I'll Walk You Home pt 25
Chapter 8
pt. 7
Brainbending
All the troopers in the company compound looked up as the prisoners were brought in through the gate. Rumors had run throughout the camp. Stories of a huge bending fight between the First Sergeant and a little girl, that had destroyed the center of the town. How a young wet had taken on first squad and kicked their asses. Some even hinted darkly that the wet was the new Black Lotus who wandered the world killing any bender that offended him. A few said he only killed earthbenders but most thought that he killed any bender that was arrogant towards him, the element didn't matter, it was the attitude of the bender that was important. One or two hinted that it was the girl that mattered.
"Stay away from the girl if you want to live." They would say. "Just look at the girl wrong and we'll find you in the morning with a Black Lotus on your forehead."
The procession through the main gate didn't quell any of the rumors, it actually added a few. The column was led by Corporal Tam whose nose was bent out of shape, literally, and he had dried blood down his face and tunic. The rest of first squad didn't look much better. They all were covered in dirt, bumps, and bruises. Trooper Rong was riding bare back, his saddle tied to the back of trooper Song's.
The prisoners didn't look very prisonery either. They were walking at the rear of the column with Sergeant Minh. Neither one was bound in any way. The boy was carrying enough weapons that it looked like he could take on the whole company. The First Sergeant and the girl both looked like they had had a very rough time of it. Both were covered in dirt and bruises. The right side of the young bender's face was one large swollen red blotch that was just starting to turn blue, and her right eye was rapidly swelling shut. The boy didn't look too bad except for the limp, but all three of them were limping.
Trooper Nuo looked up and watched the tribesman walk by.
"Talk about well armed." She said to her fellow soldier.
Private Rou leaned on her broom and commented.
"There is something to be said for Water Tribe fashions."
"Nobody told you two to stop working!" Sergeant Hualing said, standing behind the two troopers.
"Right sarge!" Nuo said picking up her shovel and bucket.
The two privates went back to policing the area, but they both noticed that the sergeant was humming a popular song, as she now watched the young warrior cross the quadrangle in front of the company Head Quarters.
First Sergeant Minh limped along beside the tribesman. The young bender was on his other side. She knew it was only a matter of time before she would feel her stripes being ripped off her sleeve. Thirteen years down the drain. Well if she could avoid a general court she could stay in and start the long hard climb over again. All because of that little rich bitch going crazy on her. Well to be honest Minh had gone a little crazy herself. This was really going to suck.
"So what's this OOD like?" The young man asked her, in a quiet voice.
The question pulled her out of her reverie. She thought a moment and answered,
"First Lieutenant Ho, company XO, mustang, good officer, but get's all the crap details from the CO."
"Age?" The swordsman asked.
"Thirties."
"Wife? Kids?"
"None." The sergeant suddenly had the feeling that she was in an intelligence debriefing, with the sharp direct nature of the questions being fired at her by the young swordsman.
"Tough, but fair?"
"Yeah."
"Has heard it all."
"Pretty much"
"Smart?"
"Pretty smart?"
"But held back, since he's such a good XO."
"Yeah. How'd you know?" The trooper asked.
"Typical." Was all the young warrior offered. "Where are the rest of the officers?"
"They're all ring knockers, most are at the Battalion HQ, jockeying for promotion. The CO is at Regimental doing the same." The soldier answered.
"The Dai Li, how much does the army know? Heroes or traitors?"
"Ah Fuck!" Toph said, from the other side of the young man in blue.
"Toph it's our best bet!" The swordsman said placatingly to the blind girl.
He then turned to the First Sergeant looking for the answer to his question.
"Aaaa, Dai Li, traitors, sold out Ba Sing Se to Azula." The woman answered.
"Any stories or rumors about mindbending?" The tribesman then asked.
"Some, nothing too specific, just they had a way of…"
"OK!" The swordsman cut her off.
"So what's the plan?" The blind girl asked, sounding defeated.
"Ok, so we use the old Mindbending routine." The young man told the two girls.
"Minh, you're the 'Straight'. You just tell the truth, don't embellish, don't try to hide anything, be straight with him. Just remember that you and Toph were going to the Ladies Room, having a casual conversation, you said something and she suddenly went bug fuck on you. After that you were just defending yourself. You got that?"
"Well that's kinda what happened." The sergeant replied. "But…"
She was cut off by the blue eyed boy holding up his hand to silence her.
"Great!, I'm 'The Friend' and Toph you're 'The Jet'."
"I'm always The Jet" The young girl complained. "Why can't you be The Jet?"
"My Jet is nowhere as good as your Jet, Toph!" The young man explained. "Your Jet is just friggin' awesome, besides who would care if I got mindbended. I'm nowhere near as destructive as you are. You're totally amazing when it comes to destruction. You're not called the Blind Bandit for nothing, after all."
This seemed to mollify the small bender, and she finally acquiesced with a,
"OK… But next time I get to be The Friend and you get to be The Jet."
"Ok." The tribesman replied, then as an afterthought he added. "Oh yeah, you can hang on my pack, instead of my belt, and I won't play it touchy feely like I usually do."
"Thanks!" Toph said, with a note of relief in her voice, she then punched him in the arm.
"Minh." The swordsman said turning to the soldier. "Remember just play it straight, oh he's probably going to start off screaming and yelling and pounding his desk. Just let him, no matter what he says or does let him vent, don't try to explain or answer unless he asks you a direct question. Once he's run down, and you've told him what happened, let me do all the talking."
"What are you two going to do?" The sergeant asked with trepidation apparent in her voice.
"We're going to give First Lieutenant Ho an excuse to let us off, and give him a chance to screw his CO."
They had reached the door to the Company HQ. Sokka motioned the First Sergeant to take the lead, then asked,
"Ready?"
Toph took a step back and using both hands grabbed hold of the young man's rucksack and answered,
"Ready!"
"It's show time." The tribesman said rubbing his hands together, then he nodded to Minh to open the door.
First Lieutenant Ho looked up from the mountain of scrolls and papers trying to bury him, in response to the knock on his door.
"Come." He said in a gruff voice.
The door opened and corporal Jang, the company clerk stood in the door way, informing the XO,
"First Sergeant Minh and the prisoners are here sir."
"Alright, show the First Sergeant in and have the prisoners wait." The officer ordered.
Sokka watched and Toph felt the older woman go through the door. The clerk closed the door behind her and went back to his desk. The Company office was a medium sized room with four desks and a number of doors leading off to individual offices. The walls and floor were compacted earth typical of most buildings in the kingdom. The clerk was the only other person in the room beside the two travelers. It was getting late and everyone else had already left for the day.
"Ok if we sit down?" The young man asked the clerk, indicating a bench along the wall of the office the First Sergeant had just entered.
The clerk shrugged, and taking that as an affirmative the tribesman pulled off his rucksack and the rest of his gear and sat down. The young earthbender sat down next to him on the bench.
Sokka began to divest himself of all his weapons. He tied them onto his back pack in a haphazard fashion, he wanted to look as innocuous as possible when they saw the officer. Toph sat with her feet on the floor, and leaned back on the bench with her back and hands flat against the common wall.
"Lot of shouting." She whispered to her friend as he worked.
Sokka could hear some of it without the aid of earthbending. Lieutenant Ho was loud. Must be all his years as a sergeant. The tribesman thought.
"The mayor has been here." Toph whispered.
"City council too." She went on. "All of them… public works… the watch… Hong Fat… the restaurant association…"
Toph sat and stewed as she whispered any pertinent information to her friend. She was pissed, her face ached, her jaw hurt when she moved it to speak. And her stomach hurt with every breath she took.
The small bender was very embarrassed that the stupidwhorebitchcunt had actually landed an earthbent blow. She had fought against the best and no one not even Aang had been able to actually hit with earthbending, but that stupidwhorebitchcunt had. And she was not even that good an earthbender. Even the boulder, who was totally over rated, was a better bender than the stupidwhorebitchcunt was.
Then there had been the whole admission to Sokka that she had been frightened. The blind girl knew she would never be able to live that down. She wished that Meathead had just let her earthbend the hell out of everything and the two of them could have just taken off for the hills, but nooooo he didn't want to be hunted by the earth army. So here they were and she was going to have to play The Jet again.
Toph was really pissed off by the whole conversation between Sokka and the stupidwhorebitchcunt. They had used all this military jargon with "Mustached Officers" and "ex-ohs", and other stupid words she didn't know. It was like the stupidwhorebitchcunt had something that made her closer to the young man then she herself had, and she didn't like that at all. She felt left out and jealous of the older woman. Well she would show that stupidwhorebitchcunt. She was going to give Sokka the best Jet he had ever seen.
"The stupidwhorebitchcunt is talking now." The blind girl told her friend.
"Toooph…" The young man whispered back in warning. "Remember we're in this together."
"Ok… " She replied. "Talking about why she didn't report right away… repairing the road with Broken Nose… how we met… going to the restaurant… about finding out you… killed those sand benders."
"Crap!" The young man whispered, cutting her off. "I hadn't thought about that."
"Is that going to change everything?" The young girl asked. "We can still run for it."
"No… that's ok." The tribesman said thoughtfully. "Yeah… I can use it. Yeah, I can spin that into the brainbending. No that can be good."
"We're on." The blind girl said.
The door opened a moment later and the First Sergeant stepped out and said,
"Lieutenant Ho will see you now."
Sokka and Toph stood up. The young man slung his pack, bag, and water skin onto his shoulders, the young girl threw her own bindle over her back and hanging on to her companion's rucksack with both hands the two walked past the soldier into the office. Minh followed and closed the door.
The office was fairly small with just the desk and two chairs in it. The First Sergeant stood to the side near the wall. The two prisoners stood in front of the desk, but also slightly off to the side. The Lieutenant was looking down at his papers and let everyone stand silently while he finished, and signed the paper before him.
The Company Executive Officer looked up, his face a model of authority, mixed with sternness, tempered by fairness. Minh had seen it many times in the course of her duties. She was fascinated to see it suddenly change as the officer's eyes scanned the two prisoners before him. Authority was replaced with surprise, mixed with concern, tempered by paternal compassion.
Lieutenant Ho stood up, came around his desk, approached the sergeant and quietly asked,
"Are these really the accused? They're just kids."
The older woman looked over to the two young people for the first time since entering the office and had to stop herself from looking for Sokka and Toph, to see if they were hiding somewhere. The tall, handsome, heavily armed, young killer with the cold blue eyes that assed everyone and everything around him had been replaced by a boy of medium height, moderate build, his hair back up in its pony tail, he was unarmed, his throwing knife holsters were gone, with a strange collection of weapons haphazardly hanging off of an overstuffed back pack. His arms covered his muscular chest, as his hands clung to the opposite straps of his rucksack, almost as if he were hugging himself for a little comfort. She couldn't even see the eyes, since they were down cast and nervously examining the floor, a look of embarrassment and near terror on the face that contained them.
The arrogant high born girl had been replaced by a timid little blind child, desperately clinging onto the boy, and hiding behind him. Occasionally a hand would escape its frantic hold on the knapsack and would sweep the area around her to try and determine where she was, but then the searching hand would fly back to its death grip on the boy.
"Yes sir." The sergeant finally replied. "Sorry sir I should have been more explicit in my description of the two, earlier."
The older woman felt the blood rush to her face as she remembered how she had thought about, and had touched the boy in front of her. He was just a child.
"Sokka?" The two soldiers were both surprised by the small, quiet cry from the little girl. It sound for all the world like a kitten calling for its mother.
"Don't let them take me to the little room." The small helpless blind girl went on, in the same desperate voice.
"Don't worry Toph." The boy answered with big brother bravado. "They'll have to go through me before they take you anywhere."
"Boy." Lieutenant Ho said, and all the bravado disappeared from the boy at the sound. "No one will be taking anyone anywhere. Don't worry."
"Oh, thank you sir." The boy said with genuine gratitude in his voice.
"But I have to ask you some questions." The officer went on. "Now my sergeant here..."
The XO indicated Minh with his hand. The boy cringed and the girl hid her face in the back pack and whimpered quietly. The lieutenant shot a stern look at the First Sergeant, then turned back to the two children and asked in a concerned voice,
"…says that you… well that you two were involved in an incident in the Si Wong desert?"
The boy suddenly looked very guilty and with down cast eyes answered,
"Yes major, I'm afraid we were."
"It's lieutenant, Lieutenant Ho." The officer corrected him.
"Oh shoot!" The boy said, clearly upset with himself. "The sergeant said that, I'm really sorry I got it wrong."
"That's ok, no problem." Ho assured him. "But about the incident in the desert. Sergeant Minh told me that you… well… that you killed five earthbenders. Is that true?"
The boy looked terribly guilty and ashamed and he had difficulty in replying,
"Yes."
"Oh Sokka…" Came a small desperate cry from the girl.
"But Toph didn't have a choice." The words rushed out of the boy.
"I didn't?" The girl asked.
"No Toph it was really our only chance. You had to use the trigger." The boy explained.
"Oh right, yes I had to." The girl confirmed. "Will you ever forgive me?"
The soldiers could hear the tears in the little girl's voice.
"Toph you had no choice." The boy comforted her.
He reached out to hug her, but held himself back at the last. He turned to the two veterans and drawing on his reserves of courage told them,
"The sand benders ambushed us, and Toph really had no choice."
"They were going to kill you." The girl explained from behind the boy, her voice begging for forgiveness.
"She had to use the trigger. Once it was all over she used the disarm phrase and we ran away."
"Trigger?" The lieutenant asked.
The officer looked to his sergeant for an explanation, but only received a shrug and a shake of the head in reply.
"I thought you knew." The boy answered, guilt had now returned to his manner and voice. "I thought everyone in the army knew."
"Right before the fall of Ba Sing Se," The boy began. "We were captured by the…"
The boy stopped, looked at his friend then nervously mouthed the words "Dai Li".
"Dai Li?" The lieutenant asked aloud.
"WHERE? WHERE?" The little girl screamed. "NOT THE LITTLE ROOM!"
The boy cringed at the scream. The small blind girl became frantic and using her fingers and toes climbed up on the boy's back pack. He was in danger of being pulled over backwards, and he reached out desperately for support. Ho jumped forward and grabbed the boy's arms to keep him upright.
The girl climbed to the top of the pack. One hand holding the boy's pony tail for balance, the other grabbed the club hanging from the pack. She began to swing the club in an arc around her, but since it was still tied to the pack the only one in danger of being struck was the boy.
"Ow,ow,ow! Not the hair!" The boy squeaked.
"NOT THE LITTLE ROOM!" The girl shouted, pulling even harder on the pony tail.
"Ow!, Oww!. Toph it's ok! They're not here. You're safe!"
"You're perfectly safe here!" Lieutenant Ho affirmed. "We're not going to hurt you. We'll protect you! We're the army not the..."
Ho was stopped by the terrified look on the boy's face.
"You know who!" The officer finished.
"Really? The girl asked, brandishing the club in front of the boy's face, and nearly hitting him with it in the process.
"Really!" First Lieutenant Ho answered. "You have the full protection of Badger/Mole Company, First Battalion, Four Hundred and Forty Second Calvary. You are safe with us little lady."
The executive officer said this with pride in his company, and finished with compassion and paternal care for the young girl.
Toph seemed to settle down, after that. She dropped the club, which landed on the boy's shoulder.
"Ow."
This freed both hands to be able to hold on to the boy's pony tail.
"Ow!"
She leaned down and quietly asked the boy,
"Does he look nice? He sounds nice."
"Yes Toph, he's looks nice. I trust him."
The blind girl settled on her knees onto the top of the back pack, still holding the boy's hair. She no longer seemed frightened, and even had a little smile on her face.
"Why don't you come down off of there?" Ho Suggested.
"Well if it's safe." The girl responded, a little dubiously.
Toph climbed down off of the boy's pack, but she still kept one hand on the rucksack, but now instead of hiding behind the boy out of fear, she seemed to be hiding from the officer out of shyness, dragging one toe across the floor.
Ho released the boy's hands once the small girl was back on the ground.
"She's a cute little thing, isn't she?" The officer asked the sergeant. "Oh, at ease sergeant."
"Yes sir. Thank you sir." The sergeant replied, spreading her feet and placing her hands behind her back.
"So, she's blind." Ho asked.
"Yes sir." Minh answered.
"So, son." The older man asked the boy. "What happened in the desert, and what's this about a trigger?"
"Well while we were captured The you know who would take each of us to a you know where every day." The boy picked up on his story. "We could never remember what had happened there. Then when the city was betrayed by the you know who..."
At this the XO passed a dark look to his sergeant.
"We were able to escape, thanks to Toph's earthbending, with the king and the Avatar."
"You know the Avatar?" The lieutenant asked.
"Well my sister is his waterbending teacher, and Toph here is his earthbending teacher." The boy explained.
"Really!" The officer replied, obviously impressed.
"We never knew what the you know who wanted from us until after the war. The White Lotus, after they liberated the city, found records and they told us that the you know who planed to use us to assassinate the Avatar and the King."
"How?"
"Apparently they used Mindbending to somehow bend our brains."
At this the officer turned to his sergeant, and nodding and pointing seemed to be saying "You see the rumors were true!"
"When we hear a special trigger phrase we go crazy and attack whoever is near us. That's what happened in the desert."
"I'm so sorry Sokka." The little girl told her friend. "I had no choice."
"I know Toph." He comforted her.
"So she said the trigger phrase, and you killed all the sand benders." The officer said in realization.
"Exactly, she had no choice they were going to kill us. Once we were safe she said the release phrase and I came back to myself. We don't remember anything that happens when we are in the crazy state. We don't even know our own trigger and release phrases. As soon as we hear them we forget them. So I know Toph's phrases."
"And I know Sokka's." The little girl volunteered.
"That's horrible!" The officer observed. "To do that to children. Those bastards!"
"Yes sir!" The sergeant agreed with vehemence.
"Oh stand easy sergeant." Ho told the woman.
"Thank you sir." Minh replied, leaning against the wall.
The officer leaned back against the front of his desk as he asked,
"So that's what happened this afternoon? The sergeant must have accidentally said little Toph's..."
With this he gave a little finger wave to the young girl, who did not respond until the boy said,
"The nice officer is waving at you Toph."
Then the girl hid her face shyly in the knapsack and waved back.
"...trigger phrase, and she was 'activated'." Ho finished.
"Well, I was thinking about that." The boy said. "It might not have been anything the sergeant said. It could have been anyone in the restaurant. It doesn't matter who says it as long as we hear it. And that restaurant had a definite Fire Nation feel to it."
"What do you mean?" The XO asked.
"Well all the wooden walls and furniture just screamed Fire Nation."
"Really?" The officer inquired.
"Oh yeah." The boy affirmed. "During the war Toph and I snuck into the Fire Nation a couple of times to see what we could find out."
"You infiltrated the enemy's country and gathered intelligence?" The lieutenant asked, admiration was evident in his manner and voice.
"Well I don't know about that, we just snuck in and found out what we could." The boy said matter of factly. "Anyway we noticed that most of the buildings are made of wood there."
"Really? I didn't know that." The older man admitted. "I would think that would be dangerous for them, all the fire and all."
"That's what I thought at first but after a couple of earthquakes I figured it out." The boy explained. "Fire is not a problem for them. They control it, they can put it out as easily as they can create it. But they live on volcanos and have earthquakes almost everyday. Wood buildings are light and flexible and just shake in an earthquake. Stone is heavy and rigid and breaks and collapses in an earthquake."
"The big palaces and government buildings are built of stone but even there most of the insides are wood. A lot like Hong Fat's."
"He figured that out all by himself." The little girl said with obvious pride in her friend.
"Very clever." The officer complimented the boy. "Sergeant, why did you pick Hong Fat's?"
Minh pushed off of the wall and came to attention, but before she could answer the boy volunteered,
"Well she didn't pick it, she just suggested it. She told us she wanted to check out some rumors she had heard."
"Rumors?" The XO asked.
Minh was lost for a second but the boy piped up again,
"She said there were rumors about meetings during the occupation between Fire Army officers and local people at that restaurant and she wanted to see inside it."
"Is that true sergeant?" The lieutenant asked.
"Yes sir, I had heard that Hong Fat's was sort of an unofficial headquarters for the Fire Army during the occupation. That Officers and collaborators would often meet there, and I just wanted to have a look around. I have to say I did see some suspicious types in there."
"Stand easy Minh." Ho told her. "Good work. That would explain what happened this afternoon. A Fire Army agent could have triggered the incident."
"You think it was deliberate?" The boy asked. "I thought it was just an accident, but if it was deliberate that would explain a lot."
"It certainly would." The lieutenant said thoughtfully.
"I would have released Toph sooner." The boy said apologetically. "But I was attacked by those soldiers."
"I gave Corporal Tam strict orders to stay out of the action sir." The sergeant said, coming to attention again.
Ho waved her to relax, as he said,
"Yes I got your preliminary report through sergeant Tao. Yes I am going to have to have a talk with private Tam tomorrow. And I'll want you to be there First Sergeant."
"Yes sir." Minh replied.
"Tell me Minh." The officer went on. "Did you know that Hong Fat's was the CO's favorite restaurant?"
"Oh no sir." The sergeant was off the wall and back to attention again. "If I had know the Captain frequented that restaurant I would never have dreamed of going there. You know how the CO feels about anything that has even the hint of enlisted personnel."
"That's what I thought. Well we're going to have to check out this restaurant and those rumors more thoroughly."
The XO stood up then.
"Good job Minh." Ho told the sergeant. "Well it's pretty late, why don't you set up our honored guests in the VIP BOQ and we can see them on their way in the morning."
Then he turned to young people and asked,
"Unless you need some time to recover from your ordeals? We would love to have you as our guests for as long as you want to stay."
"Oh, thank you very much." The boy said. "But we should probably be on our way. Toph is trying to get home in Gaoling to see her parents. They haven't seen her since before the war ended, and they must be getting concerned."
"Oh?" Ho asked. "You have family in Gaoling? What's their name, I'm originally from Gaoling, perhaps my family knows yours."
Toph seemed reluctant to answer so Sokka volunteered,
"Her parents are Lao and Poppy Be Fong."
The officers expression changed completely and he asked,
"You're Grand Duke Lao's daughter?"
Toph sighed in defeat and answered,
"Yes."
"Well, well, well." The XO said in surprise. "We don't get exalted personages such as yourself here. Please, if there is anything you need let me know. The resources of Badger/Mole company are at your disposal."
"Thanks." The little girl said, she seemed to be embarrassed by her new status.
"First Sergeant show her highness and her companion to our VIP quarters please."
"Yes sir." The trooper crisply replied.
She showed the two young people out of the office, but before she left the officer stopped her and quietly told her,
"Good job today Minh. This could have been a real disaster for all of us but your quick thinking saved the day."
"Thank you sir, just doing my duty, sir." The First Sergeant answered.
First Lieutenant Ho watched the sergeant with an entirely new perspective, both of a professional and of a personal nature, as she left the office.
To be continued:
Disclaimer : "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.
Author's notes:
Hey I'm on time, yay me!
Just wanted to thank everyone for all their kind words on the last chapter I am really glad you liked it and the response just knocked me over thanks very much.
To all of the reviewers, once again thank you so much. Your words mean a huge amount to me, and to the story. So to all of you, thanks again.
I try to reply personally to all the reviews. If I missed any one, please forgive me.
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To Sifu Toph: Thanks so much. I'm glad the characters seem true to the originals.
Yeah I have to admit I like Tokka fluff too, just hope I do an ok job with it.
Thanks I try hard on the fights.
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To Nana: Sorry about Minh but she is important to our heroes. Thanks for the review.
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To Rose: Thank you... Thank you...Thank you!
Once again thank you to all those who have added this story to their alerts and especially their favorites, and a very special thank you to all who have added me to your author alerts and favorites. That is a real honor for me. I hope I have not disappointed you with this chapter.
Thanks again to Vox Populi for all his help, and his dedications on his story "The Epic of Tokka" I really appreciate the honor. He has finished that story, but has many more going now, so take a look.
Thank you to all for reading
All comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.