"Chief, Master Sokka," Isamu began to brief the two, "We managed to get a mole into Jun's inner circle and he reported something terrible back."
"Well spit it out man! We haven't got all night!" Toph barked.
Isamu took a deep breath before continuing, "The mole has reported that there is to be another massacre tonight. It will most likely be similar to the one of the firebenders we saw two weeks ago." Sokka's face paled at the mention of what happened before. He hadn't been at the scene of the crime, but Toph had gotten there right before it happened and before they could make any arrests, the building had to be hosed down because the flames were uncontrollable. The dastardly person or people behind the massacre were completely unknown until the following day. A letter had been sent to the Chief of Police along with all the major newspapers in the city. It revealed that the mastermind was a person named Jun and he or she was hell bent on purging the entire world of "unclean" people. Whatever that meant. Sokka remembered Toph's reaction to the letter. She was enraged. The thought of some sick twisted person like that on the lam had made her blood boil. From that moment Toph had devoted all of her time to tracking him down and putting an end to the mass murderer's schemes.
"I want every man in the surrounding borough to have their lines of communication to be open. They all need to be ready to move in a moment's notice. I also want my metalbenders to meet us there. We're going to try and bust in and save those innocent people before that monster can get his hands on anybody," Toph commanded.
"Yes, Chief," Isamu agreed before turning around and reaching for the car's radio. They were on the way to the sight of the aforementioned massacre: information that the mole was able to send to Headquarters.
Toph's hands were balled into fists and her teeth were clenched. Sokka looked over at his friend and decided that from this point on he would be by her side through this entire case, no matter what. He could get someone to fill in for him a little while longer. After this mission he'd go to the boat to relay that message. She was struggling too much with this case and he knew that he belonged with her.
"Toph," his voice caused her fists to unclench and her head to drop a little.
"Hm?" she managed.
"I've decided to stay in Republic City until this asshat is captured and thrown into isolation for the rest of his life."
A small smirk appeared on her face, "Thanks, Meathead." He reached over and took her hand in his and gave it a little squeeze. He dropped her hand when Isamu turned back around to inform the two that they were almost at the designated meeting point. Isamu opened his mouth, but was cut off by a loud KABOOM! that erupted out of nowhere.
"What was that?" Toph demanded.
"I don't know, but there's smoke coming from where we were headed," Isamu informed his superior.
"Just exactly where were we headed?" Sokka questioned.
Isamu looked down and sighed, "We were on our way to Anuj's School for Young Earthbenders."
Sokka gasped. Toph's eyes widened.
"Yeah…" Isamu managed to agree with their horrified remarks.
"But how…?" Sokka began, but was cut off by the car jerking to a hault. The car was a block away from where the smoke was billowing in the sky. People were crowding the streets, bringing traffic to a standstill. Some people were trying to approach the disaster with curiosity, while others were running, screaming out people's names.
"Isamu!" Toph barked, "Get the local burrough on crowd control. Have my metalbenders and a squad of waterbenders close in on the location of the explosion. If there are any flames they need to be snuffed out immediately by the waterbenders. I also want another unit to secure a perimeter of 10 blocks around, we need to stop any suspicious people. The metalbenders and I will work on rescuing any who are trapped. Also get some healers to come immediately."
"Yes, Chief!" Isamu replied and immediately got to work on the radio, relaying the chief's orders.
Then Toph got out of the car and began making her way towards the disaster area. Sokka trailed behind her, trying to keep up. The crowd began to thin as officers appeared in the streets, directing the pedestrians off the street and telling them to stay as far back as possible. This made it easier for the hulking figure that was Sokka to make it to where Toph had stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth agape. The waterbenders were hastily dousing the flames that started with the explosion. Her metalbenders were frantically moving debris, calling out for any survivors. Sokka came up and stood beside the chief. He knew she could feel it. He knew that she could feel the lack of heartbeats under the heap that used to be a school for beginning earthbenders. His heart slowly began to break, realizing that inside that building, it was nothing but innocent children. Children just like Lin. He held back tears as he looked over at Toph. Nothing. Absolutely nothing was on her face. She just stood there, blankly taking in what was going on. Then she ran. She ran towards the still burning heap.
"Toph wait!" Sokka implored, chasing after her. But she didn't listen she just ran and began moving all the shattered glass and splintered wood that covered a spot. Sokka ran up next to her and joined her in her search, realizing that she sense someone who was still alive under the mess. This realization made him frantic, forcing his body to work faster so they could get to the poor soul underneath it all. Some other officers near them also realized what was happening and joined the search.
As they cleared more and more debris Sokka could make out faint whimpering. He and the others began to work even harder. Finally, with the help of a few other men, a large beam was moved and a little tuft of ash covered hair stuck out from the mess. Toph used her earthbending to remove the rubble that was close by and was able to pull the person from the debris.
"It's okay," she cooed to the young child, "Everything is okay now. You're safe." The little boy buried his face into Toph's shoulder as she held him, instinctively rubbing his back. Sokka drew near to the two, amazed at what had just happened. Once the little boy calmed down a bit he raised his head and looked around. He let go of Toph, but she still held her hand on his back for support. He looked up at Sokka and smiled.
"Hi," Sokka said calmly, "My name is Sokka and this is Chief Toph." The little boy waved back meekly.
"What's your name buddy?" Sokka gently prodded.
"Mushi!" the little boy squeaked.
"Okay, Mushi, nice to meet you," Sokka greeted.
"Do you think you can answer a few questions?" Toph added. He nodded at her.
"Okay," Toph began, "Where is your mommy or daddy?"
"Mommy's at home. Dada's on his way to pick me up."
"That's great. And do you know their names?" Sokka asked.
"Mama and dada," the little boy stated matter-of-factly.
"Of course," Toph agreed with him, then nudged him over to Sokka. "Why don't you and my friend Sokka go to the corner store over there and get a big cup of juice? He'll keep you safe while I try to find your dad." The little boy thought about it for a second and then nodded. He grabbed Sokka's hand and the two walked towards the store. Sokka glanced back at Toph. There was still no expression on her face. She was all business, determined to get Mushi back to his family where hopefully he'd be safe. Sokka sighed. He knew she was bottling all of her pain and fear. He had some of idea of what she must have felt. It could have been Lin in there for spirits' sakes! He was a mess inside just thinking about it. All of those innocent lives just ended and for what? Some psycho dudebro thinks the world needs to be purged? He wouldn't stand for it. Sokka would not stop until this ruthless murdering spree with backwards ideologies was ended.
A/N: Sorry about that hiatus. It was the end of the semester and finals week and then it all turned into preparing for Christmas so I got really side tracked and then financial problems began and now I'm back at school and it's just so hard to find time, but I think I'm managing. Also I got a little sad with the end of Korra, but then I decided to keep the fandom alive and write more fan fiction. I also did not really have much of the story developed, but then bam, I had an epiphany and kinda figured out a shit ton more of where this is going. That being said, since I don't have a master plan and am just kind of writing, could you guys do me a huge favor and leave some helpful feedback please? I would really appreciate it and it would really help me out with this story a ton. Feel free to even message me on tumblr if you have one. My username is the same there justcallmehermione Thanks so much guys! Keep on keepin' on, I know the feels you must be going through with the series finally finished.