| abstract | - New prisoners are arriving into the Boiling Rock and they are lined up to be introduced to the warden. Sokka, disguised as a prison guard, is glad to see his father Hakoda among the new arrivals. The warden explains the history of the Boiling Rock, mentioning that no one has ever escaped from it. Hakoda defies the warden's orders to look him in the eyes and trips him, which causes Sokka to snicker. The warden angrily orders the new arrivals to be confined to their cells. Sokka later enters his father's cell, still disguised as a guard, which causes Hakoda to almost attack him. However, when Hakoda recognizes his son, he is overjoyed. The warden interrogates the recaptured Chit Sang and grills him to find out who was helping him with the escape plan, believing him not to be smart enough to think of such an intricate plan on his own. Chit Sang refuses to talk. The warden has his guards torture him by holding him upside down in his chair until he reveals the identity of the person. Sokka and his father devise a plan for Suki, Zuko, and themselves to escape the prison. Later, Sokka makes his way to Zuko's prison cell and tries to share the plan, but is interrupted by two guards, who are there to take Zuko away. Sokka feigns brutalizing Zuko alone inside his cell so he can reveal when they should next meet. Zuko is taken into another cell where he is confronted by his ex-girlfriend, Mai. Meanwhile, the warden comes back to see whether Chit Sang will talk. Chit Sang reveals somebody did help him, although he only indicates it was someone disguised as a Boiling Rock prison guard. Mai, hurt that Zuko broke up with her, berates him for leaving only a farewell letter as he left to join the Avatar. Zuko tries to explain he had to leave in order to save the Fire Nation, though Mai counters that he is betraying it. Zuko firmly tells her he does not see it that way prompting Mai to cross her arms and look to the side. Sokka goes to see Suki in her cell to fill her in on the plan. The plan is to escape on the prison's gondola, using the warden as a hostage so they will not cut the cables of the gondola as they escape. Sokka tries to leave the cell casually, but two guards find and tell him that the warden wants to see him. Sokka is lined up with several other prison guards, who are being inspected by Chit Sang to point out who was the one devising the escape plan. Sokka is terrified, but instead of pointing at him, Chit Sang points to the guard that bullied him from the previous day. The warden falls for the false identification, captures the accused guard, and puts him into a prison cell for interrogation. While the accused guard is being interrogated by the warden, they are interrupted by Princess Azula and Ty Lee. Azula simply glances at the captured guard and states he is not the traitor. The warden is stunned and wonders how she knows. Azula sinisterly replies, "Because I'm a people person." Sokka manages to trick a guard into unlocking all of the cells during what was supposed to be lockdown while new arrivals are processed, letting the prisoners out into the yard. He meets up with Suki and Hakoda outside. All they need in order to begin the escape plan is a riot. Hakoda tries hitting a big, tough-looking prisoner, but this does not work, as this prisoner has been working on anger management recently. Chit Sang surprises Sokka, having known that he would come up with another plan, and wants in again. Sokka asks Chit Sang to start a riot, which he does by merely picking up a bystander and telling everyone, "Hey, RIOT!," causing every inmate to start fighting spontaneously. Even the guy Hakoda attempted to provoke decided to stop controlling his anger. The warden appears and angrily demands to know how all the prisoners were released into the yard during lockdown, prompting the guard who let them out to sneak away guiltily. Mai is still interrogating Zuko, but a guard appears to protect her during the riot. Zuko takes the chance, firebends at the guard's feet and rushes out of the room. The guard attempts to shield Mai from the fire, preventing her from reacting. Zuko locks her and the guard in the cell and escapes to the yard, where he meets up with the others. While Sokka and Zuko argue about how to capture the warden, Suki takes the initiative and goes after him on her own. She runs on the heads of the rioting prisoners and scales the walls of the yard with an amazing display of acrobatics. She disables the guards protecting the warden, ties him up, and gags him. They all meet up, the warden now their hostage, and make their way to the gondola. The group makes it onto the gondola, and Zuko breaks the lever so the guards cannot stop them. As they begin to ascend, Hakoda spots Azula and Ty Lee and asks Zuko who they are, to which he responds that they are a problem. Ty Lee runs on to the gondola's cable while Azula propels herself with firebending toward the gondola. Suki fights Ty Lee while Sokka and Zuko fight Azula on the top of the gondola. The warden breaks free of his binding and yells at the guards to cut the cable, which would kill everyone as they fell into the volcanic lake below. The guards stop the gondola from moving and start to saw away at the cable. Azula and Ty Lee propel themselves onto another oncoming gondola on a separate cable, with the former telling her brother goodbye, assuming that he will fall to his death in the boiling lake. However, just as the guards are about to finish cutting, they are disabled by Mai. She starts to pin the guards with her daggers, angering Azula. A guard asks her what she is doing, to which she replies, "Saving the jerk who dumped me." She frees the line, and the gondola used by the group starts moving again. They make it out of the volcano, leaving the warden behind in the gondola. Hakoda gladly tells the warden that the non-escape record is finally broken. As Suki wonders how they are going to leave, Zuko figures out that Azula must have come to the Boiling Rock somehow and spots an unmanned Fire Nation airship. The group uses the airship to escape off the island. Mai is detained by guards and brought forth to Azula. Ty Lee watches from the sidelines fearfully as Azula demands to know why Mai saved the escapees, knowing the consequences. Mai tells Azula she miscalculated, as she loves Zuko more than she fears Azula. The two of them get in position to battle but Ty Lee intervenes, blocks Azula's chi, and strikes her down. Ty Lee and Mai try to escape, but are quickly captured again. Azula calls them fools and orders the guards to let them rot in prison so she will never have to see their faces again. Back at the Western Air Temple, Sokka and Zuko exit their newly captured airship. Aang and the others remark their fishing trip must have been one crazy fishing trip. Toph asks if they at least got any meat, and Sokka answers they got "the best meat of all, the meat of friendship and fatherhood". Hakoda, Suki, and Chit Sang exit the ship and present themselves to the others. Katara is overjoyed to see her father and embraces him and Sokka as Zuko happily watches. In the background, Toph asks, "Seriously, you guys didn't find any meat?"
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