Sokka's hand on Toph's waist let her know that they had reached the dance floor. The band was playing some catchy, upbeat semi-ballad, and it was easy to grin and enjoy the music. Sokka grinned just as easily. Dancing was one of his favourite things to do with Toph, and incidentally something they hardly ever had occasion to do. As with everything else she did, Toph excelled at dancing beyond anyone's expectations, using her seismic sense and powerful hearing to enjoy the music without apprehension, and using her martial arts prowess and a natural, unselfconscious rhythm to move just as beautifully and expressively as any sighted dancer. The thing Sokka enjoyed most about dancing with her was the unbridled joy she seemed to feel while doing it, and there was nothing he wanted more than to see Toph happy. He too felt a gnawing sense that there could be more to their relationship than there was, and that it would be caring and fun, and as natural as breathing, but he pushed it back, afraid of changing any dynamics in their perfect friendship.
As usual, people turned to watch when they danced. It was something people expected of Sokka, but not of the stoic Chief Beifong, especially not when she was blind and barefoot and in the heavy armour of her police uniform. Only Aang, Katara, Zuko and Mai continued to dance, and it was somehow fitting that it was just them, just the gang, together again. Somewhere a camera flashed, and then another two flashes followed it. Sokka made a mental note to check the papers the following week and see if he could get a good clipping of the photo, if they published it.
He had a secret clipping of he and Toph that he kept in his desk, taken by one of the journalists in the courtroom just after everyone came to following Yakone's massive bloodbending stunt. The moment Sokka had come to, his first concern had been Toph; the first thing he had been able to remember was Yakone forcing him to watch as Toph's body was manipulated into uncuffing the criminal before being tossed to the ground. The journalist had snapped a photo of Sokka holding an unconscious Toph in his arms, while he tried to wake her. It had enforced support for Aang's actions, even when many of the city's outspoken critics had spoken against his unprecedented removal of Yakone's bending abilities.
The song was winding down to some sort of bridge; Toph had lost track of how long they'd been dancing, but she was just thinking that she should check in with Wan when she sensed a triple earthbending vibration, followed by a double, and then nothing. That was her benders' signal if anything was out of the ordinary, that she needed checking out. After the first Republic gala, when she had underestimated just how loud party people could be, she had instated the protocol so that she would know immediately if something important was going down.
"Sokka, Sergeant Lee just signalled me at the east entrance," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders, as he dropped his liberated right hand to her waist.
"Better go check it out ju-" his answer was cut off by a large bang - to Toph it sounded like King Kuei's fireworks, but she assumed that it was actually some sort of explosive.
"Smoke bombs!" said Sokka. He dropped his hands from her waist, and she could tell by his movement that he was reaching for his sword. She changed her stance to enhance her seismic sense, but in all the confusion, with dozens of pairs of stomping in panic, all she could really see was Wan running out through the west exit. He shouldn't have been anywhere near the west exit, which disturbed Toph, but nonetheless, she was hoping he was running for reinforcements. She could tell that her nonbenders were all unmoving – only unconscious, she hoped -but the strategic locations where she had placed her metalbenders were chaotic - the only exit she could see with her earthbending was the west exit through which Wan had disappeared, and soon that one was blurry as well.
"What the..." she said out loud. Sokka coughed; it sounded muffled, and she realised he must be covering his mouth with a free arm, and did the same. The last thing she needed was to pass out from smoke inhalation.
"Sokka..." she stammered, before being overcome with a quiet but powerful coughing fit. Too late! She hoped Sokka had heard her - people seemed to screaming and scrambling towards the exits, where Toph lost sight of them. She could feel that Aang, Katara, Zuko and Mai had remained on the dance floor with her and Sokka.
"What is it Toph? I can't see a damn thing." Great, he had heard her over all the tumult.
"Me *cough* neither! The exits are blurry, can you see what's going on?"
She heard Sokka call out, "Aang, clear the air in here, we can't see a thing!" and subsequently felt a gust of air so strong it would've blown her off her feet had she not been holding an earthbending stance.
"Toph," said Sokka, "they have some sort of device attached to some of the walls. It looks... it looks like they're vibrating?"
Toph's eyes widened in anger at the cheap tactic, and - she had to admit it - fear. "My officers?"
"It looks like they're all incapacitated."
"Incapacitated? Dead or unconscious?!"
Another explosion went off, and Toph felt involuntary tears slide down her cheeks as whatever was in the bombs hit her sinuses.
"I don't know! I don't even know who's throwing those bombs!"
"Who cares?" came Zuko's voice from behind her. She heard a whistle not far from her left ear and realised that Mai had thrown a knife.
"Mai!" she shouted, "what do you see?!"
"Not much." said Mai. "I'm just throwing knives and hoping to shed some blood!"
Toph noticed another projectile fly past her, this time from the opposite direction, and on her right side. She heard a distinctly female grunt, and a massive splash as Katara's suspended cache of bending water hit the ground and soaked her feet, followed by a worried "Katara!" from Aang. "It looks like a tranquilizer da-", Aang said, breaking off with a grunt, and then Toph heard and felt his body crumbles to the ground.
She heard a distant voice from somewhere behind them shout "Avatar Aang!" and heard the hiss of a firebender arming themselves with a pair of flames.
"Who's that?" she asked.
"The band," replied Zuko, "it appears the singer is a firebender, and the bass player is an earthbender. They've jumped off the bandstand to help us."
Toph heard footsteps, seven men by the sounds of it (unless one of them had a peg leg), coming towards them from the back of the ballroom, and taking a praying mantis stance she disposed of four of the assailants with her infamous ease, discarding Republic City's emergency procedures and tearing up the expensive carpeting to send heavy slabs of earth up at them. It was impressive, considering that her seismic sense was rendered useless. She could hear Zuko and the singer from the band throwing flames, but they weren't quick enough though.
She heard Zuko and Mai crumple behind her, and a mutter from Sokka - solely for her benefit - "More tranquilizers."
She took out two of the remaining attackers, using pieces of the liberated earth from her previous attacks, and felt rocks fly over her head, presumably from the band's bassist - if Sokka's commentary were to be believed - before the last enemy was dispatched.
She couldn't feel vibrations of anyone besides Sokka and the four musicians - two of them in fighting stance, two of them cowering on the bandstand - in the ballroom, although she could sense the breathing of her unconscious friends, incapacitated officers, and the surviving assailants. All of the gala's other guests had departed in the stampede that had impaired Toph's sight after the smoke bombs were deployed. The fight, it seemed, was over as quickly as it had begun.
"Is that it?" she asked, turning to Sokka, who at that moment shouted, "Toph, look out!"
Before she could begin to even register what he had said, she felt an enormous searing pain tear through the right side of her back, beside her ribs.