The Fire Lord's Ward // MakoxOC

Zaofu

Her temperature was extremely high, it felt like she would combust at any minute but she had no time to think about it. The area around Eri was in complete chaos. She was laying over Zaheer's shoulder while spot lights sat on the group of outlaws. "So much for the element of surprise," Ming Hua complained.

Eri tried to remain as limp as possible, taking in what was going on around her. She realized Ghazan had Korra over his own shoulder. P'Li shot two combustion blows to the look out towers, taking out the spot lights at the same time. Eri then heard a third explosion but wasn't sure where it was aimed. The four were corralled into a circle and encased in metal but the trap didn't last long as the ground around them turned to lava. Zaheer roughly dropped Eri to the ground, his focus never leaving the benders surrounding them. Eri reached out and touched Korra's neck, grateful for the pulse she felt, Eri knew she had to act. In a swift move she spun with her leg out creating a ring of fire and stood to face the four.

"How did you wake?" Ming Hua gasped. "You should be with the Avatar in dreamland."

Eri shrugged, "Sorry to disappoint. Give up now or things are about to get real hard for you."

"I don't know, you don't look so good to me. You might fall over any second. I like our odds," Zaheer mocked.

The firebender couldn't argue that, she was burning up and her legs felt like the cold noodles she'd eaten in the Northern Water Tribe before visiting the prison. "I won't let you take her."

Zaheer looked to P'Li, "I told you we would try to make her one of us, but I won't tolerate this."

"Please Eri, don't do this. Stand down," P'Li pleaded. "Don't make this harder than it already is."

"You drugged me. You KIDNAPPED me. Did you really think you were sending the message of 'I love you so much come live with me?'" Eri scoffed.

P'Li looked crushed, her eyes pooling, "I'm your mother. You're supposed to love me."

"My mother died the day she scarred my face forever and left me to die. I don't have a mother." Eri growled and lit her blue flames in the palm of her hand. P'Li's eyes hardened and she looked to Ghazan.

"Sorry little flame, nothing personal." Ghazan said. Before Eri could process what was happening she was shot into the air by the ground beneath her. She wasn't shot far out and was on a direct path to land in the pond of lava below. She attempted to shoot flames from her palms and bottoms of her feet to propel herself out but she was still so weak smoke was barely present.

"No, no, no!" Eri yelled. The fear in her stomach growing every millisecond as the molten ground grew closer. She squeezed her eyes shut, preparing herself for an impact that never came. She opened her eyes when she felt a cord wrap around her ankle and pull her to the side. There was a Zaofu soldier next to her, bringing the cord into her utility belt. "Thank you! Oh spirits thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," the soldier said, looking to the island in the lava.

Eri turned to see her mother aiming a combustion shot towards the solider. The thin line of smoke shot straight for the soldier's chest but Eri stood in the way of it. She held both her hands out and deflected the blow around herself and the soldier. An explosion was heard a few feet behind them and debris hit both women on their backs.

"Call it even?" The metal bender said with a smile.

Eri nodded, "It's a deal." Turning back to the island she began shooting bolt after bolt of electricity at the four.

"You ungrateful little-! We were going to save you for the new age!" Ming Hua shouted at her.

She shot two frozen arms straight for her Eri's chest. She dodged them by rolling sideways on the ground. She stood triumphantly but was unready for the barrage of rocks that came her way.