Aang opened his eyes, noticing a thick fog in front of him. Just as Aang was about to move and look for anyone. He saw a figure emerge from the fog, as the person got closer Aang could tell that it was Avatar Roku. Aang was about to ask a question but Roku began to speak, "Aang, the desperate technique you used to open your seventh chukra will have severe consequences. Though you are once again able to tap into your Avatar Spirit, you will never be able to master the Avatar State. In you, it will forever remain in its untamed form, manifesting itself only in response to your emotions."
Aang gaped at Roku's words, memories of his attack on earth benders at General Fong's fortress sprang up in his mind. Aang grimaced at the feeling of losing control and hurting someone. Roku's words also meant something else to Aang, the last thing he remembered was a fireball heading towards him. "You mean I'm not dead?" Aang asked, he had thought his presence in the Spirit World had meant he had been killed.
"No, Aang. You're not dead." Roku said with a small smile. "Unfortunately, you've been captured by the Fire Nation."
Aang's happiness seemed to vanish in smoke at Roku's statement; he had assumed that Katara had found him. Aang frowned at the thought of never seeing his friends again.
"But there is a bright side," Roku said almost as if he had read Aang's mind, "Someone is coming to get you out, though I don't now for sure who it is."
Aang nodded in understanding though he secretly doubted if this person would be able to bust him out of the Fire Nation's clutches. Even with the Avatar spirit, Aang had barley been able to leave the Fire Nation battleship. Aang was about to ask who the person was but he noticed that Roku had vanished. "Roku! Roku!" Aang cried into the fog, wanting answers to his questions. The fog began to subside and Aang could feel himself returning to consciousness, opening his eyes he noticed that he was once again alone on a Fire Nation battleship, chained and humiliated. Growling in anger Aang pulled on the chains around his wrists as if his anger would give him enough strength to rip the shackles clean off, but to no avail. Slumping to the ground in defeat, Aang waited for his mysterious rescuer to reveal himself and find his way to freedom.
The mysterious infiltrator continued his stealthy walk toward the prison hold, making sure that his black cloak was in the shadows as he slowly walked down the hallway. Once he reached the end of the hallway he pressed his back to the wall and slowly took a glance down the adjoining corridor. Being able to take in everything at a glance he could see that there were around twenty fire benders outside the Avatar's cell. Taking a deep breath to mentally prepare himself the figure drew in a breath and let out a soft whistle. The guards on the other end stirred at the noise and judging by the shadow movement the infiltrator was able to tell that two of them had come to investigate the noise. Noticing there were pipes running along on the ceiling, the infiltrator grabbed the pipes and hung from there as he waited to spring his trap.
He didn't have to wait long, almost as soon as he was in position two of the fire bending guards came around the corner in a flash, palms extended in a fighting stance. They both relaxed somewhat when they noticed that no-one was in sight. With the need to verify that the area was secure they both began to inch down the corridor, when the last person was directly under the infiltrator, he hooked his legs around the pipes and pushed off from the ceiling, he instantly wrapped his arms around the firebenders throat and began to squeeze.
Though the move had been performed with absolutely no sound, the small gurgles coming from the guard's throat caused his companion to turn around. With superb reflexes and precision, the infiltrator tore off the helmet of the choking guard and hurled it at the other's face. The spiked helmet hit the guard dead centre in the forehead and he fell to the ground, dead. A few seconds later his companion finally ceased his struggles as he was rendered unconscious.
Unhooking his feet from the pipes, the infiltrator quickly dragged the bodies into a dark room. Their companions were bound to be alarmed and if he didn't act quickly he would lose the element of surprise. Expertly moving his hands, the infiltrator replaced his cloak with the armour of one of the guards. Making sure the helmet was completely covering his face, the infiltrator headed back to where his trap had been sprung, to take out another group.
The infiltrator had just barley positioned himself in a fighting stance when six more guards rushed to where he was. With a quick move the infiltrator shot fire from his palm out to the door containing the bodies of the two guards. Looking at the infiltrator, one of the guards asked, "What happened?"
"There's an intruder onboard. He took out my partner and ran in there." The infiltrator shouted, pointing toward the door he had just firebended at.
The guard nodded in understanding and motioned for everyone to follow him, encircling the entrance to the door; they took their stances in preparation for attack. One of the guards opened the door and the guards all lowered their stances upon seeing the bodies of two Fire Nation soldiers. The guard sergeant looked at the bodies and said, "What the?" his gaze shifting to the infiltrator.
Acting with an instinct born of countless training scenarios, the infiltrator struck the sergeant in the face, leaving him knocked out cold on the ground. Just as the others were starting to react, the infiltrator unsheathed his dual long swords and stabbed outward at the two guards to either side of him piercing their armour at the chest. With surprising agility the infiltrator unhooked his swords from the two bodies of the guards and kicked another guard in the face. While the guard was momentarily stunned, the infiltrator quickly grabbed the pipes on the ceiling, hooked his feet around the guard's neck, and performed a flip while jumping down. The end result was that the guard was sent hurtling into the last two in the group. Reacting quickly the infiltrator moved toward the guards and ended their lives with quick stabs from his swords.
Knowing that the element of surprise wouldn't last much longer the infiltrator headed to the Avatar's cell and headed straight toward the other guards at a dead run. One of the guards noticed him but, thinking the infiltrator was on his side, the guard shouted, "Where's the rest of your group?"
In answer the infiltrator threw one of his swords at the guard, the blade sliced through the air before it connected with the guard's chest. With a cry of both surprise and pain the guard slumped to his knees. Jumping through the air, the infiltrator somersaulted over the dying guard before pulling his sword out of the guard's chest and dropping into a fighting stance as the rest of the fire benders encircled him.
Before the rest of the guards could even react, the infiltrator grabbed his small knife threw it at a guard. The infiltrator moved his swords so fast, all that could be seen was a blur of motion. In no time, four guards fell to the deck as corpses, the swords having cut through their throats. The remaining seven guards regrouped by the cell door, they cringed in fear at the sight of their fallen comrades but they had sworn an oath to Vice Admiral Xylan and none of them were willing to face the consequences of having backed down from their promise.
Preparing to make a last stand, the guards fire bended at the intruder, but he swiftly avoided the blast by jumping in the air. In a blur of motion, the infiltrator impaled one of the guards at the neck before slashing another guard across the throat in quick succession. A few stabs and slashes later, it was all over, the infiltrator panted from his efforts before once again drawing his swords to break the lock to the Avatar.
Aang squinted as bright light flooded the interior of his cell. Though his eyes were almost squeezed shut he could see a figure enter his cell. As his eyes adjusted he could see a Fire Nation soldier standing in the doorway. Breathing in, Aang blew out a gust of wind that hit the soldier square in the chest, blowing him back into the hallway that he just came from. Aang may be captured but he wasn't giving up without a fight. Aang could see a shadow approaching again and took another deep breath to prepare for a confrontation.
But as the figure reappeared he moved with such agility that Aang could barley track his movements. Before Aang even knew what was happening, the figure drew his dual swords and cut the shackles around Aang's ankles and wrists. Aang turned around to face the soldier in shock and he immediately asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm insulted you'd even have to ask," the infiltrator replied. Aang was about to ask what the infiltrator was talking about before he removed his helmet.
Aang let out a small laugh upon seeing the face he still had trouble picturing as friendly, "Zuko?"
Zuko nodded, "Just like old times, right?" He said with a smile.
Aang instantly frowned, knowing that Zuko was referring to Zhou's prison, "Yeah, though I hope the escaping part goes off a little better this time."
Zuko gave a smile of his own before motioning for Aang to follow, "We'll have a better chance if we don't stand around here talking all day."
Vice Admiral Xylan sat in the command chair on the bridge, mulling over how he could track down the remaining earth benders who were still offering resistance in the Fire Nation colonies. He ran through several possibilities before an old instinct in the back of his mind was triggered, something Xylan had recognized early in his career as a sign of danger. Swivelling his chair to face Captain Vai, Xylan asked, "Have the guards made their hourly report yet?" Xylan asked, referring to his standing order that the Avatar's guards were to report every two hours.
"Just a second Admiral." Vai responded before checking the previous messages sent to the bridge within the last two hours. Not being able to find anything Vai answered, "It seems their last report was made three hours ago." Captain Vai turned to see the Admiral's angry gaze directed toward nothing in particular. "Perhaps they simply forgot Admiral." Vai said in a tone that made it clear that such a thing was highly unlikely. Everyone on the Leviathan knew the price for defying the Admiral's orders, they were the handpicked naval troops of the Fire Nation, the best of the best; they would never disobey an order no matter how small.
"No, Captain." Xylan responded in a dark tone. Gritting his teeth in anger he said, "Send out a ship wide alert, the Avatar has escaped."
As the alarm klaxons could be heard blaring in the ship Captain Vai wondered how the Admiral had reached that conclusion. "Sir, if I may say I don't think-"
"That the Avatar could have escaped on his own." Xylan finished for him. "Neither do I, Captain. I believe he had help."
Vai felt a flash of anger at the Admiral's statement, "You're not suggesting that someone on this ship helped him, sir?"
"Not someone on the ship, or the rest of the fleet for that matter. No, I believe that one of the Avatar's friends helped. Someone the Ossuna missed during their last insertion, perhaps. But such failure will be dealt with later, for now double the guard at every possible escape route." Xylan briskly ordered.
Vai wondered how an intruder could possibly have sneaked aboard the Leviathan without raising some kind of alarm and he cringed at the thought of how Xylan would respond to such failure. Pushing the thought back, the captain concentrated on following the Admiral's orders. In a situation such as this, timing was everything.
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Isn't Xylan the coolest character you've ever read about? Don't lie!�Anyway If I get some reviews. I'll upload the next chapter. I already have 8 and 9 done but I want to know what everyone thinks first...Quickly now Review! Or if your french, Vite maintenant Revue! If you don't review well...let's just say that HEADS WILL ROLL!�
