Higher ground. Si had been groomed from his late teens for a command post. A fact which had literally been imprinted on his subconscious was that higher ground equalled victory. Now, he wasn't so sure. And his ground was half a kilometer up. The Industrious Snake-class cargo airship Long Haul was tethered firmly to the roof of the Imperial Palace, its cargo winches converted to carry simple elevator platforms. It was a precarious ride up, but the observation post was worth it. Most of the airship's cavernous twin hulls were packed with communications equipment: at this altitude, optigraph signals could go very, very far in clear weather. Higher ground. And yet he still cursed himself for his stupidity.
It wasn't that the Ember Group was losing. Anything but. The Lotus had used their usual predictable, brute-force tactics. Tulpa of all shapes and sizes circled beyond the reach of their most powerful projectors, occasionally dipping closer to let loose with blasts of heat, cold, or air. There hadn't been any real damage to the Group's front lines since the single Water unit had exploded. In the massed barrage that followed it, the engineers had been able to move up and re-consolidate the defensive line around the gaping hole, although cleanup operations were going poorly. Losses had been heavy, but not cripplingly so. The deaths of large numbers of AP-equipped infantry wasn't a problem- they were only at their most useful if the enemy broke the line. And he wasn't worried about that. The new light-gas projectors on the Emperor and Spined Dragons were working frighteningly well, they still hadn't had to deploy the Screaming Dragons (although a little morale-boosting music might be nice), and he'd just received word from Stargazer that they'd launched their first set of taikonauts up to Skyhook One. In about a day or two they would have the platform, and more importantly HARmONy, back at full operating capacity. Hells, the navy had even supplied a 'spare' wolfbatpack of BOOM Serpents, as if he needed more long-range firepower. If anything, the Ember Group had an excess of weapons.
No, the problem was with strategy. The Ember Group had mobilized, expecting to deal with a single Hub. Now there were reports of Tulpa at both Poles, Tulpa in the Si Wong, Tulpa over Omashu and Ba Sing Se... Tulpa, Tulpa everywhere. And he'd gone and put his main mobile strike force into a siege situation from the get-go.
"Zhujue, everything is in readiness."
"Operation Thunderclap will now begin. Crush them utterly."
Mai's ears popped at the very moment the knife left her hand. The guard dropped quietly, but she didn't even watch him fall.
"Do you two feel that?"
Spinning gracefully, Ty Lee slammed her prey's face into a beam in the trench wall, letting him fall as she somersaulted to a standing finish. She hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Feel what? All I'm feeling is fun! It's great to be in a team again! I've been thinking about what to call us! I always thought of us as Ozai's Angels because it sounds so poetic and flowing but now that Ozai's in prison and Azula's- Nevermind, we need a new name! But that can wait!"
Suki sheathed her sword, leaving three armour-clad warriors in various states of bruised unconsciousness.
"I don't know what you're talking about, milady."
Thunder rumbled. She blinked.
"Oh. Oh that. When did it get so dark?"
Mai skywards as heavy rain began to fall. It hadn't been rainy when they got here. The darkness was partially the setting sun, but the clouds were too heavy to be natural.
"The weather never changes this quickly over the Capital. It has to be Waterbending."
Suki had borrowed a compact telescope from one of the soldiers and was using it to scan the hillside.
"Last I heard, Waterbenders couldn't fly, milady. You should know."
Mai rolled her eyes. Suki was cooperating more than she'd anticipated, but she seemed to make go out of her way to be facetious and stubborn whenever possible. It was like she was sticking to her grudges just to prove a point.
"They have zeppelins, Suki. Although if they're holding the city, why would they bother to make it stormy? It's not like it would help them in any way-"
"-unless they're looking to turn your precious capital into one giant rice paddy."
From a standing start, Ty Lee scaled one of the strange signalling towers that littered the mountainside. At the moment, most of the invading army's attention seemed to be turned landwards- there was a constant distant rumble, like faraway thunder, coming from the western side of the crater.
"Those birds aren't zeppelins. And they aren't birds, either. But their auras have such a nice blue colour!"
She dropped lightly down from the mast, dusting herself off in calm defiance of the rain.
"Birds, Ty Lee?"
"Yeah! I can only see their auras. They're strong. I mean really, really strong. But they're carrying... um. Have you ever seen, like, a squid? Like a live one? Swimming and being all squiddy and happy?"
Suki shrugged over Ty Lee's shoulders. Mai sighed.
"You're saying that giant invisible squid birds are causing the storm."
Suki seemed to be on the verge of saying something. Then she stopped. And blinked. Mai had never seen someone look so monumentally dumbfounded before.
"Mai... Mai, Ty Lee's mostly right. Giant birds. Holding giant squids."
"What?"
She pointed. Hurtling towards them was a vaguely birdlike figure, its wingtips trailing clouds of faintly glowing blue mist. Perched upon its back was a squamous, lumpy shape, vaguely resembling a massive octopus. Its tentacles, roiling like geysers, directed violent sprays of water towards the defenses on the hill, which responded by launching clouds of explosive... pellets? Mai had never seen their like before. Then again, she'd never seen a gigantic humanoid bird-thing that looked to be made out of lacquered balsam. With a thunderclap of collapsing air, it roared out to sea over the Great Gates, easily dodging the weapons of the few submarines moored there.
Suki shook her shoulder.
"We need to get to that hidden entrance now. If they were trying to destroy that thing, it means their attention is now focused on this side of the hill."
"No one's attacking them."
She pointed at the boxy, tube-tipped bunker further down the trench. Mai knew what those were called. That tit Si had named them. Throwers. Launchers. Damn. Something like that.
"They were using those against the... the things in the air. If one of them isn't working, they'll know something's wrong.
Mai nodded.
"Let's go."
They rounded a corner, moving swiftly and quietly. The rain was pouring now, masking their footsteps. Thankfully, the Ember Group, whoever they were, didn't seem to mount patrols between individual trench segments, otherwise they'd have been found out long ago. She could only hope they hadn't found the escape tunnel, one of dozens which led through the magma chambers to the deep command centers, in the bowels of the semi-dormant volcano. From there, they'd have rapid access to anywhere in the city; a completely undetectable network of tunnels set in place in the (increasingly less unlikely) event of an anti-occupation campaign within the Capital. They were moving upwards, zig-zagging through a communication trench. Mai rounded a corner, and slammed facefirst into the thick, flanged armour of an Ember Group soldier. She levelled her (crossbow. Probably) at Mai, as did the other twenty-three soldiers following her.
"Halt!"
A rope dart knocked the crossbow from the woman's hands. Ty Lee whooped, somersaulting between her legs and exploding in a flurry of gentle blows into the center of the Ember Group Squad. She seemed to have no difficulty getting through their armour, finding chinks and soft spots where none appeared to exist. Soldiers dropped like flies before her giggling whirlwind of paralysis and significant discomfort. Meanwhile, Suki was hacking away at three soldiers, all finesse gone in the cramped trench space.
Mai dropped into a low stance, unable to maneuver. The rope darts required too much horizontal space- there was a risk of hitting Suki. Time for something more traditional. Reaching into her sleeves, she grasped a pair of thin knives in each hand and let fly, grabbing a new pair almost before the first left her hands. She aimed for the neck, but the Ember Group soldiers seemed to have armoured collars. There was no evidence of the same protection around the armpit, so she shifted her weight and threw again. Two soldiers dropped. Much better. Several of them seemed to have their bows up. She tried to hit them, but she was slightly too late. A thumb-sized bolt whizzed past her head, exploding against the trench wall behind her. She fell forwards, getting a facefull of mud. Disoriented, she staggered to her feet, only to receive the butt of a crossbow to her stomach. She reached blindly forwards, grabbing what felt like a helmet, and brought her other hand up. There was a crunch, followed by a muffled choking noise. She flicked the dart back into her sleeve. It was warm. She didn't have time to wipe her eyes before another soldier was upon her, firing carefully. She flung herself sideways, the acrobatic leap unsteady on the muddy ground, then hopped up the side of the trench, hitting her opponent in the eyes with a dart in mid-leap. She took an instant to survery the trench. Ty Lee and Suki were holding their own, if the mass of groaning bodies was any indication. She squinted against the rain at a flash of red light. A Firebender. Thunder rolled.
"Ty Lee! Bender! Get him!"
Suki could cover herself with her shield, but Mai knew that she and Ty Lee would burn regardless of their remarkable skills. She snapped her wrist, and a dart wound itself around the man's wrist, yanking him out of his stance and making the flames in his hands gutter. In his instant of instability, Ty Lee was at his throat, fingers going for the pressure points that would shut him down. Then, suddenly, his stance shifted. As her arm came up, so did his, twisting into a strange, sliding block that turned them both sideways. Then, with a mighty wrench on the rope dart that pulled Mai off her feet, he lunged forwards and tapped Ty Lee's shoulder, ever so gently. Her arm fell limp, and she gasped. The soldier laughed coarsely.
"Fire Nation nomads aren't the only chi-blockers on the planet, girl."
The young chi-blocker flipped towards her opponent, functional arm striking forwards with considerably less gentleness. He blocked, and she made a riposte that turned out to be a feint as she slid between his legs, punching upwards into the inside of his thigh. Mai tired to regain her hold on him with the rope, but several of his companions were now directing their weapons her way, and she had to constantly roll and somersault as the edge of the trench was torn to bits by the rolling detonations. Bits of gravel and clods of earth stung her legs and back, and she winced, losing her hold on the dart. The cord's automatic release snapped free, and she was left momentarily disarmed. Fortunately, Ty Lee had found an opening, and was repeatedly yanking the Firebender's armoured shoulder back at an unpleasant angle, trying to wrench it out of its socket. She was screaming obscenities, something Mai had never seen her do. Even at her lowest, Ty Lee wasn't the swearing type.
Mai almost didn't notice that the ground had begun to shake. There was a call of "Earthquake!" from much higher up the line, repeated by trench after trench. The constellation of lights and signals on the hillside was beginning to strobe red, and there were more and more alarms competing with the rumble of the storm. The fighting slowed to a halt, as everyone still standing concentrated on keeping their balance. The floor of the trench was a morass of mud and bodies, Ty Lee and Suki's unconscious victims strewn about like living carpets. Mai's victims were the same, only slightly less living. Nonlethal didn't mean non-injurious, especially when throwing knives were involved.
"What the hell is going on here?", she yelled over the rumble of the earth. The quake was lasting too long. It should have been over by now. The firebender shook his head, looking dazed even with a full-face mask on.
"This isn't us."
There was a strangled yelp from Suki. The amount of completely uncontrolled fear in her voice was enough to silence the confused yells of the unsteady soldiers.
"Mai... Mai, it's..."
She pointed to the ocean. The waters were receding from the Great Gates, leaving the entire harbour dry and exposed. The lightning cast weird shadows over the glistening mats of seaweed and slowly dying fish.
"It's... a... Kyoshi help us all..."
An Ember Grouper removed her helmet, brown eyes cold and hard. Her bone structure and colouration wasn't entirely dissimilar to Suki's, although she looked flushed despite the cold rain. Her armour was lighter in colour, the insignia on her shoulders much more elaborate.
"Tsunami. A big one. It's tearing up the sea bottom. We don't have much time."
Two minutes later, a wall of water twenty meters high hit the docks of the Capital. It would have been relatively harmless, normally- the inhabitants of the geologically-unstable Fire Nation were no strangers to small earthquakes or the resultant waves. Unfortunately, this wave didn't stop. It seemed to carry the ocean with it, driven by the Tulpa floating within its depths. The docks were submerged in an instant, washing away the Serpent submersibles moored there. Those few that were deep enough to avoid the wave were still trapped under the surface by the massive, roiling currents that the continuous quake produced. And then it hit the mountainside. And began to climb. Line after line of defensive emplacements was submerged, save a few where Waterbenders or Earthbenders reacted rapidly enough to throw up barriers. The wave crested at the lip of the volcano's crater, seemingly hesitating to regain its strength. The dark water turned a sickening brown as stone and earth were sucked up by its currents. The troops in the crater didn't need to hear the order to know what they needed to do: fire. The tip of the wave exploded as dozens upon dozens of steam projectors unloaded into it. The rumble of the storm was drowned out by the immense force of the detonations. The wave curled in upon itself, and then began to compress, throwing up clouds of frost as it flash-froze, becoming a cratered, fist-shaped extension of ice leading from the sea up the mountainside. The ice refroze as fast as it could be melted by incoming fire: already, it was cold enough that the ground beneath it had frozen solid. The wave had stopped. But the Tulpa guiding it hadn't. They pushed through the ice like ghosts, hissing as they directed streams of water under so much pressure they were almost solid downwards towards their attackers.
Several individual groups of airships, their optigraphs flickering messages of frantic cooperation, braved the storm and the lightning to attack the aquatic beachhead directly. Troops on the ground cheered as the lumbering vehicles turned broadside to the ice, readying tremendous rocket volleys. Thunder rolled. Except thunder didn't tear holes in airship hulls. Thunder didn't generate blindingly bright spheres of superheated air. Air Tulpa did. A massive swarm of the winged constructs pulled out of a coordinated dive, their slipstream tossing the crippled airships aside like leaves on the wind. As soon as anti-air projectors turned on them, they slipped back inside the cloud cover, their escape routes guarded by skeins of lightning.
The command centre the Ember had set up in the main hall of the Palace was a sea of chaos, at the center of which stood Si. Damage reports were starting to come in. Dozens of airships downed. The BOOM Serpents were who knew where. Long-range communications were borderline impossible. They'd tried to link up with the deep pneumo lines attached to the Attuned stations, but the continuing quake was just strong enough to make messages unreliable. The Group's defensive line seemed to be holding, but any further attacks from the Lotus would mean losing the eastern side of the crater. The armored divisions on the western reaches- around the crater- were reporting Earth Tulpa movements. He took a deep breath.
"Gentlemen. Focus."
There was no response. So he whistled. It wasn't loud, but it was shrill, with an odd, warbling harmonic that pierced the din. Silence fell like a shroud as everyone within hearing range stopped dead, their eyes glazing over. Then they were back in motion. But something had changed. The panic vanished. There was no panicked shouting, no sense of fear. Just quiet, mechanical precision. One useful thing about the Group's subliminal training techniques- there were all sorts of useful psyche-stabilization codes that could be implanted. Si spoke firmly and clearly, not taking his eyes off the map table. He didn't need to look around to know that everyone who was supposed to listen to him was doing just that.
"Thank you. Now. Get a team of Waterbenders on the task of locating the BOOMs. They are to commence targeted bombardment with Cloudbuster missiles. Mobilize the Screaming Dragons, if they're still functional. If we have any troop-carrying airships still loaded, get them above the storm and get a status report off to the Lagoon. This tsunami and quake is obviously artificial. I want a team of Attuned locating the source. If we can find it, the subs can shut it down. And get as many Airbenders in the air as possible. If there's anyone who can dodge lightning, it's the Sky Troop. Remember, gentlemen. A little bad weather will NOT stop us."
There was a crackling series of explosions from outside. A few seconds later, a signalman stumbled in.
"General! Earth Tulpa on the western hillside! The artillery parks are being hit with cold-ray fire!"
The only sound beneath the earth was the constant drip, drip, drip of melting ice. It was deathly cold. Every so often, the firebender would throw another handful of flames into the little camp stove someone had set up in the center of the bunker, although it didn't do much more than melt the layer of hoarfrost on the compacted stone ceiling. Mai, Suki and Ty Lee were huddled against one wall, clumped around the little steam engine that one of the Ember Group soldiers had called a "projector core". Whenever the little machine seemed to be cooling, one of them fed a small fuel pellet into it, and it roared to life for a few more minutes. It wasn't enough, though. They were all slowly freezing to death.
"Anything, Rei?"
The Kiyoshian woman was chewing on what looked like hardtack. She still looked significantly less cold than anyone else, and since she'd started fiddling with the collar around her neck, her eyes had taken on a glassy cast that Mai didn't like. The woman shook her head.
"Nothing. They haven't done enough damage to the glacier to break it, yet. And the water Tulpa are putting up a hell of a fight. I'm afraid you're stuck with us, Lady Mai."
The floor shook, and there was a low noise, like the bellow of a wounded animal. Rei winced; Mai wasn't sure what she was doing, but apparently she had some means of seeing outside.
"Son of a bitch... that isn't good."
The firebender glanced enquiringly at her, breath forming steamy clouds.
"Bad news?"
"Earth Tulpa. They're hitting the landward side."
A low mutter travelled through the Ember Group platoon. Mai caught only snatches of the conversation, but she didn't like what she was hearing. Suki grabbed her shoulder, her voice a harsh whisper.
"We need a plan. We can't just sit here and freeze to death."
"There's a glacier above us! You saw that wave, you can feel this cold! Last I checked, none of us except that guy were firebenders. Unless the Fire Navy's raids on Kiyoshi Island were more... invasive then I'd heard."
It was a stupid thing to say. Mai was past caring. She was cooped up inside a block of frozen concrete underneath her capital. Suki's eyes widened. Without a word, her sword was at Mai's throat.
"How dare y-"
Mai had a knife pressed to the inside of Suki's wrist, and another one ready for her eye. Ty Lee gasped.
"What are you two doing?"
There was a faint hiss from the other side of the bunker. They'd all levelled their crossbows. One of them was hefting a tubular lance as wide as her fist, a projector core burning away at its base. Rei stood, also holding a smaller pistol crossbow.
"I suppose this is as good a time as any to inform you that you're in Ember Group custody. I wouldn't like to have to give the fire order, but you're all expendable. Do I make myself clear."
It wasn't a question. So Mai sheathed her knives, and resumed her age-old pastime of staring at the ceiling, brooding. Brooding worked. People didn't bother other people who were staring fixedly at a point in space with a frown on their face. Then she felt the earth begin to shake. It had happened previously, but never like this. Never with rhythm. At the whispered question of one of the other soldiers, Rei nodded firmly. A subdued cheer went up. Well, it was nice to see that someone was having a good time.
"Sonic weapons? You're sure?"
"Yes, Zhujue."
"But they were immobile platforms! The last we faced during the Great Betrayal occupied an entire mountain! How is this possible?"
"I- I don't know, Zhujue."
"Prajna take them all, for our sake. Abandon the earth units. All of them. Direct our efforts on the skyborne assault. We still have the storm."
"And the Locii?"
"What about them?"
"Zhujue, we have five humans operating as Locii for the earth force. Shall I have them extracted?"
"That will not be needed. They are to be considered expendable resources."
"Of course, Zhujue."
Oi was, all things considered, remarkably comfortable.
"Anyone else feel like-"
"Like you're sitting on a cloud? Yep. This is gonna do terrible things to my spine, just you wait."
"Pffff. I've sat on clouds. Honestly, they're overrated. And your pants end up soaked."
"Excellent punchline, Sangmu. Now I just need to think up a joke."
Nut was on the verge of laughter, but the look in Sangmu's eyes shut him up. Her voice was unnervingly cheerful.
"Oi, I will castrate you with my bare hands."
The door on the far wall of the well-appointed sitting room slid open. Lao Beifong held the door open for his wife, then pulled it shut quietly. She spoke first.
"Welcome to Gaoling. I assume if you're here, the Elrics are in town...?"
"Lieutenant, ma'am. No names. And you know about them?"
Poppy Beifong nodded, eyes narrowing. There was something hard as rock behind that plump, middle-aged facade of hers.
"We get the daily reports on the pneumo, same as the rest of the Group's informants. And we keep an ear to the ground. They're with the Earth King, correct?"
Sangmu nodded sharply.
"Yes ma'am."
"Which means they're going to try and draw on our daughter's so-called criminal network."
Lao sighed, kneading the bridge of his nose. Sangmu cocked her head, in that irritating way that Oi knew far too well. Whenever she did it, it meant she was about to pry.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Beifong?"
He sighed again, but quickly regained his composure.
"Nothing particularly relevant to your task at hand, lieutenant."
Sangmu said nothing, letting the silence drag out slightly too long.
"Oh for heaven's sake, fine. Look. Having Toph in the Earth Rumbles was fine. We could keep tabs on her, but she'd be free to train her skills and foster her competitive spirit in relative safety. Then the Avatar swept her off to the war... I mean we were proud when she came back from the war and all. She'd grown into the competent, independent spirit we'd planned for her to be. But now she's starting this sprawling semi-legal... thing in the Colonies. We've tried to keep our hands off... play the contrite, chastened role, but if the Ember Group gets involved..."
"So you want to keep her ignorant of the Group? She could be extremely valuable!"
He shook his head firmly.
"No, it's not that. It's just that all of this is accelerating faster than we'd planned. Look, whatever you do to acquire the Elrics, minimize Toph's involvement, please. We worked hard to keep Gaoling out of the last war-"
"And did an admirable job of it, by the way."
"-thank you. We have no interest in getting our city embroiled in the next one, especially if the full force of the Lotus is involved."
Sangmu stood abruptly.
"Contrary to what you'd expect from a tank full of combat benders, we're going to take the subtle approach. The first intermission of the Rumble's in what, half an hour? We'll move in, snatch them up before they can get to your daughter. Kuei will not be a problem."
Poppy cleared her throat.
"Don't you think an Airbender with full tattoos would be a tad... flashy? And those uniforms of yours, while blessedly neutral-toned, are still rather distinctive."
Sangmu grinned, somehow managing to make her straight, slightly off-white teeth look serrated.
"You're accusing us of a lack of subtlety? Believe me, Mrs. Beifong, there is nothing quite so subtle as forcing the air out of a man's lungs."
Oi winced inwardly. Why did she always do this? She was all- well, reasonably professional, and then she instantly became an utter psycopath. No dividing line between the two.
Ding!
A cleverly-concealed slot in one of the room's numerous supporting pillars slid open at Lao's touch, revealing the small pneumo tube within. There was a small brass tag slotted into the forward end, its surface marked with a red slash and three dots. Top Priority. You never saw Top Priority messages. Beifong opened it, feeding the paper within into a thin slit in another pillar. The walls shook slightly, and there was a faint sound of clockwork. A second strip of paper popped out of the same slot, marked with the angular characters of machine writing. Beifong read it.
"Hou Tu."
"I didn't know you were the religious type, Mr. Beifong."
He looked up, hand shaking.
"About a dozen confirmed Blue patterns have just appeared, all converging on Gaoling. Multiple Air-types, at least one Earth. They know the Elrics are here."
Poppy suddenly moved to the door.
"I'll go unpack the Harnesses. Lao, your Mark Seven's in the big cabinet with my chui, right?"
"Yes dear. I'll go set it up now."
"Um, what the hell are you two doing? There's a small swarm of Tulpa on the way! We need to get the Elrics and get out now!"
Lao smiled condescendingly.
"By all means, Lieutenant, you do that. We need to make sure our fragile, precious flower of a daughter is safe. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an antitank projector to charge."
"WELL, IT'S BEEN A TREMENDOUS FIRST FIFTH, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE'VE SEEN SOME EXCELLENT COMBATTANTS FROM THE THREE NATIONS! LET'S GIVE ALL OUR FIGHTERS A BIG HAND, FOLKS!"
Al whooped and hollered. It had been incredible! The deceptively simple "ring out or immobilize" rules meant for thrilling, incredibly swift fights. He hadn't truly appreciated the versatility of bending. He'd seen fighters shroud themselves in sand, strike with waves of fire and heat, and even twist the water in living plants to their advantage. Incredible.
"BEFORE WE BREAK FOR OUR FIRST INTERMISSION, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT'S TIME FOR AN EARTH RUMBLE TRADITION!"
The cheering now mostly came from those Earthbenders in the audience, apparently veteran fans of what the Lancer had (mostly by shouting) explained to be the previous version of the competition. In the comparative silence, the black-clad man leaned in close.
"After this, we'll go backstage to meet with Toph. Be ready."
"THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S TIME FOR THE OPEN FIGHT! ANYONE IN THE AUDIENCE WITH THE GUTS CAN NOW CHALLENGE YOUR HOST, THE IRON BANDIT!"
The small figure on the dais launched herself into the air with a pillar of stone, landing in the center of the ring so hard that it shattered into several pieces. Drinking in the applause, she stood, arms outstretched.
"Come at me if you're hard enough!"
There was a wave of cheering, followed by anticipatory silence. Then came a shout- the sound of someone screaming their lungs out. The boy's voice cracked slightly halfway through.
"Battle RRRRROYALE!"
A figure in blue was bounding down the stands, pursued (apparently with some consternation) by another in blue, one in red, and one in orange. Who appeared to be flying. He landed in an explosion of wind, giving a short bow. Ed and Al were on their feet.
"Brother, is that...?"
Ed's shocked response was quite rudely interrupted.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I- I DON'T BELIEVE IT! IT CAN'T BE! BUT IT IS! PLEASE GIVE A BIG HAND FOR- FOR AVATAR AANG!"
Down in the ring, the little figures had gathered. They seemed to be exchanging hugs. Three fighters came out of the pits around the ring, arraying themselves around Bei Fong. The audience was going insane.
"ALL RIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THE GREATEST FRIENDLY BOUT YOU WILL EVER SEE. A BOUT SO UNEXPECTEDLY FANTASTIC THAT I AM HAVING CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTY REMAINING COHERENT! IN THE BLUE CORNER, TOPH BEIFONG! THE BOULDER! THE INCREDIBLE HIPPO! AND THAT WONDERFUL FEMME FATALE, JUUUUUNE!"
Another pause to allow for incoherent cries of joy.
"AND IN THE RED CORNER, THE CHALLENGERS...! SOKKA OF THE SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE! WATERBENDING MASTER KATARA OF THE SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE! HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS FIRELORD ZUKO!"
There were a few boos interspersed with the cheers now, mostly from those fans dressed in blues and greens.
"AND FINALLY! SAVIOR OF THE WORLD! THE MAN WHO BROUGHT PEACE TO THE FOUR NATIONS! IT IS MY HONOUR TO PRESENT! AAAAAVAAAATAAAAAAR! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BEGIN!"
WHAM
!
The ceiling of the subterranean arena tore apart, filling the space with a cloud of dust. Through it clattered a mechanical monstrosity- the tank they'd escaped. For a few brief seconds there was nothing but shocked silence. Then the shooting started. Al had seen machine guns, but nothing like this. Each shot was slow, but they exploded into blinding flashes of light where they hit. The crowd began to panic, moving as one massive organism towards the exits. Ed clambered onto the bench seat, fighting to stay upright against the human current.
"Al! Lancer! They followed us! Let's go!"
Whoomph
A blast of air swept the stands, carrying with it an unnaturally loud voice. It was a woman, with a cold, sneering note to her speech that Al did not like.
"SHOW'S OVER, ELRICS. YOU'RE COMING WITH US. NO MORE RUNNING."
"Brother! We can't leave! They're shooting civilians!"
Ed hauled him bodily onto the seat, pointing at the stitching explosions.
"No, they're not. Look, they're still firing. Everyone's left. And they're aiming well above their targets. Do you see any bodies? No. Didn't think so. We don't need to be here."
Al knew what he wasn't saying. We saved their lives once. And it didn't get us much. This isn't our fight.
"I understand, brother. Let's... let's go."
By this point, the crowd had thinned somewhat, and they were able to make reasonably good progress towards the exit. Thankfully, the crowd wasn't bunching up or resisting the flow. Everyone was far more intent on getting out.
There was an explosion from behind them. And then the booming voice spoke a second time.
"YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T BE HERE, AVATAR AANG. YOU COULD HAVE MADE IT SO MUCH EASIER FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED IF YOU HAD JUST LEFT THINGS WELL ENOUGH ALONE. KILLING YOU WOULD ACTUALLY SOLVE A LOT OF OUR PROBLEMS."
Ed stopped dead, and Al slammed into his back. There was a tension to his brother's shoulders... yes, his fists were clenched. Al knew what was coming. Ed and his famous responsibility complex.
"We're the cause of all this, Al."
Al sighed. Oh, this wasn't good. It was almost a marvel his brother had made it this far without realizing that point. But now... If he believed he had some role to play in whatever conflict was centered around the lives of Zuko and the Avatar (as well as whatever had happened to the Northern Water Tribe), he'd feel duty-bound to interfere. To set things right.
"We need to set things right. We have to."
"Brother! Please! You said yourself that this isn't our fight!"
Ed turned. There was fire in his eyes.
"It just became our fight. Now let's go. The Avatar and the Firelord need our help. Now are you coming or not?"
Al just nodded, although inwardly he was rolling his eyes. Ed clapped his hands, then pressed them to the stone beneath them. A pillar rose from the polished floor, carrying them downwards towards the cloud of smoke and fire that occupied fully half of the arena. As they approached, a slim woman dressed entirely in black- the one the announcer had called Joon, Al guessed, flew backwards out of the cloud, skidding to a halt not far from their elevated pedestal. She glanced at them briefly, her face knotted with pain.
"Here to protect the Avatar? Great. Fine. Just watch out for the dumpy bitch in green. She's got a helluva hitting arm."
With that, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed in a pool of her own vomit.
"THE BOULDER FEARS NO MECHANICAL A-AAAAAARGH!"
A short, barely human figure stumped out of the smoke, clutching a burly man aloft by his neck. The "dumpy bitch in green" was indeed somewhat dumpy, wearing an oddly delicate-looking suit of armour or braces that apparently allowed her to lift the Boulder completely off the ground with very little effort. She raised her free arm, clutching a round-headed mace, and with a puff of smoke drove it into the man's stomach. He went limp, and she dropped him like a sack of potatoes. She glanced up at them, her eyes cold and hard in a slightly plump, well-made-up face.
"Ah. It's you two. And the idiot who calls himself the Lancer."
The figure in black drew a short sword, then stopped short, seeming to recognize the woman.
"Bei Fong? But-"
"Piss off, Kuei. This isn't your fight."
The Lancer- Kuei- dropped his sword, shaking.
"I- that's-!"
"You're not fooling anyone, Your Highness. Now scram."
He ran without another word. Then there was yet another detonation, and the dust cleared. The fat one- Hippo- was on the ground, bleeding from a nasty head wound. Sokka and Zuko both had swords out and were advancing furiously on a Firebender wearing a gray scarf, who fended them off with loud but inaccurate bursts from some kind of shotgun. Toph was exchanging furious blows with a skinny waterbender who seemed to be constantly dodging her attacks, while Katara was stumbling backwards from the repeated impacts of shell after shell that a second figure in armour was launching at her from an anti-vehicle rifle of some kind. And above them all were two Airbenders. The Avatar was a streak of orange, locked in a spinning ballet of martial artistry with a tall woman in gray, wielding a strange stripe-bladed longsword. Every so often, sudden pockets of pressure would buffet the arena as waves of air collided and exploded outwards.
Ed picked clapped his hand and picked up Kuei's sword. The metal screeched and bent around his right arm. For the briefest second, all of the Benders seemed to hesitate. Then he reached under his jacket and pulled out a small snub-nose gun.
"You've been carrying one of the cut down Mark 1 Rifles on you this whole time?"
Ed grinned savagely at him.
"Nothing cooler than a concealed firearm. Cover me. I'm going to help Aang."
With that, he slapped the earth once more and was launched skywards by a pillar of stone. The armoured woman- Bei Fong?- was still advancing, mace held high.
"Don't worry, Elric. I'm not going to hurt you much."
Then Al did something that surprised even him. He ran at her, diving under her steam-powered swipe and rolling to a halt behind her. He clapped his hands, and grabbed her armour-clad ankles, concentrating. Mostly sky iron, so-
The mace hit him under the chin. He bit his tongue, tasting blood, and was suddenly staring up at the ceiling.
"You're bold, kid. I'll give you that. But suicidal bravery will only get an unarmed man so far."
He sat up, hands flat against the ground.
"I'm not unarmed. I'm armour-clad."
Mei had taught him some interesting tricks. The rest he'd figured out on his own. Her armour below the waist sparked with static electricity, before peeling off her like something come alive. Suddenly she was staggering, barely able to remain upright under the weight of her own armour. Al hadn't figured that reading all those engineering text would have paid off. But he knew load-bearing pistons and cross-bracings when he saw them. Raise a structure's center of gravity, and the smallest push could topple it. He rolled to his feet, turning the movement into a run. As he neared her damaged armour, he clapped his hands once more, putting one arm into the folded plate. It wrapped around his arm, far thicker than the gestalt automail that Ed had constructed. It was heavy. He knew that weight, and let it carry him around, turning a controlled fall into a single downwards-moving punch that hit Bei Fong hard enough to send her slamming face-first into the ground. She hit with a smash, her face only saved from utter destruction by the suit's protruding gorget. Al reached down, hands crackling with energy. The metal practically leaped onto him, enfolding him in its cold embrace. He consciously moulded the interior surface into alchemical arrays, keeping the metal fluid enough to move while he was still inside it. It was clunky and awkward, but ever so familiar.
"POPPY! NO!"
There was a hiss, a bang, and a shell hit him in the centre of his chest. He skidded back, tremendous bulk keeping him upright, even as a wave of heat and molten metal tried to tear him in half. He gritted his teeth, feeling his eyebrows singe away as he transmuted the liquefied metal into water and let it steam off him. The other armoured man was stomping towards him, ignoring the lashes of water that were tearing strips off his back and sides. He raised the huge rifle. At this distance, he couldn't miss. Then the earth in front of him sprouted spikes of hoarfrost. The skinny Waterbender hit the growing column of ice and seemed to bounce off it, only moments before a massive chunk of stone smashed directly into where he had been standing. Atop it stood the Iron Bandit, her armour torn by dozens of thin slice marks- the same kind of Waterbending that Katara was unsuccessfully using. The armoured soldier stumbled as his feet were frozen into the stone. When he tried to pull himself free, tentacle-like bands of liquid wrapped around his chest and shoulders, freezing solid. The Bandit, apparently content to ignore her previous opponent, hopped off the lump of stonework, swaggering up to the armoured man.
"So. You think steam can beat bending? Let's see what you are under all that armour."
She reached forwards, pulling his faceplate off like tissue paper. Then she stopped dead.
"D-dad?"
The armoured man- a third Bei Fong, pressed against the gorget of his suit with his chin. The ice shattered all across his body as the upper half of his armour seemed to explode, sending a hail of sky-iron and steel components skywards. By the time Al had launched himself forwards to protect the Bandit (cursing his poor acceleration all the while), Bei Fong had gently tapped Toph several times on the head and neck. She slumped into his arms, and he kicked forwards, legs billowing steam as he leapt past Al, kicking up a spray of rock fragments that sent Katara reeling. Leaning down to pick up "Poppy", he pressed another button in his suit's neck. Al was just a fraction of a second too slow. As he watched, the pistons in Bei Fong's legs glowed-red hot, and with an explosion of steam he had leaped back up the width of the stadium and out the breach in the roof. Foolishly, Al turned to follow him, and found himself suddenly unable to breath, his armour filled with ice-cold water. He flailed, reeling at the nimble waterbender who skated out of his way. Katara was moving to help him, a cloud of razor-sharp ice fragments whirling about her. Al felt the air leave his lungs as the water surged about him. Acting on instinct, he slammed his hands together. His vision seemed to sharpen. Dimly, through the skein of water that covered his face, he saw Katara's eyes widen. The ice crystals were growing- turning red. Searing lines of pain etched themselves across his face. Katara was suddenly down on one knee, coughing up blood which floated through the air to swirl about the other waterbender. He was standing rigidly, gazing in horror at the holes that were forming in his chest as his flesh melted away and the resulting pinkish fluid tore holes clean through his breastplate. Al forced his hands apart and stood unsteadily, spitting blood. Katara hit the ground, hard. The waterbending soldier fell in half. Al stood stock-still for a moment, coughing the bloody water out of his lungs. His face was a mass of pain- it was like someone had rubbed a sheaf of uneven papers across his cheeks and forehead. He blinked blood out of his eyes and looked aorund.
Their little brawl was, all things considered, going reasonably well. Zuko and the Firebender were locked in combat, launching gouts of flame at each other. Zuko obviously had the upper hand, and was forcing his opponent back towards one of the arena's supporting columns. Sokka was nowhere to be seen, although Al could swear that there was more and more steam coming from the abandoned tank, which had several large dents in its front plating. Above, the Airbenders were still fighting. Aang had the advantage of speed- he was moving almost too fast to see, feet barely touching the ground as he bent earth, water, fire and air to reach his quarry. The woman he fought, however, had something odd on her side. Whatever she was doing to the air, it could stop Aang. Every time she raised her arms or made a strike, the space resounded with a dull whumph, and waves of pressure and wind rushed about her. Aang simply couldn't get close enough to land a hit on her, just as she couldn't move quickly enough to hit him. It took him a few seconds to find Ed; he was sheltering behind the tank, firing wildly at the Airbender. He knew his brother was far more comfortable earthbound than anything else. And there was also the risk that whatever his alchemy did to Aang's bending could kill or otherwise injure the Avatar. After a few brief seconds to check that Katara wasn't choking on her own blood, Al began to stamp up towards the vehicle, the gusting wind currents a gentle breeze when faced with the huge amounts of mass he could now exert.
Suddenly, the Airbender changed tack. Kicking off one wall, she somersaulted in midair, diving downwards towards Ed. Her sword gleamed in the dim light as she plunged vertically at him, clouds of dust spiralling about her. He rolled out of the way, but as she hit the ground, the air around her exploded outwards, knocking Ed off his feet and sending the gun clattering away. Al willed his armour into even faster motion, kicking sparks off the floor as his alchemically-destabilized second skin screeched and groaned about him. Ed swiped at the woman, but she waved a hand, and he collapsed to one knee, clutching his ears and gasping. She moved to contemptuously hamstring him, but was rebuffed as her sword grated off Ed's automail. Dimly, Al heard a shout of fear and pain coming from Zuko's general direction, but it was far away. Ed was in danger. He hit her like a ton of bricks, sending her smashing into the ground just as a fireball from Aang exploded around him. She tried to struggle against him, inhaling an impossibly deep breath that made his ears pop. He tensed his arms, and felt the arrays in the metal spark against his skin. The ruddy glow of another fireball illuminated the panic in her eyes as she opened her mouth. The air sharpened. And everything exploded. He was hurled backwards, bouncing end over end as the massive concussion did terrible, terrible things to the air in the enclosed stadium. By the time he'd slowed to a halt, Aang and the Airbender were both on the ground, out of commission, and Ed was back on his feet, looking off-balance. Then Al saw it. The Firebender. His shotgun leveled at an unsuspecting Ed. He pulled the trigger. His brother fell, body juddering. Al clenched his fists. The armour burned incandescent with static as he exploded out of it, propelled by a column of rapidly-expanding stone that sent him flying out of control towards the Firebender. The panicked man tried to raise a hand to stop him. Al clapped his hands and watched absently as the man's hands exploded, flesh melting off them like wax. He fell back, screeching in agony. Al hit the ground hard, feeling something in his chest give way as he skidded along the stone, skin rubbing off his hands and knees. The air smelled of burnt flesh. It didn't matter. He stood up slowly, staggering over to Ed. He lay prone, surrounded by five small sandbags. He was breathing, but bleeding slightly from what looked like severe bruises to his back and shoulders. He was alive. That was all that mattered.
Above him, the ceiling shattered and the streamlined face of an air Tulpa forced its way through the gap, roaring mechanically. It didn't matter.
-~0X0~-
So. In light of several negative comments from trusted reviewers, and my own nagging doubts about Chapter 12, I've decided to rewrite it. It's almost 2000 words longer, more Ed and Al-centric, and it has Mai stabbing a dude through the bottom of the jaw. So yeah. Before I post the next chapter, I'll probably to a quick skim-through of the entire to cut and tweak a few things. No rewrites as major as this chapter, just fixing stuff I hadn't gotten around to fixing.
Also: ohmygosh Korra is consistently awesome.