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Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar
Chapter 3
Katara pulled Toph outside the still open door and shut it behind her before the earthbender could protest.
"No!" Toph shouted as Katara closed the door.
"Shh!" Katara said as she glanced up and down the metal corridor. "We don't know if there's any soldiers around."
"We can't leave them in there!" Toph said in a heated whisper. "What happened?!"
"I don't know," Katara replied. "Sokka opened one of the bombs and a yellow dust came out and then Zuko told us to get out."
"And you listened to him? You?!"
"Yes!" Katara hissed. "I don't know what that thing is, but he might. Now, can you tell what's going on in there?"
Toph looked like she wanted to argue, but held her tongue as she concentrated. Katara waited as patiently as she could for Toph to answer.
"I can't 'see' that well in there," the earthbender said finally. "Sokka's on his knees, but Zuko's up and moving, though a bit sluggish."
Toph's face suddenly went pale as her features changed to worry and shock. Katara was also sure she saw fear in the earthbender's face.
"What? Toph, what?!"
"Zuko just fell. Katara, we need to get in there!"
Katara took a step back. They needed to get their friends out, but how could they if they could be knocked out by this dust like the boys. What if something else was knocking them out? And how could they get in and out if it was the dust. She brightened as an idea came to her and she opened her water bag.
"I've got an idea," she said.
Toph stopped looking frantic and turned her face to Katara.
"I'm going to create a bubble of water around our heads, so we don't breathe in whatever is in there," she continued. "Then we'll go in, grab the guys and get out. Got it?"
Toph looked unsure, but nodded.
"We'll have air from out here," Katara told the earthbender, trying to reassure her.
"Get it over with then," Toph said, clenching her fists.
Katara quickly bent out the water from her bag and made a thin bubble of water around her head first, then proceeded to do the same around Toph's head.
"Ok, you get Zuko, I'll get Sokka," she said once she was finished, and was surprised when her voice echoed slightly.
Toph nodded and Katara opened the door and saw the first rack of cylinders on fire. Sokka was slumped on the floor next to the first rack, struggling to move, and Zuko was next to the second rack, struggling to rise. Katara hurried to her brother and started pulling him up as she saw Toph rush to Zuko' side.
"Mmmm, don't…feel….good," Sokka said as she started pulling him upright.
She draped his arm around her neck as she moved herself under his shoulder and hoisted him up. She concentrated on her and Toph's bubbles as the boys bumped into them as they helped them rise. She struggled back to the door with Sokka's feet dragging behind them. He was mumbling, though she couldn't make out the words.
She finally made it out the door as she felt the oxygen in her bubble start to get stale. She glanced around and thanked the spirits that no guards had come yet as she dropped Sokka onto his back to the side of the door. She turned to help Toph and Zuko and saw them exiting the room behind her.
Katara shut the door as soon as they were through and released the bubbles, bending the water into a globe. The waterbender concentrated and a yellow solid formed in the middle of the globe
"Get it away from you," Zuko said between coughs as he fell into a sitting position.
Katara nodded and drew the globe of water close to her before pushing it away from her, in a throwing motion. The water stayed about an inch away from her hands as the yellow solid shot down the hallway and landed after a few skips about fifty feet away from them.
She turned back to the boys as she moved the water to cover both hands. She concentrated on Sokka as the water turned the bright blue of healing.
"This isn't good," she said to Toph and herself as she examined her brother as he started to cough. "He's been poisoned somehow. His muscles aren't responding, though his internal organs are still functioning normally."
Katara turned to Zuko. "What was that stuff?" she asked him.
He tried to answer her but fell into a fit of coughing. She waited as he slowly regained control and took a deep breath.
"It's called forkroot, or goldeneye for the flower." He coughed again and waited until it passed. "Its' power is not well known, but take the plant and crush it into a powder, and it will disable a person completely."
He fell into a fit of coughing again. Katara waited until it started to subside.
"Does it have to be inhaled? How can it be stopped?"
"No, as long as it can enter the body, it will affect them. Airborne is the best way. Fire burns away all trace of it." He coughed again and looked at Toph. "It stops bending too, just as effective as Ty Lee."
Katara sat back on her heels as she held the water in a globe on her palm. She thought of what she had seen.
"Will the fire spread enough to destroy it all?" she asked Zuko.
Zuko turned his gaze back to her and she saw he was unsure and worried.
"No," he replied.
"We can destroy balloon," Sokka said weakly from beside Katara.
They all turned to look at him as he tried to sit up.
"Don't move Sokka, not yet," Katara told her brother in a gentle voice before she turned to Zuko again.
"How long do the effects last?"
"A couple of hours to a whole day. I'd say he had a large enough dose for the whole day."
"And you?" Toph asked the firebender.
He smiled at her weakly. "A couple hours. I can move, though I won't be able to bend or fight well until morning."
"Sounds like the last time we were in a balloon," Katara said as she smirked at the two.
Zuko turned to her with surprise, but smiled back at her. Another idea came to Katara as she moved the globe of water around in her hands. She turned back to Sokka.
"Sokka, I want you to try and not breathe for a second, ok? I'm going to try something to make you better."
Sokka gave her an odd look but nodded slightly. He took several deep breaths as Katara moved the water around her hand and changed it into healing water as she moved her hand close to his mouth. He nodded again as he let out a deep breath and Katara moved the water into his mouth and down into his lungs.
She saw him clench his fist as she quickly concentrated and tried to draw the yellow powder in his lungs into the water before drawing the water out again. She moved the water back into a globe and formed the powder intermixed with the water into a solid as Sokka sat up coughing.
Katara watched the solid form into a small ball, larger than before and sent it flying down the corridor. She turned to her brother and smiled.
"I couldn't get it all, but it should be better. How do you feel?"
He coughed more and sat up, shaking his head. "Better, thanks," he croaked out between coughs.
Katara turned to Zuko as the water moved around her hand. "Zuko?"
He nodded and started taking several deep breaths as she walked over to him. He nodded as Sokka had done while releasing a breath and she slipped the water quickly in and out. She again formed the solid as Zuko started coughing.
"Katara, we've got trouble coming," Toph said before the dust had combined in the water globe. "From your right, two of them."
"Ok," she replied as she readied the globe and solid. "I'm going to hit them with this stuff, then take them out. Can you get the guys up?"
"I'm not helpless," Sokka whined.
Toph gave him a dirty look as Zuko started to rise unsteadily. Katara smiled at her brother. He was definitely feeling better.
"Yeah," the earthbender replied as she walked over to Sokka. She punched him in the shoulder before helping him up to his feet.
"We'll start heading to the engine room," Zuko said once he was standing. "Straight, then make the fourth left."
Katara nodded as she stood, readying the globe and small ball of powder. She heard two sets of boots coming towards her from around a corner thirty feet away. Two soldiers turned the corner, talking and stared in shock at the sight of a waterbender in a light robe and three others limping away.
Katara shot the ball of powder at them and followed the solid with two water whips. The two soldiers started coughing as the ball of powder burst when it hit the left soldier's chest. He fell to his knees as he inhaled the yellow powder as Katara struck the other with the water whips.
One hit the man's head and the other struck his hand as he brought it up. The soldier cried out and Katara smirked as she saw him breathe in some of yellow dust. She moved the whips to grasp one leg of each man and pulled them back, knocking the soldiers onto their backs.
She moved the water to their mouths and froze a small portion over each mouth as she brought the rest of the water back to her and into her bag. She then turned and hurried to follow the others. Katara didn't see them, so followed Zuko's direction, making the turn and came upon two more soldiers.
"Damn!" she said as she moved the water out of her bag and into two whips. She shot them out to the soldiers as she ducked a fireball. Her first whip grabbed the leg of the right soldier, and knocked him to the ground as her other whip reached out to the hand the fireball had come from.
"Sound the alarm!" the firebender said in a female voice from behind a white mask. "We have a wat…"
Katara stopped the call with a quick whip to the head which dislodged the mask from the helmet. She was shocked for a second to come face to face with a girl with bright green eyes and black hair, maybe only a year or two older than her.
She quickly recovered and sent a small amount of water to freeze over the girls' mouth as her water whips grabbed the girls' ankles. As soon as the whips were around her ankles, she lifted the water up and dissipated it once the girls' ankles were above her head.
The girl fell onto her shoulders and rolled backwards as the other soldier struggled to rise. Katara moved her arms, combining the water whips and brought down a large block of ice onto the other soldier's head. The soldier fell to the floor in an unconscious heap as the girl stood up and shot another fireball at Katara.
Katara ducked under the fire and swept her arms to the side, moving the ice to sweep at the girls' head. The firebender tried to duck, but the bottom edge caught her helmet and knocked her into the side wall. The girl slid to the floor, unconscious.
Katara knelt and examined her as she drew the water back to herself. The girl was out and would have a bump and a headache, but that was all. She rose and hurried to catch up with Toph and the others.
She found a door open and listened for a minute. She smiled as she heard Toph's voice from inside and went inside. She saw several large machines with fires inside several of them. Two workers in sooty clothes were imprisoned and unconscious, bound by metal pipes wound around their arms and torsos.
Sokka was inspecting several of the machines, and was turning cranks while Toph leaned back against the wall, looking impatient. Zuko was sitting next to her, looking tired. He glanced up when Katara entered the room and Toph glanced her way as well. The earthbender sighed and smiled at her.
"Finally! Did they really take you that long?" Toph asked.
Katara smiled at Toph's impatience. "No," she said, "I met two more just down the hall. One was a girl about Zuko's age. They're unconscious now."
Zuko sat up when she mentioned the girl.
"What did this girl look like?"
"Black hair, bright green eyes, my height, and she was a firebender. That's funny, I've never seen a firebender with green eyes."
He stood up quickly.
"Sokka, hurry up!"
"I'm trying," Sokka called. "Why?"
"We're in trouble. Toph, can you close those pipes at the top? That should cause plenty of trouble."
Katara studied Zuko as Toph hurried to the furnaces. He took charge easily, and was worried.
"She's unconscious Zuko. What's wrong?"
Zuko locked his gaze with hers for a minute.
"I've heard of her. She's like Azula and Ty Lee combined. She won't be out for long."
"Done," Toph said as she hurried back to them with Sokka on her tail.
"Let's go then," Zuko said as he peeked out of the door. "All clear, let's leave."
Toph followed Zuko with Sokka still on her tail. Katara took up the rear again. They walked past where Katara had faced the girl and found the man still unconscious, but every trace of the girl was gone, including the mask. Zuko picked up the pace as they ascended the stairs, and turned into another corridor. Katara saw Sokka start to falter, and came up beside him.
"Here," she whispered to her brother. "Lean on me."
He smiled weakly at her as he draped his arm around her shoulder, leaning on her as they walked quickly. Toph grabbed Zuko's hand before he turned another corner and pulled him back.
"Five standing in the corridor," she whispered as Katara and Sokka stopped behind them. "I think they're waiting for us."
Katara saw Zuko frown and his brow furrow as he started thinking.
"Is there another way to the door?" Katara asked him.
Zuko shook his head. "No, we need a distraction. Any ideas?"
Toph and Sokka frowned as they tried to think. Sokka's face lit up after a few seconds.
"Toph, you can bend the floor, right?" he asked.
She nodded, but continued to frown. "We still have to get by them."
"Yeah, but how about some yellow dust to slow them down too?"
"From where, Sokka?" Katara asked him. "We can't go back."
Sokka lifted his free arm and Katara saw a yellow gleam on his clothes. He smiled at her.
"From our clothes. You can take the powder out of us, so you can take it off our clothes and send it at them. Then give us a bubble to breathe as we pass like when you got us out of that room. Then Toph can shake the floor under their feet before we pass."
Katara felt a smile start to tug at her mouth as Sokka grinned. She withdrew from under him and opened her water bag as he leaned against the wall. She took off as much powder as she could and created a ball the size of her fist of the powder inside the globe of water.
"I can't create the bubbles until I throw this at them," she told her brother. He nodded. "Ready Toph?"
Toph grinned at her and kneeled so that her hands were on the floor. "Ready."
Katara turned the corner and threw the solid at the soldiers. They started to cry out as the ball hit the closest soldier and burst, creating a yellow cloud. The ground under them started to shift and two of them lost their balance as Katara quickly bent the water into bubbles around the four friends' heads.
Zuko rushed forward as soon as his bubble was closed and knocked several to the side, jabbing a couple in the stomach with the hilts of his swords. Toph followed close behind the prince. Katara shouldered under her brother and helped him through the chaos as fast as she could. Just before they were clear, a rough hand grabbed her arm.
She pushed Sokka ahead and turned to the offender, trying to free herself. She came face to face with a white mask and saw that a small hand held her. She took a deep breath and bent the small amount of water surrounding her head into a whip and struck the side of her offenders' head, the same spot she had knocked the firebending girl with a block of ice.
A feminine voice let out a muffled curse from behind the mask as the hand dropped away. Before Katara could strike again, the girl in the mask managed to grab Katara's shoulder. She pinched her shoulder between her arm and collarbone.
Katara let out a groan as the water abruptly fell, but kept her mouth shut as she felt her strength start to leave. The girl had hit the same place that Ty Lee had when Azula and her friends had taken over the city of Ba Sing Sae. The girl charged towards Katara and Katara spun and landed a kick on the girl's head as she moved out of the way.
She was running out of air and would have to breathe the yellow dust in soon if they kept this up. The girl turned and snarled, her mask gone again as Katara turned to face her. She then saw a figure behind the girl before a wave of air hit the firebender and knocked her past Katara.