Continued thanks to Honeysucklebee and Ashley Barbosa for their dedicated support and feedback.
CH 20 | To the Library! [Part 2]
The gang was silent as Appa drifted high above the city center. Sokka and Toph had already gamed the plan from every possible angle and drilled it ad nauseum until neither Katara nor Aang had any doubt about the steps of the mission from start to finish.
"The goal of the mission is simple—we need any municipal files that have been shared from the Fire Lord to the Yu Dao administration that we can obtain, and we need the location and layout of the detention camp where they've been taking non-citizens" Toph had begun.
"The offices have 24-hour security and too many cameras to manage, so we're going to the library." Sokka added.
Now, as they brought Appa down to the City Hall rooftop, Aang and Katara bent in the marine layer that swept up from the bay each night. It wasn't a difficult task as the evening air was always saturated with equatorial humidity, the place where air and water mix seamlessly. Aang leapt down to the rooftop with a silent puff before Appa even landed. He guided Toph down and onto the stone roof, where she immediately began shifting her feet to gain her bearings.
Katara would eventually become the most comfortable with Appa (second only to Aang), but tonight she was still somewhat unsteady and exited the saddle in more of a tumble than a slide. Aang caught her in a soft air buffer before her feet could clatter, resulting in only her soft "oof!" exhale as he pulled her against him toe -to-toe. "Sorry!" she whispered.
Sokka, the self-declared mission coordinator and getaway driver whispered to the three, "Headphones on and check." Each one tapped and murmured into their Jabber, awarding him with three thumbs up. "I'll be circling above the marine layer. Whistle for Appa once you've made it back out. Don't use the Jabber unless you are sure you are alone. And be safe!" The three nodded.
Toph was up next, unlocking the deadbolt of the roof access as easy as if it were putty. She had shocked the disbelieving group during the planning phase when she insisted that grate covers and locked doors would not be a problem with a metalbender on the team.
"A metal whut." Aang had asked. Toph rolled her eyes demonstratively, crushing her own soda can from three feet away. "I figured it out when I was a kid." Toph had explained, shrugging nonchalantly.
"We're in" Toph breathed into the microphone. The three streamed down the first portion of the stairway pausing only long enough for Katara to cover a security camera in ice before they made it into a maintenance room.
"There's your stop, Twinkletoes." Toph gestured to the air vent up top. She was able to extract the screws with minimal effort. Aang sighed deeply. "This is going to be a tight fit…" he murmured, concerned. "That's what he said." Toph replied, earning a tongue cluck from the disapproving Katara. "Yeah, whatever…" Toph cut her off before Sweetness could lecture her. "Shimmy fast, you two. My little distraction will take about 15 minutes. You need to be over the library when that happens."
Aang leapt up soundlessly at first, then issued forth a soft echoing grumble as he complained about the size of the air vent they'd chosen. After he'd moved far enough in to distribute their weight, Katara followed him. They had about 15 minutes and 200 yards of low-crawling before Toph's sabotaged water heater exploded (they had already heard the crunch of the anode rod and pilot light followed by her muffled cackle as they shimmied westward).
The air vent crawl was a physical feat, the largest challenge for Aang and Katara was to make reasonable forward progress without making noticeable noise. The two were more than halfway to their goal (and sporting a healthy coating of sweat) when Aang stopped suddenly. "What are you doing!" Katara whispered into the Jabber, barely above a breath. "Mayor's office…talking." Aang breathed back. He was at the inlet above Mayor Zhao's desk, now listening to a conversation between the man and two Earth Kingdom dignitaries (presumed by their green ties and the fact that one man had Badgermole cuff links).
"—is when the security team from Caldera is set to arrive for inspection. We aren't even close to securing the Financial District, and frankly I don't understand what the hold-up is on our delivery." Zhao was complaining tersely.
"Sir, it is always the pride and privilege of Applied Earthworks to supply the Fire Nation. In this case sir, shipments are being held up coming out of Gaoling."
"When you signed the contract, you agreed to have these materials delivered two weeks ago. How you managed that was your responsibility. Now we have a problem: Fire Lord Ozai expected ALL the fencing to have been installed weeks ago, and for relocation efforts to be under way NOW."
"I offer you our deepest apologies, Mayor Zhao. But even if the ships were leaving the harbor as we speak, it would still be another 4 days before all the supplies arrive…"
Zhao swore loudly and seemed to kick the underside of his desk. "What is so difficult about the basic parts of a fence?! It's posts, it's wire. How many cargo ships do you honestly need for such a simple delivery?" he complained.
The man who was speaking to Zhao, a frail-looking man with a sour pucker as though he were trying to swallow something bitter, seemed to suppress a frustrated sigh. "That is because Fire Lord Ozai did NOT request a simple "post and wire" fence as you describe it." The man waved at his counterpart, who leaned across to hand Zhao a tablet with plans on them.
"This is 60 miles of fully electrified fencing designed to arc to an assailant to prevent waterbending attacks. The posts are solid tungsten, will penetrate more than 40 feet below surface, and come outfitted with geo-positional alarms to detect any piece of the fencing being moved by earthbending. It draws enough power to require an additional sub-station. The wall you are building to house the Non-Citizen population will be the first constructional marvel to rival the walls of Ba Sing Se. This is an undertaking that extends well beyond your deadlines, sir, but you'll never need for any other construction once it's in place."
As Zhao leaned back in his chair to silently consider the prints on the tablet, Aang retrieved his phone, zooming in to take as close of a photo as possible. Just as he was preparing to continue forward to the library, Toph's massive explosion sounded so loudly it made his ears ring and jolted the entire building like an earthquake.
000o0o0o0o0ooooo00ooo 0000 oo 0 o 0o000o oo 00o
All four Jabbers exploded with noise. The sheer size of the explosion had created a wind buff that jolted Appa and Sokka into alarm. "Toph…was that you? How much did you explode? Are you okay? Toph?"
At the same time, both Aang and Katara's headphones were contributing a cacophony of noise—the explosion and their combined weight broke the air vent, sending Aang tumbling down onto the floor, shoulders still wedged in tubing. Katara followed, clumsily tumbling straight onto Mayor Zhao's desk.
"ah, shit…we're in trouble."
"Aang! Katara! WHAT IS GOING ON. Toph, I need to know you're okay, buddy!" Sokka shouted, circling and soaking wet from his floating command center in the mist.
Toph responded with a wild, unrestrained cackle. "I'm on the roof. The west side of the building collapsed. I had NO IDEA it was going to be that big of an explosion. Oops!" she was clearly the only person enjoying herself.
"oops? OOPS!?" Katara shrieked into the headset. "AANG AND I AREN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO GET BACK THROUGH THE ROOF ACCESS, TOPH."
"Don't worry, I've got a plan!" Aang's headset sounded deep and echoed.
"Where is Aang right now, Katara? Why does it sound like he's underwater?" Sokka asked, frantically opening his building notes.
"Uhhhh…. he's with me but indisposed at the moment."
Indeed, Aang currently looked like a tinman's version of a wacky waving arm inflatable tube man, attempting to fend off Zhao's fireballs while still stuck in a piece of the air vent from waist to head. They had both agreed to not use bending in the event of this exact type of disaster, so as not to expose their identities. Thankfully, they also both had the foresight to wear full masks and head coverings.
The two associates had already fled the office, and someone had already activated a wailing alarm that squalled throughout the building. Katara knew they had only minutes before Zhao received back-up. She ducked behind the desk to avoid an arc of yellow flame, smelling some of her own burnt hair.
"We're not going to make it to the library." Katara breathed into her Jabber.
Meanwhile, Aang couldn't see a thing except when he bent forward at the waist to look down his tube like a periscope. It would be hilarious if he wasn't also trying to dance around Zhao without his normal airbending graces. "Get ready Katara!" he roared, then tackled Zhao, looking like a violent, metal toilet paper tube with legs.
The sheer force of Aang's tackle sent Zhao sprawling, but still alert enough to jet fireballs around the room. His desk and a bookshelf had already begun to smolder. Katara dove in seamlessly, planting a knee hard in Zhao's chest. "Aang, stop you're not helping!" she complained, preventing Aang from continuing to WAP Zhao on the face with his metal casing. Katara had zip tied his hands, but Zhao was still yelling for security.
Aang used his feet to roll Zhao on his back while Katara pushed the piece of air vent up and off his body. "Ugh, thanks! Let's run!" he said immediately. They high-tailed out of the Mayor's office, smoke now billowing out into the hallway, only to come face-to-face with a detail of security guards. Aang quickly bent water out of one of Katara's skins to create a slippery ice surface in the hallway, sending the unsuspecting combatants skidding in every direction. "You said—" she started at him. "I know, I know. But I figure I can get away with waterbending without getting caught." He puffed at her as they careened to the other end of the hallway.
Katara pointed to the elevator where the offices dead ended. There really wasn't another option.
The doors opened almost immediately but were slow on closing. They waited on bated breath as Katara feverishly pressed the "Close Door" button as if it were a call to salvation. Aang was sending water whips at guards whenever they attempted to stand, a strange game of whack-a-badgermole.
A split-second sigh once the doors closed and the elevator moved upwards and then Katara called to Aang. "Boost me up so I can get this panel open." He did as he was asked, and then followed Katara to shimmy up into the elevator shaft. "There should be a maintenance entrance from the roof."
It was too dark to see at first, but it also became apparent that the elevator had stopped and opened. They could hear voices echoing underneath them inside the metal capsule. It continued to move upwards, no maintenance door in sight. "We're gonna run out of room…" Aang breathed. "We gotta jump back in."
Katara bit her lip, thinking. "Wait. It's going to be up there, I know it." She ducked down to avoid to rapidly approaching roof. "Katara, I don't see it." He hissed, following her down. They were running out of standing room and the elevator was still moving. "Wait…" she breathed, heart pounding.
Unsure of what to do next, Aang pushed down on top of Katara, preparing an air bubble to attempt to stop them from being crushed into the stone-slabbed rooftop. The crush never came, but their mouths slipped together, an expression of pure tension release. Chest-to-chest, wedged in the Yu Dao City Hall elevator shaft, hearts thrumming in a combination of stress and desire, Katara ripped down their masks and parted her lips for him with a needy sigh, twining her hands around his neck. Aang deepened the kiss, equally oblivious to their danger and equally uncaring of their ridiculous timing. He was on fire from the inside out, braced against her body, drinking her breathy gasps. "Katara, I—"
"First of all, both of you better mute your microphones right damn now before I throw up" came Toph's shrilling call through the headset.
"Second—" Katara's predicted maintenance door opened above them. Toph was standing there, dirt smudged and smiling. "Can you guys fucking not until we're done committing high treason? Thanks."
000oooo0o0o0o0ooo 00 oooo0 o ooo 000oo0o0o000o oo0o0o
The gang reunited on Appa and glided from the rooftop. Though obscured from the fog, they could make out the collapsed building corner from Toph's exploded water heater and a veritable army of police, fire trucks, and bystanders out on the street below.
"Well, so much for stealth…" Sokka complained. "I think it was awesome." Toph responded unapologetically.
"So much for the info we came for…" Aang said glumly. He hated the idea of how much damage they'd caused, now with no justification.
"Oh, we got everything we came for and then some…" Katara crowed, swinging her bag from her shoulders. She pulled out Zhao's hard drive. "Katara! When did you swipe that!?" Aang exclaimed, shooting forward. "That's not all I swiped" she added, pulling out her phone. "I took pictures of all those plans they left on that tablet. It's not just the ones of Suki's camp. It's all of them. AND their little fence project. AND their work plan. Oh, and I pulled the contacts they had uploaded on the call app." Katara puffed her chest proudly. "You're such a badass! I could kiss you!" Toph yelled. "Let me take care of that" Aang murmured and cupped her beaming face with eyes full of pride and mirth.
Their lips met again, with a depth and warmth that felt as though they'd kissed each other for a thousand lives.
A/N: Part of what makes ATLA FF so addicting to read and write is the incredible versatility of its main characters. I am enjoying experimenting with how the Fire Nation's imperial agenda would look in a modernized setting. Don't go anywhere, we're only just getting started!