high_seas | PIRATES vs. NAVY BATTLE LOG

Haytham was no where to be see as he had opted not to stay too near the ship. There was the danger that a bullet hitting the water might not be slowed enough to avoid injury but more importantly she had said she was going to use fire. These grand old sailing ships did not handle fire well. They had the tendency to be too difficult to quench if a fire did catch hold of them and there was always the risk of the flames finding the powder reserves...

He made it to the nearby dock closer to shore and stealthily lifted himself out of the water far enough to grab the soldier standing there from behind. This man was quickly ended and his body pulled down into the sea, opening a path for himself and Korra to escape the harbor without alerting any more guards.

It quickly became evident that Korra had managed to hit a powder keg.

A muffled boom penetrated underwater, startling Korra enough that she lost the air from her lungs and had to surface. She stayed as low as she could, keeping herself out of the line of sight of the panicked, shouting soldiers. She noticed Haytham on the dock, and taking another deep breath, re-submerged. Korra was at the dock in seconds, launching out of the water with ease and only a brief glance back to the ship. It didn't appear that they'd been noticed.

"We taking the fight to the town, now?" She dried herself as she spoke with a bit of hot air and waterbending.

Those on the ship had far too much trouble on hands now to worry about the two of them anyway. The sailors were busy either leaping from the burning ship or still trying in vain to save the thing.
Take the fight to the town, hm? He hadn't intended to take the fight to that ship and look what had happened to it. The power that girl could use! He inclined his head at her question, the only acknowledgement that he was impressed. The Navy really didn't stand a chance against that.

"Could you do that again?"

He was still soaking wet and in the uniform of the enemy but that didn't matter much to him.

"One of the papers on the Captain's desk mentioned their being an ammunition drop site on the island. If you could blown it up as you did the ship it would make it more difficult for the Navy to hold the island."

Korra nodded, grinning slightly as she took a broader stance and moved her arms fluidly, heating the water and the air around Haytham to dry the water and pull it off him. It might have felt a little strange, like a warm breeze swirling around him, but not unpleasant.

And idea struck her when Haytham mentioned the shipment.

"You think we can steal some of it? Maybe load up the longboats? You can give me the location, and I'll bring a few of 'em over."

Strange it was! Not one to panic about these things though he merely raised a hand and turned it back and forth in the warmed air as if that might grant some kind of insight into just how she was doing that. People just could not bend elements where he came from!

"It might be difficult to get the longboats close enough with the blockade," The supply he had read about was located in the town and he didn't look forward to trying to lug that whole shipment to the other side of the island, though the forest and all. But, with powers like this at her command maybe something could be done to make it happen? "But, if it were possible to bring the boats close enough then, yes, I see no reason why we couldn't take that supply for ourselves."

"Well, I can't bend wood..." It was one of the only things she couldn't manipulate here, really. That and metal. Korra frowned, trying to think of some alternative.

She jumped as she heard the cock of a gun and looked up suddenly to see one of the escaped soldiers from the sinking ship taking aim at them. Korra reacted immediately, swiping hard at the thin air between them and the soldier and sending a concentrated gust that knocked him clean off the dock.

"Either way, I say we ought to get there first before we make any decisions." This wasn't the place to stand and talk.

He had heard the gun cock too and was just about to dive out of the line of fire, because there really wasn't much else to do when you were caught out in the open like that, when she counterattacked. To muster power like that from thin air...
He watched the scene nearly agape as the man was sent flying backwards through the sky.

"Aye," So said with just the vaguest touch of awe in his voice, but this was quickly replaced with his more business-like tone as he set off in the direction of the hidden arms. "We should scout the area before we decide. There may be more guards than expected."

A trap was unlikely but not entirely overruled as a possibility.

This section of town was more quiet as it had been more recently patrolled by the Navy forces. The streets were deserted and the pair stood out quiet obviously to any brave enough to peek out of their windows, but most were quick to ignore the scene. They didn't want to get involved with anyone wearing a Navy uniform.

They were able to travel a great distance this way but eventually Haytham held out a hand and gestured for them to take cover behind a building.

"We should be nearing the site now. I could enter the area as one of their men and see how great their numbers are, maybe find some means to distract them."

Korra trailed slightly behind Haytham on their way through the streets, since he was likely to know better where they were going. She ducked behind the building when he did, listening carefully and nodding.

"If you think they'll buy it." He could have passed for any old soldier, so Korra didn't have any problem with him doing the reconnaissance. Her uniform was burned to a crisp back on that ship, and it wouldn't have done her much good, anyway. How many women were in the Navy? Seemed like none, so far.

"I'll be here."

"Excellent. Then I'll be off."

Haytham stepped away then and around the block until he came upon the site listed in the papers he had glanced at. There was a troop of soldiers on patrol, marching back and forth, and four fellows standing in front of the door to a large shed. It must have been commandeered by the Navy as a storehouse for the supplies.

The patrol would be easy enough to handle. They were not being led by a Commander all he need do is take on a commanding tone and set up to the group as if he actually held some kind of authority over them.

"You lot, what are you still doing here? Haven't you heard the ships are under attack? The pirates have already sunk one of them! All land patrols are being recalled to secure the harbor!"

The lead guard stammered but Haytham didn't give him much time to come up with an excuse or too long to think about just who was giving him orders.

"Well, don't just stand there gaping man, get a move on!"

Those of the Navy were so used to being given orders and following them without a second thought that they rushed to do just as Haytham had said. They saw only the uniform and not the lack of Command insignia.
Those guarding the door would still be a problem but the patrol was out of the way now. Haytham smirked as he returned to collect Korra.

"I managed to send a patrol of soldiers away but there are still four guards watching the supplies."

Korra grinned as she saw the small gaggle of soldiers stumble past her hiding place. Perfect. She was already standing and ready when Haytham returned.

"I'm thinking we could sneak in from opposite sides to take 'em out?" Be quiet about it. And definitely no fire, she told herself. Not yet.

"I do."

In fact that is the very thing he would have suggested. It was a very 'assassin' move, to sneak up on an opponent and take them down before they ever even knew you were there.

"We should go finish this before the others return."

Of course the 'opposite' side he chooses is straight up. Haytham clambered up the side of the building they had been standing behind and hopped from it's roof to the next until he was back at the drop site. He had an excellent view of things from up here and the best part was that he could close the distance between himself and those four men with out ever being seen. Even when he dropped down onto the roof of the building they were guarding they never thought to look up.

Korra was off at the same time he was, taking to the rooftops with an airbender's relative ease and keeping an eye on him for the moment to be certain of the shipment's location. With Haytham's choice to take to the roofs, she opted to remain in the streets. Creeping closer and using the corner of a building for cover, she waited for the perfect moment.

She moved just as one of the guards circled around the corner. Korra snatched a canvas overhang from a nearby building and yanked the unsuspecting soldier around the corner. She kicked up a piece of the street to knock his gun from his hands and created a whirlwind around him, wrapping the heavy canvas around his body and leaving him completely immobilized. The canvas muffled his shouts for help. Someone would hear him eventually, but it would do until they could get in and out.

Korra returned to the corner to take a peek on how Haytham was fairing.

The two soldiers guarding the door now laid prone on the ground as Haytham pulled the hidden blades attached to his wrists from each body. It was a far more brutal way of dealing with the men than Korra's technique had been but the leap from the roof and the duel assassination was accomplished without a single shout of warning or scream of pain. They had never even seen what killed them.

The blades retracted back into their hidden housing with the sound of metal sliding across metal as Haytham stepped to the storehouse door and deftly picked the lock. Inside was the 'treasure' they had been searching for. Guns, powder barrels, swords, it was quite a nice assortment of things.

"This lot can be divided evenly. Half to your ship and half to mine?"

That seemed the fairest option.

"We will just have to send for a few people to help us move it. Maybe a few of the locals would be willing."

There was a slight lurch in Korra's chest as she rounded the corner to see the two dead guards lying on the street. She snapped herself out of it and forced herself to follow Haytham into the building.

This is how real battle works, Korra. You know that.

"Sounds fair to me." She pried open one of the barrels of gunpowder, frowning at it. She laid a hand on the top, trying to get a feel for how her chi moved through it. Just like sand, really...

Monkeyfeathers, she was terrible at bending sand.

"How long do you think the siege is going to last? We could always wait it out and keep things guarded here until we're sure we can move it..."

How long would it last indeed. The Navy had more men, more ships, and more supplies but they had in no way been prepared for anyone to challenge the blockade and had no way to fight against those people with unique talents.

"I doubt it will last much longer. We did catch the Navy quite by surprise. Shouldn't be too difficult to keep them from taking this storehouse back before the end."

Her plan was readily agreed with. It was the simplest option at this point. The supplies could be divided between their two ships once the fighting was over.

Something hit Korra as she nodded in agreement.

"One second-" She dashed outside and returned a moment later, dragging the soldier she had wrapped up canvas into the storage building and shutting the door behind her.

"Think we should tie him up? Maybe he knows something..." It was only a matter of time before he wriggled loose. Korra had to nearly shout over his babbling.

Still alive was he? The man was given a look. Clearly he was a liability and as such it would be far simpler to eliminate him permanently...

Haytham strode over to the man. As he leaned down to the man's level to send a searing gaze into the Naval soldier's eyes one of his hidden blades appeared instantly next to the man's throat.

"Will you be still or should I kill you now?"

The soldier swallowed, hard, but nodded his head and ended his babbling.

"Excellent."

Haytham smiled as his weapon snapped back into it's sheath.

"We can find a length of rope, bind him and leave him here until later. That canvas you have him wrapped in would make for a fitting gag as well."

A hint of a grin curved Korra's mouth. Those blades were something else, and they sure did the job of shutting him up. She nodded to Haytham and turned to face the storeroom. Barrels of powder stood in a cluster, held together by a length of rope that she untied and brought over to the soldier. Korra yanked his hands behind his back and tied began tying his wrists.

"Don't move a muscle." He was a trained fighter in a room full of weapons. She wasn't taking any chances.

The soldier didn't dare budge an inch. The girl terrified him with her command of those strange magical powers and the man with his cold stare and deadly weapons. He may have whimpered a bit and begged for his life before the gag was set in place, but he was soon very tightly bound.

"We can check in on him occasionally, but I doubt he will be going anywhere."

Korra nodded before peering once again out the door. The coast seemed mostly clear, but she knew that they would have company as soon as someone noticed the bodies out front.

"What now? Think it's safe to leave everything as is and get back to fighting?"

"I believe so."

Still he tested the soldier's bonds once more before agreeing with her.

"You should head back out, see if any of the others require any help."

He would take care on the bodies outside, hopefully before they were noticed. One didn't just leave those things laying around after all. Haytham could find a good hiding place to secret them, he had done hidden bodies many times before.

She gave another nod, looking down to the soldier and giving him a kick in the side for good measure before opening the door.

"I'll check back in a little while." And with that, Korra was out the door.

PIRATES vs. NAVY BATTLE LOG

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