Sokka hated being right. Well, scratch that. He loved being right, but right now he hated being right.
He'd foretold that they'd be walking right into a trap. Not only was he right, but now his sister was at the mercy of the one person in the world who everyone in their village prayed never to meet, and it was all because of some stupid males–Aang, Bumi and Tom Tom.
"Let her go," Aang commanded, trying to put as much weight behind his words as possible. While outwardly he was calm, on the inside he was freaking out. Please don't let Katara get hurt. He pleaded to any spirits that might be listening.
"Yeah, let my sister go, you jerk!" Sokka took a step forward trying to appear menacing. The two-year-old he was holding made it difficult.
"Wow, am I really the jerk, Sokka?" Percy asked with a sadistic edge to his tone that no one had ever heard, not even Azula. "Give back the kidnapped toddler, then, we can negotiate what your sister's life is worth."
"Hey! This kidnapping thing was totally by accident." Aang defended.
"Oh yeah, you just happened across the most important baby in the city, and just happened to keep him until someone offered you ransom." Percy's voice was dripping with dark sarcasm.
"Shut up! You're Fire Nation. You guys are all fiery assholes."
At that statement, Percy pulled Katara up and turned her, so her back was turned to him and she was looking at her brother. Then he drew riptide and placed it at her neck.
"Like I said, give the baby back, then we can talk".
"Look we don't need to fight, we can still settle this peacefully," Aang said, trying to be the voice of reason. "Why don't you let Sokka give you the baby? Then we get Bumi and we can all go home happy." Aang said with a massive smile.
"No. You will return Tom-Tom and Percy won't kill the girl. That is the deal." Azula cut in, her voice cold and confident.
Aang, Sokka, and Katara all trading uneasy glances. This was not how it was supposed to happen. Sokka's brain was working overtime trying to think of a new plan. Come on brain, don't fail me now.
"Can we have some time to talk this over?" The tribesmen asked, trying to stall for time.
"Of course, it's a difficult choice after all. Percy give them until Tom-Tom cries. After that, start cutting off fingers." Azula smiled sweetly at them, "There you go, plenty of time and the motivation to make the right choice."
"We kind of need Katara's input, so.." Aang tried gesturing at Katara's form.
"I'm sure you'll manage without her cutie." The girl in the pink said with a flirtatious wink.
Aang and Sokka traded wary glances before walking a few yards away so they could whisper to each other without fear of being overheard.
"What do we do? We can't just leave Bumi, and we can't let them hurt Katara either." Aang said almost in panic mode.
"We might have to leave Bumi, Aang. I think they've got us beat."
"Come on Sokka, you're the Idea Guy, think of something!"
Sokka brightened at this comment. His mind was already turning over the situation, again and again, looking for new options.
"We could try stalling some more to see if Katara can get a chance to use her waterbending on the Percy guy. Once he's out we can go back to the original trade." Aang said.
Sokka looked a little downcast about his plan, but Aang was ecstatic with the new hope of getting both his friends back. "Look Aang, with that guy–"
