The once mighty walls of Ba Sing Se lay in ruins as they approached.

After leaving the invasion fleet behind, because they feared their presence would draw attention to it, Team Avatar had flown east, towards the city that had once been the capital of the Earth Kingdom.

Aang had business to attend to there, plus with any luck they could create a pretty major distraction in the process.

Still, it was not going to be a pleasant experience returning there, reflected Zuko. To Mai, it was the place she had been imprisoned for all that time, and all of them would have to deal with the aftermath of what his father's armies had done to it, with, apparently, the direct collusion of the Dai Li.

Or at least, so Aang had said and Zuko had no reason to disbelieve him.

As the Serpent's Pass passed below them and what remained of the walls came into view, they were silenced in awe and horror at the sight of the ruins. Inside the outer defences, much of the land that had once been farmland, sustaining the population of the great city, either showed signs of having been on fire recently or had been allowed to grow out of control. Zuko saw maybe one farmer tilling at his field in the entire ring. The man turned to look at them as they passed, his face expressing no emotion at all.

The actual city had clearly had an even worse time of it. Much of it still lay in ruins, and palls of smoke hung in the air. Where once the streets had bustled with activity, now only a few people picked their way over the debris.

"Oh, Agni..." Mai muttered, the sole verbal expression of a collective horror the group felt at the landscape beneath them.

Aang directed Appa to land at a warehouse, a building large enough to hide the Sky Bison while Team Avatar did what they had to. Part of the roof had been caved in, but enough of it was still there that it still functioned as a shelter. As soon as Toph stepped off the Bison she gasped, only now being able to appreciate the scale of the destruction.

"How could the Dai Li do this?" Suki asked angrily. "I know they weren't fans of the King, but surely they were at least Patriots?"

"The Dai Li didn't do this," a voice said from behind them. "The Fire Nation did."

Zuko had heard that voice before, in this very city, and the last time its owner had been trying to attack him.

Team Avatar turned around to see Jet the Freedom Fighter behind them.

"You!" Katara reacted with rage, creating an icicle that she levelled at him. "What are you doing here?"

Jet didn't so much as flinch, only continuing to chew on his straw. "I could ask you the same question, given you just flew in through the roof of our hideout."

He surveyed them.

"I would be especially interested to know why you appear to be travelling with members of the Fire Nation!"

He reached, slowly, for one of his hook swords.

"Lee, is it? I knew you were a Firebender, and so is your uncle. It's nice to have vindication in that, at least". Zuko was dressed in the red of the Fire Nation, as opposed to the green he had been in the last time they had fought.

"Jet, don't," Aang warned. This is not Lee, his name is Zuko, and next to him is Mai. They are from the Fire Nation, it's true, but they switched sides and are now fighting against them."

This did not pacify the Freedom Fighter.

"If I were you, I would not trust anyone from the Fire Nation as far as I could throw them. They must be deceiving you, it's in their nature!" He stood up quickly.

"And how do you know?" Zuko blurted out, before immediately wishing he hadn't.

"Firebenders have destroyed not one but two of my homes! They took everything from me- twice!"

"And I'm sorry for that," Zuko said. He meant it too.

This appeared to catch Jet off guard. He must have been expecting them to vehemently deny it, defend themselves, not apologise.

"...Sorry?"

"Yes, I'm sorry," Zuko repeated.

All the aggression went out of Jet's stance, and he sank back into his chair.

"What is the city like?" Suki asked him.

"The Firebenders installed a provisional government before they left. They took some disgraced minister out of prison and put him in charge, with the Dai Li acting as his police force."

"Long Feng," Katara said knowingly.

"Yes, that's the name. The time since the sack has been just steady efforts to rebuild, but as I'm sure you saw we haven't got very far yet."

"Long Feng must have instructed the Dai Li to go to the Fire Lord and offer them a deal to let them in if they installed him as governor afterwards," Sokka mused.

"Who is this Long Feng?" Zuko asked.

"Oh, right, you hadn't joined us yet. He was a corrupt official who was trying to keep the Earth King and most of the city in the dark about the existence of a war with the Fire Nation."

"That's a very big lie," Zuko observed.

"It was- and yet he still pulled it off, at least until we got there, stormed the Palace and convinced the Earth King to lock him up."

"Shall we do it again?" Toph asked.

"It's not the most subtle of plans, Toph."

"Now is not the time for subtlety. We need to create a distraction for the invasion, and Aang needs to deal with the Dai Li because of what Kyoshi told him. So we do both at the same time and strike while we still have the element of surprise."

"Sounds good to me," Katara said. All of them nodded their assent except Sokka, who protested that they needed more time to plan, but he was overruled.

As they were climbing on to Appa, Jet suddenly spoke. "I'm coming with you."

Katara and Aang looked at each other. "Are you sure we can trust him?"

"No offence, Jet, but the last time we met you tried to drown a village full of innocent people."

"I know, and I was wrong. I still want the defeat of the Fire Nation, but now I know not to go to such extremes and hurt innocent people to do it."

"You know what, fine. Get on."

Jet grabbed his swords and jumped on the Bison, which took off through the same hole in the roof they had entered through.

For the second time in a year, Team Avatar flew towards the Palace to confront the Dai Li.

Unlike the first time, though, there was no massive rock hurled at them, no scores of troops trying to stop them, no colossal battle to force their way in. It was quiet, unnervingly so.

"Where is the Dai Li?" Sokka wondered. "Surely it can't be this easy."

It was. Completely unopposed, Appa came in to land in the upper ring, with nobody in sight.

Everyone drew their weapons, except Aang and Toph who didn't carry any. He was the Avatar, so he didn't need them.

"Stay here, guard the door," Sokka said to Jet. "We'll need advance warning if anyone is coming."

Jet nodded, and hovered near the entrance to the Palace as the rest entered. There was still nobody to be seen.

"Where is everyone?" Suki wondered.

"Wait," Toph said. "There's someone in the throne room."

"Well, one person seems to be as good as we'll get, let's go."

With a wave of Aang's hand, a blast of wind knocked the doors open, to reveal, sitting on the Royal Seat of the Earth King, Long Feng himself, sitting on his throne. He was seemingly entirely alone.

"Ah, Avatar, I must say you're not half as subtle as you think you are. We saw you coming a mile off."

"Subtle wasn't part of the plan," Toph called. "Speaking of which, what about your plan to let the Fire Nation in? That wreckage outside, that's your doing."

"Little girl, what you see is not my responsibility. I did not do this."

He pointed at Aang.

"You did."

"Me?" Aang protested. "What did I do?"

"Oh, where to begin," Long Feng sneered. "The Dai Li for a long time maintained a policy engineered to keep the war away from these walls and protect those living in it-"

"By pretending it wasn't happening!" Katara shouted.

"Until you lot blundered in here, told the Earth King everything, brought Fire Nation prisoners to our door, and in the process brought the wrath of the Fire Nation down upon this city."

"I'm sorry, who let them through the walls again?" Sokka asked.

"It is true, we did that. We only did it after receiving the Firelord's express assurances that the city would not be harmed. The Fire Nation lied to us and sacked it anyway."

"So you admit it then."

"Of course."

"Long Feng, do you know who founded your organisation?" Aang asked.

"Yes, Avatar Kyoshi did, though I don't see the relevance of this history lesson now."

"I am Kyoshi reborn, and I received a vision from her telling me to come here and shut the Dai Li down- fix her mistakes, as she sees them."

"Did you now?" Long Feng leaned forward. "That's not going to happen, I'm afraid."

"We stopped you before, we can do so again!" Toph boasted. The seven of them began to advance towards him, weapons in hand.

"Ah, I see. You believe you have the power here. One against seven, and all that."

Long Feng stood up.

"But I know something you don't."

As he turned to leave, seemingly completely unfazed by the entire situation, he turned and spoke one more sentence.

"The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."