InsaneJournal

Who: Mai, Fire Lord Ozai (npc)
What: Mai confronts the Fire Lord about this 'marrying zuko' business.
When: Sunday Afternoon
Where: Fire Lord 'Throne' Room, San Francisco.
Ratings/Warnings: R. Triggers: Gore and Violence happens in this log. It is not glossed.
Status: Complete!



It was early afternoon as Mai gracefully made her way into the innermost sanctum of the Fire Nation's leadership. They were expecting her. A meeting had been arranged under false pretenses - Mai had wanted them to expect her. And she knew it was likely that this was a trap.

Ozai had sounded far too eager to see her, and she had sounded far too eager to accept the arrangement that everyone seemed to know was coming but her. She allowed her anger over the entire thing - channeled it into the level of focus she'd need to pull this off. The odds of her success were small, and as Azula had said, Ozai was likely to hurt her.

She found she no longer cared.

There wasn't even the glint of a knife in the lamplight as she approached the two guards waiting outside Ozai's 'throne room'. She threw them through the air quickly and with such precision that they pinned both guards into place against the wall, missing the skin by a mere quarter of an inch.

Unable to move, both guards were incapable of defending themselves as she stuffed rags doused in chloroform against their mouths. They'd barely managed to make a sound to raise any kind of alarm before their eyes drifted closed. She bound them before continuing into the room, proper.

She entered quietly, but without bothering to hide her intent. Guards approached from either side of the doorway,and soon found themselves pinned, as well. she didn't even bother to look at them as she continued to make her way forward.

Mai preferred to be non lethal if she could manage it. But the look in her eyes as she approached Ozai was unmistakably murderous.

Ozai had been waiting, and for longer than Mai had been planning. When she strode in with such murderous concentration he could only do one thing. He stood, and clapped at her audacity.

Aside from his bodyguards, he wasn't entirely alone. There was a young woman, not much older than Azula, flush with the glow of pregnancy, sitting on a plush couch nearby. She didn't meet Mai's eyes.

"Splendid. I chose well for Zuko. Are you here to discuss the marriage arrangements?"

Arrangements to strengthen his ties to government, just like the arrangements to marry Azula off to the son of a Triad leader in Hong Kong. To strengthen his ties in the criminal world. As soon as Ty Lee suffers in her accident, at any rate.

He held out his arms, his eyes gleaming.

The presence of his pregnant mistress was an oddity. Mai wondered what he hoped to accomplish by including her. Surely he didn't think it would gain him any sympathy. Mai thought he'd have known better. So then, why was she there?

There was no time to think of such things. Hands that had been tucked into her sleeves as she strode forward were withdrawn, two daggers tucked into the fingers of each. They soon sped through the air, with the intent of pinning Ozai's two open arms to the wall behind him.

She might even have aimed to cut him a bit. She certainly wouldn't have minded.

Blood trickled down his arms, but he seemed unperturbed. Silent, he waited for her to speak, to have her say. He did, however, exhibit a look of alarm when he'd been pinned.

But was it fake alarm, or real alarm? It was anyone's guess.

She tucked her hands back into her sleeves as she walked right up to his seat, "It's so convenient, isn't it. I'm a pawn, then I'm an acceptable loss, then ... oh, I didn't die? Perfect, I'm a valuable resource. I laud your business acumen. Really."

Her tone was the sort of dry, apathetic tone she always used. This gambit was less about words and more about emotions - ones he would try and use against her. If she failed, it wouldn't be because of those.

"You're wasting me. I could be one of your strongest assassins. Instead, you'd rather push me into the arms of your incompetent son, where it's likely I'll languish as a housewife or become just another pretty bauble the Fire Nation shows off on the arms of its men. You don't recognize my value. Or you ignore it. Somehow I don't think the Fire Lord is that obtuse."

Standing right before him now, she arched a brow at him, "I won't be a bauble, Ozai. If I'm to be a tool, let it be a knife. If I'm to be a possession of yours, then use me correctly. Or kill me."

"Do you think you were an accident, girl? That your birth was because your parents wanted you? Do you really think you were meant for anything more than to tie our families together?"

Ozai's mouth spread into a toothy smile. A knowing one and a slightly deranged one, "Or that your skill with a knife has gone unnoticed? What better assassin than the pretty girl on my son's arm?"

If that was true, then Ozai must have known that Zuko and Azula would come after her on that ship. That was incredibly risky on Ozai's part. Mai questioned, not the first time, his sanity. Especially considering the smile he was giving her now.

Still, she'd said her piece. She hadn't been expecting to get the chance to say all of it and now wondered what her next move should be. She didn't have a plan. That wasn't very wise.

But then, none of this had been very wise.

She drew another dagger from her arm holster, while she thought. Her mind was racing through all the possibilities, but there were few doors really open to her. He was calling her bluff, perhaps. Or trying to see how far she'd go. She decided she needed to push her luck further, and stepped up onto his chair.

The point of her dagger was dangerously close to his eye, "I'm glad to see you were paying attention."

Seemingly unperturbed, Ozai replied cooly, "I'm trying to be reasonable. Why don't you take a look at the monitor to your right. I'm sure you'll find it very interesting."

He was starting to get angry, and when he got angry bad things tended to happen to people. On that monitor were three people tied to chairs - Mai's parents and brother. They all looked perfectly fine, but Mai should know that looks can be very, very deceiving.

"Are you paying attention, girl?"

The knife didn't even quiver in Mai's hand, "Are you paying attention?"

For someone as interested in Mai's life as Ozai was pretending to be, surely he should know that she wouldn't respond to any threats, even those to her family members. At least two of which she was likely to never speak to, again.

"Are you going to kill them? I'm only asking because I'm wondering if you were planning on doing it slowly or quickly. If you were doing it slowly, I'm going to wish I'd brought some popcorn with me."

There was an almost invisible tilt of his head, and then on the screen someone put a knife through the back of Mai's brother's neck. He slumped out of the chair, falling to the ground as her father and mother screamed soundlessly. He twitched uncontrollably, still alive, the connection between his brain and the rest of his body severed.

"I prefer shrimp with my torture," Ozai said, conversationally.

Oh god, Tom Tom. I did this to you. I did this.

She would never forgive herself. And now she was between a rock and a hard place. No matter what her next step was, it wouldn't matter. He'd won, and it was likely that he knew it. Even though she sat there on his lap, knife still pointed at his eye, steadily. Her face was as unperturbed as his had been the entire time. Still, he had won.

But to give up now would admit it. He would probably do things to her parents next. Tom Tom was dead or alive and possibly paralyzed for life. She had little else to lose.

He had proven he had the ruthlessness to enact his threats. So would she. Her mind touched for a second on the woman nearby. Broken, pregnant, possibly nothing but a shell at this point. She hadn't met Mai's eyes. She hadn't even screamed when Tom Tom had been hurt. It was likely she knew better than to watch.

She was obviously pregnant with Ozai's child and there was a chance that taking her away would have taken something precious from him. But she couldn't do it. She had no quarrel with the woman. She couldn't take an unborn child's life.

So she thrust her hand forward, instead. Ozai could lose an eye or two.

Victory was something sweet, to savor and relish. A victory like this was even better. She'd come in, thinking she had the upperhand, thinking she'd won before the battle had even begun. No, that was a mistake others made. It was a mistake Ozai made, except for one critical difference.

He'd been preparing for years. From ensuring a proper lady for his son, to molding his daughter into his image.

What was an eye, in the grand scheme of things, other than something to make his legend that much more grand.

Ozai willingly gave his eye to Mai, and the other didn't even flinch.

Then he was twisting Mai's arm back, bending it until it threatened to break. Blood poured from the empty socket and down his cheek, pooling onto Mai's shirt as he leaned forward, smiling madly, "I look forward to the wedding. There's a state function next week. You and Zuko will attend. A rival will be eliminated. It will ensure your brother gets the care he needs."

The part of Mai that was seething with anger wanted to do something drastic at that point. She couldn't be used as a tool, after all, if she was dead.

But her mind went back to the messages she'd sent, to Azula and her plans to overthrow this man. If she gave in just a little now, if she let him win and he arranged the care for her brother, then at least it was a loss with some dignity. At least her brother would get something out of it.

He'd had the upper hand the entire time, or at least, he certainly thought he did. She would have to turn this defeat into a victory somehow. She couldn't do that if she was dead.

She sat there, arm twisted backwards, her face still impassive. It hurt, but the pain didn't outweigh the larger hurts. Not nearly enough for her to show it, "I look forward to seeing you in your dashing new eyepatch."

"I think I'll pick something in a phoenix motif," He replied. "Somehow that seems fitting." He shoved her off his lap and got back to his feet, "I think you know the way out."

"I won't go through with this without proof that you've made good on your claims." She was deadly serious, and he needed to know that.

“He’ll be at Irvine General within an hour,” Ozai said dismissively. As though he’d already made the arrangements. And for all she knew, he had, “If he’s lucky, the damage won’t be permanent.”

She picked herself up, then, and dusted herself off. There was nothing left to say. He knew it. She knew it.

So she simply nodded her head, then made her way out of there. With a knife in her hand, that still had Ozai's eye on it.