A/N: Hah. Finally finished. I was getting really lazy and thought I'd lounge around for another month before updating but I owe it to everyone who's ever reviewed so here it is: Chapter 13. This one should explain some stuff and raise a couple more questions. Any parts that need explaining, you can just review and I'll answer as best I can. Also, if there are any major grammar mistakes, please tell me right away so I can fix them. If you have any other suggestions to how the story should move on, don't hesitate to leave a note in your review. As always, thank you so much for taking an interest in my fanfic!

+Clivian+

The first time he had laid eyes on Zuko, he was ebullient, joyous, ecstatic and more than a little hopeful. And what was so wrong with being hopeful when all his calculations, his careful planning and precise execution had gone perfectly according to plan? Seemingly nothing, it had seemed at the time.

Under the influence of a powerful truth serum that had been developed over the years by Clivian himself, Zuko had revealed astonishing facts. He had revealed his status as an apparent ruler of an entire country and much, much more under extensive hours of questioning. The most promising of all the unbelievable things that the alien king revealed were the potential "supersoldiers" or, as Zuko had put it, "benders". Zuko himself was a firebender, and though the excited scientist was positively aching to put him through some experiments, there was a flaw in his brilliant plan. The arrival of yet another one but different as she was a "waterbender". Unfortunately, as the arrival of a second one had not been anticipated, tracking was delayed and as a result, they had switched to a manual search in secret. She had been found and Clivian had been struck with another brilliant plan…

But now this. He was trapped like a miserable rodent in crude mouse trap, cornered by a cat with little or no experience but still, he was trapped. Zuko pinned him with those odd golden eyes of his, the eyes that marked him as a stranger, an alien of this planet. Out of curiosity, Clivian had questioned Zuko during one of the lengthy interrogation sessions about his peculiar iris color. Zuko had promptly replied that most of his kind had golden eyes. During their sessions, Zuko's eyes had been the unfocused ones of a drunk but now they were sharp, alert, and almost formidable.

Clivian straightened up, smiling pleasantly as though he did not mind having his door blasted off its hinges or being shoved around in his own office. He dusted himself off, not taking his eyes off of Zuko who stood there wearing a baggy maintenance uniform. Clever.

"What gives me the pleasure of meeting you here, Zuko?" Clivian spoke in a fluent, amiable voice that did not give away his loathing of the impudent scoundrel standing before him. The shot of batrachotoxin was no doubt underneath his desk and out of reach even if he somehow managed to distract the boy.

"I'm here to get some answers, Clivian." Zuko spoke, a hint of anger in his voice. Good, good. The more pathetically emotional and irritated the scum became, the more likely he was going to mess up.

"What answers would those be?" Clivian asked, keeping his tone cool and polite.

"Answers to how you brought us here and how we get out."

Clivian laughed. They were sharp barks like a large dog's. Zuko didn't move but his scowl was evident.

"Do you honestly think," Clivian said, staring Zuko straight in his yellow eyes, "that I would know the answer to that?"

"Of course you know. You captured us!" Zuko snarled and Clivian though he saw fire building in the boy's tightly clenched fists.

Clivian laughed again. "My dear boy, I did nothing of the sort. My research team and I merely knew of the disturbance your strange arrival created and went to fetch you. You were not in a state to-"

"I was captured, drugged and questioned, you piece of-"

"Now, now, Zuko. I don't really know what manners they have in that, well, wherever you came from." Clivian said, enjoying the emotional rage in Zuko he was causing. "But I can assure you that in our world, we don't tolerate moody teenagers calling their elders cruel names. We don't tolerate that kind of behavior and we also don't tolerate breaking and entering."

"Yeah, but apparently illegal kidnapping and attempted murder is perfectly fine!" Zuko shot back. This time, red flames coiled in a snake-like stream from his fists and burned the wooden floor paneling. Clivian pretended not to notice.

"Well, no, maybe if it were done by an amateur like you, it wouldn't be." Clivian said in the sort of pleasant tone of voice that suggested he was discussing the weather forecast. "But done with proper planning and the right people, you need not worry."

Outside, the sound of fire engines and police cars coupled with noise of all evacuated employees carried all the way up to where the two stood. The window in Clivian's private office was nowhere near as large as the ones lining the hallways but it lent a good view of the jam-packed street below. As his back was facing the window, Clviian could not see what was going on but he guessed that the employees were still milling around the building, hoping to see some action.

The buzzing of Clivian's cellphone attracted Zuko's attention. In one swift, fluid motion, he had conjured a fire whip and his stance suggested that he was going to burn Clivian's hand off if it were a weapon.

Clivian withdrew the cellphone with deliberate slowness, showed it to Zuko and said, "Sorry, but I'll have to take this one or they might think I'm being held hostage by a crazy pyromaniac."

Zuko split the flame whip in half and held two fireballs both the size of grapefruits in each hand, watching Clivian closely.

"Yes, yes. Really?" Clivian said, cocking an eyebrow. "You say that you've located Katara and you're moving in for the capture?"

Zuko's shock could not have been more evident. His fireballs burst, flaring up into the size of a watermelon. Zuko took a step forward but Clivian held up a hand to stop him coming any closer.

"No, I'm perfectly fine. No. I got out of the building fine." And then he raised his eyebrows and glanced at Zuko. "Oh, Katara?" he said, speaking clearly and loudly so that Zuko would hear every word of his conversation. "Well, why don't you-" Zuko took a step forward. "-kill her."

Outside on the chaotic streets below, people screamed in alarm as one of the windows on the 19th floor were blown out with a crunch and crash of hot flame and glass. The shards fell like powdered ice, sparkling in the afternoon sunlight.

+Ethan Jones+

Parking the stolen Mercedes two blocks away from the Microbe building, Jones realized at once that something was terribly wrong. Onlookers, police officers and fire fighters were swarming around the building in apparent panic and when he was just half a block away, an explosion sounded from ahead. People shrieked as a fiery tongue lashed out from one of the floors above and the crushed glass rained to earth.

"GET OUT! EVERYBODY GET OUTA HERE!" a burly looking police officer Ethan didn't recognize shouted at everyone in the vicinity, and nobody needed telling twice as they fled in terror.

"Sir, you need to get outa here! There's been a fire here and-"

"You don't understand," Jones tried to explain as the police officer stood in his way, "there's been a kidnapping and-"

The police officer appeared not to have heard over all the commotion around them. Jones was nearly knocked to the ground by a group of men fleeing to safety.

"-dangerous and we cannot allow-"

But Jones did not wait to hear what they weren't allowing as a shrill scream broke through the noise of the retreating people.

"OH MY GOD! THAT MAN'S TRYING TO JUMP!!" someone screamed and everyone, even the ones who had been hell bent on getting away, stopped and looked skyward up at the building. Somewhere up on the 19th floor or so was dangling from the very window which had been recently blown out by the fire. Jones could make out the man's grey suit and another person holding onto him, preventing him from plummeting to his doom.

There was a general uproar as people started pointing and screaming, firefighters started running and the chief shouted orders and the police officers yelled for everyone to run. And even through the renewed chaos of people stampeding to leave the area, Jones stood stalk-still, not immobilized by the fear of the dangling man but because a piercing scream. It was barely audible over the commotion but Jones was frozen. It couldn't be…

And then it came again, more shrill and terrified than ever, like an invisible force it turned Jones's head toward the source.

"ZUKO!"

The girl was near the parking lot, barely visible as she was lying flat on the ground, unable to move yet thrashing wildly, brunette hair flying. From all sides, Jones saw men dressed in black uniforms, similar to the ones the SWAT team wore. They were each holding lethal firearms, strong enough to take down a gang of violent terrorists but almost laughably grandiose against a harmless girl.

Jones started sprinting as fast as possible in her direction. The parking lot was nearly empty but had all the same been blocked off by officers. Officers who were either blind and death or a associates of the ruthless kidnapping of the girl.

The officer tried to stop him but swift knee to the groins took down the man easily enough. The more pressing problem was that Jones had had barely two minutes to think out a strategy and the lack of a plausible plan was now taking its toll. The armed men had noticed the intruder and Jones threw himself almost too late as they opened fire without warning.

Jones landed on his side behind a large white truck that efficiently shielded him from view but didn't allow him any sight either. Pressing his body flat against the side of the white truck, thinking hard as his heart ricocheted around in his ribcage.

"Show yourself!" a man's voice called out. Jones did nothing of the sort and stood still, heart pounding.

A second, much angrier voice called out, "Get out here now and we won't shoot!" Again, Jones ignored this.

After his second warning, perhaps three seconds, maybe a couple hours, passed before Jones sorely regretted his failure to act. There was a battering of metal on metal as the truck's side was punctured by continuous rounds of bullets. Whatever was packed inside the truck failed to cushion some of the bullets and a few punched through to the other side, narrowly missing Jones as he crouched behind a large tire.

"Get the girl in the car!" one of the men shouted over the noise.

The gunfire subsided. He heard the shuffle of footsteps, indicating that the kidnappers were leaving with the girl. Pistol in his hands, Jones took a deep breath and made a run for it, gun at the ready. He had barely squeezed off two rounds when return fire crippled his ankle and he landed spread eagled on the pavement. As he fell, he lost his grip on the pistol and it slid from his hand out of reach. He waited for the kill shot, feeling more cowardly than a prison snitch.

Instead of a final gunshot wound to the skull, he heard the footsteps of heavy boots on pavement as one of the gunmen approached. He lay still, feeling the excruciating pain his ankle was causing him and trying to ignore the sensation of seeping blood as it soaked his shoe.

With a savage kick to the head, the man who had approached growled, "Get up, you piece of shit."

Jones raised himself up to his elbows, head throbbing from the blow. With no time to catch his breath, Jones was roughly grabbed by the collar of his jacket, hauled to his feet and slammed into the back of white truck. White lights popped before his eyes when his head got a second slamming by the truck.

"Look at me." The cold voice spoke, spraying Jone's face with spit. Something wet trickled down Jones's face. At first he thought it was perspiration but then it tricked down the bridge of his nose. He was bleeding from the head.

Almost nose to nose with his assailant, Jones couldn't really see anything else. He could hear the blaring of the fire struck and hissing of a hose as the burning building was doused with water. But Jones knew that no one was coming. Everyone had been barred from entering the area and these people, whoever they were, were being allowed special privileges which had something to do with the capture of that girl.

He had no time to contemplate this however as a blow to the guts nearly sent him reeling. The man let go of him and Jones keeled over on the ground, not least because his injured ankle was no longer able to support him.

"I'm gonna ask you this once and only once, you sick bastard." Face down, Jones gasped for air. A kick to his side sent him rolling onto his back, up at the man who had finally removed his mask and was now peering down at him with disgust.

Jones didn't recognize him. He was of Asian descent but had the unmistakable signs of a white predecessor somewhere along the family tree. His skin was lighter and his eyes were a shade of merciless blue.

"Who the hell are you? How do you know that girl?" the man shouted, aiming a semi-automatic pistol at Jones's head.

"I don't know." Jones grunted. He received a kick to the abdomen. He grunted in pain and rolled to his side, facing the blue-eyed man's boots.

"Answer me now or you're gonna die the hard way." The man growled menacingly. Jones was hauled to his feet a second time. Holding Jones by his lapels, the man rammed him into the back of the truck, making a dent into the backdoor. Standing close to the backdoor in case Jones needed another bashing, he breathed into Jones face again and asked, "Ready to talk? Or do you wanna have a go with me, shithead?"

Instead of Jones answering, a voice from inside the white truck answered, "Allow me."

Jones fell to the asphalt as the back door opened with such force; it knocked the blue-eyed man, who had been standing right in front of the door, to the ground. Squinting through swollen eyelids, Jones nearly fainted from shock and relief as Yumi Kim jumped out of the back of the truck, looking in far better condition than Jones was.

He couldn't think what was going on. One second he had been driving around in a hijacked car convinced that she had been abducted and the next, he was being saved from a bunch of gunmen by her. He managed to notice even through his puffy eyelids that she had changed clothes. Earlier in the day she had been wearing a brown jacket over a white blouse, black pants and black shoes. Now she was wearing casual jeans, a baggy white hood sweater reading "My Life Rocks" across the back and sneakers without any socks.

The other members of gunmen group raised their weapons but dared not shoot as Yumi held the blue-eyed man at gun point with her own 9-millimeter.

"Drop her weapons," Yumi called out calmly, jamming the gun right into her hostage's neck, "and get on the ground now."

Within a few minutes, Yumi had all 7 members of the armed man disarmed and loaded into the very truck they had opened fire at just moments ago. The truck was padlocked for good measure and the disoriented or just scared for his life, the blue-eyed man made no complaints as he was dragged off to be bound and rolled under another car.

During the whole process, Jones sat on the asphalt, holding one of the machine guns that had belonged to the kidnappers, keeping watch in case something went out of hand. Barely half an hour later, they were off in the kidnapper's black armored minivan, Yumi driving and Jones in the back seat.

After they had left the parking lot without being apprehended and were cruising down the highway, Jones's bruised brain finally managed to bring up a question, just one of the hundreds he was burning to ask.

"Where's that girl?" was his first.

"In the trunk," Yumi said from the front seat without looking back, "She's been tranquilized." She added.

"And, where were you exactly?" Jones asked almost timidly.

"Another time," Yumi answered laconically, still not looking back or even glancing into the rear-view mirror, "right now, our priority is ditching this car."

"Where are we going?" Jones asked, looking out the tinted windows. They were on the highway and all he could see was other cars.

Yumi didn't answer and though he hadn't even skimmed off the more pressing questions such as "Who were those people?" or "Is the government involved in this?" he lay sideways on his seat and drifted off to sleep, exhausted and confused but nevertheless relieved to be alive.

A/N: Katara drugged and tied up in a trunk and Yumi doesn't really seem to care xD Oh well, she's been through a lot. You'll find out soon.