TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of rape, and attempted rape, though nothing graphic. Please read at your own caution.
PART XXVI:
Zuko's boots padded silently down the rough stone steps, as he slowly worked his hand over the walls, searching for seams where a hidden door might be. Behind him, the other Kyoshi Warriors were keeping pace, pushing and prodding at every available surface.
Dust tickled his nose in the dank air, but he ignored it, trying to concentrate instead on controlling the rage beating within him like a second heart. His temper was barely under control, and he could tell it by the intensity of the flames burning inches from his outstretched hand. It threw guttering shadows across the narrow passageway, haunting him with the ghosts of what might be happening to Suki at this very moment.
Because of me, he thought bitterly. They took her because of me. Because they knew how I felt about her. I put her in danger. Shura killed Aiko and then threatened Suki's life, and I didn't take it seriously. I should have.
His thoughts ran in little circles as he searched, his bandaged hand sliding along the rocks. Thinking of his mistakes was easier than thinking of the future. Maybe giving up the throne had been a mistake, but he couldn't risk Shura finding out if he'd faked it. He needed her to think he was playing her game.
He knew that the others were right. Shura's plan was to take him hostage and hold his safety as bait for Iroh.
It made him feel sick. He wouldn't put his uncle in the same position that he was in. This was his fight, and he had every intention of winning.
"Zuko, I don't feel anything. We've been over these walls three times," Mai said softly at his back. Zuko closed his eyes for a moment, his temper flaring again.
"It has to be here," he said through his teeth. "There has to be a second tunnel from here. I know it. I swear I'm going to find it even if I have to go to my father and beg him." That was a prospect he didn't relish. He and his father hadn't spoken in years, and he doubted Ozai would be very forthcoming, especially since he'd moved him to a secret prison cell and isolated him.
Xiuying cursed, punching the wall with force. Everyone stared at her and she shrugged. "I thought that might help."
"Feels more productive than groping the wall," Mai mumbled.
"No one asked you to come, Mai!" Zuko snapped, turning on her in an instant. His temper flared again, and this time he didn't stop the way his fire blazed out of control. It grew, filling the passageway with red light, and illuminated the white and red painted faces before him.
It was the fear and worry in their eyes that stopped him. He drew back the gout of flame and then sank down onto one of the steps, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Mai said, touching his shoulder. "We'll keep looking. Take a moment."
He nodded, holding the flame close to him as he leaned his head against the uneven stones. The Kyoshi Warriors filed past him then, still searching. He watched them for a long moment and then looked down at his feet, his eyes unfocused.
As he refocused, he glanced down at the step below the one beneath his feet, the flames catching on the uneven surface of the volcanic rock. Zuko's eyes narrowed, noting the odd, diagonal lines carved into the steps. The lines ran into the wall, as if pointing to it.
He pushed himself forward onto his knee on the step, running his fingertips over the scratches. He glanced at the other steps, but they were smooth, carved out by an Earthbender of considerable skill. His jaw clenched as he slid his hands against the joint where the step met the wall.
There was a crack there, just small enough to get his fingernails beneath it.
He pulled on it, but nothing happened. He pushed, but nothing. Frustrated, he tried and failed again and again to make the wall open up. This had to be it. It had to be.
"Zuko?" Rin asked, noticing what he was doing. "Did you find something?"
"I don't know. There are scratches here, in the stone," he said, lowering the flames dancing above his hand to illuminate them for the others to see. As he did, the flames guttered, an invisible wind pushing past him.
The others went still, and he let out a breath of his own, excitement coursing through him.
"Was that-?" one of them asked in a hushed voice. He nodded, glancing up at them.
"This is it."
He studied the seam for a long moment. Then he stood, feeling along the walls again. Up near the low ceiling, his hand brushed a particularly smooth rock imbedded in the facade. He stopped, rubbing his finger over it for a long moment. Then he pushed on it.
Immediately, a section of the stairs ten feet below the his position gave way, dropping down like a trapdoor—and taking Kikki and Qing with it.
They landed in a heap in the darkness, their voices echoing in the narrow passage.
"Are you okay?" Zuko asked, racing forward to illuminate the opening in the stairs.
"OUCH! SOME WARNING NEXT TIME?" Kikki spat, getting to her feet with all the fury of an embarrassed cat. She clawed her hair out of her face and glared up at him.
"Sorry! I thought the wall would give, not the stairs!" he explained, chagrined, but excited.
Kikki returned his grin. "I think we found it though."
"Watch out, I'm coming down," Zuko said, slinging his legs over the edge of the steps. Kikki and Qing stepped back against the walls and Zuko dropped down, landing in a crouch.
He rose and, stepping past the two women, lifted his hands and sent a hot blast of fire down the passage, lighting up the corners. It seemed to go on into infinity, the fireball dying out before it came to the end.
"They took her this way," he choked out. "It slopes down here... I think it goes beneath the Caldera, maybe even down into the city."
"Probably to their hideout," Qing said as the other Kyoshi Warriors dropped down into the passage behind him. "Or at least close enough to make it easier to find."
"They'll probably have guards posted somewhere at the end," Mai warned from the top of the entrance. "They have to know we'd search the tunnel. They wouldn't want to risk us finding the entrance, even by chance. Or at least I wouldn't."
"You're right. If we take this tunnel, we need to do it in the dark, and make as little noise as possible. We don't know what..." Zuko stopped, staring at the Kyoshi Warriors, who were looking at each other knowingly. "What? What's wrong?"
"You can't go, Zuko."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard us."
"I don't need you to protect-"
"We're not protecting you, Zuko," Mei Lin said as she held up her hands. "If this tunnel leads to the Smoke Demons, then we need to get Suki out of there as quickly and quietly as possible, and do it while they're not looking. According to Mai, we're outnumbered."
"You think I can't-" he started, but Chao-Ahn stepped up.
"We know what you're capable of. You're an amazing fighter, Zuko. We know that. That's why we need you to distract Shura."
"They're right," Mai said from above, crouched on the edge of the hole now, though she didn't look as steady as she usually would. "Once it gets out that you've abdicated, Shura's not going to wait to make her next move. She's going to demand that you come to get Suki. Probably alone."
"And while you do that, we'll be there getting Suki free."
"So I give myself up?"
"Yeah, right," Kikki snorted. "Once we have Suki, there goes her leverage against you. Once we have her free, you kick that bitch's ass."
"This was your plan the whole time?"
"Well yeah, if we left the planning up to you we'd just run in there throwing fireballs and probably getting everyone killed," Mai said, causing him to glare up at him. "You don't think very clearly when you're upset. You go off all half-cocked."
"I'm not going off all half-cocked! I'm fully-cocked right now and I..." he stopped himself and buried his face in his hand. "Spirits, that sounded so much better in my head."
"Really doubt that," Mai drawled dryly.
Zuko dropped his hand and glared up at her. "This is why we broke up." Mai's smile was almost devilish, but she didn't reply. He turned his attention back on the Kyoshi Warriors around him. "If you think this plan will work, then we'll do it. I trust you. All of you, with my life and with Suki's."
"We won't disappoint you, Fire Lord Zuko."
"I'm not the Fire Lord anymore."
"We'll see about that," Mai said and then touched her bruised face for a moment. "If you can get her out of there before Shura demands to meet with Zuko, all the better, but if you can't, just make sure that Zuko isn't take captive."
"And where are you going to be?" Zuko asked her.
Mai's devilish grin made a reappearance. "I have a friend who might be of some help. I'm going to go find her. You'll know where I am when the time comes, Zuko. Don't worry about that."
Zuko turned to the women—his friends—before him. "Find her. Get her out of there. Don't get killed. I already lost Aiko, I don't want to lose any of you too. If you can't get her free, then wait for my distraction."
"How will we know it?"
"Trust me, you'll know it," Zuko said darkly. Then he jumped up, catching hold of the rim of the opening and hoisting himself up over the lip and back into the first passage. He looked down at the glowing white and red faces peering up at him from the darkness. Mai passed him a torch and he lit it, and then passed it down to Tam. "Please bring her back to me."
All of them nodded and then they took off, walking into the darkness of the tunnel and out of sight. Zuko swallowed hard, wondering if he'd just gotten all of them killed.
He closed his eyes and prayed to whatever spirit was listening. He knew they'd need all the luck they could get.
And even that might not be enough.
Sweat slicked down Suki's back as she slowly focused every inch of her body on the metal she'd been hooked to. She ignored the cuts in the corners of her mouth, the burning throb in her shoulder from her healing knife wound that Shura had exposed, and the searing pain in her wrists from the rough rope rubbing her raw. All she had to do was get her damned arms free. That was all.
She glanced around; the activity in the warehouse had increased, rather than decreased. It felt like they were gearing up for a battle. She was starting to see more armor and weaponry now. Whatever they were preparing to do, she doubted she'd be around to witness it.
Shura's youngest son, Li-Shang Junior, was pacing back and forth across the warehouse floor, giving her predatory looks whenever he thought no one else was looking. She could feel his leering gaze on her, and knew exactly what he was thinking and what he would like to do to her.
Like a caged animal, he seemed eager to reach out and snatch her up like a dangled piece of meat. The look in his eyes, more than anything, made fear thread down her spine. She knew the moment Shura's attention was elsewhere, Li-Shang would do something to her.
She had a feeling that something would be getting her alone in a room with a locked door. He seemed almost incapable of holding himself back as it was. She knew exactly what he would do to her, and she wasn't about to stand there waiting like a lamb to slaughter.
So she ignored the pain in her body, and the hungry looks shooting her way like flying daggers, and concentrated every ounce of agility and strength she had into freeing her bound hands from the hook.
Shura, she noticed, was shouting orders now, clearly agitated, her heels clacking on the cement. Suki glared at her back, wondering how the woman wasn't sweating all of her makeup off in this heat. She took a breath of the hot air through her nose and glanced up at the hook again.
She glanced back at Shura, watching as someone came running over from the entrance with a paper in his hands. There was too much noise and commotion going on in the warehouse for her to catch what they said, but Shura seemed excited all of a sudden, clapping her hands and throwing back her head in a hearty, girlish giggle that set Suki's teeth on edge.
She snatched the paper up, scanned it, and then, like a snake striking, turned to face Suki. There was a smug expression on her face, one of absolute triumph. Suki's stomach sank to her toes. Whatever had happened to put that look on Shura's face, she knew it didn't bode well for her.
Her suspicions were immediately proven correct when Shura snapped something to the Smoke Demon who had brought her the paper, and then turned her red-lipped smile in Suki's direction again. The next thing Suki knew, Shura was marching toward her, practically bouncing.
"Good news, darling! The best, really!" Shura crowed in delight, waving the paper at her. "It seems I wasn't wrong about Zuko. He really does love you. Do you know what he did?"
Suki's eyes narrowed as she glared at the woman.
Shura's smile widened and her voice rang out in a sharp pitch, catching the attention of everyone within earshot. "He pardoned me. Well, me and the rest of my compatriots. All of our crimes have been excused, which means we cannot be arrested. There is nothing they can do to us now."
Shura waved her hands excitedly, making Suki's nose wrinkle.
"That's not all. He banished and disinherited Azula, named Iroh his heir and...this is the best! He abdicated the throne."
Suki's blood ran cold as her eyes widened. A noise escaped her, involuntarily, squeaking past the rag in her mouth. Shura laughed and stepped close to her.
"Oh yes, you heard me correctly. He gave it all up. All of it. His crown, his palace, his life. For you. How does that make you feel?" Shura's eyes were as sharp as shark's teeth, full of malice and gloating. Suki let out a breath, shaking now as anger and sorrow overcame her. Shura grabbed her beneath the chin, forcing her head up. "And do you know why he did it? Because he loves you. He loves you, Suki. And do you know what I'm going to make him do next? I'm going to make him come for you. Alone. Unguarded. I'm going to take him and make him watch while I kill you, then I'm going to use him to get Iroh here. I'm going to take that throne and I'm going to crush it under my feet."
She shoved Suki back, nearly knocking her bound feet out from underneath her. She swayed in her bonds, feeling sick, bitterness in her mouth. Her mind ran in circles, sparking her anger.
Shura's pacing son came closer, an eagerness rolling off him in unmistakable waves. "Mother... Mother, you promised."
Shura glanced at her son and let out an indulgent sigh. "Really, darling? Now?"
"You said I could have her before we killed her!" he said, as petulant as a five-year-old denied a sweet. "You promised!"
Shura glanced back at Suki and curled her lip. Then she waved her hand at her son dismissively. "Fine. Take her, but if you kill her before I'm ready for it, I'm going to be cross with you."
"Of course, Mother," Li-Shang rumbled, rushing past Shura and coming straight for Suki. Her heart leaped, fear and utter, bone-deep revulsion blasting through the pain and exhaustion. She knew what he wanted. Knew it all too well.
She'd rather die fighting than suffer through that.
As he approached, Suki gathered her strength, breathing hard through her nose. She spotted the knife on his belt, clocking the way he moved, his broken nose and bruised face. He was too intent on her, his gaze fixed on the top of her breast exposed by her ripped uniform.
Instinct, fueled by her fear and desperation, kicked in. Li-Shang grabbed her by the waist, intending on lifting her off of the hook and as he did, he purposefully shoved his face against her breasts. Suki moaned out loud, causing him to look up at her in eager shock, just as she'd planned.
She reared back her head and headbutted him as hard as she could. The blow took him directly on his broken nose and she heard it crunch and collapse against her forehead as blood burst forth in a hot, thick spray.
He howled out in pain, letting go of her and clutching at his flattened nose as blood gushed from his nostrils. He bent over, and she jerked forward on the hook, putting one foot on his knee and twisting upward in a spin.
Her bound hands came free of the hook with a wild swing and she came down on his back in a full-body slam that took them both to the floor. As he tried to buck her off, Suki's hands groped at his side, searching for the knife.
"STOP! SOMEONE STOP HER!"
Suki tuned out Shura's shrieks as Li-Shang rolled to the side, tossing her off of his back. He lumbered to his feet, bellowing like a raging komodo rhino. His eyes narrowed on her as her eyes widened. He charged her, intending on kicking her, but she rolled out of the way at the last second. She turned over on her side, spun, and brought her bound feet back against his ankles, knocking him down on the ground.
His rage seemed to triple at that, and he reached behind him, grabbing Suki's feet and dragging her across the cement floor.
She tried to kick him off, clasping her hands together and swinging at his massive head. The blow connected and he grunted, grabbing her around the throat and hauling her up against him. He screamed in her face, a wordless bellow, and then slammed her down onto her back on the floor.
The wind was knocked out of her by the force of the blow and she gasped around the gag in her mouth as his hand tightened on her throat.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he screamed, his spittle flecking her face as she gasped. "I'm going to make you pay for that. I'm going to do it in front of everyone too!"
"Do it, darling! Teach her a lesson!" Shura hissed, surging forward.
Suki groped at his belt again, as he pinned her down. His hand caught the tear in her uniform and yanked hard. At the same moment, she found the hilt of his dagger and slid it out of the scabbard.
Li-Shang surged toward her as she twisted the knife in her numb fingers and brought it up into his throat, shoving it upward beneath his chin.
His expression of rage changed to one of startled shock as blood shot out of his mouth and sprayed across her face. Suki flinched, shoving the slippery handle of the dagger upward with as much force as she could muster.
Shura's son choked on his own blood, garbling out a scared, pathetic noise as he pitched to the side and rolled off of her and onto his back. The dagger slipped from her fingers, but she knew from the screams in the air that it was all but useless to her anyway.
There were too many Smoke Demons surrounding her now. Shura's screams of inconsolable rage echoed in the air as she skidded to her knees beside her son, clutching at him in useless panic.
"NO! NO! LI-SHANG! WHAT DID SHE DO TO YOU? MY BABY! BABY, PLEASE NOOOO!"
Someone grabbed Suki and hauled her up off of the ground and to her feet. She struggled, but there was no use. A dagger was put at her own throat, pricking her skin. She settled down, watching dispassionately as Li-Shang slowly choked to death on his own blood, his eyes rolling wildly in their sockets.
It took nearly a minute for him to die, which wasn't long enough for Suki. Finally, he gave one last rattling, wet breath, his whole body shuddering, and then lay motionless on the floor in a pool of dark red blood. Shura threw herself across his body, sobbing brokenly.
Suki smiled through the gag, a full grin that spread as she felt the cooling blood rolling down her face. None of the Smoke Demons moved; they seemed to be in shock. Eventually, Shura's head came up, her face streaked with blood, her talon-tipped hands dripping. She glared at Suki through her running makeup. The look of rage on her face was nearly identical to her son's. It made Suki grin harder and she couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up out of her throat, from the very pits of her soul. It burst out around the muffling gag, but it was unmistakable in the echoing silence.
"You," Shura ground out, her whole body shaking as she climbed unsteadily to her feet. "You did this, you little slut. YOU KILLED MY SON! YOU MURDERED MY BABY!"
Suki laughed harder, daring the woman with her eyes. She knew what was going to happen and she dared her.
Shura charged her and delivered a devastating backhand that knocked Suki back into the Smoke Demon holding her up. It also pulled the gag out of her mouth at last. She spat out the dirty, wet cloth and took a ragged breath, her face on fire from the blow.
Shura was sobbing and seething in front of her, as if waiting for Suki to say something. Suki spat out a mouthful of blood onto the floor and looked up at Shura through the sweaty strands of her hair. She pulled a bloody smirk.
"I hope it was as good for him as it was for me."
Shura's eyes flashed and she struck Suki again, hard enough to put stars in her eyes. Shura looked up at the Smoke Demon keeping Suki from falling to her knees. "Kill the bitch!"
"Mother, we need her." It was Shura's eldest son Kang, looking just as angry as his mother, but more in control of himself. "Zuko needs to know she's alive. She's bait."
"He doesn't need to see that she's alive. He just needs to think she is. KILL HER!"
"He'll want proof that she's alive," Kang said, walking to his mother. He put his hand on her waist as if to soothe her. "Once we have Zuko, then you can kill her. You can tear her apart while Zuko watches. You can make them both suffer."
Shura glared at her and then lifted her chin. "Fine. We'll wait, but I want Zuko here NOW, within the hour. I'm through playing games with him."
"Of course, Mother. We'll send an envoy to him right away." Her son bowed out, leaving Shura shaking in front of Suki. Shura stepped close and grabbed Suki's face.
"I'm going to burn you alive for this."
"I'd rather burn than let your sick fuck of a son put his hands on me. Wonder where he learned it from?"
Shura slapped her again, her nails raking along Suki's cheek, opening three shallow cuts that stung and bled. Suki hitched in a breath as Shura stepped back, licking her lips.
"Get her out of my sight."
Suki was dragged across the warehouse, down a hallway and tossed into a darkened storage room. She landed on her back on the floor with a bruising bang that rattled her bones. The door slammed shut again, leaving her in alone in the little room.
She took an unsteady breath and then grinned in the darkness. "Well, that went better than I expected."