Chapter 15: Hanjo's Last Lie

Sen and the rest of them were having an easy time dealing with the fact that they'd be leaving the United Earth Kingdom today. Sen, Hanjo, and Suda were leaving behind a lifetime of bad memories; they hardly even cared that they would be leaving their homeland for a long time. Ada had it a little harder. She had family in Zaofu, and Canto as well. She stared forlornly in the direction of Zaofu. The sun was rising from that direction, which should have been beautiful, but she couldn't really appreciate it.

The other three were dealing with a last checkup on their inventory before they left. They'd need to be well-equipped in the Fire Nation.

"Alright, Sen, you got your fancy rocks," Suda asked.

"Got them here," Sen said, patting a pouch on his belt. "Hanjo, you got my spare glasses?"

"In my pocket, where I left them."

"You know we could do this a lot faster if you were helping, Ada."

"Let her be," Hanjo said. "Though you could tell us about that secret package of yours now."

"It's fine," Ada said. She was staring into distance for entirely different reasons now.

Something came into view in the morning sky. A black spot, moving too slowly to be a bird. Ada stood up in sudden panic. It was a zeppelin. She called for the attention of her allies and pointed out the approaching zeppelin, spreading the hectic panic to them as well. There were very few reasons a zeppelin would be approaching Tunuk Bay. Perhaps they were jumping to conclusions, but all four of them had only one thought in their minds; Energybender.

They had hoped for more time. They had spent nearly a day and a half in Tunuk Bay, waiting for the smugglers to get ready. It was too much. Zeppelins were slow-moving, but the Energybender's forces were travelling by armored car, which would likely arrive in the city much sooner. The townspeople had yet to realize the destruction that was coming their way. Sen looked hopelessly at the innocent people going about their lives.

"Shouldn't we warn them? If the Energybender finds out-"

"With any luck we'll be gone long before the troops get here," Ada assured him. They hadn't seen much luck lately; she hoped that for once it would be on their side.

They found their way to the dock, to the pirate crew they had hired, and asked to leave as soon as possible. The captain assured them that they would be moving as soon as the crew was gathered together, which could take hours. Ada pressed him, and the captain brushed her off. He didn't see the urgency.

Sen felt a rumble in the ground, and heard screaming. He whipped his head around and saw smoke rising in the distance. His heart started to pound.

"Probably just some drunken brawling," The pirate captain said derisively.

There was the sound of further violence, and even more screaming. This wasn't any pirate brawl. This was a concerted attack. Pirates and smugglers took up arms and headed for the scene of the conflict. Sen watched them run towards the confrontation.

"They're going to fight."

"They're going to lose," Hanjo said. "The Energybender wiped out the White Lotus with just a handful of soldiers. These guys are just pirates."

"The four of us did fine," Sen said. "What if we stayed? We could help them fight him off. We could even win! If I could just go into the Avatar State, I could –"

"We're not taking that risk," Suda said. "I promised to protect you, and I am not going to let you die just to help a couple pirates."

"Is your promise to a mover star more important than people's lives?"

Hanjo slapped Sen on the back of the head. He took his friend by the shoulder and tried to make him see reason.

"We are not going to fight this battle," Hanjo said, pointing towards the rapidly approaching zeppelin. "If the Energybender weren't here, I'd be all for running a defense, but all Howler has to do is wave his hands and suddenly all of our bending is gone. I know you don't want to repeat what happened to Shen's Post, but we cannot win this fight, pirates or no pirates."

Sen looked at the ground. Hanjo assumed he had made him understand.

In the distance, he could hear the sound of stone clashing with stone, and screaming. There was a screech of breaking metal as a vehicle came to a violent halt.

"The footsoldiers are here," Suda said grimly. "They're getting closer."

Ada groaned in frustration. The captain assured her that his men would all be here soon, but they were cutting it too close. The Energybender's forces would advance on them before they could depart. They couldn't risk the boat being damaged.

"Some of these people are probably veterans of the Seventh Kingdom uprising," She mumbled to herself. "They might put up a good enough fight to buy us some time."

"Can we risk it?"

Hanjo looked around at them all. Nobody had any clear idea of what to do. Hanjo was just slightly better at thinking on his feet.

"The way I see it, the Energybender will be aboard the zeppelin. As we long as we leave before it gets here...It'll be okay for us to fight."

Sen nodded firmly and flexed his arms. He was ready to finally make some kind of stand against his enemies.

"Sen," Ada said intensely. "Promise me you'll be back before the zeppelin gets too close."

"We'll leave when the Energybender gets closer, I promise," Sen said.

"I get it," Hanjo said. "You two know the pirates better. Me and Sen will handle it on our own."

Sen and Hanjo ran for the scene of the battle, leaving Suda and Ada to gather the smuggler crew for their hasty departure. The two arrived at the scene of the battle, ready to strike. The pirate forces had met Howler's first wave in a gallant charge that had been torn to pieces in seconds. Smugglers and cutthroats weren't a match for Howler's troops. They were outnumbered and outgunned already, and most of the pirate line had fallen apart.

With a wave of his hands and a heavy push, Sen sent a massive boulder sweeping through the front lines of Howler's forces. It didn't do much damage, but it forced the enemy back, giving the pirates time to regroup.

The pirates didn't question any form of help, and Hanjo and Sen seamlessly integrated themselves into the front line. They joined efforts with the other earthbenders to provide a defensive line while the other benders went on the offensive. Sen and Hanjo kept their portion of the line safe, but the other earthbenders were more amateurish, and pirates began to get picked off one by one. It didn't help that the Energybender troops had more maneuverability thanks to their airbenders. Sen had no idea how Howler had recruited so many airbenders to his cause. The new Air Nation was very careful in not losing track of their people.

Sen heard screaming and the sounds of violence from a different part of town. All the pirates had gathered here, but the civilians had gone somewhere else. If the Energybender's forces were branching out, then innocent people were in danger.

"Hanjo! There's people in trouble!"

"Go deal with it then! I'll keep things safe here."

"When the zeppelin gets too close, I'm going back to the boat, alright?"

"I heard you! The Avatar's gotta help people, right?"

Sen dashed off to the defense of the innocent, as Avatars were wont to do, leaving Hanjo to handle the more violent scenario at hand. With Sen gone their defensive line had to struggle even harder to keep the pirates safe. The defense shrunk further and further, until only those immediately surrounding Hanjo were left, barely enough to fend off the Energybender's forces for a few minutes.

Sen ran through the alleyways towards the sound of violence. His pounding footsteps called Gun from the depths, and the two of them headed towards the disturbance. Turning around one last corner, he found a horde of fleeing civilians and ran the opposite direction. The sight of the young badgermole frightened the crowd even further and caused them to part, so Sen had no problem running against the crowd.

Reaching the end of the flowing river of civilians, Sen saw the source of the trouble. The usual squadron of four energybender troops had broken off from the main group to harass civilians. They were targeting children around Sen's age mostly.

Airbenders were typically the hardest to deal with, so Sen aimed for that one first. He stomped his foot to raise a boulder from the ground, then kicked it towards the airbenders head. Caught off guard, the soldier had no time to defend himself, and the attack took him out of the fight. That left three, and Sen had used up one of his two opportunities to surprise them. The second opportunity was Gun. With a fierce growl, Gun dove out of the ground and pulled the enemy firebender back down with him, leaving little but his head and shoulders above the surface of the soil.

Sen attacked the earthbender before he had a chance to free his companion, striking towards his feet to throw him off balance. Gun tunneled beneath the waterbender, shaking the ground beneath him and preventing him from attacking. With a temporary opening, Sen drew his metal-plated stones and sent them spinning through the air, launching towards the earthbenders head. The waterbender raised a wall of ice, but the heavy metal crashed right through the ice and collided with the earthbenders face with a satisfying thud. The waterbender retaliated with a long tendril of water, striking Sen in the chest and knocking him to the ground.

Sensing that his master had been injured, Gun emerged from the ground and grabbed the leg of the soldier with his mouth. With a heavy shake of his head and a scream from the waterbender, Gun tossed his foe into the air, causing him to collide heavily with a wall and slumping to the ground unconscious. Sen breathlessly pulled himself off the ground, congratulated Gun on a job well done and checked the sky. The zeppelin was getting dangerously close. He decided it was time to head for the docks.

Back among the rapidly shrinking pirate force, Hanjo was coming to the same conclusion. It wouldn't be more than half an hour before Howler arrived. The pirates that were left were already talking about making a full retreat, so it wouldn't be hard to leave the group behind and rejoin Sen at the docks. One more vehicle of the Energybender's troops arrived, and Hanjo decided it would be his last. A few rocks tossed and he'd be home free.

The door opened, and Hanjo immediately regretted his decision. The ones in this jeep weren't dressed like the generic footsoldiers. The first to emerge wore dark blue, and seemed to be wearing a necklace of bird skulls. The second had a massive length of metal chain coiled around his arms and waist. Clearly these were some kind of elite troops. Hanjo turned his back to beat an immediate and hasty retreat.

He made it a few steps and the world behind him exploded. He couldn't tell if it was fire or air causing the sudden shockwave, but he was torn off his feet and launched into the wall of a building. He slid to the ground. Sen's spare glasses fell out of his pocket and clattered to the ground.

He stayed on the ground for a second, trying to clear his head. Whatever had exploded had left his ears ringing with a high-pitched note. He pulled himself to his feet and tried to orient himself towards the docks. The ringing in his ears wouldn't stop. In fact, it just kept getting louder.

Hanjo grabbed the glasses, always thinking of Sen, and stood upright. He looked back at the battlefield. The pirate line had completely collapsed. Only a few people were left standing. There was something wrong with them. Their bodies were shaking.

The ringing in his ears reached a crescendo, and he realized it wasn't a ringing. It was howling.

The last of the pirates collapsed, and their falling bodies revealed the stoic face of the Energybender. He slowly turned his head to Hanjo. The grey eyes of the enemy bored into Hanjo as soon as they saw him.

Everything had gone wrong. Howler wasn't in the zeppelin at all. He was here, now, before Sen was ready, and the Avatar was in his reach. Hanjo had even encouraged him to stay in town, and even to go off on his own. Everything had gone wrong.

They'd had a good run, at least. He and Sen had made it pretty far. Hanjo had managed to make things work for quite a while, despite everything. In those early days, before Ada and Suda, Hanjo's talent for lying had gotten them all the way to Zaofu. It hadn't been very useful up until now though. Now, Hanjo could tell one more lie.

Hanjo grabbed the glasses that had fallen on the ground and put them on. Hanjo rose, stepped forward, and shambled to the middle of the street. The Energybender caught sight of him and followed his progress with cold grey eyes.

"Avatar," he hissed. With the glasses on his face, Hanjo looked enough like Sen to fool anyone unfamiliar with him. Hopefully it would be enough.

Hanjo didn't waste time with conversation. Sen would never leave him behind willingly. He'd argue and he'd scream with Ada and Suda, but eventually he would have to get on that boat, whether the other two convinced him or forced him. The only question was how long Hanjo could keep the Energybender occupied.

Sen found Suda and Ada at the docks, trying to convince the captain not to set off without Sen and Hanjo. The captain was happy to see Sen arrive, and immediately began preparing his ship to depart, despite the objections of Ada and Suda. Ada had tuned the ship's radio to the Energybender's radio frequency, and the crackling commands of the enemy troops only added to the level of noise.

"We aren't leaving without Hanjo," Ada said. The captain acted like he couldn't hear them.

"I already have your money," He said. "I leave with or without you, you have five minutes!"

Sen looked over his shoulder. Hanjo had to be coming. They'd arranged everything in advance, Hanjo was too smart not to be here.

"The Commander is on the field," the voice on the radio crackled. "Requesting backup. Energybender is requesting backup."

Sen turned towards the radio. It was shocking enough that Howler was on the field, before the zeppelin had landed, but what could he have encountered that he needed backup?

"Commander has engaged the Avatar," the crackling voice said. "Repeat; command has engaged the Avatar. All forces to central battleground."

The radio fell silent as all energybender forces converged on a single location. Sen didn't understand. He was the Avatar, he was right here, and the Energybender wasn't.

Hanjo wasn't.

Suda caught Sen just before he bolted, wrapping his arms around his chest and holding his arms in place. Sen screamed and flailed and pushed against Suda with all his might, but Suda was older and stronger, enough to keep Sen in place.

"We are not leaving Hanjo," Sen screamed. He managed to pull an arm free and began pounding on Suda, slamming his elbow into the wound on Suda's shoulder. Suda clenched his jaw and bore the pain. Ada grabbed Sen by the wrist and tried to calm him down.

"We don't have a choice!"

"You said we weren't going to leave without him! You said it yourself!"

There were tears in Sen's eyes now. His face was flushed bright red with anger, at Suda, at Ada, and at the world.

"I know," Ada said apologetically. She didn't like the idea of leaving Hanjo to the Energybender either, but they had no choice. "I'm sorry, Sen."

Sen screamed, and the earth around them tore itself to shreds. Pieces of the dock broke off and sank into the sea. Suda held him tighter in his arms, trying to hold his arms and legs in place to keep him from bending, but it didn't work. The tremor spread outwards, and a building next door collapsed. The pirate crew started to talk about leaving them all behind. They had to act.

"I'm sorry," Ada repeated one more time. She felt she could say it a thousand times and it wouldn't be enough. "Suda!"

With an angry, bellow Suda charged up the docking ramp with Sen in tow. As soon as he was aboard, Suda ripped a fragment of metal from the boats railing, wrapped it around Sen's right wrist, and fused the armband with the wall of the ship's cabin. Ada led Gun up the ramp and into the ships hold. Sen screamed at the retreating coastline as the pirate crew all too eagerly set off towards the Fire Nation.

Hanjo was surrounded on all sides, completely enclosed by the enemy, but they weren't attacking. They were biding their time for some reason. The Energybender was staring him down, motionless and wordless. What were they waiting for?

Suddenly the Energybender shivered like a bug had crawled up his spine. The shadows crawled across the street as light shifted unnaturally. When his shivering fit had stopped, the Energybender stepped forward. Apparently it was finally time to move.

"You've been troublesome, Avatar," Howler began. "But your age is over. Surrender, and this change can happen peacefully."

"Tell me what you want," Hanjo said. "What's your plan?"

"For you there is only death," The Energybender said. "A regrettable circumstance. I have no desire to kill a child."

"You've been trying to get me killed since I was four," Hanjo shouted back. He had to play up the act, convince Howler he really was the Avatar. His appearance alone could only get him so far. It was tempting to admit that he wasn't the Avatar, to see if Howler would let him run away from all of this. To let him live. But he knew he couldn't. Sen needed him.

The Energybender didn't waste any more time on explanations. He attacked with a rush of air. So he could airbend too. It was a shame Hanjo would never get to tell Sen.

Sen had never made Hanjo feel like anything but part of the team. Sen had been the one who dragged him along on the journey when he was just a beat-up teenager with a few ideas. Sen had made him into something, someone, who really deserved to be at the Avatar's side. When all this had begun he'd been a liar and a thief. Now here he was, giving his life for the greater good. Sen would be proud.

Hanjo shook the ground beneath Howler's feet, trying to put him off balance. Sen had always put Hanjo forward as the man with the plan, the one in charge, the one who knew what he was doing. Hanjo might have given up a long time ago if not for Sen's trust. He'd been making things up as they went along, keeping secrets from Sen because he didn't actually know what he was doing, but never once had Sen done anything but trust him.

The Energybender never lost his stride, attacking Hanjo with another cyclone. He was knocked off his feet.

Hanjo picked himself up out of the dirt, trying to ignore the pain of the impact. This was going to be it, then. He had hoped, somehow, that he was going to prove a match for the Energybender, or that some cavalry would come charging over the nearest hill, but there was nothing. Just him. So he was going to do everything he could.

He pressed his hands into the dirt beneath him, sending shockwaves through the ground. The street cracked and crumbled. Sewer pipes beneath the street cracked open and stone collapsed into the empty space. The shockwaves spread, and glass windows on nearby building started to shatter. Hanjo slammed his fists against the ground again, and brick walls began to collapse. He raised his hands for one more strike.

A cyclone caught him from beneath and tore him away from the ground. The Energybender twisted his hands, maintaining the spiral of air, holding Hanjo in the air.

"You've done less than I expected," The Energybender admitted. He had always respected and feared the Avatars power, but this was a disgrace. "Do I not deserve the power of Raava? Show me what you can do!"

The Energybender thrust his hands forward, sending Hanjo flying into a wall. The cracked wall of the building collapsed under the impact, and Hanjo was sent tumbling down along with a hundred pounds of crumbling bricks.

"Three generations of my family died to prepare me for you!"

The Energybender caught Hanjo in another gust of wind and dragged him across the crumbling street. Jagged stones tore at his back, slicing through his skin.

"Is this all you are?"

He lifted Hanjo up again and slammed him down. Hanjo let out a low groan. He seemed to have struck a nerve.

"I guess your family died for nothing," Hanjo said weakly.

With a frustrated cry, the Energybender's winds tore Hanjo from the ground and slammed him into the wall headfirst. He picked up the supposed Avatar's limp body and observed his broken features. His fingers tightened around a neck that barely drew breath. He held the grip for a moment before relenting. He was tempted to use his Energybending on the spot, to test himself against the Avatar's spirit, but Raava was far too powerful for him to face alone.

"Not here, Raava," He whispered to the unconscious body.

Dragging Hanjo behind him, The Energybender returned to his zeppelin and departed. It would take more than he had to kill a spirit as powerful as Raava. The crew set a course for the Spirit World portal.

The first hour had been the worst. Sen hadn't stopped screaming. He cursed at them and threatened them and begged them to turn around until his voice had given out. Then he'd pulled at the metal bond holding him in place, clawing at it until his wrist and fingers bled. Only when he saw the Energybender's airship finally vanish over the horizon did he finally fall silent and motionless. When Suda had freed him of the metal restraint, Sen had wordlessly proceeded into the cargo hold and sat by Gun's side. He had hardly left since.

Ada had tried to check on him once, but found herself unable to face Sen. She had stayed in her quarters, crying when she felt like it, which was often, and rarely daring to talk to anyone but Suda. As Ada regained her composure in the later days, she began to ask the pirates questions about their destination, but she still spent most of her time secluded away.

Suda had the best of it, though that was not saying much. He still felt guilty for leaving Hanjo behind, and he'd shed his share of tears for the kids' fate, but he had known Hanjo for much less time, and he was more experienced with losing people he cared about. He got over his grief much more quickly thanks to that maturity. Ada often came to Suda to be consoled when she was at her worst, but Sen still said nothing.

Suda took it on himself to look in on Sen. He cautiously approached the morose Avatar. Gun was curled up on the cargo hold floor, and Sen was leaning against the badgermoles furry shoulder. Sen didn't react when Suda approached. Suda sat down by his side anyway. Gun shifted slightly, but didn't object. Gun could sense the pain they both felt.

"Your wrist alright?"

Suda didn't know where to start, so he started at the easiest problem. Sen had struggled against his restraint and sliced his wrist in several places. The wound had not begun to heal properly.

"That's going to get infected, Sen. Let me put a bandage on it."

Sen let out a low moan that barely managed to turn into a quiet, mournful chuckle.

"You're worried about my wrist," Sen moaned, with just a trace of sarcasm. Suda sighed.

"Sen, I got no idea what to say or do about all this. But I know how to wrap up your wrist."

Sen paused for a minute, then he held out his arm. Suda took a torn piece of cloth and wrapped the wound tightly.

They made port a day later. The pirates had been suspicious about the damage to their cargo hold, but since nothing had been too badly burned they were willing to drop the issue. They were still very happy to see Sen and company off the ship. They went ashore far from the main ports, on a small jetty of rock. Sen helped them unpack.

He'd been better in the last small piece of the journey. It was obvious that the loss of Hanjo still weighed heavily on his shoulders, but he was up and moving around, eating regularly, and having somewhat normal conversations with Suda and the crew. He still had a long way to go, as demonstrated by the fact he was avoiding Ada, but the worst of the grief was behind him.

A serpentine spirit flitted through the sky like a ribbon on the wind, vanishing over the horizon of the Fire Nation's black hills. Despite the remote location of their dock, a road stretched into the volcanic hills, leading towards civilization. Hopefully it would lead them forward towards a firebending master.

Their pirate crew waved a dismissive goodbye and abandoned them to whatever the Fire Nation had in store.

End of Book One