A/N: I normally aim to write a chapter around 2000 words. This time, I doubled it, because of Klimmatt. This wonderful reviewer gave me number two in the review count and a great one at that. I was twice pleased, so amped up my word count in appreciation:)
Disclaimer: As much as I would love to say otherwise, gots to keep it real, I do not own anything related to Avatar the Last Airbender and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
Toph stares blankly at the cockpit's wide windshield, which has a full view of the confrontation of her much bigger ship and Sokka's puny space craft. Her hands clasp behind her back, and a thin line of anger draws her mouth into a rigid smile. She continues to face the exchange of rapid firepower between the Flying Pig and Sokka's pilfered ship. A display of massive explosions are bursting, flashing orange, red, and intense blue against the black emptiness of space. Her eyes may look in the direction of the action, but are barred from taking in the spectacular sight.
Toph is sensing vibrations that are reverberating through her crew. Their frantic breathing, scattering of feet, and tossing out orders are general input, which help to form pictures. However, it's their heartbeats that make her vision the clearest.
Standing amidst the fray of the dashing men and odd woman, Toph is impervious to all of their rampant chaos. She is too busy concentrating on one particular heartbeat. The palpitations of Longshot say a lot and none of it is making her happy.
Nothing spikes Toph's temper more than when someone is unwilling to lie down and be dead. "Longshot, I want those two-bit, low-down, double crossers blown to smithereens and nothing less will suffice!"
Smellerbee swivels in the chair next to Longshot, turning toward Toph. "We've gotten an initial hit, damaging the lower flank of the ship, but they have installed a gunner dome, which is doing a good job deflecting all of our shots."
Toph flexes both of her hands, drawing her left hand's fingers into a fist. She punches it into the palm of her other hand. "No they to it, Smerllerbee. Sokka installed that gunner dome." She slowly pops each of the knuckles of her left hand. "It has the stink of his ingenuity all over it."
The cracks make Smellerbee wince slightly. Longshot hears the snaps of the bones and joints, but the irritating noises will not distract his attention from the battle.
In an effort to stop the sound, which is making Smellerbee's skin crawl, she pops up from her seat. Standing in attention, she bursts out passionately. "Sir, the whole crew thinks that you should have disciplined Sokka long ago; you always gave him too much leeway and now look how he has turned against you."
Toph tosses back her head and laughs. The busy crew freezes, watching in gaping amazement at the bizarre spectacle of their captain showing genuine mirth. Every heartbeat within the Flying Pig is suddenly still. The only ones that continue a steady beat are Toph's and Longshot's, both fixated on potential targets. Longshot's eyes narrow upon the little ship off in the distance. He pushes the button repeatedly on his control panel, firing rounds of ammunition. The said target is rotating its gunner dome, quickly negating any shots fired at it. Toph's heartbeat is regular, because of the forthcoming reprimand.
Sobering, Toph stops her laughter. The cabin is eerily quiet, except for the shouting heart palpitations of the crew members. Angling in Smellerbee's direction, Toph nods her head appreciatively to the girl with straight cropped hair and coal rimmed eyes.
"Sir, I like that, it instills much more fear than ma'am. A ma'am is a lady, and I'm no lady." Toph flips aside her long green robe and reveals an arrow, which immediately quivers to attention. Flying out of the holster, the pointed tip pulses a vibrant red. The golden arrow hovers in the air. Toph doesn't move her head. Her milky eyes contract in determined slits. The arrow zooms toward Smellerbee's throat. Longshot's finger pauses, hovering above the button. His heartbeat thumps erratically over the impending threat of his friend.
"Longshot, I don't believe I said anything about stopping." Toph drops her green jacket and it falls, covering the holster.
Longshot blinks his eyes back toward his target. Jamming the trigger button again with the flat of his thumb, rounds of blasts resume. Smellerbee hasn't backed away from the glowing arrow, which is strangely humming. A slight swallow from her indicates her tangible fear. The rest of the crew is immobile, rigid with morbid fascination and dread over drawing Toph's attention toward them.
Toph cautions with a calm and decisive tone. "I do what I want and when I want. I, alone, decide who gets punished and who gets so called leeway." The arrow never wavers from its point of almost touching Smellerbee's skin. Toph barks to the quivering crew. "Isn't that right crew?" A hearty reply is conferred in unanimous agreement. Toph slightly moves her head toward her first mate. "Isn't that right, Smellerbee?"
"Yes, sir." Smellerbee responds quietly. In answering, she brushes against the arrow's tip. A trickle of blood dribbles down her throat and onto the collar of her jacket.
"I'm glad that you agree." Toph holds open her jacket. The arrow flips around and zooms back into its holster. The material falls, obscuring the weapon once more. Folding her arms, Toph formulates a plan. "Smellerbee, I want you, the Boulder, and the Hippo out in the skippers, corral that reject of a ship towards the Flying Pig." Her voice lowers, "Do not shoot to kill! That means you the Hippo. Did you get that through your rock of a brain?"
The Hippo scratches the spiky scruff on top of his head and says between chomps of the rocks in his mouth. "The Hippo sad, don't know why da' boss poke fun."
The Boulder shrugs, "The Boulder is handsome and has much muscles, can't identify with your pain."
The Hippo spits the crushed rocks out of the large gap between his two front teeth. It lands in a solid mushy clump onto the floor.
Toph flings her finger back at the Hippo. "Listen you overgrown baby, what did I say about spitting rocks on the floor?"
"Not to do it." The Hippo hangs his head and spreads the pile around with his foot.
"Well?" Toph folds her arms and taps her foot.
"The Hippo is sorry."
"That's better," Toph nods her head appreciatively. The Hippo looks up with a large grin and slapping his ample belly. Toph yells. Her bangs puff out with the force of her command. "Now get down to the docking bay!"
Smellerbee nods in obedience. Taking two fingers, she swipes at the blood on her neck and draws two lines on each of her cheeks. She growls toward the Boulder and the Hippo, "You heard the boss, move it!"
The Hippo lumbers off at a quick trot. The Boulder flexes his biceps and generally tries tightening his muscles while he runs. The action makes his movements awkward but oddly appealing. All three dash down to the docking bay; Smellerbee barking orders to anyone daring to look at her cross-eyed.
Toph steps behind Longshot and places her hand on his shoulder. "I want those two Southern Aquaquadrant scum fully alive." She rubs reassuringly the back of Longshot's shoulder. "You keep firing and when they are close enough, lock in your tractor beam." Her tight grin eases into a smile. "We're going fishing."
Katara holds the laser cannon gun stock in one hand, while her other pulls the trigger. Her head nestles against the back of the plush cushioned chair. The slight curve of the seat forms to her body. The white-plastic chair, titled in an upwards angle, is able to easily spin on its axis. Katara rotates around between firing rounds to make sure there aren't any surprise attacks coming at them from the front of Shipie. She spins back in time to destroy any incoming bombs from the Flying Pig's blaster. The last sweep she made to the front, she barely swivels around to catch the red flare that is barreling toward her gunner dome. She manages to pull the trigger in time. A swift blue shot diffuses the incoming orange gunfire.
"That was close." It is taking all of Katara's energy to deflect the incoming rounds of fire bombarding Shipie. The fact that Shipie hasn't moved from its stalled position has taken Katara's general concern of their situation and magnified it into a full state of panic. She doesn't know how much longer she can delay the inevitable. If only, she could get a well placed shot at the Flying Pig's right flank engine. It is vulnerable and well overdue for a complete rehaul. Toph had relied on Sokka to keep the Flying Pig from falling apart, as she was too stingy to pay for any upgrades.
Sokka had warned Toph on several occasions about a certain engine's antiquated nature. Covered in grease and oil, Sokka had wiped his hands on his shirt. "Toph, one of these days that engine is going to blow, and I won't be able to patch it up any longer."
Toph had stared slightly off from Sokka's direct line of vision, but still managed to aim a well placed slap onto Sokka's back, sending him staggering forward. With her cheerful thunder clap still felt on the cringing face of the lurking mechanics' crew, Toph had bellowed, "Snoozles, I don't have your pretty face around because I need to be surrounded by beauty. If that was the case, the Hippo would have been dumped on that frozen tundra of a planet that you call home, so I wouldn't have to look at his ugly mug." She had added unnecessarily, "And I'm blind and still say he's ugly." The Hippo's baby face fell; he rubbed his bare belly in gentle reassurance to assuage his offended ego. Toph slapped Sokka again, who had managed to bear the brunt of her contact and not stumble forward. "No, I keep your around for your mechanic's skills." Her cheerful grin lowered into a warning tight line, "It would be wise if you don't let me ever forget how useful you can be." Toph had swung around and aimed her warning toward the suddenly busy crew and the lounging Katara. "Isn't that right, Sugar Queen?"
Katara straightened casually away from the giant cogs she had been leaning against. "Sure, Toph, sure." Her jaw tensed momentarily with irritation, but she had been careful to keep her voice and pulse even. "We'd hate it if we ever stopped being useful to you."
Toph had fixated Katara with a milky-eyed stare. "You'd be wise to always remember that Sweet Stuff."
Katara had frequently cursed herself for the brilliant idea of being a stowaway on the Flying Pig. The ship had landed on Sokka's look-out tower. The sad slump of compacted snow-building had been crushed and what wasn't, had melted away from the Flying Pig's thrusters. Toph had requested supplies from their village, translation demanded. Chief Hakoda and Kanna were use to buying off the Drac, in order that the raiders left their village and inhabitants alone. Yet, it was the first time anyone had ever seen The Flying Pig before.
Toph had said they were exploring and got lost. By the looks of the burnt and charred wings of the ship, the more logical explanation was that the Flying Pig had engaged in a losing battle with the Drac. The Drac had conquered the Southern Aquaquadrant, plundering and destroying the planet's resources. Besides a primary operations base, the real value of the Southern Aquaquadrant was the planet itself. It had been cryptically referenced in a Draconian prophecy. A foretold fable, indicating the planet would produce a true prodigy, one, who would conquer the universe. It was the fear of the prophecy's fulfillment and the Drac's eventual destruction, which drove them to constantly search and destroy any individual who might fulfill the ancient prediction.
Katara's mother, Kya, had sacrificed her life to protect her daughter; it was only a matter of time that the Drac would begin to figure out that they had killed the wrong prodigy after all. The Flying Pig represented a viable way to escape from the village and save her people. Katara had gathered up a few supplies and began to tuck herself in one of the crates which would be loaded onto the ship. Unfortunately, Sokka had found one of the notes Katara had left for her father and Gran Gran.
As Katara was about to close the lid on herself, a hand stopped the movement. Katara's heart thundered in fear.
Sokka's tan face appeared, but his hissing anger took away Katara's moment of relief. "Where are you going, Katara?"
"I'm leaving, Sokka." Katara yanked on the lid, ignoring the squishy feeling of her sea slug bed.
"What about your family?" Sokka tried dissuading his sister from leaving them, him especially. "You can't leave us. We love you."
Katara felt tears well in her eyes. "That's why I have to leave, Sokka. I'm not going to have anyone else suffer because of me."
Sokka tossed back the crate's lid. Just as Katara was ready to protest again, Sokka stepped into the wooden, sea slug box. "Then, as your big brother and sole protector, I'm coming with you."
Katara threw her arms around Sokka, burying her face into his warm blue coat. The relief that she wouldn't be alone within the vastness of space consumed her with unbridled joy.
As the box was loaded onto the Flying Pig, Katara and Sokka's assumed this was an out-of-this-world trip into space, full of fun and adventure, but their actions had placed the siblings into a much more precarious situation. The debt of a stowaway never seemed to be fully repaid in Toph BeiFong's blind eyes.
The life of a bounty hunter wasn't easy, but Katara and Sokka couldn't complain about the lack of action, the exact same type which was firing at her and Shipie.
The Flying Pig may be bigger, have more power, and a larger crew, but Katara is very aware of the Flying Pig's weaknesses. She needs a bit of time to enact a diversion and for Sokka to fly them far away from this Yue forsaken galaxy.
"Sokka, are you there? Sokka!" Katara shoots down another orange flare, which was heading at hyper speed toward one of Shipie's wings.
Zuko responds instead, "Let me out of my bonds, and I can help fight."
"No way, we're not desperate." Katara fires back several rounds.
The bay of the Flying Pig opens slowly. The retracting doors of the ship send chills throughout Katara's body. She knows full well what is going to fly out of the belly of the ship, skippers, compact crafts which are built to dodge and attack with cunning accuracy.
Katara rethinks her previous refusal. "Scratch that, we're desperate. Sokka!" She alternates laying down shots between incoming firepower to Shipie and aiming blasts toward the Flying Pig's opening docking bay. "Sokka, the Flying Pig is ready to send out skippers. Release Zuko or you get us out of here, but make a decision and do it fast!"
Sokka scrambles up from the hold. He throws down his wrench and marches over to the watchful Zuko. Staring down at the restrained prince, Sokka asks coldly. "Can you really fly?"
"I was trained under the very best, Thanos himself, I'm conditioned for a variety..." Zuko cuts short his lists of accomplishments as Sokka's impatience grows. Zuko replies with deadly seriousness. "Yes!"
"Do you swear on your fabled honor that you will not do anything to cause harm to Katara or I while on Shipie?"
"I swear it." Zuko pledges with absolute sincerity.
Sokka leans down and yanks out a drawer full of moon peaches. He digs his hand through the fruit and pulls out a syringe and a tiny bottle of serum. Jabbing the syringe into the bottle, it sucks up the glowing liquid. He holds up the needle and flicks his finger on the side of the full syringe. A tiny droplet flicks from the needle tip, Sokka sidesteps the falling liquid. It misses Sokka's boot, landing on the ground. It sizzles as it burns a hole into the floor.
Zuko's scarred eye widens beyond its usual slit. "What are you going to do to me?"
The needle hovers near the Zuko's shoulder muscle. Sokka winces with remembered pain. "This will probably hurt."
"I can take it." Zuko stares ahead. The muscles in his neck tense.
"I'll count to three and shoot it through your sleeve." Sokka counts, "One…" and with forceful jab, stabs the needle into Zuko's shoulder. Sokka had learned long ago, surprise is usually the best element involved with counteracting anything, especially Shirshu paralysis.
Fire and ice intertwine, battling through Zuko's veins and infusing his body with burning sensations. It feels like his blood is boiling and his muscles are being simultaneously frozen solid. As the antidote surges through his veins, it peppers his nerves with rapid rounds of pain. The agony spreads throughout his body. Sweat beads upon Zuko's brow as feeling grows within his limbs.
"Sorry about that, bad side effect of Shirshu, hurts like the Yue to get feeling back in your body." Sokka shrugs. "I had to learn the hard way myself."
Zuko can't respond; all of his concentration and energy is being funneled toward the prevention of him passing out. One thing his father, Thanos, had trained him well was how to endure pain.
As the feeling grows in Zuko's muscles, it spreads to all of his limbs. He can wiggle his fingers finally. That alone is victory to help stave off the torturous effects of his body awakening. As sensations expand, Zuko slowly rises to his feet.
Sokka reaches out to grab the visibly shaking prince. "You might want to lean against me."
Zuko shoves Sokka aside and stumbles forward, catching himself on the table. "No, I can do it myself." Venturing from the circular table, he takes a hesitant step forward and manages to steady himself.
Sokka has to give it to the guy. Zuko was putting up a good front. Sokka knew the body going from cold to fire and back again repeatedly wasn't an easy process. He had cried like a baby when it had happened to him. He would never admit that aloud, even to Katara. It wasn't anyone that could suffer silently. He wonders what had been done to Zuko to help him hold back the screams of pain. Sokka glances at the glaring scar on the prince and views the answer on Zuko's face. Whoever or whatever had made that ugly scar had wanted Zuko to always be reminded of the punishment.
Another blast rocks the ship. Sokka panics, "I need to get back to the hull."
Katara had taken a half second too long in laying down a fire blockade and had missed the return timing to block the Flying Pig's blaster's shot. She curses her missed block. Her chastisement is halted at the sight of the skippers flying out of the docking bay.
"A little bit of flying right now would be really nice!" Katara lays down a string of fire, trying to create a burning blockade.
As Sokka dashes down the hatch, he yells to Zuko, "You heard her, get us out of here."
Zuko races toward the pilot cabin. He grabs the back of the captain's seat and swings himself into the chair. Yanking the steering column towards his chest, he quickly notes the required instruments on the console for flying. He flips off the idle switch and Shipie wobbles. The engines sputter and spark when Zuko mashes another button on the console. Swiping across a screen, his right hand types in the coordinates, his other hand guides the steering column and thusly the ship to the left. Shipie banks in time to avoid an incoming shot from one of the skippers.
Katara's chair spins in the opposite direction of what the ship is turning. Trying to get her bearings, she aims for one of the skippers. She can see the blunt bangs framing Smellerbee's intense glare, highlighted with the coal under her lids, but the two marks on either of her cheeks, Katara has never seen those before. Aiming for the skipper's wing, Katara is suddenly jerked in the opposite direction by Shipie's unexpected turn. She begins whirling around. Bracing her feet against the sides of the dome, she is able to stop her spinning. Katara shakes her head and fixates on the incoming blast that is barreling straight for her. She manages to fire off a shot and explode it before it reaches the dome and her.
Zuko hadn't lied when he began expounding on his flying expertise to Sokka. Thanos's school of discipline was renowned for its precision. A recruit…the very idea of the word makes Zuko sneer with distaste. There was no recruiting to what had transpired for Zuko and Azula and their eventual evolution into deadly assassins for hire. The siblings were both sold into slavery. What had happened afterwards completely altered both of them forever. In Zuko's case, the world could see his scars. Azula's wounds were very much there, but well hidden and deeply locked away within her mind.
Finishing typing in the final coordinates, Zuko had significantly distracted the other three skippers with his erratic flying. The three other compact fighters were unsure about what exactly Shipie was attempting and had trouble locking in attacks with Katara shooting, too.
Zuko begins flying in an intricate zig-zag pattern. This causes Katara to fling around in a circle again, the laser cannon being yanked out of her hand.
"Spirits!" Katara frantically tries grabbing at the gun's stock. She mutters to herself, storing her anger for a future yelling session at Zuko. "Prince Newbie is as crazy as a laughing Hybear." She can't capture the stock or the pistol grip. The laser cannon keeps slipping from her grasp.
While Zuko's sudden maneuvers are able to distract the three skippers, it does nothing from preventing Longshot shooting at Katara's gunner dome. It only takes one hit and the damage is done. Katara groans as she watches her regulation laser cannon, specially modified by her brother, fly off into the blackness of space.
"Oops, Sokka's not going to like that." Katara makes a pinched face which translates into a visual expression of, he's going to make freeze dried armadillo out of me for losing his precious gun. The laser cannon rolls past the three skippers and beyond the Flying Pig, barely missing an orange blast fired at it.
Zuko leans back against the captain chair. The metal tape that is holding the cracked leather of the cushion together is catching the back material of his shirt. A forceful yank to free his clothing, also pulls his hands heavily on the steering column, Shipie is now facing the Flying Pig head on.
Katara is no longer able to watch the vanishing laser cannon, because she is staring at the giant blaster barrel of the Flying Pig. "That's it!" She pushes herself out of the gunner dome's curved seat and clambers down the ladder. She marches toward the front of Shipie. "Are you trying to kill us?"
Zuko doesn't blink or act like this wasn't anything more than an intentional flying move. "If I said no, would you believe me?"
Katara glares at the back of Zuko's ponytail, but can't bring herself to agree with him, so she says nothing.
The Flying Pig overshadows their small craft, but Zuko isn't intimated by the massive ship in front of them. He is all too familiar with the Bei Fong family, a long lineage of business men and their ingenious ability to outbid rival investors. Zuko knows first hand about Bei Fong's underhanded dealings. He had been contracted by the family on several occasions to eradicate any potential competition. What did surprise him was that Toph Bei Fong, only child and current heir, had taken the family's dealings from the clandestine and obscure arena into an open-for-hire Bounty Hunter business.
Zuko's mouth twitches in a knowing upward slant. "I'd sit down if I were you."
"You can't tell me what to do." Katara swing back her braid and folds her arms, facing off to the side.
"Fine, have it your way." Zuko fires successive shots at the Flying Pig's blaster, blowing it to smithereens.
Katara turns in time to see tiny bits of metal scatter across the Flying Pig's windshield. She laughs in spite of herself. "Toph isn't going to be happy about that. She hates replacing equipment." As Zuko reaches for the light speed button on the pilot console, Katara makes the split-like decision to take Zuko's previous advice. She jumps into the passenger's seat, mashing the speaker button. "Sokka, strap down now! We're going into light speed."
While the engines' fire orange, yellow, red, and then blue, Zuko holds the steering column steady. His eyes are riveted to the white speeding lines of light jettisoning past the pilot's windshield. Katara braced herself against the pilot console board, as Shipie enters into increasing speeds. Glancing at the tracking screen on the console, Katara notices that the Flying Pig may be at a distance, but is still keeping abreast to Shipie. As her body begins to adjust to the advancing acceleration, she settles more into the passenger seat.
Katara pushes the intercom button again. "Sokka, are you alright?"
A squeak and then a much more coherent deeper reply is heard. "All fine in the hole, but that was close," Sokka growls, "Zuko!"
Katara turns her attention to the light speed meter. "We can't keep this up. Sokka did modifications, but Shipie could start flying apart literally if we push her much further."
Zuko's handsome side actually smiles. "Don't worry, we're almost there."
"Where's there?" Katara eyes the dangerously vibrating light speed indicator needle, which is inching into the red zone.
"The Draconian mine fields, of course."
A/N: Oh dear, out of the fire and into the...bigger fire? What's going to happen? Will Toph catch up to our outlaw heroes and finish her fishing expedition? All these questions and more may or may not be answered in the next installment. This is my fun writing project, so way low on my priority list. I've got paying gigs that I have to do first. That said, I'm much more inclined to get stuff edited with a review, favorite, follow (all of the above is even better). Let's be frank, ya'll know the drill, but well, gotta encourage the lurkers.