Chapter 36: Midnight Hunting Party, Part 12

Interior Directorate Building

If the ride back from the site was long, the cold shoulder she was giving him made the day feel longer than ever. Feeling that the next best chance to apologize to her was the here and now, he timidly approached her, careful to not trip over any more of her switches, lest she'd actually kill him where he stood. And he had good reason to fear her.

The last time she was this angry at him, the suspect she was interrogating unfortunately did not survive the interrogation process. Only through her status as the Chief's daughter saved her from any internal affairs panel that would have seen her badge and ID card be tossed into the nearest canal. Of course, rumours of what took place in that room were whispered about in hushed tones around coffee machines and water dispensers, building her reputation both within the interior directorate as well as her street cred.

"What do you want?" she barked.

"I'm sorry for just now. I should have told you earlier."

"Words aren't gonna rewind the past, nor fix things."

"How can I make it up to you?"

A devious glint entered her golden eyes at that sentence. "Good question. Hahnny. I'll think of something when we get back." was her reply, leaving him guessing in mild fear about what kind of penance might he have to endure when they got back from work.

"Wait wait wait I'm to do what now?! How could you!"

"Look Kiyi, I know this isn't ideal-"

"Since when was treating me like a bargaining chip ideal to begin with?! What kind of sibling does that! Wait till mom hears about this!" she threatened.

At that moment, her phone rang. Noticing it was Ursa calling, Kiyi smirked "Oh Zuzu, better start picking out flowers for your funeral. Mom's so gonna kill you after this.", before taking off from the table while answering the phone.

"Kiyi! Thank goodness you're okay. What the hell is going on up north?"

"Well mom, you see Zuzu has decided to-"

"You heard nothing! She's making it to be a bigger deal than it is!" Zuko shouted into the speaker, tussling with her for control over the phone as well as the narrative.

"Wait what has Zuko done?" Ursa asked in a worried tone.

Snatching the phone away from her brother's clutches, Kiyi answered "He's decided to use me as a bargaining chip so he and Azzie can do whatever it is they need to do. Did you know Azzie got engaged? Sorry gotta go, Zuzu's right on my tail! Bye mom, love you!", before hanging up and ducking into the nearest room, which just so happened to be her elder sister's room.

"Hello? Kiyi? Kiyi, answer me, what in Agni's name is going on? Kiyi!" Ursa replied, only to be greeted by the sound of her youngest hanging up.

Meanwhile, Azula was enjoying her cuddling time before the sound of her door broke through her slumber. Stirred by the stray beam of light entering the room, Auzla squinted and blinked a few times, before sitting up and mumbling "Will you fucking close the door, or do I have to beat your ass again?"

Noticing her sister was dressed in nothing more than a towel wrapped around her torso, her hair looking like a bird's nest, Kiyi immediately panned her gaze over to a figure curled up on a pillow beside her, before breaking out into a gigantic shit-eating grin.

"Sorry to disturb your cuddling sis, can I hide here for a bit? Zuzu's hunting for me."

"I don't give a shit what Zuzu wants to do with you, just lock the Spirits' damned door. I need my beauty sleep." before collapsing back onto the bed and proceeding to spoon Sokka, who naturally was too deep in slumber to be awakened by anything short of a cannon going off right by his ear. In the darkness, Kiyi could hear her brother's footsteps on the worn timbers, every creak and groan signifying impending doom.

Outside, Zuko was absolutely fuming and by Agni he was determined to get his hands on the offending piece of technology and explain fully what the situation was. As for what he was to do with Kiyi when he caught her, a few good lashes was what he had in mind as a starter. With a deep breath, he calmed his nerves and focused on the heat sources around him. Picking out a heat source leaning against the wall to his right, he marched to the door of the room and gave it a few rattles.

Having been awoken once, Azula was in a terribly foul mood and in no uncertain terms, told whoever it was outside "Will you stop rattling the door and go away?! Can a girl get her sleep you insolent piece of shit!"

Hearing his sister's outburst, Zuko backed off and shouted "I know you're in there Kiyi, you, you- agh! I'll deal with your rat ass tomorrow!" Zuko yelled in impotent frustration.

"Well fuck you too, Zuzu!" was her reply.

"Now will you piss off from my room, you little shit?" Azula barked, her temper indicating someone or something would suffer a horrible painful demise if she were to be roused from her slumber one more time.

"Let me know if Kat or I need to brew up some contraceptive tea tomorrow, sis. Also, please don't be so loud, the walls aren't very thick in this house." she cheekily replied.

"Yeah yeah whatever, just fucking get out you Spirits' damned nuisance you!" she snarked, before grabbing the nearest pillow and sandwiching her head in between, not wanting to be disturbed anymore for the night. Just as she left, Sokka turned around and nuzzled her, pulling her body flush against his before resuming his sleep. The warmth of his embrace, with their legs intertwined, kept her displeasure at bay for the moment and before long, she drifted back to sleep.

Nuktuk Cove

"It seems that not only have those Spirits' damned siblings caught on to our operations, their mother rooted out one of our best Illegal as well."

"Now that is a right mess. Loong will not be pleased."

"That's mildly putting it."

"As long as the shipments aren't affected, his displeasure would be tempered. How soon can your men process the materials and have it loaded?"

"End of the week."

"Hmm, that might not be a quick enough turnaround time."

"He's finally moving on to the next phase I assume?"

"It seems as such. I trust you can squeeze in one more shipment after this one?"

"That depends on how close the Interior Directorate is to connecting the dots, which from my sources are still a ways off. Still, I would like to activate the insurance policy now as a precautionary measure."

"Understandable." the Earth Kingdom man replied, before handing over a piece of paper with a number with a name.

"Can this man be trusted?"

"If you want a big distraction, reactivating the House of Wolves should provide a large enough smokescreen for our operations. Besides, nothing gets their attention more than some homegrown domestic terrorism."

"Fair enough."

"Can I expect her to be in Hanyang four days from now?" the man asked, gesturing to the grey metallic hulk currently moored in the harbour.

"It can be done."

"Pleasure doing business with you."

Safe house

"Morning firefly, time to wake up." Sokka softly cooed, giving her a tender kiss on her forehead..

"F-five, five more minutes." she grumbled, pulling a pillow over her head before wrapping blankets over herself. Undeterred, he shook her again, trying to get her out of bed. The more he poked the dragon, the tighter she pulled the blankets tighter over herself. Finally losing patience, Sokka pulled the blankets off her, exposing her to the chilly air.

In retaliation, Azula grabbed the nearest bolster and started to go to town on Sokka, beating him savagely with the cushion and forcing him inch by inch off the mattress. "Can't you let me sleep in for just FIVE more minutes you snow shoveling peasant!" she whined, all the while redoubling her offensive until Sokka ran out of mattress and fell on the floor with a loud thud. "And stay down there!" she glared, before crawling back to her comfortable nest.

" 'Zu, please, it's seven forty already and the rendezvous is at eight."

"Fine, but you're going to have to serve me breakfast in bed."

"Be reasonable, 'Zu." he pleaded.

"No. Now go, before I beat your ass so hard you won't be able to sit down for the next week."

"Yes princess." he grumbled, before backing out of her room. Under the covers, Azula smiled to herself.

Hilltop mansion

Shu Jing

"You have a lot of nerve, Ursa."

"Comes with the territory, Director. One does not simply get to my status without possessing a healthy amount of it."

"What exactly did you do to my DCI?"

"Oh that rat? Did a fair amount of horse trading with some fans of his from the SWT and the URN. You might want to reconsider hiring people with questionable track records, just a thought."

"As a citizen of the Fire Nation, he is to be tried on the home islands, not in some foreign prison. Also, since when was it your turn to lecture me about hiring people with questionable pasts?

"Just so you know, my branch of the Agni Kai actually does full background checks on any potential candidate, including verifying their service records for any falsification. If you'd like a copy of our vetting handbook I could courier them to you."

"Thanks, but I don't need a criminal militia advising me on how to run my organization."

"For all my former husband's faults, one of his few redeeming qualities was that he always ran an airtight ship. I believe this is at least worth striving for, don't you think?"

"The day I actually take advice from criminal elements like you is the day I retire to farm koala sheep in the northern Islands. Regardless, what other business do you have besides creating a gaping vacancy in my organization?"

"I need a SAD squadron seconded to my organization for an offensive operation."

"You are asking me to do what so you can do what now ?! No, absolutely not! I will not risk open war with the NWT by detaching a SAD squadron to you. Don't you have enough personnel of your own?"

"I wouldn't be asking you if I did now would I?"

"One fireteam, no more. Any prior offensive action must be run through me for approval. You owe me, understand?"

"If it means my children don't come back missing body parts or in a box I'd cut deals with Koh himself. If you have children you would understand."

"Anything else?"

"I will be awaiting your best and brightest before I depart for Agna Q'ela."

Meeting room

Interior Directorate Building

"I suppose the little one did not take the news too kindly."

"Like hell I will be relegated to a desk when I'm supposed to be in the field."

"Look Kiyi, we've been through this already-"

"Alright if you're so eager to do fieldwork, I've got an assignment for you. Apparently, we have a badgermole in the system. I want you to root out the mole before they can do more damage."

"Um guys, you might wanna back off from the window." Aang nervously gulped, noticing some disconcerting movement

"What could possibly- Holy shit get down!" Hahn yelled. Milliseconds later, a brace of rockets slammed into the building, wiping out an entire office of staff who were in charge of canal tolls while the minerals division saw three-quarters of its staff and the director general blown to smithereens.

On the ground, four speedboats pulled up to the front entrance of the building and unleashed a salvo of ice flechettes that nailed panicked public servants to the walls, killing most of them instantly. Like clockwork, banners were unfurled as men in wolf helmets and face masks stormed the bloodied lobby up the stairs, putting down token resistance with icicles and the occasional burst of gunfire.

Deed done, they took their remaining banners and planted them into the bodies, a grisly calling card for the gang to find as they hurriedly made their way to the scene.

On the other end, two men watched with bated breath, before one turned to the other and remarked "If this is what we can expect from the House of Wolves, I fear it might backfire on us. I mean they don't call their leader 'Skolas the rabid' without good reason."

"Look at it this way, they're going to be tied up dealing with spectaculars from them. I mean, what better way to announce your comeback?"

"Let's hope for our sakes' the boss made the right call activating him."