Chapter six (APC)

I'm currently meditating on my ship, waiting for uncle to enact his part of the plan. We need to go into port for me to "find" Aangs trail and begin another more secretive and amusing plan. I'm so amused by and distracted by this plan, I'm thrown off my bed when the ship suddenly moves. I quickly rise and teleport to the bridge.

"What is the meaning of this mutiny? No one told you to approach the port!" I yell, after storming in.

"Actually, someone did. I assure you, it is a matter of utmost importance, Prince Zuko." Uncle says, before scratching his beard.

"What is it?" I ask suspiciously.

"It seems, I-" He rubs forehead in stress. "-I have lost my lotus tile." he moves a piece of his across the Pai Sho board.

"You've changed my plan for a stupid lotus tile?" I ask in false disbelief.

"See, you, like most people, underestimate it's value. Just give me ten minutes to check the merchants at this port of call. Hopefully, they will have the lotus tile in stock and I can get on with my life." I groan in annoyance and walk out.
"I'm lucky to have such an understanding nephew." I hear uncle say.

I leave the bridge to kill time until our arrival.

I opt to read battle strategy. I can always use a refresher course in it, especially now.

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Time skip.

We're finally near the pirates ship and uncles buying a lot of junk.

"I've checked all the shops on this pier. Not a lotus tile in the entire marketplace." Uncle says, with false sadness.

"It's good to know this trip was a complete waste of time for everyone!" I say, with false anger.

"Quite the contrary. I always say, the only thing better than finding something you are looking for is finding something you weren't looking for at a great bargain!" Uncle says, while the crew carries his purchases back to the ship.

"Oh, this place looks promising!" Uncle says, pointing to a ship. "Oh, that is handsome! Wouldn't it look magnificent in the galley?"

I ignore uncle to eavesdrop on the pirates.

"We lost the Water Tribe girl and the little bald monk she was traveling with." I hear Oh say, to the pirate captain.

"This monk, did he have an arrow on his head?" I ask, turning to the pirates.

"Yes, he did." The captain says, suspiciously.

"I'd like to make you a deal." I say, to his interest. "We team up and capture them. You get your scroll and I get to capture and torture the monk, who insulted my honor."

"Deal." The pirate captain agrees, thinking he got a good deal. Poor idiot, I'll enjoy what's going to happen to him.

"Excellent. We'll search using your ship and one of my riverboats." I say and he nods in agreement. "I'll return to my ship and oversee that." I leave to do so.

When I'm out of sight. I teleport onto my ship and create my clone/alter ego, Shadow.

"You know what to do." I say to it. I've allocated more than enough power for it to do as planned. I head to the river boat.

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My boat and the pirates ship are both sailing down the river.

"Shouldn't we stop to search the woods?" The pirate captain suggests.

"We don't need to stop. They stole a waterbending scroll, right?" I ask, again.

"Mm-hm."

"Then they'll be on the water, learning from it." I say, fighting the urge to insult his intelligence.

Minutes later, we hear Katara practicing waterbending. She most likely heard the ship pull onto the river bank.

She peaks through the bushes to see what the noise was, and gasps upon seeing the pirates. She turns to run, but is grabbed by a pirate.

"No! Let go of me!" She says, before bending water up into the pirate's face, and he releases her, she runs but is grabbed again on the wrists by me.

"I'll save you from the pirates." I say, glaring down at her, as she looks frightfully at me. My soldiers tie her to a tree. "Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother." I offer coldly.

"Go jump in the river!" Katara says, furiously.

"Try to understand. I need to capture him to restore something I've lost, my honor." Katara jerks her head away from me. "Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost." I hold her mothers necklace around her neck.

"My mother's necklace! How did you get that?" Katara asks.

"It was lying on a prison rig amongst coal." I say, off-handedly. "Tell me where he is!"

"No!" Katara exclaims.

"Enough of this necklace garbage! You promised a scroll!" The pirate captain says, his patience exhausted.

"I wonder how much this is worth ..." The pirates gasp as I take it out and hold it over a fire in my hand. "A lot, apparently. Now you help me find what I want, you'll get this back, and everyone goes home happy. Search the woods for the boy and meet back here!" I place the scroll in a secure place in my clothes.

"Fine." The pirate captain says, angrily.

They return ten minutes later.

"Nice work." I say, honestly impressed.

"Aang, this is all my fault." Katara says.

"No Katara, it isn't." Aang says, trying to ease her mind.

"Yeah, it kind of is." I say, in amusement. I'm glad I left uncle on the riverboat as a guard. I'd rather not lose it.

"Give me the boy." I say, to the pirate captain.

"You give us the scroll."

"You're really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" Sokka says, trying to cause trouble.

"He's not the Avatar, he just lied to get with your sister." I say, in a bored tone.

"Your friend is the Avatar?" The idiot asks, turning to Aang.

"Sure is, and I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll."

"Yes, because the Fire Nation always pays for what it wants." I say, sarcastically. "This almost hundred year long war? It's really a complex land purchase." I say, mockingly, causing several people to smirk.

"Keep the scroll; we can buy a hundred with the reward we'll get for the kid."

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me." I say, with a smirk. I still need to stall them.

I and two of my soldiers send a blast of fire at the pirates. The pirates jump back and Oh runs out, throwing smoke bombs and jumping into the cloud as the fight ensues. Some of the soldiers run out to Sokka and Aang, who are struggling with their ropes, but are stopped by several pirates. Momo runs down the tree and frees Katara.

I blast a pirate at near point blank range with lightning, blasting a hole through his chest. I decide to just start
stunning the idiots.

I finish minutes later, even stunning his iguana parrot out of spite. I take their weapons and valuables, getting raised eyebrows.

"I think it will be funny to know they were robbed."

I discover Team Avatar escaped more quickly this time around. Oh well.

"Back to the ship, everybody. I'll catch up, I just need to check something." I say, and they promptly obey the order. I teleport onto the pirates ship and find it empty of their stolen goods. "Good." I say, before teleporting back to my ship.

When I arrive. I see my clone left me a note informing me of the looting of several ships and that he's continuing with the others. Good, my plans to combat piracy are off to a good start and I'm making money while doing it.

Around thirty minutes later, I hear a knock on my door.

"Enter." I say, and uncle enters my cabin.

"Good, your back." Uncle says, in concern. He closes the door to my cabin.

"Of course. I just had to check on a side project." I say, to uncle's interest.

"Which is?" Uncle asks, while sitting down.

"The elimination of piracy." I say, getting a raised eyebrow. "I'm robbing all the pirates, I'll sink their ships later. But I hope to eliminate all crime and take their assets, which I'll use to fund my secret projects."

"Such as?"

"Spy groups, to keep an eye on the other three nations post war. A secret police that answers to me, which will eradicate crime in the Fire Nation. Basically things I don't want traced back to me or the Fire Nation." I say, to uncle's surprising approval.

"What are your plans for the next encounter?" Uncle asks.

"Well. I'll mostly work on my side projects for a while. It will be a while before I'm needed to run Aang off. During
that time, I'll take out threats and build up funds for my plans. So I have weeks of spare time." I say, and uncle looks relieved.

"That's good. When do you think your clone will be done?"

"Probably in a few hours. I want us to take the ship back to where we were hiding; as a precautionary measure. The pirates may try retaliating for what we did to them."

"I agree. I'll go give the order, it should be done quickly." Uncle says, rising from his seat.

"Alright." I say, as he walks to the door and exits.

I decide to kill time reading battle strategy.

Hours later, my clone teleports in. I promptly absorb it, gaining it's memories and experiences. I allocated eighty percent of my power to it and it has barely any left. It did loot and sink all the ships, saving me any actual work. Good now I can relax and regain my strength, I'll perform assassinations and robberies after I do. I think I'll target scum like Gow and his gang, who I have already dealt with.

*Flashback*

I had just arrived in Lee's village, walking to the store to buy something to eat. Gow glares at me, I glare back. I'll enjoy killing that animal, preventing his continued reign of terror.

"Could I get some water and something hot to eat?" I ask, showing a hand full of gold coins. I notice that Gow's Gang is watching me and has noticed my wealth.

"Yes, right away." the store owner says, with a smile.

"Hey, stranger. If your gonna be here you have to pay taxes. Penalty for refusing is far steeper than you can afford. Trust me." He says, before patting the hammer at his side menacingly. Does this idiot only have one method of
threatening?

"Walk away or die, you annoying idiot." I say, in annoyance. "I don't have time to deal with moronic thugs, who are playing soldier." I say and hear gasps from some of the villagers, who have gathered to watch.

"If I refuse?" Gow asks, menacingly.

"I already said you'll die if you don't. You really are an idiot, I was actually just guessing at first." I say, making a few kids laugh. Gow's eye is twitching. "If your going to attack, get it over with. Unless, of course your a coward and I'm sure you are." I say, and he reaches for his hammers. I use chi enhanced speed and draw my swords and behead him; all before his hands reach his hammers.

His lackeys draw their weapons and attack. I use my speed and cut their throats. I collect Gow's hammers as a trophy and sit down to wait for my meal.

End Flashback

By killing him and his gang, I prevented a lot of suffering.

*Flashback*

Toph, Aang, and I, had just arrived at Lee's village. We had heard rumors of abusive soldiers oppressing the villagers and I pressured Aang and Toph into coming with me, having suspected it's Gow or someone like him. We are greeted by
numerous Aang and Toph fanboys, and nervous and shifty looking soldiers among them.

"Excuse me." Someone says, getting our attention. "The mayor, Sensu, has invited you to his home."

"We accept." Aang says, politely. We get right back on Appa and fly towards the mayors house, which is in the direction Lee and his family lived.

We arrive minutes later, at Lee's family farm. Suddenly the name Sensu comes to mind, Lee's brother. Who's waiting outside the home.

"Welcome, Avatar Aang, Miss Beifong, and Fire Lord Zuko. I'm mayor Sensu." Sensu says, politely.

"Thank you. We were surprised by your invitation. We came here after hearing of abusive soldiers, Zuko convinced us to come." Aang says, to Sensu's surprise.

"I had heard you defeated Gow and his men. You inspired a lot of people to oppose Gow, but he eventually made them fear him again. He recruited more people and started subjugating them again." Sensu says, sadly. I suddenly realize, his family isn't here.

"What happened to your family?" I ask, coldly, suspecting something.

"Gow and his gang happened. They broke in, broke the arms and legs of my father and brother. When they were found, it appeared they took turns with my mother before she died. They raped her, repeatedly." Sensu says, crying, but, remaining strong.

"Aang, your taking Gow's bending and placing him in a prison. If he survives." I say, essentially ordering Aang at this point.

"Zuko?" Aang questions in concern.

"He needs to be punished Aang. I should have killed him years ago. I could have prevented all this, all I had to do was kill five people." I say, both angrily and sadly.

"I don't blame you, Fire Lord Zuko. There's no way you could have known." Sensu says.

"Thank you. I know that, It's just a what-if. One small act and I could have prevented this. I do truly despise hindsight.Anyway, we need to get moving. They could have fled in fear of us." I say, getting on Appa. Aang and Toph get on and
we begin quickly flying back to the village.

We make good time. Making it back, in less than half the time it took when leaving it. When we arrive, Aang quickly gets off Appa.

"Quickly, where is Gow and his men?!" Aang asks loudly.

"They went west, outside of town." A random villagers says. Aang gets back on Appa and we begin flying after them.

When we encounter the group of ten minutes later; I jump of Appa and blast fire from my feet, flying down, while subtly bending the fire. When I get close, I flip in air and bring all the fire down on them; in one massive blast. It hits the ground and the blast knocks them off their feet, sending them flying.

When the dust clears there is a massive crater and red fire, with elements of blue around the area. Gow and his gang are all groaning in pain, slowly getting up.

"Impressive, Sparky." Toph says, having just arrived near me.

"Thanks, Toph." I say, then notice Gow is standing. "Hello, Gow. Remember me?" I ask, with a smirk, as Aang joins us.

"Yes. I'll enjoy remembering your mangled corpse too!" Gow says, before trying to attack me. I quickly generate lightning, aim, and then release it. I watch it hit, with cruel amusement. Right in the groin.

"Sorry, miss. You were saying?" I ask, mockingly, making Toph laugh inspite of the cruelty. Toph and Aang quickly capture his gang.

"Gow, can you hear and understand me?" I ask, coldly.

"Y-yes." Gow manages to say.

"Good. I want you to hold onto the memory of your rape of Sela and even your attack on her family." I say, to Aang and Toph's shock and surprise. "Every time some man rapes you, I want you to remember; that you did it to someone else. Every time your beaten, I want you to remember; that you did it someone else. Justice is balance Gow. What you did to others will be done to you. Enjoy protecting yourself without your bending." I say, signalling Aang.

Aang steps forward and gets into energybending position. He removes Gow's bending, with absurd ease.

"I really hate rapists..." I say, to Aang and Toph. "Technically, I'm a byproduct of a unwilling conception. Mother never would have willingly married Ozai, if she truly had a choice." I say, sadly.

"Gow will be punished." Aang says, in assurance.

"Can you pull a few strings and get him into certain prisons?" I ask, concealing my true intentions. "I just want to make sure he can't get out." I lie and Toph doesn't seem to have detected it.

"Of course, Zuko." Aang says.

"I know just the one..." I say, with a smile. It has the highest rate of prisoner rapes of all the prisons. They will love Gow.

End Flashback.

I continued building my power and skill. Seeing the blue fire was plenty of encouragement. Shortly after I was given energybending, I succeeded in achieving blue fire.