She woke with a yawn, scratching at her neck. Opening her eyes, she saw that her fingernails were covered in blood. Gasping, she touched her neck and felt a small hole just under her jaw line.
"I'd leave that alone if I were you, girl."
Kiyi looked up at the broad man standing above her. She scowled at him.
"Hmph. What an unpleasant child. Just what I would expect as a traitor's filthy offspring," he snarled.
"Leave me alone!" she shouted at him.
Kiyi wavered as the man bent down, his golden eyes boring into her. She gasped as he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her so just the tips of her toes skimmed the floor.
"You better keep quiet, you dirty peasant," he spat at her, throwing her back to the ground. She coughed, eyes watering as she tried to breathe again.
Her attacker turned as two masked men marched through the door.
"Sir, the evacuation is nearly complete," one of them stated.
"Good, good. I have other things to attend to, so I'm placing this little brat in your custody. Take her with the rest of the Society members and keep her locked up until I send you further orders."
"You…you're not coming with us, sir?" the other man asked.
The older man's eyes narrowed. "Don't worry, I'm staying here to ensure everything will work out to take that imposter out of power." With that, the two men bowed as he exited the room.
The second man walked forward and tried to pick Kiyi up. She screamed and flailed around, knocking the bottom of his chin hard with her head.
"Great spirits! Why'd we get stuck with the kid!?" he said through gritted teeth, rubbing his jaw.
"Move away, I'll take care of her," said the other. He was holding out a small tube to his lips. The dart hit her shoulder and before she could scream, all went dark.
Zuko had been yelling at his guards for the past half hour, first organizing a dozen firebending teams to search for Azula and the rest of the kidnappers, and then several foot soldier units to lock down Caldera and Harbor cities. An hour later, he was informed of a strange earthbent tunnel discovered along the caldera's rim.
Aang and Suki must've gone into one of the bunkers, he reasoned. Zuko took the remaining Kyoshi Warriors and made his way to the bunker entrance through the passages beneath the palace.
Zuko stared at the sloppy, metal-bent tear in his bunker door.
"Yep, Aang was here," unless Toph made a surprise visit, he thought wryly. And we just barely had this fixed since the invasion…
Once they had all squeezed in, the warrior named Jaya studied the floor for several moments. "They went this way," she stated, leading them to the right. They moved quickly but cautiously for about a quarter mile before coming upon quite the scene: six knocked-out New Ozai Society members, several scorch marks along the floor, one airbender's staff, and an unsheathed katana.
Ty Lee bounced over to the staff. "It looks like they took 'em out…but why would Aang leave his glider?"
Zuko bent down and picked up Suki's sword in turn, placing the blade atop his open palm. "This wasn't a mistake, Ty Lee." He scowled as he looked up at her. "They were captured."
Aang's head was pulsing as he woke.
"Owww…my head…and why are my legs throbbing?" Sitting up, he lit a handful of fire and saw two bloody, scuffed up knees.
Oh. That's why.
He felt dizzy. "What happened? What was I do—oh, oh no!" he shouted. Leaping up, he scanned his surroundings—a small, metal-walled prison cell—before the blood rushed to his head and he was collapsing back onto the cold, hard ground.
Sometime later, he opened his eyes again. Uugh, still here, he thought grimly. Ok, so I was with Suki, and we were going after the kidnappers, he processed. Let's see, I'm trapped in a prison cell, a metal prison cell…his eyes popped open as his face split into a wicked smirk.
Standing up slowly, he felt another wave of vertigo but managed to hobble over to the door. After several attempts he managed to metalbend the lock apart. He pulled the door back and made his way cautiously into the corridor.
"Suki! Are you here?" he whispered harshly as he looked through the grates of each prison cell in the hall. They were all empty.
Abandoning caution, he called out. "SUKI? SUKI!"
Light from a fire answered him as it approached from the far end of the hall, several shadows growing larger as they rounded the corner. Aang, still feeling whoozy, gulped.
After tying up the New Ozai Society soldiers, Zuko and his guards approached the prison of the underground bunker. "Suki! Aang!" he called out. Turning back to the Kyoshi Warriors, he directed, "Search every cell! They might be—"
"ZUKO!"
Aang popped out from behind a door at the far end of the passageway. "Phew! I thought you were more of those guys with the darts…"
"I'm so glad you're all right, buddy," Zuko said, clasping a hand on the airbender's shoulder when he bounded over. Ty Lee handed him his staff. "Hang on, darts? Did you find the kidnappers?" Zuko asked.
"I dunno, I heard a few footsteps but it was dark and they got me right when—"
"Wait," Zuko interrupted, "Where's Suki? Isn't she with you, Aang?"
Aang frowned. "I checked all the prison cells down this hall. She's not here. I don't even know what happened to her after that dart knocked me out."
"I shouldn't have let you two go alone." Zuko frowned. "I—I made a bad call, and now Suki's—"
"Don't worry, Fire Lord," Jaya said from behind them. Zuko turned to look at her. "If anyone can take care of herself, it's Suki," she smiled. The other Kyoshi Warriors gave firm nods in agreement.
Zuko gave them a small smile in return. Of course. Why am I worried about her? "Alright, let's move out."
Suki had been awake for almost an hour, silently stretching her limbs as the feeling came back to them and the fogginess in her head slowly gave way. The nausea from the poisoned dart was only magnified by the back and forth motion of the floors, slowing her recovery. Just now she sat motionless by the door, listening carefully to a conversation taking place down the hall.
"I don't get it. Why did we leave the Avatar behind?"
"How would that look? Kidnapping the Avatar? We don't want this becoming an international issue, you idiot," a gruff voice responded. "Plus, I'd rather not deal with an angry Avatar when he wakes up."
"I dunno, I think I'm more scared of that girl…she took the others out in under a minute!" the first man said nervously. "And what about them, anyway? Won't they be captured?"
"Whatever. I wasn't gonna drag their sorry butts along. Besides, we got the Fire Lord's head guard! We've earned ourselves a big reward as soon as Ozai's back in power."
Yeah, not gonna happen, Suki thought. At least that guy's big mouth had given her some important information. Aang is back in the bunker… Hopefully Zuko and the other warriors have found him by now. From the rocking she knew she was on a boat, but since no light entered her room she couldn't tell how much time had passed. Ok, so I just have to commandeer this ship and get back to the palace. Doable. She smiled to herself. And maybe they're keeping Kiyi and the other kids here!
Feeling almost herself again, she stood and jumped silently, grabbing the wooden beams in the ceiling above her, swinging herself up so that she could brace herself between them just above the door.
Smirking impishly, she cried out. "Help! Help me! Please!"
Footsteps approached. "Be quiet in there! Why are you—" He gasped. "W-where is she!?" the man cried, looking through the narrow grates in the doorway to the empty room.
"What are you talking about? Move over, moron," the older one muttered. His eyes grew wide as he looked inside. "WHERE IS SHE?" he hollered. He hastily unlocked the door and rushed inside.
Suki let go.
"Wow, look at all these toys! Were these yours, Zuko?"
Zuko glared across the room, the walls of bunk beds and scattered toys beginning to blur out of focus. "No, Aang. I've never seen these before." He squeezed his eyes shut. "We—we missed them."
"You mean, the kidnapped kids?" Aang asked. "Then we can't be far behind! They must have taken everyone and left after they attacked me and Suki. And—and it looks like they're taking pretty good care of them," he added as an afterthought.
Zuko didn't react to him. "I can't believe Azula has been using this place this whole time. I should've had guards monitoring it! I just didn't think…" he trailed off. Recovering, he addressed the others. "I'll send a couple teams to search the remaining bunkers, but I believe they've deserted this place. We'll head back to see if there's any news from the other units yet," he directed.
Zuko took up the rear as Aang and the warriors backtracked to the palace. He felt himself nearing his breaking point. It felt like his heart had dropped into his stomach, his chin beginning to tremble and as he tried to hold back his anxiety.
Oh Agni, please let Kiyi be all right. Please…
It took a full minute to subdue the two guards. The drug is still slowing me down, Suki thought, though she didn't want to waste any more time recovering. With the two guards unconscious and locked in the cell, she scanned the surrounding rooms for her fans, katana, and armor.
Nothing, she thought, frowning. Maybe I should have asked them about that before I knocked them out…
She made her way carefully out a door at the end of the narrow hall and up a short flight of steps. From the opposite side of the door, she could smell something burning. Curious, she navigated a couple more hallways on the floor above while checking the rest of the rooms for other captives—strangely, all empty—and came to a door with smoke seeping out the edges.
A fire!? This could burn the ship down! I have to find something to—but at that moment she heard a small cough from behind the door. She lifted up the outer skirt of her uniform to cover her nose and mouth, and turned the door handle. Locked! she thought desperately. Several hard kicks and she managed to get in, the door already weakened by a fire encompassing the other side. Jumping over the fire, she ducked quickly to the floor beneath the heavy blanket of smoke. At the far end of the room lay the limp form of a little girl in pink Fire Nation sleepwear.
"Kiyi!" Suki cried, immediately coughing as smoke filled her lungs. She crawled over quickly and managed to scoop up the lifeless form and make it back out the door before it was completely encompassed by flames.
Outside, she could hear raised voices and the pounding of footsteps of someone in the adjacent hall. She quickly ran the opposite direction and turned a corner. Eyes watering, she leaned against the wall, trying desperately not to cough as she looked down at Kiyi's unconscious body in her arms. Her small chest was just barely rising with each breath.
Please stay with me, Kiyi! Suki thought frantically as she dashed down the corridor in search of an escape.
