The Lightning Bender | Book 1: Change

47: The Experiment

He was running through a cave, footsteps behind him. Where am I? His body moved without him urging it to do so. Finally, he was out of the cave and he looked up where Zaheer and Korra we're fighting. Korra! He shouted, but nothing came out of his mouth. I have to help her.

But he felt a hard nudge to his side, he felt his eyes open slowly, his environment blurry. Once it had focused he saw Yuri looking into him with a worried face.

"What's happening?" He slurred.

"We were knocked out. We're in a prison." 

Hiko sat up, his head swirling. He looked around the cell. Yuri and he were trapped in a small room, metal bars encasing them while solid rock walls surrounding them.

"Where's Uncle Junko?" Hiko asked as he stood up.

"I don't know. I woke up and he wasn't here." 

Hiko walked to the bars, thinking how easy it would be for him to just get out of here.

"There are guards outside, we can't escape that easily," Yuri said, while Hiko sighed. A soldier came to the front of their cell. Hiko got into a stance with Yuri.

"Turn around and face the wall." The soldier demanded.

"What do we do?" Hiko whispered to Yuri.

"We do as he says." She relaxed and approached the wall followed by Hiko. The soldier opened the door using Metalbending and came into the room. Hiko listened to his footsteps, counting them as the sound got closer. When he heard the sixth footstep, he turned around and punched the soldier with a Lightning fist sending him flying to the wall outside the cell.

"Let's go!" Hiko shouted as they both ran to the corridor. They ran past the other cells and turned a right where they bumped into someone. Hiko immediately stood back up and faced his Uncle Junko.

"Oh, you two escaped!" He said surprised.

"Uncle?! How did you get out?!"

"I used your technique Hiko! It truly is amazing. Come with me. Let's get out of here." He walked forward followed by the two.

They stopped in front of a door, which Junko pulled open and entered. Once Hiko and Yuri entered they were attacked by two soldiers, who forcefully poked their bodies, paralyzing them. The two fell to the ground, staring up at Junko who had his back turned.

"Help us, Uncle!" Hiko managed to shout through his awkward position on the floor.

"Take the boy to the chamber while you lock the girl back in her prison." He said emotionlessly. One of the two soldiers grabbed Yuri and pulled her out of the room, frozen with fear.

"Uncle..." Hiko muttered.

"I need you to do something for me Hiko." Junko turned back to Hiko and knelt down to his level. "You will do everything I say or you die."

The other soldier grabbed Hiko and pulled him out of the room, as he looked at his uncle, smiling smugly.

The soldier opened a metal door and went inside. He opened the lights to reveal a small room with a chair in the middle. He placed Hiko on it, cuffing his arms and placing a dome with wires on it over his head. In front of him was a machine, its tip pointing at his fingers.

"What are you doing?!" Hiko's voice was shaky.

"You'll see." The man cackled before exiting the room.

It was painfully silent. Hiko couldn't believe what was happening. His uncle had been a traitor all along. He had to get out of here and save Yuri and Korra. He struggled, trying to move his body in any way he can, but he was still paralyzed. His eyes were now shining, tears threatened to escape but he held it in.

"Junko! You coward! Fight me!" He shouted angrily.

The machine in front of him started humming, getting louder every second. Hiko's eyes widened as Lightning shot out of the tip of the machine and collided with his fingers. He held his breath, letting it pass through his arm, to his stomach. Then he guided it to his left arm, the Lightning came out and hit the metal wall in front of him. His breath came back, he was panting from the effort. The speaker at the corner of the room made a static sound and disappeared, then Junko's voice blasted out of it.

"Impressive redirection while being paralyzed Hiko. Now, I want you to redirect two of those." Junko cackled as another tip revealed itself. Hiko began sweating, he'd have to let the energy of two Lightning bolts into his body.

"Bring it on, you bastard!" Hiko shouted, his face determined and furious.

The machine began powering up again, the humming was now much louder. Then, as Hiko anticipated, two Lightning bolts came dashing to his fingertip. As the energy came flowing through, he shouted in agony. He let it pass through his arm and into his stomach, struggling to let none into his heart. When all of the energy was in his stomach, he let it pass through his left arm. When it exited, it was much bigger than normal. It melted the metal wall in front of him, making a huge hole. Hiko was panting madly, as he struggled to recover.

"Now that was impressive! You truly are my dirty brother's idiot son." He cackled through the speaker while Hiko was still panting.

"Let Yuri go!" He shouted, his voice now a little less loud.

"I can't let her. Besides, the army's already arriving at the village by now." Hiko looked up at the speaker with a livid expression.

"You'll..." He knew what he was gonna do now. "You traitor! Let me out of here and I'll kick your butt!"

"I'm not the traitor Hiko. Your father was. He disregarded his own people. Then he put an idiot as a Clan Head instead of his own brother.  Now, I will take back my rightful place. With the Red Lotus' army I will take over the clan, then the Fire Nation. Now let's try three shall we?" A third tip joined the other two.

"No!" Hiko shouted trying to move, but he was still unable to.

"Get ready! It's either you die or I discover a new technique for myself!" The machine began humming, louder than the last two instances. Hiko prepared for it, a tear escaping his eye. He wasn't prepared to die.

Three Lightning bolts shot out together, all dashing to Hiko's fingertip. As soon as all three collided with Hiko's fingertips, he felt the most energy he had felt in his entire life, enter his body. He felt invincible.

The Lightning passed through his arm quickly then to his stomach then to his left arm. It shot out, three times as big as the last instance. It made a giant hole in the wall and was now melting the entire wall. As the last bit of Lightning got out of Hiko's fingertip, he fainted.