Drunkard's Walk Forums

Three responses?
...
EDIT: I'm really not feeling this installment so seeing as it is the end of the week anyway I will pick this up again on Sunday, giving everyone another day to log any votes.
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Epsilon
/wonders what he is doing wrong

Epsilon Wrote:Three responses?

It's "summer vacation" time - a lot of folks are away from their computers...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[x]Follow that feeling, maybe prevent something horrible from happening.

Disturbances in the force are worth investigating.

[x]Follow that feeling, maybe prevent something horrible from happening.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[X]Follow that feeling, maybe prevent something horrible from happening.

Sorry for the extreme delay, an electircal storm kept knocking out my internet connection most of Sunday evening so I never got a chance to do the update. I will be doing it around noon.
-----------
Epsilon

Day Forty-Three, Ruins of Omashu

“Where are you going?” Zuko asked as I dashed towards the
entrance we had come out of.

“Down,” I said. “There's something happening here and I have
to stop it.”

“Are you nuts?” Zuko called, falling into step behind me. His
long looping strides easily matched my own. “This place is crawling
with soldiers and you're saying something bad is happening, we should
get out of here.”

“You never struck me as a coward,” I told him.

His face stiffened. “I am not a coward,” he snarled, his eyes
narrowing dangerously.

“Then come on.” I paused at an intersection. Was the way down to
the left or right? Honestly Zuko had been doing most of the
navigating. “We have to act quickly. In fact... this will take too
long.” I slapped my hand down on the floor and in a flash of
alchemy a chute leading downward opened. “Come on.”

I leaped into the chute, which was smooth enough thanks to alchemy
that I could slide down it easily. My arms cradled Ed's leg as I let
gravity have control. Then I landed on the next floor down, wincing
at the impact on my legs. I ignored that and moved aside as Zuko came
down the chute after me.

“I can't believe I'm doing this,” he said to me. “But I need
you alive if I want answers.” He looked at Ed's leg. “You should
drop that, it will just weight you down.”

I glanced at it. “No, I'm not loosing it.” I held it out in my
palm and alchemy raced across its surface. With a few twists of my
arms I looped the rapidly transmuting metal around my waist, forming
a steel belt. I gestured with my free hands. “No slow down.”

Zuko grunted in grudging acceptance. “Where now?”

“Down more,” I said, forming a chute to the next floor down.

“If you don't close these up, the soldiers will notice.”

I considered telling him I didn't care but had to admit that some
caution was perhaps advised. A few seconds to close up the chutes in
our wake was not a terrible burden after all. Plus, it gave him a
victory after that insult earlier.

As we travelled downward the feeling in my guts increased. It was
like a terrible itching inside my body, as if my organs were covered
in gooseflesh. Finally we came to a stop much lower than we had gone
to before. The air here was moist and I could hear the rush of a
waterfall somewhere close by, but the echoes made pinpointing it
impossible.

“Where to-” I held up a hand to silence Zuko.

“Listen,” I whispered.

Zuko strained himself, cupping his good ear and turning it this way
and that. “I don't hear anything,” he whispered back.

“Voices,” I said. “Not screaming like before. But in pain all
the same.”

“Right...” Zuko frowned. “How close?”

“Close enough I don't want to use alchemy, the noise might give us
away.” I glanced at him and at the swords he was carrying. “Step
lightly. No noise.” I held up my hand. “We communicate with our
hands. Stop. Go ahead. Look.” I made some simple signs and Zuko
nodded in understanding.

We moved quiet as mice after that. I was surprised at how lightly
Zuko could move when he wanted to. It was like he vanished the moment
I took my eyes off him. Our soles didn't so much as make a scuff on
the stone floor as we carefully made our way towards the source of
the voices only I could hear.

Zuko stepped in front of me and held up his hand for me to stop. I
looked at him and he gestured to his good ear and then down a side
passage. I frowned in that direction but couldn't hear anything. I
gestured for him to go ahead. He nodded and started walking in front
of me. Every now and then he would glance back at me, as if
confirming I was still there. I felt inordinately proud of that,
being at least as good at sneaking around as him.

Finally I could hear the new voices too. They felt more real, more
immediate than the ones that had led me down here. It was like those
pain filled voices were in the back of my skull, echoing in the dark
places where I slept, while the new ones were echoing in the empty
halls. It didn't take long to recognize them, Azula and the two other
girls.

Finally we exited near the top of a large amphitheatre like chamber.
It was built as an inverted bowl, with a flat circular centre. We
came out on a circular walkway near the top and I could see two more
below us, each separated by arched walls. In the centre of the room
were three young women, a man and... something that could only be a
homonculus.

The thing was huge, at least two metres tall and probably taller
than that by a good ten centimetres. It was also built like a brick
wall, with arms as thick as tree trunks and a chest as broad as a
doorway, all muscle with not a hint of fat. It's face, if you called
it that, was square jawed and covered from the nose up in some sort
of black mask that somehow looked more like rubbery skin than a
covering. Thick strands of rubbery hair fell out of the mask in a
manner that it was hard to tell where the mask ended and the hair
began.

It was also crucified to the ground, thick metal rods, partially
melted by some intense heat, where thrust through its palms and feet
leaving it spread eagle against the ground. I could see the flesh
around those wounds trying to regenerate, hissing and sparking with
red light as it tried to reconstruct around the holes.

The three young women stood near its head and they were a study in
contrasts. The one that immediately stood out was the girl in front.
She wore black shoulder armour over an immaculate red silk outfit
that. Her hair was perfectly styled, with two bangs that framed her
face and an elaborate topknot held in place by a small gold ornament.
She also had a scar running down her left cheek and her left eye was
hidden beneath a soft black eyepatch. She had a menacing smile on her
face. As I watched she gestured with one hand towards the prisoner,
flame springing from her fingers and grounding into the metal spike
in his arm, which hissed as it glowed red hot under her
ministrations. The monster on the floor barely reacted, just groaning
something about 'effort'.

To the girl's right was a severe faced woman in a silk robe a
slightly darker shade than the leaders. Her hair was also elaborately
styled, but lacked a topknot or ornaments. Her hands were hidden in
her long sleeves. She was glaring at the homonculus pinned to the
ground, her expression cool but infuriated.

To the left was the real odd one out, dressed in a bright pink
acrobatics outfit that left her midriff exposed. Her hands were
playing with her braided ponytail as she looked around, her eyes wide
and obviously frightened.

The man was taller and older than the three of them, with a long
slick and glossy mustache that fell to his shoulders. He wore a small
red cap and robes in the same shade as the severe faced girl, though
in a more masculine cut. He wasn't paying attention to any of the
girls, and instead seemed to be running his hands across the walls
and floors.

I realized with a start that it was an array, some insanely complex
array etched into the stone walls and the floor of the chamber. I had
no idea what it was meant to do, there were symbols in there that
seemed impossible.

“This thing?” the severe faced woman said, glaring at it. “This
is what killed my father and everyone in the city?”

“Ultimately he is responsible,” the leader said. She shot
another stream of flame to another spike, causing the monster to
groan and shift as if in mild discomfort. She walked over and placed
her hand on the creature's broad chest, smiling down at it without
any humour. “Though it is less the cause and more the consequence.”

“I don't like this Azula,” the nervous pink clad girl said. She
had backed up nearly to the wall and looked like she wanted to push
herself against it but kept glancing at the marks on the wall in
suspicion. “That thing makes my skin crawl just being near it.”

“Oh, don't be a baby Ty Lee. He's harmless.” So that was the
mysterious Azula? I could see why Zuko was afraid of her. There was
something about her that set me on edge. Some primitive instinct part
of my brain recoiled at her voice, which even when talking to her
companions had an edge of barely restrained malice. “I can keep him
under control long enough to finish what we need to do,” Azula
said.

“How do we kill it?” The severe faced woman stepped forward. Her
hands had dropped to her sides and I could see several glittering
knives in her hands now.

“Kill it?” Azula looked at the young woman in mock surprise.
“Why would I do that, Mai?”

The name seemed to cause Zuko to shift uncomfortably, making a small
noise. I saw Azula starting to look up and grabbed Zuko, pulling him
down over the edge of the stone railing. He glanced at me in apology.
So he knew more than one of these girls?

“It killed thousands of people,” Mai said, her voice cold fury.
“Including hundreds of your troops and my family.” There was a
long pause. “Azula? Answer me.” The demand was given with a hint
of nervousness in her voice.

“Hmm? Oh, sorry, Mai. I thought I heard some rats.” There was a
clack of shoes against floor as Azula moved. I glanced over and saw
she had all her attention on the cold voiced girl now. I gestured for
Zuko to rise up, slowly.

“I suppose I should be more to the point,” Azula began. “This
man did not kill the people of Omashu, this thing is the
people of Omashu.”

Mai stared at Azula for several long seconds. “Explain.”

Azula shrugged casually. “I barely understand the specifics
myself,” she said. She reached up and her hand hovered near her
eyepatch. “Ever since that night at the palace when Father...”
She trailed off and started again. “I've learned as much as I could
in the time I've had. Suffice it to say that this thing was created
using the people inside Omashu as its components.”

“Components?” Ty Lee moaned. “I don't like the sounds of
that.”

Mai's face paled, which was an impressive sight given how pale she
was. “You mean... someone murdered everyone in this city to
make...” She looked at the pinned monster. “That's... that's...”

“Monsterous?” Azula tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Yes, I
suppose it is.”

Mai was staring at the homonculus. Her hand blurred and a knife
virtually appeared in the things forehead. Three more bounced to the
ground, having been deflected by the creature's hide.The monster
grunted and blinked one eye.

“Now look what you've done,” Azula said as if she was
reproaching a child for spilling ink over the floor. “Every time it
has to regenerate, it uses up more of its Stone.” She clucked her
tongue and looked in the things face. “You're not going to heal
that,” she commanded.

“Healing is... too much... effort...” the thing grumbled in a
deep bass voice I could hear in my bones.

“You there, have you finished examining the array?” Azula said,
turning to the man who was still running his hands over the wall.

“Hmm?” He turned and stroked his moustache with one hand. “Ah,
yes, Princess.” Princess? I glanced at Zuko, who was staring
down intently. One hand was on the hilt of his swords. “I believe I
understand the workings of this array now.”

“Can you make it work?” she half asked, half demanded.

“I'm not as good as that foreign boy, but I should be capable of
activating the array.”

“Excellent.” Azula clapped her hands. “Come on girls, out of
the circle. We wouldn't want to be caught in this.”

“What are you doing?” Mai asked as the three moved towards a
ground floor exit.

Azula smiled. “Rendering that thing useful to my plans.” She
turned to Ty Lee. “You probably won't like what you see,” she
said offhandedly. “Go up top and get some air. Mai and I will take
care of this.”

The girl in pink stared at Azula, her body shivering. It took me a
second to recognize that she wasn't afraid of the monster on the
ground or the array on the wall nearly as much as she was afraid of
Azula. She recoiled back when Azula moved towards her, as if Azula
was made of something foul. The girl nodded mutely and ran from the
room ahead of the others.

“What's her problem?” Mai asked evenly.

Azula's hand hovered over her eyepatch for a second. “She's just
confused. Soon enough she'll understand what I am hoping to
accomplish.”

“And that is?” Mai glanced at her.

“Something wonderful.” Azula chuckled, a sound full of disturbed
joy. “Don't worry, Mai, I won't leave you out. I plan to share
everything with my friends.”

They finally vanished out the doorway. The moustached man nodded to
himself and walked to a circular void in the array that had been
carved. He knelt and placed his hands on the floor, his eyes closing.
Red sparks began to travel along the lines of the array, across the
floor and up the walls. One passed within centimetres of my nose. A
few arced across the supine homonculus.

“...okay...” It said. “Living is... too much... effort.”

“What's going on?” Zuko hissed at me.

“I don't know,” I whispered back. “This is way beyond me.”

“Can you do something about it?” he asked softly.

“Maybe...” I glanced around. “I could certainly alter the
array, but that might stop the reaction or cause it to backfire.”

“And backfire is bad?”

“Very.”

“Are we safe here?”

“Probably not,” I said.

[ ]Try to stop/control the reaction by changing the array.
[ ]Hey, one of those girls went off on her own. Follow her, maybe she
knows something.
[ ]Forget stopping anything, let's just get the hell out of here.
[ ]Attack the alchemist activating the array.
Updates in te afternoon this week, voting open until 1PM EST.
---------------
Epsilon

[X]Hey, one of those girls went off on her own. Follow her, maybe she knows something.

[X]Try to stop/control the reaction by changing the array.

[x]Hey, one of those girls went off on her own. Follow her, maybe she knows something.

And if that doesn't work, you've got a head start on
[x]Forget stopping anything, let's just get the hell out of here.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[X]Hey, one of those girls went off on her own. Follow her, maybe she knows something.

Going with Rob here:

[x]Hey, one of those girls went off on her own. Follow her, maybe she knows something.

And if that doesn't work, you've got a head start on
[x]Forget stopping anything, let's just get the hell out of here.

Crap, for the first time in this, I don't see an obvious choice.

Yeah, I suppose Rob's is the best course:

[x]Hey, one of those girls went off on her own. Follow her, maybe she knows something.

And if that doesn't work, you've got a head start on
[x]Forget stopping anything, let's just get the hell out of here.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Same here
[x]Hey, one of those girls went off on her own. Follow her, maybe she knows something.

I would suggest trying to sabotage the circle, but I can't see how that could be done without being caught.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Day Forty-Three, Ruins of Omashu

I gestured to the exit and Zuko followed me out. Once we were safely
out of the effect range (I hoped) of the array I spoke up. “That
girl who went off on her own, let's see if we can catch up to her.”

“Ty Lee?” Zuko frowned and crossed his arms. “Why?”

“She might know something.”

He snorted at that. “You drag me down here to check up on that
feeling, and then run away from it?”

“Listen, I'm just trying to do my best...”

He held up a hand to stop me and shook his head. “Whatever. Let's
get this over with.”

I frowned and started moving quietly through the halls. Locating the
girl was going to be difficult, the corridors down here were like a
maze, with lots of dead ends and blind turns. When in doubt I headed
up, since she was supposed to be heading for fresh air. Plus it put
us closer to the exit.

I will admit, seeing the homonculus bound up like that had freaked
me out. I was about two seconds away from choosing to bolt from this
place. Only Ed kept me here. I had to know where he was, if he was
okay. The amount of death that was happening around this city made me
feel on edge for his safety. I stroked the metal belt around my
waist.

Zuko held up his hand. I glanced at him. “Ahead, someone moved
through the corridors.”

“Good as anything.” I gestured him forward, trusting his vision
to follow a distant target more than my own. He moved in front of me
and started stalking through the halls. His motions were smooth and
quiet, his footsteps sure. He was a natural hunter, his expression
intense. Even with his scar there was something almost primal and
compelling about his movements and the shifting of muscles under his
loose shirt.

Of course, if I said anything, he'd probably punch me. Great, now I
was worried, freaked out and depressed.

Time passed slowly in the silent corridors, until eventually even I
could see the occasional flash of pink ahead of us. I was tired of
waiting, so once I saw the woman turn a corner I sprinted ahead. Zuko
paused and then followed me quickly. I spun around the corner, just
in time to see the girl spinning to face me, her expression wary.

The corridor continued behind her, and there was a doorway to her
right. No sense letting her escape. My hand snapped against the wall
and the floors and walls reconstructed to seal off any route but the
one that led straight through us.

“Wha!” The girl stared. She glanced left and right to see her
escape routes sealed off. “An earthbender?”

“Worse than that,” I said. I grabbed the belt and reconstructed
it into a boardsword which i pointed at her. “An alchemist.”

“Alchemist?” She stared at me, then over my shoulder. “Zuko?”

“Ty Lee,” Zuko returned in a controlled voice.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“We're asking the questions,” I pointed out, stepping forward.
She turned to me, and her face firmed up a little. Her stance
loosened and her arms rose up. “There are two of us.” I snapped
my free hand against the wall and the corridor sealed up behind us.
“And no escape. No one will even hear you scream.”

“I don't want to hurt you,” she said.

I paused and raised and eyebrow. “Think about what happens if you
win. You've knocked out the only person who can lower these walls.
Are you willing to do that?”

She blinked twice, her head tilting to the side. “Oh,” she said
in a small voice.

“Just cooperate, Ty Lee. He won't hurt you.”

I glared at Zuko. “Not helping.” I turned my attention back to
the girl. “First question, where is Ed?”

“Ed?”

“Looks like me,” I gestured to my face. “One leg. Loud.”

Her eyes widened and then narrowed. “I don't know.”

“You know something,” I said. She shook her head vigourously.

“Nu-huh!”

How old was she? “You've seen him before, I can tell from your
eyes.”

“No you can't!” she insisted.

I resisted the urge to rub my face in annoyance. “I just want to
know where Ed is,” I said. “Tell me that, and I'll let you go.”

She took a deep breath and put a comically exaggerated frown on her
face. “No. I can't betray the Princess.”

“So she does have him,” I said.

“Wah!” Her frown dissolved. “How did you know that!”

“...this is getting us nowhere,” I said. I stepped towards the
wall. “I'll leave you an airhole, I'm certain someone will find you
eventually.”

I laid my hand against the wall behind us but before I could do the
transmutation Ty Lee called out. “Zuko, wait!”

“What is it?” Zuko sounded annoyed.

“That man... why are you with him?”

“...because he can help me avenge my father.”

“But his aura...” I stiffened at her words. “It's not... its
weird.”

“Weird?”

“It's just like-”

At that point the wall under my hand exploded. I remember screaming
in pain, but not much else. Time flickered in and out, then slowly
resolved back into a world of coherent pain. I was covered in bits
and pieces of rubble, which I shifted off myself with a groan.

My ears were ringing and my vision was clouded with dust. I climbed
unsteadily to my feet, using the broadsword as a makeshift crutch, as
the dust settled and the ringing in my ears lowered to a persistent
keen that only partially dulled all other sound. My hand was numb and
I looked down at it, seeing that the metal gauntlet had been shredded
and cut into the skin beneath it, leaving blood dripping to the
ground in pools.

“Azula,” Zuko snarled. As the dust cleared the young woman
stepped through the hole that had been blasted in my wall. Behind her
was the pale-faced Mai, her eyes scanning through the dust until they
latched onto Zuko and narrowed.

“Ah, Zuzu, so good to see you again.” Azula crossed one arm
behind her back, the other raised to the side of her face. “See?
Get it. I made a joke.” Her smile was cold. “How is Uncle?”

“He's...” Zuko was shaking.

“He's dead,” I stepped in. Zuko jerked his head to face me, his
eye widening. “His injuries became infected.”

Azula was staring at me, her expression unreadable. She finally
turned back to Zuko. “Is this true?”

“...yes,” Zuko said slowly, not taking his eyes of her. One of
his hands was on the hilt of his swords, the other was raised up
before him as he assumed a fighting stance.

“Well, one obstacle down, one to go then.” She smiled at him.

“How can you refer to Uncle that way?” Zuko spat.

“Oh please, he was old and broken. The Fire Nation needs someone
young and powerful, with conviction to follow in Father's ideals.”
She smiled at him. Her good eye flicked to me and then back to him.
“Though I think maybe you do have that conviction. Who is your
friend?”

“His name is Nin,” Zuko said. “He's a foreigner. He knows how
to defeat the homonculi.”

“You really have no clue what you stumbled across, do you?”
Azula laughed. “Oh, little Zuzu, always trying so hard and never
quite understanding what is going on around him.” She smirked at
the both of us. “I'm feeling generous today,” she said. “So I
will give you both one chance to surrender.”

All good cheer vanished from her face, her eye narrowed dangerously
and her voice became cold. “Do not tempt my good will. I do not
need you alive.”

[ ]Demand to know what she did to Ed.
[ ]Try to escape, even though your stone transmuting gauntlet is
destroyed...
[ ]Surrender.
[ ]Fight.
---------------
Epsilon

[x]Demand to know what she did to Ed.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[X]Demand to know what she did to Ed.

Of course, if she should fail to be forthcoming on that topic, we can skip straight to...

[X]Fight.

[X]Demand to know what she did to Ed.

And if need be:
[X]Fight.

[ ]Surrender.

But, only on one condition:

[ ]Demand to know what she did to Ed.

Gah. Azula is Kodachi with a built-in flamethrower, only worse. There's no reasoning with her.

[x]Fight.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[X]Fight.

Sorry for the delay, had a job interview thingie this afternoon which prevented writing the update in a timely manner and didn't get back until like, three hours ago, for various reasons. Update will be done in an hour or two, tops.

Day Forty-Three, Ruins of Omashu



“What did you do with Ed?” I demanded, rising to my feet with a
bit more effort than I would have liked.

“Ed?” She looked at me. “Oh, you mean the foreign boy.” She
smiled. “I don't really know. After melting his leg off I lost all
track of him. I don't imagine he survived.”

The expression for a going berserk is 'seeing red' and until that
moment I had never quite understood what it meant. But as she spoke
those words I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my throat, I could
feel my temples throb, and yes, I witnessed a red tinge fill my
vision. My hand snapped up, carrying the broadsword with it. I
remember yelling something, but not rightly what. I have no illusions
that it was coherent, much less inspiring or pithy.

Azula barely even twitched. Her body slid just far enough to the
side to avoid my clumsy overhead chop. Sparks cracked off the ground.
I roared and dragged the blade back up, trying to take her legs out.
I was looking right into her face at the time, I distinctly remember
her raising one eyebrow in a mocking expression.

When I regained consciousness I was slumped against the wall. My
head was spinning and black stars sparked in my vision. I groaned and
shifted my hand, putting my injured one down to support me. The flare
of pain restored my senses.

I hadn't lost too much time, by the looks of it. Zuko was dueling
with Azula, a whirling dervish with his paired longswords. Azula,
however, looked like she was at a courtly dance, a particularly
boring one. Her feet barely shifted, her body barely bent and she
somehow evaded every one of Zuko's cuts and thrusts. Her lips were
curled in a mocking sneer.

Still outside the 'room' I had created was the robed girl, Mai. She
was holding up a brace of throwing knives with one hand. Her
expression was conflicted however and she kept lowering and raising
the hand. She probably didn't want to risk hurting Azula while Zuko
was still in melee with her. Thankfully, she didn't seem to have
noticed that I was awake and thus a fair target.

The pink-clad girl, Ty Lee, was staring at Azula with wide and
frankly scared eyes. Her body was trembling.

“Damn you!” Zuko finally shouted and hopped forward into a
scissor kick. My jaw dropped as a curtain of fire exploded from the
soles of his slippers, creating crisscrossing streamers of red flame.
His flames had Azula completely boxed in, at that range there was
simply nowhere for her to move to evade the attacks.

She never even tried. Her hand simply snapped up and the flames bent
around her, leaving her in a cocoon of safety. Yet she wasn't done.
Her other hand came up, cupping the air, and the flames twisted
around her in a spiral, collecting in front of her. Zuko was just
coming down from his jump as the fire spun around her palm,
concentrating into a ball like a miniature sun that compressed
tighter and tighter with each second. The flames burned first red,
then blue, then blinding white. Zuko didn't even have a chance to
fully regain his footing before she opened her cupped hand towards
him.

“Bang.”

It was like a grenade going of. All sound in the room ceased and the
pressure wave pushed me against the stone. Zuko flew backward like a
cannonball. Ty Lee had to bend over backwards to avoid him smashing
into her, and rolled away as he slumped to the ground. From the way
he shifted he was still conscious, but not happy about it.

There was no time for me to be shocked. I had to act. My eye spotted
my fallen sword and I pushed myself off the wall towards it. Mai
spotted me and sent five knives spinning in my direction. I got to
the sword first.

In a flash of transmuting light the sword reshaped itself into a
thin hemisphere around me. The knives smashed into and through the
metal, but not all the way. One quivered to a stop in front of my
nose.

I rolled to my feet, transmuting the metal again. The knives were
just part of the mass this time around, giving me more to work with.
Mai looked offended as her weapons vanished into the signature of my
alchemy. She pulled out more from her long sleeves.

“Don't bother, Mai,” Azula said, stepping between me and the
pale-skinned girl. “You'll just give her more ammunition.”

I hopped backwards. I'd need range to deal with her. My hand spun
the sword around, blue sparks running off it. “You shouldn't have
hurt my friend,” I told her.

“Oh, why not?” She looked amused.

“Because I can control more than just metal.” I slammed the
blade pointfirst into the rock, sinking it in a few centimetres. The
array I had etched into the metal glowed, sending blue lightning into
the ground at my feet. Rods of rock erupted from the walls, floor and
cieling, forming an interlacing web with Azula at the centre.

Somehow she shifted her body so that absolutely none of them hit
her. For the second time my jaw gaped open. I'd transmuted over fifty
rods with that stunt, and none of them had done more than flutter her
hair or ruffle her clothes.

“Yes, I'm aware.” She gestured with one hand, and a blast of
fire shattered all the rods on her right side, allowing her to step
sideways into the gap. “Though you're not nearly as versatile as
the other one.”

I growled and swung the sword up, transmuting it as I moved. It
uncoiled into a chain, each link forming as it stretched out toward
her. She jerked her head to the side, avoiding the constructing
chain, and then ducked down as the chain swung back around towards
her. I snapped my hand out and the chain hissed with light as it
deconstructed and reconstructed again and again. My attack did not
have to follow the motion of my hands, it didn't even have to obey
most of the laws of physics. I could reverse its motions, split it in
two, or even move its location entirely in an eyeblink.

It never touched her. Just like with Zuko she only ever moved just
enough that the chain missed. Her feet barely shifted and her body
bent and wove. Her eye never left my face and her smirk never slipped
for even a moment. Her arms were laced behind her back.

“Is this the extent of your powers?” She sounded disappointed.
“I was expecting more from the supreme being.”

“Shut up,” I snarled. “You can't dodge forever,”

“Really? You want me to burn you alive?” She snapped her
hand up, a trial of white flame erupted from the edge of her fingers.
Half my chain went spinning off, clattering to the ground. The metal
had been melted like wax. “Well, if you insist.”

“Nin, stand back,” Zuko said, stepping forward. I breathed a
sigh of relief. My attack had at least given him time to recover,
though his shirt had been ripped to shreds and the skin underneath
was sorched and bleeding. He assumed a stance, right foot leading and
one hand held in front of the other. “Only another firebender can
beat her.”

“I'd love to put you in your place, brother, but the adults are
talking. Ty Lee, if you would?”

Zuko had just enough time to widen his eyes before a pink blur came
at him from behind. The girl bent her body in a way that was almost
unnatural, her hands jabbing out seemingly at random. One blow came
into the pit of his arm, another just above his elbow, a third his
shoulder. Zuko flinched and jerked with the hits, stumbling back. His
arms dropped limply to his side. He tried to kick at the girl, but
she was already inside his movement. Her fingers danced across his
extended leg and it flopped uselessly. Then she bent nearly double,
doing the same thing to his remaining mobile limb. He dropped like a
stone, cracking his chin against the ground.

“Sorry, Zuko, but its for your own good.” Ty Lee said. “If you
kept fighting, she'd kill you.”

I grimaced and shifted my feet.

“Ty Lee, move!”

The array I had carved into the ground at my feet during my first
attack exploded with light. However Ty Lee was already moving,
bouncing towards the wall. The great stone fist that rose from the
ground to catch her missed by a heartbeat. She ran along the wall for
a second then bounced off it and started rushing towards me. I
snapped my hand up, the half of the chain still in my hand started to
crackle with light... and a spear of white-fire as thing as a pencil
passed just in front of my hand, sending the transmuting steel
spinning away. I gaped and stared at Azula, who was raising a smoking
finger to her face, where she adjusted one of her bangs back into an
immaculate state.

Taking my eyes of Ty Lee was a mistake, however. I felt blows rain
down on my limbs and before I knew it, I was flopping to the ground,
my arms and legs numb.

Azula clapped, slow and mocking. “Good job.” She walked over to
me and placed her foot on my chest. “You know, I could save myself
a of trouble just by killing you right here. But unfortunately I
don't know if it would stick, or if they could just make another one
of you.” She kicked me lightly in the chin, snapping my head back.
I slumped back, barely able to think.

Azula walked over to her brother next, who was glaring up at her in
impotent rage. It was hard to tell if he was snarling, or just
desperately trying to hold back tears. “Oh don't look at me that
way, Zuzu. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so back at the
dock.” She crouched in front of him, dangling her hands between her
legs so she could toy with his hair in a disturbingly affectionate
manner. “Oh! You're just so cute when you're in despair. Just like
the night Mother went away!”

“Don't you mention Mother!” Zuko roared with far more force than
I thought him capable of. It was enough for Azula to drop her hands
from his head. “If you're going to kill me, just do it?”

She slapped him lightly. “Zuko, I just told you I don't want
to kill you. What happened between me and Uncle Iroh was purely
politics. With Father dead, the line of succession had to be clear
and absolute. Now, with him dead, there is nothing to prevent you
from taking the throne.”

Zuko's good eye widened and his mouth opened and closed like a
beached fish for a few moments. “You want... you want me to...”

“We can discuss this later,” she said, standing up. “For now,
you've been a bad boy and need a time out. Some place you can think
about how you have hurt your sister with your cruel words and
actions.” She turned to me. “Mai, strip him down.”

Mai jerked her head towards Azula, a tinge of pink appearing in her
cheeks. “Excuse me?”

“He could have an array etched anywhere in his clothes or his
belongings.” Azula tilted her head to the side and tapped her cheek
with one finger. “And remember to bind his hands and feet so they
can't touch anything when you are done. Remember, unlike a bender he
doesn't have to move to perform his art, but he does apparently have
to touch an array.”

“Why are you keeping us alive?” I asked.

She stared at me for a long moment. “You're bait.”

“Bait?”

“Yes.” She grinned maliciously. “So long as I have you, the
homonculi will have to come to me.”

“How did you even know we where here?” I said.

“I wasn't certain,” she admitted. “So I set a trap. Ty Lee
certainly looks so harmless and vulnerable, doesn't she.” She
looked at the acrobat with a grateful smile. “Thank you for that as
well. You certainly have proven yourself useful.” Ty Lee blushed a
bit and backed away with a nervous smile.

“As for you.” She reached down and grabbed my head. “I need
you alive, but not in one piece. So don't push my generosity again.”
Then she slammed my head against the ground and all I experienced was
darkness.

*

The cell I awoke in was loud. It took me a moment to realize why.
The sound was a waterfall, crashing down nearby. I was hanging in a
cage suspended from a chain in the ceiling, below me was a deep drop
into a lake whose depth I couldn't guess at. Spikes of stone rose out
of the water like spear pointed at me. In the centre of the room a
great pillar of water feel straight down. The cage was barely big
enough to fit me standing upright. My shoulders ached and a glance up
confirmed that my hands were held in a metal disk, positioned so that
I would have no chance of touching it. The metal showed the telltale
rectangular marks of alchemy. A glance down showed my feet where in a
same contraption.

Looking around me at eye level showed I wasn't alone in the room.
Zuko was in a similar cage, though he was unbound. His cage, however,
was close enough to the waterfall that the spray was getting all over
him. He was shivering and trying to rub warmth into his shoulders.
Another glance to the other side and...

“ED!” I screamed, joyously.

“Ugh, not so loud...” Ed groused. He was in the same kind of
cage, and like me was bound hand and foot (though only one foot in
his case, for obvious reason). He did not look good. His body was
covered in dark burn marks and his face was bloodied. I really didn't
care. He was alive. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Oh god, I thought you were dead,” I gasped out. “Azula told
me...”

“Azula lied, what a shock,” Zuko snarled, his zoice barely
audible above the roar of the waterfall. “She probably told you
that to trick you into attacking instead of trying to run away.”

“Azula?” Ed asked. His voice was strained, and I realized he'd
probably been hanging like I had for much longer. It was already
uncomfortable for me, and I found it too easy to imagine what it
would be like in a few hours.

Or a few days.

Or a few months...

“Crazy lady, nice hair, shoots fire,” I said. “Burned off your
leg?”

“Oh, her.” Ed grunted. “I played dumb when she tried to
question me, pretended like I couldn't understand what she was
saying.”

I nodded, took a deep breath and then yelled, “And what the hell
were you thinking, running off on your own like that!” I was
panting now. “You stupid impulsive idiot, you had me worried sick!”

Ed had the grace to look away, shamefaced. “I had to try and get
here in time,” he said. “I couldn't wait for you to recover. The
reaction we saw, I've seen it before. I know how to stop it,
how to reverse it. If I could have gotten here in time...” He
looked down, squeezing his eyes shut. “I was too late,” he choked
out.

“So the transmutation destroyed the city?” I asked.

“No, that was done afterward,” Ed admitted. “There was some...
some little kid floating above the city, in this ball of wind... it
was like nothing I've ever seen. Even father couldn't fly.”
Ed shuddered. “He was glowing and his voice... it was like a chorus
of screams, nothing but pure rage. Then he just exploded and this
huge tornado of fire came down from the sky all around him and ripped
the entire city to shreds. I was almost killed right then, I think I
lost consciousness. When I came to, it was just in time for
psycho-fire-chick to find me.”

“What are you too talking about?” Zuko asked, irritated. I
explained. Zuko frowned. “The Avatar,” he said.

“He could really do that?” I asked.

“He sunk over a hundred Fire Navy ships at once, and melted an
entire island into magma. I know, I saw him do them both.”

I shuddered, making my bindings clatter. The confrontation, no, the
total defeat at the hands of Azula had left me shaken to my core. I
was just beginning to think, after our success with Lust and the
bounty hunters at the pier that I was getting to the point I could
take care of myself. She had never been in any danger at all. The
thought that there was someone out there even more dangerous than
Azula made my stomach do acrobatics that even Ty Lee would have been
impressed with.

Still, I was alive, and so was Ed. As far as I was concerned, those
were both mistakes on Azula's part. The only question was, how to
exploit them?

[ ]If all three of you work together, you can make a daring escape!
Right! Right? ...
[ ]Zuko held things back for two long, time to drag out the truth
from him.
[ ]Wait for rescue.
[ ]I'd rather die than be a hostage for that woman. Do something
foolishly dangerous!

-------------
Epsilon

[x]Zuko held things back for too long, time to drag out the truth from him.

Once that's done,
[x]If all three of you work together, you can make a daring escape! Right! Right? ...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I suppose it's time for:
[X]Zuko held things back for two long, time to drag out the truth from him.
After think, brainstorm:
[X]If all three of you work together, you can make a daring escape! Right! Right? ...
And wait for an opportunity to exploit. Of course, that could turn into
[X]Wait for rescue.

[X]If all three of you work together, you can make a daring escape! Right! Right? ...