Here is the 10th chapter of Book 2 on time as always. Sorry this is several hours late, no excuse for it. There is nothing new to add here so sit back and enjoy the latest installment in Avatar: The Tale of Harry. Book 2: Equality.
Disclaimer: As always I won nothing related to either of these two great works of fiction.
Chapter 10
It took Team Avatar a week to drive from the western mountains to the eastern islands as they planned where to strike next. However, the length of the journey had allowed them to have a productive week learning about the Fire Utopia and what they needed to pass in it. As they drove they realized that they would have to try and acquire military clothes at some point as it appeared that most of the vehicles they had passed were either military based or transport vehicles for workers and prisoners. The presence of the military was undeniable in the Fire Nation and unsurprising to Team Avatar. They knew that Hermione needed the military, along with her Chosen, the internal police force, the secretive FUICEE and the Blades, to maintain her grip on power. She needed a strong force to enforce her so called enlightened views upon a populace who had never asked for them or complained about her predecessor and to ensure the citizens' compliance through fear.
They had tried to avoid the military as much as possible after the events in the first town they had stopped at but they were stopped a few times over the course of the journey by the occasional random checkpoint or bridge crossing between the islands once they left the central island of the Fire Nation. Often the checkpoints were just greedy and corrupt soldiers looking for a bribe that Harry and his friends were only too willing to pay, though on one occasion the soldiers had wanted some female company and ordered them to let Luna and Ginny so that they could have their way with the girls or else they would be arrested. Harry did so and within a minute the three soldiers at the checkpoint were lying in the dirt all groaning from various degrees of testicular pain the girls had been only too willing to inflict upon the horny soldiers.
Unfortunately two if the checkpoints, both at bridges to other islands, were legit and maned by soldiers loyal to Hermione's regime and believing in her view for the nation. Luckily they had counterfeit papers that Pyrites had provided that could be altered to serve their purposes to use to get past the checkpoints without violence. The papers claimed that they were transporting classified material for the Empress.
When asked why the orders were unusual to them Ron had explained, after he berated the low ranked soldiers for not having the requisite clearance to know the inner workings of Hermione's chief subordinates in the Capital, that the orders had to look the way they did lest the material they were transporting fell into the hands of the many groups who wished to end Hermione's glorious reign. This way the rebels wouldn't believe the material was important and leave them alone. It was also the crack team he ran traveled as civilians, to avoid any suspicion that they were working on something classified. With that explanation they had been waved on to continue their journey deciding it was best to not ask too many questions of their superiors. Harry had to admire Ron's acting skills during those moments as he was sure he would had just ended up knocking out the soldiers instead as it was easier.
As they traveled they had stopped off in various towns and villages for supplies and to talk to the locals about the situation. Most were hesitant to talk or just refused to do so and it was clear that they did so out of fear of arrest and retribution from the thugs, criminals, exploiters, secret agents and fanatics that made up Hermione's law enforcement.
What few snippets of information they were able to gleam from the local citizens though were bleak. Hermione had set up labor camps to mine raw materials and doubled the factory production that the nation had seen during the 100 year war. All those who had opposed her either by vocal dissent that was classified as hate speech, actions, or simply being part of the old nobility and thus the oppressors in her mind had been sent to these camps to work as slave labor for the duration of their lengthy prison sentences. The conditions there were apparently inhumane and the death toll was becoming catastrophic at these places as the guards were all fanatics who worked the prisoners to death or abused them until they died.
Then there lucky ones were the ones, mostly the leaders of the dissidents, who had been executed instead of being sent to the camps but even the summary executions without trial had slowed in the last year or so as Hermione's thirst for more output from the factories required more warm bodies to work the mines. Now only the most senior and charismatic opponents to Hermione's regime were publicly executed to dissuade anyone from following in their footsteps and questioning Hermione's views. After 5 years she had broken the back of the opposition to the point that few still vocally spoke out against her.
Harry wanted to free the camp but knew that it wasn't part of his mission, nor would he and his team get near one, as it would only sidetrack them from their goal. He vowed that he would ensure Druzok shut them down and compensated all those who had been wrongfully enslaved for simply not following Hermione's word as gospel law. Harry also vowed to ensure that all the evidence of the crimes committed at them were brought to light should they win and laid at the feet of Hermione and the others officials complicit in her reign of terror. Harry planned to do everything in his power to never let something like this happen to a nation again while he was the Avatar.
In addition to talking to the citizens they encountered, the radio in the truck had also been useful and they kept it on at all times while driving in order to keep abreast of events around the country. While the reports were from the state run news outlets that only said what Hermione told them to say, it still it gave them a sense of her propaganda and views on what was happening. The main thing that had dominated the news cycle that week had been the liberation of the dragons and the beginning of the LFTM movement.
According to the news outlets a radical group of terrorists who had the audacity to claim that the kind, benevolent, just and enlightened Empress Hermione the Savior was a tyrant had attacked her dragon conservation and repopulation project and scattered the dragons to the winds. Several of the remaining trainers from Iroh's days, who according to Hermione's controlled news had been part of their terrorist movement and slipped through her vetting process for trainers and breeders, had been part of the treasonous attack. All unaccounted trainers as well as the LFTM had been branded terrorists and criminals by Hermione with guarantees of their very public executions upon their capture having been convicted and sentenced to death in absentia by the Empress.
In addition, the conservation of Sun Warrior culture had been unjustly attacked and the Sun Warriors taken as hostages by this new, radical, terrorist movement set on returning the Fire Utopia to the oppression of the past, according to Hermione that is. Harry knew the truth though, or at least suspected it, that the Sun Warriors had joined the rebellion and as experts at stealth and secrecy they had aided the trainers in evading capture as they moved into position for their liberation of the Fire Nation.
Hermione had repetitively decried them as traitors to her glorious Fire Utopia and sworn to bring them to a swift justice. Harry knew that she would be in for a rude awakening when they reached Jang Hui where they planned to commit their second act of rebellion against Hermione if there was something there to attack just as there had been when Aang had been in the Fire Nation in the last months of the 100 year war. It was clear that the bitch was rattled at the loss of her dragons and was claiming that they were the criminals to ensure that the average person didn't want to associate with the LFTM. It was amazing to Harry how much she lied about what her real goals were with the dragons and how she justified her actions to the people but then again that was the nature of propaganda, Voldemort had lied to sway average benders to his side during the Purity Wars so it was no surprise that Hermione would lie as well to get the citizens under her boots on her side.
Other than that there was little more that Team Avatar could learn until the 6th night of their journey. They were about a day's drive from the famous floating town of Jang Hui when their camp was interrupted by a screech causing all of them to jump in surprise, draw weapons and take fighting stances. As they had made camp in the secluded countryside every night in order to avoid the military that was constantly on the roads the arrival of a messenger hawk startled them by landing in the middle of their camp.
It had flown in and landed right in front of Harry a scroll in the tube on its back. It took Harry a moment to calm down and sheath his swords as he quickly realized that it must have come from Pyrites, he was the only person who would have contacted them. Accepting the scroll and offering the bird a bit of uncooked meet as payment Harry gathered his friends around so that they could read the message. The bird stayed were it was clearly waiting for a response. Unrolling the scroll Harry began to read a coded letter in an immaculate hand.
My dearest and closest friend. Harry snorted at how Pyrites had begun his letter to Team Avatar.
It has been many moons since I last wrote to you and I thought that it was high time I contacted you again seeing as your marriage is coming up and I am the best man. After spending many miserable years in snow of the western mountains I am glad to have returned to my haunts in the east where the weather is more temperate, neigh warm, and much more pleasant for my exquisitely refined tastes. As too are the accommodations that I now find myself in, but it is not hard to improve on the frigid conditions that I was forced to endure while living in the mountains. I have decided to see some of our old friends from our college days that are spread out around the islands. Don't worry my friend we will make your bachelor party one for the ages when the time comes, it will be so epic that books shall be written solely about it. One that will go down in history for its debauchery, unrivaled by any that have come before it.
Alas I must report that two of our close friends have passed in the years I have spent away, one from a workplace accident and the other from illness, but the others are safe and accounted for. All is going well and all that is necessary for the party is being prepared as we speak. I am about to head north to meet a party planner who assures me that it has all I need in place to make this the most epic last night of bachelorhood the world has ever seen. It comes highly recommended and I still need to be vetted so as to be allowed to work with it but I am sure I can persuade it using my famous silver tongue to provide its services to us. Our friends in the east will remain and continue the preparations there. I shall endeavor to contact you in the next week or so once I know that the contact in the north has panned out.
Yours in debauchery,
Supai
P.S. Dude what the fuck is up with the shit at the dragon habitat, I did not see that one coming! It was fucking crazy that some terrorists would attack it! If you have any theories as to what occurred there please send what you know back to me with Iris here as I do love me some nice gossip.
"What the fuck is he trying to say?" Luna asked after they had all read the letter.
Making sure that there wasn't anyone near them by using his seismic sense Harry answered.
"I believe he is writing in code to tell us that he had made contact with his network in Fire Fountain City, that 2 of the ones he wanted to contact have died due to Hermione's tyranny either in the concentration camps or executed for whatever crimes they may have committed or thought about committing. However, at least one is still alive and has provided our pet Death Eater with the info he needed and is now heading elsewhere, though almost certainly not north, to meet one of the few rebel leaders that are still alive."
"Remember this guy is used to talking in code." Ron said taking the letter from his fiance and rereading it. "So likely he expects that his hawk may be searched and doesn't want the information to be discovered by the authorities here. Honestly it is a good code as no one but us would be able to figure out what he is up too, they will just think its some old friends planning a bachelor party. On that note, Harry when this is done we will have a bachelor party for you that will be as epic as the one Pyrites has described here."
"It's all in your hands." Harry said in defeat knowing that Ron was going to make his bachelor party as epic as possible. "Well I had better reply to Pyrites."
Harry pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen from their supplies and earthbent a small stool to write on. Tapping the pen to his lips Harry thought how to phrase the message in a way that would appear mundane and yet still convey all the relevant information in a way only Pyrites could understand. After a moment's thought Harry began to pen his response.
Supai,
Words cannot express my appreciation for what you are doing to make my bachelor party one for the ages, though knowing your abilities I am terrified by the results I know you will produce. I am happy to hear that our friends in the east are on board with the event though it does sadden me to learn that 2 have passed since last we saw them as I was hoping for the whole crew to be there. We shall toast their memories and the memories of all our friends who have unfortunately passed over the years. I am also pleased to hear of the success in finding a planner in the north. We are in need of an expert for what we have planned for my special night. Keep me informed on the progress you make with it and any other vendors you happen to engage for the party.
As for your request about the incident with the dragons, I know as much as you do and all that comes from the excellent and fair news reports I have heard over the radio. I theorize that some liberation group has decided to begin terrorizing the Empress and her loyal enforcers of enlightenment and they started with the dragons and the Sun Warriors for some unknown reason, likely convenience. I believe they did this as they represent what we as a nation once were before Empress Hermione's guiding hand took over and lead us into a level of prosperity and equality that had never before been reached while also removing the shackles of of oppressors. The friends who have accompanied me on my own search for information on what our debaucheries bachelor party should entail believe that this is just the beginning and that the group will make many more strikes against our glorious Empress in the coming months to further attempt to destabilize her just regime. I suggest we use this distraction to search for those elements that you requested for the bachelor party that may be less than savory to the delicacies of the authorities. If I learn more I shall endeavor to tell you should I be able. Stay safe my friend.
Yours,
Lee
Harry passed the response around and all his friends agreed that it was a well worded letter. Rolling it up and tying it with a thin string Harry put it in canister that was on the hawk's back.
"Er you know where to go with this right?" Harry asked the hawk with a hint of trepidation as he had never used one of the creatures before, they were a uniquely Fire Nation method of communication and an antiquated one at that. The bird gave an approximation of a nod and took off.
"Well at least that is an update so he is being relatively honest with us and is doing his job." Ron said once the bird was gone. "Hopefully he uses the distraction we are providing to his advantage."
"If he has any sense he would." Harry said as he watched the hawk fly away into the horizon. "And we know he has plenty of sense. Anyway, I suggest we get some rest, we should reach Jang Hui by early afternoon. Once we get there and know what is going on we can formulate a plan of action. I'll take the first watch."
The others nodded and got into their sleeping bags. In short order Harry could hear their rhythmic breathing and knew that they were all asleep, hopefully none would be plagued by the nightmares of the past they all occasionally had.
As his friends slept, Harry looked out across the deserted landscape and wondered what they would find at Jang Hui tomorrow. They had chosen the floating city as their next target for their rebellion because it was a famous location in the Fire Nation due to Avatar Aang visiting it and cleaning up the polluted river around it towards the end of the 100 year war.
It was one of the cities that they had expected to get attention from Hermione when they had been planning their mission and as such it was a useful and symbolic location in the Fire Nation, hopefully freeing it would show the seriousness of their ragtag movement. Plus there was bound to be an important factory nearby as the area was rich in minerals and taking it out could aid their cause and show that they were serious about opposing Hermione's tyranny. After a few hours of quiet contemplation Harry woke Ron for his watch and went to bed, though sleep continued to elude him for a few hours as possibility of conflict was on the horizon.
The following afternoon Team Avatar was standing on a cliff overlooking the Jang Hui river and the floating town named after it. Jang Hui had grown over the last century and a half and now looked more modern, the size of a small city if Harry was to put a label on it. The buildings were still wood and bamboo as they were the best materials for buildings floating on a river but many had multiple stories now and the platforms and bridges that made up the city looked more solid than the descriptions Harry had read of the place from historical accounts of the 100 year war. 4 large watchtowers, each manned by soldiers in the garb of Hermione's military, were on each corner likely to keep the villagers in line. A large wooden statue of a veiled woman stood in the center of the small city. Harry knew that the statue was of the city's protector, the Painted Lady.
Alas despite the clear improvement to the city over the last 130 or so years, the same could not be said for the river. Harry had read in the accounts of Avatar Aang's time in the Fire Nation that the Jang Hui river had been horribly polluted but that they had helped clean it up when a large factory nearby had been destroyed by Aang and Katara. Now the factory appeared to be back and bigger than ever and the river was brown and clogged with sludge from the factory once more. Harry was all for progress and innovation but not at the expense of polluting a river or causing any lasting damage to the environment. How could someone who claims to be a warrior for justice allow such environmental damage but Harry theorized that Hermione cared little for the environment if it got in her way of bolstering her military presence and ensuring her power. It was likely something she would address once her position was beyond challenge, a challenge that would have to withstand the power of the Avatar.
"Ok here's the plan." Harry said as he walked away from the cliff and pulled up 5 earth stools around the center of their makeshift camp. His friends followed and they all sat down with him. "We need to learn more about the situation here before we can act to free these people from at least the pollution of the factory."
"We have to destroy it." Luna said with a vehemence Harry had rarely heard from the lithe airbender. "What they are doing to nature is cruel, as cruel as what she has done to her own people."
"I thought this place had been cleaned by Aang and Katara." Ginny said. "It seems worse than it was back then, if the accounts are accurate."
"It had but likely Hermione expanded and reopened the plant to provide for her military and build an arsenal to defend against invasion." Neville said with a sigh. "Back during the 100 year war this factory had been the main one in Ozai's war machine. Likely she has decided to use it as well. From what I understand the pollution back then destroyed the marine life here and nearly killed all inhabitants of Jang Hui. Many were sick, mentally and physically, from the contamination. It took decades for the effects to fully clear and for the river to once again have a solid ecosystem. The damage Azulon and Ozai did was why Zuko made it illegal to reopen the factory here, a policy that Izumi and Iroh kept. Hermione clearly changed that and I don't doubt that what happened under Ozai has happened again under Hermione."
"What do you have in mind for dealing with this?" Ron asked Harry. "We have to do something."
"We will sort this shit out, don't worry." Harry said with a smile. "Here's my plan. Ron you and Neville go to the plant and try and learn more about it and what is going on here, I trust you two to come up with a decent excuse for being here. Likely you won't be allowed in but there may be a few bored guards there who could divulge some useful information. Bribe them if you have to but only as a last resort, I suggest something more subtle to start with but that is your area of expertise Ron, not mine."
Ron and Neville nodded at this before Harry turned to the girls and continued the plan he had thought of while failing to sleep the night before. The river looked bad enough to need what Harry had in mind, if the others could gather information on the situation here.
"Ginny, Luna you two go down to the river and find passage to the city. Once there learn what you can from any of the locals who are willing to talk to you and then report back. Use the cover as humanitarians sent by Hermione's regime to look over the populace there, I'm sure you can persuade the soldiers you are legit and the citizens that you are here to help."
"Oh we will." Ginny said confidently. "Though if any of the soldiers try to be fucking creeps..."
"Deal with them as you see fit but remember to not blow our cover just yet." Harry interrupted with a smirk.
Ginny just nodded at Harry's words.
"What about you?" Neville asked. "What will you do while we are off."
"I will try to contact the Painted Lady and see what she knows." Harry said. "She is a spirit after all and with the portals open I believe she can appear here to talk to me as I am the bridge between our world and the spirits. Regardless, I want all y'all back here by dusk so we can plan our next move."
Without another word his friends rose and went about the camp, gathering what they needed for their assigned tasks. Ron and Neville headed off to find some guards while Ginny and Luna headed off to the find a path down to the river to see if there was a ferryman who could take them to the village. Once the camp was clear Harry returned the stools to the earth and sat down in the lotus position, closing his eyes and beginning his meditation. It was time to try and draw the Painted Lady to him.
Ron and Neville approached the large factory, taking a cliff side path to reach it, and surveyed it. There were 7 metallic sewage pipes that spewed its waste into the river that was beneath it and many tall smoke stacks billowing smog into the air. As Ron looked at it he realized that it was larger than the one that had stood there during the 100 year war, at least based of Sokka's description of the place in his memoirs of the war, though the design was the same as the one Sokka had described. Likely it was same building only restored, modernized and expanded by Hermione's people as Ron assumed that Zuko wouldn't have ordered the original destroyed. One of the new additions had been a high chain linked fence topped with razor wire and likely electrified that marked the perimeter. Now it was time to learn more about it.
It didn't take long for Ron and Neville to find a pair of bored looking soldiers who were out on patrol duty around the perimeter of the factory. They were both in the red tunic and black pants of soldiers in Hermione's army. Both had swords at their waists likely meaning they were nonbenders but seeing as every member of Team Avatar carried weapons Ron knew better than to blindly assume that neither could bend. Based on the lack of rank insignia Ron did assume that they were privates.
"Halt what are you doing here, this is a restricted area." One of the two soldiers said in a bored tone as Ron and Neville approached them. Ron could detect that the words had been an automatic response by the soldier as they had little authority or weight behind them.
"Relax my friend." Ron said calmly raising his hands in surrender, he and Neville had left their weapons in the camp, other than a few concealed knives and his two water skins, so as to appear as nonthreatening as possible despite Ron's thuggish appearance. "Me and my colleague here are surveys for our glorious Empress."
"Surveyors?" the other soldier asked warily as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Yes" Ron replied going with the back story he and Neville had made up on the way. "We were sent here from the capital to survey the land and see if it is suitable for development of any kind and to map it for the updated maps the Empress has requested."
"Well that will be hard seeing as there's this massive factory here." The first soldier said gesturing behind him to the pollution machine that was there before he narrowed his eyes at them. "You two look as old as us, how did you get such a cushy job?"
"It was what we were training for when Empress Hermione the Savior removed the tyrant Iroh from power and ushered us into this age of peace and prosperity." Neville said impressing Ron with his conviction. "So naturally that is what we were told to do for her when she reorganized the new government under her enlightened hand. We work for her Bureau of Land Management as junior surveyors so we get sent to places like this cos our superiors don't want to come here. It may seem cushy but we basically get sent out to hostile or remote environments with outdated equipment, limited supplies and no knowledge of the local infrastructure and expected to produce perfect results while getting paid a pittance."
"Yeah." Ron said latching onto the end of Neville's statement and deciding to use it to curry favor with the lowly soldiers. "As for the factory here, how the fuck were we supposed to know about the military instillation here? It's not like our bosses tell us anything. We just get told to go somewhere, do some mundane boring and pointless shit for them and then return to hand over our hard work to them so they can claim the credit. We don't have the clearance to know about anything."
"Amen friend." The first soldier said with a laugh and Ron knew that the tension between them was broken. "Me and Xian here have been stuck at this place for a year. There ain't shit to do around here other than go to that excuse of a city and spend our meager pay on their shitty, disgusting, beer. All those fuckers are too sick and broken to fight and it ain't like there's much in this area to threaten the factory. Apparently this place used to be nice before the Empress reopened the factory but we haven't seen that while stationed out here."
"Yeah we got here the other day and chose to camp rather than stay in that excuse for a city." Ron said playing along with the soldiers. "It seemed safer than to venture onto the river. It's just been us looking around the area and frankly we are bored as fuck. There's a massive fucking factory in the way of any development that is clearly a classified military structure and as such supersedes any civilian project that might be planned for this remote area. Honestly I just think our boss hates us cos we're both purebloods and wanted to ship us off to some forsaken and backwards corner of the Fire Utopia for as long as possible. It wouldn't be the first time, over the last 2 years we have been sent to active volcanoes, snow capped mountains and desolate forests by those higher up than us, all appointed to their positions by the Empress."
An idea suddenly struck Ron and he offered his secondary water skin to the first soldier. He had filled it with a decent plum wine they had picked up along the way for just such a situation. Why pay the guards when they seemed to just want a good drink and some healthy company to relieve their boredom, this was much more subtle. The man took it and sniffed it before tentatively he sipped it before taking a deeper pull from the skin. Passing it to his buddy who also drank deeply he turned back to Ron.
"Damn that's some good shit." The soldier said with an appreciative nod. "At least compared to the swill they serve in that floating city. Don't worry me and Xian here understand horrible bosses entirely, our general is a right asshole and a sadistic fuck if the rumors are true but I for one don't go in for gossip."
"Yeah and we couldn't care less for blood purity our." The soldier called Xian said passing the water skin back to Ron who also drank to show his comradery with the soldiers but made sure to not drink too much so as to keep his wits about him. "We're both nonbenders here and frankly most purebloods we knew growing up were just like us, poor simple folk just trying to eek out a living for their families. Empress Hermione may make a big deal about the 1st generation benders like her being the best and chosen by the spirits but when you can't bend it's no issue for you. I knew purebloods, half-bloods, 1st generation benders and nonbenders growing up and we were all fine living together in our poor village, it was only those who were in the cities or who were rich who believed that Purist crap. Though I must admit you don't look like a firebender with that pale skin of yours."
"An inherited trait." Ron said deciding to go with a story as close to the truth as he could, the closer to the truth the better the lie after all. "My great-great-great grandparents were Southern Water Tribe waterbenders caught by Azulon during the 100 year war. Their decedents settled here after the war as my great-great-great grandmother had been pregnant when she was arrested and we trace our looks back to them."
"Makes sense." The first soldier said taking another drink. "Given what Azulon did to your ancestors, a sad part of our history that but one we should not forget. Anyway, as we said our boss, General Warbeck, is a right bastard. One of those loyal to the Enlightened cos he felt that his career would improve if he sided with them before their coup. Not that we cared we were just lowly soldiers in the army at the time who had enlisted to try and make our lives better and frankly I liked Iroh, Hermione has been a lot worse if you ask me." It was clear he was already getting a little loose lipped from the strong wine as he was badmouthing the temperamental and easily offended bitch that ran the Fire Nation, a crime that could fetch a decade of hard labor as it constituted hate speech. "But I am a soldier so I serve and follow orders, no matter how much I personally hate them."
"Even when they involve guarding a factory in the far flung reaches of the Fire Utopia?" Neville asked.
"The location and beer may be shit and the patrolling is boring as fuck but it ain't all that bad." Xian said slurring his words a little as he took another deep swig of strong wine and hiccuping a little. "We have an important job here. This factory produces about 60% of all the metal needed for military and industrial complex that is run out of the Capital. Without it the whole complex would be crippled as there wouldn't much metal for the factories to use to produce weapons, machines, and equipment the Empress needs to defend and protect the Fire Utopia. So at least what we do is important even if this place ain't a target as few know it is here. We may be privates who get the shit jobs but it beats serving on the blockade or elsewhere where there may be rebels."
"Yeah cos all the dissenters here know the punishment they face for defying the Empress." The first soldier said. "Besides it's not like that recent attack on the dragon sanctuary would move here. No idea why a group has suddenly sprung up and caused more damage than any group before it but they're foolish if you ask me, they will be caught, tortured and publicly executed for their actions no matter how noble they may be."
Ron smirked inwardly as he took back the now almost empty wine skin and put it on his belt again. These two idiots had just told them all they needed to know. The factory was vital to Hermione's power in the nation so taking it out, a piece of cake for Harry even if he wasn't the Avatar given his earthbending prowess, would damage her reputation with the military and her efforts to control the population through force and fear. Plus the man running it was one of her key allies, if they could capture him they may be able to learn something useful from him if he was arrogant enough to talk to them.
"Well thanks for this break from the monotony of our surveys but my friend and I must get back to work." Ron said with a fake sigh of regret at having to leave. "It's clear there is nothing we can do here to help the civilians cos of the factor but our boss will likely blame us for something soon so we may as well get ready for that ass fucking."
"Y'all are welcome back anytime so long as you bring more of that wine." The first soldier said now clearly tipsy. Ron didn't really care what happened to them for drinking on duty. They had sided with Hermione and lost any sympathy he may have for them, even if they disliked her they still followed her orders making them part of her reign of terror.
"Will do." Neville said as he turned to join Ron in walking away.
As they began to make their way back to the camp Ron smiled, it had been a productive meeting after all. Hopefully the girls had been as productive as they had been with their own recon assignment. If they had, their upcoming operation to liberate Jang Hui would be very straightforward.
While Ron and Neville had been getting a pair of bored guards drunk, Ginny and Luna had made their way down a set of steps carved into the cliff in order to reach the river. Walking along the bank of the polluted, foul smelling, river the girls soon came to a small wooden ferry station manned by a few old men who showed clear signs of sickness from the pollution in the river and two soldiers, a corporal and a private, who were serving as guards and looked significantly more healthy then the civilians. The more senior of the two was a butch woman that Ginny almost mistook for a man had it not been for her assets and it was her who gave Luna and Ginny a lecherous, lustful, look as they approached. The male private just looked bored to be stationed at such an insignificant location in a forgotten corner of the nation.
"Who the fuck are you two pretty little things." The corporal said her eyes lingering a little too long on Ginny's breast for her liking. Swallowing her revulsion at the creepy woman, she had nothing against homosexuality Luna was bi after all, but she hated open displays of lust by those who had power and abused it for their own pleasure. "You are way too pretty and well maintained for a pathetic shithole like this."
"We were sent here by the Public Health Bureau to inspect the citizens of Jang Hui for illnesses caused by the pollution." Ginny said ignoring the woman's leering and using the name of the state run healthcare board that they had learned about on the drive over here. "There are toxic chemicals here and we have a duty under the Empress to protect and care for all our citizens."
"I got no word of such a visit." The woman said. "The Empress hasn't sent y'all here for 4 years. She only cares about the production of the factory and what it does for her glorious utopia, the plight of the complainers and slackers on Jang Hui are of no importance to her. If they wanted to be considered as our equals then they should shut the fuck up and do as the Empress orders. So long as we follow her orders and do as she commands we will all be equal, to violate them is a crime and comes with the forfeiture of certain rights."
"Regardless the PHB wants to make cursory checks on all Fire Utopia citizens." Ginny said calmly, trying not to point out how contradictory Hermione's laws were. Hermione prided equality but only those who obeyed her were equal made no sense to Ginny. "We are all still equal under our Empress's enlightened leadership and as such all entitled to certain basic human necessities like healthcare, especially for those whose poor health has been caused by the Empress's military."
"Some of us are more equal than others." Snorted the vile corporal with a contemptuous sneer at Ginny. "Only those who are truly loyal to the Empress can claim the equality she offers her subjects. Tell you what though, it's been a while since I had a hot piece of ass like yourself, so why don't you and your pretty friend so if both of you take care of my needs, then I'll let you cross. The girls here just aren't hot enough cos of the effects of living on a river needed to remove the waste of the factory. That being said, some of them can eat a cunt pretty well, especially when there's a chance for a little food or medicine."
Ginny was furious now. This was a clear example of the scum who saw that serving Hermione loyally allowed them to indulge in their own greed and lusts without repercussions. They abused the authority vested in them and because they got the results the Hermione wanted the bitch didn't care what they did on the side, especially if it helped terrify her citizens into following her laws. Before Ginny could give the lowly corporal a piece of her mind Luna walked forward until she was inches from the corporal though still significantly shorter than the butch woman.
"Listen here dyke me and my friend don't give a shit about your pathetic needs and desires." Luna said getting in the corporal's face. "We have traveled a long fucking way from our cushy jobs in the capital, where we serve the Empress for the betterment of her people, to this fucking backwoods shithole to aid the citizens here because they are entitled to such aid as we are all equal in the Fire Utopia. Now my fiancé happens to be a senior member of the military and he can fuck you over and send you so some small lonely outpost on the outermost island where all you will have to pleasure yourself is your own fingers as you will be alone out there. He won't appreciate some lowly corporal trying to extort a blowjob from his woman. I may enjoy the occasional cunt but only with my fiancé and only with someone who is almost as hot as me which you, bitch, certainly do not qualify for. So let us through and allow us to do our fucking job or else I will report you."
To Ginny's irritation the officer just smirked at Luna before she backed away and let the girls through and onto the dock. Ginny wasn't sure how accurate Luna's words were but decided to never ask her about them, there were many things she didn't want to ever know and her brother's sex life with her best friend was near the top of the list. Ginny knew that if she did ask, Luna would not hide any graphic details from her, details Ginny never wanted to know.
"I always liked a girl with some fire." The corporal said as they passed. "Makes it even more pleasurable to break them. Go on and help the scum on the river if you want though the sludge there is contributing more to the Fire Utopia than they are. I'll be here if you change your mind."
Ginny and Luna ignored the woman as they walked past. Ginny noted that the other soldier, the male private, had not been focusing on them at all during the exchange. Well at least he wasn't a creep like his corporal, likely just some down trodden citizen who had been conscripted into the military because he couldn't do anything else. Soon they were on the dock and greeted by a local ferryman. He was a short man with a ragged gray beard and hair and a cross-eyed gaze.
"Howdy ladies name's Dock how can I be of service to you today." The ferryman said to them in a jovial tone with just a hint of madness.
"Passage for two to Jang Hui please." Ginny said.
"That will be one herm each." Dock said holding out his hand.
Ginny dug in her pocket and pulled out 2 pentagonal silver coins with a picture of Hermione on one side and a flame erupting from an open book on the other. They had learned that the open book was the symbol the Enlightened as it showed their knowledge and wisdom while the flame specified the person as part of the fire branch.
Still the fact that Hermione had not only put her own picture on all currency but had named it after her showed how arrogant and narcissistic she was. It was all part of her attempt to forge a cult of personality around her that would get the citizens on her side over time, time that Team Avatar intended to not give the bitch. Dropping the coins in the man's hand the girls got into the small motorboat. Turning the engine on Dock guided them through the foul river and to the floating city.
When they got off the boat and onto the small dock that the city had Ginny could feel the pain and despair in the city. From the cliff they hadn't been able to see how shabby and dilapidated the place looked but that was nothing to what it was like up close. It reeked of the sewage and chemicals that had been dumped in the river by the factory, coating everything with a layer of sludgy grime that could not be good for the wood and bamboo. The buildings were poorly maintained and looked like they would collapse soon but that was nothing compared to the people.
All around Ginny could see sick and dying men, women and children. A small hospice had been set up near the dock but there was no one there to look after the people who lay in it, some moaning, others lying still in either sleep or death, Ginny could not tell. It was a pitiful sight and a testament to Hermione's lack of concern for her own citizens who she claimed she had freed.
Under Iroh this place had been a bustling fishing city that provided a good portion of fish to the surrounding area and a popular tourist destination due to its unique nature and history from the 100 year war. Now it was a diseased death trap filled with forgotten souls who were slowly dying and falling into the river they had spent their whole lives on. The only people walking around and looking healthy were the few soldiers stationed there, most wearing masks to protect themselves from the smell and chemicals in the air. The few that didn't have masks had disgusted looks on their faces from the smell and the fact that they had to be here, while a couple of them were just bored. Many of them had contempt in their eyes, while others had wandering eyes for the objects of their lust that settled often on her and Luna.
It all made Ginny sick. They needed to free this place from both the military and the pollution. She could heal most of the citizens but only with clean water. Ginny couldn't commune with the spirits as well as her fiance could, but she knew that the Painted Lady was in pain once more as her people were suffering yet again at the hands of a ruthless despot who cared not for the average citizens but ensuring her own power.
"Dock you wouldn't happen to know someone who could show us around?" Luna asked their ferryman and breaking Ginny's dark thoughts on the area.
"Of course I'll just go get my twin Xu." Dock said disappearing behind a small fish stand and reappearing a second later wearing a different hat. "Howdy folks the name's Xu I'm the town's fish merchant, well the only one not sick or dead yet. As such I am also the town's tour guide."
"But you are also the ferryman." Ginny said confused.
"Oh you must have met my brother Dock yes he does love that boat of his." Xu said with a wide smile.
"But…" Ginny began.
"Just go with it." Luna whispered to her. "I think the chemicals in the water have caused some damage to his brain unfortunately. I heard there was a similar effect during the 100 year war and in other places where citizens have been forced to drink polluted water like this."
Ginny just nodded and decided not to question the man, it would be better to get him the help he needed once the place was free so she would go along with him for now. The chemicals may have caused some form of multiple personalities in the man but at least he was still cognizant of his surroundings and capably of explaining things to them.
Ginny and Luna followed Xu as he led them around the city showing off the various attractions, all of which had since been closed due to the pollution and in a dire need of a cleaning, including the statue of the Painted Lady in the center of the city. The place was really sad and in desperate need of liberation. She would have to tell Harry about it and ensure that he freed the citizens, a fact that she knew Harry would do without hesitation.
"How many here are sick?" Ginny asked when the tour was over and they had returned to Xu's fish stand.
"All of us are." Xu said and yet managed to sound happy, probably due to his current mental state. The factory was reopened about 5 years ago back when the Firelord's reign ended and the Fire Empress's began, about a week or so after her coronation if memory serves me right. Dunno why she wanted it opened again after all the documented damage it had done over a century ago but she did. Now it has gunked up our river even worse than last time due to the modernization of the world and the ability to produce so much more than during the reign of Ozai."
"Is there nothing you can do about it?" Luna asked, the concern clear in her voice.
"We've tried to lodge complaints and requests with the capital and the Empress herself, but you two are the first representatives that we have seen in over 4 years." Xu said still smiling. "The last time they came they didn't come to help us but to detain our leaders for complaining about the policies of the Empress. Never did see them again but the soldiers came in the next day, began work on those watch towers, and took control of our fair city. They told us that the traitors who had lead us before were in custody and that now we were to be overseen directly by the General in charge of the factory. Apparently he is a loyal supporter to our enlightened Empress from before her rise to power so he can be trusted to ensure that we follow the laws laid down by Empress Hermione the Savior. Not that they've done anything to actually help us mind you. I would say that about 5,000 of us have died in the last 4 years from the pollution and nearly twice that are currently sick to the point that they will likely die over the next 5 years of the Empress's reign."
"Well your plight is almost over." Ginny said with a steely look at the man. "We will radio our boss in the capital and request extra help right away. No citizen should be forced to endure these conditions, no matter how great the need for metals and other raw materials is."
"Thank you." Xu said and Ginny thought he was beaming at her but couldn't be sure. "We have asked the Painted Lady to aid us like she did last time but alas we haven't heard from her yet. I'll go fetch Dock the sooner you get back the sooner we can get the aid we need."
With that the man ducked down behind his stall and reappeared in the ferryman's hat.
"Come on ladies, Xu told me you would help." Dock said with the same smile as Xu and Ginny had the desire to roll her eyes at the man but refrained out of politeness. "I'll get you back to the mainland double time. Don't worry about a fair, your promise of aid will cover that."
Ginny and Luna looked at each other before following the multiple personality man into his boat. They would certainly aid the floating city though probably not in the way Dock or Xu or whoever he was would expect. What they would do would be even better for the citizens of Jang Hui then just healing them, they would free them.
While his friends were off on their own missions Harry had continued to meditate in the center of their camp, trying to commune with the spirits in the area. Harry had been doing so for a few hours with no luck when he suddenly felt a cool mist envelope him just as he was about to get frustrated at the lack of progress. Opening his eyes Harry saw that the entire camp had become shrouded in a cool, white, mist. Standing in front of him was a tall woman with luminescent white skin, flowing jet black hair and red paint on her face and shoulders. She wore an elegant, flowing white dress and an enormous matching hat with a weird reverse veil thing behind it. Harry knew at once that she was the spirit of the Painted Lady. He had made contact with her.
"Avatar, the bridge between the worlds, thank you for coming." The spirit said in a lilting, feminine voice that was laced with pain. "Once more I must ask you for help cleaning my river and freeing my devoted followers from the pollution of the factory and the lust for power that some humans posses. I cannot help as the pollution poisons me as well as the river I protect. I can only come to you as you are the bridge between the worlds and seek your aid in my time of need. I am glad that you have once more come here. Please help me Avatar Harry."
"I will free this river of the pollution that Hermione has inflicted upon it my noble lady." Harry said as he looked at the spirit conviction clear in his voice, as was his reverence for the famous spirit. "You have my word as the Avatar that I will do everything within my power to correct the harms done upon you, your people and your river by the evil inflicted upon it by Hermione the Cruel."
"Thank you Avatar." The Painted Lady said with a sad smile before she faded back into the Spirit World and the mist dissipated with her.
As soon as the mist cleared Harry saw his friends heading over to the camp returning from their respective fact finding missions. They had grim but determined looks on their faces and Harry knew that they had found out what he had sent them to find out and that they would liberate this area tonight. As they reached the camp and sat down around their leader Harry looked at them and nodded. It was time to plan and execute the next move for the LFTM. It was time to deal another blow to Hermione's power and oppression. It was time to free Jang Hui.
Again sorry that this chapter is several hours late, I will try to avoid it in the future. On the note about upload times, for the next several weeks the upload time will be midnight on Mondays EST, not GMT as it has been prior. Anyway, as y'all can probably tell this chapter and the next few in Book 2 is based of events in Book 3: Fire from Avatar: The Last Airbender and is designed to show that there are some similarities to how Hermione and Ozai treated their citizens though Hermione is much more internally focused while Ozai was focused on world domination. That's enough for this chapter's post note, as always keep letting me know what you think of this story in the reviews and any questions asked in reviews or PMs to me will be answered at the start of next week's chapter when it is released, hopefully on time. Until next week.
Stringdog