Dawn of a New Prince (Star Wars/Avatar Crossover)

"Disguise? What disguise?" Ty Lee asked in confusion before shivering at the mention of that machine-man, "Vader's scarier than Azula and that's saying something..."

*

As they were walking through the corridors, Sokka saw that there was a sing cell heavily guarded by a group of Dai Li. He grinned. That had to be Aang or one of the others.

"How shall we go about this," he muttered.

Just as low, Toph muttered, "Let's try changing shifts with one of them. We might find out who's in there, before we trying anything crazy."

"Okay," Sokka whispered lowly as he took them over to the guards, speaking in a voice he thought was an imitation of a Dai Li agent.

"We-I'm here to take the next shift," he told one of them, "You're to, um, help with Joo Dee."

The agent glared at the unusually tall agent. Something was off about him. But he was tired and due for a bit of rest, and so he did not look further into the matter.

"If you say so," he muttered.

He left without another word.

Toph shifted a bit on Sokka's shoulders, a little uneasy.

Sokka grinned as he walked over to take the agent's place, doing his best to stand at attention like the other Dai Li Agents, who hadn't so much as batted an eye, though they had watched encounter like sparrow-hawks.

He tapped Toph's leg, signaling her to look into the cell.

Toph moved slowly so as not to cause much rustling of the robes that hid her. She pressed her hand against the wall close to the cell. Her earthbending senses washed out and over the person inside.

She tapped Sokka, quickly, to let him know it was one of their friends. She thought it was the Jedi.

Sokka nodded and tapped Toph back with a grin, signaling her to attack the two other guards with him. Slowly, he brought his blaster pistol to one of his eyeholes and fired, taking one of them down as the other jumped up to attack him and Toph as Sokka began to fire again and again at him.

Toph controlled the stone gloves she had made earlier. With her hand still on the wall, she could still somewhat sense the movements of the Dai Li. The pair of gloves shot out, smashing into them. It was not a hard blow, but it dazed them long enough for Sokka to knock them out completely with his blaster.

Within seconds, the agents were down and out.

"Well, that was easy," Sokka commented as he slid the robes off of both him and Toph so he could see better as they were safe for the moment. He grinned at her, "I guess we're just that awesome."

With that said, he began to search the Dai Li's unconscious (as he had been using stun) bodies. He grinned and took out the keys, unlocking Zarael's cell.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

Darth Vader

"I see." Darth Vader said after a moment. He stared long and hard at his apprentice before the Dark Lord continued.

"It was a wise decision. I have no real use for the Jedi, and the Empire could always need a new Inquisitor. We could work out a deal with the bounty hunter."

Zahanna

"Really Mai? Well, that was quite bold and foolish of you at the same time. Still, if we managed to work out something with Vader, it'd be a lot better than trying to steal the Jedi from him." Zahanna replied. She fiddled with her belt for a moment, in response to Ty Lee's question, before her human image flickered and disappeared, revealing her actual alien appearance.

Fi

"We weren't given enough intel about the mission. My team was just part of a bigger operation. We went in, and got ambushed by the tin cans. They hammered everything they had at us. Canderous went down first, but not before taking a good deal of them with him. That was the easy part, though. This mission is still classified, so I can't reveal a lot of details about it. But just when we were close to completing it....she appeared." Fi said, gritting his teeth at the memory of that disastorous encounter and mission.

Helios

Helios nodded and said, "I need to send an agent to meet them, please excuse me." He rose and exited the room, and felt relief. He was somewhat afraid that Mai might be killed, and he despised this weakness in him. What was her welfare to him? More than it should be, Helios thought bitterly.

Zareal

"Ah, my young friends, it is good to see you," Zareal said, ending his meditation. After standing up, Zareal noticed something was wrong. "Toph... you've been injured." He could sense the wound, and there was nothing he could do to undo it. "When I have the time I can at least cause new skin to grow," he told her, "if you would allow me to do so."

"Yeah, maybe later," said Toph. "Not meaning to be rude or ungrateful, mister, but we can't stand around. We have to find the others." She motioned with her arm. "Put on one of their robes. It'll hide you for a little while, at least."

Lilith

"Who?" Lilith asked, so caught up in Fi's story that she even looked towards the doorway just to see if said person was there, watching them. She immediately realized that this was an idiotic thing to do though, and she quickly looked back at Fi.
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Mai

"What can I say? This was easier and involved less planning."

"Yeah. Now we have to free Mara, Katara, and Aang," Sokka agreed, stripping a Dai Li agent of his robes as his and Toph's old ones had a smoking hole from where he shot out of it.

Zareal

"If we meet Vader or his apprentice, these disguises won't help us," Zareal said, before putting on one of the robes. "We should split up now. I should see to rescuing Mara, you see if you can find Katara. Then we'll work on getting Avatar Aang out."

Toph knew it was probably no use arguing with him. And, as it was, she felt selfish. She wanted to save Katara and Aang more than she did Mara. Maybe it was wrong, but at the moment she was tired and hurting. She wanted her family back.

"If you say so," she said. She nudged Sokka. "We better get going then, before someone comes by and sees this."

Sokka nodded as he lifted Toph onto his shoulders and wrapped the robes around them before placing the hat on top of her. To tell the truth, he was relieved that the Jedi hadn't forbidden them from trying to save Katara or Aang. He just couldn't let his sister stay here and Aang was the world's last hope. He felt a bit guilty about not thinking about Mara that much, but she didn't seem that trustworthy, he rationalized. Besides, family was always more important.

He sighed and nodded a little, "Okay. Let's go get my sister and then Aang. I've had enough of this city to last a lifetime."

"You and me both," said Toph, with a sigh. She reached down with her hand and squeezed his shoulder. "Just be careful, okay?"

Sokka smiled and nodded, though he knew she couldn't see him do so. He spoke, "Of course I will. Aren't I always?"

She chuckled. It was perhaps the first real laugh she had allowed herself in hours. "Yeah. You are kinda cautious, aren't you?"

"Hey, someone has to make the plans around here," Sokka told her self-consciously, "Not everyone has amazing bending powers, you know."

Had she said the wrong thing? Toph had caught the self-conscious note in Sokka's voice. Guilt washed over her. "I didn't mean it that way..." she said.

Sokka frowned, noting the guilty tone in her voice. He took her hand, something that he he had been doing more lately and explained, "I know. I just get self-conscious about my role in the team sometimes."

"Why?" she said. "You're the smart one. You come up with all the plans, and you're pretty much the leader. We count on you to be that steady guy we can turn to, no matter what, when things get rough. You're way more than important. You're, like, irreplaceable."

Zareal

"Perhaps you should save your kind words until after we have escaped," Zareal commented curtly to the pair before taking his leave. The lack of discinpline was aggravating, but he had forced himself over the years to try to ignore it and do what he could. A shame I don't have my lightsaber. Likely it's with Vader, he thought.