Chapter 18: Detonation
Miyani had only just began to wrap her mind around the idea of Sen being the Avatar when the man himself came bolting into the cavern. He was breathing heavily, looking around in a panic. The moment Sen spotted her, he dashed over to her side.
"You have to go," he gasped. "Leave! The Energybender's men, they're here!"
He was a bit too worn out and afraid to properly articulate himself, but Miyani certainly got the picture.
"On the island? Are they at the cave?"
"No, you still have time," Sen said. He was being as abrupt as possible. "Lost in the fog. Should be a while. But you have to go now!"
"But where are they right now? Can we get to the-"
"Not we, you. They're here for me. I can handle them."
Sen was not going to let anyone else in the line of fire. The Energybender's men were here for him, not Miyani. There was no reason to get her involved. It would only end in her getting hurt.
"Are you sure?" Miyani asked.
"Yeah, I can handle it. It's just a few," Sen lied. He had counted at least three dozen, and there were probably many more. That wasn't Miyani's problem, though. If she knew about the huge force amassing on the island, she might insist on staying. Sen needed her out of the way.
"Sen, if there's not that many, I can help, I'm not completely-"
"I know, I know," Sen said. Miyani was probably going to try and speak in defense of her firebending skills, but they both knew she couldn't really hold her own in a fight. Sen grabbed her bandaged shoulder and looked her in the eyes.
"I need you to be safe more than I need your help," Sen said. "I can't lose another friend, Miyani."
Sen forced himself to smile despite the stressful situation he was in. Miyani found the grin oddly reassuring. It would take more than that to make her stop worrying, but he did seem certain that he could win the battle he was facing. Miyani held on to that hope.
"I should get, well, Hayao and the other monks, they should get out of the way as well."
"Right, do that," Sen said. "I think I can take the fight to the other end of the island…I'm going to go."
"Sen, just-"
Sen waited for Miyani to finish. They were running low on time, but if she had something to say he wanted to hear it. She ran a nervous finger along her bandages.
"Just be careful," She finally said, releasing her bandages. "And good luck."
"I don't need luck," Sen said. "I'm the Avatar."
He couldn't waste any more time. Leaving her on that hopeful note, Sen charged back towards the enemy. As he approached, he slowed his pace, quieting his footsteps and slowly creeping in, observing them from a distance.
They were only visible as a blank mass of shadowy figures in the fog, but Sen had other ways to see. Through the ground he could feel a horde of footsteps; sixty-five pairs of feet stomped across the volcanic stone. They were in loose formations; someone was trying to keep order, but the fog was blinding them and making them wander aimlessly. Some of them were heading for the cave entrance.
Sen crept up the slope of the volcanic mountain a little. He had to do something to drive them the other way. He didn't want to expose himself quite yet, though. He still had more to learn about the enemy.
Sen's seismic sense was disturbed slightly by the presence of a lava vein just below the volcano's rocky surface. That could probably help. Sen placed his palm flat against the stone and felt his way through the earth, finding how much rock was between the lava and the open air. After a moment, Sen slammed his palm against the ground.
A small hole opened up, and lava poured out, hissing loudly as the molten stone touched the open air. The figure at the head of the search party turned rapidly toward the sudden noise, situated just a few feet from Sen's hiding place.
The fog glowed with a cold blue light as a bolt of lightning crackled through the air, striking near the site of Sen's distraction. Sen crept backwards rapidly. He'd never fought a lightning bender before. That was one more problem to face.
"It was just the lava, boss," One of the soldiers grunted.
"I'm aware," the lightning bender shouted. "But you can't be too careful. This island has too much cover. The Avatar could be hiding anywhere."
Sen nodded to himself. The rock he was hiding behind right now wasn't even that big. If it weren't for the fog, Sen would be easily visible.
"If you airbenders could actually do something about the fog, this would be easy," A woman complained loudly. Her voice echoed slightly. Sen listened to the echoes. If she were speaking much louder, it would be almost impossible to tell which direction her voice was coming from.
"Look, it's too thick, right," Someone grunted in response. "We push it away, and more just comes from above. There's nothing we can do about the fog."
That was exactly what Sen needed to hear. He could see his way through the fog thanks to his extrasensory abilities, but they could not. That could be the advantage that won him this fight.
"You never should have come here," Sen shouted. His voice bounced off of thick stone, making it impossible to track. The Energybender's soldiers looked around in a panic. All but one.
"Avatar, good to hear from you," The leader began, clearly unimpressed by the echoing shouts. "You can call me the Harrier. I'd like to speak to you."
"You don't have anything to say worth hearing," Sen shouted back. He moved to the east, slightly further from the cave. When this fight started, he wanted it to start as far away from Miyani as possible.
"Well that's just rude," Harrier called back. "I've come all this way, and fought so hard, and you won't even talk to me?"
Sen didn't respond. He was trying to get himself in a good position. He could start off with a devastating attack, if only he was in the right place.
"You should know your friends are all safe," Harrier said. He wanted to get this off on the right foot. If he had his way, this would be a negotiation, not a brawl. They'd done enough fighting today. "Some of them are burned and bruised, but they're all right. All of them."
Sen paused. There was something strange in the Harrier's tone. He knew something Sen didn't.
"If you keep fighting, we may have to hurt one of them. I can't say for certain which one. Suda, maybe, or Ada."
The Harrier paused. The Avatar didn't respond. Time to bring out the ace up his sleeve.
"Maybe even Hanjo."
Sen's breathing stopped for a just a moment. He focused forward. The Harrier's heartbeat was steady, his Sound chakra was flowing fine. He was telling the truth.
Hanjo was alive.
"We had no reason to hurt him until now," The Harrier continued. "That might change today. You can surrender now, and he'll go free. If not…"
Sen turned away from the horde of enemies, and rested against a block of stone. Hanjo was alive. He had to think. He'd spent so much time thinking about this, hoping for it, but he still didn't know what to say. Losing Hanjo had changed everything, it had been the worst mistake he'd ever made.
No. Not a mistake. It had been Hanjo's choice. The right choice. Without Hanjo's sacrifice, Sen's journey might have ended then and there in Tunuk Bay. Sen was alive today because of what Hanjo had done. Hanjo had made that choice once; Sen could certainly make it a second time, even if it meant losing Hanjo all over again.
With a loud roar, Sen rolled out of cover and slammed his fists against the ground. The island stone began to crack and crumble under his blow, exposing the massive pit of lava that waited just below. The foggy air boiled with a sudden upsurge of heat, and the Energybender's men were forced backwards.
Sen seized the moment of surprise he had had created and unleashed on his enemy. Falling stones and lances of fire roared through the air and crashed into his enemies, forcing them to the ground. Those that fell were imprisoned in bonds of stone as they hit the ground, preventing them from rising or retaliating again. This, combined with the sudden rush of lava, managed to disable many of the Energybender's men, though not all, and not for long. Once they realized that the lava was no longer advancing, many found a way to retaliate. Sen was forced back into cover by the onslaught.
With Sen back in hiding and the Energybender troops in disarray, they seemed to be right back where they had started. Sen moved cautiously through the fog.
"I'm sure Hanjo will be glad to know you chose to kill him twice," The Harrier shouted. This battle could be won in the mind just as easily as through violence. "We'll be sure to tell him what you've done before he dies."
"Only if you make it off this island," Sen retorted.
Sending up a wall of flame on their east flank as a distraction, Sen charged out from their western side and attacked with flying stones. As they all looked towards the sudden surge of fire, Sen struck and managed to incapacitate a few more of the soldiers. Their shouts and cries attracted attention, though, and Sen was forced back into the fog.
Sen took cover again and waited. He had to keep them on their toes. He could only ambush them so many ways, and he wasn't taking out enough soldiers when he attacked. They would catch on to his tricks eventually.
"Our Avatar thinks he can still hide in the shadows," Harrier said. "Tear the island apart. Give him nowhere to hide."
The Imperfects were all too happy to oblige. They had been longing for some good old-fashioned indiscriminate destruction. Huel gripped the earth and raised one of the massive stones that were his trademark. Sen saw the rising shadow and retreated from the massive blow. The stone collided with the earth in a meteoric impact that shook the entire island.
Miyani could feel the earth move from her place in the cavern. She was beginning to think that Sen had not been entirely honest about how easy his fight would be. The monks that inhabited this place had almost all fled already. The only one left was Hayao. Miyani steeled her nerves and entered the chamber.
Sen nearly slipped and fell as the earth quaked. Any such misstep could be disastrous in this situation. He was the only one he could count on right now. So far as he knew there would be no rescue, no cavalry coming over the hill. If the Energybender's men had made it this far, it most likely meant that Suda and Ada had no way to reach him. He was on his own, so he had to make every step count.
A wave of water lapped at his feet, just barely missing Sen as it crawled up the side of the mountain. He glanced over his shoulder. They didn't seem to know he was there. They were attacking indiscriminately now, trying to cover as much ground as possible. Sen crawled a bit further up and avoided a sudden hailstorm of small rocks falling from the sky.
"Keep pushing," The Harrier said quietly. He wanted to make sure the Avatar wouldn't be overhearing anything. "Force him upwards."
They would never get anything done in the fog. They had to force the Avatar up the mountain slope, towards the caldera, where the fog thinned and eventually vanished. In the open air they had the advantage of sheer numbers, far more than a half-trained Avatar could hope to contend with.
Sen began to feel the pressure as more and more attacks began to strike just below his heels. He tried to move to the side, but the enemy forces had spread themselves to cover a wide area. If he moved straight sideways he would be caught up in the storm of attacks. He knew that moving upwards was a bad idea, but it was his only option. He had more tricks than they knew about anyway. Even if he lost the fog, he wouldn't be completely helpless.
Miyani could feel the earth shake as stone and water and fire rained down on the mountainside. The volcano was shuddering under the brutal onslaught. She feared for what would become of Sen, if the enemy could do this much damage to a mountain. Sen could not be her only concern at the moment, however. There were others at risk.
"You need to move," She told Hayao. She was not expecting much from the robed master. He had never moved in all the years Miyani had seen him. Maybe he couldn't move. It didn't matter. She still had to warn him.
"Why?"
At least he was talking, Miyani thought. There had been a time where she'd wanted more than anything to hear him speak, but that time was long past.
"Sen's enemies are here," Miyani informed him. She had the uncanny feeling that he already knew. The shaking earth was unmistakable, at least.
"Sen's enemies are not my enemies," Hayao said. "I have nothing to fear."
"His enemies will use people to-"
"To instill fear in him, yes. Cowards are always quick to try and make others afraid. I doubt it will matter to Sen. After all I've done, I don't think he's very fond of me."
Miyani actually couldn't argue that. Sen obviously wouldn't be happy to see anyone come to harm, but Hayao would not bother him less than others. He did not like being manipulated, and Hayao had done a lot of that.
"The one he's most worried about is you," Hayao said to Miyani. "And we both know that you are in no danger."
Hayao's skull-mask observed her with cold black eyes. Miyani tried to step to the side, but the empty eyes seemed to follow her, even though Hayao did not turn his head. She toyed with the bandages around her wrists.
"I know. Sen can win-"
"Your feigned ignorance does you no favors. You and I both know what you are. But, I wonder, does he?"
Miyani said nothing, and that told Hayao everything.
"Hmm. How lopsided friendships can be. He trusts you, and yet you do not-"
"Shut up!"
For once there was real anger on Miyani's face. Hayao had never been so happy to be interrupted. He was finally making progress.
"He doesn't need to know," Miyani countered. "It's different for me! I'm not like him."
"Do you really think you're so different? That he does not know what it is like to grow up alone, abused, forced to be afraid of his own identity because of others? Do you really think your struggle is that unique?"
"He's the Avatar," Miyani snapped. "There are people who love him. There are statues, parks, entire cities named after Avatar's. There's no statues for people like me! It's just death, and fear, and-"
Miyani paused and wrapped her arms around herself. She sank to the floor sadly. Hayao felt pity for her. Even after all this time, all her courage, she had not completely shaken off the fear that had been forced upon her.
"You know you are not what they say you are, Miyani. Why do you let their fear rule you?"
"I don't want people to hate me," Miyani said. "Not anyone. And especially not him."
Miyani looked at her hands. Her palms were hidden, as always, by the snow-white bandages. She had almost forgotten what her hands looked like by now. She'd been hiding for so long. She looked up at Hayao.
"You've spent far too long asking yourselves what others think you should do," Hayao said. "Do not concern yourself with my thoughts, or Sen's or anyone else's. We do not define who you are. It is time for you to ask yourself who you are, and what you want."
Miyani stayed silent for longer than Hayao would like, quietly watching the flickering light of the candles. Even after all this, there was no certainty that she would make the right choice, and she would not get a second chance. She had spent far too long hiding already. There could be no happy ending with her living in the shadows. She had so much more potential.
The earth above shook. Sen's battle continued. Hayao did not know if it was one the Avatar could win alone. He needed more power. He needed Miyani.
"How do I know he'll understand?"
"You cannot know," Hayao said. "You can only trust."
The cavern trembled, and Miyani recalled the danger Sen faced. The danger he was facing for her sake. He could have easily run away, but he stayed to fight, because he believed in protecting her, and the rest of the world. He had every reason to fear the Energybender. He had been raised terrified of the Avatar, and now he embraced his identity without hesitation. Miyani could not live with herself if she could not do the same.
Hayao's heart swelled with pride as Miyani rose. She went slowly, but inevitably, to her destiny. She had set her course. There was no going back.
Sen also found himself unable to turn back, but in a far less philosophical sense. He was quite literally being prevented from turning around by a large wall of fire at his heels. The firebenders among the Energybender's soldiers had joined forces to create a large wall of flame pushing up the hill. Sen sprinted uphill, barely keeping ahead of the pressing inferno.
The fog was getting thinner now, and Sen knew he was dangerously close to the summit. The volcanic caldera at the peak would cost him one advantage, but gain him another. While the lava chambers near the base of the mountain made for a few good tricks, solid stone had its advantages as well.
A strong wind blew by, and Sen could see the fog beginning to strip away. Soon they would be in the open air. Hopefully the wall of flame behind him would keep him out of his enemies line of sight long enough to get cover.
Sen heard an all too familiar crackling noise. Acting on instinct, Sen lunged forward.
He was just slightly faster than the Harrier's attempt to correct his aim, and the bolt of lightning was just barely off course. Sen avoided taking the entire hit, but several arcing currents crossed path with his left leg. Sen felt intense pain, followed by a pervasive numbness throughout his entire lower body. He could barely get his legs to work. He stumbled forward slightly, then fell forward.
The Harrier smiled to himself. He had expected the Avatar to try and use the wall of fire as cover. By placing himself just in front of it, he'd been able to see the Avatar as soon as the fog cleared. The attack had been purposefully weak; the Energybender didn't want the Avatar dead quite yet, after all, so the Harrier had restrained himself enough to merely paralyze Sen. The loss of sensation in his legs wasn't quite enough to stall the Avatar completely, though.
Sen pressed his palms against the ground and pushed upwards, dragging the earth beneath him upwards. It was slower going, but he still had a head start on the Harrier and his men. Watching angrily as the Avatar slid away, the Harrier called off their progressive assault and ordered a full pursuit of the Avatar. They nearly caught up to him when Sen reached the lip of the caldera. Seeing little other option for a speedy descent, Sen simply rolled over the side and plummeted down the slope. Harrier and the Imperfects were almost amused by the sight of the Avatar rolling down the hill.
With his undignified descent completed, Sen found himself a bit battered but overall none the worse for wear. Moving as quickly as his numbed legs would allow, Sen crawled to a large stone in the center of the crater and hid from sight. The Harrier kept a close eye on it.
"Half of you stay up here on the rim," he ordered. "Keep an eye on this entire valley. The rest of you are with me."
Thirty of the men fanned out over the rim of the caldera, while the remaining thirty, plus the Imperfects, followed Harrier into the center of the valley.
"We got him now," Duga grunted.
"I'll believe it when I've got the little snot in my hands," Paz growled. She was still very upset about Suda knocking her out earlier, and she wanted a little revenge.
"She's right," Harrier said, though he was loathe to agree with one of the Imperfects. "This isn't done until we deliver the Avatar to the Energybender."
"Child's play," Huel bellowed. He was one of the first to reach the stone Sen had hidden behind. "He's right behind here!"
Huel lifted the boulder, and there was not a single Avatar to be found. Huel sighed and dropped the stone on his own foot. The pain, if it reached his brain at all, did not seem to affect him.
"Alright, we have a missing Avatar," Harrier sighed. He had never expected this to be easy.
As he spoke, a bolt of fire came dangerously close to his head. The Harrier ducked low and turned towards the source. The Avatar had somehow snuck around and bunkered himself up behind a hastily constructed barricade. He thought he was safe behind the wall he'd made. How cute.
"Paz, do your thing," Harrier commanded. Paz was all too happy to oblige. Sen saw the attack coming and crouched down as fireballs sailed overhead. His sense of security did not last long. The fireballs quickly swerved around and struck Sen in the back. Sen fell forward as the fire burned through his shirt and scorched his skin.
The Harrier's men wasted no time seizing their advantage. Sen's barricade was swiftly torn apart. Sen used his bending to retaliate as best he could, to give himself more cover, but it was nearly impossible. The enemy outnumbered him, and even if he hit one, there were dozens more still attacking him. A sharp stone pelted him in the shoulder, and he turned away from the enemies, recoiling in pain.
This wasn't working. He couldn't stand and fight. Sen kicked up a wall of stone to hide himself from view. The Energybender's men tore it down, and once again found that the Avatar had vanished. The Harrier stepped forward to examine the ground where the Avatar had once been.
A moment just like this would prove to be where the deceased bandit Ronan might have left a major mark on history. Had Harrier interrogated the bandit more thoroughly, he would have learned a secret which no one else outside the Avatar's closest allies knew; Sen was very good at tunneling.
Buried underneath the soil, Sen crawled his way to relative safety. He needed time to rest and plan. A straight-out brawl would never work out. He needed some kind of plan. Maybe he could just stall for backup. Suda and Ada had to know he would be here; they would arrive eventually. It was only a question of how long. Maybe that would be the way to go. Sen sighed and stopped crawling. He needed to rest. He had bitten off more than he could chew. There were dozens of them, and he was just a half-trained Avatar.
He could feel the entire island thrumming beneath him. Lava chambers and caverns and solid rock stretched out beneath him for miles. He couldn't feel Hayao's cavern from this far above. He wondered if Miyani had gotten to safety yet.
Sen sighed. There was only one way for him to guarantee her safety. He had to win this fight. He steeled his resolve. This fight was not a mistake. It wasn't even a choice, not in the real sense. He was doing this because he had to. He had to win, for everyone's sake. His own, Hanjo's, Miyani's- everything rested on him winning, today and every day forward. Victories he would never accomplish hiding under rocks. Sen pulled himself upwards.
Attacking from below gave him an element of surprise that he certainly did not waste. He led his renewed attack by opening a massive chasm beneath the feet of his opponents. Some fell downwards, others clung to the walls of the newly created chasm, and others jumped to the side at the last minute. Sen lunged out of the ground and launched a quick volley of stone and fire, trying to disorient his opponents more than hurt them.
A cold crackling ran through the air, and Sen lunged to the side. This time he managed to avoid the lightning completely, but not the stones that followed it. The Harrier was not taking chances. Quantity over quality was the strategy now. He had all his troops on full attack, barraging the Avatar with attacks of every element. There was no room to dodge, no way to take cover. Sen raised a temporary shield of earth that was quickly battered into fragments by the barrage.
The Avatar returned to the shelter of the tunnels, but the Harrier was prepared for him now. He had tipped his hand just a moment too soon.
"Huel! Dig him up!"
The lumbering earthbender planted his feet and raised up a massive chunk of the caldera's surface. Sen felt a moment too late as the earth began to rise. He slid out of his tunnel just to land open and exposed on the surface. Spotting his prey, Huel began to drop the stone forward. Sen crawled away as rock collided with rock and burst into sharp splinters of stone. Sen felt jagged rocks collide with his skin as the stones shattered.
Sen kept his forward movement going. The caldera was not the place for this battle. The enemy could manipulate stone, but they could do nothing about fog. Sen charged for the rim of the volcanic crater. He could feel Harrier's men in pursuit, a horde of pounding footsteps behind him. There was a single pair of footsteps in front as well. Had someone flanked him?
No. The figure ahead became clearer as he got closer. He would know that heartbeat anywhere.
Sen's charge to safety came to a dead halt as Miyani stepped over the rim of the caldera. She walked down the stone slope with a cold determination to her every step.
The Harrier was not happy at all to see her. The waterbender girl had told him of the scarred girl that was occasionally seen with the Avatar, but he had been hoping to avoid hurting too many bystanders. The Avatar was nearly in his grasp now, though. Whatever guilt he might feel later was irrelevant anyway. He could not allow anything to slow him down. With that thought in mind, Harrier held his fingertips to his shoulder.
"Miyani!"
Sen ran towards her, hoping to push her out of the way, or get between her and the lightning if he had to. He actually would have succeeded, but Miyani herself interfered. She pushed Sen aside, out of the way, and stepped forward, holding her right fist out as if she meant to catch the lightning.
The Harrier loosed his deadly attack, and the surge of electrical power raced forward to meet Miyani's outstretched hand. The blue sparks hit her palm and the bandages wrapped around her hand burst into flames immediately as the intense voltage passed through the fabric and into her skin. Sen had a horrifyingly clear view as the lethal energy surged through her body.
Yet she stood. The lightning ran its course through her veins and Miyani remained standing. She was breathing heavily, and it was clear that the lightning had caused her no small amount of pain, but she was still standing. As the pain began to fade, she actually smiled. Miyani had been afraid of pain like that for so long. It seemed foolish now. Even the Harrier's lightning stung less than the pain of rejecting herself. She looked to a dumbfounded Sen.
"I'm tougher than I look," She explained.
The Harrier was speechless. That had not been a stunning blow; he had fully intended to end the girl's life. He'd seen people survive his lightning on occasion, some even kept fighting after, but he had never once seen anyone take the full brunt of his wrath and barely even flinch. Something was very wrong.
"I won't hold back next time, girl," He said, lying through his teeth. He needed to have fear on his side. "You should run while you can."
Miyani looked at her hand. The bandages had burned to ash, slightly singing her wrist. She examined the bare skin. She hadn't seen her own hands in so long. She began to unwrap the bandages on her left hand as well. Sen was confused. She had told him once that the bandages had covered deep, painful scars, but there were no such wounds. Though there were shallow scars on her hands, they seemed no different than those that marked the rest of her skin. What, then, had she been hiding under the bandages?
Miyani began to unwrap the bandages on her shoulder, and slowly she lost her patience. She was sick of the bandages. She would not hide behind them anymore. She had been using them as a mask for too long. She stopped unwrapping them and started tearing them, shredding the fabric on her shoulder into tatters.
"You want me to run?"
She dug her hands into the bandages wrapped around her forehead, taking a firm hold of the wrappings. There was a manic excitement in her eyes; she was close now, close to finally shedding the last obstacle to her true life.
"You're the ones who should be running!"
She tore the bandages to shreds, and the sight of her sent a deathly chill through her enemies. The Harrier gave a bellowing howl of terror, and the Energybender's soldiers ran for cover, hiding themselves in bunkers of stone as Miyani stood uncovered. What had once been the source of her fear was now the source of theirs, and it was a justified fear indeed. On her forehead was inscribed a blood-red, angular tattoo; the mark of a Combustion Bender.
Miyani took a single deep breath, and then unleashed.
A white blade of energy cut the sky in half, roaring like a dragon's rage as it split the air and burned the sky. It moved faster than lightning, driving forward with the weight of an unstoppable power behind it. The beam impacted the stone hiding places of the cowering enemy and unfolded upon itself, blossoming like a flower of death in waves of fire and explosive fury. Solid walls of earth were shattered into dust, annihilated by the sheer destructive power at Miyani's command.
As quickly as it had been unleashed, the destructive blast vanished. The pounding shockwaves ceased and the burning fire drifted into ash and smoke on the breeze. Soon all that remained was a wide, blackened crater, and the scattered and broken remnants of what had once been a small army. The Harrier's forces were in complete disarray; those that had not been disabled by the explosion were paralyzed in fear.
Above the ruined battlefield, Miyani stood like a monolith, observing the destruction she had wrought. The jagged mark of the third eye burned on her forehead, and the bandages that had once concealed it now hung in tatters around her neck. This, combined with her imposing height, made her cut a terrifying figure to all those scattered beneath.
Their first instinct was to hide. The earthbenders called up thick walls of stone, trying to build a bunker against Miyani's attacks. They failed. Miyani struck again, piercing the air with a white-hot lance of energy. The burning spear impacted the bunkers and hiding places of her enemies, shattering them like a hammer shatters glass. The air was filled with fire and choking ash as the blast expanded and consumed all who tried to hide.
For those that remained, their next instinct was to run. Miyani watched them flee, and though she felt some small manner of satisfaction in their terror, she knew she could not allow them to escape. As fast as they ran, her wrath travelled faster. Fire-bursts cut off every avenue of escape, collapsing stone walls and turning the volcanic crater into an inescapable pit.
The Harrier clawed his way out of a pile of rubble, gasping for breath in the ashen air. He had lost track of all his forces. All his soldiers, even the Imperfects, had either been scattered or buried by the furious explosive barrage. Even now he could hear the flaming bursts and feel the shockwaves shake the mountainside.
All his planning, all his courage, all his strength, had been for nothing. This battle had been lost before it had even begun. They had no power that could compare with the wrath of a combustion bender. He could see her now, through the air that was filled with fire and dust. He watched as her head turned, and all three eyes came to focus on the Harrier.
One final beam of white light cut the sky, impacting the ground a few yards in front of the Harrier. As the blast expanded outwards, the Harrier realized she wasn't even landing direct hits. She was pulling her punches, and it was still enough to decimate a small army.
The world turned white as the shockwave sent Harrier flying through the air, and then it all faded to black.
He felt himself shaking, and the Harrier suddenly jolted back to consciousness. His first instinct was to strike out at something, but his hands were held in place, as were his legs. He gradually came to his sense as he realized that he was completely restrained. He wasn't going to be able to move in the slightest. He could hear grunts and groans around him that said many of his soldiers were in the same situation.
"I suppose this is where the interrogation happens," He mumbled. He didn't need to look around to know that the Avatar and the combustion bender were nearby.
"I'll start by asking nicely, of course," Sen said. He wasn't interested in hurting anyone more than they'd already been hurt.
"How nice of you," Harrier said sarcastically. He coughed up a lungful of ash, and then continued. "Are my men alright?"
"I wouldn't say they're alright," Sen said, looking around at the broken soldiers. "But they're all alive."
Many of them had severe burns, broken bones, and other wounds, but nobody was in any real danger. Miyani had tried to restrain herself as much as possible, but explosions were a dangerous thing, difficult to control. Miyani felt little guilt over it all. These men had tried to hurt Sen; they deserved every burn and broken bone they got.
The Harrier sighed. He had really been hoping that the Imperfects could've died. With that out of the way, Harrier got down to business.
"I can't tell you anything about your friend," He began. "I don't remember where he is."
Sen leaned forward. So far as he could tell, The Harrier was telling the truth. Something seemed wrong, though. There was a strange shadow in his face.
"You don't know anything?"
"I told you," The Harrier said, almost mockingly. "I don't remember."
Sen's eyes narrowed. He had the strangest feeling that there was something else at work here. It wasn't as if the Harrier could forget things on purpose. Still, Sen had his suspicions. He decided to leave them for another time. Hanjo was the only thing that interested him. That wouldn't stop the Harrier from trying to say more, though.
"Even if I did know it wouldn't matter," Harrier taunted. "You can't save him."
Sen was hardly even paying attention. He had been expecting the Harrier to start a monologue. He had more important things on his mind anyway. Sen took a step away from the Harrier and looked over Miyani. She stared right back. Sen looked deeply into the red eye on her forehead, and then shrugged.
"I think we have a lot talk about."
"I think you're right."
"Go on, talk to your pet monster," The Harrier shouted. Sen turned an angry eye towards the captured lightning bender. "It can't save you from-"
The Harrier flinched as Sen raised his hand. Whatever Sen intended to do never got done, however. Miyani caught his hand and gently lowered his fist back to his side.
Then she stepped forward and punched the Harrier in the face herself.
"Now," She said, rubbing her sore knuckles. "Where were we?"