The Unexpected Case of Bumi, Son of Avatar

Chapter 5

Here I am with another chapter, and this time one that's way longer than it had any right to be. I got carried away... Sorry, not sorry. Enjoy :)

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After a long night of catching each other up on their new discoveries, at sunrise the whole apartment was quiet. Tenzin and Lin finally got hold of their own bed for a night and were sleeping close together, snuggled into each other. At their feet, under the floor, Bumi was secure in his hiding place, snoring only slightly. In the living room, Izumi'd claimed the couch and slept in Lin's borrowed pajamas while Kya settled on the armchair, fully clothed, her head slowly sliding down from the backrest since she dozed off.

There was the sound of about a dozen feet running up the stairs. Unfortunately, there was no one awake to hear it. Then the front door was kicked open.

Izumi and Kya were the first ones on their feet, Izumi already holding a flame in her fist, deciding in what order she should attack the men.

"Step aside, Ma'am! Or you will be detained," one of the intruders said. Now that her eyes were used to the sudden light from the hall, Izumi could make out that the men were uniformed. Earth Kingdom Military.

"You have absolutely no right to be here!" Kya's gaze searched the table for something she could bend.

"We're looking for a fugitive."

"This is harassment... You just wait until my father, the Avatar, hears about this!" Kya got really close to the man who spoke, pointing a provoking finger at him. Then he grabbed her arm, but before he could pull, a metal cable wrapped around his arm and squeezed until he let go.

Kya turned around and saw Lin with Tenzin at the door to the bedroom, still in her pajamas, but with the addition of her cables.

"Leave." Tenzin said now that they had the intruders' attention. Then, among the soldiers at the front door, Katara managed to push her way through, followed closely by Toph.

"Stand down, let the people do their jobs..." Toph said and sat down on the couch, like it was a done deal. The soldiers seemed to think so, since they ignored all the resistance and scattered around the apartment checking closets and using their seismic sense.

"This is unbelievable! You called them?" Izumi extinguished her fire.

"After what you said yesterday, Kya..." Katara started. "That he was close by. I don't think I had a choice."

"I was trying to comfort you! I was being optimistic!" Kya defended herself, not only to her mother, but to the rest of her friends who were going through this because she couldn't keep something to herself. She hoped more than anything they wouldn't find Bumi now. Not because of her...

Lin turned away for a moment and closed her eyes, trying to feel Bumi with her own seismic sense. She couldn't. He was awake and hiding, as he should be. Unless they started pulling out the floorboards, he was safe for the time being. She gave Tenzin's hand a quick squeeze to let him know he should stop worrying so much. At least about Bumi.

They shared a quick, emotional glance before Lin had to slap another soldier's fingers with her cable, "I don't think he's hiding in my underwear drawer!"

"I don't understand why you're all getting so worked up about this." Toph said. "If you're not hiding him then this will be over real soon and we can all pretend none of this happened."

"That's the thing, we can't." Tenzin stepped forward and towards his mom. "Because this means you don't trust us."

"Of course, I trust you, sweetie. I just-"