Choose wisely, now. A sky bison's a companion for life.
I have an apple for you.
They're so beautiful!
Mmm.
Here you are.
-Catch! -Wait for me!
He's matching me!
Here! Now down here!
I guess this means we'll always be together.
Appa.
Where did he go?
Find him!
As soon as I can move again, you guys are in big trouble.
You with the creaky boots, I'm gonna remember you.
And you too, mouth breather.
Too lazy to carry me to jail, huh? Gotta drag me.
Both of you inhuman goons!
What? No, come back! No!
You can't just…
You did.
You just left me like this.
Who is it?
Who's there?
Sokka.
Sai?
You're alive?
Sokka! I thought I'd never see you again.
We've been looking all over for you.
Have you seen Amita? Or heard from Teo?
No, they probably confiscate any letters.
But, Sokka, I'm so glad to see you.
So, so glad!
-Uh, Sai? -Uh-huh?
Can you turn me over?
So you're telling me that you and Dad had no idea
you were building weapons for the Fire Nation?
Did I know we had contracts with the Fire Nation?
Yes.
But I promise you, I thought they were for farming equipment.
-Business knows no-- -No borders.
So I've been learning.
The contracts will be canceled.
Really?
I'll take care of it immediately.
I always hoped you'd take over for us one day, so
you might as well start shaping the business as you see fit.
I mean, as you
wish it to be.
I've heard you've turned the Avatar into a fine Earthbender.
If you'd shared your talents with me sooner,
I might not have reacted so strongly.
This isn't a business negotiation, Mom.
Why can't you just talk to me like I'm your daughter? I…
I don't know how.
Just think of me as any other person.
But you're not any other person.
You're my fragile--
-Don't call me fragile. -Please.
Give me just a moment.
When you have a child,
you think… you're gonna guide them through the world.
That you'll share what you learned from your own life.
From the moment you were born,
I knew you were gonna have to deal with things I could never imagine
because I have no idea what it's like to be
blind.
After you left,
I wondered…
"Perhaps I am the fragile one."
You navigate the world with more strength,
confidence, and grace than any Beifong before you.
I mean,
maybe not grace.
Why do you say that?
I don't know. Uh…
Don't you ever feel like people just assume
we're gonna act a certain way because of our name?
My whole life.
I got into a fight with my friends.
The Avatar?
Yeah.
I thought they understood me, but I don't…
I don't know.
Listen.
I know you want me to come home.
I do.
It's why I'm here.
I promise you,
things will be different.
I'm just not ready.
I mean, I have to at least talk to them.
To make things right.
You have to do what you think is right, of course.
I do have a carriage waiting, so…
-Whenever you're ready to go. -Don't…
Don't wait for me.
It may take some time.
Hmm.
Take all the time you need.
Just let's finish our tea together.
Like when you were little.
Mmm.
You would not believe how many marriage proposals I've gotten
since arriving here.
Men are the worst, aren't they?
Like those two fools your father sent after you.
Mom, I don't…
I feel weird.
I should've come after you myself.
We could've done this a long time ago.
I'm sorry.
It's my fault we're here.
Who are you?
You don't wanna know.
You got captured trying to help me. Of course I wanna know.
I wanna thank you.
You won't.
Now you really need to turn around.
Zuko?
What do we do now? Fight to the death?
I'm not gonna fight you.
Oh, wow.
You.
You!
-I'm such an idiot. -You're not.
-And I thought you were good. I… -I'm trying.
Aang was right.
They were all right.
Everything I did was stupid.
And selfish.
And I put us all in danger, and this is what I deserve.
To be locked in a cave with a monster.
My friends,
you must be wondering why I called you here today.
The Earth King has become aware of a plot
to undermine the security of the city.
His Majesty has ordered me to weed out the conspirators,
some of whom are at this table.
Where is General Sung?
General Sung is under arrest for treason.
-Treason? -Treason?
The Earth King has ordered the Dai Li to take control of the military.
This is a coup!
-The Supreme Commander… -Where is the king?
…has shown herself to be disloyal.
We demand to speak to the king.
Then we'll see who really holds the power here, Long Feng.
Perhaps I can illuminate that for you.
What do the Kyoshi Warriors have to do with the affairs of Ba Sing Se?
Nothing.
No, wait!
I've changed my mind about our deal.
I'll take the fugitives.
And the Avatar.
And the city.
Ba Sing Se belongs to the Fire Nation now.
Did you have anything to say about that?
No,
Princess.
As you were.
What did we miss?
It's a good name.
Serene.
But fierce.
To name something is to dream of its future
and the place it will hold in the world.
Bo! Yize!
Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon. Your usual?
I'll need the special, Mushi. I barely slept last night.
Dai Li made an arrest outside my house. They found the Painted Lady.
And her sidekick.
Yeah, that guy in the blue mask? They got him too.
-That's what good deeds get you. -Mushi, I'll take…
Mushi?
My tea.
Coast is clear.
For now.
Thanks for hiding us.
The Dai Li are everywhere today.
And I found out the Painted Lady was arrested last night.
Katara?
She is the only reason why we're all still in this fight.
Also, Toph Beifong left the city this morning with her mother.
She what?
I don't know.
What about Sokka?
No sign of him.
The Dai Li have a secret prison underground.
Has to be where they're holding them.
One of us from Omashu could tail a Dai Li agent.
We all wanna help.
It's too dangerous.
I moved from Senlin to Gaipan,
and the war followed.
Then I moved to Omashu, and the war followed. Now we're here.
We can't escape the danger.
We have to face it.
Okay.
But I'll handle this one.
Okay.
Just please… be careful, Aang.
Yeah.
And when you find Sai, just tell him…
Yeah.
I will.
Thank you.
The Dai Li have taken over military leadership of the wall guard,
which means the forces are now under our com… your command.
We have also captured all of the Avatar's companions,
but the Avatar himself eludes us.
He will come for his friends.
Someone else was captured last night.
He had these.
Where is he now?
Lake Laogai.
She said she was gonna kill Zuko.
Yes.
You brought her the swords.
Yes.
You told her where Zuko was.
I brought gifts…
Yes.
A symbol of unity between our people.
Uh-huh.
Don't you kind of love Zuko?
Well, I love you.
But I would've killed you.
Yeah.
It's true.
I could bend that open.
Wouldn't be too hard.
Maybe it'll be a little hard.
General Iroh.
What are you doing here?
I'm no general.
Not anymore.
I'm here for the same reason you are. A rescue mission.
Okay.
We can help each other.
But this isn't gonna be easy.
Some new friends of mine told me there's another way in.
A secret door put in by Avatar Kyoshi.
Okay. Let's go.
You want help?
Not from you.
That's never gonna get us out of here.
Oh, really?
It's not gonna get us out of the prison that you deserve to be in and I don't.
I trusted you.
Was it always supposed to go this way?
Did you always know it was me?
Did you stalk me to find Aang, and is this the trap?
You think he's gonna come down here and save me
and then you'll finally have your prize.
That's a more elaborate plan than I've ever come up with.
I had no plan.
When I saw the Dai Li attack you, I didn't think. I just helped.
That's why I'm here.
Sure.
I'm supposed to believe that innocent act from the son of the Fire Lord.
Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood.
Whole generations have been lost because of your family's lust for power.
Forests burned.
Families separated.
People that just don't exist anymore.
Because of you
and your father
and his father.
And all the little men that go all the way back to Sozin.
Every Waterbender in my tribe has been taken or killed.
Children taken.
Except for me.
I hid so I lived.
And I have to live with the guilt of that every day.
I feel guilty because I lived.
What do you feel?
Nothing?
How dare you!
You have no idea what this war has put me through.
Me personally.
The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.
I'm sorry.
Something we have in common.
We'll be the first to use this door in centuries.
So how did Zuko get captured?
He was caught in the act of doing something good.
I knew there was more to him.
Looking beneath the surface is the insight of the Avatar.
I've only made it this far because of my friends, but
I pushed them away, and they got captured.
That's the insight of the Avatar.
I'm sure it wasn't all your fault.
Oh, it was.
I was completely selfish.
Totally focused on what I needed.
But…
I'm gonna change.
I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make things right with my friends.
To be whoever they need me to be.
No.
Not only should you not do that, I'm pretty sure you cannot do that.
If you try, you won't help them.
And you'll lose yourself in the process.
Real friendships survive the truth.
The best ones even grow from it.
You must be who you are,
but you must also let them be who they are.
But… what if they don't like who I really am?
That's something you cannot control.
Have you been able to do that?
To be who you really are all this time?
It's a lifelong project.
I'm working on it right now.
Apparently,
Kyoshi used these same prisons in her time hundreds of years ago.
This is an Avatar door.
We need to bend all four elements to open it.
Lucky we ran into each other, then.
Wait here, Momo.
No, I know!
It was that flippy girl with the Kyoshi disguise.
She did this jabbing musclebending thing. That's why I can't move now.
-Of course. -Yeah.
-At least I'm here with you, Sai. -That's true.
-And together we can get out of here. -That's not possible.
What are you talking about? Anything's possible for us. For you!
-You're the smartest guy I know. -I've tried.
Nobly, valiantly.
When they first arrested me, they interrogated me at the palace,
but I gave nothing up.
So they locked me in the highest tower.
I demanded to see the king.
I understand royalty, of course. I have some status.
They said, "You'll never see the king."
I said, "I have important info that could save the world."
And they laughed in my face.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
And then slammed the door with bending, so it was extremely loud and unsettling.
But then I asked myself, what would Teo do?
And despite my low morale, I made a bold escape attempt.
How?
Bedsheets tied together and flung out the window.
-Brilliant. Use what's around you. -Disastrous.
-I miscalculated the distance. -No.
But then I tried again, this time with explosives.
-Blasting jelly? -More homemade
It was a little too homemade. My eyebrows just started growing back.
Oh. Then what?
Inspiration struck.
-A disguise. -Yes!
-I was caught immediately. -No!
Yeah, apparently, I'm quite distinct-looking. It's…
-Oh, Sai. A little help! -I got you!
Well…
Then you came up with a new plan, right?
No.
Then they moved me down here.
And I gave in to despair.
My son is out there fighting a war.
Amita.
And we just found each other, and now I've lost her.
And then when you and the Avatar needed me…
I failed.
But that's good science.
You failed.
Every failure is an opportunity to learn.
You have to fail a hundred times to find one thing that works.
Then you have to fail a hundred more to find the next piece.
You have to fail a thousand times, and only then you can succeed.
Look around you.
The walls are stone. The doors are metal.
We aren't Benders.
We're gonna die here.
The walls aren't pure stone. There are crystals too.
You're right. It's not all stone.
The crystals have different chemical properties than stone?
-Yes. Yes, yes. -Yes!
We can find a way to dissolve them.
-Then maybe find a way out of here. -Yes! Yes! Let's get to work!
Sokka, you are my best student.
Maybe my best teacher.
-All right, come. Come on. Ah, ah… -Yes!
My mother was good.
She saw the best in people.
Even in me.
She was gone before I looked like this.
This scar.
Everyone who sees it makes assumptions about me.
They make up stories, so it's easy to pass in the Earth Kingdom.
I look like a victim.
No story they come up with is
anywhere near as terrible as the truth.
My father did this to me.
Do you know how hard it is for a Firebender to get burned?
Really burned.
Scarred
for life.
He has to let down his basic defenses,
instincts he's born with.
It's like a Waterbender drowning.
My father may have scarred me…
but deep down…
some part of me
believed I deserved it.
That part of me let him.
Because my father hates me,
everybody else does too.
Those Fire Nation defectors?
They would hate me if they knew who I was.
Why were you defending them?
Because they were helpless.
Why were you?
Same reason.
For so long, when I saw the face of the enemy…
it was your face.
No matter how much
you hate this face, Katara…
I hate it more.
It's not what I see now.
I see someone in pain.
Someone who needs healing.
This is water from the Spirit Oasis.
It's been known to cure the deepest and most dire of wounds.
Maybe even those that reach back generations.
Can I…
try to heal you?
I am expecting full regalia for all officers.
There you are, Cultural Minister.
This is General Vinh Tran.
He will be the steward of Ba Sing Se in my absence.
Speak to him as you would me.
Hmm?
Cultural Minister,
let's ensure that all thoroughfares are clear of debris
and that any mobile vendors will be kept away.
We don't want any disruptions when our forces enter the streets.
Cultural Minister?
I'll see to it.
When our forces arrive, I expect your men to be deferential to mine.
From the highest rank to the lowest.
There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
No.
There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
There is no war
in Ba Sing Se.
There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
There is no war in Ba Sing Se!
Looks like you could use a little more time down here.
Please!
Please don't leave me here!
Please! Please!
I can do anything or any jobs for the minister!
There's no war in Ba Sing Se!
There is no war in Ba Sing Se!
Okay, be precise or lose an eye.
We just need a chunk of crystal so we can analyze and experiment
with whatever we have on hand.
Great.
Yeah.
Is this a good idea?
It's the best one we have.
-Sokka! -Not now, Aang!
-Aang! -Aang?
-I'm so glad to see you, man! -Me too.
-Sokka… -I know.
It's good. We're… we're good. We're good, right?
He's with us on our mission. Trust me.
Zuko was also taken.
I know it's hard to believe, but my nephew, there's good inside him.
Let me know when there's good outside of him.
Sokka,
Katara is down here.
If you can help us find our friends and get out of here,
I'll believe whatever.
All right, let's go.
I wonder if this is the reason I was given this water in the first place.
Because it was meant for you.
I don't deserve it.
You will.
Hey, get away from her!
Sokka! Stop! He helped me. That's why he got arrested.
He what?
Get your hands off me before I burn them off.
Zuko. Both of you.
He's been helping people. I've seen it.
-I'm sorry. -I'm sorry.
Gotcha.
The coast is clear. Is this everyone, or do we have more rescuing to do?
Toph left the city with her mother, but Appa's in a cell somewhere down here,
and we're gonna get him.
What are you two gonna do?
He helped me find you.
We should all get out of here.
Katara…
I just need to say I'm sorry.
I was being really unfair. And I never should've pushed you away.
It's okay.
I'm sorry too.
-But we better go. -Please, just… just wait.
I need to say this.
If you took all of this away, and I wasn't the Avatar,
and you weren't a Waterbender, and we didn't need to save the world,
I…
We would still be friends.
Of course we would.
No argument could ever change that.
Yeah.
I can feel him. Appa's this way.
Guards.
Go, go, go!
Joo Dee.
Hey, we can get you out of here.
You can come with us.
The Avatar's here! Don't let him get away!
The Avatar is here!
He's over here!
Separate them!
You… you poisoned me!
It's crested lark poppy.
I use it for beauty sleep. Don't be so dramatic.
I'm your daughter, and you kidnapped me?
Yes.
You're my daughter.
I'm glad you realize that.
After a time, you'll be grateful for what I did for you today.
The planning, the excuses,
the lengths I've gone to protect my only daughter from herself.
I'm not your property!
You lied!
You don't care.
You never did.
You never wanted me.
You're ashamed of me.
I mean, why?
I mean, you don't even know me.
You don't even know me.
They do.
They know who I am.
I know who I am!
That's… that's impossible!
I'm Toph Beifong, and I invented Metalbending.
I'm the greatest Earthbender in the world!
He's through there.
I've kept an eye on him.
We can all get out of here together.
What?
Princess Azula has taken control of the city.
Azula?
Azula, here?
How?
She came here for you.
I did what I could to protect you from her.
The military is destroyed.
And she's going to open the gates,
and the Fire Nation will march on the palace.
Our only hope now
is to run and fight another day.
Did you really think I would ever trust you again?
You betrayed us all.
If Azula took over, it's your fault.
I did what was needed to protect the city, to keep the war outside the walls!
Everyone in Ba Sing Se lives in peace because of me!
I shoulder the burden! I do what must be done!
And you understand that.
No.
Because I care about the people.
All you care about is having power and using it to save yourself.
I would never help you escape.
And I'm not gonna run.
I'm gonna stay here and stop Azula.
You will never defeat her.
You are too kind,
and that makes you weak.
You will see that I was right, Aang.
You can't win.
Run. Run while you still have a chance.
Appa!
I missed you so much.
I know.
I need to go save the others.
And I'll be right there behind you.
We're together forever.
Promise.
I'll be okay.
Appa.
Go.
Why couldn't you have stayed in your room like a good boy?
Okay. I surrender. I surrender.
Boomerang!
You do always come back.
Sh. Someone else is coming.
Aang! Oh, you're safe. Where's Appa?
I sent him up to the surface with Momo.
-Where's Iroh and Zuko? -We were separated. It's been eventful.
We need to get out. They can take care of themselves.
No. The city's not safe.
Azula and the Fire Nation have taken over. And we need to stop her now.
Azula?
There you are. I think I found a way out.
Let's go.
Okay.
How long are we gonna keep doing this, Zuko?
How long are we gonna keep playing his game?
Fighting each other.
Until one of us wins.
Mother always thought I was a monster.
Don't talk about her. Ever.
Maybe it wouldn't have come to this if she hadn't been taken.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I couldn't stay quiet that night in the carriage.
It's my fault.
But she told us to stay together.
That we would always have each other.
Maybe we could, Zuko.
I've taken the city.
Our forces are marching through the streets at this very moment.
The Earth Kingdom is going to fall.
It's a glorious day in our nation's history.
We could share it.
But I'm not going to force you to come home if you don't want to.
The choice is yours.
This is the way out.
I can feel it.
I'm gonna get Sai out of here!
Get down!
Thankfully your limbs are operational.
-I know. The drop helped. Yeah. -Yeah.
Okay.
Oh no, it's locked.
Oh.
Hmm.
Miss me, Snoozles?
You bent metal?
We can talk about how much I rule later.
Let's go. Appa's waiting outside.
Snoozle?
I'll tell you later.
I thought you had changed!
I have changed.
Surrender, Avatar.
I've already won.
The question is, how much are you willing to lose?
I won't lose anyone.
If you die in the Avatar State,
the cycle will cease,
and the world will fall out of balance forever.
Get him out of here!
Aang.
Aang?
Aang!