My outlook on what would happen if Avatar: The Last Airbender took place in our world with our rules. (the backstory) this is my first story so cut me some slack for Christ's sakes!
Date: July 21, 2010
Location: Sydney international airport
Time: 6:40 pm
Part 1
The blue and white South Arctic Airways Boeing 767-300ER was third in line for takeoff. Bato nervously looked at the clock in the back of the cockpit. 6:41, just 30 minutes since the nuclear attack warnings were transmitted on every TV and radio station in Australia. Since then, airplanes were eagerly trying to get clearance to takeoff. Each plane was full of people wanting to leave the city. Even cargo planes were being used to carry people. Bato looked to his left at Captain Brad Smith, the pilot. Bato had flown flights for South Arctic Airlines with the captain since he first met him. Unlike Bato, Captain Smith was born and raised in the United States and had migrated down to Australia to find work as a pilot. He had been promoted to captain the same time that Bato was made a copilot. The man was not new to the job like Bato was. He had been a pilot for 25 years before Bato came along. Whenever the two of them flew together he often found himself being correcting for his mistakes a lot. Today however was different. Today there was no room for mistakes. Just half an hour ago, the government of the air nation confederacy sent out a warning that nuclear missiles had been launched from the fire nation in china, and that these missiles were aimed at major cities along the Australian coast. Now everyone was trying to leave the populated areas of the country. But what worried Bato the most was not impending nuclear doom. No, his thoughts lay with whether or not his childhood friend and his family had made it onboard. Just a few hours ago, Bato had learned that Hakota, his wife, and their two kids were returning home from a vacation in Sydney. An event that Bato and Captain Smith were looking forward to since they would be flying them back home to Antarctica. But now with the current crises, Bato was beginning to wonder whether they boarded or not in the chaos. To ease his anxiety, Bato grabbed the cockpit phone, put it to his ear and dialed the galley. After a few seconds the head flight attendant answered. "What is it?" she said in her raspy, elderly voice.
"Bettie, could you check our passenger manifest for a family of four. Two parents, a daughter, and son and see if they are onboard. They're on the VIP list, under Chief Hakota of the southern water tribe." After a few seconds of silence, Bettie replied.
"Um, my attendants made an announcement asking for their names and no one has come forward. If there on the VIP list, shouldn't we head back to the gate?" Bato thought hard about Bettie's question. By going back to the gate they would lose their place in line and would have to wait longer to take off, putting the entire aircraft and its passengers at risk. But Bato had no intention of letting his friends become trapped here at the mercy of the oncoming danger. He decided to ask the captain what to do, since this was his aircraft and he made the calls.
"Hey Smith, Bettie told me that Hakota, Kiya and the kids didn't make it on board. Should we turn back?" After a moment of silence from the captain he said:
"I'm sorry Bato, but we can't. The tower isn't letting any more airplanes leave the gate. And we just got a report from the Sydney civil defense station." Smith immediately pointed to the computer screen for the planes communication devices. On the screen was a nuclear attack update from the civil defense showing the ETA of the nuclear missiles, including a missile directed for Sydney itself. Next to the name was a timeline that said: "50 minutes to impact." Then the captain said:
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. If we don't go now we could all be killed." At that moment the two airplanes in front of them, a FedEx dc-10 with its white painted fuselage and purple tale, and a sandy colored Confederacy Airways 747 jumbo jet with the iconic blue air bending arrow going down its back pointing at the nose, begin to move. The FedEx plane moved on to the runway where it turned into position, throttled its three engines, and began moving down the runway, leaving the two remaining planes left on the taxi way. Hesitantly, Bato lifted his foot off the brake pedal as the captain pushed up the engine throttles slightly to move the plane behind the 747 in front of them. Bato could feel the weight of this new information sink into his mind. He was leaving his closest friend, and his family, behind to a fate he couldn't dare to think about. But he had to consider the safety of the passengers who were on board. Soon the 747 moved onto the runway and took off to. Now it was their turn.
The captain once again pushed the throttle to move the plane to the end of the taxi way, where they started their turn onto the runway. Bato looked out the window towards the terminal, what would undoubtedly be his last sight of the airport forever. But as he was watching the building he noticed movement on the pavement between the terminal and the plane. It was coming from four shadowy figures that Bato had trouble seeing due to the overcast weather blocking the sun. But as they got closer, Bato realized there was a group of people running towards the 767. He turned towards the captain to inform him so he could call security, but then something familiar about the figures caught his eyes. They were all wearing what appeared to be blue coats, and they all had black hair. "No way," Bato said out loud, not even trying to be quiet. The captain heard him and turned to see what he was talking about. Immediately he knew what Bato was concerned about.
"Hakota, Kiya. What are they all doing out there?!"
"I don't know" Bato replied. The captain immediately throttled down the engines and hit the brakes. Now the four of them were on the taxiway, right in front of the plane, waving to get their attention. Captain Smith spoke through the radio to the ATC.
"Sydney tower, South Arctic 2378, aborting the taxi we have people on the tarmac, Stand by." Then the captain got up from his seat and moved to the back of the cockpit.
"What are you doing?" Bato asked in confusion.
"Don't you think we should let them onboard, it wouldn't hurt to" the captain replied as he lend down to the floor and grabbed a small handle. He pulled on it and lifted a small trapdoor that led down to a compartment. Then, he stepped into the compartment and began to fumble with another door. After a few seconds there was a loud "click" and the sound of the door opening to the outside. Bato could hear the sound of the engines with their high pitched metallic roar. Just over the engines he heard the captain yelling to Hakota and his family. "Come on in, we got to go now!" then Bato saw, out the cockpit window, the four people disappear under the airplane nose. Then the captain claimed back into the cockpit, this time helping up Hakota's wife, Kiya. She was wearing a plain blue water tribe coat and her jet black hair was pulled back in a bun, yet it looked like her hair was out of place and she was breathing quickly from exhaustion. Next her daughter Katara climbed up. She looked just like her mother, even with her outfit. except she was shorter, being only five years old now, and her hair was tied up in a long ponytail with two locks of hair streaming from her forehead to the back of her head. Then her brother Sokka came up. His hair was incredibly short save for a portion at the back that was tied up into a very rough ponytail. And surprisingly when standing next to his younger sister Katara, he seemed shorter than her. He was also holding a metallic boomerang in his hand. Then, Hakota emerged wearing a water tribe warrior uniform and a relived look on his face.
"Thanks for the ride captain, I didn't think we could catch up to you in time," Hakota said as the captain reached into the lower compartment and closed the outside door. Next, he closed the outer door, stood up and spoke. "Hakota, Kiya, take the kids to the cabin and find a seat in the back. We are leaving." The four family members departed through the cockpit door into the passenger cabin.
The captain turned around, strapped himself to his seat on the left side, and called the tower. "South Arctic 2378, crises averted. We just took on more passengers and are awaiting takeoff clearance" there was a moment of silence followed by a response.
"South Arctic 2378, cleared for takeoff, and get in the air ASAP. We just received word that a nuke has detonated five miles off the coast. The bomb has displaced a large amount of ocean water, and the coast guard is declaring a tsunami warning. You've got two minutes!" The captain gave no hesitation to the message. He pushed the throttles enough to give them driving speed. Then, using the landing gear steering wheel, he maneuvered the jet onto the runway, into position and stopped the plane, But before he could push the throttle to full power, the cockpit door opened and Kiya and Katara stepped in, then Kiya spoke up.
"Bato, there are only two seats left in the back. The boys offered to stand up during the flight. Can they do that?" Bato turned to face her.
"That's not a good idea. Wait, I got it! You two could sit up here in the jump seat." Bato pointed to the unoccupied seat behind the captain seat. It was just big enough for Kiya to sit in it. Katara ended up sitting on her lap with her arms around her mom's neck.
"Ok, now that that's settled, let's get out of here." Captain Smith said. But as he said this, Bato heard the sound of yelling over his radio from ATC. "South Arctic 2378 get off the runway! That wave is right behind you! For the spirits sake, MOVE!" the captain reacted quickly to the orders.
"Bato, give me power." Bato reached over and pushed the throttle to 85 percent power, the standard power setting for the Boeing 767 at takeoff. The plane began to move, slowly at first, but it soon picked up speed and momentum. Bato's initial feeling was that of calmness. That they were going to make it, until he saw something out the back part of the window that made his stomach do a belly flop. It was the mother of all waves just behind them. And it was fast. He could see it consuming buildings and houses next to the runway at the speed of a bullet. It was destroying everything in its path like some ancient spirit monster. Bato turned to the captain who also was noticing the wall of watery death in his window. His face turned as White as a ghost, and he yelled just one word. "Accelerate!" Bato reached for the throttle again, but this time he pushed it to its max setting.
Immediately the engines roared to life and the G-forces began to push him into his seat. The plane sped up, going faster and faster. Behind them, destruction rained as other planes on the taxiway were consumed by the monster wave. After a few seconds the captain tried to rotate, or lift the nose up. But there was no movement, and they were running out of runway and time quickly. He tried again too little success "UP, UP, come on baby, come on!" In the back, Bato could hear Katara crying out in fear.
"Mom, I'm scared" her mother hugged her and said.
"It's ok sweety, everything will be fine" the captain tried to rotated the plane once again. This time the nose slowly lifted up. But at the same time Bato felt the wave impact the tail of the plane slightly. In the back, the passengers near the tail could be heard screaming at the sight of water splashing just beneath their windows. Bato and the captain struggled to keep the plane straight as the planes main landing gear finally left the ground. Then the plane's tail broke free of the wave base and flight 2378 became the last airliner to leave Sydney international airport forever.