1. 48. The Phoenix King
"Rise and shine, sweethearts."
The teasing greeting snapped Wuya, Mim, Xayide, the Huntsman, and Vexen out of a state of unconsciousness. All scrambled from a lying position to a standing one to get a good look at their surroundings. Since Facilier had knocked them out earlier, they had been moved. Instead of the tiny chamber in the midst of Ba Sing Se, they now stood upon a great plain bordered by distant trees. There was no way of knowing how far they had moved from the city.
Shadow Heartless peered out from behind bushes and rocks, silently signaling that at their master's beck, they had brought the five to this new location, borne upon their backs. And at the center of it all stood Facilier and Zhao, each sporting a wicked grin.
"Where are we?" the Huntsman growled.
"Before we go any further," Facilier began, "you're gonna need to know two things. One is that now that I hold your souls, if I die, those souls get released into the aether. They don't go back to your bodies, and they don't cross into any afterlife. They just…get…lost. So if I were you and didn't want to live out the rest of my existence floating around a multiverse I couldn't see, hear, touch, taste, or interact with, I wouldn't hurt the man holding onto my soul."
"You're bluffing," Wuya called out.
Facilier shrugged. "You can't prove I am. And you can't prove I'm not. Do you wanna test it out and see for yourselves?"
The quintet cringed.
Facilier's grin increased. "That's what I thought. Now, for the second bit of information, when I say you sleep, you sleep. When you do anything I don't want you to do, it's bedtime. And you already know what happens if you get too far away from me. So, to recapitulate: don't get too far away from me, you have to follow my orders, and don't kill me. Follow those rules and we'll get along just fine."
Mim gritted her teeth. "Why you…YOU…YOU BARREL OF SLUG SLIME!" She transformed into a cobra, reaching back to strike at Facilier's ankle.
Facilier gently pressed a finger to the ring holding Mim's soul, and she dropped unconscious.
"And that's why I wanted the ground rules out of the way," he said with a smug smirk. "Somehow I knew at least one of y'all would end up unconscious before you understood the full picture."
"So you're saying you have possession of our SOULS?" Vexen barked.
"Oh, right, you missed that whole revelation!" Facilier laughed. "Maybe one of your friends wants to explain it to you. Care to let your pal in on the slip-up?"
"His request for us to bare our souls was not figurative," the Huntsman explained. "It was literal. The secrets we shared had no bearing on our deal. We traded our very souls to him in exchange for Zhao's resurrection."
"WE HAVE DONE WHAT?" Vexen screamed. "I TOLD YOU HE WASN'T TRUSTWORTHY! IF YOU HAD LISTENED TO ME TO BEGIN WITH, WE WOULDN'T BE HERE! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE 'HERE' IS!"
"You went along with it once the rest of us did!" Xayide reminded him.
Vexen wanted to yell even louder at her about how he had all but been forced to participate, as he had been outnumbered four to one, and the other four were responsible for the absolute idiocy of handing over their souls to who was now apparent as a prominent enemy, but he bit his tongue. There was something he had to do, and the success of it relied on the others occupying the conversation and diverting attention from him.
"Where ARE we?" Wuya asked dryly.
Vexen backed off, hoping Wuya would take the reins. His hand slid into his pocket to grasp his scroll.
"We're on our way to the Fire Nation capital," Zhao explained. "We've already come a long way from Ba Sing Se."
"But Mozenrath!" the Huntsman protested.
"Will waste away wherever you left him," Facilier replied smugly. "Just like my employer wants."
Facilier and Zhao were both focused on the Huntsman now. Vexen drew his scroll from his pocket, opening up a new text message to Mozenrath. He stepped just behind the Huntsman, obscuring himself from Facilier's view.
The Huntsman, noticing his staff lying on the ground nearby, considered taking it up to menace Facilier and Zhao. He knew, however, this would just get him knocked unconscious.
"Don't tell me," Wuya groaned. "This 'employer' is Maleficent."
"So you're not completely stupid after all," Facilier replied.
"What does Maleficent want with our souls?" Xayide asked.
"Getting your souls under control was a means to an end," Facilier told her, "though possessing them is going to be something of a perk. Maleficent and her associates want two things. First of all, they want Mozenrath dead. Now that you're off the task of saving his life, that should happen any day now."
That's what you think, Vexen thought as he quickly typed out his message: "We have been captured by the enemy. Do not follow. Spirit Waters at the North Pole. Get what help you can." Sent.
"Second," Facilier went on, "Maleficent and her entourage have a vested interest in the Fire Nation. They want to add it to their deck of cards, so to speak. If I bring back news of the takeover of the entire Fire Nation, I'll be on the receiving end of some handsome rewards. Of course, we'll need someone to hold the throne for her. Someone with similar interests and an ambitious disposition. Tell 'em, Zhao."
"You're going to help us free Phoenix King Ozai from his prison," Zhao said with a sickening smile.
"Our knowledge of this world is limited," Xayide stated, "but that does not sound like it aligns with our own goals."
"Perhaps not," Facilier posed. "But it does align with your survival. You already know I can knock you out. I can just as easily SNUFF you out. Are we at an understanding?"
The five of captured soul tensed at the hopelessness of their situation.
"Or would you rather not prolong the inevitable?" Facilier posed. "I could let your souls go into oblivion right now."
"We have an understanding," the Huntsman growled. "We will help you free this…Phoenix King."
Xayide and Wuya gave solemn nods; Vexen simply glowered at Facilier and Zhao.
"Then let's get a move on!" Zhao commanded, turning to march. "We're only a few miles outside the capital." That confirmed to the others that either they'd been out of it longer than they'd thought or Facilier had simply used the Darkness to transport them a good distance. "And the clock's ticking."
"Until what?" Wuya asked.
"You'll find out, chère," Facilier replied ominously as he followed Zhao. "Oh, and before I forget…"
He pressed a finger to the ring containing Mim's stone, and the snake sprang back up into action.
"Don't try anything," Wuya told her. "He'll just knock you out again."
Mim reverted to human shape. "Oh, boo!" she grumbled. "Now I'm positively murderous!"
"There'll be plenty of people to take that out on once we get where we're goin'," Facilier said over his shoulder.
"Where are we going?" Mim asked as the quintet fell into step behind Facilier and Zhao.
As Wuya and Xayide explained the itinerary, Vexen nudged the Huntsman's arm. He passed his scroll to the Huntsman, letting him see the message he'd sent to Mozenrath. "To keep your mind off him for the duration of our captivity," Vexen whispered. "He will read the message and find another solution."
The Huntsman simply nodded, hoping that Mozenrath would be able to reach out to other members of the WHAM ARMY soon.
...
At the moment, Mozenrath's hands were tied. Or, more accurately, restrained.
He had paid enough attention to his surroundings to note that he was brought into some sort of palace, ushered immediately to the lowest level. There, in a dark room of stone walls, he had been chained with his hands behind his back. A host of men in green and brown robes stood at either side of the room.
Before Mozenrath could ask any questions, a tall man clad in a slightly more elaborate robe stepped into the room, striding right up to where Mozenrath had been forced to kneel. Mozenrath grit his teeth and gave this man his best glower. He cut an imposing figure, with his hairline reined in halfway across his head and a ponytail bound down the back of his neck while a thin mustache and beard graced the front of his face, leaving plenty of room for his green eyes to pierce. "I assume you know why you are here," the man said.
"No," Mozenrath replied. "As a matter of fact, I don't. I'm assuming these are your men? They haven't bothered to do so much as offer me an explanation for why I was ripped away from minding my own business and chained up in a dungeon. Now, I may not be familiar with the customs of this region, but I'm willing to bet my last denarius that that's considered rude anywhere you go."
"We have a backtalker, don't we?" the man observed with a smirk. "You have been apprehended by the Dai Li by my order."
"And you would be?"
"Long Feng, leader of the Earth King's newly reinstated secret police."
"So the Earth King has it out for me," Mozenrath guessed.
"Rest assured," Long Feng told him, "if he knew what we know about you, he would most definitely consider you a threat."
"But he doesn't know, does he?" Mozenrath retorted. "You're going behind his back because you wanted something done and you didn't want him to say no. I wonder which one of us would be in chains if he knew about all this."
"It would still be you," Long Feng asserted. "You and your company were sighted on a litter, in the midst of our city with no record of your entrance. Your display with its royal symbology made a direct statement against the Earth King. Then, all but one of you disappeared off the face of the map. Why have you come here, and where have your men and women gone?"
"I don't see how that's your business," Mozenrath spat.
"My business," Long Feng growled, "is seeing that peace is kept within the Earth Kingdom. That means neutralizing what threats we can and protecting the public from widespread panic when it comes to the rest."
"Let me see if I can translate that," Mozenrath retorted. "You get rid of people you don't like, and if you find somebody you don't like and you can't get rid of, then you just make sure nobody knows they exist until they break down your door with a battering ram. Am I getting the picture?"
"Is that what you have come to do?" Long Feng asked. "Break down our door? Declare war?"
"Maybe it is and maybe it isn't," Mozenrath taunted. "As I said, it's none of your business."
"You gravely underestimate what you are up against," Long Feng warned. "One way or another, we will find out the truth."
"It's actually you who's doing the grave underestimation," Mozenrath replied coolly.
Long Feng turned toward the door, nodding to his men to follow. "We must make preparations," he said to the other Dai Li agents as he began to stride away. "After all, the Earth King has so graciously extended an invitation to Lake Laogai for our honored guest. We must make sure he has a comfortable trip."
The Dai Li marched out of the chamber, slamming the door behind them.
They would be back soon, Mozenrath knew, with some sort of reinforcement. Whatever this "Lake Laogai" was. He had to act fast.
His wrists had been forced into chains wrought for the average human. The Dai Li either hadn't noticed or hadn't wanted to admit to themselves that his hands were completely skeletal and all that much easier to slide from the restraints. With his hands unbound, Mozenrath went right for his scroll. All he had to do was get a message to the Huntsman and –
The message from Vexen splayed across the screen: "We have been captured by the enemy. Do not follow. Spirit Waters at the North Pole. Get what help you can."
"Well, this puts a damper on an escape plan," Mozenrath grumbled as he opened up a new group message. It was time to call in the reserves. He typed as quickly as he could, briefly relating his status and his location.
Once the message was sent, he tucked the scroll back into his clothes, slipping his hands into the chains. After all, he didn't want his enemy to know that he had that much freedom. They needed to believe they had the upper hand until rescue came.
But would rescue come? Of all the people Mozenrath had reached out to, surely at least one would get the message in time and arrive. However, he soon realized he was fighting a creeping dread.
...
Aang, Zuko, and Katara acted as tour guides, showing Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Jasmine, and Stork the wonders of the Fire Nation capital. They had stopped for flaming fire flakes along the way, and Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus munched happily as the journey continued.
"And that big palace up there is Zuko's house," Aang explained. "You know, since he's the Fire Lord."
"IT SEEMS AN AWFULLY BIG HOUSE FOR ONE PERSON," Papyrus observed.
"Well, I have the other members of the court to help fill it," Zuko explained. "It does get a little lonely sometimes, but that's where Aang, Katara, and the others come in. I don't really have a family anymore, but I've come to think of them as my family."
"And we're glad to be your family!" Aang said cheerily.
"I'm sorry your family isn't around," Ruby said sympathetically, thinking of how difficult her life would be without Yang, Taiyang, and Qrow. "We already know about your dad. Can I ask what happened to everyone else?"
Zuko bristled.
"Or…or we don't have to talk about it," Ruby said hastily.
"What happened is in the past," Zuko insisted. "Katara basically acts like my mother anyway."
"I do not!" Katara protested.
"I think that was a compliment," Aang pointed out.
"Well, then, thank you, I guess," Katara replied. "I just really feel it's important to look out for everybody, since we're pretty much all each other has. Sokka and I had to grow up without our mom, too."
"You're very strong to have grown up so fast," Jasmine told her. "Losing a parent is never easy. I'm sorry for all of you who had to go through that."
"You lost someone too, didn't you?" Aang asked.
"Aang!" Katara scolded.
"It's all right," Jasmine reassured him. "It was a long time ago. My mother…"
Memories. The scream, the fall.
"My mother threw herself from the palace tower when I was a very young girl," Jasmine explained. "I might never know why she really did it, but she must have been in great pain. I wish I could have done something to help her see that life was worth living. But now all I can do is move on."
Stork cringed at hearing this, thinking back to when Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus had found him on the cliff edge. If he tried such a thing now, he thought, he would leave Jasmine as well as Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Finn, and Piper in the same conundrum. Never again, he thought, though he knew when things looked bleak, the temptation might very well return. At least now he did have others to turn to if the time came.
"Aang lost his family, too," Katara went on. "I hope you don't mind me saying this, Aang."
"I don't," Aang reassured her. "Everyone else knows by now."
"But when Aang ran away from the Air Nomads and became trapped in the iceberg, time advanced without him, and the Air Nomads were exterminated," Katara recalled. "When he woke up, he had no one. That's why it's important for all of us to stick together. I'm sorry about your mom, Jasmine. I guess you had to grow up fast, too. But it looks like you found a family for yourself too."
"I did," Jasmine confirmed, "and now I'm doing what I can to help everyone in it."
"I don't know what I would do if something happened to my sister, my dad, or my uncle," Ruby broke in, voicing her thought from earlier. "I guess I've had to grow up fast too, but I've had a lot of help."
"You didn't mention your mom," Aang realized.
"Well…" Ruby dragged her feet a little. "She died. When I was really little. She went out into battle, and she never came back. But the rest of us have been doing okay."
"IT IS STRANGE," Papyrus observed. "SO MANY OF US SEEM TO HAVE LOST MEMBERS OF OUR FAMILY. I KNOW THE SAME IS TRUE FOR MY BROTHER AND ME. OUR PARENTS DIED LONG AGO, BEFORE I COULD REMEMBER. MY BROTHER HAS BEEN TAKING CARE OF ME EVER SINCE THEN. THOUGH REALLY, MOST DAYS, IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND, AND I HAVE TO CLEAN UP AFTER HIS MESSES AND MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T JUST NAP ON THE COUCH ALL DAY! YOU WOULD THINK I WAS THE OLDER ONE IF YOU JUST WALKED IN ON US!"
"I, uh…" Stork volunteered. "I lost my family too. All of them. The Cyclonian empire attacked Terra Merbia, which was my home. That was the same battle where the Storm Hawks fell. Out of my parents, my brother, and me, I was the only one to make it out alive. I escaped to the wastelands, where I found the Storm Hawks' crashed ship, and I made it my home for ten years. I grew up there alone. I didn't even have a brother or a sister or an uncle. I guess that's one more thing we all have in common. Y'know, growing up fast because of who we lost. It's actually kind of funny, though. My brother always wanted to be a sky knight. He was actually the same age as Aerrow, Finn, Piper, and Junko. You would think that it would make more sense for him to be the one who survived and joined the squadron instead of me. He was always looking for adventure and getting into trouble. He tried to come up with stupid catchphrases, he bragged about how great he was gonna be when he grew up, he didn't get the point of an INDOOR VOICE…but it was me and not him who made it out."
"He sounds a lot like Finn," Sora observed.
"He WAS a lot like Finn," Stork realized. "Finn and Heron would have been best friends."
"I think that probably actually explains why YOU'RE such good friends with Finn," Sora pointed out.
Stork felt as though he'd just been drenched in a cold shower of truth. "That…that actually makes a lot of sense."
"What about you, Sora?" Aang asked. "Did you ever lose anybody in your family?"
"No," Sora answered. "I didn't. It was just me, Mom, and Dad, and nothing bad really happened when I was growing up. That probably makes me the odd one out."
"You're lucky," Ruby told him.
"The worst that happened was when the Darkness took over our island, and the entire world was swallowed by Darkness when I went on my first adventure," Sora mused. "But eventually, everything got put back. I was sure in for it when I got home, though. They weren't too happy that I left without telling them that night – "
"Wait, WHAT?" Ruby barked.
"WHEN YOU SAY YOUR WORLD WAS SWALLOWED BY DARKNESS," Papyrus asked to clarify, "YOU MEAN IT DISAPPEARED?"
"Well, yeah – " Sora answered.
"AND THE NIGHT YOUR ENTIRE WORLD DISAPPEARED, YOU LEFT YOUR PARENTS WITHOUT TELLING THEM?"
"SORA!" Katara joined right in. "How could you DO that? How long were you gone?"
"Well, a year," Sora tried to explain, "but – "
"A YEAR?" Katara bellowed. "You were gone for a YEAR and your parents NEVER KNEW WHY?"
"They didn't remember who I was for most of it," Sora grumbled.
"Please at least tell me your parents were terrible people who deserved to be left behind," Stork sighed.
"No!" Sora protested. "They're great!"
"I have no sympathy for you," Stork told him, deadpan.
"I don't like it either," Jasmine broke in, "but I don't think we should argue about it now. I do want to know if you made things up to them, Sora."
"I did!" Sora emphasized. "I apologized to them when I got back home. They don't really understand about world travel and the Keyblade, but they're trying, and they said they'd cheer me on, no matter what I had to do later. I know they're safe right now, and they love me, and I love them. Maybe I can introduce you all to them one day."
"If things are worked out," Jasmine said, "then that's all that matters."
"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOODBYE!" Papyrus groaned.
"If you did know what it was like to lose somebody," Katara told him, "you would have understood."
"I probably would," Sora admitted. "I'm sorry now. I should've at least told them I was leaving."
"Yeah," Zuko grunted. "You should've."
"I think Sora knows the mistake he made now," Aang stated, "and he wouldn't do it again."
"Right!" Sora nodded earnestly.
"And now you all have each other as part of your family," Katara pointed out.
"We do!" Jasmine nodded. "I try my best to look after them."
"So do I," Stork added. "It's really those three that need to be watched with an unblinking eye so they don't get into trouble." He gestured to Sora, Ruby, and Papyrus.
"HEY!" the indicated three yelled.
"You mean like Aang and Sokka?" Katara joked.
"I don't get into that much trouble," Aang argued. "And Sokka would be offended if he were here."
"Besides, which one of us decided to dress up as a folk legend at night and made up a story about their sky bison being sick so she could keep playing superhero to a small town?" Zuko reminded Katara.
"That ended up being the best thing we could have done, and you know it!" Katara snapped.
"I wanna hear this story!" Sora insisted.
"Well," Katara began, "when Aang, Sokka, Toph, and I were on our way through the Fire Nation, we stopped at the town of Jang Hui. Everything was wrong there. The river was contaminated, and the people were sick. I just felt so bad for them all. I eventually found out about a legend they had about a spirit called the 'Painted Lady'…"
As the eight continued their way through the capital, they were entertained by Katara's account of taking on the identity of the Painted Lady, and it eventually was agreed upon that it was the right thing for her to have done.
...
Deep within the bustling streets of the Kingdom of the Sun, a building with shining golden walls invited one and all to enter. This was the Kuzco Paradise Spa and Salon, a facility that offered every luxury from massage to haircuts to makeovers to nail care.
This was the building Yzma and Zevon chose for their bonding time. "It won't be run by the sort of specialists that you'd get at the royal palace," Yzma commented, "but they'll do."
"This was a perfect idea!" Zevon complimented. "It will, of course, be difficult to improve how fabulistic we already look and feel. But this could give us a chance to improvise that!"
"Let's see…" Yzma strode toward the selection board. "There's the Kuzcorgeous package, the the Kuzconderful package, the Kuzcexcellent package…" She rolled her eyes. "Really?"
"Is money an object?" Zevon asked.
"Of course not!" Yzma insisted. "We can get whatever we want!"
Zevon jabbed a finger at the option with the most items listed on its itinerary. "Then I say we go with the Kuzcosplendent package!"
Mother and son swaggered to the front desk. The receptionist looked up from her magazine, popping gum in the back of her teeth. "Can I help – " As she looked up to meet Yzma's gaze, she was struck by the sight of the scariest, beyond all reason, woman she had ever seen. "AARGH!"
"No," Yzma replied, "but you can help US."
"Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" the receptionist asked; this woman reminded her of a face from somewhere in her memory. A political figure, perhaps?
Yzma and Zevon just gave a simple and confident "No."
That was enough for the receptionist, who shrugged. "What can I get for you today?"
"We'll be signing up for one Kuzcosplendent package," Yzma informed her.
The receptionist made some notes in a ledger. "And your names?"
"Amzy."
"And I am Amzy's son, Novez!"
"You're all squared away," the receptionist stated. "Step right on into the back and we'll get you set up with your estheticians."
The moment Yzma and Zevon disappeared, the door to the salon opened again. The Kingdom of the Sun's spa treatments, as it turned out, were infamous among those who traveled between the worlds. Those who had visited the world were sure to spread the word, and the reputation had been bolstered, making it a point of interest for anyone who was interested in being pampered for a day. That was what brought the three who entered to that world and that particular building.
"I still don't know about this," Lie Ren said gingerly. "Spas aren't really my thing."
"Maybe not yet," Xander Bly told him, "but you're so tense all the time. You really need to learn to loosen up and relax. I know I could use some rest and relaxation after that whole 'Fairest of All' incident."
"You'll be fine," Cadance assured Ren. "And if you don't like it, then you don't have to come again. Xander and I just thought this could help you relieve some stress."
"You don't seem particularly stressed out," Ren observed.
"Well, I really just like spa visits," Cadance admitted. "Besides, this kind of thing is always better with friends."
They approached the desk, and Cadance took the lead. "Hi," she greeted.
"Hello," the receptionist replied. After seeing Yzma, a talking pony was no great shock. "What can I get for you today?"
"Well, my friends and I would each like to sign up for the Kuzcorgeous package," Cadance explained. "Can you accommodate ponies here…?"
"We've had to treat llamas more than once. Ponies, llamas, same difference."
"Good." Cadance smiled as she telekinetically lifted a purse onto the desk. "This should cover it."
"Just head right on back," the receptionist encouraged, and they did.
...
Side by side, Kairi and Riku ascended the stairway to the tower where the Aurora Stone had once been kept; Dilan marched stoically behind them.
Once they reached the former resting place of the missing radiant crystal, a bespectacled man approached them. "You're here," he sighed. "I was told you would come to evaluate our situation."
"What's the story behind this missing stone?" Riku asked. As Kairi nodded to emphasize his question, Dilan settled back against a wall, lifted the book he'd been carrying, and opened it up to the page where he had left off.
"The Aurora Stone provided light to Terra Atmosia," the man explained. "Without it, we are left in darkness."
"How long was it kept on this Terra?" Riku pressed.
"Oh, for a hundred years or more," the man insisted.
"Where did it come from?" Kairi piped up. "If we know where you got the first one, maybe we can find a second."
"It is practically a myth among our people," the man informed her. "They say the first Aurora Stone was gathered from a cavern on the farthest edge of the Wasteland, where creatures of the deepest Darkness, made of shadows themselves, guarded the crystal. The one to fetch it barely escaped with her life. The stone only revealed itself to her because her heart was filled with light, without a speck of Darkness to be seen. And it is said that another Aurora Stone may one day reveal itself, but only to one who is similarly without Darkness in their heart. The shadow creatures, however, still guard the cavern."
"Could you show us a map to this cavern?" Riku asked.
"What?" The man was taken aback. "You wish to attempt this journey by yourselves? Were you not listening to a word I said? The creatures of shadows!"
"Won't be a problem," Riku said, a hand subconsciously sliding onto the hilt of his sword.
"But one of you must have a heart of pure light!" the man continued to sputter.
Kairi nodded with a smile. "I don't think that will be a problem either."
"Well," the man muttered, "I do believe there were maps drawn that reside in this very chamber…but once again, it is a myth! There is no guarantee that it will be true!"
"We've believed in fairy tales before," Kairi informed him, "and it seems to work out for us."
The man nodded. "Very well."
Soon, Kairi and Riku were descending the same steps, map in hand, as Dilan followed. "Looks like we have our lead," Kairi remarked. "Shadow creatures…are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Heartless," Riku affirmed. "We should be able to clear them out easily."
"Dilan?" Kairi said. "Can you stay here and watch over everybody else while Riku and I go?"
"Your mission seems dangerous," Dilan argued. "It only makes sense that you should have extra arms at the ready."
"But the bulk of the operation is here on this Terra," Riku reminded him. "Besides, Kairi and I may not have our Keyblades, but we still have all the training that comes with them. The others might need more of a hand if disaster strikes."
"Then I shall remain," Dilan confirmed. "I had wanted to catch up on my reading."
As the trio exited, they passed a construction site where Nick, Vida, Madison and Chip finished raising a wall and settling it into place. "Nice job!" Kairi complimented.
"Thanks!" Chip replied. "Only three more of these to go!"
"On THIS house, anyway," Nick groaned.
"Just look on the bright side," Madison encouraged. "We get to paint these later. That'll be fun!"
"Keep up the good work," Riku told them.
"What about you two?" Vida asked. "Where are you headed?"
"We're going to take two skimmers out into the Wasteland," Riku informed them. "We have a lead on where we might be able to get another Aurora Stone."
"Good luck!" Chip told them earnestly.
"See you when we get back!" Kairi called to the Mystic Rangers as she and Riku moved toward the skimmer dock; Dilan parted ways from them, beginning a patrol around the Terra to check in on everyone's progress.
"All right, everyone," Nick rallied. "It's time for the next wall – "
What was unmistakably Riku's voice drifted back toward them: "They're useless without their powers. After this, I think we should send them back to Briarwood."
"Nick can't get along with anyone anyway," Kairi's voice chimed in. "And I know we're blue buddies and all, but Madison's no fighter."
"WHAT?" Nick, Chip, Vida, and Madison all ran after Riku and Kairi only to find them long gone.
"Did they say what I THINK they said about us?" Vida snapped.
"Send us back to Briarwood?" Madison reiterated, feeling a twist at the base of her stomach.
"I thought we were friends," Chip moped. "It shouldn't matter how good we are in battle."
"Maybe we misheard," Nick suggested. "They were way too far away for us to have heard them saying that."
"Then who said it?" Vida asked.
"I don't know," Nick admitted, "but whoever it is, they're right about one thing: I'm not going to get along with them after that."
...
It wasn't long before Grany was rescued from the elevator and Neo called up from her search. Rémington sat cross-legged on his bed as Neo, Grany, Snatcher, and Roman circled up around him.
"All right," Roman groaned, "what'd you find?"
"Trust me," Rémington assured him, "it's good. Turns out there's a ventilation shaft that's accessible from the elevator shaft and leads right into the library." He paused to let that sink in.
"Well," Snatcher commented, "you've certainly got our attention. Do elaborate."
"It wouldn't be big enough for you or Grany," Rémington went on, "but Roman or Neo would have no problem. And you – " He turned to Roman. " – are all we need. You said if you could get close to that burglar alarm, you could disable it, right?"
"Right!" Roman's face lit up. "And you found a way to get me up close and personal without setting it off! NICE!"
"Well, going in through the vent still triggers the alarm," Rémington cautioned him, "but then all you have to do is hide and wait it out. After that, it's smooth sailing. We have the rest of you wait around the corner, Roman texts you when we kill the alarm, we'll unlock it from the other side, and you all just get to waltz in like you own the place. From there, the search begins."
"I like this plan," Roman said eagerly. "What's the catch?"
"There isn't a catch," Rémington told him. "And it being the time of night that it is, we can probably make a fair bit of noise in the library and be undisturbed so long as the alarm is dead."
"Well done, Mr. Smisse!" Snatcher congratulated, and Neo gave an emphatic nod.
"Keeping in mind he was figuring all this out while I was trapped in an elevator," Grany huffed.
"I sent help, didn't I?" Rémington reminded him. "You of all people should know I wouldn't leave you in the lurch. Now, these other three, they're expendable."
"Which is exactly what you want to hear from your heist partner in the midst of a dangerous operation," Roman groaned.
"Leave Torchwick, Miss Neopolitan, or myself behind," Snatcher growled, "and whomever remains shall make sure you never hear the end of it from Lord Mozenrath."
"I see you can't take a joke," Rémington hastily covered.
Within a few minutes, the upper panel of the elevator was popped out of place once more. Roman boosted Rémington through; Rémington reached back down to pull Roman up. Once both stood atop the elevator car, Rémington gestured to the ladder across the gap. "There," he announced.
"Starting to see the catch," Roman said warily as he eyed the gap.
"What, you can't make the jump?" Rémington backed up three paces, then bolted forward, leaping across the gap, landing deftly on the ladder. "It isn't that far!" he called back with a smirk before scaling it enough to leave Roman a landing place.
"Oh, it isn't that FAR!" Roman repeated sarcastically. "I see that now! That makes me feel so much better about this!" He wished he'd thought to bring the Cudgel; that could at least hook the ladder if his hands didn't grip right. But he hadn't anticipated needing it for this sort of situation. "Well, here goes nothing." He backed up as far as he could, brushing the wall behind him. "Hey, Rémy," he suddenly called out.
"What?" Rémington asked, dangling from the ladder by one hand and one foot to better pivot to view Roman. His smirk was all the more smug.
"If I die in here," Roman barked, "you better tell Archie what fucking happened."
"He'd kill me," Rémington replied, "so I think the version I'd go with is that it was a perfectly safe crossing and you somehow managed to trip on your own feet."
"Fuck you."
Rémington just winked.
Roman charged, leaping from the elevator car at the last possible moment. His hands reached out, grasping frantically; Roman slammed into the ladder, feeling the places where several new bruises would form. His feet slid and scrambled, but his grip on the ladder bars was secure, and soon he found a safe footing.
"You know," Rémington pointed out, "you could have just lowered the elevator to the basement, then walked across the floor to the ladder without having to make the jump."
"NOW you tell me?"
"I think you and I can both agree it was more fun this way."
"Yeah," Roman grunted as he looked down at the floor of the shaft. "Just barrels and barrels of fun. Hang on…" He surveyed the floor, noting an oddity. If the elevator were called to the basement, it would sink into an indent in the floor, its roof becoming flush with the hard cement of the shaft. But just to the side of that indent, a gate. "Does that look like a pathway down into the VERY bottom of the shaft to you?"
"Why would anyone want to go down there?" Rémington asked.
"Maybe elevator maintenance," Roman suggested. "Or maybe it's something else Grumpy doesn't want us to find. Worth checking out later, don't you think?"
"I'm in," Rémington said before slipping into the vent.
Roman scaled the ladder and entered the duct himself.
Dexter Egan stormed into the library for the second time that night thanks to the security alarm. This time, he thought, someone had to have set it off. But a glance around the library revealed no one to be seen. "Stupid faulty alarm," Dexter grumbled as he entered the key code to silence the beeping. "Might as well not have you at all, for all the good you do." He took his leave, slamming the door behind him.
Once he was gone, Rémington slithered back out of the vent, beckoning for Roman to follow.
"Might as well not have an alarm at all, huh?" Roman repeated as he descended the spiral stairway and crossed the room to where the alarm was situated on the wall. He withdrew a pair of wire cutters from a pocket. "Well, ask and you shall receive!"
Snatcher, Grany, and Neo were putting on a show of looking as inconspicuous as possible in the lounge off to the side of the lobby, pretending to glance over the few books set in the shelves as reading material: mostly snore-worthy history lessons as far as they were concerned. Snatcher and Neo's scrolls beeped; that was the signal for all three to get up and bolt to the library door. Snatcher gave it a polite knock; Roman answered with confusion.
"Okay, nice timing, everyone," Roman greeted, "but I didn't give the signal yet."
Snatcher and Neo exchanged glances before withdrawing their scrolls and taking a good look at the text message they'd both received. "Oh, Monsieur Torchwick," Snatcher said in his best Frou Frou voice, "you may want to take a look at your own scroll."
Snatcher, Neo, and Grany quickly hustled into the library while Roman dug his scroll out of his pocket, looking at the text message he too had received. "Shit," he whispered as he read Mozenrath's brief recapitulation of his capture and request for help. "This better not mean we have to drop everything and take the ship all the way out – "
Another text sprang up in the group message: a simple "I'll take care of this" from another recipient.
"I believe that should solve that problem," Snatcher remarked. "He can get there faster than any of us. We'd best ignore the situation. It isn't as though Lord Mozenrath hasn't crawled out of tighter scrapes."
"You know, you don't have to keep doing the voice," Grany told Snatcher. "There isn't anyone around who can hear."
"Nor should there be anyone around who will criticize when I do what I want," Snatcher rebutted, not dropping his voice by a note as he gave Grany's chest a light disciplinary nudge. "Now, let us commence the search."
The five spread out, rifling through papers, leafing through books, and testing any bit of architecture that looked out of the ordinary.
"What are we even looking for?" Grany wondered out loud.
"Well, the caretaker was apparently trying to look for something in here," Rémington recalled. "He couldn't find it, and he's had years to look for it."
"We shall just have to be smarter than Monseiur Caretaker, then, shan't we?" Snatcher posed.
Neo flashed him a thumbs-up.
Rémington became intrigued by a large globe that took up a corner of the library. He fiddled with the piece holding its top in place, twisting it like a dial.
"Hey, Rémy?" Roman called over to him. "Stop fucking around with random shit. You are not going to find anything by playing with – "
The globe cracked open at the center. Rémington curiously lifted up the upper half, revealing scrolls of paper.
"You're shitting me," Roman gawked.
The other four crowded around Rémington's discovery; the papers displayed a diagram of an astrolabe as well as a series of numbers.
"This means nothing to us yet," Snatcher mused, "but perhaps it is the answer to a question not yet asked."
"I'm still not over the fact that he just…found that by fucking with random shit," Roman reiterated, taking a few steps back. A panel in the wall caught his eye: one emblazoned in gold with the words "A wise rabbit will have three openings to his den." "Oh, see, this looks weird," Roman said sarcastically, putting a hand on the panel. "Next, you're going to tell me that if I just fuck with this thing, it's going to reveal a secret…"
The panel slid downward when he pressed it. Behind it, set in the wall, was a brass astrolabe.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Roman cried. "THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING!"
"And yet," Snatcher pointed out, "it looks quite a bit familiar, no?" He held up the paper Rémington had found next to the astrolabe. "And the numbers written here must be…"
With one dainty finger, Snatcher clicked the astrolabe to the three measurements indicated by the numbers on the scroll.
A loud creak sounded from upstairs, next to the ventilation duct by which Roman and Rémington had made entry.
There was a brief squabble as each of the five tried to be first up the narrow spiral stairway to see what had happened. Finally, the entire company piled up in front of an equally narrow panel that had peeled away from the wall to reveal a secret room the size of a large closet, with two desks filling most of the floor space.
Once again, all five attempted to crowd into the room, with less than satisfactory results. "Okay, we need to elect ONE representative to check it out," Roman stated.
Grany pointed at Rémington, who raised his hand to volunteer. Neo shoved Roman in the direction of the small chamber, causing him to stumble.
"I agree with Mademoiselle Neopolitan, but of course," Snatcher said. "Monseiur Torchwick should have the honors. After all, he did disable the alarm."
"I found the way for him to get to that alarm!" Rémington protested.
"Well, I vote for me, so it's three to one," Roman taunted. "Sucks to suck." He stepped into the room, taking a glance around. "It's a bit dark in here for reading, isn't it?" Producing a lighter from his jacket pocket, he located a thick, round candle. "Let there be light." He set the wick aflame, plucking a piece of weathered paper from the desk. "Sappy poem in bad handwriting," he muttered, "boring, boring." He lay down the paper; as he turned to the second desk, his eye caught the now illuminated wall, where butterflies of various colors were pinned behind glass. "Somebody has a morbid hobby." The other desk held two scrapbooks; Roman picked up the first and weighed it. Prying open the cover, he observed, "This is just the caretaker guy's dad gushing about how cute of a kid he was. We went through all that for THIS?"
"There must be something the architect of this room was desperate to hide," Snatcher encouraged.
Roman set down the book, picking up the second one. "Whoa!" he exclaimed after a few page turns. "Okay, THIS is where it gets interesting. 'Dexter Egan' is the guy who checked us in, right? Grumpy at the desk?"
Neo nodded affirmatively.
"Well, get this," Roman revealed. "His dad kept receipts. Ol' Grumpy was a hardened felon. I've got notes in here about vandalism, a newspaper article about him passing counterfeit checks…oh, and here's a letter revoking Grumpy's right to inherit this building, with a cute little note from Daddy Dearest: 'I'd rather see it burn!'." He looked up from the scrapbook. "Is he one of US?"
"I would not jump to conclusions until we have further evidence with which to judge his character," Snatcher cautioned. "For all we know, he's turned over a new leaf, and should he know too much about our little scheme, he would bring it to a premature halt."
"But this all makes sense, right?" Roman posed. "Whatever's hidden here, he was supposed to inherit it, but he didn't. So he faked messing up the library to get an excuse to poke around here and find this room without anyone else getting in the way. Of course, he didn't fuck with enough random shit, so here we are and there he isn't."
"But did he know the room was worthless?" Grany wondered out loud.
Neo gestured back to the paper Roman had discarded earlier.
"He wasn't looking for a stupid poem," Roman told her dryly.
"But perhaps…" Snatcher spied an item of interest over Roman's shoulder. "He was looking for the candle."
"The candle?" Roman turned around to look at the candle he had lit in order to get a better look at the room. Embedded in the wax was a long and rusty key. "Now, THERE'S something actually interesting!" Enough of the wax had melted that it didn't take much work at all to dislodge the key from its resting place; all the same, the light was doused in the process. Roman strode from the room, key held high. "Who wants to bet that this unlocks something juicy?"
"What are we going to do, try every single lock in the building until we find where it goes?" Rémington huffed.
"Isn't that more or less how you found this in the first place?" Roman reminded him.
"Then I should hang onto it," Rémington offered. "I'm more likely to find where it goes."
"Um, I found it, so I'm keeping it," Roman argued.
"It is our communal key," Snatcher informed them both. "We must implement a diplomatic way to share its possession."
"Rock-paper-scissors for it?" Roman suggested.
"I would hardly call that diplomatic – " Snatcher tried to interrupt.
Rémington's paper covered Roman's rock, and the key disappeared into Rémington's pocket.
Neo and Grany gave a simultaneous shrug at the dumbfounded Snatcher.
"Well, that's all that was in there," Roman announced. "I think we've tapped this place out."
"Perhaps it is time to reconvene and discuss strategy?" Snatcher suggested. "Or, preferably, to recharge with some well-deserved beauty sleep, then discuss strategy."
"You go ahead," Roman told the others, glancing back up at the vent. "There's one more thing I want to check out."
"I'm coming with you," Rémington insisted. "I want to see if what you saw leads anywhere."
"Oh, and if I die in there," Roman said, "it's his fault."
"I'd rather you didn't perish," Snatcher told Roman, giving him an affectionate, gentle pinch on the cheek. "I would be beside myself with grief if something were to happen to you."
Roman flushed, firing Snatcher a coy smile. "That is a very good reason to live," he said.
"Is anyone else sick of these two acting sappy?" Rémington groaned. This earned him a punch on the arm from Neo.
Moments later, Roman and Rémington hit the floor of the elevator shaft in order to investigate what Roman had spied earlier. "What have we here?" A metal gate set in the ground covered what was unmistakably a set of stairs leading to where the elevator would rest were it in the basement. Roman knelt and tugged on the grate; it didn't budge.
"Now which one of us is trying random things?" Rémington teased. "Up here."
Roman glanced up to where Rémington leaned against a great lever protruding from the floor.
"Shut up," Roman grunted as he shooed Rémington and grasped the lever. He tugged at it only to realize: "Damn thing's rusted shut. That only figures. Give me a hand with this?"
The combined strength of Roman and Rémington was enough to force the lever out of its position; the grate popped open. Roman strode confidently down the narrow-walled stairway with Rémington close behind.
The stairs ended where the elevator would have rested. The weights that kept the elevator on the second level were suspended there before what appeared, at first glance, to be a wall. As Roman and Rémington entered this chamber and got a closer look, they realized it wasn't a wall.
"That's a door," Rémington observed. "If these weights weren't in the way…"
Roman's eye was caught by a button set in the wall. "Well, hello!" he remarked. "I think we both know what we do with THESE!" Without hesitation, he pressed the button.
The weights slid upward, out of the way, revealing the door. Six heavy iron bars locked it in place.
"Score!" Roman drew back one of the bars; it immediately snapped back. "Um, okay…" He tried another, and it stayed out until he chose a third bar; then both bars snapped into position once more. "I get it," he muttered.
"Um, Roman?" Rémington realized. "If the weights are going up – "
"This is some kind of puzzle," Roman said to himself. "Whoever set this up was a real smartass. You have to pull out the bars in the right order." He pulled the first bar from before, then another one; both stayed out. He chose a third; snap! "There are really only so many combinations to try."
"ROMAN."
"Not now, Rémy! I'm working this out!"
Rémington trembled as he watched the elevator car descend upon himself and Roman at a rapid pace. Without warning, he grabbed Roman's shoulders, throwing the weight of both of their bodies back onto the stairs as the elevator car slid into place; it would have crushed them had he not acted.
"WHOA!" Roman looked back at where the elevator car filled the chamber where they had once stood. Then he turned his gaze to Rémington. "You actually saved my ass." He grinned as he stood, brushing himself off. "You have more of a conscience than I thought."
"Call it loyalty to a fellow rogue," Rémington corrected, trying to stand up and immediately being pulled back down. Annoyed, he glanced back to see the elevator car pinning his cape down.
Roman bit back a laugh as he watched Rémington squirm and struggle, only to finally give the upper half of his cape a tight grip and a sharp tug; the cape ripped in half, and Rémington sighed as he realized he was forced to leave the rest of it where it lay.
"You know, that outfit really doesn't work with half a cape," Roman commented.
"Shut up," Rémington grunted, giving Roman a shove to indicate he should go back up the stairs. "We'll check this thing out later. Maybe tomorrow."
"What, you have other plans for tomorrow?"
"I just got an idea of where else we might be able to turn up something interesting," Rémington explained.
"Good for you," Roman told him as he made it back to the ladder leading to the ventilation shaft. "I'm thinking of going more the route of what will net us cold, hard cash, whether there's a secret here or not."
...
Guards bedecked in deep red armor exchanged their posts at the front gate of the prison in the Fire Nation capital. As the afternoon guards took their leave of the shift, the evening guards settled in to begin patrol.
Had they only been aware they had given the afternoon guards their pass to live.
The front gate was slammed upon once, twice, then battered down by a magenta bison. This creature was flanked by two women and four men, all of whom marched into the front hallway with purpose in their eyes.
"HALT!" one of the guards commanded, holding out a hand. "YOU WILL GO NO FURTHER!"
"I beg to differ," Facilier said with a smirk.
Another guard recognized one of the invaders. "Zhao?" he said in amazement. "You're alive?"
"I am," Zhao confirmed. "You're not going to be so lucky."
"Well?" Facilier looked to the five captive members of the WHAM ARMY. "Have at them. Take no prisoners."
The Huntsman aimed his staff and charged. Mim stormed toward her target, flailing her horns. Vexen put up his shield. Wuya braced for combat. Xayide simply strode forward calmly.
The first guard to collide with the group punched forward, sending a blast of fire at the Huntsman. The Huntsman conjured a barrier shield with the huntstaff, deflecting the flames. He twirled the staff, jabbing it at the guard again and again; the guard nimbly danced out of his way, sweeping an arc of fire at the Huntsman's mask. The Huntsman ducked, letting the fire soar over him; when he rose, he wrapped his arms around the guard in a headlock. He slammed the guard's body to the ground before taking staff in hand once more, raising it up, finding where breastplate separated from fauld, and drove it down.
As fire was thrown at Mim, she transfigured into a nimble hummingbird, zipping through the gaps in the attacks thrown at her. At the exact moment she came in proximity of her target, she took the form of an Ursa, slamming the guard to the ground and ripping open his armor like the lid of an aluminum can before rending his body.
Wuya danced around a guard as he threw punch after punch at her; flames burst from his arms, and she narrowly avoided being licked by each one. A kick from her sent her attacker sailing into the wall; as he reeled from the impact, she performed a handspring that ended in another kick to his head. Bright green magic flashed through his armor. As his skin was exposed, Wuya summoned a dagger into each hand and slashed crossways.
Xayide waited for the conflagration to be sent her way; as fireballs loomed closer, she put out her hands. She nimbly caught each attack meant for her, juggling the fire as though it were solid and reforming it into a projectile of her own. She bowled it across the floor, where it struck the guard who had sent it toward her. The flames stopped just below the guard's feet, rising in size and intensity; his armor melted to his skin.
Vexen blocked three blasts of fire and a series of punches with his shield; he shoved hard against his foe, pinning the guard to the wall before a cluster of icy spikes shot upward from the floor to impale him. Vexen could tell from his victim's cries that he had only wounded, not killed; he encased the guard in a cocoon of ice, binding him to the wall, to let him bleed out.
Once the front hallway was cleared, Vexen turned back to Facilier and remarked, "I do hate fire SO much. But I'm sure you were aware of my history with it when we met."
"That's what makes this so fun," Facilier remarked.
"I don't even have to lift a finger, do I?" Zhao asked.
"You sound disappointed," Facilier observed. "Don't worry. We still have several floors to go until we reach our target. You'll get a chance to join in the party."
As the group moved onward and upward, Zhao joined in the fray, knocking out the lights of armored guards before Xayide conjured up a pollaxe to drive through them.
Vexen iced over the floor, causing most of the guards to slip and fall in line where Mim could easily trample them with her rhinoceros feet.
Wuya caused an entire section of the ceiling to fall down onto one of her opponents, crushing him beyond recognition.
The Huntsman blasted a guard twice before severing his head.
Zhao incinerated a man's throat.
Xayide forced another to swallow the fire he had attempted to throw at her.
Vexen froze the hands and feet of several would-be firebenders before they could get a chance to aim at him, then let the spikes of ice do their work.
Mim struck one with fast-acting venom while in the body of a cobra.
Wuya suplexed a guard and brought him down hard on a leftover ice spike.
The Huntsman ran two men through on his huntstaff.
"If we weren't doing this in forced servitude to an ally of Maleficent," Xayide remarked, "I might actually be enjoying myself."
"What are you talking about?" Mim called back as she used her buffalo horns to throw a guard against the wall. "I AM enjoying myself!"
"Might as well make the best of a bad situation," Wuya added as she threw a punch that sent a guard reeling.
"That's easy for all of YOU to say!" Vexen barked as he blocked a stream of fire. "None of you have ever been INCINERATED!"
Still onward, still upward.
"RUN!" one of the guards attempted to yell as he barreled down the hall where the highest-security prisoners were held. "THEY'RE KILLING EVER – "
He was completely frozen over midsentence before a blast of green energy shattered both the iceberg and the guard inside of it.
The other guards got the picture and ran. Some made it to safety. Others were gunned down by Zhao's fire, Vexen's spears of ice, Wuya's green energy, and impromptu weapons summoned by Xayide.
"If nothing else," Vexen sighed, "we have proven that the team I assembled is efficiently powerful."
Facilier strode toward one of the now unguarded cells. "Ladies and gentlemen," he announced, "I think we have what we came for."
Staring out of the cell menacingly was a muscular man with long, unkempt dark hair streaming down from his head. "Have you come to murder me?" he growled.
"Quite the opposite," Facilier told him. "All this killing was done for your sake! If anything, you should be grateful to us."
"My lord!" Zhao approached the bars of the cell, then bent at the knee, pressing a fist to his chest. "I am in your service once more!"
"Zhao?" the prisoner remarked. "This is surprising. Do you fancy yourselves my loyalists?"
"He is," Facilier reassured the prisoner. "I'm more interested in a partnership. As for the other five, they're just the muscle of the operation. Trust 'em as far as you can throw 'em. Now, you ready to get out of that cell?"
"I have been from the moment I arrived," the prisoner growled.
Vexen weakened the structural integrity of the bars by freezing them over; it was then no problem for Wuya to bash through them with a well-placed blast of magic. The prisoner strode forth, eyes glinting with fire, even though no firebending remained within him.
"Wuya," Facilier commanded, "get our guest of honor a change of clothes. He can't go around lookin' all mussed up. He is, after all, the Phoenix King."
Reluctantly, knowing she was going to be sent down for the count if she disobeyed, Wuya flicked a hand toward the prisoner. His hair was smoothed out, trailing down his back, neatly trimmed. His ragged attire became a resplendent red and orange robe with a sun-shaped brooch at the collar and epaulets that curled like flames.
"Your majesty Ozai," Facilier greeted, dipping into a sweeping bow. When he noticed the reluctance of the WHAM ARMY, he hissed, "BOW."
Vexen, Xayide, Mim, Wuya, and the Huntsman all bent slightly at the waist.
"You spoke of a partnership," Ozai told Facilier. "This interests me. I want to know what you offer that makes you think you can consider yourself my equal."
"You can still get what you want without steppin' on my toes," Facilier told him. "In fact, I want you to sit on the throne of the Fire Nation again. And tomorrow night, I'm gonna make sure you get there. But we can talk terms when there ain't anyone listening."
"I know who is imprisoned in these surrounding cells," Ozai growled, "and there is no one of any consequence listening."
"All the same, I'd feel better if we took this somewhere private," Facilier told him.
As Facilier and Ozai spoke, Mim positioned herself behind Facilier, thoroughly fed up. She conjured a large hammer: not enough to kill Facilier, but enough to knock him out so she could retrieve the stolen souls. She drew it back for a swing –
Facilier tapped the ring with her soul.
As Mim dropped to the ground, unconscious, Facilier heaved a sigh, turning to the Huntsman, Vexen, Xayide, and Wuya. "She's gonna be a problem, ain't she?"
"I'm surprised you didn't already know she'd be ready to give you heck," Wuya commented.
"What did you do to her?" Ozai asked.
Zhao stood. "He has imprisoned the souls of these five warriors within his rings, my lord," he quickly explained. "He can control them with a touch."
Facilier flinched; he really wished Zhao hadn't said that before they had secured privacy.
"I see." Ozai fixed Facilier with a piercing glare. "I have not heard of such a thing before. What other talents do you have?"
"Plenty," Facilier told him. "Now, shall we get this little show on the road?"
He struck his cane against the prison floor. A Corridor of Darkness opened. "Après vous."
Ozai strode into the portal, followed by Zhao. Facilier beckoned his five captives to come with him, and reluctantly, they all did – all except Mim, who five Neo-Shadows sprang up to carry.