Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Nickelodeon, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone.
AN at the end.
Chapter 10 The Worst Kept Secret.
As the days went on, Azula's recovery aboard the ship expedited. Connor removed the strands of silk that he'd used to sew her flesh together with, (a horrifying experience, seeing strings being pulled from her skin,) and the exterior of the wound scabbed over with only a few days of meditative breathing exercises to accelerate her healing with chi flow. Still... Azula felt a soreness within her as she meditated.
When she'd eventually got around to writing a proper letter to her father explaining the situation, Azula downplayed the events that had unfolded, citing her being shot as the result of the weapon's effectiveness more than anything, and embellishing her recovery. She made sure to commend Connor for saving her life, (just in case her father wanted him dead for desecrating her) and urged the court to reconsider the nation's stance on surgical intervention, if for the sake of pragmatism.
Azula questioned Conner about the procedure when she'd written the letter, and he admitted that he had stuck something in her body during surgery. In place of the bullet he removed, silk strands were being used to hold a vein and part of her bowels together. She was confident that the dull pain meant that she was healthy, but the idea, that pieces of string would remain inside of her for another two years, Azula shivered amid her meditation at the thought. It was disturbing, regardless of what she told her father.
Connor estimated the wound would completely heal in two weeks or so, but his word did little to reassure her. "Have faith." He'd said. Faith, Azula scoffed mentally, her meditation being interrupted once again.
Suddenly a headache overcame her, and she pulled her hand away from her center to hold her head. What began as a dull throb, turned into a skull splitting and intense sharp piercing through her forehead, like a nail being hammered into her. Curling forward and clutching her head, until it found the mat she was seated on, Azula felt tears stream down her face. There was a flash of light through her vision.
Looking down from above, Azula could see Connor dressed in shades of blue and white, falling, back down, into a grassy marsh. His face was wrinkled with age. Connor looked well into his forties. Blood pooled in the water beneath him, as he clutched tightly to a musket, the sound of gunfire echoing in the air as more men surrounded him.
Pulling her head away from the floor, the pain was gone, and her sight returned. Azula took three deep breaths. "That was..." Azula trailed off, before looking over at the box of pain medicine that the ship's doctor had given her, Azula shivered. Yes that was all her vision was, an opium dream, nothing more.
The ship they sailed traveled into the western great lake of the Earth Kingdom, where it docked for repairs and to deliver it's royal passengers.
It was well understood that The Avatar was going to attempt to ally himself with the Earth King, and train in earth bending behind the safety of the city's walls. To reach him, the walls would first need to be breached. As much as Azula hated to admit it, War Minister Qin's drill project was likely their best bet at getting into the city in a timely manner.
The team set out the day after making port, and met with Minister Qin, along with the Fire Nation's Third and Fourth Army Group, (over a million men in total) on it's approach to the city. They boarded the drill, the attack's tip of the spear, at half past noon. Connor was amazed at the enormous metal structure. So new was he to the idea of steam power still, that a machine of such size impressed him.
"I take it the Army's plans of attacking the walls with cannons fell through?" Azula asked War Minister Qin, as she, Mai, Ty Lee and Conner were led through the metal halls of the machine by him and a small detachment of fire benders.
"The one's in current inventory were unable to do more than dent the walls Princess." Qin said.
"Did you try shooting over the wall?" Connor asked, as the group moved into the command room, which not moments later was elevated to sit above the drill.
"For a short while, yes actually. But with high arcs of cannon fire, we had no way to accurately judge what our cost to effect ratio was on the other side. There was an attempt to undermine the walls, as the former General Iroh once did, but all mining and demolition teams were buried by the benders in the Earth King's Army. Until such a time that the Fire Nation can produce a cannon large enough to do substantial damage to Ba Sing Se's walls, this drill, this marvel of scientific ingenuity is our current best bet to invade the city." Qin said.
Connor rolled his eyes. Grand as the drill was, Admiral Zhao had made a blunder that cost him victory, despite also possessing a marvel of scientific ingenuity, as Qin did.
"Once we tunnel through the wall, our troops will flood into the city, and from there nothing can stop the Fire Nation from claiming the Earth Kingdom." Qin said.
"Hmmmmm. What about those muscle-y guys down there?" Ty Lee asked, as she looked through a periscope integrated into the command room, finding men sitting in trenches in front of the wall.
"Please, the drill's metal shell is impervious to any earth bending attack." Qin said, as he wrapped his knuckle on the closest surface.
"Oh, I'm sure it is, War Minister… But just to be on the safe side. Mai, Ty Lee, Connor. Take the earth benders out." Azula said, as she sat up straight in her chair.
"Finally something to do." Mai said.
Connor took his musket off his shoulder, and turned towards the door. "This wouldn't be a problem if you brought the infantry with you, War Minister." He said snidely, before exiting with the girls.
As Mai and Ty Lee dispatched the elite team of earth benders who had surged forward to try stopping the drill, Connor instead exited the giant boring machine at a top hatch near the front, and cut off the team's attempted retreat after sliding down a rappelling cable. He deduced the leader was the one weaning the most distinctive uniform, having a green tail of cock feathers sticking out of his metal conical hat, and issued a command to him.
"Surrender now, or die!" Connor said loudly to their leader. The only response was a rock sent in his direction. Connor rolled out of the way, knelled, and pointed his musket at the man, who just lowered his head down as if his hat would protect him. Connor fired, and the lead bullet ripped right through the thin metal helmet. The team's commander fell, and the men still standing entered a panic, before surrendering. Their retreat was halted there.
The injured were left to fend for themselves, and those who surrendered were taken prisoner.
Atop Ba Sing Se's outermost wall after the Terra Team's attack, Team Avatar had gathered in the hastily created infirmary along with the commanding general who they'd met.
"Oh my!" The general said, having lifted the sheet away from the Terra Team's commanding officer. The lieutenant's head was split open like a smashed gourd, what was left of his brain leaked out in places. "His armor did nothing to protect him." The General said, putting the sheet back. "What could have caused this?"
"A Thunderstick." Sokka said, holding his own weapon out for the General to see. "A Fire Nation weapon. It throws a ball, or balls, of lead so fast that it can smash ice or brittle stone, and punches right through thin metal." Sokka said.
"Do all Fire Nation soldiers carry these now?" The General asked.
"So far as I've seen maybe less than a eighth of them would have one. But that was months ago during the siege of the north, when they were brand new." Sokka said.
The general turned to the living man who Katara was attempting to heal. "And what about the ones who survived? He doesn't even look injured."
"His chi is blocked. Who did this to you? What happened down there?" Katara asked.
"Two girls attacked us from the front. One of the girls hit us with a bunch of quick jabs, and suddenly I couldn't bend, or even move. Then this big white ugly freak surprised us from behind with a weapon of some sort, and killed the lieutenant without even getting near him." The soldier said, as he regained feeling in his arm.
Katara thought back to who she knew that fit both given descriptions. "Ty Lee. She doesn't look dangerous, but she knows the human body and it's weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside. I don't know the other one's name, but he's their group's muscle."
"Cahnor, is what he was called when we fought last." Aang added.
"Right… Cahnor's sort of like their attack polar-dog, but with a boom tube, or whatever it's called. He's big and scary, but slow and cumbersome." Katara said.
Sokka's eyes went wide with an idea. "Oh, oh, oh, oh. I've got a plan!"
"Well what is it?" Aang asked.
"This drill is huge, something like that's got to require a lot of precise engineering to even stay standing. If we can get inside, and break a few of it's support structures, the whole thing will collapse under it's own weight." Sokka said.
"You got all that from chi paths and polar dogs?" The General asked.
"What can I say, I have a knack for thinking outside the box." Sokka said with a shrug.
Back inside the control room, Ty Lee, who was passing the time by looking through the periscope, spotted something weird. "Hey, look at that dust cloud. It's so poofy."
Azula looked out the window of the control room and then at War Minister Qin. "There wouldn't happen to be any points of access underneath the drill would there?" She asked.
Minister Qin glanced between Azula and Connor. "Just one, a maintenance entrance. But it would be suicide for anyone to go between the treads of this drill while it's moving."
As Sokka, Aang and Katara silently crept through the ship's interior, the water tribe body held his thunderstick low, trying to avoid poking the barrel out around corners and doorways before he could see around them. Additionally it was becoming a pain to maneuver in the tight halls with such a long weapon.
"I need some schematics or something." Sokka said, as he looked around, finding a valve sticking off of a pipe. He slammed the butt stock of his thunderstick into it, knocking the valve loose, filling the room with steam.
One frozen engineer later, courtesy of his sister, and Sokka had a set of plans for the machine's inner workings. "OK, so it looks like this thing has two separate sections. The outer shell, which is the armor and moving parts, and the inner core, which is where all the engines and critical components are. If we weaken these support beams connecting the core to the outer layer, the entire inside of the machine will fall right out of its skin under its own weight."
In the command room, two reports came over the acoustic announcement system at the same time. "War Minister, an engineer has been found frozen in one of the transmission rooms, and his schematics have been stolen!" Connor looked up from his sword sharpening.
"War Minister, support braces in the main body have been cut into! It's sabotage sir!" Azula shot a look at the back of Minister Qin's head.
"Let's go ladies." Azula said, as her team left the room.
Connor shook his head at the War Minister. "Suicide, eh?"
Azula rushed out into the main body with her companions, finding The Avatar and the snow savages with him. Recognizing that the tribal boy had his gun with him, she sent a stream of flames in his direction first. "DUCK!" He shouted, before diving towards the door near the support structure.
"Wow, Azula, you were right, it is The Avatar." Ty Lee said, before noticing Sokka hiding in the doorway. "And friends." She added, grinning at him. Sokka pulled on his tunic collar, suddenly feeling warm at the memory of their last encounter.
Connor aimed his musket at the girl in blue, and prepared to fire, only for her to create an ice shield with the water she controlled. Katara ran for the door, leaving the Avatar behind. Deciding to save his shot, Connor followed Azula and Mai back into the main body to chase after the siblings, as Ty Lee jumped across the gap to chase Aang.
Finding a converging hall, Ty Lee regrouped with her friends, and found themselves at a T intersection. Azula looked both ways and grimaced. "You three, go after the savages. The Avatar is mine."
As Mai, Ty Lee, and Connor caught up to the water tribe siblings, the two dropped into a pipe at the end of the hallway. Connor fired his musket as Mai threw several darts at them, both making impact a second too late. Connor reloaded as the girls looked down into the pipe.
"Ugh, disgusting." Mai said with a cringe, as she looked down into the pipe, finding it to be full of rocks, mud and watery filth.
"Come on, you heard Azula. We have to follow them." Ty Lee said, before Connor pushed past them both and dropped into the slurry, taking care to keep his musket and head above the mud as best he could. The soupy consistency being the only thing preventing him from going under.
"See, Connor's not afraid of getting dirty." Ty Lee said.
"Whatever, you two can play in the mud, and Azula can shoot all the lightning she wants at me, but I am not going into that wall sludge juice." Mai said, before Ty Lee slipped down into the pipe.
About halfway down the flow, Connor had found a sizable chunk of stone to grab onto, and Ty Lee swam to catch up with him, grabbing hold of the rock alongside him. "Hey, Connor!" Ty Lee said with a smile. Connor just sighed, as he saw light at the end of the pipe.
Flowing out of the drill with the river of slurry, Connor saw the water tribe siblings, and prepared himself for the fight, only to feel the flow of the river shift. "Whoa!" He said, still holding onto the rock. Looking at the ground Connor saw the girl holding her hand out, using her bending to push against the water in the sludge.
Ty Lee found herself unable to move along with him, and struggled to free herself from the current.
"Try blocking my chi now, circus freak!" Katara yelled at Ty Lee.
"blɒk ðɪs!" Connor said, as he aimed his musket down at the girl, and pulled the trigger. Katara raised her free hand before the flash in the pan could ignite the main charge, and created a thick wall of sludge between her and the bullet, which deformed upon impact. "ˈəʊˈkeɪ, ʃiː blɒkt ɪt." Connor said in slight surprise. In retrospect there was a lot of her specific element laying around.
Seeing little in the way of options, Connor slung his musket across his back, and pulled his pistol free. It was caked in mud, and as expected, didn't fire. Tucking it away, Connor grabbed hold of the rock he was clinging to before Ty Lee put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Connor, this would be a really good time for you to do your thing." Ty Lee said.
"What are you talking about?" Connor asked.
"You know, your earth thing." Ty Lee emphasized.
"What does my world of origin have to do with this?" Connor asked in confusion.
Ty Lee thumped him on the forehead. "You dummy, I'm talking about your earth bending!" She nearly shouted.
"I can't earth bend!" Connor said in confusion and irritation.
"I won't judge you, your secret's safe with me." Ty Lee said, trying to reassure him that he didn't need to hide his power from her.
"I'm being serious, I can't bend." Connor rolled his eyes.
"Your aura tells me otherwise. Have you ever seriously tried?" Ty Lee asked. At this Connor paused, and Ty Lee had her answer. "Punch. The. Rock." She said, slapping her hand on the stone he was clinging to three times.
Looking down at the stone in front of him, Connor let out a breath. "fʌk ɪt, waɪ nɒt?" He asked himself before placing his left hand on the rock as Ty Lee let it go. Cocking back his right fist, Connor prepared to either perform a miracle, or break his hand trying.
Skin met stone, and despite everything Connor knew to be true, the rock was sent flying.
As the massive chunk of Ba Sing Se's wall hurled towards the water tribe siblings, Sokka ran away, as Katara ceased blocking the flow of slurry to create a stream of water to shift the boulder out of the way. She grunted with strain, as the stone crashed to the ground behind her. Panting, Katara looked up, as Connor and Ty Lee landed in front of her. Realizing that the stone had to have been moved by something to have flown at her with such force, Katara went wide eyed seeing the massive smile Connor wore, as he laughed to himself.
"əʊ, ˈaɪmə ɪnˈʤɔɪ ðɪs." Connor said, before digging his hands into the ground and ripping out two rocks that covered his fists. He cracked the rocks together before stepping towards Katara. Who reflexively threw a wave of slurry at him. Connor planted his feet and held his guard strong, the mud crashing into him, but doing nothing to move him. Once the wave passed, Connor took off into a run, and jumped at Katara, slamming a fist into the ground where she was standing not a second before the girl dodged. The muddy soup that the group was fighting in splashed upwards once Connor landed. Pulling his fist free, his rock glove having shattered, Connor swung at Katara, and a ripple of slurry came with his attack, splashing the girl with mud, and causing her to fall. Connor raised an eyebrow at this, before chuckling, as Katara got up.
With Ty Lee, Sokka raised his weapon and pointed it at her before she could get any closer. "Stop right there." He said.
Ty Lee saw that his weapon was covered in mud, the same way that Connor's pistol had been. "I don't think I will." Ty Lee said, as she ran forward.
Sokka pulled the trigger, and the hammer of his gun fell, but there was no flash or boom, and at the worst time. Ty Lee had closed in on him, and was throwing jabs left and right, all of which he backed away from. Now Sokka just had to find a point where he could club her over the head with the stock of his weapon.
"Hey, you learn pretty quick." Ty Lee said, a smile still present, and she threw another jab. "It's almost like you paid attention to our last fight."
Sokka backed up two paces. "Kinda hard to forget it." He said in a deadpan. Ty Lee giggled, before finally managing to hit him in the elbow.
Connor stomped his foot into the ground, and rather than a single rock jumping out of the dirt, small stones in the slurry and wads of mud came up. Punching the ball of rock and liquid, Connor sent a spread of earth flying towards Katara as she used her bending to skate around on the terrain as it grew more slick with mud. He performed the move again, and missed once more. Katara skated closer to him, and drew a wave of liquid slurry, sending the rock filled water at Connor's head.
Holding his guard, Connor blocked the attack, but got dirt in his eye. Punching about blindly, Connor groaned, before he heard Katara grunting from in front of him. Stepping to the side, Connor felt the slurry sloshing around his ankles as an attack whiffed by him. Punching at the air twice with the intent of launching his remaining stone glove at the girl, Connor heard a gasp, and a grunt of pain. Clearing his eyes, Connor chuckled, seeing how he'd hit Katara with his attack. She was laying on the ground now, back down, and eyes fluttering closed. Connor spit out the mud in his mouth, before putting his fists up. "Come on, get up! I know you got more fight in you!" Connor said loudly, spoiling for another round, as he felt his body only just now heating up, the mud covering him acting like a cooling bath.
"So you are an earth bender." Came a young voice from behind him.
Azula climbed out of a top hatch on the drill's fore end, and immediately spotted The Avatar slicing into the armor of the machine with a stream of water. Decisively she jumped out of the hatch, and sent a stream of fire at him with a punch. Seeing the attack blown harmlessly away with a blast of Wind, Azula approached slowly, and stopped just shy of fifteen paces away. A perfect range. As Azula took up a stance, The Avatar stared her down, waiting for her to make the first move.
With two fingers each, Azula precisely combined twin blasts of fire into one, and sent it rocketing at The Avatar, who ducked under the attack, and spun on his heel to create a low gust of wind. Jumping over the wave of air, Azula flipped, and upon landing struck the metal with her heel, kicking up a wave of fire, before directing a smaller blast at the Avatar with her two right fingers. The attack dissipated in a puff of steam, as The Avatar whipped the flames out with the water he had on hand. Again Azula tried sending two smaller blasts at him, the second with a kick but both times The Avatar slapped her limbs off course, directing the flames uselessly to the sky or ground. Twice more she tried to strike at him, and twice more her hands were whipped.
Her knuckles stinging, Azula deciding that if precision wasn't going to cut it, raw power would. Taking up a run, Azula jumped into a horizontal spin, and kicked two larger hotter plumes of fire at The Avatar, which he had no choice but to block with the stream of water. The liquid steamed as the force of the attack sent The Avatar hurling backwards. Azula moved closer before a tingle in the base of Azula's neck alerted her of an impending danger, and she jumped back, just narrowly avoiding one of the boulders that had been dropped from the earth benders at the top of the wall.
Sidestepping and backpedaling away from the falling rocks, as the Avatar did much the same, Azula prepared to strike again, before The Avatar managed to catch one of the stones with his earth bending, and chuck it at her. Thankful for all her time spent practicing gymnastics and yoga with Ty Lee when they were younger, Azula dropped into a left front split, and ducked her head to her knee, as she touched her toes. Sliding back upright with a grunt, as her side felt sore, Azula sent a much sloppier palm strike at The Avatar, only for the last air bender to pull the rubble created by the broken stones still falling around them into a small wall, blocking the attack.
Two chucks of the wall were sent flying at her, and rather than even try to intercept them, Azula did something she'd seen Connor do when he was sparing with his kuoshu master one day. Planting her feet, Azula tucked her arms in, and ducked her head as she leaned her entire torso to the right, then sharply back left to avoid the incoming rocks. With the momentum created she let her feet leave the roof of the drill, and swept two trails of fire behind them at the shield wall. Upon landing she took off into a run again, ignoring the ache in her side, and this time, jumped over a third flying rock, into a flip before blasting the wall The Avatar hid behind with a stream of fire created from each limb.
The blast was so forceful it blew apart the rock wall, and simultaneously sent Azula rocketing away in the other direction like an uncontrollable firework. Landing on her back, Azula pushed herself to her feet, before grabbing at her side, pain shooting through her still healing wound. Connor had warned her that this could happen if she wasn't careful, that she'd "rip the stitches" inside her. It wasn't likely to seriously injure her by now, but the pain was nearly unbearable.
Nearly... In any case, The Avatar had taken just as good a blow from the attack, and was laying face down on top of the drill. Approaching him, Azula gathered heat in her palm, before the section of the drill they were on shifted forward. She stumbled, and The Avatar looked up, before pushing himself off the top of the drill with a gust of wind. Planting his feet into the wall of Ba Sing Se, The Avatar pushed off with such force and speed that Azula hardly had time to react. But The Avatar himself wasn't the problem, it was the chunk of the city's wall that he had pulled with him that was the cause for concern. halfway between the wall and her, The Avatar spun in the air, and threw the head sized rock at Azula.
Eyes wide, Azula felt the stone slam into her gut, and sent her flying backwards, where she came rolling to a halt near the edge of the drill segment she had been fighting on. Resisting the urge to vomit, Azula was content to lay there for a second, as tears welled in her eyes. In too much pain to do more than curl inwards on herself at the moment, Azula watched as The Avatar, so brazenly ignoring her now, cut a boulder into a wedge which he nestled into the X created in the armored hull of the drill. In an act that defied all she knew, The Avatar got a running start, before he hit the wall of Ba Sing Se, and simply began riding up it, on that stupid little scooter made of air. At the apex of his travel, rather than just fall, The Avatar started to run down the wall faster than the wind, and slammed the stone wedge into the drill with such force that the shock wave created ripped across Azula's body like a monsoon.
"So you are an earth bender."
Connor turned his attention to the sound of a young girl behind him, who was walking out from under the drill, having parted the flow of sludge for a moment. Upon closer inspection, this was the Earth Kingdom girl who was with the Avatar. She was his earth bending Instructor then. And yet so young. The Blind Bandit if he remembered. Despite her size and apparent age, Connor wasn't going to underestimate her. He'd done that too many times now.
"And you are?" Connor asked, facing her.
"Only the greatest earth bender in the world. Toph Beifong." She said, before stopping where she was.
"Eh, you were the greatest, until about ten minutes ago." Connor said with a grin, trying to get a rise out of the girl before he made any move. To the left Ty Lee looked onward, sitting on Sokka's back, the boy in a heap, his chi blocked. She waved, content to see how this played out. Connor gave a small wave back.
"Oh really? Guess you wouldn't mind if I challenged that title then?" Toph asked, growing a smirk.
"I wouldn't mind at all." Connor said, taking slow steps to the right. Noticing that the girl hadn't shifted her point of focus. The moniker Blind bandit was more literal than for show as it turned out. It looked like her eyes were foggy. "Congenital cataracts then," Connor thought, remembering how surgery, likely even a simple one such as a cataract removal, was frowned upon in his new world.
Connor stopped his movements, and picked up a small rock slowly, trying not to make any noise, before he tossed it in an underhand to get a nice arc on the throw. Toph leaned to the side to avoid the gauging attack. Conner chuckled. "So. You can see me somehow." Conner stated.
"Why, aren't you smarter than you sound?" Toph asked sarcastically, still smirking. "Guess I'm going to have to make the first move then, unless you want to be here all day?"
Connor chuckled. "I can tell you're more dangerous than you let on. You're training The Avatar. Girl like you could kick my ass." Connor said, as he started walking towards her.
"Oh, but you're approaching me?" Toph asked. "Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?"
"I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer." Conner said, casually.
"Ho ho." Toph laughed. "Then come as close as you like!" She said, before finally taking up a stance, one arm forward with, one arm behind her, her feet rooted as Connor put his fists back up. Connor got as close as he could, before kicking at the mud lightly with his toe to throw a feign of sorts. Toph reacted about as much as he expected of her, and slapped the attack out of the air, as Connor punched forward, sending a wave of slurry into the air while she was distracted.
Toph was able to intercept that as well, sending the bits of stone and mud sliding off of her arm to the side. Connor pressed his advantage, and performed a move he had learned from his time spent training fire bending forms. Connor spun clockwise, got his right foot off of the ground, then jumped up with his left, and trailed a kick into the air, sending a wave of slurry trailing behind his foot that whipped towards Toph. She jumped clear over the attack with the assistance of a rock column, and landed behind Connor. She chopped at the ground with her right hand, sending a rumble through the dirt towards him, but the large red head spun counterclockwise a half rotation. Connor left the ground to perform a similar move with his right foot, both jumping over the attack, and sending one of his own Toph's way, the rock filled mud flying at head level.
She ducked under the attack, and smirked as she stood tall again. "You're pretty good at this for someone who's clearly never bent before."
"Ah, I try." Connor said, with a shrug.
"But you are still new, so I'm just going to take that title of "greatest earth bender" back now." Toph said.
"Beg your pardon?" Connor asked, before Toph kicked the ground with her heel, which sent Connor flying into the air with a scream, and into the slurry stream, where he was dumped onto the ground once more.
"Connor!" Ty Lee said, as she tried hurried over to the young man, only for the ground under her feet to soften as she sunk waist deep in a pit made by Toph.
The twelve year old smirked, as she turned to face Katara, who was only just now waking up.
"What happened?" Katara asked, rubbing her head.
"You got your butt kicked by a guy who's been an earth bender for about five minutes." Toph said, putting her fists on her waist as she leaned over her friend.
"He surprised me." Katara said defensively.
"Uh huh." Toph said, not buying what Katara was selling.
"He just got lucky, or whatever. You weren't here for the whole fight." Katara continued.
Groaning, Connor rolled onto his side, laying in the dirt, before the drill behind him stopped dumping slurry. The monstrous machine screeched, before coming to a halt. There was the sound of metal grinding against metal, and with a crash, the bottom of the drill fell out of its armored shell.
Everyone present looked at the iron giant collapsing, and from a hatch above the slurry pipe, Mai poked her head out. "We lost." She said dully to Connor and Ty Lee.
"Come on you two, let's get out of here before any more crazy people show up." Toph said, as she grabbed Sokka by his shirt and dragged him, the water tribe boy desperately gripping his musket in his still mobile hand.
As The Avatar's companions left, Connor sat up, rubbing his head in pain. Azula came sliding down from the side of the drill, approaching her team, holding her side. "Well this went swimmingly." Azula said sarcastically. "Does anyone have any good news to offset this colossal failure and waste of taxpayer money?" Azula asked the group.
Connor looked around at the three girls, before settling on Azula. "Uhhhh. I can do this now." He said, before slamming his fist into the ground, causing a rock to jump out in front of him, which he caught.
Azula's eyes nearly popped out of her skull, her head inched forward, and her jaw dropped. "Oh."
Author's note, please read.
"IS THAT A MOTHER FUCKING JOJO REFERENCE!?"
Just watched JJBASC for the first time, and the urge to make a Jotaro vs Dio fight meme was too great.
Dear Lord, wait until I get around to making an Ember Island Players episode. My inner shit poster will be having a field day with that one.
So... The decision to make Connor a bender, because I feel like this is going to ruffle some feathers.
I've hinted that Connor was going to be a bender of some kind since he first met Azula, with pokes and prods to every element but air. I was always going to make Connor an earth bender. Earth specifically because it fits his personality of "strong peasant, too stubborn to know when to give up," and because it's the opposite element to air. Connor being this story's OC villain duel antagonist with Azula, is the opposite of Aang in almost every way. Worldly possessions, violence as a first resort, killing is ok, (I mean the late 18th and early 19th century was a wild time to grow up,) physical differences in size, it's all there, and the original show just loved it's foils. Now don't worry, I'm not going to have my OC bending more than one element. Please what do you take me for? I will however have him change and grow as the story continues. I mean hey, two chakras down, five to go right?
Further I feel like I'm going to have to defend his beating Katara, who is a master water bender at this point...
Connor got a lucky head shot in.
I don't like the concept of "scaling", but, at this point in the story Katara and Connor are on even footing for reasons, and I'll leave it at that.
Seeing as five minutes later Toph stopped screwing with him and kicked his ass with one move, I feel like the prior W was justified.
I kept Azula's fight with Aang mostly cannon, but seeing as she's still recovering from being shot, her L is a little harder.
On more serious matters...
Laying out the road map.
This story is going to be broken into three separate "books." The first two I intend to complete by the end of summer, with the third being fully posted by the end of fall.
Afterwards, I've got two, read it, TWO sequels planned. The first sequel will be a bit shorter, and be set almost 2 decades after the war. The second sequel will take place in Korra's era. Won't get into any more specifics.
That said...
Next time on Gunsmoke and Hellfire, Connor explains Libertarian politics to royalty, Azula slaps a bitch, and alcohol is consumed by minors.