Chapter 5: Lockdown
Hey guys! I just wanted to say thank you all for keeping up with my stories and for reviewing! It helps to know what I'm doing right and wrong so I can improve and hopefully write better stories for you guys! Thanks!
Responses to reviews:
Flip the pancakes: Well, I'm glad that you like the story so far. Yeah, I guess I didn't really make it all that clear, but there essentially is a war between them, just not a full-on war. Like in the last chapter, the bad guys send their soldiers to try to kill members of the Order, and in turn the Order tries to kill the bad guys. But I think I know what you mean and I'll try to incorporate it more into the story. Thanks for the suggestion and for the review!
Moksh: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy my writing! Thanks for reading and the review!
Ashley Barbosa: I get how it seems like I like it that way, but if you've seen in my other non-action oriented stories, I make sure that Aang is mostly a pacifist. It's not so much that he's bloodthirsty, more like he's wise enough to know that "hesitation hastens the grave". Like in the show, although he was hesitant to get into fights, pretty much anything else except trying to tell Katara how he felt he knew there wasn't time to waste and jumped right to it. That's why I have him do that, but I understand the confusion. Sorry if I made it seem that way. Thanks for reading and the review!
Guest: My outlook on that… Well, I think it's safe to say that I'm not much of a fan of people who truly think that. With all due respect to my fellow Kataangers who tend to write the adult Kataang fics where Aang still acts like he did at twelve, it's just not plausible. Sure, I have no doubt that there was always a part of Aang that would like to goof off and have fun, but that doesn't mean that his younger self is always going to be who he is. As we grow, so too do our personalities, and saying that he was as mature as a twelve year old for the rest of his life is like saying that none of us are going to grow up as we get older either. It just doesn't quite work. It's probably not on purpose, but the only Aang they had seen was the twelve year old, so they're likely just trying to work with what they know. I can understand that, because it's the only thing that they've seen and are probably just using it to the best of their advantage. Besides, even if at the beginning of the story he had been acting rather childish- which was okay since he was twelve- as the story progressed, his wisdom that he already had guided him along with seeing the devastation of war and forced him to grow up faster than he probably would have liked. By the end of the show, he was very mature, even putting aside his hurt feelings from EIP to make sure that the world and the girl he loved survived. And if you're talking about physical-wise as well, then I don't really like that either. For example, in some stories by my fellow Kataang writers, they make Aang small and wimpy, even in high school stories when in reality if you've seen some parts of LOK he grew up to be a strong, tall, and handsome young man and is why I write it like that for when he's an adult. Thanks for reading and the review!
AnonymousKataang: Yeah, sorry. I was really excited about the idea of the Kataang Valentine's Day fic and sort of crammed it in quickly, but I promise that I'm trying my best not to rush anything. Thanks for reading and the review!
KatMora606: ¡Gracias! ¡Me alegra que te guste mi escritura! Gracias por leer y por la reseña!
Samaritan Prime: "When I first saw your review, I died laughing at the "Oh FRAK" part. I don't think I've ever seen anyone use "FRAK" before, but thank you for doing it. It absolutely made my day when I saw that. Yeah, I definitely wasn't planning on taking it this way, but when I thought of it, it just seemed like a better idea. Anyway, thanks for reading and the review!
Javier: Sorry that I killed you with the cliffhanger. I have a bad habit of doing that, but at least it keeps you on your toes! Thanks for reading and the review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
As Aang slowly awoke, he felt something warm pressed against him. At first he just assumed that it was his imagination, but as the warmth wrapped itself around him, making his eyes open instantly. He was relieved, however, when he saw that it was Katara. Even after being together for a few days, he was still adjusting to waking up with someone else in his bed. After all, he hadn't had a girlfriend for a few years, and none of them had lasted long enough to stay with him in his room.
He smiled as he watched the peaceful look on her face as she slumbered. She was so beautiful. It amazed him that she had even agreed to go out on a date with him, let alone let him be her first. Not that he was complaining.
The more he looked at her, though, the more his heart seemed to beat faster. This was surprising to him, as he hadn't expected to have such strong feelings for her so soon into their relationship. Did he love her already? The thought was scary for him. He hadn't loved anyone before. Or, at least in a romantic way. He certainly had loved his parents, and Gyatso was more or less like a father figure to him as well. But this was different. This was… dangerous.
If it came down to finishing the mission or saving her life, he wasn't sure which he would pick. The part of him that would do anything for her wanted to say obviously that he would pick her, but the more rational part of him knew that one human life wasn't worth thousands of others, even if that life belonged to the most amazing girl he had ever met.
Sighing a little, he just laid there, not wanting to disturb her. He became surprised, however, when her head found its way onto his chest and buried her face in it, making his heart go off the charts as he stared down in adoration at the sleepy woman who had stolen his heart. Maybe I do love her… he thought, doing his best not to wake her, especially now with how close she was.
Unfortunately for him, the slumbering waterbender was finally waking up as she let out a yawn. Eyes fluttering open, she was surprised to see how close she was and blushed heavily. "Oh, sorry," she murmured tiredly.
Aang simply laughed and shook his head. "What are you sorry for? I have no problem with being able to hold you," he replied simply, and more honestly than he thought was possible.
It proved to be the right thing to say, as Katara smiled widely. "Well I have no problem with you holding me," she laughed before kissing him. He smiled into the kiss and kissed her back for a few moments before they pulled apart. "So, what's the plan for today?" she yawned.
He smiled again and shrugged. "Besides the mission for tonight, not much else," he admitted. "We can do whatever we want until then."
"Whatever we want?" she questioned playfully while letting a hand slide down his pecs, making his breath catch in his throat as he waited to see what she would do. Both to his relief and disappointment, she stopped at the end of his stomach and brought it back to her side.
"Y-yeah," he stuttered a little, making her laugh, her eyes dancing in amusement.
"Well, what if I want to get tacos?" she teased, making him laugh. He hadn't been expecting her to say that.
"Then we'll go get tacos," he shrugged with a smile at her. "Whatever you want."
She smiled and leaned up closer to him. "Well, tacos are pretty good, but I think I'm more in the mood for…" she trailed off and reached down to grab him. "A good sausage right now." She felt him grow as she stroked him, making him moan at her touch.
"I-if that's what you want," he breathed, feeling amazed at how easily she turned him on. She smiled and kissed him before she got to work.
A few hours later, they had decided to meet with Teo before the mission of the night. After all, they had no idea what his father looked like or even what his name was. If they were going to get information out of Long Feng, they would need to know exactly what kind of information they would need to get.
So as they arrived at his house, they were more than a little surprised to see the door wide open. "Uh oh," Aang gulped and looked at Katara. "Looks like we've got trouble."
"Yeah, that doesn't look good," she agreed before they ran inside to see what was going on. Finally making it inside, they heard noises coming from upstairs. They recognized one of them as Teo's, but the others were certainly unfamiliar. "Come on! Teo might be in danger!" Katara told him. Aang nodded and they continued running until they reached a room where several men had surrounded Teo, all holding guns in their hands.
"Find the bases!" one ordered rather loudly. "That's all you have to do! It's as simple as that, and then we'll return your father."
Teo growled and looked at the other guards, but was surprised to see that Aang and Katara had arrived on the scene. Smirking a little, he shook his head. "No."
The lead guard looked at him in disbelief. "Did you just say… 'no'?" he asked a little dangerously, his grip tightening on the gun.
One soldier was killed and dragged out of the room while Teo responded. "I said, no."
"Why you little," the man growled before walking up to him and pressing the gun to his face. Teo would have taken his own gun out, but he was so shocked at how quickly the man had gotten to him, he couldn't think straight.
Fortunately for him, Katara had taken out the other guard while Aang was sneaking up on the last one. Before long, Aang's blade was pressed into the man's back who fell to the floor dead, making him disgusted. He certainly didn't like killing, but he just saw no other way.
"Are you okay?" Aang finally asked after snapping out of his thoughts, remembering his ally that had just been attacked.
Teo nodded and rubbed his face where the gun had been placed. "Yeah, I'm fine. The guy just was a little more forceful than I thought he would be," he admitted, spitting on the dead body before him. Aang grimaced at the sight, but decided not to comment. He was against disrespecting the dead, but the last thing he needed at the moment was to cause tension between them. "So, what brings you guys here?" he asked curiously as he took a seat on his bed.
Aang and Katara looked at each other before looking back. "We need to know information about your father so that when we take out Long Feng, we know what to ask."
"Oh, don't worry," Teo laughed a little bitterly. "They'll know who you're talking about. All you have to do is say 'The hacker's father' and they'll know."
Pondering this for a moment, Aang nodded. "Okay, I guess that could work. Are you going to join us?" he wondered.
"On the scene? No," Teo shook his head quickly. "I will, however, be providing technological assistance." They both looked at him with clearly confused faces. "I'm going to help you with hacking," he sighed, feeling like he was the only smart one in the room.
"Oh," Katara laughed a little sheepishly. "Right. Do you have any idea of the layout of City Hall?" she asked.
Nodding, he got up and gestured for them to follow as he made his way to his computer room. As he sat down, he quickly brought up a file marked 'City Hall', and a schematic of the place came up, much to the couple's surprise.
"This is City Hall. Or, at least the design of it, anyway," he shrugged before turning back to the screen. "There are ten total exits for the building. Since your order is sending ten members to help you, each one can guard a door to make sure Long Feng doesn't escape." He turned in his chair to look at them seriously. "Long Feng needs to die today. If he gets away, you won't find him again unless it's your time. Do you understand?"
Katara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "We understand, 'Boss'." Teo actually laughed a little before looking at the schematics again.
"Well, if we can find something for you to isolate Long Feng, then maybe this will actually work," Teo said thoughtfully as he looked at it closely. Upon further inspection, he was surprised to see a small room in the north east corner of the building. "There!" he pointed to it and looked at them. "If you can somehow get him in there alone, then you should be able to take him out quietly without there being too much trouble."
Aang looked at it closer and gauged how hard it could be to make that happen. "But how could we get him in there, though? If he's going to be at City Hall for a party, there's going to be a lot of other people there."
"Exactly," Teo responded as if it was obvious. "Use the crowds to sneak your way through to him and get him to go with you."
"But he has no idea who we are," Aang objected. "Or if he does, then he's even less likely to go with me. For all I know, he could know that we're coming and set up a trap for us."
Teo nodded in thought as he looked up at the ceiling, as if he could find the answer there. "So you and I can't get him there, so we need someone he's never met before…"
Then a thought came to mind to both of them at the same time as they looked at Katara. "What?" she asked in confusion.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Teo asked Aang.
"I think so," Aang grinned.
Katara looked between them both in confusion. "What?"
A few hours later, it was finally time for the party at City Hall. Katara was none too pleased, as she was being used as a sort of bait. She understood well that it was for a good cause, but she also knew it meant that she would have to flirt with a strange man who was being hunted by her boyfriend.
Despite herself, she couldn't help but smile at that thought. She had a boyfriend. And, despite her surprise at finding out about his 'job', was an amazing guy. Far better than Jet ever was. She couldn't believe she had ever even gone out with the guy. Aang was perfect for her in every way. Although she was reluctant to admit it, she knew that she loved him.
It was scary for her. Being in love already when she had just gotten out of a two year relationship, but she couldn't deny it. All he had to do was shoot her a smile and she would feel like she was melting right there. Everything about him just made her feel so… happy.
She rolled her eyes at herself. Was this thinking incredibly cheesy? Yes. Was it probably not helping as she was searching for her target? Yes. Did she really care about any of that stuff? No. No, she did not.
Shaking these thoughts from her mind, she took a sip of wine from her glass and continued looking, but there were so many people there, she felt like she was lost in a sea of faces. The more she looked, the more she became worried. So many things could go wrong with this mission. Long Feng could escape, someone other than him could die, and worst of all, Long Feng might have caught wind of their plan and not come at all. Then all this would be for nothing.
"Kat. Come in, Kat," Aang asked over the tiny earpiece that was carefully hidden by her long, silky smooth chocolate curls. Katara moved from her position by the refreshments table and made her way to a quiet corner of the room.
"I'm here. What's going on?" she replied, taking another sip of her wine. She knew she would have to pace herself, but she just couldn't help it. This was one of the best wines she had ever had.
"Have you seen Long Feng yet? He's supposed to be here by now."
Katara shook her head, but then remembered that he couldn't see her. Or maybe he could, depending on where he was at the moment, but deciding on assuming the former, she responded. "No, I haven't seen him yet. There's so many people here. It's hard to find one person in these big crowds."
Aang was silent for a moment before an idea came to mind. "Wait, I think I might be able to find him. Hold on a second." Katara waited patiently for him to continue, but they no longer had to worry about finding him, as he had finally arrived.
"Welcome, my friends!" Long Feng greeted the people on a podium in the center of the room. "Thank you all for coming. We all know why we are here." The people cheered as he put on a fake smile. "I want to thank you all for your support. Because with your help, we will make a difference in this city with my re-election!"
Katara gasped. "Long Feng is the mayor of the town?" she asked in complete surprise.
"Yeah. You didn't know that?" Aang wondered.
"No. I haven't really kept up with politics in this city," she admitted. "But isn't it kind of… treason to kill a mayor," she whispered the last part lowly.
Aang chuckled a little. "No, it's not 'treason', but it's definitely not legal. But it needs to be done. When he signed up to work for Ozai, he signed his own death warrant. He knows that and he'll find out tonight that people like him can't get away with everything."
Katara nodded slowly in thought. Of course she understood Aang's reasoning, but she still didn't very much like the idea of a soon to be corpse on the stage. But then again, she supposed he didn't like the thought either. At heart, Aang was a people person. He absolutely loved talking with people and getting to know them, hoping to become their friend. But he knew enough from what his parents taught him to know that these people needed to be put down for the good of everyone else. And she understood that, too, as she took a deep breath.
"Okay… well he's getting off the stage now. Do I really have to flirt with him?" she complained a little.
Aang's laugh rang over her ear piece, making her wince a little. "Sorry, Kat. But I don't think he would go with you otherwise. If you tried to ask for help, he would probably just send one of his guards to help you."
Letting out a long sigh, Katara nodded slowly, wanting to just get it over with. "Okay… if you say so." She looked again and saw that he was talking to some guests in the center of the building. "I'm going to get moving. I don't want to lose him in case he decides to leave early."
"Sounds good. Good luck, Kat," he told her before the earpiece became silent. Making her way through the crowd, she was slightly annoyed by all the looks she was getting from the "Gentlemen" around her.
"Hey beautiful, want to dance?" one asked her with a self-absorbed smile.
She put on a fake smile and shook her head. "NO thank you. I've got somewhere else to be." She continued walking and yet another one decided to try his luck.
"Hey gorgeous, want to get something to drink?"
"No thank you," she replied a little forcefully, feeling her temper spiking. If the situation wasn't so dire, she likely would have lost it by now. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was people who thought they were amazing, even when they clearly weren't.
Before long, she had finally reached the area of her target, but she couldn't see him at first. Her earlier thoughts of feeling lost in a sea of faces seemed very accurate at the moment. Looking around again, she couldn't seem to find him until she finally did. He had taken it upon himself to get some wine, where she had begun her search. Sighing again, she made her way over to him, silently giving herself a pep talk in her mind. You can do this. Just a little flirting, get him in the room, and let Aang do what he needs to do. Simple as that, she reminded herself. With renewed confidence, her steps picked up until she finally arrived.
Taking one last deep breath, she tapped on his shoulder and attempted to stand as nonchalantly as possible. Long Feng turned around and smiled at her, drinking in her appearance, making her want to puke, but she put that thought aside for the moment. "Why hello, young lady. May I help you?" he asked in concern.
"Oh, I don't need help, thank you, but I just wanted to talk to you," Katara replied with a charming smile, doing her best not to think about the look he was giving her. She was fairly sure he was already undressing her with his eyes. "So, how is your campaign going?"
Long Feng smiled, a creepy smile that made Katara wince just a bit, but not enough for him to notice. "It is going just fine, my dear. I am confident that we will win. Thank you for supporting me," he bowed to her and kissed her hand.
Despite being disgusted, Katara couldn't help but blush a little. She hadn't expected him to kiss her hand. "Well, I'm very glad to hear that," she lied through her teeth. "You've just been such a great mayor for us. I would hate it if someone else took your place."
"I believe I would hate it, too," Long Feng joked. She laughed rather fakely, but he didn't seem to notice, or at least care, anyway. "So. Forgive me if I'm being a bit brash, but… have you ever been with a mayor before?" he asked her carefully, not wanting to seem too blunt.
Katara held herself back from puking, but just barely. Once she trusted herself to speak, she shook her head. "No, no I haven't."
"Well, would you like to?"
Once again resisting the bile that threatened to rise up in her throat, she pushed it back down and put on a fake smile. "I would love to!" she replied fake-cheerily.
"Splendid," he smirked. "Where would you like to go?"
"Oh, I know of a little quiet place that we could go to," she murmured before turning around and walking. "Follow me."
Long Feng smirked once again and followed her as she led the way to the designated spot they had picked out, motioning his guards to stay. As they walked, she couldn't help but feel like something was off. Like something… bad was about to happen. Shaking these thoughts from her mind, she continued leading him until they had finally arrived.
As they reached the room, Long Feng opened the door and held it for her. "After you," he gestured for her to walk in with his arm.
"Why thank you," she put on another fake smile and entered, looking around for her boyfriend. She was relieved to see him perched atop the chandelier, with Teo struggling to keep his balance up there as well. Fortunately for her, Long Feng didn't seem to notice and followed her inside before he closed the door. Once he was satisfied that it was closed, he turned back to her. "Now, where were we?"
Aang prepared himself to pounce, but he became surprised when he felt something knock him off of the chandelier, sending him crashing to the ground.
He groaned slightly, having landed on his back. From what he could tell, he hadn't broken anything, but he was still in a fair amount of pain. And, to his annoyance, Long Feng's laugh pierced his aching head.
"Did you really think I didn't know this was a trap?" he questioned both Aang and Katara, still apparently having no clue about Teo being up there. "It's going to take a lot more than that to take me down. So," he took out a small sword from the pocket of his blazer. "Who would like to die first?"
Aang, who was still recovering from his fall, didn't reply. Katara got into a fighting stance, although she didn't have any water with her. If there was one thing she knew, she wasn't going down without a fight. Fortunately for her, she didn't have to.
At that moment, Teo threw caution to the wind and jumped down from the chandelier, eliciting a surprised "Oof!" from Long Feng. Katara became surprised, not expecting him to do it. After all, he was a hacker, not an agent, but she supposed that this had become personal to him.
Teo held a gun to his head, staring menacingly into his eyes. "Where. Is. My. Father?" he grit through his teeth, feeling like a hero at the moment.
Long Feng just sneered at him. "I'll never talk."
"Not willingly," Teo agreed, keeping the gun against the side of his head and digging around in his pocket until he pulled out a syringe.
"What is that?" Long Feng snapped, but he couldn't hide the nervousness that had crept into his voice.
"You'll see, Long Feng. You'll see," Teo promised. He didn't hesitate, putting the needle into Long Feng's neck, making him gasp in pain for a moment before Teo had finished. Teo stood up and holstered his gun, much to Katara and Aang's surprise.
"What are you doing?" Katara hissed. \
Teo just shrugged as he looked back at her. "Relax. I injected him with a sedative and something else I whipped up just for this purpose." Turning back to Long Feng, he looked down at the man who seemed to be anywhere but there. "Long Feng, what is your middle name?"
"Shirley," Long Feng replied dazedly, making Aang and Teo snicker a little. Katara smiled a little, but pretended to roll her eyes. After all, she had an image to uphold.
"Good. Now, where is my father and Ozai?" he got back to business.
Long Feng was quiet for a moment, his inner conscious obviously fighting him to resist, but the serum inside him had won out. "Ozai is keeping your father in his mansion in a bunker underneath. You will find Ozai there tomorrow night. But he will be heavily guarded. He knows that you are working with these filth," he gestured in Aang's general direction.
Aang walked over and looked down at him as a question came to mind. "If he knows that he's working with us, why doesn't he just kill his father?" he wondered. Teo glared at him, but he knew that he had a point.
"Because he's still a bargaining chip," Long Feng told him honestly. "He knows that if he can get this fool here to see his beaten up father, he will submit."
"Why you rotten-" Teo snarled and leapt at him, but Aang held him back, shaking his head.
"Not yet," he whispered. Teo looked like he wanted to argue, but he knew better and reluctantly nodded in agreement. Aang turned back to their captive. "Now, I have two questions for you. Firstly, are there any special ways inside of Ozai's mansion that we can enter without getting discovered?"
Long Feng had to think about it for a moment before he nodded slowly. "Yes, there is one. There's a secret tunnel that runs underneath the mansion that leads to the bunker his father is being kept in. You will find the entrance at the bottom of the hill."
Aang nodded and crouched down in front of him. "And as for my other question… why?"
"Why, what?" Long Feng questioned in confusion, still clearly dazed from the effects of the truth serum.
"Why do you all do this?" Aang clarified. "Hurting people, separating families, trying to take advantage of those you deem weaker than you… Why?"
Long Feng smiled, an evil smile that made Aang shiver a little. "Because those beneath us should be led, and the only way you keep your sheep in line is by treating them like the cattle they truly are."
They all stared at him in disbelief, wondering how such words could even come from a human's lips. "Wow," Katara breathed a little angrily. "You're a monster." Long Feng laughed a little and was about to respond when Teo finally had enough. Taking the sword that he had dropped, he quickly stuck it in his heart, covering his mouth to ensure that no one would hear his screams. Before long, the muffled cries subsided and his eyes dimmed, signalling the death of a tyrant.
They all looked at each other, relieved that it was over. "Well, we should get out of here, Aang decided, glancing at the corpse beside them. "The last thing we need right now is to get caught here." They both nodded in agreement and followed him out of the room while Aang radioed into his comrades. "Long Feng is down. Repeat, Long Feng is down."
Surprisingly, Zuko's voice came on his earpiece. "Good. That we all heard what that monster said. We're all moving out now." The line went dead as Aang looked back to his friends. "Come on. We really need to get out of here," he told them when he saw someone walking towards the room that they had previously occupied.
Nodding again, they followed him, walking at a quicker pace when before long there was a yell of surprise. "Move, move!" he whispered quickly to them. They broke out into a full sprint when some guards stepped into their path.
"Where do you think you're going?" one of them asked as they took out a gun and pointed it at them. Aang, who had had enough of bad guys for the day, didn't hesitate. Throwing caution to the wind, he winced as he saw his blade enter the guard's heart, but decided to not focus on it as he took the other's life as well. The crowd gasped at his actions, but he had already gone back to a full on sprint, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. After what felt like forever, they finally made it out of the building, but were alarmed to hear police sirens coming.
Knowing they didn't have much time, he took a side of each of his companions. "Are you guys ready?" he asked.
"Ready for whaaaaaat?" Teo shrieked in surprise as Aang crouched down and launched them all in the air, using the strong currents around them to guide them away to a rooftop far from City Hall. Before too long, Aang picked one he thought would be safe to land on and gently set them all down, panting a bit. He had used up most of his energy with that maneuver.
Once they had all caught their breaths, they looked at each other. "Okay, I think the coast is clear," Katara sighed before looking at her boyfriend. "So, what's the plan now?"
"Tonight, we're going to gear up and make sure we have everything we need for tomorrow. Because tomorrow night," he looked up at the night sky. "Ozai will finally go down."