I Don't Own Miraculous or Avatar.
Chapter Forty-Seven: The Coup.
The team peered around the corner.
"There's General How!" Sokka said. Adrien, Toph, and Sokka went to warn him when Adrien stopped them and pointed silently at the ceiling where several Dai Li waited to Ambush the general. The immedately ducked and hid. The sounds or How being captured in the Dai Li's chains filled the area.
"The Coup is happening now! We have to warn the Earth King!" Sokka hissed. His comrades nodded. Sokka grabbed Toph's hand, leading her and Adrien through the courtyard and castle, ignoring the other General's being captured. The King was Sokka's main priority at that moment. If they captured him, Ba Sing Se would be forced to surrender to Princess Azula. They reached the courtroom, bursting in to find the King was safe.
"Thank goodness we are here in time!" Sokka cried.
"In time for what?" The King asked, tilting his head. Immediately, Ty Lee, fully dressed as a Kashoi Warrior leapt up. Somersaulting over to him.
"Yeah! What are you in time for cutie?"
"Uh… I'm kinda involved with Suki."
"Who?" Ty Lee asked.
"His girlfriend, the leader of the Kyoshi. You should have known that." Adrien deadpanned. Toph took this as her que to bend at Ty Lee.
"They aren't the real Kyoshi Warriors!" Toph announced. The King gasped as Mai got up to attack.
"Sorry to disappoint you." She monotoned. She charged at Toph while Ty Lee cartwheeled over to Cat Noir.
"What about you? You're cute! Do you have a girlfriend?" Ty Lee asked.
"Yeah, Ladybug." He replied, dodging her strikes.
"Oh! I've met her!" Ty Lee cheered, "She's super hard to fight, but Chi Blocking stops her pretty good!"
"Will you stop flirting with the enemy?" Mai suggested, dodging an attack from Toph. Sokka went over to help the Blind Bandit, swiping several knives away. Ty Lee noticed Sokka and Toph ganging up on Mai and abandoned her flirtatious presuits with Adrien, who was clearly more used to flirting with Ladybug than being flirted at by some random acrobat. She attacked Sokka, attempting to Chi block him and pulling him away from her partner. He quickly dodged her strikes.
"Ooo! It's like we are dancing together." Out of the corner of Sokka's eyes he saw Cat Noir flinch and run from Ty Lee to the Earth King were he blocked a blast of blue fire. Princess Azula had arrived. Man, he felt bad for Adrien. Fighting Azula was not easy.
"Well, if it isn't Zuzu's little friend. I suppose you won't consider surrendering peacefully as I originally suggested?" Azula asked. Sokka had to resist the urge to laugh. Zuzu? That's what she called Zuko? Admittedly, hearing the childish nickname come from Azula was somewhat creepy, but it didn't change how funny it was.
"Not a chance, Princess." Adrien replied, standing firmly in front of the Earth King with his staff raised.
"I had hoped you were somewhat brighter, given how much your Ladybug bragged about how you'd save her. Oh, well. I suppose I can do things the hard way. Dai Li!" Before Sokka could warn Adrien, two Dai Li fell behind him. At an inhuman speed that only a Miraculous wielder could react with, Adrien had grabbed the King, dodged the rocks the Dai Li sent at him, and took off down the hall with the Earth King in tow.
"Follow him!" Azula growled. Sokka gave up on his fight with Ty Lee. All that mattered was making sure the King was safe. He nodded towards Toph and the earthbender sent a huge tremor through the room, leveling everything and off balancing Mai and Ty Lee. The pair ran down the hall Adrien had disappeared into and found it empty. Sokka decided that etheir Adrien had ducked into one of the many spare rooms to hide the Earth King or Adrien was far faster than Sokka had anticipated. Whatever the case, it was up to Toph and Sokka now.
"Do you know which way they went?" He asked Toph.
"Yeah, I do. I suppose you wouldn't though. This is a good place to ambush Azula and her friends. You take left and I get right?" She asked.
"Good plan." Sokka agreed and he ducked behind a pillar to the left of Toph just as the three Fire Nation woman and the Dai Li began to run through the halls.
"We need the Earth King!" Azula ordered, "Find Cat Noir and capture them both at once. I couldn't care what you do to that water peasant and his blind friend." Sokka was honestly offended by that remark. He was important enough to bother and capture. His father was the Chief of his village! He was practically a prince! Granted, his village's population was pretty low and couldn't really be considered a whole kingdom, but it had to count for something…
"Now!" Toph yelled as she bended a stone slab to block their enemy's path. The Dai Li and Fire Nation women reacted immediately as Sokka charged into a chaos Toph was stirring up with his club raised. They both fought like a whirlwind, Sokka covering Toph from getting chi blocked or from Mai's knives while Toph dealt with Azula and the Dai Li. Unfortunately, Azula was insanely light on her feet, and poor Toph was having trouble 'seeing' all of the attacks the princess sent at her, forcing Sokka to pay partial attention to his fight and partial to her, shouting out warnings when Azula did something Toph wouldn't be able to see coming. Ty Lee and Mai noticed this weakness and used it to their advantage, pouring all of their work into taking out Sokka first so Toph would be exposed. This was a problem, considering how fast Ty Lee was and how hard it was to dodge Mai's knives. Sokka wasn't exactly Avatar Aang when it came to evading. It didn't take long for him to trip up and for Ty Lee to make her move. In a few quick jabs Sokka lost all feeling and found himself falling backwards. Toph let out a cry of alarm, because in that exact moment were Sokka was distracted by his falling, Azula had leapt into the air and sent a fiery blast at Toph that the earth bender barely blocked. As a result of such a late block, she was pushed back into an attack from the Dai Li and lost all balance. Ty Lee used this advantage to chi block Toph.
Two Dai Li stepped forwards and helped the paralyzed Sokka and Toph to their feet. Azula walked up to them, frowning.
"Where is the Earth King and Cat Noir?"
"I promise I have no clue." Sokka said.
"And how should I know? I can't see without my bending." Toph pointed out.
"Even if we did know, we wouldn't tell you." Sokka summed up.
"Really? Not even to save you peasant sister?"
"Hey! Katara is not a peasant and you've got a lot of nerve calling her that, you lousy excuse for a princess!" Sokka snapped. Azula looked like she was going to hurt Sokka for that remark before she was interrupted.
"Perhaps I could be of an assistance, Princess Azula." Sokka craned his neck to see Long Feng emerge from the shadows with two more Dai Li. A cruel smile was on his lips.
"Long Feng, of course, you have the most experience next to Hawkmoth with tracking Cat Noir. Granted, you only caught him after his father let you capture him.
"I can handle the King and boy." Long Feng said, "The general's are out of the way and the Dai Li are once more in control of the Palace. It matters not if I have Cat Noir or the King right now, because they won't have anywhere to go where I won't find them. They won't get far with the Dai Li guarding the entirety of the palace walls, which means they are trapped in here with us. The boy might be a skilled warrior, but without his partner and with an escort, he will be simple to defeat. All one has to do is remove that staff from his clutches and force him to use his spirit powers so he is weakened. Of course, since I don't need to do much to apprehend Chaton the Cat Noir, I really have no need for you, Princess Azula. Dai Li, arrest her and her friends." Sokka winced, expecting the Dai Li to obey. Instead, they remained where they were, glancing between Azula and Long Feng in hiestation.
"What is wrong with you?" Long Feng demanded his men, "I said arrest her!"
"They haven't made up her minds. They're waiting to see how this is going to end." Azula said, grinning sweetly.
"What are you talking about?" Long Feng asked. Azula strode through the hall until she was directly in front of Long Feng.
"I can see your whole story in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power… the divine right to rule…" She pulled back from him, smirking, "That is something you are born with. The fact is, they don't know which one of us will sit on the throne and which is going to be sitting down. But I know… and so do you. Well? Tell them, who is ruler now?" Long Feng gulped, looking around at his men with a hint of fear in his eyes. Sokka's stomach dropped. Long Feng had been evil. A true monster hiding amongst koala-sheep. The fact that Azula, a the villainous daughter of the most evil man in the world intimidated him made Sokka fear how dangerous Ozai was going to be to fight. He hoped Aang would be ready in time… well… after they got out of this situation and all of that. Long Feng finally gave in to his genuine fear of Princess Azula and bowed lowly as a sign of allegiance to her and her father.
"You've beaten me at my own game." Long Feng admitted, "The Dai Li and I are loyal to you."
"Don't flatter yourself." Azula said snidely, "You were never even a player. Now, search the palace and bring me Cat Noir and the Earth King. Make the Cat use his gift so he has no way to escape. Once you catch the Cat, make sure he is unable to use his gifts of destruction to escape like he did last time. But, leave him alive. I want to know how he and his partner were granted the powers of the spirits of creation and destruction. I want to learn how to harness their power for my father and use it to the Fire Nations advantage. There's something off about the Spirit Fighters and I want to know what. Once he is caught, put him in the crystal caverns with his partner where his powers will have less damage should he attempt escape. Is that clear?"
"Yes Ma'am." Long Feng said, bowing lowly. The Dai Li bowed with him before the Dai Li scattered to search for Cat Noir and the Earth King. Only the two holding Sokka and Toph up remained.
"Take these two to the dungeons." Azula ordered, "I have a big brother to visit." The Dai Li obeyed and dragged Toph and Sokka to the dungeons and threw them into a completely metal cell were Toph likely couldn't bend. Once the guards threw them in, Toph got the biggest smile on her face.
"The cell is metal?" She said excitedly.
"Yeah… why are you happy?" Sokka asked, attempting to move his arm which was slowly regaining feeling.
"I picked up something while I was with my mom… well… actually it wasn't my mom, but two guys that were hired to kidnap me and take my back to my mom and dad. They took advantage of my blindness and came from above, trapping me in a metal box. I was stuck in there for a long time, attempting to do anything to escape when I felt it."
"...Felt what?"
"Earth, in the metal. That's when I realised earth was in all metal because metal was simply a very refined version of earth. I was excited because I learned a new, never tried before kind of bending… metal bending." Sokka managed to sit up.
"No way! That's insane!" Sokka said, "You invented another kind of ending! You could go down into the history books!"
"Yeah, well first we need to get out of here. I need to get my bending back. I've got some feeling back, but not enough to see anything or get into a proper bending stance. How long does it take for chi blocking to wear off?"
"Eh, an hour to thirty minutes if you aren't a bender, a little longer for benders." Sokka said.
"They could catch Cat and the Earth King by that time!" Toph objected.
"Adrien is clever and he is fast. He's been dealing with the Dai Li a month longer than we have, and from what he told us, he's fought Azula before. He can last a little longer. Once we get out, we will find him and the King before swinging around to get Appa. We will meet the others at the house and pack. Then, we can send a few of us away with the Earth King to protect and the rest can stay and take on Azula and the Dai Li." Sokka explained.
"But what if we can take them on? The only reason we beat the Dai Li is because of the Earth King. If the Dai Li aren't even loyal to the King anymore, then we are outnumbered."
"Yes, but we still have the Avatar." Sokka argued, "Everything will work out just fine Toph, don't worry. Besides, we only need to hold the Dai Li and Azula off until the Invasion. The war will be over if we can do that."
"If you say so… we should have just left Ba Sing Se. This all is more work than I want to put in. There are plenty of other Earth Kingdom armies around to help, right? We could ask the water benders too if we wanted… but nah… we had to stay here so things could get worse so that we would have to keep the entire world from falling apart!" Toph said sarcastically.
"Way to be a pessimist Toph." Sokka muttered, "You really brightened my already horrible day."
"Happy to help." Toph said cheerfully.