Chapter 15

Azula sat on the floor of the safe house performing a full split as she stretched her legs while grabbing her foot. She needed to make sure she was nice and limber just in case they ran into the Sun's again.

Sev and Skeeve watched as she performed this feat that seemed to defy anatomy, at least for them.

"Wow, she's bendy." Skeeve commented as the stretch made him feel like his legs would cramp up by looking at it.

"Yeah, that's super weird." Sev said, feeling a similar pain in the organic parts of his legs, "Is that normal for humans or is it just a her thing?"

"Who knows, humans are weird. They're like discount Pendarens."

"She can shoot fire and lightning out of her hands. I think Pendarens are discount humans."

Azula could hear this conversation loud and clear but didn't pay it any mind and chose to focus on her stretches. Although it was a novel thing to hear them wonder about the abilities of her people.

"That's got to be painful tho, right?" Sev asked.

"Clearly not if she's still doing it."

She grinned as they admired her superior flexibility, it feels like nothing can bother her now.

"That or she's just a masochist."

She immediately lost her smile at the implication.

"Gross." Sev followed up.

"Do you two not have anything better to do other than gawk and make rude comments?" She rudely responded, "And no I am neither in pain nor am I a masochist!" She got out of the stretch with ease and shifted into another equally difficult looking stretch.

"Nope." Sev yawned, "The holovid display barely works, so we're watching your freakshow stretches."

Azula snorted at that, "Please. What you are seeing is nothing. If you want a real freakshow you should see my old underling Ty Lee, she could bend at angles that made me wonder if she had bones."

"That's weird. You're people are weird." Skeeve said.

"Say's the rat man." she responded.

"That's racist."

Cetro appeared in their corner, "Alright you band of idiots. Grab your crap and let's get ready to go."

"Good morning to you as well, Cetro." Azula responded flatly while getting out of her stretch, "Do we have a route to our destination?"

"Yeah, the doc's bot has the route Jackro gave us. It's a little along the way from here so we need to be covert."

B3 rove up to them, "I have tapped into local police frequencies as requested and have found that patrols are being spread out into surrounding sectors. The probability of detection by law enforcement is forty-five percent."

"What about the Sun's?" Sev asked.

"No data available on Gold Sun movements. Detection from them estimated to be-"

"Bad, got it."

Lectro returned to them from the roof opening, "Guy's we need to hurry, I just saw some Gold Sun air vehicles land."

"That's our queue to leave."

They all left the safe house and made their way through the crowded streets weaving through hordes of countless aliens and with it came the heat blindness that overwhelmed Azula's senses.

"This is hell." She stated flatly as she squinted her eyes.

"Sorry Azula. Can't really be helped at a time like this." Lectro apologized, "To think we came out here just to see how the star affects you and look how much of a mess that became."

"Perhaps we should thoroughly investigate the locations we plan on visiting in the future to avoid this." Azula directed to Cetro who only grumbled in response.

"Well while we are here, why don't we try to thoroughly learn how the brown dwarf affects you? Like… would you consider this an adequate amount of heat to handle or too much?"

Azula groaned, "I really don't want to focus on this right now."

"Yeah I figured."

As she was being led by B3 once again Skeeve handed her a pair of blue lensed glasses.

"What is this?"

"Thermal glasses."

"And where did you get these?"

"Don't worry about it." he grinned as a sleeping homeless alien awoke and groaned when his vision was assaulted by the amount of heat around him.

She didn't question his method of gathering these spectacles, especially after putting them on and finding herself being able to see just as she was able to normally but with a blue tint. Clearly another attempt to sway her opinions of him in her favor.

"Thank you."

"No problem, princess."

"You're being too obvious."

"About what?"

"You know what."

He snorted at that before leaning in so no one else could hear, "You give any more thought to what I had to say?"

She did, it was fumbling around in her head the whole time she was meditating. It would be prudent to have a backup in case My'Rell caught on to her plan, the only problem is she didn't want that back up to be with Skeeve. Sure he could be useful as he is a well of knowledge for how things work out here but his cow towing to her was more heavy handed than she could tolerate, he stank of cigarettes, and he was too much of a conversationalist in times where she would enjoy silence that she might end up strangling him, but what bothers her the most is that she can tell he knows more about things than he is letting on thus showing he'd lie to her to keep her in line.

"Maybe. We'll see how things play out." She walked ahead letting him know this conversation was over.

Skeeve lost his smile of false sweetness. He should have known it would take more than one conversation to convince her.

They reached an artificial lake where simple boats owned by the poorer denizens of the lower levels were used to get goods through the waterways for cheap. Cetro leads the way to a dock worker and his small boat.

"Hey, you by any chance know of a smuggler by the name Tsundal?"

The tall bird-like creature turned to them and narrowed his beady eyes to the group, "Depends on who's asking."

"People looking to get smuggled."

"Then yeah, I know him and I can take you to him. For a price."

"Of course." Cetro turned to the group, "Okay so… I'm a little strapped for cash right now and what money I do have on me is to pay the smuggler. So if you've got any units, now's the time to whip it out."

Sev scratched the back of his head, "Yeah… I'm kinda broke right now on account of some tech I bought the other day."

Cetro looked at Skeeve, "Don't look at me. The whole reason I'm a merc to begin with is because I don't have a whole lot."

Cetro eyed Lectro, "I don't have cash on me right now, but I can get some from a bank."

"Too risky. How much do you think the bot is worth?"

Lectro wrapped his arms around B3 in defense, "We're not selling B3! He holds too much valuable scientific data!"

Cetro didn't even bother with Azula knowing she had nothing. She on the other hand wasn't willing to pass up the chance to get out of here so easily and remembered Chani's bracelet still wrapped around her wrist. It must be worth something.

"What about this?" She handed the silver bracelet to the old engineer.

"Ain't that Chani's?" Sev said, recognizing it.

"How would you know?"

"Because I got that for her at a pawn shop as a last minute birthday present."

"I can get her another one." She waved off.

"One cheap bracelet for all of us ain't gonna be enough." Cetro stated.

Skeeve cleared his throat, "I think I can sweeten the deal enough for that." He held out a hand for the bracelet, "May I?"

Cetro was hesitant to just go with whatever idea Skeeve had but was out of options so he allowed it.

"Excuse me good sir, I have our payment for this ride." Skeeve presented the piece of jewelry.

"A bracelet? That'll be good for one of you, maybe even two depending on what it's worth." The bird creature deadpanned.

"Sir, do you not see the wealth that is sitting right before your eyes? This right here is a one of a kind silver chain lined with some of the finest gems from the planet Ziltra worn by the princess to its empire!" Skeeve presented in an overly dramatic fashion leading to Cetro face palming.

The dock worker didn't look convinced, "You're full of crap. Why would you have some princess's bracelet?"

Skeeve looked around in an exaggerated manner as if he was looking for danger before inching closer and lowering his voice, "I see you're not convinced, so I might as well tell you the truth. We are traveling with said princess." He gestured to Azula.

"Her?" He narrowed his eyes as he studied Azula, "She doesn't look like royalty."

Azula's brow twitched at that comment.

"Not royalty? Take another look at her eminence! Standing erect with chest puffed out to exude confidence fit for a future monarch, chin held up high and proud, and that look in her eye!"

She decided to play along with Skeeve's game by discarding the thermal glasses and giving the dock worker a peak into her golden eyes, and it didn't hurt to show off her superiority to this low born creature.

"Those are the eyes of someone capable of ruling a powerful nation!"

The dock worker seemed to be somewhat more convinced.

Skeeve continued to ham up his performance, "You see we are her retainers and we were sent here on a mission of diplomacy, unfortunately that didn't go as planned and now her eminence is forced to degrade herself by posing as one of the members of the peasantry in order to find a discreet means of escaping the planet and in doing so is forcing herself to part with one of her people's most sacred treasures passed down from generation to generation and worth thousands of units, and all yours if you provide us passage to this Tsundal."

The dock worker still seemed skeptical, "How do I know you all aren't just making it up?"

Skeeve was about to answer only for Azula to do so herself. She thought it time to show a true master of lying at work, "I grow tired of this exchange. So allow me to speak instead of my incompetent advisor here." She snatched the bracelet from Skeeve's hands and grabbed the boatman's placing it in his grasp herself, "Good sir, please accept this gift from my gracious empire and if you provide safe passage I'll be sure to inform my father of the brave and noble boatman who helped us." she said in a noble and sophisticated manner as she too hammed up her performance, "My father would be so grateful to you, so much so that he'd reward you handsomely."

Any doubts the dock worker had were dashed away by her regal demeanor and was now more than willing to help, "How handsomely?"

Azula glanced upwards seeing a large airship passing by, "How much do you think that ship weighs?"

The boatman's eyes widened before a wide smile grew, "Get in."

They all gathered into the small boat. Cetro padded Skeeve on the shoulder and said, "Good job Skeeve."

He couldn't help but wear a self satisfied smile now that he did something that made the stubborn old engineer remember his name.

The boatman motored them across the canal, unbeknownst to the group a red sand dealer making a deal noticed the group gathering into the boat watching it fairy them. The dealer pulled out his personal device where its screen displayed the photos of the individuals he saw that his boss Slater wanted and began to make a call.

Slater sat at his desk holding an ice bag over a bruise on his head from the crash as he looked over the images of the members of the Crimson Storm that escaped him, captured by security cameras in and around his club. He wanted to burn their likeness into his mind.

He focused on Azula's picture, studying her as he remembered during his entire interrogation of their group; she was the only one that remained calm and collected; no emotional outbursts and didn't cower in fear. He remembered the look in her eyes, there was a commanding presence behind them, one drenched in superiority. He recognized that look in those that looked down on him in his youth. It was a look one could never forget.

His second in command; a short, squat creature with a compact body, glossy black eyes, and quills sticking out of his head, stood before him updating him on the search.

"We've had our people comb through the entirety of sectors eleven through fifteen of the industrial sector and haven't found any traces of them. There's been no sign of them at any of the ports or dry docks. They're most likely trying to lay low until they can figure out a way to escape. I would recommend expanding our search to other districts of the lower and middle levels."

"Do it, and make sure you forward these pics to all our informants on the upper levels as well." He tossed the data pad onto the desk as he swiveled his chair to meet his gaze.

"Right away."

"Also, get in touch with our friend Jakro. I'm sure he can point us in the right direction his old buddy will take."

"Actually sir, we've been trying to contact him for the past few hours. He hasn't been answering our calls."

Slater grumbled to himself, he should have figured the man he practically tortured wouldn't want to answer any calls, "Send somebody by his place and do what you think is necessary to get him to comply."

"Of course." his second waited to receive the data pad but Slater continued to study it focusing on Azula.

"Sir?"

Slader rubbed his chin as he studied her picture, "I've got a feeling about this one." he pointed to Azula.

"The girl?"

"Yeah, like something in ma gut is telling me to watch out for her."

His second narrowed his eyes, "Hope I'm not being too bold boss, but she's just some kid. Probably a street rat they plucked out of some ghetto to haul boxes."

"Nah, she ain't from the streets. I can tell you that. She don't got the look or the attitude; she's educated, smart and has some negotiation skills."

His second raised a quilled brow, "How can you tell?"

Slater chuckled, tossing the table to him, "Simple, I'm a people person."

His second nodded in agreement, "Is there anything else you need, sir?"

"Yeah, how goes our cross referencing on our missing ships?"

"We're still sifting through reports. I'll update you if we find any connections."

"While that's pending, focus all your efforts into finding these Crimson bastards. I want them found by tomorrow. If worst comes to worst I want to have some bodies to pin our missing ships on and get the boss lady off ma back."

"Of course." His second nodded then left after being dismissed.

His second's com's device sounded off prompting him to answer it and after a brief exchange he hung up, turning back to Slater.

"Boss. Just got a call from one of our sand dealers in sector twelve with a positive ID on the targets."

"Well hot damn!" Slater cried out in excitement and throwing the ice bag over his shoulder, "Looks like the universe is smilie'n on me today! Where they at?"

"They were spotted being ferried across the lake. We know of a smuggler with a storehouse in the sewers in that area."

"That's where they're head'n." Slater thought for a moment on how to deal with this situation, "Mobilize a strike team- No! Two teams. I don't want to take chances with a behemoth like Sev stomp'n about."

"Should I organize a third one just in case?"

"Ya know, that's what I like about you, Slick. Always got yer head in the game, think'n three steps ahead and make'n sure to have a plan for the long term." Slater said quickly while patting his second's shoulder enthusiastically.

"Just doing my job, sir." He responded in a deadpan manner.

Slater took his jacket and left with his second following. He wanted to see to this personally, that way when he finally does catch them he can punish them in person for what they did to his limo.

They arrived at a sewer opening with the bird man sailing them in and dropping them off at an old walkway before sailing off, not without letting Azula know his name and where to find him for the award she promised.

"So… the empire of Ziltra. That a real place or…"

Skeeve laughed, "No. I made that up on the spot. Honestly I didn't think he was gonna fall for it." He laughed some more, wiping a tear from his eye, "What an idiot. Am I right?"

"I think it was Azula's bit that really sold it." Lectro laughed with him, "It does help that she actually is a princess."

"Let's just hope we're long gone before that idiot remembers he's got more than one brain cell." Cetro said before lightly kicking B3's leg, "Lead the way bot."

B3 illuminated the way with his built-in flashlight, "This sewage tunnel will lead to the necessary route to our rendezvous with the smuggler."

"If he's even there." Skeeve commented.

"Shut it Skiv." Cetro said, making sure to get his name wrong this time and not wanting to hear anything negative regarding their escape.

B3 led the way through the dank and dark tunnel with conversation being minimal. Azula didn't bother wearing her thermal glasses as the tunnel air was cool enough to not affect her vision along with its blue tint making things even darker than her surroundings. She would just use her thermal vision to follow her warm bodied companions even though the darkness didn't hinder her sight.

"Uh…" Skeeve groaned as he held his snout, "This place is reeking havoc on my nose."

"What do you expect? We're traveling through a sewer." Azula said as the smell of raw sewage made her face scrunch up.

"Yeah well my nose is a lot stronger than yours. So why is a smuggler hiding out in a sewer rather than in a dock or a space port?"

"That is a good question. This doesn't seem like a place people who regularly travel space would be found in." Lectro said.

"A lot of criminals like to hang out in the sewers." Cetro answered while fishing out his own flashlight, "It's pretty easy to hide from the law down here, a lot of abandoned passageways makes this place into one huge maze. It's typical for criminals to gather in chambers down here."

"Speaking from experience?" Sev jabbed as he switched his eyes to nightvision.

Cetro grumbled, "I've made a few questionable purchases from questionable people down here."

Azula chuckled a bit at that, "It's funny. You said you left this life behind for something better but it seems this life isn't done with you yet."

He grumbled further in annoyance.

"Working for the Copello's sounded like a good gig." Skeeve commented, almost gagging at the smell, "Why leave it all behind to work for the Pendarens?"

He sighed heavily, "I won't lie, the life was cushy and full of riches but I had too many close calls. Kanzo and I used to have a pretty big group of friends, all part of the gang life, but as the years went on our luck began running out." Old painful memories began playing in his head, "I've attended too many of their funerals until it was just me, Kanzo and Jakro… well… me and Jackro now. I saw the writing on the wall and knew I had to get out while I still could; got a job fixing machinery at a Pendaren shipyard, got scouted out by some officers who offered me a place on a ship, ended up on the SeCore and the rest is history."

"Simple self preservation then." Azula deduced.

"Not just that. I had a son to look after and it would've been nice to keep him from looking up to a criminal."

"And yet here you are coming to meet a criminal." Azula said.

"Mercenary work is more legit than what I used to do!" He barked back.

"How's that kid of yours anyway?" Sev asked.

"Hardly a kid anymore. He's old enough to have his own family, if he'd stop wasting his time trying to be like me."

"I'd probably be more honored to have my kid wanting to be like me." Skeeve said to himself.

"What was that?" Cetro barked.

"Nothing! Just complaining about the smell is all."

Azula rolled her eyes at his attempt to save himself with a lie. It wasn't that hard to make a convincing lie.

As Skeeve inhaled again absorbing the stench of the sewers he caught the scent of something else. It almost smelt like smoke but with a sweetness to it like the various spices used for recreational smoking. His nose twitched some more as the scent got stronger.

"Guys, I think I can smell something."

"Yes, we all smell the raw sewage." Azula said blankly.

"Not that! I smell spice." He sniffed the air again picking up other scents, "Along with other stuff like… food and… fuel." His dual sets of ears swiveled forward, "I can also hear people talking."

"We're close then." Cetro said as he walked ahead of the group.

They rounded a corner and found a steel door. Cetro was the first to approach and hammered his two left fists against it.

After a few moments an eye slit slid open with a pair of orange eyes looking down on them, "What do you want?" A thick voice said quickly.

"You Tsundal?" Cetro asked.

"You looking to get something smuggled or buy something?"

"I need to get myself and my crew here off Ginza and I was told you could do such a thing. Under the radar." Cetro made sure to flash a card meant for currency in his field of view.

The eye slit closed quickly and was followed by the sounds of various locks being undone before swinging open. The creature behind the door was large and dark green with a gourd shaped body, long arms that almost touched the floor, a pair of stubby legs and a small head with a short trunk in place of a mouth, "Captain Tsundal's in the back."

They were allowed entry with the thug eyeing them suspiciously with his amber colored gaze being especially hard on Azula. She didn't like the extra focus on her when Sev seemed like the most dangerous of their group but was really only given a passing glance. She couldn't help but feel like things were going to go wrong.

They entered a large room that seemed to have been a repurposed boiler room with dozens of shelves holding a vast array of materials ranging from vehicle components, fuel tanks, storage bins containing perishable items and other goods. Smuggled hover cars sat in place next to storage tanks under catwalk's connecting both ends of the upper level.

The walk to find the captain did not take long as the creature led them to the back area where they saw the presumed captain speaking to another gourd shaped alien on a lower platform next to a large hover skiff.

"Captain! Customers!" The creature hollard.

The captain peered up to them. He was a short alien with a tall pointed head, wrinkly flat face attached to a hunched over body, "I'm coming!" Tsundal shouted back in an irritated fashion that reminded Azula of Cetro.

What she wasn't expecting was to watch this smaller creature steadily float up gracefully like a leaf in the wind. Once he was on ground level with them Azula saw that the captain had no legs but in their place was a mechanical chair with several small hover modules at its base being controlled by a joystick.

"Welcome! Welcome! You come to me to have something smuggled, yes? Or are you here to buy some things from our store room?"

"Jakro pointed us to you. Said you can get things on and off world without a problem."

"Ahhh, yes! The Codello bookkeeper. Always came to me for tech smuggling. Good man, shame what happened to his employer."

There was a noticeable twitch to Cetro's brow at the mention of that but he brushed it aside to focus on what truly mattered, "Right… Anyway, he tells me that you take a few days to get your ship in order for the next job. Is it ready now?"

"Just need to get a few more things loaded on our skiff and we be ready for transport." The small alien waved half-heartedly, "So what is it that you want smuggled?"

"Us, and we need to be gone yesterday."

The captain looked over their group, being sure to scan each and every one of them as best he could with his one good eye until they landed on Azula and his expression twisted in disgust.

Azula could feel the malice in his stare and felt the familiar feeling that something was going to go wrong again.

"I charge extra for living cargo."

Cetro sighed knowing whatever he was going to pay was going to put a dent in his bank account, "How much per person?"

"Ten thousand each, not including the robot."

Everyone's eyes went wide, no one's were wider than Cetro, "That's Fifty thousand units total!"

"Forty." The captain corrected, "Forty thousand I take you and all of them wherever you want. Not her." He pointed a boney finger to Azula.

"What? Why? I haven't done anything to you." she said as the urge to light this entire storeroom on fire swelled within her.

The captain scowled, "Not what you did individually, but for what your people have done, Pendaren!" He thrust the joystick forward, floating to her and maintaining an elevated position over her, "I don't do business with Pendarens, whether you are with the empire or not."

"Except there's one problem with that. I'm not a Pendaren! Do you see horns poking out of my head?" She shouted back at the creature pointing at the absent defining features.

Cetro stepped in, "Listen, she's with us. It's a package deal, either you take all of us or you get nothing."

"Then I choose nothing. Goodbye now." he began to float away.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Lectro jumped in, "She isn't a Pendaren, and I have scientific sources to prove it. Her species just happens to closely resemble them, that's all. Tell him B3."

The robot swiveled to meet the Tsundal's gaze, "Based on DNA analysis of private Azula there are notable biological differences, such as the subjects blood being iron based rather than copper-"

"Bah! If it walks like Pendaren, talks like Pendaren, looks like Pendaren then it is Pendaren in my eyes."

Sev stepped up managing to stand over the floating creature, "Buddy she's just a kid. Can't you just make an exception?"

The old smuggler let out a bitter humorless laugh that devolved into a coughing fit, "An exception? The Pendaren's made no exceptions when they came to my home! Claiming it was theirs by right and deporting my people!" He hovered closer until he was eye level to the cyborg, "And they made no exception when they took my legs from me! I don't care if she's but a child, if it were up to me I would throw her and the rest of her kind outside the dome and watch them freeze!"

"Look! I'll pay for all of us and extra for her!" Cetro hollered letting out all frustration from this trip loose.

The smuggler scoffed, lowering himself to Cetro's level, "This isn't about the money Kestridon. It is the principle, their kind has been living at the top for too long! It's about time they experience the hardship and suffering they've wrought."

Things were beginning to escalate quickly as Cetro stopped holding back his frustration and began arguing aggressively with the hoverchair bound alien with everyone else jumping into support. It was only a matter of time before blasters would be pulled out and this exchange would end with a shoot out.

Skeeve could see this about to happen and quickly stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly forcing the argument to stop.

Now all eyes were on him and he chose to revel in it, "Now I know things aren't playing out like everyone would like but we're all adults here. Meaning we have the ability to reason and maybe strike a deal."

Tsundal groaned, "I am not letting that Pendaren on my ship!"

"And I ain't leaving one of us behind!" Cetro barked back.

"Both very compelling arguments, but let's try and reach a compromise." Skeeve turned to the smuggler, "Now I get why you don't want our young friend here on your ship, I really do. In fact I think the empire is in need of a good kick in the ass myself. And you'd be right not to want her." He walked to Azula's side, "I mean look at her; that stiff authoritarian posture, that condescending glare, that prim and proper face that makes it clear she's never had to even think about the little guy's like us."

Every word he said was like a dagger stabbing at her patience that was making it difficult to not want to strangle him. She grabbed his shoulder pulling him closer so he could hear her hushed whisper, "What in Agni's name do you think you are doing?"

"Getting you on that ship." He whispered back before shaking himself free of her grasp, "But my friend I present to you a unique opportunity. As you can see she is clearly high born with no regard for common folk like us, despite her physical deformity, you have the chance to show her what it's like being at the bottom. No, not the bottom but below it. You need physical labor done on your ship, get her to do it, scrub the toilets, chew your food for you. Push her around like the empire pushed you around, within reason of course and just until we reach our destination. After that you'll be about fifty thousand units richer and you'll never have to see us again. Sounds fair, right?"

He couldn't have been serious, he wouldn't. Azula thought to herself. Skeeve had essentially tried to sell her off as this filthy creature's personal servant, not even a servant but a slave, for the trip. There's no way he would go for it though, his hatred for Pendarens would outweigh any idea of taking up this offer… right?

Tsundal rubbed his chin as he seriously contemplated this offer, "What planet you wish to travel to?"

"Kazima."

He thought about this a little longer, "And I can order her to do anything?"

"Within reason!" Cetro reiterated, fully on board with the plan.

"You can't be serious!" Azula said back in disbelief.

"We don't leave our own behind, kid and this seems to be the only way. Take one for the team."

"I will not degrade myself by being this creature's whipping girl!"

"Sometimes sacrifices need to be made, kid. Be happy that it's just your dignity and not a limb."

Before Azula could retaliate Tsundal swiveled around and announced his decision, "Very well, forty thousand for all of you, five hundred for the robot and your pet Pendaren can join so long as she does the hard work on board."

"Deal." Cetro said before any objection could be made, "We pay half now and half when we get there."

"Very well. Before we go I need to pack in some extra cargo." He turned to Azula, "Pendaren girl, I have job for you while transaction is being made!"

She growled, "I am not your-"

Cetro grabbed her and pulled her aside, "Listen Abzul! This is our only way out so you will shut your trap, do everything that cripple tells you to do and you will do it with a damn smile! You will not do or say anything that will jeopardize that I swear to whatever pathetic primitive excuse for a god you believe in I will peel the skin off your scalp, rip your fingers off one by one, light you on fire and dance until daylight finally comes to this forsaken popsicle of a planet! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!" He said in an unhinged rant that would probably make Ozai wince as he fully let out all his frustrations that radiated so much rage Azula swore she could feel his blood pressure rising and felt that objecting to it may actually make him act on his overly exaggerated threat. Finding another smuggler would take too long and they may run into a similar problem if they aren't caught by Slater's men first.

"Very well… what's my first task?"

Some time later Azula would find herself struggling to push a hover cart loaded with heavy metal barrels up the ramp of the skiff. They were forcing her to load up the last of their cargo onto their transport and are most likely going to make her load it into their ship as well.

She felt humiliated, not because she was doing tasks fit for a measly peasant, although that was something that will never not get under her skin, but because she was now a glorified work horse.

"Come on Pendaren girl! We don't have all day!" Tsundal shouted.

"For the last time, I'm not a Pendaren!" She shouted back before finally getting the cart onto the skiff.

"Whatever you say Pendaren!" The smuggler turned away and went back to speaking with one of his crew as Azula growled while making a strangling motion behind his back.

Cetro sat in the skiff with the others tapping his foot anxiously. He was fine making Azula into a temporary servant but at the rate they're going it's becoming a hindrance. It's only a matter of time until the Sun's track them down and he's worried that the smuggler is enjoying this game a little too much, "I'm gonna go help her."

"The captain's gonna be mad if you help out his new toy." Skeeve warned.

Cetro scoffed, "He can work her to the bone while on the ship. Right now we just need to leave."

Lectro paced about nervously, "How long do you think it'll take for the Sun's to track us down?"

"The probability of us being spotted while navigating the city is high." B3 added.

"Which is why I want us on that ship already!" Cetro said before getting up to speak with the captain, "How long is this going to take? We need to be out of here as soon as possible."

"You think you my only customer? I have other things that need delivering, I can't help that you showed up while we were loading cargo."

"Is there any way you could speed things up?"

"Well that depends on how fast your little Pendaren works."

He face palmed, "Then all of us will help out."

"You said I can work the Pendaren girl as hard as I want and that is what I am doing. Don't need you spoiling that."

"Well now it's starting to impede what we paid you to do!"

As they continued to argue outside the storehouse a team of tactically dressed men armed with military grade plasma rifles crept down the sewers. They were the Gold Sun's extraction team used for lethal operations involving extractions, assault or extermination. Slater had ordered them in the field as they specialize in combat within tight enclosed spaces and their advanced training would give them a better edge against the titan that was Sev who could easily overpower the run of the mill thug.

The display within their domed helmets gave them a direct route to their objective thanks to old maps of the sewer system Kanzo kept logged away that informed them of component rooms and alternate routes.

"Alpha team in position outside of entrance, getting ready to plant charges." The team leader reported.

A second team took an alternate route that led to a component room where one ripped open a breaker door and grabbed hold of the wires supplying power to the large room.

One of the members within the component room tossed a spider shaped device into an air vent and began remote controlling it to crawl through the vents until it exited through an opening and crawled along the ceiling peering down at the escaped Crimson Storm members and smugglers as it's operator monitored everything it saw through and holographic screen from his wrist.

"This is Beta team leader, we have located the target area and have a positive ID on the targets."

Slater's voice came over the leader's communicator, "Beautiful! That's why I love having you boys around. Yer quick and thorough. Need more of y'all."

The leader ignored the added comments from his employer, "Rules of engagement before we operate, sir?"

Slater now within an armored vehicle above ground looking over the shoulder of the extraction team operator at the many screens displaying the feeds of each trooper's helmet cameras, "I want at least two of them alive. If yer gonna kill any of them kill Sevran, he's the reason I'm sending y'all."

"And the smugglers?"

"Kill em. We got plenty of other people willing to move stuff for us."

"Understood." The leader gave the signal to cut the power and informed the Alpha team to begin the operation.

A quick snip of a wire was enough to completely shut off all power to the room plunging everything within it into darkness.

Azula dropped a heavy box to the floor, shattering its fragile contents, as all the lights to the room went off. Everyone else looked around in confusion.

"What happened to the lights?" Skeeve asked.

The captain growled in frustration, "Damn breaker went out again!" He began barking orders to his two crew mates while the rest tried to find their bearings.

The hairs on Azula's neck stood on end. Her intuition was telling her something was amiss, too many bad luck experiences made her on edge to these sorts of things and given her current circumstance she can't rule this out as being a sign that danger was close.

Skeeve sniffed the air and picked up a scent. One that he recognized from his time within Death's Head. A faint spicy smell coming from the main door. His ears swiveled in that direction trying to hone in on something.

Azula took notice of the rodent aliens' odd behavior, "What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, instead he focused all four ears on the direction of the door until he heard a faint click. He then realized what it was and turned on his heel, "They found us!"

Before anyone could react an explosion blew the steel door off its hinges, sending it flying into a stack of storage crates with the Alpha team rushing in. The visors switched to night vision giving them an edge against their blinded targets.

"Everybody on the Skiff, now!" The captain ordered.

They all piled into the now hovering vehicle, the only light source now being its head lights, but found the large double door leading to the abandoned subway was stuck closed without power.

"We're stuck!" One of the smugglers said as he looked over the panel for the door.

Cetro turned the flashlight to his communicator to the captain, "Is there any way we can get that door open without power?"

"Of course not! That thing can only open with electricity!"

B3 rolled up between them, "If I may. My battery capacity is at eighty three percent, I am willing to give up a portion of my energy to assist in this matter."

"Wait, would a robot's battery even be enough to open that thing?" Skeeve asked in a panic as he heard footsteps getting closer.

Cetro cracked all four sets of knuckles, "I can do it, it'll take a lot of the bot's power but it's doable. I just need time."

"Unfortunately that's not what we have a lot of." Azula warned as a second explosion from another entrance went off and more boots could be heard entering the facility.

"Sev, I'm gonna need you to start busting some heads." Cetro ordered before leaping out of the Skiff.

Sev only grinned as his scarlet eyes flashed pink to infrared and he cracked his metal knuckles, "Can do." he turned to Azula, "Hey firespitter, you want in on this action?"

She pulled out her blaster making sure to set it to lethal as they both made their way to the main warehouse, "Gladly." She couldn't help but smirk at the suggestion, she's been pent up with more than enough resentment and is more than glad to let it out, "So what's the plan? Or are we just making it up as we go, like last time?"

Sev grinned, "But that's where all the fun comes from."

Azula only gave him an annoyed look.

With his augmented hearing Sev was able to detect the footsteps approaching, "Sounds like a squad of armed assault units, a lot of them too. I suggest we try a hit and run."

"Hit and run?"

"It's a tactic Gax and I like to use. Run and gun taking out as many as we can and staying mobile. Keep the pressure high and don't let them catch their breath or corner you." He explained as his arm shifted into its blaster configuration.

It sounded like his plan was to cause as much chaos and mayhem as possible. It was a reckless plan but one that fit Sev's motif easily.

"Better idea. How about you draw their fire while I take them out from a safe distance?"

"Boo, you're no fun."

The door team steadily marched through the pitch blackness with their weapons trained for anything that could jump out. They continued through the rows of shells making sure to cover every corner of the room.

"No sign of targets." The team leader reported, "Spider droid, report target location."

The spider droid crawled along the ceiling in search of their targets. Sev noticed the bright red eye on the ceiling as it crawled towards the skiff. He grabbed one of the smuggler's goods on the nearest racks and threw it at the small bot smashing it upon impact.

The leader halted in place raising a fist signaling the others to stop, "Just lost contact with spider droid. Hostiles might be in the area. Secure the perimeter!"

They all separated and looked over every detail of the large room. Sev peaked over the edge of a shelf making note of how many individuals were present. He quietly got behind one of the racks waiting for several of them to get close before using his augmented strength to push it over. The troopers couldn't react in time as the rack came down crushing three of them and colliding with the others making them fall like dominoes and filling the air with the sounds of crashing metal disorientating the rest.

Sev jumped out from behind cover and uppercutted one of the smaller troopers, sending him flying into the air before firing and hitting two more.

"Contact! Contact!" The troopers began firing a barrage at Sev as he sprinted through the storehouse using the still intact racks as cover before sliding out of it grabbing an empty pallet and launching it at another trooper then firing at another. He grabbed a smaller trooper, raising him in the air and using them as a shield as he took cover again before throwing him aside.

Azula hung back hiding in the shadows as she watched Sev wreak havoc on their opponents. It was her turn to cause some chaos of her own.

She hid behind a stack of crates finding several troopers close by. She reached out a hand feeling for the body heat of the trooper and began to lower it drastically causing his body heat to plummet, his glowing body slowly growing fainter. The man began to stumble to his knees as weakness took over his body as it shivered uncontrollably and he began to become sleepy.

Slater noticed one of the troopers movements becoming sluggish as he stumbled, "What's go'n on over here?"

The operator radioed the trooper "Alpha six, what is your status?"

"C-cold… I'm so…" the trooper fell forward into unconsciousness.

The operator looked into his suit's built in sensors, "That's weird." he commented prompting Slater to ask what was wrong, "His vitals are saying he's suffering from hypothermia."

"Hypothermia? Ain't those uniforms layered for insulation and whatnot?" Slater questioned.

"It must be a malfunction, sir."

Slater couldn't help but feel as though that wasn't the case.

Azula focused her attention to one of the other troopers taking cover behind a parked vehicle and focused on raising their body temperature. She found that it was much easier to raise it than lower them and after a few moments the trooper fell over from heat exhaustion.

The other trooper saw this and went to aid him.

This time she focused on the faint glow of his side arm slowly raising its temperature until the trooper began to feel a burning sensation on his hip. As he went to remove the pistol Azula increased its temperature significantly until its battery caught fire and began spewing sparks.

The trooper panicked as he threw the weapon aside and it exploded. Before he could recover Azula had appeared behind him and fired a blast killing him instantly before moving on.

As the fight in the storeroom raged on Slater watched as many troopers were dropping like flies under some mysterious circumstances. Many passed out from heat stroke while others were succumbing to a strange case of hypothermia despite the room temperature being quite temperate.

"What's go'n on here?" Slater questioned impatiently.

"I-I don't know, sir. I can't make sense of any of this."

"Could it be some kind of weapon they have?" Slater's second asked.

"At this point it might be."

Slater would normally chalk this down to incompetence but there were too many occurrences of this to be that and he highly doubts that this is a coincidence.

He watched one of the helmet cams fire at Sev only to inexplicably explode in their hands knocking him unconscious, but as he fell he landed in a position were his camera was looking at Azula hiding behind a rack with a hand outstretched and just as she made a motion with her hand another trooper close by passed out from heat exhaustion.

"It's her!" Slater snatched the headset off the operator and began barking orders, "All units there's a second target hiding out in behind the shelves! Take her out now!"

The ones that noticed her began firing, forcing her to sprint to keep out of their line of fire all the while she returned with her own finding that it was indeed much harder to hit them while moving. She hid behind a shipping container as shots raddled behind her, now she had to remember what My'Rell taught her when using a blaster. She peaked out when hearing the hiss of a rifle overheating and with her arms locked and feet kept firmly planted she returned fire managing to hit one.

Azula now lost the element of surprise but that was fine with her, she was formidable enough without her bending and now that she has a better understanding of what she was dealing with she would adapt.

She ran out of cover towards the racks with five troopers giving chase. She managed to escape their sight and climbed the shelves, from her vantage point she began to calculate which one to pick off first and her escape route as they passed below.

She took aim and fired, hitting the one farthest away from the group in the back before leaping overhead to the other rack. The troopers heard her and turned their weapons firing blindly. The base of the racks were not meant to withstand blaster fire as they passed through them like a stone being thrown through paper forcing her to stay mobile and firing whenever she could. She used her athleticism to maneuver through the levels of racks with ease, being sure to knock over anything that could be a distraction for them.

She went to fire again only to be met by the hiss of her weapon overheating, the heat escaping looked like dragon fire through her thermal vision. She had no time to wait for it to cool so she tossed it aside as she hopped down gracefully and turned her eyes to a barrel full of rebar wires.

Slater was more than impressed with Sev's pure brute strength, he was a powerhouse and that demanded respect. Part of him hoped he survived this ordeal so that maybe he could try and recruit him to the Sun's.

He shifted his focus to the Alpha team leader as they pursued their target.

He radioed the team leader, "Alpha team leader, what's go'n on over there?"

The team leader replied in a gruff disoriented voice as he recovered from being hit in the head with a fallen wine bottle, "The second target is in the racks! We can't keep track of them!"

"Keep them distracted while Beta team goes for the rest."

"Yes si-" the team leader was cut off as his feed showed him falling flat on his face.

"Alpha team leader! Do you copy? Hey! What's happening? Someone talk to me!"

Azula stood over the body of the team leader with a rebar wire in hand and swung at the knee of one of her opponents making him scream out in pain as he fell to the ground firing his weapon in the air.

She quickly turned to the closest one sidestepping his blasts and jammed the end of the wire into his chest before upper cutting him with the opposite end.

The last one still standing spun around to face her only to be met with a hard swing to the head that shattered his visor and knocked him unconscious.

The one who was struck in the leg pulled himself up and took aim. Azula noticed and duct out of the way by splitting her legs narrowly avoiding the blasts that instead collided with the trooper behind her.

She swept his legs out from under him and before he could react she swung the rebar across his helmeted face sending shards of his visor across the floor.

The leader had finally recovered from the blow to his head and saw his men incapacitated and like the others he went on the offensive. Azula spun out of the way of his fire and with a downward swing she knocked the rifle out of his hands. She tried to swing the opposite end of the rebar at his face but the team leader grabbed hold of the pole and used his size and strength to force her against the shelf, pushing the wire against her neck. It took all of her strength to keep it from digging into her throat.

She sent her knee at his side to try and free herself but his densely padded armor protected him from her blows. As he pressed the rebar further against her with his upper arms one of his lower ones reached for his sidearm. She couldn't do anything but press it away from her but if she didn't do something it would mean certain death. She let one hand free from her grip allowing the rebar wire to be pressed against her throat and cut off her oxygen so she could grab hold of his wrist keeping him from pointing it at her. He pressed the bar further into her throat hoping to knock her unconscious but her grip never loosened and in the process she raised the temperature in her hand and in her opponent.

In a split second the fabric around his wrist caught fire causing him to drop his side arm and backed away crying out as he attempted to put it out. Now gasping in a sharp breath Azula recovered and swung the rebar as hard as she could, smashing his visor and exposing his four eyes to the pure blackness of the store room. He couldn't see anything at all with the only visibility being provided by the flashes of plasma fire from his comrades that was accompanied by the sounds of conflict.

He could see nothing in this pitch black room and worse yet couldn't see the girl he was fighting but he knew she could see him. He began panting as fear overtook him, it wasn't until he felt himself back into something that he turned and found Azula standing before him, he could only make out her shape from the red light of the blaster fire that made her look like a devil, it paralyzed him in fear, fear that Azula reveled in and made her feel on top of the world again. All it took was one hard downward swing to take him out indefinitely.

"We lost all connection to Alpha team leader." the operator informed Slater as they watched his helmet cam turn to static.

Slater looked at the screen in contemplation after witnessing the entire battle from the camera's of the other troopers. He went to the camera computer replaying the team leaders footage and paused at the last image. It was of Azula bringing the rebar wire down on his head all with what looked like a deranged smile on her face.

"What info do we have on this girl?"

"Not much." His second answered while going over the info on his personal device, "Azula; age sixteen, unregistered species from Kazima, was arrested for assault on a train and evading arrest. That's all we could find from our contacts in the system."

His gaze still fixed on the girl's gleeful smile as she inflicted pain, "That all, huh?" He turned his focus back on the mission, "Beta team, locate the rest of them quickly."

"Roger that. Traversing the catwalk now."

Sev grabbed hold of another trooper and threw him at another similar in size to him before punching his helmet then grabbing the man and tossing him at the last of the team.

He heard more footsteps from above and saw a group of more troopers traversing second level towards the others.

"Fire spitter! More above us!" Sev called out.

She could see the warm bodies making their way through the catwalk at the far end of the storhouse.

"I see them." She grabbed hold of one of the fallen plasma rifles and made her way up a stairwell, "Distract them!"

Sev summoned his blaster again and drew their attention away with a barrage of plasma with them returning fire.

Azula assumed the lessons My'Rell taught her on blasters transferred to the rifle, only she didn't expect the recoil to be so much greater but managed to hit one of them from behind.

As they turned their attention to her Sev decided he needed more fire power. The panels of his left arm split open with a miniature cannon to his grenade launcher peeking out and he fired at the base of the second level, crumbling the catwalk's support separating the team leader and the rest of the group.

Some were still in a position to continue their objective and pushed forward while the team leader and his group offered suppressing fire against Sev and her.

Azula could see them and saw that she could intercept. She just needs to get past the group on the catwalk. Before they could react Azula charged, firing and taking out several of them until the weapon overheated in which she threw it at the remaining trooper, a smaller creature as tall as a child. She grabbed the smaller alien and threw him over the edge then roundhouse kicked the leader out of the way.

Sev went to fire another grenade until one of the recovering alpha team members tried to tackle him and lost his mark with the grenade zooming over their heads and towards a group of starship fuel drums.

The explosion generated was massive and lit the entire space in a fiery blaze. The shockwave shook the room, throwing several of the troopers off the railing, generating cracks along the walls and ceiling with a portion of it crumbling down, destabilizing the catwalk.

The shockwave rumbled and threw Cetro and the others off balance.

"What are they doing in there? You better reimburse me for everything that is damaged!" The smuggler captain demanded.

"You'll be lucky if you can get anything back from the Sun's once this is all over!" Cetro barked back as he cut the plug of the door power cord off then taped it to the severed end of B3's power transfer cable.

Unfortunately B3's power transfer cable wasn't compatible with the door's power outlet but Cetro's engineering prowess came up with the idea of switching the plugs to compensate.

He plugged the newly made cord in and told the robot to begin power transfer with the door slowly sliding open.

"Door's good! Lectro call Sev and get them back here!"

Sev pushed himself out from under a rack that fell on him after the explosion, "Gah… That sucked, gonna be feeling that in the morning." His eyes flashed indicating he was receiving a message on his internal com link.

"What's up?"

Lectro's voice came through, "Sev! Cetro got the door open! Get yourself and Azula back here so we can leave!"

"Gotcha, heading back."

The surviving members pulled themselves up, knocking themselves out of their daze and assessing the situation. The store room was a mess to say the least with the far corner of the room collapsed burying a good portion of the space in rubble and the resulting fire illuminating the space making the extraction team's night vision useless. There were only a handful of them left with the rest of Beta Team unconscious, dead or buried under rubble.

The grinding sound of a metal door sliding open caught their attention.

"They're attempting to escape! You three push forward, the rest secure the area!" One of them commanded with them splitting up.

The four that remained observed the area around them, checking the status of the wounded and searching for any signs of their adversaries. One of them noticed some movement beneath some rubble and went to investigate, kicking away some of the debris until he found Azula lying face down with her legs pinned by the fallen catwalk.

"Beta team to operator, we have one of the targets in custody."

Skeeve kept a look out while the door continued to open with a blaster in hand. He shook nervously from the sounds of destruction he heard. It sounded like a war zone, he knew it would be loud and destructive but not to this level and wondered if he made the right decision to side with the client against the Storm. He prayed that that didn't come back to bite him.

His ears perked up when he heard the sounds of three sets of feet coming their way, "Hey guys, someone is coming!" He was met with blaster fire from three troopers and he took cover behind a crate.

Everyone took cover as soon as the red bolts flew through the air as they advanced until the solid frame of Sev shoulder bashed one out of the way, kicked another into a rack and shot the last with a scatter shot rifle that he picked up on the way.

"Finally! I thought the whole city was coming down back there!" Skeeve said.

"That explosion wasn't my fault… mostly." Sev said as he pulled the pump back and allowed the heat to escape the battery.

"Let's just get out of here while we still can!" Cetro hopped onto the skiff.

"Hold on!" Lectro said, "Where's Azula?"

Sev looked around them, "Wait, she's not here yet?"

"You idiot! You didn't make sure she was with you when you came back?" Cetro growled.

"Hey! I assumed she could get here on her own after seeing what she was capable of without her bending!" He argued back before turning back to the fire's of the store room and began marching back, "If I ain't back in two minutes take off without me."

"Wait, you're going back?" Skeeve asked incredulously.

"Crimson Storm doesn't leave our own behind." Sev picked up speed as she jogged to her last known position.

When Azula awoke from her daze her head was spinning, she tasted blood, her eyes were very sensitive to light, her ears were ringing and felt a great weight on her legs.

That explosion was something she didn't plan on happening in such an enclosed space and now it had her pinned. Her injuries were minor and was slowly regaining her senses, enough so that she could see the four remaining troopers standing over her.

She immediately tried pulling herself free but the combined weight of the rubble and catwalk kept her in place. She saw a blaster within reach however as soon as she extended a hand one of the troopers kicked it away and the but of a rifle was slammed in between her shoulder blades.

"Don't move!" The one that struck her ordered as he kneeled on her back as he attempted to bind her hands while another stood over her weapon trained on her.

She struggled against his grasp desperately trying to escape and grabbed the ankle of the other one. Her heat bending caused his pant leg to catch fire throwing him off balance as he tried to extinguish the fire.

The two others in the distance came to aid him after witnessing this.

"How'd she do that?" One of them asked.

The other pointed his gun to her, "This one is clearly too dangerous. We should just kill her now."

Slater's voice came through his headset, "Kill her and I'll throw yer ass outside the dome naked during a blizzard! I want this one alive."

"But sir-"

"But nothing! Secure her and get the others!"

"Right sir." The trooper reluctantly complied.

Azula screamed and cursed at them as her arms were forcibly held against her back while the trooper retrieved a pair of cuffs.

What went wrong? She finally had control of the situation. She was powerful and feared again, so why? Why was she still the one being bound and caged again? It was like the universe itself was against her, and with no sign of Sev or the others she assumed they had left her behind.

She couldn't blame them either, it was the most logical thing to do. She was now dead weight after all and would only put them in more danger if they did come. But a part of her still resented them as Sev said that they didn't leave their own behind yet here she was, left behind like always. Just like how her mother left her behind for her new better family, how Zuko left her behind for his friends, how her own friends left her behind for Zuko and just like how her father left her behind to burn the Earth kingdom without her. It almost made her want to cry.

As the trooper was beginning to cuff her a green blast of energy collided with his chest knocking him back and pulling Azula out of her despair. Sev charged through the flames with a battle cry as he shot the other two and struck the last one once his weapon overheated.

"Sev?" She said, baffled that he was still here, "W-what are you…"

"Like I said firespitter. We don't leave our own behind." He tossed his weapon aside as he grabbed the catwalk and effortlessly lifted it up with one hand, freeing her.

"Can you walk?"

She pulled herself up and tested her weight on each foot, "I'm fine." She said before almost falling off balance.

"Need me to carry you?"

"I said I'm fine!" she snapped.

She tried to get her mind back on track while still in a daze.

Unbeknownst to both of them one of the unconscious Beta team members regained consciousness and got up from being buried under rubble. Half of his visor was broken exposing one red eye that saw his two targets, Sev's back turned to him, a perfect opportunity to strike. He lost his blasters in the explosion however he unsheathed a combat knife from his chest plate and began hobbling his way to them.

Azula's eyes were readjusting to the light and the added heat of the fire was now throwing her thermal vision off, so much so that the fire camouflaged the warm body of the approaching trooper.

Before Sev could notice, the trooper was right behind him and plunged his knife into his side in the part still made of flesh. The pain alerted him right away and he swung at the man only to miss as he fell.

As much of an armored tank Sev was, his greatest weakness was the parts of him that were still made of flesh. Even with armored clothing over them there were still bits that could be exploited.

He lay on the ground clutching his side as purple blood began to leak and the trooper loomed overhead ready to strike again. Azula could barely see them but could see enough to guess where they were and grabbed one of the fallen rifles and fired a reckless barrage managing to hit them.

She tossed the weapon aside and rushed to his side, "Sev! Are you alright?"

He winced as he stood back up, "Yeah… it's gonna take more than a little poke in the side to take me down… ow… that does hurt a little. We should get going, door's open and Cetro's getting impatient."

He shot her a grin despite the pain he was in.

She agreed, and they both traveled back to the skiff together as the room's oxygen levels were being consumed by the fire.

Slater stared at the blank screens of all the members of both Alpha and Beta with mixed emotions. Two extraction teams had been completely wiped out by only two people. He was impressed but also unbelievably angry.

The operator sat there nervously as he was afraid that anything he said would set Slater off but knew he couldn't stay quite forever, "Uh… Sir, Omega team is still on standby. Should We deploy them?"

Slater took a deep breath as he clenched his spark ridden hands before answering in a calm tone, "No. Let'em go for now. We know where the smuggler's ship is parked, right?" He directed his question to his second.

"We do sir."

"Good. Then let's go pay it a visit."

Once they had gotten back to the Skiff they departed with Sev using his grenade launcher to collapse the tunnel behind them. They were home free now with the Skiff gliding through the sewers.

Everyone was exhausted by the ordeal, none more so than Sev and Azula. She only had minor injuries but Sev sat there clenching his side from the stab wound as Lectro and B3 took a look at it.

"All this armor and yet you still found some way to get injured." Lectro said as he used his jacket to apply pressure.

Sev hissed in pain, "Don't start sounding like Bevel, always scolding me after missions."

"She does it because you're always in her medical bay! Starting to think most of this cyberware isn't there because of "self improvement" and more so as a consequence of your recklessness."

"Little bit of both actually."

Lectro rolled his eyes at that and continued to apply pressure, "I can't stop the bleeding. The wound is pretty deep."

Cetro addressed the captain, "Don't you have a first aid kit?"

The captain sneered, "We did, back in our destroyed storehouse!"

Cetro only grunted in response before going to his crew.

Azula looked at Sev's wound seeing that it wasn't getting better and Lectro's jacket wasn't enough to soak up the blood, what's worse is he got it by saving her. Many have gotten hurt defending her over the years and she never felt anything for them as they were doing their duty of protecting their princess yet being a princess meant nothing to Sev and she was still just a stranger to him but still put himself in harm's way for her. She guesses there was some truth in what he said then.

"Step aside Lectro." She said as she approached, "Let me try something."

"You have medical experience?" He asked as he got out of her way.

"No, but I know how to cauterize a wound." In truth she's never done this but figured it wouldn't be hard, it was just burning flesh, "You might want to bite down on something. This is going to hurt."

"I can take it. I've got a pretty high tolerance to pain." He grinned.

She focused her energy into her hands until they were glowing brightly through her thermal vision and also began heating the area around the wound on Sev's side. She pressed both hands against it with the hiss of searing flesh being audible. Sev took it pretty well, only groaning slightly at the pain. Sev did have a high tolerance for pain after all.

"That was stupid, you know." She said, keeping her focus on the wound, "You should have just left me behind."

She pulled her hands away and inspected the cauterization.

"Like I said before, we don't leave our own behind." He held a hand out to her in another attempt at establishing trust.

She looked at the hand contemplating if she should take it but instead turned away, "J-Just shut up and focus on getting better you idiot!"

She marched to the far end of the Skiff. Sev chuckled, she may not have taken his hand but he could tell that he was starting to chip away at the hard shell she was hiding behind and knew she had too much pride to accept him just yet, at least out loud.

And like that a new action packed chapter is out! Action scenes take a whole lot of time for me to write, I just go through so many different routes when doing so and end up coming up with so many cool things that I have to trim the fat off of it along with other info such as the scatter shot blaster rifle I made for the store house fight scene where I wanted to explain that it was essentially a sci fi pump action shotgun but realized it would kill the pacing of the fight.

The whole store house battle was inspired by the "parents from hell" scene from Avatar the way of water as I just loved the fast paced action and ferocity of that scene. I was a little worried that I made the store room fight a little too violent, maybe, as I do want to keep the tone of the original show but with a character like Azula things might have to get a little darker since, you know, she has no problem killing people. Just look at what she did to Aang when she was only fourteen. lol.

We also get to see Skeeve's lying skills on full display here and that was inspired by the character ZigZag from the animated movie the Thief and the Cobbler.

Let me know what you think and if you want to hear more of where I get my inspiration's for scenes. :D