A/N: Happy New Year! First follower shout-out to Pacer287, I appreciate it so much. This story is a space time (what little I have) adventure for me. I am encouraged to pick up the word speed with the appearance of reviews, favorites and follows. So Pacer287, you got me excited, even with all my family's Christmas time chaos, to get busy writing and finish Chapter Five.

Disclaimer: My New Year's resolution is to pledge that Avatar the Last Airbender and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy do not belong to me.

Sokka drops to the floor with his limbs sprawled out. His belly inches along, scurrying away from the monitor. Katara angles her head to the side, gaping at her brother over her shoulder. She is completely befuddled over her brother's actions.

Even Zuko's perpetual frowning expression is more baffled than angry. Trying to ignore the bizarre behavior of the peasant called Sokka; Zuko closes his eyes and concentrates on funneling his chi toward his body's extremities. His energy gathers and flushes toward his fingers and legs. Zuko's internal temperature begins to invigorate his blood, attempting to burn off the poison that has immobilized him. Even with the powerful influx of chi, his limbs still seem to be frozen.

Katara hisses to Sokka's wiggling form, "What are you doing?"

Toph flicks her head to the side, hearing Katara's whisper to her brother. Toph's face becomes tight with a thin lined grin. "Sugar Queen, I can answer your question for you. It sounds like Sokka is being his lily livered self as usual, running away from trouble." Her finger jabs at the screen, looming large in the monitor. "Snoozles, I should have made mincemeat out of you long ago, serving you up to the crew." A murmuring of agreement is echoed with faint sounds of salivating lip-smacking over the proposed menu delicacy. "I saved your life, don't you forget it!"

The horror on Sokka's face and slow drain of color causes Katara to hurriedly stand in front of the screen, "Back off Toph! Stop threatening to eat Sokka!"

Sokka yanks on Katara's leg, causing her to wobble. She tries to shake him off, as he points toward the front of the ship several times. Katara nods her head in dawning comprehension that Sokka is trying to move toward the pilot cockpit. Katara waves her hand to continue, indicating for him to move in that direction. Sokka starts scrunching up his legs and pushing forward, crawling along the floor.

Dropping her head back, Katara wonders how her brother can be amazingly gifted with plans, but completely clueless about other things. She stomps over to his wiggling body, reaching down she grabs Sokka's arm and yanks him upward. Sokka stumbles upright and points to the screen with absolute fear, ducking behind his sister. Katara swivels around. Standing in front of her brother, her eyes enlarge as she moves her palm in front of her eyes quickly; miming that she can't see and then points to the screen. Remembering that Toph is blind, Sokka slaps his forehead.

Toph jabs her finger threateningly at Katara, pointing in a different direction than where Katara is standing. "Sugar Queen, you should have been my dessert course, always the sweet one to stick up for her…" Toph taunts, "older brother." She flings her head in the opposite direction from where Sokka is cowering. "Snoozles don't even think about disconnecting this call, too."

"Toph, calm down, we didn't do anything." Katara waves her hand at her brother for him to get out of the room. Sokka skulks off to the cockpit.

"Didn't do anything, didn't do anything," Toph cackles. Her mouth opens wide, illuminating her white teeth. There is sudden laughter in the background. Toph swings her hand behind threateningly, and the nervous chuckles cease. "You double crossed me; nobody and I mean nobody double crosses Toph Beifong."

Katara cocks her hip and places her hand on it, glaring at the screen. "Toph, thieves code remember, no double crosses only dibs on who scored." She glances at her fingernails and says with a feigned bored intonation, "Can't help it that you're too slow."

"Thieves code doesn't apply to me!" Toph steps closer to the screen, her face taking up the whole space of the monitor. "You dare quote thieves code to me, when I created thieves code." Her bangs swing in front of her milky white eyes. "Don't you forget that I brought the both of you into this crew, my crew, gave you one of my ships."

Sokka stomps back into the room, shoving Katara to the side. Standing in front of the monitor, he yells into the screen furiously. "Toph, you know good and well Shipie is mine. You were going to send her to the scrap heap." He swaggers in front of the screen, jabbing at his broad chest. "I'm the one that fixed her up! I'm the one that brought her back to life!" He pats the side of Shipie's wall lovingly. "You can't take back what you never wanted." Sokka glares into Toph's milky eyes. "She's mine!"

Toph bangs swing as she jeers. "Lookie, lookie, Snoozles has got himself a girlfriend, a big, pretty, whittle ship." She swings around and barks, "Well, boys ain't that funny?" The screen suddenly reveals a rag tag group of miscreants, glancing nervously at each other. When one half-heartedly chuckles, the other members from the scraggly crew awkwardly join in with suspicious glances aimed toward Toph. Their leader nods her head appreciatively, and the laughter becomes less forced and more boisterous.

One particular large giant with an oiled barrel chest barges forward. He pops his knuckles and alternatively flexes his pectorals. His muscles bounce in time to his words. "The Boulder always wanted to crack Sokka and Katara's skulls." Stroking his black beard, he adds, "The Boulder would like to eat their brains for dinner."

Katara, very familiar with "The Boulder's" posturing, uses his distraction to whisper into Sokka's ear, "Get to the cockpit and get us out of here!" She glances at the screen, seeing that Toph has folded her arms with a pleased expression upon her face. Katara looks back to her brother's angry face. "You know Toph is stalling for time to lock in on our exact location."

Toph swings back to the screen and turns her head slightly, listening intently with a tight expression upon her face. She barks across the crew's bumbling laughter, cutting them off. "I can't hear your fear." She swings to her left and barks off screen. "Longshot, have you locked in on the ship yet? I'm sick of talking. I want to start shooting!"

While trying to break his invisible bonds to no avail, Zuko had been absently noting the petty banter back and forth between this honorless band of thieves. After failing to break free, he yells out in frustration. "You must be blind! These peasants are plotting against you this very minute."

Sokka slaps the screen, and the monitor goes black. He whirls around. "Thanks for stating the obvious, Prince Idiot."

The muscles in Zuko's neck flare. "You're the idiot!" He vainly tries to struggle against his bonds, again. He huffs, "She could see what was happening the whole time."

"Were you even watching the screen, or were you too busy trying to escape?" Sokka stomps over to Zuko. Glaring down at the prisoner, he states clearly the situation that Zuko is tied up in. "Stop wasting your time. Shirshu can only be diffused with an antidote."

Zuko blusters, while his good eye bulges with yellow rage. "You will regret keeping me tied up like this."

Katara interjects between her brother and Zuko. She pushes against both of their chests and barks. "You're both idiots!" She swings her head toward her brother and pleads. "Sokka, we don't have time for this. We need to get out of this star system fast!"

As he leans past Katara's shoulder, pushing against her hand, Sokka answers fiercely to his sister's statement while glaring at Zuko. "Fine!" Abruptly turning around, he races towards his captain seat. Bending low, he climbs into the chair and switches off the autopilot command. Flipping switches and checking the instruments, he brings back the steering column. The engines rev up, and the ship lurches forward.

Katara braces herself against the table. Zuko almost topples over, but Katara snatches out her hand to stop the chair from falling. While one hand gripping the side of the table, she uses her other hand to push against Zuko's taut upper arm, shoving him right again.

Holding onto the table, Katara's body adjusts to the rapid acceleration. Feeling steadier, she faces Zuko. With both hands on her hips, accentuating her small waist, she yells. "And you! You are the worst prisoner ever!"

Zuko is startled by her statement and forgets his planned fiery retort. "You've had other prisoners?"

Katara reflects upon Sokka and her past adventures while being part of Toph Beifong's gang. Realizing most the previous prisoners on the Blind Bandit's ships had been eaten after minor questioning, minus the two Southern Aquaquadrant siblings. "Thank the spirits, Sokka is funny." His humor had saved their lives and gotten them off the menu.

Even with their mandatory volunteer sign-up to the Blind Bandit's fellow party of bounty hunters, Sokka and Katara never partook in the crew eating proclivities. Sokka had more than once remarked with a queasy expression, "I may love meat, but even I have standards."

Reluctantly, Katara had to admit her declaration had lost some of its merit. Zuko was technically their first prisoner, since they had gone independent. Sokka and Katara's main problem was that it is very hard to go solo, when your previous boss still considers you part of her crew.

Katara tilts her chin down and lowers both of her eyes to squints, similar to the thin slit of Zuko's scarred yellow eye. "You just rained Toph's wrath upon us. Let me tell you, Toph Beifong doesn't take kindly to being double crossed."

"I didn't do anything. Remember, I'm just a lowly prisoner." Zuko smirks. "I thought you said that thieves code only meant dibs."

"You paid attention to that." Katara rolls her eyes. "Puh-lease, Toph's thieves code is only code for that she gets the bounty period." Katara cocks her hip provocatively. "Why do you think the Beifong's ship crest is a flying pig; because pigs will fly in space before she shares a bounty with anyone, even her own crew."

Zuko chooses to ignore Katara's subtle gesture, which accentuates the curve of her hip down to her shapely thighs. He swallows and blurts out. "I only want the item. Give it to me, and I will help you escape."

"Help us!" Katara makes a stunned laugh. "We're not the idiots." She tilts her head to the side and sighs over her brother's earlier antics. "Okay, I'm not an idiot. You can barely help yourself right now. I set you free and then you'll try attacking us both. It is bad enough that we have to deal with Toph. I'm not adding Prince Newbie to the list."

Zuko feels beyond insulted. She is lecturing him on what he would do. She doesn't know him and from what he has seen about Katara and her brother, they need all the help they can get. "I give you my word that I will not attack you while on this ship."

"Yeah, right." Katara moves toward the back the ship and the ladder that leads up to the gunner dome.

Zuko spits out with disgust, "You people know nothing about honor; how could you possibly understand that I mean what I say and will not break my word."

Katara pauses and glances over her shoulder, gripping the sides of the ladder. She may not be especially proud of her way of life, but it is a living ‒ a living driven out of a need to stay alive and keep unwanted attention and attacks from her family and home world. Stomping in front of Zuko's vision, he averts his head. Katara reaches out and grabs his chin with her hand, wrenching his face so that he is looking at her.

"We were a peaceful people, until the Drac came and wrecked our home with their warmongering machines." Zuko's eyes widen, even the scarred one enlarges slightly. Katara stares into his yellow eyes with hatred. "I know who you are, Prince Zuko of the Drac. Your people have destroyed countless planets, burning-out families from their homes." Katara drops her hand, turning away from Zuko. She fingers her pendant. "I didn't connect who you were at first," she snorts, "even with all your names." She feels the smooth disc at her throat. "It dawned on me right before I knocked you out, I could finally see the color of your eyes, that you were once the Prince of the Drac." Whipping around, she sneers at him, "Sokka and I only became thieves until after everything we had was stolen from us."

Zuko's face tightens, and his chilly voice matches Katara's tone. "What a sad story, but you're mistaken about one important thing. The Drac are no longer my people. My name belongs to Thanos."

Suddenly, the ship lurches. Katara lands on top of Zuko's lap. Falling against his chest, the chair wobbles with their combined weight. Her arms automatically come up against either side of Zuko's face. Her hands land against the kitchenette's counter, stopping them from toppling over. Katara's braid falls against Zuko's cheek. A faint whiff of a delicate flora scent fills his senses.

Sokka yells from the pilot cockpit. "Katara, Toph found us! From the amount of fire power that is shooting at us, she isn't very happy that I disconnected the call. You need to get to the gunner, pronto!"

Katara shakes herself from the warm sensation beneath her bottom and how strong Zuko's thighs feel. Focusing herself, she pops off from his lap. "On it, Sokka!" She dashes toward the gunner's ladder.

Another blast throws Katara against Shipie's wall. Sokka hits the autopilot button on the console and clamors out of the captain seat. He stumbles past Katara.

"Shipie's been hit." Sokka yanks open a bin from the wall and pulls out an extinguisher.

Katara scrambles after Sokka. She climbs up the ladder, while he disappears down into the hold. Pulling herself into the seat, her eyes glance up and see the giant Beifong vessel, looming in the distance. The flying pig emblem is emblazoned upon Toph's ship. Katara quickly grabs the gun's controls and starts laying down rapid fire, praying to the spirits for a miracle to get them out of here, in one piece, and not in tiny little ones which are scattered throughout space.

A/N: I'm going to start a little game, a little Space Egg Hunting Game. I will plant some famous space movies/TV show references in chapters, see if you can find and identify. Love me some Eater Bunny Eggs (Bock, Bock Eater Bunny)!