Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Huntrix is a small group of Bounty Hunters who keep to themselves and have gathered a very well-known reputation of being swift, professionals, and very, very uniquely skilled in multiple capacities. Able to complete any job, but they're fairly picky about what jobs they take in the first place. Not much is known about them individually outside of the fact that all of them are fiercely protective of each other, and they aren't ever far from one another.

Additional details:

Rumi isn't a bender, but Celine made sure she was skilled in almost every other regard. She's skilled in most common weapons, but she prefers to use her sword. She also has the best martial arts skills of the group, mainly because she was training much longer than the others, and she is also very adept at first aid.

Mira is a firebender, though she doesn't use her fire very often. She prefers not to be associated with her element because of how often it leads to others being mistrustful of her. She also knows martial arts, but weapon-wise, she is very partial to staffs and spears, but she mainly uses her Gok-do.

Zoey is an earthbender, and she definitely uses her bending regularly. She isn't the most skilled in her bending; she didn't have a teacher and instead just taught herself the things that she knows with support and suggestions from her friends. She is the most agile out of them though, and obviously was also taught martial arts, but for her she prefers throwing weapons, including darts and her shin-kals.

The girls are in their early 20s and have been together since their mid-teens. They were raised and trained by Celine, Rumi's adoptive aunt who also can't bend but she was very knowledgeable about bending and fighting. (She'll be covered more later)

Chapter Text

“I really wish we didn’t have to come back here…” Mira trailed off as the girls casually walked through the streets of the Fire Nation Capital.

“Wasn’t it you who wanted to track down Tozo? You said that he was exactly the kind of scum you wanted to get before we went on our next break.”

“Well, yeah, obviously I would rather get someone like him sooner rather than later. I just didn’t think he would be so bold as to hide out in the capital.” Mira was practically scowling as they searched for the familiar face of their target. Tozo happened to be known as a local assailant, commonly harming women and children as he traveled between islands to lose any tails. Unlucky for him, Huntrix weren’t known for losing someone once they found them.

“From what I can tell, it seems like the capital is a great place for him to escape to. He probably fits in perfectly.” Rumi finally spoke up, breaking the silence she had held for most of their time since they arrived at the capital. Mira’s jaw set before she pointedly stared to the right, acknowledging but not feeling happy in the fact that she knew how right her partner was. That was one of the biggest reasons she hated being back in the Fire Nation at all… the morals of the nation were twisted, even to the point that “smaller crimes” weren’t seen as too problematic and were allowed to thrive in too many areas.

Zoey slightly bumped her shoulder after they continued to walk in silence for several moments, and Mira closed her eyes to try and stop her dark train of thought. It didn’t matter anyway; they would do this job and then probably head to Ba Sing Se or somewhere else where they could just relax and pamper themselves for at least a few weeks before getting back to work.

“You’re right, but we’ll find him.” Mira smiled at the shorter girl, only to watch as her face shifted from happy to narrowed focus.

“Did you see-?”

“He saw us and ran!” Zoey took off running, easily slipping between and around other folks who seemed surprised at the sudden figure speeding through them. Neither Rumi nor Mira hesitated to take off after her, doing the same.

It was a simple chase, though they did take notice of the man trying his hardest to throw them off with multiple diversions and distractions, including knocking over crates and even throwing people into their direct path. He seemed to get more distressed as he realized none of his efforts were working before he literally ran himself into a corner.

The man glowered at the three girls as soon as he realized he was cornered, but they couldn’t bother to hide their own amusement.

“So, looks like someone hasn’t checked out a map in a while,” Zoey smirked as she stopped right in front of the man, Rumi and Mira barely out of step right behind her. Rumi chuckled while Mira just glared right back at him.

“I haven’t done anything wrong.” He spat the words out with his guard up, but Rumi rolled her eyes.

“Coming from a guy who’s wanted on several islands, I doubt that. But you can discuss that with local authorities if you want.” She stepped closer, only to stop in place with a rather blank expression, the same second that Zoey quickly erected a dirt wall to block the blast of fire he aimed at her with.

That was apparently all Mira needed to charge the man from around the dirt wall as Zoey lowered it. The taller woman promptly ran up on him and proceeded to kick him in the gut, making him slam back into the stone behind him. That wasn’t enough for her, even as he gagged and stumbled, as she then lifted him by the shirt to quickly slam him onto the ground. Her teeth were bared down at him, but the grown man gave out a loud whimper and held up his arms as if it could somehow stop her from doing more.

Mira stared at him for a few more seconds, genuinely expecting more fight from him, but this wasn’t worth it. She rolled her eyes before lightly tilting her head down at him while giving a glance to Zoey.

The younger girl nodded and then shifted the dirt beneath the man to cover both his hands completely as makeshift cuffs.

“I wouldn’t try anything if I were you,” Mira mumbled as she then grabbed him by the shirt to make him stand again, not caring as he tried to crumble again in pain. He let out another whimper, but seemed to realize the girls weren’t going to show him any pity, and he took to trying to fix his labored breaths while being dragged along.

—-----

It happened the second they left the enforcement facility. Not a single civilian in sight.

“Well, isn’t this a nice reception?” Mira drawled out as the three girls took in the crowd around them of at least 20 Fire Nation soldiers, all of them seemingly ready to attack at the drop of a copper piece. Next to her, she could peripherally see Zoey tense up as her hands sneakily reached for her shin-kals at her sides. She sucked in a breath before looking to Rumi to determine if she should go for her weapon as well.

Rumi groaned as she nudged her elbows into both of their sides before raising her arms in surrender. She heard twin sighs behind her and knew they both were copying her, which made her lose a significant amount of tension.

“Huntrix, Firelord Ozai has requested your presence.”

Rumi just knew her partners were suppressing a groan, mainly because she was doing the same.

Chapter Text

“So, why exactly did we have to go along with them? I know we could've taken the soldiers, but now we have a direct order from the Firelord to work for him.”

“The same reason we are working for the Firelord right now. We shouldn't risk being wanted by the Fire Nation. Especially with how they're still expanding… who knows if we would ever get a break running from them. Even if we can fight most soldiers, I don't want that to be our everyday.”

“Well, I don’t want anything to do with the Fire Nation… especially not to work for such a-” Zoey and Rumi stared at Mira, making the taller girl roll her eyes. “Whatever.”

“We aren't really going to act like any other soldier, though, right, Rumi? No matter the reason, I don’t think I would feel comfortable with… anything the Fire Nation does, honestly.”

Rumi was quiet for a few moments, but she slowly nodded. “And we won't be doing anything we aren't comfortable with. We were told to work for him… but who says we have to be good workers?”

Mira let out an amused chuff before smiling along, “That is true, we could just be reallyyy bad at our jobs.”

“Detrimental even.” Zoey perked up to add, and Rumi gave a conspiratorial laugh.

“And what are they going to do? Fire us? Arrest us? Attempt to kill us? At that point, we just leave anyway or go into hiding for a bit.”

“So basically, let's just mess with them until we leave?”

“Yep.”

“I can work with that plan.”

-----

“Um… you three really shouldn’t be messing with the controls like that…”

“Sorry, we were just curious and wanted to know which button would release the water.”

Just as she said that, Mira pressed another random button and the dam they were all standing in front of opened and started to flood.

“Found it.”

-----

“So you want us to fight these guys?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because those are your orders.”

“But they're all pretty old. It looks like they would fall over if you blow on them.”

“These are very dangerous earthbenders who should be contained immediately, and if you refuse to cooperate, I will be forced to-!”

The man yelling in their face stopped and crouched quickly in fear of the collision that happened right next to his head. He looked back up at the three girls slowly before looking back down at the rock crumbled next to him.

“A-Are you threatening me?”

“Nope, I just saved you from getting your head bashed in by one of those ‘dangerous’ earth benders.”

The man looked behind him and could see the fight that the other soldiers were having with the rouges, and as soon as he made eye contact with one of them, another rock came speeding towards him. In the same second, a rock came flying at it from beside him and crashed into it, making it crumble directly in the same place as the last one.

“Told you.”

“How about we run a bit of defense while you guys keep doing what you're doing. We'll protect the carts.”

“Y-yeah, okay.”

-----

“You let them get away!”

“Did we?”

“I didn’t notice them.”

“We were watching the ship, sorry.”

-----
“I know it was you three who were tripping my men every time they went after those kids.”

“That is a very serious accusation. I hope you have some proof?”

The older man growled at them, “You three are the only ones who don’t want to be here and keep actively working against us!”

“We would never do that. We're under direct orders from the Firelord to participate in military expansion.”

“What do we gain from stopping you from getting a few kids?”

“But also, it's not like that would go against our orders if we did.”

“True. We weren't told we would have to harass random kids.”

“Those kids are criminals who don't respect us or the Fire Nation.”

The three girls gave polite smiles but didn't say anything. The man glared at them harder, but knew there wasn’t much he could do.

“Make sure it doesn't happen again.”

-----

“Scale of 1 to 10, how much more do you think we can get away with before they send someone after us?”

“I think we're pretty safe, actually. Even if everyone assumes we're working against them, there's no proof. Maybe they'll try to send someone to scare us straight, but it won't work.”

“I am getting really bored, though. We were supposed to go on break almost 2 months ago.”

“Can't be helped. Besides… I do feel a bit better about being able to help where we can.”

“That is true.” Zoey hummed before glancing at Mira. She had been unusually quiet for a while at this point.

Mira folded her arms as she glared at the ground instead of looking back at her partners. “I don't feel better knowing the lengths these guys go to keep others down. It's even worse than I originally thought.”

“Well…” Rumi started while pulling up beside the taller girl and taking her hand to make sure she was listening, “We do what we can. But you're right, staying around this too long wouldn't be good. Let's do a few more jobs and then maybe we can request either to get displaced to another Nation and then sneak away, or maybe we could work out a deal somehow to be done with this place.” She gave her hand a small squeeze at the same time that Zoey came around to Mira’s other side and took her other free hand too.

“Okay.” The oldest let out a slow sigh, but she appreciated how much lighter her chest felt with the knowledge that her feelings were being taken seriously. It felt like an extra weight was placed on her the longer they stayed in the Fire Nation, but the reminder that her girls would always listen to her was so soothing.

“You got it, Rumi.” Zoey lightly nudged the taller girl in the middle which finally brought out a small smile, soon leaving the three girls grinning at each other as they continued to walk.

Chapter Text

“Who are those three? I don’t recall seeing them earlier, and they don’t appear to be in uniform.” Azula quickly and easily pointed out the extremely unfamiliar girls on the ship who looked to be conspiring amongst themselves. Their giggles annoyed the princess more than she would like to admit, but she would learn who they were before she handled the disturbance.

“Those 3?” The captain standing in front of her started to sweat a little as he glanced at them and looked back at her. “They happen to be Huntrix, princess.”

The name caused Azula to pause as she gave the women another assessing look, but she didn’t notice much about them outside of the weapons they carried; were they really the ones her father sent to work directly under her? The ones who seemed to have too little respect for the Fire Nation and the opportunity they were offered, so they needed to be reminded of their place?

It was a secondary mission that didn't have much priority in comparison to her main objectives, but Azula didn't see much point in dragging out what she could deal with in the moment.

“Interesting.” She didn’t say anything else to the captain as she stepped away from him to observe the women some more. They didn't appear to be much, but she heard enough stories about them to know she shouldn’t underestimate them. Honestly, the lack of knowledge on them was embarrassing at best and detrimental at worst, and the fact that there was nothing useful in official reports of jobs they participated in as well just left her both more irritated and more curious than she would ever admit.

She would take her time with them, but she was positive they would be handled well before she brought back her brother and uncle.

-----

“I'm just saying, I think it makes more sense to keep them as pets rather than eating them.” Zoey stared at the water from her position: she happened to be fully leaning on Mira, who rolled her eyes but didn't bother moving her away.

“As Rumi and I keep saying, some people do keep them as pets-”

“But too many people still eat them, Mira! Can you imagine that?! Some people look at their cute little shells and their adorable beaks and think, ‘hey, that cute creature is probably delicious.’ They eat them!” Zoey's pout edged into eye-watering territory, so Rumi jolted from her spot leaning slightly against the inside of the ship, only to wave her hands frantically to stop the tears she knew were coming.

“Don’t turtle ducks learn to avoid areas where they're hunted? I think you mentioned that before, that they're smarter than they're given credit for?”

Zoey sniffled for a second before she nodded, and Mira raised a hand to lightly pat the shorter girl on the head just as she started a quieter tangent about things turtleducks had been reported capable of. Her two partners watched her and listened fondly as they basically ignored everyone around them… At least until they were purposely interrupted.

“Hard at work I see.” A sudden voice spoke up from behind them, and all three of them turned only to notice the princess they were apparently working under, along with 3 other soldiers standing behind her.

Mira raised an eyebrow as she looked the girl up and down, but she kept her mouth shut. The idea of a 14-year-old being in charge of the mission they were being sent on settled something sour into her gut that she didn't want to address and she was personally okay with them never having to acknowledge the kid at all. They would follow along for a bit, pretend to put in some effort to do something, and then they would head back for some free time before they were sent on another annoying job they didn't want to be bothered with. But despite her feelings, she gathered they were now going to have to deal with the young royal.

Zoey blinked at her a few times, her eyes drifting from the girl in front of them to the other soldiers who weren't close but were still watching. She didn’t think they had done anything wrong to deserve all the mistrust… okay, maybe she had a few ideas, but they hadn't even messed with this mission yet! Either way, addressing the princess took priority, seeing as though she was also the one who commanded the soldiers. In her personal opinion, getting into a fight on a boat really wasn't ideal, and that wasn’t just because there wasn’t any of her element around.

Rumi, on the other hand, almost immediately pulled up her practiced and polite smile; the same one she used when she and her girls were presented to Ozai and had to accept his “offer” to work for him. It served her well then, and it would serve her well now. “Of course, we are Princess Azula. That's what we're here to do after all. Work.”

“I agree. Though I do wonder what part of your jobs involves riveting conversations about turtleducks? And not being dressed properly.”

Both of Rumi's eyebrows rose in surprise before they quickly lowered as she schooled her expression again. Mira and Zoey, on the other hand let out a scoff and a gasp respectively, that almost had her rolling her eyes, but she moved on.

This was Princess Azula, the child prodigy who essentially became the heir of the Fire Nation after her older brother was banished. The little smirk on her face and the aura of calm and secure confidence told her everything she needed to know about the girl and why she was approaching them like this. Probably an attempt to scare them in line… but the idea of being scared of a child was… laughable. No matter how skilled the girl may be, she didn't have much real-world experience, especially not when compared to 3 seasoned and adult bounty hunters.

And even beyond that, Celine trained them like they were going to fight armies themselves… though that was probably always a part of her plans, have them fighting against the Fire Nation… and yet here they are, working for them. At least her mother figure wasn’t around to berate them for it.

“Hmmm, seeing as though we are present and accounted for, we feel as though we're doing our job well enough. Plus, we all agreed that such outfits don’t really suit us.” The other two nodded from next to her.

Azula quirked a brow this time, and Rumi really wondered if that worked as intimidation on other people? Maybe, but it wouldn't work on any of them.

At the lack of sudden apologies, Azula let out a deep sigh before stepping forward. “You're the leader, correct?”

“Hmmm, I don’t think we ever specifically named a leader. We’re a team, highness.”

Azula nodded along as she continued, “Well, I would like to challenge you to a simple duel. If you win, you can continue to simply show up and not do much else. If I win, you 3 will work not only as regular soldiers, but also as part of the cleaning service and kitchen staff for the rest of this job. Does that sound inviting to you?”

Rumi hummed before tilting her head slightly to look at the two girls beside her. Both of them shrugged, but Rumi easily picked up the interest in their expressions. It has been a while since any of them actually fought since ‘joining’ the Fire Nation. And for them, fighting was just as much a part of their lives as breathing. Who was she to turn down such a clear invitation?

Rumi felt like she could throw in something mocking to say, or clever to add before they fought, but this was a child. She had no reason to try and rile her up or to try and put her down.

“Okay.” The older woman stepped forward and lowered her small bag to the floor in front of her partners before approaching the princess slowly.

The younger girl also backed up until they were both at the center of the boat. The other soldiers gave them both distance while clearly keeping an eye on Zoey and Mira as if they would interfere. Rumi couldn't help but roll her eyes at the thought.

“It’s like they don't trust us.” She didn’t even have to strain her ears to hear the mocking voice Mira used, and she could guess that she was also glaring back at the men.

“We can start whenever you're ready,” Azula spoke up, grabbing her attention again. Rumi gave a hum as she took only a few seconds to decide how she wanted to handle this.

Ultimately, she went for a testing forward assault, a very projected punch that she switched to a kick to the side once she was in closer range. Azula chuckled as she read her easily and blocked the kick. As soon as Rumi lowered her leg, Azula started her own attack with fire, which led Rumi to immediately back up a bit to give herself distance to dodge properly.

Each blast of fire sent Rumi's way was either easily side-stepped or cleanly cut through with her sain-goem. Azula didn't appear to be too flustered over it though, and she only stuck with her ranged fire for the first minute or so before she quickly closed the distance and went for more precise spots that would be much harder to avoid.

Unfortunately, this was her biggest mistake. Rumi didn't hesitate; she sliced through the wide arc of fire that was used to cover Azula's approach, but almost as if she anticipated the younger girl's placement, she quickly used the momentum of her strike to twist her body and kick the girl back with one leg.

Azula was barely able to raise her arms to block the kick, which was much heavier than anticipated, but the 14-year-old grit her teeth before lunging forward again. This time with a series of fire punches and kicks that she kept her control over, but still barely meant anything to Rumi as she dodged. Without any change in speed, Rumi actually threw herself forward directly into Azula's range, just as she was readying another wide ring of fire, only for her to stop immediately once the blade lay sharply against her neck. She didn’t breathe as she found herself staring the older woman directly in the eyes, finding herself suddenly aware that they were 2 different colors.

Azula raised her arms in surrender, and Rumi backed off quickly. The silence from everyone else on the ship spoke volumes, while Azula felt her own cheeks begin to burn at the fact that she wasn’t only beaten, but her opponent didn’t appear to have had any trouble against her at all. It was true that she underestimated the woman a bit, but she could tell intimately. The leader of Huntrix outclassed her. It was even more embarrassing that she didn’t even use her bending to do it.

“I can see why you're called a prodigy. You're good. Probably even better than I was at your age.” Rumi sheathed her sword to her side and offered a more genuine smile compared to her practiced one.

There was a scowl on the princess, who then glared up at the woman. She didn’t say anything in retaliation yet as she waited for whatever point she was going to make to come.

“Keeping your calm, especially when your opponent just stops all your attacks and is stronger than you, is more difficult than most people realize.” Mira stepped forward to join Rumi's side, and Zoey followed to flank the other.

“Yeah, outside of Rumi, who has been learning since she was practically in diapers, even we had trouble with not stressing over it. So good on you.” Zoey gestured to herself and Mira as she spoke, nodding her head as she complimented the younger girl.

Azula wanted to feel insulted, but she still had her ability to read people, and she could tell all three of them were being honest. Which she wasn’t sure was more humiliating or not. She sucked in a deep breath before releasing it. It was important that she didn’t make enemies of these women; they were to be utilized by the Fire Nation and by her father one way or another. This attempt may have failed, but she wouldn’t repeat it.

“Well, a deal is a deal. As you were.” They could hear and even see the strain in her voice as she then turned around and marched off, the captain almost directly behind her. The other men on board drifted awkwardly, clearly no longer sure what to do since they weren’t “a threat” to the princess any longer.

The 3 girls watched as the girl left, their eyes suddenly shifted amongst each other.

“That was something…”

“Maybe you made it look too easy?”

“She’s literally a kid. Was Rumi supposed to fake it?”

“I dunno! I just really hope we don’t get into trouble over this. What if she’s one of those spoiled royals who tries to have us executed?”

“Yeah, as if we would let that happen. Right, Rumi?”

Rumi hummed in acknowledgement, her eyes still in the same direction the princess went in, though she also had her eyebrows furrowed in thought. Whatever she was thinking, she easily moved on with a sigh as she looked back at her girls. “I think we all deserve a break from all our hard work after that. Don't you agree?”

Grins broke across the other 2 girls' faces. “We still have an extra 32 different nature magazines to read. We should totally do that for the next few hours til we get there.”

“Sounds like a plan.”