Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen
We emerged into a danger, the frigid air filled with shouted orders, along with desperate cries for help.
And a ship, half-buried in an avalanche.
(Image)
"Deploy the River Steamer!" Zuko commanded. "Throw lines!"
From the panicked, half-drowned cries coming over the edge, and the slowly shrinking bit of white and brown in the sky, we'd just missed Aang.
"And-" the banished Prince hesitated, seeing us.
But while he blinked at our arrival, Mina and I were already moving.
"Arctic Diving!" I snapped, as I bolted for the edge. "Full coverage!"
Skating behind me, my Heroine understood what I meant instantly. "Thermal shock! Right!"
We both leapt over the edge, clearing it easily, acid pouring off of Mina as she gathered it around herself, both of us seeing well over a dozen flailing black and red armored figures, the men barely able to hold their heads above water, clad in metal as they were.
I went high, momentarily flashing my arms to electric wings to get a bit of extra scouting time, the shift unpleasant but, only holding it for a moment, I could handle it, glancing back to see the Fire Nation soldiers still on board, some buried in the avalanche, some completely frozen in ice, a few Firebenders already at work trying to thaw them out before they sustained permanent damage.
It was… surprisingly lethal, given the Avatar's expressly pacifistic stance in the show, and might be an indicator of the increased threat, but, no, I distinctly remember Aang throwing tanks off a mountain in the source, and while we didn't see the aftermath, to keep the show's PG rating, there was no doubt they hadn't made it.
Regardless, catching Zuko's eye, as Iroh himself half-watched me, the old man slowly blowing out flames to melt the avalanche and free the men trapped within, I nodded at the scarred teen before letting my arms snap back, dropping down towards the surface, as Mina, making sure to miss everyone there, dove underwater with barely a ripple, the refraction of her acid versus the surrounding water making it clear as she went jellyfish, reaching out long strands of acid towards all the slowly drowning men, who, if anything, now looked even more worried.
Turning my feet to lighting, I landed on the surface, grounding myself on the waters, and announced, "We're here to help you! Please remain calm, and try and keep your head above water! Do not be afraid, we're here to help Zuko!"
Running over to the nearest soldier, I reached down and grabbed his flailing hand, making sure to keep him at arm's length as I grunted, muscles straining, and lifted him bodily from ice-cold water. This would be a lot easier if I could use OfA, but I knew better now, and just had to rely on my, thankfully borderline superhuman, physique. "Was it just this side, or did people go over on the other as well."
The man, eyes wide, coughed, holding onto my arm with an iron grip of his own, but rallied quickly, shaking his head, "N-No. Just this. That. By Agni, what was that thing?"
"That would've been the Avatar," I informed him, even as a chain ladder was thrown over the edge, and, looking up, I saw the Prince had been the one to toss it our way. Taking a few steps to it, as it rested against the hull, I carefully helped the man to it, even as, with several yelps other soldiers shot up, rising up to their waists in the ocean, their legs bound by Mina's tendrils. "Now go up, I need to get the others."
"I-I, thank you, sir," the man stuttered, clearly lost, but he got moving, letting me take a few leaping steps to the next closest, gritting my teeth as I pulled him out as well, nodding to Mina below the waves, who, with a bit of a strained smile, nodded back.
Soon enough, we'd gathered them up, Mina's point of view letting her catch any who'd already slipped beneath the waves, though, thankfully, it seemed like none of them had. The soldiers, after an initial panic, quieted down, though I could tell they were uneasy with the pair of us, which, given our literally unearthly powers, was fair.
Once everyone else was clear of the arctic waters, the girl surged upwards, having created more and more acid while she'd been down there, the substance body-temp as it was generated, letting her stave off the cold, and, with as much as she'd created, she managed to launch herself all the way up to the ship's railing, grabbing it and flipping herself over.
Crouching down, coiling my own legs, I leapt after her, not able to get even that high as I was not able to generate enough force to get there, but shifting a hand let me throw it out like a grappling hook, snap it back, and launch myself up worked just as well.
"Good job," I grinned her way, looking to my partner, getting one in return, but also noticing that she was starting to shiver, soaked as she was and without her acid armor to serve as a thermal barrier. "Can you go grab the Survival Blankets? They're in the first-floor closet. And switch coats?"
"Got it, Sparky!" Mina nodded, taking off on a trail of acid and jumping through the portal, as I turned back to Zuko, questioning, "Is everyone out?"
"I, no, there's still-" he started to reply, motioning towards the avalanche, Iroh carefully pulling out an unconscious soldier, and I strode past him, looking over it, remembering the lesson on Mountain Rescue Thirteen had given us in UA, wishing I'd had more time to learn, but I had to work with what I had.
There was no dirt, so I couldn't make a construct, the fire I could create wasn't enough, freezing things wouldn't really help, and neither would Photokinesis or Creation, given there was no light under there to bend and the only thing I could currently make were raw substances and medieval-level complexity of items, not tech.
Manually it is, I sighed to myself, none of the snowbank moving, so, shifting my hands to electric shovels, I got to work, digging, the task physically straining, but, oddly, not that tiring, given how simple it was.
My partner came back a minute later, and started tossing out the metallic blankets, much to the confusion of the soldiers, and I realized that I was being silly.
"Mina!" I called, getting her attention. "There's some people in here. I'll handle instructions, if you can handle it."
"I, but I don't know how to…" she waved a hand, a handful of snow flopping over, much to her surprise.
"Just use your Quirk. We can figure out the rest later," I reassured her, even as I noticed both Zuko and Iroh, pause, looking at my lover.
She blinked. "Oh, right, like, doi, Pinky!" she laughed, sliding forward, tossing me the box of blankets, and, extending out her arms, she blasted the snowbank with acid, which soaked the slush and let her carry it away with ease, far faster than I could.
Striding up to one of the soldiers, who was staring at the folded blanket in confusion, I snatched it from his hands, and, with a snap, extended the bit of emergency gear, turning my hand to lightning to extend my fingers out wide enough to wrap it around his shoulders one handed, the gap between middle and ring fingers a couple feet, before pulling it back to fully enclose him.
"They're blankets!" I ordered. "They'll reflect your body heat back in, and warm you up! Everyone who was overboard or frozen, take one!"
The soldiers hesitated, looking over to Zuko, who, frowning, commanded, "Well! You heard him!"
That got them moving, those with them already awkwardly putting them on, the others coming up to me, as I, in turn, tossed one to each team trying to defrost the frozen soldiers, having melted the ice over their faces, the men gasping for air.
Mina cleared the top of the ship in only a few minutes, and I helped the Fire soldiers she uncovered up, wrapping them in the metallic fabrics, loosening the armor around their chest to let them breathe easier, and passing them over to the other soldiers, who shepherded them inside the ship, which would be a lot warmer than the arctic air I was standing in, keeping Todoroki's Quirk going at a low hum to keep myself from freezing. With that done, she slid over to me, slipping around to give me a hug, her cold hands reaching underneath my coat, smiling as she murmured, "Hmmm, so waaaarm."
Smiling myself, I kicked up Shoto's power a bit more, to the point it just started to ache, and held it there, a flame appearing in my left hand as I looked around.
"You have my thanks, Denki," Iroh stated, walking towards us both. "I must say, I dared not to be so hopeful to think the Spirits would help us against the Avatar so blatantly."
"Not against, Aang," I corrected, needing to draw the line quickly and firmly, but not upset over the fact that I needed to be this specific. "But helping someone in need? That I'll do."
"Yeah!" Mina agreed. "What kind of Heroes would we be if we didn't?"
"I… see," the older man agreed, when he very clearly didn't, but, then again, my lover's statement came from a culture that would be downright alien to him, given the tech level it required to function, so that was kind of to be expected. "Regardless, we both appreciate your help. Isn't that right Prince Zuko?"
Prince Zuko, however, stomped over to me, pointing as he yelled, "You never said the Avatar was a child!"
"Did I say he wasn't?" I shot back, as Mina's grip on me tightened, but I didn't take offense. Even though he was technically older than me, probably, he'd had it pretty damn rough, and this was a nasty surprise.
"Well… no," Zuko admitted, which was another part of why I didn't take it personally, because, originally at least, the guy was many things, but dishonest wasn't one of them, and that part was still true here. "But I would've liked to know!"
"Everyone would like to know things," I shrugged. "Doesn't mean we do. Trust me, I'd know," I smirked. "But, be honest, if I had told you, would you have believed me that he'd cryogenically frozen himself?"
"I-I don't even know what that means!" the teen snapped, while his uncle frowned.
"In… ice?" the gray-haired man questioned, and I nodded. "This is a known thing, amongst spirits?"
"Like frogs in winter," I kind of agreed. "Anyone can do it, technically. The issue isn't in the freezing, either, it's in the unfreezing that's lethal to most people, but, well, he's the Avatar." I gestured with my flaming free hand to the deck of the ship. "He's gonna be kinda bullshit."
That got a surprised snort from the old man. "Indeed," he mused. "Perhaps, while the men warm up and dig out the ship, we should retire inside? Perhaps for some tea?"
"Sparky?" Mina asked, letting me decide, and, while I could start to feel the edges of the familiar tiredness, I wasn't there yet.
"For a little, yes, then we must leave. And," I added, glancing as the last soldier was freed, the thermal blankets letting them work a lot faster, "when we go we'll need the blankets back."
"Of course," Iroh nodded, "and thank you for letting our men use them. Curious things. They appear to be made of steel, yet fold like cloth."
"They're polyethylene terephthalate, or, er, mylar," I replied absently, as the information wouldn't really help anything, given their relative tech level, as Iroh started to walk towards the door, pausing to cast a questioning look Zuko's way, the teen, with an aggravated sigh, following us. "They're metal coated, but thinly so, a tenth of the width of a human hair, just enough to reflect radiant energy, like heat. Good in an emergency, but not terribly strong."
"How delightful," the older man smiled, leading us inside, down, and to a room that, from the sleeping mat tucked away, was likely Iroh's private chambers, the man swirling a bit of fire around to warm a pot of tea, which he poured for all of us, giving his nephew a significant look, the boy, with a frown, taking a seat at the open spot at the low table and accepting a cup of tea.
Taking a sip, I froze, as, while it tasted good, it also set off my Defenses.
Was I wrong? Was this a trap? I thought, as Mina had also stiffened, before… "Calming tea?" I questioned, a half-second away from Creating an explosive charge to throw in the man's face, grabbing her, and running.
"Ah, yes," the older man smiled, even as Zuko also tensed, eyes darting between his uncle and I. "My favorite. Do you like it?"
Letting out a long breath, sparks dancing across me, Mina relaxed, even as the Prince looked more worried. "It tastes good, though, attempting to sedate guests without warning them? If… if one was less sure of your character, Iroh, one would note that doing so could read as an attempt to poison a guest, which would be… impolite, to say the least."
"Then it is good that there are no such confusions!" he grinned, which… fit, with what I knew of him, but was… not something I could really bank on.
Not until I was sure.
Aaaand, the tiredness was back.
"Sparky?" Mina questioned.
"We will have this tea, and we will leave," I noted, judging my own remaining energies.
The old man nodded, making a gesture to one of the guards at the door, who left, though not hurriedly enough to put me on edge. More on edge. "So soon?" he asked, but, continuing quickly, it wasn't him pushing, it was him being rhetorical. "If you insist. We shall have things prepared for you. Though if you'll indulge an old man in his curiosity?"
"…Possibly," I allowed, taking another sip, not letting my Defenses down, even for an instant.
"The fire you created. Before, it held chi, was Firebending, yet today, it was as if it were that of a torch," he observed.
"… what?" I questioned, honestly confused.
"Your spar with my nephew, as opposed to that you held a moment ago," the General clarified. I lifted my left hand, calling on Todoroki's quirk, and a small flame, only enough to match a candle's, bloomed in my palm. "Yes, that one. It is most unusual."
I looked at it, before lifting my other hand, and, with a short jerk, creating a small plume, trying to hold on to it, but, unlike the other, it slipped through my metaphysical fingers, and went out.
"You don't know what you're doing."
It was Zuko who said it, frowning, as he looked at my right hand.
"Prince Zuko, that is not a very nice thing to say," Iroh gently rebuked.
The teen's frown shifted to a glare, but before he could reply, I spoke up. "True though."
Both Firebenders looked my way, surprised, and I paused, considering my words, wanting to be able to trust them, at least this far, but he'd tried to drug me, and, and…
"Sparky and I are new to the entire 'Bending' thing," Mina shrugged, leaning over to wrap an arm around me.
"Forgive me, young lady, but your skill was not that of an amateur, when you helped save our sailors," the Dragon of the West noted.
"Oh, this?" she said, holding up a hand, and forming a tentacle of acid, that lifted itself up, curled over until it made the outline of a cartoon heart, before it collapsed on itself and she let it drop to the ground, sending it off towards the drain in the floor as much as she could before she lost contact and, thus, lost control of it. "That's not Bending. That's just my Quirk. Like Sparky's sparking!"
"Our otherworldy powers, we're quite good with," I added, deciding to flex by Creating just a little bit of flash-paper in the hand still cupping a flame, causing it to flare into a small burst of fire in a shimmer of pink and azure. "But when it comes to using… chi, like you do, I'm still learning. We both are."
"Ah, then you are new to the art of Firebending," Iroh nodded, stroking his beard in thought. "And you, Ms. Ashido, are a Waterbender?"
"Yeppers!" she smiled, giving my arm a comforting squeeze. "No idea how to, like, do anything with it, but it works with my own abilities, just like Sparky's does!"
Taking a long sip of his tea, the old man considered that. "Then it appears as if you are both in need of teachers."
"So it appears," I agreed, "though I know enough I could likely figure out a number of things myself." I glanced towards Zuko, "Or from watching others who are more talented than I."
The ex-Crown Prince followed my gaze, before smiling. "Ah, yes. Prince Zuko, I do believe you had just been telling me how you had mastered the basics, and were ready for the advanced set. In exchange for helping to save your men, perhaps you could instruct Mr. Kaminari on them?"
"You, you want me to teach him?" the scarred teen, questioned, waving towards me. "I don't have time to do that, I need to capture the Avatar!"
"Oh, and that is what you are doing now?" Iroh questioned, glancing about with a faux-surprised look. "Did he come back?"
"I, well, not now," Zuko gave. "But I'll be busy."
The older man gave me a questioning look. "Will he?"
Right, I thought, as I'd overplayed my 'I know what's coming next' hand, before, but, in my defense, I was tired. And I was getting tired once again. "I don't know everything," I warned, "just the… basics of the situation. That said, you're going to be spending a good amount of time trying to track him down. He's got Appa, that flying bison of his, but it's a living thing, without the endurance of a machine, and, if you're smart enough, you will catch up to him once more. Likely more than once, given how quickly he can escape, as you've just seen, and he can do that even without his steed."
"Airbending is negative Jin," Iroh noted, as if repeating an old lesson. "Retreating and evading."
"But while the wind blows, it does not do so consistently," I added. "That said, well, it's a good thing you have a fast ship."
Looking between the two of us, Zuko growled, "Then I'll just have to make sure to catch him the next time I see him!"
"And I won't stop you," I told him. "I just… can't exactly help you either." Not without royally fucking everything up.
"Which is for the best," Iroh nodded, surprising both of us, while Mina kept quiet, watching. "After all, Prince Zuko, it is your task to capture the Avatar, and it is a task you must accomplish. I would not put it past some in court to suggest, were our new friends to assist you, that it was not you that completed your task, and thus your exile should not be rescinded. However, in the meantime, you could help Denki with his own Bending! After all, it is said that one only truly masters a subject after they have learned it twice! Once when one is the student, and again when one has a student of their own! Though I would suggest something small to start with, such as meditating on a candle's flame."
Turning to Mina, he smiled, "As for you, young lady, while I am no Waterbender myself, I have learned a little from them, as all the elements are connected, even if some do not believe it to be so. If you would accept an old man's help?"
"Sure thing, Gramps!" she grinned. "We can do that while the boys are playin' with fire!" Glancing my way, she added, "See you tomorrow? We need to head back."
"Tomorrow," he smiled, as I tossed back the last of the tea, and Mina and I stood. "And Mr. Kaminari…"
"Yes?" I questioned, summoning my phone and opening a portal, glancing his way warily.
Nodding forward, in a small bow, he stated, "I apologize for the misunderstanding. I am so used to my tea, I did not believe it would be an issue."
Staring at him, trying to figure out what to say, I settled on, "It's fine, Iroh. We just have a… history of people drugging our food. Last time it happened, I almost died, and the time before that, several of our friends did, though I avenged them, with interest. But, as far as I know, you're not like that. Though I've been wrong before. We'll collect the blankets then, all of them, when we see you tomorrow," I promised, striding through the portal, Mina following me, and it closed behind us, before he could say anything in response.
Taking a deep breath, feeling the tiredness pulling at me, I found myself supported as my lover held me from behind.
"Mina?" I asked, turning around, my partner only letting go of me enough to let me rotate, fore holding onto me tightly again.
"Last time, you passed out, and almost hurt yourself," she reminded me. "You okay, Sparky?"
"I-" I started to reply, wanting to say 'I'm fine', but, no, no I wasn't.
That said…
"I'm good enough," I promised her. "I, it's Iroh, he wouldn't do something to us, except…"
"Except something's different," Mina finished for me, and I nodded. "Well, I don't know how things are supposed to be, but he seems nice! And his nephew's, well, like if Bakugo and Todoroki had a kid, but they're nice too, under all their kuudere and tsundere-ness!" she grinned. "Oh, did you know that Bakugo and Jiro are a thing now?"
I blinked at the non sequitur. "Wait, they are?"
"Yep!" Mina nodded. "Well, not, like, officially a thing-thing yet, but they're, like, totes gonna!"
"Oh, uh, good for them," I replied, not having expected that pairing, but I could ship it. Giving my lover a hug, I stepped away, and she let me. "I'm not gonna pass out, but I'm gonna go sit down. Maybe take a nap or something."
"Naps work!" the horned girl nodded, then, hesitating, asked, "Hey, Denki?"
Part of me wanting to go right back on edge, as her tone of voice was… not a good one, but, I was both starting to border exhausted, and, and this was Mina. "…Yes?" I asked back.
"So, we've been here for a couple days, but, like, the notes we left, no one's gonna find them until tomorrow, right?" she questioned, and, yeah, while I didn't have a date in Avatar, it'd be Saturday evening back home, or, at least, 'home', at the earliest, maybe Sunday depending on how long we'd been knocked out when we got our Bending.
"That's correct," I slowly agreed.
"Soooooo, I didn't realize that you could open the portal, like, anywhere," she stated, "and, like, it's cool your house makes clothes-"
"Our house," I interrupted. "This place is as much yours as it is mine."
She smiled at that, darting forward to give me a quick kiss, but pulling back after little more than a peck on the lips. "Our house makes clothes, but, like, I left some stuff back home that didn't fit in my bag, so I was wondering if… Icouldgobackandgetitrealquick;Ipromiseit'llbefast!"
"I… what?"
She winced, "I know we said we were heading out but-"
"No," I interrupted. "I'm, I didn't actually hear what you said."
"Oh!" she let out, relieved. "I wanted to know if I could go back and grab a few more things! In, out, like, two hours, tops, but, like, I just packed the essentials, and, now, I don't have to. So, can I go back, real quick? Please? It's only been a bit, so, like, it's probs still safe!"
"Don't!" I warned. "Don't… don't tempt fate like that. I, that's actually a thing in some places, and I don't have that Defense yet."
"Really? Jeez," she grimaced. "But, like… can I?"
A selfish part of me wanted to say no. That I said we were leaving, and not coming back for a while, so we weren't coming back.
But… but I wasn't worried about All-for-One, I was worried about Mina deciding to leave me.
And… and I had to trust she wouldn't.
So, even as part of me was screaming not to, I took my tiredness, that depressive malaise that was slowly creeping up my spine, and buried that part of me in it, pulling my phone out of my pocket, and noting with dark humor that I seemed to be turning into my father, as I was circling bed despite it only being seven in the evening. Navigating the menus to remotely open the Gate, and setting it to connect to MHA instead of Avatar-E, just as it had the first time, the ground shook, and I almost fell, Mina there in an instant, as she helped me up to the control room, and laid me out on the couch.
"Take this," I told her, pressing my phone into her hands. "And… and come back," I whispered, despite myself.
"Oh, Sparky. I'll be careful! See you in a bit!" she promised, waving so many death flags she was practically communicating in semaphore, but then she was gone, and I slowly slipped into unconsciousness.
Only to be seemingly woken up moments later, by Mina, gabbing my shoulders and gently shaking me, going, "Denki! Denki, wake up!"
"I'm awake!" I sputtered, adrenaline flooding my system. "What is it! Did All-for-One attack? Did he go after our families? Did they find the notes early?"
"I, no, Sparky," my lover told me, freaked out, but not, not scared. "It's Friday evening!"
I blinked. "What? I… no? We've been here for, like, a day and a half. We left Friday afternoon, and then, well, everything happened, then we got up, and… No, no it's definitely Saturday."
"Well, tell that to everybody else then!" she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out the door, down the stairs, and through the portal not into the late evening, as it should've been, but, no, the clocks read four pm, but it was hours after that. And, glancing at a tv, as a clip of my fight with All-for-One was played, the date was… wrong.
Checking my phone, the time read four as well, even though, even though it shouldn't've, unless I'd been sleeping all day, but then it should be Sunday, not Friday.
Connecting to a local network, I double checked, and, yeah, there was my email, with my 'I'm sorry I need to leave' messages queued up for Monday morning, but it, too thought it was Friday, only a few hours after we'd left this place, likely for years.
Time compression, I thought, as maybe time just ran faster in different places, but… no.
…no.
Grabbing Mina's hand, I dragged her back through the portal, looking at the time on my phone, reading four-twelve, clicking over to four-thirteen and twenty-seven seconds when I hit the button, opening a portal back to Avatar-E, the ground shaking with worrying force, but my attention was focused, the display on my phone blinking, now reading seven-twenty-two.
"Denki?" Mina asked, but I held up a finger, waiting, for one minute to pass, then two, closing the portal, then I waited another minute, two, opened a portal to Avatar-E without so much as a tremor, closing it again, then waited another minute, two, three, then four minutes, so at seven-thirty, I opened the portal back to MHA, the ground shaking, as it apparently did when we jumped setting, my phone display flickering, before it stabilized again.
And the clock?
Four-thirteen and twenty-seven seconds.
"Holy shit," I swore, as the timer continued to twenty-eight, twenty-nine, and so on, Mina pulling at my sleeve to wordlessly ask me just what was going on.
"I, this, we," I tried to state, finally getting the words out. "When we're in one world, time doesn't pass in the other."
Mina's eyes grew wide, as the implications sank in, and she started to grin, but, but I was just confused, lost, and more than a little worried.
Thing was, just as I sometimes just… knew things, though I didn't know how, well, I knew something else, with absolute certainty, that dropped a seed of unsure fear into my gut, one that threatened to bloom into cataclysm, though I didn't know how, or why, or what I could do to stop it.
Because everything I knew told me one thing.
This wasn't how this was supposed to work.
Music
Danger - Boku No Hero Academia [Original Soundtrack] - "Mecha Mecha Mekemeke" (Strategy VS Wilderness)
This wasn't how this was supposed to work. - Boku No Hero Academia [Original Soundtrack] - "Hirogaru fuan" (Spread Anxiety)
AN: Coming up next, a... Different perspective. As usual, the next four chapters are up on and Subscribestar!