Identity
The Blue Spirit and Iroh made there way up the dungeon stairs. Along the way they passed several bodies of Dai Li agents, all who had been killed by Fire Bending.
"Not that I don't appreciate the save Zuko, but did you have to kill them?" Iroh asked.
The Blue Spirit turned and shrugged.
"I see…so why aren't you speaking to me? Is it because you feel ashamed that you betrayed me at a critical moment or that you are simply mad at me for helping the Avatar and his friends?"
Blue turned around and whipped out a piece of paper and pencil and wrote the words: For the love of all things holy to the Fire Nation, I'm trying to get you out of here before they realize those guards are dead and you're gone!! So could you please be quiet?! Please?
"Oh…okay! I'm sorry," the old general replied jokingly. "No more talking then."
They reached the top of the stairs and after checking for enemy movement proceeded down a narrow hallway. Blue was able to lead them safely through without incident (due to the lack of patrols ever since Azula imprisoned the Earth Kingdom soldiers). As they reached the throne room a flash of light caught Iroh's eye. He sent a jet of flame towards the flash and realized it was stiletto. He then noticed that Blue was in a fight with a young acrobatic girl in pink and, to the girl's annoyance, was having no difficulty in dodging her blows. Ty Lee hated it when she couldn't land a single strike on an enemy.
From the shadows Mai approached with a handful of shuriken in her right hand and a curved blade in the other. "Hello general Iroh," she said calmly, "shouldn't you be in your cell where you'll be safe and comfortable?" She threw the shuriken at Iroh, who merely sidestepped them.
Iroh smiled and shot a few fireballs at Mai. He yelled over the roar of the flames, "Frankly my dear that old bed I was sleeping on really messed up my back! I just came up here with an old friend to see if I could get a mattress for myself!"
Mai was able to circle around one of the many pillars in the throne room just as the flames struck her last position. She used her speed to get behind Iroh and was aiming her remaining blade towards his heart. However, the sight of a flying pink blob distracted her long enough for Iroh to counter her attack. He twisted her arm around, causing Mai to drop her knife, and threw her towards Ty Lee, who had just recovered from being tossed across the throne room. Both girls were dazed from the crushing encounter.
Blue walked over to Iroh and motioned towards the doors that were on the other side of the throne room. Iroh got the hint and both ran as fast as they could. Just as they reached the doors a bolt of lightning struck Blue's face shattering a good deal of the mask and knocking him to the ground. He landed behind a chair where Iroh could not see how badly he was injured.
"Zuko!!" Iroh yelled out as Azula made her entrance from behind a column.
"So The Blue Spirit is actually Zuzu. I wasn't expecting that. Oh, well at least I was able to kill two birds with one stone," she commented as she turned to her uncle, "You're next old man."
Both fighters prepared themselves. Each knew that only one of them would walk away from this encounter. Iroh knew he had to somehow get out Zuko out of there before Azula could kill him. He was about to attack Azula when the huge throne room doors opened. Both Firebenders looked to see who it was, momentarily forgetting they were in a fight.
In walked Zuko. Zuko was very confused at this point because 1.) His uncle was no longer in his cell and was fighting Azula, 2.) He realized that the bodies of the Dai Li agents he walked by must have been killed by someone besides Azula, and 3.) Some guy was wearing what looked to be bits and pieces of his old Blue Spirit mask. "What's going on?" he asked confusingly.
Iroh and Azula could only stare at Zuko. If he was right there, then who was the man that had rescued Iroh from his cell? All eyes turned toward the intruder who was now standing with his back to everyone.
What was left of the Blue Spirit mask fell off as the man turned. Mai and Ty Lee had run up just in time to get a good look at the intruder's face with everyone else. All 5 of the Fire Nation citizens could only stare in horror and shock at the man before them. It was Fire Lord Azulon's personal guard and the most powerful Firebender of this generation…Katon, "The Wrath of Flames."
You probably didn't expect that, right?