Disclaimer: I do not own any Avatar or Korra characters created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and owned by Nickelodeon. All OCs, however, are all mine.
Chapter V
Sokka and Toph just sat there, still as stones, in Appa's saddle across from the red-skinned alien in the dark blue rode. Their eyes were wide as they stared at him. They should've expected him to be dangerous from the weapons he carried: the sword, and the hand-held device that made whatever it aimed at explode. But it wasn't just the weapons; it was him. He was a living, breathing, lethal killing machine of flesh and bone. Every single one of their attackers back at the town, except the one who ate the poison, met their end at his hands.
Leo sensed the two sitting across from him staring. He didn't mind most of the time when people stared, as long as they tried to mind their own business, but this was blatantly obvious and rude. Leo just spat off the side of the saddle and turned back to face them.
Once they landed back on the boat, everyone but Leo jumped onto the deck. Leo just casually walked down the bison's flat tail. Aang and Katara were at the railing, Katara puking her guts out by the sound of it, and Aang holding her hair. Toph went through the double doors that led to below deck, while Sokka rushed upstairs to the bridge. Leo opened one of the double doors and sensed Toph go into her room. She reached into the top drawer of her dresser and pulled out a bottle of baijiu and a single glass.
Man, that stuff must be strong, Leo thought since he could smell the alcohol from down the hall.
Up on the bridge, Sokka struggled as he dialed the radio, trying to find the correct frequency so that they could contact the White Lotus and Master Tenzin; they had to know about this. He turned the knob to the correct channel. The pitch of the static went up and down as he tuned the radio, until he finally got a signal.
"Hello, hello? Please come in. Someone please come in," Sokka repeated over and over again as he panicked. He was in shock and completely freaked out by everything he'd just seen in the last few hours. He waited, waited, and waited only for a few minutes, but each one felt like forever. Suddenly, he got a response at last, "Sokka, is that you? What's wrong?"
It was Master Tenzin.
"Tenzin! Master Tenzin, it's so good to see you- I mean- hear you- I mean hear your voice," Sokka choked as he tried to get the words out as fast as he could.
"Sokka, slow down. Take a deep breath. Where's Aang?" Tenzin tried to understand what Sokka was saying as he made an effort to calm him down.
Sokka inhaled, then slowly exhaled, "Aang's fine. He's outside with Katara."
"Okay. Well, what are they doing? What's going on?"
Sokka looked out the window and down by the railing and relayed what he observed, "He's holding her hair while she throwing up; and I don't blame her."
"Why is she having stomach problems at sea? She's a waterbender. I know that waterbenders don't get sick at sea because both my father and sister are waterbenders."
"Tenzin, listen to me. There's a chance you're not gonna believe what I'm about to tell you, but hear me out," Sokka began to rapidly explain everything as best he could, "Last night while we were stargazing after weeks of finding nothing, some tall red-skinned lizard man falls from the sky. And it turns out he's blind but can still see. Anyway, we find him unconscious, get him onboard the boat, check him for injuries, and then BAM! He wakes up, and he says that he's a commander and he's from another world and his name's Leo. Then this morning, we take him to the site of his crash and he lost his sword when he fell from the sky. Turns out it landed in Ba Sing Se, and he wants us to take him there to get it. Then we see smoke off in the distance, and we follow it to a town where we find ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT CARNAGE AND DEATH!" Sokka blasted into the radio then resumed his rambling, "Then we get ambushed by four shady guys who are kinda like Leo but really aren't. We're surrounded, then Leo points this weird weapon that goes BOOM, BOOM at two of the guys and they die, INSTANTLY. Then we fight the two guys left, and they're really tough. And these guys are crazy. I mean completely wolfbatshit crazy. And then another guy appears. Aang, Katara and Toph knock 'em around with their bending, I land a few cuts. But this guy Leo…" Sokka finally slowed down, "he kills every one of them: the guy with the big-ass axe, his friend with the mace, and their buddy with the sword," Sokka then remembered, "Actually, Leo didn't kill the one with the mace. He died from eating a poison pill, only after he says that the infiltration had started and the invasion is coming soon."
A few moments of silence endured over the radio as Sokka caught his breath, his rambling done. As the silence continued, Sokka wondered if anyone was still listening.
"Hello?" Sokka queried.
Nothing.
"Hello? Master Tenzin?" Sokka called again.
After a bit more silence, finally Sokka heard on the other side, "What? You were attacked? By who? Was it pirates?"
"No, it wasn't pirates. They were something else entirely. They didn't take anything, just killed everyone in town," Sokka informed.
"And you said you picked up a random stranger, and he killed most of your attackers? And what do you mean he's from another world? Do you mean the-" Sokka couldn't hear Tenzin finish as his voice was drowned out by the rising static.
"What the…" Sokka perplexed at the radio's sudden dysfunction. He eyed the machine, knowing this wasn't supposed to happen. Not only was the radio on the right channel, and tuned to the correct frequency, but it was also brand new. Sokka tried to adjust the frequency again. It didn't work. He turned the channel. More static. Sokka slammed the speaker on the desk in the the bridge in frustration as he swore out loud, "GODDAMMIT!"
Leo closed the double doors and let Toph be. He went to the railing to check on Aang and Katara. She threw up the last contents of her stomach as her boyfriend held her hair and rubbed her back, offering what comfort he could. Katara tried to spit the taste from her mouth before she wiped all traces from her lips.
"You guys alright?" Leo asked.
"We're fine," Aang simply acknowledged then turned back to Katara, "Just in shock."
"Yeah, and in… disbelief," Katara added as she turned around, "What were those things?"
"Members of the Obrachan: the elite warriors of the entire Tyravian imperial military. They're the Tyravian Empire's special forces, and wherever they are, the Empire has an interest. And if members of the Obrachan are here on this planet, they got plans for it… and its people," Leo elaborated on their attackers' identity to them.
"What kind of plans?" Aang further inquired at this knowledge, growing more uneasy with each piece of it.
"Nothing good. Pretty much just drain the planet of all resources, enslave the populace, that sort of stuff. The men will become the workforce, while the women and children will be made into servants, tending to every one of the Tyrants' needs and desires, which includes working in domestic service, agriculture, sweatshops, prostitution, you get the idea," Leo described to the couple, casual and nonchalant as he did. Their eyes grew wide at how callous he was.
"Spirits," Katara gasped as she covered her mouth, then both she and Aang exchanged concerned glances before turning back to him, "How could they do something like that?"
"They do it to feed their growing empire. It's like a beast that's always hungry," Leo threw up his hands in the air as he walked across the deck, going on a rant, "Theirs is an interstellar empire, and an ethnocentric culture. They believe that everything in the galaxy is theirs by divine right, just because they want it. If the Tyrants desire something, they do whatever they can to take it, for the glory and prosperity of their empire, at the cost of everyone else."
"Sounds like the Fire Nation during the Hundred Year War," Aang concluded.
"Only worse, and on a much bigger scale," Katara added.
"And if the infiltration has already begun, this planet is pretty screwed without some kind of intervention via a third party," Leo said.
Without warning, Sokka burst through the door to the Bridge, a panicked expression on his face, exclaiming, "Something's wrong with the radio. I was able to make contact with Air Temple Island, but the the radio stopped working, going all fuzzy n' shit, for no reason at all!"
"They're jamming your signal," Leo simply put it. The others turned to him with a mix of confusion and concern written on their faces before he explained, "The Tyrants are aware that you four know of their presence, and they don't like that. They don't want anyone to know about them, so they'll do whatever they can to isolate you from everyone else, making it much easier to hunt you down and silence you."
"Wait," Katara voiced a sudden concern as she looked around the deck, "where's Toph?"
"She's in her room, drinking," Leo informed them.
"Dammit. I'll get her," Katara cursed under her breath before she volunteered.
"No, wait. I'll make sure she's alright," Sokka suddenly sounded calm and steady, albeit obviously forced as he opened the double doors, looked back at the three by the rails, smiled and gave a thumbs-up, "I got this."
The couple exchanged looks as Sokka vanished behind the doors. Suddenly Leo said, "He's lying."
The three went into the galley to brew themselves some tea, so as to better calm their nerves. Aang used to always have a good brew every morning with Gyatso, and every weekend since he was old enough, they both shared a bottle of rice wine. Gyatso always made sure Aang didn't drink too much, otherwise he'd wake up the next morning with a hangover, and that took more than just a good cup of tea to cure. He remembered one night he stayed out late with Shady Shin and Bolin. Shady Shin had gotten them both so drunk, Bolin's older brother, Mako, found them sleeping in a bunch of garbage in a back alley. After Mako brought Aang home, Gyatso didn't lecture him or anything; he helped mend his hangover and brewed him some tea. However, Gyatso didn't hesitate to slam every door he walked through, making Aang's head feel like it was about to break with every loud boom. Aang later heard from Bolin that Mako had done the same.
It had been awhile since Leo had sat down and enjoyed a nice cup of green tea. He enjoyed the silence as he sipped his hot beverage. Once they all finished, Katara poured a second cup for Aang, Leo, and herself before asking, "So you've fought these people before?" She looked up from her cup of tea at Leo across the table, Aang right next to her.
Leo should've known to expect them to ask something like that. He let out a deep sigh, took another sip of his tea, and set it down on the table. Leo removed his hood and answered, "Yes… we made first contact with them a few years ago. We'd just reached New York City from San Francisco when we were attacked by an unknown force. My wife and I were captured and given a taste of Tyravian hospitality: they cut off her hand and had a cobra spit venom in my eyes. The Tyrants would've gang raped her if it hadn't been for her cousin, who lead a rescue team that got us out of enemy hands. The fellow officer responsible for our capture resigned from his position to save face and surrendered himself to me, so as to make his integrity whole again and restore his honor."
"What did you do with him?" Aang asked, too curious to consider whether such a question was too personal. He immediately felt Katara shoot him a quick narrowed glance.
"I spared him and took him into my service," Leo simply replied. Aang had begun to think Leo was callous and unfeeling, but he smiled a little at this knowledge.
"You got a wife?" Katara inquired, wanting to change subjects.
Leo looked up from his tea, and slowly a smile grew on his face. The couple noticed his demeanor change. Thinking of his wife brought Leo a great sense of tranquility, "Her name is Camille Chenoa Hawkins, and to put it plainly she's my best friend. She's from the Tribes of the Draconche Confederacy. We met when she and her cousin, Dax, moved to San Francisco to attend the university I was enrolled in. After giving her a tour of Chinatown, I asked her to coffee, she said yes and we started dating soon after. We got married two years later and have two kids together, plus an adopted child. I'd show you photos, but I don't have any on account of this," Leo gestured to his eyes.
"Same with Toph," Katara considered, "I guess pictures aren't of any use to the blind."
"True, very true. I'll admit photos don't hold much value to me these days. But that doesn't mean we can't read. That's why Braille exists," Leo added.
"Oh yeah, that's right," Aang confirmed, "Toph doesn't read much, but the books she does read are written in Braille."
"What kind of stuff does a girl like that read?" Leo mused out loud. Toph didn't seem like the kind of person who read in her spare time, but rather someone who fought, spit loogies, and made vulgar jokes.
"Not much. Just the Art of War," Katara answered.
"Don't forget the Analects of Kong Zhu that her Aunt Suyin gave her," Aang put in.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. You read that more often than she does," Katara playfully nudged Aang with her elbow.
Aang shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I guess I'm just a deeper thinker."
Leo was glad their conversation had shifted to much lighter, and comfortable, topics: Leo's wife and books, and he felt a more relaxed aura in the room. He also felt they were comfortable enough for him to ask, "So what's the deal with those two? Are they always jerks?"
Katara sighed, "No, it takes time for Sokka to trust someone. Once he does, he's not that bad. But Toph…" she trailed off, trying to describe the earthbender honestly, but not in a bad way. Even though they'd known each other for a few years now, Katara and Toph still had their ups and downs.
"She pretty much a jerk all the time," Aang finished for her, "But after she warms up to you, three things are sure to happen:" Aang held up his hand and started counting off his fingers, "one) she shows affection by jabbing you in the shoulder, two) she gives you a nickname that can crawl under your skin if you let it, and three) she's got your back."
"Hm," Leo thought for a moment, "She must be the muscle of your little group?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Katara replied.
"Then what does that make Sokka?" Leo inquired.
"The mouth," she simply put it. Katara's answer caused Aang to burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! I thought he was the brains," Aang tried to get out amidst his laughter.
Katara turned to her boyfriend and countered, "Oh come on. All he does is complain, eat, and snore. And don't forget half the things he says are sarcastic."
"Okay, that's a good point," Aang conceded, aware Katara knew her brother better than anyone on the ship.
"Those two seem pretty tight," Leo noted before asking, "Are they a couple?"
"Pfft," Katara gave a short laugh at the thought of her brother's reaction to that question, "No, they're not. But they've always been thick as thieves."
"Sometimes literally," Aang remembered the time when Toph and Sokka pulled a series of scams, mostly Toph, the authorities called her the 'Blind Bandit', and they had to lay low for a while.
"Oh yeah," Katara laughed out, thinking back to that as well, "I can't believe nobody ever found out about that: not the White Lotus, Tenzin, Kuvira, no one."
"Remember what they did with the money they got from all those scams," Aang asked Katara, reminiscing the past memory.
"How could I forget. They were able to buy dinner for the whole village of Guanshui, and the mayor was so grateful he offered Sokka his daughter's hand in marriage. After we left, they had enough money to cover our entire date in Omashu," Katara treasured the memory of that date; it was when Aang and Katara had first said that they loved each other.
"So," Leo jumped back into the conversation, inquiring, "how did you two first meet?"
Digging into old memories, Aang and Katara had almost forgotten that Leo was there. Aang's mood became sullen as he answered, "Katara and Sokka found me working for the Triple Threat Triad. I was the first airbender in the Triad, and with that, they changed their name to the Four Seasons. Master Tenzin and the Air Nation took me in, but I never saw my guardian, Gyatso, again…"
Katara put her hand on her boyfriend's arm, knowing the subject of Gyatso was difficult for him to revisit, and he reciprocated as he put his hand over hers. She continued for him, "Once Aang got settled in, his training began almost immediately. Because the Order of the White Lotus, the organization Sokka and I belong to, often work close with the Avatar and the Air Nation, Aang and I got to see each other a lot. I'd always check up on him to see how he was doing. Then one day, he asked if I'd have lunch with him. I said yes and we started going out."
"So how long have you two been dating?" Leo asked.
"Almost three years," Aang answered.
"Wow. Congratulations," Leo replied.
"Thank you," Aang and Katara both responded together, sharing another glance and smile. Suddenly, there was a single knock on the galley doors. Before either of them could stand up to get it, Leo got up and went over. Opening the double doors, Momo stumbled in, walking on his hind legs. The lemur looked like he was having the hardest time trying to stay balanced, stumbling to the left and then to the right. The lids of his eyes looked heavy, like he was sleepy, but by the smell of alcohol on him, that wasn't the case.
The lemur tried to take to the air, but he just flopped onto the floor. Momo then wretched a mess of vomit.
"Oh my god. Seriously?" Aang grimaced at the absurdity; Momo was drunk. He went to pick the lemur up and take him to the sink to clean off any vomit on his pet, "Those two must've gotten so shitfaced they gave Momo some."
"Aang, the sink," Katara chastised, objecting to him using the place they cleaned their dishes to wash the wasted lemur.
"I'll clean it later, Katara. Airbender's honor," Aang promised before Momo puked again, this time in the sink.
"You better," she told her boyfriend, then turned to their guest, "Leo, can you open that window for me over there?" she pointed to a round window, opposite from the sink and counter area.
"Yeah, sure," Leo said, going over to the window, then opening it.
"Thank you," Katara flicked her wrist here and there, and as she did, the mess obeyed her motions and flew out the window.
"Okay, now that was cool," Leo pointed out the window at what Katara did, still not used to bending and amazed at how easy she'd cleaned the mess up, "And nifty. I guess bending can be used for more than combat."
"There are a lot of things people can do with bending," Katara accepted the praise, then took a spray bottle from under the sink and some paper towels from the counter. Even though the vomit was gone, she still needed to spray and wipe the spot with cleaner.
Aang had finished washing Momo in the sink and was drying him. The lemur was too disoriented to fight the bath.
"Aang, can you pass the trash can?" Katara asked as she wiped the spot.
"Sure," Aang replied, taking the can in the corner and setting it next to her; he then looked up at Leo, "So how wasted are they?"
Leo knew Aang was referring to Sokka and Toph since he could smell the alcohol from her room, "Well, they're more than wasted by now. They've had so much I'm surprised their livers haven't burst. And they're also…" Leo sniffed the air, and suddenly disgust washed over his face, "Ugh. Dear god."
"What? What is it?" a confused and Katara asked, raising an eyebrow.
Leo held up his hand as if to wave the question off, "Trust me, Katara, you don't wanna know."
The three in the galley stood there in silence, Katara trying to imagine what Leo was hiding, Aang thinking he pretty much knew what Leo was implying as he dried Momo, and Leo waiting for whatever their reactions would be, if they ever figured what he said they 'didn't want to know'.
Sokka couldn't remember much of anything at the moment. He didn't really have a grasp on where he was, one reason was that he was asleep. Then he began to feel sheets on his skin, along with sweat. He tried opening his eyes, but found even the slightest bit made his brain feel like it'd explode. His ears did the same with every sound. Sokka's head already felt like he'd taken a sledgehammer to the head and was swollen, so the light and noise of course made it worse. He figured he was hungover.
Sokka had been hungover before, but never this bad. He then heard a groan, not his own. He then realized he wasn't wearing any clothes underneath the sheets, and he felt bare, sweaty skin on his. Despite how sensitive his eyes were, he opened them to find himself spooning Toph; a naked Toph. Her back was up against his chest, his arm around her smooth, flat belly, and her bum in his crotch. Shocked by the situation, and position, he awoke to with the earthbender, he scooted back from her as everything set in.
Toph unconsciously groaned at the sudden loss of contact. There was a very good chance she didn't remember a thing that happened, but there was also a chance she might've enjoyed it. And Sokka had to admit he might've enjoyed it, too. Toph was indeed a very beautiful young woman, but the two of them had always been very close friends.
Sokka turned onto his back, holding his head as he moaned in agony. He opened his eyes, then was startled, "What the-"
Standing over them on Sokka's side of the bed was their scaly, red-skinned guest, arms crossed, "Good evening," holding a pitcher with his tail over the two in bed and poured iced cold water all over them. Sokka yelped, and Toph shrieked, in surprise, both jolted to full awareness.
"Oh my god. WHAT THE FUCK?" Toph uttered.
"It is five thirty in the evening and you two are so hungover, I could drop a pin and it'd ring like a gong in your ears," Leo started, "Aang wants to know which one of you gave Momo booze, Katara has hangover food for you in the galley, and I just fixed a little cup of tea with some special medicine especially for you, Toph. Ya know, so you don't end up knocked up with Sokhead's kid. It's on your nightstand."
Toph began to realize where she was and what happened. She couldn't remember anything from the past few hours, but she did remember the events from earlier that morning: the crash, the town, the bodies, their attackers, and Leo killing them. And after that, she started drinking… a lot. Then Sokka joined her, the two of them got shitfaced together, then Momo came in at one point, and then nothing. She felt she was naked and sore in her nether regions. She held the sheets to her chest to cover herself as she reached for the tea on her nightstand and, despite how hot it was, drank it as fast as she could. When she was done, she slammed it down, instantly regretting it as her ears rang in pain.
"Ah," Sokka groaned at the noise, "Not so loud."
Huffing deep breathes, Toph inquired to Leo, "What are you doing in here?"
"Aang and Katara sent me. They figured it wouldn't be as awkward since I can't see you guys naked," Leo responded.
Toph threw the tea cup at Leo in frustration. Instead of hitting Leo's face, he skillfully caught the cup and put it in the pitcher. With that, he walked out and slammed the door as hard as he could.
"AH!" Sokka exclaimed and Toph hissed, both holding their ears.