Chapter 18
Feng wasn't sure whether it was the light shining in his eyes, or the general level of noise around him that had woken him up, but whatever it was, it caused him to groan as he was greeted with the throb of pain originating in his face.
"Arrggh…" He groaned softly, seeking to reach up to hold his face but found that he couldn't, finding that his arms were pinned down from the shoulder to the wrist, giving him barely any room to move them.
"The hell?" Feng muttered, mustering up the courage to open his eyes and immediately feel a tugging sensation come from the skin around them as he did. Luckily, there was no pain. Hissing slightly in discomfort, Feng waited as his eyes focused on the room around him, revealing after a few uneasy seconds that he was inside a nice-looking room, one that, while simple, had a high-quality cupboard and chair, and judging by what he was feeling, the bedding too.
It was also not the room he remembered waking up in every morning this past month.
"Something feels off. I can't tell what yet, but it does." Feng muttered as he began to fidget, feeling an itch on his nose that he just had to scratch. No bedding was going to hold him down, no sirree.
Using his elbows as leverage, Feng first pushed his shoulders up, loosening the sheets on his upper body first on the left, and then doing the same on the right. This loosened it just enough to give him some wriggle room, which he used to free his arms. This let him inspect them, to see that there was no sign of damage on them.
"Well, that's a relief. Normally people get restrained like that to keep them still in case of injury. Luckily, it seems like I dodge that arrow." He sighed, reaching up to his nose to relieve the itch as he scratched that particular piece of skin with perhaps too much force, as soon after a stinging pain originated from the formerly itchy spot, radiating out to the rest of his face.
"Gahh!" Feng grunted, gritting his teeth slightly as he brought his hand away, staring in concern at the blood now present on it.
"Well...that can't be good," Feng noted in shocked horror, making no moves to touch his face as he began to desperately look for a mirror, his memories of his last waking moment coming back to him. He remembered it all. The rush of excitement as he soared to the ground below. The triumph he felt at his victory over the crown princess, his fight with the group of firebenders, and finally, being engulfed in fire.
As if summoned by the noise of his pain, Katara walked through the doorway, lugging a large bowl of water with her as she casually inspected the room before opening her eyes in surprise, dropping the thankfully metal bowl in surprise as she rushed forward to meet him.
"Feng, your awake!" Katara yelled in shock, immediately lunging forward to wrap him in a hug, her arms tightening around him enough to make his ribs groan.
"Yeah, I guess so," Feng muttered, his eyes moving back and forth in thought as he pieced some of the puzzles together. "From the sounds of it, I've been out for a while?"
A head nodded against his shoulder. One that was curiously staying away from his face he didn't fail to note, trying to suppress the panic he was feeling.
"How long?" He asked quietly, receiving no answer from Katara as the seconds passed in silence.
"How long, Katara?" Feng repeated, speaking with just a touch more force in his voice, now demanding the answer.
"Three days, Feng. You've been asleep for three days." Katara said in a muffled voice from where her face was, earning a minute nod from the man.
Three days…That wasn't ideal, he thought, but it wasn't anything to be too concerned over. He'd had a couple of benders that had lasted two, so an extra day was manageable. Even so, however, that still left one other question that he needed to know the answer to.
"Alright, that's fine, but that still leaves me wondering why my face feels like it's on fire when there is no fire."
As if his mention of his bodily feature had reminded the girl, Katara disengaged from the hug, moving back to look him in the face as her eyes winded in surprise, narrowing in on his nose.
"You're injured!" Katara shouted in shock, which wasn't making Feng feel any better, but he had a feeling that she was talking about his nose, which he could feel was still dripping blood.
"Maybe just a tad," Feng admitted, earning a glare from the girl that failed to make him cringe. "In my defense though…it was itchy?"
"Of course it was itchy, your-" Katara shut her mouth, cutting off the rest of her sentence as a pitying expression appeared on her face. "I mean, that's understandable. For the foreseeable future though, if you could hold back from scratching any itches you get above your neck, that would be appreciated."
His face? Why would he-
"Katara," Feng spoke in a monotone, his voice remaining remarkably level.
"Yes?"
"What happened to my face?"
Katara twitched at the question, setting Feng's panic levels somewhere between Sokka when they were down to the last piece of meat, and Sokka when they were down to only leafy greens.
"Answer the question Katara, before my mind makes me freak out more than I already am," Feng repeated, giving the girl a look that hinted at the maelstrom of swirling emotions he was feeling inside.
"It's…well, there's no easy way to say this, but you were burned at the end of the battle against the Fire Nation soldiers that entered with the drill. You're clothing mostly protected you from the flame, but…"
"…but I wasn't wearing my mask." Feng finished for her, a weight settling in his gut as he cursed himself for giving Azula his mask. He hadn't known why he did it then, some inane reason he was sure, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember why right now.
"I need to see it." Feng decided, moving to stand up as some previously unknown aches and pains made themselves known to the teen, particularly in his back as he groaned slightly upon straightening up.
It wasn't nearly as bad as the slight but constant burn his face was experiencing.
"Take me to a mirror."
"Feng-" Katara began with an outraised hand, clearing her throat slightly as she lowered it. "I'm not so sure that's the best idea. You're still healing, and not yet nearing what you'll eventually look like."
"I don't care, I need to see." Feng retorted stubbornly, ignoring her unimpressed look as he gave her his own ultimatum. "Look, one way or another I'm going to see what sort of mess my face is in right now. You can either help me, or I can chance jumping out the window. Your choice."
Because the room did have a window conveniently close to where he was standing, one that was more than enough to fit him, and Katara knew him well enough to know that he wasn't bluffing.
"…alright, Feng." She sighed after staring into his eyes for a few seconds, waving her hand as she bent the spilled water back into the metal bowl, picking it up after the floor was dry.
Silently, she handed him the bowl, letting him stare down at its reflective surface, the combination of water and metal doing a passable job of showing his reflection. It meant that it took him less than a second to actually see what he looked like, which is why he flinched.
"…Maybe you were right to not let me look," Feng muttered under Katara's guilty expression as he reached up with his free hand, gently touching his cheek, poking hesitantly at the marred skin as he ignored the minor twinges that even that action caused.
Covering basically his entire face, from the skin under his chin to his forehead, was scar tissue present, a faint red in coloration that contrasted with his normally pale skin and eyes. Nothing deep or overly disfiguring, his face was still the shape it once was, but…
Feng swallowed deeply, the first signs of misery appearing in his heart.
"You said it'll get better?" Feng asked, focusing on that fact as he looked back up at Katara, looking for reassurance. "How much better?"
"I'm unsure," Katara admitted as she took a step closer, placing a hand on his shoulder in support. "The parts that aren't overly damaged…I should be able to fully heal those in a couple of sessions, as they are mostly just shallow, skin damage. The raised portions…they'll reduce in severity and get less bumpy…but I don't think I can get rid of them. Not completely."
A silence occurred as Feng digested her prognosis.
"Well…that's comforting, I suppose," Feng muttered because right now it hurts to look at. Hurt to feel too, as almost every single piece of his reddened skin throbbed, particularly as he touched it. Half of it also had a slightly rough texture to it, one that he more saw than felt as those parts hurt more than the rest. Of course, the worst part was his nose which was bleeding and throbbing, but Feng didn't let that affect him, being the result of him satisfying his itch.
It still earned a pained chuckle from Katara though, which made him smile ever so slightly, not wanting to cause his sensitive skin to twinge.
"Now that you've satisfied your curiosity, can I go back to healing you? It's kind of why I'm here."
Right, that made sense Feng supposed, letting her push him back down to the bedding in the center of the private room, placing his head in her lap as she placed her hands into the water, letting it pool around them as she lifted her hands upwards, taking the water with her.
"I have to ask though…what caused this?" Katara said, running her hands softly over Feng's skin, careful to not let her fingers touch it as the water rolled over the damaged material, soothing the irritation Feng was beginning to feel. "Because the only burn I've ever seen worse than this is the one that Zuko has."
Great, that was the one thing he had been trying not to think about. Still, she was healing him from it, so it was only fair that she knew.
"Well, I was fighting against a squad of Firebenders after I'd taken out the princess, which happened quite quickly," Feng smirked slightly, proud of that fact, "but it turns out there's a flaw in my Air Fortress technique that I never discovered when testing it with you guys."
"Theirs a flaw with it?" Katara asked in surprise, not letting it stall her rhythmic motions. "But that technique is formidable, and one of the hardest I've ever had to get through. Did it not block the fire or something?"
"Worse," Feng grunted as his hands fidgeted with the bedding, "It turns out that air, when condensed as I do for my Air Fortress, is flammable. Very flammable."
Katara's face showed her disappointment with that fact. Along with pity, Feng couldn't help but notice. It was the only part of her that he could actually see aside from where her hands passed over his eyes, although the water gave her a funny green tinge.
"Yep. It turns out that after so long spent on such a technique, perfecting my usage of it to protect me, the one element of bending it's weaker against is that of Fire. The one element that we are fighting, which is just a kick in the pants, let me tell you."
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the teen. The Air Fortress had been the technique he was most proud of, one of his master-level moves that Aang had approved. And it was worth nothing. Less than nothing, really, seeing as it just made him more vulnerable against fire benders.
"I'm…sure it's not that bad," Katara said, trying to placate him as he sighed, forcing himself to consider her point. Yes, condensed air was flammable, a fact that he had discovered rather painfully, exploding on contact with open flame.
But was it completely useless? It couldn't be, not after spending so long on it. Feng turned his mind back to the end of the battle, from when he had first brought out the shield. And much to his surprise, he found that Katar was right.
"The first couple of attacks that hit only caused the outer layers to explode, the movement of my barrier causing a storm of fire to appear around me. I guess I could use that as a defense against other fire attacks if I can make sure that it never reaches the inner layer." Feng mused aloud, earning a 'there you go' expression from her.
"But it'd be a double-edged sword for me, as it would leave me stuck in one spot with no idea what's going on. It would also leave me stuck in one place, which isn't ideal for an Airbender, and any allies nearby would be affected by the sudden increase in fire. Which would be the main times I'd even need to use my defense."
Which was still depressing to think about, so he chose to push forward, letting the problem of the technique fall into the back of his mind. Most of his current training, outside of the standard Airbender katas, was on his airflow sense right now anyway, which he'd been making good progress on.
He still couldn't quite feel his surroundings yet, but the area of air he could affect and track had been growing. Not quickly, nor easily, but steadily growing as he made progress in his training.
"That's…okay, I'm just going to say it. That sucks. But at least you learned now and got off mostly unscathed if condensed air is so dangerous, rather than later in a more dangerous area like an enclosed space or something." Katara replied, wincing slightly at the gimlet eye she received.
She was right, but Feng wasn't sure a scarred face was relatively unscathed. Still, despite his personal feelings on the matter, he'd let it go. He could see that she was only trying to help in her own way, and she was already helping a lot just by healing him.
So he stayed quiet so she could concentrate, enjoying the soothing feeling of the water on his skin, the way it soothed and moisturized his dried-out skin.
"And done." Katara sighed, lifting her hands off his face and placing the water back into the bowl, letting Feng get up as he took another look at his appearance, noticing that the redness of his skin had, while not disappeared, visibly reduced, and no longer felt quite so irritated.
It made him feel a little better about how much she could heal him if she could do this much in just one session.
"Thanks, Doc, it feels better." Feng expressed his appreciation, poking softly at his skin to compare it to earlier. This earned a smack on the back of the head and a stern expression from the girl.
"Stop touching your face! It'll only make the healing process longer if you do."
"Right." Feng nodded, ignoring the slight itch that had returned to his skin as he turned his mind to other matters, mulling over the aftereffects of the battle they'd just had.
"You said I've been asleep for a few days, right? That means I've been confined here for that time. Do you think I can go out there now, or should I wait?"
This question brought Katara to a pause as she considered it, looking between his face and the door, along with his stubborn yet mischievous expression.
"You'd just sneak out when I leave, wouldn't you?" She asked with humor laced in her voice, putting a hand on her hip as Feng winked, glad he could still do so if not as easily, earning a fond sigh from the girl as she gestured for the door, moving for him to follow.
Leaving the nice yet basic room behind, Feng was greeted with…more nice but basic room. Well, a hallway to be exact, and a long one at that which Katara led him down, greeting a few of the help staff along the way that had the good graces to ignore Feng's injury even if they still glanced at it in curiosity.
Forcing himself to hold his tongue, Feng simply nodded in greeting to them as well, knowing that they would not be the first…nor the last, to do so. Potentially for the rest of his life, so it'd be a good idea for him to start now.
No matter how much it grated on him.
But the longer they walked through the hallways, the more turns and people they were met with, the more curious Feng became as to where exactly they were.
"Ah…Katara?"
"Yes, Feng?" Katara replied, smiling sweetly in a way that Feng knew was not actually sweet, but amused.
"We've been walking for a while now."
"We have." She echoed in amusement, making no move to follow up on the topic, frustration bubbling up in Feng before he suppressed it as he took a deep breath, ruffling his clothes when he exhaled much to Katara's not-so-hidden enjoyment.
"Right, enough of this evasive nonsense, where the hell are we?"
"There's no need for that kind of language Feng," Katara chided him as she looked over her shoulder, not breaking stride. "As for where we are…we're in the Earth Kingdom Palace."
"The Palace." Feng echoed, not sure how to feel about that.
Seeing his confusion, the girl decided to take pity on him, coming to a stop for a minute.
"Yes, the Palace. After we repelled the initial invasion with the help of the Earth Kingdom soldiers, we got approached by one of the leaders with an invitation to see the king along with an offer to take shelter with him. Naturally, we were surprised, but we didn't really have the opportunity to refuse, not with how serious they were about the offer, nor with your injuries." Katara confessed, a flash of guilt appearing in her eyes before it disappeared as she began to walk again, Feng following her closely.
"Isn't that a good thing then? Our entire purpose of coming to Ba Sing Se was to meet the Earth King, to inform him about the Solar Eclipse so we could fight back."
"Yes, it was." Katara agreed before sighing. "Unfortunately, it still is, as we've yet to actually meet the king. We've met all of the five generals, but whenever we moved to see King Kuei, we got met with a man called Long Feng, the leader of the Dai Li. No matter what we tried, he wouldn't let us through to see him, insisting that if we had any information we needed to pass on, we could just give it to him to give to the king."
Katara growled in frustration as her steps became more rigid, no longer flowing as smoothly as she normally did.
"Even Aang was able to tell something fishy was going on, even before Toph revealed he was lying when we were alone. That's all we've really done these past few days, just sit and wait, giving you time to recover. Well, there was one thing, but I think I can let someone else tell you that story."
"But there's no one else here." Feng voiced in confusion, looking around the passageway to see if he had missed anyone but he hadn't, it was just Feng and Katara approaching a large, ornate set of doors by themselves, the last of the servants long since left behind.
That is until the door slammed open with a whoosh of air, crashing against the walls with a burst of dust and noise, the doors rattling in their frames as Feng saw the outstretched form of Toph's leg, the one she had used to kick the door open.
"Think again, Sleeping Beauty," Toph smirked as she took a couple of steps forward, a smile gracing her lips as she ran her metaphorical gaze up and down Feng's body. "You know, for a guy that passed out like a girl, you seem to be in pretty good shape. Shame I can't say for your dignity." She joked, sounding playful.
Normally, this kind of interaction would have seemed lighthearted to Feng, but there was an edge to it this time, Toph's voice wavering ever so slightly. Enough to be noticed though as Feng took a closer look at her, at her slightly disheveled hair and tired eyes.
"Yes, well they say perfection takes time, so you better be glad I didn't take any longer." Feng jabbed back, taking a step forward as he placed a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder.
"I'm okay Toph," Feng said, his voice unflinching in seriousness. "I won't lie, I'm not completely healed, and won't be fighting fit for a few days yet, but I'm okay. I'm out of danger."
"Pfft, of course you're out of danger, I'm here!" Toph blustered, waving her arms around in agitation as her lips twitched, pausing for a second.
"Oh, stuff it." She huffed, stepping into Feng's reach and wrapping her arms around his waist, holding tight as she pressed her face into his chest, Feng hesitantly did the same as, while Toph normally wasn't all touchy-feely, he could tell that she needed this.
"'M glad you're okay." She mumbled into his shirt, squeezing tighter for a second before loosening her grip, stepping back as she glared at the pair of taller benders.
"If you tell anyone, no one will believe you." She huffed, turning about-face as she led the pair of bemused teens into the greater room, where a number of people were standing, least of all Aang and Sokka, who rushed over to greet them, leaving what looked like to be a frustrating conversation with a guy in dark robes and a long mustache.
"Feng!" Aang cried, rushing forward to tackle him in the ribs, making him take a couple of steps backward to regain his balance as Aang held himself around Feng's shoulders, hanging in the air.
"Good to see you too, Aang." Feng chuckled, earning a grin from the boy as he let go, taking a step back as he briefly glanced at Feng's face but showing no other reaction as he focused on his eyes, giving Sokka a chance to speak.
"Hey Feng, it's good to see you up and moving." Sokka greeted with a nod, unable to withhold a grimace as he stared at the aftermath of the invasion on Feng's face.
"It's good to be moving," Feng replied with a strained smile, his hands behind his back as he looked at the group of teens around him, doing so easily considering the difference in perspective.
For the most part, they were all completely healthy, a fact that Feng was glad for. Yes, they showed a few signs of frustration and tiredness, likely due to how they were blocked from seeing the king and his own situation, Feng realized, but unharmed. Uninjured.
Unscarred.
And from the looks of things, ready to take the battle to the Fire Nation once more, something Feng was eager for as well. Although this time he would stick to the more evasive, classical style of Airbending he mused, one that didn't leave him standing in one spot inside an explosion chamber.
"Ah, it seems that our young guest had finally emerged from his slumber. I am glad." The mysterious mustache guy said as he walked up to the group, his hands behind his back as a placating smile, one that did not match his eyes, graced his lips. "It makes me glad."
"…Thank you?" Feng voiced, looking between the others with confusion as they stared at the figure.
"Ah, I see your confusion," The man chuckled. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Long Feng, leader of the Dai Li and one of the protectors of this fine city."
Bowing as he spoke, Feng instantly made the connection that this was the man with the power behind the throne. This was the man who prevented anyone from meeting with the Earth King and thus prevented anyone from knowing the king's opinion. Really, it would be simplicity itself to receive an order from the king and then replace it with one of his own, ensuring what he wants to happen happens. But that wasn't necessarily a deal breaker.
"Nice to meet you, Long Feng."
"No, it is nice to meet you…Sir Oni." Long Feng smiled, satisfaction flashing in his eyes as his smile turned vicious. "It is not every day that you meet the man behind the legend that has tormented the Fire Nation these past few years. I have to thank you for what you've done, your actions alone have stalled the movement of the Fire Nations military."
"Perhaps," Feng allowed, nodding to the leader of the Dai Li before gesturing to the walls around them, to be exact the outer walls, "but not everything, as you can clearly tell."
"Yes." Long Feng agreed, his voice clipped as he frowned. "It is unfortunate that the Fire Nation has managed to breach our walls once more. It was not an action I had foreseen, nor anyone I suspect. The last time it happened, it took over 600 days to do so under the command of the Mighty Dragon of the West, not some inexperienced Princess."
So, she was the one leading the assault. Good to know.
"Thanks to your friend though, we don't have to worry about it, at least for now." The man continued, gesturing his head towards Toph as Feng cocked an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder at the girl.
"Toph? Something you need to tell me?"
"What?" she frowned in confusion before realization appeared in her eyes. "Right, that. Well, at the end of the battle, after the Fire Nation was repelled, I was helping close up the hole in the wall, after all, I am the best Earthbender there is," she boasted, making Feng roll his eyes fondly, "but as we were fininshing up, I noticed something."
Toph paused, a smirk appearing on her lips as Feng waited patiently.
"Yes?" He promoted, earning a snort from the girl as she continued.
"Well, while the drill was still there, and could thus be used to breach the walls again whenever the Fire Nation regrouped, at the time it was stationary. Just a large, stationary piece of metal."
Of metal, now why did that sound familiar…Feng's eyes widened in surprise as Toph's grin widened, seeing that he had clued on to what she was speaking of.
"Yep! Turns out that you can manipulate the metal the Fire Nation uses. Sure, it's a bit harder than gold, but it ain't impossible. So, given the opportunity, I went about deforming the plates that covered the head of the drill, deforming them as much as I could on short notice, making sure that the gaps left for movement were impeded."
Toph crossed her arms, grinning in triumph. "I'd like to see them use it now, as I made sure to really break it in such a way that they won't be able to repair it while the drill's stuck in the wall. Thus, long story short, Ba Sing Se is saved, with me as its savior. You may express your awe now."
"That's amazing, Toph," Feng congratulated her with a smile, pleased at the news. "Good thinking."
"I try," Toph smirked, but looked away as her cheeks reddened slightly, an action that amused the rest of team Avatar.
"Yes, it is indeed quite the feat." Long Feng said as he shot a glance at Toph, his greed barely contained behind a mask of civility at the mention of the technique. "It is a shame that no one else has discovered up until now, else the Fire Nation wouldn't be so close to winning the war."
"Yeah, well I wasn't exactly around before now, so tough luck my guy." She shrugged, earning a faint huff from the main as he frowned, refocusing his attention towards Feng.
It was obvious that he still wished to talk about the technique, but he knew a rebuttal when he heard one, Feng thought. He wouldn't have maintained his hold on such a precious position if he couldn't.
"Well, regardless, thank you for protecting our city. With your help, we shall once more maintain the careful balance we have kept since the beginning of the war, and now that we know of the Fire Nation's new technologies, we can better prepare ourselves against them."
Now, a normal person might have taken the dismissal for what it was, taking advantage of the opportunity to leave, but Feng wasn't exactly a normal person.
"Are you sure about that?" Feng interjected, not letting the opening escape him, a fact that the Dai Li's leaders were aware of by his momentary scowl. "With their new drill, it took the Fire Nation all of an hour to breach the Outerwall, which is the largest and strongest of them all. You say that you will be able to defend against it, but tell me, how will you do that? How will you continue to protect Ba Sing Se's walls?"
This was a question that must have interested the rest of team Avatar as well, as they were all listening intently for the man's response.
"We will find a way; don't you worry Sir Oni." Long Feng retorted gruffly, folding his hands into his sleeves as he made to leave, but Feng was having none of that. They had gotten this far and spent too long in a place that was sub-optimum for Aang's training trying to reach the Earth King to stop now.
Or if not him, the man actually in charge of the nation's forces, it didn't really matter to Feng. That's why he didn't hesitate to reach out, grasping the man on his shoulder, not letting him go.
"I'm sorry, did I say you could go?"
A couple of Dai Li agents hovering around the area tensed, getting ready to intervene only to be met with the resolute stares of Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka, each of them ready to fight.
"We are not done here." Feng continued, pulling harshly enough to cause Long Feng to turn around, displacing his carefully maintained outfit as the man stopped bothering to hide his feelings, openly glaring now.
"You would do well not to interrupt me, boy, lest you find yourself facing the consequences beyond your ken."
"And as the team that successfully repelled the invasion that your own forces could not, in answer to your little threat…" Feng grinned sharply, ignoring the way that it tugged at his scars as the air around him began to swirl, ruffling his clothes as the air moved faster and faster, Feng leaning into the theatrics of it.
"I'd like to see you try."
Feng's words weren't threatening though…they were a promise. A promise of violence, one that would be backed up by two master benders, the Avatar, A tactical genius, and the Vengeful Oni, a group of fighters unlike the world had ever seen.
Long Feng realized this as he swallowed at the sight of all of them gearing up for a scuffle, nervous at the prospect of such a fight and knowing that doing so here would result in interference from guards not his own. So, the man made the only move he could.
"Stand down." He ordered to the unbelieving ears of his men, repeating the command with more force to ensure they listened which they did after an uneasy couple of seconds, still not convinced, but loyal to his wishes.
"There's a good lad." Feng grinned, releasing his hold on both the man and the wind, taking advantage of his height to physically bear down on the elder man. "Now, I've had a long couple of days, and am sick of taking the peaceful, lengthy option, so I'm going to get straight into what it is that I want, and you're going to listen. Is that clear?"
Long Feng opened his mouth to retort, but a wave of Feng's hands blew it shut, making his teeth rattle slightly.
Toph and Sokka were loving the show of bravado Feng was putting on, each of them grinning madly at the display even if they didn't speak up about it. Katara and Aang, the two more peaceful members of the groups were less sure, but they were still willing to follow Feng's lead on this one.
"Now, no matter how we voice our request to meet the Earth King, it keeps getting either delayed or refused. Because of you. Yes, it never explicitly states it anywhere, but we both know you are the one behind this, the power behind the throne as it were."
"That is heresy!" Long Feng blustered only to be ignored.
"No, it isn't, and while we can't actually prove it, I'm 100% certain of this truth, thanks to my little friend over here. She's got truth-sensing abilities didn't you know?" Feng said, cockily pointing a hand over to the girl as she nodded.
"Sup."
"So you can cut the bullshit. I don't really care to be honest who is behind the throne, what I care about is the military power the Earth Kingdom possesses. So, answer me this, manipulator, do you, through misdirection, control the forces of the Earth kingdom? That is, if you wanted to, could you order the soldiers to gather in force if needed?"
"I have no idea what you mean!" Long Feng tried one more time, only to receive an unimpressed stare from the still reddened face of Feng, the color contrast making his eyes seem even colder than normal. Like blades ready to slit your throat.
A few seconds of this was enough for even a man of Long Feng's experience to crumble, his composure wavering as he took a look around the room, ensuring that no one in earshot was not under his control besides the members of Team Avatar. Seeing no one, he paused for a few seconds before hesitantly nodding.
"I…yes, I can."
"Good, that's all I needed to hear." Feng smiled as he stuck out a hand behind his back, receiving a gold coin from the grumbling Aang, the boy had made a bet that Long Feng wouldn't be able to get the shadow leader, whoever they were, to admit the truth, a bet the younger boy was now regretting making.
"Back to the Fire Nation, you say that you'll be able to keep protecting Ba Sing Se, now that you're ready, but you see, I have some doubts. The Drill is just one demonstration of the technological superiority the Fire Nation holds, whereas another is their ships. They don't seem to show any signs of slowing down either, so it isn't impossible to think that they'll keep improving, correct?"
Thinking over some of the reports he'd seen, on the numbers of materials and manpower the Fire Nation continued to move around, Long Feng found himself grudgingly agreeing with the point. Even he couldn't deny Feng's statement.
"That means better ways of moving soldiers around, better ways of digging, of waging battle. Ignoring the most recent attack, Ba Sing Se has already been breached before by the Dragon of the West, even if on a much longer time frame. As time passes on, your city will be threatened more and more by the Fire Nation Army, a fact you've already seen proven true by the recent incursion. Am I wrong?"
"…no, no you are not wrong." The man admitted much to the surprises of the others, but not Feng. He had seen men like Long Feng before, a lot of them in fact seeing as he was just the type to be one of his targets if he was a part of the Fire Nation. Men like him all sought power. Craved it, hoarded it, denied it to others, you name it, they did it. But once they had that power, they would do everything they could to preserve it, to preserve their little kingdoms.
And right now, Long Feng desperately needed all the help he could to do just that.
"There is Another fact you may not be aware of, even if I didn't see this one personally. Sokka, could you step forward for a second?"
Surprised at the sudden request, Sokka stared blankly at Feng as he pointed at himself as if to say 'do you mean me?'
On seeing Feng's nod, the boy shrugged as he stepped forward.
"Yeah? What do you need?"
"Before I joined you, when you traveled to the Northern Air Temple, what did you see of its habitants? What precisely did they do that set them apart?" It was one of the stories the others had told him in one of his breaks atop Appa, taking advantage of his time to learn more about who his people could have been if their fate had been kinder.
"They destroyed irreplaceable Air Nomad architecture?" The boy said cluelessly, causing Aang to scowl at the reminder.
"No, the other part." Feng refuted irritably as Sokka's face lit up like a lightbulb.
"Oh! You mean the flying!"
"Yes, exactly." Feng nodded, turning back to the weary-looking Long Feng who had so far only heard bad things come out of Feng's mouth. Good, he had reason to be.
"You see, roughly 3 months ago, my companions here traveled to the Northern Air temple where they found a bunch of refugees living, converting it into a place for them to live. In that time, they took inspiration from their surroundings, and like the Airbenders' of old, learned how to fly, to soar through the air."
"They what?!" Long Feng exclaimed in surprise, taking a step back in surprise. "That's impossible!"
"No, just improbable." Feng denied, enjoying the little back and forth they had going on. "A little later, in pursuit of Aang, Fire Nation Forces assaulted the temple. Through Aang and the other's help, they managed to repel them, but during that time, they took advantage of a little thing called a war balloon, something that lets you travel through the air through the use of hot air which can be caused through fire. And guess who got a close-up view of how effective it can be?"
"…the Fire Nation." Long Feng stated dully, his voice flat as his eyes glanced back and forth, rapidly connecting the dots. "If that's the case, if the Fire Nation learns how to take to the skies…my city is no longer safe. Ba Sing Se will fall."
"If it keeps going as it has been, yes, it will. The Fire Nation has been steadily making ground for over 100 years now, are you really surprised that they're ready to end it?" Feng drawled, watching the way Long Feng's face flashed through several emotions, all of them negative before he finally settled on despondent.
"Then what am I to do? What can we do in the face of such firepower?" The man actually sounded a little helpless, unsure as to just what could be done.
"It's simple Fancy Pants, we fight," Toph voiced aloud with confidence, not looking the least bit nervous. "Because they haven't won yet, and we have a piece of information that, with the help of the other nations, might just turn this whole thing around, this whole war around. But only if we attack first like the Fire Nation once did. We can no longer sit and wait; it is now time to strike. That is why we are here, to get said help."
Long Feng switched his gaze between all the members of team Avatar, finding determination in every single pair of them as the man came to a decision, sighing heavily as he nodded, making Feng grin, looking just a tad deranged as he did so.
"If that's true, then I would be a fool not to listen. What can I do to help?"
Feng let Sokka explain this part as it was kind of his plan, but it didn't stop the sense of accomplishment that had formed in his chest. Yes, it hadn't exactly been the way that he had planned, but in the end, all that mattered was the results.
So, at least for now, he'd savor this victory, because spirits know how many they'd get in the future, even with the Solar Eclipse coming up.
…
"That went well," Sokka commented, hands on hip as he watched the rest of Team Avatar load up Appa, preparing them for their exit from the city.
"It'd go better if you helped," Katara grunted, hefting her bag up to hand it to Feng who was standing on the saddle, leaning down to grab hold of the handle. "Instead of standing there like an idiot."
"I'll have you know that I'm standing here like a stoic hero," Sokka protested heatedly, a finger raised at the point, but it slackened a moment later as a burst of air caused him to fall over, one that earned a suspicious glare to the suddenly facing away Feng, Katara laughing at the interaction.
"Guys, guys, you have to hear this!" Aang's exuberant voice yelled out without warning as he rushed in carrying a small chest, hugging it tightly to his chest as he slowed down from his wind-enhanced speed. "I was passing by the palace one last time for a final check-in when one of the Dai Li agents handed me this, and you're not going to believe what it contains!"
AN: And that's the end of another chapter, where we mainly went over the aftermath of the attack. The plot will start moving again soon though, and you can probably tell what's inside the box.
Thank you for reading if you've read this far, maybe give it a review on something you liked or didn't like. Or, you know, don't. You could do that too.
Peace, Ervin.