Okay, I'm starting back in the dungeon with Mai. Thanks everyone for your votes! You really got me inspired and you'll have to read on to see who won! I was so excited when I got like 5 reviews almost immediately after I posted it lol. Here you go and tell me what you think!

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"AAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHH! Let me out of here!" Mai was throwing a fit, screaming at the top of her lungs, but no one was there to hear her. She was in the pitch black by herself, or she figured anyway for she didn't hear anyone else down there with her. "You people are going to be sorry for this! Let me out now! I'll make you pay for locking me up and killing Azula! What are you going to do with me? Leave me here to rot or send me somewhere so I can escape and kill you?"

She never heard it coming over her screams and threats. She was thrust back against the wall hard, the wind knocked out of her. A torch lit up in front of her as she tried to stand up to face the dead man who hit her. As she finally got her footing, she used the wall to steady herself and searched for the face behind the flame of the torch.

"I wouldn't threaten them if I were you. They have the power to kill you and, knowing myself that you hate the Fire Lady and she hates you just as much, they won't hesitate to do so."

She stepped toward the voice, trying to place it. "I've already been told that they won't kill me. The stupid wench said that death is too easy an escape or something."

She was shoved against the wall again. "Never talk about her like that," the man growled.

Mai squinted her eyes at the man. "Shove me again and I'll snap your neck. Who are you and why are you down here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing."

"Don't get smart with me, I asked you first."

The man sighed, "My name is Jet. I was the leader of the rebel group known as the Freedom Fighters."

"I've heard of you guys. You were fairly well-known during the war. Why are you still around if the war is over?"

"We're not. I'm the only one left now, ever since the Avatar came to visit us. Well, actually he'd be the former Avatar if what he told me is true."

"What happened with him?"

Jet sighed again. "He came to visit me and my group not too long ago to tell us that the war was over. We had no idea, we just knew that the Fire Nation had stopped coming into the valley we inhabited. We thought it was because of how many times we've attacked them or something. He told us about the new firelord taking Katara as his bride, but when I suggested that we rescue her, all the guys decided they'd rather go back to their home towns to help clean up the messes that the soldiers left. I had to come on my own."

"You're here to rescue that wench?"

Mai was slammed against the wall for the third time. "I said never to talk about her like that!"

"And I said I'd snap your neck if you shoved me again!"

"I've beaten better than you, girl."

"My name is Mai!" she yelled, knocking him to the floor. "And how exactly are you planning on rescuing her from down here? How did you get down here anyway?"

"I stowed away on a ship that was headed here. When I got off, one of the crew members noticed and had me thrown down here until the firelord could see me. I don't know at this moment how I'm going to escape, but I'll think of something and I'm taking Katara away with me."

"Good. Then you can leave Zuko with me and the world will be right again," she smirked.

"So, you want to help?"

"As long as you leave him alive, yes."

"And you don't kill Katara either."

"Agreed," Mai said and stuck her hand out for Jet to shake, making an informal pact.

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"Firelord Zuko, there's a prisoner that requires your attention."

"Mai? She's not mine to punish. That's for Lady Katara to decide."

"No, my lord. There is another. He was a stowaway on a ship coming from the Earth Kingdom. When asked of his intentions, he mentioned the Fire Lady's name."

Zuko furrowed his brow. "Did he say his name?"

"No, my lord."

"I'll see him momentarily. Thank you."

The soldier bowed and left the room, leaving Zuko to his thoughts. He was in his chair in the Temple, but he never hid behind the screen like his father. He liked intimidating people, but he thought himself better than that. Finally, he stood and left for the dungeon to find this man that knew his wife.

When he came down the stairs, he was greeted by Mai's continuing screams and another voice telling her to shut up. A man's voice. That must be him, Zuko thought. He walked towards the man's voice and was a bit taken back to findthat he was in the same cell as Mai.

"You, come here," Zuko demanded as he lit a fireball in his hand. Jet stood and walked towards the light. "Who are you and why are you here?"

Jet laughed. "Funny, she asked the same thing. I'm Jet and I'm here to rescue someone in your posession."

"Jet, as in the leader of the former Freedom Fighters?"

"The one and only."

Zuko smirked and held back a small laugh. "Yes, I've heard Lady Katara talk about you. She doesn't think very fondly of you. I suppose she's the one you're here to 'rescue'?" Jet said nothing, only crossed his arms and shifted his weight on his feet. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, good luck with that. She'll fight you with everything she has if you try to take her from me. Maybe you'll get lucky and she'll only freeze you to a tree again."

"Nothing I can't handle. I know she's strong, but she couldn't possibly take me on."

"Really? You've heard of Azula, haven't you? The former princess of the Fire Nation, the firebending prodigy?"

Mai shivered at the mention of her dead friend, but kept silent and let Jet answer. "I've heard of her. What about her?"

Zuko smiled, "Katara beat her once. On their second encounter, she killed her in 2 seconds. I think she could take you."

Jet's shocked face was all he needed as a response. Zuko started to walk out when Jet yelled, "What are you going to do with me?"

He turned at the voice. "I think I'll let Katara decide your fate as well. She knows you better than I do, she'll know exactly what to do with you. Oh, and Mai," he said, getting the girl's attention, "She's almost done with yours."

Mai growled something under her breath as Zuko left, taking the light with him. The torch had been put out when the two got into an arguement and Jet dropped it in a puddle.

"This is just great."

"Hey, knowing Katara, she'll end up letting me out for a small amount of time at least. If I can get away, I'll come back for you. Deal?"

"Yeah, if she let's you out at all."

Jet smirked. "If that pompous firelord tells her exactly what I said, she will."

It was Mai's turn to shove him against the wall. "Don't talk about him like that."

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"He's what!"

"He's in the dungeon right now. He told me that he could take you if you were to face him again."

Katara laughed at this like it was the most hysterical thing she had ever heard. "I'll freeze him to a tree again!"

"That's what I told him."

She wiped away a happy tear and calmed herself down. "Oh, that was a good one. No, I wouldn't make it that easy on him. Did you tell him what I did to your sister?"

"His face fell when I told him about that. Mai looked as if she were about to cry when I mentioned her name. It was good. I told her that you were almost done with her punishment too."

"Good. I think I know what I'm going to do with her, but Jet.." she trailed off. She wanted to fight that jerk so bad for what he did to her, for using her and Aang the way he did. Freezing him to a tree wasn't enough, she wanted to leave him with something that would make him shiver everytime he thought about it. A scar maybe, but not as bad as the one Zuko had before she got to it. "Do you have his weapons? His hook-things that he uses?"

"They're locked away. Why? What are you thinking?"

Katara's mischevious smile crossed her face and Zuko knew what she was thinking. "We're going to make him eat his words."

"Aren't you worried?"

"Do you remember what I did to your sister?"

"I'm not doubting your abilities, I'm just thinking that he'll be expecting this from you and plan an escape. He may even try to kidnap you from me."

"As long as I'm near water, I'll be fine. Have a couple of the guards go fetch him and one of them grab his weapons. I'll be waiting down near the docks. I have to be near plenty of water."

"Kana will keep an eye on the babies until it's over, right?"

"She's watching them as much as she can before she leaves with my father and Pakku."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you down there then."

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"You, boy!"

Jet looked up into the creepy mask of the guard that called for him. "What?"

"Come with me. Lady Katara has challenged you."

He looked back at Mai and smiled. "I'll be back, I promise."

The guard gave him a shove to get him moving and then he was being half carried, half dragged out of the dungeon by the two guards. One of the guards leaned over to whisper in the ear of the prisoner. "Lady Katara is a waterbending master. Unless the gods have mercy on you, you most likely won't survive."

Jet's face fell, but he was smiling on the inside. He knew what was coming and exactly what he was going to do.

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Hakoda stood and watched his daughter prepare herself. He noticed something different and unusual about her stances when she was waterbending.

"Katara, are you doing something different?"

She gave him a shocked look, as if she didn't know he was watching her, and replied, "Yeah, I am. I've taken the time to learn stances from all four nations hoping that it would improve my bending, and it has. It pays to learn about the other nations' fighting stances." She smiled warmly at him before continuing.

"He's coming!" Zuko yelled as he ran up to meet her.

"Good."

Hakoda looked between them, his curiosity getting the best of him. "Who's coming?"

"Jet," was her simple answer.

Iroh had even made his way out of a few responsibilities to see his niece-in-law fight the former rebel leader. Word had traveled fast about the battle and quite a few people showed up to watch, including half the Royal Guards and some of the counsil and a couple nobles (most were too proud to show their faces in that part of the city).

Jet approached with a guard on each side of him and a smirk on his face. "Katara, how good to see you again!"

"Too bad I can't say the same for you, Jet. What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing."

Sokka had made his way down to the growing crowd with Ty Lee at his side helping him along. He saw Jet and knew that Aang had taken him seriously. Jet noticed him out of the corner of his eye and laughed.

"Sokka! I never expected to see you here as well."

"Well, I half expected you to show up. I was the one who told Aang to go see you. You don't think he would've gone on his own after what you did, do you?"

Jet noticed Ty Lee on his arm and raised his brow at her. "Your girlfriend, I suppose? How did you manage to snag that little beauty?"

Without warning, Jet jumped back a couple steps with a big red stain on the arm of his shirt. "Enough small talk, Jet. I called you here for a reason." Katara stood ready with a water whip in hand. She nodded at a guard who walked forward and handed Jet his hooks.

"Oh, now is this fair? I mean, I have these and all you have is water."

"Water just did that to your arm," she nodded towards him. It was still bleeding freely. "If you weren't suck a jerk, I would actually heal that. I can do that, you know. I have the power to kill people and save them."

Jet lunged forward and swung at Katara's stomach. The crowd gasped as she fell backwards onto her back, just missing the hook. She kept going and flipped back over and kicked Jet in the back, making him fall into one of the guards. He was pushed back into the circle.

"That was sloppy, Jet. I thought you would be more of a challenge for some reason. I mean, you are the one who said you could take me, right?"

Once again, Jet sliced through the air at her. She dropped to the ground and kicked his feet out from under him. One of the hooks fell from his hand and landed, cutting Katara's leg. She hissed in pain, but stood up and readied herself for his next sloppy move.

He stood up slowly and glared at her. "You're coming with me," he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

"I don't think so." Water came to her and she shot it at him, but he dodged it and jumped at her, knocking her to the ground. He wrapped his hands around her throat, but she surprised him by smiling. Suddenly, he was jerked off and thrown across the street. Katara's whip was helpful like that. He landed against the side of a building, but it didn't affect him. He's fallen from trees before, that was nothing. He yelled as he broke through the crowd and ran towards her. She tried to whip him again, but he tackled her again. Both of them went rolling into the water. Katara came up instantly, but Jet didn't. She hauled herself onto the dock and looked for him, but he never came up.

"I guess you win," Zuko said as he walked up behind her.

"I guess so," she replied, out of breath. She quickly drew the water from her clothes, healed her leg with it, and turned to the guards. "Send men in there to retrieve the body. I want to know for certain that he's dead."

"Yes, my lady," they said together.

The crowd slowly faded away back to their homes as the firelord and lady walked back to the palace.

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Mai sighed as she sat against the wall of her cell alone. She was thinking about what had been said to her earlier, right after Jet was taken away.

You will work in the coal mines of the Earth Kingdom under heavy guard until Lady Katara sees fit and you will be shipped off tomorrow morning.

Night had fallen, she was sure of it. It had been far too long since they took Jet away and she wasn't sure if he was even still alive. For all she knew, Katara could've done the same thing to him as she did to Azula. Just the thought of it enraged her. She hated Katara so much and hated that she lost in their battle the other night. Of course, Katara hadn't really beaten her. If it hadn't been for Ty Lee, who knows what would've happened? She heard a noise near her and jumped up off the floor.

"Who's there?" she yelled. Quiet. She started to calm, thinking maybe it was just the sound of water dripping into the puddle on the floor.

"Boo."

"Who's there? This isn't funny!"

"Who do you want it to be?"

"I want it to be Jet."

"And why would you want that?"

"So I can get out of here, now who are you?"

She felt someone's breath on her neck and her body stiffened. "I believe I'm the one you're waiting for."

"Back off now or I swear I'll make it so you can't ever have kids."

The breath left her neck and someone grabbed her hand. She resisted at first, but knew who it was as he led her away. They carefully climbed the stairs, making sure they didn't trip over each other without light. The guards at the top of the stairs had been knocked out so it was an easy escape. Soon, they were outside, running through the cool night air as fast as they could. They turned around the corner of a building and ran into an alley before stopping.

"I promised I'd come back for you."

"Thanks, Jet. What's this?" Mai asked, poking at a bag that Jet had lifted.

"This is what I came here for, now let's go. I don't want to get caught. We have to steal a ship, do you think you could help?"

She grabbed his hooks. They felt weird to her, but a weapon was a weapon and she couldn't complain. "I think I could."

"Alright, let's go." They took off again, heading for a small ship in the harbor. Mai hated small ships after the one she had, but this one looked in much better condition and at an even better price: free. Surprisingly, they didn't find anyone on it. It was almost as if it were abandoned, but they didn't think twice about it. It was less work for them. Mai started it up and checked the engines while Jet laid his package down gently and steered them out of there. They had gotten away from the Fire Nation safely, but because it had been so easy, they wondered just how safe they really were.

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Swords sheathed on his back, Spirit hid as well as he could from their sight. He knew what they were doing and knew what he had to do.

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The next chapter is going to be so easy to write that I think I'll start on it as soon as this one gets posted! Thanks again to all who reviewed and voted! Inspiration has struck! Notepad is calling, so you know the drill. R&R!

Jenn