Zeb and Sabine grunted as they tried to free themselves from the tree they were tied to. They couldn't believe that they were actually captured by a group of mercenaries who were obviously less advanced than them. But, at least it was better than being captured by the Empire.
"Well this is a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into," Zeb commented sarcastically as he struggled.
"Enough with the sarcasm, Zeb," Sabine snapped.
"Sorry, it's just how I am," Zeb said.
"I know." Sabine looked at the group that had captured her and Zeb and found them odd. All of them were human, but they were obviously primitive, judging by their apparel. Yet, they were intriguing, especially the leader who was able to generate fire with his bare hands, and the soldiers with the green uniforms, who were actually able to control the ground beneath them. She didn't think anything like this was possible, nor that any person in the galaxy could possess abilities like these, unless perhaps they happened to be a Jedi. But that wasn't possible. Based on what she saw, none of these men could be a Jedi. Besides, Sabine knew what happened to them when the Empire came along…everyone did.
"So how long after we're overdue does Hera come looking for us?" Zeb asked her.
"That I don't know, but my comm's busted," Sabine told him, "and if we don't figure a way out of this, we'll probably be stuck here."
"Shut it, you two!" Colonel Mongke snapped at them, causing Zeb to growl at him, "Despite how easily we disarmed and captured the two of you, I have a feeling you're both capable warriors."
"You might say that," Sabine chuckled, "So who are you guys anyways?"
"You haven't heard of us?!" Mongke said in surprise before bursting out in laughter, "There's nobody who hasn't heard of the Rough Rhinos!"
"Well we haven't!" Zeb shouted earning a glare from Mongke.
"We're…new around here," Sabine stated, "Anyways, now that we know who you are, could you please enlighten me on what exactly you have planned?"
"If you must know, we were hired by the New Ozai Society to free the Fire Nation's rightful ruler from her imprisonment, after her usurper brother put her in a mental hospital on this island," Mongke explained in annoyance, "And if our orders say so, you two will be helping."
Suddenly, a large, strange-looking bird of red color flew in and landed in the camp. Zeb and Sabine were confused as Colonel Mongke walked over to the messenger hawk and silently read the message it was carrying. Sure, they knew there were plenty of primitive people all over the galaxy, but they didn't know the people on this planet were so primitive that they didn't have an electronic method of long distance communication yet. They both began wondering if these people even had electronic equipment of any kind. After Mongke finished reading the message, he looked over to the captured Lasat and Mandalorian, and smirked. "Looks like it's your lucky day," he said. "You two are helping us spring the princess after all."
"Lucky us," Zeb replied sarcastically.
"Is that such a wise idea, Colonel?" the Dai Li Commander asked, "After all, we don't even know anything about these two. Let alone what THAT thing is." He then gestured in Zeb's direction.
"Hey!" retorted Zeb.
"That doesn't matter!" Mongke snapped, "We're taking them with us! But don't give them their weapons yet."
The commander bowed his head at Mongke and untied Zeb and Sabine from the tree, before putting another set rock handcuffs on them. Unknown to any of them, a Fire Nation scout had been watching them from a distance. He then ran back to his own camp as fast as he could and wrote down a message of his own. After that he rolled it up, tied a black ribbon around it, tied it to another messenger hawk, and sent it off in the direction of the Fire Nation Capital.
"Where is he?!" Mai shouted frantically as she rushed into the healing room.
"Right here, Mai," Zuko said in a raspy voice as Mai ran to him and quickly wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
"Are you alright, Zuko?!" she asked, "I heard something happened!"
Zuko nodded to his girlfriend, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good," Mai sighed in relief as she let go of her boyfriend, "What exactly did happen, anyway?"
"We had some unexpected visitors," Zuko explained.
"Visitors?!" Sokka exclaimed in disbelief, "They're from another world, and they wanna conquer ours!"
"Wait, people from another world?" Mai asked in confusion.
"They say they're part of a group called the Galactic Empire, whatever that means," Zuko began.
"Yeah, and there was this one guy in black armor, it looked like he used some kind of bloodbending technique on Zuko," Sokka continued for him, "Tried to choke him to death or something."
Zuko shook his head in disagreement, "I don't know, Sokka. Whatever he did to me, it didn't seem like bloodbending. Besides, your sister explained to me that bloodbending can only be done at night when there's a full moon. The moon isn't anywhere near being full yet, not to mention the fact that it's still light out."
"Maybe he figured out how to do it without a full moon," Sokka guessed.
"There's only one way to be sure," Katara said as she walked over to Zuko, with a bowl of water. She then drew the water into her hand and began to use her healing technique on Zuko's throat. She took a minute to check, and suddenly her eyes went wide as she made a startling discovery and put the water back in the bowl, "It wasn't bloodbending."
"How do you know, sis?" Sokka asked.
"Because none of Zuko's veins are clotted," Katara explained, "The muscles around his throat are tense, but still, no clots. It's almost like something was actually grabbing his throat. I don't exactly know what happened, but whoever that Vader guy was, I'm not sure if he's a bender at all."
"Not only that," Toph chimed in, "but I felt the vibrations in the ground when he walked and…"
"What is it, Toph?" Katara asked.
"It seemed like that Vader guy had… metal limbs."
"Metal limbs? You mean like Combustion Man?" Sokka asked her, causing Zuko to blush in embarrassment for a moment at the memory of the assassin he had sent to hunt them down a few months ago.
"Not exactly. Combustion Man's metal limbs were just that: metal," Toph told everyone, "But Vader's limbs felt like they had wires running through them, not to mention he could move them like they were regular limbs. And it also felt like a lot of the rest of his body was made of metal."
"I don't get it," Katara said before turning to her boyfriend, "What do you think, Aang?" Aang didn't say anything. He simply remained silent, and his friends knew that something was wrong.
"Aang? What's wrong, sweetie?" Katara asked with worry.
"…I felt it again," Aang finally answered in a whisper, "The cold."
"You did?" Zuko asked.
Aang nodded, "Yeah. It happened again when I first saw Vader, and then when he started choking you, Zuko. Only, it was a lot stronger than before. It was like all the joy in the world was gone, and all that was left was anger, hate, and fear. And I feel as though the worst is still yet to come."
Everyone remained quiet for a few minutes, thinking about what Aang had just said. And as Aang continued to ponder his thoughts on everything that had happened, he started to feel something else. Another feeling that he had sensed within Vader, but was unable to know what it was until now. That feeling was sorrow. It somehow seemed like Vader was missing someone, someone…important to him. But before Aang could continue these thoughts, a Fire Nation soldier suddenly burst through the door. "Fire Lord Zuko! There's an urgent message for you!"
The soldier handed Zuko the message and he read it to himself, and as he did, he went wide-eyed.
"What does it say?" Sokka asked.
"The Rough Rhinos and five Dai Li Agents have been spotted on Smoke Island with two strange-looking prisoners," Zuko explained.
"Smoke Island?!" Katara exclaimed in realization, "Isn't that where they're holding Azula in a mental hospital?!"
"Exactly," Zuko confirmed with a nod, "And the note says they're planning on breaking her out. We have to go! Now!"
"We'll go," Aang said, "You stay here and recover."
Zuko paused for a moment, but then nodded in agreement, "Okay. Just be careful. You know what my sister is like."
"All too well," Mai replied with a displeased attitude.
Later that evening on Smoke Island, the Dai Li Agents, moved through the forest outside the mental hospital with Zeb and Sabine. They then scaled the walls of the structure and moved stealthily across the rooftops and eventually made their way to the courtyard of the hospital. Eventually, they came to the door of one of the rooms where two guards were standing idle.
"I got this," Zeb said as he walked over to the guards, who immediately got into their fighting stances.
"You there! Stop right there or-what the Heck is that thing?" one of the guards said as they both got a closer look at the Lasat warrior.
"Apologies in advance, I normally only like doing this to Stormtroopers," Zeb said in embarrassment before he punched both the guards in the head, knocking them out. Sabine and the Dai Li Agents rushed over.
"You! Get this door open!" the commander quietly snapped at Sabine.
"Alright, alright!" The young Mandalorian then took a small pin out of her utility belt and began to pick the lock with it. Eventually, she got the door unlocked and pulled it open. Inside, they found a young girl who looked to be about Sabine's age with long black hair, strapped in a straightjacket and sitting in the corner of the cell. The Dai Li Agents rushed in and began to remove her straightjacket.
"We're here, Princess!" the commander told her.
"What are you doing here?!" Azula snapped at him with a crazed look in her eyes, "You were banished!"
"As I said before, the Dai Li would never betray you," the commander stated.
As Azula was freed from her restraints, she looked to see Zeb and Sabine and was immediately startled. "What is that thing?!" she yelled as she blasted blue fire at Zeb.
"Whoa!" Zeb exclaimed as he and Sabine immediately jumped back in the nick of time, "What the?"
"Calm down, Your Highness," the commander began, "This…thing is our prisoner, and he and the other one are helping us get you out of here."
Suddenly, the Rough Rhinos rode their rhinos over the roofs of the asylum and came onto the courtyard.
"Okay, let's get out of here already," Colonel Mongke shouted.
"You there! Stop!" said a voice. Everyone looked to see the other guards rushing towards them. Mongke scraped his arm braces together, the spikes on them creating sparks as he did, and the Rhinos, the Dai Li, and Azula got into their fighting stances and began to fight the guards as Zeb and Sabine ran to the side.
"What are we gonna do?!" Sabine asked.
"How should I know?!" Zeb growled.
Suddenly, one of the Rhinos backed up their way, and Sabine immediately noticed her blasters and Zeb's Bo Rifle. She immediately ran over and grabbed them, jumping back at the last minute and handed Zeb his weapon.
"Let me show these bozos what happens to those who try to take me prisoner," Zeb said with a smirk as he switched his rifle into Electro-Staff mode.
Meanwhile, a few miles away, Team Avatar flew over the village on Smoke Island on Appa, heading for the hospital, and accompanied by Zuko's uncle, Iroh, who had agreed to assist them in recapturing Azula because they knew that if she managed to escape, they'd need another firebender to help stop her.
"Thanks again for coming with us, Iroh," Katara told him gratefully.
Iroh smiled at the young waterbender, "The pleasure is all mine, my dear. I remember what you said happened the last time you fought Azula."
"Speaking of which, you're not gonna try to reason with that firebending she-wolf, are you?" Sokka asked.
Iroh shook his head, "No, she's crazy and needs to go down." Suddenly, everyone looked at Iroh in surprise. "What?" Iroh asked.
Toph then turned her head over towards Aang. "You've been pretty quiet, Twinkletoes. What's up?" she asked.
"It's just that the Rough Rhinos trying to break Azula out couldn't have come at a worse time," Aang began.
"You mean with what's going on with that Empire, right?" Sokka guessed.
The young Avatar nodded, "Exactly. All of us have already experienced losses from the previous war, but nothing could've prepared us for this. There's no telling what the Empire could do to us."
Iroh then went over to Aang. "I know everything may seem hopeless right now, Aang," Iroh began as he put a hand on Aang's shoulder, "but even in the darkest of times, there is always a new hope on the horizon."
Aang didn't really know what to say. Iroh's words tended to confuse him along with Zuko. But the young Avatar figured he was right. After all, he and his friends had been through bad situations and always bounced back, and if they could do that during those times, they could do the same here. But before he could continue those thoughts, Aang and everyone else turned their heads as they all heard the sound of explosions coming from the asylum.
"Uh oh," Sokka said, "Sounds like Azula's out."
"Yeah, but this time, we're ready for her," Aang replied as he whipped the reins on Appa's horns, "Appa, yip-yip!"
Back in the court yard, both the Dai Li and the Rough Rhinos were trying to keep ahead of Sabine and Zeb's attacks, but the Lassat just kept blocking their own attack with his bo rifle, while Sabine stunned them with her blasters.
"Just like the old days!" Zeb laughed.
"Here we go," Sabine groaned. She then quickly ducked behind a wall to avoid another rock onslaught before peaking back out and firing off a couple more shots to knock a couple more Dai Li off their feet.
"You said that they would help me escape!" Azula shouted at the Dai Li commander.
"I did," the commander replied in a panicked manor, "but in my defense, they were our prisoners."
"This is exactly why I banished you!" Azula growled while she took aim and positioned her fingers.
Just before Azula could make her next move the doors were blown open and the Gaang stepped in with Toph in the middle still in her stance. "Room service!" she mockingly called out. Everybody just looked at her in confusion, "What?" she retorted.
Azula did a quick once over of the group, and right next to her uncle, she saw Aang standing defiantly. "The Avatar!" She shouted as her eyes narrowed in on him. Getting back into her fighing stance, she shot a bold of lightning directly at Aang, which she had just assumed would hit him, but Aang was ready. Moving fluidly he caught the bold with his two fingers and redirected it back to Azula who just barely managed to doge it.
Zeb and Sabine couldn't help but stare at what the teenage monk had just done, "Whoa." they said in unison.
"Impressive," Iroh commented the young Airbender.
Aang stood back up and straightened himself before turning to the old man, "Thanks, Zuko taught me."
"He taught you well," Iroh replied.
While nobody seemed to be watching, the last of the rough rhinos tried to sneak away, but Sabine spotted him and took aim. "I don't think so," she said before pulling the trigger and stunning him.
Azula looked around to see herself surrounded by the strangers, the Avatar, his friends, and her traitorous uncle. It seemed like they had her beaten, but at just the last moment she spun around and generated a giant wall of fire around herself prompting everybody to shield themselves from the heat. When the flames dissipated, they all looked to see that she had just disappeared.
Zeb just looked at the spot in confusion. "Did she just kill herself?"
"No," Iroh stated, "I've seen that trick before, even used it a few times myself."
Aang narrowed his eyes knowing what that meant. "She'll be back."
After the initial shock of seeing Zuko's sister escape from them, the Gaang turned their attention to Zeb and Sabine. They were just stunned by them, until that day none of them had ever seen, or in Tophs case sensed, anybody like them before.
"Uh…hi," Sabine said in attempts to break the tension.
"Who are you guys?" Katara asked.
"Better question… what are YOU?!" Sokka asked looking towards Zeb
Zeb just growled at Sokka. "Whatsamatter, kid? You've never seen a Lasat before?" Zeb asked clearly annoyed.
Toph just stood confused. "A what?"
"They were helping to free the princess, Avatar Aang," one of the guards said as he stepped forward.
Sabine responded by putting her hands up in defense. "Hey, we didn't even want to do it, those guys took us prisoner and forced us."
"Yeah, and seeing as how we're not from around here, we had no idea that she was crazy!" Zeb stated.
Everyone looked at Toph for her opinion, but Zeb and Sabine just looked at each other confused as to what they were expecting from her.
"They're telling the truth," Toph said.
"Okay," Aang nodded.
Zeb and Sabine were glad that at least somebody believed them, but they just became even more confused. "Wait, how do you know?" Sabine asked.
Toph just put her hand up. "Long story, I'll explain later," she said before crossing her arms again.
Aang turned to the group after a though hit him. "Let's take these guys back to the palace. Maybe they can help us."
Zeb perked up at what Aang had said "Hold on, help you with what now?"
"We'll explain when we get there," he said to Zeb before grabbing his bison whistle and blowing it.
"Hey!" Zeb shouted while covering his ears, "What was that about?"
After a few moments, Appa came flying in. Zeb and Sabine couldn't help but stare at the giant bison as it landed, but what came as an even bigger surprise to them was the saddle on his back and how the others were climbing on like they were going to ride it. "Wait a sec! We have to ride on that thing?!" Sabine asked in discomfort.
Appa turned his head and and growled at the sight of Zeb.
"Oh karabast…" Zeb said indignantly.
"Don't worry, he's really friendly," Katara said as she stroked Appa's side, "Right big guy?" She asked Appa.
Appa just responded with a happy sounding bellow. With no other options for transportation, Zeb and Sabine reluctantly climbed into Appas saddle. Unknown to anybody, Azula was watching from the rooftop close by. After Appa took off, she slipped away and ran into the woods nearby, completely unaware that an Imperial probe droid that was watching nearby had just uncloaked itself having recorded everything.
Azula continuously wandered through the woods her mind racing with thoughts. "This is all part of your plan, isn't it, mother?!" she thought, "Well, it's not going to work!" Moments later she stopped, thinking that she heard voices.
"I think it's this way!" something shouted.
Azula crept over to the area the voice originated to investigate. Finally, she found a small clearing occupied by a small squad of Stormtroopers.
"Are you sure we're heading the right way?" One of them asked.
"Affirmative," a second one confirmed, "The probe sent the signal just a few clicks north from here."
A third Trooper looked turned his head taking in the surroundings, until he spotted Azula, prompting him to ready his blaster, "You there! Freeze!" he shouted at the princess.
The other Troops looked to see her and raised their own blasters as well.
Azula stood up and glared at the Imperial men with a sinister eye. "My mother sent you, didn't she?!" she asked with heavy breathing and a deranged tone.
The second trooper kept his sights on Azula as he took a couple steps forward. "I don't know anything about your mother. We were sent by Governor Tarkin to…"
"Whoever you are," Azula interrupted, "you won't take me!" she yelled before creating a lighning bolt and directing it towards the troopers. Two of them were knocked against the trees, and the other two just slumped over, dead. Just as Azula was about to ready another attack, another Stormtrooper snuck up and stunned her from behind causing her to fall to the ground unconscious. The two surviving troopers rushed over to where their attacker had fallen.
"We should kill her," one of them said, "She's too dangerous to be left alive."
"Agreed," stated the trooper that knocked Azula out, as he prepared to shoot her again but with his blaster set for kill this time.
Just before his comrade could pull the trigger, the first tooper held his hand up. "Hold your fire!" he commanded before getting a closer look at Azula, "She's that princess fugitive the probe reported in about. I say we take her back to the Sovereign and let Governor Tarkin decide on what to do with her."
The other two nodded in agreement before the stunner, lifted Azula up and carried her through the woods over his shoulder.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the planet's southern hemisphere, Kanan flew the Phantom through a mountain region, still wondering what his vision had meant. Finally he looked up and saw the same building from his vision, the Southern Air Temple. He couldn't help but stare in awe at it, a whole temple carved out of a mountain. After a moment, Kanan regained focus and began steering the ship towards the building. "Might as well get some answers here," he said in a determined tone.
Me: Hey! I am so sorry for the late update you guys, I was really busy with work and I just got back from a week-long vacation late last night, but I am so glad that I finally got this done. I'd like to personally thank my friend GoX335, who is now my co-author on this and some of my upcoming projects. He's done an amazing job finishing this up for me. So what will happen now that Zeb and Sabine have met Team Avatar? What will happen now that the Empire has captured Azula? And what will Kanan find at the Southern Air Temple? Stay tuned and find out!