58 The Escape

"Ugh... W-what happened?"

A voice echoed in an empty chamber, the place was dark and humid, but it wasn't big, just a single very dark and empty room.

Taking a few seconds to remember what happened… It was a hectic week… 

"There…. There was a storm…"

Flashbacks of him trying to save his friend who was stubborn enough to try to get a job during one of the worst storms he encountered since he escaped from the Air Temple… but that was a long… long time ago…

"I also… had a talk with Katara about my past…"

A small blush appeared on his face alongside an innocent smile, which turned into a frown after a couple of seconds.

"Then… they were sick… and I flew away… trying to find… FROGS!" He shouted at the end, finally remembering everything that happened so far, until a deep male voice echoed from the single door of this empty, dungeon-like, room.

"And then we met" A man in his mid-to-late 30s entered the room, he had a very classic Fire Nation hairstyle and armor, Aang knew it the best… he had been dodging a certain prince since he woke up after all.

"So, this is the great Avatar. Master of all the elements. I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over." The man said while positioning himself in front of the bald tattooed boy.

In anger the boy snapped back "I've never hidden from you!" then he finally realized that all his limbs were chained, making it impossible for him to even consider escaping. "Untie me and I'll fight you right now!"

"Uhh, no." The man smirked "Tell me, how does it feel to be the only Airbender left? Do you miss your people?" 

Those words instantly hit the boy, making him look down in sadness and pain, but it wasn't enough for the Admiral, he wanted to see the boy hopeless "Don't worry, you won't be killed like they were… see… if you die you will just be reborn and the Fire Nation would have to start searching all over again. So I'll keep you alive… just… barely…" He concludes with a sarcastic chuckle as he stares at the angry visage of the young Avatar.

Getting really pissed at the man in front of him, Aang inhaled deeply, almost as if he were siphoning all of the air in the chamber, and less than a second later he blew a potent gale straight at Zhao, sending him crashing against the wall.

The man coughed as he got up, dusting the pauldrons of his prized armor "Blow all the wind you want, but in your situation, it is futile. There is no escaping this fortress, and no one is coming to rescue you."

The man concluded before exiting the room, slamming the door behind him.

For the next hour or so, Aang tried everything he could to set himself free, he spent all his energy using his mouth to blow wind and forcing his body to rock back and forth, in hopes of loosening his chains, but again… they were chains, not ropes… and they were tied to metal plates… not wooden stakes. Plus, his wind was useless here and he knew it, but wouldn't accept it.

To make things worse, the frogs he captured to help Katara and Sokka with their disease started to leap out of his shirt.

"What? No! Don't leave, frogs! My friends are sick and they need you! Please go back to being frozen!" Aang started struggling again as the frogs hopped away towards the door, croaking. He could even hear the guards completely confused on the other side of the door after the frogs managed to wiggle their way under the door, escaping towards whatever was beyond this room. 

Suddenly he hears some very creepy and worrisome sounds of violence coming through the door. These stop abruptly and are replaced by the sounds of the lock turning. 

With a noisy creak, the door slowly opens to reveal what looks like a man, quite a bit taller than himself, but again he is quite young, dressed in all black with a creepy blue mask covering his face. He brandishes two curved swords and runs towards Aang, who screams in fear.

But contrary to his worry, the person(?) freed him instead of striking a finishing blow, which made him look at his savior in wonder.

"Who are you? What's going on? Are you here to rescue me?" If there was one thing that Aang was very positive about, about himself… it's that he would never shut up… even in the scariest of circumstances…

Seeing the masked person motioning for him to follow he beamed a huge toothy smile "I will take that as a 'Yes' then!" but not before reminding his savior "WAIT!! MY FRIENDS NEED TO SUCK ON THOSE FROGS!" just to be ignored and pulled away in a hurry towards the end of the hallway.

What happened next made Aang doubt himself a little…

The masked entity completely demolished anyone that appeared in his line of sight, there was no killing 'thank the spirits!' but he was brutal when knocking down those Fire Nation soldiers, so much so that Aang raised an eyebrow "Did they do anything like hunt down your family and now you are out for revenge or something?"

That made the masked person trip and fall on the ground and snap his head toward the bald kid, and Aang could've sworn that he saw the mask give a very weird deadpan expression…

"What?" 

The masked man shook his head in exasperation and kept pulling the boy, heading towards the exit. 'Well, at least I got my vintage air-glider back!'

There was not a single word spoken, wherever the masked person went… soldiers would be knocked out, and there was no mercy other than keeping them alive.

Eventually, they reached the closed front gate and were surrounded, but Aang couldn't sense a single ounce of worry on his savior, he couldn't see his expression but body language didn't lie, the person was just… chill… about the thirty or forty soldiers surrounding them and possibly a hundred more aiming bows at them.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when two blades crossed in front of his neck, forcing him to gulp in fear and whisper to his savior "W-what are you doing?!"

Without a response, they just moved closer to the gate until that very same Fire Nation man who visited him in his temporary room shouted.

"Open the gate!"

"Admiral, what are you doing?" Asked a confused person beside him

"Let them out, now!"

As the duo slowly walked backward towards the jungle, away from the Fire Nation fortress, one of the officers, the same one that questioned the Admiral just now, couldn't hold back.

"How could you let them go?!" He shouted in frustration

Zhao on the other hand just smirked: "A situation like this requires… precision." 

The masked Blue Spirit continued backing away from the fortress while Zhao now looked from the top of the main gate.

"Do you have a clear shot?" he asked in a hushed tone to a hidden Yuyan Archer who was silently aiming and gave a simple nod.

"Knock out the thief. I'll deliver him to the Fire Lord along with the Avatar."

Aang who was being pulled away by the Blue Spirit understood the strategy and followed along, they managed to exit the fortress after all, being used as a bargaining chip was fine as long as they were free, he knew he was wanted alive.

"I think we can go now, we are far enough…" he said in a hushed tone to his savior.

"Shh," said the masked person, which surprised Aang, he didn't say a single word or sound the whole time, but then he heard a sound as if something was piercing the air in their direction at an amazing speed.

Without lowering his guard, the Blue Spirit used one of his blades to deflect the arrow that was sent towards him, his teacher taught him so many times to never let his guard down, and such a painful memory was imprinted in every single bone and muscle he has in his body!

"Wha…" Aang was shocked.

"WHAT?!" Zhao was even more shocked, but after a second or two of delay, he barked orders "QUICKLY CHASE THE AVATAR! CAPTURE THAT THIEF AS WELL!"

The massive gates opened once more and dozens of armored soldiers started running towards the duo that was already quite far away, and they took advantage of the two extra seconds of Zhao's disbelief to create even more distance, in fact, they already reached the jungle nearby.

Aang was using his airbending to jump from tree to tree, and even increasing his speed with it, but he was shocked to see the masked person jumping between trees like he was a monkey.

The Avatar understood that he was well trained, and he earned his own Airbending Master tattoo quite early on, but even he couldn't do what his savior was doing without the aid of Airbending, it required way more than just agility to pull that off.

Unfortunately, the soldiers chasing them were not slowing down, they might be gaining distance as both of them were already quite tired at this point, Aang had slept chained and was quite sore because of it, if that wasn't enough, he spent a lot of himself trying to break free before his new companion showed up.

The Blue Spirit on the other hand, was even more tired, not only he had to sneak in without being seen, which was already a challenge on its own, but he also had to fight his way out while carrying the Avatar on his back.

'Seriously this kid is completely unreliable for subterfuge, no wonder he is tracked all the damn time' thought the Blue Spirit. 'At least he isn't a dead weight like the watertribe kid…' he chuckled under his mask.

"They are getting closer…" Said the Bald Avatar.

That seemed to partially bring Zuko back from his musings, but it wasn't fast enough for what was to come…

"Let me handle this, you did a lot already!" Concluded Aang while opening a part of his glider, holding it almost like it's a fan, and before Zuko could say anything… Aang did a spin as if gathering air around him and with a wave of his hand, he sent a massive gale towards the soldiers.

"NO! YOU IDIOT!" Shouted Zuko.

"T-that voice!" Exclaimed Aang.

"Shit…" Zuko was angry, yeah, they were being chased but the jungle was vast and they hadn't been spotted yet, how did he know? Not a single arrow was shot at them… but now…

Thuk

An arrow instantly pierced the tree trunk right beside his head, if he was a second late, he would've been hit.

"Fly you fool!" Shouted Zuko towards the Avatar.

"B-but…"

"I can escape on my own, you want me to carry you on my back? You can't be captured by them, use that stick and fly already!" He shouted while deflecting another arrow with his blades, escaping alone would be easy... escape with the Avatar would be nearly impossible and he knew it 'i can chase him again later, as long as no one else catch this kid i have a chance.'

Aang took a second to look at his… "savior"… he knew that voice, of course, he knew… he still had painful memories of the time when he was beaten so badly that he had to rest for a whole week!

And now… the same person helped him escape…

"Fly already dammit!" Said Zuko while deflecting an arrow while dodging another one.

"I…I can carry you!" Said Aang while unfolding his glider, staring at Zuko.

"Tsk… I don't need your help! Now go!" 

Taking a final look at the masked Fire Nation Prince, Aang ran a few steps before hopping on his glider and flying away.

'The plan was perfect!' thought Zuko 'But it is as Teacher always says… never underestimate human stupidity… god dammit I almost had him!' thought Zuko as he pulled a couple of kunai from his pocket, throwing them in two specific locations, one on each side.

It didn't take long for the Fire Nation soldiers, following the Archer's direction, to spot the Blue Spirit, finally, they caught one of them! But where's the Avatar?

Suddenly a rumble sound echoed from their sides, and looking around they saw a wave of rocks rolling towards them at high speed, from both sides.

'Hope for the best, prepare for the worse…. Teacher is always right…. With enough preparation a man can face anything…' Zuko grins behind his mask before bolting away from there, seeing the soldiers being buried alive by a wave of rocks that he prepared beforehand eased the anger in his heart.

Someone had to pay for the Avatar escape after all!