Disclaimer: I do not own any characters save my own OCs.
Chapter Two
Jinn and his strike team, now shrouded in dark green cloaks, lay concealed among the decorative foliage of Ba Sing Se's Upper Ring, prepared to put their plan into action. At ten-minute intervals, a patrol of Royal Guardsmen would walk the perimeter of the base of the Palace's wall; in this blind spot, out of the sight of the troops manning the towers, Jinn's team would ambush the patrol and "appropriate" their uniforms to gain entrance to the Palace grounds. If they did it right, there would be no fatalities and they could approach the Palace complex unnoticed. No one liked the plan, but it was the best they had.
The tense group would not have long to wait. Hulking in their ornate dark green armor, eight members of the King's Guard appeared around the corner, completely oblivious to the imminent assault, casually following their traditional patrol route. Praying his men would not spring the ambush too soon, Han raised his hand as the eight Guardsmen filed into their "kill" zone and held his breath. One by one, the eight men stepped into the predicted positions, presenting perfect targets against the Palace wall. None of his men made a move, professionally looking to him for the signal.
With a grimace, the Earth Kingdom officer let his hand fall and his men sprung into action. Leaping from concealment, each man launched a stone at his chosen target. The Guardsmen never stood a chance against such brutal efficiency, as each projectile impacted precisely upon them, knocking them out cold instantly. The last man, more out of instinct than common sense, whirled about to face his attackers…and was struck by a trio of stones as he opened his mouth to raise the alarm. Jinn couldn't help but wince at the thought of the damage three such blows could have inflicted upon him.
Dropping to his knees beside the soldier, he took the man's pulse and gave him a quick once-over to ascertain his condition. To his great relief, the man had suffered no permanent damage and he dragged him to join his fellows already drawn into the concealment of the brush.
Under cover once more, Jinn's squad was already strapping on the captured armor, and he rushed to do the same, donning the commanding sergeant's armor. With time painfully slipping away from them, they quickly bound and gagged their unconscious charges before hurrying to resume the patrol, else they arouse the suspicions of the other sentinals.
Their short sprint in the heavy armor left them sweating and sucking for breath, but a glance at the casual stance of the soldiers manning the watchtowers convinced him that the guards had thankfully noticed nothing awry.
He could feel his men's hidden anxiety and nervousness growing steadily as an almost-tangible force as they finally completed the patrol circuit and marched through the main gate. The sentries stationed there waved them through without much more than a glance. For once, Jinn was devoutly thankful for a lax in security and the effects of routine: Their ill-fitting uniforms would not stand up to close inspection.
The premises was crawling with attendants, workers, and, most importantly, guards for them to lose themselves among and they proceeded to do so without delay.
Doing their best to appear casual, the infiltrators slowly made their way to the tremendous set of stairs that led up to the top of the citadel and the Royal Residence situated there. The men breathed a collective sigh of relief as they reached the final stretch…until it was interrupted.
"You there! Sergeant!" an ostentatious voice called from behind them.
Jinn winced inwardly, doing his best not to advertise his discomfiture. Instead he took a deep breath and assumed his best "subordinate" persona before turning about to face an extremely pompous looking captain, "Yes, sir?"
"What are you doing here, sergeant?" he demanded. "Your armor designates you and your men as being part of Third Company. Your unit is assigned to protect the West Wall, not the Central Grounds." When Jinn did not immediately reply, the Captain snapped, "Speak up, man!"
Han could tell the officer was becoming suspicious as he cast about for a suitable excuse, "Ah, sorry Captain. We were just out on patrol and-."
"Where's you eighth man?" his interrogator interrupted.
Once again, Jinn wracked his brain for an explanation, using the first that came to mind, "Uh, Wu is on sick call, sir. In any case," he said, continuing his story, "we followed our route to the main gate alright, but on our way back to the company we got a bit…lost." He feigned embarrassment, "It's our first patrol, sir."
"Lost? I'll say," the Captain sniffed before sneering derisively. You've managed to get your men lost only a hundred yards from the main path!" Continuing without pause, he continued on another tangent, "You're from the Lower Ring I expect, or from the provinces? How they ever let a dim peasant like you into the elite Royal Guard is beyond me."
Jinn said nothing, struggling now to conceal his agitation and not break character. If he did, the jig would be up.
Fortunately, the Captain clearly wasn't expecting an answer from him, as he affected an exaggerated sigh, "Come along, peasant, I'll enlighten you." Placing himself at the head of their little column, he assumed a self-important and superior swagger.
With the Captain's back to them, Jinn and Shu exchanged looks: This nuisance would have to be dealt with and the route of the path ahead provided the perfect opportunity.
Oblivious to their mute plotting, the pompous officer seemed lost in his own world as he spouted incessant and often self important babble…unknowingly providing the precise cover needed as the troop entered the enormous Palace Gardens. He continued his tirade, absolutely secure in his own safety, until the hilt of Jinn's sword slammed into the back of his neck, quite possibly with more force than required, sending the arrogant pig crumpling to the ground.
Han surveyed the spread-eagled man with none of the remorse he would have felt at any other time. A pair of his men proceeded to drag the unconscious man into the shrubbery and unceremoniously dump him there. The team then simply strolled out of the garden to once more mingle with the bustle of the Palace Grounds, as though nothing had happened.
With no further delay, Jinn found himself marching up the steps of the Palace and entering the Hall of Columns. Bypassing dozens of chambers, they strode casually but surely through the halls, encountering few others until their destination was in sight.
Every man tensed as they marched officiously towards the great doors of the Throne Room, guarded by six men in the Earth King's livery…and two Dai Li agents. The Guardsmen on duty relaxed their stances as they took note of the appropriated uniforms, but the Dai Li continued to watch them menacingly.
The NCO in command of the detachment intercepted their approach, the Dai Li close at hand. "State your business, sergeant," the man demanded, albeit in a rather bored and un-menacing tone.
Deeming the squad as close as they needed to be, Han didn't answer, instead simply saying rapidly, "Sorry about this."
The guard didn't even have the chance to register surprise before a large slab of marble torn from the floor smashed into him, sending him sailing into one of his subordinates, effectively putting both out of the fight.
The Dai Li reacted immediately, stone gauntlets slamming into a luckless private on Jinn's left as he rushed forward.
Shu retaliated instantly, rolling under the Dai Li's second onslaught before delivering a strike of his own, sending one of the agents slamming into the wall with bone-shattering force. With a small grunt of satisfaction, he moved on to the Guardsmen, still recovering from their surprise, leaving Han to deal with the final Dai Li agent.
As the rest of the combatants engaged, the young Commander nimbly sidestepped his opponent's first salvo as his jian flashed from its sheath to slice cleanly through the next stone block sent his way. A pair of swift steps forward and his backslash sent the traitor's head tumbling to the floor, body crumpling after it.
The guard contingent fought with spirit, managing to fell one more of Jinn's soldiers, but in the end was no match for the battle-honed skill of Jinn's veterans. Jinn cleaned his bloodied sword on his tunic before giving the signal to his four remaining compatriots to do what had not been done in a thousand years: Storm the King's Throne Room. Sword in hand, he followed in the wake of his two point men as they shoved open the massive doors and charged into the room.
But the Earth King was not there; his monolithic throne stood empty. In fact, only three figures occupied the immense chamber, three face-painted and bored-looking women in green, who Han quickly surmised to be the Kyoshi warriors, the Earth King's honored guests.
His two-man rear guard peeled off to heave the doors shut behind them and place the huge bar into position to seal the chamber as their three fellows advanced on the women, whose alert instantly heightened as they approached.
He brushed past them to survey the side corridors before turning to them and demanding without preamble, "Where is the Earth King?!"
The one who appeared to be the leader did not flinch at his harshly-toned question and, in turn, accosted him in a superior tone far surpassing even that of the highly-bred Captain they'd disposed of in the garden, "Why do you need to know?"
"You're in no position to be asking questions, warrior. Now, speak!" he snapped.
"If you want to get anything from us, you'll answer my question, Guardsman," she countered.
Knowing that more guards would no doubt be summoned soon, he offered her a curt answer, "Something is very wrong in this city and we must speak to the Earth King. Now, where is he?"
The leader traded looks with her fellow warriors before she dropped into an attack stance…a Firebending attack stance.
Shocked, Han barely backpedaled in time to raise a shield as her lips formed a menacing snarl before releasing a torrent of flame from her clenched fist.
Author's Note: And I think I'll leave you there for now…aren't I evil? Anyway, due to the good response and the fact that my muse has stayed with me, I updated far sooner than anticipated, even if it is a couple hundred words shorter than normal. When the next update will appear, I do not know. Certainly not before next week I don't think, as I'll be working on my other story this weekend. However, we will see Jinn and his Earth Kingdom troopers face off with Azula and her companions when we do, so stay tuned!
Vocabulary: A Jian is a Chinese straight sword, in case any of you were wondering.
I want to thank my reviewers for chapter one and hope all of you enjoyed this installment.
Thanks for reading!
-The CAG
