Book 1: Discovery
Chapter 4: Rules of the Road
JB turned his head, and looked out the window. A highway sign advertised many various eateries, before quickly rushing past, out of the Firebender's sight. The temperature for the day had been predicted to be able 80 degrees, but the RV's air conditioning kept the temperature comfortable for everyone inside.
JB saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He turned, and saw his friend beckoning him over towards where he was standing. The Firebender stood up. Walking past Micah, who was seated at a table, staring intently at his cellphone, he followed his friend to the back of the RV.
"Ok, quick question." Jeremy whispered. "Why exactly are we bringing Micah along with us on this little field trip? Even though he's a Waterbender, he's still a gang leader. Not to mention that he hates us! Not exactly 'Team Avatar' material, if you ask me."
JB sighed. "Dude, I know. I'm not terribly fond of the guy either. But you saw how good he is at Waterbending. As much as I hate to admit it, the kid's a natural at it. He clearly must've known about his bending for years by now. Plus, Jared is still searching for more benders. It can't hurt to have a little extra muscle on the team." JB placed a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "And who knows? We might end up having to give him the, 'Not as much of a jerk as you could've been' award eventually! He could turn out to be really nice!"
JB began walking back to the rest of the RV.
Jeremy followed him, rolling his eyes. "Five bucks says you're wrong."
The two sat down again. Jared was sitting in the driver's seat, steering the large vehicle through midday highway traffic.
"So Jared!" JB said. "Is this your own personal RV?"
"Yea, this is mine." The White Lotus member replied. "I figured that this would be a good way to get around on a road trip. That way we won't have to stay in a hotel every night."
"Good thinking." JB stood up, and walked towards the kitchenette. "Plus, we still got all the good stuff here! Toaster, minifridge, freezer...this thing is awesome!" The Firebender opened up the freezer door that was by his knees, and pulled out a microwaveable burrito. He reached for the microwave door, but paused when his hand grasped the handle. A mischievous grin grew onto his face, as he released the door handle. Grabbing a fork from the countertop, he skewered the burrito with it, and held it outwards, like a marshmallow over a campfire. JB took a deep breath, and with a quick flick of his fingers, a small fire ignited over his hand, its flames slowly moving back and forth. JB chuckled softly to himself, and began cooking the burrito over his fire.
Jared flipped the directional upwards, and turned the steering wheel to the right, moving the RV over a lane. He looked at the rear view mirror above him, and his eyes widened at the sight of the a high schooler attempting to cook a frozen burrito over an open flame in the back of his RV.
"Hey, uh, JB." Jared said nervously. "I know you're still really excited about this whole bending thing, but do you think you could just cook that normally, please? I kind of have a rule against bending in my RV. I just don't want anything to get accidentally broken, or...uh...you know...caught on fire. Nothing personal. Just a precaution."
JB sighed loudly, his voice laced with sarcasm. "Uhhh, fine!" However, he then laughed in a joking manner. "Yea, no problem, man. It is your RV." The Firebender extinguished his flame, and placed the burrito on a plate, while removing the fork from it. "I'll remember that, 'Amon'." JB teased.
"Ha ha, very funny."
Micah set down his phone, narrowing his eyes as he did so. "What, no bending? Then what else am I supposed to do on this trip with these losers?" He said, nodding towards JB and Jeremy. The Waterbender leaned back in his chair, and bent some water out of a cup on the table, spinning it into a ball above his hand.
"Hey, I just said no bending in here!" Jared exclaimed. "Can you please not do that?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Jared protested, freezing the water into a cube. "I know what I'm doing. Besides, you can't tell me what to do with MY bending. And, as a non-bender, I don't exactly think you can tell me to stop..."
The three teenagers all impulsively braced themselves, as the RV suddenly lurched forwards. Jared slammed the emergency lights button, pulled over to the side of the highway, and hastily stopped the vehicle. He stood up from his chair, and stormed to the back of the RV.
The man glared at Micah.
"Now, you listen here, friend." Jared spat out the last word, his face filled with rage. "Back in the city, I could have just as easily taken you straight to the police station, and turned you in for at least three felonies. But, I instead kept you with the rest of us, and decided that I would give you a chance to prove yourself, and maybe turn your life around for the better." Jared narrowed his eyes. "I do all of this for you, and so I feel like it's the least you could do to follow the rules that I have set up. Got it?"
Micah glared back at the man in front of him.
"Fine." He responded after a slight hesitation.
Jared silently nodded at the Waterbender. He turned around, and began walking back to the driver's seat.
Suddenly, a large smashing sound reached Jeremy's ears. He turned around in his seat, and his eyes shot open wide in horror as a car on the highway spun out of control, and slammed into two others. The pileup slid across the pavement, crashing into the divider that separated the two halves of the highway. The other drivers attempted to swerve around the pileup, but another two cars made contact with the wreckage. The Earthbender's jaw dropped as the pile of cars slowly ignited into flames.
"There are people in there!" JB exclaimed. "We have to call for help!"
"There's no time." Jared responded. "The gas tanks will have ignited long before any emergency responders could get here. We have to go help them ourselves. Come on!"
Jeremy, JB, and Jared all started running towards the door of the RV. However, Jeremy paused before going outside, turning towards Micah.
"What are you waiting for? Those people need our help!" Jeremy exclaimed.
Micah growled. "Do I get to use my bending now?"
"Oh, just come on!"
Jared and JB arrived at the scene of the wreckage. A small number of people who had managed to get out of the pileup quickly ran away from the burning vehicles, but the panicked cries of people still trapped inside was very audible.
Jared scanned the pileup. "JB, there's a person trapped in that car over there." JB's eyes followed Jared's finger to the red car that it pointed at. Flames in the back seat prevented the girl in there from exiting the vehicle. "I need you to use your bending to push apart the flames, so that the girl can get out of the car."
The Firebender gulped. "But...but I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I'm good enough yet. I-I've known about my bending for less than a week, and I don't think I-"
Jared placed a hand on his shoulder. "JB, you can do this." He said reassuringly. "Remember to put your mask on. It'll help protect your identity." He reached into his coat, and produced a mask for himself. Jared then rushed off, and began getting other people out of the car crash. The Firebender produced his own mask, before running over to the wreckage.
Jeremy and Micah arrived at the scene of the crash. Both of them wore white masks, which Jared had supplied to them earlier. Micah held an aluminum water bottle in his left hand.
"Ok, I'm going to go work on that SUV, and get the people out. You go put out the fires by that truck." Jeremy relayed his plan to the Waterbender. He then rushed off.
Micah grumbled under his breath. "Don't tell me what to do." However, he then ran off to his assigned task. Flipping open the cap on his water bottle, Micah pulled a stream of water out of the canister. He launched it at the base of the fire, and with a slow hiss, the flames went out. The Waterbender walked up to the door of the truck.
"Come on." Micah said from under his mask. The middle-aged couple inside the truck wore faces of confused disbelief.
"Thank you for saving us, young man," The woman began. "but, who are you? And what was that thing that you did with the water?"
Micah paused. "It'd be best if you didn't know."
Jeremy opened up a door to a vehicle, allowing the people to spill out.
"Oh, thank you, kind sir!" A man in a suitcoat said to Jeremy as he exited the SUV. Jeremy nodded to the man, continuing to monitor the safety of the others. Suddenly, a car about 40 feet away flashed brightly, and the entire hunk of metal burst into a fireball. Jeremy spun around, and as he raised his arms up in front of himself, a wall of concrete rose from the ground, shielding everyone behind it from any debris the explosion launched out.
The man in the suitcoat crouched low to the ground, his hands held over his head. But the sound of pavement cracking forced him to look up, allowing him to see the teenager in front of him controlling a slab of the earth with simple arm movements.
"It can't be..."
JB exhaled slowly, and moved towards the flames in front of him. He put his hands together, and quickly plunged them into the fire, which he then pushed apart. Much to his surprise, JB didn't feel a sensation anymore painful than a mild heat on his hands.
"Are you ok?" JB questioned of the girl inside the car. She took a moment to observe the teen splitting fire apart with his bare hands in front of her, but she then quickly grabbed her backpack off of the floor, and rushed out of the car.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! Oh my gosh, thank you!" The girl exclaimed, once she had gotten out safely. She suddenly wrapped her arms around JB's torso. The unexpected hug caused JB to stumble backwards, but he then managed to regain his composure.
Jared handed an infant child back to her mother, who rejoined the rest of her family that had just escaped their wrecked car. The non-bender assessed the area, and was unable to see any other trapped civilians. But, Jared began to hear a very faint sound, from what seemed to be very far away. Turning his head, he recognized the sound as police sirens.
"Let's go, Team." Jared announced. The three teen benders regrouped with their leader, and they all boarded the RV parked on the side of the road.
"The accident occurred at approximately 4:30 this afternoon. Authorities were not able to arrive on the scene until 4:40." The news anchor reported on the television. The teenagers watched the woman on the TV report about an event that they had been directly involved in less than five hours ago. "However, local eye witnesses claim that a small group of masked men did help the victims of the crash escape with their lives. Other witnesses also claim to have seen the rescuers somehow manipulate water, or the grou-" The TV screen went black, as Micah depressed the power button on the remote.
JB flopped down on the couch, his white mask in his hand.
"Woo!" The Firebender exclaimed. "That was quite the rush, wasn't it, guys?"
"I'd say so." Jared responded from the front of the RV. "Nice job out there today, everyone. I think you all handled that emergency really well."
JB looked up. "Oh yea, the rescue mission was great, too, but I was talking about that babe I rescued! Did you guys see her? Smoking! And she totally hugged me right away!That was a total score!" The Firebender laughed.
"I'll keep that in mind, JB. If you ever save my life, I'll make sure to hug you right away." Micah responded sarcastically. "Deal?" He and Jeremy both laughed.
The RV had been parked at a rest stop. With the moon high in the sky, all four of the travelers had gone to sleep for the night. But not everyone in the RV was resting.
In the back of the vehicle, a shadowy figure silently propped up against a wall. The figure push a button on their wrist, and a green holographic display quickly appeared. A radar display showed the current positions of all four of the other people in the vehicle. The vitals that the screen also showed confirmed that the others were still asleep. The shadowy figure grinned.
"I'm in."
