Previously In weapons of the nations

Kuan Ti travelled to the Spirit world under Serj's orders to learn anything he could about the goddesses's and their plans, along the way Kuan Ti bumped into an old friend Wukong who directed him on the path to finding the goddesses's realm. At the same time Lu-Ten the assistant of the goddesses's was facing a hard time of fulfilling his duty for if he made any mistakes his Cousin and father would pay the price.

Along his journey Kuan Ti discovers a small ball of light who doesn't know who it is, or where it is, after sharing a few words Kuan Ti learns that the small light is in fact Li Mei's spirit who under his instruction travels with him to the realm of yin and yang. They reach their destination and find Lu-Ten wandering between the divided realm. They soon learn that he has access to many idea's and plans of the goddesses's and soon ally themselves with him, only to almost be discovered by the goddesses. After learning what they could Kuan Ti and Li Mei soon departed.


Chapter 50

Friends In Dark places

Two day's had passed since Kuan Ti had departed to the spirit world and Serj's torture was slowly becoming worse. On day one he had been stretched, day two bound and whipped he had lost count at two hundred and today being the third day was when everything was going to become even more painful.

He had over heard the torture's request, he required sulfur, water and boiling oil, what ever was planned with that was not going to be fun so Serj spent the day planning, he waited for Okina to be taken away before getting the guards attention.

Serj picked up the plate and spoon from what was called his lunch and began banging it, the guard looked towards him and shot a piercing look. This surprised Serj he didn't think anyone here carried such pride and dignity, "I need to see what's going through his mind, i just need to get him closer" he thought to himself. "To pass the time I think I'll perform you a little show" He joked as he began banging the plate louder and started singing in a undignified voice "I shagged her she shagged me we both started a family, but she left me for another man so I chased that bitch with a frying pan"

The guard let out a small smile

"Thank you you're far to kind and now for a joke" Serj cried "A boy was taken in for a crime the guards forced him into a holding cell and asked him, Why son why'd you do it?. Do what the boy asked, the guard slammed his hands on the table murder boy he shouted why kill your math teacher, the boy leaned back thinking that he had done nothing wrong and calmly replied that's because he gave me problems?"

The guard stared blankly at Serj

"Get it problems, math teacher...no, Alright how about this one" Serj grabbed the plate and began banging it again "There was an old farmer who lived on a rock He sat in the meadow just shaking his, Fist at some boys who were down by the crick, Their feet in the water, their hands on their Marbles and play things and at a half passed four There came a young lady who looked like a Pretty, young preacher She sat on the grass, she pulled up her dress And she showed them her Ruffles, and laces and white fluffy duck She said she was learning a new way to Bring up her children, so they would not spit While the boys in the barnyard were shoveling Refuse, and litter from yesterday's hunt While the girl in the meadow was rubbing her Eyes at the fellow, down by the dock He looked like a man with a sizable Home in the country, with a big fence out front If he asked her politely, she'd show him her Little pet dog, who was subject to fits And maybe she'd let him grab hold of her Small, tender hands with a movement so quick And then she'd bend over and suck on his Candy, so tasty made of butterscotch And then he'd spread whip cream all over her Cookies that she had left out on her shelf If you think this is dirty You can go Screw yourself!"

The guard let out a loud laugh, and walked over to cell directly in front of Serj's where he leaned against the bars "Alright you have my attention"

Serj smiled "Lets see we'll go with something more serious this time" he said as he stared into the guards eye's "I'm going to guess your name and where you're from...on the first try"

The guard laughed again "really well then guess away"

"You're name is" Serj looked deeper into the guards memories he saw a beautiful woman smiling as she called out the guards name "Chen Shaokuan, and you lived in a village some where close to Ba sing se"

It was no surprise to Serj to see the shock on the guards face

"But that's not all" Serj continued "You have a woman in her mid twenties who is with child"

The guard froze "How..how do you know"

Serj grinned "Reading a mind is like reading a book if you know how"

"Well looks like the master was right there is something special about you, he'll be pleased to know this"

"Oh I don't think that's a smart idea Chen, lets say that he believes your report, but what would happen to you and your wife if I were to mention that you have been stealing money and supplies and sending them to your family" Serj replied almost teasing Chen.

"No you can't they would kill them without mercy, please you mustn't" Chen begged

"Good, now Chen if you were offered another choice to provide for your family would you take it"

Chen looked at Serj "Just what do you mean"

"I mean that when I break out of this place you'll join me and bring your family to Hirachi where they will be protected and you will serve a greater purpose"

Chen frowned "Look I don't care who I fight for as long as my family is safe"

"Alright let me put it this way if you fail Jangbu your family suffers right"

Chen nodded

"Well what if I guaranty that your family will come to no harm from my soldiers for your mistakes"

"I say that is a lot better than what I have" Chen replied

"One thing though while your family will be safe they must work to better the village, there are plans on expanding the village and turning it into a city but that will take years right now the village needs farms and live stock Is that acceptable"

Chen nodded "That's perfect I always wanted my family to own a farm"

"As for money I'm afraid I cannot pay you anything until we begin turning in income from war spoils and business opportunities"

Chen laughed "That's fine because if we do manage to break free from this place I know where the treasury is"

"Alright then we have a deal?" Serj asked

"Deal, So what do you have in mind"

Serj grabbed hold of the cell bars "I over heard yesterday that the kind doctor asked for three specific items, you need to make sure that he does not get them, I mean sulfur and boiling oil that's gonna leave a mark"

"A really big mark" Chen replied "I'll see what i can do, but why are you waiting why not escape now"

"Three reasons" Serj replied "one I can't leave without Okina, two if I escape now they'll know you're helping me and three I'm waiting for the opportune moment"

"Let them know that I'm helping"

"Don't be stupid Chen, they know where your family is and they will be able to reach them before us" Serj scolded. "I Don't want any direct help from you unless its urgent, and by urgent I mean if they are planning kill me, as for the torture I will just have to live through it or have you alter it, if they stop it completely they'll get suspicious so you might even have to make suggestions of you're own. Oh and another thing keep an eye on Okina and leave the escape plan till later I'll be working on that myself I just need a rough map to the armory, I won't need help getting past these bars"

Chen just stared at Serj "So it's true then what that guy was screaming about when you first got here, It's truly a mistake that they captured you and brought you here"

Serj grinned menacingly "Who said anything about them capturing me"

"You mean you allowed yourself to be caught?" Chen asked in surprise.

"They destroyed a village and took away something precious to me, it's only fair I return the favor" replied darkly

"Guard bring the prisoner to room 13, today is Friday" Came the sadistic voice of the torturer

"Friday the thirteenth huh?" Serj asked

Chen began unlocking the cell door and began leading Serj out "yes it's a terrible day that occurred hundreds of years ago where people say that Koh the Face stealer managed to posses a young man transforming him into a twisted manifestation of himself and how during the night killing and stealing the faces of many poor people"

"And his weapon of choice was a glove with razor sharp blades" Serj stated

"Not quite as I said Koh had transformed the young man giving him razor sharp claws which represented his own twisted body, the villagers saw only one way to kill the poor young man and that was to trap him in his latest victims home and burn both the victim and the creature he had become"

Serj listened silently, keeping the fact that he had killed Koh to himself.

Chen pushed Serj into room 13, fresh corpses dangled from the roof each body suffering a different affliction one had been cut and left to bleed, another had several bones broken and must have died from the pain, there were another three bodies in the room but they looked as if they hand been dead for a few day's "You sure you can hold up" Chen whispered.

Serj nodded "It's alright I'm guessing they put the bodies here to scare me"

"What are you two talking about hmmmm?" The torture asked

Chen stood at attention "Just telling him the story about why we only use room thirteen on Friday's Sir"

The torture laughed sadistically "ah yes what a grand day that must have been, Now Chen please go get me my requested materials"

Chen bowed "Right away Sir".

A few minutes passed when suddenly a loud clanking noise echoed through the dungeon followed by an even louder shout "HHHHOOOOTTTT" rang Chen's voice.

Chen quickly used his earth bending to cover the hot oil, before noticing the torturer glaring at him menacingly "What have you done, you Fool" he roared "it took hours for that oil to boil".

"Apologies Sir the pot was equally as hot and burned through my gloves" Chen bowed deeply

"And what shall I do now, hmm, how will I continue with today's schedule"

Chen stared at the floor holding his bow "If I may make a suggestion sir"

"I'am listening" the torturer replied impatiently

"Electrocution Sir"

"Come again"

Chen stood back upright "We could get one of our fire benders to send currents of electricity through his body"

The torturer laughed "Beautiful simply beautiful, quickly fetch master Ion I'm sure he'll be happy with today's change of plans"

"Right away sir" Chen replied

"You are lucky you mentioned this lovely idea other wise I would have had you punished"

"I know sir, thank you for reconsidering sir"


"The dismantling of the current homes and building's in the village is almost complete" A fire nation soldier reported

Zuko looked up from his papers "Good work, tell the other soldiers once this the last building has been dismantled to take the rest the day off"

"But sir it is only midday surely there are other things we can..."

Zuko raise his hand silencing the soldier "I know but the men have been working almost non stop the past few days and while I am proud of their determination and strength I fear that they are pushing themselves to hard I will not accept no for an answer"

The soldier bowed "Thank you Lord Zuko" before walking outside to deliever Zuko's message "Princess Azula" he greeted as he exited the room.

"So big brother Zuzu is taking his duties quite seriously and working hard" Azula joked as she walked inside his office.

Zuko straightened up his papers and filed them away in a drawer , now that Azula was on good terms with everyone he found himself liking Azula's little nickname "Not quite" he chuckled, "I only had those papers with me to make it look like I was doing something"

"My my if I had know you to be this lazy maybe I should take over"

Zuko laughed "Feel free to I wouldn't mind having a few weeks off, but seriously I've had a few things stuck in my mind"

"Which is why I came to talk to you" Azula replied "It's been two and a half day's"

"I know" Zuko replied rubbing the right side of his head "I don't know what to do, I want to send out some men to find him but I don't know where to begin but if I do that I will be pointlessly sacrificing my men's lives, I mean who does Serj think he is just running off like that putting no thought into anything, getting himself captured doesn't he care about his well being doesn't he care about us his friends"

Azula sighed "I understand how you feel Zuzu, but he's hurting right now and even though he is acting selfishly I think subconsciously he is keeping us out of harms way, but enough about that lets get back to searching for him"

"Hmm, what do you have in mind?" Zuko asked.

"I'm well aware that the village needs the soldiers here to help rebuild and protect it so I suggest sending Tylee and myself to search for Serj"

Zuko looked up "Out of the question, I will not allow my sister to follow that idiot into the Moose Lion's den"

"Don't worry to find an Idiot one must send an Idiot and Tylee has that part covered"

"Hey that's so mean" Tylee peeped from outside the window

Azula chucked "Serves you right for spying Ty"

Tylee poked out her tongue "Don't worry about us Zuko us girls can handle whatever comes our way, plus us two will be way less inconspicuous than a small squad of soldiers"

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose "I'll think about it come back to me before night fall, If and I say If i decide to accept this ridiculous plan you will leave tomorrow morning so no sneaking off"

"Then we await your answer" Azula replied "come on Ty lets go pack our things, I have a strong feeling that Zuko is going to accept our ridiculous plan"

"Coming" Tylee chirped as she followed Azula outside "Hey how do you know that he'll say yes?" she asked

"Simple, that last thing I said was a message to my dear sweet Zuzu"

"Meaning?"

"It mean's that regardless of his decision come tomorrow morning we are leaving"

Tylee giggled "Oh Zula you are so bad"

Azula smiled "I know"


Jangbu read over the torture reports "It seems our friend is stronger than he looks, going through two continuous day's of torture without making a peep besides his common remarks of stupidity"

Okina kept quiet

"Ever the spy, always listening and Speaks only when spoken to" Jangbu mocked "But truly you did surprise me working as a double agent for nearly eleven years"

"Well sir I was hailed as the best the earth kingdom had to offer so don't feel to bad about yourself"

Jangbu threw Okina an angry glare "Just you wait until you see what I have planned for you fool, Guard take him back to his cell"

As Okina was lead back he saw a bright blue light illuminate from a room a few meters in front heard a loud girlish scream followed by angry shouting, he then noticed Serj being dragged out of a room his hair standing upright his face and parts of his body black, but what surprised him the most was the huge wolfish grin on Serj's face, before he burst into laughter.

Five minutes earlier

Serj jolted violently as the electricity surged through his body his muscles tensing as he clenched his fists gritting his teeth.

"oh you're strong, very strong" the torture mocked as he signaled the fire bender to shock Serj again

Chen watched in the back ground as Serj suffered through the torment.

Serj let out a weak smile "Thanks lets see how strong you are" he grabbed hold of the torture's hand he had gotten a little too close Serj.

The torture looked at Serj with fear in his eyes before stuttering "No..no stop"

But it was to late Serj had managed to grab hold of the torture right before being hit by more electricity, the electricity went trough Serj and into the torture forcing him to scream out in pain.

The fire bender stopped the current of electricity only to be hounded by yelling.

"You stupid fool were you not watching"

"Sorry Sazr he moved to quickly" the fire bender laughed.

"Take him away now"

"Right away sir" Chen replied trying to hide his laughter.

Serj however just stared at the others with a huge grin on his face "The man who tortures screams like a woman, how hilarious"

Sazr punched Serj in the jaw recoiling in pain "Get him out of my sight"

Chen unshackled Serj and lead him out of the cell "You alright you took quite a few hits from the lighting"

"It was all worth it, getting to see Sazr scream like that" he laughed loudly before spotting Okina. "Oi Okina how's it going" he cried out.

Okina just stared until he was back in his cell with Serj "What the hell did they put you trough"

Serj waited until the only guard left was Chen "They were going to pour oil and sulfur on me but our friend made sure that didn't happen and suggested that I be shocked instead"

"Friend?" Okina question

Serj nodded "Yeah I recruited him to our cause, you know that saying when stuck in a dark place make some friends or turn the enemy against themselves"

Okina shrugged "Never heard of it"

Serj laughed "Didn't expect you to since I just made it up"


W00T another chapter up man does it feel good to get past writers block. Anyways hope you enjoyed this chapter.