Fleet Headquarters was a ghost building right now. Emperor was mere hours from docking in the harbour, and most of the people in Fleet Headquarters had either left with the Victory or were out and about getting ready for Commander Shirogane's return. That was something Takao didn't miss: the insane rush to get ready to wait for someone higher-ranked than you to turn up. Soldiers had been crawling all over the city for a week, but there was no one here now.
"Which is good," said Takao heavily. "Because if there was more people around you'd be able to write down the record of the first time a man died from shame, Shin-chan."
"Were," corrected Midorima.
"I hate you," said Takao. He brought the wagon to a stop in front of the Fleet Headquarters, and Midorima climbed knew better than to help Midorima, who insisted that his arm was nearly healed.
"I won't take long," he assured Takao.
"Yeah, yeah," said Takao. "I've heard that one before."
Midorima ignored him, nodding a greeting at the soldier standing guard in the lobby as he swept past. Rightfully, the guard stared at Midorima like the waterbender was an alien. At least he didn't try to stop Midorima: that would have gotten ugly.
Takao pulled around to the side, out of traffic, and settled in to wait for Midorima. The air was warm and lazy, approaching evening. There was a nice small park here with a fountain. Watching it made Takao feel resigned, calm even. Midorima wasn't going to rat out Kise to the Commander, and even if he did, it was too late to do anything about it.
Then the water in the fountain foamed up and surged through a window of HQ, smashing it and sending shards of colored glass sparkling in the air.
Takao gaped at it. Little spurts of fire followed, dying out as they missed their target. More sounds of destruction came from the broken-open floor, a man and a woman yelling incoherently, and then Midorima- it had to be him- bent the water out from the fountain in a torrent, washing out two figures in dark clothes. Midorima froze them to the fountain and they struggled in vain to get free.
Takao heard a shout and saw the guard was running towards him.
Something was wrong, what was it? The uniform, the belt and jacket, they sat wrong but were worn and well-used. The uniform was too big. He was wearing someone else's uniform. He hadn't run into the building when the commotion started, he'd run all the way around it and into the garden area. The guard moved his hands and Takao had one more telling piece of evidence: a waterbender was wearing a firebender's red stripes.
Takao lunged off the rickshaw, waving his arms at the guard.
"What the hell?" he yelled. "What the hell was that? Who are these people?" Movement near the hole was Midorima, making sure his two attackers were solidly frozen.
"I don't know," the guard yelled back. He was distracted from his bending, and the rope of water fell apart. "I'm going to-" And then Takao punched him, grabbing his flailing arm and forcing him to the ground.
"What are you-" shouted the guard.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" said Takao. "Bend, I'll break your arm." He leaned harder on the guard's back, cutting off his breathing. Takao looked up; Midorima was leaning out of the hole by his good arm, but when he saw Takao looking at him, he vanished back into the building.
"For fuck's sake," Takao muttered to himself. He yanked off the guard's jacket and bound his arms together. If there was anyone else hanging around, he didn't need to be blindsided. Taking off the guy's belt, Takao tied his legs too.
Kneeling on the ground, he almost felt it when the earth shook for the first time.
Midorima emerged from the back door of the building. "The communications office has been sabotaged," said Midorima grimly. "Legitimate soldiers were attacked and are unconscious or stunned in the building- I only saw a few, there may be others. These two were in the process of burning the message records. We need to-"
The earth shook again, harder.
"Earthquakes," said Midorima, a note of alarm in his voice.
"Earthbenders," said Takao. Republic City wasn't earthquake country- or the underground networks would in be serious danger.
"It would take either a very skilled earthbender, or-" said Midorima. He lunged for their captives. "Why were you sabotaging the communications?" he demanded. "What's happening?"
Now, once again, the ground shook- throwing him off his feet in a sharp jolt. Takao felt the tremors, and heard Midorima counting off under his breath. It ended at five full seconds, and Takao looked up to see, lifting above the city, massive, green, purple, gold, Murasakibara's airship the Hammer. As it flew, Takao's eyes picked out dark shapes falling from it. He grabbed Midorima and yanked him down again, right in time for the light and sound of the explosions to reach them. They were far away enough that they only felt, once again, a barely imperceptible shiver in the ground.
Sirens finally began to ring, screaming throughout the city.
"Where was that?" said Midorima, frowning as he tried to work it out. Takao moved off him, letting him sit up.
"Police Headquarters," said Takao. He'd gone cold all over. "They bombed Police Headquarters. The earthquakes would have fucked up the underground prisons, and now they've bombed the neighbourhood."
"We need to get down there," said Midorima. He cast a hard, frustrated glance at their captives, all of whom were silent and had stopped struggling. Two had closed their eyes and the other stared straight ahead. All looked resolute. "Leave them for whoever has time later. We've got more important things to do."
.0.
Aomine was so over waking up on the floor in pain. Kiyoshi Island hadn't been like this. So often. Someone splashed water on his face, cool, clear water. Aomine covered his face in it, healed the soreness and then sucked it down.
Kagami leant over him, frowning. He looked like a sea serpent had chewed him up and spit him out. Again.
Kagami helped Aomine sit up and said, "Are you okay?"
"Why aren't you still sleeping?' said Aomine, rather than answer a stupid question. "He drugged us."
"I'm still-" Kagami gulped, and ducked to the side to throw up in a soup tureen. "Still burning it off," he said.
Aomine handed him the bucket of water. "Where is he?"
"Gone," answered Kagami. "He left all three of us here and the Lieutenant says he stole Murasakibara's airship."
"That dude has his own airship?" said Aomine.
"Yeah, he's really rich," said Kagami.
The suite was a mess. Furniture had fallen over and only half the lights were even on; Aomine saw the shattered remains of a couple of vases and hangings that had come down.
Lieutenant Takao was kneeling next to Murasakibara, talking into a handheld radio. "Tell Midorima we found him," he said. He was covered in soot, for some reason. "Tell him Aomine and Kagami are here too- he'll know who I mean. Looks like all three of them were drugged." A crackle, and a rush of static, someone's voice distorted by the radio. "I'll get back to you on that, he's still out cold." He tucked it back away in his jacket and looked at Aomine and Kagami. "He okay?" he called.
"He looks fine," said Kagami. He shook himself. "Can you do anything for Murasakibara?" he said. "With water?"
"Bring the bucket," said Aomine.
Ten minutes later, Murasakibara was vomiting just as violently as Kagami had, biting down on miserable noises. Takao kept his hair out of his face while Aomine kept sweeping healing water over his digestive system. Probably Midorima would have been able to do something more elegant and immediately useful.
"Where's Midorima?" said Aomine. "He's the one who sent you here?"
"He's at the Police Station," said Takao. "There's-" he threw a quick glance at Aomine. "There's been an attack on the police station and he's working on rescue efforts."
The bottom fell out of Aomine's world; the water fell out of his hands.
"The station?" he said. "Who was there? Was Satsuki there? Was Ryou there?"
"She didn't have work today," said Kagami hurriedly. "She came back from her morning shift to see Kise off, remember?"
Aomine wasn't paying him any attention: he reached out and grabbed Takao's arm. "Was she there?" he said.
"We don't know," said Takao, speaking low and calm. "It's bad. Midorima wants Murasakibara down there to sift the underground for officers and prisoners who were down there when the tunnels collapsed."
Murasakibara raised his head. "What?" he said.
Takao kept his eyes on Aomine. "There were earthquakes," he said. "We think Earthbenders, and some bombs. We don't know how far the damage goes, which is why every available earthbender is working on establishing tunnels and digging out survivors. But in some places, it's too dangerous to get to them. That's why we need the best earthbender in the Earth Kingdom."
Murasakibara went ashen and put his head down to vomit again.
"Let's go down there," said Kagami, measured and firm. "They'll need help, we can go down and help out, and we'll know everything that happens. If she's there-" Takao's face twisted in pain as Aomine's grip tightened- "if she's there, she's probably helping out right now. We'll find her there."
"We have to dig for-" said Aomine.
"The earthbenders have to dig," said Kagami, still in that calm, clear voice. "If we go in and we don't know what to do, we're only going to get in the way."
That made sense. That did make sense. Aomine knew better than to get in the middle of rescue operations. People got killed like that. Gently, firmly, Kagami peeled Aomine's fingers off Takao's arm, and the Lieutenant grimaced as he shook it out.
Murasakibara looked at Takao, at Kagami and Aomine, and pushed himself to his feet. Takao moved to support the earthbender, who wobbled dangerously. "Let's go," Murasakibara said unsteadily.
Aomine got up too. The sooner they got down there, the better. He gestured for Kagami to help Murasakibara instead. The Lieutenant was dwarfed by the Earthbender and didn't look so good himself.
"Anyone going after his airship?" said Kagami to Takao. Himuro. That was what Kagami was asking about, without asking. If Himuro was involved in this, if Satsuki- Aomine was going to hunt him to the ends of the earth. "It was in the Fleet Hangar, right?"
"Fleet has their own problems right now," said Takao, grimly. "There was a mine waiting for the Emperor in the harbour and they blew out parts of the dock. Councilman Nakatani, Councilman Aida, and Police Chief Harasawa are all missing. They have airbenders and your brother's dragon working out there with the waterbenders who can't heal."
"...Akachin?" murmured Murasakibara, leaning his head against the wood panelling. "Did they call for him…? He'd turn around, right…?"
"They did radio out," said Takao. "Once we found one that hadn't been sabotaged and destroyed. There was no response from the Victory, and the last time anyone can remember hearing from them was this morning." He dragged his hand over his face, leaving tracks in the dirt and sweat. "And there's no one to go after them. They're on their own."
.0.
Victory moved under Kise's cheek. He was back in his bunk in the cadet dormitory, blankets wrapped around his body, the stale cabin air somehow both stifling and chilly. Any time now, someone would shake him awake for morning training with Akashichi, which for the past year had involved being thrown off the back of the ship and forced to swim to get back on. Kise hated waking before he had to, he was a growing boy… didn't he need sleep? Didn't he deserve it? Just because Akashichi was secretly one of those perpetual motion automatons who never stopped working or training, did he have to work the Avatar this hard? Kise had mastered the elements in a thousand lifetimes, would do so in a thousand more…
Wet.
Why was he wet?
Kise wanted to sleep. He needed to sleep. Someone would wake him up, someone else would do it, someone-
Kise crashed awake. Above him, to the side, all around, were ropes upon ropes of moving seaweed, gleaming wetly in the glow they themselves gave off. As Kise watched, more seaweed retracted out of the cadet dormitory, revealing other people, the fleet soldiers, still asleep in puddles of water, heaped haphazardly into the bunks or on the floor.
Gross.
Kise grabbed a wall-mounted handhold and hauled himself upright. He lurched with the ship's motion, getting his balance back. He was sore in places where he must have been banged against the stairs and doors while dragged down here. The fronds of seaweed were going somewhere. They were going to deal with something else.
The leftover seaweed coiled again around his ankles, much thinner this time. Kise kicked them off and bent himself out the door in a swoop of air, landing in a mercifully person-free corridor.
Back in the dormitory, the soldiers remained asleep. Kise was standing on a sodden heap of seaweed, wriggling feebly under his weight. The way up was blocked by a woven wall of seaweed, and further down... Kise shuddered. It was fun- though painful- to race cadets through the narrow corridors in off-duty games of freeze tag. He didn't want to be caught down there with a sentient seaweed monster. Noticing that the seaweed was once again coiling up his ankles, he kicked them off and went back into the room. He blew on both his palms and laid it against the seaweed on the wall. As the heat built, the seaweed crisped and burnt away, revealing the window.
Kise wrenched the window open, hoisting himself out. It was a tight fit, but he just managed to lever his shoulders through. The waves splattered his face as he took in deep gulps of fresh air. He twisted free of the window and bent himself a little surfboard of ice, landing on the ocean.
Kise steadied himself and zipped along the length of the ship on its backwash. Now that he knew what the thing was that had attacked the ship, he could-
And here rising out of the ocean, occupying almost the whole of the open-air aft deck, a giant twisted knot of seaweed, tangled in the propellers, twined through windows and railings. Shadowed by an upper-deck overhang, Kise had missed it on his approach.
It quickly became apparent why the seaweed monster had lost its grip on Kise.
An airbender was attacking the seaweed monster from the air with chi-charged blasts of air. It was effective at least: the seaweed writhed madly at every strike and kept hauling parts of its body up into the main mass to use for attack and defense.
Kise used the water to launch himself into the air, straight for the other airbender. "It's ME!" he yelled, mid-trajectory.
"Oh, fuck," he clearly heard the familiar voice curse, and then Nijimura veered around and caught Kise by the arms, swooping to the front of the ship to drop them both on the deck.
"What are you doing here?" he said, glowering darkly at the fronds of seaweed all over the deck.
"What are you?" Kise counter-demanded. "Where's Akashichi?"
Nijimura tched. "I was at the Northern Temple," he said. "Didn't you come out with him? Damn salad-thing won't let me anywhere near the command tower."
"I-" said Kise. "N-no. He told me to stay in Republic City when they left."
Nijimura remained unfazed at the idea of Kise defying his former teacher's direct order. Wait. Akashichi didn't have any authority to give him orders. "Shou flew in with us a week ago," he said. "It's a good thing you're here."
Kise's teeth ground. "Shou?" he said.
"Yeah," said Nijimura. "Duck!"
Kise dropped and rolled on some ancient instinct, dodging the seaweed which was suddenly much more alive and aggressive.
"I can't get to the spirit core," Nijimura yelled at him. "Every time I attack it, all I get are the tentacles!"
"What's a spirit core?" Kise yelled back.
Nijimura may have been rolling his eyes, or he might have been spinning himself an air-shield to slice off another tendril. The seaweed fell to the deck where it lay still and inanimate. Some fell onto Kise's face, which was gross.
"The center of this!" he shouted. "The spirit that's animating the seaweed to attack the ship!"
Without knowing what Shuu was talking about, Kise knew what he meant- all the motion, all the intent, came from a specific place. The tendrils wrapped around the people under the decks…
"It's draining their energy," he said. "It's draining chi from them so that it can keep attacking us."
"It's down there?" said Nijimura.
"No," said Kise. He reached out his hand and gripped the few fronds of the seaweed on the deck, still connected somehow, somewhere, to the core. "It's in the command tower."
Nijimura clicked his tongue. "Makes sense," he said. He watched the seaweed gather and reform itself, preparing to attack again. "I'll draw it off, you clear the bulk of it, then I'll go for the command tower."
"How?" Kise demanded.
"Figure it out," yelled Nijimura, cartwheeled over a tentacle, and took off.
The seaweed monster had obviously decided that Nijimura was the bigger threat, and it followed him with wild lunging swipes. Kise gathered more of the seaweed in his palms and hoped for another flash of insight.
The wet, slimy feel of it made Kise think of Midorimachi. Once, they'd been caught in that blizzard and thought they were going to die and Midorimachi had shoved his hand into the ice and brought up seaweed, forcing them both to chew it raw to save their supplies-
You should pay attention, Midorimachi's frown clearing into serenity as he breathed deeply, Kurokochi's hand on chi points on Kise's arm, pressing them painfully open. Ice crystals crunching between his teeth, water so pure it tasted sweet. If you don't pay attention-
Warmth without light.
-When the winds had cleared, they'd discovered they had been in sight of the Southern Avatar temple the whole time.
I/I see/see, Kise said, in twin entwined voices of light and dark. And he did see.
The spirit- spirits, numerous and angry- had been called through the water, dredged from the ocean floor. It knew him, him and the immortal spirit he would always be. He had the sense of falling, falling and-
The seaweed all over the ship fell apart limply, dropping Nijimura abruptly on the deck.
"That worked," said the former captain, landing on the deck. "Let's get to the command tower!"
Kise shook himself and leapt to follow Nijimura up to the now undefended command tower, pulling apart seaweed until they could force the door.
A handful of the Victory's senior officers, pale and sleeping. No spirit core.
"You got it," said Nijimura, looking at Kise. He seemed a little disappointed to find nothing to punch. "What happened?"
A voice as faint as clouds faded away, leaving behind the smell of swamp-mud, dissipating in the salty air.
"A waterbender controlled the seaweed and used it to attack the ship," Kise said. "The spirits were just left over in it."
Nijimura bent over the closest officer. "Alive," he said. "Chi exhausted." He looked around the room. "No Akashi."
.0.
Momoi cuddled Nigou close to her. The lion-dog vibrated with tension, in the dark and surrounded by strange smells, comforted only by Momoi's proximity. She kept stroking over his mouth, silently compelling him not to bark or roar. Her surroundings shuddered and jerked in constant motion.
Finally Narumi-kun rapped his knuckles on the crate, letting her know it was safe to come out. She gently pushed up on the wooden lid and he lifted it, helping her out of the crate.
They were in the cargo hold of an airship, one far larger than any of the police airships Momoi had been in.
"You okay?" said Narumi. He reached in to take out Nigou, who purred and licked his hand, tail waving.
"Yes," said Momoi. "Narumi-kun, what happened? Where are we? Where are we going?"
"I don't know," he confessed. "I just know that there were plans to spring us if the police ever took us in." He looked up at the soaring ceiling. "Not sure I expected this."
"Who's us, Narumi-kun?" said Momoi. "Who… the prison was… attacked?"
"The Unrecognised!" said Narumi, fiercely. "They freed us from the jail… and from tyranny."
"You're an idiot," said another voice, flatly. "There is no us. They got what they came for and got out." It was one of the waterbenders from the Red Monsoons, the one with flat, dead eyes. Sakurai-kun had been the one to take him down at the cove. Momoi's hands went to her belt, where her fans sat in her sash, heavy and comforting.
His expression sour, the waterbender shrugged his shoulder at her. "We tried to kill you and your boyfriend, you arrested us," he said. "Fair enough. I don't give enough of a shit about these people to rat you out to them."
Momoi blinked at him. "Why did you help me?" she said. If he was Narumi-kun's friend, he had been the one to pry the lid off the box and bundle her in in the dark.
Kou's expression flatlined again. "His idea," he said, shrugging at Narumi. "He wouldn't leave without you, and we didn't have time. The Mukan guys won't know you weren't one of theirs, you can probably have a nice life somewhere." He looked away. "Better than hanging out there to get buried alive."
Momoi flinched.
"If they don't care about us, then why didn't they just leave us there?" demanded Narumi.
"They needed bodies to carry their shit out," said Kou, nodding at the boxes. "If they hadn't, they would have left us in there like the rest of the idiots."
"I thought Hanamiya Makoto was one of the Mukan," said Momoi. "You're not?"
Kou looked at her. "Mako left us to take the fall," he said. "He screwed us, just like the last time. I don't owe him anything anymore. And the Mukan can kiss my ass."
Narumi looked hurt. "Don't you believe in the cause, man?" he said.
"No," said Kou. "There is no fucking cause."
"But where did it come from?" asked Momoi, heading off the argument. "All these boxes? Why did they need you to take it?"
"You mean your boyfriend didn't tell you?" said Kou, surprised. "This is the stuff we jacked from one of Aida's warehouses the night Aomine rabbited on us. Police seized it when you guys raided the tunnels."
That didn't make any sense to Momoi. "Come on," said Narumi. "We need to get back to the cabins, before someone finds us here."
The rest of the airship lived up to the cargo hold. Momoi had been in some buildings smaller than this. They could hear muffled announcements and the sound of pounding footsteps from other parts of the ship.
An alarm blared. "Brace yourselves," a voice ordered through the PA system. "Generating spirit gate in ten… nine..."
Narumi cursed and grabbed hold of Momoi, guiding her to a handhold.
"I thought we had time," he said to Kou.
"Not that much," said Kou grimly. He hung onto a rail.
The airship shuddered and Momoi's ears started to hurt, the air stretching taut and thin. Nigou, yelping, wriggled out of her grip.
"Nigou!" Momoi called, but the lion-dog yelped again and slid away, thrown by the ship's motion. She made to follow him, but Narumi grabbed her by the waist. "Hold on!" he cried.
"Three…" droned the PA. "Two…"
With a massive jolt and lurch, the airship vanished from the human world.
.0.
Reo twisted a slim metal cord around Riko's wrists. "There, now," he said. "Don't struggle too much."
Riko immediately tried her restraints and winced: the pliable metal Reo had manipulated so easily was steel. Kiyoshi laid his hand on her arm, but she shrugged him off.
"Well?" she said, eyes fixed on Reo. "What the hell is this?"
Reo paid her no attention. He fiddled with the radio, saying to Kiyoshi, "You expected this, of course."
"No," said Kiyoshi. Riko refused to look at him. "I was in jail."
Reo frowned. "Well, fine, not this," he said, flapping his hand at the three of them. "But you had to know it would come to something like this." He stood, the crackle of static emitting from the radio as someone on the other side tried to tune in. "You knew when you became close to Aida Kagetora's daughter."
"So this is about my father?" said Riko. It always came back to this, didn't it. She clenched her fists. "His money? You're out of your mind if you think that you're going to get anything out of him by using me."
"'Course not," came Aida Kagetora's voice out of the radio, comfortable, companionable. "Riko! How're you doing? Punch these bastards if they get any ideas, okay?"
Riko stared at it. "Dad?" she said.
"I always knew that kid was no good," said Kagetora. She could imagine the scowl on his face. "Look what he got you into! You might have gotten into serious trouble if you'd really been trying to break that idiot out on your own."
"Are you satisfied that we have your daughter?" said Reo. "Restrained, but unharmed and in good health."
"And if you know what's good for you, she'll stay that way," said Kagetora, almost pleasantly.
"Unharmed?" burst out Riko. "Dad, I'm kidnapped, these guys just destroyed half the city, and I have no idea where you are! What's happening?"
"No," said Kagetora. "Whatever happens, you'll be safe, baby. We got that clear already, didn't we?"
His voice went flat and hard. "We're clear, aren't we, jangles?"
"Very," said Reo. "We're on our way to rendezvous with Beast, is there anything else you want?"
Kagetora snorted. "None of you hippy-dippy assholes to screw this up," he said. "This whole thing is enough of a shitshow as it is, start to finish. Riko, I'll see you soon."
"As you wish," said Reo, and removed the receiver. Without it, the radio bolted to the table was unusable. He looked at Riko, gone grey with terror and rage. "She really didn't know?" he said.
"No," said Kiyoshi, his voice more controlled than Riko had ever heard it. "She didn't."
Reo's eyebrow lifted, but he shrugged an elegant shoulder. "There aren't many, even among us, who know that we've been collaborating with moneyed interests," he said. "But they get what they want… and so do we."
"It's not what we wanted to do," said Kiyoshi.
"It's what we needed to," said Reo. "Please take care of Riko-chan- she is an innocent in all of this. You're free to use this room as you like, but I would prefer you not leave or wander around… for your own safety."
"You have someone more important than us on board?" Riko managed to say. "What did you do to Hyuuga? Where is my father?"
"I'm meeting his highness, yes," said Reo. He ignored her second question. "We've come rather a long way since Teppei left us."
"And all of it down?" said Kiyoshi. "We protested against the Fire Lord's expansionist projects together, Reo."
"His son has somewhat different ideas about his place on this earth," said Reo. "I think you might both quite like him, actually. If you'd met him in a different time." He left, leaving the door unlocked.
Kiyoshi looked at Riko and cautiously pushed open the door behind Reo, though he was careful to not step outside. Through the doorway they could see a common space, filled with tables and chairs. There were only a few men and women there right now: Riko supposed the rest were busy flying the airship.
"There," she said. "That's him, isn't it? The prince." She'd never met the other Prince of the Fire Nation before. The other country never spoke of its younger Prince, and neither did the Commander. No wonder, if he'd been running around with the Mukan!
Teppei spoke in barely a whisper, his breath chilling Riko's spine. "That's not the Fire Nation Prince," he said.
On the other side of the room, Reo welcomed Himuro Tatsuya with a handshake and hug. "It's so good to see you again," he said. "Did you have any trouble?"
"No," said Himuro Tatsuya, smiling lightly, the golden flame of the fire nation gleaming at his throat. "Everything went according to plan."