I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender
warning: extortion and loansharking in this chapter
Chapter 3
Six days have passed since Zuko had his last training session with his uncle. True to his word Sai continued to teach Zuko, in those days he learnt more about fire bending than his entire trip. Part of him felt bad about ending his lessons with uncle but he couldn't argue with the results. His fire was twice as hot and reached three times as far and that's not including the new moves and strategies Sai implemented into him, although to be fair the strategy part goes a little slower than other categories.
It seems that his crew was warming up to him as well, the constant trips to the mass hole with the temper-less interaction with the crew made Zuko far more approachable. He even learnt a few card games on the way, one time he caught a few off-duty men playing and after nearly giving them a heart attack he (Sai) managed to get the men to show him how to play. At first, he didn't want to but with Sai's insistence he stayed and watched the men play. He would never admit it but after a while he was invested enough in the game that he got annoyed with Sai when that damnable thing wouldn't shut up about probability and other things instead of letting him watch the game.
His uncle tried to reach him over the week and talk to him about his training but Zuko, at Sai's advice, let his uncle down gently and turned around the conversation around to subjects like tea and pai-sho. It was a dirty move to use a man's addictions like that, Zuko admitted that, but he already decided that Sai is the right teacher for him. He didn't want to hurt his uncle's feelings, but he couldn't have his uncle holding him back, not when he must catch the Avatar to regain his honor.
And so those days passed as a blur until on the final day he (at Sai's advice and insistent) gathered the crew to a briefing, which leading us for this moment.
"As you know, tomorrow morning we will dock at the colony Hǎibiān. After that you will have a week to yourself."
"You have free reign to do whatever you want as long as you stay in line with the rules of the fire nation, meaning you may drink and the like but theft and other crimes will be dealt with ,accordingly with lashes."
"And no, seducing the mayor's daughter is out of line as well. Looking at you Teng."
Most of the crew laughed at that.
"It was one time!"
"And we still get letters for child support. Yes, I know it isn't yours, it doesn't stop them from sending."
"Also please be at the head counting each morning or else I would consider you lost, and everyone will be forced to look for you, ruining everyone's day."
"Now I will assign each of you a number, every head counting you will say your number in order. Remember who is before you and who is after you."
After everyone got their number, with Zuko himself last, the crew left to prepare for docking. Only he and uncle left.
"I must admit nephew, I didn't expect you to participate in one of those briefings, let alone organize it. I'm proud of you nephew, really."
"Thank you, uncle."
"Nephew if I may, what caused this sudden change?"
Zuko paused, he waited a few seconds and answered.
"I just thought that since this mission is taking far longer than I have thought, I may as well take a more active role with the crew."
"It's not just that, in the last week you seem to have changed. More composed, mature from before. People don't usually grow up like that."
"I'm not the usual person."
"That you are not nephew, that you are not" Iroh said with a smile. However, that smile quickly turned into a frown.
"Zuko, while I am proud of most of your changes I must object about your disregard of your lessons."
"Argh… Again uncle? Can't I just bribe you with tea and pai-sho?"
"Afraid not nephew, this must be addressed now. You must practice your basics nephew, weak basics will lead to dire consequences!"
"Uncle, all the others my age are long past the basics! I can't win against the Avatar with basics, and I can't regain my honor without the Avatar!"
"Is a little better chance really worth destroying your potential as fire bender?"
"YES!"
It was quiet for a few seconds.
"Listen uncle, as far as I can see I'm in a way better position with my self learning. You are by far a better teacher than anyone I had from the palace, but I advance fine on my own! You should be proud of me!"
"Sigh… I am proud that you show initiation, but your good intentions are crippling yourself. Your mindset is far from ideal for the forms you practice, if you continue entire branches will be close for you. Some branches depend on peace of mind, lightning chief among them."
Once again Zuko stopped. He titled his head to the side a little, as if listening to someone. Quite frankly the old man was worried just how much his nephew is far from a quiet and peaceful state of mind.
After a few seconds the young prince smiled.
"Don't worry uncle, I know what I'm doing. In fact, let's make a deal. If I can shoot lightning in two months, you will stop bothering me about fire bending. What do you say?"
The smile Zuko had wasn't a kind one, it reminded Iroh of a smile on a fox-eagle when it watches an unsuspecting flying lemur. He didn't know that his nephew could produce such a thing, it felt surreal, wrong, as if Ozai was talking to him instead of his nephew. This is bad, he thought that getting Zuko away from his father would help the boy break his father's influence, not enhance it. He needed to find a way to stir Zuko to the right path, and quickly. But how? He should meditate and think about it.
"No nephew, you shouldn't offer deals. It's unbecoming of a honorable prince. Now if you excuse me, I will go to my room. Those old bones need to rest for tomorrow."
As Iroh left the young prince was alone in the mass hole.
"Can you really teach me how too shoot lightning?"
"Sure, it's a bit different from normal fire bending but close enough for a fire bender to create. It is a very popular technique among overlords."
"So all the overlords were fire benders?"
"Hardly, there were overlords from every bending type and even non benders."
"In your journey you will find that there are many ways to mimic different types of bending. Electricity is a relatively easy one to mimic and master, and it has many applications outside of fighting."
The helmet then closed its visor and showed Zuko many kinds of blueprints. Zuko saw a few blueprints in his time at the palace, but none came even close to the amount of detail and complexity Sai showed.
"For a demonstration we will need a stick of ember and a rug from a furry animal, preferably as new as possible. The second one is easy enough, just take one from the cleaning closet. The first one is a bit trickier, with enough luck one of the stores will have something close enough to what we need."
"So we need to go out?"
'Great, now I must mangle with the commoners… Couldn't I just order the men to buy it?'
"Well, for starters you already gave your word that the crew will have a week off, so calling them now for a shopping trip is kind of counterproductive. And secondly it will be good practice for interactions with the people as an overlord, something you clearly lack if I may say so."
"Y-you heard it?"
"You were speaking loud inside your head. Don't worry, it takes time to get used to it."
"Right… so it's shopping trip tomorrow?"
"Afraid so. Don't worry thou, as an overlord seeker I can assure you that this trip will be more exciting than you'd think."
"I thought you can't predict the future."
The prince raised an eyebrow, in one of their conversations Sai admitted that he can guess the most likely event to occur by something called "game theory", but in no way can it predict the future and in no way is the future set-in stone. That caused some philosophical debate that Zuko frankly didn't want to go into.
"Call it a hunch."
With that the prince went to his room to prepare for tomorrow.
"Twenty and last. Okay man, you are free for today!"
The crew cheered as they left for the docks.
"Looks like we are going to have company."
Iroh decided to stay a moment and turned to Zuko.
"Nephew! Would you like to accompany me? I want to go and see if there is a decent pai-sho player in here."
"Sorry uncle, I have plans for today."
'Thank Agni for that, I don't think I could stand another hours long games between old men.'
"Oh? What kind of plans?"
It was easy to understand his uncle's surprise, Zuko rarely had any interest in anything not related to regaining his honor.
"I plan to go shopping for a few things…"
"Wait, ask him what is his favorite pai-sho tile."
"Uncle, what is your favorite pai-sho tile by the way?"
"Why nephew, you wound me. It's obviously the white lotus."
"Ask him why."
"Why uncle?"
"Oh Zuko, I'm so glad you show interest in pai-sho. You see, the white lotus is a special tile. It's a hard tile to master, but to the paisant player it will reveal its secrets."
"We must follow him at any cost, follow me quickly!"
Zuko was shocked at Sai's tone, never before had he sounded so distressed. Quickly composing himself, the young prince followed Sai's lead.
"You know uncle? I don't have anything that I can't delay, is it fine if I go with you?"
'Really?! I don't want to waist hours on seeing old man play pai-sho!'
"The endgame will be worth it, I promise. I will tell you everything once we finish, but we must have this password. You are very lucky, you know? Other overlords waste decades and many resources, sometimes in vain, to get what you are offered freely on silver platter."
'What are you talking about?'
"I will tell you later, can't let you break character now. I'm sorry, but you are still lacking in the discretion department."
'fine…'
It seems that he said the right thing, because his uncle's smile reached his eyes.
"It will do my old heart good. Thank you, nephew."
The royal duo left the ship together. As they walked towards the inn, which Iroh was curtain would host a worthy opponent, a sudden thought came to the young prince.
"Wait, if the cook is also partying in town who will make us food?"
As if on cue, both their stomachs emitted growling noises.
"Ha! I guess we have another reason to the inn, ah nephew?"
Zuko couldn't help but grumble under his breath from the undignified display.
A few hours passed since his uncle started to play pai-sho with whoever was present at the inn and Zuko was bored out of his mind. Whatever Sai is waiting for hasn't happened yet, Zuko asked, every few minutes. At least they had something to eat there.
He could see Teng flirting with one of the wenches in the other corner of room. Hopefully this one isn't related to the mayor. He still remembers the absolute awkwardness of that conversation.
Anyway, he used the time to ask the people his uncle played with where he can find an amber steak. Apparently, there is a trinket shop near the docks that sells sometimes amber combs. Ironically enough they also sell sheep-goat skin which Sai said would be ideal for whatever he had in mind.
By now Iroh won another game and the new contestant sat in the table and the game began.
His uncle started with the same move he starts every time: Jasmine one-seven, Rose two-six, White Lily three-six, Chrysanthemum four-six, White Jade five-six, Rhododendron six-six, Dragon two-five, Knotweed five-two.
His opponent mirrored sequence opposite the zero-zero six-six line. These two sequences were then repeated for the other three quadrants of the board, ending with the "appropriate tile in the element cycle".
"That's it! Go to the bathroom, I will explain you everything there."
'Finally!'
"Hey uncle, I'm going to relive myself."
"Very well nephew. This one may take some time; you can go to the shop if you wish."
"Okay, see you at the evening then!"
Zuko made a bee line to the restroom and locked the door.
'Ok, what is so important that you just had to drag me here to suffer this for hours?'
"Remember the white lotus?"
"You mean the secret international organization that upholds the Avatar's rule? Never really understood why they never did something about the war."
"The very same. They are so powerful because they work in secret and openly opposing the fire nation in global conflict is a surefire way to expose themselves. You wouldn't believe how much harder it is to influence people when they are actually aware of your existence. Besides, you don't know what they really did and do, secret organization and all of that."
'I suppose, what about them?'
"Remember your uncle's favorite tile?"
'Yes, the white… you can't be serious!'
"Afraid so."
'you think my uncle is a part of an organization that undermines the fire nation! This is treason!'
"Maybe he doesn't know, maybe he thinks it's just some club for people to play pai-sho. The white lotus uses pai-sho to recognize its members, every member knows a certain set of moves that will show their knowledge of the organization. The set will be a complex one so that is no chance that a nonmember will commit it accidentally."
'but there is a chance?'
"Not really, the set is not strategically favorable and must be repeated on the four sides of the board by both sides as a representation of harmony between the four nations. I will rephrase myself, there is no chance for a coincidence."
'My uncle is not a traitor!'
"If you say so, you know your uncle much better than I. They probably use his love for pai-sho to fish from him information."
'Monsters! I must warn uncle now!'
"And say what? That the club he joined made him commit treason? And when you are asked about how did you know, are you going to tell that you talked to a voice in your head? How well do you think this will go?"
'I must do something!'
"Do you really? Think about this, whatever information your uncle had they probably took years ago so any security risk is long gone and there is no risk for him physically. Do you really want to take away one of the few things the old man enjoys? I hardly think he will ever have the same passion for pai-sho again."
'So we'll do nothing?'
"It seems to be the best thing, we will always watch your uncle's back and he is strong enough to take care of himself. Besides I memorized their secret code, with this we can recognize order members and gain access to their recourses. This is a huge achievement, especially so early in your career."
'I suppose you're right… So, What's now?'
"Let's go to that shop, your uncle did gave us a leave."
The prince flashed the toilet and went out. On his way he saw another wench slapped Teng, probably she caught him two-timing.
"That was fast."
"Aha…"
And so, the prince went back to the docks in search of amber.
Ki didn't know why mommy was sad, but he knew it had something to do with the men that came here every seven days. He knew it was seven because he counted, with both hands! Yes, he was smart like that.
Anyway, every seventh day in the morning his mommy tells him to go to his room and lock the door. Then some time later the men come. He knew because he hears their shouts, loud, gruff and they have different voices.
It goes on for some time and he hears sometimes a crash. Then there is silence and mommy tells him that he can come out and that everything is fine. She is laying, he knew it because when she smiles at him it feels different then normal and her eyes don't shine from happiness but because she is about to cry. He didn't know how he knew it, but he just did. The store feels emptier than the day before, and sometimes he sees broken things on the floor.
Today was a seventh day, he counted! And as usual mommy told him to hide in his room. The men came and the shouting began. This time however, the shouts were louder and he thought he heard a new voice.
The shouts became louder and louder and there was a loud crash. He could hear his mother screaming and there were sounds of battle. He didn't know what to do, mommy told him to hide, but she was in trouble and scared, but he was scared too. He was next to the door and then with one finale scream it became quiet.
Maybe the men were gone? It was never quiet when they were here, and mommy defiantly needed him. So he opened the door and quietly walked on his tows to the where mommy worked. When he saw the shop he froze.
The bad men were still there, but they were on the floor in many uncomfortable poses. Most of the shop was destroyed and the floor was messy from all the broken things that lay there. He finally so his mother, she was crouching next to the wall. Then finally he saw the new man.
He stood between mommy and the bad men. He was wearing dark armor and black helmet, in his hands were two flaming sword and he looked at the bad men, ready to pounce. The evening sun shone behind him, giving the stranger a crimson halo on his head. He looked like some spirit from the stories mommy tells him, or a samurai that stops bad guys and saves princesses.
'Awesome…'
Then he remembered why he came.
"Mommy!"
It was a little embarrassing, but Zuko was lost, he knew he should have asked for more information on the shop than just that she was on the docks. This in turn caused him to go to every shop at the docks. At least he had Sai to talk to when he waited for the shopkeepers to check if they have something he may use.
'Say Sai, I was wondering. Why the name "overlord"? Why not any other titles that actually exist?'
"It was at the beginning a proclamation that the person was above lording and therefore cannot be ordered around. As time went on it became a title. It's unique name also put some nobles at their tows because they didn't know their standing against the overlord."
'So what is my standing as an overlord? I don't want to be degraded from a prince.'
"Let me tell you a secret your highness, you are as important as you believe yourself. You can stand higher that the earth king, the fire lord, the water chieftains and the air console combined as well as stand together with the most common of peasants."
'What? How is this even possible? When you have a rank then you have a rank, a baron will never be higher than a king.'
"Each and every title is a sentient invention, a made up word. So in that regard all titles are equal. Someone long ago decided that one title is better than the other and so the rankings system was created. As the one and only overlord in the entire world, why shouldn't you decide where you stand?"
There was some sense to Sai's words, but they were a direct contradiction to anything he was taught as a royal, a heretical word that would get you executed if the nobility heard you. Besides he saw a very glaring problem. One that he happily told Sai with a smile, thinking he finally had a win in their arguments.
'But if anyone can get any title they want, how can anyone know where they stand?'
"Oh, it's easy your highness. They are tested to see if their bite matches their bark. What do you think the fire lord and the rest of the world leaders are doing?"
That dropped the smile of Zuko's face, mostly because once again Sai had the upper hand in their arguments.
'I'll get you one day…'
"Don't be so hard on yourself, I have eons on experience in those kinds of things. And I think that we arrived at the last shop."
"Hah…"
Zuko opened the door and went in, a bell ringing as the door opened. Greeted him there was a woman relatively young, in her late twenties if he had to guess. She, however, cast him scared and unsure glances.
'Why is she scared of me? Did the helmet made me this scary?'
"I don't think that she's afraid of you per say, it seems that she is expecting someone she is afraid of. If I had to guess, I would say that we have here some kind of extortion or loansharking situation. Any way you better go ask her now, you look weird just standing here. And remember, be polite."
"Hi, can I bother you for a moment?"
It seems to do the trick as the woman shaken her head and replied with the usual smile that is expected from anyone who works at the service industry.
"Of course, how can I help you?"
"Yes, do you sell amber combs?"
"Why yes! It's to silvers per comb."
'Two silvers! It's robbery in board day!'
"I don't understand the pricing system of this area yet, but it does seem too high. What is the regular price of an amber comb?"
'Fifty coppers at most!'
"Try to get from her information about the price, tell her that the price is higher than you expected."
"Seems a little high, is there any particular reason?"
"Well, because of the war prices go higher, as well as the increase of tax on goods. Besides, you wouldn't find anything like this around. I hope that you understand."
"Monopolization at its finest, you should keep notes. Anyway, we have enough money, as long as you get that amber a few coins are a cheap price for the art of lightning."
'Fare enough.'
"Okay, here is your silver."
"Thank you, here is-"
"YO MING, PAYDAY'S HERE"
A group of five people entered the shop. It was clear from their getup that they were lowlife and thugs. One man had a knife in his hand, two had swords on their belt and the last two, one of whom was the one that yelled and probably the leader, were weaponless.
"Five hostiles: one knife, threat level medium; two swordsmen, threat level high; one fire bender, threat level very high; one earth bender, threat level very high;
Prioritize fire bender;"
'How do you know-'
"Never mind that, what are you going to do? They are obviously extorting the lady, probably the real reason for the high prices."
'Well… On one hand this doesn't concern me, and she did charge a lot of money. On the other hand, it wouldn't be honorable to just leave her, and uncle will surely be disappointed.'
"P-please, I h-have a costumer…"
"You think we care?! And you! Scram!"
'You dare speak to me like that!'
"Provoke them first, they need to be the one starting the fight so you can claim self-defense. Follow my lead."
"Excuse me, we were kind of at a middle of something here?"
There was silence. The woman - Ming – gasped, the other men looked bewildered and as for the leader? Well, he looked beyond pissed.
"YOU LI'L BRAT!"
The earth bender punched Zuko, but the young prince was too agile. Zuko bent down and swapped the thug off his feet, he fell with a loud thud.
That signaled the others to attack as the fire bender shot two quick fire balls and the swordsmen attacked from the sides. Zuko quickly redirected the fire balls at the swordsmen, one fire ball hit the target' but the other swordsman evaded.
"Move left!"
The knife somehow got behind the prince ready to stab him in the back, but Zuko quickly moved left throe the gap that left open with the fallen swordsman. He then proceeded to move out of the way of a sword strike and give the knife a roundhouse kick to the knife before blocking a fire wave.
Once the knife was out of the battle, Zuko was able to keep the fire bender between the swordsman and himself. In doing so he managed to stay out of the reach of the swordsman and use the occasionally redirected fire to hit him.
Unfortunately, it seems that the earth bender had enough time to recover. And with a roar he threw a rock the size of a head toward the prince.
"Move the fire bender to use as shield!"
Zuko did so just in time as the rock crashed into the fire bender's ribs and smacking both on top of the fallen swordsman, who was just getting up. Therefore, putting both thugs out of the battle.
"Shi! Lou! You will pay for that freak!"
The prince was relatively unharmed, having meat shields from each side. Now he was facing two opponents instead of five, however he soon discovered that he had another problem.
"No! Not the walls!"
The fire from the fire bender thug took hold on the wooden shop and started to spread out. He had to do something fast or else there wouldn't be anything left of the shop.
'What do I do?!'
"You see the sword to your right? Lift it."
'Okay, what now?'
"You once saw a whirlpool? Think of the sword as the bottom of a whirlpool that sucks all the fire and chi inside of it. go to the flames and point it at them."
Zuko did as he was told and once the tip of the sword was pointed at the flames the sword sucked them hungrily. In looked exactly at a whirlpool, but one made of fire. The sword itself was gaining new characteristics as well, the fire swallowed in the sword now warped around the metal, giving it a look as if the sword was made of fire.
All the people in the room were amazed as they had never seen anything like that before. Zuko, however, didn't dare to stop and stare in ow.
"Now stop, feel the pressure of energy in the sword, direct it to the earth bender and release your hold. Now while they occupied!"
Instantly, Zuko did as he was told. A stream of concentrated fire busted from his now once again normal looking sword. The earth bander seemed to gather enough wits to raise a stone wall to shield himself, but the blast tore through the stone and the earth bender crashed on a shelf, unconscious.
The last thug, apparently the smartest of the bench, threw his sword at Zuko. As the prince ducked, the swordsman was already gone. He picked the second sword and continued to snuff out the fire. Once he was done, he turned to the fallen men ready to strike in case one of them dared to stand.
"Mommy!"
'Hah?'
"K-Ki? I-I told you to stay in your room!"
"N-nevermind, come here sweetie."
Zuko let the two have their heartfelt moment. Besides, he had other concerns at the moment.
'Sai… How do I turn the fire off?'
"Focus on the energy in the swords, use your body to devour it. Feel the energy going through your hands to your entire body.
Zuko felt his body absorbing the power of the flames. The tiredness he felt in the aftermath gone, replaced with empowerment.
"Incredible…" he whispered in a quiet voice.
Only now did he notice in a reflection on a window that the helmet was once again in the "battle mode" Sai talked about. His visor was glowing with orange light, amber to be precise.
He turned to the family.
"They won't hurt you again, your safe now."
The mother held her son a little closer, her eyes shining with tears.
"T-thank you."
"I sense a bigger story here. those men were too well coordinated for the common thugs, unless there is some mandatory material training that I am unaware of. Ask here about them."
"Say, who were those guys anyway?"
"They… they…"
Ming cast down a look too her son. It was obvious that she wanted her son to stay in the dark about what's happening around him, protect his innocence for some time. He supposes his mother was the same way… Thinking about her still hurts, at least he has uncle…
Suddenly an idea popped inside his head.
"Hey, ki right? Can I ask you a favor?"
Agni, it was strange to talk to children.
"Yes, mister samurai!"
The kid said with enthusiasm that only a child in front of their idol could master. His mother was less happy, if the look of concern and the protective hug are any indication.
"…Yes, anyway. Do you know where the inn is?"
"Yes!"
Ki shook his head up and down so fast that Zuko was afraid that the head may come off.
"My uncle is in there; his name is Iroh. Can you bring him here? Just say his name loud until he's walking to you. Then say Zuko, which is my name, and run here. Do you think you can do it?"
"Smart thinking, but what do you plan to do once your uncle arrives?"
'I… haven't thought about it.'
"Yes mister Zuko!"
The kid ran straight for the inn.
The prince than turned toward the woman.
"So, would you like to explain what it was all about?"
Ming sighed.
"Those men come once a week to collect their 'payment'. You see my husband, may the spirits bless his soul, had to take a loan to open this shop. That's when they came to him, they offered him the money he needed and more. At the time we didn't know better, we thought that everything was good, the rent was manageable, the interest was low, and business was blooming. Spirits, what fools we were."
"In one of his business trips they convinced my husband to go to their hometown, some wretched place in the Si Wong dessert filled with scum, gambling dens and other immoral establishments. 'It will be fine' he said 'we have enough money to spare' he said 'I won't be in any shady business' he said. I should have broken his legs, that dumb pig-frog!"
"He never came back! What did return was those thugs with a thousand gold debt my husband made in gambling! That fat! Useless! Sack of trash!"
"I told him not to go! I told him! We had enough money, we had a stable future, we had a son, we were happy!"
"Now look where did it got us! For years I had to struggle to make ends meet. I had to sell every right of the store to those thugs! I barely kept them at bay from making me work for them in 'higher paying places'!"
The poor woman continued to cry as she released the traumatic experience she had over the years. Meanwhile Zuko kept his silence, listening both to her and to Sai who started talking in his head.
"That would explain the level of training the thugs had. As foot soldiers to some loan shark, they had enough basic training to enforce his or her will on the would be hero, but are expendable enough to send to faraway places."
'So what should we do?'
"Legally any argument in her favor wouldn't hold water because the debt came from a legal source according to the law and with the knowledge and participation of the husband. I wouldn't hold high hopes of finding anything by searching for the husband's disappearance, as they covered any traces of involvement."
'We can't just leave her here! One of them escaped and could come back any time after we gone.'
"Then it's better to ask her about her plans then."
"So… What will you do now?"
It seems to bring her back to reality. She was, however, still shaken and looked down into her arms.
"I -I don't know, with the shop destroyed I can't pay them anything back."
"Sorry…"
"No, no! Thank you, really! I'm grateful that someone finally stood up to them and gave them their dues. The shop also isn't much more destroyed than when they decide to 'encourage' me to pay."
"But even if I clean the place up, I'm afraid of what they will do as 'consequences'. I can't risk myself and my son like that."
"Why not just run away and go somewhere else?"
Ming chuckled humorously as she gave her answer.
"You think I didn't think about it? Let's just say that they make an example of anyone who tried. As I said, I can't take the risk."
"Isn't there someone who you can turn to?"
"Their boss is some bigshot with enough influence to silence anyone looking into the more shady deals of his business. And now he will have his eyes on you, sorry for dragging you to my mess kid."
Zuko snorted.
"As if some petty crime lord will dare to do anything to me."
Ming looked at him strangely.
"Are you ok in the head? I just told you that a crime lord with a private army is after you! You should take this much more seriously! Just who do you think you are?"
Suddenly his uncle's voice was heard.
"Zuko! Prince Zuko!"
At that very moment the door opened with Ki, uncle, and a few men of the crew.
"Oh, uncle. Excellent timing."
He then turned his attention to the crew.
"Men! Bring those things to the ship for interrogation. Be careful, he is an earth bender, and he is a fire bender."
"Yes, your highness!"
The crewmembers secured the thugs and vigorously went to the ship.
'I never seen them doing anything I say so in so much passion before.'
"Seems that your bonding with the crew is starting to pay off. Besides, they probably feel like proper soldiers of the nation again. Protecting the people and that."
'But they didn't do anything.'
"Semantics. Besides, you can be sure that they will interrogate the scum with vigor."
Zuko then put his hands on the sides of the helmet, exciting its battle mode, and pulling it off his head to rest in his left arm. His attention fully on the shocked woman.
"To answer your question, I'm Prince Zuko! First child of the fire lord Ozai! And no two-copper criminal will push me down."
His right hand held to his chest as he spoke, moving with passion at the words.
It seems that poor Ming had too much because she fainted a few moments afterwards.
"MOMMY!"
It took some time to calm Ki down and tell him that his mom was just very tired from today. They decided to take Ming to her room for now to rest, with Ki watching over her. With him, uncle, and lieutenant Jee who returned from escorting the prisoners to the ship, alone in the tarnished shop, they discussed what to do with the situation.
"I say we skip town, just to be sure."
"We can't just leave! What about Ming and the other townspeople?"
"Since when did you care about the townspeople? Or anything that isn't your honor?"
"Why you-"
"Gentlemen! Please! Let's all calm down. Would any of you like a cup of tea?"
So far, the debate was wither strike the thugs and wipe them out of the colony or leave the town altogether, not risking the crewmembers. Zuko on the former option and lieutenant Jee on the latter, with Iroh as a moderator.
The two grumbly took their respective cups of tea.
"Well, that goes very well."
'Oh, shut up. I don't see you helping in any way.'
"I could easily turn the talk around."
'So why wouldn't you!'
"It would be strange if you right away knew all the answers, now after some time passed and you had time to think at the tea break on the concerns of the good lieutenant you can formulate an idea. Now once you finish your tea bring those points…"
As Sai explained to Zuko how to win the lieutenant's approval, the three continued to drink their, frankly quite nice, tea. Once they all finished Zuko started his argument.
"Uncle, you had experience as a general. How many men it would take to hold a town like this?"
"Well… if I am right, then to be financially beneficial from the occupation, and relaying on the resources of the town… I would say twenty to thirty non benders."
"Which leaves us at approximately two to one disadvantaged, not all the men are combaters. And they know the place better than us, we could ambush us and attack us by surprise." Added lieutenant Jee.
"With you at the front uncle, what are our chances of victory?"
"Oh, we will definitely win nephew. It's what comes after that I worry about."
"What do you mean?"
"I fear that once we leave the colony, the thugs will be back in vengeance on the poor people of the colony."
"And if I contact father? They did attack the prince of the fire nation. If I phrase it right, will he send enough reinforcement to secure the colony?"
"… My brother is hard to sway in matters that he deems beneath him… But with the right words it is possible."
"How much until reinforcement will arrive?"
"Not over a week."
"What do you think lieutenant Jee, can we hold the colony for a week after we decimate their forces hear with uncle's help?"
Jee mulled over it for a few seconds.
"Yes, we can hold against whatever remnants are left."
"Good! So we are in agreement then. Let's check if Ming is up and then take them to the ship."
"Not that I disagree nephew, but the ship is already crowded, where will they sleep?"
"They will have my room, as it's the biggest we have. I'm afraid we will have to suffer each other for the week uncle."
The last thing was said with a smile, even though Zuko mentally grimaced at the thought of having to suffer his uncle all day long with lectures about tea, pai-sho and snoring.
His uncle however openly laughed, inwardly proud of the maturity his nephew is showing.
"Fine, let's meet the damsel in distress and explain the situation." Jee was smiling as well, it felt good to be undeniably the good guy. And even if he criticized the prince, it was because of the safety of the crew. He honestly respected the prince for what he did, quite frankly he didn't think he himself had it in him to act as heroically as the prince did.
It took some time convincing Ming to board the ship, the woman was understandably had reservations about being in a close space full of grown men with unknown intensions. Even if one of them rescued her from the thugs. Ki took much less convincing, he practically jumped on his feet when he heard that he would live in a battleship in the prince's room no less.
Which led to Zuko reviewing reports on the interrogation of the thugs he caught.
"That's it? so we don't have the name of the boss, numbers or even the location of their camp?"
"Sorry your highness, seems like whoever they call boss is holding them by the balls. They didn't budge even when the fire lord was mentioned."
"And they know that they attacked the prince of the fire nation?"
"Yes, but they still think that their boss will send a rescue. they also said things about you, your parents and the royal family that are better not be repeated."
"What about the crew? Is everyone accountable and ready for debriefing?"
"Yes, your highness. They are waiting for you in the on deck."
"Very well, let's go."
As the young prince went, he had a silent conversation with Sai about what to say to his crew.
"…then, after approaching their sense of duty and their pride you should have their unconditional support for this endeavor."
'Ok, let's hope for the best…'
Zuko entered the deck and walked to the stage, the same stage a week ago he showed the crew his blue flame, the same stage he started his progress to shape the crew to his needs. He could hear the whispers of the men below but paid them no head, his only concern right now was not to butcher the speech. Once he stood at the center of the stage, he started his speech.
"Men!"
His voice was heard loud and clear across the deck, most likely one of the many manipulations of Sai. The crew immediately ceased any kind of noise and listened to the unusually powerful voice of their prince.
"I will start with an apology. I promised you a week of rest, but instead You are once again forced to act because of my actions. For that I'm sorry."
"However! As much as you are rightfully upset, I would like to present my case."
"In my time at the docks, at personal errands, I was attacked by no less then five men. I dispatched four of those thugs in brutal fashion, while regretfully one fled having seen he was outmatched."
"Those scum cared not they attacked the prince. They cared not that they nearly burned the shop, burning alive an innocent woman and a child!"
Here he could see the fire of anger burning in his crew's eyes toward the criminals. They all met Ming and Kai, and while some found the kid less endearing than the others, they all were united in protecting the child.
"But this is not all of their crimes! Far from it!"
"I discovered that they extorted the shop for years to the point that the owner nearly had to sell herself to pay a debt that they orchestrated!"
"The colony itself bent knees to those scum under fear of retribution, leaving all those people pray for low life criminals under the orders of some petty crime boss at some nowhere place in the Si Wong dessert."
"Those no-good wastes even threatened to castrate you all in front your wives and girlfriends!"
That last part was a beat lie, since Zuko never personally heard anyone make such comment. But judging from the look of the interrogators it seems he hit the nail on the head in this one. Anyway, the crew was ready to follow Zuko to battle. Now was the time for one last push.
"Now, I don't ask you as a prince or a superior, but as a fellow member who lives on this ship and a fellow proud citizen of the fire nation. ARE we going to allow those scum to go unpunished?!
"NO!"
"Then are you with me, in hunting them down, men?"
"YES!"
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
"YES!"
At the same time, the ship shook a little as a bolder crashed into it.
Zuko and the rest of the crew ran to the railing to see what happened, greeting them was a mob of twenty-something strong men. Each of them had a murderous expression on their face that promised pain and suffering.
"Well, looks like you wouldn't need to waste time finding them."
AN
Hey there!
So with this cliffhanger chapter 3 is concluded
Zuko faces a new threat, Iroh is turn between pride and concern and Ki is cute!
This is a start of Zuko's eye opening to the real world. Many writers right away throw Zuko in a situation were the fire nation is the bad guy, do something bad and suddenly Zuko has the realization that the fire nation are the bad guys. I wanted to show that there are many other problems that aren't directly the fault of the fire nation. And besides, at this point in his life Zuko is extremally patriotic, in no way do I see him turn traitor over something his nation did. he is more likely to decide that this was something that went against his father's orders, if he cares about it at all.
anyway, I hope that I wrote Ming well enough. I have zero knowledge about trauma or what being a victim to extortion is like, so please tell me if I did something wrong there.
to answer some reviews:
deniswanheda: I'm glad you enjoyed! Zuko will grow much during the story. I can say that his interactions with the rest of the cast will be much different then in cannon, actually he will meet another character soon enough. At the subject of Katara, it will take time as Zuko has no reason to go to the south pole yet (Sai actively forbids him because it knows the avatar is hiding there). Rest assured, those two will meet, can't rush perfection after all. for now it's way to early to decide on couples thou.
Xxxxxhggg: To be fair, 10,000 years is a long time. the industrial revolution happened less then three hundred years ago and look at us now. Obviously this is an AU of mine, but lets just say that many thing can happen when the spirits are involved, especially when one of them has an ex to grind with the avatar for 10,000 years. The Overlords primary goal is simple, to evolve humanity as much as they can. Of coarse, every individual overlord has their own private goals and how to achieve them. This puts them in conflict with the avatar, because they are the definition of breaking the harmony that the avatar stands for. The story behind the overlords will be revealed in time and piece by piece, Sai needs time to mold Zuko into his new role or else the realization of who, or what, he agreed to be would brake the young prince.
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and feel free to write what you think!