Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my ocs. Important notes at the bottom.
Fractured Minds
Chapter 18: Warring Factions
Kyoshi Island; Outside the Infirmary/Day 40
Her eyes tracked him as he completed his latest circuit of the infirmary's porch. It was hard to see him like this. She wanted to march up to him and shake him out of this unnatural state but she didn't. She had done the same four days ago while Toph had been treated for her injuries. With that thought firmly in mind she absorbed his restlessness in silent commiseration from her perch on the porch's railing; much like a lazy cat.
Her thoughts drifted back to the second day after the attack on Ba Sing Se and the ensuing arguments over who to blame. It was the only time she'd ever seen Toph so torn but the blind general had sided with her and Gar. And from there the argument got even more heated. Thankfully or not so thankfully Terra almost destroyed the island and Katara, Toph, and Giz were forced to put their heads together to help her.
Despite the pressing matter at hand and mounting evidence in support of the Brotherhood's involvement the majority of the island believed that the Fire Nation were starting another war and the tension among the gAang was ready to snap.
"They've been in there a really long time. Do you think something's wrong?" He said and she nearly toppled off the railing in surprise. She refrained from glaring at him. "Are you doubting Giz? And Toph."
"No I have faith in him and your girlfriend." He waved off her irritation and indignation at his cheek, she had nothing on Rae. "Its just they've been in their for six hours and they had to send for Ty Lee."
"She's a chi blocker. Terra's geo-mancy was probably acting up again." He sighed and moved off to start pacing some more.
"Do you want me to call Rae." She said. She heard his footsteps falter.
"No. She's got enough to deal with over there and need I remind you that she's on vacation." He went back to pacing and she settled in to watch him pace. After all he'd done the same for her and now it was her turn to repay the favor.
Moments later and a group of four rag-tag dead tired people exited the building, one of them made a bee line for her. "Long time no see."
The blind general let out a huff of amusement before she collapsed on the porch with her back leaning on the railing. "Well Madam fussy britches wanted to double check that we got all of those nano-whatsits. Then there was one that attached itself to the base of earth girl's spine. But everything worked out."
"That's good." She jumped off the railing and pulled the unresisting Toph off of the ground. "Come on there's a bed in the dojo with our names on it."
They hadn't been asleep for a hour before explosions woke them. If there was one thing that the members of Black magic, and Raven, had learned about their leader it was to never ever wake her up after she just fell asleep. Not even if the world was ending. Because her powers became extremely volatile if she was disturbed as she entered rem sleep. Arcs of pink energy were racing toward the source of said explosions and met little resistance along the way.
"Once I'm through with them. Those brotherhood assholes will think twice about fucking with my beauty sleep." The hex caster growled out as she followed after the Kyoshi warriors.
Kyoshi Island; the Dojo/Day 47
She was about to level the entire island. The last week had been a nightmare as more and more attacks were thrown at her team and the port. And with each successive attack the argument of who was responsible for Ba Sing Se created a rift. On one side was Team Black Magic, Gar, Terra, Toph, Ty Lee, and Suki, surprisingly enough. A divide among the Kyoshi warriors formed shortly after, half of them wanted Ty Lee thrown out of the group and the other half stood behind her.
On the other side was the Avatar, half of the Kyoshi warriors, Katara and her brother, and Lou Zun's council of elders. The very same council that was currently trying to strip Suki of her position. She was half tempted to give Raven a call and ask her to go Red Menace on everyone. But she knew it was just the trying hellish week talking and there was no way that she'd disturb Rae on her vacation, the half-demon had earned the respite.
She sighed wearily and closed her eyes, not willing to muster the energy to rise from her position. Plus it'd be extremely difficult to dislodge the dosing blind earthbender cuddling into her side; this, she decided, more than made up for the headaches caused by the Brotherhood's daily attacks.
She was skating the edge of sleep when a shout shattered the early morning silence. "An air balloon has crashed into the bay!"
Both occupants of the room loosed growls of frustration as they rushed out after the Kyoshi warriors, still fully dressed and ready for anything; they'd long since given up on taking off their clothes before trying to sleep. Along the way they picked up stragglers from Black Magic and the Kyoshi warriors. As they reached the bay they saw that the avatar and the elders had beaten them to the shore where a small group of people were dragging themselves out of the water.
She heard shouted accusations as everyone moved closer.
"Fire lord Zuko. You dare to show your face here? After everything you've done." Elder Kintosi's voice dripped with venom as the waterlogged fire lord finally stepped on to dry land.
The fire lord didn't pay the enraged elder any mind as he helped more of his guards and palace servants out of the water. There were more people still swimming across the bay from the sinking airship. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kyd move forward to better visualize the airship. "Kyd," His head swiveled toward her. "Take Gar and X with you to the ship."
With a nod he disappeared. As she returned her attention back to the fire lord she saw Avatar Que-ball step forward, elder Kintosi however beat him to the punch, later she would lament her lack of popcorn for the show. "Well what have you to say to defend yourself?!"
"The palace was attacked early this morning, we barely made it out of there alive." His voice was subdued as he turned back to the water scanning the waves for anyone who was close to land.
"Lies!" Kintosi snarled at the fire lord's back. There was a whistle in the air and then elder Kintosi yelped as a sharp sting bit into the side of his face. A steady stream of warm blood traveled down his cheek.
"Lily and Rook may very well be dead." The woman's eyes glimmered dangerously as she moved toward the elder with effortless grace. "My children may very well be dead. Do not push me old man."
Elder Kintosi shrank away from the woman as she roughly pushed him out of her way to help a new group of people as they reached the shore.
"Zuko please tell us why you tried to start the war again? Why did you invade Ba Sing Se?" She groaned inwardly at Avatar Tactless as she saw the murderous intent flash in the eyes of the fire lord and the woman.
"Does it fucking look like we invaded Ba Sing Se?!" He was angry, so angry and scared for the fate of his children as he gestured wildly to the sinking airship; a handful of guards were dragging themselves out of the surf a little ways down the beach.
She had had enough. She shot a blast of wind at the avatar and elder Kintosi, and with a little help from her hex bolts she pushed the large group of people crowding the fire lord back. "For the last fucking time Avatar Tactless, it wasn't the Fire Nation that attacked Ba Sing Se."
"Right like we're just supposed to take your word for it." Her eyes flashed pink and she could feel tension beneath her skin building with every word that Katara spoke. " It was the Brotherhood." There were protests that she silenced with another blast of wind. "From a tactical view point the Fire Nation gains nothing by crippling themselves. Nor would they attempt to seek refuge with the very Nation they attacked. So as much as I have loved entertaining your fears about another war, it stops right now. Because this is exactly what the Brotherhood wants; infighting.
Now if you are just going to be obstinate assholes leave. Katara, I sent Kyd, Gar, and X to evacuate the people who are still trapped on the airship. Go to the infirmary as I have no doubt that many of them are wounded. Avatar Tactless you've done more harm then good so I'd make myself scarce if I were you. The Kyoshi warriors who've sided against your leader, you can go with him. Elder Kintosi for your own safety stay the hell away from knife lady over there because I'm half tempted to let her turn your stubborn moronic ass into a pincushion for the rest of her knives. As for the rest of you, lets get a temporary camp set up for the Fire Nation refugees."
No one dared to argue as those she ordered to leave, left quickly. The Fire Nation refugees gained a healthy respect for the petite pink haired witch that had stood up for them.
The rest of the day saw her and team Black Magic, plus Gar, Terra, Toph, Ty Lee, and most of the Kyoshi warriors helping the fire lord and fire lady get a camp set up for everyone; Toph did most of the work creating tents for every one and a low wall around the entire area.
Terra, Zhaji, and Reina created an under ground tunnel to the airship to salvage any clothes and weapons in it. They also removed the dead, people who died as they escaped from the Fire Nation and when the airship had crashed into the bay.
Mammoth and Gar went from person to person compiling a list of everyone in the airship and helping reunite lost friends and family. A gaggle of children followed behind Gar as he moved all around the camp, helping to find their parent or parents.
Day turned to night and everyone was dead set on staying until the refugees were settled but Fire lady Mai put her foot down. "Thank you all for helping as much as you have but you won't be nearly as productive if you're half-asleep."
Kyoshi Island; Fire Nation refugee camp/Day 49
The Fire Nation Refugees had opened a whole other can of worms yesterday morning, by announcing that Ozai had escaped two weeks ago. Giving the Avatar and his supporters ground to stand on and spawning more arguments. She slammed her hands down onto the stone table as she felt a migraine developing and was pleased when every one fell silent. She took a deep breath and after she let it out, "So basically its a rogue faction of the Fire Nation that is responsible for the attacks. Or it could still be the Brotherhood. There's only one way to find out. We rescue the royal brats."
"Wait," Most of the occupants of the tent shifted their attention to the blind general. "Why didn't Nightmare show up to help you?"
At that the fire lord's face went pale. "She'd already left for Crescent Island to help my sister."
"That doesn't answer the question fire lord. Even if she was on the farthest out laying island from the capital, the range of her empathy has grown larger in the last few months. She'd have sense the attack." She said and instantly narrowed her eyes at him.
"I may have questioned her about my father's escape and an attack on Obsidian island. She was in some kind of trance when my guards detained her and my guards then went a little extreme in trying to snap her out of it." His tone had an underlying tremor in it as he spoke.
She heard a low growl from Gar and was very satisfied to see the fire lord practically jump out of his skin. She put a hand on Gar's arm to keep him from lunging for fire lord brainless. "You should consider yourself lucky that Rae isn't in the business of skinning idiots alive. Regardless of Rae's radio silence, a rogue faction of the Fire Nation looking to start the war up again, or the Brotherhood finally making their move. What we need to do is rescue the royal brats and gather as much information about the attack on the palace."
"It won't be that easy. The attackers in the palace were spirits or something because there is no way that a bender is capable of that level of destruction, save perhaps the avatar." Until that point the fire lady had remained silent and had spoken very little over the last couple of days. She'd taken to flinging knives at anyone who said something that annoyed her, generally everyone did their best to avoid her.
A wicked grin stole across the hex caster's face, Gar and Giz both shuddered at the sight of it. "You're in luck. Cause my team has been trained for these situations. Though it would be easier if Rae were here."
"Can't you contact her with your communicators?" She was already shaking her head before Suki finished asking the question. "Gar's was crushed during the evacuation of Ba Sing Se and his was the only one that's connected to the Titan network. That and the batteries in mine are dead. And all of Giz's tech runs on solar power."
"Are these communicators circular and yellow?"
"The old ones were." She said her tone dangerously low.
"There's one in the palace. And I think my uncle might have one too. Unless he kept it hidden in his tea shop."
"Sorry Lord Sparky but Terra leveled it during our tussle." There was a hint of respect in the blind general's tone.
"Then its settled we're going to rescue the royal brats." She smiled and everyone was rightfully terrified of the promised chaos held within bright fuscia eyes.
The Fire Nation, Caldera City; Royal Palace/Day 52
Her instincts were screaming at her that it was too easy. It had been relatively simple for Team Black Magic to infiltrate the palace. She was expecting a fight or at least someone from the Brotherhood to greet them. But upon reaching the palace it was empty of actual people, there were however dozens of General Immortus's robot soldiers.
Despite her misgivings and the dread weighing her down, she pressed on; they needed the communicator. Over the last three days while they planned the rescue she'd been allowed to stew in her thoughts, particularly over a certain half-demon's absence. She knew Raven, knew how the woman felt, how she thought, and especially how undeserving the world was to have her protecting it. And it didn't matter what fire lord Brainless had done to her, Raven wouldn't abandoned anyone in need to the likes of the Brotherhood or whatever other assholes that decided to stir up trouble.
So she knew that there were two possibilities going forward. One, and the least likely, was that the fire lord had killed Raven. Two, the fire lord's sister was in an even worse hellhole than the asylums back home and Raven needed to get the sister out of there; the only way being to exit this dimension altogether. She was leaning towards the second because there is no way that anything, short of the combined might of the other six demon lords, was going to have a shot at killing Raven.
As she came to a junction of hallways, she raised her hand to signal Gar to check if their way was clear. A moment later and she heard the pre-arranged animal signal for 'all clear'. She motioned for him to hold position as she crept around the corner. She reached the armory doors and slipped inside.
The tile beneath her foot sunk further into the floor. She threw herself into the doors and the wood splintered as her back hit them. Her back thudded against the red tiles. She rolled into a crouch and darted to her left as the tongue of flame shot from the hole she'd created in the doors. "You know Madam Reckless. I'm insulted that my younger less clever self had ever picked you as role model."
"You should have joined us vhen you the chance. Kitten."
She snorted and had to fight down a laugh. She lost it when her former role model stalked out after the flames died down, absolute shock spreading across her face."What? Did you think I'd be angry? Its kind of hard to deny how feline I am. I'll have you know that I can purr up a storm, I hate it when it rains, milkshakes are life, and oh yeah, I have nine fucking lives."
The tiles that Madam Rouge were standing on shattered as pink sparks crackled along the red fragments. Madam Rouge plunged into the dark hole below her. The hex caster's grin was wide as she moved to the edge of the hole and shouted, "And you shouldn't have pushed your luck, bitch."
She felt like skipping so she skipped into the armory, scooped up the communicator, and skipped out. She was whistling merrily as she rounded the corner.
"Ah man, I didn't go far enough did I?" She was pouting at the vaguely disappointed look on Gar's face.
"Not nearly." He whispered.
Her grin was splitting her face now as she moved passed him. She waited until she heard him start following her. "What if I told you that the bottom of that hole is filled with lava?"
I think I broke him. "Now grass stain," She glanced at him, "Stop gawking and sound the retreat. The only way this plan is going to work is if the brotherhood thinks we're leaving."
The strange howling-shriek was music to her ears. She was also viciously glad that at least one of the Brotherhood was dead or might be. And since boy blunder wasn't there to get all high and mighty about not killing she could finally go all out. They shouldn't have sent Brother Blood to the academy.
With the retreat sounded and the others, hopefully, not captured. They just needed to find a place to lay low until the furor died down. Then search for the brats. Or at least that was the plan until her momentum sent her and Slade tumbling to the ground.
Her luck, for once, didn't suck as she landed on top of the evil mastermind's chest and was able to scramble off of him but not before jabbing him in the throat with an elbow. It would never connect as Slade threw her off and into the air. She twisted, kicking off the ceiling and sending a hail of pink arrows toward him.
She saw Slade's single eye go wide as the arrows flew to him. He dodged the first couple without trouble but was punched into the path of three more by a green clawed fist. The first arrow narrowly missed his left arm but the second and third struck his chest. She frowned when he stayed on his feet. Damn he has magical armor.
But then Slade stumbled and Gar went in for the kill. At the last second Gar was kicked away. More arrows rent the air as she dive bombed Slade. As she passed over head Slade snagged her leg, spun her around, and hurled her into the ceiling. A sickening crack was the last thing she knew.
The first sensation known to her was a throbbing ache behind her eyes. Her head felt like someone had taken her skull, cracked it open like an egg, plopped her brain into a blender, and then hit turbo pulse but neglected to hit stop. On top of her blender-y brain headache her ears were buzzing and she really needed it to go away. She attempted to burrow further into material she was on, to escape.
After realizing that there was no escape she stilled and just lay where ever she was for awhile. Slowly the fight with Slade came back to her. Her mind stuck on the painful collision with the ceiling, she was lucky that Slade hadn't broken her neck. She groaned when the shaking started and flailed her arms, not caring to control her hex bolts as she did so. She was rewarded with a pained yelp. The shaking went away. Then it came back with a vengeance and the buzzing became unbearable. "Jinx."
"What?" She hissed like a wet cat. Her eyes were still firmly closed.
"Hi."
That does it, she is going to skin him alive and then feed him meat. She cracked her eyes open just enough to aim for his head but then froze as she saw the bars behind him. "I take it Slade has something to do with my brain feeling like scrambled eggs."
She pushed back against the throbbing in her head and slowly gave the dungeon a cursory inspection. The cell was big and could have fit forty more people comfortably on top of the fifty people already crammed inside of it. Every person, herself included, wore iron shackles around their ankles and wrists. Well this just won't do. Pink crackled along the shackles and they crumbled into rust.
"I'm going to kill those assholes for leaving us here." The dungeon was alive with pink veins that pulsed in time with the throbbing in her head. She didn't try very hard to control her hexes as her hands formed the familiar signs. Sit. Rep.
"I'll help." He nodded then his hands were speeding through signs too. Slade isn't here just a couple of Slade-bots but these are better versions, plus Psimon and Plasmus too. Giz, Mammoth, and X got to the rendezvous with Toph's team, Kyd was injured but got away and is laying low in the palace somewhere. I have your communicator and the other one but its circuitry is fried and yours is in pieces. The fire lord's kids aren't in here as far as I can tell. How's your head?
I'll live. Its fine I can make it work between the two. But with the creepy former Trigon flunky here we will need a distraction. Her Cheshire grin was in full force. "Grass stain how positively feral of you. When we find them, I will hold them down while you rip them to pieces."
"How do I know that you weren't in on this? Maybe I should start with you." He growled. Are you sure you can do this? Last I heard you couldn't work a toaster without it blowing up.
She cackled as pink sparks arced along her body. "Brave words for a dumb little runt." Very funny oh booger green one. Yes I'm sure. But I'm going to need at least three minutes. I'm going to make you land on that big guy in the far left corner, drop the communicators before you attack me.
He snarled before leaping on her. She rolled under him and rose to her feet, twisting around to lash out with her foot. Pink danced along it as her foot connected with his side. He flew across the cell and slammed into the guy in the corner. As soon as the first fireball was thrown she dived to the floor and with a little help from the wind, skidded along it to a dark corner of the cell. She curled into a ball to hide her hands.
Both of her hands moved quickly as pink flashed across them while she poured enough magic into both communicators to fuse them. Her fingertips flew across the screen and she had just hit sent before the communicator fell apart in her hands. She let out an exhausted sigh and stayed curled into a ball. She fell asleep a few moments later.
"Um, miss?" The voice was accompanied by a gentle poke to her shoulder.
She must have made some kind of noise or gesture as the voice started speaking, "Here's your share of the food and water."
"Give it to one of the kids." She waved them off and attempted to return to sleep.
"The boy you got into a fight with said you'd say that." The voice was amused and went away.
She was almost into the land of dreams when another person invaded her corner. Her head was still killing her and she'd used her hexes, magic, and bending in quick succession with little to no rest in between; she was tired and in no mood for twenty questions.
"Did you get the message out?" His voice was low and she barely heard it. The tension in her muscles loosened upon hearing his voice.
She murmured an equally as quiet, "Yes."
"This isn't over."
Everyone else in the cell flinched back at the sheer rage in his words and many cast worried glances at the strange pink haired woman as she generated more of those pink lighting bolts and flung them at him in response. They shivered as malice and the promise of pain filled the air. "Wanna bet?"
The Fire Nation citizens were even more wary of the two when the boy reeled back from the woman and stomped to the farthest corner of the cell, snarling at anyone who didn't immediately get out of his way.
Fire Nation Capital, The Royal Palace; Early Morning/Day 47 (9 days earlier)
Her muscles protested painfully as she once again spun in circles across the abandoned training grounds. The kata she was practicing also had cartwheels and front flips mixed into it. She landed lightly on her feet and glanced behind her to see the result, a wide almost maniacal grin split her face as she nodded in satisfaction at the sight. The red flames danced back and forth over the ground; the flames were molded into several different shapes, butterflies, fire lilies, koi fish, cravens, albatross falcons and a komodo rhino were a few of the shapes that she saw.
It had been frustrating and very difficult to learn these katas on her own but she kept practicing them in her spare time. She'd found the firebending forms in some old scrolls from nine years ago. Whoever wrote the scrolls was a very powerful bender and even encouraged the reader to do the forms without bending at first. She was kind of sad that the last scroll was incomplete as she was more than ready for more advanced kata from this master's style.
"Lil you're amazing. I wish I was that good."
She only jumped a little at his voice and her cheeks were only slightly pink at hearing his praise. "Come on Rook, you and I both know that you're way better than me."
He stared in open mouthed shock at hearing her brush off the rapidly dispersing flames. Sure he may have gotten a better handle on the basics when they started their lessons but Lil had quickly pulled ahead when they moved to more advanced stuff. She was frighteningly good at dragon's breath and she wasn't even a master yet. Though he could produce more consistent temperatures with his fire chi.
"Lil seriously. You have a way better grasp of the advanced stuff than I do and you already know two master level forms too. And what you just did...that was unbelievable. You'll have to teach me the style when our teacher says I've gotten better with the advanced forms."
He's really asking me? I can't teach him, I can't do anything right. At least that's what everyone says... "I'll try but when it doesn't work. Please don't be angry with me Rook."
"Lil you are my sister and I could never get angry at you about this. You heard what mom said, bending isn't everything. Though if you keep pilfering my dessert at dinner you and I are going to have problems." It took effort to keep his voice even. He wanted to hurt everyone who had affected his sister. Ever since they were little certain people would say hateful things to Lily and no matter how many times he asked their parents to tell him why, they never did; he could tell that his mom was lying, their dad was as clueless ever.
"Besides if you're that worried about it, we could always search for the master who created the scroll to clear up any questions that come up." The smile that she flashed him was brighter than the sun. Which is why he was wholly unprepared when she tackled him. "You're the best, Rook."
"Lil you wound me. I thought you already knew that?" He smirked at her as he disentangled himself from their hug.
The next impact he felt was his back hitting the dirt. Her lips were drawn back in a menacing scowl. "Say it."
"My humblest apologies," he fought back his mirth to little avail and a rueful chuckled escaped. "Fire lord Lily, she who rules the entire universe. I am but a lowly peasant before her."
"Shall we begin peasant."
"Yes fire lord Lily." And just like that the scowl vanished as if it had never existed.
An hour later found one of the two royal children gasping for breath, smelling heavily of smoke, and had smudges of black ash staining their clothes.
"That...was...brutal." He panted out between breaths. He waited for his breath to even out before continuing, "Agni Lil, how are you not exhausted?"
"I was taking it easy and I've had more practice with the beginner's forms." She said, sounding only slightly winded.
"Do you know who wrote the scrolls?" He asked after a moment, his curiosity had grown to unbearable levels during the hour of practice.
"I don't know." Lil's answer left much to be desired. Out of everyone, Lil knew how crazy an unsolved mystery made him. "And before you start your ceaseless questions. All any of the scrolls say is Dance of the Fire Spirits. I tried looking for any record of this new style's master but I couldn't find anything."
Before he could give voice to his thoughts violent tremors shook the training grounds, again and again and again. He barely managed to stay on his feet throughout the tremors. Lil fared much better by using a variation of different firebending forms to stay upright.
"Rook."
"Lil."
Unspoken communication passed between them and they took off. Their mother had drilled them relentlessly on memorizing the layout of the palace, to better escape any attackers that spotted them, and stressing the importance of getting away from the attackers first.
He followed his sister as she took turns seemingly at random. He realized that she was leading them further and further from the central part of the palace. "Lil, shouldn't we be trying to find mom and dad?"
"What is the one thing the mom stresses about our drills, above anything else?"
"She said if an attack happens and neither of them are with us head for the...oh." He fell silent and kept running, cursing himself for his tendency to forget import stuff in situations like these. He shook his head and focused on matching his sister's punishing pace.
After the longest ten minutes of his life, they finally reached the small airfield. And that's where they found trouble. Both of them stopped in their tracks as a giant creature appeared out of nowhere in front of them. The creature towered above them, sneering down at them like they were nothing but insects to be squashed beneath its feet.
It roared at them revealing razor sharp fangs hoping to scare them. This had the opposite affect, after all their dad took them to see the last two dragons alive, as they dropped into their stances; this creature had nothing on the dragons. The giant creature charged the children, it was forced to veer to the left as several wickedly sharp stiletto knives scraped along the it's side. "Get the fuck away from my children."
Blinding white hot pain surged through the creature's back when it tried to charge the children again. "Figures you'd be as dumb as you are hideous." She hissed at the creature. A feeling of unease settled at the bottom of her stomach. She had never come across a creature like this before...she would never admit it aloud but she wishes Azula was with her. Her friend would've turned the creature into a pile of ash by now.
Looks like I need to take a page out of Azula's book. The fire lady's eyes narrow to slits as if she could make the creature disintegrate by glaring at it hard enough. The smell of burnt metal filled her nose long before the hissing reached her ears. Her eyes shifted to the creature's back, the sight that greeted her wasn't easy to accept or believe. A rivulet of liquid metal ran down the creature's purple-black hide. Before long, the gray liquid turned a sickly green.
The purple-black creature convulsed violently and then its entire form collapsed into a puddle of purple and green. Where ever the green landed a chorus of crackling sounded and the fire lady's suspicions were confirmed; the creature's very blood was acid. All the air in her lungs was forced out of her as Lily slammed into her. They both stumbled backwards narrowly avoiding a spray of green.
The purple-black puddle had vanished only to reappear behind the fire lady and Lily. Without a second of hesitation, Lily leapt to her feet loosing a stream of red flame from her mouth that hid the flickering form of Kuutak. The heat roiling off of the fire soldier drove the purple-black creature from them. "Rook get mom out of here now."
Both the fire lady and Rook protested but she cut across them. "Go!"
He tried to pull his mother away but she wouldn't budge. He did the only thing he could, summoned Daoru and flickered them closer to the airship. When they reappeared Daoru threw Rook to the left and the fire lady to the right as another purple creature sprayed acid over them. More acid followed and as Daoru rushed it, the fire lady was being dragged on to the airship. The last thing that Mai saw of her children were their guardian fire spirits fighting the purple creatures as an ocean of green acid ate away at all that it touched.
Hours later two small figures collapsed onto the unforgiving tiles beneath them. This secret room was one of the smallest out of them but also the hardest to find. It was after all supposed to protect the future Fire Lords from successful invasions like the one currently taking place. However the prince and princess never made it to the floor as two different sets of hand caught the children. "I don't believe it. I thought they'd been..."
"Easy Shong. We all thought they were gone." This seemed to placate the oldest of the servants who'd escaped the first assault. Lady Shong, whom had just replaced Tau as head servant, breathed a sigh of relief. "Grab whoever you need to and bring them here. Lil and Rook are not to be moved from this room. Make them comfortable. I'm going to scout out the dungeons and see if I can't figure out how to coordinate a plan to free them. Demons and beasts be damned I will not let them rot."
Mott nodded their assent and went about the task that Shong had set them.
Throne Room/Day 56
"I'm pleased at hearing about the capture of the green one and the leader of Team Black Magic. What is your progress with the resistance group within the palace?"
"We are still searching for the last group as we speak. But another group was flushed out during team Black Magic's failed assault."
"Excellent, proceed with phase two for the Earth Kingdom." General Immortus saluted the screen and left the throne room.
"Mr. Slade your task will be to find and crush the last of the Fire Nation rebels that remain within the palace." With that the screen went black. He wasn't surprised when the flexible woman's arms wrapped around his neck.
"Madam Rouge you're right on time." He chuckled as those arms tightened. "I expected nothing less. But I'm afraid that you have a very special assignment pending, if things are to go according to plan."
Madam Rouge went unusually rigid as his voice filled the air around them. A shiver traveled down her spine as he expanded on this assignment. "Take Plasmus to Kyoshi and make contact with our agent there. Keep the avatar and his friends busy. And do be sure to make the transition seamless. We wouldn't want you getting burned or worse, melted."
"And..." Another chuckle escaped at her impatience. That orange mask was as infuriating as it was striking, she'd never been so attracted to a man whose face she's never even seen.
Her throat went dry and her eyes wide as she lost sight of Slade. She both hated and loved when he did this. "...and prevent them from interfering with our plan. At least until the time is right."
"Then I want you to kill them all." The caressing whisper set her teeth on edge and it did the most tortuously delightful things to her.
"I'm insulted that you would even need to say this." Two could play this game and she was further pushed to the edge when she heard his sharp intake of breath. A sultry grin spread easily across her face at the scorching desire in his voice. "On second thought, I still have need of your extraordinary flexibility."
The battle she fought against the urge to press back into him was lost at his emphasis on flexibility. As soon as she was flush against his chest, she twisted around and attached her lips to his throat. Without breaking contact she shoved him back into one of the pillars and wrapped her legs around his hips. The growl was her only warning before his hands roughly started kneading supple flesh.
The Secret Room/Day 56
"Pink lightning, pink hair, and pink cat-like eyes?" Rau looked at Shong like she'd grown a second head. "I...No. I'll believe that when I see it."
Shong groaned and wanted to bang her head against the wall. "You've completely missed the point Rau. I saw her kick the green haired guy from one side of the holding cell to the other. They might be the only hope that we have of getting Lily and Roku out of the palace before the invaders find us."
"We don't need their help." He spat back without hesitation as soon as Shong had stopped talking.
"Yes we do," She sighed and massaged her temples with her hands. "you didn't see the airfield Rau. The level of destruction can only be caused by two things; a renegade spirit whose home or sanctuary has been disturbed or the Avatar. But that purple creature wasn't a spirit and definitely not the Avatar."
The weapon master fell silent but was reluctant to entertain this crazy plan that Shong was suggesting, that they willing hand the future of the Fire Nation off to a couple of strangers who seemed no better than the invaders.
"I also forgot to mention that the whole circus down there was a diversion for the pink haired woman to use a strange yellow thing to send for help."
It was his turn to sigh. "Okay. But I'm not convinced that entrusting Lily and Roku's lives to these strangers, who may or may not even agree to help, is the best idea."
"Rook, I find it insulting that they are speaking as if we are not even here. And are quite able to determine whats best for ourselves." Both adults head's whipped around and the color drained from the faces at the sight of the princess. Lily's back was ramrod straight, her hands clasped behind her back, and her eyes flashed dangerously. The prince was standing behind Lily and slightly to the left, his face as blank as his sister's. The sight sent shivers down their spines as it was reminiscent of Azula, all that was missing was armor.
"I vote we let the strangers help." Her voice was cool and her eyes kept the two adults pinned in place.
"I'm with Lil on that."
"Well Rau looks like you've been out voted."
He uttered something unintelligible under his breath, it sounded suspiciously like 'spoiled brats', as he glared at the three troublemakers that shared the room with him. "What's the plan?"
Palace Dungeons/Day 56
His jaw was throbbing painfully and his ribs protested every breath, he never wanted to be hit with a hex powered kick again; it wasn't a fun experience. But the pain was more than worth it when he got the confirmation from Jinx that the message went through. His smirk turned into a grimace as he shifted his left side further into the unforgiving stone wall.
The burns along his arm and leg were courtesy of the man Jinx had thrown him onto. A couple of other soldiers subdued the man before things could get too out of control. "Just keep that idiot away from me."
'That man is a snake.' Gar did his best not to jump three feet into the air. It was rare to hear from the Beast these days.'We should kill it.'
'There's too many people around. I'll keep my distance.' Gar was relieved when the Beast simply growled approvingly at this and did not push for the kill.
"Pist!"
He didn't so much as move as he registered the hey-over-here-i-need-too-talk-to-you-noise, however both of his ears quivered and he rotated his right ear toward the source of the noise. He hoped it wasn't him just imagining things.
"Pist!"
His right ear twitched. He had to fight back his curiosity to find the source of the sound. "If you can hear me, close your eyes and make your right ear twitch again."
He gratefully closed his eyes and twitched his ear again.
"Listen carefully now. In two days time there will be a commotion to draw your jailers out of the dungeons. At that time we need you and that pink haired woman to break everyone out of the cell. Rendezvous in the dungeon's armory. General Shen will know the way."
The confusion must have show on his face as the voice tacked on, "General Shen is the guy that you were thrown on top of four days ago. Be ready in two days."
Something sharp hit his forehead and he loosed a low growl. His eyes shot open and tracked the rock as it fell from his head. Right as the rock would've hit his arms, it crackled into dust via pink sparks. The dust settled into a question mark on his arm.
He slowly wiped the dust of his arm with two fingers. Then he shifted to a more comfortable position that unfortunately knocked over one of the people next to him. This caused his neighbor to jerk awake and his flailing limbs woke two others, the domino effect continued until everyone was awake. In the confusion that followed no one noticed as the pink haired woman wound up sharing a corner with the green haired guy.
"Is it Kyd?" Her tone was neutral but he could tell that Jinx was worried about her friend.
"No it was a woman but Kyd's tough and he trained with Rae." He said and was glad to see that Jinx had elbowed his arm, thanking him for trying to reassure her.
"After the diversion happens we need to drag the guy who burned me with us to the dungeon armory."
"Yay," His eyes nearly popped out of his head and when his attention was riveted on her. "We're going to have oodles of fun."
His grimace transformed into a scowl as he nodded, "Oodles."
I do apologize for the long wait for this update, new readers as well as old ones re-reading. LIFE HAPPENED! Any ways I make no promises that the next update will be here in a timely fashion. Also you can blame Jrotinbastard for killing the most beautiful ship of all time. (I'm Clexa trash and the only way to contain my rage was to binge read Clexa fics.) Edit: I added a bunch more stuff because it would have made the next chapter confusing as hell so...enjoy.