Chapter 55: Trial By Fire

Aang didn't understand what was going on, but the best description he had was possession.

The mark on Ozai's forehead indicated that at least, along with the unusual demeanor that Aang had noticed from the beginning. Gone was the power mad dictator intent on burning the world, instead a cold calculating man staring at Aang. The metallic lines along his skin had an alien aesthetic, and there was only one entity on this Earth even remotely similar. Even Sokka had a gut feeling that this theory was right, despite Ozai being cryptic and confirming nothing. There was no other explanation available, other than Ozai being possessed by the alien machine that had nearly killed Zuko.

Brainiac

Sokka landed on the same stone pillar Aang stood on, both staring at the same thing before them. "Do I want to know how this happened?"

"I don't think so," Aang said. He made eye contact with Ozai, looking into the cold and dark eyes of the enemy. "Should I assume Ozai is even alive in there?"

"He is, in a manner of speaking," Ozai answered. "And I know you will not kill him to get to me."

"Aang won't," Sokka said. He held his green ring forward. "I will."

A large green beam shot out from the ring, hitting Ozai square in the chest, blasting him off the top of the stone pillar. He hit the pillar behind him about halfway down, yet the impact didn't seem to hurt him. Ozai clung to the pillar for a moment before leaping away, somehow rising back up to the top without riding on flames. There he punched with both fists to conjure plumes of flame, larger than ever before, which Aang and Sokka nimbly dodged. Aang rode the wind to another pillar, Sokka flew into the sky, both surprised by the even larger flames.

Having no time to question this, Aang had to dodge even more flames coming his way. He saw Ozai ascend into the sky on larger pillars of flame, throwing a plume of fire at Sokka before heading towards Aang. Ozai closed in very quickly, swinging his arm to make a curved arc of fire, too close for Aang to dodge. He twisted his body with the wind, avoided the flames entirely, but Ozai's arm landed a glancing blow. Yet that hit was enough to toss Aang away, with the wind knocked out of his chest, and falling toward the ground.

Aang recovered in time to summon the wind to cushion his fall, though it was still a hard hit on soil softened by earthbending. He needed a moment to get the air back in his lungs, feeling a large throbbing pain in his chest, and did not want to see the bruise there. Fortunately, he got that moment, looking up to see Sokka strike with a giant green fist. Once Aang had recovered he summoned the wind and took the air, earthbending a pillar into large chunks to take with him. He flung those chunks at Ozai, most missing as he dodged, but one struck him directly, and it shattered into tiny pieces.

Sokka saw the impact, thinking that it should have crippled Ozai at least. There was no time to dwell on that, what with Ozai rising up towards him now. He created a green shield in front and below him, which Ozai promptly smashed through and kept on going. Sokka flew to the left and Ozai missed him, and Sokka saw him fall back down to earth. On impact there was a small crater beneath Ozai, further proof of increased durability, and reason enough to use greater force. Ozai then leaped back up into the air, faster than before and closing in on Sokka quickly.

A large green shield was conjured in between, and Ozai smashed through it and struck Sokka with a glancing blow that knocked him away. It was followed by a massive plume of flame, and Sokka's aura intensified to shield him from the intense heat. Sokka flew straight up and emerged from the flames, and saw Ozai hovering with his feet on pillars of flame, burning hotter to make him rise higher into the air. It was easy to avoid more flames Ozai unleashed, and Sokka flew circles around him while trying to figure out exactly how powerful Ozai had become.

There was a loud gust of wind, and Aang was hovering beside Sokka, riding on wind and pillars of flame. "I hope you have ideas. Because I sure don't."

"Two options," Sokka said. "Find out how much damage he can take and live. Or go all out and kill him."

"That might take a while," Aang said, not even considering the second choice.

"Well then, we're in for the long haul," Sokka said.

The battle for Ba Sing Se was going well, as far as Iroh could tell.

It seemed that the Fire Nation had lacked the manpower to properly hold the city, its forces spread too thin over the massive urban landscape. Fire Nation tanks had been deployed to critical areas only, firebenders in adjacent streets and alleys, and regular soldiers dealt with the rest. By the time the alert spread throughout the Fire Nation's forces the White Lotus had already taken a third of the Lower Ring, as well as breach the next wall and invade the Middle Ring as well. It was chaos in the streets still held by the Fire Nation, men and women in uniform struggling to coordinate and respond to the threat.

However, when Iroh set foot in the Middle Ring, he saw a bright light in the distance. "What is that?"

The light moved quickly towards him, and everyone else braced themselves as it approached. Iroh watched the light stop directly above his head, and it started to descend at a slow place. He saw the light expand into a person sized shape, resembling a cross with a loop at the top. This symbol of light tilted forward, presenting the face of it toward Iroh, coming down as if to press him between light and ground. But then the light shined brighter, making everyone shield their eyes, and then the light abruptly vanished.

In its place was Azula, in the yellow and blue guise of Doctor Fate, looking down on Iroh through the eyes of the golden helmet. "Why hello there… Uncle."

That voice was unmistakable, even with the distortion of spiritual nature, and even Iroh was taken aback by this revelation. "Azula…"

Azula held her gloved hands far apart, basking in all the attention given to her by the White Lotus forces all around her. "What was it that you always said? That destiny has some fate in store for all of us? Well… I found my fate, and now I command Fate itself."

Azula reached toward Iroh, a golden beam of light shot from her hand, seizing the older man in a noose of mystical power that enveloped his torso and arms. Immobilized by the golden grip, Iroh was raised up toward Azula, stopped when they were at eye level. They looked into each other eyes, Azula's narrowing with determination, Iroh's focusing with reluctant intent. He took in a deep breath, she braced herself, and he expelled fire from his mouth. A veil of light appeared around the helmet, shielding the eye holes from the blaze, yet she was still blinded by the small inferno.

So when others joined in, she couldn't see them.

Members of the White Lotus converged on her, responding in defense of their leader. Firebenders shot plumes of flame upward, earthbenders hurled large boulders into the air, waterbenders turned streams into waterfalls, all coming together on Azula. She heard the various elements approaching, reacting at the last second, and a golden barrier formed around her to shield her from the attacks. But in doing so her grip on Iroh faltered, he slipped through the golden light, and fell back down into the street. He landed on his feet, deeply troubled when he looked back up.

"I'm sorry," Iroh said. He held his arms apart, two fingers pointing from each hand, moving in a circular pattern. "I really am."

There was no other option, he had to use every technique at his disposal. He moved his arms in the circular pattern to generate lightning, and electricity crackled along hit fingertips in two long arcs. Fueled by the power of Sozin's comet, the arcs of electricity were larger than normal, already booming with thunder ahead of the lightning strike. Even Iroh wondered whether or not he could keep the lightning under control, the power so great it surprised and somewhat frightened him. He was committed to it now, unable to stop even if he wanted to.

Iroh pointed straight up at Azula, unleashing the lighting in a massive bolt. It shot upward in nearly an instant, hitting the convergence of elements all around Azula. There was a bright flash of light on impact, dispersing the other elements around it, replaced by the onslaught of electricity. Deafening thunder boomed across the city, drawing attention from miles around. Iroh kept up the lightning for longer than he ever had before, surprised by the sheer raw power he could bring to bear today, unsure of where it would end.

Yet after the bright flash of light, everyone saw a golden symbol of light in the air. The cross with a loop was facing down, and it was holding the massive lightning at bay. Azula was holding one hand toward the symbol, seemingly struggling to keep it intact with sheer force of will, electricity slipping past the edges and arcing toward her body. The lightning gave out first, vanishing as quickly as it struck, the thunder echoing back and forth between the walls of the city. The golden symbol vanished immediately after, and everyone could see that Azula had survived.

Still, she was not unscathed, rather taxed from the effort of holding back lightning. "That was a good effort, Uncle. It wasn't enough, but good nevertheless."

Iroh felt the ground shake beneath his feet, a sign of earthbenders approaching from underground. "We will see how long you can hold off all of us."

"I think not," Azula said. She knew what was coming, and she back away from the ground and rose into the sky. "You have more pressing concerns."

The ground shook again, and fractured in hundreds of places. Thousands of finger sized pieces of rock exploded outward, pelting everyone around in a hail of stone. From the new holes in the ground Dai Li agents emerged, surrounding both Fire Nation and White Lotus forces throughout Ba Sing Se. The hail of stone blindsided just about everyone, and the Dai Li agents struck without hesitation. Fists of rock struck everywhere they could, knocking out some and binding plenty more. In the first few moments the Dai Li brought down half of their targets, leaving both Fire Nation and White Lotus forces crippled.

Iroh had shielded himself with a cyclone of fire around himself, only the space above his head remaining clear. He looked up to see Azula vanishing in the golden symbol, hear laugh echoing in his ears. "By the spirits, what happened to you?"

Deep within the Earth King's palace, Zuko and Katara all but ran into Batman.

They were coming around a corner, and Katara barely stopped herself from attacking on instinct. "Don't do that!"

Running as fast as they could, Zuko and Katara hadn't cared for where they were going. They were simply trying to put some distance between them and the enemies on the upper levels, Dai Li agents and firebenders alike. Meanwhile, Batman had been following a separate group of Dai Li agents, and his path crossed Zuko and Katara at a corner, with his quick reflexes preventing a collision. Fortunately, those Dai Li agents seemed to be in a hurry, and didn't notice the sound Katara made above all the commotion above and outside.

"Keep your voice down," Batman insisted. He pointed in the direction the agents had gone. "The Dai Li are about to do something."

"I think they can wait," Zuko said. The sound shattering stone and roaring flames proved his point. "This whole place is going to come down."

"If the Dai Li planned something for today, it must be important," Batman said. "I for one will not be taken by surprise."

"Fine, go after them if you insist," Zuko said. Much to his surprise, Batman left without another word. "Huh, I thought he'd try to argue."

Another part of the ceiling collapsed nearby, though this time it seemed to be more by accident than intentional destruction. Katara saw that the rubble blocked the path they were going to take, leaving only the other path available. "Not that it matters."

Zuko and Katara took the only path left, which brought them deeper into the palace and to a lower level. They quickly caught up with Batman, who had slowed his pace when the path reached a destination. The palace did have a large audience hall down here, meant for extravagant parties and the like, and now there were a few dozen Dai Li agents inside. Some were coming and going through the various ways out of this large hall, delivering messages to the center and sending orders back out. Batman stopped at the threshold, spying on the Dai Li within while signaling Zuko and Katara to stay back.

"No firebenders in there," Batman observed. "Whatever they're doing, it's without Fire Nation consent."

"Sure, now they oppose Azula," Katara grumbled. "Where was this two months ago?"

"Quiet," Batman insisted. "Look, something's starting."

Half of the Dai Li agents in the hall left at the same time, but they were heading out in several different directions. Two were coming their way, requiring Batman and the others to retreat into a dark corner to avoid being seen. However, Batman didn't let those agents leave, instead grabbing both and slamming them into each other. He then slammed one into a wall to knock him out, and then held the other with his back against the same wall. Not only did the agent see Batman up close, he also saw Zuko and Katara with both fire and water in hand.

That was more than enough to scare anyone into submission, and the agent did not hesitate to comply. "Whatever you want, I'll tell!"

"What are you planning to do?" Batman demanded.

"Taking back Ba Sing Se," the agent answered. "The order is being sent out now."

"And it's too late to stop them all," Batman said, noting the other agents that left in other directions. Then he remembered the battle raging in the city, which had to be nearing its apex by now. "The Dai Li are going to attack whoever wins up there, when they are still weak from the battle."

"Maybe we should let them fight," Katara suggested. "I mean, it's not guaranteed the White Lotus will win. Let the Dai Li finish off the firebenders."

"Uncle wouldn't strike if he wasn't certain he would win," Zuko pointed out. "The Dai Li will be attacking his forces, whether or not the Fire Nation troops are still there."

"Either way, the Dai Li controlling Ba Sing Se is unacceptable," Batman pointed out. He shoved the agent into the wall and knocked him out, letting the body fall to the floor. "We can't stop the order to fight, but we can stop further orders from going out."

"By stopping whoever is in there, I presume," Zuko said.

Batman nodded, and looked for a less exposed path into the hall. "Follow my lead."

When he arrived in Ba Sing Se, Taiyo found the city unrecognizable.

Though the city was still the same basic shape, with massive walls keeping the ring structure intact, the lands within those rings had drastically changed. Clashing armies had razed vast swaths of the city, moving earth and scorching fire leaving their mark on the urban landscape. Tens of thousands of civilians were fleeing to the places still intact, escaping the battle that destroyed their homes, doing everything they could simply to survive this day. The battle continued on regardless, not caring in the slightest about the civilian casualties.

Taiyo surveyed the city from the sky, unseen by those mired in the chaos below. He discovered three factions instead of two, the Dai Li fighting the Fire Nation as well as the Order of the White Lotus. The firebenders had been in retreat when the earthbenders struck, and so it was the White Lotus that suffered the most from the sudden attack. But the battle was not desperate enough for former enemies to fight together, and they continued to strike at each other even while fighting the Dai Li, killing each other despite the greater threat of the moment.

"Come on, where are you…?" Taiyo muttered, searching the city for someone in particular. "There!"

He spotted Iroh fighting in the middle ring, holding off dozens of Dai Li with enhanced firebending and massive bolts of lightning. Several members of the White Lotus were fighting at his side, the variety of elements needed to hold off the Dai Li assault, though they wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. Dozens of burned and broken bodies were scattered around them, yet more Dai Li continued to attack them, even when they saw their own fall to the elements. They would not relent, even as lightning struck down many agents at once.

Taiyo checked for kryptonite before descending, only flying into the city when no green patches appeared when he peered through the ground. He landed in front of Iroh, startling the Dai Li he was fighting at the time, and then unleashed a gale with his breath. The wind blew away everything in its path, clearing the street for several blocks. For good measure he punched the ground with great force, shattering stone wide and deep, sure to collapse any tunnels concealing more Dai Li. The small earthquake did knock everyone else off their feet, but at least they got a break from the fighting.

After landing in the broken street, Taiyo saw Iroh getting back on his feet. "Sorry about that."

Iroh took a long moment to look at Taiyo's outfit, but that was a concern for another time. "I understand. Still, there are bound to be more of them coming. This fight isn't over."

Taiyo turned and saw more fighting in the distance, not just against the White Lotus. "Why are the Dai Li attacking Fire Nation forces? I thought they allied with Azula."

"That seems to have changed," Iroh said. "Their allegiance is to someone else now."

There was a tremor in the ground, and Taiyo peered through it to see what was coming. "Look out!"

The ground shattered again, scattering pieces of rock and dirt everywhere, and Dai Li agents rose up from the underground. Dozens of them surrounded Taiyo and Iroh, all propelling their rock gloves at the two of them. Taiyo flew up and Iroh ducked down, letting the rock gloves miss them entirely, all crashing into each other and shattering into dust in the middle. A few grabbed Taiyo's boots and Iroh's shoulders, and tried to yank both of them away. The gloves on Taiyo simply shattered in the attempt, but Iroh was still yanked away from him.

Taiyo flew in the way and caught Iroh, taking a moment to break off the rock gloves on him. Then he turned toward the nearest agents, and blew a gale powerful enough to knock half a dozen off their feet. The rest saw it and reacted quickly, shaping rock around their feet to bind them to the ground, so that further wind would not knock them down. Taiyo then flew through their ranks at high speed, striking each and every one before they could react, knocking them out in quick succession. The few he missed were struck down by Iroh's firebending, and the ambush was completely thwarted.

Afterward Taiyo landed next to Iroh again. "This needs to be stopped."

"Agreed," Iroh said. "Find their leader. Take him out and this should come to an end."

"Easier said than done," Taiyo said. "It would help if we know where he is, or who he is."

"That's not the worst of it," Iroh said. "Azula was here today, and she had acquired power unlike anything I had ever seen."

"What could she do?" Taiyo asked.

"It reminded me of what your friend Sokka can do now," Iroh answered. "Only golden instead of green, and clearly spiritual in nature."

That description was enough for an assumption, though it was one Taiyo didn't want to admit until he was certain. "Doesn't matter what power she's obtained. We'll deal with her just like everyone else."

"She vanished in a bright golden glow," Iroh said. "I do not know where she went. But the Dai Li are the more immediate threat."

In the deepest parts of the palace, Batman continued to track a small group of Dai Li agents.

Katara and Zuko were following him through the underground, passing through dimly lit hallways as quietly as they could. While Batman moved in absolute silence, with Zuko being a close second in stealth, Katara was not one with great skill in keeping quiet. Fortunately, the agents were in a hurry, and they did not hear Katara's steps when she stumbled on something she didn't see. The agents left the lowest levels of the palace, heading into tunnels elsewhere in Ba Sing Se's underground. Batman knew these tunnels well, or as well as one could know them when earthbenders reshaped them often.

The agents walked right into a dead end, or so it seemed before they used earthbending to open a hidden passage. Having only a moment before the agents would close it after them, Batman threw several batarangs at the group. The agents were struck by the batarangs, distracting them from their task, and Batman leapt out of the shadows to attack. He punched one in the face, swept a leg underneath another, and shoved the falling agent into a third. Then he struck down the last remaining agent, knocking him out to fall amongst the rest.

It was over before Katara could even catch up, stopping amidst the fallen bodies around Batman. "Was that necessary?"

"We know where to go from here," Batman said. He didn't bother hiding the bodies, since the alarm would surely be sounded before they would be found anyway. "Come on."

It was a short run through this hidden passage, having no adjacent halls to lure them astray, a direct route to the Dai Li destination. At the end was a small chamber, barely big enough to fit a dozen people inside, though only half that were inside at the moment. A stone table was in the center of the chamber, with a map of Ba Sing Se on top of it, along with red and green and white sand marking the position of the three factions fighting above. Dai Li officials were planning their next move, seemingly waiting for those agents to arrive and give their report.

Gazing from the shadows, Batman saw the Dai Li in the chamber, most of them wearing the standard uniform. One was not, instead wearing a black cloak with a hood that hid his face from view. There was a strange green glow piercing the fabric, pulsing with a rhythm eerily similar to a heartbeat. He appeared to be the new leader of the Dai Li, judging by the manner he moved the colored sand with earthbending. It was impossible to tell who the new leader was, given the hood that covered most of a scarred face.

The person next to him was easily identified, being the Fire Nation appointed regent of Ba Sing Se, Lachlan Luthor. "This could be problematic. The superpowered boy has arrived. And with greater power than we knew."

The Dai Li leader nodded to him, wrote something down on a small parchment, and handed it to an agent. "Then it is time for phase two."

Batman knew that voice, garbled though it may be, and he had been certain he could not be here. "Long Feng…"

Zuko turned toward Batman. "Mai told me that Azula killed him."

"My informants agreed," Batman said. "It seems we were wrong."

One of the agents looked toward the passage, seeing nothing in the shadows, and then looked back at his leader. "They're late."

Expecting more agents to arrive with new reports, the leader looked at the passage and narrowed his gaze. "Yes… they are."

He reached toward the passage and clenched his fist, commanding the rock to fracture and collapse, caving in the passage behind the eavesdroppers. The cave-in forced them out amidst a cloud of dust, drawing Batman and the others out into the light. Zuko countered with a plume of flame, large enough to fill the chamber, the flames stopped only by a wall of stone summoned from the floor. When the flames passed the wall crumbled into gravel, and the people behind it had vanished. Only soft dirt remained in their place, telling where they had gone.

Batman jumped right before the floor fractured, getting into the air when the Dai Li rose up from below. Zuko and Katara were knocked aside by large chunks of rock, and Batman threw batarangs at the Dai Li beneath him. They were easily blocked by the Dai Li, but it was enough to distract them, allowing Zuko and Katara to recover. From their right Zuko unleashed the flames, and from their left Katara threw water at them, forcing the Dai Li to raise twin walls of rock to block. Batman came down in front of them, throwing more batarangs in between the walls.

But those were caught in the hand of Long Feng, who ignored the sharp edges of the batarangs, which could not cut into the metal embedded in his flesh. "My turn…"

Long Feng dropped the batarangs, clenched his fist, and slammed it on the floor. His earthbending shattered the floor, the walls, and the ceiling, sparing no part of the chamber from destruction. Falling rock filled all of the space inside, nowhere to go to avoid any of it. More earthbending protected Long Feng and the Dai Li from the collapse, creating a small island of stability, and losing sight of the enemy in all the falling rock. It took half a minute for all the debris to settle, and in the darkness only Long Feng and the Dai Li remained standing.

"It's time to go," Long Feng ordered.

Running out of air in this little hole, Batman and the others hurried to dig themselves out.

They had been left to die down here, after the Dai Li had collapsed the place on top of them. Zuko didn't dare light a flame to see by, for that would burn up their air even faster. Batman had a few tools to help them dig, and determined which direction to dig by the soft dirt and loose stone. Katara was doing the most work, using waterbending for her tools, water and ice doing the work of a dozen men in a fraction of the time. Still, they were getting out of breath from working in this tight space, desperate to find a nearby tunnel they could break into.

"The one time we need Toph," Katara grumbled.

"Don't… talk…" Batman instructed, exhausted from the fighting and the work. "Stay… focused…"

Suddenly a bit of light came through a crack, and Zuko dug there more vigorously. "Nearly there!"

They dug all the harder now, bare and gloved hands alongside icy shovels, moving aside the last bits of rock and stone in the way. More light came through more cracks and gaps, and new air followed through. Batman punched through one of the last stones, his fist plunging into open air, and he pulled it back through to see through the hole. But then everything shook, cracks formed and grew bigger, and that entire side shattered beneath them. All three of them fell out, followed by the dirt and stone they dug, half burying them after hitting a floor.

Zuko got out of the rubble first, and lit a flame in his hand to better see where they ended up. "Great, this place again."

No longer in the tunnel network used by the Dai Li, they had stumbled into the crystal catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se. They were in one of the adjacent passages to the main cavern, lit by torches spaced far apart, along with a dim green glow in one direction. There was a draft moving dust around, a sign of air flowing through the place, delivering somewhat fresh air here. Distant voices echoed down the passage, sounding concerned about a noise, heading this way. Shadows appeared from the direction of the green glow, which told them that they were close.

There was no time to hide, as Batman and Katara were still pulling themselves out of the rubble. Zuko put out his flame, clenched his fists, and waited for the right moment to strike. Two Dai Li agents came around the corner, were shocked to see Zuko there, punching to conjure a plume of flame. It filled the entire passage with fire, burning its way toward the agents, who barely had time to defend themselves. They covered themselves in stone, which was bathed in flames, barely surviving the heat until the fire passed by them.

The flames went out, the stone defense crumbled into black dust, and the agents collapsed. Zuko made sure they weren't getting back up again, and then he turned back toward the others. "We really should get going before more of them show up."

"Agreed," Batman said, finally standing up and dusting off his costume. "There should be a path out in that direction."

Katara was collecting all the water she could find, having just enough left to cover her forearms. "Yeah, let's go."

Just when it seemed like the tide of battle was beginning to turn, it swung back the other way with a vengeance.

New detachments of Dai Li agents surfaced in the city streets, fresh and ready to battle exhausted Fire Nation and White Lotus forces. Ground that had been hard fought and won was quickly lost again, taken back by the Dai Li that once ruled these streets from the shadows. Exhausted firebenders barely stood their ground, their enhanced firebending reduced by the prolonged fighting today. The White Lotus had to withdraw and regroup in more defensible parts of the city, where they would be in a better position to fend off the fresh earthbending assault.

However, Dai Li agents in the upper ring suffered severe setbacks. That was where Taiyo had gone to battle, singlehandedly fighting through wave after wave of agents, letting nothing stand in his path. From the air he fought with eyesight flames and blown wind, well beyond the reach of surprise attacks from underground. Chunks of stone hurled into the air shattered against his body, doing nothing but get his new outfit dirty. Taiyo pressed forward and cleared street after street, forcing the agents to retreat wherever they went.

The only issue he had was the kryptonite, pieces of it occasionally embedded in the stone the Dai Li threw at him. The solution was to peer through everything that came within thirty feet of him, and move whenever he saw green patches in his vision. With flight and quick reflexes, Taiyo easily avoided the kryptonite thrown his way, letting the pieces fall back down to earth far behind where he had been. They were few and far between, as if the Dai Li were saving their main stores of kryptonite for something special, until a large chunk of it came rising up from the underground.

"Here we go," Taiyo muttered. When the ground split open, he switched back to normal sight, yet even then he still saw a green glow. "What the…"

A group of Dai Li had emerged from the underground, though one man was clearly different from the rest. Taiyo saw the green glow seeping through the man's cloak, being the unmistakable glow of kryptonite, as if it were a part of him. The man pulled back his hood, letting the world see the bald and scarred face, skin so pale it could be mistaken for a corpse. Yet despite all the various kinds of damage that face was still recognizable, for it belonged to someone that could not be standing here, someone that should have been in a shallow grave.

"Long Feng…" Taiyo muttered.

Looking back up at him, Long Feng studied the person that had caused him so much trouble in the past. Although he had been told that Taiyo possessed the power of flight, he needed to see it to truly comprehend it. He also saw that Taiyo wasn't swooping in to take him out, knowing better than to recklessly attack when meteor rock was present and out in the open. Long Feng smirked, confident in the protection the meteor rock provided, and was tempted to taunt his foe over it. He resisted that temptation, clenched his fists, and braced himself for a long-range attack.

"What are you waiting for?" Long Feng taunted. "Hit me with everything you have."

Taiyo took a deep breath and released it as a gale force wind, but it impacted a stone wall raised to block the attack. He flew around the stone wall in a wide half circle, got behind the Dai Li, and shot fire down at them. They were still turning around when they earthbent a defense, making their second wall weaker than the first, and the fire burned straight through the rock. The wall collapsed and the pieces were blown away by new wind, which also blew the agents off their feet, hurling most of them into the first wall.

Having earthbent rock around his feet, Long Feng remained standing in the wind. He thrust his arms up and launched a house size boulder at Taiyo, and saw him catch the boulder in both hands. Taiyo threw the boulder back down, and with a punch Long Feng made the boulder shatter into a cloud of dust. Peering through the dust Taiyo saw Long Feng launch himself on a rising pillar, emerging from the dust cloud riding a large chunk of rock into the air. Taiyo flew to the left to dodge, but Long Feng earthbent his rock in the same direction, following and closing in on him.

Taiyo felt the pain of kryptonite, weak at first but growing stronger the closer Long Feng got. Gravity took over and both of them fell down to earth, crashing into a narrow alley behind some fancy upper ring shops. Taiyo was on a knee and a hand, getting up while just barely beyond the range of kryptonite. Long Feng removed his feet from the rock, needing to run while he still could. The pain of kryptonite returned, there was only a moment to react, and so Taiyo lunged to the right, smashing through the back of a shop and going all the way through the front of it.

There he found a reprieve from the kryptonite, using the building as a buffer to shorten its range. Although weakened by the exposure thus far, the strength remained for Taiyo to fly and get back into the air, getting out of range before Long Feng could pass through the building. From there Taiyo saw Long Feng scowl, his main tactic thwarted, knowing that it wasn't going to work twice. Still, he tried it again, launching himself on another chunk of stone. This time Taiyo flew straight up, saw Long Feng try to follow by earthbending the stone he rode, but couldn't keep up with the ascent and quickly fell again.

"That was close," Taiyo muttered. He saw Long Feng crash into the ground, the rock shattering but his body remained intact. "Got to be more careful around him…"

Frustrated with this turn of events, Long Feng looked up at the sky. "Don't you run from me!"

Refusing to be goaded, Taiyo didn't approach Long Feng. "Believe it or not, I've got bigger problems than you today. You're not worth my time."

But there was time for one more attack, and Taiyo dived headfirst toward the ground, at a spot where no kryptonite appeared in his vision. With both fists forward, he spun himself at high speed, to become a living drill upon impact. The result was an earthquake that knocked Long Feng off his feet, along with a shockwave that ripped apart the ground in the immediate area, and an ejection of broken stone and dirt above Taiyo. By the end of the quake, Long Feng was left buried in rubble, where he would have to earthbend himself free.

By the time Long Feng could stand, Taiyo was long gone.

Once they reached a familiar part of the crystal catacombs, Batman knew which way to go.

It was a place he had thoroughly mapped out over the years, when underground travel was needed to avoid detection on the surface. The natural light source of the glowing crystals was a bonus, allowing one to see just how big the catacombs were. It was also the place where he had been storing the meteor rock excavated elsewhere in the city, kept where very few people went and could be hidden in plain sight. The only noticeable difference between the rocks and the crystals was the texture, the rocks being coarse while the crystals were smooth.

In front of the others Batman was picking up the pace. "We can't linger here. There is a lot of meteor rock in these tunnels."

"Gotcha," Katara said. "Don't want to get sick just from passing through."

They passed through the largest part of the catacombs quickly, fortunate that no one dared to get in the way. There had been a handful of agents in the catacombs, a token force composed of people that would not be useful on the surface, and they knew better than to challenge Batman. Soon the group reached one of the tunnels leading up and out of the catacombs, and they couldn't get through it fast enough. But halfway through it they heard a loud rumble, and a moment later they saw what had caused the noise.

"Great, a cave in," Zuko complained. "What else could possibly go wrong today?"

"Can we go around?" Katara asked.

"Doubtful," Batman said. He only needed to look at the caved in tunnel to know why. "This was earthbent shut. The Dai Li likely sealed all of the exits."

"So we dig," Zuko said. "Again."

"At least we have air this time," Katara said.

The tunnel shook with a loud thud, cracks formed in the rock ahead of them, and everyone prepared for an attack. An impact fractured the rock, and small pieces broke off and fell into the tunnel. It wasn't like earthbending, Dai Li or otherwise, more like brute force. Another impact shattered the center, and a fist burst through before being pulled out. One more blow shattered the rest of the rock and sent the pieces flying everywhere, along with a thin cloud of dust that settled quickly. They saw light from the other side, along with a familiar face.

"Taiyo!" Katara yelled. After nearly dying on more than one occasion, she couldn't help but wrap her arms around him. "It's so good to see you."

Taiyo carefully separated himself from Katara, and he saw Zuko and Batman behind her. "Come on. The way out is over here."

Suki was watching the flames and the green light in the sky, describing the experience for Toph, until the green light changed course. "Crap, Run!"

She thought they were about to be hit by a misdirected attack, collateral damage in the battle for the world, but instead it was Sokka flying in to scoop them in his green aura. Toph felt the ground suddenly disappear, and the only thing she could still see was Suki holding onto her. Sokka put his hand on Toph's shoulder to let her see him, and she calmed down a bit, though being in the air unprepared still freaked her out. He then changed course and flew around the dueling flames over the Wulong Forest, heading for the remaining portion of the Fire Nation airship fleet.

"What's going on over there?" Toph demanded.

"Ozai's been enhanced, we're not sure by how much, and Aang won't go all out to kill him," Sokka rattled off. "So we need another edge over him. And I have just the thing in mind."

That would be the airships, now directly ahead of them. Of the dozen that had been a part of this fleet, only five remained in the air. Damaged undersides hampered their maneuverability, but they were still able to make wide turns to avoid airborne obstacles. Despite the loss of most of the fleet, these remaining airships still carried out their orders, having firebenders burn down the land they flew over. The reduced number made the path of destruction much thinner than it could have been, but the flames would still spread far and wide from where they struck the ground.

Sokka flew for the airship in the middle, which was in better condition than the other four. At the stern of that airship, Sokka put down the girls, and Toph in particular was relieved to have something solid beneath her feet again. From there Suki could see Aang and Ozai fighting to the south, the massive flames burning back and forth across the sky, seemingly unaware that the airships were still airborne. Suki got the general idea of what Sokka was going for, and Toph was soon smiling like a madwoman with a new toy.

"Ready?" Sokka asked. He saw Suki and Toph nod. "Okay, let's go!"

He took off and flew back toward the battle, leaving the girls to get to work. Sokka saw Aang on the ground with his back to a stone pillar, shooting flames up and into flames from Ozai, barely keeping the heat at bay. From behind Sokka fired a large green beam, but the light from it alerted Ozai and he quickly got out of the way. Ozai's attack on Aang ended, allowing Aang's flames to shoot up into the sky, which Ozai had to dodge as well. Aang ascended on pillars of flame and brought pieces of the stone pillar with him, chucking those very large rocks into the air ahead of Ozai to make him turn to the left.

Ozai turned and saw Sokka inbound, and he shot a plume of flames into his path. Sokka made a thick green shield and powered through the flames, emerging from them when Ozai stopped firebending in that direction. He shot the green shield forward, hitting Ozai's right side, sending him tumbling in midair for a few short seconds. Ozai quickly reoriented himself and flew up on new flames, but saw Aang and Sokka closing in from opposite directions. He changed course for the only open path away from them, heading into open sky to the north.

But that sky wasn't so open, as Ozai quickly discovered. "What!"

Directly in his path was a Fire Nation airship, set on a collision course straight for him. It had been hijacked by Toph metalbending the rudder, forcing the airship to turn in whichever way she wished. But she needed someone to see for her, hence Suki standing in front of the rudder and calling directions. The airship was already too close for Ozai to change course and dodge, and he couldn't turn around while Aang and Sokka were closing in from behind. There was only one option, concentrating his flames into the narrowest and hottest plume he could make, and shooting it directly into the oncoming airship.

The flames burned through the center of the airship, molten metal pouring out of the hole, and taxing Ozai's firebending to its limit. There was no concern for the crew still aboard the airship, only the fire that burned hotter than ever. Aang and Sokka flew around the sides of the airship, beating Ozai to the stern, and attacking the moment the metal turned red hot. A beam of green light and a cyclone of wind struck the molten metal, creating an explosion of the elements right in front of Ozai, unleashing a shockwave that struck Ozai as well as tore the airship apart.

When the smoke cleared Ozai, fell from the sky, and a hollowed-out shell of an airship fell away from him.

Sokka saw Toph and Suki falling with the airship, and he dived after them. "Hang on!"

He created a giant green hand that reached down, scooping up the girls moments before the airship crashed. Toph complained about the sudden pickup, whereas Suki was relieved to be off the crashing airship. While Sokka carried the girls away to safety, Aang was going after Ozai. The Fire Lord wasn't firebending anymore, and would surely die when he hit the ground. He conjured a ball of wind and threw it ahead, hitting the ground first and making a cushion of air, which Ozai's limp body hit and bounced off.

After the bounce, Ozai slamming into the ground anyway, though much softer than it would have been otherwise. Aang landed near him, before Ozai could get up, and earthbent restraints to bind his arms and legs. He reshaped the restraints to force Ozai into a sitting position, so that he could look the Fire Lord in the eyes. Ozai blew fire at Aang, which he smothered with a strong wind, all while reaching for Ozai's head. The firebending stopped, Aang put one hand on Ozai's forehead and the other on his chest, closing his eyes to focus on the power within.

The words of the lion-turtle echoed in Aang's mind, while his spirit got to work. To bend another's spirit, his own spirit must be unbendable. As such, the power granted by the lion-turtle was not to be used lightly, for failure could tear his spirit asunder. Ozai's spirit fought back against Aang's, the darkness inside trying to corrupt the light. But Aang did not let his spirit falter, and it overcame the dark spirit within Ozai. Aang's spirit reached inside of Ozai, found the part of him that held his firebending, and stripped that part away.

But then Aang saw something, a vision of the entity that had possessed Ozai, and the sights stayed with him when he pulled away. "Oh no…"

A few feet away Sokka landed and set the girls down, everyone glad to be on the ground again. "What did you just do?"

"I took his bending away," Aang said. He couldn't prove it though, what with Ozai completely unresponsive right now. "He won't be able to harm anyone ever again."

"Where did you learn to do that?" Suki asked.

"A lion-turtle taught me," Aang answered.

"You meet the strangest people," Toph noted.

"Is it over?" Sokka asked. "Are we finally done?"

"No," Aang said. He looked at the symbol on Ozai's forehead, reminded of the moment when the Fire Lord had changed for the worse, reinforced by the vision he just had. "The thing that did this, Brainiac, is still out there."

Sokka walked over to Aang, having an idea of what he was thinking. "Are you expecting more to happen?"

"I'm certain of it," Aang said. He turned to look at everyone else. "We're not done today."

"What's the plan?" Toph asked.

Aang looked at the western sky, where the two remaining airships had turned around and were heading back across the sea. "I'm sure we'll find out in the Fire Nation."

"Is that your whole Avatar thing talking?" Suki asked.

"When I took Ozai's bending, I saw something," Aang said. "Brainiac has an agenda. I don't know what it is, but we need to stop it."

"Let's get going then," Toph said.

Aang turned around and looked to the east, where another front of this war was being fought today. "We're going to need everyone for this."

"Yeah, good idea," Suki said. "Where were they again?"

"They're in the opposite direction," Toph pointed out. "I don't think we have time to do both."

"Actually I think we do," Sokka said. "We'll handle it after we reach Ba Sing Se and deal with that mess."