Six always found it weird people called it a Mexican standoff. He really doubted people holding each other at gunpoint started with Mexico, maybe it was some sort of movie thing? Although, he wasn't quite sure if the current situation counted: He was currently standing in front of the kids, arm outstretched as the kids had their hands on their various weapons. Across the room an old man was standing protectively in front of of the scarred boy Six had seen earlier, the youths all glaring at one another besides Toph. The old man thankfully seemed to be trying to de-escalate the situation along with Toph, however the other kids seemed to be getting more and more heated to Six finally stepped in. He took a deep breath, the filters of his mask loudly rasping before he shouted, "SHUT UP!"
The shout caught everyone's attention, and he was pretty sure that included everyone in the neighborhood as well. He swore he heard an echo, but regardless the shout did its job and everyone went silent as the grave for a moment, staring at him before the old man clapped his hands together, "Who would like some tea?"
After reassuring the owner of Iroh and Zuko's apartment that things were fine, the group had found themselves kneeling in front of a low table, each with cups of tea in front of them. Six had opted to take his helmet off, the old man, Toph, and him being the only ones to actually take sips of their drinks while the others sat in tense silence. Six had to admit he did like the tea; it didn't bite like coffee, though he would admit he didn't exactly have a huge range of experience with it, so for all he knew this was just extra good tea. He bowed his head to the old man who smiled and bowed back, and Toph seemed to take that as her cue, "So... we just gonna sit in silence and not say anything, because we kinda ran out here and as good as the tea is-"
"What are you doing here!?" Sokka interrupted, leaning on the table to point at Zuko, the former prince smacking his hand away.
"Take it easy, Sokka." Toph frowned as Katara looked at her incredulousy.
"You're telling him to take it easy!? Do you even know who that is!?"
"I know who he is," Toph pointed to Iroh, "and I know he can't be as bad as you're all acting he is." What occurred was an abridged telling of the Gaang's journey up until they met Toph, Zuko or Iroh chiming in to clarify something or apologize... well, really only Iroh explained or apologized, usually on Zuko's behalf. When the story was finally done Toph had a hand on the table, tapping a finger in thought. "Isn't this a good thing?"
""Good thing!?" Who knows what they're planning!" Sokka looked ready to pop a blood vessel as Toph rolled her eyes as Zuko glared at him, muttering about them sitting right there.
"Ah yes, who knows what dastardly things they're planning in their evil base of... some crummy apartment. No offense."
"None taken. This place could use some new paint, but at least we're moving soon." Iroh looked around the room before Sokka and Katara gave an exasperated look to Aang, but the airbender was fidgeting in his place, the conflict in his head clear on his face. After a moment he looked at the former Fire Nation nobles with a serious face.
"I don't know why you came here, but if you're here to cause trouble, we will stop you." Katara and Sokka sighed in relief while Toph frowned deeply. "...But... if you really aren't here to do anything bad, if you really are trying to start over... then I'd like to visit your shop first." Aang smiled and so did Iroh and Toph, Sokka groaning as Katara looked like she was about to explode. Zuko, however, was the first to fully react: the former prince had been entirely silent throughout the conversation but at Aang's words he stood, stomping into his room and slamming the door shut. Iroh had winced at his nephew's reaction and looked to the others.
"I am sorry, this is all very sudden to him-" Sokka opened his mouth but Aang beat him to it.
"It's fine, this is definitely a shock to everyone. I think we all just need some time to cool off." The old man smiled and bowed, a gesture Aang reciprocated, "While we're here, do you mind if I ask you something?"
"By all means."
"Have you heard anything about my sky bison, Appa? We were told he was here last..."
"No, I'm sorry. We've mostly been keeping to ourselves, but if we see anything we'll be sure to try and find you." Aang smiled and gave a small bow that Iroh returned before standing,
"Come on guys, we should head back before it gets too late and Joo Dee sends out a search party." Katara and Sokka were clearly not pleased but didn't argue for now, the Gaang walking back in total silence until they got to their home, and Katara and Sokka immediately rounded on Aang once they were inside. The airbender was able to raise his hands to stall any shouting.
"I can explain." Sokka crossed his arms while Katara looked on expectantly and Aang sighed, "Do you guys remember when Zhao... when Zhao captured the moon spirit? Iroh understood the balance was threatened and was ready to take down Zhao. When Toph mentioned Iroh couldn't be as bad as we thought, it got me thinking: if Iroh and Zuko left the Fire Nation to live here, maybe Iroh could teach Zuko to be calmer now that he's not hunting us. If we made peace with Zuko, then maybe Iroh could teach me firebending." Sokka's mouth shot open and he raised a hand, a single finger raised but no sound came out, and the finger went limp after a moment.
"That... actually makes a lot of sense. The problem is, it needs Zuko to not be... well, Zuko."
"And given how he stormed off, I'm not sure if his uncle can do all that much to help." Katara chimed in.
"It's not like they have much else to do." Toph pointed out. "According to my history lessons, Iroh once tried to invade this place. If things are so bad in the Fire Nation he has to come here..." Aang nodded rapidly.
"Exactly!" Katara and Sokka still looked skeptical, "Look, I'm not saying we have to be friends with Zuko, but if we can at least make peace with him, isn't that better for everyone? I'm sure that if we work together, we'll be able to-"
"-make peace with the Avatar!" Iroh was glad to be an old man, despite what his joints told him when they did too much running. Otherwise, he wouldn't have half the patience needed to help his nephew. Said nephew was currently pacing about their room like an agitated tigerdillo, and Iroh could already tell what Zuko was thinking. It was only confirmed as his nephew turned to lash out.
"He's here! He was right there, I could have had him!"
"To do what, start a fight with the Avatar in the middle of Ba Sing Se!?" Iroh raised his voice somewhat, still wary of being heard by the landlord but he knew he had to cut this off at the head before his nephew did something dangerous. "Even he is giving us a chance, so why can't you?" Zuko whirled around.
"A chance to what!? To sit in some stupid tea shop and play pretend!? I could-"
"Could what!?" Iroh felt a deep pit in his stomach for what he was about to say, "Return to your sister so she can hand both you and the Avatar over to your father? You never think these things through, nephew! Tell me, here and now, what is your plan?" Zuko's whole body tensed... before he slammed the door shut, and Iroh sighed, putting his hand against the door and resting his forehead on it. "Please... you need to decide on what you want. Not what your father wants, or what I want, what you really want."
There was silence from the other side of the door and Iroh pulled away, frowning deeply. The questions of if he was interfering too much or too little with his nephew roiled in his mind, but all he could do now was hope his nephew saw the right path.
...Iroh felt an old instinct creeping up his spine, one that regularly told him something was wrong or coming, and he quickly turned back to pull open the door to Zuko's room, revealing nothing but curtains of an open window billowing in the breeze.
A strange cycle began: the Gaang would spend their days doing what they can to search for Appa and Jet, speed up their meeting with the Earth King, and discuss what exactly to do about Zuko and Iroh. Meanwhile, said Fire Nation prince would stalk the group from afar, doing well at dodging the Dai Li agents that also followed the kids, though he was still noticed by Six and Toph. Oddly, Toph kept Six from pointing out Zuko from the others, seemingly content to let him watch though at one point she did knock him randomly into a girl, which granted them a few days peace.
If only it lasted.
Six watched as the girls got all dressed up, Aang making goo-goo eyes at Katara. As near as he could tell some big event was going on but only the girls were invited... didn't stop the boys from sneaking out and Six from following them, heading for a tall-walled building with guards at nearly every corner. While the boys snagged some servant uniforms Six couldn't quite fit in, so he was forced to watch the building from afar until two of those weirdos who were watching the group approached him, and by "approach" he meant "attempted to attack him."
Six's arms flexed as the four hands made of rock wrapped around his wrists and ankles, the two making their gestures that caused the hands to pull towards them. Despite the pull Six stood strong, planting himself and the drag slowed until he stopped. He wasn't out of the woods yet; another duo of agents appeared behind him and their stone hands launched at the backs of his knees, nearly bringing him to the ground. The four were at an impasse until Six began to think, and he desperately hoped he had the coordination for what he was about to do. He stopped resisting and instead moved with the pull, his hands shooting down to his waist as he did so, and he ended up rolling onto his back with his pistol in hand. It'd be breaking the rules Aang set, but-
A man in a Halloween mask jumped off a roof, the pommels of two curved swords smashing into the backs of the heads of the agents holding his arms. The stone hands went slack and Six took the opportunity to aim at his legs, blasting the hands there off. By the time he was done he saw the agents run off onto the rooftops, and Six scrambled to stand and train his pistol on the man in the blue mask. Trust but verify, and all that. The swordsman seemingly stared at Six before pressing the swords together into one piece and sliding it into a sheathe on their back. Six slowly lowered his pistol... and the man ran off towards the building the kids had entered.
"Oh fucking-" Six started to run towards the building, watching as the blue man used several crates and a cart to get up to a window, disappearing inside. The guy didn't try to kill Six, so that was good sign, but Six had the distinct feeling letting him run free was a bad idea. He paused in an alley to fish a Stealth Boy out of his supplies, looking to the building before sighing and activating the device. The light bent around him and he ran towards the building before slowing down and going into a crouch, pressing himself as close to the wall as he could manage as he tried to find stairs leading upwards. He had to dodge a few servants, guards included, but thankfully he wasn't spotted and found the stairs up to... more hallways.
He didn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary, so he resorted to a classic plan of "keep opening doors until he finds something." Quietly he checked each room, finding little of interest: papers he couldn't read, people borrowing the rooms for some "private times," some sort of armory-
Six paused as he saw several differently sized bullet casings on a table, approaching to pick one up, but surely these weren't- Six saw the engraving ".45 GR" on the bottom of one casing and immediately began scooping them into his pockets. Those sons of bitches got ahold of his casings! How!? Sure, he left a few casings on the giant drill but some of the calibers he was seeing were in his bag-
Six paused, and he couldn't stop the "motherfucker" that left his mouth. They touched his stuff! They must've gotten to his bag when he left it at the house! The spiteful temptation to loot the whole armory was there but he stamped it down, making sure no other piece of his property was in the room before he exited, beginning his trek back through the building. The upper floor was clear, near as he could tell, so he went back downstairs and had a near miss with one of the agents, but the agent walked past and Six continued before something tickled his brain. He glanced back at the agent and felt something familiar, was it the hair? The posture? Six was brought out of the thought when he heard the voice of the Gaang and quickly moved to find the source, coming out to a hall where the kids were being escorted by a pair of agents and a woman dressed like Joo Dee.
Six creeped behind the group, debating if he should strike or not but the group was led outside and in the direction of the house, so Six let the Stealth Boy fade and joined up with the group from behind, spooking them out of whatever funk was hanging over their heads. He knew something was up because none of the kids reacted past the initial, even when they got home they all split up and went to bed. The kids didn't seem hurt but clearly something happened... but if they didn't want to tell him tonight, not much he could do. Six sighed through his helmet and made for a couch in the main room for his resting place. At least it didn't look like anyone followed them...
Author note: hey all, it's me and my once-yearly affirmation I am not dead. A huge shoutout to the person who said Chapter 4 was messed up. I was worried because obviously it's been a while since I posted, and thought they meant the chapter was weak or such. They would've been right, I am... desperately exhausted from life and to get something other than my original stories out, but nope! Format for the stories was just straight up broken. Hopefully this has fixed it, and hope you all enjoy.