The resulting awkward silence was interrupted by another loud crash. They were coming from directly outside the cavern, each crash jarring the door.
"We're going to have to finish this later, Blockbuster is going to be knocking on this door soon enough," said Robin.
"Then it seems we have no other choice but to fight our way out," Aqualad replied calmly. "Min, can you fight?"
I was still in my Firebending stance. With a sigh, I decided to be truthful with them, at least on this. "Not like this," I said. These youths could not be my captors, strange as they were, unless they were playing some extremely elaborate game. No, it seemed for now that I would have to trust them. "I've been drugged. I can barely walk, let alone Bend."
"Bend?" said a petite, dark haired girl in a black and white suit who hadn't previously spoken. Robin shrugged at her.
Where was I? Aqualad began issuing orders, his team moving in an efficient pattern, setting up the ambush with skill and practice that I only subconsciously noted. I no longer was paying attention, no longer heard the words spoken around me, perhaps to me. Where was I? The world began to spin faster than it ever had when the effects of the drug were still strong. I suddenly found myself on my knees, but I couldn't remember sitting down. People were shouting around me, screaming. There was a loud crash, and I think the door flew through the air. It all seemed surreal to me. None of it mattered. For the first time in my life, I had no idea what to do, what I could do. All I could think was, I'm not in the Fire Nation anymore.
Dimly, I registered strong arms under my shoulders, lifting me up. A voice yelled in my ear, commanding, yet full of urgency. I seemed to remember that voice being calm before. Calm and soothing. I don't why, but it seemed the most important thing in the world to remember that voice as it was before. Before.
Then it all snapped back into focus. I was stumbling, being dragged by a pair of dark skinned arms. A voice was yelling in my ear, "She is not snapping out of it! We have to get her out of here! Robin, we need an exit! Miss Martian, prep the Bioship!"
"Got our route! Take the next left."
"Bioship's just outside the cave entrance!"
There were a series of loud crashes behind me, and then a voice. "I can't hold them all off! Artemis, I need some cover fire!"
Another voice, "scouted ahead. Armed bozos in the left passage."
"Robin, is there an alternative route?"
"Yeah, this right, right here. Go, now!"
"Artemis, Robin! Close the passage behind us!"
There was a pause of relative quiet, then a series of whizzing noises and the sound of several small explosions. Then silence.
"I think we lost them."
"For now. How's the girl?"
There was a pause. I was still in a daze. I had no idea what was going on, and that simple fact scared me more than what was actually going on. For the first time in my life, I had no idea what to do, and also for the first time in my life, I was really, truly scared.
The voice spoke again beside my ear. "Min?" it said, once again calm and soothing. "Min, can you hear me?"
In the distance, there was a crash. And then a roar.
I froze. My limbs refused to function and my heart literally stopped. Then it began pounding harder than it ever had. What was fear became raw panic. From the moment I had opened my eyes in that cursed pod, under heavy sedation and with no idea where I was or how I had gotten there, I had thought only of escape and self preservation. All I had to do was get out, get away, and everything would be fine. I would see my family again, my friends, and they would all be fine. I had never dreamed that someone I loved would be here in this hell hole with me.
"What was that?" asked the kid in yellow.
"All the more reason to get away from here quickly," said Aqualad, the soothing voice beside my ear. "Min, can you hear me? We have to move. You must snap out of this."
I couldn't hear him. Blood was pounding in my ears, drowning out all sounds and conscious thought. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Fear paralyzed me. Not fear for myself, fear for the one who I depend on more than any other.
"Nuwei…" I mumbled.
"What did she say?" asked the girl with the bow.
"Min, there is no time, you must focus."
"Nuwei," I insisted.
"Who's Nu-ay?" asked the kid in yellow.
And then I looked up, looked at all of them and around at the tunnel we were in. I searched wildly, vainly for the one here with me, strained to hear her once more.
"Nuwei! Where's Nuwei?" I shouted at blank faces. "Where's my dragon?!"
I pushed Aqualad away, my source of support since I fell into my daze. Struggling to keep upright, I lurched towards where I had heard the crash and the roar. Behind me, I heard him yell.
"Min, no! That is the way we came, it is blocked off!"
Indeed, before me was a wall of rubble, extending all the way to the ceiling. Taking an aggressive Earthbending stance, I pushed at the boulders. They quivered.
"What is she doing?" That was a male voice, not the kid in yellow, not Aqualad, not Robin. I didn't know who it was, but that barely registered in my brain. My sole focus was moving the Earth in front of me. My blood pounded, my heart raced, my temperature was feverish. Again, I went through the motions that should have demolished the wall in front of me. A few rocks exploded into dust.
"Min!"
I didn't even recognize the voice that called to me. Sweat poured off my brow. My temperature was at a dangerous level, even for me. But I could feel it working. I could feel clarity return to my senses and my mind. My limbs felt heavy, but they worked. I took my stance once more.
Voices called to me, multiple tones, multiple people. I couldn't even hear their words. My front foot came up, and then slammed down. My hands jerked apart, then came close to my body. Then both hands came forward together in one powerful motion.
The wall of rubble flew back, the force of the push cracking open boulders like eggs and slamming the remains into the far wall. When the dust settled, the remains of two tons of Earth lay strewn over an area of fifty square spans, heaped in hundreds of small piles of fist sized chunks. I looked back at the youths. They stared back at me wide eyed and open mouthed. Without a word, I turned and ran towards where I had heard Nuwei roar.
Behind me, I heard the kid in yellow say, "She's a freakin' Red!" And then several sets of footsteps ran after me.
I ran into the cavern that had been blocked off by the rubble. Frantically, I looked around, trying to discern which way the roar had come from. The cavern was an enormous dome from which dozens of passages led. For the life of me, I could not tell which way I had heard Nuwei roar.
Behind me, I heard the youths stop, and then Robin spoke. "Min, who are you looking for? If you tell me, I might be able to find him."
I looked back at him. He had his arm up and across his chest and above it was a square seemingly constructed of blue light. By this time, this did not even faze me. Nor did a red headed teen to his left, who not only was flying, but whose skin was bright green. At this point, all the strangeness was blurring together.
"Not him," I said, "her. My dragon, Nuwei. She's here."
Robin exchanged a look with Aqualad on his right, and the kid in yellow with the girl with the bow, and the greened skinned girl with a muscular, light skinned boy at her side, and the flying dark skinned girl with the petite girl in black and white. There were eight youths in all, a fact that I only just recognized in that moment.
"Your dragon," said the kid in yellow with an air of disbelief.
"Yes! Can you find her?" I directed the question at Robin, who was suddenly looking at me strangely. They all were.
"Uhhh, well…" he spluttered.
With an exasperated sound, I turned away, wetting my lips. Nuwei was my spiritual guide, a friend and ally for all Avatars in all ages. How could they not know of this? She had been a constant throughout my entire life, more so than any family member, any friend. If she was here, then I had to find her. And I could, with or without the help of these bizarre teens. When I called, Nuwei would come. If she couldn't come, then she would let me come to her. It was something we had been doing all our lives.
I pursed my lips. Taking a deep breath, I whistled a long, low note, then abruptly ended it with high shrill. I waited. Precisely five seconds later, I heard a distant roar coming from directly ahead of me. It was unmistakably Nuwei.
I looked back. "That's my dragon," I told eight blank faces. Turning, I ran into the tunnel directly in front of me. As I suspected, six pairs of feet followed me after only a short pause.
The tunnel ran on for half a mile or so, twisting and turning into what I assumed was the heart of the mountain. Behind me I heard the youths following me, six pairs of feet landing in rhythm, two pairs that never touched the ground. No one voiced any complaints. No one talked at all.
The tunnel let out into another cavern, as large as the last and with as many tunnels leading out from it. This mountain was beginning to look more like a mountain range. I called to Nuwei again, and again she answered, this time from my left. I took the nearest passage without pause. Like before, it wound like a snake, but thankfully it held its general direction, albeit at a slight slant downwards. Still, no one spoke. The silence was becoming deafening.
After the next cavern, and after Nuwei again answered sounding only slightly closer, I broke the silence.
"Why are you following me?" I asked.
There was a pause, as if they had not expected this question. It was Aqualad who responded.
"We have been in a similar situation before. Like I said, we are here to help."
"What if I don't need your help?" I kept my questions short. They would crack. Or not. Either way, I would have my answers.
"It looked like you did back there," that was the male voice I couldn't put a face to. I looked back, and it was the muscular kid, the one who had been standing by the green girl, who was talking. "Look, that similar situation, that was me. The Team rescued me from Cadmus like we are doing for you. We've decided that we aren't going to abandon you."
We reached the next cavern, and I stopped and faced them. Time to put the heat on. "And when did you decide that?" I turned and gave another call. This time Nuwei was slightly to my right.
I turned, and continued running, but not before I noted their reactions. They were not grimacing or flustered, or even with smooth faces, which would have been a dead giveaway. They were looking at Aqualad questioningly. As I turned, he nodded at the green skinned girl. A female voice previously unknown to me that could only belong to her replied to my question.
"Just now," she said. Like this.
I stumbled, and fell flat on my face. The green skinned girl had spoken all the words, but the last two were not out loud. I had heard her voice in my head. I jumped up immediately, bringing my foot down hard on the stone floor, and Earthbended a sizable boulder out of the ground. I landed preparing to launch it at the youths, who were merely looking at me.
Aqualad stepped forward, his hands held up in a gesture of peace, but when he spoke, his mouth didn't move. His voice resounded in my head as the green skinned girl's had. Min, please, trust us. It is only a psychic link, established by Miss Martian. He gestured towards the green skinned girl, who smiled at me apologetically.
Perhaps it's best if we introduced ourselves. The voice of Robin. I clutched my head with one hand, the other still holding the boulder aloft. I am Robin, this is Aqualad, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Superboy, Artemis, Zatanna, and Rocket. He gestured at a teen with each name spoken. Together, we are a covert ops crime fighting team under the Justice League, the most powerful crime fighting unit on the planet. You have to have heard of us.
I could only stare at them. Without a word, I turned and continued running. "Min!" It was Aqualad's voice, spoken aloud. I didn't respond, and he said something quiet to another of his teammates. A pair of feet began moving faster, much faster. I tensed, but before I had time to do anything else, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I acted instinctually. My hand swept back, a whip of air sending the kid in yellow, Kid Flash, flying back twenty feet. It hit the other teens, and knocked most of them down, too.
"And what about me?" I demanded. "How do you not know who I am? I'm the Avatar! You don't even know what Bending is. Who are you?!" Then I paused. "How did you move so fast?"
"It's what I do," said Kid Flash, rubbing his head as he got up. "I'm a speedster. I'm… Kid Flash."
"As for our ignorance of your history," said Robin, also pushing himself up, "we have a theory."
"You're in New Cadmus," continued the muscular young man, Superboy, "the old Cadmus was an underground genetics facility. They created clones. They created me, as well as Red Arrow. We think that you may be a clone as well.
Artemis, the girl with the bow, spoke next, "if it's true, then they programmed all of your memories. Everything you think you know about yourself is a lie."
"Though I must say, they've never been this creative with the implanted memories," said Robin.
I couldn't say a word. What was a clone? What was genetics? Where was I? All I could do was turn and continue to run towards the only thing that made any sense right now. Nuwei. I could focus on that, hold onto that for a little while longer.
We know that this is a lot to take in, but there is more you have to know. I stumbled again as Aqualad's voice infiltrated my head.
Before we met you, we encountered heavy resistance from the League of Shadows, an organization of assassins. This was Robin's voice, now. Since you heard your… umm, dragon, we've met no one. It's more than likely that we are walking into a trap.
I stopped in another cavern, but this one wasn't like the rest. It was narrower, and the only passage leading from it was the one we had just come from. At the far end of the cavern was a door like the one in the room I had woken up in. Robin was right about one thing, this was the perfect place for an ambush. I had very likely led all of us to our deaths, or at least to pods. I didn't care.
I turned back to the youths. Let's hope so, I said on the... they had called it a psychic link. 'Cause I really need to punch something right now.
