CHAPTER RATING: M (Language, Detailed, graphic descriptions of Violence, References to use of Sex Slaves)
A/N:
11/10/2015.
That is the deadline for A Change of Heart, and A Veil of Flames. These two stories will probably be finished by that date.
On that day, Bethesda Softworks will release Fallout 4. And I will be spending a lot of time building my own Wasteland Settlement.
I'm going to finish up A Change of Heart, and then upload the entire story in one last go.
Sorry for taking so long, but thanks for sticking with me.
Enjoy.
Chapter 35: Jailbreak
"...We have them in custody, and will wait for your arrival." Katara heard a man's voice behind the drowsiness of a returning consciousness. "Send that message out immediately." There are sounds of feet that shuffle at the far side of the room, and then a heavy metal door closes. "Now, to attend to other business...'
Barely opening her eyes, Katara saw that she was in a cage, surrounded by all sides with bars. Her senses focused, in front of her, the man who gave the order. She tried to move her hands, but received no response. They hung at her sides, bound in tight leather, balled into fists. She hung suspended in the air by the chains that wrapped around her wrists and ankles. The man turned around, and smashed a metal rod against her prison.
"Oh, it looks like you're awake." He walked towards her with a menacingly friendly smile on his face. "I hope you had a nice nap." Katara never looked away, her eyes burning with defiance and anger. "Now, let us begin. What, is your name?" She didn't answer, but her gaze never broke. "Come on, now. Don't be rude." She didn't answer. "Well...?" Still, no answer.
The hinges of her cell door cried out as he opened it. Katara's gaze became fiercer, but she could feel the panic of uncertainty creep upon her. The look in his eyes, and the meticulous steps he takes towards her...
"You listen to me, if you want to live, you'd best cooperate. And if you just do that, everything will be so much more enjoyable. I chose you, because you are special." He opened his hand, placed it on her cheek, and rubbed it with a perverse, aged finger.
Katara put on a mask of desperation, a mask of weakness, a mask of hopelessness. She took a deep breath, and prayed to the moon that she would be forgiven for what was about to happen.
"It'd be a lot easier if you untied me." She nearly gagged at her own words, said in the most sultry voice she could manage. "Let me use my hands, and I'll show you what I cando."
"...Good girl."
And Katara saw red.
She shifted her head to the right.
"What...?" He freezes in his steps. "What are you...?"
She shifted her head to the left.
His neck closes, his breaths playing like a broken whistle as it exits up his swelling larynx. Katara looks down, listening to the sweet sound of his isolated gasps.
He collapsed, unconscious. Katara moves him again, his limp body rose, and undid the bindings that held her captive. His carcass collapses after she feels the solid metal against her feet.
With a scorn still on her face, and anger still in her heart, she makes him move again, and binds his limbs into the leather gloves before sticking a cloth into his mouth.
The lock on the door gives off a resounding click as she turns it.
With a conjured sphere of water, she beckons him back to life.
Hey hand crashed against his face, blood nearly dropping down where her nails met his flesh.
"Focus." She commanded. His eyes widened. "It looks like you're awake." His curses are muffled. "Let me tell you something. You're right. I am special. There are only two bloodbenders in this world." His eyes widen, and begin to water "And you just happened to capture the wrong one."
Katara turned away, knowing what she would do to him. She relaxes her stance, throws her hands out in front of her, and moves her arms in a circular motion, as if she were pulling water towards herself. Her movements are brutal, methodical, and harsh.
She can hear his muffled cries, and continues to pull the invisible water towards her center. His screams stop, and are replaced by heaving, wheezing, and whimpering. She turns to see him suspended in the air by his bonds, his fingers, arms, toes, and legs are completely blue, every single droplet of blood was redirected to his heart. She steps away, the door lock clicks open.
And Katara remembers Azula's last command to her.
She closed her fist, heard a pop, a few muffled screams, and then the sound of blood dripping to the floor.
Disabling his weapon, permanently.
The door closed, the lock clicked shut.
...
When the veil of grey began to lift from Toph's eyes, her vision began to focus. From the vibrations she found that she was sitting in a cage made out of her most hated nemesis.
Wood. Rotting wood.
And in the oaken cell that hung from a rope, she was surrounded by black ashen panels. But then, a moment of clarity was interrupted by another one of her most feared enemies.
Water. Boiling water.
Heat rose from the bottom of her prison, steam swirled through the holes of her small cell.
She studied her surroundings once more, and concluded that she didn't have any chance to escape. Nothing in the room could be manipulated by her earthbending or metalbending.
"Damn it! Who set us up?!" She shouted to no reply. With another rage-filled scream, her fist smashed into the wooden bars. With her muscles twitching, blood ran down her knuckles.
And then, she felt something. Something familiar within that tiny stream of liquid that ran down her fist. She held out her hand, and could feel her own blood hanging in the air as if it were being controlled by Katara.
"No way..." She tightened her fist, and felt a small shard of iron floating in the air.
...
This feels familiar. Katara thought to herself. After her initial escape from the Warden's quarters, she had managed to sneak into a small barracks, and found a set of armor that could serve as a disguise. The heavy greaves made her feel like she was rooted to the floor, and the chestpiece wore her down like a pack mule, but with another breath, she slipped on the helmet.
"Tough shift, huh?" A deep voice sent a chill down her spine. "I mean, did you see that blind girl? Damn, she was a handful. Who would have thought that someone could bend metal..." He laughed. "Hey, are you listening?"
"Y-Yeah." Katara stuttered. "By the way, how did we know that they were traitors?"
"What, you don't remember?" He popped off his helmet. "We had an informant in the crew."
"Oh...Yeah, right." She sighed. "Anyway, do you know where they took the prisoners?" He gave her an even more baffled look.
"Weren't you present during the briefing?"
"I...I wasn't really paying attention...It's been a long day." Katara replied, beads of sweat raining down her temples.
He paused, his gaze piercing through her.
"Here," he pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket, and handed it to her. As she reached out for it, he pulled it away. "Everyone should have a copy..." Katara's stomach was churning. "Where's yours?"
A long silence hung in the air.
"...I...Uhh..."
"It's probably in your back pocket!" He exclaimed with a hearty guffaw. "Why don't you look?!"
Katara slipped her hand into her back pocket, and pulled out a small piece of parchment.
"Oh, here it is." She hoped to have recovered. "Forgive me for being so clumsy."
"It's no problem. We're all tired of taking all the shit that the Warden gives us." He fell down into a chair. "Enjoy your shift." He smiled and waved.
'I'll do that." She waved back with an unseen smile, and ducked out of the room. The paper directed her to her first location, the one person who could be the most helpful, the most lethal in this metallic prison.
According to the list: The Boiler Room, basement of the prison, newly fitted for a special prisoner.
...
Toph shifted her weight, back and forth. A thin, iron saw moved with her, back and forth, digging into the thick wooden beams. Toph didn't know how long she had been doing this, the most she knew was that she had started at the top out of four beams, and was only halfway through the first one.
How many liters of blood did she have to manually pull from her veins to form this barely stable piece of iron? She didn't know. All she knew was that this was more tiring than it should have to be. If she didn't hurry, the heat and exhaustion would take her before any guards.
"Come on, Toph! You got this! You created metalbending! You can sense the metal in people's blood now! You got this!" An almost painful groaning stopped her. She fell to the ground, and scattered the iron back into a metallic dust.
Footsteps echoed within the room behind the bubbling, pops of the boiling water beneath her. Toph was exhausted, and at this point, hopeless. She didn't care anymore, she just-
"Toph!" a familiar voice screeched and yelled. "Toph! It's me!" Katara lifted her helmet up to give Toph a look at who she was.
And then paused.
Right.
Toph shot up to her feet, her head poking through the wooden grid, a wide smile, and a look of joy through her opaque eyes.
"Sugar Que-I mean Katara!" A new vigor shot through her. "I'm over here!"
"Don't worry, I'll get you out." Katara looked at the water below, a nervous gulp forcing its way down her throat. She focused, took a deep breath, and opened her hands. The boiling water began to crystalize. The ice that Katara conjured began to creep across the entire body of water until it was entirely frozen into a giant, thick, glacial sheet. "Okay, here we go." She was hesitant, and lifted her foot to take a first step.
The ice cracked just as her foot was about to hit the ground, and the bubbling began again. Katara fell backwards, crashing into the metal scaffolding.
"Hey, what happened?!" Toph shouted.
"Don't worry! I've got it." Katara looked around again, there had to have been a way out of here. There was a way that Toph was put into that cage, there had to be a way to get her out.
And then saw the control panel.
"Oh, well we made that unnecessarily hard." She laughed. "Don't worry, Toph. We'll get you out of there in no time." Katara stumbled her way to the controls, nearly falling into the water with the heavy armor and extreme heat.
"Hey! Are you alright?!"
"Y-Yeah, it's just hot. I've got this." Katara fumbled through the buttons and levers, jerking the cage back and forth.
"Ease up! I'm going to fall if you keep doing that!"
"Sorry!" Katara slowed her handling, and the cell slid towards the metal platform. "I've got you."
The cell locked into position, and Katara used a nearby key to unlock the door, and free her friend. Toph nearly collapsed into Katara's arms.
"I owe you, Katara."
"Alright, remember now, we need to keep up the disguise." Katara pointed back towards the metal framing. "Handcuffs."
"But they know that I can bend metal."
"..." Katara looked around. "Okay. I've got an idea. Stay here." Katara ran off, leaving Toph in a haze of confusion.
Katara peeked through the large door she'd just entered from. Just in time, another guard was making his way towards the boiler room. With a fake limp, She stumbled towards the hall, and fell forward.
"Hey, are you alright?!" He called towards her. "What happened?!"
"The prisoner!" Katara coughed. "She got out! Get her!" He nodded and took off towards the room.
Toph felt footsteps through the mist of heat. Someone was coming, and it wasn't Katara.
"Hey! How'd you get out?!" He ran towards her, and then disappeared.
Katara threw her hands up, forced him into the air, and then brought him down to the ground.
"Okay." Katara whispered. "We'll place him into the cage, take his armor, and find the others."
"Gotcha. But first..." Toph closed her fists, and the armor crumpled against them. "More form-fitting."
"Right."
...
"We know how dangerous she can be." Azula's ears focused, her body was struck immediately with an icy chill that froze her muscles. With her hands tied behind her back, she could do nothing but watch her breath exhale, constantly straining her lungs to the point of exhaustion.
How did they know...? Who was it? Her thoughts were filled with confusion and regret. Where is everyone else? But soon shifted to anger and rage. When I find him...
"From the rhythm of your breathing, I can assume that you're alive, and awake." The old voice of the Warden echoed across the glacial walls. "Welcome to the Ice Box. The place where you'll wait for the Firelord, and your execution."
Azula didn't look up.
"Nothing to say?" He mocked. "Would you like to know how I knew you'd arrive?" Azula's head shot up, a gaze of death in her eyes. "I seem to have your interest again." He looked away to his left. "Bring him in."
Footsteps rained down like glass falling from the sky as he turned to face her with the most broken eyes she'd ever seen.
"Han...Tell me it isn't true..."
"I'm sorry, Commander. I had no choice."
"Why...?"
"My family. He took my family." Han turned away from her.
"Yes, quite the tragedy indeed. But the story's not over yet..." As swift as a flash, the Warden pulled a dagger from his belt. The blood spilled like a waterfall, and pooled into a pond at his feet as the blade sunk into the once-loyal messenger's spine.
"Han...!" Azula watched, helpless as he fell to the ground.
"Such a foolish child. If only he'd known that his entire family was already dead." The Warden's foot smashed into the Han's face, and in his fading eyes, Azula saw the last remnants of life evaporate into nothing.
"You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" She pulled away from the wall she was chained to, nearly breaking her bones, before being forced back down.
"Keep your mouth shut, whore! Or I'll cut your tongue out." He spat. "Clean up this mess!" He shouted as his footsteps trailed off.
And with Han's body being dragged away, Azula saw the trail of blood that she had forced everyone to walk with this futile attempt to save her family.
It was a mistake.
It was an utter failure.
…
"Next is: Zuko." Katara folded the paper, and placed into her pocket.
"Yeah, and where's he?" Toph asked.
"Prisoner Cell Block G" Katara nodded. "Just down this hall."
"A regular prison block? Hold on." Toph pulled on Katara's arm. "I was stuck in a damn wooden cage suspended in the air above boiling water. And he gets a regular cell block? What's up with that?!"
"Will you keep your voice down?!" Katara shouted back. "You don't want anyone to know who we are, do you?!"
"Fine. Let's go."
...
In a small, dark cell built only for one, Zuko's forehead collided with the stone wall in a desperate, dying rhythm.
"What's your name, new kid?" A rough, deep voice came from behind him.
"Zuko, Exiled Prince of the Fire Nation."
"The Prince, huh? Must've messed up pretty bad of you're in here." Zuko turned around to see a man who looked almost as old as his uncle, scars ran across his arms, face, and neck. "What'd you do to get here?"
Zuko took a breath.
"I was trying to save my Uncle." He leaned back against the wall, and sunk until he was sitting on the ground. "And I've failed. My Father is probably on his way, and everything is going to fall apart."
"That's a good reason to end up here." The Old Timer slid down next to him. "I've been in here for twenty years for the same reason-my family."
"So, what happened to you?"
"I killed a man with my bare hands." His voice was rough, but his eyes were a burned-out, faded hue of Amber. "He attacked my family, my wife, and my son. Killed them both."
"I'm sorry." Zuko interrupted.
"Don't be, I hunted him down and avenged them, although I'm pretty sure that I'm suffering more than he ever did."
"How did it feel?"
"It didn't. I felt nothing. I looked him straight in the eyes, and pulled the life out of him with my bare hands." The old man shook his head with a sigh. "People can take lives for many reasons: anger, jealousy, love, revenge. But in the end, you'll find that-"
The door hinges creaked open.
"You!" A guard pointed to the old man. "Up on your feet, now!"
He shrugged, and rose to his feet.
"...You'll find that Death, doesn't bring back Life."
The door closed, and Zuko's eyes fell again to the floor.
...
""...Remind me again, why are we sneaking around like rats?" Toph whispered to Katara before they both nodded towards a passing guard.
"You don't want to get caught, do you?"
"No, but I think you're forgetting about this..." Toph snapped her fingers, and Katara's foot caught on an uprooted piece of steel. A loud crash echoed through the hall.
"Damn it, Toph!" Katara tried to rub her forehead through the steel helmet. "You can't just go around and..." It was almost as if Katara could see Toph's annoyance through the mask.
"We can do this. But we will need the help of the prisoners, trust me." The master metalbender whispered.
"Hey! Everything alright down there?!" A voice came.
"Yeah, everything's fine! We might want to get someone to look at the floor here though!"
"We'll get an engineer on it ASAP!"
"...Alright, what's the plan?" Katara asked.
Toph grinned behind her helm.
...
Zuko stared a hole into the ground, never moving, only wondering about what kind of fate lie ahead of him.
And then in the shrill screeching tone, he heard a familiar voice.
"PRISON RIOT!" Toph shouted at the top of her lungs. With that only warning, Zuko's cell door swung open. metal crashing on metal rung through his ears, with hundreds upon hundreds of voices screaming in unison to the tone of a low deep rumble that signified defiance, frustration, anger, and rebellion.
Zuko seized this one chance like the last breath before diving into water, and rushed towards the door, into the sea of humanity beyond.
"SUBDUE THEM!" A guard's voice was barely audible through the rioting prisoners. The screams of pain and agony accompanied by fire and the burning stench of flesh fill his senses.
"There he is!" Katara saw Toph pointing down into the crowd.
"Where?!" Katara looked out with her hand serving as a visor, unable to make out any figure with a scar in the chaos below.
"Damn it!" Toph sighed. "Right..." She lifted her foot. "Here!" And brought it down. A single sheet of metal, carrying one shocked man flew up towards the scaffolding they stood on, and crashed next to them.
He looked at them with puzzled eyes...
"No time to explain, come on!" Katara pulled him up, and all three of them slid out of the room.
"Alright, line up." Katara whispered and pulled Zuko between herself and Toph. "Toph, make some handcuffs or something." Two metal bracers formed around Zuko's wrists behind his back.
"Not so tight!" Zuko cried.
"Quiet, Prisoner!" Katara shouted. A passing guard gave them a glancing glare before continuing his walk. Katara pulled out the piece of paper that directed her every move. "Princess Azula: The Ice Box." She led them down another hall.
...
A blaring alarm came from the speakers on the walls, and red lights began flashing through the halls.
"It's a riot! Cell Block G! Go, now!"
The violet stream of blood mixed with ice-cold steel brought Azula's head back up. Her arms ached, her mind was numb. If there was any time that she wished for Death to come find her, it was now.
A few grunts interrupted the chaos around her, a few grunts, followed by thuds against the metal sheet floors.
Azula cranes her neck up, and could feel tears running down her eyes. The chains that held her back disintegrate into black dust, and she falls into the arms of her brother.
"It's okay." He whispered. "We're here now, it'll be okay."
"Han betrayed us, Zuko." Azula's voice broke as she spoke. "And yet, they still killed him. They killed him right before my eyes." She wrapped her arms around him.
"It'll be okay, we'll find Uncle, and then we'll leave this hellhole." He turned away. "Katara, any idea where Uncle is?"
"...No. It doesn't say." She shook her head.
"Oh, well, isn't that convenient?! Show us where everyone is, except the person we're here to rescue! What a load of bull-"
The door crashes open.
"Hey! Who the hell are-"
Lightning shot from Azula's fist, skid across the floor, and skipped up the unsuspecting guard's spine, he collapsed into the metallic ice, unconscious.
"Pick him up." Azula commanded in a darker, more sinister tone than before. "Lock us in." Toph clapped her hands together, creating a thick metal wall where the guards just stood. "Hold him up." Katara froze him against the wall. "Wake up." Azula touched his armor with a charged finger, bringing him to life.
"Here's how we find out where Uncle is." Azula smacked away his helmet, and placed her palm onto his head. "Where is General Iroh?" Her nails dug into his temples.
"I-I don't know!" He cried in desperation.
"Don't lie to me!" Her nails dig deeper, blood begins to drip down her fingers.
"I-I swear! I don't know! Please, please don't kill me!" He begged. "The Warden will know. He knows everything that goes on! Please, please let me go."
"I'll let you go. Just tell me where the Warden is."
"Okay. Okay, his office is at the center of the Yard. He watches over everyone from his office. If you find him, you'll find out where your Uncle and friends are.
"How many guards are there with him?"
"It's just a light contingent, five at most. Now please, set me free."
"Okay. I'll set you free." Electricity ran down her arm, and into his head, his muscles convulsed until he was motionless. Azula turned around to be met with two shocked faces. "He's not dead, just unconscious." She shrugged. "Now let's go."
...
The riot was soon subdued. The alarms gradually gave way the regimental silence and order that was common among the Boiling Rock's halls, and after sneaking up on two more guards, there were now four fully dressed Fire Nation soldiers headed towards the Warden's office.
"Everyone, just follow my lead." Azula whispered as they walked up the bare metal stair up to the Warden's personal quarters and watchtower. "Start calm, stay collected."
"Calm? You're one to talk." Toph smirked. "Why can't we just bust in there?"
"Because, we don't know where Uncle is."
"I do." Toph replied to the three pairs of eyes staring back at her. She grinned and stomped her foot into the metal staircase.
A few moments pass by.
"He's in a cell, inside the office."
"..." Azula was skeptical. But if they'd come this far with her, the least she could do is trust them. "Fine. Lead the way."
"Cool." Toph cracked her knuckles. "But first," she channeled her hands up, and then down.
Nothing happened.
"What'd you do?" Katara asked.
"Wait for it..." Toph hushed.
"RIOT!" A voice shouts from below them.
The Yard, filled with inmates, flooded with men and women of all sizes forming a sea of crimson started shooting fire from their hands, ripping apart everything they can get their hands on, and beating nearly to death every guard they could get their hands on.
"I'm unstoppable in here." Toph grinned.
"Yes you are..." Katara smiled.
"Great, let's go." Azula commanded.
The alarms begun to blare rough the facility like a wailing child, and with another wave of her hand, the door to the Warden's office flew open, broke from its hinges, and implanted itself into the wall.
"What the-" The Warden exclaims before Azula jumped at his throat, charged a bolt of electricity into his brain, and let his body fall limp to the ground.
Katara threw her hands up, and a guard froze in his own steps, before she closed her palms, and denies him the necessity of a single breath, he too, collapsed.
Toph threw her hands up, as if she were lifting a heavy object, and threw another guard up, where he slammed into the ceiling, and then fell to the ground.
Zuko threw a flare into the last guard's eyes, before slicing down, sweeping his legs, and then delivering an armor-piercing punch into his helmet.
"Oh. You're here." A bored voice came from behind the cage that sat in the room. "I didn't actually expect that."
"You actually came to save us!" Another excited voice joined.
But there was no third voice. Azula, Katara, Toph, and Zuko looked up. The third person was there. But he didn't say anything. He just looked upon them with confusion.
Then, they removed their helmets.
And Uncle Iroh's eyes became filled with tears. Even through their own misty eyes, Azula and Zuko managed to find the key to the cell, and unlock it.
Their Uncle leaped towards them. They immediately fell into his arms.
"I did not want to believe that you were here. I did not want to believe that you had been captured." He moved back and looked at them through his blurred vision. "But I had hoped that you'd be okay. And I am so happy to see that you are."
"What kind of people would we be if we didn't try and rescue the one person who helped us the most?" Zuko nodded.
"I am glad that you think of me that way."
"It's the least we could do. Now, let's get moving. We need to get out of here as soon as we can." Azula added.
"Yeah, now, how do we do that?" Toph asked.
"My Uncle keeps a hidden hatch here." Mai pointed towards the carpet behind his desk.
"Of course there's a secret door!" Toph exclaimed.
"Where does it lead?" Azula asked.
"The Zepplin hanger. It's our ticket out of here."
Through the hatch, and down a set of spiraling stairs, the Zepplin hanger was barren, thanks to Toph's still ongoing prison riot. And soon, the seven of them were aboard a Zepplin, and watched the once impregnable, invincible boiling rock fade into a haze of mist, and smoke.
...One Month Later...
The courtyard of Ba Sing Se loomed below them as they looked through the windows of the bridge. Most of the group had walked towards the docking bay, leaving Katara and Azula alone.
"You know, it's hard for me to do this." Azula started.
"Do what?" Katara replied. Azula took a deep breath, turned towards her, and held her hand out.
"Thank you." She nodded while Katara shook her hand. "We wouldn't be back here without your help. And even though you tried to kill me so long ago, I realize that it just shows how powerful you really are, and I'm glad to call you my…" she took another deep breath. "Friend…?"
Katara waited a moment, smiled and then nodded.
"We've been through a lot, together, and against each other..." She pulled closer and hugged the Fire Nation Princess. "Sure, friends." Azula shivered at the sudden contact, but after a few moments, returned the embrace with as much enthusiasm as she had received. "Now let's go see what Aang's up to."
"Wait." Azula squeezed Katara's hand. "We haven't seen him in a long time." She smiled. "Let's make itworthwhile."
"…What?"
"Let's do something different this time. For him."
PUBLISHED ON: 06/25/2015
A/N:
Not only for Aang, but for you as well. It has been, a long, long time. Let's see if I still have it in me.
NEXT TIME on A Change of Heart: A special Chapter 36: "A Long Time Coming." (as well as the rest of the story.)
Catch the innuendo.
Thanks for reading!