Chapter Text
“YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING WHAT ?!”
After a few hours of reluctantly trudging through the sewers, the Gaang, Lin, and Tenzin had managed to meet up with Korra and the others, who were holding up in an abandoned underground tunnel. Unfortunately, since they had decided on an “honesty is the best policy” approach, Toph immediately spilled the beans, stealing Aang’s hat to prove it.
Aang awkwardly waved as he rubbed his neck. “Hah, yep! We’re the original Gaang, time traveling 70 years in the future!”
Bolin made an odd squeak, and then fainted. Korra continued shouting.
“And you didn’t think to, I dunno, MENTION this? At any point that we were chasing you?”
Zuko slowly blinked as he sat down against a wall. “Well, we were trying to preserve the timeline and shit, but that kind of went out the window. You know?” He made a so-so gesture with his hand.
Korra and her friends did not, in fact, know. This was partially because Korra and the others had no idea what exactly had gone down after they had left the island, and partially because Zuko was crashing very hard and was mostly asleep and therefore had lost any ability to be coherent.
Toph placed Aang’s hat on her head, grinning smugly. “It was Sokka’s idea.”
All eyes turned to Sokka, who suddenly looked like he would rather not be there. Awkwardly grinning, he raised his hands in surrender. “Now, we didn’t really know exactly what would happen during our, ah, little trip to the future-”
“Oh, is that what we’re calling all the property damage? You know, if you six had just explained yourselves this whole mess would have been avoided,” Lin interrupted.
“We were just trying not to ruin the timeline!” Katara protested.
“Well, you ruined several sidewalks and buildings instead!” Lin threw her hands into the air.
“Only because you tried to arrest us!”
“Which we were trying to do because of all the property damage-”
“Guys, guys!” Aang interrupted. “Can we argue about this later? It’s like-” He yawned. “-super late, and I’m tired. Can’t we argue in the morning? I mean, look at Zuko! He’s conked out!”
They turned to see Zuko had completely passed out sitting against the wall. Next to him, Suki was doing the same thing.
Tenzin nodded. “All of us are exhausted. We can talk in the morning.”
“Great!” Aang said cheerfully, and ran over to the cuddle pile Zuko and Suki had formed. The rest of the gang followed suit, while Tenzin, Lin, Korra, and her friends laid down in various places on the floor.
“Goodnight everyone,” Katara mumbled sleepily, and within minutes the Gaang and Co. had fallen fast asleep.
_____
The next morning, after eating a breakfast that Toph and Korra had worked together to steal, they attempted to discuss what would come next.
Keyword being “attempted.”
“C’mon, we aren’t allowed a teeny vacation? Just a little bit of R&R?” Sokka protested.
“Not when you’re committing arson! ” Lin shouted.
“It was mostly an accident! And we did other things too! Like property damage!” He shot back.
Lin groaned. “Why did you even commit so many crimes in the first place?”
“Why do you have a stick up your ass?” Toph retorted.
Lin glared, a move that was entirely ineffective due to Toph being blind. “Oh yeah, like I’m gonna take shit from my twelve year old mom-”
“Guys, guys!” Aang cried out, attempting to stop a fight before it began. “Can’t we focus on dealing with the terrorists instead of each other?”
Tenzin sighed in agreement, ignoring the Gaang’s snickering. “You make a good point. We should be working together, not fighting.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Korra asked.
All eyes turned to Sokka.
Panicked, he raised his hands in the air. “Why are you all looking at me?”
Aang shrugged. “You’re the plan guy!”
Lin nodded in agreement. “You’re a master strategist. Even now, you were well known for coming up with incredible off the wall strategies on the fly, and they were always successful.”
“Always?” Katara raised a brow skeptically.
Sokka, grinning smugly, ignored her. “Well, as a thanks for the ego boost, I guess I should share with you the master plan I’ve already come up with.” He frowned. “It means we’re going to have to split up though.”
At that, there was a chorus of groans from the Gaang, and confusion from everyone else.
“I know, I know! But 12 people is too many characters for the author to write, and she needs to split us up so it"s easier to write character interactions.”
With a sigh, the Gaang nodded in agreement, quietly murmuring about how that was reasonable.
“Great!” Sokka clapped his hands. “So here’s the plan. We split into 3 groups. One to rescue the kids, one to rescue civilians, and one to provide a distraction or backup. Now, rescuing the kids is going to be a stealth mission, so I’m thinking a small team of two or three people, maybe-”
“I’ll do it.” Tenzin and Aang said at the same time. They turned and looked at each other.
“They’re my kids,” Tenzin said.
“And they’re my grandkids!” Aang protested.
Sokka interrupted. “Maybe you guys shouldn’t go, since you’re both airbenders-?” He was cut off by two twin glares. “-or not!” He squeaked. “You old people can bond together! It’ll be fun! You guys can crochet, play bingo, gossip about your bitchy neighbors-”
“Sokka.” Lin sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “The plan?”
He grinned. “Right, yes! Aang and Tenzin are handling the stealth part of the mission. Aang, you should try to stay mostly undercover as just an airbender. We can try to preserve what little remains of our cover. But you can go full avatar mode if you have to; it doesn’t matter too much anymore.”
Toph snorted. “Implying we had a cover in the first place.”
Sokka scowled at her. “Shut it. Now, we’re gonna need someone to cause a big distraction so no one notices Aang and Tenzin. For this, I elected Zuko, me, Korra, Lin, and Toph. Zuko, channel your inner theater kid.”
“Fuck you Sokka.”
“Fuck you too buddy. Mako, Asami, Bolin, Suki, and Katara, you guys are in charge of civilians, mainly protecting them and helping them escape. You guys are also back up if anything goes wrong.”
Korra frowned. “What about Amon?”
“He’s too dangerous. We’re getting the kids, and then waiting until the United Forces show up. We’re outnumbered right now. Our current priority is getting the kids and helping any civilians,” Lin immediately replied.
The water tribe avatar huffed, but said nothing.
“Any disagreements?” Sokka asked.
Korra stood up. “Yeah, actually. There’s ten of us, all of us some of the most experienced benders and fighters in the world. And, we have two avatars!” She nodded towards Aang, who was currently fiddling with his hat and not paying attention in the slightest. “We can totally take him!”
Tenzin sighed. “Korra, Amon is too dangerous. This man has currently taken over the city and rallied all of his supporters. He has my kids! It’s safer to wait for backup, so we can take back the city.”
“And what happens to the kids if we wait for three days? Amon needs to be stopped, and he needs to be stopped now. We have the power to do it!” She spread her arms out, gesturing to the group at large. “You really think the ten of us can’t take him down? Together?”
“Korra, this man can take away people"s bending -!”
“Well, if any of you lose your bending, I can just give it back.”
The two stopped arguing to stare at a nonchalant Aang. He shrugged. “I can energy bend. So it doesn’t matter too much if you lose your bending. I can just give it back to you.” He suddenly realized all eyes were on him. “Hey, you guys wanna see a cool airbending trick?” He asked nervously.
“Aang if you pull out those stupid marbles I swear to Yue-”
“Anyways!” Katara interrupted her brother, who was still giving Aang an impressive glare. “Back to the plan, dear brother?” She asked sweetly.
Sokka shrugged. “Well-”
“Tenzin, back me up! We can totally take Amon!”
“Korra, we are not fighting Amon until backup arrives and that is FINAL!”
The room fell silent. Korra scowled, but said nothing.
Sokka gave Korra a hesitant look. “Ooookay then. Anyone have any other complaints?”
Lin straightened in her seat. “I"d rather help the civilians. I can reassure them and I"ve been trained for this.”
Sokka nodded. “That"s fine? Anything else?”
Suki hesitantly raised a hand. “Sokka, I don’t think it’s the best idea to put just you, Toph, and Zuko on a team together. Especially if you’re there just to make a distraction.”
A look of horror flashed over Sokka’s face. “You know what, fair point. Toph, you’re with the civilians. Suki, you’re with me and Zuko.”
Toph pouted. “Suki, Snoozles, you’re no fun.”
Suki gave the younger girl a sympathetic shoulder pat. “Trust me, it’s safer this way.”
Sokka clapped his hands. “So, we all good?”
Everyone nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Let’s get ready to head out.”
_____
As the rest of the group made preparations, Aang couldn’t help but notice Korra and a few of her friends quietly whispering in the corner.
Curious, he floated onto his feet (and what a relief it was, to finally be able to use his airbending!) and walked over.
As he approached them, he caught a few snippets of their conversation.
“-we should just go-”
“-kill Amon-”
“-could totally take him!”
“Hi there!”
The three of them screamed, apparently not noticing him come up behind them. “Whatcha guys talking about?”
Korra gave him a suspicious look. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Aang tilted his head and gave her his biggest grin. “Sure! Mind telling me anyways?”
Mako glared at him. “No.”
Aang casually adjusted his hat. “Sheesh, you guys are grumpy. Can’t an Avatar just wanna hang with his future reincarnation?
Korra raised an eyebrow. “No.”
Aang tried giving them his sweetest, most innocent grin. From the looks on their faces, it wasn’t working. “Pleeeease?”
Korra leaned close to him, their noses brushing. “Back off twerp.”
Aang huffed, possibly airbending a bit to send her flying back. “Cmon, didn’t anyone teach you to respect your elders?” He said teasingly, grinning.
Korra smirked. “I don’t respect people who I know I can beat.”
Aang gasped, placing a hand on his chest. “Excuse me??”
She snorted, brushing the dust off her pants as she stood up. “Uh, yeah. You may be like, a hundred years old, but I could totally kick your ass. You’re twelve .”
Aang winced. “I don’t know if we should try to be fighting right now…”
“Don’t be a pussy Twinkletoes!” Toph called from the other side of the room, attracting the attention of several others.
“Ooh, are Korra and Aang gonna fight it out to see who’s the strongest avatar?” Suki asked curiously.
“Ah, well, maybe we should be saving our energy to fight Amon-”
“RAAAAUUGH!” Ignoring Aang’s feeble attempts to stop the conflict, Korra charged at him, arm swinging in for a punch.
Her fist collided with his chest, and everyone watched as Aang went sailing across the room, his flight ending when he slammed into the opposite wall.
There was silence as everyone looked over to him, before he gave a shaky thumbs up. He did, however, continue to lay on the ground.
“Welp.” Korra shrugged. “That answers that question.” She turned to Mako and Asami. “So, do you guys wanna go kill Amon?
Both of them nodded, Asami a little too enthusiastically. “Sure, why not?” Mako said.
Tenzin pinched the bridge of his nose. “For the last time, you are not-”
“Ok. Bye everyone!” Korra said cheerfully, waving. And then the three of them were gone.
Tenzin buried his face in his hands and swore.
Aang, who had somehow not been injured despite being sent flying into a wall, shrugged. “Well, if they’re going to kill Amon, why don’t we split up and head out?”
No one could think of a good enough reason to disagree with him, so off they went.
_____
Zuko, Sokka, and Suki stood on top of a building. This building was overlooking a large plaza, where Amon was giving a speech. Something about bending being bad, the Equalists were evil, blah blah blah.
Sokka didn’t give a single fuck.
Aang and Tenzin had managed to find the base where the kids were being held captive. All they had to do was wait for their group"s distraction, and then they could sneak in and rescue the kids.
He hoped that Korra and her friends were ok. They had said they were going to Air Temple Island to ambush him, but he was clearly not at Air Temple Island. Oh well, their loss.
“So, any ideas for a distraction?” Suki whispered.
Amon’s words drifted up to them. “-when I was a boy, a firebender struck down my entire family, and left me scarred.”
“Oh, are you fucking kidding me right now-” Zuko muttered furiously under his breath.
Amon continued. “Ever since then, I’ve been forced to hide behind a mask.”
“Forced to hide? Forced to hide? ” Zuko’s voice rose in anger, becoming high-pitched and shrieky. Sokka turned to see steam pouring out of the firebenders ears.
Suki hesitantly reached out a hand. “Zuko, maybe you should think about this-”
But Zuko was too enraged now. “I’ll give the fucker something to hide.” And with that, he took a deep inhale and shouted as loud as he could, “HEY FUCKFACE!”
The crowd broke into gasps and murmurs as they turned to see the three teens standing on the roof.
Sokka watched in utter horror and glee as Zuko shook with rage. Thankfully, the steam coming off the other teen wasn’t visible to the crowd below.
Zuko pointed an accusing finger at Amon. “You have the audacity, to come here and hurt people, to take away their bending, because some bender hurt you? Because a firebender scarred you? Oh poor me, I was scarred by a firebender as a kid so I have to hide behind a mask LOOK AT MY FUCKING FACE!” He screamed in rage, pointing at the massive scar covering half of his face. “A FIREBENDER BURNT HALF OF MY FACE OFF JUST BECAUSE HE COULD. EVERYWHERE I GO PEOPLE WOULD FLINCH AWAY FROM ME OR MOCK ME BEHIND MY BACK, AND YET I NEVER DECIDED TO BECOME A TERRORIST! BITCH, MISS ME WITH THAT HIDE BEHIND A MASK BULLSHIT. YOU’RE JUST A PUSSY WHO’S HIDING BEHIND A MASK BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND WANT AN EXCUSE TO FALL BACK ON. YOU KNOW WHAT, I BET YOU DON’T EVEN ACTUALLY HAVE A SCAR! IT WOULDN’T SURPRISE ME AT ALL IF YOU WERE JUST SOME JACKASS MAKING UP A SOB STORY FOR SYMPATHY POINTS SO PEOPLE WOULD JOIN YOUR LITTLE MURDER GROUP.”
At that the crowd went wild, erupting into protests and shouts. Sokka nervously giggled in glee as he watched the chaos below. He traded a glance with Suki, who seemed to be feeling the same.
Well, Sokka had said “a distraction.”
Zuko stared down at the crowd unfazed, hands cupped around his mouth as he continued shouting. “CMON AMON, SHOW US YOUR REAL FACE. YOU SAID YOU WERE DOING THIS FOR THE GREATER GOOD, BECAUSE YOU UNDERSTOOD THEIR PAIN OR SOME SHIT. DON’T YOU WANT TO PROVE TO YOUR FANS YOU AREN’T A LIAR? UNLESS YOU’RE JUST A PUSSY , AND A FRAUD!”
The crowd was screaming at this point, gasping as Amon raised his hands to his mask, pulling back his hood. “An amusing claim. But I will show you the truth.”
It was dead silent as Amon removed the mask from his face.
Then, gasps of horror from the crowd.
Stretching from the right of Amon’s hairline to the left of his chin was an awful, bright red burn scar. A chunk of his lip was puckered up, and the scar went over both of his eyes and his nose. It was horrific to look at and was most definitely painful.
Sokka couldn’t help a wince, and he shot a glance over to Suki. She gave him a panicked look back, her eyes saying we’re so fucked .
Sokka couldn’t help but agree. How was Zuko supposed to respond to that?
Zuko, it seemed, was unimpressed. In fact, he seemed… even angrier?
Oh shit, he was absolutely pissed now. Sokka didn’t know Zuko could even get this mad, and he had seen him back when he was an angsty bald villain chasing them down.
Zuko opened his mouth to scream, and Sokka, having grown up with Katara, instinctively covered his ears. Oh boy.
“YOU CALL THAT A SCAR? ” Zuko screeched. “YOU’RE JUST-” He waved his arms furiously as he sputtered indignantly. “YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKFACE. YOU UTTER MORON. YOU’RE A COMPLETE AND UTTER BASTARD, YOU KNOW THAT? THAT IS THE FAKEST SHIT I’VE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE! HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SOMEONE WITH A SCAR BEFORE, ESPECIALLY A LARGE ONE? I HAVE, BECAUSE I’VE HAD ONE ON MY FUCKING FACE SINCE I WAS A TEEN. BIG SCARS DON’T FUCKING LOOK LIKE THAT! IT LOOKS LIKE YOU JUST SLAPPED SOME RED PAINT ON YOURSELF AND CALLED IT A FUCKING DAY. WHERE’S THE FUCKING TEXTURE? YOUR FACE IS COMPLETELY SMOOTH! MY FACE IS ALL WRINKLY AND ROUGH FROM MY FUCKING SCAR, AND YET YOUR SKIN IS SMOOTHER THAN A BABY’S ASSCHEEK. YOU DID GET THE LIP THING RIGHT, I ADMIT, BUT YOUR EYES? IF YOU GOT A BURN THAT FUCKING SEVERE GOING OVER YOUR FUCKING EYES, YOU SHOULD BE BLIND! BECAUSE I’M BLIND IN MY EYE! YOUR EYES LOOK PERFECTLY FINE FROM HERE AND THEY CLEARLY WORK FINE CONSIDERING YOU CAN EASILY WALK AROUND WITH A MASK ON COVERING A GOOD CHUNK OF YOUR SIGHT!”
“Wait, you’re blind in your left eye?” Sokka asked, but Zuko ignored him.
“AND THE HAIRLINE? DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON YOUR FUCKING HAIRLINE. YOUR SCAR ENDS PERFECTLY AT YOUR HAIRLINE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT MY SCAR FUCKING DID TO MY HAIR? IT CREATED A DEAD PATCH, WHERE HAIR REFUSED TO GROW, AND I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I HAD TO REGROW ALL MY FUCKING HAIR AND THERE WAS THIS GIANT RED PATCH ON MY SKULL WHERE HAIR DIDN’T FUCKING GROW. AND YET YOUR SCAR ENDS PERFECTLY AT YOUR FUCKING HAIRLINE! ALMOST LIKE YOU JUST PAINTED IT ON AND STOPPED THERE, BECAUSE IF YOU GOT THAT BADLY BURNED YOU SHOULD HAVE A BALD PATCH YOUR HAIR IS TOO SHORT TO COVER UNLESS YOU GOT BURNED BY SOME REALLY PRECISE FIREBENDER WHO WAS NICE ENOUGH TO NOT RUIN YOUR FUCKING HAIRLINE. WISH MINE DID THAT SO I DIDN’T LOOK LIKE A STUPID FUCK WHEN I HAD TO REGROW ALL THE HAIR ON MY HEAD.”
“Zuko, the reason you looked like a stupid fuck was because it looked like someone glued an ostrich horsetail to the back on an onion,” Sokka whispered. It was very important that Zuko knew this.
Zuko apparently didn’t care, too deep in his rant to stop now. “YOU’RE A LIAR AND A FRAUD AMON! THAT SCAR ON YOUR FACE IS AS REAL AS ALL THE SHIT YOU’VE BEEN SPEWING! I BET THE MAKEUP YOU’RE USING IS MADE OF PIG-COW SHIT, AND IT ISN’T EVEN WATERPROOF.” The crowd was deafening as they screamed in outrage, but the firebender continued on. “SUCK MY COCK, FUCKFACE!”
Amon shoved his mask back on, absolute fury on the man"s face. Sokka was crying hysterical tears as he tugged on Zuko’s shoulder. “Buddy, holy fuck. ”
Zuko’s shoulders shook, although it was impossible to tell if it was from rage or laughter. “I mean, we needed a distraction, right? And fuckface comes over here crying about a little booboo on his face-” He cut himself off as he curled into himself, trying to muffle his laughter.
Suki wiped the tears from her eyes, still giggling. “I’m so glad Toph isn’t here.” This sent Sokka into another fit of hysterical laughter as he imagined Toph making the situation ten times worse, cackling all the while.
The mob (because that’s what they were at this point, they had lost all sense of dignity) was screaming in fury, attempting to throw things at them and generally failing. “We-we should get out of here,” Suki managed to get out between giggles.
Amon shouted something and suddenly Equalizers were running towards them. “Oh, shit, yeah!” Sokka laughed as they took off running.
_____
When they heard the sound of distant explosions and screaming, Aang knew that this was their chance.
“That"s our cue,” He said to Tenzin.
The older–Younger?– Airbender raised a brow. “Are you sure?”
Aang grinned. “Yep. When you put Sokka and Zuko together, they always piss people off or cause something to explode. Sometimes both!”
Tenzin gave him a skeptical look, but said nothing. The duo quietly snuck through the doorway of the base, revealing a long mess of hallways.
Aang frowned, looking towards the other airbender. “Do you know where to go from here?”
Tenzin’s nose wrinkled as he thought. “I’m not sure, actually. I think I know the area where they might be held.” He turned towards one of the many hallways. “This way, I think.”
Aang quietly followed along, an awkward silence falling between the two. Aang once again adjusted the brim of his hat, thinking of something to say. This was his son! An actual airbender, just like him!
“So, uh…” Aang started awkwardly. “How is… parenting?”
Tenzin shrugged. “The kids can be a handful sometimes.”
“I think they’re pretty great,” Aang said. “And awesome at air scooter races.”
Tezin ground to a halt. “Have you– met my kids before?”
Whoops. Aang held his hands up, mind scrambling for a way to save the situation. “Hehe, nope! Never in my life! Definitely didn’t sneak onto Air Temple Island with Zuko to see them…”
That was perfect; Aang knew he was a fantastic liar.
Tenzin brought a hand up to his temple, face growing pale.
To anyone who was not Aang himself, it was well apparent that Aang was not, in fact, a fantastic liar.
“You were on Air Temple Island, with my kids –,” Tenzin said, voice panicky.
“Technically they’re my grandkids too…?” Aang said quickly, in an attempt to salvage the situation.
“–And I didn’t notice?” The older bender brought a hand up to his head, eyes growing wide. “No wonder they got kidnapped! If even you could sneak in there–”
“Well to be fair I am the avatar and I did, like defeat the Firelord and stuff–”
“–without me noticing… we’re going to have to seriously increase the security, their monitoring. I’m such an irresponsible father–”
Aang chuckled nervously, cutting off the rest of Tenzin’s rambling. “Hey, did future-me ever teach you air marbles?”
Tenzin’s face went red. “Well he… you… my father did try. I was never really any good at it though.”
Aang let out an exaggerated gasp, clasping a hand to his chest. “Sacrilege! That’s it.” He pulled to a stop and yanked Tenzin down to the hallway’s floor before the older/younger airbender could protest. “Today, you learn air marbles once and for all.”
Tenzin blinked, lips parting slightly but at a loss for words. After holding the rather fish-like expression for a moment, he cleared his throat. “There is the matter of the kids?”
“Right!” Aang jumped to his feet with the aid of a little airbending. “Walk and teach.”
Tenzin got up and followed as Aang dug into his jacket pockets, tongue sticking out in concentration until he let out an “Aha!” and thrust something into Tenzin’s hands. Tenzin opened his fist to see two small marbles.
Aang gave him a lopsided grin. “Always keep a few on me.” He spread his palm out in front of him, revealing that he held two marbles as well. With a flourish, he pulled his two hands apart and, with a little airbending, suspended the two marbles into the rapidly-spinning trick.
“Tada! The key is to keep the air pressure even on both sides, that way they don’t fall.”
Tenzin looked at Aang, then down to the marbles, and then back up at Aang.
He cleared his throat. “Ok. Uh.” He took a breath, and then pulled his hands apart in a mirror of Aang’s position. With a bit of concentration, the marbles wobbled shakily up and began to circle.
Aang’s face lit up. “Oh, there’s your problem. You’re just not putting enough force into it. You gotta be confident, see?” Aang shrugged. “It’s all for fun, anyway. Just do your best.”
Tenzin quietly smiled at him. He took a deep breath, and the marbles slowly became steadier in their orbit. “Ah, I think I get it now. Thank you.”
Aang reached up, standing on his toes to clap Tenzin on the shoulder. “You got it, son!”
Ha, yes, Aang was totally killing it!
The two of them rounded a corner, only to stop immediately. For standing in the middle of a random hallway of Amon’s top-secret Equalist base was a very confused-looking Bolin.
“Oh, hey guys,” Bolin said.
Both of the airbenders dropped their air marbles.
“What the fuck,” Aang said.
Tenzin shook his head. “This is… the complete opposite end of the city from where you are supposed to be. How did you even get here?”
Bolin shrugged. “I dunno. Toph and Lin started acting a little crazy, and I think I took a wrong turn somewhere, and, well, now I’m here!”
“O…kay,” Aang said slowly. “I guess you can be part of team ‘rescue the kids’ now.”
Bolin let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the spirits. I did not want to go back out there.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Also… I’m not sure I could find my way back out on my own.”
“Well, no time to waste,” Tenzin said briskly. “Let’s get on with it.” Aang made sure to snag the dropped marbles from the floor, and the now three-person Team Rescue-The-Kids continued down the hall, Tenzin taking the lead. A couple of hallways later, they emerged into an open space that looked somewhat like a conference room, albeit one with a copious number of crates cluttered along the walls. And a lot of doors.
Tenzin brought them to a halt. “Ok, the kids should be around here somewhere. Check all the doors, and anywhere that looks like it could hold a kid.”
The team split and began combing the nooks and crannies of the room. “Jinora! Meelo! Ikki!” Aang called. The others did likewise.
“I think I hear something!” Bolin called. Aang’s head shot up, and he was sprinting over in an instant. Tenzin was even faster, propelling himself up over the stack of crates he’d been looking through and over to where Bolin was pointing. Getting closer, Aang could make out the voices too, coming from behind one of the doors.
“In here!”
“Stand back kids, I’m coming!” Tenzin exclaimed, leaping over another set of boxes before steadying himself and pushing a blast of air at the offending door. The wood splintered like paper, and Tenzin shot inside, Aang close on his heels.
“Kids?” Tenzin said, voice raw.
“Dad!” An orange blur shot out of the corner of the room, which was more like a closet, and clung to Tenzin’s leg. Tenzin looked down and in a second he had drawn the figure into a hug.
“Oh thank the spirits , Meelo, I was so worried–” Tenzin breathed in relief.
Two more figures emerged from the corner, more caution in their steps. Tenzin looked up, tears welling in his eyes as he swept them up into the hug as well. “I’m so glad you’re all ok.”
Aang stood a couple of feet off. He wanted to join in the hug, but he didn’t want to mess with the family reunion either. Although he was part of the family… but…
He was about to step back away, confident he’d ruined his chance at getting in on the moment, but then he felt a hand on his collar, and suddenly he was swept into the hug. “O-oh,” Aang said, blinking back tears.
Meelo looked up from the embrace, already tired of being smothered, and gasped. He pointed a finger at Aang. “Bonzu! Bonzu’s here to save us!”
“Dad, what’s Bonzu doing here?” Ikki asked.
Tenzin shot Aang a sharp look. “ Bonzu?”
Aang let out a nervous chuckle. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! There are no secrets here! None!”
As Aang always said: Great Liar.
_____
Now, some of you may be wondering what Korra, Mako, and Asami have been up to this entire time.
Well, they found Tarloq and learned all about Amon’s angsty backstory. After that, they went and tried to find Amon so they could kill him. They couldn’t find him, and as such failed. Whoops!
Look, it’s hard to kill the main villain of a season. He can’t die until the end. He has plot armor.
After failing to kill the real life adult edgelord, all three of them decided to make out in a random closet. By the end of it, Korra and Asami had come out of the closet in more ways than one.
Goodbye, all of Korra’s character development from the original Legend of Korra. You had a good run.
_____
Rescuing citizens had been going ok, at first.
The citizens had been acting as citizens do, you know, the standard stuff; cowering in their homes and praying that they wouldn’t be snatched off the streets to have their bending stolen away by a madman in a mask.
It had been easy to start sneaking them out, through underground tunnels that would lead them to the outskirts of the city. Toph and Lin had no issues creating secret tunnels, and Katara and Bolin were doing a fantastic job rallying the citizens and keeping them calm.
The issue had come from the two earthbenders who could not. Shut. Up.
Katara slowly exhaled as she heard the duo get into another squabble. She turned to see what they had decided to be petty about this time. Maybe it had something to do with the several grinning Toph faces that had been placed along the walls of the tunnel.
Lin was pinching her nose. “It’s like you"re not even taking this seriously!”
Toph snorted, hand on her hip. “I’m taking it plenty serious. I just don’t see why we can’t have a little fun with it!”
“Because these people are in real danger. This is not the time to be playing games.”
Toph raised a brow. “It sounds like you’re a little too serious.”
Lin threw her hands up in the air. “This is a serious situation! There are rules, regulations you need to follow!”
Toph scowled. “Rules, schumles! We’re getting these citizens to safety, and a few jokes won’t make them less safe! You’ve just got a giant stick up your ass from being Head cop.”
“Uh, guys, maybe we should all calm down?” Bolin asked hesitantly.
Lin sighed. “I can’t believe that you somehow turn into my mother. The Toph I knew would never act like this.”
Katara winced at that. Youch.
Toph’s face screwed up in rage. “Spirits, sorry I’m not some cranky jackass. You know, with all these rules, maybe someone should make a few changes around here. Maybe I’ll become Queen of Republic City so you can shut the fuck up for once.”
And with that Toph turned and walked off, presumably to find more civilians to save.
Lin, unfortunately, was not having it. “Wha-you can’t be Queen of Republic City! We’re a Republic!”
Toph stopped, slowly turning around. “You know, maybe I should, if you’re gonna get so pissy about it.”
Katara suddenly had a very bad feeling about this. “Toph, uh, maybe you shouldn’t-”
Toph smirked, and Katara realized there was no stopping her now. They were past the point of return. She was running on pure spite now.“REPUBLIC CITY, YOUR QUEEN HAS ARRIVED!” She shouted, the earth rumbling under her feet.
“Don’t you fucking dare- ” Line started, but it was useless. Toph stomped her foot, sending a wave of earth out to the surrounding buildings. Katara idly noticed how it went around her while sending Lin toppling at the same time. Several Equalizers, which Katara hadn’t realized were there, started screeching and running away.
Toph began cackling. “READY OR NOT EQUALIZERS, HERE I COME!”
Katara felt an impending sense of doom as the earth around Toph shifted and changed, becoming difficult to navigate. A throne of earth rose from the ground, towering over all, with Toph seated smugly on top.
In the back of her mind, Katara vaguely noticed that Bolin had disappeared at some point. Well, he would be fine on his own.
“COWER BEFORE ME!”
Katara sighed, crossing her arms. Even for Toph, this was a bit overdramatic.
Lin stared at Toph wide-eyed. “She’s insane.”
Katara snorted. “No, she’s just upset. You should get up there and apologize.”
“I’m sorry, you want me to apologize? For calling my twelve year old mother out on her bullshit?”
Katara raised an eyebrow. “Wow, you really have mommy issues, don’t you.”
“Who’s fault is that?” Lin demanded, gesturing to Toph.
Toph stuck her tongue out at Lin.
"As if she couldn"t be a worse mother than she already was," Lin muttered under her breath, barely loud enough for Katara to hear. She flipped Toph the finger and continued on through the terrain. Sighing, Katara followed her, only to make sure these two didn’t kill each other and fuck up the timeline somehow. The civilians would be fine. Probably.
After too much walking and attempting to navigate whatever the fuck Toph had done to the surrounding sidewalk, Lin finally made it to the bottom of Toph’s earth… throne… thing, where the aforementioned earthbender sprawled out. She came to a stop, panting, and braced herself against the bottom, staring incredulously up at Toph.
“Mother… you have to… stop,” Lin huffed.
Toph, seeming to just notice her for the first time, poked her head over the edge of the earthen throne, a shit-eating grin on her face. “Hey, don’t I become Police Chief later anyway? Queen, police chief, same difference.”
“That is NOT SAME DIFFERENCE!” Lin shouted.
Toph just cackled, and with a stomp of her foot, picked the throne up and bent it away, leaving Lin in the dust. Lin let out a long, deeply done–with–this–shit groan, and set off after Toph once more, Katara following closely behind.
A bit of bending later, Lin managed to pull even with Toph as she rampaged down yet another street. “Toph… being police chief… is not the same as being queen! You can’t be queen… of Republic City!”
Toph, who was not even breaking a sweat as she earthbent full tilt, shrugged. “What’s the difference? Either way, you’re making up whatever laws you want and forcing your rule onto people.”
Lin looked as if she had been stabbed. She opened her mouth to reply, but Toph cut in before she could even get a word out.
“Look, I had parents so strict they told everyone I didn’t exist. My entire life, I was raised to follow my parents" rules and be the sweet, perfect little blind girl. And you’re telling me I joined the police!?” Toph shook her head, almost laughing from the absurdity of it. “That’s something my parents would despise, yet it"s the opposite of a rebellion.”
Lin’s eyes widened. She hesitated, avoiding Toph’s gaze. “You grew up a lot, I guess.” She chose her words carefully. This was her mother, she reminded herself. As a child, she hardly knew what was happening in her mother"s head half the time. As an adult, she knew nothing. What was she supposed to tell her? “You can only have chaos for so long before the desire for order takes over.”
porsche this is not
im leaving this part in too what the fuck dude - lilac
LEAVE IT IN BITCH I DARE YOU -aru
D: it’s just like the iroh and toph scene - porsche
that is cause she was talking to fucking IROH this was a horrid idea - lilac
Your idea of humor is very different than lilacs’ style -aru
TOPH ISN’T ALWAYS CHAOTIC SHE CAN BE SINCERE. SHE IS SINCERE ALL THE TIME SCREW YOU GUYS Also she’s pointing out the irony in her being the police chief thats funny screw you -porsche
Porsche pleeze understand that this fic operates off the law of funny
If it’s funny it happens dramatic character moments do not exist -aru
I exclusively write long dramatic fantasy novels WHY DID YOU GUYS HAVE ME JOIN A CRACK FIC - porsche
Toph rolled her eyes at that. “As I said earlier, future me is a fucking cop? That’s cringe.” She flipped Lin a big fat bird and continued earthbending away.
Lin screeched in rage, and Katara suddenly understood why Zuko longed for death.
Katara felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see a civilian nervously standing behind her, eyes darting around. They flinched as one of the earthbenders (Katara couldn’t tell which at this point, and frankly did not have the spare brain cells to care) sent a chunk of building flying into the sidewalk a mere few feet away.
“I’m sorry and please do not hurt me but do you have any idea what’s going on?”, the citizen squeaked quickly, holding their hands up in what seemed to be an attempt to protect their head. “Where are the equalizers? Who was that earthbender?”
Katara took a second to try to formulate a logical response, but realized very quickly that that wasn’t going to happen, so she gave up and decided to just tell the truth. The really important people all already knew, and this situation honestly couldn’t be made any worse.
She took a long, deep breath, and then let it all out.
“I don’t know what’s going on with the equalizers. Zuko and Tenzin and Sokka and Avatar Korra and some other people should be taking care of it, but I do not know how that situation is going because I’m currently trying to babysit the estranged disaster mother-daughter duo of destruction. The earthbender destroying everything is Toph Beifong, future and also past Republic City police chief who decided it’s time for a power trip at one of the most inconvenient times possible. Currently trying to corral her is Lin Beifong, current police chief of Republic City, who has in fact been pursuing my friends and me for a series of crimes, including but not limited to: destruction of public property, arson, theft, disturbance of the peace, and being general menaces to society. And, I guess technically identity fraud. There needs to be a title drop somewhere, despite it being the one crime we actually DIDN’T commit. You’re welcome, dearest author.”
( What do you mean AUTHOR– was the frantic and deeply distressed thought that ran through the civilian’s head.)
Katara smiled, impervious to the citizen’s panicked confusion. “Also, I’m Katara. The famous healer and future wife of the Avatar. From a hundred years ago.”
Katara took a deep inhale. It felt weirdly good to get all of that off of her chest. Maybe she should do this more often.
The citizen, however, did not seem so reassured. They stared at her, gobsmacked, for several long seconds. Katara held their gaze. Then, they softly whispered “What the fuck”, turned on their heel, and sprinted away with impressive speed.
Katara decided that maybe revealing all that with no preparation was a bad idea. But she had lost all control of the situation, and so no longer gave a fuck.
She understood Zuko so much right now.
But it couldn’t be helped, and there was still the issue of the great earthbender family feud. Someone had to run damage control. After allowing herself one long moment of self-pity, she bent her water out of her flask and, shaping it into a shield to protect herself from the falling debris, sprinted back off after the reign of terror once more.
“Lin, you need to apologize!” Katara shouted at the older woman as soon as she managed to get back within earshot.
“I"m not apologizing to a twelve year old having a temper tantrum!” Lin screamed back.
“GO FUCK YOURSELF!” Toph helpfully added.
Katara glared at the older woman. “I don’t know what your fucking problem is, but you need to swallow your pride and apologize to Toph. I’ll talk to her when she calms down, but she is doing this out of spite because of you. So go do something to fucking fix it.”
The gaze of a fourteen year old should not have terrified Lin as much as it did. She swallowed. “Fine.” Lin sighed, directing her gaze up at the throne. “I took my anger out on you, and I apologize…” Lin put her hands on her hips. “I just think that maybe, when you’re an adult, you shouldn"t fucking neglect me, ya know? That kinda fucks up a kid, being forced to live up to your expectations when you weren’t even around half the time.”
There was a pause, and then the earth throne lowered, sinking into the ground and leaving Toph behind. She was silent for a moment before speaking.
“I didn’t know future me neglected you. I don’t know what I’ll do in the future. But I haven’t done any of that yet! I’m not that cranky hag you know.”
“Well— you still did it. And don’t really take enough accountability in the show, so…”
“Oh. That"s fair.”
Katara nudged Toph’s ribs. “Maybe you should also apologize.”
Toph sighed. “Sorry for all the property damage. I do take things seriously, it’s just that you seemed so uptight and pissy that I thought you needed some humor in your life.”
Lin raised an eyebrow. “That’s not much of an apology. And I’m already dealing with so much chaos, I don’t need anymore.” She gestured to the street around them, which was horribly misshapen and also slightly on fire.
Toph winced. “Oops.”
Katara clapped her hands. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled! Group hug, everyone!” She pulled a groaning Toph and Lin together. “And if you ever pull that shit again, either of you, I will turn all the water in your body to ice and leave you frozen and withering on the ground.” She said darkly.
She freed them from the hug, ignoring their traumatized expressions. “I’m glad we’re all good!”
Lin frowned. “You know, I feel like we’re forgetting something.”
Katara shrugged. “Maybe? I can"t think of anything.”
Behind Toph, she saw Amon running towards their group. She opened her mouth to say something, but Toph flicked her wrist, a pillar of earth slamming into the man and sending him flying high into the sky, to places unknown.
Toph grinned. “Well, that settles that.”
_____
Eventually, everyone had managed to congregate on the beach, where Appa had been sleeping undisturbed the entire time.
“Thank all of you, for helping us save Republic City from Amon’s wrath,” Lin said. “Despite all the property damage, the civilians are only emotionally, not physically scarred.”
Sokka grinned. “Glad to help!”
“Now that we aren’t in any immediate danger, we can help figure out a way to send you all home,” Tenzin said.
Aang smiled serenely. “Actually, I think we’ve got it figured out on our own.”
Everyone turned to him in shock. “Aang, what the fuck?” Toph said.
Aang shrugged. “Something is telling me that we aren’t going to be here much longer. We can leave whenever you guys are ready.”
Immediately, the airbender kids tackle-hugged Aang, sending him flying to the ground. “We’re gonna miss you!” They wailed as Aang awkwardly patted them.
“I’ll miss you guys too,” He said sadly.
Toph punched Lin’s shoulder, grinning. “For a cop, and being my daughter, you aren’t terrible.”
Lin smiled. “Guess that’s nice to know. Make sure you aren’t such a jackass when you get older.”
Toph’s face was deadly serious. “I will do everything in my power to prevent myself from becoming a crotchety old cop.”
Korra grinned, placing her arm on Zuko’s head. “Well, it was fun meeting you shorty.”
Zuko scowled. “I’m the tallest out of my friends.”
She snorted. “Yeah, and I’m the shortest of my friends. You’re still short.”
Everyone said their goodbyes as the Gaang piled onto Appa, Aang seated at the front. “Appa, yip-yip!” The sky bison yawned, before slowly lifting off the ground and flying off into the sunset as they all waved farewell.
Korra frowned as she watched them go. “You think they’ll be ok?”
Lin smiled, crossing her arms. “Yeah,” she said. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”