As usual, the only thing I own is the idea and the character I created, everything else belongs to Michael and Bryan.
Chapter 2: The Sword
Over the next two days Azula interrogated the trio; mainly she used fire and lightning to hurt them. She would ask them questions about where their rebel allies were and if she didn't get an answer she liked, which she never did, she would zap them with a jolt of electricity. She also found that she could elicit a better reaction from Aang if she shocked Katara instead of him when he refused to answer. After one such session the group was trying to pull themselves together.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take," said Sokka, "She's getting more and more extreme with her punishments," he said helping Katara to sit up.
"No kidding," she said weakly, wincing as Sokka leaned her against the wall; she had been taking the brunt of Azula's rage. "We can't give in though; we don't know anything really important, but we do know approximately where dad is; if we even give her a hint, we could put his life in jeopardy."
"I'm so, so sorry guys," said Aang with tears streaming down his face at his friend's pain. "This is all my fault,"
"Actually," Sokka said, "We're the ones who came after you so technically it's our fault! Don't worry about it Aang, what will happen will happen; we can't do anything about it."
"I hope they actually feed us soon," said Katara, "They haven't fed us once since we got here,"
"Yeah, and if they do, I'll just have to feed you two like a bunch of babies!" said Sokka.
"Well at least we don't act like babies all the time," said Katara poking fun at him.
Aang sat there, amazed at his friend's ability to joke even in a situation like this.
The next day there was a slight change in their usual routine: Azula brought a friend when she came to interrogate them. Aang could hear them talking as they walked down the hallway, but couldn't make out what they were saying.
The door to the cell swung open; "Here he is: the once great Avatar," said Azula gesturing grandly.
"Um, Azula?" asked her companion, "Wrong cell; this one just has a bunch of kids in it."
"That's him," said Azula, pointing, "The one in the orange is the Avatar,"
Aang looked up; standing in the doorway was a boy in a long, calf length, red yellow and black jacket. The jacket had no sleeves, but the boy wore red armbands with two black striped on his wrists. Aang realized that this was the guy who was talking to Zuko when they first arrived in the Capital. He also noticed that the boy wore two short swords attached to his belt and the hilt of a larger broadsword protruded over his right shoulder. But the thing Aang noticed the most was the fact that even though it was rather dim in their cell, the boy still wore a pair of dark, wrap around sunglasses.
"Spirits," said the boy, noticing the condition the kids were in, "What have you been doing to these kids? And why does the girl look in worse shape than the others? I thought that the one in orange was the Avatar."
"He is," replied Azula cruely, "The look on his face when I hurt her is much better than if I directly hurt him,"
The boy in the jacket frowned crossing his arms, "I wanted to see the Avatar, but this is just wrong…"
"Whatever," said Azula, "You going to stick around?"
Her companion sighed, "I guess so,"
As Azula stalked towards them, Aang heard a sharp intake of breath as Katara braced herself for what was to come. "So, Avatar," Azula asked, "are you going to tell me where your Air Nomad friends are hiding today?"
Aang's only response was to glare at her.
"So be it," she said, and with out breaking eye contact with Aang, loosed a bolt of lightning at Katara who writhed in pain but didn't give Azula the satisfaction of hearing her scream. Aang glanced over to make sure she was ok, and then resumed glaring at Azula.
Frustrated, Azula strode over to Katara, "Scream, for me girl," Azula said brining her face to within an inch of Katara's, "Scream so I can watch the pain in his eyes,"
Katara mustered all of her strength and spat right in Azula's face.
Azula wiped it off and brutally backhanded her; sending Katara flying into the wall of the cell. The boy in the coat, who was leaning against the cell door with his arms crossed, winced in sympathy. Azula conjured a ball of blue fire in her hand and was about to slam it into Katara when the boy grabbed the Princess' wrist, "That's enough," he said.
"Why!?!" Azula snarled whipping around.
"Because," he answered, "If you kill her, you'll never get any information out of the Avatar; she's your leverage with him."
"Fine…" she snarled and stalked out of the cell. The boy took a long sad look at the tired and hungry trio and left too.
Later that night, a large tray of food was delivered to the cell by a guard with a brand new bag of coins on his belt. The next day Azula came to torture them; and again she brought her friend. The boy watched her hurt them with a look of disgust in his face; and that night another tray of food arrived at their cell. The day after that, the two came to the cell again.
Azula spoke to the guard outside the trio's cell, "Wait at the end of the hall; I'll call you when I need you," this time she didn't bother asking any questions; she just started hurting the Avatar and his friends. After a few minutes of this the boy in the jacket spoke up, "I can't take this anymore, this is just sick!"
"He's the Avatar!" said Azula over the crackle of electricity, "He is the single biggest threat to our nation. He deserves every bit if this."
"He's just a child! You know what, forget this I'm going back to the palace." said her companion turning towards the door.
"You will not leave unless I say you can!" yelled Azula ceasing her torture for a moment.
"I just did," said the boy defiantly, now walking away.
"Heh," laughed Katara weakly, "even your friends think you're twisted,"
Enraged, Azula zapped all three of them with such a strong blast of electricity that all three of them screamed in pain.
Aang fell to the ground; the only thing he could see now was Azula's feet and the open door to the cell. He saw a pair of boots and the fringe of a red jacket appear behind Azula.
"I'm sorry," the boy in the jacket said.
"Oh, so you came back," said Azula, "well, your rudeness is forgiven,"
"That's not what I was apologizing for,"
Aang glanced up just in time to see a flash of silver and Azula smashing into the opposite wall. He looked back at the boy in the coat just in time to see him sliding the broadsword back into its sheath. He stopped over Azula and took a key from the folds of his coat and unlocked Aang's restraints and muzzle. Aang immediately rushed over to Katara, who, he realized, was not moving.
The boy in the coat, came over and checked her pulse; "She'll be fine," he said, "She's just unconscious. All of you will need some medical attention though."
"Wait a second!" said Sokka, "What's going on here!?! I thought you were Fire Nation!"
"I was," said the boy, "But as of now, I'm not; I'm getting you guys out of here."
"Why are you helping us?" asked Aang.
"I have my reasons," said the boy, "Some one's going to have to carry her," he said gesturing to Katara, "and someone is going to have to carry all of your stuff, we'll pick it up on the way out."
"I'll carry Katara," said Aang.
"Are you sure?" asked the red clad teenager skeptically looking at the Avatar's slight frame.
"Yes." said Aang with determination.
"Fine, I guess that makes you the pack mule," he said to Sokka. "Now stick close, the guard at the end of the hallway already went for backup; let's go."
Aang picked up Katara's limp form and piggybacked her out of the cell and down the corridor. Their mysterious new friend stopped at a door about halfway down the hall, which turned out to be a storage closet, they entered and started getting their things together. "Hey," Aang asked, "What's your name?"
The stranger was silent for a moment, "My name isn't important; but some call me The Spider."
Sokka snorted and laughed, "That's a funny name!"
"Hey ponytail boy, shut up and get your stuff loaded; we'll be knee deep in guards soon." retorted the Spider.
They exited the room and headed for the stairs, "Your bison is on the top floor," said their new ally. They were almost to the door of the stairway when about 15 guards piled out and stood, blocking their way. "Stay behind me," said the Spider
"You're not going anywhere traitor," said one of the guards, "I never trusted you."
The Spider's hands drifted to the hilts of his short swords; "I suggest you get out of my way if you don't want to get killed." threatened the spider, his dark glasses glinting in the torchlight; "This is your only warning: move or die."
"No," the head guard said and they all got into fire bending stances.
"Fine," said the spider.
Sokka watched as he drew his short swords out of their sheaths; they were single edged swords and were slightly curved. Sokka saw him leap into the air with surprising agility for someone who just about his own size. He landed in the midst of the guards; much of what happened next, Sokka couldn't see; but the Spider was just a red blur outlined by the flashing silver of his swords which were moving almost faster than the eye could see. It was utter carnage; gouts of blood and severed limbs flew everywhere. The fight only lasted for 5 minutes; but at the end the only one left alive was the Spider. He was splattered with a lot of blood; none of it his own. The two boys stood there; one awed at this fearsome warrior, the other was horrified at the death and destruction.
"Let's go," said the swordsman, "there's more coming,"
They climbed as fast as they could; when they got to the top floor, they found that it was an open floor sp they could easily fly Appa out of it. The Spider cut the chains holding Appa down. They were loading up the last of their things when the door to the room burst open and a voice shouted "I knew you couldn't be trusted!!" Zuko had found them. "You traitor! I will not let you leave,"
"No, I think you will let us leave," said the spider mildly.
"I will stop you!" shouted Zuko fire gathering at his fingertips.
The Spider sighed, standing up in Appa's saddle, "You saw what I did to those guards back there; I will not hesitate to do the same to you. Now, Back. Off." He said menacingly.
Zuko thought about it for a moment, and then lowered his arms. "You will pay for this…"
"Go," the Spider said to Aang sitting back down.
"Yip-yip!" said Aang, and they soared away into the late afternoon sky; leaving Zuko to his shame.
Well I hope you like it so far! The next chapter may be the last one in this story. I may do more if people really like the character. So tell me what you think!
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