June and I went straight to the last city, which is now actively shaking. Suyuki was actually there. And honestly, I'm ready to kill Suyuki on the spot, so that June can follow, and then drown myself.
For an hour now June has been buzzing in my ear about what an idiot I am and that at least something should have been done. Martial law, war, blah blah blah, does she understand how I don't give a damn?
I fucking have to defeat the avatar, and she's talking about some kind of military honor. It's interesting what's incomprehensible in the word: "June, I don't give a F*CK about all this from a high hill."
I was never even a normal soldier. And the Master taught to look at things with eyes wide open. That's what I looked at. Suyuki is a very good resource in every sense, but all sorts of honors and accolades are not for me. This is the way my brother is getting tired, something is going on there.
Thank God, at least June was silent for the last hour of the journey, apparently tired of turning the same barrel organ over and over again. In fact, we were greeted by the entire delegation, which I was undoubtedly very, very happy about. No.
I wanted to eat, bathe and sleep, and order is important. Exactly as I said.
Suyuki came forward and bowed in our traditional bow, for the first time, by the way, she recognized at least some of our traditions and said:
- Captain Aki.
Ooty bose, she really feels guilty towards me. How lovely.
"Suyuki," I nodded importantly, without showing any emotion, "maybe not so formally." They managed to briefly dedicate me to what kind of naughty thing you have done here. Well done. I praise you.
True, next I saw that the poor fellows were staring at us and, unless there was not enough popcorn, they were monitoring the situation.
- So, why are you staring? I'm back, I'm back, let's go about our business," I waved my hands and raised my voice, "in the evening I'll tell you a bunch of new stories." And now the senior officers need to talk.
"Aki," Suyuki began to say, clearing her throat when everyone had more or less dispersed, "all I want to say is please forgive me and I'm ready to accept any punishment."
And then she fell down on one knee. I forgot here, this seems to be the accepted bullshit among the Fire Nation. Thank God I didn't have to apologize like that.
"Get up," I said, trying to ignore June's deliberately demonstrative behavior, "everything is fine, let's just forget this incident." We have a lot of things ahead, I need to somehow get back on track and decide what we will do next, and I also have a lot of reports to write.
- Why? — Suyuki raised her head, slowly getting up.
"I ended up in Basingse and honestly, let's discuss this later." I have been on the road for a very long time and I would like to swim, eat and relax on a normal bed.
No, seriously, I want to eat and sleep! Well, what the hell? Should we start this dialogue right now? Young, inexperienced, first it was necessary for me to soften up, eat, warm up and then gently press myself to the side and ask... my thoughts took me somewhere in the wrong direction.
"Of course, we have everything ready," the girl answered me, finally getting up, "then let's pay the mercenary and the two of us will go...
"By the way, it's a good idea," June interrupted her, "to pay me, but I'm not going anywhere."
Didn't understand. Apparently my bewilderment was reflected on my face, because both girls glanced at me and apparently wanted to continue their dialogue, but I didn't allow it:
"So, I went, and you talk about whatever you want, Jun, I don't mind you staying as long as you like, Suyuki is waiting for all the reports from you, come on," and he left.
I knew that they were talking about something right now, but I didn't give a damn. Honestly, I just wanted to relax. And that's what I was going to do. Everything later.
Reports, reports and more reports.
Can I be captured again? Kidding. Maybe. Even though June brightened my rest and sleep, I had to get up in just a few hours and see what was happening.
During the time I was there having fun, Suyuki actually did a very meticulous job. Everything is in order, and most importantly, the worst sector has already been completely checked. Well, almost, but that's not the point. This is the pit where Suyuki was actually the only one floundering and General Lee sent us to clean it out.
And now we can safely move where I need to go. I need to go to the air temple. The closest one to me is the Northern Air Temple. And, perhaps, we will move there soon. Let's finish things here and move there as soon as possible.
But there really was a lot of ass-fucking to do here for several days. It's good that the general also wrote to Suyuki that new fighters of paper and pen are already on their way and will soon take over the reins of government and paperwork.
My thoughts were interrupted by a falcon from the general. Judging by the confusion of the poor bird, she flew very quickly and tried with all her might. The letter contained the following information: they say an avatar was caught nearby. Or more precisely, General Zhao caught the bald boy.
He asks to urgently move there and monitor the situation.
Cool, it was about twelve at night and I had to run somewhere right now. But the general said it was necessary, the cadet replied - yes. Therefore, I quickly grabbed my things and ran to see what was wrong with the avatar.
The run took me about two hours, I was heading to the castle of the local Hawkeyes, slowing down in front of the gate, I walked at a normal pace. According to rumors, the archers there are very sharp-eyed, and suddenly they will see me running.
- Stop! Who goes? - a voice sounded from the wall.
- Captain Aki. "Inspector, arrived on behalf of General Lee," I said loudly and clearly. After standing for a couple of minutes and hearing a slight rustling behind the wall, I realized that they were about to open it.
To my surprise, Admiral Zhao himself was already standing in front and joyfully, at least trying very hard to show that he was, greeting me.
"Oh, Captain Aki, I've heard a lot, I've heard a lot," the man tried to hug me and immediately set his own style of communication.
"Admiral Zhao," I nodded, shaking my shoulder and throwing off his hand, "I don't fully understand why I was sent, but I have enough authority to control the issue of keeping the avatar and its transportation to the capital or to any other prison." Therefore, I would like to see the conditions of his imprisonment.
"Of course, of course, let's go," he led me forward, not hiding his sycophantic smile.
Yes, I'm a captain, and there's a whole admiral lying in front of me. Well, in fact, given his rank, in fact, he can quite argue with me and not smile as much as he does, but apparently the force of habit is at play here, I lick the heels of the strong, and press on the weak.
In general, of course, the title of inspector very much separates me from the ranks. In fact, I am General Lee, according to my authority, roughly speaking.
And he's not just a general, he's most likely some kind of lieutenant general, in short, a very important and high-ranking bigwig. A lump that the other lumps don't like, yes, but you can also throw off the crap that you can only crap on little things.
The Avatar was kept in good conditions. For us. For him, the fixed limbs, the constant light on the ceiling, not very strong, but not weak either, are terrible, I think if he weren't a balloonist with many of his senses atrophied, he would have felt very bad.
The boy immediately looked up, and recognition flashed in his eyes when he saw me. I calmly held the boy's gaze, even despite the flash of something so... chthonic in the depths.
Fuck, a chill went down my spine. And what the fuck should we do about it? Somehow, the feeling of one's own importance and, in general, the readiness to somehow actively create a fuss in front of this child suddenly disappeared. I even wanted to, well, get away from here.
This is terrible crap. And I somehow need to overcome this. Although, if I carefully monitor him now and let him be taken to prison, then maybe my story will end there? And I will calmly go to the capital to look for Mei and live and make good things? Draw pictures there.
The main thing is to control it. And so that those who should take him away come and so that no idiot kills him.
- So General, congratulations, you really caught the avatar.
"Yes," the admiral nodded importantly.
"I'll be here until they take him away and I'll go with them," I stood opposite Zhao.
— There are hundreds of arrows with...
"It doesn't matter, they wouldn't do anything to me, especially to the avatar," I interrupted him, "the most important thing is not to communicate with him." The trigger for entering the avatar state can go off at any moment and then many will die here. Do you understand me?
"With all due respect..." he began, dissatisfied with my tone.
"I say this as Kira, not as a Fire Nation officer," I added. Yes, the myths about me played a joke against our own army, so the admiral even turned slightly pale. With Lee, this wouldn't work, but this coward is still the same.
Taking one last look at the child, who was listening with interest to our conversation and who, by fate, is a local monster, I left the room.
There's one thing I don't understand, how was this in canon? It is unlikely that I have already changed the plot so much that the avatar was caught at the very beginning of his adventures. The butterfly effect is, of course, a powerful thing, but it's hard to believe in such lucky coincidences.
And considering that I almost don't remember the plot, other than general outlines it becomes interesting. Somehow this kid will escape. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that his friends will come here for him.
So we need to look carefully... how would I save the avatar in their place? I would quietly sneak in dressed as locals, rescue the avatar and somehow put him into cheat mode. Well, or at least smuggled in another set of clothes.
Therefore, I made sure that the security of the room was in place, I went outside and sat in the corner to monitor the situation, I will closely monitor the strange security guards. These scorch quite strongly, the main thing is to look carefully. So what can I say?
It's boring. Even chasing the breeze in your head doesn't help, boredom just kills you. I didn't go to bed, and I didn't want to, but the breeze successfully stopped it. Zhao gave some kind of speech, by the way, I liked nothing so much.
The main commotion began very close to the night, I heard some kind of commotion in the building and a couple of seconds later the door swung open and one of the soldiers flew through it with his back.
I immediately recognized the bald head of the avatar, but the incomprehensible Blue mask surprised me. It's unlikely that anyone from the village of these watermen can wield double sabers like that. Experience was visible in the movements with which he threw people one by one.
Taking out the rapier, I immediately flew into battle, but an unexpected obstacle arose: there were too many people around. I was literally separated from these two by a hedge, which, with all my frostbite, I am not going to throw apart with a rapier.
But these two scattered encirclements quite quickly, this is not at all difficult if you wield a weapon at an average level. It doesn't matter what: sabers or magic.
They were already moving towards the exit when I gave up on everything and, accelerating myself with air, broke through the hedge, and attacked the swordsman with a rapier. He somehow got confused, but I didn't slow down and, dodging both sabers, put pressure on him.
At one point, I drew a rapier in front of me and literally cut off the lower part of the mask. A little, literally our sinister's mouth was visible, but nevertheless, this was enough for him and he began to retreat from me, making his way into the crowd.
I decided to see what would happen; in fact, it is unlikely that they will escape; more and more people will come out onto the street and it is unrealistic that they will be able to escape.
Even Zhao stepped forward, watching as four rather powerful firebenders showered fire on the two of them, while the avatar knocked it away with the wind.
- Stop shooting! - Zhao exclaimed when he saw that the attacks almost hit the bald man, - we need the avatar alive!
Fuck, he said this in vain, it's just fucking in vain. I directly felt the second thought of the blue mask when, two seconds later, I put my swords to the avatar's throat.
He didn't say anything, but the ultimatum was already clear.
"Open the gate," said Zhao, and seeing how no one was in a hurry, he added, "Well!"
Behind the avatar and the blue mask, the gates opened and they began to turn their backs towards it. Yeah, Zhao really is such a dumbass. So why was it necessary to shout to the whole street that the avatar was needed alive? What kind of idiot wouldn't understand this? Now let's kill him, be born somewhere in the water tribe and fuck him until he comes of age. And here is a kid barely adapted to life, why isn't it an ideal option to keep captive?
What a shame that right now all my hopes for a good life are quarreling with this idiot with sideburns. He knows who I am, couldn't he disperse the crowd a little? I can't order them. I would at least have worn the mask myself, but I would have won.
- How could you let them go? - said one of the men standing behind the admiral.
"A situation of this kind requires... precision," Zhao said with a smile.
Even if you shoot the thief, the avatar is already gone. Lord, how did he rise to such a rank?
Which is exactly what happened. An arrow hit the mask, but the avatar immediately raised a smoke screen and there was no trace of them. Zhao swore at everyone around him, and I just stood there... lost? Yes, that's the best word.
It was so stupid. Well, that's really stupid. The crowd prevented me from fighting normally, a thief who somehow got through all the guards, then this exit through the gate. Yes, he would never have killed the avatar, at least because he needs it to survive now.
I would have acted differently, it's a pity, but I have no right to challenge the admiral's orders to his subordinates. And the same one, without even thinking, beat him, just straight away. Not a second to think.
What an idiot.
"Captain Aki," Zhao finally noticed me, "Kira." Why didn't you participate in the battle?
— Are you looking for the extreme? — I raised an eyebrow, "because there were so many of your people that you either have to cut them down or stand behind them." You could have just given me at least a minimal platform before the fight and now the avatar would be without limbs, and the thief would be dead. Well, well, we found out that your archers shoot accurately. It's just a shame that it didn't help. The report on events will be complete and impartial. It's not for me to judge your actions. Not for me.
And he turned around and went out. What else should I do? I just popped in to sit and then watch the dumbest show of my life. I want to bang my head against the wall. Or against a tree.
Which is what I decided to do, walking straight down the path from the local castle of the black... admiral. Okay, I went to the toilet. To see a stream of flame nearby, clearly visible in the dark through not very thick greenery. I ran there like the wind and it was there, literally, in a couple of seconds.
And there the thief lay. Without a mask.
Prince Zuko.
Apparently my bewilderment was written on my face, because he immediately began to make excuses.
- Kira. I couldn't let Zhao take the avatar! - he exclaimed, - I need to catch the avatar myself and restore my honor!
I wanted one specific tree. Oak. So thick that I would gladly hit my forehead against it.
- And... you decided to steal it? — I raised an eyebrow, "this is the stupidest decision I've ever heard of."
- What was I supposed to do?! To me! I need to bring the avatar to my father! — the guy continued to defend himself expressively.
- What day? "And the stupidest decision and the stupidest situation," I asked rhetorically, "Zuko." Dear Prince. When your father sent you to look for the avatar, he had not been seen for a hundred years. Maybe, just maybe, it was more of an idiom than a direct command.
Here Zuko is stuck staring at me. And apparently lost in his thoughts.
"Okay, prince, I'll go," I waved my hand, still in complete shock, "come on here... don't stay too long." And then I need to inspect the settlements.
And also have a drink. Take June, go to some local bar and get pretty drunk. Then fight with someone. And then have sex with someone. Moreover, it is desirable that in the first case it be someone male, and in the second - female.
Waking up in the morning, I realized that the plan had been fulfilled and even exceeded. No, thank God I didn't feel two female bodies nearby and no Suyuki was a miracle in my arms. Just waking up, even despite the hangover, I did not feel a sense of shame or misunderstanding of the situation. Well, that is, the same ones that haunted me yesterday.
Well, next to me lay, of course, the body of June. And she snored sweetly, burying herself somewhere in my armpit. And throwing his leg a little proprietorially. That's a bandit. But beautiful.
In theory, the poor fellows in full force should have gathered and prepared to transfer air to the temple. Our colony is not far away, so that's where we're headed.
Therefore, having gotten up and done all the morning procedures, June, of course, was still sleeping, I went to supervise the preparations. It turned out that in vain, for some reason the slightly gloomy Suyuki had been quite clearly directing the process for several hours already.
It was about one o'clock in the afternoon, so the process itself was in such full swing.
Something was loading, someone was dragging around, shouting at someone, swearing at someone, and someone was standing nearby on a smoke break, while Suyuki, with a tablet in her hands, walked around in a circle, writing something down and putting in checks. Three buckets of mushrooms from local forests? Check. Five cases of alcohol? Check.
And so on.
Well, I found myself a deputy for all this dreary work and therefore, more than satisfied, I went on to sleep. The departure was scheduled for late in the evening, so we'll leave in the late afternoon. Then what do I do? I'm getting enough sleep right.
When I woke up in the late afternoon, June was not in bed, and there was no active bustle on the street. Everyone was already ready to move to the coastal city, from there to the ship, and from there closer to the air temple.
Now, everyone was sitting near the loaded carts and just relaxing, apparently having recently completed the whole process. Even Suyuki, tired, sat with a mug of something hot, literally, and sometimes sipped her drink with her head at one point.
I'll go find out the situation from her and we can move forward. The path ahead is not close.
***
The journey on the ship turned out to be quite difficult. But first things first, at first we decided that the sea was knee-deep and sailed across the sea, absolutely calmly. Have a calm journey, not too long, just a couple of days of travel and we are there, the waters are all known and nothing foreshadows trouble. Uli, June and Suyuki and I sat in his wheelhouse and drank, little by little discussing all sorts of things.
Uli was sitting in his captain's chair, I was sitting on a regular chair with my elbows on the table, June, in about the same one, was leaning back with her legs folded on the table and staggering on two legs, and Suyuki was sitting in the pose of some kind of excellent student. On Uli's table there were several glasses of whiskey, since the captain was holding his in his hand, and an ashtray, because we were still smoking cigars. Except, of course, Suyuki. At least she drank well. Before, I wouldn't have agreed to such a party, but now here I am.
Basically, of course, they tortured me about what I saw in Ba Sing Se. Well, how they tortured, Uli and June brazenly interrogated, but Suyuki was silent, she didn't want to remind her of her joint.
The former insolence has disappeared and, no matter how it appears now, her behavior is more reminiscent of Hinata from Naruto, except for other reasons and without excessive beauty and stalking.
Modestly and sometimes even stuttering, I would say. And in principle, I'm happy with this kind of behavior, at least some kind of damn variety, because I'm tired of communicating with nothing but ulcers and subordinates, honestly, but now here's a shy little girl.
"... oh, but the most interesting thing was in the local bakery... ugh, you doctor," I lost my way, "I thought the level of medicine was the same everywhere, more or less, except maybe the water workers, they are rumored to be doing some kind of shamanism there." they can, but here, God forgive me, like everywhere else they lag behind. They don't know such things as syringes in principle. What can we say about something like a dropper. All some kind of herbal decoctions are rubbed in. So they rubbed it in on me. Some kind of game.
- Hmm, I wonder what exactly gave the Fire Nation such an impetus in technology at one time? - June said slightly thoughtfully.
"So I'm looking for an answer," I sighed, "moreover, this push was a long time ago, and now technology is almost not going up." Although, it feels like something has gone somewhere over the last eight years, that's right.
- Yeah, have you seen the new tanks? - Uli intervened in the dialogue, - a traumatic infection, but so effective. And uphill and downhill and generally along the wall. Listen, I bet you, they are planning to take Basingse. Well, all the dots converge on this.
"They planned to take this Basingse back when my grandmother was my age," June snorted, "they haven't taken it yet, as you can see." And there weren't even any special attempts.
"Because all this time the money was divided and it was not profitable to push it even more into the war," Mauer raised his finger to the top, "and now they can go on the attack." Moreover, Ozai is in power.
Everyone here sighed heavily. Ozai was the talk of the town in these conversations in the kitchen. After the strong and continued work of Sozin, Azulon, Ozai... well, let's just say it didn't look good at all. Most people still believe that Iroh would have done a better job. Much better.
My favorite argument, by the way, is how a person can cope with a country if he couldn't cope with raising his only son. Expulsion is, of course, a serious thing. And usually, everyone means exactly this, but I already had the honor of being acquainted with His Highness and the impression remained... well, rather negative. You can't be like that at his age, you can't.
-What's wrong with Ozai? — Suyuki asked quietly, she was the only one here who was completely off topic.
"It's strange to say this in the presence of two Fire Nation officers," June snorted, "but it's not like that." No matter what he does, he somehow manages to ruin everything. Prince Iroh would most likely have continued the prosperity of the Azulon era, but he...
"And he is slowly starting bad years for our people," I continued for her, "and everyone understands this." But no one will do anything. We have a monarchy, we have to wait until the royal family does something. And there…
"And there, a princess devoted to her father," Uli picked up, "and two princes in exile." If I were the Landmen, honestly, I would somehow intercept them, convince them that they are good whites and offer them power. And then there was an uprising and so on. Anything is better than fighting against a technically superior opponent.
"Better is better, but both princes are ideological," I shook my head, "Iroh doesn't want to fight, he's like a man tired of life, he just enjoys every moment, and Zuko loves his father and is trying to restore his goodwill." Catch the avatar, yeah.
— By the way, are you also among the avatar catchers? - June asked, - well, more precisely, we are already, while I'm with you.
"I don't know," I shrugged, carefully examining each of the interlocutors, "let's be honest, I want to catch the avatar." Because I understand that if he reaches his peak, then dark times will begin, be it Ozai or whoever you want. And I don't know about you, but it gives me goosebumps. Some absolutely creepy crap in the boy.
"I didn't feel such an effect," Suyuki said confusedly, "boy and boy." Showed tricks with air.
"So, it's only me who feels it," he shrugged, "the keeper of the damn balance." Why the hell was he canonized so much as if he were a messenger of some gods?
- Well... it's an avatar! — Suyuki said somehow in bewilderment, as if this word explained everything.
"The Avatar," I agreed, "is a damn keeper of the balance." Do you know what will happen literally in six months if you let the avatar achieve his goals, which are whispered to him by two great minds from the village?
"Katara and Sokka," said Suyuki, "they seem like normal guys."
"Yeah," I chimed in again, "I'm sure they think they're going to do good and inflict justice." But what do they know about the world? The Fire Nation is bad, everyone else is good and generally victims. Let's go and change everything back to how it was. And the avatar guy is generally naive, he's a fucking monk, he hasn't seen the old world, what can we say about the new one. He will acquire the elements and go to show his techniques. The hyperactive phase of the war will begin, when all the men on both sides will begin to be gathered to the front, the countries will throw their entire economies back into war, and then everyone will outwit each other. Maybe some kind of peace will come there and maybe the avatar will like it, they say, everything is fair, the fire magicians are back on their island, the earth magicians are on their continent, damn it, and the northerners are at the poles. But then as many people will die as did not die during the entire war, not counting the beginning. Therefore, I am not purposefully looking for an avatar yet. It won't take long for me to personally put things in order in the rear and then I'll grab the coins, grab you all and go ahead. Let's be a team of bloodhounds. Is anyone against it?
"I'm for it," Uli shrugged, "I completely accept your arguments." And judging by what I see, there are almost no smart commanders like you left in the army. Let's take the search into our own hands.
"I don't know," June shrugged, "I actually just decided to swim with you and see the world," another one on my head, it's crazy, she hasn't seen the world, yeah, but of course. Okay, I hope we won't go through the stages of betrayal - my torture - apology - guilt. Because, by and large, it's Suyuki and her girls that I need as a fighting unit. June is undoubtedly a valuable figure, but for now one such traitor is enough for me.
"I... I probably agree," Suyuki nodded, looking away, "civilians are in almost no danger, judging by the cities we were in, and the military... that's why they are military." Especially those rabble who are just bandits in the form of the People of the Earth.
"Okay, okay," I chuckled, "let's return to a more interesting topic then." Has anyone seen these all-terrain tanks live? I just vaguely imagine a design that will allow you to climb a vertical surface.
"Nope, they're just starting to arrive to different units," Uli shrugged, "by the way, about the vertical surfaces, there are huge walls in Basings, how did you get through them?"
"Yes, this is..." I began to frantically try to justify myself, coming up with excuses, when the door right into the control room began to open carefully, to which we immediately noticed, slowly someone opened the door from the other side and half a body stuck out of the crack.
The half of the body is covered in strange green armor.
It took about a second to comprehend what he saw from both sides. I was the first to come to my senses and the light of the cigar blew flames into the bodies sticking out on the floor. It was quick, the man didn't have time to go back and it smelled like a fried human body. I don't like using fire indoors; Suyuki even vomited from the smell and sight of a burnt body. She had never seen this kind of corpse so close before.
I left my rapier in my cabin, but I always had a hatchet with me, which I grabbed.
"There are strangers on the ship, Uli, set off the alarm and lock yourself here," I commanded, "the girls have weapons in their hands and follow me."
For such things the captain and the officer on duty had certain special things. As ironic as it may sound, there is a lever of a mechanism that begins to ring several bells throughout the ship. Someday I will bring the basics of electronics into this world, but not now.
In any case, bells began to ring throughout the ship, and we rushed to help the guys.
"Jun, Suyuki go check the deck while I go through the cabins," I commanded.
Shit, of course, I don't rely on them at all, because it's obvious to a stupid person that all the shrews are already below, but nevertheless, I wanted to calmly use air, if anything happened, and for this it was necessary to remove witnesses.
Let's go.
We finished with them quickly. Not a very experienced sabotage group, which was leaked with our route and even general information about who to cut in priority. So they carefully made their way here, without even using magic, they just started working with knives.
The first losses in the composition and not only mine.
They killed three sailors Uli, four poor fellows and one warrior Kioshi. It was a very noticeable prick, we relaxed when the war is close at hand.
It was just lucky that the guys apparently had almost no experience in this matter and beat with a knife as necessary and often the victims woke up screaming.
But now two prisoners were waiting for us. Some were taken by warriors, the other was taken by me myself.
I walked through the hold methodically and easily chopping the heads and necks of these creatures with an ax. Even without heightened emotions, there wasn't a drop of emotion in my head, because I understood that there were victims.
Tied up naked earthbenders sat in one of the cabins, blindfolded and gagged, tied to a chair of course.
Everyone walked around in a gloomy mood. And then one interesting, but very unpleasant fact came to light. There is no specialist in torture here. I didn't want to transfer this matter to someone else, so I decided to take it on myself.
Having rolled up the sleeves of my raincoat further and put a piece of cloth over my face as a mask against the smell, I went into where they were kept, knowing that they could hear perfectly well.
- So. First, let me introduce myself, my name is Kira, as I think you know - or maybe not, judging by the way both turned pale and one began to tremble. Well, I have a reputation, Lord, and now we have one conversation to have. Now one of you will be taken to another room and we will play a very interesting game. Whoever first tells the person who is talking to you the information I need will survive. The other one will die.
I hope it works. I don't want to really torture them. But you will have to. It's good that I have fire, at least I won't have to invent anything if anything happens.
As I said, two poor fellows came in next and, putting one of the two prisoners very firmly in the stomach, dragged him into another room.
- So, who gave you our route? Who ordered you? — I asked, pulling the gag out of the prisoner's mouth.
- Fuck you!
"I understand, apparently you are confident in your comrade," I shrugged, even if he doesn't see it, it's some kind of fucking habit, and I put the gag back in his mouth, "if you decide to say something, then say it."
Five minutes later, as agreed, one of the poor fellows came running and approached me and began to whisper:
"Captain, the second one started talking, let's go there, you need to hear this," at these words, which the first one definitely heard, he began to hum, "are you coming?"
"Just a second, I think our guest wants to say something," I said slightly ceremoniously, pulling out the gag of the first one.
"Pa-adla, he's also called a friend," was the first thing he said, "I'll tell you everything." All. We are mercenaries, we were sent a task for very big money, to board a ship disguised as an army of the earth and kill everyone there. This was our regular client - one of yours, he never gave his name. We looked for his avatar and...
Then he told the details for a couple more minutes and, to be honest, it wasn't difficult to guess who it was. Admiral Zhao. I won't draw hasty conclusions, but everything points to him.
Now all that remains is to perform the same performance before the second one and compare the information received. And then we will calmly reach the air temple. Hope.
***
I don't know how much Zhao overestimated these mercenaries or underestimated us, but it was even a little offensive. A bunch of former army men, who can only kick rocks out of stone, were sent to kill us. What the heck?
Or it could be some kind of check.
We threw the corpses of our enemies overboard, but carefully wrapped our own and placed them in the hold. We will reach the ground, there we will bury each one according to our own traditions.
Thank the gods or the spirits, whoever cares, we reached the ground without incident. Although everyone on the ship was on alert. This incident shocked everyone. Including me.
Too relaxed. What would happen if we were asleep too? I sleep, of course, sensitively, but when I'm tense, and when I fall asleep, and I would do that, most likely I wouldn't wake up at all.
In any case, we swam without any problems and chose a more beautiful place on the shore. In Suyuki's village it is customary to bury people underground—we burn them and scatter the ashes.
That's what we did, we buried one of the Warriors on a beautiful hillock and burned our poor fellows in the funeral pyres. I set it on fire and gave the last honor.
- How are you? — I approached Suyuki.
Many had already gone about their business, but the girl stood in front of her friend's grave and was clearly sad.
- I? — she said lostly, "I'm fine." But she doesn't. She died Aki. A few days ago we had a fun conversation with her, but now she's lying... here.
"War is like that," I shrugged, "it's easier for me in this matter." Magicians learn to control their emotions, so reality is simpler. And I wasn't that friendly with the poor fellows. I understood morally that sooner or later there would be deaths.
"Why are you putting this on me now..." Suyuki muttered, still devastated.
"I don't know," I admitted, "I don't know how to calm people down." Let's go, let's have some tea and I'll tell you some story from my childhood. Look, do you see the scar? When my good friend and I were attacked by a wolf, and we were literally nine and six years old...
Suyuki managed to drink tea with something intoxicating. I don't know why this happened to her on the shore, and not on the ship; apparently the trigger for the grave was triggered. Or who knows. In any case, after a couple of hours everything was more or less tolerable. At Suyuki's. But we somehow forgot about the rest.
I had to stay a day and start the epic, get drunk as hell and talk my soul out. Mostly the poor fellows walked around the warriors and tried to calm them down in every possible way. They pleasantly surprised me with their resilience, but the situation is understandable.
They grew up together, lived and trained, and morally considered themselves far from soldiers. But the poor fellows immediately understood where they were going and what awaited them. In general, we fermented decently until the morning, then we slept, and then we went to get ready.
And then we remembered why we had come, began to unload and were getting ready to go on a hike. Everything was quite simple - in theory we were walking through our lands and there was nothing to be afraid of, but damn it, after the recent oversight we walked very carefully.
I wrote to General Lee and received condolences, a reproach in my direction and promises to add poor fellows instead of the dead.
Great! Maybe. All that remains is to calmly get to the local military and weave into the castle of air. Hmm, maybe not to go there in the first place? Few people know that I was found, so Suyuki will go. She has already learned everything she needs, but I'll climb straight into the mountains.
We separated not far from the actual location of the fire mages, I threw all the responsibilities onto Suyuki, who was wide-eyed from my plan, and June, who also did not understand anything.
And he ran. I've already had enough of finding some new information about air magic. It only took about an hour for me to run in the air, but on the mountain, like a goat, I jumped from one rock to another and thereby climbed up.
I had never felt so great before; the higher I was, the more strength I was filled with. And this feeling of long jumps is absolutely indescribable. Now I understand why these devils climbed so high.
I could breathe easier, honestly.
But the most interesting thing began when I almost reached the top. At first I saw some big birds and I even managed to get a little scared of what the hell was up here, but then I saw that they were people flying!
My first thoughts were about the surviving airbenders. Which was completely at odds with my limited memory of the canon. It's like Avatar is the last airbender.
Okay, in any case, I'll get to them first, and then I'll find out what's going on. True, when I was already jumping to the settlement itself, I saw a white dot in the sky. This, bitch, was the avatar flying with his friends. Interesting.
Suyuki was honestly outraged. He literally dumped his work on her and ran away somewhere.
The truth is that she wasn't going to express it somehow. She owed him to the grave and was extremely grateful. He did not reproach her with a word or gesture, did not tell anyone about her vile act, and communicates almost as before. A little colder.
Although, of course, he told this vile June, who hovered around Aki and slept with him and... and in general!
For some reason, the mercenary irritated Suyuki wildly, infuriating her with her whole appearance, although the girl had never felt such groundless hatred before.
In any case, these thoughts have been swirling for a long time, and now we need to discard them and take control. Suyuki had already learned how to give out commands, so in just a few hours they arrived at the local firebender town.
They were greeted by a whole delegation, and in front stood a rather old man. Colonel, as it turned out.
He was expecting Kira, and when Suyuki presented her documents and credentials, he pursed his lips in a not very good gesture. Apparently this categorically did not suit him.
It turned out that there was only one name left from the village. In fact, the colonel has assembled a good army here. The latest tanks, a bunch of soldiers, including magicians, something incomprehensible, honestly. This is not exactly a front line, but the equipment is very good. Although she may misunderstand something, in the end, it's clearly not her business to understand such matters. In any case, that she is right and Aki is right is enough to conduct an Inspection.
- Dear Suyuki, let me show you our latest developments...
"Of course, let's go in," and the way he poured molasses on his ears, it's just something incredible. Her jaw ached from the sweetness.
Yes, and it was almost impossible to shut him up, he talked about everything, showed and, one might say, boasted. Especially with your developments.
And he invented tanks and a hot air balloon is now in process, he showed the first developments. If Suyuki still understood something about this, it would be easier, of course. And just because of the general feeling from the colonel, somehow the girl couldn't believe it. And he doesn't look like a strong inventor.
Something was not clean here. But she definitely won't make this decision without Aki. Detaining the colonel in your fortress is simply dangerous. They will bury you and say that bandits killed people nearby.
However, Aki clearly said to wait for him. Or some signals from him. However, we need to send someone to the temple after him, to bring him up to date.
Having chosen one of the warriors, they quickly wrote a letter to the poor fellow and sent it clearly into Aki's hands.
What remains is to continue listening to this slightly vile type and waiting for something. Maybe they will just leave; after all, nothing bad seems to be happening, and personal characteristics should not affect the matter.
Aang has been thinking a lot lately. On Kyoshi Island, they were attacked by what turned out to be Kira. The one about whom there was a very large wave of terrible rumors. And judging by the way he found himself in different places and, most importantly, everyone around him obeyed him, he was clearly someone... high in the position of the Fire Nation.
Sokka simply swore that it was the spirit of fire that had been awakened to kill the avatar.
Katara approached the question more objectively and was simply sure that this was somehow a special warrior sent for the avatar again.
What about the avatar itself? But he didn't understand. At all. Events moved so quickly that he simply did not have time to come to his senses. It was hardly possible to comprehend my goal - to start training water magic, let alone more everyday things. Katara and Sokka seemed to be completely out of their thoughts, everything was so simple for them and there was a good answer to any question.
It's all the Firebenders' fault. Did someone burn something? Fire magicians. Did someone kill someone? Fire Mages. Although all three of the friends have already become convinced that the Fire Mages are not always to blame, nevertheless, the answer from Katara and Sokka is always plus or minus one.
Aang never thought about this so thoughtfully; rather, sometimes thoughts about this crossed his mind, but a complete picture did not emerge.
But now they were flying to the air temple and how Aang wanted to find at least someone there. And when approaching, I found it!
Lots of people flying gliders! For a second, the avatar threw off all his sorrows and thoughts and simply jumped and began to soar next to the others.
True, then the realization came that these were not airbenders. And then they literally rebuild the temple to suit themselves, breaking walls, statues and even sanctuaries. It was very sad and sad.
However, this did not irritate Aang so much. The past is gradually becoming a thing of the past, and it was more like a rumbling. Airbenders won't need this place anyway.
And everything would be fine if not for a new find. Behind a locked door, so to speak.
***
Yes, the fucking avatar was flying right here. And the main thing landed. Well, at least his friends. And he himself jumped off even earlier, apparently glad that someone was there. Hmm, there's a good chance of catching him. The main thing is to have a proper conversation with the local leader.
I entered the temple. Carefully, from the side, he made his way inside and then he was so surprised, so surprised. All the people were gathered in the main square looking at the new arrivals and it was the perfect moment to explore the buildings. And then I went nuts, I ended up in some kind of fucking steampunk.
Honestly, it's just something. Did I mention that the capital of fire is steampunk? Forget it, this is what I understand! Pipes of different thicknesses literally swarmed in this old knowledge. Just a shock. Not to mention the fact that each lighting source was connected to a single system. Unbelievable but true.
And judging by the fact that this person is not yet in the best factories in the country, then either someone sitting in his place is an idiot or a complete loser. Damn if he just missed people in such an obvious place, he's a complete loser if he knew about people and such masters and did nothing.
However, continuing to explore further, I was still here for something that could help me as an airbender, I reached some strange room. It all sounds fast in the retelling, but in reality I spent a good few hours walking around and looking at my surroundings.
It was something truly extraordinary for this moment in development. Even if the person who did this actually stepped in the wrong direction, in my first world they took a different path of development, but fucking steampunk may well work here. At least because, damn it, there are perfumes and other nonsense of that kind. As well as elements that were not in my first world. This is already obvious.
Therefore, here steam engines can work more efficiently. Or maybe he simply did not have the technology to invent something fundamentally new and he simply followed the beaten path, improving in the process at least something for which he had enough resources. I'm afraid what will happen if we give him a large resource base of the Fire Nation and push him in the right direction. You don't need much, just simple oil, and someday they'll get to gasoline on their own... I don't know in my heart how to make it like that.
In any case, I got to the room that can only be opened by airbenders. Sounds like this is the room I'm looking for. Where else to keep the secret of the peoples of the Air? In a room that can only be opened by an airbender.
Having blown into the special devices, I'm already full of expectation to find the secrets of this world, I'm waiting for the discovery like a child before the New Year and...
Fucking Fire Nation symbols on every corner. And a room that looks like some kind of workshop. Hmm, interesting question, what kind of crap is this? Walking further, walking around various prototypes of objects, including some kind of flying ball, and the room was really large, I approached the work desk. A bunch of drawings and everything else that I started to sit and figure out.
The first thing I saw was the drawings of the tank, the newest one that we discussed with Suyuki and June. Then all sorts of different things. From the very candles that automatically held on, to the pipes through which hot water flows. And without the use of fire mages. Just a shock. I don't believe what I'm watching, whoever invented this is just a genius. Although I must say, it is clear that this is not his main workplace. Rather, he transfers the drawings here and then assembles them. Something like a workshop. Because there was a lot missing. Drawings and a couple of tools to fix it on the spot.
I apparently got bogged down in all this activity with the drawings and spent a good hour there, or even two, because I was distracted by the sound of the door opening. Deciding not to hide, because I needed to talk to the local genius, I sat down on his chair and began to wait.
After a couple of seconds, he, completely lost in his thoughts, began to approach the chair and, already standing right in front of me, noticed an extra element. Well, me, that is.
And I looked as expected, white gloves, Fire Nation armor and a cloak on top. Apparently he realized who came to him and immediately began his speech with a prepared excuse.
- Hm, please, I haven't finished it yet, this is the most experimental development, we can't finish it by the deadline you set! — the man immediately began to chatter.
He looked, of course, colorful. There is a monocle on one eye, ruffled hair, an apron apparently for working with drawings, and three prosthetic fingers on one of the hands. This is what Einstein looks like in local time.
Well, or Leonardo da Vinci, rather.
"I'm afraid you misunderstood me..." I began.
"I understand that your commander set the deadline," he interrupted me, again going somewhere in his thoughts, this was not arrogance or showing some position, rather, he built this dialogue in his head a bunch of times and reproduces my remarks for himself , - but I can't do it any other way, understand this is an experimental, I repeat, an experimental sample. It needs to be launched, checked, changed what is wrong, all this takes a lot of time.
"I'm telling you, you misunderstood me," I said a little louder, "I'm an inspector of Fire Nation colonies." And I go to different colonies to check whether local commanders are exceeding their authority. And I would really like to know what the situation is here.
"Everyone here doesn't bother us normally..." the man began to cry into his ears.
"Listen to your name," I sighed, interrupting him.
"Everyone calls him a Mechanist," he answered simply.
- And everyone calls me Kira. "I'm sure caravans came here and you must have heard something about me," I said, "what I saw here is simply brilliant," I waved my hand at the stack of drawings, "this is just the next step in technology." And I have a question, what time frame were you talking about and why the hell are you not already at the best production bases of the Fire Nation.
"I heard about you... different things... Okay, the colonel allowed us to live here if I make different weapons for them," the Mechanist gave in, "he sets very tight deadlines and sometimes I have to test them even on myself," he pointedly waved his wooden fingers.
- And you are happy with this situation?
- Well... here gas flows out from under the mountains, which explodes at the slightest spark. For airbenders this was not a problem, but for us...
"I can help you," I said, "the situation is quite simple." I am imprisoning the commander who is responsible for this chaos. I will do this in any case, regardless of everything that happens. And then everything depends on you. I can negotiate and you will be moved somewhere to a very good place. There will be huge factories there and you will be given a lot of freedom.
Yes, I haven't verified this with anyone yet, but nevertheless, it's the damn thing that I'll gnaw on with my teeth. The Fire Nation damnably needs this genius, and if necessary, I'll give him a mountain of dough, if it's not enough, I'll get some more from the White Lotus, motherfucker.
- The second option, you just stay here, people will still come to you, only this time to bring ordered materials to you... I can't say for sure, but still you have invented too many things not to use such intelligence, unfortunately, it is a fact.
"I cannot leave my people," he said. He was clearly interested in the first option, but a sense of duty played its part, nevertheless, he understood that I was open to suggestions, so the intonation was strange. Seemingly sad, but nevertheless asking.
"I told you you'll all move." I am sure that even though you and the designer are not doing everything alone. And working hands will not be superfluous anywhere. Industrialization is in full swing and people who know how to do something will be torn off with their arms and legs.
- Well, of course, I will consult with people, but I think everyone will more than agree.
"And I also noticed your son in the stroller..." I began the topic, "I want to say that I visited the hospital of the people of Earth and I want to say that the Fire Nation has a lot of medical specialists." And I hope there will be even more soon...
And what? I remembered the capture of the north and it looks like I'll have to get involved there, at least somehow, to try to save as many people as possible. I still remember my payback with the teacher. And even more so, we also need people in factories, literally, we don't have enough hands and magic to come in handy.
But those are things of the future. Let's see again.
- And he will be cured? — The Mechanist rolled his eyes.
"I can't guarantee," I began to explain, "I don't know his injury and don't have the necessary skills, but at least they'll try." It's better than not trying.
- Eh, you're putting pressure on the personal, right? — the man sighed, albeit without poison.
"Not without this," I did not deny, "I'm just afraid that the decision will be made on the basis of prejudices about the Fire Nation and about the experience of communicating with our not best representatives." If I say anything about myself, too. A person who killed a bunch of people, even if they were pirates, a priori cannot be good.
"Well, well, don't blame yourself, young man," said the Mechanist, "murder does not make a person bad." That's another unreasonable matter, of course... In any case, I agree, I'm sure as much...
At that moment, the doors began to open again and the fucking avatar burst into the room with his girlfriend. The boy's eyes widened amusingly and he began to look for someone in the room with his eyes. The first thing he came across was the Mechanist; of course, my clothes blend in well with the burgundy colors of the room.
"Aang..." the man started to say something, but I got ahead of him.
Click.
And the strongest jet of flame that I could give out rushed towards the avatar. To his credit, he managed to begin to spin the stick with air in front of him, but the inertia from the blow, the air that I sent immediately after, threw him strongly back, somewhere to the other end of the corridor in front of the locked room.
The girl immediately pushed the water out of her vessel and began to try to get me, but so far these were only pitiful attempts, which I brushed aside myself and also protected the mechanist, who was already behind me, from them, because I began to move towards the avatar.
The girl, throwing water, walked away with her back into the corridor, but I didn't use much fire, because setting a lot of fire while in a confined space is a bad idea. I already felt shortness of breath from my jet of flame into the avatar.
Aang, having come to his senses a little, connected to Katara, I think that was her name, when I already went out into the corridor. On time, otherwise it would have come to an end here. The jets of flame and air were already quite a good weapon, and I had to start dodging, which is what I actually did, taking out the rapier.
They couldn't get in, but kept moving towards the avatar, deciding to completely give up on the girl, apparently in vain, because apparently they didn't want to give me a full-fledged fight. The Avatar, when I approached a sufficient distance, let out a lot of air and literally flew into another room like a bullet, turning to Katara for a second, I saw that she had already run away, apparently Aang was waiting for this. Judging by the direction somewhere towards the bison. I spat on the water driver and ran after the avatar.
Dodging my flame, he simply ran away from me and seeing how quickly I was catching up with him, I did not use a full air step, let's say there were special effects, but something in between - yes, he darted into the open space and flew.
Bitch.
I ran to the edge and grabbed a similar device from the hands of one of the locals and, opening it, jumped off the cliff, immediately inflating myself in the right direction. Aang, looking around in a panic, continued to fly, and I kept adding more and more air, if someone was close and looked from the side, he could see some unnatural descendants of air.
And when I had almost caught up with the avatar, something flew into my head with very decent force.
For a second my vision even dimmed and I let go of the glider.
True, after a couple of seconds, when I was already below the level of the temple, I abruptly began to stop my fall with air. It turned out quite calmly, like a bunch of times before, I literally made it to the nearest rock. And he turned around to notice how Aang was already sitting on the bison. It was not so far from me and I saw, literally, the boy's round eyes from my last maneuvers.
Great, now I have burned my secret weapon in front of my main enemy. Just fucked up. And it looked like this idiot with a pigtail boomerang flew at me, which he launched while sitting on a bison and which they caught later, thereby allowing me to see the round eyes of the avatar looking in my direction.
Despite the breeze, I simply felt burned and was ready to rush after them. If only the glider that I grabbed wasn't already lying somewhere at the bottom of the rocks, and I still have to jump to the new one, burn my magic and fly after the avatar, when I'm very vulnerable in the air.
Climbing back to the castle, I returned back to the Mechanist. I walked very irritated, although the breeze quickly blew away everything unnecessary, leaving only calm. It's time to address a more important issue than the avatar. Namely, providing the Fire Nation with the latest technology.
"Please forgive me for this... event," I began the dialogue with this.
- Why... why rush at him like that? - the Mechanist asked a question, - yes, he is an avatar, but...
- There are other options? - I raised my eyebrows, - I tried to talk in our very first meeting with him, they answered me with a fight. Unfortunately, the avatar factor can ruin a lot of things. Including war. That's why it's not so beneficial for everyone.
- Everyone? — The Mechanist raised his eyebrows amusingly.
"Yeah," I didn't elaborate, "that's why he needs to be detained somehow." It is advisable to catch, kill - that will also do. Let's go back to another question, do you need something right now? Maybe there are some sick people? Or is there not enough food? Or..
"The colonel is supposed to arrive today to receive my drawings," the Mechanist sighed heavily.
- Hmm, where and when do you say he arrives? — an idea came to mind.
"Let me show you," the mechanic called me.
After weaving a little through the corridors, we came to his office. This time, I honestly believe that he is a worker, because he was all filled with papers, supplies, pencils and so on, so on, so forth. And in the middle there was some kind of hole with a hatch. Apparently the local fire fighter will rise through it.
But to my surprise, the first guest in the waiting room of the idiot commander was a local girl who came to see the mechanic.
- Mechanist, some girl came here... she's saying a message to someone from Aki. We don't have those, what should we do? - the lady clarified.
"Ah, Tira, everything is fine, let him come here," the man answered, "that's right," having already clarified with me.
"Of course," I smiled, nodding.
A few minutes later, a messenger girl arrived, who turned out to be one of the warriors of Kyoshi. She then handed me the letter, which I immediately opened and began to read. Yeah, and our colonel is a rat. He passes off the drawings as his own and generally behaves strangely.
"That's it, let me now write two letters, one personally into the hands of Suyuki, the other to send to my messenger eagle, General Lee," I said, already writing the letters.
The girl sighed heavily, but sniffed back. I hope he will think of asking the locals for the correct shortcut. In general, the essence was simple, I describe the situation to General Lee, right up to the moment: "It's annoying to take a person with so many loyal people at hand, and Suyuki gave the order not to twitch, explaining the situation. All that remains is for the falcon to deliver the letter and answer to me. I hope he finds it.
Although I should. They are clearly not simple, not only are they very fast, but they also find people anywhere.
After another half hour of waiting, someone finally got on the platform and it started moving. The mechanic stood in front so that the guest could see him first, and I stood behind. To attract attention at the right moment.
"How dare you keep me waiting?" — with these words, the colonel "flew into the building," or, more precisely, appeared in the room, "pay back what you owe us and I'll leave."
The mechanic lowered his gaze for a second and remained silent.
- Ita-ak. Any problem? - he added in an impatient voice.
"Yeah, there's a couple," I said.
I lounged in the chair again in a slightly pretentious position, crossing my legs, leaving one hand on the armrest and the other resting my cheek. With all my appearance I showed how bored I was and generally didn't care about everyone and everything.
The man quickly turned around and stared at me with all his eyes. I saw that there was some recognition in them, but he clearly had no intention of giving back.
- Who else are you?
"I'm Kira," I smiled, "nice to meet you." Well, or if it's official, then I'm Captain Aki, Inspector and you are under arrest for actions against the residents and army of the Fire Nation.
Oh, how his face immediately turned pale. But apparently in this case, the colonel apparently decided to include not fawning, but threats.
- What are these violations? - asked the colonel, - I didn't violate anything, my army is ready to give battle to any enemy, all the people are happy...
- What about these same people in this very temple? - I chuckled.
- So they don't...
"They are in the territory of the Fire Nation and live here." So they are residents of a Fire Nation colony. At the same time, they did not receive any support from you, the local head. Only trouble. So, take off your regalia and stand so that I can tie you up," I finished.
"Are you sure, Captain Aki?" - he smiled disgustingly, - my people are loyal to me and will not allow me to be taken away by some random individuals, but until confirmation comes, something may happen to you...
- Do you see your people around? - I raised my eyebrows and grinned, - oh, it seems they are not there. And you are.
"They will at least send someone when I'm gone for a long time," he replied.
- Oh, believe me, you won't have to sit here for that long. Reinforcements are already coming to me and then no one will protect you," I calmly and even humorously rejected his arguments. In fact, quite good arguments, but let them get here - sit down, there's a chair over there, we should talk.
"Hmm," the colonel gritted his teeth, actually sitting down on the chair.
- Tell me, Colonel, why? — I asked the question that interested me, "why do what you do?" And I'm not even talking about the appropriation of the Mechanist's technology, but rather about your stupidity. You have a person next to you who is giving the technology of the entire Fire Nation a huge kick in the ass and what do you do? You put him somewhere in the ass of the world and start kicking him over and over again. What did it cost you to arrange it well and let him create? A?
- These are their damned strawberries...
"There's no need to complain about racism here," I interrupted him, "you don't care at all about that." Rather, due to your greed, you acted as you did. He was afraid of missing the goose that laid the golden eggs and began to sell his intellectual work both for reputation and for money. Am I doing something wrong, huh?
"Fuck you, you asshole," he muttered through his teeth, "I say again, my army will raze everything here to the ground."
"I see," I exhaled, "well, let's wait." Sit, um, wait.
- What are we waiting for? - he dared to ask.
- Response from management. "What should I do with you," I clarified, "and there will definitely not be an answer to let you go, I can guarantee that." I'm here to catch people like you and obviously not let them go.
- Who is your boss? - he asked.
"Oh, believe me, it doesn't matter," I chuckled, "even if you really could somehow put pressure on him, which I highly doubt, you simply don't have a way of communication."
- What do you want from me? - the colonel asked sharply.
Well, that's understandable. Apparently he thinks that I'm up to something and want something from him. Naive Chukchi youth, ha ha.
"Oh-oh-oh, a different approach," and standing up sharply, he approached him closely, "I don't want anything." Unless they put you in jail because you're a fucking idiot.
With these words, I quickly, very quickly for an ordinary untrained human eye, took out a rapier and leaned it against his neck.
I love this technique because it throws the interlocutor off balance and makes him lose his thoughts. Just what you need.
"Now be a good girl and don't move while I tie you up." Otherwise, next time my hand might tremble," I said, "and then it turns out that the bandits in the local forests are really strong and there are so many of them." Our colonel was hacked to death. Ah ah ah.
Apparently my look was completely crazy, because the colonel turned quite pale from his face. What are we knitting, knitting, knitting? And you must put a gag in your mouth so that you don't fuck too much. Otherwise we know such people.
And to rip off the regalia, of course, he was a prisoner or went out for a walk.
The response letter from General Lee arrived literally within a couple of hours. A decent wall of text, the essence of which boiled down to the following: to tear everyone apart for the Mechanist, soon help will come with the right people, everyone who needs to be taken into custody. And, of course, the entire local mechanical gang is first transferred to a coastal city, where there are plenty of production facilities, and then maybe even to the islands, where the largest production facilities are. But here it will be necessary to look, and thank God it will not be me who will have to figure this out. My job is simple - I found a good thing, let the rest scratch their heads on what to do with it.
In any case, the situation was slowly heating up, with the help of the bird already in my hands, I sent a message to Suyuki, saying how things were there, what was happening. The answer was received immediately: the colonel's top six there are already planning to launch a search and at the same time punitive operation, trying to hide the fact that something is happening in front of Suyuki.
It feels like she wrote that a decent group will move out in an hour or two. I conveyed this point to the mechanic, and heard an answer that I did not expect:
- So, my people can drop bombs on them, while others...
- What people, what bombs? - I went nuts, - quickly gather all the people and hide in that room that can only be opened by an airbender. Just sit there and wait. Also, why the fuck, some kind of bombs.
"But..." the Mechanist tried to be indignant.
- What but? Do you all want adventure together? - I raised an eyebrow, - I say, everything will be fine, drag this idiot with you, the main thing is not to pull out the gag and do not hit him too hard.
The mechanic seemed to still want to be indignant, but he received a decent elbow in the side from someone standing nearby, apparently it was only our brilliant engineer who was rushing to quickly test the technology, the rest were not so eager.
When I reached a hill, I saw a dozen tanks and several dozen soldiers walking towards the temple. Such a sickly rescue squad.
I wonder if they will immediately go on the attack or send a messenger? The answer to my question was found on its own, a group of three people who came forward and walked somewhere forward along the road, imposingly, as if on their own property. Oh well.
***
Several local commanders apparently went forward to speak on behalf of the Fire Nation and blah blah blah. In general, we climbed the same path as the colonel.
-Where are you going...
"Hello, I'm Kira, and you're under arrest," and a smile, before knocking them out one by one. A blow to the nose is a workable topic, the main thing is not to overdo it. Sometimes you can accidentally kill a person this way.
And in general, knocking out a person with a blow is like, well... very bad for that person. Eventually the concussion is such that it shuts down. But again, there are magicians here, they either have nothing to shake about, or they are strong, bitch.
Therefore, I calmly act on this option, and even if I kill, it's not scary. It is extremely rare for subordinates to differ from the commander; usually, people like this recruit subordinates to match themselves. But it's still too bloodthirsty to think that let them die anyway. We need to somehow... approach things more steadily.
Dying is bad. We can't let people die. You can leave people disabled, you can't kill them... It's taking me in the wrong direction, oh, in the wrong direction.
I tied them up there and left them. It's time for me to talk to the others. I approached the crowd calmly and confidently; I had the necessary regalia on, so let them show respect.
- Wait, who's coming?
"Captain Aki," I introduced myself, "your superiors have been detained until the circumstances are clarified, let's not create problems for each other and you will go back and wait."
- Captain, is everything okay with your head? — a man not far from me asked a question, "get out of here while you're safe."
"Eh," I sighed pointedly and bowed my head and put my hand forward. Just like that slow motion.
Click.
And for a second a blue flame flutters directly in front of the speaker, causing his hair to bristle and his mustache to burn. Of course, he wasn't wearing a classic helmet.
- Again. You leave right now or I'll just burn you. Everyone, my flame is enough, believe me.
To my surprise, I received discordant consent and the army, from which we were all so on the safe side, in fact simply scored and, after intimidation, went back with its tail between its legs. No attacks followed, well, glory to Agni.
True trust, but verify and I watched them walk back. I hope Suki doesn't have any problems. I hope not and they will retreat. That's why I specifically didn't introduce myself as Kira, you never know there are many captains walking around, but there's only one Kira. And it's easy to connect the dots with Suyuki. And so, I hope there are not enough brains.
What's the same plan? All that remains is to wait for General Lee's people and we can finish with this issue.
"Everyone can relax," with these words I entered the room, clearly interrupting some dialogue in a raised voice.
Namely father and son. The rest were somehow modestly silent.
- Are you one of these?! - the boy exclaimed.
- Which ones? - I raised one eyebrow, - from the Fire Nation? Well, yes. Do you have any complaints, boy?
- Yes! You and…
"I just didn't reveal to him... the other part of our life here," the mechanic interrupted him, waving his hand at the room around him.
- What do you mean to me?! — the boy was still indignant, "what do you mean that you knew everything?" You all?
Nature rests on the children of geniuses. What else to say. Of course, I'm sure the entire settlement was aware, the mechanist is a developer after all, but building test samples alone... it would take too much time. I'm sure he was helped by the same guys who built everything else.
And it's unlikely that anyone was really against it. In fact, these were ordinary taxes. Millet is collected from someone, technology is collected from someone. Who is rich in what? Another thing is that they were prohibitively large and using this bunch of young technicians was downright blasphemous. Hammering nails with a microscope is a proverb that suits this colonel.
The Mechanist began to calm the boy down and tell him the real deal. Well, in fact, he's a spoiled kid. How can you spoil a child in such circumstances? It's easy to give everything he needs according to his first desire.
In general, the boy was indignant for quite a number of minutes, and his father ran around and calmed him down, and over time apparently convinced him that everything was not so bad, he described various benefits.
- Yes? Then why did he want to catch the avatar?! - the boy said accusingly, pointing his finger at me standing to the side, - if fire magicians are so kind, then why not sit down, talk and explain? Aang only wants justice.
- Who said that I didn't try? — I answered, "Aang the kid, of course, may be fair, but he has his own justice." The ideal world for him is when the Fire Nation extracts minerals for itself back on its islands, the Water Nation sits at the poles, and the Earth Nation takes back the entire continent for itself. Equality, brotherhood, justice isn't it?
- But the Earth nation is the largest nation! Of course, she needs large territories!
"It was the largest," I shrugged, "now the Fire Nation is the largest, including the inhabitants of the colonies." So now we need territories. Even by your logic, we are right.
Yes, I argued with the child and understood that this was stupidity. But, simply put, there was nothing to do. Waiting for General Lee's soldiers is a rather tedious task. And we'll have to cook for a few more hours.
* * *
Well, the Mechanist received everyone's consent and for the remaining time before help arrived, they gathered in a terrible bustle. People didn't seem to have that much stuff, but each bag had two.
True, the Mechanist scratched his head, looked at his things, and how everyone was running around in a panic, and finally asked me when they would move.
And I answered that they have a few days, because after the transition the soldiers will rest here for at least a couple of days, and then they will move somewhere else.
Everyone around me who heard me stopped and stared at me with unkind glances. What about me? And I'm okay. You should have asked.
In any case, a decent number of people approached the temple, obviously not all of them, but there were as many of them as the colonels approached. The first to leave, as I believe, was the mechanic.
-Are you Captain Aki? — an inconspicuous-looking comrade stepped forward, a pure KGB man, one might say.
The general knows how to select personnel. Here is a typical representative. You put him in uniform, you want to stand in front of him, but you take him off and bam, an inconspicuous man from the crowd.
"That's right," I blurted out, "Captain Aki, this is the head of the settlement, he's the same Mechanist about whom I reported to the general."
"I understand," he nodded, "Now we'll leave a small detachment here, let them help you pack your things, load them, and we'll take the detainees with you to the base." There we will conduct a more detailed investigation. Well, more precisely, you will carry out, my people and I will only strengthen in... the event of unforeseen circumstances.
He has an interesting way of speaking. It seems like he ordered it, but it seems like he didn't. You should remember, as he says, to be useful when communicating with higher ranks. If it works out, of course.
Actually, another twenty minutes of disassembly of what and where was decided. I decided to approach the abandoned detachment to talk personally. Just for peace of mind. I caught the main one and approached.
"Listen, lieutenant," I caught him by the shoulder, "do you know who I am?"
"Captain Aki, Inspector," he answered, instantly switching to the "machine gun attached to the gun" mode. Smart, bitch.
"Yeah, they call it Kira," I told him, and yes, I see a reaction in his slightly widened eyes, a magical name, damn it, "so, of course, I understand that we are all the general's men and so on, but I'll clarify." If I receive a complaint from even one of the locals, and if you mess up, it will come, I left my man in disguise here - a bluff, of course, but let him guess - then I will be very, very dissatisfied. And I will ask you specifically. Did we understand each other? — and letting the wind blow through his head, he smiled. I have such a creepy smile, it scares me more than gloomy faces.
"I understand, we won't offend anyone, many of our guys are from the colonies themselves," he nodded, turning slightly pale, but without somehow backtracking or convincing, he simply nodded and said what he said.
"I believe," I nodded in turn, "you can go."
Well, he turned around and went on about his business. Hmm, many of the colonies themselves. Interesting fact, honestly. I've never thought about this, but it seems quite doable. I wonder if we have our own earthbenders? We need to find out this fact better. Because we really need our watermen. Or more precisely, water workers who know how to heal. Because if we add magic to our medicine... although I don't know how effective it is by the way. Maybe regular green stuff is not far behind in terms of effectiveness. This question will also need to be clarified. So, if we add an element of magic to our medicine, then the general level will reach the medicine from my world.
Of course, everything again depends on the effectiveness of water magic, but still.
The path to the base was more than calm, as I thought, on the other side of the rocks along which I jumped to the temple, there was a normal road. Well, what can I say, but I flexed the magic.
There, a delegation was already waiting for me to meet me in the form of Suyuki and June, the first began to chatter like God knows who, telling how it was and where, and the second simply stood silently standing nearby.
It turns out they were stupidly targeted for the most part. As soon as the colonel disappeared into the rocks, no one remembered about them and started a fuss. And as I expected, Captain Aki was not associated with Suyuki and the rest of the army. There just wasn't enough information.
And the generals' troops came in epically, no one asked anything, they burst in fully armed and began lining everyone up, watching and telling why and why.
I still need to find out more about who I go by, roughly speaking. A man can easily allocate almost an army according to my letter and line everyone up. Maybe he himself is not the final link in the chain? Although where is it higher, Fire Lord? In the end, Lee is a man who is included in the meeting that our ruler regularly holds, and there are very, very few of them. Taller than Lee is really either Ozai or, by the way, which is more likely, Iroh. But does Iroh still have that kind of power? Something tells me that it's either not, or only out of respect. By the way, a lot can be achieved with the latter, it's clear that Lee has a lot of respect for his former commander.
But Iroh is legally still a prince and hasn't been exiled. He can travel with Zuko as much as he wants, but according to the documents, everyone must stand in line before him. Or maybe not.
I haven't gotten into this tangle yet, but something tells me that soon, very soon.
In any case, a good three days passed during the showdown. The colonel was stripped of his rank and imprisoned, the lesser ones were also tried here, in general, everything was like clockwork, nothing new. Punish the bad, reward the good.
The second ones were also yes.
There were two interesting events in all this. The first is a letter that came to me from the official office of the Fire Lord. In a package with Lee's letter. When I was about to open them, because I was very interested in what the hell, they told me that the Mechanist was looking for me. They had already moved to the main base, where we were all, and, in principle, were already planning to move forward.
- Aki! It's good that I found you," the man first shouted when I found him myself and was approaching. In his hands was some kind of package of a slightly strange shape.
— Hello, Mechanist, what happened? Is everything okay? Nobody offended you? — I rushed in immediately, because there really was no time, they were literally moving out from minute to minute.
- No, no, no, everything is fine, thank you very much for this! - the man jabbered, - I talked with your colleagues and came to the conclusion that you will definitely need this more than I do. Initially, I made this as a face protection during my experiments, but given your activity, it will definitely come in handy. Here," with these words he held out a package, which I opened with curiosity. There was a face mask that vaguely resembled a skull. On the side from which it should be worn there was a comfortable burgundy padding, and some mechanisms.
- Look, now I need to adjust it a little for you, one of the eyepieces has built-in lenses that are controlled by facial expressions, they allow you to zoom in or look through an orange lens. I noticed that the contrast increases and details are much more visible...
Then he rambled a little about the technical specifications while he adjusted the mask on the fly and measured my face, and I was still glued to this steampunk masterpiece.
Now Captain Aki and Kira will definitely become different faces. Hehe.