Focused Fire (ATLA)

War Minister Qin fumed as he left the temple. To think, not only had the Avatar appeared in this spirits-forsaken corner of the world, but he had severed the Mechanist from the Fire Nation’s grasp!

Still, the minister had to admit that this would be a good proving ground for the new weapons. The tanks had been kept under wraps for long enough, and he had the authority to finally put them to use. He’d like to see the faces of the Fire Lord and his daughter when he revealed this latest form of warfare to them. It would strengthen his liege’s waning faith in Qin, while reminding the crown princess that ingenuity was not limited to savage barbarism and creative torture methods.

Really, Colonel Xing showed such talent for non-linear thinking, it was a shame that the boy had to direct it to such…theatrically bloody tactics. Such a waste of a good intellect, to be paired with a primitive hunger for violence.

“War Minister!” a soldier called out as he ran, drawing Qin’s attention. “News from the supply convoy.” The minister kept his patience as the man saluted before actually delivering his report. “The 11th Royal Regiment has entered the region. They were following after the Avatar.”

Oh? Now this might be… No, Qin huffed. He would not use the crown princess’ toy soldiers. This was the chance to prove himself to everyone. Plus the Fire Nation has dealt with air nomad temples filled with airbenders before, this temple full of refugees should be an easier task.

“Take me to them. And tell General Laoyang to ready the troops.”

Qin met with the young colonel of the 11th, who offered a polite bow and an overly courteous voice. “War Minister Qin, I did not expect such an august minister as yourself to be out here.”

Pathetic suckup. The minister fought off his annoyance as he kept up a neutral mask. “Quite so. I have matters to attend to here. Matters that the Avatar’s arrival has…complicated.”

Before the boy could open his mouth, Qin took the satisfaction of cutting in, “but it is of no concern to you, colonel. It is a minor irritant to the Fire Nation, and will be corrected shortly.” He let a smug smile bloom on his features. “Don’t worry, if the Avatar decides to flee the area, I’ll let you continue after them. My issue is against the refugees hiding like elephant rats in the Northern Air Temple.”

Colonel Xing remained silent for a moment before nodding. “As you say, minister. If you do not mind, my regiment will be camping nearby to witness your assault?”

Hah, the kid thinks to decipher some secret tactic? Good luck to that. A shame the regiment will never get tanks, not if Qin and his cohorts can help it.

“Go ahead,” he answered smoothly. “You might as well bear witness to the new era of the Fire Nation’s warfare.”

*****

General Laoyang frowned as he regarded the steep mountain ahead of him. His officers were organizing the men, sending out orders to march up narrow pathways to get to the temple. It would be one hellish advance, left vulnerable to any assault from above. If the refugees had any earthbenders with them, it’d be a nightmare trying to survive rocks falling from the mountaintop. Oh, he had no doubt about securing victory, but the general did not like the heavy price of it.

It pained him to know that his men would be nothing but fodder, to dilute the enemy’s attention from the War Minister’s brigade of metal boxes. These ‘tanks’ looked interesting, and supposedly they could climb the mountain effortlessly. Presumably so long as the enemy were not fully occupied on them. Hence the need for the general’s forces.

As he mulled at the coming carnage, Laoyang heard someone coming up, and turned to find an unlikely figure.

“General Laoyang,” the infamous colonel of the Defiant 11th saluted. “I’ve come to pay my respects.”

“Thank you colonel,” he answered with a salute of his own. “What brings you to these parts?”

“The Avatar.” Of course the gloryhound would be after the Avatar. “We caught sightings of him and followed after them, bringing us here.”

“I see.” Laoyang regarded the young commander carefully, finding none of the smug arrogance of a person trying to hunt the Fire Nation’s greatest enemy. Oh, he had a steely resolve on him for sure, but that’s to be expected of a boy who ordered desecrations on the dead to scare his enemies, or made terrifying use of night attacks. But there was none of the swagger that Laoyang had expected.

“You will not be joining us, then?” the general posed, and the colonel shook his head.

“War Minister Qin has assured me that your army is more than capable of taking this mountain without our assistance.”

Laoyang almost hissed a curse at the arrogant minister. No doubt he only truly cares about the performance of his metal tanks, and seeing to the lives of the common soldiers was beyond his blinkered view.

The general regarded the colonel for a second, and then sighed. “Tell me, colonel. What is your take on this…” He vaguely waved a hand at the mountain. Laoyang was not so up in his own ass as to ignore the insight of a boy that had accomplished far more than himself.

“It looks to be a…brutal climb,” Colonel Xing said, looking at the mountain and the temple on top of it. “Lots of snow collected, so avalanches might be a real threat. And there’s supposed to be the Avatar up there…” He gave a thoughtful frown before shrugging at Laoyang. “But the war minister seems confident of his plan, so perhaps he has those things considered?”

Of course he would, the bastard. Everything was factored in…for his tank brigade. Laoyang was to play support and do what he could. “He has confidence in his new weapons,” he carefully admitted. “You might not have seen them, but the new vehicles that the war minister has conjured up are rather capable things.” But not capable enough to take the mountain by themselves, he silently added.

“Pardon my rudeness, general, but not capable enough that he needs your men?”

Laoyang snorted. Whatever they said about the Scorpion, nobody could claim that he was dumb. He carefully pieced together his reply. “Quite so. No matter how well armed or armored, one always risks being overwhelmed by numbers.”

As expected, the boy got the hint immediately, a disapproving frown on his face. “I see.” Laoyang forgot that particular virtue of the colonel, that he disdained the callous expenditure of Fire Nation lives, even if that virtue was tainted by dishonorable tactics. There was a heavy pause before the Scorpion spoke again. “I would not dare to suggest knowing more than yourself, general, but if I may ask? How are your men distributed?”

Laoyang didn’t hesitate in breaking down the general formation for the coming assault, earning the boy’s impressed nod. “You’ve factored in avalanche rescue teams…that’s good. Firebenders mixed with non-benders, to help against harassment… You’re fully prepared for this, general.”

“Of course,” Laoyang said, allowing himself to preen at the praise for a brief second before sighing. “But…I still fear for the casualties.” He remembered that multiple divisions had been sacrificed to clear each temple, and here he was with just his lone division. There might not be anymore airbenders, but the Avatar more than made up for their absence, in Laoyang’s mind.

“If I may be so bold,” Colonel Xing offered, and the general nodded. “Perhaps you could have your men…slow their advance? Let the war minister’s contraptions take the lead? If he is confident of their strength they would not suffer too much, and it would lessen the attention on your soldiers.”

Now that was an interesting - and treacherous - idea. But the colonel was right, if War Minister Qin believed so much in his damned tanks, he might as well prove their durability at the very least. “That is…something worth considering,” Laoyang admitted. “But the troops cannot be seen as purposely dallying around.”

The colonel smiled. “But if they were to take a cautious advance to ensure that the mountain paths can support your army…”

Oh. Laoyang matched the smile. “Yes, it’d be a shame to have the whole assault falter because a collapsed route or snow drifts suddenly buried the ranks.”

“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” the Scorpion offered, and Laoyand decided that he really liked that sentence. He offered the young colonel a grateful bow.

“Thank you, colonel, for your advice.”

Colonel Xing returned the bow before leaving. “I can only hope it is of some value to you and your men, general.” For all his alleged brutality and glory-seeking, the boy was polite and tolerable enough, unlike some blinkered war ministers that Laoyang knew.

The assault that followed the next day was…disappointing yet relieving. Firebenders melted snow and ice away while testing the stability of the rocky paths. Yet Laoyang watched as flying contraptions appeared to stymie his troops’ advance with smoke, some sort of gunk, and foul miasma. Nothing lethal, thankfully, though the general watched helplessly as the Avatar dropped an avalanche on one section.

Miraculously, the collapse only inflicted serious injuries, with no fatalities.

The war minister’s tanks were doing their job, at least. Their slow but relentless advance eventually forced the temple’s defenders to fully focus their attention on them, allowing the troops to regroup and resume their advance. They were impervious to the aerial harassment, and cleared the treacherous climb quickly enough with their twin grappling hooks.

As much as he was annoyed at the man, Laoyang had to admit being impressed by the vehicles War Minister Qin created.

The refugees then revealed a massive flying lantern-like thing, which looked awe-inspiring until Laoyang noted it only dropped a few sacks on the tanks and was left floating uselessly after that.

But in the end, the temple defenders revealed their true secret weapon, blasting out almost the entire mountainside and leaving a jagged, steep chasm. The tanks would likely make it through…if most of them hadn’t been flung like bugs from the explosion into spirits knows where. Not to mention the general spotted the grappling chains on several of them being severed. Secondary explosions could still be heard, as boulders fell from the sky.

With a heavy sigh, Laoyang called for the retreat. His men would be useless now, and if the war minister wants, he can go dig up his tanks and try again himself.

“General!” a messenger called out in near panic. “The war minister!”

Laoyang immediately ran towards the man to get the news, and then ran with all haste towards the catastrophe.

*****

Yama kept a half-hearted grumble as he climbed the steps that he created on the mountain side. The brat had asked him, Kilin and a few other earth and water benders to follow him towards a more impossible face of the mountain. It would have been an arduous walk, if not for common earthbending practices. The water hag’s bending kept a canopy of snow and ice above them, concealing their movements rather well (for a waterbender).

From this side of the mountain, the group could spy the beginning of the Fire Nation’s assault. Yama scowled as he saw the wheeled metal boxes. Leave it to the Fire Nation to fight dirty.

“So why’d you call us here for?” he growled, hoping that the brat was better than rubbing this new weapon in the prisoners’ faces.

“Do you see that?” the boy asked, pointing down to the Fire Nation camp. “That’s where War Minister Qin is watching his new toys at work.” He grinned darkly at Yama. “I’m here to do us both a favor; you want to kill important Fire Nation people, I’d like the war minister dead.”

Yama snorted. At least the kid’s not beating around the bush. “So what do you want from us? Chuck a few stones from here?”

“Oh no, I want you to chuck a really big stone…but the timing has to be right.” The brat then gave out his instructions, and the old general had to admit some awe at the meticulousness of it. His bodyguards were doing a very good job at playing deaf.

“So, are you up for it?” the brat asked the assembled prisoners. 

Yama shared a look with Kilin, and then to the other benders. “It’s…doable,” the water hag mused. “But how long do we have?”

The child soldier shrugged. “No idea, but you’ll know it when it happens.”

“Meh, I guess a scrap’s better than nothing,” Yama snarled without any heat. He’ll never admit it, but it’s been a long time since the brat had taken him out for this kind of work, and Yama missed being able to flex his bending.

The group worked and watched silently as the battle progressed, showing off the defenders’ desperation and ingenuity, and the tanks’ durability and tenacity. They might even be a problem for Ba Sing Se in significant numbers…

And then out came a massive flying bladder with an underslung basket, which did dick all. But then…

The explosion that rocked the entire mountain almost knocked Yama and the earthbenders off their feet. It was an impressive thing, to carve out an entire chunk of rock like that. Another potential weapon to threaten Ba Sing-

“Now!” the brat suddenly called out, snapping Yama out of his thoughts. The general gave a scowl before nodding to his compatriots. As one they stomped their feet, reaching into the pre-carved projectile on their side of the mountain to drag it out of its housing. 

“Don’t any of you screw this up!” Yama groaned out with exertion as they collectively grappled with nearly a hill’s worth of compacted rock and earth, and held it in the air for an excruciating few seconds as the waterbenders quickly added ice on it. Then it was flung with a choir of grunts, and thankfully nobody fucked up their aim as the massive block of mountain soared through the smoke and debris towards its goal.

Yama watched with unbridled satisfaction as the huge boulder crashed onto the camp and erased it from existence. The momentum made it disintegrate into smaller rocks that added more to the chaos as it rolled on its merry way.

“Huh.” The brat’s still got good ideas in him, then.

*****

General Laoyang came across a rocky outcrop that used to be the camp of the war minister. It was utterly poor luck that the explosion had sent such a big chunk over here. He immediately sent out his reserves to dig out through the rocks. It might be a slim chance, but an attempt had to be made.

They mostly found mangled bodies or smears of what should be bodies amongst the new hill. Some were shredded into paste by sheets of ice. 

Thankfully, the losses were not complete. Some survivors were found among the rubble, mostly at the edges of the camp. They were mostly in bad shape, often suffering from crushed or torn limbs. A few unlucky souls had their armors jammed deep into their flesh from the force of the flying rockslide.

Miraculously, War Minister Qin survived…somewhat. Half his face had crumpled in, and his silk robes did not protect his body from the crushing weight, leaving him a disfigured mess. Laoyang couldn’t even tell where the minister’s arms and legs were on him.

He had teams hurry the minister out for treatment, and then immediately called for a general retreat as soon as the rescue operations were concluded. With flying mountainsides about, it was best not to linger any longer.

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Author's notes: Now that I hit 50, I'll take a break on this story for a bit. Either to work on other stuff or just enjoy not giving in to my writing impulse (hopefully). It might be a moot thing, but how did you all find things so far? Is the SoD within tolerances? Any particular parts that peeved you? Xing being too Mary Sue? I'm open to criticism.