Chapter 27: Agreement

Accelerator stood quietly on the side of the room, close to the kitchen table as Azula and her brother had spent the last few minutes arguing over the formalities of their agreement. Accelerator was never one for politics, he was terrible at convincing people of anything, but Azula seemed to be quite proficient in the art of persuasion as she elegantly garnered Zuko's attention and drew him into her web. Out of the corner of his eye, Accelerator took a slight peak over at the grey-haired man who stood off to the side; his name was Iroh, but that was about the only thing Accelerator knew of him – at least, other than the fact that he was supposed to be powerful. He still couldn't see it; the old man's body looked frail, small, pudgy, and worn with age. But Accelerator knew better than to simply judge a book by its cover.

As Azula and Zuko continued to talk, Accelerator realized that he had probably been staring for too long because now Iroh seemed to be alerted to the attention the esper was giving him. The older man glanced back at him, locking eyes with the white-haired teen, but neither of them said anything nor made any sudden movements.

"Wait, you don't have any guards? How are we supposed to capture the avatar?" Zuko said in a confused tone to Azula.

"Don't worry. I have a secret weapon," she snickered, more to herself than anyone else.

"'A secret weapon'? What is it?" Zuko asked.

Azula grinned again, expecting her brother to ask; she pointed over to the boy beside her.

Zuko glared at Accelerator, who returned the look back at him; the two teens stared wordlessly at each other for a few seconds, scanning over the other's appearance.

"This guy?" Zuko uttered in disbelief, jamming a thumb in the esper's direction, "Are you kidding me?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Accelerator asked, taking a step toward the prince.

Azula held her hand out to stop the esper's approach, "Wait. It's a completely honest question," she said..

"It makes sense that you would doubt my comrade's abilities, but I assure you, he is far from weak," she said, with an air of confidence that solidified Zuko's confusion.

"I don't care how powerful you THINK he is, Azula," the fire nation prince sneered, "You'll need more than him to capture the avatar."

"Believe me, he's strong," she replied.

"Strength isn't enough," Zuko shot back, "the avatar is fast and elusive. No amount of strength is enough to defeat him ."

Accelerator's left eye twitched slightly; he didn't really care much for proving his own strength unnecessarily, but it seemed like this guy was severely underestimating his abilities. Accelerator didn't know why, but he suddenly felt the need to shut this guy's mouth.

"Oh yeah?" suddenly came a voice from behind the prince, "I think I'm fast enough."

Zuko whirled around, startled to suddenly hear a voice so close to him; as he turned, his eyes widened with confusion – just a few feet behind him stood the same white-haired boy.

"Wha-? H-how did you…" he didn't finish his sentence before glancing back to the spot where the esper was a few moments ago – it was empty.

It wasn't possible. How fast was this guy? It was almost like Zuko blinked, and the esper took that time to get behind him. Such speed was not only impossible, but immensely terrifying.

"...What are you?" the dark-haired boy finally asked, after fully taking in what just happened, "you're not a bender."

Accelerator allowed a small grin to spread across his face; this guy, Zuko, was definitely not an idiot, that was for sure. His assessment was fairly accurate. Although Accelerator may have been able to manipulate objects with physical traits such as water, earth, fire, and even air, it was quite a stretch to assume he was a bender considering what else he could do with his given his abilities.

Zuko remained rooted in his spot, refusing to blink as he continued to stare at the white-haired esper; his eyes studied the other boy's frame, shifting from the blood-red eyes to the silver-esque blades of hair atop his head.

"Who is he?" the Fire Prince demanded, turning back to his smiling sister, jabbing his finger in the esper's direction.

"Curious, aren't we?" Azula chuckled.

"Don't mess with me, Azula!" Zuko shouted, wrinkles on the bridge of his nose appeared through the rage on his face.

"Calm down," the girl responded, rolling her eyes as a sign of slight irritation, "You'll learn soon enough….but I won't tell you anything more unless you agree to my terms."

"You expect me to join you along with THIS?" the prince stated, keeping his finger pointed at Accelerator.

"Hey, get your finger outta my face," the esper said, annoyed.

"Whoever this guy is, WHATEVER this guy is, how do you expect me to trust him," he said, ignoring Accelerator's comment, "And for that matter, how do you expect me to trust YOU?"

This time, the prince's words were directed at Azula, who confidently took a step toward him, refusing to flinch under his gaze.

"Like I said before, you don't have to trust me…." she said, allowing her voice to hang in the air for a few seconds.

"...but I'm your only shot at getting back into father's good graces."

This time, she whispered - allowing the words to slip from her mouth like venom; Zuko straightened his back, the truthfulness of her comment was concerning, and he finally considered the rather strange situation he had been put in. The very idea of having to rely on Azula made him sick, not just because she had a habit of lying, but because she could do it so well.

He peered behind him, looking back at the esper.

Not to mention the fact that this new addition to Azula's team, this boy with the white hair, is definitely not someone who Zuko should take lightly.

Glancing down at the wooden floor in silence as he contemplated his answer, the dark-haired teen then pinched the bridge of his nose before letting out a long sigh.

"Fine," he finally said, "I'll join you."

Iroh solemnly shook his head in disapproval as Azula's lips curled into a grin of triumph, "Excellent! I'm glad you were able to finally see it my way-"

"BUT," Zuko interrupted, "Don't think that i'll just blindly follow you. I'm only here to help you capture the Avatar, nothing else."

"Why, Zuzu, I wouldn't have it any other way," she responded, her mouth remaining in a perpetual smile.

"Whatever," the Prince said, turning away from the princess and heading toward the front door; grabbing a hold of the metal knob, he quickly pulled open the entrance way, revealing the dark outside hallway.

"I've agreed to your arrangement, so until you need me - get out."

"I would love to, Zuzu," Azula began, not making a move toward the open door, "but unfortunately, we need to stay here for the night - perhaps even the next few days."

"What?! NO!" the furious teen shouted, swinging around to meet Azula's gaze; her eyes locked on him as he glared down at her.

"That wasn't part of the agreement," Zuko muttered through gritted teeth.

"The agreement was that you help us capture the Avatar," Azula began, "and that 'help' means that should do your utmost to support your fellow comrades - even if that includes providing food and shelter."

She stopped for a moment, allowing her brother to take in her words, then she continued, "Of course, on the other hand, I could simply walk out of here and never return, but you know as well as I do that you'll never get another chance like this as long as you live."

Zuko forced a sneer, but on the inside, he became worried - worried that she was right. Who else would provide him with another opportunity to return to the Fire Nation? If he took this deal, he would be welcomed back into the kingdom - not as a traitor, but as a hero. The dark-haired teen bit the bottom of his lip in irritation as he was once again forced to mull things over.

"...ok…..ok," he finally responded, although in a much weaker tone, "you can stay here….but no more than three days," he concluded sternly.

"Three days should be more than enough time," Azula hummed as she began to walk around the apartment.

"So, where will I be sleeping?" she then asked, whipping her body back around to face Zuko.

"There are only two bedrooms in this apartment," The Fire Prince stated, "Me and Uncle will share one, while you and….your subordinate, will take the other."

"'Subordinate?...'," Accelerator asked, offended.

"Ah, so you're separating all of us. What's wrong Zuzu?" Azula teased, "Don't you trust me?"

"No," he shot back immediately.

He turned to the opposite end of the apartment and gestured towards a door, "That over there is your bedroom - it's not the lap of luxury that you're used to, but it'll do.

Then, pointing to another door, this time directly to his right, he said, "This is the bathroom. It has all the essentials you'll need - shower, sink, toilet. Make sure not to overuse any of them, because they will sometimes stall due to excessive use."

"There should also be some relatively clean clothes in your room," he concluded as he gave one last glare to Azula before then turning around and retreating into his own room. Iroh followed him in, still shaking his bearded head in obvious disappointment. The door was roughly shut behind the two of them, leaving Accelerator and Azula standing in an empty living room.

"Well, that seemed tense," the esper said, looking at Azula.

The princesses' confident smile was gone, but she wasn't really frowning more so than she was in deep thought. Bumping her lightly with his elbow, the esper glanced at Azula expectantly as she came back to her senses and turned her attention back at him.

"Hey, I didn't say anything back there cuz I didn't want to ruin the mood, but you don't really have a plan, do you?"

She glared at him, a brief flash of anger filled her eyes before then returning to a calm blink.

"Do you question my ability to lead?" she asked.

Accelerator lowered his eyebrows slightly, signifying that her question was unexpected.

"What? No, not really. But what does that have to do with having a plan?"

His question was simple and to the point - something Azula highly respected - but right now, it felt more like a challenge to her rather a genuine query.

"Would you prefer that YOU lead this mission instead of me?" she demanded, her gaze piercing and direct.

"No," he said calmly.

"Why not? You must think you can do better than me," she continued.

"No. I trust you to lead," he said.

At that moment, Azula's eyes slightly widened in surprise. It wasn't just that he believed she could do a good job - that was fairly obvious; the real reason she was taken aback was something much more subtle. He had used the word 'trust'. To most people, this word would've carried little meaning, even to Azula some time ago. She was so used to leading people by fear and power, that even the notion of trust seemed entirely pointless. What was the use of trust, when everyone around you was too scared to disobey you? There was no difference to her, fear or trust, because they both resulted in the same thing - following orders. But Accelerator was different. Unlike those before him, he had no real reason to follow her. He wasn't a part of the Fire Nation and therefore wasn't subject to the influence of the laws of the kingdom; he also wasn't fearful of Azula. Although she was definitely powerful, his own abilities surpassed hers to the point where her threats became nothing but a nuisance. He was totally and entirely free from her influence, yet, somehow, that made his usage of the term 'trust' much more…..comforting.

"Hey!" the esper called, breaking Azula from her thoughts once again.

Realizing her no longer stood next to her, she turned to see him standing in the doorway to the bedroom.

"Are you comin', or what?" he demanded, "I don't know about you, but i'm hella tired."

A soft smile spread across Azula's lips, although not enough for Accelerator to see, and she briskly walked over to the esper.

She couldn't quite identify her feelings at the moment, but if she had to attach a word to it, it would be 'comfort'. Yes, she felt comfortable around this strange boy. There was no power imbalance on her side to the point where she couldn't trust his truthfulness; he had no interest in the political squabbles of the Fire Nation, so she was sure he wasn't doing this for personal gain. He was doing all of this of his own volition, and that was enough to set her at ease. Comfort. Yes, comfort was definitely the right word.

End of Chapter 27

Author's Note: I have no excuses this time for why i'm late, so i'm not even gonna try. Lol. This chapter didn't have a whole lot of anything interesting in it, but it does set up some fairly important things for later on in the story. Anyways, this isn't going to be long, but I just need you to do one thing…. Coooooooooommmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnttttttttt.