In His Element(s) || avatar / bnha

Closing That Door

Aang was a lot quieter now.

It worried Zuko, honestly.

His friends in this world also seemed to understand the tenuous balance Aang appeared to currently be holding on to, and were purposefully relaxed around him, talking to Zuko's group and making conversation.

But still. Aang had dark circles from lack of sleep, he stiffened if you approached him from behind, and he...

Well. Zuko knew what deliberate firebending burns looked like.

At least they'd all found him. He'd missed him.

Huh. Looked like Toph was challenging some of the students to arm wrestling. She had two challengers so far, the boy with bright red hair and the sharp scowly one.

That wouldn't end well.

It would probably be entertaining, though.

As he watched, Aang was roped into it by the combined efforts of Toph and the boy named Kirishima, a small smile making its way across his face once more.

And Zuko breathed out, his shoulders relaxing.

Yeah, Aang was going to be fine.

After all, he had all of them with him.

"I am going to be entirely honest," Shouta said, a touch incredulously. "I expected this to be more of a problem."

Manual grinned, swiping a thumb across the smear of blood slowly scabbing on his cheek.

"Sorry to disappoint?"

Shouta shot him a wry look.

"I'll take it.'

From inside the specialized holding cell, Boil scowled silently, his hands cuffed in front of him inside heavy duty gauntlets.

"First day back on the job." Manual chuckled under his breath, stretching out his arms. "Could be worse."

Apparently karma was a thing after all. Boil had attempted to retreat back to Hosu, seeing as it was an easy city to get lost in, and well... he'd had luck there before.

Seemed his luck had run out.

Shouta had taken a look at the footage from Boil's take down, captured on a local security camera. It was grainy quality, but clear enough.

And he was self-aware enough to admit that watching Manual drop what looked like an entire water tower on the villain was... satisfying.

"What now?" Manual asked, tilting his head to look at Shouta. "I got the basics of this... whole situation from Detective Tsukauchi but- that's a little outside my area of expertise, honestly."

"It is for everyone," Shouta snorted. "As for now..." He jerked his thumb at the cell as he turned away from the glowering, fuming villain. "We put both of them in prison for a very long time."

"Good," Manual hummed. "Glad to be of service."

He put his helmet back on as he left, nodding briefly in greeting to Tsukuachi as the man entered the room.

The detective looked exhausted, which was understandable given the absolute madness all of them had been through in just this last week alone. He slung his discarded trenchcoat over the nearest chair with a bit-off yawn, before joining Shouta where he was standing.

"Hello, Eraserhead." Tsukauchi rolled his shoulders, wincing slightly. Probably hadn't gotten any sleep lately. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."