Midnight Raid

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***

With only a handful of individuals completely against Zhao by either their own choice or circumstances knowing of Pakku's real intentions, it was expected of either of the four that tagged alongside Pakku to take charge of menacing warriors, predominantly males, since they would venture out while risking their lives. After all, the fire nation soldiers would hunt any rebel out of their bounds so the fact that the waterbenders were on their side allowed them to sneak out and provide food for the tribe.

This meant that these hunters wouldn't easily succumb to words and with Pakku leaving with other waterbenders to make 'way' for hunters to attack later, it fell on either of the four to break the news that the actual raid wasn't on the fleet but the other side of the water tribe itself.

Although the number of hunters didn't exceed forty, each one of them had been tempered by the cruel climate outside the relatively gentle environment of the water tribe. Cuts and scrapes were easy to view on almost every tanned-skinned face.

Not eager to make a fool out of himself, Nik kept his quiet. Just the disdainful stares sent towards his crippling strut made it easy for him to guess that tonight wasn't his to shine. This left the three girls. Of which, Suki took the first try. Being a leader of Kyoshi Warriors, Suki had the natural charm of a leader. Of course, this charm was 'magnified' by what one of the hunters considered—

"Who's the painted clown?" A large man considered his words carefully, put them together in an orderly manner, and let it rip, "Master Pakku wanted us to get to the port near the entrance, why should we wait any longer?"

Suki's expression froze similar to her patience and compassion as her blue eyes gained an icy glint. With a hand hovering over the hilt of her sword, Suki walked forward step-by-step. The crunching sound of the snow and the clear intent in her eyes made the hunter chuckle impudently as he eyed Suki's form.

"Maybe you'd be pretty lass without the colors. But then again, only the weak hide behind a mask!" The man scoffed, not backing down from the silent challenge.

'Tell that to Koh,' Nik rolled his eyes.

"This a uniform. It represents the will of Avatar Kyoshi that the likes of you have yet to understand," Suki remarked as her hand now firmly clenched the handle of her sword while the man did the same with his machete.

One of the few women in the group suggested otherwise, "Drop the aggression, sweety. We're on the same side—"

Standing a few steps away from the one who mocked Suki as a clown, she didn't wait for the woman to complete her sentence and as a seasoned warrior, the hunter, too, responded the very next second.

Surprising others, instead of drawing her sword, Suki wielded the weapon with the sheathe buckled loosely on her waist as the weight of it instantly struck the machete aside and revealing the benefit of an experience built of practical techniques, Suki's heels connected with the man's chin the next instant.

It was over before it even began as the man slumped on the snowy ground, his vision swimming for a good few seconds. Just as someone from the group wanted to help, Suki stared at the man coldly, "Isn't he a warrior? Let him get up on his own and I will keep on teaching him that even as a clown, I'm more suited to protect your houses and families than you ever could!"

Expecting a personal verbal attack at the man, the other hunters did not expect to face such an insult. Despite balled fists and clenched weapons easy to find within the masses, Suki paid them no heed. Buckling back the sheathed sword on her waist, Suki made a mental note to ask Katara to quickly unfreeze the damn thing so that she could pull it out from the sheathe. Crossing her arms in front of her well-armored torso, she waited for the man to slowly push himself up using his arms and even then he wobbled until he finally adjusted to stand still.

Releasing a soft, disgruntled groan, the man released a warm plume of breath while rubbing his aching chin.

"I wasn't prepared," the man explained in the final attempts to save his already waning dignity.

"How valiant of you to insult a warrior chosen by the master you respect and then not even showing the proper conduct of being prepared to face consequences." Suki narrowed her eyes causing Mai's, Nik's, and Katara's eyelids to jump in surprise. If it wasn't clear before that Suki with a clear mindset was not only sharper and more intimidating than it was now. She wanted the raid to be successful on her terms and for that, she needed to take the lead.

Silencing the much larger and older man with her cold remarks, Suki glanced at everyone else, "Call me a clown, or a fool but I'm the one who is going to lead all of you. So, is it a clown that you choose to lead or a fool?"

"We aren't here to endure your insults!" One of the men growled.

"Sure, you aren't. You're here to reclaim your home," Suki smiled, "But antagonizing us won't do you good. Listening to us will. If you think that Master Pakku is a fool and a clown like me to put us here then sure, keep on talking. If not, be quiet and follow us."

Aside from a few flickering torches, the night's sky today looked especially bright, allowing everyone to view Suki clearly. Now that everyone grew silent, Suki nodded and walked back to her group.

"Let me make introductions again. These are my friends and companions. Her name is Mai, be thankful she isn't the one who attacked you."

"This is Nik, be thankful he is injured or his attacks would be even more vicious."

"This is Katara... just never look at her the wrong way during a full moon."

The others felt their lips twitching. Why was Suki making them look even more threatening?

"And," Suki grinned, "We take out the forces situated within the Water Tribe instead of the ones collected outside."

"Huh?" A clamor rose instantly.

---

"Stay your hand!"

"Damnit! Fight! Hold these bastards down!"

Given the size of their group, Suki preferred the group of hunters under her command to be discreet and silent. Fortunately, the profession of hunter didn't demand outrageous moves but the excellent striking ability to incapacitate the 'prey' with adequate patience that the hunters were used to while scouting for their prey. The first group of fire nation soldiers Suki targeted was none other than the scouts sent to harass the section where the rebels stayed.

Of the smaller group, only four of them were firebenders that couldn't match Nik or Katara who felt even more bolstered during the night as they bent water to their whims. Nik took it a step further.

Only now did the hunters realize what Suki meant by his vicious methods. After all, to cover for his lack of mobility, Nik chose to capitalize on his outrageous chi and stamina to directly control vapors of water around the two firebenders and shackle them in various spots using ice.

But the man who insulted Suki felt the most fortunate when he saw Mai launching needles of ice.

In the dead of the night, others couldn't even see knives and needles but Mai's precision intimidated the hunters to no end. What scared the shit out of them was how easily Mai refilled her arsenal as Nik and Katara fashioned a lot of weapons made of ice after the fire nation soldiers were bound and taken hostage.

The other reason Suki chose to start so close was that a base was nearby and they could imprison these guards just well enough before moving on.

It only made things worse for the armed hostages when Nik suddenly made their clothes disappear. Women glared at him and men, too. Both the genders in the other party felt that Nik was a shameless coot but this worked for the best. Nik now had enough fire nation outfits to equip the hunters and the firebenders needed to regulate their own temperature so they just couldn't easily firebend. Even if they do, they would be drowned by the overwhelming number of people staying in this section of the tribe.

Not to mention the fact that just for good measure, one of the hunters went out and pulled the firebenders into a chokehold till they went unconscious.

"Holy shit! It's this easy?!"

The hunters were truly motivated now.

They had a disguise that let them approach the prey without any hint of suspicion!

Putting on the skull mask of the fire nation similar to others, Nik chuckled, "Exactly, the raid is on."

"Move!" Suki commanded as the group began to move while Nik limped behind...

---

Not far from the gigantic iceberg cut to form a giant wall that safeguarded the city behind, a small fleet of boats emerged from the dense mist that didn't seem to congeal around the armada of giant cruisers led by a significantly larger battleship. The constant heat generated from the ships made sure that they weren't in the suppression of heavy mist.

Leading the silent charge was Pakku with a somber expression. Their attack needed to be heavy enough to cause the Fire Nation to secure the fleet rather than the castle within since the waterbenders were quite sure that Zhao hadn't stepped into the city just yet. For better or worse, standing on ice was much worse against a waterbender instead of standing on metal even if surrounded by water. It's not like a waterbender could bend the entirety of the ocean.

Making Pakku deeply repulsed was the fact that out of nowhere, as if the fleet was ready for their attack, an alarm was issued across the entire fleet as various sources of flames were ignited that were soon launched onto Pakku and other waterbenders.

"Charge!" Pakku roared, his heart wincing at the thought of a traitor present within their amidst but these weren't thoughts he could openly pursue lest he ends up breaking the unity of the waterbenders. An investigation would come later but for now, they needed to annoy the armada with everything they had.

"Position!"

Another man yelled as every bender stood stably on the boat and thrust their arms out causing a large wave to intercept the balls of fire before promptly turning into ice and digging the nearest cruiser out from under the water, causing shouts and fearful cries to echo!