Chapter 35
Ba Sing Se
A/N: I need you all to read this author's note!
First off I want to apologize for the length of time it took for me to update. I have been super busy. I have been officially accepted into the program I wanted in my University and this means that there are going to be some changes for my stories. I will NOT abandon this story, however I need to put an emphasis on my AP courses for now. After my exams are over I am going to finish this story. I am going to be rattling off four or five chapters a week (hopefully) in June. After I finish Change the World I will be working on two stories. The first is the long awaited TMNT fic and the second will be a sequel to Change the World. It will begin almost exactly where Change the World left off and will end at either Maddi's marriage or the birth of her first child (which isn't as distant in time as it would seem as this world has no contraceptives).
So that's it, thank you for your patience and reading this Author's Note.
Princess Kassie Out,
Zuko
After arriving at the port on the far side of Full Moon Bay we waited for the 'train' a series of wagons that would take us to the city. Uncle had been reminiscing on 'old times' when he had come to Ba Sing Se to conquer it. I didn't understand how he could treat it so lightly. Lu Ten had died because of that battle.
I had never seen my uncle cry, not when his wife died, not when he attended Lu Ten's burial, not even after my father burnt me. I closed my eyes and drifted into thought. When those burials had happened I believed my uncle to be strong and brave because a strong, brave person didn't cry. But after I had been scarred I had felt angry. He should have been devastated, upset but instead he walked into my room with a smile. I had hated him then but I was beginning to see another side to my uncle. My uncle didn't show his emotions when upset, he acted like everything was okay to ease the lives of those around him.
The three people who we had met on the ferry ride were talking a little ways away from us. Flicking my eyes open I studied them. Longshot, Smellerbee, and Jet. Unusual names, not that I had the right to judge. They were false names, just like Lee and Mushi were. A strangled cry came to my right. Spinning, I saw my uncle gag on a small cup of tea. I allowed myself to relax as he complained about the temperature. What was going to happen to us here? I knew Uncle Iroh would be happy but would I? Should I have taken Aang's offer to be his teacher? Would have have even been a good one? I didn't know. If I had taken it though I would have been closer to Maddi and she was the only one with answers to my questions.
"The train is here!" Someone shouted in the distance. I turned, calling to my uncle that we needed to go, barely noticing the steam rising from his wooden cup.
Maddi
My eyes scanned the ground between us and Ba Sing Se. There was no sign of the drill. A mix of both elation and horror coursed through me. I knew we weren't behind schedule and I doubted that Ba Sing Se had been lost which left only a few options. No one else was aware of what was wrong and they continued chatting easily amongst each other. Only Sokka was quiet, staring off into space. Probably thinking of Suki I realized. We had dropped her off on the other side of Full Moon Bay where she would take one of the ferries back to her sisters.
We were almost at the wall when Aang started steering Appa into a slowly descending spiral. We landed on the wall.
"Aang what's going-?"
"Who are you and what gives you the right to just walk into Ba Sing Se?" Aang jumped off Appa's head to come face to face with a short, bristly man who had more attitude and hubris then should have been possible for his size. The guy was barely taller then Aang for crying out loud.
"My name's Aang and I'm the avatar. These are my companions, Sokka and Katara from the southern water tribe, Maddison and Toph from the earth kingdom." He pointed at each of us as he said our names. I leapt off Appa at the sound of my name, grinning like a maniac. I did not like this man. My friends shook their heads and descended from Appa's tail, all except Toph who was quick to follow me.
"We're escorting some refugees who had their tickets stolen so if you could can you take care of them?" Aang asked as Than helped his wife and daughter off the bison. For a while I thought the small man was going to punch him. Instead he gestured over a couple of guards to take Ying, Than, Lynn, and Hope down off the wall. Once the 'civilians' we're off the wall the short man turned and introduced himself.
"My name is Sung, Captain of the Guards. Now, while I'm pleased to meet you, Avatar Aang, there are some rules and one of them is that civilians are not allowed on the wall. And I'm afraid the rule is the same for… animals." His lip twisted slightly at the mention of Appa whose length was as deep as the wall. Aang shrugged, not seeming bothered by the man's distaste for his bison.
"What's that?" I turned, Toph's voice sounded pitched and unusually girlish.
"What's what?" In reply Toph pointed out into the distance. I didn't know that she could feel something that far away. The strength of her 'sight' never ceased to surprise me. Following her finger I saw a small plume of dust coming toward us. I had no doubts about what it was. I had forgotten how fast Appa could fly, even when traveling slower for the comfort of guests. The fire nation wasn't late, we were early.
"General, I suggest you get some reinforcements," I stated, stepping forward to peer out over the plain before us, "There is about to be an attack on Ba Sing Se."
"What?" I turned to see Aang looking at the small dust cloud. Katara and Sokka right beside him.
"What are you talking about? No one has attempted to take Ba Sing Se since the fire nation five years ago. Why by Prithvi would anyone try now?" Sung was looking particularly cross at the idea. My friends ignored him, instead turning to me.
"Azula?" Katara asked. I nodded.
"In a metal machine similar to what they used to chase us down, remember? Well they've adapted it for this particular purpose." I could hear the venom in my own voice.
"How could we forget?" Clear sarcasm from Sokka. I found myself smiling anyway, Sokka really knew how to defuse a situation. General Sung was not happy that we were taking over his job in the least and he quickly stepped in.
"Well thank you for your time but you're not needed."
"Not needed?" Katara echoed, wide eyed at the general's stupidity.
"Of course not, the fire nation has never succeeded in an attack on the wall before and they aren't now."
"How about the dragon of the west? General Iroh? He got in." Toph pointed out, more then a little annoyed at the man's incompetence.
"Yes well, he was quickly expunged."
"No, he called a retreat because his son and heir had been killed and he realized that this campaign was pointless. If he had wanted to he would have marched all the way to the palace." I replied, still not looking at Sung. The poor general gaped at me, opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish several times before giving up and walking away.
"Is that true?" Aang asked me in shock. I felt myself twitch. My mind was whirling with ideas of how to face Azula and her drill.
"Yes, any ideas?"
"You don't know?"
"Why is everyone questioning me?!" Noticing Sokka open his mouth I snapped.
"That was rhetorical." There was silence for a while.
"Well I say we need a closer look." Toph finally decided.
"That sounds good." Sokka agreed I could practically see the cogs turning in his head as he thought about what needed to be done. He then split us into two groups, he and Toph would scout out the drill while Katara, Aang, and I would man the wall.
While Toph and Sokka were gone Aang and Katara turned to me.
"Can you give us any warning?" Katara asked. I bit my lip. A strange sense of foreboding crawled along my spine.
"That machine is a drill. It's going to burrow straight through the wall like a child's finger through sand." Katara paled considerably as she processed what I had just said.
A few moments later Toph and Sokka joined us again. As Sokka reported what he had seen as General Sung reappeared with several hundred guards and another group of men who I was surprised to recognize as the 'Terra Team' the name was pathetically corny but it was still enough to inspire Sokka to start thinking of team names for us. As luck would have it we didn't have to hear about it yet. The drill was almost halfway across the plain now and I realized that we would soon be infiltrating the metal behemoth. Another shiver of cold ran down my spine. Something was going to happen, the dread and stress was building inside of me and I found myself terrified.
"It's unstoppable," one of the guards whispered in horror as the Terra Team was forced back.
"From the outside." I replied. Obviously I hadn't been as quiet as I believed myself to be as Sokka spun, nearly giving himself whiplash.
"That's it! We'll take it down from the inside!"
Creeping underground was very uncomfortable. Unable to see anything I nearly tripped over Toph and stepped on Katara's foot. All of us were miserable, except Toph who was literally in her element.
"That's it, it's right overtop now." Toph told us, bending the dirt 'roof' above us out of the way. The space between the ground and the bottom of the drill was tall enough that Katara, Aang and Toph didn't have to worry about their heads. Sokka and I did. Sokka had been growing quite a lot recently and I realized that if he kept up this pace he would be Zuko's height in a few months from now.
"There!" Sokka pointed, his neck craned at an awkward angle. Aang bounced up, climbing inside the gap in the metal bottom and leaning back down to help Katara, Sokka and myself into it.
"Toph? You coming?" I ask, sticking my head back down.
"No way am I going in that metal monster, I can't bend in there! I'll try to slow it down from out here."
"Okay, good luck."
We hurried deeper into the drill. It was unusually warm in here, several degrees above the temperature outside in fact. Sokka and Katara looked like they were ready to start sweating. I revelled in it. I loved warmer temperatures, both poles had been uncomfortable for me. I had gotten used to it but there is a big difference then acceptance and enjoyment.
"I need the plan to this machine, schematics or something, to find its weak points." Sokka quickly told us, frowning in thought for a moment. Making a decision he took his club and bashed it against a pipe beside us.
"What are you doing?" Aang cried in shock, "someone will hear!"
"That's the point," Sokka explained, "A big machine like this will need a lot of mechanics to keep it working, one of them is bound to come. They'll probably have plans to the entire machine with them."
True to Sokka's belief a mechanic arrived, a set of papers in his hand and began tinkering with the pipe. Once he fixed it, Katara froze him to the wall and Sokka darted out, stealing the scroll of schematics. He looks it over, assessing the drill before quickly filling us in on his plan.
"The drill is separated by these braces, if we can cut through them the entire thing will collapse." I bit my lip then spoke up.
"Sokka, the actual braces are too thick to cut through, it will take a long time. We should weaken a large section and then strike a blow right above." I could see Sokka's mind working. Finally he nodded.
"Like what Toph's been telling me." Aang cried, his eyes lighting up excitedly, "hit a series of points then go in for the final blow!"
I watched in awe as Aang and Katara worked in tandem to file through the support beams. One by one each beam was weakened. Then there was a rumble. We all looked up as it was announced that we had just made contact with the wall. I realized that we were still at least two hours ahead of schedule and grinned.
"Alright, Aang you need to go above and make the final blow." Sokka told the young airbender with a contagious grin. We walked away, back towards the point we had entered only to find the engineer gone. My eyes widened. He was probably telling Azula and cohorts about us right now.
"Aang, we got to-"
"DUCK!" I hit the ground as a familiar black needle-like dagger shot above us and hit the wall, quivering.
"Wow, look Azula, its the avatar. And friends." Ty Lee sent a wink at Sokka, who looked confused and waved in response. Katara wasn't going to let Sokka jus sit there, she grabbed his arm and took off, quickly followed by Aang and I. Swinging my bow off my back where it had been sitting for the last few hours I knocked an arrow and shot, missing as Ty Lee flipped out of the way. Aang shot a blast of air to counter a shot of fire from Azula.
"Where are you going?" Azula shouted, "Just give up there's nowhere you can go girl-of-all-nations." My heart froze. I felt like Katara had covered me in a thin layer of ice. Azula knew? How? What on earth was going on?
I narrowly escaped becoming crisp girl-of-all-nations when Aang grabbed my arm and dragged me away from a bolt of fire that Azula had shot at me. Internally my head hurt as I tried to figure out how Azula had heard of that. Her brother certainly wouldn't have told her and I wasn't aware that I had that major of a reputation. We came to a T intersection, one way leading to the outside, the other to a more... dirty way outside. We didn't even talk, instinctively breaking into two groups, Sokka and Katara going one way, Aang and I the other. The only conversation came from Katara who gave Aang her water pouch.
Aang grabbed my arm and began airbending, sending us both flying down the hall at impossible speeds for the average human. Coming to a dead end Aang slammed on the brakes, stopping himself but forcing me against a wall. I winced. There is going to be an ugly mark on my cheek from this I just know it. Aang shot up the ladder and I followed close behind. The last thing I wanted was to fall far enough behind that Azula might find me alone. Her voice echoed in my ears. If she knew about the girl-of-all-nations thing then did she know about the rest? Avatar and spirit guide? What would Aang's reaction be if he found out what I had been saying?
We stuck our heads out of the hatch and clamber up. While Aang began to form a target for his strike, cutting an X into the metal and dodging the rocks earthbenders from General Sung's wall were pouring down on the drill. They don't even dent the metal. I felt anger well up inside me. Those fools were causing more trouble for us then the drill. Of course Sung was a coward, my distaste for the man expanded.
I carefully notched an arrow, keeping an eye on both the hatch that we came from and the rocks. I didn't want to get hit in the head from a badly-aimed rock when I was supposed to be watching for Azula.
"What I'd give to be a metal bender." My ears perked at Aang's muttered wish. Metal bender? I didn't have time to ponder it as Azula sprang out of the hatch. I let my arrow fly and grin as it connected. Azula roared in rage, had flying to her cheek. Her gold eyes landed on me.
"You." She hissed. Aang looked up.
"Focus on your job!' I shouted at him as I loose another arrow at the fire nation princess. It missed by a mile. The air charged as Azula began her lightning strike. I shouted something and ducked. To my horror she didn't aim at me.
Electricity coursed through the air, missing Aang by less then an inch.
"You know I am curious." Azula drawled from where she stood, gold eyes glinting, "Who are you?"
"Like I'd tell you." I shout back, letting another arrow fly. This one missed as well. I notch another arrow when her strategy occurred to me. She was going to try to let me run out of arrows because unlike her, I had a limit on how many shots I could take.
"Well at least tell me your name, it is civil after all. My name is Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai." Anger flared within me as I snapped.
"Sister of Zuko crown prince of the fire nation, niece of Iroh, dragon of the west, daughter of Fire Lady Ursa, and child prodigy. I know everything about you but you know nothing about me." I mocked. With every name I had said she had grown more angry. A thick bolt of blue fire flew at me. I hit the ground as it sailed right above but uncomfortably close.
"Tell me who you are!" She bellowed, charging me like a mad bull. I yelped and dodged out of the way. She expected that. I shrieked as her arm pushed me, I lost my balance and slipped on the curved metal. I screamed as I slipped over the side. There is a cry and a strong gust of air slowed my decent as a soft hand wrapped around my wrist. Aang dragged me back up onto the metal machine. While I laid on my back, panting, Aang engaged Azula.
Once my shaking body felt solid and not like it was made of Jell-O I stood and notched an arrow again. It's then the slurry exploded from every open part of the drill, knocking us all off our feet.
I lost Azula in the mess. While I looked around, trying to figure out where she would reappear from, Aang formed a rock spike from one of the boulders. I watched in awe as he grabbed it and propelled himself straight up the sheer wall using airbending. He was almost at the top when he dropped and tossed the spike below, using airbending to add to its speed along with his own weight. The spike thrust itself deep into the drill, causing a chain reaction of segments breaking apart and enough slurry exploding to drown an elephant Koi.
I wiped the mud off my face in disgust. My entire body was covered in the stuff and soaked all the way through. Not that Aang looked much better, except for the grin on his face.
Toph and Katara's joint efforts got the mud off us which I was very thankful for. I couldn't forget Azula though, she was curious about me and I had only made it worse by showing off and baiting her. What would happen now? I was clearly a target.
"I just want to say, good job out there Team Avatar." Sokka grinned. The rest of us shared a look.
"Sokka no matter how many times you say that its not going to catch on." Katara pointed out.
"How about... the BoomerAang squad, because it has Aang in it?"
"Keep dreaming." I teased.
"I kinda like that one," Aang admitted with a guilty smile. I rolled my eyes.
"The Aang Gang?"
"Sokka." Katara warned, despite the smile on her face.
"The fearsome foursome?"
"There's five of us." Toph pointed out. I sighed and turned.
"If you're going to give us a name how about the Gaang?" There was silence for a moment before Katara sniggered. Suddenly everyone was laughing.
"Seriously?" Toph gasped, clutching her sides.
"Actually that's what you guys are known as in my world." The laughing subsided.
"Really?" Aang asked.
"I kid you not." I responded with a grin.
"It isn't that bad." Katara admitted turning to the rest of us. I shrugged.
"Whatever you guys choose. It's not really serious though." Shaking their heads Aang, Katara, Toph and I headed down off the wall to our residence for the night leaving Sokka on the wall.
"Seriously! Why do you all take her side!" He shouted before running after us and joining in the teasing laughter.
