Chapter IX - Trapped

(the chap is unedited so don't judge)

Zuko snapped his eyes open. The blinding light of a lamp fell on his face. He blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the brightness. He was tied up to a chair. He tried to break free, but the ties wouldn't allow him too. He felt a wave of an incredible exhaustion wash over him and he laid his head back on the chair.

He slipped his eyes at his hands. He had small tubes at his arms drawing blood from his veins. He looked around him and he spotted Mai. She was doing something in one of those devices and she turned and looked at him.

"Remarkable that you're still alive," Mai said sitting on the chair beside him with a notebook at her hands and a pencil. "All the other benders passed away after ten minutes,"

"You're drawing my chi," Zuko said weakly.

"You're smarter than you look," Mai said sarcastically.

He focused his gaze on her. She hadn't changed one bit. But he couldn't understand what had they done to her.

"Why are you doing this, Mai?" Zuko asked.

She took her attention away from the notebook as if the sound of her name triggered something. She tried to ignore it, turning her gaze back at the notebook and she continued writing "Who's Mai?" she asked.

"Someone who loved me," Zuko said.

"Strange. I never thought anybody would love you," Mai said as she turned back to the devices pressing buttons and keeping notes.

You're wrong. Zuko thought and he smirked thinking of Iris. The woman he'd always love. The woman that will always be his.

"Am I?" Mai asked and she turned her head giving him a look as if she had heard his thought.

He looked at her in confusion. Why would she say that? "What do you mean?" Zuko asked.

"That's always been the question, right? Is she truly yours?" Mai said and she turned back at the devices.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Your wife. Zuko, you are anything but naïve," Mai said letting thousands of thoughts burst into his mind. But she didn't give him time "Let's see if you survive this," she said pressing a button.

Intense pain, spread all over his body, making him leave a strong shout that echoed through the entire building...

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Iris prevented herself from falling wrapping her hands at the walls of the hallway. She recognized that pain that spread at her chest. Zuko. He was in danger. It drove her crazy not knowing where he was. Was he okay? It made life insufferable not being there with them take care of them like she always did.

She caressed her belly. Papa will be okay, promise. She sighed and she continued walking down to the Library where she'd meet her guest.

But it wasn't just June, it was Azula and Koh there too.

"What are you guys doing here?" Iris asked resting her hands on her hips.

"I heard my father is out. Since you're barefoot and pregnant and useless, I'll kick his ass for you," Azula said crossing her arms. "June offered to give us a ride,"

Iris turned her gaze at the human form of Koh.

"Hello, brother," Koh said.

Iris rolled her eyes "When will you stop that 'brother' thing? I killed your brother. He's gone,"

"I'm still grateful for that. And I still drown in guilt for trying to kill you that one time," Koh said.

"That was two years ago!" Iris said.

"Are you guys done?" June asked.

Iris ignored the strange couple and she hugged her friend. "Glad to see you, sister," she said.

"You look great," June said pulling back.

"Thanks,"

"So you called us here to search for Ozai?" June said.

"Yup,"

"Good. I'll see what I can do,"

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"Toph?" a voice heard from the other side of the wall.

"Katara?" Toph asked. She recognized that voice.

"Thank goodness!" Katara said gratefully. "Are you okay? Where are the others? Do you know what happened?"

"Whoa, slow down, Sugar-queen. I know as much as you do," Toph said stopping her friend from bombarding her with questions.

Katara sighed. "Can you bend in there?" Katara asked.

"No. I can't see! I've no idea what kind of material this is!" Toph said and she sounded desperate. "For the first time in my life... I'm blind," She sighed. "Can't you draw water from the air or something?" she asked.

"No. I tried! The air is so dry and the walls too strong to be cut by a drop of water!" Katara said desperately.

"What are we gonna do?" Toph asked and she growled angrily "If I find that bastard I'm gonna force an entire boulder into his ass!" she was, of course, speaking about Jet. Katara couldn't say that she didn't agree

Katara looked around the room trying to find something that could possibly help them escape this place. She didn't know where the others were and it worried her. It was a relief that Toph was there with her even if a white odd wall separated them.

Her gaze focused on the door. There was a window at the top of it. She woke up and walked towards it touching the window, it was glass. They use sand to make glass. She remembered Jet's words. Her eyes widened.

"Toph, you can sand-bend, right?" She asked.

"Of course, I can! I'm the greatest earth bender of all time!" Toph answered as if it was the most obvious thing.

"Good. Can you find the door?" Katara asked.

"I told you, I'M BLIND!" Toph said annoyingly.

"I know, but just try," Katara said.

Toph touched the floor she was sitting on and the wall beside her. She followed the wall. It must have been a squared room, so the wall would lead her to the one corner of the room. Last time she checked, doors were usually close to the corners of the rooms.

She must have reached the other wall, and she touched a material slightly different than the walls.

"I think I found it, now what?" Toph asked as she woke up.

"There's a window made out of glass at the top of the door," Katara said.

"Last I checked all windows are made out of glass!" Toph said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but you know what glass is made of? Sand!" Katara said excitedly.

Toph's eyes widened and she slipped her hands all around the door trying to find the window. She touched the glass. It must have been the window. She hit it with her finger, trying to feel the vibrations in the palm of her hand. She felt something. It wasn't the same as the metal or earth. Definitely not earth. But it felt like she could see in a really different way. A brighter way.

The entire City was made out of glass. She should better get used to it.

"Did you find it?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, a little quiet, please! I'm trying to concentrate," Toph said and she turned her attention back at the glass.

She took a deep breath trying to ease her nerves. She needed to stay focused if she was to discover a whole new kind of bending.

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"Do you really think it's going to work?" Haru asked right after Sokka explained the plan.

"You've scanned the perimeter, right?" Sokka asked as he spread his hands on the map of the entire City, on the table.

"Yeah," Haru answered.

"There are underground tunnels everywhere around the City even beneath that building. There's no way we can't make it. That one is right beneath the Section 0A. It's the one they do the experiments, right?" Sokka asked pointing his finger at the design of the facilities of the map.

"Yeah," Haru said crossing his arms. "You got that Bison Whistle, right?"

"Of course. Let's suit up,"

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"No, no, no, no... this isn't right. This can't be," Aang said shutting his eyes trying to ignore the answer. "You're lying! You can't be our father, we're nothing like you!"

"Your feet still touch the ground, your earth bending can pretty much tell if I'm lying or not. You and I both know that I'm not lying," Huang said. "As for the second one, are you really sure we are not alike?"

"I'm nothing like you!" Aang said hatefully, fighting the urge to try and break free.

"You're not. You're from your mother's side of the family, but Iris. My favorite daughter. She inherited the greatest gift I could've given her. Magic. That's why she's so unique. That's why, whatever she got through, she never lost the will to live. Purple eyes are the color only SRCs have. Your mother was the Defender. I had to make sure that my children would become the next greatest protectors of the Earth. But when your precious Monks found out that she had been with someone like me, they wiped her out-" Huang tried to say but Aang cut him.

"You were the reason she died! You used her, and they targeted her because of you!"

"I loved your mother!"

"Then you should have left her alone! She'd be safe without you!" Aang shouted back at his father with hatred.

"How do you leave someone you love?" His father asked.

"That's exactly why you leave them, father. Because you love them,"

Huang turned around and he signaled something at two masked guards. Sorcerers, perhaps, and they walked away.

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Katara was sitting quietly in her room, leaning against the wall and waiting patiently. She only wished that her friend on the other side of the wall will have already figured out something.

When the door of her room opened and two masked men walked in, she jumped from her place and she got in her stance. She tried to blood-bend them, but nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing. Whatever they had done to them, it had blocked their bending entirely.

They wrapped her hands and they started dragging her outside. She tried to resist.

"Toph! Hurry!" She shouted.

"I can't!" Toph shouted back at her. She sounded desperate.

"Do something, they're taking me away!"

Toph gritted her teeth tightly. She spread her palms on the glass and she took a deep breath. You're the greatest earth-bender of all time. You can do it. She bit her lip so hard that she drew blood.

Without even noticing, she had a gathered a formless mass of glass in the fist of her hand. A smile formed on her lips. Without wasting any more time she bend the glass and she used it to cut the door in the middle turning the glass into a sharp weapon.

Toph ran immediately out of the room. There glass all around the place. The floor, the walls, they were all made out of glass. She hit her leg on the glass beneath her feet and she spotted the soldiers that had taken Katara. She could still feel the vibrations of her friend's struggle to break free from their tight grasp.

Toph bent the glass from the walls and she used it to trap the other two, in two glassy traps, sticking them on the walls so that they couldn't move. Katara looked at her in surprise. Her jaw dropped and she ran towards her friend, wrapping her in a really tight hug.

"You're officially the Greatest Earth Bender of all Time!" Katara said excitedly tightening her hands around her friend.

"I know!" Toph said excitedly and a smirk curled upon her lips as she pushed back. "Now let's kick some ass!" She said.

"Wait!" Katara said and she walked near to one of the men. She'd noticed a pouch hanging from their waists. She opened it and she was relieved to see that it was actually filled with water.

She tied it around her waist and that's when she noticed that the men were actually heating the glass that trapped them, using their powers.

"Toph, they're Sorcerers," Katara said, almost frightened. Even the thought of seeing what they were capable frightened her.

Toph wrapped her friend's hand. "Let's go!" She shouted and they started running down the endless maze of corridors.

The other two were chasing them. Toph bent the walls and the floor, trying to put them in their way. Give herself and her friend some time to get out of there. They stumbled across a junction and they stopped when four masked soldiers encircled them. Katara's and Toph's backs touched as they got in their stances ready to defend each other. Katara bent the water out of the pouch at her waist and Toph got in her new, improvised stance.

The two were holding weapons and the other were ready to unleash their spells as strange colors slipped around their hands. Before the two Sorcerers were able to attack and hurt them, the other two pulled the triggers of their weapons, targeting them and hitting them, letting the SRCs fall unconscious on the glassy floor.

"Why did you-?" Katara tried to ask but she stopped when the one pulled the mask off.

"Hey, sis," Sokka said with a smirk.

The other pulled the mask off too.

"Sokka, Haru!" Katara said excitedly as she hugged her brother and her friend.

"Sokka, Haru? What are you guys doing here?" Toph asked confusedly.

"Saving your asses," Sokka said "It's my plan, by the way," he said pointing his thumb proudly at himself. "But I wouldn't have done it without Haru,"

"Take this..." Haru said, handing a chip at Katara and Toph "...put them in a pocket or somewhere on you,"

"Why, what's this?" Katara asked.

"Anybody who doesn't have one of them is not recognized as theirs so they kill them," Sokka said.

"What about you two?" Toph asked.

"I beat two guards and stole other two for us," Haru said.

"You also stole their clothes," Katara said smirking.

"Come on, we don't have much time. We must find Zuko, Aang, Mai, and Haru's dad," Sokka said as he turned around and they started running hastily towards the direction, Sokka led them too.

"What? Mai?" Katara asked.

"Long story, we'll explain later,"

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The soldier ran as fast as he could and he entered the main reception, where he knew he'd find the General of the Nadilva City's army. He opened the door without permission, finding Jet and Nergratia inside.

"General, we have invaders at Section 0A!" He said immediately.

Nergratia jumped from her seat "Shit!" She cursed nudging her boyfriend to follow her.

They walked out of her office and she gave her orders.

"Sound the alarm! Shut the gates! No one enters or leaves this City!" She turned at Jet "I need twenty soldiers to secure the Mayor and other forty to scan Section 0A, now!"

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The familiar monotone sound of the alarm echoed through the entire building. Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Haru ran faster towards the room they knew Zuko would be in.

Toph kicked the door down and they saw Zuko on a bed and Mai beside him. She woke up immediately and she tried to attack.

"Hit her in the head!' Haru shouted.

Sokka used the huge gun he'd retrieved from the guard he'd taken the suit from and he hit her harshly at the forehead. He noticed the chip at the backside of her neck and he jerked it out.

She fell unconscious and Haru picked her up. Zuko lifted his head and he felt a wave of relief washing over him when he realized that his friends were there.

"Oh my goodness!" Katara said immediately and she rushed towards Zuko.

"You look terrible," Toph said resting her hands at her waist.

Zuko chuckled "Thanks,"

Katara took the tubes carefully out of his flesh and she helped him wake.

"Thank you, Katara," Zuko said weakly.

"What did they do to you?" Sokka asked.

"By the looks of it, I'd say that they drew his chi," Katara said.

"You'll be alright," Haru said "They did this to all benders. I'm going to find my father," and he handed Mai to Sokka.

"I'm coming with you," Katara said.

"No, Katara, I'll be alright. Go find the Aang We'll be quicker if we split up," Haru said.

"I feel many vibrations. You're not going to make it alone. I'll go with him. You guys get Aang," Toph said.

Sokka nodded and Toph with Haru started running away. Sokka found himself staring at Toph running away to a building filled with the most dangerous people in the world. He knew she could protect herself, but they'd never faced anything like that before.

"Sokka, let's go," Katara said urging him out of his thoughts and they started running at the other side of the hall.

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"I'll cooperate, just please leave the others alone," Aang said.

For the first time in his life, he felt so much hatred and the need to actually kill someone. His own father. The man who killed his mother. He was the actual reason the Monks killed her.

Huang smirked for a split second and when he turned around at his son he shrugged "Okay. No harm will come to them if they don't try to bust you out of here. Which I'm quite sure that that's impossible,"

Somebody hit Huang from behind and he fell down unconscious. Aang looked behind and he saw Katara helping Zuko stand and Sokka carrying Mai.

"Guys!" Aang said relieved. "It must be a trap. You need to leave!"

Sokka was about to answer but Katara spoke first. She let Zuko support himself on a column and she ran towards Aang. She bent the water out of the pouch and she cut his restraints.

"We're not leaving without you, Aang,"

"You have to. Please. This entire civilization might cease to exist if I leave," Aang said as he walked towards his girlfriend and cupped her face.

"That won't be a problem, Aang. Let's get the hell out of here," Sokka said.

Katara wrapped Aang's hand and they started walking hastily towards Sokka and Zuko. Before they got to exit the room, Katara stopped walking.

"Katara?" Aang asked in confusing that lasted until his gaze slipped at her stomach, where the pointy side of a dagger was colored with her blood. "No!" He shouted as he picked her up.

"Katara!" Sokka shouted.

"Just like the Avatar said, you're not going anywhere," Nergratia's voice heard and forty Sorcerers encircled them.

Aang tried to enter the Avatar State. Again, and again, and nothing happened.

There was no way they could get out of this place.

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Toph and Haru stopped running with all the other benders behind them and Haru helping his dad, as a group of Sorcerers and Jet encircled them.

Toph got in her stance gritting her teeth and accepting the obvious end of that fight.

"We're fucked,"

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Iris jumped from her bed with a large gasp. Another nightmare. Another sleepless night. She turned on sitting position and she rested her head on her hands rubbing her forehead. She turned her head around and she looked back at Zuko's empty side of the bed.

She'd really missed him. Missed him more than anything. She couldn't stop the worry. She woke up and she walked out of the room meeting Suki and Ty Lee guarding the door.

"Iris, are you alright?" Suki asked immediately placing her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yes, I'm fine," Iris answered "Just another nightmare. I'll go have a drink of water,"

"Would you like an escort?" Ty Lee asked.

"No, I'll be fine,"

It was strange to think that she'd learned where every single room in the entire Palace was. She never believed that she'd ever feel like she belonged there. Destiny was indeed a funny thing. And future was unbelievable as always.

She walked carefully downstairs and finally found the kitchen. She opened a shelf, took and glass and filled it with water. She took a heavy sip and swallowed it. Her brother had promised her that he'd keep everybody safe. He'd promised her. And she knew her brother well enough to say that he wasn't one to forget a promise. He wasn't the same twelve-year-old boy who used the 'Avatar Promise' only to get in pranks.

She smiled taking the last sip.

She walked again upstairs, back to the way the Fire Lord's room was. When reached the last step in the top, she thought she heard something and she turned around. Her skills were always right. Although she couldn't see anything, she was pretty sure that she wasn't alone.

She turned her head again and she raised an eyebrow. In a blink of an eye, someone pushed her and she fell from the stairs with a cry of alarm.

She landed at the bottom with pain spreading at her abdomen, lying in the pool of her own blood...

"Iris!"

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Here it is!!! A huge, satisfying chapter for the day!

*chuckle* Sokka thinks Appa can help them! *Muahahahaah* Katara is stabbed (don't know if she's gonna make it)

Iris suffered a fall which... we all know what it means... and...

See y'all till next chapter!

Thanks for reading, please Vote and Comment if you liked it!

:)