Disclaimer: *Annoying note telling you that yes, in fact, I am NEITHER Mike nor Bryan*
Video of Time Machine inspirations:
watch?v=UBuLoRzhWeI
A/N: Third installment, away! Plaidspeed has caught my attention, and so I have this to say.
To point 1) While you are technically correct when you said that Zuko shouldn't be letting the boys off this easy, he knows he won't get anything out of them by just letting them rot in a cell for all time, Zuko suspects they know far more than they let on, which they do of course, but Zuko really has no idea what he is dealing with, but two boys in the middle of the ocean with some strange artifacts with them. And he isn't really letting them go, they are still fully under his control. Also this is (just) before he finds the Avatar, which in my honest opinion "recatalyzes" his determination etc.
To point 2) Really? I thought I was doing fine on that front.
Maybe I'm missing something big. I don't think so.
As always remember to do that review thing that helps me so much! ;p
Time to whoosh over to le fanfic! (Scroll down, have a nice day)
Chapter 03: That's Debatable
Zuko had originally intended to have the meeting (or, formal interrogation, as it were) right then and there. But there may have been too much overwhelming thoughts going through his head right then and there, and he ordered the boys be put back in the brig.
Zuko stormed off to Uncle's room. He always had something to say about the situation at hand.
He found him sitting on the floor, playing Pai Sho against one of the crew members.
"You. OUT." The man quickly left, closing the door behind him.
"What is wrong, Prince Zuko?" Uncle Iroh asked Zuko entered his room.
"I don't know. Everything! This whole situation… confuses me. The Fire Nation boy has turned out to be a firebender, for better or worse, I cannot say for sure."
Uncle thought the news over for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion.
"In confusing times, sometimes it is helpful to step back, take a look at the whole picture, and begin asking small questions. Only then may you be able answer the big ones."
"What does that mean!? I know little to nothing about who they really are, much less anything else."
"What do you know?" Uncle answered simply.
Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"They are two boys, appearing to be brothers about the age of fifteen."
"One of them is of apparent Fire Nation descent, and is a firebender."
"The other is of unknown, possibly Earth Kingdom heritage."
"Both boys were found earlier today by Lieutenant Jee while en route to the Southern Water Tribe, and with them came a large unknown mechanism.
"This… mechanism is of unknown origin, craft, intention, and purpose. It matches nothing of what we know. Within it was found a volume of foreign, undecipherable text."
"And why do you keep them here, heal the firebender, and allow them out temporarily, as if a gesture of good will?" Iroh asked.
"Because I believe there is much in them yet to be uncovered by me, much that could be utilized in ways we can or cannot think of. It is mainly that device. That is the key to everything: who they really are, where they came from, how they know the things they know, and what their purpose here is. And the only way I can figure it out is by interrogating them. The shorter one, Carson, has already admitted minimal information; suggesting Alex is of much greater value. Alex has admitted nothing, although his head injury may have done something to him."
"And why do you put so much effort into this?" Iroh continued.
"Because. Because. BECAUSE!" Zuko flared.
Iroh took a sip from his tea.
"Because I have on an impossible quest, for almost three, long, years, to search for a person who may be impossible to find. If this can in any way help me achieve that goal, in will invest as much of my effort as I wish."
"I see." Iroh set down his cup. "And so what do intend to do now?"
"Interrogate them. About everything. Force them to tell me everything they know."
Give it more time, Iroh thought. But Zuko had always been the impatient type, never wanting to draw out things.
"Goodbye Uncle. Thank you for your advice."
"You are most welcome, Prince Zuko."
After he left, Iroh sighed. He suspected his would not go well.
They were both sent back to the cell Carson was shoved in before.
Carson seemed a bit exasperated after what had happened up on deck, after, you know, he had shot fire from his freaking nose.
"You're a firebender? What… how… uh…" Carson was clearly freaking out, pacing back and forth, and throwing his arms up in the air while Alex leaned on the wall.
"I don't know! How was I supposed to know that? We've been here less than a day, Carson. I can't master a bending art in an afternoon."
"Who said anything about mastering. You simply having the ability to control fire freaks the shit outta me."
"Why?" Alex replied. "I mean, its normal here, so…"
"Still doesn't explain it."
"I mean, I don't know, maybe some bending knowledge and/or ability rubbed off or something during my dream with Roku."
He just realized that what he just said was probably the most absurd thing he'd heard in recent memory. But he believed it. Why? He just did. He just did.
"Are you serious? What about me? Am I not important enough for something? Or am I too good for Mr. Fire Avatar? Hm?"
"I don't know. I have no way of telling. Unless Roku decides to dream message me again…"
"Don't worry about it." Carson smirked. "Well, doesn't it seem strange that Avatar literally convince you to prepare to come here?"
He knew what Carson was going on about. Back when he they were nine, watching Avatar had inspired Alex into taking martial arts classes, eventually ending up getting recommended to a shaolin kung fu class where he spent off and on for the next four years mastering it. Carson would tag along sometimes and he would show him some moves that were in fact much more harmful than they looked at first. Once he had asked how this would help in a real fight, in the real world. Alex had answered by promptly flipping him, then bursting out laughing. Carson had reasoned that those classes made him more independent than he would have otherwise been, but conversely made him more distant from others. He knew this was true, but didn't really care, since most of his friends were from the Internet, or adults. Yet somehow he retained a moderate level or sociability.
"Well it makes a good base, but I don't have any experience with Firebending in and of itself." Alex sat down and lay on his back on the cell floor.
Carson sat down next to him. "Don't worry man, I'm sure you'll be fine. I just don't want you to feel like the one carrying us both this whole way. Even though you will be the one who will solely be able to repair the Big Glowy Orb of Spinning Metal and Wormhole-ness."
Alex closed his eyes. "First of all, it's a quantum unified electroweak dimension splicing transport lens. Second of all, that is a lot of adjectives I just used." Alex chuckled.
"Q-u-e-d-s-t-l. A… quedstal?" Carson seemed like he could barely contain his laughter.
Alex opened his eyes and sat up. "No way. No way. No…" Alex burst out laughing.
"See? You like it. That is now what it will now and forever called. A quedstal." Carson grinned.
"Well," Alex assumed a serious face. "The quedstal is broken and unable to be repaired, in case you didn't catch that earlier."
"Come on, man. I don't believe that. I'm pretty sure you don't believe that either. You've done more amazing things with less resources." Carson kept a calm face.
"Then you do not understand. The control axis has fused and fractured." Do you understand what I'm getting at?" Alex tried to let the truth out slowly, but he couldn't hold it any longer. "The technologies required to completely reproduce to optical circuitry are… centuries away, it cannot be done, it is IMPOSSIBLE, DAMNIT!" He started yelling at the top of his lungs. "WE WILL NEVER GO HOME! WE… ARE… STUCK… HERE." He yelled with finality. Fire shot from his fists at the wall behind him. He didn't care to notice. Instead he lied back down and began crying softly.
Carson knew realized with a growing dread that has brother wasn't kidding. This wasn't some monumental task, which, given enough time, his brother would prevail, nor was it something that had only a slim chance of achieving. This was something that was utterly impossible. Only then did he begin to take his situation in a cell on a ship near the South Pole captained by an angry Fire Nation prince. He slumped back onto the floor, overwhelmed.
Zuko held the questioning, ah, meeting, the next morning in his war room.
They sat around an unremarkable rectangular metal table. Alex sat directly opposite Zuko at the other end of the table, staring at him the whole time with piercing eyes that were tinged with red like he'd been crying. He hadn't noticed it before, but the eyes were gold, like his own. Carson sat to Alex's right, staring at the table. On his right his Iroh, who was calmly drinking tea. On his left was Jee, who was observing the boys with curiosity. Alex was still in the clothes the healer had put him in, with a small patch on his head for the injury, while his brother had been forced to change into basic Fire Navy attire shortly before coming here. He certainly didn't seem happy about it.
An awkward silence continued until Uncle said, "Now, would anyone like some tea?"
"Now is not the time, Uncle!"
"I only wanted to make our guests feel comfortable." Iroh said.
"No. This is my ship, they are not to feel any kindness." Zuko turned towards Alex.
"Let's start off easy. Who are you, and where are you from?"
Alex immediately replied. "I am called Alex, my brother Carson, that is no lie, although I cannot tell you where our home is because, we don't have one. Not anymore."
"And what about that machine? What is its purpose? Does it have anything to do with this book?" Zuko pulled out the physics book and slammed it on the table.
"That machine… was… my single greatest achievement. It failed. That book is a reference volume, pertaining to the machines premise and construction, but not operation. Only I know that." Alex continued looking him straight in the eye.
"And how did you end up out here? Tell me how!" Zuko's nostrils flared.
In response, Alex's eyes closed. "The machine failed; we ended up here."
Zuko's mind raced. Although the information all fit together, there were still too much wiggle room and unknowns.
"You!" He pointed at Carson, who seemed to snap awake in response to his voice, "Tell me more about how you got here."
Zuko saw him pale, his eyes darted around. It occurred to him that he might have expected his brother to do most of the talking here, not expecting to respond much, but that didn't seem right. Unless Alex was the driver behind a guise that Zuko had begun to accept existed. Which is why Carson was now the one giving the critical information.
"Ah… It started yesterday morning when Alex told me that he had finally completed his machine-"
"Which was intended for what?" Zuko stood up and interrupted.
"Its-" Alex began.
"Not you! Him." Zuko pointed at Carson.
"It was supposed to be a… transport device, of revolutionary design, but he never told me any specifics. He said it was too complex for me to understand."
"Continue." Zuko sat back down.
"So we attempted to use it, and it failed. We somehow ended up out here. For what reason, I haven't the slightest idea."
Zuko suspected the boy told the truth, but there was something still there that he was missing. It did explain a lot though.
"What was the first thing you remember after the device crashed?" Zuko asked.
"He –Carson pointed at Jee- was standing on the quedstal with us, and then promptly knocked us out. After that I woke up in your lovely brig, and suppose Alex woke up with those healer."
"The quedstal…" Zuko began.
Carson seemed to realize the mistake he had made. "We call the device a quedstal, I don't know why."
"It is… a strange word." Iroh said out of nowhere. "I have never heard of anything like it, nor do I anticipate ever understanding it. What I ask is… what do you plan to do now. Both of you."
The question surprised everyone, including Zuko.
"We don't seem to have any choice considering we are prisoners aboard your ship, Prince Zuko." Alex spat.
Zuko said, "After hearing your story, considering you don't seem to present any threat aboard-"
"They could join the crew!" Iroh interrupted.
"WHAT?" Zuko, Jee, and Carson yelled at the same time. Alex seemed amused.
"But they have no qualifications! And they so young…" Jee began.
"Fifteen. We are fifteen. But anyhow, good point. I would like to know what we mean to you. Why you would want us here."
Zuko did a facepalm. "I was going to say we drop them off in the Earth Kingdom after we search the South Pole." He still had his suspicions about them, and now Uncle was suggesting they join them?
Jee started. "While they are slightly underage, I honestly don't see much problem in having extra hands aboard. My qualm is that I do not expect them to be able to transition from their lives so directly into the life of a Fire Nation soldier."
Iroh said, "I agree with Jee, although I see much more potential within them than you may realize. Also I think it would do Prince Zuko good to have people his own age around him."
"What?!" Zuko stood up. "I do NOT need bunkmates." He turned to leave.
"Zuko!" He turned to face the boy who had continued to stare him in the eyes all the while he knew he was going a stretch to drop the title from his name.
"Who are we?" It was such a personal question that Zuko faltered, then replied.
"What do mean?"
"I mean, we never knew our parents. Never knew who we really are. Where we are from, why I am a firebender. What does that mean to you?" Carson added, "Please, if anyone knows anything, maybe you do, too."
Zuko was taken aback by the question, it asked so much of him, and Alex had put all this trust into him because it had nowhere else to go. He sat back down.
"One of your parents, likely your father, was probably a Fire Nation soldier, a firebender, your mother an Earth Kingdom peasant most likely. You two were cast away. I can't prove anything, of course. Just telling you what I would believe. It may be the truth." Zuko sighed. "I am going to meditate in my room. Uncle, make sure they don't cause problems." Zuko got up and left.
Carson didn't know what to think. Alex and Iroh were in an intense game of Pai Sho, and Carson had no idea what was happening. The game was as cryptic to him as Alex jabber on about anything he had been researching, etc.
Iroh placed a white dragon tile on the board, seemingly at random.
A few seconds later, Alex threw his arms in the air. "Alright, old man, you win." Alex held out his hand.
Iroh shook it. "My pleasure, Alex, for that was one of the most interesting first games of Pai Sho I must say I have ever played. You did excellently."
"What about me?" Carson gestured at himself.
"You did a great job as the commentator whom had no idea what was going on."
To this, Iroh laughed and Carson reddened.
"It's really complex-looking, alright!"
Carson thought about Zuko's questioning. He had definitely panicked when he had been forced to answer questions by himself. He had been not too broad but vague enough so that Alex could seal cracks in their story really easily. It wasn't completely true, nor false. Carson had come up with it, but Alex was good at fast-talking, not he.
"So, have you thought about my offer?" Iroh asked.
"Yes," they both said at the same time.
"What do you believe you could be?" Iroh replied.
"Alex can do nearly anything, I would probably be a general-purpose guard/soldier."
Alex blushed. "I think anything is kind of stretching it."
"No, I'm serious. He could be the helmsman, or head engineer, and soldier and perform outstanding in all of them." Carson continued.
"You overestimate me." Alex closed his eyes.
"Does he?" Iroh replied, causing Alex's eyes to snap open and stare at him.
"I would like to observe your abilities in Firebending…" Iroh began.
Zuko was grumpy. Normally he would get up at sunrise and train with Iroh in Firebending for several hours, but that was pushed back due to Zuko wanted to question the brothers since they came onboard his ship. After meditation, Zuko felt like he was ready to begin his normal day, for real this time.
Well imagine his own surprise when he came up on deck looking for Uncle, only to find him instructing the Alex on basic forms, the very same that he had been practicing for several months now.
Uncle didn't notice him coming. Alex did however, and stopped after finishing one kata and froze, staring past Uncle at himself.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" Zuko stormed onto the scene. Iroh seemed surprised to see his nephew so angry, for little reason. "I was instructing him on basic skills, techniques, and forms. He seems to comprehend it all really well."
"WHY were you teaching him?" Zuko seemed like he was going to explode.
"Why not? What I see here is just what I see in you, a budding firebender. You encourage that growth, not stunt it." Uncle replied.
"You seem to be encouraging him a lot more than you do for me." Zuko said accusingly.
"That's probably because I have never had a Firebending teacher before. Ever. Blame him for trying to have a positive first experience." Alex interjected.
"Uncle, this is my time for Firebending instruction. Send him to his room or something!" Zuko demanded.
"Yes, it is your time, now, and I am happy for that, but there is no reason why Alex cannot stay." Iroh said simply.
"No, there is. Prince Zuko simply wants to have his instruction separate because he wishes for your focus to be directly oh him for the time being." Alex left.
"What are you doing?" Iroh asked. "You are ignoring all of the boys attempts at your approval of him. He's trying to get himself noticed a good way. And you squander that!"
"So? I don't care."
"Fine, then let us begin." Iroh affirmed.
He didn't know where he was going. He was pissed.
Eventually he ended up in the hold, the door fused behind him with Firebending. He had knocked out a guard on the way here, who had probably alerted everyone to his being in there, alone. He sat in the chair of his beloved machine that he had worked hard on for the past four months, cashing in favors from physicists to get experimental pieces of hardware, things that could not be redone. Not much was actually damaged, only the rear axial photonic transmitter, taking power from the central core generator as well as the triple quantum lensing he had set up back at his base of operations, in another universe…
Focus.
Right, then that energy was transmitted along these coaxial lines where the energy flowed radially, along the distribution arms to create the all-important "quantum de-entanglement field, a phenomenon unique to the machine, which allowed you, given correct control, to essentially pick up everything within the field and drop it somewhere else, to conceptually any other time or place, including, possibly, other universes.
Well, of course other universes, Alex. You're here.
Well. It was all a waste, now. Himself and is brother were stuck here. Of course Carson still refused to believe that until Alex forcefully yelled into his face that they were, in fact, stuck here forever.
Alex tried to think optimistically. What he did really need to get the machine working. From there Avatar Roku seemed likely to help them, or push them, back home. What was missing?
That damn photonic transmitter.
Likely made in a Swiss lab not too long ago, it was designed mainly for high-efficiency electrical transmission, creating, almost, a superconducting cable, able to transmit with almost zero resistance. This was important, because of how the machine operated, any linear decrease would result in exponentially less power. Likewise, a near-perfect transmission of power would allow for the greatest charge flow, and since was dealing with power in the tens of billions of watts, it meant a lot.
It was made using methods similar to transistor etching, technology likely centuries ahead from the level of technological development of this universe. Hell, even lasers, even electrical transmission, was still far off. No way to repair or build another one.
He sighed.
A loud banging on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey! You in there! Come out!" It was one Zuko's unnamed soldiers.
Several seconds passed while someone attempted to open the door, but failed. Then Carson's voice joined in.
"Um, Alex? You in there? Zuko's going to be pissed, but I'm sure you already know that. You should probably come out now."
Alex got up and walked over to the door. "And why should I do that?"
"Because I say so." Zuko's voice sounded through the fused metal.
"What if I just stay in here?" Alex rebuffed.
"Then I'll come in." Pounding echoed on the door, and after a few seconds, the door was ripped off its hinges and flew into the room. Alex backed away.
Zuko entered the room, followed by Carson, Jee, and a guard.
"You should have listened to him…" Carson whispered loudly.
"What are you doing in here? Why did you knock out a guard?" Zuko bellowed.
"Maybe because I wanted to. Maybe because I felt like it. You know, I don't really know. Maybe its because I feel like I am a failure. And that is proof." He pointed at the machine.
"You know, I still don't believe your story. Show me it working, then I'll believe in you." Zuko challenged.
"I told you, it doesn't work. But like someone I know always says, things always work until they don't." He glanced at Carson.
"Can't you show them just it powering up, or whatever? You said the fault had something to do with the field generation, or whatever." Carson had a, just do it, what do we have to lose? Look on his face.
"Fine." He sat in the chair and fiddled with levers for a few seconds, before reaching out pulling the main startup lever.
All the other people took a step back as the radial blades began to spin. They spun faster and faster. Jee took a nervous step backwards.
Alex knew the fault would occur right about…
The forward axial photonic transmitter lit and everyone except Alex jumped.
Now…
The rear axial photonic transmitter lit, then sparked and immediately went out in a shower of sparks. Both sets of radial arms continued to spin at their target velocity, but nothing happened.
Alex pulled the lever back to its starting position as the machine slowed back to a standstill.
"There. Happy?"
Zuko and his men just stood there, dumbfounded. He seemed to realize this, and assumed a neutral face. "Um, yeah. How about you two come up on deck, with me. Alone." He looked at Jee and the guard, who just stood there.
Up on deck, Zuko paced around. "I do believe your story, but I suspect you may be not telling me everything. All men have secrets. Including me."
Carson seemed confused. "So…" he began.
"So I will let you stay here and be a part of my crew." Zuko's expression hardened. "But there is one thing you should know first. One thing. The mission of this ship, my mission, is of utmost priority. Prevailing comes before everything and anything else. This mission is to capture… the Avatar." Zuko stared at them, expecting a response.
"Sounds impossible." Alex retorted.
Zuko frowned. "I know it is, but I must do it." But now that you two are here, the monotony that has enveloped me over the past two years has broken. I suppose I should thank you for that. Something unusual happened." Zuko almost smiled, but didn't. "Maybe my luck will change, Uncle did say the spirits or something may have been involved. But it is only a hope, I do not believe the spirits would help me."
Carson's eyes widened. "Um… uh…" He waved his arms about. "Look!" he yelped.
Zuko and Alex turned. Off the port bow in the distance a pillar of white light shot into the sky, never ending, pure.
Zuko's good eye widened. "Helmsman!" he yelled. "Set a course for the light!"
A/N: Whew. Longest chapter yet! 4200 words.
Actually kind of embarrassing considering what I've been doing the last couple of days.
June 25) Read reviews + , trying to flush out characters/development/general plotline/continuity/other.
June 26) Write 2600 words.
June 27) Write 1600 words. Revise.
June 28) Revise and publish.
Yeah. Next time we enter canon for the first time, and basically I plan to do one canon episode = one chapter. Is that fine? Hopefully it is. I wuv you all!
REVIEW NOW! I KNOW YOU WANTS TO! :3