Counterattack(1)

We arrive in the Underground City, well city might not be a suitable word, settlement, would be more appropriate due to the poor state it was in. There were no buildings, there were only tents made of old cloth, the streets were filthy and the smell was insanely bad. But it was the safest place in all the city at the moment so I couldn't complain too much.

"Ethan!"

I look in the direction where the voice came from and I see Nya, I run to get and hug her. I missed her, even if we only have been apart for less than a day. Today was very tiring and stressful, seeing Nya made me feel lighter, it even me forget the horrible smell that was around me.

We found a place to stay and I put Lin down. She was still unconscious after all of this, she must have hit her head pretty hard in the commotion. I asked Nya if Hiroshi had been busted out, and where did they take him. She said that he has and they took him somewhere to the east side of the city but she didn't know exactly where since she couldn't follow them once they got inside the car. While Beifong was resting I gathered everyone to formulate a plan.

"I gathered all of you to tell you about what we are going to do next. I'm not going to lie to you, our chances look slim, the Equalists have one more weapon hidden in their arsenal so I don't expect the fleet to do anything useful when they get here. They will most likely get obliterated because they don't have an effective way to defend against air attacks.

We could try to find where exactly they keep the weapons since we have the general location, but even if we find the place I don't expect us to be able to breach there, much less sabotage since that place is packed to the gills with angels. Since the outcome of our first battle is out of our grasp all we can do is prepare to save the soldiers after their attack fails and accommodate them here. We need to boost our numbers if we want to strike back, this is the only measure we can take to minimize the loss. So after much consideration, we will make two teams, one team will help me find a way to save as many soldiers as possible and team two follow Nya and try to find a more exact location for the weapons. I'll make the groups now and so that we can get started as soon as possible. Heed my words we night lose a battle but we are going to win the war! We have three days to prepare so let's make them count."

After arranging the teams we got to work, team one had the most members by far and started to prepare equipment for the wounded that will come after the battle. We started by making huts using earth bending and prepared clean beds for them. We even started to clean the streets, the place started to seem livable for humans.

The next day Lin woke up and wanted to help with the cleaning of this place. After a water bender looked at her and said that she was fine and I let her join in the fun.

In the short three days we had at our disposal we made this place seem like a proper camp. Before the attack, I called the fleet on the radio and asked to speak with the commander.

"Commander Iroh here, with who am I speaking?"

"Hello, commander! I'm Ethan Morningstar I'm with the avatar here, I want to give you my final advice before the battle. You should be careful when entering the bay, there are bombs in the water, also if things get bad get ready to abort the ship. We have made a temporary camp here and have enough resources to last us a few days."

"I know, Tenzin told me over the radio about the so-called planes, but he never said anything about the bombs, guess you just learned about them. I know the plan, we have to make them waste as much time as possible for you to find the place where those things take off."

"Commander, you will on your own under heavy fire, we can help you once you are on land but you are on your own as long as you are in the water, the moment you are overwhelmed I suggest a tactical retreat to preserve troops."

"I know, you don't need to worry about my men, you just find that place and shut it down."

"Of course! May I ask how Master Tenzin and his family are?"

"Haha, I was expecting you to ask for some time, I could see that they see you as their family, they were quite worried when you remained behind to stall for time to let them escape. I heard a lot of stories about you in the past few days and I'm quite impressed with your achievements."

"Thank you! Are they still on the ship?"

"No, they went to meet with captain Bumi, they will come in the second wave."

"Good, at least they are safe. May the spirits be on your side Commander. Over and out."

I went outside the building we started to use as our headquarters and I called all of the benders over.

"Today we start to fight back! Tomorrow we retake our city! May the spirits be on our side!"

"MAY THE SPIRITS BE ON OUR SIDE!"