Title: "Smellershot Rising"
Author: A6
Rating: T – violence, death, romance
Summary/Notes:
This story is concerns the plausible pairing of Freedom Fighters Smellerbee and Longshot, who gave many hints of being a couple throughout the show. Their story starts at the end of the ATLA episode "Lake Laogai" and ends the morning of the Freedom Fighter/Earth Kingdom protest a the gates of "The Promise Part 1". Five Chapters. ATLA characters property of Nickelodeon.
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Chapter 1: Escape from Lake Lagoai
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As soon as the Gaang reluctantly left Longshot and Smellerbee behind to guard their fading leader Jet, Smellerbee turned to Longshot and urged, "Hurry, we have to get him out of here! We can't leave him behind no matter what."
They both knew of the stories heard in the poorer circles of the city about what the Dai Li did to enemies of the state.
Longshot delicately slung Jet over his shoulder as carefully as he could, but the fallen Freedom Fighter groaned weakly, "No Longshot. Leave me. I'm done."
Longshot ignored Jet and they began their escape. Getting out was going to be difficult with the Dai Li on alert all over the Lake Laogai complex chasing the Avatar and his friends.
As they proceeded through the dimly lit corridors, Smellerbee crouched low, and peered around every corner. Surprisingly, it seemed deserted. They crept through the complex carefully, but rounding one corner, they faced four Dai Li agents.
"There! Get them!" the team leader yelled and pointed.
Almost immediately they unleashed their rock fists. Smellerbee had a terrible premonition of being captured and turned into a zombie like Jet. She would rather die and steeled herself to fight.
Before Smellerbee could defend herself, she heard four whizzing noises over her head and the Dai Li were pinned the wall with arrows through their hearts and foreheads. The rock fists crashed to the ground harmlessly at her feet.
She spun around and stared at Longshot in slack-jawed disbelief.
With a sharp, vengeful stare, Longshot remained in his archer's stance, shaking with what he had done. He had drawn and shot a simultaneous four-arrow spread, killing all the Dai Li instantly. Longshot was an expert archer. For awhile, he had been a Yu Yan archery student, but resigned rather than follow their mercenary, murderous ways. He never killed anyone, and only shot to incapacitate or wound. She knew only then the depth of his pain and grief for Jet.
She glanced at her friend and whispered, "Thank you" and he simply nodded.
Longshot acted so that he would not lose her too; especially the same way the Dai Li hypnotized Jet. They had really lost him mentally first – well before they lost him physically.
They continued down the corridors, but heard a far away yell, "This way! The Avatar is escaping."
Taking advantage of the Dai Li focus on the Avatar, they hurried, and then found hope. At a juncture of several corridors they found a ladder. It was a very tall ladder enclosed in a vertical stone column that reached the surface.
Smellerbee started climbing first, to scout for any sentries at the top of the ladder, followed by Longshot with Jet slung across his shoulders. Smellerbee could see climbing each rung of the ladder was agonizingly hard for Longshot. They ascended as stealthily as possible, but the sounds of feet on metal rungs could still be heard.
Midway up, Longshot was exhausted, but willed himself onward to freedom. Fear struck both of them as they heard the sounds of muffled footsteps far below them. If they were discovered, they had nowhere to go. Capture or death would be certain. They stopped, praying to not be discovered. Just before the Dai Li got to the ladder, they could hear a distant order, "Return immediately! We need to trap the Avatar."
The sounds got fainter and they were alone again to finish the climb. Smellerbee and Longshot exchanged grateful glances.
At the top of the ladder, Smellerbee carefully slid open the access hatch a tiny crack, and looked around. Only the woods were there to greet them, and fresh air. She opened the hatch fully and helped Longshot with Jet as best she could. They reattached the hatch, and barred it closed, but were still wary of being observed or caught.
They gained some confidence when, from their view in wooded hills above Lake Laogai, they saw that the confrontation between Long Feng and the Dai Li against the Avatar and his Sky Bison was ensuing very much in the Avatar's favor. There would be no Dai Li left standing to chase them as they fled into the trees surrounding the lake