A/N So this is very AU. I just heard this song called 24 and figured "What if…?" What if Azula and Katara are hitwomen, best friends and in the real world? No powers, there's just a hellish future and Katara's evil father.
Implied femslash as Azutara
Rated for femslash and language. Maybe violence as well.
All rights belong to their owners. I own nothing but my imagination and the urge to put these characters in new situations.
Countdown
24 hours
The punch made her fall on the floor. Her lip began to bleed, she spat out the blood and saw fiercely at the man who looked down at her. Her golden eyes glared daggers through him, the room reeked of her hate to him. She was the very best at what she did, but he only saw the failure.
,,You are fucking useless! I don't give a shit how many they were, you just do what I tell you to! I told you to kill a whore when her husband hires the kill, but you manage to fuck that up," he roared and pulled her up by the shirt, so her feet was free of the ground. ,, Maybe you felt related to her? Is that it?"His grimace turned to a nasty smile.
His breath stank of alcohol and old vomit. She took the chance to kick him, so he fell back and she landed on the floor with a thud. Her wounded arm sent flashes of pain up through her shoulder and neck. She knew she was balancing on the edge now, but he seemed to be in a good mood. Chances were that he would slap her around and let her go.
,,This is what you get for taking in a daughter of a slut and give her something to do! Even though it was a guy's job! Useless little girl," he laughed and grabbed her good arm.
He threw her into the wall with a grunt. Slowly she got on her feet again, her whole body hurt like hell. She was itching to pay him back, but kept her feelings hidden. They had been five against her. It wasn't her fucking fault that somebody gave the target a tip and hired others to make her fail her mission. She wanted to run away or fight him, but still she just stood there. One bad move now and she would earn her next meal going up and down some pole. He knew how he could force her.
,,Am I allowed to go, father?" she asked and struggled to make her voice sound polite. He just made a sound and turned his back on her. Two of his women had just entered the room.
Right before she reached the door, he looked at her.
,,And Azula, you have 24 hours to make your mistake right. Don't waste your chance."
The silence was deafening, she knew what happened if one failed. She just never thought he had the nerve to do it against her. She closed the door behind her.
It was the ultimate trial, either one died on the job or came home to continue kissing the Boss' ass. If you ran you would live long enough to see everyone you loved die. 24 hours. Even if she did survive she would have lost. Father would once again have shown he could make her do anything. It was not acceptable, not anymore. She was strong enough to make it all stop now. But she would need to make a few things ready. And she would need Katara. It was dangerous, Father was already suspicious, but it was the only way. She had wasted almost all her youth obeying that old pig, jump when he had said jump but now it would change.
She wasn't afraid of death, if she was going down with take him with her.
18 hours
Azula sent the smoke out of her mouth with a slow exhale, trashed the cigarette and threw it out the window. She sat down backwards on a chair and crossed her arms over the chair's back, flicking her lighter and lit a new one, still watching the flame from the lighter. The other girl crouched in the window frame across the room looked serious and fragile. Her blue eyes were fixed on Azula, recognizing the slightly crazed look on her friend's face. She had listened quietly while Azula presented her plan. It was far from foolproof, but she had yet to talk the golden-eyed hitwoman from one of her plans. Neither of them felt anything for the man they called father and Azula had been wanting to get away for some time. To live normally was something they had both dreamed about.
,,So, you are gonna take him down? Even if you die as well?" she asked cautiously while her eyes studied the smoke rising to the ceiling. She always did that when something made her nervous, Azula remembered and nodded to the question.
,,And you want me to help you?"
Again she nodded. The only was to kill Father.
,,I can't do it alone."
Katara had always been her best friend, even though she was about two years younger, but she always seemed like the oldest of those two. The Boss was her real father, she wasn't just some street kid like most of the others.
,,I want you to know, that I already made my mind and that, if I don't come back, you will get far away from this life. If I come back I promise you that you will never have to be near a guy like Father," Azula said, her voice calm, but her eyes glittering dangerously.
Katara didn't move.
,,Please do it for me."
The golden eyes lost their air of danger and instead showed the rare vulnerability Azula only showed this one person.
The dark-haired girl watched the rain outside, thought for some time, and then nodded slightly.
,,Ok, I'm in."
Azula took the light handguns from the table and handed two of them to Katara, then took the two others and put them in her belt. She wasn't really scared, usually she was at feeling something before a job, but now she just wanted to do this right and then make sure that their boss never could touch them again.
And she felt secure with Katara. She didn't understand that. But there was some part of her that sought to the darker girl for strength.
,,When he's going to Hell, are you going with him?" Katara asked, trying to pretend it wasn't scaring her, and pulled on a pair of navy-blue pants. Azula looked at her own reflection in the mirror. An attractive girl around eighteen with black hair, blood red outfit, golden eyes and pale skin looked back. She smiled slightly while putting her pet knife, Momo, in her belt.
,,Is there a Heaven or a Hell and will I come back, who can tell?" she said, quoting an old song.
Katara walked in beside her in the reflection. The girl was shorter, with dark skin and brown hair. An exotic beauty, touched by sorrow after her older brother's passing. The three of them grew up together and had been inseperable. Sokka had taught them both to fight and spoken to the father to prevent them from ending up standing on some tile in the neon-lit nights. After his passing they only had each other and had grown even closer. Neither of them spent a day apart by now. Katara looked at Azula's reflection when something that looked like surprise flashed across her features. Then determination showed in her eyes.
,,Come here! There's something you need to know, so don't you dare end up dead," she said and dragged Azula with her away from the mirror.
13 hours
The cab stopped outside a big house. Azula opened the cab's door and got out while Katara paid the driver. He smiled at them, happily unaware of what they were. Azula quickly made sure that the guns was where they should be when the cab disappeared around the corner. They both took a mask to cover their faces.
Azula looked at her friend.
,, Are you ready?"
Katara just nodded.
The sun was rising and the street around them was all empty and quiet, but it wouldn't be long before the first paper boys would be out. They had to move fast and silent. They quickly found the adress and ran up to the wall. Neither of them thought of using the front door, it was almost sure to be a death trap, when the target was prepared.
They couldn't be seen from the road or the other houses. A quick check made sure that there were no cameras in the angle where they were sitting. Suddenly Katara grabbed Azula's hand.
,, I'm not ready!" she gasped pulling her mask up so she could speak clearly.
,, What?" Azula said pulling her mask off completely.
,, I'm not ready."
Tears started forming in Katara's eyes.
The logic and cold side of Azula kept telling her that the more time they wasted here, the more dangerous their mission was. They had to survive this if she was going to free Katara cmpletely of Father's grasp. But Katara rarely cried, something was definitely wrong.
,, Don't worry. It's just one lousy woman in there. Her husband hired us, so he's conviniently off to work and he has checked everything to make sure she's alone," Azula said in a soothing voice, trying to calm the other girl.
,,I'm not ready to loose you, idiot!" Katara hissed though the tears.
,,Oh."
She was at a loss for words. Instead she quietly interlaced her fingers with Katara's and placed a quick kiss on her nose.
,, I'm not taking that exit yet. Death itself will have to pick a fight with me and you know I will win that one. I will crush and destroy Death before i go."
Katara sniffed and smiled slightly at image.
,, Okay."
Azula broke a window and crawled in, they stood inside a great living room, full of expensive furniture. They sneaked up the stairs, careful and nervous, last time Azula was here it almost got her killed. They stopped outside a closed door leading into the master bedroom. For almost a minute they just stood on each side of the door listening for suspicious. Everything was quiet. Not even sleeping sounds could be heard, but maybe the target was reading. Suddenly movement could be heard behind door. Both girls tensed, but then relaxed when the sounds of the tv blared out.
Azula held three fingers up, counting down. She kicked the door up to the last room, the target was in there, she had a shotgun in the bed, and fired it before Azula could do anything. The swarm of bullets hit Katara in the stomach, she gasped and fell to the floor.
,, Katara! No no no nonono, this is not happening!"
Azula fell to her knees and tried to stop the blood from dripping to the floor while apologising again and again to the younger girl.
For a horrible second everything was frozen and the pain rushed through Azula's body, then she screamed in rage and emptied both her pistols in the woman. Not bothered by the corpse Azula jumped onto the bed, punching the dead woman in the face with the butt of her pistol untill the face was nothing but bloody mush.
Panting she picked up Katara and tried to get downstairs as fast as possible. She checked the garage and her thought had been right, there was a grey Peugeot 206. She put Katara in the back seat and started looking for the keys. On the right front tire, too easy. She started the car and drove off to the hospital in the inner city.
Just 8 hours
,,The job is done," she said coldly and hung up. Shortly after it rang again, she looked at the phone's display. Father. She ignored the call.
A young guy shouted a number, she got up and took the burger and a coffee. She ate the food, but her mind was somewhere else. The doctors at the hospital had told her that the bullets didn't hit anything important, but Katara would need an operation to get two of them out. The doctor said she couldn't go anywhere before at least two days after. Azula didn't even know if she would be alive in the morning - probably not.
But if she were, she would come to get Katara.
Azula smiled a little, some part of her had always thought she would grow old and watch the sun go down a thousand times. Like that would be the end of a young girl making her living from killing others.
The phone rang again, she looked at the display and picked up. The voice in the other end made her feel relieved.
,,Hey, they are done with me," Katara said.
Azula smiled and tried to sound calm.
,,So can I pick you up sooner?" she asked.
,,They say I have to stay at least till tomorrow, late."
,,Then I'm coming to visit you, they can't keep me out."
She hung up and smiled.
But first she had to trash the car. She dropped it in the bad part of town and walked the rest of the way to the hospital.
Katara was sitting in a wheelchair and looking out the window while smoking, she probably was forbidden to stand up. She shouted when she saw Azula.
,, Look, they even put me in a wheelchair to make sure I didn't move too much."
Azula noticed a bruise on her cheek that wasn't there before, but decided not to mention it.
Soon after they were talking quietly about what was about to happen. Azula had changed the plan so she could do it alone.
,,I can't make you change your mind, can I? You know, so you just disappear from this life?" Katara said playfully, but her eyes showed how serious she was.
,,No, I have to do this. When Father is gone you can get away from this," she said. Katara knew what she was talking about. The life as an asassin was not the life any dad wanted for his teenage girl. Murder and drugs were a part of their world.
,,But if you come back, then we are going to be together, right?" Katara asked in a demanding tone.
Azula nodded.
Of course.
,,If everything ends happy I'm coming back to pick you up," she smiled and sat down beside the younger girl.
Just 1 hour
Azula woke up by Katara pushing her on the shoulder.
,,It's time," she whispered. Azula looked around, it was getting dark outside.
,,I asked the guards to leave you alone."
She nodded thankfully and quickly made sure the pistols were where they were supposed to.
Katara gasped when Azula accidently touched her shoulder, she pushed the hospital T-shirt away from the spot. There were marks and bruises after strong fingers. She looked up at Katara.
,,Have Father been here?" she asked aggressively.
Katara sighed and nodded.
,,The hospital got his number and felt it was necessary to call him."
That bastard! The bruise on her's cheek was his doing too! Azula looked at her fists.
,,I'm gonna shoot his brain out and let him burn in Hell!" she hissed furiously.
Katara didn't say anything, she knew how her friend would react. Azula was dangerously protective of her. She vividly remembered the bald guy that didn't understand when she had said no to him. He had simply disappeared from the face of the earth after an argument outside with Azula.
,,Get away from this life. Promise me that, no matter what happens," Azula said and walked away.
While she walked she knew that she wasn't alone, she could feel it.
She smiled, it was kinda weird. She flicked the lighter on again and watched the flame. Katara had given her that. She stood idly for a moment outside the front door. In less than an hour would they lay flowers on what used to be her life.
She kicked the door in to the room and pointed with both guns. It was like Katara was standing behind her, telling her exactly what to do as she fired the first rounds.
She wore that insane smile that always frightened her enemies to death before she even touched them. Everything, except Katara and killing Father became cloudy in her mind. Nothing else mattered.
She thought of what her friend had said in the apartment and smiled for real.
THE END