Chapter 51

"NO!"

A storm of emotions raged through Tanya as she watched the bags sink into the depths of the ocean: fear, betrayal, but most of all white-hot anger. Had it not been for Iroh's wall of fire she'd be halfway through burning the rest of Zuko's treacherous face off right now! A perfect victory had been right in their hands, and he'd thrown it all away!

"At the mere sight of his father he fell to his knees, weeping and trembling like a newborn baby. That's why The Firelord banished him. He doesn't have the mettle to be the ruler our nation would need him to be one day."

Zhao's words from the day Zuko's ship came crawling into their port came to mind. Despite the thing's he'd done, Zhao hadn't been wrong about everything. Come to think of it, Zuko had betrayed her trust that day too, when he tried to keep knowledge of The Avatar's return to himself.

"Never again!" She swore to herself, fighting to bottle up the storm inside before she lost control of herself. "I'll never trust Zuko again. But I'll have to act quickly to salvage this situation."

The Water Tribe had doubtlessly realised the moment it happened that their bending was back, and would now be empowered by the full moon again. However, that no longer mattered. During the hours that the red moon had hung in the sky, their forces had been absolutely decimated by her trap.

The Fire Nation outnumbered them by about 20 to 1, and the Water Tribes were still surrounded and disorganised. There was only one wildcard that could ruin everything if given the chance.

Tanya's glare flickered to The Avatar, still struggling against the heavy chains that bound him. She'd been confident that she could take on The Avatar State when the moon was red: with his waterbending gone and no earth around to bend, his strength was effectively halved.

Now that the moon was back though she'd be challenging a phenomenally powerful waterbender on a plateau of sheet ice. Provoking him into The Avatar State and trying to execute him personally didn't seem like such a wise idea now.

But she also knew how the Avatar Cycle worked. Kill him as a regular boy now, and he'd be reincarnated among one of the Water Tribes. After tonight she'd have control of the North Pole, and the South Pole didn't have enough fight left in it to resist if she brought her fleet down there next.

She could establish a firm Fire Nation presence on both poles, set up traps and patrols, and wait patiently for the day when the next young Avatar discovered their powers. When that happened she could repeat this moment all over again.

Yes, it might take another decade of waiting but The Avatar, and through him Being X, would no longer be a threat to her. All she had to do was kill the nomad boy here and now.

There was no battle cry, no loud warning or rageful shriek as Tanya burst towards him, jets of fire spewing from her feet. Iroh looked like he wanted to intervene, but by then her soldiers had already engaged him and Zuko.

The Dragon of the West tore through them like wet paper, but it still bought her the seconds she needed. The only ones who could defend the chained Avatar were the Southern Tribe peasants.

The boy threw some manner of projectile at her that Tanya swerved around with ease. Correction, the only one who could defend the chained Avatar was the Southern Tribe girl.

With a curving motion like a swimmer swinging their arms back during a backstroke, the girl melted the ice in front of her and made it surge up into a towering blockade of swirling water. It was the sort of technique common sense dictated you avoid and go around, but Tanya was not willing to waste even a second of time.

One hand shot forward to unleash a bolt of intense, bright flame that exploded into a burst of hissing steam the moment it hit the water wall, evaporating a huge chunk out of it. The water immediately moved to flow back into the empty space, but Tanya was quicker.

Her feet burned ever brighter as Tanya pushed her jet propulsion technique to its limits, rocketing forward like a human missile. Her skin stung and crackled as she dove headfirst into the cloud of boiling steam she'd created, then immediately splashed into the wall of freezing cold water.

Colliding with water at such high speeds battered her arms, head and neck, but thanks to her fire bolt the area she charged into was thinner than the rest. The momentum from her jets carried her straight through the wall, bringing her face to face with The Avatar on the other side.

Checkmate. The water tribe girl hadn't expected her to push through the wall, and wasn't in the right pose to make a defensive motion in time. The Avatar's eyes were wide, his body paralysed by fear as Tanya descended upon him, her good arm wreathed in flame as it swung down towards his head…

Crack

Tanya jerked to the side like a puppet with its strings cut as something hard and heavy smashed into the side of her face, knocking a tooth out of the corner of her mouth. What the hell was that!

"Yes! Boomerang!" The water tribe boy cheered.

The extra second was all the time The Avatar needed to collect his wits. With a huff and a puff so deep they'd make a big bad wolf proud, he blew as if his life depended on it. Which it very much did in this case.

While that might not have been much for a regular person, for a master airbender the result was like standing behind the turbine of an aeroplane. In the blink of an eye Tanya was picked up and thrown backwards into the sky so high she could look out across the entire battlefield.

Liberal bursts of fire soon had Tanya halt her rapid ascent, but a glance back down confirmed that those few seconds had been all the time needed for her trap to collapse.

Her soldiers had been defeated, her tanks toppled, and Zuko and Iroh were fleeing whilst the Southern Tribe siblings finished prying off the hastily constructed manacles from The Avatar's wrists.

Tanya snarled in fury and dove back towards them, but the distance was too great. The moment he was free, The Avatar picked up his staff and sprinted across the ice.

She forgot sometimes that The Avatar could, under the right conditions, sprint as fast as the wind. With a flat, open space in front of him, those conditions had been met. The young nomad picked up speed at an alarming pace, galloping towards the battlefield like a well-bred horse.

Currents of air gathered together in a swirling mass behind him, becoming so large and powerful that they became visible, dirty grey blob, like a localised hurricane was trailing after him.

The Avatar rocketed behind the line of soldiers that stood between the Water Tribe warriors and Agna Qel'a. The gathered gale behind him hit them half a second later like a speeding freight train, snatching them off their feet as if they weighed no more than feathers.

Tanya watched with horror as the line of soldiers that she had put so much planning and effort into positioning at the perfect place was wiped off the board in a matter of seconds.

And deep inside her, whatever tight lid Tanya kept on her temper suddenly snapped.

...

Pakku watched with amazement as the soldiers behind them, the metaphorical bars to the cage he'd foolishly led his warriors into, were sent flying through the air like rag dolls. First the blessed moon had returned, and now the encirclement was broken! The Avatar had really come through for them!

"Chief! We must flee!" He called out, knowing that this opportunity would not last for long. Though it pained him to admit it, Agna Qel'a had fallen. Even with the full moon's power, they no longer had enough men to resist the Fire Nation's advance. But on the other side of the city lay the pathway out into the northern wastes.

If they could retreat, they could find shelter in another village and form the core of a resistance movement. The Fire Nation may occupy the North Pole, but they would spend every minute paying for it with blood and tears.

When no answer came from the chief, Pakku looked over his shoulder to find him lying face down in the snow, his chest no longer rising and falling. The ageing waterbender bit back his grief and looked forwards again. There was no time to mourn. "With me warriors! Retreat! Make for the wastes!"

They needed little encouragement. Like a great stampede, the warriors of the north turned and ran, calling their final reserves of stamina to make a dash back to the gate.

But of course, The Devil of the South Sea would not let them go so easily.

"GET AFTER THEM!" Her shrieking voice cut through the night's air like the wailing of a banshee.

The golden child of the Fire Nation looked a mess: her hair tangled and messy as if she'd been dragged through several bushes, and her face a mask of wild fury so uncontrollable that it seemed like she was on the verge of frothing at the mouth.

There was some small pleasure in knowing that they had at least been able to drive the normally unflappable Admiral Tanya completely ballistic, but Pakku had no time to savour it as the Fire Nation horde wasted no time following her orders.

The ice shook as an avalanche of red and black armoured soldiers charged after the northern warriors, hurling battle cries and fireballs alike.

...

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