"Are you absolutely sure about this?" asked Li, as he struggled not to shake from both excitement and anxiety. "No one will find out?"
The four men: Li, Ren, Mao, and Qin all stood inside the armory. All wore the standard Fire Nation armor, and all save for Li wore a helmet with the accompanying mask. It was true that if Li hadn't seen their faces prior, he would have hardly a clue save for their voices who they were. Putting on a false voice was easy enough, and it wasn't as though "His Honorable Highness" actually paid attention to their voices. But Li still couldn't help but feel as though this would only end badly for him. Despite that, deep down, he wanted to go through with it. He wanted to knock the prince down a peg and show him he wasn't nearly as powerful as he thought he was.
"How could they?" laughed Mao. "Imagine! The mighty prince sobbing to his uncle that he was used like a woman. He'd sooner end his own life!"
At that, the room fell silent.
"Uh, Mao," said Qin.
"Huh?"
"What are we going to do if the prince actually… you know…" His eyes darted around some before settling back on Mao's masked face.
"What do you mean?" Mao cocked his head to the side. "Suicide isn't very honorable. You know how strung up he is on that, always going on about 'honor this' and 'honor that' and 'You there! Bring me some honor right now!' Besides, if he does, wouldn't that be better for us?"
"Mm," agreed Ren. "No more bratty prince. We would all get to go home. What I wouldn't give to see my children again…"
Qin, however, was not yet satisfied. "What about General Iroh?"
"What about him?" said Ren. "For all he'll know, his nephew realized how much of a nuisance he was and decided to spare all of us from his temper tantrums." After a pause he continued, "Even if he suspects foul play, how would he ever know who did it?"
Mao nodded emphatically and Li found that his confidence was becoming more and more solid by the second. It was clear by Qin's silence that he had no more concerns about going through with their plan.
"It's decided then?" confirmed Ren.
All of the men slowly nodded their heads.
"We have all the supplies?" Ren asked.
Mao nodded and produced ropes, dark and heavy from being soaked in flammable liquid.
"Good," said Ren. "He should be asleep by now. Is everyone ready?"
All the men nodded once again, and Li placed the helmet with the mask piece over his head.
Mao slowly opened the metal door and looked about. Seeing no one, he nodded to the others, and stepped outside. The rest of the men followed close by as they made their way toward Prince Zuko's quarters.