WHO: Prince Zuko, Katara, Cordelia Chase WHAT: rescuing the prince from a mad scientist WHERE: basement of the UCLA medical building WHEN: March 6th, evening RATING: TBA STATUS: in progress...
Zuko had been gone for a few weeks now. Or was it only a few days? He didn't know. The firebender had lost track of time. He wasn't even sure where he was or if he was even in Los Angeles anymore. Was he even on the planet or within the same dimension? Maybe the same forces that had pulled him from his world to California had decided to toss him somewhere else. All he knew, was that wherever this place was...it was hell.
This was punishment for all the cruelties he'd committed. Hunting the Avatar, siding with Azula, burning down Kyoshi Island, sending that assassin after the Avatar and his friends, capturing Katara and tying her up, leaving his uncle in jail to rot... Part of him honestly felt he deserved this and after a while, he stopped fighting. Stopped trying to escape. ...maybe he'd dreamed up Los Angeles, Angel Investigations, the waterbender; maybe he had been killed by his father's lightning and had been stuck in limbo before descending to the depths of hell.
Yes. This was hell.
"Awake early, aren't we?"
At first, he'd refused to answer this question, knowing what the crazed man who'd captured him and tossed him in here wanted him to say. But the deep slash marks that still stung on his back served as a reminder. Defeated, he answered: "Of course. I rise with the sun."
It was foolish, of course, for the sun was gone. He'd just woke up naturally...or as naturally as one could when residing in such conditions. This man, claiming to be a professor at some university (he didn't say where, no, he refused to give Zuko any clues as to where he was), had been trying to prove for his "thesis" or whatever it was, that his bending abilities were purely a biological gift, and had nothing to do with mystical or spiritual sources.
And no matter how many times he told the man that the sun controlled his firebending and without it, he couldn't bend--yes, he must still be somewhere in LA, for he still couldn't bend...unless the darkness had spread to other parts of the world, Agni forbid--the man refused to believe it. He thought Zuko was merely refusing to bend. And by the great spirits, he wanted to bend so badly. He wanted to use his flames to melt the skin off this monster of a man and make him feel the pain and humiliation he'd put him through.
"Going to bend for me today, little prince?" He grinned, almost as if he were looking at a small child that was being unnecessarily rebellious.
Zuko resisted the urge to narrow his eyes and instead averted his gaze. He didn't respond. It was useless to.
"Still not talking or bending, I see." He made a 'tsking' noise and shook his head. "Pity. Well then, no water for you until you decide to show me your flames. I know you can bend without the sun, you're just being difficult."
The man walked away and the prince drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.