Chapter 21: Omashu
"I can't believe it" Aang said. "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed… untouchable."
The group had reached Omashu in the afternoon, and found that the city had already fallen to the Fire Nation. But it didn't make any sense for the city to have fallen now.
"I can't believe it either" Kal El said. "The attack on Omashu wasn't supposed to start for another month, and then it should have taken weeks to fall. I can understand the attack being started ahead of schedule, but the city should still be fighting."
"Now that Omashu has fallen Ba Sing Se is only Earth Kingdom stronghold left" Sokka said.
"This is horrible" Katara said. "But we have to move on."
"No" Aang said. "We're going in to find Bumi."
"I agree" Kal El said. "We need some answers."
That evening everyone entered Omashu through a sewer pipe that drained into the canyon around Omashu. Once they were through Kal El and Sokka were covered in the gunk that flowed through the pipe. Kal El got the gunk off himself by spinning at super-speed while Katara had to wash off Sokka. Then Sokka noticed two purple pentapus on his face and screamed.
After Aang got Sokka to quiet down he removed the pentapus from Sokka's face, leaving behind little red dots from their suckers. Then the group was spotted by guards that heard Sokka screaming.
"Hey, what are you kids doing out past curfew?" the lead guard asked.
"Sorry" Katara said. "We were just on our way home." Hoping to fool the guards everyone turned and walked away, pretending to know where they were going. Then the guard noticed the spots on Sokka's skin.
"Wait" the guard said. "What's the matter with him?"
"He has pentapox, sir" Katara said. As the guard walked up she continued with "It's highly contagious." Improvising Sokka faked being sick, freaking out the guard. "And deadly" Katara said.
"Wait, I think I've heard of pentapox" the guard said. "Didn't your cousin Chang die of it" he asked another guard.
"I heard there's an outbreak of pentapox near Ba Sing Se" the other guard said. "We better wash our hands, and burn our clothes." Then the guards all ran away hoping to not get sick.
With the guards gone, the group began to search for King Bumi. While searching for the prison Kal El spotted several boulders rolling down the side of a tall building. Looking towards the bottom he saw several Fire Nation civilians walking right into the boulders' path. Kal El quickly got in the way of the boulders and let them shatter on impact with him. The noise drew attention from the people below and Kal El felt small knives hit him, breaking or bouncing off him.
Two guards climbed up a ladder to attack, but were easily dealt with by Katara. However a woman in red climbed up after them and threw several knives at Katara. Kal El blurred into the way and caught the knives, and then threw them back at the woman's feet.
"It's been a while Mai" Kal El said. "I haven't seen you since Tom Tom's birthday."
"You know her?" Katara asked.
"She was a friend of my cousin" Kal El explained.
"What are you doing here Kal?" Mai said. "I heard you went rogue and broke Zhao's arm… again."
"Both of them actually, but that's not the point" Kal El said. "I don't suppose you know where we can find a certain mad king?"
"You wouldn't be planning a jailbreak would you?" Mai asked.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well with Fire Lady Ursa missing and the Avatar still at large, it's obvious you're not working for the Fire Lord anymore" Mai said.
"Nothing ever slips past you, does it?" Kal El said. "We'll be leaving then."
"I should stop you" Mai said. "As if that were possible."
Kal El and the others left Mai alone while she returned to her parents below. While continuing to search the city several earthbenders approached Aang, requesting him to meet with the leader of the resistance.
"So is King Bumi with you guys?" Aang asked. "Is he leading the resistance?"
The earthbenders told Aang what happened when the invasion began. How King Bumi had surrendered the city without bothering to put up a fight. The leader of the earthbenders wanted to fight back, but Aang convinced the others to leave the city and fight another day. Sokka brought up the idea to fake a plague of pentapox to get the civilians out of Omashu.
The next day the plan was put into action. As the crowd wandered the city faking a plague the Fire Nation was all too eager to expel the people from the city. During the plan Aang searched again for Bumi, but only found his pet Flopsy.
When Aang returned to the earthbenders outside the city that night the leader had news for him. "We've got a problem" he said. "We just did a headcount."
"Oh no, did someone get left behind?" Katara asked.
"No, we have an extra" the leader said. He pointed towards Kal El, who was holding a two year old.
"Aang, meet Tom Tom" Kal El said. "Mai's little brother."
"How in the world get he end up here?" Aang asked.
"He must have somehow ended up in the crowd as the guards let them out of the city" Kal El said. "So should I super-speed him back now or wait until morning?"
Then a messenger hawk flew into their camp. Aang read the message it carried to everyone. The Fire Nation Governor wants Tom Tom back and is willing to trade King Bumi for him.
"So morning it is then" Kal El said.
The next day Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Kal El traveled to the designated exchange point with Tom Tom. Sokka was carrying the two year old, leaving everyone else available to fight in case of a double-cross. While waiting on the wooden scaffolding everyone saw three girls walking up to meet them. While a crane was lowering Bumi in a metal cage Kal El recognized all three of the girls.
"Mai, Ty Lee, Azula. The governor sent you three to handle the exchange?" Kal El asked.
"Wait you know all of them?" Sokka asked.
"Is that really you Kal?" Ty Lee asked. "You're aura is really bright, and a beautiful shade of gold."
"What is she talking about?" Katara asked
"I have no idea" Kal El admitted. "Ty Lee only makes sense when she wants to."
"I'm surprised to see you here Kal" Azula said. "I thought kidnapping children was below your moral standards, much less using one for ransom."
"Well I was about to return the kid when Mai's father sent that hawk" Kal El said. "Since he so readily offered Bumi I couldn't pass up the opportunity."
"Well since you were going to return him anyway, the deal's off." Azula said. The crane began to lift Bumi back up, when a narrow stream of fire melted the chain holding Bumi's cage. As Bumi fell Kal El jumped and grabbed the cage, landing behind the three girls.
"I don't think so Azula" Kal El said. "Now that we have Bumi I think we'll leave Tom Tom behind and go." As Kal El began to peel open Bumi's cage he felt someone hit his shoulder.
"OOOWWW!" Ty Lee cried out. Her fingers were bruised at the tips, having attempted to hit Kal El's pressure points but not getting through his invulnerable skin. With her technique not working she jumped to the side allowing Azula to shoot blue fire at Kal El. He blocked with his arms, not wanting to get his shirt burned.
Kal El's arms were red from the heat, but otherwise unharmed. "Better Azula, but still not hot enough" he said. Then he used his firevision to set the scaffolding on fire between him and Azula. Using that as a distraction Kal El went back to opening Bumi's cage. The metal easily tore apart in Kal El's hands, revealing the muscular old man.
"Well this was unexpected" Bumi said. As Kal El helped Bumi out of the cage Ty Lee hit Bumi's pressure points, paralyzing him. "Well now I should have expected that one." Kal El then picked up Bumi and blurred away, dropped Bumi off near Appa, then blurred back to the fight. "Such an unexpectable young man" Bumi said, laughing to himself.
When Kal El got back to the battlefield he spotted Aang fighting with Azula. He was barely holding her off while Katara fought Mai and Sokka dodged Ty Lee. Having gotten what they came for Kal El blurred in, grabbed Azula and threw her into Mai. Ty Lee got behind Katara and hit a few pressure points, disabling her bending. Kal El then grabbed Ty Lee and threw her into Mai and Azula, keeping them down.
Kal El then picked up his friends one by one and blurred them back to Appa. When everyone was safe he picked up Tom Tom and blurred him back to his parents. With everything taken care of he blurred back to the group.
However, Bumi wasn't exactly happy about being broken out prematurely. Bumi explained to Aang how he was waiting for the perfect moment to strike, which hasn't arrived yet. Then Bumi told Aang that his proper earthbending teacher would be someone that waits and listens before striking. Then Bumi returned to Omashu where he would wait in the shadows for the right moment to take back his city.
A/N: For some reason that last paragraph makes me want to see a Bumi/Batman crossover. Someone write that story.