Hehe...I think I gave the impression last chapter that I spite Zuko/Katara. :x Really, I don't...:sweatdrops: I don't hate Zutara, I'm just skeptical. In fact, that's the whole reason I decided to take up this challenge/request–I should at least give a chance, right? An open mind is the best mind, they say.
Anyhow, hope you enjoy the chapter. Lotsa ass-kicking. XD
Chapter 2: "A Capture"
"YOU!" Zuko roared.
Katara jumped away instantly as Zuko's hand shot out of his cloak like lightning to make a grab for her. His hand a mere inches from away from her face, Zuko was suddenly blasted back by a concentrated gust of wind. He crashed hard into several tables before grinding to a painful stop. Katara looked back to see Aang, standing on the table, alert and ready to strike, Sokka quick to follow.
Suddenly, there was a loud BANG, and Zuko was up in a flaming fury. He launched a savage attack at the Avatar, who deflected it with an air-sweep into the wall of the tavern. Terrified, people scrambled out of the burning building, leaving the Avatar and his companions to face off with Prince Zuko. The firebender prince wasted no time in making another fireball attack. Sokka reacted first and flung a barstool to knock the attack off course. Using the distraction, Katara and Aang bolted for the nearest place to use as a cover–the bar. They scrambled around and crouched under the countertop, Sokka seconds behind them, just as Zuko made another devastating assault. Broken glass from the liquor rack showered down on them as Zuko's attack destroyed the wall behind the bar.
"Come out and fight, you coward!" Zuko bellowed out to Aang.
Sokka grabbed a bottle of alcohol nearby that hadn't been broken and popped the top.
"Sokka! What are you doing? This is no time to drink!" Katara hissed.
Sokka only smirked in response as he ripped off a strip of the bandage he kept wrapped around his forearm and placed it over the part of the bar that was burning from Zuko's last attack. As the piece of cloth caught on fire, Sokka stuffed it into the opening of the bottle. "Well, you know what they say," Sokka said with a grin, "Fight fire with fire!" With that, he stood up from behind the bar and lobbed the bottle at Zuko. A bright orange flash and a howl of pain indicated its success. Aang, Katara, and Sokka raced out of the tavern while Zuko was preoccupied.
The three fled as fast as their legs would carry them down the market place, Aang shouting apologies as he shoved people out of the way. Looking back, Katara saw Prince Zuko right on their tail...and gaining fast.
"Geez, this guy is persistent!" Sokka groaned. He grabbed Katara by the hand and increased his speed, dragging her along with him.
"Guys, move!" Aang shouted in front of them. The two swerved out of the way quickly, Katara's arm nearly being pulled out of her socket by Sokka's forceful guidance. Without even slowing his run, Aang launched himself into the air, and mid-flip, landed a powerful wind-thrust into Zuko's torso that sent the prince flying into a nearby fruit stand with a crash. The trio didn't even look back as they continued to flee down the streets.
As he bickered with an uncooperative port-official, Commander Zhao noticed one of his men walking urgently towards him. He put up a hand to silence the chattering official, and turned to the approaching soldier. "What?" he snapped impatiently.
"Sir, some information you might like to know. Prince Zuko's ship was spotted docked at the lower ports. It seems they are restocking their ship, sir..."
Zhao did nothing to hide his annoyance. Really, after two weeks at sea, trailing that worthless excuse for a prince, Zuko was the last person Zhao cared to see. So, as was typical of Zuko, he had to make himself an nuisance and dock here. Why didn't that boy just do everyone a favor and fall off the face of the earth? "I don't–" he began, but stopped. A sudden billow of smoke coming from the city's marketplace had just caught his eye. "Hmmm..."
As they came to an intersection of alleyways, Sokka asked, "Think we lost him?"
"Yeah," Aang said, peering around a corner, "there's no way he could have followed us in this maze of alleywa–KATARA!"
Katara reeled in surprised as she was overcome by strong arms and pinned against a powerful body. She gasped as she suddenly found a flaming palm, very, very close to her face.
"Let her go!" Sokka growled at Zuko, boomerang out and ready to strike.
"If you hurt her..." Aang warned.
"I won't, as long as you do what I say," Zuko answered menacingly. Katara felt her skin crawl as his warm breath blew against her ear. "Surrender, and I will release her..."
"Surrender. What an excellent idea, Prince Zuko," a sneering voice called behind them. Katara felt Zuko's body tense.
"Shit..." she heard Zuko curse into her ear. His grip tightened unconsciously on her, to the point it hurt. Katara tried to get a view of the man, but Prince Zuko held her at an angle that she could only make out a blur of him in her peripheral vision.
Zuko turned his head to acknowledge the man addressing him. "Zhao," he muttered, his voice dripping with distaste. Zuko kicked himself mentally for being so stupid. He had forgotten where he was. Now the Avatar was right before Zhou, and he was here alone, with none of his men or his uncle aware of his situation. Shit! Stupid, stupid!
"Prince Zuko," Zhao answered with a mock bow. He snapped his fingers, and the firebenders flanking him came around and wrestled Zuko into capture, tearing Katara away and also taking her prisoner. Several kicks were landed on Zuko's ribs as he was shackled.
"Katara!" Aang cried. He began to attack, but found himself suddenly surrounded by firebenders that seemed to have materialized from every alleyway connected to where they were standing. Zhao must have spread his men out to ambush them! Aang panicked as he watched Katara being roughly dragged away in shackles. He tried to rush to her aid, but the firebenders blocked him from every direction. Zhao stood in the back, watching.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Aang yelled, as a flurry of vicious wind flew up from his body at frightening speed. Sokka had to take several steps back to avoid being hurt. Aang concentrated his wind and launched out several spinning air disks. They whizzed and flew to the nearest firebenders. The force of rotation didn't knock the soldiers back–depending on the angle of contact and direction of rotation, firebenders who were unfortunate enough to suffer this attack were thrown in every conceivable direction, many of them straight into their comrades.
Those who were nimble enough to escape Aang's attack rushed forward to overtake them. Sokka ducked a blow from one of them, and thrust forward into the man's throat with the flat of his boomerang, crushing his windpipe. As the soldier gagged and wheezed, Sokka landed a solid kick into the man's stomach, sending him sprawling into the ground.
Sokka barely had enough time to avoid the swing of another soldier who approached from behind. Wheeling around to face him, Sokka used the curve of his boomerang to wrap around and trap the man's arm. He pulled down sharply, forcing the soldier's upper-body forwards, where he brought his knee up to the man's face with a sickening crack.
But for every soldier they defeated, two more seemed to take his place. The alleyways were swarming with Zhao's men...and Katara was nowhere to be seen.
"Aang! These guys are coming out of the woodwork! We gotta get out of here!" Sokka exclaimed, thrusting his elbow into another soldier's face.
"I'm on it!" Aang shouted. He grabbed Sokka around the waist with one arm, and transformed his pole into its flight mode with the other. The Avatar raised his contraption up, then brought it down swiftly to sweep the ground in one powerful thrust. Sokka felt his stomach drop into his boots as he rocketed upwards with Aang.
They landed very ungracefully on the roof of a nearby building. Shouts could be heard from the alleys below, with the bellow of the commander heard above them all–"Find the Avatar! They're on the roofs! Hurry, you fools!"
Sokka and Aang jumped over several roofs, trying to lose Zhou's men.
"Did you see where they took Katara?"
"No! You?"
"Why would I be asking you if I knew?"
"Any ideas where they might have taken her?"
"Well, Zhao's the one who took her...and he's a big-wig in the Fire Nation...so..."
Sokka stopped and pointed to the harbor. His finger aimed straight at the largest ship docked. "Zhao's ship!" Aang exclaimed, realizing. The young boy began to race towards the battleship, but was stopped as Sokka grabbed him by the back of his collar. "Wh-what are you doing?" he choked.
"What are you doing? Are you nuts? You can't go there! There are firebenders out looking for you everywhere! You won't get anywhere near that ship!"
"But we can't abandon Katara!" Aang protested loudly.
"We're not! But we can't rescue her like this. We need to get Appa and Momo and then come after her," Sokka explained quickly. "They won't hurt Katara, as long as they think they can use her to get to you. Besides, Katara's a big girl–she can take care of herself. Now let's get going."
Sokka began leaping off in the direction of the hills, but Aang hesitated. Turning, Sokka exclaimed, "Come ON, will you?" He waited for Aang to catch up before he resumed their race towards the hills.
"Don't worry," Sokka vowed, "I won't let those bastards do anything to my little sister!"
Zuko tasted blood in his mouth. Whether it was from the cut on his lip or possible internal injuries, he wasn't sure. His head was still throbbing from several blows placed there. Zhao... That arrogant...! Zuko couldn't believe the man had the insolence to have him arrested and beaten! Zhao wouldn't do this unless he was absolutely sure he could get away with it. He looked up as the soldiers on either side continued to march him forward. Zhou's ship was dead ahead. Where was Zhao planning to take him?
Zuko narrowed his eyes. He had a pretty good idea where. Glancing to the side, he saw the waterbender, also in chains, but for the most part unmolested. Most likely to be used as bait for the Avatar, if Zhao hadn't captured him already. She was glancing around rapidly, looking for a way out.
Katara took in her surroundings quickly. The firebender soldiers were marching them down the pier, towards the largest ship, most likely owned by the man in charge, Commander Zhao. Katara inhaled nervously. They had had brief run-ins with Zhao before, and Katara knew he wasn't someone you wanted to be captured by.
She had no idea where Aang and Sokka were–there had been too many firebenders. Katara bitterly wished she hadn't dropped her canteen when they had fled the tavern. She listened carefully and heard the sound of waves increase. Finally! As they turned and strode into the docks, Katara gave another quick look around, assessed things, and braced for her escape.
The soldier behind Katara heard a faint rumbling sound and paused. He realized too late the direction of the sound as a high-pressure blast of water punched through the dock under him like a geyser and launched him into the ocean. Katara took the water she propelled upwards and made a gigantic whip that knocked the other soldiers behind her clear off the dock.
As more firebenders rushed to apprehend her she grunted and pulled her arms heavily in an upwards diagonal direction. A large wave swelled and rolled ominously towards the dock. Zuko and the other firebenders looked up in dismay as the massive wave loomed and descended upon them. The initial force of the wave coming down upon him made Zuko feel as though his body weighed ten times what it did. When the wave crashed and the water scattered, the prince felt himself tugged in every which direction as if he were nothing but a ragdoll. The awesome power of the water was indeed frightening, especially when it began to suck him downwards. As he began to be swept into the ocean, Zuko caught a glimpse of a support post sticking up a foot above the dock's planks, and managed to wrap his chains around the post. Hooked on securely to something, Zuko waited as the last of the water rushed past him. When he finally had access to air, Zuko gasped and panted for breath. He now found himself suspended from the edge of the dock by his chains, his wrists feeling as if they were broken. Gah, that stupid waterbender! He knew they weren't on the same side, but could she at least have the courtesy not to kill him?
While Zuko dangled off the side of the dock, Katara was having more problems. Two firebenders charged towards her, hands flaming. The first one launched a series of fire attacks which she managed to shield against with a water-whip. As he continued to advance on her, his attacks increased with speed and potency. Katara created a water shield to take the brunt of the assault, but as she deflected the last fireball, Katara noticed the second firebender had gone missing. With the first firebender closing the distance, Katara swept sideways with her hand, creating a water stream that hit the soldier from the left and shoved him off the dock. To her horror, she found the second firebender hidden behind his comrade, and lunging towards her with a large knife pulled out. She shrieked and clapped her hands together–the firebender, who had come just within arm's reach of her, found himself painfully sandwiched between two water-blasts from either side. As the water dissipated, she kicked him in the face with her foot, sending him stumbling off the edge of the dock.
Katara noticed something wrong as she tried to straighten from her kick. She looked downwards and found the knife from the second soldier thrust down through her chain links and into the dock, pinning her. That had been the intent of their attack all along! Katara pulled and tugged, but the knife the second firebender had somehow managed pin her chains with wasn't budging. Hearing a noise behind her, she turned around to see a soldier, dripping wet, climb up on the dock and swiftly approach her with some sort of blunt object. Unable to get away, Katara heard a "crack" as the object connected with her skull. Suddenly, the world blazed red. Then black.
CLANG.
"Crazy waterbender! Well, the two of you can just stay in here until the commander returns and decides what to do with you!" one of the men barked to Zuko and the unconscious Katara.
Between the bars, Zuko watched Zhao's men leave the brig. The iron door slammed with an awful bang, and a guard's face appeared in the door's porthole, watching him. Zuko turned and stared sullenly at Katara. How idiotic could one person be? Taking on a group of seasoned firebenders? Didn't she know that Fire Nation soldiers were clearly superior fighters? If she had had some semblance of intelligence, she would have broken him free to divert attention away from herself, and then jumped into the ocean, where she could have used her bending powers to get away. But no, she does it the hard way and completely botches it.
Zuko sourly remembered he was just as much to blame for this situation as she was, due to his own stupidity. He sighed and leaned his head against the prison wall. Where was his uncle? Did he know what was going on?
Iroh looked down the street of the marketplace. Burning tavern, overturned fruit stands, scorch marks here and there. The old man sighed. Zuko. But what on earth could have set him off on such a rampage? One look at the manner of damage to the fruit stand–wind damage–and it took him no time at all to guess. What concerned Iroh was the amount of soldiers out on the street. A chase like this would have attracted attention, certainly, but the streets were swarming with men. Zhao's men, Iroh noticed, seeing the commander's insignia stamped on their armor. Iroh's eyes narrowed. If Zhao had gotten involved, this did not bode well. The retired general moved quickly down the streets, following the trail of destruction. At last he stopped when he reached a concentration of firebenders stationed just outside an alleyway. Iroh spotted a street urchin a little ways off, and paid him five copper pieces to make a ruckus. While the guards were distracted by the child's antics, Iroh slipped past with a stealth uncanny for a man of his girth.
Seeing the scorch marks blazed everywhere across the alley, Iroh estimated a large fire fight had happened here–definitely the work of more than one firebender. Wind damage and strewn debris indicated the Avatar had been here, and had put up a formidable fight. Looking down at the scuffles on the ground, Iroh could make out that two struggles had occurred. Arrests, if he had to guess. But of who? Seeing as he couldn't find his nephew, and knowing Zuko would have sought him out if a battle with the Avatar had turned out unfavorably, Iroh had to assume the worst.
"You there! Old man! What are you doing here? This place is off limits!"
Iroh quickly readjusted his robes to conceal his armor better, and put on his most harmless face. "Oh," he said to the soldier, feigning surprise, "I did not know it was off limits–I was just looking around. Say, you wouldn't happen to know what happened here, would you?" He gesticulated to the scene of the fight.
"Nothing happened!" the soldier barked, "Now get a move on!"
"Oh, yes, yes! Of course. My apologies!" he simpered as he scurried out of the alleyway and into the busy street. As soon as he was out of sight of the soldiers, his scamper turned into purposeful stride, and his face became set with a stern look.
So, Zhao's men were keeping tight lips...then something big did happen. Seeing as how the commander was trying to keep things hush-hush, Zhao had probably done something he didn't have the authority to do–like arrest Zuko. Well, wasn't that man just as bold as brass? Iroh frowned. Zhao seemed to be getting more and more out-of-line every time they encountered him. But, knowing Zhao, he wouldn't have done something this risky unless he was confident he could avoid facing consequences. Which suggested he might also have the Avatar in his possession...possibly the other scuffle marks he saw in the alleyway. Iroh hurried towards Zhao's ship, determined to confirm his suspicions.
Zhao marched up the ramp to the deck of his ship, absolutely livid. Well, attempting to capture the Avatar had turned into a total failure. He cursed the incompetence of his men. Furthermore, he had just received news that his prisoners has almost escaped, due to the girl's waterbending abilities. Zhao could not believe he almost lost his valuable captives because of such an oversight. Fortunately, his men had been able to overcome them and throw them both into the brig. A thin smile came to his lips. The Avatar had escaped for now, but...he could use the girl to lure the Avatar to him. And Zuko...well, since the Avatar would soon be in his hands, he had plans for that sniveling little prince... It wouldn't be long, however, before the prince's uncle caught on to his plans. If he wanted to avoid the old man's interference, they should move out quickly.
"Start the ship! We're heading west!"
"But sir..."
"START THE DAMN SHIP!"
Iroh watched from the harbor as Zhao's ship pulled out quickly from its dock and began to move out to sea. So, he was right. The former general hurried to Zuko's boat and alerted the men. Last minute preparations were made, and soon they were on the trail of Zhou's ship. Iroh hoped they would be able to reach Zhao's ship and somehow rescue Zuko, but the commander's vessel was fast, and they were heading into some very dangerous waters.
Katara woke to find herself face-down on a cold iron floor, her head throbbing and feeling ten times too heavy. She rose with a groan and looked around. Her vision was blurry at first, but she could make out she was in some kind of prison. The noises and rocking motion indicated she was in a ship. Probably Zhao's. So she had failed. Great. Her cage was along the wall of a large, windowless room, with a thick iron door the only exit. Looking around, she saw her prison joined with another, the only thing separating the two cells a row of bars. And in the cell next to her was...
Prince Zuko.
He was staring directly at her from his sitting position in the far corner of his cell. Katara stared back morbidly. Really. Could this situation possibly get any worse? Of all the people to be trapped with...
Wait. Wasn't he a prince? So what was he doing locked up in here? Sure, he was banished, but Commander Zhao couldn't just arrest him like that, could he? Then again, Zuko and Zhao seemed to hold a great distaste for each other. She hadn't seen much of the commander, but from the small amount of interaction between him and Prince Zuko she had seen, they both looked they were out do each other in...
Katara was jolted out of her thoughts when she heard the ship groan to life and begin to move. Move? Where were they going?
"Hey," Katara asked, forgetting her wariness, "Where are they taking us...?"
A grim silence.
Finally Zuko answered: "The Fire Nation."
Boooooo, another very predictable chapter. I'll try to make the future ones a little more exciting. :P Hope it was still entertaining anyway.