Azula Amongst the Stars

by CrimsonKaiju

Azula goes into hiding in the earth kingdom to escape imprisonment from Zuko and is being chased by the Avatar but after a strange ship from the sky crash lands Azula finds herself on board when it takes off unwillingly taking her into the stars with it. Now Azula finds herself amongst a crew of alien creatures traversing strange alien worlds.

13. Chapter 13

Apologies for the late upload, work life balance is a little difficult right now. Last upload I wanted to mention that new sketches of several characters are on my Instagram and Deviant art however for some reason Fanfic wouldn't let me add that into my authors notes or even let me edit my file.

Hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 13

Azula observed the black vessel and its sun emblem. A syndicate held the entirety of Kazima hostage and it was considered a small one at that. She couldn't help but think of what the implications of this ship being here are.

Cetro appeared behind them with a data pad in hand, "That doesn't surprise me." He said with wariness in his voice, "The local crime family works under them."

"Are they a small group like the one that had Kazima?" Azula asked, she never took her eyes off this potential threat.

"Quite the opposite. The Gold Sun syndicate is the apex predator out here. They own a good chunk of planets in frontier space, got deep pockets and practically run the criminal underworld."

"They wouldn't take Ginza though, right?" Lectro asked with nervousness creeping into his voice.

"They probably could, but like I said the local crime family does business with them."

"Knowing ol Euretta, she'd probably find some excuse to take the place." Skeeve said.

Azula noticed the name mentioned, "Euretta? Who is that?"

Skeeve's brow raised to his forehead, "You haven't heard of Euretta Sareno yet? She's only the scariest woman in the known galaxy and head of the Gold Sun's. She's got spies everywhere and owns most of the pirates out here, nothing happens out here without her knowing about it. They even say she's got a bounty on her head so high it would make anyone richer than the Pendaren emperor."

Cetro rolled his eyes, "You're exaggerating Skiv. Her bounty ain't that high."

"Skeeve." He grumbled to himself under his breath.

"And what is the Crimson Storm's relationship with Euretta's Gold Sun's?" Azula directed her question to Cetro.

"I would also like to know that." Skeeve said now worried as to why they reacted the way they did when seeing the ship.

Lectro scratched the back of his head sucking in some air as if he was trying to find the right words, "Let's just say the Storm has a bit of a rocky relationship with the Gold Sun's."

"And by rocky he means down right atrocious." Sev finished before going into detail, "We did some contracts against the Sun's a few years back and we gave them such a good fight that Euretta herself tried to buy out My'Rell and absorb the Crimson Storm."

"How did the Captain take her offer?" Azula asked.

Cetro let out a hearty belly chuckle as he answered, "I remember that, My'Rell told her she could take her offer and shove it where her gold sun doesn't shine."

Skeeve's expectant look turned to an expression of pure horror, "Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me I'm part of a crew that is on Euretta-I burn down entire family trees for fun-Sareno's hit list?"

"You're over exaggerating her reach, Skeevy boy. She's powerful but she ain't no Pendaren emperor powerful." Sev downplayed.

"She's the empress of the criminal underworld!" Skeeve looked as though he was going to have a panic attack.

"Ease up Skeevy boy. It's only one ship and it's a big city. Hopefully we won't run into its crew while we're here."

"If y'all are going into town, keep an eye out for any Gold Sun's, you see anyone wearing black and gold or have a sun emblem on them, you walk the other way. Don't talk to any of them, if they ask you for directions just point them away from you and get out of there and especially make sure they don't know you're Crimson Storm." Cetro warned with the most serious tone Azula has ever heard him with, "That goes double for you sparky." He pointed to Azula, "Now y'all get going while I get our cargo and don't draw attention to yourselves." He went back to the ship as a dock worker approached.

"Well, guess all that is left is to find somewhere we can do our tests." Lectro said.

"Searching local omni-net connections for suitable locations." B3 said.

"Yeah good luck finding a place here. These Ginza cities are dense, finding space to do anything like fire bending is gonna be a pain." Skeeve said, taking out a cigarette, "But I've been here a few times so maybe I could help find a spot for you guys."

"You ain't going anywhere Skiv!" Cetro shouted, "I brought you here for a reason and it's to help load in all our stuff, now get moving!"

"Guess the four of us will just have to manage, later Skeeve." Sev said, already walking off the platform.

"But-but I…"

"Move it Skiv!"

The four of them took a train transport to the main city that gave them a clear view of the dark frigid wasteland outside. The only light source being the bustling cityscape that came from the dome and various spot lights. Heat sources such as generators stuck out clearly to Azula in the darkness of the outside. She looked to the night sky and saw the source of her new found power hanging overhead.

The brown dwarfs looked like a campfire in the sky, its light so dim it could only illuminate the space around it. Such a strange phenomenon to her. It was difficult for her to comprehend the idea that such a sun could exist, but then again if someone told her a week ago that life existed past earth's sky she would have dismissed them as insane.

The train ride between the spaceport and the dome was short with their transport entering the city. Once inside Azula's new found thermal vision was assaulted by an almost blinding array of neon lights that lined the edges of just about every building.

Unlike Kazima's Horizon city this domed city was much denser with tall skyscrapers covered in neon and holographic signs huddled together almost built on top of one another, air vehicles darted past following invisible roads in the sky, multi level walkways acted as roads for foot traffic that was just as densely populated as everywhere else with hundreds of citizens marching through them like swarms of ants.

They exited the train station once in the city proper and began to trek on foot. The amount of heat sources were in such abundance that it was almost blinding to Azula. The combined body heat of the dozens of citizens and heating units that kept the space habitable made everything glow, from the people to even the very air around them. Everything just looked like a messy oil painting of glowing oranges, reds, whites and purples to Azula's eyes, so much so that she needed to squint hard in order to see anything.

"B3, have you found any locations that fit our needs yet?" Lectro asked the robot.

"I have identified several locations that fit the parameters of our experiment, many of which are located in the industrial district."

"Great! Maybe we can find an old warehouse to practice in."

"The last time I was in an abandoned warehouse I was assaulted by a group of Ke'Kuvon youths." Azula said as she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision.

"You alright?" Sev asked.

"It's difficult to see."

"I imagine so, the city is kept fairly warm." Lectro looked at her eyes for any changes, "There are many species in the galaxy that see in the infrared spectrum who also find it difficult to see in environments like this. They usually wear visors to help with that. Maybe we can buy one at a local shop."

"Please because this is becoming a headache." She swatted his hand away when he tried opening her eye further.

"If you require assistance in navigation you may grasp my manipulator and I will lead you." B3 said while offering his metal claw to her.

Azula crossed her arms while delivering a scolding look at the machine whose cold body stuck out in the sea of heat, "I don't need hand-holding trash can."

"My designation is B3."

"But given how densely populated this city is, it is quite easy for someone to get lost even without their vision being impaired." Lectro added.

Azula rolled her eyes and grabbed the robot's hand, "Fine, just lead the way."

"Where are we going then?" Sev asked as he towered over everyone in the crowd.

"The industrial district!" Lectro announced excitedly and began marching forward.

"The industrial district is located in the opposite direction, Dr. Lectro." B3 corrected.

Lectro corrected his heading, "I knew that. Why don't you lead the way B3?"

They traversed through the crowd made up of a dozen different species being sure to stick together. Azula held onto B3's claw tightly. Warm bodies glowing brightly passed her by and making her wince at their intensity. Every face she saw was a glowing blur of orange light that muddled the features, so much so that she was actually glad that B3 offered a hand to steer her as she didn't think she'd be able to direct herself accordingly.

Not only did the glow of the warm bodies affect her vision but her body seemed to detect the presence of heat easily and the vast amounts of it surrounding her was overstimulating and it didn't help that this place was as populated as the outer ring of Ba Sing Se.

To try and focus herself she looking up away from the people and tries to admire the architectural miracles of this city and gaze through the transparent ceiling. It helped that she was able to see clearly but her heat detection didn't help.

After traversing the many walkways and stairways bathed in neon light they found themselves just above the more seedy lower levels of the city. The streets started to look dirtier, derelict buildings sat at the sides of walkways, strange graffiti covered the walls of buildings, vehicles that were stripped of parts sat in place left to rust, the sound of sirens from the local law enforcement could be heard from a distance and homeless aliens littered the corners of walkways with their appendages outstretched to those who walked by begging for money.

Lectro looked around cautiously, "Uh… B3, are you sure we are going the right way?"

"Affirmative. This is the most optimal route to the industrial district."

"I'm sure it is, but don't you think you should have taken us down a route that wasn't so sketchy?"

"I may have some difficulty seeing but even I can tell that you led us down a decrepit dump. It almost looks like I'm walking down Ba Sing Se's outer ring all over again." Azula added.

She glanced down an alley and noticed the wall of a building with a large golden sun painted across it, the same sun on the black ship along with some loitering aliens dressed in black and gold.

"Apologies for the less than desirable location, however the industrial district is located on the lower levels and ninety-five percent of the lower levels of the city resemble what you are seeing now." B3 explained.

"So there's a chance we can get mugged while we are down here? Great. That's just great." Lectro said then coward at the sight of a group of troubled youths stealing a hover module to a parked hover car.

"Relax, once they catch a glimpse at me any mugger will think twice." Sev proudly said as he continued to tower over a vast majority of passers-by.

"Unless the mugger is another Dretta." Lectro commented.

"How many other Dretta you know are packed full of sacrilegious cybernetics?"

It was at this point Azula began to zone out while they continued to converse. She focused more on just maintaining a heading but in her focus she failed to notice someone approaching her.

A short alien with a round head, three horns jutting out of his forehead and a beard approached, giving her a crooked smile filled with missing teeth, "Want some red sand?" He held up a small vial of a powdery red substance, "First one's free."

Before she could react Sev's giant metal hand came between them, "Get your drugs out of her face old man!"

The alien scurried off at the sight of the towering cyborg.

"They're peddling red sand here?" Lectro said as he took a defensive position in front of Azula, "I thought the local crime family made their money on black market tech."

"Guess they're expanding their business." Sev scanned for any other drug dealers.

"But isn't red sand a gold sun drug?"

"You all said the local crime family works for the Gold Sun's, correct?" Azula asked as B3 led her down some stairs.

"The Codello's?" Sev responded, "Yeah they're partners."

"So what are the odds that this Codello family would allow them to sell their drugs here?"

"Unlikely. The Codello's may work for the Sun's but they wouldn't agree to selling their drugs. The Codello's like sticking to their tech market and aren't fond of sand dealing." Sev said before spotting another person selling red sand, "But it is pretty weird seeing sand dealers here."

"I say leave the politics of dealing drugs to the syndicates." Lectro said, directing them to a service elevator that began taking them down further, "We are here for scientific purposes. Drugs and the inner workings of crime groups are not our priority here. Right now we should focus on finding a secluded location that won't draw attention."

"Easier said than done doc. You see how packed this city is? Everybody is practically in each other's personal space." Sev said, crossing his arms.

"I doubt it will be as populated in the industrial district."

"I hope so." Azula added as she watched their descent from the elevator window, "Less heat given off by these peasants means I can see properly."

"I have located a setting that meets said parameters." B3 said.

"Great, just lead the way and we can finally get down to business."

The group found themselves standing before an old food processing plant fallen into ruin covered in graffiti, broken windows, rust, cracks along its walls and various hazard signs.

Lectro eyed the building with concern for its structural integrity, "This place doesn't look very safe."

"If you are not satisfied with this location then I can find a new destination." B3 followed up.

"It's fine, this will probably be the best we can do." Sev said, already making his way to the fence.

"I don't see the problem." Azula said, crossing her arms as she observed the dilapidated structure, "It's quiet, it's secluded and nobody will bother us. I think your trash can did a good job finding this place."

"My designation is B3." The robot corrected her again.

The sound of a chain snapping caught their attention as Sev used his superior strength to pull the fence gate open, kicking the chain used to secure it aside.

"Alright, let's go loiter on private property." He said with a grin as he went further into the facility, Azula following close behind.

Lectro turned to his robot, "B3, why was this place shut down?"

"Searching local omni-net records… facility was closed due to structural integrity concerns."

"And you're sure this place is safe?"

"Affirmative. Only two deaths from structural integrity have been confirmed."

"Two?!"

Azula's impatient voice interrupted them, "Are you two coming or what?!"

They entered the facility after Sev brute strengthed his way through several locked doors. The building was filled with machinery meant for food processing, however a thick layer of dust coated them like a blanket from years, or even decades, of inactivity. Broken glass, dirt and grime littered the floors, sliding doors were stuck open mid slide, graffiti covered the walls, all of which Azula could not read but was sure it was made up of nothing but profanity, and the air was cool which made the warm bodies of scurrying vermin more apparent. The darkness was more apparent to them compared to the bright neon lights that laced every structure and the building moaned as if it was struggling to stay up.

B3 led the way with his built in light until Sev kicked a locked sliding door off its hinges to the empty warehouse.

"This looks like a good spot." Lectro said fishing for his equipment.

"Try not to burn the building down on our heads, firespitter." Sev said touching some old equipment and accidentally knocking things over sending metallic echoes throughout the building.

She scoffed, pushing hair out of her face, "I barely feel the energy within me to even spark a torch."

"From your weakened state under the red dwarf I theorize your powers are going to be weaker." Lectro presented the headset to her.

She sighed in annoyance at the thought of that, "So which test do we do first?"

"First things first, let's start with just summoning a spark."

She stood up straight and did her breathing exercises and attempted to summon a flame and failed but noticed her hands began to glow even brighter. She let him know of this discovery.

Lectro looked intrigued and ordered B3 to measure the temperature of her hands.

"The temperature of Private Azula's hands has risen several degrees higher than her normal body temperature."

"My readings show that your chi paths, though having a much weaker flow, seem to be gathering in your hands. Perhaps instead of fire bending you are capable of bending your own body heat."

Azula did find this somewhat interesting but it didn't sound like body heat bending would help her in any way, "This sounds like the most useless form of fire bending possible."

"But what if it's not just your own body heat?" Sev asked as he sat down on one of the old machines, "What if you can bend other people's body heat? You know, burn them up from the inside out."

Lectro scratched his chin as his scientific mind went to work, "Almost like an artificially induced fever." Lectro then rolled up his sleeve, "Azula! I need you to bend me!"

Her face scrunched up in confusion at his choice of words, "Excuse me?"

"Bend my body heat! For science."

B3 moved between them, "Warning. This is an unsafe test in an uncontrolled environment. The possibility of injury is high."

It was remarkable how fast Lectro was able to switch from a nervous and paranoid coward to a reckless thrill seeker when it came to scientific discovery. It was a trait Azula found strangely admirable.

"It's fine, we've got it under control."

"She's gonna burn you alive doc." Sev warned in a not so serious manner, "Why not just use me? I could take a beating better than you can."

"A limb is the best way to test and all of yours are made of cold metal."

"Sevran's left shoulder still has enough organic tissue to be suitable for testing." B3 interrupted, "I still highly suggest we not perform this test."

"I don't mind. Not like I'm doing much anyway." Sev approached and kneeled down to her height, "Come on firespitter. Cook me alive!"

"Alright, but don't blame me if you are burned." She held both hands over his bare shoulder and focused on trying to warm it and in doing so it began glowing brightly almost like a torch.

"Oof, that's hot." Sev said nonchalantly, "Kinda soothing too, almost like I'm getting a heated massage."

"Very interesting stuff." Lectro commented.

"I think I can go higher." Azula said with a smirk as she wondered just what kind of damage she could do.

"I would not recommend increasing the temperature any higher than it currently is." B3 warned.

"I agree. Try seeing if you can cool it down."

She then thought about how a fire bender would cool a roaring flame and applied the same principle. She saw that his once brightly glowing shoulder was dimming down until it was barely glowing at all and almost looked normal.

A chill was sent down Sev's body, "That's cold. Arm is feeling a little stiff actually." He began rotating his shoulder a bit.

Lectro recorded this with enthusiasm while smirking at this new found power. Perhaps this ability isn't as useless as she imagined.

"Let's try the pre existing flame test." Lectro suggested.

B3 approached with a small panel opening up, summoning a small. Azula swayed her hand trying to feel a connection to the flame and she did feel it however the small flame felt overwhelming like trying to keep a thrashing animal down with only one hand. It was too much for her and her arm shook trying to contain it until she let go.

"I can't. It was like holding onto the reins of a raging komodo rhino."

"Hm… perhaps the higher the temperature the harder it is to control. Heat isn't as hot as fire but it's definitely not cold so maybe it's some sort of middle ground that you can access."

She crossed her arms, "But why? Why the heat vision and why only heat?"

"Brown dwarfs are incredibly weak sun's. Your body is obviously more accustomed to a hotter star. My current theory is that because the brown dwarf is so weak your bending has become almost nonexistent so your body may be trying to compensate by enhancing other senses like the body losing one of its prime senses and enhancing the rest. Or it could also be that the sun has reverted your bending to a more primitive state."

"Is there anything weaker than a brown dwarf?"

"A black dwarf but I think being around that would be the same as having no sun at all. Let's try the blaster test next and the lightning."

Sev fired his blaster at a barren wall and Azula couldn't manipulate the beams at all, like the torch the beams were too strong and unruly to control.

They moved on to the lightning. She took her stance and swayed her arms trying to summon the sparks of the cold fire but after swaying her arms for what felt like an hour no sparks would appear. Lectro closely monitored her chi paths and found no change.

He leaned over to his robot that watched her closely, "Are you picking up anything B3?"

"Negative."

"As I thought. How's your vision so far?"

Azula dropped the lightning technique looking at him seeing that he was still glowing unchanged, "Still glowing. I'm stuck here with no bending and the most useless fire related skill is all I have."

"I wouldn't say that. Thermal vision can be very useful. You could see things that are invisible to most." Lectro assured her.

"Yeah, you know how good of a tracker you could be?" Sev said.

"Private Azula's new found ability may not be as useful as you suggest, weapon's specialist Sevran." B3 stated, "Planets that orbit a brown dwarf are not capable of sustaining life through natural means nor environments suitable for tracking."

"So it is useless then? Great." She rubbed her eyes feeling drained, "So far this whole experience has shown nothing of worth from this experience."

"All data is useful data. Without this experiment we wouldn't know anything about your Chi paths or that your powers are indeed affected by the type of sun you are under."

She groaned and took the headpiece off, "Are we finished? I'm getting tired."

"Just need to get another DNA sample from you and we can leave this creepy place."

"Fine, just make it quick so-" She stopped when she stepped over an old rusted plate only for it to break under her weight and fell through the floor and landed on a pile of rubble.

She looked up to see she fell two stories through a hole that was poorly concealed with the only light being from above.

"Holy crap! Azula are you alright!" Lectro called out.

She pulled herself up grasping her rear to soothe the pain, "I'm fine! Your trash can picked a terrible spot to test!"

"Didn't you approve of it though?"

She growled, "Just get me out of here!"

Sev poked his head through, "Just stay put, firespitter! We'll figure something out!"

Sev looked to his two companions, "So what should we do?"

"B3! You picked the place so please tell me you have some kind of layout for this place!" Lectro said to his robot in clear panic of the situation.

"I do indeed have knowledge of this building's layout." B3 projected a holographic image of the building and the structure beneath them, "Private Azula has fallen into the lower levels of this building. There are many paths she can take in order to exit the lower levels, the most direct route being directly before her; take the third right, second left, another left and a right."

"Okay, Azula all you have to do is-"

"Third right, second left, another left and a right! I heard everything, wait for me on the other end!" She began marching down the path.

Azula traveled down the dark and decrepit corridor. Despite there being no light she found her thermal vision coming in handy as she could see everything clearly outlined to her with the only bright heat being herself and the vermin scurrying around.

She scoffed as she walked and didn't realize just how far the corridor went. She was hoping this trip would reveal new abilities for her bending, like maybe make lightning generation easier and less time consuming or perhaps give her the ability to combustion bend but no, heat bending sounded somewhat useful but it lacked the raw power she was accustomed to. All she has learned is that under certain suns she cannot produce her own flames and that on others all she can do is see heat, and it didn't help that in a crowd her new found sensitivity to heat overstimulated her senses. She couldn't help but think just how underwhelming this experience was.

"I would say this trip was quite enlightening."

Azula looked behind her to see the shape of her mother standing there. She did not glow, further proving that she was just a figment of her imagination.

She pinched her nose in frustration, "I really hope these new types of suns make you appear more often."

"Perhaps or perhaps not. Only time will tell daughter." Ursa said.

Azula raised a finger to the apparition ready to say something only to stop herself knowing full well that she would be talking to no one and instead turned to continue her trek out of the tunnels.

"This trip did tell you that your bending is limited in certain environments. That could be useful." Ursa said walking beside her while holding a warm smile as if the apparition was trying to be supportive.

"Shut up figment of my imagination taking the form of the person I hate most in this world." She responded bitterly.

"When you say this world do you mean Ginza or maybe the mortal world in general? Would that entail that you have a better liking of me on other worlds then? Like Kazima for example, although you weren't keen on seeing me there, perhaps on that rocky world we visited you would like me better." Ursa sounded amused trying to add some light hearted banter to brighten the mood.

Azula only groaned louder and quickened her pace hoping to get ahead of her mother.

"Remember the machine said the third-"

"I KNOW!" Azula's shouts echoed throughout the cavern, "Why? Why are you here now?"

Ursa's signature somber expression returned, "I only want to help you Azula."

"I don't need your help! What help can you offer me? You're just a hallucination."

She continued walking and came across the first right looking down the derelict tunnel only to find Ursa standing there.

"Perhaps you simply just don't want to be alone and I'm here to provide companionship."

She scoffed and continued down her path, "I'm better off alone."

She went past the second right, seeing Ursa once more standing there waiting for her, "Then why do I keep appearing when you are alone?"

"To torment me with your lies, that's why." She rounded the third right and again Ursa stood there with her hands in her sleeves waiting for her.

"When have I ever lied to you?"

Azula gave her a cold glare, "You already know." She stormed past the apparition in a hurry, "If you're going to keep appearing then stay silent!"

The vision of Ursa followed closely behind, "If that is what you wish."

Azula didn't trust this illusion to keep its word so she pulled out her communicator and called Lectro.

"Azula! Hey! Is everything alright down there?"

"Peachy. I just made the third right. How far until my next turn?"

"You've got a ways to go, B3 says you've got a couple meters until you see it. Speaking of seeing, how's your vision down there?"

Ursa leaned in a bit, "Oh! You should tell him how well you can see in the dark now."

"Shut up!" Azula shouted back at the vision.

"Okay. Okay. You fell down a hole and don't feel like talking science. I get it. You don't have to be rude about it." Lectro responded, misinterpreting her words.

"No I- forget it! I can see very well down here without a light if that's what you are asking."

"So my new theory is correct, fascinating!"

"I'm glad all it took was me falling in a hole for you to find that out." She said sarcastically.

Sev's jovial voice interrupted, "Hey firespitter! You see anything weird down there?"

She couldn't help but steal a glance at the vision of her mother walking beside her, "No. Why?"

"Well there's a local legend that says a bunch of creatures got loose from a zoo and live in the bowls of this city and wanted to confirm."

"And you're telling me this now!?"

"Cool your jets there, firespitter. Just an urban legend. You can handle it even if it's real."

"Sev! I swear I am throwing a fireball at your head the moment my fire bending returns!"

Lectro's voice came back on, "Don't listen to him he's just messing with you. Listen when you exit the tunnels we'll…" static interference began to break up his voice.

"Lectro? Hey! Lectro!" She shook her device trying to get it to work clearly.

"Sig-zzzz-losing-zzzz-go-zzzz-" the signal was fully lost and she could only hear static.

"Damn it!" She cursed, closing the device and continuing her trek.

"You should be nicer to your friends. They're only trying to help you." Ursa said softly.

"We are not friends! Just temporary allies."

"An allie can still be a friend. Everyone could use one."

"I don't need friends. All they do is betray you."

"Only if you give them a reason too. Take Chani for example, you're already planting seeds of betrayal with her."

"Oh really? Enlighten me then mother. How have I done that?"

"Sharing our belongings with each other as a sign of friendship. We both know how much of a lie that is, you just wanted to wear her jewelry."

"I was going to give her something in return. It's not my fault she rejected it." Azula said, admiring Chani's beautiful bracelet against her glowing wrist before scowling at the serpent bracelet.

"You're taking advantage of her kindness, like you do everyone else."

"The world isn't kind. Kindness means you're weak and when you're we-"

"When you're weak the strong trample over you. Yes, we've heard this song and dance countless times before from your father time and time again." The vision finished with clear annoyance, "Did you ever stop and think that it could be a virtue and not a weakness?"

She stopped to face her mother, "I'm sorry but didn't you say you were here to help me? How is talking about feelings and friendship helping me in this situation?"

"I am not sure, after all I am an extension of your mind." Ursa reached out to touch her affectionately only for Azula to pull away as if a red hot poker was coming.

"You are not my mother." Azula stormed past the vision, "You want to stick around, fine. Maybe I could use you as a way to bounce ideas off of."

A smile adorned Ursa's face, "That sounds interesting. What would you like to talk about?"

"My plan to take over the Crimson Storm."

Ursa's smile faltered, "Oh… that.

"Yes. What are your thoughts on it?"

"I think you should forget this plan and focus more on living your life."

"Double down, got it. Thank you for your input, illusion." Azula said quickly.

"But that's the opposite of what I suggested!" Ursa said as she ran back to her side.

"If it's the opposite of what you want then it's the correct path."

"Azula, there is so much that can go wrong with this plan of yours. There is so much we don't know of the universe outside our home." Ursa almost sounded desperate to dissuade her.

"That's why it is a long term plan you idiot. Learn as much as we can of this greater galaxy and the powers that be, then strike when the opportunity presents itself."

"Neutral Jing then. I must say I didn't expect you to implement such an earth Kingdom way of thinking."

"I'd much rather take the more direct fire bender approach, however being direct hasn't been very fruitful as of late."

"And how long will this plan take?" Ursa sounded weary when asking almost as if by asking she'd be endorsing it.

"Months, possibly years. I need to know everything I can before striking or it could be disastrous."

"The safest bet may be not striking at all. Your luck as of late hasn't proven to be very reliable."

Azula scowled at the illusion, "Then what do you suggest I do? Spend the rest of my life as some space peasant? Settle down with some seven eyed, six limbed creature that only speaks in incomprehensible gibberish?" She then gave her a mocking laugh, "I could even go back home to get father's blessing from his prison cell! Maybe even invite Zuko, the Avatar and their friends to the wedding!"

Ursa covered her mouth as she giggled, "I don't think the real me would approve of a creature like that to be your husband but if that's what makes you happy."

Azula scoffed, "What would make me happy is to take back what is rightfully mine."

They made the left turn, the tunnel now being filled with the sound of wet footsteps as Azula walked through the puddles of water that coated the floor.

Ursa sighed a sad and tired breath, "Power. Is that all you care about?"

"Power is all that matters."

"Really, and what has power done for you?" Ursa challenged.

"Power has made me strong. Made me feared. I was on top of the world, I was untouchable."

"It was your crutch. Power was all you had and when you lost it you had nothing else to fall back on. No one else."

Azula had no rebuttal for this and instead quickened her pace as if she was trying to get away from the subject.

"What did power do for your father?" Ursa challenged again, her voice becoming firmer and seemed to echo throughout the tunnels, "He was the most powerful man on earth and look where it got him. It made him cruel, heartless, egotistical, nothing was ever enough for him. The Avatar stripped him of his bending! His throne taken by the son he mutilated and tossed in a cell to rot for the rest of his life!"

Azula couldn't stand to listen to this any longer so she covered her ears and her brisk walk turned into a jog.

Ursa appeared before her on the far side of the tunnel, "Your father has nothing Azula! You have nothing, but unlike him you were given the opportunity for a new life, twice!"

Azula squeezed her eyes shut as she ran past the illusion.

"Zuko gave you a second chance when he took you out of the asylum to find me and you squandered it!" Ursa's voice took on an accusatory tone with a righteous fury that thundered like an angered spirit, "And by some miracle you were given a third chance when that ship crashed! Don't throw it away for something that will ultimately destroy you Azula!"

Her jog turned into a full on sprint through the tunnel making the final turn until she saw the light of the tunnels end.

She dashed out of the into the lower levels of the industrial sector. Her breath was panicked, her limbs shaking and causing her to drop to her knees in a tired state. Her face felt wet and when wiping her face she found tears staining her cheeks.

A frustration burned within her at this weakness so she violently wiped the tears away and attempted to steady her breathing to try and regain the dignity she still had left.

Her communicator buzzed, making her jump in surprise. She collected herself before answering it.

"What?!"

Lectro's voice came through "Azula! We're almost to where the exit should be. We're taking a service elevator down to that level. Where are you now?"

"I-I just got out of the tunnel."

"Good, stay there and we'll come to you."

After hanging up she remained there for a bit. She could still feel her mother's presence in the tunnel, she dared not look into it in fear that her mother would speak again, trying to corrupt her mind with lies like she always does.

She doesn't know why she even bothered to engage in conversation with that illusion. Of course it would try to sabotage her grand plan to retake her throne, if anything she now wants to double down further on it just to spite her. She calmed herself further, she needed a clear mind, the plan needed to be perfect. There was no room for screw ups because almost isn't good enough.

It didn't take long for the others to arrive and catch up with her.

Lectro ran to her side, "I'm glad we got here quickly! What's wrong?"

She glared at him, "Nothing is wrong with me."

"We were able to detect a spike in your stress levels while you were in the lower levels through the adhesive sensors still on your body." B3 answered.

"Yeah they said it was like you were having a panic attack." Sev said as he studied the entrance to the tunnels for danger, a hand hovering over his weapon.

She had forgotten that the sensors were still attached and didn't know they'd be able to pick something like that up. She couldn't appear weak to them, she needed to come up with a lie that would satisfy them.

"I-uh… don't like dark and… cramped places." She mentally scolded herself for how pathetic that sounded and didn't think they would believe her. She'll have to sell it better, "They remind me of the… prison cell my brother put me in before I escaped him."

"Well I guess anyone would develop claustrophobia from something like that." Lectro said.

"Your brother sounds like a prick." Sev commented.

They believed her, relief washed over her. Not only did she manage to hide what was truly causing her stress but managed to make Zuko look bad in the process.

"We should get out of this place and meet back up with Cetro." The scientist concluded.

---

Azula and the others took a public transport to the location Cetro had told them to meet where they found both him and Skeeve waiting at a street corner.

"Bout time. What, y'all get lost on the way?" Cetro asked impatiently.

"Have you seen how big this place is? It puts Horizon city to shame." Lectro responded.

"Why are we here again?" Azula asked impatiently.

"I've got a business transaction to make with an old buddy of mine, Kanzo. He's the local crime lord." Cetro explained before walking down the street and beckoning them to follow.

"Your friend is a Codello?" Lectro asked in bewilderment.

"Yup, he and I go way back."

"How far?"

Cetro scratched his scaled chin with one of his lower arms as he thought, "Since… about grade school I'd say."

"Geez, didn't think you knew the Codello's since time began." Sev chortled.

"Shut it lumix. I'm only two hundred and thirty three, I'm not that old."

That information felt almost like a slap to the face to Azula. She could tell Cetro was old by the crotchety attitude he had that was common for elders to develop; however, to hear that he was over two hundred years old was not something she expected.

To think there were still Airbenders flying around during Cetro's youth.

Skeeve could care less about how old the head engineer was and was more interested in his friendship with the local crime lord, "Wow, so you and the local crime lord grew up together? So does that mean you are a Codello as well?"

"Same species but I'm not part of the family. Used to work for them in their chop shops when I was young but left that life for something more legitimate with the Pendaren's. Back before they became power hungry maniacs. But I stayed in contact with Kanzo and now he runs everything here, so good for me."

Azula rolled her eyes at the notion of friendship, especially with a criminal. Their relationship was a betrayal waiting to happen, all it would take is for someone to make his supposed friend an offer good enough to make him willing to plant a knife in his back.

"What about the Gold Sun's?" She asked while allowing B3 to escort her again, "Surely his business with them won't affect our stay here, will it?"

"It shouldn't. He's never had any love for Euretta or her Sun's and only conducts business with them because the head of the family works for her. He won't rat us out to them."

Azula decided she knew enough of Cetro's history and shifted the focus on to the present, "So what business do you have with your old friend?"

"He's in charge of the black market here and specializes in illegal tech. I've got a purchase on some hardware that'll make our two generators pumping energy in our very special device run a whole lot smoother."

"You mean the fabricator?" Lectro asked.

Cetro grabbed the scientist's muzzle, shushing him harshly, "Shut your trap lizard! We already got enough problems with Death's Head! You really want someone else out here hearing about that and start coming after us?" He let go of him and continued walking, "It should go without saying, don't mention our special device to anyone. Kanzo is a good friend but he's also a businessman and sometimes that business can outweigh friendship."

The rest of their short trip continued in silence until they reached the club that sat at the top of a skyscraper. Azula and her group took an elevator to reach it and once in doors they had to traverse several lavish corridors until they reached the entrance where two tall brawny guards stood.

Cetro was about to enter but one of the guards stepped before him, "The club is closed for renovations today, come back another time."

Cetro glared at him, "I'm here to do business with the owner. He's expecting me."

"We have not been informed of any business transactions scheduled for today."

"Listen buddy, I don't like to play this card but your boss and I are old friends and he said he'd meet me today."

The guard grimaced at him before reaching to a cybernetic implant on the side of his head and began speaking, "Boss, I've got an old Kestridon here who says he knows you. Says he's got business scheduled for today." There was a long pause as the boss spoke back. He turned back to the much shorter alien before him, "Name?"

Cetro's irritation became more visible, "Cetro, I come here every other week. Y'all should know me by now!"

The guard's amphibious face tightened in annoyance as he relayed the information back, "Boss says he's talking to someone now, but he'll see you. Grab yourself a drink while you wait."

"That's what I thought." Cetro grumbled to himself some more as the other guard opened the door for them before stopping them as B3 began to enter.

"No robots are allowed in the club." The other guard said.

"That's never been an issue before." Cetro barked back.

"New policy."

Cetro was about to respond with another rude comment but the robot in question interjected sensing conflict escalating, "It is all right. My functions would not be conducive in a nightclub setting. I will remain here and patiently wait for your return. Please do not trouble yourself for my sake."

Cetro grumbled some more before accepting this, "Fine! I swear I'm giving your boss an earful while I'm here!" He stormed into the corridor telling everyone else to follow.

"Enjoy the club… sir." There was an edge of hostility in the guards voice that Azula narrowed in on.

Something about that whole exchange seemed wrong, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Once inside they were met with a decadent open room with white floors and walls with an organic architecture, a second level overlooking tge vacant dance floor and lavish decor. However the club was vacant, all the lights were on as a renovation crew were busy tearing apart the place and making replacements.

Cetro looked around, his scaled brow furrowing in disgust at the new improvements that were being installed, it was all so gaudy, "What the hell is he doing to this place? I thought he loved this club."

"Perhaps he got tired of looking at the same thing everyday and decided he needed a change in scenery." Azula said not really sure what to make of the new decorations.

"Yeah but he wouldn't change it to this style." Cetro looked around the room, his eyes darting back and forth, "Something's not right. I can feel it in my agnots."

Not really having a point of reference for that comment she asked in a taunting manner, "Did them not letting in the trash can upset you that badly?"

"Actually yes. If Kanzo wasn't in the business he would have gone to university for robotics. That man loves robots, trusts them more than people if you ask me."

Azula felt it as well and responded in a hushed whisper, "I had some kind of feeling that was the case. What is it?"

Cetro directed them to the bar as everyone else took seats elsewhere, "The bouncers. I didn't recognize them, not just that. The staff here," he motioned to all the workers, both renovation crew and club workers, "all new faces."

"Your friend doesn't make it a habit to fire his entire staff I take it?" Azula asked, her eyes darting around the room and her thermal vision letting her see patches of heat at the hips of many staff members, blasters no doubt.

"No, he doesn't like change." Cetro looked at the back of the bar seeing another Kestridon just like him only his scales were brown with dark striping and his mane of hair a jet black.

Cetro sighed in relief, "Finally, someone familiar. Hey Jakro! Been a long time."

The younger bartender turned to him, his four orange eyes widening and his body stiffening for a split second before the mask of a friendly bartender replaced it.

"Cetro! You old bastard." Jakro said, making his way to them, grabbing a bottle and a glass, "So… what brings you to Ginza?" He maintained a pleasant smile but his eyes continued to scan the room like prey searching for a predator.

"I've got some tech to buy, same as usual." Cetro responded before gesturing to the renovations, "What's all this about?"

Jakro began pouring him a drink and laughed nervously, "Oh you know… change. We've been… doing a lot of that lately."

Azula studied Jakro and noticed the heat in his face build up along with all four of his hands. She had heard that when people are nervous their faces would grow hot but now she could see it happen. She could see how it made his hands clammy and could even see his hot breath grow unsteady. He was afraid of something and It was more than clear to her now that something was seriously wrong.

"Jakro." Cetro said, focusing the younger man's attention on him, "Be real with me right now. What's going on?"

Jakro looked around again before leaning in closer and speaking in a lower volume, "You need to leave, right now. Take all your people and get off Ginza." He looked around again subtly, "It's not safe for you here."

"Why? What's going on?"

Jakro opened his mouth to answer but stopped himself as another bouncer approached, "The boss will see you know."

Cetro took another look at this bouncer and noticed he wore black and gold, "You know what, I think I may have come at a bad time. Maybe we can reschedule this for some other time." He said going to walk past him only for the bouncer to block his path with a thick muscular arm.

"He insists."

Cetro could tell that this was not a request, "Wait here kid. I'll be right back."

Cetro followed the bouncer up the stairs to the second level and as he did so every alarm in Azula's head was ringing telling her danger was present. It almost felt like she was in the den of a platypus bear.

She turned back to Jakro, surely he could provide some more necessary information that could help, but the man only looked at her with worry before saying, "I-I need to get back to work." He then drank the glass that was meant for Cetro in one gulp almost as if he needed it to get through the day.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She was in a trap, one the trappers didn't know she was in so far and every second brought them closer to noticing.

"You need to leave Azula." The voice came from the vision of her mother again who sat at a bar stool. She turned away as soon as she saw her.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" She said to herself.

"Is that really what is so important right now? You heard what the bartender said. It's not safe for you or your friends here."

"They're not my friends." She scoffed as she began searching for an exit, "But you are right. I need to get out of here."

"What do you think it is?" Ursa asked.

She observed several of the thugs that hung around either watching the club for danger or chatting amongst themselves. All dressed professionally with a hint of jewelry here and there to show they were well paid, gold mostly.

"Hard to say. My guess is an internal power struggle and that Cetro's friend has been replaced with someone a little less friendly."

She walked past the mirage towards sev and Lectro who admired a rather large fish tank that acted as a wall separating the dance floor and a lounge area.

Sev watched as a flat tear shaped blue fish with black stripes drifted by wondering if it made for good cooking.

Lectro admired a red and gold crustacean resting on coral, "You know a nightclub isn't the best place for a fish tank. All the noise and flashing lights will have a detrimental effect on their health along with causing a lot of unnecessary stress."

"Doesn't the captain have a fish tank on the SeCore?" Sev said watching a shimmering silver school pass by.

"A battleship is an even worse place for one!"

Azula approached the two, "Hey, you two, what are you doing?"

Lectro looked at another black fish covered in yellow spots, "Just criticizing the idea of having a fish tank in-"

"Yes that's fascinating and all, but we need to get out of here."

"Why?" Sev asked, "We just got here."

Azula moved closer to speak in a hushed tone, "This place isn't safe. No time to explain, we just have to go!"

"What about Cetro?" Lectro asked.

"Forget Cetro! We have the opportunity right now, let's not waste it." She went to leave only to be stopped by a metal hand on her shoulder.

"Hold it firespitter, if trouble is brewing we don't leave our own behind."

"Wait! Wait!" Lectro stepped between them, "What trouble are you talking about Azula?"

Before Azula could argue back Skeeve walked up from the bar with a purple bottle and glass, "Hey guy's, check this out! They've got Pendaren whiskey here. You have any idea how many planets embargo this stuff? And it's reasonably priced too! Either Cetro's friend is in bed with some imperials or he's stealing this stuff out from under their noses." He exclaimed excitedly as he poured himself a glass.

Azula snatched the glass out of his hand and poured the contents in a nearby plant to his sorrow, "Listen! I don't think Cetro's friend is running the show here. Somebody else is."

"Like who? The Codello family owns Ginza." Skeeve said, snatching his glass back.

As if on cue the renovation crew members finished installing the new holo projector, dimmed the lights and plugged it in where it displayed a titanic Gold Sun emblem over the exit, bathing the stark white room in yellow light.

The four of them looked on at the emblem in shock with Skeeve almost dropping his bottle.

Azula was right, Cetro's friend wasn't in charge anymore however she was wrong about it being internal politics and instead it was a hostile takeover.

Sev looked on and crossed his arms, "Well… crap."

---

Cetro was led to the private office in the back of the second level, armed guards stood around the entire level as the renovation crew walked past carrying equipment. He could hear voices from beyond the sliding door of the main office.

"Four ships! Four ships carrying valuable cargo went missing in the past week!" The first voice said with a dry raspiness and clear irritation, "Find whatever or whoever is doing it, because if I get a call from the boss asking where they are again it's both of our heads!"

A lanky banana shaped headed alien walked out in a hurry. The bouncer gestured with his head to go in.

Cetro entered the room with the guard following him in. He found it to be unrecognizable to when he last saw it. Where there was once modest utilitarian furniture now sat lavish expensive leather chairs and couches, expensive trinkets decorated the bookshelf and walls and a giant Gold Sun flag sat on the wall where the self portrait of the previous owner once was. The only thing that he recognized was the modest desk that was currently being occupied by someone else. Someone Cetro didn't recognize.

The man sat laid back with his feet kicked up on the desk, he wore a mix of black and gold utility wear with a dash of expensive clothing such as his shiny gold toed pointed boots, buttoned down dress shirt and black dress jacket with a gold trim, several gold chains hung around his neck and expensive rings decorated his fingers. His skin was the color of sand, burgundy scales adorned his head that started from his nose and flared up into his forehead and continued down his back giving him the prickly appearance of a pine cone with pumpkin orange eyes.

He was a Chundari, a race that is considered one of the rarer species to see in the galaxy.

The man looked both tired and annoyed but once he noticed Cetro he put on a welcoming smile flashing his crooked teeth, "You must be Cetro. What can I do you for?" His voice had the dry rasp of the person shouting and he spoke with a thick accent.

Cetro narrowed his eyes in a scornful look, "Who the hell are you?"

The pointy headed man shook his head in exaggerated disappointment in himself as he spoke in a jovial manner, "Where oh where are my manners?" He stood and approached Cetro with a welcoming hand and a devilish grin, "Call me Slater. I'm the new owner of this fine establishment."

Cetro reluctantly shook his hand.

"Now, I understand the confusion Mr. Cetro. You come in here expecting to do business with good ol Kanzo only to be met with my ugly mug sitting at his desk and redecorating his club. Well… my club now." He spoke smoothly and confidently despite his rustic voice.

He gestured to one of the lavish chairs, "Sit, please. Any business you had with the previous owner can be done through me."

Cetro was weary of him but took the seat not wanting to cause any trouble, he didn't know what this man's temperament was, "You're Gold Sun. I thought Ginza was under Codello control. What happened to Kanzo?"

Slater sucked in some air as he raised his brows, "Oh boy. Well sorry to say this but Kanzo ain't here no more." He paced to the window overlooking the cityscape, "As you probably already know the Codello family works for us and has to pay a tribute tax to dear ol momma Euretta every now and again, just like all the other smaller groups under the sun. Kanzo though got a little too greedy, he's been taking a few units off the top of his payments and got caught with his hands in the cookie jar. The boss lady didn't take too kindly to that so she had him… removed. In other words, Ginza's under new management."

"I see." Cetro was all too aware as to what he meant by "remove" and didn't want to ask but had to confirm, "And Kanzo?"

Slater looked back at him and huffed out a weary breath, "Best not to think too hard about that. Wouldn't want to spoil the mood with the… grizzly details." He gave him another smile as he went back to his desk and brought over a case, "Now that we got that cleared up why don't we get down to business. Can I offer you a drink first?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Aw, don't be modest my friend. We all deserve a little pick me up every now and then. You know ma momma always said business is best done with a little bit of alcohol in the gut.'' Slater said, pouring two glasses and offering one.

Cetro only kept a hard expression, "I prefer to keep a sober mind when doing so."

"Suit yourself." Slater downed the offered drink.

Cetro wanted to get himself and his crew out of this place as soon as possible but there was a courtesy to these things. They were stuck in a horrible snake den and what's worse Cetro walked them right into it. His one saving grace was that Slater didn't seem to know that they were Crimson Storm, now he had to sit and stay focused on whatever deal Slater wanted to make, whether he got the part or not was irrelevant as long as it got them out of there. He cursed himself mentally for not calling Kanzo ahead of time.

Slater put the case down, opening it revealing a black and purple device, "One G-133 Pendaren computer processor. Streamlines processing power to any device you hook it up to, s'long as it's compatible of course. Now I ain't no computer wizard, more of a red sand dealer myself, but I know that this bad boy here is a godsend for whatever piece of tech you want it for. But very hard to find outside of imperial space and even harder to get yer hands on in the empire without the proper know-how. How much you willing to pay for her?"

"Kanzo and I agreed to three thousand units."

Slater pressed his lips together, "Three thousand, huh? That may have been fine and dandy with Kanzo, however we do things a little differently here. Five grand sounds more like the proper price that we would normally sell this for."

Cetro saw this as his chance to get out of there and took it, it would cost him this piece of valuable tech but it was not worth his life or the people under him, "I was promised I'd pay three grand. Nothing more, nothing less. That's my final offer, take it or leave it."

Slater frowned, "Like I said before. The Gold Sun's are in charge now, so we charge Gold Sun prices. I'm sure we can negotiate a fair price. How about four-ninety?"

"Sorry but we ain't willing to pay more than that."

"That coming from you or your boss?" Slater leaned back pulling a cigarette from his coat, "Tech like this is used for industrial and military grade equipment, stuff that requires access to those things." He tried sparking up the cigarette with a golden lighter, "I don't like to pry in people's personal life but from the look of ya I don't think you'd be making enough to be able to afford this thing on yer own meaning yer using company money." His lighter failed to produce a spark, "And you never said who it was yer working for. We typically like to know who it is we're doing business with." When the lighter refused to spark he cursed then flexed his index finger and a spark of electricity traveled up his finger and lit his cigarette.

He puffed out some smoke through his nose, "Sorry about that, need me some new lighting fluid. I prefer not to show off my little trick like that. Tends to catch people off guard."

The sight of that electrical current was enough for Cetro to conclude this meeting by standing up, "We're done here. Keep the chip, I'll find it cheaper someplace else."

Slater eyed him suspiciously as huffed some smoke and closed the case, "I'm sorry we couldn't come to an agreement Mr. Cetro. I'll escort you out."

"No need." Cetro said quickly making his way to the door that was blocked off by a bouncer whose tall muscular frame almost blocked all view of the exit.

Slader nodded for the man to move and Cetro pushed past him speed walking down the steps to the rest of his crew.

"We're leaving, let's go!" He ordered quickly as he marched to the door.

"Hope we can do business again in the future!" Slader's delighted voice echoed from the balcony as he watched them leave.

Once they were gone his friendly persona faded as he flatly ordered one of his men, "Find out who their work'n for."

---

Once they left the building the five of them piled into a hover taxi and flew directly back to the spaceport. Cetro marched down the corridors he was almost running with the rest doing their best to keep pace.

"You didn't think to contact your friend ahead of time just to make sure he wasn't murdered by a cartel?" Azula scolded Cetro as they walked.

"You think I don't know how bad this is?" He barked back, "Kanzo had always been able to stay on their good side, but I'm not really surprised he tried to steal from Euretta but his timing couldn't have been any worse."

"Wait! He tried to steal from Euretta herself?" Skeeve practically had a panic attack.

"Guess that explains all the red sand dealers we've been seeing." Sev said.

"How did this happen though? Don't we normally keep track of these sorts of things?" Lectro asked.

"This had to be recent."

Skeeve looked over his shoulder and scanned the crowd of people at the spaceport in clear paranoia, "You think they know? About us being Crimson Storm?"

Azula grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out of his frenzied paranoia, "They will if you don't keep your mouth shut and make it obvious."

"They don't know. That leader of theirs, Slader, had no clue when we spoke, but it's only a matter of time until they find out. We just need to make sure we're gone by then."

"Would they be able to prevent us from leaving the planet?" Azula asked as they entered an escalator.

"Probably. Sun's like to plant their own in all sorts of places."

Just as they were about to enter the shipyard several security officers stepped in their way.

A short green lizard man just like Lectro stepped forward, "Excuse me, I'm going to have to ask you all to come with us."

"What for? We haven't done anything?" Lectro responded.

"Yeah we're just headed back to our ship." Sev followed up.

"I understand, just a random inspection we do on various people throughout the space port."

Azula's thermal vision let her see his face heating up slightly, he was lying. The alarms rang in Azula's head once more as the men surrounded them. She could see a warm spot at all of their sides, they were armed. There was no doubt in her mind that these random security officers were probably working for the Sun's.

One of the guards grabbed her wrist and on instinct she pulled away and sent a roundhouse kick to his face sending him sprawling to the floor.

The other officers reached for their weapons. Sev used his large size and strength to his advantage by grabbing a guard in each hand and tossing them effortlessly at the others. Cetro sent his two right fists into the lead officer's stomach and tossed him aside.

The last officer pulled out his weapon and took aim at Azula. She quickly closed the distance and grabbed hold of his wrist directing the weapon away as a stun shot was fired. As she held his wrist and prevented him from breaking free the temperature in her hand and the flesh she held onto rose until smoke trickled out. The officer screamed in pain as he kicked her off him, his limp wrist now having a hand shaped burn.

She looked on in astonishment. She didn't think she would be capable of causing damage like this at her current power level.

The officer tried to fire at her again only to be hit by a stun blast from the weapon Cetro pulled from his opponents hand.

"To the ship now!"

They raced to the shipyard pushing past various aliens that happened to get in their way. An alarm soon went off and more security officers began to pour into the hangar.

"Oh no, we're not gonna make it, we're going to be stuck here!" Lectro panicked.

"Calculating all possible exit routes for our esc-" B3 was cut off when a small white metal device the size of a tea cup latched onto his body and a surge of electricity stopped his movements and caused him to fall over after his forced shut down.

Sev quickly grabbed the downed machine with another device being shot at him by a security guard; it latched onto his left arm and forced it to shut down and drop B3. Several more of the devices were shot onto his limbs until he was unable to move and he fell over after a stun blast collided with body.

"Sev!" Lectro called out only for a stun blast to hit his upper back that came from a catwalk.

Cetro was ready to counter but several stun blasts knocked him into unconsciousness.

Now it was just Azula and Skeeve. The security guards surrounded both of them with their weapons trained.

Skeeve immediately threw his hands in the air and shouted, "I surrender!"

Azula could only scoff at him as she raised her own arms up to comply.

"Officer's, this is all some kind of big misunderstanding!" Skeeve said as smoothly as he could, "Now why don't we put the blasters down and talk this out like civilized-" a stun blast to the chest silenced him.

Azula barely had time to react as a stun bolt was fired into her stomach sending an electric wave throughout her body making her go limp.

---

After being stunned into unconsciousness Azula was awoken with a slap to the face. She took in her surroundings seeing that she was seated in a chair with her hands bound behind her back in the middle of the empty club that used to belong to Cetro's friend, now empty of the renovation crew and only populated with Gold Sun thugs. The room is still being illuminated by the yellow light of the holo-projector.

The others were by her side secured in the same fashion with them being awoken in the same rude manner.

"What happened? Where are we? Are we dead?" Skeeve gasped out from her right as he darted his head around.

"No Skiv, we're not dead. At least not yet." Cetro answered, "Everyone alright?"

"No." Azula answered while stretching her body in an attempt to stretch the pain of being stunned away along with subtly testing the limits of her restraints, they were too tight to break free from, "I feel like I've been hit with lightning."

Sev rotated his head as he slowly regained feeling in the fleshy parts of his body, "Those EMP shots really did a number on me."

B3 remained turned off and faced down on the floor as if he had been tossed there.

One of the thugs backhanded Sev and ordered him to be quiet.

"Why don't you take these restraints off and try that again buddy?" He grinned back in a cocky manner then spat some purple blood on the thug's expensive shoes.

The thug jammed the electric end of a stun baton into his stomach.

"Sev, can you please not anger the guys who have us cuffed?" nervousness was present in Lectro's voice.

Azula looked around for an exit, so far the only one was the main entrance behind her and it was guarded by several thugs. She heard a commotion in the kitchen area to her right as folk music played loudly with someone singing along, the sounds of cooking present.

After one of the thugs notified whoever was in the kitchen of their presence a raspy voice called out in joy, "Right on time!"

Slater exited the kitchen, the sleeves to his buttoned up shirt rolled up and a steaming entree in hand. Azula noticed on his bare arms there were three metallic blue stripe-like protrusions on each side of his forearms. She wondered if they were some sort of cybernetic.

"Good to see y'all again!" He presented the platter before them, "Hungry? I tell ya, y'all have not lived till you've tried ma momma's recipe for fried Tiliga trout. The secret is to fry it just right so it's crispy but not dry."

Everyone remained silent from either fear or not wanting to indulge in idle chit chat.

"I could get a chef to cook this for me, maker knows I've got the money for it, but there's just a certain satisfaction of doing it yourself ya know. Sometimes getting yer hands dirty can be fun."

Everyone continued their silence.

"Aw come on y'all, don't be shy. Made plenty for everyone." He held the dish out to Skeeve, "Give it a whiff. Don't that-there fish just smell tantalizing?"

"Uh… y-yeah it does. I guess." Skeeve said nervously.

This short interaction let Azula know all she needed about this man's personality. He was a talker that loved the sound of his own voice and liked to drag conversations out either for his own pleasure or just because he can't help but go on tangents. His confident and casual demeanor along with his clothes being a mix of rugged and luxury wear suggested that he came from nothing and clawed his way out of the dirt into power and was eager to flaunt it.

"What do you want, Slater?" Cetro interrupted, already tired of this exchange, "Are you that mad that I didn't buy that part?"

Slater pulled the dish away and sat down at a nearby table where he began to dig in, "That? Oh nah. I'll find another buyer for that in no time. I brought y'all back here because I had no idea we had members of the infamous Crimson Storm in ma city, and I'm sure ya know the boss lady gave out orders to kill y'all on site." He took a bite from his fried dish, "Man this is some good food! Y'all sure ya don't want any? Might be your last."

"If you got orders to shoot on sight then why are we still alive?" Azula asked.

One of the thugs raised his hand to strike her for speaking without being addressed but froze when Slater raised a hand to allow it.

"That's a mighty fine question there…" he squinted his eyes as he took a closer look at her, "What are you supposed to be, some kinda pendaren mutant?"

She rolled her eyes at that.

"Anyway, the reason y'all are still breathing is because I've got a bit of an issue. You see, some ships carrying valuable and very illegal cargo, hand held lazy guns mostly, have been going missing as of late and the boss lady has been twisting ma arm about it. Next thing I know another one goes missing in our star system and several members of the Crimson Storm walk right in ma club. Y'all can't tell me that ain't no coincidence."

"That's exactly what that is! We only came to Ginza to pick up supplies and for me to see Kanzo. That's it." Cetro explained.

Slayer took another bite as he took his time to think up a response. No one dared to interrupt him, "And what am I supposed to do with that? Call up Euretta, tell her another ship's gone and that a few members of that merc group she really hates strolled up and I let them go because they said they had nothing to do with it? The boss lady ain't gonna like that one bit, no she won't."

He got up with a piece of fried fish in hand and spoke with his mouth full, "So my friends, where are ma ships?"

No one answered.

"Aw come on now fellas! I'm being nice right now, giving y'all the chance to come clean. I like being nice, nice makes everybody happy. Don't make me be nasty, I don't like being nasty. Things get messy when I'm nasty, ya know. Teeth start breaking, faces get bloody and my clothes get messy."

"Sorry buddy but we had nothing to do with your missing ships." Sev answered.

He stepped over to Sev, "Let's start with the child of material sin himself, Sevran! I've heard a big deal about you big boy. Gotta say though, thought you'd be taller." He said, craning his head up to the giant who was still taller than him even while sitting, "So you gonna tell me what I want to know or am I gonna haveta strip ya down for parts and feed what's left of ya to the local animal shelter?"

Sev kept a hard expression, if it wasn't for the EMP bolts placed on his limbs he'd have broken out of his restraints and tossed Slater through the nearest window, "Wasn't us. Pirates could have easily done it."

Slater chuckled, "Son, we own the pirates out here and any that ain't under our payroll ain't dumb enough to try it. Funny enough, it's actually our pirate ships that are go'n missing."

He turned his attention to Lectro next to him and sat down on the still deactivated B3, "What about you skinny? You look like a squealer. You tell me where ma ships are and I'll just let ya go."

Lectro looked nervous. He has clearly never been in a situation like this and it showed as his body shook and he fumbled over his words, "I-I w-would tell you if-if I knew good sir. B-but we're telling the truth. W-we had nothing to do with that."

Slater took another bite, "Nah, I ain't buying it. I feel like you ain't being honest with me skinny." He grabbed Lectro's face forcing him to look into his eyes.

"I'm telling the truth! I promise! The captain wouldn't even tell us any details about stuff like that if she was doing it!"

Slater let go of Lectro pondering his words as he finished his food, "That's right. Y'all are at the bottom of the totem pole. My'Rell wouldn't tell y'all anything, unless…" he turned to Cetro and took a few steps towards him, "I talk to someone who's in charge, like you Mr. Cetro. After all, we know you are the head engineer of that old battleship of hers and that you've got ties to the Codello family, I.e. Kanzo."

Cetro kept a stoney expression, "How do you know that?"

"Yer buddy Kanzo liked to keep a lot of records on people he does business with, and what we couldn't find out from that our bartender filled us in."

Cetro growled, "Jakro wouldn't sell me out like that!"

"Yer right. He wasn't really will'n to talk but after a few black eyes and a broken wrist he was singing like there was no tomorrow!" Slater said and grinned as casually as if he was talking about his dinner.

"You son of a- When I get my hands on you I'll-"

"Ah-Ah! I'd be nice to me if I was you. After all, I've got all y'all's lives in ma… somewhat greasy hands. Somebody get me a napkin." He ordered one of his men.

"You killed him! Didn't you?" Cetro accused, not even attempting to hide his anger as he tried to stand only for the thugs behind him to pull him back into his chair.

"Sorry to tell ya this old timer, but no. It wasn't me, and honestly it would have been a mercy if I had done it." He knelt down as if he was speaking to a child, "Ya see, Euretta came here herself to deal with this whole situation and ooooooweeee! I tell ya what, she held no punches!"

Cetro was so agitated the thugs had to hold him in place.

"Let me tell ya what she did to Kanzo. If I were the one to do it I would have just shot him and been done with it, but Euretta." He shook his head as he remembered, "That woman is something else, I tell ya. She had him, all his most loyal people and his family dragged out to one of the dry docks at the edge of the dome; stripped him down to his draws then doused him in the coldest water she could find under the dome, then she told him to take a walk outside during a blizzard."

Cetro's eyes widened in horror knowing the temperatures of Ginza's natural environment was in the negatives year around and even worse during a blizzard.

"Yeah, and she told him if he made it at least ten yards before his whole body froze over she'd spare his family."

"How far… HOW FAR DID HE MAKE IT!?" Cetro shouted, unable to restrain his fury.

Slater only stood back up with a sly smile, "I'll leave that up to yer imagination." He then grabbed Cetro's face quickly, holding it in a firm grasp as he spoke through gritted teeth in a gravelly aggressive tone completely losing the air of calm friendliness he presented, "Now you see what I've got breathing down ma neck. If these ships keep going missing on ma watch, who do you think Euretta is gonna make walk out into the blizzard next? So tell me Mr. Cetro, where are ma damn ships?"

Cetro spat on his face, "Like I said we don't know nothing?"

Slater wiped it away, "Alright, you wanna be difficult? Fine by me, in fact since I admire your dedication I'll let you wear one of ma chains."

Azula was confused by this odd gesture as she watched him remove one of his many garish gold chains and place it around Cetro's neck.

"It's a great honor to wear one of ma chains. Ya know how expensive these things are? Shame I'm gonna have to ruin this one."

Slater grabbed the golden pendant and the metallic blue stripes around his forearms contracted, generating sparks of yellow electricity from his forearms that traveled up the conductive metal around Cetro's neck delivering a painful shock throughout his body.

Cetro cried out in pain as Sev tried to force his non-functioning limbs into motion as both Lectro and Skeeve watched in horror.

"You're wasting your time you fool!" Azula said.

Slater's electric assault on Cetro ceased as he turned his piercing orange eyes to her.

He let go of the chain and sauntered over, "Oh really, little lady? Care to enlighten me on why that is?" He held a hand close to her cheek as if he was going to caress it before tensing up as electric energy ran between his fingers.

"Space is a big place after all, ships must go missing all of the time. It could have been any number of things." She pulled her face away as his crackling fingertips inched closer, "Blaming us won't get you your cargo back."

"Maybe, but I'm sure y'all would make for an excellent fall guy." he inched his hand closer, the peach fuzz of her face beginning to stand on end.

Lectro then remembered something the captain had said, "Wait! My'Rell said something about ships going missing in these parts before we left! Surely your ships aren't the only ones going missing too?"

Slater paused his hand just before his electric fingertips could make contact with her face. Slater did remember hearing reports of civilian freighters going missing as well.

"P-plus!" Skeeve added, hoping he could help get them out of this situation, "The SeCore is an old ship, probably centuries old! It wouldn't be able to keep up with any modern day ships you throw at it. So there'd be evidence from debris that it would be us."

Slater scoffed and pulled his electric hand away, "I ain't stupid. The SeCore is old but I know y'all have outfitted it with all the modern day gadgets and she wouldn't be up against any of our high end cruisers. What's missing are freighters, tugboats, small fighters. The SeCore could easily handle those."

"Maybe you guys just suck at keeping track of your stuff!" Sev mocked only to be met with a stun baton shoved into his stomach again.

"If he opens his mouth again, shoot him in whatever part of him that ain't metal!" Slater ordered as his impatience grew.

Things were escalating quickly. Azula needed more information in order to talk her way out, "When did your last ship go missing?"

"Two days ago. Why?"

"Two days ago the SeCore was sitting in a hangar undergoing repairs from a battle with Death's Head a couple days prior."

"What about the rest of your ships? That rust bucket ain't the only ship My'Rell has."

Cetro now somewhat recovered from his electric shock, breathed out a response, "All… all ships got recalled back… back to base."

"Really, and why is that now? You expecting us?"

"Courtix. We're…we're expecting an attack from Courtix."

Slater thought about this discovery for a moment, "Hold on now. I heard that ol man Duritax got blown to smithereens the other day and it put Courtix in a mood so fiery it would make a volcano jealous. That was y'all that did that?"

Slater scratched his chin as he returned to the table seeming to be somewhat swayed by this news, "Say I believe y'all. That still puts me back at square one, four missing ships and no solution to find them. Which means what am I gonna do with y'all?"

"How about you just let us leave and we forget this exchange ever happened. We could always throw in some cash for your trouble." Azula suggested. She hated how weak it made her look but Slater held all of the power here and pleasing him may be their only way out.

"Nah, this ain't the type of problem you can throw cash at."

"Then how about a trade?" Skeeve suggested.

Azula and the others looked at him knowing what he was suggesting. Skeeve hated that he had to throw this in and that the client would be angry with this but no job was worth his life.

"And what exactly do y'all have that's worth all four of yer lives?"

"Skiv! If you say a word to this bastard, I swear I will-" Cetro was silenced when one of the thugs punched his stomach.

Azula inched closer to him and whispered, "Hush up! This could be our only chance to get out of this!"

Slater gave Skeeve a look to continue, "We-uh, we recently got a piece of valuable tech that I'm sure the captain would be willing to trade for all of us to be returned, unharmed that is."

"What type of tech we talking about, stolen imperial tech?" Slater asked, returning to his meal.

"Better! A fabricator."

Slater paused while eating, his interest fully captured and he quickly disregarded his dinner.

"And where did you get this fabricator from, exactly?"

Azula answered when Skeeve couldn't provide the necessary information, "The Crimson Storm got it after clearing a pirate den, they were probably going to sell it for a lot of units, but if you speak with My'Rell the only thing you'd have to pay for is our lives. You might not find your ships but those can be replaced, hier new people and as for your lost cargo, the fabricator could just create what you need to replace it. No expense needed."

Slater leaned back in his chair scratching his chin deep in thought, "One of Kanzo's reports talked about a piece of lost tech like that that he was gonna buy off some pirates. That must have been it." He got up and began pacing as he thought aloud, "Euretta doesn't give a damn about the ship's or the crew, all she's worried about is the cargo. I could replace everything that was lost and then some! Hell! She'll probably even forget about this whole fiasco to begin with!" Slater's charming confidence returned as a wide grin formed on his face, "Ooooooweeee! Things are looking up for me!"

"My'Rell won't trade that thing for us!" Cetro barked.

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure ma friend. My'Rell's the sentimental type that actually gives a damn about her crew. I'm sure she'll oblige." He handed his dish to one of the thugs, "Wrap this in some foil and stick it in the fridge for me. Somebody get me ma jacket, take all them to ma ship. We're going to make a trade!"

"What the hell are you thinking kid?" Cetro said to Azula.

"Shush! I have a plan." she whispered back.

"Really?" he asked skeptically.

"Partially, I'm making it up as I go."

The thugs pulled them to their feet and began directing them to follow Slater while several had to lift Sev's body.

---

Oh no! Azula and her friends have been captured by the Gold Sun's! What are they gonna do? Guess you'll have to tune in next time to find that out. lol

Slater was somewhat inspired by Michael Rooker's performance as Yondu in the Guardians of the Galaxy films so some of that charm kinda came through. Slater was a fun character to write for as I wanted a really charismatic talkative character. I'm trying to play around with accents so that some characters stick out more and decided to test it out by giving Slater a southern accent since its the accent I hear most in my day to day life.

Let me know what you think of the accent. Do you like it? Not like it? Is it trying to hard or not hard enough?