Chapter 17 - 89

Fortunately, the breach of the Outer Wall did not affect its immediate surroundings too much. The bursts of lava from either side of it created a large area of blackened, vitrified earth, particularly striking in the farmlands on Ba Sing Se's side of the wall. From what Toph picked up, the death toll was surprisingly light, as even as farmers and soldiers rushed to search for survivors, it didn't seem like there'd be more than a hundred lost souls.

Toph wondered what her friends saw with their eyes. It was an interesting thing, to be able to feel the shockwaves from the wall. Her tremorsense usually went out some distance, but whatever Xing did carried the seismic image of the destruction all the way over to the earthbender with a clarity that almost made it look like it was happening right next to her.

She felt the solid wall turn into something like mud…and it took the gang's shocked description to realize that Xing had melted rock and dirt down to a jelly-like consistency, and eventually breaking it down to a liquid state. Toph couldn't 'see' the results of what happened after that until after the molten rock began to cool down and solidify, her senses couldn't build a clear picture when it came to vibrations through liquids.

The displacement of so much earth had scarred the land in a way that Toph never knew possible. Her earthbending could raise hills, but Xing just melted down an equivalent to a mountain. Coupled with his incredibly immediate victory over Aang, Toph was not ashamed to admit that she did not look forward to facing the Scorpion any time soon. He just moved a little, and Twinkle Toes of all people couldn't dodge the attack and wound up on the ground, almost roasted to death.

Katara might make a fight out of it, but unless the Sugar Queen could waterbend lakes, she'd likely end up getting boiled or something. Who knows how the Scorpion Dragon actually firebended, but at the moment, the gang stood no chance against him on a direct encounter.

It was a good thing then that Xing didn't see them as enemies.

"I'm glad you've all decided to stick to your side of the deal," he said with surprising honesty. He actually expected Aang to break his word. Well, that was admittedly understandable, with how they were operating…but still…

Of course he found them soon after the walls fell. Even Toph had been frozen from shock at the sudden rumbling roars of the walls being breached. Xing had dropped out of the sky a few dozen minutes after that, looking utterly unperturbed and confident. The latter had been true, while Toph eventually picked out that the former was slightly forced.

Xing was good at hiding his weakness, it seems. Then again, he was supposed to be a master of deception. He'd greeted the wary quartet and their escorts, and surprised everyone further by suggesting Katara help the soldiers on the wall that everyone had assumed had been melted or blasted to oblivion.

For a monster that made Earth Kingdom soldiers loosen their bladders, Colonel Xing seemed a far more polite and considerate villain than what Toph had expected.

They returned to the breached walls, and while Katara immediately went over to heal the toasted defenders, Toph tried to further study the damage to the wall, and Sokka was in charge of looking after Aang.

"Why are you doing this?" Toph had heard the Avatar demand from the Scorpion. "Why destroy the walls if you say you're trying to fix Ba Sing Se?"

She could feel the mild annoyance in Xing just a stone's throw away from her. "I'm not trying to 'fix' Ba Sing Se. I'm righting a wrong. Those are two different things." His feet shifted to turn squarely onto Aang. "I suggest you withhold your judgment of me and this city until after I'm done with it."

Unfortunately, Aang was still coming to terms with his recent loss. "Don't make yourself sound like you're here to save anyone."

Xing shrugged too casually. "I'll admit that I'm not." That was…a lie? "This city state makes for a great prize, and I could use a career change."

"You'll be stopped. There're more defenders ready to turn you back. You can't fight all of them."

Again, the Scorpion shrugged. "Maybe. Probably. The whole of Ba Sing Se's defenders might be arrayed against me later on the Inner Wall."

Why did he sound so pleased with that?

Xing easily tolerated Aang's confrontational encounters for the rest of the day, using Appa to keep the airbender from crossing the line. When news spread of other Earth Kingdom armies approaching, Xing literally blasted off. Toph felt the distant explosion beyond the walls before everyone else heard it. From the way people around her were gasping, it must've been a great show of sorts.

He returned shortly after, still putting on a strong facade, though he was definitely betraying some signs of exhaustion now. "Unfortunately, I can only keep so many prisoners in line," he said breezily, but added after Aang and Katara were about to rage at him, "Don't worry, I just encouraged them to flee. I made sure the new hole in the wall was well clear of the conveniently clumped up formations."

Could they take him now? Toph wondered. If she and her friends and every healed soldier suddenly turned on him now, could they win?

The consequences of Xing surviving the attack would be dire, though, so it had to be a sure thing. And Toph knew enough about reputations to know that it wouldn't do them any favors in the future. She discarded the idea for now, they weren't in desperate enough straits yet.

Plus, Xing was a little tense, which likely meant that he was expecting to defend himself.

He rested below the compromised walls for the night. The tank he drove through a breach totally hid his presence from Toph's seismic sense, which was annoying, but at least she could track its movements more clearly due to the greater vibrations it made.

The tank remained parked until late morning, when new vibrations heralded the arrival of a Fire Nation force. The 11th had arrived to secure the breach. Xing left shortly after that, leaving an annoyingly cheery request for Aang and the generals to follow after him once they were ready.

Curiously, very curiously, Xing wasn't heading straight for the Inner Wall.

*****​

When news came of a lone Fire Nation commander declaring to capture the city by himself, everyone within the Dai Li had expected it to be a bluff, a feint of sorts. They double checked the refugees within the city for potential infiltrators, kept an eye on merchants who might have been compromised, and ran extra patrols throughout the city.

Because surely a mere colonel, no matter how feared, could take down the outer wall, nevermind capture Ba Sing Se, by himself?

And then Long Feng felt the earthquake, and ran out to the palace to see a plume of dirty smoke rising from the horizon.

And then the panicked reports came flooding in.

The Scorpion had dueled the Avatar the day before, and won. The Avatar was incapacitated as a result.

The Scorpion made it to the wall in the morning, and somehow melted his way through the walls. Twice.

Generals Fong, Sung and Yiu had surrendered, and all other defenders were avoiding the ruined section of the Outer Wall.

The wall was breached again, and General Somsak's army was forced to withdraw.

It all read less like an invasion and more of a natural disaster sweeping through the region. Long Feng was only glad that the curiosity of the gullible king was easily sated to keep him away from the windows and balconies. Things were hard to deal with as is.

Morale among the remaining wall defenders had plummeted, and the citizenry were on the verge of panicking. The Grand Secretariat had no choice but to draw on the full strength of the Dai Li to reinforce the Inner Wall and pacify Ba Sing Se's population. There was no point of investing in schemes and operations if the city fell, after all.

The Scorpion was notorious for the destruction he left in his wake. General Yiu and some others might say he holds a twisted sense of honor, that Ba Sing Se's populace would be left alone, but Long Feng didn't dare delude himself. If the city fell, who knows who might blab about the Dai Li's reach. And being inextricably tied to the throne, the Scorpion would surely not leave Long Feng and his organization in peace if he was truly here to capture the Impenetrable City.

Not unless he was given a reason to.

Displays had to be made. First, to prove the Dai Li's potency as a fighting force to either turn away the Scorpion, or resist him long enough to be a noteworthy foe. If they could tie him down for long enough for reinforcements to finally come and chase him away, it would be ideal.

However, failing that, hopefully they could prove that they are more trouble than they're worth fighting. It would allow Long Feng to open…negotiations with the Scorpion. Surrendering the Dai Li along with the city should allow them to maintain their grip over the city. He was still just a boy, after all, and a military brat at that, so he'd need capable administrators to keep the city running.

He'd need the Dai Li to serve him.

It shouldn't take too much effort to manipulate a battle-hungry psychopath like the Scorpion into delegating everything over to Long Feng and his peers. He could even win over the conquered populace by saying the surrender was for their sake. If he played his cards right, there might not even be much of a change in Ba Sing Se's everyday life.

There were no objections to the overall plan. Some voiced their concerns, but no tangible solutions were offered. So with little time to waste, Long Feng used the Earth King's seal to order most of the Royal Guard to join the Dai Li at the Inner Wall. Their earthbending would greatly help bolster the defenses, or if the worst comes to pass the paltry garrison left in the palace would make the defection to the Fire Nation a lot smoother.

And just to be on the safe side, the Royal Guard aiding at the walls would be subtly managed into front line positions, to hopefully absorb most of the damage from the coming siege. It was a win-win situation: If the defenses held, it'd open up positions for guards who were loyal to the Dai Li. Otherwise, the culling would leave control of the palace wholly to the Dai Li, which would secure their place when negotiating with the Scorpion.

With King Kuei distracted by some expendable Joo Dees, the palace was emptied out. So too were the hidden dens to monitor the population, and Lake Laogai's underground complex. They could not risk holding back now, not when the Scorpion has already proven capable of tearing down the Outer Wall three times in a day.

Long Feng and his inner circle deliberated with the garrison commanders on how best to utilize their significant manpower over the theoretical hidden weapons the Scorpion might bring to bear, but then the scouts in the Agrarian Zone brought back troubling news. The first was of Fire Nation reinforcements arriving to exploit the breach, proving the wisdom of strengthening the defenses of the Inner Wall and giving Long Feng reason to hurriedly conscript every able-bodied earthbender and adult man to defend his city.

However, it was the arrival of the second piece of news that troubled the Grand Secretariat deeply. The Scorpion was not headed towards the Inner Wall.

He'd detoured straight for Lake Laogai.

*****​

Sokka had to admit, for how much he really did not like Xing right now, he was really curious as to what the guy wanted to unveil. What was done to Aang was brutal, but Sokka and Toph agreed with the generals that the Scorpion Dragon was being nice. If the wall was any indication, Aang could've been melted down to nothing instead.

Aang knew this as well, and it dealt a real blow to the young airbender's confidence, leaving him noticeably more withdrawn. Toph and Katara agreed that they just needed to get this whole affair with Xing dealt with so they could move on and build the Avatar back up again, but Sokka was skeptical. They might be dealing with Xing more frequently in the future. He was the one who hinted at being able to refer a firebending master to Aang, after all.

Oh boy… What if Xing was the firebending master? He'd be insufferable, and who knows how much of a mess it'd leave when Katara inevitably blew her top at having to deal with the Scorpion on a daily basis.

At that point, it'd be better to get Zuko as a teacher. Spirits, having Zhao even sounds like a preferable option. At least then the gang could believably beat down the mentors if they decided to be pricks.

Shaking that intrusive thought out of his head once more, Sokka corrected the ostrich horses pulling the carriage with a quick flick of the reins. The carriage realigned a bit to center on the speck that was Xing's tank far ahead, keeping in the churned soil left in the tank's wake. All around him, the farmlands were devoid of people, probably evacuated back to the city. Some livestock could be seen, but most were chased away by the noise of Xing's vehicle.

The generals, while cleared of blisters and redness, were still in no condition to walk just yet so Katara was still tending to them back in the carriage. Once they were well enough, they can swap carriages when they next stopped for a break, and the next batch of wounded could join them. Sokka preferred that arrangement than having his sister hop between the other carriages following after them.

Aang in the meanwhile was too busy brooding to be a good carriage driver, and Toph was…well, blind. She made for better company than the airbender though, so Sokka let her sit next to him.

"What do you think we'll find?" she idly asked.

"Beats me, but whatever it is, if it's anything like what happened with Zhao, we might need to rethink going to the Earth King about the Dark Sun."

Toph paused for a second to think. "So…the Earth King might be trying to do something as stupid as killing the moon? What could earthbenders possibly try to kill around Ba Sing Se?"

"Well, Xing said that it's not as bad as that, but still… If he's taking the trouble to make a big presentation out of it, I still don't think it's going to be good."

Maybe get whatever's in charge of the earth element to do something really messed up like sink the Fire Islands? Hm…sounds about stupid enough.

The convoy closed the distance with Xing as dusk loomed, the tank's detail being visible if you squinted hard enough at it. The Scorpion showed no signs of getting out to camp for the night, not even a trail of smoke to betray a fire. He seemed content to just stay in his tank. The convoy though were not as reserved, and used the evening to set up a simple camp for the night. The generals by then were able to at least limp around to give orders to their captains and lieutenants, though none so much as hinted at trying to ambush Xing once night came.

They had all accepted their defeat, and Sokka couldn't help but find the honorable act of keeping to their word rather admirable.

Or maybe Xing just scared everyone so much that they didn't dare betray him. Yeah, it's probably that.

They moved out again the next morning, and by afternoon they finally caught up with Xing at the edges of a great lake. "What's in Lake Laogai?" Sokka asked General Yiu, who had opted to help drive the carriage this time. The general frowned for a moment before shrugging.

"Some nobles visit it as a retreat, but beyond that it's the main source of Ba Sing Se's water. I…do not think the colonel would be poisoning or somehow compromising it, before you ask."

"I wasn't," Sokka quickly replied. Thinking it and actually asking it were different things. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

The general nodded just as the carriage slowed to a stop. The rest of the convoy joined in too, and Xing stood casually by the edge of the lake's waters, now with a cloak on his back, as everyone gathered to him. Toph stopped halfway, giving a confused look that only made the Scorpion grin and walk towards her.

"I was about to ask, but you found something?"

Toph gave a slow nod and pointed down one end of the lake's edge. "There's…there's a tunnel right near the shore."

Xing looked to the assembled generals and their captains, who were all looking confused. Sokka didn't know why the guy was frowning so hard at- Wait. Did he think they might have something to do with it as well?

Oh. That might change things…

"Well, it saves me from boiling the water down to the right levels… Could you lead us to it?"

Toph did just that, stamping her feet to raise a walkway from the waters and reveal a hole's entrance after shoving aside a round rocky slab. The pit was deep; the ladder leading down disappeared into the darkness. The Scorpion was smiling too sweetly as he regarded the confused crowd around him, Sokka and his friends included.

"Now, as this is part of my capture of Ba Sing Se, you are all still technically my prisoners of war. Kindly do not interfere until I allow you to. Avatar Aang, you and your friends will still abide by the terms as well. Otherwise, you may follow along."

With that, Xing pulled out some chopsticks from the box attached to his belt, wielding them like throwing knives between his fingers, and then jumped down the hole.

*****​

Suki did not know how long she had been kept in the darkness, and she gave up bothering to try. She also gave up figuring out where exactly she was, as the clues she was given - bare rocks all around her - was clearly not enough.

She never did give up resisting, though. None of the Kyoshi Warriors did. They would not give in to the Dai Li, these corrupted legacy of Avatar Kyoshi. They would not betray their pride as warriors, as Kyoshi's elite warriors. They'd been separated into individual cramped cells, with barely enough space to stand. Assuming they could stand, anyway.

The Dai Li had bound their hands behind their backs with metal manacles, and chained that to their ankles, forcing Suki and her sisters to an awkward crawl. They were dragged out only when their captors tried to persuade them with honeyed words or break them with brute force.

They even resorted to vile tactics that almost broke the girls. Suki hated that she couldn't bury the feeling of her captor's rough hand against her bare skin as she was groped before her fellow warriors. He had torn off her clothes, and his hands wandered across her naked body in an attempt to coerce the other Kyoshi Warriors.

"If you promise to behave, I'll promise she won't suffer…much."

"Don't do it-!" Suki had cried out before she was gagged with the remains of her clothing. Her burning gaze delivered the rest of the message well enough though, and despite the slapping, despite the man's dirty fingers feeling about, the girls stared helplessly rather than give in. He made the mistake of loosening the chain binding her ankles to her wrists, and Suki felt immense satisfaction in driving her knee right up between his legs, even if it resulted in her losing a few teeth as the other guards proceeded to beat her almost into unconsciousness.

Thankfully, her show of defiance made them wary of furthering that approach, and the Dai Li torturers turned to more brutal, but much more preferable methods. Suki and her warriors screamed and cried openly, but they did not give in when their nails were pulled and their fingers and toes were crushed. They did not give in when the meager food stopped being delivered, and they were left in the growing puddle of shit and piss in their cells. At least the filth stopped their captors from coming in to molest them any further.

They would not falter. Suki promised herself that she would rather starve to death, or let her captors to further defile her body, than to ruin what's left of Avatar Kyoshi's legacy.

Strangely, she found added resolve in her dreams that were once nightmares. Suki found strange relief and reassurance when sleep brought her to meet Xing. Xing, who still held her neck with his pincer, but also was standing over a pile of brutalized Dai Li torturers. In some dreams, the head captor was slowly crushed by the other pincer, or stabbed to pulp by the Scorpion's tail. In others, Xing would be torching the Dai Li around him with his free hand as he pulled Suki protectively towards him. She could even imagine the smell of burnt meat in those dreams.

It was an unlikely source of hope, but Suki held onto it nonetheless. Hopefully, the spirits that supposedly guided him would lead him down here. He said he had a plan for the Kyoshi Warriors, after all. It'd be nice to have Xing come to save them, to save her…

Suki awoke to her cell rumbling all around her, and the muted echoes of panicked Dai Li. Despite the painful pang of ever growing hunger, her spirits rose as she heard the unmistakable sound of agony and the roar of fire. Straining her neck up to the cell's sole source of light, Suki managed to smile as she saw the sinister green illumination flash hot white.

He's here.

Each roar of flame became closer, and Suki realized that each also drowned out a secondary explosion. She realized what exactly caused it when the edges of her metal cell door glowed, and the door was promptly flung upward with such force that it buried itself into the top of the back wall of the cell.

Wreathed in flames, the silhouette of Xing made Suki spend the last of her body's remaining water bursting into tears.

"You've…come…" she managed to rasp out between sobs.

He was frowning with heavy disapproval as he strode into the filthy cell to kneel before her. A flash of fire freed Suki's arms and legs. "Can you walk?" Hearing his concerned voice only made her sob harder.

"Are the others here?" At least she managed to nod at that. "I'll have someone come to help you soon. I'll free your warriors."

She wanted to tell him to stay, to protect her, but he rose and left too quickly, sending a sliver of metal in his hands flying out with a blast of fire and causing another satisfying scream of pain.

Another silhouette replaced him as he left, another familiar sight but far less reassuring. Suki almost flailed in panic as the stone wall beneath her moved, but Sokka calmed her down enough, promising that it's his friend earthbending. She was brought out on a wave of earth, finding her other sisters in similar appalling states as herself, and they were now surrounded by Earth Kingdom soldiers and the Avatar and his friends.

"Don't worry, they're with us," Katara said.

Suki rasped on behalf of her sisters, who were all eyeing the armored men with suspicion. "Xing?"

Katara winced, but otherwise nodded. "Yeah… Xing brought them here."

Suki nodded and let herself collapse with a sigh of relief. These soldiers and the Avatar were with Xing. They could be trusted then.

Things will be alright now. Xing was here.

It occurred to Sokka that on the times they had run into Xing, he'd been smug, taunting, and annoying. Worse, there was always a sense that he was holding back, even when he fried Zhao. It never crossed Sokka's mind to imagine what an angry Scorpion would look like.

Well, now he knows.

After blasting down the doors to free the bruised and malnourished Kyoshi Warriors, Xing fixed a cold, furious gaze on the gang and the generals that froze everyone in fear.

"Miss Beifong, follow me, please." The words were brittle and measured. "I want…need to make sure nobody escapes." Toph simply gulped and nodded.

A trio of Dai Li appeared down the corridor, hurling boulders before them. Xing scowled and flashed a hand in a cutting gesture, his white flames blasting the projectiles into clouds of smoke and pebbles, and briefly stunning the charging foes. His other hand flew up in a fluid motion, and a stream of glowing hot metal chopsticks flew out in succession, propelled by blasts of flame and dropping the Dai Li as they pierced through the hasty rock walls. The utensils lodged into shoulders, thighs and bellies, sizzling angrily as their victims writhed on the ground.

The Scorpion's restrained fury returned to the party, this time turning to Katara. "Katara. See to the Kyoshi Warriors' health, and the other girls I'll be sending your way. Ignore the Dai Li." Thankfully, Sokka's sister also just nodded dumbly at the order.

Xing's head shifted, regarding both Aang and Sokka. "I need a message sent up to my troops."

Aang gulped, his eyes barely able to tear away from the curled Kyoshi Warriors on the ground. Even with the dim lighting, Sokka could tell that he'd gone a few shades paler. "I-I'll do it."

Xing didn't seem to care or notice, merely nodding curtly. "Ask for Ping. Damaged victims. She'll understand."

Then he turned to the shocked group of soldiers. "Generals. For the girls' sake, you and your men wait up on the surface. This…should not take too long. You are still my prisoners. If the 11th arrives, you will transfer yourselves in their care."

Again, nobody said anything, settling for nods instead before they immediately turned to leave the way they came.

And finally the attention turned to Sokka. "Back up my tank, there's a sack of supplies. Bring them down here. The warriors require food and water." Sokka too bobbed his head, not trusting himself to speak at the clearly angry Fire Nation colonel.

With his orders handed out, Xing turned about and began to stalk down the corridor.

"Orochi. Quai Yin."

To Sokka's surprise, the dragons unfurled out from under Xing's cloak, their wings spreading with audible flaps. A significant part of Sokka wondered how the guy managed to hide two dragons, even when he saw that the cloak looked so much thinner and deflated now.

The two dragons were larger than when Sokka had last met them, maybe the length of a small-ish hound by now. Their heads were fixed towards Xing as they hovered in place in a hypnotic swirl of their serpentine bodies.

"Go. Remember, I want them alive."

With raspy yips, the flying reptiles darted off into the darkness, and Xing followed after them. Sokka remembered his duty, and, after sharing a look with his friends, turned to follow Aang and the soldiers back up to the surface just as the screams really started filling the narrow corridors.

*****​

Toph was not exactly afraid for her life, but she was openly apprehensive about being alone with Xing. She wasn't worried about being picked off by the Dai Li, but she didn't exactly trust the Scorpion right now. He was angry. Very angry. And if the Fire Nation had any stereotype, it was that they made poor decisions when they were angry.

Poor decisions like maybe deciding to say 'screw it' and flood the whole underground dungeon with fire.

Also, Toph was spooked by the creatures Xing had summoned. She'd thought he had been carrying a strange-looking backpack, but it turned out to be two winged things that were invisible to the earthbender right up until they landed on some poor Dai Li and the tremors from the ensuing struggle gave her a clearer picture of the dragons. Aang and the siblings did mention the dragons at one point, but Toph had been skeptical back then.

Her doubts flew out the window now, as her senses picked up the screams of panicked men fleeing or shooting rocks into the sky, only to be tackled down as the dragons swooped down on them talons first. There was a definite sense of predatory glee in their movements. They almost always tackled their prey from the back, and their attack patterns didn't vary much. Talons would bite deep into the backs of the Dai Li victims and tear away at flesh with a few harsh yanks to ruin shoulders and hips, effectively crippling them. Occasionally, their maws would clamp down to crunch on wrists and elbows, or the claws would rake down to gouge out chunks from the men's thighs.

And then they leapt off, and Toph had to strain her ears to try picking their wing flaps amidst the screams and flames.

It was mostly screams though.

Toph was glad she was blind to the full, bloody experience.

Xing was holding back his fire, mostly content with hurling chopsticks at his targets with ruthless precision. He did wield his invisible flames though, and Toph picked up the vibrations he left that showed him yanking back a curled hand, or sending an arm sweeping contemptuously sideways.

In either case, either a lone victim or a group of Dai LI would promptly fall to the ground screaming as their skin were seared. Xing or his dragons would then cause the screams to spike as they broke arms and legs before moving on.

One Dai Li saw what had happened to his colleagues as he appeared from around the corner and quickly bended a cavity in the tunnel's walls to slip inside and hide from Xing's flame. The Scorpion didn't hesitate to thrust his hand out at the protective bubble of rock to instantly heat it up. Toph was sure that the man's agonized screams as he was baked alive would haunt her for a long time, especially after a blast of fire broke apart the impromptu oven to let the man fall out and scream his burnt lungs out.

"Anything in there?" he asked as they came across a massive sealed door.

Toph reached out with her senses and shook her head. "This one's empty too."

Xing nodded, and as he did with past empty chambers, he melted down the door to quickly peer inside before moving on. They had initially found several rooms filled with unmoving girls, Toph could pick out their uniform dresses and eerily statue-like stillness. "Brainwashed," Xing had simply said. "We'll find a way to undo that later."

"That's why you need the Dai Li alive?" she finally dared to ask, earning a curt nod from him even as he sent another group of Dai Li tumbling from the ceiling and walls as the tunnel walls glowed hot.

"Among other things," he answered with fragile calm. "They do not deserve an easy end."

Without Aang here to argue the point, Toph didn't feel so guilty agreeing wholeheartedly with the Scorpion and followed along, carefully avoiding the writhing and sobbing bodies along the way. As horrible as the carnage, it paled in comparison to what the Dai Li were doing, or what she had picked up earlier near the entrance.

She'd almost missed the Kyoshi Warriors, with how close to death they were. Only the Dai Li running out of the otherwise hidden tunnel revealed that the cells were of some importance, and the overwhelming stench of shit and piss had clued everyone into the potential of prisoners still worth saving in each cell.

The more she thought about what the girls here might have to endure, the more she wanted to offer Xing her aid when he went back up to conquer the city. Ba Sing Se was a den of monsters, Toph decided. For this to go on, at such a scale, it seems that it was not only its walls that were once impenetrable, but its secrets.

As if sensing her thoughts, Xing slowed his walk and fell beside her during a short pause in the violence, managing to inject some levity in his voice. "It's all the Dai Li's fault…directly anyway. I'm pretty sure that the Earth King is oblivious to this."

"How do you know?"

The thin smirk in his voice was obvious. "Supposedly, the spirits guide me on things like this."

Ignoring the half truth, Toph nodded and then pointed at a wall. "There's seven people hiding behind that wall. It's a tunnel that goes deeper in."

"Much appreciated."

And the violence resumed.

Toph discovered several more hidden entrances, mostly desperately caved-in tunnels by the Dai Li cornered in them. Xing didn't even ask for her help when she pointed them out, instead checking with her to make sure if there were bodies right behind the obstacles before he blasted holes through them. He really didn't want any of the Dai Li to die just yet, and Toph began to wonder if she should start pitying them.

Eventually, they came into a cavernous chamber, one large enough to hold Appa. Not only was Appa in the middle of it, chained down to the ground, but he shared the space with the last of the Dai Li, and a small horde of brainwashed women. Women who loosely gripped daggers in their hands.

All but one of the insidious men had control of earthen spikes just inches away from the struggling air bison, while a lone man dared to stand behind a few ranks of unmoving women to face Xing.

"One more move, and I give the order for these girls to stab themselves in the heart!" he boldly declared, and Toph felt Xing's fury rekindle again. "I'll kill the air bison as well!"

She actually felt the Scorpion's rage emanating from him, and strangely, the air and ground around him grew cold. Xing took a step forward, his face fixed onto the Dai Li leader. A tremor of doubt rippled from the latter's position.

"I mean it! Stay back and surrender, or the blood of these girls will be on your head!"

Xing took another step, and Toph's 'vision' of him began to blur as ice obstructed her tremor sense.

"Y-You asked for it!" the man shrieked. "Joo Dees! G-AAAHHGK!"

Unsurprisingly by now, the Dai Li as one dropped to the ground, clawing at their faces and throats. The ringleader gasped hoarsely, rolling awkwardly about, pinned between the legs of the still unmoving ladies.

"I'm told that waterbender healers can heal a lot, including damaged voices." Xing walked up to the man, parting the brainwashed prisoners with surprising gentleness to reach him. "I'll have to trust Elder Kilin's abilities to heal a muted man."

The Scorpion promptly jammed the last of his chopsticks into the Dai Li's wrists and ankles, while his dragons swooped in to cripple the rest of them with shredding talons.

With the fresh screams mingling with the fading ones in the back, the last of the Dai Li in Lake Laogai had been subdued, all maimed and none killed.

Xing let Toph have the pleasure of freeing Appa, while he dragged his crippled prey away from the insensate crowd. The dragons helped in melting the chains off the air bison, though Appa was understandably nervous by the gouts of flame so close to him.

"Do you think there's a lake above us, or is it open air?" Xing asked, and Toph rose up on a column of rock to feel the ceiling and find out.

She didn't feel any water above, so Xing allowed for an Appa-sized air vent to be made. Toph then flew the antsy mountain of fur out of the lake, trusting in Appa's intelligence to understand her commands to seek Aang out.

The reunion between the Avatar and his furry friend was heartwarming, soured only by the work that remained. With the tanks of the 11th making all haste towards Lake Laogai, Toph flew back on Appa with Aang to the dungeon, finding the Earth Kingdom soldiers milling about with nervous uncertainty by the shore.

"Excuse me," General Yiu asked as Toph landed. "But I must know. How…how bad was it?"

He truly didn't know what went on down there. They all didn't.

Somehow, that made Toph's face screw up with disgust. "Very." She turned to Aang, who was still struggling with the string of shocking realizations. "If it means anything, I say we should sit back and let Xing take Ba Sing Se. He couldn't do any worse than what they did to themselves."

More than a score of firebenders of the Defiant 11th arrived, dropping from the skies very much like how Xing did back at the Outer Wall. All women, Toph noted. All carried sacks of supplies, too.

"I am Captain Ping," came the familiar voice, colder and angrier than when Toph had first met her. "Where are the captives?"

Not knowing who she meant, Toph was thorough with her answer. "Xing is done breaking the Dai Li. I think he's waiting to gather them up. The Kyoshi Warriors are with Katara and Sokka, take the first right once you go downstairs. There's groups of brainwashed ladies in various rooms."

"Thank you." The captain nodded and quickly led her women down into the darkness.

They reappeared later, carrying out the Kyoshi Warriors, and then the slack, brainwashed women. When the Water Tribe siblings came out, Toph was concerned at how distraught they were. Katara was practically shambling along, while her brother was keeping a wide berth from the Kyoshi Warriors, likely out of guilt.

Aang swiftly joined them in devastation when Katara relayed what she had discovered. "Suki… Suki found Appa in the Fire Nation colonies. She and her Kyoshi Warriors freed him and flew along with Appa to protect him as they searched for us. And then…"

With the way he was swaying, Aang looked like he was about to faint. "They're…they were… B-Because of me?"

Sokka tried to pull the Avatar out of the pity party before it could begin. "No Aang. The Dai Li captured and tortured them. Not you."

"But-"

Surprisingly, Katara stepped in before Toph could. "He's right Aang. The Dai Li are responsible for this. For all of this. They captured Appa and the Kyoshi Warriors."

"And brainwashed their own people," Toph helpfully pointed out, drawing a reaction from General Yiu and his men. "According to Xing, the Earth King doesn't know about this."

That elicited a greater response from the captive soldiers around her, and once more disgust crept into Toph at the fact that such a horrible thing could've passed under all these men's noses. For a supposedly great city, its people seemed rather unimpressive.

The rest of the 11th arrived not too long after, and the gang were surprised to see Water Tribe members disembark from the tanks. An old woman led them, though her voice was far sterner than the supposed frailty of her body. "Clear some space, you twits. I want the water barrels here, here and here. Uki, Kina, heat up the cabbage soup. The rest of you, triage. You know how it's done."

The old waterbender fixed her eyes on Katara, and dragged her along with her commanding tone. "And you. You're a healer?"

"Uh…y-yes?"

"Good. You're with me. Come along, these girls need further attention."

Some of the gloom and despair lifted as the waterbenders tended over the Kyoshi Warriors. The brainwashed captives remained unresponsive as they were brought up, and the Fire Nation soldiers generally ignored them.

Not so the Ba Sing Se ones though.

"Hey, Bator, isn't that Shiruk's sister?"

"Li Yan! Li Yan! It's your brother!"

"....thought you were dead, Hori! Why don't you answer me?"

Some of the men recognized the women, and were shaking them by the shoulders, embracing them tightly, or simply bawling in front of them to no results. It was a pitiful sight, and the Fire Nation troops were courteous enough to only intervene when it looked the the more hysterical men might harm themselves of the literally doll-like prisoners.

Amidst all of that, a few soldiers of the 11th met with Xing, who had climbed out just minutes ago with his cloak all heavy again. The news they reported out loud sent a ripple of nervousness among the captive Outer Wall soldiers.

"The defenders at the Inner Wall have sallied out and are headed for us in force."

"Good. Saves me some time."

*****​

Long Feng knew he was too late when he saw the massed congregation of the enemy at the shores of the lake. They were probably in the midst of clearing out the complex by now. And they had some prisoners from the Outer Wall with them…probably to use as propaganda pieces.

No matter. The Dai Li with him knew what was at stake, the Royal Guard that led the way (as meat shields) were too blindly obedient to orders, and the rest of the soldiers and conscripts were kept far enough back to not catch all the important details.

It shouldn't be too hard to pass off the Fire Nation prisoners as traitorous turncoats or an attempt by the enemy to disguise themselves using salvaged uniforms.

To the citizens of Ba Sing Se, it'd look like the palace guards were bravely leading the vanguard to break the enemy formation. In truth, Long Feng had seized the opportunity to quickly cull the Royal Guard and grind enough of the enemy down with attrition before the rest of the sallying defenders came in to witness the Dai Li avenging their fallen comrades and claim a heroic victory.

After that, controlling the narrative would be easy. The Joo Dees under Lake Laogai would serve as fitting casualties to further rile up the cityfolk and throw their support behind Long Feng. If he was lucky, they'd find a few surviving girls to be programmed into pliable living martyrs. With their words, they might even help win back the reluctant aid of the neglectful southern vassals, though that'd take some extra planning…

Long Feng's musings, as well as the march of the whole formation, came to an abrupt halt as streaks of smoke shot up from the distance and arced towards them.

Incredibly, several hundred firebenders dove down from the skies, roaring bloody violence. Stuck in marching formation, the combined Dai Li and Royal Guard formation didn't have enough time to space themselves out, and in such cramped conditions few could utilize their earthbending and pole weapons effectively as the firebenders landed among them. Chaos rippled out, and bursts of fire soon punctuated the screams of Dai Li and Royal Guard alike.

Long Feng immediately bended up a wall of earth to shield himself, uncaring that he flung four Royal Guards off their feet as a result. The wall lasted all of two fireball impacts, and then the Grand Secretariat was forced to rely on his rock gloves to block descending daggers.

A hasty kick pushed his attacker back, and the following backhand with the rock gloves rang against the opponent's helmet to send her sprawling to the ground. It also bought him enough time to realize that he had to get out of here.

Long Feng stood straighter to look behind him, finding the rest of the sallying force rushing in to aid the beleaguered vanguard. It was both heartening and panicking at the same time. If they got too close to the front, the risk of the Joo Dees and the other prisoners being exposed would be immense. Yet, it was clear that the Scorpion's elite force was slowly but surely breaking the morale of the Dai Li and Royal Guard despite being heavily outnumbered.

A loud boom sounded, and Long Feng saw a cloud of dust kick up as another figure landed just behind the fighting. A young Fire Nation soldier, full of wrath and the promise of a painful demise, marched out, hands aflame with blinding white fire.

The Scorpion Dragon turned and made his presence clear with a ludicrously massive torrent of flame towards the arriving reinforcements, sending them stumbling to a frightened halt. It even caught the attention of those in the vanguard not stuck in combat like Long Feng.

"Defenders of Ba Sing Se!" the Scorpion roared at the stunned conscripts and garrisoned troops. "My fight is not with you today, but the Dai Li!"

Oh no. Long Feng's eyes went wide, immediately realizing what the monster was about to do.

"They've kidnapped the Avatar's animal companion!"

As if to punctuate the point, the air bison dropped right beside the Scorpion, and there was no mistaking the presence of the Avatar standing atop it, wielding spinning orbs of water and earth in either hand.

"It's true! The Dai Li captured Appa, and Xi- Colonel Xing helped me free him!"

Long Feng despaired as he saw the confusion spreading through the listeners. Even some of the usually dense Royal Guard nearby were lowering their weapons in doubt.

Before he could urge them to keep fighting, Long Feng found himself being yanked back as armored hands grabbed him. He screamed as blinding pain stabbed into his head, following after the loud snaps of his arms and legs being broken. Despite the agony, the Scorpion's voice continued to ring in his ears.

"Not only that, the Dai Li that are supposed to protect you have been imprisoning your womenfolk! The Avatar has witnessed it, and can attest to my words! Your own generals, that I've taken prisoner, can attest to it!"

It was not supposed to be like this…

"They've kidnapped your daughters and sisters and mothers, and rendered them into docile, unthinking slaves! My men and women are tending to them right now, and yet the Dai Li still ordered you into battle, risking your women's lives!"

As Long Feng was dragged away, he absently noticed other Dai Li agents in similar broken states lying on the ground. There were more Fire Nation soldiers running around now, either dragging down or herding stubborn combatants. The damned Royal Guard were useless, most were groaning on the ground, while a few stood about to keep stupidly listening to the Scorpion's venomous words.

"I've come to take Ba Sing Se, so that I may properly right these wrongs! Let me deal with the Dai Li! Let me return your captured women back to you safely!"

As more armored figures surrounded him, Long Feng knew then that he had lost Ba Sing Se.Las

Xing's words might have stalled the sally, but it was the three Earth Kingdom generals he'd captured from the Outer Walls that got a good portion of the defenders to step aside and let Xing advance to the Inner Wall. They even got to keep their weapons as those that didn't run to seek out their potentially mind-blasted loved ones bore witness to the colonel's next feat.

The remaining defenders were on the great walls, defiantly hurling down boulders and spikes onto Xing as he neared the walls with a fearsome surety. Kai felt undeserved brotherly pride at watching his spirit-touched little brother shoot up to the skies far, higher than any firebender of the 11th could manage, to land onto the walls.

Even from down here, the captain and his colleagues could see the peasants and soldiers behind the parapets suddenly fall over as Xing's new and utterly ruthless firebending was put into use. And to think that just a few months ago, he was having trouble controlling his heat to cook eggs. Now the boy was dropping men all around him without fatalities. Kai couldn't imagine how it must feel to have the very air around you suddenly reach temperatures hot enough for sword hilts to start sweating resin glue, but it must be a new level of agony considering the amount of Dai Li prisoners still groaning in pain back at the lake.

The waterbender healers were just starting to tend to their wound when Kai and the rest of the regiment moved out, if only to stop their noise from annoying everyone. Plus, there was a growing queue among the troops to brush up on their interrogation tactics on their reprehensible prisoners. Ping of course, was first in line, her grudge against abusive monsters reignited.

Her lieutenants had already been briefed about their captain's tendencies, and should step in to stop her from losing herself to her old…nightmares if it ever came down to it. Just in case, Kilin and her folk would keep an eye out as well.

Speaking of prisoners, General Yama and his clique earthbender prisoners stood beside Kai, watching on with varying degrees of interest. The old badgermole in particular was stuck with a deep scowl ever since he passed by the brainwashed women and abused Kyoshi Warriors. It was rare to see Yama eerily quiet, which made his caged anger all the more notable.

The faded screaming from above the walls died down, and Xing popped up behind the walls to launch a stream of white fire into the air. Mozi, Kai and the other captains gave the orders, and the 11th took several steps back, and all the firebenders dropped into a stance in preparation for potential intercept work.

It was the first time Kai - and likely anyone else within the 11th - saw hewn and earthbended rock glow like a lantern's screen. There was a strange sort of beauty as the glow radiated out from the top where Xing stood, and covered a whole section of the Inner Wall right down to the base. Then Kai had the unique experience of watching a stone wall, one that defied the great Prince Iroh, sag as if it were made of wax left under the sun.

The rocks glow turned from a dim orange to an intense, white-yellow that hurt the eyes. Then the bulge from the drooping wall ruptured with a roaring spurt to herald the spilling of molten earth. The farmlands below the walls exploded into a heavy curtain of smoke, and more trails from behind the wall told of buildings probably caught up in it as well.

Kai hoped that nobody was stupid enough to defy Xing's orders to leave. It would be a stupid death, but a death nonetheless to mar his record.

The 11th was treated to an outright historical sight of Ba Sing Se's Inner Wall being breached (and such a waste of an innuendo that was) in a most unique way, and there were appreciative 'oohs' and 'ahs' from the assembled troops. The Earth Kingdom folk were understandably more shocked than anything, though Yama's scowl still didn't budge.

Once the wall had melted down low enough, another burst of white fire had Mozi giving out another order. "Hans! Get the wasserwerfers!"

Thirty flammenwerfer tanks rolled out, their weapon's fuel tanks now replaced with water. Despite the change in purpose, Kai spied the Hans aiming their shielded hoses looking just as serious and grim as they did when entering actual combat. Some truly courageous wall defenders attempted to hurl rocks down to stop the advance, but Xing was seen quickly flying over to put down such resistance before they could truly flare up.

If Kai guessed right, the young colonel probably just heated all the rock and dirt around him to make it impossible for earthbenders and their bare feet to literally stand their ground. Well, better half-boiled feet than outright death. The captain had an inkling of what his little brother had planned, and while he didn't take his studies in court politics so seriously, Kai grasped enough of Xing's moves to appreciate the boldness of trying to win over an enemy city with minimal casualties.

It was a good thing Kai already had his marriage officially acknowledged, the last thing he needed was for Ren to get inspired by of all this and set up trials for him to crawl through before accepting his proposal.

Huge clouds of steam exploded as the wasserwerfers sent out focused streams of water into the pooling and bubbling lava from a safe distance. The gap in the wall was quickly blocked by a massive column of steam. The Hans literally emptied their tanks into the steam fog before turning back for a refill.

Kai couldn't see Xing anymore by that point, and considering there was no screaming to be heard, he probably had moved on to secure the next piece of his engagement contract.

The 11th waited for another round of the Hans dousing the melted wall section and then waited some more for the steam and smoke to dissipate enough before advancing into the city. They pointedly kept their eyes forwards and to their flanks, pointedly ignoring looking up to the skies to not see the Avatar and his companions flying over their heads.

Neither Xing nor the 11th received specific orders regarding the capture of the Avatar after all, and the regiment had far more important things to do like bounty hunting. Kai liked to think of it as charity to the more desperate, who needed their one big break. Let them have a nigh insurmountable crack at capturing the Avatar.

With the same lackadaisical attitude, the regiment didn't care too much when their longest serving prisoner broke away from them and followed after their colonel.

*****​

"He's down there!" Sokka called out, pointing down at the wide road for Aang to see. The airbender gave a stony nod and urged Appa on towards the palace. Xing had asked to meet them at the palace gates, but the gang had all quietly agreed to shadow his moves instead. Aang was worried that there might be other nasty secrets that the Scorpion might reveal en route, Katara still didn't trust the guy, Toph kept her reason for curiosity to herself, and Sokka was…torn.

On the one hand, he shared Aang's sentiment, not wanting to miss out on any further nasty secrets lurking in Ba Sing Se. Secrets that Xing might try to exploit for his own gains. If he knew about the dungeon under the lake, what else might he hold close to his chest?

Yet on the other hand, a part of Sokka wanted to make sure Xing didn't get obstructed in his travel towards the palace. That part of him wanted to see how the Scorpion Dragon would bring justice to the prisoners of Lake Laogai. Seeing the bawling soldiers trying to snap their sisters and wives out of the Dai Li's trance, Sokka felt a quiet rage that called out for blood.

What had happened to the Kyoshi Warriors was utterly horrific. Would that fate await Katara if the Dai Li got their hands on her? Would she be another brainwashed girl so they could control Aang? What if they managed to reach Yue?

Sokka wanted to be there when Xing dispensed justice. He wished for all the dark rumors about the young commander to be true, only so that the Dai Li and all involved with them would suffer.

They reached the palace gates way ahead of Xing, who was running alongside another man. An Earth Kingdom warrior, interestingly enough. In any case, there was an air of impatience from the gang as they waited for him. Aang was absently patting Appa's head possessively as he kept alert of his surroundings, and Sokka couldn't blame his friend for his paranoia. Though hopefully he'd lose some of the tension later on.

Sokka himself took the time to study his environment. Compared to the rest of the city, which was in the throes of panic as their walls failed them, the ostentatious noble housing around him was dead quiet. A check with Toph confirmed that the nearby buildings were empty, their residents probably fleeing someplace to escape the city. Past the gate and the (relatively) unimpressive set of walls surrounding the palace though, Toph picked up some activity.

"There's a group of soldiers near the gate, but there's also some people in robes and dresses further back beyond them."

"Wonder what they're up to?" Katara asked, trying to get Aang's involvement.

"Whatever it is, I hope Xing gets here quickly." It didn't work too well unfortunately. Aang really looked like a kid with a tantrum when he was in a sulky, simmering mood.

Xing arrived minutes later, and with him was an old earthbender who looked too angry to be hunched over with age. "Thank you for not heading on first," he greeted with a nod, most of his fury from earlier now faded away.

"Why do you want us here?" Toph asked immediately.

"Well, to get straight to it, I'd ask you to help spare the Earth King from his fate."

The quartet of teens immediately made their surprise known. "What? Why?" Aang asked. "I thought you'd want to murder him for what he did."

Anger flickered in Xing's eyes, but he managed a casual shrug. "He probably didn't know about what went on under the lake. Not that it absolves him of all blame, but…" Xing glanced at the scowling earthbender beside him. "...killing him does not suit our purposes. He'd be a martyr, and that'd push his supporters to join those of the Dai Li's, which might make them tolerate the atrocities committed under Lake Laogai.

"I still say you're too soft," the old earthbender grumbled.

"So, you want us to…save him?" Katara asked with a frown. "Just so you can have an easier time taking over the city?"

"I rather you ask him for the truth of his involvement with the Dai Li. If he proves…well, not innocent, but truly oblivious to what they did, then I'd ask that you help him escape before I get my hands on him and throw him to the crowd. If he knows of the atrocities, you can deal with him yourself, or leave him for me, or both."

"And what's he here for?" Toph asked, pointing at the surly warrior beside Xing.

"I got a nephew that really needs some harsh, bone breaking lessons, the fu-."

Thankfully, Xing cut in before the tirade could really start. "I'd like to ask that you bring General Yama with you. He has a…much delayed family reunion."

Appa flew past the measly palace walls, raising a choir of startled guards and courtiers. Sokka saw some people's eyes go wide at recognizing the Avatar's arrival, while others went wider when they saw General Yama. For all his sourfaced-ness, the old man went pale and clammed up the moment Appa took to the skies.

The palace guards tried to intercept them, but a still pissed off Aang was not having any of it. Powerful gusts of wind knocked any opposition off their feet and sent them flying, and another mighty gale rolled the prone figures far enough away for the riders to slip off Appa's back.

"Allow me," Yama muttered as he walked to the massive doors, looking up and down the portal with surprising hate. "Stupid brat should've just burned this whole place down…" The old general stomped his feet, and a spike of dirt and pavement shot up like a wedge to force the door open. For some reason, breaking through the doors further soured the man's mood. "Fucking still haven't fucking switched from hardwood…"

With Yama leading the way, they made a beeline straight for the throne room, armed guards be damned. Not even Katara was too reluctant to sweep the guard aside with some roughness, and Aang was just venting at this point with each blast of air. It was weird to see Toph being the calm, measured one for once, but then again she was probably studying how General Yama was earthbending.

The old man wasn't as powerful as Toph, but even Sokka could see the skill in which he wielded his earthbending. Instead of just hurling boulders, Yama compressed them into dense rocks that cracked metal and bones as it flew. His earth spikes were smaller yet no less deadlier than any other earthbender Sokka has seen, while his movements were quicker and less…stompy.

It didn't take too many hallways before they finally broke through to their goal. The last of the palace guard were arrayed in a tight formation, spears and earth spikes forming a prickly wall that stood between the gang and the shocked young man standing up from his throne.

"Fucking stand down, you useless shits!" To the guards' credit, they didn't budge from Yama's crass yelling. But the richly dressed man by the throne took on a highly surprised expression.

"Un- Uncle Yama?"

The Earth King's surprise turned into a startled jerk as Yama wasted no time to berate his nephew.

"At least you've got enough of a brain left to recognize me. Call your guards off, or I'll do it for you."

"B-But uncle… They said you were lost-"

All of the sudden, the general crouched and swiped his leg to one side, and the guards almost reacted in time to stop the earthen wave from crashing into them. Except that Toph used their distraction to stomp her foot and send the whole section of floor they were standing in flying high up, where a collective 'oof' could be heard as men were crushed against the ceiling.

"You're welcome," she said with a cheeky smirk, which Yama ignored as he walked up to the throne.

"What else did they tell you, runt?"

The Earth King raised his hands placatingly, giving unsubtle glances around the throne room for help or an avenue of escape. "I was told…they said that you had been dragged away into a Fire Nation dungeon. That you were likely dead."

"Pfft. Yeah? Who told you that? Which general gave you the news, huh? Hao? Mura?"

"L-Long Feng." And Yama stopped in his tracks.

"And the Council of Five?" Yama asked, softer this time but no less scowl-ey.

"T-They're busy with the war, are they not? I've read their reports they send to Long Feng, they're struggling to keep the Fire Nation in check."

Even from behind him, Sokka could tell that the old general's scowl managed to grow deeper.

"Nevermind that," Aang suddenly cut in. "Did you know about the girls in Lake Laogai?"

"Wha-?"

General Yama slumped, a hand rising up to his face. "Fuck…it really is incompetence…?"

"What's going on?" the confused king asked.

And Aang and Yama both took turns to explain what had happened, while Sokka and Katara checked on the guards and Toph played truth detector.

And Sokka felt amused and disgusted at just how oblivious the young monarch was.

He hadn't known that the walls had gone down. Long Feng had said the ruckus outside was due to the walls being reinforced.

He looked genuinely appalled (and Toph confirmed it) at hearing of what was discovered in Lake Laogai. He'd not heard anything about it at all.

He looked even more shocked when they told him that the city was practically lost at this point, that the Scorpion Dragon - which Long Feng had assured him was a myth used to scare soldiers into doing their jobs - was making his way to the palace.

And it shocked the gang too when Yama corrected his nephew's assumption. "I've been a guest of the 11th for a fucking long time now, no thanks to you."

"My- What? But uncle-"

"Don't 'but' me, you dolt! You simply believed that I was kept in some dungeon?"

"But Long Fe-"

"Long Feng this, Long Feng that! Is that all you listen to, boy? Ever tried a thing called 'doubt' or 'thinking for yourself'?"

The Earth King looked utterly insulted, but considering his company, he did well to try calming his uncle down. "Please, uncle, I didn't know. I am truly sorry."

Yama shook his head with a heavy sigh, hands flying up in the air with exasperation. "Of course you didn't know. Fucking didn't know you're the reason why I had to remain with the brat too, I bet?"

Toph confirmed the king's confusion was genuine, and the general let out a hollow bark of laughter. "Did you simply stamp whatever piece of paper Long Feng gives you, or did you just give him your royal seal?" Even from a distance, Sokka could feel the wrath and disappointment from Yama's glare. The Earth King, being the direct target of it, was utterly cowed and visibly shrank back.

"I was supposed to be freed, about five years ago," the general elaborated, as much for his nephew as for the rest of the audience. "Cheap ransom too. The smug bastard Lidai felt I had suffered enough. Then I had the bloody shame of having the brat come and rescue me when my supposed escort turned on me and tried to off me."

Yama's eyes were wide as he clearly lived through his memories. "Lidai had the fucking audacity to feel bad for me, and let me go at the next outpost we came across." He turned to Aang, as if audience participation suddenly was a thing. "Did you know what happened when I got there?"

The airbender shook his head, and Yama snorted and he spun about to jab a finger at the king. "I found spears pointed at me and a royal fucking decree ordering my corpse's return! With your royal stamp on it!"

"Ouch," Toph commented, and Sokka saw a few recovering guards wince from hearing the tale.

"I-I…I didn't know…"

Ignoring the Earth King's apology, Yama turned back to poor Aang, his hands emoting rather expressively as he ranted on. "It must've been the stupid cunt. I told them he was a useless inbred imbecile, but did anyone listen to me? 'No Yama', they said. 'He's a good king', they said. My sweet, brilliant sister couldn't have been responsible for birthing such a useless shit."

The general caught himself before he rambled on, and then snapped a finger at his royal nephew who looked conflicted at the blatant slander in front of him. "Your father sent me to the boonies because he hated my guts, and I respect that. You didn't even know you signed my death warrant."

There was no mistaking the tone of finality from the general, and the Earth King began to really plead for his life. "Uncle Yama, please…"

A loud explosion echoed from beyond the throne room. Xing had arrived.

Sokka immediately turned to Aang, Katara and Toph, exchanging questioning glances with them. Aang frowned for a bit, then gave the panicking Earth King a glare for a second. Then the gang turned their silent looks to Yama, who simply scowled back at them.

White flames heralded Xing's arrival. Sokka watched from the safety of Appa's back as the Scorpion strode into the throne room and the guard around him screamed from being bathed in invisible fire. Only Yama stood unaffected somehow. They would have to figure out a way to counter that nonsense. What kind of whale walrus bullshit fire is that?

Xing looked up to them with an expressionless face, giving only a nod that Aang replied in kind as Appa began to rise. The Avatar then turned to the Earth King holding tightly onto Appa's fur, and Sokka worried for a second that he'd blow the monarch off the air bison's back.

"Come on, the faster we head south, the better."

The deal was to drop the king in friendly territory, though why Xing would be so merciful still escaped Sokka and his friends. The Earth King was to be allowed to try and rally resistance against the Fire Nation, and Sokka could only wish him good luck in that. Because judging from Aang's disapproval, the Avatar would likely not be dealing with the monarch any further after this.

Besides, with Xing's agreement, the gang would have to rethink the day of the Black Sun. Maybe they could spring Bumi out of Omashu to figure something out, and get a second opinion on whether the Scorpion could be trusted to provide Aang with a firebending master.

*****​

Yama felt much calmer as he watched his useless nephew fly off with the Avatar. He heard Xing walk up beside him despite the cries of agony around him.

"I'm surprised you let him live, general."

"Shut it, brat," Yama snapped instinctively, and then sighed. "Stupid shit's the last I have of my family, of my sister…"

"Here's to hoping he doesn't waste his second chance at life, then."

Yama dismissed the brat's words with a snort, and then turned to the young colonel, the soon-to-be prince of Ba Sing Se. "Thank you, Xing."

The boy smiled in return. "As I said, don't sweat it. You're still free to join him, if you'd like. Maybe help screw his head on straight?"

Yama snorted again. "Yeah right, and that'd get me, what? A year at most before you crush him?"

"Eh… If he plays his cards right, I have no reason to go after him." Only if Kuei gave up his claim on the throne… Would that be a good thing, then?

"I'll pass, brat."

Xing had his plans for the dethroned Kuei, Yama knew it. Yet it was a small price to pay for the safety of his last kin.

"What now, then?"

Xing turned to the throne, and sent a column of blinding fire that turned it into a lump of glowing rock and metal. "Well, General Yama, the new position of City Advocate is open, requiring someone to tell me off if I start mistreating the city's populace. Do you know any surly, irritable prick for the job?"

The journey to Ba Sing Se took longer than expected, mostly because of the surprisingly stiff resistance the armies faced in stabilizing a safe corridor to the city. The royal convoy was forced to slow or halt several times due to desperate breakthrough attempts by the various Earth Kingdom states, though according to General Hwa whose grand battalion served as Azula's escort, the remaining northern states were on their last legs, having been effectively cut off from the rest of the continent thanks to Ba Sing Se's fall.

It was good news indeed, though Azula would've preferred if they could be a bit more considerate and capitulate faster.

Still, the journey wasn't without its amusement. Having Zuko along as effectively a ceremonial bodyguard kept Azula's mood light. Her brother had shaped up well under the regiment's training, and Mai most certainly noticed. The usually somber girl broke into smirks every now and then as she found an excuse to rest her gaze on Zuko.

Ty Lee of course seized on the opportunity to tease her friend, pointing out how much prettier Mai's aura is in pink or some such nonsense. Poor Zuzu did his best to remain stoic as a bodyguard should, but with Ty Lee's emphasis on words like 'hot' and 'hunky', he ended up fidgeting uncomfortably most of the time.

Azula had to overrule Mai's order for Zuko to stab Ty Lee several times, but the princess had to admit, it was very, very entertaining watching her friend become so animated and…pink, compared to her normal unemotive state.

Whether or not Zuko's legitimacy was reinstated, he and Mai still made for a decent pairing, politically. Her father, now the governor of New Ozai, was one of the quieter members of the conservative faction. And while not as prominent, having his family bound to the royal one would go some ways in placating the ruffled old farts in the palace. At worst, a union between her brother and her friend might focus the attention of her court politicians onto Ukano, making for easier monitoring.

Unfortunately, it'd still require the two awkward teens to actually bond closer, but Mai was too reserved, and Zuko was…Zuko. Azula almost snorted once more at the thought. It was a good thing she and her Xing understood each other well enough for their relationship to advance with relative ease. She'd declared her intentions for him first, but he reciprocated with equal…enthusiasm.

Azula's fingers on one hand absently went up to brush at her lips, remembering how Xing tasted and felt… Then she barely caught her other hand from drifting down to the other spot that her colonel so passionately kissed. A quick glance showed that everyone else was busy setting up camp for the evening, while her bodyguards either didn't notice or politely ignored the lapse of their princess' movements.

"Hey Azula."

Shit.

Ty Lee suddenly skipped into view, wearing a dangerously bright smile. "Everything okay? You're looking a bit…flush."

The glimmer in the damned girl's eyes betrayed her playing coy.

"It's nothing," Azula quickly replied, dropping her hand from her lips. "It's just the weather."

Ty Lee's head swiveled as a teasing grin blossomed on her face. "Are you suuure?"

The princess quickly turned away and found something that could require her attention. Hopefully. "Yes. The Earth Kingdom climate is too inconsiderate for my skin." Gah, was that the best she could come up with?

Predictably, the teasing voice from Ty Lee became more predatory. "Oh, that's a shame." She slipped in front of Azula, her mischievous grin dominating the princess' vision. "I guess we'll have to quickly reach Ba Sing Se so that your Xing could help tend to your skin, eh?" Azula felt a strong urge to burn off Ty Lee's disgustingly suggestive waggling eyebrows right then.

Thankfully, the girl knew the limits and withdrew after that, abandoning her teasing for a more casual air. "Anyway, I saw Mai asking Zuko to join the other soldiers in their evening drills. Wanna go see her ogling your brother?"

"Firstly, Ty Lee, perhaps you should leave them to their own devices, and let Zuko do his job."

"Aww, but they look so cute when their auras both become matching pink. And besides, you want them hitched, right?"

Azula quirked an eyebrow at her overly cheery friend. "I'm just giving my brother and my friend the chance to…mingle that I ruined back when we were younger." The shrug that followed wasn't too forced. "If they happen to work together, I won't complain."

Ty Lee's head bobbed with fake gravitas. "Well, it'll help everyone if they both quickly realize whether they like each other or not, right?"

"Yeees…?"

"So we should continue poking them along. The more I remind Mai about Zuko's good points, the more she drags him along with her when she storms off."

"Isn't that just because you're being annoying?"

Totally unbefitting of her, Ty Lee nodded sagely. "It would…but then her aura becomes almost as red as you once the two of them are alone in their tent or out in the woods. And Zuko's just starting to shift from pink to red too."

The seriousness was then instantly replaced with a mischievous smirk. "There's a betting pool going among your soldiers, most of them are favoring your brother making the first move. But this way, Mai will eventually get tired of his denseness during their alone time and take the first step."

Huh. "That's surprisingly devious of you, Ty Lee. I didn't think you had it in you to matchmake like that."

Ty Lee preened at the praise. "Well, Mai's my friend too, and I don't think your brother's a bad choice. Better him than the potential suitors her father would send her way."

Azula smiled at the reminder that Ty Lee had a noble background, and was glad that she hadn't truly thrown all of her lessons away.

"That's true," the princess replied. "Governor Ukano might be pressed to seek a more influential pairing for Mai."

Both girls shuddered at what that might entail. Ty Lee gave a repulsed noise. "Yech. I heard that there are older and richer suitors looking to 'sponsor' lesser nobles in exchange for marriage. They're practically buying people's daughters as wives."

Azula nodded with disgust, but was happy to be conversing on a familiar topic. "Unfortunately so. Especially after the losses from the North Pole, many families have lost a significant amount of influence along with their sons or brothers. The significant losses also left some bachelorettes with dissolved engagements, engagements that would've raised their family's prospects."

Basically leaving the minor nobility, or even upper nobility in some cases, desperately seeking ways to stay politically afloat or simply continue their family line. Azula thought back once more to Ping, who she had quietly intervened to save from such an engagement.

"Those poor women," Ty Lee said sincerely with a shake of her head.

"Quite so." Azula sighed heavily, ignoring the uncomfortable fidgeting from her bodyguards and a few soldiers who were poorly masking their eavesdropping. "But you're right, it's all the more reason to be happy if Mai and Zuko get along."

And now that she thought about it, if they got married first, if done correctly, it could reduce some of the wariness from the traditionalists. Make Azula's own union with Xing appear less ambitious and politically threatening…

Presently, the princess hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose I can't begrudge you trying to get them both some happiness…"

Ty Lee brightened up at that and clapped her hands together. "See?"

"Not a word out, understood?" Azula didn't turn to any of them, and her bodyguards barely shifted their heads with nods.

Reassured by Ty Lee's intent, Azula left her friend to her little scheme and returned to more pressing concerns. She sought out the newly erected command tent and found the right person to address those concerns.

"General Hwa, how fares the rest of the corridor?"

The good general gave a quick salute, already learning not to waste time with simpering formalities. "The last stretch should be safe enough for us to push out at full speed tomorrow, princess. Sh- General Sho's disruptive spearhead has finally begun to draw the northern states' attention."

Azula nodded, only aware of the surface details of that plan. General Sho had peeled off a force to strike deep into enemy territory, to distract and put the remaining strongholds back into defensive alert. There were also rumors that it was also to keep a certain Colonel Dao from meeting her, though Azula couldn't fathom why just yet. Everyone seemed strangely awkward about it, even the few veterans of the 11th in the convoy.

"What about the southern flank?"

"Our troops are holding them back more easily now, mostly thanks to Colonel Xing. Apparently his arrival has drawn most of the forces in the region back to Ba Sing Se. Seems like they're focusing all their effort on protecting the city."

The princess nodded at the Hwa's disapproving tone. The overrated symbolic value of Ba Sing Se as the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom made it imperative that the city stood at whatever the costs. With its reputation of being the Impenetrable City, losing it would likely break the back of Earth Kingdom resistance, far greater than what might happen if the reverse occurred and the Earth Kingdom took over the Fire Nation's royal capital.

After all, nobody in the home islands held delusions of invincibility for the capital city. They'd likely be infuriated and have a mind to retake it with furious resolve. As for Ba Sing Se, the city's sense of unassailability was also inextricably tied to the Earth King's legitimacy. Who knows what kind of morale damage would be dealt once their boasts about being unconquerable were proven false.

It was a lesson Azula would have to remember when governing the colonies and the Fire Nation in the future. Try not to make any one place too invaluable, balance out some redundancies… Bah, there was too much to worry about for the present.

Azula pushed back such thoughts and brought her focus back to the present. "Any word from Xing?"

"None yet, princess. The 11th should have already reached the walls to join him by now. We'll need another day or two before the messenger hawk arrives."

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, the princess moved onto other matters. "I do not want Xing's inevitable victory to be a symbolic and temporary one. Can this corridor be made permanent? Safe enough for colonial administrators to journey to the city?"

The General of the East nodded with full conviction. "General Sho will be commencing region-wide siege on the northern states to lock them up and hopefully force them into capitulation. We're just waiting on Admiral Dae to finish reorganizing the navy to lend support from the sea. As for the southern flank, my Eastern Army are already entrenching themselves, and only require reinforcements to further bolster the line."

"Reliable reinforcements, I hope?"

Hwa gave an uncharacteristically wicked grin. "The last of the disgraced commanders from the North Pole have been ordered to deploy, fully under my command."

Huh. So father really did demote the generals? No doubt he already had his eyes on fresh talent to replace the culled failures. And Hwa was technically on his side since he appointed her to the position without Azula's involvement. Still, it was good to know that he didn't try usurping Hwa's or Sho's command, at least not yet, and let the competent commanders continue doing their thing.

On that note, maybe it'd be best to keep an eye on who became General of the South. Once Xing takes Ba Sing Se, the southern states would be the only real opposition left, turning that theater into the next pilgrimage site for glory hounds.

With little else to worry about, Azula retired for the night, and awoke to a pleasant surprise by way of a messenger hawk. Xing had broken Ba Sing Se's Outer Wall. The massive rampart that had taken Uncle Iroh more than a year to tear down, her soon-to-be fiance had apparently breached not once, but thrice, in less than a couple of hours.

It was good to be reminded about her Xing's prowess.

The news spread through the convoy, lifting the spirits of everyone marching. Even the prisoners of the 11th seemed oddly elated at hearing that. Perhaps they had a grudge against their capital? It might prove useful later…

Another hawk came two days later, and this time the news was more damning than pleasant. Bearing the personal seals of the generals Xing had captured the day before, it spoke of the outrageous atrocity that lay under Lake Laogai. A dungeon, not for keeping captured enemies, but the city's own womenfolk. Women who were kidnapped by the famed Dai Li to be…brainwashed by some yet unidentified method and turned into living dolls.

That discovery, along with the promise to undo the entrancement, had seemingly earned Xing the cooperation of his new prisoners. It was a horrific revelation, one that made everyone react in varying degrees of revulsion once Azula had the report spread around, and one that would no doubt make for a brilliant piece of propaganda once the message reached her father's attention.

If not him, at least Azula's own servants would know how to best propagate such information to the Fire Nation's advantage.

Azula did not forward a second letter though, one written in Xing's cipher. That one she read in the privacy of her tent, after chasing out Ty Lee and Mai. The princess felt her blood go cold with horror, and then furiously hot as she read of what had been done to the Kyoshi Warriors. She had found the painted ladies to be tolerable, and potentially even worth employing, if not befriending. That they had suffered such despicable fates by their own people…

It'd be a publicity windfall to make this known, but Azula held a modicum of respect for the Kyoshi Warriors to do so without their assent. Besides, Xing delivered this particular news in secret. Idly, the princess wondered if it was all part of the spirits' plans, or was it something actually unexpected for once? Xing's words were noticeably more disgusted and angry than usual.

The third messenger hawk arrived just as the Outer Wall peeked through the forest. Even from this distance, there was no mistaking the three blackened gaps decorating the massive fortification. Faint trails of smoke rose up behind it, probably the city itself being fought over.

Or maybe not, as Azula read the message.

"With the witnesses of his prisoners and his soldiers, Colonel Xing has single-handedly torn down both Outer and Inner Walls of Ba Sing Se, and also entered and captured the Earth King's palace by himself."

Azula couldn't suppress the urge to smile at the last few sentences. "Colonel Xing has taken the royal palace, the Earth King himself has fled thanks to the Avatar. All remaining resistance has either fled the city or surrendered."

She breathed out the last words with a relief she didn't know she'd been holding onto ever since Xing left. "Ba Sing Se is now under the control of Colonel Xing, on behalf of the Fire Nation."

"Congratulations on your engagement, Azula!" Ty Lee said, not quite spoiling the mood.