A/N: Thank you very much to regular reviewers Black Dragon Master, Sharpe, AsahixMe, devilfiredog18, and CrazyPhenom for reviewing chapter 20. Thank you also to Black Dragon Master and kalu.23 for reviewing on previous chapters.
Today's chapter is one of the longest yet, so sit back, enjoy the ride, and say hello to our latest guest.
21. Now I'm back on my feet, just a man and his will to survive
He sees Iroh fall.
The General of the United Forces has long since lost his distinctive red coat, but his proud bearing and formidable firebending make him unmistakeable on the battlefield, and a prime target for the enemy. Iroh is beleaguered, battling three Triple Threats at once (one of each element except air) — holding his own admirably, but it is clear he is tiring.
Tokuga's tentacle arm snakes under Iroh's guard and slams into him with superhuman force. The Fire Nation prince is sent flying into the remnants of an apartment complex, where he crumples and lays still.
He barely has time to swear before he's forced to duck a jet of flame from the firebender who was fighting Iroh. Minsu intercepts the waterbender while Juno heads off the earthbender.
He should've known Tokuga's ambitions would eventually lead to to the all-out slugfest this is becoming. He doesn't know Tokuga, but he knows his type: vicious, ruthless, and power-hungry, without a care for whom he hurts or how badly as long as it achieves his goals. Under Tokuga's lead, the Triple Threats devastated the Creeping Crystals in a strategic ambush two days ago. RCPD had thought they had a bit of breathing room before Tokuga's next move; but lo and behold, he'd struck today at the United Forces guarding the spirit portal.
He wonders whether Tokuga would've gone ahead with the attack if he'd known Iroh was going to be here.
Probably. Knowing Tokuga, he'd probably been fully aware that the General was onsite, and hadn't cared.
Whatever the case, Iroh is down. The determined royal had followed the Triad Squad into the thick of the spirit wilds in pursuit of Tokuga and his elite Triple Threats, while the rest of the United Forces unit remained at the spirit portal to hold off the lower-ranking goons. With the RCPD officers all occupied and none of his fellow soldiers to aid him, Iroh is extremely vulnerable right now.
A stray rock lands heavily next to the unconscious Fire prince, highlighting just how precarious his position is. Five inches to the left and Iroh's younger sister would've become the heir to the Fire Nation throne.
He can't let that happen. He will not let that happen.
Iroh is only here because the RCPD asked for the United Forces' help protecting the spirit portal. But ultimately, dealing with Tokuga and the triads is the Triad Squad's responsibility. His responsibility.
General Iroh is not going to die today. Not if he has anything to say about it.
He blasts his opponent away with a searing fireball and sprints towards the fallen general. He reaches Iroh just as the firebender catches up with him. Through the ensuing flurry of flames and fighting, he shields Iroh the best he can, until he manages to knock out his assailant with a well-placed right cross.
He takes a second to observe his surroundings. Tokuga has vanished to Agni-knows-where. Xien is going toe to toe with Shady Shin; the lieutenant's skill with bagh nakh proving more than a match for the debended gangster's kali sticks. Minsu is still engaged in his duel with the nameless waterbender. Juno has dealt with her counterpart and is now earthbending rocks at the ranks of triads.
"Juno! I need cover!"
The brown-haired detective leaps towards him and raises the ground in front of them, just as a storm of earth arcs in their direction. The stones clatter harmlessly off Juno's wall.
"Is that the General?" Juno asks in dismay.
"Yes." His fingers are at Iroh's pulse point, his other hand feeling the prince's scalp for wounds.
"Tell me he isn't —"
"No, but he isn't safe. Keep them off me, I'm gonna try something."
As Juno reinforces her earth barrier, he turns his focus completely inward, visualising the flow of chi through his body as golden rivers of fire. It's a technique he rarely uses, but ever since he lost and rediscovered himself, he's found it helpful when he really needs to concentrate.
He warms his hands and places them on the chi-points on Iroh's head and heart. He pictures his inner fire burning brightly, flowing along his chi-pathways into Iroh's — transferring some of his chi to revive the other man, one firebender to another.
Iroh groans as he comes to, and blinks at the face above him.
"Detective Mako?"
"Welcome back, General. I hope you aren't too injured, because we need all the help we can get."
Iroh nods resolutely and hauls himself up, doing an admirable job of ignoring the headache he must have.
"Where's Tokuga?"
"I saw him heading back towards the spirit portal," Juno offers. A large rock dents her earth wall, and she grunts a little as she shores it up. But she still has the presence of mind to note the expression on her squad mate's face. "Mako, if you're planning on going after him, take backup."
He quickly considers his options. Xien has to lead the officers here, Minsu is the only waterbender in the squad — and if he isn't taking Minsu, there's no one he'd trust more to watch the younger man's back than Juno.
That leaves him with exactly one possible partner.
"General Iroh, are you up for a showdown with Tokuga?"
Iroh smirks. "Born ready."
Despite the situation, he grins. "Let's go. Juno, cover us."
"Be careful!" she yells after them.
They catch up to Tokuga near the spirit portal, just in time to see the gangster ascending on a platform into a waiting airship.
"When did he get an airship?" Iroh demands.
He's already taken off running. "Come on!"
Without hesitation, he propels himself upwards on jets of fire; Iroh does the same. They just about manage to grab on to the underside of the airship before it lifts beyond their reach.
By this time Tokuga has noticed he has company. A hooked sword jabs out from the open hatch, narrowly missing Iroh's wrist. Iroh firebends from his feet and swings himself into the airship.
He hauls himself up an instant later, and immediately has to defend against an onslaught of chi-blocking from Tokuga.
From the RCPD's files on Tokuga, he knows the nonbender used to fight with dual tiger hook swords. Since his encounter with the dragon eel spirit, though, Tokuga has preferred to wield only one of his weapons with his normal hand, supplementing his combat style with the enhanced strength and agility of his tentacle arm.
The aforementioned tentacle arm has now wrapped around his neck and is slowly but surely constricting his throat.
Before he can panic about the lack of air, Iroh's fire forces Tokuga to drop him.
The two of them stand back to back, against Tokuga and the skeleton crew he has on the airship. Their fighting styles are vastly different: he stays light on his feet, ready to twist and turn at a moment's notice, relying on street brawling tactics and rapid combos honed in the pro-bending arena; Iroh bends with precision and power, his stance firmly rooted as he summons skills ingrained by extensive training in traditional firebending. Different as they are, however, their combat blends seamlessly; they gain the upper hand with relative ease, neutralising most of Tokuga's underlings.
Then Tokuga pulls out his trump card.
"Take one more step and I'll release this poison gas over the city," he threatens. His normal hand is on a lever, which seems to be connected to a mass of wiring and equipment.
The two firebenders pause.
He glares at the mob boss and demands, "What's your game, Tokuga? What are you hoping to accomplish?"
"Ever since that spirit disfigured me, it's become clear to me that the present government lacks the gumption to do what needs to be done," Tokuga declares. "Republic City needs a firm hand to guide it, especially now with the the spirit portal and the dangers thereof."
"And what makes you think you should be the one to do this?" Iroh questions.
"My dear general, there is no 'should' or 'should not' about it." Tokuga smirks, cruel and haughty. "Power cannot be given. It must be taken, and I intend to take it."
Tokuga pulls the lever while simultaneously using his tentacle to break the window, which he proceeds to dive out of.
His first instinct is to go after the triad leader — because that's his job — but Iroh pulls him back.
"We need to stop that gas from spreading!" The Fire Nation prince is already fiddling with the controls.
He comes over, shoving flashbacks of the Colossus to the back of his brain. "How do we know it hasn't already?" He thinks of the people below — Minsu, Xien, Juno, Iroh's soldiers — and feels a flash of despair.
"It'll take a while before the full volume can be released." As he speaks, Iroh turns knobs and dials with rapid movements. "If we can jam the release mechanism before too much of the gas escapes, it shouldn't have too much effect." Something sparks by Iroh's right elbow, and he curses.
"What is it?"
"The controls are toast. Tokuga must have done something. We need to overload the circuits," Iroh says decisively.
His blood chills. He's been here before. For an instant, the control panel before him is replaced by the glow of the Colossus's heart.
"Mako!" Iroh's voice pulls him back to the present. "You'll need to lightningbend. I can't do it, my head's throbbing too hard — I'm liable to blow us up if I try."
"I…"
He'd bent lightning just the other day, sure — but the peace of his rooftop is very different from the pressure of a high-stakes situation.
The last time he'd generated lightning in such circumstances, he'd crippled himself.
His arm twinges with remembered pain. His vision swims with pulsing purple. His heart beats a frenetic rhythm as his breathing hitches.
Iroh is unaware of any of this, staring at him with a mixture of apprehension and urgency. "You do know how to bend lightning, don't you?"
People need you. This is your job.
He clamps down on the old terror. "Yes. I do."
He squares his shoulders and grounds his stance. Iroh backs away from the control panel to give him room.
You can do this. Breathe in, breathe out.
He won't need much to overload this panel — nothing that'll screw up his arm this time.
"The only thing I know about these vines is that if you mess around with them too much, they explode."
"This is our only way of shutting this thing down. I can handle it."
He can handle this.
"No, you can't!"
"I don't have time to argue! I'm doing this!"
He doesn't have time to have a breakdown now. He needs to do this.
"Get out as soon as you can. Promise?"
"Promise."
He glances at Iroh. "If this thing blows…"
"I got you. Hurry."
He reaches within, grasping his chi, pulling it apart.
The spirit vines sizzle with power. The control panel sparks at him.
He channels the lightning.
The current threatens his control. The excess energy streams out unendingly; he can't contain it all. His arm flares white-hot. His focused jolt of electricity runs through the controls. The equipment crackles with static as his power breaks the circuits. He's almost surprised at how easy it was.
The vines blaze incandescence. Red lights flash and an alarm rings.
Iroh yanks him backwards, but the danger isn't from the now-dead control panel.
"Warning. Self-destruct in ten…"
The hell!? Since when do airships come with self-destruct sequences? And did Tokuga seriously activate it when he still has people onboard?
Said triads are already jumping ship the safest way they can, with cables, parachutes, and bending.
"…seven…six…"
"Mako, let's go!" Iroh roars.
They jump from the same window Tokuga used, firebending to slow their descent.
It's still a rough landing, but it's infinitely better than being in the middle of the exploding airship.
When dares to raise his head again, he sees members of the United Forces and the Triad Squad rounding up the triads on site.
"Looks like we've won," remarks Iroh.
He turns to share a smile of camaraderie with the general. Iroh looks a little pale — no doubt from that hit he took earlier — but the prince's golden eyes are alight with triumphant satisfaction.
He stands up and offers his hand. "You all right, General?"
"None of that," Iroh chides as he allows himself to be pulled to his feet. "After fighting alongside each other today, I think we can dispense with the titles."
He raises an eyebrow, but nods agreeably. "All right…Iroh."
Iroh smiles genially. "And yes, I'm fine. I've had worse. I'm presuming I have you to thank that I wasn't finished off after Tokuga got me."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'd have done the same."
Iroh chuckles. "True. But that doesn't diminish the gratitude. Thank you, all the same."
"Mako! There you are!" Minsu bounds over to them. "Oh — General Iroh, sir. Are you both all right?"
"We're good, Minsu," he says, while Iroh nods assuringly.
The waterbender's concerned expression morphs into a relieved grin. "Fantastic! That's everyone accounted for, then — minimal injuries on our side, can you believe it?"
"Did anyone get Tokuga?"
Minsu grins wider. "See for yourself."
He looks at where Minsu is pointing, and sees Xien dragging an unconscious Tokuga to the nearest police car.
"Well, how about that." He exchanges a victorious glance with Minsu.
Iroh straightens as he catches sight of one of his men waving him over. "I need to organise my unit. Mako, thanks again." He extends his arm for a handshake, which is gladly given.
"Make sure you get that head seen to."
"I will. And if you're not doing anything tomorrow, I'd be honoured if you'd join me for a drink."
He blinks in surprise. "Me?"
Iroh winks. "It's the least I can do after you saved the city from poison gas."
"You did what?" Minsu squawks.
"I'll tell you about it later," he says dismissively. He's not quite up to relating the incident so soon — not when the Colossus's spirit vine heart throbs in his mind, not when his arm still trembles unconsciously from a year-old injury. He'd pushed through the flashbacks on the airship because he'd needed to, but now that they've resurfaced he's going to need some time and space to process them appropriately so they don't smother him.
And they won't. He'll make sure of it. He knows how to cope with them now.
He survived the Colossus. He survived Tokuga's schemes. He will deal with the consequences.
And he'll probably take Iroh up on that drink.
A/N: And another person joins the tapestry of Mako's life.
Speaking of tapestries...I've noticed that as we get further along into this story, there are more and more underlying running plot threads weaving through each chapter. The earliest chapters were really just snapshots, relatively disconnected from long-running arcs - but as Mako's life has progressed, we have more threads that underpin everything, even if they're not explicitly mentioned in a chapter. For example, this chapter itself builds on ongoing threads about the Triad war, the Triad Squad, Tokuga's exploits, and Iroh being involved with guarding the spirit portal, as well as Mako's PTSD. Also keep in mind that things like Friday lunches with Asami and sessions with Erin are still running in the background.
Basically, what I am trying to say is that we're incorporating more and more threads of Mako's life the further we move into this story. I did not specifically plan it that way, but I guess it happened naturally - and it's very symbolic of the changes in Mako's life. That is, he started with nothing, and throughout his journey he has gradually added more and more threads to the tapestry of his life - Iroh being the latest.
Lyric today is from the classic 'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor. Xien's choice of weapon (bagh nakh are also called 'tiger claws') and Tokuga's tiger hook swords are deliberate tiger references, though the theme word for this chapter is 'will'. Furthermore, the very phrase 'eye of the tiger' refers to someone who is focused, determined, possibly intense, with a never-say-die attitude - which is sort of the mental state Mako is learning to cultivate to deal with his trauma.
Also, if y'all have been paying attention (and I know you have), you've probably noticed that I never use Mako's name in the narration. Other characters say his name, or he might think it to himself, but the narration itself does not ever actually mention 'Mako'. I didn't initially plan it that way — it started because it just felt natural to use only 'he' in the first few chapters — and then it became a deliberate stylistic choice, to sort of add to the strong Mako-focused POV (because people don't normally refer to themselves by their name). This style choice, however, made it really challenging to write this chapter. The number of times I had to revise and rephrase and rewrite so it would be clear which 'he' I was talking about while still steadfastly not including Mako's name in the narration…