It was rare, a moment of peace amidst a war. And yet here, in this tiny pocket of space, the soft babbling of a fountain and the soft singing of violin strings created the illusion of peace. Steam rose off the in-floor pool, stones and verdant flora ringing the marble pool gave the illusion of a Terran spring from ages past. Lavender, chamomile, and lemongrass blended in the pool and rose with the steam and, coupled with the honeyed whiskey settled neatly in an alcove barely an arm’s length away, left the High Inquisitor with ample distance from her daily duties that her Whispers were little more than gentle taps at the back of her mind, rather than the incessant buzzing from her normal life. She smirked as one thought slipped through, the disdain and disregard of one rebel her minions prepared for an interrogation session amusing her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t care for her own kind. It was more that she truly only cared about herself and no one could argue that the Empire was the winning side. The Rebellion was cute, but what would it ever amount to? It hadn’t been able to break the status quo since the Emperor and Lord Thanos neatly tucked the Sol system’s throat under their boot and with all current modeling predictions, wouldn’t ever be able to. Mutants, humans, aliens… the difference didn’t matter. All that mattered was she survived, and she’d slaughter as many life forms as it took to maintain her well deserved commodities. Just because they shared a gene did not endear them to her. They were faceless strangers, and they would be faceless corpses for all she cared.

“High Inquisitor, Brigadier General Hoffman requested an audience.” The music faded away as the AI that served as her personal assistant interrupted her relaxation. Nothing good ever lasted and she sighed, the mechanical bathing assistant whirring to life and approaching the pool with heated towels. “While Brigadier General Hoffman has declined to offer any information to me, a preliminary bioscan suggests he is both pleased and terrified, and is at a high risk of a heart attack.” The Inquisitor shook her head as she stepped from the pool and onto the towel laid out for her, taking the other while she considered.

The Brigadier General approaching her was a strange thing. Being a human, and a mediocre one at that, his resentment and fear rolled off him in waves when any mutant or alien so much as passed by him. Whatever information he held was likely the result of punishment for some mistake. She knew full well the main bulk of the Empire’s authority feared her- she’d spent a lifetime cultivating that fear. So either this information was of the utmost importance and they’d decided only one of Lord Thanos’s pet freaks could handle it, or the pathetic excuse of a man failed at some menial task and this was his punishment. Either way, she decided she was displeased.

She took her time after permitting him entrance into her office’s antechamber. He interrupted her during her personal time, so she wasn’t in any rush to help the little worm. The white dress she chose boasted a gold belt around the waist with a opal center and sleeveless to compliment the high gold collar that rose up to her left ear but smoothed down to the right shoulder, the metallic fibers in the collar acting as a solar charger for the various energy implements she employed in her line of work. A pair of opal earrings followed, both acting as a link to her AI and capable of deploying an opaque face shield, and an opal necklace, bracelet, and anklet, which all acted as deployment points for her energy armor.

Once she was ready, she moved to her office, a comfortable room with only one chair behind her desk that overlooked the Imperial plaza. Various pieces of alien art decorated the walls, each one commissioned after a successful mission, interspersed between bookshelves, system access panels, and a holo-map of the solar system with an array of dots scattered about it. She contemplated how to receive him for a moment before activating her face shield, leaving but a blank white surface. She knew it’d unnerve him.

“Permit the Brigadier General entry.” A moment later, the antechamber door hissed as it slid open, revealing the short, impish brute that interrupted her. She didn’t need to brush his mind to feel his emotions. For an officer in the legions of the Empire, he regulated his expressions poorly. Yet still she reached out, basking in the apprehension and revulsion he felt just by crossing the threshold.

“You certainly took your time, Inquisitor.” Hoffman bit out, clearly holding back whatever it was he wanted to say. It seemed the Brigadier General was wiser than he seemed, though not too much more considering she’d been in his head since she walked into her office and he seemed none the wiser. “I informed your assistant that this intelligence was of the utmost importance and to have you keep me waiting, despite the General themself sending ahead an authorization missive, is basically insubordination! You will remember your position is only granted to you by the grace of Lord―” He balked as she stretched out her hand.

“The files, if you will.” The high Inquisitor demanded, the conversation unnecessary after sifting through the mental pigsty behind Hoffman’s eyes. He clicked his tongue irritably, but withdrew the data unit as requested and placed it in her palm. “Thank you. You are dismissed.” His face turned red at the casual dismissal and although he opened his mouth to argue, nothing came out as his eyes glazed over and she mockingly used two fingers to walk him out of the room. She permitted him his mind back just as the doors shut, just in time for her to chuckle at the intense swearing that slipped through the crack.

She placed the data unit on her desk as she took a seat, the white lines of her AI circling it while the virtual screen appeared and populated a table of context. It would be a few more minutes until Persephony summarized the various contents of the unit and the Inquisitor amused herself by scanning the various highly scientific reports included. Clearly, someone was playing with fire if they thought creating more mutants was the answer to the aggressive regime the Empire maintained.

Finally, Persephone populated her report and the Inquisitor smiled as her face shield vanished. This had been an issue her Whispers brought to her a while back, and to have it placed so nicely in her hands was exactly what she needed to take the next step in her career. “Persephone, cross reference the location of our target with any available Bounty Hunters from the watchlist.” She instructed, as she typed up the job chit. Six names came up, three of them in one group, and a sharp smirk unfurled at the revelation. “Push Dr Haggar's chit to these six. Then, attach the chit to Project Delphi and begin initialization sequences. It’s time to see the rats run the course.”

---

The request beeped above the holo-table of the Excelsior, hovering next to the image of the poor target in question. The indicator on the table displayed this was a general job request, a high stake, high reward mission sent out to as many nearby hunters as possible in order to catch the target quickly. With this reward, everyone and their mother was going to hunt this man to the end of the universe and beyond. And if some bounty hunters got shot down in the process, well, the solar system probably wouldn’t mourn them.

Still in hyperspace, finally repaired after a rogue asteroid slammed into the poor, unsuspecting ship, the hyperspace engine hummed softly beneath the mainhold where the holo-table, surrounded by deep comfy chairs and one sofa bolted to the wall, dominated the space. Another section of the room, secured by a bioscanner, boasted a heavy arsenal of weaponry from blasters and a rifle, to good old fashioned knives, and restraints and a few sonic grenades. Various trinkets provided by the three owners of the ship jingled quietly where they were strung along the ceiling of the hold and although the lights in the mainhold were off, a number of crystals strung up by the team glowed in the dark room.

Slowly, the lights in the room flickered to life and the far door from the cockpit hissed as it opened. Danni stretched and yawned, his shirt lifting as he scratched at his stomach. His back was fucking killing him from sitting in the cockpit for the past hour, barely staying awake as he watched the path prediction bullshit. As much as everyone hated sitting in the cockpit during hyperspace jumps, not doing it was how they crashed Excelsior the first time and no one wanted to go back to begging for credits just to get their shift off the damn ground. Why couldn’t the autopilot adjust faster in hyperspace, then he could do better things like sleep, annoy Dee and Princess, or just cuddle. Instead, it was his turn to sit and stare at path projections like he actually knew any of the numbers on the screen other than “Get ready bitch, asteroid in the path!!!!”

The lights beyond the mainhold flickered to life as well, letting the other passengers know there was movement on the deck. A message would display in all the rooms anyway, so that the team would know a job chit hit the holotable. Danni scanned over it wearily, humming as he did. The face slipped away from his mind almost instantly, but he wasn’t the organizer of their operations so it didn’t really matter yet. Instead, he hummed at the reward and the drop off point, making a face at the empire controlled location, and turned to wander further into the ship to find the rest of his criminal pals, but he paused. His groggy brain cleared very slowly, but was very intent on rereading the details of the chit. Danni turned slowly, suddenly very alert as he took in the information. He reread the reward several times.

He started screaming.

---

Despite the festivities in the audience chamber, the back passages of the palace were deathly silent. Practiced footsteps left no trace nor sound as he passed, and those few unlucky enough to cross his path chose to see nothing. The long sleeves of his robes concealed the white knuckled grip he had on the scrap of parchment that called him to business.


A sharp turn and a moment’s pause - listening, listening - found a passage grinding open in front of him and, after passing through, the wall shut behind him. He barely paused to acknowledge the man who opened it, and instead hurried down the winding passage. Door after door after door, plain and monotonous and just enough light to keep his footing, passed but little mattered in this moment. Decades passed since he’d last heard the blood roaring in his ears. It wasn’t a coup, but the stakes were just as high.

Light filtered under the last door in the hall. He paused, collected himself and with a deep breath, pushed open one of the many hidden meeting rooms in the palace. Standing at attention as she studied the earth kingdom map pinned against the far wall, one of his most trusted agents waited for him. She didn’t move or falter at his approach and he didn’t acknowledge her either. Instead, he settled behind the desk and brought forward one of the candles. He touched the ragged parchment to the flame and watched as it burned away. Fitting.

He contemplated the woman in front of him. Much like himself, she was eroding. She stood a little shorter, a little thinner, less the immovable mountain and more a daunting cliff face. He supposed the same could be said for himself, but the earth did not yield unless it was truly sundered and neither of them were ready to break just yet.

“The ruby has been acquired. It is time to lay the groundwork for the next phase.” The man retrieved a sealed scroll from the desk and held it out for the woman to take. “Do not deviate. Like moths to a flame they flock, but their size is yet uncertain and so we will take their measure. Be safe, old friend.” With a bow and a twist, she was gone beneath the floor, the earth swallowing her.

---

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At this point last year, the port town of Lazhou, Xing Jian was a bustling trade port. Visitors from both the Fire Nation and Air Nation left their mark through the blends of fashions and foods that have yet to depart from the port. But where the streets were once filled with people from various places freely intermingling were now mostly bare, the citizens doing their best to keep to themselves with eyes trained firmly ahead. The weariness was heavy on their shoulders and tired eyes, only picking up the pace to avoid certain areas. The ones that thrived were those who were willing to trade with the Earth Kingdom’s army while those who refused were harassed out of their homes. Mercenaries and swordsells were in high demand as protection services were hotly in demand as those that still had their money were determined to keep it at any cost.

The one place few would need a legit reason to go without question would be the bar at the Black Eel Inn. The ones who had finished their hauls were happy to quench their thirst after a day in the sun and others were eager to take some of the tension off with stories. Some were more eager to eat than to drink, others were sitting around and waiting for something. The place was bustling with conversation and laughter, making the troubles of the war seem distant.

In one corner of the lobby sat an old, wooden pai sho board. The old man sat at the board had craned his neck over so much he looked like he could fall onto it at any moment, grayed eyebrows knit together as his shaky hands hovered over the red boat tile. He grinded his teeth, stressed by his predicament as his eyes darted to his younger opponent. Her white and black robe rested over her brown shirt and black pants, long, brown hair resting on her back. She was much calmer, her cheek perched on her hand as she watched him.

“Don’t rush me,” The old man spat.

She opened her mouth to let out a yawn, her free hand waving in dismissal. “Everything comes to those who wait,” She murmured.

“You’re starting to sound like Old Man Bido. Keep that up, and you’ll end up like him with his dead-end fishery!” He huffed as he moved his hand to another tile.

The woman stifled another yawn, her green eyes roaming away from her opponent, though she hesitated as she noticed an Earth Kingdom soldier running past the inn. A strange sight at this time of day, especially as he decided not to stop by for a drink. She almost dismissed it before an entire retinue of soldiers ran by in a hurry. The direction they were heading in bode ill as well.

She straightened up considerably at the sight, hastily gathering her belongings before moving the old man’s hands onto the red boat tile and moving her own. “Next time, prioritize your defense, you left yourself open,” She advised, snatching up her pouch before making her way out of the inn.

Sure enough, the soldiers were heading in the direction of the Knotweed Fishery. The first had remained outside, shooing away any that decided to loiter. As the number of soldiers gathered, a middle aged man dressed in green stepped out of the building, crossing his arms as the soldiers gathered around. He looked more irritated than worried, watching as the first soldier approached him.

“We’ve received information that you’re harboring fugitives, Bido!” The soldier announced.

“Fugitives? You think even those desperate sods would want to hang around fish of all things?” Bido scoffed. “Stop looking for problems where there aren’t any and scram!”

The soldier looked back at the others and nodded. A majority of them stepped forward, getting into a ready stance. “If you don’t have anything to hide, then you won’t mind if we check.”

“‘ey, Spicy came out alright! I got ‘im a new coat and everyt'in’!” Danni protested, annoyed that they were digging into ancient history. Percy was never in any danger. And Danni intended to drive that point home but the scene changed again. Danni rolled his eyes as they settled in.

“Arcade, t'is little scene shift is cool once but twice so quickly is… uninspired, ‘onestly.” Danni shook his head, crossing his arms. Though, upon looking around for the rest of his friends…

“Omg, y'all look so cool! Arcade, t’e character design, flawless. Almost makes up for t’e borin’ level change mechanic! I gotta take a pic, Dee would def wanna see Spicy like t'is. Let me just find…” Danni patted down his pockets but paused as he realized his hands were a little different. Red scales covered his fingers and ran up his arms, and he immediately lost interest in taking a picture of everyone and instead focused trying to look at all of himself. Scales were everywhere he patted. Danni was stunned.

“Guys, guys, guys. I’m gunna freak out ‘ere. All t'is work, all t'ese years of skin care and everything is fuckin’ covered by scales? T'is so fuckon’ cool!!! I'm a dragon!” Danni cheered as his turn rolled around. He skirted around the edge if the room and took arm, bracing himself as he let loose a cone of flames towards the imps, cheering again as one caught flame and collapsed. He pouted as His other attempts failed but hey, at least he got one!