Chapter 39

Jet Returned/The Puppet King

"Jet?" The leader of the freedom fighters stared at us in shock. For a while no one moved. Suddenly Jet lurched away and began to run. I didn't think, taking chase, everything else forgotten.

"Pala! Wait!" Sokka shouted chasing after me as I pelted after the brainwashed boy. Somehow I managed to chase him into a dead end. Spinning Jet put up his hands, alarmed.

"I don't mean any harm! I just want to live in peace!"

"Then why did you run?" I asked sharply as I continued to approach him.

"Pala, leave him-"

"Not now Sokka." I snapped before turning back to Jet. He stared at me in shock, wide-eyed.

"Jet," I said calmly, "Tell me about how you've been living here, where are the others? We won't hurt you we just want to know." He glanced between Sokka and I before relaxing slightly.

"I've been living here peacefully. I left everyone else behind. I just want to live quietly."

"Then we won't do anything. We just want to ask you some questions." Jet's eyes narrowed, he was uncertain now. The thought of Jet mistrusting me was an ironic twist but it was the fault of the Dai Li. Still, I wasn't just going to sit back quietly. I knew what was going to happen to Jet and I was going to stop it.

"Come with us then, I'm sure Katara would be glad to see you." That was clearly the wrong choice. Both boys stared at me like I was insane. Quickly I explained.

"If you've given up on attacking innocents she might forgive you," I explained, "don't you want that?"

Somehow I managed to convince Jet to come with us. It took a lot more wheedling and a few quick jabs in Sokka's side to convince both to come home without attacking each other although I was more worried about what was about to happen, and Katara's reaction.

I wasn't off about Katara's reaction. The young waterbender was waiting outside when we arrived and one look at Jet told us everything we needed to know. Katara was nowhere close to forgiving him. From the looks of it, Ozai was closer to calling off the war to learn dressmaking then she was of forgiving Jet.

"What is he doing here?" She snarled, storming up to Sokka and I. The two of us shared a look.

"Katara-"

"Don't Katara me! For the spirits' sake you're the oldest of all of us! I-"

"Katara he needs our help or he's going to die!" I hissed. Two sets of blue eyes sent me identical alarmed looks.

"What!"

"Long story short he was brainwashed by the Dai Li. I can prove it but I need Smellerbee and Longshot here too. They're in the lower ring." There was silence for a moment.

"You do realize that the lower ring is still huge! We could be searching for days!"

"I don't know how long we have," I admitted, trying to stay calm despite the worry and fear I felt in my companions, "but we've got to make our move before Azula."

"I thought we were done with the secrets." A flush crept over my face.

"It kind of... slipped my mind." Sokka made a noise of disgust and threw up his hands. Katara just shook her head.

"Um, excuse me, what is going on?" I turned back to Jet, flanked by the water tribe siblings.

"Um... you don't happen to know where Smellerbee and Longshot are... do you?" Jet sent me a disgusted look then sent Katara a very nervous one. My eyes flicked between Jet's pleading look at Katara and in shock I realized that he actually had some sort of feeling for her. The look reminded me of the looks that I would often see a boy send to a girl. It both fascinated and sickened me. I was never going to be a friend of Jet, I was never going to even like him but I could use this attraction to save not only his life but the life of others. I could manipulate him if it meant saving his life. There would be no guilt. Okay maybe a little. I walked towards him and stepped on a stone, turning my ankle and plunging towards him. Jet moved to catch me but missed. Instead I plowed into him, knocking him to the ground. Jet yelped in pain and I cried out in shock. Springing up I began to babble apologies. There was a long scrape across my left arm and Jet had blood pouring from just above his temple.

"You're bleeding, Katara's a healer here, come inside, we'll get you cleaned up." The glare Katara sent me was strong enough to curdle milk but I ignored it in favour of blocking Jet's view of it, guiding him inside the house.

"Maddi- What is he dong here!?" Aang demanded hands up in a defensive position. I sent him a wide eyed glance and shook my head slightly. His nose wrinkled slightly but he relaxed slightly. Toph meanwhile cocked her head.

"So who's this?" I turned to the short earthbender and quickly introduced the two.

"Toph this is Jet, Jet this is Toph, Aang's earthbending teacher." Jet grimaced and waved. I twitched.

"Sorry Toph, Jet's mute-"

"I am not mute!" I grinned at Jet. I may be trying to save his life but he still owed me for breaking Katara's heart.

"Well look at that, do we finally have the real Jet back or are you going to hide behind wishy-washy again?" Now it was Jet sending me a glare. I couldn't bring myself to care though, this was a little payback. Turning I noticed Katara and Sokka had followed us in. Katara was filling a bowl with water, pointedly ignoring both Jet and I but a smile played on her lips. That smile was well worth acting half my age, it was a smile I hadn't seen a lot of.

"Jet come over here please." Jet approached Katara, his body language screaming that he was uncomfortable. He sat down anyway but twitched nervously whenever one of us moved. This was probably confusing his addled brain and I wondered how much the Dai Li had effected. Katara pulled out a good portion of water, allowing it to float by his ear as the cut slowly vanished. Suddenly Katara's face furrowed and the water crept farther, covering nearly the entire side of his head. Jet twitched and gasped in pain, suddenly leaping out of his chair.

"What are you doing to me!" He screamed, hands clawing at his temples. Alarm flooded through me and I barked out the first words that came to my mind.

"Jet the earth king has invited you to Lake Laogai." Jet suddenly straightened, his panic falling away as his eyes turned black.

"I am honoured to accept his invitation." I froze, disgust welling up inside of me as I stared at Jet's blank face.

"What by Tui and La was that!" I jumped in shock. I had never heard Sokka curse before, invoking the name of the spirits was the equivalent of any bad cuss in our world and Sokka was clearly both terrified and furious. Slowly the entire story spilled from my lips, explaining everything, the brain washing, the Dai Li, even Long Feng and the Earth King. When I was done everyone was quiet for some time.

"That's sick." Katara was the first to speak. Disgust filled her eyes.

"I may not care for Jet but that doesn't give anyone the right to treat him this way." She turned back to the young man and explained.

"When I was healing his cut I felt... something like a chakra block in his head... I tried to touch it but... well you saw what happened. So that block is the result of brainwashing?" I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Yes, although I'm surprised it worked, I guess that I thought Long Feng would be sophisticated enough to have trained the brainwashed people to only respond to his voice." I explained, watching Jet's still form. He was barely even breathing.

"I'm going to release him. Be prepared to have him attack again." I explained, striding forward.

"Wait. Maddi, shouldn't Katara see if she can heal him now?" I paused looking at Toph in appreciation. She had a valid point.

"Sure." Katara moved forward and began to run her water-covered hands over Jet's head, brow furrowed in concentration.

"I don't like this." Aang muttered, moving to stand by me, eyes focused on Katara's skillful hands.

"None of us do but we can't leave him like this, even if he did try to kill us."

"You're going to have to fill me in on that story." Toph told Sokka who nodded in acknowledgement. We stayed silent, watching Katara work. Finally she pulled away.

"You're going to have to release him from this state Maddi, whatever it is I can't do anything with him like this." I nodded and stepped forward, the wood creaking under my feet. I could feel my companions fall into bending stances, prepared to protect themselves and me if Jet proved to be a threat after I released him.

"Jet, the Earth King thanks you for your company." I was guessing because I had no idea how to break the hold. Silently I prayed that my words were close enough and I hadn't permanently damaged him. Why had I used those words? What gave me the right? Manipulating people like Jet was going to make me like Long Feng if I allowed myself to continue. Luckily either that was the release or it was close enough that Jet came out of it. With a groan he collapsed onto the floor. In an instant Katara was there, reaching down and working on his head again. It felt like we stood there for hours, no, weeks before she moved, pulling away and helping Jet up.

"What... what happened?" He frowned then his eyes widened when they set themselves on Katara.

"Katara? What are you doing here? Where..."

"What was the last thing you remember Jet?" Katara asked insistently, blue eyes not leaving Jet's brown ones. Jet frowned.

"The Dai Li... they... they shoved me into this jail carriage and..." he winced, "I don't know, everything becomes fuzzy after that. What are you doing here?"


We explained the whole thing to Jet. With our help he was able to remember Lake Laogai and what the Dai Li did to him but it was fuzzy and unfocused. He openly admitted to missing huge chunks of his memory including everything after his brainwashing. Then he insisted on going to find Longshot and Smellerbee.

"I think that's a good idea but all three of you need to get out of Ba Sing Se. If you stay... something really bad could happen. I recommend always traveling with at least one other person too." To my surprise Jet shook his head.

"I'm not leaving, not yet. I'm going to tell the Earth King." I sighed.

"Jet you-"

"Actually Jet's right." Katara agreed, "The Earth King needs to know about all of this and because of our advantage Long Feng doesn't know that we know. Besides the more people to help us the better." I raised my eyebrows in surprise. That was extremely mature of Katara but the fact still remained that Jet was a potential threat.

"And what if Jet's brain isn't as clear as you think?" I challenged, "He could turn on us without a moment's warning. It would be better if he just stayed far, far away from Long Feng."

"How about this. Two of us go with Jet to pick up Longshot and Smellerbee. After that we return to the rest of the group. If something of Long Feng's influence is still there then Maddi can always stop him, if not we would far outnumber him." I sighed. I wasn't happy with Sokka's choice but it made sense. As much as I hated to admit it.

"So who is going to pick up the other two then?"

"Maddi and Katara." Both of us looked at Sokka like he was crazy.

"You're not serious?" I asked. Leaving Jet with just me and Katara was a good way to end up with a dead Jet.

"It makes sense if you think about it." Sokka explained, "Pala if she was normal would be desperately looking for a husband and Katara's at the right age to start perusing her own. The Dai Li don't know that we know Jet. It's perfect." Sokka stopped when he saw my expression. If this had been my old wold I would have been howling sexist to the four corners of the globe. As it was I had to remember that Sokka had improved quite a lot and that I would be facing that kind of attitude for the rest of my life.

Once again the image of a little girl with a red ribbon flashed across my eyes. My daughter. Somewhere out there was a man who I would have a child with. I wouldn't be alone forever, I would have a husband. Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and let the moment pass.

"Sure, I'm in. But I'm not flirting."

"Why do I have to?"

"You don't either. Leave it all to Jet." Jet's expression became ver tight as it flickered between Katara and I but he nodded. Clearly deciding that complaining would not be a good idea. Besides, I thought with a smug grin, I bet that he isn't to upset about flirting with Katara. To bad he doesn't know that she's taken.

Katara muttered something under her breath and she grabbed Jet's hand, storming out the door with me in tow. This was going to be a long day.


The reaction in riding Appa to the palace was similar to that of a kicked over ant hill. Soldiers and Dai Li were everywhere, running around, weapons in hands and rocks shooting at us. Appa's saddle was feeling a great deal more squished then it had earlier as we had three extra members. Jet, Smellerbee and Longshot had all insisted upon coming with us and I had a sneaking suspicion that Smellerbee was planning on murdering Long Feng, not something that I disliked the idea of. The problem was that Long Feng helped keep the Dai Li from going over to Azula right away. It was time that we would probably need in the end so I couldn't fully support it either. It was strange, it was almost as if we were a greater threat when they didn't know we knew his secret.

"Look out." Appa dodged to the side as a huge column of earth shot towards us. I caught Longshot notching an arrow and grabbed his shoulder.

"Avoid killing," I called, "Most of these soldiers are innocent." He send me a sharp glare but nodded. I silently cussed that I didn't understand him better. Unfortunately his silence always alluded me. I notched my own arrow silently counting them. Fifty in total. Not a lot, I would have to save my shots. Longshot's quiver was a lot larger then mine and it carried at least twice the amount of arrows.

"Sokka do you have a plan?" I shouted as Appa dodged another large chunk of rock.

"Of course I do! I always have a plan! I'm the plan guy!"

"... you don't have one. Do you?" I sniggered at Toph's disgusted tone.

"That's fine. I do. If push comes to shove just follow my lead... and pray for a ton of luck."

"That's assuring." Smellerbee muttered. I sent her a pointed look but refused to say anything beyond that.

The battle seemed to pass in a whirlwind. The benders did most of the world while Jet, Sokka, Longshot, and I picked off the occasional soldier who slipped through the well oiled machine that was my companions. I didn't understand why Jet had been so determined to come. What was the purpose? Revenge? If so would I actually have to protect Long Feng? That thought curdled my stomach.

Appa landed, dodging another huge pile of stone as Aang and Toph blocked it with their bending. Sliding off the eight of us spread into formation. Toph was in the lead with Aang right behind while the rest of us circled Appa, protecting the huge bison from manual attacks. I took the rear, watching everyone's backs with a sharp arrow.

I was suddenly under a huge stone cave. Toph's work. A large smash came from above causing me to grin. She had just saved us from getting squashed with stone statues. Once the 'cave' was gone we continued down the path, fighting in a rhythm all our own. It seemed like both seconds and hours later that we were battling inside the palace.

"Which way to the Earth King?" Sokka shouted.

"There's a pair of shiny green and gold doors larger then Appa. Through there," I hollered back, swinging out one of my fans to toss away a smaller chunk of rock flying towards me.

"You literally can't miss it!"

Ironically it was Jet who found the doors and shouted for us. I was pumped up on adrenalin, my body vibrating with excess energy as Aang threw the doors apart. The earth king was waiting for us on his dais along with a large amount of Dai Li and of course, Long Feng. All of us raised our perspective weapons. Toph a rock, Aang his staff, Katara a jet of water, Sokka his club, Longshot and I with our bows, Jet with his hooks and Smellerbee... two long wicked looking daggers. When had she gotten those, I found myself wondering nervously. Those daggers did not look friendly, even compared to Jet's weapons.

King Kuei was a young man in his late teens to early twenties, no more then five years older then me. Dressed in rick yellow robes and a green cape. A set of rich decorated jade beads hung around his neck and his crown was more of a hat with the earth kingdom emblem in the centre. He also wore a pair of spectacles on the bridge of his nose which gave him an air of superiority. His bear sat beside him, dressed in a gold shirt with a green hat. Seeing Basco made me smile, a real bear like the ones back home.

"We need to talk to you." Aang called. Long Feng turned and said something to King Kuei.

"They are here to overthrow you." Long Feng stated, his eyes focused on his 'king'. Puppet more like.

"No, we're here to warn you... about him." Jet hissed, eyes never leaving Long Feng who just smiled tartly at the boy. King Kuei was not impressed.

"You invade my palace, destroy my property and break my door? And you expect me to trust you?"

"He has a good point." Toph muttered but was shushed by Katara.

"If you are on my side put down your weapons."

"And then your guards will arrest us." I stated stepping forward. "Give us a chance to explain ourselves. Show us that you are as great a king as they say by keeping your word." Long Feng's eyes became predatory. I could almost see him trying to figure out my motives.

"I will allow you to explain yourself and I will listen, if you put down your weapons." I nodded and placed my bow, quiver and fans on the ground. My companions dropped there weapons next but it was a few more seconds before the freedom fighters did so. Judging from the looks in their eyes they were not excited about the aspect either. Long Feng twitched his hand and the Dai Li fell into a line behind us but they did not attack. We all shared a look. Taking a deep breath to steel my nerves I stepped forward.

"My liege, my name is Maddison, although I am known as the girl of all nations, spirit walker and amongst the water tribes, Palartok. These are my traveling companions, Aang the avatar, Toph Be-Fong, Katara and Sokka children of Chief Hakoda, Jet, Smellerbee and Longshot of the freedom fighters a group dedicated to protecting small villages and towns from external threats." I could see the surprise in the eyes of my friends and the freedom fighters for the way I painted them. By emphasizing their role I was placing them as more then mere peasants but as nobles and heroes.

"We came here to gain your assistance to create an army. You see there is a war, a war from which Long Feng has been hiding from you and many of the nobles here in Ba Sing Se. This is a power play so that he has full control of Ba Sing Se, to him my liege you are little more then a figurehead." Sokka's face looked stricken at my bluntness while Long Feng was silently promising me a painful death and to extract every single threat he made to me those weeks ago. King Kuei too looked very disturbed and mistrusting of my words.

"Upon arriving we began to discover this plot from Long Feng. He might as well be the real earth king. He tells you he is your advisor yet in public he goes by your 'cultural minister' and yet it is you who take care of all the cultural work while he deals with everything else. He has hundreds if not thousands of women here in Ba Sing Se all responding to the name Doo Jee who have been brainwashed and work as spies for him as well as a means to control the city through fear and manipulation." Kuei sent a strange look at Long Feng who suddenly looked more then a little constipated.

"These people are trying to trick you, turn you against me with their fancy words and complicated accusations to manipulate your mind. This girl is nothing special." Long Feng snarled, trying desperately to gain control of the situation.

"Then I'll prove it. If I'm correct sire you looked surprised when you heard the name Joo Dee, did you just meet a woman named that? If so will you kindly send for her. I can prove without a doubt that she has been brainwashed.: Kuei nodded and waved his hand. One soldier left the room. Turning back I began to speak again, noticing out of the corner of my eye the astonished look in the eyes of the freedom fighters. I felt a smile quirk my lips.

"Sire, when did you take the throne? You were very young right? Ten years old?"

"Four." Kuei stated confused. I blinked. I had not been expecting him to have been that young.

"I see, and Long Feng has been your advisor this entire time?" Kuei nodded, not understanding where I was going with this.

"He controlled Ba Sing Se until you were old enough to correct? Well whose to say that he didn't decide that he liked the power and kept it? Who is to say he has not been manipulating you from the very start?" There was silence for a long moment. Long Feng's constipated look was gone and now he looked red in the face, like he was about to explode. There was a grunt from behind me and a giggle. Turning I saw Basco the bear lick Aang on the cheek and promptly pin him to the ground. Aang didn't seem upset by the bear mauling him so I turned back to the king in time to see a guard escorting Joo Dee, our Joo Dee into the room. My eyes narrowed. I was going to have fun with this.

"Hello Joo Dee." She made a squeaky noise like a dog toy that had been stepped on and shot a panicked look at Long Feng.

"Can you tell me about the other Joo Dee's." She looked confused but shook her head and the annoying smile was back on her face.

"I'm Joo Dee."

"What about the others?"

"There are no others. I'm Joo Dee." I twitched. Glancing up at King Kuei I realized I had lost his interest. I needed his attention again and fast.

"Sire, please pay attention. Joo Dee, the earth king has invited you to Lake Laogai."

"I am honoured to accept his invitation." Now I had his attention. I had everyone's attention. Especially Long Feng's he looked ready to kneel over. Payback for threatening me I thought with a grin.

"Your highness, this is a hypnotic trance that-" I was cut off by a sudden stab of pain in the back of my neck. And everything dissolved into darkness.


Sokka's POV

It was to late to do anything.

Maddi had just knocked Joo Dee into that strange trance that we had seen in Jet. It was terrifying, especially some of the things she had revealed. One moment she had been standing in front of us, face beaming in pride for her skill at debate and the next she lay crumpled on the ground with a Dai Li agent standing above her.

Instinct forced me to act the only way I knew how. In seconds the Dai Li agent was down for the count, pinned by earth, ice and with a sharp boomerang pointed at his neck. Katara was working frantically on Maddi before pulling away with a sigh.

"She's unconscious but stable." She stated, eyes flicking nervously back and forth between the pinned Dai Li agent, our shocked faces, King Kuei's shocked face and Long Feng's overly smug one. I felt sick. The bastard had planned that. He knew that Maddi was eloquent and that she would be able to sway the king over to our side in minutes. She wouldn't want us to give up though. While Katara worked on healing her I stepped forward. It was my turn and this time everyone was ready to be stabbed in the back.

"See! Long Feng realized that Maddi was to great of a threat so he got her out of the way! Let us show you , your highness just how much Long Feng has been keeping hidden from you. Let us bring you to Lake Laogai." King Kuei's eyes flicked to Long Feng but it was clear that he was not happy with the sudden turn of events. He nodded once and that was all that I needed.


A/N: Hi people I'm sorry that this took so long. I had a really bad case of writers block, I could barely write essays let alone something creative and then this chapter turned out to be really, really long. Anyway I want to thank all my reviewers I'll respond to the guest reviews below and remind everyone that unfortunately I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender but I do own Maddi and any other OC's that you see floating around this story. Thanks.

Guest: Fist of all don't worry about being impatient, sometimes knowing that someone really wants me to update soon can knock me into action, I will try more to get chapters out so that you don't have to worry about asking me.

KingDove: Well I'm not giving away just who I have decided upon yet for who Maddi's child is going to have as a father. However, it is coming up very quickly that Maddi will end up in a relationship with someone so I hope that helps. It should be in the next chapter or two that this relationship will start.

Alright then, thank you everyone once again for your infinite patience.

Princess Kassie Out.