Toph stood atop the Outer Wall with a frown, tapping her foot repeatedly to scan the area around her at all times.
She could hear the sound of flames, shouts and machinery below, but considering that she saw nothing but a black void thanks to her blindness, she was stuck to just wander what the hell was going on.
"Hey," a voice spoke up from her side, hiding her flinch before she grumbled as she heard Toji's chuckle.
"How the hell do you always sneak up on me?"
"I'm just good at it," was his reply and Toph 'watched' as he crouched down at the edge of the wall, looking down at the army below.
"And?"
"And what?"
"What took you so long? What do you mean 'and what'?" she asked, her hands on her hips as Toji turned his head to her before she saw his face twist.
'Is this idiot smiling at me?'
"Why, did you miss me?"
"I swear I will throw you off this wall."
"Just joking, Toph, and I was with Sokka and Aang."
"Doing what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow when he stood up and rolled his shoulders.
"Taking care of the few camps that were stationed at the hole in the western wall."
"What of the eastern wall?"
"Oh, the Fire Nation army is the strongest there right now since we took too long to respond, but surprisingly, they haven't launched a secondary attack along the walls," Toji replied, making Toph frown as she turned back and 'stared' out at the darkness in front of her.
"That's great. So, what's our plan for now?"
"I... have absolutely no clue," his response made her turn to him as he stood with his arms crossed.
"What do you mean you have no clue?"
"Right now, if we attack, we provoke them. What the other two goofballs and I did was irritate and delay their preparations. However, we didn't straight-up attack them."
"That means we'll have to improvise."
"Or we can just keep an eye on them?" Toji replied, smirking as Toph slowly turned to him with an eyebrow raised.
"Observe them?"
"Yeah."
"...Not kill them?" she asked, wanting to be sure she heard that right as Toji rolled his eyes.
"Simply because I like violence doesn't mean it's always the answer."
"Okay, what the hell happened to you for you to be this...docile? Where's the Toji I knew that ripped people limb from limb for even looking at us the wrong way?"
"Oh, he's still here. I just learned that if I am nice, I don't have to worry about losing any contracts."
"Is that the answer or do you just want to drag this fight out?" Toph asked, rolling her eyes when she heard Toji's snicker.
"Of course you do. However, you know I don't like waiting. It makes me itch and when I itch..."
"Someone has to answer for it. I remember those stupid rules," Toji replied with a smirk, chuckling when she punched him in the arm.
"My rules are not stupid."
"No, they are the 'greatest creation that the world has ever know'."
"That's right. Now, what do we do about them down there?" she asked, to which Toji stayed silent as he looked at the destruction below.
His gaze focused on the tents below, noting the dozens of Fire Benders patrolling the outskirts of the large camp stationed a few hundred meters away from the wall itself.
The camp itself probably had hundreds of Fire Benders all sitting around, half of them resting while the other half looked as if they were preparing for the next assault.
'They look like they have a good supply line and with the tanks all aimed up, the earthbenders can't take recklessly without dire consequences. Then again...'
"Toph, how long can you stay underground?" Toji asked, Toph turning her head to him before she replied.
"Two minutes. Why?"
"I got an idea."
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Toph took a deep breath as she opened the ground below her, closing it back up above her while sliding down the inside of the wall.
When she felt herself closing on the ground, she went a bit further, going underground before opening the earth in front of her. With practised ease, the woman made her way towards the encampment.
'Okay, I just have to wait for the signal,' she thought as she stopped right at the front of the camp, waiting patiently while digging her feet to steady herself.
Up above, Toji narrowed his eyes as he held Yangchen's staff in hand, Wormy letting out a gargle when the mercenary aimed it at the ground below.
"You're right, Wormy. Let's take this clean and easy," he murmured, aiming at the far front before taking a deep breath. He kept patient, waiting until the firebenders were gone before thrusting the staff forward.
The air in front of the staff condensed and shot forward, taking the form of a twisting wind bullet as it travelled through the air and popped the very second it touched the ground.
As soon as she felt the shockwave impacting the ground above her, Toph grunted as she dug her feet into the stone, repeatedly punching the earth in front of her.
It was only as she stopped at the other end of the camp that she stopped punching, looking back at the tunnel she made before punching the ground with a grin.
A shockwave ripped through the tunnel as she punched the ceiling above her head, immediately moving back into her own bubble as the ground caved in.
Back on the wall, Toji grinned as he saw the camp beginning to crumble in upon itself, noting the firebenders running around in panic before he turned his head as Toph popped out from the wall.
"Hey, did it go well?" she asked, to which he just nodded as he looked down at the chaos.
"They're in disarray, but I can see a few that are trying to regain some form of order. For now, it's enough."
"Cool, because I was promised a date by someone that decided to go hang out with the other guys," Toph spoke with a huff as she turned, Toji watching her leave before rolling his eyes with a smirk.
Right, he did promise that.
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"Okay, run this plan by me again," Toji spoke with a raised eyebrow, to which Katara rolled her eyes as she pointed to Ba Sing Se.
"Okay, one last time. With the situation as bleak as it is, Ba Sing Se is most definitely going to fall. Therefore, the Earth King and Sokka have spoke and they both agreed that it's best to wait out until the Eclipse instead of trying to fend off the siege.
Thus, we shall escape when their guard is low and make our way around the Northern Coast to this colonial village where we last saw a rogue firebender. From there, we move on to the Western Air Temple to recover before making our way around to the Fire Nation."
"Hmm, good. Just one question. That firebender is already gone so how are you going to get him?" he asked and Toph dropped a bag of coins into his hands.
"We want you to hire June to find him."
"Do you have anything that belonged to the man that she could use to track him down. Otherwise, it's completely useless," Toji responded, to which they all grimaced as he rolled his eyes.
"Of course you don't. Hah, don't worry. I got my own ways of tracking someone down."
"Are they as good as June's?" Katara asked and Toji scoffed as he pocketed the bag of coins while shaking his head.
"Nah, she's got that stupid shirshu of her that lets her track a target over long distances, but unfortunately for her, I know her every location that she could hide out in," he replied, stroking his chin with a hum before nodding.
"Okay, you guys go prepare and we'll go at first light."
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"Again! Again, he makes a fool of me!" Mai and Ty Lee stayed quiet near the tent as they watched Azula throw furniture around, the woman standing in the centre of the tent while huffing with a growl.
"Uh, Zula?"
"What, Ty Lee?" the firebender asked, looking over her shoulder to see Ty Lee looking a bit hesitant.
"Are we sure this is the right move? I mean, not to say that it isn't a great plan, but camps can't be made near the wall since the Avatar and his group just keep destroying them."
"No, it's not the Avatar. It's that Toji, the stubborn fool," she sneered and Mai raised a hand to stop Ty Lee from replying.
"You're a bit over-obsessed with this guy."
"So what if I am, Mai? Have you forgotten that this is a man that has destroyed half of our nation's force on his own? More of our army has died in the past three years alone compared to the time before that."
"Well, it's not just us he's targeting. Any army that tries to go up against him or gets in his path is destroyed so why not use that to our advantage?"
"You want me to buy him," Azula spoke with a look of recognition, Ty Lee's eyes widening slightly when Mai nodded.
"He's a mercenary that fights for the highest payer so let's be the highest paying."
"Well, that's kind of tough considering that the Beifong family's wealth has skyrocketed since he came into their service," Ty Lee spoke up with a grimace. "Whatever we offer him, they can triple it with ease."
Azula just growled at that as she remembered the woman that stole the sole target of her affection.
If only she wasn't here, Toji would have been fawning over her and the two of them would be married already.
'If she wasn't here, I'd have the perfect slave to use as I desire,' she thought before her head snapped to the tent entrance as it opened.
"I thought I forbid any entry!"
"Not even for us?" a male voice asked in an amused tone and Azula's sneer turned to surprise as two figures entered one.
One was a rotund old man, shorter than the one that had spoken with a soft smile on his face as he was dressed in the noble garb of the Fire Nation.
The second was dressed in the garb as well that also had armoured segments on the chest and shoulders, a burn mark peeking out at his shoulder from under his clothes as his brown hair was tied up into a short ponytail.
"Zu-zu, what brings you here?" Azula asked, a grimace on her face as she stared at the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation and her brother. In turn, Zuko just smiled as he walked closer, Azula tensing slightly as he hugged her with a chuckle.
"I heard my little sister was having some trouble so I came to help."
"You, the one who follows Father's every beck and call?" she asked with a raised eyebrow as he pulled back, to which Zuko rolled his eyes before pointing to the smiling man he arrived with.
"Actually, I wasn't going to come until Uncle said that Toji Fushiguro would be here."
"You do have a bone to pick with him, nephew. Niece, good to see you are doing well."
"As well as I can, uncle," Azula spoke with a polite smile, though she gagged on the inside when her uncle smiled back at her.
Oh, how she loathed the man for taking her nephew on a sabbatical after Zuko shouted at a war meeting and got burned by their father.
Surprisingly, instead of letting her father burn his son, her uncle had jumped in and pushed the man's flames to the side. However, it was not quick enough as there was now a large burn mark covering the left side of Zuko's chest.
Still, it was enough to serve as a warning and from that point on, her brother had changed. They all had thought that he was just a simple firebender until just a year ago when he returned from his sabbatical that he left on with their uncle.
The humiliation she faced when he defeated her within the span of a minute and took back the title of Crown Prince was like none she had faced before, especially with the disappointment she faced from her father and the joy he showed towards Zuko.
Of course, she knew the man's joy was just faked to make sure Zuko stayed loyal, but even she had not received a smile for good work from the man so it irked her a lot to see Zuko getting it before she could.
"Wait, you're here for Toji?" Ty Lee spoke up and Zuko smiled as he turned to them before nodding.
"I am, Ty Lee. Mai, good to see you."
"Same," Mai replied with a bored tone, though Azula knew her 'friend' was seething under her calm demeanour when Ty Lee walked up and hugged Zuko.
Oh, she remembered that fight when Mai broke up with Zuko because she didn't see their relationship going anywhere. That was until she caught Ty Lee kissing Zuko after he returned from his trip, resulting in the two women having a big fight that was still talked about to this day.
In fact, if she had not arrived and forced them to stop, she was sure they would have fought the day away, but the damage was done.
Ty Lee and Mai may act friendly towards each other and they may work well together, but she knew that the two of them want nothing more than to leave for home and never look at each other again.
"Are you here to kill Toji Fushiguro?" Azula asked only to raise an eyebrow at her brother's laughter.
"Hahahaha! No. No, I am simply here to retrieve something that he took from me years ago," his response confused her, but it appeared he would not expand on the reasoning as he looked at her with a smile.
"So, tell me of our enemy."
A/N: And we end it off here~! A bit shorter compared to most chapters, but this is a set-up for next chapter.
Also, changes to the canon! Zuko has been changed because I have something in mind for him. What that is, you'll have to wait and see.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…
Ba-Bye~!