Chapter 4: The Flight of the Fang
It was a very gray day. The sun was low, as it usually was on wintery days, and a heavy bank of clouds obscured what little sunlight there was. All in all, it was rather gloomy.
"A perfect day for the Avatar to die!"
He had shouted that twice now. His name was Gozon, or Zogon, or Nozog, or some combination of those letters, Sen wasn't sure what. He had only referred to himself by name once, and every time after that he had called himself the Avatar-Slayer.
Gozon/Zogon/Nozog the Avatar-Slayer was currently pursuing his intended quarry through the valleys of Wulong Forest, far on the western border of the Republic. The Avatar-Slayer and his men had been retreating from one of Sarin's coastal bases when they had been intercepted by the Avatar and a very small force of his troops. The ambush had quickly turned in Gozon's favor, and he and his forces were now pursuing the Avatar.
Sen seemed altogether unconcerned with the fact that he was being pursued, and led them deeper and deeper into a wide valley. The trees here had all fallen centuries ago, during Aang's battle with Ozai near these very stones, so the valley had an open view of the grey sky.
Zogon never hesitated for a minute, pursuing Sen with hundreds of his men in tow, intent on ending the war this very day. Nozog knew the territory particularly well, and the Avatar was leading himself directly into a dead end. Soon they reached the end of the valley, surrounded by sheer walls on every side, with nowhere left to run. Avatar Sen took a stand, folding his hands behind his back.
"You're boxed in, Avatar," Nogoz declared proudly. "History will speak of this day as the end of your era!"
"Yes, I think this will go down in history," Sen said, oddly calm. "History will say that you had me surrounded and cornered-"
The Avatar held up his hands and smiled broadly. He was clutching a radio.
"But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked."
A bolt of white fury descended from above the clouds, raining down fire on the valley behind Gozon and his forces. The explosive blast collapsed the rock walls and rained rubble down from either side, closing in the valley from the other end. Now Zogon was the one trapped.
The grey clouds parted as three great airship descended from the sky. Tremendous figures in red and black, the harsh frame of the aircraft would have been terrifying on its own, especially the massive one that lead the trinity. Only adding to the terror were portholes on the bottom of the zeppelin raining fire down on Nozog's forces in a furious inferno, with one in particular spewing explosive bolts.
The Fang, Wing, and Claw, the three greatest airships of the Fire Nation air force, had recently been granted to the Coalition. They had originally been intended for a straightforward attack, but once the weather turned, Sen had gotten the idea to lure their opponents into a rather dramatic ambush. It was theatric, perhaps, but it worked.
As the fire rained down around them, Sen stepped forwards towards the would-be Avatar-Slayer.
"Zonog," Sen began.
"My name is-"
"I don't care what your name is," Sen said curtly. "All that matters to me is that you are far too stupid and utterly harmless for me to feel any guilt for letting you go free."
Sen grabbed the fool by his collar and pulled him close.
"Go back to your master, and tell him that I am coming for him," Sen commanded. He saw immediate acceptance in Zonog's eyes. Sen released his collar and set him running from the site of the ambush, off to deliver his message to Sarin. Sen could taunt his foe as much as he wanted through radios and televarrick broadcasts, but it was always good to have a message hand-delivered now and then.
Sen sat back and watched as trinity of massive zeppelins went to work on the remnants of the "Avatar-Slayer's" forces. The massive warships were still spewing fire and explosions, to admirably destructive effect. Sen needed that kind of firepower to achieve victory.
While Sen and the Coalition were dominating the ground war, Sarin controlled the skies. His unique flying machines were the most powerful force in the air. While Sen and Miyani could take them down with some success, most other forces were helpless prey for the flying machines. Sens troops had begun to call them Choppers, in part because of their spinning blades, and because of the way they cut through the Coalition ranks.
With the valley sufficiently burned, The Fang began a slow descent to the ground while the smaller airships, Wing and Claw, remained aloft. Sen approached the descending airship and watched as it prepared to land. As The Fang came closer to the ground, Sen saw Miyani clinging to the exterior, waving at him from above. Sen was surprised to see her clinging to the outside of the airship. It was still a few hundred feet off the ground.
The Fang finally touched down on the ground, and Miyani dismounted in a short hop. A few more of Sen's friends were aboard, but Miyani had the quickest exit.
"I see you're not afraid of heights," Sen said.
"Well, one of us has to cover the high ground," Miyani said.
"I jumped off a cliff," Sen said defensively. He wasn't 'afraid' of heights, technically, he was just deeply uncomfortable with being away from the ground and avoided it whenever possible.
"Oh, you know what I mean," Miyani said. "If you were afraid of heights, you'd be afraid of me."
Sen chuckled. Miyani crossed her arms, satisfied that someone was finally laughing at her jokes, and watched the rest of The Fang's crew begin to disembark. There was a battlefield to survey and prisoners to capture. A large crowd of crewmen and soldiers began to pour forth from the zeppelin's underbelly.
A surprising figure at the head of this group of soldiers was Fire Lord Goto, looking supremely satisfied with himself and the violence around him. Sen stepped forward to greet the Fire Lord, and to ask what on earth he was doing here.
"Fire Lord," Sen said with a shallow bow. "What brings you here?"
"I just love the smell of fire," Goto said with a harsh cackle. "Smells like victory."
"Well yes, but, Goto, you have to understand," Sen elaborated. "The Coalition is meant to be an extra-national force. The Fire Lord accompanying us might seem-"
"It's my airship," Goto said. "I haven't had a chance to use it since we built it."
"What Sen means is that people might not like the Fire Lord riding an airship into Wulong Forest," Miyani said.
"What- Oh come on," Goto said indignantly. "That was nearly two centuries ago! Stop bringing it up!"
"Not the point," Sen said. "We're meant to be operating independently of any one nation's agenda. It's bad enough you wouldn't let us paint over the giant Fire Nation emblem on the sides of the ships, but if you pilot them personally-"
"I'm the only one who knows how to pilot the Fang," Goto boasted. "A machine this intricate requires a very complex piloting process. I'm the only one trained to do it."
"So train someone else," Miyani said. She had no love for the Fire Lord, given that he was one of many people to have degraded and abandoned her in her youth.
"No," Goto said stiffly. "Now are we leaving or what? There's nobody left to fight here."
"Give me some time to use the radio, then you can take off."
Goto nodded and beckoned Sen towards The Fang. The halls of the zeppelin were surprisingly spacious; many military vessels were cramped and claustrophobic. Goto had clearly spared no expense making sure his personal warship was as luxurious as it was powerful. The spacious halls did become slightly more crowded as Hanjo appeared and immediately popped to the side of the Avatar.
"This is a nice place," Hanjo said. "I would live on this thing."
"So would I, kid, so would I," Goto said wistfully. His ideal home was one that was battle-ready at all times.
The radio equipment was located in the cockpit, right alongside The Fang's controls. As Goto had said, the controls were numerous and intricate, with hundreds of levers and buttons arrayed on a large dashboard. Sen took one look at the complex control panel and then cast a suspicious eye towards Goto. The Fire Lord stared right back, daring Sen to say something. Sen shook his head and moved on to the radio.
"Lahn, are you there?"
"Reading you loud and clear, Avatar, sir," Lahn said. "What can I do for you?"
"Have you heard anything from Ada and Ariak?"
Sen had assigned the two to oversee different projects for the Coalition. Whistler was also out and about doing something, but she didn't have an official assignment. Sen usually left her to her own devices, as she chafed under any kind of authority.
"Ada hasn't made any contact," Lahn said. "I think she's still upset you assigned her to a construction project."
Sen rubbed his forehead. He'd assumed he was doing her a favor by assigning Ada to a project alongside Canto, but apparently she wanted to be on a battlefield. Construction of a tunnel through the Zu-Shin mountains was important to the movement of their armies, but it was apparently not particularly exciting.
"Alright, remind me to apologize for that," Sen sighed. "How about Ariak and Zas?"
"He radioed in to say he hadn't made any progress," Lahn said. "They've found a few empty bases, but no signs of any active ones."
They had been trying to trail the Energybender's rapid retreat from the United Republic and western Earth Kingdom, to find out where Sarin's forces were going to make their stand. Interrogation was utterly useless, as the Hssk would simply make every soldier forget their orders, but they had to leave physical trails behind them as well. He'd hoped that Ariak's hunting skills and Zas' detective skills could find them a lead, but Sarin's men were surprisingly good at covering their tracks.
"Got it, no progress at all," Sen sighed.
"Ariak did request that Miyani be transferred to his team," Lahn added. Miyani started paying more attention now. "She apparently had a much easier time tracking down enemy camps."
Sen looked over his shoulder at Miyani. She shrugged.
"How did you track down all those bases?" Sen had to wonder now. For two years she had been wandering between Energybender camps, destroying them. She had found more of them acting as a lone woman than the Coalition's entire intelligence network had ever been able to find.
"I asked the soldiers," Miyani said.
"Impossible, interrogation never works on those troopers," Goto said.
"Maybe I'm just scarier than you," Miyani said, brushing a strand of hair aside to show off her red tattoo.
"Tell Ariak I'll send her for a rendezvous as soon as we get Dragon Flotilla back to base," Sen said. Any possible lead was worth pursuing, even if it meant sending one of his most powerful soldiers on a scouting mission.
"Will do, general," Lahn said. "Any other orders for the men?"
"Not at the moment," Sen said. "I'll be heading for our outpost near the hot springs. We'll talk then."
"Yes sir," Lahn said sharply, before turning the radio off. Sen stood up, straightened his coat and glasses, and faced towards his allies.
"I don't think we can land these bad boys at the hot springs," Goto said. "Wing and Claw maybe, but Fang will never fit."
"I'll be travelling by land, actually," Sen said. Miyani gave him a look that he deliberately ignored. "Take the Flotilla back to the hangars in Republic City. Hopefully I'll have new orders for you soon."
"Will do, 'general'," Goto said. Sen walked away from the abrasive Fire Lord, bidding a calm goodbye to Miyani, and then to Hanjo.
"You want to talk to Suda before you go? He's hanging out on The Claw," Hanjo suggested.
"No thanks. Suda's a big guy, he can handle himself."
"You're going to hurt his feelings," Hanjo teased.
"Well I'm going to hurt yours too," Sen said. "I'm not saying goodbye now."
"You just said goodbye," Hanjo pointed out.
Sen walked off The Fang without another word. No sooner had Sen's feet hit the ground than Goto gave the order to ascend, manning the intricate controls that allowed The Fang to rise. Joining its brothers in the skies, The Fang took the lead as the Dragon Flotilla headed off towards the horizon.
Miyani was quick to head off to one of the observation bays. Technically they were meant for deploying weaponry, but they had large portholes through which one could see the sky, Miyani preferred to think of them as being for observation. Hanjo followed in kind, lacking much else to do with his time.
For a while the two of them watched the terrain go by, even picking out Sen's satomobile as it drove away below them. Then the airships finally hit the low, thick clouds. There were a few minutes where everything was grey and misty, and the clouds obscured everything. Miyani looked away from the window for most of this time, but her eyes quickly returned to the window when they finally broke through the cloud cover.
The view from above the clouds was breathtaking at first, but unsurprisingly, lost its novelty rather quickly. Outside of the other airships in the flotilla, there was nothing but white beneath them. Hanjo began to get unnerved by the silence as Miyani watched over the cloud tops.
"Nice view, yeah?"
"Eh, I'm kind of used to seeing things from up here," Miyani joked. Hanjo didn't laugh. She looked to the side and rolled her eyes slightly. There was another slight pause between them. While the two got along well as part of a larger group, they had yet to do much one-on-one conversation.
"So, Miyani, what do you do?"
"Cause explosions," Miyani said. "And make bad jokes, apparently."
"I meant for fun. Probably should've said that."
Miyani put a hand on her chin and hummed to herself as she thought. She had not exactly devoted a lot of time to relaxation in the past few years.
"I used to go fishing sometimes," She said. "But lately…I had a mahjongg board I was carrying around for a while, that I'd play with whenever I got too bored."
"Huh, Mahjongg, isn't that for like three or four people?"
"There are single player variants," Miyani said stiffly.
Hanjo grunted in acknowledgment. The clouds rolled by in silence for a moment.
"So, uh, what about you?" Miyani asked.
"Oh, well, not a lot, I mean I was in prison until just recently-"
"Oh, right, sorry," Miyani said awkwardly.
"No, I still did things to entertain myself, they were just kind of, well," Hanjo said, slowly drifting off. He doubted that Miyani wanted to hear about all the different ways he'd come up with to mess with ants.
Hanjo scratched his ear for a bit. He was trying to find the right angle to approach this conversation from, but found himself lacking. This was harder than it should have been. They both got along with Sen, why shouldn't they get along with each other?
After a few more moments of awkward silence it became apparent that standing around trying to force it wasn't going to make anything any better. Hanjo came up with an excuse to leave and turned his back on the giant glass windows. No sooner had he done so than Miyani grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him into place like a mother cat lifting her young.
Without a word, Miyani put Hanjo's face towards the glass and pointed at a particular spot amidst the endless expanse of clouds. The field of white had been broken by a few small specks of black. As Hanjo watched, a few more bits of black metal began to pierce the cloud cover, and those that were already present were growing larger.
"Go sound the alarm," Miyani said. Her voice sounded much different now, somehow. Her voice got a little deeper whenever she was about to fight. Miyani slammed her fist down on a large red button, and the room turned frigid cold as the window pulled away, opening the bay to the cold air outside.
While Hanjo rushed off to alert the rest of the crew, Miyani stayed behind in the bay to prepare. Firing from the bay of the airship came with certain risks, namely a nasty fall. She secured herself to the wall of the bay with a thick safety cord, and as an added precaution, strapped a parachute to her back. Once she was properly secured, she took her place at the open window, letting the cold air chill her skin.
The enemy choppers were still a distance away, but they were rapidly closing in. Sarin's choppers were much faster than the average airship, and more maneuverable. Miyani watched as the swarm of airships closed in on the Claw.
Alarm claxons began to blare, and pounding footsteps echoed across the Fang as everyone ran to their battle stations. Hanjo took over the radio as Goto frantically manipulated the controls of The Fang, trying to maneuver them into the right position. It was slow going; The Fang was exceptional among zeppelins, but even so it was a bit slow and unwieldy.
"How many have we got?" Goto demanded loudly.
"Captain of the Claw says-" Hanjo hesitated slightly as the captain shouted something through the radio. "Twenty. No, he says, more than that, at least thirty. Might be as many as fourty."
Goto swore under his breath. An entire fleet. Ko Rin's spies should have warned them about this.
"Where is Howler even getting this many of these blasted machines," Goto growled. He angrily jerked a lever, and The Fang began to veer to the side. The Claw was going to get surrounded at this rate. They needed to get the Flotilla together to cover each other's flanks.
The fast moving choppers had already swarmed into a tight formation around the Claw. The firebenders had taken up their positions in the combat bay, but their attacks had little effect. The choppers were faster and more maneuverable than any firebenders attacks, and even when a lucky firebender managed to land an attack, the durable metals made those attacks have very little effect.
Suda kept to the back of the bay, near the Claw's commander. He was beginning to get a bit frustrated watching the futile attacks of the firebenders.
"We need to hit them with something harder," Suda said.
"I know what you're implying," The commander said angrily. "The only metal we have up here is part of the airship, and I'm not letting you tear it apart for-"
The commander was interrupted as the choppers began to retaliate. Several dull metallic thuds ensued as the crew of the choppers began to launch large projectiles at the Claw. The strange metal shells struck the hull of the zeppelin and held fast, held in place by magnets. They seemed to have no other effect –for now.
"This isn't going to end well," The commander said under his breath.
With a muted click in warning, the first of the magnetic explosives detonated, rocking the Claw as burst after burst of fire rocked the airship. As a blast exploded near the hangar bay, chunks of the wall exploded outwards. Metal shards of shrapnel cut through safety lines as the bay began to shake, sending the firebenders off their feet and plummeting into the empty sky below.
With a quick thrust of his metal gauntlets, Suda launched out two ziplines to grab onto soldiers that were falling, barely snatching them from the jaws of the abyss and pulling them back towards safety. Those who remained began to evacuate the bay as further explosions rocked it.
"No, you idiots, stay, you need to intercept those-"
The commander was cut off once again as another explosion rocked the ceiling above them, knocking out a large chunk of the metal roof. Suda grabbed at the nearest chunk of metal. He figured the ship was getting torn up anyway.
With a careful toss, and just the right amount of spin, Suda sent the shard of metal on an arcing path towards the nearest chopper. The former chunk of the Claws hull got its revenge as it collided with the choppers rotors, disrupting the delicate mechanisms that kept the machine in the air. The upper rotor began a disastrous collapse and the machine fell out of the sky.
Suda grabbed another chunk of metal and sent it flying through the air, towards the closest chopper. He had lost sight of most of the swarm. They were trying to maneuver themselves into position for something.
A few more explosions rocked the Claw, and Suda found out what they were up to. The alarms that were already blaring were intensified as an even louder siren began to blare, and a red light began to flash throughout the bay.
"We just had a gas breach," The commander shouted. "We're losing altitude!"
That quickly became apparent as the Claw began to descend downwards, sinking towards the clouds below. Suda took a quick look at the rapidly approaching cloud cover and then turned back to the commander.
"Anything we can do?"
"If we do it right we can minimize the damage," The commander said. They were making a slow descent for now, it was possible that the Claw would land mostly intact. "But we're going down no matter what."
The choppers outside had already lost interest in the sinking Claw and where now swarming towards the Fang. The largest of the three airships was still veering towards the Claw, with the swarm of choppers stretched out between the two. Suda's eyes narrowed as the commander offered a parachute to him, just in case.
Suda took the parachute and strapped it on, making a quick check over his gauntlets immediately afterwards. He wanted to make sure they were perfectly in order before he did what he was about to do. The Wing and Fang were still airborne, but they were heavily outnumbered. They'd need everything they could get to stay aloft. That included Suda.
Eliciting a dropped jaw from the commander, Suda made a quick dash for the edge of the hangar and leapt over it. Aiming his armored fist at the nearest chopper, Suda launched a line at the landing gears beneath the chopper, wrapping a metal cord around them. Held securely for a moment, Suda continued forward, aiming a line at another nearby chopper and preparing for another swing.
Suda had a persistent sinking feeling in his gut that told him this may not have been his brightest idea, and he was glad he had put on the parachute first. Between every swing there was a moment of weightlessness that absolutely terrified him, and he was sure he was going to plummet into the abyss below. Despite those misgivings, he carried on, swinging through the air like some kind of monkey swinging across jungle vines.
Though at first they were dumbfounded by the audacity of the feat, the chopper pilots eventually caught on to the idea that they should, perhaps, try to stop him. While he swung, one of the choppers began to move out of formation to pursue him. Suda quickly retracted his ziplines, reeling upwards towards the chopper he was currently attached to. The pursuing chopper only made this entire endeavor more difficult.
It became easier once again as they got closer to the Fang, and the chopper that was pursuing Suda exploded violently. It seemed that they had entered Miyani's range.
The air was cut by blades of white light as Miyani began her assault on the approaching choppers. Some managed to veer out of the way, some did not, and the air was soon filled with fire and metal shrapnel.
Lost somewhere in her battle trance, Miyani took a moment to notice Suda swinging through the air towards her. She lost focus for a moment, dumbfounded by Suda's actions. As he finally landed in the hangar, she paused to give him a dumbfounded look.
"That was the stupidest thing I've ever done," Suda mumbled. He was glad to be standing on something solid again.
"It isn't stupid if it works," Miyani said. With that done, she focused back on her enemies. Suda saw her get that scary look on her face that she always had when she was fighting, and decided that the best place to be was far away from Miyani. She got really intense sometimes.
Suda headed for the hangar on the opposite side of the Fang's undercarriage. The swarm of choppers was already maneuvering themselves outside of Miyani's effective range. They'd need firepower on all sides to counter the swarm.
A panicking Coalition soldier entered the hangar, bearing a portable radio with him. He nervously handed the radio over to Miyani.
"Hey, Miyani, are you there?" Hanjo's voice asked. He was manning all the radios while Goto controlled the airship.
"I'm ready, what is it," She demanded. She loosed one last bolt at the retreating choppers and grunted in frustration as it missed. The strange airships were all out of her line of fire now. She'd need to find a new position.
"Goto says he wants you to watch the rear," Hanjo said. "We've got our rotors and helium tanks there. If they get taken out we'll be dead in the-"
The communication paused as explosions rocked the Fang. Even as the explosions faded, there was a moment of silence.
"Goto says never mind," Hanjo said awkwardly. They'd just lost the rotors and the tanks. With no engines The Fang wouldn't be able to move, and with no helium reserves they would inevitably lose pressure and begin to descend.
Hanjo was receiving dozens of radio calls at once, and was struggling to sort them all. Most of them were just from panicked soldiers begging for orders.
"Tell every one of them to enact protocol 'Shut Up'," Goto commanded. Hanjo reluctantly complied. The radios fell swiftly silent. Goto growled to himself and tried to manipulate the controls, to little effect.
"How many hundreds of levers do you have there?" Hanjo asked. "And none of them do anything?"
"Only five of these levers actually do anything," Goto roared back. "The rest are just to make it look complex! I don't want anybody but me piloting this thing!"
Hanjo sighed and dropped his shoulders. Of course that was what Goto would do. He doubted that leaving Goto in charge of the situation would improve anything. The Wing was already under assault, and would soon sink just as the Claw had, with the Fang no doubt quick to follow.
Several dull thuds echoed across The Fang. Suda was briefly terrified that more explosions would follow, just as they had on the Claw, but no such explosions occurred. He looked around curiously, eventually leaning out of the hangar to examine the situation.
Several choppers had maneuvered themselves into positions very close to the airships main balloon, and had affixed themselves with metal cords. Suda left the hangar to find a radio.
"Guys, they've attached themselves to us," Suda said. Hanjo scratched his head.
"What are they trying to do," Hanjo wondered aloud.
"They're trying to capture us," Goto said. "They want hostages so they have leverage on the Avatar."
Hanjo nodded. Some of Sen's best friends and a major world leader were on board this ship. If the Energybender's forces were to capture it they would have a significant hold on Sen.
"I've got no angle on those ships," Miyani said. The Fang's balloon was too wide and curved, and the choppers were hugging it closely. Any attack she made risked breaching the balloon. They had to do something, though. The choppers had attached metal cords and were now dragging them through the air. With no rotors of their own, they could not pull away from the choppers control.
"Maybe we should consider making a landing," Suda suggested. "We can put up a fight on the ground. If we stay up here they're just going to take us hostage."
"Not a bloody chance," Goto said. "My altimeter shows we're gaining height. Those choppers are enough to drag us through the air. We couldn't land if we wanted to."
Hanjo was digging through a pile of documents on the Fang, mostly operating manuals and schematics. On one blueprint of the Fang, Hanjo found what he was looking for.
"Miyani, there's maintenance hatches on the side of the balloon," Hanjo said. "You could get in range if-"
"Don't," Goto said. "Those hatches are meant to be used for repairs on land. When we're in the air they get loaded with helium. She'd suffocate."
"And my last words would be in a squeaky voice," Miyani said. She was answered by dead silence, as usual.
"Just radio the Avatar," Goto said harshly. "He's supposed to be the genius."
Hanjo was quick to comply. If anybody would have a clever idea, it would be Sen. Hanjo quickly reached the Avatar and explained the whole situation to him. Sen took approximately thirty seconds to think about it, and then started to work on his plan.
"Do you have any maintenance hatches on the side of the ship?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Hanjo said indignantly.
"Yes, but they're still full of helium. There's no breathable-"
"That's why you vent the helium," Sen said abruptly.
"But we'll sink-"
"The Choppers will hold you up," Sen explained. "Once the helium's gone Suda and Miyani can use the maintenance hatches to take down Choppers one by one until you start to descend slowly."
"And what if they just decide to drop-"
"Then you use firebending to fill the Fang's gas chamber with hot air. You'll effectively be a hot air balloon. As long as you do it right you should be buoyant enough to make an emergency landing."
Goto turned to yell at the radio one more time.
"Do you plan on letting me finish a sen-"
"No," Sen said.
"Man, why didn't we call you sooner," Hanjo said.
"That's a good question," Sen said, with just a touch of sarcasm.
Suda went to work, breaking open the shattered helium reserve tanks and opening up the main gas balloon to the open air. Slowly, helium leaked into the sky around them. Once their gas pressure had reached zero, Goto cleared Miyani to enter the maintenance tunnels. Just as Sen had predicted, the pull of the surrounding Choppers was enough to keep them aloft.
"Alright, everything's in place," Goto said. "Good to go on my order?"
"Everyone's ready," Hanjo said. He had his finger on the radio's button. As soon as he gave the word, everything would happen at once.
"Well, let's not waste any time," Goto said. "Hit it!"
It was, summarily, hit.
In a swift burst of fire and steel, a pair of choppers, one on either side, detonated. The firebender crew began to flood the empty gas chamber with hot air. In an emergency, it hot air would not be enough to keep them aloft, but it would make them sink more slowly.
Miyani and Suda took down another pair of choppers, and the effect was absolute as they suddenly lost the lift force necessary to keep themselves afloat. The Fang's new hot air supply kept it stable for only a brief moment before it too began to sink. Miyani found it hard to keep her footing and she barely managed to keep herself from falling out of the Fang. Suda had secured himself to the floor with a bit of metal, so he had a bit easier of a time.
Latched onto the balloon as they were, the choppers made easy targets for Miyani's explosive fury. Though she did not intend to destroy all, or even most, of them, they still realized that they were vulnerable. Few pilots were willing to plummet into the abyss for the sake of a balloon. One by one the Choppers began to detach themselves and retreat from the Fang. With their captors, and their source of lift, gone, the Fang began to descend slowly.
With the choppers out of the picture, the crew focused all their efforts on stabilizing the Fangs descent. Miyani headed back down the ladder. It was impossible to see the ground from their position, so they had no idea what kind of landing they were in for. Best case scenario, they landed in a pleasant open field and were perfectly fine. Worst case scenario, there was a mountain beneath them and they were all going to die.
Miyani reached the bottom of the ladder, found a firm place to hold onto, and thought about pleasant open fields.
Hanjo and Goto kept a careful eye on their descent and only panicked slightly. They watched as the clouds grew closer and closer, until eventually they consumed everything. Grey mist enshrouded them for a moment. Whatever was beneath this grey mist would decide their fate.
The thing beneath the grey mist was green. A lot of green.
"Trees?"
"Are trees bad?" Hanjo asked.
"I have no idea," Goto said.
Tress turned out to not be that bad. The Fang was sturdily constructed, and as they hit the treetops, the metal hull held together as the trees warped and cracked beneath it. The foliage actually ended up providing an effective cushion as the flexible evergreen wood bent to absorb the pressure of their landing.
"Huh, we're alive," Hanjo said.
"That's always nice," Sen's voice said through the radio. "Next time you're in trouble, let me know right away, please?"
"Will do, commander," Hanjo said.
"I'll send some people your way to repair the Fang and salvage what they can from the Wing and Claw."
"So much for air superiority," Goto sighed. The most advanced airship in the world, armed with a combustion bender, and they had still barely survived against Sarin's choppers.
Miyani and Suda eventually wandered into the cockpit to relax on some of the comfortable chairs. Suda stared at the ceiling and flexed the fingers of his metal gauntlets.
"I swung through the sky," He mumbled to himself. He still couldn't quite believe that had actually worked. Yoki would kill him if she found out he'd done that. He was actually a little surprised that she was the first person he thought of. Usually he was concerned with what Ada or Sen would think. He smiled to himself a little.
"You know, I kind of get why Sen's afraid of heights now," Miyani said out loud. She wanted to take her mind off of everything.
"Tell me about it," Hanjo said. "Nearly plummeting out of the sky really makes you afraid of the ground."
"I've never fallen off of anything before," Miyani said. "I can't believe the way your stomach feels, like all your guts are going up into your head."
"Hah, you should have been there the time we tunneled out of a mountain," Hanjo said. He continued on to regale Miyani with the tale of the time Gun had tunneled their satomobile through a mountainside. There was nothing quite like brushes with death to give people something to talk about.