The Barren Atoll was, on first glance, almost incredibly unremarkable. A few dozen kilometres off the northwest coast of the Fire Nation, it was a rough circle of impassable reefs and squat, rocky islands. The only remotely interesting feature was Seamount 96, an extinct volcano which cast its lumpen shadow over the blue-gray waters of the atoll. The islands themselves were lifeless, all attempts at farming, fishing or colonization having been rendered moot by the rocky seas and remarkably infertile soil. It had never occurred to anyone that, volcanic soil being incredibly rich, a lifeless island in the shadow of a dead mountain was a near impossibility.

All this information could be found, properly filed, in the head record offices of the Fire Nation Royal Geographical Survey. Nobody ever noticed that all the members of the survey team that had charted Barren subsequently vanished under mysterious circumstances. Nor had anyone ever correlated the regular sightings of boiling seas, smoke clouds and bizarre currents with reports of 'sea monsters' and 'strange vessels' around the atoll. All according to plan, of course.

The bizarrely smooth, regular seabed of Barren was marked by only one anomaly: a vast bubble, an oblong of translucent glass and steel rivets five hundred meters wide and a little over two kilometres long. Though it occupied a considerable chunk of the six-kilometre-wide atoll, it was so camouflaged that it was functionally invisible from the surface, even to the seabirds circling above. At night, the waters of the lagoon glowed faintly- algae, the expedition said. The truth was far simpler: a city's worth of gas lights. The misdirection was all according to plan, of course. To the inhabitants of the complex hidden within the atoll, Barren wasn't barren at all. Quite the contrary. The place they fondly called the Lagoon was coming to life. And it was spoiling for a fight.

A slow, roiling shockwave washed over the seabed, throwing up clouds of bubbles from the hidden fish and kelp farms. The rocks began to tremble, vibrating under the influence of an unseen force. Huge sheets of carefully tailored stone and mud rose off the seabed and rolled aside, revealing masses of machinery lying in wait just below the surface. The water blazed with light as thousands of magnesium lanterns flickered to life, their harsh white glow shining off the surface of the four huge pontoons, inflating from amongst the metal. They hove skywards, trailing hawsers and thick lines. They broke surface, foaming, and the cables reeled in, pulling four accordion-like assemblies of metal from the seabed, each an expanding box large enough to fit a small town inside. Guided by the heavy-suited divers who suddenly swarmed the atoll, delicate metal scaffolds were levered into place, firmly connecting the pontoons and the umbilicals they trailed. In the direct centre of the square whose corners were marked by the pontoons, a regular lump of earth and rock stirred, then began to telescope upwards, shedding layers of debris and revealing a brilliant red pagoda roof. The expanding tower bloomed, flower-like as it hit the surface, prefabricated docks and shipping berths unrolling like parchment along the surface, where they were rapidly tethered to the seafloor. The tip of the tower groaned to a halt, great clouds of steam and seawater mist billowing from its joints. All along its height, wicked anti-air defences showed their needle-like barrels.

There was brief stillness in the Lagoon, then one final, convulsive rumble. The top of Seamount 96 fell away in a thunder of explosive charges, revealing three gigantic brick smokestacks, their tops already spitting sparks and ash.

UUUUUULLLLLLAAAAAAAA!

The steam whistle echoed from the rock and metal. Then, labouring out of the umbilicals came airships. A flock of smoke-trailing gasbags. Dozens, at first. Then hundreds. They could fit three abreast in the great launch tubes, and the buzz of their engines was a never-ending cry of defiance and anger.

The sea boiled from the roiling of propellers, as a fleet of submersibles forged into the inky depths of the oceans. Coded flashes of light danced back and forth from the peak of the tower to the airships, which responded in kind. They wheeled like gulls, turning to the southeast. The Capital was their goal.

Every airship, every submersible, every diving suit, every bolt and rivet in this vast assembly bore the same emblem: the three bars and square of the Ember Group. After seventy-six years in waiting, the Ember was at war.

The man with the sword and the beard grinned wider, his yellow smile looking somewhat less cheerful. The tip of the blade brushed Al's throat.

"You deaf, boy? Your valuables. Now."

Al, not in his usual state of mind, said something very disparaging about the bandit's mother. In Amestrian. Then he repeated it in Common. The bandit stopped smiling entirely, then drew back the sword and walloped him over the top of the head with the flat of the blade. Al gritted his teeth.

"You've got quite the mouth, boy. Give me the money, and I'll let you live. Although I might just take that silver tongue of yours."

There was a snort of cruel laughter from behind him, and Al stopped edging his hands together as something sharp touched the back of his neck. Something like a low grumbling was nagging at the edge of his hearing. The bandit gave him another wallop.

"Fine. Have it your way. We'll just have to deal with your friend, straw-haired boy."

Al realized that what he'd thought might be muffled swearing was just that. Ed lay trussed up a short distance away, his hands tied behind his back and a large chunk of broken airship hull resting on top of his automail foot. For a few brief seconds, he managed to get the gag out of his mouth.

"...AND JUST WHO D'YOU THINK YOU'RE CALLING A LITTLE SHRIMP, YOU MPHMHPGH-"

One of the bandits (of whom Al realized there were quite a few) kicked Ed in the ribs as another pulled a burlap sack over his head. The angry roarings stopped.

"Consider yourself lucky, boy. Not only did you survive an airship crash, but you also ended up in my warm and brotherly hospitality. The valuables."

The bandit behind him wrenched him to his feet. He wobbled, feeling somewhat concussed, blinking against the setting orange sun. He hadn't realized how much his head hurt. One of his ankles seemed to be strained, and, if the sharp pain that accompanied breathing was any indication, he seemed to have cracked a rib or two. The bandit's gesture brushed his lower back, and he gasped from the sharp throbbing of bruises.

The airship, or what was left of it, had arrived... wrong. Sky-steel girders and beams looked half-melted, protruding from the undisturbed ground like broken ribs. Several patches of grassy soil were coated with hoarfrost, while others had been burned to glass. It was if the very elements had recoiled at their arrival. They were at the bottom of a low, grassy hill, and if the distant steppe stretching off into the distance was any indication, they weren't near anyone. Or anything. There was a sharp poke to the small of his back, and he stumbled forwards, hissing in pain.

"Frankly, it'd probably be worth just killing you know. Unless you get a hell of a lot more coo-"

A low roar cut him off, the beastly sound echoing over the plains to be lost in the wind. All eyes turned uphill. Out of the sunset rode a lone silhouette, its outline blurred in the heat haze rising off the grass. Out of the light emerged a figure in a long black cloak, wearing a conical straw hat that partially concealed its masked face. Resting in the crook of one black-clad arm was a long lance, its diamond point backed by a long black ribbon. And it was riding a bear. Al cocked an eyebrow. That was... unexpected.

The bandit leader gawped, incredulous, then quickly fixed his resolve to the sticking place, his face hardening.

"The Bear Lancer", he spat.

Mai stood in the garden, staring down a bush. Leaves and branches rustled to and fro in the light breeze. Her eyes narrowed.

"Um, milady?"

She drew her arm back, then flicked her wrist. There was a snap of fabric, and a tiny knife arced around the bush, embedding itself in the wooden post she'd had hammered upright behind it. The orderly gulped nervously. Mai rolled her eyes.

"Yes?"

"It's about, uh, the Avatar's... lemur."

A teak case stood next to her on stout legs. She reached into it, pulling out a long bundle of thin cord with a narrow metal spike tied to one end. Hiss, thunk. The tip of the rope dart hit the post dead centre. The cord hadn't touched any of the leaves.

"Momo. What about it."

In her bored tones, the question sounded more like a statement.

"Well, milady, it would a-appear that, um, M-Momo is-"

There was a shrill screeching from inside the nearest wing of the palace. Mai sighed, rubbing a hand across her brow. A second orderly barged through a sliding door, an angry ball of gray and black fur swarming about his head. Mai sighed again.

"Momo. Shut up."

The words were accompanied by an unpleasant humming as she spun the rope dart in a tight silver blur around her left arm. Both the orderly and the lemur stopped fighting, one wary, the other bleeding rather badly from his nose.

"The last thing I need right now is an annoying ball of fur making-"

Momo stiffened, his ears perking up. With a convulsive leap and a shrill chirp of panic, he had landed on Mai's shoulder and curled about her neck. She didn't even flinch, only looked down at the scared animal with complete impassivity. Then her eyes widened ever so slightly as she heard it too. The distant drone of airship engines. Then a string of explosions and the palace alarm horns. Finally, above it all, a weird, inhuman two-tone shriek. A shadow passed across the sun. Airships. Airships everywhere. And if the little stick figures dropping free from their undersides were any indication, they weren't friendly.

"Ah. Exciting."

Unhurriedly, she began to transfer knives from the teak case to her sleeves, and even (the orderly averted his eyes) her ankles.

"Momo, find somewhere safe to hide. I might need you later."

The lemur skedaddled to the sound of clattering boots as a troupe of red-uniformed Royal Guard firebenders double-timed their way into the garden. Their leader was about to speak when Mai cut him off with a sharp gesture.

"Form on me. And don't get in my way."

"One minute to drop!"

Rocking back and forth in the bowels of the troop airship Endless Sky, Si glanced one last time at the rows of dials and indicator toggles covering his left forearm. Steam pressure, gyroscopes, hydraulics, cable tension... everything was as it should be. He was safely ensconced in a suit of Specialist Powered Harness, a body-hugging system of hydraulics and carefully tuned counterweights which allowed the light suit of metal armour he wore to carry impossible loads. The SP harness was itself connected to the drop gantries of the Sky, which would, when the time came, send him plummeting, falling in a metal coffin, with only a-

"Ten seconds!"

He swallowed, shakily. Planning this back at the Lagoon was one thing. Actually executing a Harness-aided combat drop into partially secured territory was something entirely different. He knew a good general lead from the fore, alongside the soldiers, and Si (with all due modesty) thought himself a good general. So here he was.

"Five!"

The soldier in harness next to him- Hyunseo, he thought her name was, gave him a quick thumbs up, ignoring that the portable cannon she held in her other hand was longer than she was tall.

"Four!"

The soldier on the other side- Si hadn't caught his name- stretched lazily, the three-barreled mortar projector mounted on one shoulder whirring back on soft bearings to let his shoulder move freely.

"Three!"

Someone down the line began to chant, his voice muffled by the thick material of Si's helmet.

"Here we go! Here we go!"

"Two!"

The chant spread; it seemed like something the drop troops had done before.

"One!"

"Here we goooooooooo-!"

"DROP!"

The floor opened beneath him, and Si fell into space, the back of his suit trailing thick cable. His stomach rose into his throat as he plummeted, too scared to cry out. As he had been instructed, he kept the instrumentation panel within view, watching the little wind-speed indicator go higher and higher as the altimeter went lower and lower. He shook as a loud snap! Came from behind him. The toggle marked "Rckt Decel." switched from red to green. They had told him to clench his teeth when that happened, because-

The retro rockets attached to the end of the cable activated, the concussion and sudden deceleration hitting him in the small of the back hard enough to drive the wind from his lungs. The hiss of wind was replaced by a droning rumble, and he was shaken about, buffeted by the torrent of fire he new was streaming from the grapnel that connected him to the airship. The shaking stopped. He hadn't realized he'd had his eyes scrunched tight until he opened them, seeing "Drop harn." switch to red. There was another snap!, louder this time, and he pitched forwards. And took a step, the SP Harness bearing his weight with a hiss and a creak. He blinked and looked around. He was in the gardens of the Fire Nation Royal Palace. And there were soldiers everywhere. One of them, a major to go by his insignia, was walking towards him. Si unsealed his visor, deafened momentarily by the inrush of sound. Boots thumped, propellers buzzed, rockets roared, and above it all was the worryingly loud thump, thump, thump of nearby artillery. The major had to yell to make himself heard.

"General! Welcome to the Capital! If you'll come with me, we've got the Lady under guard!"

Si nodded, and walked stiffly away into the chaos of a war zone.

A low whispering ran about the bandits. Al only caught some of it, but what he heard was worrying.

"The Rider in Black!"

"The Man of the Manchae!

" -heard he killed the Dread Pirate!"

"- three men with one blow-"

"Not even a platypus bear or-"

"It eats men whole!"

The Lancer brought the tip of his weapon up, thumping the butt of the seven-foot long lance on the ground as he halted a ways up the hill. Al wasn't sure which was more menacing- the man in black, or the very brown, very shaggy, very toothy beast.

"What ho, friends!"

Al snorted back a laugh. The Lancer's voice, alas, didn't match his appearance. He spoke like a small man trying very hard to make himself sound very large. And not succeeding. Al realized that, though he seemed comfortable riding a bear, he didn't exactly look like he knew how to use the lance. There was a certain awkwardness about him- Al was reminded of a child on All Hallow's Eve, excited to be in costume but uncomfortable at the same time. The bandit leader spat again, and there was a cautious move towards various weapons among his followers.

"None of your concern, stranger. Be about your business."

The Lancer laughed. Several weapons were drawn.

"Ah, but it is my business, friend! You appear to be robbing that golden-coiffed traveller!"

Al snorted again. What kind of vigilante/bandit killer said things like 'golden-coiffed'? He sounded like a character from a 25-cent adventure novel. Everyone had their weapons out.

"You got a problem with that, stranger? Say it to my face!"

The Lancer laughed again, and Al caught the slightest hint of manic hysteria in his tone. He was very, very afraid. But hiding it admirably.

"Of course I have a problem with you pilfering the prized possessions of this imperilled pedestrian! But so do you!"

"I- what?"

The bandit stared at the Lancer, complete bewilderment dripping copiously from his bearded face. The Lancer hopped down, giving the bear a reassuring pat on the flank with his free hand. His cloak swirled about him, suitably dramatically.

"None of you really wanted to become criminals, did you?"

He raised his voice to a shout, addressing the entire startled group.

"Now hold on a minute, stranger-"

The Lancer shook his head sadly.

"I know how it happened. One day you were in the fields, or in the streets, or your home, and you were busy living. Loving. Making the most of life. You were happy. But the next thing you knew you'd lost everything. Maybe the Earth Kingdom took it from you. Maybe the Fire Nation did. It doesn't matter. Because in the blink of an eye you lost your possessions, but more importantly you lost your friends, your family. You lost all those you love. But still you hoped, and you tried to work to fix your straits, to restore all that was taken from you. And you were betrayed. Nobody believed in the hope you so desperately clung to. Not only did you lose hope, but you lost trust. Left with nothing- less than nothing. All you really want is hope. You don't want to rob! You don't want to murder, to tear apart the lives of others! You are not men of iron, machine men stomping on the face of humanity! Never! You're better than that! You are lost children of the Earth, trodden upon by those who should have been your guardians and protectors! All you want is a loving face! Somewhere to call home! You want to hope! You want to trust! You want to believe in something! You want somebody to believe in you, to believe that you can live your lives free of fear and loss! Believe in me! I believe in hope! I believe in you! I believe this Kingdom can live free of fear!"

There was utter silence. Stillness. Al's jaw dropped. Mein Gott. This man could talk. The oratory wasn't practised, the words were cliched, but they were spoken with such passion. This man believed in what he said.

One of the bandits dropped his sword with a clatter, collapsing to his knees as fat tears rolled down his cheeks. Suddenly all the bandits were prostrating themselves before the Lancer, shouting tearful apologies and begging forgiveness. Al couldn't help but think of Father Cornello. This man wasn't a religious demagogue, but there was no way in hell he was just a simple vigilante. Then he realized the leader of the bandits was still standing, his face set like stone.

Howling, the bandit charged, his sword held high.

The major, one Chenzin by name, led Si through the rapidly growing beachhead in the palace grounds, his dusty armour glinting dully. Si had dropped in the second wave, and evidence of the Ember Group's remarkable talent for rapid mobilization was everywhere. Lines of blocky prefabricated barracks had gone up, and teams of engineers scurried everywhere, antlike as they buried fuel stores and laid sandbags. The major glanced back at him as they picked their way over a ruined hedge bisected by a newly laid dirt road.

"She's in the throne room, along with some of the royal guard Firebenders. When we first- whoops-"

He dodged to one side, Si following, as a line of Howling Dragon artiller carriers rumbled past, their thick rubber tires doing atrocious things to what was left of the lawn. Chenzin continued through the thick haze of coal dust they left in their wake, undaunted.

"We made the mistake of sending in only light groups, thinking we wouldn't need the Harness. Bows, scatter and flame projectors. Lady Mai rallied the guard and tore through us."

"Losses?"

"Lots of casualties, few deaths. They seemed to think killing us was a waste of their time."

"But they're secured now?"

"Yessir. While the light infantry was holding them down, we sent in two mixed platoons from the Armoured Infantry. They agreed to stop fighting, but they still aren't disarmed."

They crossed an ornamental bridge over a beautifully landscaped stream, the weight of Si's armour making the wood groan alarmingly. A ways off, a company of Skyward Dragons began firing, their rockets streaking upwards on wailing columns of flame. Slowly, the noise faded away into a receding screech. When they were almost invisible, there was a faintly audible string of popping noises.

"Anti-air mines, major?"

"Only half our full spread."

"Ah, for the load lifters."

"Yessir. You'll be able to manage everything when we've got the command center unpacked in the throne room. We've got a temporary one I can take you to-"

"That won't be necessary. My goal is the Lady Mai."

They reached the ruins of a door, two slabs of teak and iron blown off their hinges by the concussion of an explosive arrow. The cool dimness of the space inside was quieter, but no less chaotic than outside. The entirety of the Ember Group Archival Task Force was going over the palace with a fine-toothed comb. Instead of weapons, their armoured forms bore punch-card imprinters and storage racks. They moved meticulously from room to room, tagging and recording every historical artifact or document they could find. It was a ransack, done with professionalism and class. The modified Powered Harness they wore allowed each Archivist to carry massive loads of artifacts and artworks, and the more efficient among them looked like walking piles of ornamentation, they were so loaded down. Si nodded at the nearest among them as he and the major passed. The armoured figure inclined its head, but otherwise continued about its work. Though members of the Ember Group, the Archivists answered only to the Owl's authority.

They hurried through the hallways, the bustle of combat growing fainter and more distant, and the rooms growing larger as they approached the centre of the vast building. Si had a rough mental image of the three-winged layout of the Palace, and as they made their way along the marble floor of a large portrait gallery he realized they were not far from the throne room, or at least its anterooms. In fact, right through that wall-

With a crash an a roar, the eight-foot-tall form of a trooper in Assault Powered Harness punched through the wall, apparently having missed a swing. Its momentum carried it forwards, trailing broken wood as its clawed metal feet tore gouges out of the floor. With a flash, several small silver objects flew through the gap it had left, piercing the exposed joints at its knees and ankles. Haemorrhaging steam, the AP Harness twisted and fell, landing on its back with one leg splayed awkwardly out and the other crushed beneath it. Chenzin yelped, fumbling for a pistol bow as he shakily unsheathed his dao. Ignoring him, Si rushed to the fallen soldier, realizing as he passed the hole that it led directly to the commotion in the next room. He dropped to one knee at the die of the fallen AP harness, ignoring Chenzin's frantic calls for him to move away from the hole in the wall. He wrenched off the emergency bolts, and the harness' mantlet hissed open, revealing the understandably shaken-looking man inside.

"Are you all right?"

The soldier nodded, with the usual nonchalance that came from wearing almost a ton of articulated metal plate.

"Just fine, sir. Lower body intakes are shot, I took some heat damage to my left intakes," he said, extracting one hand from the control rig and stifling a sneeze, "and there's spirit-damned sawdust everywhere."

"What happened? Mai was supposed to be secure!"

"She got impatient. And so she jumped on the back of Captain Lee's armour and started throwing knives everywhere. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to let her stay with the Royal Guard was a right idiot."

There was a mechanical screech and a flash of light from the hole, followed by an earth-shaking boom. The Harness operator rolled his eyes

"Aaaand of course it's always a good idea to take on infantry with an anti-tank projector. Idiots."

Si stood, waving Chenzin away.

"Major, reinforcements. Soldier, I need a weapon."

The major hurried off, not bothering to hide his relief. Thumbing a control stud, the operator brought the right shoulder of the suit forwards. The multi-tubed scatter projector there popped off its mounting, a simple grip and trigger assembly unfolding on springs. Si hefted it, feeling the suit whir to life as it absorbed the weight. It was as wide as he was, and more than a meter long.

"You've got 8 shots. Forget about accuracy, you don't need it. Each barrel fires a spread of four bullets. Don't bother aiming. Point and pull the trigger."

The anteroom was a madhouse. Or perhaps a brawl. On one end of the columned hall was the gray of the Ember group, crouched behind the columns as they poured fire down the room. At the other end was the red and gold of the Firebenders, who were also pouring fire down the room, but in a far more literal sense. There was at least one Ember Group earthbender in harness, so the floor of the room was constantly buckling and shifting, cover sprouting up in front of the soldiers as they sought new vantages. There were also a pair of waterbenders, who were flinging darts of pressurized water, their armour coated in a misting layer of ice. Si was closer to the Ember Group side, but nobody seemed to have seen him, so he remained on the threshold of the door. It was impossible to tell who was winning- if the large holes all through the walls were any indication, the fight stretched over multiple rooms.

Someone shouted a frantic warning, and Mai entered the fray. Her face wasn't visible- she was moving too fast for that. Nevertheless, Si knew of only one person who could vault off a previously-unnoticed balcony high up in the rafters, kick-slide down a pillar, and pin a man to a pillar by his thigh. She kicked off the screaming soldier and dropped into a roll, distributing an impressive array of knives into the Ember Group line as arrows exploded around her. Then she was among them, switching to a pair of rope darts. She wrapped one around a man's throat, pulling him down and stepping off his gut as she incapacitated another man with a swift kick to the knee. Pulling both darts up, she lashed them out in a wide circle, clearing a space around her. One caught a soldier in the throat, and she dropped, gurgling, her flame projector clattering to the ground. Mai leapt at it, scooping it up in one arm. Her momentum carried her around and she threw the weapon overhand at the Earthbender. He brought a wall of stones up to protect himself, and the fuel tank ruptured against it, high-pressure fluid spraying everywhere. Then it caught a wayward fireball. There was a vast, rumbling explosion. The waterbenders were mashed against a pillar, cracking it, and a section of the roof fell in in a shower of dust and tile. Mai stumbled backwards, caught by surprise. She was facing away from him. Si threw himself forwards, throwing himself into a roll. As he was in midair, he remembered that SP Harnesses, while flexible, were not designed for rolling in. The manoeuvre turned into an awkward kneeling dive. He ended up directly behind her, the eight barrels of the projector pressed into the small of her back. She half-turned, eyes widening. Si tightened his finger on the trigger.

"Hold it!"

To his surprise, they did. The firebenders immediately ceased fire, calling to their compatriots several rooms over to do the same. Si glanced over at them, then realized his mistake as Mai's wrist flickered, driving the point of a rope dart into the cylindrical steam turbine engine slung across his back. There was a wail of broken machinery as several of the gauges on his wrist shot into the red. Mai sighed, her face locking back into its habitual expression of utter boredom.

"Oh, great. A standoff."

"And how's that, lady?"

"If you use whatever it is you've got pressed into my spine, I die. Unless you're bluffing, which I doubt. If I pull this rope, and the dart comes free, that steam thing on your spine goes boom. I should know. I've already done it to three people."

Si gulped. More and more dials were going red, and there was an uncomfortable heat suffusing his back. There was a long silence. Sweat dripped down his forehead. Then there was a clunk, and an incongruously cheerful ding! A voice spoke from the balcony. Si glanced up. There was an SP harness trooper there, its huge rifle levelled.

"Lady Mai, this is a Seafoam Forge Mark Seven man-portable anti-armour steam projector. The most powerful infantry weapon in the world. Now you might be able to get out of the way of a shell designed to reduce plate steel to ash, or maybe you might not. I haven't been keeping track. The question is: do you feel lucky, milady?"

The bandit charged, and both /the Lancer and Ed moved to meet him. Al saw his brother's restraints melt away in a flash of alchemical static as he brought his hands together, then hit the ground. The lance was raised to impale the bandit, but the bright flash of light from the transmutation made the bear shy back. The bandit stumbled, his momentum carrying him forward as a fist-shaped pillar of rock rose from the earth and connected with his groin. The force of the impact carried him skyward, his legs flailing out and the sword falling from his nerveless fingers. Then a second pillar hit him in the stomach. He went whoomph as the air was forced even higher. Then he hit the tip of the lance, which scored a long line of blood across his face and upper chest. One final stone hand rose up, wrapping his ankle in its stony grip and smashing him face-first into the ground. Total elapsed time, maybe three seconds.

The girder holding Ed's foot down distorted with a screech, the metal folding away as he got to his feet, giving his automail an experimental flex.

"Bastard shouldn't've called me short."

"You do realize I hold no executive power, General."

"Please don't patronize me, Lady Mai. You're Fire Lady in all but name. Your word is law, and you know it."

"And you're going to use me in your little bid for power."

"This isn't a coup, Lady. In fact the last thing on our minds at the moment is the governance of the Fire Nation. At least for now."

"Hmph. You've invaded the palace with a large, well-trained army, have occupied the seat of power, confiscated all the valuables and administrative documents... from where I'm sitting, this looks like a coup. I've been party to coups before, General. I know one when I see one."

"You'll get your documents back, eventually. And most of your valuables. We're taking them for archival reasons. And though this isn't a military operation, it isn't a coup."

"You tried to assassinate Zuko. And me along with him."

"Ah. You figured that out. Look, Lady, that was an extremely poor decision on our part, one which we have come to regret. If it's any help, I can assure you that, though your husband never reached the North Pole, he isn't under our control and he's probably still alive."

"I'd very much like to kill you, General Si."

"I was afraid of that... but that nice man in AP Harness does have a rocket launcher and an anti-tank projector pointed at you, so let's discuss your future."

Mai's eyes narrowed, ever so slightly. Si failed to recognize this as a danger sign.

"General, I'm a tractable leader figure surrounded by big scary men in big scary armour who fly around in big scary airships. Now what?"

"Now? Now you're free to do whatever you wish, for an hour or two. Provided it dosn't interfere with our operations. Then you'll be put on a fast airship and flown anywhere in the world you desire."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Huh. I expected more from... what do I call your organization, exactly? Oh, I like the emblem, by the way. Very modern. Azula would have approved."

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't-"

"These aren't normal circumstances. Spit it out."

"I'm General Si of the Ember Group. And how is the... unfortunate princess?"

"Ember Group? Interesting. Azula's still batshit insane."

"Your tact does you credit, as always."

"Ha. Ha. Do you know where the War Council is? I've got to make... a few announcements."

"I believe they're in the royal bunker. Still alive, no fear. Although..."

"If I wanted them executed, I'd do it myself."

"But of course, Lady Mai."

Without any further words, the two leaders, one in badly damaged powered armour, the other in heavy ceremonial robes stuffed full of knives parted ways. True to her word, Mai made her way to her first meeting with the War Council. There, she announced to the stunned War Ministers and Generals that she was assuming full executive powers as Fire Lady, and that several emergency governance plans, holdovers from the Hundred-Year War, were to be set in motion. One War Minister expressed his disagreement, citing concerns that Mai was no better than the royal concubine and thus not fit to clean his, the Minister for Supplies', backside. Mai's rebuttal was pointed: an ornate and delicate stiletto, pinning the Minister's hand against the wood of the conference table. The meeting concluded without significant loss of blood, and Mai found herself on the spacious, if spartan bridge of the Ember Group airship Uncarved Block. Momo sat on her shoulder, obviously uncomfortable but lacking any better options.

"Where to, milady?" asked the captain, his air of temporarily assumed neutrality palpable. Mai gave a rare grin. A deeply frightening grin.

"Kiyoshi Island, captain. I have to visit a few girlfriends."

After she'd been dropped off with very little fanfare, her statement was duly recorded by the Block's intelligence officer, and archived temporarily at the Lagoon. It sat there for about a week before a minor clerk, on a whim, crosschecked the list of persons of interest on Kiyoshi with Mai's known associates. What followed was the bureaucratic equivalent of a bowel-loosening howl of terror.

-~0X0~-

Oh, is it ever good to be back! Thanks to all you fine people who reviewed and favourited! I also gotta make a special shout out to V2 2011 Group B on the Tischu-Keele-Natla-Ravens Throat-Redstone, for willingly being my captive audience for two whole months. Oh yeah: the entirety of this chapter was written on note paper, on a canoeing trip in northern Canada.

Chapter 10 is nearing completion, but I'm just starting university, so the ETA is... difficult to predict.