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Fractured Minds
Chapter 14: Fortune Is A Fickle Beast

Earth; Undisclosed Location/Day 14

Every breath was measured and even; the candle's flame flared and shrunk with each. It felt just as exhilarating as when he first learned to harness his chi for bending. He was beyond skeptical of the so called 'Brotherhood' when they approached him, claiming to have a way to return his bending. But now he relished the flames that he could once more command at will.

His lips curled up in distaste as he felt his solitude being invaded but he schooled his features to a blank mask as the gangly teenager lead him from his room. It was sparsely furnished; a bed and footlocker at the end of said bed. As he understood it, this was his temporary abode.

The walk was silent and short, the building was small and again, a temporary base. He was waved into the room by his guide and was instantly aggravated when he heard his guide enter behind him. Temporary command center or not, the room he entered was covered in strange runic markings, symbols of dubious origin, and a low hum hung in the air. In the middle sat a long rectangular table with a dozen chairs around it, six were occupied.

He was prodded forward by his guide and was gestured to sit in the chair next to an imposing man wearing a half-orange, half-black mask. As he settled the Brain's strange voice pierced the air. "Mr. Ozai, I trust there are no problems with the return of your abilities?"

"None that I've come across in this last week."

"Excellent." He repressed the urge to sneer at this creature but he did swear loyalty upon the return of his bending and for now he'd obey.

"Now as to why we're here." At this the over head light's dimmed and a series of images began playing directly in front of him. What is this magic...

He could have swore that the masked man on his right had chucked at his expense he quickly dismissed that thought as he heard. "Did Raven say when she'd be back?"

The speaker was a young man and he estimated his age as the same as his miserable excuse of a son's. He wore a mask over his eyes and was dressed in the bright and clashing colors, red, yellow, and green.

"Friend Raven said she would be gone for as long as it took to find answers." He stared slack jawed at the woman who was hovering in the air, a few feet away from the building that the young man was perched on. The young man sighed, "Figures." A moment of silence. "How's Azula doing?"

He barely managed to keep his face carefully blank as the young man casually mentioned his daughter. "Friend Azula is still suffering episodes. I managed to alter the containment room to factor in Friend Azula's lightning strikes. She's yet to suffer an episode today."

"And she still hasn't asked after Raven?"

The young man's question would never be answered as the flying woman shot off like a rocket, weaving in and out between the tall buildings. The young man followed closely behind her. The images on the table were replaced with a map. A map he instantly recognized, it was a map of the Earth Kingdom. Though part if it was labeled the United Republic. That section of the map, he was sure, used to be the Fire colonies.

The over head lights grew brighter and, "It seems as though the half-demon has given us an unanticipated opportunity. The permanent removal of their capacity to hunt us beyond this dimension."

He was confused and a little uneasy at hearing the term 'half-demon' but he wasn't about to show this Brotherhood any weakness.

"Mr. Slade I will put you in charge of this operation and Mr. Ozai shall be placed at your disposal. Master Psimon please give them any information that they may find useful." The masked man to his right inclined his head and a man just as strange as the Brain, directly across from him, also inclined his faintly glowing head.

"Now to business. Monsieur Mallah, Plasmus, and Madam Rouge have confirmed the location of the Titans that remain. Team Black Magic and the green one have volunteered to help General Beifong patrol this border." A black line turned red on the map and he noted that it was the same section that said 'United Republic'.

"Warp, General Immortus, you two will handle the deployment of our modified automatons. Then help the others secure Ba Sing Se."

He frowned deeply at what he was hearing and despite not knowing what an 'automaton' was, he didn't like this. Ba Sing Se was a walled fortress with the largest concentration of earthbenders in the world guarding it. He kept silent.

"Mr. Slade is your side project ready for deployment?" He somehow knew the masked man on his right was smiling and he shivered a little. Is this what it feels like to be afraid? As much as he hated to admit it the masked man next to him was frightening, otherworldly so.

"The geo-mancer has undergone strenuous pre-programming and is being retro-fitted with nano-receivers as we speak. I sent Madam Rouge with the transmitters. The geo-mancer will remain in stasis until she's in range of the transmitters."

"Very good, Mr. Slade, it seems we are lucky to have recruited you." The masked man inclined his head and fell silent.

"Mr. Slade our operations will begin at 2200 hours in three days. Take care of the Titans on this end beforehand." Once more the masked man on his right inclined his head.

It was surreal how fast things were moving. After the meeting he was whisked away to another base by Mr. Slade. His first impression of Slade and his subsequent fear was accurate. It made him feel very small and almost helpless. He did not like that feeling and it irked him to be taking orders from an inferior. But he didn't dare push his luck.

For the last two days he was given a crash course on the Tower and the three titans that he would, likely, face if their distraction was discovered for the ruse it was. He was still a little confused about everything since his unexpected release but he pushed those thoughts away as the boat landed on the island's rocky shore. As he made to jump ashore, his partner stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Wait."

A rustle of cloth and then a soft 'click'. Seconds later an ungodly sound that could have risen the dead blasted through the air and cut out just as quickly. "Now."

He did not hesitate as his partners henchmen rushed the tower in droves.

Titan's Tower, 10:57 P.M.; Common area/Day 17

"This is so not fair!"

She grinned showing off perfectly white teeth and cackled madly when she spied the tears trailing down his face. "Turn about is fair play Cy."

"Best two out of three?" She was highly amused at his utter dismay at losing to her, and the fact that she beat his highest score.

"Hmm...nope." She'd have been worried that Azula was rubbing off on her, considering the time she spent healing the princess's minor burns post-episode but she has always been this vindictive. Plus Cyborg was absolutely way too easy to pick on, the guy had no shame in demolishing her when he'd introduced her to the odd device.

"Robbie...make Zen be nice..."

The man in question's eyebrow twitched and he made a point of ignoring his pleading robotic teammate. "Retribution."

At this Cyborg collapsed in a heap and had the most pathetic look on his face. He looked so miserable that she relented. "Bring it on tin man."

The way he visibly perked up in half a second with the biggest smile and that twinkle in his eye, was worth the aggravation in her opinion.

They were on the fourth lap out of eight when the screen cut out and a giant 'S' flashed across the screen as sirens rang throughout the room. "Slade."

She was taken aback at the amount of vitriol in Cyborg's tone and even more so when he violently jabbed a button on his arm, shutting the sirens off.

"Zen," She turned to face Robin. "Star and Azula are in the training room on the fifth floor."

She was already up and moving before he finished but just as the lift's door slid shut she heard, "Tell her its Slade."

The ride up took forever. As soon as the door was open enough she slipped out and ran straight for the training room. She slammed her hand over the scanner and burst into the room. "Starfire. The alert was for some guy named Slade."

"Friend Zen," Again she was at a loss for the sheer amount of deadliness in the woman's voice. "Please ensure that Friend Azula makes it safely to the containment room."

At her nod, Starfire vanished. Azula's eyes were on her the instant that Starfire left. She met those fiery gold eyes without hesitation.

"Please follow me."

She breathed a little easier when Azula broke eye contact and waved for her to lead the way. An eerie silence descended as they made their way through the fifth level of the tower. It wasn't a comfortable silence and her left hand was unconsciously hovering over the water skin at her waist.

"What is it?" She very nearly screamed at the top of her lungs. Instead she glanced back at Azula who, for the moment, was lucid.

"It feels like the calm before the storm. Its-" A foot connected with her back and she tumbled along the floor for a few seconds. When she came to a stop, her back was on fire and she was winded. She pushed through the pain to jump to her feet and she spun, expecting a fire spewing Azula advancing on her. Instead she saw the former fire ford crouching on the ground with a fire dagger in one hand, right where she had been standing.

"Still as useless as ever and protecting weaklings no less." She watched as Ozai, who somehow got his bending back, turned his back on her to face his unusually calm daughter.

"I happen to find that waterbending half-breed useful." Somehow she felt honored to hear that from Azula. Especially after almost getting hit with lighting yesterday while trying to restrain her during an episode.

"She might betray you. Like that circus freak." She saw Azula's face slowly fall and then the hallway exploded with blue flames. She barely had the presence of mind to create a dome of water to block the torrent of flame. The little water that she had was quickly evaporating and just as the last of it was gone, more flames were rushing toward her.

As she dived to the floor and rolled under the ball of blue, there was suddenly water raining down from the ceiling dousing everything; especially the two firebenders. She was grinning like a fool as she rose from the ground. And just as she was about to freeze the former fire lord in place, another blast of blue forced her back. The door on her right, the same one that she had been standing in front of, was violently ejected from its frame. Dozens of armored soldiers poured out of the opening, blocking her off from the dueling firebenders, well only Azula had any luck producing fire at the moment.

She swirled the abundance of water in the air around the soldiers and with one final rotation, the massive concentration of water compressed into the soldiers. There was no sound, no screams, or pleas as the soldiers were crushed. She watched fascinated as the soldiers seemed to bend inward on themselves. A viscous liquid poured into the water turning it black. Her face drained of all color as she realized it was oil, at the same time she saw an errant wall of blue wash over the oil laden water.

She groggily looked around and saw that she'd been blown clear down the hallway and would have kept going if it weren't for the wall behind her. Her vision filled with flashes of blue and orange, then there was a maniacal laugh that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. A moment later and everything went black as she slid slowly down the wall.

Earth Kingdom, Night; Border of the United Republic/Day 34

Dull pearly green orbs cracked open and narrowed. That felt weird...almost like...

The blind general shot to her feet and sent a mini quake throughout their camp. Everyone was very much awake after that.

"Ba Sing Se's under attack by a very powerful earthbender," The majority of the assembled troops under her command were very confused at this. Jinx and Beast Boy traded uneasy looks as she continued, "And there's several hundred metal soldiers..."

"General Beifong how can that be?"

"General Immortus." The people surrounding Beast Boy with the exception of Jinx and Mammoth, took several steps away from him.

"Wha-"

"Toph are you sure they're metal?" Her eyes seemed to bore into him.

"Yes. There's also something causing irregular tremors in the ground. But there's no way any earthbender besides me and Twinkle Toes has that kind of oomph. At least not enough to send a seismic vibration out so far."

"We're going to Ba Sing Se." He said with a slight shake in his voice.

She snorted, "The only way we'd make it before the city's wiped off the map is if you can fly all of us there."

"I can turn into a sky bison," He grinned sheepishly, "and I almost have the flying with air bending bit down."

"Well let's-"

"Kyd can get us there faster." The silent man in question nodded when everyone glanced his way.

She refrained from burying her most recent student in several tons of rock when she mentioned the silent specter. "Is it going to be anything at all like flying?"

"No."

"How many can he take with him at once?"

"Four."

She took a deep breath and steeled herself for 'faster' as she said, "He's taking me, you, the goofball, and the Dark One."

She held up a hand to forestall the inevitable, "Then he'll come back for the rest of the troops, we're not going to win this one but at least they can help us evacuate the city."

As soon as she was finished she felt a soft material spread over her skin. The four of them were dropped into chaos. Smoke, indistinguishable cries for help, and rocks filled the air around them.

"Oh foul-" He was cut off as a metal arm forced him back.

"Fight now, poetry later Dark One." She proceed this statement by ripping that very same metal arm off and using it to slice the rest of the soldier in half. She felt the field of rocks around them shift. She barely managed to get an earth tent up in time.

"Okay that one's mine." She grunted as more rocks rained down on her shield. It was like fighting Twinkle Toes in the avatar state. She heard a pained whine come from behind. Then she saw Gar collapse. "Terra."

"Gar don't you dare wimp out on me." She heard him growl. She grit her teeth and reinforced the shield as a rock shaped fist slammed against it. "Listen, right now we can't afford to lose focus. There are thousands of people in this city and the Dai Lee are getting their asses handed to them. We need to protect and evacuate as many as we can. You are no use to anyone like this. Go with the Dark One and help with the evacuation. Let me and Jinx handle your girlfriend."

"Yes sir." He was gone in a flash.

"Jinxy, do you remember what I told you to never, ever do again that time we we're training?"

"Yeah..." Jinx trailed off and her patented Cheshire cat grin spread across her face. "Do it and get me as close as you can. And don't you dare let me fall to my death. I still have more lily livers to teach."

The blind general's stomach was in her mouth as she felt the first brush of wind against her skin and then, they were flying.

Kyoshi Island, Sunset; Training area behind the dojo/Day 36

"Suki?" She sighed and gestured for Ty to sit but when her acrobat made to do so with space between them, her arm shot out and she gently pulled Ty close to her side. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth at the surprised look on Ty's face. "After the pirate raid and Ba Sing Se...I don't care anymore."

With that her acrobat happily settled and the two sat, enjoying the early evening silence. But it didn't last. "You know Zuko better than anyone. Why would he do this?"

She could feel the frown and the nervous fidgeting, that usually meant that she wasn't about to like the answer. And she was right. "I don't think he did."

As she was about to retort, Ty shifted and she repressed the urge to return the hug. Ty's hugs were addictive to her.

"That Terra girl is strong supporting evidence for Gar and Black Magic's version of events. And there's Toph as well." She deflated a bit at the truth in Ty's words. But despite Katara's recent openness, a hundred years of war is hard to forget. Katara, Aang, and Sokka were being stubborn idiots about Ba Sing Se. Even I can't bring myself to believe Gar and his friends.

"Still it seems highly suspicious and Zuko hasn't exactly been willing to compromise with the other world leaders over various issues since the war's end." She felt Ty nod and the two fell silent once more.

"I know this is going to sound far-fetched and very unlikely but could it have been the Brotherhood like Gar claimed"

It was her turn to frown as she mulled over what Ty had said. "Its as likely as a rogue faction of the Fire Nation trying to start the war up again."

"I believe him. Do you think...that Raven's made any progress with..."

She was suddenly very tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep and forget the last month and a half. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, hoping to quell the jealousy that welled up at Ty's vague mention of Azula. I hate this. Every damn time she brings up Azula. And I can't even properly dislike Azula either because of how miserable Ty looks when Azula is brought up.

Her body was rigid and her heart broke when Ty began to pull away. "Please don't. Don't pull away. I'm not angry. " She forced her muscles to loosen up. "Azula's just so..."

A half-sob, half giggle sounded and she was once again forcing her body to relax. "Yeah Zula has that effect on people."

"So how exactly did you two become friends?" She was shocked that that question just came out of her mouth.

And Ty's shock was just as evident in her eyes as she gazed up at Suki. Then Suki saw a warmth in Ty's smile that had never been there before. It was physically painful and something of it must have been visible for she heard, "You're the first person to ever ask me that. Not even Mai has ever wondered. But are you sure you want to know?"

As quickly as the pain was there it was gone, that warmth hadn't been for Azula. All she could do was nod as her words abandoned her, and she didn't really care.

"The year I began at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls was the same year that half of the dorms would burn down. One of the girls in my class, Akumei, was just beginning her firebending lessons and turned out to be a fire-starter."

"A fire-starter?"

"Yep. Its a term given to firebenders who can't control their chi when they sleep and inadvertently start fires. Anyway I was, unfortunately, Akumei's room mate. It was the heat that woke me up. She was throwing fireballs everywhere and after I was almost hit in the face with one, Akumei became the first person I chi blocked after my sister died. Of course it wasn't that easy. I don't know how long I'd been trying to get to her and trying to avoid getting burned at the same time but at some point, Zula reached the room.

I was sweating buckets and breathing hard, next to Akumei when Zula says, 'You seem a lot more resourceful than your empty-headed sisters.' I was too tired to respond with words so I just shrugged at her. But as she turned to leave, she had this look in her eyes...at first I thought it was respect but I later realized that it was fear.

After the last of the fires were put out that night, I was assigned to Zula's room. She personally requested me to be her room mate. Zula wasn't as princess-y in the Academy than she was at the palace. She was more pleasant but still prone to setting idiots on fire."

"She was afraid of you. She was probably pretending or something." She felt Ty stiffen next to her. She sighed deeply. "Why do you think she was afraid of you?"

Ty shook her head, "Zula wasn't afraid of me. She was afraid of being weak and helpless. And she saw what I did to Akumei, I took away her bending for twelve hours. Little did I know the Academy instructors got it in their heads to have me chi block Akumei every night until she could control her chi when she slept."

"Attempted assassinations are about the only thing I can think of why she'd hate being weak and helpless. Am I missing something?" She was really curious now and she'd wanted to try to understand her acrobat's oldest friend.

"The whole picture." This time when Ty pulled away from her, Suki let her put distance between them. But when Ty looks her in the eye, she wishes that she'd kept her close. Those gray orbs were harsh and piercing, "Zula's life was, is, nothing but an illusion. Her father made her into his weapon; a soulless extension of himself."

"Ty that doesn't justify what she's done."

"I'm not defending her!" Tears filled the suddenly conflicted gray. "I'm trying to tell you that there are reasons for the extremes she went to. I'm tired of everyone calling my best friend, former girlfriend, and the only person who saw me for myself rather than a mere copy, a fucking monster. Only one person was hurt when me, Mai, and Zula conquered Ba Sing Se; Aang survived. But Zuko killed fifteen people when he burnt Port Lou Zun, your home, to the ground trying to capture Aang. He sent Azan the 'merciless' assassin after Aang. But no one seems to remember that."

Before Suki could say anything Ty pinned her in place with the coldest glare that she'd ever seen on her acrobat, the seemingly endless stream of tears did nothing to lessen the impact. "I won't be coming home for awhile."

Suki felt like a hole opened in her chest as she watched Ty walk back into the dojo, the soft click of the door as it closed was the signal for her tears to fall. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm so stupid. How could I have forgotten about that...but surely Azula's done worse things.

Long into the night the leader of Port Lou Zun's Kyoshi warriors sat behind the dojo, analyzing and thinking, really thinking, about the war and the actions of the involved parties toward the end.

Titan's Tower, 2:26 A.M.; Infirmary/ Day 18

Starfire carefully pressed a damp wash cloth over her friend's feverish forehead. After making sure that the restraints were secure and the cool compress wouldn't fall she moved to check the water level of the tank. It was fine. She released a breath and went back to her vigil over both of her new friends.

Earlier when her team had returned to the tower they'd found Zen passed out in front of a wall with an impact pattern. Zen was covered in minor burns and half the bones in her body were broken. When they'd tried to move her, Zen woke up screaming about an escaped Ozai and keeping her in a tub of water before passing out.

They'd found the aforementioned Ozai in a similar state to Zen except he was covered in glowing red demonic runes. Next to Ozai was Azula whom also supported a set of runes spanning her entire right arm. Waves of intense heat poured off of her body and she'd just begun to thrash around violently when they found her.

What made it even worse was that Ozai and Azula were laid out on opposite sides of a mirror and all three; Ozai, Azula, and the mirror were lying on the floor of Raven's room.

Akumei is Japanese for Notoriety.

So here's an interesting little tidbit for you guys. Before the re-write of this chapter, it was only: 1,301 words in length. Now...I've add 2,900 words for a total length of 4,201(I didn't included the words for my ANs/disclaimer). I feel really good about this version though and each version of the re-written chapters. Before the re-write this story was godawful and now though, I'm much, much, much happier about it.

I would like to dedicate the Suki and Ty Lee section of this chapter to: seyaryminamoto, heir-to-sunspear-23, salixj, reminiscingdreamer, focusas, hammy0924, and icewhisker21 on Tumblr. Especially seyaryminamoto whose comments on a post that I made served as inspiration for Ty Lee's outburst at Suki.