Hyunji might find the Water Tribesmen to be rather primitive in appearance, but she had to admit their mastery over the waves was on another level above the Fire Nation's navy. Large boats, not even proper ships, made of wood, bone and leather, took Princess Azula's infiltrators into the Fire Islands with such speed and comfort that Hyunji almost forgot that she was at sea throughout most of the journey.
They were dangerously good at being invisible too. On the final approach, the vessels' masts were taken down, and waterbenders would keep a wave up to completely hide the boats from across the horizon. Not that they risked much detection, coming in at night. Fire Nation warships with their reflective metal hulls were far more easily spotted under star and moonlight compared to the more matted colors of the Water Tribe fleet. During the day, the columns of black smoke gave away the positions of patrols.
So it came as no surprise that Hyunji and her colleagues landed on the Capital Island unopposed and undetected. No doubt the other operatives being seeded across targeted islands would have an easier time thanks to laxer security away from the capital. She even managed to keep her shoes completely dry, with how far into the coast the waterbenders guided their boats. The infiltrators snuck into the nearest town under the cover of night, their sharp attires easily buying them the cover of nobles passing through. Thanks to some eavesdropping, they easily bought the innkeeper's confidence by posing as scions eloping in an attempt to dodge the recent draft sweeping the Fire Nation.
It was a stroke of luck, or proof that the spirits were indeed with Princess Azula and Prince Xing, that the innkeeper was a quiet supporter of the princess, and was disapproving of the madness coming from the royal palace. The good man did not raise the price of the rooms as most establishments might, and even gave tips on the schedule of patrols.
They stayed for the night, and then the agents split up to spread across the Capital Island to seek their targets. They had less than a week to prepare for the big day. Mere days to scout out their targets and figure out cunning plans to achieve their related objectives. Most soldiers would balk at having to undertake such dangerous missions with so little time for planning.
A good thing then that Hyunji and her fellow infiltrators were not soldiers, but Princess Azula's palace servants.
Having to act on information almost as soon as it left courtiers' mouths, improvising was their specialty. A few days was a luxury compared to the tight schedules Hyunji had to work with sometimes. Be it feeding messenger hawks laxatives to keep them from flying (and maybe intercept the deliveries), or arranging 'coincidental' meetings with the right nobles leaving the palace to establish long-term sexpionage operations, the handmaidens and common staff have made do with their smaller presence in court politics by being quick and decisive.
The only real obstacle for the princess' agents lay not with the nature of their targets or objectives, but what happened after their mission was accomplished. Princess Azula wanted everyone back alive and in one piece.
"I have no use for corpses," she had sternly briefed them before they were sent out. "I'm sure I hired skilled staff with a good head on their shoulders, not narrow-minded martyrs. There is much work to be done after this excursion, so I expect all of you to be back and ready for more work."
The princess was sweet in how she cared. But it still left the fact that they had to approach their tasks with a bit more restraint. Leong-Si's idea of masquerading as a messenger to take out some of the courtiers during a royal court session had to be shelved, for example.
So it'd be back to the basics, slinking through crowds and waiting for opportunities. If anything, the missions now have mostly become easier. There was no need to hide bodies or evidence of the hand behind the coming destruction. Princess Azula wanted everyone to know that she still had a presence in the home islands, and so that was what her loyal servants would do.
Hyunji and a few comrades spent the next couple of days infiltrating the Capital City, and to her surprise a good chunk of the princess' network remained intact, if somewhat in hibernation.
The crippled veteran standing by the corner of a street was still there, railing with faux-unhinged-hysteria against the Earth Kingdom's evils as a cover for acting as a middleman. The bedraggled man was still tolerated, and was still running up to random passersby to shake them by their collars…and dropping small slips of paper into some of his victims' robes.
Tea houses that harvested information from its clientele remained in business, with no change in staff, though their decor changed to appease the Fire Lord's regime. Interestingly, in many establishments; The serving girls' uniforms became more conservative, with the slit on the side of their cheongsams being halved, while the serving boys sported longer sleeves.
A good number of retired nobles no longer showed up in the Pai Sho parlors, but to Hyunji's relief, those that remained assured her that the few that had been captured only endured mild interrogation before being put under house arrest. The Fire Lord was trying to rule with an iron fist, but as he relied on the nobility now more than ever to strengthen his rule, he couldn't be too callous in how he treated any of them, not without good, solid cause. The noble circles, for all their factionalism and cliques, was a class that was heavily interconnected, and Ozai's grip on power was not so absolute that he could dismiss their concerns.
Even Princess Azula's ardent supporters still had their family estates it seemed, locked down but not forfeited. Their family members were detained, but as far as Hyunji knew, all had been kept under house arrest, with only the few commoners caught acting for the princess being sent to the Boiling Rock prison. Whether they'd serve as bargaining chips or not would remain to be seen. Knowing how political marriages worked though, Hyunji bet that at least a few families were kept in good health simply because they were relatives to some degree to the Fire Lord's court.
It made the handmaiden-turned-saboteur feel a little bad at all the violence she'll be involved in. Well, at least they would be limiting the collateral damage as much as possible. Well, physical damage anyway…
Taking the appearance of a minor noble, Hyunji entered a funeral parlor. The owner seemed uncaring of her presence until she produced a small sack of coins. "I'd like to make several orders."
"Why, of course, ma'am. My condolences on your losses. Are you seeking a ceremonial cremation?"
Hyunji sniffed as she shook her head, putting a believable enough tremble in her movements she thought. "No, just the…just some urns please. The ones that came back from the continent was…inadequate."
The man gave a convincing nod of sorrow, though his eyes remained on the sack of currency. "You have my deepest sympathies, ma'am. What would you require from my humble establishment?"
Hyunji left with her 'servants' with several gaudy cremation urns, and it took the whole night to put the urns to good use. Lady Ty Lee's training was most useful in getting them into places they shouldn't be, not to mention disabling guards before they touched exposed tits or tried to get their stinky lips anywhere on Hyunji. Before this, the agents would have to ready daggers or hair pins, which might be finicky to bring to bear, and often needed the victims to be varying degrees of handsy with them to guarantee an exposed target to strike at. Now all it took was for a quick jab of the fingers to the right spot, and the distracted men crumpled on the ground. Still breathing too, which added another thin layer of chaos to the aftermath.
It was heartening to see that news still traveled quickly even with more guards patrolling the city. Several notable families were in a panic when their patriarchs and matriarchs awoke to find the urns with their name on it. Considering that there were also whispers of a few dying horribly after that, some of the recipients were stupid enough to actually open the urns and trigger the flint and blasting jelly mechanism within.
It was fucking unbelievable. She was sure the simple trap would've been completely avoided. Thanks to overestimating the nobles' paranoia and common sense, she lost a whole month's wage to three fellow agents.
Over the coming days and nights, other clandestine operations were carried out, some to scare certain nobles and wealthy merchants, others to scare their families and friends via blatant assassination. Who died and who got to wake up shitting themselves was dependent on how high they or their courtier relatives were on Princess Azula's shit list. Unfortunately for the nobles of the Fire Nation, Lady Su-Wei's ability to hold onto grudges gave her a very good memory.
By the time the big day came, and Hyunji saw something flying towards the royal palace, most of the nobility residing in and around the Capital City were nowhere to be seen in public, preferring to lock themselves in and hiring more guards to keep the night terrors at bay.
Rather conveniently, it meant that a few operatives got rather comfortable positions patrolling their targets' estates. The postings wouldn't amount to much beyond intelligence gathering, but that wasn't the point right now. What was important was that Ozai's supporters were put on edge, which means some of them (at least half, Hyunji hoped for her next salary's sake) would be compromising their duties to the Fire Lord in favor of ensuring their own continued safety. Lookouts reported notable absences in courtiers heading to the palace, and if the whispers bought could be believed, the Fire Lord was 'most displeased', though he didn't have the manpower to do anything beyond bolstering the palace's security.
Fun times.
As Hyunji and her fellow infiltrators joined the crowd in looking up at the afternoon sky to follow the air bison flying above their heads, she fought hard to keep down a grin. They slipped through the confused cityfolk and headed for their final targets. Once the princess and her prince appeared, some nobles needed their loyalties tested…or their last words remembered.
*****
Zuko was almost comfortable with his routine as a prisoner as the days turned into weeks. Through piecing together the rare whispers he and Mai picked up during the day, they managed to build a good enough picture of what was going on beyond the palace walls. And the picture did not look good for Zuko's father.
Assuming it was not propaganda, most of the colonies were razed and abandoned by the rebels to deny the Fire Nation army a solid foothold on the continent. Would Azula resort to such a plan?
Thanks to their lessons and no doubt her closeness to Xing, most definitely yes. It shouldn't be surprising that practically all the colonies sided with her, though for them to willingly abandon their homes for Ba Sing Se spoke of a devotion that the prince quietly envied.
At the same time, the Earth Kingdom protectorates took the chance to free themselves from the Fire Nation, so that made the borders on the continent interesting. The only saving grace for father's armies was that the self-liberated states opted to lock themselves within their gates to stay out of the civil war. Otherwise, all it'd take was for a few raiding parties to prey on supply routes to slowly starve out certain forces.
Also unsurprisingly, Omashu was leading the push north, breaking through the thinned or outright abandoned southern lines to reclaim the Earth Kingdom.
What was surprising however was the possibility that Xing and King Bumi had hammered out some sort of deal. The whispers were inconsistent about this; either the Scorpion Dragon and the Mad King were allies, or they agreed to stay out of each other's way. Yet at the same time, some rumors are saying that Bumi was in Ba Sing Se, helping Xing fortify the walls.
"Do you think he'd do that?" Mai asked, causing Zuko to pause and really consider it.
Would Xing so easily work with enemies? That really depended. As far as Zuko knew, XIng's duel and victory over Bumi was conducted without any acrimony on either end.
"Probably… More likely they just improvised off an existing scheme."
His time with Azula and Xing via guarding Mai gave Zuko some insight into how the couple operated, and the Fire Nation prince had a growing suspicion that they had - or at the very least Xing had - plans involving Omashu. Maybe it was initially meant to broker peace between Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. Maybe it was a plan to win over the Mad King.
Regardless, Omashu and Ba Sing Se were friendly now, which got a lot of the palace staff worried underneath their masks of servitude. That worry became more obvious when they began whispering to each other about the defeats trickling in.
Armies were being held up or harassed by colonists. General Sho and General Hwa had joined Azula's cause (that one was quite obvious, Zuko thought) and the War Council was scrambling to figure out how to deal with that impressive army.
Then came news of High General Wulong's demise, and the shattering of his force. And dragons were involved. Real dragons, the increasingly panicked servants shared amongst each other. At least two dragons that burned and devoured men. Wulong had died facing Xing, and it was either out of contempt or respect that the Prince of Ba Sing Se let the surviving officers and their troops flee.
Xing had dragons. How long did he have them? Did Azula know all along as well?
"I'm surprised no one's thinking he faked a dragon," Mai remarked with a worried frown. "He's been known to pull off a lot of tricks..."
As much as Zuko would like to agree with her, shook his head. "Too many eyewitnesses. Bujing's report alone carries the testimonies of several nobles. If Xing made fake dragons, he did a really good job at fooling everyone." He paused for a second to sigh. "And I think…I think there's no reason for him to do that. Xing doesn't need dragons to win. Azula doesn't need dragons to come over here."
"So it's just a nice bonus for them?"
Zuko nodded with another sigh as he recalled his lessons, both from Xing and the palace tutors. "It's one way to really scare a lot of people. It took a lot of people to hunt dragons during my great-grandfather's time. Like, small armies big. It's seen as a prestigious thing because of how dangerous it was."
"And now, Xing has two of them-"
"To go along with Xing himself," Zuko finished, not needing to explain that by now the other prince was probably far more dangerous than the dragons he had with him. He'd not seen the holes in Ba Sing Se, but he could very well believe that no dragon could do what Xing did there.
Mai gave a weary sigh. "And who knows what Azula turned into in the meantime." Which was also concerningly true. Fighting with Xing, she'd likely grow into a monster of her own on the battlefield. Supposedly, she slew several generals by herself in the same battle that Wulong fell.
"Wel-"
A knock on Mai's door made them both freeze for a second before annoyance surfaced on their faces. Again? Wasn't the first stupid test enough of a failure?
Still, better not take things for granted. Zuko slipped out of Mai's bed and quietly stalked over to the door. This time, there was no quivering servant to greet him when he opened it. Instead, a small piece of embroidered red silk was left by the doorway. Zuko carefully picked it up, ignoring the nearly overlooked sound of soft footsteps, and bringing it to the lamps near Mai's bed, he found his eyes going wide along with Mai's at the details of the embroidery.
A black scorpion stood to the foreground, with a yellow rising phoenix in the background. Both Zuko and Mai had only ever heard Azula talking about it, her hypothetical emblem once she was married to Xing. It was a conversation only brought up when Ty Lee prodded her. There was no way that anyone could get those details beyond the idle talks in the privacy of her tent… Mai took the cloth and flipped it over, a simple message sewn onto the back.
"Wait for my people. Will have your family ready. And maybe dum-dum if you still like him. If you do, hope you're not pregnant yet."
It was definitely Azula's message.
Zuko snapped his head to Mai with a sudden urgency. "I'll be back." He snuck off back to his room, and found a similar cloth, but this time on his bed. The message behind the emblem was a little longer.
"Zuzu, Uncle Iroh hopes you're well. If you're with us, throw this out the window. My people will come get you out later. You're worse than father at lying so don't try. You better not have gotten Mai pregnant, dum-dum."
He didn't know exactly how to react to his sister's words. On the one hand, Azula didn't sound…too worried, and Uncle Iroh was still alright. At least that's what Azula says anyway. And she has a plan to bring Mai and her family out of the palace, along with Zuko.
But at the same time, did Azula really have that low a regard for him that she expected him to…make Mai pregnant?
Zuko sighed as he threw the cloth out the window, and was completely unsurprised to find it missing the following morning. News filtered in of chaos now spreading through the home islands, including the capital city, where nobles were waking up with messages by the princess beside them, or not waking up at all. Facilities in the factory islands were razed, as were the holiday estates of wealthier nobles.
In response, Zuko noted how the guards in his palace wing and Mai's were reduced, probably to bolster security elsewhere. The servants going about were also reduced, due to fear of spies.
Zuko might not have seen his father at all, but he could very well imagine the Fire Lord's impotent fury. Far too many men have been sent over to the continent to deal with Xing and Azula. The minimum garrison to maintain peace in each settlement buckled under the string of sabotages and assassinations.
Another round of conscription might be sent out, though it'd be too little too late.
Barely a couple of days later, the servants were running about with fear distracting them in their duties. High General Bujing was dead, as were most of the commanders with him. And with them, the bulk of the Fire Nation's manpower was killed or scattered throughout the continent. Worse, Xing and Azula had taken one of the staging ports and thanks to the sudden defection of Admiral Daeyang and more than half his fleet, they were making their way over to the home islands.
Azula's servants came knocking at Zuko's door on that very evening the bad news sent everyone into a panic. One of her handmaidens he vaguely remembered greeted him with a fluid bow that made her look out of place in the servant's outfit. "Prince Zuko, come with me please. We will rendezvous with Lady Mai and her family and then make our exit."
Taking only his swords with him, it took almost no effort in sneaking past the gossiping guards and servants, and Zuko found Mai, her worried mother Michi, and brother Tom-Tom waiting in a garden with a small group of more of Azula's staff that the prince could just barely remember seeing once.
"Where's your father?" Zuko had to ask, and Mai flashed a scowl.
"Out cold."
It startled the prince that Michi also gave a similar expression. "My husband tried to…tried to insist on us staying. His desire to cling onto his precious position in court has blinded him to the dangers it has put our family in. I will not let my children be used as bargaining chips."
"Well put, Lady Michi," one of the spies remarked. "We'll do what we can to keep Lord Ukano alive, but in the meantime, please follow us."
The agents stomped their feet on the garden soil, and to Mai's family's surprise (and maybe a bit from Zuko) the ground opened up, revealing an underground stairway made of earth.
Right, Xing had earthbenders with him, and Azula didn't care about discriminating against earthbenders in the colonies, so having them working for the couple should've been expected.
A man's head popped up from the impromptu tunnel and beckoned them over. "Right this way, your highness, ladies."
They left the palace and with firebending to serve as torches, followed the tunnel out into a tea house's basement.
"There's beds upstairs on the higher floors," one handmaiden instructed. "This shop's shuttered, so just stay away from the main hall and the rest of the place should be safe to move around in. You just have to be a little patient and wait for a day or two."
"What happens after that?" Zuko asked.
The handmaiden and her colleagues grinned. "Ah right, it's best to brief you about the Day of Black Sun."
Now that's an ominous name…Island hopping across the Fire Islands was, for all the tasks Xing assigned Aang and his friends, largely uneventful. There were far too little soldiers and town guards to offer any real problems. With the earlier briefings from Iroh and Xing to guide him, Aang took to sabotaging in a thorough manner that his earlier adventures could never match.
In the dead of night, they flew through a poorly guarded factory complex covering an entire island, stopping only for Toph to seal up the metal wastewater pipes or Katara to reverse the water flow to flood and irrevocably damage the machinery and forges. Sokka had meticulously planned the routes they took, ensuring that maximum damage was caused on the factory island before the sun rose. The young Avatar chipped in as well, melting or cutting through structural beams, or helping Toph carve channels to send the hills of coal and ore rolling down into the coast or river. Dockyards and roads were also broken up with ample use of earthbending.
Just for added insult, Aang and Katara collected as much of the polluted water as they could, and then sent it upstream to flood the barracks and overseers' homes, as well as taint their wells. It should serve as a good lesson, otherwise at the very least it'd still slow down the Fire Nation's war effort that much more.
They hit other islands in a similar manner, destroying only the war factories and shipyards, with barely any real damage inflicted on the island's populace or garrisons. It was somewhat comforting to know that even Xing and Azula were averse to targeting innocent civilians in their campaign of terror.
By the time they reached the outskirts of the Capital Island, Aang counted about four islands visited in just as many days. The gang hunkered down in an abandoned noble's estate on the outskirts of Capital City. Supposedly, its previous residents had been…evicted by Azula due to corruption.
Aang tried not to think about it too much.
Questionable as her actions were, Azula was true to her word, just like Xing. The sprawling manor was some ways off the main road, which meant the risk of nosey patrols checking on them were minimized. It was also still stocked with supplies, as the old owners had been ejected in a hurry. Most of the food in the pantry and storeroom had rotted and had to be thrown out, but the sacks of flour and dried meat were still edible enough, and the overgrown garden still had fruits and vegetables to sate Aang's diet.
Coupled with the residence being fully furnished (if a bit dusty), it was probably one of the gang's more comfortable stays outside of Omashu and Agna Qel'a. The plan was to wait for the right day before moving out again, and seeing that their trip was far smoother than expected the gang had some days left to while away. Fortunately, the manor provided ample distraction during their wait.
Sokka spent a whole afternoon after their first night in the main study room and going through its displays of weapons and armor. Toph found a disturbing amount of amusement in listening to Katara read aloud various Fire Nation 'romance' books, while the waterbender spent the time outside of giggling along with Toph rifling through the noble's vanity tables.
Not that Aang paid too much attention to Katara experimenting with makeup. No, sir, he was most definitely not stealing glances as the girl fixated on the mirror as she combed her hair or smacked her lips after applying lipstick.
It didn't help at all when occasionally Katara would ask him for his thoughts.
"What do you think, Aang? Does this Fire Nation face powder make me look a bit like a mime?"
No she did not.
Katara applied just a fine dusting of white face powder to lighten the tint of her skin only by a smidge. The rouge on her cheeks and the highlights on her eyes made her look…nice. It was an interesting kind of nice, but still nice nonetheless.
"Uh…" But for some reason he couldn't tell her that, only managing to shake his head vigorously.
And that made Katara freeze up and quickly turn away, and Aang might've been imagining the rouge on her cheeks darken.
The airbender tried not to stick around Katara's alone time after that, and focused instead on his training. He recalled Iroh's and Bumi's lessons to refine his stance and movements, as well as the tips given by Katara's and Sokka's grandaunt in regards to waterbending.
It was disturbing to know that their bending arts were used towards brutal ends, but Aang could not deny that combat bending had made his movements sharper and more fluid. The difference between how Bumi and Yama earthbended - with quick bursts of chi that gave little time for anyone to react - compared to Toph's raw but telegraphed moves was obvious once it was pointed out to Aang and Toph (to her annoyance at first), as was Kilin's more ruthless and rapid use of water and ice compared to Pakku and Katara. Even Iroh had demonstrated the difference in traditional firebending and the pared down version used by skilled warriors.
In all cases, the emphasis was on channeling chi as efficiently as possible, which resulted in less bodily movements and faster bending. The amount of force used was secondary to the speed and accuracy in which it was applied.
Where Katara focused on drawing water towards herself for a couple of seconds before sending out a powerful whip, Kilin would fling the water from its source to her targets in smaller but no less dangerous blades of water. She compensated for the lack of a shield in the blob of water Katara used by darting around a lot, and even with her advanced age Kilin managed to close the distance with Aang or Katara during sparring more often than not.
"In combat, being twice as fast as your opponent not only means you'll hit him first, but you also get to hit him twice as many times." Kilin's cheery smile during her lecture was eerie. Not as sinister as Hama's according to Katara, but it carried a sort of edge to it. The kind that warned Aang to be mindful about how close he sat next to Katara.
"A small but quickly formed water blade will cut just as well as a large one, and doesn't take up much of your attention to wield. A small ice shield might shatter after catching one firebolt, but it's easy enough to create that you'll have five more thrown out as you make your escape, which is infinitely better than being stuck in place keeping a single bulky ice wall up. Slow and unwieldy bending leaves you open if the attack is avoided or the defense is breached."
She finished with a casual shrug. "Of course, if you're as powerful as you are fast, all the better... Three avalanches beat one any day. Just mind your stamina."
And while Bumi personally preferred raw displays of power, he also had Aang focus on smaller, more accurate earthbending rather than the massive boulders and columns that he and Toph liked to use. "If you can thread a needle through a string, a boulder through a house becomes far easier."
"Isn't it threading a string through a needle?"
"Pfft. Where's the difficulty in that? Anyway, once you get used to concentrating your bending into a fine point, it'll make fights in difficult places a lot easier. Also helps if you're worried about hitting the wrong people. Do it quickly, and you'll get tired of winning so many fights."
The advice from the elders made Aang, Toph and Katara shift their usual training to focus on speed and precision. Unsurprisingly Toph was the first to reach a minimum for her movements, while conjuring detailed sculptures from the ground instead of the usual columns and boulders. It was a little more challenging for Aang and Katara, but there was definite progress there. Even Sokka spent some time swinging his sword against armor racks taken from the study room, honing his skills to the point where he was practicing in eerie silence and only the slicing of the air could be heard.
The big day came a couple of days later, and the gang flew out at dawn. The accessories to Appa's armor was fully deployed, covering the air bison in thick leather and plates of metal. Despite the weight that would slow him down, Aang's careful use of fire bursts helped get the air bison up in the air in no time, and get them soaring towards their target at a rate much faster than Appa's usual speed.
They did not hit the capital immediately, but instead headed for the main docks which led to the Royal Plaza. Appa swooped low, and the Avatar announced his presence by delivering a careful barrage of fire into the weapon ports of the guard towers looming over the plaza. Oversized bolt throwers were turned into twisted heaps of metal when the flames inevitably washed into the towers and heated up exposed bolt heads tipped with blasting jelly.
Aang felt some guilty relief at seeing the towers' sentries limping out from the billowing smoke, singed but otherwise unharmed.
Those towers that did not explode fell victim instead to Katara's barrage of ice shards cutting through cords and chains of the bolt throwers to disable them, or whole towers were toppled instead when Toph got bored and leapt off Appa, encased in metal.
The response from the defenders were annoyingly quick, and after the first attack run, Toph had to quickly climb back on for Appa to take to the safety of the skies. Bolts of metal and fire tried to bracket them in, but Aang and Katara kept the projectiles at bay with water and wind.
Sokka kept track of the retaliation, finding a pattern for them to exploit. "Right, it takes them at least fifteen seconds to reload those bolt throwers, it should be enough time for us to hit a tower and head back up."
Aang felt like they could hit two towers with that time, but agreed with Sokka to err on the side of caution.
"And wait for it…aaand…now! That tower, right below us!"
They dove in, and Aang was quietly glad that the crew of the bolt thrower knew what was coming and fled instead of trying for a desperate reload. The airbender sent out a blast of air first, to knock them out of the tower, before pouring flames to set off the ammunition stored within. Appa took to the skies again with long seconds to spare, and they were well out of harm's way when the next salvo of giant explosive arrows filled the air.
With Sokka's timing, Aang repeated the stunt four more times in succession, each time feeling relief warring with his guilt as he hesitated just a fraction in his attacks to let the tower's inhabitants clear out. Their objective here was to disable the towers and not slaughter everyone they could, Aang convinced himself.
He would not partake in bloody violence like Xing for as long as he could. There was enough guilt on his hands as is.
Appa was about to dive in for a sixth attack run when the gang noticed something from the horizon out at sea. A single line of white light pierced the sky. Xing's signal.
"Right, the crazy psychopath is here," Sokka noted redundantly. "So, do we stick around for another go?"
Aang shook his head. "No, we stick to the plan. It'll take time to find Ozai, even if he's in the royal palace."
"Good point, though we can't find him too fast," Toph added with a nod.
Aang set off two brilliant blasts of fire into the air to answer Xing's signal before Appa took the gang into the heart of the Fire Nation. The palace complex was directly before them, so they were circling above it in no time, trying to figure out the best place to land. If they got off at the wrong place and the Fire Lord was not there, it might take them too long to reach the other end of the palace.
"What're the chances he's hiding in one of the spires?" Katara posed.
Toph scowled. "I won't be surprised, but I rather he hide in some underground room."
"We need to get this over with," Aang said to refocus his friends' attention. "Appa will go in low, and it should get us a good look for clues on where we need to go."
It was an unneeded tactic, because as Appa began his descent, the roof of one of the palace wings trembled and gave a metallic groan that caused everyone to wince. The whole top seemed to stretch upwards, and then burst like overstretched leather as something rose up from underneath it. Timber, bricks and shingles fell away, revealing a somewhat familiar shape.
Aang and his friends gaped in shock as a larger version of the Mechanist's balloon rose lazily into the air, its entire hull glinting with a metallic sheen under the afternoon sun. It was shaped like a warship, possessing an upwards pointed prow, though the bridge and deck hung underneath instead. And on those decks, Aang could make out-
"Appa, move!" Just in time, the air bison dodged the sudden barrage of human-sized bolts that shot out from the warship. With a blast of fire, Aang helped Appa climb higher, buying them some distance from the new threat.
A metal airship. The Fire Nation had metal airships now. Not only that…
"The Fire Lord's gonna be in that thing, isn't he?" Sokka sighed.
"If he's not, I'm going to really kick his butt once we find him," Katara surprisingly added.Thanks to Admiral Daeyang revealing his loyalties at the most opportune time, a sizeable armada gathered by the coast of Zilang's ruins, and instead of bombarding the Ba Sing Se army on sight, lowered their boarding ramps to welcome their princess.
"The Northern Fleet does not forget the deeds of the royal princess and the Young Dragon. We stand with you, Princess Azula, so that Fire Lord Ozai and his court of fools do not unleash another Zhao on the world."
It was an acceptable enough reasoning from a rational man, so Azula didn't nitpick too much about ensuring loyalties and such. Besides, the Fire Nation would need competent leaders after this. The princess had a bone to pick with her father and his lackeys, not the entirety of the kingdom itself.
The loss of life so far was regrettable, but largely unavoidable. The flames of change would need to burn deep to truly purge the idiocy and corruption in the Fire Nation, and unfortunately the cost of such thoroughness was significant collateral. Hopefully the scattered soldiers on the continent would heed the offer for amnesty to further alleviate unnecessary deaths.
It was a shame the offer also applied to the nobles, but as Xing and Uncle Iroh advised, there needed to be a minimum of the upper classes to keep the Fire Nation's social structure from collapsing immediately. Change was good, but it had to be regulated otherwise anarchy would undo all Azula wished to achieve.
Maybe she shouldn't have let Xing unleash Dao on Bujing and his lot. The High General's head might be more useful as an obedient sycophant rather than a pulped message to scare the prisoners into behaving. But at the same time, there were still a lot more captured nobles from both Wulong's and Bujing's armies that had supplicated themselves before Azula out of fear.
More than enough to make up for the loss of two mediocre High Generals.
Despite her own wants, Azula traveled on a separate ship from Xing, who had with him the majority of the 11th in the fastest warship of the fleet. They would be the dagger to pierce through probably the first and greatest obstacle in the invasion's path: the flaming net barrier that was the Great Gates of Azulon.
Standing in the bridge of Admiral Daeyang's flagship, even in the dark of night Azula could still make out the specks on the opposite ends in the horizon that were the islands housing massive dragon statues, as well as another one in the middle which was sure to be the statue of her grandfather Azulon. Hidden out of view was a massive length of net lying slack underwater between Azulon and each dragon. On sighting any trouble, the robust pulley systems would pull up the nets, creating a barrier for any naval force. To further foul up any attempts at breaching through the defense, the cart-thick ropes were coated in an alchemical oil that allowed them to be set alight even when freshly pulled up from the seas.
It was one of the great feats of engineering back in the day, and somewhere between that and the fleet was Xing's ship, headed straight to turn the defense into mere artwork.
The horizon lit up as the net was raised and set alight. It took little time for a wall of orange-tinted smoke to rise up. And then, just as the curtain of fire and smoke was neatly parted in one section as Xing snuffed out the flames on one section of the net wall. By the time the fleet drew close enough to make out the silhouette of Grandfather Azulon, the barricade to the statue's left had been severed and sank back into the waves.
Azula couldn't help the grin on her face. "We have a clear path, admiral. Full speed to the capital."
There were flashes of combat as the guards in the statue and islands tried putting up a fight, but Xing's ship eventually continued on its way. The rest of the fleet was not too far behind, which was convenient because by dawn they ran into the last line of the Capital City's naval defense.
A flotilla drawn from damaged or reassigned ships formed a defiant battle line against the invasion fleet. They had almost thirty vessels that Azula could see.
Admiral Daeyang had ninety-three warships under his command.
The defenders managed two salvos from their trebuchets before they were rammed and boarded. Azula was pleased to know that most of the enemy crew had been captured. She'll have time to find out later if these stubborn sailors were loyal to her father or the Fire Nation. Hopefully it was the latter; such fearlessness should not go unrewarded.
Xing set off the signal once the royal docks were in sight, and to Azula's relief, the counter-signal burst into the air seconds later. The way was clear, the young Avatar was not as hopeless as she had expected.
"Admiral, have the troops prepare for landfall."
"By your will, your highness." The admiral gave the princess a speculative look. "I take it you'll be joining the assault?"
"Naturally. The faster me and Xing breakthrough to my father, the faster we can put an end to the fighting and the wasteful bloodshed."
Daeyang gave a grave nod as he saluted formally. "Then allow me and my marines to escort you, your highness."
That was….somewhat surprising. Azula raised a curious eyebrow. "You'll be joining us? I'd thought your place would be here on the bridge."
The admiral let out a soft chuckle. "It might be selfish of me, but I rather not watch such a momentous occasion unfold from so far away. Besides, it'll only require a minimum crew to keep the ship's artillery operational."
Azula nodded with approval. "So long it does not mess up the chain of command once the fighting starts, I'll see you in a moment, admiral. Suki, come. We've preparations to make."
Thanks to the Avatar's prepwork, the landing went largely unopposed, with Xing and the 11th keeping the beachheads secure against the city's garrison. From what Azula could see before she went below decks, the fighting was muted, as the domestic forces were reluctant in engaging the 11th, and the regiment was content to just keep their enemies at bay to avoid overstretching their line.
Barely any artillery towers guarding the huge approach to the city were still intact to do any significant suppression as the landings began. They were all erased as a threat anyway when the ships retaliated with their own bombardment. Soon tanks, cavalry and men poured out to engage their opposite number, and it became obvious as the hardened veterans of the continent clashed with the dutiful but inexperienced garrison that the tide of war was skewed heavily on the invaders' side.
So much so that Azula caught many of the troops on her side taking the luxury of maneuvering to incapacitate rather than kill their foes.
"In Princess Azula's name, stand down and surrender!" Mozi and the other commanders bellowed over the din of combat.
"Stand down or there won't be enough of you left to send back to your families!" Dao roared more crassly.
Azula waded through combat, barely needing to lift a finger as Admiral Daeyang's men formed a strong enough protective bubble to ward her and Suki from any real fighting. She could make out Xing's white flames in the distance, as more easily the dragons swooping into the masses like clouded kingfishers. That she was barely slowing in her advance told the princess of just how well they were winning, and hearing the soldiers yell her name in their battlecries filled her with immense gratification.
Drawing closer to the city walls, Azula's army finally encountered resistance worthy of being a threat. The War Ministry's full might was arrayed by the main gates; squadrons of tanks of different variants rumbled in anticipation behind rows of heavy infantry with their bulbous armor. Azula clicked her tongue in annoyance at seeing so many unidentified prototype weapons that her agents had missed back while she was still colonial minister.
Clearly she had to up her intrigue game after this if the War Ministry could keep so many of their inventions out of her reach.
The princess' army took a moment to reorganize their ranks, just in time to concentrate their fire to counter the barrage from the tanks and the wall's defenses. Thanks to the Scorpion's reputation, the commanders had their firebenders focus on the clay jars first, ensuring that their contents of blasting jelly or oil or whatever else would not spill into the ranks. Some sort of explosive round sent a storm of shrapnel that tore a hole through a mass of infantry. A few trebuchet payloads turned out to be blasting-jelly-tipped javelins bundled together. Oversized bolas were frantically shot down before the chain links bisected more men.
Officers bellowed orders to pull back the more vulnerable cavalry and form firebender squads to intercept incoming fire. Tanks took to the front to form an iron shield against the worst of the incoming barrage.
Far behind the walls, where the royal palace was, something stirred, like a great beast rising from its underground den. Azula spat a curse as she saw a massive metallic thing the size of a palace wing rising up into the air, as well as the speck that was probably Avatar Aang and his friends flying around it like a fly.
That would be a problem for later. Right now, they needed to get into the city.
It took a while, but eventually the invading force was moving again, more slowly this time. Azula would've felt her irritation grow, if not for the sight of Xing and Dao with their troops hastily working to unfold and assemble the war gliders. It was time for the Scorpion to bring out his toys to test against the enemy's.
The gliders shot off in blasts of fire, and Azula fought back the urge to punch her fist in satisfaction as she saw confusion infect the War Ministry's ranks. The light warmachines flew well over everyone's heads, dropping clay jars of naphtha to smother tanks and artillery pieces in foul smoke. The chaos that was sown eased the barrage on the invasion force, and General Hwa's voice cut through the roars and cries to order a full advance.
With their bombing run completed, most of the gliders climbed up to the sky, and then dove straight down into the formation of confused defenders like a starling swarm.
"AH-HAHA! DIIIVE!"
Even from that far away, bloody Dao was still hurting Azula's ears with his screaming.
The gliders crashed straight into the enemy, with a few ramming into the trebuchets at the walls. The effects of the vertical charge was immediately felt on Azula's end, as the bombardment her army endured all but dissipated completely.
This time it was General Sho's voice ringing out. "Continental Army, advance! For the Phoenix Princess! For Princess Azula!"
They charged with a deafening roar, and Azula found herself dashing ahead with Suki to avoid the press of armored bodies. It felt like an instant that they closed the distance and rashed into melee, but she wasn't complaining. With Suki guarding her back and keeping her from straying too far, Azula waded through fight after fight. She knocked the carapaced heavy infantry on their backs with blasts of fire, and left their dismantling to the infantry. She climbed onto tanks to bathe their interior with fire. Suki in the meantime darted about to keep her back clear, slicing and stabbing with precision against severely outmatched firebenders.
"Azula!"
She paused after sending a squad of heavy infantry twitching uncontrollably to the ground with her lightning, craning her neck up to find Xing diving towards her. Azula turned to punch an opportunistic soldier in the guts, and sent the would-be ambusher flying with a blast of fire just in time for her Xing to land with the rest of his people.
"Xing, so good of you to join us."
Her prince simply nodded, and then glanced to the airship floating away. "We've not much time. Big flying thing, want to help me help the Avatar get in?"
Azula broke into a grin. "I thought you'd never ask."
"Rufen, a glider for Azula and Suki. Orochi! Quai Yin!" The dragons arrived shortly with them with yip-roars, their claws and snouts bloodied but otherwise appearing in good health. Quai Yin still had one clawed hand piercing a scrap of segmented metal…probably a part of a pauldron.
"You two keep Azula safe, alright?"
Azula didn't protest the protective gesture (besides, arriving with two dragons by her side was sure to be quite a scene, wouldn't it?), and focused instead on climbing into the glider with Suki. With loyal soldiers keeping their surroundings clear, the war gliders took off once more, and this time it took occasional blasts of fire to keep it climbing up towards the lone metal airship.
The nimble fliers easily dodged the explosive-tipped bolts hurled their way, and found the Aang's air bison taking similar evasive maneuvers as it tried to find a suitable landing spot. The open decks were lousy with firebenders and archers, as well as bolt throwers. An impressive enough design, Azula had to admit.
The princess couldn't help but imagine just how many of such flying machines the Fire Nation could've made if they hadn't wasted all that metal on the stupid drill. Or rebuild the fleet after Zhao's stupid quest.
They caught up with the Avatar and his flying bison, as they flew side by side they were practically yelling at each other to form any reasonable communication.
"We need a place to land!" the airbender monk complained.
"What about the top?" Azula offered, but the plucky gang shook their heads.
"They've got soldiers up there too."
"Then we'll just ground the damned thing," Kai yelled through the rushing air, which elicited looks of horror from the Avatar and his friends.
"It'll crash into the city!" the Water Tribe girl, Katara, protested.
Xing nodded. "We'll need to land and take over it then, to get this flying thing out to a safer spot."
"You got a plan?" Azula asked, and her fiance grinned.
"I clear us a spot."
Some impromptu aerial planning was conducted, and then Xing's war glider darted towards the airship again - with trusty Koshi with him as ever. The rest of them kept a holding pattern as they watched the lone glider avoid the storm of incoming fire. Azula's breath hitched as she saw Xing leap out of the glider, and only when the deck he landed on glowed red hot, and the crew either fell overboard or disappeared up into the ship, that she let out a relieved exhale.
"Right, Xing's cleared us a spot, let's go!"
They made a beeline for the landing zone, with the Avatar leading the way and warding off most of the attacks with wind, fire and water. A few gliders were nicked or singed, but all managed to drop off their passengers onto the cooled deck with no losses.
Xing greeted them with a smile and a wave of his hand, a whimpering soldier curled up by his feet. "It's a couple dozen of us, against maybe sixty or so of the Fire Lord's personal guard…not to mention the rest of the crew." He looked out to the sky in thoughtful silence for a second, before continuing. "We might have less than half an hour left to get past all of that to the Fire Lord. Any complaints?"
The soldiers of the 11th that came along simply offered smirks and grins, while Aang's gang (that was an annoyingly catchy way to describe them) were more determined and grim in their expressions.
"Right then. Avatar Aang, we'll clear the way for you." Xing lightly kicked at the curled up soldier by his feet. "The Fire Lord's likely in the command bridge, or his quarters. Thankfully, both are relatively close to one another. Save your strength, and leave the fighting to us."
Azula shared a nod with Xing, finding comfort in the resolve in his eyes. "Come, it's time the flames of change swept my father away."