"Be careful!" Toph said, her voice sounding like she was far away. Katara was drifting back into consciousness, but hadn't yet opened her eyes. She was moving quite swiftly, although she knew she wasn't using her own feet. It took Katara a moment to figure out that she was being carried, although her carrier was not very gentle. In fact, every so often the wall of wherever they were grazed her head. This was probably what Toph was talking about. As if on cue, they turned a corner, and Katara's head bumped up against the wall.
"You'll hurt her!" Toph shouted angrily.
"Shut up." Came a snarling voice that Katara didn't recognize.
Deciding it was probably wiser to keep her eyes shut, she began to listen intently to everything. The footsteps of the people surrounding her echoed on the floor, which Katara assumed was made of stone.
The last thing I remember was the earthquake…I'm guessing that we've been taken in by the Dai Li, which means I probably haven't been unconscious that long, Katara thought.
Suddenly the person carrying her - Katara suspected that the person was male - stopped. She could hear someone to her left rummage around for something, cursing when he couldn't find them. A few seconds later however, the man found what he was searching for and took them out of his pocket. With all the jingling the object was making, Katara deduced that they were keys. She didn't particularly want to discover what the keys were for, but knew that she'd find out anyway. Sure enough, a moment later, the sound of a lock being turned and a heavy door being opened reached her ears.
Katara opened her eyes quickly, needing to see where she was. It took her a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the gloom surrounding her. It seemed that they were entering a dungeon cell, and the man carrying her had not yet noticed that she was awake. She began to struggle, alerting the man to her consciousness. The man practically threw her out of his arms so forcefully that Katara stumbled further into the cell after she had only just landed on her feet. Toph was pushed in quickly after Katara, but seemed equally dazed. The men - they were six Dai Li agents - advanced on the two benders, who backed away instinctively…right into the cell wall. This place is too small! Katara fretted.
Katara could feel that the pouch containing her bending water had been taken away from her, so she felt inside her sleeve for Sokka's dagger that she had previously hidden.
"Looking for this, missy?" One agent asked smugly, holding up the dagger.
"Dangerous weapon for a little girl to be carrying around with her." Noted another, smirking. Katara flushed with anger.
Missy? Little girl? Who the hell did these Dai Li agents think they were talking to?
"I think we should hold onto it for awhile." Another joined. "For her own safety, of course."
The agents all laughed, much to Katara's annoyance.
Out of all the Dai Li agents they could've possibly assigned to take us to the dungeon, they had to give the job to a dozen idiots who think they're hilarious. I think I'd prefer Azula.
"Toph? Bending might be nice right about now." Katara muttered.
"I can't." Toph replied, sounding confused.
"What do you mean 'you can't'? This whole damn place is made of stone!" Katara said in frustration.
"There's no point in even trying to tell your friend to bend there, missy." Said the first agent, moving in closer to Katara and Toph.
"Call me 'missy' one more time." Katara threatened.
The agent laughed to his friends, who all laughed back.
"M-i-s-s-y." The agent said, prolonging the syllables.
Katara sprang forward and hit the agent squarely in the nose, jerking her fist sideways in a way Sokka had showed her, ensuring that the offender's nose would break.
Toph chuckled as blood began to spurt from the agent's nose. He clutched at it in pain and humiliation, cursing profusely as he gestured for the others to advance on the girls. Toph and Katara assumed their attacking stances, even though this seemed pointless, seeing as they couldn't bend.
"Come on. You know you can't take all of us." Said an agent, who seemed older than the others. "We don't want to have to hurt you, but Princess Azula said that we should lock you up by any means possible."
Katara inwardly shuddered, noticing again how small the cell was, and wishing that she could back up some more.
"Lock us up? What do you mean, lock us up?" She asked, afraid that she already knew the answer.
"Well after the little fiasco that was the earthquake before, Princess Azula said that we couldn't take any chances." The agent replied, pointing to a pair of chains that were fixed to the cell wall. Katara's eyes widened. No way was she about to be chained up. Noticing Katara's expression, the agent shrugged.
"It's either be chained up, or have your wrists broken so that you can't bend." He said nonchalantly.
Katara looked at Toph, who had been listening to the conversation, a look of concentration on her face. Sensing that Katara was looking at her, Toph nodded her approval.
Sighing, Katara sat down next to the chains, wondering if she could be humiliated anymore. An agent roughly grabbed Katara's wrist and trapped it inside the manacle, doing the same with her other wrist. Out of the corner of her eye, Katara saw the elder agent doing the same to Toph.
Once he was satisfied that the girls were trapped, the elder agent began to walk out, the others following him.
"Why can I not bend this stone?" Toph called out. The agent stopped, but told the others to go on ahead.
"Whoever made these cells wasn't stupid. This is the capital of the Earth Kingdom; the majority of the prisoners here would be Earthbenders. He built the cells so closely together that the walls are inter-connected for literally miles." He tapped on the stone wall. "This piece of stone here is the same stone that makes up the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se."
Either he's lying or we are really screwed, Katara worried silently. The agent began to walk away.
"So you see there really is no way out. Unless of course, you can bend metal." He laughed, knocking on the door as he left.
The slamming of the heavy door echoed all around the small cell, leaving Katara feeling utterly desolate. The chains ensnaring her wrists extended long enough for her hands to reach the ground, yet she could see no immediate way of escaping them. Giving up temporarily, Katara glared at her new surroundings.
It was damp in the cell, yet not damps enough for Katara to extract any water from the walls to use in bending. Each wall, even the floor and ceiling, was made from the stupid stone that was "un-bendable". This made the cell incredibly cold, and extremely uncomfortable to sit on. Katara shifted as much as she could, without knocking the chains. After the agents of the Dai Li had left, she had noticed that her shoulder was still painful and she was positive that her ankle was at least sprained from the earthquake earlier on.
"Toph, what was with the earthquake before?" Katara now asked.
"I don't know. It started out as me doing it, but then I stopped when I saw you getting distressed." Toph replied, tugging at her chains.
"So, I assume getting knocked unconscious wasn't part of the plan?" Asked a familiar voice.
"Iroh?" Katara asked, squinting in the gloom. She hadn't noticed him before, yet there he was, chained up as they were, in a dark corner.
"We're here to rescue you." Said Toph, deadpanned.
"Well I suppose it's the thought that counts." Iroh replied, managing to chuckle slightly. "And it isn't that I don't appreciate it, but you really shouldn't have come."
Katara tried to shrug, making the chains jangle noisily.
"What can we say? We're suckers for old Firebending men who've been captured by their sociopath of a niece." She said sarcastically.
"And nephew." Iroh added quietly, and then fell silent.
Katara felt bad for the old man and spent the next fifteen or so minutes trying to figure out what to say to make the situation better. After all, she didn't think that 'I'm sorry you're nephew is such a jerk' was exactly tactful.
Toph and Iroh meanwhile were silent, probably examining their cell as Katara had been doing previously.
Finally deciding on what to say, Katara took a breath.
"Don't worry about Zuko, he's just-"
She stopped as the metal door to their prison opened. It had only been half an hour at the very most since the Dai Li had left, so who was this?
Nobody good, Katara's inner voice told her. As if to confirm this, the person who had just entered shut the door firmly behind him, and spoke.
"I'm just what?" Zuko asked.
A/N:
Mini-cliffhanger there for you.
So, what do you think? I think I've done this chapter the best I can, considering the way I want the storyline to go. Sorry that it took me a little bit longer than normal to update, but I had to completely re-write this chapter at one point.
Again, my reviewers are the best people ever, thank you so much :D