Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Legend of Korra

Edward

Instantly he hit his button on his sleeve, extending the sword. Zaheer glared at him, apparently not having expected his darts to be blocked by Al. He airbent a blast at him, and he had no way to shield himself as it sent him tumbling backwards into the far wall in a loud crash. He watched in horror as Zaheer grabbed Ayana and dove back out of the window, quick as a flash.

"Brother!" Al shouted from the floor. Ed rushed over to his brother and rolled him over. "Brother, I can't move! Whatever was in those darts… I can't move anything!"

Which meant Ayana couldn't, either.

"I'll be back!" He shouted to Al as he jumped out the window to pursue Zaheer. The sounds from the living room must have awoken the others because he could see flashes of fire from Mako and heard the crumbling sounds of earth that was probably Bolin. He sprinted towards them and heard a horribly familiar popping noise. Zaheer's friends were here, too.

As he approached, he found the metalbenders were caging Zaheer and his friends behind large metal plates in the middle of the garden, bending them into a dome. It reminded him of the dome Hohenheim had used to capture Pride, but this was much smaller.

"It's over! We have you surrounded! Release the Avatar!" The Chief shouted menacingly.

There was silence within the trap, but slowly lava began to creep from underneath it, melting the metal cage. Ed suddenly recalled the last bending form that Bolin had mentioned. Lavabending.

The four adversaries stood on a safe island they'd created in the center of the lava. Everyone immediately started bombarding them with attacks, and the four countered strongly. Ayana was on the ground between them all, unable to move. Ed wished Raashu hadn't stayed on the airship, he could probably jump the lava moat with ease and rescue her.

The popping sound warned him before the impact, and he dove and barely avoided the explosion behind him. He recovered and sprinted the last short distance to Mako and Bolin, who were using a large metal sheet as cover. Asami was with them, as was Chief Beifong. They were taking turns standing to throw some shots, and then quickly ducking back down into cover.

Ed decided it was time to try his laser. He stood and aimed for that bastard Zaheer. Pointing his arm, he pressed the button and watched a narrow red beam erupt from the tube. It caught Zaheer off guard and sent him flying out of the lava moat, where some of the city guards began attacking him.

"Nice shot!" Mako praised. Ed grinned. That was pretty cool. Asami had a grin on her face, too.

"It worked!" She yelled happily, but their elation was short lived by another popping noise. Instinctively they all tensed, but the explosion was blocked as Su bend a metal shield on their flank. She hurried over and crouched beside them.

"How did they get in here?" Lin demanded angrily.

"I don't know, but we're not letting them get away!" Su yelled back.

"There's no way across that lava moat!" Mako shouted. "What are we going to do?" He stood and threw a few more fire shots.

Su was looking around desperately. "If we can't cross it, maybe we can drop in from above. There's a hatch we can open on the top of the dome, and Lin and I can metalbend ourselves down on cables and rescue the Avatar!"

"Don't be stupid, Su. We'll get blasted out of the air as soon as the three eyed freak sees us." Lin growled.

Asami was grinning again. "Not if we stun her, and I think I know just how to do it." She was gazing pointedly at Ed's laser.

Lin shared a look with Su, who shrugged. "Alright. Radio us when you're ready, give us five minutes to get into position!" They both stood and ran.

"Radio? We don't have a radio!" Bolin tried to shout after them, but they didn't stop. To his relief, though, a city guard ran over and delivered a radio shortly after the Beifong's left.

Asami pulled Ed over to her, pointing at his arm and shouting over the fighting. "See this bar? After every shot, the laser needs time to recharge. Once that bar turns green, its ready to fire again. Got it?"

"Got it!" He shouted over the sound of an explosion. Mako and Bolin were sending attacks in as much as they could as they waited for Lin and Su to get into position. Ed watched the bar on his sleeve turn from a yellow color into green as it filled completely.

The radio crackled. "We're in position."

"Go for it!" Mako shouted to him as he stood to provide cover. Or to draw fire; either one was fine with Ed. He stood, and his eyes quickly found his target.

He heard Bolin answer the radio, saying they weren't ready yet. But they misheard him, and he watched as Lin and Su jumped from the hole in the dome. Damn. He had to fire, now.

He saw the combustionbender turn, her eyes going skyward. Her face wasn't quite sidelong to his, and he had a clear shot to her third eye. He pointed his weapon and hit the button. The beam erupted from his arm and the strike landed right in her forehead. She screamed as she fell over with her hands clutching her tattoo.

Lin and Su made it to the ground, scooped up Ayana quickly, and they promptly zoomed back up toward the hatch. Zaheer must have seen the rescue because he suddenly appeared with a glider, airbending toward them. But Su was prepared and evaded his attacks, and she successfully beat him away from Lin, who was holding Ayana. They made it safely through the dome, and the hatch closed behind them.

Seeing they had lost their captive, Zaheer landed among his friends and bellowed his anger. He whipped up a massive whirlwind, blasting everyone and obscuring their view. When the wind had settled, they had escaped. Again.

Ayana

She couldn't move a muscle. She'd been helpless as Zaheer had nabbed her, and she couldn't do a thing as she lay there surrounded by her enemies. Thankfully, Lin and Su had managed to pull her out, and they carried her back into the house and put her on a couch. She thought she could see Al out of the corner of her eye.

"Al! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just can't move anything." He answered. He sounded anxious.

"Same here. Don't worry, they'll fix us."

Lin stood nearby with her arms crossed, while Su went to find help. Asami, Mako, and Bolin stood somewhere out of her line of sight, and Ed, who had been standing by Al, came over and knelt beside her. He put his hand on her cheek and gazed at her in concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah. That was crazy."

"That guy really has it out for you." He replied seriously.

She'd noticed. She also realized she'd underestimated him and his friends. They were a force to be reckoned with. "What was that beam of light, that stunned the combustionbender? I've never seen anything like that before."

He held up his sleeve proudly and pointed at a tube on the top. "Upgrade, courtesy of Asami. It shoots laser beams."

"That's so cool." She felt slightly jealous. That was pretty awesome of Asami to share her new inventions like that. She's a good friend.

"So, what was in those darts? Why can't you guys move?" Mako asked from somewhere to her left, behind the couch.

"If I had to guess, I'd say its Shirshu toxin. It's a paralytic poison, and eventually it'll go away on its own if Su can't find an antidote here." Lin chimed in.

Ayana heard hurried footsteps approaching, and Su and Aiwei came into view. Ed moved out of the way, and Aiwei held a small bottle to her lips. He snaked his hand under her neck and lifted gently to help her drink it. "This should counteract the toxin. Give it a few minutes to work." He moved over to Al and gave him some of the antidote, too.

Lin and Su were arguing about how safe this place really was. If Zaheer and his team could get in and out undetected when the dome was closed, that suggested that they'd had inside help. It was decided that they would begin interrogating all the guards in the morning. It should be easy to find the culprit, with Aiwei's truth seeing abilities.

Slowly her movement returned, and eventually she was able to push herself up into a sitting position on the couch. Al, who had taken more darts than she had, was taking longer to recover. But she could see him moving his hands, so at least they knew the antidote was working. Ed sat at his brother's feet, watching him apprehensively.

"Let's get back to sleep, everyone. We'll start interrogations in the morning." Lin announced as she swept from the room. Su and Aiwei followed her out.

Ayana tried to stand but decided to wait a bit longer for the antidote to work its magic. Mako had paused on his way out when he saw her stop, but she waved him on silently. Soon it was only her, Ed and Al left.

"Brother, you should probably just carry me. At this rate, it might be a while." Al told him.

Edward looked over at her. "Can you walk yet?"

"Maybe." She pushed herself up to her feet, swaying only slightly as she caught her balance. Taking a small step forward, she found she could control herself enough to not fall over.

Ed slid his arms under his brother and lifted him easily, then followed her slow progress down the hallway to the bedrooms. They made it to her door first and she moved to open it, but Ed stopped her by saying, "No way. You're not sleeping alone after what just happened. What if he comes back, and no one's with you to stop him?"

"Good point." She relented and continued down the hall to the brother's room. Opening the door, she found it was exactly the same as hers, except it had two beds in it instead of one. Ed walked over to one and put Al down, then worked on pulling the covers up and over his brother. She stood and watched.

When he'd finished tucking in his brother, Ed gestured to the empty mattress. "You can take the bed. I don't mind sleeping on the floor."

She appreciated the offer, but it was a stupid one. "Ed. We've shared before, I think we can handle sharing again." True, sleeping on the ground in the wilderness in Amestris wasn't really the same as sharing a bed, but still. It was practically the same.

He didn't argue as he crawled under the covers, and she followed suit. Pressing her body against his, she put her head on his chest, and he slid his arm around her. She felt safe in his embrace, and all worries about Zaheer coming back disappeared. It wasn't long before she felt herself drifting off to sleep.

The next morning came all too quick, and it wasn't long before she found herself standing in an interrogation room with Su, Lin, Mako and Aiwei. One by one, the city's guards entered and seated themselves across from Aiwei, who interrogated them all. Each time, he dismissed the guard and shook his head sadly. She was starting to get frustrated. Maybe it wasn't a guard after all.

The next soldier who entered was a young man, so he had to have been fairly new to the force. Aiwei leaned forward eagerly after his first few questions, apparently having sensed something.

"Did you help the attackers enter Zaofu last night?" He asked with a steely voice.

"Of course not." The guard replied.

Aiwei only paused briefly before accusing him outright. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not!" The guard began panicking as Su approached him and grabbed the front of his uniform, picking him up and slamming him against the wall.

"You're a traitor to the Metal Clan!" She yelled vehemently, but he continued to insist his innocence.

"I think we should search his house." Aiwei suggested.

He left the room and she followed with Mako. They passed Ed, Al and Bolin on the way, and Mako motioned for them to come, too. They fell in line and followed Aiwei to the guard's home, where they entered and began searching for evidence.

Mako was the one who was a detective, so it wasn't surprising that he found the first piece of evidence. It was a crumpled note that read, "team assembled, ready to rendezvous". It was certainly suspicious by itself, but when paired with the logbook of the guard shifts and routes that Ed found, that convinced everyone that the guard was involved.

"Let's go confront him with this evidence!" Mako proposed angrily as he shook the logbook in his hand.

"No. Let's give him time to sweat it out." Aiwei suggested instead. Mako looked surprised and glanced at her. She thought the same thing; what's the point in that?

They left the guard's house and went back to Su's. Aiwei excused himself, leaving everyone else in the living room. Asami wandered in shortly after they arrived.

"Something doesn't add up." Mako voiced. "Think about it. That guard grew up here, how would he have gotten tangled up with a criminal like Zaheer?"

"Zaheer was in prison for the past thirteen years, right? The guard would have only been around five years old back then." Ed added thoughtfully. "When would it have been possible for them to meet?"

Ayana nodded as she thought everything over. They were right, something was off. And Aiwei's reluctance to confront the guard with the evidence was suspicious to her. She realized something with a start. He was the only man in the entire city who could lie and get away with it.

She looked up at everyone. "I think we should go check out Aiwei's place." Everyone looked surprised except Mako, who had probably been thinking along the same lines as her. After explaining her reasons, everyone agreed, and they left to find his house.

Edward

It was a small home, secluded on the edge of Su's property. After peeking in the windows and seeing it empty, Al clapped and touched the doorknob to unlock it, and they entered quietly. They spread out and searched for evidence while trying not to leave any traces that they'd been there.

He started by a window and opened the drawers in a small table there. Not finding anything of note, he continued sweeping by moving left, following the perimeter of the room. His eyes roved over a long bookshelf against the wall. It had multiple books and decorative items placed on it. As he passed by, he noticed it was actually two bookshelves shoved together instead of one long one. He thought it was weird to have two identical bookshelves next to each other like that. Why not just build one long one?

He knelt down as something on the floor caught his eye. There were scuff marks on the wood, next to the shelves. It looked like something had rubbed the floor multiple times. Returning to his feet, he stuck his fingers between the two shelves and pushed, and was delighted when one of them gave way. It slid sideways to reveal a passageway down, with a closed door at the bottom.

"Hey, guys, take a look." He called softly over his shoulder. Everyone came over and stared down the dark stairway.

"This is it. It has to be." Mako sounded excited.

Ed was about to start down the stairs when he heard a sharp intake of breath. Everyone turned to look at Ayana, who was gazing out the window. "Aiwei's coming."

Moving quickly, he and Mako pushed the bookshelf back into place, and everyone put innocent looks on their faces as the doorknob turned and Aiwei entered. Upon seeing them, he was livid. "What are you doing here? You are trespassing!"

They'd have to be careful how they worded their responses, so that he didn't sense them lying. Ed hoped everyone else was smart enough to realize that, too, and were vigilant with their words.

"Something isn't adding up with all this, and we were hoping you'd have some answers." Mako replied carefully.

Aiwei sighed. "If you want to talk, let's at least have some tea." He pointed at his couches, and they all moved over to sit. He walked into the kitchen to put on a pot of water and then came back. He slowly paced throughout the room as he talked with his back to them. "What isn't adding up?"

They all shared apprehensive looks, wondering who was going to say what. Before the silence got too long, Ayana spoke up. "The guard is young; he's been living in Zaofu his entire life. How did he cross paths with a guy like Zaheer?"

"Perhaps he was bribed. Or a mutual friend or relative introduced them." Aiwei responded with his back still turned. He was facing the bookshelf, and Ed began to feel nervous. "If you don't think it was the guard, then who do you suspect?"

Again, they glanced at each other, not sure how to answer without him sensing their lies. Asami answered, saying boldly. "We don't know."

Aiwei had walked over to the bookshelf. Ed could feel the apprehension emanating from his friends. Al fidgeted slightly as he sat next to him, rubbing his hands together nervously.

"We just wanted some answers." Ayana added warily.

Aiwei turned his head to look over his shoulder at them. "And you think you've found something, don't you?" None of them responded. Ed was positive Aiwei knew they'd found his underground passage as he watched his eyes narrow at them. "You have no idea what is coming for you, Avatar."

Abruptly he turned and metalbent the floor up, creating a barrier between him and the group. Mako stood and punched a fireball, but the wall moved too fast and blocked his attack. Everyone jumped up and ran to the wall, and Ayana punched it in a weak, unsuccessful metalbend.

"Let me!" Al pushed past her and clapped his hands to transmute a hole through the wall. They stepped through quickly to see the shelf pushed back. Aiwei was escaping through his own tunnel.

The group ran down the stairs and Ed grabbed the door and threw it open. He only had a split second to register the barrel sitting in the middle of the room, a light flashing and beeping on it, before it exploded.

Instinctively he threw himself to the ground with his hands over his head. He was surprised that he didn't feel any pain or burns, and he opened his eyes and looked around. Everyone else had taken cover just like he had except Ayana, who stood above them airbending a shield, which successfully kept the fire and smoke away. As the smoke cleared, she let the air dissipate, and everyone pulled themselves to their feet.

"Look!" Asami pointed to the other end of the room. There was a blocked tunnel entrance in the wall. Bolin stepped forward and earthbent the rubble away from the entrance, and the dark passageway loomed in front of them.

Su, Lin, and two guards came running down the stairs behind them. "What happened?" Lin demanded. "We saw the explosion."

"Where's Aiwei?" Su asked in concern.

"He was the one who betrayed us. He was lying about the guard, so we confronted him and he bolted through there." Ayana pointed to the tunnel.

Ed was wondering why they were standing around and not chasing him. He watched Lin take a step and was about to follow, eager to run this bastard down, but all she did was stomp the ground hard with her eyes closed. After waiting a few seconds, she announced, "He collapsed the tunnel behind him." Turning to the guards, she ordered them to search the surrounding areas and find the exit to the tunnel. The guards saluted and immediately left.

They had nothing to do but wait for the guards to report back. Su and Lin began investigating the blown-up home while he followed the others back to Su's house.

"Why aren't we going down that tunnel after him? How do we know for sure it's blocked?" He asked in a frustrated tone. He couldn't relax, so he was pacing the room. He wasn't a fan of sitting here and doing nothing.

"Trust me, the Chief knows. When she stomped her foot, she was reading the seismic waves in the ground. She could see the collapsed tunnel that way." Ayana explained.

That surprised him, but yet it didn't at the same time. Was there anything that the benders in this world couldn't do?

The two Beifong sisters joined them shortly after that, having found nothing of interest in the remains of Aiwei's house. They waited together, and an hour or two later a guard came to report the end of the tunnel had been located, but there was nothing there except fresh tire tracks.

"Damn! He had an escape plan all along." Mako cursed.

"Let's go after him!" Ed cracked his knuckles, ready to do something.

"But we have to find the airbenders…" Ayana started to say.

He cut her off. "Ayana, that can wait, we have to catch him! He's the only lead we have on Zaheer, and that guy needs to be stopped or else this is just going to keep happening!"

"You are not going after him!" the Chief demanded angrily. "I'm taking you back to Republic City so that I can protect you!"

Ayana glanced up at the Chief. "If I wasn't safe here, then I'm not safe anywhere. Edward's right, this has to stop. Raashu can track his scent, we'll follow him…"

"Avatar, you need to listen to Lin." Su cut her off. "She's right, the best course of action right now is to get you out of here and protect you in the city."

Ayana looked lost. She apparently respected Su's opinion much more than she did the Chief's. Finally, she crossed her arms and looked away, defeated. "Fine."

"I'll have my people prep your airship; you can leave in the morning." Su offered, then she turned and left the room with Lin following. Ayana flung herself down on the couch, looking annoyed.

"What? You're going to give up, just like that?" Bolin exclaimed.

"The dome's already closed. There's no way we could get out of here unnoticed, and then we'd have to get Raashu without being caught, too. We don't have a choice." She replied stiffly.

Ed started pacing with his chin in his hand, trying to think of other options.

Su came back several minutes later, alone. Everyone looked up at her entrance in surprise. "You're confident your wolf friend can track Aiwei?"

"Of course, he's an excellent tracker." Ayana confirmed as she stood and approached Su.

"Here." Su held out a key. "There's a jeep waiting at the east gate. It's full of gas and ready to go."

"I thought you didn't want us to go." Ayana pointed out in confusion.

"I told Lin what she wanted to hear, and I bought you some time. Go, hurry. I'll deal with Lin in the morning." Su smiled at them. "Be careful."

Ayana glanced over her shoulder with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Let's go."