Aang and Katara - A Wedding Tale

Chapter 11: The Necklace Part 2

Aang's Point of View
We were trapped

A oblivious but hushed conversation could be heard from a few isles over. A gentle mumble contrasting to the emptiness to the rest of the store. I needed to get to them: to protect them, to warn them, and to help them escape.

An Avatars job is never done. Even when seemingly innocently shopping.

It was a older couple, buying what looked like their weekly shop, debating over different types of jam. I remained on top of the shelves peering down at them, internally debating on how to best explain the situation and keep them quite and calm.

Click. Click. Click.

Someone was coming. Their soles of their shoes pounding against the smooth stone flooring. The older couple seemed unfazed by what they must have thought was another shopper, but from my vantage point I could see this person was part of the group that had sealed of the shop. The person approaching wore all black with a red scarf tied around the head to conceal their identity, only their eyes were visible and part of a tattoo of what I'm guessing is a dragon around their left eye.

"Excuse me sir, would you mind getting that jam jar off the top shelf for me? I can't reach it." The older woman asked. She must not have the best eyesight as the person was very sketchy looking and most others would have ran at the sight of them. They silently grabbed the jar even getting on their tippy toes for this jam.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they're not the bad guy.

They set the jam in the older lady's trolley and then chi blocked both of them. They both went limp and were dragged to the back of the shop.

Nope definitely a bad guy. Just with some sense of duty to the elderly.

Creeping on top of the shelves using airbending to leap across isles with little to no sound, I decided to follow them. Down to the basement where all the stock was packed into neat rows at least 8 people were taken hostage. Their arms forced behind their backs. Their mouths gagged. Several were still limp, laying flat almost lifeless on the cold hard concrete. Few regained feeling in their limbs and sat upright. Few had red rimed eyes, puffy cheeks and tear stains running down their face. Less had red raw skin on their wrists where the fabric was quelling their attempts at freedom.

Their was also 4 people dressed in black, two with a red scarf (one with the dragon tattoo from earlier and another without), one with a dark green scarf, and one with a dark blue scarf. All were armed with a mix of natural tranquilizers, swords and a water pouch for the person in the blue scarf. They appeared to be robbing the store by taking items from the warehouse.

But why were they taking hostages? Why not just grab the money and run? Why bother to loiter and further risk the chances of getting caught?

I need to get back to Sokka and Toph: they will be able to help me figure this out and liberate the store.

Much to my surprise Sokka was still pondering different stones, and Toph was nearly asleep - they were both oblivious to the situation going on in the rest of the store. "Hey. Hey guys. Psst. Over here." I whisper yelled from the top of the shelves before airbending my way down. "Twinkle Toes where have you been?" I raised my finger her mouth, "Sh. The shops under siege, 8 people have been taken captive, and their are 4 hostiles all armed one being a water bender and I don't know about the other 3." Sokka's jaw dropped and he set down a creamy blue rock. "Of course there is. Any other new from your travels?"
"Um. They can reach top shelf jam. Oh yeah and their chi blockers."
"Well this just got harder. But we'll stick kick their-"
"Wait Toph. We can't draw attention to ourselves. This is more than an average robbery, they're still here even when they have access to the money. We need to work out what's going on. And we need to do it quietly."
"Fine." They both agreed and we came up with a plan.