I don't own avatar

Chapter 9

One of the guards led a tall, muscular man past the execution platform. The man was dressed in simple robes with a hood and cape. He kept one hand on his sword at almost all times. He was getting older, but he retained extreme skills in a battle. His gray hair was what gave him such an old look.

He stepped over the dead executioner and shook his head. The avatar meant business. He was sure the boy didn't kill on purpose, but his friend's life was at stake. The guard turned to him, "What are the orders sure?"

"Keep security in and out of the palace. I want as many troops as possible on standby. If you need me, I will be in my throne room." The man left the guard to his work.

When he entered the large room, with the gold throne being the center of attention, he saw someone waiting for him. A much younger man, with messy black hair and an almost ever present scowl on his face, knelt before him. "Ah, my apprentice, please rise," the boy did as he was told "Why are you here?"

"I want to know why we haven't chased the avatar yet, I can fight him, and you know that." He pleaded his master.

"Don't be foolish boy, you know as well as I do, that the avatar is fully recognized, he is the most powerful being on this earth. And we know he is with the former queen. He will kill anyone who tries to harm her. We will wait for him and his friends to arrive. We can fight." The man finished his long explanation and the boy left to train.

Katara and Zuko had entered the Earth kingdom capital's lower ring. They were hooded and walked slowly down the streets. "It doesn't look like anyone attacked." Katara said to Zuko.

"Of course it doesn't. The attack happened at the palace, no one knows that there is a new person in charge." Zuko told her. She nodded in comprehension and they walked on until someone came up to them.

"I am Sergeant Kin. I will take you two to our base of operations." They followed Kin to a small abandoned building, but inside were nearly fifty troops. A man came up to them, who they assumed to be Colonel Tobik.

"I am glad to see you two here. I am Colonel Tobik, to my right is Lieutenant Tau and I see you have already met Kin." They bowed to the three officers who bowed back. "Now," he continued, "You are in the presence of the 122nd legion. They are one of the best platoons the earth kingdom has to offer. We have sent a letter to Sokka as well; he should be here within the next couple of days with troops of his own. Anyway, on to business. We will go on a reconnaissance mission to learn more about who has attacked, why, and how to stop them. You two, Lt. Tau, and Sgt. Kin will learn what you can about our enemy and report back here so we can make our attack plans."

"What about Aang and Toph, I thought they needed our help?" Katara asked.

"The queen and the avatar are fine. He rescued her not too long ago and was seen flying away from the city." He answered.

"Good, as long as Toph is with Aang, she should be safe, and as long as they have each other, they'll both be fine." Zuko stated.

"Exactly, so are you two both ready?" he asked. The nodded and left with the other two officers for the palace.

Zuko had more stealth experience than Katara, so he decided to infiltrate the palace and see what gold mines of info they could find. He quietly navigated through the halls, thankfully they echoed so much, he could hear patrols yards away.

He soon found the royal chambers, once used for Toph, until now. They were still painted in the green, beige, and bits of gold, but now contained piles of documents, brushes, ink, and racks lined with weapons.

He crept to the desk with the files stacked on it. Lucky for him they were arranged chronologically with the oldest at the bottom and new ones at the top. He filed through them all, most were military reports he found uninteresting or useless.

Finally the fire lord came across an interesting one. It was a letter: Master Vandarth, as you had requested more troops will be sent to the palace every couple of days to not perk curiosity in any of the citizens.

Although it was short, it contained a name and info that would be crucial for Tobik. He folded the paper and pocketed it and left. He met Katara and the other Officers back at HQ.

They stood in front of the Colonel and waited for Zuko. When he arrived, Sgt. Kin began, "Sir, I have spotted the two weaknesses about the palace defenses. It seems that if we attack the left and right flanks simultaneously, we could put a vice like grip on our enemies." The colonel nodded in acceptance to the idea.

Katara said, "It seems that the palace id heavily defended from mainly the roof, but there are also fire nation tanks, driven by gunmen."

Tau spoke next, "It seems that the city has no clue at all about our enemy."

They all looked to Zuko, who explained his info and handed the letter to Tobik. He nodded with the information he got, "This is all useful. We just need more. Katara, you should learn if Vandarth has any plans to gain the aid of the city. Zuko, you should learn more about Vandarth, who he is, what he's capable of, and why he is doing this." The two nodded and bowed out.

A/N 2 sigh this was originally split into two chapters, but complications arose so now it's one chapter. Aw well… easy come easy go. REVIEW!

A/N 3 Taang week chapters start next! Prepare for the fluff... all at once... hopefully they will be good.