Chapter Fourteen: These Firebenders

"What's the buzz, Hotaru?" Hahn asked when they stopped for lunch. It had been a week since Hahn had located the gang, and he still felt like he was missing half his brain when he was alone with Hotaru.

Hotaru took her head out of the notebook she'd been working in and looked up. "The van stopped," she said, looking around. "When did the van stop?"

"Five minutes ago. Find anything interesting?"

"I found a list of past Avatars, but I can't make out their names. I also found out that the last recorded Avatar was an airbender. I'm confused, though, because it says he was one-hundred and seventy when he died. Or, I think it says that. It also seems to say he was frozen for a hundred years. I think I'm translating wrong. It is not reassuring."

Hahn blinked. "You didn't have much trouble with the other scroll."

Hotaru laughed. "Of course I did! This isn't just another language. This is a dead language. An ancient language that like nobody knows, and I don't know if these books I have are even worth anything. I mean, according to these books this symbol right here," Hotaru pointed, "means 'sky-buffalo,' and this one means 'badger-mole.' I ask you, Hahn, what the hell is a badger-mole?"

"Obviously a composite creature," Hahn said, shrugging. "Like, you know, a sphinx or gryphon."

Hotaru blinked. "Those aren't real."

"Yeah, but, we don't know that for sure," Hahn said. "You can make fire come flying out of your hands. Anything's possible."

*****

Zakk dodged the blue fire ball flying at his head and shot his own whip at his opponent. She'd caught up with him early that morning, and, without so much as a hello, she'd started throwing blue fire at him. First of all, Zakk had never seen blue fire. Secondly, he had no idea what he'd done to piss Hotaru off so much that she decided to track him down and kill him. "Hotaru, stop!" For someone who apparently didn't know how to control her firebending, she was doing a great job.

The blue flames stopped flying at him. "I'm not Hotaru. I would have thought you'd known that, seeing as how you're the one who kidnapped her."

"What?"

"Don't try to deny it!" Hoshi screamed. "I saw you take her to that compound. I saw that other guy carry her out of the compound, unconscious. What have you done with my sister?" Certainly Hoshi had bigger and better plans than rescuing her sister, but family was family, after all. The taking over the world plan could wait a little while, anyway.

"I didn't do anything to your sister!" Zakk yelled back. "She's fine, last I saw."

Hoshi relaxed. "Good. Now that that's settled, I have a proposal for you. If, of course, you are the legendary Zakk Foco, also known as the Ghost, the best firebender the Elites ever got to fight for them."

Zakk raised an eyebrow. "I'm legendary?"

"I was being kind."

"What do you want from me?"

"I think we should join forces. After all, two firebenders are better than one. We can help each other. I'm even willing to help you first. What is it you are doing, anyway? You made it very easy for me to find you."

*****

"I don't get it. We're on the run, and all you want to do is go see a movie?" Kaiya asked in disbelief as she and Washi walked down the street towards the theater. She still didn't know how Washi had talked her into this.

"Hey now, Terminator: Salvation is not just any movie. It is the latest in a long line of classics. It's the best pre-destined time loop ever made. And I'm counting the Star Trek: Voyager two hour episode that didn't actually happen." Kaiya laughed. "It's a whole mythology, Kaiya. I have to see how it ends."

Kaiya shook her head. "Okay, but I'm not going to be the one to tell Hahn and Hotaru where we went…"

"Stop right there!" a hooded figure jumped out of the alley beside them, holding a gun on them. Kaiya tilted her head, curious. He didn't look like an Elite agent. Too dirty. "Give me your money!"

Another figure, wearing a ridiculous black and gold costume with a cape landed beside the would-be-mugger and shot a small fireball into his stomach, sending him back down the alley, where he landed in a pile of trash, unconscious.

Kaiya immediately reacted, throwing water from the gutter onto the vigilante and freezing him to the side of a building. "What do you think you're doing? Being desperate enough to mug somebody doesn't mean he deserved to die!"

The firebender blinked in confusion, an understandable reaction to being frozen to a building. "I didn't kill him. Just knocked him down. He'll be a little sore, but no lasting injuries. Maybe it will teach him a lesson. Maybe he'll think twice before trying to mug a beautiful girl."

Kaiya rolled her eyes. "Nice try," she said. She let him go anyway.

"That's some awesome power you have there," the firebender commented. Washi glared. "I'm Daiske. And you are?"

"Kaiya, and this is Washi." Daiske nodded. Kaiya tilted her head. "Say, how good are you at firebending?" she asked.

"Well how good are you at what you do?" Daiske asked, his tone too personal for Washi's liking.

Kaiya laughed, "Nice try again. Stop it." She jabbed a finger at the new guy. "I've got a different girl I want you to meet."

*****

Washi and Hahn sat at a bar, mindlessly watching the sports channel. "Kaiya and her bright ideas," Washi muttered. "We were going out. You know. Like, date, out. I got her out. Stupid firebender."

Hahn shook his head. He didn't like the idea of this firebending lesson, either. "Did you see his outfit? How stupid do you have to be to wear a cape?"

"I know!" Washi said, a little too loudly. He shook his head. "And why does Kaiya have to go with them? Huh? I mean, what do they need Kaiya for? Kaiya's not a firebender. Kaiya and me, we could have gone to see the killer robots try to destroy humanity's last hope for survival!" Washi looked at his empty beer glass. "Instead I'm drinking beer and watching sports. This is too normal for me. Feels weird."

Hahn was actually thankful Kaiya had gone with them. "She's their insurance policy. Only Kaiya can prevent forest fires."

"You should have seen how he just popped out of thin air, all heroic like. I expected a theme song to start playing. It was that corny."

"I still can't believe Hotaru went along with it. I mean, I know she really wants to learn to control her firebending, but wouldn't it be better for her to do it herself?"

"I tried to get Zakk to stay and show her how, but he said that was a bad idea."

"Don't get me started on Zakk Foco," Hahn muttered angrily. He signaled the bartender for two more beers.

"I don't like firebenders," Washi decided. "They ruin everything."

"Yeah," Hahn said. "Except Hotaru."

Washi nodded. "Except Hotaru." Their beers came. Washi raised his glass, "To Hotaru! The only firebender we like!"

*****

Hotaru whipped the fire around her body, for the first time feeling completely in control of her actions. The fire whip had been a move she'd always wanted to perfect, especially after seeing Kaiya do it with water. Daiske had told her to concentrate and have confidence in herself. It was difficult to resist Daiske's charm. Everything he said, Hotaru just naturally believed. So when he told her she could do the whip, she believed him. And then she'd done it.

"See, Hotaru? I told you. You just had to have faith in yourself," Daiske said, touching Hotaru's shoulder. The alarm on his watch started going off. "I have to go, but keep practicing. I'm sure you'll be just fine now," Daiske said.

"Wait, where are you going? I told Washi we'd all meet up for a midnight showing!" Kaiya yelled from the other side of the clearing. The insurance policy had been pretty bored through all this. Within five minutes she had lost interest in critiquing Daiske's costume.

"I had word that there would be a bank heist tonight. I'm going to go stop it."

"Maybe we can help you!" Kaiya said excitedly, jumping up from her rock seat.

"No!" Daiske yelled. Kaiya and Hotaru exchanged glances. "I mean, it's dangerous. This gang is very professional. I would hate for anyone to get hurt in my town." He smiled at the girls. "I can handle them. I know how they think. I'll catch you two tomorrow, maybe?" The girls nodded. Daiske waved a goodbye, and was off hopping on his motorcycle and heading back into the city.

Kaiya watched him go. "Who lets the super hero know when the bank heist is going down?"

"Maybe he has a double life?" Hotaru offered.

Kaiya narrowed her eyes, thinking. "I think we should go after him."

"Kaiya…"

"What? If they're as dangerous as he says, he might need our help. And, if he hasn't gotten caught yet, we probably could go unnoticed here, too," Kaiya said. "Besides, we'll be gone tomorrow." Hotaru, knowing it was useless arguing with her, followed her to the van to follow Daiske.

The flames told them exactly which building was the bank. Kaiya jumped out of the van first. Daiske was coming down the front steps of the building, carrying out a safe deposit box. He was moving too fast for Kaiya's taste. "What happened?" she yelled at him.

Daiske stopped short, shocked to see her. "Well, uh, things got a little out of hand here, Kaiya. But, don't worry. They have a great fire department here, and they'll sort it all out."

"Where are the bad guys?"

"Oh, I'm afraid they got stuck inside. Nothing I could do, really. See, they'd gone after the vault, and things get a little cramped down there."

Kaiya couldn't believe this. He was lying through his teeth! "You used common criminals to get you in, took what you wanted, and then killed them! Didn't you? That's how you knew when the heist was going down! You arranged it!"

"Kaiya, you just don't understand. We have so much power. Shouldn't we get what we want in exchange for this curse?" Daiske held up the box as evidence. She pulled a long, thick whip out of the ornate fountain at the base of the steps and shot it as Daiske, throwing him up in the air. Instead of letting him crash down, she froze him there at the top of a column of water. Drawing another column of water around her, she pulled herself up to look him in the eye as she froze his hands behind his back so he couldn't firebend. "Don't let me die like this!"

"You won't die," Kaiya said. "And maybe this will be a lesson for you to stop trying to trick pretty girls into thinking you are worth their time." She brought herself back down to the ground and ran back to the van. Hotaru was staring, mouth open, at Daiske, still struggling against the ice, fifteen feet in the air. "Time to go," Kaiya said. Hotaru nodded. Definitely time to go.