Intermission 4: Volition

"There's been no sign of either of them, sir," One of the emissaries of the new White Lotus said. "Our last trace of each says they were headed for the open seas."

"There's no way to track a man who's been on a boat more than a day," Detective Zas added. "We'll have to wait for them to make land."

Storms, shifting currents, and sea monsters could all create unpredictable delays for someone on the open seas. There was no way to say for certain when and where a ship would arrive.

"That could take days or weeks depending on their destination," Ko Rin said dismissively. "We have sufficient manpower. We must proceed without them."

The White Lotus had been hoping to locate Sen, and Miyani as well, before they went into action, but time was running out and there was no sign of the Avatar or the Combustion Bender. The White Lotus returning with the Avatar at the helm would have been a powerful rallying cry to start the war against the Energybender. As it was, the White Lotus would have to make do with what they had.

"what they had" was a force to be reckoned with. Ko Rin, Detective Zas, Bolin, and Master Jung had each taken a place around the central war table, a massive construct across which maps and diagrams were displayed. Ariak, Ada, Suda, and Whistler all had their own places at the right hand of one of the masters, and a myriad other allies had their backs.

It felt strange for them to be part of an army, especially an army that was supposed to be dead. Ko Rin had already explained how he had used his multiple connections and allies to rebuild the order in secret after its destruction, but it still felt strange to see them all here. For so long the small group of four had been the only real support the Avatar had. Now there was an entire army preparing to fly the banner of the Avatar.

Suda looked over his shoulder. Some of the faces in the crowd were familiar –a reminder that the Lotus had been watching over them the entire time- but most of them were strangers. There was an odd sense of reverence on the faces of the strangers whenever they looked at Suda. He realized quickly that to these people, he was the Avatar's right hand; a hero. It was odd to be idolized.

"We've had to delay for too long already," Ko Rin declared. "Our procrastination has cost us time and opportunities. We cannot allow another chance to go to waste."

"Things happen as they're meant to happen," Bolin said calmly. "We'll be fine."

Ko Rin gave Bolin a very stern look. The Spymaster of Zaofu had reorganized the White Lotus with a very specific plan of action to train the Avatar, but the entire plan had come crashing down when Bolin had handed off Sen's earthbending training to Suda, a chain of events that had ended with him hidden away on Hayao's island for months. There had been an attempt to get the Avatar back on track at Air Temple Island, but Sen had opted to go to Whistler instead of Sang Lug. The Avatar had at least been under Yakkul's supervision at the North Pole, but Ariak was another wild card in the training process. Ko Rin did not approve.

"Fate will not deliver the boy from prison," Ko Rin scolded.

The White Lotus had been gathered, even lacking an Avatar to lead them, for one purpose: to liberate Hanjo. The Avatar's friend was a powerful bargaining chip for the Energybender. So long as Sarin had Hanjo imprisoned, he held sway over Sen. Freeing the boy would allow Sen to act openly without risking his friends life.

"I didn't argue that," Bolin said. Tensions were high in the White Lotus camp, but Bolin was unfazed. He'd lost his ability to worry around the same time he'd lost all the color in his hair.

Ko Rin placed his palms flat on the war table and examined the map. The isolated prison that held Hanjo had been incredibly difficult to locate, and they had reason to believe that the prisoner would be moved soon. If Hanjo slipped through their fingers, it might be weeks or months before they could locate him again. That was time they could not afford.

A grove of long dead and dried-up trees hid the prison of the Energybender. Known colloquially as the Forest of Death, the forest was not only completely barren of any usable resources, it was also rumored to be haunted. With no reason or desire for a sane person to go there, it made an excellent location for a hidden prison. It also made it very difficult to sneak up on; any presence in the forest was immediately suspicious. A sneak attack on the prison would be next to impossible.

"We all know our roles," Ko Rin said to his gathered audience. "We only have one chance. We must not waste it."

There were sentries posted inside the hollow trees. The core of the wood had rotted away years ago, leaving behind nothing but hollow stumps whose bark had dried out into rock-hard shells. Some of the hollow trees were wide enough to fit a man inside, and they made excellent watch posts for the prison. Nobody liked being stuck on tree duty, but the commanders were being especially particular about guarding the prisoner after recent incidents. Twice as many people as usual were stuck cowering inside trees.

A bad job was about to get worse. One of the sentries heard a quiet thudding noise on the top of his assigned posting.

Scrawny and lithe as ever, Whistler dropped into the few inches of empty space and faced off with the startled sentry.

"Not very roomy in here," she quipped.

A quick rush of wind from below launched Whistler and the sentry out of the stump like cannonballs, sending them into the air. Whistler caught herself in mid-air with her glider and drifted gently back to earth. The sentry's descent was slightly less graceful. There was a dull thump as he hit the ground hard, and that sound brought Whistler a certain sense of sadistic satisfaction.

"That's the last of mine," Whistler said. Other airbenders of the White Lotus were clearing out the rest of the sentry posts. The hidden stumps made a very good way to watch the ground, but they had no aerial view. Gliding in from above was enough to negate them completely.

"Nearly there," Master Jung grunted. There was a very obvious tone of indignation in his voice. None of the other airbenders liked her very much, and they liked her even less when she was beating them. Whistler leaned against the sentry stump and relaxed while the other airbenders caught up.

"We're clear," Jung finally declared, and he was answered by the sound of revving engines. Whistler waited for a combat jeep to come roaring at her and hopped into the backseat as it drove by.

With the sentry posts down, they'd be able to close in on the prison before it could be evacuated. It was only a few moments past the line of sentry stumps when they saw the prison, and saw the alarms being raised.

"Bolin, keep your vehicles patrolling the exterior," Ko Rin shouted into the radio. "The rest of you, into the prison!"

A few vehicles bored off course and began circling the perimeter. Bolin and Suda were in charge of ensuring that nothing escaped the prison. Their troops formed a ring of circling satomobiles around the prison exterior while the rest of the White Lotus stayed the course. A cursory scan of the prison revealed a slight problem.

"That's more than we were expecting," Ariak muttered under his breath.

There was a significant troop presence around the prison, and all signs pointed to it being a recent movement. For some reason Sarin had redoubled his defense of the prison within the last few days. Ariak briefly worried that they might have been found out, but Sarin would have moved his men away entirely in that case. Something else had happened.

He had little time to contemplate that, as his vehicle came to a screeching halt. The truck spun around, and Ariak hopped to the back, cracking open the wooden shell on the back of the vehicle with his new spear. The prison forest was as arid as a desert, so Ariak and the other waterbenders would be supplying their own ammunition. The water tankard broke open in a spectacular flood of water, burying the front line of the enemy under a tidal wave. Ariak rode atop the surging wave and plunged into the enemy ranks.

While the gathered soldiers panicked under the sudden assault, Ada and the more stealth-minded members of the attack worked their way around the main force. They met with significant resistance of their own, in a strange turn of events. There were far more troopers on site than they had been expecting. Ada didn't bother thinking about it; she was quite single-minded at the moment.

The sword Yakkul had forged her saw its first real battle, and it liked what it saw. Steel danced from enemy to enemy like a cold lightning bolt. Ada did not linger on any one fight or opponent. She was a snake slithering through the enemy ranks, striking here and there, but ultimately driven towards a clear goal: Hanjo was somewhere inside that prison, and she would free him.

Master Jung and his airbenders had found themselves on the outskirts of the battle, supporting and fortifying the attack of the White Lotus, but rarely getting directly involved. While the airbenders were fully behind the cause of the Avatar, they still preferred to remain pacifistic while they had powerful allies to do the fighting for them.

An energybender soldier catapulted into the air announced the exception to that rule. Whistler spared a second to watch the enemy soldier fly, and then turned her attention to the next person she could hurt. She was not the rescuing type, usually, but she could contribute to the effort by beating up as many people as possible.

Whistler found herself enjoying her work. She really did like hurting people, for any reason or no reason at all, but it was so much better to hurt people for a good reason. There was something very satisfying in planting her metal staff firmly in the face of someone who actually deserved to get hit. She swung her staff in a broad arc, catching yet another soldier under the chin, and smiled to herself. One of the enemy soldiers caught sight of her sadistic smile and tried to retreat, and he turned his back on Whistler.

That proved to be a mistake. A loud scream pierced the battlefield.

Further down the enemy lines, another staff found its mark. Ariak was technically wielding a spear, but those who saw him would as easily call it a staff. He used the bladed edge only to cut through the weapons and shields of his enemy: the razor-sharp blade never came close to cutting skin. He would reserve his blade for those who deserved a cutting. Many of the soldiers here were just brutes and fools with no real part in the Energybender's schemes. There was little guilt to be found here.

Still, Ariak kept his bladed edge ready. There was a time for all things.

Ariak found himself a little too far ahead of his allies. He risked being closed in at this rate. He back away and rejoined the front line assault, keeping himself close to his allies. He joined Yakkul and the other White Lotus waterbenders in pushing their water supplies forward. In this arid area, the Energybender had not thought to station waterbenders as guards, so the water gave them a clear advantage.

"Any sign of the bloodbender girl?"

There was no full moon overhead, but Ariak was still wary of Kida's presence. She possessed a psychotic obsession with Ariak that made her dangerous and unpredictable. He had little desire to cross paths with her again.

"Haven't heard of many waterbenders on the scene," Yakkul responded. "Seems to be mostly footsoldiers, none of Sarin's heavy hitters."

That was not entirely accurate. Sarin's elite were waiting inside the prison, planning their escape. Hanjo's cell door slammed open as a final measure on their plan of evacuation. Hanjo grabbed on to whatever he could and held fast, trying to keep them in place as long as possible. He knew that rescue was coming. All he had to do was delay them long enough. He wrapped the handcuffs on his arms around a bedpost and tried to hold himself there.

"Enough of this," Dei Sensheng declared. He grabbed Hanjo by the back of the head and slammed him face first into the wall. That disoriented Hanjo enough for Sensheng to pull the prisoner away and hand him off to his assistant. The brute at Sensheng's side slung Hanjo over his shoulder and followed Sarin's second in command. The chains around Hanjo's wrists rattled slightly as they walked off. Sensheng was followed by the brute carrying Hanjo and his own three bodyguards as they proceeded into the depths of the facility.

"That behemoth must have led them right to us," Dei Sensheng grunted. First Tan Lung, and now this. It was an unmitigated disaster for their prison. The only way to get out of this would be to reveal a secret Sensheng had been hoping to keep hidden. One more ace up their sleeve lost in desperation, he thought to himself. They were running out of options.

"Go underground," Sensheng commanded. "The Machine is our only chance of escape."

"The Machine," a wizened voice hummed. "That sounds ominous. What are you hiding from us, Sensheng?"

Wood sandals clicked slightly on the prison floor as Ko Rin stepped forward. His snow-white robes cut quite a sight in the darkened hallways. Only cowards and the greatest masters could keep their clothes clean on a battlefield.

"Spymaster Ko Rin," Dei Sensheng said. "I'm surprised you managed to sneak up on us. You usually have all the subtlety of a hogmonkey."

Sensheng took a cautious step backwards, and his bodyguards stepped forward. A trinity of serpentine looking women in white uniforms stood between Ko Rin and Dei Sensheng.

"While one hogmonkey frets for your attention, the other steals your fruit," Ko Rin said, quoting an old, if silly, parable. "You have seen what I have allowed you to see."

A thin blade of metal emerged from Ko Rin's billowing sleeve, hovering in place before his hand. Ko Rin had adapted a peculiar swordfighting style by blending his stealth skills, metalbending, and conventional swordplay. Sensheng knew very well that the Spymaster was a formidable opponent despite his age. Sensheng's three female bodyguards brandished their weapons. They made a sinister crew in their matching white uniforms. Ko Rin found himself threatened by a sword, an earthbenders stones, and a pair of fans much like those wielded by Kyoshi Warriors.

"If the Spymaster takes one step forward, break the boy in half," Sensheng commanded. Hanjo groaned slightly.

"You're bluffing," Ko Rin said, taking a single step forward. The brute carrying Hanjo squeezed down hard enough to make Hanjo scream, and Ko Rin quickly stepped back.

"You think I won't throw away a bargaining chip, but I have plenty to gain by ending it right here and now," Sensheng boasted. "How do you think your Avatar will feel knowing his closest friends and allies failed to save his little friend? Will he ever trust any of you again?"

"Probably," Hanjo mumbled. "Sen's a pretty forgiving guy."

"You're remarkably confident for a hostage," Ko Rin observed.

"Well, that's just cause I'm hanging over this guy's shoulder backwards," Hanjo said. "So I can see Ada sneaking up behind 'em."

The man carrying Hanjo immediately whipped around, to see an empty hallway. Hanjo was particularly good at bluffing.

Now facing towards Sensheng, Hanjo lifted his chained wrists and threw his arms over Dei Sensheng's head. He pulled his wrists in tight, wrapping the chain around Sensheng's neck. Sarin's second in command gagged loudly as his throat was crushed by the heavy chain.

Ko Rin was quick to seize the situational advantage and dive forward with his blade ready. The white-uniformed bodyguard wielding a sword dove between Ko Rin and her charge, blocking Ko Rin's blow with her sword. The earthbender and the one wielding fans assaulted Ko Rin, forcing him back and away from their master. Dei Sensheng freed himself from Hanjo's chokehold and moved quickly, briefly turning to his bodyguards.

"Jan, Ken, Po, you stay and deal with our esteemed guest," Sensheng said. "You, follow me to the Machine."

Sensheng fled the scene while the trio of bodyguards battled with Ko Rin. The prison was not an expansive structure from appearances, but Ko Rin saw them disappear down a long tunnel. They had something underground. Most everyone was still above ground, scouring the prison. If Ko Rin did not catch them, they might escape completely.

It was not so easy to break free of Sensheng's bodyguards, even for one such as Ko Rin. The trinity of white-clad women were surprisingly vicious, and their varied weapons made them unpredictable. Ko Rin found himself constantly assaulted by sword, fan, and stone. Under normal circumstances a master such as Ko Rin would have won this fight easily, but the white-clad triplets were not fighting to win, they were fighting to delay Ko Rin as long as possible.

Above ground, Bolin and Suda's radio crackled to life.

"Vehicles escaping on the eastern side," Some nameless White Lotus shouted.

"Oh what luck, that's where we are," Bolin laughed. He stood up and faced towards the prison battle. Sure enough, a parade of five Energybender vehicles were headed their way. Bolin cracked his knuckles, which took quite a long time thanks to his arthritis.

With a deep breath and a stiff dropping of his arms, the ground by the side of Bolin's vehicle crackled and bubbled into red-hot lava. As the truck drove further, the lava grew and grew, trailing behind Bolin until it formed a massive trench.

The first fleeing vehicle hit the trench and came to an abrupt halt as its tires melted into the lava pit. The riders quickly fled out the back, crawling out of the back of the truck onto solid ground. The second truck in the line came to a halt just short of the lava trench, and others began to swerve around it completely.

"Turn around," Bolin commanded. It was possible some of those vehicles might drive around the lava trench and escape.

"No, I got this one," Suda said. He'd been looking for an excuse to start fighting all day. He'd never really had a chance to show off for Bolin.

With a loud whirr of metal on metal, Suda cast out a long bolt of cord from his zipline launchers. The line shot through the air like an arrow, striking the first truck at the front, and then snaked through the air to connect to the second. Suda clenched his fist and threw an uppercut, dragging a stone up from the ground. The cord attached between the two vehicles caught on the rock, causing both the trucks to veer sharply off course, slamming into each other as the reel dragged them around the stone. The fifth truck slammed headfirst into the raised boulder, ending the escape attempt with a metallic crash.

"Hah," Suda shouted triumphantly. "What do you think of that?"

"Nobody likes a show off," Bolin grunted sternly. Suda frowned. Bolin quickly snapped back into his usual smile.

"Kidding! That was awesome," Bolin said, holding his hand up for a high-five. Suda eagerly followed through.

"Seriously though, cool it with the fanboy thing," Bolin said. "You're as much a hero as I ever was. You can't look up to someone who's your equal."

"Oh, I mean, the saving the world gig was cool, but with you it's mostly the movers," Suda said. "I'm a big fan."

"Ah, well then, carry on," Bolin said with a polite nod.

Within the halls of the Energybender's hidden prison, Ada crept like a snake, moving quietly, and striking swiftly. She had pulled away from the main force of the battle to strike at the center of the prison. While the bulk of the Energybender's forces were outside, the few targets that remained within the prison were much more important. The soldiers outside the walls were little better than blunt instruments; the officers and commanders inside the walls were far more valuable targets.

Ada reached a room that should have been the center of the command structure, but found it curiously empty. It was not hard to see why: one wall of the room had been shattered violently, leaving a gaping hole in the structure. A similar hole marked another nearby wall, showing a trail of destruction through the middle of the base.

Ada's examinations of this curious scene of carnage was cut short when she noticed a more tempting target. Although the room was empty of personnel, it was not empty of important documents, most notably a blueprint of the prison. Ada took one look over the structure and reached for her radio.

"Suda, are you there," Her radio crackled. Suda could always recognize Ada's voice, even through the chaos of battle. She was one of few people who could pull his attention away from Bolin.

"Yeah, we're good, what's happening," Suda responded.

"I found a schematic of the prison," Ada said. She had been hoping to find the location of the prison cells, but the map had revealed something far more suspicious. "There's some kind of tunnel that leads far off-site to an underground chamber."

The very same tunnel through which Dei Sensheng was currently escaping, though this was unknown to any of them. Ada had good reason to be suspicious of the tunnel though. Zaofu had plenty of underground tunnels and chambers, and she knew she didn't want their enemies to find any of them. Whatever the Energybender was hiding down there was important.

"It looks like the tunnel ends about a mile southeast of this place," Ada said. "I'm heading your way, but I want you on site."

Ada walked through the large hole in the wall, back to the exterior and the battlefield. She quickly shouted orders and gathered Ariak, Whistler, and a vehicle.

"What, above ground? You want us to dig down?"

"Maybe," Ada said. She'd commandeered a vehicle to take her to the site, but it was difficult to examine the schematics while on the move. "It says something about deployment, I think it might raise something up from the ground."

"Anything else for us," Bolin said.

"There's something called 'The Machine' in there," Ada said.

"Sounds ominous," Bolin said. Suda nodded in agreement. "We'll be right there."

Bolin and Suda's driver carried them towards the site that Ada had described. It was impossible to tell where exactly it was, but there wasn't anything especially suspicious in the immediate area. Suda could see Ada's vehicle making the approach. They were still a fair distance away.

The ground below them started to groan. Bolin and Suda nodded to each other.

"Ada, you were right, something weird is happening," Suda said into the radio.

"Make sure nothing gets away," Ada said. "I've got Whistler and Ariak with me. We'll be there in a minute."

"We don't have a minute," Bolin said. The ground was starting to crack open.

With a groan of heavy metal and shifting earth, the hidden hangar opened up, exposing a massive chasm in the ground. As Suda and Bolin watched, a platform lifted up, raising some kind of machine to the surface.

"Never seen that before," Bolin mumbled.

It was some kind of strange fish-shaped device. Suda assumed it was a vehicle because it had large clear windows and a steering wheel, but the vehicle-assumption was somewhat challenged by the fact that it had no wheels. The only particular methods of movement that Suda could see were two massive fan-blades, one on top of the strange thing and another at the end of the tail.

"I think we found The Machine," Suda said. "Doesn't seem quite as ominous as I was expecting."

There was a loud metallic whirring, and the razor blade fans on the machine started to spin very slowly.

"Okay, that I don't like," Suda said. The spinning blades were starting to rotate faster and faster, creating such a strong breeze that Suda was finding it difficult to stand. Dust and wind started blowing all around them.

"Don't let it go anywhere," Ada shouted across the radio.

"I got this," Bolin said. He pushed his hands forwards, sending a pool of lava surging beneath the metallic legs of The Machine. The strange vehicle had two metal skids underneath it, like runners on a sled, so Bolin knew the pilots would have time to evacuate while those melted.

The lava never so much as touched the bottom of The Machine. Just as the molten stone reached the underbelly of the alien machine, the metal struts lifted off the ground slightly. Slowly, wobbling as it went, The Machine lifted off the ground, pulled into the air by massive spinning rotors.

"It can fly," Bolin muttered in disbelief.

It was hard to believe that Sarin's men had invented their own unique flying machine, but now was not a time to be stunned by disbelief. Bolin kicked his feet and launched a boulder at The Machine. With startling precision, the airborne vessel swerved to the side and dodged the boulder completely. Bolin had never seen anything capable of flying so accurately, not even Asami's hummingbird mechs. As it maneuvered, the side of the vehicle turned towards them, and a door slid open.

Suda caught a glimpse of two things as the door opened. The first: Hanjo, restrained inside the vessel, and the second, a firebender with his fingertips pointed right at Bolin's chest. Bolin was lifting another boulder, preparing for another strike. With the firebender trying to strike back, The Machine might stay in place long enough for Bolin to make that hit.

Bolin hadn't yet realized that Hanjo was on that ship. If Bolin took The Machine down, he might take Hanjo down with it.

Clenching his fist tightly, Suda shattered the boulder that Bolin was preparing the launch. The aged mover star had a second to be surprised that his boulder had shattered, and then the fire was coming at him. His reflexes were not quite what they used to be, and the red fire hit him broad in the chest, knocking him backwards to the ground.

The Machine began to rise. Suda sent both of his reels flying forwards, wrapping around the landing struts at the bottom of the flying machine. It continued to climb, despite Suda's attempts to pull it back down, and he was rapidly running out of line. He tried to anchor himself to the ground with heavy rocks to keep The Machine in place.

Ada was watching all this unfold with a small sense of helplessness. Suda wouldn't struggle so hard to keep it in place for no reason; Hanjo had to be aboard that thing. They had no way of chasing an airship. If The Machine took off, Hanjo would be lost, possibly forever.

"I have a plan," Ariak shouted. "I have part of a plan."

He was behind the wheel, but he took one hand off of it long enough to hand Ada his spear.

"I'm going to keep driving. When we reach Suda, you jump out and hook that around Suda's zip line. Whistler, give her a boost to get her going up."

"I don't like this plan," Ada said, clinging to Ariak's spear.

"You have five seconds to come up with a better one," Ariak said. "Too late!"

Without braking even slightly, Ariak roared past Suda and his desperate struggle to hold The Machine in place. Impulsively, Ada leapt from the vehicle and hooked the spear around Suda's zipline. With a quick swing of Whistler's staff, a surge of air and her own forward momentum sent Ada soaring up the metal line towards The Machine.

She slammed into the outer wall of The Machine with no grace at all. Seeing what was happening, Suda released his lines and instead wrapped them around Ada's waist, giving her a lifeline if she fell. No longer attached to the ground, The Machine began to rise again. Ariak kept following it from the ground, but The Machine was gaining height quickly.

Ada jammed Ariak's spear into the door of The Machine and wrenched it open. She wanted to get away from the spinning rotors whirring threateningly overhead. The door violently creaked open. The occupants of The Machine turned to face Ada as one. They had not exactly expected a person to be clinging to the outside of their flying machine. Ada looked back at them all, and one in particular.

"Hey Hanjo," She said stiffly.

Hanjo looked up at one of his captors, stuck his tongue out, and then kicked him in the knee. While the soldier recoiled in pain, Hanjo quickly wormed his way across the floor towards Ada. Ada grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him the rest of the way out, clinging to him tightly lest he fall.

"Why am I going out," Hanjo asked. "Shouldn't you be going in? We should be taking over-"

Hanjo saw the look on Ada's face and gave up on that line of thought.

"Ah, heroic stupidity," Hanjo sighed. "I missed that."

Ada reached down and cut the metal lines attaching them to The Machine. Dei Sensheng gave an unheard cry of frustration as the two plummeted downwards.

The whirring rotors of the Machine faded quickly into the distance as Hanjo and Ada plummeted downwards. Hanjo had his eyes shut tight. Ada looked straight down at the ground, and thought of how she had fallen before, in the Spirit Metal canyon.

A heavy impact struck her back, and downwards momentum suddenly became sideways momentum. Ada heard a loud torrent of swearing as Whistler' struggled to keep them all from plummeting to the ground.

It took everything Whistler had to keep them from hitting the ground like a sack of hammers, but through a few minor miracles, she managed. Nobody was getting out of this landing without a few bruises, but they were getting out alive. Whistler came to a rolling halt on the ground and rubbed her aching head.

"Stop falling off of things!"

Whistler's command went unheeded. Ada was helping Hanjo to his feet, asking him to hold out his hands. He complied, and with a quick swing of her sword, Ada cut the chains that bonded his wrists. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"Congratulations, Hanjo," Ada said. "You're a free man."

Hanjo looked at his unbound hands for a moment. His eyes drifted away, towards the wide open world around him, and then they lingered on Ada. With a sudden jerk forward, Hanjo used his first act of freedom to wrap his arms around Ada and hold her close.

"Thank you," He said. It was a solemn thanks, despite everything. If he let himself say much more, he'd probably start crying tears of joy. Hanjo bit his tongue and tried to hold it all back. Ada returned his embrace.

"I'm so sorry it took this long," Ada said quietly. "I am never letting anything happen to you again."

"Let's uh," Hanjo sniffed loudly, still struggling to hold back some tears. "Let's not make promises we can't keep. You know I'm a troublemaker."

"Hey, I am the official team troublemaker now," Whistler objected. She and Hanjo stared each other down for a while, but they both quickly switched to smiling.

"Good to see you again," Whistler said. She grabbed Hanjo by the shoulder and shook him slightly. "Glad I can touch you this time around. Now I can smack you whenever I feel like it."

"I feel the same way," Hanjo said.

With a loud screech of metallic brakes, Ariak pulled his truck up to the side of the touching reunion. He and Hanjo exchanged an awkward glance.

"Hi, I'm, uh, Ariak, we haven't met, and, you haven't heard of me at all-"

Hanjo looked at Ada and Whistler. The two women nodded affirmatively. Hanjo smiled at Ariak, and Ariak smiled back. They'd have plenty of time to get to know each other later. Hanjo was escorted back to the truck, and Ada broadcasted the message across the radio: the mission was a complete success. Hanjo was free.

It brought some small comfort to Suda to hear that his desperate efforts had at least been worthwhile. He had Bolin propped against one of the dead trees, trying to do what he could to treat the burns on his chest. The White Lotus uniforms were armored, but Bolin was not exactly in the best shape of his life.

"Don't fuss so much," Bolin said weakly. "I've taken worse hits from Tahno."

"You weren't a hundred years old when you fought Tahno," Suda said.

There was a moment of silence. Bolin sighed heavily, heaving his burned chest. Suda froze in panic. He was worried that every heavy breath would be the last one. Bolin was less worried.

"Not yet," Bolin mumbled aloud. "Not just yet, I think. I've got a good feeling about it."

Despite Suda's protests, Bolin stood up. He tipped slightly to the side, and ended up grabbing onto Suda's arm for support, but he did manage to stand.

"You'd be heartbroken if I bit the dust," Bolin said. "And I never disappoint my fans."

"Well…there was The Return of Nuktuk," Suda said.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Bolin said sternly. He was glad when the truck arrived, carrying a very important change of subject with it. Suda and Hanjo happily reunited, and they proceeded again towards the former prison.

The battle at the prison wrapped up quickly once word had spread that Hanjo was free and Dei Sensheng had escaped. With no reason left to fight, The Energybender's men surrendered or attempted to retreat. Ko Rin oversaw the seizure of any useful materials from the prison. All of the men would claim to have forgotten useful information, but documents would not lie.

"Keep a special eye out for anything relating to The Machine," He commanded. "Sarin's men have technology we don't, and we cannot allow that."

"It's a shame the Avatar couldn't be here," Detective Zas said. "He had all kinds of ways to see the truth. Bet these troopers wouldn't conveniently 'forget' anything while he was around."

"The Avatar has peculiar truth-seeing abilities?" Ko Rin seemed particularly interested in that.

"Yeah, very useful trick," Zas continued. "Impossible to lie to him, even for the best liars. Did I not mention that earlier?"

Ko Rin frowned and stroked his beard. He turned his back on the Detective as he heard the heroes of the day approach. Ko Rin bowed deeply as Hanjo presented himself.

"Master Hanjo," Ko Rin said respectfully. "I am glad you are well."

"Thanks for the save," Hanjo said, without any formality at all. "So you're Ko Rin, huh? Sorry about stealing Ada from you."

There was a strange edge to Ko Rin's face as he nodded at Hanjo again. Ada was the only one to catch it. She knew that Ko Rin had never planned for Ada to escort Sen out of Zaofu, but Ko Rin seemed particularly displeased by how the Avatar had gone off course.

"Is Sen not here?"

Hanjo looked around curiously for any sign of his friend. Ada stepped up and caught his attention again.

"Sen went off on his own before we started planning this," Ada explained. "I'm sure if he'd known, he would have been here. You know he-"

"Yeah, I know, he would've been the first guy through the door," Hanjo said with a nod. It was disappointing that he would have to wait even longer to see Sen, but it would come in time. He'd waited years already. A few more days or weeks wouldn't hurt.

Ariak looked around curiously as well. He had been half expecting Sen to swoop in to save the day at the last minute. It seemed odd that the Avatar would not be where he was needed most.

"Now, Master Hanjo, I'm sure you're eager to enjoy your freedom, but I hope I can impress upon you for some explanations," Ko Rin said. Hanjo nodded affirmatively. If he could do anything to help, he would. He'd been out of action for too long, and so far he'd done more harm than good. It was time to be a hero again.

"Excellent. Now, when we arrived there was an unusually high level of security, as if there had been a forewarning of this incident. Do you happen to know of any reason why they would increase their security? I'd want to know if we were somehow given away."

Hanjo shook his head grimly. There was a good reason they had raised security, but it had nothing to do with the White Lotus.

"Follow me," Hanjo said. He led the way, somewhat reluctantly, back into the prison, into back chambers and side rooms that the scouts had yet to explore. Eventually, at the very back of the prison, they reached a room with a few tables. Only one table had anything on it; a broad white sheet, covering a lumpy silhouette that could only be a human body.

"I don't know what exactly happened, but two days ago, something attacked this place," Hanjo said. "They didn't try to free me, or even fight the guards. They just stormed past everything to go after the prison keeper. Tan Lung."

Suda's eyes narrowed. Tan Lung. He knew that name. He just couldn't quite recall where from.

Ko Rin stepped forward and raised the white sheet, keeping the body hidden from the younger ones in the room. He recoiled in disgust and replaced the sheet.

"He was always pretty nice, I mean, for a prison keeper," Hanjo said regretfully. Tan Lung had been on Sarin's side, but he had never truly been a bad person. Just a troubled veteran hoping to see peace in his lifetime. "He always took really good care of me. He didn't deserve…"

"Bisected," Ko Rin said disgustedly. "Cut in half at the waist."

"In one blow?"

Ko Rin nodded. Ada slammed her fist into her palm.

"Rahm. He's the only one who could fight like that."

It explained the massive holes in the walls she had seen earlier as well. Crashing through walls, singlemindedly hunting his target, and ending them with a single vicious blow –all signs pointed to Rahm.

"Right, Rahm," Suda said. "Tan Lung served with Rahm! He was one of the traitors that Rahm was hunting."

"I guess the warning never got to him all the way out here," Ada said. They had meant to warn every potential victim of Rahm's so that they could hide, but Tan Lung's remote hideaway had made that impossible.

"What are you talking about? Tan Lung never served with the General," Ko Rin said skeptically. "I handled the lists myself."

"Yes he did," Ada said. "He served in-"

Ada froze mid-sentence as the blood turned to ice in her veins. Suda looked up, looking past everything into oblivion.

"He was on the mission that found Miyani."

"The mission that was made classified," Suda said, his voice trembling slightly with fear. All the records of Tan Lung's mission with Rahm had been erased. Only the three soldiers and Fire Lord Goto knew of it, and they had all vowed never to speak of it again.

"There was only one other soldier on that mission," Suda concluded.

"Dahaka."

Ko Rin stepped forward, taking Ada by the shoulders and looking her deep in the eyes.

"Dahaka, the Dahaka, the President of the United Republic?"

Ada looked back into his eyes, and she nodded. Ko Rin released her.

"Full retreat," he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Abandon everything, back to the trucks!"

At the word of the Grand Lotus, the White Lotus quickly, if not unquestioningly, abandoned their efforts and returned to their vehicles. Ko Rin stomped into his flagship vehicle and shouted orders through the radio.

"General Rahm means to assassinate the president of the Republic," He declared. At the sound of his voice, every engine there started to rev. To get to President Dahaka, Rahm would have to cut through a considerable chunk of the Republic's police force and army – and there was a good chance he would succeed. If left unchecked Rahm could single-handedly cripple an entire nation.

The forces of the White Lotus sped through the Forest of Death, making a desperate charge towards the United Republic. Ko Rin was already planning their route. A northern swerve, and the Yangchen river could carry them to the Republic via ship much faster than the roads would. It was their best chance of beating Rahm. The dark General had two days head start, but they had no way of knowing how fast he could travel. They would have to give everything to beat him there.

In the midst of the panic, Ariak sat firmly in his seat, gripping his spear. Everyone else was planning how they were going to fight Rahm or pierce his armor. Ariak turned his spear and looked at his own reflection in the blade.

They were not going to make it. He had been on enough manhunts to know that Rahm would beat them to the Republic by a full day –perhaps only a few hours if they were lucky. That would be quite enough time for Rahm to do all the damage he needed.

Ariak tilted his spear further, distorting his reflection, scattering his facial features, giving him the appearance of an extra eye.

They would never make it. But they were not the only heroes in the world.

"Yes, I'd like to cancel this ticket," the customer said.

The clerk at the counter nodded. A lot of long distance travel had been getting cancelled lately, especially to the North.

"All the confusion up there really ruined your plans, huh?" The serving girl said. Her voice was full of sunshine, just like anyone in customer service. Her hunched over customer seemed less excited.

"You could say that," The customer sighed. She handed over her now-useless ticket stub to the clerk and waited for her receipt.

"Do you want a new destination or a full refund? We're offering total compensation in light of recent events."

The customer scratched her chin for a minute.

"Refund," She said.

"Excellent choice," the clerk said. "There's always something to do in this town."

Miyani received her refund and turned her back on the customer service desk. She'd been meaning to go to the North by sea, and hit the Energybender blockade from behind, but by the time she'd arrived at her first stop, she'd found out that the entire siege had been cancelled without her ever showing up. Now she had no idea what to do next.

Miyani adjusted her headband and started to walk the city streets. What the clerk said was true, after all. There was always something to do in Republic City.