Chapter 11:

Present Day

Aang, Katara and Sokka could only stare in awe and possibly a bit of fear at the hole in the wall. They'd seen many earthbenders ruin buildings around them using their bending but this was the first time they'd ever seen punch a hole right through one.

And the culprit of the wall punching stood in front of a frightened Dai Lee agent. Danny was pretty scary when he was angry. He had good reason to be angry. The three members of Team Avatar had been in various levels of upset and disgust when they heard what the Dai Lee had been doing to some of the women of this city.

Now that Azula was the head of the Dai Lee, she wanted to uncover every secret they had. She seemed to like the corrupt organisation and decided to keep them. She offered some of her soldiers in exchange. Danny helped with the collection of information when he learned about Joo Dee. To say that he was disgusted was an understatement. He was downright furious and the new acting captain of the Dai Lee, Xihen, was unfortunate enough to be the one to face Danny's wrath.

How Danny had managed to frighten the stoic and emotionless member of the Dai Lee, Team Avatar would never know but he was frightened. He was cowering before Danny.

"How many?" Danny growled as he picked up Xihen by the collar and lifted him into the air.

"Hundreds sir, almost a thousand," Xihen said.

"Gather them all up," Danny ordered. "I want every Joo Dee and Dai Lee agent who can perform this technique assembled. I want all the documents regarding their identities as well. Any documents, or copies that exist on this technique in the city. I want them too."

"Might I ask sir, why do you want this information?" Xihen asked.

"I want to fix the problem you guys made," Danny said as he dropped the Dai Lee agent. "I'm shutting down the Joo Dee program and once this is done and the war is over I'm going to do my best to kill this technique which you guys developed."

"Lord Phantom sir, the Joo Dees have an essential role in the city. We can't just…"

He didn't finish his sentence as he was scared into submission dark green glow in Danny's eyes and a blast of ecto energy flew past his face. The three members of Team Avatar tensed. Although there was no love lost between them and the Dai Lee, neither of them was sure they wanted to see Danny kill one of them in cold blood. That seemed more like an Azula thing to do.

"I'm not sure if you've noticed this, but the Dai Lee willingly surrendered to Princess Azula and assisted in a coup against the Earth King," Danny said. "We may have chosen to work with the Earth King to overthrow the Fire Lord but I'd like to remind you are all still traitors to the Earth Kingdom and it's only because Azula likes your efficiency that you haven't been handed back to the Earth King as traitors.

"When I give an order, you follow it." Danny punctuated the point by tapping his chest.

"Yes sir!" Xihen said before he quickly ran out of the room. He didn't even stop to bow down.

"Danny, you okay?" Aang asked as Danny took a deep breath.

"Not really," Danny groaned as he rubbed his hands across his face.

It was brief, but Aang noticed the briefest hint of tears being rubbed from the older boy's face.

"Sorry you had to see that," Danny groaned. "I just don't do well with Mind Control."

He didn't elaborate further even though the others had burning questions. Instead, he excused himself to cool off and wait for information.

"What happened to Danny?" Toph asked as she walked into the archives room with them.

She hadn't been interested in learning the dirty secret of the Dai Lee for obvious reasons. But she did feel one of the walls get ruptured by something small but strong. As she was walking over to investigate she heard Danny walking off and could feel how erratic his heartbeat was. Based on his tone and heartbeat she was able to figure out that he was upset.

"He learnt about the women named Joo Dee," Katara said. "He didn't take it well. As it turns out the Dai Lee have been brainwashing women for ages and making them into dolls that spread misinformation and manipulate the public."

"I always thought that Joo Dee lady was creepy," Toph noted. "I guess she was just a doll controlled by the Dai Lee."

"Danny was crying," Aang finally said.

"Really?" Toph asked.

"Well it's disturbing," Katara said. "I understand his anger with the Dai Lee."

"No, I think it was personal," Aang said. "His reaction looked way more painful than angry."

"Do you think he experienced mind control before?" Katara asked.

"Why don't you ask Azula," Sokka said. "She seems to be his closest friend so she might know something."

"Good idea," Katara said but no one moved. Both Aang and Katara glanced at Sokka, hoping he'd take on the task but then he shook his head.

"What're you looking at me for?" Sokka said.

"It was your suggestion," Aang said.

"No thanks," Sokka said. "I have had my fill dealing with princesses and I am manly enough to admit that I'm scared of her."

"We've fought her several times before, you were never scared then," Katara remarked.

"I don't fear her as my enemy while we're at war, I fear her as my ally," Sokka responded with a shrug. "Aang should ask her, he's her student after all. He should probably get used to talking to her."

The siblings glanced at Aang and the young airbender sighed. Looks like he'd been nominated to talk to the scary Fire Nation princess about her troubled bodyguard.

~00000~

It wasn't too hard finding Azula. She was in the training ground engaging in a training session with Suki. They weren't alone, a few of the Kyoshi Warriors were present alongside a few of the Dai Lee and Mai and Ty Lee. As it turns out the Kyoshi Warriors used a style of combat which had been popularised by a group known as the Flying Opera Company or as Sokka referred to it, Team Kyoshi. As Kyoshi was a member of the Daofei group most of her training in the four elements happened from the members of this group. As it happened there was a particularly skilled Fire Bender, a woman named Rangi, who served with the Flying Opera Company. She was so skilled that she was said to produce white flames on occasion. And so Azula was keen to learn the style of combat that she used when part of the Flying Opera Company.

As Azula was training alongside the Kyoshi Warriors, she was wearing the armour and robes of a Kyoshi Warrior as she trained, just like Sokka when he trained with the Kyoshi Warriors.

Aang didn't speak immediately, instead, he watched as Azula performed motions that were all too familiar to him. She was practising with weapons instead of her bending which was a bit of an odd combination for the Fire Nation princess but she took to it with a surprising grace.

Aang heard a brief chuckle behind him.

"Rangi was better, but the princess isn't bad."

He turned around and was surprised to see Kyoshi behind him. She was only there briefly before vanishing but there was a smile on her face. It looked strangely alien but also convenient and welcome.

Aang took a breath before he approached.

"Sorry to interrupt," Aang said.

"You aren't interrupting, Aang." Suki said, "We were just wrapping up."

"Have you come to start your Fire bending training?" Azula asked.

"Not exactly," Aang said. "I wanted to ask you about Danny. He was pretty upset with what we learned from the Dai Lee."

Azula's confident indifference turned into a surprisingly concerned expression. The expression seemed odd as if it didn't fit the Fire Nation Princess, Aang could see it more naturally on Zuko than he could on Azula. But at the same time, he didn't know Azula like he knew Zuko. Although admittedly he couldn't say that he knew Zuko well.

She motioned for Aang to continue and he did so, telling the story of what they found and Danny's reaction. When he mentioned the tears Azula's expression fell.

Azula sighed. This wasn't the disappointed sigh of a princess expecting more from her soldiers. This was the sigh of someone who cared about Danny's well-being.

"Ty Lee," Azula began but the girl, who Aang had begun enjoying chatting about Air Nomad culture with was already moving.

"On it Azula," Ty Lee said. She wasn't as cheery either, her expression had also changed when Aang spoke about Danny's reaction.

They really cared for each other, didn't they?

"Dai Lee, dismissed," Azula said prompting the Earthbenders who maintained their stoic appearances to leave. Once they were gone Azula began to speak, "I don't know the full story as this happened before we met but he told me of an encounter he had back in his home,"

"In the Spirit World?" Aang asked.

Azula hesitated. Aang didn't notice but Sokka did.

"Yes," Azula said. "In the city he lived in, Amity Park, there was a man who had learnt how to control the spirits using a form of Mind Control. Danny being half spirit, was susceptible to his mind control. All I know is that during his time under the control of this man, he almost harmed a young woman he knew.

"When war broke out in his home, that same man returned and with more power in his hand, forced Danny to cripple her," Azula continued. "This woman, Sam I believe, was one of his closest confidants and harming her broke him in a way. He grew to resent anyone with the ability to take over another's mind. Even one of his allies, a spirit who had a similar ability using music, vowed to never use her abilities to soothe or riot another person's emotions ever again."

"So that's why he reacted the way that he did," Katara said.

Aang could empathise. Although he had never been mind-controlled himself he could understand the pain associated with harming those close to you. He still remembered the pain in Katara's eyes, it was one of the reasons why he hadn't started asking Azula to train him in Firebending yet even though he knew that realistically he should begin at some point.

Ty Lee chose that moment to return. Curiously she held a metal boomerang in her hands. The boomerang was different to the one Sokka had as it wasn't sharpened like a weapon and it had sections that glowed.

Azula took the boomerang and rubbed her finder against the metallic object. Aang heard a click and a whirring as the device came alive and then Azula spoke to the device.

"Daniel James Fenton," Azula said with the authority befitting her station but the sincerity of a friend. "I need you at the Earth Kingdom Palace training grounds."

There was another click and the blue glow on the boomerang changed to green. Azula got into a stance to throw it but then decided against it. Everyone watched with a keen interest except Mai and Ty Lee, they seemed to know how this boomerang worked already.

"Sokka, you know how to throw a boomerang correct?" Azula asked.

"Yeah, why," Sokka asked with a raised eyebrow.

Azula wore a smirk as she handed it to him.

"As you all are our allies you should understand the technology Danny has developed," Azula said. "Danny made this to track him, all you need to do is throw it while saying 'Find Danny."

Sokka stared incredulously at Azula. Ty Lee nodded eagerly while Mai wore the tiniest smirk on her face. He tried to glance at Katara and Suki but both women just shrugged in response. And so Sokka sighed lifted the boomerang and with a mighty throw he yelled.

"Find Danny!"

The boomerang flew from his hands and almost immediately changed course and flew in the opposite direction as if being propelled by some unknown force. Aang watched it fly at speeds that a normal boomerang should not have been able to reach.

Azula allowed herself to smile as a devious look crossed her face. It was weird seeing that devious look on her face while she wore the makeup of the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Non-benders you might not want to join this," She said before turning towards Team Avatar, "One Firebender, one Waterbender, one Earthbender and the Avatar. I suppose we'll have to do. Aang, lesson one. Firebenders prefer to use Positive Jing. We fight with aggression and decisiveness. A preemptive strike against a strong opponent is a good way to gauge the strength of your opponent. How they react will tell you a lot about how they fight."

Aang stared confused. Azula pointed at the nearby building.

"Keep yourself hidden," Azula instructed "On my signal, you are going to attack him from the roof. It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you are aggressive with your intent. Our goal is to spar and release his tension not to do any real damage but I doubt that I need to worry about any of you dealing any serious damage."

Azula turned to Katara and Toph.

"You two will be at a disadvantage," Azula said. "But I can do my best to ensure that Danny remains on the ground and that you have plenty of water to bend. Toph keep the two of you hidden beneath the ground. I will tap my foot three times and that will be your signal to rise and attack. Katara you will join her."

Toph smiled.

"You know what Princess, I like you," Toph said with a grin.

"What are you waiting for," Azula said as she looked at Katara and Aang. "Danny could be here any minute. Get into position."

Aang nodded. The princess should not have to repeat herself so he jumped into the roof and made sure that he was hidden. It was only then that he realised that he had no clue what the signal would be. Oh well, he'd have to wait and see.

He spotted Katara and Toph retreating below the ground before Azula took a deep breath in and stood in the centre of the training ground. She kept her eyes on the sky, in the direction that the Boomerang had flown. The afternoon sun was on her back meaning she wouldn't be brightened by it.

~00000~

Danny floated down onto the ground while rubbing his head where the Booo-merang had hit his head. Azula stood in the centre and she smiled confidently.

He ignored her for a second before glancing at Sokka who sat at the sidelines with Mai, Ty Lee, Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi warriors. Ty Lee was making sure not to make eye contact with him and also seemed to be snickering to herself.

"Really?" He asked as he tossed the Booo-merang at Sokka. He caught it expertly. "Find Danny?"

Sokka blushed, Ty Lee burst into a round of giggles and Danny sighed exasperatedly. He was starting to regret telling her, Azula and Mai the stories associated with this thing. He turned his attention back to the princess as he landed on the ground.

"I have been training with the Kyoshi Warriors," Azula began as she adopted her usual stance. "Would you like to see what I have learned Sifu Danny?"

"Why are you calling me that all of a sudden?" Danny groaned. "I thought you stopped."

"It is honourable for the student to address her master with his proper title," Azula said.

"I thought that was beneath you," Danny said with a roll of his eyes before he got into his own stance. "Rules?"

"Ice so long as you are fighting me alone," Azula said. "I still don't have as much experience fighting in frigid climates. Also human."

Danny nodded and brought his foot down, a blanket of snow and ice spread out from his person and wrapped the surrounding area in a Winter Wonderland. There wasn't too much snow, and he didn't use too much ecto energy to create it. It would melt like normal and wouldn't cause too much of a mess. But there was still enough that it felt meaningful. The temperature dropped considerably but not enough to call it freezing.

Once the arena had been set, Danny transformed. His white hair turned black and his green eyes became blue.

Danny cracked his knuckles, shook his shoulders and adjusted his stance to accommodate his fighting in human form.

Azula didn't hesitate. She grabbed the metal fans from their sheaths and dashed towards Danny. She was good and she had grasped the Kyoshi Warrior techniques quickly but she was no master of their skills so she applied what she had learned to her Firebending. With the fans opened she directed her flames through them creating waves of fire which were different to her usual streams.

Danny responded well, creating a shield of ice in front of him to take the brunt of the blow. Azula was still approaching, and fast despite the snowy terrain, so Danny used his shield as leverage and vaulted over her as she approached. His face was inches from hers as he flew over and he noticed her grin. From this position, it'd be difficult for him to move in mid-air and so sent a very powerful blast from her left fan while Danny was in the air.

With only milliseconds to react and with most of his other powers unavailable to him in this fight, Danny had to force himself to the side while coating his body on ice. The flames grazed him lightly but he was able to land without worries. The flame continued, flying towards the roof of the building behind Danny.

"Neat trick," Danny commented.

He was referring to the trick that allowed Azula to be inches from his face despite the power of his jump. Azula had been stepping on fire as she moved which had given her more speed. She didn't need to worry about traction or the ground's resistance slowing her down.

She landed on the ground, one foot tapping on the ground as she regained her balance from the manoeuvre.

"Thank you, I learnt it from the Kyoshi Warriors," Azula said as she turned towards Danny, her foot tapping again. "As it turns out their group was founded and trained by Avatar Kyoshi. The Avatar at the time was a member of an elite Daofei group known as the Flying Opera Company. Do you know them?"

Danny frowned.

"No…" He said.

"Oh that's a shame," Azula said tapping her foot again while shaking her head. "They were said to be instrumental in the rescuing of the criminal Xu Ping An. He was an Earth Kingdom citizen but he was a firebender. Can you imagine? There was a time before the war when benders of different nations lived around the world. Of course, he is a poor example of one but such a time existed."

Danny knew this. That was one of the many things he had learnt after learning how to read and write the language of this world. He and Azula had talked about it a few times when discussing their plans. There was a beauty in that worldview. A world where Firebenders didn't have to live on the Fire Islands, where Waterbenders could trade their goods from the North and South with other nations instead of only their own tribes. That was something Azula wanted to see returned to the world. It was her reason for wanting to rise against her father. She'd learned to ask for what she wanted instead of demanding. But Danny knew this already. So why bring up the time when travel was freely permitted among the Four Nations?

Wait a second? Was Azula monolouging?

A strong blast of air from behind knocked Danny off balance and sent him flying towards Azula, who was grinning victoriously. Not being one to let an opportunity pass her by, Azula performed a sweeping kick of fire. Danny was caught off guard and he had no choice but to let the flames hit him. The flames were gone momentarily but the force of the attack had been enough to leave Danny feeling sore.

As he tried to stand and regain his footing the ground shook beneath him making it difficult to fight back and water whipped towards him, ensaring both his hands and feet. Another blast of air kept him off balance.

Danny turned, Katara was keeping him in place with the water while Aang and Toph were using their respective elements to keep him off balance. When had they started working together to get the jump on him? Azula was approaching again, using her fire-stepping technique to get close and go for another attack.

Danny grinned at the prospect of a good fight. It had been a while since anyone had caught him lacking but now that he knew who his opponents were, he was ready to go again.

The water at his hands and feet froze before shattering. Katara was better than she thought as she immediately took control of the shattered ice and started sending them towards Danny as projectiles. Aang might have been helping as well because the wind stopped.

With four people on him, and with the restrictions placed on him, it meant that he didn't have a lot of options but Azula also only said 'ice so long as [he] was fighting her alone.' The alone rule didn't apply and so neither should the Ice rule. Katara had enough ammo to use against him as is.

Phantom jumped back into the air. Toph would be the easiest to counter so long as he was in the air.

But as it turns out Azula had already accounted for that. She threw one of her fans with precision accuracy and it hit Danny in the head, disorientating him enough that he forgot to act and fell back to the ground. Toph acted quickly sending Earth towards him while Katara and Aang followed up with attacks of their own.

A green shield appeared around Danny blocking up from the attacks before he turned transparent and fell through the floor.

"Protect Toph!" Azula ordered but it was too late.

A large block of ice tore from the ground and trapped the Blind Bandit a good couple of meters in the air. She was out of the fight unless Katara or Aang could get to her.

"You snooze you loose Toph!" Danny grinned as he jumped out of the ground heading directly for Katara.

He was still in human form which limited some of the capabilities of his powers but he still had a lot he could do without them. Katara decided that now might be the time to use a fighting style that Danny had never seen and grabbed the ice and snow surrounding her and turned it to water. She stood in the centre of her octopus form and used the tentacles to keep Danny back. Usually, he'd have just phased through but Katara was using ice that he made, meaning it was ghost-proof, even if he used less ectoplasm to create the ice.

Katara was zoning him out while Azula continued her offence. Aang was already making his way to Toph so she'd be back in the fight soon. So Danny needed to get creative with how he dealt with these two. While stuck in his human form he he still had to obey the laws of physics partially. So no flying or reshaping his body or duplication.

He still had his strength though. So he closed his fist and punched the ground with enough force to cause it to crack and shake slightly. Using nothing but his own brute strength he tore a boulder-sized chunk of earth out of the ground and tossed it to Aang.

"Hey, Buddy! Heads up!" Danny yelled as the rock flew towards Aang.

Aang, seemingly forgetting that he was an Earthbender, panicked and jumped out of the way of the boulder. Danny turned to Azula next. He knew her weakness and knew that there was only one way to slow her down. Taking her out next would give him the freedom to take on Katara and Aang. He dashed towards her, meeting her aggression with his own. She was fast but Danny was faster so he closed the gap using the fighting style that he had appropriated from her old rival during her academy days.

Azula smiled, recognising Saiijin's style as Danny created daggers of ice and approached her. She would not let Danny beat her with the same style that she had already beaten several times.

Their ranged attack turned into a melee battle, her fans against his daggers, or at least it should have. Upon getting close, Danny dropped the daggers and the princess recognised too late that she had fallen for Danny's trap just as he had fallen for hers only moments before. Ice spread around them, trapping them both. Danny made sure that her nose and mouth were blocked so that she couldn't breathe.

Breathing was important for a Firebender and without their breath, they were essentially without their bending. From inside the ice, she couldn't see if Katara and Aang were on their way. To help, not that it would matter. Danny was able to move easily within the ice of his own creation so he moved behind Azula, binding her hands together using thick chains of ice. He then phased the ice into the ground below her feet. Even if she melted the ice she wouldn't be able to escape the ground. Danny had her trapped and she was officially out of the fight.

Katara and Aang were all that was left.

Aang had recovered from having a boulder thrown at him and Katara was maintaining a defensive position. Time to win.

"You're not bad," Danny said as he emerged from the ice allowing Azula to breathe again. "But, I'm winning this fight,"

"You know, I'm inclined to believe you," Aang said.

"Aang," Katara chided.

"You know it's true," Aang said as he kept his eye on Danny. He couldn't attend to Toph or Azula not without turning his back on Danny or going into what he was starting to call the dangerous zone.

With Danny's speed and strength, getting close would be difficult even if he couldn't fly. But he couldn't exactly turn around again.

"So, Aang. I heard a rumour. Apparently, you were frozen in ice for one hundred years." Danny said. "Want a repeat of that?"

Aang gulped, uncertain if Danny was joking or not. He assumed he was joking because otherwise, that'd be a very cruel thing to do. That uncertainty gave him pause and that pause allowed Danny to strike. In an instant, Danny was in front of the young Avatar and he came in with a strong punch to knock the Avatar back. It wasn't too strong, not enough that it'd kill or cause serious damage but enough that it'd wind the poor young man long enough for Danny to focus on Katara.

The poor Waterbedner looking at that viscous grin that Danny wore realised that it was too late for her. And so she did the only thing that she could do. Calling on all the ice in the area, she summoned it towards her, spinning her arms in a frenzy she created a water cyclone around herself.

As the waters swirled she shaped the water. She realised the reality of the situation, there was no way she'd win by herself so she decided she'd go out in style. The water shaped, becoming more and more like a serpent's body. She'd seen a particularly nasty serpent a few weeks earlier while crossing the Serpent's pass so she used that as inspiration. Once her creation was finished she launched the final attack towards Danny.

The serpent didn't make it far. It froze in place, becoming almost crystal-like. Katara realised that she couldn't bend the ice. That's what happened when Danny used more of his unnatural power. The ice now belonged to him and Katara had no options. So she raised her hands in surrender.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked. "I had my doubts but that smile on your face makes me think you enjoyed yourself."

"Yeah," Danny said. "That was fun."

He turned towards Azula. She was drenched, her makeup ruined but she didn't look angry.

"You are too confident against a familiar foe," Danny said. "I shouldn't have been able to trick you like that. But good job overall. You kept me off balance guessing."

"This was a lesson for Aang not for me," Azula said.

"This was also a lesson for you and a fun spar for me," Danny said.

He moved to help the princess out of the predicament he put her in. All the while he continued talking about where she could have improved and what she did well.

Katara watched silently as she helped get Toph out of her Icy prison. Despite his teasing tone, Azula was all smiles. Danny's earlier anger was forgotten. She'd managed to break him out of it with a simple spar. They really were good friends.

~00000~

It had been surprisingly easy to break into the Palace. Zuko imagined that it was because of the changes which occurred with Azula being present. He watched the entire fight from his vantage point and frowned. He wasn't used to seeing Azula smile like that. He never thought he'd see the day when she was taken down so quickly in a fight.

Danny was something else. But Zuko hadn't snuck in here to see Danny. He snuck in to see Azula. The younger sister, the favourite daughter. She had their father's love and she was preparing to strike against him. Zuko couldn't fault her for that. But he also resented her. He hated that she dared to do what he couldn't. He was frustrated that she was happy living like a princess while he lived like a tea merchant.

She had everything in the world. Most of it, given to her by her father and Zuko wondered if she really deserved it.

CyberActors15: And that is the end of this chapter. One more chapter in the modern day before we jump back to the past. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, there are more exiting things on the horizon. If you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave a review also check out my Linktree (linktr dot ee /CyberActors15) for more of my story content. If you didn't like it, feel free to leave a review and tell me why. Feedback is always appreciated, and criticism only makes me a better writer. Until next time, peace!