Chapter 114: A Prisoner Has Escaped!
It was when the Dai Li brought food to the cell that they realised that Iroh was missing.
They'd dragged Zuko away to an interrogation room, demanding to know how his cellmate had escaped.
Zuko had just smiled with bloody teeth and said, "A talking cat helped him."
They'd 'questioned' him for nearly an hour, but he only repeated the same statement, or some other variation. By the end of it, his nose was broken, as were two of his ribs and three of his fingers on his right hand.
They'd thrown him back into his cell, even as they continued to search the Catacombs for the missing Firebender.
Toph's ears pricked up when she heard the faint sound of thundering footsteps. They'd taken her Earthbending from her, taken her sight, but her other senses were just as acute as they always were.
"Something's happening." She said to Katara, startling the girl out of the doze she'd fallen into.
"What?" the Waterbender asked.
Toph shook her head. "Don't know. I hear footsteps though, heavy, fast footsteps. Like a lot of people moving, or maybe running, around."
"Maybe Aang and Sokka escaped?" Katara wondered.
The Earthbender snorted. "More likely Iroh and Sparky."
Katara considered this and conceded the point. "True."
Toph sighed. "Whoever it is, they better hurry up and bust us out too."
Katara couldn't help but agree.
Zuko had just laid there, after they sealed him, trying not to breathe too deeply and aggravate his ribs. He'd have to set his fingers and his nose, he knew. Neither would be a pleasant experience.
He started with the fingers; all three were on his right hand, his middle, ring, and little finger. They'd left his thumb and index finger intact. He started with his middle finger and almost blacked out from the pain; he forced himself to remain conscious though, breathing deeply through his nose. Pain was an old friend to him, and he would be broken by a bunch of broken digits.
Setting the other two fingers brought bile into his mouth, which he quickly forced back down.
He forced himself to keep breathing through the pain, pushing it away. He allowed himself a small break when he was done to recover somewhat. Then he did his best to set his nose; a difficult task when he was doing it solely by feel.
To say that resetting it brought tears to his only functioning eye would be an understatement.
After that he laid down as comfortably as he could with broken ribs on an uneven stone floor and he closed his eyes, trying to let himself sleep.
"Of course we'll help," Sister Tin said. "I just don't know how much help we can be."
The Boulder arched an eyebrow at that statement, and opened his mouth to contradict the nun.
She held up a hand and continued, "Yes, we're both Earthbenders, some of us with a lot of fighting experience and others with less so, but we're talking about taking on the Dai Li in an open confrontation here. They're many and we are few."
The Boulder sighed. "The Sister is not wrong."
Iroh nodded. "She is not. Were it just for my own sake, I would not ask this of either of you, of anyone, but it's not for me. It's not even for my Nephew, though I hate to think that I have abandoned him to that place. They have the Avatar, the Bridge Between Worlds. That cannot be allowed to continue."
"The Dragon is correct." Miyuki drawled from her spot atop a table. "There's hardly time to find and train a new Avatar should this one perish, not with the Great Comet approaching so soon."
Iroh nodded again. "My brother will almost certainly have something planned for that, no doubt in the Earth Kingdom."
"You don't think he'd attack the Water Tribes?" Sister Tin asked.
Iroh shook his head. "My father saw to the diminishment of Southern Tribe, and as for the Northern… from my correspondence with Master Pakku, the North was hit badly during the Siege, and Arnook was hit especially hard with the passing of his daughter. As it stands, the Northern Tribe do not pose a substantial threat to Fire Nation supremacy. Not like the Earth Kingdom does."
"So we free the Avatar." The Boulder stated, squaring his broad shoulders.
"Yes. We do." Iroh said.
The door to the teashop opened and closed, and the group turned as one, all of them in fighting stances.
A figure in a green, armoured uniform stood there, war paint on her face. She smiled at the assembled White Lotus members.
"I'm not late, am I?"
Long Feng was irritated to learn of General Iroh's escape, especially so late in the day.
"Why wasn't I informed of this sooner?" He demanded.
The two agents before him exchanged glances. One of them cleared their throats and said, "The, uh, the Captain of the Kyoshi Warriors told us not to bother you. That you were very busy, sir. She said she'd help us find the prisoner."
Long Feng's face darkened considerably. This wasn't the first such report he'd had about the Kyoshi Captain.
"You don't work for the Kyoshi Warriors. You answer to me. Is that understood? Is it?"
The pair chorused, "Yes, sir!"
He nodded. "Good. Get out of my sight. Find the prisoner and fast, before he does too much damage."
The two scurried out of Long Feng's office.
The Captain of the Kyoshi Warriors would have to be brought into line, Long Feng thought. She'd taken to ordering his agents around and, what's more, they obeyed her unquestioningly.
Yes, Long Feng would make her obey.
Azula smiled at the stunned Order members before her. Well, three stunned Order members and a cat that was idling in the sunshine.
"I'm not late, am I?" she asked.
"What are you doing here, Azula?" Iroh asked, voice stern.
"Well, I've heard such interesting things about your little group of friends, Uncle. I thought I might like to meet them. More of them, that is."
"You know of the Order?" The Boulder demanded, muscles flexing.
The Princess eyed him. "Indeed. General Shujo became quite talkative once his grandchildren were facing execution. Strange how that so often happens, isn't it?"
Iroh's face hardened further. "If you have harmed my friend, or his family, then, niece or not, there will be a reckoning."
Azula waved a hand idly, unconcerned by her uncle's threat. "Oh, he's fine. Well, he's in the Boiling Rock for sedition, so he's not 'fine', but he's alive. As for his family, well, banishment from the Home Islands was the only real choice left to us, given his crimes."
The young Firebender wandered further into the teashop and settled herself primly into a chair, still keeping her eyes firmly on the tense Order members before her.
"I ask again then, what do you want?" Iroh said.
"Oh, I told the Dai Li that I'd help them look for a missing prisoner. They're all scurrying around the little tunnels looking for you, but I know you, uncle. You wouldn't linger in such a place for long, not if you had options. I am surprised you left my brother behind, though. Then again, I suppose family has so little meaning left for you now, doesn't it? First Aunt Ikora, then Cousin Lu Ten. Then you walked away from father and myself. It was only a matter of time before dear Zu-Zu felt the sting of your abandonment."
Iroh's fist clenched tight.
Azula's smiled widened a fraction. "Now, now, uncle. We wouldn't want you to ruin that 'wise old sage' routine you're going for. Not in front of your friends here. Whatever would they think? Oh, perhaps they'd think your warmongering days were rearing their head once more?"
The Boulder and Sister Tin exchanged glances before looking to Iroh.
The Boulder stated, "The girl speaks in lies and half-truths. Let us contain her and move on."
Azula laughed. "Oh, you stupid, muscle-bound oaf. You'll find I'm not so easily 'contained'."
The Boulder stepped forward, only to be stopped by Iroh's hand on his bicep. The older man shook his head. "She is correct. We would do well to best her, let alone bind her in place for any length of time."
Turning to his niece he continued, "So, you have found the Dai Li's escaped prisoner, Azula. What do you plan to do now?"
"Now, that is the question, isn't it?"