Author's note: Yeah, so this took a while to put out. After my vacation, I got hammered with about two weeks worth of BS at work so I wasn't even able to write this chapter properly until about Tuesday. My progress is going to be significantly slower over the next couple of months, but I obviously intend to continue writing this story.
Chapter 13 Red Is The New Black.
After the sun had set beyond the Western Air Temple, Zuko had decided that as a favor to the team, he was going to brew them a pot of tea his uncle had taught him to make during their time in Ba Sing Se. As he poured the hot leaf juice into the cups sitting on the tray by the campfire, Zuko humbled himself. "No one can make tea like Uncle Iroh, but he taught me a thing or two."
"Hopefully…" Azula muttered with a playful smile.
"Does anyone want to hear his favorite tea joke?" Zuko asked, as he passed the first cup to The Duke.
"I love jokes." Aang said.
"Might as well." Katara said with an eye roll.
"Oh, here we go." Azula said, taking her cup of tea, and sipping on the bitter drink.
"Can't be that bad." Connor said, as he took his cup, and sniffed the steam coming off it.
Zuko handed out the last few cups before picking up his own. "Well, I don't remember how it starts, but the punchline is, leave me alone, I'm bushed." Silence permeated the temple, and only crickets in the distance responded in any way with their chirping. "Well it's funnier when uncle says it."
Katara grinned. "Maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing." She said, earning a giggle from Aang.
"Oh please, uncle's tea jokes were the worst, Zuzu. You remember the one with the poppy tea?" Azula asked her brother.
Zuko smiled. "Oh yeah. Where it goes, what do you mean, hi? I've been on the ground for ten minutes."
Connor looked at Zuko blankly. "Also, probably funnier when the whole thing's remembered."
"Well what about you Connor? Got any good jokes where you're from?" Toph asked.
Azula sipped her tea before interjecting sarcastically. "Believe me, Connor's a comedian."
"Well I ought to be, a face like mine can't get far in the world without a good joke once and a while." Connor said, before tasting his tea.
"Well let's hear a joke then." Aang said.
Connor sighed, before pulling his flask off his belt, and dumping a shot of whisky into his tea. "Alright… So an Englishman, a Scottsman, and an Irishman walk into a bar. They all order a pint of beer. Before they can take their drinks, a fly lands in each of 'em. The Englishman pushes his drink away and demands another. The Scott dips his fingers in, grabs the fly, tosses it over his shoulder, and has at his drink. The Irishman dips his fingers in, grabs the fly, holds it close to his face and says; Spit it out you little bastard!" Connor was given a few odd looks, though Azula chuckled a little. "Guess you'd need to know how much we Irish drink for that to be funny."
"Or if we could actually understand you." Katara muttered, unable to decipher Conner's use of English words.
"It's nice that we can actually take time to relax every once and a while." Toph said, as she set her tea cup down beside her.
Sokka looked around at the group before eying the three ex-members of the Fire Nation. "Can I talk to Zuko, Azula and Connor for a moment?… Alone?" Sokka asked as he stood.
The royal siblings looked at each other, as Connor sighed and downed his tea in one gulp. The three stood up, and followed Sokka deeper into the temple, stopping at the door to the hallway. "What's up?" Zuko asked.
"You three are from the Fire Nation so I figure you might know… If someone was captured by the Fire Nation, where would they be taken?" Sokka asked.
"Well that depends on which theater of the war, if they are civilians or combatants, and when they were taken, as well as their status of bender, or not." Azula answered clinically.
"Who was captured?" Zuko asked simply.
"Well… During the invasion, we had to leave most of the main force behind… A lot of the Earth Army guys escaped, but… the Water Tribes surrendered. I just want to know where most of them might be." Sokka said.
Azula raised an eyebrow in thought. "And here I thought you were going to ask where your girlfriend was."
"Suki? Wait, do you know where she is too?" Sokka asked.
"Well calm down, we can get to her. Who was it you originally were wondering about?" Connor asked.
"I…" Sokka's shoulders slumped. "It's my dad. Hakoda, chief of the Southern Water Tribe. He led the invasion."
Azula and Zuko shared a glance. "You're not going to like this…" Zuko said.
"Please. I need to know." Sokka begged.
"As the leader of the invasion, your father was more than likely just executed to serve as an example, but if he wasn't he'd be taken to Caldera Tower Prison." Azula said.
"Actually…" Zuko started. "Uncle Iroh sort of… Trashed the place when he broke out."
"What?" Azula asked, before shaking her head, setting aside how and when her uncle was able to escape his jail, or how Zuko would know. "Never mind… If that's the case there's only one other prison in the Fire Nation where they would send him."
"The Boiling Rock." Zuko said.
"Well, where is it?" Sokka asked.
"It's an island in the middle of a boiling lake inside of an active volcano in the middle of the sea between here and the Fire Nation mainland." Azula said, crossing her arms. "We passed it on the way."
"It's impossible to escape." Zuko said. "Whatever it is you're planning, I'm warning you, it's not going to work."
"Look, I just… I'm not planning anything." Sokka said.
"Sure…" Connor said, crossing his arms, not believing Sokka.
"Well… What about Suki? Where would she have been sent?" Sokka asked.
"Funnily enough…" Azula said. "When we captured her outside of Ba Sing Se, I had her sent to Boiling Rock Island to keep her safe. I know the warden there through one of his relatives, and he was instructed to make her stay as comfortable as possible."
"But you're sure she's there?" Sokka asked.
"Positive." Azula nodded.
"I…" Sokka cut himself off. "Thanks guys… I feel better just knowing that." Sokka said, as he walked back to the campfire.
The following morning, before the sun had risen, Sokka tiptoed past everyone's rooms, taking great care to not make any noise. Making his way outside with his pack full of provisions for his upcoming trip, Sokka held up his finger to shush Appa, who opened his eyes having felt the boy step onto his foot.
Sokka pulled himself up into the saddle, and went wide eyed as he found Zuko, Azula, and Connor sitting there waiting for him. "Going somewhere?" Zuko asked. Sokka lost his grip on Appa's saddle, and fell off the bison onto his back.
"Alright, you guys caught me. I'm going to rescue My dad and Suki… Happy?" Sokka asked, as he sat back up.
"I'm never happy." Zuko said shortly as he leaned over the side of the saddle.
"Please Zuzu, you sound ridiculous." Azula said with an eye roll. "I'm sure Mai has seen you plenty happy before." Zuko shot his sister a look, earning a shrug.
"Look, the invasion plan was mine, and I messed up. I got a bunch of people hurt and killed for no reason, and my dad locked up. I owe it to him to break him out." Sokka said, as he climbed back up onto Appa. "That, and I'm freeing Suki, and none of you can stop me."
"Weren't plannin' on stopping you." Connor said with a shrug.
"We came to help." Azula said.
"Correction, they came to help. I'm staying here to cover for you three in case your friends want to come chase after you and get everyone caught… That and I want to practice metal bending with Toph some more." Connor said.
"I'm doing this alone." Sokka said. "Besides, weren't you the one who captured Suki in the first place?" Sokka asked Azula. "Can't imagine you'd be a welcome sight for her."
"I suppose that's true…" Azula shrugged non paused. "Guess I need to personally apologize then."
"How exactly do you plan on breaking your dad out anyways? Are you just going to fly there on Appa, walk in, and walk out?" Zuko asked.
"He's a big target, you know?" Connor asked rhetorically, before crawling out of Appa's saddle. Appa groaned. "No offense meant to ya'."
Sokka looked at Zuko and Azula, before Zuko spoke. "We can take the war balloon. At least then we'll be able to fly around without raising any alarms."
Nearly an hour later, the other members of Team Avatar had woken up, only to find that three of their friends had gone missing. Searching around, Aang, Katara and Toph had found Connor sitting by the campfire, preparing breakfast.
"Morning." He said shortly before sipping coffee from a tin cup, the beans having been taken from the warehouse containing his ship's remains.
"Where's Sokka?" Katara asked, narrowing her eyes at the red head.
"We needed meat. Your brother took Zuko and Azula with him to fish on the balloon… I think Azula said something or other about wanting to learn how to do it." Connor lied. "Should be back in a few days."
Toph raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, as Connor's only lie was about the group going fishing and Azula wanting to learn how, not about who was taking who, and when they'd return.
Aang, still sleepy, turned and yawned, as Katara put her fists to her hips. "I don't know about this. Sokka alone with Zuko, and Azula?" She asked.
"Ah, calm down Katara. They wouldn't have left Connor behind if they were up to anything dangerous." Toph said as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah, like Connor said, Sokka probably just wanted meat, and Azula probably just wanted to learn how to fish." Aang punctuated his words with an eye rub.
"Oh…" Connor said, before sipping his coffee. "Aang, just to let you know, Zuko and Azula wanted me to tell you to practice your fire bending while they're gone. You have to do ten of something called fire fists, and 20 hot squats every time you hear a badger frog croak… Azula said to make it thirty for both if it's past dawn when you came out of your room. Something about rising with the sun."
Aang opened his eyes, hearing a croaking in the distance. He groaned as he turned to face the east. "Nobody else has homework." He muttered.
"Well I do." Connor said with a shrug. "Coffee anyone?" Connor asked, the word for his drink being spoken in English as he knew no translation for it… Come to think of it, he hadn't so much as seen a cup of native coffee since his arrival, not that he drank it much.
"What's coffee?" Katara asked.
Connor raised an eyebrow, before holding out his tin cup.
Far to the south, the Fire Nation war balloon drifted through the air. Zuko fed the wood fire of the balloon's steam engine twice before closing the hatch door, and turning to face the others, finding he couldn't think of anything to say.
Sokka attempted to start the conversation. "Pretty clouds…"
"Yeah… Fluffy." Zuko said as they passed a few.
Sokka raised an eyebrow. "You know, a friend of mine invented the war balloon."
"No kidding?" Azula asked, faking interest.
"Yup…" Sokka said. "A balloon… But for war. Which I can see the Fire Nation put to good use."
"Yeah, well if there's one thing my dad's good at, it's putting things to use in war." Zuko said.
"Yeah, it seems to run in the family." Sokka said, avoiding eye contact with Azula.
"Now hold on, our entire family's not like that." Azula said, coming to her brother's defense.
"I know, you two have changed." Sokka said, holding his hands up.
Zuko looked between the others in the balloon's basket. "She was talking about our uncle."
"Actually, I was going to say our mother was far too domestic to be a war monger…" Azula said. "Though I suppose you prove a point about uncle Iroh now that he's passed his prime."
Zuko looked away from everyone. "He was more of a father to me than our dad ever was… And I really let him down."
"I think he'd be proud of you two." Sokka said.
"Please, uncle Iroh hated me." Azula said.
"I'm being serious. Leaving your home behind to come help us… That had to be hard." Sokka said.
"The only hard thing about it was how little time there was to prepare…" Azula said, hugging her own arms.
"It really didn't take much." Zuko seconded. "I've been away for so long, home is wherever I could take my boots off."
"You two don't have anybody in the Fire Nation that you miss?" Sokka asked.
"I suppose I regret leaving Ty Lee behind. Though she might understand our sudden change in loyalty, she doesn't deserve to be dragged into this." Azula said.
"I did have a girlfriend." Zuko said with a shrug. "Mai."
"That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah." Zuko said, remembering her fondly. "But she probably thinks I'm a traitor… Just like the rest of the Fire Nation now."
Sokka nodded as he sat back into the basket. "My first girlfriend turned into the moon."
Nobody really knew how to respond to that. Zuko first looked at his sister, who shrugged with a confused expression, before looking up into the sky for a moment, then settled on comforting words. "That's rough, buddy."
As the hours drove on, night had fallen, and Sokka had managed to fall asleep. Zuko fed the fire of the steam engine one last time before he heard Azula speak up. "I've found it." Zuko looked past her, and saw the volcanic island, spewing steam into the cool night air.
Zuko kicked Sokka's foot. "Wake up."
The water tribesman shuttered as he stopped his snoring, and stood. "What's going on?" He asked.
"We're here." Zuko pointed to the pillar of steam. "We should have plenty of cover going in."
Everyone turned to face each other as Sokka ran down the plan one last time. "Ok. Once we're over the roof of the inner structure, we make a landing, and deflate the balloon. After that, we sneak inside and search the records to find dad and Suki. If they're here, we steal keys, open their cells, and get out on the balloon. Easy peasy."
As the balloon crossed over the crest of the volcano's outer wall, the balloon shook, before dropping a few feet, as it started to lose altitude. "What's going on?" Zuko asked in a hushed yell.
"We're going down!" Sokka explained as loudly as he dared.
"Yes, but why?" Azula asked quietly.
Sokka went wide eyed. "The steam! The air outside the balloon is as hot as the air inside, so it can't get any lift." Sokka said as the balloon dipped down again.
"We need more heat then?" Zuko asked, holding onto the engine, as he looked at Azula.
She nodded, and before the balloon could skim the water, Azula put two fingers in the air, and sent a jet of blue fire up into the balloon's opening along with her brother's plume of red fire. There was another jolt, as the aircraft gained only a few feet of altitude, which carried it just far enough to land against the shore of the island prison within the boiling lake.
The three occupants quickly grabbed their things, and disembarked, as the balloon deflated above them.
"Well that's just great." Zuko said, before Sokka started to shove the balloon into the water. "What are you doing? That's our ride out!" Zuko said, before Azula put a hand on his shoulder. She shook her head.
"It's useless now, and at this point it'll just give us away." Sokka said, before kicking the remains of the balloon into the boiling water, where it started to sink.
"So what do we do now?" Zuko asked.
Sokka turned to face the siblings, and Azula spoke. "Are you dead set on finding your girlfriend and father?" Sokka nodded. "Well then… We improvise."
After circling the island, Sokka found a point of entry, an air vent in the wall. Azula, standing on her brother's shoulders to reach the vent, was able to open it with her fire bending, her bright blue flames focused at the tip of two fingers cutting through the thin metal. Once inside, the three crawled through the building's interior for the next few hours, until they found a supply room filled with guard uniforms. Dropping into the room, the three quickly changed, facing a corner each, before stuffing their old clothes and possessions that were too conspicuous up into the vent.
"I hope this works." Zuko said, putting his helmet's visor down.
"That makes two of us." Azula said, pulling the shirt of the female guard uniform as low as it could go to hopefully hide the scar on her abdomen.
"We just need to find Suki and my dad, and get out quick." Sokka said.
"Easier said than done." Azula snapped, before nearly forty guards ran by the hallway they were in.
"You three, there's a scuffle in the yard, come on, you're gonna' want to see this." One of the men who ran by stopped to say. Feeling outed, the trio followed the group, though lingered towards the back, watching on as a guard proceeded to harass one of the inmates before ultimately Sokka was ordered to help take the man to what was called a "Cooler."
Despite their disguises the three felt no safer. After the small fiasco in the yard, Zuko skulked away to find out through gossip if there were any prisoners of war being held on the island, while Azula took the opportunity to secure the three imposters quarters within the guard wing, having gotten the feeling they were going to be there for a while.
It was actually rather easy. The guard manning the desk was only a few weeks newer than they were, (had the trio been real guards,) and she was given three room keys, as well as the standard guard's set of master keys for cell blocks and other secure areas, signed for under the name "Akiko."
By chance, Sokka had bumped into Azula on his way up to one of the observation decks overlooking the yard, and Zuko, not much later, approached the two. "So… Pretty clouds…" Zuko said as he put his hands behind his back and looked out to the sky.
"Zuzu?" Azula asked, remembering Sokka had said something similar the day before.
"Azula?" Zuko asked in return.
"Who else calls you that, dumb dumb?" She asked rhetorically as she lifted the visor of her guard helmet alongside Sokka.
"Great, we're all back together." Sokka said, before looking at Zuko, then lowering his visor. "Azula got us a few beds and some cell block keys. I got a set too from throwing that one guy in a cell, but we're still short a pair for you… And where have you been?"
Zuko looked out into the yard. "I've been talking with a couple of the older guards. Azula was right, the Kyoshi warriors are here." Zuko said, pointing to a corner of the prison yard where several younger women kept to themselves, with a distinctive detail of three guards surrounding them, and space between them and the regular prisoners. "Special treatment and everything."
"Yes!" Sokka pumped his fist. "And My dad?"
Zuko's expression darkened… "I'm sorry, Sokka. There aren't any prisoner's from the invasion. They're being held in a jail closer to the capitol, in Long Island Province…"
Azula raised an eyebrow. "I know the prison you're talking about."
"Really?" Sokka asked.
Azula nodded. "It's where Connor was being held when he was first found. You've got nothing to worry about. If your father and his men haven't already escaped, the accommodations are far better than this rat hole."
"Right, so we can go bust him out after we free your girlfriend." Zuko said.
"Right, well first we need to figure out how to do that." Azula said. Zuko and Sokka immediately looked at her. "And I'm assuming that you think I have already concocted a way to get out of here in less than an hour…" Zuko and Sokka both raised an eyebrow under their visors. Azula sighed. "I've got a plan that can get us and the girls at least to the gondola, but past that, we're out of luck. The warden will just cut the line, and there's no guarantee we won't just be shot… The perimeter wall guards have guns, and the towers are armed with ballistas."
"Which means we've just got to come up with something a little more creative." Sokka said, as he looked over at the west wall of the prison, where there was what looked like an absence of guard towers covering one section of the prison… The isolation rooms… The bell in the yard rang, and all the prisoners began to file back into the building. Sokka's eyebrow rose until it nearly came off of his head. "How many people do you think could fit in one of those coolers?"
"The what?" Zuko asked in confusion.
"The isolation cells for fire benders. I don't exactly know how they pump the cold air into them, but I know that the cold air stays inside, and if the cold is staying in, then that means the heat is staying out, kinda like the opposite of a parka."
"And?" Azula asked.
"And they'd have to be air tight too." Sokka said.
Azula's eyes lit up. "And therefore water tight… You think that one of these cooler cells could act like a boat in the boiling water."
"Yeah, maybe… The isolation wing is built into the exterior wall of the prison's west block, and I can shoot two azimuths from here to the next closest guard towers and know there's a blind spot on the lowest level of the isolation block. The towers wouldn't be able to see the cooler in the water maybe, 80% of the width of the lake. The only thing is, the cells are bolted on from the inside so you'd need a lot of time in one to take it off of the wall." Sokka said.
"If you could manage that, we only need space for eight people." Zuko said.
Sokka nodded his head. "Eight people… Yeah… That can work… Alright let's go talk with Suki, then we can figure out how to pull the cooler out of the wall without anyone noticing."
"You make it sound like that's the easy part." Azula said with an eye roll.
Outside of the prison block located on the prison's east side, Sokka, Zuko and Azula all cautiously approached the door, where three other guards stood. "You three our lunch break?" The furthest guard asked.
Sokka held a thumb up. "Sure are, go get yourselves some grub, and take your time, we just came off our break."
"Thanks rookies." The oldest man of the three said, before the group dispersed towards the guards break room.
While the Fire Nation siblings stood watch, Sokka did one quick look around, then slipped into Suki's cell.
Immediately upon hearing the door open, Suki sat up in her bunk, finding one of the guards had entered. "What is it?" Suki asked. "Did someone hurt one of my warriors?"
"You don't recognize me?" Sokka asked, slightly confused.
"You people all look the same." Suki said, crossing her arms.
"Huh?" Sokka raised an eyebrow before coming to a quick realization. "Oh, the uniform." He said to himself, before pulling his helmet off. "Suki, it's me."
"Sokka?!" Suki nearly shouted, as she pushed herself off of the bunk, and rushed into his arms, finding herself briefly swept off her feet. "I never thought I would see you again…" Sokka let Suki go, and her feet returned to the floor. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to bust you out. I'm with a couple of, er, friends. I've got a plan, and we need some time, but you don't have to worry." Sokka said, as Suki placed a hand on the back of his neck. "I'm not gonna' lose you again… Have they been treating you alright? They haven't hurt you or anything?" Not entirely believing Azula's word of his girlfriend's safety.
Suki rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Sokka. The other prisoner's keep away from the Kyoshi warriors, and the guards are under orders not to touch us unless they have to… It's a long story."
"Yeah yeah, Princess Azula told me, she captured you outside of Ba Sing Se, and gave you special treatment." Sokka said, waving a hand.
"The-Wait… Princess Azula, the daughter of the Fire Lord, told you about that?" Suki asked, flabbergasted.
"It's a long story…" Sokka said with a shrug, as he leaned in towards Suki, who in turn stood up on her toes.
"You can tell me later." She said before their lips met.
Just outside of the cell, Zuko and Azula saw a female guard approaching from the nearby staircase. "Oh no." Zuko muttered, before knocking twice on the door, giving Sokka a few second's warning.
"Excuse me, I need to get into that cell." The guard said, before Zuko looked at Azula for some kind of response.
Azula cleared her throat before addressing the taller woman. "What for?" She asked in return.
"The Warden has a question he wants her to answer." The woman said.
Azula raised an eyebrow from under her visor. "Well the warden also has this prisoner placed under special care as well. My senior is currently questioning her about any possible undue harm befalling her or her fellow compatriots."
"Oh, well I guess you didn't get the notice. The infamous Kyoshi Warriors are officially no longer under the protection of the royal family." The guard said, putting her hands on her hips. Sokka slipped out of the cell, catching the woman's words. "The paperwork only just got done yesterday, but I figured you two would have heard coming from the mainland and all. The Princess, the girl who captured them and gave the special treatment order? Turns out she and her brother were traitors."
"Oh… Oh yeah, I read something about that on a bulletin." Zuko said as he rubbed his neck.
"Yeah, cryin' shame." Sokka said.
"You buy the official story that she was working with The Avatar to take the throne from the Fire Lord this whole time?" The guard asked.
"Anything's possible." Azula said with an eye roll.
The woman grinned to herself. "Yeah, makes you wonder… Personally I think that she ran away so she could be with her brother."
"Her what?" Zuko blanched.
"Excuse me?" Azula asked, again cocking an eyebrow, feeling her already clenched fist tighten at what the woman in front of her was insinuating with her gossip.
"Oh come on, it's obvious. I mean, the princess disappeared for months in the Earth Kingdom, came back with the banished prince, who's been redeemed with pretty much only her word, and then suddenly she just left with him?" The guard asked rhetorically. "I think what's really going on is the prince and the princess were trying to keep it in the family and she ended up pregnant." Azula's eyes shot open wide at the woman's wild theory, and she felt her stomach curling into a knot, and her trimmed nails digging into her palm. In that same moment, Azula saw the perfect window of opportunity to aid in everyone's escape. "I mean, both of them were completely wolf bat guano to boot, so I wouldn't be surprised if the princess was riding her brother's di-OOF" With a muffled thud, Azula sunk her fist into the taller woman's gut with a right uppercut, causing the older woman to double over, and brace herself against the floor as she held a hand over her liver.
Sokka and Zuko gawked in wide eyed disbelief, before Azula smirked at them, then bent at the waist to speak to the fallen guard. "That was for spreading rumors about me… ME, Princess Azula." She said, taking off her helmet, letting the guard see her face, before dropping the piece of armor, and looking at Zuko, who was still masked, mouth agape. "Try and keep up Dum-dum." She said with a wink, before taking off down the hallway.
The woman got to her still shaky feet, and pointed at Azula. "Don't just stand there you idiots, go get her!"
In a mad dash Zuko and Sokka ran after Azula, keeping pace so as to not actually catch her. "Has she lost her mind!?" Sokka asked.
"I think she knows exactly what she's doing." Zuko replied.
"Well whatever it is she's doing, it would have been nice of her to warn us!" Sokka shouted, as the two boys followed Azula past several other guards who, without explanation, joined in on the chase.
After two more twists and turns, Azula came to a dead end that she had to have known was coming, and without much more than a calming breath, Azula turned around and raised her hands. Several voices from the group of gathered guards muttered behind Sokka and Zuko. "The Princess?" "Here?" "I thought she was in exile."
Azula harrumphed to herself, before speaking. "Alright, you caught me… Now… If you would be so kind, I believe the warden is going to want to see me."
Zuko shared a look with Sokka, before the two grabbed Azula by either wrist, and held her arms behind her back, pushing her towards the nearest senior guard. "Whatever you're planning, I hope it works." Zuko whispered to his sister.
Azula smirked. "Oh don't worry Dum-dum, I am four steps ahead of you."
After being stripped of her guard uniform, and having changed into the same set of prison rags every other inmate had to wear, Azula was walked with her hands and ankles chained together into a cell with nothing more than a sleeping mat and the hole in the corner. Azula sighed, and waited, taking a seat on the bedroll.
The door to the cell was opened shortly after, and the warden stepped in looking down at the princess. "Formerly, princess Azula… You infiltrating my prison was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."
"Hhhmm." Azula said feigning interest. "Well I didn't do a very good job of it now did I?"
"Which is precisely why I'm here…" The Warden said. "Mai told me a lot about you. You're cunning, driven, but most of all cautious… From what I understand, you punched one of my guards unprovoked, and revealed your identity to her as well as a crowd… I want to know why someone with a reputation for making no mistakes would do something so foolish?"
Azula smirked. "Perhaps I've simply lost my touch."
"Unlikely…" The Warden mused. "You wouldn't out yourself like this without a reason… And you wouldn't sneak into this prison without a reason either."
Azula shrugged. "I guess playing dumb would only get me so far… The truth is, I'm here because I want to make a deal."
The warden chuckled to himself a little. "You're not in any position to negotiate."
"Oh please." Azula rolled her eyes. "I'm probably one of the best fire benders in the world, I could have fought my way out at any point, or fought my way in. I'm still in plenty of position to negotiate even while chained." The warden raised an eyebrow as Azula held up her still bound wrists. "I snuck in because I wanted to make a deal with the Kyoshi Warriors, of whom I had sent here to begin with… I was initially going to free them in exchange for their service, but none of them are interested. They hate me actually. Though over the course of the past few hours I've made a more compassionate decision…" Azula paused.
"Well?" The warden asked.
"I know that my brother and I are wanted fugitives, so in exchange for my peaceful return home, where I might be charged and serve whatever sentence is handed to me, Zuko shall remain in exile but nonetheless a free man." Azula said.
The Warden nodded his head. "A noble request, but I'm afraid I'm not the one who can make that decision… If you behave, there is a chance you can talk to the man that's been tasked with tracking you and your brother down, and make the same offer to him. A message is already on it's way to Caldera… Prince apparent Kozato should be here within a day or two to take you home either way… Enjoy your stay in my prison, Azula." The Warden said before turning and leaving the room, as Azula smirked to herself.
After a few hours, Azula was pulled from her cell, and the restraint taken off of her wrists and ankles. She was tasked with mopping the floor of the block, and conveniently Suki was also doing the same.
Suki had to pause for a moment when she saw Azula come around the corner of the staircase, mop in hand. "It's a long story." The former princess said, as she gently pushed Suki into a corner of the wing behind a set of stairs, out of the eye of the guards.
"Well I'd like to hear it. Apparently you're the one who told Sokka I was here? And what are you doing in prison reds anyways?" Suki asked.
Azula shrugged. "It is the new black." Suki didn't laugh, and Azula rolled her eyes. "My brother and I joined The Avatar so that we could inevitably overthrow our father and one of us could claim the throne. We came here with Sokka to break you and your warriors out. After all, we need as many people on our side as we can get. And I intentionally got myself caught, but I'll explain that when the boys show up... Oh, and, I would like to formally apologize for capturing you. It wasn't personal."
"How empathetic of you." Suki said sarcastically.
"Have you seen either of them recently? My brother or Sokka?" Azula asked, only a moment before the two boys in question came down the stairs and found them.
Sokka looked over his shoulder as he and Zuko approached. "What is wrong with you?" Sokka asked.
"I saw a perfect opportunity to aid in our escape and I took it." Azula said, crossing her arms.
"Well don't just leave us hanging." Zuko said. "What exactly is it you're trying to do?"
Azula smirked. "Sokka, regal us with the genius of your cooler plan." She ordered.
Sokka shrugged. "It's pretty simple, we unbolt a cooler from the inside, it opens up one of the walls to the lake, and then we just float across in the thing like a boat to the other side."
"Which would problematically leave us stranded on the exterior island the prison is built within." Azula said. "Your plan is perfect for getting out of the prison, but that doesn't mean we'd be free, which is why I took the liberty of arranging for our transportation off the island… Someone who's been named as heir to the throne is going to be arriving in a few days to take me back to the Capitol, and we're going to steal whatever ship he comes on."
"How? We'd need to get to the exterior island first, and on top of that, the only people we could potentially get there with your plan would be Sokka, you, and I." Zuko said.
"You're thinking too small, Zuko… I'm suggesting we use a combination of the plans we've made thus far to escape." Azula said with a hand wave.
"How so?" Suki asked.
"Yeah, how're you escaping?" A new voice said from above them on the stares. Looking up everyone saw the lumbering form of Chit Sang leaning over the railing with a grin.
"Oh crap…" Azula muttered to herself, as Chit Sang, in a surprising display of athleticism for his build, slipped through the railing and dropped down to the floor with them all.
"What's it matter to you, Chit?" Suki asked, having seen the repeat trouble maker around the yard before.
"Whatever it is you're planning, I want in on it." Chit said, as he smiled smugly at them. "Because it'd be a shame if the warden found out about this plan, and suddenly I lose a chance at getting out of my life sentence."
"Well… What exactly did you do to get a life sentence?" Sokka asked, cautiously curious.
"Killed about five army officers in a bar brawl, and I'll admit to that, but the BS charge that it was premeditated and an act of treason is bunk." Chit said.
"Oh, well in that case, I think we just found a potential new friend." Azula said sarcastically.
Sokka rubbed his eye for a second. "Alright if we're going to have full disclosure… Chit, we're a group of, let's say, freedom fighters. This is, Suki, I'm Sokka, and these two are Princess and Prince Azula, and Zuko." Zuko raised the visor of his helmet to show Chit the infamous scar over his eye.
"Yeah." Chit nodded. "I heard somethin' about you two running off with The Avatar… Far as I'm concerned, you're cool for stickin' it to the corrupt law and order we got in our society."
"Well that's a relief." Suki said, looking around to see if they were still safe.
"So what's this plan you got princess?" Chit asked.
Azula's smirk returned. "Three plans, all converging and covering each other… First, we need to get inside of a cooler and unbolt it, once that's done, it can be pulled out of the wall, and be used as a boat for a group of no more than eight people, Preferably the Kyoshi Warriors. They are going to have to smuggle enough food with them for about a day, and then, lay in wait for the arrival of my transport ship. Once the ship has arrived and I'm moved onto it, under Sokka and Zuko's "voluntary watchful guard," the warrior's can ambush the crew, and the three of us can join in on the fighting, which will be the easy part in all honesty. Not only does this give us the best chance of getting out of the prison itself unnoticed, but should either the cooler escapees be captured, or Zuko, Sokka and I fail to leave all at once, this allows for one party to remain in play and potentially take the ship to then come back with help from The Avatar and his friends, two of which are capable earth benders that could rip through this prison like wet tissue."
"Then why didn't you bring them to begin with?" Chit asked.
At that Azula pursed her lips together. "To be honest, I didn't think we'd need them."
"What's the third plan then?" Zuko asked.
"Oh you don't have to worry about that one. It's a little backup." Azula said with a hand wave.
"Right, well before we can even begin to take ships, we've got to unbolt a cooler, and that means getting inside one without raising any suspicion." Sokka said.
Chit and Suki both smirked. "We can get you in one."
Just before sunset at the Western Air Temple, Katara was preparing to make dinner for the group, and just in time, Connor dropped a stack of wood beside the fireplace. "Hope that'll be enough." Connor said, as he dusted off his hands and then pulled a splinter from his thumb.
Katara looked down at the bundled pile, and nodded. It was twice as much as Sokka would usually gather. "That's plenty…" Katara said, before glancing up at Connor, Azula's word's echoing in her head. "Well if you're so curious why don't you just ask him…" Cocking an eyebrow, Katara sat upright and before Connor could walk away she asked a question. "Hey, Connor?..." He turned his head, attention caught. "A few days ago, Azula said something crazy, and then she just said to ask you about it…"
Connor spun around and sighed. "Ah, how crazy? I know I call her that sometimes but she's not actually crazy, just… a little intense."
Katara rolled her eyes. "That's a nice way of putting it… Anyways, she said that, you, out of all people, were the one who, I guess invented the thunder stick, er, musket. And I'm trying to be kind here, but you don't exactly seem like the inventive type."
Connor shrugged, before kicking his heel into the ground, creating a short seat for himself out of the floor. "Well I didn't invent the musket." He said, sitting down. "Haven't invented anything really. My pistol's about as close as I could get to an "invention," but I borrowed almost every feature it has from somewhere else…"
"That's not what I meant really." Katara said, cutting Connor off. "Azula said that you were the one who showed her it, or I guess showed the Fire Nation the things to make the musket, and I was just wondering how that could possibly be, if even you yourself admit you didn't invent it."
Connor raised an eyebrow, before sighing. "How much are you willing to believe?" Connor asked, before he started to take a few twigs from the stack of wood and pile them loosely into a pyramid between Katara and him.
Katara paused, before she gave her answer. "I've met spirits before."
Connor didn't miss a beat. "I've prayed to gods I've never heard of before… And I'm speaking a language that isn't my own…" He let Katara look confused for a second. "Reality is far more grand and strange than any story you can fathom, so if you don't believe me, you can ask your friend who can read a man's words as truth or lies…" He stacked four logs across each other, and glanced up at Katara. "I'm not from your world. I'm a traveler from beyond the horizon, and beyond even the stars. The musket is a creation of my people… ðə ˌjʊərəˈpiːənz." Katara nearly shivered at the way Connor pronounced the word, and Connor chuckled. "Aaaah. Yeah. I figured you wouldn't believe me."
"No no, I don't think that you're lying to me. I mean why would you about something like this?… It's just… I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react." Katara said, waving a hand. "Wow… So… You're from another planet?"
Connor held a hand up in a half shrug. "I was a little hyperbolic, though with my skin color and hair I guess that it would be fitting… It's less so that I'm from another world within your universe, and more like… Like your world and mine are mirrors of each other, like the Spirit world you're people speak of, and the real world." Connor said before pausing, giving Katara time to light some tinder with spark rocks.
"I don't think it's strange at all actually." Katara said. Connor blinked once quizzically. "I mean, if you think about it, the spirit world is an entire plane of existence separated from the physical world… Maybe your world, your physical plane, is just on the other side of the spirit world?"
Connor chuckled. "I'm still partial to the theory that God had something to do with it… Like this is some kind of giant cosmic joke he decided to tell… And it's a good one, I'll give him that. Had me wandering all over the place for The Fire Lord for half a year." Connor mostly muttered.
Katara finally threw enough sparks onto the tinder, and within a few minutes the fire had spread to the kindling. "So if you're from another world, how did you end up working for the Fire Nation? Or I guess, why, really?" She asked.
Connor scratched the side of his head. "Well I didn't mean to come to your world. I was on a ship heading west from ˈfrɑːns to my home country, and my ship hit a storm... I'd woken up in the middle of it and the crew was gone, the longboat taken. I tried to reign in the ship, but I hit my head, and when I came to, I was on the western shore of the Fire Nation. I couldn't communicate, and ended up killing a man in self defense before I got arrested... The locals found my ship, then the Fire Lord caught wind of the whole situation, and Azula was sent in his stead to find out who I was and how I'd gotten into Fire Nation waters... It took a while, but I picked up your tongue, had my name cleared, and in a gamble offered to show the Fire Nation how the muskets on board my ship worked, in exchange for becoming a Fire Nation citizen and compensatory pay... I guess after that, Azula thought I'd be useful."
Katara pouted to herself for a moment before coming to a decision. "I was wrong about you."
Connor looked up from the fire. "Huh?"
Katara restarted. "I was wrong about you. This whole time, since I first fought with you in Omashu, I always thought you were some dumb, overgrown, freaky, attack polar-dog, at Azula's feet. But you're not… You're just… Different. Lost. Maybe confused… If what you've said is all true, then everything you've done, killing Aang, overthrowing the Earth King, helping the Fire Nation… You couldn't have known you were on the wrong side of it all. You were just doing what Azula wanted you to do."
"To an extent…" Connor said with a shrug. "I never wanted to kill your friend. He's been nothing but a good kid every time I've talked with him… And I wasn't trying to overthrow the Earth King, just Long Feng once I found out he was the puppeteer over Ba Sing Se… But helping the Fire Nation? I'd do that again in a heartbeat. I'd risk the bloodshed I've caused all over again." A small smile crept up on Connor's face. "Because if I didn't, I probably wouldn't be by Azula's side still."
Katara raised an eyebrow, before she donned a shocked expression. "Oh, right... You and her... I thought the two of you were a little close on your first day here, but... Does she, actually like you? I'm not saying that because I think you're objectively ugly or something. And how would I know if what your people consider ugly is what my people would consider ugly?" Connor was amused by Katara fumbling over her sentence. "But are you sure that Azula isn't just... Stringing you along or something?"
At that Connor chuckled again. "Like I said, she's not that bad…" Katara raised an eyebrow. "Well, anymore. There was a rough spot for us, and she tried to kill me, but… What happened in Ba Sing Se, I think it changed her for the better, and if not that, then our time on Ember Island did… I know she still might seem high strung, but things haven't exactly been going our way recently, and she's under a lot of stress. We all are… But believe me when I say, I love her, and she loves me, and that's all that really matters in the end, eh?" Connor asked, still smiling softly. "Hope her fishing trip is going well…"
"This is the dumbest thing I've ever agreed to." Azula muttered under her breath, as she slowly backed up towards Suki while mopping the ground floor of the cell block, before she sharply rammed the mop handle into Suki's ribs.
"Ow!" Suki shouted in what sounded like genuine surprise and pain. Azula smirked to herself. "Hey, you crazy bitch, watch where you're going!" Suki said loudly, as she turned around and shoved Azula off kilter, before smirking herself, as Azula pouted at her.
"Oh so that's how it's going to be." Azula thought. "Who are you calling bitch, you peasant?" Azula asked, shoving Suki back. "Don't you remember me? Princess Azula? The one who gave you and your traveling band of harlots, a sweetheart deal?"
"Oh I remember you." Suki said, as she took up a simple stance, fist cocked back. "The bitch that betrayed her father? Yeah, some deal, sticking us in this dump." Suki cracked her neck. "I've been looking forward to putting you in your place."
"Hey, we got a fight brewing." Sokka said, specifically to Zuko, though one of the other veteran guards took notice.
"So long as they don't fire bend, let 'em go at it." The older man said, before Azula lunged towards Suki and knocked the girl over onto her back.
"OW!" Suki shouted. "I thought you were going to go easy!" She said in a hushed whisper, before grabbing Azula's hair and yanking.
"I thought you were above fighting like a cheap whore!" Azula yelled, slapping Suki once before the warrior got her feet up and bucked Azula off of her. Landing on her heels before stabilizing herself, Azula threw a hastily made blue fireball roughly where Suki was, and the taller girl promptly dodged the blast by rolling away.
"Alright that's enough!" Sokka said loudly, as he approached Azula from behind and kicked her right leg out from under her, before grabbing her arms and barring one behind her back, as Zuko picked up Suki, and dragged her away from the cell block's center. "Both of you need time to cool off… Seriously, what was that?"
Azula rolled her eyes. "Just making it believable… And was that a pun?" She asked under her breath.
Sokka shrugged. "What? I saw an opportunity."
Immediately after Azula was "forced" into the isolated below freezing room, Sokka checked the hall, then tossed an adjustable wrench into her hands. "You've got two hours." He muttered.
Azula smirked, before exhaling, her breath coming out in a fog, before she rubbed her hands together, and lit a small fire in her left palm, the blue color fading into a dull red, but plenty warm enough…
When the doors of the cooler opened next, Sokka stood in the hallway with Suki, her four warriors, Chit, and some girl Azula didn't recognize. "Who's she?" Azula asked, pointing to the new girl.
"My girlfriend." Chit said as if it was obvious.
Azula rolled her eyes, before extinguishing the flame in her hand. "Whatever, she can tag along. The last bolt is the only thing keeping the cooler attached. Once it's loose, you can roll the entire cell to the shore and get to the outer island." She said, stepping out of the cooler.
"We'll see you tomorrow." Sokka said to Suki, before the two quickly kissed, and Chit took the wrench from Azula, unscrewing the last bolt keeping the cooler in place. He stomped on the floor of the cell, and it fell away from the door frame, leaving the prison wide open.
"Alright, let's scram before someone else shows up." Chis said, ushering his girl, the Kyoshi warriors and Suki out of the open door. Once they had made their exit, Sokka closed the cooler's exterior door, and locked it. As a matter of insurance, he bent the key in the lock until it snapped off, sealing the path so that no one would be able to open the door and find that the cooler was missing.
Sokka walked Azula back to her cell, and once she was inside he spoke to her through the viewing slot in the door. "I have to ask one last time. Are you sure that our ride out will be here by tomorrow?"
Azula looked up at Sokka through the small window. "You're worried that I might be risking all of our lives on my word alone."
"It's not that…" Sokka sighed. "Look, I've screwed up a lot in the past month, and the reason we're even in this mess is because I wanted to break Suki out. It was selfish, and stupid, and now you and Zuko are stuck in here with me… I really might have just taken away The Avatar's only two firebending teachers so that you could help me on on a suicide mission."
Azula sat against the wall of her cell and shrugged. "While misplaced, your desire to see your girlfriend set free is… Well it's something I hope Connor would have, if he knew we'd been captured."
"You two are dating, huh?" Sokka asked casually.
"Hopefully to be married after the war's over." Azula said before sighing.
"I kind of figured… Guess I pulled you apart then too." Sokka said.
Azula puffed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Oh don't be so dramatic. Think of what you have to gain should this escape succeed. It won't just be Suki you free, but her warriors, Chit, who seems like he could be useful, and now, you know that your father is in a much more lax prison we can break him out of later, and more importantly he hasn't been executed. So chin up, you're doing far better than most would in this situation."
Sokka took a deep breath. "Well let's hope I can keep doing better… It's going to be a hectic day tomorrow." Sokka said, before closing the viewing slot, and leaving Azula in her cell.
AN: Getting Azula into the meat of a story arc felt right, especially in regards to escaping the boiling rock. I always wondered if in canon Sokka actually planned to get off the island that The Boiling Rock was built inside of, or if he was winging it past the cooler plan. The airship they stole was only there because Zuko got caught unintentionally, and Azula came to visit. In my story Azula being four steps ahead of everyone else on a bad day, knew that someone would come to take her back to her father if she was caught.
On the flip side, Connor is finally getting some peaceable interaction with people other than Toph.
I cannot wait to have Kozato get his first fight. If you're paying attention, you should know he's going to be a serious problem for the entirety of Team Avatar.