Disclaimer: I don't own any ideas from Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Watchmen. They belong to their respective creators. But any original characters and ideas belong to me.
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Yun said that she'd come back tonight, to hear his answer. He didn't have one though. The offer was still tempting, especially after the conversation with Aang. Yet, he felt that the Dai Li wasn't as straightforward as she presented it. Like it wasn't the misunderstood, efficient police force that wanted him to join. Maybe instead of bickering with the kid, he should've asked him about it, gathered more information before he'd have to decide.
Things were as quiet as always otherwise. The new guards outside his cell were just as talkative as the previous ones. As in, they didn't do anything but stand around and hold up their spears and arms whenever he moved.
Rorschach didn't mind. The silence was welcoming for once as he thought over the woman and the boy told him.
The light through the window was dimming when the guards were changed around. As soon as the new ones settled in and glared at the prisoner warily, there was a muffled explosion and the ground beneath them shook.
"What the-" One of them cried out and stared at him like he was the cause of all this. Before he could do anything else though, another explosion rocked the prison and almost knocked them off their feet.
Another guard slammed the door open, out of breath but wasn't tired enough to talk.
"We're under attack! Badger moles emerged from underground right in the middle of the complex! They've already destroyed some of the cells and released some of the convicts that were in them! We need ALL the guards to control them!"
One of them nodded and ran over to the messenger without a second thought. The other, however, stayed back and gave him a skeptical look.
"All the guards? They're just badger moles! Why not call a specialist to take care of them?"
"There's another thing though! They're being controlled by the Dai Li! Or what looks like them!"
That got him moving. The three of them sprinted out immediately, without realizing that they left all the prisoners by themselves with no one watching over them. If there was a time for them to escape, it was now.
And Rorschach didn't waste a second of the opportunity. He grabbed the door bars and shook it wildly, the clattering it caused drowned out by the people fighting outside. It was already weakened by the small earthquakes from the badger moles, whatever they were. So it didn't take long for them to detach from the ceiling and floor. With one final push, it fell forward and no longer kept him imprisoned.
Other people also freed themselves by rattling the bars loose, and another earthquake released the rest that weren't as bright. He stood out among the crowd of criminals, being the only one that was masked and wearing a trench coat. Some nervously glanced in his direction and slinked back into their cells, afraid of bringing the wrath of Rok Sha down on them. Many of the others, unfortunately, knew that he wasn't a spirit and didn't fear him enough to get back into line.
And the more pugnacious and dim-witted ones wanted to pick a fight with a weird stranger more than getting out of here.
"Hey! Whatcha wearing that mask for? Think you're too good to show your face to everyone?" A hideous man approached him and grabbed him on the shoulder. "Or maybe you're ugly like me? Haha."
In a flash, Rorschach gripped his hand, twisted it, and flung him over his shoulder to throw him onto the ground. The man groaned once before being silenced by a kick in the jaw.
Apparently, he was a leader of some sort and other people weren't used to him being beaten to easily. The prisoners that remained to watch the one sided fight stared in amazement before dog piling him. Though he managed to knock out one or two, there were too many of them to fend off and he was buried under an angry mob.
By punching, kicking, breaking bones and jabbing eyes, he thinned out the people on top of him enough to stand up and deal with the rest. But he was wasting time! He should be getting out of here, not cleaning up the mess the guards left behind! The thought of getting captured again spurred him to make a mad dash out of the room and prevented him from pausing for anything. Except for anyone that tried to stop him. They were dealt with quickly by neck snapping, or limb snapping if they were the Earthbending guards.
And then it dawned onto him that he didn't know the layout of the place. He had to follow the current of fleeing prisoners, and ended up in outside in the courtyard. Where badger moles were demolishing everything in their path and the only ones that cared about maintaining order again didn't have the ability to stop them.
A boulder tossed by one of the animals almost landed on Rorschach. He jumped out of the way and landed at the feet of a very familiar person…
"Sorry that I wasn't able to get to you when the breakout started. We didn't do this all just for you. There are many Dai Li members imprisoned here, and they're more of a priority than you. At least, that's what others think."
Yun grabbed and pulled him up, only to be shaken off.
"You're welcome." She grumbled and turned to face some guards that launched some rocks at her. With a flick of her wrists, they stopped in mid-air before being redirected at the original launchers. She didn't flinch at their cries of agony when their throats were punctured by the razor sharp stones.
"Anyway, I wish we could talk more. But if you want to get out, get into the tunnels dug by the badger moles. They'll lead you straight to our headquarters."
She pointed to the numerous holes that clustered in the middle of the battleground. Rorschach figured that by escaping through the tunnels, he'd basically be accepting her membership offer. But by a quick scan around, it seemed like the only to run to.
"Oh, and I found this when you were captured. I think you might want it back."
He didn't see what she tossed him until it was in his hands. His pen, without the bloodstains from when he used it as a weapon.
Just as soon as he caught it, a large shadow was casted over the yard, creating even more disorder as everyone beneath it scrambled to get out of the way.
"The Avatar is here!"
A large… thing flew down from the sky and started swatting away prisoners that tried to climb on it with its tail. He called it a thing, because he didn't know what to name a large, white, six-legged, buffalo-beaver animal with an arrow on its head. And he was a bit too busy gawking at it to notice that along with the Avatar, it carried several other kids and teenagers.
He was snapped out of his trance when a hunk of building flew towards him, giving him only a second to duck and turn around. A guard was lifting another chunk to throw at him with Earthbending, but was stopped when Rorschach threw a rock at his forehead, knocking him out.
It was probably risky of him to assume that most people can't control two things at once, but now he knew.
He couldn't be fighting with everyone he saw though. He needed to get to the tunnels in order to escape. Ignoring the debris soaring through the air and the guards getting beaten to a bloody pulp by the Dai Li, he sprinted across the yard and was almost there when…
THWACK!
A floating stream of water lashed him across his shoulders. It surprisingly hurt like a real whip. He whirled around to find a young girl 'holding' the water with her hands, almost like how the guards 'held' pieces of earth in the air.
"I won't have to hit you twice if you just give up!" She said, readying herself to strike again. Though what he was facing was different than Earthbending, he had the suspicion that this had the same principle. Dodging the next attack, he was able to get close enough to the girl to grab her arms and twist them. Painfully.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
The water collapsed onto the ground as Rorschach released the girl, satisfied at her broken arms. Except why was he getting distracted like this? It wasn't far too the tunnels and he wouldn't be attacked anymore once he got inside.
"YOU BASTARD!"
Unlike the last time, he saw the weapon, a boomerang, coming towards him and grabbed it before it clonked him in the head. The thrower looked to be around fifteen, and also looked very shocked that someone could catch it with their bare hands.
He never used a boomerang before. But it didn't look like it would be hard to throw properly. Rorschach took a split second to aim, and then hurled it at the boy before making his way to the closest hole. He never saw if it met its mark but he assumed that it did, because it didn't come back.
Three steps to freedom, two more steps…
A gust of air knocked him backwards. He knew who attacked him now before he saw him. The Avatar.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS?!"
When he opened his eyes, he found a staff right above his neck, in position to crush it. Instincts told him to grab onto it, and he did, only to be swung into the air and smashed into the ground before he do anything.
Rorschach couldn't help but sputter, not only because he got dirt into his mask but because he didn't think he was that powerful. And that someone claiming to not like violence was so ready to fight.
Then he noticed that the arrow tattoos and his eyes were glowing. That should explain a lot.
"You knocked out Sokka! You broke Katara's arms! Not to mention the countless people you maimed and murdered, trying to escape! I have every reason to kill you, right now!"
Aang smacked him with his staff again while he was getting up. And once more for good measure. He picked up the masked man by the collar and brought a flaming hand close to his face.
"But I'm not. I'm not that kind of person. You're going back into prison, and I'm not going to help you get out anymore. You're going to stay there for the rest of your life!"
Truthfully, he wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. He was gathering his strength and waiting for the right moment to strike…
Rock daggers were thrown from behind and would've wounded Aang badly if he hadn't noticed them in time and stopped them with his own bending.
It was Yun! She was clearly unpleased that Rorschach hadn't got away yet, and he was caught by the Avatar. He made his break away right then and there by giving him a sucker punch in the face. He was no longer glowing when he released him and staggered backwards, but he was still wary of both of them.
"You're working with the Dai Li now? Those cold-hearted bastards were brought down for a reason! They took out whoever was in their way, whether they were innocent or not! All for the purpose of controlling the city! They don't really care what happens to you, Rorschach! To them, you're just some tool they can use and discard whenever they feel like it!"
"Don't listen to him! He was the main reason that we disbanded for a while!" She yelled back. "He doesn't know how the real world works! You can't have a utopia without harming a few people!"
"It wasn't ever a utopia! People were brainwashed and beaten just because they did something the Dai Li didn't like! Do you really want to help them do that again?"
"And maybe what we didn't like were people causing panic, disrupting peace!"
He didn't know it was possible to have a shouting match while people were still battling each other around them. It was all about him too. On the grand scheme of things, it seemed rather silly, but now he knew his answer.
"RORSCHACH!"
Taking one of the sharp stones off the ground, he threw it straight at Yun's forehead. It was only because of Aang she survived, as he conjured a small wind to blow it away. The rock instead stabbed her in the eye.
"AAAARGH!" She let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell to the ground, staining her hands as she held onto her face.
"What did you do that for?! I mean, I'm glad that you didn't join the Dai Li, but you didn't have to try and kill her!" The boy shouted and started to glow again.
He almost told him his reason, but figured that he would be wasting his time as he wouldn't understand a thing he said. As it involved a certain ruthless, utopia-striving man. And he didn't want to stand by and watch anyone destroy the world again.
Before he could resume his escaping though, Aang summoned some more earth shackles to bind his feet. He was really getting sick of those. But he knew the hand motions that were used to make one by now, and jumped away before they could get to him.
He wasn't going to get arrested again! Not when he was so close to freedom!
Rorschach had to keep on leaping to avoid the rock traps before he was close enough to the anguishing Yun. Then in the split second he had, he threw her at the boy and was able to breathe easier now that he didn't have to bounce around all the time.
He still wasn't out of the woods yet. The guards figured out that if he was dangerous enough to defeat the Avatar, he was more of a concern than the rampaging badger moles and the Dai Li agents.
Speaking of badger moles, one stomped by, with the intent to devastate another section of the prison. He gripped onto its fur and used it to climb onto its back. The creature didn't seem to notice its new rider until he kicked its side. With a loud roar, it swung its claws blindly at anyone close by it, in an attempt to bat him off. When that didn't work, it hollered again before making a tunnel and diving into it.
He had to hold onto his hat so it wouldn't fly off, and he had to clutch onto the fur so he'd stay on. The last minute plan worked better than he expected though. Now, if he knew where he was being taken to…