Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Avatar the Last Airbender or the Avengers (MCU), only the story. Avatar the Last Airbender and its characters belongs to Nickelodeon and Avengers belongs to Marvel. I apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.
A/N: This is one of the saddest episodes in book two. It's mostly out done by the two chapters after it, but right now we're focusing on going to the library. And we'll be going between Aang's group, Zuko's group and Sam and Rhodey's group.
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Katara: Water, Soldier, Mechanist, God, Earth, Fire, Spy, Archer, Monster, Air
(One by one, eight figures do something to show off their skills: the Waterbender weaves a stream of water from the ground, around him and then thrusts it towards the side, the soldier blocks an attack with his shield before throwing it, the mechanist has armor envelope him and then uses the repulsor on his hand to blast something on the side, the god holds a powerful hammer high to summon a bolt of lightning, the Earthbender kicks the ground bringing up a large rock before he kicks it away, the Firebender twists around as she summons fire from her foot before doing a high kick to the ground and makes the flames spread, the spy drops down from above and displays a few moves, the archer rolls across the ground and fires a few arrows, and finally the monster comes down from a jump and smashes his huge fists on the ground, the Airbender drops down and then with a circle of his arms he creates a blast of wind.)
Katara: Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
(Docked on a shore, five Fire Nation ships with the Hydra insignia released their soldiers. With a jump forward and a palm thrust, the firebenders released a wave of fire as the Hydra soldiers used their advanced technology.)
Katara: Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
(The Avatar, a man with a crown on his head and dressed in robes stands on a pillar of stone as he bent the four elements of water, earth, fire and air to show his skill in the arts of bending. After releasing a powerful disk of wind, he disappears from existence.)
Katara: A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar: an Airbender named Aang and met the team called the Avengers.
(The water tribe siblings find a young Airbender frozen in block of ice. After freeing him, they are then joined by heroes called Captain America, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, Clint, and Natasha.)
Katara: And although with the teams help and his airbending skills are great, hehas a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.
(At an Air Nomad path, Aang creates an air scooter and starts to have fun with it. But when he expands his circle a little bit, he runs right into a statue. He rolls over onto his back as all six of the Avengers then poke their heads from behind the statue to check on him.)
Katara: But I believe the Avengers and Aang can save the world.
(Aang, Steve, Katara, Tony, Thor, Bruce, Sokka, Clint, Toph and Natasha stand side by side, looking down at the world on a mountain's peak for a moment as the reader's view is turned upwards to the sun.)
Nickelodeon and Marvel
The Avenging Avatar
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Avatar Roku: Previously, on Avenging Avatar…
"I discovered a hidden library." A long time ago, a younger Zhao sat at a desk in a dark library, with only a candle to illuminate the room. He held up an interesting scroll, "I tore through scroll after scroll in my research."
Much later, Aang was able to use earthbending as he moved a rock forward. A proud Toph exclaimed, "You did it! You're an Earthbender!"
"Sozin's Comet will return by the end of the summer," Roku said as a flashback of the comet went across the sky, "and Fire Lord Ozai will its power and Hydra to finish the war, once and for all."
A dark silhouette of said Fire Lord stood amongst flames with Johann Schmidt on one side and Arnim Zola on another. The Fire Lord let loose a roar and shot a flame into the air.
"You must defeat the Fire Lord, before the comet arrives." Roku told a nervous looking Aang.
One villager bowed his head and said, "Thank you for lending us aid, my friends."
"Sorry we couldn't do more." Katara offered with a down casted look. Another villager shook his head, "Oh, you've all done plenty." Looking amongst the group he said, "We are lucky that the Avatar and the Avengers, big and small, were here to help." With a nod he said, "All of you."
"Hopefully, you'll be able to return to your village." Thor said to raise hopes. The villagers looked to the team as Aang walked up and said, "We're going to put an end to this war. And you will be able to return to your homes."
"The Fire Nation and Hydra are going to regret trying to take everything from us." Sokka added and stood by the Avatar. Steve walked up on the other side of Aang and said, "The odds seem to be against us, but between the nine of us, plus all those who continue to fight, they'll never truly conquer us."
All the villagers rose their fists into the air in agreement to their words.
Sam, Rhodey, Logan, Wade, Johnny, Eddie and Peter all emerged from the portal to find themselves on the side of a mountain overlooking a desolate sight. An abandoned battlefield lay before them. Hardly believing what they were seeing, Sam looked to Rhodey and asked, "What did we just walk into?"
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Chapter Eleven: The Library
It was nearly noon when the team found themselves in a field. Everyone looked to Aang as he sat in the middle of the field and surrounded by many holes in the ground. The clumps of grass swayed in the wind as they just looked about. While everyone was curious to what the Airbender was doing, Sokka was the one to ask, "Uh, what's out here?"
"A lot, actually." Toph said as she kneeled down to the ground to get a feel for whatever made the holes. Even Natasha started to say, "Judging from all these holes, I'd say…"
"Shh!" Aang was quick to say to stop them. They looked to Aang and he explained, "I know that you can feel and tell what could be out here, but please don't ruin the surprise. Trust me, it'll be worth it."
"Uh, okay." Natasha said, deciding to wait and see what Aang had in store for them. Turing ack to the holes around him, he held a flute and said, "Just watch."
The others looked to each other before shrugging. Aang blew a single note into the instrument ad the next moment, a gopher popped up from the hole next to him and sang the same note. It made Aang laugh and looked to the hole as the mole ducked down, "Yeah!"
Everyone behind him either looked about or looked to each other as Aang started playing different notes. A mole would pop up and sing the same note before ducking down. After a few more notes, Aang seemed excited and said, "I'm putting an orchestra together you guys."
"Yeah, we can see that." Steve chuckled as Aang played another note. But Sokka didn't seem to thrilled about it, "An orchestra, huh?" Then with a wave of his hands he sang, "Well, la-di-da."
Three moles came out of three holes and sang the same notes one at a time. They all ducked back down when a chittering Momo tried to catch one of them. But when he disappeared down one hole, he popped out of another with a confused look. It caused a few of the others to laugh, and even more when Aang played another note and Momo chased after a singing mole. During one part of the song, Momo was sitting at a cluster of holes and slammed his paws after a retreating mole when it went down. This caused more laughter and Bruce said to the others, "Hey, guys. Musical Whack-a-Mole."
While it was somewhat lost on Thor, Toph, Sokka and Katara, it did cause Natasha, Clint and Steve to laugh again. But after a few more moments, the buzz kill of the group ran over and blocked the end of the pipe. That caused a lot of, "Hey!"
"This is great and all, but we don't have a lot more important things going on?" Sokka questioned and looked about the group. Then he pointed out, "We should be making some plans."
"Well, this kind of was a plan." Natasha argued in the defense of the group. Toph agreed and said, "Yeah, we all decided to take mini-vacations. And this is Aang's turn."
"I'm talking about plans about what we're supposed to be doing. So there's no time for vacations right now." Sokka disagreed. Looking to the Avengers he asked, "You see my point in this, right?"
"Yeah." Steve shrugged in agreement. But Aang was quick to say, "But I am learning the elements as fast as I can."
"And to be fair, he has been switching between his earthbending and waterbending studies for the last few days." Bruce argued for Aang. Gesturing to himself he added, "And I do know a thing or two about stress."
"We know." Everyone in the group said when they looked to the gamma scientist. Aang looked to Sokka and said, "I've been training my arrow off and thought that this was a good idea."
"Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?" Katara asked as she walked over. Sokka crossed his arms as he asked a good question, "Even if you do go and master all the elements, then what?
"It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation." He pointed out and it made sense. But everyone didn't really like the sarcastic tone he took when he went, "Should we just go head west until we reach the Fire Lord and the Red Skull's houses? Knock on the doors and ask, 'Hello, bad guys? Anybody home?'" He turned back to the others, "I don't think so. We need some real intelligence if we are going to win this war."
"He does have a point." Steve nodded in agreement. But Natasha was quick to say, "But that doesn't mean we can't finish up our little relaxing time either."
"I don't see the harm in that." Thor shook his head. Even Aang agreed with them by playing another note with the flute pointed to the hole beneath Sokka. A mole popped up to sing the note and it startled Sokka. His expression caused the others to start laughing again. Momo went after it, but came up short as Aang used his airbending to stand up again. Even Katara seemed okay with this idea as she said while placing her hands on her hips, "We'll finish our vacations and then go looking for Sokka's intelligence."
That crack caused everyone to bust out laughing while Sokka only had a scowl on his face. When he had calmed down enough, Thor then asked, "So, whose turn is it now for a 'mini-vacation'?"
"I think it's Katara's turn." Clint said as he got out a map of the Earth Kingdom. He opened it up and Aang, Katara, Steve and Natasha stood before it. The Airbender of the group looked to her and asked, "Where do you want to go for your turn, Katara?"
"Hm." Katara thought as she scratched her chin as to think. When spot caught her eye, Katara to a spot on the map and said, "How about the Misty Palms Oasis? It sounds really refreshing."
"Oh, yeah, I've been there a few times." Aang said as they all looked to the map. Then he said, "It's a pristine natural ice spring."
"Never thought I'd ever hear you use the word 'pristine', Aang." Steve said with a smirk to the boy. Aang chuckled and then said, "I know, and I usually don't go and use the word pristine a lot either. I can tell you that it's one of nature's greatest wonders."
"Then what are we waiting for." Clint said and rolled the map back up. Toph was in agreement when she said, "Yeah, the sooner we get our little vacations done, the sooner we can help our dear friend Sokka."
This caused another round of laughter amongst the majority of the group while Sokka just climbed onto Appa with a scowl.
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Elsewhere…
The rescue team hadn't moved far from their entrance point as they had made camp there a few klicks to the north. They had remained undiscovered for the past few days and were thankful that they hadn't run into anyone or anything that seemed to be hostile. As they were still trying to get a grasp on what was going on and where they were, they started to undo their camp to start their search. One on side of the campsite, Peter, Johnny and Eddie were currently packing up their stuff. Sam, Rhodey, Wade and Logan had gone off to a little reconnaissance for their next move. The teen looked to them and asked, "So, what is it that the two of you do again?" He heard the question and quickly added, "I mean like your super powers."
"I can turn into a flaming skeleton." Johnny flatly put it. Eddie gestured as if he were pointing to someone behind him and said, "I have this guy."
Suddenly, a black tendril rose out from behind his shoulder and waved to the web slinger. This greatly surprised Peter as his eyes widened. When the tendril disappeared, Peter asked, "Uh.."
"Oh, that's just Venom. He's a symbiote living in my body." Eddie explained as Peter came closer. But Johnny stopped him before he could get too close. Peter looked to the cursed biker and Johnny said, "Careful, he's liable to bite your head off."
"Got it. Noted." Peter nodded. He was thrown for an even bigger loop when the tendril came back, only this time it formed a scary looking head with razor sharp teeth. It spoke with a deep gruff voice, "Oh, don't mind him. I only bite off the heads of my enemies, or when I'm really hungry.
"He's just a cursed soul who doesn't know how to have fun." Venom said when he looked over at Johnny. Johnny shot back, "And you're an alien who probably likes to bite off people's heads."
"Eh, he's not wrong there." Eddie shrugged while shaking his head. Venom looked to his host and said, "You're supposed to stick by my side in an argument."
"All I said was that he wasn't wrong." Eddie defended himself. An amused smile came about Peter as he thought their bickering was a little funny. The argument was brought to a halt when they heard someone say, "You guys done fighting like an odd old married couple?"
They looked to see both Wade and Logan walking back into the camp. Logan shook his head, "Seriously, we could hear you guys since you were so loud."
"I'm pretty sure even those from the Spirit World heard you." Wade agreed. This only earned a few odd looks from the others. Johnny then asked, "What did you guys see?"
"Mostly the same old stuff you see when you're in the middle of nowhere." Logan huffed and crossed his arms. But Wade suddenly shook his head, "No, no. You can see a lot from No Where. I hear that people can get a big head from going there."
"Shut up, Wade." Logan shook his head and walked away from the man in the red suit. Wade looked to the other three and asked, "So, how much longer do you think our Fly Boys will be gone much longer. We need to be getting our road trip going."
"Don't worry. They didn't go far." Johnny said as they continued packing up their stuff. The sound of engines even made them look up and they saw two shapes flying towards them.
Both War Machine and the Falcon dropped down from the sky before standing up straight. The mechanical mask retracted off Rhodey and he took a breath of fresh air. Eddie then asked, "Did you see anything?"
"There's a village not far from here." Rhodey reported. Sam then suggested, "We were thinking of heading that way and trying to find some intel. See if anyone around here might know something."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Peter asked and they grabbed the rest of their stuff. When they were all ready to go, the rescue team headed for the village.
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When Team Avatar arrived at the Misty Palms Oasis, everyone was both a little shocked and greatly disappointed from what they were seeing. All nine friends stood at the gate as they looked into the village. Everything plant wise looked just about dead and the oasis itself had greatly melted to a sorry looking version of its former self. Knowing that his friends were disappointed from what they were seeing, Aang tried to humor them, "Must have changed ownership since the last time I was here."
"Yeah, about nearly a hundred years ago." Natasha said and it made Aang sheepishly laugh. The nine friends still went inside the little village. But as they had cleared the front gate, the hanging sign fell from its perch and startled them when it crashed to the ground. They all looked to the shattered sign with a concerned look. Bruce pointed to the destroyed sign and said, "That is not up to code."
Everyone else looked to each other before they continued into the Oasis. They walked past the still melting glacier and saw a dog licking from the steaming clump of ice. Natasha looked to Clint and Toph, "That there's a sorry sight."
"Couldn't really tell ya." Toph said with a slight grin and Nat looked to her with a deadpanned look. Clint just chuckled from the exchange as they kept on walking.
The group walked up to a place where it seemed like they could get some refreshments. They saw four individuals covered in bandages, as if to protect themselves from the sun. But as the majority of the group had already gone inside, one of the men spit at Sokka and Bruce's feet and it made them stop. Both of them looked at the ground in disbelief before glaring at the man who only gave a sneer in return. Katara and Natasha both rushed back outside and grabbed the two before trouble could start and pulled them inside.
"That was so unnecessary." Bruce crossed his arms. Sokka was in complete agreement, "Yeah, what was his problem?"
"Just let it go, you guys. They're not worth it." Steve said to calm them down. It seemed to do the trick as everyone looked about the establishment. They were a little surprised that it seemed just as dead in here as it did out there. Most of the customers were either looking bored or were asleep. They saw a man wearing a sun hat and desert surviving gear placing an order, "One mango, please."
"Coming right up, good sir." The bar keep, an elderly man with a small mustache and orange tinted glasses said before looking to another man with swords bound to his back behind the counter and shouted, "One mango!"
"On it." The man nodded before unsheathing his blades. With a quick motion, he used one of the swords to scoop up one of the bowls before placing it on a cutting board. Then with another stroke of his blades, he chopped down a few fruits before slicing them up in a neat fashion. When he had finished slicing up the majority of the fruits, the man picked up a large piece of fruit before tossing it up in the air and slicing it in half. Then with careful precision, the man picked up the chopped-up fruit with his swords in an X formation and placed it into the bowl. Then with both blades he picked up a jug of water and poured it into the bowl to create the beverage. When he was finished he sheathed his blades again before placing a straw and an umbrella into the bowl to make it look nice. He picked it up with his hands and handed it to the bar keep, "One mango."
"Thanks." The bar keep said and took it from him. He handed it to the customer and said, "That'll be a copper my friend."
"Certainly." The man said and tossed a copper coin on the counter. The older man took it and placed it into a box.
Over by the door, everyone had been impressed from the little show. Even Sokka seemed to be intrigued when he said, "I don't see anything wrong with us having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our next strategy."
Then without another word, he pushed past his friends and rushed off to place an order. Clint looked to Nat and Bruce, "So much for wanting to go and find his important intelligence."
They agreed with him with a nod. But they still ended up walking after the teen. When the previous customer had taken his beverage, Sokka walked up to the counter, "Excuse me, my good sir."
"What can I get ya, young man." The older man said and leaned against the counter. While Sokka started to place an order, the man walked around him but didn't see where he was going as he bumped into Aang. Everyone gasped when he accidentally spilled his beverage onto Aang's shirt. But Aang didn't seem too upset with it as he reassured the man, "Don't worry about it, I clean up easy."
He brought his fists together and with a powerful gust of wind, he was able to dry himself. But the act greatly surprised the man and he let out a gasp. He became intrigued as he grinned, "You're a living relic."
"Thanks, I try." Aang shrugged, hardly taking it as an insult. Bruce looked to Clint and said, "I know that I'd be upset if someone called me that."
"Same." Clint agreed with a nod. Natasha leaned against Steve and said with a smirk, "If you really want to meet some relics, Steve and Thor have you covered."
"Hey!" Both Avengers said, taking offense to that. It caused Clint, Bruce, Katara, Sokka and Toph to laugh a little. The man looked Aang over and became more curious about him, "An Air Nomad, right in front of me.
"And the two of you?" He asked Steve and Thor, wanting to know more about them. The super soldier and the Asgardian looked to the spy of the group with a groan. Thor looked back to the man and explained, "I am Thor Odinson. I hail from the realm of Asgard and I am well over a thousand years old."
The man gasped at this before turning to Steve. Steve crossed his arms and said, "I'm Steve Rogers. I'm originally from the era of the second World War where we come from. And I woke up nearly three quarters of a century later."
"Fascinating." The man said as he scratched his chin. Sokka turned to get Thor's attention to help him carry some drinks from the counter. He bowed and introduced himself to the group, "Professor Zei, I'm the head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University."
"Oh, you're a scholar?" Bruce asked. Professor Zei looked impressed with the gamma scientist ad said, "I am. I took some vacation time to come this way. Are you a scholar as well."
"Kind of. Name's Bruce Banner." Bruce shrugged. Professor Zei looked to the remaining members of the group and Katara introduced them all, "I'm Katara. The guy overloading his arms with cups is my brother Sokka."
"Uh, hi." Said guy overloaded with cups tried to wave. But he nearly ended up dropping the cups, but luckily, Nat and Clint were able to catch them. Katara continued, "The girl in green is Toph.
"And the woman with red hair and black body suit is Natasha Romanoff…" Katara gestured to the spy. Then pointing to the other man she said, "And this Clint Barton."
"Hey." Clint waved to him. Professor Zei nodded back to him. Looking to Aang he said, "Just a few questions, if you don't mind."
"Uh, okay." Aang shrugged but was surprised when the professor grabbed his arm and stretched it out. Looking over the tattoo on Aang's arm he asked, "Which of the four Air Temples do you hail from?"
"The Southern Air Temple." Aang honestly answered. This seemed to excite the professor as he took a tool from his pack and used it to measure Aang's head before saying, "Oh, how splendid! Now, please tell me- what was the primary agricultural product of your people?"
"Uh, do fruit pies count as an agricultural product?" Aang asked and glanced to the others for assistance with the question. All five of the Avengers shook their heads. Clint then clarified, "He means like the stuff that you grow."
"Oh." Aang said in realization. But the professor still seemed intrigued with Aang when he said, "Nonetheless, whatever you can give me will go to the journal."
"So, um, Professor…" Sokka said from the side. They all looked to Sokka as he walked up to the scholar, "You're obviously a well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours seems to be a little outdated."
"Really? We're taking a mini-vacation, picked by your sister, and you got to ask that kind of question?" Natasha asked. Even Clint agreed by saying, "Yeah, live in the now, man."
Sokka just groaned while Professor Zei wrote down what he learned from Aang. When he finished, he looked to the others ad said, "I do have a map that you can look at. At least if you want to."
"Thanks." Steve nodded and they all walked over to a table. Professor Zei took out a scroll of paper and handed it to Sokka. While everyone stood around the table and Toph sat in one chair while elevating her feet in another, Sokka set the scroll down and had a hopeful look on his face when he unrolled it. But he became a little disappointed when he didn't see what he wanted, "What, no Fire Nation?" He lifted his head, slumped his shoulders and complained, "Doesn't anyone have a good map of that place?"
"What were you expecting?" Bruce asked and Sokka looked to him. Gesturing between the professor and the map he questioned, "You think that some guy, even if he is a professor, you just met is going to have a map of an enemy country?"
"Kind of." Sokka shrugged. The five Avengers all groaned from Sokka's usual brand of stupidity. Deciding to keep an argument from breaking out, Katara looked back to the map and noticed, "You sure have made a lot of trips into the desert, Professor."
"Yeah, and they seem to stop a good deal, why?" Thor asked Zei. The professor shook his head, "Mostly because those trips all ended in vain, I'm afraid."
"What exactly were you looking for?" Natasha asked. This seemed to put a smile on the professor's face and he said, "A good question. I've found numerous lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel that would put all my other findings to shame- Wan Shi Tong's Library."
"Sounds pretty big." Steve said as it did sound impressive. The professor nodded as it was. A skeptical Toph then asked, "You've spent years walking out into the desert to find some guy's library?"
"It does seem to be a lost cause by now if you haven't found it yet." Clint agreed with her. But it didn't seem to deter the professor when he said, "This library is much more valuable than any amount of gold, my friends."
"Oh, how so?" Thor asked and crossed his arms. The professor explained, "Legend has it that the library contains a vast collection of knowledge from just about every corner of the world, and it just keeps on growing to this day. And knowledge…" He paused for dramatic effect before saying, "Is priceless."
"Wow. Sounds like some good times." Toph sarcastically said, not that impressed. But the professor seemed to be oblivious to her remark as he agreed, "Oh, it is. According to the legend, it was built by the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers."
"Oh, so this spirit has some attractive assistants, huh?" Sokka asked with a sly grin. Katara looked to her brother with annoyed look and slightly swatted him upside the head, "I think that he means they look like actual foxes, Sokka."
"And everyone here already knows of your little crush." Natasha added, making Sokka look nervous as he looked about the group. While most of the group had smirks on their faces, the ones who were a little confused were Clint and Toph. But the professor prevented a fight by saying to the two Water Tribe children, "You're both right, actually." He clasped his hands as he said, "Handsome little creatures.
"Wan Shi Tong and his Knowledge Seekers…" Professor Zei said as he reached into one of his bags. He pulled out a scroll and unfurled it, "Would seek out and collect books from all over the world, and then put them up o display for all mankind to read, so that we might try to better ourselves."
He set the scroll down for all nine to see. Just about everyone was impressed by the sketch on the scroll. As he looked at it, Bruce guessed, "Judging by the large size of the library, it was mostly designed to be able to take in new materials that come to it throughout the ages."
"A wonderful deduction my friend." Professor Zei nodded in agreement. An idea came to Sokka and he looked to the professor, "If this place really does have books from all over the world, do you think that they've got any info on the Fire Nation?" He began to feel a little hopeful when he asked, "A map, maybe?"
"I wouldn't know. But if such a thing were to exist, it would be in Wong Shi Tong's library." Professor Zei said and looked down at the scroll again. As Aang was slurping his drink, Thor looked to him and yanked it out of his hands. The Airbender looked to the Asgardian with a slight glare. Sokka then thought about it and came to a decision, "Then it's settled."
"He's got that look in his eye." Natasha said, feeling a little uncertain. Sokka defended himself, "Well I think it's only fair that I get a turn." He seemed calm as he gestured to himself when he said, "For I do believe that it's my turn. I wish to spend my mini-vacation," He suddenly became dramatic when he struck a pose with a pointing finger high in the air, "At the library!"
Everyone minus Toph gave him odd looks. Sokka opened his eyes and noticed before asking, "What?"
"Eh, some guys just don't really care about going to places like this." Natasha shrugged while gesturing to the sketch of the library. Putting on a confident grin he said, "Well, lucky for me, I'm not like most guys."
"That's for sure." Katara, Natasha and Clint all agreed with a deadpanned look. That caused Sokka to just scowled at them. Their attention was stolen when Toph said, "Uh, hey…" Feeling left out she asked, "What about my mini-vacation?
"Or theirs? When do we get to pick?" She added and gestured to the Avengers. Sokka crossed his arms and said like a boss to an employee, "You, Clint, Bruce and Thor have to work here a little longer before you can qualify for vacation time."
"We've been with you guys for a good while now." Bruce argued for mostly him and Thor while Toph slammed her cup on the table. Pointing to Clint and Toph he said, "And they've contributed just as much."
"But Sokka does have a point." Steve said as he thought about it. Everyone but Professor Zei looked to Sokka with a, "Huh?"
"Since it is his choice, he's both working and not working. Which would make it an okay vacation." Steve said. Sokka gave a proud nod as he knew that he had at least one Avenger on his side. But they were all brought back to the professor when he said, "Of course, there is the matter of finding it. As you recall, I've made several trips out into the Si Wong desert and had nearly died each time in my search.
"I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross." Professor Zei slumped his shoulders in defeat. The group looked to each other as Bruce smirked, "The desert may be impossible to cross on foot."
"But not from the air." Aang finished as they all knew where this was going. Sokka looked to the scholar and asked, "Professor Zei, would you like to meet our sky bison?"
"A sky bison?!" An astonished Professor Zei gasped. He large grin grew on his face and he asked, "You actually have one?"
All nine of the group nodded and it seemed to excite the professor even more. He politely asked, "Could we go and see the sky bison?"
"Sure. We can take you to Appa." Aang nodded and they all walked out of the establishment. But as they were walking towards the gate, they heard agitated growls outside the town. Bruce glanced to the group and said, "Sounds like something's upsetting Appa."
"And I have a feeling that I know what it is." Professor Zei glared and they all started running for the gate.
When they arrived outside, they saw four of the men in desert garb approaching the sky bison. Appa continued growling as he took a step back from the approaching men. The nine seemed to get ready, but luckily for them, Professor Zei ran forward and shouted, "Sandbenders, shoo, away from the bison!"
The four men looked to the professor and started to walk towards them when they saw the team move behind the scholar. The four noted the strange clothing of the Avengers, noticed their odd weapons and decided not to push their luck. They looked amongst the ten with glares before departing. Everyone watched with questioning looks as the Sandbenders boarded onto a couple of vessels made for desert travel. Steve looked to the professor and asked, "Who were they, Professor?"
"Sandbenders. They're a group of people living in the vast Si Wong Desert." Professor Zei explained as he glanced back, "There a group of Earthbenders whose skill specializes with the bending of the sand. Hence how they were able to make their sand sailors move."
"Wonder what they were wanting with our bison?" Clint thought aloud. Professor Zei shook his head, "I wouldn't know. I haven't really met with any of the tribes who are hidden amongst the dunes."
"Do we need to worry about them?" Bruce asked him. Professor Zei seemed to be unsure, "I would be wary of them. We'll be on their turf."
"We'll just have to be careful." Steve said. Looking to the group he said, "But for now, let's go find that library."
The others nodded in agreement as the majority of everyone either boarded onto Appa's saddle or head. The only one using their ow method of flight as he launched Mjolnir forward while hanging onto the handle.
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Elsewhere…
Somewhere else in the Earth Kingdom, Zuko, Iroh and Tony were traveling along a path that had only open plains around them. While Zuko and Iroh were riding o the back of the ostrich-horse, Tony was walking along behind them. He had his left arm raised and was looking to a device attached to his wrist. He spoke to J.A.R.V.I.S. by asking, "You say you sensed a vortex like the one that brought us here?"
"Indeed, sir." The A.I. said and when he spoke a small light flashed with every word. J.A.R.V.I.S. then said, "Though I am unable to pinpoint the exact location where the rift between the two dimensions opened up, the readings detected that it was open for at least a minute and a half. More than enough time to let something through."
"Think it could be dangerous?" Tony asked, feeling both worried and hopeful at the same time. The A.I. sounded unsure, "Only time will tell. Either it's someone who has come to ours or Hydra's aid. Or something that owes allegiance to no one."
"Fair point." Tony nodded. The conversation was brought to a halt when Zuko said, "Come on! We have a lot of ground to cover."
"Ok, I'm coming." Tony said and lowered his arm. He was lost in thought and just hoped that whatever new had come to this world was friendly. But he was mostly hoping that his friends were all right wherever they were.
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Team Avenging Avatar…
Back over the desert, Appa groaned as he flew across the sky. While Toph, Katara, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Clint and Sokka, who was tying a head covering over him while going shirtless, sat in Appa's saddle, Aang, Professor Zei and Momo all sat on the bison's head. Thor was currently flying side by side with Appa. When he had his head covering secured, Sokka picked up a telescope and started looking about the desert for any sign of the library. And down on Appa's head, Professor Zei moved to Appa's face while Aang looked over the sketch. When he was at the edge of Appa's head, Professor Zei looked down and asked, "Tell me, noble sky bison, are you the last of your breed?"
Appa just answered him with a growl as he kept on flying. While he didn't really understand him, Professor Zei gave a small laugh, "How delightful! I only wish that I could speak his tongue." He laid down with his front against Appa's head and started rubbing his hands in the bison's fur, "Oh, the stories this magnificent beast could tell me."
Thinking that he could try to give some insight, Momo scampered up to the professor and started chattering to him. But the professor wouldn't have it when he shushed Momo, "Shush, chatty monkey."
Some of the group from the saddle laughed from this. As he looked about the sketch, Aang thought finding the place should be easy, "Wow. It shouldn't be too hard to find a place like this all the way out here."
"Easier said than done, Aang." Thor said as he flew by. Aang looked to the Asgardian when Thor went on, "If this place is so difficult to find, then there must be a reason."
Aang did see the sense in Thor's words as they kept on flying. From the saddle, Bruce looked to the professor and asked, "So, is there anything else about the library?"
"Hmm. Let me think for a moment." Professor Zei requested and rubbed his chin. He seemed to remember something and looked to his fellow scholar, "There is something in the legend about giving Wan Shi Tong an offering."
"What kind of offering?" Clint asked when he glanced back. The professor started to remember more when he said, "More than likely a new addition to his collection. Like another book perhaps."
"Well, we do have one." Bruce remembered the book from the town of Chin. Steve then said, "Let's keep looking for now. If we do have to give an offering, we'll cross that bridge."
Everyone nodded as they started looking while they flew over the desert.
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Elsewhere…
Rhodey and Sam's group had been walking along a trail for a few hours and everyone was starting to feel tired from the long trek. Even Eddie was heavily sweating because he was wearing a sweat shirt over his T-shirt. Logan looked to the host of Venom and asked, "Don't you think that you'd feel a little better if you took that off."
"Maybe." Eddie nodded and started to remove the sweat shirt. When he had fully removed it, Eddie placed the sweat shirt in his back pack. Looking ahead, Logan asked, "How much further?"
"Just a few more miles." Rhodey said glancing back. When they climbed to the top of a hill, they saw the village standing there. But as they started moving, Peter said, "Whoa, whoa. Hang on a second, guys."
"What for, Web Head?" Logan questioned as they turned back to the kid. Peter then pointed out, "We have no idea where we are, or what the locals are like. What are we going to use for money? Not to mention our clothes."
"The most Amazing Spiderman of the MCU does have a point." Wade nodded in agreement. While everyone else gave him odd stares, the two heads of the group looked to each other and thought about it. They came to a decision with Rhodey saying, "Okay, that is a good point."
"We could try getting a temporary job or something to make ourselves a little money." Sam suggested. Johnny then asked, "Then what are we waiting for?"
The seven once again got a move on towards the village.
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Team Avenging Avatar…
The twelve had been in the air and had been searching for at least an hour or two. A few had even changed their places on the bison. While Professor Zei, Sokka, Katara, Bruce, Clint and Natasha were all in the saddle, Aang, Momo and Steve were all sitting upon Appa's head. And while most were keeping a cool head about them, one groaned before she questioned, "Does this place even exist?"
"Yeah, aren't there any clues on how to finding it?" Bruce asked the professor. But the professor shook his head, "No clues were given, I'm afraid. And some say that it doesn't even exist."
That caused a lot of eyes to widen from this. Toph sounded really irritated, "Couldn't you have mentioned that before?"
"Easy there, Toph." Clint placed a hand on her shoulder. But all she did was groan again and fall on her back in the saddle.
Appa groaned as they continued with their search. Thor even took a small break from his flying and was sitting in the saddle. While Professor Zei was catalogging something in his notes, everyone else had their eyes peeled for searching for the library. Toph, still having her bored expression, suddenly straightened up and pointed as she excitedly shouted, "There it is!"
Everyone but Natasha, Clint and Bruce all looked out to where she was pointing. But all they saw were sand dunes for miles. All who fell for Toph's trick looked to the girl with glares. But it caused the three Avengers who didn't to laugh a little. Even Toph found it a little funny when she said, "That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it."
She looked to them with a grin and reminded them that she was blind by waving her hand in front of her eyes. Bruce looked to Steve and Thor with a laugh, "I can't believe the two of you fell for that."
"Hey, we got caught up in the excitement." Steve defended. Bruce nodded, not buying it, "Sure, sure."
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Zuko's Group…
The trio were still traveling along their route. Iroh still rode on the ostrich-horses back while both Tony and Zuko walked. The former prince of the Fire Nation had the reins as he guided them. Tony made sure to keep up, but was currently fiddling with the device on his wrist. Iroh looked down from the ostrich-horse and asked, "What are you doing, Tony?"
"Trying to find a frequency." Tony simply put it, even though it was still lost on Iroh. Zuko glanced to the inventor and questioned, "Aren't you worried that someone with Hydra will pick up on the signal?"
"Not really." Tony bluntly said. That caused the two to become worried as Zuko stopped and the ostrich-horse stopped. Tony noticed this and looked up to the questioning look of Zuko and the worried look of Iroh. Tony suddenly realized what was going on and said, "Oh, don't worry. I'm mostly trying to see if there are any frequencies that only my friends will be able to pick up on.
"But how will you know if they'll be able to receive anything?" Iroh asked. Tony shook his head, "I don't. But I know that I do have to try."
"If you say so." Zuko said as they started moving again. Tony went back to trying to find the right frequency, and suddenly a signal went through. He became hopeful when he started talking to his wrist, "Hello? Hello?"
Zuko and Iroh looked to Tony and saw that he was waiting for a response. But when it didn't seem like anyone was answering, Tony just huffed before shutting it off. Looking to the other two he said, "Must not be in range. Might need a higher point of elevation."
"Like a mountain?" Iroh asked. Tony nodded and said, "Yeah, but there probably won't be one around for miles."
"What about in a village?" The wounded Firebender suggested. Tony thought about it and said, "Yeah, that could work."
"Good. Because I know that we aren't too far from one." Iroh said and stretched his arm out to his nephew. Zuko thought about it before handing his uncle the reins. Iroh smiled as he took the reins and started guiding their little group.
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Team Avenging Avatar…
The group had been searching for a good while now and it was sometime past noon. A tired Momo was resting on Aang's head while he kept flying. Thor once again flew on his own while the rest of the group kept searching from the saddle. But it was starting to feel a like a lost cause when Katara said, "It shouldn't be this hard to spot a giant ornate building from up here in the air."
"Yeah, but the best hidden places are the hardest to find." Natasha said as she looked from her spot. Gesturing to Steve and Bruce she said, "They know what that's like. It took over half a century before anyone found him, and he took precautions to try not to be found."
Steve and Bruce both straightened up and looked back at the spy with deadpanned looks. But as Sokka once again raised his telescope in position, he kept on looking. He scanned over the dunes when he passed over something. Quickly looking again, he saw something sticking out of the sand. Pointing to it he said, "Down over there, what's that?"
Everyone looked to where Sokka was pointing and did see something. Aang steered Appa towards it and Appa groaned as he started his descent towards it. When they all landed, everyone disembarked from Appa and walked up to the large tower. Upon first look, the thought it could be the library, but Katara shook her head, "Forget it. It's obviously not what we're looking for."
"But it could be something else." Steve shrugged. He glanced back to the professor and said, "Maybe this is part of another lost civilization. One that was nearby to the library."
"If only it were the library." A disappointed Professor Zei sighed. Katara was in agreement with him as she unrolled the picture, "But the building in this drawing is really enormous."
As some were looking over the drawing and the building, their attention turned to the right when a glint of light came from a far sand dune. They looked to see a canine of some kind with a scroll in its mouth approaching the tower. The animal stopped when it noticed the group, but then continued on its way without looking scared at all. A confused Sokka asked, "What kind of animal is that?"
"It looks like a fox." Bruce said as he took a look at it. The fox broke into a sprint towards the tower and what it did next amazed the group. When it reached the base of the tower, it effortlessly started running up the side before climbing into one of the many windows at the top. As it disappeared, Professor Zei gasped, "I think that was one of the knowledge seekers."
"But how exactly did it do that?" Steve asked in confusion. While the rest of the group shrugged, Professor Zei started to become very excited, "Oh, we must be really close to the library!"
The group took another look of the drawing and Sokka noticed something, "No, this right here is the library- look here!" He pointed to the tower before pointing to a spot on the sketch, "It's completely buried."
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Rescue Group…
When the village was much closer, they could see it a bit better. There were a few tall towers, and it was surrounded by a wall. The group of seven started to near the village when they heard the sounds of screaming coming from within. The heroes became very shocked when they saw a column of smoke suddenly rise from the middle of the village. Without needing to be told, Rhodey looked to Sam and said, "Looks like it's time to suit up."
"Uh, just give me a minute." Peter said as he removed his backpack. Rhodey, Sam and Wade knew that it would take them a moment to get ready as well. Logan then said, "Join us when you're ready, but don't take too long."
"Got it." Peter nodded as he started to remove his over shirt to reveal his outfit. Logan looked at the poorly made suit and said, "You need a better look, kid."
"I'm not that good with making clothes!" Peter shot back while the three not needing to get ready started to run. Logan, Eddie and Johnny both headed for the front gates. While Johnny and Logan was running ahead of him a bit, Venom suddenly started to cover Eddie and the symbiote broke out into bigger strides than the other two. Logan and Johnny watched as the large symbiote pulled ahead of them before glancing to each other. They were thinking the same thing when they said, "Show off."
Back with the others, Peter pulled his mask over his head before equipping his web shooters. He placed his overshirt in the bag while quickly removing his regular pants that were covering his costumed ones. Wade was quick to put on his black and red suit before pulling the straps to hold his swords over him. Rhodey lifted the case before applying it to himself and it once again enveloped him to allow him to become War Machine. Sam slung the winged flight suit over his shoulders and placed his visor glasses over his eyes. Falcon extended his wings and took to the air. Spiderman started making a few leaps towards the village while Deadpool turned to War Machine with a mischievous look, "Going up, sir?"
"Why do you have to make things weird?" War Machine questioned as the merc with the mouth hung onto the armor. Deadpool let out a holler when War Machine blasted off towards the village.
When he reached the edge of the town, Spiderman threw his arm forward and shot a strand of web at the wall. The end connected and the wall crawler pulled himself forward. Spiderman landed on the wall before backflipping over the top and leaping onto the roof of the nearest building. Falcon, War Machine and Deadpool flew over the wall while the other three remained on foot.
They soon came upon where the smoke was and thrown back for a loop. Standing in the middle of the village were a large assortment of Fire Nation soldiers and Hydra agents. While the Hydra soldiers were busy opening fire on the citizens of the village, the Firebenders started throwing their fists forward and unleashing a blast of flame. Spiderman looked down to the three on the ground and asked, "How exactly are we supposed to fight against those guys?"
"Pretty much the same way we always do." Logan said as he lifted his fists before extending his arms and his adamantium blades slide out. Johnny closed his eyes and lifted his head a little when his body started to catch aflame before he fully became the Ghost Rider. But the flames of the cursed biker made Venom move back just a hair or two. Spiderman, Falcon, War Machine and Deadpool landed amongst the group just as the enemy forces saw them. Spiderman looked about the mixed group of the Fire Nation and Hydra and voiced his concerns, "Uh, I think that we might be a little outnumbered, you guys."
"Then it's a good thing you're not alone in this fight." A voice said from behind. The seven looked back to see three individuals all walking up. One was a young man wearing an archer's outfit, had a straw hat atop his head and an arrow and quiver strapped to his back. The second was a warrior with spiky brown hair and was wielding a couple of knives with her fingers. The third and final warrior also had spiky brown hair, but this was a taller boy and wearing a different set of armor. But most his most notable features were a confident grin, a stalk of wheat in his mouth and two hook swords in his hands.
"The help is much appreciated." Falcon nodded his gratitude. The three warriors moved to stand side by side with the seven and all ten faced off against the army. The warrior with the hook swords asked, "How do you want to handle this?"
"Yeah, we're not all that used to fighting against Hydra agents along with the Fire Nation." The one with knives said with a raspy voice. War Machine looked to the one who's fought against Hydra's forces before and asked, "What's your take on this?"
"It might not hurt to split up." Falcon said as he looked over the enemy army as they started to rush forward. Looking amongst their own group he said, "Everyone, break off into pairs of two! Now!"
They all moved to follow Falcon's orders and spread out. Venom stuck with Spiderman, Logan tag teamed with the warrior with knives, Falcon and War Machine took to the air, the fighter with the hook swords stood side by side with the Ghost Rider and the archer was back-to-back with Deadpool. Some of the Hydra soldiers opened fire on the two fliers and those crawling along the walls while the Firebenders unleashed a torrent of flames on the others. Logan shoved his partner out of the way and a large wave of fire went over him. The warrior looked to him with a look of shock and horror, but was greatly surprised when the adamantium wielding mutant stood straight up again. This not only confused his tag team partner, but the Firebenders as well. Logan's burn skin suddenly started to heal itself and he looked to the enemy soldiers with a glare. Looking to the kid he said, "Let's show 'em what animals can do."
"Right with you there." The warrior laughed as they both let out a shout and rushed forward.
The Ghost Rider moved in front of the warrior with the hook swords and took multiple bullets to his body. Jet gasped to see his ally take so many. When the shooting stopped, the Ghost Rider straightened up and it seemed to worry both his ally and the enemy soldiers. The cursed soul looked about their group of enemies and said, "So much blood of the innocent on your hands." He cracked his knuckles and added, "So little time to deal out a proper punishment.
"Come on, kid." The Ghost Rider glanced back to his ally. He turned back to the Fire Nation and Hydra and ominously said, "Let's get dish out some justice on these fools."
"Now that's speaking my language." The teen said and readied his blades. They both rushed forward and the Ghost Rider removed his chain from around his torso. The metal became emblazoned with fire as he threw the end forward. The flaming chain wrapped around a Hydra agent and the Ghost Rider yanked him forward with a, "GET OVER HERE!"
The Hydra agent screamed as he flew through the air before crashing into the Ghost Rider's fist. The agent fell to the ground and groaned in pain as he clutched his face. But the Ghost Rider didn't seem to be focused on the downed soldier at the moment as a whole squad of Fire Nation and Hydra came rushing at them. The Ghost Rider motioned for his ally to stand back, which he did. The Ghost Rider looked back to the charging soldiers and said a single word, "Burn."
He took a deep breath before throwing his head forward and unleashing a torrent of unholy fire at the soldiers. No one was spared from the fires as all the soldiers were hit by it. When he stopped, the Ghost Rider saw that at least the Fire Nation soldiers were still standing, but the Firebenders all cried out in pain when they saw that their hands were badly burned. Any remaining soldiers who weren't caught up in the blast of fire came rushing to their comrade's aid. The cursed biker looked to his ally and said, "Let's end their suffering."
"Nothing would make me happier." The warrior said and took a stance. The two rushed forward to meet their opponents.
Up on the rooftops, Venom and Spiderman were running across and either using webs or black tendrils to take out some of the bad guys. A couple of Firebenders unleashed a blast of fire from their hands and it propelled them towards the two sticking to the rooftops. Spiderman moved in front of Venom and said, "Don't worry, I've got you."
"But who's got you?" Venom comically asked as he turned to see two Hydra agents climbing onto the roof. The symbiote extended one of his arms and with a punch he knocked one Hydra agent back down to the ground. From his side, Spiderman was thwiping webs at the Firebenders and prevented them from using their flames at the moment. Venom glanced back and asked, "Since they're bad guys, is it okay for me to eat them?"
"What?" Spiderman questioned and looked back. But it proved to be a mistake as the Firebenders were able to get the webbing off them and launched a fireball at them. Spiderman's spider sense was able to warn him and with a blast of webs to Venom's back he shouted, "Duck!"
He pulled them both out of the way and the fireballs flew past them. Venom cried out when he still felt their heat and suddenly disappeared back inside of Eddie. Spiderman and Eddie looked to each other with worried glances as the Firebenders as they started to advance towards them. The Web Slinger then reassured, "Get your buddy back out here! I'll draw their fire!"
"Uh, yeah." Eddie agreed before comically scrambling out of the way of an incoming fireball. Spiderman jumped over the two Firebenders and was able to snag them in the back with some webbing before throwing them over him with a quick motion. The two Firebenders yelled as they crashed down in the street.
Eddie slapped himself and said, "Come on, Venom. We need you."
"But the fire. You know that it hurts me." Venom argued from the inside. Eddie nodded and said, "Yeah, I get it. But we got ourselves a job to do. So let's do it."
"Can I at least eat some of the bad guys?" Venom asked. Eddie quickly thought about when some motion to his left made him look. He saw the other Hydra agent raise his gun. Eddie shrugged and said, "Maybe one or two. But hurry up and get out here!"
"Alright, I'm hurrying!" Venom shouted back. Venom started to come back over Eddie again when he jumped out of the way just as the Hydra agent opened fire. When he was fully out and about, Venom leapt from his cover and came down on the Hydra agent. The Hydra agent backed up, but he couldn't move fast enough as Venom grabbed his weapon before yanking it out of his grasp. Then with another lash of his arm, Venom grabbed the other Hydra agent before hoisting him up in the air. The symbiote had a bit of a wicked look in his eye when he said, "Sorry. Nothing too personal."
The Hydra agent screamed as Venom opened his jaws wide and lowered him into his mouth.
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Team Avenging Avatar…
"THE LIBRARY IS BURIED?!" A distraught Professor Zei shouted to the heavens as he ran towards the tower sticking out of the sand. The group behind him watched as he dropped to his knees and seemed to start sobbing, "My life's ambition is now full of sand."
"Should we console him?" Natasha asked when she leaned towards Katara and Bruce. They could only shrug as they didn't know what to do. But the professor seemed to perk up a little when he sat up and had a smile when he thought it fun, "Well, time to start the excavating."
He started to dig a hole and managed to get a few clumps of sand out of the way. But he stopped when Toph walked past them all to the tower. She pressed her hand on the tower and put her seismic sense to use. She reassured the professor by saying, "Actually, that won't be really necessary. The inside of the library seems to be completely intact." They looked to the top of the tower when she sounded impressed, "And it's huge inside."
"I'm impressed that it was able to sit here for so long and avoid any damage done by the weather." Bruce said as he looked about the tower. Taking a step back Sokka remembered, "That fox thing went in through one of those windows. I say we climb up there to get in and give it a look inside."
"Don't have any better ideas." Steve shook his head. But one didn't seem all for it when the Earthbender of the group said, "Well, I say that the lot of you can go on in without me."
"You've got something against libraries?" Katara asked with her hands on her hips while Clint gave the girl a look. But he didn't have to say anything as Toph reminded, "I've held some books before. And I got to tell ya, they don't exactly do it for me."
That caused Katara's face to fall as she then remembered. Rubbing the back of her head she sheepishly offered, "Oh, that's right. I'm sorry."
"Let me know if they have something in there that you can listen to." Toph said with a slight smirk. Thor moved to Toph and said, "I shall remain with Toph."
"I can take care of myself." Toph argued for herself. Bruce then reminded, "Yeah, but in case those Sandbenders are nearby, then it wouldn't hurt for safety in numbers."
"That's not a bad idea." Steve agreed. Bruce reached into his bag and pulled out the journal. He handed it to Steve and said, "Just in case. I'll wait out here with Thor and Toph."
"You sure?" Natasha asked. Then she teased with a smirk, "You might miss out on the chance of a lifetime."
"I know. But this is just in case." Bruce said as he walked to stand with Thor and Toph. He added with a shrug, "Plus, if we're here for a while, I might get another opportunity."
Sokka quickly tied some rope to his boomerang before throwing it at the window facing them. The boomerang disappeared into the window and fell for a few seconds before landing with a clang. When they were sure that the rope was secure enough, Sokka led the way with Professor Zei, Katara, Natasha, Steve and Clint following behind.
From the back of the group, Appa gave a worried groan. But Aang petted the bison and said, "Don't worry, Appa. I'm never going to make you go underground ever again.
"Just stay up here with Toph, Thor and Bruce." He said and walked to go with the others.
An awkward silence came over the four as they started looking about. Appa gave a low, rumbly growl, Toph crossed her arms, Thor fiddled with Mjolnir for a moment and Bruce placed his hands behind his head. They all looked to each other as Toph casually said, "What's up?"
"Clear sky." Thor said with a shrug. They all looked to see everyone disappear into the window.
As they started scaling down the long rope into the library, Professor Zei was scaling at the bottom, followed by Steve, Aang, Clint, Sokka, Natasha and Katara. Momo flew down after them in circular motions. When they reached the ed of the tower attachment, they had to carefully climb down the rope. As he looked about, Professor Zei was amazed, "Oh, this is all truly breathtaking! The spirit didn't spare any expenses in designing this grand place."
"Seems like he'd put someone to shame when sparing no expenses." Natasha quipped and it made at least Clint laugh a little. Steve tried to remember what they were talking about, but there were so many new things it was kind of difficult to keep track of. But it was completely lost on the kids and the professor as they kept climbing down the rope. The professor continued to look about, "Just look at those beautiful buttresses."
All the boys started snickering while the two girls gave them questioning looks. The professor didn't understand it when he asked, "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing." Sokka quickly shook his head, a grin still on his face. Even Aang helped by saying, "We just really like architecture."
"Yeah, it is amazing." Clint said, still snickering a little. Natasha looked to him and said, "Okay, you need to stop."
"It really is breathtaking." Professor Zei said and they started climbing down again. Momo chittered as he flew down and landed on Aang's shoulder when he reached the bottom.
When everyone was at the bottom of the rope, they looked about. Clint looked about and asked, "So, how do we find the librarian?"
"Not sure." Steve said as he looked about. Professor Zei removed his hat from his head and marveled at the structure around them, "My word! The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol…"
He happened to turn and notice the looks of the others. Deciding to keep it simple he said, "Um, nice owl."
"Makes me wonder what this spirit looks like." Steve said as he looked about. Natasha then pointed out the obvious, "Well, judging by how many owls are depicted in the art work, he might kind of look like an owl."
The sound of rustling made them all alert and they looked for the source. When it started to get closer, Steve quietly said, "Let's move!"
Momo chittered as everyone broke for cover down the paths to hide behind the columns. Aang, Momo and Professor Zei hid behind one column, Katara and Sokka hid behind another, and all three of the Avengers ducked down beside both sides to stay out of sight. Steve, Aang, Natasha and Clint all took a peek and their eyes widened at what they saw. Appearing at the end of one of the four-way bridges, a large black and white owl stepped out from the shadows. The owl walked up to the rope still attached to Sokka's boomerang. No one made a sound as the owl kept looking over it. But the giant owl straightened up before turning its head nearly a full circle and looked to where the group was hiding and seemed as if it knew, "I know that you all are back there."
All three gave a silent gasp before ducking back to remain hidden. While some were a little reluctant to meet with the giant owl, Professor Zei seemed excited. He started to walk out from his hiding spot and both Aang and Steve tried to stop him, but couldn't get him back in time. The professor waved to the owl and introduced himself, "Hello there, I'm Professor Zei, the head of anthropology at the Ba Sing Se University."
When he stood before the spirit he bowed in respect. But the spirit did not seem to be enthusiastic or share the same sentiments when he said in a somewhat booming voice, "You should leave the way you came." He turned his head to the right and added, "Unless you want to become the stuffed head of anthropology."
Professor Zei looked to where the spirit was looking and saw a trio of heads hanging on a column. One was a Sabertoothed goat, the one below was a spider cat and the third was some kind of leafy lizard. The thought of the becoming a stuffed head made the professor uncomfortable as he rubbed his neck with an anxious moan. The spirit raised his head and said, "I would suggest that the rest of you come forth as well."
The group looked to each other before coming out. They all moved to stand with the professor as Sokka asked, "Are you the spirit who brought this library into the physical world?"
"Indeed." The spirit nodded. He looked amongst them and said, "I am Wan Shi Tong- he who knows ten thousand things." What he said next threw the group off, "And you lot, although three of you are obviously not from this world or the Spirit World, are obviously humans and a lemur. And are no longer permitted within my study."
"What do you have against humas?" A confused Aang asked, feeling that they might be able to pacify the spirit. An equally curious Steve asked, "And it may be a bit of a dumb question, but how did you know that me and my friends here weren't from your world?"
"To answer the red, white and blue one's question first…" Wan Shi Tong said and looked to the super soldier. Looking about the three heroes he said, "While it's most obvious because of how you are dressed, the aura you admit feels in tune with the disturbance that was felt a few times many months ago, and just recently that of a few days ago."
"A few days ago?" Clint asked. Natasha asked, "Someone else has crossed over?"
"Indeed." Wan Shi Tong confirmed with a nod. Looking back to Aang he said, "As for your question; humans only bother themselves to learn things to get the edge on other humans."
He lifted his head up as if remembering something. He regretted letting a single human enter his study not so long ago…
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(Flashback)
"Like that Firebender who came to this place a few years ago." Wan Shi Tong recounted. He remembered standing at the entrance to a room as he watched over a younger Zhao going through some scrolls. He was upset that a few of the scrolls and tomes had been destroyed. The spirit was greatly angered when he said, "He was only looking for a way to destroy his enemy."
(End of flashback)
"So…" Wan Shi Tong said when he brought himself back to the present. He leaned up into Sokka's face when he asked, "Who are you lot trying to destroy?"
"What?" A nervous Sokka asked as if it were an incredulous though. He shook his head as he tried to reassure the spirit, "No, no, no, no. There's no destroying." He was hoping the spirit would by it when he added, "We're not into that kind of thing."
"Then why have you come here?" The owl spirit asked as he hardly found a reason to believe them. Before Sokka could say anything stupid, Natasha walked ahead of him, pushed the teen back and said, "We're mostly here to get a lay of the land of the Four Nations." She added with a shrug, "Geological kind of information."
"Plus, you're collection is quite fascinating." Clint nodded as he looked about the portion of the library they were in. Their words seemed to make Wan Shi Tong think for a moment, "Hm."
The group looked to each other to see if the spirit would allow them to stay. Sokka then was quick to add, "And we have the Avatar here with us." He reached back and pulled Aang forward, "He's the bridge that links our two worlds. He can vouch for us."
When Aang didn't say anything, Sokka gave him a rough nudge in the back. Aang looked back to Sokka and said through gritted teeth, "Ow.
"But yes. I'll vouch." He said when he turned back to Wan Shi Tong. He bowed in respect when he promised, "We will not abuse the vast knowledge in your great library, good spirit. You have our word."
Every one of the group bowed in respect. It seemed to make Wan Shi Tong to rethink it, "Hm." Then with a nod he conceded, "Very well then. You may all peruse through my vast collection."
Everyone smiled that they had earned the spirit's trust. Or so they thought when he said, "But on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you must contribute some worthwhile knowledge."
Pointing to the professor and the children he said, "Since you are from this world, then you four must each present something to me." He shifted his wing towards the Avengers and said, "While having something new and unique in my library can lead to new knowledge, I only ask for one item from you, as well as an account of how you got here."
"Um, okay." Steve and Aang agreed to the terms. The professor was the first person to step forward and brought out a large book. He respectfully dropped down on one knee and presented it to him, "Wan Shi Tong, please accept this tome as a donation to your library."
"First addition." Wan Shi Tong said, impressed with the offering. He nodded as he was very pleased, "Very nice."
He waved his left wing over the book and took it from the professor's hand. Professor Zei stood back up and backed up to the others. Katara walked up and presented the waterbending scroll from their skirmish with the pirates. She presented it to the giant owl spirit, "I have an authentic waterbending scroll."
"Ooh…" Wan Shi Tong nodded as he found it very interesting. He raised his left wing again when he voiced his liking of the scroll, "The illustrations on this are quite stylish."
With a wave of his wing he took the scroll from Katara. Aang thought to himself at what to give to the spirit, "Uh…" An idea came to him, "Oh, I know something!"
He dramatically reached into his shirt before pulling out the wanted poster he got before they met up with Jeong Jeong. He presented it with a, "Hah!"
Though not entirely impressed with Aang's theatrics, he did agree, "I do suppose that that counts as worthwhile knowledge."
This time he raised his right wing to take the wanted poster. From the back, Steve took out the book that Bruce gave him. He walked forward and presented, "A piece of long-lost history."
"I'll be sure to put it in the right section." Wan Shi Tong said before raising his right wing again and took the book from him. Looking over the Avengers he asked, "So, which of the three of you will regale me with your tale."
"I will." Natasha offered when she raised her hand. This didn't seem to bother the owl spirit when he said, "Very well, then."
"Oh, great knowledge spirit." Sokka said as he walked up to Wan Shi Tong. He pulled out a piece of string. Pointing to it he said, "Check this out."
Then with a quick motion of his hands, he tied the string together in a knot shaped like a dragonfly. "Ta-da!"
This earned him many questioning looks. Not just from his friends behind him, but also from the knowledge spirit standing before him. Sensing the confusion and the skepticism from the spirit, Sokka explained, "It's a special knot. Tying it this way counts as knowledge."
"You're not very bright, are you?" Wan Shi Tong asked but still took raised his wing. Sokka scowled from the insult while the spirit took the knot from him. Having his offerings, Wan Shi Tong bided them, "Enjoy the library." Looking to the spy he said, "If you'll follow me. Once you are done with your tale, I'll have one my assistants guide you back to your friends."
"Okay, then." Natasha said before following after the spirit. As they walked down another path, the rest of the group walked off to begin their search. But before joining them, Sokka glanced back with a glare and quietly said, "Bright enough to fool you."
"Hey! Zip it." Clint said while covering Sokka's mouth. The Water Tribe teen looked to the archer as Clint looked to see if their host and their friend were out of sight. When he was sure that Nat and Wan Shi Tong were gone, the archer said, "Look, I may not like how he spoke to us all either, but we need to play on his good side, okay."
Sokka nodded and Clint took his hand off his mouth. The two then turned and followed after their friends.
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On the surface…
Up on the surface of the desert, Toph, Thor, Bruce and Appa had moved into the shade of library's spire for some shade. They were currently trying to get to know each other better. But they were having a hard time trying to find something to talk about. Toph broke the ice by asking, "So… do you guys like…" She shrugged when she said, "Flying?"
"It's not that bad." Bruce shook his head. Thor nodded in agreement by saying, "It does get one from one place to another very quickly."
Even Appa agreed by giving a small growl ad scratched the side of his head. Toph then said, "Well, while I admit it's not so bad, I prefer to be down here on the ground. I'm a lot more comfortable."
"Because you can 'see' a lot better, right?" Bruce asked her. Toph nodded and said, "Yeah. I don't see exactly the way that you all do."
"I recall Clint telling us that you can use the vibrations within the Earth." Thor recounted. Toph nodded but then picked up a fist full of sand as she said, "But here, the sand is so loose and shifty, it makes everything look really fuzzy."
The fuzzy comment seemed to make Appa give a rumbling groan. Toph gave a nervous laugh when she said, "Not that there's anything wrong with fuzzy things."
"I don't think he's that upset by it." Bruce reassured and patted the girl on the back. Toph turned her head to Thor and asked, "So, what's Asgard like? I mean, even Clint doesn't know what it's like. But he's heard you talk about it a few good times."
"Asgard is a very beautiful place, Toph." Thor said as he talked about his home, "While it's not big and round like the Midgard I know or your world here, it still has things just like it."
"Like what?" Toph asked. Thor then said, "Water flows down from the few mountains before coming down to the limited seas before falling over the edge of the world."
"So what happens to that water?" Toph asked, making even Bruce curious. Thor could only chuckle and shrug, "I'm not sure. Perhaps it finds its way to one of the other realms. I honestly do not know."
"Okay, then." Toph said before turning her head to Bruce. He was a little put off when she asked, "So, the Other Guy? Can he hear what you hear?"
"Kind of, I guess." Bruce said. Appa just groaned again as they were suddenly stumped again.
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The Three Refugees…
Zuko, Iroh and Tony were still going down the path. They had been traveling for a few more hours now. And things didn't seem to be picking up for the refugees as they were greatly tired. With a huff, Tony then asked, "Do we even know where we're going?"
"Mostly to keep as far away from Azula and her goons." Zuko said as he kept his eyes forward. Tony looked to the teen and then asked, "Yeah, I got that. But is there a specific destination in mind?"
"Not one in particular." Zuko shook his head. Tony just groaned as they kept on moving. But this got Iroh thinking as he stroked his chin and became lost in thought.
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Down in the Library, Natasha and Wan Shi Tong…
Down in the library, Natasha was walking alongside Wan Shi Tong as she finished their story, "And that's the sum of it all."
"Hmm, very interesting." Wan Shi Tong nodded as he did find it fascinating. Looking to the spy he asked, "This 'Tesseract' that you spoke of, you said it was a vessel of power, yes?"
"That's what I've been told." Natasha nodded to confirm. The owl spirit seemed to be lost in thought. Then seeming to be satisfied enough, Wan Shi Tong looked to Natasha and said, "I thank you for the information that you were able to give me.
"I will have one of my Knowledge Seekers guide you back to your friends now. As promised." He said, keeping his promise. He flapped one of his wings and Natasha looked about before one of the foxes suddenly appeared from around a book shelf. Wan Shi Tong looked to the Knowledge Seeker and requested, "Please guide Ms. Romanoff back to her friends."
The fox gave a small whine and a nod before walking off. It stopped a moment to look back at Natasha. Taking it as a hint to follow, Natasha walked after the fox.
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Down in the library, Aang and Steve's group…
Over in another section of the library, Aang and Steve's group had been down in the library for nearly an hour as they were browsing about Wan Shi Tong's large collection. As the professor had pulled out many a tome, Aang was looking at a book with sketches in it, Katara, Steve and Clint were still looking and Sokka was on the other side of the shelf. Steve and Aang both glanced to the side and saw one of the knowledge seekers placing a book on the shelf before leaving. Steve looked down to Aang and said, "I hope Wan Shi Tong's treating those guys right."
"Hopefully." Aang said before going back to his book. He flipped another page and saw something interesting. He grinned as he showed it to the others, "Hey, look at these weird lion-turtle things."
Steve looked at it while Sokka came around the corner and took a look at it. He shrugged with a slightly bored look, "Eh, I've seen a lot weirder. And met it too."
Steve and Clint looked to the teen with questioning looks. They then watched as Sokka pulled a book from a shelf and stuffed it into his bag. Steve asked, "Sokka, what are you-"
"Maybe the spirit will let me borrow them." Sokka quickly defended himself as he kept perusing through the collection. Katara walked up to the Airbender with a book in her hands and said, "Aang, did you know that in a past life, you were left-handed?"
"I always knew that I was special." Aang said with a grin and rubbed the back of his head. Clint looked to him and said, "And you being the Avatar had nothing to do with it?"
"Being left-handed makes him even more special I guess." Steve smirked and shrugged.
Sokka walked past the professor as he kept grabbing books from the shelves. Sokka stopped by a collection of scrolls and took one off the shelf and unrolled it. When he found it to be pretty interesting, he rolled it back up and placed it into his bag. Walking out from the tall rows of books shelves, he came across a pedestal and walked up to it. He saw that the parchment under the glass was greatly burned but still readable. He read aloud, "Hm, 'the darkest day in Fire Nation history.' It's got a date up at the top, but it doesn't say anything else."
"What did you find Sokka?" Steve asked when he joined the teen. Sokka looked to the super soldier and said, "Something about the Fire Nation, that much I know."
He looked about before whipping out his machete. He carefully used it to open the case and slid the piece of parchment out. Wanting to know more, Sokka started to move to where he could find more about what the paper was talking about. Aang, Clint, Katara and Professor Zei joined them as Sokka ran by. Aang curiously asked, "Where are you going, Sokka?"
"I wat to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day." Sokka said when he stopped and looked back. Looking down at the rolled-up parchment and felt confident about it, "This could be really promising."
"And the fact that we promised the spirit that we wouldn't use his collection of knowledge for the purposes of war completely slipped your mind?" Steve questioned. Sokka then defended himself, "This is just a moment in history and I want to know what happened. Nothing more."
Before Steve could say more, Sokka turned and ran off again. The group looked to each other before following after their friend. They ran down a few levels of the library before passing one of the many four-way bridges in the middle of the building. They passed a section and Sokka deduced, "All the information regarding the Fire Nation should be right around here."
"Hey, guys." Natasha said when they passed her by. But when they didn't stop, Natasha looked to her guide before they followed after them. The group soon came upon a large hallway that had the word of fire hanging over a doorway and four dragon statues stood on both sides of the hallway.
But when they entered the room, they were shocked to see that had been completely destroyed. They saw the ash along the floor and Aang figured it out, "Firebenders."
"They destroyed everything having to do with the Fire Nation." Katara shook her head, not believing what they had done to the library. A greatly frustrated Sokka shouted, "That's so unfair! Just when I think that I'm one step of the Fire Nation, it turns out that they beat us here a long time ago."
"Yeah, and they didn't seem to destroy everything regarding them." Clint said as he kneeled down to one of the burnt remains. They all looked to what the archer was looking at and saw a metal lid with the Hydra insignia on it. Natasha looked to the others and asked, "Just how long has Hydra been interacting with this world?"
"I don't know." Steve shook his head, not liking this one bit. Professor Zei spoke up, "I don't know about this 'Hydra' that you speak of, but I do remember some accounts of the Fire Nation once being temporary allies with someone else, a good while before the coming of these new forces."
"Someone else was in league with the Fire Nation? Who?" Katara asked. The professor unfortunately shook his head, "I do not know. There was hardly any recorded history on the subject, I'm afraid."
"That's all fascinating, but it doesn't give us any answers on this." Sokka said and pulled out the burnt parchment. Natasha tried to calm him down by saying, "Sokka, we'll get some answers somehow. We just need to be patient."
"And how is patience going to tell us what happened on the darkest day?" Sokka sarcastically questioned. The sound of whimpering made them all look to the Knowledge Seeker as the fox was standing on its back legs. Sokka gave an awkward smile and said, "Hello, little weird fox guy."
"What do you think it's wanting?" Clint asked. They got the answer when the fox whimpered a little, dropped down on all fours and turned back to the opening of the room. Professor Zei seemed to understand what the vulpine was telling them, "It seems that it's trying to assist you with your request."
"Okay, I guess I can follow you." Sokka shrugged and followed after the fox when it started to run.
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Zuko's Group…
After a little more traveling, Iroh finally spoke up. Raising a knowing finger he said, "If I may, I know of somewhere to go."
"Where exactly do you have in mind?" Zuko asked and looked to his uncle. A smirk grew on Iroh's face when he said, "It's an old oasis that I once visited in my youth.
"We'll be pretty safe there." Iroh assured them. Then he threw in, "Plus, maybe we can find some assistance there."
"I don't have a better idea." Tony shook his head when he looked to Zuko. Zuko looked to the ground and thought about it himself. With a sigh he handed his uncle the reins. A thankful Iroh smiled to his nephew before taking the reins of the ostrich-horse.
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Rescue Group…
The duo consisting of Falcon and War Machine kept the majority of the combined forces of the Fire Nation and Hydra. They mostly used their fire power to keep the enemy army's attention on them. When some of the Firebenders or Hydra agents had managed to get to higher ground, Falcon would fly towards them before landing a kick to knock them down on the roof or to the ground.
Deadpool and the archer were either ducking or attacking their enemies with a shot from the bow or a stroke of the sword. When they had a moment to breath, Deadpool looked to the archer and asked, "So, feel like entering an archery contest anytime soon?"
The archer just looked to the merc with the mouth with an odd look before readying another arrow. He fired it before turning back to Deadpool and pointed to something behind the red and black hero. Deadpool looked to see a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers with different weapons charging right at them. Deadpool looked to the reader and said, "Seriously, still just Fire Nation and Hydra. Why not spice it up a little.
"I mean, adding us helped a little, didn't it?" He said with a gesture to himself and the archer. But with another sigh he conceded, "Fine. I'll just go and deal with this."
Looking to the incoming soldiers he said, "For the combined Avatar and MCU!"
Then with an Indian war cry like those who dealt with the pilgrims, he rushed forward with his weapons raised. From behind, the archer just still gave him an odd look before shaking his head to focus himself.
Logan and the warrior with the knives were going through their group of enemies. And the new warrior was greatly impressed with Logan as he slashed through the soldier and agent's armor while coming back after being shot himself. Even the warrior struck down some soldiers with the knives. The two continued either fighting or scaring off their foes.
Spiderman and Venom kept on swinging along the rooftops when a gun shot tore through the former's webbing. Venom cried out, "Spiderman!"
With his free arm, he was able to lash out and catch the falling teen. He quickly flipped Spiderman into the air and the kid used his agility to right himself before firing another strand of web to pull himself to another roof. His spider sense kicked in and he narrowly avoided getting skewered from a spear that was thrown from the ground. The spear ended up ripping through his shirt while missing Spiderman's skin. He looked down at his ruined costume and said, "Ah, man."
"Focus on that later!" Eddie's voice shouted from inside Venom. The symbiote let out a loud belch and Spiderman waved his hand where his nose would be, "Oh, gross!"
"It is a guy thing." Venom argued in his defense. Spiderman just huffed before thwiping away another strand of webbing.
On the ground, the Ghost Rider and the warrior with the hook swords were holding their own. The sound of rumbling made them look to see large tanks rolling through. Looking to his partner, the warrior asked, "What are going to do?"
"This." Was all the Ghost Rider said. He ran up to one of the tank before jumping onto the side. The hatch opened up, but before the Firebender could defend himself, the cursed biker grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground. Then reaching down, he grabbed the others inside before pulling them out and throwing them down. The Ghost Rider hopped down into the tank. Then with a maniacal laugh, he placed his hands against the machine and worked his magic.
The tank suddenly started to transform itself. The spikes suddenly turned white almost as if they were made out of bone. A metallic skull suddenly appeared where the tanks launch port was. A stream of flame erupted from the maw of the skull as the tank turned around and headed right for the other tanks.
From behind the tank, the warrior with the hook swords was both excited and terrified at the same time. But when he noticed a few stragglers, he readied his blades before charging forward to meet them head on.
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Down in the Library…
The group had followed after the fox for a little while before coming to a new section of the library. They came upon a large circular door shaped like the sun. While the group stopped before the door, the Knowledge Seeker ran to the right before disappearing through a fox sized hole in the wall. When it seemed that nothing was happening, Clint looked to the others and said, "Do we-"
He was interrupted when the door started to rumble. They looked and watched as the center of the door started rolling out of the way. When enough light was let into the room, the fox whimpered when it came into view. The group walked into the room and looked about the interior. The room was domed shape and the walls looked as if they were the horizon as mountains were painted on the bottom while blue skies and clouds were painted a little higher. In the middle of the room was a pedestal with a four-set dial on the top and a lever next to it. The fox walked up to the lever and used its paws to push it forward. The action activated the room as a contraption started to extend itself over the sky portion of the room. The blue skies and mountains were replaced by the vast darkness of space that was illuminated by millions of stars. They looked up a moon on a mechanical beam moved about the room. The professor was greatly impressed, "This room is a true marvel, a mechanical wonder. It's a planetarium that shows the heavens moving."
"I'm willing to bet that Bruce and Thor are sorry that they missed this." Natasha said with a slight grin. Clint nodded, "Yeah, they could even deduce if we're in another dimension or another galaxy."
"Maybe if the spirit were to let us get them or something." Steve shrugged his shoulders. The room suddenly became daytime again when the starry sky retreated back with the contraption. There was even a sun mechanism as the celestial body came into view. Though impressed, Sokka asked, "This is really beautiful and all, but how is it exactly helpful?"
"Well, it might have something to do with the darkest day for one." Natasha shrugged. Professor Zei moved to take a closer look at the piece in the middle of the room. Katara even got an idea as they looked at the pedestal, "Maybe the dials on the pedestal represent dates and times." Looking to her brother's bag she suggested, "Sokka, try entering that date from the parchment you took."
"Shh, Katara. Not in front of the fox." He shushed her, not wanting to get them in trouble. Looking to the four-legged animal in the room he said, "He's with the owl."
They looked to the fox who gave a whimper and had a down casted look as its ears fell back and it brought its tail closer. Sokka looked to the fox with a suspicious look as he raised his bag and took out the parchment. When he had the parchment's date mesmerized, Sokka started to turn the dials. He placed the exact date with the pedestal. When it was ready, Sokka walked to the lever and pushed it. With a new date put into it, the planetarium started to move with the sun shifting its position as it went across the simulator's sky. When it was gone, the night sky came upon them once again. The moon too started to move across the fake sky. As it continued moving, Aang didn't look away as he commended, "Wow, I really got to hand it to you, Sokka. You picked the best mini-vacation that's for sure."
"It does beat out the Misty Palms Oasis." Natasha agreed with the Airbender. Even Katara shrugged with a grin, "I can't complain with that."
The night sky folded back again to reveal the day. But suddenly everything stopped and the dark dimmed a bit. This confused everyone as Katara asked, "Hey, wait a minute. What happened to the sun?"
They looked to see the sun and moon's arms crisscrossing in one section of the planetarium's sky. Aang's eyes narrowed when he accused, "Great, you must have broken it."
"I don't think it's broken." Clint shook his head. Pointing to where the moon was he said, "Look there."
"Clint's right." Sokka said when he walked to where he could see. Looking behind the moon he could see the sun. Pointing to it he said, "The sun is right behind the moon."
"So that's what the date is about. A solar eclipse." Natasha deduced and they looked back to the dial. Sokka put it together in his head, "It's literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history."
"It's a time of when they'd be helpless." Clint put in. He nodded, "Making them vulnerable in a sense."
"But even so, it only leaves them powerless for a short amount of time." Natasha shook her head, knowing that it would be over too quick. Sokka then said, "Something awful must have happened on that day and I don't know what, but…" He grabbed Aang by the shoulders and shook him, "Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse."
"And if they're powerless, that only leaves their allies." Steve put in, a plan starting to form in his head. Momo chittered as Sokka let go of Aang and apologized, "Sorry about that."
"It does make sense." Katara said, making everyone look to her. Then she recounted to Steve and Nat, "Remember back at the North Pole, when the lunar eclipse happened.
"We were at a major disadvantage." Katara said. Natasha nodded, "Yeah, even more so when the moon went completely out."
"Hmm." Sokka groaned at her. Natasha offered an apologetic look and Sokka decided to let it go. A whine grabbed his attention and he looked back to the Knowledge Seeker. The four-legged canine walked up to the Water Tribe teen and sat on its haunches to give him a begging look. Clint looked to Sokka and said, "Well, he helped you out, Sokka."
"I guess he did earn this." Sokka said and dug into his bag again. He pulled out a piece of meat. The Knowledge Seeker gave a grateful growl when it grabbed the treat and walked away. Sokka looked to his friends again, "We've got to get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se."
"And since I was brought into the city walls, I'll try to get you an audience." Clint threw in. Sokka went on, "If we gain his support, and wait for the next eclipse, then we can invade the Fire Nation when the Firebenders are totally helpless."
"That mostly leaves Hydra's forces, but it is still an advantage. And together we might just be able to win this war." Steve nodded in agreement. But as the two were facing them, they were a little confused about the worried looks on their faces. Both Sokka and Steve could tell it was something bad as the former asked, "The spirit's right behind us, isn't he?"
""Mortals are so predictable." Wan Shi Tong said in an unsurprised voice. Sokka and Steve turned to see Wan Shi Tong enter the room. But then the spirit sounded angry when he added, "And can be such terrible liars.
"You have betrayed my trust." Wan Shi Tong shook his head, knowing that this was more than likely what was to happen. He sounded greatly offended when he screeched, "From the beginning when you came here, you had intended to misuse this knowledge within my sanctuary for evil purposes."
"You don't understand." Sokka argued. He tried to argue that they wanted to do the right thing, "It anyone's evil, it's the Fire Nation and their allies of Hydra. Together they're greatly destructive and dangerous. You've at lease seen what the former has done to your library."
"We only want to stop them from doing more harm like they had. That's a guarantee." Steve promised him. But it seemed to fall on deaf ears as Wan Shi Tong disagreed, "You think that you're the first person to believe that their war was justified?
"Even beings from other worlds besides your own chose to leave the Fire Nation to its own devices at some point." He added, confusing the group. They would have asked him, but the spirit was already upset enough. Wan Shi Tong leaned forward as he recounted, "Countless others before you have come to this place seeking weapons, weaknesses, or battle strategies."
"I'm sorry. We didn't have a choice." Aang shook his head. Knowing that with the information they could stop it all, "Please, we're just desperately trying to protect the people we love."
"And now I am going to protect what I love." Wan Shi Tong responded as he lifted both his wings. The building started to rumble with each flap of the spirit's wings. Everyone braced themselves from the strong winds and Aang questioned, "What are you doing?"
"I'm taking my knowledge back." Wan Shi Tong said as he kept flapping his wings. He was determined to protect it all when he added, "No one will ever misuse and abuse it ever again."
Sand suddenly started to pour in through the cracks of the building. The large amounts of sand started to pile together as more and more poured in. Katara realized what the spirit was going to do, "He's sinking the building. We have to get out of here."
"I am afraid that I can't allow you to do that." Wan Shi Tong said as he menacingly stepped in front of the door. What he did next surprised them all. His neck extended while two earlike flaps rose from the top of his head, "You already know too much."
He looked as if he now had a dragon like head on his owl body. With a screech he went on the attack. Everyone jumped out of the way and his beak ended up slamming into the floor. Steve quickly urged, "Run, run, run!"
Everyone didn't need to be told twice as they ran for the door. They all gave a panicked yell as Wan Shi Tong turned to give chase. They all ran through the library as Wan Shi Tong gave another screech.
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Up on the surface…
The desert's surface didn't seem to have changed much when the group left. While Appa and Toph were taking a nap with the latter in the shade of the former, Thor and Bruce were currently standing before the tower. Thor looked to the gamma scientist and asked, "How do you think it's going?"
"Not sure." Bruce shook his head. With a grin he looked to Thor, "I'm almost tempted to call for a certain princess with long blonde hair."
"Hmm." An unamused Thor said when he looked to his friend. But they were caught off guard when the ground started to shake. Even Appa felt it from their spot as he snarled at the tower. Misinterpreting it, Toph tiredly said, "I already told you, I don't want to snuggle."
"It's not that Toph!" Bruce shouted from beside the tower. Appa stood up and Toph cried out when she fell on her back. That's when she felt the rumbling too. Knowing that their friends were still inside, Toph became worried, "The library is sinking." She ran for the tower and shouted, "The library is sinking!"
"We know!" Bruce and Thor yelled as she joined them. Turning her head between the two she asked, "What do we do?"
"I don't know. I'm not really good at keeping buildings from going down, just helping them go that way." Bruce shook his head. Thor shrugged when he said, "Pretty much the same."
"What about Mjolnir?" Toph asked and pointed to the hammer in Thor's hand. She then suggested, "Maybe it can keep the library from sinking?"
"It's a tool for both building and destroying!" Thor argued as it sounded ludicrous to him. Gesturing to the tower he said, "Not for stopping libraries from sinking into deserts!"
"Well, try something!" Bruce and Toph shouted in unison.
Thor looked at them with unsure looks before looking at his hammer. Deciding to take a chance, he quickly walked up to the building and waited a moment. When he saw the right moment, he placed the hammer at an ornate spot and placed the hilt of his hammer underneath and took a step back. It seemed to work for a moment as the library stopped sinking for a moment. Thor looked back to the two and gave them a grin and a thumbs up.
But it was short lived as the library not only started sinking again, but started to pull Mjolnir down as well. Bruce pointed and worriedly shouted, "Th-Thor!"
Thor looked to see that Mjolnir was almost buried with the library and held out his hand. His summoning of the hammer saved it from going with the library as it returned to his hand while breaking a few small pieces of stone from the library. Thor backed up to the others while Bruce questioned, "Now what?!"
Without giving a response, Toph rushed forward and bashed her fists against the tower. She strained to keep it up as cracks started to grow a little. Bruce, Thor and Appa were watching the girl and hoped that she could keep it up until their friends got back out. Thor then noticed and shouted, "Toph! Your feet!"
Toph knew it too as she could feel herself sinking. She backed up and the library started sinking once again. With a jump into the air, Toph slammed her hand into the sand and with a turn of her wrist she was able to turn the sand under her a little more solid. Feeling that this was the best she could do, Toph then slammed her palms into the tower and was once again able to halt its decent. Once again, they all hoped that their friends wouldn't be too much longer in getting out.
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Rescue Group…
The rest of the battle went on fairly quickly. Between Falcon, War Machine and the Ghost Rider's new engine of war, they made short work of the rest of the tanks. The others of the group had either killed, defeated or driven out the remainder of the enemy army. The battle had left a great deal of damage to the village. When it was over, all ten of them stood in the middle of the village. War Machine's helmet retracted, Venom disappeared back into Eddie and the Ghost Rider changed back into Johnny. Logan retracted his claws, Spiderman took off his poorly made mask while Wade left his on. Sam and Rhodey walked up to the three and the former said, "We appreciate the assist."
"We were already in town when those guys showed up." The warrior with the hook swords admitted. Gesturing to him and his friends he said, "I'm Jet. And these are my friends.
"Smellerbee." The warrior with the knives gave a wave as she put away her weapons. The archer nodded when Jet said, "And this is Longshot.
"We were part of a group called the Freedom Fighters." Jet said. This confused the two and Sam asked, "Were?"
"Let's just say, something happened and it caused us to disband." Jet said, looking a little ashamed. Rhodey shook his head, "Well, don't worry. We won't ask you about it."
"Thanks." Jet nodded his appreciation. He looked over the group and asked, "Don't suppose you know a group called, 'The Avengers', do you?"
"You know about our friends?" Sam asked, feeling a little hopeful. Smellerbee nodded and said, "Yeah, we met them a while back." She shrugged when she added, "Well, two of them."
"They probably met with a few more of them since then." Jet said when he thought about it. Sam then asked, "Who was it that you met with?"
"Uh, if I remember correctly, it was Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff." Jet recollected. Rhodey then asked, "You don't happen to know where they are now, do you?"
"Not a clue." Smellerbee shook her head. Peter walked up and asked, "Yeah, uh, hi. Sorry to interrupt." He pointed to some of the soldiers on the ground and asked, "But what the heck was that all about?"
"I think we have quite a few stories to tell." Jet said as they started to help the villagers clean up the mess.
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Down in the library…
The group continued running through the many shelves of the library as they raced back to get to the surface. They turned left when a row of bookshelves ended and ran past many other shelves just when Wan Shi Tong's enraged form crashed through some columns. Even in his enraged form, Wan Shi Tong was able to chase after the group as they had made it to one of the many bridges that was in the library. Though while most had made it across, Professor Zei turned around with a panicked yell and tried to plead with the angered knowledge spirit, "Great Knowledge Spirit, please, I beg of you. Do not destroy your vast collection of priceless tomes."
But it would seem that Wan Shi Tong wouldn't stop as he kept coming towards him. Aang who had noticed that Zei had stopped, turned and used his airbending to pulled the professor back. Zei screamed as he pulled back just when the spirit tried to peck at him. The professor ended up dropping the books that he had selected and slide across the floor before being stopped by Sokka, Steve and Clint.
They helped him up again while Aang looked to the spirit with a glare. Wan Shi Tong flapped his wings as he prepared to fly to the Avatar. Then with an angry yell and slam of his staff Aang shouted, "I won't let you hurt my friends!"
Then rushing forward just as the spirit came across the bridge, Aang spun a little and sent a wave of air at Wan Shi Tong. The blast of air struck the knowledge spirit and he shrieked as he was sent falling into the darkness of the library.
Knowing that it wasn't the last that they had seen of the spirit, Aang rejoined the others. Sokka and Katara had helped Professor Zei back onto his feet. Aang ran up to them, "We've got to get back up to the surface!"
"Thanks for stating the obvious." Natasha commented, earning a slight glare from Aang. All but Sokka started running again down a path, and Katara was the first to notice. She looked back to her brother and urged, "Sokka, come on! Let's get out of here!"
"But we don't know when the next eclipse is gonna happen." Sokka argued a good point. Feeling it wasn't worth the risk, Katara argued back, "Don't be stupid! We'll figure it out later."
"No, he's right." Steve shook his head. They looked to the super soldier and he explained, "No one else has something like the planetarium. And even if they did, we know that we don't have time to go on a scavenger hunt for it."
"I'm gonna need some cover." Sokka said. Looking to his friends he asked, "Steve, Aang, come with me to the planetarium."
"Right." Both nodded and ran to the Water Tribe Teen. Sokka looked to the others and said, "You guys take Momo and the professor and get out of here!"
"But-" Katara said, becoming worried about her brother. The sudden arrival of Wan Shi Tong made everyone alert when he crashed through the shelves between both groups. All three heading for the planetarium shouted, "Go! Now!"
With no other choice, Katara, Clint, Natasha, Momo and Professor Zei started running back to where they came into the library with Wan Shi Tong right on their tails. But before they got too far, Katara glanced back and shouted, "Hurry, Sokka!"
"Make it snappy!" Clint threw in as they ran. Aang, Steve and Sokka started running back to the planetarium.
As they continued running through the library, Natasha suggested, "We might want to split up. Head back up to the bridge where we first came in."
"Right." The other three agreed with her. After running a good deal, Natasha, Clint and Professor Zei broke off from Katara as she continued running down the main path.
But as Professor Zei kept running he tripped and fell to the ground. When he picked himself up, he looked about and saw his tome sitting on the shelf. With a happy grin he pulled it from the shelf. But as he looked at the book in his hands, he suddenly remembered the reason of why he had sought this place for so long. His obsession of this place had nearly cost him his life and his career back in Ba Sing Se. And now that he was here, it was a dream come true. But now it was about to be taken away from the physical world and he knew that if he were to leave, then he would never see it again. The professor then came to the hardest decision of his life as he once again started to browse through the many tomes of the library once again.
Katara continued running while being chase by Wan Shi Tong. She and Momo looked back to see the knowledge spirit suddenly flying through the air and coming at her with his talons extended. But luckily for her, Natasha knocked into her and the three tumbled out of the spirit's way. Wan Shi Tong let out a screech as he tried to right himself but ended up crashing through a book shelf in the process. Natasha helped Katara back onto her feet and they started running once again.
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Rescue Group…
After rounding up the dead bodies of friend and foe alike, helping the wounded and cleaning up a bit, the villagers allowed their heroes to spend a few days there. While Logan, Johnny, Wade and Eddie were out and about, Sam and Rhodey were currently talking with the three Freedom Fighters. Peter was on his own trying to fix his damaged suit. As he was trying to sow the tear, he kept messing it up and causing the rip to get bigger.
"Would you like some help?" A woman from the village asked. Peter looked up to see a kindly older woman with curly white hair walking up to him. Peter looked between her and the suit and let her, "Yeah, it's proving to be annoying."
"Oh, don't worry about it." She said and took a look at it. As she thought about it she said, "Hm, while it certainly helps with keeping your identity a secret, it doesn't offer much protection, does it?"
"Not really." Peter shook his head. The woman took another look at the suit and said, "How about I make you a brand new one."
"Oh, you don't have to do that." Peter shook his head. But the woman really wanted to do it, "Oh, nonsense. It's the least I can do since the lot of you helped us out."
"Well, thanks." Peter gave her an appreciative nod. The woman gave a small laugh before taking the entire ensemble and walked out of the room.
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Surface of the Si Wong Desert…
Up on the surface above Wan Shi Tong's library, Toph was still trying to keep the library from sinking. But the young Earthbender didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. Appa gave a roar as if trying to support her. Bruce looked to Thor and asked, "How can we help her?"
"Perhaps our strength combined with hers could give the others more time." Thor suggested. Bruce's shoulders slumped when he groaned, "Great, another pair of clothes so soon."
The two and Appa suddenly heard something coming and looked back to see a large dust cloud heading their way. Appa gave a concerned roar and Toph looked back with an annoyed glare, "What is it now?"
"I think it's the Sandbenders." Thor said as he readied Mjolnir for a fight. Bruce shook his head, "They couldn't have come at a worse time."
"We deal with them and then we help Toph." Thor said as he, Appa and Bruce watched the Sandbenders come closer. One of the Sandbenders threw their arm forward and it sent a large cloud of sand over the group. Toph shouted back, "What's going on?"
"You focus on the library not sinking, we'll handle these guys!" Bruce shouted before letting out an angered roar. His skin suddenly turned green and he grew bigger. Before long, the Hulk stood in Banner's place and let loose a savage roar.
The three watched as the sand sailors started to circle around them. Thor tried his hand by throwing Mjolnir at one of the sand boats. But the Sandbenders on the sand sailor started waving their arms in a circular motion and they rose on a wave of sand. Mjolnir was able to destroy the wave of sand, but the Sandbenders made them a safe way back down to the desert ground. As the sailors continued circling, some of the Sandbenders jumped off and took a stance to fight.
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Down in the Library, Sokka's group…
Sand and rocks fell from above as the three made their way across the bridge to the planetarium. When they reached the room, Aang then asked, "Why are we doing this?"
"To gather the necessary intel." Steve said as Sokka stopped at the dial. Steve took a defensive position at the door while Aang moved to the lever. Sokka agreed with the super soldier, "And if this calendar can tell us when eclipses happened in the past," He started turning some of the dials as he said, "then maybe it can project when the next one will be."
"You can't possibly check every single date on this thing." Aang disagreed. Steve looked back and he said, "Sokka's not. He's going to check from now before Sozin's Comet arrives, right."
"Mm-hmm." Sokka nodded as he continued turning. He even sounded nervous when he said, "Because we all know what happens after that, but try not to think about that."
"Just hurry." Steve urged. Sokka nodded and finished putting in the date. Aang then pulled the lever, but when the planetarium moved, it didn't show the eclipse happening.
They kept turning the dial and pulling the lever a good number of times. But after a few tries, the sun and moon passed each other. Knowing that they were getting close, Sokka turned the dials once more. When he was ready, Sokka nodded to Aang. Hoping it was the one as he pulled the lever, Aang pleaded, "Come on, eclipse."
All three watched as the sun and moon arms moved into the correct position until it stopped with the former behind the latter and the room darkened again. Sokka became excited, "That's it! The solar eclipse! It's just a few months away!"
"Hurry and write it down or something." Steve urged as he placed his shield behind his back again. Sokka did just that and wrote down the date. When he was finished he said with a smirk, "Now let's get ourselves to Ba Sing Se."
Having what they needed, all three ran out of the room to catch up to the others.
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Si Wong Desert…
Up on the desert's surface, the Sandbenders warily approached Thor, the Hulk and Appa. They brought out some rope attached to weights and twirled them around. Thor then said, "Judging by their choice in weaponry, this is meant to be a live capture." Glancing to the bison he said, "And I think we know what they're here for."
"Grr." The Hulk and Appa growled, as if not liking the sound of that. The Hulk roared and charged towards a couple Sandbenders. Both desert men became worried from the approaching Gamma Beast, but controlled themselves as they used their sandbending to jump back. The Hulk continued to chase after the two.
From his spot, Thor twirled Mjolnir and was able to hit the ropes with every throw he made with his hammer. One of the Sandbenders made a sweeping motion with his leg and it sent a wave of sand at Thor. The Asgardian prince jumped to avoid it, but it left him open to a hit from another when he had raised a stream of sand from the desert and struck Thor in the side. The Asgardian grunted when he hit the sand and Appa looked to his friend.
The other Sandbenders made their move with the two Avengers distracted and started throwing the ropes over the bison. Appa roared as he tried to resist, but the Sandbenders were able to twist their legs and encase their feet with sand to keep them rooted to the ground. With new footing, they started to overpower Appa.
Hearing the sounds of her friends in trouble, Toph turned her head back and warned, "Don't make me put this down!"
Taking a huge risk, Toph released the tower and she threw a wave of sand towards the Sandbenders while the library started sinking again. Toph's sand wave attack ended up missing the Sandbenders completely as it went by. Toph turned and once again buried her fists into the stone of the library and used what strength she had to keep it from going down.
Thor started to rise up when he saw what was happening to Appa. Getting up he started to run to help. The two Sandbenders had led the Hulk a good distance away from the tower and the green behemoth panted from all the chasing. The two Sandbenders then started spinning while waving their arms in mirroring circular motions before raising a fist up at the Hulk. It ended up creating a rising mound of sand that knocked the Hulk a good distance from them, and an even greater distance away from the tower as well. When they were sure that he wouldn't bother them anymore, the two Sandbenders used their sandbending to skate back to the others.
Back with the others, Thor threw his hammer at the Sandbenders, but they were able to defend themselves as of them two raised a large mound of sand between them and the hammer. The mound of sand detonated on impact and it sent all three were sent flying back. Thor sat up and quickly summoned Mjolnir back to his hand. The hammer erupted from the sand and came back into Thor's grip. Thor quickly raised Mjolnir high to conjure a lightning bolt before firing it at the sand next to some of the Sandbenders. The lightning bolt hit the sand and thanks to its superheating effects, it created a large clump of jagged glass that rose and cut one of the Sandbenders. He yelped in pain from it and clutched his shoulder. The Sandbender looked to Thor with a glare before walking away from the others. Before confronting Thor he shouted, "Put a muzzle on him!"
Thor started twirling Mjolnir again as the two started circling each other. Thor waited to see if the Sandbender would make the first move. His opponent did by flicking some sand at the Asgardian. Thor slammed his hammer down to the ground to disrupt the wave of sand. The Sandbender continued on the offensive by throwing large balls of sand at Thor who quickly defended himself by bashing them with Mjolnir. Thor could tell that it was starting to get bad though as the attacks were creating a large dust cloud and it was limiting his vision. Taking a chance, he launched Mjolnir into the cloud and after a second he heard a yelp of pain. Thor leapt over the dust cloud to see if he had defeated his foe, but when he landed he suddenly sank until he was only up to his shoulders. Thor looked up to the smug looking Sandbender and demanded, "Release me at once!"
"Sure!" The Sandbender nodded before lowering himself into a crouch before raising himself back up with his arms close to him. When he was at his full height, the Sandbender had extended his arms high above his head and in turn shot Thor high into the air. The Asgardian was sent flying from the tower and landed a few yards away.
With nothing stopping them, the Sandbender moved to help the others. They had managed to muzzle Appa and had forced the bison onto the ground. The bison groaned as the Sandbenders connected him to their sand sailors before moving off. Toph could hear the fading bison as he roared and didn't want this to be happening. She turned her blind eyes to the tower and shouted, "No, stop sinking!"
She released it again and it started sinking much faster this time while she turned and started throwing a few waves of sand. But it was futile as the sand wouldn't reach the Sandbenders as they started to disappear out into the desert. Knowing that she couldn't do two things at once, Toph made a tough decision and turned to slam her hands into the tower once again to stop it from sinking. But her heart felt guilty when she said, "I'm so sorry, Appa."
She shut her eyes as she couldn't bear the thought of how much she had let her friends down just now, especially Aang. Thor had managed to run back to the tower as the last of the dust cloud dissipated. But he looked about to see where they went and became frustrated when he saw that the Sandbenders were long gone by now. The Hulk crashed down a few feet from them and did the same as Thor as he looked about. When he couldn't see them, the Hulk raised his head and gave an angry roar to the heavens.
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Down in the Library…
Momo gave a terrified shriek as Natasha and Katara kept running through the library. They looked back to see a screeching Wan Shi Tong screeching at them as he came closer. They tried to lead him into a book shelf before turning, but the knowledge spirit was able to stop himself before continuing the chase. The three ducked around another book case before hiding at the end. Katara held Momo close while and was breathing hard from the chase. Natasha too was out of breath as she looked about the book shelves for any sign of the spirit.
Wan Shi Tong walked about the bookshelves as sand continued to pour down from above and searched for the three. He turned his head down where the girls and Momo were hiding. He looked about for clues until his eyes landed on one; Momo's tail out in the open. Now on to them he said, "At least I'll have a specimen or two to add to my collection."
Wan Shi Tong moved down the row and the girls gasped when he was upon them. They jumped out of the way when he tried to peck at them. But before he could try to attack them again, he was suddenly hit with a piece of a stone column. The knowledge spirit looked to see Clint standing from a distance holding his bow ready with another piece of the library at the string. The archer had a smirk on his face when he said, "Interesting what can make a good arrow."
"You dare to try and ruin my library?!" Wan Shi Tong angrily screeched and Clint fired the piece. The piece smacked into the owl's face and he recoiled from the hit. It gave Clint, Katara, Momo and Natasha to start running once again.
The four once again were running side by side through the library as Wan Shi Tong chased after them. They soon came to the bridge where the rope was and started to run across it. They managed to lose Wan Shi Tong for a moment before he followed them out. Knowing that they wouldn't be able to escape with him chasing after them, Katara, Clint and Natasha turned to fight him. But Wan Shi Tong didn't seem intimidated by them when he rose up and said, "Your waterbending, arrows and fighting styles will do you no good here.
"I've studied all three waterbending arts, I'm much faster than you can shoot and I've studied all forms of this worlds techniques." He boasted when he raised his wings and was about to go on the attack. But he never got the chance as a blur sailed over the four's heads and smacked into Wan Shi Tong's chest and knocked him back. The owl screeched from the blow, but it left him open. Aang flew over the spirit with Sokka holding on to his staff with one hand and a book in another. The Water Tribe teen hollered as he dropped down and bashed a heavy book against Wan Shi Tong's skull. The blow was enough to cause the owl spirit to fall to the ground unconscious. Sokka landed in front of the owl and spoke of a new technique, "That's called Sokka style, pal." He got in the knocked-out owl's face and smugly said, "Learn it!"
"Let's get out of here." Steve said as Aang joined them on the bridge. Sokka collected his boomerang before starting the climb. He was followed by his sister and the Avengers while Aang took to the air once again with Momo took off after him.
But in the middle of the climb, Sokka had suddenly noticed that one in their group wasn't with them. Looking down, he looked about before spotting Zei and shouted out, "Wait!" They looked to him before their eyes widened, "Professor, let's go."
Those on the rope looked to see the Professor sitting amongst of books that had been pulled from the shelves. But the professor shook his head, "I'm not leaving this place. I can't."
"I've spent far too long and too much of my life trying to find this place. There's not another collection of knowledge like this on Earth." The professor dramatically said. He gave a content smile when he said, "I could spend an eternity in here."
"But that's-" Sokka started to argue. But Natasha cut him off, "He's not going to come."
"Just keep going." Katara urged. But their halt had given Wan Shi Tong time to get back up. The owl grabbed the end of the rope with a screech and tried to pull the group back down into the library before it disappeared.
Seeing his friends in danger, Aang flew down as the rope snapped and was able to bend an air sphere around them. Aang was able to carry them back up to the top. Wan Shi Tong opened his wings before taking flight after them. They all flew into the narrow space of the tower. Wan Shi Tong was starting to gain on the air sphere and they narrowly made it to the window.
Outside of the library, the air sphere was disrupted when it went through the window. While Aang and Momo were able to land safely on the ground, everyone else grunted when they hit the ground. Thor looked to Toph and said, "There out, you can let go, Toph!"
Toph released her grip on the tower and force from the sinking tower sent her flying back. The Hulk quickly turned back into Bruce and the host of the Gamma Beast shouted, "Brace yourselves!"
Everyone threw up their arms as the top of the library tower impacted against the desert floor and created a large dust cloud. When the dust had cleared, all that was left of the library's existence in the physical world was a large crater. Everyone dusted themselves off as Thor and Bruce helped the others up. Natasha looked to Sokka and asked, "Did you get it?"
"We got it. There's definitely a solar eclipse coming." Sokka nodded with a grin. He turned and hugged Katara when he happily said, "The Fire Nation and Hydra are in trouble now."
"But where's the professor?" Thor asked as he looked about. Steve shook his head, "He chose to remain behind in the library."
"But what happened to you?" Clint asked Bruce and pointed to his ruined clothes. Aang looked about and then asked, "And where's Appa?"
That made those who went into the library look about before looking to the three who had stayed on the surface. Both Avenger's faces fell as they thought about what happened mere moments ago. They cast sad looks at Toph who was sitting in the sand with both hands on the sides of her hands. Aang walked up to her and was about to ask again when Toph shook her head with a saddened moan.
"Aang, there's something that we got to tell you." A saddened Bruce said and placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. Aang gasped when he could guess that something awful had just happened and tears welled up in his eyes at the thought of losing his best friend. The others looked to the Airbender with saddened looks as a tear rolled down his face.
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This story's dedication to:
Stan Lee: 1922 – 2018
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Author's Note: This is the longest chapter of the whole series that I have written. But man, the bad thing about it is I felt like crying when I wrote the last bit of this chapter. This episode is the most brutal of Book 2. Just like in Book 1 when Aang learned of what happened to his people, Aang lost his best friend, one of the anchors to his past and one of the things that bring him joy. But on a bit of a happier note, Book 2 is getting closer and closer to being finished. In terms of the actual story, we're halfway there, but in my terms were a lot closer. Only another ten or so chapters before we finish this Book and move on to Book 3. And yes, the rescue group will be teaming up with the Freedom Fighters. It seemed like an interesting idea. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See you next time.
