Phew! Finally here! I didn't have many ideas, so it took me a while. It took a lot of effort, so I hope you like it. R&R!
Chapter 6: The Lieutenant
"Where's Longshot?" Smellerbee demanded, her hands held behind her back. She was captured by the Dai Li. Again. When no one responded, she repeated her self, raising her tone. "Where is Longshot?"
"I don't think you're in position to ask questions," Long Feng responded. "As you can see, there is no escape." Angrily, Smellerbee threw a kick at a Dai Agent, knocking him to the floor. However, she was not quick enough to get away. Another agent shot the earth from his hands, pinning her feet to the ground.
"Nice try girl, but you're not going anywhere." The Dai Li grabbed her by the ankles and chained them together. With no other option, Smellerbee gave up and let them haul her to the docks of Ba Sing Se.
Smellerbee had a feeling of shock and dismay upon exiting the castle. What used to a peaceful, orderly city was now fiery and chaotic. Houses burning, people screaming, children crying, and smoke filling the air.
"So, how does it feel to collapse your own nation?" Smellerbee asked Long Feng.
"What are you talking about, girl?" Long Feng asked sharply.
"You know what I'm talking about. If you hadn't conspired against the Earth Kingdom, we would have had Ba Sing Se better protection against the Fire Nation."
"My full loyalty is to the Fire Nation. I feel no guilt," He answered.
"I was in the castle when the Fire Nation took over Ba Sing Se. You were about to arrest the princess. The only reason you joined her was because you had to." Soon, they reached a Fire Nation ship anchored at the dock.
"Take this Freedom Fighter to her cell," said Long Feng. "I'm growing tired of her hopeless efforts."
"You have know idea where we're going, do you?" Sokka said to Aang, who was steering Appa. "We've been traveling in circles for like, a half-an-hour."
"Sokka's right," said Katara. "We need to plan out where to go. We should land somewhere and plot out our travel."
"We can't stop!" exclaimed Sokka. "We need to find Suki!"
"Sokka, if we keep going, we could get even more lost and it would take longer to find Suki," said Aang. Realizing has right, Sokka became quiet. After a few minutes, Aang found a small, wooded island.
"Okay," Zuko said. "You guys go plan, while I train Aang in Firebending. We've barely gotten any training in since we started."
"I'll come watch," said Toph. "Firebending beats talking any day." The groups went their separate ways, with Zuko, Aang, and Toph going to a nearby beach, where they could not burn anything. Toph went to sit on a nearby rock, while Zuko fumbled through his pocket and pulled out a leaf. He then lit a small flame on the leaf and handed it to Aang.
"We're going to try the leaf again, but this time, let the fire reach the edge. I want you to try controlling the fire." Aang focused on the leaf as he did in his last lesson, but this time he relaxed his muscles until the whole leaf was engulfed in flame. When he gazed down at the fiery embers in his palm, something came back to him. A memory.
Flames were jetting out of Aang's hands in all directions. "Be Careful Aang, You'll hurt yourself!" Katara called out to Aang. However, he just kept going. Suddenly, he heard a pained cry. Katara had been burned.
Katara's cry was the most awful thing Aang had every heard. And he had caused it. Aang closed his hands together and muffled the fire. "Katara," he said under his breath.
"What's going on?" Zuko asked.
"I can't," said Aang. "I don't want to hurt anyone." Before they could say anything more, Toph shouted, "Behind you!" The two boys turned around to see a somewhat muscular young man with dark brown hair, carrying a pair of broadswords.
"Long time no see, Zuko," the young man said.
"Kai!" said Zuko angrily. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Sorry, but I have no time for questions." Kai then lunged at Zuko who bent backwards just quick enough to avoid the swords. Hearing the action from where they were conversing, the other four soon entered the fray of battle. Mai shot a pair of stilettos from her hands pinning him to the wall. Ty Lee then took shots at his pressure points, leaving his arms useless.
"Who are you?" Aang demanded. However instead of responding, Kai merely closed his eyes tilted his head down and began breathing heavily. Smoke began filling the air, and by the time it had subsided, he was gone.
"What was that, some sort of disappearing act?" Sokka asked.
"No," Zuko said. "He used firebending to create a smokescreen."
"Who was that?" Katara asked.
"That was Lieutenant Kai." Zuko answered. "He was Admiral Zhao's son, and one of Azula's old friends. Apparently, he found my broadswords." While he was talking, Sokka noticed something of interest the boy had left behind. It was a fan. A fan of a Kyoshi Warrior.
As the Dai Li agents reached the cells, they unlocked the door and brutally tossed Smellerbee in one of them. As she looked around, she saw the faces of Sneers, The Duke, and Pipsqueak.
"Oh, thank God you're here," She said to them. Her attention was redirected when the Duke tapped Smellerbee on the shoulder and pointed to the other side of the cell. As she turned to look, she saw the figure of the person she most desperately wanted to see.
"Longshot!" she shouted with joy. She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her lips with his. They stayed together for many minutes before breaking apart.
"Um, did we miss something?" asked Pipsqueak. Before either could respond, Sneers piped in.
"That's okay, you don't need to explain anything. It's pretty easy to figure out."
"So how are we going to get out of here?" The Duke asked. "Does anyone have their weapons?" All shook their heads except Longshot, who was eying the cell carefully. Soon he found something.
"What are you looking at?" Sneers asked. Longshot pointed to one of the cell bars. The bar had part of the metal broken off, and seemed that it was barely holding up. He then pulled out a concealed and sliced the bar off.
"How can we fit through there?" asked The Duke, talking about the small opening where the bar used to be.
"That's not what he means," said Smellerbee. She then nodded to Longshot for approval, and then called, "Guards!" Right on cue, a Dai Li agent rushed over to the cell. "One of the bars has broken off of the cell."
"Very well then," said the guard. "Come with me. You will be moved to another cell while we fix this one." One by one the man, the man took them out of the cell and tied them up. Finally, he reached Smellerbee, who was still holding the bar. As he was about to put on her cuffs, she pulled out the bar and whacked him across the head. The agent was out cold. She took his handcuffs and tied his arms together, and then she took his phone and locked him in the cell. While the rest of the group went to leave, Longshot stayed behind.
"No," he said. "We can't leave."
"Why not?" The Duke asked.
"There's a girl. She's going to be executed tomorrow morning."
"Is that-" Katara began to ask while looking at the fan.
"It's Suki's fan," Sokka answer. He then picked it up and began to inspect it for evidence of her location. He then found some words scrawled on the fan. "There's something written on it. It says 'Harutoma'."
"What does it mean?" asked Toph.
"It's a Fire Nation controlled city in the Western Earth Kingdom." Zuko said
"That's probably where Suki is!" exclaimed Sokka.
"Are you sure it's safe?" asked Katara. "It may be a trap."
"I know, but we don't have any leads," Sokka responded. "We have to at least give it a shot. Can you find it on the map, Aang?" Aang took out the map from Sokka's bag, and examined it until he found the city of Harutoma.
"It's in the Kolau Mountains, near Omashu. If we leave now, we'll probably make it by tomorrow morning." Before anyone could say anything, Sokka hopped on Appa's back and took the reigns.
"Come on, Momo," Katara said to the lemur, who was sitting on tree branch eating lychee nuts. "We have to leave." One by one, everyone boarded the bison.
"Yip Yip," said Sokka while pulling on the reigns, bringing Appa into the skies. As they left, Kai returned with his headphones, and began to talk with Azula again.
"The plan is working out perfectly," he said. "They are headed to Harutoma as we speak."
"And the tracking device?" asked Azula.
"Safely concealed in the fan."
"Very good. Now, I want you to take all the forces you can into Harutoma. We will ambush the Avatar and capture him, along with the traitors. Do not fail, Lieutenant."
"Don't worry about it, Princess. By tomorrow morning, the Avatar will be captured, on a ship back to the Fire Nation."
"So, what do we do?" asked the Duke. "We have no idea where the warrior girl is."
"Our only shot is to look throughout the city." Smellerbee said. "We have to come to her eventually."
"We can't search the city looking like this," said Pipsqueak. "We need disguises." Each of them began looking for a clothing store, and luckily, they found one.
"Hello! Welcome to Mimi's!" the woman at the register said as they entered the building. However, instead of responding, they quickly grabbed the first things they could find and handed them to the lady. When they began to pay, however, they remembered something. If they used Earth Kingdom money, they would be caught. They franticly checked through their bag until they managed to find 10 Fire Nation copper pieces. They paid the woman, and then entered the changing rooms. One by one, each came out in Fire Nation clothing. Longshot, Sneers, The Duke, and Pipsqueak were each had clothes similar to what they were just wearing, except in shades of red rather than green. Smellerbee, however, was dressed very differently. She was wearing a tight red shirt and a pair of shorts with minimal coverage, with her hair let down. Longshot was speechless (Even more than usual).
"You seriously think you can fight in that?" asked The Duke.
"I didn't have time to see what I was picking," Smellerbee defended. "And as for the hair, I wanted to be as hard to recognize as possible." Her explanation was interrupted when two Fire Nation soldiers walked into the store. They walked up to the counter and began to speak with the saleswoman.
"We're looking for a boy with arrow tattoos and a young man with a scar on his eye," they said.
"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen anyone like that," the woman responded.
"Well, be on the lookout. They should be arriving soon." The men turned to exit, followed by the Freedom Fighters. They wanted to know what was happening.
"Remember, as soon as the Avatar arrives, capture him and his friends." They heard one of them say. The group then quickly snuck off to talk.
"I think we have another priority," said Smellerbee. "We have to protect the Avatar. If he's captured, there will be nothing to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war." They thought over plans, and then went back near the soldiers. When the soldiers began their attack, so would they.