At the tunnel entrance was where they ran into trouble. Azula ignited her hands in blue flames as soon as she saw the green and brown uniforms of the Earth Kingdom infantry. Most of them wore shoes, so they were not benders. No matter, she didn't mind killing them, much to Ursa's chagrin. She could have ended them all with lightning, but she selfishly wanted the satisfaction of planting her fists and feet into someone. Her rage burned brightly after years of hiding in exile and she felt she might explode in blue flames and soar to the heavens as a phoenix.
Behind her, she can hear Iroh join the battle, his forms precise and calculated to conserve energy. Toph enters the fray with wild abandon, reveling in her element. In the back of her mind, the princess was jealous of the other bender. She wondered if she could create a new sub-style of firebending that was more than different colors of flame.
"Pay attention, Azula!" Ursa screeched and the princess cursed as she melted the face off of one of the unfortunate goons. An explosion nearby shook the ground and nearly throwing her to the ground. She tucked and rolled, springing up to lunge at one of the soldiers that Iroh was fighting.
"Oh, no no no!" Toph shouted, knocking down three more soldiers. "They blew a hold in the bottom of the lake! I think they might try to flood the tunnels underneath."
Azula spun around to spot a soldier across the lake. She didn't think twice as she sent lightning his way, striking him dead on contact. She hadn't thought that through enough, the man had explosives… which all went off when the man fell. The ground shook more violently and Toph left the battle and sprinted towards the lake to stop whatever it was these soldiers were trying to do. Iroh spit fire to cover Toph's exit. Azula could only admire the man for his control.
Once the soldiers were either dead or down, Azula could hear the rumble of approaching earthbenders. She called lightning and tried to pick off as many as she could before they got too close.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't General Iroh. I heard you were retired." A large man with a long beard emerged from the damp earth.
"Fong! What have you done? Arresting an innocent boy without any public record or rights to trial? What sort of message is that in this time of peace?" Iroh put a calming hand on Azula, breaking her focus for lightning. "Go with Toph. I will take care of this one."
Confused but not one to waste time, Azula ran after Toph.
"He's going to get himself killed!" Ursa cried and Azula shoved her aside.
"I'm sure the old man can handle one lousy general long." Fretting about Iroh was going to get them all killed. "Toph! Can you tell where he is?"
"Not from here, there's water in the tunnels and… water's just a big black hole to me." Toph looked worried, which was breaking her focus. Azula couldn't have that.
"Make a hole for our entry point. Someplace away from where the water is coming from. If we're lucky, he's still above water." She used her most commanding tone without sounding condescending that was not what the earthbender needed; she needed focus and direction. Azula always uses her tools wisely.
One pin.
One pin.
One pin.
Teo managed to pull one of the hinge pins out from the metal door, but the rising water and his shaking hands made prying the middle hinge pin an almost impossible task. He needed both hands to work the spearhead under the thick iron nail and pull it from the tight hinge that held the door on. But the rising water just knocked his legs out from underneath him, no matter how hard he tried to hang on.
The current was swift, racing down the tunnel and forming a rough current that tried to push him away from the bars as water rushed in to fill the small cell. He tried to stay focus and breathe, but being alone and trapped dredged up old fears. Fears he didn't even realize he had.
In another place he was trapped.
He'd been stuck, watching the water rise as he sat in Father's cart.
Mother screaming as she was swept away.
He was under and being carried and smashed against the debris that was once his house.
Of course he didn't remember he was too young. That's what his father said… but his mind put the pieces together with the stories he'd pried out of the people that were there and saw. He hated having such a vivid imagination. Sometimes he hated being too smart for his own good. It got him into messes like this.
"Spirits!" He shouted as the spearhead sliced into his fingers, the water tinting pink with fresh blood.
He had to calm down. He had to be precise. Focused. Now was not the time to think.
It was time to act.
The spearhead slipped underneath the nail's head and a quick and desperate tug pulled the nail free. Thank the badgermoles that the Earth Kingdom oiled their hinges!
Two pins!
Teo looked up, but knew he wasn't going to be able to reach that last hinge. He was going to have to make this work. He sighed and grabbed the shaft of the spear and worked it between the door and frame. "Just a simple lever. Easy mechanics. It worked before when those kids accidentally locked themselves in the store room."
He looped one arm around the bars and used both hands to pull the spear towards him. He heard the metal scrape and groan and he hoped the lock was as simple construction as the rest of the door. The water rose up underneath his chin and he still pulled.
Almost.
His head was under when he felt the door give. His lungs ached as he tried to keep himself together.
Hold on to the bars.
Push through the hole.
He was halfway through the door when he just couldn't hold his breath anymore.
He imagined he heard his mother screaming as she was swept away by the bloated river.
Fong stood tall and waited, watching Iroh and waiting for the old man to move. Negative jing waited. Who was Iroh to keep the man waiting? He pushed forward, not with an outward fire, but used his chi to put strength behind the strike to the earthbender's legs.
As expected, the master earthbender didn't move. Fong was rooted to the ground as steady as the mountain. But Iroh had time. Time to waste. He was the distraction so that Toph and his niece of all people would save the Mechanist's son. Iroh felt a subtle shift and dodged to the left before a rock spike skewered him like a street kebab and his fists were lit with bright fire.
It had been some time since he'd last sparred, though his old bones remembered his forms well. More spikes and Iroh danced around the earthbender as if he was a man half his age and two-thirds his current weight. Azula was not the only firebender to train dancing on beds of ice.
More rocks flew and flames circled, and neither man laid a blow on the other. They were testing each other. Teasing. Feeling each other out like a blind man checks an unfamiliar room. "Are you finished playing, General?" Fong grinned and tore off his shirt.
"No, not at all! I am just getting warmed up, General" Iroh smirked and spun, kicking fire at his opponent and he continued to spin, bringing him close enough to be too close for rock throwing range and into Fong's personal space. Most earthbenders didn't do well in close combat, but Iroh was not going to underestimate the overzealous general.
Flames and earth clashed again on the shore of the lake as the riots inside the inner walls raged on.
Toph was terrified. Tunnels weren't bad. She loved tunnels. But tunnels slowly filling with cold lake water? No. Not at all. She had tried to patch the holes that were filling with lake water, but the water already down here had nowhere else to go. She guided Azula through the darkness, surprised that the Fire Princess let her lead on.
"Water up ahead." Right where the ground started sloping drastically downward.
"This is where the closest batch of cells are. I can feel the old bars. Last time I was here, we didn't go down this way." Toph froze when her feet were under water.
"Come on! You're an earthbender. Dig down deep and drain off the water!" The princess snapped at her and she stomped her feet to open up a series of deep holes to let the water through. Smart. No wonder she made a frightening bad guy.
The water was up to her waist now which wasn't too terrible, but she'd grown over the past few years, so if Teo was chained to or sitting on the floor, he might be underwater. She hoped that they were still going after a friend and not a body.
"Here! Follow me!" Azula barked another command and Toph couldn't help but follow, the floor rising up above the water under Toph's feed as she carefully moved behind Azula.
Azula lit up the ceilings with bright, orange fire, illuminating the room better than her trademark blue. Toph was blind, she could go out of pattern and if Teo was alive she could probably convince him that he'd just been seeing things. If she can find him. But why? Why did she care?
Caring about people hurt.
Because they left.
But Teo never left. She didn't give him the chance. He was willing to leave his life behind for her without threats like Ty Lee and without a horrible family life like Mai. He actually believed in her. And it was terrifying.
"He is a good man."
She ignored her mother's hopeful voice and ducked underneath the cold lake water, into the darkness. She grabbed onto a reaching hand and pulled. The rumors were that firebenders couldn't swim. It was a silly notion, because they live on islands. And if swimming means a better chance of surviving being dumped in the ocean by a barbaric waterbender well then, better to live than to die submerged in a foreign element.
Azula hauled Teo's body up onto Toph's platform (the girl had the sense to make steps too, how thoughtful) and lay his body down.
"I can feel his heart. He's still alive." Toph widened the platform and raised it higher above the slowly draining water. She must have opened more drainage holes elsewhere. The brain can only handle so long without air. She tilted his head back, put her lips against his and…
He coughed and sputtered and she pulled back, but kept a hand on his chest to keep him from flailing back into the water. "Toph, take up straight up. We need to rescue Uncle Iroh from playing with that old man too long."
"On it!" The earthbender tunneled them upwards as easily as one of the Mechanist's steam lifts.
"Azula?"
The princess looked down at Teo, unsure of the strange look in his eyes. He must be delirious. Or brain damaged. "What?"
"You came."
"Yes." She tried to keep her answer short but, something about that look he gave her made her want to explain. "You helped me. Honestly and willingly helped me and I didn't trick you scare you into it." She pulled him up into a sitting position, leaning back against her side. She had one hand free to firebend if need be.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank us yet, Flyboy! We still have to get Uncle Iroh and get someplace away from the riots." Toph parted the last earthen ceiling and they emerged in the fresh night air.
"Whoa."
Azula sighed and flicked her wrist, setting the beard of the Earth Kingdom general awash in blue flames. Azula saw her foolish uncle jump aside. "Kill each other for all I care."
The retired general seemed to look disappointed before he allowed Toph to pick him up with her earthbending. Azula hit the ground next to Fong with lightning so they wouldn't be followed.
"Where are we going?" Teo looked between Azula and Iroh.
"My shop is in the Upper Ring, hopefully still far away from the riots."
"Got it! Everyone keep your hands inside the Toph train at all times!" Toph built stone walls around the platform they were on and moved them faster along the farmland than an earthbender had any right to be.