I totally forgot about this! My bad! I had it written I just forgot to post here.
The plan was... not thought out. So far it was find Long Feng, Zuko, and Azula, grab Long Feng and Zuko (hopefully unconscious), and get out of there. Maybe even capture the Princess. Was it a good plan? No. Was it a decent plan? No. Was it a plan? Sorta? It wasn't Sokka's fault the most they had was the three of them are underground somewhere. Let's split them up before Zuko is under Azula's control. He tried his best but without knowing what they were heading into, it was hard to plan accordingly.
As they walked down the tunnel Toph and Aang were creating, he tried to think of different ideas on what may happen. None of them seemed good. Most of them ended in capture, takeover of Ba Sing Se, or death. None of which sounded pleasant. Maybe if they just went in, attacked quickly, grabbed who they needed, and left as soon as possible, it wouldn't be so bad.
Toph stopped tunneling and turned to her left. "They're this way. It's a large room but there's no Dai Li that I can tell."
"That's good." Sokka nodded. "Once we're in, we should cover Long Feng's mouth so he can't order Zu- uh... Lee around." Sokka almost forgot King Kuei decided to follow them. Almost. "Once we do that, we grab Long Feng and Lee and get out of there."
"And Azula?" Iroh asked. "What about her?"
"We distract her so she can't stop us. If we can capture her, that's good. If not, then we take who we can and leave. The main thing is that she doesn't get either of them and they're with us. Got it?" He looked around and saw nods in his direction. They understood the half-baked plan. He was afraid but he swallowed his fears and told Toph to push through.
Long Feng wasn't surprised by the wall breaking through. He figured it was a matter of time before they found out he was not in jail. The little earthbending girl was too good at finding people. If only she worked for him.
He knew they were coming for his pet. He would not allow that. His pet was his and his alone. As he opened his mouth to give a command, a stone hand like the Dai Li used was thrown at his face. He did not want to admit the hand covered his mouth. He was better than this. Better than being hit right away.
He moved to take it off of him and attack back but water was encasing him in. Water surrounded his body up to his neck and froze to ice. He couldn't move. He couldn't command his pet. Those fools!
The stupid boy thought he could take on Long Feng with his pathetic weapon. He would have laughed if he was able since the weapon flew around Long Feng. He settled for rolling his eyes. At least the rest of the group weren't as stupid.
That was the last conscious thought Long Feng had before the stupid weapon hit his head and knocked him out.
Toph was ready. She created a stone hand like the Dai Li used and punched the wall through. As soon as it was open, she threw that hand at Long Feng's face. She hoped the moment of surprise worked in her favor.
When she felt Katara waterbend around Long Feng, she figured it worked and moved onto Zuko. He stood there, not doing or saying anything. He seemed so lost, so empty. She hated how he felt. She hated how shallow he was when she felt him. Maybe that's what happened when a person is brainwashed and devoid of any personality.
"Come on Sparky, let's get you out of here." She pulled on him but he wouldn't budge. He didn't want to move. "Sparky, let's go."
She felt metal hitting the ground and knew it was Sokka's boomerang. A moment later, Long Feng fell to the ground. She grabbed the boomerang, ignored Sokka's protests, and moved the earth so she was closer to Zuko's head. She felt around to make sure she was in the right area and used Sokka's boomerang. "Sorry Sparky!" She said as she felt his body crumble to the ground. She hoped there wasn't too much damage. But then again, what would a head injury do to a brainwashed kid?
Katara was ready to go as soon as Toph opened the wall. Her water was out, ready for the attack. No sooner had Toph covered Long Feng's face did she have her water encasing him. She covered up to his neck in water and froze it. Once Sokka threw his boomerang, she started to unfreeze the water. When the boomerang hit Long Feng, she removed the water and moved on to help Iroh and Aang with Azula.
Azula seemed to be doing decent against the two of them. Katara stepped in and threw ice daggers at the Princess, which she brushed aside with a sweep of her hand encased in fire. Still, it looked like they had the upper hand. Even more when Sokka and Toph came over to join them.
"Give up Azula. You won't win." Aang said as he sent an airblast her way.
"You seem to forget we did this already." She said as she dodged Aang's attack. "Though there seemed to be one more of you last time."
"And you left." Katara glared at Azula.
"I did. But now I have an army with me." She snapped her fingers and her two friends came out, ready to fight. Along with Dai Li agents surrounding the small group. "Now, this looks better."
"Dai Li, stand down." Kuei demanded. "I am your King and I order you to stand down."
"You are a fool." Azula laughed. "The Dai Li don't listen to you. They listen to actual power. Not a puppet King. They listen to me."
With that, the Dai Li attacked the group, throwing rock at everyone. Katara did her best to break apart the rock and knock out the Dai Li but there were too many of them. Not to mention the knife girl and chi-blocker.
"Sokka, we need to leave." She said as she dodged a few rocks to speak with her brother.
"I know. I know." He sighed. "I was afraid this would happen."
"If we don't get Zuko and Long Feng out of here, we won't be able to help Zuko."
"If we don't stop Azula, she'll take over Ba Sing Se. Is that what you want?"
She took a moment and looked around at the battle. Even though they were fighting Dai Li and pushing them back, more came out. The three Fire Nation girls were attacking Aang and Iroh, with Iroh holding his arm like he was injured. They were surrounded.
"We can't save Ba Song Se and Zuko. But we can save Zuko. I don't want us to lose both. Please."
He looked at her and must have seen something in her expression. "Okay. All right." He nodded. "If you, Toph and Iroh can hold them back, Aang, Kuei, and I will take Long Feng and Zuko up to Appa. Give us a few minutes for cover."
"Be careful."
"You too sis."
Sokka was trusting his boomerang again as he threw it at the Fire Nation girls. It managed to knock two of them out, but not the Princess. She did not appear happy by that either. She looked ready to attack him when a wall of ice blocked her view of him.
"Aang, come with me." Sokka called for his friend, struggling to pick up Long Feng. Kuei, at least, was standing next to the unconscious men.
"What's going on?" Aang asked. "They're still fighting."
"I know. But we have to leave. Now." He picked up Zuko and tossed him at Aang. "They're going to cover for us while we get Appa. Now come on!"
The three of the ran back the way they came, all the while Aang was blasting the bison whistle. Appa came roaring in, close to the entrance Toph made. Sokka pushed Kuei and Bosco (who had been hiding by the entrance for them) up on Appa. He then tossed Long Feng up on Appa, not really caring if he hurt him.
"Can you feel where Toph is like she's been teaching you?" He asked as he grabbed Zuko from Aang.
Aang stomped his foot down. "I can feel her. She's close to Iroh and Katara."
"Good. Send a signal to her that we need to go."
Aang stomped his foot again, moving the earth as he did. A moment later, he looked back up at Sokka. "She's got it. They're on their way back."
Toph felt the bump that hit her foot and knew it was Twinkle Toes. No one else moved earth like an airbender. In a quick movement, she surrounded her, Katara, and Uncle with earth. "Let's go!" She shouted as she took the lead. It wouldn't take long for the Dai Li to break her wall of earth and she did not want to be there when they did.
"I'll cover up the end." Katara called out, moving her water around. Toph had been around her enough to know she was freezing the exit.
Toph created a new path to the old path, away from the Dai Li agents she knew were behind them before she put up her wall. Once in the tunnel, Katara froze the hole up several times.
"That should hold them for a while. It's pretty thick." Katara said as she ran to catch up with them.
Toph let the others go in front of her as they ran. Every so often, she felt the ground to see if anyone was chasing them or ahead of them. She could feel the Dai Li behind but it seemed like the ice held them back a while. She did not want them to catch up. Moving her arms, she picked up the ground surrounding the three of them and pushed it up. They were going to get out of there the express way.
Katara had not expected the ground to move with Toph like it did. Though it startled her, she wasn't going to complain. It would get them up faster. It wasn't long before they reached the surface.
"Let's go!" Sokka cried out, reaching out his hand to help them up. Aang helped a little more when he airbended them up on Appa, much to the annoyance of Toph.
"That was something." Iroh blinked as he landed on Appa.
"Sorry. In a rush." Aang said and called out a yip-yip to Appa to fly away.
It wasn't until Appa was in the air did Katara take a moment to breathe. They were safe and alive. There was still much to do with Zuko. Ba Sing Se was captured. But they were safe.
"Did we make the right decision?" Sokka asked her. "Should we have stayed?"
She looked at her brother holding onto Long Feng, who was tied up. She looked to Aang who looked broken-hearted at Appa's head. She looked at Toph, Kuei, and Bosco who were huddled together, holding onto Appa in fear. She looked at Iroh, holding his nephew close to him, tears falling down his face as he whispered to him. "We did what we had to." She finally answered.
"Was it worth it?"
She pointed to Iroh and Zuko. "Maybe."
She hoped it was. She hoped she hadn't made a mistake saving Zuko. She hoped they hadn't ruined everything when they let the Fire Nation take Ba Sing Se. She feared her hopes would be crushed.