It wasn't until the very late hours of the night that the boat cleared Republic City waters, and Jong finally approached Azula.
"So you want to know what's going on?" He asked and she glared at him in response. "I'll take that as a yes" he chuckled. "A lot has changed in the five years you've been gone Azula-" Jong began.
"You're the ones who left me," Azula reminded him without hesitation.
"Anyway, we're not just hit and run criminals anymore. We've moved up and this job is going to change the world." He sneered proudly.
"Please, you morons couldn't take candy from a baby without turning it into a six man job, how do you expect to change the world?" Azula teased but Jong merely snickered in response to her question.
"We've signed on with a group I believe you've heard of, The New Ozai Society." His voice grew deadlier with each word but Azula kept a stone face.
"I always knew you were dumb Jong, but I never pegged you for unbelievably stupid. Those idiots are all talk, the Fire Lord could drop dead and they'd do nothing but sit around complaining." She deadpanned, to be honest Azula actually knew very little about The New Ozai Society. Only that Mai's father had at one point been highly involved. But Mai's father was a rather pathetic man from what she remembered, so anyone fallowing him willingly couldn't be very proactive.
"Now that's where you're wrong, in the early days they made many attempts on the life of the current Fire Lord." Jong sneered with a grin.
"That was the early days, when they actually believed they could do it. Besides those were all just attempts, none of them succeeded." Azula pointed out but the evil grin on Jong's face told her that he was completely serious, and he fully believed his plan was fool proof. "Suppose whatever your plan is works. Suppose you do manage to murder The Fire Lord and break my father out of prison, assuming he's still alive. No one has heard any status on him in almost twenty years, he could be dead and all this could be for nothing." She continued but once again it was practically written on Jong's face that he had considered this.
"Even if your father is alive he is an old man by now. With his son murdered and his daughter, well you, he would rule for a few years and then leave the Fire Nation without an heir. Things would turn to absolute chaos." He explained and Azula tried to ignore the insult he aimed towards her. "No, you see after you end your brother's life one of two things will happen. You will assume power or I will." He deadpanned with a grin.
Azula crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Jong, "Of course you'll be in charge either way. If I assume power then you'll be pulling my strings with a knife to Mika's throat" she pointed out.
"Nothing's perfect" Jong said with a shrug, "but you could give your daughter a life with all the luxuries you had growing up" he baited and Azula almost agreed, but she couldn't help but think of Mika. Sure she wanted to say yes for Mika but at the same time Mika's a smart girl, and she just knew that if she were here she'd be begging for her mother to refuse, she'd understand it's the wrong decision.
"You have until he's dead at our feet to decide" he informed her before walking away, then turning back. "Oh and don't get any ideas about escaping because if you do I will hunt you down and kill your daughter" Azula knew it was more than a threat; it was a promise.
"So let me get this straight. A month ago, just hours after I told you to leave Azula alone, you went back to the bar and gave her your address. Then last night she just showed up at your apartment dressed like a ninja, with her daughter, asked you to watch the kid and then left?" Toph recounted, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. She always knew it meant trouble when Sokka showed up at the police station on his lunch break, but it was never usually this serious.
"Right, and a guy tried to mug her yesterday morning." He reminded Toph who nodded, she wasn't really sure if she should be worried about this or not, and she was already working on another case of an escaped criminal. But she had to admit that Sokka's story about yesterday did seem a little suspicious.
"Where is the kid now?" She finally asked
"At school" Sokka answered
"Ok, we'll start with the mugging. If I send you downstairs do you think you could describe the mugger to Emi?" Toph asked, Emi was the sketch artist and had a great memory for faces. If the police had dealt with this guy before then Emi would remember off the top of her head.
Sokka nodded but then sheepishly remembered that Toph couldn't see him doing so, at least he didn't think she could; he had never really understood how much her seismic sense allowed her to see. "Yeah, no problem" he answered just in case, his voice cracking a little with embarrassment.
Toph smirked upon hearing his voice, knowing that he couldn't tell if she caught the nod or not.
Not even fifteen minutes later Sokka returned to the office with Emi behind him, unsure of why she had fallowed him. He then grew even more confused when Emi asked to speak privately with Toph and the two women stepped out into the hallway and left him there alone. The next minute and a half was almost unbearable, what was there to say that they didn't want Sokka to hear? All he had done was describe to Emi what the mugger had looked like, that was it. So why did this now require him to sit in the police chief's office as if awaiting his own prison sentence? When Toph finally opened the door, Sokka turned to her immediately.
"Pick up the kid and leave her with Aang and Katara, you and me are taking a little field trip to the Fire Nation." She instructed.
"Again!" Jong's commanding voice shouted. Azula sent a powerful blast of fire in the direction she thought Jong was in, but was only met by a comment from the other side of her. "Missed again princess" Jong mocked from his new position and she sent another blast of fire at him. "Come on Azula! I'm here and you're firing here!" He continued to reprimand. Being blindfolded, obviously Azula couldn't see him but she just knew that he was pointing to two opposite ends of the field.
He didn't order her to fire again and clearly he had had enough for the day, because the next thing Azula knew all she could feel was a powerful fist colliding with her jaw and knocking her off her feet.
"Jong!" Hariko shouted in anger as he rushed to his friend's side.
"It's fine" Azula said, taking off her blindfold and touching her hand to her mouth. "I should've been able to stop him" she reprimanded herself, grimacing at the sight of the blood that was now trailing down her hand.
"You couldn't see" Hariko reminded her, holding out a hand to help her to her feet, which she refused.
"I should've heard him" she insisted as she got to her feet and left the two standing there.
"I don't even want to know" were Katara's first words when Sokka showed up at her door with a little girl by his side.
"She belongs to my friend Yori" Sokka told his sister, he had already explained to Mika that they would be calling her mother Yori around his sister and her husband, when she asked why he lied and said it was a joke that him and her mother were playing on them.
Upon hearing that Katara was instantly relieved, she didn't think Sokka was the type of guy to randomly discover he had a kid but what else was she supposed to think when he just showed up like this? She ushered the two inside but before another word could be spoken by anyone Bumi, who had peeked into the room when he heard the door open, stepped into the room.
"Mika?" He asked and Mika's eyes widened upon seeing him.
"Bumi? What are you doing here?" Mika questioned, now the two adults were curiously watching the two young kids.
"This is my house, what are you doing here?" Bumi responded; Mika, not being too sure of why she was here herself, looked up at Sokka for an answer.
"Mika's going to be sleeping over" he answered and tried to ignore the death glare of surprise he was getting from his sister. "So you two now each other?" He practically choked out, Katara really needed to ease up on the glare.
"He's in my class" Mika replied with a nod as Bumi, who had been standing almost at the other end of the room, approached the group.
"Why'd you leave school early?" He inquired and Mika gripped the straps of her bag with a smile.
"I had to pack," she answered.
"Bumi, why don't you and Mika go play in your room while Uncle Sokka and I talk?" Katara suggested in as sweet of a voice as she could manage.
"Ok, come on Mika" Bumi agreed and with that the two kids raced from the room but Mika stopped in the doorway and looked back.
"You'll come say bye to me before you go right Sokka?" She asked and Sokka couldn't help but smile.
"Of course, now go play" he answered and so she ran off after Bumi, her face brighter than Sokka had ever seen it in the short time he's known her.
Once the children were gone Katara turned to Sokka, her face a mixture of anger, confusion, and worry.
"You know I don't mind but why is your friend Yori's daughter spending the night here?" She asked, well more like demanded.
"You want the truth?" Sokka asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sokka I wouldn't trust Bumi and Kya at some strangers house and I've never met Yori, I just don't know-" Katara began to explain but Sokka cut her off.
"I know. Look Yori and I aren't the best of friends, we've only talked a few times at the bar. I gave her my address but she never used it, until last night. She showed up with Mika and asked me to watch her, she said she might be gone one night or she might be gone a few days. She was dressed all in black and didn't tell me where she was going. I went to Toph and told her about one of Yori's friends and described him to Emi, the guy's got a serious criminal record. I think Yori's in trouble and I need to make sure she's alright." He solemnly admitted. He didn't really expect Katara to understand; after all he wasn't being completely truthful. But he still hated it when she crossed her arms judgmentally.
"How do you know Yori isn't the trouble?" She questioned and it took everything Sokka had in him not to explode at her.
"I guess I don't, I just have faith in her." He answered with a shrug, his eyes locked onto the floor. With a deep breath he looked up at his sister, still hating the distrustful look in her eye.
"I'm going after her, whether you like it or not. If you don't want to watch Mika than I'm sure Iresha could put up with her." He suggested and Katara sighed, thinking the situation over.
"I'll watch the kid, but if her mom turns out to be the one looking to get arrested-" she began but once again Sokka cut her off.
"I know, I know. Thanks" he said than gave her a hug before leaving the room in order to say goodbye to Mika. As he left all Katara could think was that she could only name a handful of moments in her life where she had seen Sokka this serious.