Chapter Text
When Iroh woke it was to a pounding in his head that threatened to split his skull open and a strong sense of loss. The ground under him was cold packed dirt that did little good for his already sore back.
When he pushed himself up from the ground, his arms shook from the strain as if he had somehow lost all his strength.
The cell was dark and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust enough to notice another person in the cell with him. They were laid out on the ground opposite of him, likely knocked unconscious as well before being tossed in here.
A small sliver of light was breaking through the window and spreading the square patterns of the windows over the ceiling. Iroh's training told him from the pattern and angel of light, the sun was in the process of setting.
Which in turn brought Iroh's attention to his worst observation yet - his natural attunement to the sun through his firebending, hadn't told him that first.
Iroh took a deep breath to push down his panic before crossing his legs and closing his eyes. Much like his grandfather, Iroh had never really mastered the ability to meditate but he knew how to do it and how to use it to check and heal his own chakra pathways.
He gasped as a sharp spike of pain traveled from his stomach, up his spine and settled as a dull radiating numbness at the center of his forehead. The room felt like it was spinning under him.
Empty, blank, blackness had stared back at him from where his fire chakra had always been alight with bright and vibrant energy. Iroh felt as if his very soul had been pulled from his body.
Coughing dragged him from his spiraling panic as his fellow prisoner woke up. Their coughing grew louder as if they were choking on something or couldn't get enough air in their lungs.
Iroh moved quickly to their side, too quickly as black dots spotted his vision. His hand came to rest on the shoulder of his new companion. His vision slowly cleared and for a moment, Iroh thought he had been thrown into a cell with Sami.
Shaggy brown, nearly black hair, topped an undercut but where Sami's hair curled wildly, this man's hair laid straight if tangled from whatever fight he had previously been in. He wore plain green clothes potentially denoting an Earth Kingdom status, though it was never safe to assume these days.
A warm brown hand reached up and grabbed at Iroh's side, as if to pull themselves up. Unfortunately, they were more likely to pull them both down so Iroh shifted, sitting back and rolling the other man over.
Not breathing in dirt was probably the first solution to the other's choking but they continued to gag on seemingly nothing as they covered their mouth to keep something out.
It brought to mind an image from Iroh's childhood of one of his family's many trips to Ember Island. His sister had been chased around the campfire by the smoke that was constantly changing to blow directly in her face. She had sputtered and coughed and gagged everytime she breathed in the smoke. She had even taken to breathing through her hands at one point before giving up and going inside.
This man's reactions seemed the same, as if he was trying to keep some unknown smoke from choking him.
Iroh's hand came to rest on the man's stomach while his other one pulled free one of the man's own hands. He placed it over Iroh's chest and let his eyes slip shut.
Iroh's own breathing wasn't the steadiest, but it was enough to eventually calm his cellmate down from hyperventilating. When they were both relatively settled, Iroh's eyes opened and finally got to see the man fully unobstructed.
Iroh hadn't thought his day could get much worse once the idea of what happened to him started to sink in but he should have known better than to tempt the spirits.
It wasn't Sami he was locked in a cell with, but it was still one of his exes. Quite possibly the worst ex he could possibly be put in a cell with.
Baatar Beifong Jr. of the House of the Flying Boar, was not someone Iroh had thought he would ever meet again after his arrest following the war with the Earth Empire. As far as he knew, Baatar was under house arrest in Zaofu.
How could he have possibly ended up in the same cell as Iroh? More importantly, who would have purpose in capturing both of them?
Iroh and Baatar didn't even run in the same circles anymore nor did they stand for the same causes or report to the same people. You couldn't possibly find two prisoners more opposite than the Prince of the Fire Nation who served as a General of the United Forces and the former second in command of the now defunct Earth Empire.
“Where are we?” Baatar muttered, his voice cracking over the words.
Iroh frowned and stood, ignoring the way the world wobbled under his feet. From here he could just reach the bottom of the window ledge. Normally, he would have no issue pulling himself up to peek out, but now, it took everything he had to get a quick glimpse.
Iroh shook his head. “Desert,” he said, leaning against the wall while he caught his breath. “Miles and miles of desert.”
“Fantastic,” Baatar sighed. “Any clue who took us?”
Iroh shrugged. His initial assumption that a rebel cell of former Equalists had caught him was seeming less likely. Baatar was already a non-bender meaning the Equalists would have no reason to take him.
The other obvious option was the remains of the Earth Empire but then there were better targets for them to take. Iroh might define Avatar Korra as a friend and ally, but the Earth Empire would be more likely to strike at Mako, Asami or Bolin than Iroh. As for Baatar, Kuvira was a much more valuable target and Iroh had a hard time believing she would be drawn into a trap saving her ex-fiancé.
Which left a new and unknown group with motivations and abilities no one knew about yet.
“Whoever they are, they were able to get the drop on a United Forces officer and somehow get you out of the Beifong manor in Zaofu,” Iroh said, keeping his lost bending a secret for now. He looked over Baatar and noticed the way he twitched at the mention of his home. “Assuming you were in your home?”
Baatar frowned. “No where else to be,” he replied, “but security was low as Suyin left for business in Republic City. Huan isn't a fighter and the twins do more damage to each other than enemies half the time.”
There was an undercurrent of bitterness to Baatar’s voice that Iroh wasn't touching with a whole battleship of distance. He would never even think to call his mother by her first name or question his sister's ability to fight.
So Iroh switched topics before Baatar got into one of his moods. Iroh was very familiar with Baatar’s moods and the rants that went with them.
“I was off duty,” Iroh said, absently wandering towards the bars of the cell. Titanium, oh how much Iroh hated that the Earth Kingdom had discovered titanium. “Wasn't expecting to get jumped going to a bar.”
“That's another thing,” Baatar replied, moving to examine the hinges. “We weren't even in the same city. Who does that? Who goes to two separate cities and grabs two fairly separate people and puts them in the same cell like they're a matching set?”
Iroh's head jerked up at that, his vision swimming slightly. “Maybe that's it. Maybe whoever took us thought we were a matching set,” he offered.
Baatar glanced at him from the corner of his eye before reaching down and picking at one of the hinges’ screws with his fingernails.
Iroh could read his thoughts directly off his face as it was the same thought that crossed his own mind: in what world would Iroh and Baatar be a matching set for anything?
What did they have in common? It had to be something superficial because anything deeper would diverge too much.
They were both nobility but if they wanted nobility, Wu would be an easier target also being in Republic City. The Earth King might have announced his plans to abdicate but he was still the King.
Maybe a King was too much though, it would be the equivalent of taking Iroh's mother instead of him. So that logic was out.
They were both older siblings but he couldn't see why that would matter. While Iroh didn't mind it as much as Baatar likely did, both their younger sisters were more well-known and prominent leaders in their respective spheres of influence than their brothers. Iroh was important in the United Republic but Baatar wasn't really important like that anywhere anymore.
Iroh felt like he was dancing around the issue but couldn't place his finger on it. Something clicked into place but it wasn't Iroh's thoughts, rather the hinges on the doors clattered to the ground followed by the grinding of the door slipping free and clattering on the floor.
“I got it?” Baatar offered, sheepishly.
Iroh sighed. “Well if they didn't know we were awake before, they certainly do now,” Iroh said. “Let's go.”
Iroh's hand grabbed Baatar’s arm and dragged him from the cell. He was surprised to find a fair bit of muscle under his grip. Baatar had always been on the scrawny side when they were younger. He wondered at what had made the man beef up before shaking the thought free.
It really wasn't his business anymore if Sami wanted to try a new cologne or Baatar put on muscle but he could still wonder why neither of them bothered putting in the effort when they were dating him.
They crept slowly along the halls of the compound they found themselves in. It was an odd mix of dirt packed flooring and metal walls that screamed earthbender paradise and maybe that was it.
Maybe they had been taken by a group of earthbender supremacists, though together they still made for an odd pair of prisoners.
As Iroh peered around the next corner to see, yet another empty hallway, his paranoia started acting up. They were walking into a trap, they had to be.
Baatar’s breath ghosted across Iroh's neck as he leaned forward to see as well and Iroh was thrown back to a memory from when they were still together.
Baatar's breath ghosted down Iroh's neck as he placed a kiss behind his ear. Iroh huffed but said nothing as he peered around the corner.
“Coast is clear,” Iroh whispered, turning and catching Baatar’s next kiss with his lips.
Baatar’s hum turned into a laugh as he pulled away. “And the dragon?” He asked, nodding to the garden pathway between them and the gates of the palace.
“Druk isn't a snitch,” Iroh replied. He stepped out into the corridor and placed a finger to his lips in a gesture for silence when Druks's head lifted to see who was sneaking past. Upon identifying Iroh, Druk rested his head back on his paws and closed his eyes, a universal sign of “I didn't see anything”.
“Huh,” Baatar replied. “Everyone in my home snitches, including my siblings.”
Iroh shrugged. He knew the Beifong house was much more strict than his own as that was part of the reason he and Baatar snuck around and hid their relationship in the first place.
Once they jumped the gate, Iroh pulling Baatar up and then catching him on the way down, Baatar grabbed his hand and their fingers interlaced.
“Where to?” Baatar asked breathlessly, both from exertion and excitement.
Iroh considered the question seriously. There were a few well-known date spots in the city but one in particular that Iroh was sure Baatar would love.
“This way,” Iroh said, pulling Baatar towards the west side of the city where the dragon fountains were. The shops and stalls would be closed this late but the statues themselves were always on.
As they approached Iroh could see the growing and fading glow of the fountains shining on the surrounding buildings. Baatar started speeding up as he drew level with Iroh right before they turned the corner.
Towering above them were two dragons perched opposite one another as they blew a tornado of fire between them. The tornado, formed by fans embedded in the statues, was enough of a mechanical marvel, but then the statues moved. The movements were clunky due to the nature of the machines but they maintained the intention as the two statues performed the dancing dragon.
“How? What? This is amazing!” Baatar said, releasing Iroh's hand to take a better look.
“A Teo original,” Iroh explained. “My mother had it commissioned about six years ago but it's only been up for two weeks. The statues-”
“-rotate on a giant gear plate! As they hit the various smaller gears it triggers a change in position and when it hits the last gear it lights a chemical reaction that produces the flames but how? Oh! Fans would do it!”
Iroh's cheeks hurt from how hard he was smiling. “Yeah, that will do it,” he repeated.
Baatar turned back to him with bright eyes and a flush on his face. “Sorry, I got carried away,” he said.
Iroh shook his head. “I don't mind. It's why I brought you here,” he replied, reaching out for Baatar’s hand again.
Baatar used the grip to pull Iroh closer and kiss him again. “I want to build things like this one day,” he confessed when they pulled apart. His gaze drifted towards the statue again. “I'm not made for politics.”
“Me either,” Iroh confessed for the first time in his life. He knew it wasn't a proper thing for the son of the Fire Nation's heir to say but it wasn't proper of the Beifong heir either.
It felt safe to say between them.
Iroh came to a stop as they reached the hangar bay. If there was a trap waiting to spring it would be on the other side of this door.
Something about that memory of his last date with Baatar was pulling on his mind. It was related by more than just how close his ex-boyfriend was pressed up against his back.
He didn't have time to figure it out though as the only way out was through exactly where he didn't want to go. With his firebending gone and most of his strength with it, Iroh wasn't confident this fight wouldn't just land them in an even more secure cell.
Last he checked, Baatar wasn't much of a fighter either, though that was years ago. There was no telling if the bulk his ex put on was vanity or utility muscle.
“This is a trap,” Baatar whispered.
“I know. Any ideas?” Iroh asked, hoping Baatar would see an option he didn't.
Baatar smirked. It was an odd look, that Iroh had never seen on his face before. A sharpness his ex-boyfriend never had. It was unfairly attractive. “We spring it.”
Well, Iroh couldn't argue with that.
He slid the rolling bay door up and it smacked into the ceiling with a large bang. Very few people, even trained and expecting soldiers, would be hard pressed not to jump at such a sudden noise. The random mercenaries around the room were no exception, one even startling so badly he dropped his electric baton.
His loss was Iroh's gain.
Iroh snatched the stick up and immediately shoved it into the stomach of the man who dropped it. Instinct had the man grabbing the stick, which allowed Iroh to swing the man around and launch him into two others.
All three hit the ground near Baatar’s feet but Iroh didn't have time to watch them as the other six men in the room rushed him. Iroh knew this wasn't going to end well but he had little choice.
He downed one of the men and was nearly impaled by another when he startled as a third man’s head hit the floor with a sickening crack. Somehow Baatar had managed to string the guy upside down.
Iroh's luck ran out shortly after when his baton snapped in half, letting out an electrical charge that shocked Iroh. The current rolled through his body lighting up pain sensors he didn't even remember he had. Not since his lightning bending training days had Iroh felt such pain.
Without his bending, Iroh had no way to direct the electricity. He fell to his knees as the shock finally dissipated but his vision was fuzzy.
Two men fell for seemingly no reason before they could reach him but a third slammed into him, sending them both toppling into the side of a plane. Iroh saw stars as his head slammed into the wheel strut.
He screamed as something came down hard on his leg which made a sickening crack. The weight was immediately removed and something shattered the plane window.
Iroh's world was spinning as a familiar voice echoed across the room.
“Very cute but not very impressive for two military generals.”
“Very cute,” a voice called from an alleyway off to Iroh and Baatar’s left, “but very much unexpected of a Prince and a Beifong.”
Iroh turned towards the voice, pushing Baatar behind him but he didn't get a chance to respond as the voice called out again. “Grab them both.”