"I'm saying this giant metal contraption is certainly cool and huge, but if all we need is to break the wall, we can always use me!" the Blind Bandit explained smugly.
"That wall is about fifty meters tall. And five meters thick," Suki pointed out, subtly suggesting that this was, in fact, a hell of a lot of wall to deal with.
"Pfft." Toph, now fully puffed up with bravado, snorted. "I'll make a gate in it in three heartbeats. And those clowns who call themselves earthbenders won't stop me!"
"Ummm..." Damn it, she was actually right... "No. We're not doing that." I hastily rejected the impatient disciple of destruction's proposal.
"What, afraid I'll get hurt? I'm not a porcelain doll, you know!" Toph predictably growled.
"That has nothing to do with it! I'm worried about our honor!"
"What do you mean?" She blinked.
"The Fire Nation has been unable to take this city for a hundred years. We've lost countless soldiers, machines, and other resources. This drill took several years to build! Can you imagine what we'll look like if all of that turns out to have been completely pointless because one little blind girl just smashes the city open?"
"Yeeeaah..." The little hooligan closed her eyes in blissful satisfaction.
"Oh, absolutely not!" Azula quashed the rebellion, practically shooting up from her throne toward the little girl. My argument had clearly made quite an impression on her.
"Aww, you cheapskates!"
"Hmm..." As she calmed down, the princess regarded Toph thoughtfully, clearly calculating something in her head. "I'll let you demolish the Earth King's palace."
"Awesome! Thanks!" The girl broke into a delighted grin.
"You spoil her too much and encourage her penchant for destruction and unprovoked violence," I couldn't help pointing out.
"I'm allowing a child to live a full life and develop properly," the princess shot back.
"Psst." Ty Lee jumped over to Mai. "Why do I get the feeling they're discussing how to raise their child?"
"Practice," Mai replied with a phlegmatic shrug. "I'm more concerned that everyone seems to have forgotten about the Earth Kingdom saboteurs..."
"Right." Azula snapped back to the matter at hand. "Well, since Earthbending is off the table..." She gave the little blind girl a pointed look, every note of her voice making it clear that, if necessary, she would personally catch Toph and tie her up, but she would not allow her to participate in breaching the wall. "Then we'll solve this problem the traditional way. Anyone feel like fighting, or should we let General Chin's men handle it?"
"I could use a little warm-up." Zuko stepped forward, reflexively glancing at Mai. Ah, understood. Someone wanted to show off in front of his lady.
"Zu-Zu, are you showing off your feathers?" his little sister couldn't resist teasing him.
"Hmph!" The prince, his scheme exposed, exhaled an irritated puff of smoke.
"I think I'll accompany Zuko," Iroh offered good-naturedly.
"And I imagine the Herald would like to put a little fear and terror into the defenders as well," I added, supporting the elderly firebender's decision while simultaneously giving the Blast his orders. He understood perfectly and merely nodded grimly. And so our "three merry benders" left the command room.
"Isn't that... too few, my lady, my lord?" General Chin cautiously addressed us a minute later. "If there are several dozen of them..."
"My uncle and the Herald are out there. And Zuko is quite strong himself." Azula waved the concern away.
"Ahh, if only we had some fire flakes right now," Ty Lee said dreamily. Yeeah... and apparently not one member of our group was bothered by the fact that a massacre was about to happen out there...
"Anything?" the princess asked Toph after a couple of minutes of waiting.
"Let's see... those clumsy turtle ducks crawled out and tried to lock the drill in place with a ring of granite... Idiots..." It was impossible to disagree with the girl on that one—we, sitting inside that very drill, hadn't even felt any resistance. We'd been crawling leisurely toward the wall before, and we continued crawling leisurely toward the wall afterward.
Incidentally, they'd also started hurling boulders at us from the same wall, but judging by the sound, it was like a light hail rattling against a windowsill: noisy, and it might hurt if you went outside, but as long as you were under a roof, it wasn't going to inconvenience you in the slightest.
"Well? What's happening?"
"They're fighting..." Toph shrugged. "Or rather, the guys saw the Fire Herald..."
"A-a-a-and?" Azula leaned forward.
"And buried themselves." A heavy sigh. "They're running away."
"Poor Zuko... He didn't even get to kill anyone," Mai observed with a perfect poker face.
About ten minutes later, our valiant commandos returned to headquarters. The prince dropped back into his seat with a disgruntled expression, muttering under his breath about how badly the earthbenders had saddened and disappointed him. And shooting reproachful looks at the Blast, because he knew exactly who had "thrown his reputation around" to plunge the Earth Kingdom warriors into panic and despair.
Meanwhile, the drill finally reached the wall and bit into the stone. The giant jackhammer's work could now be felt even inside the command room—everything was rumbling and trembling, not exactly shaking violently, but definitely enough to notice. And that was when what we'd been waiting for all this time finally happened.
The lookouts spotted a flying bison approaching.
Well then. The Avatar had arrived.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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