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

"I'm sorry but I can't take that chance," Sokka muttered before aiming his new weapon at his back and firing the white stun-bolt. Yes, that's what he'd call it, he decided, as the agent fell to the ground, unconscious.

Quickly, he checked his vital signs, being satisfied that he didn't kill the man that just helped him, and shoved him into the room before taking his keys and locking the door.

There. The man would appear to have been knocked out by him with no one knowing that the man helped him. He could give the man that in repayment, at least.

With that thought, he ran down the corridor, looking for the stairs. He was going to save Toph and Spirits help whoever got in his way.

Toph finally managed to convince herself to sit up. She felt rather miserable and sorry for herself, but now she wondered if she could do something about it. If she wanted her friends, she had to get to them, and together they could leave this horrible, horrible place.

So although she was unsure and frightened and hurting, Toph decided she would try.

She had to. She told Sokka she would, and as far as she was concerned that had been a promise. She didn't break promises.

Toph reached her hand through the bars of her wooden cage. Maybe, just maybe, she could push out with her bending and latch on to something she could use. It was a faint hope, but a hope all the same.

She closed her eyes. It made no difference, but she felt as if she could concentrate better this way.

After running until he was out of breath, Sokka finally found himself two floors down before grimacing. He could see Toph in a wooden cage propped up by a crane, being guarded by four Dai Li agents

He gripped his blaster, he decided to call it that for now, and took aim at the nearest agent, setting it on kill. These men weren't allies and killing them would buy him and the others' time. At least, that's what he told himself.

With that thought, he pulled the trigger, his eyes widening as crimson bolt hit the Dai Li agent on the Earth Kingdom symbol on his chest, causing him to fall, smoking.

The others turned in his direction and, hiding their surprise well, sent chunks of earth at Sokka, causing him to doge instinctively and open fire at the Dai Li, catching yet another agent as he dodged to the side, barely missing another chunk of earth. He smiled bitterly as he fired again.

In retrospect, the battle was almost too easy. Sokka could doge their attacks, but the blaster bolts were too fast for the agents. Soon enough, as they were running on the walls, preparing to send pillars of earth at him, Sokka got them both, one in the hcest and the other in the neck.

Trying not to breathe in the small of burning flesh, flesh that he burned, Sokka approached the crane and pulled a lever, causing Toph's cage to slowly be lowered to the ground. Taking one of the dead Agent's keys, he approached the spot where the cage was being lowered and waited for it to reach the ground.

Finally, it did, and Sokka unlocked the cage with a cocky smile.

"You know, I think I learned a new fighting style," he told Toph.

She had never really had a chance to find anything she could bend.

Toph heard shouts of alarm, followed by a strange noise she recognized as belonging to the weapon that had knocked she and her friends out in the first place. She smelled burnt flesh and her pained yells, as well as shifting and moving earth and hard thuds of attacks hitting a target.

It was over fairly quickly. She wondered what had happened, and then the cage jolted. She yelped a little, and pushed herself to the rear of the cage. It moved again, this time lowering to the floor below.

Someone unlocked the cage. And then she heard Sokka.

She could not help herself.

"Sokka!"

Toph flung herself at him and wrapped her good arm around him, her face buried in his chest. She took in a deep breath, relishing in that smell she knew to be his. Weird, maybe, but there you go. His heartbeat was like music to her ears.

"How... How did you...?"

Sokka blinked in surprise, but he hugged Toph back with a smile on his face, perhaps happier than he'd ever been in the past day or two, however long they'd been down here. He was just glad to see his friend safe and unharmed.

"Well, you know, I managed to skillfully convince my guard to let me out, knocked him out, and then I proceeded to rescue the damsel in distress," he told her with a grin, not breaking the hug, "And... well, it also helps that Vader forgot to take this weapon with him."

He held up the blaster like it was a war trophy and, in a way, it was. He had used it to save Toph and that was enough to wipe away whatever prior history it had.

Toph briefly touched the weapon he held out. She jerked her hand back. "You can keep it," she said, not much liking the thing. She hated the idea of something, anything, so easily knocking her out.

Like Vader. She shuddered at the thought.

"What now?" she said.

Sokka frowned, noticing her reaction to the weapon and stuffing it into his pocket. He paused for a moment, thinking.

"We free Katara and then you two should get out of here," he told her, "Aang will probably have the most security; it's too dangerous for both of you. I'll see if I can find Mara and the Jedi and then we can get him out of here."

Normally, he'd let both of the girls join them. He wasn't sexist or anything, despite what his sister said. But after their imprisonment here... He wanted to at least make sure the girls would be alright, even if he failed.

"What? No!" Toph scowled, a spark of her former self emerging. "I am not going to leave you in this shit hole," she snarled. "No way, no how. I don't care if I only got one arm. I'll fight if I have to, if it means getting all of us, and that includes you, outta here."

Sokka felt himself smile despite himself. Well, at least this means that Vader hadn't done as much damage as he feared, but he still worried about his friend. He didn't want to let her get hurt even more. He understood, however, that he could not convince her otherwise. She was stubborn and good in a fight, the former being a strangely enduring trait.

"Okay," he told her, "But stick close to me, okay?"

Toph nodded, glad he hadn't told her she would just get in the way. That would have crushed her, she just knew it. Now she had a chance to defend him, as he had her.

She would not lose him, not if she could help it.

"I will. Promise," she said, holding up her hand and smiling ever so slightly.

Sokka grinned and took her hand into his, gripping it firmly with his own. He could feel the old rush of excitement that he was familiar with from all their previous adventures.

"Good. Now let's show those Dai Li what true warriors are," he told her.

She nodded again. Once, she might have been annoyed that he held her hand, but now she found it rather comforting and strengthening. They were in this together. Maybe, just maybe, they stood a chance.

"Okay," she said. "Though..." Her brow furrowed. "Do we even know where Aang and Katara are?"

((Mind slowing down with Sokka and Toph for the moment, AI and Big T?))

OOC: Sure. Sorry. I tend to get carried away with fun RPs. ^_^'

(Same here. Sorry, Magus.)

Helios

The young Sith Lord finally caught sight of the woman who had caught his attention. However, she wasn't the one who kept it. That belonged to another woman there, a most familiar woman, someone from his past. "Mai," he said softly, with some surprise. It had been quite a long time since they had met, but there was no mistaking her. He felt a flash of anger as he remembered her bretrayl, but then quickly realized that it had only been a vision, a possible future, but nothing more than that, and he let his momentary anger cool.

Then he noticed Ty Lee, and at once frowned. If Mai and Ty Lee were both here, Azula was around somewhere. The only one he couldn't place was the woman they seemed to be with, she was different. Azula in disguise, he thought, and his hands fell to his sides, where he could more easily access his lightsabers should this go wrong.

Mai

Mai stopped in her tracks as she heard a familiar voice say her name. "Hey, Ty lee, why don't you follow Zahanna back to our place. There's something I need to check out." She informed the circus girl while putting her hands into her sleeves so she could get a grip on one of her guns. Mai nodded at Zahanna to let the Bounty Hunter know that she should just go on.

With a loud sigh as she tried to calm herself down, Mai turned around as she walked away from Ty lee and Zahanna.
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Anwar

"Great." Anwar replied before quickly walking into the backroom.

Helios

Helios watched as Mai turned away from her companions. Odd move, if she had sensed him, why would she go alone, instead of taking her two allies with her? He suspected a trap, but he moved through the crowd, keeping an eye on her and trying to find a place that was closed enough from prying eyes.

Mai

Mai walked through the crowd slowly, her eyes scanning everywhere around her as she looked for Zuko's face in the crowd. The Assassin pursed his lips as she tried to find him. "...Damn him." Mai muttered as she began to wonder if she had just imagined hearing his voice.

Helios

Quickly, Helios darted through the crowd, into a deserted side alley. Using the force, he lifted a small pebble and sent it toward Mai at a speed that would get her attention but not hurt her. What he didn't need was a fight, he was still somewhat drained after the last one. He just wanted to discover why Mai was here, and why her friend was so interested in Vader, if she wasn't Azula.

Mai

Mai suddenly stopped in place as she felt a pebble tap her. As the girl's mind suddenly came to attention she noticed someone running into an alley way. And so Mai ran after him.

Helios

Helios stopped around the middle of the alley, face in shadow so she couldn't see him. Without turning around he said, "it's been quite some time since we last met, hasn't it Mai?" Now that he was alone, his mind cleared, he would be vague and guarded before deciding on showing more emotion; gauge her reaction to him before he responded in kind, in order to find what would be the best way to act.

Mai

Mai stopped walking after she was a good three yards away from Zuko. She couldn't see his face, and she couldn't tell how he felt seeing her. To be honest she thought he sounded...guarded, she supposed. It felt weird to see him acting like that around her. Then again he was right, it had been awhile since they had last seen each other. It had been almost three months since he had fought Azula before her, and it had been years since they had last spoken to each other.

"Yeah...it has." Mai agreed as she let her hands slip out of her coat, quickly deciding that there was no need for her to be ready to attack Zuko. "I'm surprised you still recognize me."

Helios

This gave Helios pause for thought. What if this brought on memories of his past and he regressed into that foolish boy he had been before becoming an apprentice to Vader? No point in worrying about that now, he thought. "There have been many people I've met in my life that I can no longer remember nor care to. You were never one of them," he said, and finally turned around, and stepped forward, revealing his face.

Mai

Mai paused for a second, inhaling deeply as she felt the tips of her fingers tingle. His eyes, his expression, his entire demeanor....he wasn't Zuko. Not anymore. But maybe that didn't really matter? I mean, he still seemed to care about Mai, to what extent she did not know. And she would be lying if she told anyone that she still didn't carry a torch for him.

"Thanks, I guess. I guess you should know I've...been thinking about you as well." Mai replied, trying to avoid eye contact with Zuko as she began to feel slightly awkward.