screws neatly aside and grabbed a brush shaped like a cotton swab at the top along a small bottle of cleaning oil. The Noncom then carefully extracted the barrel from the firearm he was working on and inspected it for a moment. He noticed that since he had burned through so much ammunition in such a short time, that he noticed a large amount of black residue inside the barrel. The Spartan sighed he would have liked to have gotten this taken care of earlier. However John didn't waste time worrying about that. There was no time like the present. He took the cleaning brush and dipped into it the bottle of oil before beginning to scrub out the residue from inside the rifle barrel.

John continued to clean and reassemble the gun through the night. The Spartan took his time. There was no need rush. He had a rare moment of peace and quiet, which was something he learned to take advantage of when possible. The Spartan temporarily stopped cleaning the inside of the rifle barrel to inspect his handwork. Most of the gunpowder residue had taken care of. The Master Chief continued to scrub the barrel for another half an hour before being satisfied with his work. After finishing a thorough inspection and cleaning of the other part of the battle rifle he began to reassemble it. Putting the gun back together took little more than half a minute because of how familiar he was with the weapon. John then shook the battle rifle lightly to make sure that everything was in place and that nothing had come loose. Afterward the Master Chief made a final visual inspection and set the gun down.

Next John repeated the same process with the sub machine gun; which had surprisingly, in his opinion had seen little use. As such it did not need nearly as much time to clean. After fifth teen minutes of work, the Spartan finished with the sub machine gun and decided to inspect the machete and combat knife. The Master Chief liked to keep busy; it kept him from thinking about the past. Thinking about the past often brought back vivid memories. This was one of the reasons why he preferred to focus on the task at hand. Not all of his memories were bad but living in the past was a luxury that people in his profession could ill afford. Often at times he remembered past missions in complete detail. He had been to strange places, seen some scary shit, and did things so crazy that you would have to be there, if only to considering what the Master Chief just did to even be remotely possible. Although despite having done things what many would consider to be 'Bat Shit crazy'; much of his actions were in fact by the book. The crazy stuff was what one could call a calculated risk. A lot was still reckless and foolish but, he had usually made sure that his actions would not endanger anyone else. One the last things he wanted were some one to go down with him, on account of his own foolishness.

Eventually John had finished checking and repairing his equipment. He now found himself in a dilemma of having nothing to do. At one end it was vexing although on another he was also quite patient. The Spartan decided first of all he needed put everything away. And then he would simply wait till morning.

(* * * * * * *)

Katara's first order of business this morning was to check the mail. She stepped out the door with a yawn and a stretch before coming to a mail box. Katara then sorted through the letters with casual disinterest until one document in particular caught her attention and caused her to gasp in excitement. Moments Katara rushed back to the front door, eager to share, what she thought, was good news.

Katara entered the Living room to see her friends lounging around in the living room. Four of the hell jumpers were involved in a card game. The tribeswoman noticed the woman called Rachael laughing out loud as the three men playing with her, threw their cards down on the table in a mixture of disgust and defeat.

John was conversing with his A.I. companion Cortana and Lieutenant Stark over what their next course of action. The stillness of this scene was interrupted by the sound of Katara's voice.

"I got it! I know how we're going to see the Earth King!"

"How are we supposed to do that?" Toph agued before mimicking Joo Dee's voice, "One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King!"

Katara answered Toph by reading the piece of paper in her hands.

"The King is having a party tonight for his pet bear."

"You mean platypus bear?" Aang asked.

"No, it just says 'bear'."

The conversation continued when Sokka suggested that the animal in question was a 'Skunk Bear'. Toph offered her opinion that perhaps the Earth Kings pet was an 'Armadillo Bear'. Katara confirmed that none of her guesses were correct.

"Just... bear."

"This place...is weird." Toph spoke.

Moments later Katara's enthusiasm returned.

"The palace will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd!"

Toph lay down and calmly said "Won't work."

"Why not?" Katara asked with confusion.

Toph casually explained her reasoning as she grabbed a pastry from the bowl next to her.

"Well, no offense to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd will spot you a mile away. You've got no manners!"

Since Cortana had been wired into the entire building, she was able to see and hear everything. The artificial intelligence did not say anything but she had a feeling that this plan was going to be doomed from the start. Toph was right in regards to the fact that the children would not be to just waltz in through the front entrance. However Toph due to her young age was naïve to the fact that this wasn't only a high society party but also since this was the birthday party of high standing political official their was no going to some extremely tight security present. And there was no doubt that the Dai Li would be present for this occasion. This important factor had unfortunately skipped the minds of the avatar and his friends, as Katara responded with an indignant expression.

"Excuse me? I've got no manners?! You're not exactly "lady fancy fingers!"

Toph let out a belch and continued talking as if nothing had happened and that she didn't care that Katara had felt insulted by that statement.

"I learned proper society behavior and chose to leave it." As the blind girl had said this she ironically tossed a half eaten pastry carelessly aside. "You never learned anything. And frankly, it's a little too late."

Just as she finished speaking the blind girl picked her nose and flicked snot off from her finger. Sokka didn't seem dissuaded in the least and joined in on the conversation.

"Aha, but you learned it! You could teach us!"

"Yeah, I'm mastering every element. How hard could manners be?" Aang added.

The avatar then grabbed curtain and wrapped and around his body like a robe and began speaking to his pet lemur Momo.

"Good evening, Mr. Sokka Water Tribe, Ms. Katara Water Tribe, Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty. Your Momo-ness."

Sokka grabbed another curtain wore like a robe as well before joining in with his friend Aang.

"Avatar Aang, how do you do? Go on."

Aang bowed to Sokka. And Sokka bowed back. Eventually this became a contest as the two boys bowed back and forth trying to outdo one another. This kept going for a few seconds before Aang and Sokka's heads bumped into one another forced them both to fall backwards. At that point Toph walked forwards towards Katara while the boys were still on the floor. And continued to speak from where she had left.

"Katara might be able to pull it off, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys!"

"But I feel so fancy!" Sokka protested with the curtains still wrapped over his body.

Moments later, the piece of snot Toph flicked away earlier unceremoniously fell from the ceiling and landed on top of the water tribesman's head. The Master Chief's A.I. Companion, Cortana had been watching this charade from the beginning; and while what had happened was humorous it was still something that raised alarm. From her stand point the children had no idea what they were getting into.

Cortana decided it was best that she inform the lieutenant about what the kids had in mind hopefully; Miss Stark would be able to talk some sense into them.

(* * * * * * *)

Leona paced the roof top in frustration. She couldn't believe that these kids were planning something so reckless. She couldn't fault the Master Chief because the man was consummate professional. The lieutenant knew that he would have strongly advised against them doing something like this. Leona shook her head in disgust and snorted through her nostrils, before turning to look at The Master Chief and her squad whom she had gathered to discuss this development.

"So let me get this straight." Leona said, addressing John. "You joined these kids on an expedition to some ancient library buried in the sands. Where it just so happens that one of them found the date to a solar eclipse that will apparently make this thing called fire bending impossible for a brief period of time."

"Yes ma'am." The Spartan answered.

"Aaah shit." Leona muttered. "That would explain why they are so eager to meet this Earth King so badly." Leona took a deep breath. "Alright speak candidly people. Tell me what you think."

"You have to give them points for guts." Karl spoke.

"I with the Lieutenant on this." Silas said. "Those kids are being stupid. I mean; do they really expect to just waltz in and talk to this 'Earth King' guy?"

Rachael, the Native American woman shrugged.

"No, it probably won't be that easy. However I doubt that's going to deter them. I also doubt that they'll listen to us about why they shouldn't be going through with this."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Diego added. "It's like someone's about to step on a landmine and we're about to be caught in the explosion."

"And you, Master Chief?" Leona asked.

"I agree." The Spartan answered.

"With whom?"

"All of them. This situation is far from ideal and those kids have no Idea what they are getting into. Best case scenario they don't even get past security."

"Worst?" The Lieutenant inquired.

"We end up having to stage a rescue op."

"Some one should tell the universe to go screw itself." Leona said aloud in Japanese.

(* * * * * * *)

Leona had finally come to the conclusion that in some way would seem morally reprehensible. The lieutenant was going to allow the children go along with their plan so that she could sort out her own suspicions and confirm without a doubt, whether or not she was simply being paranoid. Ever since she had caught sight of the Dai Li agents in Ba Sing Se Leona could help but feel uneasy about them and the way they were constantly staring at people.

It was for that reason that she had the Master Chief follow the children to the Earth Kings palace. Leona agreed with the assessments of both the Master Chief and her squad. Hopefully this crazy plan that the kids came up with wouldn't go anywhere and they would do the sensible thing. However thanks to hearing John's testimony about his brief time with the children, Leona was able to discern that these children were desperate. And she knew that desperate people often didn't make the wisest of choices.

For now, there wasn't much Leona could do. The lieutenant took some small comfort in the fact that she had the Master Chief keeping a watchful eye on the avatar and his friends. Leona had some discomfort with this decision because, she felt as if she were taking advantage of people with this course of action. In a way she was wondering why she even came to this city or why she didn't just leave once they had escorted the refugees to Ba Sing Se.

The answer lied with her conscience. After her home on the colony world be burned down from orbit like the rest of the planet, she had more protective of the people around despite the fact that she never showed it; as it was hidden beneath a veneer of a down to business mentality.

Leona came to a chair at the dining table and buried her face into her hands before groaning in frustration. She felt rather certain that this situation was about to get messy fast. The lieutenant could do nothing but prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

(* * * * * * *)

John moved about the outer perimeter of the Palace walls trying to find a way in without being noticed. Eventually the Spartan was able to take advantage of the frantic activity going about the palace grounds and was able to scale a wall unnoticed. At one point John saw Katara and Toph trying to get in through the front entrance but thankfully the guard they were talking to, was doing his job.

The Master Chief stayed in the background shrouded by the shadows of the wall secretly hoping that the girls would give up on this charade and go home. Unfortunately Toph was a stubborn girl who would not take no for an answer. John soon noticed a carriage enter the massive court-yard. A man came out of the carriage door while a pair of Dai Li agents bowed to him. The Master Chief surmised that the man those agents were either their leader or at the very least an official of some importance.

It seemed that at that moment Katara had an idea. She walked over to the man who had just exited the carriage and decided to speak with him. For a moment the Master Chief observed this with confusion and curiosity; wondering what exactly the water bender was up to. John strained his hearing to figure out what Katara was saying a complete stranger, but he was unable due to the background noise emanating from the mass of people who crowded the courtyard. Surprisingly enough this man who was a complete stranger had decided to help Toph and Katara enter into the front entrance without any trouble. John didn't like this situation from the start and he sure hell did not like it now. Something about the mystery man who was presently escorting the girls into the party that didn't sit well with the Spartan. He couldn't place it exactly but the man just seemed shifty.

An outside observer may simply assumed John was being paranoid. However the Master Chief had worked in the field long enough to have learned the value of trusting his instincts. And now his instincts where telling that this mystery man was dangerous and that the children would need to be forcibly removed from the situation ASAP before things got out of hand.

Avatar and his friends planed this debacle on a whim and now, it seemed that John's fears seemed to be right on the money. For a moment the soldier considered whether or not he was overreacting. However something at back of his head told him that considering the stranger's connections with the Dai Li; it would best to err on the side of caution.

The Spartan knew right away that it would be impossible to get in through the main entrance without making a scene. Being discovered was the last thing that he wanted at the moment. John took the time to think. He knew that there would be alternatives he just had to find them.

The Spartan started his search by continuing along the perimeter of the courtyard from atop the same wall he had stood on to observe the girls at the front entrance. Eventually he spotted an opening he could exploit. The security seemed rather lax at the side entrances. John supposed that it was probably because it was a servant's entrance.

The Master Chief looked around to make sure that no one was watching him before sprinting to the entrance and skidding to halt inches from the door frame. John peered through the door way. He was in a hurry but, that didn't prevent him from being cautious. He needed to avoid being discovered and getting forced into a fight. Especially since this time he was armed with nothing more than a combat knife and a silenced pistol. And contrary to popular belief a silencer did not completely remove the sound of a gun shot, rather it muffled the noise; thus lowering the odds of someone discovering that a gun had been fired until the shooter had left the area.

It wasn't had to navigate for John to navigate his way back to the party; he simply followed the noise. Soon enough he saw Aang and Sokka back to back disguised as busboys serving refreshments. They were involved in a conversation. It was obvious that they were looking for something or someone. There was a brief comical moment when a familiar brown and white tail was sticking out of the tall white hat Aang was wearing and began wagging in Sokka's face much to his annoyance. It didn't take long for the tribesman to decide that he had enough of Momo's antics and shoved the tail back into Aang's hat. Soon afterward as John's often amazing, universe defying luck would have it, he caught sight of Toph and Katara. John decided that this would be a good chance to intercept them and drag the kids back home. Unfortunately at this moment the Master Chief's luck became a double edge sword. Because Joo Dee their annoying tour guide had appeared just he felt that he was close enough to engage the children in a private conversation about thinking things through and how they were going back to house whether they liked it or not. However it seemed that fate seemed intent on screwing with the Master Chief at this time. Interestingly enough John was now close enough to hear the unease in Joo Dee's voice.

"What are you doing here? You have to leave immediately, or we will be in terrible trouble!"

"Not until we see the king." Sokka countered while blocking the woman's path with a serving tray.

"You don't understand. You must go." Joo Dee responded.

On one level John felt somewhat sympathetic to Joo Dee's plight. Like everyone else in this accursed city she was just another victim under the thumb of the Dai Li. And to her credit she at least seemed aware of the danger lurking in the dark corners of the palace and the city. From what the Master Chief had been able to find out, it seemed that he that the Dai Li didn't like it when people didn't play by their rules. Unfortunately the Children seemed unaware of the danger that seemed to be running head long into without realizing it. And to make matters worse Aang inadvertently ended up blowing his own cover when, Joo Dee shoved Sokka who in turn bumped into Aang.

This of course caused Aang to lurch forward and spill water on one of the guest. The woman who Aang had her clothing, make up and hair turned into a soggy mess. Aang of course apologized and asked the lady not to panic as he used a gust of wind to blow dry the woman's entire body. This of course not only dried the woman's clothing but also made her clothing, make up and hair a mess. It also had the detrimental effect of compromising Aang's disguise as the gust of air blew of the hat that had been hiding the blue arrow that had been tattooed to his head, along with Momo, who had been sitting on under the hat. The woman Aang had bumped into and air dried earlier was shocked for a moment before smiling in amazement.

"The Avatar! I didn't know the Avatar would be here."

In that moment Joo Dee's jovial facade became an expression of genuine dread. Aang grinned sheepishly as the eyes of all the guests in attendance the party were on him. The avatar responded to the sudden attention by blushing with nervous laughter and waving shyly at the people now staring. This gave Sokka an idea as he leaned over to Aang and whispered into his ear.

"You keep their attention while I look for the king."

It soon became clear that Aang was better as a distraction than he was at doing reconnaissance. The Avatar was able to keep the attention of the party guests by jumping out of the busboy uniform he was disguised in earlier and landing atop a table. Aang started bending liquid from the various cups of the guest seated at the table. Next the air bender began balancing on a pitcher and brought the accumulated liquid over his head into a multicolored swirling orb. While every one was pleasantly distracted by the young Avatar's antics, Sokka vanished into the crowd; watching and waiting for the Earth King to make an appearance at the party.

John kept out of view, hidden behind a giant lion statue on the outskirts of the courtyard. so far it seamed that everything that could go wrong with situation, was quite likely to go wrong. Every time the Spartan thought that he may have had a chance of discreetly making contact with one of the children, something always came up. Either they vanished into the crowd moments later or there were too many prying eyes. In any case it seemed to John's perspective that because the Avatar and his friends had chosen to rush into this situation half cocked, that this mission of their's was botched up from the beginning.

This wasn't the way you ran an op; you didn't just wing it! You needed to plan them through. From what John was aware of it seemed very likely that the children had no exit strategy. In fact the master chief felt certain that Aang and his friends hadn't planned this out at all. Let alone how they were going to escape from the palace if things got out of hand.

These kids have no idea what they're doing.

Eventually John caught sight of a curtained palanquin carried by eight guards. He assumed that whomever was in the palanquin was the Earth King that these kids were so eager to meet. It was also at this time that the gaangs eagerness overrode their caution. Aaang, being impulsive like many children his age tended to be; rushed head long down the table he been performing John observed as one by one all of the children were eventually intercepted by Dai Li agents. Sokka was the first to be captured, as attempted to navigate is way through the crowd. The tribesman tried to follow the Earth King when a of Dai Li agents grabbed him from behind and restrained his arms while leading him away from the earth king through the crowd.

John then observed a Dai Li agent appear from behind a pillar, causing him to reach for his suppressed pistol. However John noticed that presently the agent's attention was not focused on him but rather on Toph and Katara. The Dai Li agent's hands looked as if they were covered in gloves made from hardened clay. The agent thrust his hands forward causing a group of outstretched stone hands to come towards the two girls. One pair of stone hands captured toph while Katara was looking away. One hand grabbed the blind girl from behind while another covered the blind girl's mouth to keep her from calling out. Within moments katara was apprehended in the same way.

While this had all been happening the Master Chief had considered whether or not to intervene. In the end he decided against any premature actions. John reasoned that he could follow the ones who had detained the children and find a way to break them out later.

The Spartan faded back into the shadows, behind a pillar while observing that Aang being naive and inattentive rushed toward the end of a long dinning table riding atop a cushion of air made from a swirling ball of wind. John inched closer to the Avatar in the hopes that perhaps he could at least get the Air bender to see common sense. It was quite obvious that was that Aang was completely oblivious about happened. When the kid reached the end of the elongated dinning table, he stood up and thrust his hands up in triumph.

Moments later the Master Chief noticed the same stranger he saw the same stranger who had escorted Toph and Katara into the party approach Aang at the table. John wasn't exactly sure what was going on but he was able to get a name to go with the face of this stranger as he introduced himself. The Stranger's name was Long Feng.

After Introducing himself, Long Feng gestured for Aang to follow him. The avatar hesitated for moment before hopping of the table and following Long Feng. The Master Chief was not far behind. The Spartan followed the group until they came to a pair large doors. John slowly crept forward towards the the double doors. The had an odd feeling that told him that, he was being watched as he stopped inches from the double doors and noticed three dots on the motion tracker of his HUD directly behind him. The Master Chief spun around quickly to address the situation and see three Dai Li agents standing in front of him. The Dai Li agents said nothing and gave no warning before attacking.

The Dai Li's approach may have worked on the Avatar and his friends but the Master Chief was a whole different story. John quickly shifted his body to the side as the stone hands flew forward to restrain him. However the Spartan move too fast for the flying stone hands to get a grip on him. In retaliation John grabbed his pistol and fired three double taps; two rounds into each one of the three assailants. The Spartan heard a soft rumbling sound and quickly pivoted a full 180 and met the fourth attacking Dai Li agent with a thunderous uppercut to his gut. The Dai Li agent instantly folded beneath the raw power of the Spartan's blow and began gag as he started to cough up bile from his mouth and throw up on the floor. Moments later the green armored giant grabbed the Dai Li agent by the face and slammed the back of his head against the stone wall; leaving an ichorous red trail of blood as he slowly slumped down to the floor.

With in no more than thirty seconds the Master Chief downed four Dai Li agents with what seemed as little to no effort. The Spartan took a long breath through his nostrils. He couldn't fault some one for doing their duty, but on the other John wasn't about to let himself be captured if he could help it.

The Spartan took a moment to stow the bodies in a room to the side before making his way back to the double doors. John then carefully placed the side of his head to over hear Toph's voice.

"He's your puppet!"

"Oh, no, no." John overheard Long Feng respond, "His Majesty is an icon, a god to his people. He can't sully his hands with the hourly change of an endless war."

"Sounds like a figurehead to me." Cortana spoke aloud to her companion. "Sounds to me like our new friend Long Feng is making excuses as to why he is overstepping his authority."

"Quiet!" The Spartan disciplined with a harsh raspy whisper

"Fine." Cortana pouted.

The Master Chief admonished the AI by slapping the side of his helmet before hearing Sokka's response.

"But we found out about a solar eclipse that will leave the Fire Nation defenseless. You could lead an invasion..."

Long Feng however would hear none of it and retorted angrily at Sokka with admonishment.

"Enough, I don't want to hear your ridiculous plans. There is the strict policy of Ba Sing Se that the War not be mentioned within the news of an escalating war will throw the citizens of Ba Sing Se into a state of panic."

John didn't feel surprised by the officials response. In fact he knew ahead of time that civilians were hardly ever listened to regards to military affairs unless recruited in to special projects sponsored by the government. Even then these civilians were simply seen as consultants who had little say or authority, except in regards to own projects. Provided that those said projects gave results that showed promise to justify continued funding.

The Master Chief kept his ear to the door as Long Feng continued speaking.

"Our economy would be ruined. Our peaceful way of life, our traditions would disappear. In silencing talk of conflict, Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful, orderly utopia. The last one on Earth."

John snorted at this comment. He knew bullshit when he heard it. For him it was no better than asking an ONI spook for clarification on an upcoming op only to be politely told that you on a need to know basis simply because he knew something that he did not want you to find out. The Master Chief shook his head in disappointment when it became more apparent how naïve the kids were; as made evident by Katara and Aang's responses. They just didn't get that Long Feng didn't give damn what they thought. The leader of the Dai Li would things as he saw fit and he was not about to let anyone get in the way of that. Not even the Avatar. Even as this line of thought went on inside of John's head Aang boldly stated his disagreement. His words caused the soldier to glare at the ceiling.

"'ll tell them! I'll make sure everyone knows!"

Long Feng responded with ominous words.

"Until now, you've been treated as our honored guest. But from now on, you will be watched every moment by Dai Li agents. If you mention the War to anyone, you will be expelled from the city. I understand you've been looking for your bison. It would be quite a shame if you were not able to complete your quest. Now, Joo Dee will show you to your home."

The children looked to see Joo Dee with faces of surprise. the woman in front of them was not same person that they met upon entering Ba Sing Se.

"Come with me, please." The new Joo dee spoke.

"What happened o Joo Dee?" Katara asked.

"Im Joo Dee." The woman answered with a bow. " I'll be your host as long as you're in our wonderful city."

At that moment John decided to execute a door breaching maneuver. With hard front kick the Master Chief hit the doors with enough force to cause them to slam against the walls. The Spartan then entered the room with pistol drawn as he scanned the room with a hearth lit with green fire for any hostile presence. It was needless to say that, the armored giant was met with looks of shock and surprise. That was every one save for Toph who said, "Look, the cavalry is here."

"What is the meaning of this!" Long Feng demanded.

"I came to crash a party." John understated in response. "It takes a big man to threaten children doesn't it?"

"You listening in the entire time. That means that you should already know the consequences of..."

"Ruining your fun time?" John interrupted. "You're a corrupt government official who has overstepped and abused his authority. From what I can see, you should be relieved of your duties and replaced by some one who is more competent and responsible."

"I can make you disappear." Long Feng warned.

"Your men already tried that." The Spartan answered as he walked up to Long Feng and glared down into his eyes. "They didn't do a good job. And for the record, I have a warning of my own. You so much as make one aggressive at my team or these kids, I will take a knife and slowly split your stomach open. Trust me, if you try anything I can and I will find you."