Chapter Seven: Freedom of Walls and Secrets Part 1
Katara was having a hard time keeping behind Aang when they started making their way towards the holding area. It had been obvious that they should be wearing black, and that Aang should be hiding his arrow, but the two shouldn't have been combined! All she had to go on was the occasional flash of white skin that showed through the slit in the mask he was wearing.
They continued towards the holding area, sometimes hearing the brush of feet on ground that belonged to the other groups going after other sections of the holding area. Once they got closer Katara had an easier time seeing Aang because of the small Fires that dotted the area before the metal wall rose out of the ground. There were usually a few guards sitting around them, but they didn't see anything as Aang and Katara flew by them with a sound. The whole thing was going exactly as Aang had played it out in his head. They hadn't had any problem in getting to the holding area. He was still having doubts though as almost nothing ever went their way.
The steel wall would have been easy to get over normally. It was made more difficult by the numerous guards that were stationed along the top. The only silver lining was that there number provided was that they were inattentive because of it. None of them were actually paying any attention to what was going on within or without.
"Aang, we didn't plan how to get over this!" Katara hissed next to him once they were right up against the wall.
Trying to look cool, Aang replied, "Relax, I got everything under control." He backed up and took aim at the nearest guard who was leaning against one the lantern posts that were spaced around the perimeter.
"Aang, are you crazy? If someone sees you your secret will get out!"
Aang put his finger to his lips and did something that looked like the water bending technique for pulling water towards you. Katara watched with curiosity as the guard woke up groggily, got a scared expression on his face, and then slumped back against the post. The other guards went none the wiser.
"What did you do to him?" Katara had a good idea and was slightly shocked that Aang had done it.
"I knocked him out. I made a vacuum around his head so he couldn't breathe. I stopped as soon as he was unconscious." His face contorted slightly as another thought came into his head, "You thought I killed him, didn't you?" Katara nodded sadly, feeling guilty she'd doubted him. Aang proceeded to do the same to the other guards around the first one until they were all out.
"Jump when I tell you too." Now Katara definitely knew what he was doing, "Now!" She jumped and felt a strong gust of air push her farther upward until she landed on the top of the wall. Aang landed beside her a moment later.
"Okay, there's a captain somewhere around here. We need to find him and get the keys he has." Aang knew she knew that already, but said it to keep it fresh in their minds. He'd been doing that since he left the barracks with her.
They both started to squint along the wall to see if they were lucky and he was close. They didn't get done though because of the other groups used their improvised front door. A massive explosion wracked the holding area next to them and all the guards snapped out of their reveries and raced to see what had caused the explosion.
This meant that some of them had to go past where Aang and Katara where standing. The oncoming guards didn't seem to realize that something was amiss along the wall until they were very close to Aang and Katara. Aang sent a powerful air blast down the length of the wall and blew most of the guards into the enclosed area where the men down below who were looking upwards like piranhas promptly knocked them out.
Aang shouted down in hops they might have gotten lucky, "Do any of them have a set of keys?"
A reply came a few moments later, "Not anymore!" Aang hopped down to retrieve the keys as the remaining guards seemed to realize that there was something wrong in their section as well. Katara held them back when Aang went to go get the keys. She used her ever present water skin and froze the first few guards in place to block the rest then she went to see what was taking Aang so long.
As soon as she stuck her head over the side of the wall two things happened: the guards shoved their frozen comrades to the side and raced towards the unknowing Katara and Aang shot back up from the ground and landed next to her.
The closest guard to them already had his spear lowered and gave a yell, which made Katara whip around in surprise. Before she could freeze him in place Aang stepped between them, pushed the spear to the side so it narrowly missed his head, grabbed it, and forced it backward so hit the guard in the chest. The guard stumbled backward, the wind knocked out of him. Aang used the opportunity to blast him backward with the water from the frozen guards and send most of the guards flying like bowling pins. Katara was still partly in shock at having the close shave with death, but recovered enough to walk towards the gate of the holding area and unlock it while Aang took care of the rest of the guards.
Once he was done he caught back up to Katara before she joined the mass of soldiers that was streaming out of the gates, "You've gotta be more careful Katara! You almost got killed there!" It was lucky he had the balaclava on, it hid how fearful he sounded.
"Aang, you don't have to be so worried, I can take care of myself, and I can only stand one overprotective person around me and Sokka's already filling it. Thank you for doing that though." She smiled gratefully at him if he hadn't been wearing the mask she would've seen how red his face got.
The troops continued spilling out of the gate and out towards the city. Aang could see Hakoda leading them towards the inner wall and the jail that Aang hoped was being emptied by Sokka.
"Aang, we're going to need some help here!" Aang snapped out of his reverie once he heard Katara's worried voice. He jumped into the air so he could see the problem and groaned. Tanks were rumbling towards them in an attempt to stop their charge. Aang landed and ran as fast as the wind to the front where Hakoda and Katara were and started to cause mayhem in the ranks of the tanks (I know it rhymed and I'm ashamed of it.).
Aang spun the ground under some of the tanks so they crashed into others. Katara started cut the treads off of them once they got close enough. This put numerous tanks out of business, but more kept coming as they always seemed to.
"Remind me to yell at the Mechanist if we run into him again!" Aang yelled as another pair of tanks crashed into each other. Katara nodded her approval as the pile of treads she was creating grew again.
The tank's numbers dwindled, but they'd served their purpose. They'd stalled them long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Swarms of Fire Nation troops started to pour from between the rows of tanks, yelling war cries as they did.
"Aang, we need to scare them! They're leaderless, so if we can scare them a little we can open a hole in the front." Hakoda had figured out the lack of leaders by the lack of discipline. If their captain had been there they would've been far more cohesive than just using a wanton charge.
Aang followed the advice by encasing himself inside a body made of earth. He piled rocks onto it and made it bigger and bigger until it was two stories tall. He charged into the enemy ranks and sent people flying through the air. When this didn't scare them he added floating faces around himself and added a fearsome looking goblin face to his body. This got the desired effect as he heard people yelling stuff like 'demon!', and 'spirit don't hurt me!' The troops scattered before him and he made stonewalls to block out the troops from coming back.
He dissolved the body and landed next to Katara and Hakoda again, "I'll cover our back. You two make sure our path isn't blocked by anything." Before Katara could say she was coming with him he vanished in a gust of wind. Katara fought her way through the tide of soldiers until she saw moving black standing against a mass of Fire Nation troops, some of whom were still screaming and running around like they'd gone crazy.
When Katara drew level with him she heard him start to talk, "Was I really that scary?"
"Floating heads and a demon face? You'd give Sokka nightmares for sure."
"Yeah, but prickly snakes do too, so that's not saying much." They both let a little laugh, which seemed to suck the panic out of the Fire Nation troops. Aang took a calming breath and made a wall shoot out of the ground to block the entrance.
A few seconds later the soldiers had climbed on top of the wall and had Aang and Katara surrounded in moments.
"You do the honours?" Aang asked, still just a hint of worry in his voice. They'd been in far worse pinches than this.
"No, I insist they're all yours." Katara gave Aang a smile, which filled him with confidence. Aang sent the soldiers flying skyward by earthen pillars from the walls and ground.
As soon as the first wave of soldiers were in the air a new batch replaced them and didn't wait for the same thing to happened. They jumped off the wall and were shot back out of the wall by a new series of rock pillars that were jutting out from around Aang's feet.
"If you get bored, let me know. You could stop them from just walking around the wall to where it ends."
"Toph'll be ready for them, but we should try you catch up with them shouldn't we?"
"Yeah, just a little while longer should do." Aang grunted as he sent another wave of soldiers skyward. A second later a tank smashed through the wall, then another and another.
"I'm probably going to need your help now." Aang muttered.
Katara looked at him side long, "Oh no, there's only a hundred, you'll do fine." She made a gesture with her arms to further her point, and sent two water whips towards the soldiers. The shock of what just happened to them was short lived as they charged seconds later.
"There's no point in fighting this many!" Aang yelled over the soldier's yells. Katara nodded and Aang picked her up and raced off, leaving the bewildered soldiers where they were. Aang dissolved the walls shortly thereafter. Now they just had to meet up with Sokka and the council and pray that Bato and his group had found Long-Feng in the palace.
