Chapter 29: Midnight Hunting Party, Part 5

Basement

Safe house

If he was expecting an ice cold shower to rouse him from his sleep as some form of torture, he was surprised when instead, the soft caress of a woman's hand glided across his cheek. Lowering his guard, he relaxed for a second. Big mistake.

The sound of the tight hard slap echoed through the small room, leaving a big red imprint of her hand. "Wakey wakey, mister. You've got a long day ahead of you." Kiyi taunted, before sauntering out of the room like nothing happened, leaving Shishio clutching the side of face wondering if she'd somehow knocked a few teeth loose with that amount of power.

On the other side of the room safely behind a one way glass panel, Sokka winced from the power of the slap, as even though he was not the recipient, he could somehow feel the sting burning its way across his cheek. Turning to Zuko, he asked "T-that's gotta hurt. A lot. Does Kiyi do weights by any chance, 'cuz that was a really hard slap."

"Why'd you ask? Is it because you think your arms are too scrawny?"

"At least these arms are long enough for me to reach your sister's butt, of which she has a very nice firm butt by the way."

"Spare me the details please, it's too early in the morning."

"What, afraid you'd get a hard on for your sister?"
"Agni almighty can you stop being so disgusting?!"

"Hey I asked a simple question, you could have given me a straight answer but nooo, you had to talk a whole bunch of shit. Serves you right, I'd say."

"Argh fine, yes she does lift weights from time to time, you happy now, you sick fuck?"

Noticing Zuko had moved his hands in front of him, Sokka moved it for the kill "Guess those jokes about royals keeping it in the family aren't too off base now innit? Then again, what are stepsisters for amirite?" he whispered conspiratorially.

At this, Zuko felt sick in his stomach that Sokka would even suggest something as disgusting as that. Granted, Kiyi was pretty easy on the eyes, but that train of thought had never occurred to him. Throwing his hands up in despair, he slammed the door open and stormed off, looking for something, anything really to cleanse whatever filth he'd just heard from Sokka's mouth.

As it happened, Kiyi was walking back towards the interrogation room when she saw her brother storm out in a huff. Peering inside, she half expected to find a crispified Water Tribesman only to find Sokka very much alive and un-crispified

"What up with Zuzu?"

"Oh that, well I asked him a simple question and he decided to fuck around. Turns out he couldn't handle the heat so he left. By the way, what regimen do you use when you lift weights? That was some power in that slap, I felt it even behind the glass panel."

Blushing slightly, she stammered "Oh, er, that, well I uh, um, n-no one's ever asked me about my weightlifting routine before. Most people don't react too well if I told them I lift weights as part of my routine, something about it being too ungirly or something."

"Nah, you've got nothing to worry about here, you can tell me."

"I-I guess. Remind me to tell you about it later tonight."

"Sure thing." With that, Kiyi disappeared up the steps, as Bulan, Katara and Azula came down. While Bulan and Katara entered the interrogation room to deliver their good cop routine, Azula sneaked silently into the observation room, before delivering a hard jolt of lighting that sent him yelping before crumpling in a heap on the floor.

"Wh-what was that for, babe?" he cried as he turned his head to face her.

Moving to sit on his back, she leaned down and replied "This was for this morning. Now you know to not mess with my beauty sleep.", while pinching his cheeks with her nails.

"I'm sorry, 'Zu. Please help me up?" he pleaded.

"Hmm, how about...no." she grinned deviously, before maneuvering to place his butt on her lap.

"Whaa-what are you gonna do to me?"

"Punishing you, that's what.", her malicious tone making Sokka gulp. As he feared, her caressing palm stroked his butt a few times, before it slammed into his rear with a force that made him wince and squirm.

"This, was for pinning me against the wall in that alley."

Smack!

"And this was for ravaging my tits in the living room, as you so eloquently put it. ."

Smack!

"And this was for fingering me on the airship."

Smack!

"This is for groping me while waiting for the ferry."

Smack!

"And last but not least, this is for disturbing my beauty sleep."

Smack!

Try as he might, a few tears escaped his eyes as he struggled and writhed while draped over her lap. Seeing her boyfriend on the verge of breaking down, she relented and pulled his face up into an apologetic kiss. Wiping away the tears, she asked "I hope you've learnt your lesson now?"

"Mmm-hmm." Sokka nodded.

"There, there Sokka, don't cry. " she cooed as she stroked his back while giving him kisses, which soon turned into a hardcore makeout session with Sokka in her lap instead.

An unwelcome knock soon interrupted their session, as Katara chided "If you two lovebirds are done sucking face, it's your turn to play bad cop lover girl. Seems he doesn't want to cooperate with the good cops. Also, what are you doing here Sokka?"

"What does it look like I was doing sis?" he replied, while doing his best to hide the fact that he'd just been handed a hard but not entirely undeserved spanking by Azula while they were busy trying to crack Shishio.

"I don't know, whatever it is you get up to with her. I swear, someone's gotta send you to horny jail one of these days."

"That won't be necessary, right Sokka?" Azula replied, putting on her sweetest voice possible while doing so.

"Azula!" he hissed, while rubbing his sore bottom.

Putting two and two together, Bulan put her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle. "What's so funny?" Katara asked, puzzled.

"Why do you think your brother's clutching his ass? Surely it can't be because he was sitting on the floor too long? You're a smart girl, you should be able to figure it out."

"Eww, that is just-just, no!" she exclaimed as disturbing images of her brother being spanked like a little kid squirming on Azula's lap flooded her mind. Tui and La, at this rate I need to immerse myself in the Spirit Oasis if I spend any more time with her, she glumly thought to herself.

Giving Sokka one last parting kiss, she made her way past Katara , who was still trying to reconcile reality and made her way into the interrogation room. Making him lay down, she pulled down his pants to find two red handprints on each of his cheeks.

"Do we really have to do this, sis? In front of her?"

"It's not like I haven't seen anything before."

"Tui and La this is embarrassing." he commented as he covered his face with his hands.

"Hey if it's any consolation, you've got a cute butt."

"Bulan!"

"Damn, she really did a number on you, didn't she? In fact, you could say she has you-" Bulan remarked.

"Don't say it, please." Sokka groaned in embarrassment.

"-whipped." she chuckled, pleased with herself that she came up with the pun while Katara pulled out some water from her waterskin and attempted to soothe her brother's aching backside. Once done, she sent him upstairs to rest, disappointed in her brother's taste in girls.

Interrogation room

"Look you can try all you want, I'm not saying a damn thing till I get a lawyer."

"Is that so?"

"Go ahead, I'm not afraid of your tricks. In fact, any evidence obtained under torture will be tossed out of court." he replied defiantly.

"What makes you think you'd get a fair shake in court? For that matter, what makes you think you'd even be brought to court in the first place?"

"Killing me doesn't help you at all."

"Who said anything about killing? Please, we're more civilized than that."

"Then why even keep me in here at all?"

"Because I know that at this very moment, your buddies are probably wondering why you haven't called back. Knowing them, they're most likely planning an assault on this safehouse to get you back. Question is, why? Why waste all this effort for an expendable foot soldier such as yourself?"

"Isn't that the million yuan question, princess ?" he replied smugly.

A fireball immediately whizzed past his head, before dissipating on the cold stone walls.

"Speak to me in that tone again and I'll guarantee you the next one won't miss."

"We both know information obtained under coercion is flawed at best."

"I'll be the judge of that." she replied, before moving to disconnect the microphone.

"What are you playing at?" he asked.
"Why do you think they called me in here?" Azula taunted as she proceeded to then switch off the lights.

"Azula what the fuck are you doing? Azula!" Bulan asked over the intercom.

In the darkness, a flicker of blue and orange was seen shimmering, before bloodcurdling screams were heard through the thick glass panel. Then an eerie silence followed, before the light was switched on and the microphone reconnected.

"Please, no, no no, I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"See, that wasn't so hard now was it? Now be a good boy and tell these two ladies everything. Or else. Understand?" Shishio could only nod. With that, she left the room and closed the door behind her. Walking into the observation room, Bulan asked "What the hell did you do to him?" Azula replied nonchalantly "The right application of heat is enough to turn any screw loose. Does that answer your question?"
"It's times like these where I question my brother's taste in girls. Whatever does he see in you?"

"My intellect, humour, good looks, do you want me to go on?"

"Why do I even waste my time talking to you?"

"Sounds like a 'you' problem, now go and extract whatever it is you need from him, lest my hard work go to waste."

"Please be gentle with him." Katara requested.
"I'll try."

Moving to his room, she found him lounging on his stomach, reading up on a mining industry newsletter from the NWT, his brow furrowed in concentration. Stealthily, she made her way and lied down on top of his back. Noticing the sudden weight, he turned behind to look, only to have his face squished between two familiar hands as her lips gently made contact with his. Resting her chin on his head, she asked inquisitively "What's that you're reading?"

"Some boring corporate mining newsletter. What brings you here?"

Moving her head to place it on his shoulder, she whispered "Sorry about what happened downstairs. I kinda got carried away."

"Can't say I don't deserve it."

"What makes you say that? I spanked you harder than I really intended to. I mean, your sister told me your ass had two red imprints even under all those clothes. I'm so, so sorry about that, I really am. Will you forgive me ?" she asked timidly.

"You know I won't stay mad at you forever right? Besides, I love you too much to do so."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm."

"But still why did you say you deserved that beating though?"

"I'll tell you when you get off my back, it's getting a little bit hard to breathe." Moving off his back she sat cross legged against the bed while Sokka proceeded to lay his head in her lap.

"Do-does it still hurt?"

"Looking at your pretty face takes the sting out of it." he replied, making her blush."But to answer your question, I realised I haven't been treating you with respect, more like a conquest if anything. I mean, you listed out yourself how many times I forced you into uncomfortable situations. So yeah, I was kinda asking for it."

"But-but I was the one who egged you on." she replied.

"Doesn't mean it was the right course of action."

"But-"

"No ifs, ands or buts. What I did was wrong, you and I both know it."

Placing a finger to his lips, she countered "I'm just as guilty of this as you are, I'm not completely innocent as well. If anything I'm the one who deserves to be punished for how I treated you when we first met, but all you've shown me is love and affection." she choked out, as her emotions threatened to overwhelm her.

"Everyone deserves a shot at love, even messed up people like us. Besides, who could stay mad at such a pretty face?" he answered, moving a hand to tuck her bangs behind her ear to wipe a tear from her face.

"You're too good to me Sokka, too good to me. You shouldn't be."

"I could say the same about you, princess." At this, Azula bent her head down and pressed her lips against Sokka's, kissing him with every fiber of her being as she tried to tell him just how much she loved him.

"I love you."

"Love you too, babe" Sokka gushed as he wrapped his arms around her neck to bring her in for another passionate kiss. When they broke for air, he simply let out a sigh of contentment as she undid his wolf tail and began to play with his hair, their eyes containing nothing but admiration and pure love for each other. Slowly, Sokka was lulled into dreamland as Azula continued to play with his hair, adding small braids, loops and knots as he did to hers last night. Seeing he was fast asleep, she gave him a soft kiss on the forehead while offering a silent prayer thanks to Agni for blessing her with Sokka.

Unfortunately for them, their alone time together was abruptly cut short with the sounds of breaking glass as small cylindrical objects came crashing into the house. Recognizing what was about to happen, she hastily dragged Sokka by the collar of his shirt and grabbed two pillows off the bed before taking cover at the foot of the bed. Sandwiching Sokka's ear with one while she did so with another, she moved to cover him and braced for impact.

The cylindrical objects then exploded with nine bangs and a blinding flash of light, just as the front door was blown clean of its hinges. Seconds later, the sounds of angry hornets ripped through the empty space, cutting a vicious swath where they were soaking up each other's presence not more than 10 minutes ago.

Living room

Outside, Zuko also recognized what was about to happen and yelled "Nine-bangers! Get into the kitchen!" Just as Aang dived behind the wall, the flashbangs erupted in a cacophony of noise and light, followed by the same sounds of angry hornets, dull thuds and a door being blown off its hinges.

Making sure everyone wasn't harmed, Zuko stomped his foot and concentrated on determining the direction of the heat signatures as well as counting how many assailants they were up against. Sending Kiyi and Aang to warn Bulan and Katara, he ducked out of cover and loosed a few flaming darts in the direction of the attackers, who dipped behind cover to avoid getting burned. Soon a deadly game of 'whack-a-badgermole' unfolded as the combatants resorted to taking pot shots at each other. Meanwhile, four more assailants flooded through the doorway, forcing Zuko to retreat under superior firepower.

Two of the assailants broke off and started to clear the rooms, first with a flashbang followed by a fragmentation grenade while the other two joined in pinning Zuko behind cover, rendering him cut off.

Basement

As Katara and Bulan took notes, they heard the sound of explosions and shouts emanating from the top floor.

"What the fuck was that?" Katara asked.

"Sounds like you guys have unexpected house guests." Shishio commented.

Leaping over the table, Bulan pulled out a pocket pistol and jammed it into the side of his head before forcefully asking "I swear on Tui and La if you don't tell me how they found us, I will blow your brains out." This merely caused him to chuckle, before positioning the barrel on his forehead.

"Go ahead, I'm a dead man anyways."

"We can offer you a safe passage."

"Not a chance, not while you have a major leak in the Directorate."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"If you think it was luck that revealed this location to us or that we tailed the princess and her Water Tribe trash here, you're very much mistaken." emphasizing his disgust at the mere thought of a blue blood like Azula mingling with common peasants, to say nothing of taking one as her lover.

"Keep talking."

"Oh no, I think I've said enough."

Just then, Kiyi and Aang burst through the door, providing Shishio with a distraction as Bulan and Katara's head turned to face them. Immediately, he lunged for her hand and pushed her pointer back against the trigger. In the confined space, the sound of the gun going off was more than enough to temporarily deafen them. In the silence that followed, all four of them could only stare in shock as Shishio's brain vacated his skull and took up residence on the nearby walls.

"Fuck." was all she could say, as she tried to process what just happened.

"We can talk about this later, right now we gotta help Zuzu and 'Lala!" Kiyi's voice broke her stupor, her voice tinged with fear and panic.

"Ah shit my brother's upstairs as well! Spirits let's go!" Katara exclaimed. With that, all four of them scrambled up the steps. In their haste, they forgot to bring Bulan's notebook with them.

"Wh-what's going on? And why are my ears ringing, firefly?" Sokka mumbled under Azula.

Clutching her temple, she woozily replied "S-someone threw a flashbang into the room. Argh my head hurts like a bitch!"

Before Sokka or Azula could respond, the door was flung open and a round object came rolling in with a flashbang zip tied to it, it's pin also removed. Even in her dazed state, her instinctive combat skills kicked in and she realised what had been tossed into the room. Praying that the fuse wasn't going to go off in her hands or worse, before she could reach it, Azula reached over Sokka and managed to hurl the offending item out of the room.

As the item arced its way out of the room, it hit the side of the doorpost and bounced right at the feet of the gunmen who had kept Zuko pinned in his corner for the past few minutes, turning them into a pink mist in a blinding flash. Mercifully, the ice walls managed to contain the blast, but just about.

Scrambling now to get out of the firefight, she dragged Sokka up on his feet, placed an arm over her shoulder and made for the door, or what was left of it. Another gunman staggered through the door and knocked them both to the ground. Using the last of his strength he identified Azula as the main threat and pounced on her, placed his thick hands over her neck and squeezed. Even though the princess was nimble, the large mass of her assaulter proved too heavy for her as she struggled to remove his hands. Slowly but surely, her vision started to grow dimmer and dimmer as she tried to vocalize words but only strangled voices came forth.

Through his blurry vision, Sokka witnessed the whole incident and a red mist suddenly fell upon him. Half crawling half running, he reached for the man's knife on his belt and began to wildly stab, ripping horrendous gash wounds in his already battered body. Distracted by this new stimuli of pain, he released his grip on her and smothered Sokka, who continued to stab until the light went out of his eyes. When he felt the pressure slacken on his neck, he kicked the now lifeless body off him and rushed over to Azula, who was choking and sputtering as she regained her breath.

"Oh thank Tui and La you're alive!" Sokka cried, tears of joy rolling down his bloodstained face as he enveloped her in a rib crushing hug.

"Sok-let-go, c-can't breathe." she muttered.

"Sorry." he sheepishly replied, releasing her from his grasp she continued to hyperventilate in an attempt to get oxygen flowing to her brain.

"Is he d-dead?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"I-I guess, I mean he was t-trying to kill you an-and you were making these awful noises, a-and I-I guess I killed him." he said in an almost disbelieving voice, trying to reconcile his bloody hands and shirt with the lifeless corpse not more than a few feet away as the wail of sirens now added to the din.

"I'm a horrible person, aren't I?" he finally whispered, as the sounds of gunfire and fireballs finally died down.

Tilting his chin to meet her eyes, Azula replied "You did what you had to do. There's no shame in that Sokka. You did it for the right reasons. You saved me."

"But-"

"Shhh, the fact that you have a guilty conscience means you're not a killer Sokka, not like me." she countered, before pulling Sokka in for an embrace as he broke down into her shoulder, tears mixing in with bloodstains to form a maroon river on her shirt as she held his head in one hand while stroking his back with another.