Chapter Twelve
Victory had drawn the citizens of the freest city in the Earth Kingdom to the streets. They made an avenue for the returning heroes, though the avatar found it hard to be part of it. With a polite smile on his face he waved to the people. Toph, her mask long gone, remained silent, but a small smile betrayed her amusement. Qiew encouraged the crowd by waving his hands in the air. Shouts for a feast echoed throughout the crowd.
The Blind Bandit led them to the feeding hall. Jet and Fong had already taken a seat. They ordered their soldiers to make room for Toph and Aang. Reaching across the table, the swordsman patted the Avatar on the shoulder.
"Care to boost your image a bit?" asked Jet. That earned a nod. Scooping a cup of beer off of table, the swordsman stomped a foot on the stone furniture. "People of Freedom! This is a glorious day. We have dealt a sharp blow to the Fire Nation." The leader gestured to the airbender to stand. Aang did as asked.
"With the help of the Avatar…"
"And my friend Sorte," added Aang.
"And Sorte, we have taken out all six of the blimps from the skies." Cheers erupted from the crowd. "It will be some time before they are fixed or replacements are found. For the time being it safe to walk in the streets without fire raining down on our heads." The cheers grew in strength. "With that said it may be time to push our advantage and take back what is our!" People stomped their feet in thrill. "For now let's rest and enjoy our feast. While we relax let the Fire Nation quiver in their boots in fear of our coming!" Shouts of agreements filled the room.
A slow clap came from the blind girl. "Way to go. We might survive the coming purge."
"Purge." Sitting down, Aang shook away images of burning corpses.
"Admiral Zhao is in town." Fong stroked his beard. "He will not let our assault go unpunished. I should know. Back when the capital had first fallen I rallied what troops remained in the Earth Kingdom and launched an assault against the city." A bitter chuckle escaped him. "He didn't even give us the decency of laying siege. He threatened a couple of earthbenders to join their ranks. When he attacked the traitors helped destroy us from the inside. I was lucky to get away. Any of my men captured by the Fire Nation were executed."
"How did you get away?" asked Aang.
"Long helped me. Right when everything fell apart he came to save me."
Toph huffed in amusement. "That not what I heard. Lone Fang's agents dragged your boar's ass into the earth. Something about you unwilling to leave your man."
Fong's frown stretched into a snarl. "It's a general duty to make sure his army retreats to safety."
"No arguing." Jet gestured with his head to nearby tables. People stared at the group. "Leave that story for private time." The avatar stared at the swordsman. Loose memories told him that he was a foreigner to these parts of the world.
"Hey Jet," said Toph, "were you force to flee your home as well."
Jet nodded. "My Freedom Fighters and I tried to flood the Fire Nation out of our homes. We dazed them for half a second before they sent regiments into the forest to burn everything. Not a massacre per say, but I lost a lot of good friends. You met Longshot. He's one of my original members who got out alive. Forced to run for our lives my gang traveled the land in search of recruits and opportunity. The war ended, but we kept fighting by ourselves. Then Long offered us a chance we couldn't refuse."
"Speaking of Long." Sitting up, Aang scanned the area. "Where is he?"
"Most likely toying with a poor Fire Nation's solider?"
"Pardon?"
"Avatar," said General Fong. "We're not going to lie. We're doing things that people would consider controversial."
"It is war." Toph raise her cup to take a deep drink, but the avatar stopped her.
"Something tells me that I wouldn't like these methods."
Tearing the cup away, Toph leaned closed into the avatar's face. Her mouth stretched into a smirk, but her eyes narrowed into a glare. "Drop back to earth, Twinkle Toes. All you done so far is pop a few balloons. Start complaining when you stopped a genocide."
Bolting to his feet, the avatar darted away. He run outside of the city and went to the training grounds. A rock nearly bashed his head. One of the earthbender cried out an apology, but Aang had already left. He wandered the tunnels until he was certain that only the Dai Li could have followed. With a roar he launched a gust of wind. The narrowed tunnels increased it power. Rocks and gems peeled off the walls yet Aang couldn't care less. He kept at it until his muscles forced him to kneel. In that position he sat in silence. The urging for darkness to consume him was as strong as ever.
The darkness' hold on him overpowered a familiar feeling. One that he felt numerous times before. At that moment the present ruled. The past could drown in its sorrows.
"Toph." Jet's voice was heavy with disapproval and disappointment. "That was uncalled for."
Hindsight beat out foresight for Toph. She'd admit that her words could have been kinder. "He needs to wake up." Drinking the beer, she spoke between gulps. "And as must I hate to say it, Lone Fang produces results. You two can testify to that." Both leaders grumbled in agreement.
Standing, the blind girl started off. "I'm going to check on my team." While one can eat at the dining halls, people can enjoy their meals anywhere. Enjoy maybe a weak word at the moment. A shortage good cheer, hope, and stress for several months burst out into fun madness on the streets with the help of alcohol.
Earthbenders set up obstacle courses for drunks. The fools who entered them tried to find their way out, but their captures kept on changing the path. Off to her right a group if kids lit a bag on fire. Toph leapt as the bag exploded. Grumbling, the blind woman rushed away with her head bowed. She cut through a crowd of dancers. One gent tried to draw her into a dance, but she shoved him away.
Arriving at the river, a smirk formed as she saw the Hag, as she deemed Sorte, weaved away from Kayina. She drank a cup of something while twirling a sword in the other hand. All the while the Dai Li's agent lunged at the giantess. Her gloves lashed out for the sword. Many of Toph's Bandits sat or stood around the dancing pair. A couple of people tried to walk in to help Kayina, but she barked them away.
Toph sat down on a nearby bench.
"Hey boss," said the man beside her. The blind woman extended out a fist and the fellow fist bumped her.
"How long has this been going on?"
"Poor Kay. She came to get her sword back and the giantess refused."
"Hey Hag!" shouted Toph.
"Yes Cushion."
Refraining from smashing the smoker, the blind bandit waved a hand in Kayina's direction. "We have a hard time gathering weapons. By law only military or registered militia can own weapons. Anyone else is forced to do with kitchen knives or prays.
Sorte came to a sudden halt. Lunging forward, the startled Kayina bounced off the giantess and landed on her ass. She started to stand, but a hand press her back down. Kneeling, the smoker placed the sword in the stunned girl lap.
"You know what?" said Sorte. "I'm getting bored of this game."
"What?" said the Dai Li's agent.
Sorte stood and walked over to Toph. "Have any idea where I can find a good game of cards or dice?"
"There's a gambling den on the north side of town. You can find them by the strong smell of perfume and smoke."
"Thanks."
"Wait a moment!" Leaping to her feet, Kayina darted after Sorte. With a shake of her head Toph turned her attention to drinking with her soldiers. She stayed for only half an hour. To stay any longer would send a nervous Regent into a panic.
In the palace basement Pebble grabbed the earthbender and tried ripping her shirt off. Toph grabbed the large man by the wrist and threw him into the nearest wall.
"Explain," ordered the earthbender.
"Your father is ready to raid the city to search for you."
Sighing, the blind girl extended a hand. Once changed she followed her bodyguard to her father's study. Tucked in the back of the palace an outsider would have easily passed it. A small maple door fit in the frame. The room was large enough to contain several bookcases and a desk. Carpet muffled her sight slightly.
Sitting behind the desk, the Regent shuffled paper about. Despite being in charge of the entire Earth Kingdom, Father revived his Earthen Fire Refinery and expanded. Of course, he placed managers in charges for everyday business. Yet he was still the owner and liked to keep in touch. Paperwork also helped to cool his nerves.
"Father," said Toph. "Are you alright?"
Paper slapped against wood. Grabbing his canes, he shuffled over to the blind girl. His legs threatened to slip from underneath him. Toph helped by closing the distance. An arm wrapped around her shoulder.
"It's good to see you're alright."
"I heard about the crashed blimps."
"It's terrible," said the Regent. "One of the fires spread through the second ring and burned houses down. Then there's the number of casualties. Most of them are Fire Nation." Letting go, he returned to his desk. "I was hoping to convince Zhao that we had things under control."
"Too late now."
"I know." Sitting down, Father started shuffling papers. "Tomorrow Zhao will making an announcement. I will have to go in tomorrow, but you can stay here."
"You shouldn't push yourself."
"Toph, I understand…"
"Sure you do," growled the daughter. "Please save that bitter tea for another night. Do you need me for anything else?"
"I do not."
"Then I'm going to go on with my business."
Sleep refused to offer comfort to the Avatar. Nightmares of him destroying everyone chased him to the real world. Groaning, the avatar got out of bed and dressed himself. The cloth helped to soak some of the cold sweet away from his skin.
Aang thought of going to the trainings ground, but thought better of it. Sufi Toph could wait a few hours today. So he wandered through the streets. Drunks and litter filled it. Frowning, the avatar picked up one man and propped him against the wall. He glanced down to the earth and grimace at the broken glass.
"These people need to clean after themselves." With a flick of his hands Aang created a small dust devil. He directed it through the street and the winds picked up the trash. Within seconds the twister became overwhelmed. The avatar dumped the load into an alley.
Humming, the avatar obverted the rest of the street. The way people and trash spewed out appeared to be a form of game. Grinning, the avatar created a large scooter. As he dashed forward as he generated winds, forcing the trash into the sphere. He evaded the bystanders, but took care to bend the trash away from them.
At the end of the street he dumped the trash into a pile. Once he located a trash can the avatar deposit the pile into it. For a while the airbender kept at this task. A smile formed as the streets regained some dignity.
"Hello Twinkle Toes." Aang twirled around to find the street filled with drunks. Something hard skipped off his head and cluttered to the ground. The airbender looked up to a neutral faced Toph. Stepping out of the way, he let the earthbender land in his spot. "What are you doing?"
"Um… cleaning the streets."
"Why?" That earned a shrug. "Let me guess. My comment from yesterday hit a little too strong." Silence answered. Snorting, the earthbender walked over to a man lying on the ground. She flipped him on his side and patted him on the head. Vomit spilled out. "Want some help."
"What?"
Standing, Toph gestured to the street. "Somebody needs to clean this up and I can use a break from failed murders attempts. So, how much of town had been cleaned so far?"
A smile snuck onto the airbender's face. "I got most of eastern section. About a fourth of the town."
Toph stepped beyond the avatar. Wherever a drunk sat the earth raised them up on a platform. The rest of the street slanted downward. Trash tumbled down to the center of the ditch. Aang tried to step forward, but Toph hold a hand out. A smirk appeared on her face.
"Care for a game?"
"Depends."
The earthbender shoved a finger in front of her. "I take one side of town and you take the other. Whoever clean this mess the fastest wins."
"Point taken off if people are disturbed," added Aang.
"And no Avatar State. Let also forbid you from using earthbending. I rather not explain to the people how the avatar killed us all." Stomping her feet, the earthbender lifted a large wall in front of the thrust. She shoved it forward. "We start now." Toph dashed away. "Oh, and don't get any of the trash into the river."
Laughing, the avatar sprung up to the rooftop and sprinted to the other side of town. Once at the wall edge he scanned the area. Beside for the garbage the streets were cleared. So Aang summoned a strong gust and threw it across the field. The buildup crashed into a wall.
The next street over and people snored away in their dreams. Aang paused long enough to think up an idea. Grinning, he swirled his hands to create a miniature cyclone and allowed it to grow to a certain point. Aang placed the large hose on the ground and sprinted forward.
On the other side of town Toph plowed through the streets. Anyone she crossed was moved out of the way. She paused for a moment to listen for Twinkle Toes' footsteps. Hard to miss when everyone else had laid down for the night.
"He's sure moving fast," muttered Toph. "I better picked up the pace."
With that said she raised both sides of the streets. Parts of the wall slanted downward to allow the trash to gather in the center. Once centered and she had everything gathered the earthbender created a large wall and shoved the trash down the street. After setting people down, she kept on going.
In these manners the competitors collected shoved the garbage closer and closer to the river. The startled guards watched as a small mountain of trash piled upon itself. Aang dumped his load and sprinted for the last street. He skidded to a stop in front of Toph.
"You're already done!" shouted the benders.
"Sure am!" said Toph. "You?"
"Got this street left to do," said the avatar.
"Nope." Stepping forward, Toph created the walls. "I got here first."
Darting forward, the avatar blow up the trash. "Thanks for getting the people out of the way."
With a smirk Toph created a wall in front of Aang. Skidding to a stop, he avoided being smashed. The trash pelted the wall. Glancing back, he yelped and jumped clear of a sliding wall. Aang landed on top of it.
"Thank you for collecting the trash," shouted the earthbender. "Now if you can just move out of the way…"
"Just a moment!" shouted Aang.
Twirling around, he blew the remaining trash into the pile.
"There we go. Now it's a…" Words and feet slipped away as the wall darted from under him. The wall crashed into the mountain. Debris collapsed to one side.
"It's a tie," muttered Toph. "Barely."
"Hey!" Standing, Aang strolled over to the earthbender. "I did clean more of the city then you did. So that mean I win." That received a hard punch to the shoulder.
"Like hell, Twinkle Toes. Just because you wanted to slack off from work…"
"Pardon me!" shouted a voice. The duo looked to the mountain of trash. One of the river guards stood on top of it. "Thanks for collecting all this, but you guys can't just leave it here."
"Good point," said Toph. "I think I know just the place to put it."
Admiral Zhao sat up in his king side bed. Throwing the blanket off himself, he bent over and smelled his robes. His eyes scanned the room fit for a man of his structure. Yet he wished the decoration to be of the Fire Nation. As he laid down a pungent odor kept assaulted his nose.
Through a pair of paper doors he made out a side of a small hill. Bolting to his feet, Zhao darted over to the door and slammed it open. A snarl formed as he observed the trash pile before him. He glanced around for the culprits, yet saw more trash pile.
"Guards!" shouted Zhao. "Get over here before I burn this place to the ground!"
"Was that wise to do?" asked Aang.
Walking to the command center, the duo walked passed some of the earlier raiser of towns. Many of them surprised to see the place so clean.
Arms behind her head, the earthbender shrugged. "If he's angry then he's more likely to do something stupid. Hopefully, we'll see that happen when we go to his speech tomorrow."
"He's making a speech?"
"Yep, but I need to get Long Fang's permission or at least give him the feeling I need it."
"That's considerate of you."
"I just don't want to hear him complaining later on." Aang thought they'll head to the command center room, but Toph walked to a random wall. A dead end stopped them, but earthbending revealed a path behind a wall. A staircase led down to a heavy metal door.
"Prisoners are kept down here," stated Toph. "At least, those who can't bend the earth."
Crystal light provided light, yet it was dimmer compared to the rest of the caverns. The hallways offered little landmarks. Bare walls melded together to form a maze. Soft groans startled the avatar. They entered a narrow passage. Jails curved from the rocks contained several prisoners each. Psychically, they appeared well maintained. Yet many held too still. Dazed eyes stared off into the distance.
Voices drew them to a small room that had several Dai Li agents squeezed into. One of them stood in the center of a ring, a lantern traveled along the ring. A soldier stripped of his armor sit in a chair, his body held down by earth cutlets. Dai Li agents to either side of the chair forced the soldier to stare into the candle.
"We are your friends," said the Dai Li's agent. "We wish to do the Fire Nation no harm. Yet we can't stand by while our people are being suppressed. Please help us."
Cold sweat fell down the soldier's face. His eyes moved back and forth as if to say no. It was hard to speak with a muzzle over one mouth.
The airbender stepped forward, but an arm blocked his path. Long, standing in a corner, turned to the visitors with a frown. With a gesture of his hand they returned to the hallway.
"What are you doing to that guy?" A disapproving frown was on Aang's face.
"Extracting information," said the balding man. "Fear not. We are doing little harm to him. We're just using a persuasion techniques to get him to cooperate." That did little to change the avatar's expression.
"Once we're done with them," said Toph, "they'll return to normal lives."
"This isn't the first time you did this," said the avatar.
The solemn stare was enough of answer.
"Is there a reason you're here?"
"You know of Bush's speech. Aang and I are going to attend it."
"I already have several of my Dai Li's agents on it."
"But Twinkle Toes needs to know what we're up against. Firsthand experience is best."
"Toph," said Aang. "I'm think I know what the Fire Nation is like." A hand scratched the back of his head. Those old memories pestered him on the Admiral. "Besides, you're the Regent's daughter. Won't people recognize you?"
"We're only going to listen," said Toph, "and we'll stay out of the crowd."
"Just take the care to do so." Long's stern scowl told of his disapproval, but against the blind it proved ineffective.
"Come on, Twinkle Toes. We're going topside."
Toph did little to her appearance. Letting her hair down, she hid her eyes behind a mess of black veins. She snatched a wide brim hat from a person and placed it on her head. At the first glance it would appear a normal woman was walking by.
At least that's how the crowds of people acted. Sticking to the flow of pedestrians, the duo made their way up to a clearing in town. As they walked announcers proclaimed that the mighty Admiral Zhao had invited them to a meeting. Those curious or wise gathered around a raise platform. Soldiers held them back.
Silence draped the crowd as a tall man with bushy sideburns stepped onto stage. Despite his advancing of age the avatar recognize the admiral. A pleasant smile crashed with the rage thrown at him at an early age.
"Citizens of this fair city." Zhao spread his arms out. "I'm Admiral Zhao. I'm certain you have heard of me." Bringing his hands behind him, he surveyed the crowd with a thoughtful gaze. "As you may see the blimps that safeguarded the city are gone. Some of you may also be aware that a portion of the city had been burned down. Before any rumors start, yes, rebels have successful taken out all of the blimps."
Mutters of surprise ran through the crowd.
"In all, about fifty people have been injured or killed. Many houses have been burned down. The garrison was unable to stop this tragedy." Zhao extended a clenched fist forward. "But I have come to safeguard against that. Starting now, I will make sure the rebels understand their place in the world."
Turning his head, the general nodded to someone. A group of soldiers escorted a man who appeared to be of the fire nation on stage. His hands bonded. The man's expression was that of a startled child.
The soldiers shoved the man in front of Zoah. The person glanced up with fears in his eyes. Holding a hand out, Zoah created a fireball in hand.
"This man has worked with the rebels."
"Freedom fighters!" shouted Toph.
The admiral's eyes darted over the crowd. Yet the sea of flesh granted anonymous.
"He helped to ensure that terror is brought onto this city. A crime which I won't tolerate."
"Sir," chocked the prisoner. "Please have mercy. I did what I believed was right."
A smug grin crossed the judge face. "And I'm doing what I believe to be right."
With that said he threw the fireball on top of the prisoner's head. Flames engulfed the flesh. Screaming out in pain, the man fell back, his hands going for his face. Yet Zhao allowed little relief. He poured down the flames until the skin had blackened and the man had stopped moving.
"I will bring order to this city," stated Zhao. "Starting now, there will be rule to enforce it."
While this was going, Aang stood frozen to the spot. His eyes scanned over the man. Part of him knew that Zhao could be a cruel man. Yet the clashing of realities in his head caused his mind to ache. A tug on his arm drew his attention to the blind earthbender.
"That's enough for one day," said Toph. Turning around, they left the crowd.
"Things are about to get bad," stated Aang.
"That's why we're going to keep pushing," said Toph. "This the prefect chance to show the world that the Earth Kingdom is still fighting. Ready or not Avatar, we're getting rid of that Bush."
