Luan Ta sat, arms bound to a stone chair, in utter misery. He was exhausted, dehydrated, starving, and in lots of pain. His legs were unbound, since they had both been broken. The cell was dark, only being illuminated when Dai Li came in with those annoying green glowing crystals. He had no way of telling time, but he guessed he'd in captivity for about a week. In that time, he'd eaten only three times. He barely got any sleep.

He thought about how he'd ended up here. He hadn't known his identity had been compromised until the Dai Li came for him. He never saw it coming. They had come up through the ground under his house and jumped him. Luan was a master firebender but the fight was over before it began. They knocked him out and he'd woken up in this damn cell.

The Dai Li had banged him up pretty good. He had expected torture. They had broken his knees, snapped his shine bones and femurs, encased his hands in rock and then crushed them, and broken his nose. He could only see out of his right eye, as a rock-covered fist had nailed him in his left eye and it was swollen shut. They frequently squeezed and struck his broken bones, which was excruciating.

To top it off, they had fed him precious little (literally fed him, as they had smashed up his hands). The scraps they fed him were always rotten, and the water dirty. At least they had placed a chamber pot under his chair, although the hole they left so that his waste would end up in the chamber pot made the chair even more uncomfortable than it already was.

None of this surprised him. He had expected torture. What shocked him was that they never asked him any questions. He was the Ministry of Intelligence's section chief for Ba Sing Se. He knew the identities of every agent, assassin, and informant in the city. He knew of all operations being conducted behind the walls. And yet, the Dai Li asked him nothing. They came in, tortured him, and left. They didn't show any sadistic glee. In fact, they didn't express any emotion at all as they methodically inflicted pain he didn't know humans could endure. Several times he had tried to goad them in speaking, but they never made a sound. The only noises in the cell were his own screaming and the cracking of bones.

Luan supposed it was good that they didn't ask him anything, as he was very close to breaking. He was surprised he could endure this level of agony, and didn't think he could for much longer. The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him. How many people had he broken, how many prisoners had he burned, scarred, tortured throughout his career with FNMOI? Shoe was on the other foot now.

He jerked up when he heard a noise from in front of him. An opening was bent in the stone wall. Luan had to admit that having no doors was clever. A firebender trying to escape needs a door to open. An earthbender can just bend his way through the wall, thus leaving no door to escape through. Out of the opening came the familiar green light emitted by a glowing crystal, held by a Dai Li agent. The agent closed the hole in the wall behind him, and bent the glowing crystal into the ceiling illuminating the cell completely. Luan looked up at the man. He wasn't one of the agents that had been torturing him. His hair was cut short, his face clean shaven. He was on the older side, muscular but not huge, and very tall. His eyes were piercing, and he exuded a sense of danger that sent a shiver up Luan's spine.

The newcomer stared right into Luan's eyes, into his soul. Luan forced himself to hold eye contact, and the staring contest stretched on for several agonizing minutes. Finally, the agent broke eye contact to look him up and down. Luan's heart started racing, and he had to fight to keep the fear off his face as he braced for another round of torture. The agent began circling him, walking slowly around the chair. Luan forced his expression to remain impassive as the intense man before him circled the chair for a third time, a decidedly predatory look on his face.

Finally, he stopped and stared Luan in the eyes again. "I am Dai Li Director Zong Zeindou" he said, his voice deep and authoritative. "What's your name?"

Luan blinked in surprise. The other agents never spoke. They tore him apart in absolute silence. Now the Director of the organization was here before him, speaking to him. It made sense, he thought. They had been softening him up before beginning the interrogation. And he had been softened up alright. Luan's voice was hoarse and cracked from dehydration. "My name is Lee-Bai Ly" he said, hoping his alias would hold up.

Zeindou kicked his right, broken leg, causing him to yelp in pain. "Lying to me will be excruciating. I would advise you be truthful."

"Luan. My name is Luan." He wasn't going to resist on the small stuff. He didn't know how much resistance he had left on the big stuff.

"Luan...?"

"Ta. Luan Ta."

Zeindou smiled and pulled a flask out from within his robes. He poured a small amount of clean water into Luan's mouth. Luan swallowed it greedily, dehydrated as he was. "See how much better telling the truth is" Zeindou said, his voice deceptively friendly given the menace in his eyes and danger given off by his very presence. "Lying will bring you pain, the truth will bring you relief."

"We know a great deal about you Luan" Zeindou continued. "You are, or were, a high ranking member of the Fire Nation Ministry of Intelligence, section chief for the city of Ba Sing Se. You've held that position for three years now, ever since your predecessor died from a nasty case of bird flu." Zeindou leaned in to whisper in Luan's ear "actually it was the poison we slipped into his wine that killed him, but the symptoms are identical to those of bird flu so your mistake is understandable." He resumed circling the chair. "It was during your tenure as section chief that FNMOI blackmailed Hua Lang, secretary to the Council of Five, into becoming an informant. Hua has been very helpful in feeding your country false information, so I thank you for coercing her into your service." Luan forced his expression to stay impassive, though learning his highest placed asset had been compromised from the very beginning was a punch in the gut. "Now, lets broaden our knowledge about you. What did you know about the attack on the Air Temples?"

"Nothing." Zeindou slammed a rock gloved hand onto Luan's shattered left hand. "AHHH nothing. Fire Lord Sozin would never have compromised battle plans sending them to the section chiefs. What if the messenger hawks were intercepted? We knew something was coming but we weren't in the loop on the attack."

"You knew something was coming?"

"The Fire Lord has been preparing for war ever since the death of Avatar Roku. I knew some kind of attack would happen, sooner rather than later. I didn't know what the target would be, what the exact date would be, or how large scale an attack it would be."

Zeindou stared into his soul again. Luan looked down, not wanting to see those haunting eyes anymore. He was telling the truth. Sozin plays things close to the vest. Luan doubted even the War Council had been aware of Sozin's plans for the Air Nomads. He prayed Zeindou would see that he wasn't lying.

"And what does Sozin have planned for Ba Sing Se?"

"Nothing. The Fire Nation isn't anywhere near striking range of this city."

"Nothing? No sabotage, no assassinations, no terrorism, nothing? The Fire Nation has no plans of covertly striking this city? Now why do I find that hard to believe." Luan started to tear up as he braced for pain. Of course FNMOI had orders to strike at Ba Sing Se now that war had begun, to disrupt the Earth Kingdom command structure and damage morale. Luan didn't want to betray his people by divulging intel, though he realized with a heavy heart that it was only a matter of time before he broke, and not much of it at that. Zeindou stomped on his shin, right at the point of the break. Luan screamed in agony, tears falling freely now.

"It is most unfortunate that you are not in a more cooperative frame of mind" Zeindou said, walking towards the wall he came in through. He bent an opening, and in walked the two agents who had been torturing Luan since his arrest. He left the cell, closing the hole behind him. "P-please" Luan sobbed. The agents ignored his pleas as they set to work without expression.