Rather pleasantly, the defenders of Ba Sing Se did not sally out once the drill broke. Azula was thankful for that, since it made the evacuation process far more tolerable. These panicking civilians pretending to be soldiers in the middle of a battlefield were an annoyance the princess didn’t know she could barely stand.

The tanks and turtle fighters had formed up a rearguard, while the 11th patrolled up and down the oversized waste of metal to direct cowering engineers and laborers back to safety. As for Azula and her friends though…

“So let me get this straight, Chief Engineer Gunsou: there’s no backup to the bridge’s elevation control, and we’re stuck up here?”

Watching the sniveling man go pale was satisfying and all, and it was really no problem for Azula and her party to just make their way down by themselves, but she noted a few quiet talents in the bridge that would be worth salvaging. Crew that…‘held their shit together’ as Ren liked to say…instead of trembling and looking about with growing desperation. Crew that seized the initiative and quickly produced the floorplan while Gunsou was panicking over his conversation with Xing, or remembered to double check the elevated bridge’s safety once the whole drill came to a juddering halt.

It’d be an utter waste to abandon such competent people and let them languish under Gunsou.

“W-Well, I-I-I…”

Azula raised a hand to cut off the useless stammering, ignoring the man and looking to the crew before her instead. Particularly those that were not about to run about like headless chickens. Might as well use the time for a quick test. “I don’t have time for your excuse. Now, does anyone here have suggestions on how we might all leave this bridge, or do I have to incinerate all of you before I leave to deny the Earth Kingdom classified information?”

The bridge burst into echoing shouts of begging, breakdowns and frenzied yammering over one another. Again, the princess ignored all that and carefully noted the reactions of those she had marked out. They were either trying to calm their peers, or were calmly contemplating, instead of running from station to station in search of something or trying to beseech Azula to stay her fake execution.

“Great, Azula,” Mai commented to her side, “as if things weren’t interesting enough already.”

Ty Lee hummed in agreement, her hands going up to cover her ears even as a bodyguard casually pushed back a hysterical man. “Yeah, the whole room’s getting too shouty.”

“Ba Sing Se isn’t coming out yet, so just give it a while,” she told her friends, and saw how the gaggle of even-headed crew, almost a third of the whole bridge staff, gave up on placating their colleagues and banded together to discuss something, poking away at several schematics. After a few minutes, one of them nodded gravely and drew in a breath before he calmly approached Azula’s dais.

“Your highness,” the engineer greeted, but she held up a finger to pause his next words. Her other hand went up, and a blast of fire caught everyone’s attention and finally silenced the bridge.

“If you’ve all had quite enough of your prattling? Your colleague here seems to have a solution.” Azula nodded at the man to continue.

“Your highness,” he began again, doing a good job of steadying his nerves. “There’s a…manual method of operating the elevation controls. However, it requires someone to climb down to the main hull and…physically disengage some safeties.”

“So, we’ll have to break some things?” Azula simplified, and the man nodded slowly. “How complex would the instructions be?”

“It should be simple enough, your highness. Just find the biggest gears attached to this bridge’s support and remove the locking mechanism that’s keeping us from moving. The bridge-side brakes should be good enough to get us down safely.”

Good. It was a clear enough explanation. Azula nodded with satisfaction at that, and drew herself up as she regarded the rest of the listening bridge. “Your colleague here…”

“Sato, your highness.”

“...Sato, has come up with a solution. Are there any counter-arguments to his method?”

There were murmurs, and Gunsou looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end nobody objected. “Good.” The princess glanced over her shoulder to nod at her bodyguards. “Sato, you will lead my bodyguards down and oversee the operation.”

“Yes, your highness.” Impressive, he didn’t even hesitate and followed half of her guards out in good order. Definitely a talent worth nurturing. The Colonial Ministry could use some loosening of its dependency on the War Ministry for the latest innovations.

“As for the rest of you, I suggest you stay calm until we make it out. My regiment should be evacuating the rest of your colleagues, and they’ll be awaiting our arrival.”

“You could’ve sent them up, right?” Mai whispered once things settled down to a nervous silence.

Azula shrugged. “Maybe. At this height I don’t know how many of these men would survive being carried down though.”

“Or they could, you know, send up a rope or something?”

“Eh, this way’s more interesting.”

Mai didn’t comment any further, and simply opted to roll her eyes and lean back into her seat with a loud, bored sigh.

The bridge shook a few minutes later, and then a few of Sato’s clique manned their stations and they began to descend at a fast enough speed to cause worried murmurs to fill the room. Fortunately, they made it down without incident, and Azula made it a point to make sure that Sato’s group were allowed to exit the bridge before she did. She ignored the chief engineer for the rest of the evacuation, leaving him and the remaining crew to their own hurried scampering.

They met up with Xing on the way out, the boy waving them over while his own bodyguards were ungently herding people in one direction. “We were held up,” Azula said to preempt his query.

“Literally,” Ty Lee giggled.

Thankfully Xing only nodded at that, and easily fell in beside the princess. “We don’t know how long it’ll take until Ba Sing Se finally grows some sense, so I suggest we make some haste, just to be on the safe side…”

Say it, Azula screamed internally.

“...princess.”

Fucking tease!

“Lead the way, Xing.”

They abandoned the drill in good order, and once more Azula made sure Sato and his competent peers were marked out from the rest of the rabble. “Xing, prepare a hawk. I’ll be personally writing my message back to my father. As greatly disappointed as I am in the so-called Great Drill, at least its failure has revealed talent that could do well beyond their current station. Can’t have them be punished for their superior’s inadequacies.”

The colonel gave her an amused look as Gunsou simpered and sniveled in the background.

“Actually, if you’d like, princess, I was thinking of returning to the palace to petition the Fire Lord.”

Azula frowned, not liking the surprise.

“It’s…about something I observed while studying Ba Sing Se’s walls.”

“I see.”

The colonel offered a smile that washed away Azula’s annoyance. “I could escort your highness back to the home islands so you might deliver your message straight to your royal father?”

Hearing Gunsou whine was more than enough to weight the princess' decision. “That’s a brilliant idea, colonel. When do we move out?”

“Immediately, if you’d like. Lieutenant colonel Mozi can deal with things here to link up with General Hwa and General Sho. We’ve sent an alert to their armies as soon as the drill was crippled. They should be able to muster a force to reinforce us soon, and with Ba Sing Se still content to let us be, the evacuation should proceed smoothly.”

“Excellent.” Hawks were fast, but the messages they sent still had a relay network that lagged the delivery to some degree. Not to mention the time needed to intercept and alter the contents. And Gunsou didn’t have any access to messenger hawks out here. Azula might be able to return to the palace with a comfortable lead.

“Ty Lee, Mai.” She turned to her two friends, and bowed in gratitude. “Thank you for following me so far. I understand that the journey so far has been…middling of interest. Once we return to Zilang, you are free to return to your lives if you so wish.”

There was a moment of surprised silence before Ty Lee broke into a grin. “You’re not going to get rid of us that easily!”

Mai was less obvious about it, revealing a nasty smirk at the trembling chief engineer. “I’ve got to admit, it might be fun watching how things play out…”

“Yeah!” Ty Lee suddenly directed a grin and waggling eyebrows at Xing, causing him to actually take a wary step back. “Plus, we still have not had the proper time to be introduced to your hot boyfriend…”

Fucking nosey… Shit, how should she respond without having the two of them pouncing on her words?

*****

“Wait, you weren’t captured?” Aang exclaimed in the privacy of their simple room on the walls.

Toph shrugged her shoulders. “Nope. I watched them take care of the soldiers, but they had good tea.”

“You drank their tea?!” Sokka shouted, as if she had just kicked a puppy.

“Yeah? It’s not poisoned; they drank from the same pot.”

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That got him to sputter out, but Toph could sense Aang’s and Katara’s wariness. “I’m just glad you’re alright,” the latter said with a sigh. “Though I dread to think what that Scorpion has planned for us.”

“He said he’s stopping another Zhao,” Aang muttered, doubt and irritation coloring his voice.

“Who’s Zhao?” Toph asked, which then saw Sokka and Katara retelling their previous encounter with Xing, and the enormous idiot that thought killing the moon was a good idea. When it came to the part where Xing killed Zhao, Aang was angry while the siblings were uncomfortably silent. Toph could sort of understand it, having to witness such a brutal execution, though she could also see Aang’s insistence at finding a better solution to be…stupid, quite frankly.

Sokka sighed at the end of it. “Really, it’d be nice if he could be an honest villain instead of being so cryptic like this.”

The earthbender was about to nod in agreement at that assessment of the confusing foe, but something struck her. “Well, the tales I heard from Gaoling always said that the Scorpion and his 11th were brutal monsters, but come to think of it…” Toph frowned as she rummaged through her memories to be sure about her little revelation.

“What is it?”

“Well… It’s always stories about them terrorizing armies or hunting enemy commanders. But there’s not been any actual stories of them doing anything to refugees or villagers.”

“Nothing?” Katara asked rhetorically. “They force people to abandon their homes!”

Ignoring Sugar Queen’s prickliness, Toph nodded. “Yeah, but that’s it. People run or surrender when they see them, but that’s all you hear about it. I haven’t heard anything about the Defiant 11th burning villagers in their homes or sacking towns like the other Fire Nation forces.” Or dragging along villagers like Earth Kingdom ones.

Katara huffed, folding her arms. “That doesn’t make them any much better.”

“No it does not…” Sokka said slowly, catching onto Toph’s point. “...but it means they stick to fighting on the battlefield. What was it Master Pakku said? The Scorpion keeps to the rules of war?”

“His own rules of war,” Toph corrected. “It’s not like the rest of the Fire Nation follows his example.”

“So…that’s why he treats us differently? Because we’re not soldiers?”

Toph wished she had eyes at this moment to see just how scrunched up Aang’s face was. “I guess so. The captain who held me said it’d be more paperwork if they took me prisoner because of that.”

“It’s…something, I guess,” Katara admitted. “But I don’t see how that helps us against him.”

“Not yet,” her brother chimed in. “But maybe the generals can give us some pointers on that.”

“It still doesn’t solve the other issue,” Aang quickly added, bringing the mood of the whole room down just as things were starting to pick up.

Katara sighed. “Yeah, if he really is out to stop another madman…do we help him? And what if the madman’s in Ba Sing Se?”

“It might look bad if we help sneak the Scorpion in…”

Even without sight, Toph could feel Aang’s intense gaze briefly fixed on her. “And even then, I still don’t trust him to behave after that. He might trick us into helping bring down the city, or something.”

“Yeah, I mean…the guy’s called the ‘Scorpion’. You don’t use that name if you’re an upstanding citizen, right?”

“Well, it’s something else we’ll have to worry about,” Katara concluded with another sigh. “For now, we’ll meet with General Sung and General Fong and ask them about the Scorpion’s rules of war thing, and then we can continue looking for Appa and meet with the Earth King bout the eclipse.”

Of course, Aang nodded eagerly to that suggestion. “Good idea.”

*****

Suki half regretted her decision, but the exhilarating rush of wind against her face more or less evened it out. After liberating Appa, the Kyoshi Warriors had altogether assumed that the air bison would fly off to find the Avatar. What happened instead was for Appa to track them down instead after days of apparently ravaging fields and orchards.

Not wanting to attract further attention from the Fire Nation authorities, Suki and her sisters first guided the air bison out of town, and then decided on helping the Avatar’s mount return to his master. It had been a naive thing, in hindsight, but Appa did let them climb atop his back and seemed far from discomforted from the Kyoshi Warriors’ presence.

And so Suki and her friends had the rare opportunity to experience flying on an air bison’s back. It was utterly fun, and landing occasionally to rest and eat added a simple charm to the whole journey. The air bison was a bit clingy to the Kyoshi Warriors, growling nervously whenever they fanned out to forage or headed towards villages. They quickly settled on a system where two warriors would stay back to keep Appa company while the others searched for food or traded with the locals.

It had to be a rotation system, otherwise Luqi, the animal lover of the group, would happily laze with the beast all the time and spoil him. She was also the reason they had to leave behind two sisters instead of one; the time Luqi was left with Appa, the rest of them returned to find the air bison lying contentedly on his back, while the girl cheerily hummed as she used her sword to give his claws a manicure.

While initially they were hopping aimlessly from point to point, news spread of the Avatar potentially being sighted either heading to Ba Sing Se, or being already there. The Fire Nation was also making another attempt at taking the city.

The Kyoshi Warriors held tightly onto Appa’s fur as Suki urged him towards the great city state, and displaying an intelligence many would overlook, the air bison seemed to understand the sense of urgency and shot through the air with greater speed than before. He was even happy to take less breaks, landing only for breakfast, and then dinner and sleep.

As they drew closer to their target, news from the villages they visited grew grimmer. The Avatar might’ve been lost crossing the Serpent’s Pass. Or his ferry was sunk by a lucky Fire Nation bombardment. Or he was turned away from the walls.

But at the same time, others spoke of the Avatar coming to Ba Sing Se’s aid, leading the valiant defenders against the Fire Nation or working with their generals to formulate a grand plan.

Knowing what little she did of the Avatar, Suki easily dismissed all the rumors, and focused on getting to the city before worrying about Aang’s wellbeing.

“Good boy, Appa, we’re almost there.” Suki smiled as he nuzzled her hand before taking the loose clump of hay she offered in her other hand. “We’ll get you back to Aang soon, alright?” Appa gave a soft, rumbling growl at that, seemingly comforted by her words.

Suki left Appa’s dinner to Luqi’s overindulgent hands, and walked out to the forest’s edge. From here, she could make out the great walls of Ba Sing Se, looming over the West Lake. Fire Nation patrol boats lazily skimmed through the water’s surface, but they posed no threat to a flight-capable air bison.

A sense of melancholy settled when she stared at walls for a little longer. Suki let out a soft sigh, pushing back the sorrow of parting that was to come. Appa would be returned to the Avatar, and Suki would learn to treasure the short carefree time she and her warriors enjoyed while guiding the air bison back. To fly and not care about the petty and ugly things going on beneath them… It was a pleasant illusion, but an illusion nonetheless.

“We’ll get as much rest as we can tonight. Let’s try to make it to the city by tomorrow.”

They flew above West Lake without incident, soaring too high for the Fire Nation ships to notice. As the sun set and the walls of the Impenetrable City grew closer, and Suki saw a massive object crawling towards it like a stiff, drill-headed caterpillar. It must be the Fire Nation’s secret weapon then, and at the speed it was going, it’d probably take them another day or two to begin assaulting the walls.

“Let’s get Appa to the Avatar quickly,” Suki told the others. “Then after that we’ll see what we can do to help in the defense.”

They clung onto Appa’s fur tightly as he dove down, and then suddenly slowed, his head whipping about for some reason.

“What is it Appa?”

The air bison gave a confused growl, and then turned towards a particular section of the city and plunged downwards. Suki squinted as she tried to make out what exactly was drawing Appa’s attention, but found nothing as he slowed to land in an empty alleyway.

“Is the Avatar around here, Appa?” she asked as she and her warriors quickly climbed out and began looking about. The place was uncomfortably quiet for even a back alley. “Did you find Aang here?”

“Unfortunately not,” came a voice that had the Kyoshi Warriors immediately falling back with their weapons drawn. Suki saw a man dressed in a high-ranking official’s or noble’s robes stepping out of the shadows, with what seemed like an ivory whistle in hand.

“What is the meaning of this?” she immediately asked, even as Appa gave a roar and rose up on his hind legs.

The man’s smile was anything but comforting. “Just a welcome to Ba Sing Se.”

And then his whole body moved, as if flipping a heavy board over. And then Suki and her Kyoshi Warriors felt the ground disappear beneath them, and they fell into the waiting maw of darkness.