Chapter 15: To kill a mocking-drill
Dark, coal-like steam spilled out from the tops of the machine's metal plating, and although it seemed to move slowly over the open sand, it definitely proceeded with a purpose. Even from a couple hundred meters up, the group of teens could tell that it was headed directly for the wall. The insignia of the Fire Nation glimmered in the blazing sun as the titanic drill sluggishly pushed forward.
"How are we supposed to stop that?" Katara asked, leaning behind Aang to get a better look at the machine.
"Are you kidding me?" Sokka said, throwing his arms up into the air, "we can't stop it. That thing is way too big and way too close to stop it now."
"Oh yeah?" came a voice from behind him.
Turning around, Sokka was unsurprised to find Bakugo grinning confidently down at the drill.
"Wanna bet?" he said, his grin widening even further.
Standing up from his sitting position, the spiky-haired teen let out a chuckle and took a few steps closer to the edge, peering down.
Aang glanced nervously at Izuku, "Ummm. what's he thinking about doing?"
Deku gave the bald airbender an unknowing shrug; he had to admit that Bakugo's rash actions often made him nervous - he was usually hard to predict.
"What is this drop? Like a hundred meters or somethin'? The blonde hero questioned.
"Uh, more like two hundred!" Sokka yelled, "as in - don't think about jumping."
"Too late," Bakugo chuckled, taking one step off of the flying bison.
For several moments, everyone in the group merely gave each other horrified glances before rushing to the edge, looking down at the falling figure.
"Did that idiot seriously just jump?!" Sokka hollered, gripping the sides of his tormented face with his fingers.
"Don't worry, I might be able to catch him if Appa hurries," Aang noted, preparing to pull the reins on the animal.
"Don't bother," Shouto interjected, "just meet us down there when you can."
"...'us'...wait, what do you mean by "us"?" Sokka pondered.
Taking the initiative, Shouto followed Bakugo's lead and wordlessly took a step off of the bison as well. Screams of warning from Sokka and Aang followed his departure, but by that time he was already rocketing down to the surface in pursuit of his teammate.
"You guys are insane!" Sokka said, turning to Izuku.
"Yeah, they can be a little...intense, sometimes," the green-haired boy acknowledged, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Aren't you gonna follow them?" Toph motioned, apparently unfazed by what had transpired in the last few seconds.
"Well, I would, but I don't really have a landing strategy like they do," he said with a light-hearted chuckle.
Several hundred meters below them, Bakugo couldn't keep his excitement contained; the rush of literally falling from the sky was intoxicating. But even more invigorating was the sight of the drill as his falling body quickly approached the ground; shifting his position in midair, the blonde hero forced himself until his whole body was aligned horizontally, like a skydiver en route to the earth. Reaching an altitude where he felt comfortable, Bakugo willed sparks to crackle between his fingers as he prepared himself for a cinematic landing. As he spiraled down, the teen occasionally let off a few of his explosions in midair, effectively pushing his body in the desired direction - he was aiming. His goal wasn't just to land on the ground; no, his goal was to land directly onto the drill itself.
A couple more explosions sounded off, with curt popping and booming sounds, as he continued to correct his trajectory; the drill was now about 15 seconds away, getting closer and closer by the second.
10 seconds.
5 seconds.
3 seconds.
2 seconds.
1 second.
At the final moment, Bakugo aimed his hands straight down at the drill's metallic surface and released a discharge of swirling orange and yellow energy that blasted down into the machine; the force of the explosion was enough to diminish his fall and he simply landed softly onto the surface. Heat radiated off the metal in the form of evaporating steam and smoke.
Looking around, the teenage hero observed the wall that the drill was approaching - it was much larger up close; from the sky everything had looked particularly small and miniature, but he supposed that was to be expected.
There was suddenly a wave of cold that passed over Bakugo, causing the teen to slightly shiver. Then, beside him appeared a structure of ice that grew from the surface of the drill upward. Glancing sky-ward, Bakugo couldn't help but groan a bit as Shouto fell after him; the ice had been formed into a sort of slide that the half-and-half hero used to transition harmlessly from the air to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing here?" an annoyed Katsuki questioned.
"Offering assistance," Shouto admitted, "also,...someone needs to keep an eye on you."
Bakugo chuckled, "Yeah, sure. You just probably didn't want to stay on that flying bison anymore."
Shouto said nothing in retort, but Bakugo simply took that as evidence that he was right.
"Do you at least have a plan of stopping this machine?" the ice-user asked.
"Yep! We break it," Bakugo said.
Unfazed by his teammate's absurd simplification, Shouto pressed further, "And how are we supposed to do that?" he wondered.
"I dunno. Do I look like an engineer or somethin' to you?" the blonde shot back.
Shouto shook his head in annoyance before then deciding to speak up once more, "There are most likely two places we could head to in order to shut this thing down. One, the engine room - if we can get in and halt its operation, the drill should stop. Two, we take over the control room and stop the drill manually from there."
"Which one of those two options means I get to beat up more people?" Bakugo asked.
"Well, with number one, there are probably going to be quite a bit of guards around the engine; but if we head to the control room, perhaps we might run into the person in charge."
"'The person in charge'?" Bakugo repeated, "that sounds fun."
"Heading to the engine room is much more efficient, however, as it will shut down the machine indefinitely," Shouto observed.
"I like the control room one better," the spiky-haired teen commented.
"Of course you do," Shouto said, shaking his head once more.
Sensing the tone of sarcasm in the semi-red-haired teen's voice, Bakugo glared at him.
"Fine, then! Let's have a race!" he growled, "whoever stops the drill first wins, and the loser has to do all the chores for a week!"
Bakugo really hated doing menial labor like setting up tents or carrying backpacks; it all seemed so boring to him - pointless even.
Todoroki considered this for a second, "Fine. I'll agree to your proposition," he said with a shrug.
Unlike Bakugo, Shouto didn't quite mind doing dull tasks; in fact, it was often a great stress-reliever for him because it kept him mind off of more concerning thoughts. Whoever one the bet, Shouto wouldn't really be losing anything.
Their conversation abruptly ended as a man, probably a Fire Nation official, emerged from a hatch that opened up to the outer surface of the drill.
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?" he demanded.
Sadly enough for him, the man couldn't get out his next words before Bakugo launched forward and knocked him out.
Using the hatch opening that the man had just revealed, Bakugo jumped down into it before then looking back up at Shouto.
"The race is on, slowpoke," he chuckled before running off into the bowels of the machine.
Shouto didn't waste much time either as he carefully used the ladder from the hatch and dropped down into the drill; the inside of the machine looked just as crude as the outside did, with long pipes spanning on either side of the hallway and small puffs of steam emanating from unknown areas.
The place smelled like iron and sweat - not the best combination of scents to be introduced to.
Looking to his left, Shouto was surprised to see directional signs with descriptions on them, pointing to different directions in the hallway.
Engine room, Storage facility, and Waste management room were all on the sign that pointed to the right, while Control room, Drill compartment room, and Crew bedchambers were all to the left.
Immediately identifying the 'engine room' Shouto ran to the right, doing his best to ignore the stench that riddled the air.
Meanwhile, with the rest of the group…
Aang pulled slightly on the rains, prompting Appa to settle down on top of the Ba Sing Se wall; the massive structure was tall enough so that the drill still seemed small, but the approach of the machine was nevertheless disturbing.
Practically jumping off of his bison, Aang made his way over to a somewhat large gathering of Earth Nation soldiers; some of them had already spotted the airbender along with his crew and ran over to them.
"Who are you?" one of the men demanded with a glare; the other guards beside him looked on edge.
Without so much as blinking, Aang said, "I'm the avatar. Take me to whoever's in charge here."
The man's glare almost immediately shifted to an expression of surprise and slight relief; the other men beside him seemed to share his sentiment and decided to lower their guard.
"Come this way, quickly," the man said with haste.
"Wow. That was easy," Izuku whispered.
"Aang's status as the avatar offers him some….privileges," Katara explained.
"Yeah. Like, we don't have to wait in line at a restaurant, ever. It's awesome!" Sokka gushed, prompting Toph to elbow him in the gut.
Leading the group of teens along the top of the wall, the Earth Nation officers headed over to a small desk that was situated on the far end of the structure; a man sat in a seat just behind it, looking far too relaxed for someone who had engaged in a Fire Nation attack.
"General Sung," the guard called, prompting an uninterested gaze in his direction.
"This is the avatar," the guard continued, "he's offered his assistance to our troops."
Taking this man to be the one in charge, Aang took a step forward and gave the man a formal bow.
"I'm here to help," he said, "use me as you wish."
Still seemingly unimpressed but surprised by the avatar's presence, General Sung gave the boy a slight smile.
"It's great to know that the avatar is offering his services," he began, "BUT…...i'm afraid we have no use for you at this time. The Earth Kingdom has this well under control."
Gesturing to the ground below, the General drew the group's attention down to a platoon of Earth Kingdom soldiers that marched toward the drill.
"What are they doing?" Katara asked.
"'THEY' are the Earth Kingdom's elite warrior unit, and THEY are the reason why we don't need your help at this time," General Sung explained, a smug grin on his face.
As the group continued to watch the advancement of the troop, their faces soon morphed into concern upon seeing two people exiting the confines of the drill - Mai and Ty Lee.
"Shoot!" Sokka cursed under his breath as he turned to the General, "You have to stop them; there's no way they can beat those two!"
"Calm down. Didn't you hear me? Those are the Earth Kingdom's best troops; I think they can handle two members of the Fire Nation."
Even though he spoke with confidence, General Sung's faith in the elite squadron began to slowly dwindle as the two Fire Nation fighters overwhelmed them; the whole fight was over in a matter of seconds, until Mai and Ty Lee were the only victors.
Droplets of sweat began to form just above the General's brow, "...Uhoh…." he finally said, "We're doomed."
There was a silence for a while amongst the General and his men, almost as if they acknowledged that the loss was already theirs.
"No, you're not doomed," Izuku spoke up, attracting the attention of the General as well as some of the other Earth Kingdom guards.
"There's still a chance we can win," he said confidently.
"H-how do you know that?" General Sung asked.
"Before we arrived here, two of our members went down to the drill; they were even able to get inside," the green-haired Deku explained.
"Wait, you mean to tell me that….we have men on the inside of the drill," the man asked, a glimmer of hope flashing across his face.
Deku nodded energetically, his wide eyes still as earnest as ever, "yes, sir," he said.
Perhaps the whole 'yes, sir' thing was a bit unnecessary, but Izuku's habit of addressing his elders with respect accidentally revealed itself.
The General stared back down at the drill in thought; his sweating was still out of nervousness, but now there was also an element of concentration on his face.
"How long will it take them to stop it?" he finally asked, turning back to the group.
"Uhhhh….well," Deku said, ignorantly glancing at the rest of his group, "we don't really know."
Fear returned to the General's face again.
"But that's why we need your assistance," Sokka said, stepping in, "we need you to send us down there so that we can stall the drill for as long as we can. We have to give our members as much time as we can."
"So...you want to stall the machine?" Sung questioned.
"Yes - just long enough to allow our friends to take the drill down from the inside," Sokka explained.
For the next few seconds, it seemed as though the group could actually see the gears turning in the General's head as he considered this new proposition.
"So, you just need me to send you all down there, is that right?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's all you need to do," Aang acknowledged with a slight nod.
General Sung nodded back, and then with a newfound sense of hope, he called one of his guards over to him. Whispering something into the guard's ear, the General then turned back to the group.
"Ok. I'll have my man here take you down to the surface," he stated, "but after that, you're on your own."
"That's all we need," Izuku said, "thank you."
Giving the freckled here a respectful nod, General Sung remained still as the guard let the group over an open ledge of the wall. There was a relatively large platform that was situated off to the side - it was made entirely of rock, meaning that it was probably the earthbenders' main method of getting from the top of the wall down to the ground (and back). Guiding all of the members of the group onto the platform, the guard then waved his arms in a circular fashion as the surface beneath them began to descend along the outer side of the wall.
As they moved downward, Izuku leaned over to Sokka, "Hey, do you really think we can stall the drill for very long?"
Sokka gave the hero a slight shrug, "I have no idea. But it's the best bet we have at stopping this thing. I hope your friends are as good as you say, because the fate of this city is all up to them."
The sound of the descending rock was loud, but even then, Deku could hear himself gulp.
End of Chapter 15
Author's Note: Hey, hey, hey, put away your knives and guns everyone - I know that I haven't been uploading chapters for a long time, and I know that I don't have a good excuse for it, and I know that you probably want to kill me, BUT…..at least I finally got around to it, amiright? I've practically forgotten what I wrote for this story, so I basically had to re-read my own stuff - which is one of the most painful things I've ever been subjected to. Why do you people even like this story? it's so bad and my grammar at the beginning of it was terrible. Lol. I even have another series I've written in the avatar universe, so some of the events from that story and this one often overlap in my mind. Anyway, since I'm back in the saddle, so-to-speak, I've got to hit you guys with the classic "please leave a comment" shtick. You can say whatever you like: how much you enjoyed the series, what you think would be cool to see in the future for the story, how much you hate and despise me (please not that one, though).