Locked in a metal cell, Long Feng could only tap out the seconds until his death.

Or so she thinks, he silently gloated with a thin smile.

Soft earth shoes padded in his direction. Looking out, it was Lieutenant Gong.

"Any requests to go along with your last meal?" Seizing the opportunity, he gripped it like a one-inch ledge.

He hesitated a moment to guise his gambit. "Oolong from Ryu's on Jade and Fifth." One of many dummy codes the Dai Li had formulated for catastrophes such as the City's fall. Translation: Initiate Operation Stone Dragon. Nodding almost imperceptibly, Gong departed like a kamuiy.

They think themselves impervious to mindbending. Yes. But with modifications? I wish I could enjoy the shock on their cold, dead faces.

Imperial Caldera City

Fire Nation

One Month Later

Walking down a Palace hallway, Gong's determined visage was cast amber in the evening torchlight. Reaching the Dai Li's quarter's, he met his coconspirator: Ming, a maidservant with an eye for gold. Carrying a tea tray, she stopped and engaged in "idle chat".

"You should have seen the firelilies in the sunset. Gorgeous evening."

The Princess is asleep and drugged.

But he needed to be absolutely certain.

"Is my evening Jasmine ready."

She smiled. "With lemontine juice and a bowl of walmonds."

"Just as I like it." Guards patrolling elsewhere and most of the palace asleep. The pieces are there. Now to put them together.

Entering his room, The agent earthbent down through the floor and towards Princess Azula's suite. Sensing himself below his prize, Gong oozed himself out of the marble floor and to the side of her bed. Shackling the unresponsive royal in earth, he propped the princess on a few pillows and began his brainwashing. His sand-wreathed hands began to shine like emerald in the darkness as he cupped his captive's head.

He walked through the inferno of her mind, searching for an ember of her father. Deep in the center was a blazing boulder shimmering with expectations, false praise, and respect. He hurled himself at the rock and stabbed it with monster, challenge, and kill. Near the behemoth was a stone echoing Her son, weak, and why didn't he shut his mouth? Gong hammered the ember with rival and crush under foot.

Releasing the Princess' mind, Gong unshackled her, disappeared into rock, and returned to his evening tea. Pot in hand, he poured out a libation at his shrine to Oma, Shu, and Guanyin in thanksgiving.

Grand Secretariat, I have not failed you this night.