1. Chapter One: The Letter

_This story was written when a search of the Avatar fandom didn't reveal a classic staple of authors in search of new ideas: the science fiction reboot, using hints of the original plot wherever possible while adding a little extra grit. It's been very fun to write, and I hope that you enjoy it._

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**The Avatar Project  
Chapter One: The Letter  
**

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The home was nearly mute. For several long moments, the only sound was of a brush against paper. It was unusual, but the man seated at the kitchen table didn't look around to see just what had caused the odd period of quiet. Instead, he twirled a finger, letting a small breeze ghost across the surface of a letter written in perfectly neat calligraphy. When the ink was dry, he folded the letter into a neat rectangle. The finishing touch was inscribing a name in the center of the missive- _Hakoda._

He closed his eyes in concentration as he listened. When no new sounds were forthcoming, Gyatso began a second letter. The brushstrokes were deliberate and even.

_My dear friend, _

_I regret to write that you again have triumphed in our dispute over the true nature of the people within Ozai's corporation. The man can no longer be ignored, and you were wise to maintain the safe places scattered through the town. I fear that they are necessary, and that the worst of our hopes have proven correct. Ozai this very morning admitted that I will no longer maintain custody of the boy. He believes he will take Aang this very night, after allowing a frail old man one last day with his charge. _

Gyatso looked away from his letter for a moment. It remained preternaturally quiet, even before considering that he shared the modest suburban home with a hyperactive twelve-year-old. Still, it was better to leave the small coincidences be. It would not do for Aang to know the reasoning for the letter just yet.

_I will send Aang to the only person who would believe the story that begins again tonight. I know you did not want to involve police, but Chief Hakoda's honor is unparalleled. I will send Aang to Hakoda's home residence, to avoid tempting the police officers paid by Ozai more than the city, and I firmly told the boy to remain away for a week. I made Aang swear, Iroh, and I will ask that you will make it clear that I wanted him to honor that wish. I was the last true airbender, perhaps, but Aang is an airbender in more than ability. He has that same spirit that we had thought departed from the world, and I am convinced that it is something in the boy himself, not some fragment that was added into his genetic makeup._

It had seemed to be a purely innocent dream at the time, something that anyone would have desired. Iroh had found the means to reintroduce a lost art back into the world, and would be able to accomplish the goal through the latest advances in science. The apparent simplicity had been astonishing, and even now Gyatso marveled at just what science could accomplish. Scholars had thought that technology had driven the bending from the world, but technology would bring bending back.

Technology had done its part, but then the baser parts of human nature had come into play. They never should have allowed Iroh's brother to have influence in that dream, no matter what Ozai had promised them. Perhaps it didn't even matter that Ozai's influence had brought Aang to the world, and that was a thought he would never bring himself to voice. The world had already provided too heavy of a burden for a boy of twelve to carry.

_Ozai will arrive tonight at a most inauspicious hour, two hours after sunset. Aang will begin his journey this evening, with enough clothing and books to keep him amused this week. I know that Ozai tracks your movements carefully, but I will ask that you take Aang in as soon as the feat is possible. Aang's letter for Hakoda makes it clear that the boy is to be released into only your custody, and I will hope that you can quickly relieve Hakoda to keep the man's own children safe._

Ozai's own son had been the first, and the results of that experimentation had nearly scared them away from the project entirely. Gyatso should have realized that very instant that their dream was past saving. Ozai had thought it possible to change the genetic code before the babe had left the womb, and his arrogance had nearly killed his own child.

Zuko had been born successfully, but the boy had been sickly all through childhood. Gyatso would have left the project immediately, but Ozai had been all too confident that he had mended past mistakes. He proved this new technique using himself as a test subject, followed by his own lab assistant. After the success was visible in both Ozai and Zhao, Iroh had been next. Jee had followed, the brave man, and then Ozai's second child lived scarcely a day on the world before her eyes turned to the bright amber that marked a successful transmission of firebending.

There was less certainty in the waterbending, and Gyatso still didn't know the details. He had been politely shut away from all aspects of the company when he protested the genetic manipulation done to Iroh's own child, and for years there was nothing but silence from his one-time friend.

He heard from Iroh once more when Aang was just six months old. No one within the company knew what to do with an infant airbender. Even Azula hadn't been toying with fire from her crib, but Aang was bending air even before he had full control of his limbs. Gyatso didn't explain what that would mean, and Iroh hadn't asked. The company (with a very uncomfortable-looking Iroh standing on Gyatso's front step as the representative of Sozin Laboratories) had asked Gyatso to raise the boy.

Gyatso had accepted, and had made it quite clear that he wouldn't be returning the boy later. He was not leasing a vehicle. He was raising a child- _his_ child, from that moment. Iroh had accepted, and had walked away even before Gyatso lifted the grey-eyed baby from the carrier.

He didn't hear from Iroh again until Lu Ten's death, when Aang was four. Iroh had left the company entirely, and for once admitted that he had been wrong. From that very day, they had exchanged dozens of letters every year, as well as frequent visits. There would be no more visits, but there would be one more letter.

_I had one of my odd dreams again last week, and only now have understood it. There will be a benefit from this night, as there will be a gleam of silver within the darkest of clouds. Trust in anyone who knows of our favorite old game, though our new ally may wear an enemy's face._

There would be no more Pai Sho games, no last match between the chaplain and the upstart general. Military life had suited a once-monk surprisingly well, even before he had met Iroh at the very start of the man's rise to renown. General, scientist, and now humanitarian- Iroh had done well for himself, and would do his utmost for Aang.

Gyatso's hand hesitated, letting the brush pick up far too much ink, but a practiced swirl against a spare sheet of parchment solved that small issue.

_I can tell you no more of the dream in ways that would make sense, save that it involved those old spirits that fascinated you so. I dearly wish that the next world is all that we imagined, and that I might wait for you with Lu Ten. I trust that your son and I will have plenty of time to wait for you, and that it will be quite a bit after your arrival before Aang makes his way to me again._

If he told Aang, there would be no way for the night to proceed as some spirit had whispered. The few glimpses of foresight his dreams had granted him made it clear that something very important would happen that night, some event that would keep Aang safe. An alliance would change that very night, and he knew enough of Pai Sho to realize just what the few remembered images from the dream would mean. For some games to end well, sacrifice was the only way to move forward.

_Don't waste your days with anger in my honor. Drink a cup of tea for my memory, and remember me through Aang. He is my son in every sense that matters, and he is far more powerful than he realizes. Your brother was a fool to think he would manipulate forces beyond his comprehension. His goal is already realized, and it will come to fruition only through Aang. I have told you that the last Avatar was of fire, and you know enough of the order of things to know the rest. I hope you will help Aang to learn fire, when it is time, but I do not believe sole responsibility will fall to you._

He heard the first stirrings of motion begin in the air. Aang had been outside, then, probably performing impossible marvels on the backyard's very sturdy swing set. There had been some talk in the neighborhood when an eight-foot privacy fence went around the back. Gyatso's only regret was not making the thing at least ten feet high, to better mask just how Aang liked to spend his time. Iroh wouldn't have concerns of privacy, at least. His country home was discreetly patrolled by guards, and had plenty of room for the preferred antics of a young airbender.

_That birthday present we spoke of may be moved to the earliest convenience, rather than his sixteenth year. He is quite mature enough, and I feel that it may do more to help his grief than anything on the earth._

_I am sure that you realize this is my goodbye to you, but I feel that I must make it clear. I am intentionally sending this letter through Aang so that it will arrive belatedly, because it is far more valuable to me that you are unhurt and Aang is protected. He will bring it to our teashop, and I hope that he will come in company of friends. _

Small currents of air danced over the letter, even as Gyatso added the last words in crisp strokes. After just a few more seconds, the letter would need to be folded before curious eyes could find something better left unknown.

_Goodbye, old friend, and may the Spirits guide your steps. _

_Your friend always,_  
_Gyatso_

The ink lost its wet sheen exactly as the back door opened, helped by a created thread of breeze, and Gyatso had the letter neatly folded a moment before Aang stepped into the kitchen. The room's wide picture window faced the front of the home, away from whatever stunts his ward had chosen to unleash that day. Gyatso had no notion why he didn't get more complaints from his neighbors, but people were rarely as observant as they believed. They chose to believe they had caught a glimpse of a dark-haired boy ten feet in the air because Gyatso had managed to sneak a trampoline into the yard, and that was none of Gyatso's concern. Aang, however, was very much his concern.

The mere sight of the boy standing politely in the entry to the kitchen tugged at the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. This would be their last day together, and Aang wouldn't know. Twelve years would have to be enough.

Gyatso turned to his child, one eyebrow delicately arched. "You did remember to stay out of sight today, Aang?"

Just as expected, the boy flushed a brilliant pink that clashed spectacularly with the orange collar of a frighteningly yellow t-shirt. There was no accounting for his son's taste in colors, but at least the blue jeans were normal enough. Aang was the quintessential adolescent as he moved to take the other chair at the kitchen table- grace would come, but not yet.

His son's posture straightened as he answered the question. "Yessir. I wrote a card for the man that lives behind us before I went to bed yesterday, and I walked it over right after lunch. I really am sorry about his cabbages, but I didn't know that knew stance you showed me would be that strong."

Gyatso smiled. "No permanent harm done, Aang, and I reimbursed him this morning. The stance wasn't as strong when we practiced in the basement because your balance wasn't correct. I am glad that you fixed the positioning of your feet, even if you did it to the detriment of cabbages."

Even the smallest brush of praise always won him that brilliant smile, but there was more motive to the wideness of the boy's eyes. "I really get to meet another bender?"

"Yes, but you must be polite about this," Gyatso cautioned. "She certainly knows of her abilities by fourteen, but she mostly likely has been very cautious about them. She wouldn't know anyone with similar abilities, and she may choose to keep her waterbending hidden. You will be very polite to everyone, I know, but you will also find a tactful way to disclose to Miss Katara that you are a bender as well."

Aang nodded enthusiastically. "And I won't airbend until I talk with Katara, and even then I'll make sure that no one outside of her family can notice."

Perhaps he should have contacted the family before, but it had seemed the height of rudeness to insert himself and his adopted son into another family's business. Gyatso hadn't even known that Katara was a bender until Aang was four years old, after he and Iroh had resumed their friendship. Just a year later, the girl's mother had died, and Hakoda had become even more protective of his children.

There were no guarantees, but Gyatso had done his best to anticipate contingencies. "If Chief Hakoda chooses to not take you in..."

"I go straight to the tea shop, even if it looks closed, and go right inside to the back room to wait for Mr. Iroh," Aang recited.

"Good. I did see your backpack by the door, earlier, and I believe you are old enough that I needn't check for sufficient undergarments." That, of course, prompted another round of blushing, as well as inarticulate protests. "I know you are old enough for a second practice in a day, if you are interested. You will stay with Hakoda for a week or so, if things go well, and Iroh did promise time on his estate this summer. When you are there, you may airbend to your heart's delight."

Aang abruptly forgot his embarrassment. "A second practice?"

Gyatso had hoped to leave this discussion for later, but time was at a premium. It should have come when Aang was sixteen, and trusted to keep Gyatso's own glider for use at Iroh's stretch of land. No Avatar had been told of their destiny at just twelve, but no Avatar had been born after such an odd history. For two hundred years, the wisest men and women in the world had thought the Avatar's cycle to be irreparably damaged.

Gyatso feared that Aang's gifts were no accident. No Avatar had lived out his life without struggle, and the fight would come to Aang all too soon.

Gyatso caught his son's hand when Aang would have started to raise currents in the kitchen's still air. "A second practice, and a very important discussion." He took the time to write one last word across the outside of the letter. _Iroh. _Aang's letter had been completed a month ago. Iroh had teased Gyatso gently about morbid inclinations, but had kept the letter and sworn to keep it safe.

Aang was strong, and with any luck he would be able to gather friends to himself before his trials came to pass. Something was in the wind, perhaps, but Aang was stronger than any airbender the dry scrolls could provide. His boy would do well with the little Gyatso had known to teach him.

There was time for just one more session in the bare concrete space that was entirely theirs. The large cement basement had no friendly touches in it aside from the blue mats kept neatly stacked along the far wall. Aang had the floor covered in cushioned blue before Gyatso made his way down the steep staircase with a slow dignity. Even in the bright of the afternoon, Aang had flipped the light switch at the bottom of the stairs. The only natural light came from the narrow window that faced into the backyard, and that thin slit gave nothing but a greater source of air.

It was a hard topic for a last lesson, but a teacher's duty was to challenge his students. A father's duty was to be sure his child would be able to protect himself. An airbender's duty would be for Aang to decide, before the next day dawned. Aang would be the last of them.


	2. Chapter Two: The Waterbender

_I like to start stories with a little more action, but I'm setting up all of the background information that you'll need later. Thanks for reading! _

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**The Avatar Project  
Chapter Two: The Waterbender  
**

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Aang walked down the exact center of the sidewalk, taking precisely three steps for every square of cement. He held onto the straps of his backpack as if the white-knuckled grip was the only reason he wasn't airborne. He had known it was weird to have two lessons in a day, because Gyatso said that practicing too long would exhaust him, but he'd expected the second lesson to be just like the normal ones. Gyatso would show him a stance, and Aang would copy him until it felt right, and then at the end they'd just play around and do flips and see how long Aang could keep himself off the ground using an air scooter. No one at school believed that his reserved guardian was the coolest person ever. They didn't even believe that Gyatso was his father. The teachers all had a look at his adoption certificate, whenever they could, because they thought it was weird for an older man to adopt a kid that wasn't his grandson.

Gyatso had only been in his sixties when he adopted Aang, and his guardian was going to live for ages anyway so Aang didn't see why it mattered. Gyatso had been a monk, and then he had worked in the military for a while. Aang didn't know how people stopped being monks, or why Gyatso had decided to become an Army chaplain, but it felt rude to ask when the story would come up eventually. It wasn't like Gyatso was _old._ He was seventy-four, now, but he only looked old because of the really droopy moustache and the way he kept his eyes mostly shut. Once, when Aang was sick and just miserable with it, Gyatso had used gel to make his moustache stick out sideways with just the ends going straight up, like the bad guy in a cartoon, and Aang had nearly fallen out of bed laughing at him. All that laughing had hurt, later, but it was much better than hurting just because he was sick.

Right now, his head hurt, but that was because Gyatso said that Aang was the Avatar. Those had been his favorite stories when he was little, about how when there had been benders all over the place the Avatar had kept everything peaceful and had stopped wars and had always given wise advice. That hadn't meant he wanted to be an Avatar. Aang wanted to be a test pilot for the military. He had wanted to be a fighter pilot until he remembered that they usually had to drop bombs on things, but test pilots were even cooler because they got the best planes in the world and were usually the first to fly all the cool planes fighter pilots would get later.

He didn't want to be the Avatar. Gyatso had looked really sad, when Aang told him, and had said that the world had never asked an Avatar what he wanted. The world only needed someone that would be able to keep peace between the mortals, so that the spirits wouldn't need to interfere. Aang had said that it sounded really lazy of the spirits, but after a few reminders about what had happened when the spirits _did_ have to interfere, he had agreed that it was better to have an Avatar. It was even better if the Avatar wasn't Aang, but that wasn't even the worst part. Gyatso had known for years, and he hadn't given even a single hint! Maybe the stories were supposed to be the hint, but Gyatso had really cool stories about dragons, too, and everybody knew that dragons didn't exist. He thought that the Avatar stories were like the Buddhist version of fairy tales.

Instead, he was the Avatar and he found out right when he was supposed to stay with a stranger for a week. He had a letter for Chief Hakoda in his hand, and one for Mr. Iroh in his backpack. Gyatso had been really weird about the details for Mr. Iroh's letter, about how Aang should deliver it to the teashop only if Jet or Jun was working there. They were okay, Aang guessed, but they definitely weren't like mail carriers. Jun had a barrette with a real rat skull on it, and Jet always had a long straw of grass that he chewed on.

He wasn't even as excited to meet a real bender anymore, because now had to learn waterbending. He even had to learn waterbending next, so maybe Gyatso had planned all this out so Aang could figure out water in a week and then move onto the next one. He'd only mastered air a few weeks ago, but maybe the others wouldn't take as long.

Aang didn't realize his trip was over until he almost passed Chief Hakoda's house. He didn't see anyone when he walked up to the front door, not even a car in the driveway. It was time for dinner, but the lights in the house were off. Aang rang the doorbell anyway, letter in his other hand, but nobody answered even after he counted to twenty three times. He tried knocking, and ringing the bell again, and still didn't hear anybody inside. Outside, he heard splashing and a lot of yelling. He walked around the house, and started hearing voices instead of just noise.

"Gran-Gran, would you tell Katara to stop messing with the pool?" a boy asked loudly.

"I was here first!" a girl retorted. "Anyway, I'm not _messing_ with it, I'm practicing!"

"I told you I wanted the pool at seven! I'm trying out for the swim team when school starts, and it's no good having a pool if I can't swim without you sending waves right at me."

"It was an accident, Sokka, I told you!"

Aang was close enough to see the boy roll his eyes, and to be surprised that no one had noticed him when he was standing just a few inches from the chain-link fence.

"Yeah, well, you have a lot of accidents aimed right at me."

An older woman sitting by the pool stood up, probably to stop them from arguing, but before she could say anything there was another 'accident.' The girl slashed her arm at the boy. That wouldn't have done anything, the way that they were ten feet apart from each other, but the water swept toward her target in a wave. "Katara!" the woman scolded. Sokka surfaced from the wave sputtering, the woman still looked mad, and the girl's eyes were fixed right on Aang.

Aang was too surprised to remember any hints about tact or politeness. "You're a waterbender!" he said.

The old woman turned much more quickly than Aang might have guessed, and Aang only dimly heard Sokka griping at Katara for showing the world her freaky water-magic. The woman's eyes were focused entirely on him. "You. Through the gate, now, and let's hear how you know about waterbenders."

She sounded just like Gyatso did when he was mad. Aang didn't remember moving, but in the next instant he was standing in her yard meekly offering her a letter. "Gyatso told me to come and give this letter to Chief Hakoda."

"Hm," she said. She looked at the letter, but didn't take it. "Keep it with you, then, because my son's not due back for another few weeks. My name is Kanna."

"I'm Aang. Ma'am. I know that Katara's a waterbender because I'm an airbender, and I've only met two other benders before. Gyatso's an airbender, and his friend's a firebender," he said in one breath.

"Iroh?" she asked.

Aang's jaw would have dropped, if it wasn't impolite to gape. It'd be a really bad idea to stare too much at someone that knew just as much as Gyatso always did. In that moment, he was convinced that old people really did know everything, just like Iroh had said. "Yes ma'am."

"Enough with the ma'am, mannerly as it may be. I've not heard that in years and don't need to start now. If your Gyatso is an airbender worth his salt, he wouldn't be speaking to any firebenders not named Iroh. The rest of them are all tangled up too deep in Sozin Labs to ever think of getting out like he did." Her eyes moved to his backpack. "You came with a pretty full backpack for a Tuesday night."

"Gyatso wanted me to stay for a week, ma'am-um."

Kanna favored him with a smile. "Kanna is fine, Aang, and you're welcome to stay with us. I know air's not the same as water, but Katara would likely be delighted to have someone around that understands just what it is she does."

Just like that, Aang was a houseguest. Katara was really friendly, and apologized for her brother being grumpy. Sokka didn't like it when he had to play with Katara during summer breaks, and probably didn't like having someone even younger hanging around. By dinner, Sokka seemed to have gotten past any grudge he had. (Aang thought Sokka might be irritated that Katara splashed him, but decided it wouldn't be polite to mention that to Katara when he didn't know anyone there very well.) Aang was settled into the guest bedroom, and Kanna had already said that the others could go with him when he went to the teashop the next day.

The next day, Aang decided that Katara might have been right after all. Sokka was grumpy. He didn't want to go somewhere that sold tea, especially with his sister. His grandmother didn't make him, exactly, but she used one of those tricks that Gyatso always did when Aang wasn't doing something that he should be. She mentioned that it was a shame Katara would be going to that part of the neighborhood alone. Sokka did agree after that, but he wasn't at all happy about it. He was even less happy when Katara wanted to talk about bending all the way over, but it wasn't like Sokka had said much to them when they talked about school and going to the city's zoo.

Sokka hadn't said anything for eight blocks when he broke into the conversation about bending. "You said that the teashop was downtown?"

"Right next to the bookstore," Aang agreed.

"Then we're going the wrong way."

Aang tried his most charming smile. Once in a while, it even worked on Gyatso. "I need to go the teashop, but we don't need to go straight there."

The little vein at the side of Sokka's forehead started to pulse.

Aang gulped. "It's not that far out of our way to go to the park, and it's right around the corner anyway, and you don't have to act like you're with us the whole time."

Aang didn't hear Sokka's reply, but neither did Katara. Aang had been walking backwards, and hadn't known that the park was in view. Sokka was already striding ahead of them toward a pair of oddly dressed girls with painted faces and a megaphone.

Katara had the explanation. "He knows a couple of the girls that hold down the local protest against Sozin Labs. They don't approve of the techniques the lab uses or something like that. Dad doesn't like to talk about the lab, but none of his officers are allowed to harass the protesters as long as they stay peaceful and on public property. If they were in the Northern District, Arnook's men would have them in custody the instant they showed up with their faces painted."

The taller of the two girls kissed Sokka on the cheek, leaving smudges of red paint behind. Aang blushed. "He knows that girl?"

Katara nodded. She kept walking down the sidewalk, when Aang might have kept staring for another few moments. "He and Suki have a long history of nearly dating. He was really bone-headed when they met, about how girls don't know how to fight. Suki's been taking more martial arts than I can remember since she was four, and Mr. Oyagi- the gym teacher- let her wipe the floor mats with Sokka their first class together."

"Nearly dating?"

Katara's friendly smile vanished. "That's a long story. Someone died."

Aang bit his lip, but Katara didn't look too upset. She had glanced back at Sokka like he was miles away, not half a soccer field. When she looked at Aang again, he decided that it would be worth asking.

"Suki knows?"

Katara nodded. "She knew the girl that died, too, and everybody at school knew that the girl was going to go to the dance with Sokka. This jerk named Hahn thought he didn't even have to ask, because they'd gone to all the other ones together, but when Sokka asked Yue said that she would. They couldn't dance all that much with how sick she was, but she didn't stop smiling the whole time." Katara looked toward her brother again with sorrow obvious in her eyes. "Yue died a week after the dance."

Aang didn't know what to say, but Katara had turned away from him entirely. He was taking two steps for every one of her long steps, and she still was staying ahead of him.

They were nearly to the other side of the park (she mentioned that Sokka liked to pretend he was an only child, when it came to girls), and that took them right in the way of the swing set. Aang looked around, and smiled when she slowed down to walk with him. The park was nearly empty, which was really weird for the middle of a Wednesday afternoon in summer, but that left plenty of space for them. "Want to go on the swings? If no one's watching-" Aang bent the slow summer breeze around them, just enough to catch the very end of her braid.

Katara tilted her head. "Sokka definitely wouldn't want to go on the swing."

She had a ten-stride lead before he figured out her answer. "Race you!" she called, not even bothering to turn around.

She won, but she probably would have won even without the head start. Aang hadn't hit his growth spurt yet, and he was one of the shortest people in his grade. If he looked like a proper air monk, he'd be bald, but Gyatso had said that wise people would adapt to the times in which they lived. Airbenders used to have tattoos all over their body, from their forehead to their feet, but Gyatso just had a blue arrow down his back. Aang had been a master airbender for weeks, but he wasn't allowed to have any tattoos until he was eighteen and even then he should wait until he was done growing.

Katara wasn't like most of the kids that Aang had met at school. No one else in his year would have gone on the swings with him, and she was two years older. They talked about things for a while, but Katara was the first person he'd met besides Gyatso that could close her eyes and just feel the wind.

They had time to head over to the fountain while Sokka was still talking to Suki and another girl that Katara didn't recognize. Aang had heard about the protesters before, when Ozai tried to have them thrown out of the park. Chief Hakoda had been the one to insist people had the right to protest as they desired on the city's property, and so long as they said nothing slanderous and did nothing illegal his men wouldn't lay a finger on them. Gyatso had started looking into Chief Hakoda, then, and he had told Aang to go straight to the chief of police if there were ever any problems.

It was weird, though, because Gyatso had sent him right to Chief Hakoda when everything was okay. Gyatso hadn't even called ahead, even though it was rude to show up unannounced, because if he had called he would have known that Chief Hakoda wasn't in town.

"What are you thinking about, Aang?" Katara asked. She had shown him all the things she had taught herself with water, keeping the water's movements small enough that no one else would see the water moving.

"Why Gyatso wanted me to meet you and your dad. Somebody at the teashop might know. He wanted me to give the letter to a couple specific people, if I find them, so they might have heard."

"You can't call Gyatso to ask?"

"He doesn't have a cell phone, and he wanted me to stay away for a week. I could try calling home, later, but I think I'll find out more at the teashop."

"Let's see if Sokka is done flirting, then," Katara said.

They were only halfway across the park when Sokka met them. Katara kept most of her expression impassive as she gestured at her own face. "You have paint."

Katara's tone was flat to hide her amusement, but Aang only sounded admiring. "All over the place,"

Sokka grumbled at them, but he still looked cheerful after wiping his face on the sleeve of his blue shirt. "Suki says that the Jasmine Dragon's really nice. I'll make sure that it's not frilly or something, but maybe I'll ask her to get tea with me when Dad's back home."

Katara looped her arm through her brother's. "You know Gran-Gran would let you go out with a girl if you asked her, Sokka. She only makes you take me around with you because she's watched too many prime-time specials about people that grab girls off the street."

Sokka shook his head. "No, she's spent too much time figuring out why you're a waterbender." He glanced at Aang, even as he seemed to be speaking to Katara. "I don't remember, but you got sick when you were a baby. Really sick. Sozin Labs had this experimental cure, and there was nothing else that would've helped you. Mom thought that was why you could waterbend. Yue had the cure and didn't turn into a waterbender, but Mom was sure about you."

"I'm an airbender because of Sozin Labs." Aang kept his voice quiet as they moved out of the park. They didn't see anyone, but it wasn't information he would want just anyone to know. "Nobody there knew what to do with a baby airbender, though, so they let Gyatso raise me. They've called every once in a while asking to run tests and Gyatso always says no."

"I think that's what Gran-Gran is more worried about, Katara," Sokka said. "Everybody knows when Dad is at one of those conferences, and he doesn't want you to get in trouble."

"I can get out of trouble myself," Katara retorted, jerking her arm back to her side.

"You get in trouble all by yourself. Mom asked me to look out for you, Katara."

Aang tried to stay out of the conversation as best he could, but all three of them were using the narrow sidewalk that led into the downtown. The siblings had almost forgotten that he was there, and only included him in the conversation again when the shop was right in front of them.

Sokka looked from the glass storefront to Aang. "This is it?"

Aang nodded. He didn't know who had painted the green characters that spelled out "The Jasmine Dragon," but he knew that Gyatso and Iroh had both wanted the white lotus painted below the words. It meant something to them, and not just because they liked the flower. Gyatso had meant to explain it when Aang was older, but Aang didn't understand how some club with Pai Sho and tea could be weirder than being the Avatar.


	3. Chapter Three: The Tea Shop

_For anyone reading for romance, there is very little room to add in pairings, and I am using the ages as a guide. Twelve is a little young for romance, even if the beginnings of romantic feelings are there. _

_I realize that guns are not a part of many (most?) Asian societies, but that is the largest liberty that I have taken with the culture. This story works better if Sokka and the rest of the non-benders can have access to weapons that put them on par with benders. There still are places for older weapons, but guns are very much a part of this culture's background._

* * *

**The Avatar Project  
Chapter Three: The Tea Shop  
**

* * *

Sokka was not impressed with Aang's favorite teashop. The place barely had room for three round tables, and one of those tables was covered by an elaborate circular gameboard with dozens of painted tiles in no order he could understand. The jerk working there had been standing behind the waist-high green counter for the first few minutes, but had spent most of that time looking at Katara. Aang said hi first, because he knew the cocky jerk with the long straw of wheat hanging out of his mouth, and that seemed to be the invitation for Jerk (it was close enough to Jet) to sweet-talk Katara into trying Aang's favorite kind of tea. Aang and Katara had both liked the idea, and Sokka had been stuck.

They had ended up around one of the two remaining tables, with Jet and Aang explaining the game in progress to Katara. Pai Sho was older than chess, to hear Aang tell it, and the game could be used to pass on secret messages or to form alliances. Jet and Aang showed them some flashy game of patterns with the Pai Sho tiles. Sokka only paid attention to prove that the pattern wasn't nearly as complicated as it looked, not that anybody asked him. Jet kept spinning out some crazy story about a secret organization marked by the white lotus.

Katara, of course, was eating up all the nonsense about secret societies and hidden goals. Sokka only bought it because Aang was absolutely sure that Gyatso had been a part of the super-secret club, with his friend 'Mr. Iroh.' The name sounded familiar, but he hadn't heard it at his dad's police station so it wasn't that important.

By the time Aang decided to take out his letter for the mysterious Mr. Iroh, Sokka had already decided that there was no way he'd ask Suki to come here with him. Jet would probably flirt with her, too, and Sokka wouldn't be much competition for Mr. Smooth. Sokka still froze up when he was alone with Suki, and the really annoying therapist his Gran-Gran had made him talk to was no good. He wasn't comparing Suki to Yue. He had other problems entirely, and not many people would listen to him. He didn't need to people to tell him that Yue was gone or that he still hadn't accepted that she had died. He needed someone to understand that he didn't want Suki or Katara to be next.

Yue had barely lived for more than a week when she was a baby, and the treatment that had saved her life turned all of her hair white. Even her eyelashes were that same color, and the few traces of black in her baby pictures had been gone before her first birthday. She had been fine for fourteen years, but then she started having some weird symptoms. Sokka wasn't a doctor, but he knew something had been really wrong even before the dance. They hadn't done much dancing, with how tired she had been, but she said it was the best date she'd ever been on. Yue had only told him a little about how she felt in that last week, but he had enough to look around on the internet. The only diagnosis that made any sense was cancer, but it didn't act like any cancer someone her age should have.

It only matched the kind of cancer that popped up in someone after gene therapy, which was exactly what had happened to his little sister when she had been born prematurely. He had been driving Katara a little crazy by paying attention to weird things that might be symptoms, but she could get sick, too. Yue had even been a waterbender. Sokka wasn't supposed to know that, because he was the only person outside of her family that Yue had ever told, and he had promised her that he wouldn't tell anybody else.

No one else had even thought it was all that weird when she died after her first session of chemotherapy, with a special cocktail created by a specialist from Sozin Laboratories. The doctors were all grave and sad and horrified that she had been allergic to one of the medications, and all swore that they had never heard of that reaction before. Chief Arnook had been in no shape to push for answers, and Sokka had only been able to sneak into her hotel room because someone thought he was her brother. He still didn't know if he'd done the right thing. He hadn't gotten any information by keeping his mouth shut, but he had been there for Yue. He had been sitting on the hospital bed with her, and he'd even dared to put his arm around her shoulders. Arnook hadn't liked that at all, but Yue had just looked at her father and that was it. She died when Sokka was holding her, and her father was holding her hand.

Something weird had happened after Yue was born, and later she had a freakishly aggressive cancer that only seemed to happen if somebody messed with DNA. Sozin Labs was behind almost all of the funding for Omashu's only hospital, and he knew they'd created that weird treatment that had saved Katara's life. He could only guess about the rest. His dad knew part of it, but there was no way to get the pieces they would need. Ozai owned most of the town, and everybody knew it.

Sokka only started paying attention again when Aang had finished an extremely complicated story about the letter. Really, he paid attention because Jet was scamming on his sister, again, while Aang looked irritated. At least Aang was on Sokka's side.

Sokka interrupted when the jerk was actually going to start playing with his little sister's hair. "Let Aang finish, will you?" Sokka glared at Jet for good measure, and didn't look away until Jet's hand had moved a safe distance from Katara.

Aang flashed him a smile. "Thanks, Sokka." He set his envelope in the center of the table, between the four teacups.

Jet finished his tea in one long sip as he looked at the envelope. "I could have told you that was from Gyatso, just by looking at it." Jet's voice was oddly quiet. He set his cup down with a soft clink and traced the two characters on the parchment. "Gyatso was the only person I knew that still bothered with the old-fashioned brush, let alone nice parchment. If that wasn't enough, not many people write Iroh's name this way. These are the old characters for 'west' and 'dragon,' and only his friends from the army use that nickname."

Sokka had frozen in his seat the instant he heard the past tense, but it seemed that no one else had caught it. Katara was still leaning forward, interested, and Aang hadn't realized that anything was wrong.

"Gyatso-"

Sokka kicked Jet in the shin before the guy could say anything else.

If he was nothing else, the jerk was fast on the uptake. He flicked a glance at Sokka's stern expression before continuing his sentence. "One of the best Pai Sho players I've ever seen. If he and Iroh started a game, we'd close the shop up around them some nights."

That was a much safer topic, but it was too late. Aang had traced the conversation back, probably trying to figure out why Sokka had kicked Aang's new friend. The table wasn't large enough to hide the motion, and Jet had been sitting next to Sokka. Aang was in the perfect position to see the kick, and to wonder why Sokka was being mean.

Aang paled, and didn't react when Katara reached over to catch his hand.

Sokka knew that Jet understood, just like he knew what Aang had to ask next.

Aang found his voice several seconds later, but he sounded entirely composed. "You said that Gyatso was the only person you _knew_ that still used the old-fashioned brush."

Jet nodded.

"But- I saw him yesterday, and he was fine. He isn't sick, he just hasn't come to the shop for a while because we've been really busy. He's been showing me all the air stuff he knows, because I finally mastered air a couple weeks ago, and..." Aang looked at each of them in turn, clearly waiting for someone to say he was wrong.

When Aang looked at Jet again, something in the kid's expression made Sokka want to grab his sister and run. All traces of panic and disbelief had vanished, leaving Aang eerily calm. "He's dead?"

"Iroh went over this morning." Jet's words had completely lost the earlier confidence. He stumbled over the phrases, and he was sitting entirely still. At some point, the stalk of grass he had toyed with since they walked into the shop had fallen onto the table. "There were a couple reports of suspicious cars in your area, and Iroh called to make sure you both were alright. Nobody answered, and after five minutes of trying to get somebody on the phone he drove over."

Aang pushed himself up from the chair, both hands flat against the table, and some trick of the light made Sokka imagine a glint of blue down both of Aang's arms, and a triangle of blue on the his forehead.

When Aang spoke, the volume wasn't even a whisper. "He's dead."

Jet nodded again.

There was no other word for what happened next. Aang fled; instead of a devastated kid in a jarringly orange shirt, the shop was suddenly filled with a whirlwind that scattered the Pai Sho tiles everywhere, swept all of the teacups onto the ground in four different directions, and upended all of the tables. The little brass bell above the door swung wildly, and didn't quiet for several long moments.

Sokka picked up Aang's backpack while the bell was still ringing. "Where did Gyatso live?"

Jet cleared his throat. "I'll get you a map. There are a couple weird turns, in the neighborhood." He pulled a map from behind the counter quickly enough, and used the pen next to the cash register to write down the street name and number. "I thought he knew. I swear I thought that Aang would have known."

"What should we know?" Sokka had to move closer for Jet to hear the very quiet words, but the jerk wasn't entirely a waste. Jet looked devastated to have hurt Aang, and he knew something. Katara was still picking her way past the broken glass.

"Keep Aang out of the basement," Jet returned at the same volume.

Sokka didn't smile as he accepted the map, but he tried to look a little friendlier. "Thanks," Sokka said.

Jet said something polite in return, but Katara was at the shop's door. Sokka's little sister could be a pest, but she knew exactly when it was time to be serious. By unspoken agreement, they walked briskly out of the downtown area, and only started running when they reached the suburbs. There was nothing all that odd about a pair of kids sprinting somewhere in a neighborhood, and a few fast glances at the map meant that they didn't have to slow down.

Sokka didn't relax until he saw Aang, sitting on the front step of the house Jet had marked.

"I promised." Aang didn't stand up, and didn't move when Katara sat next to him. "I promised that I wouldn't come back for a week, and I should've known that something wasn't right. He didn't call ahead, he just told me to leave after telling me- telling me something really hard to deal with."

"We'll go in with you, if you want to check." Sokka had never been responsible for somebody that just had really bad news, but he'd been in work with his dad before when people heard that somebody was dead. The words weren't as important as the tone. People needed you to be nice, and sometimes they needed you to start out with the decisions. "The bedrooms are probably upstairs, right? Those are pretty personal, so you can check there. Katara can look around the main floor, and I'll get the basement. After that, there's a big backyard, right? We'll try that."

Aang nodded, and let Katara help him to his feet. Sokka thought they might check the two floors together, but that would give him time. Maybe it was a little disrespectful, going to what might be the scene of a murder, but he was a police chief's son. He had an idea what his dad would want to know later.

Sokka found the very steep staircase and the light switch at the bottom. He allowed himself a couple deep breaths before he walked into the single large room in the basement.

The ceiling was much higher than he expected, and the clean, smooth concrete walls probably reached up five meters. The ceiling was safe enough, and the short, wide window that let in a sliver of light was fine. The stack of blue floor mats against the far wall would probably reach his waist, and he could imagine that the entire floor could be covered in the vinyl-covered cushions.

The floor wasn't okay. There was a scorch mark in the center of the concrete, a wide stain of black that had warped the concrete beneath the mark. Sokka could estimate that the area was just the size of an adult male, and knew what fire that precise meant. Firebenders.

Even firebenders needed a little help, judging by the dented aluminum gas can left in the darkest corner of the basement. Sokka resolutely put that from his mind, even after noting that the bright red can was marked with the three-tongued flame that Sozin Laboratories put on everything they owned. There was no proof that the man was dead. Jet had been sure, but there wasn't any evidence. (Without a body, there wasn't likely to be any evidence, and without evidence, there wasn't a case. Sokka knew that, after years of listening to his father's stories of terrible crimes that would never be prosecuted for a lack of proof.)

He had turned in a full circle, and the last thing he noticed about the basement was the fuse box. Sokka pulled the door open, and decided that he definitely would have liked Gyatso. Every last fuse was very neatly labeled, including the one that controlled electricity to the three bright lights on the basement's ceiling. He unscrewed that fuse carefully. When the lights went out, he dropped the bulb and was relieved to hear it shatter. There were extra fuses, but no one needed to come down here for a while. The small amount of light from the window didn't make anything visible. The scorch on the ground had disappeared, and the gas can was somewhere in the shadows.

Aang and Katara were in the kitchen when he went back upstairs. Aang still looked unnaturally calm, and Katara's forehead was pinched with worry.

"I had time to look around before the fuse busted." The words were true enough for Sokka to feel okay about lying. "It took me a minute to get back upstairs again, and the lights won't go back on anytime soon." He had been directing the words at Aang, but only Katara seemed to be listening.

"Would you like some time on your own, Aang?" Katara hadn't spent time at the police station listening to officers tell people that their child was dead, or that their parent had been killed. She still looked much calmer than Sokka felt. "We haven't seen the backyard yet."

Aang shook his head. "There's nothing back there. We have a moon-peach tree, but we don't usually get to pick anything."

Just that morning, Aang had driven Sokka crazy by bouncing all over the place instead of walking in a straight line. Now, Sokka was uneasy to see all of that enthusiasm gone. "Why not?"

"The bat-lemur. Gyatso named him Momo, because it always steals our peaches. It lives in the tree whenever the peaches are in season."

Sokka didn't know how to react to the wooden recitation, but Katara stayed calm. "Do you do you want a little time on your own, Aang? We can wait right here."

Aang shook his head. "I'll come back to your house later."

"Are you sure, Aang? It sounds like someone hurt him, and I don't want you to be in danger." Katara's hand stopped halfway between them, not that Aang seemed to notice.

"I'm sure. I don't want anybody else to be here right now."

Katara didn't protest, and Sokka didn't think fighting would solve anything. "I'll tell Gran-Gran, Aang. You won't have to say a word until you're ready."

Aang didn't turn to look at them. "I'll try to head back before it gets too dark."

Sokka and Katara waited for a couple minutes after Aang shuffled through the house, in case he changed his mind, but half an hour later it seemed like they really should go. Katara kept it together better than he'd expected, and she didn't start crying until they were telling Gran-Gran about what had happened.

Gran-Gran didn't say much about what had happened, but when the story was over she walked over to the gun cabinet built into their pantry. She had been warning Sokka for years that they had to watch out for Katara, because Sozin Labs didn't like letting go.

Katara wrinkled her nose at the holstered gun at Sokka's hip, but didn't say a word about it. They had fought about weapons before, not that there was a chance of changing his mind. Katara hadn't protested when Gran-Gran dug a few old-fashioned water skins out of the gun cabinet, and might not have noticed that Gran-Gran took out her favorite shotgun before moving around to close all of the curtains.

"We'll look out for him, Katara."

She twirled a loop of water around her hand, not seeming to care that water wasn't supposed to do that. "I wish that he would've let us stay."

Sokka looked out through the last open window, the one overlooking the backyard surrounded by a privacy fence. "He'll come back. It's still three hours until sunset, and an hour after that we'll go out to find him."


	4. Chapter Four: The Peach Tree

_A side note about moonlight: it will give you enough light to move around, but good luck seeing colors.  
_

* * *

**The Avatar Project  
Chapter Four: The Moon-Peach Treeshar  
**

* * *

Aang didn't know how long it had been since he stumbled into the backyard to sit under the moon-peach tree. It was where he always sat when someone had bullied him at school or when he wanted to ask Gyatso something serious. They were never going to have one of those talks again, where Gyatso made everything better like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Aang knew. He didn't have any evidence, but that didn't matter. All of the little tiny pieces had come together, and all of them meant that Gyatso was gone.

He probably should have spent more time thinking that it couldn't be true, but Jet would never lie about that. No one that worked for Iroh would even think about saying that, because Iroh and Gyatso were friends, and they played Pai Sho together all the time and talked about things that Aang wasn't old enough to know. If Pai Sho meant that people could just write about dying like it was the only way things could happen, maybe Aang was never going to be old enough to understand.

He wasn't even old enough to know anything, even when Gyatso had written everything out in a letter for Iroh. Aang had been old enough to carry the letter while he was running to hide with Hakoda, but Gyatso hadn't given any hints at all. Aang didn't care if it was rude to read someone else's letter, especially when it only proved everything. Jet might not even realize that the letter was gone, with the way the rest of the shop was probably a wreck, and it wasn't like Gyatso could be disappointed that Aang had read something meant to be private.

It shouldn't have been a secret. Aang was going to find out anyway, and was he supposed to have gone on for a whole week without knowing that Gyatso was dead?

Iroh's brother had killed Gyatso. Maybe airbenders didn't kill, but Aang was the Avatar, and Gyatso had said often enough that Ozai had to be stopped. Half-formed fantasies about revenge crept through his mind, but he didn't know enough about violence to make them any more specific than vague outlines. Maybe he could kill Ozai, but he didn't know just how you went about killing people.

Aang was the last airbender, maybe ever, and nobody was there to tell him that airbenders didn't kill. Gyatso wouldn't have any more chances to sit and explain things until the entire world seemed to make sense, and that was when the tears finally came. Gyatso wasn't going to come out to their tree. It wouldn't matter how long Aang stayed there, Gyatso was never going to come make him feel better.

He opened his eyes when something landed directly in his lap, and blinked when he realized how dark it had become.

"Momo?" When Aang carefully held out his hand, the bat-lemur nuzzled against it. "The peaches aren't even in season yet." The bat-lemur didn't seem to care, and it was hard to hold onto hazy ideas about killing somebody with Momo purring against him. He lost any homicidal thoughts entirely when the bat-lemur peered up at him.

Momo's eyes really were green. Gyatso had always joked that they should be, the way Momo got jealous if anyone else got one of the moon-peaches from the tree, but they'd never been close enough to tell. Momo had always been really skittish, but didn't look like he was going to fly back into the tree. He had settled into Aang's lap like they belonged together.

"I need to go to Chief Hakoda's house before Sokka and Katara get worried," Aang told his new friend. It was already dark enough to see the stars, but he had enough light to get back to their house again. The moon was full, and Gyatso had always said only a fool needed a flashlight when the sky would provide.

Momo chirped before Aang could start crying again, and scrambled up to perch on his shoulder. When Aang let himself out the side gate, Momo didn't give the moon-peach tree a parting glance.

Aang smiled a little when Momo rubbed his head against Aang's jaw. Maybe this was only for a couple minutes, but it helped a lot to have somebody with him that had known Gyatso at least a little. He could bring the letter back to the teashop later. He would be honest and say that he'd read Mr. Iroh's letter and apologizing for breaking things in the tea shop. Nobody would be all that mad at him, and he couldn't be upset with Mr. Iroh for keeping secrets. Jet had thought that Aang knew, and Mr. Iroh wouldn't have known anything else until he read the letter. Gyatso had been planning something, even if it seemed really, really dumb to get killed for it.

He was distracting himself with increasingly wild conspiracy theories about what Gyatso had been planning when he heard a weird sound. Half a second later, the left sleeve of his t-shirt was pinned to a lamppost, and Aang's eyes widened when he saw the _arrow _right under his arm. Momo shrieked and his fur bristled out, but he clung to Aang's right shoulder as he hissed. Aang jerked his sleeve away from the post, suddenly wishing that he'd brought a flashlight after all. He hadn't paid attention to the lampposts before, but he should have. Every single streetlight was out, even the ones around the corner, and the moonlight made all of the shadows blur together.

A man was walking across the street, with greasepaint smeared around his eyes in some weird pattern, and a bow with an arrow already pulled against it. He wasn't coming from the right direction, though, because someone had shot his sleeve from the other side. When Aang turned again, trying to keep watching the crazy guy in the street, he saw three more men, all with bows, and this time he could see the shine of guns at their sides.

Aang couldn't panic. If he ran right to Kanna's house, they might follow him, and he couldn't put anybody in danger, and even right now all of his neighbors might be in trouble. He moved his arms up slowly. It wasn't his fault that one of his strongest airbending moves might look like surrendering, if people didn't know much about air stances. None of the bows lowered, and he could see the arrowheads glinting.

Aang breathed in, and he could have sworn that he heard Gyatso's voice in his ear. _Sometimes, it isn't enough to catch the wind. You must _be_ the wind. _That was the closest they'd ever come to the idea of flying, because Aang would have wanted to try and they couldn't do it in the basement. Gyatso would have wanted him to fly, now, and that gave him the strength to throw his arms down to his sides and shoot into the sky. He couldn't go to Kanna's house right away, but he knew how to get there from the park.

The problem with his plan was that there were more of the crazy people at the park. Two of them were close enough to a light that he could see red paint smeared across their faces, and they were standing next to men in bulky dark green vests. Aang didn't stay still long enough to figure out what the green vest guys did. He flew away, but there were two facepaint guys at the school playground, and a guy with a weird skinny moustache and a long braid was on the street by the teashop. By the time Aang finally found an alley without anybody wearing a vest or carrying a bow, he was completely lost.

Momo chittered at him disapprovingly as Aang peered at the street sign. The alley didn't have a name, but he'd heard of Ember Avenue. He wasn't supposed to go anywhere near that street because Sozin Labs was really close, and he hadn't even gone on the field trip to the museum because it was two doors away from the lab. Gyatso had told the school that Aang had the flu, and they'd spent the whole day playing airbending games in the basement. Aang didn't know how to find his house from there, and Katara and Sokka's was probably even farther away.

Momo quieted abruptly, and Aang froze when he saw someone at the entrance of his little alley. The man didn't have a bow or a green vest, but he had really strong arms under a red button-down shirt, and the little Aang could see of his expression didn't look promising. He was scowling, and glaring at the ground like he'd very much like to set it on fire.

Aang backed away carefully. It was dark, and the man hadn't seen him, and Momo was huddled down against Aang's neck. Just when Aang thought he was deep enough in the shadows, a piece of trash crinkled under his foot. The man looked up sharply, and when his hand lashed in an arc fire lit up the entire alley. Aang had time to see the yellow eyes and the suspicious expression before the fire disappeared along with Aang's night vision. He rubbed at his eyes, but after the bright light he couldn't see anything at all.

"I didn't mean to startle you," the man said stiffly. He sounded a lot younger than Aang had guessed, and he wasn't moving any closer.

"You're a firebender." Two seconds later, Aang realized that it might have been smarter to pretend he'd never seen bending before in his life, but the man stayed just as far away.

It was too dark to see the man's expression. "Yeah. You know about that?"

Aang flushed, and reminded himself that airbending would be a very bad idea. All the other people might be working for Sozin Labs. Gyatso had said that Ozai had a whole lot of employees, and Aang didn't know who else would decide to chase him. "Uh huh. I'm friends with a bender."

"Yeah?"

There was no way that he could bring up Katara, but it'd be weird to refuse to admit who it was. He didn't want to let a firebender know about anybody- except maybe a really strong firebender that had a really big house outside the city with guards. "Mr. Iroh. He's a firebender, too, and he can do all kinds of neat things with it."

The firebender held out his hand slowly, and a little ball of flames flashed into his palm and stayed there. "What is that thing?" he asked, gesturing with his other hand at Aang's new friend.

Aang scratched between Momo's ears, but after a moment the bat-lemur pulled its head away to look toward the firebender. "He's a bat-lemur. His name is Momo." Aang might have said something else, because the man did look a little interested, but Momo leapt out of his hands and scampered over to the firebender. Before Aang could say anything, Momo had climbed the man's legs and was hanging off of the collar of the man's shirt to look at the fire.

"Hey, watch it!" the man said, closing his fist just before Momo's paw came in reach. "Does this thing know anything about fire?"

Aang opened his mouth to reply, but Momo had decided that the firebender wasn't scary at all. Aang giggled when the firebender tried to make Momo stop grooming his shaggy hair, because for all that the man grumbled, when he finally did catch Momo he was nice about putting the bat-lemur on the ground. Aang had already taken a few steps closer, and he smiled at the firebender after Momo jumped back up to Aang's shoulder.

"I'm Aang," he said, holding out his hand.

The man shook it carefully, like he thought Aang's fingers might break off if he held on too hard. He looked more grumpy than he did friendly, but Momo liked him. "Zuko. What are you doing out this late?"

Aang was close enough to see that Zuko was still a kid, and he didn't need someone just a few years older acting like he was the adult. "What are _you _doing out this late? I was going for a walk. With Momo."

Zuko's eyebrows went up. "You were walking your flying bat-lemur, at night, and somehow got into an alley without going near the street," he said, stepping out of the alley. When Aang followed him into the light, Zuko's eyes went straight to the ripped sleeve. "What happened?"

"Um..."

"The Yu Yan," Zuko guessed after another moment. They were standing close enough that Aang could see the surprise in the firebender's expression. "Red facepaint, dark outfits, really good at archery?"

It probably would make more sense to run the other way and get out of sight, but Momo liked Zuko, and Aang was lost. "And guys in these really thick green vests," he admitted.

"You definitely didn't want to get stuck in this part of town," Zuko guessed. His yellow eyes looked very sharp, but maybe that was because the yellowy streetlights made it almost look like the irises were glowing. "It's not a good place for an airbender."

"Not at all," Aang agreed with feeling. "Um. That I don't want to be here, not- not the other part."

Zuko shook his head. "There's only one airbender your age, and I saw you flying. You can help me, I can help you. I'll get you anywhere in town that you need to go if you can tell me something."

Aang backed away a few steps, but didn't try to fly away yet. Zuko wasn't following him, and it would be really good if he could get somewhere close to Katara and Sokka's house before the guys with facepaint found him again. He remembered the street right behind their house, and that would be close enough. "Maybe. What do you want to know?"

"Tell me where to find Gyatso."

Aang was about ready to tell Zuko exactly what he thought about a firebender talking about Gyatso, but not one of the really angry words came out when he opened his mouth. All the words had been replaced by a really shaky breath, and he actually felt his eyes start getting all wet even when Zuko was watching. Zuko looked confused, like he hadn't expected that at all, and _that _was what made Aang angry. "Like you don't know!" Aang yelled, taking a step forward. "You might've even been there when it happened. Gyatso said I couldn't trust any firebenders except Mr. Iroh, and he was right. You and all your friends killed him last night, I know it." Aang's voice sounded much more deep than usual, but he only thought to be happy that the words sounded menacing. "He's dead. He's dead, and Ozai killed him."

None of the streetlights had changed, and Zuko hadn't done anything with fire since Momo reached too close, but it was easier to see all the little details. He could see that there were little crests on every single one of Zuko's shirt's buttons, the little three-tongue flame that Sozin Labs used as a logo. He could see a burned patch on the cuff of the shirt, and he could see that Zuko looked very surprised- probably that Aang knew already. Maybe all the firebenders had thought that Aang wouldn't know about Gyatso for days.

**"I know."** Aang's voice sounded very odd in his ears, almost like it was echoing, and Momo sprang off of his shoulders. Aang barely noticed. He was watching Zuko, until it felt like he didn't even have to look up to meet the firebender's wide yellow eyes. All of his vision faded into those eyes, those eyes like the ones that had watched Gyatso die. Aang's had moved before he had made a conscious decision, and suddenly a thousand voices were whispering in his ears even as the blue-tinged light chased the last of the shadows away from him.

The concrete two feet below his shoes shuddered, and all windows within twenty yards shattered. The shards of glass were caught up instantly in growing winds, and the glittering shrapnel whirled around Aang and Zuko in a tight circle. If Zuko said anything, it was lost in the roar of hundreds of voices, and the only thing that existed was the broad stripes of light twining down the back of Aang's arms. Sight disappeared last, until every one of his senses was lost in light.

Something collided with his arm, and the feeling of tiny claws gripping was quickly followed with the sound of furious chattering. When Aang opened his eyes, he barely had time to realize that he was hovering before he fell back down to the ground, with the sound of glass falling around around him. Momo, apparently satisfied that Aang was no longer a problem, ran over to Zuko to sit on the firebender's tennis shoes.

Zuko didn't say anything. Aang rubbed at his hair uncomfortably, because what did you even say after you were going to... he didn't know, but he thought that Zuko might have died if Momo hadn't helped. "Um..." Aang didn't know what to say, but Zuko hadn't run away yet. That might be because Momo had a firm grip on the firebender's shoes, but maybe it was because Zuko wasn't done staring at Aang. "Sorry."

"Ozai killed Gyatso," Zuko said quietly. Aang didn't understand all the emotions that he could read in the firebender's face, but he could see sadness mixed in with some kind of decision.

"Yeah." Aang didn't try standing up, but Zuko still wasn't doing anything threatening. Zuko definitely wouldn't have deserved... whatever that was. It definitely hadn't been airbending, but Gyatso had barely said anything about what being the Avatar really meant. "Last night."

Zuko didn't say sorry, which Aang liked, but that left them with nothing else to say for a couple minutes. Zuko was the one to break the silence. "Every single one of the Yu Yan and the Dai Li probably saw the light from the Avatar State. You answered my question, I can get you out of here. They're already on their way over here."

"Why'd you want to know about Gyatso?"

"It's not important," Zuko said, sounding grumpy again. "Do you want a ride or not? I have a jacket you can wear, so they won't recognize the shirt so easily, and I won't tell anybody where I drop you off."

Aang usually would have bounced right up, but his legs felt all shaky. He didn't feel any better when he followed Zuko, and didn't think it was worth commenting that Zuko wasn't wearing a jacket, and it wouldn't matter if Aang was wearing a really bright color if they were in a car. Half a block later, Aang realized what Zuko meant. Zuko had pulled two helmets out of a compartment on the back of a motorcycle before Aang realized that Zuko wasn't looking for a car. Aang looked doubtfully at the battered red motorcycle, but he put on the helmet.

"Do you know Mr. Iroh?"

"Not really. He doesn't have much to do with anybody in the company, but I met him a few times when I was little." Zuko grimaced at the memory. "All I know is that he's obsessed with tea and Pai Sho. He did get me a cool knife, though."

Gyatso's letter was still in Aang's pocket, and the edges seemed to press against his leg. Gyatso had said to trust anybody that talked about the old game- that had to be Pai Sho- even if they had _an enemy's face._ A firebender that wasn't Mr. Iroh definitely counted, and Aang was much more cooperative about putting on the black leather jacket Zuko held out. It almost went down to his knees, but Zuko didn't say anything about it. Aang didn't say that Gyatso didn't like leather, so maybe they were even.

Zuko helped him adjust the chin strap on the helmet, but it still didn't quite fit. "The helmet's a little big, but I'll stick to the slower roads. The Yu Yan won't bother chasing me unless they're really desperate, and the same goes for the Dai Li. They're guards for Sozin Labs. The Yu Yan are just as good with guns as they are with the bows, when they have to be, and the Dai Li are all earthbenders. They know I like riding around at night, so they won't care."

That was more than Zuko had said all night, nearly, and he seemed to realize it. The rest of the explanations were much shorter. He sounded grumpier than ever when he told Aang how to sit and hold on and deal with turns, but he was tense enough that Aang thought he might be nervous. Aang was a little nervous, too, but he trusted Zuko. Momo did, too, and looked happy enough to curl right between Aang and Zuko inside the jacket.

Zuko looked kind of scary, and he was a firebender, but he hadn't hurt Aang and Momo liked him and Gyatso had said to trust anybody that knew about Pai Sho. When Zuko asked where Aang wanted to go, Aang told him Katara's address.


	5. Chapter Five: The Motorcycle

_I don't think any scenes in this chapter cross the line to an M, but I do try to use accurate description. Near the end of the chapter, this becomes graphic.  
_

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**The Avatar Project  
Chapter Five: The Motorcycle  
**

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Motorcycles weren't all that bad, but they weren't very exciting. Movies made them look a lot more interesting. Zuko was barely going fast at all, and it seemed to Aang that someone on a bicycle could move faster. The small red motorcycle had a single headlight, but Aang could barely see anything from his seat at the back. Zuko was nearly twice his size, for one. If that hadn't been enough, the visor on Aang's helmet was tinted so dark that things might have looked dim in the middle of the day. At night, he could barely make out the full moon past the trees.

The street lights still weren't on, and nearly every house that they passed was completely dark. He only recognized Katara and Sokka's house when he saw the moonlight shining on the white walls of their pool, but Zuko didn't slow down for a whole block even when Aang trying to point him back toward the house.

As soon as the motorcycle wasn't moving, Aang climbed off with Momo still curled in his arms. He moved to pull the borrowed helmet off, ready to tell Zuko that they'd missed the house entirely, but Zuko caught Aang's hand.

"Don't. Leave it on for another minute. Someone might have followed us."

Aang didn't pull his hand away. Zuko still looked a little scary, with the way that his eyes flashed through the helmet's glass visor, but his grip was really gentle. Aang nodded after another few seconds, and that seemed to be the answer that Zuko had been waiting for.

"Aang. If I tell you to get lost, you're going to vanish. You can run, fly, hide in the bushes- something. Do whatever you need to do, but you disappear."

Aang pushed the dark visor back to see a little better. "What about you?"

Zuko turned to set his helmet on the motorcycle, but that brought him right into the headlight. Aang could see that his friend didn't look sure, even if Zuko sounded confident enough. There were little lines around Zuko's mouth that didn't seem to match the steady hands. "Don't worry about me. Ditch the helmet near the bike if you can, my girlfriend's already going to be pissed that she's losing the jacket- don't take it off, you're wearing a bright orange shirt," Zuko snapped when Aang would have taken off the coat. "Promise. Now. When I tell you to go, you go."

Aang swallowed heavily. "I promise." Something didn't feel right, but he didn't think Zuko would settle for anything else.

Momo scrambled to curl on Aang's shoulder, where he watched Zuko solemnly. Zuko's lips twitched as he addressed the bat-lemur. "You keep him out of trouble, okay? He has a block to go."

Aang smiled tentatively, understanding a little better. Zuko hadn't missed the house at all. He'd driven further because they might still find people, and this way nobody would see that Aang was staying with Katara. "I'll have people looking out for me when I get there."

"Good. Sozin Labs-" Zuko looked away. "You don't want to go there." Before Aang could ask any questions, Zuko had stepped up onto the curb.

Aang waited as Zuko scanned the houses around them. Aang was about to ask about Zuko's girlfriend, to keep things from being too quiet, but his mouth clicked shut when Zuko's entire body tensed. It took Aang a few more seconds to find the man walking out of the darkness with a very ugly smile on his face.

He wasn't wearing the red face-paint like the archers, and didn't have any of the bulky green body armor of the other people Aang had been avoiding. He was wearing a suit that looked dark red in the motorcycle's headlight, and when he was twenty feet away Aang could see the yellow gleam of the man's eyes. He wasn't Ozai, though, unless Ozai had changed his beard. This man had pointy spikes of hair on either side of a bare chin instead of a long goatee.

"Well, well," the man said.

The man in the suit was scary enough that Aang shivered and took half a step back. Before the man could say another word, Zuko was standing between them. Maybe Aang was supposed to be braver, but he stayed right where it was safe. He was close enough behind Zuko that he couldn't see the strange man at all, and didn't want that to change.

"I think it's past your curfew, Zuko." The man's voice made Aang feel that cold water was dripping down his back. "I am sure that Mai would be devastated to hear that other girls are gaining the experience of riding your tasteful choice of transportation."

Aang squeaked a protest at being mistaken for a girl, but it was lost under Zuko's reply. "Don't you have anything productive to do with your time, Zhao? You don't need to waste your time in the labs anymore."

Aang couldn't see if Zhao's expression changed, but the tone of the conversation turned even colder. "That might sting coming from someone actually allowed to attend the lab's meetings, runt. As I recall, you were banished from them the very first time you set foot in the door."

Zuko's voice didn't falter. "I remember. I also remember that I was right. You didn't do any of the tests that you were bragging about, and your 'research subject' died. You almost destroyed the entire company when you killed that girl."

"Not every trial will be a success. You are a prime example of that fact of life." Zhao stepped closer, and the sound of his flat shoes on the sidewalk was almost unbearably loud. "The amazing part is that the heir of the Omashu Corporation would ever show an interest in you. You certainly won't inherit a dime of Sozin Labs, you have yet to display any useful skills, and you have little else to impress anyone. I'm amazed her father lets her waste her time."

"That might hurt coming from someone any woman took an interest in," Zuko retorted. "Leave Mai out of this."

"You were the one to involve her at all- or at least her jacket, and her helmet. Just who are you hiding behind that visor, Zuko?" Zhao's voice was louder, but it wasn't loud enough to cover the sharp snap of a twig. When Aang peered around Zuko, he could see four Yu Yan moving to Zhao's side.

"I don't believe that's any of your business." Zuko glanced back at Aang. "Time to head home," he said clearly. When Aang didn't instantly leave, one hand reached back to nudge Aang's shoulder. "Get out of here, kid."

Aang had promised. That was the only reason that he backed away. He only heard half of what Zhao said next, something about how he'd never thought Zuko's tastes would veer that young, but he didn't pay attention to Zuko's louder reply. The Yu Yan were coming from everywhere, moving toward Zhao, and three of them were looking right at Aang. The motorcycle jacket and the black helmet covered nearly all of him, but Momo was still perched on his shoulder. Some of the Yu Yan had seen Momo before.

When one of the archer's hands jerked for his quiver, Aang flew straight up so fast that he made himself dizzy. They were watching, and might think about firing arrows around, so he headed down into the tree with the thickest leaves and landed in the top branches gently enough that the leaves just four feet from him didn't shudder at all. By accident more than design, he had landed almost exactly over their heads, fifty feet up.

The Yu Yan started yelling all at once, and Zhao was even louder. All that Aang could make out was 'Avatar,' over and over again. He could barely hear Zuko's voice in the chaos.

The tree's leaves were thick enough that he couldn't see any of the ground. Aang pulled off the borrowed helmet and held it away from his body. He couldn't throw it, because it would bounce wrong, but he only needed a few seconds were the leaves could rustle just a little bit.

A very gentle gust of air built under the helmet, spinning faster and faster until the helmet lifted from his hands. Aang blew on it gently, sending the helmet moving slowly away from the confrontation beneath him. He kept it close to the trees, and didn't hear anything in the voices change. Aang's brow knitted in concentration when it was thirty feet away, and could barely control it at fifty. He let the helmet drop straight down. He winced even as he very quickly made his way down through his tree to the lower branches while everyone was distracted by the sound. The helmet made a very loud crunching noise when it hit the road, and Zuko's girlfriend probably wasn't going to be happy about that, but Aang was far enough down in the tree that he could see a little.

A few Dai Li were standing very close to Zhao, and one of them was talking quietly into a radio. The rest sounded like they had fanned out to look at the helmet and where it had fallen from. Zuko had turned back toward his motorcycle, even as he still kept an eye on Zhao. Aang drew the borrowed leather jacket around himself more tightly as Momo huddled down into his shoulder.

Zhao was backing away. Aang could see it, just like he could see that the Yu Yan never pointed any of their arrows at Zuko. For a minute, it looked like it was going to be over. Zhao had looked away to talk to the Yu Yan, and Zuko was going to get on the motorcycle and leave.

That was when a car edged up to the curb. Its headlights were almost blinding after several minutes with just the dim light from the motorcycle. The rumble of the motor was all that Aang could hear until a door opened and closed. Moments later, a tall man stepped into view.

Aang had seen Ozai on the news a few times, and once he had come to Aang's school to talk about how people could make a lot of money with science, but Aang had never been so close. He definitely hadn't been close enough to realize that Zuko kind of looked like Ozai, and not just because of the eyes. There was only a second to take in Ozai's face and the goatee that pointed down toward his blood-red tie, but it was enough.

Ozai stood between Zhao and Zuko. His suit was black enough that it would have been a silhouette against shadows, but the motorcycle and the car's lights shone on his back. Aang barely breathed as he watched, and Momo was entirely still.

"Zhao. There were reports of the Avatar in this area," Ozai said coolly, when no one spoke. The Yu Yan had moved back until they formed a loose circle around the three firebenders, and when Aang looked around he could see the men in the green body armor joining them at the edges of the light.

"Your son decided to help him escape," Zhao spat, jerking his head toward Aang's grumpy friend. "We had worked out how to catch the brat alive and reasonably unharmed, all while Zuko deliberately hid him with a helmet and a jacket."

Zuko didn't sound afraid, but his voice had sounded completely normal even when he had been nervous. "I might have been able to help if anybody told me what was going on. I wasted all day chasing after a dead man." He stared at Ozai, and Aang belatedly realized what Zhao's words meant. Zuko was Ozai's son. The grumpy boy with the motorcycle that helped him get away was _Ozai's son. _

"You misunderstood. I wanted you to find information about Gyatso, and mentioned that second-hand sources are frequently reliable. I did tell you he frequented that tea shop."

"He's dead." The words were calm, but Aang could hear the emotions underneath, and could see them written across Zuko's face. "Rumor has it that you killed him last night, so it makes no sense that you'd send me out this afternoon to find him."

Aang couldn't tear his eyes away from Zuko, even to look at the man that had killed Gyatso. Something was wrong. It didn't matter that Zuko's voice was pretty calm, or that the men in the green vests had started to slowly back away. It didn't even matter that Ozai didn't look upset, or that the black car's purring motor filled in the quiet. Something wasn't right.

"You had the perfect opportunity to be useful, for once in your life." Ozai didn't sound at all sorry. "I had hoped that you would blunder into your uncle in your search. He's too soft-hearted to stay out of the city for long if his precious friend's ward was lost somewhere in the streets. Instead, you managed to jeopardize months of preparation."

Zuko said nothing.

Ozai pinched the bridge of his nose. He took a few steps forward, as if collecting himself, and when he turned Aang could see his face even more clearly. Ozai's entire face was caught in the headlights of the car, but Aang could only see Zuko's left side.

Ozai looked around at the men watching them before he spoke. "There is a reason that your sister will inherit the company, Zuko."

"Was Azula there? Last night." Zuko actually took a step closer, and the hand that Aang could see was clenched into a fist.

"Yes, she was. I have full confidence that she will fully participate in the next company matter. She has proven herself many times over, but you... I suppose there is an easy way for you to redeem yourself. The Avatar knows you, now, and probably would follow you anywhere you choose to lead him. You have the rare opportunity to accomplish something for the company."

Zuko was already shaking his head when Ozai continued.

"Capture the Avatar, Zuko. Bring the boy to me, and I'll be sure you have a position secured within the company. You can even work in several of those reforms that you've mentioned, and if it soothes your conscience you can be the one to mandate the quarters that the Avatar will take."

The car's engine quieted to nothing. Zuko and Ozai stared at each other, and it seemed to Aang that neither of them was blinking. When Zuko broke the silence, it seemed that the entire city could hear his quiet reply.

"No."

Ozai's eyes narrowed.

Zuko's voice grew louder. "No. He's a little kid, dad, and you just- you just killed the person that looked after him! If you wanted me to think about bringing some twelve-year-old kid into the lab, it wouldn't have happened even if you told me everything at the start."

Ozai stalked forward. Fifteen feet above the firebender's head, Aang shrank back slightly. Ozai moved like a very large, very hungry predator, and sparks were crackling from his hands. "I will not have lessons in morality from my own son." Ozai's left hand closed around Zuko's shoulder, tight enough to bruise. "You will honor your father."

The words made the hair on the back of Aang's neck rise, and every instinct told him that it was time to run.

Aang thought of shouting a warning, or flying around as a distraction, or just grabbing Zuko and flying away, but he was too late. Zuko's lips were already moving. Time seemed to slow, even when Aang had no time left to react, and there was nothing for him to do. Zuko was looking up at Ozai, openly defiant, and the words had already escaped. "My father has no honor."

Aang didn't know if Ozai had planned it, or if he had even thought about what he was doing, but Ozai's right hand lashed out as fast as any airbending move. Fire lit in Ozai's palm just before the hand hit Zuko's face. The blow was hard enough to knock Zuko from his feet. Ozai's grip on his son's shoulder kept Zuko from hitting the ground, but Aang barely saw that. His entire world had narrowed to the sudden asymmetry of Zuko's face- the right side smooth and pale, and the left...

The blue light erupted from Aang, and there was no hope of stopping it. It spread out rapidly, with enough force to knock everyone to the ground. Zuko was falling when Aang collided with him, and only adrenaline and the beginnings of the Avatar State gave Aang the strength to grab onto Zuko and keep flying. He shot straight up, at first, before heading away from Katara's house and Ozai and everything else. This time, he kept track of the streets even as he flew fast enough to be a blur before doubling back, and when he sank down into Kanna's yard he was sure that no one had seen him.

Suddenly, Zuko was very heavy, and Aang realized that the firebender was probably twice Aang's size. Even Momo seemed to weigh his shoulder down too much. He stumbled forward, then, and knocked on the sliding glass door in the back of the house. Sokka was there just two seconds later to open the door.

"Aang! We were- spirits, what happened?"

Aang's throat felt closed, but he didn't have to say anything. Sokka was strong enough to pick up Zuko and run inside. Momo leapt off Aang's shoulder to race into the house, and Aang followed clumsily. He heard Sokka yelling for Gran-Gran, and Aang knew that Katara was trying to talk to him, but his mind kept replaying those last few seconds before Zuko had been hurt. He should have helped. He should have gotten them both out of there earlier.

When he threw up, Katara was there with a plastic bucket. She had an open pitcher of water and a glass at her side, and when Aang stopped retching she used waterbending to wipe off his face. When he lasted a few seconds without starting to vomit again, she bent him a glass of water. "Here. Gran-Gran's on the phone with Dr. Yugoda already."

Aang spat the first few mouthfuls of water into the bucket, but drank the rest of the glass. He pushed the glass away when Katara would have refilled it. "His name's Zuko. He helped me, and..." His stomach protested again, but Katara put a hand on Aang's arm. Looking into her eyes, Aang remembered what he needed to say. "He's Ozai's son." That was almost enough to make him start throwing up again, but he only turned green.

Sokka had been hovering by the dining room table, but moved over when he heard them talking. Aang thought he might have been avoiding the vomit. "Does it matter whose son he is? He's in pretty bad shape."

Aang felt very green when he looked toward the dining room. They had put Zuko on the table, and he was barely moving. It didn't even look like he was breathing. "Yeah. Ozai was the... Ozai burned him."

Sokka's jaw dropped, and Katara's eyes filled with tears. Kanna, on the phone, only closed her eyes as she continued her conversation with Yugoda.

Sokka recovered before Katara. "Later. Right now, we have a... is your buddy a firebender, too?"

Aang nodded.

"We have a burned-up firebender and Ozai owns every hospital within ten hours of driving. Sozin Labs does too much in-hospital work, and dad's heard that anybody with suspicious burns won't get much treatment." Behind Sokka, Gran-Gran's conversation took on a new urgency. He didn't appear to notice as he paced back and forth across the room. "That's a really scary burn over there. Do you know how to heal?"

Aang shook his head slowly. "I'm an airbender."

"Not you. Katara."

That was enough to shock Katara from her tears. "Me?"

"Waterbenders can heal," Sokka said plainly, as if it should be obvious. "Yue was supposed to be able to do it, so she tried every time the moon was full."

"Sokka, I can't heal that!" Katara protested. "I've never even done it before, and burns are really hard for anybody to heal! You'd need an expert or something, and... Yue was a waterbender?"

"She was supposed to be, but it didn't work out that way."

Katara stared at her brother, longing warring with her nervousness, before she nodded. "Maybe we can talk about that later?"

"Later," Sokka agreed. Sokka grabbed his sister by the hand to pull her into the dining room, but Katara yanked her hand away. Their brief understanding was forgotten.

"I don't know how to heal anything, and that's... I saw the burn, a little. Hospitals would take skin from his leg or something to try healing that much, and it's on his _eye_ and you'd need to have spent years and years and years at healing to start fixing something like that!"

"Katara." Kanna very audibly set the phone on the counter. "Stop panicking. Sokka, stop pressuring her." She stepped toward the dining room table, looking speculatively at the burn, but paused by the sink to turn on the tap. "We'll not be using much light, with all of Ozai's goons still running the streets, but Yugoda will be here first thing tomorrow morning. The burn isn't large enough to be dangerous, and we can handle every one of the initial steps ourselves."

Sokka stepped back into the dining room. "Is there anything I can do, or..."

"Go watch the front of the house again, but close the blinds on the back door first. Tell me if anything changes." Kanna brushed a hand through her patient's hair. "Some of this will have to... spirits, his ear was burned as well. Aang, go into the bathroom and find Hakoda's razor. It's very sharp, mind, so be careful. Katara, we'll work with water in all the ways you know. We need to clean the burn. Use cool water, nothing icy. Yugoda said to keep rinsing for twenty minutes."

Aang didn't do much after finding the straight razor and bringing it to the dining room. Katara was biting her lip as she carefully bent water across the raw burn. Kanna took the razor immediately, and began to cut the hair away from the edge of the burn. Aang couldn't see any real difference when Kanna set the razor on a counter, but he wasn't sure he could form the words to ask why she had wanted it. Zuko was really pale, and the burn looked like nothing that Aang had seen before. It looked like the skin had melted, and like the flesh had shifted into supermarket hamburger while Aang was flying, and the area around Zuko's eye looked the worst. It almost looked like there wouldn't be an eye left under the melted flesh.

Aang hadn't been paying any attention to the time, but after what felt like hours Kanna tapped her watch. "Twenty minutes."

Katara bent the last of her water over to the kitchen sink before collapsing into her chair with every sign of exhaustion. Gran-gran rested a hand on Katara's shoulder as she peered at the burn. "It looks as well as we can expect, I fear. Yugoda will be over as soon as she can get a few things that we'll need. With any luck, the boy won't wake up until we have pain medicine for him. Burns are terrible things."

Aang stepped forward hesitantly. Gran-gran was unwrapping a packet of gauze beside him, but he refused to look away from the burn. He had burned himself on a pan, once, and the tiny pink mark had been the size of a fingernail. It had been nothing like this. "Do you think somebody that knew a lot about healing with waterbending would be able to help?"

Katara was rubbing at her eyes from tiredness when she turned to stare at him. "I don't know. I didn't know that you could use water to heal, and I can't learn it this fast."

"I wasn't talking about you. I'm an airbender, but I'm the Avatar, too. I should be able to learn all of the other elements. Water's supposed to be next." Aang hadn't thought about the Avatar State before. He had only known about it for a day and a half, now, and everything had been an accident. He had lost his temper a little in Mr. Iroh's tea shop, and then he had been scared that Zuko would die. He hadn't thought at all when he flew down to bring Zuko to safety, but maybe he could reach out for it. Gyatso had said that all of the previous Avatars could lend him their wisdom, so if he could find a waterbender, maybe it would work.

Katara was asking him questions, but he didn't hear the words. There were whispers in his ear, like there were a thousand people speaking all at once, and when he set his hand on Zuko's shoulder everyone could see the blue light coming from his skin in arrows running down his arms. When he leaned closer to the burn, there was enough light to see every one of the tiny details.

Aang didn't remember any of the healing. Later, Katara would exclaim about the blue arrows that had lit down his arms and forehead, and Gran-gran would praise the way that the burn went through weeks of healing in just a minute, and Sokka would say that maybe there was something to this bending-stuff, if Aang could do that much healing with it that fast. Aang only remembered swaying on his feet as he looked at the burn again, taking in a very pink edges of the scar around the brown tissue over the eye, and Sokka waiting to catch him when Aang fell back.


	6. Chapter 6

_The main plot for this story is finally set, and in the next few chapters all of the main characters will have been introduced.  
_

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The Avatar Project: Chapter Six

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Sokka wasn't very happy about it, but he was awake. It was summer, normally a prime time to see exactly how late he could sleep in before conceding defeat to daylight, but Gran-Gran didn't need to handle all of this herself. Even if she and Dr. Yugoda did insist on handling it at ten past eight in the morning.

Aang was very deeply asleep when Sokka looked into the guest bedroom, and looked likely to remain that way for several more hours. It hadn't been worth trying to get Katara up, the way she was likely to start crying all over again, so he and Gran-Gran were the only ones up when Yugoda made a rare house call. Sokka had thought he might be done after carrying Zuko from the couch back to the table (now with a sterile covering of paper over the vinyl tablecloth), but Gran-Gran had gestured for him to stay. That wasn't exactly Sokka's idea of a good time, especially since the last time he had talked to Yugoda they had been at Yue's funeral, but his dad had told him to help out Gran-Gran.

Yue's aunt had started by removing the light covering of gauze on half of Zuko's face and hissing at the size of the injury, but she looked happy enough with what Aang had done. Yugoda spent nearly four minutes just looking at the mostly-healed burn, and gently prodding at the skin around it, before she even opened the leather medical bag she had brought with her. Sokka didn't know what all the staring and poking was meant to accomplish, but could only imagine it was for the best that Zuko wasn't showing any signs of waking up. Most guys wouldn't take all of that well even if they couldn't start throwing fire.

She pulled half a syringe of Zuko's blood out with a needle, and promptly put all of that into a small plastic cup. He didn't know why she wanted the blood at all, let alone why she started a stopwatch a second after squirting all of it into something that looked like a shot glass, but there was no use interrupting someone that intent on her work. He had thought she had already seen more than anybody could want with the burn, but she started looking at it again, finding something in the mess of rough and discolored skin that no one else saw. She finished off with one more hypodermic needle, but used that one to inject some clear fluid that came out of a tiny little glass bottle.

When Yugoda did speak, nearly ten minutes after she had taken a look at her patient, she sounded very tired. It wasn't the kind of tired that meant she'd gotten up early or even the kind that meant she'd been up worrying. This was the more personal kind of tired, and the look she'd gotten when reading through Yue's chart and explaining it to her niece. "He's in much better condition than I had hoped. He isn't likely to wake up soon, and when he is awake he's extremely likely to feel disoriented. He may not even remember being burned, immediately. The skin is healed enough that a covering isn't needed, precisely, but until he knows of the injury it may be better to keep as you were."

His Gran-Gran nodded as if she'd expected all of that. "He'll be staying here for as long as he wishes." She had a hand on the firebender's shoulder again, and Sokka knew that Zuko was going to be the second adoptee in two days. Aang was staying for a while, too, and that meant they had two guests to one guest bedroom. Putting anybody in his dad's room would just feel weird.

His Gran-Gran must have been thinking about the same things. "Is he well enough to move up to a guest bedroom? We're at a bit of a shortage, currently, but he should have some space."

Sokka resigned himself to waking up at a reasonable hour, the frequent consequence of bunking with a morning person. It was better than leaving somebody to wake up with half their face burned up and a hyperactive airbender hovering over them. "Aang can stay in my room. I'll clean a space for the air mattress before tonight."

"Thank you, Sokka."

It also was better than getting told later that Aang would be moving in with him for a little. This way he could pretend it had been his decision all along.

Yugoda tilted her little plastic cup of blood. She was smiling, even though the blood was all clotted and nasty, and clicked the stopwatch again. "Excellent. If I had known that Katara was developing so rapidly as a healer, I would have offered her lessons ages ago. This is perfect."

Yugoda was pulling some odd little machine out of her bag when Gran-Gran and Sokka exchanged a look. Sokka shrugged, because he didn't want to talk about it, but Gran-Gran was giving him the Look. He knew more about this than she did, and he had been the one to open his mouth.

They waited for her to finish her latest little experiment. This time, she put some metal probe-thing into the yellowy-clear fluid over all the nasty clotted part of the blood, and looked just as happy as before after the little machine beeped. "There we are. No infections, we can worry about getting him properly hydrated if he isn't awake by tomorrow morning, and both his clotting time and blood pH are perfectly in-range for a teenage boy. I really must give my compliments to Katara."

"Katara didn't know about healing at all."

Yugoda looked up sharply at Sokka's correction. "Kanna said that this boy was burned last night."

"He was. That's our other guest, Aang. The weird part is that he's an airbender, mostly." Sokka had suddenly had enough of weird looks, because now Yugoda was looking at him like he was slightly crazy and he hadn't even done anything weird yet. "He's the Avatar or something, I don't know what that means. I told Katara that Yue could heal, she didn't even realize that her bending gets crazy during the full moon, and then Aang went all glow-y lights and we had a mostly-healed firebender on the dining room table. Except he was on the couch all night, because the table's kind of hard, and... yeah."

Now Yugoda looked even more tired. She and Sokka hadn't spoken in all of her visits to Gran-Gran for exactly that reason. He had barely known Yue, and had spent of his time with her in the hospital room with the entire intensive care unit fluttering around trying to find anything that might work. "In time, I will ask Katara if she would like lessons. Yue and I... it was easy to teach her. She was thinking of becoming a doctor herself, and between a few lessons in medicine and the way she cared for people, it came easily to her. She never bent water as Katara does, perhaps, with the great waves and the shapes, but she had the soul of a healer."

Sokka couldn't argue with any of that, but even hearing the words made him want to go to the practice range at the police station and empty a few guns into the targets. The alternative would be to head outside and practice with Boomerang for a while, but not even his great-great-great-great-grandfather's weapon would make him feel much better. Yue had been somebody that made everybody around her better, and she was dead.

Gran-Gran cleared her throat, for all that she looked more like she needed to wipe her eyes if she wanted to stop the tears from coming. "Would you move the young man back to the couch for now, Sokka? I'd rather not disturb Aang's rest, and we should have some time of peace if you'd rather get a little more sleep."

He wasn't about to try sleeping, after way too much discussion of Yue, but he could at least go to his room and throw things into the closet. He was clearing a space big enough to get in an air mattress, not turning the place as neat as his dad's room. It was kind of creepy, the way that the room had turned spotless in the weeks after his mom had died. Mom had always teased about the way that Sokka was learning bad habits, and it had almost always come down to socks. Dad's socks almost never made it all the way into the hamper, despite his best efforts at tossing them in from across the room. Socks ended up behind the dresser, in the heater vent, under the bed, and once in the backyard when they had been halfway through replacing the bedroom's window.

After she was gone, the socks always made it into the hamper, the bed was made even when Hakoda was running into the station at four in the morning to question a suspect, and Gran-Gran had taken over the guest bedroom until she cleaned out Mom's sewing room.

He did make sure Zuko looked comfortable enough on the couch, and he had thought to spread a blanket out under where his head would go. Yugoda and Gran-Gran had covered nearly half of the guy's face in gauze again, but Sokka guessed it wouldn't be comfortable to have the burn rub against the couch. He and Yugoda didn't do more than nod at each other to say goodbye, but they'd had enough of memories to last a good while. Sokka left her and Gran-Gran talking about how much Vicodin to use and something more about Avatars.

He was feeling a little extra protective when he made it upstairs, so he peeked through the doorways to make sure the sleepyheads were okay. Katara, as always, had herself wrapped around a pillow instead of actually using it under her head like a normal person. Aang looked much better. Instead of sleeping like the dead, he was sleeping like a zombie. Sokka should have felt a little better when he got to his room, but he only shifted stray items of clothing and schoolbooks and a library book that had been missing for a month before getting bored.

The library book was what gave him an idea. He'd have to pay the fine for turning the book in a couple weeks late if he checked anything out, but he could go use the computers. He didn't have to sign in with anything to get online, and he wouldn't check his e-mail from the library. Something about Aang getting chased by dozens of archery freaks and muscle-men in weird vests made him a little paranoid about hopping on the family computer to look up anything about the Avatar, so he'd go to the library. He could even stop in at the tea shop to explain a little, since the people there were friends with Aang. Maybe they'd know something about the archers. Aang had been a little busy, the night before, and he was still sleeping like the undead.

He would have felt nervous about leaving the house, with all the crazies that were apparently interested in finding Aang and burning half of their son's faces off, but Gran-Gran was going to be fine. She had her favorite hunting rifle hanging on the wall of the kitchen, unloaded and with the safety on. The day she couldn't have it ready to fire in thirty seconds, she said she was checking herself into an old folks' home. Since she usually could manage in twelve, Sokka wasn't too worried. It might be a little weird to have your grandma living right there with you, but as far as he was concerned it just saved you from traveling all over to go visit when their house smelled like cats and weird cookies.

Not that his grandma ever smelled like cats and weird cookies, but Bato's mom sure did.

He very wisely kept those thoughts to himself when he waved to Gran-Gran and Yugoda, and told them that he was going to the library. He had a permit for a concealed carry, and until all of this mess was over he was planning on using it. He had barely squeaked into sixteen, but a few cool local ordinances about people in the Future Officer Training Courses let him have access to a police-issue weapon. His dad might have let him do it, anyway, and the guys at the station would probably have lost any reports about Sokka having a gun, but it was safer to have all the magic papers that meant he could defend himself against freaky people with fire and arrows and whatever the bulky-vest guys did.

It was an oddly nice day outside. It had been great the day before, when they'd gone to the park and all, but somehow it felt like after all of the streetlights going out and the archery buffs running around they should have some ominous thunder or at least some gray clouds on the horizon. Instead, the entire sky was blue and clear and almost cool enough to make him consider getting up early on a regular basis. He didn't actually think about it until he got to the library and saw that one of the new computers was open. It meant he had to sit next to some little kid or other, but he had been meaning to see just how fast the new patron-sponsored computers could go.

Sokka was in a very good mood when he opened up an internet browser and started looking for information. That good mood lasted for maybe half an hour before he realized exactly why he didn't deal with this magic stuff, and why he preferred to not sit next to annoying little kids that tapped their fingers and hummed faintly and wore giant earphones that were half as big as their heads.

Sokka cleared his throat. The tapping only got more obnoxious, which was enough for him to decide it was an intentional game with the goal of driving him crazy. "Okay, I give. Can you please stop tapping?"

The kid turned, but his eyes weren't going to the right place. He was aiming about a foot low, which was even more irritating, and his eyes were this weird green shade that looked like dinner mints. "Maybe. Will you stop poking the keyboard and type the normal way?"

Sokka glanced down at his fingers, which were indeed doing the hunt-and-peck style of two-finger typing that drove his teachers crazy. "Maybe."

Sokka hadn't thought it was that funny, but the weird kid laughed anyway. "I like you. My name's Toph."

"... Sokka. Do you like everybody after staring at their chest for a minute?"

"Huh." The kid tilted his head back slightly. He was still a couple inches off from actually getting to that thing called eye contact, but it was a much better effort. "Stupid carpet, I'm way better at this when it's just tile."

That made absolutely no sense, but Sokka made allowances for insanity. He was generous that way. "Why are you here this early in the morning?"

"My parents like dropping me off at the library so that the librarians can babysit me. I'm not supposed to know about that, but my parents definitely don't know that I bribe their favorite helper twenty dollars a day to leave me alone and let me wander around without anybody grabbing at elbows."

Sokka frowned, glancing at the librarians. They had pitched a fit the time he had tried leaving Katara here. "How much do you have to bribe them to actually watch people, anyway? I thought they didn't let unaccompanied kids in here."

Toph tapped a small metal plaque on the edge of the monitor. "'Sponsored by the Bei Fong Foundation'-two computers, a new children's wing, an updated set of encyclopedias, and a five percent increase in base salary for every employee here do quite nicely."

Sokka's frown deepened at the explanation. He knew about the Bei Fong group, everybody did. They were as rich as Sozin Labs, probably, except that both companies were really secretive about just exactly how much money they controlled, besides "scads." The only problem was that the guy that owned the foundation had one kid, some little blind girl that was dolled up like a movie star whenever they took her had her at company events, with really dark hair and... light green eyes. They didn't have a ragamuffin little boy with scruffy hair.

"You're a girl?"

Toph actually grinned. "Nice one, Snoozles, you've only been here for thirty-four minutes to figure that out. Usually people remember the blind part first."

Sokka stared from Toph to her computer screen. She was typing the proper way that the schools had tried to make him learn, and it was way faster than his time-honored method. "Okay, I give. You're blind, and I think you're writing words that I couldn't use in a sentence."

She pointed to a small USB drive with a flashing green LED light, then to her headphones. "Text-to-voice recognition. Both of these computers have a basic version installed, and a load of other handicapper-friendly things, but they don't have the new download. I'm writing something for my grammar tutor, so it gets pretty dry. What're you looking up really early in the morning?"

One of Sokka's greatest flaws (as he saw it, at least) was that he tended to be honest. This didn't seem to be a problem, but people would ask him questions when he wasn't ready and the first thing that came through his head would pop right out of his mouth. That meant that Katara would be furious that he didn't really see how her new dress was any different from the last eight (they were blue and flow-y), his Gran-Gran would hear some things that she really didn't need to know about how his science test had gone, and sometimes he told random little blind girls about things that _nobody _else was supposed to know.

"I wanted to get more information about the Avatar."

He cringed afterward, but then realized that it could be okay. She'd probably never heard the term, and it probably just sounded like some weird science fiction movie or video game, and after a couple minutes he could sneak off and never come in the library when she was there again. Or at least not until the whole mess with Aang was over.

All of those thoughts ended when her hand snapped out and grabbed his wrist. It was pretty crazy accuracy, for a blind girl, but for the first time she'd managed to look him right in the eye. Maybe it was by accident, maybe it was because her eyes were kind of freaky, but she either knew or was a giant fan of some obscure comic book.

"You know the Avatar?" she asked. That made his theory about some weird comic book (or novel or manga or _something_) instantly irrelevant. He was a little mollified that her voice was barely over a whisper, but not much.

"Um- no, I'm talking about the-"

Toph shook her head. "You're lying. The carpet makes it too hard to tell, otherwise, but I can tell if I'm touching you. You know who the Avatar is. You don't need to tell me, but... they didn't get him last night? I felt people moving around by my house, and a couple of them were talking about the Avatar."

He didn't have a built-in lie detector, but he didn't have to say anything (else) that was personal. "The Avatar's okay. Somebody else got hurt, though, because those guys mean business."

Toph bit her lip and let go of his wrist. He was surprised that it wasn't red, from how strong her grip was, but everything felt fine.

A few seconds later, she turned his way again. "He needs to learn all the elements, right? There won't be much on the internet at all, but you guys should talk to Iroh. He's pretty cool, even if he doesn't- he doesn't know everything, but he knows a lot about fire and air. The only earthbenders that he knows about are Dai Li."

"Wait a minute. How many elements are there?"

"Four."

Sokka counted off on his fingers before he was satisfied. Katara splashed water on people, Aang did weird things with air, Zuko had fire, and then the weird guys had earth. If there were any more random elements coming out of this, he gave up. "Okay. So, are there earthbenders that aren't Dai Li, whatever they are?"

"The Dai Li and the Yu Yan are the two big security groups that work with Sozin Labs. The Dai Li are earthbenders, and they're under Long Feng. Zhao controls the Yu Yan, the-"

"Archers," Sokka finished with her.

Toph tilted her head, but didn't comment. "Right. They're snipers, too, but not as often. So, as far as Iroh knows, and as far as the company knows, the only earthbenders out there work for Ozai. They missed one."

"Cool! You know where he is?" He didn't have to trust the information right away, but this Iroh guy was apparently buddies with everybody and worth checking out.

She smirked. "What is it with you and thinking everybody's a boy? It's me. They thought their big experiment to add earthbending into kids flunked out because I was born blind, and they never even thought about testing later. My parents raised enough of a stink that Sozin Labs didn't dare try earthbending with another kid."

Sokka was a bit stuck on the idea of adding earthbending like other people might add a wig, but she wasn't done yet.

"If the Avatar wants to learn how to earthbend, I'm here for a whole lot of the summer. Mornings are the best, because that's when I actually do my homework, but one of the librarians will know where I went for the afternoons. Keep me in mind. I'd really like to meet somebody else who could bend."

He might have had a response to that, but she walked away before he could think of anything suitable. Just in case she hadn't surprised him enough for the day, she was barefoot and nobody else even seemed to think that was weird.

Sokka wiped the history of what he'd been doing on the internet, just in case, and decided that was his cue to leave the library. At least he had an idea what to say when he got to the tea shop. He had a few things he wanted to know, and somebody was going to answer those instead of giving him twice as many questions.


	7. Chapter 7

_I can't tell how many people are following this story, but I'll update it as often as I can. I'll probably keep the story to a tighter timeline than I originally planned, but all of the main events I've planned still fit into the plot.  
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The Avatar Project: Chapter Seven

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Sokka wasn't excited about heading back to the tea shop, especially when the jerk from the day before was standing behind the counter, but it felt like the right thing to do. Even if the grass-chewing annoyance had flirted with his sister and spilled the beans about Gyatso, Jet had helped Sokka save Aang from seeing the scorch in the basement's concrete. If this "Mr. Iroh" was half as cool as Aang seemed to think, then he would definitely want to know that the kid was safe, and Jet seemed to be the person that passed on messages.

Jet didn't waste any time after Sokka closed the tea shop's door. "Is Aang alright?"

"Yeah." Sokka might not like the guy, but he could appreciate the genuine relief that Jet was showing. "There were Yu Yan and Dai Li all over the place, but he got home alright with a little help."

Jet frowned, stepping out from behind the counter and nodding to the table with the little game pieces on it. "When did you hear about them?"

"This morning. I did a little research after they were crawling all over my neighborhood." Sokka took the seat facing the door, leaving Jet with the angle where he had to turn to see the full shopfront. Sokka didn't mention that his only good information had come from the weird little blind girl at the library. "I used a library computer to look everything up, and as far as I can tell they don't have stored records of computer activity. I didn't find much about them." He had found two mentions, actually, and neither had been half as useful as talking to Toph for a minute.

"The Dai Li are all earthbenders, and pretty nasty pieces of work, but the Yu Yan made Iroh pretty nervous. They're the ones that have a good chance of catching an airbender. Iroh didn't want to come out too early in the game, especially when Ozai's men were out in force. Ozai has the courts wrapped around his thumb, even if the police haven't been bought out yet, so if he could nail Iroh on a citizen's arrest—Ozai has a few bogus charges waiting, white-collar stuff."

"What's with the two of them, anyway? Ozai and Iroh are both firebenders."

Jet tapped one of the tiles against the table for almost a minute before answering. "Iroh said you'd have questions, and he said it's a sign of good faith that we're going to be honest. I'm going to tell you what I know, but keep in mind that it's all really sensitive information. Sozin Labs would do almost anything to keep it under wraps, so it's risky to hear."

Sokka shrugged. "It's risky to have the Avatar and somebody else that Sozin Labs isn't all that fond of in my house. I owe you for the tip about the basement." Sokka relaxed for the first time since entering the shop, and put both hands on the table as his biggest sign of good faith. He still had a holstered pistol that he could draw very quickly, but he wasn't (actively) waiting for a reason. "The basement fuse is out, by the way. You'll need a flashlight if you want to head down there to check things out again, and the last fuse in little pieces all over the floor. Aang didn't need to see that."

Jet's eyebrows went way up at that announcement. "I get the feeling we'd be pretty okay if I hadn't been flirting with the little sister. Look, I don't mean anything serious by that. She's way under the line for statutory. She was happy somebody paid attention, that was all of it."

"That doesn't mean I like you."

Jet grinned. "You have no idea how often I get that reaction."

He looked down at the table before continuing, which gave Sokka time to look over the store. Aang had been pitching furniture everywhere the day before, and had broken at least a few things, but the entire store was back to normal. The game board was even in same pattern as before, just waiting for someone to put a white lotus tile in play and start off the pattern all over again. Maybe there was something to his crazy secret club, if they went through this much trouble.

Jet was still looking at the board when he started talking. "Iroh's son died eight years ago, and that still wasn't the start of everything. That just kicked most of it off," Jet said. "Iroh pulled me into all this a few years ago, when some asshole named Long Feng wanted to use me as a guinea pig in some freaky psychology experiment. I was in juvie, he seemed to think I didn't know my rights... long story short, I broke his nose, he went running back to Ozai, and Iroh took a chance on me. So, when I'm giving you the story, I've only seen the last three years or so, and heard stray bits about the rest."

"Long Feng?"

"He's in charge of the Dai Li. They're earthbenders, but Long Feng thinks that if he branches out a little he can pull some of the attention from Zhao's Yu Yan—the archers. It won't be all that hard, because Zhao is still in deep shit for some stunt last year with an untested chemo treatment that went really badly."

Sokka felt like everything had slowed down to a crawl, even time itself, and something in his expression stopped whatever Jet would have said next. "It was a female patient, teenager, and that first chemotherapy cocktail killed her." Sokka knew before Jet's eyes widened. "Her name was Yue. Sozin Labs did something when she was born prematurely, and she happened to get this freaky cancer later that the doctors at the hospital had only read case studies about."

Jet rubbed the back of his neck, and didn't say anything for several moments. "Yeah. Yeah, that's what happened- I'm sorry you heard it that way, but I didn't think you knew the girl. When she was a baby, the same treatment that saved her life also made her a waterbender and probably messed her up for later. They hadn't worked out all the kinks yet, and didn't really think it was ready, but she was dying and her parents signed the release form."

"What do you mean all the kinks _yet_?" Sokka yelled, on his feet before he realized that he was standing. "My sister's a waterbender!"

That wasn't the best way to explain, and it definitely wasn't something he had planned on mentioning, but Jet didn't look upset with the outburst. He looked just as ready to start yelling himself.

"Well, shit," Jet said finally. "I don't think I can get Iroh on the phone until this afternoon, he's running a war council with a few old friends, but this is bad. Iroh wasn't behind treating Yue, not at all, but he was still with the company when your sister would have been treated. She was a preemie too, right? Born too early?"

Sokka nodded, even though his neck felt almost too stiff to allow the motion.

"I know they did a second treatment with waterbending, and Iroh himself was involved in that one," Jet said. "He was a lot more careful than Zhao or Ozai ever were. Iroh and Gyatso were research partners when the thing started, and Gyatso would never have dreamed of risking a life to bring bending back. That's how the whole project started, with barely any risk. Gyatso was a natural airbender, and he was friends with Iroh from the army. They figured out a way to get bending into adults. I have no idea how all that worked, but you needed some combination of the right temperament or something to go with the genes, or nothing happened. The other part of the deal is that you can only work one element, unless-"

"Wait a second-"

"Unless you're the Avatar," Jet finished. "That was the part of the project that got Ozai interested. The legends said there would only be one Avatar at a time, and he or she was going to be the best. They'd be able to control all the elements, and that's what Ozai wanted. He started the Avatar Project before he, Iroh, and Zhao had all made themselves firebenders. Iroh's son Lu Ten insisted that he wanted to be a part of it, too, so for while that was it. Gyatso was a born airbender, and then there were five firebenders out there- Iroh's assistant was a firebender, too."

"Then they just stuck magic waterbender-juice in Yue when she was a baby as a first try?"

"No. Then they tried to change the genetic makeup of a kid before he was even born, and it didn't work. Well, I shouldn't say that, because the kid was born and the guy is a firebender, but Ozai's son came awfully close to dying just about every week of gestation. Later, the kid was perpetually sick with something or other. He had the worst immune system they company had ever seen. Iroh thinks he's grown out of it now."

Somehow, Sokka guessed that their new house guest didn't have any brothers, and would have been born with that kind of luck. "And his name was Zuko?"

"You are good," Jet said, but his expression stayed grim. "Zuko. After that, they were working with airbending and getting nowhere, so they tried waterbending. Yue was born before they were ready. Iroh wouldn't have anything to do with something they hadn't tested at all, but Ozai and Zhao overruled him. Gyatso was already upset that Iroh had let his son in on the experiments, when they didn't know how it would work in a teenager, but Yue was the last straw when she still was a baby. Gyatso left Sozin Labs, and he never went back. The labs figured out waterbending, and your sister was the success story there. All they wanted was the success, they didn't think it had a lot of potential for fighting. Earthbending got messy."

"They tried it in a little girl, she's blind, and they don't even think she ended up an earthbender."

"Right." Jet gave up on watching the door entirely to stare at Sokka. "Where did you say you found out about all this again?"

"I didn't."

Jet didn't look as if he'd expected an answer. "Well, you're right. The little girl was blind. Nobody's sure if that was because of the treatment, but her parents got a court injunction and were ready to blow the entire company apart. Ozai did some fast talking, but that project was still over. They ended up figuring out the protocol for adults, and nailing it, and that's when most of the security team ended up as earthbenders. Iroh was still involved, at that point, and he was the one that figured out how to successfully use their premature-baby-saver to make an airbender- Aang. The problem was that nobody knew how to raise the kid. He was bending air when he was lying flat on his back in the cradle, and they never could get an adult to start moving air.

"Iroh brought Aang to Gyatso. That was the first time they'd talked in a couple years, and it was pretty awkward. Gyatso only agreed to raise Aang if the lab would never ask for him back. Iroh agreed to that, but Ozai was furious that they lost the most promising bender since his second kid—a daughter. She's fourteen now, I think, but Iroh said that she was making blue fire when she was six.

"They had a few DNA samples from when Aang was a baby, and I think they ran them just a few weeks before Iroh left the company. Lots of science junk later, the fast version is that Aang had a few genes switched on they'd never seen working at the same time. He had all of the things they'd look for in a firebender, waterbender, earthbender—all while they knew he's an airbender. They knew Aang was the Avatar, and they had signed papers that they'd never take him back from Gyatso.

"If Iroh was still at the company, he might have been able to force Ozai to cool it and leave the kid alone, but Iroh was gone before they knew for sure. His son died, and it never mattered that Lu Ten asked to be a firebender. Iroh couldn't do it anymore. He and Gyatso got in touch, they ended up friends again, and Iroh started up the tea shop. We're close enough to the labs to have a good idea about what's going on, and Ozai already made the first move. He murdered Gyatso because he wants Aang back. If Gyatso were alive, he'd either fight Ozai directly or use the police to get his kid back."

Sokka made a few gestures as he thought, trying to put all that information into some kind of order. He begrudgingly knocked Jet a half point down the jerk scale when there weren't any snotty comments. "Okay. Why did Iroh bring Ozai in at all, if he halfway knew what the guy was going to be like?"

"They're brothers." Jet didn't seem to think that was enough of an excuse, from his expression. "Ozai already had a small company with the right kind of technology available, and Iroh had the ideas that could make them very rich. Sozin Labs only makes about a tenth of their research public, and you've seen the kind of impact they have. They've saved a whole lot of lives with medical advances, and that's the idea that Iroh and Gyatso were really interested in. The bending was cool, and it would be awesome if it came back, but they wanted to help people."

"So... Iroh is Zuko's uncle?"

"Exactly. Iroh hasn't been in touch since he left the company. He still talks to one of the people working there, though, but Jee- Iroh's assistant- is getting nervous. Zuko was in Ozai's office yesterday, there was some yelling, and Zuko would barely talk to Jee... all of that's probably more than you want to know, but Iroh's nervous. Ozai told Zuko to go find Gyatso. Yesterday. Ozai killed Gyatso two days ago. Iroh has no idea what Ozai was after, and Jee says that Zuko never responded to a text message from last night." Jet let his hand slide off the table. "I didn't mean to throw that many names at you, but I'm still trying to figure out what's going on."

"Wow." Sokka shook his head, putting all of that information in with what he knew already. He'd known it was bad, but this was just a mess. "Well, Ozai might have accidentally gotten something with that. Zuko found Aang last night and gave him a ride back to my place. I think Zuko had the motorcycle somebody ditched about a block away from my house, but Sozin Labs might have already picked it up. There was this bright red Ferrari right across the street from the bike this morning, and it had the Sozin Lab logo painted in black all the way up and down the hood."

Jet hadn't been paying attention to the last few sentences, but the question told Sokka all he needed to know. "You've seen Zuko? Is he okay?"

Sokka winced. "He's not awake yet. Ozai..."

Jet's jaw clenched, and his fist looked tight enough to snap one of the game pieces in half. "Shit. Just... shit. We should have told Jee to do something a long time ago, he's been sending a few stories to Iroh for ages- Zuko's a weird kid. Sozin Labs has spirits know how many benders with more ambition than morals running all over the place, and Zuko ended up okay. He got himself kicked out of a board meeting a few years back for speaking up about something, and doing it well enough that the board of directors wouldn't side with Ozai." Jet relaxed his fist with obvious effort, letting the tile fall to the table with a clink. "What happened?"

There wasn't any way to make the news easier. "Ozai burned him. I don't know most of what happened. Aang brought the guy to my house, and spent more time throwing up than talking. Zuko's still out cold, but the burn is healed. Aang did some freaky waterbender glow-thing and took care of that, enough that a doctor was really impressed this morning. Zuko's fine physically, but he's going to look a lot different than Jee or whoever remembers. The scar's probably a good quarter of his face."

"Iroh's going to want to know whatever you can tell me. He'll want to get Zuko in the walls of his compound five minutes ago, really, but Zuko doesn't have any reason to trust him."

Sokka had thought he would just gesture for where the burn was, roughly, but the shape of his hand gave him the answer. He'd seen the way that Katara could cover her hand in water that followed every motion. Maybe fire could do the same. Whatever had happened the night before, Sokka felt a little more sympathy for Aang's newest friend when he pressed his right hand against the left side of his face, with the base of the thumb at the inside corner of his eye. "It's like this, about, but Ozai's hand is pretty big." Sokka let his arm drop onto the board, hard enough to rattle a few of the pieces. "The eye was hit the worst, but it spreads all the way back over the ear on that side."

"Shit," Jet repeated. "I'll make sure you have a few phone numbers before you leave. Iroh is going to want you guys all out at his place fast. Aang knows him, which might help with the trust issue, and I bet that's where he was supposed to end up... do you have the letter that Gyatso wrote? Aang grabbed it before he left yesterday."

"Aang didn't look likely to wake up soon when I left this morning. I'll bring it by tomorrow, by then I'll have talked to everybody at home about options." Sokka picked up a tile as he spoke, turning it over in his hand. It was hypothetically a white lotus. It looked a lot more like an orange cut in half to him, but he and art tended to disagree. "So, your super-secret club... what do you guys want to happen at the end of the day?"

"We want Sozin Labs out of Ozai's control. He's sitting on technology that could save thousands of lives next month, and instead he's outright killing people. Iroh might not have the heart to do it, with Lu Ten and Gyatso both gone, but he said he'd go in as a consultant if we find somebody decent."

Sokka turned the piece around and around in his hand, thinking about whether it was going to be worth it to join a team or to start his own. "What's going to happen to Ozai and the rest of the bad apples?"

"Jail, if at all possible. Iroh doesn't want to go in and murder his brother, but he said that if there isn't another option... jail at the very least, and we have enough dirt to make sure they can't go running to another country."

Sokka placed the white lotus tile in the center of the board, exactly as Aang had done the day before. Their fancy elaborate pattern game wasn't all that complicated, in the end. It looked flashy, but it was based on a repeated sequence that worked in symmetry. "Then I'm in."

Jet put down the second piece with a very doubtful expression, but that had faded into something almost friendly by the time the pair of them played the little tile-game that had replaced the secret handshake. Sokka didn't like the jerk, but he at least could work with him.

Sokka left the tea shop with a lotus tile of his very own and a business card with several scribbled phone numbers. He looked over his shoulder just once, to see Jet resetting the game board with an air of idle boredom, and noticed the abstract lotus painted on the storefront's glass for the first time.

The White Lotus had their strategies, but that didn't mean he was going to follow all of their steps. He finally had information, he had a few contacts, and he even had hints about motive. Next he'd only need to figure out what on earth he was doing.


End file.
