Chapter 29: A Missing Animal
Accelerator, Zuko, and Iroh waited patiently in the kitchen; Accelerator had his arms crossed in front of him as he leaned slightly against the counter; Zuko glared at the white-haired boy across from him, refusing to blink or turn his attention away; Iroh happily sat in a wooden stool and gently blew on the surface of his tea before taking short sips. Several minutes had passed since Azula announced that she would be leaving Ba Sing Se for a while to meet back up with her troops, and she was now back in the bedroom, gathering all the supplies she would need for the trip.
Accelerator and Zuko's attention moved to the door as it quickly opened back up, revealing a dressed Azula; she had fully disregarded any Fire Nation garb, realizing that it would only draw dangerous attention to her. The key to this plan was stealth - she needed to escape the city without anyone noticing her, so wearing red and orange clothes practically screamed 'Fire Nation'. Instead, she wore Earth Kingdom themed fabric, specifically an emerald green vest and loose-fitting pants; she also had on a white long-sleeve shirt that she wore beneath the vest that ended just before her wrists.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Zuko questioned.
"Oh please," Azula replied with a slight chuckle, "I should get to the Fire Nation camp by the end of the day, and then return tomorrow morning. This isn't a difficult mission."
Zuko frowned, but didn't say anything in return.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" Accelerator spoke up.
"I'm sure," she replied, "...besides, I need you here."
To that, Accelerator merely shrugged his shoulders, "Ok, whatever," he said nonchalantly.
Azula nodded back to him before looking out the window; it was still early in the morning, so most of the city hadn't yet awoken. The streets that had been filled with the chatter and bustling of people during the day were surprisingly quiet in the morning.
"I should get going," she sighed as she walked to the door.
"Have a wonderful trip!" Iroh called after her, looking up from his tea to give his same bright smile.
"Yeah, and maybe don't die," Accelerator added, a notion to which the Fire princess couldn't help but giggle at.
"Please, I'll be fine. I think you guys will have a harder time than me," she said.
"Oh? What makes you say that?" Zuko asked, intervening.
"It'll be a miracle if you two don't kill one another before I come back," she returned; apparently, she had noticed Zuko's killer stare that had been aimed at Accelerator that morning.
The two boys shared a gruff snort at Azula's comment, before then glaring back at one another.
Azula shook her head and rolled her eyes.
Before actually leaving, the intrepid Fire Nation princess called Accelerator over to her side with a beckoning finger; begrudgingly, the esper gave one last killer look at Zuko, who shot his own glare.
Approaching the girl, Accelerator became a bit interested when the Princess began to almost whisper, "Keep your eyes on him while i'm gone. I can't have him going off to find the Avatar on his own."
Accelerator didn't exactly like that this seemed more like an order than a suggestion, but one look back at the arm-crossing prince made him finally give in.
"Fine. I'll watch him," Accelerator said, "but not because you told me to," - he felt the need to add that last part to make sure Azula understood he was no servant of hers.
"Of course," Azula responded; that devious smile of hers stared up at him.
The two broke apart from their 'group huddle', making sure that the other two in the room hadn't heard them; Zuko was obviously curious about their little conversation, but Iroh couldn't have been happier sipping his tea in utter ignorance.
"I trust you all won't do anything unnecessary while i'm gone?" she said in a warning tone - although she was mainly referring to Zuko and his tendency to act rashly. It was a quality of his that Azula had often taken advantage of when they were younger, but things were a bit more complicated now than they were back then - she couldn't have him messing up her plans.
"Just leave," Zuko demanded, not wanting to hear her voice anymore.
Azula snickered a bit at the angry tone of her brother, but she eventually did cater to his wishes and left the room, closing the wooden door behind her.
There was a lasting stillness in the apartment for a while after she left, although most of that was due to the silent battle Accelerator and Zuko were engaged in as they continued to glare at each other.
Finally looking up from his drink, Iroh glanced over at the two teenagers and smiled a bit.
"Would either of you want some tea?" he asked eagerly.
"No," Accelerator and Zuko said in unison.
"Are you sure? I have some brewing over here already and extra cups to go along with it. So, are you sure you don't want -"
"NO!" the two of them said louder this time, causing Iroh to almost spill his own cup.
Ignoring the clumsiness of his uncle, Zuko raised a finger at Accelerator's face, "I don't like you," he growled.
"Trust me, the feeling's mutual, buddy," Accelerator responded, with an equally serious tone.
"I've known my sister long enough to understand this: she should never be trusted. And now you're here - her white-haired pet who does everything that she asks. You think i'm just going to trust you in my own house?"
"...pet?..." Accelerator questioned, doing his best to hide his rage, "I ain't no pet, you son of a bitch."
Zuko chuckled, "Well, you're obviously not her equal. She's the one making the calls here, not you."
"Shut up," Accelerator barked, taking a step closer to the prince, "You know what? I know a little something about you too."
"Oh, yeah? What's that?" Zuko scoffed
The two boys were standing mere inches away from each other now, glaring daggers.
"I heard that your daddy kicked you out of the house," Accelerator mocked, in a pretend sad-voice, "That you were too weak to do what needed to be done. That you were a failure."
Zuko didn't immediately respond, but the twitch of his left eye-lid signaled to Accelerator that he touched a nerve.
Now back in his normal voice, Accelerator continued, "What? Are you gonna cry now? Go ahead - cry."
"Cry? You think I'm gonna let a twig-limbed prick like you make me cry?" Zuko shot back, "You must be out of your mind. But then again, I guess anyone who willingly becomes Azula's pet isn't right in the head anyway."
In mere seconds, Accelerator had seized the collar of Zuko's shirt, "You wanna try sayin' that again, bitch?"
Following Accelerator's example, Zuko gripped at the esper's collar with both hands and pulled the boy closer to him, "I said you're Azula's PET. What the hell are you going to do about it?!"
Just then, before the two of them came to blows, Iroh's voice caused the two of them to stop.
"Huh, weird weather we're having," he commented.
At first, the two teens thought Iroh was just trying to distract them, but as they glanced out the window, they were surprised to find hundreds of loose-leaf paper falling from the sky. Each of them fluttered gently in the wind and it seemed like there was something printed on each page. More interested now with the paper snow-fall outside rather than the fight mere moments before, the two teens let go of each other and wandered over to the window. Staring out at the strange phenomenon of parchment that seemed to magically come from the clouds themselves, Accelerator and Zuko couldn't help but remain slack-jawed at the sight of it all.
"What the hell is this?" Accelerator suddenly asked.
Zuko didn't answer; instead, he opened the window and peered out further to get a better view of the event. It was even stranger to see that the downpour of paper had been left in a trail, as if some unknown carrier had dropped them as it flew above the buildings. His attention was then caught by one piece of paper that had drifted close enough to the window to reach out and grab - which is what he did. Outstretching his arm and leaning forward a bit, Zuko grabbed the corner of the paper before taking it back into the apartment with him.
Upon first glance, Zuko knew what this was.
The picture on the center of the leaflet was an illustration of a large, white bison; the small text below the picture revealed that the animal was missing, and it implored anyone who saw it to report it to the address listed below. It would've been a fairly normal 'missing animal' sign if Zuko didn't already know who this bison belonged to - the Avatar.
"Gimme that," Accelerator growled before quickly snatching it away from a dumb-struck Zuko and examining it himself.
"What's this supposed to be? - a cow or something?" he chuckled a bit to himself.
Looking over at Zuko, who was silently staring out the window, Accelerator couldn't help but become a bit suspicious of the Fire Prince's sudden change in demeanor. What is it about this paper that made him so concerned?
The contemplated look remained on Zuko's face as he gazed out the window and scanned the sky for a few moments, almost as if searching for something to soar overhead; soon though, he retreated from the frame of the window and walked back into the apartment and headed for the door.
"I'm going out for a while," he said as he gripped the handle and exited the room.
Accelerator thought about following him, but the actions of some random prince didn't really interest him all that much. Shaking his head at the strangeness of Zuko's behavior, Accelerator awkwardly strutted over to a somewhat preoccupied Iroh who continued to sip his tea.
"You know what," the esper began, causing the old man to look up at him, "I think I'll take up that offer on tea now."
Iroh revealed rows of white teeth as he smiled at the boy, "Wonderful! Coming right up."
As the old man turned around and began to carefully pour some hot tea into a small porcelain cup, Accelerator glanced out the window once more and was surprised to catch a glimpse of Zuko. The young teen was staring up at the sky again, like he had been at the window, but now it was obvious that he was looking for something in particular. The paper they had seen wasn't just a random 'missing animal' flyer - Zuko's strange behavior made it clear there was something more to it.
"What are you looking for?" Accelerator wondered, keeping his eyes on the prince bellow. Things were finally starting to get interesting.
"What was that?" Iroh asked, turning around with a full cup of tea, "Did you say something?"
"Huh? Nah, I was just…..thinking to myself, I guess," the boy responded, waving away the old man's concern.
"Ah, well, I've filled your cup here with the finest tea I have available. Tell me what you think. But be careful - it's a bit hot," he warned.
"Isn't tea supposed to be hot?" Accelerator said with a blank face.
"Haha, yes, I suppose so," Iroh said with a hearty chuckle.
Accelerator found nothing particularly funny about his comment, but gratefully accepted the tea and carefully held it in his hands.
Once again, he wasn't really a tea person; usually, he's used to downing coffee, commonly black and with no sugar whatsoever - he's partial to drinks with a much more bitter taste. Although the tea didn't quite compare to those, he was surprised that it still seemed to hold its own in the 'tasty' department. The flavor was subtle, but nevertheless….pleasant.
He looked over at Iroh and was surprised to find the man back in his seat, drinking his tea once again. Looking down at his own cup, Accelerator shrugged his shoulders and sighed as he brought it up to his lips once more. The two of them continued to sip their tea in silence.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Ba Sing Se:
Sokka and Katara sat across from one another at a table, engaged in a relatively mundane game that involved the trading of small, wooden tiles. Toph was splayed out to the side of them, her hands behind her head as she relaxed on the soft cushiony texture of the rug beneath her.
The game of tiles was quickly interrupted by the opening and closing of the front door. Aang excitedly walked in, approaching the two water tribe siblings as they played.
"Hey, I just got back from passing out the flyers to people. Has anyone come forward with information about Appa?" the airbender wondered.
He sounded eager to hear about any news as he absentmindedly leaned his staff against the wall beside the door after entering. He walked over to the table and sat down, staring at the game of tiles before him.
"It's only been a day," Katara noted, keeping her eyes situated on the tiles in her hands, "be patient. I'm sure someone will turn up soon."
Dejectedly, the avatar slumped down over the table, awkwardly placing his chin atop the gritty surface of the wood. He continued to watch the two play for a few more moments before a sudden knock at the door made him jump back up.
"Wow! You're right. Being patient really pays off," he celebrated as he ran to the door.
Katara and Sokka abandoned their game of tiles and followed Aang to answer the knock; Toph got up too, although she looked a bit annoyed by the sudden disturbance.
Opening the door, Aang's excitement was now replaced by confusion and a little bit of disappointment. There, just beyond the threshold, stood a smiling Joo Dee.
"Hello Aang, and Katara, and Sokka, and Toph," she greeted with a strange, almost robotic, tone.
Not waiting for anyone in particular to invite her in, the grinning assistant decided to let herself in and confidently entered into the house.
"What happened to you?" Sokka began, ignoring her rather rude intrusion, "Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?" he questioned.
A bit taken aback by the absurdity of his question, Joo Dee couldn't help but laugh a little, "What? Jail? Of course not. The Dai Li are the protectors of our cultural heritage."
"But you disappeared at the Earth King's party," Toph reminded her.
"I simply took a short vacation to Lake Laogai. Out in the country; it was quite relaxing," The woman responded with an even tone.
Sokka stared at her with a suspecting gaze as she spoke.
"But, then they replaced you with another woman who also said her name was Joo Dee," Katara said.
"But….I'm Joo Dee," the woman responded with a humble smile.
Realizing they wouldn't get anywhere with this conversation, Aang decided to change the topic.
"Why are you here?" he asked seriously.
Almost as if remembering why she came, Joo Dee reached into the loose sleeve of her robe and pulled out one of the papers that Aang had distributed throughout the city.
"Dropping flyers and putting up posters isn't permitted within the city," she informed, "not without proper clearance."
"We can't wait around to get permission for everything," Sokka explained.
"You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to continue putting up posters," Joo Dee reiterated; this time, her smile took on a much more ominous feel.
Just then, a furious Aang jumped in front of her and began to yell, "We don't care about the rules, and we're not asking permission!" Joo Dee took a step back, obviously a bit frightened by the avatar's sudden outburst.
"We're finding Oppa on our own, and you should just stay out of our way!" he continued before backing her out and fully shutting the door in her face.
"That may come back to bite us in the blubber," Sokka stated.
"I don't care," Aang quickly retorted, "From now on, we'll do everything we can to find Oppa."
"Yeah! Let's break some rules!" Toph exclaimed, before effortlessly thrusting her hands toward the nearest wall, totally demolishing it.
The four teens, then walked out through the front door (despite the massive 'exit' that Toph had just made).
Unbeknownst to them, however, their every movement was being watched; across the street, hiding atop the roof of a nearby house, two Dai Li agents stealthily snuck back behind the building and slunk back into the darkness.
End of Chapter 29
Author's Note: Hey guys, how's it going? I hope you guys had a great Halloween (or at least a decent one). I didn't wear any costume whatsoever, so I'm afraid I don't have any cool stories to tell. But, I do have a question for you all:
If you could dress up (or just literally be) any character from Avatar: the last airbender or A Certain Magical Index, which character would you be?
I expect to see hundreds of comments answering this simple question.
P.S: I will secretly judge all of you depending on what characters you pick.
Edit (re-uploaded): Hey everyone, I just came back into the story to fix a few things - most notably, the small issue of saying that Accelerator liked to drink 'sweet' things, which is not true; I changed the story from that to saying he enjoys 'bitter' tasting liquids, like black coffee. I'm thankful some people told me about it in the comments; I would much prefer to change this sort of thing sooner rather than later. Thanks!
If there are any other issues like this, please let me know.