Flames of Destiny

10. THESE WALLS LOOK FAMILIAR. HAVE WE SEEN THEM IN A SHOW?

"Seize him!"

The soldiers closed in on the five, while Team Avatar formed a protective circle around the man of interest. Long slim fingers ghosted over Riptide as dark green eyes narrowed at the soldiers surrounding him and the teens as he noticed an unspoken message between them.

The soldiers were afraid. But of what?

"General Sung," Aang called out, voice as commanding as a twelve-year-old-with-the-fate-of-the-world-on-his-shoulders could muster without allowing any hint of shock seeping through. "What is this?"

The General in question kept his finger pointed in Percy's direction, his glare never peeling off the taller figure. He had to fight back a strong urge to flinch when the jet black-haired figure returned the glare with his own menacing one.

"This man has been deemed a threat to Ba Sing Se!"

The declaration received several silent gasps and wide eyes as responses, but Aang schooled his confusion at the revelation. He needed to press for more information. None of his friend's actions was grounds for a reaction like this.

"He isn't a threat."

"Not to any of you anyway," Percy added rather chirpily, and the airbender glared at the man standing behind disbelievingly. Not helping.

Seeing the glare directed at him, Percy merely shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, his green eyes glinting in humour, and Aang almost rolled his eyes at the laid back attitude the man possessed despite the tense atmosphere everyone was in.

Maybe that's why Suki calls him 'Troublemaker', and Katara looked like she wants to roll her eyes at him every twenty seconds.

"Perhaps the word 'threat' would be a misuse of the term," General Sung contemplated, his fingers toying with the tail-end of his long moustache.

Percy couldn't stop the scoff under his breath. "Ya think?"

"'Person of Interest' would be more accurate," Sung stated immediately, unaware of the scoff Percy let out and the string of Greek curses (not that he knew was Greek) that followed.

Sea-green eyes rolled in amusement. "Now you sound like those super-secret government agencies."

"But," Aang stared sceptically at the hunched-back General, an eyebrow raised as he barely understood a single word Percy said apart from 'super-secret' which sounded super cool. "why?"

The face of the middle-aged man lit up, like he expected the question sooner or later as his head turned to look at the Avatar. "It's simple really. Your friend here..." He faltered slightly as he turned his attention back to the tall man behind Aang, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry, young man. I never got your name."

"Zhang," the name rolled out of Percy's tongue in a heartbeat, his expression as blank as he could whilst ignoring the aching body and annoyed feeling that's started to build. If they want to take him to some super-secret place so they could do whatever a super-secret government agency does to a 'Person-of-Interest', the least he could do is throw them off his trail as far as he could. As long as he gets out of this and into Ba Sing Se. Safely.

Three heads whirled around to look at their dual-non-bending-bender companion in shock, while Toph looked smug as she sensed the lie. The trio's faces conveyed the same question. Didn't he say his name was Percy? Why Zhang? Is his name Percy Zhang? or Zhang Percy?

Ignoring the bewildered glances he received from the three teens, Percy kept his eyes locked onto the General before him. He tried to put on a face as 'innocent' as he could, which given the narrowed eyes that were obviously filled with doubt meant that the display was nowhere near 'convincing'.