Ba Sing Se
It was a sunny day on the approach to Ba Sing Se. Wind whipped through their hair, reminding both Aang and Zuko of the time passed since their last haircuts. Curled in discomfort, Sokka tried to play off the ominous sounds coming from his lower half.
"Are you sure you don't need another potty break, Sokka?" Toph teased.
"No," Sokka huffed.
"I still can't believe you just ate something you randomly found on the ground," Katara admonished.
"I have a natural curiosity."
"At least it wasn't poisonous," Zuko "consoled", giving his uncle a pointed look. "Or contagious."
"He'll be fine," Katara waved off. "This isn't the first time he's done something like this."
Intrigued, Toph relinquished her hold on Zuko's arm and scooted a little closer to the other girl. "Do tell."
"I personally want to hear about the two fishhooks," Zuko requested.
"Not much to tell on that one," Katara laughed, ignoring her brother's frantic protests. "He tried to get the first fishhook with another fishhook."
Curiosity sated, Zuko moved closer to the front of the saddle near Aang. A lingering tiredness was apparent in his eyes, but he was still in good spirits. The boy glanced over his shoulders from the reins.
"What is it, Zuko?" he asked.
"I think it would be safer if everyone still thinks you're the Avatar, Aang," Zuko replied. "The only one, that is."
"Why?" Aang asked.
"I'm Fire Nation, remember. I doubt anyone would be pleased to find out the one they're expecting to save them is the son of the Fire Lord."
"Oh" Aang considered the notion for a moment and then nodded. "I think I understand."
Looking out, they saw the vast outer wall of Ba Sing Se. Iroh was pensive looking at the site of his greatest failure; as a general, a father, and as a person.
"We're almost there, guys!" Aang announced.
Sokka was relieved that someone interrupted Katara's story time. "What's that?" he asked, point at a column of dust being kicked up to their left.
Zuko ground his teeth together. "Of course someone came up with a way to breach the wall the moment we think it's safe."
"But we can help," Aang said. "Hang on everyone!"
Zooming to the top of the wall, they dismounted and got a better look at the construct inching its way to the wall.
"A drill?"
While they looked on, a squad of guards approached them.
"What are you people doing here?" the captain demanded. "Civilians aren't allowed on the wall!"
Aang stepped forward to the soldier. "I'm the Avatar. I need to speak to whoever's in charge."
Whisked away to a general's office, they were met with an odd man sitting behind his desk.
"It is an honor to welcome you to the Outer Wall, young Avatar," he happily hailed, "but your help is not needed."
"Not needed?" Aang asked.
"Not needed," the general reiterated. "I have the situation under control." Standing, he led them to the outlook over the plain that the drill was approaching from. "I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded."
"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph asked faux innocently. "He got in."
To the side, Iroh suppressed a cough.
"Well...uh, technically yes, but he was quickly expunged." Regaining his bluster, the general carried on. "Nevertheless, that is why the city is named Ba Sing Se. It's the 'impenetrable city'. They don't call it Na Sing Se." The general laughed for a moment at his joke, but stopped when he noticed no one was joining him. "That means "penetrable city."
"Yeah, thanks for the tour, but we still got the drill problem."
"Not for long. To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earthbenders called the Terra Team."
"That's a good group name," Sokka mused. "Very catchy."
"How are they supposed to breach the outside?" Zuko asked. "It's made of metal."
The general did not hear the comment, focused on the scene transpiring beneath them. From the sounds of the battle, the Terra Team was handily whittling down the tank escorts, but they quickly homed in on the Fire Nation's counter-response.
Grabbing a nearby telescope, he saw Mai and Ty Lee engaging the Terra Team, putting most of them out of the fight and driving the rest back from the drill.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Zuko thought. "Those are your elite fighters?"
"We're doomed!" the general wailed. Sokka rectified the matter by smacking the man upside the head. Thankfully, none of the soldiers stationed nearby took issue with a random teenager dope-smacking their superior.
"Get a hold of yourself, man!" Sokka barked.
Calmed down, the general rubbed his smarting cheek. "You're right. I'm sorry."
"Maybe you'd like the Avatar's help now?" Toph asked facetiously.
The general nodded meekly. "Yes, please."
"The question is, how are we going to stop that thing?" Aang wondered aloud.
Slowly, all heads turned to Sokka, though Zuko and Toph were unsure as to why.
"What are you looking at me for?" he protested.
"You're the idea guy."
"So I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure."
"Also the complaining guy," Katara added.
"That part I don't mind."
Crossing his arms, Zuko watched as the earthbenders transported their men to the top of the wall. "Let's give Idea Guy some time to think."
"I'll see what I can do for the wounded," Katara said.
In the makeshift infirmary, the general looked on as the waterbender did her work.
"What's wrong with him?" the general asked. "He doesn't look injured."
"His chi is blocked," Katara replied, then turned to her patient. "Who did this to you?"
Sluggishly rising from his bed, the man retold the story. "Two girls ambushed us. One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away."
"Ty Lee," Zuko and Katara answered simultaneously. The waterbender looked at Zuko, puzzled, but shrugged it off and elaborated.
"She doesn't look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside."
"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh! Ooh!" Sokka excitedly chittered, bouncing on his feet.
"Do you need to go to the bathroom now?" Zuko dryly asked.
Passing a frown to the scarred teen, Katara turned to her brother. "What is it?"
"What you just said!" Sokka exuded. "That's how we're going to take down the drill! The same way Ty Lee took down all those big earthbenders!"
"By hitting its pressure points!" Toph finished.
"From the inside…" Zuko growled gleefully, causing the general to nervously edge away from him. "It will be easier to hide our intent if we approach from the ground."
"Sorry, Appa. We'll be back."
Stepping to the edge of the wall, Toph pulled out a platform big enough to hold all of them.
"Let's go, everyone!" she shouted as lowered them to the plains below.
Hitting the ground, they took cover in the abandoned trenches. From there, they could see the battered tanks and ruts left behind from the previous battle, but the remaining presence of the Fire Nation military was still hanging towards the back.
"Once I whip up some cover, you're not going to be able to see," the earthbender instructed. "So, stay close to me." She stomped the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. "Run!"
Following her, they made their way into the open, where she made a hole in the ground.
"Everyone, inside," she ordered, covering their entry after they had all huddled together.
The moment the lights went out, Sokka shot his mouth off.
"It's pitch dark; I can't see!"
"Ooh, what a nightmare!"
"Sorry."
They reemerged underneath the drill. Zuko frowned at what he saw.
"Who designed this? That's an easy in for infiltrators."
"I guess they weren't expecting anyone to get under here who wasn't supposed to be," Katara supposed.
"Whatever," Toph shrugged. "Makes it easier for you guys to get in."
"You aren't coming with us?" Sokka asked.
"It's made of metal. I can't see in there."
"Oh, right."
"I'll work on slowing down out here."
"Hold up," Zuko requested. He knelt down and knifed the ground with his hand, breaking up the packed earth. "Give me a minute." Scooping up a couple of handfuls of rocks, he dumped them into his satchel. "Okay, let's go."
Aang catapulted the siblings up inside the drill while Zuko scaled the pipes nearby.
"Uncle, are you coming?"
"It might be better if I stay here."
"Okay, good luck."
Toph looked up in time to see waves ripple through the metal floors of the drill, fading as the infiltration team climbed deeper into the drill.
How…?
[-]
Navigating the corridors of the lower parts of the drill, they encountered no patrols or
"They really were overconfident here," Zuko muttered disdainfully.
"Do you know which way to go?" Katara asked.
"How should I know? I've never been in anything this big before. Sokka, what do you need."
"I need a plan of this machine," Sokka replied. "Some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find its weak points."
"Where are we going to-" Aang began to say when Zuko kicked a nearby valve.
"Good idea, Zuko," Sokka admitted, aiding the other lad's vandalism.
"What are you doing? Someone's going to hear us!"
"A machine this big needs engineers to run it. And when something breaks…"
"They'll come and fix it!" Katara realized.
They did not have to wait long before the expected engineer arrived, tools in hand.
Watching from his vantage point, Zuko frowned. Where's the backup?
Still, Katara disabled the man and Sokka swiped the schematics he had been carrying. They found a cubbyhole to view the plans. After a minute of looking over the schematics he began working out a plan.
"It looks like the drill is made up of two main structures. There's the inner mechanism, where we are now, and the outer shell. The inner part and the outer part are connected by these braces. If we cut through them, the entire thing will collapse."
The plan was simple. And then they arrived at the nearest brace.
Sokka scratched his head. "Wow, it looks a lot thicker in person than it does in the plans."
"What were you expecting?" Zuko asked rhetorically. "Twigs?"
"We're going to have to work pretty hard to cut through that."
"What's all this 'we' stuff?" Katara challenged. "You're not even going to be doing any of the work."
"Look, I'm the plan guy. You're the…cutting/bending people. Together we're Team Avatar."
"Clever," Zuko groused. "We're going to need to work on several of these things if we hope to stop it before it reaches the wall."
"Why?"
"Something that Toph's been teaching me. Point is, you don't devote one-hundred percent of your energy to a single attack. You weaken the supports, and when your opponent's reeling, you deliver the final blow and let their own weight bring them down. Sokka, let me have a look at those schematics again."
"What are you thinking?" he asked, handing off the plans for Zuko to review.
"We need to split up and work on as many supports as we can. I wouldn't bother with cutting the beams all the way through."
Aang glanced at his friends. "Everyone inside that wall, the entire world is counting on us."
Nodding, Zuko rolled the plans and handed them back to Sokka. "I know what to look for," he said, turning to leave.
"Where are you going?" Sokka asked.
"To cut the supports."
"I'll go with you,"
"Fine. Just don't get in the way. Aang, Katara, I wouldn't bother with cutting the beams all the way through. Halfway should do the trick."
"Hey, what do we do after we weaken this thing?" Katara asked.
"Meet at the top," Zuko answered.
"Stay safe, Zuko"
He waved them off as he disappeared from view with Sokka in tow.
Standing up, Katara drew water from her water skins. "Alright, let's get to work."
[-]
Zuko jogged down the next corridor to the opposite and found the nearest brace he had memorized. Scooping up the rocks, he fashioned a magma shuriken and began cutting.
"When did you learn how to do that?" Sokka asked.
"Quiet. Concentrating here."
"Sorry."
The metal slowly gave way, forcing Zuko to keep restarting his cuts and add more rock to the shuriken.
Sokka kept a vigilante eye for guards, but surprisingly, none had come to check on them. After they had finished with their second support, the drill shook violently.
"Did we break it?" Sokka asked.
"There's no way that we're done with this yet," Zuko murmured.
"Congratulations, crew," someone said over the speaker tubes. "The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!"
"We have to keep moving."
They had managed a few more supports when they met a response.
"Zuko-" Sokka warned.
Whipping around, Zuko barely dodged a knife aimed at his head. Another brace of throwing knives was aimed at Sokka, who wisely took cover as Mai jumped down to their floor.
Evidently, Mai was as surprised to see him as he was her, even if it was hard to tell on her face.
"Hey, Zuko," she said in a dull monotone.
Stepping away from his handiwork, he squared off against the girl. "You've gotten better with the knives since I last saw."
"And you became a traitor, apparently."
"Not my first choice." Flicking a stone aimed to her left, Zuko dove to the side in time to dodge another knife.
Sokka poked his head out, only to nearly get a dart to the eye.
"Stay down, Sokka!" Zuko barked.
"Okay."
Mai swept at Zuko's legs, only for him to jump and kick at her head. She pulled a blade and slashed at his leg, but he pulled it back and grabbed her arm.
Slipping out from his grip, she flicked out at his face. Clipping her wrist, he twirled her around and made a jab at her back. Without looking, she managed to block and flick another knife over her shoulder. Mid throw, Zuko grabbed her arms pulled to the side, punching her.
Dipping her shoulder, she took the glancing blow and caught Zuko's knee when he brought it towards her face, then shoved off, slashing at Zuko's chest, but only clipping his shirt.
He dropped back and charged in, body-slamming her into the wall. Zuko held his fist above Mai's head as she slumped to the ground, stunned. Her eyes flicked through a number of emotions; hurt, betrayal, regret, surprise, but not anger.
"What are you going to do, Zuko?" she asked coolly.
Seeing him coil his fist back, Mai closed her eyes.
The clang of metal echoed in the room.
"Sokka! Let's go!"
Opening her eyes, Mai saw Zuko dashing away with the Water Tribe kid.
Of course you didn't, she thought ruefully. The sudden presence of heat prompted her to move. Right where Zuko's fist had landed, there was a molten divot.
[-]
Zuko led Sokka through the drill, navigating the interior like a rat.
"I thought you didn't know your way around?" Sokka questioned.
"It's easier finding your way out. Besides, if Mai is around, Azula and Ty Lee are probably not far behind, and they've probably gotten the guards to mobilize." Zuko stopped near a large hatch and swung it open. "Get in."
"Do I have to jump in the rock-sludge?"
"Unless you want to walk the entire length of this thing, yes."
Begrudgingly, Sokka complied. 'What about you?"
"We need to deliver the final blow. If you think of anything to help with that, do it."
Nodding, Sokka jumped in.
Shutting the hatch behind the boy, Zuko began climbing up to the top of the drill.
When he emerged at the top, he spotted Azula backing Aang to the wall. Quietly, he ran to them.
Unsurprisingly, she noticed his approaching shadow and turned her attack aimed for Aang at him. Zuko ducked under the blast, and by then, Aang had recovered enough to knock her back and between them.
"Hello, Azula," he said, fire-kicking the princess.
She deftly countered, but the back blast sent her skidding down the slope of the drill. She was able to slow her descent, but gravity had already dragged her out of range for an easy recovery.
"Goodbye, Azula." Turning to Aang, he dusted the kid off. "How far did you get?"
Aang pointed at the cross-shaped cut in the drill's shell, more than an arm's length deep.
"I really wish we could metalbend," Aang panted.
A barrage of boulders from the ramparts slammed into the hull, shaking Zuko out of his thoughts.
"Hey!" Zuko sneered. "Watch what you're doing!"
"They've been doing that ever since I got here," Aang said, ducking as one bounced his way.
Zuko angrily narrowed his eyes at the Earth Kingdom soldiers at the top of the wall.
"Send another one down here, you fools!" Zuko called out. Whether they heard him or not, the next barrage came down. He made for the nearest and slowest once he could get to and dragged it to the cut. "You might want to take a step back for this."
Aang floated off a short distance away and nodded at Zuko.
Carefully gauging the amount of power he was using, he carved the boulder down to an acceptable size and eased it into the opening Aang had created and gently wedged it in.
Here goes.
Jumping up, he slammed his feet onto the wedge with a mighty shout. The drill shuddered as the weakened supports gave way from the sudden pressure buildup. Even at his distance, the shockwave nearly knocked Aang off his feet. Underneath their feet, the drill loudly groaned to a halt.
"I think that did it."
Satisfied with a job well done, Zuko and Aang waited for Appa to pick them up and flew back up to the wall where a celebration was already underway.
A/N: And here is chapter Twenty-Five.