I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender
Chapter 17
Iroh learned a thing on the journey that was both frightening and helpful, and that thing was the true nature of the helmet Zuko brought all those weeks ago.
It was frightening, because it opened a frightening possibility for Zuko's change. The idea of otherworldly influence corrupting his nephew was something he considered, but with the blue lily test giving no results he abandoned this idea.
This trip showed the spiritual aspect of the helmet, for what else could it be. It made Iroh face the truth that not only did his nephew come to intimate contact with a spirit for weeks no end, but that said spirit was strong enough to resist the blue lilies as if they weren't even there.
People went mad from much lesser spiritual interactions.
To add oil to the fire, for the life of him, he couldn't recognize the alignment of the spirit. Each spirit has alignment of either good or natural, with human deeds responsible of making the spirits dark until their justified due arrive and the spirits return to their natural state.
With his experience, Iroh could pinpoint where the spirit is on the spectrum and what may pacify it in case of going dark. But from the helmet? Nothing. Oh, it looked dark and evil, that was sure. And if Zuko's recent behavior change is of any indication, its influence was far from good. But no dark spirit energy, it's as if the helmet wasn't even a spirit…
At least Iroh had one helpful silver lining. Zuko's change came from the helmet, therefore, removing the helmet will help him go back to his true self. He understood that the path would hardly be that easy, but he was more than ready to make the effort.
Now if he may use the library to find some information about the helmet and its story it would be helpful, if there is one place where he will find answers it's in the great library of Wan Shi Tong. In the case where the spirit wouldn't allow entry, he was more than aware of Wan Shi Tong's falling out with humanity in recent decades as the grand lotus, he at least knows what to look after and will have the order looking for information. It was in the order's interest that the future fire lord will be someone that shares their ideals after all.
His thoughts were put to a hold as the pet his nephew brought with him growled in a single direction again. The men, already experienced with this behavior, prepared for an assault.
Lieutenant Jee took a spying glass and had a look at the same direction Xing pointed, by his expression he was less than happy.
"Look sharp, boys, a company of eight. Enforcers, by the look of it."
There were murmurs among the men, they remembered very well their first (and only) encounter with only one enforcer. Iroh wasn't there, but from the men only one enforcer was enough to take on the entire crew. Eight of them were not even funny.
He also noticed the extremely concerned looks of Mi-Dved and Jasmine. The later seemed to be in some kind of shock, as her face grew extremely pale, and her eyes became unfocused. He will have to treat the girl with his best brew of the tea of her namesake after this is done.
"What are we going to do?"
"One of those freaks almost killed the entire crew, now we need to fight eight of them?"
"We're dead, we're so dead!"
Oh dear, it seemed like he would need to take action.
"Quit! All of you!"
Never mind, it seemed like the lieutenant took command.
"What are you blabbering about?! We won that fight!"
Some, however, did not share his optimism.
"The prince won! Not us!"
"Yeah! And now we are on our own against eight!"
Jee, however, had none of it. He was entrusted to lead and command this unit by the prince, and by Agni he was going to do it.
"Have you forgotten all of our progress?! Have you forgotten about our new equipment?! About all our battle plans for this exact moment?!"
The man now looked uncertainly at each other.
"If you have forgotten, we still have a prince with us, you crying babies!"
The lieutenant pointed at Iroh. Which was somewhat rude, but the old general supposed he could forgive this one time.
"Even the girl is keeping quiet, unlike you wailing men! Now Snap out of it and form formation one three one!"
If there was one way to anger a man, is to punch his ego by comparing him to a girl that is young enough to be his niece.
Some of the men, however, were still cautious.
"But what will we do when they come at us in close combat? With all due respect, sir, excluding the general, we don't stand a chance."
"Then good thing that they wouldn't! Prepare the grapes!"
"But aren't those for emergencies and to use by the prince's orders only?"
"This is an emergency! And at his leave, I'm the commanding officer by his orders. And I say we use the grapes to return them the favor. Now who's with me?!"
"Yeah!"
"We'll blast them out!"
"Yeah! Let them taste their own medicine!"
Iroh knew what those grapes were, a heinous offspring of the very same bomb the enforcer used on the crew at the raid of the island. Except, it was tempered by Zuko's ideas (which now Iroh was sure was actually the helmet's doing).
The bomb had a special concoction of blasting jelly that made the blast fifteen times stronger than the one the one used by the enforcer. If that wasn't enough, the grapes had… well grapes in them, or at least small sharp pieces of metal that would be shot in whatever way the blast made them. Those grapes, then, will tear through flash easy and will add damage even farther than the blast area.
Indeed, a monstrous creation indeed.
It seems, however, that their adversity didn't stay idle. The enforcers continued their advance and now were seen by a naked eye, they seemed to have a cloud of sand as a shield against fire bending and arrows.
To be fair, it was a sound strategy. One that allowed them to bash into close quarters in the most effective way without dancing around the shots. It would be rather ineffective if the earth bender (or benders) wasn't strong enough to hold the shield, but considering the speed of the enforcer's advance, they should be fine against regular troops.
When the enforcers reached Iroh's range, he began to blast them. The blast slowed the men of the desert but didn't stop them. In this time, lieutenant Jee commanded Mi-Dved to do battle move slingshot, in which Mi-Dved covered the grapes with a thin layer of stone to control and monitor the path the projectile will go.
Mi-Dved shot the bomb in an arc to the right. The bomb avoided the shield but was stopped with a shot of sand, not that it did any good as the timer reached zero.
There was a loud explosion and the shield of sand that protected their enemy was no more.
Pain, Toph was in pain.
The plan was simple, create a shield of sand to protect and screen the thugs until they reach the fire nation men and do what they do. It was also simple enough for her to do, a master earth bender like her didn't even break a sweat.
The thugs had her riding in the middle, part of it to protect their shielder and most physically vulnerable, part of it to make sure that she wouldn't run away. Which to be fair, she would have.
The flamethrower that was shot at her was strong, stronger than anything she faced before from a fire bender. Something she should have expected, they hunted the prince of the fire nation, no way he would have trusted weaklings with his protection.
Even then, she continued to keep the shield. By her calculation, they would reach the target much faster than it would take her shield to break. She even stopped a rack that was thrown at them via earth bending.
Why and how did the prince have an earth bender in his ranks was beyond her, either way, the shot was pathetic. She was sure that the earth bender was pathetic as well, because really, what did he hope to achieve with that? Oh, how wrong she was.
When their shots clashed, she felt how the rock ticked inside. And then?
"BOOM!"
A load explosion threw her off her mount and broke her concentration completely. She was now on a sand in a pile of eel hounds and enforcers. As luck would have it, their circling of her kept her as safe as possible.
The ones at the back, faced the bomb head on. She even felt through her earth bending that they had some small sharp things inside them now, some of them would have hit her.
The ones at the front, now beneath her, faced the glass that was created from the flamethrower and the sand. They had no fewer sharp pieces in them than the ones from behind.
With her ears ringing, she could do nothing but hold her head with her hands in pain. She noticed that most of the thugs were starting to stand up and retaliate, it seems that their armor protected them from the worst of the injuries.
She did, however, noticed that two men didn't rise up. Same with the eel hounds, their unarmored skin stood no chance against the blast.
The enforcers were, for the first time she ever saw, in disadvantage. The fire nation soldiers shot all kind of things at them, which Toph had more and more hard time blocking.
She tried to bury the soldiers, but the constant bombardment and the ringing in her ears didn't allow her to concentrate enough for it. One by one, she felt how the enforcers, the terror of the criminal underworld, fell down, never to rise again.
And as their number went down, her desperation went up. For the first time in her life, she actually was fighting, and loosing, to someone who can and will kill her.
Oh, she lost before, and faced opponents that wanted her dead, but never together. When she lost to him, he wasn't planning to actually kill her. When she faced that animal in her test it wanted to kill and eat her, but she was to strong for it.
Now, however? Now she was losing to experienced soldiers and killers that without any doubt will kill her for trying to kill the prince. She was afraid, terrified, she didn't want to die!
At that moment, the last of the enforcers went down, and she lost control and went berserk.
"Can't die! Can't die! CAN'T DIE!"
Zuko flied back to the surface and was immediately greeted with the scene of battle. He saw his men spread out on their Komodo-rhinos and target a single spot.
He flew next to the Komodo-rhino of lieutenant Jee, so both men's eyes now were in the same height.
"Lieutenant, what's the situation?"
"A group of eight enforcers came from the east. With Xing's sense of smell, we got an early warning and managed to lay a trap, putting the enemy in disadvantage."
"We continued bombardment according to plan 'Extinguish' and now close to finishing off the remnants of the enemy."
"Well done, lieutenant."
"Thank you, sir. We unfortunately had to use a grape for this."
"You made the decision, how would you grade the bomb?"
"Fantastic, sir, the power and efficiency of the bomb are like nothing I had seen before. I, however, would recommend against using it in close quarters or in closed space, your highness."
"Noted."
In that same moment, the very earth shook beneath their feet as a voice was heard.
"CAN'T DIE!"
The sands quickly began to rise up as a storm of sand was forming. After a look around, he quickly recognized the culprit as the last enforcer standing.
The last one was strange compared to the others. It was small, smaller even than Jasmine if he had to guess. From what he could see, the mask on that guy had no eyelid and no way to see. When he combined the high level of earth bending, he concluded that this guy may very well be the gnome Shen warned about.
The gnome attacked now without any rhyme or reason, he had to bring the men, and Jasmine, into formation before they are all buried.
"Men! To me!"
With Sai's enhanced voice, Zuko was able to rally everyone around him.
"Mi-Dved! Can you do something about the sandstorm?"
"Sorry, this is way over my head!"
"Shelter."
"Move to the side of the library! Use it as a windshield!"
Zuko ordered.
All of them quickly moved to the library.
"What now? Should we enter?"
This time it was Jasmine who asked, and his uncle who answered.
"We don't know how long the sandstorm will be, it may bury us with the library. Besides, our mounts will have no way to enter."
"You have an idea, sir?"
One of the soldiers asked.
His uncle played with his beard as he answered.
"My best idea is just to wait and wither the sandstorm. We may be able to create a glass bubble with our fire bending as a hiding place until the earth bender exhausts themselves."
Zuko, and the rest made a face. None of them really liked the idea of hiding inside glass made walls.
'Sai, any ideas?'
"Some. Every storm like this has an eye, a place where the wind is almost null, the most likely place the enemy is in. fly with the wind and you will reach it."
"I have a plan, but you're not going to like it."
"What is it, sir?"
"The earth bender, he most likely inside the sandstorm, right in the middle of its eye. I can use my fire bending to fly with the wind up high and reach it, there I will Smash the enforcer from above."
"Absolutely not! Nephew, there are hundred things that could go wrong, starting with flying in a sandstorm!"
"Well, we can't wait either! We will be buried inside a glass prison in the best situation!"
"No! I refuse to allow you to do it!"
"And you have a better solution? You can't really fly so well."
Zuko looked at his uncle's belly.
"Besides."
Sai closed the helmet completely.
"I'm not asking permission."
Zuko then flew above and was almost immediately whisked by the wind.
"Zuko!"
The screams of his uncle and the others quickly were overwhelmed by the shrieking of the wind and sand in his ears… wait, he could hear in his left ear again? Question for later.
For now, his main concern was to navigate in the sandstorm. He could see nothing as the sand obscured his vision and the sand grains had enough force in them to saw through his flash, luckily, he had Sai.
The helmet showed him the surroundings, which way to fly so go up and which way had the least resistance. The armor saved him from being grinded to sand himself, the enhanced steel stood strong against the desert winds.
Then, after what felt like hours, he followed the green path and saw the sky.
He was above the storm now, higher than any man have been since the start of the war. He doubted that anyone but an air bender could reach this height.
As he looked down, he could see the sandstorm. It was huge in size, but like Sai said, it had an eye in the middle of it. When he looked down at it, Sai's enchanted vision allowed him to see the enforcer in the middle of it.
The man was throwing waves of sand around randomly and Zuko had a concerning suspicion that the storm wasn't an intended results but more of an aftereffect of the random waves of sand.
"She has an incredible amount of energy."
"She?!"
"Yes, it's a girl under the armor."
"What?! Never mind. We're here, what's now?"
"We fly down and meet her head on. I will guide you in your decent."
Zuko then shot through the eye. He pulled his entire strength in his fire bending, and his speed made him look like a meteor or a shooting star.
With a speed that excided nearly anything in the world, Zuko smashed into the enforcer. It seems like she sensed something, maybe heard him approach, and raised a quick barrier above her.
It helped little as Zuko tore through it with relative ease. His armored fist made contact with her helmet in a load bang and continued to push the head into the sand.
The storm around them dissolved almost immediately, as the shockwave and the fall of the enforcer took hold.
Zuko was on his knees now with his hands supporting him, breathing heavily. That last attack took everything that was left of his energy.
"Huff… huff…"
"You did well, your highness. You can be proud."
"Zuko! Zuko!"
He heard his uncle, and the others call his name as they ran to his direction.
"Nephew! Are you fine?!"
Surprisingly, his uncle was the first to reach him. Iroh knelt next to him and held both hands on Zuko's shoulders.
"Fine… just tired…"
The rest of the men, and Jasmine, had reached him by that time.
"Your highness, do you require assistance?"
"Here, have something to drink."
"Let me see if you have any injuries , my prince."
"Thanks…"
Zuko greedily took the water sack and drank its content, his helmet off the head for now. A komodo-rhino had sat there to allow Zuko to lean on something as Jasmine took care of any injury he may have.
"Sir, what will we do with the bodies and the prisoner?"
Lieutenant Jee asked.
"Prisoner?"
Mi-Dved brought the unconscious body of the short enforcer that created this sandstorm. Now that Zuko had the time and strength to look at her, he was surprised how young she looked.
The girl couldn't be older than ten years old, maybe eleven. She had black hair that was tied with a green bun and light skin. Her eyes were closed, and it looked like she was sleeping.
"Search her for anything that may be used as a weapon and tie her in both the arms, legs and elbows, tight, I have no desire for a second round."
"Yes, sir."
"What is the state of our troops?"
"A little bruits, but no one was seriously hurt. Lady Jasmine was a great help in patching the men up."
Jee nodded at the mentioned girl that tended a scratch Zuko got from some sand that got inside his armor. Jasmine nodded and smiled in return.
At the same moment, he heard the noise of Xing 's bark, as well as a grunt of a large beast. When he turned, he saw a surprising sight.
Xing herded the rest of the Komodo-rhinos in a group, but that wasn't the most surprising part. What did surprise Zuko, was that each beast had a body of an enforcer in its mouth and dragged it with them.
"Don't take it in the wrong way, Zuko, but your pet has an unhealthy obsession with bringing back corpses."
Mi-Dved commented.
The rest couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Zuko opened his arms and Xing immediately jumped at him and licked his face with passion.
Zuko patted the hellhound in return.
After a few minutes, he put on his helmet once again.
'Ok, Sai, what's now?'
"First, we should write a message to the old owl for anything that may help us identify the people who stole from him. We need to keep an eye on them in case they become an obstacle in our way or worse, messing with things they can't control."
'Very well. What would we do with the bodies?'
"Oh, I have an idea~"
Zuko led the way when they entered the helmet again. This time, they were greeted with fear and respect. It may or may not have been because of the enforcer bodies that were dragged by the Komodo-rhinos.
The people that once looked at him and his group with apprehension, but also with great greed, are now trembling and hiding under whatever cover they could find.
"Have to say, it's a much better welcome then last time. We should bring enforcer bodies more often, maybe Xing did have the right idea after all."
Mi-Dved said next to him, Zuko couldn't help but snort in agreement.
After a while, they reached the bar. Zuko had the same group as before going inside for supply, the sandstorm spoiled their last batch rather thoroughly.
Inside, the old man that was in charge of this place shook in fear, it seems like someone already told him about Zuko's arrival.
"W-welcome, m-my lord. H-how can I h-help?"
"Hello, we're here to resupplying again. Do you think you have some to spare… oh, I never got your name."
"S-salut, sir. Yes, of course you can have whatever you want!"
"Oh, now, now, there is no need for that."
Zuko feigned concern.
"I understand that we were on our left feet last time. And I do feel bad about not paying, even if you didn't ask me to. Please have this as a compensation, both for the payment of last time and of this time."
Two of Zuko's men brought to the table a battered armor of one of the enforcers, it landed with a thud on the table.
"As you must know, this is an enforcer armor. It belonged to one of the idiots that tried to ambush my men and I. Wonder how did they know were we went?"
Zuko enjoyed the pale color that the usually tan man before him had. With all the wrinkles and other imperfections on his face, he now looked like a leper.
Yet, Zuko was merciful and continued the conversation without pushing more, the message had been received after all.
"Of course, naturally, any weapons the thug had were confiscated."
"N-naturally."
The men completed the transformation of all the supply they needed to go back and didn't take more. Zuko may dislike the man and the entire hamlet, but he didn't want the people to starve to death.
"Oh, and by the way, can you pass to Mi-Sha something for me? Tell him that if he's so interested in me, he should cut off the middleman and just do it himself."
The shopkeeper gave some incoherent noises that Zuko decided to take as a yes.
"Do you want to say something?"
Zuko turned his gaze to Jasmine, who stood next to him.
"Why, yes. If you'd be so kind, could you pass a message to prince Ali in the same breath?"
She said in a charming voice.
"Please tell him that both my brother and I are safe and sound, and that we are quite happy. Do tell him that I hope he found another girl as I have found a better man."
She than warp her arm around Zuko's.
"I believe that it would be all."
"Then we'll be off, have a nice day Salut."
Zuko turned around and waved dismissingly at the old man.
"Y-you to m-my lord…"
As they left the bar, Zuko had to ask his female companion something.
"Prince Ali?"
"Just one of the many creeps that stalked me back in Amora. He's the son of the vazir of the coliseum and thinks the sun shines from his butt because of it."
"Should we be concerned?"
Jasmine thought a little.
"No, I don't think so. He is vain and petty, but also a cowered. He wouldn't dare pick up a fight unless he has the upper hand, at least as long as he doesn't have a tantrum. He wouldn't dare to go against you."
"Very well, I'll write him on the 'maybe someone to worry about' list."
Jasmine hummed as they both rose to their respective mount and rode out of the hamlet.
"Argh…"
Toph woke with a killer headache. She tried to move from side to side and nurse her poor head with her hands but discovered that she couldn't move at all.
Her earth bending told her that not only was she tied in her arms and legs, but each limb was bent and tied tight. She couldn't move a muscle.
Then she heard some old man's voice.
"Oh, it seems like our guest had woken up."
"Wha-"
Then she remembered everything, the mission, the attack, the load explosion, then she didn't remember much except a painful sensation in her head.
"No!"
She began to panic and trash about, terrified of what the fire nation soldiers would do to her. She tried to reach her bending, but with no limbs to move and the exhaustion from the battle, she couldn't lift even a pebble.
"She's trying to escape!"
"Stop her before she summons another sandstorm!"
"Quite!"
The same first voice that she heard was now much harsher.
"Here, has some tea. It will help you calm, we mean no harm."
With her feet tied and off the ground, she had no way to check if the man was telling the truth.
"Oh, yeah? Because it sure doesn't look like it. How do I even know that the tea isn't poisoned?"
"Because if I wanted you dead, there were plenty of opportunities to make it so while you were unconscious."
A new commanding voice of a man spoke. Toph didn't miss how the voice spoke "I" and not "we". Clearly, he was the one in command, and there could be only one person in the entire world who could be the owner of the voice.
The man was none other than the fire prince himself, the man she was sent to kill or maim. Somehow it didn't help her calm down at all.
"Sit her so she could drink."
The same voice commanded as she felt armored hands grab her shoulder and sat her on her knees, at least her feet now touched the ground.
She allowed herself to take a few sips of the tea the old man offered her. It did help her calm, and it felt good on her dry throat as well.
The old man started to speak.
"Now that we all calmed down a little, would you mind answering a few of our questions, young lady?"
Oh, so the interrogation begins. To be fair, she expected that. It also was much nicer than what she had in mind.
"Let's started with a name, shall we. How should we call you, young lady?"
"Poppy"
There was no way she was going to tell her real name to her fire nation captors.
*Shank*
Before she could even react, a claw came from the man she figured to be the prince and sliced millimeters right her head. She could feel her ribbon cut off and her hair now freely down on her shoulder.
"Zuko!"
The old man cried in dismay.
"Lie to me again, and it will be the last thing you will do."
She was frozen in shock. The voice came from the prince, but it sounded deferent, deeper, more commanding, more evil…
She decided not to test the guy and told her real name.
"T-Toph."
"Very well, Toph, why did you attack us?"
The prince, Zuko, thankfully retreated his claw and used his normal voice.
"Mi-Sha wanted you gone, ok?! It's not like I can say no to him."
Wait, do they even know who Mi-Sha is?
"I see… what brings us to my next question. How did you, a ten? Eleven? Year old managed to be in an elite hit squad of the most nutritious criminal in this side of the map?"
Never mind.
"He saw me at 'earth rumble' and decided that I was worth it, he kidnapped me from my home right after."
"Poor girl."
The old man commented.
"I see. Then why didn't you escape then? You had more than enough power to do so."
"You think I hadn't thought of it?! Well, I did! Every night! But I couldn't! He told me that he would kill my parents!"
That kept everyone quiet.
"Besides, it's not like a blind girl can walk home from some spot at the desert."
"I have been meaning to ask you about it. You act as if you know exactly were everyone and everything is located, how?"
"I… well- "
Toph didn't know how to answer the prince's question. On one side, she didn't want them to know how she did what she did, on the other side, she really didn't want to anger the prince again.
"You 'see' with your earth bending, aren't you ? Sensing movement on the ground through your feet?"
How in the world?
"How?"
"Well, you are an earth bender, so the answer obviously lies there. From there, this isn't much work to guess."
"Oh…"
Now it did sound stupid. No wander Mi-Sha figured it out so easily.
"I must say, this is impressive. Both your sense and your level of bending are better than any earth bender I have seen, sorry Mi-Dved."
The prince looked at the bid man to his right, who shrugged in acceptance.
"Are you sure you are ten years old?"
A little of her confidence was returning to her.
"What can I say, I'm just that good. They don't call me the strongest earth bender alive for nothing, you know."
Actually, with Mi-Sha beating her that may not be true, but he cheated and a criminal so that doesn't count.
"Not enough to beat Zuko, apparently."
The man that Zuko called Mi-Dved mumbled.
"Yeah… I don't remember much, what happened?"
"Well, after you created the sandstorm –"
"Wait, wait, wait, sandstorm?!"
"Hm? Yes, didn't you intend to?"
"No, I just wanted you to go away… Was it big?"
"Huge. Anyway, after you created your sandstorm, I flew with the winds using my fire bending until I rose about it and reached the eye of the storm. From there, I fell down like a shooting star and smacked you on the head strong enough to break your helmet."
"We still have some fragments of it if you want."
"Nha, keep it. I don't want to 'see' this thing ever again."
"Very well. Now you said you worked under Mi-Sha, right? What can you tell us about him?"
"Well-"
Toph was cut off as she felt pressure in her lower belly.
"Aham… can I… Go to… the toilet before?"
The prince looked at her for a second. Then just as quickly as before, he slashed with his claw and cut off the rope that tied her legs together. He also cut the ropes that didn't allow her to unbend her knees, so now she could walk properly.
"Jasmine, walk with her to the latrine. If she does something even remotely suspicious, scream."
"Chief, are you sure about this?"
Bato, his second in command asked him.
Hakoda and his men were now in "borrowed" fire nation armor hiding near a place of ill repute.
He told them about his plan to make the prince and the crime lord bash each other's heads, and it was received with mixed feelings. On one hand, they all liked the idea of those two killing themselves, on the other hand…
"I myself don't like the idea to impersonate a fire nation soldier, Bato, but sometimes sacrifices mast be made."
They acted as loyal soldiers of the prince that are about to bust an illegal gambling den that belongs by proxy to none other than Mi-Sha. This will no doubt cause the big brute to return a favor to the prince and will give them more reasons to kill each other.
"Besides, don't think about it as helping the fire nation, think about it as saving all those poor people that their life got ruined by this place and be a man that your family can be proud of."
"*sigh* Damn it, you have a way with words, chief."
"I know."
Hakoda smiled before his face got serious again.
"Are all the men in position?"
His second in command nodded.
"Good, in this case-"
Hakoda blew his horn, and the men started their raid.
"Freeze!"
"Hands on the wall!"
"This is a raid!"
"You are all arrested by the name of prince Zuko!"
Hakoda walked inside as his men rounded the people to the wall and took care of anyone who showed resistance. A smartly dressed man walked with quick steps towards him.
"Pardon me, sir, what do you think your doing?!"
"What does it looks like we're doing? We're shutting down this place for good!"
"WHAT!? How dare you! On who's orders?!"
"Are you deft or retard? I just told you it was the prince!"
"He has no right! This is a perfectly legal establishment!"
Smarty pants got a fist to the liver as a response.
After a minute or so, Smarty got his bearing.
"Y-you c-can't do this… this is earth kingdom territory…"
"You think we care?! If there is fire nation presence, there is fire nation jurisdiction!"
"D-do you even know w-who you mess with? Once my boss hears about this-"
Another fist was sent to the other kidney this time.
"We know all about that fat slob you call boss. Rest assure, the prince has a plan for your retard Mi-Sha."
"YOUR'E A DEAD MAN, YOU HEAR! DEAD MEN ALL OF YOU!"
Hakoda had enough with the guy, so he knocked Smarty out with a well-placed punch to the face. Some teeth may or may not have flown.
One of his men went to him.
"Aham… commander…"
Stuttering, well that can't be good, at list he stayed in character and didn't call him chief.
"What is it, soldier?"
"We… had some unexpected developments."
"Of, what?"
The man pointed at the one of the doors who now had a flow of poor conditioned people coming out of it.
"The place had a trafficking ring as well as gambling, apparently. The people are asking what will we do with them now."
Damn it, what mess did he put himself into now?
Unbelievable, simply unbelievable, Toph was a treasury of information.
The girl had photographic memory of all the tunnels she was in (and those she wasn't in as well) and rich knowledge about how Mi-Sha acts, how his men work, even on which side of the bed he prefers to sleep. Zuko and the others had no heart to ask her how she knew the last one.
"And he has this weird thing that when he puts his hand down, suddenly you feel pressure on you and go down as well. I have no idea what that may be."
'Sai?'
"I have some guesses but without farther study I can't bring conclusive results."
'And what shall we do with her?'
"Oh, we must have her by our side at any cost, her raw power and talent at earth bending is too much to ignore. I, however, suggest we use honey with her. Antagonizing the girl will force us to kill her, and this will be a waist of both resources and talent."
"So what now?"
Toph asked.
"Sorry?"
"What now? I mean, technically I'm your prisoner so what will happen to me?"
"Oh… I don't really know. To be fair, I was ready at first to interrogate and execute you once you told me everything."
He noticed how the girl paled.
"Then, I noticed that you were just a kid, so I thought maybe put you in some school or other facility like that. Probably would have had you earth bend a few settlements to compensate the ones you destroyed, even if you were forced to."
Zuko raised his hand once he noticed Toph was about to open her mouth.
"Now after hearing your story, I'm not quite sure. To be frank, I really don't want to force you to do anything, although the part with the village building is still highly recommended for your therapy if nothing else."
"You also probably want to go back to your parents."
"My parents! I completely forgot! He told me that he is going to kill them if I break free!"
"Let her be the one to make the offer."
"Please, help me! I will do anything!"
"Hook."
"Well, I can send a few men, or a battalion, to retrieve them. I know an island that will have enough security to keep them safe from Mi-Sha, if they would like to go there. But even I can't just do whatever I please, I'm on bad terms with my own father as is. And as much as I feel you, is it really worth the risk for someone who a day ago tried to kill me?"
"T-they wouldn't just go, but if you let me talk to them, they may listen. Please!"
Toph now fell on her knees.
"Line."
"I suppose I could try, but it will bring me a heavy blow both in manpower and reputation to waist so many resources on three people that could have been spent for the war effort. I will need some very successful campaigns and PR operations to get people off my back, dad may actually disown me for that."
"I can fight for you, build for you, whatever you want! You wouldn't be sorry, I promise!"
"And snicker. Now wrap this with honey and seal the deal."
"Ok, ok! You convinced me! You can stand up now, please!"
Toph did as she was told.
"Listen, I wouldn't force you to do anything you don't want to. I'm not Mi-Sha, ok?"
She nodded.
""No then, let's meet your parents. What's their name by the way?"
"Lao and Poppy Beifong."
"Now this is interesting."
"Wh-"
"-at is the meaning of this!"
Mi-Sha was angry, no, he was furious!
How dare that upstart little disgrace of a prince do this! And in his own desert as well!
He was looking now at the corpses of the men he sent to take care of his newest headache hanging on a noose in the entrance of a hamlet like some common thieves that rubbed the wrong person. And for all to see!
The disrespect! The audacity! He was going to skin that brat alive for that!
People are starting to lose fear of him, oh no one was stupid enough to show it, but he saw that some started to fear that brat more then him. He can't allow it!
To add insult to injury, The brat took his own prized horse. The blow to both his ego, and his standing, was severe.
"Prepare the men."
He told the enforcers behind him.
"This means war."
He will listen to the brat's advice from the, now dead, barkeeper. He will cut off the middleman and gut the brat himself.
In the sands of the desert near the library, a metal arm finally busted out from the sand that buried it in the sandstorm.
AN
And this is the end of chapter 17
Toph had joined the party!
How did you think I handled the fight? Just to remember, Toph is just a ten year old.
What about the interaction with her and Zuko? in the end, she's really just a kid that went well over hear head in this one.
Now for the reviews:
deniswanheda :
Glad you liked the setting I had with Wan Shin Tong.
Sokka had to get his wits from somewhere, and you cand lead a ragtag group against the strongest military in the world for years without being smart and vicious.
Anyway, be sure to write what you think about the chapter and the story. Don't be afraid to share what you think could and should happen.