The following day, Arturo and Quinn, their day is to be very important. The main scientists- Dr. Timincin, Harold, Arturo, and Quinn- along with Dorian, Wade, Rembrandt, and Derek are currently about to test the new metal coating in the lowest part of the compound: the fighting arena. The fighting arena had no special features and was fairly dark. The fighting arena only had a dirt floor all around.
The metal that was to be tested was hugely thick and was a twenty foot long rectangle. It was so large and heavy, that it took eight other people to wheal the metal into the fighting arena.
"Okay, so we finally got here. How exactly are we going to test this metal again, Dorian?" asked Quinn, as the eight other people left to go back to their work.
Dorian was gently inspecting the large metal propped against the wall and answered, "Well, I've asked Kakashi and Adira to come here and test the strength of the metal. They're the strongest benders here and with their bending they'll throw the full brunt of their power at the metal.
This will show us whether or not that the methods we used to make and strengthen this metal worked or not."
Luckily, the group didn't have to wait long as Kakshi and Adira came in and approached them. Adira looked quite excited and couldn't, or at least wouldn't, conceal it. Which in turn caused her adopted older brother to snicker.
"Well, Adira what's got you so happy?" asked Dorian, with a knowing smile plastered across his face.
"Dude. I get to try my hardest to break something! This is the best day evaaa!" Adira exclaimed as she looked in his direction. Her contagious excitement caused the other occupants of the room to smile and snicker.
"So what're we to do?" asked Kakashi.
Adira, not caring about this part of the conversation wandered closer to the metal propped against the wall. As the adults were going back and forth about how much damage the two benders should inflict on the large metal, Adira was staring at the metal strangely and with intensity. The young earthbender was focusing on nothing but her hands and feet in conjunction with the metal in front of her. Adira's mouth gapped opened when she came closer to the metal. The more she focused, the more Adira realized that with her seismic sense she was able to 'see' the earth particles in the metal. Metal is just a mound of earth that's been purified! Adira thought in excitement.
Reaching her hands out and in a controlled speed, Adira started to forcefully shove her hands against the metal propped against the wall.
"Come on metal…budge," Adira whispered to herself. Adira started hitting the metal with more force and finally metal responded to her as she left a sizeable fist imprint. The indentation left her smiling and Adira then turned toward the adults and her brother.
Clearing her throat, Adira felt the other occupants turn to her and she said to Kakashi, "Look. I've got the perfect way to test this metal."
"Really? Like what?" asked Kakashi.
"Let's fight! Winner'll be known as the world's strongest bender," replied Adira.
"What? Adira, have you forgotten that Kakashi's the strongest avatar here? I mean he's taught you a ton of fighting techniques along with your refinement as a bender," Harold said gently.
Before Adira could refute, Kakashi spoke up saying, "No. Adira hasn't forgotten that but she's a formidable opponent. I may be her sensei but she's taught herself a lot. Things that I have yet to master myself." Squinting his lone eye at her, Kakashi didn't say anything else for a moment then started laughing. Once he calmed himself, Kakashi said with delight, "Alright Adira! If you want to fight I'm game! But the point is to test the metal. If you can show me how we're to test it in this fight I'll fight you for five minutes straight and Dr. Timincin will be our time keeper and referee. But we can't destroy the metal, if that's even possible. Sound good to you?"
"Hey wait a minute! Why do I have to be the ref?" Dr. Timincin complained. But Adira, taking no heed to the doctor, said, "Alright! This is going to be so sweet!" With that statement, Adira jogged a few feet away from the metal and then suddenly turned on her heel and launched herself toward the metal. The blind eartbender collided with the metal with tremendous force.
The adult occupants in the arena gasped in shock and their mouths hung agape at what they had all just witnessed. They had no idea what Adira was thinking and was further shocked when the metal immediately folded and molded itself around the blind girl's form.
Then mere moments later, a twenty foot humanoid figure clad completely in metal stood before them all. As the metal humanoid figure turned to face them, a smile etched itself onto the blank canvas of where the face would be and it lifted its hand and motioned its hand in the 'bring it on' motion.
Smiling behind his mask, Kakashi says, "Alright! So like our normal rules, first one out of the ring in these five minutes loses. Got it." Adira metal clad head nods in response.
And with that, Kakashi stomps on the ground; the stomp caused the entire arena to radiate and shake. Due to his stomp, Kakashi shaped the arena into having stairs running down to a lower, oval shaped fighting area. Kakashi and Adira would fight in the lower part while the others could watch from a semi safe distance away on the stairs above.
"Alright Doc, whenever you're ready," shouted Kakashi.
Sitting above, Dr. Timincin took a deep sigh and reluctantly brought out his pocket watch and yelled at the top of his lungs, "FIGHT!"
With the doctor's yell, Adira, still in the metal armor, had sunk into her horse stance and shook her hands to cause three large rocks to fling themselves at Kakashi.
Despite his mask obscuring his face from showing his emotions, Kakashi was astonished at Adira's strength and skill. The young girl never ceased to amaze him. But since he was her sensei, Kakashi knew how Adira thought. This first move proved that.
The grey haired man knew that Adira simply used moves such as these to test her opponents. Thus, these attacks were easy for him to deflect; however, from this point on Kakashi knew that Adira would be totally unpredictable with her attacks.
Like he thought he witnessed the earthbender take her next calculated movements. Adira moved forward, opened her arms with the palms of her hands facing her. Her stance never leaving its contact with the ground, as she swept her right foot out in front of her which caused a shock wave in the dirt floor that raised ridges on the ground and headed directly for Kakashi.
Not expecting the underground attack, Kakashi leapt into the air to dodge it; however, as he was dodging this attack Adira shot out her metal coated right arm and caused the metal to extend and wrap around his ankle. As Adira yanked him into the hard ground below, Kakashi's lone eye widened in shock.
Hitting the ground hard, Kakashi saw spots flying around his hand and only snaps out of his pain filled mind when he saw Adira charging for him. Narrowly missing her fist coming at him, Kakashi backflips several feet away.
Once he landed on his feet, Kakashi blasts an enormous amount of fire out of his left hand, but Adira stands there and takes the heat attack. Once the flames dissipate, Kakashi and the spectators are surprised to see that the metal withstood the attack. So much so that Adira launches a large bolder at him; however, Kakashi stops the bolder with a strong blast of wind.
At their safe distance away, the adults were mesmerized at the fight going on before them. Wade, especially, stared on incredulously. The brunette followed every attack and movement. Wade was quite impressed with the fighting prowess of Adira and how powerful her attacks were. But then the female sliders brought her hand to her mouth in shock as she witnessed Kakashi's new tactic.
Deciding to bring the fight in closer, Kakashi lifts the left side of his forehead protector to reveal his hidden eye. This eye, which he keeps hidden from the world, allowed him to see objects at a cellular level and copy others moves and abilities.
With his left eye released from its prison, Kakashi launches himself at the young earthbender and starts to kick at the metal clad chest with amazing speed. These attacks were unrelenting and Adira, unable to dodge something this close, lost her balance and Kakashi took this opportunity to grab Adira around the head and flip her over his back onto the ground. Not giving her a chance to recover, Kakashi created a glove made out of rocks and started to punch Adira's metal covered face.
While in this vulnerable position, Adira bends a part of the metal into a fist and punches Kakashi off of her. Hissing in pain, Kakashi isn't given time to recover as Adira creates a dust cloud that only allows the spectators above to see what's happening; however, Kakashi is left unable to see through the dirty cloud. At noticing that Kakashi was unaware of her near proximity to his person at that moment, Adia smirks and moves her arms to send a barrage of rocks at her sensei. Although he couldn't see, Kakashi could hear the 'wooshing' sound of the rocks being flung at him and dove into a hole he had just opened and closed it behind himself.
While he was in the ground, Kakashi to perform a sneak attack from below and started to tunnel in the direction the rocks at come just moments before; however, Adira was able to 'see' him underground and suddenly punched the ground with such force the floor of the arena shattered. Their friends sitting in the stairs and Kakashi himself were astounded at the strength and skill of the girl.
But Kakashi senses their time is almost up and decides to let loose on his student. Kakashi's left eye is blood red in color and has three other pupils forming a triangle around his middle pupil. Kakashi then uses his own earthbending to create a fissure in the ground and then creates a ball of lightening in his hand. Kakashi then slams the lightening into the fissured ground and sends them both hurtling toward Adira. Unable to dodge this sudden and vicious attack, Adira braces herself as she's sent flying into the air and slams into the stairs where their friends sit in horror and amazement.
"TIME!" yelled Dr. Timincin.
As the doctor yelled, everyone rushed over to the metal figure still laying prone in a humanoid shaped imprint in the stairs. But just as they were about to touch her, Kakashi yelled back, "Don't touch her! She's still probably still conducting extreme heat or electricity."
"We can't just leave her like this!" yelled Rembrandt.
Clearing the dust cloud, Kakashi jumps high into the air and glides over to them and says calmly, "I don't plan on it." He bends the metal away open and Adira is still knocked out.
"How did you…" Dr. Timincin trailed off when Kakashi pointed to his red colored eye. To which Dr. Timincin simply said, "Ahhh, got it."
"Uhggg," moaned Adira as she was starting to sit up.
"Adira are you okay?" asked Dorian.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," grumbled Adira, as she got up and stepped off of the metal that was currently laying on the ground.
"Hey you did great. Not only did we learn that the metal will withstand a ton of damage but apparently you created another subset of earthbending!" praised Dorian, which the others agreed with.
Adira shrugged with a had smile tugging on her lips, ""Yeah that's true. I mean once you get it, you got it. All I had to do was bend and control the particles of earth inside the metal and it was smooth sailing from there." Arturo's eyes widened in amazement at what Adira had said. This child let's nothing hold her back! Thought the older physicist.
Kakashi squatted down in front of the young girl and smiled behind his mask saying, "Hey you almost had me there! You did fantastic. Let's shake on it!"
Adira nodded and stuck out her left hand; to which Kakashi met and he hummed in happiness. Although a moment later, Adira felt a small but definite shock of electricity surge through her body. Yelping in surprise, Adira snatched her hand away from her sensei.
"You…you shocked me?!" exclaimed Adira.
"Yeah it was funny," Kakashi said nonchalantly and then he started to laugh uncontrollably.
At seeing that his sister was about to launch herself at the avatar, Dorian grabbed her around the middle just in time. Unfortunately, this didn't stop the female earthbender though. Due to her feet still on the ground, Adira shoved her the heel of her foot into the ground and a pillar of solar stone shot up from ground underneath Kakashi and sent him flying across into the air. Then moments later, Kakashi hit the ground hard and was knocked unconscious is response.
Due to this, it was Adira's turn to laugh. "Well," started Quinn, "Good to know you're not a sore loser."
"Loser? Never. Due to his unconscious body on the ground, I'm officially claiming the title of the strongest earthbender! MWAHAHAHAHA!" announced Adira, as Dorian released her from his grasp.
"So, let's get back to the coating of this to the machine," said Dr. Timincin.
At lunch, several of the picnic tables in the community cafeteria were shoved together so that their new friends were able to eat with them. At this picnic table were Arturo, Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt, Zoe, Wendy, Derek, Alex, Dorian, Dr. Lisa, Sokka, Adira, Malcolm, and Joon. They were all listening in captivation and humor to Adira as she told the others about her discovery of metalbending.
Once she paused to sip her water, Malcolm asked, "So did you beat Kakashi?"
"If I had just another minute, I woulda beat him. But it doesn't matter, I'm the world's strongest earthbender!"
Sokka started to laugh a little bit as he ate a spoonful of broccoli and said "So…you lost. Yeah that's about right. Even you can't beat Kakashi!"
Adira started to rise from her seat but Zoe placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder to stop her. Adira reluctantly sat down again but harshly glared in Sokka's direction. Dorian chuckled and said, "Guys come on, it was only a game."
Quinn replied, "Uh, Dorian, no offense but the winning team never says that."
The occupants at the table started to laugh but laughed even harder when Dorian punched Quinn's arm in fraternal jest.
Despite Dorian not knowing that Quinn was his brother from another earth, the two Mallorys had become quite close and acted as if they had grown up together. The fraternal camaraderie the two had developed had not gone unnoticed by their friends.
While Quinn and Dorian were flinging harmless insults back and forth, a strange look crossed Adira's face. A look that didn't go unnoticed by Malcolm. "What's up Adira?" asked Malcolm.
"Harold's coming. He seems pretty anxious," answered Adira. Just as she answered Malcolm, Harold had just arrived and was bent over, panting with exertion.
"Pro…Pro…," Harold said in between pants.
"Calm down Mr. Lee. Whatever is the matter?" asked Arturo.
Nodding, Harold took a deep breath and said, "Professor, we've got a major situation! You and Quinn have to come to the lab now!"
At seeing the urgency in his eyes and hearing it in his voice, Arturo and Quinn were already moving and following Harold to the lab.
The others at the table didn't wait for an invitation and followed suit. As they all entered the lab, they were all greeted by Dr. Timincin, Romo, Naomi, Maggie, and Jason. At seeing the children here, Maggie belligerently asked, "What're they doing here?"
Before the adults could answer, Adira answered just as belligerently, "We're here because this concerns our life too! We can handle this stuff just as well, if not better, than you adults. Besides we wanna help."
"The kid's gotta a point. And besides if we kick them out, they're just going to ease drop anyway. I say let them stay," said Romo. To which, Naomi, Dr. Timincin, and Zoe all reluctantly agreed.
"Alright. So Harold, tell us. How bad is it? When can we expect the pulsar to hit?" asked Naomi.
Harold hesitated for a moment but took a deep breath and said, "Look, I'm just going to say it. According to our practically endless research and calculations, the pulsar is going to hit the eastern seaboard in the next eight hours."
A collective 'what?!' resounded from Harold's news. And then Rembrandt asked, "How long do we have until it hits us?"
"Approximately, the next wave will hit in the next twenty hours," answered Harold.
"We just tested the metal today. Will we even have time to place it over the Q.E.D. in time?"
"We don't have a choice. We still have to be safe during the slide. That simply means that we must work harder in the next twenty hours than ever before," said Arturo.
"We can help," offered Sokka.
"Sokka…" Wendy started in protest; however, Sokka cut her off. "No mom. Adira was right. We're here, we're some of the strongest benders there are in the compound. You're going to need our help at least with the placement of the metal. Malcolm could airbend it into place and Adira could metalbend it into place!"
"And if she can't?" asked Jason.
"Kakashi could firebend the metal until it's malleable and I could cool it down," answered Sokka with confidence.
"Don't underestimate my skills! I can totally bend the metal. I did it once and I can do it again!" Adira exclaimed as she defended her skills.
"That makes sense," said Naomi, which caused Adira to smile a little bit.
"What if the Q.E.D. doesn't work? Are the devices ready?" asked Jason, for once showing some concern about their situation.
Arturo took point to answer the soldier's question saying, "The timer we've built are officially up and running. So if something were to happen you can escape with the timer to the 'Paradise World' as you all call it."
"Wait, you can input the coordinates?" asked Zoe.
"In our travels, we've learned a lot about sliding and how to refine our slides. One of which is how to store coordinates into the timer," answered Quinn.
"Great! So what're we waiting for? Let's get started," said Harold.
"Look before we go, I have to ask: with all of this rush are we sure everyone'll fit through the vortex?" asked Maggie.
"Captain Beckett, I can assure you that according to our calculations, the Q.E.D. machine is powerful enough to transport 400 people for at least one slide," answered Arturo.
Wade, who was staring at Maggie, said, "I don't think that's the real reason Maggie asked that question Professor."
Arturo looked at Wade in confusion but Adira said, "Wade's right. I can feel through the ground that Maggie wasn't quite happy with that answer."
"What is it Captain. And tell the truth, as you can tell Adira will be able to detect any lies from you," said Dr. Timincin.
Unfazed, Maggie answered coldly, "I mean that if we're going to have a real chance, I say let's grab only a handful of good, strong people and high tail it outta here. Better a few make it than none at all."
Maggie's harsh announcement had all the occupants in the room, except for Jason, bristling; Arturo gave the captain a hard look before replying with a terse tone of voice, "Ms. Welles was right about you. You don't truly care about the 'mission' nor about these people. You'll live to fulfill your endgame of whatever that maybe and that's all that matters to you. Regardless, you are not qualified to be in command. And I don't think you will be after these people have left this world." Not waiting for her response Arturo left and was followed behind by the other lab technicians.
Punching the air, Sokka exclaimed with a big smile, "BOOM goes the dynamite!" As he was referring to the verbal blow Arturo just dealt.
"Look, we all have a lot to do in the next few hours, so let's do it," Naomi said as she sternly looked at Maggie. The others nodded and everyone separated to get their new orders for what was to come.
|S|L|I|D|E|R|S|
Over the next few hours, the bearded physics professor noticed his tall student was lost in thought. Although he was annoyed with the young man's lack of concentration, Arturo couldn't help but feel a paternal feeling overcome his annoyance. Thus, the older man approached Quinn and asked, "Mr. Mallory, I can't help but notice you're not all here. What's the matter?"
Shrugging of Arturo's concern, Quinn answered, "It's nothing Professor. I'll stay focused."
Knowing his young student a little too well, Arturo tugged Quinn into an unoccupied room and closed the door behind them. "Now. Let's try this again, shall we? What's wrong my boy?" At seeing Quinn about to protest, Arturo raised a silencing hand into the air and said, "Now we both know your mind will simply wander once again."
Knowing Arturo wasn't one to back down once he had his mind set on something, Quinn took a deep breath and reluctantly answered, "Well…it's two things really. First, as usual, I'm concerned about the timers. What if they don't work? What if we have to slide to the so called 'Paradise World'?"
At seeing the deep trouble in Quinn's eyes, Arturo said, "Would that be so wrong? Quinn…if we have to slide with them, we'll slide. And if that is to be our fate, I'm still certain that you and I would be able to fix any sort of problem that might occur and we'll continue on as we've always done. You'll get us home, my boy. That I am quite certain. Now what's the second matter that haunts your mind?"
Quinn, who was smiling halfway through what Arturo was saying, frowned in embarrassment as to what he was about to say next, "It's about Dorian. I'm not sure what to say to him now since everything is going down so fast."
"You mean about you being a Mallory?" asked Arturo. Quinn nodded silently in response.
"Well my boy, I know this isn't what you're wanting to hear but you must keep in mind that Dorian isn't your brother," Arturo said as gently and kindly as he could. But he knew that Quinn didn't want to hear this and was proven right when the young scientist furiously retorted, "You think I don't know that already Professor?! I promise you that I haven't forgotten."
"Alright, alright. Calm down, now. But I must ask, what good does it do for Mr. LaLache to know that you're a Mallory as well if you're not to see each other again?"
Quinn's anger was knocked out of his sail when he heard Arturo's question. He couldn't deny that the question was warranted and he wasn't sure how to answer it. Luckily though, Arturo spoke up once again, "Look Lad, the only advice I can give you is to put your best efforts into getting him and his people to their new world. And if there's time, speak to him. But I would keep your…other world sibling relationship out of it. There simply wouldn't be any time and quite frankly you can't be certain how he'll take it on such short notice."
Although he didn't like it, Quinn did agree with the professor's assessment of the situation and simply nodded. "Thanks professor."
"Of course my boy. Now let's make Mr. LaLache and his peoples' dream come true." Despite himself, Quinn felt better and went back to work with Arturo.
8:30 A.M. The Following Day…
In the hours that followed, the compound was a hive of busyness. But reduce any sort of havoc that came with their busyness, Naomi, Romo, Zoe, Wendy, Alex, and five other trusted workers had personally assigned each and every member of the compound with a group assignment and a memo. The memo covered what the official plans were, the contingency plan with the timers, what to pack, where to come for the evacuation, and the individual group assignment numbers.
Once the memo was sent out, the emotions that filled the air of the compound was a mixture of joy and anxiousness. But their anxiousness was finally over, the travel to Paradise had finally come.
The compound had all gathered in the Evacuation Hangar. The Evacuation Hangar is a large closed structure technically situated behind the laboratory. There are three ways into the hangar, the first from the lab, the second -the longest way- is from the kitchen in the cafeteria, and the third is simply going down a series of hallways to reach the hangar. All of which were being used for the entire compound to file inside hangar. Once the people were inside the normally restricted area, they were surprised to see that the hangar was 1,000 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 177 feet tall. Scattered around this large hangar were large crates and medium sized machines. Also in this room, were wooden poles with red numbers pasted at the top and they were placed in different parts of the room. But the main attraction was a large machine sitting in the middle of the hangar.
In the middle of this huge space was a very large version of Quinn's original sliding machine. In front of this machine was a large platform and standing at the head of this platform were Captain Beckett, Dr. Timincin, and Romo Lampkin. Also on this platform were two tables situated on either side of the sliding machine. Standing at these tables were Wade and Derek standing at one table while Zoe and Rembrandt were standing at the second to pass out timers for each group as a contingency plan. Due to the vast amount of people needing to slide, there was to be three groups of twenty per slide and each group would receive a timer.
Once she was sure there were no stragglers, Naomi, Arturo, and Quinn joined Maggie and the others on stage. With a megaphone in her hand, Naomi spoke into the megaphone saying, "Good Morning everyone. The day for our mass Exodus has finally arrived. But it not without trials and sacrifice. But by the grace of God, we're able to leave this world thanks to four people: Wade, Rembrandt, Professor Arturo, and Quinn." At this statement a huge applause erupted from the grateful crowd.
Once the applause had died down, Naomi continued, "We'll never be able pay them back for their help but I've been told by Wade that the biggest 'thank you' we could give them is to make sure no one in the compound gets left behind. So adhering to this, last night a memo had been sent to everyone and a number was placed on the back that designated everyone to a specific group. Now you'll see that around the room are poles with red numbers on them. Go stand by the corresponding numbers."
Thankfully there was no fuss and the whole process didn't take long at all. Once everyone was standing next to their number markers, Naomi handed the megaphone over to Arturo. Speaking into the megaphone caused Arturo's voice to boom more impressively than usual, "For those of you who I have not met yet, I'm Professor Arturo. I simply want to implore upon the leaders of these groups, that if worst comes to worst and you don't get through this Q.E.D. Machine don't panic a timer will be given to you. However, whatever you do, do not advance the timer! The timer will open a portal on its own within five minutes of its activation and the coordinates for Paradise World has already been set. If you do advance the timer, you'll be like my friends and I and become nomads of the multiverse. With that said, let's start. Groups one through six please come up to the platform."
Taking heed to Arturo's warnings, the people waited anxiously for the first six groups to make their way up the short stairs and onto the platform. Once they, Quinn and Dr. Timincin had taken their stand on either side of the machine and started to flick the switches to turn on the machine.
Once the machine was fully powered, a portal that looked to have watery appearance but also had bright lights and beautiful colors and emitted a huge gust of wind appeared. Standing in front of the huge portal, Maggie had her arms spread out and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Group 1,2,3 Jump In!"
The three groups hesitated at first but swallowed their fear and jumped through. After the first three groups had gone, everyone had released their respective breath and soon a smooth pattern had settled in as more and more groups left. Over the course of two hours, more than half of the compound had already gone through. The next group contained Romo and he had hugged a lot of his friends already. Unable to admit it, he was worried about the travel and what he would do for his future. But Naomi was able to see through her old friend's mask of indifference. "No matter what happens Romo. Take advantage of new things. Your family would have wanted you to go on living."
"That's easier said than done, love," Romo said gruffly, as he tried continued to try and conceal his emotions.
"Well, say if you don't I'll let Adira have your hide."
"She already has. I already said goodbye to her and the others. You know what that fantastical brat said to me?" Romo said but continued with waiting for Naomi's response, "She told me, in no uncertain terms, that she'd make my paradise into a nightmare if I don't take care of myself."
Naomi couldn't help but laugh and said, "Well like Zoe said, the two of you are very much alike. Just promise me you'll take care of yourself, okay?"
"I promise. I'll see you on the other side love," Romo said.
As he stepped closer, Romo stuck out his hand to Arturo. "Well Arturo, thanks for everything. Good luck on your travels."
"You as well Mr. Lampkin. Oh and might I suggest, don't let anyone use you as a landing cushion. It's not pleasant," advised Arturo to a now laughing Romo. And with that said, Romo and three other groups jumped through the portal.
After those three groups, more and more groups had left. Within those groups, Vance, Kakashi, and Dr. Timincin had left. Only fifteen groups were left, but then something terrible had happened. The alarms had started to go off and soon the sound of many, many feet approaching the hangar could be heard.
"What's going on?!" exclaimed Wade.
"We're under attack!" exclaimed Jason as he and his group -who were all soldiers- left their position, took a defensive stance behind some of the crates and prepared to defend the others still here.
"Kids! You and the group come here!" yelled Naomi. The moment the lawyer yelled this, Dorian, Adira, Jett, Breana, Sokka, Joon, Lisa, Malcolm, Wendy, Harold, and Alex all made their way up the steps and behind Derek at one of the tables. While they were taking cover, the last two avatars within the remaining groups had moved some of the metal crates to the front of the room to shield them and the machine from harm. And with much speed, four more groups made it through the portal. However, it wasn't fast enough because the Royal Firebender Army made their way into the hangar.
"Stop in the name of the King!" yelled a man in his late 30s, with a square chin, soulless eyes, and in military attire.
"You and your king can go to shove it Rickman!" countered Jason, from his position behind a crate.
"This is treason! You had no right…" Rickman started but was interrupted by Adira. The young earthbender yelled back, "No you had no right! You all knew this planet was going to die but you kept everyone distracted!"
"ENOUGH!" shouted Rickman, "Prepare to die!"
With that, bullets and fireballs were shot everywhere. More people had gone through the portal until all that was left were Naomi's group and the soldiers and Jason.
"Fall back!" yelled Maggie. As they did the soldiers were given the order by Naomi to jump through. Although they were reluctant, Maggie pushed the majority through; however, just as Maggie was going to scold Jason for not jumping through yet a thin transparent energy bolt crackled through the air and hit the Q.E.D. machine.
Microseconds after it hit, Adira flung herself at a shell shocked Quinn before the machine exploded. The explosion of the machine was so powerful it shook the foundation of the mountain and caused some of the ceiling to fall to the ground causing dust the fill the room.
"NOOO!" cried Breana, her piercing scream broke Quinn out of his shock as he and Adira moved toward the others as Jason, Maggie, Rembrandt, and two other benders were returning fire from behind their barricade.
Once Quinn and Adira reached the others, Arturo asked, "Where are the last two timers?"
"I got ours right here," said Naomi.
"And I got ours Professor," said Quinn.
"All we have to do is wait five minutes, right?" asked Zoe.
"Yeah," replied Quinn.
"We don't have five minutes, you idiots!" yelled Jason as he reloaded his weapon but noticed the army was advancing on them. Deciding to bring the fight in closer the remaining two benders, started to run from behind their barricades and fought back with their water and air bending. This helped a lot, so much so that Alex and Derek decided to join the fight as well with their bending skills. Adira, Sokka, and Malcolm had also used their bending to fight but from behind the barricades.
The fight was bloody and raging on until the two avatars had both been killed.
However, just as they fell the timers had beeped and were being activated. Quinn was opening his portal when another thin and transparent energy bolt rounded the barricades and exploded the timer Quinn was holding. Luckily, Malcolm caught the tail of the energy bolt with his peripheral vision and was able to throw a blast of air at Quinn to shove him away from the oncoming explosion.
Staring in shock at the charred remains of the timer, Quinn and the others couldn't speak. None of them were able to comprehend what had just happened.
...:TBC:...