Soldier's Boy

Twenty-Two

Slowly, the others trickled out of the tent to give the family time alone with the new baby. Aang and Katara split off to talk quietly, and Lee, as had become typical whenever they stopped during the day, had wandered off.  Kouji scowled and followed after his brother.

Aang flew off above them — he was going to look for Appa and meet the others in the city later.

Lee had found somewhere out of the way, and was running through sword katas. The eye Toph had unintentionally smacked had swelled up and turned a lovely shade of purple.

"Lee," Kouji said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What?" the older boy asked, pausing in a slightly awkward position, halfway through a pattern.

"Why do you keep going off like this?" he wanted to know.

"So I can drill," Lee replied, a slightly uncomfortable half-truth.

"You don't need to go this far away to do that."

"I didn't want to bother anyone."

Kouji arched an eyebrow at him, and Lee shifted position to one less awkward. "Plus, I don't like people watching me when I might mess up."

This made more sense, and Kouji sighed.  "Lee…"

"What?"

"Two days ago you went a half mile."

"It took me that long to find a good spot."

Kouji frowned, and sighed again.  "Lee… do you still think they'll leave you?"

The teenager's sudden silence was answer enough.

Kouji hugged him tightly, hiding his face in his brother's shirt.  "They won't," he said, voice muffled.  "Why don't you see that?"

"I'm a threat to them unless they're sneaky enough to use me as a hostage," Lee replied, dully. "Which they're not. It's only a matter of time."

Kouji looked confused.  "What are you talking about?"

"They can't know that I won't follow the same path the rest of my family did. Plus the image problems travelling with me gives Aang." Lee wasn't sure he was making much sense when he tried to explain aloud, but it all added up in his head.

"You're not the rest of your family," Kouji said stubbornly.  "You're you.  And I fail to see how travelling with you gives Aang image problems."

He looked around furtively, then dropped his voice. "I'm the son of the guy he's trying to depose, remember?"

"I do remember," Kouji replied, just as quietly.  "I also remember all those refugees!  Lee, this war has got to be stopped, you know that as well as I do!  And Aang and the rest know that we know it too.  If your heritage was going to be a problem, somebody would have said something before now."

"They're just waiting for the right time to leave me," Lee said, quietly.

Kouji glared up at his brother.  "Lee, they're your friends.  There will never be a right time to leave you, because friends don't do that!  Why is this so hard a concept for you to grasp?"

"Because it's not — "

They were interrupted by Aang flying back over them again.

"We'll talk about this later," Lee said, then shot off after Aang's shadow.

Kouji growled and ran after Lee.

They got back to the others just as Aang was landing. Suki was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, good, you're back," Aang said, relieved. "We got problems."

"What kind of problems?" Kouji asked.

"A giant machine, like a drill, going for the wall."

"Oh, no," Kouji whispered.  "That must be what the Fire Nation was working on!"

Lee nodded, going a few shades paler. "We need to get to the wall to stop it. How are all of us going to get there in time?"

"Run?" suggested Kouji.  "Aang, how big are we talking?"

"Big."

Kouji glared at him.  "A bit more description, please?  Length, roughly?"

"I don't know. Bigger than a warship, smaller than a mountain?" Aang was a little too freaked for clarity.

"Okay, so it probably can't move that fast," Kouji said, thinking quickly.  "Too heavy.  We should have time to make it to the top."

"That's great, now can we stop talking about it and go kill it?" Toph snapped, interrupting Aang before he could reply.

"Yeah," Kouji agreed.  Together, he, Aang, and Toph lifted up the ground under everyone's feet and started sliding it up the wall.  As they went up, Kouji looked towards the drill, and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.  "I've seen that before…"

"Where?" Lee asked, looking from the drill to the wall and back again, growing visibly more and more grim.

"At the Northern Air Temple," Kouji replied.  "I guess War Minister Qin stole the schematics from the Mechanist…"

"What can you remember about them? Anything about how it was put together?" Sokka asked, just as they reached the top of the wall and stepped off of the platform.

Kouji shook his head.  "No — I only caught a glimpse, and that was back in the middle of winter," he said apologetically.

"We made it to Ba Sing Se, but we're still not safe.  No one is!" cried Ying.  Kouji ground his teeth and glared out at the drill as though it had personally offended him.

"What are you people doing here?" a man's voice suddenly called over. "Civillians aren't allowed on the wall!"

Lee stepped back behind the others, internally thanking Toph for blacking his eye — it made it harder to recognize him, assuming any of the grunts on the wall could.

"I'm the Avatar," Aang said. "Take me to whoever's in charge."

There was some brief argument as to whether or not Kouji could go along, until the boy snapped that he'd taken out several Fire Nation tanks at the Northern Air Temple and was as capable as any warrior Ba Sing Se had to offer, and Katara thankfully backed him up.  Surprisingly, Lee did, too, not wanting to leave his brother behind with strangers, unprotected.  All six of them were escorted to the general in charge of the wall.

"It is an honour to welcome you to the wall, young Avatar," the hunchbacked old man said, "but your help is not needed."

Better have too many defenders than too few! Lee resisted the urge to call the general an idiot. Not only would it be counter-productive to lecture a man easily three or four times his age, but he also wanted to avoid drawing any more attention to himself than absolutely necessary.

"Not needed?" Aang asked, puzzled.

"Not needed!" the man said, smiling. "I have the situation under control. I assure you, the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded."

"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph pointed out, dryly. "He got in."

"W-well, technically yes. But he was quickly expunged."

You mean he turned around and left, Kouji thought sourly, resting his hands on the wall and staring at the incoming metal behemoth.

"Nevertheless," the general continued, "that's why the city is named Ba Sing Se — it's the Impenetrable City. They don't call it Na Sing Se!" He laughed. "That means Penetrable City."

"Yeah, thanks for the tour," Toph said, rolling her eyes. "But we've still got the drill problem."

"Forget the drill," Kouji muttered.  "I'm more worried about who's on it.  If it's somebody more competent than that idiot Qin…"

Lee froze, suddenly picturing someone a great deal more competent driving that drill.

"Not for long," the general answered Toph. "To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earthbenders called the Terra Team."

"That's a great group name," Sokka mused tangentially. "Very catchy."

"Sounds like an earthball team," Kouji replied absently.

The seven of them — the six kids, and the general — watched from the wall as the entire Terra Team was taken out in less than five minutes.

"We're doomed!" the man exclaimed, somewhat hysterical.

Sokka hit him. "Get a hold of yourself, man!"

"The bendy girl," whispered Kouji, going pale.  "Lee—"

"I know," he whispered back, looking like he was about to throw up.

"You're right," the general was saying. "I'm sorry."

"Maybe you'd like the Avatar's help now?" Toph said, a little scathingly.

"Yes, please," he said, in a very small voice.

"I'll bring in the Terra Team," Kouji said.  "They're not going to be getting up for awhile.  Toph, help me?"

"No problem," she said, going down with him while the others stayed on the wall to discuss strategy for taking down the drill itself.

There was a minor problem with the tanks while the two children tried to safely bring in the fallen earthbenders, but Kouji shouted their weakness to Toph, and together, they brought them all down.  "Okay, we've got them all!" Kouji called over to the older girl.  "Let’s get lost before the bendy girl gets sent out again!"

They managed to successfully transport all the downed men without anyone sustaining any further injuries — save, perhaps, the soldiers in the tanks.

The Terra Team were brought to the infirmary, where Katara was brought in to see what she could do for them.

"What's wrong with him?" the general asked. "He doesn't look injured…"

"His chi is blocked," she replied absently, then asked the soldier who had done this. He confirmed that it was the bendy girl, Ty Lee, and one other, who had ambushed them.

Lee backed away and started pacing the length of the room.

"I guess we know who's inside the drill now," Kouji said quietly to no one in particular as Katara mentioned that it was as though Ty Lee took people down from the inside.

Everybody was thus surprised when Sokka started acting like a gibbering hog-monkey.

"That's how we're gonna take down the drill!" he finally managed to get out. "The same way Ty Lee took down all these big earthbenders!"

"By hitting its pressure points!" Toph added, getting it.

"We'll take it down from the inside," Aang added, unnecessarily.

"Then let's get down there and do it!" Kouji cried, slamming one fist into his hand and smiling viciously.

The others nodded, and the six of them went down the wall to ground level.

"Once I whip up some cover, you won't be able to see, so stay close to me," Toph told them, then called up a massive cloud of dust and small rocks.

Kouji took Lee's hand and squeezed, then followed the charging girl out of their cover.  Once they reached the drill, Toph made a pit in the ground. "Everyone into the hole!" She closed it over them.

"It's so dark down here, I can't see a thing!" Sokka complained.

"Oh, no! What a nightmare!" Toph said, sarcastically.

"Sorry," he replied, sheepishly.

Kouji rolled his eyes, then they burst out underneath the drill.

Aang jumped up, and pulled Katara, Sokka, and Lee up behind him.

"Toph, come on!" Sokka called

"No way am I going in that metal thing. I can't bend in there. I'm gonna try and slow it down from outside. Kouji, you should help me."

"And no way am I going anywhere near the bendy girl," Kouji answered her.  "Lee, be careful!"

"You too," he called, then he, Aang, Katara, and Sokka disappeared into the bowels of the drill.

"And now the fun begins," Kouji commented.  Together, he and Toph each made a pillar, trying to slow the drill.  These pillars had no noticeable effect on the speed of the machine.

"I would like to be useful at some point!" Kouji yelled at nobody, making another pillar.

"Careful what you wish for," Toph grunted. "Come on, Twinkletoes, hurry up!"

Despite their best efforts, however, the drill impacted the wall with a noise that made both Kouji and Toph cry out.  "Not good, not good!" Kouji said, frantic.

Toph swore creatively, using several words she must have learned from the professional earthbenders — Kouji didn't know them.  He made certain to memorise them, however.

"Is there any way we can strengthen the wall?  Make it harder to break through?" Kouji asked Toph.

She shook her head. "Not if it's already been hit. Hey, idea! The rock they're chewing up has to go somewhere, maybe we can figure out how and use it to gum up the works."

"To the back of the drill!" Kouji cried.  Rather than run, the two of them made a small platform and shot themselves underneath the machine using earthbending to save time.

They found Katara, Lee, and Sokka back there. Katara was bending muddy water at the drill, and Sokka was 'encouraging' her. Lee, looking slightly unsteady, had his swords out and was keeping an eye out for guards — not that they were likely to get out, as even Ty Lee couldn't break through the slurry Katara was bending.

"You guys need some help?" Toph asked, hopping off the platform.

"Even if it's only to shut Sokka up?" Kouji added, staying right where he was.

"Kouji, Toph, help me plug up this drain," Katara replied.

"You got it."  Kouji fell back into his bending stance, managed to get a grip on the slurry, and all three of the pushed Ty Lee further into the machine.  This seemed to have some slight affect. The drill jolted.

"What did you guys do?" Kouji cried, trying not to lose his grip on the slurry.  It wasn't easy, the water was confusing him.

"We weakened all the braces," Lee said, shortly. "Me, Aang, and Katara. Sokka mostly talked."

"Hey, I got the schematics!"

"If Katara hadn't frozen the steam — "

"I get the point," Kouji said hastily.

"We're just waiting for Aang to give the final blow and throw all the weakened beams off. That should shut down the drill," Katara finished.

"What happens if that doesn't work?" Toph asked.

"Bad things," Lee replied, shaking his head.

"We didn't come all this way to lose now," Kouji said.

As if on cue, fountains of slurry shot up from all the joints of the drill.

"Here it comes!" Toph shouted, then raised the earth under the five of them, seconds before a tidal wave of slurry burst out of the butt end of the drill.

Kouji wobbled, and sat down heavily in the gunk.  "Wow," he said with a loopy smile.

Lee started over to his brother, to make sure he was alright, slipped in the slurry, and fell off the pillar Toph had made — only to be caught by a platform Kouji had made a few feet down.  The boy then leaned over the side.  "The first thing we're doing when we get back to the wall is feeding you, Lee," he said, leaning down to give his brother a hand.

"You okay?" Lee asked, accepting the help and regaining the platform.

"Yeah, fine," Kouji replied, grinning at him.  "My stamina's a lot better, thanks to Toph."

Lee nodded, clearly relieved.

"Come on, let's go find Aang while Ty Lee's still stunned," Katara said.

Kouji nodded, and the five of them set off.

They found Aang at the front of the drill, covered in slurry. "Hi, guys!" he said, elated.

"Hey, Aang," the younger boy greeted in return, grinning just as broadly as the rest of them.

"Come on, let's go back up the wall," Lee suggested wearily.

"And then clean up and eat."  Kouji's stomach punctuated this statement with a growl.

Aang nodded eagerly, and made a platform. "Everybody on!"

"Once more into the breach, dear friends," Kouji agreed, and the three earthbenders began moving the platform up the wall.

They reached the top, where they were thanked effusively — and endlessly — by the general. Lee dearly wanted to punch him to shut him up.  Kouji had wandered over to the end of the wall to look at the fields inside, his stomach growling.  "Is it true they grow stuff down there?  Because I'm about ready to jump down and help myself."

"Ah, that won't be necessary," the general said, breaking off his thanks at last. "I'll see to it that food is brought for all of you."

"Thank you," the boy chirped, bowing.

"You're welcome," the general said, bowing back.

Sure enough, in short order, food was brought for all six children.  All the benders ate heartily, with Kouji watching Lee like a hawk to make sure he ate all of his share.  For once, the older boy didn't have to be watched, he absently devoured it entirely within about five minutes.  Pleased, Kouji finished his own food as the sun began to set.

"I just wanna say, good effort out there today, Team Avatar," Sokka said, stretching, when they'd all finished.

"Enough with the Team Avatar stuff," Katara said, exasperated. "No matter how many times you say it, it's not gonna catch on."

"Why do we need a name anyway?" Kouji asked the Water Tribesman.

"Because… well…"

"We don't," Lee cut him off. "When are we going into the actual city?"

As it turned out, they would be going tomorrow.  The last train in had left as they were climbing the wall after defeating the drill.

The general found them all bunks in the barracks on the wall for the night.  Nobody was surprised when Kouji migrated to Zuko's bed during the night after the small boy woke screaming.  When he got there, he found his brother curled up, shaking with silent sobs from his own nightmare.  Kouji watched him sadly for a moment, the crawled in next to him and cuddled closer, wrapping his arms around the older boy.

Lee shifted a little, turning in his embrace to hug back.  The earthbender didn't say anything, just tried to comfort his brother wordlessly.  At long last, the teenager stopped crying. "You okay?" he managed to choke out. 

"Yeah," Kouji whispered.  "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Just a nightmare."  Despite his words, the boy shuddered.

Lee tightened his hold. "I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise."

"I know," Kouji whispered.  "And… I don't think Dad's going to come near me again anyway."

"If he dares, I'll stop him. By outing myself, if I have to."

Kouji tilted his head so he could see his brother's face.  "Really?"

"Really."  Lee's face was pale, but set.

"Thanks, Lee," Kouji whispered, turning his face into Lee's chest.

"No problem," he whispered back. "Go back to sleep. I'll stay up and keep watch."

"'Kay."  The boy's eyes drifted shut and he was out in moments.

Current Location: ARC Cafeteria
Current Mood: bored
Tags: au, avatar, fanfic, soldier's boy