Part 2 - Order
Ghazi and Khana raced up the stairs, the sky's light guiding them as the maniacal laughter of Talos echoed throughout the chamber.
"Can you cause a cave-in, Kadan?"
"If he's a Water-bender who can use Fire, it's safe to assume he can use Air and Earth too! Let's just keep moving!" She shakily replied as he nodded.
The two emerged back out onto Whale-tail Island to find The Magnificent Turtle Duck still in the distance as Khana raced over with Ghazi shortly following behind.
"Why are we running towards that? The Inventor has the device that controls it!"
"There should be a hatch underneath the shell... hopefully, Kang didn't remove it."
"Are you sure I can fit through there?"
"We'll see!"
The two reached The Magnificent Turtle Duck, and Khana wedged herself underneath to discover the hatch still there, "Ghazi, hurry!"
Khana shifted the wheel to open the hatch as he turned to find Talos emerging from the chamber, propelling himself up with an air spout. He quickly crawled under as Khana climbed inside The Magnificent Turtle Duck.
They sprinted into the Cockpit whilst Talos marched towards them, the stress piling on top of her as her arms quaked and eyes twitched around the control panel. Ghazi sat by her and placed an assuring hand on her back.
"Do you know how to fly The Bird?"
She pressed the red button, "I know enough to get us out of here!"
The engine ignited, and Khana pressed her foot down on the slender pedal forcing Fire to erupt from the exhausts and make the Magnificent Turtle Duck shift forward, but Talos continued his approach,
She pulled back on the steering stick as The Magnificent Turtle Duck listed up and flew off into the sky.
Talos stopped on the spot, watching them soar as he glanced at his Blade Arm. He swung it back as the blade arched out, and with a mighty slash, he unleashed a razor-sharp blade of air at them.
However, Khana instinctively retracted the wings, the Air Slash just barely missing them as she ejected them once more before the Magnificent Turtle Duck could crash into the ocean.
Ghazi clutched his gut, "A wise move. But please warn me next time."
Talos watched the Air Slash miss as he laughed with amazement, "Brav-" he gazed at his hand and prosthetic, "Oh... yeah," he wryly smirked.
The flying duo breathed a sigh of relief while the Magnificent Turtle Duck rumbled and flew to the northern horizon, "Do you... know where we're going?"
"I think so... Kang periodically looks at this..." she gestured to the Compass on the Control Panel, "Whenever he flies, and at the moment, it's pointing North."
Ghazi sighed and slumped back in his seat, "I could not have foreseen this... This Corrupter arriving so soon. But do we have a plan?"
"For now, we should get back to Republic City. Warn Lin and the Governors about what happened."
He sat up as Khana quizzically tapped her fingers on the steering stick, "so, um... I never really got your opinion on Claire and me..."
"Is now really an appropriate time?"
"Would you prefer we sit in silence?"
"...It was, in a sense, acceptable."
"'In a sense'?"
"In The Legion, same-sex relations are frowned upon, as it is a biological dead end."
"I suppose that makes sense... but what makes Claire and I different?"
"Because your relationship is, in theory, not a biological dead end."
Khana flushed a bright red, "Oh... oh... yeah, I, uh... I see what you mean..."
"Do you wish to sit in silence now? Or shall we regale the tale of how you donned the velvet hat?"
"...Silence..."
The two sat flustered and smug quiet as the Magnificent Turtle Duck flew towards Republic City. After an hour of flying, the sight of the metropolis came into view, and Khana aimed for the Derelict Estate.
"Can you land us, Kadan?"
"Yes... but don't expect it to be gentle."
The Magnificent Turtle Duck soared down and hovered outside the house above Kang's Lab, and as Khana retracted the wings, she dropped the machine like a weighted boulder into the ground. Khana and Ghazi scrunched up and tightly shut their eyes before slowly peaking out of one.
"I take it we landed..."
"Yep..."
"Impressive work; you did not get us killed."
Khana nervously scoffed and giggled as they stood up, moving their quaking legs out of the Cockpit. She knelt by the hatch and grasped the handle, trying to push it open with all her strength, but it wouldn't budge, "... That's weird... why won't it open?"
"Did you deploy the struts before landing?"
She flushed red and softly clenched her fists, "I... uh... no. No, I didn't."
Ghazi rolled his eyes and sighed, "Follow me."
He led her back into the Cockpit and gazed to an upper hatch. He punched it open and leapt up, grasping the sides and pulling himself up and out before kneeling and lending a hand to Khana.
She wholeheartedly accepted, and he pulled her out.
"How did you know about that?"
"The Inventor and I used it when we watched your fight against that Black Beast."
Khana's eyes widened with shock before slanting with aggravation, "You were WATCHING!?"
"You say that as if you needed our help."
"IT WOULD'VE BEEN APPRECIATED!"
Ghazi scoffed, "Helping would impede on my quest to assess you. And as I see it, you represented your order greatly in that clash."
Khana wryly smirked, "...Well, thanks, I suppose."
He nodded before the two slid off the bill of The Bird and raced to city hall, catching the eyes of citizens and City Guard alike. The duo barged in through the front doors, finding the Governors and Lin Beifong discussing matters of the city, the agitated council's glare piercing through them.
"What are you two doing? We're in the middle of our monthly meeting!" Sheng shouted.
They hastily marched up to them, "Sorry to barge in like this, but we have a lot of trouble on our hands," Khana said
Lin crossed her arms, "And that would be?"
"Someone's just tried to kill Claire and Kang."
Their eyes widened, quietly chattering to themselves before Hou turned his attention to the duo, "Someone... who exactly is this, Someone?"
"Talos, a man who, as far as I am aware, is an old friend of the Avatar," Ghazi replied.
Sheng scoffed, "These claims are preposterous! Surely an attempt on their lives would end with this... 'Talos' being slain!"
"Now, don't rush to conclusions. It's not everyday friends of the Avatar come running in claiming someone's made an attempt on her life," Gao argued.
"That's true... but if this Talos tried killing her, where is he now?" Jing asked.
"Probably still on Whale-Tail Island," Khana replied.
Sheng placed his hand to his forehead, "This must be a prank set up by that lunatic in the goggles..."
Ghazi rolled his eyes, "I would not be so certain of him bei-" A loud boom cut him off, "... I think he just arrived."
They all raced out of the door, finding citizens fleeing from an approaching figure in the distance, the Blade Arm glistening in the Sun as the Jet black hair became prominent... Talos had arrived.
"That would be him..."
"If he's looking for a fight, it's Seven on one; this shouldn't prove difficult!" Sheng said.
"No. Look at our terrain," Jing replied, gesturing to the narrow aisle of buildings surrounding them.
"If we fight all at once, we'll defeat ourselves before he defeats us."
Ghazi withdrew his hammer, "Kadan, lend me your blades."
She withdrew her daggers and spun them in her palms before tightly clasping them as they charged in.
"That didn't mean fight on your... oh, La's bleeding Gills!"
Talos scoffed at their charge and rolled his neck, "The two from Whale-tail island, I knew we'd cross paths again!" he smiled and unleashed a stream of Violet Fire.
But Ghazi thrust his hammer into the flames, the weapon parting and absorbing the energy while Khana shielded him from any flicked out embers. A rune similarly shaped to an arrowhead glowed with crimson light as the warrior duo swept in, Ghazi's hammer swinging out with bursts of Fire whilst Khana's daggers swiftly slashed at Talos, but despite their attacks, he effortlessly evaded and smirked.
"My, my. A non-bender who can bend the elements his enemy provides... fascinating!"
Ghazi roared and slammed his hammer into the earth, shooting up a pillar of flames under Talos, but he ascended into the air, spinning and swinging his blade arm out as he unleashed a mighty slash of air. However, Ghazi slashed his hammer into it, deflecting it and igniting a rune shaped like a crooked 'H'.
Talos smugly smiled as he descended. Ghazi jutted his head to the side, signalling Khana to move. And as she did, he clenched his hammer and brought it high in the air, "Hathih al-neran sawfa tahriq ruhak!"
"Come again?"
In Talos' confusion, Ghazi slammed his Fire flourished hammer into the earth, unleashing a tornado of raging red flames under his enemy. The fiery air swirled and ravaged Talos' body, his screams reverbing around the battlefield while the Governors and Lin watched in amazement.
"I guess I had nothing to worry about!" Jing said.
Ghazi stayed ready with his hammer, but Talos' screams turned to laughter, sending a chill down their spines as he flexed his arms out, dissipating the Fire-Tornado to reveal his burn ravished body.
He heavily breathed and descended onto the ground, "Impressive..."
He pulled water from a satchel, forming three aqua rings around his body, each radiating a dismal healing light until the burns faded away.
Hou scowled at Jing, "You just had to jinx it!"
Ghazi snarled, "You are more resilient than expected."
"Now's not the time to be complimenting him, Ghazi!"
Khana and Ghazi lunged in as Talos weaved through their attacks, some just barely glancing him, Khana's daggers like tiny papercuts irritating his skin and Ghazi's hammer like being slapped by a small paddle. He squatted down as their weapons loomed over him, but with a swift kick back and punch of his fist, he knocked the two away with a double-ended blast of air, finally standing up and catching his breath.
"Now, now, don't hog all the fun!" He taunted them as black energy pulsed around his fleshy arm.
And as they charged back in, he flicked out an explosive dark shockwave, paralysing the two and knocking them down to the ground.
"What in the name of Kyoshi is That!?" Khana said as she tried to pull herself back up.
"I do not know, but it is annoying."
Talos strode away, leaving the two in his dust as Lin and Hou marched out together. The Earth-benders dug their feet in, holding their hands to the ground as the earth quaked beneath them, and with a swift uppercut, they erected a gigantic Boulder before them.
Ghazi and Khana's gaze perked up at it.
"Ibn al Kalb..." he muttered, grabbing hold of her and slowly shuffling away.
All the while, Talos psychotically grinned and raised his arms with glee, "Now we're talking!"
"On my mark!" Lin said as the two raised their palms to the boulder, their fists ready to punch out, "Now!"
They struck out and lethally launched the boulder at Talos, but he manically laughed and threw himself at it, thrusting his fist in and penetrating the surface until it ground to a halt.
Lin and Hou stared in disbelieve as Talos callously grinned, "I'M GOING TO ROLL ALL OVER YOU!"
He blasted the boulder back at them, and the earth-benders watched their demise fly at them. But a quick slashing of water cut through the boulder near a thousand times, turning it into mere tiny pebbles. They gazed over their shoulders to find Sheng with water formed around his arms, "Well, I can't have you two dying on me, can I? It'd make me look bad in the next election."
Lin smirked, turning her attention back to Talos as her fists clenched, the sounds of Khana's words echoing in her mind, "Someone's just tried to kill Claire and Kang!"
The memory of her words forced her to sprint in with reckless abandon, "Lin, no!"
"Lin, Yes!" She replied as she came face-to-face with Talos, striking out and shooting up a massive pillar of earth.
But he simply leapt atop the emerging column while she charged up at him, breaking away the high-ground and throwing his balance off as she leapt in with a diving kick, striking and blasting him down to the ground, but Talos deftly swept himself around, placing his palm on the floor and pushing himself back to his feet; however, Lin relentlessly charged in once more, leaping and swinging out a flurry of punches and kicks.
"A bender resorting to fist fighting? Brazen fool!" he mocked her as he dodged.
But Lin formed a gauntlet of the earth around her fist, delivering an earth-shattering uppercut and propelling him high into the air. She launched more earthen pillars up at him, each striking one after another and throwing him higher into the skies above. But after the fifth pillar, he corrected himself and blasted off on violet jets whilst readying his blade to cut her down. However, she pulled a lamp post to her, grabbing hold and letting out a mighty cry before slamming it into him and swatting him out of the air. He smashed into the ground as rubble spread out amongst his form.
Lin dropped the lamppost, her breath ragged and hair ruffled, but Talos stood back up, cracking his neck as the Guard Captain's heart skipped a beat, "Now, now. Don't wear yourself thin!"
He lunged in, slashing his blade arm at her neck as she just barely dodged, but the tip of the blade cut into her cheek.
Talos plunged his fist into the Guard Captain's gut and launched her into the bakery, shattered glass and wood surrounding her as she fell unconscious. He smirked and gazed at the Governors as Hou launched spinning slabs of the earth at Talos, but he effortlessly evaded, inching ever closer. In the blink of an eye, Hou found him looming before him, petrifying him as Talos' fist drove into his face, the sheer force crashing and incapacitating him into the earth.
He chuckled to himself and glared at Sheng, Jing, and Gao.
"This has turned into quite the mess..."
"No, kidding..." Jing replied.
The remaining warriors readied themselves for battle. Jing led the charge with sword and fan in hand whilst Gao and Sheng backed him up with raging streams of Fire and water. But Talos merely brushed the Governor's bending away and launched in at Jing, their blades colliding, sticking the two warriors in a stalemate. Talos tried to strike with his free hand, but Jing countered it with his fan, using his force to his advantage and creating an opening that he ruthlessly slashed through. Talos grasped the wound and collapsed to his knees whilst Gao and Sheng watched on in surprise as Jing twisted back, readying his sword to deliver the killing blow, but to his surprise, he kicked out and struck his wrists knocking the sword from his grasp.
He launched himself back up, kicking Jing's head and knocking him out and onto the ground before turning to the last line of defence. Sheng unleashed a flurry of sleek ice blades, but Talos met it with a blast of violet fire, melting all but one which slipped through and pierced his chest. He growled and grasped the ice as Gao struck his fists out, but with a swift slash of his blade, a curved earthen wall erected and stopped the torrent of flame, and with the pain subsided, Talos mercilessly launched the stone at Gao and Sheng, striking and smashing them into the ground.
He took a deep breath and cracked his knuckles as he grinned to himself, "Seven on one, and you still lost. But your effort was admirable."
"And now it's time to bring back what was once lost."
Talos nodded and ascended into the Skies of Republic City, taking a deep breath as the clouds blocked out the rays of the Sun while he hovered ominously in the air with his arms outstretched like a deity.
"Fear no longer clouds my mind, for I have nothing to fear!" The base of his spine twinged.
"Guilt is but a memory now, fading into the invisible depths of time!" His Sacrum twinged.
Ty Lee, Zu and Li heard the carnage of battle, arriving late to find the defeated warriors scattered along the ground, "Well... we were late..."
Zu and Ty Lee gazed around at everyone whilst Li stared up at the hovering Talos, "That guys up to something... quickly, let's heal these guys and get them out of here."
He rushed over to Lin whilst Zu and Ty Lee squinted at each other, "But we can't heal?"
"I do the healing; you two do the escorting!"
The two nodded and ran over to Ghazi and Khana.
Li placed a palm of glowing water onto Lin's wounds, wincing at the sight of the awakening Guard Captain, "Are you alright?"
"Nothing, I can't walk off..."
Li finished healing and brought her back to vitality, "I'm afraid you're going to have a scar on that cheek."
But Lin scoffed at his concern, "I'll be fine, Li. Go help the others!" she limped over to the others while he rushed over to everyone else, healing their wounds and bringing them back from unconsciousness.
Talos deeply breathed, "Shame no longer perverts my mind, for I have nothing to be ashamed of!" His stomach twinged as a black inky aura formed around him.
"Grief no longer burdens me; it is a pain I will no longer feel!" his heart twinged.
"Lies have become truths; the mistakes have been corrected!" his throat twinged as the inky black aura violently swirled around him.
Everyone on the ground gazed up at him, "Whatever he's up to, I don't like it... we better run!" Zu said.
"Agreed... but what about the civilians? Do we order an evacuation on a whim?" Jing asked.
Lin pulled out a bleeper and firmly pressed a black button, taking a heavy sigh as the message beamed out to all available City Guards to evacuate the civilians whilst a city-wide alarm blared in the distance.
Talos came to the final two chakras whilst the black aura cascaded and surged around him.
"Illusions no longer cloud my mind; I now see clear as day!" his forehead twinged as he took in a last breath.
"My earthly attachments... are no more, at long last I Am The Avatar!" the crown of his head twinged.
His eyes flared a pitch-black as he thrusted his Blade Arm to the sky, and the aura absorbed into his form, "Yes... YES!" Raava's voice spoke in tandem with his own.
He brought his Blade Arm behind him, arching out as the earth below him split open; he slashed at City Hall, unleashing a wave of Lava which crushed it in one fell swoop, and as it cascaded over the ruins, he cooled it with a howling gust of wind and formed a pedestal of Obsidian. He directed his hand to the giant Pedestal's centre, the ground quaking and cracking until giant crystals shot out of the earthy Obsidian. He bent the crystals into a semi-sphere before pulling an enormous amount of ocean water up to his side, placing it within the floor of the crystalline semi-sphere. He finished moulding the crystals into a complete sphere atop the Pedestal until finally descending to the ground and marching towards his creation, bending part of the Crystal into a Paifang and forming a staircase into the interior. He stood before the water and flexed his arm out to create a massive bridge spanning across the entire length of the Crystal sphere. He strutted out to the centre of the bridge, gazing up to the ceiling of the crystal sphere as black energy pulsed around his hand.
"Chaos...reign over all!" he cried, Raava's voice echoing as he thrust his hand upwards and ejected a massive amount of Chaotic energy into the skies.
Fire Lord Zuko and Shu gazed out to the horizon, wincing back as the Chaos spread out amongst it. As did Bolin and Mako in the Jasmine Dragon and Chieftain Sokka along with his wife Suki in the Southern Water Tribe.
Ho Tun and Toph stood within the flagstone training grounds of the Beifong Metal-bending Academy quizzically gazing up to the sky as the Chaos rolled out like a thunderous cloud.
"I don't need to see to tell something's not right..."
Tenzin and Jinora awoke from their meditation, the Chaos breaking them out as they both stared up from the Western Air Temple and gasped at the sight of it.
Talos strode to the opposite end of the bridge and erected a giant platform, finishing by creating an Obsidian throne and pulling up water from the bridge's side to form a waterfall behind it.
He gazed at the throne with a bitter-sweet victory in mind as he descended from his Avatar State.
"Why the glum look, Talos?"
"Claire... Something tells me she didn't perish in the Spirit World."
"Avatar or not, with the blast you gave her, she's surely dead!"
He scoffed, "You don't know her; she's a resilient thorn in the side... she'll be back."
Talos sat upon the throne and heavily sighed. His elbow rested on the arm of the throne with his head perched upon his fist and his calf resting upon his knee, while his bladed arm draped along the left side of the throne.
"So for now, I shall wait..." He closed his eyes as Raava's chuckling radiated in his mind.
"We await your arrival, Claire..."