A/N:Remember how I said that I was going to start putting Mist's PoV in, well here ya' go.

Book Two :Earth

Chapter Fourteen: The Drill

Mist leaned against the wall, barely listening to War Master Qin. The hood of her cloak was pulled down as well as the cloth mask that covered her lower face. Every so often the War Master would glance over at her, no doubt intrigued by the white hair like everyone else seemed to be. Some people thought it she was saved by a spirit; others thought she was a spirit. Azula was part of the former. In truth her hair was white because of a rare, relatively harmless disease that came in the form of a high fever that caused hallucinations. Mist didn't tell anyone about the disease and would often try to convince people that she had some relation to the spirits. She was a natural born liar unlike Azula, who had been trained by her father as well as Lo and Li.

"Once it tunnels through the wall, our troops will storm the city. The Earth Kingdom will finally fall, and you can claim Ba Sing Se in the name of your father. Nothing can stop us," War Master Qin said.

"What about those muscle-y guys down there?" Ty Lee asked, looking through the periscope (it's that telescope thing in a submarine).

"Please," Qin hit the side of the periscope. "The drill's metal shell is impervious to any earthbending attack."

"Oh, I'm sure it is, War Master Qin, but just to be on the safe side…" Azula gestured towards the three of them. "Mai, Ty Lee, Mist, take the earthbenders out!"

"Finally," Mai muttered, spinning a knife around her finger. "Something to do."

Ty Lee giggled quietly, while Mist sighed. She pulled her hood and mask up as she followed her two friends.

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Katara was in the lead with Xena behind her. They were escorting the family to the wall while Aang looked for Appa. Or she should say he was supposed to be looking for Appa.

"Aang, What are you doing here? I thought you were looking for Appa," She say as he lands in front of them

"I was," Aang replied as Momo landed on his shoulder. "But something stopped me. Something big."

"What do you mean?"

He doesn't answer her question, but instead takes the lead. He and Toph begin to lift them to the top of the Outer Wall.

"Now what's so big that Appa has to wait?" Sokka asked curiously, crossing his arms.

"That," Aang nodded towards a massive drill.

Xena narrows her eyes, noticing the Fire Nation insignia on it. They reach the top of the wall and hop off the stone slab.

"We made it to Ba Sing Se and we're still not safe," Ying sobbed, holding Hope close to her chest. "No one is!"

"What are you people doing here?" A guard demanded, spotting them. "Civilians aren't allowed on the wall!"

Aang turned towards the guard and he stepped forward. "I'm the Avatar. Take me to whoever is in charge."

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"It is an honor to welcome you to the Outer Wall," The general stated happily. "But your help is not needed."

"Not needed?" Aang asked in surprise.

"Not needed. I have the situation under control," He repeated firmly as he got up from his desk. "I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded."

"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph asked and Xena nodded in agreement. "He got in."

"Well…uh, technically yes, but he was quickly expunged," The general agreed, stumped for a minute. "Nevertheless, that is why the city is named Ba Sing Se. It's the 'impenetrable city.' They don't call it Na Sing Se."

He laughed at his own joke. "That means, 'penetrable city.'"

"I could care less about what it's called," Xena says, crossing her arms

"Yeah, thanks for the tour," Toph drawled sarcastically. "But we still got the drill problem."

"Not for long," General Sung responded arrogantly. "To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earthbenders called the Terra Team."

Sokka cupped his chin thoughtfully. "That's a good group name. Very catchy."

Xena rolled her eyes, sensing where this was going. The General steps close to the wall and looks through a telescope out at the drill.

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Mist was the first out of the drill. She landed in front of an earthbender and punched him in the stomach with the hilt of her swords by unsheathing them slightly. She reseathed her swords and twisted around to face another soldier that earthbent a rock at her. She dodged around it, charging forward. Leaping up she, she flipped over his head, putting one hand on his shoulder and twisting around. Her knee hit his spine with a sickening crack and the earthbender screamed in pain. She pushed off of him as he fell, slamming into another earthbender. Between her, Ty Lee, and Mai the Terra Team were quickly defeated. Mist looked up towards the Outer Wall, to where the general was. She could barely tell but she thought she saw a flash of orange behind the man. Shrugging her shoulders she followed Mai and Ty Lee back onto the drill.

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General Sung blanched and recoiled. "We're doomed!" He cried out in panic.

Sokka slapped the general. "Get a hold of yourself, man!"

"You're right," General Sung said as he rubbed his wounded cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Maybe you'd like the Avatar's help now?" Toph asked sarcastically.

General Sung shuffled forward, his head bowed humbly. "Yes, please."

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"The question is how are we going to stop that thing?" Aang asked aloud as they stood, looking down at the drill.

Aang, Katara, and Toph turned to look at Sokka and Xena.

"Why are you all looking at us?" Sokka demanded in confusion.

"You guys are the ones that always come up with ideas," Aang replied.

"So we're the only one two who can ever come up with a plan?" Sokka complained with a huff. "That's a lot of pressure."

"And you're also the complaining guy," Katara quipped with a small smile.

Sokka shrugged. "That part I don't mind."

"We should talk to the Terra Team," Xena suggested, looking back towards the drill.

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"So Mr. Lee and Mr. umm…Mushy, is it?" The ticket lady asked and she looked at Iroh curiously.

"It's pronounced Mushi," Iroh corrected her with a small smile.

The woman leaned forward slightly in annoyance. "You telling me how to do my job?"

"Uh, no, no," Iroh said hurried and he gave the woman a flirtatious look, "But may I just say you're like a flower in bloom. Your beauty is intoxicating."

"You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself, handsome. Raorr!" The woman replied, giving him a small flirty growl. "Welcome to Ba Sing Se."

She stamped their tickets and Iroh took them. Zuko scowled and shook his head at his uncle.

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Katara kneeled beside the cot, attempting to heal the man lying in it. Xena was a few cots away, healing a man with a broken spine.

"What's wrong with him?" General Sung asked Katara. "He doesn't look injured."

"His chi is blocked," Katara stated. "Who did this to you?"

"Three girls ambushed us," The earthbender answered. "One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn't earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away. It was creepy though, she was smiling the whole time."

Katara frowned. "Ty Lee, she doesn't look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside."

Suddenly Sokka began dancing around. "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh! Ooh!"

His sister looked at him oddly. "Yes?"

"What you just said!" Sokka exclaimed excitedly as he pointed at her. "That's how we're going to take down the drill! The same way Ty Lee took down all those big earthbenders!"

"By hitting its pressure points!" Toph said, hitting the palm of her hand with her fist as a smile appeared on her face.

"We'll take it down from the inside," Aang said in determination.

"Katara, can you help me real fast?" Xena asked, looking over at her.

She nods and sits across from the older girl.

"I don't think Ty Lee did this," She comments, brow furrowed.

The unconscious earthbender groans in pain as they began fixing his spine.

"I think it was Mist," Xena replies, frowning slightly.

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The five teens stood in one of the trenches at the base of the wall, finishing up their last preparations for their plan.

"Once I whip up some cover, you're not going to be able to see," Toph explained carefully. "So, stay close to me or Xena."

The blind earthbender leapt over the trench. She quickly lifted up a cloud of debris in the same way Xena had created the fog in the North Pole.

"Run!" Toph shouted.

Xena used her heat vision to follow after her.

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Ty Lee peered out of the periscope.

"Hey, look at that dust cloud. It's so…poofy," She looked away and wiggled her fingers. "Poof!"

"Don't worry, Princess," War Master Qin stated calmly. "I'm sure it's nothing."

Mist narrowed her eyes and stepped to the glass of the observation deck. She looked out at the dust cloud and then looked at Azula. Azula nodded her head slightly and Mist spun on her heels, leaving the room.

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Toph created a hole in the earth beside the drill. She called out at the others to jump in before doing so herself. She closes the earth over their heads. Sokka somehow manages to dig an elbow into her side while simultaneously stepping on her foot and Xena shoves him away into the cave wall.

"It's so dark in here, I can't see a thing!" Sokka whined, not realizing she was the one that had pushed him.

"Oh no," Toph snapped sarcastically. "What a nightmare."

"Sorry," He apologized sheepishly.

She created another hole under the drill and they stood, looking for an opening.

"There!" Sokka shouted, pointing.

Aang leapt up onto the bar that was hanging from the opening and flipped upside down from it by his legs. He pulled Katara and Sokka up but Xena ignored him and jumped. She pushed off a pipe with her foot and gracefully jumped into the drill. Aang remained hanging upside down waiting for Toph.

"Toph," Sokka called out as he poked his head out of the drill. "Come on!"

"No way am I going into that metal monster," Toph responded. "I can't bend in there. I'll try to slow it down out here."

"Okay, good luck!" Sokka agreed then he leaned back so Aang could jump in.

They followed Sokka through the drill looking around at all the pipes.

"I need a plan of this machine," He said as he stopped beside one of the pipes. "Some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find its weak points."

"Where are we going to get something like that?" Aang asked curiously.

Xena rolled her eyes and cut into a pipe with her sword, causing hot steam to shoot up around the blade. She carefully heat bended the steam away, to avoid getting burned.

"What are you doing?" Aang demanded in shock. "Someone's going to hear us!"

"That's the point," She says. "A machine this big needs engineers to run it. And when something breaks…"

"They come to fix it!" Sokka says, catching on.

"Exactly."

She releases the hilt of her sword and they back up behind another set of pipes. An engineer comes a few minutes later. He froze and stared at her sword stuck in the pipe for a moment. Moving quickly, Xena ran forward, tapping his pressure points to knock him unconscious.

"This'll work." Sokka said taking the schematics. "Thanks, Xena!"

"No problem," Xena says, pulling her sword free.

The hilt is hot in her hand and she can't help but smile. If they end up needing cover again, they'll have it as the water trapped in her blade had turned to highly condensed steam. They walk into another hall away from the engineer and Sokka unrolls the schematics.

"It looks like the drill is made up of two main structures. There's the inner mechanism where we are now and the outer shell. The inner part and the outer part are connected by these braces. If we cut through them, the entire thing will collapse."

They nod in agreement of his plan.

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"So, you guys got plans once you're inside the city?" Jet asked casually, walking over to Zuko and Iroh.

"Get your hot tea here!" A man yelled out, pushing a cart past them. "Finest tea in Ba Sing Se."

"Ooh!" Iroh gasped excitedly and he waved his hand to get the tea-seller's attention. "Jasmine please."

The tea-seller walked over to Iroh and handed him a cup. Iroh took a sip of the tea then grimaced in distaste.

"Blaugh! Ugh, coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it." He spat and he shook his head in disappointment. "What a disgrace."

"Hey," Jet said, pulling Zuko's attention away from his Uncle. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Zuko followed Jet a few feet away curiously.

"You and I have a much better chance of making it in the city if we stick together," Jet stated bluntly. "You wanna join the Freedom Fighters?"

"Thanks, but I don't think you want me in your gang," Zuko replied vaguely.

"C'mon, we made a great team looting that captain's food," Jet tried to persuade him. "Think of all the good we could do for these refugees."

Zuko started walking back to his uncle and called over his shoulder, "I said no."

Zuko froze, noticing Iroh's cup of tea was steaming. Furiously, he stomped over and slapped it from his hands.

"What are you doing firebending your tea?" He hissed. "For a wise, old man that was a pretty stupid move."

"I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled tea, but…" Iroh sniffed slightly. "It's just so sad!"

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Sokka led them onto a massive steel beam in the interior of the drill. He looked at the opened schematics in his hand then up at the thick steel pillar.

"Wow, it looks a lot thicker in person than it does in the plan," He commented in surprise. "We're going to have work pretty hard to cut through that."

"What's this 'we' stuff?" Katara demanded, putting her hands on her hips, "Xena, Aang, and I are going to have to do all the work."

"Look, I'm the plan guy. You three are the cut stuff up with waterbending guys," Sokka stated matter-of-factly then did a ridiculous pose. "Together, we're Team Avatar!"

"I think you're forgetting, Toph," Xena said with a small shake of her head as she heads to the side of one of the braces.

Katara and Aang go to the other sides of the braces. Katara opens her water pouch and pulls out half of the water inside. She sends it to Aang, who sends it to Xena. Katara sends the other half to Aang again before turning to catch the water that Xena sent back at her. It takes a while but they get into the hang of it and slowly begin cutting through the brace.

Several minutes later, they've only gotten through half of the brace and are in serious need of a break. Katara puts her glob of water back on her pouch while Xena freezes the other globe around her arms.

"C'mon team! Don't quit now," Sokka said encouragingly from behind his sister. "We're-"

"Grr!" Katara spun around.

Sokka stepped back and held his hands up defensively. "I mean…you're almost there."

Katara gave him another hard look before they go back to cutting the brace. Finally they cut clean through the brace, but it only slides forward a few inches before stopping.

"At this rate," Katara panted tiredly. "We won't do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall."

Aang groaned and sat down on the beam with a thump. "I don't know how many more of those I have in me," He said tiredly then he perked up when the drill suddenly creaked ominously.

"Do you hear that?" Sokka asked then his tone became excited, "We took it down! We better get out of here fast!"

They run for the door, but stop when a loud voice echoes through the drill.

"Congratulations, crew. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se."

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"Start the countdown to victory!"

Mist smiles and continues down the halls. Suddenly she freezes when she notices one of the engineers lying unconscious on the ground next to a busted pipe. She crouches down next to the engineer with a small frown. Her pale blue eyes narrow in suspicion when she looks up at the broken pipe. Sabotage.

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They exchange looks of dismay and shock. Sokka spins around and runs back towards the brace, pushing at it desperately.

"C'mon brace…budge!"

"This is bad, really bad," Katara said worriedly.

"We're putting everything we've got into busting these braces, but it's taking too long!" Sokka remarked in a panic.

"Maybe we don't need to cut all the way through. Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't give one hundred percent of your energy into any one strike," Aang stated. "Sokka, take a fighting stance."

Sokka did as Aang said.

"You've got to be quick and accurate. Hit a series of points and break your opponent's stance," Aang explained then he struck Sokka several time. "And when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow."

Aang hit Sokka lightly on the head with a grin. "His own weight becomes his downfall, literally." Sokka kneeled beside him with a glazed look on his face.

"So we just need to weaken the braces, instead of cutting all the way through," Katara clarified and Aang nodded.

"Then I'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow."

Sokka jumped to his feet. "And boom! It all comes crashing down!"

"Everyone inside that wall," Aang said quietly. "The whole world is counting on us."

"The whole world minus the Fire Nation that is," Sokka quipped with a grin.

Katara and Aang rush over to the next brace and instead of doing it like they had been doing they focus on only one side of it. Xena heads over to the next brace over and slides into a firebending a concentrated blast of fire, she fires it at the brace. Her fire slowly becomes more white than blue as it builds up heat and melts the metal.

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Mist speaks quickly into the speaking tube that will carry her voice to War Master Qin and more importantly Azula.

"Princess, an engineer was ambushed! His schematics were stolen!"

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They finish cutting through the last brace.

"Good work, Team Avatar! Now Aang just need to…" Sokka cheered.

"Duck!" Xena interrupts, pulling him down as a blue flame flies over their heads.

"Whoa!" Aang gasped as he barely dodged another fire blast.

"Wow, Azula, you were right! It is the Avatar!" Ty Lee exclaimed and then looked at Sokka flirtatiously. "And friends."

Sokka smiled sheepishly and waved. "Hey."

Xena shakes her head and pulls him after her as they run Ty Lee jumps towards Aang but he hits her with an air blast. They race through the halls trying to stay ahead of Azula and her three friends.

"Guys, get out of here," Aang ordered. "I know what I need to do."

"Wait," Katara called out, causing Aang to pause and she tossed her water skin to him. "You need this water more than I do."

Xena snaps the butt of her swords open, water and heatbending the steam out of the blades to create a cover as they split up into different halls.

"Mist with me. Mai, Ty Lee follow them!" Azula barked behind them. "The Avatar's mine!"

They ran past several startled engineers before finally making our way on top of the drill.

"This looks like a good spot," He comments stopping.

Suddenly they both have to jump out of the way as rocks start falling

"General Sung," Aang yelled as loudly as he could. "Tell your soldiers to stop shooting rocks down here!"

The rocks don't stop falling and they both have to dodge around them as they begin slicing an 'X' into the drill with the water from Katara's pouch.

"What I'd give to be a metalbender," Aang commented in exhaustion.

Momo suddenly pops out of Aang's shirt screeching a warning. Aang quickly turns to deflect blue fire.

"Momo, get out of here!" He snaps.

Azula is standing several feet away in her own stance, Mist behind her. Xena locks eyes with her and growls lowly. Azula and Aang start fighting and she charges at Mist, pulling her swords from her back.

Mist quickly pulls her swords free, pulling them apart. The Avatar's friend locks swords with her and they both move together, blocking and countering each other's strikes. Mist wonders briefly over the silver color of the other girl's eyes, but doesn't get the chance to dwell on it much as the girl's left sword cuts across her cheek. Mist drops down quickly, swinging her leg out. The girl jumps over it and lands on her feet lithely. The girl looks over Mist's shoulder, seeing Azula send the Avatar flying. The girl scowls and suddenly flips over Mist's head. Mist spins to follow her but has to jump back to avoid being hit by a falling rock. The four of them have to jump and dodge the still falling rocks; the only one making ground is the silver-eyed girl. Aang suddenly launched one of the falling rocks at Azula. The princess gasped quietly and dropped into a split, the boulder passing harmlessly over her head. Azula jumped back to her feet and launched a powerful fireball at him. Her flames are stopped by a shield of silver and blue flames. Azula snarled at the girl.

"Out of your entire group, you're the most annoying one," She growls, remembering the burn that she had received in that abandoned village.

"It's part of my job as the Avatar's Guardian," She shouts back and both Mist and Azula blink in surprise.

That would make this girl 115 years old. Azula snarled and punched a fireball at the girl. She ducks as the fireball flies over her head only to come back up, punching her own fireball. Azula side steps it effortlessly, but is not prepared for the large pillar of slurry that erupts between the three girls. Azula skids into Mist and they slide over the side of the drill. Mist twists and slams her swords into the side of the drill as Azula grabs her ankle.

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Xena yelp as she skids through the muddy water and only saves herself from falling off the drill by freezing it solid. Aang slides past her with a yell and Xena catches his wrist before he can fall. She pulls him up and he lands on the drill careful of the now slick surface.

"Thanks, Xena. I owe you one," Aang said gratefully before heading over to the cuts they had made. "Now all I need…"

He jumped back as a boulder fell in front of him. "Actually, that is what I need for once."

Aang quickly used airbending to position it over the 'X' and used earthbending to cut the rock several times until he had created a wedge that fit inside the middle of the hole. He glances at her before running up the wall. Realizing what he's about to do, Xena crouchs down and freeze more slurry around herself. She sheaths her swords as well and watch as Aang sprints towards the wall, creating an air scooter.

The air scooter dissolves and he runs up the wall several more steps before turning and running down the wall at top speed with the help of airbending. Aang jumped off the wall and curled his legs up in preparation to land on the wedge of earth. Xena braces herself for the impact. The effect of him, hitting the wedge is amazing. A shock wave ripples through the first half of the machine and Xena would have been knocked off if it weren't for the ice She had put around herself. Slurry explodes out of the top and sides of the drill coating both her and Aang. She smiles at Aang and wipes the slurry from her face.

"We won," She says cheerfully.

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"We lost," Mai stated, sticking her head out of the drill. Azula and Mist both scowled at her. Ty Lee was pouting as she tried to wipe slurry out of her clothes.

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Zuko and Iroh sat down next to a small family on the train. Iroh leaned over to look at the baby in the woman's arms.

"What a handsome baby," He complimented as he gently stroked the baby's cheek.

"Thank you," The woman said smiling at him before looking back down at the baby adoringly.

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"I just want to say, good effort out there today, Team Avatar!" Sokka praised as they stood on the wall, looking down at the destroyed drill.

All of their clothes were matted with slurry but Aang and Xena were coated in the most, resembling mud people as Sokka had said.

"Enough with the Team Avatar stuff," Katara groaned. "No matter how many times you say it's not going to catch on."

"How about…" Sokka started then he whipped out his boomerang. "The Boomeraang Squad! See, it's good because it's got 'Aang' in it. Boomeraang."

Aang grinned. "I kind of like that one."

Katara sighed. "Let's talk about this on our way into the city."

"The Aang Gang?" Sokka suggested with a grin.

"Sokka…"

"The Fearsome Fivesome?"

"That one just sounds stupid," Toph comments, walking away

"We're fearsome!" He says again.

Xena rolls her eyes before smiling.

"How about the GAang?" She suggests and they turn to look at her in surprise.

"I actually kind of like that one," Katara says. "Its simple and it has 'Aang' in it."

"Way to go Sky Dragon," Toph says, punching her arm.

She doesn't flinch and rub the spot like the others tend to do.