"Who's in charge here?" Azula wasted no time, stopping the very first guard she found outside the prison gates.
Naturally, after hearing such wonderful news, we'd all rushed straight here, desperate for answers. Personally, my mind contained nothing but profanity and one enormous question: HOW?!
"H-Huh? U-Um..." Faced with our decidedly friendly expressions, the princess's unmistakable hair ornament, and the by-now-famous face of the Fire Herald, the unfortunate young guard turned pale and clutched his halberd with both hands.
"Well?! I'm waiting!" the sweet, kind young lady continued, mercilessly browbeating the poor soldier.
"C-C-Captain's... i-in th-there..." the victim of Her Highness's attention finally managed to stammer out, frantically pointing toward a small stone building that appeared to serve as a combination barracks and administrative office for the prison.
Without another word, Azula turned and headed in that direction.
"You know," Toph remarked to Ty Lee—being the only person present who wasn't bothered in the slightest—"sometimes I wonder which of those two is actually scarier: the Herald or the Princess."
"Hmm..." The acrobat gave the question serious thought. "I'm honestly not sure. But I already feel sorry for whoever they decide to interrogate together."
By then, we'd reached the building.
True to form, the princess simply barged straight into the middle of a staff meeting and immediately began tearing into the prison officials.
To their credit, they snapped to attention with remarkable speed. The full extent of their screwup remained to be determined, but the mere fact that the prison under their command had been successfully could already cost them their ranks and positions. At least if one approached the matter strictly by the book and ignored mitigating circumstances—such as the absurdly good luck of one bald bastard.
"Captain. I want a report. Immediately. Who, where, when, and how?"
"At once, Your Highness!" barked the slightly paunchy officer, a man of about fifty, snapping to attention.
"Begin!" Azula ordered impatiently.
And the officer began.
**
A Little Later
"Weeell..." I drawled.
"Mm-hmm..." Azula agreed.
It had been a complete disaster.
According to the chief jailer, this was what had happened.
The shift had begun as usual. The extra security measures prompted by the presence of the flying bald kid in the city had been accepted without question, as had the increased guard detail assigned to the "elite" cell block, where the benders and the most dangerous criminals were being held. Not that anyone had seriously expected an attack on the dungeon in the first place. And the reinforcements...
Well, compared to the regular guards, they were very good. But in absolute terms, the soldiers we'd assigned there were only average or perhaps slightly above average. Our strongest and most experienced fighters had all been lying in wait at the negotiations.
Even so, if Aang had tried to force his way into the underground cell blocks, the reinforced guards and the heavy security doors might well have delayed him long enough for us to arrive.
That, in fact, had been my backup plan in case he didn't take the bait and somehow learned that Sokka was a fake.
But here's the thing.
Where, in the opinion of any sane person, would you keep an important prisoner? The friend and companion of your archenemy, and all that?
The answer was obvious: in the most secure location available.
Logical?
Entirely logical!
Azula and I had certainly thought so.
So what did Aang and Katara do?
They broke into the upper level of the prison, took out the guards, grabbed their keys... and then started releasing everyone they came across.
Thieves. Murderers. Rapists. Petty crooks and assorted lowlifes. Every last piece of scum who'd been locked up back in Bumi's day.
Honestly, if the former King of Omashu had learned about it, the news probably would have given him a heart attack… well, assuming he actually cared about the city. Not that it mattered
The Avatar spent about twenty minutes amusing himself that way before abruptly stopping and flying off on his bison.
He... he never even considered going downstairs!
To where the strongest cells and the heaviest security were.
But the worst part?
Sokka wasn't even down there!
I'd personally made sure the Water Tribe brat was quietly changed into the rags of an ordinary local vagrant and thrown into one of the upper-level cells as just another petty thief. In other words, even if Aang had managed to fight his way through the reinforced guards protecting the elite block before we arrived, it would've accomplished absolutely nothing.
That was the plan!
Hide Sokka in the one place no one in their right mind would ever think to look.
And yet the Avatar found him…
How?!
What kind of insane chain of coincidences and absurdities could possibly produce a result like that?
"What happened to the ordinary prisoners?" Suki finally asked when neither Azula nor I reacted any further. We'd come up with this whole scheme together and had been rather proud of our cleverness. "Surely they didn't all escape?"
"No, of course not, honored lady." I hadn't introduced Suki to the captain, but anyone standing beside both the princess and the Herald automatically qualified as one. "We suffered some losses because of the Avatar's actions, but reinforcements arriving from the lower levels, together with the determination of the guards still able to fight, first cut the escapees off from every possible exit and then contained them within a few sections of the prison. I assure you, we'll have them back in their cells very soon!"
"The riot hasn't been put down yet?" Zuko asked, his tone carrying an odd note.
"My apologies, Your Highness." The captain bowed. "But we'll need at least another two hours."
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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