After a rather awkward dinner last night with Lin blowing up at Toph for everything she'd been holding back all these years, at least the air felt a little clearer in the morning as we all split up into two teams. I'd pointed out that only earth benders would be any help down in the cavern, so I'd stay up here with Opal and Fang to keep an eye on things. Opal landed herself on the roof of the warehouse as the weapon was brought out and I got up there as well on Fang, who made the leap from the ground once the coast was clear and brought me to Opal who lifted her radio up to her mouth.
"The test is about to start. They're going to blow up that empty town we flew over yesterday. You're clear to go." She said as Lin answered, informing her they were going in. Opal bit down on her lip as I jumped off Fang and quietly landed beside her, all three of us laying down so that we were unnoticeable.
"Don't worry. You'll see your family soon. Not much longer now." I assured her in a whisper as we observed the weapons' test, Kuvira addressing her men as Opal nodded to me gratefully.
"Congratulations on all of your hard work. This weapon is proof that the Earth Empire is the strongest nation in the world, and believe me, this is only the beginning!" Her army all cheered below her, making Kuvira smirk victoriously before she turned to Baatar and order him to fire the weapon. Opal and I watched, holding our breath as her brother slid a lever in order to power up the weapon, causing it to thrum and hum with energy and I could feel the spirit energy, hitting me like a wave.
Before the weapon could fire, however, an alarm started to blare and forced them to shut it down in order to find the problem. Kuvira looked annoyed, demanding to know what had happened as Baatar took off a panel of the weapon in order to inspect the machinery. "Probably something minor. I should be able to find the problem." He inspected it for a few moments before he suddenly looked up with alarm. "The distributor pin is gone. I swear I locked it in place yesterday. There's no way it could have just fallen out."
"And this could cause the entire weapon to fail?" Kuvira questioned as Baatar stood up.
"It could cause it to explode." Seemingly becoming suspicious, Kuvira turned around to face Zhu Li who had been standing on the platform as well, Kuvira storming over to the woman with intent.
"What do you know about this?"
"Nothing." Zhu Li answered a little too quickly, making Kuvira all the more suspicious as Opal and I continued to watch. Looking down at her, Kuvira lifted her hand and metal bended the distributer out of Zhu Li's pocket, drawing it over to herself then glowered darkly at Zhu Li as I held my breath.
"You swore your loyalty to me, and I gave you a chance at greatness. This is how you repay me?" At first Zhu Li didn't answer, seemingly afraid but then she regained her confidence, glaring back at Kuvira with defiance.
"You're a monster. I regret nothing." Growing angrier, Zhu Li was grabbed by Kuvira and flung at Baatar Jr. who caught her.
"Chain her up in the target town. She can see how the weapon works up close and personal." My eyes widened in horror, Opal and I sharing a panicked look as Fang growled under his breath so I quietened him with a touch of my hand to his head, not wanting anyone to hear us. Neither of us moved to help Zhu Li, knowing that if we revealed ourselves now Kuvira would realise we were trying to save Su and her family, which might put them in even greater danger. I was calm, reasoning with myself that we still had time.
They had to take Zhu Li all the way over to the abandoned town and come back, as well as fix the weapon before they fired it again, and I could get to Zhu Li before they fired on Fang. He was fast enough, he could clear the distance in a matter of seconds if he really went for it. I could go get Zhu Li, free her, then be back here in the blink of an eye. We just had to know Bolin and the others made it out first, though that clearly didn't go to plan since before we knew it, another alarm was raised, making Kuvira look around. "The prison. Get there now." Ordering a soldier and two mecha-tanks, Kuvira stiffened in annoyance as Baatar looked at her.
"Should we postpone the test?"
"I didn't come all this way to stop now. Fire when ready. I want to see that town destroyed." I was getting anxious, but then thankfully Bolin radioed in to tell us that they'd freed Su and her family and that they were coming out, so with a smile at Opal I nudged her shoulder as she nodded her head, looking relieved. We both made our way to the rendezvous point here they'd gone in and come out, Opal flying in and calling Juicy as I rode in on Fang, seeing Su, Opal's brothers and her dad, Baatar Sr.
"Mom! Dad!" I was glad Opal was finally back with her family, ruffling Fang's coat as he whined softly. Smiling as she hugged her mom and dad, Opal thanked Bolin for his help, probably already having forgiven him for everything. Lin interrupted the warm reunion by ordering us all to move, but Opal stopped and told everyone about Zhu Li.
"Kuvira caught Zhu Li and threw her in the town." She said as I nodded.
"She'd messed with the weapon and almost made it blow up. I think she's been trying to destroy it all along." I added as Bolin's eyebrows shot up.
"What? No, I have to go save her."
"You can't go in there, kid. It's suicide. Kuvira's onto us." Lin protested but Bolin refused to listen, insisting that he was going.
"We've been through too much together. I can't leave her. Toph, you said Zhu Li was lying about fixing the cannon. She must have been trying to stop it."
"For all you know, she could just have been covering her butt because she made a mistake." Toph answered back curtly, but Bolin was adamant that Zhu Li never made a mistake and that we should all go and he'd get back to the city somehow.
"No way am I leaving you behind, Bolin. I'm staying here and keeping an eye on you. You go get Zhu Li, I'll slow things down on this end and cause some mayhem. You'll have to be fast though." I answered him, folding my arms stubbornly. "Besides, Fang can run faster than anything. If you want to get back to the city, you'll need us to get you there." Looking at me gratefully, I set my hand on his shoulder to signal that he couldn't get rid of me that easily and Opal agreed, air bending herself onto Juicy when he arrived.
"You guys get out of here. I have to go with Bolin." She and Bolin took off as I cracked my knuckles, getting up and readying myself for a fight as Su then looked to her sister.
"Could be our best chance to stop Kuvira."
"Maybe take out that weapon." Lin agreed as Toph got up, having no interest in getting involved in this war.
"We can't let Opal be the coolest." One of the twins, Wing I think, agreed as he and his brother grinned at each other and I couldn't help but smile.
"She's a tough act to beat, you guys better get your game faces on." I said to them and they both grinned at me too as Toph scoffed.
"If you all want to get yourselves captured again or worse, that's your business. I'm through." Everyone now up, Su asked Toph to look after her husband and Huan before we all moved out, me turning to Fang.
"Okay buddy, see if you can chew through as many of those mecha-tanks as you can. The more the better because then we'll have less to deal with. Can you do that?" He yipped lightly and nudged at me playfully so that I stepped backwards, making me smile. "Be careful." He ran off as the rest of us did the same, leaving Toph behind with her son in law and grandson. The earth benders took care of the cannon as it started to fire, bending the earth as to knock it off target so that it wouldn't hit the town but the mountain behind it, searing clean through. Now that was some serious firepower. Damn.
Focusing back on the soldiers who had turned on us, I used the water from my pouch to the best of my ability, using what I had but for the most part, I had to get up close and personal for it to have any effect. At close range my attacks had more power, sending the soldiers off their feet as I ducked and weaved my way through them, bending the water constantly as I turned and snagged one by the head, using him to slam against several other earth benders who had just lifted a giant rock out of the ground and made to hurtle it at the twins. The rock dropped, making them both blink and look at me as I vaulted onto it, crouching down to smirk at them and flick out my hand in a mock salute before I jumped to avoid an earth spike coming at me.
Flinging my legs over my head I then landed on it, siding down the spike with rapid fire shots of water which I froze into ice plates and smacked them against people's faces, stunning them before I then worked on chi blocking. Once I was out of water, it was pretty much all I could do. The earth was dry and barren, the air was also lacking in enough moisture to have any effect so I had to fight hand to hand, which these guys weren't expecting so I had the upper hand. Su had gone after Kuvira, fighting her by the weapon's panel but I was soon surrounded on all sides by soldiers who had turned to me, closing me in. "Kanna!" Lin yelled, seeing my predicament, bending the earth underneath me.
It rose up with a shot, making me yell at the unexpected momentum as I flew upwards and grabbed at thin air. Before I could start to fall a metal line snapped around my waist, making me look down before I was pulled towards where Lin and the twins were holding their ground behind a large circular wall, which I was hurtling towards. "Hey! Lin? I'm gonna crash!" Panicking at being pulled straight into a rock, a panel suddenly dropped and I was pulled through by Lin as the twins then caught me on the other side, making me grunt as I hit them but all things considered, it wasn't the worst landing ever. "Thanks guys."
"No more heroics, you almost got yourself cornered out there!" Lin scolded me as Wing and Wei put me down.
"Well, I ran out of water."
"That's your own fault. Now just stay back here and don't get caught!" Lin berated me snappily in her usual tone so I just rolled my eyes, dusting myself off and thanking the guys for the catch.
"No problem. Always a pleasure to rescue a damsel in distress Wing said to me as Wei grinned, returning my mock salute from earlier before he leaped off to go help his mom. Cupping my fingers to my mouth I whistled loudly, calling Fang back towards me and I heard him howl in response. He came running, barrelling through the soldiers and sending them flying before he leaped over the wall and landed next to me, whining softly as he curled around my body.
"Good boy, how'd those metal suits taste?" I asked him as I rubbed his jaw. Su and Wei were pulled in by Wing and Lin closed the gap behind them, raising another wall behind us so that we were protected on all sides. I looked around and closed my eyes for a moment, concentrating as I tried to find another source of water. Before I could do so, our defensive walls were dropped from the outside and we found ourselves surrounded, but when the walls lowered, I suddenly looked up.
"I found water!" Su and Lin looked at me as I widened my stance then raised my hands, calmly focusing on the pull before all at once, I swing my arms with a yell and made a breaking motion. The mecha-tanks suddenly jarred and the water tanks which kept the systems from overheating began to writhe and burst until all at once, they exploded. Each one of them released a huge gush of steam which I condensed with the rest of the water and washed it around in a circle as I turned, pivoting on my foot with a fast movement and took out a portion of the soldiers, making them yell with surprise before I brought the water to me, holding it in a preparatory ring as Fang snarled protectively.
"Good thinking kid, anything else in that book of tricks?"
"Well…" I started, but when I felt the ground began to shake, we all looked down. The earth began to rise and ripple like a wave as I let the water go, watching as it opened around us like a parting and overturned all the soldiers and mecha-tanks as Toph revealed herself, Baatar Sr. and Huan behind her as Juicy came back with Bolin, Opal and a safely rescued Zhu Li. "Guess there's no need." I shrugged as Toph thrust out a hand to point at Kuvira.
"You give metal benders a bad name!" Hurrying to get onto Juicy so we could get out of here, I jumped onto Fang who barked, running over to the bison and leaping into the saddle but before he landed, he dematerialised so that I landed myself, his spiritual essence sitting close to me as everyone followed suit and we all flew away safely, everybody rescued and safe. We headed back to the mountain where we'd first met Toph, the bamboo forest giving us some cover as we set down to let her off.
"Thanks for coming to save us, mom." Su said to Toph as Lin uncomfortably stood with them.
"Yeah, thanks, Chief. I'm sorry for what I said last night. I was just…you know." Seemingly understanding why Lin had such a chip on her shoulder at her, Toph smiled gently as she talked to her daughters.
"Look, I know I wasn't a great mother, but one way or another, I ended up with two great kids. Good enough to risk my bony old butt for, anyway. If you can just find some way not to hate me, maybe that's enough, at least for me." I hung back with the others, scratching Fang behind his ears naturally as he yawned, feeling tired and lay down for a while.
"Me too." Finally giving her mom a hug, Lin even smiled as she and Toph embraced as Bolin walked over before I could lunge to catch him, yelping tightly as I tried to grab his collar but I missed and almost fell forwards with my momentum had Wing and Wei not caught me on either side, Bolin strolling forwards nonchalantly.
"You know, I never had any family for my brother until a few years ago, and reuniting with them made me realize how special it is-!" Damn it Bolin, personal space. What was he thinking trying to give both Lin and Toph a hug? I wonder what goes through his head sometimes.
"Thanks guys." I said to Wing and Wei as I sighed, smacking a hand to my face at Bolin. "Sorry about him."
"Meh, he's not so bad." One of them answered, Wei, as Toph pulled away from the hug as she had enough of physical contact and affectionate gestures.
"Argh, enough. Enjoy the ride back to the city with the gum flapper here."
"Aren't you coming back to Republic City with us, Grandma?" Opal asked and turning to her only granddaughter, Toph smiled at her affectionately.
"No, my fighting days are over. Don't tell Korra, but my back is killing me now. This is why you didn't see Katara messing with that Civil War nonsense. At some point, you gotta leave it to the kids." She informed us all as she walked away, intending to return back to her home in the swamp. I waved nostalgically, thinking of Toph and how seeing her made me think of gran-gran. Maybe I should go see her after all this was over with. I missed her. I just hope she'll accept me back.
"So you're Aang's and Katara's granddaughter right?" Wing and Wei said to me, the three of us standing together as I folded my arms casually.
"That's right." They grinned at me, showing a little excitement about the fact I was the previous Avatar's granddaughter.
"Awesome. It's kinda cool that we all know each other. You were really great back there with your bending but also that fighting style you were working, thanks for coming to help bust us out. Hey, when we take back Zaofu, you should come by and visit." Wing invited me so I chuckled softly, promising him that I'd think about it as Zhu Li stepped forwards in order to address us all.
"I want to thank you for coming back to save me, and don't be too hard on Bolin for working with Kuvira. His heart was in the right place." She said with a smile to Opal who gazed at Bolin softly and walked her fingers up his shoulder as she leaned towards him.
"I think Bolin has worked his way out of the polar bear-doghouse." Kissing his cheek, Bolin suddenly grinned like a love struck puppy and fist pumped the air in celebration, making Opal giggle.
"We should get going. I'm afraid I have bad news to deliver to Republic City." Cutting through the tender mood with her serious tone, I looked at Zhu Li with worry as she spoke. "Kuvira is going to attack in two weeks." Aw man, can't we ever catch a break?
