We stood in front of the lake, spanning the length of a mile or maybe two. I wasn't good with measurements either.
"So where's this secret headquarters?" Sokka asked, looking around.
"Under the lake I think," Jet said, scratching his head.
"There's a tunnel right there near the shore." Toph pointed to it, and walked over. She stomped on the ground causing a path to rise to the surface. On the end of it was a circular platform, with a stone disk covering something. She moved that aside, revealing a ladder going down into the ground.
"It's all starting to come back to me," Jet says as we walk down the corridor.
We passed by a door cracked open. Inside it was filled to the brim with women. "I'm Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se," they all said, in perfect unison. I shuddered, and walked a little faster.
"I think there might be a cell big enough to hold Appa up ahead." He stopped, before a large stone door. "I think it's through here."
We walked through the door, into the dark cavern. Appa was nowhere to be found. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind us, trapping us in and plunging the cave into darkness. Slowly, the lanterns along the wall lit up, illuminating everything. We looked up, seeing several Dai Li agents hanging from the ceiling.
"Now that's something different."
"You have made yourselves enemies of the state. Take them into custody." Long Feng called out to us. The Dai Li dropped down, circling us, and trapping us in.
Two of them launched their stone fists at Toph, who disintegrated them, then launched stone pillars back, sending them flying. Jet cut their stone fists, taking out a few of them. And a few more were dealt with by everyone else, but not before one of them grabbed Sokka, Katara, and I. Toph created a wall, stopping us. She rose up on a cavern pillar, driving them away from us.
I broke the stone hands, rubbing my wrists. "That's gonna bruise."
"Long Feng is escaping!" Aang yelled. I looked over to see him running out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Aang blasted open the door, running after him. Jet and I followed him.
Long Feng led us to another room, shutting the door behind us. "Alright Avatar, you've caused me enough problems. This is your last chance, if you want your bison back," he said, dropping down behind us.
"You do have Appa. Tell me where he is!" Aang yelled, spinning around to him.
"Agree to exit the city now, and I'll waive all charges against you and allow you to leave with your lost pet."
"You're in no position to bargain," Jet said, raising his swords.
"Am I not?" He laughed.
Aang raised his staff up. "You're definitely not!"
"Jet, the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."
Jet stopped. "I am honored to accept his invitation." He launched himself at Aang, attacking him.
"Jet, it's me Aang! You don't have to do this." He continued dodging Jet's attacks.
"I'm afraid he no longer has a choice," Long Feng said.
"You are so annoying," I said, grabbing Jet and slamming him to the ground. He kicked me back and got up.
"Oh, and what's a little girl like you going to do?" Long Feng mocked me. I threw out a few fireballs at him, all of which he dodged.
"Jet, I'm your friend! Look inside your heart!" Aang cried out.
"Do your duty Jet," Long Feng said. Jet slowly walked towards Aang, his swords raised.
"He can't make you do this! You're a Freedom Fighter," Aang said. Jet straightened up, a look of shock crossing his face.
"Do it! Do it now!" Long Feng yelled. Jet snarled and turned, hurling one of his swords at him. Long Feng dodged it and sent up a pillar at Jet, hitting him dead on. A cloud of dust went up and surrounded him, blocking our view for a second.
"Foolish boy. You've chosen your own demise." He turned and ran down the hall.
"I'm sorry, Aang," Jet said as Aang kneeled next to him. The dust cleared away.
"Don't be," Aang said.
The door slid open behind us. Katara, Toph, and Sokka ran in, along with Jet's teammates.
Katara took out her water and began healing him. "This isn't good," she said, turning to us.
"You guys go find Appa. We'll take care of Jet," the shorter one said.
"We're not going to leave you," Katara said.
"There's no time. Just go. We'll take care of him. He's our leader," the quiet one said, surprising everyone.
"Don't worry Katara, I'll be fine." Jet smiled sadly at her. She stood up, and walked out. I ignored the pain pulsing through my body as I followed Toph and Sokka.
"He's lying," Toph said quietly. I glanced back at the three of them.
The five of us ran to another room. Toph opened it up, revealing nothing inside. "Appa's gone. Long Feng beat us here."
"If we keep moving, maybe we can catch up to him," Sokka said. We ran back to the exit, and up to the surface. The Dai Li followed us out of the hole.
"Do you think we can out run them?" Sokka asked as we ran.
"I don't think it's gonna matter." We stopped, seeing six agents ahead. Long Feng was standing with them. They created a wall, blocking us on that side. The other agents following behind us created another one, the only way out being the water but I figured that wouldn't be so easy.
I felt something warm trickle down my nose. When I dabbed the spot my finger had a small drop of blood on it. I quickly wiped it away, hiding the spot on my sleeve. The pain had passed by now, but I guess I exerted myself too much.
Momo flew down landing on Aang's shoulder. He chattered, excited about something. "What is it Momo?" He jumped up, flying above us towards the sun. I shaded my eyes looking up at them. Seconds later Appa appeared, flying down towards us.
"Appa!" He broke through the walls the Dai Li were standing on. The rest of them fled, leaving Long Feng standing there, alone.
"I can handle you by myself." He kicked up at Appa, who bit his leg and threw him into the lake.
We all ran over to hug him.
After our short reunion, we climbed onto Appa for the first time in days. A terrifying experience when you no longer have a saddle to support you from falling to your death. Appa took us to an island located somewhere in the middle of the water.
"I missed you more than you'll ever know, buddy," Aang said as he hugged him.
"Look, we escaped from the Dai Li, we got Appa back, I'm telling you, we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan. We're on a roll," Sokka said.
"One good hour after weeks of trouble isn't much of a roll," Katara said to him.
"We can build on it. If we want to invade the Fire Nation when the eclipse happens, we need the Earth King's support."
"What makes you think we'll get it? I don't know if you've noticed, but things don't usually go that smoothly for our little gang," Toph said.
"Toph's right, we-" I stopped, getting dizzy and swaying as pain pulsed through my body. I should've rested when I had the chance.
"Y/n, are you okay?" Katara asked, touching my shoulder. A second wave of pain sprouted from that.
I closed my eyes for a second, and took a deep breath. More blood dripped down from my nose, and I wiped it away. "Yea, I just need to rest a bit more." I looked up at her and smiled, hiding the blood.
"Anyway, I've got a good feeling about this. This time will be different."
"Sokka, Long Feng is in control of the city. His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful. I think we should just keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us," Katara said.
"I'm with sweetness. I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se," Toph opened her arms wide, "and I can't even see!" I sat down next to her.
Aang jumped over to us. "But now that we have Appa back, there is nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth about the conspiracy and the war."
"See, Aang's with me." Sokka draped his arm over Aang. "It's the whole reason we came here in the first place, we have to try."
"Well, I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change." The two boys smiled.
Toph stood up, pointing a finger at Sokka. "I don't trust the new positive Sokka. Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he!" I giggled, ignoring the headache it gave me.
Aang ran over to the edge of the water, looking at something off in the distance. Earth Kingdom ships were on the surface of the lake. Katara and Sokka joined him.
"That's probably the Dai Li searching for us." Sokka turned to Katara. "So?"
She paused for a second, thinking. "Let's fly!"
We all hung onto him for dear life. "Can we please buy a new saddle? Riding bareback is terrifying!" Toph said, burying her face into his back.
"I'm in way too much pain for this." I looked over towards the ground and gulped. The only thing keeping me from falling was the fur. I gripped it a little bit tighter.
Appa began descending down. "There it is. That whole thing is the palace. The Earth King's chambers should be in the center."
"We have to be careful. Long Feng's probably warned the King that we're coming," Katara said.
"Why would you assume that? If you ask me, I think we're just gonna sail right in....Ahhh!" I gripped Appa's fur tighter as we avoided a large stone that shot out at us.
"What was that?!" Toph asked from beside me.
"Surface to air rocks!" Sokka shouted. We looked down to see more being launched at us. "More incoming! Ahhh!"
Appa managed to dodge all of the attacks, throwing us around in the process. He landed and we got off, heading up to the palace.
"Sorry!" Katara yells as she hit some of the soldiers. Toph pins the others up against a wall using her earthbending. "Sorry! We just need to get through to see the Earth King."
We ran to the stairs, where soldiers stood at the top waiting for us. Toph stomped on the ground, turning the stairs into a giant slide. Her and Aang created an elevator on the ground, lifting us up past the falling soldiers.
"Seriously, we're actually on your guys' side," Sokka said. A few more slid past us. "Sorry." We ran into the palace, looking through the hallways for the king as Toph and Aang blocked soldiers from getting to us.
"Toph, which way to the Earth King?" Sokka asked as she pinned several soldiers to the ceiling.
"How should I know? I'm still voting that we leave Ba Sing Se." She threw more guards aside.
We ran to a large, fancy set of double doors. They were decorated in gold, and reached all the way to the ceiling.
"Now that's an impressive door. It's gotta go somewhere," Sokka said. He began pushing against the doors, trying to open them. Toph and Aang pressed their hands against the door, blowing it away. Sokka went flying forward into the room. "A little warning next time!" He said, rubbing his head.
"We need to talk to you!" Aang said, walking up to the King.
"They're here to overthrow you," Long Feng said. He was standing near the Earth King.
"No, we're on your side. We're here to help," Sokka said.
"You have to trust us," Katara pleaded with him.
"You invade my palace, lay waste to all my guards, break down my fancy door, and you expect me to trust you?" He stood up from his chair as he said this.
"He has a good point," Toph said sarcastically. I glanced over at her, then back to the king.
"If you're on my side, then drop your weapons and stand down." We all looked at each other, then slowly dropped whatever weapons we had, except for me.
"I don't have any." I shrugged as they all looked at me.
"See, we're friends, your Earthiness." Aang gave him an awkward smile.
The King frowned at us. Long Feng waved his hand, and stone gloves shot out, trapping our wrists behind our back. My eyes widened in surprise and I pulled against them feeling panicked. "Detain the assailants," he said. The Dai Li stood behind us.
"But we dropped our weapons. We're your allies," Sokka said.
"Make sure the Avatar and his friends never see daylight again," Long feng said.
The King pointed at Sokka, surprised. "The Avatar? You're the Avatar?" I snorted.
"Uh, no, him." He nodded his head over Aang.
"Over here." Aang waved his hand, getting it out of the gloves. He placed his hand back.
"What does it matter Your Highness? They're enemies of the state."
"Perhaps you're right," he mumbled. The King's bear walked over to Aang and began sniffing him. He licked his face making Aang giggle. "Though Bosco seems to like him." He nodded. "I'll hear what he has to say." Long Feng narrowed his eyes, disappointed.
Aang stood up and walked over to the King. "Well, sir, there is a war going on right now. For the past 100 years, in fact. The Dai Li kept it secret from you. It's a conspiracy to control the city, and to control you."
"A secret war? That's crazy!"
"Completely!" Long Feng said, glaring at him.
"Long Feng didn't want us to tell you, so he stole our Sky Bison to blackmail us. And blackmail is the least of his crimes, he brainwashed our friend!" Katara looked down at the mention of Jet.
Long Feng turned to the King. "All lies. I've never even seen a Sky Bison, Your Majesty." He looked aside. "Frankly, I thought they were extinct."
The King sat back down. "Your claim is difficult to believe, even from an Avatar."
Long Feng leaned down and whispered to him. "These hooligans are part of an anarchist cell that my agents have been tracking for weeks. If you listen to them, you're playing right into your own destruction."
"I have to trust my advisor," the King said, looking down. The Dai Li began to lead us out of the throne room.
Sokka turned around. "Wait, I can prove he's lying. Long Feng said he's never seen a Sky Bison, ask him to lift his robe."
"What?! I am not disrobing!" He stepped back, appalled.
The King thought to himself for a second. Aang and Sokka nodded at each other, smiling. I raised an eyebrow. Aang took a deep breath, and blew Long Feng's robe up, revealing the bruise he got from Appa.
"Right there! Appa bit him."
"Never met a Sky Bison, huh?"
He pushed his robes down, a blush of embarrassment on his face. "That happens to be a large birthmark. Thanks for showing everyone."
"Well, I suppose there's no way to prove where those marks came from."
"Of course there is!" Sokka said. We led the King to Appa, showing him his teeth and how they match up with the mark.
"Yup, that pretty much proves it." They all cheered. "But it doesn't prove this crazy conspiracy theory. Though, I suppose this matter is worth looking into."
I sighed leaning against one of the cool pillars, resting as all the adrenaline completely wore off. Toph seemed to turn in my direction for a second but I wasn't sure. The group began leaving and I followed them out.