Chapter 49: Mad King (2)
"This is a really bad idea," Suki muttered.
"I didn't ask you to come with me," Katara replied softly but deep down she felt glad that Suki did.
"Someone has to cover your back," Suki pursed her lips. The two women sneaked around the palace before moving up the floor. Aside from Mai who had her bedroom on the ground floor of the palace, the other members of the nobility lived on the higher floors.
The duo finally stopped in front of a metal door and Katara pressed her ear against the door before quickly backing away with a soft yelp.
"Ow... that's cold," she gasped while rubbing her left ear momentarily.
"I don't think Nik would be here," Suki whispered.
"Kai clearly has something against us, he must be the one to try something against Nik," Katara explained.
"Something? You mean how he tried to—"
"Did I ask for the details? I was there," Katara glared at the smiling Suki before taking a deep breath and then pressing her ear up against the metal door once again. Although she was accustomed to the cold, the sensation of the cold metal against her ear was very different and weird. However, the most basic approach didn't work and Katara failed to hear anything.
"Come on, he's not here," Suki patted Katara's back, "We need to sleep. That's the only way to get up early."
"Or not sleeping at all," Katara frowned.
"That's a dangerous game," Suki shrugged, "Again, give Nik some credit and try to believe he can hold his own. Aimlessly moving around is bound to get us into troubles."
Katara finally accepted and the duo began to make their way towards the staircase when they heard a set of rushed footsteps. Without even needing another prompt, the two again found a spot to hide themselves in as they saw Mai hurriedly rushing towards the staircase. At night, despite the lamps, their vision was affected somewhat so Mai's expression wasn't visible yet the rushed footsteps were in stark contrast to her usual indifferent and almost lackadaisical nature.
"What's wrong with her?" Suki frowned. She did not have a good impression on the woman who would hog a training room all for herself. It wasn't Suki's place to judge someone else for their property and she knew it yet, all the more, she judged hard.
"Let's find out," Katara whispered and pointed towards the stretching hall, "Mai was running away from that location... let's go check what's going on."
It was an interesting diversion from their plan to sleep or worry about a friend of theirs and they might find something necessary so the duo began to carefully walk in the direction where Mai escaped from.
They only had to follow this path for a short time when they, too, found themselves facing another metal door with a regal golden flame insignia on its handle with a heavy blush on their faces.
The metal doors aren't soundproof but even then, the voice inside must have been too loud for it to sound out somewhat clearly.
"-- Riiightttt thereee~" the seductive slur belonged to a familiar person but the two women refused to believe that 'she' could act in such a manner much less groan with such a tone that implied the obvious!
'She is having a great massage, right?' Katara bit her lips as she recalled the scene of the bedsheets this morning in Michi's room. This was the entrance to none other than her's bedroom!
"Hey... this could be him... you know, the 'guy'?" Suki whispered, emphasizing the mystery guy the duo speculated upon. It was either this mysterious entity that Michi was having a very passionate affair with or Ukano was simply that good of a lover. Either way, they didn't need to stay here any longer since it seemed that Mai was simply too embarrassed by her mother's current situation and rushed away. Why she came here this late in the night was still not known but it didn't matter to them.
"Maybe... I could open the door a tiny bit and just confirm if Nik is here or not..." Suki whispered with an odd glint in her eyes.
Speechless, Katara tugged on her more adventurous teammate and held her wrist, "Are you trying to get us imprisoned. Come on, let's go... Nik isn't here, of course! He isn't like that!"
"You would know, right? You're the apple of his eyes," Suki scoffed. She was 'chosen' to act the role in the beginning only for Katara to snatch her position.
"Wha—no, I didn't mean it like that," Katara whispered in a flurry while dragging Suki away, fearing that she might actually open the door. The already soft moans became less inconspicuous but the memory was firmly rooted in their minds.
---
"Where were you last night?! We were worried sick!" Suki shocked Katara with an exaggeratingly worried tone and expression as the auburn-haired Kyoshi warrior bumped her fist into Nik's arm as he came out after feeding the Komodo Rhinos who acted even more pleasant due to a good night's sleep.
"What?" Nik yawned, a little out of it. He had a late night and the duo's arrival, although surprising, wasn't too shocking. Servants are free to interact with each other within the palace in their own time, after all.
Pushing Suki out of the way, Katara took a few moments to explain how they wanted Nik's ability to make things vanish to remove the entrance of the secret passage and not being able to find him in his spot, they thought of the worst. This did lead to another topic.
"Where were you last night?" Katara inquired, her blue eyes staring at Nik intently for reasons unknown. The hint of growing suspicion in Katara's heart stemmed out of nowhere but even she didn't know the reason to feel as such.
"I was going through the stuff I stole... the written records, I mean," Nik smiled lightly before yawning again. He needed the time to set his routine straight.
"Did you find something?" Suki instantly inquired. Seeing two sets of blue eyes now gazing at him intently, Nik decided against getting into more trouble. Since he's the one who uncovered the information, its eventual exposure was also within his rights. Unwilling to even get remotely entangled with the mad king, Nik decided that it was better to simply stow it all away with a nod as he simply relayed bits and pieces.
"I did find something... but I don't know if you're going to like it."
"We probably won't," Suki nodded. The palace and its nobility did not provide the best impression.
"Fine, the Mayor and probably, the other rulers of the various cities in the vast region of the Earth Kingdom seem to have the ability to hypnotize men and women."
"What is... this hypnotize?" Katara frowned.
"To control someone's mind," Suki muttered with a solemn expression.
"Close enough," Nik nodded, "I don't know the contents of the hypnosis but I think that the children here are hypnotized to either forget their parents or believe that they are all dead already and Omashu is their new home."
He sighed softly.
Katara's lips quivered and she lowered her head, whispering, "That's terrible... to not even remember your parents when they are still alive and crying for them... Ukano... I really hope his wife was cheating on him!"
"Hmm?" Nik looked at her, "That's a weird insult... why did you suddenly say that?"
Patting Katara's shoulder in an effort to comfort her Suki replied in her stead, "We... accidentally passed through the Michi's bedroom and heard... some noise. Well, they were mostly... naughty..." She didn't meet Nik's gaze this time and looked away, "But the intensity was somewhat more than we expected... I guess we can confirm things once we decide to clean Michi's bedroom today."
'Oh...' Nik had a slightly dazed look while he recollected last night's event. Understanding that he didn't leave anything behind, he shrugged and looked at Katara.
"Hey, are you going to be fine? Katara?"
Nik walked up as she shook her head and sighed deeply, "I thought you were supposed to call me—"
"There they are! Don't move!"
With Kai as the lead, a large troop of Fire Nation soldiers alongside a small group of firebenders surrounded the trio outside the stable.
Seeing sharp ends of the spears pointed at them while distinct sets of fists ablaze with furious flames, the trio couldn't help but feel stunned.
"No use in denying! We know all about your involvement with the Avatar... hehe, that stupid meatheaded brother of yours told us everything!" Kai glanced at Katara venomously.
---
A few hours ago, as Katara and Suki finally returned, as Nik drove Michi to the point of dazed ecstasy while driving his member in and out of her clenching joy, as Aang entered his beauty sleep, a lone figure strapped a boomerang to his back and set out with a crafty look on his face.
'The office is thoroughly destroyed. According to Katara and others, there is an entrance in the basement and from the maps, I've deduced another point of entry within the catacombs. There's something definitely there... maybe that location is the source of all problems so it will be well-protected. Instead of risking exposure by taking others, I can silently scout the area myself.'
With that thought, Sokka finally sneaked into a space filled with empty yet large woks, pans, and pots placed upside down and even hung from large holders on the walls. This was the base of Nik's operation as the waiter of the noble family— the kitchen.
Making sure that he wasn't followed, Sokka entered the kitchen and searched every corner of the large segment of the palace. Satisfied that he was alone, he began to pat the walls around and even stomped on the ground at times. This was carried out for almost half an hour. Sokka made sure to stomp lightly and press his foot after the contact instead of slamming his foot down.
*Thck*
A hollow sound finally emerged from the left corner past the area for cooking and closer to the spot for washing the dishes. Taking a step back, Sokka crouched and knocked on the floor once again, revealing the same hollow sound. It was barely any different than the usual noise of impact and he could discern it only because it was too quiet. Taking out his boomerang, Sokka used the sharper edge of the weapon to pry open the drain near the dishwashing area.
"Ugh... it's so icky!" Sokka scowled as he picked the cover of the drain while slowly descending into the hole. Covering the point of entrance, Sokka had his expression turn terrible due to the stench. Slowly sheathing his boomerang, Sokka began to walk through the drain.
His heart shivered as she had to support himself by his hands against the sides of the large drain connected to an even greater sewer system of the city. It was definitely weird that the palace would contain such large and accommodating pipelines but it didn't stop Sokka from taking advantage of it.
*Chhppp*
Sokka instantly felt like vommiting as he stepped on something... well, something.
It was squishy and created that odd sound and he did not like that at all!
"I hate this already—"
The squishy thing instantly popped out from under his foot as he pressed on to walk forward and Sokka slipped.
Sokka didn't even have the time to shout and groan in disgust as his back was drenched by the mix of various fluids and what he hoped to be... leftover mashed vegetables from the kitchen as the descending pipeline took him all the way down.
*Aaaggghhhhhh*
---
"And then I was caught midway due to my shout by that gloomy-looking earthbender right there," Sokka pointed out with a sigh, sitting alone as his body emanated a stench worse than his actions last night that caused this mess.
Nik, Katara, and Suki sat quite a bit away. There was still some grimy stuff stuck in Sokka's hair and his very being looked destitute. Just the sight of him sickened the trio for the more physical reasons.
"Wait... you willingly gave us up?" Katara frowned at the realization as Sokka shook his head.
"I... don't know. I don't remember what happened after that. I know I struggled a lot but how they got information from me is still a mystery. They seem to know everything about us... everything... sorry, Nik," Sokka lowered his head as Nik looked at him with a sigh.
'Good thing... I didn't tell them everything,' Nik was somewhat relieved. It wasn't the issue of trust... well, it kind of was. It's not like Nik wanted to be completely open to every person he has known only for a week and given that the time of his arrival in this world had surpassed seven days, he could leave at will so being caught wasn't an issue for him. It still wasn't. But now, Nik was even more unwilling to spam his devouring ability to not let his opponents figure out the trick and his method of use.
At this point, Suki turned her head to observe the man standing guard to them. He wore a wide green hat and green court robes with a large round insignia cut off with a square in the middle. The most distinct feature of the man was his feet. Even through the long robe, the edges of the earthen footwear could be seen and from Sokka, the group knew that the Earthbender wore earthen gloves that could be controlled skillfully and with great precision.
"What... about Aang?" Suki inquired, turning her attention to Sokka. If they know everything, then there is no reason to doubt that they would also know the release of the prisoners of the rig and their current settlement.
"I don't know... maybe he got away. I hope he did," Sokka bit his lips.
"Oh, but he didn't," a cold voice interrupted at this point. The flickering lamps revealed a large shadow walking towards their cell.
Soon, Zhao stood in front of the trio on the other side of the caged door as Ukano stood alongside him.
"So, you're the one who made ransacked the Mayor's office?" He glanced at Nik but didn't pursue the matter. Instead, he smiled coldly, "The Avatar... who could have thought of him to be just a simple boy. His addition to the Phoenix King's grand objective will surely be a grand feat of glory and honor!"
"You want us to believe that you caught an Airbender?" Suki scoffed coldly.
"We didn't catch him, no," Zhao stepped forward, his palm open to reveal a small flicker of flame, "Once we told the boy that the four of you are captured, he willingly turned himself in."
With that, he closed his fist, snuffing out the flame. His malevolent expression made Suki and others feel grim and disturbed.
"My, my, they all are here," Kai walked in at this point. Bowing to the two men, he proclaimed, "Lord Admiral, Father-in-law, please let me find out useful information from those two waitresses! I am humbled to be included in this grand vision and wish to contribute!"
Ukano pursed his lips and looked at Zhao with an embarrassed expression while Zhao simply snorted softly, "Leave us, boy. Another hint of your impressionable mind and the scars that I shall litter your body will not be enough of a punishment!"
"Huh?"
Kai felt shocked as he slowly looked up.
"I said— leave. I or the kingdom do not have the patience to satisfy your depravity. Consider this my final warning."
At his words, the two elite firebender bodyguards and the strange earthbender all suddenly stomped their foot and pointed their fists at Kai who shivered.
"Lord Admiral, please, let me teach my fool of a son-in-law. These criminals are already in the best hands," Ukano stated quickly and Zhao finally nodded. Even Ukano was scared seeing his own personal bodyguard raising his fist against Kai based on Zhao's threats. This truly made Ukano realize how empty his position really was.
As Ukano hurriedly pulled Kai away, Sokka stated sarcastically, "Didn't think you to be a saint."
"Boy, it's not a virtue that drives me. Letting a fool handle two capable warriors is a mistake I shall not have on my conscience," Zhao stated and snapped his finger, "Take the thief away. I'll start with him. Let his screams of despair be the note of all your future."
His gaze landed on Nik as he blinked in surprise.
***
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