1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avatar. That being said, I hope you read my fic. It's my first one, so please review even if it's criticism. Thanks so much. iziz

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White Bounty

Prologue

There were only two ways to get into the prison of Pyang. One was either allowed in because he was a guard, or forced in as a prisoner. There were even less ways to get out. Only guards were permitted that luxury. If one was unfortunate enough to be a prisoner, there would be no chance to leave, one was locked away forever, until of course death. And death occurred frequently in the Fire Nation prison- prisoners had less than six months to live when sent away due to the harsh conditions. Men knew when they were sent here they would die.

Surprisingly though, there were only a little over one hundred escape attempts on record. Men, who decided it was worth it to risk their lives, tried, but all attempts resulted in charred bodies; no one had ever been successful. It was said to be impenetrable and inescapable. Surrounded by thick walls and guarded by over a thousand men, escape was always impossible. Even if one managed to find a way out, there was nowhere to go because it was in Fire Nation territory and soon one would be recaptured if lucky, but usually they were killed.

That fact hadn't deterred Jun when she entered the prison. She wasn't thrilled about her odds, but there was almost nothing she wouldn't do for the kind of money she would get for capturing this bounty on the warrior from the Earth Kingdom. In fact, she had already gone as far as impersonating a Fire Nation guard. If she were caught, she would be killed for treason. But Jun, although she knew the risks, was not about to back down from the challenge.

Getting in had been almost too easy, now she just had to find a way to get herself and her bounty out alive. Now she was focusing on ways to escape. She could not afford to botch this mission.

Jun sat on the bench in the armory and began to carefully polish her falchion. She was a professional and professionals take care of their equipment, even when their line of work is bounty hunting. Her small sword, along with one of her daggers, was her favorite weapon of choice. With her skill, the two were very deadly, but she preferred to use them for intimidation and self-defense, priding herself on the fact that she had never killed any one with them despite the fact they had spilled blood.

There were several other men in the room, but Jun was not listening to their ramblings as she methodically cleaned her weapons. She had spent nearly a month working on surveillance of the fortress, studying everything she could about the prison: vital information such as the schematics, locations of guards' posts, schedules, the best escape routes. It was information which she had studied endlessly until she was as familiar with it as she was with the back of her hand. She had done extensive planning to ensure everything would go smoothly.

She was now poring over her mental notes reviewing the plan she had formulated. She was almost ready to implement it and capture her bounty so she could finally get paid. Working as a meaningless soldier did not pay well and she was running a little low on money.

A waft of smoke caused Jun to stifle the urge to cough. However, she couldn't prevent her eyes from watering. She looked down quickly hoping no one was paying attention to her. A mistake like that could get her caught. Jun, however, had never been caught when she was chasing down her prey. Never. She wasn't planning on changing her record.

"Someone penetrated the fortress…"

For a split second terror ran through Jun's body thinking she had been caught. But she soon relaxed realizing she was not the topic of the men's discussion. Her ears remained alert, though, for the subject had piqued her interest.

"… and managed to escape with the Avatar."

"Really? I thought Admiral Zhou had him locked up tight," added another man.

"Yes, but somehow the Blue Spirit, that's what they're calling him, snuck in, evaded detection and escaped with the Avatar."

"Blue Spirit?" said another man skeptically.

Another man also voiced his disbelief, "I've never heard of the Blue Spirit either."

"No one had until now. They call him that because he has a blue mask. It's just a nickname since they don't know who he is. I heard, though, one of the generals suspects that he is an Earth Kingdom spy."

"He or she," Jun felt like adding to squelch their sexist beliefs. But she bit her tongue, remaining quiet in order to avoid detection.

"I bet Admiral Zhou is furious," said a younger man.

Although she usually tired to remain in the shadow's while on her missions, she decided to break the tradition, seeing as the men were going off topic. She needed more information. Maybe something could help her. "Any theories how he managed to do it?" she asked gruffly hoping no one would detect her more feminine voice.

"So it's gotten your attention too?" the guard obviously proud by the attention he had gained himself, and by the fact he was the first person Jun had addressed since she arrived. Somehow she had gained the reputation of a skilled warrior and the men revered her.

He then went on with his story. "The Blue Spirit was very skilled and knew his way through Fire Nation territory. Together he and the Avatar almost managed to fight their way out."

"Almost?" said the skeptic, his doubt now replaced with curiosity. "Then how did they escape?"

"Well, the two were cornered, but the Blue Spirit then threatened to kill the Avatar. Admiral Zhao was forced to allow them to leave. Apparently, though, the Spirit did not know that Admiral Zhao had Yuuyan archers. Those guys are accurate, precisely hitting targets that most people can barely see. Well, the admiral had them fire, and the Spirit was knocked out."

"Then how'd he escape?" asked the young man with awe.

"No one really knows," the other man continued. "He disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When it disappeared, they were both gone. That's why he's called a spirit. Some say he never existed. Some say though, that the Avatar aided him, rescuing him from capture."

Jun doubted that the Blue Spirit was a supernatural being, just a very skilled individual. "Do you imagine they'll be increasing security?" she asked hoping that the Avatar's escape wouldn't affect her personally.

"No doubt about it. At this moment, reinforcements have been set for. Though, I doubt the Spirit will return. He achieved his goal rescuing the Avatar. Besides any one would be foolish to attempt something like that now."

Jun let out a small sigh as she silently cursed her luck. She hoped no one noticed. The Blue Spirit had just made her job a lot harder. If she didn't speed up her operations, she'd have a lot of trouble collecting her bounty. On the other hand, she felt like rejoicing. The reward for the Avatar was quite a sum and if she had a chance to bring him in, she could retire for the rest of her life. She doubted she would though. As tempting as it was, she would never hand the Avatar over to the Fire Nation betraying everything she'd ever known. She would kill herself, and probably the Avatar to prevent that from happening.

--


	2. Change in Plans

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, though it would be nice if I did, but sadly it belongs to Nickelodeon. However, this story is pretty much my own.

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White Bounty

Change in Plans

Unlike many of the inexperienced Firebenders, Princess Azula did not let her emotions effect her bending. Her strenuous training ensured that. Sitting in the large meditation room of the palace, the princess of the Fire Nation, with her golden eyes, concentrated on the flames flickering before her. It was the image of serenity, but her mind was seething from the latest report she had managed to overhear.

The incompetent man, Admiral Zhou, had allowed the Avatar to escape. She had heard rumors that one man, a Blue Spirit as he was so cleverly nicknamed, had managed to evade detection into a supposedly impenetrable fortress and freed the Avatar. Then together they had managed to avoid capture, despite the fact the Admiral Zhou had elite forces with him. Now both the Avatar and the Blue Spirit had disappeared. Azula wasn't sure who she hated the most, the fool Zhou or the Blue Spirit. If it was up to her, they would both be burnt to a crisp.

Once she became Fire Lord, of course she would have to change the title to Fire Lady, she would make sure to have Zhou killed for his failure, but at the moment he had a purpose and she wasn't the ruler of the nation, yet. Hopefully, the imbecile would recapture the Avatar before her brother Zuko had the chance.

Zuko. The mere thought that he might someday be Fire Lord was sickening. She didn't even want to admit she was related to him. He was weak, a disgrace; the only reason he would ever become Fire Lord was he was a year older than her. It didn't hurt that he was a male heir either. But Zuko had been foolish, challenging their father to a duel of Agni Kai and earning the dishonor he deserved by his cowardice.

She smiled remembering Zuko's cry of pain followed by the smell of charred flesh as he was struck by their father. She only wished that her father had killed Zuko that day, giving him the fate which was warranted to him. Her father had a weakness concerning his only son. When she inherited the throne, and she would make sure of that, she would not show Zuko the same mercy.

It seemed that even though Zuko was a sympathetic fool, her father favored him despite the fact he was disloyal while she had been the perfect heir, cunning and calculating never letting her emotions get in the way.

She scowled at the fact that Zuko had been offered a slim chance for redemption. Of course, at the time of his banishment, no one had thought the Avatar was even alive. Zuko was supposed to be exiled forever, and she to inherit the throne, but then the Avatar returned changing her plans. The exiled prince had a chance of redemption- a chance at returning to claim his throne while she would be left out in the cold.

She sat calmly evaluating her options, musing if it would be easier to rid herself of the bothersome Avatar or to take care of Zuko. The Avatar was wanted alive by her nation, and gave hope to the dim-witted, faltering peasants who saw him as the key to winning the war against the Fire Nation, so it was not likely anyone would kill him, and even if she did manage to kill the Avatar, he would only return posing a threat to her once again. On the other hand, no one in the fire nation would dare attempt to murder her dear brother, for that would be treason. However, she was sure that her brother had made enemies outside of the Fire Nation, many who would love the chance of getting rid of him, despite the fact that killing him would be very foolish and dangerous.

"My lady, Princess Azula," a servant said interrupting her thoughts, "here is a message for you."

Avoiding her urge to tear his head off for calling her Azula when he knew she detested that name preferring Zula, she carefully took the sealed parchment and a small package before irritably ordering the servant to leave. When she was alone again she opened the letter from one of her men serving under Zhou. Finally she could get an accurate account on the Avatar's escape.

As she finished reading the letter the scowl on her face deepened. Crumpling the note, she burnt it with the fire from her hands leaving behind nothing but ashes which she blew into the air. Princess Azula watched as they slowly scattered to the ground.

While many considered the Blue Spirit must have been from the Earth Kingdom, she doubted it. Now it seemed her suspicions were confirmed. The Blue Spirit had to be a traitor from the Fire Nation to know his way about the fortress. Only a few of the more elite soldiers had such knowledge of the secret tunnels underneath the prison.

She turned her attention to the package that had come with the note. Curious of its contents she cut the strings sealing it with a quick slice from her fingernails. Opening it revealed a sword and a note attached saying it belonged to the mysterious man who Azula wanted dead. Somehow her spyhad managed to grab the weapon during the confusion of the fight when the man had dropped it. Of course he soon regained another weapon, but it was not his original. To the average soldier, it seemed like an ordinary sword. In a fit, she almost threw the useless weapon across the room. However, something caught her eye causing her to stop and examine it more closely.

A small etching.

A small etching, barely noticeable, yet there it was. Azula had remembered this distinct etching, yet she could not place its origin. Placing the sword back inside the wrapping, the princess smiled viciously. She had no doubt, it would come to her, and she would soon know the identity of the soon to be dead traitor.

--

Jun tripped looking like a fool.

But, it was precisely what she wanted. There were times she wanted to be invisible, but there were also times she needed to draw attention to herself. But with her helmet on, no one could really tell who she was anyway. She was just another soldier.

Crying out in astonishment as she fell, she nearly knocked over the man walking past her. "It's been a long day," she said for an apology.

She thought she could see the soldier grin as he gave her a hand. "Nah, I think it's these helmets, I can't see a thing in them, so probably no one else can either."

Jun grinned back chuckling, accepting his gesture.

She then continued on her way still chuckling because while the man had given her his hand, her other one had cautiously reached its way into his pocket and managed to steal his keys replacing them with replicas. He hadn't noticed a thing since he was too distracted helping a fellow comrade. As she rounded the corner, she jingled her prize in triumph before pocketing it. "Stage one complete," she whispered underneath her breath.

The exchange would never be discovered until of course she made her escape attempt. Jun found this part of her work the most entertaining. Acting. Surprisingly, that was a key factor to her success. All she had to do was put on a little show in order to get connected to the right people and everything went easily. It was the reason she stayed in the job, that and the fact it paid.

She walked back to her room to get some sleep before it would be time to implement the next stage of her plan.

--

At night, especially on the days of festivals, there were not many people around the prison as they went off to celebrate. Jun had wanted to wait a couple more months until there celebration of the spring solstice before acting, but she was rushed knowing reinforcements were being sent for so she had to proceed ahead of time.

However, at the moment there was not a full count of guards in the prison due to the fact many had been sent off to search for the Avatar. Soon though, reinforcements would arrive, but she had about a week until that would happen. So in a way, it was beneficial that someone had broken security. Jun always tried to see the positive aspects in life, because in her line of work, there were few.

Changed out of the bulky soldier armor and into one of the more comfortable garments, Jun found it easier to move around. The armor added almost twenty pounds, and she could barely stand while wearing it. However, without the armor, Jun was more exposed because if anyone saw her they would become suspicious. The armor really helped to disguise her figure and without she was vulnerable. They might ask questions she didn't want to answer- why was she going around without armor, or why was she so petite? Or they might even notice her feminine figure. Questions were always bad.

Since it was night though, Jun was able to walk fairly easily through the almost deserted hallways. Unlike the Blue Spirit, she was planning on using stealth, not force to escape, because she knew that if she became surrounded by the enemy, they wouldn't care if she or her bounty lived and there were only so many she could fight before she would succumb to the overwhelming numbers.

Hearing footsteps, she paused, backing into the shadows of the wall. Jun quietly held her breath, waiting.

Once the noise faded away into the murky depths of the hallway, she resumed her course, glad she hadn't been detected. Silently, she slipped into one of the barracks unnoticed. Quickly she scanned the room. Several men were sleeping. She passed over them until she found her target.

Jun quietly crept over to the empty bed and then began another search. Finally she stopped victorious. Careful not to wake the men, she pulled out a small flask. With one swift movement she opened the lid and dumped a bluish powder inside. She then closed the lid and swished the flask around- making sure that the powder would be absorbed by the liquid.

Although alcohol was prohibited while on duty, Jun found that some of the men were not to keen on this order. Many of them disobeyed, including the one whom she had just placed a sleeping powder into his flask. After observing the men's habits for several days, she had noticed he usually took a couple of swigs before going on duty. He would often be late to his nightshift, or come with the smell on him. Many complained, but since it didn't affect his work too much allowed his indulgence.

Today, though, it would, for she had added a sleeping powder. He wouldn't be showing up to his shift this night if all went as planned. Tonight, he shouldn't cause her any trouble. After replacing the flask to its hiding spot, Jun headed toward the door. However, she stopped when she noticed the handle moving. "Of all the nights, he's early tonight. Great," Jun thought.

Quickly assessing her situation, she scurried over to one of the beds and placed a blanket over her hoping the man would not notice her. She had come so far to be discovered by a fool. All she had to do was wait until he drank the potion and passed out.

Through her squinting eyes, she watched as he moved through the room over to where she had just been. Instead of grabbing his flask, he sat down and pulled out a note and began to read.

Jun stayed in her hiding spot for what seemed like hours before she heard the man reach underneath his bed and pull out his flask. Finally she heard the sound she was hoping for, a dull thud as the man fell back onto his pillow and began snoring.

Relief swept through her body but Jun decided to remain for a minute more to ensure the man was deeply asleep. Deciding enough time had passed, she ambled out of the cot. Then she saw the handle jiggle again so she quickly returned to the cot and resumed her mock sleep.

This time, however, she didn't go unnoticed. The man, whose cot apparently was the one she decided to occupy, came over. "What?" he exclaimed finding there was some one already there. So much for subtlety, she had already been spotted.

Improvising Jun staggered up, slouching over so the man couldn't see her face.

The man assumed, from her appearance and the smell left on her by the flask, that she must be drunk. With a dirty look, he shooed her away. Jun continued until she wobbled out the door. Once it was closed, she straightened up and sighed hoping the rest of her night wouldn't go so horribly. "At least I didn't mess up step two completely."

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Thanks so much for the reviews. I appreciate them. :) 

k.o.i.t.a – Yes, Zuko will eventually meet Jun, but there will probably be a couple more chapters before that happens.

-iziz


	3. Filth

Discaimer: I still don't own Avatar.

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White Bounty

Filth

"Now for stage three," Jun thought to herself.

All she had to do was knock out a couple of guards, not get caught, free the prisoner, and escape, but it's always easier said than done.

Jun knew that it would be harder than that. For one, she would need perfect timing to pull off the next part of her plan. It was critical to her success and she needed to do everything right the first time in order to make her escape plan work.

In her mind she kept repeating what she would have to do. Although inside she felt queasy, she walked with confidence to the guards posted in front of the cells. Once again, she sported the bulky armor but she did not feel safe by its protective concealment.

"Haroun was sick, so I'm going to take his shift," she managed to say, surprised that her voice sounded so calm.

One of the guards shrugged as he moved away so Jun could replace him. It was nothing out of the ordinary for him to be late to his shift, leaving another man to fill in for him. The other guard mumbled, "Again! I'm surprised Haroun hasn't been sent to the front lines yet."

It was a euphemism, a nicer way of saying he thought the man should be put out of commission. The front lines were the most dangerous parts of the war, and constantly positions there needed to be filled.

Jun felt like spitting on the Fire Nation filth. After spending months with them, she was beginning to dislike them even more than she thought she could. There were a few exceptions, of course, but overall the cruel behavior exerted by many of the soldiers only reinforced her hatred for them.

Jun only stiffened and stood erect in response to the man's callous statement. The man appeared not to notice because he tried to start up a conversation. Jun tuned him out pretending to be busy guarding against any possible intruders. Finally he got the hint and quieted.

Jun relaxed. His chattering had prevented her from hearing the footsteps of the men patrolling the nearby hallways. In her mind, she was listening to their footsteps to determine their positions.

She waited until she believed the two guards had moved far off into the distance as their footsteps had become slight echoes before making her first move. With her left hand, which was unusual for many soldiers, she took the opportunity to hit the man over the head with the blunt of her dagger knocking him unconscious.

"Oomph", Jun cried out as she caught him before his body hit the ground.

She didn't want to chance it that someone would hear the clanking and come to investigate. Then she slowly proceeded to drape his heavy body over her own. After completing that arduous task, she slowly progressed toward the cell block where several of the prisoners were kept.

Reaching her destination, she carefully set the unconscious man down as she then approached one of the doors; she pulled out her keys and used them to open a cell. These were the holding cells where men were crammed together in a small room, woken, fed a meager meal that was often rotten, forced to work doing hard labor, punished severely when they failed to do the massive amount of work required of them, and then allowed to sleep for a mere few hours before the whole vicious cycle started over again.

Unlike many prisoners, hers was isolated in his own special cell. It was because he was an Earth Bender, and the Fire Nation made sure there was no earth in his cell to bend. Jun wasn't sure which was worse for the prisoners: being overcrowded and forced into hard labor, or being isolated with nothing to do. Both saddened her deeply.

Almost instantly upon opening the cell door, Jun found herself being attacked. Despite the fact that she was at a disadvantage by the surprise, she fended off the first blow by ducking. However the prisoner continued his assault surprisingly fit for his condition. He faked a blow causing Jun to move just as he sent another one at her which managed to hit her face knocking off her helmet in the process and causing a swish of long hair to fall down.

The assault stopped. The man gaped at her. "The Fire Nation has women soldiers?"

Jun closely examined him to insure he was indeed the man posted on the bounty. Confirming that he was, she then put a hand to her lip, feeling a trickle of blood. "Did you have to hit me so hard? Here help with this body."

The man grumbled as he begrudgingly moved out of the cell to haul the unconscious man inside. "You could have told me earlier…"

"Yeah, so everyone could overhear and haul me in here as well?" Jun asked sarcastically.

"So you're not one of them," the man said sounding surprised.

"Nope," Jun replied. "Here take off his clothes."

The man gave her a strange look which nearly made Jun laugh as she explained to him, "You're going to put on his armor in order to get out of here."

Then she stepped outside so the men could have some privacy. Finally the man came out garbed in the armor. Jun quickly readjusted one of the straps which he had clumsily fastened before nodding in approval.

"Should we tie him up?" asked her bounty.

Jun pulled out some metal cuffs. "I'll do his hands, you get the feet."

The two fastened the Fire Bender securely in the bonds. Then Jun stuffed his mouth with some cloth. Since the man couldn't bend, she wasn't worried about him burning it away so he could manage to make noise when he finally woke up.

Knowing that it took about ten minutes for the guards to patrol around the building, Jun had the Earth Bender follow her to the post. Together the two stood until the guards once again passed into the distance.

"Now what?" asked the man.

"How about some introductions? I'm Jun, or you can call me your liberator, however, I'm not picky," Jun said.

The man grinned slightly. "Jun, the bounty hunter? Why, I guess I should be honored that I'm worthy of such notice. You can call me Kintaro, or if you wish, your prey. I don't have a preference either."

This caused Jun to smile back. "Yeah, well it's my job to get you back to Omashu, where you'll be safe."

His smile vanished. "Nowhere is safe as long as the Fire Nation continues this war."

"Well, I'm doing what I can to change that."

"So what's your plan for getting out of here?" Kintaro asked.

"A prison break," she replied vaguely.

However, he didn't question her further. He only nodded as he followed her to another one of the cells. This time before opening it, she took off her helmet. Kintaro did the same.

She carefully opened it. This one was full of prisoners. The site of their broken bodies and the smell of decay nearly caused Jun to throw up.

She had known it was bad, but seeing it up close it was worse than she had ever imagined. She wondered if any of them would have enough strength to even move.

Kintaro took over for her. "We're going to help you get out of here."

The men stirred. Finally one of the bolder asked, "How?"

Jun managed to smile faintly. Maybe it would work after all. "There's a passageway that I found," she began. Actually though, she would never had found the passage if not for the Blue Spirit. She hadn't even known such things existed, but when she heard there was one in the other tower, she decided there would probably be some in this one. Her instincts were right.

"Inside there are supplies, you have access to weapons, shields, tools to escape, and there's also map of the fortress. I've marked the best escape routes out. Now, I'm going to take a few of you there at a time. I know the best way to get there without being discovered. From there, though, you're going to be on your own. However, I would recommend you wait until everyone is out of here, before actually trying to leave."

The men nodded understanding.

"How many per group?" Kintaro wanted clarified.

"Four or five would be the best," Jun replied knowing that would mean several trips before all the men were safely in the passage. "Kintaro you stand at the post, so when the guards go past, they don't become suspicious and if someone asks where I am, tell them Haroun was drunk and didn't come, but you can handle it. I'll take the first group now."

Kintaro nodded, "Good luck, and you'll need it."

Jun mocked a glare back at him before trudging off with her first group, "Why? Do you think I'm incompetent?"

--

Jun took a deep breath of fresh air before she jumped into the murky water of the passageway, which reeked with decay. She tried not to think about the filth she was entering but couldn't help shuddering as she felt something slimy skim across her exposed side due to the fact she had to remove the armor since it would only drag her down while wadding the passageway.

She couldn't wait to get back to the place where she had stashed her gear, which was farther down the passageway.

The first thing Jun would do when she managed to get out of the prison would be to take a warm bath to clean herself of the Fire Nation stench. She wondered if her nostrils would ever recover. She also wondered how her pet, Xirxiu, would react with his sensitive nose.

Jun was glad though, she was returning from leading the last group across the passage. This was the last time she'd ever see the passage, but frankly it was one time too many.

She rounded the next bend, where there was some footholds to climb out of the passage. Jun carefully placed her foot in the first groove. Despite the fact that it was slippery, she managed to gain her holding. Placing all her weight on the foothold, Jun began to lift her other foot to the next place where there was some traction.

However, before she managed to place it, something grabbed it from out of the water, pulling her down into the water.

Jun was pulled underwater for what seemed like forever. She struggled frantically to escape from the iron grasp that was keeping her down. However, she had no weapons to help her from her plight. Her lungs felt like exploding. Jun opened her mouth trying to get some air to breathe, but instead got a lung full of choking water.

One last breath.

Jun knew if she didn't get away soon she would pass out. Slowly she felt herself begin to lose consciousness despite her efforts to remain awake.

She felt like laughing, but couldn't since there was no air to laugh with, at how her life would end. She would die drowning. She would never get the money for her bounty, no one would even care that she had died. Her bounty was worth more than she was.

Images blurred together as darkness began to settle in. Then she felt the iron weight that was wrapped around her suddenly loosen and she was gently being lifted up. Jun's eyes flickered open for a moment before she passed out to see chocolate brown eyes starring back at her with concern.

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AN: Sorry it's been so long since an update, but I've been really busy with school lately, and I've also had a bit of writer's block. Well here it is. Please read and review.

And on that note, thanks so much for everyone who reviewed. Reviews help encourage me to write. Since I've heard I'm not supposed to respond to reviewers, feel free to email me if you have questions or comments that you want to have answered. -iziz


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