Ugh, I'm sick, but I the next bit done. Uncertain how soon until next update, prolly Sunday at the earliest. I'm going home for the holidays.
"Think we can take them?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Veterans."
"Damn." Sokka frowned and lowered his spyglass. Beside him Nanao wore her helmet so he couldn't read her face, not that it was much of an open book anyway. On the other side of her Haru squinted at the far off camp. Nestled in the lee of another stony upthrust, about thirty figures milled around in normal camp activities during the waning hours of the evening.
Sokka retrained his glass on the camp and picked out Toph's cage again, "There's only one guard on her. Her cage is right near the edge of the camp." Sokka chewed his bottom lip, "I don't like this."
"Trap."
Sokka nodded, "Exactly. It's way too easy, even following them. But why set a trap? Who could they be expecting to follow them?" Sokka was only slightly less troubled by the fact that he was beginning to understand his monosyllabic companion than he was about the apparent trap.
"Well, we've got to do something don't we? We can't just leave her there." Haru frowned across Nanao at Sokka, then turned his gaze back at the camp, "I want another crack at them…"
"I know, but barging in is going to get us very dead, very fast. Here." Sokka handed his spyglass over Nanao to Haru, "Do you see the Captain?"
Haru put his eye to the glass and after a brief moment of startlement began to scan the camp. He shook his head at length, "Don't see him, he must be in one of those tents. The big one they had before is gone, so, I don't know which it would be." He handed back the spyglass with a disgruntled look, "We're still going to do something, right?"
Sokka closed and opened his spyglass slowly, letting the rhythmic tk tk tk of metal on metal focus his mind.
"Do you think you can at least hold them off long enough for me to get her free?"
"No."
"There's only two benders, we can do it." Haru's voice was quavering, his hands tense against the rocks that hid them.
"There were only two when you fought them. You also said there were only eleven soldiers. Besides, how good is your earth bending?"
"Good enough." Haru struck the boulder he hid behind, driving a crater into it's side as proof.
"Shhhh!" Sokka leapt halfway over Nanao and grabbed Haru's hand, "You'll give us awa-."
Sokka stopped, transfixed by the dent Haru had driven into the boulder. He stayed there, frozen, half laying across the armored Nanao and holding Haru's wrist until a quiet voice brought him back to reality.
"Move."
Sokka turned his head and blinked into the eye-slits of Nanaro's helm a second before he scrambled back off her and held up his hands, "Sorry, sorry." He colored just a touch before pointing at Haru's crater, "But look. I've got a plan."
Blank looks regarded him so Sokka elaborated.
"I'd been thinking about this desert we're in. It's not very big, and these little ridges and hills of stone seem to follow lines." Sokka pointed back the way they'd came, "What if they're like, the tops of mountains buried under the sand? Then all we really have to do is run in, run out, and have Haru bend us a tunnel into that rock there. We can loop back under the sand to this rock, and they'll never be able to follow us or guess where we're going."
Haru whistled lowly. Nanao was more pessimistic.
"Risky."
Sokka nodded, stowing his Spyglass and undoing the travel knot on his borrowed sword, "I know, but we can't wait. There's no telling what these burnouts are after." Sokka gripped the hilt of his blade, "I wish we'd heard back from Zuko, but I'm not willing to let them keep her one moment longer than I have to."
Beside him Nanao was readying her own weapons. Haru had none, he was half-crouched behind his cover, looking ready to pounce. Sokka scooted around beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Just keep your head, and stay away form this Captain if you see him. If you lose your ability to bend again, we're done."
Haru swallowed once, but nodded. A touch of the eagerness had gone out of his face, but it was replaced by grim resolve.
Sokka turned to Nanao, "I need you to keep them off me. Nothing fancy, don't try and take anyone out. If you see Haru running like hell from someone, you should probably run too. That'll be the Captain."
"Yes."
"Alright, let's do this."
***
Things started off well. In a flash of inspiration Haru had used his bending to stir up a sand cloud. The mock storm made it as hard for them to see as the burnouts, but the camp wasn't exactly a mobile target. Soldiers were rushing about, trying to tie down tents and secure supplies when the storm died off abruptly, and three people materialized out of the swirling sands.
Sokka launched into a mad dash for Toph's cage. His flight went largely unnoticed amid the Chaos of Nanao and Haru's entrance. The sound of flames and rushing sand mingled with shouts of surprise and anger. Sokka had only eyes for his goal. Tph's cage was guarded by a young looking Fire Nation soldier, who's armor was missing both helmet and shoulder plates. The soldier drew his blade and stood between the cage and Sokka, but his stance was wary, nervous. He kept glancing past Sokka, not focusing, his loss.
Sokka drew his blade on the charge. The slippery sand beneath his feet actually helped him. He struck with a low thrust that the soldier instinctively parried hard to the side. Instead of fighting it Sokka spun with the momentum, the sand slid under his boot heel and his blade came around in a blur. Fortune favored the youth and Sokka's blow struck the thin protection over his collarbone where his breast and black plates met. Still, the force of the impact sent him to the ground and Sokka followed up with a boot to the teeth that took him out of the fight.
"Toph, hold tight, we'll get you out of there."
"Sokka?!" Toph had already pressed herself against the edge of her cage, her head tilted in concentration as she tried to make sense of the cacophony of sounds. As she spoke though her gaze whipped around and her unfocused eyes stared directly at him.
Sokka couldn't quite place her expression.
"I'll have you down in a jiffy." Sokka eyed the construction of the cage. It looked durable as hell. He sheathed his blade and reached for one of the supports keeping it aloft when stars exploded across his vision.
Sokka reeled, but retained enough sense to stagger away from the impact and put a hand to his sword in the process. Sokka came around to square off against a short man tapping a slender wooden club against the palm of his opposite hand, "Don't think so boy."
The man had a hard voice, too big for his size, and under a tightly fitted lacquered breastplate he was a hard lined mass of muscle and mean. He gave Sokka time to draw before casually striding forward, his stick swinging loosely back and forth, "Oh boy; you have no idea the world of hurt you're in for."
"Sergeant!" Another voice, crisp and clear cut through the adrenaline of the moment.
Sokka's focus expanded to include the newcomer. Tall, hard in a manner different than the Sergeant, he moved with a calmness that spoke of command. He wasn't' wearing armor like the other soldiers, instead he wore a crisp dress uniform, clean and pressed as if on parade.
"Sir?" Kumon didn't lower his guard, but his attention left Sokka completely.
"Go take care of that." The newcomer, Captain Anzu or Sokka was a monkey-lemur, gestured to the Chaos that surrounded Haru and Nanao. From his peek Sokka couldn't make out much of what was happening, but there sure was a lot of it.
"Sir!" Kumon stiffened and ran off without a moment's hesitation. This was taking too long.
Sokka backed towards Toph's cage again. He risked a glance her way and saw her straining against the bars, craning her head to keep track of things, "Sokka, get out of here!" She warned, waving an arm impotently in the air.
"No way Toph, we're taking you home." Sokka rounded back on Captain Anzu who was eyeing him up calmly.
"Not a bender?" Anzu guessed, "Then, this might be interesting." He drew his own blade, a slightly thinner version of Sokka's own.
"I'd ask why you're doing this." Sokka retorted as he advanced, his mind desperately trying to recall his lessons, "But right now, I don't really care."
Anzu's stance was erect, calm, one arm held in the small of his back and his blade low before him. He was neither old, nor young by Sokka's estimate. His hair had no hints of gray, but his eyes and face had lost the freshness of youth. His eyes seemed slightly unfocused, vacant. It was a bit unnerving.
Seconds passed, Sokka knew he didn't have them to throw away. He waited for the right moment. A shockwave rippled through the camp from the direction of the melee and Sokka staggered. The tip of his blade bit into the sand then a flick of the wrist brought it up, sending a handful of sand at Anzu's eyes. The trick didn't play out though, Anzu sidestepped and lunged in, their blades met and the fight began in earnest.
Sokka's been told his fights often looked amazing, and praised boy his fast thinking and grace. He never got any of that. Fighting was a series of moments of death and triumph. Sometimes they blended together. Sometimes they seemed a series of disjointed instances, separated by immeasurable gulfs of time. He came out of it to the sound of Anzu's blade hitting sand.
"Very good." That he didn't seem phased by the loss of his sword mitigated the small sense of victory Sokka felt. Anzu settled into a stance that Sokka recognized from Kaatara… water bending?
Anzu moved and caught off guard, Sokka braced instead of responding. No water came, no supernatural blast, but Anzu's strike trapped Sokka's wrists, a quick twist sent his own sword flying then with a rise and fall motion that was all too familiar Anzu rolled his wrists and both palms struck Sokka full in the chest.
Sokka hit the sand hard, he rolled to his feet but Anzu was on him. Sokka had't trained unarmed combat. Who did? Apparently Anzu. Bending, without bending. Sokka staggered back from a flurry of Fire, took a blow to the ribs from Earth, and was sent spinning by a kick from Air. Gasping, heaving, he pushed himself up onto one knee. His head was ringing from the kick. Blood was pounding in his ears, but he could still tell that the sounds had died down from afar.
"You've lost. Well fought. The odds were against you." Anzu's eyes were alive now. There was light where there had been none before. His fingers flexed as he approached.
"Then, I better even 'em." Sokka reached back and tugged Boomerang II from it's sheath. With a practiced aim that would never go away Sokka hurled the weapon past the Captain. It flew true and the weighted end struck his target clean. With a sharp snap one of the wooden rods keeping Toph's cage aloft was smashed and the whole thing toppled, unbalanced, to the ground. The result was immediate. Toph might have been jostled by the impact, but her hand touched sand through the bars and the cage exploded into countless splinters as her bending sent a fountain of hardened stand up around her, engulfing the diminutive bender.
When the fountain cleared Toph was on her feet. She stepped up beside Sokka, "Not that I'm not grateful, but last time I tried this I got my butt kicked, so I'm not sure how much better this is going to be."
Not waiting, Sokka grabbed Toph's hand, they could make a break for the rock. It would be just like the plan had started, only Nanao and Haru weren't here. It wasn't a win, but Sokka was trying to prevent a total loss at this point.
Anzu dropped his guard unexpectedly, "Well played…" He was looking past them. He turned and ran, stooping only to snap up his sword as he went.
Utterly confused Sokka turned back over his shoulder, then laughed. A dozen airships were arrayed in wedge formation descending over the camp. Sokka laughed even when his legs gave out. Toph's confused protests of 'What? What is it? What happened?" went unanswered.