CHAPTER 18: THE DISTRACTION
An eery calm ensued as Iroh stood ready in a fighting stance. He slowly shifted his feet around the ground, trying not to cause too much vibration on the ground for Bumi to sense. His mind was calm and focused. He had an aura of a tiger waiting to jump on its prey as long as it showed itself.
Suddenly the ground started to shake and rumble. The very ground itself started to tear in a long band that enclosed Iroh. After a few seconds it suddenly stopped but the rumbling continued. Iroh continued to be ready for any incoming attack but what happened next he couldn't have expected. Suddenly the very ground he was standing on started to shake intensely. It started to break of on the tears and rose steadily. Iroh started running to jump off but sharp pikes of earth started to block his momentum. When he got the edge they rose like a hair comb and came towards him.
Soon he was trapped in a tiny space, surrounded by sharp pikes in every direction. The piece of earth he was standing on started to separate itself from the ground and began to lift. Iroh wasn't having it anymore. He started blasting away the spikes of earth with his blasts of fire that came from his fists. Each attack he destroyed at least a dozen spikes but each time, more took its place. Eventually it started taxing on his stamina reserves because of his lack of cardio these past few years.
He was still arguably the strongest firebender on the planet. It would take a lot more to defeat someone of his calibre.
Standing on the ground and lifting the large piece of rock higher and away from the city, Bumi knew just how much of a beast Iroh was. He expected Iroh to counter it any moment. As expected the counter attack came before the thought even left his mind.
*BOOOOOOOOM!!!!*
The mountain of earth turned to a mixture of meteor like flaming rocks, dust and smoke. They descended toward the city like a meteor shower that was about to destroy most of the city.
Bumi reacted quickly however and reached out his hands and slowed the rocks. He started to twirl and tuck his hands in a circular motion until all the debry turned into one single mass of rocks and dust.
As everything cleared he noticed Iroh wasn't in the debry. Infact Iroh was nowhere to be found. Even using his ability to feel him out he couldn't sense him. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. He immediately disappeared into the ground while the spectators of generals and earthbenders watched on in disbelief.
***
"Keep running!" The young woman ordered Zuko. He didn't bother to answer and simply followed her.
Obviously he had questions but those questions would have to wait until he got to safety. The young woman seemed familiar with the layout of the maze of tunnels. She was turning into corners and running at full throttle with no hesitation. Just as he was finally starting to get some more hope, he noticed they arrived at a dead end.
The girl walked up to the wall and placed her hands on it. She pressed her hands into the wall to create an imprint of her hands and than twisted the hands in opposite directions. On the left side of the tunnels, a doorway opened.
"Quickly now," the young woman ordered and ran into the doorway. Zuko simply followed with no hesitation.
The doorway let into a large open room. The room was largely empty except for a few bags that lay on the floor randomly. A rather odd looking table stood in the center of the room. Four chairs were pushed under the table on every side.
The young woman turned to the side of the doorway and pushed in her left hand. Creating a similar hand imprint and than turned her hand right to trigger mechanical sounds behind the walls. The doorway closed up like a slide door, creating an image like nothing happened.
"We're save for now but we still need to hurry up and get out of the city," she revealed.
Zuko stood silently and observed the behaviour of the young woman. The cold didn't appear to bother the young woman. She simply walked across the room, pulled out a chair and sat down. From under her clothes she took out what looked like a scroll and started to study it.
She looked to be in her twenties, a rather tall woman at more than 6ft4". She was quite bulky as typical of earthbenders.
"So who are you?" He asked the most obvious question.
She looked up from the scroll, about to reply but simply chose not to. She returned her attention back to the scroll.
Zuko wanted to threaten her but he was still cold. The running warmed up his blood a bit but he still couldn't use his bending. Perhaps he could but it would be miniscule.
"Are you working for my father?" He asked even though he knew it wasn't.
He knew Ozai couldn't give a fuck about him. To be honest neither did he. Zuko wanted his father's approval more than anything but that was the old Zuko. He was now possessed by Victor and Victor didn't care a bit of Ozai. What he cared about was Azula. He wanted to meet her. She was his favorite character in the original series.
For now though, he had other things to think about. Starting with this tall muscular woman who appeared like she could snap him in two. He was still the Fire Nation Prince however and he had to act thusly.
He walked over and pulled away the scroll from the woman and quickly scanned it. The scroll was actually a sort of map. It appeared to highlight the maze of tunnels of the underground chambers.
Suddenly the scroll was torn away from his hands. The woman towered over him with a vicious scowl. She was quite attractive even given her manly physique. Zuko however refused to back down from her intimidation.
"Who are you and why did you rescue me!?" He demanded with a base in his voice.
The woman smirked at him in a rather seductive manner.
"I was hired by your uncle," she answered.
---
Aang continued to run in the tunnels. He was just a few seconds late but Zuko appeared to have vanished from sight. Using his bending he was flashing through the tunnels at an insane speed. Eventually he had to accept that they might have escaped into some kind of hidden chamber. The tunnels were actually older than the city itself. It would make sense for them to have hidden rooms and chambers.
He returned to the upper floors of the palace to meet up with Bumi and his Generals. They were gathered along with Sokka, Suki and Katara.
"So it was all just a distraction?" Katara asked.
"It looks like it," Sokka answered. "It still doesn't make sense about the young woman though. Does that mean the fire nation has people even in the city?"
"No," Bumi quickly answered. "Yes they have spies in some places but not in Oma Shu."
"The young woman was actually born and raised here in Oma Shu." Tamutae vouched. "She had prior instances of taking bribes to let certain things slide but it had been ages since she was accused but there was no evidence of such a thing."
"Meaning she was actually bribed to rescue Zuko while his uncle acted as a distraction to attract out attention?" Suki made sure.
"Iroh always was a shrewd fighter," Bumi reiterated. "He never did anything without a great deal of thought behind it."
"So what do we do now?" Aang asked the question everyone was thinking.
"We proceed as normal," Sokka answered after a long period of silence. "If Zuko has escaped than there is nothing we can do about it now until we find him. We just have to proceed north until the solstice."
"I recommend you take an escort with you until that time comes," Tamutae suddenly suggested. "There is nothing stopping the Prince from attacking you should you live the city. At his current strength the Avatar is no match for General Iroh or Prince Zuko."
His words rung true for everyone except for Aang. He admitted that the old General was too much for his current abilities but he refused to believe that Zuko was that much stronger than him. Infact he considered himself to be stronger.
"We don't need your help," he refused the offer. "From what I have seen of the uncle we don't need to worry about him. The one to follow us is mostly Zuko and I can handle him."
Everyone was a bit taken back by his confidence. Aang was a passivist monk who couldn't hurt a fly. At least he used to be the sort. This change in approach from him was surprising to say the least. The one who knew Aang the longest was Bumi and even he was surprised by the slight arrogance the young Avatar showed.
He didn't want his friend to change too much but he also had to admit that the world had changed a lot since the days Aang and himself were kids sliding the causeways. He would need a bit of arrogance and ruthlessness to end this terrible war.
"So be it," he answered after everyone turned to him waiting for a response. "Then you should depart as soon as possible to put as much distance between yourself and the young Prince."
***
On the very outer wall of OmaShu was a large open drainage pipe that flowed out of the city. At the very base of the pipe sat a group of 3 people.
One was an elderly old man in large baggy Brown robes. The other a young man with a burn mark on his left eye. The last was a tall manly woman in typical attire of green and gold of the Earth Kingdom.
"Pay up old man," the young tall woman demanded.
With his usual carefree smile Iroh handed her a rather heavy looking sag of money. She separated the opening with her fingers and scanned the money. With a satisfied grin she looked to the old man.
"Well I'll see you around," she said and left the two alone.
"Hold it right there!" Zuko suddenly called her back. He ran passed her and stood infront of her with his arms expanded.
The rather intimidating woman simply tapped the ground with her feet. The ground shifted beneath the feet of Zuko and moved him out of her way.
"Sorry junior but you're not my type," she said and continued on her way.
"You're not my type either," Zuko denied her. "I actually want to hire you for the same amount but a way easier job."
The footsteps of the large woman suddenly halted.
"What's the job?" She asked.
"I need you to find someone for me!"