Chap. 17

A Fatal Mistake

"Ahh, here they are." Trueno said as he got to his feet. Sokka and the other Knights rose with him as Oscuridad's group appraoched, Aang slung over the bat's shoulder.

"Took you guys long enough." Tierra said as the two groups met.

"Hey we had to take the back routes to avoid the guardsmen. Last thing we need to do is to explain a major hurricane happening in Ba Sing Se." Agua replied.

"Are you sure he's all right?" Sokka asked, as he took a look at Aang, while Momo landed on his master's back and crawled over to look at the boy's face.

"He's still breathing, so I'm guessing so." Osduridad answered. "Besides, Zuko didn't strike him with that strong a bolt."

"I have to give you credit for that one." Trueno said with a chuckle. "The nerve blast is a classic; makes me wish I had gone with you guys."

"I'm kind of glad you didn't." Iroh said. "It was good to see Zuko finally master the technique."

"Yeah, too bad he had to use it on a person." Tierra said, with a hint of venom.

"Even so," Luz countered. "it was a hell of a thing to pull off. Nice work Zuko."

The former prince just nodded; he was unused to this kind of praise. The only one to ever say such things to him had been his mother, and later, his uncle. Ozai had never praised any of Zuko's efforts, and his teachers had given even less respect. Azula had been even worse, gloating over her progress while Zuko expereinced difficulty in almost every aspect of his training. That had been where Zuko's attitude of struggle and work in life had come from. While he still believed that philosphy and not relying on anyone else's approval, hearing praise like this was….. nice. Now I know I made a good decsion joining these guys. Zuko thought to himself.

"….. od job."

"Huh?" Zuko said, the sudden voice breaking him out of his thoughts. Looking in the direction it had come from, Zuko saw, of all people, Sokka facing him and repeating his words.

"I said, I don't like it, but I guess you did a good job." Sokka repeated. Zuko's eyes widened, but he managed to saw, "Thanks." Sokka just nodded, and said, "Come on guys, let's go home."

"Well, that was unexpected." Katara said, as Sokka began to walk towards the inn. "I guess you're starting to grow on him."

"And all you had to do was shoot his friend." Tierra muttered as he walked by. Zuko frowned as the Earth Knight walked by, but controlled his anger and began to follow. However, a moment later, Desierto walked by the dog and slapped him upside the head. Zuko smiled at that, and kept walking.

They reached the inn about twenty minutes later, and walked inside.

"Hey little brother, we're home!" Agua yelled out. But there was no reply.

"Toph, you here!" the cat yelled out again. But there was still no answer.

"They're probably outside and can't hear us." Katara suggested. "Let's get Aang down."

"Good idea." Oscuridad said, as he looked around the room for the sapce he'd instructed the falcon to make. But there was nothing here too.

"Blasted lazy little bird." The bat muttered, as he turned to the couch, which was littered with the remains of a lunch. Wiping everything off, the bat genlty unslung Aang from his shoulder and laid him down.

"I swear, after all the trouble he's gotten us into, he could at least try to do what I ask him." Oscuridad muttered aloud.

"What are you complaining about? Aire's been all right." Zuko said.

"You haven't spent five centuries with him." Bosque replied. "That guy is five hundred going on sixteen. Most of the time he's ok, but he can be like a little kid too. He'll forget what you ask him, or do something stupid that'll cause problems."

"Remember the time he gave that guy a tornado ride and then we found out he was 'The Chosen One?" Luz said. "It took four hours to convince him to listen to us after that."

"I don't know, I think you guys are still a little a hard on him." Katara said, as she placed a pillow behind Aang's head.

"That's not what you said when he blew two of your waterbending scrolls into the river at the last pit stop before the desert." Bosque said.

"HE DID WHAT!"

"Oh I thought you knew." The squirrel said, as Katara gritted her teeth in anger. But before she could properly express that anger, Iroh said, "Something doesn't feel right. I don't think Toph and Aire are outside."

"Why do you say that, Uncle?" Zuko asked.

"We all know Toph has almost no other interest then Earthbending; if she was outside, she'd be praticing. So why don't we hear anything?"

"He's right." Sokka said. "Toph would never ignore a chance to throw some dirt around."

"And Aire would be yelling at her to stop so he could read in peace." Hierro said. "Maybe we should take a look outside though. Maybe they're actually working on something peacefully."

"Sounds like a good idea, but an unlikely possibility." Oscuridad said.

"I'll go look." Zuko said, as he got to his feet.

"Not alone you won't." Tierra said, as he followed the former prince.

"You don't even trust me to look outside?" Zuko asked in astonishment, as they walked towards the door.

"Not when two of our friends might be missing." Tierra snapped back. "And not when you are so eager to leave the room."

"I was trying to be do the right thing! I'm worried about them too! Are you ever going to trust me?" Zuko yelled.

"When you earn it. So, no." the dog answered as they both reached the door. Muttering in frustration, Zuko pratically kicked the door open and the two peered outside.

The first thing they noticed was the long pole that been stuck in the ground. But the second, and more important thing, was Aire and Toph at the bottom, looking beaten and tied to the pole.

"Holy…. GUYS, GET OUT HERE!" Tierra yelled back in the house as Zuko ran for the pole. Reaching it quickly, he took a closer look at Top and Aire. At a closer look, neither of them actually had any bruises or marked. The beaten look they'd seen from a distance was beacuse were hunched over and their eyes were glazed… Drugged. Zuko realized as he bent down next to Toph and began to burn through the ropes that held her.

As the smell of smoke began to drift towards the girl, she sniffed involunatrily, then her eyes cleared somewhat, and she asked, in a tired sounding voice, "Smookkkkeee…. Zuko?"

"Hold on Toph, you'll be out in a second." Zuko said.

"No… forget…. Get out of here." She managed to get out.

"Toph, what are you talking about?" Zuko asked.

"This…. A … trap!" she spat out with as much strength as she could muster. As Zuko's eyes widened in shock, he heard the first screams coming from behind him.

Whipping around, Zuko saw at least eight Fire Nation soldiers pop out of various spots in the yard. They instantly placed themselves between the two groups cutting them off from each other. But what worried Zuko more was seeing two all-too familiar girls leap down from the back awning.

"Ty Lee? Mai?" Zuko whispered as the two of them turned to observe the commotion between the soliders and the others. Zuko heard a crack of thunder, and suddenly the soliders were blown back by the impact of a thunder bolt. But just as Trueno helped them deal with that situation, Mai and Ty Lee turned to fight. Mai threw a few daggers, trapping Sokka and Hierro to the wall. Ty Lee leapt into the group, dodging in and out, striking as many people and points as she could.

Zuko gritted his teeth as he wacthed and began to move forward to help, but before he could, he flet a hand wrap around his collar and hurl him backwards. As Zuko hit the ground, he stopped just in time to see Tierra step on his hands, pinning him to the ground.

"I knew you were a traitor, you lying bastard." The dog growled, as he raised his hammer up over his head. "You may have led them here, but you're not taking anyone back with you."

Zuko would've responded, but then, he say something through Tierra's legs that made him scream with terror. "UNCLE!" he yelled, as Mai shot an arrow through the old man's shoulder. His cocnern overtaking him, Zuko pushed off Tierra's feet, pushing the dog to the ground. The dog sruggled to get up as Zuko raced to Iroh's side. Im fact, the dog tunred juust in time to see Zuko push aside a pair of soldiers and move to help his uncle. "They shot him?" Tierra whispered in shock as he saw Iroh fall to his feet in pain from the arrow. "But if they're traitors….."

"Oh, I just fucked up bad." Tierra said, as he got his feet to try to help. Racing forward, he caught to Zuko. But before either Zuko or Tierra could reach their friends, Ty Lee suddenly leapt in front of them. Reaching into her belt, the girl pulled out a piece of cloth and a small glass ball. Placing the cloth over her mouth and nose, she hurled it down at the two of them. The ball exploded on the ground, releasing a huge yellow cloud of gas. Too surprised to protect themselves, Zuko and Tierra began to cough as they inhaled the gas.

The effect was instant. As they coughed harder and harder, the of them both fell to their knees, overcome by the overpowering effect. Zuko passed out after a few moments, but perhaps because of his supernatural nature, Tierra stayed apright a moment longer. Raising his hand at Ty Lee, the dog attempted to use the earth against her. But as he tried to marshall his forces, his vision began to spin and twist, blurring the image of Ty Lee. As he felt his mind beginning to shut down under the effects of the gas, Tierra tried to hold on a few minutes longer, but the strain was too much, and he fell to the ground.

Ty Lee waited a moment longer for the gas to dissapate, then removed her cloth mask. Turning, she saw Mai and the soldiers movng away from the other heroes, who also been gassed and thrown into a pile of bodies.

"Shouldn't we do something about him?" Ty Lee asked, pointing to Iroh and the arrow sticking out of his shoulder.

"I suppose so." Mai sighed, as she halfheartedly motioned for a solider to help with the arrow. The solider grasped the shaft and with a grunt, pulled it out. Throwing it to the side, he then reached into his belt and brought out some gauze, which he beagn to wrap around the wound.

"I take it everything went well?" said a voice from the doorway. Mai and Ty Lee turned to see Jouku standing there.

"Oh yes, it was very fine. You did a great job bringing us here." Ty Lee said happily.

"I'm glad to hear that. Would it be too much to ask for my payment now?"

Mai reached into her belt and drew out a good-size money bag. Tossing it ove to Jouku, she said, "Take it and bring the wagon around. You have to get us out of here before you'll get the rest."

"Of course." Jouku grumbled as he started to do just that. Pausing, he asked, "What do you plan to do with the others?"

"Take them with us. Is that a problem?" Mai asked.

For a moment, Jouku thought about his answer. The plan had only been for Zuko and Iroh; the others had not been part of the deal. The innkeep didn't want for anyone else to be harmed, he just wanted to turn in a pair of fugitives and collect the reward. But thinking about the soliders that surrounded him, and the two girls behind him, made Jouku's decsion quite simple.

"No, not a problem at all." Jouku answered, as he went to get the wagon and take them out of Ba Sing Se.