Narada: Heya people! Miss us?
Aoina: So sorry for having taken well over a year for this.
Narada: Funny story. I hit a serious writer's block so I asked Aoina to write the rest, but unfortunately she was busy, so I decided to take it up again. So I'm not too sure how it turned out.
Tallok: Well anyways, for the record: we thought this was gonna be the last chapter of this fic, but as it turns out, no. We're gonna have exactly one more after this, and hopefully it won't take as long as this!
Aoina: So yeah. We don't own Avatar, all material belongs to its respective copyright owners, and all that obligatory legal stuff. Gaah, can we please start the chapter now?
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Golden slivers of light crept through the windows as dawn at last arrived. So naturally some of the guests -including Tallok and Katara- were wide awake at this point. As if in anticipation, the two set themselves down before the computer, AOL Instant MessengerTM currently running.
"Where's Narada?" Katara asked, looking around.
"She overslept, again." Tallok shook his head. "Aoina's going over to wake her up as we speak."
"This is serious!" Katara half-yelled. "We're just a few minutes shy of this guy's deadline!"
"I know, but she's on the way." Tallok leaned back. "Knowing Narada, once someone prods her out of bed, she's out."
As if prophetically, Narada yawned lightly as she lagged slightly behind Aoina, herself followed by Zuko, before she sat down with the others. Narada smoothed out her purple Tinkerbell pajamas and took out her glass of milk. Katara's eyes narrowed on seeing Zuko.
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh so suddenly you're the only one who can care about someone?" Zuko snapped.
"I know you can't." Katara retorted, "Face it Zuko. The only one you've ever cared about is yourself!"
"Why you…!" Zuko's hand lit aflame and was about to strike at Katara, before Narada stepped in.
"Save it for the show you two!" She half-yelled, "Zuko, get ahold of yourself. That kind of temper will get you in trouble someday. And Katara, that whole only-caring-about-yourself bit was uncalled for. Don't let it happen again."
"What do you mean it was uncalled for?" Katara growled, "I'll bet the only reason he's helping now is so he can capture Aang himself!"
At this Zuko and MIA froze, looking amongst themselves in a silent shock. Katara fell silent for a moment.
"What?"
"Should I?" Narada asked uncertainly.
"I'll do it." Aoina sighed, then glanced back to Katara. "The guy kidnapped Iroh too. Zuko's uncle."
Katara's eyes widened. "Wow." She paled, as though she'd committed a terrible crime. "Zuko, I'm so sorry."
"What's done is done, no sense thinking about it now." Zuko said simply, turning toward Tallok. "Any word from him yet?"
"None." Tallok sighed, immediately before a chime from the computer that startled everyone in the room, followed by a message window.
GREENSPIRIT247 has sent you an Instant Message.
"It's him." Katara nodded. "I don't think I can do this."
"Then don't. I got it taken care of." Narada sat down and clicked Accept. An AIM window opened, the avatar of the sender showing the green mask of their archenemy.
"Good morning MIA." The message read, followed by, "I trust you were well rested these past three days?"
"We would be if he weren't so active in all that time!" Aoina rolled her eyes. "Get to the point please." Narada was quick to type out that same message.
"Watch your tongue!" Was the response. Then there was a pause, before the next reply. "Now then. As you are all no doubt aware by now, my deadline is today. Do you have the Freedom Fighters ready for delivery as agreed?"
"Yeah Toph talked it over with the warden." Narada typed. "So we'll be all set before the day is done."
"Excellent." GREENSPIRIT247's response read. "That being said, I'll leave you now to prepare for the exchange."
"Hold it, hold it. May I?" Tallok motioned toward the computer. Narada stepped aside and let him type. "Wait." He typed. "You're supposed to give us proof of life before any exchanges are made. Come on man, that's Hostage Taking 101!"
"Fair enough." The Green Spirit typed out. "Meet me at Mr. Wok on the corner of 8th and Newton in exactly one hour. Then I'll show you all the proof of life you'll need."
At this, everyone immediately looked to Narada, who threw her hands up in an instant.
"I know, I know, 'Get dressed Narada!' I'm on it."
She stood up and raced back to the girls' bedroom. Tallok raised an eyebrow and typed. "Deal. Seeya there." Before signing off.
"Someone wake up Toph. We're on the move!" Aoina called out before running out to the car. But then she felt something on her leg and looked down to see Meng and Koko.
"You're gonna do it? You're really gonna bring Aangy back?" Koko pleaded more than asked that question. "We wanna come too!"
Aoina glanced to Katara, who gently removed Meng and Koko from Aoina. They pouted as Aoina ran off.
"Tell you what." Katara then smiled. "They can drive to the rendezvous point, while we go on Appa. Sound good?"
Both little girls cheered and ran toward the other Kyoshi girls as Katara then left to tend to Appa.
-One Hour Later, Mr. Wok Chinese Restaurant-
Finding a conveniently single parking space between a blue sports car and a rusty beige van, Aoina slipped the car inside and switched off the ignition. Meanwhile, Appa landed a ways behind to keep from blocking the cars, as Katara and the Aang fangirls looked down in anticipation.
"Okay, we're here." Aoina said into the phone. "Now where are they?" As she asked this, Zuko, Toph, Tallok, and Narada all waited in anticipation within the two sets of backseat rows in the Chevy minivan.
"Relax Aoina, I'm in just as much of a hurry as you are." The Green Spirit seethed on the other end. Aoina instinctively turned to face the sports car, where the Green Spirit pulled up from crouching beneath the base of the windows, waving coyly to Aoina.
Only a few seconds later did he speak again. "Other side, kids."
No sooner had they all immediately turned to the other side than the rustic van started up, pulling out of the parking space, before coming to a stop directly in front of the minivan. Aoina hung up, and she and her passengers rushed out of the car and ran up behind the van as it came to a stop. Zuko instinctively produced a fire dagger in each hand, before Tallok gripped one wrist.
"Don't." He said worried. "If this is anything like the movies, that means they're inside."
Zuko took a deep, albeit shaky, breath and settled himself.
"Katara. You're late." The criminal said plainly. "Perhaps I should kill Sokka just for that…or Aang…maybe even both."
"Don't!" Katara cried out in shock. "Please, just don't." But to the Green Spirit, it was like she had never spoken.
"In fact, you were all late today. Late by exactly 3 seconds." He hissed. "And for that, all their lives are mine to dispose of, starting with, guess who?"
At once the back doors of the van flung open, leaving everyone standing there agape.
"Mmmm!" Aang looked back at the group, bound and gagged with duct tape on the floor of the van. A blue-streak brown haired girl stood just above him, a ridiculously high-tech rifle pointing downward at the young Avatar's head.
"Aang!" Katara ran toward the van, before being stopped by a slap in the face on part of the Green Spirit.
"Wave Maker?" Narada stood hard, before snapping herself back to reality. "Let him go, Wave! You'd only be making this harder on yourself!"
"You know them?" Toph asked.
"Just the girl. She's one of my biggest fans on my fan fiction website's Avatar section." Narada explained. "And all of a sudden she's got Aang at gunpoint? Wave, explain yourself!"
"Me?" Wave batted her eyes. "I'm just doing what you would never have the guts to do!" She eyed Zuko with contempt as she said this, before turning back to Aang and reaching for the trigger of her rifle.
Narada's eyes widened as she ran toward the van. Wave wasted no time in propping her rifle straight at Zuko. But by then Katara had already begun to stand up.
"No!" Narada reached forward, hoping to avert the rifle's new target…
P-zhoom!
All three girls' eyes widened, and before long the whole of the scene was frozen in time. The others could only watch as Katara groaned in pain, collapsing onto Tallok. Tallok stared in raw shock as she fell away from his grip down to the floor.
"MMMMMM!" Aang pulled away from Wave harder than ever. Wave looked down in horror as Katara's blood mingled with the water in her amulet, and in the confusion Wave only barely felt when Aang fell over.
His spirit too crushed to continue struggling, Aang hung over the side of the van, muffled crying sounds becoming audible as his tears fell on Katara's face. But soon even these sounds gave way to the surrounding silence. At once, Aang's arrow tattoo glowed, but not the usual white. Instead, it pulsated several different colors at once. This was clearly not the average avatar state.
"Tallok, what's going on?" Narada asked, standing back defensively.
"I have no idea." Tallok stood stunned as the rest of Aang's body glowed a bright white, his bonds incinerating into nothing as the light made contact. He levitated upward, melding a hole clear through the roof of the van.
At that moment, Aang screamed with such a force that it knocked every person in the area to the ground in one fell swoop. These shockwaves then returned toward Aang, four large orbs of shimmering energy gathering around him before descending upon the scene below. Three of them rained down on Tallok, Aoina, and Narada, knocking them to the ground as each orb made contact. The fourth landed on Katara's body, which immediately disappeared from sight, after which an unconscious Aang fell through the hole he made in the van roof and landed just behind Wave.
The MIA members pushed themselves off of the ground, each of them still enveloped in the strange glow.
"What was that?" Aoina got up onto her knees, examining herself and her two teammates.
"Enough." The Green Spirit forced himself up and got into the van. "Get us out of here!" He barked at Wave Maker. Wave hesitated, looking toward the crimson puddle where Katara once lay, before complying and driving off. Narada felt as much as heard him throw an envelope to the ground.
"Are you all right?" Zuko asked, concern sincere in his voice as he helped Narada up.
"Depends on what you call all right." Narada chuckled, looking to the envelope. "What is that?"
Toph picked up the envelope and casually pulled it open, prompting Tallok to approach. "What's it say?"
"Let's see…" Toph examined the note inside. "It says 'You're a total bonehead!' Hel-lo!"
"Oh yeah." Tallok slapped his forehead. "I can't believe I keep forgetting that!"
Aoina took the envelope and scanned through it, then stood hard as she read aloud.
"Your loved ones have all been marked for death, but as a token of good faith, I'm prepared to give you one last chance to save them. No ransom this time, just raw skill. United, MIA stands proud and tall, but divided, will they all crumble and fall? Only one way to find out." Aoina showed the note to Tallok and Narada. "It's got some addresses on the back."
Before Narada could comment, everyone heard a sudden blare of sirens from behind, prompting all to stare at the police van as it drove up behind them. Officer Marcus Jones then stepped out of the van.
"Don't take this the wrong way fellas, but now I can't be this permissive on you anymore." Marcus opened the back door. "Everybody get in, you're all being detained under reasonable suspicion for kidnapping."
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Tallok: Detained?!
Aoina; At least technically it's not jail.
Tallok: Well yeah but, come on man! Of all the times for the cops to catch us sneaking out of the house, they just had to pick tonight!
Narada: Coming up next-.
Aoina: Get over yourself, knucklehead! They were bound to find us out some time!
Narada: Coming up-.
Tallok: Yeah but that doesn't mean I have to like it!
Narada: Co-.
Aoina: It happened anyways, so just quit whining and-!
Narada: Hey, do you mind?? I'm trying to do the follow-up here!
Tallok: Oh, sorry.
Aoina: Go ahead.
Narada: Okay, as I was saying… Coming up next, the effects of Aang's super avatar state on the three of us become apparent, and Wave Maker makes a critical decision about her contract with the Green Spirit.
Tallok: You left out Katara. Let's just say she makes a comeback.
Aoina: Enough spoilers, you two. Let's just finish this chapter already.
Tallok: Good point. Wouldn't want to ruin our grand finale.
