Chap. 23

The Battle of NYC Part 1

The sky was black with smoke and soot as Katara ran through the snow. Behind her, she could hear the crunch of Fire Nation boots as they trampled over it. They had come to the South Pole again, to wipe out the Southern Water Tribe for good. The village was already gone, burned to a ruined husk. Katara had awoken to the screams of her friends and family as they fought and died under the attacks of the soldiers. She'd run out of her home, just in time to see Gran-Gran be engulfed in flame. She'd yelled out in horror, and started to bend water to help her, but when she tried, nothing had happened. Her power had left her.

As she'd looked back up, Katara had seen a solider advance on her. She pulled away and begun to run, but not before noticing the boomerang tucked into his belt. It was that more then safety that made her run; these butchers had taken all of her family from her. She had to leave this place that had been her home, but was now a graveyard. But the soldiers of death hadn't let her go. They had begun running after her, meaning to complete their mission.

Katara remembered all of that, but even those thoughts could not reinvigorate her exhausted body. Despite her fear and horror, Katara began to slow, as her breaths came in hot gasps. The sound of other footsteps became louder and louder, as she fell behind. Finally, she felt a hand wrap around her collar, felt it throw her to the ground. Katara slid on the ground hard, coming to a halt under a pile of snow. She slowly pulled herself and turned to see the soldiers coming towards her, their hands already blazing.

But as they advanced on their prey, the soldiers suddenly stopped and looked up. They stopped, and began to back away, as Katara suddenly felt the winds pick up. Glancing towards the sky, she saw a figure descend from the heavens, the winds swirling around him in a huge sphere. The soldiers tried to stop him by shooting their fire, but as it came close to the figure, it vanished against the strength of the winds. The figure touched ground, and looked at the soldiers with glowing eyes, filled with anger. As the winds continued to blow, the figure suddenly crouched and slammed his fists down on the ground. A crack spread out from the impact, moving towards the soldiers. Before they could react, the ground beneath them fell apart, but they did not fall. Instead, the figure moved his arms upwards, and the water underneath rose up and caught them, trapping them in tendrils. As they hung there suspended, the winds around the figure died, and he raised his fists towards them. There was a sudden glow, and then Katara averted her eyes, as the figure released blasts of flame towards the soldiers. There were howls of pain and anguish and then silence. Katara could hear the ground shifting around, and the sound of it closing. But she kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see this great and terrible figure, who was filled with such fearful power, power like the Firebenders.

But she heard a voice then, a voice of both power and kindness; "It's all right now Katara. Open your eyes." Slowly, the young girl looked up, as she with held the great figure with the glowing eyes. But as she looked, his eyes stopped glowing, and became filled with compassion. "I'll never let them hurt you. You mean too much to me. Even being the Avatar can't stop that." The young boy said, as he stretched out his hand. Smiling, Katara reached out and took Aang's hand in her own…….

It was always at this point that Katara woke up from the dream and this was no exception. The daylight streamed in from the windows, as Katara shook the last of the dream from her mind. Slowly, she threw back the covers and sat up in the bed, being careful not to awaken Agua or Aire and Aang, who lay sleeping in the bed she was on and the one next to it respectively.

How long has it been? Three weeks since I last had it? Katara thought. I thought it was gone. Why did it come back? But even in her sleep-addled mind, Katara traced the reason quite easily. Last night, after getting settled in their rooms, Oscuridad had invited the group to the room he, Luz, Sokka, and Iroh shared for dinner and a….. movie, he'd called it. Katara had been confused as to what the bat had meant by a 'really big play in a small box' but after a few minutes of seeing it, Katara had been enthralled. It was called Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, and everyone had enjoyed it very much. Even Toph had liked it, thanks to Luz. The fox, having power over all kinds of illumination, had been able to let Toph see through her eyes temporarily, since none of the Knights could permanently heal the girl's blindness. It had involved some explanations on everyone's part, but Toph had been very thankful for the brief allowance of sight, especially during the fight scenes.

However, what had attracted Katara to the film was the relationship between Will Turner and Elizabeth. Katara had always like romance in stories, so it wasn't that surprising, but what really made it appeal to her was how much it reminded her of how she'd found Aang. When Will had washed up next to the ship, Katara had almost instantly been hoping for the young Elizabeth to find him. And as the film progressed, their relationship's progression had been Katara's main concern. Yet the film's ending had a bittersweet feeling for her. She was happy that the two of them had found each other, but it also reminded her of what she would never have with Aang.

No wonder I had the dream again. Katara thought sadly, as she looked over at the sleeping Airbender. When Katara had first met Aang, her thoughts had simply concerned bending and what he could teach her, as well as how much fun he was. After finding out he was the Avatar, her thoughts had been towards his safety and his training. As they'd all traveled together, those feelings had grown and changed, but Katara had put it down to the dangers of the journey. But after what had happened with Aunt Wu, Katara had begun to wonder about those feelings, and it was then that she'd started to have the dream. It made sense; Aang was such a good and caring person, and he'd always been able to make her laugh. Despite his immaturities, he was always concerned with helping those around him. And when Katara could help Aang with his problems, she felt incredibly good after it. It was those things, and so much else that had caused Katara's feelings for him.

But all of it was not to be. Katara knew that no matter how much she might care about Aang, he was the Avatar. His life was one of duty and power and keeping the balance. He would never be able to do those things with Katara in his life as his love. He would have to sacrifice so much to be with her, and he would never be happy either way. Katara knew that she would have to make sure Aang never found about her feelings. She could only be his friend, and leave him to his duty as the Avatar. That was why she always woke up at the same point in the dream; the point where all the impossibilities of their love were screaming at her, no matter how happy she seemed.

Come on Katara, you'd better get ready. He can't see you like this. Nodding to herself, Katara wiped her eyes and walked to the bathroom to ready herself for the day. But if she had lingered a moment longer, she would have seen Aang turn over in his sleep, caught in his own dream. She would have heard him mutter, "At least once more, Miss Katara."

Aang and the others awoke a few minutes later, thanks to an wake-up call that Oscuridad had put in place the night before. Thankfully, Katara was able to put her conflicted feelings aside and destroy any possible signs of it when she greeted Aang. The others quickly got ready, and then moved to the elevator, to meet the others in the main dining room of the Plaza for breakfast, and to plan out what time they had left in this world.

"Are you sure I'll like this?" Iroh asked them, as Fuego dropped a few sugar cubes into the old general's coffee.

"Trust me." The red man replied. "It may not be tea, but you put some milk and sugar in this, it'll be great."

Iroh was still reluctant, but took a sip anyway. A second later, he took a deeper drink. "This is excellent!" the old general said with enthusiasm. "Can we bring some back to our world when we leave?"

As Tierra began to answer that question, Luz greeted the others as they came down from their room.

"Sleep well?" the bat asked as they came into the dining room and sat at the table.

"After all those months sleeping on the ground, I'd hope so." Katara replied.

"Yeah, I slept like a baby." Aang said. "Plus, I had this really great dream."

"Oh? What was it about?" Katara asked.

"I'm not sure. You know how dreams are. But I remember it was good. So where's the food?" Aang asked, quickly moving through his response.

"It's over there." Sokka answered, as he ate his own breakfast and pointed to a large table loaded with food. "Just take what you want."

"Sounds good to me." Anag replied as he and Katara got to grab their breakfast, although Agua and Aire had gone there immediately .

"So what are we going to do today?" Sokka asked, as he ate his eggs and the others got their breakfast.

"I'd say at this point, we might want to look for Azula. She still hasn't shown herself, and I'm starting to worry.." Oscuridad replied. "But I'll say more when the others come back. You know how Des gets when we discuss things without him.

"Where is he, anyway?" Zuko asked.

"He likes to work in the morning, so he went to the gym. I imagine he'll be coming in about a half-hour."

But suddenly, Desierto ran into the room, drenched in sweat and out of breath. "We have a new problem." The wolf panted between breaths.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

"She's made her move." The wolf replied.

"Oh crap. Where?" Oscuridad asked.

"It's all over the news. A bunch of strangely dressed men and three teenage girls engaging the NYPD at the Hammerstein Ballroom with incendiary devices."

"Are you sure it's not just some pyros?" Bosque asked.

"No, the descriptions fit Azula and her friends to a T. We've gotta get there before they fry every cop in New York." Desierto said.

"But we don't have that much time left on the watch." Fuego said. "And we don't even know if the portal will open there, or if we have to go back to the alleyway."

"Then we'll need to make this fast." Zuko said, rising to his feet. "How far is this place?"

"Not far, but I think we'll need the express route." The wolf said. "Tier, can your manager friend get us to the roof?"

"Thanks again Ron, I really appreciate this." Tierra said twenty minutes later, as the group stood at the roof of the Plaza.

"Eddie, I've told you, it doesn't matter." Ronald Brown, manager of the hotel, said back. "You saved my life twice with those exorcisms. Besides, you've only asked for anything a couple of times in the last ten years. Where do you go all the time?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The dog replied. "But I still pay enough attention to watch the Eagles blow all their chances at the Super Bowl."

"Oh, and the Jets do so much better?" Ronald asked with a laugh. "The Jets get whipped more times then the guy who took away your mom's Ring-Dings."

"Hey, it isn't my fault your sister had transgender surgery and decided to imitate Richard Simmons." Tierra said back.

"Hey guys, we're on a deadline here." Bosque yelled from the side.

"Right. Thanks again Ron." Tierra said, as he moved over to the edge of the roof with the others.

"I still don't know about this." Zuko said, as he looked down at the ground again.

"It'll be fine. The winds are great up here." Aang said, as he popped out his glider.

"That's not really helpful, you know." Sokka said, his own fear evident in his voice.

"Are you sure this is the fastest way?" Jin asked.

"Yes. And without Appa, this is all the choice we have. Now hop on." The bat replied.

Sighing, Jin climbed on the back of the armored Shadow Knight, as the others did the same with some of the other Knights. They all looked down once more, and then the Knights jumped. As their passengers screamed, they quckly unfurled their wings and began to fly in the direction of the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Except for one.

"I heard them jump. Shouldn't we follow?" Toph asked Hierro.

"We will, but there's something I've always wanted to try to do. I saw it in a movie." The armored spider replied. Looking out on the horizon, he spotted a large construction crane on the next building over. Nodding, he brought up his upper right hand and pointed it at the crane. Pressing his two middle fingers onto his palm, Hierro shot a length of chain out and saw it wrap around the crane. Releasing it from his wrist, he caught the chain in his hand.

"You holding on tight?" he asked Toph. Seeing the girl nod, the spider breathed in deep, then said, "Tally-ho." Leaping off the roof, Hierro held tight to the chain, as he swing towards, and then past the crane. Once he was past it, the spider shot out another length towards another building and began to solidly 'web-swing' though the city towards his companions and the battle waiting for them.