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Zuko POV
"As much as I'm loving the tea, we do have a reason for being here" Sokka calls to the room, putting his tea down.
"If you are not here to enjoy the tea and company why are you here?" Uncle asks curiously.
"The Dai Li" Katara answers sounding grim.
"We talked to the agents Azula had at your palace" Toph tells us, "Half of them were brainwashed. Sugar Queen fixed their heads and they told us most of the Dai Li and others are brainwashed too."
"We need to talk to all the agents and find out how many of them did what they did willingly" Aang adds.
"Why didn't you bring me in on this earlier?" I question.
"When?" Sokka snorts, "You've been in non-stop meetings since you became the Fire Lord, you even brought your assistant with you and spent the whole trip on Appa talking to him."
Of course I did, does Sokka have any idea how much is involved in ending a war like this one? "Well I have time now" I tell him, "How can I help?"
"We I've ready checked and unfortunately there's no big folder labelled 'brainwashed employees'" Suki tells us, "But half the Dai Li have the name Lee, so I think that should be where we start."
"Speaking of unoriginal names, we should track down all the Joo Dees" Aang nods.
"I will bring you tea later" Uncle smiles, "Good luck."
I smile and bow before following them out of the tea shop.
"There's gotta be thousands of people" Toph notes when we get to the large holding room, where the earth army has locked up all the Dai Li and Joo Dees they could find, "Forget figuring out which are brain zombies, and which are willing, do you have time to heal all of them?"
I have to agree, it's going to take months just to figure out which is which, it will take Katara even longer to heal all of them and all of us are needed elsewhere, we can't risk staying more than a month.
"I already contacted Yugoda, head healer at the North Pole. She's sending a team of healers" Katara explains, "Hopefully they'll get here before we leave."
"We just have to get started on this" Sokka nods, "Once we've got a way to know which is which the healers can take over and we head for the colonies!"
Oh the colonies, one of my biggest headaches. My people who moved there over the last 100 years don't want to leave now the war is over, but the Earth Kingdom rightfully wants their land back and for all Fire Nation citizens to get out of their country, while these people have also lived there for generations and don't want to leave their homes.
It's a headache. I shake the thoughts away, "Were should we start?"
"I'm going to talk to some of the brainwashers" Aang tells us.
"I'll go with you" Toph decides.
"Suki and I will start on the Lees" Sokka nods.
Katara looks to me, "Then I guess we have the Joo Dees."
Talking to the Joo Dees is creepy and after about an hour clearly pointless, all of them are brainwashed, so we start on the general government staff, after another few hours we find inviting them to Lake Laogai is the easiest way to be sure, then we use to deactivating words and send them to other holding area.
"How'd it go with you?" Sokka asks after five hours of questioning in a office we've claimed as a break room.
"All the Joo Dees are brain washed" Katara tells her brother, pouring herself a cup of tea from the pot I assume my uncle left. "We're working through the government staff now, about half of them are brain washed too, the rest either claim they had no idea or smirk evilly."
"Its about the same with us" Suki nods, "All the Lees have been brain washes so far, but we've interviewed other Dai Li and a few of them have been too."
I look to Aang, who has been unnaturally quiet since he came in "Did you get anything from the people doing it?"
"It's not just a war time thing" Toph answers for Aang who is staring at the wall lost in thought. "The Dai Li has been brain washing people since they were founded. Most of the willing Dai Li are descended from unwilling agents, and pretty much grow up as agents in training."
Suki shakes her head, "That doesn't make them willing. That's just another kind of brain washing, but it's a lot harder to undo."
Katara sits down next to Aang, startling him out of his thoughts, "What's wrong Aang?"
Aang frowns looking away, "The Dai Li didn't just force Earth Kingdom citizens to do what they wanted, they have people from all over the world….. Air Benders too, but they were raised as living weapons, not people."
Katara hugs him, "We'll do anything we can for them Aang."
I put a hand on his shoulder, "We can't promise the ones who are already Dai Li will change, we will do everything to help them. But some of them will have children in the city, they will be easier to get through too."
Aang smiles slightly.
"How would people not notice Air and Fire Bender Dai Li? Shouldn't that have raised some red flags with the people?" Suki wonders.
"Most of the people in the upper rings are from really old and rich families" Toph tells her with a shrug, "Most of them were born here and never knew about the war."
"They probably just assumed they were immigrants or something" Sokka agrees.
Someone knocks on the door, ruining the moment, "Sorry to disturb you" a Earth soldier whose been helping with the Dai Li bows, "But the Dai Li agent in interrogation two is getting restless."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
The soldier winces, "He threw a fire ball at one of my men."
Toph did say they had brain washed people from all over the world. "Is he alright?"
"Fine sir" he nods, "But the agent is better than we expected, he's getting hard to contain."
Sokka looks to me, "Wanna help me with this one? I don't really feel like having my eyebrows brunt off."
I nod and follow him to out of the room and down the hall.
The door opens and we see four Earth Benders holds a man down with the ground, the man is fighting hard and breathing fire under the Dai Li hat which obscures his face.
"Calm down!" Sokka tells him, "Now I'm Sokka, I'm going to guess your name is Lee."
The man pauses, "Why are you here kid? Go find your Mommy before she starts to worry."
Sokka rolls his eyes, likely having had as many japs about his age today as I have, but I turn to the man, I know that voice, were do I know it from?
He finally looks up and my whole body goes cold, "…Lu Ten?"
"You know this guy?" Sokka asks surprise.
Lu Ten looks at me with no recognition, "Who?"
I look to Sokka, "My cousin Lu Ten. He died on the attack on Ba Sing Se almost 7 years ago" Lu Ten was like a brother to me, in the same way Iroh is like a father to me. His death was hard to deal with.
"I don't know what you're talking about" Lu Ten glares, "I was born here in Ba Sing Se and I have no idea who you are."
Sokka looks to him sadly, "I'll get Katara and your Uncle."
"Be careful how you tell him" I ask, "Lu Ten's death was hard on him."
Sokka nods and leaves the room.
"I'm not your cousin" Lu Ten repeats, but he's not fighting anymore. The Earth soldiers back away from him.
I sit down in front of him, "You are" I tell him confidently, "My name is Zuko, yours is Lu Ten. The Dai Li brain washed you, you know they do that right?"
"…. We only do it to keep the peace" he replies, "Its only used to re-educate criminals, steer them away from a life of crime. Never on agents."
"So why are over half of your agents named Lee?" I question, hoping to get through to my cousin, "Or all the Joo Dees that work for the Dai Li?"
"Those are common names" he insists.
"Can you name any assistants who work for the Dai Li not named Joo Dee?" I try.
He pauses, not able to give me any names.
Someone knocks on the door, I turn so I can see it out of my working eye as Katara walks in, "Wow you look just like him" she comments, looking between my cousin and me.
I smile, everyone always use to say that, it's nice to hear it again without the pitying tone.
Lu Ten looks to me again, trying to pick out similarities.
Katara looks to the Earth Benders, "I need him to be sitting up."
They move fast, so Lu Ten goes from laying in my ground to sitting up, buried in rocks up to his shoulders. Katara smiles her thanks then moves to stand behind my cousin and covers her hands in glowing water and puts them on Lu Ten's head.
"He's really blocked" she tells me with closed eyes, "Its like he's stuck behind a wall made out of false memories and commands."
"But you can fix him?" I ask, trying to keep the hope out of my voice.
She frowns in concentration, "I can but it will take a while. It's like untangling a ball of yarn, you can't just use a pair of scissors and break the threads, that would tear it apart you have to patiently untangle it."
Lu Ten blinks at me, "Zuzu?"
I smile, Lu Ten was the first one to call me that, before Azula took the nickname and twisted it.
Katara smiles, "That's childhood memories. Give me some time."
I smile back, "Thank you" I look to the door, "My uncle will be here soon, I should talk with him."
Katara nods and I walk out of the room.
Half way to the front door I run into my Uncle and Sokka.
"Zuko" Uncle looks to me, "Is what he said true?"
"Yes" I nod, "Its him uncle. Katara is with him now."
Uncle Iroh hugs me tightly, with tears streaming down his face.
I hug him back, I missed my cousin so much, it took me a long time but I learned my uncle and my cousin they are my family, not my father or sister, even my mother who ran and had her face changed and her memories erased when it got hard, (I understand her reasons in a way, but she could have tried to take Azula and me with her, before Azula got so corrupted she couldn't go back.)
"How is he?" Uncle questions.
"Confused" I reply, "They blocked his memories, Katara is unblocking them now."
He nods then looks to Sokka, "Can you please find his Dai Li personal file for me? I would like to know what they had him doing."
"I don't know if you do" I tell him, I've talked to a lot of Dai Li today I'm not sure how Iroh would feel about some of the things his son would have done and had done to him. "I think you should wait for him to tell himself" I try, maybe the idea of boundaries will get him to agree.
He nods, "You are right Nephew."
"Maybe you two should head back to the tea shop" Sokka suggests, "No point standing around here worrying."
I nod and look to my uncle.
"Very well" Uncle Iroh reluctantly agrees.
Its six days before Katara calls us back, with news of how Lu Ten is doing. Uncle spends most of this time worrying and I spend it with him, doing what I can for him.
"How is he?" Uncle asks as soon as we see Katara.
"Better" she smiles tiredly, "He'll need a few more sessions but he knows who he is, the programming is gone, and he wants to see both of you" she opens the door and we walk in.
Lu Ten stands up as soon as he sees us and pulls Uncle into a hug, "I missed you father!"
"I missed you too my son" Uncle speaks quietly hugging his son like he never wants to let go.
Lu Ten looks to me over his father's shoulder and holds out a hand, "Don't think you're getting out of a family hug Zuzu."
With a smile I join them in the embrace.
ONE-SHOT.