Chapter 86
Yue was delighted to be back in the Fire Fountain City, even if traveling there was a sudden and previously unplanned journey that went against their agreed upon tournament scheduling. Toph had taken ill with a bad case of bronchitis in late February, and having realized that she wouldn't make full recovery in time for the tournament, she had informed the tournament organizers that she was pulling out of the event. Teo had followed her example in order to stay at home and nurse his sick wife back to health. Aang was still determined to go to the Fire Nation, his desire partly motived by the fact that Mai hadn't moved to Ba Sing Se, so he was eager to spend more time with her. With the Dai Li continuing to spin the narrative of the events in Yu Dao to their advantage, the anti Fire Nation sentiment was on the rise in the capital. Yue and Katara were both becoming more and more anxious about the situation turning ugly and endangering Azula.
The withdrawal of Teo and Toph had left a hole in the tournament lineup that the organizers were struggling to fill. The organizers had even called them to inquire about their availability and Katara had told them that they were not interested because their previously agreed upon tournament schedule was as good as set in stone. But then, Azula had surprised both of her girlfriends by suddenly reconsidering. She had hastily gotten in touch with the organizing committee and had tried to submit both her and Katara's names, but by then one of the spots had already been filled and there had been room for only one more. Azula had decided to claim that spot for herself, much to the shock of Yue and Katara.
The reason why Yue and Katara had been so astonished was that Ozai Nakamura was headlining this particular event, and thus far they had made sure to avoid tournaments in which Ozai was taking part. However, they had started the year off with more good performances and confidence remained high. Azula stated that she felt ready to finally face her father, and that it was high time she did so. According to Azula, it was important for her to have some experience competing against her father, just in case she made it all the way to the finals. It would be important experience to fall back on while making preparations for the finals. If Azula went into the finals not having faced Ozai in a single competitive game before, she risked getting surprised and annihilated.
Azula's reasoning was sound and Yue couldn't find any fault with it. And yet, considering what Ozai had attempted to do to Azula, the idea of Azula meeting Ozai at the Pai Sho board still made Yue freak out and Katara was equally terrified about what it might do to Azula. Granted, Azula had been mentally in a much better place as of late, as a result of all the love and support she was enjoying in her private life, as well as from her regular weekly sessions with her therapist, but this didn't exactly allay all the fears of Yue and Katara. When Azula had told them that she would go to the Fire Fountain City alone and that they should stay behind and focus on their studies, Yue and Katara had simply shouted Azula down, overruling her and then buying their own plane tickets to the Fire Fountain City while ignoring Azula's protestations.
Obviously, Azula wanted her girlfriends to come along and support her, but she also felt a little guilty about having upset their carefully arranged tournament schedule. Katara and Yue cared little about that. Since their results had been so outstanding, they didn't have to play too many tournaments before the late May deadline. When it came to their ratings, the quality over quantity approach had paid off handsomely for the three girls. All three of them were as good as locked in for the next stage of the competition, which was why Yue didn't like Azula taking this huge risk of playing in a tournament with her father. If something went wrong and Azula underperformed badly, then her prospects to get into the qualifiers would take a huge hit.
Azula had certainly gotten off to a very good start in the tournament. She was scheduled to play Ozai in the sixth round, so Yue was hoping that by that time, Azula would have built a big enough cushion of points that even if things would fall into a downward spiral following the encounter with Ozai, Azula's tournament still wouldn't become an unsalvageable disaster. As Yue and Katara sat in the stands and watched their girlfriend cruise to her fourth win from five rounds, things seemed to be going Azula's way. She had only given away points to Zhao in a tightly contested draw, but overall, Azula was playing close to her best.
When it came to Ozai, his record so far mirrored Azula's, all wins with the exception of a single draw with Jeong-Jeong. Yue and Katara had not been in the presence of Ozai Nakamura for many years now, but even from their seats in the spectator stands, his presence felt deeply repulsive and intimidating. Yue hated the very idea of this monster being close to their girl down on the stage, she couldn't stand him as much as casting a single unworthy glance at Azula. Unfortunately, neither she nor Katara could be down there on the stage to protect Azula from some of the tricks that Ozai appeared ready to employ to terrorize his daughter.
During the match, players were not required to remain in their seats at all times. It was a common practice to sometimes get up and do a little pacing back and forth across the stage. It was also considered perfectly fine for a contestant to walk up to the table where another match was unfolding and simply observe for a while, provided that silence was maintained and their behavior remained respectful. Well, Ozai was definitely abusing these privileges. Whenever his own opponent was busy pondering their move, Ozai would always be at Azula's table, watching her play, knowing that his mere presence was unnerving. He also stared at her a lot, which was definitely considered poor manners, but once again, on the Fire Nation soil, nobody was going to tell Ozai off for being a creepy jerk.
"Honestly, I want to tear that asshole to pieces," Yue snarled, watching as Ozai was once again standing at Azula's table. Fortunately, Azula had as good as won her game of the fifth round already, so Ozai's mind tricks hadn't worked, at least not yet. Katara had expressed concern about this constant harassment building up and then hitting Azula at some point when she least expected it, so both Katara and Yue remained watchful for any changes in Azula's mood.
"Violent, but understandable," Katara nodded in agreement, her lips tightly knit.
"Don't tell me you wouldn't like to hurt him," Yue said. Katara looked conflicted. "Just imagine if he was tied down and helpless, and you had a loaded gun in your hand. If you were told that you could shoot him dead and you wouldn't face any consequences for it, wouldn't you be tempted to do it?" Yue asked.
Katara's eyes widened slightly at the question. She seemed a little shocked by Yue's words. "I… I don't know," Katara whispered. "You know my stance on taking life, but… to rid the world of such evil who continues to do harm to so many, and not just to Azula and her family. But no, I don't think I could. I would rather lock him up for life, so that he could never harm anyone again."
"Well, sure, if that was an option," Yue nodded. "But if you had to decide between killing him and letting him go free?"
"Spirits, Yue, this is too dark and heavy to contemplate," Katara sighed. "I don't like that this question is making me consider very uncomfortable things, okay?"
"Sorry," Yue said apologetically. "I'd kill him, though. I'd do it mostly for Azula, but also for Zuko, Ursa, and all of his victims. And I think you would too."
Katara looked deeply unsettled at that, but Yue was sure that she had guessed correctly. "Anyway, Azula is about to win in three moves so let's go and meet her by the exit," Katara said, urging them to get up from their seats.
"Good idea," Yue nodded with a smile. "She has to face him tomorrow," she said grimly. "How do you think we should handle prep?"
"I don't know, Yue," Katara sighed. "I'm thinking that if we just sit inside all day and prep like mad, Azula's going to over-think it and crack."
"I was thinking the same," Yue nodded. "We can't have any booze or partying, obviously, but perhaps we should go for a lot of distracting activities. We could go down to the beach, do some tanning and play some volleyball. And then we could hit that cool looking marine park just outside the city."
"That sounds amazing and just what Azula needs to unwind," Katara smiled, nodding. "Now the only thing that remains is to convince Azula that she doesn't want to spend eight hours straight locked up in the penthouse suite, doing hard prep…"
Azula's sleep was interrupted by a light creek of the floorboards, a common occurrence as of late. But unlike the previous times when the doors to her bedroom had been opened slowly and quietly, this time they were flung over with a loud crash as her father stormed inside the room, looking livid. Azula rose up in the bed, heart hammering in her chest. "I have been far too lenient with you, Azula, but now my patience has come to an end," Ozai shouted at her angrily, walking up to the bed. "I know what you have been up to. Long Feng told me everything he learned from his daughter."
"I don't know what Joo Dee has been telling her father, but she's lying, I swear-" Azula tried, but a backhanded swipe across the cheek silenced her.
"Don't you dare even start," Ozai glared at her. "I should have realized and acted upon the signs of your filthy, perverted inclinations. No daughter of mine will ever stand accused of this kind of sodomy! I'll make sure of it!"
"I haven't-" Azula said, trying to get up, but Ozai grabbed her and shoved her back down on the bed, accompanied by another slap to the face. She didn't attempt to get up again after that.
"Yes, it's about time I taught you how to behave like a proper and obedient daughter," Ozai growled, climbing on top of her in the bed, pinning her down with his superior weight. Azula did not try to struggle, knowing that it would just earn her more slaps to the face and worse. However, when her father seized her hand and raised it above her head, starting to tie her wrist to the bedpost, Azula began to panic, starting to kick and scream at Ozai, begging to let her go. He merely laughed darkly before continuing.
That was when Azula remembered the knife. She had kept it hidden under her mattress just for this reason, practicing the move to withdraw it quickly while silently praying that she would never need to do it. As Ozai was tying the knot to keep her hand securely fastened to the bedpost, Azula knew that this was definitely the time to attempt whatever she could to defend herself. She contorted her body in an attempt to reach the hidden knife, desperate fingers feeling around for the hilt of the dagger, but failing to find it. Azula screamed in panic. Had Ozai or one of the servants found the knife and removed it? She had no way to defend herself now and this realization triggered more kicking and screaming, but Ozai held her down tightly as he seized her other hand and finished restraining her.
Azula was crying, whimpering for her father to stop, but he would not listen. With a sick, covetous grin he stripped Azula of her pajamas. When she felt his disgusting hands starting to paw at her naked flesh, Azula began screaming again and again… and then she found herself being held by someone, but it was not the revolting and disturbing grip of her father, but instead the comforting embrace of someone who instantly felt like the complete opposite of Ozai Nakamura.
"Breathe deeply, Azula… it was a dream. It was just a dream," it took a while for Azula to recognize Katara's voice because she was so overwhelmed by the nightmare. "Whatever you saw wasn't real, Zula. I've got you," Katara spoke softly.
Azula tried to open her mouth and tell Katara that she knew that none of what she had seen had been real, but she found herself unable to speak, tears streaming down her cheeks and shoulders shaking. "Katara and I are here for you, Azula," she found herself embraced from both sides now as Yue also hugged her tightly. It was helping a great deal. "Nobody is going to hurt you while the two of us are around."
"Damn straight," Katara added. "Yue, could you please get Azula's medicine?" Azula could only watch numbly as Yue dug through the nightstand drawer, fishing out the little travel bag she used for her meds. "I think we need a couple of the blue ones, please," Katara said.
"Valium?" Yue asked.
"Those are the ones," Katara nodded. Azula tried to protest, but she was still having trouble forming words following the nightmare and the accompanying panic attack. Besides, Azula knew that she would never convince Katara that she could handle this without Valium. She didn't want the tranquilizer because it made focusing very difficult and she would be in no shape to play Pai Sho at a decent level come the morning. On the other hand, she would probably be in an even worse state without Valium so when Katara tried to coax her into swallowing the pills, Azula accepted them, the tranquilizer sliding down her throat as Azula gulped mouthfuls of water from a glass that Yue held against her lips.
Afterwards, Katara eased her back onto the bed, and together with Yue they pressed tightly against Azula, trapping her between the two Water Tribe girls in what felt like a safe cocoon. It didn't take too long for the familiar sensations of Valium to hit her, making her limbs feel slack and weightless. Azula rarely experienced the extreme drowsiness that a lot of people suffered from when taking Valium. Her therapist had speculated that it was because her brain activity was far higher than that of most of her patients. Azula remembered that it had taken a very high dosage of tranquilizers to keep her sedated directly after Ozai's assault, so the hypothesis made sense to her.
Even though Azula felt like her entire body had gone to sleep, and her girlfriends had also drifted off to the land of dreams, Azula's mind annoyingly kept hyperactively throwing random distracting thoughts at her, refusing to shut down and preventing her from getting the sleep that she sorely needed. She wondered if it was like some kind of a secret defense mechanism. She had suffered a terrible nightmare, and so her mind now refused to even entertain the notion of sleeping, at least not at this time.
Azula still experienced nightmares fairly often. Usually, they didn't make her scream for help and they didn't result in full-blown panic attacks, but the experiences could be nasty all the same. After learning the truth about her horses, imagining the shootings of Goldflake and Innocence was a very popular and disturbing nightmare that she struggled to cope with. Mercifully, she hadn't been confronted with one of those nightmares for a while now, but the one where Katara or Yue, or both of them were being savagely assaulted by Ozai or his cronies was a nightmare that still occurred fairly regularly. It was also the one that Azula was still hiding from her girlfriends because she didn't want to give them nightmares as well, and that could certainly happen if they learned the details of Azula's very graphic and horrible dreams.
When it came to the nightmare of what would have happened if she hadn't fended off the attempted sexual assault by her father, that had been a common occurrence back when she was still at the Crystal Castles Sanatorium, and she hadn't experienced it since being released from the asylum. But now, on the eve of meeting her father at the Pai Sho board, it had come back and it had quite literally ensured that she would be in no shape to prevail against Ozai in their match later that day.
It all made Azula feel increasingly angry with herself. She knew what her father was like, and she knew how he had gotten to Zuko, breaking him down psychologically. She had endured the low-key harassment of the first few days, the snide remarks, the standing by her table and the intense staring… or at least she thought that she had endured it, but maybe she hadn't. Maybe the anxiety had been pooling, drip by drip, until on the eve of facing Ozai, it had all spilled over. It was just so frustrating, because she was supposed to be stronger, mentally tougher than this. Everyone kept telling her how well she was doing, the therapist was pleased with her progress, Katara and Yue kept telling her how wonderful it was to see her happy and smiling, but what good did it all do if she came to the Fire Nation and immediately folded like a cheap suitcase. She expected better of herself, but now, because of one nasty fucking nightmare, Azula felt like she had lost her match to Ozai before even sitting down at the Pai Sho board.
But this also reinforced something that Azula had known all along. If any of them were to dethrone Ozai, it wouldn't be enough to just surpass him in the skill department. Ozai's successor would have to possess the mental fortitude to endure the psychological terror that her father was capable of unleashing at will on his rivals. And right now, Azula didn't possess the necessary mental fortitude to challenge Ozai.
Somehow, she would have to find a way to prepare herself for these occasions. Azula was definitely not a quitter. She may have lost this particular battle before it had even truly begun, but she hadn't lost the entire war.
As Katara sat in the spectator stands together with Yue, watching the matches of the final round of the Fire Fountain City tournament drawing to a close, she still couldn't decide how she felt about this whole spontaneous decision to change their plans so that Azula could attend the tournament. Everything had been going well up to the point when Azula had suffered that horrible nightmare which had utterly disturbed both Katara and Yue after they had pressed Azula into sharing it with them. Azula had then played a predictably poor game against her father and had lost without managing to offer much of a resistance.
Katara and Yue had been greatly worried about Azula falling into a downward spiral following that game. And Azula's performance had dipped considerably, but Katara and Yue had both done their best to get their suffering girlfriend out of her funk as swiftly as possible. It involved a massive effort of both spoiling and distracting Azula in many different ways, overstimulating her with as many positive and pleasurable emotions as possible. It had still been tough going because Azula was reluctant to increase the intake of her meds, with the persuasive argument that it would further affect her performance. Azula had lost two more games following her defeat to Ozai, before they had somehow managed to right the ship. After that, she had started playing closer to her normal level and her results had improved. Now, in the final round, she looked all set to force a draw against Jeong-Jeong Kaneko, a result that would place Azula fifth in the standings as the tournament drew to a close. It was a largely neutral result that neither damaged nor improved Azula's overall rating. As the two opponents shook on a draw, Katara drew a breath of relief, feeling as if they had managed to avert a potential disaster.
Of course, Azula was still stubbornly trying to spin the whole experience as a net positive, and annoyingly, she was raising some good points. Katara reluctantly had to agree that running into Ozai Nakamura in the final stage of the world championship and suffering a debilitating breakdown then would have been so much worse. Azula claimed that this painful experience would allow her to be better prepared when the time finally came for her to face Ozai for the ultimate prize. Azula had also insisted that all three of them should build up their mental toughness in order to resist the bullying and intimidating tactics of her father. Katara knew that Azula was right about this. Ozai was an intimidating menace on the stage and it almost felt as if every little move he made was designed to terrorize his competition. Katara and Yue both openly admitted that if they had taken part in the tournament, they would have also been affected negatively by Ozai's behavior.
But where Katara's opinion diverged from Azula's was that she didn't necessarily agree about all this mental toughness and hardening themselves. She hated the very idea that such a thing would even be required. Pai Sho was supposed to be a contest between the brightest of minds. Emotional terror and intimidating tactics were not supposed to play into deciding who the best player was, and yet, Ozai seemed willing to bend and stretch the rules as he pleased, especially on the Fire Nation soil. Katara hated the idea that they would have to harden themselves just because this vile creature wearing the skin of a human could not be beaten fairly and squarely, without any mind games.
As Katara and Yue slowly made their way towards the exit to catch up with Azula, Katara remarked with some relief that at least after having defeated Azula, Ozai had largely stopped harassing her, instead focusing on his other rivals. He had won the tournament, of course, running roughshod all over his competition. Katara had no idea what kind of a scumbag could look at a victory trophy secured in such a dishonorable way and still feel pride.
For once after the conclusion of a tournament, there was nothing stopping them from leaving right away, no victory ceremonies, no interviews or mingling with the sponsors. Azula rejoined them shortly, dressed in her impeccable red pantsuit and wearing heart-shaped shades, for obvious reasons foregoing any revealing outfits during the tournament. Katara and Yue were both kitted out in short summer frocks, both of them loving the manageable warmth of early Fire Nation spring, scowling at Azula when she complained about the chilliness when the air temperature was barely reaching seventy-five degrees. Katara and Yue both took their turns to wordlessly embrace Azula and then they were on their way, Yue taking the wheel of their rented car to take them back to the hotel and one last evening at the splendorous penthouse suite they had rented, the same one they had partied in four years ago.
Later in the afternoon, Katara and Yue were doing lazy laps around the rooftop swimming pool, with Azula lounging in a folding chair nearby. She had slipped into a light summer dress, but had deemed the weather not sufficiently warm for sunbathing, a statement the two Water Tribe girls found frankly ridiculous. It was a calm and peaceful afternoon, with the three of them winding down from an emotionally exhausting experience, one that had been particularly hard on Azula. Katara couldn't shake off some of her lingering concerns, however. Azula had seemed distant, more withdrawn than usual over the past few days. Even now, with the tournament behind her, Azula looked like she was holding something back and Katara was determined to find out what was still bothering her girlfriend.
Katara got out of the pool and toweled herself off before going over to Azula and sitting next to her. For a while, they kept sitting there in silence, with Katara stealing the occasional glance and trying to guess what exactly was eating away at Azula. Azula eventually caught on to what she was doing, however. "What?" the Fire Nation girl narrowed her amber eyes at Katara.
"Sorry, but it just looks like you have something on your mind," Katara offered meekly.
"I'm not some dumb bimbo, Katara," Azula scoffed. "I always have something on my mind." Katara sighed. Azula was not going to make this easy for her, which meant that this wasn't something small and insignificant that she could let go of.
Yue swam up to them, leaning against the edge of the pool as she looked up at the two other girls. "Don't tell me you're disappointed with yourself, Azula?" Yue spoke up.
Azula looked annoyed and didn't answer right away, which was all that Katara needed to realize the truth. She shot a grateful look at Yue. "Azula, you said that you came here to play mostly just to get the experience of competing against your father," Katara said. "And you said that you learned important lessons during the tournament, so I'm not sure if I understand… did you expect yourself to win even if we didn't set any goals?"
Azula sighed heavily. "You know that Ozai raised me to always play for the win and never accept anything but perfection," she replied. "No matter how hard I've tried to unlearn that sort of thinking, I don't think I'll ever manage to do it completely. I know, I know, my therapist always stresses how important it is to manage my expectations and to avoid putting too much pressure on myself. She's probably right, but it was just impossible to be on the same stage with him and not desperately want to win, you know? It would have meant so much to me."
"But this was just a routine tournament," Katara pointed out. "It doesn't really matter, does it? What we really want is to take him down in the finals. That's what we're working towards, isn't it?"
Azula nodded reluctantly. "True, but I found it impossible not to get carried away," she sighed. "I guess I did end up putting too much pressure on myself."
"Maybe that's where the nightmare came from. Maybe it didn't necessarily come from being around your father again," Yue pointed out speculatively.
Azula shrugged. "Or maybe it was a bit of both," she said. "Anyway, at least now I know that I have a long way to go before I can stand up to Ozai. We're probably pretty close when it comes to our skill level, but mentally? We need to toughen up, all of us."
"What does that even mean, Azula?" Yue asked, having climbed out of the pool, sitting at the feet of her girlfriends as she allowed the warm afternoon sun to slowly dry the rivulets of water running down her skin. "How do you imagine toughening yourself up to be ready to face your father?"
"I don't know exactly how to do that, at least not yet, okay?" Azula replied, sounding a little frustrated. "We just can't afford to be so easily intimidated. You think that Ozai wouldn't get to you if he were to try those tricks when playing you?"
Katara and Yue exchanged uncertain stares. "It did look really maddening, the way he behaved," Katara admitted. "It would probably bother me a great deal if I was on the stage with him." Yue nodded in agreement to that.
"There has to be a way to make yourself immune to such taunts and mockery," Azula said with determination. "Shut yourself down from all emotions and harden yourself."
"That doesn't sound healthy, Azula," Katara pointed out worriedly. Especially for you, she wanted to add, but didn't out of fear of angering her girlfriend.
"But it might be what we have to do in order to win, Katara," Azula replied. "Maybe we can do something to practice not reacting to that kind of treatment."
"You mean like one of us acting like a complete asshole by pretending to be your father?" Yue asked, looking rather taken aback. Azula nodded reluctantly. "Sorry, Azula, I don't think I can do that to you."
"No, I'm not onboard with this idea," Katara shook her head sternly. "Azula, I agree that dethroning your father would feel truly amazing, but honestly, that has always been your goal. I'm playing Pai Sho professionally because I love the game, I want to do as well as I can, but above everything, I'm playing because I'm having fun doing so. That's what Pai Sho means to me, fun, and it definitely does not mean engaging in some kind of a psychological warfare."
"Even if that's what it takes to win?" Azula challenged.
"I don't believe in winning at any cost. That's the attitude of your father," Katara replied.
"Are you comparing me to him now?" Azula raised her voice.
"No, I'm just terrified that you're going to do something that will set back the progress you've made in your therapy," Katara said, forcing herself to remain calm. "If that's the price of you beating Ozai, then I don't want to see you paying it."
"I would absolutely pay any price if it allowed me to humiliate my father," Azula snapped.
"I know you would, that's why I'm arguing with you, because I love you and I don't think I could bear to see you hurt yourself, you idiot!" Katara shouted. Azula had appeared eager to argue further, but at these words, she opened her mouth only to promptly close it again.
"Can we please not argue about this now?" Yue looked at them pleadingly. "The tournament has only just ended and I think we all need more time to reflect on what happened." Katara and Azula exchanged guilty stares before they nodded at Yue in agreement. "That's better," Yue beamed at them. "We have one more tournament left to play. Let's just focus on having fun during it, and you'll see that our results will be better for it. Haven't you noticed how much better we're playing when we're not stressing about anything?"
"That is true," Azula said. "I'm sorry, Kat. I guess I sometimes take things a little too far because I just want to bring my father down so badly."
"I understand that, but you want to be smart about it, Azula," Katara replied. "If you defeat Ozai in a way that causes irreparable harm to yourself, then in a way, your father would still have the last laugh. And you don't want to give him that satisfaction, do you?"
Azula looked deeply thoughtful at that. "I hadn't thought about it that way, Katara, but you raise a good point," she smiled at her girlfriend. "I'll keep it in mind."
Even though the immediate tension had been defused, the conversation still made Katara a little wary. In a couple of weeks, all three of them would take part in their final tournament of this championship cycle. Unless they completely flubbed their performances in Ba Sing Se - and Katara could not imagine such a scenario for a moment - all three of them would safely make it into the top thirty ranked pro players by the end of May when the final ratings would be published. They would be taking all of April and May off from Pai Sho to catch up on their studies, but Katara already resolved to watch closely for any worrying signs in Azula's behavior. When it came to beating her father, Azula clearly seemed willing to go several steps further to get it done than Katara and even Yue would go, and to Katara, this would remain a cause for concern going forward.
"How does it look?" Jet asked quietly, pressed with his back against a fence, giving the Duke an insistent stare as the young lad ducked into their little hiding spot, having returned from his scouting mission.
"For once the Fire Army intel checks out," the Duke replied with an eager look in his eyes. "I don't know how they discovered it, but I found those loose planks on the fence just where they said they would be."
"They have an inside man in the Earth Kingdom camp, obviously," Smellerbee sighed, sitting nearby, knees tucked against her chest. "Or maybe someone just sold out for a wad of cash and loosened those planks for us."
"Well, whatever happened, we have our ticket in," Jet said with a feral grin.
The situation in Yu Dao had been deteriorating over the past few months for the Freedom Fighters and the Fire Army. The Earth Kingdom were throwing more and more of their fresh recruits into the grinder, and while their losses were horrific, it was a game of numbers and the numbers were starting to tell. The Fire Army had been pushed to the outskirts of the city and now there was talk of a complete withdrawal. Obviously, that would leave the Freedom Fighters in a serious bind. There was no way that their few remaining cells could deal with the entire Earth Kingdom army, rumored to be at least seventy-five thousand strong.
At least they had been given this one opportunity to really kick the Earth Kingdom painfully in the balls, perhaps for one final time. Their Fire Army contacts had provided them with an open back door into a loaded Earth Kingdom ammunitions warehouse, ripe for blowing up and causing a massive setback to the Dai Li war effort. Needless to say, the Freedom Fighters were more than happy to jump at this opportunity.
"Alright, we're going in five," Jet announced. "Bee, Duke, Longshot, you're with me. I'm guessing the gap in the fence might be a bit too tight for Pipsqueak. Pip, you'll stay here with Ty," he said, looking at the girl next to him. Ty Lee was almost unrecognizable in the camo suit of the Freedom Fighters. She was gripping her Ingram pistol a little too tightly for Jet's liking, but he was relieved to see that the safety switch was still on. Ever since Ty Lee had started to volunteer for Freedom Fighter missions as their much sought-after combat medic, they had given her some rudimentary weapon's training, but she was still uncomfortable around firearms and was yet to fire a single shot.
"I'm not staying behind. What if one you is hurt? The point of a combat medic is that they're always at hand," Ty Lee turned towards him, speaking insistently. She still struggled to accept the chain of command, especially when Jet tried to keep her out of the harm's way. Perhaps Ty thought that she could get away with it as his girlfriend… if that was what they were. They were sleeping together, so perhaps that made them a couple, but for Jet it felt more like two people in a terrible situation finding solace in one another. It wasn't something that had a future, no matter how much he had come to care for the affectionate Fire Nation girl. If the Fire Army evacuated, she would have to go with them, and Jet would remain in Yu Dao, most likely to be eventually hunted down by the Earth Kingdom forces. At least Ty Lee had made the past several months a lot more bearable. He was determined to make the most of what time they still had left together.
"She's got a point, Jet," Bee snorted. "Just because the coast looks clear, it doesn't mean there won't be trouble. When was the last time our ops went according to plan?"
"Uh, I'll get back to you on that," Jet grinned. Smellerbee was right, as she usually was, but Jet was also pleased to see her sticking up for Ty. When his involvement with a Fire Army nurse had come out to his fellow revolutionaries, Smellerbee had been the one most pissed about him consorting with a 'Fire skank'. It had taken a very serious injury for Bee to start trusting Ty Lee. A mine had gone off during one of their ops, royally fucking up Bee's foot. The Fire Army surgeon who later did surgery on Bee's leg had told her that if not for the first aid provided by Ty Lee, Bee would now be an amputee. As it was, she was now walking with a slight limp, but remained otherwise unharmed.
"Does that mean you agree?" Ty Lee stared at him intently, then elbowing Jet in the ribs for good measure.
"Do I have a choice?" Jet shrugged. "Alright, you're with us, Ty. Pipsqueak, stay on the perimeter. You know what to do if you spot any trouble." Pipsqueak nodded at him. "Alright, in that case," Jet grinned as he rose to his feet. "Let's go start some fireworks."
Next chapter: the girls find out whether they have made it through to the next phase of the competition, Sokka has some good news to share with his friends, and the Fire Army begins its withdrawal from Yu Dao.