The fire was raging everywhere in republic city. Team Avatar was struggling to put out all the fires. Who was starting all these fires? They were starting them in different parts of the city too. That seemed odd. The team was split up to handle the fires more easily. Toph was at the northern part of the city. Aang handled the western half and Katara was putting out the fires in the eastern section. Sokka was working with the police force to make sure no new fires were being started and trying to catch who was doing all this.
Katara was putting fires out in record time. A shadowy figure was watching her. He was amazed at how fluid her movements were and how easily she was bending large amounts of water and putting out fires in multiple buildings at once. She looked so graceful like an experienced dancer. The mysterious man was mesmerized by her beauty. But he soon snapped out of it because he had a mission to do, he had to somehow convince Katara to help him. Even if it meant doing something underhanded to get what he wanted.
Katara continued working hard to save people's lives and houses. She couldn't believe how many houses were on fire. It was record breaking. This was definitely no accident. The man watching her was a Waterbender named Haiko. He was near her age, in his early twenties. Soon Katara had all the fires out. Most of the buildings were saved. Only a few were damaged beyond repair.
A woman approached Katara and thanked her for saving her home and her two boys. Team Avatar were heroes in republic city. Everyone knew them. Katara was happy and relieved that no one was killed in her section, thanks to her quick thinking. She wiped the sweat off of her brow. Haiko was impressed. He heard that Katara was the strongest waterbender of her time. He had to test her abilities and he got what he wanted. She was the only one that could help him. Now he had to trick her and he hatched the perfect scheme.
"Help someone, please help me!" Haiko screamed sobbing crocodile tears. His long silky brown hair almost falling in his face.
"What's wrong?" Katara asked, her eyes filled with worry as he ran up to her, breathing heavily from his pace. He was ready to start the lie. He knew Katara was extremely kindhearted and would do anything to save the innocent. That was her weakness.
"My son he's trapped in a door where the ancient ruins are!" Haiko said his blue eyes filled with fear. "He was scared of the firebender that was chasing him. He hid at the new construction site of the ruins that were unearthed recently and the door suddenly shut. I couldn't open it. I tried but I'm only an A class waterbender. The door will only open for an S class waterbender, an elite high level one. My poor son. He's going to die in there. No one can save him!"
"Don't worry" Katara said trying to comfort him. "I'm actually an S class waterbender. I can probably open the locked door if what you say about it is true. I'll rescue your son. I'd be happy to. What's your name?"
"My name is Haiko. I'm a traveler who was staying at a nearby hotel with my son when the fires started. Thank you so much for your help. You have a good heart. Now come with me. I'll show you where he is"
Katara followed Haiko out of the city and to the north, towards the dig site. She prayed that the little boy was ok. Haiko looked at Katara while they were running. Her long brown silky hair was flowing in the wind, along with her hair loopies. She was quite beautiful. Haiko actually regretted what he was going to do to her after he got the rare jewel. But he knew she wouldn't let him escape with it. She would capture him and have Toph throw him in prison. They finally got to the site.
"Ok where is he trapped?" Katara asked. "We have to get him out before he runs out of air."
"At that place over there" Haiko pointed to a large section of the ruins that was half crumbled but still had a lot of it standing, which impressed Katara.
"Wow!" Katara gawked, her icy blue eyes wide open in awe. "This is incredible. These ruins must be thousands of years old. This must've been what the archeologists unearthed a few days ago. Me and my husband Aang haven't even seen this yet. My brother Sokka was going on and on about how this section had paintings from the original waterbenders. The ones that first learned from the moon! But I had no idea it was this magnificent or this intact. Most of the ruins we've found so far have been just small pieces nothing of this magnitude." Her sweet innocence kind of touched Haiko.
"Wow I never knew that. It's kind of fascinating seeing a piece of my history. My son picked a good hiding place from the firebenders!" He lied, Haiko knew exactly what this place was. And soon it would be Katara's grave. A fitting prison for such a talented waterbender.
"Here's the door." Haiko showed Katara an ancient door extremely old, maybe even older than the paintings. "And here's the lock to open it. It's a square mosaic lock that can only be broken by freezing it with extreme power and force. Believe me I tried. I tried multiple times."
Katara stared at the square lock that jutted out from the side of the door. It was very old. There was ancient waterbender dialect that was written under the lock. She was sure it was some kind of warning but she couldn't read it. This dialect was lost to water tribes for over five thousand years.
"I'm going to open the door now. Stay back!" Katara warned. There might be something dangerous behind this door and I don't want to risk hurting you Haiko."
Haiko was actually touched by Katara's kindness but he knew in a few moments she would be worrying about herself and not about his well-being. He backed away and waited patiently to get one of the rarest jewels in existence. His eyes glittered, like when a child gets a Christmas present. Katara had no idea she was walking into her own doom.
She bended water from her pouch and covered the square lock with it. She was concentrating like heck to freeze the water around the lock. For some reason it was stubborn. No wonder Haiko couldn't break it. She was having trouble with it. She had to do it. A child's life was at stake. Haiko was frustrated. If she couldn't do it, no waterbender could. The water started freezing and soon it totally froze the lock.
Haiko was happy. Katara did it. The lock shattered into a million pieces. The door began to rumble and shake. Lots of debris fell as it started to open. A large amount of dust shot out of the opened door. The huge dust cloud forming was to be expected, after all this was probably the first time this door was opened in thousands of years. Katara was coughing from the cloud and rubbing her eyes trying to see.
The dust gave Haiko the perfect opportunity. He had to make his move now when her vision was impaired by the dust.
Katara suddenly felt something cold and sticky grab both of her hands. The mysterious substance was pulsating as it engulfed her hands and traveled up her arms, stopping at her elbows, encasing her. Two separate ones. One for each arm. The black goop bubbled from the ground and swallowed her feet too, stopping at her ankles in order to prevent her from waterbending her arms free. Katara was Haiko's prisoner. When the dust was finally gone Katara looked down at the black sludge that encased her arms and realized what the substance was. It was tar.
"Your a tarbender aren't you?" She questioned giving him an angry glare. "It's a rare ability. I've only encountered it one other time. What are you up to? And why did you trap me? Let me guess you didn't bring me here to save your son? You probably don't even have a son."
"You are correct Katara" Haiko said proud of what he accomplished. "I'm actually here for a much more important reason. And your right, I don't have a son. That was a lie to trick you into helping me. I'm after the most valuable gem in the known world, a Runestone." Haiko walked into the door and reached towards a small pedestal.
"Runestones are a myth. They don't exist." Katara said skeptical that Haiko had found a Runestone. "Legend says the Runestone is the most powerful rock of the known world. It can grant a person a power greater than the avatar. I doubt there's a Runestone in there."
"They do exist" Haiko said as he picked up a glowing crystal from the pedestal. He came out with it and showed it to Katara. The stone was glorious. The most beautiful rock she had ever seen. It shone almost as bright as the sun. It was amazing, better than a diamond and it flashed different colors too. Katara was horrified. The Runestone really did exist.
"Yes it's mine!!! finally it's all mine!!!! Now I'm going to use its power to kill the avatar. The Runestone can give me that power. And the world will finally be rid of the avatar for good." Haiko laughed as Katara's blue eyes were wide with fright. This lunatic wanted to kill her sweetie.
"No!!!!" Katara yelled. "I'm not going to sit by and let you kill my husband. Not if I have anything to say about it. I love Aang with all my heart and I'll defend him until my last dying breath!!!"
Katara began to struggle violently against the tar. She had to get free. Aang's life depended on it. She pulled and yanked in the trap, the tar gurgling and bubbling as it stretched against her weight. The squelching and popping noises of the tar drove Katara wild as she fought harder to get free.
"You can pull and fight all you want Katara" Haiko said as he clutched the Runestone tightly in his left hand. "Not even the avatar would be able to break the tar. You're mine now."
Katara ignored Haiko and kept fighting the trap. Her hair was whipping around her as she pulled harder and harder at the evil sticky snare that kept her from her love. Thoughts raced through her mind like 'how could she have been so stupid and not seen this coming?' and 'I'm playing a part in him killing Aang.' Tears flowed down her cheeks as she stared at Haiko, her eyes daggers.
"Oh if looks could kill" Haiko laughed taunting the helpless waterbending master. He was getting a kick out of seeing her suffer.
"I will escape!" Katara threatened. "And I will end you permanently so you can't do anything to hurt my sweet Aang!"
"Oh I know you would" Haiko said in a smug confident voice, while he was throwing the Runestone up in the air and catching it. "I know you would have no problem killing me. You're an extremely talented waterbender,an elite and to top it all off your also a bloodbender."
Katara froze. "How do you know that? I rarely use that ability. Only when there's no other option to win and my friends, family or husband are danger. It's an evil ability. To reach inside the enemy and control them. It's horrific. It causes extreme pain for them and that just doesn't sit right with me even if they are the enemy."
"How very noble of you to feel that way about bloodbending" Haiko hissed. "As to how I know you have that ability, that's my business. Anyway you're not going to be around to much longer to worry about me and my plans. Do you notice anything happening with the tar shackles? I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet."
Katara examined her prison. The tar connected from the ground to her elbows. They felt like sticky rubber restraints. She was shackled to the ground. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about her predicament. Then Katara's icy blue eyes widened in horror as she figured out what Haiko was talking about. The tar was pulsating and squelching, that wasn't unusual but the sludge was also slowly hardening around her hands and arms. Katara fought once again for freedom. She was getting frantic because it was getting harder to struggle.
Katara knew Haiko was waiting until the tar hardened enough that she couldn't move at all and then he would move in to kill her. She pulled and pulled, if she could get one hand free she could escape and lay the smack down on Haiko. It was getting harder and harder for Katara to yank at the tar, eventually she wouldn't be able to at all anymore and that thought frightened her. If she got to that point she would be at Haiko's mercy. The fear and dread rose in Katara even more as she fought her deadly battle against the tar.
"The fear in those beautiful blue eyes excites me" Haiko said in a cruel voice. He seemed to enjoy Katara's suffering. "Nothing better than seeing one of the world's most powerful benders helpless and scared. It's a wonderful feeling. When you can't resist anymore, I'll move in and end your life. It's only a matter of time. But don't worry, you'll be reunited with your husband soon. I'm going after him next. You can die with the comfort of knowing that."
Rage filled Katara's eyes as she mustered up an unbelievable amount of strength and gave it all she got and rushed at Haiko. She almost reached where Haiko was standing. But it was short lived because the tar pulled her body back in place where it was originally imprisoned. Katara was huffing and puffing. All that strenuous pulling was tiring her out. She looked into Haiko's eyes with the most angry expression on her face.
"Wow all I can say is that was impressive! I didn't know you had that much fight in you." Haiko applauded. "I guess your bond with your husband must be very strong. Stronger than I ever imagined. Unfortunately for you, you ran out of time. What you don't know about the tar is the more energy you exert from struggling, the faster the tar will expand and thicken. You just sealed your fate with that last attempt to get me. It was all in vain, I bet those tar shackles feel like cement bricks by now. He he."
Katara realized Haiko was right. When the tar forced her back to her spot, it had hardened immensely. She tried to struggle again but couldn't move at all now. Not even a muscle. It felt like her arms were made of lead. Katara tried again but got the same result.
Katara realized it was over. She gave up fighting the tar and accepted her fate. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as Haiko walked towards her. He pulled out his knife. Katara was frightened but she hid her fear. She wasn't going to give Haiko the satisfaction of his victory.
"You won Haiko" Katara said in a sad voice. "I guess it's all over now. My biggest regret is that I won't be able to feel the loving touch of my sweet husband anymore. I bet you feel real good about yourself, huh? Killing a girl when she can't defend herself."
"I don't know if you're going to believe me" Haiko said. "But I'm taking no pleasure in this. I wish it didn't have to come to this. I don't like killing a woman. Especially a beautiful bender like you. But I have no choice, you know my plans with the Runestone and I can't have you warning the avatar about it. I'll make it quick so you won't feel it too much."
Haiko ran Katara's hair through his fingers. She hated him doing that. Only her sweet Aang was allowed to do that with her hair. Haiko was testing to make sure there was no resistance from her. Katara couldn't help it, she had a frightened look on her face. He really was going to kill her and she couldn't do a thing about it. Haiko held up the dagger. Katara closed her eyes to prepare for her end.
"Forgive me Aang. I love you" she said tears continued to stream down her face as she figured those to be her last words.
Haiko was just about ready to plunge the dagger into Katara's heart when he suddenly let out a blood curdling scream.
Katara opened her eyes and saw Haiko get smashed against the wall by a giant strong gust of wind. Her face filled with happiness and relief. It was her sweetie Aang. He had found her. But when the young waterbender looked into her husband's eyes, she saw Aang was filled with unbelievable rage, anger and hatred towards Haiko. This cruel waterbender had almost taken his soulmate's life away.
The thought of if he had gotten there a few seconds later, Katara would've been dead caused him tremendous anger. Aang's eyes were daggers. This wasn't the usual sweet goofy fun loving husband she was use to seeing.
She hadn't seen Aang this angry in a while. Not since Appa got kidnapped and when General Fong tried to put her in danger to force Aang into the avatar state. Haiko seemed very scared. He backed up against the wall.
Aang rushed towards him at unbelievable speed and grabbed a hold of his neck. Aang had the coldest expression on his face as he suspended Haiko in the air, his hand clutching the evil waterbender's throat. Aang began to tighten his grip on Haiko. Haiko struggled to breath. Aang entered the avatar state.
"Mercy!!" Haiko screamed as he dropped the Runestone on the floor and tried to use both of his hands to free his throat from the avatar's grasp. But Aang was too strong. "Please have mercy on me. Spare my life..."
"Mercy!!?" Aang said in his creepy avatar voice. "Did you show Katara mercy? No, you tortured her and was about to kill her. If I hadn't shown up my wife would've been dead. The sweetest most caring person in the world and you would've killed her in cold blood!!! You deserve death!!!" Aang tightened his hold on Haiko's throat ready to kill him. Haiko's breathing became labored. Katara was shocked and saddened by what Aang was doing. She knew his actions were valid but what he was about to do went against his gentle nature and everything he believed in, even if Haiko deserved it. She had to stop him.
"Sweetie please..." Katara sobbed. "Please don't kill him. He can be tried and then sentenced by Sokka and the council but what you're doing goes against who you are my love. It isn't worth losing your kind gentle soul." Aang looked at his beloved wife, his face softening a bit from seeing her sad expression.
"But sweetie he almost killed you. You really want me to show this heartless monster mercy?" Katara nodded and this caused Aang to release Haiko's neck and he slumped to the ground, struggling to breath.
The young avatar rushed towards his wife, grabbing Katara in a sweet embrace. He didn't even care if he got stuck in the tar too. Aang had to hug his beloved. But the tar wasn't sticky anymore so Aang was safe. Katara was happy to feel Aang's warmth again. She couldn't move to hug him back, but she was able to put her chin on Aang's shoulder and lean her head in the crook of his neck.
Haiko recovered from his near suffocating at the hands of the avatar. He grabbed his dagger and snuck behind Aang. Haiko raised the knife ready to kill him. Aang wasn't paying attention. He was lost in Katara's scent. Katara didn't notice Haiko either. They assumed he was unconscious still. Haiko smirked and plunged the dagger down at Aang's back, but missed. Toph had encased him with earthbending.
"Hey Twinkle Toes! You almost got stabbed by this jerk. Don't worry I'll take him to prison. One of the fire benders confessed to Sokka that Haiko hired him to start the fires."
"Toph" Katara said as Aang was still clutching her. "Haiko was trying to kill the avatar. He found that gem, the Runestone. With it's power he'd be able to kill Aang. Haiko needed me to get the stone, so he tricked me into helping him and he trapped me with tar bending. He was about to kill me, but sweetie came at the right time. I'm sure all the fires were started by benders he hired. We need to destroy the Runestone. I don't want that dangerous gemstone to exist!"
Aang grabbed the stone and crushed it with earth bending. This wicked thing endangered the life of his beloved. He didn't care about what happened to him. It was Katara who almost died.
Haiko's eyes were full of disappointment. His best chance to kill the avatar was gone. Toph metalbended cuffs around Haiko's wrists and escorted him to prison. There she would interrogate him to find out his reasons for all this.
Aang proceeded to free Katara from her prison. He bended water around the hardened tar and then froze the water, which crumbled the tar off of her. Katara felt relieved that she could use her hands and feet again. The tar felt like tight weights and the relief of shedding what felt like thirty pounds attached to her arms was overwhelming.
"Are you ok sweetie?" Aang asked concerned that the tar had damaged Katara's arms. He rubbed them to check and see if they were broken or sprained.
"I'm fine Aang." Katara said while hugging Aang in a sweet embrace. "Don't worry honey I'm not that delicate, but your concern is sweet. Here's you're reward." And with those words Katara gave Aang a passionate kiss and the pair stayed like that for awhile, both lovers filled with pure bliss. The soft kiss of Katara made Aang's heart beat a million miles a minute. He loved the young waterbender soo much, words could not describe his love for her. He didn't want the sweet kiss to end, after all he almost lost her forever. Aang wasn't about to let her out of his sight anytime soon.