I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.
His eyes shot open in a sudden panic, his heart rate climbed and he started breathing rapidly. He stayed completely still, searching around the room with his eyes analyzing where he was. It was a small room; there was a table with a tea tray on it in the corner next to the door and a window facing out towards an alley way. He realized he was lying on a wooden bed, obviously made for somebody much shorter than him because his feet were dangling off the side slightly, elevated by pillows. The sheets were white and green, which fit the theme of the room.
He tried to sit up, which wasn't a good idea. He collapsed back onto the bed, realizing he was aching in pain. He took a good look at his chest and was awe struck at the very prominent gray hue it had become. He poked it slightly and winced in pain, his chest was a big bruise.
He quickly felt around, assessing what was badly injured and what was not. His legs seemed to be just fine, as well as his arms. His head felt terrible though, he felt lightheaded and very confused. He paused for a moment as he tried to recall what events might have led to this.
He remembered being struck, hard, and then hitting the ground instantly. The only images he could remember was the sight of a boulder hurdling at him from across the inside of a cavern. Yeah, he remembered that pretty well. It was obvious the boulder had hit him, or something did.
He tried moving, with some success. He swung his legs over the side of the mattress and planted them on the ground, carefully preventing himself from touching his bruises. He stood up and noticed the neatly set pile of cloths next to his bed on a nightstand. He reached for them and began to dress himself.
He pulled the shirt over his head and put his arms up through. When his head fit through the collar of the shirt he glanced towards the window and saw something pass it out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and curiously looked out the window. He was approaching it as someone in black and red armor walked past it nonchalantly, strolling around the alley, a Fire Nation soldier.
He instantly panicked and ducked under the window. Images of the Fire Nation killing his family, his village burning down, his many attacks against them in vengeance and his new start at life all appeared in his head. He remembered the Dai Li capturing him, he remembered helping the Avatar find his bison and he remembered Long Feng, the man that had hurled a boulder at him.
He was deep lost in thought when the door knob jostled; he looked around for the nearest weapon and grabbed it. Warm teapot in hand he braced himself. He must have been captured by the Fire Nation, and being in the condition he was in they had brought him to a hospital. The door swung open.
"Jet!" he heard her voice cry as Smellerbee ran into the room and embraced him, a little hard.
He relaxed as he remembered blacking out with Smellerbee and Longshot hovering over him under Lake Laogai. Longshot entered the room slowly behind her. Longshot made eye contact with him and gave a slight nod. Jet nodded back, appreciating his friend's wisdom.
He tensed up again, remembering his situation. They appeared to be in Ba Sing Se still, which was horrible news. With the Dai Li on the loose and Long Feng probably still searching for them, it wasn't the best place to be.
Smellerbee backed out of the hug and backed away, leaving the three of them standing in the middle of the room.
"How long was I out?" he asked, glancing at them both for an answer.
"Five days, a long five days." Replied Smellerbee, looking a lot more serious now. She reached up and closed the curtains that were draped in front of the window.
Five days wasn't as bad as Jet first thought. He was expecting something along the lines of two weeks. He'd been out longer before, like the time he underestimated the distance between two branches of the tree tops he was moving through. Fortunately he had landed in a creek; unfortunately there was no water in it anymore.
"Why are there Fire Nation soldiers patrolling the streets, what is going on." He asked, hoping there was a better answer than the one he expected. They both gave him blank looks.
"Princess Azula, the Fire Lord's daughter, forcefully took over Ba Sing Se a few days ago. Fire Nation soldiers have been coming and going as they please." Smellerbee answered for him, looking extremely worried.
The Fire Lord's daughter had done all this, in a few days? He'd seen pictures of the Fire Lord, he couldn't be very old. His daughter couldn't be much older than himself. Jet paled as he realized the Earth King must be dead, or taken hostage.
"Where are we?" he asked curiously, that had somehow been failed to mention.
"Hospital in the Lower Ring." She said plainly.
"I see," he said. "So the Fire Nation is here, huh." He smiled wryly and had a gleam in his eye that Smellerbee and Longshot recognized immediately.
"Jet, this is way over our heads!" Smellerbee shouted at him. She was beginning to think he'd lost his mind, but knew Jet was like this and would always be.
Jet glanced over at Longshot who gave him a long, serious gaze.
"We should leave Ba Sing Se." Longshot finally muttered in a calm, stern tone.
"And do what! We came here for a new beginning and now it's over!" Jet furiously stated, getting irritated.
"Jet, we have to leave." Smellerbee emphasized, she began walked towards the door.
"How are we going to leave, I'm sure the Fire Nation is regulating traffic in and out of Ba Sing Se." he said, peeking out the window. He turned and faced his two companions.
"We can stop them." He said, calmly.
"Jet..." Smellerbee stopped and put a hand on his shoulder, only to have him push it away.
"Don't," he said. "We can't just sit around and let this happen anymore. We can't!"
"You're delirious!" she screamed and angrily walked out of the room.
"We can't just do nothing, Longshot. We can stop this Fire Nation brat and reclaim Ba Sing Se. We could start a resistance! Only cowards wouldn't fight!" he said, pacing around the room.
"A living coward is of more use than a dead fool." Longshot stated flat out. Jet stopped.
"You think this is foolish?" He exclaimed.
"Jet, the Earth King's Palace is miles away, surrounded by hundreds of Fire Nation soldiers guarding every angle of the palace at all times, many posted in higher areas to ensure preventing any unauthorized entrance. Inside are the Fire Princess's own personal royal firebenders, whose sole purpose in life is to protect her at all cost. If you somehow managed to sneak your way past the guards and defeat the royal firebenders, you would be against the person who managed to kill the Avatar." He was eying down Jet, making sure he was listening. It was very rarely that he spoke, and when he did… it mattered.
"… What?" Jet replied, his face went pale and his mouth gaped in awe. He was absolutely shocked.
"Rumor has it Azula killed the Avatar, right here in Ba Sing Se." Smellerbee said, walking back into the room after eavesdropping outside for some time.
"Killed him? How did she kill him?"
"She bent lightning at him, it struck and he went down." Longshot once again said.
"Bent lightning?" Jet asked, jaw dropping further. He could never have imagined this happening. This was bad, very bad. "So Ba Sing Se is lost then."
Smellerbee and Longshot nodded in unison.
Jet really didn't like the idea of facing this brat anymore. He had never even heard of anyone bending lightning, or even dreamed of it. It was like something out of a story. He realized the Fire Nation's presence was too prominent for him to try anything, considering more and more shadows were passing the window, ones he were assuming as Fire Nation.
"We need to leave, you guys are right. We need to find somewhere safe to be." He added, looking defeated. He didn't like to just throw in the towel like that, but the odds were too great… for now.
"Jet, the Fire Nation will be stopped; some other day." Smellerbee said, trying to comfort him.
"Yeah." He replied with false optimism, putting on his usual front. Who was he kidding, with the Avatar dead and Ba Sing Se lost to the Fire Nation, they could very well consider the planet in control of the Fire Nation. He started walked out of the bedroom and motioned for the other two to follow him. He would find some way to assist in the war, but he couldn't let the other two know yet.
The trio walked into the lobby of the hospital, where the owner was sitting down behind a counter. After thanking the man and giving him what he had left of his money, they walked to the entrance of the building.
"So, what are the rules now?" Jet asked the other two.
"There's a city-wide curfew in effect. Nobody is out past dark." Smellerbee stated plainly, noticing that it was in fact dark, and that Jet was reaching for the door.
"Nothing a little sneaking around can't fix. What else."
"No Upper Ring, ever, no street vendors, no bending, no leaving…"
"No Freedom." He said.
"No weapons." Longshot said, handing Jet his hook swords. "Just in case."
Jet took the swords and strapped them to his side, smiling wryly.
"What's the plan?" asked Smellerbee.
Jet thought for a moment, contemplating the quickest way to leave Ba Sing Se. It's got to be a place with busy workers and a crowd that any untrained eye wouldn't be able to spot them in.
"The harbor." He said.
The other two glanced at him.
"Wouldn't that be the last place to go?" questioned Smellerbee. Longshot nodded in agreement.
"Let's at least scout it out first, I figure the Fire Nation would be too preoccupied with shuffling in soldiers to notice us sneaking by." Jet replied.
"We'll need a boat." Longshot said grimly, doubting the sanity of his so-called leader.
"We'll find one." He replied.
"How can you always be so sure?" Smellerbee asked.
"Instinct." Jet replied, sprinting for the nearest ledge to climb up to access the rooftops. He noticed a building's corner had small protruding cubes which could be easily climbed up, and headed for it. Without thinking he jumped onto the makeshift ladder and began climbing, only to grab his chest in agony and almost fall off.
The other two stopped and stared at him.
"I'm fine, just have to be more careful for a while I guess." He said smiling back at his companions.
They both gave him serious concerned looks.
"What?" he added, noticing their unusual gaze.
"Jet, you need to be more careful from here on out. You injure yourself too much." Smellerbee quickly pointed out.
"I'm fine, honestly."
"No, you're just being stubborn."
With that Jet continued to climb the side of the building, reaching the rooftop in a matter of seconds. The other two followed his lead and met on the roof. It was very dark outside and little flickers of light could be noticed moving throughout the alleyways from the rooftop.
"Fire Nation patrollers." Longshot whispered, pointing his finger in the directions of the lights.
"Good to know." Jet replied. He stood up, feeling it safe enough with patrollers a distance away. He analyzed his environment and quickly noted in his mental map where they were. Peering over rooftops to the east he could see the entrance to the harbor halfway hidden behind a taller building. He motioned towards it and began leaping from rooftop to rooftop.
Jet was focused, aiming towards the harbor, when he heard the sound of something whiz by his head; something moving very fast. He heard a thud on the side of a building in the alley way next to him, and looked to see rock crumbling from where the impact was. He looked back and noticed Smellerbee and Longshot were no longer following him.
His hands were suddenly bound by something tight, as he felt he realized they were the rock gloves so many of the Dai Li chose to use. He was then tackled by a moving green blur and he landed on the ground of the alleyway below.
"What are you doing?" Jet demanded, wriggling to free himself from his earthen binds.
The Dai Li bent another pair of earth gloves on himself after getting up from the fall. He placed his right glove over Jet's mouth and form fit it to his head, a makeshift muzzle. He bent his left glove into the air and condensed it. He bent the rock back and then forward at Jet.
THWAK.
Longshot was first to awaken. He woke to a small metal cell which couldn't have been more than ten feet wide. He was shackled to the wall and his bow was missing, he looked around the room and noticed Smellerbee and Jet hanging from the separate walls of the cell. There was nobody outside the doorway, however he could hear voices.
A light was flickering in the hallway and appeared to be moving closer to their cell. Longshot pretended to be still unconscious. A Dai Li agent looked through the bars of the door, and continued walking. Longshot was relieved, unknowing of what the Dai Li would have said to him being awake.
He heard the rhythmic patter of footsteps continue down the corridor, until they stopped.
"You, get up." He heard from down the hall. "The Princess wishes to speak to you."
He heard the clanking of metal and heard it drop to the stone floor, followed by more clanking and the sound of a very heavy metal door being shut. The footsteps started walking in their cell's direction again, so he pretended to be out.
"Get moving." He heard the same voice order to this apparent prisoner.
A man in Dai Li robes walked past their cell, shackled behind his back and being shoved by the same Dai Li agent that had walked passed earlier. The agent glimpsed into the cell as he passed, then continued moving. He heard an earthen door open and shut, then silence.
"Hey, what's going on?" A whispering voice came from across the cell; he looked up to see Jet eyeing him from across the cell.
"I don't know." Replied Longshot softly. "We've been captured by the Dai Li."
"What did we do, aren't the Dai Li on our side?" Jet asked.
Longshot shrugged and looked towards the cell door as he heard the earthen door in the hallway open again. After closing he heard footsteps approaching the cell, Jet was now listening intently as well. The footsteps continued until a Dai Li agent stopped in front of their cell, and began fumbling with the lock. Jet and Longshot made eye contact, nodded, and waiting for their guest to come in.
The Dai Li agent walked into the cell and glanced at the two awoken boys. He then noticed the third of their party was still asleep. He walked over to where she was suspended and shook her slightly.
"Hey, wake up, all of you." The man demanded.
"Where are we? Why have you taken us prisoner?" Jet demanded promptly.
The Dai Li agent turned to face Jet and smirked, then unshackled the now waking Smellerbee from the wall, leaving just the cuffs.
"Stay put." He once again demanded.
He unshackled Jet and Longshot then whistled very softly. Two more Dai Li agents walked in and grabbed the cuffs of each of the trio.
"Get going." The man ordered. "Out into the hallway."
"Where are we going?" Jet raised his voice a little, drawing the attention of the agent.
"You'll know soon enough." The agent returned.
They continued out into the long hallway and began to walk. The hallway was very long and had cell doors lining the distance of each side. The hallway seemed to abruptly end about a hundred feet ahead of them.
As they neared the end, they passed a room with a large glass window. Inside the room Jet noticed his hook swords lying against a wall, along with Longshot's bow and Smellerbee's daggers.
They stopped. The Dai Li agent bent the end of the hallway down revealing the daylight. They continued to walk forward. Jet thought this the perfect opportunity.
He took a breath and quickly planted his foot on the back of the Dai Li agent in front of him, and pushed off. The agent flew forwards and hit the ground as Jet did a back flip over the agent directly behind him. Jet held out his cuffs and wrung them around the neck of the startled agent, and then took him to the ground.
Longshot took this opportunity to leap over Jet and tackle the agent now recovering from a kick to the back. He wrestled him to the floor, grabbed the at the man's sash for a silver key. He unlocked his cuffs with the key and placed them on the agent, then removed the man's sash completely and gagged him with it.
Longshot ran over and undid the binds on Jet's wrists, then continued towards Smellerbee; who was now walking towards him after head butting the third Dai Li agent, full force, in the stomach. Longshot undid her cuffs and continued over to where Jet was.
"Our weapons." He pointed through the glass window into the room. Jet shattered the glass, using his now loose cuffs as iron knuckles. He jumped in and grabbed his sword, tossed the bow to Longshot and snatched the daggers set on the table.
He came out as Smellerbee had just finished binding the last Dai Li agent and met up with them. Jet motioned for them to run outside, and they did.
They sprinted out of the exit and into the sunlight. Jet quickly assessed where they were and sprinted off, the other two not far behind. After a short ways, Jet stopped in a dark alley and waited for the other two to arrive, and shortly they did.
They were all still catching their breath, leaning against the walls of the alley. Smellerbee was the first one to break the silence.
"Wha-What in the hell was that!" She managed to say, still panting from the whole ordeal.
"I'm not sure." Jet replied, appearing to have finally caught his breath. He reached towards his back where he had Smellerbee's daggers tucked into his belt, then handed them to her.
"We need to leave." He added. The other two nodded.
"Have the Dai Li gone more insane than they were?" Smellerbee questioned, still angered by the whole thing.
"It appears the Dai Li have allied with the Fire Nation." Longshot said, calmly.
"What makes you say that?" questioned Jet, curious to know where this thought came from.
"When I woke up, I saw one of those very same Dai Li agents taking one of their own from a cell."
"He could have been a traitor to the Dai Li or something."
"No, the agent who removed him from the cell specifically said, "The Princess wishes to speak with you.""
"I see."
Jet looked down. What a sad day for Ba Sing Se.
"We still need to leave." Jet added. "We'll move in closer to the harbor, and then wait until dark."
With that, the trio began to shuffle through streets and alleyways elusively, making their way to the harbor of Ba Sing Se.
Nightfall came quickly as the trio were camped out, watching the harbor intently. Many Fire Nation marines and soldiers had packed in and out of there in the last few hours, and they were beginning to doubt they could make it out from here.
Jet had been watching a smaller fishing boat since they arrived. Not one person had touched it or even gone near it for that matter. It is most likely the possession of some citizen of Ba Sing Se who is too frightened by the soldiers to man his craft. Jet couldn't blame the guy. With so many Fire Nation soldiers occupying the city, there had been very little traffic throughout the streets of the Lower Ring.
A sudden calm had befallen the harbor area, there were not as many soldiers around the boats and most of the marines had posted up in their ships for the night.
"We just need to wait for the perfect time." Jet said out loud.
The other two looked up from what they were doing at him; there hadn't been any conversation in the past hour or so.
"Which is when?" Smellerbee asked, fiddling with her daggers.
The soldiers were pacing relatively predictably, and Jet had seen many times they could make a break for it. However, every now and then one of the guards would shift their pattern, so it was mostly luck.
There were only three soldiers, one of whom didn't matter because he was stationary and facing a direction they were not going to go. The other two were the patrols. They had been moving back and forth along the expanse of the entrance of the harbor, stopping briefly at each end for a minute or so. This was the longest time Jet had seen them stop and figured it would be the best time.
Jet raised his hand in the air for the other two to notice.
"Get ready." He said as Smellerbee and Longshot both readied themselves to sprint.
The guards reached ends of the entrance and stopped, facing away. They broke for it, sprinting as quickly and stealthily as possible. It didn't take long for them to make it through and quickly enter small craft.
The craft was only small compared to the Fire Nation destroyers it was resting around. It was actually a decent size and was able to fit the trio nicely. It was made completely out of wood with a small mast and sail jetting from the top of the entrance to the one room cabin. There was an iron anchor resting in the back along with piles of nets and other random fishing items.
In the cabin there were many fishing poles leaning against the walls, as well as a few harpoons. There was a bucket of old dried worm-flies and some folded up chairs in the closet.
Longshot untied the roping around the dock and pushed away with his hands, the craft began to catch the outward current and drift out to see. Within minutes they were a good distance from the harbor and he felt it safe enough to put the sail up.
An alert siren suddenly sounded as multiple Fire Nation marines boarded a destroyer and cast off towards the slowly drifting vessel.
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"Choose your words carefully, earthbender, or you might find yourself unable to open your mouth ever again." She glared down at the pathetic excuse for a Dai Li agent before her. The man was so fragile and pale, pity what a few days in solitary does to even the most hardened soldiers.
"F-F..F-F…" The agent stuttered, shivering in fear.
Something was wrong with this man, Azula could easily tell. Nobody snaps that severely after a short time spent alone.
"Spit. It. Out." Azula demanded.
"F-F… Fire Nation Scum." The man spat in Azula's direction, it landed just before her feet.
Azula smirked, so there was still some fight in this man after all.
"Very well," she said wryly. "You leave me with little choice." She began the very same lightning-bending form which had been deeply imbedded into her mind. The Dai Li agent's eyes began to widen.
"Wait! Wait!" He cried.
Azula paused, and gave the man a questioning glance. Perhaps he was intelligent enough to redeem himself, she had hoped so at least.
The man whispered something which Azula was unable to hear.
"What was that?" Azula questioned at the man. "Speak up!"
"I said… You're a monster!"
With that the man was electrocuted, writhing in pain on the floor before his heart finally gave out. The man was still.
"Should have taken the chance when he had it." Azula shrugged, and walked back towards the throne, joining Mai and Ty Lee who were standing beside the throne.
The many Dai Li agents watching this spectacle take place had looks of absolute awe on their faces. That is, until Azula regarded this with a grim look aimed in their direction. Almost instantly the agents were down on their knees in front of her.
"You are dismissed." Azula shooed the agents away with her hand rather carelessly.
The Dai Li agents exited the building and left the three girls in the throne room alone. Mai and Ty Lee were loyal friends; she could afford having them around. She would almost go as far to admit that she needed them, in many situations; indeed she had.
"It's so impressive the respect you command from those Dai Li." Ty Lee broke the silence, clasping her hands together and looking at Azula with a bright smile.
"They don't have a choice." She suggested. "Royalty is born commanding respect; it's their job to do so." Azula forced a grin.
"Strange the way the world works." Mai said, whirling her hand around sarcastically and rolling her eyes.
"Yes, it is." Azula agreed.
The throne room doors opened wide as Zuko entered the room and began approaching the three girls, each of them giving him a slightly different look. His head was hanging and he was looking at the floor, he looked distraught.
"Hello, brother." Azula greeted him. "We'll be returning home in two days, why the long face."
Zuko glanced in her direction and pretended to be fine.
"Nothing," he said gloomily. "Don't worry about it." He sat down on one of the chairs to the side of the throne and stared off into the distance.
"I'm worried about you, Zuko." Mai stated. "You're acting more down than usual."
Azula chuckled.
"If Mai is worried about how down you are then this must be serious." Azula said, still amused.
Mai shot her a quick deterring glance and turned back to face Zuko.
"I.. I'm fine." He stuttered.
"You don't look fine." Added Ty Lee, bouncing over to where Zuko was to face him directly.
Zuko felt uneasy with everyone staring at him and stood up quickly.
"It's nothing, drop it." He exclaimed.
"It doesn't sound like nothing, Zuko." Azula said, prodding him for answers still. "What's the matter, you know you can tell us anything." She added sincerely.
"…I betrayed uncle." He said silently. The three girls all looked shock at the boy's words.
"No, Zuko." Azula quickly contradicted. "Uncle betrayed you. He betrayed us all."
Zuko pretended to perk up at that comment. He forced a smile.
The doors slammed open once again, this time a Fire Nation guard came running in. He stopped in front of Azula and kneeled before her.
"Princess Azula, an alert has been raised at the harbor." The guard said quickly, obviously out of breath.
"What?" She said angrily. "What happened, spit it out."
"A ship has been taken from the harbor."
"How did somebody manage to steal a heavily guarded Fire Nation destroyer?" questioned Zuko, amazed but not surprised.
"Well, it's not a destroyer. It's a small fishing boat." The man answered.
"Why would you inform me of a petty theft?" Azula snapped, the man flinched slightly at her sharp words.
"It appears to be a group of outlaws, Princess. They were declared enemies of the state by Long Feng and they could possibly be dangerous. They escaped Dai Li capture earlier this evening."
Azula pondered his response; enemies of the state and they were able to elude capture from the Dai Li. This might be a serious problem, but what would they want with a small fishing vessel.
"Bring me Long Feng, I want to know more about these outlaws." She demanded as two Dai Li agents descended the pillars of the throne room and exit the building.
Within moments Long Feng was approaching, escorted by the same two Dai Li agents closely behind him. Long Feng kneeled before Azula as he reached the foot of the throne, with obvious reluctance.
"Yes, Princess?" He said dryly.
"It appears some troublemakers have taken it upon themselves to appropriate one of our new fishing vessels." Azula stated in a sarcastic tone. "You wouldn't know anything about this, would you?"
"You're suggesting that I know these… troublemakers?" He answered.
"You should, you declared them enemies of the state and held them prisoner for quite some time." She responded.
Long Feng had a puzzled look.
"You there, guard. Explain."
The guard turned to Long Feng and told him the entire situation, including profile and clothing.
"Ah, yes. They do sound familiar." Long Feng stated. "I believe one of them is named Jet." He added.
"Jet?" Zuko said as he stood up very quickly.
"Do you know this person, brother?" Azula questioned him.
"He's harmless, an arrogant fool who appears to have gotten himself in too deep." Zuko elaborated. "He's nothing to be worried about."
A/N: This idea struck me randomly and I decided it would be a great idea for a story. I have always been a fan of Jet and his crew and I do not see many stories about him, maybe because he died.
Yes, I know Jet is dead and won't ever be coming back. However, it's fun to write about what I think would have happened if he had survived.
Characters:
I pictured Jet as a strong-willed arrogant man who has way too much confidence in himself, which is a role he seems to fit perfectly.
Longshot is more of a wise, down to business type of guy. Yes, he will be talking a lot more than he is in the series. He will still have his intelligent moments of silence though.
Smellerbee is a loyal friend and a quick and agile fighter who is the only person to stop and actually consider something before actually doing it.
Azula is ruthless, unrelenting and stoic. She has the utmost confidence with herself and will do just about anything to get her way. She is also very egotistical and self-centered.
Zuko is exactly as he is portrayed in the show at the current time. He is angry with himself for betraying Iroh and confused about his conflicting feelings of the Fire Nation.
Ty Lee is still a bouncy, bright spirited circus freak. I plan on having her be more of a "badass" style of fighter, though.
Mai is still a gloomy and bored girl who could really care less what is happening. She is also going to get a fighting boost compared to how she was portrayed in the series.
I plan to have a lot of fun writing this and I hope everyone who reads in enjoys it. I definitely appreciate reviews, even if you absolutely hated it.