Thanks to Admiral Daeyang revealing his loyalties at the most opportune time, a sizeable armada gathered by the coast of Zilang's ruins, and instead of bombarding the Ba Sing Se army on sight, lowered their boarding ramps to welcome their princess.
"The Northern Fleet does not forget the deeds of the royal princess and the Young Dragon. We stand with you, Princess Azula, so that Fire Lord Ozai and his court of fools do not unleash another Zhao on the world."
It was an acceptable enough reasoning from a rational man, so Azula didn't nitpick too much about ensuring loyalties and such. Besides, the Fire Nation would need competent leaders after this. The princess had a bone to pick with her father and his lackeys, not the entirety of the kingdom itself.
The loss of life so far was regrettable, but largely unavoidable. The flames of change would need to burn deep to truly purge the idiocy and corruption in the Fire Nation, and unfortunately the cost of such thoroughness was significant collateral. Hopefully the scattered soldiers on the continent would heed the offer for amnesty to further alleviate unnecessary deaths.
It was a shame the offer also applied to the nobles, but as Xing and Uncle Iroh advised, there needed to be a minimum of the upper classes to keep the Fire Nation's social structure from collapsing immediately. Change was good, but it had to be regulated otherwise anarchy would undo all Azula wished to achieve.
Maybe she shouldn't have let Xing unleash Dao on Bujing and his lot. The High General's head might be more useful as an obedient sycophant rather than a pulped message to scare the prisoners into behaving. But at the same time, there were still a lot more captured nobles from both Wulong's and Bujing's armies that had supplicated themselves before Azula out of fear.
More than enough to make up for the loss of two mediocre High Generals.
Despite her own wants, Azula traveled on a separate ship from Xing, who had with him the majority of the 11th in the fastest warship of the fleet. They would be the dagger to pierce through probably the first and greatest obstacle in the invasion's path: the flaming net barrier that was the Great Gates of Azulon.
Standing in the bridge of Admiral Daeyang's flagship, even in the dark of night Azula could still make out the specks on the opposite ends in the horizon that were the islands housing massive dragon statues, as well as another one in the middle which was sure to be the statue of her grandfather Azulon. Hidden out of view was a massive length of net lying slack underwater between Azulon and each dragon. On sighting any trouble, the robust pulley systems would pull up the nets, creating a barrier for any naval force. To further foul up any attempts at breaching through the defense, the cart-thick ropes were coated in an alchemical oil that allowed them to be set alight even when freshly pulled up from the seas.
It was one of the great feats of engineering back in the day, and somewhere between that and the fleet was Xing's ship, headed straight to turn the defense into mere artwork.
The horizon lit up as the net was raised and set alight. It took little time for a wall of orange-tinted smoke to rise up. And then, just as the curtain of fire and smoke was neatly parted in one section as Xing snuffed out the flames on one section of the net wall. By the time the fleet drew close enough to make out the silhouette of Grandfather Azulon, the barricade to the statue's left had been severed and sank back into the waves.
Azula couldn't help the grin on her face. "We have a clear path, admiral. Full speed to the capital."
There were flashes of combat as the guards in the statue and islands tried putting up a fight, but Xing's ship eventually continued on its way. The rest of the fleet was not too far behind, which was convenient because by dawn they ran into the last line of the Capital City's naval defense.
A flotilla drawn from damaged or reassigned ships formed a defiant battle line against the invasion fleet. They had almost thirty vessels that Azula could see.
Admiral Daeyang had ninety-three warships under his command.
The defenders managed two salvos from their trebuchets before they were rammed and boarded. Azula was pleased to know that most of the enemy crew had been captured. She'll have time to find out later if these stubborn sailors were loyal to her father or the Fire Nation. Hopefully it was the latter; such fearlessness should not go unrewarded.
Xing set off the signal once the royal docks were in sight, and to Azula's relief, the counter-signal burst into the air seconds later. The way was clear, the young Avatar was not as hopeless as she had expected.
"Admiral, have the troops prepare for landfall."
"By your will, your highness." The admiral gave the princess a speculative look. "I take it you'll be joining the assault?"
"Naturally. The faster me and Xing breakthrough to my father, the faster we can put an end to the fighting and the wasteful bloodshed."
Daeyang gave a grave nod as he saluted formally. "Then allow me and my marines to escort you, your highness."
That was….somewhat surprising. Azula raised a curious eyebrow. "You'll be joining us? I'd thought your place would be here on the bridge."
The admiral let out a soft chuckle. "It might be selfish of me, but I rather not watch such a momentous occasion unfold from so far away. Besides, it'll only require a minimum crew to keep the ship's artillery operational."
Azula nodded with approval. "So long it does not mess up the chain of command once the fighting starts, I'll see you in a moment, admiral. Suki, come. We've preparations to make."
Thanks to the Avatar's prepwork, the landing went largely unopposed, with Xing and the 11th keeping the beachheads secure against the city's garrison. From what Azula could see before she went below decks, the fighting was muted, as the domestic forces were reluctant in engaging the 11th, and the regiment was content to just keep their enemies at bay to avoid overstretching their line.
Barely any artillery towers guarding the huge approach to the city were still intact to do any significant suppression as the landings began. They were all erased as a threat anyway when the ships retaliated with their own bombardment. Soon tanks, cavalry and men poured out to engage their opposite number, and it became obvious as the hardened veterans of the continent clashed with the dutiful but inexperienced garrison that the tide of war was skewed heavily on the invaders' side.
So much so that Azula caught many of the troops on her side taking the luxury of maneuvering to incapacitate rather than kill their foes.
"In Princess Azula's name, stand down and surrender!" Mozi and the other commanders bellowed over the din of combat.
"Stand down or there won't be enough of you left to send back to your families!" Dao roared more crassly.
Azula waded through combat, barely needing to lift a finger as Admiral Daeyang's men formed a strong enough protective bubble to ward her and Suki from any real fighting. She could make out Xing's white flames in the distance, as more easily the dragons swooping into the masses like clouded kingfishers. That she was barely slowing in her advance told the princess of just how well they were winning, and hearing the soldiers yell her name in their battlecries filled her with immense gratification.
Drawing closer to the city walls, Azula's army finally encountered resistance worthy of being a threat. The War Ministry's full might was arrayed by the main gates; squadrons of tanks of different variants rumbled in anticipation behind rows of heavy infantry with their bulbous armor. Azula clicked her tongue in annoyance at seeing so many unidentified prototype weapons that her agents had missed back while she was still colonial minister.
Clearly she had to up her intrigue game after this if the War Ministry could keep so many of their inventions out of her reach.
The princess' army took a moment to reorganize their ranks, just in time to concentrate their fire to counter the barrage from the tanks and the wall's defenses. Thanks to the Scorpion's reputation, the commanders had their firebenders focus on the clay jars first, ensuring that their contents of blasting jelly or oil or whatever else would not spill into the ranks. Some sort of explosive round sent a storm of shrapnel that tore a hole through a mass of infantry. A few trebuchet payloads turned out to be blasting-jelly-tipped javelins bundled together. Oversized bolas were frantically shot down before the chain links bisected more men.
Officers bellowed orders to pull back the more vulnerable cavalry and form firebender squads to intercept incoming fire. Tanks took to the front to form an iron shield against the worst of the incoming barrage.
Far behind the walls, where the royal palace was, something stirred, like a great beast rising from its underground den. Azula spat a curse as she saw a massive metallic thing the size of a palace wing rising up into the air, as well as the speck that was probably Avatar Aang and his friends flying around it like a fly.
That would be a problem for later. Right now, they needed to get into the city.
It took a while, but eventually the invading force was moving again, more slowly this time. Azula would've felt her irritation grow, if not for the sight of Xing and Dao with their troops hastily working to unfold and assemble the war gliders. It was time for the Scorpion to bring out his toys to test against the enemy's.
The gliders shot off in blasts of fire, and Azula fought back the urge to punch her fist in satisfaction as she saw confusion infect the War Ministry's ranks. The light warmachines flew well over everyone's heads, dropping clay jars of naphtha to smother tanks and artillery pieces in foul smoke. The chaos that was sown eased the barrage on the invasion force, and General Hwa's voice cut through the roars and cries to order a full advance.
With their bombing run completed, most of the gliders climbed up to the sky, and then dove straight down into the formation of confused defenders like a starling swarm.
"AH-HAHA! DIIIVE!"
Even from that far away, bloody Dao was still hurting Azula's ears with his screaming.
The gliders crashed straight into the enemy, with a few ramming into the trebuchets at the walls. The effects of the vertical charge was immediately felt on Azula's end, as the bombardment her army endured all but dissipated completely.
This time it was General Sho's voice ringing out. "Continental Army, advance! For the Phoenix Princess! For Princess Azula!"
They charged with a deafening roar, and Azula found herself dashing ahead with Suki to avoid the press of armored bodies. It felt like an instant that they closed the distance and rashed into melee, but she wasn't complaining. With Suki guarding her back and keeping her from straying too far, Azula waded through fight after fight. She knocked the carapaced heavy infantry on their backs with blasts of fire, and left their dismantling to the infantry. She climbed onto tanks to bathe their interior with fire. Suki in the meantime darted about to keep her back clear, slicing and stabbing with precision against severely outmatched firebenders.
"Azula!"
She paused after sending a squad of heavy infantry twitching uncontrollably to the ground with her lightning, craning her neck up to find Xing diving towards her. Azula turned to punch an opportunistic soldier in the guts, and sent the would-be ambusher flying with a blast of fire just in time for her Xing to land with the rest of his people.
"Xing, so good of you to join us."
Her prince simply nodded, and then glanced to the airship floating away. "We've not much time. Big flying thing, want to help me help the Avatar get in?"
Azula broke into a grin. "I thought you'd never ask."
"Rufen, a glider for Azula and Suki. Orochi! Quai Yin!" The dragons arrived shortly with them with yip-roars, their claws and snouts bloodied but otherwise appearing in good health. Quai Yin still had one clawed hand piercing a scrap of segmented metal…probably a part of a pauldron.
"You two keep Azula safe, alright?"
Azula didn't protest the protective gesture (besides, arriving with two dragons by her side was sure to be quite a scene, wouldn't it?), and focused instead on climbing into the glider with Suki. With loyal soldiers keeping their surroundings clear, the war gliders took off once more, and this time it took occasional blasts of fire to keep it climbing up towards the lone metal airship.
The nimble fliers easily dodged the explosive-tipped bolts hurled their way, and found the Aang's air bison taking similar evasive maneuvers as it tried to find a suitable landing spot. The open decks were lousy with firebenders and archers, as well as bolt throwers. An impressive enough design, Azula had to admit.
The princess couldn't help but imagine just how many of such flying machines the Fire Nation could've made if they hadn't wasted all that metal on the stupid drill. Or rebuild the fleet after Zhao's stupid quest.
They caught up with the Avatar and his flying bison, as they flew side by side they were practically yelling at each other to form any reasonable communication.
"We need a place to land!" the airbender monk complained.
"What about the top?" Azula offered, but the plucky gang shook their heads.
"They've got soldiers up there too."
"Then we'll just ground the damned thing," Kai yelled through the rushing air, which elicited looks of horror from the Avatar and his friends.
"It'll crash into the city!" the Water Tribe girl, Katara, protested.
Xing nodded. "We'll need to land and take over it then, to get this flying thing out to a safer spot."
"You got a plan?" Azula asked, and her fiance grinned.
"I clear us a spot."
Some impromptu aerial planning was conducted, and then Xing's war glider darted towards the airship again - with trusty Koshi with him as ever. The rest of them kept a holding pattern as they watched the lone glider avoid the storm of incoming fire. Azula's breath hitched as she saw Xing leap out of the glider, and only when the deck he landed on glowed red hot, and the crew either fell overboard or disappeared up into the ship, that she let out a relieved exhale.
"Right, Xing's cleared us a spot, let's go!"
They made a beeline for the landing zone, with the Avatar leading the way and warding off most of the attacks with wind, fire and water. A few gliders were nicked or singed, but all managed to drop off their passengers onto the cooled deck with no losses.
Xing greeted them with a smile and a wave of his hand, a whimpering soldier curled up by his feet. "It's a couple dozen of us, against maybe sixty or so of the Fire Lord's personal guard…not to mention the rest of the crew." He looked out to the sky in thoughtful silence for a second, before continuing. "We might have less than half an hour left to get past all of that to the Fire Lord. Any complaints?"
The soldiers of the 11th that came along simply offered smirks and grins, while Aang's gang (that was an annoyingly catchy way to describe them) were more determined and grim in their expressions.
"Right then. Avatar Aang, we'll clear the way for you." Xing lightly kicked at the curled up soldier by his feet. "The Fire Lord's likely in the command bridge, or his quarters. Thankfully, both are relatively close to one another. Save your strength, and leave the fighting to us."
Azula shared a nod with Xing, finding comfort in the resolve in his eyes. "Come, it's time the flames of change swept my father away."