Chapter 9

As Toph came back inside, the other seven officials became more uncomfortable, shivering slightly at her appearance.

Zuko stared at the remaining government workers in the room, his fists blazing. "So, even if you weren't in the society, which of you knew about it?!"

The men quaked in fear. Finally, the second man nervously raised his hand. "I did, but I refused their offer. I didn't think it would be wise to rejuvenate the war, wiping out the peace we have established. I also thought you would make a strong Fire Lord because of all the strides you had made with the Avatar to end the unrest."

"Why didn't you tell me?" the Fire Lord demanded. "You are not loyal to me if you keep secrets like this for two years! You must be part of the New Ozai Society! Your disloyalty has put me in grave danger!"

Zuko stopped his tirade when Mai reached out and grabbed his wrist. He looked down at her hand on his arm in shock, then back at her. She had moved to within inches of him. At her touch, Zuko evaporated the flames coming from his right hand, and Mai moved hers down to hold his. He raised his left fist, which was still firebending, and pointed to the traitor. "Your insolent behavior is reprehensible. You deserve to be locked up with the other traitors!"

"S-sir," the man stammered, "I wasn't t-trying to be a traitor. Since I knew about them, though, the other two council members threatened to kill my family if I revealed anything, and I was too terrified for my loved ones."

"You could always have come to me at night and paid me an unofficial visit. My Kyoshi Warriors would have escorted you in. After debriefing us, we would have looked into it because it would have been a serious allegation you were making against your peers. Of course it goes without saying that while trying to confirm your story, we would have granted your family protection from my personal staff of Kyoshi Warriors."

"But I couldn't come to speak with you... Those two always took turns watching me, especially at night... But now that they're gone, well, I... I might be able to...to give you information that you can use to quash this rebellion...," the man stuttered.

"Tell me now, or you'll be joining your friends!"

"Um...well, the organization is underground, literally. There is a gigantic cellar, under the capital's streets, where they meet daily. I believe that they continue to gain more members as the propaganda against you grows. The leader is the former governor of Omashu, or New Ozai, as we had named it after temporarily conquering that city, hence the name of the secret society. There is the other, obvious reason for the society's name, as I'm sure you are well aware."

"I already know of Mai's dad's role as the ringleader and the underground location!" Zuko yelled. "What else do you have on them? Fifteen or so came after me yesterday, so how many am I up against?"

"There are probably close to seventy; however with those fifteen gone, you've definitely lowered their numbers significantly. But remember, they're recruiting more accomplices every day. And...I...well, that's all I know."

The Fire Lord stared suspiciously at him. Then, looking at the other six councilmen, he said, "He is to be kept in isolation. You are to keep a close watch on this man. He is allowed no contact other than those approved by myself to monitor him. Also, his family is to be brought to the palace in secret and guarded in case it leaks out that he has talked." He turned on his heel and walked out, holding Mai's hand firmly in his, appreciating the strength her touch provided him.

"All right, I've had enough!" Zuko shouted once back in the throne room. "I can't even trust my own government! These rebels aren't getting another chance to attack me. We are taking the next—the last—step."

"All we need now is the location of their secret headquarters to plan our next move," Sokka said, mentally beginning to strategize. He turned to Mai. "We need to sync up with you, Mai, to gain the location and best route to take. We'll attack without warning, granting us the element of surprise. Aang, Toph, and Zuko won't have a problem bending their natural elements, even if the base's floors are made of metal instead of stone. Aang, you could bend metal if you really needed to. And Katara, your water skins need to be filled to the brim in order to have the best chance of waterbending against them."

"Not necessarily. I could just bloodbend our enemies to the floor, but I wouldn't stoop that low. And my water skins are already full. How do you think I fought those traitors yesterday? I try to always have water at the ready." True to her word, she had two large water skins strapped across her back and one skin resting on either hip and the small of her back, each of them bulging from their fullness.

"We can't attack past sunset," Mai stated. "The society's members don't sleep underground. The latest we should go in to have the best chance of success would be at dusk, since they'll be finishing up their evening meeting. But it doesn't really matter what time we begin the raid, since I doubt we'll be able to enter quietly," she continued. "I could hear my father's voice through the cellar door before I had even reached the bottom of the stairwell. That means the element of surprise will only last until we draw near. Whether Toph uses her metalbending or we are able to open the door the old-fashioned way, we are going to get noticed."

Sokka groaned at the loss of the advantage of a silent entry but regained his composure. "Suki and Ty Lee will have their fans to handle the first onslaught of resistance. Don't forget to use their strengths against them."

"And we also have our shields and katanas," Suki added.

"And don't forget about chi-blocking," Ty Lee giggled, smiling romantically at Sokka. "Remember, I taught that skill to the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors! Although Suki wasn't in prison with us when I bonded with them through my lessons, I taught her right after we had returned to Kyoshi Island when the war was over."

Ignoring Ty Lee's romantic overtones, Sokka added, "Yeah, chi-blocking will be great, too. I should know," he said, crossing his arms at Ty Lee and looking annoyed as he recalled their battles against each other before she had crossed over to their side. "I doubt you'll need those shields, but the katanas will come in handy—wait! Katanas?! You never trained me with your swords or shields—I didn't even know you had them!"

"Relax, Sokka. Like you said, the fan is our main weapon of choice, and you know we don't always use it. Remember our little dance lesson?" Suki teased him. "I only used the fan to stop your punch; I didn't need it both times I made you drop to the ground. And you didn't have a long training session; it was only one day before you came up to speed," she reminded him.

The Water Tribe warrior grumbled, his irritation growing from both that embarrassing memory of their first "training session" and how he wanted more time to train with her. "I'll have my boomerang and bone club, and Mai will have her knives." He paused, observing her more closely. Mai was expertly skilled with knives; it seemed as if her weapons magically appeared out of nowhere, the long sleeves of her robes allowing her this slight of hand. "Where are your knives?"

"Where they always are," she stated, pulling back her sleeves and lifting up her robe to reveal the sheaths on her wrists and ankles.

"We need to get some rest before we head to the society's base, so everyone should get some shut-eye," Sokka ordered. "It's not even noon yet, so that will give us a decent amount of time to recuperate. I'll be rounding everyone up about a half hour before we need to set off."

Zuko and Mai headed to their respective rooms, and Suki walked into the Kyoshi Warriors' sleeping quarters. After finding no one there, she headed outside to check up on the last five of her teammates. She found them training in a private clearing of the palace garden. Suki had two of them substitute in for her and Ty Lee. They would stand guard in front of Zuko's room, and another two would replace Ursa's guards. The last available teammate came to take watch of the team, bearing rolled-up mats for the gang to use for their much-needed rest.

The gang all settled down in the large, empty throne room. Aang put out the fire wall, leaving the room dark. With mats laid down, they fell asleep in short order, while the lone Kyoshi Warrior stood guard and waited for the sun to set.

"The sun is beginning to set!" shouted the Kyoshi Warrior.

Everyone but Sokka slowly blinked open their eyes and gathered themselves up. Katara looked over at her brother. "What's it gonna take to wake him up?" she complained.

"I think this'll do it," Toph said. Suddenly a collection of rocks shot up under Sokka's mat and lifted him high into the air as if he were jumping on a trampoline.

"Be careful, Toph!" Katara exclaimed. "He's going to need all of his strength! We don't need any injuries before we have even begun!"

Sokka landed on his side at an odd angle, finally opening his eyes. "What's going on?" he muttered in exhaustion. "Why did you wake me up?"

"It's time to get this party started," Suki rallied.

The situation came back to him, and he stood up, determined. "Let's get Zuko and Mai."

After they assembled together, the group exited the palace and stood in front of the perimeter wall's double doors. "Let's see just how mighty these traitors are," Sokka spat.

"No, let's show them our might," Zuko announced. "Let's go!"

With an eager thrust to open the magnificent, towering doors that led to the street, they began their journey to the New Ozai Society's underground headquarters.

© 2015 imaginator1