Emerald Dragon chapter 61

Chapter 61 -

Harry frowned deeply as he stared at the drill from the top of the wall. His mind was alternating between worrying about the drill and being concerned about the fact that the general didn't really know who he was. Harry wasn't a vain person, as far as he was concerned, but he knew that he still had a reputation. The only people who didn't know about him were those who had been severely isolated for the last few years. It didn't make sense for Ba Sing Se to be one of those; it was one of the biggest cities in the world, for Merlin's sake! It reminded him an awful lot of Minister Fudge and the way he controlled the Daily Prophet, preventing anyone from finding out that Voldemort was alive.

But if that was the case, then why?

What possible benefit was there? Just how much information was being kept from the general populace if even a general didn't know who he was? How much did the people know?

"So, what are we going to do about the drill?" Aang asked, standing next to him and staring at the drill in question.

"I don't suppose that you can fiendfyre it into oblivion?" Sokka asked Harry with a thoughtful expression.

"Possibly," Harry frowned. "But for something that big, I'd have to put a lot of effort into controlling it. Last time in the Water Tribe, I had two spirits and one near-mint conditioned Avatar. Besides, I don't exactly know who is in it."

"Hostages?" Toph guessed.

"That too, but I get the hint that he's referring to Azula and company," Katara said softly.

"So? I'm sure she would understand," Sokka said, earning a dirty look from Harry. "Sorry," He said half-heartedly. "But there is the matter of the big drill."

"We do need to make sure that nobody's in it when we destroy it," Aang said, never eager when it came to taking a life. "Any ideas?"

"Well," Sokka frowned. "I suppose that we're all relatively stealthy,"

"Relatively," Harry nodded in agreement. "You're suggesting we sneak up on it?"

"Exactly," Sokka smiled.

"We'd probably still need a distraction," Toph piped up. "Maybe we can have the general launch another attack."

"Attacks are nice," Commented Harry. "Once we get inside, we'll find out if there are any hostages."

"Then we need to stop the thing? Any ideas on that?" Aang asked.

"I got one," Harry said with brief uncertainty.

"What exactly?" Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"I have a couple of spells, not overly dangerous, but in the right areas, they could stop the thing," Harry explained. "Only...I don't know if I can perform the second spell. I've tried it a few times with mixed results at best."

"Let's go with that plan. You can do it," Aang said confidently.

"You don't even know what the spell is," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah," Aang admitted. "But I know you," He added with a bright smile, looking quite adorable in Harry's opinion.

"..."

"..."

"You're too precious for this world," Harry decided, patting Aang on the head.

(.)

"Whoa, it feels so much bigger from down here," Toph said once the group had finally made their way down to the ground. Unlike the others, she couldn't see the drill. But it was clearly big enough that she could feel the vibrations from it all the way from here. It was still fairly far away from the wall, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. Meaning, they needed to move quickly if they wanted to have any chance at succeeding. "Alright, come on, one distraction coming up." She said before she and Harry raised their arms simultaneously. After a few moments, the two slammed their palms down together to the ground, sending a massive pile of debris up in the air, generating a large dust cloud that quickly grew to half the size of the wall.

"Quick," Harry told the others before Toph used her earthbending to create a hole. They all quickly jumped into it and plummeted into darkness.

"It's so dark down here," Sokka complained after a few moments. "I can't see a thing."

"Oh no, that must be so unimaginably hard for you," Toph replied in a sarcastic voice.

"Sorry," Sokka said sheepishly before a green flame started hovering above Harry's palm, giving the non-blind members of the team a necessary light.

"Come on, we need to get moving," Harry said. "Now would be a good time." He added thoughtfully. Taking the hint, Toph started walking while the rest of the team followed after her. She easily managed to make the tunnel they were in longer and longer as they kept walking. A couple of minutes later, Toph stopped before waving her arms down and then up, creating a hole above them and carrying them all up and out of the ground, leaving them all under the drill.

"There!" Sokka pointed up as Harry extinguished his fire. "There's an opening," He said, staring at a small gap in the drill.

"You guys go ahead." Toph told them.

"You're not coming?" Katara frowned, giving Toph a questioning look.

"My visibility in there is going to be limited at best," Toph said with a shake of her head. "You guys go and do your thing. I'll stay out here and work on distracting and slowing them down."

"Good luck," Harry said, patting her on the head. "Stay safe, I'd rather not lose my favourite Earthbender."

"I'm your favourite?" Toph grinned widely. "Now, I've got to stay alive just so I can brag to people about that after we've won this damn war."

(.)

Inside the drill, a pair of engineers was being escorted through one of its hallways. The plain-looking engineers were wearing aprons, safety gloves, black trousers and not much else. Walking in front of them was a pair of Fire Nation soldiers, while another pair walked behind them.

"I told them that they needed to consider the changes that the steam would bring, but no...nobody listens to me." One of the engineers complained.

"What are you talking about?" The other frowned. "They did adjust to the steam. We're going there to cover the other guy's shift."

"Yeah, well, I-" The first engineer's response was cut off when a water whip shot towards them as they rounded a corner. The water whip slammed into one soldier and sent him flying back into the one behind him and into a wall. A moment later, an air wall hit the other two, taking them out of action. The two engineers froze as they stared at their attackers.

"Hi," Aang gave them a small wave.

"Introductions, perhaps," Harry said casually. "This is the Avatar, these two are our friends, and if you don't comply, I will be your executioner. Now, would you like to please inform us where the blueprints for this damn thing are?"

"Die with honour!" The first engineer roared, throwing a wild right hook in Harry's direction. Harry let out a sigh as he blocked the following fire blast with ease. An expression of dumbfounded horror appeared on the engineer's face before he got hit in the side of the head with a boomerang from Sokka, knocking him out.

"Be lucky I got to you before he did," Sokka told him before turning to the remaining engineer. "What about you?"

"..."

"..."

"So...you wanted to know where the blueprints are, right?"

(.)

"These beams could be what we need." Sokka said as he and the group looked over a set of blueprints on the table in front of them, ignoring the unconscious and beaten Fire Nation soldiers and engineers littered around them. The engineer from earlier was tied up in the corner and staring at them as if they were monstrous creatures from the spirit world. "So, what do you say, guys?" Sokka asked the others. "A bit of wind, a few slices of water and a couple of blasts of fire should do the trick, no?"

"No," Harry confirmed with a shake of his head, leaning down to look closer at the blueprints. "The beams are thick, it'll take ages for the bending to cut through them."

"What about magic?" Katara asked. "You said you had some spells that could work?"

"Could work," Repeated Harry. "But we're going to need some backups just in case."

"Here," Sokka suddenly pointed to a section of the map. "That's the engine room."

"What about this?" Katara asked, pointing to a different section. "That looks important."

"Probably not as important as the engine room," Sokka added just as Harry took the blueprints over to the engineer.

"Explain, now." Was all Harry said.

"T...that's the slurry," The man stuttered fearfully.

"Slurry?" Aang asked with a frown.

"W...when the drill moves...it moves on these large tracks," The engineer explained. "It kept kicking up all of this rock that would slow down the drill, or damage it, you know."

"So, you found a way around that?" Katara guessed.

"The slurry," The engineer quickly nodded. "It's basically a lot of crushed-up rocks and water. It goes through the pipes and is sent out of the back of the drill. It gets rid of waste, lubricates the machine and even reduces heat." He added with a slightly proud tone, earning questioning looks from the others. "It... was my idea," He added with a small shrug.

"This slurry is partially made of water," Katara said thoughtfully. "Tell me, what happens if the slurry stops flowing?" Her rather simple question earned a horrified look from the engineer.

"Oh no," His voice shook.

"That sounds good," Harry hummed appreciatively.

"So, we should go for the slurry?" Katara asked the others.

"We have no guarantee on what that could do to the drill," Sokka frowned thoughtfully. "I think our best bet's the engine room."

"Yeah, but the beams could bring the whole thing down as well," Harry reminded him.

"Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't give one hundred percent of your energy into any one strike," Aang spoke up. "Maybe we could do all of them at once."

"That's a plan," Sokka agreed. "Katara, you meet with Toph outside. The two of you should be able to deal with the slushy."

"I'll get the beams," Harry volunteered. "That leaves the engine room."

"I'll do it," Sokka raised his hand.

"You sure?" Harry asked.

"Positive," Sokka smiled. "It's far less dangerous than the last job. Distracting your psycho fiancee and her friends."

"She's not psycho," Harry weakly protested.

"I guess it's me who is doing that," Aang replied. "I don't know if I can take on all of them at once."

"You don't have to," Harry told him with a small shake of his head. "Azula's likely to divide up her team as well once we start getting to work. If Sokka succeeds, then we gain valuable time; if Katara and Toph succeed, then we might possibly win, same way if I destroy the beams. None of us will be dealing with all of them...probably." He finished with uncertainty. "What?" He asked defensively when they all looked at him. "I'm not a bleeding mind reader, am I?"

(.)

"What the hell are you guys even doing there?" Toph grumbled.

She was in a bit of a mood, truth be told. Partly because her new friends had just gone off into a Fire Nation machine and hadn't come out in ages. She had just gotten these friends and would prefer not to lose them the same year. The other reason was that she was standing right in front of the dammned drill, doing her level best to hold it back with the large earth columns she had created. At best, she was just delaying the monstrous creature; it was getting quite close to the wall and would be there soon, and she wouldn't be able to stop it.

"Toph," Katara's voice called. Toph couldn't help but grin as she spotted Katara rushing over to her.

"You guys took your time," Toph said in the form of a greeting. "I'm hoping you've stopped this thing. Or at least got a plan to do it." She said with gritted teeth, fiercely doing her best to delay the drill.

"Well, the plan involves you and me possibly creating an explosion," Katara explained. "You in?" She asked with a knowing smile.

"You even have to ask, Hair-Loopy?" Toph grinned back at her. "Let's go blow some shit up."

"Come on, then. We need to get to the back of the drill. Oh, and expect to be attacked soon. They're not going to like us messing with their stuff, so we're definitely going to have a fight on our hands."

"And the good news just keeps on coming!"

(.)

"One, two, three, four." Sokka counted under his breath after he turned a corner and into a hallway. If his memory was right, and it usually was (according to him at least) then the engine room should be seven rooms down this hallway. "Five, six, sev...yes!" He whispered-shouted as he stopped outside the door that was marked with a sign that read 'Engine room'. Looking around the hallway, he saw that it was still thankfully empty. He pressed his ear against the door and listened.

"How's the pressure looking?" He heard one person ask.

"Within range," Another responded. "Is it break time yet?"

"Not for another five minutes," A third voice responded. "Anyway, I'm going to go get some tea. You guys want some?" Sokka froze before shaking his head and pressing himself against the wall next to the door. A few seconds later, the door opened, he waited with held breath as the door covered him, granting him a second or two of invisibility. As the door began to close, Sokka saw that the man closing it was a Fire Nation guard.

Sokka jumped into action just as the man noticed him, one hand closed the door the rest of the way while the other struck the man in the throat with an open-hand strike. The same hand caught the back of the man's helmet-worn head and pulled him close and into a kick to the family jewels. Sokka followed up with a rear neck choke, remembering the technique that Harry had taught and happily demonstrated on him. Within seconds, the man was unconscious and out for the count. Sokka gently lowered him to the floor so as not to make more noise than he already had.

Taking in a deep breath, he drew his boomerang and club. He gingerly opened the door a small amount and stared into the room from the doorway. Two Fire Nation soldiers stood guard, both situated a few feet away from him and thankfully had their backs turned to him. The room was hot and claustrophobic, the walls and ceilings covered in various pipes that all led to a large furnace-like contraption at the opposite end of the room. The furnace took up at least a quarter of the room's space and had two engineers working on it.

"You back with the tea already?" One of the Fire Nation soldiers asked, turning around.

Before the man had completed his turn, Sokka rushed forward. He threw his boomerang in the air and raised his club, striking the soldier hard, sending him off his feet. The next soldier turned to Sokka and quickly took a fighting stance, flames flickered around his fist for the briefest of seconds before the boomerang returned full force into the soldier's face.

"My name is Sokka," He told the stunned engineers as he picked up his boomerang. "I'm going to rock ya." He said before leaping towards them, just as they both shot fire blasts in his direction.

(.)

"Merlin on a bike, I hope this works," Harry said, walking on a giant steel beam.

As he looked around, he could see more and more beams. Some vertical, others horizontal, a few diagonal ones as well. Somehow, the drill looked bigger from the inside. He carefully made his way to one of the support beams.

"Alright, let's give this a go." He said once he was a few feet away. He aimed his hand at the beam. "Accio!" He yelled, focusing on the screws in the beam. "Accio!" He grunted, feeling himself strain as he struggled to pull them out. They were rather firmly in; if he wanted them out, then he would need to use more power. At that point, if they did somehow manage to come out, then they'd likely shoot at him with the speed of a bullet. "Didn't think that would work," He sighed before focusing on his magic. "Let this one work at least." He closed his eyes and aimed his hand at the beam. Opening them after a few moments, his eyes flashed a brighter green than normal before he cast the spell. "Reducto!" He yelled, a light blue spell shot out from his hand and crashed against the beam, destroying a small portion of it. Harry stared at the damage he had done; he hadn't put much power into it, but it had worked.

"That's a new trick," A voice called from behind him. He spun around instantly and blocked a blue fire blast.

"Hi, Azula," Harry said casually.

"Beloved," She said in greeting. "So, this is your plan, huh? Scatter your friends all around while you destroy the support beams? Clever, I must admit, I nearly ran after the Avatar when he first showed up. But then I wondered why he'd be alone. Zuko's dealing with him as we speak."

"Best of luck to him," Harry replied calmly. "So, we're going to stand around and talk, or are we going to fight?"