Eastern Royal Safe-house - 91 AG
The fire lord was arriving at a hidden estate east of the capital city, dense forest in every direction made this place a safe haven for anyone. Ozai walked up to the door and had a guard knock and demand "This is the royal guard! Open up!" There wasn't a second wasted as the front door opened and revealed a man wearing the common orange and red drapes a civilian wore, only differing feature being a hard leather apron covered in soot. The man allowed the royal guards and lord himself enter with "Please come in, it's finished my lord."
Ozai walked into the slightly cluttered home, the wooden floor boards covered in old scratches and cracks from moving heavy equipment. Ozai followed the man until a little boy bumped into him, the man looked and quickly yelled at the boy "Nabba! Watch were you are going, we have a very important guest!" The boy looked up at the tall man and quickly got on he knees, put his head against the ground and stated "I'm sorry lord Ozai." Ozai stared at the boy then asked the man "Is he your son, Tae?" the father nodded.
Ozai told Tae "My children are in the carriage, your son will make sure they don't get out of hand." Tae nodded and told his son "Nabba, go get the young prince and princess and take them up to your room, do not interrupt us unless it's important." Nabba nodded as he bowed to Ozai one last time before hurrying to get prince Zuko and princess Azula. Tae sighed and only said "Kids.." before leading the guards and Ozai out back to the back yard where he had a large piece of cloth that was covered in grime and soot.
Ozai raised a brow and asked "What is this supposed to be Tae? A joke?" Tae sighed shot back at Ozai with "It's a secret project lord Ozai, I'm not gonna leave it open for any traveler or spy to see it.. Now.. I introduce you to-" Tae pulled off the canvas in one prefect tug and revealed a black metal monstrosity, two sets of treads, a body suspended afew feet over the ground and multiple hatches to enter through, then continued "-The Tank." Ozai raised a brow and asked "Is this what Qin wanted me to see? A large block of metal?"
Tae went red with anger and explained "This is a vehicle my lord... And armored vehicle.. Arrows and crossbow bolts can be raining on this machine and the fire benders inside wouldn't get a single scratch. This, is the future, my lord." Ozai watched as Tae got in the machine and turned it on, the engine roaring in an unnatural growl, spewing smoke out the exhaust pipes as it started moving forward into the forest. It stopped as Tae jumped off and stood in front of Ozai, both men eye to eye and on the same page, making Ozai smirk at the machine.
Meanwhile up in Nabba's room both Zuko and Azula watched as Nabba pulled out two wooden swords from his closet and handed one to each of them. Azula smiled as she took it and then started fighting with Zuko, all the while Nabba watched over them to make sure they didn't go too far, i.e. killed each other. He was roughly four years older than Azula while Zuko was around 8 and Azula was 6. His room was spacious and was far cleaner that the mess downstairs, and both fire prince and princess took advantage of it for many moves and acrobatics.
Back with both fathers, Ozai was asking various questions about the tank, one important one being "How will we make them? We need hundreds of them for our troops in the front line." Tae smirked, held a scroll and told him "These are the blueprints for each piece required for the Tank, we can make molds for each and have thousands of pieces for thousands of tanks my lord." Ozai looked at the scroll and asked "Now a personal question.. Why would you help us? The Mechanist hasn't progressed and yet you do... Is there something i should know?"
Tae sighed and explained "He is held back by morals... This war has almost gone one for a hundred years... It has to end. So here... Take it and end this damn war quickly, please." Tae held out the blueprints to Ozai, allowing the lord to take them. The Fire lord examined the blueprints then asked "Are there any other blueprints?" Tae shook his head as he killed the engine then watched as the guards surrounded him. Ozai stared at the man and informed him "Your skills are no longer required."
And, in an instant, Tae was burned in a blaze of bright red flames until nothing but an unrecognizable pile remained. After a couple of minutes a guard stopped then asked "And the child?" Ozai looked at the guard, silencing him instantly with one of his deadly looks. Instead Lord Ozai entered the house and walked up to the child's bedroom and found something quite interesting. While his kids seemed to have had a small spar and made a mess, the papers and diagrams scattered around were of more "creative" machines, some even had mathematical equations that backed up it's design.
The three kids stood up straight at the presence of Ozai, with Nabba watching the Fire Lord pick up one of his "doodles". Ozai hummed to himself then asked "Did you make this?" Nabba nodded and replied as politely as he could "Yes Lord Ozai, I did." Ozai walked up to the children and told his kids "Go back to the carriage, and not a single sound out of both of you." Azula and Zuko nodded as they hurried downstairs, leaving Ozai to ask "What are these?" holding out a page of Nabba's drawings.
Nabba looked at the specific drawing and replied "It's a machine, like the one dad was making for you Lord Ozai. Dad always told me to study and learn more, so i examined alot of his work... And learned." Ozai rubbed his chin, a child who had both a bright mind and creativity to envision a new batch of weapons. It was settled, he got up and ordered the child "Nabba, from this day on you are gonna be my personal Mechanist. You will be taken to Capital City and placed in the College to keep learning." Nabba tilted his head and only replied with "Yes my lord?"
Ozai rolled his eyes and said bluntly "You are gonna be designing machines... Like your father... And talking about him.. He is dead." Nabba remained silent, he stared up at the tall lord, terrified, but nodded and replied with "Okay my lord." much to Ozai's liking. Ozai ordered to boy to take his supplies and any other blueprints his father had, successful or not. Nabba obeyed and went downstairs for them, then saw a pile of ash and some meat in the backyard, but remained silent, he was smart enough to know if he opposed Ozai he would end up like his father.
The boy put all the scrolls and blueprints in a hard leather pack, put on his sandals and followed the fire Lord into the carriage. Inside both prince and princess stared at the boy as Ozai told them "Not a sound, he is coming with us to the city to continue his studies." His kids nodded and remained silent, as Nabba sat beside the Fire Lord, his back hunched and eyes darting from one person to the other. Ozai noticed this and told him "Back straight, and unless you are gonna talk to someone, stop looking around."
The trip was a silent one, Zuko and Azula having a small bet to see who would last longer in remaining silent. The carriage took the old road until they used a secret tunnel that cut through the volcano and led them into the market district of the capital city. Once at the Palace both Azula and Zuko hurried to their rooms, while Ozai informed Nabba, who walked along side him "Now child, you will be staying with my brother Iroh, i don't want you to cause any problems, or i can promise you... You will not have enough time to regret it."
The hours passed, then days, weeks, months and eventually years, Nabba had been kept within capital city walls, going to the Fire Nation College and back to the Palace, living with "Uncle Iroh" as he had learned to call him. The child was obedient, following the orders he was given to the letter, the teen was less cooperative, questioning every awful deed the Fire Nation committed in silence. But now he was an adult, eighteen and in his prime, Nabba had been responsible for designing the god awful drill that ended the siege of Ba Sing Se, and many other morally questionable machines.
Sozin's Comet passed, and the earth kingdom was reduced to ash and dust. But mercy was shown on those who would serve the Fire Nation, thus allowing some earth benders to survive, but to live in fear of extinction. The water tribe was possibly the worst, being kept locked in small camps in the poles and used as fishers to supply food for the fire nation, and all they were allowed were small rations every couple of days. It was over, the fire nation had won, no avatar showed to save the day, nor would he ever show.
The fire nation found a boy in air bender robes frozen in the south pole, the boy was found dead after thawing out. Phoenix King Ozai was finally at the top, his daughter ruled the Capital City along side her two closets friends, and Zuko was exiled. The world was hell, you couldn't go a minute without seeing a fire nation banner, tank, or airship. But there were groups who still fought the ruthless machine known as the Fire Nation, those who gave food and medical attention to the poor and slaves, those who protected them.
However these groups were far and few, being more of a minor annoyance than anything relevant. Nabba wasn't with these groups, he wanted vengeance, his father's life was the only thing he had when he was young, and he would make the Phoenix King regret sparing his life. But not today, today Nabba had to give a demonstration of three new inventions he had developed for the Fire Nation. And to make things worse, he was running late. The demonstration would be at the Testing grounds in the Fire Nation College, and he was barley coming out of the palace.
Fire Nation Capital City - 11 AM - 100 AG
He was running like an absolute madman, avoiding carriages, using every shortcut he knew and even cutting through restaurants and shops. Nabba wore a dark red pair of pants with knee high leather boots, a black shirt and leather climbing gloves. He was like monkey in the jungle, avoiding every person in his way as he finally arrived at the northwestern part of the city, and ran into the college. The guards only watched as Nabba slammed into a wall from going to fast and warned him "Hurry up kid, Fire Lord Azula already arrived-"
They didn't even get to finish as that statement made Nabba run like hell, every turn was done with pin-point accuracy and finesse. Nabba finally arrived to his workshop in the back with minutes to spare, all the while Mai was already waiting for him and demanded "Cutting it close, or do you just want us both to be punished?" Nabba simply replied with "I'll take full responsibility. Now let's go." Mai nodded as she carried the three small inventions, two were gauntlets and the last was a metal ball. Nabba put on his leather apron and goggles as they entered the "testing area" which was just a large courtyard.
It was mid day and many generals, captains, special forces officers were present, and in the middle of them, Fire Lord Azula. They all watched as the duo entered the courtyard, with some workers in the back setting up targets as Nabba cleared his throat and greeted the large group of over a dozen with "Thank you everyone for taking an hour of your day for this weapons presentation, generals, captains and Fire Lord." He bowed humbly and was given a nod by a majority of those who knew this young man was to thank for his contributions to the Fire Nation.
Nabba turned around to look at the targets then nodded to Mai, whispering to himself "Be brave... Be Brave." Nabba turned around and informed the group in a loud and firm voice "First weapon to show is gonna be a set of gauntlets with high tension, spring loaded needles. Mai, if you will?" Mai nodded and walked up to a red X that was painted on the ground while Nabba continued "Much like Mai's original stiletto gauntlets, these are made to have longer range and a higher carrying capacity."
The generals and captains watched as Mai was given a thumbs up and fired off the needles in quick and accurate bursts of three. The needles went through the "Dummy" targets, large hunks of wood wearing armor that were made to resemble a human. The needles managed to pierce the commonly seen and used fire Nation armor, the wooden dummy and kept going before being embedded on the far stone wall. Mai reloaded by simply sliding a belt of needles into the gauntlet until a audible "click" signaled her that the load was successful. She ended the demonstration by hitting the target on the far end in the head with one well placed needle.
The captain's and general's applaud was well earned as Mai bowed along side Nabba, and then allowed him to take center stage. Nabba smiled and then raised his hands to signal silence before continuing "Thank you, and thank our blade thrower Mai for her outstanding demonstration. The second item is also a gauntlet, but it's use if more... Well.. Interesting." Mai aimed her left hand at the furthest dummy before flexing her wrist and firing a tight rope with a dagger at the end at it.
The blade was embedded into the dummy and Mai tugged on it hard enough to pull it towards her, then flexing her wrist back to normal, pulled the tightrope back, along with the dummy. Before it reached her however, Mai pulled out a knife and rammed it in an exposed area between the arm and chest of the armor then let it slump forward as the blade and tightrope clicked back to their original place. Another round of applause, but Nabba could see some whispers among the group of men, and silence from Azula, it was time for the main attraction.
Nabba motioned Mai to take cover while he picked up the grey metal ball, it was slightly larger than his palm and had a ring like crevice running along one end of it. Nabba didn't even talk, he twisted the crevice to the point he popped the smaller end off, causing a spark that ignited the fuses inside. The men went silent as they watched Nabba throw the ball at the far end of the courtyard before it stopped at the furthest wall. The fuses ran out and in an instant, a large explosion went off, sending dirt and debris up two to three meters into the air.
The men were silent, and Azula was slightly wide eyed as Nabba proceeded "That is what i am calling a grenade, a compact explosive capable of being carried in masses by one man and capable of clearing the opposition... It's basically a mix of powders and blasting Jelly kept within a cheap metal casing that turns into shrapnel upon detonation. You may ask questions now." The courtyard erupted into a mess of questions as Nabba waited to hear an actually meaningful question, all the while staring up at Azula, who was now smirking and had her eyes closed.
Nabba finally got a good question by one of the Generals, a tall man with a clean shave and a long mane of hair, who asked "And what is the purpose of these tools?" Nabba smiled, motioned to Mai and asked "What's the difference between a master blade thrower and common foot soldier?" Azula listened as Nabba answered himself "Experience, years of it which the Fire Nation cannot afford to use in training small groups. These weapons i made and designed are so that a common recruit could use after his or her basic training and military course. For quantity and quality."
Azula clapped, a slow, cold and ominous clap, that was followed by her stating "Well done Mechanist, you may leave now, and will get the results of your demonstration in the morning." her tone cynical and cold. Nabba and Mai both bowed to the military group and Fire Lord before leaving in a single file line. Once out of earshot Nabba exhaled and smiled, only saying "I think we did good. Keep the gauntlets, and I'll pay you later." Mai also felt goosebumps after that and nodded, leaving her old friend to prepare for the hardest part of it all, the paperwork.
However when Mai was gone did Nabba's composure shift from nervous to serious, he walked up to the work bench and pulled out a scroll from under it. On said scroll Nabba had designs of various weapons and tools, one of which was a fire-proof armor and another was a portable firearm. He wasn't designing these weapons for the Fire Nation, these designs were weapons that would render the common weapons of the world obsolete. Firearms capable of ripping through armor, vehicles that would break through enemy lines, revolutionary, steadfast, powerful and reliable weapons
They were the future.
And here we are, a fic requested by a close friend of mine for everyone to enjoy, or hate (Up to you really.)
Don't have much to say for this fic at the time, this will be more of a pilot chapter, if it takes off then i will continue it, if people don't like it or simply don't read it, then i will take it down, no harm done.
Questions are always welcomed here, and if you have anything in specific you want to ask via PM, go for it.
So, I'm still in the Trenches, and hope You Enjoy.
