"Are you out of your mind?!" Azula hissed harshly once they were within the relative privacy of her study room. "What were you thinking, Xing?"
The colonel didn't waver, and only shrugged at her growing wrath. "There's something that needs to be done. I'm just making sure we get to profit off it."
"'Something'?"
Xing gave a soft sigh, and for a moment, the reckless and carefree attitude flickered, revealing deep concern underneath. Azula paused when she noticed the hollowness behind his gaze, and realized how forced his smile was.
"How bad is it?" she asked, anger quickly replaced with worry. "Is it like Zhao?"
Her colonel met her gaze for a silent second before shaking his head, his shoulders slumping a little. "Not so bad…though it's a relative thing."
Azula stared thoughtfully at the boy who had proclaimed such a suicidally foolish task, and wondered once more about the spirits that communicated with him. "Did they put you up to this?" she asked, softer this time.
Xing shook his head. "No."
"But you were told of it."
He shrugged noncommittally. "I know what's probably going on and roughly where, but I thought to take a crack at it before someone else gets to it."
"Someone else…like the Avatar?"
"Yeah. I'd rather not let him bumble around to fix it. Plus if I get there quick enough, I could get him to owe me another one."
Azula caught the meaning of his last sentence, and her eyes narrowed. "Another one?"
"Well, he sorta owes me for keeping the Water Tribe's fishes alive."
"I…see." There was definitely more to it, but this wasn't the best place to talk about it. As loyal and competent as her staff were, Azula did not fully trust the walls around her. The faster they left the palace, the better.
A nagging question floated to her mind's surface, and Azula found herself suddenly fighting back a stammer. "Was…was the thing about the engagement…"
Xing's gaze was intense as he took a step towards her and gently held her hands. His grin sent a warm, reassuring tingle down her back. "You have it the other way around, my princess. Ba Sing Se was a convenient excuse. Consider me…youthfully impatient. And being able to prove my…eligibility to you at the same time is a big plus, no?"
Azula searched his eyes, and found that he meant the words, however playfully he put it. The doubts and uncertainties melted away, and she leaned forward to gently bring her lips against his.
"Don't you dare do something stupid like die until you secure our engagement, you idiot."
"Considering it's our engagement and subsequent…intimacy I'd be missing out on if that were the case, you can consider Ba Sing Se yours, my princess."
Xing's arms pulled her in, and Azula felt her breath become shallower as her body pressed against him. It was truly a shame that they could only settle for a restrained kiss, considering that the walls were thin and her servants might be coming in any time now. Still, she savored every second of their exchange, right up until someone politely knocked on the door.
Pulling away, Azula was panting slightly, and for better or worse Xing's hands had been chaste enough to leave her barely disheveled. "Do not disappoint me, Xing."
Her Xing bowed, imparting a last kiss, on the knuckles of one hand this time. "I'll see you next in Ba Sing Se, my dear princess."
It took several minutes after he left before the princess met with her agents. Even then, Azula was sure that her diligent operatives were polite enough to not comment on her clearly flushed cheeks, or her lingering smile.
*****
"Sir-"
"Don't worry, Koshi. I promise it'll be alright."
Koshi sighed as he kept up with his charge. "No offense sir, but you're taking on Ba Sing Se alone here."
"That's not exactly accurate." A ghost of a smirk flashes across the colonel's face, causing the lieutenant to hold back another sigh.
Yan shook his head. "It'll at least reassure us if you could provide us further details about what you're doing? So we could better support you."
Xing stopped walking to turn towards his bodyguards, mild exasperation peeking through his expression. "Look… The presentation is also important. I need to be the only one in sight when I bring down the walls, and seize the palace. I can't have it be said that I used the regiment in any way to get me there."
"Fucking politics…" Bofang muttered, and the rest of the bodyguards agreed with him.
Yet their colonel only grinned. "It's a shit game, but like all games, it has rules that can be exploited. And since this needs to be done, might as well not hold back on leaving an impression."
"I still do not like leaving you by yourself out there," Koshi relented.
Xing nodded once. "I appreciate all of your diligence, I truly do. You men have been looking out for me practically from day one. But this needs to be done this way." He rolled his eyes. "If it'll help, I'll make sure Azula reserves a spot for the 11th in the vanguard. Then you can catch up with me in a reasonable amount of time."
"As you say, colonel."
They resumed their walk, and the bodyguards held back their curiosity as Xing headed for the markets. Eventually, after witnessing Xing's first few purchases, Bofang gave in.
"I'm sure we have better blades in our armory."
"We do," Xing agreed. "The 11th does. But I made a promise to personally deal with the matter, and not use military resources. So to be a spiteful little shit, I'm making sure everything I'm taking there is privately owned. Which means doing some shopping right now."
Kwan quirked up an eyebrow as he lightly shook the small crate in his hand. "So what does a whole stall's worth of metal chopsticks have to do with that?"
Koshi rolled his eyes as he saw his colonel grin. "As I said before: Presentation. Hm… Now where do I go for some blasting jelly?"
*****
Zuko stood at attention as Captain Ren and the other instructors stood before him. "Congratulations, private," the captain said wryly. "It seems that your royal upbringing was worth something after all. As much as it pains some of us to say it, you've done a sterling job at cruising through training."
'Cruising' wasn't the word he would've used. 'Crumpling ever forwards' seemed more appropriate, considering the grueling ordeal. While Zuko's lessons back in the palace had given him an advantage in fighting, the styles he learned and favored had been almost exclusively for working alone.
He'd been trained as a prince back then, and relearning how to fight as a soldier was a uniquely torturous experience. Swords were looked down upon in the 11th, who preferred spears as their primaries and daggers for anything that got too close.
Zuko learned how to stop seeking out opponents to duel and how to instead lead or follow along in tackling enemies in pairs or trios. He learned how to seize the initiative by blasting himself forwards to occupy the enemy to give the non-benders in his squad time to use the momentum. He learned the importance of having daggers properly sheathed for quick draws, and when to throw away his spear in exchange for burying the short blades into his opponent's weak points. He learned to heat up the metal tips of his weapons before jamming them into the enemy, to maximize the incapacitating agony.
And then there were the 'live fire' lessons, where Zuko and his fellow trainees blooded themselves with their first kills on condemned criminals. None of the methods they were instructed in were quick. The prince soon learned how to stamp down the horrified look of a man he was slowly burning to death, or the muffled screams of desperation from the gagged men he was stabbing up the armpits or down into their eyes.
Apparently the 'targets' he practiced on were pirates that his sister had captured and had been responsible for blowing up his ship and almost killing him.
It didn't make their terror feel any more satisfying.
For all their discipline, the Princess' Fire Lancers did not like fighting like soldiers, and they were proud of it.
"We are not sent out to die for the Fire Nation," an aging instructor, a former captain who survived Uncle Iroh's siege of Ba Sing Se, had hammered in. "We are sent out to make sure that our enemy dies for their Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe! The rules of war instructs us how to behave around and beyond combat, but while we're stuck in it, while we fight, we'll do anything and everything we can to win! And the best way to keep winning, is to not act like a fucking fool by dying!"
It was a far cry from the songs about heroic sacrifices. The instructors here emphasized staying alive, particularly to the squad leaders and officers. Zuko was relieved to not be made sergeant. The amount of scrutiny they suffered for every choice they made during squad training was a different nightmare in itself.
A few noble born especially had been demoted for tactics that were considered acceptable in conventional Fire Nation doctrine, but were deemed loathsome in the 11th. Those that ordered their men and women to sacrificial runs in the training grounds were heavily chastised, and for every failure, every trainee leader and commander were told to write letters of condolences for those that 'fell' because of them.
In pristine cursive script - the kind that the upper nobility wasted hours on writing out just a few pages - and in rhyming verses. A single brushstroke out of line, a character written just a bit too large or too small, and the letter would be burnt before their eyes and they'd have to start from scratch again.
Not surprisingly, quite a few commanders from every level could become excellent calligraphers if they wanted to.
"You are the caretaker of the men assigned to you! Their lives are the regiment's just as you are, and you're in charge of investing wisely in them! If you're going to send someone to die for no reason, save all of us the trouble and send yourself!"
It was heartening to know how the regiment valued its troopers' lives, and Zuko saw how such a doctrine boosted the morale of the recruits. There was no bravado, only a deep trust in the upper echelons in knowing what they were doing. Even the few (un)lucky aspirants to the exclusive Han unit strictly stuck to their orders despite how outlandish some of their routines were.
Zuko was in awe like every other recruit at the first real display of the flammenwerfers, and it explained why the Han recruits practiced with funny looking water buckets and hoses first. And because the 11th believed in delivering trauma in a safe space, the recruits were all treated eventually to watching another batch of condemned criminals being put on the wrong end of the fire-spewing war machines. Nobody mocked the few recruits that turned vegetarian after that.
Once more, the disgraced prince was happy to settle for being a mere private. And hopefully that state of affairs would continue after this.
Zuko stared into space as his superior officers regarded him from across Captain Ren's plain but spacious office. The captain glanced to the instructors to her left and right, speaking in a formalized manner that was very out of character for her (not that he'd say that to her face).
"Are we agreed that Private Zuko has accomplished a level of competency that is beyond merely passable?"
Silent nods answered her.
"Are there any objections that Private Zuko should not be deployed right now?"
They shook their heads this time. Finally, the captain fixed her gaze on him.
"Private Zuko. Do you have any objections to your training? Are there any specializations you might prefer going into instead of being deployed?"
"Ma'am, no ma'am!" He'd leave the scouts to drag themselves through the dirt, or the strike teams with their reckless rocketing through the air. Zuko was happy with his spear and unconventional firebending.
Captain Ren nodded with satisfaction. "Good. Then as we're all agreed, you, Private Zuko, will be deployed…" Zuko's stomach curdled when he realized she wasn't going to finish the sentence the way he imagined.
"...however a special request has been made for you, by Colonel Xing, and approved by our patron, the crown princess." The prince didn't like how the edges of Captain Ren's lips were tugging upwards into a smirk. She leaned back against her desk to reach for a slip of paper, and brought it up to him.
Zuko fought not to fidget as the captain squinted dangerously at him. "These are your orders, Private Zuko. You will follow them until new orders override them, do you understand?"
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
"Good." She offered the paper to him, and Zuko mechanically stepped forwards, his legs feeling heavy and his throat feeling dry, to receive his first orders. At her quiet nod, he opened the folded slip and read it.
Captain Ren and her officers expressed varying displays of amusement as the prince's jaw dropped and the letter almost fell out of his hands.
"Congratulations, private. You've done well enough that the crown princess deems you fit for bodyguard duty. Do your job well, and you might receive a pay raise to match."
Zuko couldn't look away from the contents of the paper in his hand. "...to serve as a guard for her royal highness, Crown Princess Azula's entourage, particularly to be of service to Lady Mai…"
Was this Xing's doing, or Azula's?
"I suggest you close your trap and start packing," Captain Ren drawled, bringing him out of his mild shock. "Ship's leaving tomorrow. Say your goodbyes, and enjoy seeing to the wellbeing of your sister's friend." Zuko nodded dumbly and turned to leave, but as he exited her office, the captain's last words almost sent him tumbling past the doorway.
"Oh, try not to look too…deeply into their wellbeing. Azula prefers her friends to be able to continue traveling with her for some time yet, not be laden with a pregnancy. And it'd make Xing look bad if his soon-to-be brother-in-law gets tangled up in such a scandal."
Brother-in-law?"We've only got a couple more days, Aang," Katara said, trying to calm the antsy airbender down. "And the generals have already sent out their people to look for Appa for us."
The Avatar stopped to raise a hand towards the set of walls looming in the distance, masking the city proper of Ba Sing Se. "Yeah, but we're so close, and the city is so big! It could take days before we find Appa! The longer we wait around here, the longer he's stuck in who knows what kind of situation."
Toph gave an annoyed grunt. "Yeah, but if we're in there when the Fire Nation makes another appearance, we'd have more than just Appa to worry about."
Aang sighed, relenting to his friends' words. Sokka felt for the guy, really, but Toph was right. The generals had requested - very reasonably, in Sokka's mind - that the gang remain on the outer walls for a few more days, just in case the Fire Nation returned. With Xing showing up, the commanders of Ba Sing Se had been clearly spooked. General Fong tried to hide it, but his overcompensated stoicness betrayed his nervousness, while General Sung more openly wore his concern.
Interestingly, despite the disparity in emotions, both generals contributed equally to bolstering the defense. General Fong channeled his sternness onto the soldiers manning the wall, bolstering their resolve with training drills and stony words. The meeker General Sung organized the supplies in the meantime, arranging for extra piles of dirt and rocks to be sent up, and using the not-so-cheap tactic of bolstering morale by increasing food rations and overstocking the armories.
Sokka had taken in the contrasting methods and noted how both did their job in keeping the defenders from worrying too much.
But these two were generals tasked to only defend the wall, and not venture out. The broken drill still lay just outside, untouched for the time being because neither wanted to risk falling into a potential trap by investigating the wreck. Aang and Toph had volunteered for it, but considering that neither were combat engineers, their assistance was too limited to be accepted.
"I just don't like being stuck up here doing nothing," Aang reasonably complained. But Aang was the Avatar, and both generals wanted to keep him around as a trump card for as long as they could, which after some negotiations meant at least until reinforcements arrived.
Which should be two days from now. Sokka picked up the mutterings from the troops, and apparently Ba Sing Se was recalling all its field commanders to defend itself.
The one that got the troops on the walls particularly excited was the return of one General Yiu, the great hero of Tai Plains. The one who had dealt the 11th its most decisive defeat. The way some soldiers spoke of his brilliance, the gang expected a mirror of the Scorpion, brilliant in tactics and combat, and maybe not as twisted as his Fire Nation counterpart.
In the meantime, while they waited for the hero general's arrival, Aang kept training his waterbending with Katara, and earthbending with not only Toph, but the generals as well. Sokka didn't know that the blind earthbender had it in her to tolerate tips from outsiders, but apparently the combat-experienced earthbenders gave pointers that she acceded to.
Like hardening the tips of earth waves into jagged blades to break an enemy's charge, or piecing together rock armor to maximize protection in important places. It all highlighted to Sokka how brutal their time in combat must be, for even the hunched over General Sung to be giving Aang and Toph pointers on how thick their earth walls had to be to survive a certain amount of firebending or spears.
Both Avatar and Blind Bandit realized it as well, and while Toph grimly accepted the knowledge, Aang seemed to teeter with doubt, especially regarding more violent advice. The air nomad monk was clearly reluctant to accept the importance of aiming his earth spikes at necks and faces, or sink the ground to trip his enemy into a waiting bed of rocky spikes.
Sokka felt bad for his friend, but Aang's pacifism was something he had to deal with himself. They'd seen the aftermath of Agna Qel'a. It was a horrific thing, yet the Northern Water Tribe had to kill to defend their family and homes. Aang understood that, but Sokka knew he was also afraid of what lay on the other end of the spectrum.
The bloody lunatic that wielded white fire.
Could any of the gang descend into the darkness like the Scorpion Dragon if it came down to it? Hopefully not, but Toph had suspected that the airbender was particularly afraid of going down that route, especially since as Avatar he wielded far more power with the three (soon to be four) elements.
Sokka agreed with her, even if Katara was insistent about the whole 'killing is wrong' angle.
The two long days eventually passed, and the gang were almost disappointed as a whole when they saw the much hyped leader of their reinforcements.
General Yiu at least looked as capable as General Fong, but where the latter gave a sense of stony reliability, the former seemed tired. Very tired.
"General Yiu, we're glad that you're here! Come, your office is waiting for you. I've had our plans so far ready for your review…"
The other two generals practically herded their weary looking peer away, and Sokka didn't miss how he gave resigned nods and short answers. Like he was forced to be here.
"I gotta admit, I don't know why they treat him like a bigger deal than Aang," Sokka admitted while they lunched in the privacy of their spacious lodgings.
Toph shrugged. "Beats me too. Judging from his footsteps, that General Yiu seems like he's tired and overworked."
Katara, as always, tried to look on the bright side. "Well, maybe it's because he's the best general they got, and they rely on him for his advice." Okay, not as bright a rationalization, and it admittedly made some sense. "He beat off Xing and his goons after all."
Toph beat Sokka to a rebuttal. "He beat the 11th, but not Xing. Xing wasn't leading them back then."
"Not outright. They say he's been leading them from the shadows before he got promoted."
Which was disturbingly true. How old was the guy when he became a monster who taught his men and women how to monster like him?
Toph still looked doubtful, but kept her silence, settling with just folding her arms.
This time it was Aang who spoke up before Sokka could get a word in. "I think…we should be prepared in case Toph is right." He regarded Katara with a concerned frown. "After all, we've seen how…strange Xing acts, and how he lies to his own Fire Nation leaders."
Sokka shrugged at that; he tried not to think too much about that point at all. Either Xing's loyalty was highly unreliable, which means he can't be trusted, or he's working to some hidden goal, which also means he can't be trusted.
Coupled with the way he cut Zhao in two with his firebending, and how casually he treated the gang back at the drill, it just hammered home even more that the Scorpion really could not be trusted. Like, at all.
Regardless, with General Yiu stuck in a meeting with the other generals, the gang were ready to enjoy their last night on Ba Sing Se's outer walls before they headed into the city itself the following morning. Unfortunately for them, the sun hadn't even begun to rise when a commotion stirred.
Blurry eyed, the quartet of teens woke up to the most ill-timed of news - The Scorpion Dragon was making an attempt for Ba Sing Se, and he had made public his promise to bring down the walls. Two whole armies followed in his wake, ready to seize the gains Xing created for them.
"Take heart. We've already just foiled off the Fire Nation's attack." General Yiu looked utterly despondent, but his words nonetheless strengthened the soldiers' resolve. "We'll be ready for whatever new toy they throw at us. Our comrades in the other armies are making their way to bolster our ranks, and, don't forget…we have the Avatar with us."
Sokka saw how the general drew in a steadying breath amidst the cheering of the crowd around him before he continued. His expression changed so suddenly that it seemed as though he just wore a mask. "We will not falter. Ba Sing Se will live up to its name. The Scorpion Dragon, however storied he is, will not break into the Impenetrable City! For our loved ones, for our homes, we will throw back this attack, and we will keep doing so until the Fire Nation finally learns their lesson!"
Just like that, Sokka felt like cheering along with the soldiers. The soaring mood was infectious, with Aang and Katara joining along and even Toph nodding with an approving grin.
Appa would have to wait a bit more. They had another round to go with the Fire Nation.
*****
It took the officers in the 11th all of their professional will to not descend on their colonel like older adults scolding a misbehaving youth. What's done is done, and no amount of asking Xing what he was thinking could change that. Mozi hated it, especially because he now had to lead the regiment in his commander's absence.
"Since I'll have to breach the walls and capture the palace myself, I leave the 11th in your hands for now, Mozi. Enjoy being colonel, eh?"
Xing would head off to Ba Sing Se, with nothing from the regiment's stores save for a particular prototype transport tank that he 'purchased'. Watching him drive off was like witnessing the boy traveling to his death, and it took constant reminding by Koshi and the bodyguards to trust in their young, spirit-touched colonel, however doomed this endeavor seemed to be.
With his work cut out for him, Mozi made the regiment ready to join the Northern and Eastern Armies in pushing towards the great city. It would be a spearhead not unlike the types the Fire Nation was used to doing, save for the fact that pressure at the spearhead would be far more concentrated to quickly break through Earth Kingdom lines.
The 11th, of course, would be part of that vanguard, and Mozi had Regimental Quartermaster Hyung obtain everything they could possibly need for an extended and rapid push. Most of the prisoners except for the healers and General Yama were kept in Zilang, freeing up more transport tanks to carry supplies. A small reserve would also remain to wait for and escort Princess Azula to the front once the front reached Ba Sing Se.
The new flammenwerfer tanks would serve exclusively as fuel carriers until they reached the walls. The Hans crewmen would just have to bear the being crammed in with barrels of oil within their more armored transports for a while. Their weapons' reservoirs were topped up, but plugged up just to be safe.
By calling in favors and loosening up the regiment's purses, a supply line was established by using the merchants of Zilang. As expected of him, the great and generous merchant Je-Choi had promised to commit most of his trade caravans to provide fresh supplies to the regiment and its allies at cost price. The merchant didn't just offer his usual fare either, by now he had expanded into other foodstuffs, becoming less 'cabbage merchant' and more 'food magnate'.
The 11th rolled out, keeping as fast as they could to meet up with Generals Sho's and Hwa's armies and take up the post of vanguard. Despite the constant worry, there was a sentiment within the regiment that jokingly hoped they did not reach Ba Sing Se to find its walls already shattered and Xing sitting on its throne, with the ashes of all opposition already blown away by the wind.
Li Ming also helped sooth the nagging worry, her own trust in Xing being a calming balm for the lieutenant colonel. "He pulled off a lot of impossible ideas already, love. What's a mere city and its walls to him?"
Mozi's lover massaged his shoulders to encourage him to release his pent up tension. "If anything, you should be more worried about what happens after."
He scrunched his face in confusion at Li Ming. "What do you mean?"
She grinned with light amusement. Her fingers slowly slid down Mozi's chest as she leaned in from behind to whisper in his ear. "Well, we'll be in Ba Sing Se, the center of the Earth Kingdom. A massive city that needs taming. What do you think would be the first thing Xing might want to do to keep the populace well behaved?"
It took Mozi a few dense seconds before he finally understood, and the thought of being forced to march through the streets of the city to be mobbed by hundreds- thousands of Earth Kingdom spinsters made the lieutenant colonel shudder in his lover's arms.
Li Ming giggled into his ear. "See? Now you have something greater, and something more plausible to fear."
Fear? It was beyond terrifying.
He'll have to figure out a way to injure himself right before they entered the city. Maybe he could pay a driver to run his leg over with a tank. Or get one of the regiment's earthbenders to drop a boulder on him.Reports of the new approaching enemy came in, taking a detour to seemingly hit the southern sector of Ba Sing Se's walls. Rather confusingly, the enemy only consisted of a sole Fire Nation transport tank, proudly flying the banner of the 11th, with a lone driver in it.
The Scorpion Dragon was truly and literally leading the charge it seems.
Initial attempts by the scouts to stop the monster's approach were swiftly and lethally rebuffed, with four teams already missing and assumed dead. The fifth brave squad to try and stop the Fire Nation's maverick commander was incinerated down to one survivor, who was given a head start to deliver a simple message.
"I come for Ba Sing Se."
A nearby army group was immediately dispatched, against the counsel of General Yiu, to intercept the Scorpion Dragon as soon as they could.
Routed stragglers returned to the city days later, bearing news of the boy burning his way through hundreds of men, and leaving the rest to scatter after he incinerated the army commanders down to ash. Some addled survivors even told of the boy diving down from the heavens to suddenly ignite the whole battlefield.
With the nearest army now scattered to the wind and their confidence stamped out, the Earth Kingdom's Council of Five finally heeded General Yiu's advice. All available forces would be mustered in front or on top of the walls. A coterie of generals would return to the royal palace to petition the Earth King and his court, who had been reclusive and unreachable for a long time, for permission to draft the populace.
To the concern of everyone present, the generals were still turned away by the palace guards and Dai Li. The Earth King would be notified, they were assured, but he was busy in other matters to receive them for the near future. However, the generals returned with assurances by the Grand Secretariat Long Feng, promising that the issue of a draft would be brought to the Earth King's attention soon. In the meantime, the defenders of Ba Sing Se were given permission to recruit from refugees living in the Lower Ring.
With that, every able earthbender, man or woman, that was not a citizen of Ba Sing Se, was drafted into an ad hoc force. Non-bending males of age were also part of the draft, to bolster the peasant conscript ranks once reinforcement arrived.
Neither reinforcing armies nor drafted garrison would be ready in time when the defenders finally saw a speck approaching from the distance. Xing, the Scorpion of the Fire Nation, had arrived.
*****
"Well, at least now he's ready to talk," General Sung muttered as the defenders could barely see Xing walking confidently towards the walls, the white flag of truce fluttering in his hand.
"Should we just take him out from here?" General Fong asked, drawing a disapproving shake of General Yiu's head. Aang, Katara and Toph looked a bit confused at that, but Sokka froze and blinked with disbelief.
"Too far. He'll likely just withdraw out of range or intercept the rocks. Attacking an offer to parley would also doom our armies in the future."
"If we take him out, the Fire Nation wouldn't know."
Sokka didn't hold back his disdain for the suggestion, understanding the significance of such a heinous act between tribal warriors, let alone between warring armies. Thankfully the Hero of Tai Plains was having none of it.
"Our own men would witness the treachery. Word will inevitably spread. If we do this, dead Scorpion or not, we damn our forces in the future. The Fire Nation will have no reason to accept our own parleys, our cornered troops will not have a chance of negotiating surrenders. We can reject him with words, but do not strike at him while he comes in peace."
General Sung braved the intense glare of his colleague with a raised finger. "It could be a ruse…"
"No." General Yiu's answer was full of conviction, and the way he snapped off the word made even the gang flinch. "The Scorpion is a treacherous combatant and strategist, but at no point has anyone observed him breaking the formalities of war. We've ransomed enough nobles to know that."
General Fong finally acceded with an annoyed snort. "Then we'll have to meet him then, and see what game he's trying to play."
The Avatar and his companions were, of course, welcomed to join the generals, and did so.
They met Xing just within the shadow of the outer walls, and the Scorpion planted the spear used to bear the white flag into the ground before greeting the mixed group of soldiers and young adventurers with a formal bow. Unlike what Sokka was used to seeing him in, Xing only wore a commoner's attire, with…chopstick boxes?...along with some daggers and a cooking cleaver attached to his belt.
"Good day."
General Fong interrupted to get straight down to it. "We know how this will play out. What do you want, Scorpion?"
Sokka did not like Xing's amused smirk at all. "Do we now?" He gave a slow hum, as if in thought, before continuing. "I've come to offer the defenders of Ba Sing Se the chance to surrender. Your deaths will not serve any purpose. I am here to capture the city and uncover some wrongs that I'm pretty sure need righting."
"Hah! At least try to make the joke funny."
The Fire Nation commander sighed, but Aang spoke next. "You mentioned that before. What do you mean?"
Xing looked at Aang, and then his gaze flickered to the generals and their entourage. "I cannot tell you, not when I'm unsure of everyone's true allegiances."
Sokka tried to figure out what that meant. Was there a traitor amongst them? But then the traitor would be on the Fire Nation's side, right? And Xing wouldn't be giving that away…
"Enough with this nonsense," General Sung said. "Your reputation precedes you, but we're not that cowed by it, colonel."
Xing regarded the group for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Then the deaths of your men will be on you."
General Yiu finally joined in the conversation, speaking with a wariness that silenced everyone. "Why did you call for a parley, Colonel Xing, if you likely knew what the outcome would be?"
"Hm. Consider me…entertaining my optimism. Either that you might be open to negotiations, or that someone would be stupid enough to try attacking me regardless of my offer of parley."
Xing's gaze then turned to Sokka and his friends with a ghost of a smile on his face. "Also, to confirm the Avatar's presence in Ba Sing Se."
"He's with us, as you can see," General Sung crowed. "You stand no chance of victory here. I suggest you hurry on back home and we'll pretend you didn't drop by."
"That's not an option for me. I will do my best to minimize losses… I would need witnesses, after all."
As Xing turned to leave, Aang, who was sporting a frown, cut in again. For some reason, Sokka's back tingled in anticipation of something potentially bad following.
"Wait. What…what if I challenged you for the city?"
Okay, Sokka's instincts were wrong. He expected bad, this was plain stupid.
"I will fight you. Duel you. If I win, you leave, and if you-"
Xing fixed a stare on Aang for a moment - an Aang that looked very serious amidst a small crowd of shocked soldiers and friends - and then shook his head. "A duel between us would be useless. I might be persuaded to withdraw, but the generals here would not agree to even allow me past the walls, nevermind surrendering the city, if you lose."
"You're only saying that because you know you'll lose." Sokka looked at his sister with incredulity, and then back to Xing who was smirking. Please don't let her taunt work on the crazy psychopath. Please…
"I'm only saying that because it's true." The Scorpion looked past the gang and to the soldiers. "Isn't it, generals?"
All three generals nodded, with General Yiu answering gravely. "No offense to the Avatar's intentions and abilities, but we cannot- will not wager our home on such a duel. There will be no chance of Ba Sing Se willingly submitting to your demands, colonel."
"Well said." Before Aang could look too downcast, Xing grew a smile, like an idea just came to him. "Though, now that you mentioned it, perhaps I could accept a challenge for a different outcome…"
Sokka stared at the enemy commander, but he quickly realized what Xing meant. "Aang, don't list-"
The Scorpion spoke above his plea, fixing Aang with a dark grin. "Here's my counteroffer: You win, and I leave. I win, and you and your friends will stand aside and leave Ba Sing Se to its fate."
Another heavy silence descended, and this time Katara had the courtesy to be shocked and worried by the amended challenge. The defenders of Ba Sing Se were frowning with suspicion, while Toph wore a face of silent concern. Sokka himself was very, very worried.
"Don't do it, Aang."
Xing's grin grew. "Of course, our duel will be nonlethal. I can promise that my attacks will cause no permanent harm or fatal damage. No need to roll for…ah, nevermind."
"Aang, it's gotta be a trap."
He saw the airbender's face and instantly knew it was a lost cause. Damnit! This was not the time to stand your ground, Aang!
The others thought so too, though worryingly, not as completely as Sokka did. Katara was clearly torn between her faith in Aang and her worry for him, Toph was urging Aang to take Sokka's advice, and the generals and their group were wary, but still confident enough in the Avatar to not weigh in.
Just great.
"Also. I heard about your missing bison. If I win, I'll promise to return him to you once I find him. If I lose, I'll tell you where he is so you can find him yourself."
Ah. Crap.
Of course Aang immediately went fully serious. "You know where Appa is?" Xing's taunting nod completed the trap. "I accept your challenge."
There was no getting Aang out of it, not with Appa being used as bait. Toph unfortunately confirmed that Xing seemed to be telling the truth, and after that no amount of persuasion could get the airbender out of the duel.
"Get your healing water ready, Katara," was all Sokka could say in the end, as he watched a circle be formed by some earthbenders and the two combatants standing on opposite ends within it.
"You should…relax a bit… Aang will be…will be fine. It's not the first firebender he's faced, after all." Her voice betrayed her own growing anxiety, which did not help Sokka one bit. Even the generals were tense to the point where they were staring intensely at the duellists.
Standing outside the circle and between Aang and Xing, General Yiu sighed before he raised an arm to signal the duel. The firebender gave a formal bow. "First to yield or be incapacitated loses?" The gesture and question was reciprocated with a curt nod from Aang.
"Ready… And…begin!"
Aang's body spun to form a powerful gust of wind as he usually did, while Xing's legs immediately slid into a wide stance while both arms thrusts towards Aang. No flames appeared, but the airbender stopped turning midway and he tripped onto the ground with a pained cry. Sokka watched in confused panic as Aang began to writhe and scream with soul chilling anguish and terror, his hands batting at his face…as if…
He saw the reddening skin on Aang's face and hands, saw the faint heat mirage rising.
It was as if someone had splashed hot water on him.
"Wh-What's happening?" Toph asked, the panic infecting her as well. "Why is Aang screaming like that?"
"I…I don't know! I don't know!" Katara looked ready to rush in, but General Yiu raised an arm to block her, block them from interfering. Sokka was about to sock the man in the jaw, but stopped when he saw the pale, stunned face of the weary general. The rest of the defenders were equally shocked to stillness.
Xing was standing and slowly walking towards his opponent, an open hand still pointed at Aang. "Do you yield?"
Aang answered by screaming and twisting on the ground some more. Sokka thought he saw beads of sweat appear and then instantly flash into steam.
Katara ducked past General Yiu and ran towards the circle. "Stop it! Stop it already!"
Surprisingly, Xing relented, lowering his arm with a sigh. "This duel is concluded, then." There was no smugness or mockery in that declaration, just a statement of a sad fact. Katara quickly knelt beside Aang, who screamed right until Xing who was backing away dismissively waved his hand.
The sudden quiet broke Sokka and Toph out of their rooted panic, and they joined Katara. Aang lay curled up on the ground, the untattooed skin of his whole body turned a bright and painful red, and peppered with blisters all over. He was trembling and sweating, and his limbs were a little swollen.
The Water Tribe youth turned to Xing, who stood passively on his end of the circle, offering what seemed to be an apologetic look. "I suggest you take him back to heal and cool off. I'll begin assaulting the walls tomorrow."
With that, Xing bowed, turned and then left the way he came, and Sokka returned his attention to his sister who was doing her best to soothe Aang while she worked her healing water over his body.
"Wait, colonel!" General Yiu suddenly called out. Xing paused, turning slightly to look over his shoulder.
The general walked past Sokka, and then bent over in a deep bow. "When…if you make it through us... Please, do not loose your wrath on my family...our families. I was the one responsible that day on Tai Plains, they are innocent of it."
Xing fully turned back to face the general, and it didn't take him long to shrug. "I blame the one that pushed me into the bear trap, not the bear trap itself. My issue is not with you, general. Besides, the 11th does not extract vengeance from friends and families… So long as they don't give us cause to, anyway."
The whole group was silent as they carried Aang back to the walls after Katara's healing soothed him into unconsciousness. The generals marched straight to the command room once they returned, but not before General Yiu politely insisted that the gang leave the next morning, as per the duel's decision.
Sokka cursed himself for not stopping his friend from getting involved hard enough. Yet at the same time, he couldn't shake off the horror at the new form of firebending Xing displayed.
Or was that firebending at all? Were his flames invisible?
But how could they move that fast? Aang seemed instantly affected the moment Xing's arms shot out.
It was a question that quickly nagged in Sokka's head and eventually he bounced it to Toph in a futile attempt to figure out an answer. Without any real theory, they eventually settled for helping Katara tend to Aang's wounds. Well, they tried to, anyway, but she was adamant about solely looking after him throughout the night. They'd just slow her down.
Not wanting to argue, Sokka had Toph help him bring in some bandages and barrels of water for his sister to use, as well as urge her to eat her dinner. The blind earthbender was quiet, almost withdrawn throughout, probably just as worried and perplexed as Sokka was.
None of them slept much, though some measure of relief settled on the trio as Aang finally awoke with a pained groan. Sokka let his sister coddle the Avatar for a bit before stepping in as the bearer of bad news. Aang was dejected by the reminder of his loss, but quietly accepted the terms he agreed to with Xing.
The sun was just rising and the gang were following some soldiers to the nearest monorail station when shouts of alarm rang out in the distance. Sokka first turned his gaze beyond the walls, and then, realizing the direction of a raging roar, looked up just in time to see what he was sure was Xing slamming down onto the walls more than a few stone's throw away from them.
"We should-"
"No." One soldier said stoically. "For our sakes, please do not interfere. It…it might worsen our doom."
With admirable duty the soldiers continued herding the gang away from the sounds of simmering flame and agonized screams.
*****
General Yiu could only stare as he saw the boy right outside his office. He had managed to make it onto the walls somehow, rendering useless several hundred defenders manning the trenches outside of it. And even as the troops proceeded to surround the Scorpion, the general did not like their chances of making it out of this alive.
He'd known of the Young Dragon's exploits, back then. Yiu was quietly thankful that it was some imbecile leading the 11th to their doom back on Tai Plains, and had immediately feared for his and his family's lives when news of the boy's survival eventually reached him. It helped a bit that the powers that be in Ba Sing Se chose to keep him close to the city, though he wished that they would stop constantly harping about how undeservedly great he was to the world.
Yiu did not doubt the tales of gruesome ends suffered by those who crossed the Defiant 11th, and he held no illusions that he could fend off such a fate if they decided to come for him.
Having the boy assure Yiu that he was not worth holding a grudge was as much of a relief as the general could get, but it still left the uncomfortable fact that he was now had the Scorpion right in front of him within glaring distance.
For better or worse, General Fong, ever the proud warrior, did not share the same trepidation. He marched to the front, bending up a boulder in the air. "Impressive feat, but you're surrounded, boy!"
The Scorpion Dragon smiled at that. "Then I cannot miss. Thank you for opening with words, I appreciate the time."
Men fell over in anguish immediately after that, Yiu included, as an invisible rush of heat tore at their exposed skin. Yiu joined the choir of screams as not only his face, but also his bare hands and feet, burned in the air. He dropped to the ground and the agony grew much worse, as the metal plates of his armor slowly seared its way through the cloth padding underneath and began to burn at the rest of his body.
Yiu was incapable of a coherent thought, as every breath of air to fuel his screams also seared his lungs.
He'd beg for the torment to stop if his throat could do anything other than scream.
He'd claw at his flesh and skin for relief if his fingers weren't so swollen.
He'd seek out cover or assistance if he dared open his eyes to let them boil away.
Yiu remembered nothing but intense, total agony for spirits knew how long, until it all suddenly vanished. The heat was suddenly gone, replaced with a chill that was almost soothing. As his faculties returned, Yiu wondered if it was really the case or if he had suffered to the point that normal air felt so cold right now.
As he finally opened his eyes, the general was glad to find he still had vision, and saw the Scorpion Dragon standing amidst a sea of fallen and suffering Earth Kingdom soldiers.
"Surrender. I prefer having prisoners over roasted corpses, but this is your last chance."
Despite the impending demise, or perhaps because of it, Yiu managed to muster the remains of his courage, the same flickering defiance that kept him serving as general for so long. He rasped the words painfully as he met the colonel's gaze.
"H-h-you…ssstill…need…breach…"
The Scorpion nodded in acknowledgement of that, but he did not seem perturbed at all. "I do."
And then the cracked brickwork under his feet began to smoke.
"It's a good thing that this wall of yours is mostly compacted stone and earth. It makes it pliable to your earthbending…but it also leaves it vulnerable to certain things. Like melting."
Yiu and everyone else instinctively scrabbled away from the boy as more smoke began to rise between the paved bricks, and a hot glow began to leak out between the cracks. The analytical part of Yiu noted that the boy was sweating a little and seemed stiff, but otherwise showed no signs of exertion as the ground beneath his feet began to sink.
The Scorpion Dragon gave a thin smile. "You have a minute to make some distance, and then I'm coming to receive your surrenders."
Yiu did not waste that chance at all, picking himself up and half-crawling, half-stumbling away from the cracking of stone and increasing hot light spilling from between the bricks. A quick glance told him that there was no exceptions, and even General Fong had abandoned his stoic defiance and was desperately clawing to safety.
A minute eventually passed by, because something exploded behind Yiu. Reaching the edge of the wall, the general used the crenellations to climb up to his feet, and also managed to witness an impossible sight.
The section of the wall the Scorpion stood on was glowing and hissing smoke as it bulged out and sagged downwards. The specks below that were men in trenches were wisely fleeing from the shadow of the expanding growth. Then glowing liquid began to leak out from the earthen cracks in the bulge, spilling hot, glowing droplets.
It didn't leak much, because after that, like a punctured air sac, the wall section practically exploded outwards with molten rock. The dawn light was tainted with an orange glow from the ground, as the breached section continued to bubble and dribble lava all the way down to its foundation.
Yiu forced himself to stand higher, and for a moment there was confusion when he couldn't find the Scorpion.
Then he heard the familiar sound of an explosive landing from a distance behind him, and the general's heart dropped when he turned to see the boy landing on an unoccupied section.
This time the smoke rose and the light glowed a lot quicker.
Yiu's legs gave out when the outer walls of Ba Sing Se suffered another melting breach. The boy blasted clear just as the floor under him was swallowed by molten rock, and joined the rest of the glowing, viscous liquid in spilling out either side of the compromised wall.
He landed right in front of Yiu after that, throwing the general an expectant look.
"I…I surrender."
All those that witnessed such madness did.