Chapter 18. Mission Fox Hound – The Other Army

"I thought only the Fire Nation have fly ships." said Zuko as he looked out the window to look out the night sky.

"You thought wrong." said Kenshin as he drove the air ship. "This air ship was the master idea. Plus this baby is fast as well."

"How much longer?" said Samanosuke as he walked up towards the captain.

"Not much longer. Don't worry I'll let you know when." said Kenshin.

"Have anyone die by doing this jump?" said Katara.

"Only 23 last year." said Jin as she smiled a bit.

"What!?" said Katara as she started to rethink about doing the jump.

Katara got out of her seat and headed next to Zuko. "You okay?" she said as she sat next to him

Zuko looked at her and nodded a bit. "Yea, I'm fine just looking at the view."

Katara leaned against him a bit as she looked out the window. "That's a nice view of the moon."

Zuko blushed a bit when Katara lean against him. "Yea it is."

"I'm sorry for the way I acted back then." said Katara as she remember the battle on that day.

Zuko looked at her and said, "Don't worry about it."

"You sure?" she said.

"Yea, I'm sorry." Zuko smiled a bit.

Suddenly, the red light lit up signaling the crew that about to reach the drop point. "Okay, it's time to get ready!" said Samanosuke as he headed back of the ship. He put on the parachute before pulled down the lever to open the hatch. "I hope you two remember how to do the jump." He looked at the red light and then the green light turned on. Samanosuke jump out of the ship.

Jin quickly followed him and said, "Good lucky you two." She smiled at Zuko and Katara before she jumped off.

Katara walked to the edge as she put on the parachute. She looked down as took in deep breath. "Here go nothing." Katara soon joined them when she jumped off.

Zuko put on the last parachute he walked to the edge and look down. He can see the Boiling Rock as the hot steam came out of the boiling water around the prison. He took deep breath before he jump off. Zuko faced down as he plunge to the ground. He could feel the air rushing through his face as he reached the half way point of the drop. He quickly pulled the ripcord, releasing the parachute, but he was still felling too fast. Two stories from the ground, he released himself free from the parachute. He rolled around on the ground and quickly stopped himself as he almost went in the hot boiling water.

"Zuko, you okay!?" Jin quickly went to Zuko's side before Katara had a chance to.

"Yea, I'm fine." Zuko got up and looked at the walls of the prison. "So how we're going to get in?"

Samanosuke looked around. "Katara will help us on that." he said as he looked at her.

"Okay." Katara walked up towards as she fused the Deskisui Tenshi. She twirled the blade around before she tossed it at the edge of the wall. The blade stabbed itself at wall, hold it in place. Katara tugged on the robe a bit and said, "Who's going first?"

xxx

Next day back at the Air Temple, Aang just started his break from training with Rei, Rin and Toph. He was resting peaceful as he was worried about Katara on the mission with Zuko. As Aang took a sip of his drink, Toph walked up to him to kill some time.

"Hey, Twinkle Toes." said Toph as she walked up towards Aang.

Aang looked at her said, "Hey, Toph." He smiled at her.

"You did pretty well with your Earth Bending." She sat next to him.

"It's because I have a great teacher." said Aang.

Toph blush a bit and said, "So Aang I was thinking that you and I should go out."

"What!?" Aang sound surprise as he was widen when he looked at her.

"As friends! I mean we should go out as friends!" said Toph as she blush.

"Oh, I don't mind." he said. "But why thought?"

Toph rubbed the back of her head as she tried to find another reason why she wanted to spend time with him. "Because umm… to spend time with you. Yea, because we don't spend time alone as much." She said as she continued to blush.

"I see, so when do you want to go out?" said Aang as he looked at her.

"How about when Katara got back from her mission with Zuko?" she said.

"Sound good to me." He smiled a bit as he agreed with her.

"I can't wait." Toph leaned forward and kissed his cheek before she walked away.

xxx

Zuko and Katara warn guard's uniform as a disguise. The two were outside as they waited for Samanosuke and Jin. Zuko looked around as Katara stood next to him. She moved a bit closer towards him.

"Samanosuke and Jin has been gone for a while now." said Katara as she looked for them.

Zuko looked around as he said, "Yea, I know."

Katara continued to look around as she then spotted a familiar friend. "No, it can't be!?"

"What's wrong?" said Zuko as he looked at her.

Katara quickly ran away from Zuko as she headed towards one of the prisoner. "Hey come with me!" Katara tried her best to act like a guard as she grabbed the prisoner.

"Hey, let me go!?" said the female prisoner as she forced to with Katara.

Katara took the prisoner behind the stairs to hide from the other guards and prisoners. "Suki, it's me Katara." she said as she removed the helmet.

Suki was surprised to see her old friend. "Katara!?" she said as she hugged her.

Katara hugged her back as she then explain why she is here. As Katara explain about the mission to Suki, Zuko was about to head towards where Katara and Suki were standing, until he tripped a bit causing his helmet to fall off. One of the guards quickly knew that Zuko was not one of them. Some of the guards quickly captured the prince. Katara and Suki saw what is going, Katara was going help him, but Samanosuke quickly stopped her.

"What are you doing!?" said Katara as she looked Samanosuke.

"We will get him later when we escape." Samanosuke sounded serious when he spoke to her. "If we try to save him, the mission will be a complete failure."

Jin walked up Katara as she placed her hand on Katara's shoulder. "Don't worry; he can take care of himself.

Katara can only watch as Zuko was being dragged away from them. "What do we do now?" she said as she turned her head to face Samanosuke.

Samanosuke looked at her and said, "We continue on with the mission." He looked at Jin. "Jin, go and get Zuko's weapons and hide them."

"Got it." said Jin as she then quickly follow the guards that took Zuko away.

Samanosuke watched Jin as she walked away from the group. He then darted his eyes at Katara's friend. "Who's she?" he said as he stare at Suki.

"Oh, this is my friend Suki." said Katara as she introduced Samanosuke to Suki.

"Nice to meet you umm…" said Suki as she stared at Katara's friend.

"I'm Samanosuke. Suki, you been here for sometime right?" he said.

Suki nodded a bit. "Yea, I've been here for some months, why do you ask?"

"Because I'm looking for two of friends that had been sent here." said Samanosuke as he looked around a bit to make sure no one was looking at them.

"Yea, I seen a lot of faces here, so I might saw your friends here." she said.

"Well, both of them are females." said Samanosuke as he started to describe his friends. "One of them had snow white skin…" As he described one of his friends, not too far from them a fight was going between a young girl and an older man. "…long white hair, blue eyes like the ocean…" The young girl dodged the man's attack as she then grabbed him and tossed him at the nearest wall. "…she likes to get into fight." he said as the young girl was still fighting against the older man.

"I think found to your friend." said Suki as she pointed to the fight that is happening behind Samanosuke's back.

Samanosuke turned around as he quickly spotted his friend. "Damn it, Fox!?" He sounded mad as he walked up to her.

Katara quickly followed him as they approached. "Is that her?" said Katara.

"Unfortunately, yes." He walked passed by the other prisoner as they enjoy the fight. "Hey, stop it you two!?" he yelled as he got in between Fox and the older man. Samanosuke grabbed Fox's arm to pull her away from the guy.

"Hey, let me go!?" yelled Fox as she was about punched Samanosuke.

Samanosuke quickly blocked her attack and brought her face closer towards his. "Stand down, Aoi." he whispered to her as he looked at her.

"How do you know my name?" she said as she glared at him.

xxx

An hour later, Samanosuke was inside Fox's cell as Katara was standing outside to be alert Samanosuke if any guard comes near the cell.

"You know I hate being called by my name." said Fox as she lay on her bed. "So, the master sent you and Zuko to bust me and Atoli out, huh?"

"Sorry, but I did it to let you know it was me." Samanosuke was leaning against a wall as he nodded a bit. "Yea, be the way, where is Atoli?"

"She's standing next to you." she said Fox as she yawn a bit.

"What?" Samanosuke turned his head to the right to see a little girl standing next to him.

"Master!?" yelled Atoli as she hugged Samanosuke. "I missed you so much!?" She started to cry as she was happy to see him.

Samanosuke gently pushed her away then he flicked her forehead. "I gave you an order to stay home." He sounded mad as he glare at the young girl. "And don't call me Master."

Atoli pout a bit as she rubbed her forehead. "I'm sorry, but I missed you so much."

He sighed a bit pat her head. "It's okay, just don't do that again."

Atoli smiled as she nodded at him. "Okay."

"So, you got my things?" said Fox as she looked at him.

He nodded a bit and said, "Yea, I got your things and Jin is getting you weapon as we speak."

As Samanosuke and Fox have their conversation, Jin quickly hurried to Katara. Jin was out of breath as she stood next to Katara.

"Jin, what's wrong!?" said Katara as she looked at her.

Jin looked back at her said, "I need to talk to Samanasuke right away!?"

"What about? What's going on?" said Katara.

"I'll tell you about it later. I need to talk to him right now!?" said Jin.

Katara opened the door then she quickly let Jin inside the cell. Samanosuke looked Jin and he can tell by looking at her face, she have some bad news.

"It look you got some bad news. Care to explain." he said.

"Fire Nation is going to upgrade the security here." said Jin as she looked at Samanosuke and Fox.

"So what?" said Fox as she looked back at her. "We're going to leave before they upgrade, right?"

"I hope so because the Fire Nation going to send in Alchemists for the upgrade!" said Jin as she still surprise about the news. "I heard about it when I got Zuko's weapons."

"What!?" Samanosuke quickly react on the news that was give to him. "Damn it, not them!?"

Fox laughed as she got up and grin. "I don't know why you're so work up about? You love fighting against them!" She cracked her knuckles as smile. "The Alchemists, the Dai Li version of the Fire Nations!" said Fox as felt eager to get into a fight.

"Calm down, Fox." said Samanosuke as he then head towards the door. "We will talk about the plan later with Zuko and the others, okay?"

Before Jin left the room, she looked at Fox and Atoli. "It's good to see both of you again."

Katara followed Samanosuke and Jin when the two walked out of the cell. "What was that all about?" said Katara.

"Alchemists are coming here tomorrow." said Samanosuke as he walked down the hall.

"Alchemists?" said Katara as she cocked her eyebrow.

Jin looked at her and said, "Alchemists are the Dai Li version of the Fire Nation, but they're stronger."

"And more ruthless as well." Samanosuke walked down the hallway. "The Alchemists started when the Death of Iroh's son died in Ba Sing Se."

"The Fire Nation was studying on the Dai Li to make their own fire bending version." said Jin. "However, they wanted a better version. So the Fire Lord hired a man called the 'Justice'."

"Justice found away to give more power to the Alchemists by using some type of ancient writing." Samanosuke looked Katara. "The writing will give the soldiers more power, but it will make them less human."

"The master knew what's going on, so she started this small task force." said Jin.

"Is that how you guys might?" said Katara as she looked at Jin.

"Yea, if for wasn't for the master. I could never make such good friends that I have now." Jin smiled as she looked at Katara.

xxx

A hidden laboratory deep inside an extinct volcano, a group of scientists were working hard. The scientists were studying and taking notes as they look at a big tank. The tube was filled with blood as you can barely see the person inside. Even though you can not see the person inside the tank, you can tell the person was connected to some series of tubes that are attached to the person body.

"How the weapon doing?" said Justice as he walked in the lab.

"The weapon is doing fine, sir." said one of the scientists.

"And we're ahead of schedule, sir." said the other.

Justice grinned as he walked up to the tank. "Good, good." he said as he placed his hand on the tank. "Soon, the greatest blood bender will use for the Fire Nations" An evil grin creep across his face as he look at the weapon that will end the war. "Soon you will kill again my child, my Prototype." He looked at the other scientists and said, "Make sure you got the chemical ready, I want the writing carved in his skin and bones!"

Sorry for the late update ^_^;; I had study for my finals and do some Holiday shop as well. I hope you will like this chapter and plz review.