Avenging Avatar Book 3- Fire

by TheWriterForGod42

The team must regroup after a devastating loss to the Fire Nation. With an assortment of new allies, they plan to take the fight right to the heart of the Fire Nation and Hydra. They'll face many challenges and trials if they are to overcome their enemies and save the world.

4. Chapter 4: Painted Ladies

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Avatar the Last Airbender or the Avengers (MCU), only the story. Avatar the Last Airbender and its characters belongs to Nickelodeon and Avengers belongs to Marvel. I apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: I'm really excited to do this one. Plus, it'll be fun having more than one protagonist in the story.

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Katara: Water, Soldier, Mechanist, God, Earth, Fire, Spy, Archer, Monster, Air

(One by one, eight figures do something to show off their skills: the Waterbender weaves a stream of water from the ground, around him and then thrusts it towards the side, the soldier blocks an attack with his shield before throwing it, the mechanist has armor envelope him and then uses the repulsor on his hand to blast something on the side, the god holds a powerful hammer high to summon a bolt of lightning, the Earthbender kicks the ground bringing up a large rock before he kicks it away, the Firebender twists around as she summons fire from her foot before doing a high kick to the ground and makes the flames spread, the spy drops down from above and displays a few moves, the archer rolls across the ground and fires a few arrows, and finally the monster comes down from a jump and smashes his huge fists on the ground, the Airbender drops down and then with a circle of his arms he creates a blast of wind.)

Katara: Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

(Docked on a shore, five Fire Nation ships with the Hydra insignia released their soldiers. With a jump forward and a palm thrust, the firebenders released a wave of fire as the Hydra soldiers used their advanced technology.)

Katara: Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

(The Avatar, a man with a crown on his head and dressed in robes stands on a pillar of stone as he bent the four elements of water, earth, fire and air to show his skill in the arts of bending. After releasing a powerful disk of wind, he disappears from existence.)

Katara: A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar: an Airbender named Aang and met the team called the Avengers.

(The water tribe siblings find a young Airbender frozen in block of ice. After freeing him, they are then joined by heroes called Captain America, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, Clint, and Natasha.)

Katara: And although with the teams help and his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.

(At an Air Nomad path, Aang creates an air scooter and starts to have fun with it. But when he expands his circle a little bit, he runs right into a statue. He rolls over onto his back as all six of the Avengers then poke their heads from behind the statue to check on him.)

Katara: But I believe the Avengers and Aang can save the world.

(Aang, Steve, Katara, Tony, Thor, Bruce, Sokka, Clint, Toph and Natasha stand side by side, looking down at the world on a mountain's peak for a moment as the reader's view is turned upwards to the sun.)

Nickelodeon and Marvel

The Avenging Avatar

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Avatar Roku: Previously, on Avenging Avatar…

After finding Aang on the island where Avatar Roku's temple once stood the group embraced him. He looked a little worried when he asked, "But what about the invasion?"

"We'll join up with my dad and the others on the day of the eclipse." Sokka told him. Bruce then said, "They're gonna have their hands full looking for any allies willing to fight."

"We just need to make sure that we get ourselves there." Peter chuckled.

A day or two later, they came over another island disguised as a cloud. The cloud was blown away as Sokka said, "Shh! Keep quiet.

"We're in enemy territory." Sokka exclaimed, making most of the others slightly jump. Looking to her brother she suggested, "What we need to do is find some new clothes."

"She does have a good idea there." Katy nodded in agreement. Aang backed it up by saying, "Yeah, blending in is better than hiding out."

"If we were to get us some Fire Nation or Hydra disguises, we have a higher chance of being much safer just as much as hiding in a cave." Tony added when he thought of the probability of them doing that.

Katara was already up and on the move to the clothes lines. She picked a few pieces from the line and moved to go hide and change. Natasha and Katy glared at each other before they both jumped out from their hiding places. They comically ran for the same piece of clothing and both fought of over it when they grabbed it at the same time. Peter and the Airbender got up to make a rush for a pair of suits that were their sizes. Momo jumped off of Aang's back while the two made their way across the yard. The others were quickly yet quietly behind them as they picked something out for themselves. A smile formed when he found a sleeveless shirt with six straps that was his size and looked like it was meant for a guy. Taking it off the wire, he rushed to go and get changed with the others.

Steve, Tony, Clint, Bruce and Thor were all wearing nice looking Fire Nation robes over their more suits while Natasha and Katy were all wearing their silk dresses instead of their suits. Sokka changed into the shirt and a pair of shorts while Toph dressed in a more common Fire Nation girl's outfit. Peter put on his new suit while Aang tied the belt of his around the arrow on his forehead. The Airbender turned around and smiled as he wore the suit, "Ta da! Normal kid."

Bruce walked up and said, "I managed to find a few cloaks for the others. We'll figure something out before we go into town."

They all looked to the Waterbender of the group when Katara walked up and asked them, "How do I look?"

The young girl was wearing a two piece outfit with the silk robes around her waist and a piece of cloth around her chest. On her wrists were a couple of golden bracelets and just below her shoulders were two golden rings. She had undone the loops in her hair while having tied some of it in a bun. While everyone nodded that she was looking like she was going to fit in, a blushing Aang rubbed the back of his head.

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Book Three: Fire

Chapter Four: The Painted Ladies

A couple of days had passed when the team had left the town with the Fire Nation school behind, they found themselves a little deeper inland. Appa was currently drifting along a muddy looking river with the pod from the Milano was flying slowly overhead. Everyone was just about doing their own thing. Sokka and Bruce were sitting at the back of the saddle trying to do some fishing, Toph was conversing with Clint, Katara, Katy and Shang-Chi. Tony and Peter were talking about making some potential modifications to their suits. And at the head and on the head of the bison, Steve and Thor were keeping a look out while the former had the reins in hand. Up in the pod, everyone was either flying or keeping an eye out for trouble in the air. On the right side of the saddle, Natasha kept her eyes on the water just as Aang popped out of the murky water and called, "Momo!'

The lemur chittered as he flew over to the Airbender, but Aang had taken a deep breath before going back down. The lemur flapped in the air for a moment and Aang popped up in another spot and called, "Oh, Momo!"

The lemur turned and flew towards him. But Aang had once again gone under before reappearing next to Appa. He was about to call again when Momo came in from the side. Aang laughed when the lemur landed on his shoulder and the boy rubbed the top of his head, "You found me, buddy."

"Aang, enough of the Momo Polo game. That water looks pretty gross. Get back up here!" Natasha called to him from up in the saddle. It was then that the Airbender did take notice of the water he was in with an irritated look on his face. He jumped out of the water with his Airbending and landed in the saddle. Everyone close to him backed away as he looked down to the dripping mess, "Hey, guys! I think that this river's polluted."

"Well, that would explain the smell." Shang-Chi commented when he waved a hand in front of his face to try and get rid of the stench. The Airbender moved his arms around before bringing them close to his person to use his airbending to get the stuff off of him. Katy started to shout, "Hey, wait a minute-!"

But it was too late as the gunk flew off of the Airbender and splatter over most of the group. Everyone groaned or gave a small scream at being coated with the gunk. A little even landed on the pod's window. They heard Rocket shout from inside the space vehicle, "Hey, watch it! Don't get that stuff on us!"

"Uh, sorry about that!" Aang offered to those in the air. Those in the saddle started to wipe the polluted water off of them while Toph tasted some that had gotten into her mouth. She spat it out from the horrible taste. Clint looked to her and questioned, "What did you expect it to taste like, mud?"

But a gust of wind from the Airbender blew it off of them. The wind frazzled everyone's hair as they looked to the boy. Aang then looked up to the pod just as Rocket got the wipers to start working. With a small wave of his arms, Aang unleashed a gust of wind at the pod to get rid of the rest. The four in the pod gave a slight scream from the blast of air. One of the comms started beeping and Aang picked it up. He turned it on and was startled when they heard Nebula shout, "WARN US NEXT TIME YOU DO THAT!"

Everyone in the saddle were startled by that. The Airbender quickly turned it off and set the device down. From the back of the saddle, Sokka turned around and said, "Well, the river also explains why me and Bruce can't catch a fish around here. Because normally, my fishing skills at least, are-

"Off the hook!" He said when he pulled his hook from the dirty water. This was met with some unamused looks while Aang sat down between Natasha and Tony. Having a feeling that they didn't understand the joke, Sokka pointed to the end of his string, "Get it? Like a fishing hook?"

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook." Toph commented with a grin. This earned a round of laughter from everyone. Everyone but a scowling Sokka as he set his fishing hook down. He looked to Bruce and said, "You know she's talking about you too, right?"

"No, pretty sure it was just you." The Gamma Scientist chuckled as he too pulled his hook out of the water. Katara looked out to the polluted river and guessed, "It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to find some food."

"Assuming it fits into Sokka's master schedule." Steve commented when he glanced back to see the Water Tribe teen unroll a pretty long piece of parchment. The comms activated again and this time it was Katy who picked it up. She turned it on and they heard Baby Groot say, "I am Groot."

"Uh, what was that now?" Katy asked as they didn't understand what the little guy said. They then heard Rocket say, "He says that giving Sokka control of that was nuts on our part."

"I can't help but agree with him." They heard Mantis say, and it earned a slight glare from the teen. But he looked over it and nodded, "It's doable. But that only means two potty breaks today."

"Why did we agree that again?" Katy asked when she looked between her best friend and the others. Peter spoke up by saying, "Because he wouldn't quit whining about it until we let him."

"Scanners are picking up something along the river. Something big." Nebula told them over the comms. It made Aang look up river and he noticed something coming up. Getting up he grinned as he pointed, "Maybe we'll find some food there."

They all, minus Toph, looked to see a village on water. Steve suggested, "Let's set up camp on the cliff side."

With a small flick of his wrists, he got Appa to rise up out of the water. Both the bison and the pod carefully made their way up on the cliff. They set down and Aang, Steve and Rocket got to work on some cover for Appa, Momo and the pod. The cyborg raccoon hid the pod behind some rocks while the Airbender and the super soldier covered up the bison and the lemur with some moss. After getting the bison to lay down, Aang finished with Appa by jumping over the bison and covering him up. When he reached the other side, Aang looked back and said, "Now you look like a little hill with horns."

"Yeah, that's not suspicious." Nebula said as she and the Guardians prepared their cloaks. Over with Steve and Momo, the super soldier threw his bundle of moss over the lemur and it managed to cover the little fella. Steve then told him, "Be good, Momo."

"Bye, guys." Aang said as they all moved towards the town. Appa just groaned while Momo chittered and peeked out from his moss coverings. The lemur ducked back under as they approached the river side.

When they came to the edge of the cliff, Toph was confused when she asked, "I don't feel anything. Where's this village?"

"Right in the middle of the lake." Shang-Chi said as they stared at the collection of buildings and walkways sitting on the water. They were all surprised when they heard a voice say from down below, "Sure is!"

The large group of heroes looked down to see a couple of river boats sitting on the bank. Standing on the boats were two men. While both were pretty old, one had on a ragged vest, baggy shorts and an orange hat on his head. The other man was wearing a short sleeved shirt, ragged pants and had orange glasses and a small mustache. The man with the odd hat introduced, "My name's Doc.

"And this my good friend, Lee." He gestured to the other man on the second boat. The man with the glasses waved to them. Doc looked back up to the group and asked, "Who might all of you be?"

"We're, um…" Katara tried to think of a cover. Katy spoke up by saying, "We're from the Earth Kingdom colonies."

They all turned their heads to her. She shrugged and said, "It worked in that other town."

"That's true." Shang-Chi nodded in agreement. They turned their attention back to the two men on the two boats. Doc sounded impressed when he said, "Wow, colonials."

"We hardly get folks like you around these parts." Lee shrugged as they both picked up a long stick. Doc then waved to them, "Why don't you all come on down and hop on to our boats.

"We'll give you a lift into town." He offered. The group carefully made their way down the cliff and onto the riverbank. Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, Peter, Rocket, Baby Groot and Mantis boarded into Doc's boat while Steve, Tony, Natasha, Thor, Clint, Bruce, Nebula, Shang-Chi and Katy boarded into Lee's. The two boatsmen used their longs ticks to push away from the shore towards the river town. Katara glanced back and asked Doc, "So, why do you guys live on the river?"

"Yeah, with how it looks and smells, you'd think to move someplace else." Katy shrugged, thinking that's what she would do. Lee said, "Believe it or not, but this river wasn't always this way."

"And since we're a fishing town…" Doc started to say and lifted his stick from the murky waters. Lee lifted his stick from the river as well. Everyone ducked down as the long poles swung over their heads. The two then dipped the sticks in the water again and continued to row. Doc then said, "It's always been our home. And a good one too.

"At least until that factory over there moved in." He said and gestured up river with his head. Everyone looked to see a facility sitting on the cliff. Smoke billowed from the stacks while sludge was dumped into the river. Doc continued, "The army makes their metal and weapons there."

"Those new weapons sure are loud." Lee commented with a glare to the building. He spat in the dirty river, "And because of them gunking up the river, we're starting to struggle to survive."

Everyone looked to each other with worried looks on their faces. Doc and Lee's boats soon made it to the village and they moored them to the docks. Climbing out of the boats, they all walked two by two through the village on the water. The last two were Aang and Steve as the former offered the two, "Thanks for the ride, fellas."

"We'll be here when you want to cross back." Lee said as the two started tending to their boats.

Everyone looked around and saw how miserable everyone was looking. People were either sitting around, lying on a cot or hardly moving at all. Katara felt bad for these people when she said, "Just look at this place. It's so sad here."

"Even though the Fire Nation has places like that school or anything else fancy, there are still going to be places that suffer." Steve said as they continued to walk. But as they turned a corner, Katara, Katy and Mantis both stopped as they looked around the dying town. The Waterbender said, "We need to do something to help these people."

"Yeah, we need to leave this place better than how we found it." Katy agreed with her. But the three were surprised when Sokka popped up next to them and disagreed with them, "No, we can't waste our time here."

"Not even for a little bit?" Mantis asked as they turned to him. But Sokka shook his head, "We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on.

"These people are on their own." He gestured to the town. This really surprised the group as he turned to walk away. Katara marched up to her brother, grabbed his shoulder and questioned as he turned his head to her, "These people are sick and starving. And you just want to turn your back and abandon them?

"How can you be so heartless?" She questioned while crossing her arms. The others started to gather around and Shang-Chi asked him, "Is it because that they're Fire Nation that you won't help?"

"It has nothing to do with that." Sokka shook his head. The others started to gather around him. Looking to his sister he stated, "And I'm not abandoning them. I'm just being realistic about this.

"We can't go and help every rinky dink town we wander into." He thought aloud. Bruce then brought up, "We literally helped just about every Earth Kingdom town we came across."

"Even after we were put more on a time limit." Natasha chimed in about when they helped Ba Sing Se out. Sokka looked to Steve and asked, "You get my point, right? That our mission really needs to come first."

"I do see what you're saying, Sokka." The super soldier agreed with him. This surprised a lot in the group. Steve then shook his head, "I don't want to leave this town like it is either, but Sokka does have a point."

"And besides, think of this in the long run." Sokka started to say. He stupidly started to say, "We'll be helping these folks when we take out the Fire Lord and Hydra."

"Hey, Loud Mouth!" Toph shouted when she covered his mouth with her hand. Then she wisely suggested, "Maybe we should keep our voices down when talking about beating the bad guys?"

"Now she does have a pretty good point." Peter agreed with her on that much. Sokka removed Toph's hand from him and said, "Katara, Mantis, Katy, please be reasonable about this. You know that the mission needs to come first."

"Of course the situation could have been handled a little differently." Tony commented while looking to the Water Tribe teen. While the girls didn't like it, they all sighed as Katara said, "I guess you're right."

"Let's just grab what we need and go." Aang suggested and they all nodded in agreement. They all walked through the village before coming to the center. They found a market stall and a man was standing behind the counter. Sokka reached forward and tapped a little bell. They were surprised when a man walked up to the counter and they saw that it was Doc. Clint asked him, "Uh, hi, Doc. You work here too?"

"I'm not Doc. My name's Shoo." He introduced himself. Then he said, "Doc's my brother."

"But we just saw you." Aang said when he pointed back towards where they last saw him and Lee. Peter agreed by saying, "And it wasn't even ten minutes ago."

"You're even wearing the same clothes." Shang-Chi pointed to the man's clothes. The disguised Baby Groot pointed to the man's head with his covered hand and said, "I am Groot."

"Hm?" "Shoo" asked when he looked to the little plant man. The disguised Rocket quickly said, "He was saying the only difference is your hat.

"And that it's even dumber than the one that you were wearing earlier." He added while glancing down to his little friend, knowing why Baby Groot had said that.

"Doc works on the docks. That's why they call him Doc." "Shoo" explained to them when he pointed to the river. Then gesturing to where he worked he said, "And I work here in the shop. That's why they call me Shoo."

"I don't get it." Aang, Thor and Bruce said in unison. They were really thrown for a loop when "Shoo" agreed with them by leaning forward and saying, "Me neither."

The man then dived down for a second before coming back up with a box in his hand. He smiled when he asked, "What can I get you folks?"

Katara, Natasha, Aang, Bruce and Sokka all leaned close to look at what was in the box. It was an assortment of small fish and clams, but all were either covered or filled with river gunk. The sight made them grimace a little. They all looked up to "Shoo" when he offered, "Hey, I'll give you fellas a special deal.

"If you buy three fish…" He held up three fingers with one hand. He held up a finger when he said, "I'll throw in a clam for free."

The others looked over the five's shoulders when Sokka poked one of the clams in the box and some gunk flowed out. They all grimaced from the sight and all but one backed away from the box. Sokka grabbed a few of the fish and looked to the shop keeper, "We'll just take the fish. But thanks."

"Shoo" took the fish from him and wrapped it in some paper. Sokka then asked, "You mind telling your brother and Mr. Lee that we need a ride back to shore?"

"Sure." 'Shoo' nodded when he handed Katara the bundle of fish before ducking down behind the counter. He popped back up again now wearing "Doc's" hat. The man said, "Hey, Colonials! My brother says you need a lift.

"Follow me and we'll pick up Lee on the way." He laughed before jumping over the counter. As he ran across the dock, it made a lot of the group look to each other in confusion. Tony nodded as he said aloud, "There is definitely something funky in that water."

"Either that, or he was just born that way already." Natasha also guessed. It made Tony think for a moment before they followed after "Doc" back to the boat. But just as she followed her friends, Katara was stopped when a little boy wearing nothing but ragged shorts came up to her and lightly tugged on her arm. It didn't go unnoticed by Natasha, Katy, Nebula and Mantis as they stopped and looked back. The little boy asked of the Waterbender, "Can you please spare some food?"

Katara felt really bad for the little boy. She kneeled down, unwrapped the fish and took one from the package. She handed it to him, "I just wish I could do a whole lot more to help."

A smile appeared on the boy's face as he took the fish. He gave a quick bow to her before running off with the fish. The girls all watched as the little boy ran across a short ramp up to one of the buildings that was more open than the rest. He kneeled down next to someone and presented the fish to someone. From where the five girls stood, they could see that it was a woman, possibly the boy's mother. They watched as she placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Katara couldn't help but want to help them out. Natasha walked up to Katara and wrapped an arm around her. The five turned away to catch up with the others.

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Later that evening…

When the group had returned to the camp to prepare for the night. After uncovering Appa and Momo, they got to work on preparing dinner. Thor and Steve carried a couple of large pots filled with river water in them. They set them with one on a fire pit while the other was a few feet away. Clint looked to Toph and suggested, "There might be bits of earth and metal in the river water."

"It might be a little tough for me to bend it out, but I do enjoy a challenge." Toph smirked and cracked her knuckles. Her and Aang got to work on the large pot over the fire pit. Aang lifted the water out with Waterbending and Toph tried to get a feel for the bits of her element in the chunks of the gunk. A second later, she pulled out the gunk while Aang kept the clean water close. When it was all gone, Katara took over by lowering the water back into the pot. Rocket got a fire going and commented when he took a step back, "Never really started a fire the old fashion way."

"Well, first time for everything." Peter shrugged with a laugh. Over with the other pot, Aang and Toph repeated the same thing. As the gunk was removed from the other pot, the Avatar sent the clean water over to the Waterbender. As she dipped it into a pot that was starting to steam, Sokka came through and dipped a small bowl in while complaining, "Our detour into town has completely thrown off our schedule.

"It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track." He said while walking away and looking at the parchment. This earned a few eye rolls, groans and a sarcastic comment from Toph, "Finagle away, oh Schedule Master."

"Although it's not really that big of a deal." Bruce commented with a roll of his eyes. They gathered around the Water Tribe teen when he set the long parchment down on the ground. Pointing to a specific spot on it he said, "Well, for starters, it looks like we'll need to wake up forty-three minutes earlier every day."

"Forty-three?" Katara asked, surprising everyone. Katy quirked a brow as she questioned, "How did you come up with that number?"

"I had asked Tony to do a few number crunches and he said it would be the best way to go." Sokka said when he gestured to the inventor of the Iron Man suit. The rest of the group looked to Tony with half-lidded looks and he raised his hands and tried to defend himself by saying, "Hey, I didn't know this was what he meant. He just asked me if I could. I thought it was a random question.

"Though now that I think about it." Tony said while scratching his chin. Steve looked to Sokka and said, "I'm all for getting up at a reasonable time, but I doubt one day is going to throw us off."

"Yeah, after all, we did spend three days in that last town." Shang-Chi threw in when he gestured to Aang and Peter. The entire group nodded in agreement to this. Sokka was sticking to this by saying, "Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Nation capital to take on them and Hydra! And only one of them is going to be effected by the solar eclipse.

"Which, by the way, only lasts for eight minutes." He added while pointing to a spot further down the line on the scroll. Moving to the other side of the parchment he sounded distraught when he said, "And we just lost a whole day."

"We got there in the middle of the afternoon. The day was pretty much over." Clint said, starting to get a little annoyed by this. Sokka crossed his arms and said, "Look, I just want to make up for lost time. And the best way to do that is to wake up early."

"Well, I'm not waking up early." Toph said before kicking back to lay down with her hands behind her head. Katy was in agreement with her, "Yeah, I'm all for wanting to get there in time, but this isn't the way to go."

"Or we could just cut out our eating breaks." Sokka suggested when he turned away and lifted his head. This was met with Aang and Steve questioning in unison, "Wait, what?"

"Are you serious?" Clint and Natasha both asked with a look of disbelief from them both. Thor threw in from where he was sitting, "Surely, you jest to this idea?"

"Ridiculous." Peter commented while Tony shook his head. Baby Groot had a bit of an angry look when he said, "I am Groot."

"Yeah, what he said." Rocket agreed with a nod and crossing his arms. Nebula commented by saying, "No one is going to agree with this."

"I concur." Mantis agreed with her fellow Guardian. Bruce just shook his head. Katara voiced her two cents by saying, "No way."

"Forget it." Toph said as she sat back up. Sokka started thinking before an idea came to him, "I've got it.

"How's this…?" Sokka asked when he turned to them. With his hands to emphasize his point he said, "We'll take food breaks and potty breaks…

"At the same time." He finished with a pleased grin while clasping his hands together. That was met with a lot of grimaces, spit takes and groans from how disgusting that sounded. Sokka picked up his schedule as he said, "Hey, it might be gross, but it's efficient.

"Either way, we're leaving first thing tomorrow the morning." He told them before walking away. This made Katara look to the ground in sadness. And it did not go unnoticed by four other members of the group. With a sigh, Katara got up and walked away from camp. Natasha, Katy, Nebula and Mantis all got up and walked after the Waterbender.

They all stopped by the river and saw Katara staring down at the village in the middle. Natasha walked up to the girl and asked, "You doing okay, Katara?"

"Not entirely." Katara said when she didn't turn her gaze from the village. She then said, "I just wish that there was some way that we could have helped those people."

"I hear ya, girlfriend." Katy agreed with her. They looked to the archer in red and she said, "After helping Shaun and Xialing defend Ta Lo from the Mega Soul Sucker and the Ten Rings back when they were really bad news, it's made me feel a sense of good to help others in need.

"And these people are in need of help." She gestured to the village. Mantis spoke up by saying, "If only there was a way for us to help."

"Yeah." Katara agreed as they all looked back down to the river village.

…

The next morning, all seemed to be very peaceful. But it didn't seem so as Katara and Mantis all stood beside Appa who was currently lying on his side. Up on his other side, Momo and Baby Groot were sitting while the two looked the bison over. Aang sat up on a rock and asked, "What's the matter, Katara? Mantis?"

"Appa does not appear to be well." Mantis shook her head. It made Aang jump off his rock as the others started to gather around. Katara looked to her friends and agreed by saying, "I think Appa may be sick."

Aang kneeled down next to Appa's head and started to look for any symptoms. Over in the bison's saddle on the ground a few feet away, Sokka sat up and questioned, "What? Appa's sick?!

"That's awful!" The Water Tribe teen got out of the saddle and rushed up. Toph rubbed her eyes as she asked, "Wow, Sokka. I didn't realize that you cared so much?"

"Of course I care." Sokka said. But then he grabbed his schedule scroll out and looked it over as he commented, "I might as well just throw our schedule away now."

When he looked to the group, he was surprised to be met with a bunch of unamused stares. The girls crossed their arms while some of the guys punched a palm. From up on Appa's back, Baby Groot said, "I am Groot."

"He says you might want to change your attitude real quick there, pal." Rocket translated with a growl while punching his fist into his furry palm. Deciding to take the little plant man's advice, Sokka rushed over to the bison's head. He pressed up against it and stroked Appa's fur as he said, "And I'm concerned that my big furry friend doesn't feel well."

"He must have gotten sick from being in the polluted water so long." Toph theorized, earning glances from her friends. Tony nodded a little, "Yeah, that is a good point. He was in the water for a good while."

"Then I'm a little curious as to how someone else isn't looking sick as well." Clint said when he glanced to Aang. The Airbender only shrugged as he too was baffled from this. Turning back to Appa he said, "He doesn't really look sick."

"Maybe we need to see if he has any other symptoms." Shang-Chi suggested. Aang nodded before kneeling before the bison and asking Appa, "You okay, buddy?"

Appa opened his mouth a little and everyone leaned a little closer. They saw that something was off about the bison's tongue. Aang grabbed it and carefully pulled it out. They gasped when they saw that the end of the bison's tongue was purple. Tony pointed to it and said, "I'm pretty sure that's not normal."

"No it's not." Aang said, now worried for his friend. Looking to the Waterbender of the group he asked, "Katara, can you heal him?"

Katara walked up and took a look at the appendage and lightly touched it. She then deduce, "It looks like he might need some medicine.

"Maybe we can find some while we're in town?" She suggested with a shrug as Momo flew down onto Appa's tongue. They all looked up to see Baby Groot say, "I am Groot!"

The little plant man slid down Appa's head and landed on the bison's tongue. Momo started licking the appendage while Baby Groot started to say, "I am G-"

"Get off that." Rocket groaned as he pulled Baby Groot off while an annoyed Aang grabbed Momo by the scruff. With a gesture of her head, Natasha said, "Come on. Let's see if we can get a ride back into town."

\_|_/

River Village…

After a second boat ride into town with Doc and Lee, the group walked along the docks lined with buildings. But each of the heroes were all surprised when they saw or heard that the villagers were a lot more lively. As they walked along one of the bridges, they saw that some were playing games, talking with each other or just simply enjoying life. From what she could hear, Toph asked, "Is it just me, or does this place seem different somehow?"

"It's not you." Aang, Peter and Tony said as they looked about. They watched as a villager used a long pole to vault over a gap between the walkways. As a laughing kid kicking a ball around, Bruce said, "They do seem a lot happier than how we had last seen them yesterday."

At the back of the group, the girls all had smiles to see that things were much better. They watched as the kid walked towards a building where an adult seemed to be waiting for them. As the two walked off, the girls moved to catch up to their friends. They walked up to "Shoos" shop and Sokka asked, "Hey, Shoo? What's going on with everyone today?"

The shop keep had a ladle of fresh water in his mouth and held up a finger asking for a moment. The group glanced to each other before he lowered it a second later. He gave a refreshed sigh and said, "Something wonderfully amazing happened last night.

"A great deal of food was delivered to our village as was fresh water by a mysterious and wonderful group of people." He told them with a content smile. Then "Shoo" leaned forward on the counter and revealed, "The Painted Ladies."

"The Painted-Who-Now?" Katara asked as she leaned against the stall one arm. "Shoo" then repeated what he had said, "The Painted Ladies."

He brought up a group of small figurines. There five of them in total. They were all wearing a grey cowl tied held together by a sea shell with a brimmed hat upon their heads. All fives' faces and arms were painted with red lines like a tiger's stripes while some red paint adorned their chins from their lips. They each had a marking like the moon painted on their foreheads: the one standing the in middle's marking was a full moon, the two standing next but in a slight stance to her had either a waning or waxing crescent moon and the last two who were in front of them crouching down had a half-moon on their foreheads. When he had placed them, "Shoo" then told the group, "They're part of our town's lore.

"And while there's a debate if there's only one Painted Lady or several, all we do know is that she, or they, are river spirits." He smiled while lightly dusting the figurines with a cloth. Gesturing to each of the figurines he said, "And the town is watched over by her or them all.

"Especially in times of need. I always thought that they were all just a legend." He finished while some of the group looked mystified at the figurines. Gesturing to the village, which a good deal of the group looked, he said, "That is until now."

The village did look a lot happier as they continued to play or move about more lively. Sokka looked to those who had been giving him a hard time and said, "See, we don't need to help these people.

"They've already got someone to do it." He shrugged, earning a few light glares from the girls. Sokka looked to "Shoo" he said, "We just need some medicine for our sick friend."

"Medicine? Sorry." A reluctant "Shoo" shook his head. Gesturing to a certain building up the river he said, "All of our medicine goes straight to the factory."

"I can't believe that you guys are letting the army take advantage of you like this." Bruce shook his head. Pounding the counter with a fist he said, "Your village was here first and they're the ones who are hurting you.

"Why don't you stand up for yourselves?" He questioned the man with multiple personalities. "Shoo" sighed and said, "Well, as you can see, we're not really the fighting sort."

"Bruce." Steve said while placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. The super soldier gave the gamma scientist a knowing look and Bruce calmed down a little. Katara looked to the group and said, "Looks like we'll need to stay another night so Appa can rest."

"Best and pretty much our only possible choice at the moment." Katy shrugged in agreement. Sokka sighed and gave in, "I guess you're right.

"You got any more food to sell?" He asked "Shoo" when he turned to the man. The man with the multiple names ducked down and came up with two fish in his hands. The smell from the two fish made a few in the group cover their noses. Then he asked them, "Would you like the one headed fish…

"Or the two headed fish." He said when turned the one in his right hand. A possibility that may have happened from the polluted river. While the rest of the group looked repulsed, Sokka was scratching under his nose while thinking about it. Then with a grin he grabbed one, "Two-headed!"

This made practically everyone else grimace or gag at the sight of the fish with two heads. The Water Tribe teen noticed the looks he was getting and turned to them. Everyone in the group backed away as he questioned, "What?

"You get more for your money that way." He said and everyone sweat dropped from this. Everyone groaned from how gross it was and ran away from him. Sokka gave them questioning looks as he chased after them.

…

Much later that night, all seemed quiet on the river and the village sitting in the middle. But soon, a mysterious fog rolled from one side and approached the village in the middle of the river. A group of five figures in flowing gowns and large hats covering their heads glided over the waters towards the town. One had their arms outstretched while the others had something wrapped in their arms. When they approached a walkway, the stepped onto the wood and carefully split up into the village. Three of them entered a building that looked to be a storehouse for food and placed what appeared to be large baskets down on the floor of the building. They removed the lid and placed pieces of food to where they would be found by the villagers.

In another section of town, two of the figures entered a building that was bigger than those around it. Entering, the figures found a good number of the villagers lying on cots with bandages around their person, rags on their heads or shivering from feeling sick. One of the figures knelt down next to a villager and placed their hand on their shoulder. A bright light erupted in the building. On the other side of the room, the other figure placed their hand on a villager who looked to be having a nightmare or something. The figure whispered something and a golden glow over took their face and hat. The two repeated the actions a few more times. In another room, the figures stood before a woman and her child. One of the figures knelt down and placed their hand on the woman's shoulder. As a blue glow lit up the room, the woman lightly groaned and started to open her eyes. But the second figure quickly approached and placed their hand on her forehead. The figure softly whispered, "Sleep."

The woman's eyes closed again and she slept more soundly. The sounds caused the child next to the woman to stir awake. But he didn't get up and heard the two leave the room. When they were gone, the boy sat up and looked to the flap as the two figures left. With a smile, the boy got out of bed and walked to the door. He peeked out and his eyes widened when he saw the two joined by the other three. As they approached the edge of the dock, the boy rushed out and had a smile when he said, "Thank you, Painted Ladies."

His sudden appearance and words slightly startled them. But the five jumped off the dock and disappeared into the fog. The little boy rushed up to see them if he still could, but they had vanished into the mist, even as it dissipated. That didn't stop him from smiling at their kindness.

…

The next morning, things were still looking lively and festive when the group returned to the village for a third time. But when they reached the shop, they were surprised to that it was "Doc" running the stand and not "Shoo". He was cleaning the figurines of the Painted Ladies again. Sokka walked up to the counter and asked as he leaned on it, "Hey, Doc, is Shoo around?"

"Let me go and check." The man quickly ran around the counter and diving down before coming back up with "Shoo's" hat on instead. He surprised Sokka when he came back around, "Hey there! What can I get ya?"

The group moved out of the way as Toph walked up. She pushed an annoyed looking Sokka and said, "We need more food."

"And not mutated food." Nebula added when she cast a glance to Sokka. The Water Tribe teen only gave a small scowl to this. Toph then slammed some money on the counter and said, "Our friend is still sick…

"And we can't leave until he's better." She huffed while turning lean her back against the counter. Katy gave a small shrug when she asked, "Don't suppose you got any medicine now, huh?"

"Nope, sorry." "Shoo" shook his head. He took the money on the counter before placing a plate of gross looking clams on the table. He tried to raise their spirits by suggesting, "Maybe if you guys are lucky…

"The Painted Ladies will pay you a visit tonight and heal your friend." He added while Sokka took a nervous look at the sludge filled clams. His words seemed to irritate the Water Tribe teen, but he stayed as calm as he could. Straightening up he picked up the plate while sarcastically saying, "And maybe they'll cook us a midnight snack and we'll all have a sing along."

"And read us a bedtime story." Peter jokingly added. It gained a small snicker from Sokka as he patted the spider boy's shoulder with a free hand. But they became annoyed when "Shoo" didn't seem to get that they were joking as he said, "Maybe.

"You know, last night we received more food and our sick was healed as well. Proof that they had come around again." He told them. They were startled when a voice said from behind the group, "Not to mention that a few people in town had their nerves calmed and nightmares subsided."

They all turned to find Lee walking up to the shop. "Shoo" waved to his friend and said, "Ah, there you are, Lee. I hope Doc's not talking your ear off."

"One would think." Lee lightly huffed. Tony then asked the boatsman, "What did you mean about nerves calmed and nightmares subsiding?"

"Some folks around here don't sleep to good. But last night changed that." Lee told them and looked to this right. The group followed his gaze as Aang assumed, "I guess that explains why this place seems so festive."

"Yep." Lee and "Shoo" said as they all watched five statues being set up in the middle of the village. When they stood tall, all the villagers cheered while "Shoo" said, "All because of the Painted Ladies."

As the group stepped away from the shop, Shang-Chi said, "It's kind of nice that these people have someone to rely on."

"Yeah, it's incredible of how much a village can be affected by a group of women." Katara said with a happy look as she clasped her hands together. She quickly fixed it by saying, "I mean spirits."

That made most of the boys of the group look to her with raised brows. She, Katy, Mantis, Natasha and Nebula all look to Sokka when he says, "Well, I hope that she comes back every night.

"Otherwise this place will go right back to the way it was." He finished, earning annoyed looks from the girls while Katara's right eye brow twitched in annoyance. The younger sister turned to the older brother and questioned, "Why would you say that?

"Look how much better off these people are." She smiled when she looked back out to the village. Tony agreed by saying, "Yeah, for now.

"But in all honesty, they're only doing so much for this place." He said when he thought about it. Then he added, "But they're not dealing with the source of the town's problems."

"He's right." Sokka agreed when he placed his hands on his hips. Then with a shrug he added, "If they really wanted to help this place, they would use their spirit magic and blow up that factory."

He emphasized his point by making an eerie sound while waving his arms followed by an explosion noise. Veins appeared on five of the girls' heads as they thought about how stupid he was being. It didn't help when Aang, Peter and Shang-Chi got in on it when the Airbender said, "Spirit magic doesn't work like that."

"Yeah, wouldn't it be more like this?" Peter asked before lifting his arms in the air with his own eerie noise before extending them out with an explosive noise. But Shang-Chi shook his head, "Yeah, I don't think that's quite right either."

"It's actually more like…" Aang thought about it, earning some annoyed looks from the girls. The Avatar then held his hands above his head while wiggling his body. He followed up with a small sounding explosion. Shang-Chi looked at him with an incredulous look and asked, "That's it? Really?"

"Yeah. Mine and Sokka's had a lot more effort put into it than yours." Peter agreed with how dumb that looked to him. With a huff, Katara walked away as the four boys continued to make explosion noises before starting to laugh. Natasha, Nebula, Mantis and Katy followed after her while the rest of the group looked between the five girls and the four acting like insecure morons. The five stopped at the edge of the village to where they could see the factory up the river. They watched as the black smoke rose from the many stacks while the polluted waters poured from the pipes into the river. When all five were standing side by side, Katara didn't take her eyes off the factory as she knew what they needed to do.

\_|_/

Later that evening…

Later that night as everyone settled down to sleep, the girls all waited to make their move. When they were sure that all of the boys and Toph were sound asleep, Katara, Mantis and Katy carefully rose from their sleeping bags. They quietly placed large clumps of grass into their bags before moving to get together. They looked about to make sure that it was okay to go. When they were sure, the three all got up, grabbed their gear and walked a short distance from the camp. When they were in the clear, Katara used her waterbending to create a mirror from a puddle and then they all started to apply the markings they saw from the statues. When they were finished, they turned in the direction of the village. Katara looked to her friends and asked, "You girls ready for one last go?"

"I am." Katy nodded as she was ready. Mantis shook her head, "I just wish that friends Natasha and Nebula were going with us."

"They didn't think this was a good idea and thought if we were going to do this one last time, then stick to what we've been doing." Katara reminded her. But then she became determined when she said, "But we know what needs to be done, right?"

The other two accompanying her nodded and they all rushed towards the river. But as they ran past the camp, Momo's ears twitched to the sounds of their running. With a chitter he lifted his head and turned to see them go. He jumped from Appa's head and landed on Aang. The Airbender woke up with a startled gasp while Momo bounded a few feet away. When he stopped, Aang rubbed his eye and asked, "What's the matter, Momo?"

That's when he saw the three girls in their disguises rushing off. Thinking that they really were the Painted Ladies, Aang tied on his headband and got up to go after them, "It's them. Or at least three of them.

"I've got to catch up." He said with a hopeful grin as he started running after the five. And just as Aang rushed off, three others opened their eyes.

…

As they started to approach the river, the disguised three stopped to look at the factory in the distance. They were about to start crossing when they heard Aang shout behind them, "Hello, Painted Ladies!"

They looked back to see Aang rushing up to them. Not wanting to get caught, Katara waved for the other two to quickly follow her. The three quickly rushed for the river as he shouted after them, "Excuse me, ladies. I don't mean to bother any of you…

"But a friend of mine is sick and we're on a bit of a tight schedule." He told them as they ran past some rocks and the five managed to reach the edge of the river, with them standing on a cliff. All three looked back to see the young Airbender catching up to them. They all jumped off the cliff to the murky waters below. Before they could land with a splash, Katara used her waterbending to catch them with a slab of ice. Then with a wave of her arms she shot them forward. Aang came sliding to a stop and shouted after them, "Wait! I'm the great bridge between our two worlds."

"They're not seeming to stop." Shang-Chi said from behind. Aang looked back to see the cyber raccoon, the god of thunder and the bearer of the Ten Rings rushing up to him. Thor then looked to his four friends and asked, "Are we following them?"

"We are." Aang nodded with a determined look while Shang-Chi nodded. Three of the four boys jumped over the side and Aang repeated what Katara had done for her group. The only one not to have jumped was Rocket as he was still standing on the cliff. He crossed his arms and shook his head as he commented, "No way I'm getting near that water."

But a quick move of airbending from Aang said otherwise as a current of air pulled him over the cliff. The cyber raccoon screamed as he fell to their slab of ice. When he was on board, both and Aang and Shang-Chi propelled themselves forward with the Ten Rings and a blast from airbending.

The two slabs of ice propelled along the water towards the village. When the girl's slab reached the docks first, Katara waved her arms out while saying, "Fan out!

"Meet up again on the other side." She instructed. The other two nodded in agreement before splitting up. When they started running, Aang shouted after them, "We know all kinds of spirits like Hei Bei, the moon and the ocean.

"And not too friendly ones like Wang Shi Tong and Koh." He added when they made it to the village. The boys jumped off of the slab of ice and looked where each of the girls ran. Rocket then suggested, "Looks like we're gonna have to split up to catch 'em."

"Then pick one and try to get them to stop." Thor said and three of the four took off after them. Aang chased after the disguised Katara and Shang-Chi chased after the disguised Katy. Rocket saw the disguised Mantis running and being chased by Thor. He then wondered aloud, "I wonder if you can tase a spirit.

"That would make this a whole lot easier." He commented as he started running after her.

\_|_/

Katy and Shang-Chi…

The best friend of the bearer of the Ten Rings ran like the devil was behind her. Lucky for Katy, it wasn't anything that bad and just her said best friend. She went through one of the storage buildings and Shang-Chi went in after her. And just when he started to catch up to her and extended an arm to try and stop her, Katy jumped over a barrel. Shang-Chi cried out as he ended up tripping over it and fell to the floor. But he hit the wood pretty hard and it broke under his weight.

Only by carefully throwing his arm back, he used five of the Ten Rings to create a rope of sorts to keep him from falling into the murky waters below. With a sigh of relief, he drew his arm close to him to bring him back up. When he found his footing, the bearer of the Ten Rings looked to see the Painted Lady was chasing getting away.

\_|_/

Mantis, Thor and Rocket…

Mantis was really trying to get away from the Prince of Asgard and the Guardian of the Galaxy as she made a few barrels fall to the ground. Both Thor and Rocket managed to jump over the barrels and continued to chase after her. The cyber raccoon jumped onto the Asgardian's arm. Getting an idea of what he was thinking, Thor reared the arm back before flinging his arm forward. The raccoon whooshed through the air and extended his paws to try and grab a hold of their disguised friend. But Mantis tripped on a loose board, making her fall forward and Rocket ended up sailing over her head.

The cyber raccoon snapped his fingers to this before looking ahead. He gave a panicked yell as he was flying towards a wall and smacked right into it. The Guardian of the Galaxy groaned as he fell from the wall. But just as he fell to the ground, Thor managed to grab him. But while he was distracted with his friend, a foot stuck out and ended up tripping him. This sent both Thor and Rocket crashing into another wall. They both groaned as they remained embedded in it. From behind them, Mantis carefully peeked out to see that they were momentarily distracted and then continued to run so she could catch up to the other two.

\_|_/

Katara and Aang…

Katara jumped off of a walkway and used her waterbending to run to the other side. Aang jumped onto another walkway and bounced off of it as he continued to chase her. Katara stuck to a small canal between some buildings while Aang jumped onto a roof. The Airbender rushed after her and when he was starting to catch up to her, he shouted, "Hey!"

Katara looked up to see him running and waving to her. But he didn't happen to be looking where he was going and ended up running into a poll. The Waterbender winced but didn't stop running. She jumped back onto the walkway just as the other four met with her on the other side. Mantis then urged, "We must get out of here!"

"Yeah, I don't think the guys are gonna stop. We need to go." Katy agreed. The three girls jumped off the dock and Katara quickly created another slab of ice for them. With a wave of her hands, she propelled them to the opposite shore.

\_|_/

After pulling themselves off a pole, picking themselves up or removing themselves from a wall, the boys quickly reconvened on the other side of the village. They could see the fleeting fog created by the Painted Ladies while panting from exhaustion. Shang-Chi commented, "Man, they sure don't like people trying to bother them."

"Yeah, it's like they can't get away fast enough." Aang agreed while rubbing his head. Thor then suggested a new plan, "Let's get to the river bank and try to cut them off."

"That's a decent plan." Rocket commended before looking down at the water below. He groaned, "Oi, not this again."

"Come on." Aang said as Thor quickly grabbed the cyber raccoon. The group jumped off and Aang quickly created a slab of ice for them. With a wave of his arms, their slab shot across the water.

\_|_/

On the river bank, the girls had managed to make it to shore and started running again. They ran a good distance from the shore and went around a large boulder. Katy quickly glanced around and didn't see any sign of the guys. Turning to the other four she said, "I think we lost them."

"I wouldn't say you "lost" us." Rocket's voice said from above. All five women were startled when Rocket, Aang, Shang-Chi and Thor jumped over the boulder and landed before them. The three lowered their hats to where the boys wouldn't see their faces. Aang stepped up to them, lifted his bandana to show them the arrow on his head and introduced himself, "My name is Aang, and I'm the Avatar.

"And these are friends of mine." He gestured to the four behind him. Talking in a fake accent, Katara said, "Well, hello there, Avatar.

"I wish we could stay and talk, but we must be going." She said, wanting to get out of here. Her ridiculous accent made those behind the two look to each other with questioning looks. Aang was about to say something when Rocket quickly interjected, "Okay, enough with this. Time to give up the act!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Katara said, still talking in the fake accent. The three were trying to carefully move around them and Rocket quickly requested of the Airbender, "Hey, Aang, if you'd use a gust of wind please?"

"Um, okay." Aang said before creating the forementioned gust. The blast of wind caused all three of the girl's hats to be knocked off. Katara, Katy and Mantis frantically moved to catch their hats and place them back on their heads. Aang held his hands to this head as he gasped in shock, "You guys are the Painted Ladies?!"

"Looks like the jig is up." Katy sighed as the three removed their hats again. Katara looked to three of the four boys and asked them, "How long have you known?"

"Well, most of us had a feeling after going into town today." Thor said with a slight smirk and crossing his arms. Thor then turned and saying to Katara, "And from your reaction at these two, Peter and Sokka's insecure spirit noises…"

This made Aang and Shang-Chi grimace at the memory. Aang then asked, "So, you three have been masquerading as spirits the whole time."

"Not at first." Katara started to explain. Looking to the other two of her group she said, "We were just trying to help the village."

"The first time we went we delivered food supplies and used a little medicine to help them." Katy added as the girls set their hats down against a rock. Mantis spoke next, "And it was then that we had decided to continue giving our aid for a little while."

"We hadn't meant on becoming the Painted Ladies." Katara shook her head. She hung her head as she finished, "But it made the job feel a little easier, since it was who the villagers thought we were. And we just filled the roles."

"So, I do have to ask, is Appa even sick?" Aang asked, the story starting to make sense to him. Rocket looked to the boy and guessed, "I have a feeling that they kind of had something to do with that part.

"Right?" He asked his friend. Katy and Mantis nodded to alleviate their fears and Katara explained, "Well, he might be getting sick of eating the purple berries that he's been fed for the past couple of days."

"But other than that, he's totally fine." Katy waved off with a grin. Aang then said, "I can't believe the five of you lied so you could help these people."

"We know. And we're really sorry." Katara said as she looked down in guilt. Looking to the other four she added, "And we know that we shouldn't have done this, but-"

"Actually, we're not all that mad." Shang-Chi shook his head with a slight grin. However, Rocket looked up to him and commented, "I'm a little ticked off from that chase back there."

"But in all honesty, we get it that you were trying to do the right thing by these people." Thor nodded in agreement. Aang gave a thumbs up when he said, "You all are like secret heroes."

"And something tells me that you have something big planned tonight." Shang-Chi guessed with a grin. This made the three girls grin as well. Katy's jaw dropped in excitement when her best friend said, "And I'm sure that we want to help out too."

"Mm-hm." Aang and Thor both nodded in agreement. They looked down to Rocket and waited to see what his answer was. The cyber raccoon noticed the stares aimed his way and sighed. Then he gave his support, "All right. I'm in."

"So what's the plan?" Aang asked what they had in mind. With a wave of her hand, Katara said, "Follow us."

Mantis and Katy both followed after the Waterbender. The four boys looked to each other before following after the girls.

…

After another small ride across the river on another giant slab of ice, the group of seven made it onto the other side. But the girls led the boys up to a sight they weren't expecting to see. They stood at the bottom of the cliff where the Fire Nation factory was sitting. They all watched in disgust as the sludge from the pipes gushed into the river. Aang guessed their plan and asked, "You want to destroy the factory?"

"Yes." Mantis nodded as they all turned their gaze up to the factory up above them. Katara then said, "We know that Sokka was just kidding, but he was right.

"Getting rid of this factory is the only way to help these people for good." She said, hoping that this would help. Katy looked to the boys and said, "And since you guys are here, this will make things go a little faster."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Rocket asked with an eager grin, wanting to cause a little mayhem. The other six grinned back as they set out to get to work.

…

When they had made it to the main entrance, the group found that there were no guards in sight. With a slight motion of her hand, Katara told them to make for the door. All seven quickly rushed for the entrance and found themselves on the factory floor. However, they didn't happen to notice a small device planted on a wall where they didn't notice when they entered. The device repeatedly flashed a silent red. Katara looked to her friends and said, "Let's cause as much damage as we can."

"Shaun and I on lookout duty." Katy volunteered before they turned back to the front door. The rest of the group moved away from the entrance. Moving onto a walk way above the steaming metal below them, Katara said, "Mantis and Rocket, see if you can find a way to back up the pipes.

"Thor, Aang and I will do as much damage as we can around here." She said before rushing off with the two boys. The two Guardians rushed off to carry out her orders while the three remained on the floor.

Running up to a trio of hanging containers filled with molten liquid, Katara removed the water from her pouch. With a fluid motion of her wrist, she caused the small stream of water to slash through the chains holding them up. The containers dropped to the ground and their molten contents started mixing with the rest of it.

With a fling of his wrist, Thor threw his hammer and it crashed through a few walls and knocked over a few more containers of molten liquid. The substance poured and melted through a few walkways.

On the other side of the factory floor, Aang was wearing some special mittens to avoid getting burned as he touched a container. With a smile he tilted it to where the molten liquid poured out of it. When it was empty, Aang jumped down to another portion of the factory. With a circular motion of his hands, he kneeled down and used his earthbending to cause a few of the pipes to become mangled and disconnected.

\_|_/

Rocket and Mantis soon found themselves before a large collection of pipes that were regulated by valves. Pointing to some Rocket said, "Start tightening things up. We let the pressure build and this place flies higher than a Kalypsian kite."

"On it." Mantis nodded and the two quickly got to work. Every valve that they found they turned to close them. They managed to get a few pipes to start building pressure when they heard a multitude of footsteps coming their way.

Looking around a corner, Rocket and Mantis became shocked by what they were seeing.

\_|_/

Seeing that they had caused plenty of damage, Katara, Aang and Thor reconvened on one the walkways of the factory. Aang pumped a fist into the air and shouted, "Yeah! We did it!"

"Not quite." Katy's voice said from the side. They looked to see the archer and the bearer of the Ten Rings running up to them. She looked a little worried when she said, "We might be in a little trouble."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, wondering what was going on. Katy gestured back and said, "Well, while I was guarding the entrance, I happened to notice some kind of high tech security sensor at the door.

"And it was flashing." She worriedly said. Thor shook his head, "That doesn't sound good."

"It isn't." Shang-Chi shook his head. They heard a couple of worried cries coming their way and looked to see both Rocket and Mantis running up to them. The cyber raccoon was running on all fours ahead of his fellow Guardian. Aang was a little confused when he asked, "Guys, what's wrong?!"

"They're what's wrong?" Rocket shouted while Mantis pointed behind them. The others looked to see a number of robotic soldiers coming their way. They looked like they were modeled a little after Tony's Iron Man suits, only they were black in color and they were missing repulsors in their hands. Katy said, "I think we found out what the sensor for."

"Shang-Chi, Thor, with me." Aang said as he moved into position. The two joined him and prepared their respective weapons while Aang assumed his stance. When Rocket and Mantis ran past them, Aang unleashed a powerful torrent of wind while Shang-Chi launched all ten of his rings and Thor threw Mjolnir with all his might. The wind knocked some of the robotic guards back while the rings and the hammer managed to destroy a few.

But before the group could celebrate, the other robots started coming forward again and even stepped on their destroyed counterparts. Seeing that there were a lot of them and the temperature continued to rise, Mantis said, "Katara! Finish off the factory."

"Yeah, the robots aren't indestructible and might get destroyed along with it." Katy agreed with her. Seeing that there was no other choice, Katara quickly moved in front of the three boys. Aang, Thor and Shang-Chi quickly moved back to let her work. With a wave of her arms and a twist of her body, Katara caused the water from the outside to come crashing through the windows above her, her friends and the robots. The robots looked up just as the wall of water washed them over the railing and into the smoldering pits below. When the water touched down on the factory floor, it caused steam and the temperature to rise.

Seconds later as the group rushed for the front entrance, explosions started to go off in the building. They made it out just in time as a big explosion went off behind them. And when they were down by the river again, they looked to the giant pipes to see the sludge from the factory starting to slow down before completely stopping. A few pieces of the robots even rained down and landed in the river. Feeling their work done, the seven turned to head back to camp.

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After their fight with the robotic guards and the destruction of the factory, the seven were making their way back to camp. The three had long removed their makeup since leaving the ruined factory and were back in their normal disguises. As they started to make their way around the rocks concealing their camp, Aang, Katy, Shang-Chi and Rocket were laughing a little when the Airbender made a small explosion noise. But Katara quickly shushed them by quietly saying, "We don't want to wake Sokka and the others."

"Not gonna be a problem." Natasha said when they came around the rocks. All seven looked to see the rest of the group wide awake and some with their hands on their hips. They also happened to notice both Natasha and Nebula standing in the middle, looking like they had been caught. Katara tried to play it casual by saying, "Good morning, everyone. We were just-"

"Out taking us a quick morning walk." Katy quickly said, thinking it was a good cover. But it didn't seem to work as Natasha sighed, "Give it up. He knows that it's not true."

"You better believe that I know." Sokka said as he pulled up his sister's sleeping bag. He shook it a few times and dumped out the grass and this made the seven hang their heads. Pointing to the two beside him, Sokka angrily said, "Thanks to them, I know that you five are the Painted Ladies. I know that you've all been sneaking out at night."

"And I know that you've been lying about Appa and feeding him purplizing tongue berries." He said before pointing to Toph while giving the returning group the stink eye. The blind Earthbender stuck out her tongue which had been coated purple by the forementioned berries as she held them up for all to see. Momo and Baby Groot got in on the snacks as they climbed onto her shoulders and grabbed a few. Natasha then said, "We told you not to go, Katara.

"The first couple of times were risky enough." She shook her head. Katara defended the three by saying, "But we couldn't just sit by and do nothing. We had to help the villagers."

"Yeah, it's the reason we started in the first place." Katy reminded the spy. Nebula spoke up by saying, "And yet, based on how long the seven of you have been gone this night, you must have done more than a simple supply run."

"You could say that." Mantis shrugged. Steve intervened by saying as he looked between the five, "Okay, look.

"We get that you girls were trying to do the right thing and help this village. We respect that." The super soldier smiled a little. But he became serious when he said, "But I think that it's time that we moved on now.

"They need to rely on themselves now." He said when he looked in the direction of the village. Sokka, still fumed about the whole thing, then ordered while crossing his arms, "And we can't waste any more time here. We're packing up and leaving now."

"Okay." Katara, Mantis and Katy all sadly said as they walked to get their stuff ready. As the four boys moved to help out too, Sokka leaned towards them and asked, "And how long have you all known?"

"Hey, Shang-Chi and I just found out this morning." Aang defended them with this knowledge with a small shake of his head. Thor intervened by saying, "The rest of us had it pretty figured out."

"And you didn't say anything why?" He looked to the rest of those who knew. Clint shrugged, "We were proud of them for doing the right thing and wasn't sure if they were going to do one last job."

This just made Sokka groan in irritation as he moved to help pack up the camp.

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Back at the ruined factory, a figure walked through the billowing smoke. A man in Fire Nation armor with a scar across his face walked up to a robot's head that had been charred in the blast. With scowl the soldier kicked the head away before walking up to the edge of the factory. From there he had a clear view of the land. And he could see the river village not too far away. The soldier's eyes narrowed as he suspected that they had something to do with the destroyed factory. And he wasn't planning on showing them any mercy.

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Back at the camp, the group continued to pack up their supplies. That was until a loud noise came to their ears. The sound made everyone stand up. Peter looked to the others and said, "Some kind of water vehicle."

"And it's coming from the river." Bruce said with a worried look as they all moved to go see. When they made it to the river, they all crouched down to avoid being seen. They all became surprised when they saw a multitude of Fire Nation jet skis making their way down the river. There were a good number of Fire Nation and Hydra soldiers on the vehicles. And they were heading right for the village. Toph was the last to join them and asked, "What's going on?"

"Fire Nation soldiers on jet skis are heading for the village." Steve described the scene to her. They all looked up the river and saw the ruins of the factory. Sokka looked to his sister and angrily questioned, "What did you all do?"

"We, kind of destroyed their factory." Katara admitted as they hadn't thought this would happen. This shocked Sokka as he shouted, "You what?!"

"Hey, it was your idea." Katy reminded him with an aggravated look while the other four nodded at the reminder. Mantis then added onto it by saying, "You said it would make things better."

"But I was just joking about doing this." The Water Tribe defended himself. Then he added, "And I also said to use spirit magic and make funny noises with Aang, Peter and Shang-Chi."

"Way to rope us back into this." Peter muttered from where he was kneeling. Bruce looked to each of the girls who had masqueraded as the Painted Ladies and asked, "Did you not think that this sort of thing would happen?"

"No, because we had set up rules when we first started." Natasha stated when she looked to the three who had broken them. Clint quirked a brow when he asked them, "Uh, rules?"

"Yes, we were only supposed to take the supplies from the factory, as we agreed." Nebula stated. She pounded the rock and questioned, "What were the three of you thinking."

"Hey, to be fair, they were either making killer robots or just had them with them." Katy interjected about what they had just fought. Pointing to the ruins she said, "And we took care of that little problem."

"And yet the army's going to blame the villagers over it." Sokka said while face palming himself. Looking to the girls he said, "This is an act of revenge because you all decided to get involved. We should have just left when we had the chance."

"And yet that is what good people do. Getting involved." Mantis stubbornly said when she turned to the Water Tribe teen. This caused a lot of the group's eyes to widen. Even Katara stood with her as she said, "And I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me."

"Same here." Katy said as the three got up. Katara looked between the members of the group and said, "Us three are going down to the village. And we're going to do whatever we can to help."

"Are you two in?" Mantis asked Natasha and Nebula. The two looked to each other before nodding to the three. The two older women started to join them. As they started to leave, Sokka hung his head as he didn't know what he should do. A hand on his shoulder made him look up into Steve's eyes. The super soldier said, "They're right. The time for sitting on the sidelines are over."

"Hm." Sokka sighed before nodding in agreement as they all stood up again. He turned and called out to the five, "Wait."

Katara, Natasha, Katy, Mantis and Nebula all stopped and looked back to the group. Gesturing to the whole group Sokka said, "We're coming with you."

"I thought you didn't want to get involved?" Katara asked, though touched that he had changed his mind. Katy jokingly asked, "Won't this mess with your schedule."

"Schedule or not, we're a team." Sokka said. Then looking to his sister he genuinely added, "And I won't ever turn my back on you."

"Oh, Sokka." Katara said as she moved to give him a hug. Katy leaned against Shang-Chi and grinned, "Looks like he does have a heart of gold."

"I guess so." He chuckled. From at the back of the group, Aang started to rub a few tears out of his eyes as he felt moved, "He really does have a heart, doesn't he?"

He turned to Toph standing next to him. But instead of sharing his sentiments, Toph just knocks him down with a quick punch to the shoulder. The Airbender yelps as he falls to the ground. Peter then asked her, "Not really the sentimental type, are you?"

"Gee? What do you think?" The Earthbender asked the wall crawler. They all then turned their gaze back down to the river as the Fire Nation on their jet skis neared the village.

…

The team had carefully moved down to the riverbank just as the soldiers arrived in the village. Steve looked to the five and asked, "So, what's the plan?"

"The five of us are going to prepare ourselves for one last visit to the village." Katara said as she looked to the other four. Looking to the others she said, "We might need a little assistance since there's so many soldiers."

"I say Spiderman, Captain America, Rocket, Aang and Clint will go with us into the village." Natasha said as she devised the plan. Gesturing to the four and herself posing as the Painted Ladies she explained, "While we're keeping their leader busy and having a fog surrounding the village."

"We can use stealth to our advantage. And take out the soldiers." Peter finished as he was impressed with the plan. Looking to those remaining behind Katara said, "Try to think of ways to help with an illusion."

"Like get them scared?" Bruce asked, starting to like this plan. The five nodded and Steve said, "Well, go hurry and get ready.

"We don't have much time." He said when he looked to see the soldiers starting to climb onto the village from their vehicles.

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In the village, the Fire Nation and Hydra soldiers had gathered around the villagers when they had come to see what was going on. The leader of the factory stepped up and glared at them as he said, "I thought that we could live in peace as neighbors. But I guess I was wrong.

"You steal our food, our medicine…" He started to list what had been done to the army. Then he pointed to the smoking factory and said, "And now you destroyed our factory and the security drones guarding it."

"We didn't do any of that stuff." "Doc" said when he popped up behind a couple. He ducked down and "Shoo" popped up behind a man with a straw hat. He shook a fist when he agreed with "Doc", "Yeah! The Painted Ladies are the ones who brought us our food and healed our sick. Not your medicine."

"Oh, right. The mysterious Painted Ladies did all this?" The factory leader questioned as a Hydra soldier brought him the five little figurines. Taking one in his hand, he looked at it as he said, "And I suppose she drew the combined sigils of the Fire Nation and Hydra on the stolen containers too."

With a fling of his arm, he threw the figurine into one of the containers. The container shattered and the rice held within it fell onto the dock. The aggressive act caused the villagers to gasp and cower. The commander looked to the townspeople and glared as he shouted, "This is a town of thieves and liars!"

Bringing his arm back, the leader of the ruined factory launched it forward. A small fireball erupted from his palm and sailed towards one of the huts. It burst into flames and the people cried out in fear. Turning to them, the commander questioned, "Are your Painted Ladies now?

"Huh?" He shouted and it made them cringe in fear. Without any remorse, the leader declared, "We're going to rid the world of this wretched village.

"Get that big barrel of oil into place. And bring some of the docks down as well!" He ordered some of the Fire Nation soldiers. They nodded and he turned his attention to the Hydra agents, "If any try to escape or fight, you know what to do."

"Yes, sir." One of the agents nodded and he and the others trained their weapons on the villagers. The families held on to each other in fear of what was happening. And in their minds they were wondering, where were the Painted Ladies.

Out on the water, a couple of Fire Nation soldiers sped by the village. One manned the controls while another swirled a grappling hook over her head. Then with a throw it wrapped around a support of the dock. As the jet ski raced by, the support was pulled out and the hut above crumbled into the river. This caused the villagers to once again cry out in fear.

Soon, a large barrel filled with oil floating on a small boat was brought to where it floated next to the village. Two Firebenders marched up to the barrel and with a throw of their fists they launched flames onto the barrel. But before the barrel of oil could truly burn, a large blast of wind extinguished the flames. The two Firebenders shielded themselves from the strong winds. Over at the burning hut, a wave of water suddenly rose before crashing down on the burning building. The commander looked back and he and the other soldiers became confused that the flames had gone out. Steam rose from both put out fires. The two soldiers fired another fireball onto it, but it was quickly put out with another gust of wind. Fully, turning to the two soldiers by the barrel of oil, the commander ordered, "Light it again!"

The two Firebenders once again unleashed a small burst of flame, but a third gust of wind quickly put it out before the fire could fully touch it. When the two soldiers lowered their arms, they became surprised as the woman soldier said, "Look at that! Where's it coming from?"

"I don't know. There's something strange going on here." The soldier next to her shook his head. They were worried as a large mist started to roll over the village while an eerie sound accompanied it. As the mist started to envelope the town, they could hear strange sounds coming from it. The little boy who was beside his mother became excited when he said, "It's the Painted Ladies.

"They're coming." He said in a singsong voice, making his mother look to him. The commander turned to the villagers, unwilling to believe in the supernatural as he said, "There are no Painted Ladies!"

They were shocked when they could hear what sounded to be large footsteps coming from the mists. Not only that, but bright flashes of light came as well. They jumped when they heard thunder booming overhead. As they stared out into the mist, everyone's eyes widened when they saw a group of silhouettes starting to appear.

…

On the river bank closest to the village, the effects accompanying the mists were provided by the rest of the group as Toph used a large rock to make the loud thumping sounds while Appa and the Hulk both gave low growls. Standing close to the river was Tony in his Iron Man suit and using the arc reactor to make large flashes of light. Not too far beside him, Thor twirled Mjolnir for a moment before lifting it high into the air and with a small bolt of lightning, a boom of thunder would follow. And sitting on a rock close to the water was Sokka as he played a small flute to make the eerie noises while Baby Groot sat on his shoulder.

…

Back in the village, the Fire Nation and Hydra soldiers remained on their guards as the silhouettes seemed to be getting closer. One of the Hydra soldiers questioned, "Are they real? Are they making those sounds?"

"Maybe it really is them." A Fire Nation soldier said when he looked to his comrades. Unbeknownst to them or the villagers, a small group moved in from the sides of the mist. Captain America, Spiderman, Hawkeye and Rocket all crept up onto the docks from a slab of ice. Carefully making their way towards the villagers, they remained in the shadows as they waited for the right moment.

From out on the river, the mists cleared a little and revealed five individuals. All were dressed in the attire of the Painted Ladies and they all had their hats lowered to where no one saw their faces. The soldiers, even the commander, were surprised and waited to see what they would do. Though they couldn't waterbend, the other four copied Katara's movements as she gave a small wave of her arms and she shot them forward across the murky water. They quickly made it across and all five jumped from a small slab of ice under each of their feet.

All five Painted Ladies landed gracefully on the docks before the startled soldiers. When they began to approach the group of soldiers, the commander pushed a couple of Firebenders forward, "Do something!"

They and their comrades moved forward as the Hydra agents removed their weapons. They trained their guns on the five. But a small move of Katara's wrist caused the mists around the village to envelope them all. Seeing this as their signal, the four in hiding quickly rushed out to deal with the soldiers. Captain America tackled into a couple of Hydra agents before removing his shield and knocked out a Fire Nation soldier. Hawkeye came running up to a Firebender. While the soldier was distracted, the archer dropped down and used his Bo staff to trip them up. The soldier cried out as they fell to the ground, but a small tap to a pressure point knocked them out like a light. One Hydra agent started to wonder around, but a quiet jump from Rocket onto his face made him frantically move around. When the soldier lost his footing over the side of the dock, Rocket used him as a spring board to jump off just as he fell into the gross water below. From on the roof of the buildings, Spiderman used a few shots of his webs to grab and pull Fire Nation and Hydra soldiers into the mist. They cried out as they dragged across the wooden walkways.

With another wave of her arm, Katara caused the mist around them, the commander and the villagers to dissipate. The Fire Nation commander gasped when he found his soldiers all tied up before the Painted Ladies. Those who remained held their weapons at the ready and approached the five. But when Katara, Katy, Natasha, Mantis and Nebula raised their heads a little, a gust of wind came up from underneath the soldiers and blew away their head bands. The soldiers gave startled cries as they turned and ran away from the five. Underneath the walkway, Aang was hidden underneath and had provided the gust of wind via his mouth. He smiled when he saw them running away.

The headbands landed on either side of the commander. The Painted Ladies slowly came forward towards the collection of soldiers. Not deterred, he ordered, "Stand your ground and prepare to open fire."

A few Hydra soldiers walked up with their weapons raised at the girls while the Fire Nation soldiers readied their weapons or stances. When the girls stopped, Mantis turned her head towards one of the Fire Nation's jet skis. With a flick of tap of her foot and her wrist, a pillar of water was created and the vehicle was thrown into the air. The collection of soldiers stared in awe and fear as the jet ski fell back into the river. Katy repeated the process and another jet ski was tossed into the river. Katara then used her own waterbending skills to use as she lifted a few jet skis up and with a twist of her body and a few waves of her arms, she launched them into the cliffside of the river. They impacted against the rocks and resulted in a big explosion.

When the soldiers all looked back to the Painted Ladies, all five raised their hands together in unison. Fearing for their lives, all the Fire Nation soldiers except the commander, fled in terror. They jumped onto the remaining jet skis and took off. A Hydra soldier commented, "Cowards."

"Indeed." The commander agreed before turning his attention back to the Painted Ladies. Assuming his firebending stance he said, "We can take care of you ourselves.

"Prepare to open fire!" He ordered the Hydra soldiers and they nodded to the command. Neither side made a move for a moment. The commander then spun around and launched a horizontal wave of flame at the five while the soldiers opened fire from their guns. Seeing the attacks coming pretty fast, Aang quickly acted fast by taking in a deep breath. Time seemed to slow down as the fire and bullets headed right for the girls. But a big gust of air from Aang managed to send the five all high into the air. The fiery attack and the bullets flew past where they were standing while the girls started to come back down. And as they were coming down, Aang used his right hand to draw as much air to him before unleashing it when they touched back down on the dock. The blast of air ripped through boards before smacking into the commander and the Hydra agents. They all screamed as they were sent flying into the river. They landed with a splash while the five looked to where they landed.

The commander and the agents all surfaced and spat out the dirty water. They heard something moving in the water and turned with a gasp. Five shapes burst from the river and the five Painted Ladies were standing on the water before them, courtesy of some well-hidden ice under their feet, with their arms extended to make them look more ominous. Katara spoke by saying, "You've all caused enough harm to this river and the people who live here."

"But your tyranny ends now." Katy said. Mantis spoke up, "Now longer will your presence be tolerated here."

"You will face the wrath of the river should you stay." Nebula warned them. Natasha gave a slight tilt of her head when she said, "So what we're saying is…"

"Leave and never come back!" All five said in unison. One of the Hydra agents defiantly said, "As if we'd be afraid of the likes of you!

"Hail Hydra!" He said before removing a fake tooth as did the other Hydra agents. The commander looked to them and shouted, "Wait! They're not taking us prisoner!

"There's no need to kill yourself!" He shouted, but it was too late. The agent cracked the two and the cyanide quickly overtook him. With a gurgle he sank into the river. The commander of the factory quickly turned and swam away. They were rescued when the jet skis came around to pick them up. The commander and the rest of the soldiers climbed aboard before disappearing down the river.

As they disappeared, the fives' faces softened a little before turning back to the village. They could hear cheers coming from the village as did the rest of the team when they used the boats to paddle to the village, once they had gotten Bruce some spare clothes.

When all the heroes were on the docks and those who were in hiding came out of the shadows, they looked to see the five jumping onto the walkways. The rest of the team joined together on the side while the mists around the village dissipated. The little boy happily said, "I knew the five of you would come to help us."

"Thank you!" "Doc" said as he walked up to them. The praises kept coming as a villager said, "Painted Ladies, you five are the best!"

"Me and my brothers owe you a lot." "Doc" said with a happy smile. But when he got a good look at them, especially Katara, his mood changed from happy to shocked. Pointing to them he said, "Hey, wait a minute. I know the lot of you!

"You're not the Painted Ladies. You're those girls from the colonies." He recognized them and they looked to each other in surprise. They saw that their make up had been ruined during the scuffle with the soldiers. The little boy recognized them and pointed to Katara with narrowed eyes, "Yeah, the one in the middle's the girl who gave me a fish!"

"You've all been tricking us! You're all Waterbenders!" "Doc" angrily said as he placed his hands on his hips. This didn't seem to sit right with the crowd as a villager screamed, "They're Waterbenders!"

"Technically, I think only one of them is a Waterbender." A voice spoke up. They all looked to the back of the group to see some parting a way for Mr. Lee to walk through. When he reached the front of the crowd, he stopped before the five and started to say, "While we don't like people masquerading as spirits or anything…

"We can't deny that we should be grateful." He added, surprising everyone, from villagers to the heroes. Turning to face "Shoo" and the villagers, Mr. Lee said, "These five brave souls just saved us from being destroyed by that awful commander and his goons."

"And at least you didn't have to deal with killer robots." Katy said, causing everyone to look at her. She looked a little embarrassed and gave a slight wave of her hand, "Sorry. Making a point in our defense. Won't happen again."

"Anyway…" Mr. Lee said as he turned his attention back to his fellow villagers. Then he said, "Instead of getting our pants in a bunch about them acting like the Painted Ladies, let's think of the positives."

"Like the fact that the factory won't be polluting your river and the army is now gone." Sokka said when he walked to stand with Mr. Lee. The older man placed a hand on the Water Tribe teen's shoulder and said, "Exactly. We shouldn't be too hasty about this."

"But it's okay." Katara said from behind them. All five women stepped forward, removed their hats and the Waterbender said, "We shouldn't have acted like someone, or people, that we weren't. And we shouldn't have tricked you.

"But we felt like we needed to do something to help." She said when she looked to the four. Natasha took over by saying, "It doesn't matter if the Painted Ladies, or Lady, is real or not. Because your problems…

"Just like this river flowing around us, are real." She gestured to the murky waters. Mantis looked amongst the villagers, "And like it or not, you can't always wait around for someone to save you."

"You have to do something to save yourselves." Katy nodded in agreement with her. Nebula finished by saying, "You have to help yourselves when you're able to."

"They're right. They all are." "Doc" said as he hung his head. But he wasn't sure when he asked, "But what should we do?"

While the villagers weren't looking, Toph poked her head out from around a couple. Then she suggested in a deep voice with a hand next to her mouth, "Maybe we can clean the river."

The group smirked as she slipped back around them. It seemed to positively influence the village as "Doc" agreed, "Yeah! We can clean up our river."

The rest of the village cheered in agreement to this. Most of the villagers moved to get started on the cleanup of the river. Tony looked to Sokka and asked, "Think we have enough time to help?"

"Yeah, I know it might throw off the schedule." Clint lightly joked. Sokka sighed and said, "As long as we're back on the road before too long."

"I think we can work something out." Bruce nodded in agreement to that. They turned their attention back to "Doc" as he walked up to them. He looked to the five and said, "Thank you all for your help. You know, you're not so bad."

"You wouldn't mind keeping our involvement a secret, would you?" Shang-Chi asked as he looked between the two villagers. Mr. Lee nodded, "Worry not. We're a village of good people, not a bunch of stooges.

"Consider yourselves safe with us." He promised them. "Doc" laughed a little and said, "Yeah. Now my brother "Shoo" on the other hand, he's a blabbermouth."

That just caused a lot of the group to sigh in frustration to this. Baby Groot looked to Rocket and commented, "I am Groot."

"You said it, pal." Rocket agreed with him. Leaning to Steve, Peter and Toph he whispered what Groot had said, "The guy's a few pieces short of a flying ship."

"So, "Doc", you gonna help us out cleaning the river?" Peter asked from the side. But "Doc" shook his head, "No, no, my young friend.

"I'm going to go get my other brother Bushy." He told them when he pointed back to the village. He smiled as he said, "He loves to clean up rivers."

He quickly pulled off the red hat and revealed a small bundled up hat on his head. The hat unfurled to become a straw hat, surprising the group a little. The man then proclaimed, "All right! I'm Bushy! Let's get some river cleaning done."

"Oi." Mr. Lee rolled his eyes from behind "Bushy". Aang walked up to him and said, "Aha! I knew that you were the same guy.

"You're the shop owner, the boatsman and now this fella." He listed on his fingers. But "Bushy" just had a smile on his face when he said, "Oh, you must be talking about my brothers, Doc and Shoo."

"No, we just saw you switch hats and call yourself a different name." Aang said, becoming a little irritated with this. This didn't seem so surprising to "Bushy" as he said, "Oh, you know who does that. My brother Doc.

"He's crazy." He said when leaned forward. The man started laughing and turned to walk away. The exchange caused a bunch of weirded out, irritated or confused looks to be thrown the man's way as a gasket blew in Aang's head. Steam seemed to pour out as he glared at the man. They all calmed down a little when Mr. Lee said, "You'll have to forgive my brother."

"You're related to him?" Tony asked as he pointed to the man with many identities with his thumb. Mr. Lee nodded, "Yep. I'm his older brother."

"So, all of that-?" Bruce asked, a little curious. But Mr. Lee shook his head, "Even before the polluting of the river, he's been a little odd."

"So, it kind of got worse after the factory and the polluted water?" Mantis asked. Mr. Lee nodded, "Yep.

"But hopefully after the river's cleaned, he'll be a little less nutty." He said as he walked after his brother. The group looked to each other, feeling even more confused than before.

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For the next couple of days, the team helped the village with the cleaning process. They used special nets to fish up the gunk from the river while Katara, Aang and Toph put their bending to good use. Katara lifted a large pillar of water up and the other two used their earthbending to pull the impurities out of the water. While the water was placed back into the river, the sludge was put into a large barge. The villagers and the heroes also did right by the enemy soldiers by getting them out of the river and burying them on the riverbank. They continued to work until the water was much clearer. The work was done by the sunset of the second day.

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Later that evening, Katara, Nebula, Natasha, Mantis and Katy all walked down to the river. They agreed to take one last look before they had to leave tomorrow. While the rest of the group relaxed after two days of hard work, they moved down to the river bank. As they stared out over the water, the five became surprised when a mist suddenly rolled in. The other four looked to Katara, but she shook her head that she wasn't the one doing this. The water started to ripple, drawing their attention back to the water. They stared in awe as five silhouettes appeared from the mist. The five silhouettes soon revealed themselves. The girls found themselves staring up at the real Painted Ladies.

But as the Painted Ladies came closer to the riverbank, the four beside her seemed to recede into the one in the middle. When she was close enough, they saw that there was only one Painted Lady, and she was fully clad in a white robe and white hat. The markings painted on her were red and she had long, flowing black hair. Upon her forehead were five crescent moons like they had done with the one that Katara had chosen in the middle. The Painted Lady looked to the five and said with great gratitude in her echoing voice, "Thank you. All of you."

With her message given to them, the Painted Lady started to recede back into the mist. As she and the mist disappeared, all five smiled. They all looked to each other before walking back up to the camp.

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This story's dedication to:

Stan Lee: 1922 – 2018

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Author's Note: I'm honestly happy with how this chapter turned out. I thought that having not one, but five of the group masquerading as five spirits would be a neat idea. And I just wanted to let you all know that the next couple of chapters are going to be a while, for they are original chapters. They are a two parter called Isle of the Symbiotes and that's all I'm going to say for right now. I don't know when I'll be finished with them, but do know that I will be working on them. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong. See you next time.

P.S. To my fellow Americans, I know that a lot of you aren't going to be too thrilled about me saying this, but I did promise someone that I would do my best. I know that the elections are the last thing on anyone's minds when they come onto this sight to read, but I do have something to say. Whether you're early voting or waiting to go take care of it, all I can ask is that you make the right choice. I won't go and say like VDT2024 would and threaten people, that's not who I am. But I do ask that we do make the right choice when it comes to voting. I for one, am hoping that Donald Trump is reelected, because I for one am tired of living in inflation and all this nonsense. That's all I have to say and I do apologize if this bums anyone out, but I just had to say something.