Disclaimer: This story contains characters and a world not of my own creation. They do my bidding regardless. It's fun being in charge.

Rated M for blatantly obvious reasons in past chapters. In other words, if you made it this far, you shouldn't need to ask.

Aang: So he finally updated again. I was beginning to wonder...
Katara: If he would update at all? Yeah, so was I.
Sokka: Shh. Don't anger the powers that be. He might not finish the story!
Toph: He better finish the story. I want some good screen time.
Author: Very funny guys. Life has been kicking my arse. I just had an emergency eye surgery reminiscent of Sokka's in a past chapter.
Toph: Oh no! You went blind! How terrible!
Author: No, but I came close in one eye. It's healing now, smart ass.
Toph: Smart ass? Me? I have no idea what your talking about.
Sokka: One for her side.
Toph: Yay! I am totally going to beat all of you!
Author: Not cool Sokka. Letting the blind runt get one over on me like that...
Sokka: Hey, your the one that let her score. I just call em like I see em.
Toph: It was the right call. Besides, this blind runt can stick you in a hole somewhere and forget about you.
Author: So; I can forget to write you into the rest of the story.
Toph: You wouldn't dare!
Author: I could also go back and edit the past and make it so you fade from the story entirely.
Toph: Okay; okay I know when I am beat.
Sokka: One for his side.
Author: Yeah, that's what I thought. On with the story!

Chapter 34: Landslide

When Toph and Jet arrived in Ba Sing Se, they were amazed to find the city in such good condition. It seemed that the firebenders and earthbenders had been working with all the craftsmen within the city. The wall had been reforged and was back to its former glory. Toph led Jet through the main entry point and they took a bender-powered train into Ba Sing Se.

"I really hate this place." Jet said with a shudder.

"Well, you did sort of die here as I recall. Don't worry. We will stay away from Lake Laogai. You won' have to go back there ever again." Toph replied.
"It isn't just the lake." Jet explained. "I was captured in the city after trying to stop Iroh and Zuko. At the time, I thought they were the enemy. I have a lot of bad memories of this place. Smellerbee and Longshot..."

Toph recalled the two friends of Jet's that they had seen with Jet during his brainwashing. She wondered if they had managed to escape the lake. Perhaps she should take a small side trip there by herself and look. The train entered Ba Sing Se proper and Toph led Jet through the crowded and busy streets. The people seemed to be in high spirits and the stands and shops were bustling with business.
"So where to?" Jet asked Toph as they wound their way through the crowd. "Ba Sing Se is a huge place. Where do we start looking?"

"I think the best place to start would be the palace. Zuko told us during the peace talks that the Earth King had returned to the throne and that his generals were running the restoration effort. If anyone would have an object like these medallions, it would be him." Toph explained.

"Right. So, how are we going to get in to see him?" Jet asked curiously.
Toph laughed. "We are old friends."

The palace gates were guarded almost as heavily as it was the last time Toph had broke in with her friends. Back then, the Dai Li had been in control with Long Feng and the palace guard were stopping them from seeing the Earth King. This time, as soon as one of the guards saw her, he saluted. Soon all the palace guard was saluting them as they walked up to the stairs leading to the palace proper.

"Why are they saluting you?" Jet asked in astonishment.

"Oh that? They just recognize talent when they see it." Toph told him casually.

They ascended the long staircase and were met by two of the Earth King's generals. "Toph, how good to see you again." General Sung greeted her.

"Good to see you too General. How are things going in Ba Sing Se?" she asked him.

"Very well actually. Now that the war is over, the military is mainly being used as additional hands in the rebuilding effort. Many of the refugees are being escorted back to their homes. Things are returning to normal here." he replied.

"What about the Dai Li?" Toph asked him.

General Sung frowned. "The Dai Li in its entirety have disappeared from public view. There is a price on their heads. They are the reason we have the palace guard at full strength and patrols throughout the city. Rumor has it that they are planning something to try and re-establish themselves in a position of power. That would mean they would need access to the palace and the Earth King as before. We are on full alert."

"I see. Good luck with that. May I speak to his majesty?" Toph asked.

"His majesty is in a meeting but it should be over shortly. I can seat you in a waiting room until he is free if you like." General Sung offered.

"That will be great, thank you." she said. General Sung provided a chamberlain to escort them to a place to wait for the Earth King. It was a decent sized room with a table and chairs. Fruits and sliced bread and cheese was set oput on the table for their enjoyment.

"A guy could get used to this." Jet said between large bites of food.

"Don't get too used to it. We won't be here long. Besides, there are much more important things than being pampered, like freedom."

Jet shrugged. "I have had all the freedom I need. A good meal when I want it and nice furnishings are something I never had."

Before Toph could answer, she felt something... strange. There were vibrations coming from deep within the ground below her. It took a moment to be sure, but she was positive; someone was down there, and approaching.

Toph quickly jumped to her feet. "Jet, we need to get to the Earth King; now!" She charged through the door with Jet hot on her heels, a mutton chop in one hand.

"What's going on?" Jet demanded as he chased after her.

"An attack. Warn the General!" she called over her shoulder as she charged the guards at the heavy metal doors that led to the throne room. Jet broke off and headed back to the entrance to get the General.

"Halt!" one of the guards called, hefting his spear and pointing it at her. The other guard did the same.

"The Earth King's in danger!" Toph cried and with two short gestures brought up earth on the inside of each guards and used it to push them aside. Toph his the door running and tore through it as if it were spider silk. A small gaping hole curved into the room where she had passed. Toph felt the Earth King on his throne and a good dozen people sitting at a long table at the foot of his dias. The reverberations were getting much stronger and much closer. The attack would happen any minute.

"Toph? So good to see you." the Earth King greeted her, interrupting the man who was speaking.

"Your Majesty, your in danger. All of you need to get out of here immediately!" Toph cried out.

"What is the meaning of this!" the man who had been interrupted demanded. "How dare you..."

"Are you sure?" the Earth King asked her, suddenly all business.

Toph nodded. "In about a minute, your going to have more than a dozen earthbenders in your throne room."

The Earth King stood and quickly walked down the dias. "Bosco!" he called, and his furry companion was at his side. The Earth King mounted Bosco and they headed towards Toph and the door. The dozen or so functionaries stared at this strange sight; the Earth King riding his brown bear as if it were a pony. "What are you all waiting for! Move your behinds!" the King called as he reached the doors. The guards had opened the doors and let the people out. "Toph?" the Earth King asked her inquisitively.

"I will try and hold them off. Get to your guards and stay there!" Toph called. He nodded and the door guards swung the massive doors closed. Jet slipped in just before they banged shut. "You should have stayed where it was safe." Toph chided him.

Jet grinned. "What fun would that be? Besides, I want to see just how good training with the greatest earthbender in the world has affected me."

Toph quickly sealed the hole she had made in the metal door and turned to face the rest of the room. "Your about to get your wish."

Zuko and Mai remained in hiding as the days passed. They needed their friends help to do anything that would be effective. There was already a manhunt on for them. The city was being torn apart in the hunt for them. Luckily, the bakery had a secret sub-basement under its cellar to store some excess goods. Zuko and Mai remained there, plotting and planning whenever able. They had not been able to meet up with Lu-Ten since their last visit due to the increased patrols in the streets. The whole city was on the lookout for them.

A knock on the trap door brought Zuko and Mai to a standstill. "It's just me." the baker's voice came. The trap door opened and the little woman came down the small her shoulder was a fiery red bird; a messenger hawk. "You have a message from that boy, Sokka." she told him and held her arm out. The bird flew the short disatance to Zuko's shoulder and he quickly took the note from Sokka. He unfurled it and quickly read it over twice just to make sure he understood it.

"They got our message. They will be picking up Toph and Jet in the serpent's pass and heading straight here. They will dock on the southern side of the island and come ashore. We need to meet them." he read aloud.

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Mai asked rhetorically.

Zuko thought about it; if the two of them were going to get out of the city, it was going to take a miracle. The city walls were always manned and armed with standard troops and firebenders. There would be absolutely no way out that way. They could not tunnel under the wall either. If only he still had his princely connections, he could arrange a dozen ways to get through. But poerhaps he was thinking about this the wrong way. Perhaps it wasn't princely connections he needed, but seedier ones.

"I have a plan."

The floor by the dias broke through as Toph had expected and a good thirty Dai Li agents came up through the floor, led by none other than Long Feng himself. As they took notice of their surroundings, an agent spotted Toph standing idly by the large main doors. She had Jet hide off behind the throne prior to their arrival. The ai Li agent pointed her out to Long Feng.

"You! What is the meaning of this! Where is the Earth King?" Long Feng demanded of her.

Toph shrugged. "I figured you'd be dropping by and sent him on a tour of the city. He should be back in a few days or so." she said sarcastically.

Long Feng appeared to be furious, but quickly regained his composure. "I see. You must have felt us coming with your blind earthbending and warned him. He is with his armies. An inconvenience to be sure, but nothing I can't handle. We will just have to settle for you."

"Me? What would you want little young me for? I didn't know you were into little girls, Long Wind." Toph mocked him.

"I will use you as a bargaining chip. It is an extra step in my plan, but easy enough to manage. Dai Li! Arrest her!" Long Feng demanded.

Toph was ready of course. As the first two Dai Li agents approached her, she twisted her right foot, stepped with her left, and gestured. The floor opened up underneath those two as well ass the remaining front row of agents, swallowing them. A quick movement and the hole was sealed. Six more agents stepped forward and began launching their earthen projectiles from their hands; their trademark maneuver. Toph did not attempt to block or dodge the bullets, instead letting them come. As they got within a few feet of her, however, she brought up her hands and flicked the hands outword, fingers spread. All of the projectiles stopped in mid air, the closest only a few inches from her body.

"I think you lost these!" Toph cried gleefully as she sent all the projectiles back at the Dai Li. A couple of them had the sense to defend themselves with rock, but the others took the bullets full in the chest and flew backwards into their companions. A couple of Dai Li had reopened the ground to rescue the men that Toph had trapped their. That was their first mistake. Suddenly a landslide came from the dias, hitting the Dai Li from beh9ind and forcing them into the now open pit. Toph took advantage of this and quickly had a majority of the Dai Li trapped beneath the earth with absolutely no room to move their limbs and bend themselves free. Jet, who had created the landslide, remained hidden and no quickly and quietly worked his way up into the rafters of the room. There were now only ten or so Dai Li remaining, as well as Long Feng who had the presence of mind to evade the landslide.

"Spread out, all of you!" Long Feng commanded and he approached Toph alone. "You say your the greatest earthbender ever, and yet you are just some little girl who ran away from home to cause trouble. I admit your quite skilled but you are not up to my level, runt."

"Really? Care to test that theory?" Toph asked flippantly. She was enjoying this.

"Indeed." Long Feng said, taking his stance.

Zuko and Mai found themselves streaking through the dark night sky dressed all in black once more. They were meeting with some old acquaintances of Zuko's. Avoiding the town patrols, they traversed the rooftops until they reached their destination, a small pub near the southern wall of the city. Zuko waved for Mai to remain on the roof hidden and he swung down to ground level when the coast was clear. He knocked on the door in a pattern of two knocks, four taps and a knock. The visor slid aside and a pair of large, deep-set eyes glared out at him.

"What's your business?" a gruff voice asked from behind the door.

"I have a business proposal for the league of assassins." Zuko replied. "A deal only the leader can know of."

The eyes continued to glare at him through the visor for another second then closed. Zuko waited a few moments by the door, hiding behind a nearby barrel as a patrol passed. Finally, the visor slid open again.

"Talk to no one. Touch nothing. Follow me. Do anything else, and your life is forfeit." the gruff voice came. Zuko nodded. The visor slid closed once more and the sound of multiple heavy locks began clicking open. The man was tall, burly and appeared to have a broken nose. He stepped aside for Zuko to enter and quickly closed the door behind him, locking it. Zuko looked around and noticed a large amount of men and a few women sitting about tables or at the bar drinking. To the casual eye, it appeared to be a bar like any other. Zuko knew better of course. Each and every one of these people were trained killers.

"Come" the gruff man said and led Zuko through the pub and up a flight of stairs, into a hall and down to the last door on the left. He knocked with three taps, two knocks and a tap. A voice from behind the door said, "Come." The burly man opened the door and motioned Zuko to enter. He closed the door behind him and stood guard on the inside of it.

"Greetings friend. I hear you have a proposal for my ears only?" a man asked from beneath the covers of a bed. He was sitting up, a young woman in bed on either side of him. They were both stroking him in various places and did not seem to notice Zuko at all. The man had long dark hair tied in a ponytail and an earring in his right ear. There was a scar going down the right side of his face, giving him a very weathered and beaten look.

"Yes. Thaank you for hearing me out." Zuko told him.

"Do not worry about it. You were not interrupting anything that could not wait for business." he replied and gently touched one of the girl's on the chest. "Besides, some things can be conducted during business." he added, squeezing the girl's right breast appreciatively and recieving a giggle.

Zuko nodded. "I have to have the utmost secrecy." he said, motioning at the girls and nodding his head to the side, indicating the man at the door.

"Do not worry; Bazon will not speak a word without my express permission. As for these little snippets, they are currently so drugged that they do not remember their own names." the leader said.

Zuko wasn't sure what to make of this man, but he definitely didn't like him. He was treating these girls as playthings. Still, he needed help. "I am Prince Zuko."

Suddenly the man's eyes widened and he sat up more, pushing the girls aside. "I have seen the prince before. Prove you are he." the leader demanded. Zuko revealed his face from behind the hood and scarf he wore. The man's eyes narrowed. "I acknowledge you as Prince Zuko." the man agreed. "You are a wanted man."

"I am. I have come to seek your help in restoring my throne to me. Success will put me in a position to reward you well for your efforts." Zuko said.

The man seemed to be mulling something over. Finally he said, "And what is to stop me from turning you in to your father and collecting that handsome reward? It would be a great sum for a minimal effort."

Zuko had expected this. "I would be far harder to take than you seem to believe, and I can double the reward for my father. It is quite generous, all things considered.

The man laughed. "You wound me Prince Zuko. I am far more patriotic than you seem to credit me. I will make you a deal. Mine and I will assist you in returning to your throne on the condition that we all receive full pardons for all past crimes."

Zuko was surprised by this. "Full pardons? What for?" he asked.

The man sighed. "Sometimes we just want to get out of crime and become normal citizens. We can't, because we are wanted criminals. A pardon will allow any of us that wish freedom to live in peace to have it. Are we agreed?"

"Agreed." Zuko replied, surprised at his luck. If things worked out, there would be less crime in the city and more happy citizens.

They shook on it, and Zuko laid his plans in motion.

Long Feng began with a boulder barrage, hurling large rocks at Toph. She did not move an inch, simply deflecting the boulders as if they were flies to be swapped because they were annoying her. The Dai Li remained spread out about the room, two moving into position to free their counterparts. Toph noticed them but could not focus on them at the moment. She hoped her plan would work. Long Feng started a small wave of rock her way, and Toph easily sidestepped it and returned one of her own.

"Is that the best you got old man?" Toph called mockingly. She needed him angry.

"Not hardly you brat!" Long Feng cried and brought a disc of earth forth. He spun it around him twice and launched it at Toph. She jumped aside and it slammed into the steel doors. The impact caused a loud gong-like sound and the doors pulled free of their hinges, falling forward into the room. Toph lurched out of the way as they landed on the ground with a resounding crash. She had an idea.

Jet held himself up in the rafters, watching as Toph single-handedly buried multiple Dai Li agents alive. His landslide had done its job and there were only a few agents left. Now, she was facing Long Feng in one on one combat. Jet almost lst himself in the anger that flooded through him at Long Feng's presence. It was he that had ended Jet's life and that of his friends. Gathering his thoughts and reigning in his emotions, he bide his time, hanging above the battle as Toph defended herself. When the giant doors clanged on the floor, the room shook and he nearly lost his balance.

Jet had his eyes on the two agents closest to the pit. If they tried to free all the rest, he would be ready. Toph launched a boulder at Long Feng that he quickly sidestepped. Another came his way and he moved again out of its way. Toph wasn't trying very seriously. He spared a glance at her and saw her looking in his direction, then to the doors. He understood!

The Dai Li agents as expected once more opened the rift in the floor to free their comrades. Jet brought forth an avalanche from the ceiling that the Dai li had to avoid by diving into the pit. Jet landed on the edge and quickly sealed the rift. Only two agents had jumped clear of the pit. Long Feng had avoided the crushing rocks by rolling onto the steel doors. Toph made her move. She dashed to the steel doors and began bending them, ripping a huge chunk free and wrapping it around Long Feng. She then bent open the hole she had created on entry earlier and tossed him into it with a hard stomp. Melding the steel around Long Feng to the door, she encased him in a trap he could not break. Jet moved quickly and launched a boulder at the Dai Li agent on his left. The man easily avoided the blow, but Jet hadn't meant to strike. He had out his hooked swords now and was fighting his way through the agent's guard. Toph was dispatching the other one, and he would get this one. The agent launched some sort of metal hook-grab at him, but he let it hit the hook of his left sword as he threw his right at the agent. The agent quickly brought up stone to block it, but now Jet was upon him with his left, now free, pinned the man to the wall with the end of his plade and quickly punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.

The attack was over.

Toph and Jet were waiting in the serpents pass when Hakoda's ship arrived. They had found the medallion they were looking for around Long Feng's neck and the Earth King had granted it to them without a second thought. The defeated Dai Li were now imprisoned within steal cages Toph had shaped for them before freeing them. Once they realized they were surrounded by an army, the Dai Li had finally surrendered. Long Feng had gone out swearing.

As the ship approached the pass, Jet told Toph that Appa was coming over to get them. Aang was on board and greeted them warmly.

"So how did you do, Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked him.

"We managed to find a few. Yourself?: he asked her before saying, "Yip yip."

"We found two. One with my parents and one with the Earth King. Long Feng had stolen it." Toph replied.

"Great job. That gives us five to work with. Hopefully that's enough."

"So what I miss?" Toph asked him, trying to ignore the lack of earth around her while on Appa's back.

Aang filled them in on the bulk of their adventures. He ended as they landed by telling her about the note. "So now we need to go back to the fire nation and help Zuko."

"Great. If it isn't one thing it's another." Toph sighed. It was going to be a long trip.

Katara: Together again!
Sokka: Yeah! Now we get to go roast our butt's off in the Fire Nation again.
Toph: Who cares? At least there will be earth under my feet. The North Pole was no picnic.
Sokka: You complain too much. So it was cold. It was still a good place with good people.
Toph: And you could see what you were doing and know who you were talking to.
Sokka: That does help I admit.
Aang: So where are we meeting Zuko?
Sokka: On the southern side of the main island, here. We will arrive there in a few days.
Mai: Rose is going to be a problem, not to mention Ozai and Azula. I hope your ready.
Sokka: Of course we are ready. Who can stand up to the Avatar and his group?
Zuko: Don't underestimate my family Sokka. They definitely gave us trouble this past year.
Ty-Lee: Rose is worse, believe me. She will be a nightmare to take on. Will be fun though.
Zuko: Isn't she your sister?
Ty-Lee: Yeah.
Katara: Don't you care that we will have to fight her?
Ty-Lee: Not really. In fact, I am rather looking forward to it. Someone needs to knock her down a peg.
-
Author's Corner:

Hey folks! Yeah, he's back again! Sorry for the delay, but I apologize enough I think. I am going to try and get this wrapped up. We are coming closer to the end.

I recently had emergency eye surgery. My retina tore largely in four places and required multiple shots in around the eye, drops, and invasive laser surgery. I am okay, I think... Make's writing sort of hard though.

Thanks for your continued interest. I am working to get this done. I see we have a few more favorite story readers out there. I hope your enjoying this.

Reviews as always are appreciated.