Ozai told his father this was inevitable.
But when he heard it was expected and accounted for was a surprise. Former prisoners pardoned and released and allowed free roam within the Fire Nation could only go one of two ways: submission, or rebellion. It had stupid written all over it and was received as such, since who in their right mind would release enemies of the state within their own borders. The council opposed it. Even the sages opposed it.
But the generals shared knowing looks.
We will be in the right to use lethal force if necessary since we will be defending our people, was what his father said. Simple sophistry. If any of the former prisoners stayed and formed some manner of rebellion against their benevolent hosts then it was only just for the Fire Nation to mete out justice.
That they were prisoners of war taken away from their lands in the first place was no longer relevant since they were given a choice to leave. What a lot of those fools seem to have forgotten in the grand speech and right up to when they signed their papers for citizenship was that the protection offered by their initial status as citizens of another nation were void there and then, but their pardons would take effect only after a review of six months of good behavior.
Which meant all they truly achieved was to become rightful prisoners of the Fire Nation as citizens technically guilty of treason for past hostilities against the Crown.
To think he believed his brother was nothing but a tea drinking fool! It was so brilliant that Ozai had no choice but to acknowledge just how close he was to losing his head.
And right after that, the incumbent Fire Lord presented him the poisoned cup with a victorious smile: Ozai had the choice to become his brother's personal hunting bearmutt, a general in name wielding a double-edged sword without a hilt.
"General, we expect contact with the rebel base within a stick's worth of time," lieutenant Katoh said. "Our strike force is ready and awaiting your orders, sir."
The insult of a man, the earth bender, saluted him with a made-up gesture unbecoming of the Fire Nation's heritage—a knife hand to the forehead. His brother said that as an experimental special forces unit, Ozai's Diverse Special Tactics team needed a new identity removed from the nations they first hailed from.
Ozai, apparently, was technically banished to his new fate, even if it did have its perks.
He made the short walk to his airship's drop hatch, to where his ragtag bunch of misfits were awaiting him. His army of eight, which was more of a suicide squad, was made up of three squads of three benders, with one each for fire, earth, and water—with him as part of the count. They were a sort of good will show piece to the newly welcomed citizens, a sign of unity.
But in reality, they were nothing but outcasts who had no qualms hunting their own people.
"Yahira, Isna, ready to drop."
His field commanders, both women, both fierce and strong unlike those shrieking harlots in court, stood at attention with their squads.
"Yes sir," the earth and water benders answered together.
"Our scouts report the rebel base is composed mostly of earth benders with possible fire." Briefings were for the lowly grunts, not for glorious generals, but what was a general of a pittance? "Do not get complacent. We are authorized to use lethal force,"—as always—"kill or be killed, mutts."
"Sir, yes sir," his people answered.
Ozai doubted his brother expected him to survive this assignment, but his father didn't raise a weakling. That their landing strategy involved placing their faiths in earth benders to soften their fall from however many feet from so high was a thrilling reminder every time.
His earth bender, Lao Ge was a gangling old man but could practically swim in solid rock if he told him to; and his water bender Anto had a way of always finding water no matter where.
Yahira kept a tight clean hold on Taloak and Zol, the group easily the most orderly of Ozai's misfits: Yahira was as accurate with earth as any Yu Yan archer, preferring surgical strikes where it mattered most; Zol was the first to pick up his son's new lightning form, able to produce it quickly and blanket versus sniping from a distance; and last was Taloak who could produce long almost invisible blades of water.
Isna on the other hand was more flexible with Barga and Ayu. Isna moved water like a pentapus moved its arms; Barga was practically a fire bender even when he bent earth; and Ayu had a very special way with fire, one that had his youngest's intrigue piqued.
All of them were effective at what they did. Each had their own way of doing things, but he wouldn't allow anything less than perfection even if he wasn't meant to live through his appointment.
"Contact in five," Katoh's voice sounded from the pipes.
As one they took their places by the bay, with the earth benders in the lead to the coming fall.
"Nobody dies today."
Ozai wasn't talking about the enemy.
Lao Ge jumped together with him and Anto feet first towards the ground, the wind whipping against their tight-wrapped grey uniforms and masks, unadorned and unimportant and indistinguishable from each other—because their names and faces no longer mattered.
Yahira and Isna's teams Ozai trusted were right behind them.
Had he still been the person he was a year ago he would have killed each one the moment they so much as breathed, but now he wasn't so sure he could so easily kill each one. At least Iroh still believed him dangerous enough to put him amongst his fellow rhino lions.
The drop only took so many seconds and didn't allow a single mistake each time—else they all splattered against the earth.
He and his team exploded against the scattered earth, sinking into the sudden sand trap Lao Ge had made to brace their landing, before throwing them onward with the force of a solidified pillar of sand, sending them towards the sparse camp that was closer to a pile of sticks and cloth.
A symphony of precision and well wishes, that was what each mission's start felt like, but Ozai knew better then to trust in luck: he trusted in excellence.
Unfortunately, as good as his people were with not dying, they also did very poorly on keeping things quiet, which was an acceptable trade-off.
They landed in the middle of the camp, to a warm welcome of waiting boulders that immediately started flying.
"As always," Anto said.
All of the boulders stopped dead in the air just a few feet from them, intact and not destroyed. Lao Ge enjoyed his theatrics, and Ozai enjoyed the horror as the rebels around them finally realized just how outmatched they were.
But the first kill came from a lightning bolt that smote the first rebel to scream cut short.
Followed by an explosion that routed the cowards and throwing bodies to the air.
"You should have left when you had the chance," Ozai said to no one in particular.
Isna came in using the water she wore around her like living chains, swinging from the tree covers and shooting harpoons of ice, while Taloak freely decapitated rebels left and right with long blades of water. Yahira crushed anyone stupid enough to face her head on, and Barga went up close and personal and brutalized anyone in his way with ways Ozai didn't even know earth could do. Zol took to the trees freely picking off targets, while Ayu put the finishing touch on any groups left on the ground along with whatever the scum scrounged up amongst the nearby villages.
All the while Ozai and Anto remained unmolested by the earth, not even obscured by dust, as everything was simply sucked up into whatever orbit Lao Ge maintained, practically disabling any earth bending by anyone the old man denied.
Every time he saw it Ozai was reminded of how his inner fire was so closely snuffed. And then it made sense. True mastery, the same mastery Lao Ge brandished, was the power to dominate like a tyrannical king's decree that only he could be above the masses.
Ozai understood true fear in that moment. Neither his father nor his brother was that powerful. But the rumors that circulated the castle that following week spoke of one thing that once filled him with pride.
That his son had as much Chi as him at the time.