Chapter 20: Operation Rolling Thunder

As her convoy moved to the police station, Ursa barked orders and issued commands to her captains to gather their men and be on alert. In addition, quartermasters were roused from their sleep and arms stores opened, their deadly wares distributed to dozens of foot soldiers and specialists. In short, there was a flurry of activity as a large scale mobilization was carried out across the city. Finally, Ursa and her personal retinue of imperial Firebenders burst into the office, demanding to see the chief of police while daring any of the cops on duty that night to so much as even breathe in her direction wrong.

Knocking on the door with as much fake politeness she could muster given her current state, she asked "Chief Fong, can I have a word with you?"

No reply.

'Chief Fong I am warning you, open up the door or I will tear you a new one myself, do you hear me?"

One of the rookies piped up timidly "Er, um, ma'am? He's ah, busy, with erm, er stretching exercises?"

"Stretching exercises? At this hour?" she inquired, her golden eyes fixed upon this young greenhorn, who was currently squirming in his chair, desperately trying to melt into it or the floor, anything really to get out of her predatory gaze. After all, there just wasn't a polite way to inform the head of one of the most powerful criminal syndicates that your boss was currently railing a pair of twins in his office. No, that level of crassness just will not do, thus the usage of the term 'stretching exercises'. As if things couldn't get awkward enough, the sounds of wet flesh slapping together, coupled with voices that sounded like screeching alley cats in heat emanated from behind the door, turning the rookie's face bright red at the indecency of his superior. In his mind, women should not be exposed to such carnal things, especially ones of such high standing and prestige like Ursa, but rather sheltered from such things. Not that it mattered what types of depravity that nobles and people of high standing got up to behind closed doors, but it was the principle of the matter.

"I see. Well then, carry on young man. Just remember, I was never here.", she replied, observing the young man's growing discomfort, a hint of malice seeping through her sweet tone.

"Y-y-yes, ma'am!" he stammered.

Turning to one of her men, she ordered him to breach the door with whatever means possible while the rest got into a protective circle around her. With an almighty crash, the oak door was sent careening off to the aether, whilst its hinges took flight in the opposite direction. As the dust settled, three figures were seen in their birthday suits, looking rather shocked at this sudden disturbance to their activities. Whilst the ladies had some form of decency in them to cover themselves as best they could while looking rather ashamed, the man in question was caught in a rather vulnerable position with his pants down in all senses of the world, his face a mix of shock, embarrassment and coital ecstasy all rolled into a rather unappetizing look.

One of the men quickly raised his hand to cover Ursa's eyes but she lowered it and put on the fiercest gaze she could muster in the direction of Fong, seemingly drilling past his jade green eyes and into the very fiber of his being.

If looks could kill, Fong would have been reduced to a smouldering speck of ash one hundred times over.

"Am I interrupting something, chief?"

The man gulped, not daring to move despite his current state. "N-No ma'am. What brings you here?"

Noticing a thin line of a suspicious looking white powder, now spilling off the back of one of the ladies, Ursa put two and two together and immediately grasped that the man was just coming down off a high when their session was unceremoniously interrupted.

"What brings me here, you ask? Let's see, your insatiable taste for certain members of society, your drug habits, poor location choices in carrying out such 'stretching exercises' and most importantly, an absolutely disgraceful lack of security that damn near blew my kid to smithereens. I'm here as a courtesy call to let you and your underlings know, stay the hell out of my warpath unless you have pertinent intelligence to share. Remember, the storm has no mercy on who it strikes in its path. Does your thick skull comprehend?"

"U-Understood!"

"As you were, carry on. One last thing, chief. "

"Y-yes?"

"Please pick a better place for such activities, you embarrass your force with your actions." she remarked, before storming out disappointed and disgusted by such behaviour, leaving the man in question dealing with a rather unamused pair of twins.

"Now now ladies, I uh, erm, can explain….." he stammered while raising his hands in surrender, as the two girls approached him with scorn and anger in their eyes.

As they filed out of the station, they found their exit blocked by a small group of armed individuals surrounding a man and a woman.

"What do you want?" Ursa asked.

"Not the most polite way to greet the head of the FNIA's SAD now is it?" the man replied.

"Spare me the titles and bullshit, unless you have actionable intelligence as to where the scumbags who tried to blow up my kid. Then I'm all ears."

"Well, about that, we believe the incident may not be unrelated to our intelligence attache and the informant found in charred bits on the side of a road fifty six hours ago."

"If you're blocking my way just so you can spout off conspiracy theories, I have no time for your shadow chasing. Now get out of my way, I have a war to conduct." Ursa huffed, her fuse starting to run very short. Meanwhile, everyone else either got into a firebending stance or reached into their coats, ready to unleash fire and lead at the drop of a hat.

The woman then spoke "I understand your outrage at this, but how do you hope to prosecute your targets efficiently without any form of intel? Intel that we can provide."

"I have my own means of intelligence gathering. Now please, step aside. I will not ask again."

The man merely smirked and reached into his coat. Immediately the sounds of twenty weapons being presented and safeties disengaged filled the still winter night. Pulling out a file, he handed it to Ursa, who raised an eyebrow but did not give the order to stand down.

"Perhaps, this dossier would change your mind. Meet us at the Tin Dei Temple in the morning if you do."

"I will consider."

"Very well." he replied before raising a hand to signal his own retinue to lower their weapons, before Ursa did the same. After they had left, Ursa told the men to search their vehicles for any sign of tampering or explosives.

After her mother left, Sokka turned to Azula, who was still processing the shocking news. "Hey, are you alright?"

"I-I don't know, Sokka." she replied, to which Sokka pulled her closer into him and whispered "It's okay to be not okay. Get some rest, I have a feeling you'll need it tomorrow. Now go take a hot shower, it'll help you relax a bit." before releasing her.

"W-will you stay here? For me?" she shyly asked.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he replied "S-sure, I guess?" As she made her way to the bathroom, Sokka busied himself with setting up some form of barrier in between himself and Azula on the bed as a preventative measure. Satisfied, he laid down and closed his eyes. When Azula got out of the shower, she frowned at the pillow barrier Sokka had created and moved them aside, before wiggling into his arms. As she did so, her hair tickled a bleary Sokka, who asked "What are you doing?"

"Shhh, go back to sleep" she replied, as she leaned back into his chest and draped an arm over herself. Too tired to argue, Sokka merely accepted his fate and prayed that she wouldn't wake up because of little Sokka poking her in the small of her back the next morning. Outside, the storm that had been gathering over the past few hours finally decided to drop, releasing fat raindrops that beat a steady rhythm on the windows, while thunder rumbled in the distance punctuated by intermittent flashes of lightning. In all of this, two individuals lay fast asleep, one curled up in the embrace of another while their legs intertwined like the grasping of hands between two lovers.

A/N: Yes, I know it seems pretty anticlimatic with such a title but trust me, there will be thunder and lightning in the chapters to come. also dead bodies. and smexy times (maybe). On the other hand, I will be switching to a fortnightly update schedule come december due to irl things, though i might throw my hat in the ring for the sokkla sat. stuff since its easier to write. But fear not, I will continue this story!