Infiltrator

"You caught me, you caught me," he admitted, holding up his hands in defeat. "I'm just not used to having much of a family, you know? If I could call you guys that," he winked at her. When they came upon his motorcycle, he grinned and shook his head almost shyly.

"This is somethin' my pops got me as a parting gift," Kazu supplied, a faint bitter laugh escaping, something purposefully hidden there like he had some mysterious background that no one really knew about. "I'm guessing you think just because someone has a roof over their heads doesn't mean they can't have issues, huh?" he asked, looking over to her. She was interesting - the type of someone who conformed to the rules of mischief and the life of growing up broke environments, as she would put it. "I'm not saying I had it worse than any of you, because I probably didn't, but people always have problems you're unaware of. Besides, I like the cause," he shrugged. "I wanna be part of it. Isn't that why you're here?" he asked looking to her now.
 
"Sugar, your issues look would look like royalty in the comparison to many of the lost souls that we enlist. Just because they are here doesn't mean they are broken nor useless." slender fingers combed through the length of her bangs, teasing them gently softly letting her attention break away from the machine of parts and to hold firm and fast to his own.

The mischief that came naturally to her doll like features seemed fade, almost lost in a sort of flickering spree of emotions that none wanted to take the time to register long upon the alabaster skin. Nor was she really overly willing to have any of them linger there either.

"I'm here because this is where I belong." a cliché answer not summing up any sort of question he asked. Nor did it undefined it either. "It matters not to anything else," a twist on her heels in a full circle and she began to walk away from the warehouse. "Better get some sleep rookie. Tomorrow night could be eventful for you." her clear end to the discussion, the barely legal adult took to trotting across the street to the opposite side, evidently walking herself home.
 
Kazu didn't say anything to that. It was true. His life was like perfect royalty in comparison to most of the people down here. Both Kazu's and Isao's. The man dug his hands in his trouser pants, studying the woman before him as the natural mischief left her face and was replaced by a jumble of emotions no person could understand. He was curious about her, that much was true. It came naturally to him, wanting to get to know people and their backgrounds. It was like collecting stories in his head and keeping them there forever, each one amazing to him even if they seemed boring and ridiculous to others.

As Nuriye ended the conversation and dismissed him with the turn of her suede heels, he smirked to himself before getting on his motorcycle and driving to his sad excuse for a home. The next day was uneventful. All he did was try to clean up his apartment, which he did an okay job at... he guessed. And he wouldn't report in to his superiors until the end of the month. After he finished cleaning and eating, he figured he'd go into town and see if he had any word from his recruiter.
 
The diner was alive with the sound of music on the radio, the grills flaring readying themselves for the nine o’clock morning rush of business men and women alike ready to pay for a quick delicious meal to see them on their way for the day.

The white of the diner covered nearly every inch of the place from the counter tops, to the booth tables, to the walls and floor alone. Speckled on the walls were signs and posters from the upcoming games that would be held in the stadium to the park where some demonstrations would be for those of the artsy styling.

Fingers rolled and flicked the fork through her hands with skill as her eyes were drawn down to the daily paper this morning, word spreading fast about how the police had been caught blindsided by a fire while the man they were protecting had been robbed the night before. It brought a sort of odd smile to her lips, it wasn’t often a rookie made the top news so quickly. There were theories in the paper that the TTT had paid off the police for the stunt while others were so blatant to say that the organization was far too powerful for even the police to stop them. It was nice to know she was with something that held such a strong reign on the lower end city. Did her proud, it did.

“More orange juice, hun?” a portly sized woman stood at the end of her booth, jug in hand ready to fill her glass with a moment’s notice. Golden eyes strayed up before she nodded politely, “Those little hellions, causing such nice people such terror.” The woman clearly knew what she was reading, and decided to make her own comment. Nuriye smiled still as she watched the orange fluid drop and fill her glass.

“I don’t think they are all that bad. Sure their ways aren’t exactly the most righteous but they are doing things for themselves. Can’t say many in this city do that unless they are earning the higher bucks.”

Her thin lips pressed as she stood up straight seemingly mulling over what she said, “Still, I’ve heard so many ill rumours about them. They are no better than the neutralists that were so long ago now. Pushing their way's though honest good citizens and making the streets all the more frightening.” Her bland brown eyes came up to her golden ones, “Are you having breakfast hun?”

“Sure,” Nuriye curved her arms over the paper not once getting upset nor frustrated with the one sided view of this woman,rather she smoothed back the loose jet black hair from her face, not bothering to pin it up this day. “What’s on the menu this morning?”
 
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Just as Kazu had gotten into town, he realized just how difficult it might be to find Nuriye. There was no direct way to contact her or any of the other members, especially since he was given no direction by her last night. But luck had graced the man and he spotted her through a window of a diner, though he didn't recognize her at first glance since her hair was completely down, halfway down to touching the floor. She was giving her order to one of the waitresses and Kazu parked his motorcycle, going to a window and tapping the glass, surely to bring him attention by unnecessary people, but his blue eyes looking to Nuriye. It was up to her whether he was invited in or not.
 
Gracing the server with a few perfected polite words, a look that boded for her to seem more of the upstanding good citizen type and the elder woman seemed to be pleased with her. It wasn't hard to play the good girl in public, especially with those who were quick to criticize others by mere word alone.

This world wasn't all that foreign to her, she'd played many parts here when she was a mere grunt, earning her way up with dedication and valour.

Perching her chin upon the back of her hand flipping through the papers with a leisurely gaze bordering on dispassion, a soft knocking on the window brought the young woman's eyes up with a curiosity. Though it died down quickly when she seen the somewhat familiar features of Kazu. A turn of her eye over the opposite shoulder as if she was scouting out the company of the diner, Nuriye gave a slight tilt of her chin welcoming the gent inside.

She was hardly expecting him to find her, it was usually the other way around when it came to newbies. They were left to the fence for a while. Left to wonder how there contact was created with the majority of tge organization until they could prove or had been there long enough to show they weren't unlikely to be caught before they were shown the ropes fully.

Kazu was proving already he wasn't in the same league as many of there starter grunts. Ones like him were a dime a dozen, rare to find.

Returning to her previous stance reading through the city's gossip upon pages, she'd only lift her eyes through the ebony tresses when he came towards the table. A rarer sincere closed lip smile on her face in greeting, Nuriye combed back her hair with her nails, "Either you have really impeccable luck at finding me, or you live close by." She openly invited him to sit down, "Good morning to you Kazu, what great honor do I owe this morning to have your presence find my own?"
 
With the knock capturing the woman's attention, Nuriye gave a tilt of her chin to bid him inside. Kazu set his helmet aside on his motorcycle before entering the diner. He was able to hear the muffled music from the radio outside the white walls but as he stepped inside, the lively music enveloped his ears. It wasn't too loud but definitely loud enough for the majority of the guests to enjoy.

He came to her table, caught that sincere smile which made him smile as well. At her invite for him to sit down, he sat across from her. "Oh, you flatter me so," he replied, resting a hand upon his chest in mild drama before grinning. "I believe luck just so finds me to put me in your presence. Good morning, miss Nuriye. What are you having for breakfast?"
 
"A tongue made of silver will either get you into trouble or out. Which pertains to you Kazu has yet to be determined." jeweled irises glittered in amusing fashion, watching the older youth slide in across, Nuriye chuckled softly.

"Nothing more than a meal I assure you Kazu," her attention shifted to fold the paper back to the first story she read, flipped it around and smoothed it across the tabletop for his sights alone. "Seems your work takes clear notice."

The server came back, dropping off nothing more than an egg with a piece of toast with, looking to the gent across if he was dining as well.

Nuriye took the moment to eat neatly, picking more than devouring, her picking gaze moving carefully which way or another before the server woman left with or without an order from Kazu, "So," a flick of the loose hair, leaning forward the lady bender raised her brow, "Let me ask you this, where do you see your skills helping our cause Kazu? Call me rightly curious to see or rather hear what sort of personal endeavors you are wishing to seek within the company. Surely your ambitions are more than being a grunt."
 
Kazu gave an amused breath to the first statement, taking notice of the paper in her hands. He was still unaware of how his robbery made front news, but soon that was made clear as Nuriye flipped her paper around and slid it across the table for him to see. He cocked a brow before looking down, the eyebrow raising even higher as he skimmed the small printed words.

"Didn't think it'd make top news," he replied to the woman, looking up at her before the waitress returned with her order and asked for his. He politely declined and thanked her before looking back to his recruiter who was asking where his skills would help the TTT cause. He sat back against the chair leisurely.

"Well... I know how the grunts are. They don't like to think, just do. For the most part, it works - as I'm sure you know - but I hope to bring a little more to the table. I don't wish to rise to the top or take over, at least for the time being," he grinned slightly, "but I do hope to make a bit of a... smarter difference."
 
"Anything possibly related to the group is big news." she reminded, "Even little things. It's the media's way of making sure the rest of the population is aware of what's going on. Keeping things open so the public can roll and dine in peace as it were."

A spark of intelligent attention rested firm on her fair complexion, curious to hear his answer to her possibly loaded question. Finger tips traced upon the tabletop calculating his response before she would give a reply. His smirk and Nuriye dared a raised brow to his grin. "Smarter choices, such as?" she was all ears, gauging to see truly how Kazu fit into future plans. "It's a pretty bold statement from on who is new and had not seen what other plans there may already be."
 
"Right," Kazu nodded. Of course he already knew this, though. He was well aware of the media and how big of a part it played with the citizens. But still, he didn't figure his act from the other night would make front page. Though maybe it was because of how smartly he went about it...

"Oh, no," he said in agreement. "I know there's still a lot to learn and a lot to see. The TT is already smart in how we play our game, but..." he paused, searching for the right words. "I feel like we have a lot more potential we can live up to. Ways that still publicize what we are very much capable of, but in smarter... services. The way we do things, how we get what we want." He shrugged, not really knowing how else to explain it.
 
A slow blink as she chewed and swallowed, a snerk of a laugh came shortly after it all. The way he was describing it all, it sounded like he was trying to conduct a business franchise rather than a group of many socially unacceptable thugs and grunts that merely wanted ways of mischief and chaos to get back at the world and rule. Not really business savvy from her perspective.

"I think you might be barking up the wrong tree," she giggled, turned her frame to slide out of the booth tossing a few bucks onto the tabletop to cover her meal and tip alike, the young lass stretched before tussling back the ebony crown. "Look Kazu, the group is happy where it is. Sure, there are plans in motion for more but that's all on Zolt's papers not ours. You sound like you want to change things for the better, make this an oiled machine when really, this little family is content being the misfits who rag tag along. No purpose other than what's before us."

She gave a twiddling finger wave to the server receiving one back, "Half of us are just street urchins, striving and fighting the way we know how. Making it fancy just makes the rest of us seem dumb. But feel free to bring up your thoughts to that of the higher ups. I am sure you may convince them over myself. But take this from me, don't fix what's not broke." Pushing the door with her back stepping out, she flicked her gaze upwards to the slowly rising sun before she side looked along the streets.

Putting purpose to her walk, she moved along the ways without much words slipping into an alleyway that she knew well enough and kept walking until she hit a dead end. It was only then she peeked across her shoulder to see if Kazu followed or not. Either way it made no difference when the ground beneath her shifted and shook until a platform began to lower downwards - evidently more benders. If he did or not, she was riding this thing down to the bottom.
 
Kazu raised a brow, a side smile appearing though he didn't know why she was laughing until she started to explain. Sometimes his tongue didn't work to act so smoothly and he watched her rise from her seat before paying for her meal. Ah, he hadn't meant to make them sound dumb or broken. He cursed himself mentally, watching her walk out of the diner before he decided to get up and follow her.

Nuriye would see that he followed her when she glanced behind her shoulder. What looked like to be a dead end was actually a way down and he just laughed to himself lightly before running and taking the slight jump to be on the lowering piece of ground. He winked to Nuriye before smiling a bit.

"Sorry if I offended you or the group. I didn't mean to make it sound like I was some superior person. Sometimes my silver tongue does get ahead of me," he apologized, looking around him as they continued to lower.
 
Slowly being pulled inwards as the rookie jumped to the rocky side elevator ride giving her a wink, Nuriye smirked gingerly back to him before she have him a gentle wave of her hand dismissing the entire idea. "I'm not easily offended," she reached up to gently tug on some of the loose cuts of his hair, "You just seem so wily and excited for someone who just recently was accepted. Going to have to temper you down or at least find a way to contain that wild energy."

Her lips giggled softly, smoothing a palm over the apple of her own cheek. "Silver tongue is right, shouldn't you be chasing yourself a woman with such a lavish way of words?" her body turned somewhat as the platform slowed it's descend as the dark of the hole came thick around the pair of them, her eliciting the flame in a palm to give rise to the light. A haunting image of the flame compared to her eyes, the firebender suddenly started to walk forward when the ground jarred and shifted signaling the end of their descend- the hue of her flame reflecting off a few faces in the dark. "It's time you seen where we run our base operations, sugar."
 
Kazu closed an eye as Nuriye tugged on his free hair, smiling slightly. "Are other people not as excited as I am when they get accepted? I would think that they are..." he shrugged. At her next words about chasing himself a woman, he grinned a cheeky grin. She had just set herself up so perfectly that he couldn't hold back. "Well I'm working on such a thing right now," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows at her playfully. When the descending piece of earth finally reached its destination and planted itself firmly in the ground, Kazu hopped off after the female.

"This is the real thing, huh?" he asked as he followed her, blue eyes keeping watching for said headquarters.
 
Her breath scoffed openly at his wriggling brows, "Devilish but you are out of your league sugar." a flick of her own brows with a daring glint behind the spun gold, the dripping of water somewhere in the distance was the only thing heard in the underground other than their voices.

The umbra was cloying, thick enough to reach out and touch your very skin as if it wanted to pull a body into the eternal pitch, she seemed unaffected to its deep atmosphere.

"Pretty much." Her hand extended outwards with the flame on top, "We have many different ways of reaching the base under here, and every time we use a new way to enter. We can't have the cops finding us out. For all the work put in and all the people that are risking everything and nothing for this entire operation, one rat in and we would lose everything we've worked so hard for." a light soft and faded in the distance began to give rise as she let out a soft sigh. "It'd be devastating."

A swallow and a soft giggle, Nuriye shrugged unseen in the dark. "No one else has been paying attention to the way the city is crumbling on itself, strangling the lower living to a point of death. Zolt seen that we weren't. But it all comes at a cost." a flick of gold to him, "I hope you don't have reservations on the city, especially the council."
 
Kazu gasped, pretending to be offended before dying down and smiling to himself. He didn't know how much longer it would take for them to reach the place but he was hoping for sooner rather than later. He didn't mind the pitch dark surrounding them, but the atmosphere was thick and seemed to be getting thicker the further they went down. He didn't mind it too much, but put anybody in dark, tightly enclosed space and they were sure to lose their minds eventually.

But that would take more than just a few minutes and Kazu thankfully had Nuriye's voice to focus on instead. She explained to him that there were several ways of reaching their base but they used a different way each time, not taking any risk for the police to find them because they had worked so hard for so long and all it would take for them to crumble was one rat.

He chuckled lightly. "Don't worry. I don't have much out there except for my baby," he said, referring to his motorcycle before he realized that she'd probably think he was talking about an actual kid or woman. "My motorcycle, I mean," he added.
 
Raising her brows to him as the light in the tunnel of far away began to expand slowly, taking the dark away with a graze to filter in the warming illumination giving way to what appeared to look like a sunken warehouse beneath the rise of the earth. "You named your motorcycle?" she repeated before letting a chiding teasing grin play across her deep lips, "It sounds like you have no reservations and may need to get out a little more than I previously thought."

It took very little time before they broke into a massive wide space with iron sconces melded into the walls with hardened clay and dirt casting out the great array of light to make the place seem like something more from a dream than an actual place of business. There were many bodies all over the place, some acting as guards and others merely meeting up with what appeared groupings before she flicked the length of her hair out from her back. "Here we are, bridge branch of the operation. There is still the higher up head quarters that Zolt hangs around, but here... here is where you will learn and met many of us and finally get a feel perhaps for where you want to belong. We are often divided up into pairs to help with events and to make certain we keep an eye for the other. Buddy system if you might. So you'll find someone where that you can ever ask to pair up with or, one of us enforcers will hand you personally over to someone with experience. It is all a matter of opinion."
 
Kazu laughed, the sound deep yet somehow light and almost contagious. "Maybe that's subconsciously why I'm here," he retorted back, a smile taking place upon his lips.

Soon, the light at the end of the deep earthen tunnel expanded and they arrived at an extremely large space. There several people scattered about the space, and almost everything surrounding them was dark earth. Light was cast out here and there, illuminating the expanse just enough to make it seem much more dreamy than it should have appeared. It was impressive, Kazu could admit that.

He was informed that this was only the branch of the operation and it acted as a bridge to the higher-ranked levels of the headquarters in where Zolt mostly hung around. He was also told that he'd be paired with anyone of his choosing or one of the enforcers would do it for him and pair him up with someone who had more experience.

"Either sounds fine to me... whichever you think is best," he said.
 
Arching her brows to his lack lustre response smoothing her palms along the volley of her hips to find the rise of the pocket hems there, Nuriye merely gave a slight incline to her chin. What she thought best and what he thought could easily be two different thing. And potentially dangerous things.

Letting the silence take hold between them for a moment or more leading their way through some groups of people towards the steel enforced doors only seemingly to open upon their advance, the firebender woman caught a glimpse of a few higher ranked bodies inside. Unusual in their own rights but considering the feat that the group was starting to hope for, not unbelievable.

Deep green eyes turned to consider them firstly, a chocolate cropped pushed more to one side maned woman making a brushing hand to dismiss a few of her lackeys away from her side. Her gaze lifted in a firm stare down, sizing up Kazu with a careful diligence before the punkish looking woman made a shrug in what could be gathered as a passing grade. "Another one?" her tone rich though slummish in pronunciation, Nuriye gave a tilting nod to answer her. "I thought Zolt didn't want any more taken in until after the proceedings?"

"The hell if I know, I merely go where I am told and do what I'm instructed. Atlas was the one who sent me to check up the pup." Nuriye looked down to her nails. "Feel free to take it up with him, Kaya." the chocolate haired woman seemed complacent to do such a thing, rather she gave Kazu another look over.

"Partner him up with Romulus, let the two newbies handle things."

Blinking a little Nuriye knitted her brows, "I thought we were pairing newbies up with veterans to ensure their survival."

Kaya now shrugged, "Who cares if we lose a few dogs that are new. We have other things to do," reaching forward to wrap her arm around Nuriye's shoulders, the earth bender gave Kazu a shooing motion. "Go look around and get yourself familiarized with the place, Nuriye and I have matters to attend too that aren't for the pups." it was a dismissal as the fire lass merely shrugged.

"Guess you are on your own for now, I'll... find Romulus later and introduce the two of you."

"If he hasn't been caught already, I heard a lot of the police are sniffing around again. Zolt is getting pretty sure that they will be trying to slip in another one of their own." Kaya's eyes narrowed to him, "Probably why he doesn't care so much for the new ones, especially if one is a cop. They can destroy themselves, plus-" she smiled, "We need to see how this one interacts with the cops. But that's for later when we do a run through with the newbies, ciao wee pup." Stepping side ways taking Nuriye with her, they left the male bender to browse through the trove of the building and such.