Chapter 6: Answers
The two teens stood facing each other, ignoring the continuous sounds of hydraulics that mechanically caused the inside of the drill to rumble. The room they were in was barren, yet their intense staring filled the volume of the space.
"I want to know what you can do, so tell me….how powerful are you?" Azula asked without much hesitation.
Accelerator's half-lidded eyes spoke of uninterest, but the fact that he agreed to answer her must have meant something. Although his hands remained in his pockets, his demeanor slightly changed; he now stood taller, raising his head slightly above the Fire Princess, and moved his shoulders back.
"This may be difficult for you to understand, but I'll try to explain it as best as I can," he said, keeping his focus on Azula's unchanging face.
"My powers largely depend on 'vectors'," he explained, hoping that she would know what the term meant.
"Vectors?" she automatically questioned, causing Accelerator to mentally slap himself in the face.
'Of course she doesn't know what vectors are,' he thought to himself, 'judging by their level of technology and medicine, there's no way they would know of natural physics or quantum mechanics.'
"Ok," the esper grunted with a sigh, "let's try this a different way. Give me your hair band."
Azula looked up in surprise; she had to admit – he caught her off guard. It was such a strange request, and had it been anyone else who asked this of her, she would have burned them on the spot; but Accelerator was a part of her crew now, so she didn't want to kill him – besides, if she complied, he would teach her more about his powers. Learning as much as she could about his abilities was paramount; in case he ever became a threat, she had to know how to take him down if need be.
Silently, she reached to the back of her head and grabbed at the piece of string that held her hair up. Gently tugging on it, she was finally able to remove it from her hair, causing long, black locks to fall down to her shoulders. Ignoring how loose her head felt now, she handed the string over to the esper who took it from her without saying a word. Grasping both ends of the thin material, Accelerator stretched its length out in front of him.
"The first thing you must understand is this:," he began, making sure that the princess was listening, "every single thing in this universe that we interact with has something known as a 'vector value'. My power essentially allows me to manipulate these vector values by using something known as AIM, which is a field of energy that surrounds me and helps me to inadvertently interact with my environment. I am what is known as an esper – a person or individual who unconsciously emits this energy to produce an AIM field."
As Accelerator was talking, the string in his hands started to curve and bend against the pull of gravity. Then, without any warning, the esper released his hold on the material and let his hands find their way back to his pockets; instead of falling to the floor, the loose string merely floated lifelessly in the air, held by an invisible force. Azula's eyes were locked onto the levitating object, her mouth agape as she tried to understand what was happening before her.
"You mentioned that you are what's known as an 'esper', yes? How many espers are there?" she curiously asked, although half of it was partially out of worry.
Accelerator lifted his hand up and grabbed the string before he responded, "as far as I know, I am the only esper in your world; but from where I come from, there are much more than just me (although they're nowhere near as powerful)."
"…I see," Azula said, focusing back on the piece of string in the air as the white-haired esper pinched it with his fingers.
After removing it from its suspension in the air, Accelerator approached the fire princess and calmly handed it back to her; slowly, she took it into her hand and carefully examined it as if it would suddenly float from her palm. She remained silent as she raised the string up to the back of her head and proceeded to grab her hair into a bunch with her free hand. Accelerator watched as the female warrior focused on tying her hair back into her signature bun; his eyes slowly scanned her pale face and red lips, eventually falling on her golden eyes. Unaware of his attention, Azula continued to tie her hair back, wrapping the red string around her black locks.
"You should leave your hair down more often," Accelerator commented.
Azula glanced up at him for a split second, uncertain as to how to respond.
"Long hair makes it difficult to do battle; I would sooner sacrifice my hair rather than my duty," she said.
Accelerator simply shrugged his shoulders, "it was just a suggestion."
Just then, a uniformed man ran into the room, huffing loudly as he entered.
"Princess! We are approaching the walls; the estimated time until we make contact is 5 minutes! You are needed in the control room!" he yelled.
Azula sighed as she finished her hair and straightened her back. Without saying another word, the Fire Nation Princess aggressively walked past the man and quickly exited the room. Realizing that the princess was heading toward the control room, the uniformed man nervously followed behind her along with a lazy Accelerator. The three of them passed through the steaming pipes and groaning the steel plates that lined the interior of the drill; the machine had been moving nonstop for several days, so most of the air had been made hot and humid due to the continued use.
Eventually, after travelling down the long, thin corridor, they came to the control room where they were greeted by the sight of an incredibly massive wall further off in the distance. Even though they were much closer to the wall than it seemed, the humongous size of the structure skewed their sense of distance and scale. After staring out of the window for a few seconds, Azula sat down in her seat and glanced at War Minister Qin.
"Has there been any sign of resistance?" she asked, her golden eyes piercing the figure next to her.
"Yes, princess," the bearded man sternly replied, "a small team of earthbenders has been sent to our current location."
"Wow. Do you think they can stop us?" Ty Lee curiously asked.
War Minister Qin practically chuckled at the question before he amusingly decided to answer the young girl's injury.
"oh, please, the drill's metal shell is impervious to any earthbending attack. There is no reason for worry." he said, although the final sentence was directed toward the Fire Nation Princess.
There was silence for a few moments, and an air of tension filled the room as Azula stared out the window with a thoughtful glare; her hands met and her fingers slowly intertwined with one another as the black-haired firebender let out quiet breaths. Her eyes were intently locked onto the invisible glass and stared out to the base of the wall.
"Ty Lee, Mai, Accelerator," she suddenly said without looking away from the window, "I want you all to take out the earthbenders. I prefer to not take any chances on this mission."
Mai, who had been lazily toying with one of her daggers, stopped and sighed after hearing Azula's orders. Ty Lee eagerly grinned and immediately sat up from her seat, hoping that she would finally get to have some fun. Accelerator simply let out a snort before he guided his hands back into his pockets. The three of them then left the room with Ty Lee being the only one having a smile on her face as they travelled down to the lower portion of the drill. They passed underneath some metal beams and pipes that spanned across both sides of the hallway; there was a small door at the end with a large circular lock mechanism positioned on its center. Once they reached the door, Ty Lee unlocked it and began to slowly open the rectangular piece of metal. Almost immediately, the three teens were greeted with the intense light of the hot sun as they slowly began to walk outside.
End of chapter 6
A/N: Hey, guys – I know, I know, I know! – I am very late with this chapter. To be honest, I don't even remember when the last chapter was added, so I hope that this will be enough. Obviously, I intend to (hopefully) work more on this story, and I will try to get the next chapter out there sooner. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, please comment; if you didn't like this chapter…then I'm going to cry into my pillow.