Azula had unsettled Dick to the point of paranoia.
Her intentions appeared innocent enough; she delivered a message about family, about Zuko's father wanting him back home, and Zuko had very clearly believed her.
Dick, of course, was not supposed to know any of this. He had offered to return to his cabin when the princess made a condescending statement about the peasantry; instead he had elected to eavesdrop through one of the windows. He supposed that he should have kept out of it, but Azula was truly and simply unsettling, unnerving to the point of having Dick up in the dead of night and secretly guarding Iroh's cabin. He was hidden in the trees, keeping watch in case of a surprise assassination or some other gruesome something. Luckily for the young hero, the night was peaceful.
He of course had no idea why the princess would want either of them, or what she was even planning to do if they came... He began to think, making plans as he scanned his surroundings for the umpteenth time, guessing about Azula and her resources; she was a princess so she had resources. He decided that in the morning he would find her base, try to infiltrate it
"We're going home, after three long years! It's unbelievable!" Zuko cried, interrupting Dick's musings.
"It is unbelievable," Iroh replied, much more quietly. "I have never known my brother to regret anything."
"Did you listen to Azula? Father's realized how important family is to him. He cares about me!"
"I care about you!" the older man shouted. "And if Ozai wants you back, well, it may not be for the reasons you imagine."
"You don't know how my father feels about me. You don't know anything!" Dick caught himself scowling, listening a little too intently, and forced himself to focus on other things. But it didn't tune out everything.
"Zuko..." Iroh said something to quiet to hear.
"I think you're exactly what you seem: a lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother!" Things were silent after that. Dick's heart was in his stomach; he shouldn't have heard any of that.
He kept his eyes on the edge of the woods, the beach, the path, anything and everything around the little cabin. He wouldn't leave until morning.
...
Dick would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy doing the ninja thing again. After a quick nap at sunrise he'd changed into his original civilian clothes, packed the rest of his things into a (stolen) rucksack, and taken off to Azula's base.
Infiltrating the ship– made entirely of a dark metal with a pagoda styled tower rising from the deck, and flame-like embellishments all across the surface– was an entirely new adventure. The interior hallways were lit only by dim candles, which made it the perfect environment for blending into the shadows, sneaking around, and wrecking things. And that's exactly what he did.
He spent hours in the depths of the ship, stealing important looking scrolls and tampering with the bits of machinery he understood; armor mysteriously found its way into the ocean, pipes exploded in the boiler room, the captain's quarters had filled up with smoke... Similar calamities plagued Azula's morning. She looked absolutely livid as she screamed at all of the crew members, who had been gathered on the deck.
Dick watched this from a window in the tower, splitting his attention between the crew below him and the scroll he was trying to translate. He knew a decent amount of Mandarin Chinese, but with the added distractions forcing him to rush he wasn't doing a very thorough job.
Azula must have finished ranting, he noticed, because the soldiers had begun to disperse. Some went back into the depths of the ship, while the rest lined up on either side of the dock. They were waiting, waiting for Iroh and Zuko so that they could trap them, for... some reason. Dick rolled up the scroll and put it in his hoodie pocket with the rest he had taken before running down to the deck to hide in the shadow of the pagoda. Something was going to happen soon, he knew it, and he was going to be there to help.
...
Zuko stared over the edge of the cliff at the shore, basking in the moment. He was going home.
The sea was calm, the waves gently lapping at the shore, the breeze light against his face and hair; everything was content. For the first time in a long time, Zuko was content. He turned away for the picturesque view, making his way down the other thousand stairs carved into the mountain.
"Wait!" A familiar voice called out from behind him, and Zuko had to stop. Was it really..? "Don't leave without me!" Zuko smiled, he couldn't believe it!
"Uncle, you've changed your mind," he choked. He couldn't believe it, it was almost too good to be true! His uncle was wearing his traditional armor, a large sack over his shoulder. Iroh stood in front of his nephew as put a hand on his shoulder.
"Family sticks together, right?" Zuko smiled a genuine smile; he was just so, so happy! They turned to look out at the ship once more, Zuko needing to take the whole thing in all over again.
"We're finally going home."
...
It was ominous, watching them walk between the lines of soldiers. Dick went unseen as he watched Iroh and Zuko bow; his focus locked on Azula when she addressed them from the top of the ramp to the ship.
"Brother, Uncle!" she called out, overemphasizing her enthusiasm. "I'm so glad you decided to come." The soldiers fell into lines behind the two, and the ship's captain stepped forward.
"Are we ready to depart, Your Highness?"
"Set our course for home, Captain." Azula was an amazing actor, Dick would admit, but he still had the feeling that everything was horribly wrong.
"You heard the princess!" The captain shouted, waving his hand out with extra bravado. Raise the anchors, we're taking the prisoners ho-" He looked horror struck, shaking as he stared up at Azula.
"Your Highness, I..."
All hell broke loose.
Iroh was the first to strike, knocking the closest guard off into the ocean and immediately being swarmed by three more. Dick moved on his cue and threw a smoke bomb across the deck; the most he could hope to do with Azula right now was distract her. She wasn't his concern right now. He ran through the smoke cover and vaulted over the side of the ship, landing on the narrow ramp. Iroh was unperturbed.
"What are you doing here?" he shouted, blocking an oncoming guard and tossing them into the ocean. Dick jumped over Iroh's shoulders and launched into one of the soldiers. More ran at him, but he kicked them off the ramp almost effortlessly.
"I don't like Azula!" he called back shortly.
Together they were making quick work of the attackers, fighting their way down the ramp and onto the stone dock. Iroh had a man trapped in his arms; Dick was weaving between three different soldiers, knocking them down before they could get their bearings.
"Zuko! Let's go!" Iroh cried up at the ship. Dick hadn't even noticed Zuko leave. He could hear him fighting, though, somewhere in the smoke. Iroh shoved his captive over the edge of the dock and gave Dick a stern look. "Stay here!" he ordered.
While Iroh ran back up to the ship, Dick finished off the last few attackers. Just as he kicked the last man into the sea, a bolt of lightning erupted from the ship, hitting the cliff face and causing it to crumble. Zuko and Iroh came running down the ramp and Dick followed their lead and ran, quickly grabbing his rucksack from where he'd stashed it in the bushes. Iroh took him by the wrist as they passed, pulling him off into the wilderness.
...
Dick wasn't entirely sure how welcome he was with the two firebenders; they'd been running for at least half an hour, Dick following behind Iroh the entire time. No one had complained about him yet.
But even if they'd brought him along, he recognized a private moment when he saw one. While Zuko and Iroh kneeled on the riverbank, Dick hid beneath the shade of the trees and kept an eye out for any pursuers. It was a somber affair.
When the two finally stood up they wore grim expressions, and their hair had been cut off. They started talking softly, but loud enough that Dick could have eavesdropped if he'd really wanted to. He didn't; their business was their business. That said, Dick wasn't sure he wanted to come out yet; Zuko looked about ready to burn down the forest.
He thought about scouting around and getting some bearing of his surroundings, but his brief plans were interrupted by Iroh calling for him. Dick decided that it was better to face Zuko's rage than for Azula to find them via Iroh's shouting, and he walked out towards the riverbank.
Zuko had not expected a young to come out of the woods. He especially hadn't thought that the kid who had been following them around for the past few days would have followed them out into the forest; admittedly, he was t having the best day and wasn't being as observant as he probably should have been. He was caught off guard by Dick's sudden appearance and lunged out at the kid with a restrained fire blast and a strangled shout.
Dick dropped to his knees and rolled out of the way of the flames, landing in a low crouch. Zuko made to attack again, but Iroh stepped between them, grabbing his nephew by the wrists before he had another chance.
"We do not have time for this!" Iroh scolded, releasing Zuko's wrist with a huff. "Did you not see him helping us escape Azula?" Zuko was silently fuming, trying his best not to snap at them. He didn't trust Dick, and Dick wholeheartedly understood that. "We cannot stay here for long," Iroh warned, giving them both a pointed look. Dick nodded, and Zuko glowered.
The agreement went unspoken; he would go with them until it became more convenient to do otherwise—or until he found his teammates, whichever came first.
As the group made their way through the wilderness Dick became occupied with making survival plans, and then contingencies for those plans, and then contingencies for his contingencies, trying to cover every base of this unknown territory.
The gravity of the situation finally sunk in, and it nearly floored him; he didn't know what was going on. He was in uncharted territory, no real understanding of this world or its people, no way to get home, or to even verify if his friends had come with him.
A heavy weight settled in Dick's stomach and he had to reign in the urge to puke. He wasn't prepared for this. He wasn't ready for this. And he was scared.