Avatar: Chaos Water

"So we're just going to send a messenger to the Water Tribe, and that's it?" Ty Lee asked somewhat incredulously when she heard how they were going to go about this mission. 

"Yes, because even though the war is still going on, at least we can't just wantonly invade the sea near the South Pole without any excuse," Zhao said, although there was some displeasure in his tone at the 'passivity' the group had adopted. 

If it were him, he would use the icebreakers to tear up a road and the firebenders to melt icebergs, but technically they were not on a hunt or an attack, but on a 'search'. 

"You don't seem to like the idea of a peaceful conversation," Azula pointed out, looking at Zhao with a raised eyebrow.

Zhao kept his composure, and since they were in his office at the moment, he was sitting quite neatly at his desk while the young men were either sitting elsewhere or walking around the office looking at all the things Zhao had collected. 

Ty Lee, for example, was looking at what appeared to be Sun Warrior carvings hanging on the walls of the office, as well as some artifacts from various places around the world, including the Air Nomads. 

"The Southern Water Tribe are just penguin-eating savages, pirates of the lowest order, constantly attacking our cargoes or those of the Earth Kingdom under the guise of fishing or domestic activities," Zhao said, and although he kept his composure, the derogatory tone he used was very clear. 

The words he used made Shisui stare at Zhao with a subtle smile on his face, for technically Zhao's words could be considered offensive to him if he took them seriously. 

He didn't. What was the point? In a way, he didn't feel that he fit in with the Waterbender culture, and besides, he wasn't a moral person or one with a lot of sensitivity.

"I hope this doesn't escalate into fighting, we don't want to fight the South Pole, we just want to find traces of the Avatar," Zuko said, causing Zhao to nod before touching his chin for a moment.

"What if they refuse or attack?" asked Zhao, his eyes glittering with cunning and intrigue, but his body control and experience allowed him to restrain the mad urge to laugh. 

But little did he know that Shisui's intense gaze was not because he found him pleasing to the eye, but because he was assessing his aura, noticing the changes in it, paying attention to the slight fluctuations and colors that indicated Zhao's true emotions. 

'It seems that Zhao has too much mental dialog, but his emotion in asking only indicates his desire for violence. Do you want to create an excuse to fight? As expected,' Shisui thought, glancing sideways at Ty Lee, who gave her a slight nod. 

As someone who could see the aura, Ty Lee was an expert at reading people's emotions and interpreting them, so she could see the same as Shisui, and she had to lower her head so that the smile forming on her face couldn't be seen. 

It was amusing to watch the topics go back and forth, each side trying to give the other false clues, or at least that was Zhao's situation. The poor guy didn't know that many of the things he said or did in solitude were being watched by a fat cat from the Spirit World. 

Mai remained silent, just listening as Zuko answered Zhao's question, explaining in a standard way how to react in case of refusal or attack. 

The assassin concentrated on finding and identifying Zhao's habits of action and speech. Every gesture, every flexing of his facial muscles, every unusual twinkle in his eye. In this way, she was able to notice many things that Zhao himself might not have been aware of. 

Why did she do this? Because of her training as an assassin, when her group had to face Zhao, which seemed inevitable, she hoped to deal him a unique and deadly blow. 

Only by knowing as much as possible about her enemy could she accomplish such a task. Moreover, this action of watching Zhao's actions made her learn a few things about how the man could perform even in such a tense situation. 

Yes, the whole current dialog was quite tense and it was more than obvious that both parties didn't want to be in the same environment, but they had to be because of the mission. Fortunately, the conversation was over in no time. 

As the group boarded a small boat that would take them to the ship where they had been living all this time, Mai was the first to break the silence and look directly at her companions. 

"This Zhao... he may be the most controlled person I've ever evaluated, at least on the surface," she said, making her friends pay full attention to her.

"Every gesture, every look, every way he moves, sits, or even the tone he uses when he speaks is deliberately controlled, and if you're not paying attention, you won't notice the way he guides the conversation. 

It's very subtle, but I can sense the guidance in his words, even if he didn't get the words he wanted to hear, he managed to 'clarify' all the points he said, perhaps for use in later topics or circumstances," this assessment of Zhao by Mai made Petra sigh loudly.

"Ah, a conspirator worthy of one of those books. I even thought the guy was kind of nice when he told me about his interest in my creations, if I didn't know about his actions I would only think he was a possible kindred spirit. 

If it hadn't been for Shisui's warning, I might have told him about the things I've built," Petra expressed a bit grumpy, realizing that Zhao had done that, leading the topic so that she could tell him about her inventions, perhaps to create countermeasures or perhaps to use them for his purposes. 

"Oh, and when he asked me about the differences between my chi-blocking technique and the one taught at school… haha! My family has put a lot of effort into modifying this martial art over the centuries, and although it is much better than what is taught, there are hardly any visual differences. 

There are always sharp-eyed people, but he is the first one to point out the difference, a really scary guy, especially since I noticed a strange color in his aura, it was fuchsia at times, and upon closer inspection, it looked like he was just giving me a normal look, but colors don't lie, he had perverted ideas in his mind," Ty Lee made a vomiting gesture, making the others laugh a bit. 

"I noticed that it was very subtle, barely noticeable, but he sized us all up and took a lot of notice..." Mai said with disgust in her tone, but Zuko put an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. 

"It's just that you're beautiful, but it's a little creepy that a guy like him goes around looking at young women," Zuko said with a sullen expression, he even wanted to go back to Zhao's ship and give the bastard several cuts. 

"In a way, it's normal, attractive women in his office, he's used to being in power, a trip on the high seas for over a week and freezing to death, I have no doubt he's probably about to go fuck his secretary or something right now," Azula explained her point of view, making the others nod. 

It was more than obvious that one of the typical problems of the Navy was the sexual aspect, although fortunately there were no unfortunate cases, the atmosphere among the sailors was generally very open-minded as far as sex was concerned. 

It was not uncommon to walk down a corridor and hear the muffled moans of a couple of sailors who had taken five minutes off and used that time to act out their sexual urges, either alone or with a partner, sometimes... more than one. 

Of course, this kind of environment was not shown to them directly, and no one was doing it overtly. It was more like an undercurrent that all the sailors were aware of, and eventually, the group became aware of this situation as well. 

So the idea of Zhao having sexual interactions wasn't out of the ordinary, although Musu hadn't noticed anything like that, some of his reports mentioned 'disorder' in the Vice Admiral's room at certain times.

"Now I can't get the image of Zhao and another woman out of my head," Shisui said, funnily squinting his eyes. 

The atmosphere was still joking and casual when they returned to the ship they had been traveling on all this time. But as the few rays of sunlight that could barely penetrate the storm clouds disappeared, this amusing atmosphere vanished. 

"Tonight we're going to meet the blissful Avatar, I can't wait!" exclaimed Ty Lee, excited by the situation.

This excitement was shared by everyone else as they rushed to the deck of the ship under the cover of darkness and cold temperatures. No one would disturb them in their quarters at this time, which was a perfect situation for what they were about to do. 

Shisui controlled some of the seawater, freezing it and creating an ice slide for them to slide down. Once everyone was on the ice platform, Shisui took a deep breath before he began to gently swing his arms. 

The team was surrounded by a small dome of ice, which soon fell into the sea. Since they only had to go in one direction, the poor visibility caused by the darkness or the ice making it difficult to see outside did not matter much at this point. 

The trip was quite fast, they were literally like fish in water during their journey under the ocean. No one spoke everyone concentrated on regulating their breathing and heartbeat so as not to consume the available oxygen.

Only after a while did Shisui create an ice vent, allowing the others to speak without regard to the possibility of suffocation. 

"By Agni, how boring, you can't see the fish, you can't see anything," Ty Lee said with some sadness.

She had hoped to see the seabed in all its glory, but circumstances didn't allow it. The only good thing was that Zuko created a flame in his hand. 

Unlike Azula's blue flames, which were very intense, the brightness of the fire Zuko created was higher, and that was basic chemistry, all blue fire was hotter but less bright, while the orange flames were very bright. 

If there were any intelligent beings at the bottom of the sea at that time, they would see a large, somewhat strange light source moving at high speed under the sea. 

And while anyone could crash into icebergs or the ocean floor, Shisui had a good sense of direction under the sea, especially since he used a little trick. 

Shisui controlled waves of water that, while under his control, outlined the environment in front of him, allowing him to control blocks of ice or avoid reefs or large underwater boulders. 

This act itself, navigating the ocean floor, was a test of his concentration and many of his skills as a waterbender, a task he performed quite well. 

"This has given me some ideas..." Petra muttered softly, remembering some of the more outlandish things she had heard those Fire Nation technicians talk about, perhaps this experience would force one of those strange inventions they had come up with.

"Ah, how uncomfortable it feels to be in an environment surrounded by water," Azula said, feeling that strange sensation for the first time. 

"It's the feeling of elemental restraint," Mai said, causing Azula to nod. 

"I never thought that being tens of meters under the sea would make me so uncomfortable. It's like an Airbender underground, an Earthbender in the air, or a Waterbender in very hot environments. 

Shisui as a child sometimes felt uncomfortable in saunas, even if there was a lot of humidity in the air, the heat would bother him. 

Or Petra, who traveled in airships for the first time, as she told me," Azula began to chat, trying to let this feeling go, because in a way it was something more psychological than physiological or spiritual. 

"I can feel another person pulling at the ice, it seems to be the waterbender from Aang's side," Shisui said suddenly, lifting the ice dome to the surface in a somewhat abrupt motion. 

As the ice covering them disappeared, they were all greeted by a startling sight: a large flying bison hovered around them, and as it descended into the sea, a figure jumped toward them. 

"Shisui!" the figure shouted as it landed on the ice platform Shisui had created, which Zuko's flames illuminated. 

This is how Shisui's companions saw the Avatar, The Last Airbender. 

------------

AN: Sorry, I have a virtual test and I wrote this very late at night xD