Chapter 12


His back did not sting. The words did not hurt. Sticks and stones break my bones. Words will never hurt me.

Data saw the flustered face of Azula. He could hardly sympathize. She was giving him a torture that would break most humans.

Too bad he wasn't one.

"100 more lashes," the girl commanded.

Data blinked every time the whip slapped down onto his exoskeleton. He lacked the pain receptors to fully feel the sting of the whip, but he calculated a massive amount of effort being put into bringing him pain.

"Stop", Data commanded.

The guard holding the whip did pause. Azula did as well.

"No bickering is going to make us stop," she declared, "Only if you agree to our offer will we stop trying to whip the information out of you. You don't realize what a mistake you've made. You could have been great. But now, you are our unwilling prisoner, all because of one choice."

"I am merely asking you to stop because it is useless," Data responded, "your efforts are futile. I told you I did not care for anything you had to offer, and I do not fear anything you can threaten me with. The only thing I fear, as to say, is if you find out how to use our technology. I ask you to stop because you are wasting your efforts."

Data looked around as she pondered her response. The room was dimly lit. Grey plates of metal covered the walls and the ceilings. Data looked upward from the table he was tied to. Orange chemical reactions was the source of the dim lighting. Fire, it was everywhere, and it burned in the eyes of the sadistic girl.

"You cannot defy us!" she declared, "We are the Fire Nation! Destroyers of the Air Nomads! Conquerors of the Earth Kingdom! One silly little man is not going to remain out of our control!"

She fumed after her declaration. Data did not know the reason for this, it was illogical. He then felt a small metal device pressed against his head.

The phaser, Azula was holding the phaser.

"Submit to us," she growled, "Or I will use this device on you."

"No," Data defiantly stated, "You do not know how to operate the device. Even if you do manage to make it work, I am able to resist the lower settings. The higher settings will deactivate me, and I will not be able to tell you anything more."

Stalemate. She had never met this moment in her life. Azula was always skilled at being at least one step ahead of her opponents: Zuko, the Avatar, and the Dai Li. This man, why did he irk her? She was a conqueror! Why couldn't she conquer this man's mind?

Different processes went through Data's head, measuring the distance to the door, possible reaction times of the guard and Azula, and the structural integrity of the metal bindings on his arms and legs.

Structural integrity: Not enough.

Azula saw the guard fly against one of the bare metal walls. She looked to the table where Data should be, and felt the device stripped from her hand.

"Who are you?" she gasped, as the situation was now spinning wildly out of control.

"Your escaped captor," he responded, and fired the weapon.


"See that Picard? Admire it, look at it, soak it in."

Picard gazed at the beautiful untarnished moon that illuminated the night sky from the balcony of the bridge. On earth, the moon's image in the sky was blotted with veins of civilization. It was beautiful in its own way, but sometimes, the simple things looked better.

"I have never seen the moon in this way." Picard wistfully said.

"I've only seen this once a month," Hakoda responded. "Yet, it still fills me with wonder and awe. The original waterbender."

Great, more of this world's lore. However, in order to survive the world, he must understand it.

"What do you mean by the original waterbender, Hakoda?" Picard inquired.

"You didn't know?" Hakoda paused when he saw Picard shake his head. He then continued; "The tides, they are caused by the moon. Our people learned waterbending by observing the push and pull on the tides."

They learned this art of controlling water by a satillite? Impossible. The moon affects tides by gravity. It only pulls the water. The push, as it is called, is merely the moon's influence leaving that particular area. Hakoda's science is ... illogical.

"Makes scene," Picard murmured. It didn't matter. Whether by gravity or not, his people had the power to manipulate water to their own will. Others could raise and throw earth without touching it. And still, others, the enemy, could create fire balls as if they were fictional wizards. Picard still had trouble grasping the lore of this world.

On to another topic.

"Your daughter," he began, "She is one of these waterbenders, I presume?"

"Yes," Hakoda answered, "How did you...? Right! You are the dream man!"

"Err," Picard stammered, reacting to Hakoda's awkward answer, "I guess."

"Well, you are right," Hakoda continued, "I never knew my daughter had that much talent in waterbending. Of course, we could have never found out, the Fire Nation had taken away every possible teacher from our tribe.."

Picard sensed a shift in Hakoda's voice. It was becoming darker, edgier. He was about to open up the tragedy of his life to a man he knew only from a couple of weeks. This tragedy, what was it? The black plumes of smoke-

"-Were the signs of bad things to come, I have told you this before. The Fire Nation saw no value in our land, nothing but a frozen wasteland with no minerals, ores, or soil for farming. However, they saw us as a threat. Waterbenders are the most versatile combatants in the world. Masters can easily turn defensive tactics into an offensive assault, and firebenders, on the defense, are not that potent. The Fire Nation, however, using strength of numbers, killed and captured nearly all of our waterbenders a generation ago. There was one that they missed."

Picard could already sense where this was going. He knew this was the tragedy of-

"-my wife, was not a waterbender. My daughter was born in a time when Fire Nation raids were rare. However, the Navy had assaulted one last time when she was eight. She was killed in front of my daughter's eyes."

Hakoda bowed down, like last time, except tears began streaming from his eyes. He continued;

"She was protecting my daughter, Katara. She lied and died, so Katara could live."

Picard looked to the sky again. Clouds had began blotting out the moon. No activity was occurring on the docks, so the air was silent.

"Now Katara carries the burden as our last waterbender. She naturally felt a debt to my wife, and felt that it could never be repaid. She, however, harbors more dangerous feelings. The-"

"Fire Nation!" shouted voice of Picard's first officer.

Riker ran towards the bridge and looked above to the balcony.

"They've spotted us, and it looks like they want a word of us, or worse"

"Position?" Hakoda demanded.

"Dead ahead," Riker punned.


"Stop right there criminal scum!"

Data could hear the pants in between their words. They could not keep up with a tireless android.

Two more guards emerged in front of Data in the hall. Data saw them summon flames from their hands.

They thrust their fists forward and enveloped the android in flames. The fire illuminated their confident faces.

These faces immediately changed when the android emerged from the flames and effortlessly grabbed their bending arms.

"What!" shouted one of the guards, "How did you not-"

"I have adjusted my settings to compensate for the heat," Data smoothly answered. He knocked their heads together, rendering them unconscious.

Data continued through the hall. He then immediately spotted another figure. A younger face. A changed face.

The boy gave a look of surprise when he saw Data. Data prepared to fight him, but he merely opened his mouth and asked;

"What are you doing?"

What was he doing? He was running full sprint and trying to avoid any guards. He should be able to properly conclude that he was escaping this place.

"I am leaving," Data responded, "Please, get out of the way, unless you want to get hurt."

"I have a better idea," the brother of this Azula stated, "Follow me."

It was Data's turn to be surprised. Was this a trick? Surely. He was the brother of his tormenter, and, from previous speeches with Azula, the crown prince, the next in line for the throne. Surely the environment he was raised in made him believe everything that the Fire Nation was doing.

"It is illogical to trust you," Data responded.

To his surprise, he seemed to nod in agreement; "It is illogical to trust me. I never know what side I should be on. Whenever I am convinced one is right, the other lures me back in. I am volatile and untrustworthy, until now. I know my destiny now. I'm sure you've seen it in your travels, the evil my nation has done; I've seen it too. And, as you said at dinner, it disgusts me."

The crown prince smiled, and stepped on a stone, the wall to the left of Data lifted up to reveal another passage way. Data internally scanned the hall, it led to the outside, the prince was true to his word.

"This passage, only the royal family knows of it. My sister will assume you don't."

The prince then urged; "go, I cannot be seen assisting you."

Data stepped forward, then looked back as the prince was looking around for guards who might have observed this event.

The android remembered, he should not forget formal human manners.

"Thank you," Data said, causing the prince the whirl around, "If we ever meet again, what do I call you?"

"Zuko" he stated, and stepped on the triggering stone which closed the wall.

Data headed down the passage way. It did not take long for him to reach the exit.

But when he stepped outside, he was met with another obstacle.

Azula.

Data thought he felt some of his android prosthetics burn away as she glared at him. It did not matter. No matter how skilled she was, Data could resist the fire.

"You think, you can simply leave from here?" she fumed.

"I thought, I calculated and I concluded," Data calmly responded, "I have concluded that I have a sufficient chance to leave your prison. Now, only you stand in the way."

"No!" she shouted back, as blue flames began forming in her hands, "You miscalculated!"

Data dodged the first few fireballs, and took the brunt of the rest. She did have a point, her fire packed a stronger punch than the soldiers he faced earlier. As he staggered back, he saw her grin devilishly as she summoned even more blue fire to her bidding.

He did not have time for this.

Data pulled out his phaser, but it was knocked back by one of her fireballs. She was clearly above the class of the rest, the guards could not aim that precisely.

Well then, he would have to settle this, as humans called it, "the old-fashioned way."

Data charged forward, fought off another firebolt, and took a swipe at Azula. She did back-flipped out of his striking range. More powerful and more agile than the average guard, a deadly combination.

"Ha!" Azula taunted, "I told you that you miscalculated!"

"How did you even know I was coming up here?" Data inquired. He was beginning to suspect her brother, Zuko.

"Intuition," Azula simply replied, "Don't take my rightful bragging as a complete insult, I knew you were a clever man. I knew you would find our secret passageway and use it. I just had to be here to foil the whole plan."

Azula went on the offensive once more, this time firing disks of blue flame. Data felt the disks cut into his arms, but they were not enough to sever them.

Her offense was successfully pinning him down. Data could not find an opening to use his superior strength to his advantage.

However, Data knew he also had an advantage. Azula needed Data functioning, or alive. That meant getting in close to paralyze him. Hit a weak point that would freeze him. Azula could not play the range game all day.

And she didn't, right when she saw Data was busy with the fire disks, she lept in for the winning blow.

Data made his move, grabbing her arm, and using a combination of her momentum and his strength to fling her into a nearby building.

The red material crumpled surprisingly easily to the weight of the girl. The debris enveloped her, hiding her from sight.

Data approached the rubble. While Azula was his torturer, he did not want her dead.

His wants were satisfied as Azula emerged from the rubble, angrier than ever.

No words were spoken as they resumed the battle, the firebending prodigy verses the android. Azula was using her fire to augment her combat abilities. Data avoided the barrage of fiery fists.

He sensed an opening and grabbed an incoming punch. Data used her weight behind the attack to pull her closer.

And he delivered a punch of his own.

Azula was sent back, skidding on the road. After she came to a halt, she looked at her back, at the worn down armor. She looked at her hands, bruised and battered from fighting this man. She saw him calmly approach her.

A normal human, upon seeing and experiencing this would have probably felt fear. They would fear Data's implied invulnerability.

Azula felt rage. How dare this man stand above her! How dare he think himself superior to the princess of the most powerful nation in the world!

"Take this!" she shouted, as she stood up. She took her first two fingers on each of her hands and brought them together. She then broke them apart and began weaving them around her.

Data gathered intense amounts of EM energy emitting from her. It appeared to be dangerous amounts, and it appeared out of control.

"You cannot win!" Azula shouted, "We are the best of the world, and I am the best of the best! You say my actions are irrelevant! Your actions are as well! Resistance is futile!"

Azula shot the EM energy towards Data. It impacted in an instant.

Data woke up from the impact. The energy she had summoned was enough to temporarily knock out some of his systems. It was frightening.

Frightening?

Data was aware that was a powerful attack, but no matter, he had to strategize around it. All he had to do was get up and find his bearings.

He could not.

Why couldn't he? Did her attack break some important motor functions. No, diagnostics showed they were fine. What was it? What was it? What was it? What was it? What was it? What was it? What was it? What was it?

Fear.

Data looked at his hands, they were shaking. He looked at a nearby window, his eyes were wide. He saw another frightening figure behind him in the reflection.

Data turned around slowly. Azula had regained her confident composure. She was smiling.

"Now you see what happens when you resist us," she hissed, "I told you I would break you."

"No!" Data shouted, in all his fright, he finally managed to locate the source, "you have..,in-inadvertly activated my e-e-emotion chip!"

"Emotion chip?" Azula mused as Data cowered on the groud. She smiled even more as she continued;

"I don't know what an emotion chip is, and I don't care, this benefits me."

"Not for long," Data responded, and switched it off.

It would not stay off. The emotions were still there. The chip was still on. He did not need this! Emotions were great to explore in philosophical hours, not for battle!

" No! No! No! No! No! No! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO!"

Data knelt down again as fear began consuming him. He could not think, he could not move. He was fearing. What did he fear? That he could not turn off his chip? A inconvenience indeed, but he still held the upper hand in combat, except for that EM blast.

"You fear me!" Azula declared, "And I know your little friends are coming to rescue you. I know which day they will come!"

Data began shaking more as she said this. He then saw her approach. He went on his back and began crawling away slowly.

"And," Azula added, "I know that we will capture them. I know that if you do not agree to our terms, I will make them die slowly, painfully, grotesquely. And, I will make you watch each one of them!"

"NO!" Data shouted. His face felt as if it was pulled into an unfamiliar position. The raw bindings known as fear coursed throughout his body. Data looked up. Azula was the one who now held these bindings.

"I," Data stammered, "I will s-serve you. J-J-Ju-just please, d-don't h-urt my friends."

And, to show his good grace, he bowed to the feet of Azula.

"I told you that you miscalculated," Azula sneered.


Parting words.

Hiatus is upon us! I leave for college soon, and I anticipate much effort devoted to studies. Because of that, I will not be able to devote time to develop this story more, all I can work on is ideas an concepts.

It has been a thrilling time, writing my first multi-chapter fanfic. It has been fun reading the reviews and watching the views, and for that, I thank you all.

Don't worry, Hiatus is not forever. My winter break is grotesquely long, and I hope I have enough ideas so I can finish the story in that time period.

This is ShivanSlayer signing off, for now.