Avenging Avatar Book 2- Earth

by TheWriterForGod42

After defeating the Fire Nation and starting to master the element of water, Aang, Steve, Sokka, Thor, Momo, Appa, Katara and Natasha all head back to the Earth Kingdom to both look for the remaining three Avengers while trying to find Aang an earthbending teacher. But the combined forces of the Fire Nation and Hydra will throw all they have at the group.

8. Chapter 8: The Chase

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Avatar the Last Airbender or the Avengers (MCU), only the story. Avatar the Last Airbender and its characters belongs to Nickelodeon and Avengers belongs to Marvel. I apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: I sure can't wait to get this chapter done as well as the next. I've got a few surprises planned that I want to show you.

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Katara: Water, Soldier, Mechanist, God, Earth, Fire, Spy, Archer, Monster, Air

(One by one, eight figures do something to show off their skills: the Waterbender weaves a stream of water from the ground, around him and then thrusts it towards the side, the soldier blocks an attack with his shield before throwing it, the mechanist has armor envelope him and then uses the repulsor on his hand to blast something on the side, the god holds a powerful hammer high to summon a bolt of lightning, the Earthbender kicks the ground bringing up a large rock before he kicks it away, the Firebender twists around as she summons fire from her foot before doing a high kick to the ground and makes the flames spread, the spy drops down from above and displays a few moves, the archer rolls across the ground and fires a few arrows, and finally the monster comes down from a jump and smashes his huge fists on the ground, the Airbender drops down and then with a circle of his arms he creates a blast of wind.)

Katara: Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

(Docked on a shore, five Fire Nation ships with the Hydra insignia released their soldiers. With a jump forward and a palm thrust, the firebenders released a wave of fire as the Hydra soldiers used their advanced technology.)

Katara: Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

(The Avatar, a man with a crown on his head and dressed in robes stands on a pillar of stone as he bent the four elements of water, earth, fire and air to show his skill in the arts of bending. After releasing a powerful disk of wind, he disappears from existence.)

Katara: A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar: an Airbender named Aang and met the team called the Avengers.

(The water tribe siblings find a young Airbender frozen in block of ice. After freeing him, they are then joined by heroes called Captain America, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, Clint, and Natasha.)

Katara: And although with the teams help and his airbending skills are great, hehas a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.

(At an Air Nomad path, Aang creates an air scooter and starts to have fun with it. But when he expands his circle a little bit, he runs right into a statue. He rolls over onto his back as all six of the Avengers then poke their heads from behind the statue to check on him.)

Katara: But I believe the Avengers and Aang can save the world.

(Aang, Steve, Katara, Tony, Thor, Bruce, Sokka, Clint, Toph and Natasha stand side by side, looking down at the world on a mountain's peak for a moment as the reader's view is turned upwards to the sun.)

Nickelodeon and Marvel

The Avenging Avatar

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Avatar Roku: Previously, on Avenging Avatar…

"If I want to be able to catch my prey, I need to be agile, nimble and able to move swiftly." Azula jumped back onto her feet before launching a few fireballs at a fleeing Aang on the Omashu slide system, "I need a small, elite team for this mission."

Princess Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Scarlet Widow and Rumlow all moved in unison with each other as they met with Team Avatar.

"Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing. I've got my own way of seeing." When the Blind Bandit moved her right foot into position, a third series of seismic waves were sent out, "I can see with my earthbending."

"You're going to be a great teacher, Toph." Aang and Toph were walking across the bridge. But Toph took it a step further and walked on the stone railing.

Zuko was standing behind his uncle when he said, "I've thought a lot about what you said earlier."

"You did?" Iroh asked, feeling a little better. Turning his head away he nodded, "Good, good."

"And it's helped me realize something." His nephew said, making Iroh smile, thinking that Zuko might be finding the right path. But what Zuko said next caused his smile to fall, "We no longer have anything to gain by traveling together."

"I need to find my own way. I'm sorry, Uncle." Tony watched him go before Zuko and the ostrich horse disappeared into the distance as well.

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Book Two: Earth

Chapter Eight: The Chase

The sun was starting to set over a few mountains as the team were starting to make camp for the night. They had settled in a decent looking spot and started to unpack. Appa gave a low groan while Aang and Bruce handed down a couple of sleeping bags to Clint and Sokka. Toph took a few steps away from Appa and even though she was blind, she liked the spot as she said, "Hey, you guys picked a really great campsite." The blind Earthbender flexed her toes against the white grass, "The grass is really soft here."

"That's not grass-" Sokka said as he turned to her. Glancing to the bison he said, "Appa's just shedding."

"Oh, gross, Appa." Katara complained as she cringed in disgust and raised her leg. Bruce looked about the fur on the ground and said, "And it's surprising to me that we've only been here for five minutes for this much fur."

"And I'd get used to it, Katara." Natasha said with a grin as she walked up to the Waterbender. Aang was in full agreement from his spot in the saddle when he said with a grin, "Yeah, it's not all that gross." A bird landed on his head and a passing butterfly was being chased by Momo as the Airbender said, "You know, rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat."

"Ah, the beauty of spring." Katara jokingly said while Appa chewed some of the fur off his leg. Suddenly, Appa let loose a mighty sneeze and it sent a lot of fur flying. The fur from the sneeze fell to the ground and even more fell when Appa started shaking himself. Katara cringed even more and gagged, "Stop, Appa, stop it!"

"It's not that bad, Katara." Sokka said when the fur stopped falling and everyone looked to the older Water Tribe teen. He was doing something with the fur before facing them with a tall mound of white on his head. The teen had a big grin when he said, "It makes for a great wig."

"And a great beard." Aang added when he joined the others on the ground. They heard Thor's voice say from the other side of Appa, "I'm sorry, but there's only one great beard and that would be from Asgard."

Everyone looked to see the Prince of Asgard walk around the bison to present a long white beard made of bison hair. Mostly everyone was awestruck by the sight. Aang then said, "Wow, that's some major craftsmanship there, Thor."

"Thank you, friend Aang." Thor said as he gently rubbed the fake beard. He looked up as he respectfully said, "I crafted it to look like my father, Odin's beard."

Most of the guys started breaking out with laughter from the silliness. Katara brushed some of the fur off of her sleeve and said, "Me and Nat are just glad that we finally have another girl in the group, because you boys can be disgusting."

"Hey!" Some of the older men said in offence while looking to each other. Toph came walking between Aang and Sokka while asking, "Excuse me, do any of you have a razor," She lifted both her arms and shocked the group with what was under them, "because I got some hairy pits."

Just about everyone broke out into more laughter from the joking around. The hair under his nose made Aang suddenly sneeze. The power from the sneeze knocked Aang into one of Appa's legs while blowing off Sokka, Thor and Toph's fur art. The young Airbender fell to the ground with a large, spikey looking clump of fur on his back. He lifted his head and they all started laughing again. Even Katara giggled a little from the sight.

It was a little later that evening just when the light of the sun started to fade into night. The group were just finishing up making camp. Sokka, Thor and Steve brought back some firewood, Bruce, Natasha and Clint went through their food supplies, Aang used his airbending to help set up the tent with a single gust of wind and Katara was using her waterbending to help out. The young Waterbender happened to look over to the other side of the spot and saw Toph laying on her back with a piece of grass swaying in her mouth. Feeling that Toph could be helping out, Katara got up and walked over to the young Earthbender. When she stood in front of her, Katara said, "So, Toph, usually, when we set up the camp, we try to divide up the work."

"Even though it doesn't always work out." Sokka shouted as he walked with Steve and Thor. Bruce and Clint cast a glance to each other before looking to Nat. But the spy just shook her head as if to say don't ask. Toph, feeling fine where she was, just shrugged and said, "Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go."

"Well, actually, what I'm trying to say is, uh…" Katara said, trying to better explain what she meant by gesturing to a stream, "some of us might go and fetch some water," Then she gestured over to the others as they prepared the camp, "while someone else might help to set up the fire pit or put up the tent."

A chittering Momo came flapping by with something in his back feet. Katara held out her hands and he dropped a few nuts. Katara looked to the flying lemur with a smile when she said, "Even Mom does his fair share around here."

"Katara, I'm just fine." Toph said and removed the piece of grass from her mouth. She flicked it away as she said, "I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire." She patted the bag next to her, "I've already collected my own food, and look…"

She sat up and flexed her arms out to make to slabs of earth appear out of the ground. The shaking startled Katara a little but she was able to calm herself. Toph gestured to the earth made shelter by saying, "My tent's all set up."

"Well, that's great for you and all, but we still need to finish-" Katara said to try and get Toph to help. But the young Earthbender cut her off by arguing, "I don't understand- what's the problem here?"

Both girls gave each other frustrated looks, even though one couldn't see but tell, before Toph used her earthbending to slide into her tent. Katara just sighed and turned to walk away, "Never mind."

Clint, who had heard the whole thing, got up and walked over to the Waterbender as she came back over. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Clint said, "Go easy on her. She's just trying to prove herself out here."

"I guess you do have a point." Katara agreed as she tried to see where Toph was coming from. Looking Clint in the eye she said, "I'll try apologizing later."

"At a girl." Clint said and patted Katara on the back.

…

A little while later, the guys were helping Aang to unload the saddle from Appa's back. Aang stood on Appa's head while Sokka, Steve, Thor, Bruce and Clint all stood on the ground. Sokka motioned for Aang to bring it down. With a step forward and a movement of his arms, Aang was able to lift the saddle off of a snoring Appa's back with a strong wind of airbending. He started to move it towards the five on the ground, but when he let the wind die, the saddle ended up falling on Sokka. The Water Tribe teen cried out when it fell on him and Aang shouted, "Sorry!"

"Come on!" Steve said as he, Aang and the others moved to help Sokka up.

Katara and Natasha had been watching scene before the latter looked in a certain direction. She lightly nudged Katara and it made the young Waterbender look to her. Natasha gestured with her head and suggested, "Maybe it's time to try to talk to Toph?"

Katara looked over to Toph and thought about earlier and knew that it was best to try and make an effort. Katara set the pot of water in her hands and smiled, "Yeah, I think it is."

Katara walked over to Toph while Natasha watched from her spot. Katara saw that Toph was eating one of her rations and said, "Hey, Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier." She rubbed the back of her head as she thought about it, "I think we're all just a little bit tired and getting on each other's nerves."

"Yeah," Toph said after swallowing her bite, "you do seem pretty tired."

Her words caught Katara off guard and even Natasha had heard what she said. Katara's mood soured a little and she said, "I meant all of us."

"Well, good night." Toph said and threw the remainder of her meal away. Then without another word, Toph crawled into her earth tent and laid down on her front. Katara shrugged, "Good night."

Katara cast one more glance at the sleeping Toph before walking back to the others. Katara walked up to Nat and quietly said, "Can you believe that?"

"Somewhat yes, actually." Natasha said as they walked to the others. Clint happened to notice them coming up and asked, "So, how'd it go?"

"She went and tried." Natasha shrugged. But then with a shake of her head, "But it didn't turn out like she thought."

"Well, she'll come around." Clint said when he looked to the tent and back at the two. Nat then said, "Let's just try and get some rest. Maybe things will be better in the morning."

Katara just nodded and followed after the two to finish up.

…

Much later that evening, the entire group was sleeping under the stars. But over with Toph's earth tent, the young girl was sleeping soundly. That is, until she could sense the vibrations of something coming towards them and awoke with a gasp. Moving to where she could sat on her hands and knees, Toph felt the ground and kept an ear out. Though it was far away, she could definitely sense it coming up fast. Quickly getting out of her earth tent, Toph shouted, "Wake up, you guys! There's something coming towards us!"

Her shouting caused everyone to wake up and look to the young girl. They saw her running to them and rose to their feet. Aang sat up on Appa's leg and asked, "What is it, Toph?"

"What do you sense?" Thor asked as he, Steve and Clint all started to look around. Toph kneeled to the ground and felt the earth again. Her friends started to gather around her as she could feel it coming. She found it a little weird when she said, "It feels kind of like an avalanche." But with a shake of her head, "But it's not an avalanche."

"Your powers of perception are truly frightening." Sokka sluggishly commented. Clint shook his head, "No, if Toph senses something wrong, we should take her word for it."

"Should we leave, or meet this head on?" Katara asked, wondering what they should do. Bruce shook his head, "And yet we have no idea what we're going to be facing."

"Could it be that?" Thor asked and pointed in a certain direction. Everyone who could looked in the direction to see a faraway column of smoke heading in their direction. Thor then placed his hand against his ear and said, "And if you listen, you can hear something in the distance."

Everyone became quiet and did hear an odd sound coming from the direction of the smoke column. Aang then said, "I think we should get out of here. Better to be safe than sorry."

"Then we'd better hurry." Steve said before they moved to get their camp site up.

When everything was accounted for and placed back onto Appa, Aang flicked the reins while Thor Mjolnir forward and flew that way to lighten the load a little. When they were above the trees, they noticed the smoke column getting closer and could see something approaching. They were all curious about it as Katara asked, "What is that thing?"

"Even from here," Bruce said as he looked at the coming object, "It looks to be pretty big and fast."

Far behind them, the column of smoke came from a large metal tank charged across the plains to the forest.

…

The moon was starting to be covered by clouds as Appa growled as he flew through the air. It had been a few hours since they had left their camp to get away from whatever was coming at them. Just about everyone yawned from how tired they were. Aang fought to keep his eyes open as he flew while everyone in the saddle tried to stay awake as well.

They soon came over another forest and Aang steered Appa to land. When the bison landed in a decent looking spot, Thor landed next to the bison. But before anything was said and done, Toph leapt out of the saddle and jumped to the ground as she cried with joy, "Ah, land, sweet land."

"You like the dirt a little too much, Toph." Clint cracked as he jumped from the saddle and helped Natasha and Katara down. Toph laughed a little before rising to her feet again. With a big smile she said, "See you guys in the morning."

"Actually, can you help us unload, please?" Katara asked right as Toph started walking. Even the Avengers happened to notice how quick Toph was willing to settle down. Toph turned and asked, "Really? You need my help to unload Sokka's funky smelling sleeping bag?"

Sokka happened to take said sleeping bag from Aang and took a few sniffs. It was indeed funky smelling as it caused the teen to groan in disgust. Both Thor and Steve recoiled a little when they could smell a faint trace. Sokka fell to the ground with a blush as Katara started walking over, "Well, yeah, it would be nice if you did. That and with everything else.

"You're a part of our team now and…" Katara started to remind. But Toph had a slight attitude when she pointed at Katara and argued, "Look, I didn't ask any of you to unload my stuff."

"Toph, come on." Clint said as he came over to help alleviate the tensions. But Toph seemed a bit stubborn when she said, "Clint, I'm carrying my own weight, remember."

"That isn't the point!" Katara angrily said with her hands on her hips as she could feel her frustrations with the Earthbender starting to rise. Marching up to the younger girl she said, "Ever since you and Clint joined our group, mostly it's been you that's been selfish and unhelpful."

"What?!" Toph questioned as she turned and felt the accusation outrageous. Pointing a finger right in Katara's face she said, "Look here, Sugar Queen, I gave up everything I had to keep my friendship with Clint together and to teach Aang earthbending." Katara, not liking the finger in her face, was about to say something when Toph turned her head to her and said, "So don't you dare talk to me about being selfish."

Then with another movement of her arms while sitting down, Toph created another tent made of earth. Katara glared down at the girl and questioned, "Sugar Queen?!"

She flinched when a triangular door of earth sprung up. She found it outrageous when she questioned, "Di-Did you just slam the door right in my face?

"How can you be so infuriating?" Katara angrily questioned as she pounded on the door or kicked the sides of the tent. From back by Appa, everyone had watched the whole scene. And while one or two found it a little amusing, the others were worried when Aang asked, "Should we go and do something?"

"You can if you want to." Bruce tiredly said, knowing that it was better not to get involved. Sokka looked to his friend and said, "Hey, I'm just enjoying the show."

"Here. Just in case." Steve said and handed Aang his shield. Aang took it, and knew what Steve was implying. With a deep breath, he walked over to the angered Katara as she was pounding on the stone door, "Okay, okay."

Katara stopped as she tensely glanced back to him with a glare. Aang then made a calming motion with his hands and said, "You both need to calm down, all right."

"Both?" Katara asked as if she weren't the one needing to calm down. She turned around and shouted with a crazed look in her tired eyes, "I'm completely calm!"

Her outburst completely shocked those watching from the back as well as Aang. Katara panted from both being tired and her ordeal with Toph. Seeing that there was no reasoning with her right now, Aang nodded, "I think we can all see that."

Then placing the Vibranium shield in front of him, Aang started to scoot away from the crazed and tired Waterbender.

"Well, this is going to be a long night." Natasha huffed from how the night was turning. Bruce looked to her and asked, "Then why do I feel like it's just getting started."

Every one of the Avengers and Sokka groaned at the thought of Bruce jinxing them.

…

Once again, the group had gotten themselves settled for the night and were trying to get some sleep. Steve, Bruce, Thor, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Natasha and Clint all slept in a row while Toph was all by herself in her tent. Well, most were asleep as Katara way lying on her back and looked up into the sky. Then she jabbed at the person she was mad at, "The stars sure are beautiful tonight."

Just about everyone cracked an eye just as she said, "Too bad you can't see them, Toph!"

Everyone heard a grunt coming from Toph's earth tent and a trail of earth headed right for the group. But instead of going right at Clint and Natasha, it went around them and sent Katara's sleeping bag with her in it flying through the air with a scream. The Waterbender ended up falling on Sokka and it caused everyone to sit up. Lifting his sibling off of him, he set her to the side and angrily questioned, "Hey, how's anyone supposed to get any sleep with all this yelling," He looked over to the earth tent, "and earthquaking?!"

"In all honesty, this is starting to get old." Bruce said as he rubbed his eyes. Even Steve gave Katara an annoyed look when he said, "And that wasn't a decent thing to say Katara."

"She started it." Katara defended herself and crossed her arms. The others just groaned from this. The door to Toph's earth tent suddenly lowered and she stuck her head out and warned, "That thing is back again!"

"What?" Most of the group yelled in shock. But a tired Sokka asked, "Well, how far away is it?" He pulled his sleeping bag over his head, "Maybe we can just close our eyes just for a few short minutes?"

The sounds of the thing made Aang, Katara and the Avengers look to their right and they saw a familiar column of smoke coming towards them. Aang shook his head, "I don't think so, Sokka."

"Let's move, people." Steve said and once again, everyone moved to get everything up.

When they had everything once again packed up and on Appa again, Aang flicked the reins again while Thor once again took off with Mjolnir. Appa growled as he and Thor once again flew through the air to get away from the smoking column.

From far behind them, the tank continued to follow after them as it sped across the plains through the night.

While Bruce and Sokka were at least attempting to get a little sleep, Katara, Natasha and Toph all faced the rear of the saddle as they were wondering about what the thing was. Looking between Toph and Natasha Katara asked them, "Seriously, just what is that thing?"

"And how does it keep finding us?" Toph asked a very good question. Natasha then deduced, "It's probably something from the Fire Nation and Hydra. No way that the Earth Kingdom would have something like that in their arsenal."

"Well, we can't let it catch us." Steve said as they were looking at the column of smoke. Aang turned ahead and said, "And I'll make sure that we lose whoever they are."

With another flick of the reins, Aang made Appa start flying a little faster.

…

Aang flew Appa into a more mountainous region with Thor following not far behind. Aang steered Appa to land on a flat spot on the side of a mountain. The bison landed before falling onto his side and the group cried out as they fell onto the ground. Quickly wrapping himself in his sleeping bag, Sokka began moving like an inch worm and said, "Okay, forget about setting up the camp this time. I'm just going to find a nice, soft pile of dirt and going to sleep."

"That's good, because Toph wasn't going to help out anyway." Katara said and pulled her sleeping bag under her head. This caused a few groans from the others. Toph shot back by saying, "Oh, I didn't realize that baby still needed someone to tuck her into bed."

"Come on, you guys." Aang tiredly said. He just wanted to get some rest as he pointed out, "There's something after us and we don't know who or what it is."

He pulled his over shirt over his face as a way to bring more darkness to his rest. Katara's mood changed a little as she wondered, "It could be Zuko. We haven't seen him since the North Pole."

"Highly doubt that." Natasha said as she closed her eyes. With a yawn she pointed out, "If he wasn't apart of the invasion, then maybe he doesn't have the Fire Nation backing him up."

"You do have a point." Steve said as he tried to get comfortable. He looked to his left and saw Bruce using his shield as a pillow. The super soldier gave his friend a questioning look and asked, "You're really going to use that?"

"I'm too tired to complain." Bruce said as he tried to get comfortable. Toph then asked, "Who's Zuko?"

"Yeah, some of us are still a little in the dark about everything going on." Clint added as he leaned against Appa's back. Sokka raised his head and said, "Oh, he's just some angry freak with a ponytail, and he worked with Steve's best friend to hunt us down all over the world."

"What's wrong with ponytails, ponytail?" Katara asked when she turned to him as he put his face to the dirt. Sokka pointed to his hair and corrected, "This is a warrior's wolf tail."

"Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky." Katara said as she laid back with a grin while a few of the others chuckled. Sokka raised his head again with a slight look to his sister but chose to not get into it. He tried to be a little optimistic when he said, "Anyway, whoever's been chasing after us, they couldn't have followed us all the way here.

"Now, would everyone just," Sokka tiredly rose to sit up. He placed a finger to his lips and he said, "shush?"

He laid back down and tried to sleep. Even Thor thought it was a good idea, "I agree with you, Sokka."

But before they could even think about getting some rest, Momo started chattering and ran over to Sokka. The lemur sat on Sokka's stomach and started frantically chattering. But Sokka just patted the lemur's head and said, "No, Momo. Shh." A grin formed on the teen's face when he said, "Sleepy time."

But Momo continued to seem upset as he ran over Sokka's head. Everyone seemed to tell that something was wrong as they looked to the lemur. Momo's ears rose and fell as he could hear something and looked back to the group with a screech. Sokka's face fell when he planted it in the dirt and whined, "Oh, don't tell me!"

"But that's impossible." Aang said, knowing that they put a great deal of distance between them and their chasers. He shook his head, 'There's no way they could have tracked us all the way here."

"I can feel it with my own two feet." Toph said as she could in fact feel the vibrations in the ground. Everyone but Sokka ran up to the edge where Momo was to see the familiar column of smoke appear on the mountain range.

They watched as the tank climbed onto a path and came right at them. Not feeling like they should stay and fight, Katara suggested, "Let's get out of here."

"Nay." Thor shook his head. Pointing to the tank with Mjolnir he said, "We already ran away from it twice. I say we face it head on. We'll get a few answers that way."

"What do you guys think?" Natasha asked the rest. Aang shrugged and said, "It could work. Plus, who knows? Maybe they're friendly."

"Always the battle ready or the optimist." Sokka commented while looking between the two.

The tank finally stopped moving a few yards from the group and the doors to both cars opened up. In the second car, a trio of lizards with riders on their backs came out. The lizards snarled as they came forth. A few shapes exited the first car and walked behind the riders and their lizards. The majority of the group was very shocked to see Princess Azula, her friends and a good deal of the Hydra team.

With a flick of their reins, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee sent their lizards forward while Scarlet Widow, Rumlow, Abomination and the guy in the bug suit walked forward as well. A very worried Katara said, "It's that group from Omashu!"

"And it looks like they've picked up a few friends as well." Natasha said as she noticed the increase in numbers. Everyone prepared themselves for battle. Toph was confident when she said, "We can take them. It's seven against eight."

"Actually, Toph, there's nine of us." Sokka corrected, thinking that she had miscounted. Toph gave a light chuckle and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Sokka. I didn't count you-" Everyone looked to her as she said, "you know, no bending and all."

"I can still fight!" An annoyed Sokka shouted with a comical looking angry face. Toph then corrected herself, "Okay, seven against eight, plus Sokka."

That caused Sokka to once again have a comically annoyed looking face as it turned red. Pulling on his hood, Captain America said, "Look alive, you guys here they come!"

Indeed the group chasing them were picking up the pace as they were rushing towards the team. Toph started it off by shaking her arms forward and large jagged stones of earth moved in front of the incoming team. While the three's lizards were able to avoid or find a way around, Abomination smashed his way through a few, the guy in the bug suit blasted a small shot that sent him flying backwards and Scarlet Widow and Rumlow were able to avoid the rocks as well.

Everyone ducked down from the shot and when they all stood back up, Sokka said, "Well, we wanted to find out who was chasing us and now we know."

"I hate to say it, but we need to call for a tactical retreat." Natasha said as she started firing her stingers while Clint loosed a few arrows. Cap nodded and said, "Yeah, that might be for the best."

"Then I will provide us with some cover." Thor said before raising Mjolnir high into the air. A bolt of lightning came down on the hammer and Thor directed it at the incoming enemy. He released the bolt of lighting and it hit the ground in front of the group causing their advance to stop. The Asgardian looked to Toph and said, "Keep them away from us, please."

"Aye, aye, Hammer Head." Toph said with a teasing smirk before raising a rock wall between the two groups. But before the wall could get too high, Thor was twirling Mjolnir very fast before throwing it right towards the tank.

Mjolnir went sailing past Azula's group and they all turned to see it crash right into the engine of the tank. The powerful hammer left a massive dent that caused a few pieces to fall off while making the contraption fall over as well with a loud crash. Princess Azula didn't take too kindly as she began preparing a bolt of lightning with her finger tips before firing at the wall. The bolt caused a huge explosion that allowed everyone through. Scarlet Widow was once again firing her own stingers as most of the group were getting onto Appa's back. Mai let loose a few arrows at Toph and Thor shouted, "Toph in front of you!"

Toph responded by raising the earth from underneath her and the arrows embedded themselves on the bottom. She landed in the saddle where both Clint and Natasha both held on to her. Seeing that his friends were all safe, Thor reached his hand out and summoned Mjolnir back to him. The magic hammer responded by tearing itself from the wreckage and flying right back at him. The hammer ended up hitting the guy in the bug suit from behind and he fell to the ground with a groan. When Mjolnir was back in his hand, Thor quickly twirled it before launching from the ground just as Aang snapped the reins, "Yip, yip!"

The team was able to make it out of there just when Azula threw another fire ball at them. Azula and her team watched the Avatar, the Avengers and their friends get away. The guy in the bug suit got back up and said, "Well that could have ended in disaster."

"Ergh!" Abomination roared as he knocked the smaller man away. The guy in the bug suit looked up and Abomination glared down, "It did end in disaster! Not only have the Avatar and his friends gotten away, but the transport is also wrecked!"

"Calm yourself, Blonsky." Azula ordered and they looked to the Fire Nation princess. Azula then said, "Though we may have suffered somewhat of a loss with the tank, that doesn't mean that we aren't capable of tracking after them ourselves."

"That's true." Scarlet Widow agreed with her. Azula then ordered, "Blonsky, since you'll be able to keep up with them a lot better than we can, follow after them. When they've stopped, meet back up with us."

"Very well." Abomination said before leaping away in the direction of the fleeing bison and his passengers. Azula looked to the rest of them and said, "As for the rest of us, we shall continue on foot."

"Don't suppose there's enough room on the lizard's huh?" Ty Lee asked. They looked to her and she said, "Well, to be fair, we want to be at full strength when we want to catch up to them right?"

"Fair point, Ty Lee." Azula agreed and motioned to the Hydra agents. Scarlet Widow sat behind Azula while Rumlow joined with Ty Lee. Mai watched as the guy in the bug suit was the last one and she sarcastically said, "Great, I get strong silent type."

The guy in the bug suit slumped his shoulders before all three Fire Nation girls flicked their reins and the lizards took off after Abomination and their targets.

\_|_/

A tired Appa once again flew through the sky and his eyes started to droop. Everyone in the saddle were also really tired, but managed to stay awake for the time being. Katara thought about their encounter and said, "I can't believe that those guys followed us all the way from Omashu."

"I still say we could have taken 'em." Toph said, feeling really ticked off at not having the chance of fighting them. Katara looked to the young Earthbender and said, "Are you kidding me?" She remembered how crazy their first fight was and said, "The crazy blue firebending and the flying daggers from two of those girls was bad enough, but last time we faced them the third one did something that took my bending away. That's really scary."

"And now they have two more people on their side." Steve said as he thought about it with his tired mind. Shaking his head he said, "That's going to make it more difficult. Not to mention that there are still a few others out there."

"And even if you, me and Thor aren't all that tired like the others, we're still at a disadvantage." Bruce added. The sun started to rise in the east, and Sokka groaned, "Oh, no, the sun is rising. It means we've been up all night with no sleep."

"Sokka, we'll be okay." Aang tried to encourage as the Water Tribe teen's arm became limp. This seemed to only make Sokka panic as he questioned to the Airbender, "Are you sure?!" He looked and sounded like a crazy person, "I've never not slept before." He held his face and questioned, "What if I fall asleep right now and something crazy happens?" He became hysterical when he pointed out, "And something always happens!"

"Sokka, keep it together." Bruce said with a light slap to the teen's face. Sokka took a deep breath and was able to calm himself a little.

"Every time we land somewhere, those girls are practically always there." Katara said. Then she deduced, "So, we'll just have to keep flying."

"That plan will only work for so long." Clint argued, knowing they couldn't stay up here much longer. From his spot on Appa's head, Aang agreed, "We can't just keep flying forever."

\_|_/

Far behind the group, Abomination continued leaping great distances thanks to his mutated state. And even though they were still a great ways away from him, the gamma monster could feel that he was getting closer to his enemies.

\_|_/

Even further behind him, Azula's group passed through an open meadow as they continued following after Blonsky and the group. Thanks to Thor destroying their tank, the six were a great deal behind both Blonsky and their targets. But Azula didn't seem to be bothered by this little set back.

But unbeknownst to them, an ostrich horse was following after the lizards. His mount was squawking as it followed the six. Zuko raised his head as he knew that his sister was chasing after the Avatar and the Avengers. Though he did wish that he had his uncle, Tony or Nikol, or now known as Loki, with him. But he didn't know where any of them were at the moment. But Zuko knew one thing for sure, he wasn't going to let his sister get to the Avatar before he did.

\_|_/

The group had been flying for another hour or two more as Aang let out a loud yawn. It seemed to spread up to the saddle as there were a few more yawns. Aang then asked, "So, what's our plan?"

"Don't know. Too tired to think." Toph said as she held on to the saddle. Nat then added, "And we won't get anything until we've rested."

"So maybe we should all just take a quick nap and then we'll come up with something." Katara suggested with a big grin. Everyone in the saddle seemed content as Sokka smiled too, "Yes. Sleep."

Everyone seemed to be comfortable as they closed their eyes. But it all turned sideways as everyone seemed to lift up from the basket. They all held on as Toph shouted, "What's going on?"

"Appa fell asleep." Aang said the reason of why they were plummeting. They all screamed as they plummeted down to the waiting ground.

Thor had landed on the ground and was about to take off again when he heard the sound of screaming coming from above. The Asgardian's eyes widened when he saw the falling bison. Quickly twirling his hammer, Thor launched himself to his friend's aid. When he made it to the falling and sleeping Appa, Thor grabbed onto the saddle and tried to use Mjolnir to slow the bison's fall by holding the strap tightly and throwing it away from him. The action only seemed to tilt the sleeping bison as he fell from the sky. But the group kept falling to the ground. Bruce looked to Aang and shouted, "Aang, you might want to hurry and do something!"

Aang nodded and climbed down to Appa's head. Sokka held Katara closely while Steve kept a grip on Nat who grabbed Bruce's hand while Clint held on to Toph. When he reached Appa's face, the upside down Aang shouted, "Wake up, buddy!"

They all continued to scream as they fell closer to the ground. But luckily for them, Appa's eyes opened and he was able to take flight again. Everyone grunted in slight pain when they hit against the saddle before keeping a grip when Appa went forward again. But due to him being so very tired, he could only stay at tree level and crashed through the tops. Everyone cried out again as they held on for dear life. It wasn't long until Appa crashed into the ground and created a giant rut through the dirt. A flock of birds were scared off from the excitement while Appa fell back asleep.

The bison snored away while all his passengers started to dismount from the saddle. Aang slid off his head and could feel what his friend was feeling, "Appa's exhausted you guys."

"Okay, I think we've put a great deal of distance between us and them." Sokka said as the group walked a few feet away from the slumbering bison. The teen then made a really good suggestion by saying, "The plan right now is to follow with Appa's lead and get some sleep."

"I think we can all agree on that." Clint said as they started to lay down. But Katara was quick to say as she looked in a certain someone's direction, "Of course, we could have gotten some sleep earlier if Toph didn't have such issues."

Toph who had begun to sleep, opened her eyes when Katara started talking about her, and became really ticked off by what the Waterbender said. She jumped up onto her knees and clenched the ground with earthbending when she when she questioned, "What?"

"Ugh." The Avengers said as they knew that this was just going to start another argument. Aang stood up and tried to stop the fight before it could start, "All right, all right. Everyone's exhausted."

"Mostly everyone." Thor said as he still had a little strength. Even though both Steve and Bruce still felt a little alright, they did feel a little tired. Aang just shook his head and still said, "Let's just get some rest."

"Some how I don't think we're going to get that at the moment." Clint said as he rolled over onto his back. He looked at Katara when he said, "If someone wouldn't open her mouth at the wrong time."

"Even though it's a true point." Katara shot back at the archer. Even Bruce agreed with Katara, "To be fair, Toph could have gotten up to help with what she could do."

"You guys think I have issues?" Toph angrily questioned to the two. Katara had a slight grin when she said, "I'm just saying, maybe if you had helped out earlier, at the first two campsites, we could have gotten some sleep." Her crazed look returned when she said, "And then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"Cut it out, you guys." Steve said, trying to calm them. Thor happened to notice that Sokka was ignoring the fight by lying down on his sleeping bag. But Steve's didn't seem to work as Toph angrily questioned, "You're blaming me for what's happening?!"

"Maybe we are." Katara angrily shot back. Toph angrily started marching up to the Waterbender who threw her sleeping bag down and motioned for Toph to bring it, knowing that Toph could sense it. Aang quickly got in the middle and said, "No, no. They're not blaming you."

"No. I am going to blame her." Katara said, making the situation worse. Toph responded by shoving Aang into Appa and was about to say something when Mjolnir came crashing into the ground between her and Katara. They all looked to Thor who had tossed his hammer between them. Looking between the girls he said, "This argument has gone on long enough." Moving between them he said, "You both need to stop casting the blame or not taking responsibility."

"Responsibility?" Toph angrily questioned the Asgardian. Pointing to herself with her thumb she said, "I'm not the one who's got a problem with how I do things. Like I've been saying, I carry my own weight.

"Besides, if there's anyone to take responsibility or the blame, it's sheddy over here." Toph said and pointed at the sleeping bison. This caused a few wide eyes as Aang questioned, "What? You're blaming Appa?"

"Yeah, I've finally figured out how they've been finding us." Toph said as she walked up to Appa's leg. Gently removing a few strands of fur from the bison, she let the wind blow them from her hand as she said, "He's been leaving a trail everywhere we go."

"That would explain some things." Natasha said aloud as she placed a hand to her chin. She then noticed odd stares coming her way and she apologized, "Sorry. Not helping, I know."

"How dare you blame Appa, Toph. He's already saved your life three time today." Aang said and jumped down from the bison. Becoming angry he pointed at the Earthbender and said, "If there's anyone to blame here, it's you! You're always talking about how you're carrying your own weight but you're not!" Pointing to Appa he said, "He is! Appa's carrying your weight! He never had a problem flying when it was just the seven of us!"

His words really seemed to sting both Toph and Clint. But the Earthbender just turned and walked over to her stuff. With a kick to the ground she said, "I'm out of here."

Toph's kick caused her bag to fly into her arms and she placed it over her head. Clint got up and said, "Wait up, Toph. I'm right behind you."

But before they could take even ten steps, Sokka moved in front of them with his arms stretched out, "Wait, you guys."

Toph just slightly kicked the ground to the side and it caused Sokka to slide to the side. He whimpered as he hardly understood what just happened and turned to watch them go. Steve just sighed before looking to Thor and asking, "Thor, please go with them."

"Worry not." Thor said as he picked Mjolnir up off the ground and followed after the two.

Unbeknownst to the group, Abomination had landed a few miles on a mountain when the bison was starting to plummet from the sky. Seeing where there targets were and hearing a little of the commotion, the giant mutant started making his way back to the rest of his group.

\_|_/

Many miles back, Appa's fur continued to fall from the sky as the lizard's with their riders came running by. As they kept on the trail of the bison, Azula happened to see a large shape bounding through the air towards them. A smirk grew on her face as she knew that he had something.

\_|_/

Back at the crash site, Aang looked up into the air with big sad eyes and shouted, "What did I just do?" He slumped against Appa as he felt really terrible, "I can't believe that I yelled at my earthbending teacher." Hanging his head in shame he said, "Now she's gone."

"I know. We're all just trying to get used to each other." Katara said as she rubbed her arm with guilt. She did feel bad when she said, "And I was so mean to her."

"I didn't exactly help." Bruce said as he took a deep breath. Aang lifted his head and said, "And I basically insulted Clint at the same time."

"Yeah, you three were pretty much jerks." Sokka said as he had a cup of water in his hands. That caused a lot of stares going his way and Katara deadpanned, "Thanks, Sokka."

"No, problem." Sokka turned and nodded to them before taking a sip from his cup. Steve then looked to them and said, "But he's not wrong." Looking to her he said, "Like you said, we're trying to get used to each other." Gesturing to Bruce he said, "We were able to get along with Bruce and Thor because we've been together a lot longer.

"But Toph and Clint have only been with us for a few days." Steve pointed out, "It's going to take just a little longer."

"I know." Katara said as she knew that they had a point. Natasha looked to Bruce and said, "I guess that it was a good thing that the Other Guy hadn't come out during all that, huh?"

"Yeah, which is a little weird coming from me." Bruce nodded. He looked to Steve and asked the super soldier, "So, what's our next move."

"It should be to find Toph, Thor and Clint. Then the three of us need to apologize to them and work things out." Katara said and helped Aang to his feet. Sokka turned to them and said, "Okay, there's a plan," He turned away again when he asked, "but what are we going to do about the group of dangerous people chasing us?"

"That's a good point." Natasha nodded. Looking amongst the group she said, "We're all still pretty tired with a night of no sleep and we're down by threw members."

"Don't worry we'll think of something." Bruce tried to reassure. Aang grabbed a handful of fur from Appa and let the wind blow it from his hand. An idea came to him and he said with a grin, "I have a plan, you guys."

"Lay it on us." Steve said, feeling that he did have a plan.

…

The team had gotten Appa to wake up again, but instead of flying they guided him into the river. The flying bison groaned as he laid down in the flowing water while the team got to work. Both Aang and Katara used waterbending to spray him while Sokka, Momo and the Avengers used brushes to help out. Momo moved onto Appa's head to scrub a little, but screeched in fear when one of the spouts of water came right at him. The flying lemur to off and a surprised Sokka looked up. He groaned when the water came over him.

…

When they had finished, the group brought the freshly bathed sky bison out of the river. Sokka lightly grumbled as he took off his shirt and wrung the water out of it. Aang looked to the others and said, "Toph was right. Appa's shedding fur was leaving a trail that led right to us. But now that he's clean, no more fur."

"Are you sure that he's going to be okay to fly?" Katara asked him, worried about Appa being tired. Aang nodded and said, "He should be fine as long as we leave his saddle and all of our stuff here."

"Which we managed to hide, just in case." Steve said when he and Bruce returned from doing the task. Aang then walked over to a Water Tribe bag and some fur on the ground as he explained, "I'm going to use Appa's fur to make a fake trail and lead the Hydra team off course.

"And I need you five to stick together to find Toph, Clint and Thor." Aang said to the five. Natasha then asked, "Are you sure that you want to go alone?"

"She makes a good point." Bruce spoke up. Then he said the worst case scenario, "What if they capture you?"

"I'll be careful. I promise." Aang said and his friends all looked to each other. Though they didn't like it, they decided to trust in Aang's judgement. Sokka, Katara, Steve, Natasha, Bruce and Momo all boarded onto Appa's back. With a flick of the reins, the Sky Bison took off and crashed through the tops of a few trees.

Aang watched them go before turning the other direction and taking off in the opposite direction. As he flew through the air, Aang watched as the fur in the bag started to fall to the ground before looking ahead again.

…

In another part of the forest, Toph, Clint and Thor all walked side by side. Though she was hoping that it would just be her and Clint, Toph didn't say or do anything to make the Asgardian prince leave. The three walked together in silence until Toph stopped when she sensed something. Neither of the other two said anything as Toph turned her feet to her right. With a stomp of her right foot, Toph sent a wave of earth towards a large grey rock. But the attack went around it and they heard it connect with someone, "Uh!"

All three ran up the rock and looked down to see who it was. What they could see or sense was an old man in green Earth Kingdom robes rubbing his backside. He groaned in pain, "That really hurt my tailbone."

"Oh, so sorry." Toph said as they rushed down the rock. Toph helped the old man, who was actually Iroh, to his feet and said, "I thought you were an attacker or something."

"No, no." Iroh waved his hand, thinking little of the startle. He then looked in wonder when he said, "Perhaps I should not have been walking to make myself look menacing."

He happened to notice Toph's eyes and added, "Or be sensed as something menacing."

"Is there anything we can do to make amends, good sir." Thor offered, wanting to make things right between them. But Iroh just smiled and said, "I won't hold this against you three. But if you might enjoy a cup of tea with me, I'd be delighted."

"I'm not much of a man for tea, I'm afraid." Thor said, never really liking the taste of it. But Iroh just smiled when he said, "Well, you just haven't found the right cup, my friend."

"But why are you offering us tea when we knocked you down?" Clint asked, not really understanding why Iroh was being nice instead of angry. Iroh chuckled when he said, "I find that sharing a nice cup of tea is one of many perfect ways to calm tensions between people."

"I guess a cup wouldn't hurt." Toph said and the other two agreed, even though one wasn't too keen with it. Iroh just smiled and the four walked off together.

\_|_/

Back at the river, Azula's group had finally arrived where the group had crashed. But when they couldn't see any sign of the heroes, the Scarlet Widow said, "Perhaps they were able to collect themselves a lot faster than we thought."

"But they left a lot of clues." Rumlow said as Princess Azula walked to the river. A great deal of the Sky Bison's fur was gathered around the rocks in the river or in the stiller spots. Azula bent down and picked a few strands out of the water as Mai said, "Wads of wet fur." Then she sarcastically added, "How delightful."

"They're not wads. They're more like bundles, or bunches?" Ty Lee said, making everyone look to her. Azula rose to her feet as she looked around for more clues. She scratched her head as she thought about it, "It's got an 'uh' sound to it."

"Is this really what we're going to talk about?" Scarlet Widow question with an annoyed look. Mai looked to the older woman with a slight glare before looking to Ty Lee and offering, "Clumps?"

"Clumps!" Ty Lee excitedly said with clasped hands as she knew that was the right word. She ran over and embraced Mai, who wasn't that enthusiastic about it. But the embrace happened to make Mai look in a certain direction and she noticed another trail of fur leading away from the river. Looking over to Azula she pointed, "The trail goes this way, Azula."

Azula rose from her investigation and looked in the direction that the trail went. But it didn't sit well with her as she looked about again. The Fire Nation princess happened to notice the damaged trees and her eyes narrowed when she pieced it together. Looking back to her group she said, "The Avatar and the Avengers are trying to give us the slip."

"And given the state the trees are in, that's the direction that the bison went." Rumlow said. Scarlet Widow looked in the fake trail's direction and said, "Meaning this is either the Avatar himself or Thor have gone this way."

"We have two leads. And we won't leave either of them unchecked." Princess Azula said. Pointing behind her she said, "Mai, Ty Lee, Rumlow, Scarlet Widow and Beetle…"

The guy in the bug suit slumped his shoulders at the name. But he did listen when Azula said, "You head in that direction and keep your eye out for the bison."

"And you?" Scarlet Widow asked with a raised brow. Azula walked up to the fake trail and said, "Blonsky and I will follow this one."

"And whoever the person is at the end will meet his end." Abomination sadistically said. As they quickly went back to their lizards, Mai said, "This time, I get the Scarlet Widow."

"Then I call Ty Lee again." Rumlow said as the four climbed on. The three lizards snarled as they were mounted by their riders. The guy in the bug suit once again slumped his shoulders as he ran after the four. Both Azula and Abomination watched them go for a moment before charging down the other path. But before they got too far, Princess Azula ordered, "Go ahead of me. And wait for my arrival."

"Yes, Princess Azula." Abomination said before leaping away. Azula watched the Gamma Abomination Monster leapt over large distances to their target, whoever it may be.

\_|_/

Aang had flown over a great distance and Appa's fur continued to fall from his bag. As he flew, Aang hoped that his friends were alright and that they had found Toph, Clint and Thor by now. But he shook his head as he fought to stay focused in trying to lead Azula and her forces away from his friends. He soon flew over a more desolate looking part of the country and saw a small town up ahead. Aang figured he could end the trail there.

When he came to the edge of the town, Aang landed before twirling his glider back into his staff. He allowed the fur to fall from his bag as he walked deeper into the abandoned town. Old bells chimed from the wind as Aang looked about. The young Airbender could tell that this place had been abandoned for quite a while.

When he reached the middle of the abandoned town, Aang dumped the remaining fur on the ground. When it was empty, Aang dropped the bag before twirling his staff back into his glider. But before taking off, Aang thought about it for a moment and decided to take a stand and face their foes. He turned to the entrance of the town before twirling his glider back and sitting down in the lotus position. Placing his staff on his lap, Aang waited for his chasers to catch up.

\_|_/

The sun was starting to once again go down as Appa flew over the forest. The group had been searching for their three friends for a little while now, but hadn't seen any sign of them. As they looked about, Sokka said, "They couldn't have made it too far. We just need to keep our eyes peeled."

"There's gotta be some kind of sign." Natasha said as she looked about. Suddenly a chittering Momo started hissing and Sokka looked over as he asked, "What is it, Momo-

"Oh, no!" Sokka yelled with a slightly comical look. His shout alerted the others as he looked back and said, "Guys! We have company!"

"How did they find us?" Katara questioned before giving a snap of the reins. Appa started to go a little faster with a low growl. Mai and Ty Lee snapped their reins as well and their lizards went faster as well with a snarl.

Down below, both Mai and the Scarlet Widow fired some of their respective weapons at the Sky Bison. Sokka and Momo were able to dodge the arrows and electric stingers by falling backwards. Propping himself up on his elbow he asked, "Appa, come on, come on! We need to go much faster."

"He's too tired!" Katara said as they flew down a hill. Sokka glanced back as he said, "Not good, not good!"

"We need to separate them." Bruce said as he stood up on Appa's back. Sokka looked to the scientist and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"My party trick." Bruce told him before preparing to jump off. Glancing back he said, "Try to get to the other side of that river!"

"Bruce!" Steve shouted as Bruce jumped off the bison's back. As he fell, Bruce allowed his anger to rise and his skin immediately started turn green. He landed in front of the enemy group with a loud crash.

Mai and Ty Lee had to stop their mounts to avoid colliding with the now transformed Hulk. The Gamma Monster rose to his full height before roaring at his five enemies. Leaning forward, Scarlet Widow said to Mai, "You and Ty Lee go on ahead, we'll handle this brute."

"As long as it's you and not me." Mai said, earning a glare from the older woman. Both her and Rumlow hopped off of their lizards as the guy in the bug suit ran up to them. Both Mai and Ty Lee snapped the reins of their mounts and went to go around the Gamma Monster. The Hulk watched as the two Fire Nation girls tried to and moved to stop them when he felt one of the Scarlet Widow's stingers hit him in the shoulder. He growled at the electricity coursing through his body and looked to the device lodged in his shoulder. Gripping it, he ripped it out with a snarl before looking at the three. Rumlow looked to his comrades and said, "I think it would be best if we retreated and came up with a plan."

"Agreed." Scarlet Widow said while the guy in the bug suit nodded his consent. All three quickly turned and ran when the Hulk charged towards them.

Over with Mai and Ty Lee, they were once again starting to catch up to the tired group. Mai once again fired a few arrows at them and Sokka cried out and fell back to avoid them.

Appa made it to the river, but due to his tiredness, he skipped across the river. Katara, Sokka, Steve and Natasha all cried out when they made it to the other side and crashed onto the ground. Everyone on Appa's back got up and Sokka looked across the river, "We made it! We're safe now!"

They suddenly heard a roar coming from the other side of the forest and Natasha said, "Sounds like Hulk is doing just fine, tired or not."

"I'd hold off on the celebrations, you guys." Steve said when he looked across the river. The other three gasped when they saw Mai and Ty Lee's lizards run across the river. Steve once again pulled his helmet over his head and removed the shield from his back. Katara rushed forward before spinning and sending a wave of water from the river at their incoming enemies with a wave of her arm. The wave of water was going right for Ty Lee, but the acrobat was able to launch herself from her mount just when the wave struck the reptile. It hissed as it was hit while Katara opened her water pouch and prepared herself.

Ty Lee bounced off the trees before landing next to Katara. The Waterbender tried to use an attack, but Ty Lee was able to avoid it by rolling underneath it. Katara had to quickly move back when Ty Lee tried to use her chi blocking strikes. Ty Lee started to chase after Katara, but had to go on the defensive herself when Natasha came in with a strike of her own. Ty Lee quickly backflipped away when Katara launched a few disks of water at her.

Mai came riding up and tried to fire a few arrows at the two, but both Sokka and Captain America moved to deflect the projectiles. Sokka then quickly threw his boomerang at the girl. Mai quickly jumped off of her lizard as the boomerang flew overhead. She fired another volley of arrows that Sokka was able to deflect with his club. Cap threw his shield forward and it caused Mai to duck down before firing a volley of arrows at their feet with a sweeping motion of her leg. Sokka and Cap had to quickly move out of the way and Mai took the opportunity. She rushed for Katara who saw her coming. The Waterbender quickly turned tail and ran while the assassin chased after her. Natasha quickly chased after the two to try and defend the girl.

Ty Lee came running up to the boys and ducked down when Cap tried to punch her with his shield less arm. When she rose onto her feet, Ty Lee was nearly caught off guard when Sokka came in with a swipe of his boomerang. But she was able to maneuver around it before delivering to jabs along his right arm. The boomerang fell from his hand and Sokka gasped from the loss of feeling in his arms. When he tried to swing his club, the acrobat was able to land a strike along his left arm. Cap tried to come to Sokka's rescue by trying to bash the broad side of his shield against her, but Ty Lee was nimble enough to maneuver over it before delivering a jabs to the super soldier's arms. Both Cap's arms went limp to his sides and Sokka tried a kick. But Ty Lee was able to meet the blow with a fist to the knee. This caused Sokka to wobble a little before he came at Ty Lee and she lashed out a fist, but ended up landing a punch to the teen's head.

Both groaned in pain as the acrobat held her hand in pain before looking to the teen with a glare. He returned the stare as he said, "Good try, but no."

She was about to lash out again, but Cap came in just in time to knock the girl aside with his shoulder. Ty Lee grunted when she hit the dirt and looked at the two. Sokka looked to the super soldier and asked, "Think we have a shot against her?"

"I'm thinking it's a slim one." Cap said as Ty Lee did a spin before jumping back onto her feet. When she landed on the ground, both boys were impressed as they went, "Ooh."

\_|_/

Over with the Hulk, he was still chasing after the three Hydra soldiers. Scarlet Widow was quick to jump into the trees before turning and fired a few shots at the Gamma Monster. But Hulk just shrugged them off as he ran up to the tree and bashed his fist against it. Scarlet Widow cried out as she wobbled on the branch. Crossbones came to his comrades side with a punch to the Hulk's face with his gauntlet. But the blow hardly fazed the Hulk as he calmly turned his eyes to the smaller man. Rumlow seemed to regret his decision and said, "Uh oh."

With a roar, Hulk backhanded the Hydra soldier away before being bombarded by blasts from the guy in the bug suit. The third Hydra operative tried to maintain a distance from the rampaging beast as Hulk came charging towards him. The man in the bug suit wasn't able to get very far as the Hulk grabbed him by the leg like appendages before tossing him backwards into the tree where Scarlet Widow was. The woman gasped before her comrade collided with her and they both fell out of the tree.

The Hulk watched to see if his enemies got back up on their feet, but when they didn't he snorted in satisfaction. Then turning away from the three, Hulk quickly bounded away to rejoin his friends.

\_|_/

Back with the four, Katara had run along the river bank before stopping by a tree next to the river. She started to raise a wave of water from the river, but Mai was quick to whip out a few weapons before throwing them and pinning Katara to the tree by her wrist bands. Without the use of her hands, the wave Katara tried to summon fell back into the river. Katara gasped to see that she helpless, but smiled when she saw that she wasn't alone. Mai glanced back to see Natasha rushing up. The two women entered a small exchange of blows that both were able to avoid or counter. When they separated, Natasha and Katara were surprised to see both Sokka and Cap hopping over to them. But they both fell between Mai and their friends. Ty Lee calmly walked up and prepared herself to help Mai against the Black Widow. Trying his best to get back up, Cap looked to Natasha and said, "Nat, my shield."

The spy went to try and grab it. But before she could even grab it, an arrow made her back away from the super soldier. They both looked to Mai as the girl crossed her arms and said, "I thought that when Ty Lee, me and the others finally caught you guys it would be more exciting." She shrugged as if she didn't really care, "Oh, well. Victory is boring."

"It's real easy to pick fights with someone when they aren't at full strength." Natasha said with a glare. Mai shrugged again and said, "Hey, wasn't my idea. You guys running yourself ragged was all Azula's idea."

"And you guys splitting up made it a little easier." Ty Lee said with a big grin and placed her hands on her hips. Sokka said from the ground, "Well, some of us wasn't planning on making it too easy."

"Huh?" Both girls said right when they heard a couple of crashes behind them. Before they could even turn around to look a huge gust of wind sent the girls flying through the air. Both Mai and Ty Lee screamed as they flew through the air before landing in the river. All four smiled to see both Appa and the Hulk standing there. Sokka looked really happy when he said, "Thanks, guys. I don't know what we'd do without you."

"Get smashed." Hulk said while Appa ran his huge tongue over the teen. The others started laughing as a still happy, yet slightly annoyed Sokka's eye twitched as he was covered in the saliva of a Sky Bison.

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Further down the river, Mai and Ty Lee were able to pull themselves from the river. They climbed up onto the shore and took a few deep breaths from being in the freezing waters. Ty Lee started to wring out her braid when she looked to her friend and asked, "Was it just me, or was that guy kind of cute?"

Mai looked away as she was really annoyed. The sound of rustling made them all look up to see Scarlet Widow, Rumlow and the guy in the bug suit walk up to them. Mai stood up on her feet before asking, "What now?"

"We go and find the princess and Blonsky." Scarlet Widow said before walking off through the forest. Mai and Ty Lee looked to each other before following after the three Hydra agents.

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Back with Appa, Hulk had calmed down enough to where he turned back into Bruce. The gamma scientist took a few deep breaths before looking to each other and asked, "Did we win?"

"For now." Natasha said before unpinning Katara from the tree. Bruce looked over Sokka and Steve to see what was wrong. Looking between the two of them he said, "You're going to be fine. It should wear off in a few minutes."

"Let's just get them on Appa and then go and find Aang and the others." Katara said as she helped get her brother onto her feet. Both Natasha and Bruce helped pick Steve up before heading to the bison.

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Back in the abandoned town, the sun was starting to set when Aang started to hear something. It sounded like the thudding of feet, but they sounded pretty far apart. The Airbender's eyes slightly widened when he saw a shape jumping towards the town. At first he thought that it might be the Hulk, but when he saw how beastly it looked, he knew that it was Abomination. Abomination soon stopped by a large pillar of rock and seemed to be waiting for something. Soon, something else joined the monster and the two came forward together.

Both Abomination and Princess Azula walked into the town together. The lizard snarled and Abomination had a sadistic grin on his face when he came closer. Azula stopped her mount on the edge of town before walking forward with Abomination. Aang looked to the two and said, "All right, you guys have caught up with me. Now what do the two of you want?"

"Isn't it obvious kid?" Abomination questioned with a shrug. Azula even smirked when she said, "I want to be the one to do what my brother and the Winter Soldier could not. And I won't be like him…" She placed her right hand over her left eye before imitating her brother, "I must find the Avatar in order to restore my honor."

Aang just looked to her with an unamused stare while she casually said, "It's okay, you can laugh. It's funny."

"So what now?" Aang asked, getting to the point. Princess Azula smirked when she said, "Now? Now it's over for you. For the Avengers. You're tired and you have nowhere to run.

"You can run, but I'll catch you." Azula said as she narrowed her eyes. Abomination's smirk didn't falter when he said, "We'll give you two options. You can either do it the easy way by surrendering, or do it the hard way." He punched his fist into his palm when he said, "And I do hope you choose the hard way."

"I'm not gonna run." Aang said as he stood up on his feet. Both Azula and Abomination smirked to this as they were both thinking that they were going to get what they wanted from this.

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Elsewhere, the sun was getting really low to the western horizon as Iroh poured up a few cups of tea for his guests. He handed one to each of them, "Here is your tea."

While Toph and Clint took their cups without much of a fuss, Thor wearily took his. He looked down at the liquid in the wooden cup and thought that he wouldn't enjoy it like the old man said he would. But his father did teach him to respect his elders, so he figured he could at least humor the old man. The Asgardian took a small sip from his cup and for a moment he felt nothing. But as he started to ponder the taste, he began to like it. He looked as if he were about to take another sip, but instead he drank the whole thing in one go. Iroh smiled to see that Thor was enjoying his cup of tea before holding the pot and asking, "Would you care for some more?"

"Uh…" Thor said as he looked between his cup and the nice old man. He cast a glance to his two friends before sighing in defeat. He bowed his head in defeat and extended his arm with the cup in it and said, "Yes, thank you."

"It's no problem." Iroh said as he poured some more into Thor's cup. As he poured the tea, Iroh then looked to the three and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, where are you lot traveling?"

"We're just taking a stroll through the woods." Toph said as she took a sip through the woods. Iroh had a smile when he said, "Well, it's nice to see two kind young men looking after you."

"More like I'm looking after them." Toph said and took a sip. That caused Iroh to laugh a little. She then said confused him, "I know what you're thinking. I look like I can't handle being by myself."

"I wasn't thinking that." Iroh shook his head. Toph then argued, "You wouldn't even let me pour my own cup of tea."

"I poured your tea because I wanted to, and for no other reason." Iroh explained himself. Toph told Iroh, "People, a good deal of people, seem and thin I'm weak. They want to take care of me. But I can take care of myself, by myself."

"You sound somewhat like my nephew-" Iroh said, seeing how much Toph reminded him of Zuko. Then he said, "Always thinking that you need to do things on your own without anyone's support."

"And Toph, you got to know that no one in our group sees you as weak or anything." Clint said when he set his cup down. Toph turned her head to him when he said, "The day I met you, I saw someone who was far from the helpless little girl that I was told.

"We've been through a lot together and I've helped you where I could." The archer added. Iroh then put in, "And there is nothing wrong with letting the people who love you help you in life." He laughed a little when he said, "Not that I love you, I just met you all."

That caused a few laughs amongst the four. Toph then asked Iroh, "So, where is your nephew right now?"

"I've been tracking him, actually." Iroh said, thinking of his nephew and took a sip of his tea. Clint then asked, "He's out there on his own?"

"Yes, and a little bit lost at the moment as well. In the judgement department." Iroh explained with a sad look. He sighed when he said, "His life has recently changed and he's going though very difficult times. He's trying to figure out who he is and he went away trying to find the answer." He looked up when he said, "I'm just glad that he has a bit of a guardian angel by his side."

"Really? Who?" Thor asked when he lowered his cup from his lip. Iroh looked to the Asgardian and said, "I don't know much about him, but I do think I can count on him as a friend."

This got Toph to think a little bit. Looking to Iroh she asked, "So, now you're following after him? Your nephew I mean."

"Yes." Iroh nodded. Looking down to the side he said, "And I know that he doesn't want me around right now. But if he needs me, I will be there for him."

"Your nephew is very lucky to have so many people watching out for him, even if doesn't know it right now." Toph said as she thought about it. Deciding what to do, Toph got up and said, "Come on, you guys. We need to head back."

"Hm." Clint said as it got him thinking. Toph was about to walk before she stopped and then asked, "Clint?"

"Yeah." The archer said and looked to her. Toph asked, "Do you think that I was pulling my weight yesterday?"

"I'm not gonna lie to you, kid." Clint said when he placed his cup on the ground. Looking to the girl he said, "I know that you're capable of holding your own and all that, but pulling your weight means contributing to the group. Doing your part to make it easier for everyone."

"Okay. I think I get it know." Toph said as she truly understood what he was saying. Both Clint and Toph stood on both sides of the young Earthbender and they started to walk. But before they got too far, Toph stopped and turned back to Iroh, "Thank you."

"My pleasure. Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life's true delights." Iroh said with a big smile. Toph was grateful for that, but said, "No. Thank you for what you said. It helped me."

"And good luck finding that nephew of yours." Clint said with a nod of his head. Iroh nodded in appreciation to that. Thor lifted Mjolnir and said, "May we meet again, kind stranger. Brewer of delicious tea."

"Oh, and about your nephew." Toph said, making Iroh look to her. What she next made him think, "Maybe you should tell him how much you need him too."

With that said, the three of them walked away and left Iroh sitting there. Iroh lifted his cup and took a sip as he contemplated his and their conversation.

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Back at the abandoned town, Aang was still facing off against Azula and Abomination. The lizard snarled behind the two as they had yet to make a move. Azula's grin didn't falter when she questioned the Avatar, "Do you really want to fight the both of us?"

The braying of an ostrich horse caused everyone to look just as the said beast road through an alley. It's rider jumped off before quickly moving beside Aang. The figure threw his hat away before saying, "Yes. I really do."

"Zuko?!" Aang said in shock to see him hear. Abomination didn't seem that shocked to see the scarred prince here. Azula crossed her arms and said, "I was wondering when you'd show up, Zu-Zu."

Aang snickered a little before looking to the Firebender, "Zu-Zu?"

"Gr." Zuko growled and it got Aang to nervously shut up. Abomination then said, "Even if it is two against two, you're still outmatched when compared to us."

"I think we can take you." Zuko confidently said as he took a stance with both arms extended towards the two. Even though Zuko was his enemy, Aang knew that siding with the former Fire Nation prince was his best bet of getting out of here in one piece. He pointed one end of his staff at the two and prepared to fight them alongside Zuko. Zuko glared at his sister and said, "You're not getting him, Azula. You might as well go and run."

"I'm not going anywhere." Azula said as she too assumed her stance. Her left arm was lowered while her right hand was above her head with two fingers extended. The four entered a stand off and none of them made a move just yet. The wind caused hair and cloth to flap in the breeze while Zuko and Abomination twiddled their fingers a little. All four fighters remained in their stances as they waited for an opportunity to strike.

A second later and Azula sent a stream of flame at the two. They both cried out before Aang moved in front and quickly spun his staff to dispel the blue flames. When they stopped, Zuko jumped over the Avatar before launching a multitude of fireballs at Azula and Abomination. While Azula had to move out of the way of the attacks, the fires barely fazed the Gamma Monster before he extended both hands and brought them together in a powerful clap. The power of the clap not only dispersed the fireballs, but also knocked Zuko off his feet when he landed and into a wooden beam. Aang gasped before rushing to Zuko's aid, but Abomination came charging towards him. Aang had to quickly dodge the fists that were coming his way and jumped when the giant monster tried to stomp on him. Another powerful clap from Abomination sent Aang flying and he crashed into the wall of a building. He groaned as he looked up and cried out when a roaring Abomination came rushing up to him. Quickly hopping up, Aang formed an Air Scooter and zoomed out of the way. The Abomination ended up crashing through the building and Aang rode back around before firing a large gust of wind that though while hardly doing anything to Blonsky, it caused the old wood to creak and crack. Abomination looked up just as the old building came crumbling down on him. Aang's Air Scooter disappeared from under him and he looked to Azula jumping towards him.

He jumped out of the way, but she used her foot to disarm him of her staff. Aang had to move out of the way when she used a flaming sweep kick at him. Aang landed next to the building where Zuko had been knocked into and saw that he was okay. He saw Azula launching a few fireballs at him and quickly moved to where he had her attention on him to draw her fire away from Zuko. It worked to where Zuko was able to get back onto his feet. Azula glanced back and had to dodge both blasts of fire and air coming from her two enemies. The Fire Nation princess was able to dodge and fire her own attacks. When she had her back turned to Aang, Zuko ran forward before jumping up with a shout. He spun through the air before coming down with a fiery kick. Azula was able to block his flames with some of her own. She was able to chase her brother off with a few more shots before turning her attention to Aang. Aang jumped out of the way and landed on a set of stairs before jumping out of the way again.

Azula started running for the stairs and Zuko was about to follow after her. But the sound of a crash made him look over to the building that fell on Abomination. The Gamma Monster burst out with a roar and set his sights on Zuko. The former Fire Nation prince became nervous and jumped out of the way when Abomination leapt at him.

At the top of the stairs, Aang jumped through an open door when Azula shot another fireball at him. She ran through the door to, but gasped when she saw that there was no floor as it had fallen after ages of neglect. The entire second floor didn't have a second floor and Aang once again used his Air Scooter to keep him hovering out of the princess's clutches. Azula comically flailed her arms to try and keep herself from falling while Aang smiled and waved to her. Azula was able to jump to the side before jumping into the corner and took a deep breath. A screaming Zuko came running through the door and cried out when he fell to the ground floor. Aang winced, but a roar made him and Azula look to the door again just when Abomination burst through the open door and fell to the floor but ended up getting his head stuck through a wall.

Aang gasped when Azula moved back into the frame of the door before firing another blast of fire at him. Aang jumped off the Air Scooter and onto the rim of the floor. With speed enhanced by his airbending, Aang ran around the room before shoving Azula through the giant hole in the floor.

Zuko was pushing himself up with a groan when he saw Azula landing next to him. Aang saw the danger that Zuko was in and was about to help him out when Abomination was able to rip his head from the wall. The Gamma Monster looked up at Aang with a glare and leapt at him again. Aang ran out the door and jumped down. When landed he ducked down when Zuko crashed through the building. Zuko groaned from being hit by his sister's attack. Another crash happened and when he looked, Aang saw both Azula and Abomination standing there.

Aang launched a blast of air to keep their attention off of Zuko before running off. Azula was about to run after her target when Abomination questioned, "What about him?"

Azula looked to her unconscious brother and said, "Leave him for now. We'll get him once we have the Avatar."

"Fine." Abomination said and the two chased after Aang when the Airbender launched a sphere of air at them.

Aang jumped up a wall and had to jump out of the way each time when Azula shot after shot him. She unleashed a huge wave of flame at the building just when Aang pulled himself to his feet on the roof. The fire cut through the building and Aang had to jump when it started to come down. He tried to keep his grip, but Abomination rushed forward and punched the wall. The blow caused the building to start crumbling and Aang fell with a yell. He landed at the back of the room and bits of wood fell onto him. Aang struggled to free himself but couldn't with the heavy wood pinning him down.

Azula walked into the room with Abomination standing at the door. She extended her arms and her flames spread around the room to trap Aang. Aang looked nervous before gasping when he saw Azula raise her right hand. The princess had a smirk as she prepared her attack.

But before she could, Abomination looked to his right just as an object came flying at him. Mjolnir crashed into Abomination's face and it sent him flying from the door. Azula started to look around when Katara ran to the door and used a water whip to grab Azula's arm. Katara pulled Azula's arm back while a shape dropped down from the ceiling. Aang looked to see Cap land before the super soldier rushed up. A smile formed on the Airbender's face and he said, "Guys!"

Cap used his shield to carefully slice through the wood holding Aang's arm down. Azula quickly turned and fired a stream of fire at Katara. The Waterbender quickly moved out of the way and the Fire Nation princess started to give chase. While Azula was gone, Captain America quickly moved to help Aang.

Katara ran past a door and Azula continued the chase. But she had to stop when Sokka popped out of the door and tried to strike Azula with his club. The Fire Nation princess backed away, but the sound of a whoosh made her look before dropping to the ground just as Mjolnir returned to Thor's hand. Both he and Sokka pointed their weapons at her and she moved back. Katara walked up and prepared her waterbending when she made it come out of the water skin.

Abomination got up with a growl but was surprised when he heard the sound of growling coming from behind. He turned to see the Hulk standing there. Both Gamma Monsters roared at each other before charging at each other. When their fists came together, it created a shockwave that caused much of the flaming town to crack.

Over with the unconscious Zuko, a shadow appeared over him. Zuko groaned as he woke up and saw someone kneeling next to him. When he saw who it was he asked, "Uncle?"

"Get up." Iroh said before helping Zuko get back onto his feet. Zuko rose to his feet and smiled to his uncle who smiled back. They both looked over to the two fights and Iroh said, "Let's help the Avatar."

"What about the two monsters?" Zuko asked. Iroh looked to one Avenger in particular and said, "I think he's doing just fine."

And Iroh's words were proven true as the Hulk landed a heavy blow against Abomination's face. Zuko nodded as he understood before they moved into position.

Over at the battle, Aang had to jump out of the way when Azula fired a blast at him. She turned and fired a wave of fire at the group. Cap pulled Katara behind him while Thor did the same for Sokka. They used their respective tools to block the flames.

Azula was about to fire at their feet when both Clint and Natasha came in with a strike. She ducked under and moved backwards towards an alley. Though she was outnumbered, Azula still had a smirk on her face. That was until she felt the ground under her feel odd. Then all of a sudden, something made her fall and she grunted when she hit the ground. Toph came out of the alley and said with a smirk, "I thought you guys could use a little help."

"Nice one, kid." Clint said with a grin of his own. Even Katara was grateful when she said, "Thanks, Toph."

Azula was quick to rise onto her feet and created a barrier of fire around her that caused the heroes to back away from her. When they were far enough, Azula dropped the barrier before quickly escaping from her enemies. Toph quickly brought up a barrier of earth to shield everyone from the flames before Aang jumped over the wall and launched a sphere of air the Fire Nation princess. Azula narrowly avoided it and the sound of clanging metal made her look to see the vibranium shield coming at her. She ducked down to avoid the projectile from hitting her before raising up again.

She fired another two blasts before running down another alley. But as the smirking princess ran and tried to think of another trap, Azula collided with something and she fell backwards. Azula glared up at her brother and uncle who stood over her. They backed Azula into a corner with their weapons or stances at the ready. The sound of a crash made them look to their left as Abomination came tumbling through one of the burning buildings and landed at the feet of the princess. The Gamma Monster groaned as he stood up again and they all looked to see the Hulk joining in after a single bound over the flaming buildings. All eleven stood at the ready against the two while both Azula and Abomination were ready to defend themselves.

Though while she didn't doubt her and Abomination's abilities, she highly doubted their chances against all of these foes at once. Deciding for an exit strategy, she looked amongst them all and said, "Well, look at this little scene. Enemies and traitors all working together.

"I'm done." Azula said, surprising both the heroes and Abomination. The Fire Nation princess raised her hands and said, "I know when we're beaten." Looking to Blonsky she said, "We should know when to surrender with honor."

At the word honor, Abomination suddenly understood what she was talking about and raised his hands as well. Everyone remained on their guard as they knew that it could be a trap. Iroh took a glance to Toph who was standing next to the heroes and now knew that they were on the same side. A smirk grew on Azula's face before she dropped down and fired a single shot from her two fingers. The blast went straight for Iroh who cried out in pain when the flames hit him in the shoulder. Zuko screamed in horror to this before everyone threw all that they had at the two. Abomination moved in front of the princess to take the brunt of it and a large explosion resulted. But before the group could investigate, a large wave of earth came from the two and they knew that it was Abomination's doing. Hulk quickly stamped his own foot that caused another wave of earth to intercept it. They both clashed with a loud bang just as the smoke cleared. Everyone saw that both Princess Azula and the Abomination were gone and a doorway was obviously their means of escape.

They all looked over to Zuko and Iroh to see the former kneeling by the latter. The team saw a large burn mark on Iroh's shoulder and it looked pretty bad from where they were standing. Zuko seemed so angry and so afraid at the same time, "No!"

The nine came forward and Zuko angrily said to them, "Get away from us!"

A heartbroken Toph could sense that Iroh was injured and still alive with her seismic sense. They all heard Iroh weakly moaning in pain from his wound. Even the others felt sorry for Iroh as they knew he didn't deserve that. Katara stepped forward and offered, "Zuko, I can help."

"Leave!" Zuko said and made them all back away with a fiery sweep of his hand. Seeing that there was no persuading him to let them help, the group turned and ran off.

But as they disappeared from sight, Zuko's face softened and he mentally scolded himself for chasing away the ones who offered to help his uncle. He knew that he had to get his uncle away from the burning town, but he also knew that he had to get some help to treat and defend Iroh while he was wounded. Zuko's eyes widened when he remembered the little device that Tony had given him.

He took it out of his pocket before tapping the button at the top. A flashing red light at the top told him that it turned on. Zuko took a deep breath before starting the preparations to get his uncle to safety.

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Azula and Abomination had ran a great distance away from the burning town. The sound of rustling made them look to see the rest of their team emerging from the forest. Mai crossed her arms and said, "I take it you didn't get them, huh?"

"Unfortunately not." Azula said with a glare. She turned away when she said, "And though I did manage to wound one of our targets, I highly doubt it'll be enough to keep him down."

"So, what now, princess?" Rumlow asked, wanting to know what their next strategy was. Azula took a moment before saying, "While I can't say for sure about my brother and uncle, the Avatar, the Avengers and their friends will no doubt be able to come to the rescue of those in great need."

"So, what exactly are we going to do?" Ty Lee asked. Princess Azula then said, "Before this little hunt, I heard some of the men talking about a mining operation for the metals for a big project were starting to crumble due to the Earth Kingdom trying to take the nearby town back."

"We're going to join the fight?" Scarlet Widow asked with a smirk. A grin formed on Azula's face as well and she said, "Not only that, but we will also send word to the Avatar and his friends. Though they know it will be a trap, they will come running to defend the townspeople."

"Now that's an idea." Crossbones said. With a new plan, Azula's group started to head off to get to their destination.

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Elsewhere, Tony was currently helping an old man get his cart out of the mud and it came loose with a final push. The inventor of the Iron Man armor took a deep breath and said, "And there you go."

"Thanks, mister." The old man with orange tinted glasses said with a wave before cracking his reins and his steed pulling off. Tony was about to walk off in the other direction when a buzzing coming from his armor. Looking down to his shirt he asked, "J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"It would appear to be from the device that you had given to Zuko, sir." The A.I. told him. Knowing what that meant, Tony said, "No doubt something's happened." He then asked, "How much energy do we have, bud?"

"By my calculations, just enough to reach them." J.A.R.V.I.S. said. That was good enough for Tony as the Iron Man armor enveloped him and he took off to find Zuko and Iroh.

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The sun had once again set as the group had made it to a mountain top. They had managed to round up their stuff before high tailing it to avoid another night like the previous one. When Appa landed, everyone laid down for some much-needed rest.

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This story's dedication to:

Stan Lee: 1922 – 2018

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Author's Note: And with that, the Chase is over. Now, I think everyone was a little disappointed that Tony wasn't involved during the battle against Abomination and Azula, but it just made sense to me. Plus, starting in this chapter, the three will be traveling together all the way till the end of Book Two. I'm going to try and hurry to get Chapter Nine done before the end of the year. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See you next time.