As the sun slowly came up over the horizon Tadashi could only think that the day begin on a tense note. He watched as the pirates slowly came back, with two males in tow. The Avatar was wearing his usual orange and blue robes whilst the Water Tribe boy wore his usual blue outfit. Trying not to stay in anyone's direct sight, Tadashi took as much in as he could, taking note of their builds, eyes, emotions, anything that would give him an edge over Zhao and Zuko. Aki, who had been standing near Tadashi, scowled quietly as she watched the way the pirates brought the two in.

"Nice work." Zuko said, sneering slightly at the young boy who stared back with innocent eyes.

Sokka attempted to pull the ropes that bound his wrists but to no avail. He cautiously looked towards Katara, grateful that she didn't seem to be hurt in any way. Aki turned her head slightly and coughed twice into her right fist, the others slowly started moving towards Aki, followed by Sikumi who stuck close to Tadashi. Most would ignore a simple soldier coughing, but for the well versed intelligence officers it was a clever signal from their left-handed captain.

"Aang, this is all my fault." Katara said with a pained expression.

"No Katara, it isn't." Aang replied.

"Yeah, it kind of is." Iroh interrupted, earning a glare from Katara.

"Give me the boy." Zuko demanded, standing in front of his crew.

"Ha! You think I'm a fool, you give us the scroll first." The captain retorted.

The two glared at each other for a moment, the scene becoming rather tense yet awkward for those that stood behind their respective leaders.

"Wait a second! You're really going to hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" Sokka interrupted everyone, earning a dumbfounded look from all the pirates.

"Don't listen to him, he's trying to turn us against each other!" Zuko said, trying to reason with the captain.

"Your friend is the Avatar?" the captain asked Sokka.

"Sure is, and I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll."

"Shut your mouth, you Water Tribe peasant!" Zuko shouted, quickly starting to panic.

"Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth." Aang agreed.

Tadashi smiled behind the mask he wore, knowing that greed would eventually overcome the pirates judgement. He shifted slightly, gaining the attention of one of the firebenders who understood what he needed to do.

"I hear the Crimson Raiders are paying a treasure ships worth of cargo for the Avatar," the firebenders said just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Zuko's face almost exploded as he heard that but he forced himself to remain calm. Sokka who has only heard rumours of the Crimson Raiders gulped, before pooling his resolve.

"I'm just sayin' its bad business sense. Think how much anyone, especially the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life."

The Pirate Captain grinned immediately, his mind already imagining the island he'd build a home on, the type of food he's eat every day and not having to trade for another second ever again.

"Thanks for the info kid," he said to Sokka before facing Zuko, "You keep the scroll, we can buy a hundred with the reward we'll get for the kid."

As the pirates turned to leave Zuko started shaking slightly, his anger already at his boiling point.

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me." He roared, throwing a sloppy wave of fire at the pirates.

Unfortunately for the prince, the pirates were somewhat competent with their fighting skills and dodged the initial attack. Oh had thrown smoke bombs at the ground whilst the other pirates held their weapons in seasoned stances to combat Zuko's firebenders.

Things quickly got chaotic.

The area was one huge plume of smoke as Tadashi's group acted, moving in such a way that any outsider would think it was a rehearsed performance. Amidst the flames, clashes of weaponry and smoke Tadashi, Aki and the other firebenders dashed in, using their combat practice to aim at the Pirates when they least expected it. Unlike Zuko's crew who were mostly instructed to incapacitate the Avatar and his friends, Aki's team were not above killing.

The first pirate went down pretty quickly, reacting to a burn on his left calf left him exposed to a quick slash at his neck. The next pirate almost went down the same way, but lost a finger in the process. Unlike the others Tadashi was only focused on getting to the Avatar, so when he was mere feet away from Aang, as he pushed all the smoke out, he could only stop awkwardly in place and give a half-hearted smile underneath his mask.

"Never mind! I'll find you!" was the last thing he heard Aang say before a pirate stole his attention.

Sikumi had ran over to Katara and helped her out of her bonds, the southern Water Tribe girl still unsure what to think about person helping her.

"Thanks, but why don't you come with us."

"I'm sorry I can't." Sikumi replied, "I have a life debt to pay and even if I didn't I don't think I would leave them."

Katara half understood what she meant, for the Water tribe a life debt was a sacred tradition that still held strong till this day. When one made such promises to break them was equivalent to renouncing yourself as a Water Tribe member. But to do such a thing with the Fire Nation? Katara reached out to Sikumi but ultimately held back, instead opting to draw a circle over her heart with the palm of her hand. Sikumi understood the Chimo and repeated the gesture, smiling softly that she could still communicate in the old ways to another Water Tribe member.

Aki had taken down two pirates herself, assisting one of Zuko's men as their arm got injured from a rusted glaive. When she noticed just how far away Tadashi was from her she almost cursed aloud. Over the two years she had gotten to know him, she begun to see him less as a Prince and more as a boy dealing with the hand he had been given. That is to say, it wasn't the fear of punishment that drove her to Tadashi's side but the need to protect one of your own that made her blade and fire all the more dangerous when he was in trouble.

"You know I can look after myself," Tadashi grunted whilst fending off a scimitar with his sword.

"That's not fair, you know I can't help it!" she retorted, giving the scimitar wielder a wicked slash, taking out his left eye before her flames silenced him permanently.

Tadashi merely gave the pirate a glance before turning back to his true objective.

By the time the dust had settled there were only four pirates still alive, including the captain. Zuko stared around him in shock, forgetting about the Avatar as he took in the amount of blood that had been spilled. Truth be told it wasn't merely the Intelligence Officers that took away lives, but once Zuko's men had witnessed the proficiency of these people they too were taken over by their inner anger and finished the pirates off with no mercy whatsoever. As his wits came back to him Zuko's eyes dashed around, looking for the Avatar, when he finally noticed the burning Pirate Ship.

Indeed, amongst all the chaos, Sikumi had signalled one of Tadashi's men and persuaded him to go along with her plan. They signalled the remaining crew to come in with their pirate gear and pretend to kidnap Aang and his team. Of course with Kataras persuasion and with him finding out that Sikumi was a water tribe girl, Sokka reluctantly agreed to be tied up again. Of course this arrangement would only work temporary as Aang who had no idea what was going on, knocked over several members of the crew and untied his friends, taking the bison whistle he bought recently and blowing it as hard as he could.

"It's the Crimson Raiders!" the pirate captain said, his voice was full of malice as Oh stood next to him with fear in his eyes.

They both looked at the many guns that were out, facing their position. At this distance there was no need to worry about accuracy, sheer numbers of cannon balls would crush anything they could muster in defence. Zuko took the time to glance at his own men, slightly proud that they bore little injuries. He had completely forgotten about the additional detachment of Fire Nation soldiers who had also fought, instead focusing on the male that stood aboard the ship giving his best impression of the fearless Aki.

"The Avatar is free!" someone shouted as all eyes turned to see Aang, Katara and Sokka get onto Appa and fly off.

Sikumi could only stare blankly, the plan not going exactly as she had hoped. Still wearing her Fire Nation armour she had to lay low on the ship otherwise risk getting spotted by Zuko's crew. The firebender who she had communicated with had already changed out of his armour, with lighting speed, turned to the girl and gave her a quick nod.

"The Captain escaped with Tadashi and the others so if nothing else it's a job well done." He said, hoping to ease any disappointment Sikumi was feeling.

Whilst it may have been against any of their superior's orders, the members of the Crimson Raiders were told to exercise creative ideas whenever the opportunity arose. They were drilled to act un-expectantly to avoid a repetitive weakness occurring. This was the primary reason why the firebender had gone along with Sikumi's idea, however he had no idea that Sikumi didn't intend on capturing the Avatar and only suggested it to help abstain her guilt.

Zuko growled in frustration as he eyed the Pirate Captain giving the downed pirates a sorrowful look. The banished prince was not cruel enough to attack a downed opponent, whether it was physically or mentally.

"Let's go," he ordered, waiting for the injured to pick themselves up before heading to their smaller steam ship.

The men didn't need to be told twice, the reality of the situation coming back to them much sooner than they expected.

"Well they're just pirates," one person said.

"That's what happens."

"Live and die by the sword, right?"

"It's their fault for breaking the deal anyway."

Neither Zuko nor his men eyed the pirate ship as they dejectedly left, the ship in question already making preparations to leave as the Avatar had already escaped. By the time Tadashi team reunited with everyone it was mid-afternoon.

"I should be angry," Aki scolded Sikumi who looked down at the floor, "if it weren't for the fact that the ship gave us enough cover to escape I'd have you off this ship!"

The crew could only listen as they were all summoned, captains orders.

"And you two!" Aki pointed to Tadashi and the firebender who helped Sikumi. "What do you think you're doing just acting on your own?"

This time a few crew members sniggered, it wasn't every day the Director would get scolded by his own subordinate.

"Uh…..it sounded like a good plan and…..." The firebender answered.

"I thought it'd work …" Tadashi muttered.

"It was on the spot?" they both shrugged simultaneously.

Aki groaned, thanking the spirits that no one had really gotten hurt in that exchange. Tadashi might play off an injury but if Naoko found out…well it was enough to make Aki shudder.

After escaping on Appa the gang were exhausted.

"That was crazy!" Sokka said, "First there were pirates, then Zuko then killer Fire Nation although Zuko is Fire Nation, but anyway then there was Fire Nation in disguise and more pirates!"

"We know!" Katara grumbled, giving Sokka a look. "Anyway Aang, I still owe you an apology. You were just so good at waterbending without really trying. I got so competitive that I put us all in danger, I'm sorry."

"That's okay Katara. I just wish that people wouldn't get so violent over me…..or that scroll." Aang seemed glum as he responded.

"That's just how the world has been for so long, war has taken over everyone's lives and the sooner it's over the sooner things like that won't happen again," Katara tried to console Aang, "Besides, who needs that stupid scroll anyway?"

"Is that really how you feel?" Sokka suddenly asked, holding the waterbending scroll in their faces.

"The scroll!" Katara beamed, reaching out for it but surprised as Sokka held it back.

"First, what did you learn?" he asked.

"Stealing is wrong." She said, snatching the scroll from Sokka, "Unless it's from pirates."

"Good one, Katara." Aang said as the group laughed.

Katara shared those moments, happy that the others had quickly forgotten about the scene with the pirates, but she couldn't help think about the last thing she had said to Sikumi. Would it really be possible to travel safely in such a world where every last man would quickly kill to earn their next meal? Is that why Sikumi was working for the Fire Nation or was there another reason, either way she had to know and was determined to find out.