***
Sokka spent a couple of days as Kuzon and quickly became closer to the girls. Even Mai and Ty Lee came to accept him as part of the crew. 

Like always, even now they were having fun playing Chess, a game that Kuzon introduced them to. Pai Sho was a game that Kuzon seemed to excel too, but Azula was able to beat him at it, more than he could beat her. 

The game called Chess was also fun, but in this one, Sokka seemed to dominate and never could get beaten. Not even by Azula, and she was the one most entranced by the game due to the titles of the pieces and how she could imagine real strategic battles with them. 

Azula and Kuzon were playing their 10th game of Chess for the day, while Ty Lee and Mai placed their bets. The latter had placed her bets on Azula, believing in her friend's intelligence and natural talent overcoming the barrier in-game experience eventually. 

The room they were in, belonged to Mai, it was her bedroom. Ty Lee laid on her bed and stretched. "Hmm~ so what has been happening around here? I traveled around a little and didn't see any signs of battle in the city. Honestly, there were no people either."

"Because there was no fight, no soldiers and almost no citizens when we came to take the city," clarified Mai. "It was only the crazy Kind, and some people playing Pai Sho in the middle of the street."

.

Ty Lee looked surprised at that, everyone knew that Omashu had a strong army. So why did they leave now? They could have held up for at least a year or more. King Bumi was known as a military genius too, so some were afraid that he might have been able to repel and destroy the forces.

But with how things seemed to go, most think that he seemed to have gone mad.

Azula frowned, as she could see that Kuzon was about to beat her. But she relaxed and tried to think of a way to win. Slowly a plan started forming in her mind and she asked. "Kuzon, what do you think about it? The way that King Bumi reacted to all of this."

She had expected him to be baffled like everyone else, but instead, he only smiled. "He has a good plan. One that even if everyone else knew, they wouldn't be able to stop."

"For an information specialist, a spy, you really like keeping secrets from me," now she was a little intrigued as it appeared that Kuzon knew something that she didn't. It just made her even more excited. 

This game of cat and mouse, she loved every moment, as she slowly got to pick Kuzon's mind apart. Azula knew that he had probably noticed this by now, but he didn't seem to mind it and even played along.

"Sheesh, just kiss already," Mai muttered under her breath, though she did so quietly and only Ty Lee could hear her. Turning around, the circus girl stared at Mai curiously. 

Mai then got closer and whispered to Ty Lee. "Can't you see just how she looks at him? Those intense eyes."

"Yeah, but would you call that love?"

"Well, she either likes him or wants to burn him alive. Maybe both." Mai admitted, as Azula wasn't someone easy to read and she didn't have a long track record of being someone filled with love. So the chances she wanted to kill Kuzon were quite high too.

***
After a while, Sokka finished playing with Azula, and the girls went to do their duties while he went to do his. While walking around, he felt as if someone was following him. 

Still, he acted casual. Since Azula had given him free rein, no one, not even the Governor of Omashu, who was Mai's father, would be able to stop him from going anywhere. 

Sokka suspected that it was either Azula or Mei's father that sent someone to keep an eye on him. His suspensions were mostly on Azula, she was the controlling one who liked to know everything.

Still, he acted like he didn't notice and as he walked past a turn. Suddenly, out of the darkness of the tunnels, the spy appeared. He walked confidently past the corner Sokka had walked, he was one of the best trackers in the Fire Nation and believed in his abilities. There was no way a greenhorn who seemed to still be a teen would be able to notice him.

But around the corner, he was met with Sokka's palm as he grabbed the man's face. His fingers were like steel talons as they dug in. "Azula should stop hiring such second-rate spies, they suck at their job."

As he said that, he punched the man in the liver and let him go. The man gasped for air as he fell to his knees.

"When getting punched in the liver, the body's reaction is to shut down due to shock. Even if you want to get up, you won't be able to." Sokka explained, as with a fast, phantom-like kick, he hit the man's chin, instantly the spy fell unconscious. "When hitting the chin, the head moves too rapidly and out of control. Causing the brain to hit the inside of your skull. Sometimes that could cause swelling in the brain and that could be dangerous. But from my speed and power, it might even cause bleeding inside the brain. That is almost guaranteed to leave you paralyzed."

Sokka remembered the story of a talented young boxer who ended up this way, due to some illegal punches to the back of the head. That was quite a sad story. But one where he had learned a lot from.

If someone is willing to punch you, do your best to crush them completely. No, kill them if you have the chance. In this world it was easier to kill, war made such actions easier. He wasn't the kind of person that would spare someone who showed their fangs at him.

The spy didn't exactly want to hurt him. But that was also why he gave the man a chance, he might survive, or he might not. These kinds of people were also easier to kill, as they had no families, and weren't exactly nice people either. By now to become such a high-leveled spy, that someone like Azula was willing to use him, then he must have done some unthinkable stuff to earn this "honorable" position.

Sokka wasn't a killer at heart and didn't like killing in general. But if it came down to it, he would eliminate anyone in his way without hesitation.

As he walked down towards the cells, no guards stopped him as he went to the deepest parts of the ground in a thick metallic vault. Within there was Bumi, with a knowing smile on his face. Even though he was entrapped in a metallic coffin, he seemed unbothered by the situation. "What took you so long?"

Sokka smiled. "Sometimes people can get in the way of things. Anyway, tell me where the army is?"

"Huh? The hell are you talking about brat? I am just an old man whose people abandoned him because they thought he was crazy." Bumi laughed, with his iconic snort.

Sokka sighed, running a hand through his face, canceling the illusion around himself. Bumi's eyes widened when he saw it, this was unbelievable. A Legendary assassin skill like face-changing has appeared here?!

Sokka smirked. "You groomed me to be your general leading this war. So now I need an army."

For the first time in many years, Bumi was surprised by what he saw.