Author's note: You should expect another later on today. That is all. As always, please read, review, and enjoy!
Chapter 4: Terror and Stakeout
Day. Home of the Metal Clan, Zaofu.
Li Mei watched as Raiku and Opal circled around each other in airbending stance, wind currents surrounding them as they kept their position. Swirling waves of air motion around their arms and near their feet. They then pressed up to one-two punches of air, follow by a straight air kick and air leg swipe using their feet. Raiku and Opal then closed the training session by blowing out a gush of wind, motioning their arms to position in forward with their palms opened. Nolun approached as he watched them finish their training session for the day before Opal left for North Air temple. There was also the fact RaIku would notice Opal staring at Nolun more often, maybe even have a crush on the Hero of Republic city.
"Good." Raiku turned to Opal with a smile. "You're getting the basics pretty quick for a student. More than I did when I first started, actually."
"Thanks."
"Once you get to the Northern Air temple in Shenmue city, you'll be welcomed with open arms." Raiku said
"They're be lucking to have you." Nolun added as Opal's cheeks reddened with a blush on her face
"Oh! Thank you, Nolun." she responded with her cheeks still flushed
Li Mei laid her arm around Opal's shoulder. "In the meantime, Opal and I have some shopping to attend to."
"You're never going to be have time for it." Raiku snorted. "You know you were a shopping-"
"Don't you dare say it." Li Mei practically hissed as she glared at Raiku
"You mean Jinx?" he replied slyly
"Say jinx again; and I will chi block your arms and legs, then throw you out of the Metal Clan wall myself and let you hit the ground." Li Mei said in a threatening tone
Raiku raised an eyebrow as he stared at her. "Did you pull an Azula on me just now?" he asked seeing her still glare on him. "Fine. I'll won't say it... again."
Li Mei's glare turned to a smile. "Apology accepted. Could you do me a favor and tell everyone that I'm taking Opal before she leaves today?"
"I'll be sure to tell them you two went shopping." Raiku said, sighing in defeat
"Good luck on your way into becoming an airbending master, Opal." Nolun said
"Oh. Thank you." Opal gave a peek on Nolun's cheek as she and Li Mei left
"That was unexpected. Do you think she has a crush on me?" Nolun asked Raiku, seeing the snow haired airbender was long gone. "Raiku? Where did he go? I just hate it when he leaves off like that. If she does..." he touched the cheek Opal kissed at. "Maybe in a year or two."
Raiku stumbled upon the training court where Korra and Bolin were sparring with Wai and Wei. The sparring was just to train in their metalbending, which Korra was excelling at when she was training with one of the twins. Bolin on the other hand was having difficulty trying to metalbend, only to launch a small pebble at Wai's face. Raiku shook his head with a smirk, finding Bolin's training to be a little humorous while Mako and Asami were there as well watching them.
"Nice shot, Bolin." Mako complimented. "But I think you're suppose to metalbend."
"Yeah, not earthbending." Raiku also pointed out
"Cheater!" Wai practically booed
"Mako, metalbending is extremely difficult." the defendant said. "No one gets it right away, if they can't get it at all. It's not normal!"
Korra on the other hand, twirled her body to allow the metal cables to lift Wei's feet off the floore as he fell on his stomach.
"Whoo-hoo! Metalbending champion!" Korra exclaimed flexing herself
Raiku glanced at Bolin with a sudden grin on his face with his arms crossed. "What were you saying about it not being normal?"
"Well, sure. Your girlfriend's the Avatar." Bolin replied
"Guys, we should get going." Asami insisted. "Today is when Opal leaves to the Northern Air temple."
"Yeah, about that..." Raiku suddenly trailed off as everyone looked at him
Asami turned her attention to glance at Raiku. "What is it?"
"Since you guys mentioned Opal, Li Mei took her shopping before she leaves today." Raiku stated
"Li Mei's gone shopping with Opal? Now I can't have some special Li Mei time today either?" Bolin sighed. "This is the worst day ever!" he exclaimed walking away with a sad and moping look
Night. Guest house of the Metal Clan, Zaofu.
Things were peaceful after Opal left for the North Air temple after her send off. Aye-Aye and Hop-Hop faded back to the spirit world for the night while Team Avatar slept, with Suba sleeping in Korra's room where Naga was. Mako and Bolin slept in a room with two beds, mostly leaving to snore loudly. Asami and Li Mei slept in their beds in the other room upstairs, while Raiku slept with nothing on but his pants beside his shirtless physique. However, things were not to be quiet for the night as five figures sneak inside the home of the Metal Clan through a hidden passage. One of them was a shaved haircut man wearing olive robe and pants, wielding a glide staff in his hand while the other was a tall woman in red and black. The bizarre thing about her was that she had some sort of an eye tatoo on her forehead below her top ponytail hair. The third was a woman who had no arms but wore the clothing of blue and white resembling greatly of the Water Tribe. The fourth was a dark long haired man with a long mustache wearing only an green vest and a pair of green pants tied to a yellow belt on his waist. Lastly, the fifth was a hooded man wearing a red and black robe that showed a small scare on the left cheek of his face. The only thing that could be seen was his dark golden eyes, his mustache and short goatee. The intruders were lead by oen person, Zaheer. With him, was his love the combustion bender P'li. Ming-Hua who could manipulate water using only her mind. The lavabender Ghazan, and lastly the lightningbender Lan Du.
They avoid detection from the guards of Zaofu, heading toward their primary objective they go to achieve. They stopped at a window, which was revealed to be the room of where Avatar Korra slept with her polarbeardog and her boyfriend's griffon was guarding her. A small ice shard cutted the glass to a small circle for a six darts, filled with shersui toxin paralysis poison at the tip of the darts. The first three were hit toward Naga and the other three to Suba, which Naga growled out before fading to unconsciousness. Korra's eyes jumped up wide as she prepare to firebend at the attacker. Unfortunately for her, two darts impacted on her left leg which left her to slowly fall unconscious with her eyes slowly dazing in and out before barely getting a close look at her kidnappers. Then suddenly in Raiku's room, his eyes quickly jolted open when he felt a strange sense struck him sharply as his eyes blinked to a green emissive light for a quick moment. He got out of bed and ran to where Korra was sleeping as he kicked the door open, seeing her gone along with a precisely circle cut on the bedroom.
"They got Korra! They got Korra!" he heard Bolin yell out as Raiku burst out of the window, following Korra's kidnappers
"Let her go!" he shouting launching an air punch toward their direction
Lan Du countered by hurtling a fireball to cancel the fist of wind, while P'li deflected an arc of fire coming from Mako as he and Bolin assisted Raiku. The three members of Team Avatar darted back to cover as fire, rock, wind, and lightning was shot at them. The alert alarm rang as lights were focused on Zaheer and his group. P'li used her combustionbending to destroy the lights targeting them, along with sending Raiku, Mako, and Bolin flying back away from their cover as Asami and Li Mei ran over toward them.
"We can't let them take her." Mako said as Asami and Li Mei helped him and Bolin up their feet while Raiku ran back toward the fight
"I don't think they're going to get that far. Look!" Asami exclaimed
Metal tiles began surrounding them in a small wall, follow by a few steel tiles on top. Zaheer's group was trapped in by Nolun along with Chief Beifong, Suyin and her twin sons plus Kuvira and a couple of Zaofu guards.
"We have you surrounded. It's over! Release the Avatar!" Kuvira demanded
"You think it would be that easy." Nolun blurted out as magma suddenly surrounded Zaheer's group in a circle of lava. "Like I said. Never easy." he said as him, Beifong, and the Zaofu guards backed away from the molten fire before the metal tiles that trapped hem fell off
"So that's lavabending." Raiku muttered under his breath
"That's awesome-" Bolin stopped as he got a strange feeling that Li Mei was giving him a dirty look. "Awesomely not good for us."
The metal tiles were used as cover for the attacks, mainly for P'li's strong combustionbending abilites. Zaheer was preparing to use steam from the lava and convert it to be a fog, but was stopped when Nolun pulled him away with a metal cable wire as Kuvira went to help him out against Zaheer. Rock, fire, and wind were being hurtled toward Zaheer's allies as Ming-Hua countered with her water tentacles leaving P'Li and Lan Du to fire a blast of combustion and lightning arc at them from the left side of their cover. A metal tile stand in front to shield them from the blast as Suyin and her twin sons Wai and Wei made their way toward Team Avatar.
"How did they get in here?" Lin suddenly demanded
"We can worry about that later!" Li Mei exclaimed still in cover. "Right now, we need to save Korra!"
"That will be a big problem since we got four powerhouses to deal with while Nolun's holding off their leader for the moment." Raiku stated taking cover after launching another punch of wind when the guards attempt to build a bridge across failed
"There's no way to cross that molt." Asami pointed out
Suyin stared up at the hatch above. "We don't need to cross it. Lin and I can go down from above the gate on cables."
"Good plan, but how are we going to deal with sparky boom boom lady over there?" Raiku inquired pointing his thumb at P'li while he took cover behind the iron tile
"She's a combustionbender. If one of you can stun her, her powers will be knock out temporarily." Su stated
"Bolin can land a shot." Mako replied
"He can?" Li Mei and Raiku said
"You have to take her down right before we drop down." Suyin said as her and Lin went to the hatch, with Wai and Wei following them
"I do?!" Bolin said confused
"Yes, you do." Raiku answered for him as he got out of cover to release a gush of wind
Lan Du narrowed his eyes at the snow haired arishiakage as he sent his fists down, leaving him to be jettison in flames. Jolts of lightning were launched at Raiku who retaliated by dashing the blasts of crackling sparks, releasing a gush of wind at Lan Du. The lightningbender barely landed on his feet as he hurtled fireballs toward the Raiku, using his rotation technique of his clan to block and reflect the attacks. Lan Du slammed his fists toward the coming flames, cancelling them away. They were in close combat, trading blows of airbending and firebending whatever blows they made.
"Bolin, take the shot!" Raiku suddenly heard Li Mei shout to Bolin as he saw Suyin and Lin dropping now
Lan Du grabbed Raiku by the neck as lightning sparked from his fingers. "Time to die, Arishiakage."
Then out of nowhere, a gush of wind sent Lan Du flying back toward a column. He arched his back as he narrowed his eyes at who struck along with Raiku. It was Zaheer, the leader of the group that launched the attack as he gave a hardened look at Lan Du.
"He is not to be harmed." he said with a stern and serious tone in his voice. "Do I make myself clear?"
The snow haired arishiakage airbender now had a confused look on his face just now. Why would Zaheer save him? What could be the reason? Raiku did not have time to think when P'Li's combustion attack was deflected away as Suyin and Lin manage to save Korra from their grasp. He saw Zaheer fly away toward them in a glide staff, attempting to retrieve Korra back. Luckily, Suyin threw two metal shards with her metalbending at the right wing of the glider which caused the wanted new airbender Zaheer to descend quickly. Raiku saw this as a chance to question Zaheer, leading to be why he wanted Korra and why did he stop Lan Du from delivering the killing blow. However, he was not able to get his way as Zaheer used airbending to cover their escape with a smog of wind. They disappeared out of sight, two steps ahead of the entire guard of Zaofu.
Day. Home of the Metal Clan, Zaofu.
Every guard was questioned to find the culprit who was behind in leading Zaheer and his group in Zaofu undetected. Korra and Mako where with Lin and Suyin during the interrogations, hoping to find the mole in the guard. Raiku on the other hand was back at the scene where the fight from last night took place. He crouched down, picking up a piece of cool off molten rock from the lavabender Ghazan. Before Raiku came in the scene, he had rode on Suba to see if they could be found. Even with Naga back on her feet, their scent was still gone with no way of finding where they went off or which direction for that matter. At that time, Aye-Aye and Hop-Hop were with him while he was investigating. He heard footsteps as Nolun approached him.
"Find anything, detective?" he joked
Raiku sighed as he threw the cold molten rock down. "Nothing." he replied. "Did they ever found out who lead Zaheer here?"
"A rookie. Eighteen years of age who's been in Zaofu guard from only a few months." Nolun stated
"Think he actually did it?" Raiku inquired
Nolun shook his head with a standard 'no' as his answer. "Of course not. It doesn't make any sense."
"You're right." Raiku agreed now standing up. "To me, it seems like someone planned for that recruit to get caught. Someone higher up."
"Good start, kid!" Raiku jumped back as he saw Varrick behind him, throwing aside a warm molten rock when it touched Hop-Hop's face as the kangarooraccoon gasped in horror and disgust with wide eyes and mouth wide open
"Hey, human!" Hop-Hop exclaimed leaving Raiku to hold the spirit kangarooraccoon. "Don't fling that rock at me when you had your disgusting foot on it!"
"Easy, Hop-Hop." Raiku quickly try to calm the angry kangarooracoon he was holding his hands. "How long have you been listening in on us?"
"Only for a second." Varrick placed his hands on Raiku and Nolun's shoulder. "Now back to this investigation of yours."
"You said that I had a good start with someone higher up who could brought Zaheer and his friends here." Raiku picked off while setting Hop-Hop back down
"Pretty much like the way you had Mako in jail." Nolun recalled with his arms crossed
"That was actually kind of funny. I mean how mad he got when that happened. Pretty much where Li Mei mentioned that he was right about Unalaq, saved Asami's family company, make Bolin a mover star, and had Mako in prison." Raiku admitted when Varrick a few things before he escaped, now glancing at Nolun. "Varrick has a point. Who has the more pull than anyone?"
Nolun turned to Raiku with a serious look. "You don't think..."
"Iwai? Yeah, I think he may be invovled in leading a passage for Zaheer."
"Only one way to find out."
Raiku looked back at Aye-Aye and Hop-Hop. "If you two see Korra and the others, could you tell them where we went?" he asked as Aye-Aye nodded his head
Moments later...
Day. Iwai's home, Zaofu.
Once they made sure Iwai was not at his house, Raiku and Nolun began searching for any kind of clue or proof that Iwai turned out to be the culprit that lead Zaheer in Zaofu. They were going over his desk, books, clearly anything they could find. Nolun placed the papers he looked at back in order and inside the desk where he peeked from. Then suddenly, Raiku stared down and noticed a small grey tile near the book shelf he searched through. Judging by the look of the tile, it did not resembled the wooden bare floor as he pressed his foot on the tile. The book shelf slid away to reveal a hidden passage down to a stairway, leaving Raiku and Nolun to confirm Iwai lead Zaheer to a secret passage into Zaofu. Just then, they heard footsteps along a key jiggle as Raiku closed the passageway with the book shelf sliding back in place.
"What are you doing here?" demanded a voice as they saw it was Iwai. "In my own home?"
"We wanted to talk about rookie you perked." Nolun stated trying to avoid the question by vaguely attempting to keep the truth about the hidden passage. "Something didn't add right about it. This kid is 18 years old and just joined the guard a couple months ago. How could he possibly have a connection to Zaheer?"
"Perhaps he was bribed." Iwai implied walking over to his desk. "Or perhaps a relative helped him into it. Either way, he will talk. But back to my question: what are you doing here?"
"Simple. We're just looking for answers. That's it." Raiku said as Iwai discovered the tile to the passage was exposed, staring back at Nolun and Raiku with a furrowed expression
"You two have no idea what you've stumbled upon."
Then all of a sudden, a metal wall closed off where Iwai desk was in his study as Nolun ran toward the metal covered wall. He slammed his fists with a one-two punch and forced it open using his metalbending as he and Raiku ran down the passageway. Inside the basement, they found an open basement with a secret tunnel leading out of Zaofu. There was enough evidence to proof Iwai was the turncoat. Unfortunately for Raiku and Nolun, they also discovered an oil barrell with a timebomb that was about to go off in two seconds. Both their eyes went wide as the bomb exploded, quickly leaving Raiku to surround him and Nolun in a air dome. The air dome quickly dispered as all of the evidence was now burned and destroyed while the secret tunnel was now barred in rock.
"I don't believe this!" Nolun growled moving the rocks away, splitting them away using his earthbending. "Great. He's probably half way out by now."
They heard footsteps to see Korra, Mako, Bolin, Asami, and Li Mei entered the basement. Korra ran to Raiku with a quick hug.
"What happened? You are both okay?" she asked as Lin and Su also entered
"We're fine." Raiku replied
"Iwai is the one that lead Zaheer here through this secret passage. He placed a bomb here and made sure all the evidence was destroyed." Nolun explained now showing a sympathetic look to Suyin as he pressed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Master Suyin."
Kuvira happened to appeared as well. "What's going on?"
"Iwai is a wanted fugitive." Nolun quickly replied. "Find out where this tunnel leads." he glanced at Lin and Suyin. "Could I speak for a minute? I'll meet you both in a few." Lin nodded her head and went up lead the search
"Of course." Su said heading back out while Nolun turned his attention to Team Avatar
"Tonight you're leaving here." he declared
"What are you-" Nolun butted in to interrupt Korra
"You're leaving here so you can track down Iwai. Can that polarbeardog of yours be able to pick up his scent?"
"Naga can follow the scent, and Suba has that eaglefalcon eye when he flies." Raiku answered
"Good. I'll tell that you're heading back to Republic city." Nolun began to leave as well, but stopped to glance at Team Avatar. "For now, get what you need."
"What about you? You know you'll take the heat for this." Raiku reminded Nolun as he shrugged his shoulders
"I can handle the blame." he replied. "You guys just find Iwai and bring him here."
"Good luck."
"You too."
Next day...
Evening. Misty Palms Oasis.
After following Iwai to a local inn in Misty Palms Oasis, Team Avatar watched the room across motel room Iwai was staying in their stakeout. Before that, they were wanted by the Earth Queen for stealing her 'soldiers' from the Queen's grasp. Now, they waited for Iwai to leave and lead them straight to Zaheer who would be in a place called Xai Bao's Groove. Korra, Li Mei, and Mako kept watch from time-to-time while Raiku watched Bolin and Asami play Pai Sho. However; due to the small living space of the room they were staying in, Raiku went outside to move his legs freely. He narrowed his eyes where Iwai stayed, finding it to be odd that the truth sire traitor and advisor has not stepped out ever since he came to Misty Palms Oasis. He narrowed his eyes at the door leading to Iwai's room.
"We have been for hours." Li Mei pouted out of boredom. "Has he left yet?"
"I know if he left or not." Mako pulled a small notebook. "Got it here in my journal."
"You have a journal?"
Before Mako could answer, Team Avatar suddenly heard a thump sound coming from outside. They looked out the window and saw Raiku go inside.
"What is he doing?!" Mako exclaimed. "This is suppose to be a stakeout! You know, not be seen!"
"Come on!" Li Mei jumped out of the way as her and the others went inside the inn room Iwai stayed in. "Raiku, wh-" she was interrupted when he pointed at a mediating Iwai. "Wait. Is he...?" Li Mei glanced at Korra
"He's mediating." Korra stated turning to Asami and Li Mei. "Li Mei, Asami! Those spirits were trying to tell us something."
"Xai Bao's Groove isn't a place. It's the spirit world!" Li Mei exclaimed
"I'm starting to think we should've brought Aye-Aye and Hop-Hop with us." Raiku slightly admitted
"So, what now? We wrap him in metal cables before he wakes up?" Li Mei inquired
"We don't have metal cables." Raiku reminded her. "Besides you could knock him out if he does wake up."
"In other words, I can knock him out with a chi block even though I don't have it? Thanks for the sheer compliment." she replied in near sarcasm
"I'm going in there." Korra declared. "If he's meeting Zaheer there, then that's where I'll be." she sat at the bottom of the bed, crossing her legs and going into a mediating state
"Be careful in there." Raiku said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek
"I'll be fine." Korra reassured Raiku before closing her eyes
"So what now?" Li Mei asked them
"We keep an eye on Korra and make sure no one knows we're here."
"I can't believe we didn't this sooner." Li Mei said leaning behind a wall with her arms crossed together
"Me neither. As soon as Korra finds out what's going on, the sooner we-"
"Guys. I don't know how but water arm lady, lava guy, and lightning man just found out where we are." Mako butted in
Raiku took a quick look at the window to see Ming-Hua, Ghazan, and Lan Du outside the inn as if they knew where they were. "How they find manage to find us?!" he interjected
"I don't know. I just said they found us!" Mako said back
"What are we going to do now?"
Li Mei glanced at Asami, then Korra, and lastly at Naga. "You and me can get Korra out of here on Naga. Mako, Bolin, and Raiku can hold them off while we escape."
Raiku carried Korra bridal-style and sat on the middle behind Li Mei while Asami was on back, supporting her. "When I jump out that door, you two get Korra away from here as possible. Mako, Bolin, and I can hold them off to buy you some time."
Li Mei grabbed on the leash, waiting on cue. "Ready."
"Go!" Raiku shouted as he kicked down the door and shot out a gush of wind at Lan Du that sent him flying
Asami and Li Mei rode on Naga taking a mediating Korra away from the fight out of Misty Palms Oasis. A water tentacle was about to grab one of them, but a fireball impacted on it as Mako and Bolin step in to join the fight with Raiku launching an air kick at them. Bolin sent out a crumbling of earth at Ghazan, who simply convert it to lava as he shot a wave of lava with Bolin, Raiku, and Mako leaped out of the way. Lan Du jettison in the air using his firebending as to thrust himself hovering, shooting out arcs of lightning from his fingertips at Raiku. The snow haired airbender jumped from rooftop to rooftop leaving Mako and Bolin to fight Ming-Hua and Ghazan. He landed his foot on the ground, launching out an air leg swipe causing Lan Du to fall in a handstand as he fired a blast of inferno with his feet. Raiku leaped in the air performing a flip, releasing a two leg air kick that sent Lan Du flying toward a door. With Lan Du hopefully taken care of, Raiku decided to rush back to help Mako and Bolin. Unfortunately, a shockwave of sound boomed as he was suddenly sent flying toward a wall with a large crack to show from it. He was beginning to lose consciousness as his eyes darted at the attacker, catching a good glimpse.
He was a lakogian in origin, with a long scar across his face. His white haired was kept in a mohawk and a laid out goatee to go with his face. He was wearing only a orange sleeveless vest along with black pants and shoes. Lan Du appeared behind the lakogian as he crouched down near Raiku.
"Well done, Bao Ju. Take him to our base in Ba Sing Se."
"Zaheer said to spare-"
"I know what he said." Lan Du growled. "Have it done." he demanded receiving a bow from Bao Ju as Raiku faded into unconsciousness