Chap. 19

Interrogation

The guards led the group down deep into the bowels of the huge ship, a journey that felt like it took hours, espcially considering that everyone was still under the effects of the gas. But the guards took no mercy on them and pushed and prodded anyone who started to fall behind. Finally, they reached the ship's jail. Unlocking the door, the guards roughly shoved the group inside and quickly locked up those who weren't already incapacitaed. Aang they attached to another section of the wall, and Hierro was merely placed down on the ground. Once everyone was safely secure, the head guard smirked and said, "Enjoy your stay, honored guests." Laughing the guards then turned and left, locking the door behind them.

"Well, this is the pits." Toph said, as she angrily rattled her chains.

"Complaining about it won't help." Fuego said, trying to stay optimistic. "I don't suppose anyone can actually use their powers right now?"

"If you mean without feeling like I'm gonna throw up, no." Aire answered. "God, how do things go so bad so fast?"

"Actually, this isn't that much different for me and Zuko." Iroh said. "We've had bad luck for almost three years now."

"Uncle, how is that supposed to help?" Zuko asked.

"I don't know; it sounded reassuring." Iroh answered nonchlantly.

Zuko sighed then, and turned to look at Katara. The girl's face was a mask of worry and anger, and Zuko knew exactly why.

"I'm sure Sokka will be fine. He's too stubborn to give in." He said, in a voice that he hoped sounded like he believed it. Unfortanetly, Zuko knew his sister was vicious when it came to getting something she wanted. Azula cared for nothing and no one else, and she would do anything to get the information out of Sokka, even if it killed him.

Thankfully, Zuko was apparently a good liar, as Katara said in a voice that sounded like it would break any second, "I know he is but…. it's just everything! Aang hates me, we're trapped and heading for the Fire Nation, and now my brother's being tortured! Does it ever end?"

"It has to." Luz said suddenly. "If it doesn't, the Fire Nation will collapse under it's own failings. That's the problem with evil; it always turns on itself. But we can't sit here and cry about it. We have to figure something out."

"Maybe we can figure out some way to get Hierro out of that block." Tierra suggested. "That would let him touch the metal and get a charge to heal himself from the gas."

"Great idea, maybe you can break him out to kill him for'betraying' you too." Zuko snapped.

"Look, I'm sorry ok?" Tierra answered back. "I know I screwed up back there…"

"Yeah you did." Desierto growled back. "For God's sake, even Sokka started to trust Zuko. But not you, you have to be so goddamn paranoid! You always do this, Tier. You always refuse to belive anyone can change and it always ends up getting us in trouble! Why can't you grow up? What can't you stop being as dense as the rock you represent?"

Tierra looked at the wolf with a stunned expression, then slowly looked over the room and asked, "C'mon guys, you don't always think that, do you?"

But the only response he got was silence and a lot of angry stares.

"We saw what happened." Agua said finally. "And it's not the first time, Tier. If Zuko had managed to reach us, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation. But he didn't, and now we're all powerless and trapped on a shop headed for the worst possible place in the world. All because you couldn't learn to see past your own nose. Des is right, you need to grow up."

With that, the cat turned away. Tierra sat there a minute, his face stuck in that same stunned expression, then he too turned away, to stare down at his reflection in the polished metal floor and contemplate who he was looking at.

"Let me go!" Sokka yelled as he struggled against the guards. Undanuted, they led him through the door and into the interogation room, a large empty room filled with several different torture devices. Once inside, they roughly hurled him to the floor. As Sokka slowly pulled himself up, a shadow fell upon him. Looking up, he sw the figures of Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai standing before him.

"I don't suppose 'interrogation' means comfortable massage in the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked.

"No, but I could do that anyway." Ty Lee said with a smile. But Azula took a different approach. She saw the boy before as nothing more then a scroll waiting to be unraveled. Azula barely had any respect for others, but she had no respect at all for non-benders of other Tribes. She planned to break this boy and then let the Fire Lord have him for target pratice. A pity he couldn't have at least been from the Fire Nation. She thought as she began her speech. Ty Lee was right; he is cute…..

"Joking won't get you out of this, little boy. Now, if you want to get out of this room without serious injury, you can tell us what we want to know."

"Why don't you go back to the Fire Nation and keep shoving your head up your father's ass?" Sokka snapped.

Azula's eyes went wide at that, but she kept her voice steady and said, "My father is going to rule the world soon; I'd show respect."

"I know you have." Sokka said. "Zuko told us how you spend all your time sucking up to the Fire Lord. You've done it since you were six." He spat out, as he began to speak in a high-pitched, girly sounding voice. "Oh yes Father, I'll gladly learn how to be an emotionless lunatic for you."

"At least I did something important with my life, you little peasant!" Azula snapped back, her temper beginning to show.

"I protected my entire village! All you did was stay in your sheltered palace and let everyone blow you full of hot air. Then Daddy finally sends you out with a big fancy ship and you think you can just force everyone to work for you and burn down everyone that doesn't! You're pathetic! Your brother is a better person then you; at least he had to do things himself!"

"How dare you!" Azula screamed, her button finally pushed as Ty Lee and Mai gasped at Sokka's boldness. If there was one thing she could not stand, it was being second to anyone; and if that somone was Zuko, it was completely unbearable.

"Guards, crack him!" The Princess ordered. The guards immdiately grabbed Sokka and dragged him over to two large columns. Pulling out his arms, they shacked him to them, forcing him to stand with his back to them. Reaching out, one of the guards then tore off his shirt, while another grabbed a long whip.

"Last chance peasant boy." Azula snarled as the guard with the whip came closer to Sokka's unprotected back. But Sokka stood there and remained silent.

"Fine." Azula said, as she motioned for the guard to begin. He nodded and brought up the whip, only to crack it down a second later on Sokka's back. The boy yelped in pain, but remained standing. But the guard continued, bringing the whip down again and again.

The three girls each watched differently. Mai stared on indifferently. Ty Lee's happy façade began to break away, until she finally had to turn away. But Azula watched intently, as her mind raced over Sokka's words. How dare he speak to me like that?! She raged inside her mind. I am Princess of the Fire Nation. I am my father's greatest weapon. No one says such things to me, especially not some weak little peasant from the Water-Tribe.

But as Azula finished that thought, she noticed something about this weak little peasant. After only a few strokes, Sokka's back was raw and bleeding. Blood seeped down from the open wounds and soaked his pants. Yet he stood there proudly, and he hadn't made a sound since the first strike of the whip.

What the hell? Azula thought, as she felt her anger begin to grow. This little peasant was still defying her! "Give me that you fools!" Azula snapped, as she stepped forward and grabbed the whip from the guards. "If you can't do it right, then watch and learn." Azula snapped, as she began to whip Sokka herself. With her rage behind her, Azula brought the whip down twice as fast as the guards and twice as hard. Blood began to splash the deck, but still Sokka would not speak. Finally, Azula let out a scream of rage, and through the whip down.

The guards, Ty Lee, and Mai stared at the Princess in surprise; Azula never stopped until she got what she wanted. However, they didn't dare to question her as she spoke.

"If this boy hasn't cracked yet, then he doesn't know anything." She said, her face a controlled mask once again. "We're wasting our time. Take him down, and bring him to the infirmary. I don't need him bleeding to death on my ship. It'll just be one more body to toss over."

The guards were obviously surprised, but they quickly obeyed, removing the shackles and dragging the near unconscious Sokka out of the room.

"That was a new move for you." Mai said dryly.

"I'm not interested in wasting time." Azula snapped. "But if he won't talk, perhaps there's a way I can get the others to."

"Good luck then." Mai said. Looking over at the hanging shackles, she said, "He was much stronger then I thought."

Azula scowled at that, and headed for the door, eager to put her plan into motion. But as she left, one thought briefly went through Azula's mind; He was stronger then I thought too.