The Dragon and the Wolf Ch 2

                                       The Dragon and the Wolf
                                        Chapter Two:  The Blue Dragon

The sound of the slap echoed in his ears and Sokka wondered why his brain had betrayed him to consciousness.  Someone groaned and it took him a moment to realize the sound was coming from his own throat.

"Nice of you to finally join us."  

"I like being fashionably late," he said, or meant to say, but his jaw throbbed and the words came out sluggish and garbled.

"We don't get many guests on my flagship, so I suppose I should welcome you aboard."  

"The Blue Dragon."  He pried his eyes open as far as his injuries would allow but the world was all dancing light and blurred shadows.  Wincing, he dropped his gaze and focused on things closer at hand.  Ropes bound his wrists to metal armrests and he'd been stripped of his arms and armor.  

"That's what my men call it, but I have no use for the name."  

One of the shadows stepped forward and Sokka squinted up at his captor.

"You know," she said, "it wasn't easy to infiltrate the White Lotus and lure you into my trap.  You must be wondering why I bothered."

He smiled, unconcerned.  "I've never bothered trying to figure you out, Azula."  Leaning over, he spit a mouthful of blood and something white bounced away on the metal floor.  "Aww," he mumbled and probed his mouth with his tongue until he found a gap in his molars.  "I'm going to miss that tooth."

"I imagine you'll be missing a lot of things when I'm through with you."    

He popped his neck and grinned.  "I imagine I'll be more trouble than I'm worth.  I'm a terrible guest.  I'm messy and I complain a lot and I can eat my weight in meat."

"You'll survive on whatever I decide to give you, until you outlive your usefulness."

He chuckled.  "I might have outlived my usefulness the day I was born.  Ask Katara, I still can't even do my own laundry."

"I don't care about your filth," she snapped.

"Oh you say that now, but wait until you smell my socks."  

As her eyes narrowed his grin widened and eventually she turned away from him as though he'd ceased to exist.

"Lieutenant?"

A familiar looking officer came to her side with his open-faced helmet under his arm.  He looked about the same age as Sokka, which surprised the warrior.  

"Yes, Princess?"

"How long do you think it'll take to break him?"

Sokka snickered and the young man ignored him and rubbed his clean-shaven chin.

"It's hard to say.  Could be days.  Could be weeks."

"But it can be done?"

"Of course, Princess.  No man can hold out indefinitely against the techniques of the True Fire Nation.  No one has that kind of willpower."

"For your sake, you'd better be right."

The man bowed his head and shot Sokka a murderous glare out of the corner of his eye.  Sokka laughed.  

"Take him to his cell."  Azula commanded and left the room without waiting to see her orders carried out.  The door clanged shut and the officer turned his full attention to the prisoner.

"You and I are going to get to know each other," the man said, making his intent as clear and threatening as possible, "very well."

Sokka smirked.  "I enjoy painting and fishing and long walks on the beach.  And I never put out on the first date."

The officer looked over his shoulder, nodded, and a guard with a broken jaw stepped forward and hammered his fist into the side of Sokka's face.

He rolled with the blow and lifted his head to smile at his captors, tasting fresh blood.  "Is that any way to treat your new best friend?"

Two brutal hits later, he succumbed to senseless darkness.

                                                           ------

He came to, what felt like hours later, with his face pressed against something solid and cold.  A drop of water hit his cheek and he twitched, but couldn't bring himself to move.  His body ached and the floor was soothing.

Another drop of condensation splattered on his ear and he forced his senses to extend past the pain and the numbing chill of the floor.  He assumed he was in a cell of some kind, judging by the slight metallic echo and the stagnant air.  

Something clinked and shifted, the sound like leather on steel, and Sokka knew he was being watched.

He groaned and licked his lips, tasting dry blood.

Another drop hit his face, trickling down toward his mouth, and he reached for it with his tongue.

A deep-voiced man chuckled.  "You're pathetic."

Sokka worked his jaw, coughed once, and swallowed.  "Water..."  His voice cracked.  "Please..."

"Aw, the poor little Water Tribe savage is thirsty.  Give 'em a drink."

Freezing water splashed on Sokka's back and he squeezed his swollen eyes shut but didn't curl in on himself for warmth, despite the desire to do so.

"If you were a bender, we'd have to pump dry air in here and keep you in chains.  How does it feel to be surrounded by your native element and completely helpless?"

The man laughed and someone else grunted in appreciation.  

"Please," Sokka begged and shivered.

"You can't even move, can you?  She fried you up good."

Sokka twitched and gave up, letting his breath come in ragged gasps as the cold seeped into his body.

"You're not going to get any help from us.  Half the men on this ship want you dead and the other half would gladly do the deed.  You broke my nose, scum."

Making a show of mustering his strength, Sokka rolled partway onto his side and cracked opened swollen eyelids to look at his captors.  One guard had a painful looking horizontal wound across the bridge of his nose and extensive bruising along his cheekbones.  His silent partner was the brute with the broken jaw.  Sokka recognized his handiwork from the tavern fight and let his eyes drift closed, smiling in contentment.  

"It's an improvement... if you ask me."

"Maybe you want some more improvements of your own?"

Sokka turned his head and put one bruised cheek to the cool floor, chuckling.  "I could take you guys... on my back..."

The lock clicked and two sets of heavy booted feet hit the metal of the cell.  "Time to learn your place, boy.  Pick him up."

A rough, armored hand wrapped around Sokka's bicep and he smirked into the floor.  The guards were anticipating a beating, but they didn't see it coming.

Sokka clamped his free hand around the guard's wrist and rolled onto his back, pulling the man off balance.  All it took was one well-placed kick to the man's broken jaw to drop him.

Sokka spun and caught the first guard's legs in his own, tripping him to the ground.  Booted heel met bruised face and the fight was over.

Flat on his back, Sokka allowed himself a moment to catch his breath. He lifted his head and made sure both the men were unconscious before rolling onto his side and pushing himself up to his feet, wincing.

"Can't say I didn't warn you two."

He had to hold the wall for support but it didn't dampen his spirits as he staggered out of the cell and pulled it shut behind him.

                                                              ------

"It's true that water based tortures are less physically damaging, but I'm worried that he'll be resistive to their effects in the same way that we are resistive to flame."

"You're proposing we burn him."

The lieutenant smiled.  "As you know, Princess, fire can be a powerful motivator."

Azula stopped and fixed him with a calculating stare.  "I appreciate your desire to please me, but if he succumbs to his injuries, I will be most displeased."

"I can keep him alive, indefinitely."

Azula let her gaze drift past the officer, a hint of a cruel smile on her lips.  "And do you think you can keep him locked in his cell for more than a day at a time?"

The officer spun and Sokka raised a tired hand in greeting and sighed.  

"I'd say it's nice to see you two, but I'd be lying."  He leaned against the wall with finality and Azula folded her arms.

The officer stepped forward, rage spilling out past his controlled exterior.  "How did you escape?"

Sokka grinned.  "It was amazing.  You should have been there."

Smoke seeped between the young officer's fingers as he marched toward the escapee.  "If I'd been there it wouldn't have happened."

"Remember, Lieutenant," Azula warned, cocking her head to the side and smirking.  "I want him alive."

"Of course, Princess."  He clenched his fists and extinguished his flames before turning back to face the unarmed, injured warrior.  "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Really?"  Sokka pushed himself off the wall and rotated his shoulders with a series of grinding pops.  "Not many people like losing."

"You don't seem to mind."

Sokka opened his mouth to say something potentially witty but the officer lunged before he had a chance.  The warrior dodged and twisted, catching the firebender's extended arm under his own and taking them both to the ground.  Chest armor clanged against the metal floor and Sokka leaned back, wrenching his opponent's arm at an angle it wasn't meant to go.

The officer's shoulder dislocated with a crunching pop and he cried out in pain and frustration.  Sokka let go and rolled into a defensive crouch, turning his focus to Azula as the man curled into a ball holding his arm.  

"I don't think your boy is enjoying himself."

Azula unclipped the neck clasp holding her cloak in place and let it fall to the floor where it pooled around her feet.  "You could have let him win, you know.  He would have gone easier on you than I'm going to."

"Where's the fun in that?"  Sokka smirked.  "Besides, you want me in one piece.  That means no bending."

"You think I need bending to beat you?"  She smiled, dark yet genuine amusement touching the corners of her lips as she stepped toward him.  "Have you forgotten your failed invasion on the day of the eclipse?  I seem to recall keeping you and your friends busy without a wisp of fire."

"And I seem to recall a couple of Dai Li agents doing your dirty work."  Sokka pretended to look for hidden men.  "Who you got to back you up today?  That's right, nobody."

Azula lifted her chin and arched one delicate eyebrow in invitation.  Sokka let out a slow breath and got to his feet, sliding into a fighting stance and setting aside his mask of joking nonchalance.

Azula smiled and squared her shoulders, ready for the fight.  "That's better."

He made the first move, as they both knew he would.  He was the guest and she had no reason to hurry.

Azula jumped up and latched on to cooling ducts running above their head as he came at her.  He went low, rolling as she swung her legs in a two-footed attack that would have cracked ribs.  She dropped and spun on the ball of her foot, halfway through a preemptive roundhouse kick before awareness came.

He'd grabbed her discarded cloak and thrown it at her, blocking her view.  The moment's confusion was all he needed to barrel into her, using the only physical advantage he had.  He caught her with one leg above his shoulder and lifted her off her feet.  

Before he could take her down, she clamped her free leg around his chest and threw her head back, letting the natural force of her downward motion and his charge combine.  Her palms found the floor and he passed over her, completely in her control.  

He managed to tuck his chin to his chest, impacting the floor with the broad muscle between shoulders and neck.  If he'd landed on the top of his head, the fight would have been over.

Free from his grasp, she flipped away while he took a moment longer to roll back into a crouch.  She didn't give him a chance to fully recover and all he could do was raise his forearms to block the kick she aimed at his face.  Her armored boot hit his arms and she followed through with another kick that raised welts that would later turn to bruises.

Clasping her hands together, she brought a double fist hammering down.  He rose into her attack, catching her wrists in his hands and lifting her arms above her head.  He twisted and slammed her armored back against the corridor wall, snarling and panting two inches from her face, blue eyes blazing.

She smirked as sweat trailed down the side of his face and his warm breath hit her nose.  

"For some reason I used to think the Water Tribe would have superior personal hygiene."

She slid one leg behind his and pushed off from the wall, taking his balance.  He kept his hold and pulled her down with him, clamping his arms around her and rolling until he had the advantage.

Sokka sat on top of her, pinning her legs and hands with his own.  "And I used to think you were tough.  Funny what a few years and a little muscle can change."

She bucked once, arching her back to try and shake him free but he held fast.  

"I don't know what you hope to accomplish by resisting," Azula mocked, unperturbed by her predicament.  "Even if you did somehow defeat me, which you won't, you'd still have to fight your way off my ship."

"You have no idea what I'm capable of," he growled.

"I'd say the same to you."

She lifted her hands and slammed her armored forearms together, pinching his fingers between steel and finishing with a twist.  His right hand, already injured by her lightning, tore and bled and he lost his grip.  One hand free, she punched his chest, hitting the sensitive area at the base of his ribs, and followed through with an open palmed blow to his chin that rocked his head back.

She shoved him and he fell, gasping for breath and struggling to sit.  Azula was on her feet in an instant, looking down at him without pity as she smoothed back a loose strand of hair.

"When you interfered with my father's plans, you paid a very small price."

Without warning, she stomped his left shin with her armored boot and he caught his breath enough to scream between clenched teeth.   

"I know all about that battle," Azula said, casually walking around him as he curled on his side holding his old war wound.  "I know how you single-handedly destroyed my father's fleet."  She kicked, hitting the base of his spine where her lightning had burned him.  He howled and straightened, bending back with the pain.

"I know you planned every major attack against the true Fire Nation."  She placed her foot on his right hand and he twisted onto his stomach, powerless as she ground burned and torn flesh into the grated metal floor.

"And I know you helped my brother organize his hunt for me these past three years."

Sokka sucked air into his lungs like a man half drowned and pressed his face against the floor.  "Zuko... wants to help you."

She increased pressure on his hand and he cried out, the pain and volume of his voice rising like a wave and slipping away as she lifted her foot and set him free.

"What I don't know, and what you're going to tell me," Azula said as he cradled his damaged hand to his chest, "is why you let yourself be captured.  Why did you walk into my trap when you've so cleverly helped the Avatar and my brother avoid all the traps I've set for them?"

He struggled to his knees and composed himself enough to slip behind his mask of sarcasm and humor once again.  

"I got bored?"

Azula narrowed her eyes.  "I'll get my answers and then I'll get your secrets and then the world will tremble at my name."

Sokka ignored her and tore a strip of cloth from the bottom of his blue tunic and wrapped it around his bleeding hand carefully.  "That was pretty low, going for my weak spots."  He met her cool gaze, looking smug.  "Afraid you couldn't win in a fair fight?"

Someone had raised the alarm and the pounding of booted feet filled the metal corridor as armored firebenders came from both directions.

Azula leaned forward so only Sokka could hear her, smiling ruthlessly. "Between you and I, there will never be a fair fight."

"Princess, is everything alright?"

She straightened and glared at the fool who'd spoken.  "Everything is alright because I made it so.  Take Lieutenant Sen to the infirmary and take him," she said, pointing at Sokka, "to the chamber.  And tell the Captain to prepare for take off.  I won't risk losing my prisoner because of your collective incompetence."

"Yes, Princess."

Men saluted and dashed about, following her orders, two of them hooking their arms under Sokka's and hauling him up.  He grunted and tried to stand but his left leg wouldn't support him and his back gave out a moment later.

The guards caught him and threw his arms around their shoulders, preparing to drag him to whatever destination Azula had in mind, but she stopped them, smiling at Sokka's obvious discomfort.

"You think you know pain?"

He took a steadying breath.  "We've met, a few times."

Azula's eyes glinted with malice and she held his gaze as she held his life in her hand.  "You're about to take your relationship to whole new level."